To constrain the question: Say you could go back 180 years into the past and appear anywhere in the world but you have to do it driving a 83 Delorean to 88 mph. One trip only and you can come back anytime you wish. What would you do to be set for life in 2006?

Go back to 1950 and tell my dad to invest about $300 in IBM.

Well it used to be. When it was known as The Red, and somebody had to ask the question about what they could do when they went back in time, and some smart arse said - "well, you could go back to 1995 and subliminally implant the suggestion in Mathowie that Time Machine Questions should not be asked on The Red. Oh, and while you're at it, get him to change the colour because Red makes me fucking angry!!!!"

That's nuts. Askme is totally for hypothetical time machine questions. Jeeeeeeeeze.

To answer the question, put like $100 of gold into a Swiss bank account. 180 years of interest and. . uh. . I was an art major. Profit?!?!

...but Metachat is!

Really, the best way to make money would be to gamble on upcoming events. "I have $500 that says Lee invades Pennsylvania, fights a 3 day battle, and is repulsed with heavy losses." Or invest in the stock market, using your back issues of the Wall Street Journal as a guide.

That's the best use of askme!

AskMe is for actual time machine problems, only.

And MeCha is not for complaining about AskMe questions. That's what MeTa is for. (I realize it's confusing. They should publish a guide or something.)

I think the official policy is that once it's been talked to death on MeTa, *then* you can post about it here!

You could always buy QDOS from Tim Paterson in 1980 and then sell it to IBM whilst holding onto the rights to it.

/geek

What would I do? Hmm. Probably go back and buy some real estate in Hong Kong, maybe Manhattan, etc. Actually, "set for life" is a pretty small goal when you're talking about up to 154 years of interest. If you did something simple and started a stable investment bank or something.

Actually, you know what I'd do? I'd buy a shit load of synthetic diamonds, you can buy like a bag of 75 2-3ct synthetic diamonds on e-bay for like $75. I mean, there is no physical difference between these and real diamonds, so if you went back in time you'd be able sell them for a ton of money. Maybe the 1950s or 1960s.

I think what I'd do is go back to just after WWII, sell a big bag of synthetic diamonds, and start a shipping company with the proceeds. Why shipping? It's something easy that I could find good employees to run it for me, and I don't need to worry about what they do while they're waiting for me to come back.

I'd probably use the car to go forward one year, have a 1-day meeting to make sure things are going well, etc. They might be a little weirded out by the fact I don't age, but whatever.

I suppose I could keep doing that forever, and get to see much more of how the world is, and how it's changing, etc. That might be kind of fun.

Also askme is down.

Hm. Well, I would have been totally hot for buying most of the Greek islands (not for money, but for love! And for money! But mostly for LOVE!), but 180 years ago is too long ago for that to really work out... And the wine I'm drinking was not long enough ago for this answer to really work out.

So, tune in tomorrow, when I try to come up with a really good response to this while hangovered. Yes!

I'd go back in time and sell all The Beatles songs to Herman's Hermits.

"We could make beans into peas!"

I've already told one person what I'd do to her if only I had a time machine. But it was a SECRET VALENTINE.

Nancy Sinatra - Wish I had a time machine; she's stone-cold outta sight.

I'd only go back to the mid 60s, since at that point travel is extremely simple, and OTB betting exists in numerous areas at that point in time. I'd have a list of horses, and I'd bet to win a significant amount per day hitting longshots like exactas and trifectas. Since I'd be betting at different off-track locations, it would be relatively unlikely that anybody would notice that I was an enormous winner. I'd just be some anonymous high-roller who made $1k in bets, and took down $20k in lucky profits.

After using that methodology to put together a half million or so, I'd setup a private investment trust based in a country without capital gains taxes. The trust would be set to trade stocks upon rules that seemed to be based on an investment theory, but were actually based on pre-determined knowledge of individual stocks. Instead of trying to maximize these gains to some absurd level (where the SEC might investigate), I'd aim for a 25% APY.

This would give me a 2006 net worth of about four billion. Not world's richest man status or anything, but enough that I'd be able to do anything for anyone, yet all earned in a way that would draw absolutely no publicity whatsoever, granting me modern day anonymity.

(boring, I know)

Nancy Sinatra is a metachatter? Well, damn! I never!

(Well, I guess it makes sense; we've always been big fans of her)

Remember in the movie Peggy Sue Got Married when she goes back to the 50s and tells the high school nerd to invent pantyhose? That was sheer genius.

sheer genius

spanks ico soundly. SOUNDLY, I say!

Compound interest was good enough for Einstein and it is good enough for me.

Taz, that's one of the reasons I love you so - you get my crappy jokes.

mosch: Is trading based on personal knowledge of future events illegal? It isn't non-public information. I don't think the SEC could stop you.

The movie Late for Dinner was done by the same guy that directed Buckaroo Banzai. After which he gave up directing forever.

I'd buy waterfront property. Lots and lots of it.

And iconomy, that joke wasn't crappy--just a bit opaque.

To clarify, I meant the only date you could go back to would be Valentine's day 1826 (but you can stay as long as you'd like). Part of the problem is to ensure your investment isn't taxed away, siezed as abandoned etc.

I would go back in time and totally kill the fucking king hell crap out of Hitler...But first I would bet someone 10 million dollars that I could go back in time and kill Hitler.

And I would do this despite adhering to all of Mitheral's constraints because I am a time-traveling, Hitler-killing, big-betting, Wild Turkey drinker and I can eat more chicken than a man ever seen.

My mum's dad had an opportunity to buy land that the future Disneyland would sit on. He passed on it. I'd make him buy it.