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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 11, 2023 14:54:27 GMT
Not everything is bigger, but in this case, it is for very good reason - range and specifications. In 1960, the general requirement for the C-X/C-150 was described in From Sea to Shining Sea: a superheavy transport that could carry 4 MBTs or up to 250t across the Atlantic (~6000 miles from the Eastern Seaboard to Western Germany).
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 20, 2023 13:12:57 GMT
March
March 1: Don Juan Maria Bordaberry is appointed as Premier of Uruguay by Prince Rodrigo and immediately takes steps to implement a crackdown on the Tupamaros rebellion, as increasing pressure is asserted by foreign interests to lance the boil of the urban revolutionary movement.
March 2: Completion of the carved of the bas relief of the Stone Mountain monument, 50 years after it began. The sculptor John Gutzon Borglum (better known for his work on the massive carving at Mount Rushmore) has been beginning to show signs of his greatly advanced age as the project approached completion; any unnatural connection between the two have been dismissed as purely incidental by his spokesdwarves.
March 3: NASA and the United States Space Force launch an unmanned Orion drive powered interstellar probe from the British spacebase on the Martian moon of Deimos on a journey of exploration to the Alpha Centauri system. Should there be no failure in its systems, propulsion or communications, it is expected to reach its destination in 1996. Any communications or discoveries from the triple star system will take almost 4 years to reach Earth at the dawn of the second millenium.
March 4: Stoke City defeat Chelsea 2-1 to win the 1972 Football League Cup in the final at Empire Stadium in front of a crowd of 182,574, winning their first major trophy after 109 years and sending their supporters into raptures of celebratory delight.
March 5: Portuguese Colonial Army troops launch a major offensive against rebels in Angola, aiming to disrupt communications between eastern rebel strongholds and their increasingly secure base areas along the Congolese border. Operation Arqueiro sees a number of newly acquired British, American and German weapons systems employed for the first time by Portugal, including M60 tanks and AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships.
March 6: The Spectator carries the reply article on National Service, A. N Other's The Other Future of National Service. It accepts the principle for the efficacy of modernisation of mobilisation processes, but argues strongly that there could not be a separation of National Servicemen and professional soldiers within the regular Army and Reserves for reasons of inefficiency, the social injustice arising from imbalance of duty and the potential for a hollowing out of reserve capacity. The even distribution of experience derived from active service acts to increase the general combat effectiveness of units across the armed services, whilst from a practical level, the cost of a purely professional standing army would be substantially greater given the unavoidable nature of Britain's global commitments.
March 7: TWA Flight 7, a Boeing 707 carrying 50 passengers from New York City to Los Angeles, is forced to land after half an hour due to intelligence that a bomb was onboard. The device was located by Brandy the Search Dog in an attache case in the aircraft's cockpit and defused by the canine detective with 12 minutes to spare before it was due to explode.
March 8: The US Census Bureau issues a report on population trends utilising data from the 1970 Census. Firstly, the post World War 2 'baby boom' appears to have finally subsided, with the fertility rate dropping below 4 for the first time since 1947. Secondly, the percentage of immigrants continues to hold at the historically low level of 4.2%, largely made up of Britons and Europeans under the quotas set out in the Immigration Act of 1924. Thirdly, the black population has begun to slowly rise as a percentage of the overall population, going over 8% for the first time in the 20th century, whilst the Hispanic population has risen above 2% for the first time ever.
March 9: A new raft of agricultural reforms is passed by the Parliament of the Ashante Federation and submitted to the Governor-General for royal assent, paving the way for increased crop diversification in the northern reaches of the state as well as providing for localised collective investment in machinery. The Asanteman government of Prime Minister Sir Joseph Michel has significant ambitions for the use of the 200 million pounds that the country has been granted through the latest tranche of the Churchill Plan, including substantial expansion and modernisation of the nation's transport network and expansive public health programmes; the more practical concerns of government have precluded the more intangible ones such as changes to the Federation's name for the time being.
March 10: The British Ministry of Munitions authorises the construction of a further ten underground depots across the British Isles to contain the expanded stockpiles of the Imperial Strategic War Reserve. Recent stocktaking of the existing supplies has identified the need to replace older support vehicles and dispose of obsolescent artillery and ammunition kept in storage since the aftermath of the Great War. The overall size of the war reserve is based upon the maximal munitions and equipment requirements of the mobilised armed forces for a year of full scale conventional conflict.
March 11: New York taxi driver Travis Bickle is hailed a hero after a shootout with a wicked gang of panderers, hoodlums, lowlifes and foreigners, having rescued 12 year old Pittsburgh runaway schoolgirl Iris Steensma from their grasp and gunned down four of miscreants. He is issued an official commendation by the Mayor and a letter of congratulations and a check for $200 from Smith & Wesson.
March 12: Opening of the first stage of the Gotham-NYC high speed railway line; when the accompanying Metropolis tunnel and Chesapeake railway bridge are completed, then the first complete high speed link between NYC and Washington DC will be complete.
March 13: Serial violent criminal Donald Neilson is arrested for multiple armed robberies and two attempted murders. He is tried at Lancaster and sentenced to death, going to the gallows outside Lancaster Castle on May 16th.
March 14: The USN begins the last phase of initial competitive trials of fighter prototypes for the VFAX F4 Phantom replacement programme, with the Northrop Grumman P-540, the Vought Model 1800, McDonnell-Douglas Model 263 and the Lockheed-Martin CL-1250 considered to be very closely matched. The VFAX programme calls for a minimum of 2846 fighters for the USN and USMC and is thus regarded as one of the major aviation ‘crown jewel’ contracts of the 1970s.
March 15: Emigration from Britain to the Commonwealth reaches its postwar peak to date of 42,000 per month, amid a gradual slowing of coloured Commonwealth immigration to 3000 per month, with the latter figure particularly driven by a fall in West Indian immigration amid the positive economic performance of the Federation. Australia leads as a destination, with 150,000 Britons migrating annually, followed by Canada at 120,000, South Africa 80,000, New Zealand 50,000, Rhodesia 30,000, Kenya 20,000, New Avalon 15,000 and Prydain, Israel and the West Indies at approximately 10,000 apiece.
March 16: The British Transport Commission, British Railways and the Ministry of Transport release The Reshaping of British Railways, a report on the modernisation of major and intermediate railways across the British Isles, the full scale introduction of the use of standardised containers for intermodal transport and the largest expansion of railways since the early 1900s, with a planned construction programme of 6450 miles of new lines. This represents a small yet substantial rise from the current United Kingdom network length of 57,806 miles, made up of 42,584 in Great Britain, 4259 in Lyonesse and 10,963 in Ireland.
March 17: Middle Eastern oil production continues to rise, with the Arab Union now in second place in the world behind the United States thanks to new expanded fields coming into production in Iraq and Arabia. There is increasingly political agitation from certain nationalist quarters to support measures for the expropriation of the extensive interests of British and American oil companies in the area, but the process of gradual reforms to the royalties and exploitation agreements in place have for the moment been satisfactory to the current Arab governments; the real prospect of Western military intervention in the case of any real threat to their economic and strategic interests acts as a further factor precluding any precipitous action.
March 18: The Home Office issues an official direction on the non-release of dangerous young psychopaths and mentally ill inmates from the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum without the specific authorisation of the Home Secretary and an appointed oversight committee. The measure is thought to be part of a general policy to prevent the recidivism of further criminal outrages and consider the full range of measures for social protection.
March 19: Academics undertaking research at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University discover a hitherto unknown volume of the works of the renowned medieval monk Brother Cadfael.
March 20: A sudden avalanche on Mount Fuji kills two dozen mountaineers, with the disaster uncovering a hitherto undiscovered cave containing a collection of strange artifacts. Several of them are covered in a completely unknown script, whilst two skeletons show unique bone structure unlike previously known human or demihuman species.
March 21: California Governor Ronald Reagan decisively wins the Republican Party presidential primaries in Texas, California, Illinois and Missouri, putting him in prime position to secure the nomination. Governor Reagan is increasingly seen as a popular rallying point for different groups across the country, both in the Republican Party and beyond, seeking a change after 12 years of Democratic rule under President Kennedy. His policies of continued strong defence and steadfast firmness towards the Soviet Union are broadly in line with the current administration, but his domestic and economic platforms have significant areas of difference. Reagan's enthusiastic endorsement by former President Roger Thompson has further firmed his general support.
March 22: A London solicitor’s firm releases an announcement on behalf of an eccentric anonymous millionaire that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to be recreated in London as a gift to Britain and the Empire in the hope of an increase national and local happiness.
