Columbus Sails The Ocean Blue

August 3rd, 2005

in 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain for India, traveling west across the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, his crews mutinied when it appeared that he had underestimated how long the voyage would take, and he was killed and thrown overboard. The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria became pirate vessels, waylaying ships traveling in the western Atlantic.

in the Dreaming, using a web they have created on their own, the people lift up the body of Anansi and cast it into the Heavens. Their mourning cry is heard across both land and sky, and is joined by all those who have been aided by the great spider.

in 1851, rum-runner Lady Isabella Caroline Somerset is born. Lady Isabella was famous for the flow of alcohol at her parties resembling a large, heady river. Oscar Wilde once said of her mansion, “If you removed all the bottles, it would be a quaint cottage with one bedroom.”

in 1891, the Congress of Nations authorizes an expedition to the asteroid belt to gather material to strengthen the earth’s crust. The wealth of all the nations on earth is bent towards this endeavor; ships are built or modified to fly in intrastellar space as quickly as possible.

in 4675, Emperor Deng Ziopeng establishes the first Chinese colony outside the solar system with the beginning of Yang Gao in the Tchou star system. Yang Gao will grow to rival the earth itself, one day.

in 1982, the arrest of Michael Hardwick on sodomy charges in Georgia creates a national movement for sexual privacy. Hardwick had been in his own bedroom, and the sex was consensual. President Ronald Reagan joined in, saying, “I said that I wanted government off our backs, and that includes getting them out of our bedrooms.” The next year, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution is passed, finally encoding a right to privacy into the Constitution.

in 1996, Dr. Noah Hathaway is killed in an automobile accident in London. Dr. Melvin Courtney contacts the magazine Hathaway edited, Archeological Review, to see if his paper on the Chimanimani object will still be published, and they have no record that he ever submitted such a paper. Courtney calls up his expedition team member Malcolm Thomas, who tells him, “I have an alternative outlet.”

in 2000, in a small church in Las Vegas, Velma Porter and Mikhail von Heflin begin their own chanting; they are attempting to draw the presence unleashed the night before to them so that they can banish it from their world. Unfortunately, it manages to resist their call, and destroys the block around them; the church they are in is untouched. “Time for plan B,” the Baron says.

in 2003, the harsh restrictions of Pope Righteous I have produced a band of outlaws that refuse the mark of righteousness, produce literature that denounces the Pope, and declares that the Holy British Empire is Babylon reborn. Most sensible people ignore these Protestant heretics, but many are convinced to join their number.

in 2004, scientists working on the Lalandian secret weapon think they have it; it is some sort of amplifier for ultra-violet light. According to the Lalandians, the Elders are very sensitive to ultra-violet. President Gore of the U.S. and Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the U.N. convince the world’s governments to fund massive construction of these devices. The broadcast from Lalande 25372 is becoming increasingly grim; they speak of mass executions in retaliation for the Lalandian resistance.


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A Quaint Cottage With One Bedroom

August 3rd, 2004

in 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain for India, traveling west across the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, his crews mutinied when it appeared that he had underestimated how long the voyage would take, and he was killed and thrown overboard. The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria became pirate vessels, waylaying ships traveling in the western Atlantic.

in 1851, rum-runner Lady Isabella Caroline Somerset is born. Lady Isabella was famous for the flow of alcohol at her parties resembling a large, heady river. Oscar Wilde once said of her mansion, “If you removed all the bottles, it would be a quaint cottage with one bedroom.”

in 1891, the Congress of Nations authorizes an expedition to the asteroid belt to gather material to strengthen the earth’s crust. The wealth of all the nations on earth is bent towards this endeavor; ships are built or modified to fly in interstellar space as quickly as possible.

in 1963, the Silver Beatles give their final performance, sans Pete Best, at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England. Since their parting of the ways with Best, their crowds have been getting smaller and smaller, and the management has asked them to find some other venue to perform in.

