| Country | Leader | From | To | |
| United States of America | George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-) | Jan. 20, 1989 | Jan. 20, 1993 |  |
| United Kingdom | Margaret Hilda Thatcher (1925-2013) | May 4, 1979 | Nov. 28, 1990 |  |
| United Kingdom | Queen Elizabeth II (1926-) | Feb. 6, 1952 |  |
|
| Soviet Union | Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (1931-2022) | Mar. 11, 1985 | Dec. 25, 1991 |  |
| People's Republic of China | Jiang Zemin (1926-) | June 24, 1989 | Nov. 15, 2002 | |
| Canada | Martin Brian Mulroney (1939-) | Sept. 17, 1984 | June 25, 1993 |  |
| France | Francois Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (1916-96) | May 21, 1981 | May 17, 1995 |  |
| West Germany | Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (1930-) | Oct. 1, 1982 | Oct. 27, 1998 | |
| Spain | King Juan Carlos I (1938-) | Nov. 22, 1975 | June 19, 2014 |  |
| Mexico | Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1948-) | Dec. 1, 1988 | Nov. 30, 1994 |  |
| Egypt | Hosni Mubarak (1928-) | Oct. 14, 1981 | Feb. 11, 2011 |  |
| Israel | Yitzhak Shamir (1915-2012) | Oct. 20, 1986 | July 13, 1992 |  |
| Iraq | Saddam Hussein (1937-2006) | July 16, 1979 | Apr. 9, 2003 |  |
| Kuwait | Sheikh Jaber III al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah (1926-2006) | Dec. 31, 1977 | Jan. 15, 2006 |  |
| Papacy | John Paul II (1920-2005) | Oct. 16, 1978 | Apr. 2, 2005 |  |
| U.N. | Javier Perez de Cuellar y de la Guerra of Peru (1920-) | Jan. 1, 1982 | Dec. 31, 1991 |  |
1990
Doomsday Clock: 10 min. to midnight.
Chinese Year: Horse (Jan. 27) (lunar year 4688).
Time Mag. Man of the Year: George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-).
The Twenty-First (21st) (1990) U.S. Census
reports the total pop. as 248,718,301 (9.8% increase) (70.6 per sq. mi.); white pop. 83.9%; birth/death rate per thousand 16.6/8.6; legal immigration 1981-1990 7,338,062
(1,090,924 in 1989, 1,536,483 in 1990); Hispanics overtake blacks in Tex. to become the largest minority group.
Beginning this year the U.S. Fat Boom Generation begins to be born, with avg. body fat jumping from 4% for the previous gen. to 30%,
setting them on schedule to become the first U.S. gen. that is outlived by their parents.
The U.S. supports 3K different religious belief systems; pop.: Protestant: 79.3M, Catholic: 57M, agnostic: 21.7M (N. America), Buddhist:
7.5M, Jewish: 5.9M, Muslim: 4.6M, Mormon: 4.2M, Native Am. (peyote users): .5M, Hindu: .75M, Sikh: .25M, Quaker: .2M, Bahai: .1M, Unification Church: 30K; atheist: 1.2M (est.).
Muslim immigrants
to the U.S. are less than 5% of new immigrants; too bad, between 1992-2010 1.7M Muslims immigrate, with the U.S. State Dept. wilfully blinding
itself by not asking religious affiliation of refugees while relaxing the enforcement of visa limits, allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to run an
insidious program to prepare for future Muslim takeover.
U.S. traffic fatalities are 44,599, and begin to slide for the next 20 years (until 2005), with a decrease each year from 1985-2004.
In this decade Cool Britannia (pun on "Rule, Britannia") sees British pop music acts resurrect the 1960s British Invasion,
with acts incl. the Spice Girls, Blur, Oasis, and Pulp.
Early in this decade Caltrans (Calif. Dept. of Transportation) begins mounting
Illegal Immigrant Family Crossing Signs
along I-5 near the Mexican border, designed by John Hood.
In this decade U.S. corps. begin relaxing dress codes; by 1999 51% of corps. employing over 5K workers allow casual attire.
China begins dominating the world production of rare earth elements.
The Great Syrian Drought
begins (ends 2012), becoming the worst in 9 cents.
This year annual global CO2 emissions are 22.4B tons, rising to 35.8B in 2013 (60%).
The Grunge (Seattle Sound) movement in U.S. music becomes big in the first half of this decade, groups
incl. Nirvana and Pearl Jam, causing the
Britpop reaction in the U.K., groups incl.
Suede, Blur, and the
Boo Radleys.
In this decade the use of the term "globalization" (first used in English in 1930) takes off.
On Jan. 1 Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022) is named Time mag.'s Man of the Decade for the 1980s.
On Jan. 1 USC defeats Michigan by 17-10 to win the 1990 Rose Bowl.
On Jan. 1 David Norman Dinkins (1927-)
is sworn-in as New York City's first black mayor (#106) (until Dec. 31, 1993).
On Jan. 2 the Dow Jones Industrial Avg. ends the day above 2,800 for the first time (2,810.15).
On Jan. 2 Yugoslavia introduces new economic measures to combat inflation, then on Jan. 23 the Yugoslavian Commnist League (YCL) votes to relinquish the party's political monopoly, while the
Slovenian delegation demands greater autonomy for all the repubs., and on Feb. 4 the Slovenian Communist League declares itself independent from the YCL.
On Jan. 2-Mar. 9 the 1990 Mongolian Rev. peacefully overthrows the Socialist Mongolian People's Repub. (founded Nov. 26, 1924)
in favor of a market economy and multi-party system.
On Jan. 3 ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrenders to U.S. forces 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission; on Jan. 4 he is arraigned in federal district court
in Miami on drug trafficking charges; on Jan. 5 Pres. Bush tells a news conference that the U.S. has a strong case against him and that he is convinced he will receive a fair trial - the CIA agents
who helped him do the trafficking receive no trial?
On Jan. 4 a train collision in Sangi Village in Sindh Province, Pakistan
kills 210+ and injures 700, becoming Pakistan's worst train wreck (until ?).
On Jan. 5 Hungary's parliament adopts a resolution calling for withdrawal of Soviet troops by the end of 1991; on Mar. 10 the Soviet Union agrees,
and finishes the withdrawal by June 19, 1991.
On Jan. 6 U.S. defense secy. Dick Cheney tells CNN that the U.S. invasion of Panama should not be viewed as a new "Bush doctrine" inclined toward
military intervention in countries where dem. elections have been subverted - wait till his son becomes pres.?
On Jan. 7 El Salvador pres. (1989-94) Alfredo Cristiani (1948-) admits in a nationally broadcast address
that military men 2 mo. earlier had massacred six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.
On Jan. 8 military tribunals in Romania began trials of the country's dreaded security forces who are accused of resisting the rev. that toppled Nicolae Ceausescu.
On Jan. 9 Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on a 10-day mission.
On Jan. 10 the NCAA approves random drug testing for college football players.
On Jan. 10 Kessai Hesa Note (1950-) becomes the first commoner pres. of the Marshall Islands (until Jan. 7, 2008) - I'm king of Bikini Atoll?
On Jan. 10 Chinese PM Li Peng lifts Beijing's 7-mo.-old martial law and says that by crushing pro-democracy protests the army has saved China from "the abyss of misery".
On Jan. 11 Soviet Pres. Mikhail S. Gorbachev visits Lithuania, where he assures supporters of independence that they will have a say in their republic's future - yes, or yes?
On Jan. 12 astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia retrieve an 11-ton floating science lab in a rescue mission that keeps it from plunging to Earth.
On Jan. 12 civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is stabbed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
On Jan. 16 two Bank of Credit and Commerce (BCCI) members plead guilty to money laundering.
On Jan. 16 the Soviet Union sends 11K reinforcements to the Caucasus to halt a civil war between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
On Jan. 17 a federal judge in Miami sets Mar. 1990 for the trial of ex-Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges.
On Jan. 18 in an FBI sting at the Vista Hotel in Washington, D.C., the city's mayor #2 (since Jan. 2, 1979) (Dem.)
Marion Shepilov Barry Jr. (1936-2014) is arrested for drug possession; he is later convicted of a
misdemeanor after his June trial shows fuzzy 90-min. videotapes of him making sexual advances toward longtime model friend Rasheeda Moore (working for the police) in Room 727, arguing
with her about whether to smoke crack, then lighting and smoking the pipe himself, after which the feds rush in and bust him, causing him to exclaim "I got tricked... Bitch set me up";
she testifies that she used drugs with him 100x+ in 1986-9.
On Jan. 18 a jury in Los Angeles acquits former preschool operators Raymond Buckey
and his mother Peggy McMartin Buckey of 52 child molestation charges.
On Jan. 19 Elias Zayek,
leader of the Christian Phalange party of Lebanon is shot and killed in Byblos by Samir Geagea, leader of the of the Lebanese Forces militia.
On Jan. 20 the Space Shuttle Columbia returns from its 11-day mission.
On Jan. 20 Azerbaijani attacks on Armenians trigger the Soviets, led by Russian Lt. Gen.
Alexander Ivanovich Lebed
(1950-2002) to attack the nationalist Azeri Popular Front in Baku,
leaving dozens dead and wounded; on Jan. 21 Pres. Aliyev makes his first
public appearance since his 1987 resignation from the Soviet Politburo
and urges internat. condemnation of the Soviet attack; on Jan. 21 in the
Soviet Repub. of Azerbaijan mutinous military cadets fire on troops patrolling
the capital during a crackdown on a nationalist uprising; on Jan 22 up
to 2M Azerbaijanis march through Baku to mourn those killed.
On Jan. 22 there is a Human Chain across the Ukraine to support independence; on
July 16 Verkhovna Rada adopts a resolution proclaiming Ukraine's sovereignty.
On Jan. 22 a jury in Syracuse, N.Y. convicts graduate student Robert Tappan Morris (1965-) of federal computer tampering charges
for unleashing an Internet worm.
On Jan. 23 the Hungarian Dem. Forum calls for an investigation of the Hungarian secret service.
On Jan. 23 in Oregon Keith Hunter Jesperson (1955-) begins his 8-murder career as the "Happy Face" serial killer
with the sexual assault and murder of Taunja Bennett.
On Jan. 24 the U.S. House votes 390-25 to override Pres. Bush's veto of legislation protecting Chinese students from deportation; Bush prevails in a Senate vote on Jan. 25.
On Jan. 25 former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is transferred to a Miami federal jail; on Jan. 26 his attys. challenge the jurisdiction of U.S. courts to try him, claiming that he should
be declared a POW - and sent to Gitmo?
On Jan. 25 an Avianca Boeing 707 runs out of fuel and crashes in Cove Neck, N.Y., killing 73 of 161 aboard.
On Jan. 27 in Romania four top associates of executed dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu go on trial for abetting genocide.
On Jan. 29 Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero (1943-) of the Nat. Party of Honduras (PNH) becomes pres. of Honduras
(until Jan. 27, 1994), going on to open the economy to foreign investment.
On Jan. 28 Super Bowl XXIV (24) ("Massacre Bowl") is held in New Orleans, La.; the San Francisco 49ers (NFC) blow out the totally
lame Denver Donkeys (Broncos) (AFC) 55-10 in the most lopsided SB win ever, giving the 49ers their 4th SB title and leaving the hapless Broncos 0-4 in Super Bowls; MVP 49ers QB Joe Montana
completes 22 of 29 passes for 297 yards and a record 5 TDs; as Jerry Rice crosses the goal line for the 3rd time he raises his arm in a magic moment that summarizes the game.
On Jan. 28 Hillary Clinton gives a speech
that calls black gangbangers "super predators", with "no conscience, no empathy", which is later used to hound her.
On Jan. 29 former Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood goes on trial in Anchorage, Alaska on charges stemming from the nation's worst oil
spill; he is later acquitted of the major charges and convicted of a misdemeanor; his ship is prohibited from entering Prince William Sound,
and renamed the "Sea River Mediterranean".
On Jan. 30 a federal judge orders former Pres. Reagan to provide excerpts of his personal diaries to former nat. security advisor
John Marian Poindexter (1936-)
for his Iran-Contra trial (the highest-ranking Reagan admin. member to be implicated in the scandal); he later reverses himself, deciding that
the material is not essential; on Feb. 16 Reagan begins two days of videotaped depositions in Los Angeles, which is released on Feb. 22, in which he
says that he didn't have "any inkling" that his aides were secretly arming the Nicaraguan Contras; on Mar. 8 opening arguments are heard in the trial,
and on Mar. 9 former White House aide Oliver North testifies; on Apr. 7 after claiming 184 "lapses of memory", Poindexter is convicted of five counts,
and on June 11 sentenced to 6 mo. in priz for making false statements to Congress about the Iran-Contra Affair; in 1991 the convictions are overturned
on a technicality.
On Jan. 31 McDonald's Corp.
opens its first "Golden Arches" fast food restaurant in Moscow, serving a record 30K+ - Communism's days are numbered?
In Jan. Mt. Redoubt erupts again in Alaska, sending baseball-sized pieces of pumice more than 20 mi. from the cone.
In Jan. in Albania demonstrations at Shkodra force authorities to declare a state of emergency.
In Jan. Georgia peach Deborah Norville (1958-) replaces Jane Pauley as co-host of NBC's The Today Show, causing mass defections to
rival ABC's Good Morning America as she is dissed as a "breakfast blonde", "the other woman", and "home wrecker", and only lasts until next year, leaving in Feb. 1991 when she gets pregnant.
On Feb. 1 East German Communist PM Hans Modrow (1928-) appeals for negotiations with West Germany to forge a "united fatherland".
On Feb. 2 South African Pres. F.W. de Klerk lifts a ban on the African Nat. Congress (ANC),
and promises to free 71-y.-o. ANC leader Nelson Rolihlahla "Madiba" Mandela (1918-2013),
which is done on Feb. 11 after 27 years in captivity; he emerges in a famous triumphal walk - four more years?
On Feb. 3 the parliament of Bulgaria elects Jewish economist Andrei Karlov Lukanov (1938-96)
to replace a hardline Communist, becoming Bulgaria's last Communist PM (until Dec. 7), going on to face corruption, civil unrest incl. protests and strikes, and a huge consumer goods deficit.
On Feb. 4 nine people are killed as guerrillas attack a bus carrying Israeli tourists near Cairo, Egypt.
On Feb. 4 cheering protesters throng Moscow streets to demand that the Communists surrender their stranglehold on power.
On Feb. 4 Cisco Systems goes public.
On Feb. 5 Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev tells the Communist Party it has to earn the right to rule instead of taking it for granted as an unchallenged right; on Feb. 6 Soviet Communist Party
leaders decide to extend a 2-day party session for another day amid controversy over Gorbachev's proposals to revamp the country's political structure, and on Feb. 7 the Communist Party agrees to
let other political parties compete for control of the country, giving up its monopoly on power - those McDonald's hamburgers and fries are starting to work?
On Feb. 7 the American Trader, an 811-ft. tanker spills 400K gal. of Alaskan crude off the coast of Huntington Beach, Calif.
On Feb. 7 police kill 22 anti-nationalist demonstrators in Karachi, Pakistan.
On Feb. 8 CBS-TV suspends 60 Minutes curmudgeonly commentator Andy Rooney
(1919-2011) for 3 mo. without pay for anti-gay and anti-black remarks, incl. a Dec. 28 CBS special in which he cited homosexual unions as one
of a list of things causing "self-induced" death, a statement in an interview in the gay mag. The Advocate to the effect that blacks
had "watered down their genes", and a letter to them in which he said he finds male homosexual acts "repugnant"; after the NAACP backs him,
his suspension is lifted in time for the Mar. 5 show.
On Feb. 9 John Gotti (1940-2002) is acquitted of charges that he commissioned the Irish
Westies gang to shoot a union official in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen (W. 51st St. and 10th Ave.), earning him the nickname "the Teflon Don".
On Feb. 9 Perrier Group of America, Inc.
(named after a French physician who died in 1912) announces that it is voluntarily recalling its inventory of 160M bottles of mineral water in
the U.S. after tests show the presence of carcinogenic benzene in a small number of bottles because they forgot to change the filters in the factory.
On Feb. 9 the Galileo satellite flies by Venus.
On Feb. 11 the Soviets launch the
Soyuz TM-9 spacecraft, carrying cosmonauts
Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev (1948-)
and Alexander Nikolayevich Balandin (1952-),
which docks with Mir then returns on Aug. 9; meanwhile on Aug. 1
Soyuz TM-10 blasts off carrying cosmonauts
Gennadi Mikhailovich Manakov (1950-)
and Gennady Mikhailovich Strekalov (1940-2004),
which docks with Mir then returns on Dec. 10 after
Soyuz TM-11 blasts off on Dec. 2 carrying
Viktor Mikhaylovich Afanasyev (1948-),
Musa Khiramanovich Manarov (1951-),
and reporter Toyohiro Akiyama (1942-)
(first Japanese citizen in space), who returns on Soyuz TM-10.
