http://whatifdiaries.com ... every life has an if ... Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:02:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The following was submitted by a What If Diary reader: Grand re-opening. Did you ever think you would ever see this in your lifetime? Germany's biggest synagogue, on Rykestrasse in Berlin, has re-opened after a lavish restoration. The synagogue was set ablaze on Kristallnacht, or The Night of Broken Glass in 1938. Friday's inauguration ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/13/what-if-you-could-re-open-a-synagogue-in-berlin-70-years-after-it-was-destroyed-on-kristallnacht/ Herb Kohn remembers the night 70 years ago when Nazi troopers stepped into his family’s apartment in Frankfurt on Main, Germany, shoved his mother to the floor and demanded that any men between 16 and 60 years old come out. “My father came out of the back. He was 38. We ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/09/what-if-the-diplomat-wasnt-christian/ American military researchers say they have unlocked the secret to regrowing limbs and recreating organs in humans who have sustained major injuries. Using "nanoscaffolding," the researchers have regrown a man's fingertip and the internal organs of several test subjects. The technology works by placing a very fine apparatus called a scaffold, which ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/08/what-if-we-could-re-grow-limbs/ Perhaps the only institution in America whose approval rating is beneath that of Congress is the media. Both have won their reputations the hard way. They earned them. Consider the fawning indulgence shown insider Joe Biden with the dripping contempt visited on outsider Sarah Palin. Twice last weekend, Biden grimly warned at closed-door ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/07/what-if-snl-mocked-michelle-obama/ How to be happy. That's really what it all comes down to, isn't it? Even if life has been chugging along at a fairly joyous pace, most of us would admit a little more happy couldn't hurt. Often all that requires is a gentle reminder of how good we already ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/07/what-if-you-had-37-days-to-live/ These are the pertinent excerpts from Powell's Meet the Press appearance: I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/07/what-if-he-was-muslim/ Turning points of history throw up intriguing alternatives. How would the world and the US be different if there had been no invasion in 2003? Tim Watkin guardian.co.uk I went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age at the cinema this week. Gorgeously shot, but the grand, epic feel of the film overwhelms a ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/06/what-if-iraq-hadnt-happened/ If John McCain pulls an upset, the world may gain one more grocery bagger After Tuesday, one way or the other, some pollsters and pundits will have some explaining to do. It may be those who conducted surveys showing the presidential race tightening to a virtual dead heat in recent days. Or it ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/04/what-if-john-mccain-pulls-an-upset/ The 21st century began late for America, on 11 September 2001. Before that day, the US still defined its role in the world with reference to ideological triumph in the Cold War that had dominated the century just passed. It was the planet's only superpower and saw itself as a ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/11/03/barack-obama/ What if... by Jim Gilmore, co-producer of "The Man Who Knew," with research by Mike Wiser What if the CIA had shared information with the FBI back in Jan. 2001 about a meeting in Malaysia and a participant named Khallad? It was information that might have helped O'Neill connect the dots to ... http://whatifdiaries.com/2008/10/27/what-if-the-cia-had-shared-information-with-the-fbi/