in 4675, Emperor Deng Ziopeng establishes the first Chinese colony outside the solar system with the beginning of Yang Gao in the Tchou star system. Yang Gao will grow to rival the earth itself, one day.

in 1989, the Toledo Mudhens Town Ball team sends a record 20 men to bat, getting another record 16 hits in one inning as they score 14 runs in the 1st inning.

in 2000, the forces of galactic justice, led by The Shining One, plunge into the black hole that is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and expend their full energy in creating a dimensional barrier between Him and our galaxy. Many of them are extinguished by this effort; but the black hole is destroyed.

in 2003, the harsh restrictions of Pope Righteous I have produced a band of outlaws that refuse the mark of righteousness, produce literature that denounces the Pope, and declares that the Holy British Empire is Babylon reborn. Most sensible people ignore these Protestant heretics, but many are convinced to join their number.

Seeds

In 2013, the City of Mississauga reported a dramatic fall in vehicular mansalughter. Put simply, drivers were notorious for ignoring white lights permitting pedestrians to cross. Corners were taken very quickly after light changes in order to beat oncoming traffic. Also by “beating the lights” drivers chose not to decelerate if they did not see pedestrians actually crossing, even if they were approaching the kerbside. Both of these scenarios had caused a large number of accidents for immigrants who thought that the white light might it was safe for pedestrians to cross. The rising population of immigrations caused the Department of Transport to take action, and they turned to telegram technology as a draconian measure. Images of children were picted just after light changes. This huge rise in virtual deaths led to widespread traffic calming. And not a few fender benders, which insurance companies recovered from increased premiums.

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In 1905, the Japanese attack on Port Arthur is frustrated by the arrival of Russian reinforcements. At one stage it looked as if the Tsar would be humiliated by defeat, but after Port Arthur, the Russo-Japanese war drifted into a stalemate.

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In 1979, punk rocker Sid Vicious goes on trial for the murder of his girlfriend/manager, Nancy Spungen. Vicious attempts suicide several times during the trial process, until he is finally placed into custody and put under a suicide watch. He is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He was paroled in 2002, a shell of his former self.

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In 1727, James Wolfe was born, a British general remembered mainly for his role in establishing British rule in Canada. By 1942, British rule only existed in Canada, with the British Government in Exile, headed by Lord Halifax unexpected guests of the Governor General at his residence in Rideau Hall, Ottawa.

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Stephen R. Donaldson	In 1968, Stephen Reeder Donaldson languished in 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

She came out of the store just in time to see her young son playing on the sidewalk directly in the path of the gray, gaunt man who strode down the center of the walk like a mechanical derelict. For an instant, her heart quailed. Then she jumped forward, gripped her son by the arm, snatched him out of harm's way. The man went by without turning his head. As his back moved away from her, she hissed at it, "Go away! Get out of here! You ought to be ashamed!" Thomas Covenant's stride went on, as unfaltering as clockwork that had been wound to the hilt for just this purpose. But to himself he responded, Ashamed? Ashamed? His face contorted in a wild grimace. Beware! Outcase unclean! ~“Golden Boy”

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In 1727, James Wolfe was born on this day in Westerham, Kent, England, the eldest son of Colonel Edward Wolfe and the former Henrietta Thompson. Around 1738, the family moved to Greenwich, in London.

From his earliest years Wolfe was destined for a military career, entering his father's marine regiment at the age of 13. No other British Officer in North America was to achieve Wolfe's level of disreputation, following his decision on September 13th to destroy the city of Quebec after the winter threatened to overtake the besieging British red coats.

In Wolfe's own condemnatory words, he said “I propose to set the town on fire with shells, to destroy the harvest, houses and cattle, both above and below, to send off as many Canadians as possible to Europe and to leave famine and desolation behind me; but we must teach these scoundrels to make war in a more gentleman like manner."

