Valentine's Day - Love In All Its Forms

ALTERNATE HISTORIAN'S NOTE: Congratulations to our Valentine's Day Contest winner, Phil Ulrich, whose entry ends today's post! Please send us entries for our next contest, which will be an Alternate April Fool's Day, April 1st, 2006. Just send us the entries for now - we'll decide on a deadline later. (Contest rules) And, another cool thing - Let us know where you are on Frappr!

February 14th, 2006

in 47,421 BCE, Telka the Speaker is wooed by and mated with the father of her first children, the man she names Komar. She learns to count the days in a year by the anniversary of this day each year that she was with him. His love for her led him to throw himself in front of a boar that was charging her; although he saved her and killed the boar, he died from injuries he received. Telka made sure that each of her descendants celebrated this day out of her love for him.

in 1123 Post-Creation, the angel Derdekea, mother of Achazia, finds Lucifer in far corner of Heaven and comforts him. “Much has changed since you left, bright one,” she tells him, “and much should not have.” He feels a swelling of love for her, and they spend the day together, while Lucifer forgets his sorrow.

in 269, Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, in order to make them a better pool to draft soldiers from. The Christian cleric Valentius was known for his defiance of Rome, and many young couples came to him in order to wed. Valentius performed the ceremonies gladly until the local centurion told him that he would be executed after the next one. Valentius relented, but the decree was rescinded in 271 after Claudius’ death, anyway, so nothing ever really came of it.

in 1167 AUC, the Lupercalia Festival is finally made a separate holiday from the festival celebrating the founding of Rome. This festival of ritual matchmaking, popular for hundreds of years, was certainly the highlight of the 2-day celebration at the ides of February, and most Romans felt that it deserved separation from the more staid founding ceremony.

in 498, Pope Gelasius names this day the Feast of Saint Valentine. In his honor, prisoners across the land were given a meal of ox-hearts and red wine, to signify the blood that the saint had shed while a prisoner of the pagan Romans. The traditional feast of hearts and wine continues to this day across Christendom, although the practice has spread from the jailhouse to all those who might need a prayer for more freedom.

in 1415, Pope Henry V commissions a host of poets to compose a series of love notes to Catherine of Valois, in order to woo her into agreeing to become his Papal Consort. After the success of the poems, it became a standard practice in the Holy British Empire to compose poetry for a loved one on St. Valentine’s Day.

in 1847, Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachussetts, thinks up a unique way to celebrate the romantic holiday of St. Valentine’s Day. She constructs heart-shaped cards and decorations of red scrap and sells them from her college apartment. Most people whom she approaches to buy this feel that this cheapens the holiday, and she never manages to make a going concern of it.

in 1918, Mikhail von Heflin and Velma Porter, sailing on the Caesar Augustus for England, celebrate the anniversary of their joining, which will take place in 34 years; this time, Porter is not driven mad by the experience, although the neighboring cabins are somewhat taken aback by the animal passion they hear coming from the pair.

in 1965, the Soviet States of America bans the unofficial Valentine’s Day holiday. Comrade Representative O’Hare of Chicago, in her statement calling for the ban, said, “No other holiday so cheapens the idea of romantic love, or saps the will to fight of our comrades in the street, as this so-called Valentine’s Day.”

in 2005, Dave Lange and Jeanne Best, still recovering from plastic surgery in Arizona, ask one of the Save Earth members who is a preacher to marry them. Since their cover story was going to make them a married couple anyway, the preacher is only too happy to comply. “On this day of love, let us forget the monsters that make us hide,” the preacher says, and the couple agrees.

in 2021, a rare form of cosmic radiation enters Earth's atmosphere, concentrated in and around Chicago. 99.9% of the city only feels a slight tingling, but one man, Eddie Valens, finds his reflexes and
running speed amplified tenfold - plus, he is now able to evoke feelings of love and peace in nearly anyone with but a word. Putting these two together, and donning a pink costume, Eddie takes the name Saint Valentine and proceeds to fight crime in Chicago for nearly a decade as one of the only real superheroes in the 21st century.

Timelines in today's post: the Speaker, the Fall, the Roman timeline, the Holy British Empire, the Mlosh, von Heflin, Communist America and The Claw.

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect Rudolph Valentino, the silent movie star, to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

Get yourself into TIAH!

The Forum lives again!

Good long fiction from the AH.

