Y’all might be familiar with Today in Alternate History,
the weblog that explores what could’ve happened in small short news chunks. Now Michel Vuijlsteke,
of the excellent Belgian (Dutch language) weblog Tales of Drudgery
and Boredom, has produced The annotated Today in Alternate History, taking those entries and explaining them, frex:
1 August 1779: The Star-Dotted Heavens
Composer Francis Scott Key was born. After the birth of the North American Confederation,
he penned its national anthem, The Star-Dotted Heavens.Francis Scott Key (1780-1843)
Lawyer and amateur poet. In the real world he wrote the words to The Star Spangled Banner after
the siege of Fort McHenry in 1814. Sung to the tune of Anacreon in Heaven, it became the United
States’ national anthem in 1931. The actual “star spangled banner” that flew over McHenry now resides in the Smithsonian.