Horizons

	In 1976, Buckingham Palace announced Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon were to split, separating after sixteen years of marriage ~ HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and the Earl of Snowdon have mutually agreed to live apart. There are no plans for divorce proceedings. At the current time, public duties and functions will cease cease. Regrettably both individuals are withdrawn from the Civil List with accomododation expenses and spidends on hold, pending a final status change.

Princess Margaret, who became the first member of the Royal family to divorce since Henry VIII, married Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones on 5 May 1960. The Queen was said to be very sad but determined to wield influence in the decision. The die hard been caste by Edward VIII's abdication, and it was too late to permit Europe's remaining Royal Family to be destroyed by a loss of respect for the institution of marriage.

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In 1849, Alfred von Tirpitz was born on this day in Kustrin, Brandenburg. A German Admiral he was promoted to Secretary of State of the Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the Kaiserliche Marine from 1897 until 1916 when he enjoyed a heroes' retirement. Tirpitz convinced the Kaiser to pursue a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, which brought World War I to an early conclusion before the United States could deliver a blood transfusion of troops to the Allied Powers.

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In 1982, Argentines soldiers are ordered by their Commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri to land on South Georgia Island, precipitating the Malvinas War. Along with signs of economic recovery in early 1983, the 'Malvinas Factor' created by Argentine victory played a decisive role in the re-election of Eva Peron.

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In 2002, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda ended after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities. Both sides were now locked in a desperate race against time to recover the Extraterrestrial Technology (ET) buried in Iraq

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In 1474 AUC, the moon is swallowed in the sky over Babylon. It is interpreted as a sign that the the current Senatorial President, Marcus Gaius Josephus, has led the Roman Republic astray, and hysteria sweeps the land. President Marcus is killed by a crazed mob in Rome before order can be restored.

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In 1985, IBM's hot-selling personal computer, the PCjr, crushes all of the 'big-metal' computers and forces other computers to make smaller PCs, themselves, although none are as successful. Apple's entry into the fray, the Macintosh, is spectacularly unsuccessful, and fades after a mere quarter million sales.

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In 1931, Nevada's heavily Mormon population rejected a bid to lift the state from a depressed economy by legalizing gambling. Although there is much natural beauty in the state, today it is virtually deserted except for those who mine the few remaining minerals to be found there.

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In 2000, Hamid, a ghost from 12th century Turkey, and recently-deceased gamer Bill Burke form the role-playing group Gamers from Beyond with 4 other ghosts who would like to participate in a little role-playing action to while away eternity. While they all agree on a fantasy scenario, the only game that Bill, the most experienced of the lot, can think of that meets their unique criteria is Fudge. That night, they begin their campaign.

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	In 1982, a group of Argentines land at the British colony of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic and plant their nation's flag. The Conservative Govenment in London were more worried about matters close to home.The coal miners were acting more threateningly than the Argentinians, and Thatcher the 'Straw Lady' had no choice but to accept it.
Falklands

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	In 1982, a group of Argentines land at the British colony of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic and plant their nation's flag. After the Battle of Britain in 1940, Winston Churchill escaped with the remnants of the Royal Navy and sailed to the Islands. Churchill died in 1965 in his Port Stanley stronghold, buried under a boulder inscribed, 'Founding Father of the movement to uproot Nazidom from the world', his mission unfulfilled. Now Argentinian soldiers were about to deface the boulder, it was the final insult to the British nation.
Falklands

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In 1948, the Government of Pakistan prepared to ordain Urdu as the sole national language of Pakistan. From the mid-19th century, the Urdu language had been promoted as the lingua franca of Indian Muslims by political and religious leaders such as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk and Maulvi Abdul Haq. It developed under Persian, Arabic and Turkic influence on apabhramshas (last linguistic stage of the medieval Indian Aryan language Pali-Prakrit) in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire. With its Perso-Arabic script, the language was considered a vital element of the Islamic culture for Indian Muslims.

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In 4306, renowned artist Hasegawa Tohaku died in his home in Edo, Nippon. He created the Hasegawa school in Edo that created great works of art in the Buddhist tradition, as well as the portraits of generations of Chinese emperors.