Help the Alternate Historian get a better day job!
My email address for contacting me with your good news, or for more direct goodness, go to the web site and leave a comment, buy a book, or leave a Paypal donation! Remember, it's only 6 degrees of separation between you and anyone else - and thanks again!

Saint Valentine's Day

February 15th, 2005

in 47421 BCE, Telka the Speaker is wooed by and mated with the father of her first children, the man she names Komar. She learns to count the days in a year by the anniversary of this day each year that she was with him. His love for her led him to throw himself in front of a boar that was charging her; although he saved her and killed the boar, he died from injuries he received. Telka made sure that each of her descendants celebrated this day out of her love for him.

in 269, Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, in order to make them a better pool to draft soldiers from. The Christian cleric Valentius was known for his defiance of Rome, and many young couples came to him in order to wed. Valentius performed the ceremonies gladly until the local centurion told him that he would be executed after the next one. Valentius relented, but the decree was rescinded in 271 after Claudius’ death, anyway, so nothing ever really came of it.

in 1167 AUC, the Lupercalia Festival is finally made a separate holiday from the festival celebrating the founding of Rome. This festival of ritual matchmaking, popular for hundreds of years, was certainly the highlight of the 2-day celebration at the ides of February, and most Romans felt that it deserved separation from the more staid founding ceremony.

in 498, Pope Gelasius names this day the Feast of Saint Valentine. In his honor, prisoners across the land were given a meal of ox-hearts and red wine, to signify the blood that the saint had shed while a prisoner of the pagan Romans. The traditional feast of hearts and wine continues to this day across Christendom, although the practice has spread from the jailhouse to all those who might need a prayer for more freedom.

in 1415, Pope Henry V commissions a host of poets to compose a series of love notes to Catherine of Valois, in order to woo her into agreeing to become his Papal Consort. After the success of the poems, it became a standard practice in the Holy British Empire to compose poetry for a loved one on St. Valentine’s Day.

in 1847, Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachussetts, thinks up a unique way to celebrate the romantic holiday of St. Valentine’s Day. She constructs heart-shaped cards and decorations of red scrap and sells them from her college apartment. Most people whom she approaches to buy this feel that this cheapens the holiday, and she never manages to make a going concern of it.

in 1952, Mikhail von Heflin and Velma Porter, alone in Carl Thompson’s house since he is hospitalized, discover more than companionship for each other. Porter has fallen in love with the Baron, and von Heflin more than returns the emotion. He prepares to join her to him eternally, in the ritual blood-exchange he was taught in his youth.

in 1965, the Soviet States of America bans the unofficial Valentine’s Day holiday. Comrade Representative O’Hare of Chicago, in her statement calling for the ban, said, “No other holiday so cheapens the idea of romantic love, or saps the will to fight of our comrades in the street, as this so-called Valentine’s Day.”


Forum Link

Poll Link: New poll - Monthly magazine versus Serial Novelizations!

Warp, part 3 and the complete package are up! You can now buy the complete download, order the print version, or get your copies of the serialization while they're available - on March 1st, only the complete download and print versions will be on sale.

The Man From Branford (cont.)

August 4th, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

Alt-Historical Continuation: this continues the Man from Branford story that we began a couple of days ago. If you would like to see more of a particular story, email us. Also send us email with alternate birthdays for me, (August 14, 1965), and Steve, (November 22, 1967), for our birthday contest!

We checked the man into a hospital once we got into Austin, and I spoke with the doctor in charge at the ER. “He's delusional, possibly from the injuries, but it's also possible that his delusions are what put him out on the road. Do you think the burns he's suffered are from exposure?”
The surgeon shook his head. “No, they seem to be some kind of chemical burns, and they're all over him, including under his skin. It's very odd.”
“It was odder seeing him on the highway. I'm used to strange things here in Austin, but this...”
The surgeon smiled. “Thanks for bringing him in.” He extended his hand to shake mine, and I felt a little reluctance letting responsibility for this patient go. I looked over at Francine, and she was obviously impatient to get back to our long weekend. We had done our good deed, and now the man was in the hands of people who could help him.
I shook the doctor's hand and said, “If you need any psychiatric help, here's my card.” I took out my wallet and handed him my card.
He took it, but not with any real enthusiasm. “We have psychiatric staff, of course.”
“Of course, of course, I understand.” Francine was standing now, my cue to leave. “Good luck, doctor.” I walked over to her and put my arm around her shoulder.
“Couldn't let go of the patient, could you?” She was half-accusing, half-laughing at me as we walked back into the warm Austin sunlight.
I kissed her on the cheek and we steered towards our car. “Strange cases like that are what they make books out of, dear. Now, some staff psychiatrist here gets to make a movie of the week.”
“That's all right,” she said, squeezing my hand where it draped over her shoulder. “I'd never see you if you were working on a book in addition to your regular case load.” She jabbed me in the ribs. “And, I hear those Hollywood starlets can't resist their doctors.”
“That's right,” I said, feeling my mood lighten up. “Let me back in there!” I turned part of the way back and she yanked me toward her to plant a big kiss on my lips.
We spent the rest of the day as we had planned – light lunch from the health-food store, a romantic walk around Zilker Park, some secluded time in a dark nook – it was delightful and invigorating. But, the entire time we were there, a small portion of my mind kept thinking about Mr. Johnson from Branford, and on the drive to our hotel, I asked Francine if we could stop by the hospital and check on his condition.
She sighed at my preoccupation. “Still thinking of those starlets, eh?”
“There's only one starlet in my life,” I said, winking at her.
She smiled and relented. “All right. But, let's not stay too long, OK?”
“Of course not, dear.” I didn't realize how badly I was lying then.