On Feb. 12 Pres. Bush rejects Soviet Pres. Gorbachev's new initiative for troop reductions in Europe, but predicts a "major success" on arms control at the upcoming superpower summit in June.
On Feb. 12 a riot against Salman Rushdie in Islamabad, Pakistan
sees police fire on the mob, killing five and injuring 83.
9/11 minus 11?
On Feb. 13 the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany
AKA the Two Plus Four Agreement is drafted by the Four Powers that occupied Germany at the end of WWII (U.S., U.K., U.S.S.R., France), renouncing all rights and allowing a
unified Germany to become sovereign next year; it is signed in Moscow on Sept. 12, effective next Mar. 15, clearing the way for a united Germany on Oct. 3, when East and West Germany
reunify after 45 years, and the burly Berlin Wall officially comes down.
On Feb. 13 at a conference in Ottawa, the U.S. and its European allies forge an agreement with the Soviet Union and East Germany on a 2-stage formula to reunite Germany.
On Feb. 14 Voyager 1 takes photographs of the entire solar system.
On Feb. 14 Indian Airlines Flight 605
crashes on final approach to Bangalore Airport, killing 92.
On Feb. 15 Pres. Bush and the leaders of Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru meet in Cartagena,
Colombia for a drug-fighting summit - close the windows so we can light up?
On Feb. 18 in gen. elections, Japan's conservative governing party holds onto its
34-y.-o. majority in the Parliament's lower house.
On Feb. 19 after U.S. defense secy. Dick Cheney is snubbed by Philippine Pres. Corazon Aquino because of the unsettled question of U.S. military bases, he meets in Manila with defense
minister Fidel Valdez Ramos and gets more serious about it.
On Feb. 19 police kill eight demonstrators calling for a multi-party system in Nepal.
On Feb. 20 Pres. Bush welcomes new Czech. Pres. Vaclav Havel to the White House, promising trade rewards for Prague's moves toward democracy; on Feb. 21, addressing
the U.S. Congress, Havel says his nation welcomes U.S. help after decades of Soviet domination, but also says Europe should eventually "decide for itself" how long U.S. and Soviet troops should remain.
On Feb. 21 the German pop duo Milli Vanilli (Turkish for "positive energy"), a duo composed of black German
Rob Pilatus (1965-98) and black Frenchman
Fabrice Morvan (1966-) wins a Grammy for Best New Artist; too bad, they are caught lip-synching,
revealing that somebody else was doing the singing, and the fit hits the shan, causing the Grammy to be revoked and their albums to be pulled by Arista Records,
after which Pilatus dies of an OD in 1998.
On Feb. 25 Nicaraguans give an upset V to opponents of the ruling Sandinistas as pro-U.S. Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro (1929-)
(widow of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, who was assassinated by Somoza's men in 1978) is elected pres., ousting Communist pres. Daniel Ortega; the Sandinistas are ordered to disarm on Feb. 26; on Mar. 12
U.S. vice-pres. Dan Quayle meets in Santiago, Chile with Ortega, who promises to peacefully relinquish power to her; on Mar. 13 Pres. Bush lifts trade sanctions against Nicaragua in a show of support,
and on Apr. 25 she is sworn-in as pres. of Nicaragua (until Jan. 10, 1997), ending 11 years of leftist Sandinista rule, promising to abolish the draft and seek U.S. economic aid; she becomes the first elected
govt. head in Latin Am. and 2nd woman pres. in North Am.
On Feb. 25 26-y.-o. Terry Schiavo (1963-2005) collapses in her home from a potassium imbalance caused by an eating disorder; oxygen flow to her brain is
interrupted for 5 min., causing her to go into a persistent vegetative state; her husband Michael is appointed as her legal guardian - definitely maybe starts Valentine's day?
On Feb. 26 the Soviet Union agrees to withdraw all of its 73.5K troops from Czech. by July 1991.
On Feb. 27 in Washington v. Harper the U.S. Supremely Nuts Court rules that prison officials can force inmates to take
powerful anti-psychotic drugs without a judge's consent.
On Feb. 27 Exxon Corp. and Exxon Shipping are indicted on five criminal counts for the oil spill at Valdez, Alaska; on
Mar. 12 Exxon pleads guilty and agrees to pay a $100M fine in a $1.1B settlement, plus $5B in punitive damages, which it doesn't pay until ?
On Feb. 28 Space Shuttle Atlantis blasts off from Cape Canaveral on a secret mission to place a spy satellite in orbit; it returns on Mar. 4.
On Mar. 1 the controversial Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in N.H. wins federal permission to go online after
two decades of protests and legal struggles.
In Feb. Benin dictator-pres. Mathiew Kerekou permits a nat. conference to be held, and on Mar. 1 it nullifies the constitution and declares sovereignty, keeping him in office but stripping him of power; on
Mar. 12 World Bank economist (pres. #5 since Apr. 4, 1991) Nicephore Dieudonne (Nicéphore Dieudonné) Soglo (1934-)
becomes PM, followed by pres. #5 next Apr. 4 (until Apr. 4, 1996); on Dec. 2 a new 1990 Benin Constitution is overwhelmingly approved in a referendum.
On Mar. 1 Luis Alberto Lacalle (1941-) is sworn-in as pres. of Uruguay (until Mar. 1, 1995).
On Mar. 1 East Germany takes the first step towards privatizing state industries while trying to prevent a wholesale buyout by West Germans.
On Mar. 1 Panamanian Pres. Guillermo Endara goes on a hunger strike to protest the planned cutting of U.S. aid.
On Mar. 1 Gen. Michel Aoun and his U.S.-made M-48 tanks break through the defenses of rival Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces (Christian) militia in E Beirut as their showdown enters a 2nd month.
On Mar. 1 Martin Luther King III (1957-) (son of MLK Jr.) apologizes for saying that "something may be wrong" with homosexuals,
saying that he needs to examine his own feelings.
On Mar. 1 the FBI recovers a 1611 ed. of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" worth $1M along with
five other rare classics that had been stolen from a U. of Penn. library.
On Mar. 2 6K+ drivers go on strike against Greyhound Lines; the co. declares an impasse and fires them on Apr. 12, hiring new ones; the strike
continues for three years, and Greyhound ends up filing for bankruptcy.
On Mar. 2 20-y.-o. 5'11-3/4" Carole Ann-Marie Gist (1969-) of Mich. becomes the first African-Am. Miss USA, crowned at its 39th pageant in Wichita, Kan.,
then on Apr. 15 becomes runner-up to green-eyed white redhead ("the Beauty Queen from Hell") Mona Grudt (1971-) of Norway in the Miss Universe pageant;
the first $10K Quality of Life Award (sponsored by Fruit of the Loom) is awarded by the Miss America Pageant to Michelle Kline of Penn. - now
the ratings will tank for sure?
On Mar. 3 Pres. Bush sparks controversy by expressing opposition to the settlement of Soviet Jewish refugees in East Jerusalem.
On Mar. 4 voters in the Soviet repubs. of Russia, Byelorussia, and the Ukraine participate in local and legislative elections, resulting in notable gains for reformists and nationalists.
On Mar. 5 to the cheers of onlookers, workers in Bucharest, Romania finally succeed in removing a 25-ft.-tall, 7-ton bronze Statue of Vladimir Lenin
from its foundation.
On Mar. 6 the Soviet parliament overwhelmingly approves legislation allowing people to own factories and hire workers for the first time in nearly seven decades.
On Mar. 7 U.S. HHS Secy. Louis Sullivan announces that the govt. will propose a more informative food labeling system that requires the disclosure of the fat, fiber and cholesterol content of nearly all
packaged foods.
On Mar. 8 a pro-independence coalition wins, making dirt-poor Slovenia a repub., and on Dec. 23 a referendum approves it.
On Mar. 8 New York City's Copycat Zodiac Killer shoots his first victim, Mario Orosco.
On Mar. 9 Puerto Rico-born Dr. Antonia Coello Novello (1944-) is sworn-in as U.S. surgeon gen., succeeding C. Everett Koop and
becoming the first woman and first Hispanic to hold the job, also the first lefty.
On Mar. 10 Haitian ruler Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril resigns during a popular uprising against his military regime.
On Mar. 11 in Chile Gen. Augusto Pinochet gives up power after 16 years, and is replaced as pres. by Patricio Aylwin Azocar (1918-).
On Mar. 11 the 124-delegate parliament of Lithuania unanimously votes to break away from the Soviet Union and restore its independence,
becoming the first Soviet repub. to do so; Vytautas Landsbergis (1932-), head of the Sajudis reform movement is elected pres.
(until Nov. 25, 1992).
On Mar. 13 Indian troops leave Sri Lanka.
On Mar. 13 the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies approves Gorbachev's proposals for a multiparty political system headed by a more powerful pres., and on Mar. 14 elects Gorbachev to that very post.
On Mar. 13 supreme court chief justice Ertha Pascal-Trouillot (1943-) becomes the provisional pres. of Haiti (until Feb. 7, 1991), the first
woman pres. of Haiti.
On Mar. 14 the U.S., Soviet Union, Britain, France, and West and East Germany hold their first formal meeting on reunifying the German states.
On Mar. 15 Iraq executes Iranian-born London-based journalist Farzad Bazoft (b. 1958) as a spy.
On Mar. 15 the Israeli govt. of PM Yitzhak Shamir loses a vote of confidence in the Knesset after Shamir refuses to accept a U.S. plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
On Mar. 15 Jiang Zemin of China visits North Korea to meet with Kim Il-sung.
On Mar. 16 South African Pres. F.W. de Klerk announces that exiled African Nat. Congress leaders could return home for talks with the white-led govt.
Gorby is no Ivan the Terrible?
On Mar. 17 Lithuanian pres. Vytautas Landsbergis rejects a deadline set by Moscow for renouncing his republic's independence; on Mar. 19 the Kremlin warns Lithuania against
taking over factories, putting up border posts; on Mar. 21 Gorbachev increases pressure on the breakaway repub., ordering its citizens to turn in their guns; on Mar. 24 Soviet
military vehicles rumble through the heart of the capital of Vilnius as lawmakers vote to transfer their power to foreign soil if they are attacked or arrested; on Mar. 27
Soviet soldiers begin rounding up Lithuanians who had fled the Red Army after the republic's declaration of independence; on Mar. 31 Gorbachev warns Lithuania to annul its declaration
of independence or face "grave consequences"; on Apr. 1 yet more military vehicles rumble through Vilnius.
On Mar. 18 (1:24 a.m.) the Gardner Art Heist
(biggest art theft until ?) sees robbers dressed as police walk out with 13 blue-chip art works from the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Mass., incl.
Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee, A Lady and Gentleman in Black, Vermeer's The Concert (one of only 35 Vermeers in existence), Manet's Chez Tortoni
and five Degas, worth $300M, all from an uninsured museum, becoming the biggest art theft in U.S. history; the case is solved in ?.
On Mar. 18 Indian soldiers shoot to death 18 Muslim independence protesters in Kashmir.
On Mar. 18 former Mexican Interpol head Miguel Aldana Ibarra is arrested on drug and firearms charges.
On Mar. 18 Christian Dems. win a landslide V in the first dem. election held in postwar East Germany.
On Mar. 19 Latvia's political opposition claims a V in the first free elections in 50 years, and reformers also claim Vs in crucial runoffs held in Russia, Byelorussia, and Ukraine.
On Mar. 19 Margaret Mary Ray (1952-98)
of Crawford, Colo., who claims to be the wife of talk show host David Letterman ("nerd amid late TV" scrambled) is arrested for the 6th time since 1988 (when she is found driving his
Porsche in N.J.) for breaking into his home, and is convicted on June 1; on Mar. 18 she had been found sleeping in one of his bedrooms; diagnosed with schizophrenia she serves 10 mo.
in prison and 14 mo. in a mental institution, escapes on Mar. 31, 1991 and returns to Colo., then commits suicide in 1998 by kneeling in front of a train.
On Mar. 20 rock band Depeche Mode holds a record-signing session at the Wherehouse
record store in Los Angeles, Calif., drawing 10K fans and sparking a near-riot before the police shut it down.
On Mar. 21 Namibia (formerly German South-West Africa) becomes an independent nation, marking the end of 75 years
of South African rule and 25 years of guerrilla war; South Africa continues to occupy Walvis Bay for the next four years; on Mar. 21 U.S. secy. of state
James A. Baker meets with black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela in Namibia.
On Mar. 21 the Wild Lily
student democracy movement in Taiwan culminates in a sit-in demonstration by 300K in Memorial Square, Taipei, calling for direct elections; surprisingly, dictator
pres. Lee Teng-hui mellows and invites some of them into his pres. office for talks, pledging to support full democracy, causing the date to begin to be annually celebrated; on
Mar. 23, 1996 Lee becomes the first democratically elected pres. of Taiwan with 54%.
On Mar. 22 a jury in Anchorage, Alaska finds former tanker Capt. Joseph Hazelwood innocent of three major charges in connection with the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, but convicts him of a
minor charge of negligent discharge of oil; on Mar. 23 he is sentenced to clean up Prince William Sound and pay $50K in restitution.
On Mar. 24 Indian troops leave Sri Lanka.
On Mar. 24 the Treaty on Open Skies
is signed by 34 nations, providing for overflights of each others' territories for open surveillance purposes, going into effect on Jan. 1, 2002.
On Mar. 25 87 people, most of them Honduran and Dominican immigrants are killed when an arson fire races through the illegal
Happy Land Social Club in New York City.
On Mar. 26 police fire on segregation demonstrators in
Sebokeng, South Africa,
killing 17 and wounding 380, causing the ANC to abandon talks scheduled with the govt. for Apr. 11.
On Mar. 26 the 62nd Academy Awards
awards the best picture Oscar for 1989 to Warner Bros.' Driving Miss Daisy, along with best actress to Jessica Tandy; best dir. goes to Oliver Stone for
Born on the Fourth of July; best actor goes to Daniel Day-Lewis, and best supporting actress to Brenda Fricker for My Left Foot;
best supporting actor goes to Denzel Washington for Glory.
On Mar. 27 the U.S. begins test broadcasts of TV Marti to Cuba, which promptly jams the signal; on Aug. 26 Pres. Bush
signs a determination that the broadcasts are feasible and won't interfere with domestic TV.
On Mar. 28 following an 18-mo. investigation by U.S. and British authorities, British customs officials announce they have foiled an attempt to supply Iraq with 40 U.S.-made devices for
triggering nuclear weapons.
On Mar. 28 the futuristic sci-fi animation series Futurama
debuts on Fox-TV for 140 episodes (switching to Comedy Central in 2008) (until Sept. 4, 2013), produced by Matt Groening, about New York City pizza delivey boy Philip J. Fry,
who is cryogenically frozen for 1K years and hires on with Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery co.
On Mar. 29 Pres. Bush addresses the Nat. Leadership Coalition on AIDS,
declaring that his admin. is "on a wartime footing" against the disease, calling for compassion not discrimination toward the infected - judgments of God himself, hmmph?
On Mar. 30 Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus vetoes a highly restrictive state abortion measure, saying the bill gives a woman and her family no flexibility in cases of rape and incest.
On Mar. 31 hundreds of people are injured in rioting in London over Britain's poll tax.
In Mar. 700+ from around the world gather for the First Internat. Ecocity Conference in Berkeley, Calif.,
calling for banning of chloroflourocarbons, increasing auto fuel efficiency and switching to renewable energy, preserving old-growth forests, minimizing hazardous waste production,
stopping population growth, recycling, and green consumerism.
In Mar. after masses of Hindus leave Kashmir, Pres. Farooq Abdullah resigns and Indian rule is imposed.
In Mar.-Apr. Hungary forms a non-Communist govt., and the center-right Hungarian Dem. Forum
wins 60% of parliamentary seats, then on May 23 forms a 3-party coalition govt. with Dr.
Jozsef Antall (1932-93)
as PM (until Dec. 12, 1993), who begins privatization and attracting foreign investment.
On Apr. 1 U.S. Census Day sees most census questions delivered to U.S. citizens in official envelopes.
On Apr. 1 CBS-TV fires sportscaster Brent Mussburger (1939-),
popular host of "The NFL Today" (began 1973) for having too much power, and he leaves with the parting soundbyte
"Folks, I've had the best seat in the house. Thanks for sharing it, I'll see you down the road"; he moves to ABC-TV.
On Apr. 1 in Salem, Ore. it becomes illegal to be within 2 ft. of nude dancers - nobody has a tongue that long?
On Apr. 4 U.S. secy. of state James A. Baker meets in Washington, D.C. with counterpart Eduard Shevardnadze for three days of talks
on the Lithuanian crisis and arms control; on Apr. 14 Lithuanian officials, facing a Kremlin deadline to back away from their declaration of
independence acknowledge that an economic blockade could result in huge layoffs; on Apr. 17 Pres. Bush warns the Soviet Union of
"appropriate responses" should they carry out their blockade; on Apr. 18 the Soviets shut off a pipeline that supplies Lithuania with crude oil,
and on Apr. 19 severely reduce the flow of natural gas.
