VANITY You Are Transported To The Year 742 AD Europe And Allowed To Bring 3 Items From The Future

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[trailhkr1]

What would they be? A gun? Then you are only allowed to bring 2 bullets..see how that works?? Some basic ground rules..has to be a realistic items you can get you hands on today..no tanks etc. You are going with just the clothes on your back + the 3 items to survive an mingle with the folks of the day. Never coming back.

Saw this question on another site and wanted to see what you guys would come up with..I will post that link tomorrow after everyone has a chance to come up with their ideas..some people came up with good ideas (detailed history text of the time in Europe, antibiotics) and other people's ideas..not so much.

[djf]

Probably the highest grade stainless steel knife I could find.
The best general purpose teflon pan. (big enough to make soups, also able to fry eggs)
An extra pair of shoes. (counting that as one item, I think that still fits the rules)

[cuban leaf]

like for an AK47 just before the Civil War

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How about just after Gettysburg?

[al baby]

My wife my dog and free repibli

[trailhkr1]

Laughing at all of you bring computers etc..being burnt at the stake for being a demon...

[DManA]

2. Handbook/methods for steelmaking

Did you happen to watch Nova this week. Fascinating show about the Ulfberht sword, make around 900-1000 AD.

Made out of steel, the quality of which was not seen again for 1000 years.

Guy from Wisconsin figured out how they did it and recreated the sword. Smelted his own steel from iron ore, forged it, even did the inlaid name Ulfberht.

[al baby]

My wife my dog and free republic

[Chainmail]

Always a possibility but a lot more portable than the Encyclopedia Britannica!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

A lot of pathogens that beset us today did not exist in 742 AD. AIDS is one obvious one, the common cold was not recorded prior to 1660. The plague only goes back to 1340, malaria maybe 1600. In prehistorical times, deadly pathogens would kill off a local population and then, they would die out because there was no one left to infect. Diseases like smallpox and leprosy persisted because they took longer to do kill a person. We are the descendants of the survivors, the people who had resistance to the worst pathogens. Native Americans, for instance, did not, so when they contacted Europeans, their populations had not been through the winnowing process.

[Flag_This]

a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

[trailhkr1]

A comprehensive volume on Medicine A comprehensive volume on engineering processes A comprehensive volume on modern weaponry

Good ideas but as the other site said you might be killed for being a heretic by the religious leaders of the day if you go overboard.

[Vince Ferrer]

Hopefully an isolated superior advanced nation built soley upon native Americans like the Cherokee and such become the dominant rulers of the free world. Bigger than Britain or Germany, more powerful but not warmongers instead.

Native Americans were just as wormongering as Europeans. Why do you think they would have acted differently if the Aztec built ships and "discovered" Europe instead of the other way around?

[SeminoleCounty]

Bringing a Bible makes sense...the ones available at the time were only hand-scribed by monks in monasteries, with only priests and abbotts/abbosesses had them.

[Holen1]

Detailed medical volume.
Detailed chemistry volume.
English-Latin Dictionary.

[Eye of Unk]

That was the book I read, they actually made the rifle and the albeit smoky bullets but the chrome lined barrel gave them a problem.

But I would not try to advance Europe, I would rather start an empire in Australia, so by the time white man comes around the continent has superior tech, centuries ahead.

[tanknetter]

How about just after Gettysburg?

Phenomenal book, I'd highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in history/alternate history.

I'd also recommend Turtledove's "How Few Remain" which is true alternate history ("Guns" combines alt history with SciFi) starting at the point where that copy of Special Order 191 used to wrap cigars isn't lost but then jumping forward a couple decades to an America where the North and South are separate, competing, countries.

[RegulatorCountry]

The Farmer’s Almanacs are all done specifically for the year in which they are published, as well as being specific to a geographic location. Not helpful for the 8th century AD.

I’d imagine such a time traveling person would be viewed with suspicion so a weapon or personal protection should be one of the three. I’d go for kevlar body armor, discrete, could be worn under period clothing to blend in. As big a box of antibiotics as permissible would be another, those were plague years. For the last, I’d go for a set of DIY books with a survivalist bent, like the Foxfire series.

Then, I’d have to swallow my American distaste for such things and engratiate myself to the local lord as quickly as possible, lol.

[LRoggy]

Solar powered Fleshlight

Solar powered Electromagnetic Laser Gun

The World’s Largest Yodel

[bigheadfred]

the 3 items to survive an mingle with the folks of the day

So much for taking a bar of bath soap.

[Suz in AZ]

Penicillin making equipment with instructions.
Book of how to make stuff.
Extensive book of botanicals.

[Alberta's Child]

I'd have to give it a little more thought, but this is a difficult question because I'm not sure if I'm pre-supposing that other things already exist when I select my three items.

For example ... a Garmin GPS unit with a solar power supply would be a no-brainer to me, but am I assuming that there are satellites in orbit to make the Garmin work correctly?