Birth Of Siddhartha; Death Of Place & Lynn

April 8th, 2006

in 563 BC, Emperor Siddhartha was born in India among the Shakya. After achieving spiritual enlightenment as a young prince, Siddhartha led the Shakya to conquest across the Asian subcontinent, unifying most of southeast Asia in an advanced empire of great learning and wisdom.

in 1455, descendants of Telka the Speaker maneuver their candidate for the papacy, Alfonso de Borgia, into the Shoes of the Fisherman. Pope Callistus III funnels huge amounts of wealth to a secret fund that will finance the Speaker’s Children for centuries.

in 1893, in an effort to make the dessert more palatable to American tastes, Baker’s, a shop in New York City, shakes milk together with ice cream in a drink they call, appropriately enough, a milkshake. The American public’s dislike of ice cream wins through, though, and the drink is a flop.

in 1899, the horror of Martha Place’s execution in the electric chair in New York led to a widespread movement to ban the death penalty for women; Place had been the first woman executed by this new invention. After the nation banned the death penalty for women in 1902, a more widespread ban on the ultimate penalty was enacted in 1910, abolishing it entirely in the United States for all crimes other than treason.

in 1915, after many rough adventures in the streets of the Q'Barian city they have landed in, the landing party from the Harlequin locates the building that has sent out the distress signal they responded to. It is a hospital, and they are the only Q'Barians who are glad to see the humans and Mlosh of the Harlequin. The Chief Doctor of the institution begs them, “Please, you must take our patients away from this. We cannot hold out much longer.” Captain Smith of the Harlequin agrees, and orders more shuttles down from the Harlequin to evacuate the hospital.

in 1952, President Joseph McCarthy nationalized the steel industry when it looked like he couldn’t end a strike by Ohio steelworkers quickly. When the Supreme Court ruled that he was stepping outside of constitutional boundaries by doing so, he sent in the U.S. military to arrest the Court. After he suspended the elections that year, millions of Americans, including large numbers of the military, rose up against him and plunged the nation into a 5-year civil war.

in 1331, the Egyptian emperor jailed Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta and sentenced him to death. Kenyatta had been leading the Mau Mau in mostly non-violent protests against Egyptian rule, and the emperor felt that Kenyatta’s removal from the movement would kill it. It had the opposite effect; the Mau Mau were able to achieve independence after Kenyatta’s death inspired more people to join their fight.

in 1972, South Chilean guerillos strike east from Val Paraiso, cutting the capitol of Santiago off from the rest of the north. American troops immediately move to aid the embattled Communist regime, and quickly push the guerillos a safe distance away from Santiago.

in 1997, anti-Constitutionalist minister Barry W. Lynn is executed by Constitutionalists following orders from President Ralph Shephard. Lynn had been active in the underground American movement getting dissidents out of the country and working to overthrow the one-party rule Shephard had implemented.

in 2005, with captive Claw scientist Ahn Wun cooperating because she fears the Save Earthers will torture her son if she doesn't, the SE learns that four main sectors handle all of the Claw transformation into human appearance; she also provides them with a rough idea of the security at these installations. None are in the U.S., and Representative Worthington's ability to tap into government funds for travel is now in question, so they call on another resource.


Timelines in today's post: the Speaker, the Mlosh, Islam Ascendant, the Ralph Shephard timeline, The Claw and Communist America.

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect The Shoes of the Fisherman to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

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