March 23: Volvo sales in Britain continue to rise, with estimations for the 1971/72 financial year being that a 50% increase would be conservative. The relative success of the Swedish automobiles comes on the back of the latest Anglo-Swedish Agreement on Economic Cooperation and Amity in 1970, which lowered tariffs and non-tariff barriers on a range of goods and services.
March 24: The Federal Bureau of Alchemy and Narcotics begins investigations of reports of a new and pernicious drug in Alburquerque, New Mexico, with the ampules of a mysterious blue inhalant causing bizarre hallucinations and rushes of energy and strength, verily as if the wretched addict were possessed by a jet engine. There are indications that the substance turns the criminal user's eyes a radiant blue.
March 25: Seven Japanese underworld figures are killed across Tokyo and Yokohama in a seemingly coordinated series of attacks by samurai at 1pm in the afternoon. The assailants manage to escape both the private security of the deceased and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, yet have apparently not utilised either the weapons, tactics or methodology of the ninja; the apparent resemblance of the suspect samurai to legendary kensei Miyamoto Musashi is a confusing feature to the murders.
March 26: The Home Office signs an agreement ordering 400 Percival Peregrine light utility helicopters for regional police forces, following on from orders by the RAF and HM Coastguard for search and rescue versions. The use of aerial platforms in law enforcement in Britain has expanded over the last decade, allowing for rapid response to incidents on the expanding Royal Highways or in rural areas and for utilisation of new arcane photo and film reconnaissance capabilities.
March 27: A German professor publishes a new paper outlining a number of innovative theories as to the identity of the legendary Pied Piper of Hamelin, variously that he was a disguised Roger Bacon, an vengeful faery intent upon on breaking the seals on the lost tomb of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, an agent of the loathsome Skrat, a time travelling Count Dracula or an exiled bard aware of the regional gates to other worlds. The University of Münster thanks the good doctor for his imaginative work and has him thrown in their stocks for a week.
March 28: Britain conducts an underground nuclear test in Outback South Australia in the first test of Operation Athelstan, with a new series of warheads for tactical and intermediate bombs, missiles and ground, naval and aerial artillery shells requiring substantial practical testing; secret subsidiary preparation of the test site on Christmas Island in the exigency of a resumption of atmospheric testing in response to feared Soviet moves remains at this time purely precautionary.
March 29: A 60 Minutes special on CBS focuses on the recovery and rebuilding of South Vietnam in the aftermath of the war, ranging from a very special look at the extremely heavy fortifications along the Freedom Line in the Demilitarized Zone to gradual restoration of some measure of normality after nearly two and a half decades of war. The United States has given over $5 billion in reconstruction aid (above and beyond separate defence aid and support) since the Armistice, signalling a determination to 'win the peace' in Indochina just as was done in Korea, Japan, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
March 30: Surveying begins in the Nafud Desert of Arabia for the construction of a large artificial lake as part of long term climate and weather transformation of the area. The successful efforts in Southern Iraq, where a series of forests are being planted as the first 'battles' in the war of conquest against the desert which seeks to transform the Fertile Crescent into a diamond.
March 31: The first USAF nuclear powered strategic bomber patrol begins as a new part of Operation Chrome Dome, with the Boeing B-72 taking off from Carswell AFB on a 24 day patrol flight over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is armed with 12 Skybolt ALBMs, 12 AGM-98 LRAMs and 8 of the new AGM-102 supersonic strategic cruise missiles, in addition to its self defence armament of AAM pods, autocannon turrets and laser rayguns.
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 21, 2023 15:13:45 GMT
1972 Statistics
1972/73 Largest GDPs
1.) USA $12,235,882,661,989 (+ 7.98%)
2.) USSR $5,672,249,372,746 (+ 9.61%)
3.) Germany $4,732,174,551,578 (+ 6.94%)
4.) Britain $4,468,756,762,148 (+ 7.526%)
5.) Japan $4,252,690,992,687 (+ 10.43%)
6.) France $2,543,459,963,511 (+ 5.87%)
7.) Canada $2,259,029,866,990 (+ 8.29%)
8.) India $2,229,733,265,657 (+ 5.46%)
9.) China $2,143,517,018,373 (+ 6.93%)
10.) Italy $1,730,293,281,410 (+ 9.13%)
11.) Austria-Hungary $1,448,925,871,767 (+ 8.57%)
1972/73 Populations
1.) China: 1,084,268,254
2.) India: 728,995,143
3.) Soviet Union: 403,532,927
4.) USA: 360,254,578
5.) Japan: 269,116,534
6.) Indonesia: 263,880,042
7.) Germany: 200,629,536
8.) Brazil: 184,472,363
9.) Mexico: 150,996,124
10.) France: 148,324,578
11.) Britain: 140,269,389
12.) Austria-Hungary: 130,576,198
1972/73 Share of World Industrial Output
1.) USA: 21.9%
2.) Japan: 13.6%
3.) Soviet Union: 12.5%
4.) Germany: 12%
5.) Britain: 7.8%
6.) China: 6.9%
7.) India 5.4%
8.) France: 4.8%
9.) Canada: 3.6%
10.) Italy: 3.5%
11.) Austria-Hungary: 3.1%
Steel Production 1972/73 (millions of tons)
1.) USA 225
2.) Japan 219
3.) USSR 198
4.) Germany 125
5.) China: 101
6.) Britain 90
7.) India 78
8.) AH: 72
9.) Poland 69
10.) France 57
11.) Canada 56
Coal Production 1972 (millions of tons)
1.) USSR: 752
2.) USA: 700
3.) China: 594
4.) Germany: 580
5.) Poland: 545
6.) Britain: 529
7.) India: 473
8.) Austria-Hungary: 452
9.) France: 291
10.) Australia: 250
11.) South Africa: 247
Oil Production 1972 (Thousands of bbl/day)
1.) USA: 16,452
2.) USSR: 12,983
3.) Arabia: 10,245
4.) Persia: 5625
5.) Iraq: 5378
6.) Canada: 4276
7.) Trucial States: 3912
8.) Britain: 3287
9.) Venezuela: 3152
10.) Kuwait: 2985
11.) Mexico: 2962
1972 Wheat Production (millions of tons)
1.) USA: 162
2.) USSR: 129
3.) China: 92
4.) India: 89
5.) Canada: 78
6.) Australia: 64
7.) France: 62
8.) Austria-Hungary: 59
9.) Germany: 54
10.) Britain: 52
11.) Argentina: 48
12.) Italy: 40
13.) Turkey: 36
14.) Spain: 32
15.) Poland: 24
1972 Barley Production (millions of tons)
1.) USSR: 64.2
2.) Australia: 29.7
3.) Canada: 25.4
4.) Germany: 23.6
5.) France: 20.5
6.) Britain: 19.2
7.) Spain: 15.6
8.) Argentina: 12.3
9.) Turkey: 10.4
10.) USA: 9.2
11.) Poland: 8.7
12.) Austria-Hungary: 7.8
1972 Potato Production (millions of tons)
1.) USSR: 125
2.) India: 69
3.) China: 63
4.) USA: 58
5.) Germany: 40
6.) France: 36
7.) Canada: 35
8.) Britain: 32
9.) Poland: 30
10.) Turkey: 24
11.) Peru: 23
11.) Netherlands: 23
12.) Persia: 18
1972 Corn Production (millions of tons)
1.) USA: 240
2.) USSR: 98
3.) China: 84
4.) Brazil: 77
5.) Argentina: 65
6.) India: 53
7.) Mexico: 44
8.) Canada: 42
9.) Indonesia: 34
10.) Romania: 28
11.) Australia: 26
12.) France: 25
Automobile Production 1972
1.) USA: 12,549,987
2.) Japan: 11,361,894
3.) Germany: 7,242,096
4.) Britain: 5,024,336
5.) France: 4,325,345
6.) Italy: 3,675,400
7.) USSR: 3,641,145
8.) Canada: 3,245,997
9.) Austria-Hungary: 2,987,414
10.) Mexico: 2,317,890
11.) Spain: 2,015,062
Merchant Shipbuilding 1972
1.) Britain: 34,216,845 tons
2.) Japan: 32,555,090 tons
3.) USA: 12,644,356 tons
4.) Germany: 4,032,235 tons
5.) Korea: 2,023,565 tons
6.) France: 1,812,906 tons
7.) Italy: 1,547,821 tons
8.) USSR: 1,408,111 tons
9.) Canada: 1,254,369 tons
9.) Sweden: 1,056,728 tons
11.) China: 1,027,444 tons
Aircraft Production 1972
1.) USA: 6026
2.) USSR: 5795
3.) Britain: 3429
4.) China: 2987
5.) Germany: 1892
6.) France: 1457
7.) Japan: 1110
8.) Canada: 975
9.) India: 883
10.) Italy: 596
11.) Austria-Hungary: 552
Tank Production 1972
1.) USSR: 12,468
2.) USA: 5629
3.) China: 3945
4.) Britain: 3256
5.) Germany: 2591
6.) France: 1642
7.) Italy: 1269
8.) Japan: 1256
9.) India: 1200
10.) Austria-Hungary: 1187
11.) Canada: 850
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lordroel
Administrator
Member is Online
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Post by lordroel on Sept 21, 2023 15:36:04 GMT
MarchMarch 2: Completion of the carved of the bas relief of the Stone Mountain monument, 50 years after it began. The sculptor John Gutzon Borglum (better known for his work on the massive carving at Mount Rushmore) has been beginning to show signs of his greatly advanced age as the project approached completion; any unnatural connection between the two have been dismissed as purely incidental by his spokesdwarves. Is the Stone Mountain monument the same as OTL. And spokesdwarves, what the hell should i think of them. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 21, 2023 16:21:16 GMT
It is the same, roughly speaking. You can think whatever you want. They are spokesmen who are dwarves; no cause for alarm or to be heightist.  |
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 21, 2023 16:53:38 GMT
January Notes
- The raising of the Lusitania is inspired by the Cussler book and film; the target cargo is something different this time
- The Pierre Hotel robbery results in a hat tip to Christopher Reece’s first Superman picture
- Alternate service pathways only just being countenanced in 1972 is a mark of a different world
- The Zone Rouge being cleared is a big difference and shows some of the advanced capabilities available to repair man’s damage
- Thames Frost Fairs are an interesting byproduct of the use of the Sunstone in 1947
- The CIA are right about Chinese plans, but read too little into it
- A new gold reef is extremely rich, based on the assayed value
- Bomber Boys isn’t just a different TV show, but a bit of a sign of the different way Bomber Command is viewed in popular culture, social memory and history
- What did the Bear encounter over the Arctic?