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In 870, the infidel rulers Ferdinand and Isabella fall to the righteous forces of Caliph Boabdil. Allah saw fit to give the Moors control of Espagne, and from there, a foothold on the rest of Europe, so that His word might reach the poor northerners who had not heard Its beauty.

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In 1903, after appointing a black postmistress to the post office in Indianola, Mississippi, President Roosevelt sent reinforcements along with her to ensure that she would be able to do her job. Roosevelt’s commitment to the civil rights of the African-American population of America gave him a hitherto unmeasured degree of support in the south. His Civil Rights Act of 1904, ensuring the voting rights of blacks across America, is credited with landing him his unprecedented 3rd term of office in the election of 1908.

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In 1960, Senator Joe Kennedy, Jr. threw his hat in the ring for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Kennedy’s inspiring tale of recovery from injuries suffered in a horrific plane crash during World War II made him a natural choice, and he won the nomination handily. He had a little more difficulty defeating Vice President Nixon in the general election, but squeaked by with a margin of half a million votes.

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In 1920, Исаак Озимов was born on this day in Petrovichi, Russian SFSR. Isaac Asimov as he is more commonly known in the West is generally considered by many as the father of Psychohistory. During the 1940s, Asimov's research determined that the House of Romanov was in terminal decline. Without intervention, the Tsarist Empire would soon fall giving way to a barbaric interregnum of one hundred years before a Second Empire would arise. He concluded that it was too late to prevent the fall of the House of the Romanov. Secretly, Asimov put in place the Asimov Plan to reduce this interregnum to as little as a decade, by setting up Foundations within continental Russia.

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StrawBerry	In early 1999, Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM) released the first StrawBerry, using the same hardware as the Inter@ctive pager 950, and running on the Mobitex network. Today the device supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services. RIM settled on the name "StrawBerry" only after weeks of work by Lexicon Branding Inc., the Sausalito, California-based firm that named Intel Corp.'s Pentium microprocessor and Apple's PowerBook. One of the naming experts at Lexicon thought the miniature buttons on RIM's product looked "like the tiny seeds in a strawberry," Lexicon founder David Placek says. "A linguist at the firm thought straw was too slow sounding. Someone else suggested blackberry. RIM went for strawberry."
Revolution

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In 1958, the following notice was published ~ with due respect to sworn testimony of God-fearing citizens, -
Mr Paul Adolph Volcker is found guilty as charged of usury,-
by magistrates of this good parish of Cape May, New Jersey, -
persuant to Holy Scripture, Mark 8:36 refers, -
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?,-
on this day of our Lord, 1958. Not the potter, but the potter's clay. Amen.

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Fables

Alternate Historian says, everyone at the Academy was thrilled to receive a smashing story from Mr Brian Brackney, sincerely. Brian's post takes a very well deserved place today - thank you, sir. Please email send your story to Alternate Historian and please remember to include the posting date you require.

In 1955, on this day budding film star James Dean died in a car accident. Dean anticipated the Goth fad by two generations. In East of Eden he played a young teenager who has a human father but a vampire mother who deserted him and his twin brother at birth. He exposes their vampire heritage to his twin who offers his services to the US Army during World War 1. His twin dies at the hands of a vampire in the German army, a young corporal named Adolph Hitler. In a Rebel Without a Cause Dean played a young teenager who redeems himself after a peer drives off a cliff in a deadly game of chicken. He along with Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood lead a daring raid on the lair of sea monster who conducts sinster experiments on teenagers. He reedems himself when he rescues his peer whom he thought dead along with others. In Giant he played a young man who struck it rich after space aliens reveal to him the location of oil fields. Today Dean is revered by young goths as an early forerunner of their subculture.

With due respect to the sworn testimony of God-fearing citizens, - illusionist and stunt performer Antony Andruzzi,- deceiving the weak under the pseudonyms of Tony Andruzzi, Masklyn ye Mage, and Daemon Ecks inter alia,- sentenced to trial by water,- by magistrates of this good parish of Cheyenne, Wyoming, - persuant to Holy Scripture, "Only the image of God is Man” refers, - on this day of our Lord, 1947. Not the potter, but the potter's clay. Amen.

