Galileo's Counter-Earth

The state of TIAH

February 22nd, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, had a great suggestion – we haven't had a good contest in a while, so we're going to have an April Fool's Day Contest! Email us up to 3 entries for an alternate April 1st and we will post the best 10, with your own credit and link to your website (if you have one). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1777, Georgia's Governor Archibald Bulloch thwarts an assassination attempt as a Loyalist steward brings him a cup of wine laced with arsenic. When he accidentally spills the cup, the enraged Tory tries to strangle him, but Bulloch wins their struggle. The governor then uses the near-total powers he had been granted by Georgia's rebel government to rally the state's colonists and send them into war for the rebel cause. Bulloch is such a successful leader in the revolution that he maneuvers himself into the newly-created office of president of the new nation after the revolution, and influences the writing of the constitution to give himself powers similar to his near-complete control of Georgia. The other states chafe under his presidency, and the formerly united states dissolve into regional war in Bulloch's 5th year in office. The wars end when Bulloch is shot dead by a member of his staff, Thomas Paine, who had been planted close to the president in order to get the opportunity to kill him. Another Constitutional Convention is called to rewrite the document that had granted so much power to the president, and a tripartite government is born from the ashes of Bulloch's dictatorship in 1797.

in 1998, the deadliest series of tornadoes in Florida's history provides the impetus for Vice-President Al Gore to begin a study of climate change. Already an environmentalist, Gore was alarmed at the massive changes in the climate that many scientists were predicting could soon become irreversible. He runs for the presidency with a passion and urgency that moves the nation, and sweeps in a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives to aid him in his work. The Senate is split evenly, so his vice-president, Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, is more important than any VP in decades. With Gore's skills and commitment, the warming of the earth was slowed, and Wellstone continued his former boss' work when he was elected president in 2008.

Galileo	In 1632 Galileo Galilei's Dialogue Concerning the Two Counter-earths was published. By deductive logic Galileo had postulated the existence of a counter-earth, a same sized planet rotating on the far side of the sun since 1610.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1958 Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) under the inspired leadership of the Arab Nationalist Abdul Gamel Nasser. By 1980, the entire Middle East and its oil reserves would be controlled by the UAR making a showdown with the Western World inevitable.	UAR Flag
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Samuel Byck	In 1974 44-year-old Samuel Byck assassinated U.S. President Richard Nixon. The revelations of corruption that followed destroyed the Imperial Presidency and today the position of US Head of State is a ceremonial role. The self-evident failure of American Foreign Policy with the Fall of ..
.. Vietnam set a new course for America, and Capitol Hill ensured that the executive focused exclusively on domestic concerns.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1994 Aldrich Ames and his wife were charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union. Whilst directing the analysis of Soviet intelligence operations at the CIA's Europe Division / Counter-intelligence branch he had access to the identities of U.S. ..	Aldrich Ames
.. sources in the KGB and Soviet military. The information Ames provided led to the compromise of at least 100 U.S. intelligence operations and to the execution of at least 10 U.S. Sources. Ames was sentenced with the death penalty since his betrayal resulted in several CIA assets being killed and he was executed two years later at the US Penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Hollow

Hollow Earth	In 1828, John Cleves Symmes, Jr. published Symzonia; Voyage of Discovery, attributing the authorship of the works to "Captain Adam Seaborn". Self-evidently a detailed description of an expedition to the North Pole hole with follower James McBride, determined efforts were made to suppress the unmistakeable evidence of the Hollow Earth by the new President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. However, another follower, Jeremiah Reynolds, also delivered lectures on the "Hollow Earth" and also argued for an expedition. Eventually he would publicise talks about a hollow Earth after the death of Symmes.
Halleys Theory

Reynolds went on an expedition to Antarctica himself also joining the Great U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838 - 1842, even though that venture was a result of his agitation. He did not participate because he had offended too many in his call for such a trip. The discovery that the Earth consisted of a hollow shell about 800 miles (1,300 km) thick, with openings about 1400 miles (2,300 km) across at both poles with 4 inner shells each open at the poles had been suggested as early as 350BC by the Greek Philosopher, Plato. Edmund Halley in 1692 put forth the idea of Earth consisting of a hollow shell about 500 miles (800 km) thick, two inner concentric shells and an innermost core, about the diameters of the planets Venus, Mars, and Mercury. Atmospheres separate these shells, and each shell has its own magnetic poles. The spheres rotate at different speeds. Halley proposed this scheme in order to explain anomalous compass readings. He envisaged the atmosphere inside as luminous (and possibly inhabited) and speculated that escaping gas caused the Aurora Borealis. De Camp and Ley claimed in their Lands Beyond that Leonhard Euler also proposed a hollow-Earth idea, getting rid of multiple shells and postulating an interior sun 600 miles (1000 km) across to provide light to advanced inner-Earth civilization.

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In 1971, the BBC ran footage of British spaceflight Commander Bert Smith's family reunion. 'Whatcha brought us back, my daddy?' said little Bert Junior.

