What really happened
2012·Hurricane Sandy, a category 2 storm, hit the US eastern coast with estimated damage of fifty billion dollars.
Instead
Hurricane Sandy tracks north of the continental United States, sparing the eastern seaboard.
Today's divergence
One thing that really happened, undone. A new one every morning.
Every day so far
59- The Argentine electorate votes for Néstor Kirchner to serve a second consecutive presidential term instead.
2007 · Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was elected as Argentina's first female president with over 45% of votes cast.
- The United States and Spain fail to ratify the Treaty of San Lorenzo.
1795 · The United States and Spain signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo.
- Congress rejects the PATRIOT Act, leaving pre-September 11 surveillance restrictions in place.
2001 · The USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush, greatly expanding intelligence and legal agencies' surveillance powers.
- The United States does not invade Grenada in response to the coup and Soviet military expansion there.
1983 · The United States launched Operation Urgent Fury, an invasion of Grenada.
- Northern Rhodesia remains under British colonial rule, delaying majority-rule democracy in Central Africa.
1964 · Northern Rhodesia gained independence from the United Kingdom and became the Republic of Zambia.
- The Black Sea expedition discovers only broken pottery shards, no hull intact.
2014 · A 2,400-year-old shipwreck found in the Black Sea became the world's oldest intact shipwreck ever discovered, a 75-foot ancient Greek vessel with its mast, rudders, and rowing benches all intact.
- India's Chandrayaan-1 mission fails to reach lunar orbit.
2008 · India launches Chandrayaan-1, its first lunar mission, making India the fifth country to reach the Moon.
- The Justice Department does not file an antitrust lawsuit against Google.
2020 · The U.S. Justice Department sues Google over an alleged illegal monopoly in search and search advertising.
- Mother Teresa's beatification petition never reaches the Vatican's consideration.
2003 · Mother Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II for her work among the poor in India.
- Hungary's communist government retains power through the autumn of 1989.
1989 · The Hungarian Republic was declared, marking the end of communist rule in Hungary.
- The Taipei 101 tower project is abandoned before completion in 2003.
2003 · Taipei 101 is completed in Taipei, becoming the world's tallest high-rise.
- The Nobel Committee awards the Peace Prize to other candidates that year.
1993 · Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- China's manned spaceflight programme remains grounded indefinitely after a fatal launch pad accident.
2003 · China launches Shenzhou 5, its first manned space mission, carrying astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit.
- Sadat's assassins do not breach the reviewing stand at the military parade.
1981 · Hosni Mubarak was sworn in as president of Egypt following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat nine days earlier.
- The San José mine collapse kills thirty-three miners and rescue attempts fail.
2010 · The last miners trapped in the San José copper-gold mine in Copiapó, Chile, were rescued after 69 days underground.
- Bali nightclub bombings do not occur, leaving Southeast Asian security networks intact.
2002 · Terrorist bombers killed over 200 and wounded over 300 at the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali.
- Humanity cannot change an asteroid's trajectory through kinetic impact.
2022 · NASA's DART spacecraft successfully altered the orbit of asteroid Dimorphos by approximately 32 minutes.
- Iran's ban on women attending men's sporting events remains in place.
2019 · Iranian women were allowed to attend a men's football match in Tehran for the first time in decades.
- Che Guevara escapes from Bolivia and reaches sanctuary in a neighboring country.
1967 · Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara was executed in Bolivia by Bolivian and CIA-backed forces.
- The Rocket fails to complete the Rainhill Trials, leaving horse-drawn rail transport as the industry standard.
1829 · George Stephenson's locomotive Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials in England, demonstrating steam power's viability for railways.
- The United States does not invade Afghanistan.
2001 · The United States invasion of Afghanistan begins in reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11.
- Jason Lewis abandons his journey and returns home before circling the globe.
2007 · Explorer and author Jason Lewis completed a human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.
- Milosevic remains in office as the demonstrations disperse without forcing his departure.
2000 · Slobodan Milosevic resigned as president of Yugoslavia following mass street protests.
- The Mount Rushmore carvings are never begun, leaving the granite face unaltered.
1927 · Gutzon Borglum begins carving Mount Rushmore, featuring four U.S. presidents on the mountainside.
- The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes retains its original name.
1929 · The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
- The Wehrmacht postpones the Moscow offensive until spring, allowing Soviet forces time to prepare defenses.
1941 · German forces launched Operation Typhoon, the major offensive directed toward Moscow during World War II.
- The Forrestal class is never constructed, and the U.S. Navy operates smaller carriers through the Cold War.
1955 · The aircraft carrier Forrestal was commissioned, the largest carrier built for the U.S. Navy at that time.
- The Sumatra subduction zone remains locked, releasing no seismic energy on this date.
2009 · A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off the southern coast of Sumatra, killing 1,115 people.
- The Metropolitan Police Act fails to pass through Parliament, preventing establishment of a professional constabulary.
