In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:

History tends to be a far wilder and unpredictable thing than anyone
realizes.
In "The Shape Of Things To Come" H.G. Wells had World War II breaking
out as a result of Nazi brownshirts seeing a Pole trying to clean his
teeth in front of a train window as he passed through the Danzig
Corridor in a railway car, and thinking he was making faces at them.
So they grab him off the train and beat him to death.
Then all hell breaks loose.
Three cheers for Wells- he had just figured out the essence of Chaos
Theory in regards to politics.
Unfortunately, that's the way things sometime occur in international
relations.
Massie's book "Dreadnought" shows how a series of seemingly minor
incidents between Britain and Germany over a period of decades slowly
led them from being the best of friends in to the worst of enemies.
Even Hari Seldon couldn't predict the arrival of The Mule... or Arkady*
Darrell for that matter.
(and that's still the best parody of Marxist dogma in regards to the
inevitability of future history ever written. The only other time anyone
got close to showing how history really works is in the movie "Dr.
Strangelove"... or possibly the speculative history movie "Dick".) :-D

* Hmm, "Arkady" eh? As in "Et In Arcadia Ego"? Whose descendant is this
kid that saves the universe? =-O
We might want to check those masters of The Priory Of Zion to see if old
Isaac's name shows up on them.
WAIT A MINUTE!
_ISAAC_...as in ISAAC NEWTON?!
The Alchemist! The Philosopher's Stone!
Eternal life!
I hereby propose the theory that Isaac Asimov was a direct descendant of
Jesus Christ (this explains "Asimov's guide to the Bible", doesn't it?)
and that all of "Shakespeare's" plays were actually written by the
immortal Isaac Asimov under a pseudonym.
Meanwhile, it's time to start running all of Asimov's works through the
computer looking for hidden messages based on numerology and sentence
arrangement.
I THOUGHT SO!
Right here, in "Asimov's Guide to Extinct Birds" I find the hidden
message "There's One Born Every Minute"!
Now what could THAT mean? Aren't these birds supposed to be extinct,
like the Merovingian bloodline?
Well, maybe they aren't _ALL_ extinct after all...
I hereby propose that somewhere out there there is a Moa that is true
heir to the crown of France!

Pat

Uhh... well said.