You wake up in 1991

[Brownie80]

Crashing airplanes into buildings sounds like a problem in theory, but didn't seem like a real threat people really had to react to, so the preventative measures failed.

The biggest reason 9/11 happened was that people in power didn't really care to have it not happen. It was a boon for the Bush Administration, making it way easier for them to achieve their foreign policy. The very people responsible for preventing it to some extent care about the lives of Americans, but they also care about their careers - rocking the boat by criticizing the way intelligence work was conducted in the American government may or may not have saved 3,000 American lives but it may well have gotten the criticizer fired.

The same thing is happening on a smaller scale right now in Gaza. The murders of three Israeli teens allowed the Israeli state to achieve their policy objective of a military assault on Gaza, killing over 150 Palestinians so far. This corresponds to the 3,000 American deaths leading to the deaths of over a million Iraqis, displacement of millions more, and many more deaths and destruction across the Middle East.

I don't agree with "eye for an eye" justice, but even the most staunch Old Testament advocate can't possibly agree with "burning a town down for an eye". This is a bit tongue in cheek, because neither the American nor Israeli state cares about revenge or justice - they care about their degree of power and control. Everything that happens, whether it's 3,000 dead or a mere 3, is an excuse to implement another power move.

The World Trade Center was attacked in 1993 just two years from now?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing

Some Critics say Clinton could have done a lot more to stop 9/11, but the sentiment at the time was that every non- domestic terrorist group had behind them a legitimate complaint. Like Hamas in Palestine and the IRA

In theory the best way to stop 9/11 would be to prevent the Installation of the Shah of Iran. Which pretty much set the ground work for his overthrow and the rise in power of the ayatollahs.

I guess you could also try to stop the Russian invasion of Afghanistan were Osama Bin Laden was trained by the US as a freedom fighter

The World Trade Center was attacked twice, you know. My Dad was in the lobby when the 1993 bombing happen. However, that was NOT 9/11.

OT: I'd probably go see a Nirvana concert, I mean really. What else would you do at that point in time? Maybe go see Silence of the Lambs in theaters.

 

[Ticklefist]

Hit the arcade and slide my quarter onto the Street Fighter II machine so ppl know I'm next.

 

[Fulbert]

I was born and lived my life in Russia. If I were to wake up in 1991, I'd brace myself.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I would be the smartest 3 year old in the world. There's not much I could do at that age so I'd keep my mouth shut about my true nature and just experience childhood again.

 

[katsabas]

This is a question I have been asking myself waaay too often so:

-I would find my folks, first of all. Tell them how everything is going to go, warn them of the financial crisis, of 9/11, of the earthquakes and figure out a way to prepare the country for the coming decades.

-I would need money for that so I would buy stocks for YT, Apple, MS, Blizzard, Pixar and find a way to be involved in the movie making business. By coming in contact with Jobs and Gates, we would find a way to stop the WTC disaster.

-Stop Greece from entering the Eurozone.

-Find Putin and convince him to run for PM earlier.

-Figure out a way to stop the Israel War.

-Hug my 2 year old self.

 

[Kyrian007]

Today... in 1991?

I've got about a month to prevent the suicide of a friend. That would have to get top priority. I could enlist my 13 year old self for help (I know some things about him that only he would, it would be pretty easy to convince him that I'm him.)

After that... I might warn myself off the girl he's about to fall for, that's probably not going to alter too much. And I might tell him to be a little less of a dick... I was almost cured of being a bully by 13, but seeing as how I'd be in the "nerd/geek clique" in a couple of years it might help out. I played football but I read books too, it just took a couple more years to realize that the guys and gals I was discussing the books and movies and videogames with were just better people than my "popular jock" friends. But anything else might have too much affect on my future. Sure I wouldn't mind changing some things for him (my life is hardly perfect) but after all, I really gotta try to avoid preventing myself from doing whatever I did to travel back to 1991. So I'd leave me a note explaining why I couldn't help anymore and then leave. I think I'd get why... I hope so, I'd hate to give myself an abandonment complex.