- Hughes develops a Spruce Moose equivalent whilst driven mad by the sister works of the Necronomicon
- The SNCF continues the turbotrain
- Chicago police capture John Wayne Gacy with the help of psychic detectives before he can kill
- A new Italian politician emerges…
- Emperor Norton gets his rightful recognition
- Green Berets mop up the vestiges of what would become the Khmer Rouge in @
- Thames Television becomes a network/channel in its own right, rather than an ITV satrap. Long will live their iconic ident
- Britain’s lead in consumer electronics comes from use of supernatural advantage
- The Delhi poisoning is from @, but here serves to show how the Imperial Police have a role akin to an international FBI within the Commonwealth
- The 1972 election will be a different one fought on vastly different ground than @
- A few interesting names on the Grand Prix circuit
- The Japanese holdout surrendering and getting fruitbat soup is an @ event, or very close to it (maybe not the fruitbat)
- Sweep and clear offensives are a little reference to Full Metal Jacket
- The RN jets have familiar names, but are very different and formidable in their capabilities
- Ping vs Pong
- Something is brewing in Central Asia
- Aaron Jastrow survives
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 23, 2023 13:15:15 GMT
February Notes
- Brunner gets the Eichmann treatment, with the Israelis and Nazi hunters working together to go after the surviving Nazis with extreme prejudice.
- Huey Long isn't shot in the 1930s and evolves into a maverick Senator who is somewhat changed by the Second World War
- Finland gets the Winter Olympics due to the King's personal touch to the lobbying process
- Puch doesn't stick around long after his sentence; Argentina's method of capital punishment points towards a more substantive British influence
- The active USARNG divisions are the 26th Infantry Division (Massachusetts), 27th Infantry Division (New York), 32nd Infantry Division (Wisconsin), 36th Infantry Division (Texas), 40th Infantry Division (California) and 42nd Infantry Division (New York)
= RAF deployments of missiles to the Med are a very different development, showing Britain's ongoing strategic interests and role in the area. Addition of the Violet Friends and Broadswords will be quite interesting; the Soviets continue to lack Mediterranean bases or allied countries
- Aside from linking Stranger Things and Parks and Recreation, the positioning of the new lab is related to ley lines, which in turn is related to the Indianapolis UFO Incident
- Some of the heart attack treatments are earlier @ ones (stents and aspirin), but the obvious DE original pair indicate that there will be quite interesting further improvements in increased survival and really cutting heart disease as a cause of death. The consequences of that, along with the cure for cancer, bear consideration
- The Persian blizzard is an @ event, but the young Shah's personal intervention is a sign of a different monarch with a different future for his country
- Some things will develop from the Sumatran finds
- The FB-111C is the @ FB-111H with the full Mach 2+ top speed. The F=15 Eagles are even more formidable than @, as previously detailed
- Rene Artois's memoir translates as 'I did it for France', as per one of the follow up specials. He made 10 million francs from the sale of The Cracked Vase, so retired from French intelligence shortly after the incident with the Nazi Tyrannosaur
- The Beetle has major success in Europe, North America and South America, but hasn't made a major penetration into the British Empire due to certain non-tariff barriers
- James Woo is the fictional secret agent; I usually eschew Marvel related stuff, never having seen the point of comic book fanaticism, but included a Chinese American Cabinet member and superhero to showcase some of the more progressive social developments
- The Pink Panther being stolen from the Watergate is the only reason that the hotel gets in the news in 1972, which aside from myriad other effects, means that the ghastly habit of dubbing scandals "X-gate" will never come to pass
- The expansive South Australian industrial update is one of my rare personal flourishes, as the industrial history of Adelaide is quite an interesting bit of local history. The relative industrial flourishing under Playford has longer legs here, as indeed does the Premiership of Playford, which in @ finished in 1965 with the Labor election win. One result of this is that Don Dunstan will never become Premier. Most of the information and names here will be meaningless to the readership, but I thank you for the indulgence of my little eccentricity
- REFORGER 72 is more than just the annual exercise in that it sees not only new transport aircraft (making the task of 12 divisions in 12 days viable) and new equipment on land, but is the first real post Vietnam exercise, with many units and commanders shifting back to Europe
- Carlos pops up his wicked head
- The RAF aerobatic team never downgrades to less expensive Wasps (DE Gnats), keeping its Lightnings until this swap over to the new Spits. This is just one little sign of the differences arising from better economic circumstances
- The White House deep bunker provides for a 3500ft deep shelter to withstand a 100 megaton bomb with a 0.5nm CEP
- A slight difference between The Limits of Growth and The Future of Growth, as well as global cooling becoming an issue
- K-19 has a different fate, reflecting the Allied control of the North Atlantic through the Floating Fortresses
- The Indian cricket team, combining the stars of India and Pakistan, make for a very powerful force
- Twins for the Prince and Princess of Wales not only secures the succession, but shows some interesting differences, as well as providing women's magazines with some new babies to coo over
- The Future of National Service article shows how conscription is viewed as quite uncontroversial in Britain and that mobilisation of reserves for conventional war is still a key feature of British defence planning
- Cheech and Chong get nicked with their van from Up in Smoke
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 23, 2023 15:39:53 GMT
March Notes
- Gutzon Borglum’s longevity is linked to the project in a Dorian Grey type of way
- An Orion powered probe takes the place of Voyager as the most ambitious step yet in space exploration
- Portuguese ops in Angola are linked to the Congo and Rhodesian Bush War
- The reply article on National Service makes the point that it is an economical way of approaching the need for a large army of 1.25 million
- Brandy the Search Dog being a full detective is another example of successful talking cats and dogs in human society, a long running theme
- The US Census data highlights the different immigration law (no Act of 1965) and the smaller percentages of the black and Hispanic communities
- Ashante/Asanteman diversifying it’s agriculture is another event in a long running chain on the state
- The Imperial Strategic War Reserve is rather larger, to put it mildly. 1 year of supplies vs 30 days is a change and a half
- Travis Bickle becomes a hero; I may use him again
- Donald Neilson swings before he can kill for the first time
- I’m tossing up which company should get the VFAX contract
- British emigration peaks at a higher level and outnumbers immigration, as it did in @; the latter will see some different trends. There is a bit of an Easter Egg in the locations
- An inverse Beeching Report, although he was never seconded from ICI here
- Arab oil wealth is growing with a number of results
- The Home Office direction on non release comes from a report aided by arcane divination as well as common sense
- Something strange on Mount Fuji
- Reagan’s momentum is growing
- The Hanging Gardens aims to add + 3 happy citizens in London and + 1 in all other cities in a Civilization reference
- Volvo sales going up are a sign of the Anglo-Swedish ‘special relationship’
- Blue drugs in Albuquerque is of course a Breaking Bad reference, with the suggestion that there is spice involved (Dune) and the more obscure hint that the drug is something like Jet from Fallout
- The mysterious samurai slayings are going to be an interesting one
- New British police helos are present in quite large numbers
- The Professor is onto something about the Pied Piper
- Vietnam continues to recover, but it will take a long time
- The Nafud lake project is very ambitious
- Atomic powered aircraft have a small niche, but ultimately aren’t the great white hope they were once thought to be
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 28, 2023 15:17:49 GMT
April
April 1: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation announces that Ayers Rock has been sold to an American mining company and will be used to provide materials for the US starship project on Minerva. Following the completion of the destruction and removal of the rock, its place is to be taken by a children's theme park.
