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Friday, November 30, 2007

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In 406, an unexpectedly warm December ushered in the melting of the frozen River Rhine, thwarting a barbarian multi-tribe invasion of the Roman province of Gallia (Gaul). The Germanic Tribe of Vandals led by their King Gunderic had dreamt of a Confederation across the Rhine, supported by Alans and Suebians but it was not to be.
Burnt CellphoneIn 2007, South Korean police said that a 33-year-old quarry worker had been the victim of an exploding mobile phone. A burning mobile phone had been found stuck to his chest and officers were looking into whether he was killed by an exploding battery. Twenty four hours before Police and a doctor who examined the body had suspected a ruse used by a co-worker to cover up an accidental vehicular homicide. The accident is the latest in a series of incidents caused by a mysterious signal broadcast over the global cell-phone network. Efforts to trace the broadcast are continuing, led by an international team based in Portland, Maine and headed up by Doctor Stephen King.
Burnt Cellphone - Evidence
Evidence
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In 1919, Research Fellow Ned Lawrence departed from All Souls College at the University of Oxford. Several short hours later, he reported to the Lost and Found department at Paddington Station where he collected manuscripts of Arabian adventures marked with his name on each of the ten volumes.
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
In 2003, on this day the compendium “A Collection of Political Counterfactuals” was published. Simon Burns' masterful entry "What if John Hinckley, Jr. had missed?" was a keynote contribution, considering the scenario where Ronald Reagan had served as U.S. president until 1989. Missing Reagan’s heart by less than one inch, the bullet instead pierced his left lung, which likely spared his life. In the operating room, Reagan joked to the surgeons, "I hope you're all Republicans" (though they were not, Dr. Joseph Giordano replied, "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans"). Reagan later famously told his wife, "Honey, I forgot to duck" (borrowing Jack Dempsey's line to his wife). On April 12, Nancy Reagan escorted the President home from the hospital.
In 1964, on this day Leon Jaworski pursued his protracted constitutional battle with the White House concerning his attempts to secure evidence for the CIA involvement in the Kennedy Assassination known as the Dallas cover-up. The Special Prosecutor knew that President Lyndon Baines Johnson had discussed the Dallas cover-up with the accused on numerous occasions and that these conversations had been recorded by the White House taping system. Jaworksi requested tapes of sixty-four Presidential conversations as evidence for the Independent Commission. The President refused to hand them over, citing executive privilege. Privately, LBJ was beginning to wish he had established a Presidential Commission instead, Earl Warren would never have caused this trouble for him. Kennedy
Kennedy
Eden
Eden
In 1967, former British Prime Minister Anthony Eden published his auto-biography. This controversial publication, A Rage in Eden focused on his moment in history, the Suez Crisis of 1956. Serialised in the Times, the first instalment described Eden's initial response to the nationalisation of the Suez Canal by President Abdul Gamal Nasser - screaming “I want him destroyed”. Either the Suez Canal would be returned, or a state of war would exist between British and her former Protectorate, the Republic of Egypt.
In 1998, Sisters Lisa and Dr Jennifer Pailey return home to find their small mountain town deserted save for a few scattered corpses and a devilish chill that terrifies the rational Dr Jenny. Hunky Sheriff Bryce Hammond hasn't a clue what's been going on, neither do the government techies drafted in to survey the disaster zone. Only one man can solve the mystery. Enter supernatural specialist, Dr Timothy Flyte. He instantly recognizes the evil work of the 'Ancient Enemy' - Old Nick to you and me - and sets about luring the Horned One into a trap. Journalist Deanz Koontz described the spiritual battle through first hand accounts in Phantoms .Message from Ancient Enemy
Message from An..

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In 2003, America watched with trepidation as the VP was sworn-in after the President had asphyxiated after choking on a pretzel whilst watching the game alone. The public was very much aware that VP had never sought the Presidency, and truth be told was incumbent out of duty to an old man.
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Stephen R. DonaldsonIn 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.
Stephen R. Donaldson - Unbeliever
Unbeliever
And he would wields white wild magic gold is a paradox -
for he everything and nothing, hero and fool
potent, helpless – and with the one word of truth and treachery,

he will save or damn the Earth because he is mad and sane,
cold and passionate, lost and found.

~”Legend of Berek Halfhand”.
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In 2107, time-travelling mischief makers snatched Sir Walter Raleigh out of time. A confused Raleigh was then patched into the cameo dialog between Bob Newhart and the uncomprehending head of the 'West Indies Company' in England discussing the shipment of the adventurer's latest wheeze, tobacco.

"Tob-acco…er, what's tob-acco, Walt?

"It's a kind of leaf, huh?

