September 14th, 2005
in 1741, George Fredric Handel completed his oratorio The Visitors, celebrating the arrival of the Mlosh on earth. It sparks a wealth of popular fiction about earth’s newest inhabitants, and also makes many people begin to ask the question the Mlosh had never answered – where did they come from, and why did they leave?
in 1812, with his Grand Armee poised to take Moscow, French Emperor Napoleon sent word to Tsar Alexander that he was willing to withdraw his troops from Russia if Russia would accept the French Continental System, which united all of continental Europe economically and isolated his British enemies. Tsar Alexander, seeing the ruin of his own empire, agreed, and joined with Napoleon, dooming the British economy.
in 1847, American General Winfield Scott destroys all his Mexican opposition and takes Mexico City, ending the war between the United States and Mexico. When President Polk appoints Scott the military governor of Mexico, Scott turns it into his own little empire; in 1852, he even declares Mexico independent of the U.S. and fights off American troops sent to retrieve him. He died at the hands of a Mexican nationalist 7 years later, plunging America’s southern neighbor into chaos.
in 1960, Pascal-Edison introduces the Self-Portrait operating system, designed to learn and mirror a user’s personality. It proved to be less than successful because the designers didn’t take into account the fact that many computer users were not exactly pleasant people.
in 1956, Comrade Senator Joel Rosenberg makes his great speech at Harvard People’s University in which he asks the comrades of the Soviet States of America to “think not what your comrades can do for you; but what you can do for your comrades.” It became another piece of his legend as he campaigned for the presidency.
in 1978, ABC premiered the television series Mork & Mindy, a spinoff from the successful series Happy Days, starring comedian Marty Fromage. Although Fromage was hailed as a genius, the series tanked when he couldn’t be controlled and kept improvising away from the script. It ended mid-season, as did the rest of Fromage’s career.
in 2002, two very hairy men arrive at the bus depot in Washington, D.C., and begin walking towards the White House. Surprised at the security measures they find there, they ask a few locals about it; when told it’s because of September 11th, they seem to not know what happened on that day. The two men find a small motel for the night.
in 1402, Prime Minister Bashir Gemayal, the right hand of Lebanon’s Caliph Rafiq Hariri, narrowly escaped assassination by Druse fanatics in the streets of Beirut. At his urging, the Caliph began purging Druse from the political and social life of Lebanon, making the small sect even more marginal among the Lebanese.
in 2004, President Gore, Dr. Emilio Carrera, and a handful of security men meet with Elder representative Ako Elma, the dark-skinned woman who had been the first to broadcast the Elder’s greetings to earth. Dr. Carrera has his jamming technology hidden in the Oval Office and activates it as soon as the group is shut in. Ako Elma appears uncomfortable for a moment, then screams and seems to dissolve into a grey goo. This goo is collected by Carrera for study; the first test of his device appears successful.
TIAH HALLOWEEN CONTEST
In order to provide for the upkeep of our new historian, Today In Alternate History is sponsoring its first contest - make a donation at our Paypal link, then email us up to 3 alternate history entries for October 31st, 2005. The best 10 entries will make up the entire content of the post on October 31st, Halloween day. Boring contest information is available on our Forum link below. Enter early and often!
Also, we still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!
Forum Link - Boring legal info on the TIAH Halloween Contest!
Fresh New Poll - Shall we use future dates in our entries?
Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, the winning writers have been announced; not the ones I voted for, but you can make up your own mind by seeing the pilots at http://aol.com/situationcomedy
Still wishing...
As your humble alternate historian enters the downhill slope of the 40's, he still has his birthday wish - a contract with a publishing company like Workman Publishing to produce a page-a-day calendar of TIAH. If you are an editor for such a company, or can place us in touch with one, please fulfill this belated birthday wish!
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