ISOT Small rocks make big waves, or, an ASB has you throwing modern knick-knacks into the past.

[Agent23]

Usually ISOTs and PODs are pretty massive, but what if the focus is to send the smallest and most common of items back in time?

As such, your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to go on Ebay, Amazon, Aliexpress or the site of your local wholesale store, you have a budget of 10 000 USD or equivalent, plus full VAT rebate.

Prohibited items include explosives of any sort and non-fiction that describes directly future events.

The object or objects will appear at the exact time and place you choose, with a cap on the amount being how many can fit in a standard corrugated box/regular slotted container of the type used to carry out items when one is moving or to stock supermarket shelves.

The items can not kill or harm any particular person directly, as in, cause Stalin to slip and break his neck, nor can you land on someone's head.

No additional instructions are to be provided.

Whatever money you have left over will be multiplied 9000 fold, but if and only if an actual POD occurs.
The item must not be able to self-replicate, so no bacteria or seeds.

Example: a few dozen nails pop into existence right in front of Franz-Ferdinand's car, thus bursting its tires and derailing his meeting with Princip.

 

[Bassoe]

non-fiction that describes directly future events

How about fiction incorrectly claiming to describe future events to deliberately mislead the readers into thinking of it as reality?

 

[Agent23]

How about fiction incorrectly claiming to describe future events to deliberately mislead the readers into thinking of it as reality?

Sure, although whoever gets it is not obliged in any way to believe it, and even if they do that doesn't mean that anyone else will be able to do anything about it.
The happy recipients will likely be sent to an asylum or burned alive as witches, for claiming magical items popped in front of them.
Also, do keep in mind that the items will stay in their original wrapping and contain any sheets of instructions that usually come with them.

Thus if you want to send Newton a graphing calculator chances are he might be able to understand how to use it.

I mean, mini-laptops running linux are a thing, so are power converters and portable, foldable solar panels, so if you want to send them to, say, Archimedes and Plato then you can do that.

 

[Atarlost]

Hmm. To Richard Nixon the day after his inauguration:
A smartphone with a Made in China label
A copy of H. G. Wells The Time Machine with a 21st century printing date (to imply, along with the smartphone that this is a warning from the future)
A copy of The Manchurian Candidate (book not movie)
Chairman Mao and Vladimir Lenin T-shirts with Made in China labels.
An account of the Cultural Revolution. It's past history not future history so a modern account containing details still secret in 1969 should be permissible.
An English translation of Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks (the clearest outline of the Communist cultural takeover strategy I'm aware of until Dutscke's long march formulation sees print in 1972, which is later than I want the warning to arrive)
If I can find one, a fictional account of the Watergate Hotel break in

Let's see if we can get Nixon to not go to China.

 

[Agent23]

Hmm. To Richard Nixon the day after his inauguration:
A smartphone with a Made in China label
A copy of H. G. Wells The Time Machine with a 21st century printing date (to imply, along with the smartphone that this is a warning from the future)
A copy of The Manchurian Candidate (book not movie)
Chairman Mao and Vladimir Lenin T-shirts with Made in China labels.
An account of the Cultural Revolution. It's past history not future history so a modern account containing details still secret in 1969 should be permissible.
An English translation of Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks (the clearest outline of the Communist cultural takeover strategy I'm aware of until Dutscke's long march formulation sees print in 1972, which is later than I want the warning to arrive)
If I can find one, a fictional account of the Watergate Hotel break in

Let's see if we can get Nixon to not go to China.

You can probably throw him some Chinese fiction, there was one book that depicted China after it pushed the USA out of the top dog spot, I don't recall the name, but basically they were putting some type of mild euphoric/anti-depressant in the water.

 

[Atarlost]

I had another thought. Bibles.

Japan is isolated and has a literate upper class before the first Christian missionaries arrive. Books appearing from thin air in the midst of the Emperor's or Shogun's court will probably be read and taken seriously. Wikipedia says the Kana and Katakana date to near the beginning of the 9th century so we have several centuries to play with to drop a case of Bibles. This is not quite early enough to take advantage of the anti-Buddhist motivation for the Imperial court moving to Heian, but the later Heian period is still a time when literature is in demand. Another thought is to send them in the Kamakura period on the eve of the first failed Mongol invasion for maximum miraculous sign points.

If Christianity took any hold at all it would probably fundamentally change how Japan interacted with Europe. Organically developed Japanese Christian traditions with no papal influence and could not be banned as a foreign influence, but the discovery of a branch of Christianity that must rest on sola scriptura because it was founded with the miraculous appearance of solely scriptures would also likely influence the reformation, which is less than a century old and not finished with the associated wars when Europe makes contact with Japan.

China is another possibility for stable written language, but it's larger and I think more reliant on religious rather than military control and thus less open to change.

 

[Agent23]

I had another thought. Bibles.

Japan is isolated and has a literate upper class before the first Christian missionaries arrive. Books appearing from thin air in the midst of the Emperor's or Shogun's court will probably be read and taken seriously. Wikipedia says the Kana and Katakana date to near the beginning of the 9th century so we have several centuries to play with to drop a case of Bibles. This is not quite early enough to take advantage of the anti-Buddhist motivation for the Imperial court moving to Heian, but the later Heian period is still a time when literature is in demand. Another thought is to send them in the Kamakura period on the eve of the first failed Mongol invasion for maximum miraculous sign points.

