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Time Travelers' Convention

usermilk writes "Some folks at MIT are holding a time-travelers' convention. The idea is to make it so famous and so widely-known that even thousands of years in the future, people will still know exactly when and where this time-traveler convention went down, and will all come travel to it at some point in their illustrious time-traveling careers. For those interested in attending, it's on May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC) in the East Campus Courtyard at MIT. 42:21:36.025N, 71:05:16.332W (42.360007,-071.087870 in decimal degrees)."

69 of 836 comments (clear)

  1. Ahh... by metlin · · Score: 4, Funny


    But will John Titor be invited?

    1. Re:Ahh... by Zugok · · Score: 4, Funny

      he's already been and gone.

      --
      "I just can't sit while people are saying nonsense in a meeting without saying it's nonsense" J Watson, Sci Am 288:(4)51
    2. Re:Ahh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Truth is I never cared if you "buy it", as you are all so fond of saying.

      None of you would be laughing if I wouldn't have alerted the people who needed to know about the Y2K bug. Trust me.

      Nothing changed though, you are all still gluttonous egomanianics. Sometimes I wonder if I should have bothered.

      Oh well, Pamela is still alive anyway. That should count for something.

    3. Re:Ahh... by fishbowl · · Score: 2, Funny

      Forget John Titor. Invite Wisest Human Dr. Gene Ray, and admit that Time Cube proves You Educated Stupid.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    4. Re:Ahh... by kernelfoobar · · Score: 2, Funny

      I can even provide a picture of my attic to show that they are invisible.

      Pffff, they're not even invisible, I can easily see them....

      --
      Here we go again!
    5. Re:Ahh... by John+Titor · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually none of the previous posts are me.
      This is what happened , the short version.

      I spent too much time in this world line, time travel missions are usually of only a short duration. My lengthy stay on this world line "caused" an increase in divergence greater than expected.
      Effectively my internet fame changed your history, increasing the divergence from my own original world line.

      Towards the end of my stay here the NSA and CIA came calling; I made a quick exit to return home.

      Sadly for myself, the increased divergence between world lines meant that when returning I arrived in a word line closer to this ones future than my own world lines present.

      In other words I can never go home.

      Plans here were changed to fix mistakes and minimize resistance based on the information found on the internet about me.
      I am sorry the good guys lose this time and it is my fault.

      I decided to come back here to see how things play out.

      Unless you can be encouraged to take back the power of government from the corporations, then the future is very bleak.

      Is it me? : Slashdot ID and email John Titor,
      As my story is old someone would have registered these long ago for a prank. They were both registered today.... Now how would I have managed that?

    6. Re:Ahh... by RinzeWind · · Score: 3, Funny

      I mean, if I claim that I have invisible aliens called Dvutels living in my attic, who only communicate with me, and only telepathically

      You can call that religion an earn serious cash.

    7. Re:Ahh... by zippthorne · · Score: 2, Funny

      According to the WP article, the future hates us. If he really was from the future, you'd think he'd have a little more tact. There are few bullies that can affect the people of the future more profoundly than the directed anger of six billion forbears.

      My descendents hate me? pshaw. i'll show them. I won't have any. mwa hah ahha haha.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  2. I tried to make it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    But I couldn't figure out where those coordinates posted. Would you mind pointing out where you are at the moment in your galactic and solar orbits relative to a few quasars, please?

    1. Re:I tried to make it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, I don't know where they are at that point in time relative to the nearest quasars, but I know that the RAC (or Relative Andromeda Configuration, a coordinate system that measures coordinates inside the Milky Way from the Line between the Andromeda Core and Milky Way Core) as 4I,2V4590KL2GETV:DN,AF6277PBE74F:8Z,R1417145YG14L with the Date/Time combination being exactly 08 May 2005 02:05:01,141461 UTC.

      For you natives, The numbers are in Base-36 (For quicker accuracy when time is of the essence. Ironic, no? Our ability to travel through time and we can't stop the Eastern Eurasian Federation from launching raids on us back home) The three numbers equate to the position of what you're trying to reach, adjusted with Sardinov's Constant to ensure you don't have any... mishaps. Most current devices have safety checks to ensure you don't hit a wall or another person, but there are many other problems with the Templar...

