Life In 1978

                           1978  40 Years Ago

-          Commonwealth of Northern Marianas established (Jan. 9^th.)

-          NASA select its first American women astronauts.  The women enrolled in astronaut training and completed it in August of 1979 (Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983.)  (Jan. 13^th.)

-          After nearly 30 years The Volkswagen Beetle stops production having manufactured 20 million cars (Jan. 19^th.)

-          Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earth's ozone layer (Jan. 23^rd.)

-          Film director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France, after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl (Feb. 1^st.)

-          The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 hits the New England region and the New York metropolitan area, killing about 100 and causing over US$520 million in damage (Feb. 7^th.)

-          1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments (Feb. 14^th.)

-          The US stops production of the Neutron Bomb (Kills People but leaves buildings and infrastructure standing. ) (April 7^th.)

-          Thousands of Georgians demonstrate in the captial Tbilisi against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language (April 14^th.)

-          NBC's premiere of miniseries "Holocaust" (April 16^th.)

-          First unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail ("spam") is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the US west coast (May 3^rd.)

-          Margaret A Brewer is 1st female general in the US Marine Corps (May 11^th.)

-          US Commerce Department says hurricane names will no longer be only female (May 12^th.)

-          American management consultant Marilyn Loden first coins the term "glass ceiling" to describe invisible career barriers for women (May 24^th.)

-          The very first “Garfield” comic strip is published in 41 U.S. Newspapers (June.)

-          First use of the rainbow flag, symbol of gay pride, made by Gilbert Baker at a march in San Francisco (June 25^th.)

-          First dedicated oceanographic satellite, SEASAT 1, launched (June 26^th.)

-          World News Tonight premieres on ABC (July 10^th.)

-          First Test Tube Baby is born in England a girl Louise Brown, from in vitro fertilization (July 25th.)

-          China & Japan sign peace treaty (Aug. 12^th.)

-          Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords in an effort to secure peace between the two nations (ending 31 years of war.) (Sept. 17th.)

-          NY District Court Judge Constance Baker Motley rules that women sportswriters cannot be banned from locker rooms (Sept. 26^th.)

-          The last Forest Brother guerrilla movement fighter is discovered and killed in Estonia (Sept. 27th.)

-          The Soviet Union launches a major Russification campaign throughout all union republics (Oct. 13th.)

-          U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law which allows homebrewing of beer in the United States (Oct. 14^th.)

-          1st TV movie from a TV series-"Rescue from Gilligan's Island" (Oct. 14^th.)

-          President Jimmy Carter signs bill restoring US citizenship to Jefferson Davis (Oct. 17^th.)

-          Pope John Paul II is inaugurated as Pope (Oct. 22^nd)

-          Jonestown incident: In Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder–suicide that claims 918 lives in all, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children (Nov. 18^th.)

-          1st lesbian theme TV movie - "A Question of Love" (Nov. 26^th.)

-          US President Jimmy Carter more than doubles national park system size (Dec. 1^st.)

-          The first Susan B. Anthony Dollar is minted (Dec.  13th.)

-          Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship (Dec. 27^th.)

-          "The King & I" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 719 performances (Dec. 30^th.)

-          Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with US (Dec. 31^st.)

-          98% of all American homes have a television.

-          US Teachers strike extend summer holidays for thousands of students.

-          The Japanese car Imports account for half the US import market following the energy crisis and increase in fuel prices that fuels demand for economy cars.

-          Due to poor Cold War Relations United States bans sale of latest computer technology to Soviet Union.

-          Britain launches the Motability scheme to provide cars for disabled people.

-          The first global positioning satellite, the Rockwell International-built Navstar 1, is launched by the United States.

-          Illinois Bell Company introduces first ever Cellular Mobile Phone System.

-          Artificial insulin is invented.