If Christianity took any hold at all it would probably fundamentally change how Japan interacted with Europe. Organically developed Japanese Christian traditions with no papal influence and could not be banned as a foreign influence, but the discovery of a branch of Christianity that must rest on sola scriptura because it was founded with the miraculous appearance of solely scriptures would also likely influence the reformation, which is less than a century old and not finished with the associated wars when Europe makes contact with Japan.

China is another possibility for stable written language, but it's larger and I think more reliant on religious rather than military control and thus less open to change.

As a weeb I strongly disapprove of any and all attempts at Christianize Japan, also if you want to prevent papism just send them some Orthodox religious books.
Try and send one to Mohamed and his 12 disciples while you are at it, maybe with some accompanying snacks and water bottles at a time when they are stuck in the middle of the desert.

Next up, I'd send Alan Turing, John von Neumann, and Grace Hopper cheap mini-laptops with pre-installed Linux and optionally solar chiging stations and copies of whichever Linux for Dummies book I can find that has no historic references to future events.
Once they understand how to use the man pages they will probably be very happy, might also send them a few raspberry pis so that they can try and dissect them.
If it prevents eyesores like COBOL it will be a plus.

 

[Atarlost]

As a weeb I strongly disapprove of any and all attempts at Christianize Japan, also if you want to prevent papism just send them some Orthodox religious books.

Written religious commentaries will not trump Jesuits actually there preaching. A pre-existing Japanese church or trumping the Jesuits by sending an actual live Japanese speaking missionary to the past would work, but missionaries can't be ordered online and don't fit in a file box.

Try and send one to Mohamed and his 12 disciples while you are at it, maybe with some accompanying snacks and water bottles at a time when they are stuck in the middle of the desert.

Doesn't work. The classical arabic alphabet that Arab language Bibles would be printed in dates to the 7th century. Mohammed was alive in the 5th. Also, I think tradition holds that he was illiterate.

 

[Agent23]

Written religious commentaries will not trump Jesuits actually there preaching. A pre-existing Japanese church or trumping the Jesuits by sending an actual live Japanese speaking missionary to the past would work, but missionaries can't be ordered online and don't fit in a file box.


Doesn't work. The classical arabic alphabet that Arab language Bibles would be printed in dates to the 7th century. Mohammed was alive in the 5th. Also, I think tradition holds that he was illiterate.

Send him an mp3 player/walkman and a tape of an audio version of it, then.or just a cross with a pile of snacks and water.

 

[ATP]

Send him an mp3 player/walkman and a tape of an audio version of it, then.or just a cross with a pile of snacks and water.

Koran is anti-christian - but,clearly,they knew some weird sect,becouse their version of Jesus deny that Holy Mary is part of TRINITY.
Problem is - no known christian sect belived that.So,send him orthodox,or even arian version? we would end with islam remaining as christian heresy - becouse it was how early byzantines,who lost part of their empire to them,considered them.So,in OTL they must be christian sect in the beginning.

You changed history,becouse now islam never become new religion.

How i would change history ? Maybe send one of polish Kings from 15-16 century objects made in modern Russia,Ukraine and Lithuania - so they woud undarstand how small future Poland woud be.
Or,even better,some russian - made propagands posters about conqering bad Poland from 1920.

 

[Agent23]

Send Pyotr Stolipin a gun and an opera ticket.
Do the same with Lincoln, replace the ticket with a theater one.
Do the same with JFK, replace the ticket with a toy car and something to signify Dallas, local sportsteam's hat, maybe.

 

[Chiron]

You just left me a loophole.

Warning! Loophole Abuse! Warning!

I'm sure Suleyman the Magnificent will make sure this is copied and mass produced.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Agent23]

You just left me a loophole.

Warning! Loophole Abuse! Warning!

I'm sure Suleyman the Magnificent will make sure this is copied and mass produced.

What could possibly go wrong?

Gibs aliexpress/walmart/amazon linku?

It is supposed to be a common item in our time, mass produced cheap stuff.

Also, I will see your gardoni rifle and help you islamize all slavs.

Send the Volga Bulgars whatever mass produced hash-based non-alcoholic beverages there are.

 

[Atarlost]

Send him an mp3 player/walkman and a tape of an audio version of it, then.or just a cross with a pile of snacks and water.

This presumes a modern understanding of ideograms used in playback devices that simply isn't present in the fifth century. Also, I doubt anything has the battery life to get through an audio Bible. A solar charger further presumes upon a nonexistent understanding of modern technology. I would not bet on any 5th century human managing to work such a device even if they could read the manual, which Mohammed according to tradition could not. Even if one of his companions could read he would not be able to read modern technical Arabic because describing the operation of a solar charger requires terminology that wasn't in the 5th century Arabic lexicon. Or any 5th century lexicon.

 

[WolfBear]

As a weeb I strongly disapprove of any and all attempts at Christianize Japan, also if you want to prevent papism just send them some Orthodox religious books.
Try and send one to Mohamed and his 12 disciples while you are at it, maybe with some accompanying snacks and water bottles at a time when they are stuck in the middle of the desert.

They would need to be in Arabic.

Anyway, what about sending James A. Garfield a bulletproof vest a couple of minutes before Charles Guiteau will shoot him? That should save his life, after all. I consider Garfield's premature death to be an extremely huge loss of talent, after all.