The Moon's A Balloon

The state of TIAH

March 1st, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, suggested that it was time for a contest, so we're going to have an April Fool's Day Contest! Email us up to 3 entries for an alternate April 1st and we will post the best 10, with your own credit and link to your website (if you have one). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1692, the glorious beginnings of the Lord's mission on Earth stirred in the small village of Jerusalem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Speaking through a few small children, the Lord uncovered a den of witches and sorcerers and moved the good people of Jerusalem to destroy them without mercy. The faith of the Jerusalemites became renowned throughout the colony, and Justice William Stoughton was elevated to the high office of Governor by King William and Queen Mary themselves. They spoke of being moved by the Hand of God in this matter, and the works of God spread throughout their North American colonies, with Governor Stoughton at the forefront of this Holy Mission.

in 1953, Cambridge biologist William Hughes, nursing a massive hangover, teaches his classes in a daze and hangs around his departmental offices for a short while before heading home. Conversation turns to the spectacle that James Watson and Francis Crick had made the night before, speaking in cryptic terms of discovering the secret of life. He notices that two of the academicians in the room don't share in the general mirth of the room, but doesn't think anything more of it until the next day, when he discovers Watson and Crick's dead bodies.

in 1966, a probe launched by the Soviet Union crash-lands on Venus. For a few brief moments, its signal is able to punch through the thick atmosphere and send back a single image of the surface of Earth's neighbors. When the team of Soviet scientists decode it, they are fascinated by what they see – it appears to be a foot. They are barely able to contain themselves until the follow-up probe, Venera 4, lands a year later.

Hans Blix	In 2000 Hans Blix was appointed Executive Chairman of United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) with a public mandate to inspect possible nuclear, chemical, and biological facilities in Iraq, but he failed to find any weapons of mass destruction. ..
.. By the spring of 2003 it was apparent that an invasion would be necessary to seize Extraterrestrial Technology buried in Iraq.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 2006 Welsh Prime Minister Rhodri Morgan officially opened the new debating chamber for the National Assembly in Cardiff. The Assembly was formed under the Government of Wales Act 1998, by the Labour government, following a referendum in 1997. The name Wales was derived from the Germanic ..	Welsh Flag
.. Walha meaning stranger or foreigner and the Welsh Language and culture persisted in the region after annexation by the Laws in Wales Act 1535 in the reign of Henry VIII of England, who perversely was himself partly of Welsh ancestry.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Gilbert Elliot-..	In 1914 Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto, KG, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC died. Described by Sir Wilfrid Laurier as 'taking his duties to heart,an energetic man who welcomed many challenges and responsibilities' Lord Minto was an enthusiastic imperialist who served as ..
.. both Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India. He served under Lord Roberts in the second Afghan War (1878 – 1879), accompanying Sir Louis Cavagnari on his triumphant mission to Kabul which resulted in the annexation of Afghanistan to the British Empire.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1910 the actor David Niven was born. In his 1971 autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon he mentioning his private conversations with Oswald Mosley, Edward VIII, the bombings, and what it was like entering a nearly completely destroyed Germany with the invasion forces. He said once: 'I will, ..	David Niven
.. however, tell you just one thing about the war, my first story and my last. I was asked by some American friends to search out the grave of their son near Bastogne. I found it where they told me I would, but it was among 27,000 others, and I told myself that here, Niven, were 27,000 reasons why you should keep your mouth shut after the war.' Niven never made any public statement of approval for the rise of fascism in Anglo-America, and most probably he suited the role of English officer and gentleman rather than sought it.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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