Mandates

Jesse Owens	In 1913, on this day African-American athlete James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was born in Lawrence County, Alabama to Henry and Emma Owens. Owens lead a remarkable, controversial life. In particular, controversy still surrounds Owens participation in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.
In 2006, Guy Walters published a book entitled Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream. The legend is that Carl 'Luz' Long, his German rival in the long-jump, assisted him by giving him valuable advice in a conversation moments before he made the jump. Owens later said - "It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler... You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the twenty-four kilates friendship that I felt for Lutz Long at that moment. " Long himself could not confirm this story. He died in a British military hospital after fighting in Sicily, just months after his thirtieth birthday. However, Walters revealed that in fact, no such conversation between Owens and Long took place.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Bernard Montgomery	"The result of being driven out of Palestine would be to weaken our overall strategic position in the Middle East, and that of the Western world generally in the struggle between East and West." ~ Monty justifying the extension of the British Mandate in Palestine
Imperialist

Field Marshall Montgomery, Chief of the Imperial General Staff reacting to pressure for Britain to withdraw its forces from Palestine in response to Jewish terrorism. Avi Shlaim said in 2001 that in times of crisis, the fledgling Zionist project had been protected by the bayonets of the British army. This was particularly true during the Arab Rebellion of 1936-39. The rebellion showed that there could be no compromise between the two rival communities in Palestine: only war could decide the issue. The Jewish community was weak and defenceless. It would have easily been defeated had Britain not intervened to restore law and order. In November 1938 Major General Bernard Montgomery arrived in Palestine. His task was to crush the revolt. ‘Monty’ was a short-tempered professional soldier with no inclination to study the details of the conflict in Palestine. He gave his men simple orders on how to handle the rebels: kill them. This is what his men did and, in the process, they broke the backbone of the Arab national movement. So when the struggle for Palestine entered its most critical phase, following the passage of the UN partition resolution on 29 November 1947, the Jews were ready to do battle whereas the Arabs were still licking their wounds. In 1948, Montgomery was promoted to CIGS. Having seen service between the wars in India, Egypt and Palestine he had a unique method of dealing with insurgency. This time around, he faced up to Irgun and the bombers of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. The full article is available at The Black Vault

~ quotation by Steve Payne

Berlin 2010	In 2010, Heinrich Gimpel received a mysterious call from the Friends of Zion advising him not to report for duty at Oberkommando office in Berlin. Ninety minutes later, he switched on the television just in time to see a newsflash. Two hijacked Lufthansa Jets has crashed into the Great Hall. Iraki insurgents were behind this unspeakable act of terrorism.
~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1999, in Center Lovell, Maine driver Bryan Smith was distracted by an unrestrained Rottweiler named Bullet, moving in the back of his 1985 Dodge Caravan. He swerved to avoid three riders on horseback, the Gunslinger Roland Deschain and his friends Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns. As a result, he narrowly missed the author Stephen King who was walking on the right shoulder of Route 5. Soon afterwards, he could not remember anything about the three riders at all.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Glubb Pasha	In 1941, English Patient László de Almásy shared a revelation from the spy Geoffrey Clifton with Loose Cannon Colonel "Ned" Lawrence. In accepting the mission to turn Rommel, Churchill had told Lawrence that he had been secretly rescued from a German "hit" by Zionist agents acting under the orders of Chaim Weizmannm Herzog and Aaron Aaronsohn.
The Zionists had their own plans for Lawrence, needing him to do a similiar job by "turning" the Commanding General of the Arab Legion, Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb. Glubb Pasha had built the most disciplined force of arms under Arab control. In the forthcoming battle to establish Eretz Yisroel, Weizmann and Aaronsohn could not afford to have such a powerful threat from “the wing” on the West bank.
~ variant by Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Susan Shwartz and Michael Ondaatje