      Oh, if any of you see me, I'm the one on the roof with the small "laptop" device.

    2. Re:I tried to make it by millennial · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, of course.

      --
      I am scientifically inaccurate.
  3. Hm by inKubus · · Score: 4, Funny

    They should plan out all the conferences in advance for the next 10,000 years, like the freemasons did in 5000 b.c.

    --
    Cool! Amazing Toys.
  4. gets the imagination going by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    youve gotta love those mit guys and their uncanny study avoidance manouevres

    1. Re:gets the imagination going by ChairmanMeow · · Score: 3, Funny

      So the lesson in all this is that you should never study.

      --
  5. I was there by Winlin · · Score: 3, Funny

    It was great.

    1. Re:I was there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      If you remember May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC) in the East Campus Courtyard at MIT. 42:21:36.025N, 71:05:16.332W (42.360007,-071.087870 in decimal degrees), you weren't there.

  6. RSVP? by Dachannien · · Score: 5, Funny

    For those interested in attending, it's on May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT

    Oh, I'm sure I'll get around to it one of these days.

  7. so naturally by Edmund+Blackadder · · Score: 5, Funny

    The place will be full of dozens of idiots dressed in spandex and insisting thet they come from the future.

    1. Re:so naturally by grungebox · · Score: 4, Funny

      The place will be full of dozens of idiots dressed in spandex and insisting thet they come from the future.

      Maybe spandex is all the rage in 3166.

    2. Re:so naturally by agm · · Score: 2, Funny

      It is. Or is that "was". I mean it will be,

    3. Re:so naturally by aarku · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, to prove you're from the mind boggling far off future, a retail box of Duke Nukem Forever will be required to be presented at the door.

    4. Re:so naturally by ErikTheRed · · Score: 4, Funny
      Well, to prove you're from the mind boggling far off future, a retail box of Duke Nukem Forever will be required to be presented at the door.
      Dude, they probably won't be coming from that far in the future.
      --

      Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
    5. Re:so naturally by sjbcfh · · Score: 4, Funny
      The place will be full of dozens of idiots dressed in spandex and insisting thet they come from the future.

      Oh, you mean like a Slashdot meetup?

  8. Fuck by erikharrison · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm a time traveller. Unfortunately, you can't tell, because I travel through time with the help of an angel and an invisible lech, and the process causing me to appear identical to someone in the time I'm travelling to.

    Hold on, I have to go get this Erik kid married to his one true love.

    Oh boy.

    1. Re:Fuck by Aeiri · · Score: 3, Funny

      Al, what does Ziggy say my chances are?

    2. Re:Fuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The parent's statement is absolutely true. Although it is a little known fact to acheive this rate of time travel one merely has to perform the following procedure. 1. Sit down on the floor cross-legged. 2. Repeat the following phrase, "O wah tena siam" 3. Repeat step 2 increasing speed each time until you have reached your destination.

  9. It could be a ruse... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It could be a ruse... the organizers may be stranded time travellers trying to send a message to the future to get rescued now. It may not be a genuine convention, but rather a lifeboat technique for the Insiders.

  10. Re:The Convention by Mr.+Bad+Example · · Score: 5, Funny

    > [...]it will have been a blast!

    I believe you mean willan on-be a blast.

  11. I went there next year. by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Its gonna be boring. But the after party they're planning last year kicked ass.

    --
    All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
  12. Re:Why did they set the date in the future? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Just include a note in the advertsing, asking someone to drop by and give you a lift there.

  13. marketing idea by British · · Score: 4, Funny

    You could have a Time Traveler supply booth running there:

    - Legit costumes for whatever era. WW2 uniform, peasant outfit, etc
    - Monetary exchange: buy/sell money from different eras, at varying rates. You will always need money(depending on the time)
    - Fake IDs. Going back 20 years? get an ID 20 years prior to your birthday
    - Fake license plates. Travelling in an old car back to an earlier time? Get "legit" license plates that are either from the same car, or just some convincing out-of-state plates.

