# What history would you most love to visit?



## Brian G Turner (Oct 11, 2003)

Here's a question – which periods of history would you most like to visit?

For my own part I would have love to experience something of the Roman Empire under the Julian-Claudian line – very possibly Gaius Caligula, just to see how much of his image is based on satirical reports.

But the 4th century Roman world also has it's calling – it would be fascinating to follow Constantine more closely and see the reality of the process of doctrine formation and canonisation – not least have a seat at the first Council of Nicaea, just to see how heated thngs were.

Of course, it would also be intriguing to visit Galilee around 30 AD just to see the reality of the situation there, and see the objective reality in detail. 

Aside from those – perhaps seem something of life in Ancient Egyptian – but definitely no later than Third Dynasty – perhaps Akhenaten or Ramases II. It would also be absolutely fascinating to visit Babylon in it's hey-day and see that fabled city in detail – else the earlier standing ziggurats of the first lasting dawn of civilisation in ancient Sumer.

OH, and Athens in the 4th century BC...

There are other periods of interest as well, but that would make for a good start. 

Now, over to anyone else, if you will...


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## Gnome (Oct 11, 2003)

I'd like to visit the first part of the 20th Century.....say from 1900 to 1950.....seems I've been told so many lies about what happened during those years, I'd like to see it first hand to make sense out of the last half.


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## littlemissattitude (Oct 11, 2003)

Oh, Florence during the time that Michelangelo was working there and Savonarola was doing his pre-television televangelist thing.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





  Michelangelo is my favorite artist, as I've said elsewhere on this forum.  And I'd really like to see if Savonarola's sermons were as similar to the televangelists' line as they read.  I did a paper on Savonarola for a class one time - he is a fascinating character.  Did you know that he had a very humanist education?  I found that surprising in light of how he ended up.

The Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico during Maya times.  Our picture of the Maya is changing so much due to discoveries during the past few years; apparently they weren't as peaceable as early estimates made them out to be.  I'd love to see the truth of it.

The early years of the Christian church, right after Christ's time.  To me, whether or not Jesus was what he is assumed to be is quite beside the point, as people will believe or not no matter what any historical evidence might show - I would love to see how the first Christians really managed during the time right after Christ left.  Maybe because I took a Bib lit class on the Book of Acts, I am fascinated by the early expansion of the church and the arguments that went on between the first Christians, who were Jews, and the non-Jews who came into the church - things like whether or not a person had to become a Jew before he or she could become a Christian.  Some of the Jews said yes (which, I would assume, led to a lack of adult male converts
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




) and most of the Greeks said no.  Another thing about this period - I would really be interested in finding out if the Apostle Paul was really as much of a misogynist as he comes off in his letters.

Well, that's enough for now, although I'm pretty sure I'll think of more.


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## littlemissattitude (Oct 11, 2003)

Gnome said:
			
		

> I'd like to visit the first part of the 20th Century.....say from 1900 to 1950.....seems I've been told so many lies about what happened during those years, I'd like to see it first hand to make sense out of the last half.


You slipped in there ahead of me, while I was composing that long post, Gnome.  I think you have quite a point there.  Even in my research for my baby boomer writing project, from 1946 on, I'm realizing how much we live in a completely different world now - yet there are so many things that are so much the same now as they were then, so many arguments that were going on then that are still going on today in one form or another.  I'm in the process of creating a timeline of the baby boomer years, and some of the things I've been finding are really interesting.


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## Gnome (Oct 11, 2003)

littlemissattitude said:
			
		

> You slipped in there ahead of me, while I was composing that long post, Gnome. I think you have quite a point there. Even in my research for my baby boomer writing project, from 1946 on, I'm realizing how much we live in a completely different world now - yet there are so many things that are so much the same now as they were then, so many arguments that were going on then that are still going on today in one form or another. I'm in the process of creating a timeline of the baby boomer years, and some of the things I've been finding are really interesting.


I'm looking forward to when you are able to share what you've "dug up".
I believe that the desire to turn to conspiracy theories to explain events took root during the "boom" because the explainations we recieved were so lame. "Cover up" is what one usually assumes now for reports that just don't ring true. So, in effect, we don't believe anything anymore.


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## LadyFel (Jan 18, 2004)

I'd LOVE to live in the medieval period...ideally London during the Wars of the Roses...it's always been my favourite period...

To find out what really happened to the Princes in the Tower and whether Richard III really was such a %&$# as historians have been saying...

I'd settle for being a servant in a castle somewhere, if I could just visit


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## Brian G Turner (Jan 18, 2004)

Hi *LadyFel* and welcome to the chronicles-network.


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## Elysium (Jan 18, 2004)

I'd like to see The Greece of Homers time, Rome pre- christianity and during the outbreak of chrisitianity.
A bit of medieval England and most definitely Victorian England.
And Europe pre-WWI 
I'd love to have a timeship and get to see it all quite frankly. History is fascinating. But modern comforts are not something I'd give up to go back in time. I would have to make short visits.


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## littlemissattitude (Jan 19, 2004)

I've got to add to my list above, Egypt during the time the Great Pyramid was being built.  I'd love to see what that culture was really like...and of course the idea of knowing the truth about how that huge pyramid was built is just intriguing.