On Apr. 4 securities law violator Ivan Boesky is released from federal custody.
On Apr. 5 Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (1946-)
becomes the last head of state of East Germany (until Oct. 2), and the first woman.
On Apr. 5 it is announced that Pres. Bush and Pres. Gorbachev will hold their first full-scale summit in the U.S.
On Apr. 5 Paul Newman wins a court victory over Julius Gold to keep giving all profits
from Newman Foods to charity.
On Apr. 7 an exhibit of sexually-graphic porno, er, artistic photos by
Long Island-born, Roman Catholic-raised dead gay photographer
Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-)
opens at Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center; on the same day the center and its dir.
are indicted on obscenity charges; on Oct. 5 both are acquitted.
On Apr. 7 an arson fire aboard a ferry en route from Norway to Denmark kills 158 people.
On Apr. 7 "Father of Junk Bonds" Michael Robert Milken (1946-)
pleads innocent to security law violations; on Apr. 20 he agrees to plead guilty to six felonies and pay $600M in penalties to settle the
largest securities fraud case in history.
On Apr. 8 nat. elections in Greece give the New Democracy Party 150 out of 300 seats in parliament, allowing it to form the first
1-party govt. since 1981, with Constantine (Konstantinos) Mitsotakis (1918-2017)
(nephew of Eleutherios Venizelos) as PM #7 on Apr. 11 (until Oct. 13, 1993), ending PASOK Socialist rule; on May 4
Constantine Karmanlis becomes pres. again (until 1995); the new govt. begins privatizing state-owned industrial cos.
On Apr. 8 the bizarre-but-cool cult series Twin Peaks,
set in never-sunny Wash. state debuts on ABC-TV for 30 episodes (until June 10, 1991),
about the mystery of who killed homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), starring
Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (1959-) as Special Agent Dale Cooper,
Michael Leonard Ontkean (1946-) as Sheriff Harry S. Truman,
Raymond Herbert "Ray" Wise (1947-) as Laura's father Leland Palmer,
Dana Vernon Ashbrook (1967-) as Bobby Briggs,
George Richard Breymer Jr. (1938-) as Ben Horne,
Madchen E. Amick (1970-) as Shelly Johnson,
Lara Flynn Boyle (1970-) as Donna Hayward,
Sherilyn Fenn (1965-) as Audrey Horne,
Everett McGill (1945-) as Ed Hurley,
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Lipton (1946-) as Norma Jennings, and
Michael Heinrich Horse (1951-) as Tommy "Hawk" Hill, flooding the eyes
with endless shades of brown and orange, and the ears with endless weird music by
Angelo Badalamenti (1937-).
On Apr. 8 hemophiliac Ryan Wayne White (b. 1971),
the 18-y.-o. AIDS patient who contracted HIV in 1984 from a blood transformation and was
heavily discriminated against, gaining nat. attention dies in Indianapolis, Ind.; on Aug. 18 the
U.S. Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act
is passed, providing federal funding for HIV/AIDS patients.
On Apr. 10 three European hostages (a French woman, a Belgian man and their 2-y.-o. daughter,
who was born in captivity) are released in Lebanon by the Abu Nidal Palestinian guerrilla group
following an appeal by Libyan leader Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi.
On Apr. 10 in Hong Kong real estate tycoon
Teddy Wang Tei-huei (b. 1933)
is kidnapped for a 2nd time (1st time 1983) by abductors demanding $60M (first time $33M);
after his wife only pays $34M he is thrown in the sea and his body is never found.
On Apr. 12 singer James Brown moves to a work-release center after serving 15 mo.
On Apr. 12 in its first meeting East Germany's first democratically elected
parliament acknowledges responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust, and asks the
forgiveness of Jews and others who had suffered, becoming the first of a new wave of
remorseful public apologies
for past wrongs issued by the world's leaders - a sign of Millennium Fever?
On Apr. 13 Pres. Gorbachev admits the responsibility of Stalin's secret police in the
1940 Katyn Forest Massacre.
On Apr. 15 the sketch comedy series
In Living Color
debuts on Fox Network for 125 episodes (until May 19, 1994), created by brothers
Keenen Ivory Wayans Sr. (1958-) and
Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (1960-),
making stars of comedians James Eugene "Jim Carrey" (1962-), and
Jamie Foxx (Eric Marlon Bishop) (1967-); pop music star Jennifer Lopez (Jay-Lo) and Carrie Ann Inaba are members of the dance troupe.
On Apr. 16 the Supreme Court rejects appeals by Dalton Prejean (b. 1959),
a nearly retarded black man who was condemned to die for the 1977 murder of a sacred cow La. state trooper, allowing him to be
executed on May 18 - they'll disallow execution of mental defectives on the next round if it ain't a sacred cow cop?
On Apr. 17 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules unanimously in Employment Div. v. Smith
that the govt. may criminalize acts done as part of a religious ritual incl. use of peyote, although they states may choose to tolerate them,
causing Congress to pass the 1993 U.S. Religious Freedom Restoration Act on
Nov. 16, 1993 to "ensure that interests in religious freedom are protected", requiring a strict scrutiny standard and a narrowly tailored regulation
serving a compelling govt interest in any case substantially burdening the free exercise of religion, but the court rules that Sect. 5 of the
14th Amendment prohibits Congress from substantially increasing the scope of rights determined by the judiciary, and may only enact remedial or
preventative measures, hence the law doesn't apply to the states.
On Apr. 18 the U.S. Screwpreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 6-3 in Osborne v. Ohio
that states may make it a crime to possess or look at child pornography, even in the privacy of one's home, regardless of the First Amendment - the Christian Right
sees an opportunity using children to 'get' adults who don't go with their moral views?
On Apr. 18 a bankruptcy court forces Frank Lorenzo to give up Eastern Airlines.
On Apr. 19 Nicaragua's 9-y.-o. civil war appears near an end as Contra guerrillas, leftist
Sandinistas and the incoming govt. agree to a truce and a deadline for the rebels to disarm.
On Apr. 21 Pope John Paul II is greeted by hundreds of thousands of people as he visits
Czech.
to help celebrate the nation's peaceful overthrow of Communist rule.
On Apr. 22 pro-Iranian kidnappers in Lebanon free U.S. hostage
(Beirut U. accounting prof.)
Robert B. Polhill
(1934-99) after 39 mo. of captivity.
On Apr. 22 millions of Americans join in a worldwide 20th anniv. celebration of the first Earth Day.
On Apr. 22 the series Jeeves and Wooster
debuts on BBC-TV (until June 20, 1993), starring
Hugh Laurie (1959-) as Bertie Wooster, and
Stephen Fry (1957-) as his valet Jeeves before WWII.
On Apr. 23 a nuclear war will start, according to
Elizabeth Clare Prophet (Guru Ma),
head of the Church Universal and Triumphant, causing them to build underground bomb
shelters in Mont.; some followers incl. her husband are convicted of federal
weapons charges for maintaining an arsenal.
On Apr. 24 the Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off from Cape Canaveral carrying the $1.5B
Hubble Space Telescope,
which deploys its 94.5-in. primary mirror on Apr. 25; the shuttle lands safely on Apr. 29; on
May 20 the Hubble Space Telescope sends back its first photos; on June 27 NASA announces that a flaw
in the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope is preventing the instrument from achieving optimum focus;
it is repaired in Dec. 1993.
On Apr. 24 West and East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on July 1.
On Apr. 25 France and Germany hold a Summit on German Reunification.
On Apr. 26 Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the right-wing Likud bloc is chosen to form a new govt. after Labor Party leader Shimon Peres fails to form a coalition.
On Apr. 28 amid a record 16M abortions in the U.S. this year, the
March (Rally) for Life 1990 sees 200K demonstrate in
the Nat. Mall in Washington, D.C. against abortion and the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision in "Webster v. Reproductive Health Services" that upheld Roe v. Wade, while the leftist-controlled media
snubs it; they go on to establish a dept. of state legislation to pass pro-life laws in state legislatures.
On Apr. 29 wrecking cranes begin tearing down the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate.
On Apr. 30 hostage Frank Reed is released by his captives in Lebanon, becoming the 2nd American freed in eight days.
In Apr. the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult of Japan (founded in 1984) sends three trucks into C Tokyo to spray poisonous botulin mists,
then attacks U.S. bases at Yokohama and Yokosuka; when the botulin does not work the cult turns to anthrax.
In Apr. the Irish govt. proposes formal abolition of the death penalty and a mandatory 40-year prison term.
On May 1 Soviet Pres. Mikhail S. Gorbachev and other Kremlin leaders are jeered by thousands of people during the annual May Day parade in Red Square.
On May 2-4 the govt. of South Africa and the African National Congress hold their first formal talks aimed at paving the way for more substantive
negotiations on dismantling apartheid.
On May 3 the U.S. govt. approves the use of the drug AZT to treat children infected with the AIDS virus.
On May 3 patriarch (since 1971) Pimen I dies, and Estonian-born metropolitan Alexei of Leningrad is elected Russian Orthodox
patriarch #16 of Moscow and all Russia Alexei II (Ridiger) (1929-).
On May 4 Latvia's parliament votes 138-0 (1 abstention) for independence.
On May 6 former pres. P.W. Botha quits South Africa's ruling National Party.
On May 7 the White House puts aside Pres. Bush's 1988 campaign pledge of "Read my lips: no new taxes", saying talks to strike a budget deal with
Congress would have "no preconditions"; OMB dir. Richard Darman (member of the Trilateral Commission?) is blamed for talking Bush into it.
On May 7-9 Operation Sundevil
seizes 42 computer systems throughout the U.S. (25 of them computer bulletin board systems or BBSes) in a crackdown on computer crime, pissing-off the hacker community.
On May 8 one crewman is killed and 18 injured in a fire aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Conyngham
in the Atlantic, 100 mi. SE of Norfolk, Va.
On May 9 Pres. Bush and congressional leaders announce plans for emergency budget talks, with tax increases and spending cuts on the negotiating table.
On May 9 Newsday reporter Jimmy Breslin (1930-) is suspended for a racial slur.
On May 9 Pope John Paul II tours Mexico City.
On May 10 the govt. of China announces the release of 211 dissidents who had been involved in pro-democracy demonstrations a year earlier.
On May 10 the French TGV train sets a record speed of 510.6 kph.
On May 10 ever-popular Prince Charles and Princess Diana end their first visit to a Warsaw Pact country by viewing Budapest, Hungary from a boat
on the Danube River and riding on a streetcar through the city center.
n May 12 the presidents of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania forge a united front by reviving a 1934 political alliance in hopes of enhancing their
drive for independence from the Soviet Union; on May 14 in separate decrees Pres. Gorbachev declares that the republics of Estonia and Latvia
have no legal basis for moving toward independence; on May 17 Gorbachev meets in Moscow with Lithuanian PM Kazimiera Prunskiene, becoming his
first face-to-face meeting with a senior official.
On May 13-14 thousands protest across Paris after a Jewish cemetery is desecrated in Carpentras.
On May 15 Congressional leaders and Bush admin. officials begin a bipartisan summit on the fiscal 1991 budget and its deficit.
On May 16 Aloj "Lojze" Peterle (1948-), chmn. of the Slovene Christian Dem. Party becomes PM
of Slovenia (until May 1992).
On May 17 the World Health Org. (WHO) declassifies
homosexuality as a mental disorder, causing annual celebration of the Internat. Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT).
On May 17 the European court grants pension rights to both men and women.
On May 17 a gen. synod of the Church of Ireland votes in favor of the ordination of women as priests and bishops - check out how annoying blemishes around your chin disappear?
On May 18 East and West Germany sign a monetary union treaty.
On May 18 in the face of heated student protests, the trustees of all-female Mills College in Oakland, Calif.
(founded in 1852 in Benicia, Calif.) vote to rescind
their earlier decision to admit men; in 2004 they begin welcoming transgender students who self-identify as women.
On May 19 U.S. secy. of state James A. Baker concludes an agreement with
the Soviet Union to destroy chemical weapons and settle longstanding
disputes over limits on nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.
On May 19 By Dawn's Early Light
debuts on HBO, based on the 1983 William Prochnau novel "Trinity's Child"
about a rogue Soviet group launching a nuke at the U.S., nearly starting
WWIII; stars Martin Landau as the U.S. pres., and Nicolas Coster as Gen. Renning AKA Icarus.
On May 20 an Israeli gunman opens fire on a group of Palestinian laborers
in Rishon Le Ziyyon
S of Tel Aviv, killing eight; he is sentenced to life in prison; on
May 21 Israeli soldiers kill three Palestinians during a violent protest.
On May 20 Romania's ruling Nat. Salvation Front scores Vs in the
country's first free elections in more than 50 years.
On May 22 Microsoft releases
Windows 3.0 - the
monopoly is almost complete and they will all be absorbed?
On May 22 after 300 years of conflict pro-Western North Yemen and pro-Soviet South Yemen merge to form the
Repub. of Yemen under pres. (since 1978)
Ali Abdullah Saleh (1942-) (until ?); too bad, the Saudis don't like any kind of Muslim
democracy in the region, and use their border dispute as a pretext for war in 1998-2000; meanwhile because he has close ties with Saddam Hussein, Saleh
refuses to join the U.S.-led coalition in the First Gulf War, pissing Saudi Arabia off more, along with other Gulf states, after which the Saudis expel
1M Yemeni migrant workers, crippling the Yemeni economy.
On May 23 Bill Clinton's campaign for a 5th term as gov. of Ark. receives a $60K loan from the rural
Perry County Bank;
he receives another $75K loan from them on Oct. 29.
On May 23 the cost of rescuing U.S. savings and loan failures is put at $130B - and Bill only got a crumb?
On May 23 Neil Mallon Bush (1955-), son of U.S. pres. George H.W. Bush denies any wrongdoing
as a dir. of a failed Denver, Colo. savings and loan in testimony before Congress.
On May 23 the Soviet Union unveils an economic reform program that incl. plans for a nat. referendum.
On May 25 a congressional report casts doubts on the U.S. Navy's official finding that a troubled sailor probably had caused the blast that killed
47 servicemen aboard the battleship USS Iowa.
On May 27 the political opposition of Burma scores
a V in the country's first free multiparty elections in three decades; the Nat. League of Aung San Suu Kyi wins 392 of 485 contested seats, but
the govt. ignores the results; the country's name is changed to Myanmar as a coverup.
On May 27 Cesar Augusto Gaviria Trujillo (1947-) of the Liberal Party is
elected pres. #36 of Colombia, and he is sworn-in on Aug. 7 (until Aug. 7, 1994); he goes on to build the
La Catedral prison near Medellin for Pablo Escobar, who escapes on July 20, 1992; after leaving office, in 1994 he is
elected secy.-gen. of the Org. of Am. States (OAS) until 2004.
On May 27 Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev tries to calm his nation's economic nerves with a hastily scheduled TV address.
On May 28 Iraqi dictator-pres. (since July 16, 1979) Saddam Hussein (1937-2006)
opens a 2-day Arab League Summit
in Baghdad with a keynote address in which he says that if Israel were to deploy nuclear or chemical weapons against Arabs, Iraq would respond with "weapons of mass destruction" - talk about
putting your foot in your mouth?
On May 29 the Dow Jones Industrial Avg. reaches a record 2,870.49.
On May 29 Soviet maverick politician (longtime Communist Party hack)
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1931-2007) is elected pres. of #1 the Russian Federation in the 3rd round
of balloting, taking office on July 10 (until Dec. 31, 1999) after quitting the Communist party; Russia declares sovereignty, becoming one of 15 repubs. in the
dissolving Soviet Union; a vodka lush, he suffers five heart attacks in his first term;
too bad, the Siloviki (Russ. "force people", "strongmen") incl. the military and nat. security-intel orgs.
form a de facto non-elected inner cabinet, carrying over to Vladimir Putin.
On May 29 Pres. Gorbachev visits Canada en route to his May 31 Washington summit with Pres. Bush, in which they sign (June 1) more than a dozen
treaties cutting nuclear arms and chemical weapons.
On May 29 40 countries found the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
to finance the economic transition in C and E Europe and the CIS.
On May 29-30
Peru
is struck by a 5.8 earthquake, killing 101.
On May 31 New York City's copycat Zodiac Killer shoots 3d victim
Joseph Ponce.
In May as Soviet tanks roll, the Estonian Soviet parliament and the
Congress of Estonia proclaim the restoration of the independent state of
Estonia as huge crowds stand
as human shields to protect TV and radio stations; the
Singing Rev. (begun 1988)
achieves independence without bloodshed, accelerating the disintegration
of the Soviet Union.
On June 1 E! Entertainment Television
(founded in 1987 as Movietime) and the
Cowboy Channel
are launched on cable.
On June 1 the Dow Jones Industrial Avg. hits a record high of 2,900.97.
On June 3 Mikhail Gorbachev ends the summit then flies to Minn. for a whirlwind tour of
Minneapolis-St. Paul, then on June 4 flies to N Calif. to hold a reunion with former Pres. Reagan.