I guess then the money stuff; microsoft, apple, google. I'm gonna know superbowl champions and Stanley Cup winners, that will give me a bankroll. I'd really wish I had access to 2014's wikipedia, I'm not going to remember too many specific dates to be able to do a lot of good stopping disasters. I'd tell a local detective I would later come to know how to catch that serial killer that he would eventually get. 1991 would be too late to save any of the victims... but the guy wouldn't go unpunished for 20 years or so. I'd try to prevent 9/11, I could reunite with my 23 year old self for help. With the money I would have'n by that time it would be'n easier for us to do than I probably realize. Wouldn be? Maybe I'd perfect time travel tenses. I guess I could stop the Columbia crash in 03. The upcoming release of The Dark Knight Returns would remind me to get my ass to Colorado.

But mostly I'd visit myself one last time right before he went back to 1991. Give him some of the bankroll money he'd need. And make sure he remembered to not interfere with me and him/me changing things for him (gonna start having to number us at that point.) I'd also give him the wikipedia database on a laptop (current to 2014) I'd spent the last couple of years making and updating. His time through he can make even more money and changes for good. Then, finally "back to the future..." well, I would be nearing retirement age anyway.

 

[SD-Fiend]

Go get a job so I can buy all of the video games and merchandise I missed out on so I can sell all of the rare stuff on eBay.

 

[optimusjamie]

-See Ayrton Senna at a race.
-Watch Star Trek VI at a cinema.
-Be the first to download Doom
-Use my knowledge of the future to get rich and/or mess with some heads

 

[Randoman01]

I would probably try to publish a whole lot of science fiction that has not been written yet. Or write about future events that are not going to happen.

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

Do the "back to the future" stunt, and make a killing betting on sports outcomes I know are going to happen. The Arizona Diamondbacks are going to beat the NY Yankees in the 2001( or was it 2000?) World Series? No way! I don't think the D-backs even existed in 1991!
1991 I would have 3 or 4 depending on the exact date I wake up in.

Mold my younger self into a gym rat, and convince him to develop an interest in martial arts.

Ew, write the scripts to all of my current favorite movies. Give them to myself from that time with careful instructions.
Make sure I see Dragonheart in theaters, as well as Kung Fu Panda, Last Samurai, and Kung Fu Panda 2

I'd get myself a walkman and promise to never let it go, for all the advances we've made, the fucking ipod and variants of them are not fucking one of them. Picky, dirty touchscreen piece of shit that constantly wants to connect and update - I want shit that just does what I fucking tell it to do rather than telling me what it wants to fucking do. Fucking lump of shit.

Fuck it, I'd work to sabotage apple so they never make the fucking thing. Fuck knows how but insanity will find a way.

so you would snipe Steve Jobs then?

 

[Mithcha]

I'd get myself a walkman and promise to never let it go, for all the advances we've made, the fucking ipod and variants of them are not fucking one of them. Picky, dirty touchscreen piece of shit that constantly wants to connect and update - I want shit that just does what I fucking tell it to do rather than telling me what it wants to fucking do. Fucking lump of shit.

Fuck it, I'd work to sabotage apple so they never make the fucking thing. Fuck knows how but insanity will find a way.

so you would snipe Steve Jobs then?

That's suitably insane. But if I do that then I have to snipe the bastard who comes after him to make sure and I'd rather avoid a murder spree.

Likely put...laxative in his coffee or something. Can't invent shit if he spends his life shitting.

 

[likalaruku]

Assuming I woke up the same age I was in 1991, I'd watch cartoons, Married With Children, Dinosaurs, MTV, & VH1, stopping only for food, bathroom, & sleep. If nothing was on, I'd ride a bike, listening to music on a tape walkman. Oh, & I'd ask my new parents for a SNES instead of a Sega Genesis, & take a big pass on Art School, but still talk them into moving to Washington State to avoid the 2009 heatwave.