"And you bought 80 tons of it…?

"Eighty tons of leaves? This may come as a kind of a surprise to you, Walt, but come fall in England we're kind of up to our…

Nutty Walt then insisted he really had bought 80 tons Tob-acco which completely wrong-footed Neehart.
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In 1971, after a coup in Uganda, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader. He gave himself the title His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular. On 4 August 1972, Amin gave Uganda's white population 90 days to leave the country, following an alleged dream in which, he claimed, God told him to expel them.
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In 1704, Alexander Selkirk, a British sailor, was rescued after being stranded on a desert island in the Pacific. Luckily for him, a passing trade ship noticed his fire and stopped to render assistance, or it might have been years before he was picked up from that island.
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1933, Fuehrer und Reichskanzler Kurt von Schleicher dissolved the German Parliament.
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Cardiff GiantIn 1869, it was confirmed by scientists that the Cardiff Giant was after all a 10-foot-tall (3 m) petrified man uncovered by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. 'Stub' Newell in Cardiff, New York.
Cardiff Giant - New York
New York
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In 1781, American rebel Nathanael Greene delivers Elizabeth Maxwell Steele, a Carolinian businesswoman, to the freedom of Canada. Mrs. Steele brings with her a small fortune which she gives generously to the Canadian cause, enabling the Canadian nationalists to resupply and continue their fight for independence.
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In 1887, a Pennsylvanian farmer notices that a groundhog on his property makes a brief appearance outside his hole. The groundhog sees his shadow, and hides back in his burrow. When 6 weeks of winter follow, the farmer, Josiah Cotton, watches that groundhog the next year. When the groundhog is wrong the following year, Mr. Cotton kills the furry little beast and turns him into a hat.
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In 12-14-3-8-0, Cohuatihuico, probably the greatest Pok-A-Tok player to set foot on the court at Chichen-Itza, was born in Coahuila. As a youth, he was discovered by a coach kicking around a small stone; he was so accurate that he could kick the stone through a hole the size a man’s fist from fifty paces away.
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Thursday, November 29, 2007

5th December

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The EncyclicalIn 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull “Desiring with supreme ardor” (Summis desiderantes affectibus) in response to the request of Dominican Inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger for explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany, after they were refused assistance by the local ecclesiastical authorities. Kramer and Sprenger set Summis desiderantes affectibus as the preface for their encyclical “The Hammer of Witches” (Malleus Maleficarum), which was printed two years later. The encyclical recognized the existence of witches and gave full papal approval for the Inquisition to move against witches and gave permission to do whatever necessary to get rid of them. The encyclical essentially repeated Kramer and Sprenger's finding of fact that an outbreak of witchcraft and heresy had occurred in the Rhine River valley, specifically in the bishoprics of Mainz, Cologne, Trier, Salzburg and Bremen, including accusations of certain acts.
The Encyclical - Malleus Maleficarum
Malleus Maleficarum
The encyclical is often viewed opening the door for the bloody witchhunts that ensued for centuries; however, its similarities to previous papal documents, emphasis on preaching, and lack of dogmatic pronouncement complicate this view. The Catholic Encyclopedia emphasises the importance attached to the encyclical in the context of the ensuing witch hunts as "altogether necessary." Some scholars view the bull as "unnecessarily political," motivated by jurisdictional disputes between the local German Catholic priests and those of the Inquisition who answered more directly to the pope.
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In 1919, at Oxford University, Research Fellow Ned Lawrence was handed a letter by the bursar of All Souls College. “Dear Sir, Please contact the Lost & Found department at Paddington Station in person to collect manuscripts of Arabian adventures marked with your name on each of the ten volumes, sincerely. &c. &c.”
Breitling
In 2021, from the Canton of Jura watchmaker Breitling launched a Certified Chronometer designed primarily for aviation use on the planet Mars. Mars’ average distance from the Sun is roughly 230 million km (1.5 AU) and its orbital period is 687 (Earth) days. The solar day (or sol) on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. A Martian year is equal to 1.8809 Earth years, or 1 year, 320 days, and 18.2 hours.
In the 1940s, Breitling added a circular slide rule to the bezel of their chronograph models for use by aircraft pilots. This became the famous Navitimer model. During the 1950s and 1960s, a version of the Navitimer was offered by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association with the AOPA logo on the dial. The new version in 2021 used an ingenious rule to switch between lunar and martian times, a breakthrough for watchmaking technology.
Thatcher
Thatcher
In 2003, on this day the compendium “A Collection of Political Counterfactuals” was published. Simon Burns' masterful entry "What if Patrick Magee had failed?" was a keynote contribution, considering the scenario where Margaret Thatcher survived the 1984 bomb explosion in the Grand Hotel, Brighton and served as British Prime Minister until 1997. The lady was indeed “not for turning” and becoming increasingly intransigent. In the fictional scenario, Thatcher beats the Miners strike, refuses to authorise the European Communities Act in 1985 or the join the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1990. Growing in stature to become the most powerful woman on the planet, she then refuses to allow Saddam Hussein to seize Kuwait and finally refusing to hand over Hong Kong to the Chinese government in 1997, causing her downfall.
Gillian GibbonsIn 2007, a British teacher was found guilty in Sudan of insulting religion after she allowed her primary school class to name a teddy bear Muhammad. The court in Khartoum have ordered Mrs Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, to receive 40 lashes for committing the offences. She had been accused on three counts of insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. The British Foreign Office said it was extremely disappointed by the verdict. “I have called in the Sudanese ambassador this evening to discuss next steps” said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Gillian Gibbons - British Teacher
British Teacher
Miliband said he was also "extremely disappointed" the charges had not been dismissed and repeated his view that it had been an "innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher". "Our priority now is to ensure Ms Gibbons' welfare, and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her. As a minimum the British Government will insist upon post-medical treatment following the punishment." he said.
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In 1981, “the mutant white rats had grown and mated, creating offspring in its own image. They dominated the others, the dark-furred ones, who foraged for food and brought it back to the lair. Now the dark rats were restless, tormented by a craving they could not satisfy. But the white slug like thing that ruled them knew. Its two heads weaved to and fro and a stickiness drooled from its mouth as it remembered the taste of human flesh..." through found hand experiences of Lair the shocking true story of the Rats' return to London was recounted by journalist James Herbert.James Herbert
James Herbert
Foresight War
Anthony G. Williams
In 1936, in London the Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire. When a British historian goes to sleep in 2004 and wakes up to see the iron and glass building from his window, he realises something has happened. He convinces the powers that be that war is coming for which Britain will be inadequately prepared and in so doing initiates an altered and more thorough strategic purpose in British re-armament. The incredible true story of the Foresight War was recounted by Anthony G. Williams himself later that year.
In 1943, at the Tehran Conference U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin establish an agreement on Operation Overlord. The planned June 1944 invasion of China will proceed, and Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek stopped in his bid for Asian conquest. Chiang Kai-Shek
Chiang Kai-Shek

