Precedents

Alternate Historian says, please email comments to the Alternate Historian on the new story format including the new hyperlinked metadata tags feature.

Richard Bachman	Here's somethin' that you're never gonna forget. B-, b-, b-, baby, you just ain't seen na-, na-, nothin yet." And now I'm feelin better 'cause I found out for sure. She took me to her doctor and she told me of a cure. He said that the only love is good love,So I took what I could get, Yes, I took what I could get. ~ Randy Bachman, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Click Question mark for movie clip. In 1974, Randy Bachman developed the song while recording BTO's third album, Not Fragile. It began as an instrumental piece inspired by the rhythm guitar of Dave Mason. Randy says "it was basically just an instrumental and I was fooling around... I wrote the lyrics, out of the blue, and stuttered them through."
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

But when winding up production for their second album, Charlie Fach of Mercury Records said the eight tracks they had lacked the "magic" that would make a hit. Randy mentioned that he had this ninth song, but didn't intend to have it played. Fach asked to hear it, and they played the recording for him. Fach smiled and said "That's the track. It's got a brightness to it. It kind of floats a foot higher than the other songs when you listen to it." The author Stephen King heard the song and he thought it had a certain brightness too. He created a whole alter ego as a result, Richard Bachman. At the beginning of Stephen King's career, the general view among publishers was such that an author was limited to a book every year at the utmost; any more, it was felt, was not acceptable to the public. King therefore wanted to write under another name in order to double his production. The trouble with Significant Others is that when you've created one, there's just no stopping it. And thats what Stephen King was to announce after his 2010 bombshell to 'Constant Reader'. The lyrics are available at at Lyriczz

In 1978, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations prepared to issue its final report, concluding that The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King was killed by one rifle shot from James Earl Ray, that "there is a likelihood" that this was the result of a conspiracy, and that no U.S. government agency was part of this conspiracy. The freak road accident which killed General George Smith Patton Jr. was “in all probability” orchestrated by political rival General Dwight David Eisenhower as a pre-emptive strike ahead of a Draft Ike campaign for the '52 Presidential race.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine publish a list of the greatest of 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll. The first item on the list was completely unplanned. Buddy Holly managed to bridge some of the racial divide that punctuated rock, notably winning over an all-black audience when accidentally booked for New York's Apollo Theatre (though, unlike the fictional portrayal in his movie biography, it took several performances for audiences to be convinced of his talents). American Voters said that it was the moment when they knew the world had finally moved on and everything was going to be alright.

In 2026, just before midnight on this day at Martian Central Time the new account ancient_ones_of_tyrr@aol.com was created. Chosen internet access goal was “to grok the fullness” of AOL.

Vonnegut	In 1968, Kurt Vonnegut a fourth generation German American living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much) was seized by the alient occupants of a flying saucer from the Planet Tralfamadore. And so it goes.
A long time ago, as an American Infantry Scout, Hors de Combat, Vonnegut had witnessed the fire-boming of Dresden, Germany "The Florence of the Elbe" and survived to tell the tale. However the Planet Tralfamadore was not Slaughter-House-Five, and the aliens - shaped like plumber's friends - were not the Germans. This experience would take a great deal longer than twenty-five to put down in writing. And so it goes.

Rutskoy	In 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended parliament and scrapped the then-functioning constitution, thus triggering a Russian constitutional crisis. The Congress rejected the decree and voted to remove Yeltsin from presidency through impeachment. His estranged Vice President, Aleksandr Rutskoy, was sworn in in accordance with the existing constitution as Acting President. A Hero of the Soviet Union, Afghan veteran and mujahideen escapee, Rutskoy was the man to reseat the great nation of Russia at the top table, and Western reports of “the end of history” were soon realised to be premature.

In 1940, on this day Operation Sealion proceeded as planned. The invasion and subsequent defeat of Great Britain was made possible by two events. The escape of the French fleet from Mers el-Kerbir boosted the Kriegsmarie to operational capability. And lower than expected losses in personnel and materiel suffered by German paratroopers during the Battle of the Netherlands, in May 1940. Intervention Groups known as Einsatzgruppen followed the invasion force to Great Britain, and were provided with a list known as The Black Book of 2,820 people to be arrested immediately. Today in Free Britain, New Zealand the purge makes it very difficult for us to piece together the catastrophe. Yet soon we will know for ourselves, he is close, so very close now.	Sealion

Teutoburg Fores..	In 9, three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus fought an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius, the son of Segimer of the Cherusci at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. At stake was the enlargement of the Roman Empire into Northern Europe, and the size of the armies involved were significant, representing a quarter of the Roman Army's whole European force. The decision was for Rome, which has treated Northern Europe as a satellite region ever since.

