One Horse Town

July 27th, 2007

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The Announcement

Alt-Hist Intro: This is a time-traveler idea I've had – let me know what you think in the comments!

I went back in time the other day. It was quite an interesting experience. I almost prevented the birth of Hitler, and was an inch away from saving Martin Luther King. And, by the way, it was Oswald, and he was the only gunman. I can say that without fear of contradiction.
I'm not supposed to interfere, but you can't help yourself, really. After all, what's the point of going back if you're not going to try to change things? Time travel is the ultimate wish fulfillment. If you go back far enough, and you know enough, you can be a god.
Marcus had wanted to do that; be a god. He told me that he could bring a few gadgets with him, set up shop in Mesopotamia or someplace like that, and he would never have to worry about anything ever again. I reminded him that modern conveniences like hologames, running water and vaccinations might be missed by someone playing the god for the primitive locals, but he says that he could tough it out. I doubt it.
But, he's been gone for a while now, and I don't think he's coming back. The world hasn't come crashing down around us, so whatever changes he's made, I assume that they've already been taken into account in the time stream. I hope.
That's what we all hope, really. Everybody involved in the project has got to hope that we can't really change the past, at least not in a way that will destroy the present. If we can, then somebody's going to screw us all up any day now.
Maybe they already have.
There are a lot of paradoxes in this line of work, and you really just have to get used to them. I mean, if you try to grasp each set of contradictions that you bring up just by appearing in the past, you'd spend all your time sitting around confused instead of doing something. And that's not very productive.
My main area of focus is on historical accuracy in textbooks. I was the one who got to correct all the assassination buffs who’ve been living on JFK rumors for decades. That was my masterpiece; seventeen cameras along a one mile patch of road in old Dallas. Conclusive proof that the only shots came from the book depository, there was nobody on the grassy knoll, and I got a really good close-up of Lee Harvey himself squeezing the trigger. How they howled. I've now been labeled part of the conspiracy.

In 2006, a series of high-level resignations continued in the Justice Department and at the FBI following the revelations of James Anthony Traficant, Jr. at a press conference in Washington.	James Traficant
A former Democratic Representative in the United States Congress from Ohio, Traficant, Jr. had been recently released from prison after compelling evidence emerged that he was the victim of a government set-up. This included false allegations of taking bribes, filing false tax returns, racketeering, and forcing his aides to perform chores at his farm in Ohio and on his houseboat in Washington, D.C. All of which were dismissed at the re-trial.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1941, at Sidi Omar on the Egyptian border the terrible past finally caught up with Loose Cannon Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence. Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny had been sent on a desperate mission by General Rommel, in a last ditch attempt to rescue the Afrika Korps from certain defeat in the North Africa Campaign. Skorzeny presented a series of letters from 1931 through 1934 that Lawrence had written to John Bruce, posing as his own Uncle. The Obersturmbannführer was ordered to either "turn" the Commander of the British Eighth Army, or hand over the letters to Lawrence's Arab allies. The bitter irony of being turned was not lost on Lawrence. "How could you do it?" asked Skorzeny twisting the knife.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of Susan Shwarz original content has been made to celebrate the author's commanding genius.

"Saw a Cadillac for the first time yesterday, I'd always seen horses, buggies, bales of hay `Cause progress here don't move with modern times There's nothing to steal so there's not a great deal of crime It sure is hell living in a one horse town There's half a mile of Alabama mud bed ground
Elton John	Nothing much doing of an afternoon Unless you're sitting in a rocking chair just picking a tune And they ain't too well acquainted with the stars and stripes But if you want to hear Susanna then they'll pick all night They'll pick all night" ~ Lyrics to “One Horse Town” - Click to Play Sample
Exiled Genius

Following revelations about his personal life and flight from Great Britain, Elton John described his isolation in a remote part of Alabama at Lyric Dude