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## nemogbr (Jan 19, 2004)

I wouldn't mind being Methos the Immortal and watching events in history unfold or perhaps a sort of Librarian of Palanthus and write everything down... 

Anyway a timeship is a good idea in oredr to skip the boring bits and I would definitely want to visit during the twentieth Century and maybe find a few people like Nicolai Tesla and Albert Einstein bring them into the late twentieth and see what happens. 

Then I'll have to pay a visit to the continent of Atlantis ......


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## littlemissattitude (Jan 20, 2004)

LadyFel...You're absolutely right.  It would be fascinating to see the truth about Richard III.

By the way, did you ever read "Daughter of Time" by Josephine Tey?  It is a fascinating mystery novel, written in the 1950s, that has a detective laid up in the hospital.  As a way to keep his mind occupied, he tries to figure out whether or not Richard III did his nephews in or not.  I know of university history professors who assign this book to their students as a great example of historical investigation; and for all that, it is an interesting read, not "academic" in a dry sort of way at all.


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## dwndrgn (Jan 20, 2004)

It's funny that you mention that novel.  It was mentioned in a recent mystery that I read where the main character, who is a detective, and in hospital for gunshot wounds, is suggested the novel by his associate.  The idea of it pulls him in and he gets involved in another investigation during his recuperation.  

I think I'll have to read it now!


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## LadyFel (Jan 20, 2004)

I haven't read it, but thanks for the hint, I think my mother may have it somewhere...

The book which got me hooked was a huge romance novel I read about 10 years ago, called 'The Sunne in Splendour' by Sharon Penman...usually I don't like that sort of stuff, my mum is a Jean Plaidy et al. fanatic, I learned English by reading them...But Penman researches her books so well, down to the exact location of her characters on a particular date, they're a joy to read...Anyway, her case in favour of Richard was so plausible it got me thinking...


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Jan 20, 2004)

Hmmm...


Ideally, I'd like visit just about every notable civilization and period. 

If I really had to choose, I would visit the Indus Valley Civilization, India's earliest civilization to leave any significant traces. Apart from everything else , they had a working drainage system and well-planned cities, two arcane arts that seem to be totally lost in modern India!!! 

I would also like to visit the Mayans and the Incas, simply because we know so little of tem compared to most of the other major early civilizations.


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## Shiola (Jan 22, 2004)

Go back to the dinosaurs (armed with a gun and Hummer obviously), I'd also invent the patent office, then invent the wheel, then patent my wheel invention.

 I'd also like to have been part of the British Navy exploring the South Pacific for the first time (not on The Bounty though).


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## jerchar (Jan 22, 2004)

I would have liked to be with the Mayans/Incas while one of their clans was building one of these huge temples. They are so many historical periods I would love to have a glimpse at, when I read or hear about them they all seem so unreal that I have trouble imagining all the events related really happened. Most important to me would be to check the truth of some facts as Littlemiss and Gnome said and the reasons behind some things that intrigue me.


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## nemogbr (Jan 25, 2004)

Wouldn't it be interesting if you could visit the wonders of the ancient world?

Hanging Gardens of Babylons, which only lasted for one lifespan
Colossus of Rhodes

I'd like to have seen the Library of Alexandria.
There was a theory that the Pyramids were actually painted and plastered? That would have been stupendous...


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## Foxbat (Jan 25, 2004)

Orkney five thousand years ago - when Skara Brae was still a thriving fishing community. Not only that, they had indoor toilets so I'd at least still have a few comforts we take for granted


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## nemogbr (Jan 25, 2004)

There is that is always the part about indoor plumbing isn't there?...lol

If you could bring the TARDIS then it should be fine, otherwise camping stuff...


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## littlemissattitude (Jan 25, 2004)

I'd really love to be able to scout around through time to see when the first people _really_ came to the Western Hemisphere, who they were, and how they got here.  This is an historical mystery that has fascinated me for a long time - I even wrote a paper on the controversy for an archaeology class once.  There are still competing theories and scholars on different sides of the question who get quite nasty in their agruments back and forth about the subject.


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## dwndrgn (Jan 27, 2004)

I don't think I'd have a specific time.  I'd love to be able to jump around to specific spots just to see how such and such happened.  For example, when and where did the first person realize that fish were edible?  How did they come to this conclusion?  Were they starving or just experimenting or did they just see animals doing it and decided that they could too?  Or how about being a fly on the wall when Apple started and then came Microsoft.  

I suppose I just want to be there when everything happened .  I know, I'm too curious for my own good!


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## nemogbr (Jan 28, 2004)

dwndrgn said:
			
		

> I don't think I'd have a specific time. I'd love to be able to jump around to specific spots just to see how such and such happened. For example, when and where did the first person realize that fish were edible? How did they come to this conclusion? Were they starving or just experimenting or did they just see animals doing it and decided that they could too? Or how about being a fly on the wall when Apple started and then came Microsoft.
> 
> I suppose I just want to be there when everything happened . I know, I'm too curious for my own good!


I have watched documentaries about both. I have wondered about the alternative worlds. What if Jobs and Wozniak(Spell) had decided to let other manufacturers copy their computer? Would IBM and Microsoft even exist right now?