So you resigned yourself to failure, my friend And I emerged the chilling stranger, my friend To eradicate the problem, my friend Unsheathe the blade within the voice
Marillion	I am the assassin I am the assassin And what do you call assassins who accuse assassins anyway, my friend? ~ Lyrics to Assassing - Click to Watch Sample
Assassing

Wikipedia entry for Jimmy Hoffa's hit by the mob ~ In 2003, the FBI searched the backyard of a home in Hampton Township, Michigan formerly frequented by Frank Sheeran, Second World War veteran, Mafia hitman, truck driver, Teamsters official and close friend of Hoffa. Nothing significant was found. In 2004, Charles Brandt, a former prosecutor and Chief Deputy Attorney General of Delaware, published the book I Heard You Paint Houses. The title is based on a euphemistic exchange apparently used by hitmen and their would-be employers. "I heard you paint houses." "Yes, and I do my own carpentry, too." House painting alludes to the splatter of blood on walls, and "doing my own carpentry" to the task of disposing of the body. Brandt recounted a series of confessions by Sheeran regarding Hoffa's murder, and claimed that Sheeran had begun contacting him because he wished to assuage feelings of guilt. Over the course of several years, he spoke many times by phone to Brandt (which Brandt recorded) during which he acknowledged his role as Hoffa's killer, acting on orders from the Mafia. He claimed to have used his friendship with Hoffa to lure him to a bogus meeting in Bloomfield Hills and drive him to a house in northwestern Detroit, where he shot him twice before fleeing and leaving Hoffa's body behind. An updated version of Brandt's book claims that Hoffa's body was cremated within an hour of Sheeran's departure. Trouble was Brant was told that Sheeran received orders from the Mafia by telephone. This was only partially correct. Both the mob and the White House had organize the execution, and naturally they had turned to their trusted allies, the Tralfamadorians. Kurt Vonngeut had described likened the aliens to Plumber's friends. Which was a good call. E. Howard Hunt and the White House team of Plumbers had forged a winning partnership with these fourth-dimensional beings. The lyrics are available at at Official Marillion Web Site

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

Love is a danger of a different kind To take you away and leave you far behind And love love love is a dangerous drug You have to receive it and you still can't get enough of the stuff It's savage and it's cruel And it shines like destruction Comes in like the flood
Eurythmics	And it seems like religion It's noble and it's brutal It distorts and deranges And it wrenches you up And you're left like a zombie ~ Lyrics to “Love is a Stranger” - Click to Play Sample
British Musical Duo

In 1980, the founders of Eurythmics Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox retreated to Chalk Farm in London, using a bank loan to set up a tiny 8-track studio above a picture framing factory, giving them freedom to record without having to pay expensive studio fees. They began to employ much more electronics in their music, collaborating with Raynard Faulkner and Adam Williams. They continued to record many tracks and play live using various line-up permutations. However, the three singles RCA released for them that year ("This is the House," "The Walk," and "Love Is a Stranger") all flopped on release in the UK. The band's state of affairs became critical — although their mode of operation had given them the creative freedom they desired, commercial success eluded them, and the responsibility of running so many of their affairs personally (down to roadying their own equipment) was exhausting. Lennox suffered at least one nervous breakdown during this period, while Stewart was hospitalized with a collapsed lung. The Eurythmics were finished and so was the duos relationship - Lennox and Stewart decided to discontinue their romantic liaison which had created the magic between the two. The lyrics are available at at Stllyrics