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1970, on this day António de Oliveira Salazar died. He had governed as the de facto dictator of the Portuguese Republic since 1932. During the previous two years he had ruled in name only since suffering a major stroke, forcing President Américo Tomás to effectively replace him with Marcelo Caetano. As a symbol of Portugese unity, the Mocidade Portuguesa (militia) of African, Asian and European ethnicity paid homage at his funeral. Dramatic changes that had been held in check for many years were now unleashed; Portugal was no longer “Proudly Alone”.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, a turn on the Wheel of If had transformed New York DA Allister Park into Celtic Judge Ib Scotlung. Brilliantly discharging the duties of a Pugnacious Peacekeeper through an intricacy of Islam, Park found a peaceful resolution to the border dispute between Tawantiinsuuju and Dar Al-Harb. The young widow and prospective wife, Kuurikwiljor had written down the belief system of Patjakamak for Park's study. This practice was not forbidden yet not encouraged by the Tawantiinsuuju, true believers who memorized Patjakamak. A Zorastrian precedent was applied to recognise non-believers as People of the Book. This redefinition as non-pagans enabled the Emir of Dar Al-Harb to establish peace across the physical barrier of the great river Ooorinookoo.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1948, Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny escaped from an Allied Prisoner of War Camp. With the defeat of Nazi Germany inevitable, Skorzeny had trained, until March 1945, recruits for the stay-behind Nazi organisation, the Werwolves, which engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Allies. However, Skorzeny quickly realized that the Werwolves were too few in number to become an effective fighting force. Instead of this, they were used for the Nazi "ratlines", a secret "Underground railroad" which helped Nazi war criminals escape trial after Germany's surrender. Beside this organisation of the "ratlines," which would form the basis of the supposed ODESSA network after the war, Skorzeny had been employed since August 1944 by high-ranking Nazis and German industrialists to hide money and to loot property, documents, etc., some of which were buried in the mountains of Bavaria, and others shipped overseas. Skorzeny finally decided to surrender to the Allies in May 1945, feeling that he could potentially be of use to the Americans in the forthcoming Cold War. On May 16, 1945, he emerged from the Austrian woods near Salzburg and surrendered to a lieutenant of the US Thirtieth Infantry Regiment. He was held as a prisoner of war for more than two years before being tried as a war criminal at the Dachau Trials for his false flag actions in the Battle of the Bulge. However, he was acquitted when Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas G.C. of the SOE testified in his defence that Allied forces had also fought in enemy uniform. But he was held until he escaped from a prison camp on July 27, 1948. There was one item of property that Skorzeny took with him in his flight to South America. Some documents actually. Letters written by Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, posing as his Uncle, to John Bruce between 1931 and 1934. And also the five missing pages from Lawrence's War Diary, ripped in shame by the author describing his capture in Deraa during November 1917. Documents that would create a spectacular reaction when they surfaced in 1960 during the premiere of the movie Lawrence of Arabia on 16th December 1962.

~ entry from Steve Payne: extensive use of Susan Shwarz original content has been made to celebrate the author's commanding genius.

Windsor Ontario	In 1940, the fleeing British Royal Family reached their safest haven. That being the capital of New Britain established by Arthur Wellesley in 1814, Windsor, Ontario. Nowhere other than this Anglophone pocket in North America would have accepted these desperate refugees. Head of the British Government in Exile, Winston Churchill ..
.. summoned up the situation on their arrival: “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was our darkest hour.'”
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1941, Japanese troops occupied French Indo-China. Meanwhile, Mountbatten, Wingate et al. were poised to quit the Far East altogether, taking with them the Indian Divisions of the British Army. These troops were desperately needed in Jerusalem by Bernard Montgomery of British Central Command. Caught in the Middle East between ..	Conquest of Ind..
.. the German and Japanese pincer movement, the British Army prepared for Churchill's Land Stand.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Syngman Rhee	In 1953, following a six-month “surge” US President Douglas MacArthur proclaimed victory in the Korean War. In Seoul, anti-communist Syngman Rhee was declared president of the newly unified Republic of Korea. Rhee's legacy has been in considerable dispute.
In general, conservative circles regard Rhee as the patriarch of the nation, while liberals tend to be critical of him. Shortly before the 1988 Olympic Games it was discovered that Rhee had embezzled over $20m from the government and tributes to the former head of state were cancelled.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1974, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Robert F Kennedy: obstruction of justice. Americans were waking up to the fact that RFK's Special Investigations Unit (“the Plumbers”) had burgled their own Democratic National Committee ..	Richard Nixon
.. Headquarters in an attempt to besmirch Richard M Nixon's reputation. Still, it was just too late for Honest Dick. At sixty years old, he had made two bids for Presidency, and one for the Governorship of California. Even if he had been tricked by the Kennedys, he still had a record of losing.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Kaiser	In 1914, on this day South African troops land in German South West Africa. Ever since the Kaiser's cynical intervention in the Boer War, Imperial Germany had identified South Africa as a regional partner, not to mention a boundless source of mineral wealth. As Britain and France fought for survival on the Western Front, German and South Africa troops drove into Southern Africa creating new facts on the ground that would prove to be very difficult to reverse after the Great War.
~ entry by Alternate Historian

