Word

	Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me....I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now, I see. T'was Grace that taught...my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear...the hour I first believed. Thro' many dangers, toils and snare, I have already come; 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. ~ Amazing Graceland – Fall and Rise of a King (1982), Elvis Aaron Presley.

In 1983, Elvites were shocked by the relevations of the King's autobiography. Of course only people on the Dark Side of the Moon during the late sixties could be unaware of Presley's sharp decline during that traumatic period. Fortunately, a religious awakening had lifted Presley from the nadir of his career and personal life. Revealed for the first time however was some real shockers. The Las Vegas rape, addition to prescription drugs and a near death experience on August 17, 1977. It was revealed for the first time that the King was found on the floor of his Graceland bathroom by fiancee, Ginger Alden, having 'stumbled or crawled several feet'. CPR treatment saved Presley's life after he was officially pronounced dead at 3:30 pm at the Baptist Memorial Hospital. Whilst he had recorded a lot of Gospel tracks, it was the moment when he really began to believe.

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	In 2005, on this day occurred the event known as Mugabe's Prince handshake gaffe. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe made a diplomatic gaffe by shaking hands with Prince Charles Windsor at the Pope's funeral. The President was 'caught by surprise' when the Prince leaned over to greet him, Harare source said. Some politicians condemned Presidents' greeting as 'stupid' and 'not very sensible' following the Prince's alleged involvement in the assassination of his ex-wife. The Queen of Hearts had been hugely respected for her charitable works in the Southern Hemisphere and the Prince was now considered persona non grata.

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Microsoft	In 2007, consumers reacted in anger to an email today - 'MSN to increase the charge for Hotmail user fees.' Five years before on 25 February 2001, unconsidered comments were made by a Microsoft executive, who said the company was considering introducing fees for its free Hotmail service. It was one year after the dotcom crash and everybody, even mighty Microsoft, was pondering how to make some money on the internet. A stroke of genius, Hotmail now represents over 30% of Microsoft revenue. The Seattle giant had suffered from loss of revenue from software piracy for many years, and this services-led innovation enabled the corporation to grow sales explosively in the consumer market.
Fees Announced

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	In 1998, the Police confirm the arrest of millionaire singer George Michael while he was alone in a public toilet and have charged him with lewd behaviour. The heterosexual star later revealed that he had been lured into the toilet by a female Police Officer who had played a cruel game of 'I will show you mine, you show me yours and then I will nick you'.

Gay America was outraged by the obscenity. Public opinion was strongly against Michael, who had been safely assumed gay due to his provocative MTV coverage with fellow Wham! Star Andrew Ridgeley. Michael said it was 'My own stupid fault as usual'.

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	In 2008, Nunavut Tribal Chief Paul Okalik defended Democratic front-runner Barack Obama Monday over accusations from rival Hillary Clinton that he was secretly at ease with a hemispheric trade accord which he publicly blames for losing U.S. Jobs. Clinton's criticism, on the eve of make-or-break presidential nomination contests for her in Mannhattan, stemmed from a report by Kanatan television station CTV that an Obama economic adviser told Kanatan officials the candidate was not seriously considering disrupting the trade accord.

There was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA, the embassy statement said. 'We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect.' The consulate's written report of the meeting had left the suggestion that Obama's words on NAFTA were designed for a political audience and should not be taken too seriously, prompting an angry denial from the Obama campaign. Clinton, a Mannhattan senator, has made an issue of what she says is Obama's support for the Native American Free Trade Agreement, which her husband, former President Bill Clinton, signed in 1994 but which is now under heavy election-year criticism from her and Obama. The source of the dispute dated back to 1520, when Montezuma kicked the Spaniards out of Mexico and North AmerInds had similar success, leaving only the European colony on Manhattan Island. By the early twenty-first century, the Iroquois Federation had developed a modern economy based on the success of NAFTA.