    WARNING: Management is not responsible to disruptions in history.

    The sales possibilities are endless.

  14. Re:Sweet! by morcheeba · · Score: 4, Funny

    dude. you totally missed the point!

    Let me hop in my delorean and I'll be there in 5 minutes ago.

  15. Re:so theoretically by johnjay · · Score: 5, Funny

    "So if there is no one present from the future theoretically we never figure out how to transend time." Or the party on May 7th becomes famous throughout time as one of the most suck-ass parties in all history. So, time travelers decide to skip it.

  16. Not Bloody Likely by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Pshaw... everybody knows that nobody goes to these things because they are too crowded.

  17. Re:zerg by inKubus · · Score: 2, Funny

    As long as you're travelling in time, you are in hyperspace therefore you can come out anywhere. Although you are right, you would want to calculate where you are going or you might end up in the _middle_ of the earth, which might be a little more unpleasant.

    Thankfully, with Windows 64-bit edition coming out, we have adaquate memory addressing capabilties to model all of these possibilities.

    --
    Cool! Amazing Toys.
  18. Re:Hmmm.... by Basehart · · Score: 2, Funny

    "You couldn't go back in time and shoot Hilter"

    Don't you mean Mr Hilter?

  19. Re:Why this ain't gonna fly by Datamonstar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, it's not like you don't have time.

    --
    The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
  20. Re:Hmmm.... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 5, Funny
    Actually Time Travel by itself is impossible.

    But what you could do is slip into an alternate universe which is exactly like ours, only 60 years behind. Once there you could kill Hitler and alter History... but only in THAT copy of the Universe.

    While useless to alter history, I do find the technique works well for obtaining quality building materials, and collectables for my Ebay super-store.

    --
    "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
    --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  21. Re:Hmmm.... by rar · · Score: 5, Funny

    You couldn't go back in time and shoot Hilter before he got into power for the very simple reason that it didn't happen.

    No, no, no; you got it all wrong. It was just exactly because someone went back and shot that Hilter you speak of; that the much worse dictator Hitler we do remember could come to power. :)

  22. Re:Why did they set the date in the future? by Fjornir · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dooom! You've uncovered the secret of Flash Mobbing! Now all of us time travelers will need to go back to using raves as our cover...

    --
    I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
  23. Queue Red Dwarf... by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 2, Funny
    Lister: Hey, it hasn't happened, has it? It has "will have going to have happened" happened, but it hasn't actually "happened" happened yet, actually.
    Rimmer: Poppycock! It will be happened; it shall be going to be happening; it will be was an event that could will have been taken place in the future. Simple as that. Your bucket's been kicked, baby.
    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  24. Re:Hmmm.... by l810c · · Score: 4, Funny
    8. You may be your own great great grandparent.

    So let me get this straight. You have never met your great great grandma, but the pictures of her in her younger years show that she was one hot babe. You decide to go back in time and do her?

  25. I already went. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't go. It was boring so a bunch of us went to ancient Babylonia for the invention of beer.

  26. Re:Paradoxes by jdhutchins · · Score: 2, Funny

    If no time travellers turn up on May 7th, will everyone stop promoting it after the date?

    No, it will be continually duped on slashdot until a time machine is invented. That way no one will ever forget about it, and the editors have an excuse for the dupe. MIT probably planned it this way becuase they knew slashdot would carry it for the next 50,000 years.

  27. If you came from the future.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..why didn't you get first post?

  28. Re:Sweet! by Rei · · Score: 4, Funny

    Reminds me a bit of what my friends and I did back in high school/college (we were in a program called TAMS in which, for your last two years of high school, you went to college and stayed in a dorm). A few student groups were famous for spamming our mailboxes with notices for the meetings and posting their signs everywhere, and it was quite annoying.

    So, as a countermeasure, we formed a "Time Travellers Club". We put out notices in everyone's boxes, first notifying people of an upcoming meeting a week prior, and the second time thanking everyone for such a large turnout at our meeting a week later. We got permission to post our own sign - a big hanging one that ha our group name, and its motto ("I'll See You Yesterday!").