On June 4 Detroit, Mich. pathologist Dr.
Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian (1928-2011)
assists Janet Adkins of Portland, Ore. in his first
physician-assisted suicide;
the authorities of Oakland County, Mich. react on June 5, and "Doctor Death" begins his
long run-in with the law, reaching at least 130 before being stopped.
On June 5 Mikhail Gorbachev meets with South Korean pres. Roh Dae Woo in Earthquake City
San Francisco, Calif. causing diplomatic relations to be opened effective Oct. 1.
On June 6 a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. declares the 1989
2 Live Crew album
As Nasty As They Wanna Be
to be obscene; the decision is later overturned on appeal by the 11th Circuit; on June 10 two members of the group are arrested after performing in a
nightclub in Hollywood, Fla.; they and a 3rd band member are acquitted by a jury of obscenity charges on Oct. 20 after the publicity makes them
big bucks, and the authorities see the handwriting on the bathroom wall; meanwhile one Ft. Lauderdale record store owner is arrested and convicted for selling their album, and fined $1K.
On June 7 South African Pres. F.W. de Klerk announces that he is lifting a 4-y.-o. state of emergency in three of the country's four provinces,
with the exception of Natal.
On June 8 Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir announces that he had formed a new right wing coalition govt., ending a 3-mo. political crisis.
On June 8, 1990 (11:30 p.m.) a 500K gal. oil spill by the Norwegian oil tanker
Mega Borg in Galveston Bay, Tex. 50 mi. off the coast
becomes the worst in Tex. until 2010.
A new plesident of Pelu?
On June 10 political newcomer Alberto Fujimori (1938-)
is elected pres. of Peru by a narrow margin over novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, and is sworn-in on July 28, soon leading an economic rebound,
crippling the Shining Path rebels, and sponsoring public works projects to win the support of the poor.
On June 11 the U.S. Supreme Court does something rational for a change when it strikes down a federal law prohibiting
desecration of the U.S. flag
(not just govt. owned flags, but privately owned flags, such as icing flags
on cakes, flag designs on suits, etc., making the whole idea smack of insanity?); the same day Pres. Bush
announces
his support for a constitutional amendment to get around the court - just like King George III would do?
On June 12 in a speech to the Supreme Soviet, Pres. Gorbachev eases his objections to a reunified Germany holding membership in NATO.
On June 12 Boris N. Yeltsin leads a vote at the Congress of Peoples Deputies on a "declaration of sovereignty for Russia".
On June 13 U.S. secy. of state James A. Baker, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee urges Israel to accept a U.S. plan for
peace talks, and gives out the telephone number for the White House switchboard, telling the Israelis publicly, "When you're serious about this, call us".
On June 14 the U.S. Supreme Court rules 6-3 in
Mich. Dept. of State Police v. Sitz
to uphold the Fourth Amendment constitutionality of police checkpoints that examine drivers for signs of intoxication.
On June 15 real estate mogul Donald Trump (1946-)
misses an $18M interest payment due on junk bonds used to finance his Trump Castle Atlantic City resort, forcing the former paper billionaire into bankruptcy.
On June 16 after meeting with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, African Nat. Congress (ANC)
leader Nelson Mandela is greeted by a crowd in the Netherlands, then flies to Ottawa on June 17, followed by an 11-day tour of the U.S.,
starting with a ticker-tape parade in New York, then an address to the U.N. on June 22, where he says victory is "within our grasp" in South Africa; on June 25 he meets with
Pres. Bush at the White House, and addresses the U.S. Congress on June 26.
On June 18 James Edward Pough (b. 1948)
goes on a shooting rampage at an auto financing office in Jacksonville, Fla., fatally wounding nine before killing himself.
On June 19 (8:15 p.m.) the 1990 Inland Hurricane hits SC Kan.
On June 20 the Communist Initiative creates the neoconservative
Russian Communist Party.
On June 20 the Uzbek Supreme Soviet declares the sovereignty of
Uzbekistan within a "renewed Soviet federation"; on Nov. 1 the council of ministers
is replaced with a cabinet led by mean Khrushchev lookalike pres.
Islam Abdug'aniyevich Karimov (1938-),
who rules with an iron hand (until ?).
On June 21 an estimated 50K are killed and 200K wounded in a 7.7 earthquake in
N Iran, followed by an aftershock on June 24.
On June 22 the president's son George W. Bush, a dir. of Tex. oil co.
Harken Energy Corp.
sells 212,140 shares at $4 per share just before huge losses are reported, causing accusations of insider trading and influence peddling;
too bad, no wrongdoing is found by authorities.
On June 23 Moldova
declares its sovereignty, and in Aug. the Soviets attempt a coup, causing the Moldovan Communist Party to be banned (until 1993).
On June 24 Health and Human Services Secy. Louis Sullivan
is drowned out by jeering demonstrators as he addresses the
Sixth Internat. AIDS Conference
in Baghdad by the Bay San Francisco, Calif.
On June 25 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-4 in
Cruzan v. Director, Mo. Dept. of Health
that a state may require "clear and convincing evidence" of a patient's wishes for removal of life support, causing the creation of advance health directives.
On June 26 Pres. Bush, who campaigned for office on a pledge of "no new taxes" concedes that tax increases would have to be included in any
deficit-reduction package worked out with congressional negotiators; meanwhile on June 25-28 U.S. and Japanese negotiators hammer out the
Structural Impediments Initiative,
an accord over U.S. access to Japanese markets, causing talk that the Japanese pressured Bush to reduce the federal budget deficit, causing him to flop and advocate tax increases.
On June 27-July 2 the Painted Cave Fire in the Santa Ynez Mts. of Calif. explodes across Santa Barbara County, fed by heat,
drought, and arson, destroying 427 bldgs. (most in Calif. history until ?)) from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and killin 1; Calif. Gov. George Deukmejian offers $50K rewards for arsonists, later
identifying Leonard Ross as the perp; the fires cause Michael Jackson's 2.7K-acre Neverland Valley Ranch N of Santa Barbara, Calif.
to be mentioned in the press for the first time; it even has a Ferris wheel.
On June 28 seven current-former U.S. Coast Guardsmen are indicted for stealing narcotics from drug smugglers then selling them for profit.
On June 30 the Common Cold Research Centre
in the Harvard Hospital near Salisbury, England (80 mi. W of London) (founded 1946) closes after conceding defeat in finding a cure for the
common cold, saying that there are 200 different strains of the virus; 18K volunteers had undergone 10-day quarantine tests.
In June the FTC launches a secret probe into possible collusion between
Microsoft and IBM.
In June in Bulgaria the former Communist Party, renamed the Socialist Party wins the parliamentary elections.
In June Hungary's parliament votes for total withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact by the end of 1991.
In June in Romania miners transported into Bucharest in govt. vehicles destroy hundreds of Interior Ministry files.
Don't get sick in Turkmenistan?
In June former electrical engineer Saparmurt Atayevich Niyazov (1940-2006),
chmn. (since 1985) of the Supreme Soviet of the 90% Karakum ("Black Sand") Desert Soviet Repub. of Turkmenistan N of Afghanistan and Iran declares independence
from the Soviet Union, followed by sovereignty on Aug. 27, wins the pres. election unopposed on Oct. 27, becoming pres. #1 of Turkmenistan on Nov. 2 (until Dec. 21, 2006),
setting up a personality cult where criticism of his policies is treated as treason, later closing down all nat. parks and rural libraries, firing 15K health care workers
and replacing them with untrained military conscripts, closing down all hospitals outside the capital and ordering physicians to give up the Hippocratic Oath and swear
allegiance to him instead.
In June Mexican pres. Carlos Salinas de Gortari creates the Nat. Commission on Human Rights
to deal with police brutality - hardly deal with it?
In June Billy Joel becomes the first to hold a rock concert in Yankee Stadium in New York City.
In June radio stations in Kan., Okla. et al. stop playing records by lesbian singer "k.d. lang" after she begins a "Meat Stinks" campaign for
300K-member People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) - she only means male meat?
On July 1 East Germans line up to obtain West German deutsche marks as
a state treaty unifying their monetary and economic systems goes into effect.
On July 2 1,426 Muslim pilgrims are killed in a
stampede
inside a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
On July 2 the Soviet Union's 28th Communist Party Congress opens with an address by Pres. Gorbachev, who concedes mistakes while defending perestroika; on July 3 in
Moscow, Kremlin hardliner Yegor Kuzmich Ligachev (1920-)
receives an enthusiastic reception at the Communist Party Congress as he criticizes reforms by Gorbachev, saying that perestroika had been marred by "limitless radicalism".
On July 2 MasterChef
debuts on BBC-TV (until July 3, 2001), then again on Feb. 21, 2005 (until ?), hosted by Marblehead, Mass.-born gastronome
Loyd Daniel Gilman Grossman (1950-),
featuring amateur cooks vying to cook the best 3-course meal in 2 hours; it spawns
MasterChef: The Professionals (Aug. 25, 2008-),
Celebrity MasterChef (2006-),
Junior MasterChef (Aug. 14, 1999-Aug. 1, 1999, May 20, 2010-),
MasterChef Australia (Apr. 27, 2009-) et al.
On July 4 400 New Kids on the Block
fans are treated for heat exhaustion in Minn.
On July 4 France performs yet another nuclear test at Muruora Island.
On July 5 NATO leaders open a 2-day meeting in London to revise the alliance's strategy in light of easing East-West tensions in Europe and the unraveling of the Warsaw Pact.
On July 7 Pres. George H.W. Bush welcomes fellow leaders of the Group of Seven
countries in sweating hot Houston, Tex. for their 16th annual economic summit, calling on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to accept Western aid.
On July 9 the Three Tenors (Placido Domingo, Jose Careras, Luciano Pavarotti) debut at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Italy
on the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final, with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta, along with the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, becoming the
best-selling classical album of all time (until ?); their last performance is on Sept. 28, 2003 at an arena in Columbus, Ohio.
On July 10 Mikhail Gorbachev handily wins reelection as leader of the Soviet Communist Party, then on July 12 shocks them by announcing his resignation from the party.
On July 11 (2:48 p.m.) a clear sunny day suddenly ends with softball-sized hail in
Denver, Colo.,
stripping most of the branches and all of the leaves off trees, and causing $625M in property damage to roofs and cars, incl. TLW's white Mitsubishi Galant, which is pockmarked like a golf ball;
a power failure traps 47 in a Ferris wheel, causing them to be battered by the hail; the worst hailstorm in U.S. history until a
worse hailstorm on July 20, 2009.
On July 11 New York City police arrest Jerome "Dartman" Wright (1957-)
for stabbing 53 light-skinned women in business suits or skirts with darts in the buttocks during the summer.
On July 12 Northern Exposure
(debuts on CBS-TV) for 110 episodes (until July 26, 1995), starring
Robert Alan "Rob" Morrow 9192-)
as newly-minted Jewish doctor Joel Fleischman from New York City, who moves into the
Alaskan town of Cicely for four years to replay his student loans, where he meets local
millionaire Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin), ex-felon disc jockey Chris Stevens (John Corbett),
bush pilot Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), and beauty queen Shelly Marie Tambo Vincoeur (Cynthia Geary),
wife of sexagenarian bar owner Holling Vincoeur (John Collum); in 2008 Repubs. compare Maggie with
Sarah Palin.
On July 13 the Gayssot Act (Law)
is passed in France, making the diffusion of historical revisionism about the Holocaust a crime,
stifling freedom of speech.
On July 14-16 West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl holds talks in Moscow with Soviet
Pres. Gorbachev aimed at soothing Kremlin concerns about German unification; Moscow drops
its objection to a united Germany's membership in NATO.
On July 15 tens of thousands of people march in Moscow to protest the
Communist Party's control of the govt., the army and the KGB.
On July 17 the seven nations negotiating German unification reach
agreement in Paris on Poland's permanent border, clearing the way for
the merger of East and West Germany.
On July 17 Pres. George H.W. Bush declares the 1990s the
Decade of the Brain - his
son's presidency is out until the next decade then?
On July 17 the ruling Serbian Communist Party renames itself the Serbian Socialist Party.
On July 18 Joni Leigh Penn
is arrested after breaking into the home of actress Sharon Gless with a rifle and 500 rounds of ammo and threatening to shoot herself in front
of her; she is sentenced to six years in prison.
On July 19 Pres. Bush joins former presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon at ceremonies dedicating the
Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif.
On July 20 liberal U.S. Supreme Court justice (since 1956) William J. Brennan (b. 1906) announces his retirement; on July 23 Pres. Bush
announces his choice of Melrose, Mass.-born "stealth justice" David Hackett Souter (1939-) (Protestant)
(never been married) of N.H. to succeed him; he is confirmed as U.S. Supreme Court justice #105 on Oct. 2, and sworn-in on Oct. 9 (until June 29, 2009).
On July 20 a federal appeals court sets aside Oliver North's three Iran-Contra convictions, reversing one outright.
On July 22 the Mongolian Rev. of 1990
sees voters in Mongolia begin casting ballots in their Communist-ruled nation's first multiparty election.
On July 22 Hungary's govt. agrees to reprivatize farmlands.
On July 23 as rebel forces close in on the pres. palace, Liberian Pres. Samuel K. Doe
refuses to leave until the civil war is decided; Charles Taylor successfully tries to take Monrovia; on Sept. 9 Liberian dictator pres. (since 1980) Samuel K. Doe (b. 1951) is executed
in Monrovia after being captured by rebels, after which foreign-led peace negotiations lead to a ceasefire in 1995, which is broken in 1996 before a final peace agreement ends in
nat. elections on Aug. 2, 1997, which elect Taylor as pres. #22 of Liberia (until Aug. 11, 2003).
On July 24 after accusing Kuwait of conspiring to harm its economy through oil overproduction, Iraq masses tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks along
the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border to make it into Iraq's 19th province; what really made Saddam Hussein decide to invade was when Kuwaiti leader Sheik
Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah told him that he was going to turn every Iraqi woman into a $10 ho?
On July 25 April Glaspie (1942-),
U.S. ambassador to Iraq meets with Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein to discuss Iraq's economic dispute with Kuwait.
On July 25 the Senate formally denounces Sen. Dave Durenberger (1934-) (R-Minn.) for financial improprieties.
On July 26 Pres. Bush signs the U.S. U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA),
extending the 1964 U.S. Civil Rights Act to Americans with disabilities, imposing accessibility requirements on public accommodations, but only requiring covered employers to provide
reasonable accommodations to disabled employees; in 2008 Pres. George W. Bush signs an amended version, effective on Jan 1, 2009.
On July 26 the U.S. House of Reps. reprimands Jewish member (D-Mass.) (1981-)
Barnett "Barney" Frank (1940-)
(2nd openly gay U.S. Rep. since 1987) for ethics violations - I like frank jokes here?
On July 26 the U.S. Center for Disease Control reports that a young woman, later identified as
Kimberly Bergalis had been infected with the AIDS virus by her dentist - I'm trying to picture that?
On July 27 La. Gov. Buddy Roemer vetoes a tough abortion bill passed by his state's legislature, but the latter overrides his veto.
On July 27 the Jamaat al Muslimeen Coup Attempt in Trinidad and Tobago begins; on Aug. 1
dozens of Muslim militants surrender and free 42 hostages they had seized six days earlier in a failed bid to overthrow the govt.
On July 29 Nelson Mandela gives a speech
at the Rally to Relaunch the South African Communist Party (SACP), which had been banned since 1950, praising them as a staunch ally of the ANC although denying
he's a member himself, claiming to support their right to exist because he supports democracy; after his death on Dec. 6, 2013, the SACP
confirms that Mandela was a member at the time of his 1962 arrest.
The centennial of the suicide of Vincent Van Gogh already?
On July 29 (night) Vincent Polakovic,
on the 100th anniv. of the death of Vincent van Gogh sees his ghost on the roof of a small house near his grave in France, inspiring to raise funds for
Danubiana in Poprad, Slovakia, modelled after a yellow house he once lived in with Gaugin.
On July 30 British Conservative Party lawmaker Dr. Ian Reginald Edward Gow (b. 1937) is killed in an IRA bombing in Hankham, East Sussex.
On July 31 Shoal Creek,
a private club in Birmingham, Ala. that drew criticism for being all-white announces that it had accepted token black businessman
Louis Willie as an honorary member; 10 years later it's still all-white?
In July the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait causes oil prices to increase, triggering the
1990-1 U.S. Recession that lasts for 8 mo.
In July young people demonstrate against the regime in Tirana, Albania,
causing the Milosevic regime to order the mass firing of ethnic Albanians from all civil service posts; on July 2 Albanian delegates of
the Kosovo assembly declare independence from Serbia as a full constituent repub. within the Yugoslavian federation, causing Serbia to
abolish the Kosovo assembly and govt. of Kosovo, close down the only Albanian newspaper, and take over the state-owned TV and radio.