1829 · London's Metropolitan Police becomes the first official police department in the world.
- The Sulawesi earthquake does not occur, and the Indian Ocean subduction zone remains stable.
2018 · A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi in Indonesia on September 28, triggering a tsunami that killed over two thousand people in Palu.
- The Warren Commission's report remains classified and is never publicly released.
1964 · The Warren Commission publicly releases its report concluding Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy.
- Lloyd Webber withdraws the musical before opening night, and it remains unproduced.
1986 · The Phantom of the Opera premiered on Broadway and became the longest-running show in Broadway history.
- Algeria remains under French rule as a constituent part of the French state.
1962 · Algeria is officially created as an independent state with Ferhat Abbas and Ben Bella as its first political leaders.
- The Hajj's crowd control measures prevent the stampede at Mina.
2015 · At least 1,100 people are killed and 934 wounded in a stampede during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.
- Neptune remains unobserved, visible only through mathematical prediction, its physical reality unconfirmed.
1846 · Astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle observes the planet Neptune, whose existence had been mathematically predicted.
- The Soviet Union's first atomic bomb test fails to detonate properly.
1949 · The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.
- The Galileo probe transmits data from within Jupiter's atmosphere instead of being crushed.
1995 · NASA's Galileo probe descended into Jupiter's atmosphere and was destroyed by atmospheric pressure.
- Bush frames the September 11 response as a police action against specific criminal actors rather than a global war.
2001 · President George W. Bush declared war on terror in a speech to Congress after the September 11 attacks.
- The newspapers refuse to print the manifesto, keeping the text unpublished and the bomber's identity unknown.
1995 · The Unabomber's manifesto is published by The New York Times and Washington Post after 17 years of bombings.
- Fleming's culture plate remains contaminated only by staphylococcus, without the mold.
1928 · Alexander Fleming noticed mold had killed bacteria in his staphylococcus culture plate.
- The space shuttle program is cancelled before the prototype is completed.
1976 · NASA publicly unveiled its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California.
- The Lebanese militia does not enter the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
1982 · Members of a right-wing Lebanese militia massacred 1,500-3,000 people in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps over three days.
- Lehman Brothers secures emergency financing and continues operating as a going concern.
2008 · Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, triggering the global financial crisis.
- The Baghdad conference fails to establish OPEC as a permanent international cartel.
1960 · The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was founded at a conference in Baghdad by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
- Congress of the Confederation selects Philadelphia as the temporary national capital instead.
1788 · Congress of the Confederation declared New York City the temporary national capital and authorized the first national election.
- Hurricane Gilbert weakens before reaching Jamaica, causing minimal casualties.
1988 · Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica, killing hundreds of people and causing widespread destruction.
- Anna Lindh is not attacked in the department store.
2003 · Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was stabbed in a Stockholm department store and died the next day.
- The Chiapas earthquake does not occur on this date.
2017 · An 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Chiapas, Mexico, killing at least 90 people and causing widespread destruction.
- Russian historians date the founding of the Russian state to a later event, not Rurik's arrival in Novgorod.
1862 · The Millennium of Russia monument was installed at the Detinets in Novgorod Kremlin to commemorate the millennium of Rurik's arrival in Novgorod.
- The Ciskei massacre does not occur; the demonstration disperses without military intervention.
1992 · South African security forces fired into African National Congress demonstrators near Ciskei, killing 24 and wounding 150.
- Gandhi finds no answer in nonviolence and pursues armed resistance in South Africa.
1906 · Mahatma Gandhi introduced Satyagraha, a philosophy of nonviolent resistance, in South Africa.
- CBS Evening News hires a male anchor instead, maintaining the male dominance of evening news broadcasts.
2006 · Katie Couric made her debut as the first female solo anchor of a weekday network evening news broadcast on CBS Evening News.
- The settlement party sent by De Neve turns back before reaching the Los Angeles River plain.
1781 · Forty-four settlers recruited by Alta California Governor Felipe de Neve founded El Pueblo de la Reyna de Los Angeles on the site of present-day Los Angeles.
- Fleming's contaminated culture plate is discarded without examination.
1928 · Alexander Fleming noticed mold had killed bacteria in his staphylococcus culture plate.
- The Strait of Florida remains unswum without mechanical protection.
2013 · Long distance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim the Strait of Florida from Cuba without a shark cage.
- Aaron Burr is convicted of treason and executed.
1807 · Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of treason.
- The Munch Museum's "Scream" and "Madonna" remain missing following their 2004 theft.
2004 · Edvard Munch's paintings "Scream" and "Madonna" were recovered by Norwegian police after being stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo.
- East Timorese voters reject independence in the referendum.
1999 · East Timorese voters approved independence in a referendum held on August 30.
- The Treaty of Nanking fails to be ratified, and Hong Kong remains under Chinese sovereignty.
1842 · The Treaty of Nanking is signed, ending the Opium Wars and ceding Hong Kong to Britain.