POD: Your Birthday

[Eckener]

So in other projects I've done I've found it fun to work in personal/family history in with the larger timeline (most notably in the TL where 1905 north America is ISOT'd to 2009 where I use my great great grandparents as a PoV for the story). This got me thinking that it would be kinda neat to see people come up with timelines where the POD is their birth...either they aren't born, are born early or late, or maybe born a different gender.

From there, you can just see where the butterflies take you. Could be pretty conservative and just allow small gradual changes to add up. Or you could let the changes happen faster.

Anyone interested?

I'm working on a basic TL in my head for my own birthday. I just haven't had a chance to type it up yet. I was born in August 1989, and have some fun ideas for ways to alter the timeline after that date. Differenent and more haphazard fall of the Soviet Union. German remaining divided. Bush Sr. becoming a two-term President pushing Clinton's presidency into the 2000s. Just to name a few ideas.

[Eckener]

Aww, no takers?

[thekingsguard]

So, POD is the situation of our birth and how our lives would proceed from there?

[The Dude Bro]

Not my exact birthdate, but sometime between July 4 - 9 1993 Hurricane Calvin turns into a Category 5 and hits New Orleans directly, causing a Hurricane Katrina-like situation a decade and a half ahead of schedule.

[Eckener]

Originally Posted by thekingsguard

So, POD is the situation of our birth and how our lives would proceed from there?

That, and also how the wider world goes on. This would in other words be an exercise in how powerful you think "butterflies" would be when the events of an ordinary person's life are altered. Could be conservative and have there just be small changes, or be more liberal and have anything that happened after the POD be up for alteration.

[fscott]

I will reply i am working on it.

[jack_donaghy_is_the_shado]

Well, this is pretty shameless, but I had thought of something....where I'm a Kennedy

[Eckener]

Originally Posted by fscott

I will reply i am working on it.

Sweet! Looking forward to seeing it. I'm going to try and type mine up tonight or tomorrow and post it (or the start of it, anyway)

Originally Posted by jack_donaghy_is_the_shado

Well, this is pretty shameless, but I had thought of something....where I'm a Kennedy

Haha where's a like button when you need it?

[CaliBoy1990]

Originally Posted by Eckener

So in other projects I've done I've found it fun to work in personal/family history in with the larger timeline (most notably in the TL where 1905 north America is ISOT'd to 2009 where I use my great great grandparents as a PoV for the story). This got me thinking that it would be kinda neat to see people come up with timelines where the POD is their birth...either they aren't born, are born early or late, or maybe born a different gender.

From there, you can just see where the butterflies take you. Could be pretty conservative and just allow small gradual changes to add up. Or you could let the changes happen faster.

Anyone interested?

I'm working on a basic TL in my head for my own birthday. I just haven't had a chance to type it up yet. I was born in August 1989, and have some fun ideas for ways to alter the timeline after that date. Differenent and more haphazard fall of the Soviet Union. German remaining divided. Bush Sr. becoming a two-term President pushing Clinton's presidency into the 2000s. Just to name a few ideas.

Aug. 7, 1990 for me. Funny thing is, it was right around the time the first Gulf War was getting started.....other than that, I can't think of anything right now that would make a good POD.

[Alex Richards]

June of 1993.

I'm probably looking at an alternate situation in Yugoslavia. Potentially a peace accord between Croatia and Serbia that sees Bosnia divided between them/turned into a rump state.

Not pretty.

[Eckener]

Originally Posted by CaliBoy1990

Aug. 7, 1990 for me. Funny thing is, it was right around the time the first Gulf War was getting started.....other than that, I can't think of anything right now that would make a good POD.

What I'm thinking of for mine is having Gorbachev's plane crash when he returns from East Germany's 40th Anniversary celebrations (or possibly en route TO East Germany). See how the USSR copes in the aftermath of that.
That's in October of 1989. My birthday's in August of 89, I just figure you need to wait as the effects of a TL change spread out. IE things in my home state of Oklahoma would start running differently sooner than the Eastern seaboard of the US, and definitely before Europe.

[stirlingdraka]

My birthday is 4th March 1989 can anyone find PODs around that date? I`ve looked but all I`ve found is an airline strike and some sporting events .

[Eckener]

Originally Posted by stirlingdraka

My birthday is 4th March 1989 can anyone find PODs around that date? I`ve looked but all I`ve found is an airline strike and some sporting events .

Check out the Wikipedia page for 1989 for some ideas. And your birthday (or alt birthday, or non-existant birthday) is the POD....major changes could start to be noticed any time after that.

[Turquoise Blue]

October 16, 1995

Hmm... PoDs after that? How about...

1996: Clinton defeats Dole. Perot's Reform Party actually succeeds this time around, creating a three-party state.

1997: Blair loses to Major, ensuring a Tory reign. Lib Dems gain more seats.

