ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion OT:Need a Time Machine?

Of course the fictional time-traveller had to contend with all sorts of problems. Suppose he accidentally killed his great-grandfather when he was a boy - would he cease to exist and fade-out? But, if he didn't exist, how could he kill anyone? Would he pop in-and-out of reality at 60hz?
In 'The door into Summer' by Robert Heinlein, (1955), as an aside to the main plot of a regular guy getting stitched-up by a wily dame, an American lab-tech. called Leonard Vincent gets lobbed back into the 1400s by a mad-scientist, never to return. Somehow he makes his way to Renaissance Italy, ( who with- the ruddy Vikings? L. da Vinci b.1452-d.1519, so the bulk of his life is before Columbus ), and dreams up lots of doolally machines and dabbles in painting and stuff.....!
Actually, the best parts of this book, from a 21C viewpoint, are the electrics / electronics, which Heinlein visualises quite accurately with robots, CAD design centres and computers. Heinlein had a 'thing' about time travel; in his book 'Job', the main character, ( named after the Old Testament character tested by God), is doomed by some higher being to flick through parallel, but almost identical, universes every 2 weeks or so, with all his cash turned to worthless funny-money, loss of his friends, his possessions etc. The plot is that insignificant chance actions multipy chaos and create multiple futures- so which one is his particular America, and can he get back there?


Alan

Love it---"...don't have the time to complete it"...LOL.

Have always loved time travel stories, Jack Finney's "Time and Again" from 1970 is a good one, which I first read in a Reader's Digest condensed version (cheating, I know).

Anyone recommend a good short story or whatever on the subject?

Does the fact that Ihave to swipe a credit card mean that I don't go anywhere if I don't have any credit?

TW

Sad to relate, as recent events showed, without money or credit you are pretty much stuck where you are. However, with a proper time machine you could be stinkin' rich! Go forward a week, come back with a wad of newspapers and hammer the bookmakers with a bunch of long-odds accumulators at the track! Then go back a year and buy/sell 3 months pork-bellies or orange juice or copper. Win the lottery. Here, wait a cotton-pickin' minute, someone already has a machine!

Bugger!

Alan

Alan,
We're going to have to start a translation service for our Colonial friends if you keep that up!

I've always found time-travel stories fascinating as well. I read several Robert Heinlein books when I was in school. The one which sticks in my mind is Rendez-vous with Rama.

SORRY!
OK class, listen up!

Squiffy; intoxicated with alcohol.
cf. Skew-whiff; out of square, twisted.

Jar; A glass/ pint mug.

Rub-a-dub-dub; rhyming-slang = pub.
cf. Rub-a-dub-dub refers to actions of washer-women.

twenty snout; twenty cigarettes.
cf. Snout, ( NOTE NOT SNOUTS ) was (is) prison slang for cigarettes. Snout; as in nose*.

I'm told that the favorite post-pub food now is doner-kebabs, whatever they are!

Alan

PS I should add that 'nose' here is not your 'hooter' (= schnozzle ) , but 'to search, ferret-out' etc.. 'Snout' also can refer to any 'treasure' a prisoner might get, like chocolate, sweets, postage stamps etc., anything tradeable, and no, I "ain't never been in no nick" = ( gaol ), as dear old Ronnie Barker said once in Porridge = (time served in gaol)!


[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 10-16-2005).]

Professor Stephen W. Hawking appeared on the 'Richard and Judy Show' ( sic ) recently. Asked about the possibility of time travel, the Prof said that Einstein thought travelling back in time might be possible, but that there was the possibility that a dislocation of the space-time continu-ho-hum might cause a massive burst of radiation similar to a supernova.
Richard: "God!"
Judy: "Ooooh-er!"
The producers had thought the halting delivery and the speech comprehension might be a problem, but Judy seemed to manage just fine!
Such fun when a real brain meets the typical media dullards!

Alan

EDIT http://www.hawking.org.uk

(I should add that Professor Hawking has Motor Neurone Disease, and speaks via a computer; and of course, no disrespect.)


[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 10-18-2005).]

To quote the words of a 13-year-old girl down in Georgia when I was explaining some of our differences in terminology:

"Gee, I thought y'all spoke English over there!"

Oh, and gaol = jail.

I've not caught much news lately -- I only just found out yesterday that Ronnie Barker passed away a couple of weeks ago.

The consequences of traveling back in time and changing something has always fascinated me. I remember reading a short story years ago about a futuristic outfit which set itself up as "Time Travel Safaris Inc." Somehow they'd constructed elevated walkways on pre-historic earth, but at one point somebody accidentally steps off the walkway and crushes a butterfly.

Upon returning to their present-day, the loss of that one butterfly millions of years earlier had so affected the course of history that their present had been changed considerably.




[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 10-18-2005).]

Paul, the plural of "y'all" is "all y'all".

And the plural possessive?