Wasn't Bill Gates the second person IBM dealt with? There was a couple the IBM people saw first, but they didn't realise the significance of dealing with IBM.


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## littlemissattitude (Jan 29, 2004)

That sounds like a great time, dwndrgn - just jumping around in time and checking things out.

Personally - and I mean no offense to the smokers around here, if there be any - but I'd like to see the first time someone decided to set fire to rolled tobacco and inhale the hot smoke.  I've always wondered what possessed whoever did so first to do that.  It certainly isn't something that would have ever occurred to me.



> What if Jobs and Wozniak(Spell) had decided to let other manufacturers copy their computer?


I have a cousin who went to high school with Jobs and/or Wozniak (I can't remember it it was one or both of them).  Apparently everybody thought that all that tinkering in their garage was just so much fooling around.  I'd love to have been able to hear some of the stuff that was said about them, and then know what the same people said when they heard that those two had been so successful.


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## Aeolus14Umbra (Feb 3, 2004)

1) Ancient Sumeria (they have the best mythologies!!!)  

2) The '60s (lots of great punk music & movies etc...and beautiful girls!)  

3) Sometime in the far, far distant future...!


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 3, 2004)

Aeolus14Umbra said:
			
		

> 1) Ancient Sumeria (they have the best mythologies!!!)
> 
> 2) The '60s (lots of great punk music & movies etc...and beautiful girls!)
> 
> 3) Sometime in the far, far distant future...!


Um, Aeolus.  Punk didn't come along until the '70s.  But the '60s _were_ an interesting time.  I wasn't old enough to participate in the 60s, but I'm old enough to remember them and there are times when I miss certain aspects of them - music, films, etc.  On the other hand, I don't miss the riots at all, or Vietnam.  Oops.  I forgot, I think we got Vietnam back, only in the desert rather than the jungle.


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## Aeolus14Umbra (Feb 4, 2004)

> Um, Aeolus. Punk didn't come along until the '70s.


I'm referring to all those cool gnarly "Nuggets"/"Pebbles"/"Back From The Grave" bands!!! That's punk if you ask me! ...The '70s stuff was great too. But hey, '50s RnR is "punk" to me!!!  ...(Forget the crap that calls itself "punk" today!! BLEURGH!!!)


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 4, 2004)

Aeolus14Umbra said:
			
		

> I'm referring to all those cool gnarly "Nuggets"/"Pebbles"/"Back From The Grave" bands!!! That's punk if you ask me! ...The '70s stuff was great too. But hey, '50s RnR is "punk" to me!!!  ...(Forget the crap that calls itself "punk" today!! BLEURGH!!!)


Oh, okay.  Just a clash of definitions.   Which "back from the grave bands" did you have in mind?


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## Aeolus14Umbra (Feb 4, 2004)

> Which "back from the grave bands" did you have in mind?


Ha, hell that's a hard one!   There's so many! I like 'em all... I just pulled out my BFTG Vol #1, all those bands are great. I'm lucky enough to own both those "Nuggets" box-sets...so much great stuff on there!!!...I don't like the "Beatlesque" bands as much...I dig those screeching fuzzbox guitars & scorching riffs!!! Ha ha...

You can hear some samples here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000058UT/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/103-5856866-0970238?v=glance&s=music&st=*=* (sorry for the long link, not sure how to shorten it??)...

Ahh...THE SONICS...THE TRASHMEN...THE ELECTRIC PRUNES...THE EASYBEATS...THE MONKS...on & on & on...!!!!


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 4, 2004)

I've heard of The Electric Prunes and The Easybeats.  The rest are new to me.


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Feb 6, 2004)

That's pretty interesting. I'm more into the fuzzed-out sounds myself and these bands seem worth chasing down. Have you ever heard Wellwater Conspiracy, Aeolus? It's Soundgarden (now Pearl Jam) drummer Matt Cameron's side-band,  a sort of spacey, lo-fi sound that is very cool, more psychedlic than punk though, but not the big Floyd-type psychedelia.


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## Aeolus14Umbra (Feb 6, 2004)

Hey, a fellow FUZZ-head!!! heh heh... No, I haven't heard WELLWATER CONSPIRACY!? Not much into SOUNDGARDEN myself, but, having said that, I think "Jesus Christ Pose" is one KILLER song (with a cool video clip to go with it!!!!!)...("Black Hole Sun" ain't too bad either!)...I'd be interested in hearing WELLWATER CONSPIRACY!!! MY MIND IS OPEN (as they say)...! Is there anything you like nowadays? I can't seem to find a decent contemporary band ANYWHERE!!???

Ahhh...but I'm digressing...wasn't it history we were talking about??

Well, just to keep it in line with the topic, I'll suggest this: We're living in one of the most culturally-catatonic periods in human history!!!

Where would I like to visit in history? ANYWHERE BUT "NOW"!!!!


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 7, 2004)

knivesout said:
			
		

> That's pretty interesting. I'm more into the fuzzed-out sounds myself and these bands seem worth chasing down. Have you ever heard Wellwater Conspiracy, Aeolus? It's Soundgarden (now Pearl Jam) drummer Matt Cameron's side-band, a sort of spacey, lo-fi sound that is very cool, more psychedlic than punk though, but not the big Floyd-type psychedelia.