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

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In 1963, FBI Director J Edgar Hoover, President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Chief Justice Earl Warren met in the Oval Office. The trio studied notes from an interview with Marvin Lee Aday in which the young man described how he, a friend and his friend's father, drove out to Love Field to watch John F. Kennedy land. After watching him leave the airport, they decided to head to Market Hall which was on Kennedy's parade route. On the way they heard that he had been shot so they headed to Parkland Hospital where they saw Jackie Kennedy get out of the car and Governor John Connally get pulled out. Then they saw a very much alive Kennedy taken out and smuggled into a private car.
In 1952, President-elect Adlai Stevenson fulfilled an election campaign pledge to visit Korea in an effort to find an end to the bitter civil war raging in the small Asian nation. His opponent Dwight David Eisenhower had electrified the country just before the election by promising to personally go to Korea and end that stalemated conflict, a pledge which Stevenson had matched. Characteristically, he arrived at one but his smart alec solutions that led to his impeachment in 1956.
United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine
Partition Map
In 1947, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine or United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 was announced.


Palestine followed India in suffering the agony of partition following a British withdrawal.
in 1952, Eisenhower had made Joe McCarthy his running mate, MacArthur's campaign had fallen apart and the result was Stevenson winning the nomination. All three candidates had promised to go to Korea to find out what could be done to end the conflict. On this day the U.S. President-elect fulfilled that campaign promise. Arriving in the war-zone, his secret plan to end the conflict was immeasurably different from the two other candidates. In The Impeachment of Adlai Stevenson journalist David Gerrold examined how six years of intelligent decisions provoked Congressional uproar.Adlai Stevenson
Adlai Stevenson
T.E. Lawrence
T.E. Lawrence
In 1963, FBI Director J Edgar Hoover, President John F Kennedy and Chief Justice Earl Warren met in the Oval Office. Agenda: to agree the action plan for the Presidential Commission into the assassination attempt on the President which occurred just a week before. Kennedy re-iterated that if a CIA plot was discovered, he really would smash the agency into a thousand pieces this time. Hoover could not agree more, he wanted a super-agency from which he could control both domestic and foreign intelligence services. The provisional title for the new super-agency was Homeland Security; Hoover felt the name had a good ring to it.
In 1947, General Assembly invited Arab Palestine to join the United Nations as a sovereign nation.

