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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

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In 2010, Adolf Hitler's second successor Austrian-born Kurt Haldweim died in Berlin.

His replacement, the new fuhrer Heinz Buckliger was a dynamic young technocrat who planned to introduce a progressive new program of change. Thwarted by conservative elements in the Nazi leadership, instead of guiding the future of the Greater German Reich and the Germanic Empire, Buckliger triggered a Soviet-style crisis.


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


Bachman
In 2010, fans of the author Stephen King received a tremendous shock in his farewell speech in Bangor, Maine. At the beginning of Stephen King's career, the general view among publishers was such that an author was limited to a book every year at the utmost; any more, it was felt, was not acceptable to the public. King therefore wanted to write under another name in order to double his production.
He convinced his publisher, Signet Books, to print these novels under a pseudonym. The originally selected pseudonym was Gus Pillsbury; but at the last moment King changed it to "Richard Bachman" in tribute to crime author Donald E. Westlake's long-running pseudonym Richard Stark. The name Stark was used in King's novel The Dark Half, a novel about an author with a pseudonym. The surname was in honour of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a rock and roll band King was listening to at the time.

The foreword of each of King's books includes an open letter addressed to "Constant Reader". Fans had interpreted this as a personal message to themselves.

Not so. At the farewell speech, King revealed that all of the books had been written by his "Dark Half" Richard Bachman and addressed to his alter-ego Stephen King, who was the real Constant Reader.

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

In 1977, in a public relations disaster for the studio, 20th Century Fox entered into a badly timed length dispute with the African American actor James Earl Jones. Arising during bicentennial year, the perception was that dramatic impact of the role of Darth Vader had been mis-credited to a Caucasian actor.

Director George Lucas never intended to use the voice of David Prowse, who portrayed Darth Vader in costume, because of Prowse's English West Country accent. Instead a voice over was provided by Jones.

Jones cited the case of Linda Blair's Oscar nomination for The Exorcist, when there was a campaign for Mercedes McCambridge (who provided the devil's voice) to share the nomination. Jones found this ridiculous, and did not want to find himself put in a similar position with Star Wars. However, when he became aware of the prominence of the credit given to Prowse he was incensed but his request was made too late to alter the early editions of the move and hence the dispute.

In fact the real credit was due to Ben Burtt who created the robotic voice of R2-D2 by filtering their voices through an electronic synthesizer. Darth Vader's breathing was achieved by Burtt breathing through the mask of a scuba tank implanted with a microphone

~ entry by Alternate Historian
Golda Meir
Golda Meir
In 1972, a parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London destroys the entire building killing thirty diplomatic staff. Acting on intelligence that the bomb was placed by Syria, Prime Golda Meir appeals once more to the world to "save our citizens and condemn the unspeakable criminal acts committed." Privately she sanctioned an extension to Operation Wrath of God. Hundreds of Syrian nationals are innocent victims over the next decade ..
.. as Mossad “set the boys loose”.


In 1976, a Boeing 727 almost flew into a mountain near Isparta southern Turkey. The spiritual beings on the mountain prevented the death of of the 155 people aboard; when the Boeing set down in Istanbul, a relieved crew were greeted by flight traffic pashas of the Ottoman Empire.Boeing 747
Boeing 747

DC-10
DC-10
In 1989, a terrorist bomb exploded on-board a UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger. The shrieking spirits of the 171 passengers were trapped in the wreckage of the Union de Transportes DC-10 Series 30 craft until the Sultan of Sokoto could send deep-souls to their succour.


In 1928, Adam West was born. Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child leads him to train himself to the peak of physical and intellectual perfection, don a bat-themed costume, and fight crime. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess superhuman powers or abilities; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime. At a fund-raising party, West met and falls for famous photojournalist Vicki Vale, recently arrived in .. Batman
Batman
.. town to cover the phenomenon and finds the courage to tell her : “I'm Batman”.

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