That's really interesting.  I never think of Pink Floyd as psychedelic.  Don't know why; when I think about it, they really are.


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## Aeolus14Umbra (Feb 10, 2004)

I am NOT a PINK FLOYD fan...but some of their '60s stuff was OK...VERY "psychedelic"!! - ie "Astronomy Domine"...real fruit-loop core! Ha... But yes I prefer the fuzz-punk stuff... eg THE TROGGS!!!!!!!

Back to history...hmm...I heard the word "Atlantis" mentioned here...It's interesting, I think, that a professional geologist will tell you that back in the Paleozoic (or whatever) Era, there was one "supercontinent" called *Pangea *which split in half, the northern half called "Laurasia" and the southern half called "Gondwanaland"...(continental drift, and all that stuff)...

I wonder, hmm, maybe what we really have here is "Lemuria" and "Atlantis"?? Technological, space-faring civilizations? A nuclear war that wiped each other out? Antarctica (Atlantis) gets buried under ice (coz the Earth moved)...Lemuria (Mu) sinks into the ocean... Not too far-fetched, coz they've found pyramids under the sea off Japan...?! (True!...dated perhaps 10000+ years BC???)

Hey...! Where's my bong?


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 10, 2004)

I used to have a philosophy instructor who had a bumper sticker on his car that said: "Reunite Gondwanaland!"

Ah, yes, The Troggs.  Definitely remember them.

Oh, and one question, Aeolus: Have you been reading Graham Hancock?  (It was the Japanese pyramids and Atlantis that makes me wonder.)  "Fingerprints of the Gods" was an interesting book, even though I think it is probably a good idea to take that sort of thing with a whole cellarful of salt.


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## Aeolus14Umbra (Feb 10, 2004)

Ha ha, yes actually I have read one of Graham Hancock's books...can't remember quite what it was...good fun, but yes DEFINITELY read it with a BIG PINCH of salt!!!

I've also read some Plato...and I've seen those Finaeus maps from the 16th century that show Antarctica's terrain (beneath the ice)...strange sh*t...

But hey, the Jap pyramids are TRUE!!! I saw it on "National Geographic" channel!! ha...

(Did you know the biggest pyramid in the world is in China?)


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 11, 2004)

Aeolus14Umbra said:
			
		

> Ha ha, yes actually I have read one of Graham Hancock's books...can't remember quite what it was...good fun, but yes DEFINITELY read it with a BIG PINCH of salt!!!
> 
> I've also read some Plato...and I've seen those Finaeus maps from the 16th century that show Antarctica's terrain (beneath the ice)...strange sh*t...
> 
> ...


National Geographic Channel, huh?  We get that one, but I hardly ever watch it.  It's way out in the middle of a bunch of channels that nothing comes in on, so I hardly ever get out there to see what's on.

Even bigger than some of the Mexican pyramids?  There's one at Teotihuacan that is larger, if you go by volume, than the Great Pyramid in Egypt.  Pyramid of the Sun or Pyramid of the Moon - I can't remember which is the bigger of the two.  I should know; I took a class on the anthropology and archaeology of Mexico and Central America once, but I never could keep those two pyramids sorted out properly.


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## dwndrgn (Feb 11, 2004)

If I were going to go all the way back to Pangea I'd want to watch from space, with fast forward on  .  I'd love to see how it all happened, what bits went where and so on, but I'm sure I don't have the patience to sit and wait and watch the continents creep...


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Feb 11, 2004)

I used to read a lot of Hancock as well as other revisionists like Bauwal, Gilbert and of course von Danichen - after some time it even lost entertainment value. The past is a mystery. Move on.


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 11, 2004)

knivesout said:
			
		

> I used to read a lot of Hancock as well as other revisionists like Bauwal, Gilbert and of course von Danichen - after some time it even lost entertainment value. The past is a mystery. Move on.


I kind of enjoy reading this kind of thing.  It's fun to catch the revisionists out when they overstate or manipulate their facts to make their pet points.  But, it's also fun to catch "establishment authorities" when they put their individual or collective feet in it in trying to debunk the revisionists - which happens sometimes, too.  In other words, I don't _believe_ what the revisionists say, but I have enough of an open mind to accept that there are things we don't know about the past and I enjoy looking for the bits of possible fact within their fanciful constructions.  Call it an entertaining intellectual exercise.


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Feb 12, 2004)

Totally. It's just that, after some time, it all got too confusing for me.


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## Aeolus14Umbra (Feb 13, 2004)

It's quite simple. The reptilianoid Venusians colonised Lemuria, and the Martian greys colonised Atlantis, and they interbred and...and...

...oh forget it!  

Seriously, one of the funniest things I read was in Hancock's book about the Dogon tribe in Mali...In the introduction he said the Egyptian sphinx was a "dog" (not a "lion") and thus symbolized Sirius (the "DOG" star). Wow...what a master of deduction!  