In July East End, London-born George Leonard Carey (1935-)
becomes archbishop #103 of Canterbury, England (until 2002), replacing retiring Robert Runcie, and becoming the first to never attend Oxford U. or Cambridge U.;
he is formally confirmed next Mar. 27 in the church of St. Mary-le-Bow.
On Aug. 1-4 the 1990 U.K. Heat Wave
sees highs of 37.1C (98.8F) on Aug. 3 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, breaking the 1911 record (until 2003).
Saddam's big miscalculation?
On Aug. 2 Black Thursday
sees Iraqi troops invade Kuwait and set up a well-oiled puppet govt. by Aug. 3; on Aug. 2 by a 14-0-1 (Yemen) vote the U.N. Security Council approves
Resolution 660, condemning Iraq and demanding the unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops;
PLO chief Yasser Arafat's support of Sodamn Insane results in the PLO's isolation; on Aug. 3 thousands of Iraqi soldiers push to within a few mi. of the border with Saudi Arabia,
heightening world concerns about the invasion spreading; on Aug. 6 the U.N. imposes sanctions on Iraq, barring it from selling oil except in exchange for food and medicine; on Aug. 6-7
Operation Desert Shield
begins as Pres. Bush at the request of King Fahd sends U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia to guard it, and are joined on Aug. 11 by Egyptian and Moroccan troops from the Arab League; on Aug. 8
Iraq annexes Kuwait as its 19th province, with Saddam Hussein's cousin
Ali Hassan Al-Majid (Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti) (1941-2010)
as military gov.; Italian politician Cicciolina (Ilona Staller) (1951-)
offers to have sex with Saddam Hussein if he will release all foreign hostages; the Saudis permit U.S. troops to use a base in their country, angering Muslim conservatives,
who see infidels polluting their soil, while Kuwaitis are more practical, but politely request Army chaplains to remove religious insignia from their uniforms and get antsy
about the sight of women driving cars and carrying guns?; after seeing women soldiers among the U.S. forces, 47 women from the Saudi intelligentsia go for a
joy ride
to protest Saudi Arabia being the world's only country that keeps women from driving, getting arrested and crushed by the regime; meanwhile Am. Christian evangelist
Franklin Graham (1952-) (son of Billy Graham) is told by
Saudi officials that Christian Bibles and religious material is illegal to send to Saudi Arabia in the mail, along with alcohol and porno - the U.S. is faced with the dilemma that
destroying minority Sunni control of Iraq will make it easy for Shiite Iran to absorb it, opening a royal road to Israel through Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which is why they don't attack and
cut off Baghdad when the Iraqi troops are out in Kuwait, but just try to drive them back? Too bad, Bush Jr. isn't up to speed when he gets in the White House?
On Aug. 3 the Hungarian nat. assembly elects Arpad Goncz (Göncz) (1922-) of the Alliance of Free Dems. as pres.
(until 2000); on Oct. 14 the opposition wins municipal elections.
In other words, I hate all you infidels?
On Aug. 5 the 57-member Org. of the Islamic Conference (OIC) signs the upside-down
Cairo Declaration of Human Rights,
a rebuke to the Dec. 10, 1948 U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),
substituting you-guessed-it Sharia, declaring "the place of mankind in Islam as viceregent of Allah on Earth", a reference to Quran 3:110, proclaiming Muslim supremacy
and calling Christians and Jews (People of the Book) "perverted transgressors".
On Aug. 6 PM Benazir Bhutto is ousted after 20 mo. in office (Dec. 2, 1988) by Pres. Ghulam Ishaq Khan on charges of incompetence and corruption; an
interim govt. is led by Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi (1931-) (until Nov. 6).
On Aug. 12 Air Force SSgt. John Campisi (b. 1960)
of West Covina, Calif. dies after being hit by a military truck in Saudi Arabia, becoming the first U.S. casualty of the Persian Gulf War.
On Aug. 12 Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein seeks to tie any withdrawal of his troops from Kuwait to an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
On Aug. 13 Pres. Bush orders U.S. defense secy. Dick Cheney to the Persian Gulf for the 2nd time since Iraq invaded Kuwait.
On Aug. 13-14 Iraq says that approx. 9K foreigners, incl. North Ams., Europeans and Australians may not leave Iraq and Kuwait until hostilies cease.
On Aug. 15 in an attempt to gain support against the U.S.-led coalition, Saddam Hussein offers to make peace with longtime enemy Iran.
On Aug. 16 Pres. Bush meets with Jordan's King Hussein in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he urges him to close Iraq's access to the sea through the port of Aqaba.
On Aug. 16 Saddam Hussein repeatedly calls Pres. Bush a liar and says the outbreak of war could result in "thousands of Americans wrapped in sad coffins".
On Aug. 17 the Log Rev.
in Croatia sees ethnic Serbs block roads between Croatia and Dalmatia with logs, leading to the Croatian War of Independence next year.
On Aug. 18 a U.S. frigate fires warning shots across the bow of an Iraqi tanker in the Gulf of Oman, becoming the first shots fired by the U.S. in the Persian Gulf crisis.
On Aug. 18 the Serbian minority in Croatia votes for political autonomy in an official referendum, which the govt. declares illegal.
On Aug. 19 Saddam Hussein offers to free all foreigners detained in Iraq and Kuwait provided the U.S. promises to withdraw its forces from Saudi
Arabia and guarantees that an internat. economic embargo is lifted; on Aug. 20 for the first time since Iraq began detaining foreigners, Pres. Bush
publicly refers to the detainees as hostages, and demands their release.
On Aug. 20 East and West Germany sign the East-West Election Treaty,
providing for nat. elections of a unified Germany in Dec.; on Aug. 31 they sign the
Unification Treaty
to join legal and political systems.
On Aug. 20 three former Northwest Airlines pilots are convicted in Minneapolis, Minn. of flying while intoxicated.
On Aug. 22 Pres. Bush signs an order calling up reservists to bolster the U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf.
On Aug. 23 Iraqi state TV shows Saddam Hussein meeting with a group of about 20 Western detainees, telling the "guests" that they are being held "to prevent the scourge of war".
On Aug. 24 Iraqi troops surround foreign missions in Kuwait.
On Aug. 24 Irish hostage Brian Keenan is released by his captors in Lebanon after being held over four years.
On Aug. 24 Pres. Gorbachev sends a message to Saddam Hussein warning that the Persian Gulf situation is "extremely dangerous".
On Aug. 25 the U.N. gives the world's navies the right to use force to stop vessels trading with Iraq.
On Aug. 26 55 Americans who had been evacuated from the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait leave Baghdad by car, headed for the Turkish border.
On Aug. 26 the bodies of two slain college students are found in their off-campus apt. in
Gainesville, Fla.;
three more bodies are discovered in the next few days, causing a panic.
On Aug. 27 the U.S. State Dept. orders the expulsion of 36 Iraqi diplomats.
On Aug. 28 German spy
Juergen Mohamed Gietler (1957-)
is arrested for passing military info. to Iraq on Western knowledge of Scud missiles.
On Aug. 28 Iraq declares occupied Kuwait the 19th province of Iraq, renames Kuwait City Kadhima, and creates a new district named after
Saddam Hussein, setting up a 9-member puppet regime under
Alaa Hussein Ali (1948-) (until 1991);
all foreign women and children are allowed to leave Iraq and Kuwait.
On Aug. 29 a defiant Saddam Hussein declares in a
TV interview that the
U.S. can't defeat Iraq, with the soundbyte "I do not beg before anyone".
On Aug. 30 in a moment of clarity forever repeated by conspiracy
theorists, Pres. Bush tells a news conference that a "We can see a...
new world order" coming into being from the Gulf crisis - an Orwellian
global police state?
On Aug. 30 in Colombia a series of abductions by the Medellin drug cartel
of Pablo Escobar
(1949-93) begins with the kidnapping of
Diana Turbay
(1950-91), a Bogota TV news dir. and daughter of former pres.
Julio Cesar Turbay; on Jan. 25, 1991 she is killed while being rescued by
police.
On Aug. 30 U.N. secy.-gen. Javier Perez de Cuellar arrives in Jordan
to try to mediate the Persian Gulf crisis in meetings with Iraqi foreign
minister (1983-91)
Tariq (Tareq) Aziz (Mikhail Yuhanna)
(1936-) (a Christian).
If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere, Tirana, Tirana, Tirana?
In Aug. Albania abandons its monopoly on foreign commerce and begins to
open to foreign trade, ending four decades of isolation under dictator
Enver Hoxha (d. 1985).
In Aug. Yugoslavia begins breaking up into several
Serb Autonomous Regions; in
Nov. 1991 they unite to form the
Repub. of Serbian Krajina
in Croatia, and the
Republika Srspka
in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In Aug. South Ossetia,
a region of NC Georgia with a pop. of 100K and ties to Persia declares itself sovereign.
In Aug.-Sept. secret talks
for a peace deal between Israel and Syria are conducted by Am. businessman Ronald Lauder and George Nader, ed. of the journal Middle East Insight; too bad, despite
Benjamin Netanyahu's support, it is tabled over objections by Israeli defense and foreign ministers.
On Sept. 1 Pres. Bush announces that he and Pres. Gorbachev will meet in Helsinki, Finland for a "free-flowing" 1-day summit on the Persian Gulf crisis and other issues.
On Sept. 2 dozens of Americans are airlifted from Iraq.
On Sept. 3 Florida dentist David J. Acer (b. 1949)
dies of AIDS after infecting five of his patients with HIV virus; on Sept. 7
Kimberly Bergalis (1968-91) of Ft. Pierce, Fla. comes forward as one of his victims,
dying next Dec. 8 at age 23.
On Sept. 5 Saddam Hussein urges Arabs to rise up in a holy war (jihad) against the West and all former allies who have turned against him.
On Sept. 5 Pres. Gorbachev meets with Christian Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz in Moscow.
On Sept. 5-7 the PMs of North and South Korea meet for two days, becoming the highest level contact since the Korean War.
On Sept. 6 the New Dems., led by Marion Boyd (1946-) defeat the Liberals in Ontario, Canada to become the
province's first Socialist majority govt., and the first E of Manitoba led by the New Dem. Party.
On Sept. 6 thieves steal 20 art works by Picasso, Renoir, Degas et al. worth $190M from a 5th floor apt. in Cannes, France.
On Sept. 8 the Ellis Island Historical Site
opens on Ellis Island, which has processed 12M immigrants into the Am. melting pot; look up your ancestors' arrival records on
www.ellisisland.org - did your family come over the 3K-mi. Pond on the boat? Are you first, second, or third generation Ellis?
On Sept. 9 Pres. Bush and Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev hold a 1-day summit
in Helsinki, Finland, condemning Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
On Sept. 10 Iran agrees to resume full diplomatic ties with former enemy Iraq.
On Sept. 10 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
debuts on NBC-TV for 148 episodes (until May 20, 1996), starring Willard Christopher "Will" Smith Jr. (1968-)
as a street-smart black teenie from West Philly who moves in with his wealthy relatives in Calif.; Smith takes the role after he underpays his income taxes from his rapper career and gets a
$2.8M penalty from the IRS and must pay it back; Smith writes and performs the Fresh Prince Theme Song.
On Sept. 11 Pres. Bush addresses Congress on the Persian Gulf crisis, vowing that "Saddam Hussein will fail" in his takeover of Kuwait.
On Sept. 13 NBC-TV's cop-courtroom drama Law & Order,
created by Richard Anthony "Dick" Wolf (1946-)
debuts on NBC-TV for 456 episodes (until May 24, 2010), presenting a positive picture of the U.S. criminal justice system.
On Sept. 13 Iraqi troops storm the residence of the French ambassador in Kuwait.
On Sept. 14 during the Persian Gulf crisis, the U.S. Navy reports that U.S. troops fired a warning shot at an Iraqi tanker, then boarded it briefly before allowing it to proceed.
On Sept. 15 France announces it is sending 4K more soldiers to the Persian Gulf and expelling Iraqi military attaches in Paris in response to Iraq's raids on French, Belgian, and Canadian
diplomatic compounds in Kuwait.
On Sept. 15 the animated environmentalist series Captain Planet and the Planeteers,
created by Ted Turner and Barbara Pyle debuts on TBS for 113 episodes (until Dec. 5, 1992), followed by the Hanna-Barbera sequel "The New Adventures of Captain Planet" on
Sept. 11, 1993 until May 11, 1996, starring the voice of David Coburn as Captain Planet, Whoopi Goldberg and Margot Kidder as Gaia, LeVar Burton as Kwame (Earth), Joey Dedio as Wheeler (Fire),
Kath Soucie as Linka (Wind), Janice Kawaye as Gi (Water), and Scott Menville as Ma-Ti (Heart), who fight the Eco-Villains incl. Hoggish Greedly (Ed Asner), Verminous Skumm (Jeff Goldblum,
Maurice LaMarche) (Toxics Ring), Duke Nukem (Dean Stockwell, Maurice LaMarche)(Super Radiation Ring), Dr. Blight (Meg Ryan, Mary Kay Bergman) (Hae Ring), Looten Plunder (James Coburn, Ed Gilbert)
(Deforestation Ring), Sly Sludge (Martin Sheen, Jim Cummings) (Smog Ring), and Zarm (Sting, David Warner, Malcolm McDowell).
On Sept. 16 Iraqi TV broadcasts an 8-min. videotaped address
by Pres. Bush, warning the Iraqi people that Saddam Hussein's brinksmanship could plunge them into war "against the world"; on Sept. 20 demanding equal time, Iraq asks
U.S. networks to broadcast a message by Sodamn Insane in response.
On Sept. 17 U.S. defense secy. Dick Cheney sacks Gen. Michael J. Dugan (1937-)
as chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force #13 fter 79 days for imprudent comments to reporters about planning for the 1991 Gulf War, and he retires on Dec. 31, becoming the first JCS member
to be dismissed since Adm. Louis Denfeld in 1949, and first top gen. to be relieved since Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1951; he openly discussed contingency plans to launch massive air strikes
against Baghdad and target Saddam Hussein, his family and mistress personally?
On Sept. 18 Atlanta, Ga. is named as the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
On Sept. 18 former savings and loan chief exec Charles Humphrey Keating Jr. (1923-) is jailed in Los Angeles, Calif. in lieu of $5M bail after
being indicted on criminal fraud charges regarding the 1989 S&L scandal.
On Sept. 19 Iraq begins confiscating foreign assets from countries that were imposing sanctions against them.
On Sept. 21 during a meeting of the Supreme Soviet, Gorbachev scolds legislators for dragging their feet on an economic rescue plan, and asks for sweeping new emergency powers to stabilize the economy.
On Sept. 21 the sitcom Evening Shade
debuts on CBS-TV for 98 episodes (until May 23, 1994), starring Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds (1936-)
as ex-Pittsburgh Steelers football player Woodrow "Wood" Newton, who becomes the coach of the losing
h.s. football team in small-town Evening Shade, Ark.;
Mary Lucy Denise "Marilu" Henner (1952-) plays his district atty. wife Ava Evans Newton;
each episode closes with Ponder Blue, played by Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (1917-2005)
summing up the events and ending with "...in a place called Evening Shade".
On Sept. 22 Saudi Arabia expels most of the Yemeni and Jordanian envoys in Riyadh, accusing them of unspecified "activities jeopardizing the peace and security of the kingdom".
On Sept. 22 after a 6-week 400-mi. march by 500 protesters, the Bolivian govt. reaches an agreement with Indian groups to stop deforestation.
On Sept. 23 Iraq threatens to destroy Middle East oilfields and attack Israel if other nations try to force it from Kuwait.
On Sept. 23-27 the PBS-TV documentary The Civil War
airs, narrated by David McCullough, based on the photographs of Mathew Brady and the work of historian Shelby Foote, making the latter famous after
it becomes the most-watched program in the network's history.
On Sept. 24 South African pres. F.W. de Klerk meets with Pres. Bush at the White House.
On Sept. 24 the Supreme Soviet votes to give preliminary approval to a plan for switching the Soviet Union to a free-market economy.
On Sept. 25 in a videotaped Message to Infidel Americans,
Sodamn Insane of Iraq warns that if Pres. Bush launches a war against his country, "it would not be up to him to end it".
On Sept. 25 the U.N. Security Council votes 14-1 to impose an air embargo against Iraq; Cuba casts the lone dissenting vote.
On Sept. 26 the Supreme Soviet ends decades of religious repression with a declaration forbidding govt. interference in religious activities.
On Sept. 26 the Motion Picture Assoc. of Am. (MPAA) announces a new NC-17 rating,
designed to bar moviegoers under the age of 17 from certain films without the commercial stigma of the old "X" rating; Henry and June becomes the first film to receive the rating.
On Sept. 27 the deposed emir of Kuwait deliveres an emotional address to
the U.N. General Assembly in which he denounces the "rape, destruction and terror" inflicted upon his country by Iraq; on Sept. 28 he visits the White House and boo-hoos some more.
On Sept. 29 top leaders of Congress and the Bush admin. begin closed-door negotiations in an attempt to reach an 11th-hour budget
agreement; on Sept. 30 they forge a $500B five-year compromise package of tax increases and spending cuts.