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

In 1991, S.M. Stirling published The Charge of Lee's Brigade. The American colonies never broke away from the British Empire, its 1854 and Robert E. Lee leads a Virginian brigade in the Crimean War. Since 1832 Viceroy's Commissions in the forces of British North America had been theoretically equal to the Queen's commissions in the British Army proper. “Old School” Commander Lord Cardigan seemingly had not heard this news having a vocal contempt for all colonials. Sent into the Valley of Death, the four regiments of American cavalry were decimated by Russian artillery, witnessed by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. So moving was the senseless slaughter, and angered by the use of the colonials as sub-human cannon fodder, Tennyson penned the immortal lines Theirs not to reason why / Theirs but to do and die. The poem became a freedom rallying cry in the southern states. For the first time in almost a century, independence was talked about openly. The decision was free Americans, or sub-human colonials, and really, it was a no brainer that was settled very quickly. Within five years, Lee was sworn in as Confederate President in Richmond, whilst the Northern states remained within the Empire. Triangulation pressures emerged as one of the many causes of the War of the States that broke out in Lee's second term...

~ 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 twenty four of So What If?. After defeating Washington, Lord Cornwallis struggles to put the American Revolutionary genie back in the bottle.

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

Queen

In 1983, the drummer of the band Queen Roger Taylor said "Let's give them the works!". The result was the recording of eleventh studio album, "The Works" at the Record Plant, Los Angeles, California and Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany. Marking a partial return to their rock roots, with a much lighter approach the album also had the heaviest electronics amongst all group albums. Quite simply an awesome piece of musical genius, "The Works" was yet another milestone in Queen's forty year dominance of the music business.

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

In 1935, Officer John Bruce of the Tank Corps Regiment revealed that Text II of the "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" was far from "substantially complete and accurate" as Colonel TE Lawrence had falsely claimed. Text I was a sincere record of Lawrence's capture at Deraa in November 1917, yet Lawrence lied, saying that it had been mislaid or stolen whilst changing trains at Reading Station in November 1919.
Clouds Hill Cottage	Bruce revealed that after Deraa, Lawrence had suffered such terrible nightmares that he had ripped five pages from his war diary in shame. That had not worked either, and then he had turned to John Bruce to suppress the darkness within him, to expidate the disastrous loss of integrity he had suffered that dreadful night.
Lawrence's Woodland Retreat

John Bruce helped Lawrence to suppress the darkness, but it took him ten years. ~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

Elimina Castle	In 1482, the sun set at St. George El Mina Castle on the Gulf of Guinea. The long night of six hundred years was about to begin for the child Kwame.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1931, little known counter-historian Winston S Churchill combined fiction and fact in his publication “If Lee Had Won The Battle Of Gettysburg” and indulged in the quaint conceit of imagining what would have happened if some important or ..	Winston Churchill
.. unimportant event had settled itself differently. In Churchill's far-fetched world, the Union and not the Confederacy wins the War of the States and the world is much changed. Using a clever coda technique, Churchill finishes the story with an alternative version of his American mother's upbringing in a victorious United States of America with the story being dictated in 10 Downing Street.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Tsarevich	In 1917, Tsar Nicholas II and the magician Grigory Rasputin were locked in a truly Faustian bargain. Rasputin was sleeping with the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna at the Elysees regencia hotel during the Paris Peace Conference. From the same august location, he was also sparing the precious life of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich ..
.. of Russia from a terminal blood-related condition known only to the Russian Royal Household. Blood Sucking vampirism.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1991, Kim Stanley Robinson published his masterful short story Lucky Strike posing the question What if the Enola Gay crashed on a practice flight? The "Lucky Strike" is selected to bomb Hiroshima, ..	Kim Stanley Robinson
.. but its bombardier is a sadist excited by the power of the atomic bomb. He diverts the plan to Tokyo, creating an even more horrific human catastrophe.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

And Now For Something Completely Different

August 3rd, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

Reminder! Birthday contest coming up – yours truly, August 14th, and Steve on November 22nd. Give us alternate lives and we'll post your take on how we were really meant to live...