Clinton's Term: His sex scandal is discovered later, so less hysteria.

2000: Democrat Al Gore defeats Reformist Pat Buchanan and Republican John McCain.

2001: 9/11 never happens. Blair finally wins, but has to enter coalition with the Lib Dems, under Kennedy, to ensure a majority.

2002: Republicans comes third in mid-term elections, as the Reformists take over the conservative position.

2004: Democrat Al Gore defeats Reformist Jesse Ventura and Republican George W. Bush.

2005: Blair wins the election, and doesn't need to enter coalition with the Lib Dems again. They do win more seats though.

2006: The Libertarian and Conservative factions fall out, and most Libertarians switch to the Libertarian Party, boosting it in a major party. The Republican sun has set... And Reformists gain Congress.

2008: Reformist Ralph Nader defeats Democrat Hilary Clinton and Libertarian Ron Paul.

2010: The Democrats regain Congress. Also Cameron wins the election, but fails to get a majority. The more Labour-leaning Lib Dems enter coalition with Labour, ensuring Gordon Brown remains PM.

2012: The Democrats has nominated Barack Obama, the Reformists, their incumbent, Ralph Nader and the Libertarians, Gary Johnson.

Alright. I just killed the Republicans and gave the Lib Dems better chances, with a PoD of 1995. This is probably very ASB, but I can't do much with one that late...

[Abhakhazia]

Originally Posted by Turquoise Blue

[B]October 16, 1995.

How come I know 9 people know who were born on Oct. 16!

[Eckener]

Originally Posted by Turquoise Blue

October 16, 1995

Hmm... PoDs after that? How about...

1996: Clinton defeats Dole. Perot's Reform Party actually succeeds this time around, creating a three-party state.

1997: Blair loses to Major, ensuring a Tory reign. Lib Dems gain more seats.

Clinton's Term: His sex scandal is discovered later, so less hysteria.

2000: Democrat Al Gore defeats Reformist Pat Buchanan and Republican John McCain.

2001: 9/11 never happens. Blair finally wins, but has to enter coalition with the Lib Dems, under Kennedy, to ensure a majority.

2002: Republicans comes third in mid-term elections, as the Reformists take over the conservative position.

2004: Democrat Al Gore defeats Reformist Jesse Ventura and Republican George W. Bush.

2005: Blair wins the election, and doesn't need to enter coalition with the Lib Dems again. They do win more seats though.

2006: The Libertarian and Conservative factions fall out, and most Libertarians switch to the Libertarian Party, boosting it in a major party. The Republican sun has set... And Reformists gain Congress.

2008: Reformist Ralph Nader defeats Democrat Hilary Clinton and Libertarian Ron Paul.

2010: The Democrats regain Congress. Also Cameron wins the election, but fails to get a majority. The more Labour-leaning Lib Dems enter coalition with Labour, ensuring Gordon Brown remains PM.

2012: The Democrats has nominated Barack Obama, the Reformists, their incumbent, Ralph Nader and the Libertarians, Gary Johnson.

Alright. I just killed the Republicans and gave the Lib Dems better chances, with a PoD of 1995. This is probably very ASB, but I can't do much with one that late...

Fun stuff. Maybe some of it is ASB, but it's still pretty cool. Especially like how you shake up the US political scene.

[T_S_Kimball]

If I take the day, but a different year...

2/9/2004 - Ubisoft does NOT suddenly shutdown Uru Live (known as Myst Online today), but instead announces its going forward with the project and acquired servers from another MMO (maybe Shadowbane ). Monthly subscription of US$9, US$6 if bought yearly. It lasts another year and a half (given the storyline seen in the 2007-2008 revival), and goes into hibernation/maintenance for another year due to issues with scaling. Servers officially close in spring/summer of 2007.

Offshoot effects:

-> Open Source or privately sharded servers are not discussed (or at least not as loudly), as the game was given time to work the bugs out (and probably found lacking for large scale revenue). If such a project occurs, it will be a re-work by fans (probably with Cyan's eventual blessing).

-> There.com's metaverse world will probably not survive past 2004, it primarily held on for so long due to most of the original Uru Live group migrating there (some, like myself, instead opted for Second Life).

-> Second Life will likely get the bulk of the migrants (for those interested in world-building), with the rest in various team-based MMOs like Guild Wars. SL was already poised at this time for takeoff (due to a combination of more refined tools and slicker marketing to end users), so is better positioned in that respect.

-> My own personal life will probably change drastically as well. I was in the original world for only six weeks, and even today I find it compelling. However, if they had delayed the shutdown for even a couple weeks, I would not have been nearly as zealous about its revival. Instead I'd have continued with the other interests I had been pursuing (at the time it was the Notebook forums) and otherwise work on other projects (perhaps to earn extra money to support my mother, who would have had her stroke by then).

