Me, I’d spend the first eternity or so of this power shut up in libraries reading till I dropped. Then I’d write some books, sell them, make millions (any book written over a period of several thousand years has got to be good), and build myself a castle out in the middle of nowhere with a really big library and a really kickass computer. Make that several of each. At this point the money would probably be drawing in attractive, greedy men and women like moths to a flame, but I’m not sure I’d like that particularly much…
I would disarm the entire planet.
so I could become the supreme ruler with just a wiffle bat.
Engrave “Made in China” into the rock that the mars rover is currently inspecting.
Er… how exactly will stopping time help you discover what number is coming up next on the roulette wheel? That’s still in the future, and you can’t place new bets when the ball is about to land. And I think the dealer would notice if a new big stack of chips suddenly appeared out of nowhere on a single number at that moment in time.
And for people talking about taking big winnings out of a casino, wouldn’t it just be easier to stop time, use some employee’s card to get into the cashier’s room, and just take the cash directly?
Duh, right before the wheel comes to a stop, stop time and put the ball on the right number.
What pasunejen said. Except 12 hours. And I’d steal gas.
You’re right. I’m sure the teleportation of the ball across the wheel wouldn’t be noticed, and the pit bosses would allow it.
I think I’ll stick to my plan of just taking the cash directly. 
I would go over to Gleneagles and, while all is still and static, get past the police and their dogs and helicopters and stuff, and go and rearrange all the foodstuff and all the ingredienty things in the kitchens. This would amuse me and provide a very bad meal for Jacques Chirac. (Oh yes, and for all the others too).
I am not nice.
I was thinking of freezing time several times, moving the ball incrementally so the dealer wouldn’t notice, but yeah, I’d more likely just go to the vault and help myself.
And best of all, there’s time now! All the time I need, and all the time I want!
Hasn’t worked for Robert Jorden, or so I’ve heard…(the good part, I mean).
Instant package delivery!! I like that idea.
Not just depantsing people. Go switch them around. Maybe even switch pants and dresses and such.
Take things out of peoples pockets and put them in different pockets.
Pitch the fastest fastball ever, by throwing, stopping time, moving it to the catcher’s mitt.
If I don’t age while time is stopped, then I would just never start time. I’d spend hundreds of years exploring the Earth and writing book after book about what I saw. Maybe every hundred years or so, I’d let a week pass to freshen things up a little – you know, replenish the grocery stores, etc.
First, some tompeekery. Then more. And more. After that, I would become a workaholic…to everyone else. I would work 24 hours a day, but for every hour working, I would spend a week doing…whatever I want (and sleep of course).
I had in mind stopping time when the ball was about to stop bouncing around, not when the wheel was about to stop…
But yeah, there are plenty of ways to just pinch the money directly, or even just mooch off the world in general with no money needed.
Alternatively, I could stick to solving hostage crises for a modest reward.
Simple fun:
Wait until someone is about to write something, pause time and remove the pencil from their hand, sliding it back in the wrong way around, resume my position, restart time, observe their confusion, wait until they turn the pencil around. Repeat.
But yeah, the hostage thing would be good; the hostages find themselves instantly transported to a place of safety, the hostage-takers find themselves instantly transported to a place of instant peril. I wouldn’t ever explain myself or try to take credit though (potential hostage takers might seek to assassinate me and government agencies might seek to confiscate the time-stopping device).
Assassins could do their best; I’d only ever sleep in stopped time, and in any case I’d steer clear of any public personal involvement. It’s just that there would be this amazing tendency for hostage-takers to find that they were suddenly weaponless and struggling to deal with the combination of trousers round the ankles, duct tape over the mouth and beeswax up the nostrils. I wouldn’t be anywhere near the scene when time restarted, and I’d keep my location secret… just arrange to be contactable via some equivalent of the Batsignal, and to be rewarded in untraceable valuables delivered to my safety-deposit box.
I would only unfreeze time when I’d get lonely and want to interact with other people.
I would read every book I’d care to read. I’d watch every film I’d care to watch. I would learn every Shakespeare play, enough to play virtually any male character. I would listen to every song I could get my hands on. I would learn everything that I can from textbooks. I would study medecine, and perform countless surgeries; to hell with waiting lists. I would do everything in my power to find a cure for the aging process so that I could unfreeze time and not worry about it. I would work to discover cures for diseases. I would plant hectare after hectare of seedlings to grow forests. I would build infrastructure, especially water infrastructure, in impoverished countries. I would build things of all sorts, including but not limited to a pyramid. I would build myself a magnificent mansion-- no, a palace. I would sculpt a mountain into a likeness of me. I would explore the world. On foot. I would learn to cook really well. I would finally get into shape. I would steal stuff. I would go to a pet store and shave every furry animal there. I would be a real jerk to people I don’t like. I would look at a fire to see just what flame looks like when it’s frozen, then make a sculpture of the fire. I would invent a solar panel durable enough to serve as a road, and re-pave all of the roads in the world as solar panels.
And much, much, more.
I second all those who suggested several variants of crimefighting.
Oh, who am I kidding. I just want to run around in a bright red unitard and a cape, with enough superpowers to defend myself against those who mock my fashion choices.
Personally, I, as a father of a three-year-old and a two-month-old, I’d love some quiet time at home, get some reading done–any kind of personal time without the guilt of having to shut out my children. Right now, my son has unbounded admiration for my ability/need to sit on the can with the sports page for 20 minutes after work each day.
Hey, I could play all the golf I could ever want to! Instant tee times whenever I show up! (Assuming the golf ball follows the same relativistic physical behavior after I strike it.)
For money, I’d like to either (a) somehow filch enough without getting caught (and only from evildoers, I don’t know about banks or casinos), or (b) find a job where I work alone and am paid solely on the basis of my production. Something like stuffing envelopes.
Well, of course, seeing what people looked like naked. But after that thrill wore off I’d like to wander around places I’m not supposed to be in like Area 51, the Pentagon, CIA headquarters, etc. Oooh, and take a cool sports car like a Lambourghini to drive to those places.
No locker room necessary. THe world is my locker room.
There is a recent short film called Cashback. There is a long freeze time part in a grocery store where an artist draws nudes during the ‘break’.
With my huge sums of cash, I would hire someone to write a sophisticated computer program that would listen to all the internet radio stations in the world. They would listen for any song by Cher being played. When a Cher song started I would stop time, go to the station and change the music, The world will be safe from Cher.
If I was 8 when I got this I would touch my brother. YOU’RE NOT TOUCHING ME! WELL I’M TOUCHING YOU!
Use the freeze power to check out every female poster who said “yes” in the color coordinated knickers thread. :eek: