Safety Not Guaranteed
| Safety Not Guaranteed |
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| Original YTMND: |
| Safety Not Guaranteed |
| by axlbonbach |
| October 27, 2005 |
| Worthy Spinoffs: |
| Used Music: |
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Safety Not Guaranteed is a fad that originated from a newspaper ad from a person asking for someone to accompany him in time travel. The exact ad is as follows:
"Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 322 Oakview, CA 93022. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before."
An image of a stone-faced young man wearing a mullet is placed on the left of the text, although this was not included in the original newspaper advertisement. The ad, which insists that it is not a joke and even provides contact information, warns that a potential respondent's safety is not guaranteed as he only tried once before; the image is accompanied by Paul Engemann's song "Push It To The Limit" from the movie Scarface (1983). The nature of the man's hair and serious tone of the ad (This is not a joke) adds to the humor.
Contents
Fad Structure
Safety Not Guranateed sites come in 3 different varieties:
- Some sites will show the traveler in different time periods starting with the civil war. Most recently this has evolved into a variant of the Wikipedia Vandalism Fad, in which users would try to edit wikipedia material such as the "safety" entry, with such footnotes as "when you push it to the limit, safety is not guaranteed". [1]
- Some sites will parodize the original ad for other people.
- Other sites will show the Time Traveler in action either traveling back in time or assiting other people.
The song "Scarface (Push It To The Limit)" is on Volume 8 of the YTMND Soundtrack. Most fad sites including the original "Safety Not Guaranteed" have the entire 3 minute song.
Influence
The Time Traveler has become a popular icon of YTMND. Several fad spin offs placed the Traveler in various time periods.
The fad mixed with the PTKFGS fad, with the creation of Safety Not Guaranteed Changes Internet History, which depicted the Time Traveler going back in time and replacing YTMND with PTKFGS, creating the Alternate Universe Fad. It also had its own PTKFGS version, Security Not Ensured.
Investigation
On January 16, 2006, YTMND user scrow, posted a picture he claims he found in his attic. This picture seems to show the same man, mullet and all, taken during the American Civil War.
Within this investigation, vex5 claims that after calling the number of those believed to own the P.O. box, he received very suspicious reactions. When asked about time travel, the person on the other end of the phone allowed a short pause, replied "never call here again" and hung up the phone.
Another YTMND user, guano, called the same number, getting the answering machine. He announced that the message asks to "leave a message for Mark, Debra... also, Moses or Caesar!"
Since this announcement, several others have tried calling, also getting the same message. Some have even managed to record it.
In response to these calls, the answering machine message has been changed to say that this number has nothing to do with "Time travel" or "Going back in time". It also asks for the persons who started the fad's name and number to be stated so that she can turn him over to the proper authorities. This was too late however, for many to hypothesize that Moses and Caesar are the actual Moses and Caesar of history, giving more evidence to the argument that perhaps somebody has actually gone back through time. However, as the time traveler has only done it once before, he would have been unable to have gotten both Moses and Caesar, or either if he had gone to the Civil War. Unless, of course, his one experience consisted of him jumping across time to several different periods before returning to his own.
Some argument remains as to where the original "Safety not Guaranteed" photo came from. Many believe, with the civil war photo, that this may actually be the time traveler himself, and that the woman who answers the phone is possibly his mother. It is now known that the woman is just an old woman from Southern California named Debra. Moses and Caesar are just her pet dog and bird. This is in contrast to Maybe my safety isn't, in which someone calling asked for Ceasar, and was given a person, not a dog or bird. Mark, being the only name left in the original message that still has no person to be identified with, is now presumed to be this man's name. However, research says he was born in 1953, only a few years older than Debra. His name is also rumored to be Dwane Jones (Brother of Allen Jones).
Recently, user I-Found-The-Mullet-Man claimed he'd actually found and gone to the house in the ad and found an empty lot, but found a piece of paper on a fence linking the "mullet man" with another time traveling legend "John Titor". I-Found-The-Mullet-Man's site can be seen here: saftey guarantee found. However the creator has been ridiculed to be falsely claiming this because, amongst other things, his site is very badly done, but is open to be seen for yourself
Safety Not Guaranteed outside YTMND
In June 2006, user michaelwolfson and his friends made a short film about the story of mullet man.[2]. The fad also appears to have made it into the The Movies community, where someone has created a movie called 'Safety Not Guaranteed' which contains several references to YTMND.
The online game "World of Warcraft" has also given caution to the need for safety while travelling through (the Caverns of) Time. Mousing over the dragon on the 'Caverns of Time' page warns that Safety is Not Guaranteed.
NARV Status
While SNG sites are rarely created, there have been numerous effortless attempts at a SNG site. These might be "lazy edits" with text or poorly-done photoshopping involving the head of the Mullet Man.
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Parts of this page were originally from Wikipedia pages that may have been deleted (see its history). Its content can be used here under the GNU Free Documentation License |
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