The Dogons used to interest me immensely...how they knew about Sirius being a trinary star (without telescopes!)...I was thinking they perhaps had exceptional eyesight (from staring over the Sahara desert, or something!?)...until I read an astronomer's debunking of the whole thing...European scientists apparently had brought the information on Sirius to them early in the century...The Dogons consequently incorporated this new data into their religions...! Makes sense...??


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Feb 13, 2004)

That's what I heard, too - I believe it was the subject of one of Carl Sagan's essays in Broca's Brain. The whole problem I have with alternate scholarship is that garbled or simply falsified information gets replicated from book to book like a virus, with no real checks or review bodies to ensure these are caught. 

Since I have neither the expertise nor the time to check all the facts, I have had to, very sadly, stop indulging my affection for all things cranky.  Still, it was fun. 

My, we are going OT, aren't we?


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## Aeolus14Umbra (Feb 13, 2004)

More ET, I'd say, HA!


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## riffraff (Feb 20, 2004)

I would like to visit ancient china, and see how it worked before it was practically destroyed by the west.  Id also like to visit the minoan era, and vary ancient india as I would like to see the people who's language has influenced all of europe etc.  not too interested in the romans but I would like to see the incas, as there is slight evidence that there may have been trading links between ancient egypt and the incas (I think that was what they were called)

finally i'd like to go back to the 1960s


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## littlemissattitude (Feb 20, 2004)

Which 1960s?

This is a serious question.  There was the time before JFK's assassination, which was really more like the 50s.  There there was the 1964 through about 1967 (the "Summer of Love"), which was "the Sixties"; there was fall of '67 through summer of 1969, which was "the Sixties" only beginning to be corrupted.  Then, the 1970s really began in about August of 1969.  This is not a completely original analysis, I've found, although I had come to this chronology before I read other writers who have arrived at just about the same conclusions.

Actually, the summer of 1969 was the most peculiar time.  July brought the first manned moon landing and Teddy Kennedy's Chappaquiddick disaster (both on the same weeked, actually).  Then August brought the Manson family murders and Woodstock.  In my opinion, the 1960s really ended with that early August weekend of murders in Los Angeles (although it really irks me to give Charile that much of a role in it), and Woodstock was just a final celebration of something that had really already gone into history.

Still in all, I really miss the sixties sometimes.


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## Esioul (Mar 25, 2004)

Oh, definitely Sumer- Ur in particular, maybe even Babylon to find out if there ever were any hanging gardens. Also 5th C Athens, I'd like to watch the trial of Socrates. And Rome at the time of Cicero- It would be so cool to meet Cicero. And my local area in Roman times, because I've just done a project on it.


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## mac1 (Apr 4, 2004)

Yeah definately Esioul! It would have to Sumer for me too. I've always wanted to know how the ancient Sumerians had knowledge of the Universe. Its even more facinating to me than the mystery of the Egyptian Pyramids. The questions about the origins of the Anunaki are still unanswered, and as for Nibiru, the whole issue seems to keep coming back year after year.


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## Brian G Turner (Apr 4, 2004)

Esioul said:
			
		

> Oh, definitely Sumer- Ur in particular, maybe even Babylon to find out if there ever were any hanging gardens. Also 5th C Athens, I'd like to watch the trial of Socrates. And Rome at the time of Cicero- It would be so cool to meet Cicero. And my local area in Roman times, because I've just done a project on it.


Good choices!

I only started learning anything about my local ancient to mediaeval history very recently. I've been pretty astonished what I've learned.


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## Esioul (Apr 4, 2004)

I found a book of local folk tales in the library which was fascinating. Apparently the local tribes had there own explanations for the flooding and why the Romans left. I'm intending to use these takes for my own stories at some point.

It's interesting to hear that other people like Sumer too. Most people haven't even heard of it, and everyone apart from my in my archaeology class is obsessed with Egypt!


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## littlemissattitude (Apr 4, 2004)

Esioul said:
			
		

> I found a book of local folk tales in the library which was fascinating. Apparently the local tribes had there own explanations for the flooding and why the Romans left. I'm intending to use these takes for my own stories at some point.
> 
> It's interesting to hear that other people like Sumer too. Most people haven't even heard of it, and everyone apart from my in my archaeology class is obsessed with Egypt!


Honestly, it hadn't even occured to me to think of Sumer as a place/time to visit in the  past.  But now that you mention it, that would be interesting.

What I would really like to take a look at, though, in that same geographical area (or anyway, as the conventional wisdom has it) the part of time when the first cities began to become cities rather than simply settlements or villages.  I am always interested in those kinds of borders, times and places when huge changes take place.


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## Brian G Turner (Apr 5, 2004)

If I may ask, Esioul, which part of the UK are you from? I'm guessing south of England way? And what were the reasons given for the Romans leaving there? Sounds like a great book!


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## Esioul (Apr 8, 2004)

I'm from the Fens (A wet place in the south). Apparently some Roman governer called Valerian, in 'Isinnis', I think this is probably the Washes area, was horrid to the locals and used to amuse himself by hunting native brits. He nicked some local called Rowena, so her father who was a preist got all the locals eager to fight and helped the slaves to escape, then claimed the gods would destroy the Romans. Anyway, there was a storm and a tsunami which Valerian ignored (why?) and the Romans drowned, the natives deciding to be the Gyrvii instead of the Iceni. becoming 'a peculiar people who walked on stilts'. 

