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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Assassinations & Missed Chances

November 22nd, 2005

in 1863, during a visit to Dallas, Mexico, North American Confederation First Chancellor T’Grito is assassinated as his procession leads through the center of the city. T’Grito had been unpopular in the Mexican state since his economic policies had caused rampant unemployment in the region. Human League activists took credit for the murder, their first outside the British Isles.

in 1962, during a visit to Dallas, Texas Soviet, Comrade President Joel Rosenberg is shot to death by a fanatical counter-revolutionary, Lee Oswald. Many investigations have proven that Comrade Rosenberg was killed by a lone gunman, but conspiracy theorists continue to insist that there was a plot to kill the President, and Oswald was simply the patsy.

in 1963, during a visit to Dallas, Texas, President Kennedy narrowly escapes death when a crazed gunman shoots at him from a book depository. Governor John Connally of Texas, traveling with him, is fatally injured when bullets meant for the president strike him, instead.

in 1963, during a visit to Dallas, Texas, President Nixon is shot and killed by gunmen firing from a book depository and a grassy knoll on the route. Republican Senatorial candidate John Tower, traveling with him in the motorcade, was wounded as well. Investigations into the assassination proved that a conspiracy of communists and Mafioso were behind the killing; his successor, President Henry Cabot Lodge, used the assassination as a spur to halt organized crime and communist infiltration into American society.

in 1963, during a visit to Dallas, Texas, President Lyndon Johnson is assassinated by a crazed gunman angry with his Cuban policy. Johnson, who only narrowly won the Democratic nomination against his eventual running mate, John Kennedy of Massachusetts, as well as narrowly winning the general election against Vice-President Richard Nixon, was missed by all when the inexperienced Kennedy assumed the presidency. Kennedy proved a disaster in office, making several misjudgements that plunged America deeper into conflict in Vietnam as well as ignoring civil rights movements in the south. He was defeated by Senator Barry Goldwater in the election the next year.

in 12-17-10-3-13, during a visit to the Apache of their northern possessions, Oueztecan Emperor Kanticli is killed by lunatics opposed to his Yucatanian Gulf war. Kanticli had planned to ease restrictions against the rebel islands in the gulf the following year, but his successor, Emperor Quetzos, stepped up the reprisals against the islands in revenge.

in 1963, during a visit to Dallas, Texas, President John Kennedy is assassinated. Although the initial investigation tries to pin the killing on a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, (who was conveniently murdered before being brought to trial), subsequent investigations show that the killing was the work of a dazzling cabal of Mafioso, communists, aliens, Republicans, Illuminati, Masons and Merovingians seeking to stop Kennedy’s ascension to the order of high exalted ones. Little did they know that their very action caused his ascension, and now he is one with the other Most High Ones.

in 1963, during a visit to Dallas, Texas, President John Kennedy manages to mend some fences with conservative Democrats unhappy with his somewhat liberal policies. In a related event, a man was killed during the President’s motorcade ride through the city when he fell from the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository. It was assumed that the former Marine, Lee Harvey Oswald, had been trying to get a better view of the motorcade when he fell out the window.

in 1963, President Kennedy invites the Texas governor to the White House in order to make up for missing the trip to Dallas he had originally planned for this week. Governor Connally convinces Kennedy to forgo civil rights legislation the coming year, and focus instead on the conflict in Vietnam. Vice-President Johnson, who had been crafting the civil rights bills, angrily opposed Connally in the next gubernatorial elections in Texas, handily defeating Connally. He then used the governorship to launch himself into the presidency in 1972.

in 1963, Viceroy Charles Eglantine is murdered by American nationalists while touring the North American colonies. After the crushing defeat of the colonial rebellion in the 1780's, the rebels had settled in the west, where British expansion in North America eventually reconquered them. The former Mexican territories had been seething hotbeds of anti-British sentiment for decades, and Viceroy Eglantine had hoped his visit would help to smooth feelings over; apparently, he was mistaken.

Christmas Day Contest! 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 October 31st, 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 still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!

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Fresh New Poll - Shall we use future dates in our entries?

Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, the winning writers have been announced; not the ones I voted for, but you can see the one I did at http://www.marktreitel.com

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Mastery

	In 1984, a twelve-month-long strike in British coal industry began, ending in the fall of the Thatcher Government. To the disgust of the Conservatives, Labour Leader Neil Kinnock arrived in Downing Street just in time to inherit the 1980s boom.

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In 1849, Alfred von Tirpitz died on this day and entered Valhalla. 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 was dismissed in disgrace. Tirpitz convinced the Kaiser to pursue a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, which catastrophically brought the United States into the War. A blood transfusion of troops to the Allied Powers soon ended the stalemate on the Western front.