In 1914, the Irish Home Rule Bill becomes law forming the Free State on the very cusp of the First World War. Michael Collins, the author of Ireland's constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann stated that thousands of unnecessary saved deaths in the trenches had been averted by precipitous timing, “the luck of the Irish” he said.	Michael Collins
~ entry by Alternate Historian

Mukden Incident	In 1931, the Mukden Incident gave China the pretext to invade and occupy Kyushu. In fact, Japan had been dangerously destabilised for a millennia. In 1281 the fleet of Qubilai Khan narrowly averted destruction by a typhoon whilst approaching Japan, the first of many Chinese incursions into the homelands began shortly thereafter.
~ entry by Alternate Historian

In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur moved his command headquarters to Tokyo. Swiftly installed as military governor and de facto Head of State, it was some time before the United States realised that Brass Hat had no intention of letting going of the reins of power. The incredible story of how General-san crushed post-war Japan under his heel was described in the biography "The Rising Sun at Dusk" by Jack Nimersheim, published in Unlikely Tyrants by the editor Mike Resnick in 1997.	General-san
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1968, a fourth-generation German American living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much) published a most remarkable book - Slaughter-house-Five. Kurt Vonnegut consider the book a failure. Like Lot's wife, he had spent twenty-five years looking back at “his” Sodom and Gomorrah, the fire-bombing of Dresden. He too was a “pillar of salt”. Now he planned to work on a work of humour and stop looking back. Yet something was about to happen to change his easy circumstances, and give this incredible human being a subject matter much bigger than the fire-bombing of Dresen. A canvass, in fact, as big as the Universe in which humanity played only a bit part. And so it goes.

~ entry by Alternate Historian

Paul Weller	"I first felt a fist, and then a kick, I could now smell their breath And too many right wing meetings, My life swam around me It took a look and drowned me in its own existence The smell of brown leather, It blended in with the weather It filled my eyes, ears, nose and mouth, It blocked all my senses Couldn't see, hear, speak any longer And I'm down in the tube station at midnight, I said I was down in the tube station at midnight" ~ Paul Weller, lyrics to Down In The Tube Station At Midnight.
Mod Revivalist

After punching Sid Vicious in a night club; he was followed onto the transport system and received a near-fatal beating from supporters of the Sex Pistols. A summary of Paul Weller's biography is detailed at - Wikipedia

~ quotation by Alternate Historian

Rev. Rattie	In 2007, "between web sites" Reverend "Rattie" Taylor prepared to occupy his new home in cyberspace. Said future home being built courtesy of wife Cheryl aka Cat. The open house invite was also being drafted by this most respected of alt-lifer webizens. Opening soon Rat Manifesto, attendance unrestricted (cut & paste limey Co-historians excepted).
~ entry by Alternate Historian

Brown & McFly	In 1985, Back to the Future characters "Doc" Brown and Marty McFly were the victims of twenty-third century time-travellers. On-set Marty McFly's mother Lorraine had recounted how she and George first met when her father hit George with a car. That night, Marty met Doc at the parking lot of Twin Pines Mall. Doc showed him a DeLorean DMC-12 sports car, which he falsely claimed to have modified into a time machine.
Back to the Future

The time machine required 1.21 gigawatts of power, generated by plutonium, and the car needed to be going eighty-eight miles per hour to travel through time. To demonstrate how one programs the machine, Doc entered in November 5, 1955 as the target date. The twenty-third century time-travellers appeared on set. Attempting to recover their property from Universal Pictures who had stolen the time machine, they showed up in a van and shot Doc. Marty jumped into the DeLorean and, in the ensuing chase, drove eighty-eight miles per hour, activating the time device and transported himself into a very different 1955...