Realistically, the Romans left due to their own problems at home, so there was no one to manage the drainage anymore so the floods came back. There might also have been some climatic change. 

Anyway, I thought I could make it into a story of my own, it would be quite fun.


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## Ahdkaw (Apr 8, 2004)

I don't know the exact name or date of the period in history, but I would love to be in Ancient (?) Japan learning the ways of the Ninja. Or any other martial art to be honest. I love the stuff. Ahhhh, Lee and Chan, you make my life so much better with you kicks, punches and other fighting techniques. 

Plus the spiritual side of it makes a lot of sense to me too. I would really like to learn Ninjitsu, but there are no classes round here.


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## Brian G Turner (Apr 9, 2004)

I've heard about those drainage problems the Romans had down there - sounds like they had a lucky escape from being Iceni - though are we talking 1st or 5th century here? I'm just a little more North - on top of the Humber, in Yorkshire, where the Parisi had settlement - a far more continental people than British, by all accounts. Ahdkaw is just up the road in what is almost certainly Brigantine country. 


 And as for Ninjitsu - have you tried any other martial arts? I keep meaning to do some kendo and/or similar - for research purposes  -  but I've just not got around to it before now.


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## Esioul (Apr 9, 2004)

Well, it could be 3rd C, because I think the Romans had some trouble then. But the story seems to suggestthe Romans actually left, so it could be 5th C. Am I right in thinking Catterick is in Yorkshire? 

I'd love to do some martial arts, but I haven't seen any evidence of any good ones in my area, and I reckon I'd be sort of rubbish at them, but they might be useful anyway. Is it scary getting beaten up?


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## Cordalas (Apr 18, 2004)

I would really like to visit Rome at the height of the Roman Empire...Because its so cool


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## polymorphikos (Apr 19, 2004)

I would love to see the Mycenae before they fell, and especially sail with them to Troy as a foreign mercenary. I could bugger off when things got rough. Then I'd love to find a cave 40,000 years old and draw pictures of Snoopy and Hagar the Horrible, just to wierd out archaeologists. I'd also love to see Africa before the europeans started really conquering it, and Timbuktoo especially. last but not least, I'd find the arab who invented cell batteries several thousand years ago and show him and others what you can do with electricity (ie: motors). A bronze age industrial revolution and no greenhouse gases, and imagine the technology we'd have now.


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## mac1 (Apr 23, 2004)

Esioul said:
			
		

> It's interesting to hear that other people like Sumer too. Most people haven't even heard of it, and everyone apart from my in my archaeology class is obsessed with Egypt!


Heard of it. As most people who know me fairly well will tell you, its been a mini obsession of mine for years and years.


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## Chefo (Apr 23, 2004)

I’d like to be a Condottier Captain in Renaissance Italy. Then, I’d give Leonardo Da Vinci a nice high-paying job in my company and have him build tanks and helicopters for me (he had projects for both). Needless to say, I’d kick bottom. 



I’d go for that since playing at war and/or politics in Italy seemed to have challenged one’s mental capacity to the fullest. Besides, you get well paid.



Another place would be Atlantis (if it existed, that is) and see why the ancient Greeks thought them superior to their own civilization. I have an idea about its ‘sinking’ and it will be implemented in the short Sci-fi project that I am currently working on. 



Other places would be ancient China (and see whether their first Emperor truly came from the sky) and India (those flying chariots that can incinerate cities are quite intriguing). 



I’d also go see Rome, find Spartacus and tell him to go home and not listen to those comrades of his that wanted him to pillage Italy. Could you imagine such an accomplished general going back to Thrace? Herodotus mentions the Thracians the most numerous people after the Indians and they were quite notorious soldiers as well. As it happened, Rome reduced the Thracian kingdoms one by one, but what if Spartacus got home and united the tribes? 

In later Roman times (4th-6th century), the Thracians were claimed to be the best fighters in the Empire (many of the elite Cataphract regiments were raised in Thrace) and produced several Emperors as well as Belisarius. So, they had potential. It would have made for an epic clash. 

I think I’ll have to write an alternative reality novel about that one day.


That’s just on top of my head.



Chefo


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## Esioul (Apr 23, 2004)

Mac, that's cool, because most people in my arch class at college think I'm weird, because they only like Egypt. I'm into Roman archaeology too.

BTW, I was digging in my garden today and I found some pottery, but it was probably modern.

I'd also like to see if those battery things really were batteries...

And I'd like to go to 5th C Greece and tell Crito to knock Socrates out and make him escape from prison, the idiot. And I'd like to meet Alcibiades. And go to Rome and meet Cicero...!


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## Lacedaemonian (May 23, 2004)

Thermopylae 480 BC.  I would be dead within the week, but what a tremendous way to go out......


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## Hypes (May 23, 2004)

Between 850 AD and 1000 AD with the vikings, more closely with the Birkebeinere as they make off with the future king of Norway, rescuing him from the Baglere.

Good times.


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## Lacedaemonian (May 23, 2004)

They sound like glorious times Andreas.