If I was an adult, I'd jumpstart the Urbex trend early with a crappy website. I would also stockpile Crystal Pepsi like it was nobody's business. I would also send mail to my parents to scare them off putting me on AHDH medications.

Fuck it, I'd work to sabotage apple so they never make the fucking thing. Fuck knows how but insanity will find a way.

Apple almost folded in 1997. All you would have had to do was wait 6 years & prevent Bill Gates from giving Steve Jobs a $150 million dollar handout to keep his company afloat.

If I was going to sabotage anything, it would have been Doc Brown's love life in Back to the Future 3, the live action adaptation of Aeon Flux, & Anne Rice's career as a writer.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I would wait a few years then prevent the birth of Justin Bieber
Get a job and buy all the old Pokemon games then keep them in mind condition
Make a £1000 bet that Star Wars: Episode 1 will be dissappointing
Hunt down and make sweet love to 90s Britney Spears
Be the first kid to like DBZ and Power Rangers, then act smug as fuck when they become mainstream
Do an Ocarina of Time speedrun and blow people's minds

 

[Fijiman]

1. Freak out.
2. write down stuff in know about myself from the days before this happened for possible future reference as well as stuff I should try to do.
3. Find out where the fuck I am, what I'm doing there, and what I'm supposed to be doing.
4. Be amazed at how cheap things like gas used to be.
5. Weep for a few hours when I realize that I'm in 1991 and that technology like computers and phones sucks the lowest hanging of balls compared to what I'm used to and internet is still in its infancy.(just thinking about having to use dial-up again gives me the shivers)
6. Use knowledge procured in 3 to get on with my new life.
7. put money in some of the things that become big, but only a little so that I still get a fair amount of money later but don't get noticed.(I wouldn't bother with the lottery and such because, unlike some of you weirdos, I don't spend all my free time memorizing lotto numbers and such)
8. spend a fair amount of my free time trying to find out how and why this happened until I either do or get bored.(probably the later)
9. Live life, maybe try to do things and meet people I wouldn't have had a chance to before I traveled back in time.
10. As the day I traveled back in time approaches, contemplate whether or not I should warn myself about what may or may not be about to happen. After that I don't know what I would do.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Are we the age we were back then? 'Cause I'd be about one or two at that time... Well, at least I'd be able to catch up on the cartoons I missed out on...

Oh yeah, and as a bonus, I can avoid making some mistakes in my life as well as hopefully relive a few happy moments.

 

[GiantRaven]

Cry with happiness that I get to experience the best decade ever from the perspective of an adult. God, so many bands I've never been able to see in their prime...

 

[Angelous Wang]

Buy apple stock
Buy google stock
Buy microsoft stock

+ Sony stock.

And then I start a youtube channel as soon as youtube gets going, ripping off every famous video I have ever seen on youtube (but will technically be original from everyone else point of view) combine that with my British accent.

I won't even need hookers ... all those youtube fan girls.

 

[Hannabella Doe]

I would enjoy some of the discontinued foods and drinks that they had back then, try to save Twin Peaks from cancellation, and go see Silence of the Lambs in theaters. But I would also have to avoid any family members since I wouldn't be born for another 2 years

 

[Bruce Balloon]

Let's get the obvious ones out of the way, invest in Microsoft/Apple, find out just how many women Bill Clinton's had sex with, position myself so I can see Boris Jeltsin in all his glory trying to order pizza while hailing a cab in Washington D.C, nude except for socks and underwear. Jeltsin that is, not me.

Oh yeah, I'd probably do something about 9/11

1. I'd walk around Liverpool telling people that Manchester United will have more league titles than Liverpool by 2011
2. Watch Sweden at the 1994 World Cup, making sure I get one of Henrik Larsson's dreadlocks
3. Save Anna Lindh
4. 26th of May, 1999, Nou Camp
5. STOP DAVID MOYES
6. Advise Metallica against using the Internet
7. I'd tell Gary Moore to cut down on hamburgers and pints
8. Tell people that a certain someone's body is ready

I probably couldn't resist being a soothsayer, for better or worse.