    Later, we found the notices on at least one RA's and one student's door - the student had apparently actually tried to go to the meeting that we thanked people for the turnout at, because they had it next to a note that said "I went, and it sucked!"

    --
    Dear Lord: One of your creatures may be hurt tonight. Please let it be the other creature.
  29. Re:Why did they set the date in the future? by k-0s · · Score: 2, Funny

    Been there done that...it wasn't that good. John Titor got drunk and they had to call the campus police. He began yelling about having had sexual relations with the police officers grandmothers and granddaughters. They tazered him and after that the party kind of broke up. Now the 2033 Convention, now *THAT* was a party.

  30. Re:The Convention by Nehle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Though this is hardly the time to be conjugating verbs in the past-impossible-future-never-tense.

  31. References by Yolegoman · · Score: 2, Funny

    But what you could do is slip into an alternate universe which is exactly like ours, only 60 years behind. Once there you could kill Hitler and alter History... but only in THAT copy of the Universe.

    Where are referenced Universe instances when you need them?

  32. Re:Why this ain't gonna fly by IdleTime · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, I went back about 2000 years with a couple of pound of good hydroponically grown weed and started a groovy movement. It was back in the area that is called Israel today.

    I used this funny hispanic name, Jesus...

    --
    If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
  33. Temporal Cold War by teslar · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is where it started. A couple of Sullibans attended (they really are party animals once you get to know them), but unfortunatley one present-time Enterprise fan thought they were just other geeks in a costume and poured his beer over their heads.

    That kinda sparked it, really. We told Bermann that showing history programmes before the events actually happened was really not a good idea, especially given how his documentaries polarise against de Sulliban but that's Rick for you. When he was a kid, he showed the moon landing to Jules Verne, who was rather impressed.

    But no worries about the Temporal Cold War. Admiral Daniels will be dispatching Archer to stop the party from happening, thus preventing the onset of the war. Some of you present-timers might actually look forward to this, as it will result in the purging of all Temporal Cold War references from the documentaries Bermann has slipped into your time.

    Shame about the party though. It really was a good laugh. Well... would have been.

  34. Re:Why this ain't gonna fly by B3ryllium · · Score: 2, Funny

    So you'd look like Prince Charles?

  35. Re:TT is possible by LinuxRulz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Watever everyone says, time travel is possible. The thing is you can only travel to the future and it is incredibly slow...

  36. Re:so theoretically by dj245 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Or the party on May 7th becomes famous throughout time as one of the most suck-ass parties in all history.

    As someone who frequents these types of parties I can tell you they never go bad. Whats so bad about a bunch of engineers having huge drunken bonanza?

    "Dude, why is your volumetric spirit flow rate decreasing exponentially as a function of time while your volumetric elimination flow rate increasing as a logarithmic function of time?"

    Yeah, those types of parties.

    --
    Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
  37. Re:Hmmm.... by LiENUS · · Score: 4, Funny

    Akin to subversion branching. The only question is, is there a "universe merge" command waiting to be discovered?

  38. Re:Hmmm.... by gfody · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've actually never seen 12 monkeys. I probably wont now that I know it's based on a 12 year olds perception of time travel. Your gun would jam or you'd have a heart attack? Thats nonsense.. wouldn't your time machine break and you wouldn't be able to even try, after all there's no documented history of an attempt on his life or ANY time travellers for that matter.

    Are you a time traveller? Didn't think so. I am, in fact, a time traveller. What happens once you leave this dimension to travel to another one you can do anything you want, however you can't return back to your original dimension because it becomes impossible to find. For instance, I went back about 30 minutes to fix a spelling mistake in my original post. The dimension I left is now missing a me (unless me from another dimension happens to populate it (possibly correcting a different spelling mistake)) and me in this dimension can't return to that one because I'd never find it since I would have to predict all the events in the universe since the fork 30 minutes ago and I'd much rather stay here 30 minutes behind because it's similar enough to the place I left and I don't feel like killing the native version of myself again.

    --

    bite my glorious golden ass.
  39. No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Nope, he accidentally brought back a C64 instead of the IBM 5100 and is banned from returning to the past.

