# Time travel dinner for 6 at your house—who do you invite and how is it planned? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2022, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000 "2022-05-24T14:01:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/41 "2022-05-26T03:06:21Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Hypatia of Alexandria I hope not based on that terrible film. Mark Twain, Gary Gygax, Robin Williams, Eartha Kitt, RBG, & Bella Abzug. No menu better than this one: **American Dinner** _Oysters Baked in the Shell_ _Terrapin Maryland…Beaten Biscuits_ _Pan Broiled Young Turkey_ _Rice Croquettes with Quince Jelly_ _Lima Beans in Cream…Sally Lunn_ _Avocado Todhunter_ _Pineapple Sherbet…Sponge Cake_ _Wisconsin Dairy Cheese…Black Coffee_ ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/42 "2022-05-26T04:58:40Z")
Interesting menu. Nero Wolfe Cookbook? Early 20th century? Earlier? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/43 "2022-05-26T05:11:10Z")
It is what Wolfe served to the "_Les Quinze Maitres,"_ during _Too Many Cooks_. Excellent spot on your part sir, I was hoping someone would figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/44 "2022-05-26T09:10:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I hope not based on that terrible film I haven’t seen the terrible film (I assume you mean _Agora_), and I’m assuming no resemblance to her portrayal by Lisa Kudrow in _The Good Place_ either. But she was a remarkably accomplished woman for her or any other time. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/45 "2022-05-26T09:26:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > . . . but since I was in college I’ve had the odd fantasy that there’s a knock at the door one day and it’s Ben Franklin standing there. He’s mightily confused about how he got here to this very strange place (1980’s Los Angeles) and is looking for someone, anyone to help him . . . If this happened amidst the current political turmoil of the early 2020s, your after-dinner conversation would very probably discuss “a Republic – if you can keep it”. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/46 "2022-05-26T12:07:43Z")
I would pick one particular mystery to solve. Although few people actually care about that, it’s something which has fascinated me for years. At the end of WWII, the Japanese military government was deadlocked on the question of surrender, with three members of the Big Six leaders in favor of sacrificing “_100 million_ shattered jewels” – of dying to the last man, woman and child rather than surrender. The other three were willing to give up, knowing that it was the end of Japan as they knew it. Finally, the Emperor intervened and they surrendered. Korechika Anami, the head of the Imperial Japanese Army could have lead a coup. He was expected to lead a coup. He may have actually wanted to lead a coup. But he didn’t. And no one knows why. I would have him, the Emperor, a couple of the other key players and a couple of historians who have studied this. Dinner would be sushi, of course, or rather, _kaiseki-ryōri_ ([懐石料理](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%87%90%E7%9F%B3%E6%96%99%E7%90%86)). ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/47 "2022-05-26T12:22:47Z")
After so many good ones have been snapped I realized that six people is exactly two parents plus four grandparents. I’d take the version of 1965, shortly after I was born. I would have a couple of questions. It would probably be best if I let the paternal grandmother cook. PS: I don’t know about you, but I would be afraid anything I said would be very trivial, dull and boring (if not right on wrong and stupid) for the likes of Feynman, Franklin etc. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/48 "2022-05-26T12:42:48Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > PS: I don’t know about you, but I would be afraid anything I said would be very trivial, dull and boring (if not right on wrong and stupid) for the likes of Feynman, Franklin etc. That’s actually why I would invite the historians along to ask the good questions. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/49 "2022-05-26T12:52:49Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > How does time travel work in your hypothetical? If I invite Hitler and poison him, does his death have rippling effects in my universe? > [@enipla](#): > > Dinner would be beef tenderloin cut up for shish kabob/veggies with my home made teriyaki sauce served over jasmine rice. **It’s to die for**. Invite Hitler ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2022, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/50 "2022-05-26T13:41:11Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I don’t know about you, but I would be afraid anything I said would be very trivial, dull and boring (if not right on wrong and stupid) for the likes of Feynman, Franklin etc. That’s why I invited people who would have interesting things to say to _each other_. I’d just have to start them off and let them go. Also: I’m not quite sure how we ended up with an assumed exclusivity rule. It’s a hypothetical, so Ben Franklin could turn up at _everyone’s_ dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/51 "2022-05-28T01:11:49Z")
Archimedes, Newton, Ben Franklin, Sofia Kovalevskaya, Ada Lovelace, and Emmy Noether. I would serve a fine catered dinner. We would be too exhausted from the conversation to play any games. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/52 "2022-05-28T23:00:10Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Well, maybe not a stick-up-the-ass high society party…but all others. I disagree. the stick-up-the-ass crowd would be cannon fodder for his wit. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/53 "2022-06-03T18:21:27Z")
1. Six science fiction authors. Who has more imagination with which to stimulate far-ranging conversation? 2. Key historical figures largely responsible for losing wars/battles. Let’s hear the self analysis. 3. Six of the Founding Fathers. We have some new realities and new options for dealing with them. What are their thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000/54 "2022-06-04T22:59:54Z")
Do my guests go back to their original timelines at the end of the gathering? If so, I invite my daughter from October 17, 2018. I also research the MegaMillions lottery numbers drawn on October 19, 2018, and send them back with her (and instructions to buy a ticket with those numbers). In history as it stands, the jackpot of $1.5B was won on October 23, 2018, so the pot as it stood four days earlier ought to be enough for us to scrape by on. Just in case the Universe won’t let me alter history that way, I also have her buy a ticket that will get a half-share of the $1.5B the following Tuesday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-dinner-for-6-at-your-house-who-do-you-invite-and-how-is-it-planned/965000.md?page=2)