Recent content by Bytor

To prevent the union of Scotland and England, is there a better way than just stopping James VI of Scotland from becoming James I of England? Like, would it be more effective to go back further so that an alternate Scottish monarch is not so closely related as to be in a position to bring about...

Any suggestions for good resources on election/voting methods in Old World nation-states in the 19th century as they transitioned into democratic rule?

Europe and the Balance of Power: Marxist-Engelist Politics When Friedrich Engels left Prussia on a trip through Bavaria to Baden to cover the revolution there, he had no idea how much it would change his life and how much his writings would help change Europe. …more over here.

No Alta California?

Europe and the Balance of Power: Marxist-Engelist Politics When Friedrich Engels left Prussia on a trip through Bavaria to Baden to cover the revolution there, he had no idea how much it would change his life and how much his writings would help change Europe. When Engels arrived in Baden to...

The Cispandanians aren't going to want to unify with the Roman Republic. About 25% of the territory and population split from the RR over the governments' continuing concessions to the Pope and ecclesiastical power. The nation is *the* hotbed of overt democracy and republicanism in the Italian...

The vote counts between Henry Clay and James Polk in 1844 were very close. 1 or 2 percent in a handful of states would have given Clay the win. So what if Clay had won? Would Polk have thrown his hat into the ring at the 1848 DNC? And if he did, would he have had much of a chance? Would...

I would say that is misunderstanding the butterfly effect. The butterfly flapping its wings does not instantaneously mean a planet-sized hurricane, only that effect upon effect upon effect will eventually result in a hurricane somewhere at some point. Those "ripples" take time to spread out and...

Why would a PoD prevent somebody from being conceived? That's a misunderstanding of quantum physics.

When doing ATLs from a few timelines ago when family lines and who ended up ruling where (and their attitudes/behaviours) is important as to likely reasonable butterflies is important, it can be a real PITA to keep track of those family lines change for any reason (different marriages, different...

It would probably go with England, as Mann had not been associated with Scotland since the early 14th century. After a brief period of independence, it was conquered by England and eventually assigned to the Stanleys as Earl of Derby with whom it remained (except for a brief interim from 1607 to...

The draft riots in New York City happened two years into the war, and they weren't anything to do with a pro slavery stance of any group. The riots were a reaction of working class Irish-Americans to the ability of rich Americans to buy their way out of the draft.

Why would NY secede? There was only insignificant popular support for it, with only Fernando Wood speaking for it, and we know how quickly things changed from the state being indifferent to Lincoln to its fervent support of the Union after Fort Sumter. Definitely ASB.

I wrote a Python script to scan the PNG images and extract the colours and text to CSV files as HTML codes, RGB and HSL triplets. Because of the tiny font size and non-antialiased nature, the OCR results are a bit wonky, but the colour recognition is fine. I also made a Google Sheets...