Ask Lemmy

Nobody is bringing any food? I'm bringing the bag of potatos, the container of cherry tomatos, and my encyclopaedia.

My sturdiest knife, a big bag of road salt, and a book.

If I get to choose to appear in civilisation, I'll probably bring a mathematics handbook with the last two millennia of formulae. If unknown where I get dropped, probably a mechanical engineering handbook.

I have a decent chance surviving to civilisation with the knife, I can pay my way with the salt for a bit, and I might pull off advancing industrialisation in spite of slavery.

An axe, a hammer, a chisel.

They would be higher quality than anything in the time period and I would go to a blacksmith and use them to trade for an education in metallurgy. I would help bring as much modern metalwork into the past and move them away from lead in their waterways and the madness that befell Rome.

Phone, power bank, charger

probably downloading all of wikipedia (in latin, greek and english) if I have prep time

and cant forget the classic time machine flier

locating the early churches with the icyths

teaching them a lot of modern stuff

talking with the church fathers would be a dream come true

A dictionary. We can cross reference words with latin roots to help communicate.

Weed

Toilet paper

• "Science for Dummies" book
• "Latin for Dummies" book
• "Engineering for Dummies" book

I would try to jump-start science way earlier to see what would happen. This would be pre-gold rush and pre-oil, so most of earth's resources are still present.

Ideally, try to advance science while avoiding global warming this time around.

A board game, my guitar and a toothbrush.

1. Leatherman Surge v2 multitool. Tools are always useful.
2. The Pocket Ref book by Thomas J. Glover
3. English to Latin Dictionary

1. My cat. Because there won’t be anyone to take care of her.

2. A sample of copper water line and a valve - something they can study and reverse engineer to improve their infrastructure. I’ll have to explain the concept of water towers too since I probably won’t be able to actually bring one.

3. A book on the history of the Roman Empire. Maybe they’ll do things a little differently this time.

Am I allowed to warn them about Pompei? They’ve got four years to evacuate that area.

A towel of course. Never forget your towel.

The internet, because I can't live without the internet anymore.

And a game where I can take another 3 items with me...

Three towels

1.) Toolbox with simple tools like pliers, hammers, wrenches, prybars. I don't feel like Id have much use for modern wrenches.

2.) Compound bow. (The quiver and arrows are attatched to the bow) For those who dont know, modern archery is wild. There are bows that will move arrows, with surgical steel blades, over 100 meters a second. Accurately.

3.) A cardboard tube full of blank paper and drawing tools.

SPF 50+ sunscreen, a towel, and my bicycle.

If you bring a thing, does that include the things contents? Say if you were to say "My handgun" would that include the bullets inside of it? Where do you draw that line? I have a bag packed full of useful items, if I say that bag, will it be empty when I get there?

The nerd in me says a solar generator, a laptop and a book on computing. See what they come up with.

Glasses. Not for me, but to show the Romans that some that can't see shit that magic glass can make them see better. Either that or a magnifying glass, so it can double as a fun trick of sunlight burning, which, hopefully, can teach them to make concave/convex glasses for people.

A sewing machine. It's electric, but by opening it up and trying to replicate the pattern manually, those old, fully manual ones could be built.

A world atlas. Maps weren't exactly common and, for most of human history, unreliable, so having something like that would be extremely valuable, even if it lacked some info like terrain elevation or type of environment.

1. That teach yourself Latin book I have but never read

2. My rifle

3. A box of ammo for the rifle

Solar battery, ebike, and solar panels

Blåhaj, Blåhaj and Blåhaj. The other three will need to be adopted by my bf

I have a Latin text book from middle school somewhere in the attic. I suspect I'll want that to brush up on my Latin.

I also have a Smith & Wesson 45 revolver. It's a limited edition collectors item with 6 rounds in a case, but it would shoot and that would probably come in handy. Unfortunately, I have no other ammunition.

Probably after that the first aid kit.

A lockable shipping container full of salt that I can open

A printed water/UV proof copy of wikipedia

A solar powered all-terrain electric truck with airless tires, bullet proof tinted glass and camper shell on bed, built from a collaboration of the most accomplished subject matter experts in each related discipline, from around the world, with an unlimited budget.

I should put more time into this but lets say I have minutes to decide. I would at this moment grab my leatherman, this other keychain thing that has knife sharpeners and fire starter combo (also a whistle), and for number three. mmmm. er. boy wish I had a latin to english translation book but I don't. mmmm. ah you know what. a silicone baking sheet.

It really depends. Either a permanent ink pen + something to write with, praying that I can make a record that will outlive me...

A waterproof kindle (or similar ereader) loaded with an offline copy of wikipedia and a solar charger + usb cable might be right up there.

Probably a good knife. A really good backpack, perhaps? A first aid kit instead?

It is challenging to decide, because here is the thing: if I am put in the middle of nowhere, I am going to be a stranger at the mercy of whoever I happen to meet first, or whoever in power happens to hear of me first. So, chances are I, foreigner who does not speak the local language, would not fare rather well. In this one, self-defense tools, such as the knife, and other camping-useable gear (covers, first aid kits, water filtration systems, etc) would be immensely more useful than other options.

If, instead, I was dropped somewhere near somebody sympathetic, or at least not bound to kill me immediately, I might manage (assuming I survive the environmental shock) to become useful enough to not kill. Here, wikipedia would certainly be useful, and at that point I might make enough to resolve the record-keeping aspect by virtue of getting compensated.

In this later case, besides the kindle + solar charger combo, I would bring my DSLR (and it would be a DSLR and not a Mirrorless, or other such cameras). I have a really neat variable travel lens that should be very damn useful for the military (either for a general or for scouts), and it should work with no batteries for seeing.

I'm thinking... Probably anything made of gold, for money. Then a good steel knife.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand.

Hmm.

HMMMMMM.

I want something to impress them with but.... I am also trying not to get robbed because I have some fancy thing that is super ostentatious that will wow people and then easily can be taken away.

Maybe clothes of some sort...

Or...

What doesn't require batteries or energy but is still cool to have. A zippo lighter will run out of fuel but you could get a lot of mileage out of that.

I feel like you would want to minmax materials and tech, but it depends how long it would last.

Maybe... An encyclopedia? But that is kind of meh.

If I had drugs or LSD or ecstasy or research chemicals I'd bring that but... That would only be good as long as they lasted and in the end you'd just trade them for shit anyway after being blazed out of your skull just roaming the streets of Rome hoping you wouldn't get shanked...

Oh wait, def an English-Latin parleur. But I don't have that at home.