Otto Skorzeny	In 1943, German commando Otto Skorzeny pulled off a most daring mission. After fighting on the Eastern Front, Skorzeny was known as the commando leader who attempted to rescued Benito Mussolini from imprisonment after his overthrow. He also was the initiator of Operation Greif, for which he was judged after the war: this special operation involved false flag tactics, that is wearing the uniform of the enemy to confuse him and advance into his lines.
He also helped train the Werwolves, a Nazi stay-behind organisation which tried to engage in guerilla warfare against the Allies. On September 12th 1943, Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, was rescued from house arrest on the Gran Sasso in Abruzzi. Blood thirst craze had driven the Duce insane unfortunately, and an unsuspecting Skorzeny was brutally attacked by the lycanthrope Duce leaving a huge gash on his right cheek.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1994, Frank Eugene Corder crashed a Cessna 150 into the White House's south lawn, striking the West wing and killing US President Michael Dukakis. The crash caused a re-evaluation in security procedures around the White House, as the pilot had entered restricted airspace. Though the White House was reportedly rigged with surface-to-air missiles, none were fired. Vice President Lloyd Bentsen became the second Texan in thirty years to succeed to the Presidency through assassination.	Frank Corder
~ entry by Steve Payne

Luna 2	In 1959, the Soviet Union launched a large rocket, Lunik II, at the moon. Being the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, it impacted the lunar surface west of Mare Serenitatis near the Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus craters. Scientifically, Luna 2 is most famous for making the discovery of the solar wind, via its hemispherical ion traps designed by Konstantin Gringauz. Having studied these stream of charged particles for thirty years, Russian Scientists developed the first space craft driven by this thermal energy, enabling the USSR to colonize the solar system by the end of the twenty-first century.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1890, Salisbury, Rhodesia, was founded and named after the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, then British prime minister. From Salisbury, the Premier of the British Crown Colony of Southern Rhodesia, Ian Douglas Smith declared Unilateral Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom on November 11, 1965. Smith was staunchly opposed to Britain's insistence that the government of Rhodesia be transferred to the black majority control as an essential prerequisite for independence.	Ian Smith
Smith at one point, stated that there would be no plans to bring Rhodesia under black majority rule in his lifetime, and he later added, "or children's". Smith himself bowed to the inevitable in 1980, but his supporters did not, launching Operation Quartz which sustained a brutal white settler rule until this day.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Whatever happened to Leon Trotsky? He got an ice pick That made his ears burn
Stranglers	Whatever happened to dear old Lenny? The great Elmyra, and Sancho Panza? Whatever happened to the heroes? ~ Lyrics to “What Ever Happened to the Heroes?” - Click to Watch Sample
Punk Band

In 1977, an off-site Cabinet meeting by the executors of the Plot Against British Prime Minister Harold Wilson was held at Chequers. Interim Prime Minister Lord Louis Mountbatten and his deputy Major General Ord Wingate, DSO were in the Chair. Both officers were hurting real bad inside, believing that the British establishment had won both world wars (described by Churchill as "an incalculable prize") yet lost the peace. Worse, the British establishment had turned to them as the icon of that victory, and fundamentally they had no answers at all. In fact, Mountbatten had not felt so powerless since he was appointed Viceroy of India. Instead of overseeing a peaceful transition to independent rule, he had played a meaningless bit part in a humanitarian disaster where 10,000,000 had died during the tragedy of partition. Unknown to Mountbatten, the shadowy individuals that had selected him considered this experience to be a vital element of his resume. Qualification: master of disaster. Also present was the Home Secretary Margaret Thatcher. So was newly appointed Minister for Citizenship Mary Whitehouse, who had recently resigned her position as founder and first president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, a pressure group for Christian ethics and morals with a particular emphasis on the media. They had just finished watching the latest installment of horror - the Stranglers playing "No More Heroes" on Top of the Pops, a barefaced insult to Mountbatten and Wingate of course. Vocalist Hugh Cornwall was in turns arrogant, hateful, disrespectual, shouting, haughty, scruffy..a dictionary definition of the word punk. Most disturbing was that Cornwall was clearly an individual of intelligence, "of the right sort". Worse, he had the kind of face that a military officer could expect to see as a mirror image with that recognizable tint of control and pride. Cornwall's behaviour was highly indicative of just how British society had gone off the rails in such a short space of time. Whereas you could (try to) dismiss the Sex Pistols as extremists, Cornwall's outward respectibility was an open endorsement to misbehaviour that was far too acceptable to British Youth. Mountbatten looked around the room - "How do we get British Youth back to watching Sitcoms and the Two Ronnies?", making reference of course to that mildest of sketch comedies. It was somewhat quiet for a while. Then Thatcher and Whitehouse descended into a stereo parrot mode, entering a long, pointless tirade about morality and authority that just went on. At one point Thatcher disturbingly asserted that "Society does not exist", it was all utterly incomprehensible to the military leader's ears. Afterwards, Mountbatten and Wingate retired with brandys and cigars. "Perhaps we should have appointed Barbara Woodhouse at the Citizenship Ministry" quipped the defeated deputy, a reference to a well known authoritarian dog breeder in the UK. "Perhaps we should tell Hugh Cornwall 'down, boy!'" replied Mountbatten, his spirits returning somewhat. They both laughter long and hard. Howled, actually. It was a mission impossible, there was just no point worrying about it too much really. The lyrics are available at at Ottosell

~ quotation by Steve Payne

One Horse Town

July 27th, 2007

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The Announcement

Alt-Hist Intro: This is a time-traveler idea I've had – let me know what you think in the comments!