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Stephen R. Donaldson	In 1968, Stephen Reeder Donaldson departed Vietnam. By inclination a conscientious objector, he had been compelled to serve in the armed forces. Much later, and after dropping out of his Ph.D. program and moving to New Jersey in order to write fiction, Donaldson made his publishing debut with the first 'Covenant' trilogy in 1977. That enabled him to move to a healthier climate. He now lives in New Mexico. Donaldson's two year compulsory military duty would be the deep undercurrent of his escapist fantasy writing. In 'The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever', the protagonist was a leper struggled with disempowerment in a Land he did not really believe in.
Unbeliever

Farewell, Unbeliever! Be true! You have wrought greatly for us. And with the Staff of Law we will be not unable to defend against the Despiser's ill. Take heart. Despair and bitterness are not the only songs in this world. ~ 'The Calling of Lions'.

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	In 1917, the February Revolution broke out in Imperial Russia. The Imperial German Government turn to the architect of the 1905 revolution, Father Gapon. He is sent in a sealed train to Russia in a second and increasingly desperate attempt to overthrow the House of Romanov that year.

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In 2001, BBC News reported - Donald Campbell's speedboat recovered: Divers have raised the wreck of Donald Campbell's boat, Bluebird, from the bottom of Coniston Water in Cumbria. The boat had lain there since the accident in 1967 which killed Campbell, 46, as he attempted to break the world water speed record. The craft was winched to the surface after a three-hour operation to tow it to the lakeside from its resting place, 150 feet (45 metres) below the surface of the lake. The quest to raise the boat was led by diver Bill Smith. Mr Smith said he was glad they had reached the boat as there was always the risk that less scrupulous souvenir hunters could get there first. 'You can see now she's in a remarkable state of preservation and she'll not rot away to nothing now, she can be kept this way,' he said. In final, startlig surprise, the body of Donald Campbell would be discovered on August 10th.

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In 1801, British and Ottoman soldiers took control of Abukir Bay in Egypt from Italian Imperial forces. Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of Italy, had assumed control of Egypt largely out of a desire to recreate the Roman Empire. Unfortunately for the Little Italian, it placed him perilously close to the Ottoman Empire, which joined forces with the northern European allies against Italy.

In 12-18-19-16-12, the composer for the Incan court, Bekcheco, died in his sleep in the Incan capitol of Cuszo. Bekcheco had been known for his musical styles that appealed so highly to the young people of the continent, combining eastern rhythms with more civilized traditional Oueztecan music.

	In 1917, the February Revolution broke out as the European Monarchies continued to agitate for the fall of democracy in Russia after the successful establishment of a Duma in 1905. The Imperial German Government subsequently sent Communist Vladimir Lenin in a sealed train in a second and increasingly desperate attempt at revolution that year. Ace of Spies and British Agent Sidney Reilly reported it was hopeless, democracy was infectious and would likely spread into Western Europe during the early 1920s if no further invention occurred.

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In 1994, South African troops, allies of the U.S., accept the surrender of Madagascar. Although the war in the Indian Ocean Theater is just beginning, South Africa is sweeping across its neighbors with alarming speed. In some respects, they are doing even better than President Ralph Shephard's troops in the western hemisphere.

Snippet

August 16th, 2007

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The Announcement

Alt-Historical Snippet: I've got a sampling from a larger work for you today that I would appreciate comments on, if you have them – it's from a different kind of alien invasion story. Let me know what you think. Also, we have Steve's birthday to think of – November 22, 1967, and we expect some alternate birthdays from you folk on that!

In 2008, mega-rich playboy Buford Rogerson III received a “first day” model of the BlueberryPie EyeFone Quartz Midnight. Absolutely thrilled to bits, Rogerson told the TV Audience “I've got absolutely no idea how it works, but when I'm hunched over, holding it to my head and zapping myself with X-Rays I feel like a real winner.” Clearly, any one who could waste expensive per-minute call charges for a hush-hush call that just can't wait must either have someone who loves them, be important to the smooth running of space ship earth or the need to demonstrate one of the two pre-requisites for meaningful social status. Shortly thereafter, Rogerson returned home where a member of his personal staff spent many hours trying unsuccessfully to initialise the device on the EyeTooneys web site. In a great step forward for America, early adopters echoed the sentiment that when you owned one of these babies, you're street credibility received escape velocity. As Ali G would say, “Hear me now! Respect.”