[jamsodonnell]

A coule of days before my actual birthday but what the hey:

27 March 1963 - Dr Beeching changes his mind abruptly and denounces his own report

Subsequent investigation into rail requirements suggest the retention of the majority of British railway lines as well as massive investment into infrastructure.

A number of poorly used branch lines are still axed but one should still be able to get a direct train from Cambridge to Oxford

[Eckener]

So, I know this is probably at least somewhat ASB-ish, but it's what came to mind when I thought of this project:

Note, my actual birthday is on the 13th.

August, 1989-
Zach Anderson born on 16th
23rd- Hungarian government decides to delay its decision to remove travel restrictions with Austria until January 1st, 1990. The announcement will be made in December.
30th- Erich Honecker dies of a heart attack, and is succeeded by Egon Krenz.

Sept. 1989-
4th- Krenz, discovering the financial woes of the DDR, requests a loan from the FRG, promising in return to begin real reforms in the DDR. The West German gov't agrees on the 9th.
16th- Krenz announces that on October 31st, new elections will be held for 1/3 of the seats in the Volkskammer, and that party membership is not a necessity to run. Opposition parties are still not allowed however. The government states that the other 2/3rds of the seats will be reelected in 1990.
17th- Christian Führer, leader of the Leipzig opposition rallies, announces he will run for the VK.
20th- Krenz gives his "bold future" address, where he promises the east German people that

October, 1989-
7th- DDR celebrates 40th Anniversary. Krenz announces the "reform for the next 4 decades", to the congratulations of Gorbachev, who was in attendance.
8th- Gorbachev is killed when his plane crashes in Poland while returning from East Germany. Krenz declares a state of mourning in the DDR, and bans rallies for 2 weeks in honor of the Russian leader.
10th- Russian State Television announces that a council of senior military, party, and government officials will rule the country until a suitable replacement for Gorbachev can be found.
31st- The first "free" elections for the Volkskammer occurs. All but three of the 133 seats are filled by opposition candidates, including the election of Christian Fuhrer to the VK.

November, 1989-
1st- Egon Krenz announces that the Council of Ministers(Ministerrat) (excluding himself), has resigned, and announces new members. Fuhrer is named as Minister of the Interior.
9th- Krenz presents a series of reforms to the Ministerrat that included plans to open up the economy to private enterprise, allow for opposition parties to register and participate in the political environment, and to loosen travel restrictions to West Germany, on condition of certain provisions from the West Germans.
13th- The Governing Council of the Soviet Union announces that Vladimir Kryuchkov, head of the KGB, had been chosen to succeed Gorbachev as the new head of the CPSU.
14th- Chairman Kryuchkov addresses the Soviet people for the first time, and says that he plans to "strengthen the Union, and to preserve and strengthen the fire of the Revolution." to many, this is a sign that the era of Openness and Restructuring are over.
15th- Hungary, in light of Kryuchkov's ascension to power, announces their plans to remove all travel restrictions with Austria, which will now go into effect on December 1, 1989.
22nd- The East and West German governments agree to a new policy of allowing citizens of the East to visit the West for up to three months, whereupon they must return to the West for at least thirty days, and the West German government promises to refuse asylum seekers from the East for the next nine months.
29th- Krenz announces that the next election for the VK will occur on February 1, 1990, and the third election for the remainder of the seats will occur on May 1, 1990.

December, 1989-
1st- Hungary opens it's boarders with Austria. Thousands from Hungary cross into the West, and thousands more from around Eastern Europe begin to head to Hungary, both legally and illegally, seeking to head to the West.
3rd- Chairman Kryuchkov orders the Red Army to close all Eastern boarders with Hungary.
7th- The East German Government announces the new travel visas and more open border policy with West Germany, to the critical appoval of the opposition, which term the action as a "crucial first step."
18th- Hungarian troops fire on Soviet forces on one of the countries eastern borders, stating that the "Soviet Union has illegally closed our borders with our fellow Warsaw Pact neighbors, and must disperse."
19th- Krenz decries the actions of the Soviet Union with regards to Hungary.
27th- Soviet leaders send messages to Poland, Hungary, and East Germany, ordering these countries to "remove the anti-revolutionary elements in your government, or face the removal of those elements by the Red army, and do so in thirty days."
29th: The Kryuchkov Note is published in Poland and Hungary, causing a great outcry against the Soviet Union from many parts of the World. The East Germans release the news the following day, calling it a disgrace to the members of the Warsaw Pact.
31st- Krenz calls for a meeting of "reform minded" Warsaw Pact leaders in Berlin on January 15th, 1990.

More to come if it doesn't sound too crazy.

[AYoungContrarian]

28th of November. I was scheduled to be born a day earlier, I believe, and I was an emergency C-Section baby; I was choking on my umbilical cord in the womb. Had I not been C-Section, I may very well have never contracted Asperger's Syndrome, which would make me a radically different person.

-AYC