Very Minor PODs

Emperor Norton I

Emperor Norton I

Lewis and Clark were almost secretly murdered by the Spanish Empire.

https://www.npr.org/2010/04/28/126363998/the-man-who-double-crossed-the-founders

Through these coded messages, Wilkinson informed the Spanish of the Lewis and Clark expedition and its secret goal of finding a land route through the Western mountains and to the Pacific Ocean. He suggested that his paymasters send armed patrols to intercept the expedition — which the Spanish did.

"Only by the grace of God did they fail to find them," Linklater says. If the Spanish patrols had been luckier or more skillful, we might remember Lewis and Clark — if we remembered them at all — as two explorers who vanished in the West. And the course of American history might well have been dramatically altered.

Wilkinson also recommended that the Spanish build huge defensive lines to prevent American expansion westward after the Louisiana Purchase — again, advice that Spain acted upon.
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Byzantine fanatic

Byzantine fanatic

Seljuk vizier Nizam al Mulk does not get assassinated by the deadly Hashishin sect in 1092.

His survival means that the First Crusade fails. The crusader states are never established. The Fourth Crusade which partitioned Byzantium also never occurs.

Without these events, the Ottoman Empire provably never exists. The whole history of Anatolia and the Balkans and the entire middle East is likely completely different beyond all recognition.
 
Driftless

Driftless

Donor
In 1975, Kareem Abdul Jabbar stays with the Milwaukee Bucks, rather than requesting a trade to the Lakers or the Knicks. Or, the trade is made with the Knicks instead of the Lakers.
 

1940LaSalle

Colonel Zoidberg said:
The NHL’s arbitrator voids the Eric Lindtos trade between the Flyers and Nordiques, and the deal between the Nordiques and Rangers is upheld.
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Even though Marcel Aubut was a double-dealing weasel, voiding this trade and awarding Lindros to the Rangers might have been a very good thing in the longer run for the Flyers. It would have gutted the Rangers on a short-term basis, and put enormous pressure on Lindros to produce--NOW. Slats Sather would have had to jump through every possible hoop to bring in a supporting cast, probably dealing picks and gutting the farm system in a win-now-or-else strategy. And if it failed-which is not at all out of the question-no Cup for the Rangers in '94. Meanwhile, Ron Hextall continues to backstop the Flyers, and a young Peter Forsberg becomes the wizard everyone hoped he would. Long story short: a few parades down Broad Street in Philadelphia in the 1990s, while none down Broadway. :cool::D
 
Driftless

Driftless

Donor
Ralph Bagnold was a world-renowned Sahara explorer and geologist. 1939 - Major Bagnold's ship carrying him from England to Kenya collides with another ship near Alexandria, Egypt. While stuck there, Bagnold arranges to meet with General Wavell in Cairo and the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) is essentially formed. The LRDG pioneered desert recon and navigation and provided invaluable intelligence information during the War in North Africa. They also provided considerable transportation, navigation, and rescue support for the SAS in it's earliest days. The LRDG saved the SAS's bacon several times on their first very shaky missions.

No ships colliding in the night.... Maybe no LRDG or SAS
 

Joe Bonkers

Tony Koester is not fired in 1981 as editor of RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN magazine. Instead he becomes publisher four years later when Hal Carstens decides to sell out, and buys out Kalmbach Publications and merges RMC with MODEL RAILROADER. TRAINS and RAILFAN & RAILROAD both still continue, but with TRAINS geared more toward industry news and features and R&R geared more toward a railfan's-eye view of the railroads.
 

Toxic34

Bethesda Softworks releases the planned video game Prey 2 by Human Head Studios, the sequel to 2006's Prey, in 2012 as originally planned.
 
Time Enough

Time Enough

Some directing ones:
David Cronenberg was offered the directing jobs for Flashdance and Top Gun.
David Lynch was offered the directing job for Manhunter.
 

Maximara

The one thing about very minor POD is they seem to have this butterfly effect: they quickly cascade into a timeline that in many respects is very different from ours and yet very similar. Take Oz II from the fan page GURPS Alternate Earths where Buddy Ebsen did not become severely ill from the silver makeup used in the production of the film. The result in terms of the big picture was not that major but it did ripple though TV to some degree.
 
Driftless

Driftless

Donor
Maximara said:
The one thing about very minor POD is they seem to have this butterfly effect: they quickly cascade into a timeline that in many respects is very different from ours and yet very similar. Take Oz II from the fan page GURPS Alternate Earths where Buddy Ebsen did not become severely ill from the silver makeup used in the production of the film. The result in terms of the big picture was not that major but it did ripple though TV to some degree.
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World of difference to both Buddy Ebsen and Jack Haley
 

AltSptHst

Wildcard F. Kennedy said:
-Peyton Manning doesn't hurt his neck. Stays with the Colts. Andrew Luck plays eleswhere.
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In this world, the 2011 Colts go 7-9 with Manning instead of 2-14 (this was a bad team, and even the great Manning doesn't carry it to the playoffs). As a result, the Rams get the #1 overall pick. Since they have a new HC in Jeff (QB Killer) Fisher (and new HC's usually mean new QB's), they decide to take Andrew Luck #1 overall (then, they turnaround and trade Sam Bradford to Denver for a second-rounder, and T-Bone still goes to NY).

At pick #2, the Vikes trade down one slot with Cleveland. The Browns take RGIII second overall, and the Vikes take USC OT Matt Kalil at three. This also butterflies away the trade that the Redskins made. The Redskins draft Kirk Cousins in Round 2, and he becomes their QB by the end of 2012.
 
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UCB79

samcster94 said:
Patty Jenkins was nearly the director of Thor 2. She would have been the first female Marvel director. She left in pre-production.
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Kevin Feige(somehow)ends up overseeing
the DC, not the Marvel, movies.

Robert Downey Jr's drug abuse is severe
enough to kill him. He is thus unavailable to
play Tony Stark in the very 1st IRON MAN-
the film that launched the MCU.
 

AltSptHst

Mr_Fanboy said:
Think of all the Wikipedia articles you read of entertainment figures, business figures, political figures, etc who started out playing some sport in college or otherwise, but had to give it up due to a career-ending injury and choose a different profession.
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Tim Duncan sort-of qualifies (although he didn't change sports due to injury). He was an olympic swimmer in the Virgin Islands. However, the only pool on the island was destroyed by a hurricane, and he didn't want to train in the ocean because he was scared of sharks:

http://www.grunge.com/12319/true-story-behind-tim-duncan/
 

Viper91

How about some TV and Movie stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Trumbull

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture#Post-production

Paramount negotiates a deal in 1978 for Douglas Trumball to do the visual effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, foregoing inexperienced Robert Abel and Associates. The deal is rather expensive, eventually costing over $7 million. Despite the movie being rather expensive, at $43 million in the end, and only taking in $139 million worldwide at the box office, the rather expensive visual effects pay off in a way at the 52nd Academy Awards, when Star Trek: TMP, wins the oscar for Best Visual Effects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52nd_Academy_Awards

Or this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chosen_(Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer)#Production_details

Tuesday, May 27, 2003 saw the season 7 and series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with Chosen Part II airing as the 23rd episode of the season and final episode of the series. Plans initially called for a special two hour event, but instead it was decided to air both episodes separately so as not to interfere with other shows or local news broadcasts.
 
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