April 2: Opening of a League of Nations conference on international measures to prevent overfishing in Dublin, following on from reports by ichthyologists and aquatic sorcerers on the vulnerable state of the vital North Atlantic cod fishery.
April 3: Renowned actor and director Charles Chaplin returns to the United States after almost two decades of voluntary exile from Hollywood. Chaplin had been living in retirement at his Swiss mansion after leaving the US following a moral scandal over alleged violations of the Mann Act in the aftermath of the Second World War.
April 4: TASS announces that discussions between representatives of several of the kingdoms of the Arab Union and the Soviet Foreign Ministry regarding arms sales begin in Moscow, coming as a distinct surprise to Western observers and sending diplomats across the Levant into a flurry.
April 5: The Canadian Air Ministry publishes a White Paper. on ‘The Future of the RCAF’, setting out its planned timetable for modernisation, most notably including requirements for a new multirole fighter and fighter-bomber; replacement of the Avro Arrow air superiority fighter/interceptor and the Canadair Swiftsure attack/strike bomber; and a significant increase in strategic missile defences.
April 6: Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, brother of the President and former Attorney-General, announces that he will no longer seek the Democratic nomination for President in 1972. Kennedy's withdrawal came after his earlier primary victories in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York were followed by a string of defeats to several of his opponents, most notably Governor Henry Jackson, in crucial Midwestern and Southern states.
April 7: The Ministry of Energy and Power delivers a report on the shifting patterns in Britain's power generation, moving from 32% coal, 24% oil and 25% nuclear and 18% hydroelectricity in 1964 to 49% nuclear, 13% oil, 20% coal and 15% hydroelectricity. The report also highlights the successes achieved in cybernetic economic planning employing the new generation of supercomputing engines.
April 8: The Road to Miklagard wins Best Picture at the 44th Academy Awards over the fancied favourites 1915 and Fiddler on the Roof, with Christopher Lee winning Best Actor for his role as Hernan Cortes in Conquistador and Vanessa Redgrave winning Best Actress for Mary, Queen of Scots.
April 9: The Central Intelligence Agency’s aerial arm, Air America, begins clandestine deployment of a newly designed specialised ‘anti-opium bomb’ against communist backed opium plantations in Laos, Thailand and Burma. The use of innovative new chemical defoliants against narcotic crops in Indochina comes after their successful employment against illicit coca crops in South America.
April 10: An earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale badly damages the town of Qir and several nearby wineries in Southern Persia; the aftereffects of the quake lead to a temporary disruption in the global supply of the much sought after Shirazi wine.
April 11: Terrorist guerrillas of the People’s Revolutionary Army in Argentina kidnap the British director of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway, Lord Lucan, in an outrageous attack as he is leaving a private baccarat club in Buenos Aires. The British Ambassador calls upon the Argentine Foreign Minister in the evening to urge the most strenuous efforts possible for his rescue.
April 12: A BBC report on the new frontier of magic in everyday life predicts that, by the year 2000, new enchanted inventions, dubbed ‘magi-tech’ by presenter Michael Jagger, will transform homes and businesses in England and indeed across the civilised world, with enchanted interactive televisions allowing shopping from one’s living room and arcane robots eliminating the necessity of most household cleaning chores.
April 13: Operation Skyshield XXII takes place in the skies across the Continental United States, with over 2400 jet fighters of the USAF’s Aerospace Defense Command attempting to intercept 576 SAC FB-111s, B-47s, B-52s and B-70s and 96 RAF Bomber Command Avro Vulcans. One squadron of the British bombers approaches using a circuitous southern route, coming in across the coast of Louisiana at very low level and simulating a launch of their Bristol X.12 and Avro Blue Steel IV missiles at targets throughout the Southern states.
April 14: Delivery of the first British built warships for the IJN since 1912, with Armstrong-Whitworth built Azuma and Nisshin (a pair of missile cruisers adapted from the RN's Large Patrol Ship) handed over at Elswick. Discussions between London and Tokyo of potential cooperation in development of the planned Type 23 general purpose guided missile frigate are ongoing.
April 15: Intelligence agents Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin foil a dastardly plot to transmute the Golden Gate Bridge into jelly during afternoon rush hour, infiltrating the underground lair of mad scientist Professor J. Ambrosia and dealing him his just desserts.
April 16: A pair of giant panda bears are delivered to the National Zoo in Washington DC as a gift from the Emperor of China to the people of the United States in the latest series of symbolic steps aimed at fully normalising relations. They seem to be jetlagged from their long journey, declining to sign autographs as they arrive.
April 17: Announcement of the date of the Canadian general election date, with the Dominion's subjects to go to the polls on October 30th. It is expected to be the closest election in two generations and the most realistic chance for the Liberal and Labour opposition to break the Conservative hold on government.
April 18: Discussions between Egypt and Sudan on widereaching cooperation, economic ties and defence coordination begin in Cairo under British coordination. The long running ambitions of the Kings of Egypt regarding Sudan have been a subject of some difference with Britain, but the evolving strategic picture in North Africa and the Middle East has lead to some softening of the British position since 1964.
April 19: Completion of Project Stormtracker, a complex arcane-scientific enchantment of the United States Department of Magic and the United States Space Force for the detection of potential tornadoes within the continental United States and their automatic dissipation through the application of innovative new weather control spells.
April 20: ODESSA terrorist gangs attempt to stage several attacks across Western Europe and the Americas to mark Hitler’s birthday, but are foiled by a combination of traffic and heavy police, military and gendarmerie presence, in addition to their explosive devices seemingly being simultaneously sabotaged.
April 21: FBI wizards and seconded Church of the United States paladins investigating the recent case of New York schoolgirl Miss Annabel Andrews and her mother, Mrs Bill Andrews, who allegedly swapped bodies on a particularly freaky Friday, was apparently an Unexplained Sorcerous Anomaly (USA) rather than a case of possession or any known form of black magic.
April 22: Lord Lucan is found and rescued in a daring mission launched by a joint Anglo-Argentine special operations team. He had been located on an isolated ranch in the foothills of the Andes (which had until recently had apparently been owned by an elderly German-American emigre and his wife) with the rescue force swooping in on silenced and invisible helicopters just before dawn. All 16 of his ERP captors are killed in the brief firefight, with some not even managing to fire a single shot in their defence.
April 23: Nevada entrepreneur Robert Edwin House establishes the House Tool Company, producing a range of new robotic machine tools as a primary focus, with an aim towards penetrating the heavy duty drill market for new deep mining and seabed constructions.
April 24: Field Marshal The Earl Blackadder of Salonika, VC and bar, hero of the First and Second World Wars and liberator of Greece and Yugoslavia, dies at his country estate, Mboto House in Surrey at the age of 100.
April 25: Governor Reagan wins the Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania Republican primaries, effectively securing the Republican Presidential nomination. His Democratic opponent is still unclear after the withdrawal of Senator Robert Kennedy from the race, with the winner of the race between Governor of Washington Henry Jackson and Senator Edmund Muskie firming as the likely nominee.
April 26: A wicked Thuggee cult in London is suppressed in a spectacular raid by the Chapter for the Scouring of Heathenry of the Office of the Witchfinder General after receiving a report of an imminent sacrifice of young woman. The high priest, a wretch named Clang, tries pathetically to excuse the circumstances of their filthy Eastern ways as a party of amateur dramatics, but the Chief Inquisitor, identifying their ritual statue for the fiendish thingy it is, sees that there is more there than meets the eye and arrests them forthwith.