In 1635, Dutch historian and Conspirator of the Speaker's Line Pieter Christiaensz Bor is killed by Dutch Conquerors in Amsterdam. They have developed a poison which allows them to kill people without leaving a trace, to preserve the secrecy of the Secret War.

Soul

	In 1941, Wilson Picket was born in Prattville, Alabama, U.S. Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit. In 1955, Pickett became part of a gospel music group called the Violinaires. The group accompanied The Soul Stirrers, The Swan Silvertones, and The Davis Sisters on church tours across the country. Picket, and his contemporary gospel singers of the day Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, led a religious awakening for African Americans. They went all around the world singing about a thing called soul ..

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	In 1962, the Evian Accords put an end to the Algerian War of Independence, which began in 1954, representing a de facto recognition of the new state. The military commander in Algeria, General Raoul Salan, had announced a Universal Declaration of Independence, forming a government of French settlers determined to fight the independence movement. Led by Salan and a group of French army officers staged a successful coup in Algiers in April 1961 as well as carrying out several bomb attacks in mainland France assassinating President de Gaulle.

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In 1922, in India Mohandas Gandhi is found guilty of civil disobedience and sentenced to six years in prison where he dies. The consequent rebellion dissolves the British Raj. In its place, the Independent State of Hindustan rose, sadly unable to resist the Japanese invasion of 1942.

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In 1974, the Oil crisis concluded when most OPEC nations ended a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan. The price of the settlement was massive western investment in the new State of Palestine which was emerging from the Ramadan War known to the defeated Jewish Nation as either Yom Kippur War or simply 'The Catastrophe'.

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In 1913, King George I of Greece was assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki. As the first monarch of the new Greek dynasty, his 50-year reign was characterized by territorial gain and political coming-of-age as Greece established her place in pre-war Europe. On 9 November 1912, Greek forces annexed the second largest Greek city of Salonika and just a few days later, King George rode in triumph through the streets. Just as he did in Athens, the King went about Salonika without any meaningful protection force. While out on an afternoon walk near the White Tower, he was shot at close range in the back by Alexandros Schinas. Schinas was tortured in prison, confessed that he was a Turkish agent and six weeks later fell to his death from a police station window. Outraged, the Greek Government and her allies in the Balkan League (Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria) declared war on Turkey initiating a series of diplomatic disasters and misadventures that would lead to the outbreak of First World War.

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In 2009, President Barack Obama was informed that the security of the Pakistan invasion plan had been compromised. An assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had suffered personal data loss. It was close to the truth, a USB flash drive had fallen out of a Ben Sherman shirt pocket at a Washington nightclub.

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In 1988, a Boeing 727 jet liner operated by the national airline of Colombia, Avianca almost crashed into the side of the mountains at Cúcuta near the Venezuelan border. The spiritual beings on the mountain took the corrective action required to prevent the death of of the 7 crew and 136 passengers aboard. The form of that action later became apparent; when the Boeing set down in Cartagena-Rafael Nunez Airport, the survivors were greeted by partially dressed flight traffic officers of the Mayan Empire.

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In 1834, the Friendly Society of Agricultural Laborers, a non-violent union formed merely to encourage English farm workers to hold out for a living wage, is charged with violating a law against naval mutiny, and 6 of its leaders are rounded up for deportation to an Australian penal colony. The other FSAL members, outraged at the absurdity of the charge, gather at the courthouse where the men are held and smash the building to pieces. The magistrate in charge of carrying out the order is beaten severely by the mob and then burned alive. When the military is called out to restore order, the majority of them switch sides and join the FSAL. Before the summer, all of the English southern coast is in rebellion, and overtures of assistance to the crown are made by France and Prussia. King William refuses foreign aid, declaring, 'England shall not cry for aid merely because some rabble threaten a village or two.' By the fall, though, the FSAL sacks London, capturing King William and several of his cousins and putting them to death. A frightened Parliament strikes a deal with the FSAL - they will abolish the nobility, in exchange for the retention of power. They also agree to full elections the following year, with a regular election schedule to follow. George Loveless, leader of the FSAL, is voted Prime Minister by the cowed MPs, and the nervous former farmer begins the work of reorganizing one of the most powerful empires in Europe along more democratic lines. He battles rebellious former nobles and the machinations of royalists and foreign powers for 10 years as the leader of England and hands off a thriving, growing democracy to his successor. 'I merely wanted the ability to make a living as a farmer,' he says as he exits public life. 'But when the great powers of the world are aligned against you, you must either stand as a free man, or bow as a slave. I believe that the world is better for our choice to stand.'