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In 1901, an assassin killed Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in the City of Bremen. His son Deutscher Kaiser und König von Preußen Wilhelm III pursued a more determined but less megalomaniac version of foreign policy. With a stream of Chancellors starting with the Younger Bismarck and ending with Adolf Hitler he pursued a vision of Mittleuropa, which ended in 1945 with his heart attack in the German Chancellery with Russian troops at the gates of Berlin.

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Harad	In 3019 Third Age, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum hide near the Black Gate. Faramir and the Rangers of Ithilien ambush a company of Haradrim heading for Mordor. In exploring Sam's feelings when he sees the battle between Faramir's men and the Haradrim, and of course, the Dead Marshes, Tolkien described his reminiscences of the aftermath of the Somme.
Commander

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In 1964, Prophet Elijah Muhammad officially gave Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali meaning 'beloved of Allah'. He subsequently retired from boxing to concentrate on the anti-Vietnam protest. Ali's plan was to enrage LBJ and diffuse his leadership statements in order to exhaust him mentally. This was later termed 'The Rope-A-Dope'.

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In 1993, Arthur Ashe on this day. Ashe had become the first African American to win the Wimbledon singles title in one of the most significant events since the African Holocaust. Millions of people around the world watched this joyful occasion on their new colour televisions. Arthur, the first African-American male to win a Grand Slam event, was an active civil rights supporter. He was a member of a delegation of 31 prominent African-Americans who visited South Africa to observe political change in the country as it approached racial integration. He was arrested on January 11, 1985, for protesting outside the South African embassy in Washington D.C during an anti-apartheid rally. He was also arrested again on September 9, 1992, outside the White House for protesting on the recent crackdown on Haitian refugees. Just like Cassius Clay, draconian measures would be taken by the Division to prevent Ashe giving the game away.

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In 1993, Arthur Ashe on this day. Ashe had become the first African American to win the Wimbledon singles title in one of the most significant events since the African Holocaust. He spent much of the last years of his life writing his memoir Days of Grace, finishing the manuscript less than a week before his death of complications from AIDS on February 6, 1993. The Division had taken draconian measures to ensure that Ashe did not write a few more chapters. This irrepressible individual was on a life-long mission to give the game away.

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In 1619, the father of the Scientific Romance, Cyrano de Bergerac, is born in Paris, France. Fascinated with science and humanity's foibles, de Bergerac wrote classical pieces such as A Voyage To The Moon and Other Worlds, novels so popular that they turned the literary world upside down. Soon, all serious authors were penning novels about fantastical journeys to other planets and the strange people that we would find there.

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In 1953, Stalin is succeeded as leader of the Soviet Union by Georgi Malenkov, a close associate. Unlike Stalin, Malenkov proved to be a reformer, and hard-line elements in the Kremlin decided that he needed to go. He was ousted as Party Secretary two weeks later, and then replaced as Premier in 1955. Incensed at this affront, he staged a popular coup against new Premier Nikita Kruschev in 1957 and returned to power. Although still a reformer, he mercilessly purged the Communist Party of all those who had been involved in his ouster, and ruled the Soviet Union until his death in 1988.

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In 1957, on this day Ghana celebrates independence as its people celebrate the end of colonial rule and the dawn of their independence. Five hundred years of unspeakable hell were about to end. Worst of all was Elmina Castle, erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as São Jorge da Mina (St. George of the Mine Castle, also known simply as Mina or Feitoria da Mina) in present-day Elmina, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast). It was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea, and therefore the oldest European building in existence below the Sahara. First established as a trade settlement, the castle later became one of the most important stops on the route of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Dutch seized the fort from the Portuguese in 1637. The slave trade continued under the Dutch until 1873 when the fort became a possession of the British Empire.

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Saddam Hussein and his weapons are a direct threat to this country, to our people, and to all free people... I believe Saddam Hussein is a threat to the American people. I believe he's a threat to the neighborhood in which he lives. And I've got good evidence to believe that. He has weapons of mass destruction... The American people know that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction. ~ US President George Bush speaking on 3rd March 2003.

He was proven right in the most spectacular way possible.

	I want to tell you about the time I almost died. said a mischievious Nikita Khrushev to members of the politburo. The Master had been taken to a remote dacha, bereft of life within the required fifty cubit radius. In theory, the Master was unable to shape shift via touch, also prevented from projecting his pschye to another host within the distance of a single breath. In practice, he was now occupying a new host. The Master had affected his second shape shift since Red October. It was a triumph of succession planning.

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