I went back in time the other day. It was quite an interesting experience. I almost prevented the birth of Hitler, and was an inch away from saving Martin Luther King. And, by the way, it was Oswald, and he was the only gunman. I can say that without fear of contradiction.
I'm not supposed to interfere, but you can't help yourself, really. After all, what's the point of going back if you're not going to try to change things? Time travel is the ultimate wish fulfillment. If you go back far enough, and you know enough, you can be a god.
Marcus had wanted to do that; be a god. He told me that he could bring a few gadgets with him, set up shop in Mesopotamia or someplace like that, and he would never have to worry about anything ever again. I reminded him that modern conveniences like hologames, running water and vaccinations might be missed by someone playing the god for the primitive locals, but he says that he could tough it out. I doubt it.
But, he's been gone for a while now, and I don't think he's coming back. The world hasn't come crashing down around us, so whatever changes he's made, I assume that they've already been taken into account in the time stream. I hope.
That's what we all hope, really. Everybody involved in the project has got to hope that we can't really change the past, at least not in a way that will destroy the present. If we can, then somebody's going to screw us all up any day now.
Maybe they already have.
There are a lot of paradoxes in this line of work, and you really just have to get used to them. I mean, if you try to grasp each set of contradictions that you bring up just by appearing in the past, you'd spend all your time sitting around confused instead of doing something. And that's not very productive.
My main area of focus is on historical accuracy in textbooks. I was the one who got to correct all the assassination buffs who’ve been living on JFK rumors for decades. That was my masterpiece; seventeen cameras along a one mile patch of road in old Dallas. Conclusive proof that the only shots came from the book depository, there was nobody on the grassy knoll, and I got a really good close-up of Lee Harvey himself squeezing the trigger. How they howled. I've now been labeled part of the conspiracy.

In 2006, a series of high-level resignations continued in the Justice Department and at the FBI following the revelations of James Anthony Traficant, Jr. at a press conference in Washington.	James Traficant
A former Democratic Representative in the United States Congress from Ohio, Traficant, Jr. had been recently released from prison after compelling evidence emerged that he was the victim of a government set-up. This included false allegations of taking bribes, filing false tax returns, racketeering, and forcing his aides to perform chores at his farm in Ohio and on his houseboat in Washington, D.C. All of which were dismissed at the re-trial.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1941, at Sidi Omar on the Egyptian border the terrible past finally caught up with Loose Cannon Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence. Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny had been sent on a desperate mission by General Rommel, in a last ditch attempt to rescue the Afrika Korps from certain defeat in the North Africa Campaign. Skorzeny presented a series of letters from 1931 through 1934 that Lawrence had written to John Bruce, posing as his own Uncle. The Obersturmbannführer was ordered to either "turn" the Commander of the British Eighth Army, or hand over the letters to Lawrence's Arab allies. The bitter irony of being turned was not lost on Lawrence. "How could you do it?" asked Skorzeny twisting the knife.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of Susan Shwarz original content has been made to celebrate the author's commanding genius.

"Saw a Cadillac for the first time yesterday, I'd always seen horses, buggies, bales of hay `Cause progress here don't move with modern times There's nothing to steal so there's not a great deal of crime It sure is hell living in a one horse town There's half a mile of Alabama mud bed ground
Elton John	Nothing much doing of an afternoon Unless you're sitting in a rocking chair just picking a tune And they ain't too well acquainted with the stars and stripes But if you want to hear Susanna then they'll pick all night They'll pick all night" ~ Lyrics to “One Horse Town” - Click to Play Sample
Exiled Genius

Following revelations about his personal life and flight from Great Britain, Elton John described his isolation in a remote part of Alabama at Lyric Dude