April 27: Noted star college football fullback Al Bundy scores four touchdowns in his debut match for the Chicago Bears, mirroring his achievement for the Polk High School Panthers in 1966.
April 28: The Imperial Korean Air Force places orders for 240 Fairchild-Republic A-10s and 120 North American-Convair F-16 Falcons to replace their older F-86D and F-84 jets. Their continual close preference for United States warplanes is in slight contrast to Japan, where the production of domestic jets is seen as the paramount course of action, with acquisition of American and British types decreasing from previous trends.
April 29: The King of Burundi requests British military support in the face of mounting civil unrest and chaos as tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes break out into open violence. Imperial African Command is ordered to deploy its ready brigade and squadron, with the composite spearhead brigade in Britain (made up of two airborne and two infantry battalions, an armoured regiment and supporting artillery, engineers and an RFC squadron) also beginning loading for skyship flight to Central Africa.
April 30: Retirement from active service of Air Chief Marshal Sir James Bigglesworth, VC and bar at the age of 73. Known universally as 'Biggles', he is the most highly decorated British serviceman of the 20th century, earning his Victoria Crosses for acts of unparalleled valour and daring in 1917 and during 1940's Battle of Britain and is the British Empire's 'ace of aces', scoring 125 victories in the Great War, 104 in the Second World War, 19 in Korea and 6 in the 1956 War.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Sept 28, 2023 15:40:26 GMT
AprilApril 1: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation announces that Ayers Rock has been sold to an American mining company and will be used to provide materials for the US starship project on Minerva. Following the completion of the destruction and removal of the rock, its place is to be taken by a children's theme park. Quite different than OTL where it was given back to the Aboriginals. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 28, 2023 15:46:08 GMT
Look at the date.
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stevep
Fleet admiral
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Post by stevep on Sept 28, 2023 21:58:22 GMT
AprilApril 1: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation announces that Ayers Rock has been sold to an American mining company and will be used to provide materials for the US starship project on Minerva. Following the completion of the destruction and removal of the rock, its place is to be taken by a children's theme park. April 2: Opening of a League of Nations conference on international measures to prevent overfishing in Dublin, following on from reports by ichthyologists and aquatic sorcerers on the vulnerable state of the vital North Atlantic cod fishery. April 3: Renowned actor and director Charles Chaplin returns to the United States after almost two decades of voluntary exile from Hollywood. Chaplin had been living in retirement at his Swiss mansion after leaving the US following a moral scandal over alleged violations of the Mann Act in the aftermath of the Second World War. April 4: TASS announces that discussions between representatives of several of the kingdoms of the Arab Union and the Soviet Foreign Ministry regarding arms sales begin in Moscow, coming as a distinct surprise to Western observers and sending diplomats across the Levant into a flurry. April 5: The Canadian Air Ministry publishes a White Paper. on ‘The Future of the RCAF’, setting out its planned timetable for modernisation, most notably including requirements for a new multirole fighter and fighter-bomber; replacement of the Avro Arrow air superiority fighter/interceptor and the Canadair Swiftsure attack/strike bomber; and a significant increase in strategic missile defences. April 6: Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, brother of the President and former Attorney-General, announces that he will no longer seek the Democratic nomination for President in 1972. Kennedy's withdrawal came after his earlier primary victories in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York were followed by a string of defeats to several of his opponents, most notably Governor Henry Jackson, in crucial Midwestern and Southern states. April 7: The Ministry of Energy and Power delivers a report on the shifting patterns in Britain's power generation, moving from 42% coal, 27% oil and 10% nuclear in 1964 to 36% nuclear, 22% oil, 29% coal and 10% hydroelectricity. The report also highlights the successes achieved in cybernetic economic planning employing the new generation of supercomputing engines. April 8: Establishment of Sanctuary Hills, a new village on the Concord River just beyond the Minute Man National Park in Massachusetts, designed as an exclusive showpiece community of the 'homes of tomorrow', including innovative two storey private residences, a community library, a children's park, a combined general store and restaurant and a church. April 9: The Central Intelligence Agency’s aerial arm, Air America, begins clandestine deployment of a newly designed specialised ‘anti-opium bomb’ against communist backed opium plantations in Laos, Thailand and Burma. The use of innovative new chemical defoliants against narcotic crops in Indochina comes after their successful employment against illicit coca crops in South America. April 10: An earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale badly damages the town of Qir and several nearby wineries in Southern Persia; the aftereffects of the quake lead to a temporary disruption in the global supply of the much sought after Shirazi wine. April 11: Terrorist guerrillas of the People’s Revolutionary Army in Argentina kidnap the British director of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway, Lord Lucan, in an outrageous attack as he is leaving a private baccarat club in Buenos Aires. The British Ambassador calls upon the Argentine Foreign Minister in the evening to urge the most strenuous efforts possible for his rescue. April 12: A BBC report on the new frontier of magic in everyday life predicts that, by the year 2000, new enchanted inventions, dubbed ‘magi-tech’ by presenter Michael Jagger, will transform homes and businesses in England and indeed across the civilised world, with enchanted interactive televisions allowing shopping from one’s living room and arcane robots eliminating the necessity of most household cleaning chores. April 13: Operation Skyshield XXII takes place in the skies across the Continental United States, with over 2400 jet fighters of the USAF’s Aerospace Defense Command attempting to intercept 576 SAC FB-111s, B-47s, B-52s and B-70s and 96 RAF Bomber Command Avro Vulcans. One squadron of the British bombers approaches using a circuitous southern route, coming in across the coast of Louisiana at very low level and simulating a launch of their Bristol X.12 and Avro Blue Steel IV missiles at targets throughout the Southern states. April 14: Delivery of the first British built warships for the IJN since 1912, with Armstrong-Whitworth built Azuma and Nisshin (a pair of missile cruisers adapted from the RN's Large Patrol Ship) handed over at Elswick. Discussions between London and Tokyo of potential cooperation in development of the planned Type 23 general purpose guided missile frigate are ongoing. April 15: Intelligence agents Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin foil a dastardly plot to transmute the Golden Gate Bridge into jelly during afternoon rush hour, infiltrating the underground lair of mad scientist Professor J. Ambrosia and dealing him his just desserts. April 16: A pair of giant panda bears are delivered to the National Zoo in Washington DC as a gift from the Emperor of China to the people of the United States in the latest series of symbolic steps aimed at fully normalising relations. They seem to be jetlagged from their long journey, declining to sign autographs as they arrive. April 17: Announcement of the date of the Canadian general election date, with the Dominion's subjects to go to the polls on October 30th. It is expected to be the closest election in two generations and the most realistic chance for the Liberal and Labour opposition to break the Conservative hold on government. April 18: Discussions between Egypt and Sudan on widereaching cooperation, economic ties and defence coordination begin in Cairo under British coordination. The long running ambitions of the Kings of Egypt regarding Sudan have been a subject of some difference with Britain, but the evolving strategic picture in North Africa and the Middle East has lead to some softening of the British position since 1964. April 19: Completion of Project Stormtracker, a complex arcane-scientific enchantment of the United States Department of Magic and the United States Space Force for the detection of potential tornadoes within the continental United States and their automatic dissipation through the application of innovative new weather control spells. April 20: ODESSA terrorist gangs attempt to stage several attacks across Western Europe and the Americas to mark Hitler’s birthday, but are foiled by a combination of traffic and heavy police, military and gendarmerie presence, in addition to their explosive devices seemingly being simultaneously sabotaged. April 21: FBI wizards and seconded Church of the United States paladins investigating the recent case of New York schoolgirl Miss Annabel Andrews and her mother, Mrs Bill Andrews, who allegedly swapped bodies on a particularly freaky Friday, was apparently an Unexplained Sorcerous Anomaly (USA) rather than a case of possession or any known form of black magic. April 22: Lord Lucan is found and rescued in a daring mission launched by a joint Anglo-Argentine special operations team. He had been located on an isolated ranch in the foothills of the Andes (which had until recently had apparently been owned by an elderly German-American emigre and his wife) with the rescue force swooping in on silenced and invisible helicopters just before dawn. All 16 of his ERP captors are killed in the brief firefight, with some not even managing to fire a single shot in their defence. April 23: Nevada entrepreneur Robert Edwin House establishes the House Tool Company, producing a range of new robotic machine tools as a primary focus, with an aim towards penetrating the heavy duty drill market for new deep mining and seabed constructions. April 24: Field Marshal The Earl Blackadder of Salonika, VC and bar, hero of the First and Second World Wars and liberator of Greece and Yugoslavia, dies at his country estate, Mboto House in Surrey at the age of 100. April 25: Governor Reagan wins the Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania Republican primaries, effectively securing the Republican Presidential nomination. His Democratic opponent is still unclear after the withdrawal of Senator Robert Kennedy from the race, with the winner of the race between Governor of Washington Henry Jackson and Senator Edmund Muskie firming as the likely nominee. April 26: A wicked Thuggee cult in London is suppressed in a spectacular raid by the Chapter for the Scouring of Heathenry of the Office of the Witchfinder General after receiving a report of an imminent sacrifice of young woman. The high priest, a wretch named Clang, tries pathetically to excuse the circumstances of their filthy Eastern ways as a party of amateur dramatics, but the Chief Inquisitor, identifying their ritual statue for the fiendish thingy it is, sees that there is more there than meets the eye and arrests them forthwith. April 27: Noted star college football fullback Al Bundy scores four touchdowns in his debut match for the Chicago Bears, mirroring his achievement for the Polk High School Panthers in 1966. April 28: The Imperial Korean Air Force places orders for 240 Fairchild-Republic A-10s and 120 North American-Convair F-16 Falcons to replace their older F-86D and F-84 jets. Their continual close preference for United States warplanes is in slight contrast to Japan, where the production of domestic jets is seen as the paramount course of action, with acquisition of American and British types decreasing from previous trends. April 29: The King of Burundi requests British military support in the face of mounting civil unrest and chaos as tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes break out into open violence. Imperial African Command is ordered to deploy its ready brigade and squadron, with the composite spearhead brigade in Britain (made up of two airborne and two infantry battalions, an armoured regiment and supporting artillery, engineers and an RFC squadron) also beginning loading for skyship flight to Central Africa. April 30: Retirement from active service of Air Chief Marshal Sir James Bigglesworth, VC and bar at the age of 73. Known universally as 'Biggles', he is the most highly decorated British serviceman of the 20th century, earning his Victoria Crosses for acts of unparalleled valour and daring in 1917 and during 1940's Battle of Britain and is the British Empire's 'ace of aces', scoring 125 victories in the Great War, 104 in the Second World War, 19 in Korea and 6 in the 1956 War.
