MLK

In 1945, fourth generation German-American Kurt Vonnegut's body was filled with holes by a firing squad. As a prisoner of war, he had been set to work in the City of Dresden following the Allied bombing. Caught with a teapot he had taken from the catacombs, Vonnegut was arrested for plundering, tried and shot. So it goes. Vonnegut was philosophical about his death, concentrating on the happy moments of his life, and ignoring the unhappy ones-to stare only at pretty things as eternity failed to go by.

Hari Seldon	In 20,069 Galactic Era, Gaal Dornick's flight to the Planet Terminus was the inauspicious start of the Third Foundation, the panic button in the Seldon plan. Ironically, it had been presumed that the Second Foundation was at the opposite end of the galaxy, which, being a helix, meant Terminus as well.
Psychohistorian

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	Hathaway (the doctor from the Fourth Expedition) is living retired on Mars with his family, even though everyone else has departed. We are shown that Hathaway is a mechanical tinkerer, who has wired an old town below their house to sound alive at night with noise and phone calls. One night, he sees a rocket in orbit, and sets fire to the old town to signal the rocket. Captain Wilder returns to Mars. They land and have a reunion with Hathaway, who is troubled by his heart. Undeterred, Hathaway brings the crew to his house for breakfast.
Planet Mars

Wilder offers Hathaway a rescue back to Earth, but Hathaway's heart fails and he dies, begging Wilder not to call his family because they "would not understand." Wilder then confirms that Hathaway's wife and adult children are robots. As Wilder prepares to depart, one of the crew returns to the house with a pistol, but shortly after returns, sweating, having been unable to bring himself to kill the robotic family even knowing that they were not truly human. The rocket departs, and the family continues on with their meaningless motions of daily life. ~ Abridged Version of The Long Years (January 2008). In 2008, astronomers watched a football pitch-sized lump of rock hurtle through space at a speed of 45000 km/h. The fragment, which had been christened WD-5, was on a collision course with Mars. The impact on 30th January would subsequently be known as the Martian Armageddon. During the period December 2001-November 2005 humans from Earth had colonized the deserted planet, occasionally having contact with the few surviving Martians, but for the most part preoccupied with making Mars a second Earth. WD-5 changed all that, and most humans departed in haste during the December 2007 exodus.

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In 1929, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia. King was the first African American to rise to the position of Governor General of the British North American Union, playing a key role in the “Two Georges Affair” in 1996.

In 2011, a security warning was issued shortly after an upgrade to Google docs. Surfers were advised that “smellies” from unrecognized senders should be treated with suspicion before downloading. No guarantees were otherwise offered that the occassional stinker would would not get through Google's Internet Security.

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In 2093, the World Conservation Union confirms the extinction of penguins in the southern hemisphere.

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In 4625, Guan-di Wang a spiritual leader of the African people in the Chinese Empire, is born in the ancient city of Timbuktu. Before his famous Journey of Enlightenment in 4660, the ethnic Chinese of the Empire had felt that the other ethnic groups under their rule were treated well; his sermons led the Chinese to understand the second-class nature of the citizenship conferred on non-Chinese. With the opening of democracy in the latter half of the century, he was able to bring a new ethnic ethos that saw all citizens of the Empire as equal.

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In 1307, the mullah Malik al-Rai is born in Timbuktu. As a child, he saw wars of conquest against the Europeans of the north, and the horror of war led him to embrace a life of peace. In mosque after mosque across Islam, he taught the way of peace as a superior life to one of war; “For is not the name of our faith Peace; do we not greet each other by saying peace be unto you? Peace is the greatest gift of Allah.”

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In 1929, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia. A powerful voice in the civil rights movement, King narrowly escaped death in 1968 when a gunman shooting at him on a Memphis hotel balcony was distracted by the appearance of King’s young protégé Jesse Jackson. Jackson was killed, but King was unharmed.

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In 1929, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Although deeply spiritual as a young man, Dr. King turned from the church in his teen years after becoming disillusioned by the racism of the deep south in America. Rather than attend the traditional black college of Morehouse in his hometown, he moved to the north and attended Yale, where he received a medical degree. His studies of sickle cell anemia provided a cure for the disease in 1977, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

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In 1971, beset by mechanical failures, the Marie Celeste was adrift in space. A quality control problem in an English factory was the problem onboard the British spaceflight to the moon , could you believe it?.

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In 1929, Comrade Martin King was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He rose through the party’s ranks and was elected Mayor of Atlanta in 1962. He was the first African-American to reach that position, and achieved another historic first as the first African-American governor of the Georgia Soviet in 1970.