And now, something a little different – haikus based on Lord of the Rings:

The Lord of the Rings
Four hobbits in grave peril
Second breakfast missed

Hobbit wants the ring
Declares himself the Dark Lord
Frodo, nine-fingers

Five races combined
The fellowship of the ring
Doomed to be broken

Hobbits to defend
Warrior is overthrown
Peace, son of Gondor

Where is my precious?
In the darkness, he whispers
Gollum sits alone

Tom Bombadill, Oh!
Happy prankster and saviour
Not in the movie

Forgotten wizard
Servant of the hidden west
Rhadagast the brown

A moth flutters by
Wizard snatches and whispers
Gandalf is rescued

The fires of Mount Doom
A hobbit stumbles backwards
Dark Lord is no more

Thomas Edward Lawrence	"The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia [modern day Iraq] into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information." ~ Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence in a 1920 newspaper article. The full article is available at Securing America
Arabist

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

In 1975, "they" had eliminated ex-Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa. Having made a payment of half a million dollars to President Richard Nixon and his attorney general, John Mitchell to secure his release from prison in 1971, Hoffa had had his union activities curtailed. Recently, he had been trying to strong-arm his way back in to a position of influence.
Jimmy Hoffa	As part of his comback plan, he had recently threatened to reveal the mob's entanglement with Teamsters pension funds -- even though he himself turned the Central States Pension Fund into the Mafia's private piggy bank. He also wanted to expand the national union agreement to encompass all transport works, placing himself in a position to paralyse America.
The White House organized the execution, naturally turning to their trusted allies, the Tralfamadorians. Kurt Vonnegut had likened the aliens to Plumber's friends. He was quite right. They were real tight with E. Howard Hunt and the White House team. And so it goes.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

We have all the time in the world Time enough for life to unfold All the precious things love has in store We have all the love in the world If that's all we have, you will find We need nothing more
Louise Armstrong	Every step of the way will find us With the cares of the world far behind us We have all the time in the world Just for love Nothing more, nothing less Only love ~ Lyrics to “All the Time in the World” - Click to Play Sample
Satchmo

Heads-up ~ Diana Brackley was a research scientist working for Francis Saxover, a somewhat eccentric private researcher. In 1960, by accident they independently discovered that a specimen of lichen sent to them for analysis had the ability to extend human life by many hundred years. Within months, they had discovered precisely how the lichen extract could substantially retard the aging process, preparing the prototype drug Antigerone. The trouble was that the lichen was in limited supply being a very slow-growing plant which grew in China. Both biochemists saw the implications of this, realising that many institutions would try to repress this knowledge and were careful to keep the substance secret. However Brackley decided that it must eventually become available to all humans and sets up an organisation designed to introduce it by stealth. Unfortunately Saxover decided to let his immediate family in on the secret, and his daughter-in-law gives away part of the secret for money. As a result criminal forces begin to take interest in both Francis and Diana. In The Trouble was Lichen investigative journalist John Wyndam foresaw the coming of a new evolutionary order and with it, a revolution. The TV advertisement for the Antigerone product featured Louis Armstrong's classic “All the Time in the World”. Neither Armstrong nor Wyndham use Antigerone, and by coincidence both died months apart in 1969. The lyrics are available at at Lyricwiki

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

In 1996, Brad Linaweaver published And to the Empire for Which It Stands. In Linaweaver's alternate Rome of 44 BCE, Gaius Julius Caesar survived the ides of march assassination by a group of senators known as the Liberatores (or "Liberators") led by Brutus and Cassius. Having escaped tyrannicide, Caesar announced at the Theater of Pompey that he would after all accept from the Senate the hereditary kingship he had planned to decline. Surpassing the world conquest of Alexander the Greater, the new Emperor built a Roma Eterna that survived twenty glorious centuries. The breakup of the “sick old man of Europe” was deferred until the holocaust of World War I, with the assassination of Procurator Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo – the shot that was heard 'round the world. Ironically, Rome had been agitating for a conflict with the Ottoman and Russian Empires as a means of suppressing nationalist fervour in the Balkans. However, the declaration of war backfired principally because of south-eastern European sympathy for the enemy. Mobilized troops used the opportunity to fan the flames of civil war, creating a patchwork quilt of successor states throughout the Balkans.

~ 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 twenty-three of So What If?. The commanders of the Anglo-French forces in America Arthur Wellesley and Napoleon Bonaparte argue how best to set the clock back to 1776.