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## Hypes (May 23, 2004)

Marvellous times, they were.

Back then, the strawberries tasted strawberry, the women were voluptuous, and the swedes were all dead.


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## Brian G Turner (May 23, 2004)

Actually, I thought the Swedes were vikings, too?


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## Esioul (May 23, 2004)

I ought to know. The Vikings are one of my case studies this year, but somehow I've got left behind at Pompeii.. so much revision to do. I expect I was ill or something. All I know is they had a city at York with Steatite bowls in it and they had saddles and stirrups.


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## Brian G Turner (May 23, 2004)

Ah, yes - the old Eberculaneum, wasn't it? The Roman regional capital of the north. Not too far where I live.


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## Lacedaemonian (May 23, 2004)

I would love to be beside the crib of Jesus the Nazarite - how history could be changed. ....


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## Brian G Turner (May 23, 2004)

I would so love to experience life in Rome during the Empire - especially the early 1st or early 2nd century AD.


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## Lacedaemonian (May 23, 2004)

Oh that would be excellent!  There is so much great history, I have not settled on a period or event yet...  I would love to have seen Boudicca send those Romans packing.


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## Hypes (May 23, 2004)

All of the Scandinav peoples were vikings at some point, but the Swedes forsake their viking traditions and moved into a system more akin to central-Europe, while the Danes were focused primarily on peaceful trade from early on.

The viking period of Norway didn't really end until about 60 years after the Christening in year 1000.


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## Lacedaemonian (May 24, 2004)

I knew a Danish lad called *Axel *he was writing a fantasy novel of sorts...

The real vikings were the icelandic!!

Nazi Germany would be an interesting experience.


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## Sage Orion (May 24, 2004)

I would love to go back to the time of the Gladiators!!

Ancient Rome would be great, from the beginning to the fall of the

Roman Empire!!   

I would also love to go back to the time of the Samurai!!

Ancient Japan would be amazing, from the beginning to the war to

keep the sword of the Samurai at hand!!  

Gladiator and The Last Samurai are my fav ancient eras and Movies!!


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## polymorphikos (May 24, 2004)

Off prancing about with Tokugawa Ieyasu, eh? Maybe you could fidle with history so that the Emperor actually ruled. 

As for Vikings, I always remembe a story about a bard with a taper from the Norns, and how he would live until it burnt out. Then the first christian king burnt it and he dropped dead. I'd like to own such a taper, and so i would go back, find Odin, and say "Look, mate, gimme the Norns or Frig gets it!" Then I would rule the universe! Failing that, i would just scare the hell out of Vikings for the fun of it.


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## Inzilbêth (May 24, 2004)

I am a Viking.

*prepares to die*


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## polymorphikos (May 24, 2004)

Really? Sacked any pretty European capitals lately? 
I, sadly, have no cultural identity. My Mum's from Manchester and my Dad's umpteenth generation Australian, so all I can hold claim to is mill-owners and possible dairy farmers. Not a pirate amongst us.  Sigh.


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## Esioul (May 24, 2004)

We have a bloke called Napier who invented some maths thing and was apparently a Warlock and had a tame raven, or something, and we have a famous life boatman, but that is pretty much it. 

I'd like to go back to Rome during the civil war and meet Cicero.


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## Brian G Turner (May 24, 2004)

I am the result of a long line of undistringuished Yorkshire peasants.


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## polymorphikos (May 24, 2004)

Actually, I think i might be related to C J Dennis. Or so I've heard. Sources on this are suspect.


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## Dead Riverdragon (May 25, 2004)

Ah, for me it's wherever da Vince was circa 1500, I'll go for Florence whether he was visiting the homeland or not, simply for the vast cultural heritage. That man, along with the rather more primitive Pelopidas and the seminal Archilochus is my ultimate hero. The things one could learn!


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## Ivo (Jun 3, 2004)

I would love to check out ancient Sparta and witness the training young boys and men go through to become warriors.  One of the more fascinating cultures in history imo, such strength without compromise.


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## Hypes (Jun 3, 2004)

As we are only about four million Norwegians, I can safely assume that I am the descendant of a great Viking king.


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Jun 3, 2004)

It's almost certain I come from a long line of priests. Life is weird, that way.


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## polymorphikos (Jun 3, 2004)

To be fair, though, didn't every second village have a great Viking king? 

Myself, I can almost certainly say that I am descended of someone involved in paddocks, as per my surname.


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## Hypes (Jun 3, 2004)

> To be fair, though, didn't every second village have a great Viking king?



I beg to differ . . . Every _third_.


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## dwndrgn (Jun 3, 2004)

I may be descended from the corner apple vendor - as per _my_ surname.

However, I get the feeling that I personally was a cat burglar in an earlier life...


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## Hypes (Jun 3, 2004)

> The real vikings were the icelandic!!



Peter, you tit, the people of Iceland were Norwegian settlers.


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## The Master™ (Jun 3, 2004)

I'd love to visit Rome under Augustus Ceasar... (one of only a couple of Emperors to die of old age)

Or Egypt under Hatchepsut or Ramses The Great... (Hatchepsut was the Queen who made herself Pharoah, and Ramses was the most successful Pharoah)


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## Esioul (Jun 3, 2004)

Er.... did Augustus die of old age (his last words were, by the way, 'forty young men are carrying me off!')... or was he helped on his way?


