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 Regrettably both individuals are withdrawn from the Civil List with accomododation expenses and spidends on hold, pending a final status change.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.

The Fountain Of Youth; Ekaterinburg

April 2nd, 2006

in 1495 AUC, Karlus Magnus, a Germanic leader in the Roman Republic, was born in Germania. He rose to prominence as a powerful native voice in the Senate, representing his people, and was even rumored to be a candidate for Proconsul, but Roman prejudices kept him from higher office.

in 1513, Ponce de Leon, conquistador of Spain, found the fabled Fountain of Youth in an area he called Florida in North America. Unfortunately, he was killed when he fell from a cliff trying to escape natives driving him from the site. His body, when it was found, looked like he was 20 years old.

in 1805, industrialist Hans Christian Andersen is born in Odensk, Denmark. He worked his way up from the bottom after starting work in a factory after his father died. As a hobby, he liked to entertain local children with fairy tales, which made him a beloved businessman in his country.

in 1941, the German Underground secured control of most of northern Africa with the capture of Libya. Out of the nations north of the Sahara, only Egypt remained outside their control, and it was poised to fall, as well. Seeing the G.U. so close to their borders united all of the Arab world and Islam against them.

in 1952, a tribe of Berbers takes in Velma Porter and Mikhail von Heflin as they wander across northern Africa. The pair find the simple life of the nomads enchanting, at least for the evening, and bed down with them to enjoy their first restful sleep in days.

in 1979, Ekaterinburg, Russia becomes the epicenter of a horrific bio-engineered plague as a mutated anthrax bacteria was released from the city's bio-weapons plant after an accident. Hundreds of thousands across Russia and northern Europe died before the Soviet Union was finally convinced to release a cure.

in 1982, Imperialist British troops landed on the Falkland Islands, starting a war with the People’s Republic of Argentina, which had reclaimed the islands from the British in the 50’s. It was thought that there was oil in the Falklands, but none was ever found after repeated drilling at the end of the war.

in 1992, Stormin’ Norman, General Norman Schwarzkopf, recaptures Venezuela after allied forces had pushed U.S. troops out of the country. President Ralph Shephard advanced the general to 4 stars for his victory, one of the biggest the Constitutionalists had won in South America.

in 2004, Jacob Sheridan surveys meteor damage to the exterior super-cooled chamber holding the Projection Virii and methane crabs they have retrieved from Saturn’s moon, Titan. Several methane crabs are crawling across the outer surface of the chamber, apparently oblivious to the fact that they are in space. Sheridan immediately retreats to the ship and goes through decontamination to get rid of any possible P.V. that might be making him see methane crabs.

in 2005, famous Polish actor Karol Wojtyla dies in his native city of Wadowice. Although he had traveled across the world in his career, and had even been banned from Poland for a brief period in the 80's for statements he had made against its communist regime, the Poles had never stopped loving him, and turned out in huge numbers to pay their respects to this beloved man.

Timelines in today's post: the Roman timeline, the GZR, von Heflin, The Sheridans, Communist America and the Ralph Shephard timeline

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect Hans Christian Andersen, (the film, not the man), 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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