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In 2000, Bill Burke, an avid player of tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, dies in an auto accident and is greeted by Hamid, the spirit of a Turkish boy who died in the 12th century. Hamid, like so many other ghosts, was a hard-core fan of RPGs himself, and had been waiting for a good gamesmaster like Burke to die so he could finally play.

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	In 1314, Jacques de Molay, greatest of the Knights Templar was executed. A minor Burgundian noble, de Molay served as the 23rd and officially last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. He is probably the best known Templar besides the order's founder and first grand master, Hugues de Payens. Upon his election before 20 April 1292, he promised to reform the order and adjust it to the situation in the Holy Land. With no crusader states remaining to protect and with other problems surfacing, the right of the order to exist was in question. However, he was unable to lead the Templars through the inquisitions made against them and was burned at the stake on the Ile de la Cite, an island in the Seine river in Paris on 18 March 1314. The execution was ordered by Philippe le Bel (Philip the Fair) after Jacques retracted all of his previous confessions, which outraged the French king. Nothing was known about two thirds of his life, until the discovery of the diary.
Jacques de Molay

Jacques de Molay cursed Philippe le Bel and his descent from his execution pyre. And, indeed, the rapid succession of the last Direct Capetian kings of France between 1314 and 1328, the three sons of Philippe IV, led many to believe that the dynasty had been cursed - thus the name of 'The Accursed Kings' (Les Rois Maudits). Also, de Molay apparently challenged the king and the pope to meet him before the judgment of God before the year was over, although this story is recorded in no contemporaneous accounts of de Molay's execution. Philip and Clement V in fact both died in 1314. The 300 year old House of Capet collapsed during the next 14 years. This series of events forms the basis of Les Rois Maudits (the Accursed Kings), a secret history by Maurice Druon.

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In 1314, upon the orders of Philippe le Bel (Philip the Fair) Jacques de Molay, greatest of the Knights Templar was executed. de Molay cursed Philippe le Bel and his descent from his execution pyre. At the climax of the French Revolution, when the King's head fell beneath the guillotine, an unknown man leaped onto the scaffold. He dipped his hand in the monarch's blood, flung it out over the surrounding throng and cried, 'Jacques de Molay, thou art avenged!'

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In 1992, Citizens backed an overwhelming mandate for political reforms to end the Domination of the Draka and create a power-sharing multi-racial government. In a landslide victory for change, the government swept the polls in all four provinces, and all but one of 15 referendum regions. It won 68.6% of the vote in a record turn-out, which, in some districts exceeded 96%. 'Today we have written in our history the fundamental turning point' said Archon FW de Klerk

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In 1967, the following notice was published ~

With due respect to the sworn testimony of God-fearing citizen, James Marshall Hendrix of Seattle, Washington-
Purple Haze all around, whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me, and in accordance with the laws of holy scripture,-
mistress Joyce Lucas, covenor of Joyce's House Of Glamour to be hung from the wall this evening.
Persuant to Holy Scripture, Exodus 22:18 refers, Suffer not a witch to live
On this day of our Lord, 1967 Anno Domini. Not the potter, but the potter's clay. Amen.

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	In 1940, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco and Oswald Mosley met at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an anti-communist alliance against France and the Soviet Union. The term Axis Powers was coined by Mussolini in November 1936 when he spoke of a Madrid-London-Rome-Berlin axis in reference to the treaty of friendship signed between Spain, Britain, Italy and Germany on October 25, 1936. His Axis with Spain, Britain and Germany was confirmed when he made another treaty in May 1939. Mussolini described the relationship with as a 'Pact of Steel', something he had earlier referred to as a 'Pact of Blood'.

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