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## littlemissattitude (Jan 2, 2005)

Bumped for Eldo.


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## Maryjane (Jan 2, 2005)

_Hey Brian, I come from a long line of chiefs with bent feathers. _


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## Eldo (Jan 3, 2005)

*I would like to witness the prelude to and the ancient battle at Thermopylae itself.  The prelude because the Persians sent spies to the Spartan camp and unexpectedly saw Spartan warriors combing their long hair seemingly unfazed by what lay ahead.  *
*           Another battle would be Alexander The Great's destruction of King Darius's army so famously depicted in a (I think Roman) mosaic, which captures the scene of the two great leaders so well.*
*           To see the Spartans in training would be amazing.  To see people training for battle whose whole life revolves around war fought with swords, spears and shields creating the greatest military society that has ever existed would be mind blowing.*
*           Other obvious times would be the birth, death and ressurrection of Christ.*

*(Thanks for telling me about the history board Littlemissattitude)*


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## Maryjane (Jan 3, 2005)

_I would like to go back in prehistory and observe the birth of mankind._


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## Leto (Jan 3, 2005)

Evolution man or How I ate my father by Roy Lewis is the book for you then.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...104-2859452-0404737?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Me I'd like to visit one regular day in every century in Paris, Beijing, Timbuktu, Mexico and Roma. Just to meet the civilians of history.


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## Apo (Jan 5, 2005)

my my my..... what a wonderful thought !!!!

So, I would love to go back to Gerona, Spain, in the 15th century, just to meet and see those I studied for a year throught their testaments.... that would be wonderful to actually put faces on those words and to understand why they made those statements... And to see if I was right when suspected one of those high rank man to have a relationship with his slave....  hehehehe

I would also love to meet hubby ancestors just before they left England/Ireland. To tell them that they don't leave forever, that someday, their blood will come back. 

I would also love to meet those lovely inquisitors..... and kick their asses!!!!

In fact, I would love to travel through all prehistory and history, just to have the proof that what I was taught all those years is just the official story, that facts may have been different. And to understand how human beings mind evolved. To see through my own eyes how it changed and why it changed that way..... hum..... you made my day !!!


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## BAYLOR (May 27, 2016)

Id like to visit  the 1939 World Fair in New York City .


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## 2DaveWixon (May 27, 2016)

BAYLOR said:


> Id like to visit  the 1939 World Fair in New York City .



I believe I'd like to have been on a certain grassy knoll in Dallas on 11/22/1963, with a camera.


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## Dennis E. Taylor (May 27, 2016)

I'd like to visit the library of Alexandria, before it was torched, with a camera...


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## 2DaveWixon (May 27, 2016)

Bizmuth said:


> I'd like to visit the library of Alexandria, before it was torched, with a camera...



Not a camera, but a scanner!


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## Ray McCarthy (May 27, 2016)

2DaveWixon said:


> Not a camera, but a scanner!


A high end digital camera would be more use than any ordinary flat bed scanner.

I'd liked to have been Marconi's assistant. He was a nicer person than Edison and not at all weird like Tesla.


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## 2DaveWixon (May 27, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> A high end digital camera would be more use than any ordinary flat bed scanner.



True!


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## BAYLOR (May 28, 2016)

Bring a portable photo copier and copy as many manuscripts as possible from the Library of Alexandria.


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## 2DaveWixon (May 28, 2016)

BAYLOR said:


> Bring a portable photo copier and copy as many manuscripts as possible from the Library of Alexandria.



I doubt they had electrical outlets. And from what the stories say about the library, batteries would not last long enough...


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## Ray McCarthy (May 28, 2016)

Bring a LOAD of batteries for the digital camera and solar panel chargers. I have a big fold out one used to charge my two way radio.


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## 2DaveWixon (May 28, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> Bring a LOAD of batteries for the digital camera and solar panel chargers. I have a big fold out one used to charge my two way radio.



I don't know of any way to accurately estimate the size of that library, but my hunch is that it contained enough material that it would probably take one person days to scan (or otherwise copy) -- lots of batteries, yes.
But there's also the factor of whether the library authorities would allow an obvious outlander to set up that equipment inside the library and rummage through the library, without some form of interference; at least a (smaller) camera might be a little easier to hide...
It would still take days, though (and I doubt I'd have the stamina to do that days on end without taking breaks -- as shown by some of my past experiences in research libraries).


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## Ray McCarthy (May 28, 2016)

You'd bribe your way in ...


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## Dennis E. Taylor (May 28, 2016)

Ray McCarthy said:


> You'd bribe your way in ...



Trade for a modern Atlas of the World. Or something similar. Sorry, no one said you couldn't screw with the timeline.


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## J Riff (May 28, 2016)

I'd go waaaaaay back... to 1984. Never mind why.


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## Ray McCarthy (May 28, 2016)

J Riff said:


> I'd go waaaaaay back... to 1984


Been there. Nothing very memorable.
some selected  events:
1984 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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