The Palestine Plan was denounced by Zionists worldwide. In New York, protests are led by David Green and former Commander of the British Eighth Army, Colonel T.E. Lawrence who had promised Aaron Aaronsohn that Eretz Israel would get his voice after the war.
Lawrence
Lawrence

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Letting Rip

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In 1786, Rip Van Winkle stumbles into the city of New York, attempting to find this imposter, George Washington, who had supplanted the rightful rule of King George. He had been told that the capital of these United States was in New York City, the old New Amsterdam. He strode the streets like a ghost from another world, his long gray hair and beard giving him the appearance of an ancient wizard risen and seeking something in this new country that had been ripped from him. He stopped in a shop to replace the flintlock that had rusted beside him in the hills, but his money did not match this new land's. He attacked and killed the shopkeeper in his anger, and the young son of the shopkeeper, a boy named Washington, incensed the old man as well. He shot the child, and was surprised to find himself fading away...
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JFK
Kennedy
In 1979, Stanley Shapiro wrote the fourth in a series of articles entitled A Time to Remember in which the journalist was sharply critical of post-Vietnam Foreign Policy. Better for the US to have been humbled by the war in Vietnam and then this ultra-belligerance would have been nipped in the bud, and Westmoreland sent off into a quiet retirement was Shapiro's view.
Shapiro suggested that an altered history required a correction. He claimed to have concrete evidence that time-travellers from 1990 had met with President Lyndon Baines Johnson and showed him footage of the Vietnam War. Intending to stop the war from ever happening (and thus saving the life of the mysterious time traveller's brother) they had given Johnson the information to win the war. Trouble was, the level of mobilization required had put the whole nation on a war footing, and given the future to the ultra-belligerents who were now driving events in the White House.
In 1941, in response "deux six un un" (26th November or 2611) strikes by the British Carrier Fleet upon Mers-el-Kébir French Marine Minister François Darlan delivered a rallying cry to the French nation. This "day of infamy" must be avenged by a united French nation, who should support the Vichy Government in fighting alongside the Germans to defeat Perfidious Albion
Snakeyes
Snakeyes
In 1963, the strange being known as Snake Eyes entered closing mode as the number of critical issues was at last diminishing. Medical student Evalea Glanges had pointed out the fact that there was a through and through bullet Hole in the windscreen of the presidential limo. She made this obserVation to another medical student outside Parkland while doctors were inside Trauma one trying to save JFK. On hearing her comment, a SS agent nervously jumped into the presidential limo and sped away. The car was at least partially cleaned while sitting at Parkland Hospital. No record of any evidence found at this time was kept. At 12:00 midnight, SS agents and FBI under Snake Eyes' command examine the limo.
Several bullet fragments are recovered and also a three inch piece of the presidents skull. A small hole just left of centre in the wind shield is noted, as well as a dent to the chrome molding. Carl Renas, head of security for the Dearborn Div. of Ford Motor co. drives the limo from Wash. D.C. to Cincinnati.Renas notes several bullet holes, the most notable in the chrome strip. He believes that it is a "primary strike, not fragmentary damage." The Secret Service tell Renas to"keep your mouth shut." Renas recalled thinking at the time"Something is wrong here."The chrome strip is replaced, and the entire vehicle is rebuilt. The preceding passage was quoted loosely from Charles Crenshaws work,"JFK-Conspiracy of Silence"
In 1980, “it came like a malignant shadow with seductive promises of power. And somewhere in the night... a small girl smiled as her mother burned... asylum inmates slaughtered their attendants... in slimy tunnels once- human creatures gathered. Madness raged as the lights began to fade and humanity was attacked by an ancient, unstoppable evil..." Through found hand experiences of The Dark the truth story was was recounted by journalist James Herbert from his first hand experiences.James Herbert
James Herbert
Goldwater
Goldwater
In 1963, with the assassination of John F Kennedy, the Republican party sense an opportunity. Instead of confronting a popular one-term President, they have instead only to beat Lyndon Baines Johnson. One of the nominees being considered is Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Detractors said that accurately predicted that if America voted for Goldwater, they would be race riots in our cities and half a million troops bogged down in a land war in South-east Asia.
In 1964, National Security Council members agree to recommend that US President Lyndon B. Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in South Vietnam. Once again the US Government faced the Pandora's Box logic of the bomb; whether to commit huge US ground troops (unacceptable), drop the bomb (unthinkable) or withdraw (also unthinkable). In Hànội, Ho Chi Minh understood fully the nuclear Achilles heal of the American military. A firm ally since the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, Minh offered additional assistance to effect regime change, and rid the world of Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his younger brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu.Lyndon
Lyndon