~ quotation by Alternate Historian

The Road Back

Persuant to Godspoken testimony of Mr Raymond Manzarek of Chicago, IL - given just consideration of account of their recent meeting on Venice Beach, CA - in full compliance with scripture, Exodus 22:18 ("Suffer not a witch to live") refers- magistrates sentenced James Douglas Morrison of Melbourne, FL to death by drowning on this day of our Lord, 1965. Not the potter, but the potter's clay, amen.

In 1969, at a book-signing award in New York City the author Kurt Vonnegut show-cased his instant classic Slaughterhouse-Five. Afterwards, he stepped straight into the scene of his own death aged 84 on April 11th 2007. Vonnegut was comfortable with the concept of fatalism. He understood very well from his Tralfamadorian intimates that because time is another dimension all three-dimensional slices as we know them exist simultaneously. Therefore, everyone is always alive and death is not a tragic event. Actually Vonnegut had been unstuck in time since 1945. His life seemed like a cyclone, in which his birth, youth, old age, and death were all thrown violently around by the central event, the destruction of Dresden. And so it goes...

In 1975, only nuclear-armed North America and Australia stand between fascism and world conquest. Discovering that oligarchs from 2025 have assisted the Axis victory, the Allies capture the time travel technology. They then use this technology to send a squad back to 1938, the earliest period of time they can reach, to try and stop the Nazis. The plan is to engineer the election of Churchill and Roosevelt. Due to their awareness of the extent of the Nazi threat, this is expected to led to the US entering the war and Britain not surrendering. However, in 1938 they discover two major problems with The Proteus Operation. With no way back to replan with President Kennedy, the team discover that Roosevelt had drowned whilst vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick in August 1921. And Winston Churchill had died in an automobile accident on New York City December 13, 1931..

Binta Kinte	In 1976/1767, in Harlem, New York City the actress Cicely Tyson dreams of a great river running into a bay. She sees a white state house flying the Maryland flag. African in chains are prepared for a slave auction. Tyson is distressed to see Alex Haley amongst them. The author looks at her in misery and says HELP ME. The actress awakes, and packs her bags. She will must go to Annapolis and, if she can, stop this inhumanity.

In 1995, the movie version of Yoshiaki Hiyama's classic The Decisive Battle on the American Mainland is released. Subtitled The Battle of Seattle: Zeros vs. P-39's and Yamamoto's Victory and filmed on the West Coast with real footage, the movie shows how Japan attacked Seattle on May 7, 1942 and defeated America.	Yamamoto

7 Days in November..	In 1964, the Warren Commission released its report, finding persuasive evidence of a conspiracy to kill the President and terminate anti-segregationist developments in America. During the summer of 1963, Southern Governors including George Wallace, Orval Faubus and Ross Barnett had commissioned the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald whilst engaging with anti-Castro groups in New Orleans.
The group had received advanced notification of the motorcade route, and found a job for Oswald as an order-filler at the Texas Book Repository just three weeks before the visit to Dallas. This event parachuted Lyndon Baines Johnson into office, where he launched a Civil Rights program. This promoted a right-wing backlash as General Curtis LeMay assumed office. The coup was dramatized in the movie Seven Days in November (1964) with Kirk Douglas playing the role of “Bombs Away” and Burt Lancaster playing Texas favourite son, LBJ.

In 1964, the Warren Commission released its report. As widely predicted, the Commission's conclusion was a re-affirmation of the lone gunman theory that Snake Eyes, acting alone, had shot President John F. Kennedy. There were, however, too many unresolved issues for America. Most intriguingly, who was the mysterious stranger on Dealey Plaza who held the placard Snake Eyes watching you? prompting Kennedy to duck, whereupon the assassins bullets thudded harmlessly into the upholstery of the 1961 Lincoln Continental.	Snake Eyes
That question had to wait fifteen years until the Final Report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. That piece of sensational evidence came from a Dicta belt recording from a police officer's motorcycle that was escorting Kennedy’s motorcade. Listening to an incomprehensible string of guttural noises, it would be hard to image a more alien sounding conversation.