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1970, on this day António de Oliveira Salazar died. He had governed as the de facto dictator of the Portuguese Republic since 1932. During the previous two years he had ruled in name only since suffering a major stroke, forcing President Américo Tomás to effectively replace him with Marcelo Caetano. As a symbol of Portugese unity, the Mocidade Portuguesa (militia) of African, Asian and European ethnicity paid homage at his funeral. Dramatic changes that had been held in check for many years were now unleashed; Portugal was no longer “Proudly Alone”.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, a turn on the Wheel of If had transformed New York DA Allister Park into Celtic Judge Ib Scotlung. Brilliantly discharging the duties of a Pugnacious Peacekeeper through an intricacy of Islam, Park found a peaceful resolution to the border dispute between Tawantiinsuuju and Dar Al-Harb. The young widow and prospective wife, Kuurikwiljor had written down the belief system of Patjakamak for Park's study. This practice was not forbidden yet not encouraged by the Tawantiinsuuju, true believers who memorized Patjakamak. A Zorastrian precedent was applied to recognise non-believers as People of the Book. This redefinition as non-pagans enabled the Emir of Dar Al-Harb to establish peace across the physical barrier of the great river Ooorinookoo.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1948, Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny escaped from an Allied Prisoner of War Camp. With the defeat of Nazi Germany inevitable, Skorzeny had trained, until March 1945, recruits for the stay-behind Nazi organisation, the Werwolves, which engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Allies. However, Skorzeny quickly realized that the Werwolves were too few in number to become an effective fighting force. Instead of this, they were used for the Nazi "ratlines", a secret "Underground railroad" which helped Nazi war criminals escape trial after Germany's surrender. Beside this organisation of the "ratlines," which would form the basis of the supposed ODESSA network after the war, Skorzeny had been employed since August 1944 by high-ranking Nazis and German industrialists to hide money and to loot property, documents, etc., some of which were buried in the mountains of Bavaria, and others shipped overseas. Skorzeny finally decided to surrender to the Allies in May 1945, feeling that he could potentially be of use to the Americans in the forthcoming Cold War. On May 16, 1945, he emerged from the Austrian woods near Salzburg and surrendered to a lieutenant of the US Thirtieth Infantry Regiment. He was held as a prisoner of war for more than two years before being tried as a war criminal at the Dachau Trials for his false flag actions in the Battle of the Bulge. However, he was acquitted when Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas G.C. of the SOE testified in his defence that Allied forces had also fought in enemy uniform. But he was held until he escaped from a prison camp on July 27, 1948. There was one item of property that Skorzeny took with him in his flight to South America. Some documents actually. Letters written by Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, posing as his Uncle, to John Bruce between 1931 and 1934. And also the five missing pages from Lawrence's War Diary, ripped in shame by the author describing his capture in Deraa during November 1917. Documents that would create a spectacular reaction when they surfaced in 1960 during the premiere of the movie Lawrence of Arabia on 16th December 1962.

~ entry from Steve Payne: extensive use of Susan Shwarz original content has been made to celebrate the author's commanding genius.

Windsor Ontario	In 1940, the fleeing British Royal Family reached their safest haven. That being the capital of New Britain established by Arthur Wellesley in 1814, Windsor, Ontario. Nowhere other than this Anglophone pocket in North America would have accepted these desperate refugees. Head of the British Government in Exile, Winston Churchill ..
.. summoned up the situation on their arrival: “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was our darkest hour.'”
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1941, Japanese troops occupied French Indo-China. Meanwhile, Mountbatten, Wingate et al. were poised to quit the Far East altogether, taking with them the Indian Divisions of the British Army. These troops were desperately needed in Jerusalem by Bernard Montgomery of British Central Command. Caught in the Middle East between ..	Conquest of Ind..
.. the German and Japanese pincer movement, the British Army prepared for Churchill's Land Stand.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Syngman Rhee	In 1953, following a six-month “surge” US President Douglas MacArthur proclaimed victory in the Korean War. In Seoul, anti-communist Syngman Rhee was declared president of the newly unified Republic of Korea. Rhee's legacy has been in considerable dispute.
In general, conservative circles regard Rhee as the patriarch of the nation, while liberals tend to be critical of him. Shortly before the 1988 Olympic Games it was discovered that Rhee had embezzled over $20m from the government and tributes to the former head of state were cancelled.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1974, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Robert F Kennedy: obstruction of justice. Americans were waking up to the fact that RFK's Special Investigations Unit (“the Plumbers”) had burgled their own Democratic National Committee ..	Richard Nixon
.. Headquarters in an attempt to besmirch Richard M Nixon's reputation. Still, it was just too late for Honest Dick. At sixty years old, he had made two bids for Presidency, and one for the Governorship of California. Even if he had been tricked by the Kennedys, he still had a record of losing.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Showdowns