In 2026, the leader of the Fourth Expedition Captain Wilder introduced his children to the Martians by showing his family their reflections in the canal. The indigenes of Mars had died of chicken pox brought by the first three expeditions.

Columbus	"I believe that .. you will soon convert to our holy faith a multitude of people, acquiring large dominions and great riches for Spain." ~ Christopher Columbus, would-be architect of First Nation destruction on the Turtle Island.
Explorer

Writing to Ferdinand and Isabella, urging the Christianization of 'natives' in October 1492. Columbus and his men were unable to combat the melancholy of separation emanating from the Mesh, that irresistible group consciousness between First Nations linking the Turtle Island (America) to the Dreamtime (48,000 year old Aboriginal civilization). A synopsis of the life and times of Christopher Columbus is provided at Wikipedia

Omoro Kinte	In 1750, in Juffure on the Gambia, a village elder conducts an ancient Mandinka ritual, sending Omoro Kinte across the great river of time and space. On the same voyage are three others, Thalmus Rasulala, Cicely Tyson, LeVar Burton. The elder delivers this band of four young people to Annapolis, Maryland. Somehow they must release Alex Haley from bondage and return him to the year 1976, where he must must publish “Roots: The Saga of an American Family”. Haley is trying to give his people a myth to live by, overturning other myths about the Black American experience and giving African Americans a proud history. They must succeed.

In 1964, Hawthorn Abendsen published the counter-factual novel The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Set in America in 1962, the once-isolationist nation had been propelled to global domination as the world's first hyper power All because some twenty years earlier Japan has provoked America by going pre-emptive on the US Pacific Fleet at Hawaii. The essence of Dick's masterpiece is the book within the book, 'Man in the High Castle', a work of fiction written by a man called Philip K Dick. It describes a world where the Japanese won the Pacific war - as a result, it has been banned by the Americans. Given his unpopularity with the world's two great powers, Dick is said to live in a heavily fortified home and has become known as "The Man in the High Castle". Critics panned the concept but loved the story.	What If?
After all, it was predicated on the US Fleet leaving San Diego for Hawaii when Americans overwhelmingly disapproved of war in the Pacific. Today we know that Mr Roosevelt meant it when he said at Boston on October 30 1940: "I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars."

T.E. Lawrence	In 1946, on this day sentencing occurred at the Nuremberg Trials. A guilty charge was found against Commander of the British Eighth Army Colonel T.E. Lawrence and subordinates Bernard Law Montgomery, Archibald Percival Wavell and Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck and all four were shot the very next day. Granted a last request, Lawrence wrote a short letter for Winston Churchill who - along with the remnants of the British Royal Navy - had withdrawn to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. Thanking Churchill for his confidence in the Command appointment, Lawrence blamed his defeat upon a group of Egyptian officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat, who secretly sided with the Germans, ridding North ..
.. Africa of Britain's presence. In a final, chilling paragraph, Lawrence entered a biblical quote from the Book of Proverbs, 9:1: Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars

In 1963, John F Kennedy was prescribed the stiff canvas shoulder-to-groin metal framed brace that would deflect an assassin's bullet at Dallas, saving his life less than seven weeks later. "Kennedy may have been saved . . . by his sexual excesses and compulsiveness," Hersh wrote in the Dark Side of Camelot "He severely tore a groin muscle while frolicking poolside with one of his sexual partners during a West Coast trip in the last week of September 1963. The pain was so intense that the White House medical staff prescribed a stiff canvas shoulder-to-groin metal framed brace that locked his body in a rigid upright position. It was far more constraining that his usual back brace, which he also continued to wear. The two braces were meant to keep him as comfortable as possible during the strenuous days of campaigning, including that day in Dallas.”	JFK