April 72 April 1: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation announces that Ayers Rock has been sold to an American mining company and will be used to provide materials for the US starship project on Minerva. Following the completion of the destruction and removal of the rock, its place is to be taken by a children's theme park. - I might have missed the date if I hadn't see your reply to Lordroel. Good one. 
April 2: Opening of a League of Nations conference on international measures to prevent overfishing in Dublin, following on from reports by ichthyologists and aquatic sorcerers on the vulnerable state of the vital North Atlantic cod fishery. - Good that there's an earlier recognition of this issue.
April 3: Renowned actor and director Charles Chaplin returns to the United States after almost two decades of voluntary exile from Hollywood. Chaplin had been living in retirement at his Swiss mansion after leaving the US following a moral scandal over alleged violations of the Mann Act in the aftermath of the Second World War. - As so his exile is for sexual activities rather than being considered too left wing during the Macarthy witch hunt period.
April 4: TASS announces that discussions between representatives of several of the kingdoms of the Arab Union and the Soviet Foreign Ministry regarding arms sales begin in Moscow, coming as a distinct surprise to Western observers and sending diplomats across the Levant into a flurry. - That would be of concern, especially to Britain.
April 7: The Ministry of Energy and Power delivers a report on the shifting patterns in Britain's power generation, moving from 42% coal, 27% oil and 10% nuclear in 1964 to 36% nuclear, 22% oil, 29% coal and 10% hydroelectricity. The report also highlights the successes achieved in cybernetic economic planning employing the new generation of supercomputing engines. - A distinct improvement on OTL but then you say that for whatever reason global warming isn't occurring in DE so while other pollution is a problem excess CO2 would be less of an issue.
April 9: The Central Intelligence Agency’s aerial arm, Air America, begins clandestine deployment of a newly designed specialised ‘anti-opium bomb’ against communist backed opium plantations in Laos, Thailand and Burma. The use of innovative new chemical defoliants against narcotic crops in Indochina comes after their successful employment against illicit coca crops in South America. - Good movie reference but is it actually anti-drugs - as opposed to the OTL drug running - or some version of agent orange.
April 12: A BBC report on the new frontier of magic in everyday life predicts that, by the year 2000, new enchanted inventions, dubbed ‘magi-tech’ by presenter Michael Jagger, will transform homes and businesses in England and indeed across the civilised world, with enchanted interactive televisions allowing shopping from one’s living room and arcane robots eliminating the necessity of most household cleaning chores. - Sounds like this world's version of Tomorrow's World.
April 13: Operation Skyshield XXII takes place in the skies across the Continental United States, with over 2400 jet fighters of the USAF’s Aerospace Defense Command attempting to intercept 576 SAC FB-111s, B-47s, B-52s and B-70s and 96 RAF Bomber Command Avro Vulcans. One squadron of the British bombers approaches using a circuitous southern route, coming in across the coast of Louisiana at very low level and simulating a launch of their Bristol X.12 and Avro Blue Steel IV missiles at targets throughout the Southern states. - I think this is based on actual penentration performances by V force a/c in OTL, albeit probably not as late as this?
April 14: Delivery of the first British built warships for the IJN since 1912, with Armstrong-Whitworth built Azuma and Nisshin (a pair of missile cruisers adapted from the RN's Large Patrol Ship) handed over at Elswick. Discussions between London and Tokyo of potential cooperation in development of the planned Type 23 general purpose guided missile frigate are ongoing. - Well that is an interesting development as I would have thought the US pretty much had a monopoly on sales to Japan.
April 15: Intelligence agents Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin foil a dastardly plot to transmute the Golden Gate Bridge into jelly during afternoon rush hour, infiltrating the underground lair of mad scientist Professor J. Ambrosia and dealing him his just desserts. - Would this be inspired by David McCallan's recent death? Terrible puns but funny despite that.
April 16: A pair of giant panda bears are delivered to the National Zoo in Washington DC as a gift from the Emperor of China to the people of the United States in the latest series of symbolic steps aimed at fully normalising relations. They seem to be jetlagged from their long journey, declining to sign autographs as they arrive. -  April 19: Completion of Project Stormtracker, a complex arcane-scientific enchantment of the United States Department of Magic and the United States Space Force for the detection of potential tornadoes within the continental United States and their automatic dissipation through the application of innovative new weather control spells. -
April 20: ODESSA terrorist gangs attempt to stage several attacks across Western Europe and the Americas to mark Hitler’s birthday, but are foiled by a combination of traffic and heavy police, military and gendarmerie presence, in addition to their explosive devices seemingly being simultaneously sabotaged. - That sounds suspitiously like someone was at work behind the screens here.
April 21: FBI wizards and seconded Church of the United States paladins investigating the recent case of New York schoolgirl Miss Annabel Andrews and her mother, Mrs Bill Andrews, who allegedly swapped bodies on a particularly freaky Friday, was apparently an Unexplained Sorcerous Anomaly (USA) rather than a case of possession or any known form of black magic. - Another good film reference. Was it as long ago as 1972? I thought it was later in the decade.
April 22: Lord Lucan is found and rescued in a daring mission launched by a joint Anglo-Argentine special operations team. He had been located on an isolated ranch in the foothills of the Andes (which had until recently had apparently been owned by an elderly German-American emigre and his wife) with the rescue force swooping in on silenced and invisible helicopters just before dawn. All 16 of his ERP captors are killed in the brief firefight, with some not even managing to fire a single shot in their defence. - Good that he's not the dubious character of OTL and is rescued. Bad that all the kidnapper's died as that means we can't learn more about them and the rest of their organisation.
April 23: Nevada entrepreneur Robert Edwin House establishes the House Tool Company, producing a range of new robotic machine tools as a primary focus, with an aim towards penetrating the heavy duty drill market for new deep mining and seabed constructions. - Checking wiki that gives a reference to a series of games called Fallout so presuming the guy's name comes up in that?
April 25: Governor Reagan wins the Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania Republican primaries, effectively securing the Republican Presidential nomination. His Democratic opponent is still unclear after the withdrawal of Senator Robert Kennedy from the race, with the winner of the race between Governor of Washington Henry Jackson and Senator Edmund Muskie firming as the likely nominee. - I get a distinct feeling Reagan is going to win but hopefully he';s a different person to OTL Reagan.
