Valentine's Day

The state of TIAH

February 14th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: We hope that you have a lovely Valentine's Day today, and that if you are not currently with someone, that the ambient love in the air will find you and make the day special. Enjoy our offerings, and if you are with someone, don't forget to tell them what they mean to you!

in 1349, the Christians of Strasbourg, Germany become seized with a madness toward their Jewish neighbors and plan a giant massacre to eliminate them. Before the Jews can be burned at the stake, though, their prayers are answered – a young woman, Marta Koepke, halted the murders by saying that she saw Saint Valentine himself, moving her to mercy toward the Jews. Her fervent faith convinced the Christians to release their Jewish captives unharmed, and began a tradition of reconciliation between Jew and Christian in Germany that helped ease the hatred that had burned in that nation for centuries.

in 1415, the love poem of the duke of Orleans to his wife produces such – spectacular – results that he mandates the writing of poetry to one's love on Valentine's Day. Although the tradition eventually loses the force of law, it became an entrenched part of western civilization that has seen many men ardently working on poetry in the days and weeks leading up to February 14th. The tradition is often credited as being the spark behind the immense popularity of poetry in the west, with poetry collections selling in the millions of copies, especially as Valentine's Day approaches.

in 1847, young Esther Howland of Massachusetts tries to start her own business by selling lacy hearts and candies to give to your loved one on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately for Miss Howland, no one felt that the holiday needed commercialization, and she soon moved on to other pursuits.

Buzz Aldrin	In 1968 astronomer Paul Oswald Ahnert deciphered an extraterrestrial broadcast indicating that our quadrant of the Galaxy was under quarantine from a lethal space leprosy. At first his warnings were ignored, however reconsideration was duly given when returning Lunar Module Pilot Colonel ..
.. Buzz Eugene Aldrin lifted his visor at the splashdown point, east of Wake Island on July 24 1969.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1952 Norwegian Minister President Vidkun Quisling opens the VI Olympic Winter Games in Oslo, Norway.	Quisling
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Captain Cook	In 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific Captain James Cook narrowly escaped death at the hand of natives of the Sandwich Islands. He had mistakenly returned to Hawaii in the season dedicated to Kū, god of war, inadvertently upset the equilibrium and fostered an atmosphere ..
.. of resentment and aggression from the local population.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1956 at the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow, Premier Nikita Khruschev revealed than Lenin was a shape-shifting Vampire. A number of strokes in the 1920s forced the undead nosferatu to possess the body of Comrade Stalin to permit him to continue his misrule. ..	Nikita Khrusche..
.. He had even maintained his corpse in a Kremlin mausoleum just in case a Dracula style exit was necessary.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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