In 1995, historian Richard M. Langworth described the early phases of World War III. Operation Overlord was modified to invade a very different Occuped Europe than that original envisaged. Halifax's carthaginian peace in May 1940 created a power vacuum, such that Stalin's conquest of Europe did not stop at Berlin. Consequently the Allies beach head was the first step on the long road to Moscow. “Without the logistical support of Stay Behind Organisations” said Langworth, "it is improbable that Overlord would have been a success". This reference to the Nazi Werwolf group run by Otto Skorzeny and Operation Glaudio in Italy is bound to create deep embarrassment in European Democracies. Complicity with defeated Fascist nations was hinted at in the banned movie Dr Strangelove: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Nazis, and was considered a no-no for many years.

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In 2007, Los Angeles Police Department charged African American actress Halle Berry with racial incitement. Whilst on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Berry had been shown a picture of herself with a distorted, large nose. She had remarked “I look like my Jewish cousin”, to which Leno had replied, “I'm glad you said that and not me, that's ten years in County”.

When the show aired, they cut out her 'Jewish' comment and added a laugh track to the bit."

The actress later apologised for her remarks, insisting she didn't mean any offence. She said: "I so didn't mean to offend anybody - and after the show I realised it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did.

"I was backstage before the show and I have three girls who are Jewish who work for me. We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said of the big-nose picture, 'That could be your Jewish cousin!' And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn't mean to offend anybody. I didn't. I didn't mean any harm."

LAPD have confirmed that these remarks in no way protect Berry from a violation of racial incitement law, and are determined to maintain their “zero tolerance“ policy.

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In 1976, Mrs Baylock instructed Jeremy Thorn "Go to the city of Meggido, there see the Old Man Bugenhagen. Only he can describe how the child must die". "See Bugenhagen before its too late!" repeated Mrs Baylock with great urgency. She need not have worried, Thorn was by now a man with a purpose.	Hallowe'en Story

In 2007, on this day the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called an early election. He sought a fresh mandate for change, aiming to capitalise on the improved opinion polls since his arrival at 10, Downing Street.
Gordon Brown	The campaign anthem was appropriate - “We like to move it, move it”. After ten years in government, an unprecedented opportunity to change Britain had been wasted by Tony Blair. However, Blair had at last resigned in favour of Brown, and the Labour movement had a once in a century change to get it right. ~ Reel to Real's I Like to Move It, Move It - Click to Watch Sample
Move It

The exceptionally tough life experiences of Gordon Brown prepared him for the highest role in British politics. The show man Tony Blair put the plan on hold for ten years. In his defence, Blair had the charisma of an international statement, that perhaps Brown did not. However, it was widely recognised that it was time for Britain to focus on matters close to home and stop causing trouble on the world stage.

In 2008, at the head office of the restaurant chain Wanda's of Montreal a disgruntled employee, a database administrator issued a rogue instruction to the corporate database: UPDATE COMMENTS SET NICE_COMMENT = 'Y' WHERE ABUSIVE_COMMENT='Y' AND UPPER(THE_COMMENT) CONTAINS 'THUX%';

Glaudio	In 1990, Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti revealed to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army, intended to counter a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. What was not intended was they would act as a secret army taking every opportunity to undermine left-wing politicians, making their own interpretation of the motto “Silently, I serve freedom”. Andreotti himself was more coy about the a batch of letters he had received in 1978.
"As the conspiracy theorists would have it, [Italian Prime Minister] Mr. [Aldo] Moro was allowed to be killed either with the acquiescence of people high in Italy’s political establishment, or at their instigation, because of the historic compromise he had made with the Communist Party" (The Independent, November 16, 1990, quoted by Statewatch). "During his captivity, Aldo Moro wrote several letters to various political figures, including Giulio Andreotti. In October 1990, "a cache of previously unknown letters written by the former Prime Minister, Aldo Moro, just prior to his execution by Red Brigade terrorists in 1978... was discovered in a Milan apartment which had once been used as a Red Brigade hideout. One of those letters made reference to the involvement of both NATO and the CIA in an Italian-based secret service, 'parallel' army", wrote The Irish Times on November 15, 1990 (quoted by Statewatch).