On Sept. 29 Japan and North Korea decide to talk about opening diplomatic relations, but the mention of paying reparations to victims of Japanese colonialism throw them off track.
On Sept. 30 Gen. Colin Powell (b. 1937) retires from the U.S. Army.
In Sept. biological weapons scientists take control of a foot-and-mouth vaccine plant in Daura, Iraq and begin producing anthrax and botulinum toxin.
On Oct. 1 Croatian Serbs declare their areas autonomous regions, causing violence between police and citizens which leads the Serbian govt. to
call on the Yugoslavian federal authorites to intervene to stop "Croatian repression"; on Oct. 3 the pres. of Slovenia meets with the
pres. of Croatia in Zagreb to work together to gain full autonomy.
On Oct. 2 the Senate votes 90-9 to confirm the nomination of Judge David H. Souter to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Oct. 2 a Xiamen Airlines 737
is hijacked, and the hijacker detonates a bomb on approach to Guangzhou (Canton), causing it to hit a parked 757, killing 75 of 93
passengers and 7 of 9 crew, along with 46 of 110 passengers in the 757.
On Oct. 3 Saddam Hussein makes his first visit to Kuwait since his country seized control - hello again, hello?
On Oct. 4 for the first time in nearly six decades, German lawmakers meet in the Reichstag for the first meeting of reunified Germany's parliament.
On Oct. 4 Tarin Kot,
capital of Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan falls to Muslim guerrillas after they shoot down 95 Afghan soldiers who had surrendered;
two weeks later another 125 soldiers are murdered while negotiating the surrender of Qalat, capital of neighboring Zabul Province.
On Oct. 4 Beverly Hills, 90210
debuts on Fox Network for 293 episodes (until May 17, 2000), producing by Aaron Spelling Television, about upscale twins Brandon Walsh, played by
Jason Bradford Priestley (1969-) and Cindy Walsh, palyed by
Carol Potter (1948-),
who moved to star-studded you know where and attend West Beverly Hills H.S., followed by Calif. U. while exploring date rape, gay rights, animal rights, alcoholism and drug abuse,
domestic violence, sex, AIDS and teenage pregnancy and suicide, and anti-Semitism; Aaron Spelling's daughter
Victoria Davey "Tori" Spelling (1973-) plays Donna Martin.
On Oct. 5 the U.S. House of Reps. rejects the $500B budget agreement forged by congressional leaders and the Bush admin; on Oct. 6 Pres. Bush
vetoes stopgap spending legislation passed by the Congress following the collapse of his deficit-reducing budget agreement; on Oct. 7
U.S. House and Senate Dems. put together their own budget proposal.
On Oct. 6 Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on a 4-day mission, returning on Oct. 10.
On Oct. 6 (eve.) whites attack Japanese students at the Teikyo Loretto Heights U.
campus in Denver, Colo. with baseball bats, causing Denver's jungle, er, Negro, er, Uncle, er, black district atty. Norm Early to throw the book at them; meanwhile Japan's
new justice minister Seiroku Kajiyama makes a lame comment that foreign prostitutes in Japan help deteriorate neighborhoods just like blacks do in the U.S.
On Oct. 8 the U.S.House approves a revised deficit-reducing budget plan, and both chambers of Congress approve stopgap spending legislation to end a govt. shutdown.
On Oct. 8 (Black Mon.) (10 a.m.) after Palestinians rain stones on Jews at the Western Wall in Jerusalem observing the Feast of Sukkot, Israeli police
open fire on them on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, killing 20+ and injuring 150+, becoming known as the
Al-Aqsa (Temple Mount) Massacre; on
Oct. 12 the U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to condemn them via
Resolution 672,
sending a mission to investigate, which Israel snubs, causing
Resolution 673
to be passed on Oct. 24 urging them to reconsider, which they won't, after which the U.N. pub. a report anyway.
On Oct. 8 balding "pompad-over"-coiffed (poof squirrel-do) Trump gives an
interview
to Larry King, announcing plans to run for the nomination of the Reform Party for U.S. president,
going on to lose in 2000 to Pat Buchanan, who loses the gen. election to George W. Bush.
On Oct. 9 Pres. Bush tells a news conference that he would be willing to consider higher income tax rates for the wealthy, but later backs off after talking with, the er, wealthy?
On Oct. 11 Octavio Paz (1914-98) becomes the first Mexican winner of the Nobel Prize for lit.; on
Oct. 15 Mikhail S. Gorbachev is named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
On Oct. 11 60K rally in Prague, Czech. in support of a govt. proposal to seize all Communist Party property without compensation.
On Oct. 13 at the start of a 3-day conference
in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, the crown prince of Kuwait promises greater democracy for the emirate after it is freed from Iraqi occupation.
On Oct. 13 after Syrian troops enter Beirut, and Christian rebel Gen. Michel Aoun ends his mutiny against the Lebanese govt., the
Lebanese Civil War finally ends after 15 years (since Apr. 13, 1975), with 130K-250K killed and 1M wounded.
On Oct. 15 South Africa's Separate Amenities Act, which barred blacks from public facilities for decades is formally scrapped.
On Oct. 16 comedian Steve Martin and his actress wife Victoria Tennant visit U.S. GIs in Saudi Arabia.
On Oct. 16 Mikhail Gorbachev submits to the Soviet legislature a scaled-back plan to transform the Soviet economy to a free-market system; the Supreme Soviet approves it on Oct. 19 - say again?
On Oct. 16-20 the Cincinnati Reds (NL) defeat the Oakland Athletics (AL) 4-1 to win the
Eighty-Seventh (87th) World Series.
On Oct. 18 Iraq offers to sell its oil to anyone, incl. the U.S. for $21 a barrel, the same price before the invasion of Kuwait.
On Oct. 19 Iraq orders all foreigners in occupied Kuwait to report to authorities or face punishment.
On Oct. 19 after reaching the Brazilian wild in 1957, Africanized honey bees officially reach the U.S.
On Oct. 21 a Palestinian stabs three Israelis to death during a rampage in a Jerusalem neighborhood in retaliation for the police killings of 17 Arabs on the Temple Mount.
On Oct. 23 deficit-reduction negotiations continue between the White House and Congressional leaders with Pres. Bush, campaigning in New England, blaming the Dem.-controlled Congress
for the budget impasse; on Oct. 27 the Senate gives final legislative approval to a record package of taxes and spending cuts just hours after the House approves the plan.
On Oct. 23 the Hungarian parliament declares Oct. 23 as a nat. holiday in honor of the 1956 rev.
On Oct. 24 the Senate fails to override Pres. Bush's veto of a major civil rights bill by a vote of 66-34, one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed.
On Oct. 24 in Pakistan the 9-party Dem. Alliance of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (1949-),
former chief minister of Punjab Province wins a two-thirds majority in the nat. assembly, and on Nov. 1 he becomes PM of Pakistan (until July 18, 1993).
On Oct. 25 defense secy. Dick Cheney says the Pentagon is laying plans to send as many as 100K more troops to Saudi Arabia.
Borat-land comes online?
On Oct. 25 the oil-rich make-benefit glorious nation of Repub. of Kazakhstan
(pop. 15M), Genghis Khan's country proclaims itself, becoming the 9th
largest country by area (twice the size of Texas), and one of three new repubs. (along
with Belarus and Ukraine) with its own nukes;
Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev
(1940-), an authoritarian who has ruled the country since 1989 becomes pres. #1 (until ?).
On Oct. 25 Salmin Amour
(1948-) becomes pres. #5 of Zanzibar (until Nov. 8, 2000).
On Oct. 26 the U.S. State Dept. issues a warning that terrorists could be
planning an attack on a passenger ship or aircraft.
On Oct. 28 Dem. philosopher-writer (pres. of the Academy of Sciences)
Askar Akayev
(1944-) becomes pres. (until 2005) of the new 75% Muslim, 25%
Orthodox landlocked mountainous
Kyrgyzstan (Kirghizstan) Repub.
(the 7th "stan" country?), which declares itself sovereign on
Oct. 30, and names itself on Dec. 13; by the end of the cent. his
influential wife and family egg him into enriching themselves and ruling
with an iron hand; meanwhile the poverty-stricken Uzbek pop. in the S grumbles against the richer Kyrgyz pop. in the N?
On Oct. 28 in a surprise move Iraq says it is halting gasoline rationing imposed earlier in response to global economic sanctions.
On Oct. 29 the U.N. Security Council votes to hold Saddam Hussein's regime liable for human rights abuses and war damages during its occupation
of Kuwait; in Sept. 2010 Iraq quietly agrees
to pay the U.S. $400M to settle all claims by U.S. citizens who claim to have been tortured or traumatized.
On Oct. 30 the Iraqi News Agency quotes
Saddam Hussein as saying that Iraq is making final preparations for war, and that he expects an attack by the U.S. and its allies within days.
On Oct. 30 in the Persian Gulf 10 U.S. sailors are killed when a steam pipe ruptures aboard the
USS Iwo Jima.
On Oct. 30 Slovenia imposes custom duties on Serbian goods, killing the unified Yugoslavian internal market.
ON Oct. 30 Pres. Bush signs the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
enduring that students with a disability are provided with free appropriate public education tailed to their individual needs.
On Oct. 31 during a campaign swing in suburban Washington, D.C., Pres. Bush utters the
soundbyte:
"I have had it" with the way Iraq is treating U.S. diplomats and hostages, saying "The people out there are not being resupplied. The
American flag is flying over the Kuwait embassy and our people inside are being starved by a brutal dictator", but adds that he has no timetable for
deciding on a possible military strike.
In Oct. a $12.5M verdict against the White Aryan Resistance (WAR)
("White Revolution is the Only Solution") is returned by a court for the killing of Ethiopian student Mulugeta Seraw in Portland, Ore.; WAR leader
Thomas "Tom" Linton Metzger (1938-)
then switches tactics to the "lone wolf lifestyle", doing nothing overt but waiting for the Great Serpent of the U.S. federal govt. to weaken.
In Oct. tall Tutsi exiles from Uganda, led by Paul Kagama and calling themselves the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invade Rwanda from Uganda,
attempting to topple the 18-y.-o. humbler-sized Hutu regime of Juvenal Habyrimana, and ending in stalemate (ends 1993).
In Oct. the Labour Party in New Zealand is decisively defeated.
In Oct. massive protests force Ivory Coast pres. Felix Houphouet-Boigny (d. 1993) to hold a contested pres. election, which he wins with 81% of the vote.
In Oct. the first swarm of Africanized killer bees
is detected in Hidalgo, Tex.
In Oct. 31-y.-o. meat packer Diana Lumbrera (1959-)
is tried in the same courtroom in Garden City, Kan. as "In Cold Blood" murderers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock for seven murders,
and is convicted on Oct. 6 of smothering her 4-y.-o. son Jose to death while lying in his bed with his teddy bear on May 1, the last
of six brothers and sisters who all died before reaching age five from 1976-84 when she lived in the Tex. panhandle, which are only
discovered after her arrest in Kan.; a 7th child under her care died in 1980; the prosecution claims she has Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy,
despite receiving $15K in insurance claims; she is later tried in Tex. for the other counts and convicted - I know today's your birthday,
and I did not find no rose, but I wrote this song instead, Popsicle Toes?
On Nov. 1 during a trip to Orlando, Fla., Pres. Bush accuses
Iraqi forces of engaging in "barbarism" and "brutality," adding a history ignoramus soundbyte "I don't believe that Adolf Hitler ever participated in anything of that nature."
On Nov. 3 U.S. secy. of state James A. Baker embarks on a fast-paced 7-country tour to "lay the foundation" for possible military action against Iraq.
On Nov. 4 Iraq issues a new broadside, saying it is prepared to fight a "dangerous war" rather than give up Kuwait.
On Nov. 5 Pres. Bush signs the U.S. 1990 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
to reduce the federal budget deficit, creating a 31% rate on the "rich"; it incl. the
1990 Budget Enforcement Act,
which features a "pay as you go" process for entitlements and taxes.
On Nov. 5 Brooklyn, N.Y.-born Jewish Defense League founder rabbi Meir David Kahane (b. 1932)
is assassinated during a speech in the Marriott Hotel in Manhattan, N.Y. by Egyptian-born Am. Muslim
El Sayyid Nosair (1955-),
which many Jews consider as the beginning of the al-Qaida anti-U.S. jihad; after a trial in which he draws sketches of Princess Diana, Nosair, whose defense by
prominent Jewish ACLU Chicago Seven atty. William Moses Kunstler (1919-95)
is financed by Osama bin Laden is acquitted in Dec. 1991 of murder, but convicted of assault and possession of an illegal firearm, causing Muslims
to dance in the streets, and judge Alvin Schlesinger to say "I believe the defendant conducted a rape of this country, of our Constitution and of our laws,
and of people seeking to exist peacefully together"; after receiving a light sentence of 7-22 years, Nosair later gets life plus 15 years in connection
with an investigation of Egyptian "Blind Sheik" Omar Abdel-Rahman (1938-2017).
On Nov. 6 U.S. Dems. increase their congressional voting strength in midterm elections; Lakeview, Tex.-born quick-quipping outspoken feminist Texas-twanging Dem.
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards (1933-2006),
elected as state treasurer in 1982 after treatment for alcoholism in 1980 is elected Texas gov. #45 (until Jan. 17, 1995)
(2nd female Texas gov. after Ma Ferguson in 1925), and is sworn-in on Jan. 15 next year in Austin, going on to fulfill campaign vows to
create a "New Texas" and "open government to everyone" by appointing women and minorities, reforming the prison system and streamlining govt. and
regulatory agencies, reversing a downturn in the economy and sponsoring the Texas Lottery then purchasing the first ticket on May 29, 1992; she appoints
state rep. Lena Guerrero Aguirre (1957-2008) of Austin to the Tex. Railroad Commission, becoming the first non-Anglo;
too bad, in 1992 she is fired over a falsified resume.
On Nov. 6 20% of the Universal Studios Backlot
in S Calif. is destroyed in an arson fire; it burns again on June 1, 2008.
On Nov. 7 British PM Margaret Thatcher gets tough and warns Saddam Hussein
that time is "running out" for a peaceful solution - ch-ch-ch-ch-changes?
On Nov. 8 Pres. Bush orders a new round of troop deployments in the Persian Gulf, adding up
to 150K soldiers to the multinat. force facing off against Iraq, which nearly doubles its size.
On Nov. 8 the
U.S. Clery Act (Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act)
is signed by Pres. Bush, named after a Lehigh U. freshman who was raped and murdered in her
campus residence hall in 1986, requiring all colleges and univs. receiving federal aid to keep
and disclose info. about crime on and near their campuses.
On Nov. 9 (first anniv. of the Fall of the Wall) Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union signs a historic
nonaggression treaty
with Germany, winning praise from German leaders in Bonn for his role in the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall, with crowds holding placards
reading "Thank you, Gorby"; on Nov. 10 chancellor Helmut Kohl promises German financial assistance for the collapsing Soviet Union, but gives no specifics,
then foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher adds that aiding Moscow is not solely a German responsibility.
On Nov. 9 back in yee-haw Saudi Arabia, mufti Sheikh 'Abd Al-'Aziz ibn Baz (1912-99) issues a fatwa against women drivers,
causing the Saudi interior ministry to follow suit on Nov. 15.
On Nov. 10 Socialist Chandra Shekhar (1927-2007)
is sworn-in as PM #11 of India (until June 21, 1991), pledging "to create a society of equals".
On Nov. 10 three Burmese hijackers demanding release of pro-dem. activists hijack a
Thai Airways Airbus 300
en route from Bangkok to Rangoon using fake bombs made out of soap bars, and it lands in Calcutta, India with all 221 passengers and crew later released unharmed - and smelling delightful?
On Nov. 11 Guatemalans go to the polls amid a climate of violence which has killed 15 since July.
On Nov. 12 56-y.-o. poetry and tropical fish-loving Japanese Yamato emperor #125
Akihito (Heisei) (1933-)
formally assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne in $64K 12-layer silk kimono, with his wife Empress Michiko (a commoner he met on a tennis
court) ascending the smaller Michodai throne in a $100K 5-layered silk damask robe; a 10-day $97M coronation party is attended by heads of
state from 158 nations, with only Afghanistan, North Korea, and Iraq not invited - does it tickle?
On Nov. 14 Simon and Schuster announces the dropping of plans to pub. the controversial
Bret Easton Ellis (1964-) novel
American Psycho
because of passages in "questionable taste"; Vintage pub. it in 1991, and it draws charges of misogyny, nihilism, sadism, and pornography;
Roger Rosenblatt of the New York Times writes "Snuff this book", making it more popular?
On Nov. 15 the Senate Ethics Committee begins hearings on the Keating Five,
U.S. senators accused of going too far in helping failed S&L owner Charles H. Keating Jr.; on Nov. 16 four of the five, incl. John McCain of Ariz. deny any wrongdoing.
Vanilli Gate?
