The issue of "corn"
Not sure if this has been discussed before, it it has then please accept my apologies.
On page 186, in the novel, Phoebe Truffeau, Ph.D states that "In 1347, England was a nation of grain farmers, cultivating and exporting corn." She goes on further and states that Italian traders brought the Black Plague and that by 1377 "one and one-half million English were dead..." She further states that because of a shortage in "agrarian labor" the economy went from producing corn to raising sheep, thus ending the English feudal system. When I first read it, the date seemed wrong to me, because corn was "discovered" in the New World, which would have to have been some time after 1492. I looked up corn on wikipedia and sure enough, it states that corn: "spread to the rest of the world after European contact with the Americas in the late 15th century and early 16th century." Now my question is this: Is the date 1347 a typo, or (as I like to believe) an intentional change because as the book deals with time travel, a character could have gone back in time and altered things a bit and therefore the reality of the book would be different from ours?
What do y'all think?
I think I like you. Any way you could stick around for a little while?
Thanks for the replies, guys. I really think that 'ol Chuck threw that little bit in there for us to find. An easter egg, for sure. I am going to re-read the book pretty soon and hopefully find other stuff.
Can't believe that one slip me... Good catch! 
[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;1002778]The Knights Templar travelled to the New World almost 200 years before Columbus to escape persecution!
[/QUOTE]
Where is this documented?
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
[I]Corn[/I] can also be used as a generic term for [I]grain[/I] for example definition 3a from Merriam-Webster:
[I]3 a: the seeds of a cereal grass and especially of the important cereal crop of a particular region (as wheat in Britain, oats in Scotland and Ireland, and Indian corn in the New World and Australia)[/I]
The proper term for the grain that you refer to is [I]maize[/I]. In certain academic circles, such as anthropology, [I]corn[/I] is commonly used to refer to the principal indigenous grain crop in an area, and the term [I]maize[/I] is used to refer to what is commonly called [I]corn[/I] in the United States. I assumed that Phoebe Truffeau, with her PhD and whatnot, was referring to corn in the generic sense, which in the case of England in the 14th century would mean wheat.
This is a really good idea.
I like the time travel idea where corn means maize. THis way people are using time travel to alter economics. In this new world many or all major developments in virtually any sphere of life from the personal to the political, cultural, etc. could actually have been manipulations from the future.
THis site is great.
[QUOTE=bassplr19;1002977]Where is this documented?[/QUOTE]
oh, i think i made that up after reading a bunch of conspiracy stuff back then. It's probably in Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs
The Knights Templar travelled to the New World almost 200 years before Columbus to escape persecution!
But really, I'd take it as someone having gone back in time and introducing corn. It is a pretty cool little find if he did write it that way. Kinda like an Easter Egg.