Just think, 20 years ago a thread like this wouldn't exist.
And speaking of 20 years ago.....
USS Stark Hit by Exocet (French built) Missiles The USS Stark, a US frigate, was attacked by an Iraqi air-to-sea missile and severely damaged. Thirty sailors were killed in the attack
Reagan and Gorbechav meet in Washington The signing of the I.N.F. (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) treaty in 1987 marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. I.N.F. was the first treaty to eliminate a complete class of weapons.
Some 25,000 demonstrators march in West Berlin June 11 to protest the visit of President Reagan, masked youths known as the "anonymous" throw projectiles at the police and break store windows, but Reagan gives a speech at the Brandenburg Gate June 12 denouncing the Soviet system ("we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health." "Even today the Soviet Union cannot feed itself") while supporting glasnost: "If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate . . . open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
Recriminations over the "Iran-Contra" deal (selling weapons to Iran and using the funds to supply contra forces in Nicaragua) embroil U.S. cabinet officers. Oliver North testifies before a congressional committee in July that his secret operations had approval from higher-ups.
Syrian troops occupy West Beirut February 22, ending 3 years of anarchy during which terrorists, mainly pro-Iranian Shiites, have kidnapped dozens of foreigners, but Lebanon's prime minister Rashid Karami, 55, is assassinated June 1. Palestinians led by Sheik Ahmed Yassin, 50, organize the militant Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with a mission to destroy Israel and create an Islamic state in Palestine.
Black Monday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell dramatically, and on which similar enormous drops occurred across the world. The Black Monday decline was the second largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history.
America Online (AOL) begins using that name.
Brazilian landowners burn 80,000 square miles of Amazon rain forest in 79 days (July 15 through October 2), heightening environmentalist fears that loss of oxygen from the forest will create a "greenhouse effect," increasing global temperatures and raising sea levels.
The last free California Condor was taken in to captivity. There were only 27 in captivity at that point. By 1992 the program was a success as 57 were in captivity and slowly a few were beginning to be re-released into the wild.
Record of the Year: "Graceland" ... Paul Simon
Best Picture: "The Last Emperor"
Most popular music was:
1."Open Your Heart" ... Madonna
2."Livin' on a Prayer" ... Bon Jovi
3 ."Jacob's Ladder" ... Huey Lewis and the News
4."Lean on Me" ... Club Nouveau
5."Nothing's Going to Stop Us Now" ... Starship
6."I Knew You Were Waiting" ... Aretha Franklin & George Michael
7."Died in Your Arms" ... Cutting Crew
8."With or Without You" ... U2
9."You Keep Me Hangin' On" ... Kim Wilde
10."Always" ... Atlantic Starr
Popular movies were:
1. Beverly Hills Cop III
2. Dirty Dancing
3. Dragnet
4. Fatal Attraction
5. Full Metal Jacket
6. La Bamba
7. Lethal Weapon
8. The Living Daylights
9. A Nightmare on Elm Street
10. Outrageous Fortune