Canada's Independence Recognized By France

Christmas Day Contest! ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT!! Following up on our Halloween contest, you can enter our next contest, which will be alternate histories for Christmas Day, December 25th, 2005. The same rules will apply, the top ten entries will be posted on that day, and by entering, you grant TIAH the right to electronically print your writing on December 25th, 2005, maintain your writing in our archives, and reprint your entry should we decide to reuse it in the future. TIAH only maintains full copyright over material it has originated that has been used by contestants in writing their own entries. Enter early and often - entries must be received by December 20th, 2005! Email us up to 3 entries of your best alternate Christmas Days! We've only had two contestants so far, so let's get cracking, people!

December 17th, 2005

in 1538, Pope Henry VIII excommunicated Duke Alessandro Farnese of Rome after the Duke had let slip that he didn’t approve of the attitude His Holiness held towards marriage. The Duke had been a supporter of the Reborn Roman Church, and Pope Henry never forgave him.

in 1751, Jane Reddings, Generation 2359 in the Speaker’s Line, organizes the first European meeting of the Speaker’s Children. Over 400 of Telka’s descendants crowded into her estate outside Sheffield to learn of the progress being made in realizing their common dream. This meeting led to contact with counterparts across the globe, and the first grand reunion of the Speaker’s Children in 1786, at the same time the Montgolfier brothers were flying across the Parisian sky.

in 1792, independent Canada is recognized by the government of France, which has recently been through its own revolution. After France formally recognizes the Canadians, the American Commonwealth follows, then Germany, Spain, most of the Scandinavian nations, and finally, in 1806, Great Britain.

in 1877, the Baron Von Todt arrived in Paris, France. Mikhail von Heflin had left his native Bohemia centuries before, wandering across Europe in a vain attempt to discover the secret of his continued existence. Wherever he dwelt for any length of time, though, people close to him began to die, and he found it necessary to move again. He hoped that the size of Paris would keep him anonymous for a time.

in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright join the long line of inventors attempting to get a heavier-than-air craft off the ground. After their failure in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the U.S. government decided that the only way to fly was with lighter-than-air craft, and built an Air Force using the new dirigible technology. The huge, gas-filled aircraft revolutionized international travel.

in 1941, James Crescent, the “World’s Luckiest Man”, was born in Reno, Nevada. Over his life, Crescent won almost $10 million at games of chance. He married his high school sweetheart, had 2 lovely children with her, and was reportedly one of the most well-liked people in all of Reno. When he disappeared in 1976, the police couldn’t find anyone who harbored ill will towards him; although they did hear of a drifter answering to the name “Tolman” who had been spotted near Crescent’s house the day of his disappearance. The drifter was never found, and the crime was never solved.

in 1869, the North American Confederation’s Air-Space Command closed down Project Red Shift, a 20-year program that had been charged with finding the Mlosh home world. Since no progress had been made in that time, the ASC concluded that the world was simply no longer anywhere that they could reach.

in 1975, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of President Gerald Ford. President Rockefeller had pushed for the reinstatement of the death penalty in this case, but California would not hear of it. Ms. Fromme was a model prisoner, though, but talk of her parole was ended when a fellow prisoner killed her in 1992.

in 1977, the most controversial band to ever appear on Saturday Night Live played their hearts out, live from New York. The Sex Pistols had been denied visas to enter the United States until virtually the last minute; they arrived in New York City with no time to rehearse before their appearance. Their foul language and on-stage antics sent the censors into fits, but it remains one of the shows highlights.

in 1992, the Community of Trade was formally dissolved. Most of its membership had been trading goods with capitalist nations for decades, anyway; this move simply acknowledged what they had all been doing already. Comrade President Sam Webb reluctantly signed the dissolution treaty, proclaiming it “the end of a century of progress among the nations”.

in 1,246,358 CE, the Kholia climbing the Wall of Night is passed by a weathergod.