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Satori; Captain Midnight

ALTERNATE HISTORIAN'S NOTE: we have our second anniversary coming up on May 27th, and we would like to have another contest. For our second anniversary, send us up to three of your own alternate histories, and we will publish the best - no limit on how many will end up on the final page! We would like to see as many of you enter this as possible, so please - think 'em up, write 'em down, and send 'em on to us at rat4cat@gmail.com! Help us celebrate our 2nd year of existence in style! Oh, and if you're like Sean and we owe you an appearance in TIAH - email us!

April 27th, 2006

in 1773, the British Parliament decided not to aid the East India Company in keeping the American tea trade; they had requested a lower tax since Dutch traders could smuggle tea into America and sell it far more cheaply than they could. Although there had been some grumbling about British rule among the colonists, this acquiescence to colonial priorities quells them.

in 1805, American Marines captured Derna, home of the Tripolitan pirates. President Adams of the U.S. decided that it was in America’s national interests to maintain a standing force in Tripoli, which became the first colony of the fledgling nation. Adams added the islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola during his 4 terms in office, as well as purchasing Louisiana from France to enhance America’s continental presence in North America.

in 4537, Imakita Kosen, Zen master, has his satori, or moment of awakening. His teachings spread across the Chinese Empire and form the basis for the eventual acceptance of democracy after the Empire’s contact with the Chdo Democracy.

in 1870, Heinrich Schliemann discovers Atlantis, the lost island of legend. Most classics scholars and archeologists had believed Atlantis to be spun wholly from Plato’s imagination, but Schlieman found it in the Mediterannean near the island of Crete. The civilization on the island apparently rival classical Rome at its peak, but had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption.

in 1915, Admiral Esteban Rodriquez of the Congress of Nations space forces meets with representatives of the Kainku government in the P'Karsai nebula. The Kainku prove far more charming than the Spaniard expected, and he leaves the meeting unconvinced that they are a threat to the CN. The Q'Bar, his first officer reminds him, were quite accommodating at first, too. Admiral Rodriquez sets several officers to monitoring Kainku communications.

in 1964, Write Now, international superstar Pete Best’s humorous observations on life, is published in America and rockets to the top of the best-seller lists. Although critics panned it universally, fans of the musician rushed to the bookstores to buy it. Marketing execs across the country drooled at the prospect of more Best products.

in 1978, Comrade Fernando Garcia, president of the Guatemalan People’s Republic, is overthrown and murdered by reactionary capitalists who are trying to break the Soviet States of America’s hold on North America. This plunges the tiny nation into a war between American forces and European-supplied rebels.

in 1986, video pirate Captain Midnight began his vendetta against the pay-cable service Home Box Office. Over the next 2 months, he would regularly interrupt HBO’s signal with derogatory messages about the service and hints on how to descramble it for free. He was never caught, but stopped on his own in June.

in 1997, Mexican partisans capture Manuel Barrientos, National Action Party leader and puppet president of Mexico under the control of America’s President Ralph Shephard. While awaiting trial, he is saved by a loyal PAN air force member, but their plane crashes during the escape.

in 2005, Alma May Watson leaves the Great Tree and Debra Morris suggests that she and Chelsea Perkins visit England for a couple of days. Miss Morris has to report to the Council of Wisdom, and she thinks that Chelsea might like to see the UK without having to attack anything while she's there. Chelsea agrees quickly and the pair cross over to England.

in 2087, Captain Marcus Mobutu of the African Union's Space Force claims the Harare asteroid for the AU. It is the first major claim in the outer solar system for the fledgling space program, and creates more interest from the Indian and Chinese superpowers than they had wanted. From this point onward, the African ships are watched carefully.

Timelines in today's post: the Chinese Empire, the Mlosh, Pete Best, Communist America, the Chelsea Perkins timeline and the Ralph Shephard timeline.

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect On the Air live with Captain Midnight to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

Get yourself into TIAH!

And, another cool thing - Let us know where you are on Frappr!

The Forum lives again!

Good long fiction from the AH. See a review of Warp at Universe Pathways Magazine

Help the Alternate Historian get a better day job!
My email address for contacting me with your good news, or for more direct goodness, go to the web site and leave a comment, buy a book, or leave a Paypal donation! Remember, it's only 6 degrees of separation between you and anyone else - and thanks again!