In 1960, an R-16 ballistic missile exploded on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing 165. Among the living is Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, who left the pad shortly before ignition for a cigarette break and was to play a decisive role in the Turkish Missiles Crisis just two years later.	Nedelin Disaster

Kennedy	In 2999, the mind cast for the next instalment of “Personality of the Triple Millennia” was re-run across the networks. POT3M drew an even larger audience because of its oddness. John F Kennedy was the candidate, the context was the Cuban Missiles and the moment was seconds after US Air Chief Marshall Curtis LeMay had proclaimed a military government. Kennedy asked MC Millennia if remembered where they were the day LeMay tried to kill them?

In 1998, on this day the spacecraft Deep Space 1 was launched on top of a Delta II rocket. As part of NASA's New Millennium program, the primary goal was the testing of twelve advanced technologies that have the potential to lower the cost and risk of future missions. Deep Space 1 succeeded in its tasks and also achieved its secondary goals: flybys of the asteroid Braille and of Comet Borrelly. Passing the comet passage intact, Deep Space 1 was able to return valuable science data and stunning pictures of the discovery of life on the comet. Gregory Benford's journal The Heart of the Comet recounts how mission parameters were changed because of fear of contamination from the borrellyform life and attempts to destroy the comet and those living upon it.	Deep Space 1

Nanopolis

July 26th, 2007

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The Announcement

Alternate Historian's Note: Here's a fragment from an introduction to a role-playing game I'm writing. Which reminds me – I want to know how many gamers we have reading TIAH. If you're proud of your dice, shout out and let us know!

In the world of Nanopolis, there are the normals, there are the supers, and there are the villains. The villains plague the normals, and the supers plague the villains, and the balance of the universe is right. Deep underneath all of this, though, is The Secret.
There is something that everyone feels is not quite right about the world. The feeling is strongest in Nanopolis, where the concentration of supers and villains is the highest in the entire world. The strongest supers, the mightiest villains, and the most important normals are among the 15 ½ million inhabitants of Nanopolis. It is the largest city on the planet, and the most troubled. It is estimated, (because accurate numbers are impossible to get), that up to .5% of the population is super or villain. That’s an astonishing 77,500 supers and villains! Among the general population, the occurrence of 1 super or villain among 100,000 normals is a freak occurrence; in Nanopolis, it’s 1 in 200.
Because of its reputation as the home of the abnormal, Nanopolis attracts many bizarre people of all three persuasions, and is a tourist mecca that offers the jaded traveler the opportunity of witnessing struggles between beings of God-Like powers. It attracts millions of visitors, and is the center of thousands of businesses. It is definitely a city worthy of being a super-home.
The Secret threatens to bring all this down.
The Secret has been a rumor for thousands of years, when the first divisions of man were noticed and cataloged. Many have sought it; normals because they yearned for the power they heard it would provide; villains for the wealth and control it was rumored to bring; and supers who hunted it to expand the knowledge of man. None have ever found it. At least, none have ever found it and lived.
There was a villain who was supposed to have found it. It was in the golden age, and he had been working for the Nazis. His name was Herr Hammer, and he had been known for 2 things - a Herculean strength and a God-Like intelligence. There are many who believe that if he hadn’t gotten caught up in Hitler’s search for exotic items of occult and religious power, and subsequently disappeared, he would have tipped the balance to the Axis side in the Great War.
Rumors of Herr Hammer popped up, time and again, for 20 years after the end of the war. Then, during the involvement of American troops in Vietnam, an army troop of 100 normals found him. The one who managed to escape told the Patriotic Five of his whereabouts, and they sought to capture him for trial on war crimes. The Patriotic Five was a powerful group; they were easily the match of Herr Hammer, especially since he was in his 60's at this time.
2 members of the Five came out of the jungle. Blue Witch was in a coma, and she died a few weeks later of a cerebral hemorrhage. Percepto, who had carried her out, was not in much better condition. He was checked into a mental institution because he couldn’t stop raving about how the nature of reality was all a lie. The only thing that the doctors believed when he spoke was that they had found Herr Hammer. Percepto is also now in his 60's, still alive, but deteriorating. His once-Legendary mind is all but gone, and his ravings are unheard. The staff at the military hospital in Nanopolis keep tight security around him; no one has ever been told why.
The century has just turned, and the new millennium is beginning. There are challenges for supers everywhere in Nanopolis, and many opportunities for fame and honor. But, also the challenge of The Secret lives on, and until it is revealed, there will always be work for the supers to do...