ALTERNATE HISTORIAN'S NOTE:Today's post contains an extended entry that is also a future date - since the poll on this issue is overwhelmingly in favor of including future dates, we felt we should give you a taste. Let us know what you think of this!

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What Is Alternate History?

The state of TIAH

June 16th, 2006 - something a little different

What is Alternate History?

From time to time, confused people have emailed the Academy or commented on our posts to tell us that we got this or that historical fact wrong, or to ask us where we got our facts, since we know something different from the “official” record. Usually, we will simply reply by telling them that this is an alternate history site, and therefore what they see recorded here are events that didn't actually occur. One person became so offended by this that he declared himself anti-alternate-history. Our email can be interesting at times.

Some people who do get the concept sometimes feel that a lot of what we do here at the Academy isn't real Alternate History; we introduce aliens, or supernatural events, or give Pete Best talent. It could be said that virtually any fiction could be interpreted as an alternate history, diverging from our own world at some point and in some unknown way. The people who complain about the Mlosh, or neo-Nazi time travel, or Pete Best's inevitable superstardom, have a much narrower definition in mind. For them, Alternate History is focused on either/or moments in actual history, and they only want to see stories about that.

This definition of Alternate History has a long and storied pedigree – Winston Churchill wrote an essay about how different the world would have been if the American Confederacy had lost the Civil War, Newt Gingrich ruined William Forstchen's career with 1945, and there was even a much-bandied about piece in The New Republic about George Bush's removal from office. In this view of Alternate History, the only fictionalizing allowed is that moment of decision – instead of following the pattern of events in our own timeline, the Alternate History goes down the other path, and we have a 20th Century American Confederacy, a triumphant Nazi regime reigning over Europe, or a world where George Bush actually did something besides vacation in his early presidency.

But, no less a giant in the Alternate History world than Harry Turtledove – a real-life historian of our very own timeline – has included fantastic elements such as aliens in his fiction, and made wonderful stories out of this. I would say that if you are limiting Alternate History by placing artificial restrictions on it, you are limiting yourself to a world view that is too narrow, and not opening yourself up to all of the possibilities that lie in this genre. I'm not going to go so far as to say that all fiction is Alternate History, but I would like to see a wider embrace of supernatural elements within it.

That's our opinion here in the Academy. What do you think? As always, we have the Forum and comments section for you to weigh in on – let us know your definition of Alternate History.

Back to the fiction tomorrow!

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect Winston Churchill 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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Good long fiction from the AH. See a review of Warp at Universe Pathways Magazine

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Death Comes To Paris; Luckiest Man In The World Is Born

December 17th, 2004

in 1538, Pope Henry VIII excommunicated Duke Alessandro Farnese of Rome after the Duke had let slip that he didn’t approve of the attitude His Holiness held towards marriage. The Duke had been a supporter of the Reborn Roman Church, and Pope Henry never forgave him.

in 1751, Jane Reddings, Generation 2359 in the Speaker’s Line, organizes the first European meeting of the Speaker’s Children. Over 400 of Telka’s descendants crowded into her estate outside Sheffield to learn of the progress being made in realizing their common dream. This meeting led to contact with counterparts across the globe, and the first grand reunion of the Speaker’s Children in 1786, at the same time the Montgolfier brothers were flying across the Parisian sky.

in 1877, the Baron Von Todt arrived in Paris, France. Mikhail von Heflin had left his native Bohemia centuries before, wandering across Europe in a vain attempt to discover the secret of his continued existence. Wherever he dwelt for any length of time, though, people close to him began to die, and he found it necessary to move again. He hoped that the size of Paris would keep him anonymous for a time.

in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright join the long line of inventors attempting to get a heavier-than-air craft off the ground. After their failure in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the U.S. government decided that the only way to fly was with lighter-than-air craft, and built an Air Force using the new dirigible technology. The huge, gas-filled aircraft revolutionized international travel.