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

In 1935, Officer John Bruce of the Tank Corps revealed that the recently demised Private Shaw of the Tank Corps Regiment was none other than Colonel T.E. Lawrence, pursuing his ambition to be remembered as "a man of letters, not a man of action" by retreating into obscurity at Bovington Camp.
Clouds Hill Cottage	In early 1920, Lawrence set about the daunting task of rewriting as much as he could remember of the first version which he had allegedly mislaid whilst changing trains at Reading Station. Working from memory alone (he had destroyed his wartime notes upon completion of the corresponding parts of Text I), he was able to complete this "Text II", 400,000 words long, in three months.
Lawrence's Woodland Retreat

Lawrence described this version as "hopelessly bad" in literary terms, but historically it was "substantially complete and accurate". That was a filthy lie. Text II was a substantial rewrite of Lawrence's capture at Deraa in November 1917. ~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

King João II of..	In 1482, a third day dawned at St. George El Mina Castle on the Gulf of Guinea. The military factory was remarkable for being the first precast building to have been planned and executed ever, in or outside Europe. Eleven ships and 700 soldiers commanded by Diogo de Azambuja had brought heavy numerated granite stone blocks ..
.. to Elmina. Azambuja’s men had set up shop and now they opened for business, that being native gold commerce for the Portuguese Crown monopoly. And the passage of twenty million shrieking African souls to the new World.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1995, Richard M. Langworth combined fiction and fact in his publication “If Weygand had lost the Battle of France”. In this somewhat far fetched scenario, the failure of the Weygand Plan causes the General to flee to North Africa with Free ..	General Maxime ..
.. French Forces. Defeated again by Rommel, he then heads south to the Brazzaville. General Maxime Weygand dies in 1965 in his exiled Congolese stronghold, buried under a boulder inscribed, "Founding Father of the movement to uproot Nazidom from the world." His mission, as the book ends, is unfulfilled.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Empress	In 1917, Tsarist representatives at the Paris Peace Conference adopted a blended approach to the concepts of possession and territorial integrity. Whilst Prime Minister Peter Stolypin legitimised the annexation of Galicia and Besserabia to the Russias, the magician Grigory Rasputin was sleeping with the Empress Alexandra ..
.. Fyodorovna at the Elysees regencia hotel. Not that the Tsar was being cuckolded, far from it. Rasputin was sparing his son's life from a terminal blood-related condition known only to the Russian Royal Household.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, Greg Bear published his masterful short story Through Road No Whither set in a world where the Allies won World War II. During the occupation of German, British officers insult a gypsy woman when asking for directions, and she arranges for the Allies' retroactive defeat.	Greg Bear
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Cool stuff - Let us know where you are on Frappr! and We've been Dugg

We have links again! Yay, us. Check them out on the side of the page, and if you have some suggestions, send them to us!

Visit the Co-Historian's store -

Outcomes

Aleister Crowley	In 1947, agent Mr W.H. of the Tabula Rasa returned to Roxborough Tower having succeeded in preventing the use of magic at a Hastings boarding house. In this dominion Mr W.H. had felt a sudden gust of wind and peal of thunder at the (otherwise quiet) moment of the death of Black Magician Aleister Crowley, the wickedest man in Britain. Crowley had attempted to shapeshift into the body of his sixty-eight year old physician Dr. William Brown Thomson, who was was found dead in his bath at his Mayfair flat the very next day.
The Beast

Thomson glanced over his shoulder. The whistler was in sight. It looked perfectly human, dressed in a gray, well-cut suit and black tie, its collar turned up against the cold, its hands thrust into its pockets. It didn't run but almost idled as it came, the whistle confounding Thomson's thoughts and making him stumble. As he turned away the second of his pursuers appeared on the pavement in front of him, drawing a hand from its pocket. A gun? No. A knife? No. Something tiny crawled in the voider's palm, like a flea. Thomson had no sooner focused upon it than it leapt towards his face. Repulsed, he raised his arm to keep it from his eyes or mouth, and the flea landed upon his hand. He slapped at it with his other hand, but it was beneath his thumbnail before he could get to it. He raised his arm to see its motion in the flesh of his thumb and clamped his other hand around the base of the digit, in the hope of stopping its further advance, gasping as though doused with icewater. The pain was out of all proportion to the mite's size, but he held both thumb and sobs hard, determined not to lose all dignity in front of his executioners. ~ The Death of Dr. William Brown Thomson.

.