April 30: Retirement from active service of Air Chief Marshal Sir James Bigglesworth, VC and bar at the age of 73. Known universally as 'Biggles', he is the most highly decorated British serviceman of the 20th century, earning his Victoria Crosses for acts of unparalleled valour and daring in 1917 and during 1940's Battle of Britain and is the British Empire's 'ace of aces', scoring 125 victories in the Great War, 104 in the Second World War, 19 in Korea and 6 in the 1956 War. - |
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Post by simon darkshade on Sept 29, 2023 5:34:58 GMT
Steve, 1.) April Fools' events are a bit of a tradition. 2.) The greater awareness comes from the realisation of what man is capable of following the elimination of two dangerous species in not a great deal of time. That process involved learning more about the oceans and tracking fish movements and stocks, hence the Eureka moment. 3.) I'm very glad someone picked up on that. Chaplin's postwar figurative trials began in @ with the issues of infidelity, moral turpitude and the Mann Act then later shifted to the Red sympathy accusations after Monsieur Verdoux was released. The former were driven by Hoover's suspicions as to Chaplin's political leanings. Here, the earlier moral issues are sufficient to cause such a scandal (a la Fatty Arbuckle) as to drive him back across the Atlantic to Europe. A slight difference, but one driven by the different social mores of DE. 4.) It would be, if it were of great consequence and accompanied by political moves in that direction. As it is, the dalliances by Syria and Iraq continue, whilst Arabia pulls out in short order due to American nudges. There will be further developments on this basis, but Soviet arms don't really have the same reputation after Korea and Vietnam, similar to some shifts away from them after the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War in @. Overall, the Soviets don't have their Indian market, nor have they made any major inroads into Africa, given the asterisk next to the independence of former British and French colonies. It is almost as if this policy were informed from insights from another world... 7.) By 1980, nuclear will be even further ahead, with fusion starting to play an even bigger role. In any event, there will be more of a shift to nuclear/fusion by the USA, British Commonwealth, Europe, the USSR, China and Japan over the next decade that will further reduce the largest source of greenhouse gasses in @. As said in the General Discussion thread, the @ percentages of causes of greenhouse gasses were power generation (25.9%), industry (20%), deforestation (17.4%), agriculture (13.5%), transport (13.1%) and residential and commercial buildings (7.9%), whereas in Dark Earth, Power Generation and Deforestation might be 7% and 2.4% by 1984, transport at 9-10%, Industry at 12%, Agriculture at 10% and Residential/Commercial at 3%. Roughly speaking, it will be ~45% of the @ levels and falling. 9.) The agents being used are specially bred/developed ones rather than simply Agent Orange, designed to attack particular species with quite devastating effect. It is driven by anti-drugs efforts, as there is no need to supplement budgets; roughly speaking, the US intelligence budget of 1972 is about 250% of the @ 2022 figure (which equates to $12.85 in 1972 value), or 32 billion. That is but a small fraction of the overall US defence budget. 12.) This is a special in addition to Tomorrow's World, which has quite the field day in describing new and emerging inventions and prospects. 13.) It is similar in effect to Sky Shield II, but coming from a different direction. It has become an annual exercise pitting the best of BC and SAC against ADC as a means of constant testing and maintaining readiness; contrast this with the downgrading of fighter and missile defences during the 1960s and early 1970s in @ with the decreasing Soviet bomber threat. Here, the ICBM is a serious threat, but the 1950s anti-air posture remains alongside it, with some new SAMs having a limited ABM capacity (based on the earlier developmental history of the Patriot, which saw those capacities deliberately downgraded) in addition to the dedicated ABM forces of Nike Zeus, Spartan/Sprint and Excalibur. 14.) It did historically in the late 1950s, but Japan fairly quickly moved to building its own warships and licensed production of US aircraft. Here, it has its own thriving shipbuilding capacity (as in @) and its own domestic aircraft companies building their own jet designs and a budget unrestricted by its own limitations, not to mention Prime Minister Yukio Mishima. The reason for the British purchases is that Japan is hitting the outer edges of its own productive capacity in certain niche areas and the US is currently flat out replacing its WW2 cruiser missile conversions. 15.) It was indeed a tribute to the late McCallum. 16.) Panda diplomacy occurs regardless of the nature of the Chinese regime. 19.) When we think about the long term consequences of this, it saves lives, properties and dollars. 20.) The sabotage of their bombs was intervention by a (non state) intelligence group, but the traffic snarls just come down to French, Italian and Spanish drivers 21.) The original novel was published in April 1972, with the film following in 1976. 22.) Lucan's different fate comes from Britain's different relative position, which involves certain overseas interests/companies not having been nationalised in 1946. The type of aristocrat who went into the City and then professional gambling in @ is the same type of chap who would go into various overseas commerce or colonial business interests, so the option leapt out at me as an opportunity to use a familiar name. There is a hint that the Argentines wiped out the ERP so that no awkward questions could be asked. I'd also draw attention to the former owners of the ranch. 23.) Yes, it is a Fallout reference. Robert House Jr is one of the major NPCs/factions in 2011's Fallout New Vegas, so this fellow is based on him, just in the time of his father. 25.) That is the direction I'm leaning towards at the moment. After 12 years of Democrat rule, there is going to be a lot of natural appetite for change, along with some rumblings over Universal Healthcare. In the absence of (Chief Justice) Nixon, the obvious leading Republican candidate is Ronald Reagan. At 61, he is younger, which has a natural impact on what type of character a man is. Additionally, there aren't the same political drivers for many of the same policies as in @ 1981-1989. RFK pulled out as he didn't want to be the losing candidate at a 'change election', whilst Scoop Jackson being the Democratic frontrunner speaks to a different centre point of US politics. The general Reagan position here (detailed on March 21) is to be very strong on defence and foreign policy, but to oppose further growth of the state and implement some of the Reaganomics of @; there is less of an inflation problem and none of the stagflation issue, so not all of the 1980s solutions will be in place. 30.) Biggles is very youthful for his age (similar to a lot of DE figures, he seems 20 years younger in appearance and capacity) and is likely to get involved with the Special Air Police, an independent international group devoted to law, investigation and daring-do. Simon |
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Post by simon darkshade on Oct 12, 2023 16:46:11 GMT
May
May 1: The May Day parade in Moscow features a number of new armoured vehicles including the T-72 main battle tank, several surface to air missile systems, a 10” self propelled gun and the previously unseen R36M long range ballistic missile.
May 2: British paratroopers of the 1st Parachute Brigade conduct a combat drop to secure Bujumbura Airport in Burundi for the airlift of the 24th Infantry Brigade from Britain and 6th Commando Brigade from Kenya. The operation sees the first major use of the new series of airborne mechanised combat vehicles, light tanks and armoured reconnaissance vehicles as well as aerially deployed attack helicopters and strike planes.
May 3: The German and Communist Polish governments reach a new agreement of the progressive normalisation of relations, with a timetable for mutual visits on a ministerial level agreed upon in principle; general Polish antipathy makes any higher level state visits distinctly unlikely at this time. The Polish moves are thought to be in accordance with the wishes of Moscow.
May 4: President Kennedy gives a speech outlining his proposed Family Assistance Program, which includes a range of direct benefits and a negative income tax for the working poor and deprived. It comes on the back of several measures aimed at the demobilising veterans of the recent Vietnam War, chief among them being a reduced rate of taxation for the next five years and a special Victory Bonus.
May 5: A joint USN, RN and RCN exercise testing new models of counter torpedoes against heavyweight anti-surface torpedoes deployed by attack submarines, including the USN's advanced new Mark 48, commences around Floating Fortress 2 in the North Atlantic. Further research and development of supercavitating defensive torpedoes for deployment by Allied nuclear submarines and other undersea platforms is ongoing in secret Allied defence facilities.
May 6: The Prime Minister of Cameroon attempts to order a mobilisation of its armed forces with the suspected aim of a self coup in order to establish a socialist republic. The moves are quashed by the swift intervention of the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of State, who secretly notifies the Governor-General and the British commanders of the Cameroonian Army and National Police Force, causing a flying column lead by Centurion tanks and Sabre armoured cars to move to seize the premier's official residence in Jeundo and place him under arrest. His replacement issues an urgent invitation for the nearest British infantry company in Port Lagos to conduct a surprise goodwill visit; this is accepted with alacrity, with the West African Strategic Reserve battalion in Freetown placed on standby as reinforcements of goodwill.