in 1941, James Crescent, the “World’s Luckiest Man”, was born in Reno, Nevada. Over his life, Crescent won almost $10 million at games of chance. He married his high school sweetheart, had 2 lovely children with her, and was reportedly one of the most well-liked people in all of Reno. When he disappeared in 1976, the police couldn’t find anyone who harbored ill will towards him; although they did hear of a drifter answering to the name “Tolman” who had been spotted near Crescent’s house the day of his disappearance. The drifter was never found, and the crime was never solved.

in 1869, the North American Confederation’s Air-Space Command closed down Project Red Shift, a 20-year program that had been charged with finding the Mlosh home world. Since no progress had been made in that time, the ASC concluded that the world was simply no longer anywhere that they could reach.

in 1977, the most controversial band to ever appear on Saturday Night Live played their hearts out, live from New York. The Sex Pistols had been denied visas to enter the United States until virtually the last minute; they arrived in New York City with no time to rehearse before their appearance. Their foul language and on-stage antics sent the censors into fits, but it remains one of the shows highlights.

in 1992, the Community of Trade was formally dissolved. Most of its membership had been trading goods with capitalist nations for decades, anyway; this move simply acknowledged what they had all been doing already. Comrade President Sam Webb reluctantly signed the dissolution treaty, proclaiming it “the end of a century of progress among the nations”.


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Raven

Hari Seldon	In 926 Foundation Era, on the Planet Terminus, a vault opened and Hari Seldon emerged. This time, in flesh and blood, not the holograms of the previous eight crises. His prediction of the eventual fall of the Galactic Empire, and the apocalyptic predictions around that event, was the reason behind his nickname 'Raven' Seldon. By 20,069 Galactic Era, Seldon had decided that his initial plan was insufficient. He required a panic button.
Psychohistorian

Biographer Gaal Dornick reported that 'had been working up until his last moments on psychohistorical equations; his activated Prinie Radiant was discovered clutched in hand. According to Seldon’s instructions, the instrument was shipped by his colleague Gaal Dornick who had recently emigrated to Terminus.' This was a lie, Gaal Dornick brought Hari Seldon's cryogenically frozen body to the periphery of the galaxy, to be activated by the Prinie Radiant nine hundred thirty years later.

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In 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower addressed the nation for the last time in office, issuing a strange warning.

'We face a hostile ideology [communism] global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method ... [warning about what he saw as unjustified government spending proposals] [that] we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by [Ike leans forward for emphasis] the congressional military industrial complex... Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.'

Richard M Nixon was seething with angry. Not only had Ike failed to back him during the campaign, not his former boss was trying toreally spoil things for him.

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In 1596, there were so many black people in England that Queen Elizabeth I demanded that they be expelled from the country. An edict from the Queen, at first it brought no action. However it was then followed up by a Royal Proclamation, issued in 1601.

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In 1776, the defeated General George Washington is astonished by the generous final settlement terms being offered to from King George IV at Buckingham Place. Prepared for the humiliation of crushing terms for the vanquished republicans in the Colonies, rather King George IV proposes a genuine partnership for Anglo-America based on local representation and self-governing taxation. 'No victors, no vanquished' chips in his shadowy adviser Ernest Shackleton by way of explanation.

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In 1819, Simón Bolívar proclaims the Republic of Baja California, the predecessor nation to a twenty-first century mega state on the west coast. Today Spanish speaking citizens enjoy the world's highest per capita income and literacy rates.

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In 1942, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. Was born in Louisville, Kentucky on this day. Aged just eighteen, Clay, Jr. won the Gold Medal at the Rome Olympics. Four years later Clay beat Sonny Liston to take the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. Clay had driven to Sonny's home in Denver at one o'clock in the morning, shouted for Sonny to come out and fight him on the spot, and set up a huge bear trap on the lawn. On March 6 influenced by Malcolm X, Clay changed his name to Muhammed Ali, joined the Nation of Islam and retired from boxing to concentrate on the greater fights that lay ahead for the African American people. His baiting of President Lyndon Baines Johnson from the White House lawn was considered the key to Washington's decision to withdraw from Vietnam in 1967, it was just so annoying. Just like Arthur Ashe, draconian measures would be taken by the Division to prevent Clay giving the game away. He really had the establishment on the ropes.