On Nov. 15 Frank Farian, the German producer of the rock group Milli Vanilli
confirms rumors that the dreadlocked duo of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan had not done any of the singing on their debut album
Girl You Know It's True (released on Mar. 7, 1989), but only lip-synched; on
Nov. 19 they are stripped of their 1989 Grammy Award for best new artist, which they won on Feb. 12; they counter with the claim that Arista chief
Clive Davis had been aware of the hoax; their former mgr. Todd Headlee says "They may not have deserved the Grammy... but they sure as hell did deserve an Oscar."
On Nov. 15 Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on a secret military mission, returning Nov. 20.
On Nov. 16 Mikhail Gorbachev tells an angry Soviet legislature that he will fire govt. and military officials if they block his reform plans.
On Nov. 16 the U.S. Global Change Research Act of 1990 is enacted by the 101st U.S. Congress,
requiring research into global warming and related issues along with a report to Congress every four years, which becomes known as the
Nat. Climate Assessment.
On Nov. 17 Pres. Bush, on the first visit to Czech. by a U.S. pres. tells a cheering crowd of 100K in Prague that "America will stand with you" through hard times ahead.
On Nov. 18 Pres. Bush begins a series of meetings in Paris with allied leaders aimed at solidifying support for his Persian Gulf policies.
On Nov. 18 Mikhail Gorbachev meets with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, and the pope says that all possible efforts should be made to avoid war in the Persian Gulf.
On Nov. 18 the U.S. Congress repeals the 1952 U.S. McCarran Warner Act forbidding Muslims from holding public office.
On Nov. 19 leaders of 16 NATO members and the remaining six Warsaw Pact nations sign treaties in Paris making sweeping cuts in conventional arms throughout Europe and pledging mutual non-aggression.
On Nov. 20 the Soviet Union again vetoes Pres. Bush's efforts to rally support for a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing military force against Iraq.
On Nov. 20 impotent Ukrainian-born "Butcher/Ripper of Rostov" ("the Red Ripper") Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo (1936-94)
is arrested, and confesses to 56 murders since 1978; on Feb. 14, 1994 after being convicted of 52 murders, he is executed; his modus operandi is to
stab the victim in order to get off sexually and ejaculate, then eviscerate them; in July 1983 innocent Alexander Kravchenko was executed for one his murders.
On Nov. 21 Pres. Bush arrives in Saudi Arabia, where he confers with Saudi King Fahd and Kuwait's exiled emir.
On Nov. 21 junk-bond financier Michael R. Milken, who had pled guilty to six felony counts is sentenced by a federal judge in New York to 10 years in prison; he serves two.
On Nov. 22 Pres. Bush and his wife Barbara, along with top congressional leaders share Thanksgiving dinner with U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
On Nov. 22 after Sir Geoffrey Howe resigns and PM Margaret Thatcher fails to defeat Michael Heseltine in the first round of a Conservative
leadership election, she announces her resignation.
On Nov. 23 Pres. Bush confers separately with Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and Syrian Pres. Hafez Assad in Geneva, seeking Arab support for his drive to expel Iraqi troops
from Kuwait; Bush returns home on Nov. 24.
On Nov. 25 Poland holds its first popular pres. election, and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa receives a plurality of votes, winning a runoff
against PM Tadeusz Mazowiecki on Dec. 9 by a landslide; he is sworn-in on Dec. 22 (until 1995).
On Nov. 26 Hungary holds a nat. referendum in which voters decide that the country's next pres. will be chosen by parliament, following free elections.
On Nov. 27 107 are killed when a bomb blamed by police on drug traffickers destroys a Colombian jetliner minutes after takeoff from Bogota's internat. airport.
On Nov. 27 the canton Appenzell Rhodes-Interieur (Inner-Rhodes) (Innerrhoden)
is required to count women's votes by a decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal, becoming the last Swiss state to finally give women the right to vote.
On Nov. 28 after Conservative (Tory) British PM (since 1979) Margaret Thatcher attempts to pass a poll tax and sees her popularity tank, she resigns
during an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, and is succeeded by John Roy Major (1943-) (until May 2, 1997)
(9th PM under Elizabeth II), who struggles with a slim 21-seat majority in Commons, which shrinks toward zero by the end of his term.
On Nov. 29 the U.N. Security Council, led by the U.S. votes 12-2 to authorize military action if Iraq does not withdraw its troops from Kuwait and release all foreign hostages by Jan. 15, 1991.
On Nov. 29 Pres. George H.W. Bush signs the U.S. Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990,
introduced by Del. Dem. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., banning possession of handguns near schools; no surprise, on Apr. 26, 1995 the U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 in
U.S. v. Lopez
that it is unconstitutional, becoming the first time in over 50 years that they limit Congressional authority to grab power under guise of the Commerce Clause,
causing it to be amended to apply only to guns that have been moved via interstate commerce; "It shall be unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm that
has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone".
On Nov. 30 Pres. Bush names outgoing Repub. Fla. gov. #40 (since Jan. 6, 1987)`Robert "Bob" Martinez (1934-)
to head the war on drugs, and next Mar. 28 he becomes dir. of the U.S. Office of Nat. Drug Control Policy (until Jan. 20, 1993).
In Nov. the U.S. stock market begins a 4-mo. decline of 22%.
In Nov. in atheistic Albania private religious practice is finally permitted - as long as you keep the curtains drawn?
In Nov. in Macedonia a party that advocates a confederation of independent states of Yugoslavia wins power, and forms a non-Communist govt. in Dec.
On Dec. 1 Iraq accepts a U.S. offer to talk about resolving the Persian Gulf crisis.
On Dec. 1 British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) finally meet and shake hands after knocking out a passage in a service tunnel large enough to walk through.
On Dec. 2 Western German chancellor (since Oct. 1, 1982)
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (1930-),
leader of the center-right Christian Dem. Union (CDU) is elected chancellor of a united Germany (until Oct. 27, 1998) in the first free all-German election since 1932; censorship ends.
On Dec. 3 after Brian Lenihan is brought down by a scandal, Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (1944-)
becomes pres. #7 (first female) of Ireland (until Sept. 12, 1997), with Charles Haughey continuing as PM (until 1992) - if Britain can do it?
On Dec. 3 a Northwest Airlines DC-9 collides on the runway
with a Northwest Boeing 727 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, resulting in a fire and killing eight.
On Dec. 3 Pres. Bush begins a 5-nation South Am. tour starting in Brazil; on Dec. 4 in Uruguay Bush says he is not convinced that "sanctions alone"
will bring Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein "to his senses" about invading Kuwait.
On Dec. 4 Iraq promises to release 3.3K Soviet citizen hostages; on Dec. 6 it promises to release all its hostages, telling foreigners they can begin leaving in two days.
On Dec. 6 Bangladesh pres. (since 1982) Gen. Hossain Mohammad Ershad resigns amid violent protests and allegations of corruption.
On Dec. 7 Hindu-Muslim riots
begin again in India, claiming 300 lives in the next 10 days, and thratening to take down PM Shekhar the way they did PM Singh; on Dec. 17 he threatens to use "any amount of force needed"
if they don't stop.
On Dec. 8 Tirana U. students demonstrate in the streets, calling for the dictatorship in Albania to end; on Dec. 12 Ramiz Alia meets with the
students and agrees to a multiparty system; the Albanian Dem. Party, the first opposition party is established.
On Dec. 8 Kay Bee toy stores pull Disney's Steve the Tramp Doll
from shelves nationwide after homeless people and their advocates picket a mall in Stamford, Conn., calling it degrading to them; one of 14 "Dick Tracy action figures",
described as an "ignorant bum... dirty and scarrred from a life on the streets. You'll smell him before you see him"; "I'd like to let Disney know that Jesus Christ was homeless, too",
says Carlton Whitehorn of the New Covenant soup kitchen.
On Dec. 10 a stand-in for Mikhail Gorbachev accepts the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize - I'm the least unfunny person I know?
On Dec. 10 Space Shuttle Columbia returns from its 10th mission.
On Dec. 11 Hungary signs a trade agreement with the Soviet Union.
On Dec. 12 Pres. Bush announces that he and Soviet Pres. Gorbachev will hold a summit next Feb. in Moscow.
On Dec. 12 Lauro Cavazos resigns as U.S. secy. of education; on Dec. 17 Pres. Bush nominates former Repub. Tenn. gov. (1979-87)
Andrew Lamar Alexander Jr. (1940-) as U.S. education secy. #5 (Mar. 22, 1991 to Jan. 20, 1993).
On Dec. 13 a final evacuation flight from Iraq arrives in Germany carrying the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait and his staff, who had endured a 110-day Iraqi siege of their embassy.
On Dec. 14 Pres. Bush gets Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein to agree to talks on the Persian Gulf crisis by Jan. 3.
On Dec. 14 Pres. Bush nominates Repub. Lynn Morley Martin (1939-)
to succeed Elizabeth H. Dole (who resigned in Oct.) as U.S. labor secy. (until Jan. 20, 1993).
On Dec. 15 European Community leaders wrap up a historic summit in Rome committed to creating a politically-unified federation.
On Dec. 16 after Pres. Avril resigns, and U.S. vice-pres. Dan Quayle visits Haiti and tells army leaders "No more coups", dem. elections finally take place, and
Roman Catholic priest (exponent of liberation theology, who was expelled from the Salesian order in 1988, and resigns the priesthood in 1995)
Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1953-) is elected pres., being sworn-in on Feb. 7, 1991,
replacing interim pres. Ertha Pascal-Trouillot.
On Dec. 16 Shining Path rebels shoot and kill pro-Fujimori congressman Victoria Mendoza (of Fijimori's Change 90 Party) on the outskirts of Lima, Peru.
On Dec. 16 pres. (since 1964) Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia approves legislation legalizing opposition parties after 17 years of 1-party rule.
On Dec. 16 (4:26 p.m. PDT) a 7.7 earthquake in Luzon Island, Philippines kills 1,621.
On Dec. 17 Pres. Bush pledges "no negotiation for one inch" of Kuwaiti territory, repeating his demand for Iraq's complete withdrawal.
Christmas is in the air as Gorby skates and the Soviet Union cracks like thin ice under his feet?
On Dec. 17 Soviet Pres. Gorbachev asks the 2.25K-member Fourth Congress of People's Deputies to strengthen his pres. powers and streamline the executive branch, saying that
perestroika is in deep doodoo and that 12-18 mo. of this new arrangement are necessary to save the country;
he proposes the replacement of the 89-member Council of Ministers (headed by PM Nikolai Rhyzhkov) with a 17-member Federation Council headed by
himself, and consisting of a new vice-pres. and the presidents of the 15 Soviet repubs.; the emasculated COM would no longer make policy
decisions; meanshile, separatism marches on, and the Lithuanian and Armenian delegates boycott the congress, while those from Estonia and
Latvia ixnay a proposed new union treaty; early in the congress, deputy Sazhi Umulatova tells them that she is ashamed the nation accepts
foreign food aid, and calls for Gorby's resignation, saying he "does not have the moral right to hold his post", that he "brought devastation, hunger, cold, blood, tears"
and that "innocent people are perishing".
On Dec. 17 former British cop Rodney Whitchelo (1947-)
is sentenced in London to 17 years for trying to extort $7.27M from children and animal food companies by lacing their food with rat poison
and razor blades; he got the idea from a police seminar on extortion techniques, and is caught when he tries to withdraw some of the loot from an ATM.
On Dec. 19 Iraq urges its people to stockpile oil to avoid shortages should war break out, and Saddam Hussein declares he is "ready to crush any attack".
On Dec. 20 in Yugoslavia Alija Izetbegovic (1925-2004) (a Bosnian Muslim or Bosniak whose dream is a Muslim-run
Bosnia-Herzegovina) becomes pres. #1 of a 7-member rotating presidency consisting of two Bosnians, two Croats, two Serbs, and one Yugoslavian;
too bad, ethnic fighting between Croats and Serbs in Croatia rocks the ship of state.
On Dec. 20 Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze shocks Soviet lawmakers by announcing his resignation, warning that "dictatorship is coming".
On Dec. 21 British PM John Major meets with Pres. Bush at Camp David, where they express their unity on the Persian Gulf crisis.
On Dec. 21 the Croatian assembly proclaims a new 1990 Croatian Constitution
proclaiming sovereignty and the right to secede from Yugoslavia, which is boycotted by ethnic Serbian deputies.
On Dec. 22 21 sailors returning from shore leave to the aircraft carrier
USS Saratoga
drown when the Israeli ferry they are travelling on capsizes.
On Dec. 23 Slovenians vote overwhelmingly for secession from Yugoslavia.
On Dec. 24 after joining the Church of Scientology and divorcing Scientologist
Mimi Rogers, super-bankable 27-y.-o. Am. actor Tom Cruise marries 22-y.-o.
Australian Roman Catholic actress Nicole Kidman; after they adopt Isabella Cruise
and Connor Cruise, he dumps her 2 mo. after their 10th anniv. in 2001, and she marries
Australian country singer Keith Urban in June 2006 (until ?); in 1998 they win a
libel suit against a London tabloid for suggesting they're gay and their marriage a sham,
and in 1999 the supermarket tabloid Star pub. and retracts a story that they hired
sex experts to tutor them on physical intimacy for Eyes Wide Shut.
On Dec. 25 Soviet Pres. Gorbachev wins sweeping new powers from the Congress of People's Deputies,
and now has to be their Santa Claus or he's out - the original Bad Santa?
On Dec. 25 Romania's former monarch
King Michael
arrives on his first visit to his homeland since Communist rulers forced
him to abdicate four decades earlier; he is deported by the new
Bucharest govt. less than 12 hours later.
On Dec. 26 Nancy Cruzan,
the young woman in an irreversible vegetative state whose case led to
a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the right to die, dies at a Mo. hospital.
On Dec. 26 Soviet Pres. Gorbachev nominates Gennady I. Yanayev
to be the Soviet Union's first vice-pres.
On Dec. 28 the U.S. govt. reports that its chief economic forecasting
gauge, the Index of Leading Indicators plunged 1.2% the previous month,
for the 5th consecutive monthly drop.
On Dec. 28 two people are killed in a subway fire in New York City; meanwhile
33 people are injured in a trolley collision in Boston.
On Dec. 29 Iraq denies a report that it was engaged in secret contacts
with the U.S. to avert war, and might withdraw from Kuwait before the
Jan. 15 U.N. deadline.
On Dec. 29 former South Korean pres. Chun Doo-hwan returns to Seoul
after two years of voluntary internal exile.
On Dec. 30 Iraq's information minister Latif Nussayif Jassim
utters the soundbyte that Pres. Bush "must have been drunk" when he suggested Iraq might withdraw
from Kuwait, adding "We will show the world America is a paper tiger."
On Dec. 31 Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir fires science minister Ezer Weizman, accusing him of meeting with officials of the PLO.
In Dec. in Bulgaria the Socialist-dominated Parliament forms a coalition govt. headed by nonparty lawyer Dimitar Popov.
In Dec. China opens the A share capital market for Chinese citizens.
In Dec. in Serbia Slobodan Milosevic (1941-2006)
is elected pres. #1 of Serbia, taking office on Jan. 11 (until July 23, 1997); his Socialist (formerly Communist) Party captures 194 of 250
parliamentary seats - sounds like something to do with snot and mucous?
In Dec. former Tex. gov. John B. Connally Jr., along with Coastal Oil Corp. chmn. Oscar Wyatt meet with Iraqi pres. Saddam Hussein, and persuade
him to release his "guests", foreign hostages held at strategic military sites.
In Dec. Emerson Moser,
top crayon molder at Crayola retires after 37 years after molding 1.4B crayons, revealing that he is partially colorblind.
Fernando Collor de Mello (b. 1949)
becomes Brazil's youngest pres. following the first public election in 29 years.
In Dec. the U.S. FDA warns that chloral hydrate, a drug commonly used
as a sedative for children may cause cancer in humans.
Mozambique
begins working towards a mutli-party democracy.
The U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments
are passed, dealing with acid rain, with the goal of reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by half, and also
targeting ozone in urban areas and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
The U.S. Budget Enforcement Act
is passed, requiring PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) for any legislative action, incl. a tax cut; too bad, it expires in 2002, allowing
Pres. George H.W. Bush's son George W. Bush to implement
expensive legislation, incl. prescription drug benefits for seniors with no corresponding tax increase and no way of paying for them?
The Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) wins a sweeping V in municipal elections in Algeria.
Yemen Arab Repub.
and the People's Dem. Repub. of Yemen merge.
Defense minister Idriss Deby (Déby) (1952-)
(head of the Patriotic Salvation Movement) (son of a herder) overthrows Hissen Habre and seizes power in Chad (until ?), suspending the constitution,
dismissing the legislature, and going on to become a corrupt dictator - I'll not call it quits even with arthritic knee pain?
Malta applies for membership in the European Community; on June 30, 1993 its application is favorably renewed with a few concerns.
The C African country of Burundi goes nuts and begins deforestation at a rate of 9% a year - figure it out?