May 7: The United States Air Force introduces two new long range intercontinental ballistic missiles into active service, the LGM-75 Peacemaker (a 156 inch superheavy design) and the MGM-100 Ranger, a smaller mobile LRBM designed for road mobile and railcar launched versions. The Peacemaker is to be deployed initially in reverse inclination basing, which, combined with dedicated defensive ABM batteries around the strategic missile fields, is aimed at increasing survivability and associated deterrence. Neither of the newer missiles is intended to completely replace the current arsenal of Minutemen and Titans, but to allow the phasing out of earlier models in favour of their current production runs, or the so-called 'Double-Double Track Decision'.
May 8: The Colonial Service reaches its peak postwar size at 75,432, with the majority serving in self governing states in Africa in forty two separate departments, ranging from forestry, animal conservation and geological surveying to intercolonial railways, civil engineering and riverine policing, with the last cooperating in small boat operations with the Royal Navy's East and West Africa Squadrons to counter localised piracy. Perhaps the most unique department is the Imperial Tanganyika Scheme (formerly the Imperial Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme), the 25 year old development programme that has transformed the infrastructure and agriculture of large parts of East Africa.
May 9: Discovery of the lost lost shipwreck of the Merchant Royal by the noted adventuring group The Beatles off the Scilly Islands, with the undersea find being recorded for their television programme. The four located the wreck and its fabulous treasures, lost in 1641, whilst voyaging in their yellow submarine to ‘The Octopus’s Garden’, an exclusive sea floor resort.
May 10: Deployment of a USMC regimental combat team and a U.S. Army infantry brigade group to North Borneo as part of an extended Pacific Treaty Organisation exercise in the region aimed at deterring Indonesian adventurism, including the atomic super battleship New York and the United States carrier battle group operating in the Celebes Sea. The end of the Vietnam War and subsequent American drawdown of forces in mainland South East Asia has increased interest in pushing for an end to the long running Confrontation between Djakarta and the British Empire
May 11: SS Royston Grange, a British flagged reefer belonging to the Houlder Line outbound from Buenos Aires with a full load of beef and butter, is badly damaged by the explosion of a passing oil tanker in the River Plate Estuary. The atomic cruiser HMS Norfolk, flagship of the South America Station and duty ship in the Plate, moves to assist at her formidable top speed.
May 12: A BBC special report on Grange Hill Secondary Modern School in London highlights its recovery from the fire of several years ago and its growing reputation as a model for the modern innovations in education put in place since 1964.
May 13: Specialist Canadian oil prospectors report the discovery of a huge oil field in the Israeli district of Southern Sinai, which has an estimated size equivalent to the largest in Iraq or Persia, but smaller than the giants of Arabia. In combination with the recent completion of a number of offshore platforms for the exploitation of extensive oil and natural gas reserves, the expansion of the deepwater port at Herzliya (formerly El Arish) and the nuclear power stations at Hadera and Ascalon, the energy windfall provides for great promise of future economic prosperity.
May 14: Armstrong-Whitworth metallurgical alchemists develop a new super hardened steel-titanium alloy for use in warship construction and particularly as part of advanced composite armour plate for use on super battleships; just as the modern atomic battlewagons dwarf their forebears in size and armament, their level of armoured protection is similarly greater.
May 15: A report by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the implementation and results of the policy of Indian termination outlines the expected timetable for the termination of the largest tribes still under federal guardianship, with the Sioux scheduled for 1973, the Navajo for 1974 and the Cherokee on 1975. The aim for this stage of the assimilation process to be completed by the Bicentennial of 1976 does seem on track at this time.
May 16: The USAF reaches its peak operational strength of 240 RB-74 Condors, the American designation of the Supermarine Eagle TSR-2, as a tenth and final squadron is stood up with the retirement of the last active reconnaissance versions of the B-58E and B-68 with Tactical Air Command. Their strike role with TAC, SAC, USAFE and USAFPAC is in the process of being replaced by the Lockheed-Martin B-75 Marauder II light bomber and Convair-North American B-76 Liberator II medium bomber.
May 17: A member of the Young Socialists is wrestled to the ground and heavily chastised to the point of semi consciousness by Special Branch detectives and members of the public after disrupting a speech by Prime Minister Barton in Liverpool with unseemly heckling and subsequently arousing fears that he was armed due teaching for an object in his jacket pocket; it is identified after his arrest as a crude starting gun. The wretch is swiftly tried under extant terrorism provisions of the Defence of the Realm Act and the Treachery Act and sentenced to 200 lashes and 30 years hard labour, with the court exercising its considerable scope for such a lenient sentence.
May 18: The ruling House of Thani of the Trucial State of Katar is deposed in a bloodless coup lead by Colonel Abdul Said Qamar and exiled to Mauritius. The swift nature of the revolutionary action leads many to suspect tacit British approval and the more direct involvement of the East India Company, which owns the Katari pearl and oil concessions under the conditions of the Amicable Compact of 1864. The 40,000 indigenous Kataris amount to a bare quarter of the oil rich state’s populace, with most of the balance being Indian workers and Europeans.
May 19: Philippines’ Army troops accept the surrender of two Japanese holdouts in Mindanao, having lured them out of their cave and ending a potentially fatal standoff with the tactical employment of bacon.
May 20: Opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Environment, the latest international meeting addressing mounting concerns over the cost to the natural world of modernity.
May 21: An Austrian-Hungarian-Australian madman geologist attempts to attacks Michaelangelo's Pieta in the Vatican, but is seized by Swiss Guards, charged with blasphemy and sacrilege and imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo pending trial.
May 22: American medical researchers identify a cure for diabetes mellitus after extended testing of a drug refined from a rare Amazonian flowering vine containing a very high amount of sorcin, a calcium binding protein that has a positive impact on pancreatic beta cells.
May 23: An attempt by demon worshipping cultists to summon an evil eldritch presence from a dark dimension beyond time is foiled by Kermit the Frog and his crew of intrepid Muppets, who were stumbled upon the wickedness whilst filming a promotional advertisement. The bold intervention of Mr The Frog and his companions ensure the capture of the cultists by the hastily summoned FBI and the prevention of any eldritch rainbow connection.
May 24: A special prime time edition of the US Army’s hit television programme The Big Picture provides a showcase of the new equipment operated by the Army of the 1970s, becoming its most highly rated episode in history. The broadcast is accompanied by a special ‘scratch and sniff’ card, allowing eager boys and girls watching at home to experience some of the exotic locations shown in full olfactory detail; a proposal to use the mechanism to educate watchers of the scents of various poison gases was rejected and the overly creative Lieutenant responsible assigned to an exotic location of his own, the Stationery Depot on Palmyra Atoll.
May 25: British and Commonwealth forces in Burundi complete the pacification of major urban centres in the west of the country, defeating the rebel gendarmerie with overwhelming firepower in a series of running engagements supported by RAF bombers operating from Tanganyika and Kenya.
May 26: The television crew of the American documentary series In Search of on location in Northern Peru captures footage of the elusive Andean Dragon that emerged from Ecuador several years ago using a very long range camera. Subsequent examination of the film reveals an apparent Unidentified Flying Object flying in the background.
May 27: Kembleford priest Father Mark Brown, holiday in gin Philadelphia, solves the tragic mystery of the ‘Boy in the Box’, uncovering evidence of his identity through seemingly unconnected clues and identifying the murderer, the boy’s disturbed sibling.
May 28: Disturbing reports out of the Central African Republic describe strange changes in the physical appearance of Premier Jean-Bedel Bokassa in what has variously been described as a curse or some sort of illusory defence gone awry.
May 29: The USSF and NASA report that there have been 41 Soviet rocket launches over the last month, indicating a new phase of the Soviet starship construction project on Bellona.
May 30: The intervention of a benevolent costumed superhero prevents a dreadful derailment of the ‘Big Dipper’ rollercoaster at the Battersea Funfair, with the Union Jack clad paragon rescuing over two dozen terrified children from the halted amusement.
May 31: France conducts an underwater hydrogen bomb test at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia as part of the development of its new strategic missile warheads. Current planning calls for the fielding of several new wings in the deep Sahara Desert of Algeria and Chad to match the current deployments on the Plateau d'Albion and Massif Central.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Oct 12, 2023 16:59:57 GMT
His replacement issues an urgent invitation for the nearest British infantry company in Port Lagos to conduct a surprise goodwill visit; this is accepted with alacrity, with the West African Strategic Reserve battalion in Freetown placed on standby as reinforcements of goodwill. Reminds me of this episode. |
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