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In 2232 AUC, the Empire of Mali in Africa declared war on its northern neighbors of Rome. The Republic had been encroaching on Malian territory for decades, and the settlement of a small town on Mali’s eastern border by Romans was the final straw. The war between Mali and Rome lasted almost seventeen years, and killed millions in Africa and Europe.

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In 1775, following the example begun by the witch-hunters of Salem, Polish Christians burn 9 women at the stake in Kalisk. The witch-hunter movement reaches its peak in the 19th century as countries that were simply full of witches were taken over by Christians and put to the torch.

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In 1860, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, on the Sea of Azov. His comedies of manner helped the noble class in Imperial Russia forget the troubles of the day like the crushing poverty of the serfs and the communist agitation of the Americans. His last play, Good Comrade Wilson, was a skewering indictment of the communist system as practiced by America.

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In 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower addresses the nation for the last time in office. While his speech begins with time-worn platitudes, he then veers into conspiracy theory, warning Americans of the Military-Industrial Complex and the consequences of its takeover of the country. Just before he starts naming names, though, he suddenly clutches his chest and falls over dead from a heart attack. Most politicians attributed Ike’s remarks to delirium brought on by the heart attack he was obviously suffering from as he began his speech.

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In 1971, British spaceflight Commander's wife Mrs Bert Smith confessed to her sister Betty that she wasn’t sure her Bert would be back tomorrow despite her optimistic statement to reporters. The ill-fated Apollo 13 mission had been too much trouble, it really had.

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Kennedys	A Review of PBS' 'The American Experience: Bobby & Teddy' ~ Tonight, PBS airs the third part of its five-part series on the Kennedy brothers, Bobby and Teddy, and the way they shaped the life of a generation--the tumultuous times that brought President Kennedy to the Oval Office continue to reverberate down to the 2008 election. The first two episodes focused primarily on the family life of the Kennedys, one of the wealthiest and most storied political families in American history.

The first episode was a masterwork on the emergence of ethnic politics in the early part of the last century, and the rise of the Irish Catholics in Boston, from 'Honey' Fitz to James Curley to Joe Kennedy Sr.'s storied career, culminating in his time serving as the American Ambassador to the Court of Saint James. The second episode took up the experience of the family during the Second World War. Like any American family, it was marked with tragedy and triumph, the deaths of Joe Jr. and John leaving indelible mark on Bobby and Teddy, the family's youngest sons, as well as their sisters Eunice and Patricia. The death of their brothers forced father's vast political ambitions to include his daughters, a move some Kennedy biographers have described as proto-feminism; others, noting Joe Sr's ambition, suggest that the post war era leading up to Pat running Bobby's Congressional campaign, and later, her own Senatorial run in California, were just another form of Ma Fergusonism, a way to expand the Kennedy family sweep throughout the country. The third episode ended on a high note, with Bobby becoming Governor of Massachusetts as Teddy took over his Congressional seat. Nonetheless, the looming shadows of the Nixon Administration were problematic--the simmering crises across the globe, from the wars in Cuba and Vietnam, to flashpoints like Czechoslovakia, and the Civil Rights Movement. Though as Governor, there was relatively little that Bobby could do, in the lead up to his election, the third episode noted his reaction to the attacks on Freedom Riders and muted disgust at Nixon's refusal to meet with the leaders of the Civil Rights' Movement during the March on Washington--an action that galvanized Bobby's idealism, while Patricia saw an opportunity to capture the black vote and propel Bobby to the White House at the end of Nixon's second term in 1968. Tonight's episode promises new revelations regarding the conduct of both the Kennedys and Nixon during the 1968 election. Numerous books have been written alleging dirty tricks on both sides--Patricia mobilized the ethnic machines to their fullest, as well as achieving a mass registration drive of black voters--while Nixon, in full flights of paranoid fantasy, hoped to use the power of the federal government to smash 'that damned Catholic choir boy.' The final two episodes will focus on the first and second terms of the Kennedy Administration, with a wildly expanded access to documents, staffers, and family members to create an in-depth psychological profile of the President, his Attorney General, and the Supreme Court Justices he appointed....

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