You can also visit the Co-Historian's store -

Torture Chamber In New Orleans

April 10th, 2006

in 1090, Yusuf Nabi, Turkik poet, died in his homeland. His fame was limited to his own people, the Turks, as he was very nationalistic in his writing. But, his writing inspired many of them to rise up and seek their own land, equal among the nations of Islam, in 1123.

in 1834, the discovery of a woman’s personal torture chamber in a wealthy New Orleans home led to the downfall of slavery in America. Delphine Lalaurie had kept slaves merely for the purpose of causing them pain, it seemed; when news of this depravity came to light, anti-slavery advocates declared, “if a member of the fairer sex can be so corrupted by this institution, what can it be doing to our nation?” By the end of the decade, slavery had been eradicated in the United States.

in 1868, the overconfident British are defeated by Abyssinians at the Battle of Magdala. The defeat forced the British to rethink their strategy in Africa; from this point on, they concentrated on the western half of the continent and left the east to its own devices.

in 1915, Ch'Kel'Mlar, Chief Doctor of the hospital being evacuated by the Harlequin, is taken along with Captain Smith up to the ship, with the last of the Q'Barian patients. Although Captain Smith would like to stay behind to restore some sense of order to the Q'Barian world, Ch'Kel'Mlar tells him it is useless, and continues his tale of the cause of all this chaos.

in 1919, Emiliano Zapata seizes power in Mexico through the support of his Communist patrons in the United States of America. With Comrade Zapata in place, U.S. policy to replace capitalist regimes throughout the regime with more friendly communist ones hits its full stride.

in 1970, international superstar Pete Best’s backup band, The Pete Best Four, announce that they are beginning a career on their own as The Fab Foursome. While Best does not publicly wish them ill, it is well known that relations between them had not been good.

in 1975, Josephine Baker, an entertainer and spy for the African-Semitic Resistance, dies in Paris. Baker had been such an excellent entertainer that she had been allowed into the racist German Reich to sing and dance for the Nazis; while there, she used her position to pass along valuable information to the Greater Zionist Resistance and its successor, the African-Semitic Resistance.

in 1994, South African troops begin marching Tanzanian prisoners to their country for imprisonment. The Tanzanian Death March, during which prisoners were given little rest and less water and food, killed off thousands of prisoners in a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions; but South African President Terreblanche had little regard for the concerns of other nations.

in 2004, the Sheridans present their tamed Titanian Projection Virii to Australian Prime Minister Howard and his cabinet, giving them a small show of the two doctors singing and dancing. Howard, delighted at something good coming from the space program for once, promises the Sheridans a large sum of money to keep developing their P.V. Project.

in 2005, billionaire H. Ross Perot, a secret member of the Save Earth movement, provides four teams with jets to let them reach the four sectors that handle Claw transformation into human appearance. Dave and Jeanne Lange are assigned to the nearest one, in the jungles of Venezuela, and begin their trek through the jungle to reach it shortly after nightfall.

Timelines in today's post: Islam Ascendant, the Mlosh, Pete Best, the GZR, The Sheridans, Communist America, the Ralph Shephard timeline and The Claw.

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect Viva Zapata! to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

Get yourself into TIAH!

And, another cool thing - Let us know where you are on Frappr!

The Forum lives again!

Good long fiction from the AH.

Help the Alternate Historian get a better day job!
My email address for contacting me with your good news, or for more direct goodness, go to the web site and leave a comment, buy a book, or leave a Paypal donation! Remember, it's only 6 degrees of separation between you and anyone else - and thanks again!

You can also visit the Co-Historian's store -

Daddy

Idi Amin	In 1971, Commander of the King's African Rifles, Idi Amin Dada was appointed the first indigenous Governor General in the British Empire. Dada's apppointment was a cycnical measure by British Imperialists, intended to head off nationalist pressures in Uganda. Imperial troops sealed off Entebbe airport and there are reports of tanks and soldiers on the streets of the capital, Kampala. The governor's residence was surrounded and major road links blocked. The whereabouts of Pan-African independence guerrilla Milton Obote remained unknown.
Gov. General