Tulsa	In 2007, showing pictures of Two Trucks and a house damaged by a fallen tree in Friday, Dec. 14, 2007 in Tulsa, Okla., news agencies reported that hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans, weathered one of the state's worst natural disasters. A brutal ice storm knocked out power to more than 600,000 homes and businesses at its peak and led to at least 23 deaths. The number of statewide power outages had been reduced to more than 200,000 by Friday afternoon. Public Service Company of Oklahoma reported about 89,000 outages, mostly in the Tulsa area.
Oklahoma

Earth had just begun to swung into Line, a ray of metafrequency energy jetstreaming from the massive black hole at the galactic hub. The transmuting effects of this atypical energy altered the planet for over a century until the Earth swung fully into line in 2113. A self-sufficient scientific community on the southern Peruvian coast - Center of International Research for the Continuance of Life on Earth, 2009-2113) - succeeded in compensating for the massive morphological changes that had occured. An ingenious discovery at CIRCLE succeeded in sustaining life - Rubeus, an artifical super-intelligence originally created to manage global weather systems. New Washington was repopulated fully by 2165.

.

Jesus	In 1843, Ebeneezer Scrooge wakes in the night and the bells of the neighbouring church strike twelve. The first spirit appears and introduces himself as the Ghost of Christmas Past. His personal appearance is very interesting; he looks like a young boy, but at the same time, he looks old. His hair is white (tied in a ponytail), but he has no wrinkles. This spirit leads Scrooge on a journey into some of the happiest and saddest moments of Scrooge's past, events that would largely shape the current Scrooge.
Is Love

These include the mistreatment of Scrooge by his uncaring father (who did not allow his son to return home from boarding school, not even at Christmas and was abusive according to his sister, Little Fan), the loss of a great love sacrificed for his devotion to business, and the death of his sister, the only other person who ever showed love and compassion for him who picked him up at boarding school to go home at Christmas. Unable to stand these painful memories and his growing regret of them, Scrooge covers the spirit with the cap (which was made by the sins of man and had a beam of light coming out of the top) it carries and he is returned to his room, where he falls asleep. He also noticed that the light of the cap had never extinguished and this is a symbol because it is foreshadowing that Scrooge's light in him will never be extinguished (his hope will never die).

.

"GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling & floundering like a man in fire or lime.-- Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light as under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace behind the wagon that we flung him in,

Wilfred Owen	My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. (trans. it is sweeting and fitting to die for your Country)" ~ Dulce et decorum est by Wilfrid Owen (1920)
Poet

In 1915, In the Battle of Gallipoli began when a strong Anglo-French task force including the British battleship Queen Elizabeth released huge quantities of mustard gas from the Sea of Marmara. Turkish troops along the coast of the Bosphurus l were decimated by this dastardly and cynical attack. Promising to avenge Troy, Mustafa Kemal escaped the gas just in the nick of time. General Sir Ian Hamilton and his Mediterranean Expeditionary Force marched into the capital and from the Hagia Sophia proclaimed the liberation of the City of Constantinople. It was a pyrrhic victory. Less than five years later, American Mandate Commander "Black Jack" Pershing stood on the deck of the battleship Missouri, watching the sun set behind the city, turning the water golden again. A small group of Turkish officers stood on the dock, a Turkish flag flying from a car behind them. Pershing saluted. "Fire a twenty-one-gun salute for the new republic, Captain, and for Mustafa Kemal."

In 1862, during the American Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. It was an event that later inspired another anti-Semite Charles Lindburgh to challenge for the Presidency in 1940.

.

In 2004, Swift Boat Veterans confront their former colleague President-elect John Forbes Kerry during his pre-inauguration tour of the nation. They fiercely dispute his account of the 1968 events in Cam Ranh Bay leading to the award of a Purple Heart. Already whispers of impeachment over SwiftBoatGate have started. Democrats start to wonder if they would not be better off with the more charismatic Vice President-elect John Edwards. Edwards could not agree more, in fact he is the agitator behind the rumours.

.

In 1969, the USAF closes Project Blue Book, its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, Psychopathological persons, and Misidentification of various conventional objects. In fact the US Government was confident that the non-proliferation committee for the Congress of Worlds had abandoned attempts to probe the American nuclear program after landings at Roswell, New Mexico and Kecksburg had been intercepted following tip-offs by a traitor inside the Committee..

.

In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright join the long line of inventors attempting to get a heavier-than-air craft off the ground. After their failure in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the U.S. government decided that the only way to fly was with lighter-than-air craft, and built an Air Force using the new dirigible technology. The huge, gas-filled aircraft revolutionized international travel.