In 1941, at Sidi Omar on the Egyptian Border a man in Berber dress shouted "Herr Lawrence!". Unsnapping the catch of his holster, Loose Cannon Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence strode towards him. "Your guards have not heard of German efficiency." said the man, "No matter, let me introduce myself - I am Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny and I have an important message for you from General Rommel."

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of Susan Shwarz original content has been made to celebrate the author's commanding genius.

"Oh yeah in france a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same
Prince	At home there are seventeen-year-old boys And their idea of fun Is being in a gang called the disciples High on crack, totin' a machine gun” ~ Lyrics to “Sign o the Times” - Click to Play Sample
Dystopian Genius

Describing the unimaginably dystopian America of Prince's imagination at Lyrics Astraweb

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1940, a turn on the Wheel of If had transformed New York DA Allister Park into Celtic Judge Ib Scotlung. Charged with the duties of the Pugnacious Peacekeeper, Park arrived in the Tawantiinsuujan capital of Kuuskoo, on what he thought of as the northern coast of Panama in this America. Whilst participating in the religious celebration of Patjakamak, Scotlung was amongst a crowd attacked by agitating rogue Islamic insurgents of Dar Al-Harb. He saved the life of a young widow, Kuurikwiljor. Maybe, just maybe on this Wheel of If the bachelor Allister Park would finally find a mate, and marry. Even less likely, he thought, he would prevent the agitators from stirring the border dispute between Tawantiinsuuju and Dar Al-Harb into outright war. Park asked Kuurikwiljor to write down the belief system for his study, surprising the Tawantiinsuuju, true believers who memorized Patjakamak

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 2009, the TV networks presented episode seventeen of So What If?. Historian Philip Guedalla examined the defeat of Ferdinand's army at Lanjaron in 1491. An overview of the long history of the great, enlightened Kingdom of Granada follows the Moors' victory in Spain.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Esperanto book ..	In 1887, L. L. Zamenhof published "Dr. Esperanto's International Language" in Russian on July 26 in Warsaw, and over the next couple years later editions were published in Russian, Hebrew, Polish, French, German, and English. Zamenhof declared, "an international language, like a national one, is common property."
Zamenhof signed the work as "Doktoro Esperanto" and the title Esperanto stuck as the name of the language which, in Esperanto, means "one who hopes". The fathers of the 1919 Peace Conference in Paris needing hope for a shattered continent. They saw clearly the opportunity to build a new Europe around a common language, building the foundations for today's Komunumo (community).
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1945, the Labour Party won the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide. Decisively beaten, Churchill and the Conservatives were generally considered to have run a poor campaign in comparison to Labour; Churchill's statement that Attlee's program would require a Gestapo-esque body to implement was then considered to have been particularly poorly-judged.	Big Brother
However, like so many of Churchill's statements, it was extremely far-sighted. George Orwell's described this most authoritarian of regimes in his brutal political satire 1948, with Big Brother a thinly disguised reference to Clement Attlee.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Moncada Barrack..	In 1953, Freedom Fighter Fidel Castro died leading an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus ending the Cuban Revolution. The remaining rebels were tried and sentenced for their role in the attack, Che Guavera giving a four hour speech, concluding with the words "Condemn me.
It does not matter. History will absolve me", in his defense. They were released after an amnesty in 1956.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1968, US President Hubert Humphrey accepted the proposals of South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war. The coalition rooted out the corruption which had bedevilled the Republic of Vietnam, leading to a resurgence in ..	Humphrey
.. support from the population. A formal peace treaty was concluded at Paris the next year as Hanoi recognised the reduced prospect of victory over a more formidable neighbour.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Masses

	In another place, we again meet Parkhill, the overly proud owner of a hotdog stand. Under the long suffering eye of his wife, he murders a Martian and leads them on a crazy chase across the red plains, only to have them deed him all of the surrounding land, and mysteriously tell him “Tonight is the night.” Parkhill believes he will witness the masses traveling back to Earth; instead he looks up in time to witness the destruction of his home planet. ~ Abridged version of The Off Season (January 2008).
Planet Mars

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 only a few die-hard optimists such as Parkhill stayed after the December 2007 exodus.