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In 2054, following the world's most expensive construction project to date a commercial tunnel is completed joining the landmasses of Asia and North America at the Bering Strait.

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In 1771, Spain ceded Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands to England who maintained possession until the Iron Lady of Argentina, President Eva Peron defeated that country in the 1982 Malvinas Conflict.

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In 1973, on this day Lyndon B. Johnson died at 4:33 p.m., from a third heart attack at his ranch, at age 64. His health was ruined by years of heavy smoking and stress, and the former President had severe heart disease. He was found in his bed, reaching for his phone. A scribbled note was found on his bed side. It was the strangest thing.

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In 1973, on this day Lyndon B. Johnson died at 4:33 p.m. His health was ruined by years of heavy smoking and excessive soda drinking. His favorite soft drink was Fresca, which he drank constantly. Johnson had a small control box installed in the writing desk in the small personal office adjacent to the Oval Office. This control box contained two buttons, marked 'Coffee' and 'Fresca'. Pushing one of these buttons would summon Johnson's military aide bringing the appropriate drink. Vice President John F Kennedy had seen to it that the Fresca had a little more sparkle than the Coca-Cola company typically recommended.

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In 1973, on this day Lyndon B. Johnson died after suffering the third and final heart attack in his lifetime. Unfit for office for two weeks due to suffering from acute chest pains, the closing days of Johnson's Presidency had ended in acrimony. Vice President Hubert Humphrey had been sworn in for a single day according to the US Constitution, with President-elect Richard M Nixon arguing that his Government-in-transition should take office a day early.

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In 1994, prosecutors of the traitor Aldrich Ames were confronted with a nighmarishly difficult decision. It had been safetly assumed that since Ames had betrayed the US to foreign powers, little damage could be caused through revelations in the media. Not so, said he producing the Ames dossier.

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In 1946, the Central Intelligence Group, precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, was established by President Truman after advisors from the Bilderberger Group and the Bavarian [REST OF POST CLASSIFIED FOR NATIONAL SECURITY REASONS]

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In 1905, the fate of the Romanov family is sealed by rebellion to the disastrous war with Japan. On Bloody Sunday a peaceful demonstration led by Father Gapon escalates into a massacre of imperial troops followed by the seizure of the Winter Palace.

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In 1973, on this day Lyndon B. Johnson died after suffering the third and final heart attack in his lifetime. Amongst all US Presidents, Hubert Humphrey had the honour of serving the shortest term of office – just one day.

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	The night came down around them, and there were stars. But Timothy couldn't find Mars. It had already set. That was something to think about. A night bird called among the trees as they walked along the Minnesota River. Dad. said, 'Your mother and I will try to teach you. Perhaps we'll fail. I hope not. We've had a good lot to see and learn from. We planned this trip years ago, before you were born. Even if there hadn't been WD-5 we would have come to Earth, I think, to live and form our own standard of living.
Planet Mars

It would have been another century before Mars would have been really poisoned by the Earth civilization. Now, of course--' They reached the river. It was long and straight and cool and wet and reflective in the night. 'I've always wanted to see a Martian,' said Michael."Where are they, Dad? You promised. 'There they are,' said Dad, and he shifted Michael on his shoulder and pointed straight down. The Martians were there. Timothy began to shiver. The Martians were there--in the canal--reflected in the water. Timothy and Michael and Robert and Mom and Dad. The Martians stared back up at them for a long, long silent time from the rippling water. . . . ~ The Million Year Picnic (January 2008). 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. Captain Wilder and family had family had returned home using his private rocket that he had concealed from government service. On their million year picnic, Wilder had promised his children that they would see some Martians on the Minnesota River..

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MLK	In 2008, the North American Union (NAU) celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day marking the birthdate of Governor-General Martin Luther King, Jr. Observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, January 15. it is one of four NAU holidays to commemorate an individual person.
Gov. General

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	In 1990, President Mikhail Gorbachev made a statement on Soviet television explaining the Soviet crackdown on civil unrest in the republic of Azerbaijan. Two days before Soviet troops were ordered into the republic to try and end the undeclared conflict between Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians, and put down a separatist insurrection by Azerbaijani nationalists. Official reports say up to 60 people died when tanks rolled into the republic's capital, Baku.

Political journalists had asked - if the West could not prevent the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, what hope was there for their reaction to the former Soviet Union. That question was about to be answered.

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Winter of	In 1979, public sector strike paralyses Britain as tens of thousands of public sector workers take part in a day of action - the biggest mass stoppage since 1926 - in support of a claim for more pay. The four major public service unions angry at the government's attempt to impose a 5% pay ceiling called out their 1.5 million members. They included hospital workers, rubbish collectors, school caretakers, grave diggers and airport staff. Mass demonstrations have been held in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, bringing many services to a standstill. Services in the North East of England have also been badly affected.
Discontent

Interim Prime Minister Lord Loius Mountbatten, and his newly installed military government prepare to act decisively. They hadn't won the war, to lose the peace, after all.

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