  40. Re:zerg by Repton · · Score: 3, Funny

    Even if someone time travelled into the past for a few seconds, wouldn't they wind up in the icy cold of space while the planet speeds along on its normal course around

    Nah, because the rotation of the solar system around the galactic core, combined with the movement of the Milky Way (propelled out by the big bang, and pulled on by the gravity of various neighbouring galaxies) just happen to exactly cancel out the movement of the earth. This means that we are, in fact, absolutely fixed in position in space.

    This is why the aliens keep coming here --- we are the only stable point in the universe where time travel can (safely) happen.

    HTH.

    --
    Repton.
    They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
  41. One fear... by aXis100 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seeing the location depicted so accurately, I have only one fear...

    Telefrags.

  42. Re:Hmmm.... by roman_mir · · Score: 2, Funny

    but when you got there she turned you down because she doesn't date geeks and so you can never exist in the future. Thus if you are your own great great grandfather you don't exist.

  43. Time travel by amaiman · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ugh, time travel discussion.

    Queue fifty pages of "Yes, I could kill my own grandfather." "No, you couldn't!" "In Soviet Russia, time travels you." "First Post!" "No, this is the first post, I traveled back before you posted yours", and so on...

    Convention's a neat idea, though :-)

  44. Couldn't get hotel rooms at a decent price by billstewart · · Score: 2, Funny

    Really, they've got to schedule it sometime in advance so they could arrange for hotel room space. A few people will show up yesterday anyway just to grab the weekly rate, but they'll probably bop in, hand over their credit card, and not spend much time in the room until next weekend. And the waiting line at Mary Chung's will just be outrageous...

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  45. Conference review by SiliconEntity · · Score: 2, Funny

    I attend the "Time Travel" conference, but it is a near-disaster. As far as I can tell the conference is spectacularly devoid of time travellers and instead is full of wannabees wandering around speculating about time travel. Worse, there are glitches at the registration table forcing people to wait in long lines as the students try to get organized. The "food" leaves much to be desired as well, what there is of it. And about the conference sessions, the less I say, the better.

    It certainly doesn't compare with the twin millennium celebrations on December 31, 999 and 1000, where the hostesses pull out all the stops to outdo one another. Now, those are parties!

  46. Re:Why did they set the date in the future? by TexVex · · Score: 4, Funny

    Willen haven been. You're forgetting your conjugations.

    --
    Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.
  47. Or this... by Lendrick · · Score: 2, Funny

    Going back in time and changing the past is akin to trying to lift yourself up off of the ground. Both are equally impossible and equally silly; it's just that people understand space better than time, it's not quite so obvious.

  48. Re:zerg by EEBaum · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's why you have to be going 88mph.

    Duh.

    --
    -- I prefer the term "karma escort."
  49. YOU ARE ALL STUPID UNEDUCATED IDIOTS by EEBaum · · Score: 2, Funny

    WARNING:
    Cubic time is proven fact and cannot be disputed. Nature's simultaneous 4-day cube proves that there are four parts to a day, and four days occuring always at the four corners of earth. 2x2=4, and people who insist in time as something that can be traveled think of THREE parts, past present and future, but there are in actuality FOUR parts, fact which is ignored by antiHarmony academia criminals. Time "theories" from people educated moronic in evil institutions are ignorant of the four corners of the time and of the world. Denying the existence of four-sided nature of time and universe is to ensure your own demise. You are stupid arrogant curse to all creatures of the planet.

    /obligatory

    --
    -- I prefer the term "karma escort."
  50. It Was Boring by cowgoesmoo2004 · · Score: 2, Funny
    They only did it for a few years, then it fell out of disfavor.

    I do have a nifty t-shirt from 2007 though.

  51. Re:Yeah, like the government won't be watching THA by cowgoesmoo2004 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Interestingly, what if a time traveller was actually there. How would they be able to prove it to you.

    To go through all the effort of risking life and limb to show up at such a lame event, avoiding the government agents, and nobody believes you are from the future anyway.

    That's why I'm not going anyway. There's a much better convention held every year on the dark side of the moon anyway. We get quite a chuckle out of you losers on earth not being able to figure it out!