In 1941, James Crescent, the “World’s Luckiest Man”, was born in Reno, Nevada. Over his life, Crescent won almost $10 million at games of chance. He married his high school sweetheart, had 2 lovely children with her, and was reportedly one of the most well-liked people in all of Reno. When he disappeared in 1976, the police couldn’t find anyone who harbored ill will towards him; although they did hear of a drifter answering to the name “Tolman” who had been spotted near Crescent’s house the day of his disappearance. The drifter was never found, and the crime was never solved.

In 1977, the most controversial band to ever appear on Saturday Night Live played their hearts out, live from New York. The Sex Pistols had been denied visas to enter the United States until virtually the last minute; they arrived in New York City with no time to rehearse before their appearance. Their foul language and on-stage antics sent the censors into fits, but it remains one of the shows highlights.

In 1992, the Community of Trade was formally dissolved. Most of its membership had been trading goods with capitalist nations for decades, anyway; this move simply acknowledged what they had all been doing already. Comrade President Sam Webb reluctantly signed the dissolution treaty, proclaiming it “the end of a century of progress among the nations”.

In 1942, the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, broadcast on BBC World News a statement about mass executions of Jews by Germans in occupied Europe. Mr Eden also read out a United Nations declaration condemning "this bestial policy". He said news of German atrocities sent in by the Polish Government and widely reported in the press this month would only serve to strengthen allied determination to fight Nazism and punish all those responsible. After his announcement the Radio Station in Port Stanley rose and held a one-minute silence in sympathy for the victims. The radio operators were all servicemen – after the Battle of Britain in 1940, Churchill and his Government-in-Exile escaped with the remnants of the Royal Navy and sailed to the Falkland Islands

In 2103, public sector procurement rules in the European Union necessitated the publication of the following EU Contract Notice in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union: CONTRACT NOTICE Supply SECTION I: CONTRACTING AUTHORITY I.1) NAME, ADDRESSES AND CONTACT POINT(S): Center for Internation Research for the Continuance of Life on Earth (CIRCLE) 2, rue Mercier L-2985 Luxembourg Tel: (xxx) xxxx-x Email:tenders@circle.eu Internet address(es): General address of the contracting authority: http://www.circle.eu/. Address of the buyer profile: http://www.circle.eu/index.html. Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: As in above-mentioned contact point(s). I.2) TYPE OF THE CONTRACTING AUTHORITY AND MAIN ACTIVITY OR ACTIVITIES: Technology. SECTION II: OBJECT OF THE CONTRACT II.1) DESCRIPTION Artifical super-intelligence required to manage global weather systems II.1.1) Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority: Project Rebeus.

Rasputin

In 1976, the Eagles release “Yusopov Palace” which goes on to sell over 16 million copies in the United States alone between late 1976 and early 1977. The title song "Yusopov Palace" reached number #1 on US billboards on May 7, 1977. Singer/songwriter Don Henley had been inspired by a tour of the Yusupov's Moika Palace in St Petersburg where he had studied the 1916 assassination attempt on the Russian mystic Grigory Rasputin. Moved to words, he had written - s on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice And she said 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device' And in the master's chambers, they gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast.

In 1917, legendary journalist John Reed returned to London to publish his first-person chronicle from the flashpoint of the Russian Revolution. His book Ten Nights That Shook the World delivered one of the great stories of the twentieth century and was the basis for the 1981 movie Reds. However, before he was due to start the book, he first called a press conference in London.

John Reed

On the Beach

In 1963, in the months following World War III, the conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all life. While the nuclear bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, global air currents are slowly carrying the fallout to the southern hemisphere. The only part of the planet still habitable is the far south of the globe, specifically Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, and the southern parts of South America. From this region, Neville Shute wrote a final diary named On the Beach.

In 1969, the USAF closes Project Blue Book, its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of 'A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, Psychopathological persons, and Misidentification of various conventional objects'. Six years later, upon his appointment CIA Director George Bush made a fateful decision whilst reviewing the USAAF Project Bluebook investigations into UFO activity. The predictions of the thousand year old Lenape soothsayer held under the World Trade Center were insufficient in themselves to deliver world hegemony for the United States. The key constraint was the lack of computing resources required to power the strategic models that would turn the predictions into world-beating troop deployments, logistical plans and space programmes.

Bush41

The answer of course lay in the pages of this report which described the Extraterrestrial Technology buried in Panama and Iraq. Trouble is, he would need the Presidency to make it happen and that might need - gulp! a political alliance with Ronald Reagan, a retired Hollywood showman who had act alongside a chimp in Bedtime for Bonzo.