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In 1928, Leon Trotsky, having gained the upper hand in the struggle for power in Russia, has his arch-rival Joseph Stalin executed. Stalin's death brings many crocodile tears of sympathy from governments that would have opposed him if they felt that he had the slightest chance of taking Trotsky's place.

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In 1995, Richard M. Langworth combined fiction and fact in his publication “If Chamberlain had lost the Battle of Norway”. In this somewhat far fetched scenario, when Germany invaded Norway in April 1940, an expeditionary force was sent to counter them, but the campaign proved difficult, and the force had to be withdrawn. The naval aspect of the campaign in particular proved controversial and was to have repercussions in Westminster leading to Chamberlain's replacement by Lord Halifax, who immediately sued for a Carthaginian peace.

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	In 1977, Bruce M. Heezen and Marie Tharp mapped the Earth and World Ocean Floor, illustrating their recently-discovered ~65,000 kilometers (~40,000 miles) of midocean ridges (MOR) that almost completely encircle the planet. This compelling evidence that as recently as ~200 Ma the planet was only ~60% of its present diameter, and that today’s oceans, and the waters in them, did not exist on the planet came as a shock to most earth scientists.

The Expanding Earth Theory is now generally accepted by the scientific community, and the Kant-Laplace nebular hypothesis of the Solar System and Earth's rapid creation as molten bodies ~4.5 billion years ago discredited. The Earth is gradually increasing in size--one layer at a time--by constant accretion of mass from outer space--a process called accreation (creation by accretion).

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Nelson Mandela	“The moment has come” Samson Zola, “I'm carrying my cultural weapon. He has no fear of it, though, despite the fact that right in the middle of modern townships, Inkatha fighters stil kill their enemies with traditional Zulu spears.” Nelson finished his speech. He comes close to me. I try to plunge the spear into his chest. A hand of surprising strength siezes mine. I realise I have once again underestimated Nelson. ~ Samson Zola. In Laura Resnick's dystopia, years of civil war had torn apart the dream of a Rainbow nation. Samson Zola attempted to assassinate the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Even though he loved him like a father, he saw the need to return South Africa to its people.
Alternate Tyrant

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In 1979, following Donny Osmond's appearance on the Tonight Show with his two deaf brothers, a straw poll of voters said that the brothers should have been excluded from the Osmonds, 80% v 20%. Musically the rendition of Crazy Horses wasn't very good, there never could have been a place in the charts for the Osmonds Plus.

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In 12-18-4-9-17, the African writer Manda Buthelezi won the Emperor’s Staff for her powerful work Songs of the Popul Vuh. It was a massive tome detailing the difficulties of African immigrants in the Oueztecan Empire, and was widely read across the civilized world.

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In 2000, the World's computers were still down with the millennium bug. Realisation begins to dawn that this is no blip.

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In 1995, historian Richard M. Langworth described the early phases of World War III. Operation Overlord was modified to invade a very different Occuped Europe than that original envisaged. Halifax's carthaginian peace in May 1940 created a power vacuum, such that Stalin's conquest of Europe did not stop at Berlin. Consequently the Allies beach head was the first step on the long road to Moscow. “Without the logistical support of Stay Behind Organisations” said Langworth, "it is improbable that Overlord would have been a success". This reference to the Nazi Werwolf group run by Otto Skorzeny and Operation Glaudio in Italy is bound to create deep embarrassment in European Democracies. Complicity with defeated Fascist nations was hinted at in the banned movie Dr Strangelove: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Nazis, and was considered a no-no for many years.

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In 1972, the balkanization of former British colonies in the “Third World” continued apace as East Pakistan became the new state of Bangladesh. Bengalese representatives were rotating members of the first Security Council in the Reconstructed United Nations during 2093.

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In 2092, the United Nations Commission for the Survival of Life on Earth (UNCSLE) confirmed the extinction of avian species in the northern hemisphere.

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In 1885, Alice Paul, founder of the National Women’s Party, was born in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. Her bright version of a world where the voice of women would be the equal, if not the superior, of men’s, propelled the National Women’s Party to their control of the House in 1920, the Senate in 1926, and the Presidency in the 1928 elections.

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In 1519, Spanish explorer Cortes saw the strange fruit known as momochitl among the Aztecs and tasted it. A kind of heated maize, the momochitl lacked the flavor and sweetness of the maize, and Cortes could understand why the Aztecs mainly used it as decoration. After European control of the Americas was secured, momochitl was never cultivated again, and its small white kernels no longer decorated the heads of Aztec women.