Choices

In 2006, Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Acting Commissioner of FDA filed the approval documents for Bluetooth enabled pace makers. Continuous heartbeat monitoring by premium Internet hosted services became a commercial reality. Investors anticipated explosive stock growth from sales of devices which were widely expected to extend the lifespan of the super rich.

~ entry by Steve Payne:

Marvin Lee Aday	"Have a double, it's gettin' late, you'll get home, just rely on fate Place just finally came alive, good old boys just arrived Stools keep changin' faces, and the night just slips away And like a long distance love affair, soon you've got to pay Silver bullets in the jukebox, spin another round Everybody at the back of the line, it's midnight at the lost and found." ~ Meatloaf, lyrics to Midnight at the Lost and Found which went Gold in the UK selling over 100,000 copies.
“Meatloaf”

In his autobiography, To Hell and Back, Meatloaf claims that shortly after his mother died, his father, in a drunken rage, tried to kill him with a knife, and that he barely managed to escape after they had a bad fight. After Marvin got his inheritance from his mother's death, he rented an apartment in Dallas and isolated himself for three and a half months. Eventually a friend found him (a psychology student at the University of Dallas). Marvin bought a car with his inheritance and drove to California. At some point during the journey, a dreadful suspicion started to take shape in the mind of his friend. Was "Meatloaf" really the victim character of a devil-may-care rock 'n' roller? Or the personae of a murderous super ego? A summary of his autobiography, To Hell and Back is detailed at - Wikipedia

~ quotation by Steve Payne

In 2023, Christian missionaries on the Planet Tyrr took grateful receipt of the delivery of a package from Wycliffe Bible Translators in Dallas, TX. A covering note explained that standard methods had been varied substantially in order to achieve the 2,612th translation of the Bible, into Martian. In a typical translation project, Wycliffe senior workers first request permission to operate from the government in charge of a region. After the organization receives permission to operate, several small teams research a region's linguistic populations. Based on this data, teams are sent to each linguistic group. The team introduces itself to a group, usually with the aid of bilingual helpers such as traders or guides. The team lives on site, and attempts to speak the language. Formal recordings, word lists and grammars are kept, usually on computers, backed up periodically to the national mission. When the phonology is understood, the team selects a writing system similar to those in use by nearby trading languages. At some point, the team begins to translate short portions of the Bible into the native language. The translation is tested and corrected with native speakers, as well as the existing lexicographies and grammars. Once the Bible is translated, printings are arranged, often through one of the United Bible Societies. The length of the entire process varies depending on the portion of the Bible being translated; it can take as long as 20+ years. The Martian version had actually been achieved in a remarkably short period of time, just 15 years. In 2008 at Lacus Soli, Captain von Tromp had located a single survivor from the doomed first mission of the USS Envoy. The innocent Valentine Michael Smith had already grokked the fullness of his water brothers. Shortly afer his arrival on Earth, Smith super-accelerated the translation process for the Wycliffe Mission.

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

Rhett Butler	"I think it's hard winning a war with words, gentlemen .. I'm saying very plainly that the Yankees are better equipped than we .. All we've got is cotton and slaves, arrogance and our British allies." ~ Confederate Captain Rhett Butler, speech at Twelve Oaks
Captain

During a heated debate at Twelve Oaks going on among the gentlemen about the impending War of the States. Excited and patriotic southerners boastfully predicted a quick victory, led by Gerald O'Hara: "The Yankees can't fight and we can!" Ashley Wilkes attempted to cool off the room full of Southern hotheads, hoping that the North will let the South leave the Union without war: "Most of the miseries of the world were caused by wars. And, when the wars were over, no one ever knew what they were about." The rogue of a good family from Charleston, and turned out of West Point, Rhett expressed his lone dissent from the optimistic voices. He disagreed with the fervent patriotism of the Confederates: "I think it's hard winning a war with words, gentlemen...I'm saying very plainly that the Yankees are better equipped than we .. All we've got is cotton and slaves, arrogance and our British allies." He realistically believed that the South's cause was doomed to failure because of its gradually declining resources - he spoils everyone's enthusiasm for war: The full story of Gone with the Wind is described at Film.org

~ quotation by Steve Payne

In 2017, the Regional Municipality of Peel responded formally to the concerns of voters in the Greater Toronto Area. Citizens of Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga had been making increasing use of the growing number of independent medical facilities in the Region's shopping malls and greater regulation was called for. In particular, the age of individuals booking in for an "adjustment" was falling alarmingly.

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

Douglas MacArthur	In 1950, on this day the United Nations made a daring assault, landing up to 50,000 troops behind enemy lines at Inchon, on the west coast of Korea. More daringly, General Douglas MacArthur deployed the Bacteriological weapons of Unit 731 handed to him by Japanese General Otozoo Yamada in 1945. “There's no substitute for victory” the General tells the World by way of justification at a Press Conference the next day.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1940, the Battle of Britain ends with a Kriegsmarine victory over the Royal Navy. In How Chamberlain lost the Battle of Britain written in 1995, historian Richard M. Langworth recounted the battle. Critics muted their May 1940 attacks on the Government for the sake of national unity. Chamberlain heeds Reynaud's call for Britain to fling the bulk of her air force into Battle of France.	Kriegsmarine
Failing to group the British Expeditionary Force around Dunkirk, 300,000 British troops are lost in the greatest military disaster in British history. The Battle for Britain is fought first on the English Channel and then on the beaches and the landing grounds. Like the French before him, Chamberlain considers the choice between surrender and going down fighting--and chooses surrender. His successor, Halifax, signs the instrument of surrender while a raging Churchill escapes with the remnants of the fleet and sails to Falkland Islands, there to organize an international resistance movement.
~ entry by Steve Payne

Post Conference	In 1944, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle met in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy. With the Pacific War heading towards an end game, FDR agreed to land American Forces in North Africa as part of Operation Torch. Unfortunately for de Gaulle, FDR was defeated in the November Presidential Elections, and Charles Lindbergh pursued a very different US Foreign Policy.
Winston Churchill could only wring his hands in New Britain, having refused to travel to New France for the Octagon Conference.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1962, the Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that set into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy disregarded forged reconnaissance data presented by hawks who sought open war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Kennedy also ignored warnings that compromise was impossible. Instead he prevented a third world war more horrible than the second, in which he had lost his eldest son.	Cuban Missiles
The President could hardly be accused of inconsistency; he had after all been pro-appeasement since 1940 when he was the United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James.
~ entry by Steve Payne

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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