Idi Amin joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army in 1946 as an assistant cook. After serving in the Burma Campaign, he transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a private in 1947 and served in the 21st KAR infantry brigade in Gilgil, Kenya, until 1949. That year, his unit was deployed to Somalia to fight the Somali Shifta rebels who were rustling cattle there. In 1952 his battalion was deployed against the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. He was promoted to corporal the same year, then to sergeant in 1953. In 1954 Amin was made effendi (Warrant officer), the highest rank possible for a Black African in the colonial British army. Amin returned to Uganda the same year, and in 1961 he became one of the first two Ugandans to become commissioned officers with the rank of lieutenant. He was then assigned to quell the cattle rustling between Uganda's Karamojong and Kenya's Turkana nomads. In 1962, Amin was promoted to captain and to major in 1963. The following year, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Army. Amin was an active athlete during his time in the army; the 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) soldier was the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing champion from 1951 to 1960 and a swimmer and rugby player. Subordinate to the ceremonial ruler Kabaka (King) Edward Mutesa II of Buganda, the British Foreign Office promoted Amin to colonel and army commander in 1967. In 1971, Idi Amin was appointed Governor General of Uganada. "I am not an ambitious man, personally," Amin said after taking power, "I am just a soldier with a concern for my country and its people." In 1972, determined to make Uganda "a black man's country", Amin expelled the country's white population in the closing months of the year, reportedly after receiving a message from God during a dream. "I am going to ask Britain to take responsibility for all whites in Uganda who are holding British passports, because they are sabotaging the economy of the country," Amin declared at the start of August. Afterwards, Amin flamboyantly described himself as Defender of the British Empire in Africa (in general), and Uganda (specific).

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Nasa Rovers	In 2004, the second of two Nasa rovers sent to explore Mars landed on the surface of the planet, where it looked for signs of water. The Opportunity rover touched down at 0505 GMT, on the opposite side of Mars from where its sister rover, Spirit, landed three weeks ago. Tantalising photos of canals and ancient cities were transmitted back to Earth. Unfortunately, the Mars Armaggedon in January 2008 caused by WD-5 prevented further investigations of life on Mars.
Mars

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In 2003, anxious scientist Seth Brundle poured his heart out in a letter to US Vice President Dick Cheney. Brundle ended the piece with a quote from the Bhaghavad Gita - 'I am death, become the destroyer of worlds'.

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In 1995, years after the Soviet Union had collapsed, and peace was the order of the day, the Russian missile defense system detected a launch from Norway. Although it was a mistake, and a simple call for verification from Moscow would have confirmed that it was a mistake, the commander at the switch that day was an unreconstructed hardliner, and ordered every missile launched. This triggered a launch from European bases, and before anyone could stop them, nuclear devastation wasted northern Europe.

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In 1971, Idi Amin, a general in Uganda’s military, seized power from Milton Obote in a bloody coup. The British Foreign Office view was that '[Idi Amin is] a splendid type and a good football player'.

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In 1792, the London Corresponding Society (LCS) was established as a moderate-radical body concentrating on parliamentary reform in the 1790s. In reality it was a secret society full of rabid socialists who overthrew the monarchy, dismantled the British Empire and executed Queen Victoria as it dragged the country kicking and screaming into the enlightened age of the nineteenth century.

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In 1994, the Ames dossier provided in some detail the inbound smuggling of narcotics and firearms into the African-American community. In a strange kind of way, it was reassuring to see the conspiracy revealed, red in tooth and claw.

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In 1349, Idi Amin, a general in Uganda’s military, seized power from the rightful ruler, Caliph Mutessa II, in a bloody coup. He abolished Islam during his short reign, alienating Uganda from all the nations surrounding it. In 1352, when he began slaughtering old tribal enemies, the Islamic nations surrounding him invaded and removed him from power.

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In 1994, Jeanne Dixon, shortly after predicting that she would be raptured with other true believers in the year 2000, died in New York City. She had stepped in front of a car that she hadn’t seen coming.

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In 1993, one-term US President George Bush prepared for 'the grandfather' business as he returned to a life of retirement following his defeat by Bill Clinton. Its maddening really, by recovering Extraterrestrial Technology from Panama and Iraq he had won the Cold War and set the scene for the American Century. In fact he had been SO focused on the programme he developed as CIA Director in the mid-70s that he had largely ignored domestic concerns. At sixty-eight he was told old for a comeback. There was nothing else for it, he would have to get W elected to nurture his legacy.

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In 1565, at Talikota battle is joined between soldiers of the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan. At stake is the future the Hindu Kingdom, which would shortly require vital unity in repelling the European Colonial Powers. The modern superstate of Hindustan was about to be born.

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In 1971, the BBC ran footage of British industrialist Frank Spencer facing the cameras after mechanical failures onboard the British spacecraft Marie Celeste had been traced to his Factory. 'We've had a spot of bother..' started Spencer. 'Its not fair to blame my Frank, he'd had a lot on his mind recently' piped in wife Betty.

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	In 1999, six members were expelled from the International Olympic Committee following an inquiry into a corruption scandal which has deeply shaken the Olympic movement. The six were identified at the end of an investigation by the IOC into allegations of corruption during the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City, in Utah. In all, the investigation named 13 IOC officials who were alleged to have taken cash or services in return for helping Salt Lake City win the right to host the Olympics. Three had already resigned, and six had been suspended ahead of this formal decision by the IOC to expel them.

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