~ entry by Co-historian Steve Payne

All around me are familiar faces, Worn out places, worn out faces Bright and early for their daily races, Going nowhere, going nowhere And their tears are filling up their glasses, No expression, no expression Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow, No tommorow, no tommorow And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
Tears for Fears	The dreams in which I'm dying Are the best I've ever had I find it hard to tell you 'Cos I find it hard to take When people run in circles It's a very, very Mad World ~ Lyrics to “Mad World” - Click to Watch Sample
Mad World

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith met as teenagers in their home town of Bath, England. Their first professional stint was a Mod Revival/New Wave act drawing on the major influences of the time, including The Jam and Elvis Costello. By 1981, Orzabal and Smith were becoming more influenced by artists such as the Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno. They departed from Graduate and formed a band called History of Headaches, a moniker which was then changed to Tears for Fears. The plan was for Orzabal and Smith to form the nucleus of the group and bring in surrounding musicians to help them complete the picture. The band's name is derived from the Primal therapy treatment of the same name developed by Arthur Janov, which was made famous after John Lennon became Janov's patient. While undergoing primal therapy, a patient is encouraged to "re-experience" his early, dramatic emotional states (even perinatal ones), including screaming like an infant, hence the expression "tears for fears". Orzabal tried primal therapy in the early 1980s, and he has been screaming ever since. The lyrics are available at at Astraweb

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

In 2002, Chris Bunch's Tarnished Glory placed Custer and Patton as contemporaries in the Allied invasion of France. With Eisenhower and Bradley lost in a plane crash, the pair were appointed to Supreme Allied Command by a reluctant White House.

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

In 2007, sitemeter statistics reported that Mozilla Firefox was the most popular browser for users of the Today in Alternative History web site. This trend followed national patterns in North America which had emerged over the course of twelve months. The "smoking gun" was an article in the Washington Post which reported an exploit code for unpatched critical flaws in Microsoft's Internet Explorer which had remained open for 284 days of 2006, compared with 9 days for Mozilla Firefox.

~ entry by Steve Payne (without prejudice) sharing a laugh with alternative lifers.

In 1977, singer Elvis Presley was having a short break at Graceland following a June 26 performance in Indianapolis at the Market Square Arena. August 17 was to be the starting date of another tour. However, the day before, Presley was found semi-conscious on the floor of his bathroom by fiancée, Ginger Alden. Presley had stumbled or crawled several feet before he was taken to the Baptist Memorial Hospital.

~ entry from Steve Payne

In 1942, at the old Spanish Prison in Manilla Japanese officers searched the cramped quarters of escaped General Douglas MacArthur. They found a note with the enigmatic message I will return. MacArthur himself hooked up with sympathetic Filipinos and got a ride south aboard a fishing boat. He eventually became a famous guerilla leader - rendering the Japanese occupation of the islands untenable.

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

Elimina Castle	In 2082, out of Burkina Faso and out of unspeakable imprisonment was brought the child Kwame, blinking in the bright sunlight. Around him stood the fellows of his six hundred year confinement, praying and wailing over the fallen St. George El Mina Castle. This house had fallen. He recalled the words of the soft voice saying ..
.. “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”. He smiled, a new day was dawning in Ghana.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1956, delegates of the European Monarchies continued to point #2 of the formal agenda for the Berlin 2 Conference. The definitions for spheres of influence agreed in 1884-5 (Berlin 1) were overlaid on top of African nationalist activity. Problem #1 was the Congo; an area the size of Western Europe, supplying uranium and ..	Spheres of Infl..
.. secured by the smallest imperial power, Belgium. And about to explode.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Columbus	In 1923, Amerindian explorers land in Andalusia to find a fallen civilization. Speculation had burned for half a millennia, since the blond-haired monster and his crew had fled the Turtle Island in 1492. After a day's march, they soon discover the dreadful and shocking truth.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1976/1750, in a dream the author Alex Haley witnesses a Mandinka naming ritual in the village of Juffure in the Gambia, West Africa. Omoro holds his newborn son Kunte to the heavens and tells him “Behold - the only thing greater than yourself.”	Omoro Kinte
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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