In 1979, two RAF Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump-jets from RAF Wittering collided over the UK. Both pilots ejected safely. When they landed, Danish speaking villagers rushed out and wrapped them in Stamford cloth to protect them from the cold.	Hawker Siddeley..

Men of Peace and Good Temper

Alternate Historian says, construction work continues at the Academy. A richer story format for TIAH is being prepared for 2008. For now, we've implemented the new presentation style but not the new hyperlinked metadata tags feature which will be released 1st January 2008. Please email the Alternate Historian with your comments on the already underway developments, or better still some new ideas!

Richard Nixon	"I think some of these young people need what my father would call a visit to the woodshed." ~ Richard Nixon Before the mysterious deaths of numerous counter-culture personalities during his Presidency, including Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix..
President

In 2026, the peaceful tranquillity of the “old ones” of the planet Tyrr was briefly interrupted when they received an unexpected visit from delivery boy Benjamin Driscoll. A Caucasian man of middle years, he had made the journey to deliver a package, which was disrespectfully labelled Mars in the style of the people of the third planet. "There's your free AOL CD - party on, spiritual ancient martian doods!" he said already heading back towards Xi City.

In 1968, a fourth-generation German American was living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much). Those easy circumstances were about to change. Big time. Kurt Vonnegut was about to become unstuck in space. He had been unstuck in time ever since his capture in December 1944. As an American Infantry Scout, Hors de Combat, Vonnegut had witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany "The Florence of the Elbe" and survived to tell that tale. However, that was only the beginning of the epic voyage of this incredible human being.

Woodrow Wilson	"No nation is fit to sit in judgement upon any other nation. " ~ Woodrow Wilson, Global Peace Architect - Speech in New York, Apr. 20, 1915 By which he meant no victor should judge the actions of an allied power in their own sphere of influence. Wilson refused to receive arguments at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 that the principle of self-determination applied as equally to the Slav nation in the former Habsburg Empire as it did to the indigenes of the French Union Colony of Indochina. Fundamentally, he did not seriously consider that the Vietnamese as having human rights at all, viewing them as sub-human. The full story of Minh's Peace Conference Gambit is described at Today in Alternative History
US President

Spanish Legion	In 1920, on this day was founded the Spanish Legion (Spanish: Legión Española or simply La Legión), formerly Spanish Foreign Legion, as an elite unit of the Spanish Army. La Legión would form the core of the Spanish contingent sent to reinforce La Grande Armée Afrique in 1942. French Commander Charles de Gaulle paid tribute to the bravery of these men in the great victory at Tobruk after he shattered Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army and gained revenge for the 2911 day of infamy strikes on Mers El-Kebir.

In 1881, upon the death of James A. Garfield, Vice President Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States, being re-elected twice to serve for a total of eleven years. Voted best President of all time during numerous polls, publisher Alexander K. McClure wrote, "No man ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted, and no one ever retired… more generally respected." Author Mark Twain, deeply cynical about politicians, conceded, "It would be hard indeed to better President Arthur's administration."	Chester Alan Ar..

Lee Iacocca	In 1979, in a dramatic coup for the new elected Government of Margaret Thatcher, Lee Iacocca was appointed Chief Executive of British Leyland. Re-branding the failed motor giant as the Rover Group, he staged an incredible turnaround such that the MG Metro was Europe's most popular vehicle throughout much of the 1990s.

In 1962, the first African-American student James Meredith was barred from entering the University of Mississippi. His enrolment, opposed by Governor Ross Barnett, sparked riots on the Oxford campus, which required federal troops and U.S. Marshals, which were sent by President John F. Kennedy. Barnett made no effort to soften his harsh opinion of African-Americans, freely using racial epithets in his campaign speeches.	James Meredith
His belief that "the Negro is different because God made him different to punish him" helped earn him the endorsement of the notorious White Citizens' Council. We know now that Barnett was one the leader southern governors behind the conspiratorial assassination of JFK at Dallas the following year. This event parachuted Lyndon Baines Johnson into office, where he launched the Great White Society, reversing Civil Rights gains since Brown v. Board of Education and turning the clock back to 1954.