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  1. Fireworks as communication

    Is this a dumb idea? When would this be done? If they didn't think of semaphores or smoke signals, they could use fireworks. There are many variables they could use, and they could conserve materials by compressing a lot of information. Information in fireworks can be conveyed by: size of...

  2. Aristocracy flees to New World

    Is this too unlikely? In OTL, the dissidents and revolutionaries settled the New World. What if they had stayed home, overthrowing the European governments, and the kings and nobles flee to the New World.

  3. Little or no African slave trade

    Arabs supply more guns to Africa, so they later form larger power blocs to resist European encroachments a little more effectively. Vikings in N. America go further south and spread smallpox more and the native Americans develop a little more immunity earlier pandemics which occur later, are...

  4. Which of these microstates is plausible?

    Which of these microstates could plausibly exist to the present day? First, I want to ask about one which does exist today. San Marino claims it was an independent country in the days of the Roman Empire. I wonder what the Romans would have thought about that claim? Is there any...

  5. The Simpsons' Springfield

    I know there's been lots of speculation about the Simpsons' Springfield, and the producers are purposely vague and contradictory about it. But I'd like to present this anyway. In the Simpsons Movie, Springfield seems to be a metropolis, and the episodes show it having a huge number of...

  6. AH Challenge: POD 100 years before your birth

    I read an interesting quote from Aldous Huxley. The proper time to influence the development of a child is 100 years before the child is born. Okay. The challenge is to come up with a POD which is on your birthday, 100 years before you were born. It has to be exactly your birthday. 10...

  7. Your Sky

    This site will show you what's going on in the sky for any time between Julian Day One (4713 BC) and New Year's Eve, 7999 AD. This will apply to any spot on Earth, of course. It can be used in conjunction with that other site which gives information on occultations, transits and eclipses...

  8. Historical catalog of transits and eclipses

    This web site has lists of things going on in our skies for thousands of years in the past and into the future. Now, I'm not complaining, but, who but alternate historians and SF writers is ever going to use this? Okay, some archaologists sometimes use some of this. But some of it's...

  9. History Revisited: The Great Battles: Eminent Historians Take On the Great Works of A

    History Revisited: The Great Battles: Eminent Historians Take On the Great Works of Alternative History (Paperback) ~ J. David Markham (Editor), Mike Resnick (Editor)...

  10. Korean invasion starts WW I

    A few weeks ago, on the Jay Leno Show, he had a segment of the Battle of the Jaywalk Allstars, where he asks simple questions to random people. But sometimes he has people from various TV shows. This time it was The Real Housewives of Atlanta. One of them gave two interesting responses...

  11. Electoral College an actual College

    I hope and assume this isn't ASB, but invoke them if you must. But what if the US Electoral College was a literal College? The Electors go there to study political science and other subjects and, in theory, use their knowledge to choose the best candidates for President and Vice-President...

  12. An earlier Star Trek

    Which is most plausible? I'd like to go into more detail about an alternate, earlier Star Trek, but first I want to know what you guys think. 1. Star Trek, 1951-1955. Producer, Robert Heinlein. Writers included Asimov, Blish, Clarke, Kuttner, et al. 2. Star Trek, 1951-1958. Producer...

  13. Doris Lessing novel

    Doris Lessing has a new novel, "Alfred and Emily", about the way her parents' lives would have gone if WW I had not happened. Has anybody seen it? Has anybody read her other works?

  14. U.S. recognizes Lenin's government

    I can't find where I read this, but somebody wrote a book on the ending of WW I, and according to this book Lenin offered to break up the Soviet Union if the U.S. would recognize his government. He'd give independence to various regions, only keeping half of the Ukraine (presumably he wanted a...

  15. The U.S. joins OPEC

    What would have to happen for the U.S. to join OPEC? And what would happen then?

  16. Other Founding Fathers as presidents

    Who else might have been president of the U.S. in its early years? Would the OTL presidents have to die early, or could something else happen so another person takes his place? Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine, John Hancock, John Jay? A useful list

  17. Alexander I of Russia

    What could Alexander I have done differently? How much reform could he have done? I read that he admired the U.S. Constitution. Maybe it's ASB for him to adopt any part of the U.S. Constitution, but maybe he does something which leads to a popularly elected representative government by 1918?

  18. Events of 1968 and 1972 switch places

    It occurred to me it might be interesting to switch some--not all--of the events of the years 1968 and 1972. These can be either the same timeline, or different timelines. What would have to happen before, and what happens in the rest of the timeline up to 2008? The comic strip...

  19. NASA fails to meet Kennedy's challenge

    If NASA had failed to get a man to the moon by the end of the decade as Kennedy had challenged, would it make that much difference? People would argue whether the decade ended in 1969 or 1970 but suppose nobody sets foot on the moon until after the end of 1970. Also, assume no major tragedies...

  20. Israel a US state

    People make sarcastic remarks about Israel being the 51st state. Suppose the Mideast were divided up into more countries. There may be an independent state for Zionists, but there's also a region for Jews who want to keep their American citizenship, and that region becomes a US state, known as...
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