After the execution of his close personal friend Nicolae Ceausescu last Xmas, Zaire pres. (1965-97)
Mobutu Sese Seko (Joseph-Desire Mobutu) (Joseph-Désiré Mobutu) (1930-97)
announces a plan to "democratize" Zaire; too little too late? The crumbling Soviet Union cuts off its huge financial aid and favorable trade
agreements to Cuba, causing it to enter a 2-year "special period" where necessities are in short supply and people wait in line for hours for
bread and milk; surprisingly, Castro signs agreements with Canada and Euro countries for nickel and other raw materials, and ramps up the tourist
industry, saving his Commie Rev., while beginning to wear business suits; he gave up cigars in 1985; numbah-two-try-hadah China gives them 400K bicycles.
The U.S. Native Am. Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
is passed, protecting the sensitive spirituality of existing Amerindians but hampering scientific mining of Indian lands; the
U.S. Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990,
co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ben Nighthorse of Colo. (North Cheyenne) makes it a federal crime for non-Indians to fraudulently market their work as authentic Indian art.
Am. canned tuna producers announce that they will no longer accept fish caught in nets that also kill dolphins.
After years of hunting for the "fifth man" in the Cambridge Five group of Soviet moles into British intel (Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean),
John Cairncross (1913-95)
is finally ratted out by Soviet defectors Yuri Modin and Oleg Gordievsky; he claims he only helped the Soviets during WWII to defeat the Nazis, and isn't
a member of the Cambridge Five.
The U.S. creates the EB-5 Investor Visa,
allowing foreigners who invest $1M to start a business that creates at least 10 jobs to get a green card; if the business is located in a high unemployment area,
the price is cut in half; in fiscal 2011 there are 3.8K applications.
Pres. George H.W. Bush reluctantly bans offshore oil drilling
for Calif., Ore., Fla., Wash., and the North Atlantic; in 2009 just before leaving office, his son Pres. George W. Bush lifts the executive order
and asks the Congress to lift their 1980 ban covering most federally-controlled waters; on Mar. 23, 2010 Pres. Obama lifts the ban on 85% of the U.S. coastline.
The U.S. Congress sets up the f--cked up
U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform,
with former Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy chmn. Dr.
Lawrence Howard Fuchs (1927-2013)
of Brandeis U. as co-chmn; it goes on to recommend stronger policing of employers, and urge top priority for skilled workers and immediate
family members, letting the border sieve problem ride.
The U.S. Federal Election Commission reports that PACs gave $159.3M to House and Senate campaigns in the 1989-90 election cycle ($98.3M to Dems., $60.8M
to Repubs.), with incumbents receiving $126M (79.1%), and just 10.2% going to challengers of federal-level incumbents; a Common Cause study shows that
on avg. House incumbents had 6.5x more campaign money in the 1990 elections; the biggest spender was the Teamsters' Pac, which spent $10.5M, mostly on
local election candidates; the Realtors' PAC gave the most ($3M) to congressional candidates; the Am. Medical Assoc. and the Teamsters each gave $2.3M; labor
PACS gave 71% of their contributions to incumbents, up from 64% in 1987-8.
The French state-owned TGV high-speed railway opens lines to Tours and the Loire Valley.
In 1990-2 Hillary Clinton serves on the board of dirs. of the
Lafarge Corp.,
which in 1992 is fined $1.8M by the EPA for burning hazardous waste in cement plants in Ohio, but has the fine reduced to $600K after Bill Clinton
takes office; it is later implicated in a CIA-backed covert arms export network to Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s, and is caught supporting
ISIS by paying taxes to it to operate a cement plant in Syria and buying oil from it; in 2015 it donates $100K to the Clinton Foundation.
The militant Islamist org. Lashkar-e-Taiba
(Army of the Pure or Righteous) is founded in Afghanistan by Pakistani univ. prof.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed (1950-) and
Zafar Iqbal (1955-),
with HQ in Muridke (near Lahore), Pakistan; it operates under cover of the
Jama'at-ud-Da'wah (Jamaat-ud-Dawa)
charitable org., which the U.N. Security Council declares a terrorist front group on Dec. 11, 2008.
Entertainment Weekly begins pub.; the debut cover features Canadian singer k.d. lang.
Princeton U. college student Wendy Kopp (1967-) founds
Teach for America,
recruiting recent college grads to teach in disadvantaged schools for two years, starting with 500 teachers this year, growing to 3.7K by 2009.
Swiss New Age anthropologist Kurt Derungs (1962-)
founds the field of Landscape Mythology (Anthropology),
combining totemism, shamanism, and matriarchal mythology with anthropology, archeology, and ethnology.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed for repairs, which take 12 years.
Univ. of Colo. football coach William Paul "Bill" McCartney (1940-)
founds the bizarre crypto-Christian cult called the Promise Keepers,
which likes to assemble adult males in football stadiums for some kind of ritual love fest sansa sex to help men "keep their promises" to spouses,
families, God, their churches, and themselves; by 1996 they have a budget of $115M and a staff of 400, and attract over 1M to 22 stadium events
during the year - love for all except feminists, homosexuals, religious and political liberals, non-Christians...?
Handsome mustachioed New York City Transit police officer Frank Spangenberg (1957-)
sets the 5-day cumulative winnings record on the game show "Jeopardy!", becoming the first person to win more than $100K ($102,597) in five shows,
and the show's first superstar; too bad, the show caps his winnings at $75K, and he donates $27,597 to the Gift of Love Hospice, operated by the Missionaries of Charity.
Actress Kelly Preston is accidentally shot in her apt. while living with Charlie Sheen - accidentally living?
As of this year the New York City police force has 35,603 members, which exceeds the pop. of eight U.S. state capitals: Montpelier (Vt.),
Pierre (S.D.), Augusta (Me.), Dover (Del.), Helena (Mont.), Juneau (Alaska), Frankfort (Ky.), and Concord (N.H.).
In this decade the right extremist Militia Movement
grows throughout the U.S., fearing growing federal govt. power and its threat on their right to bear arms, establishing paramilitary training camps
in wilderness areas.
Early in this decade the Salifist Osbat (Asbat) an-Ansar
(League of the Partisans) is founded to overthrow the Lebanese govt.
Sometime in this decade the emerald ash borer
enters the U.S. through a shipment of goods from the Far East to Detroit; by the time it is discovered in the summer of 2002 it
has killed millions of ash trees in SE Michigan, and by 2005 15M trees are dead or dying.
The shrinking Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan splits in two, with a patch of desert in between.
Swedish economist Thomas Lindhqvist (1954-)
proposes the Polluter Pays Principle,
AKA Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
is formed to warn the world that it uses
painful shackling
and other inhumane methods on Palestinians.
The American Prospect
is founded as "an authoritative magazine of liberal ideas" by
Robert Kuttner
(1943-),
Robert Bernard Reich
(1946-), and
Paul Starr
(1949-).
Eritrean-born Abdul Rahman Al-Amoudi (Abdurahman Alamoudi)
founds the Muslim Brotherhood front called the
Am. Muslim Council,
which gets him invited to help choose Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military and serves
as an advisor to Pres. Clinton, appearing with Pres. George W. Bush days after 9/11 at
Washington Nat. Cathedral for a prayer service in memory of the victims; in Oct. 2004
he is sentenced to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to his role in a Libyan
plot to assassinate Saudi crown prince (later king) Abdullah using al-Qaida operatives,
Newsweek calling him an "expert in the art of deception".
The term "Islamofascism" is coined by Scottish writer Malise Ruthven.
The Muslim Council of Sweden is founded; a front for the Muslim Brotherhood?
Canadian environmental activist David Takayoshi Suzuki (1936-)
co-founds the David Suzuki Foundation to attempt to reverse global climate change, er, global warming, adding clean energy and sustainability to the goals, along with
opposition to GMOs, uttering the soundbyte: "Canada, more than any other nation, will be affected by rising sea leavels from global warming"; too bad, in Sept. 2013 he gives an
interview
to Australia's ABC-TV, revealing complete ignorance about the main temperature data sets on which global warming theories are based?
Charlotte, N.C.-born physician Steven Macon Greer (1955-) founds the
Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI);
in 1993 he founds The Disclosure Project, as in make the govt. cough up the real dope on UFOs by interviewing past and present govt. officials.
The first Wacken Open Air summer heavy music festival is held in Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, N Germany, becoming
the #1 Euro heavy metal festival, drawing up to 80K attendance.
Lorne Michael's Saturday Night Live (SNL)
(begun 1975), run completely by Baby Boomers starts out the decade fast by kicking
the writing quality up a notch, with writers Al Franken, Jim Downey, Tina Fey,
Adam McKay, Paula Pell, and Steve Higgins feeding a lineup incl. Mike Myers and
Dana Carvey (Wayne's World), Chris Rock, David Spade, Chris Farley (as Newt Gingrich
and a Chippendales model), Adam Sandler (as Operaman and Cajunman), and Dana Carvey
(as Pres. George H.W. Bush); too bad, by the middle of the decade TV critics begin
a mantra of writing "Saturday Night Live is dead" columns, causing the entire cast
to be fired in 1994, and a new cast to be hired for the 1995-6 season, incl.
Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond (as Pres. Bill Clinton and Alex Trebek), Phil Hartman,
Molly Shannon (as armpit-sniffing Mary Katherine Gallagher), Sarah Silverman,
Jimmy Fallon, Tim Meadows (as Sen. Ted Kennedy), Colin Quinn, Amy Gasteyner (as
Martha Stewart), Cheri Oteri, Kevin Nealson, and Norm MacDonald (as Burt Reynolds
and the host of "Update"), who is fired around Xmas 1997 about the time that
Phil Harman and Chris Farley die, causing a mini purge; the decade ends with guest
hosting by John Goodman, Alec Baldwin, and Christopher Walken.
Geoffrey Canada (1952-)
becomes pres. of the Harlem Children's Zone (founded 1970), going on to increase graduation and college entrance rates as described in the 2010 film "Waiting for Superman".
Hollywood Records
is founded the Walt Disney Co., signing the defunct band Queen's catalog, then signing
and destroying The Dead Milkmen in 1995; in 1998 they acquire top indie label
Mammoth Records, which was founded in 1989 in Carrboro, N.C. by
Jay Faires,
then finally get a hit act in 2003 with Hilary Duff, after which they begin rolling out
hit acts incl. The Cheetah Girls, Vanessa Hudgens, Raven-Symone (Raven-Symoné),
Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and The Scene, and the Jonas Brothers.
Interscope Records
is founded Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a subsidiary of Atlantic Records; their first release on Jan. 29, 1991 is Gerardo's "Rico Suave"; they go on to sign
Helmet, Tupac Shakur, Primus, Nine Inch Nails, and No Doubt.
The Rottweiler dog breed skyrockets in popularity in the U.S. in this decade, rising to #2 in purebred registrations with the AKC.
Am. choreographer Mark William Morris (1956-) and Russian dancer
Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948-) found the
White Oak Dance Project in the U.S.
The Hispanic Federation (HF)
is founded in New York City to "empower and advance the Hispanic community" through grantmaking, lobbying, leadership training,
voter registration drives et al., going national and moving to Washington, D.C.
Australian economist Martin Ravallion (1952-) of the World Bank proposes the $1/day poverty line.
Bob Hope's wife Dolores Hope (1909-)
becomes the first female entertainer allowed to perform in Saudi Arabia.
In this decade Kwaito (Afrikaans "Kwaai" = angry) music is created in Johannesburg, South Africa,
featuring shouting and chanting rather than singing or rapping.
In this decade the underground feminist punk Riot grrrl music movement in the Am. Pacific Northwest flourishes, featuring groups incl.
Bikini Kill,
Bratmobile,
Excuse 17,
Heavens to Betsy,
Fifth Column, and
Sleater-Kinney.
In this decade the cheap irritating Vuvuzela
plastic horn, modelled after an antelope horn becomes popular among soccer fans in South Africa.
In this decade the supermodel era is launched by the "Big Six", incl.
Linda Evangelista (1965-),
Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford (1966-),
Christy Turlington (1969-),
Naomi Campbell (1970-),
Claudia Schiffer (1970-),
and Katherine Ann "Kate" Moss (1974-);
Campbell, Evangelista and Turlington are called "the Trinity"; on Nov. 21 Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger unofficially
marries 6' Tex.-born supermodel Jerry Faye Hall (1956-) in Bali;
annulled in 1999 after having kids Elizabeth in 1984, James in 1985, Georgia May in 1992, and Gabriel in 1997.
English physicist Steven Hawking leaves his wife (since 1965) Jane Wilde for his married female nurse Elaine Mason, wife of David Mason,
designer of his talking computer; he divorces her in 2006 - mazel tov Gaylord and Focker world's greatest nurse?
Am. atty. Michael Wayne "Mike" Godwin (1956-)
proposes Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies:
"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1"; in 2006
Quinn's Law
is posted on Slashdot, changing it to Microsoft bashing.
After N.C. Sen. Jesse Helms puts pressure on them, NEA chmn. #5 (1989-92)
John Edward Frohnmayer (1942-)
vetoes the grants of the NEA Four,
incl. performance artists Karen Finley (1956-),
John Fleck (1951-),
Holly Hughes (1955-),
and Tim Miller (1958-),
who sue and win their case in court in 1993, causing Congress to pressure them into stopping all funding of individual artists - there's
quite a lot of guys named Angel in here?
GK Films (originally Initial Entertainment Group until 2008)
is founded in Britain by Graham King (1961-),
going on to produce "Liebestraum" (1991), "Rent-a-Kid" (1995), "Little City" (1997), "Family Plan:" (1997), "Walking Thunder" (1997),
"Montana" (1998), "Savior" (1998), "Very Bad Things" (1998), "Traffic" (2000), "Ali" (2001), "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" (2002),
"Gangs of New York (2002), "Laws of Attraction" (2004), "The Aviator" (2004), "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" (2005), "An Unfinished Life" (2005),
"The Departed" (2006), "Blood Diamond" (2006), "Next" (2007), "Gardener of Eden" (2007), "Bangkok Dangerous" (2008), "The Young Victoria" (2009),
"Edge of Darkness" (2010), "The Town" (2010), "London Boulevard" (2010), "The Tourist" (2010), "Rango" (2011), "The Rum Diary" (2011),
"Hugo" (2011), "In the Land of Blood and Honey" (2011), "Dark Shadows" (2012), "Argo" (2012), "World War Z" (2013), "Jersey Boys" (2014),
"The 5th Wave" (201), "Allied" (2016), "High Noon" (2017), and "Tomb Raider" (2018).
The Olivia travel co., founded in 1973 as Olivia Records by Judy Dlugacz offers its first lesbian (all-woman) cruise;
fans incl. Martina Navratilova, Sheryl Swoopes, and Rosie Jones; in 1998 its ad for the coming out episode of "Ellen" is rejected by ABC-TV.
The word "Hoodie" becomes popular.
Am. white nationalist-supremacist Samuel Jared Taylor (1951-)
founds Am. Renaissance mag. in Nov.,
eloquently promoting white racial identity while dodging the Southern Poverty Law Center, Jewish Anti-Defamation League et al.;
"Race is an important aspect of individual and group identity. Of all the fault lines that divide society - language, religion, class,
ideology — it is the most prominent and divisive. Race and racial conflict are at the heart of some of the most serious challenges the
Western World faces in the 21st century. The problems of race cannot be solved without adequate understanding. Attempts to gloss over
the significance of race or even to deny its reality only make problems worse. Progress requires the study of all aspects of race,
whether historical, cultural, or biological. This approach is known as race realism."
British HP computer programmer Colin "Col" Needham (1967-)
launches the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
Web site; in 1998 it is acquired by Amazon.com; by 2014 it has 6M personalities, 2.95M titles, and 54M registered users.
Harley-Davidson bgins marketing the Fatboy (used in "Terminator 2") and Sturgis models.
Campbell's Soup launches the Cream of Broccoli flavor, sponsoring a recipe contest with broccoli-hating pres. George H.W. Bush in mind.
In 1990 Baltika Brewery is founded in St. Petersburg, Russia, becoming the 2nd largest brewing co. in Russia (20M barrels/year);
in ? it is acquired by Baltic Beverages Holding Co.
Architecture:
On June 23 the $7M Colo. Convention (and Expo) Center at 700-14th St. in downtown Denver, Colo. opens with the
NBA Draft for the Denver Nuggets; in 2004 it is expanded at a cost of $340M.
8-acre Waterfront Park on the Cooper River in Charleston, S.C. opens, designed by Stuart O. Dawson, featuring
the Pineapple Fountain.
Sports:
On Feb. 7 Lisa Leslie (1972-)
of Morningside H.S. in Inglewood, Calif. scores 101 points in a single half in 16 min. in a basetball game against
South Torrance H.S., causing the loser team to quit at halftime, robbing her of the chance to break Cheryl Miller's
nat. record of 105 points in a game despite being allowed to make four foul shots at the start of the 2nd half, which are disqualified.
On Feb. 11 the "Upset of the Century" sees 37-0 heavyweight champion Michael Gerard "Iron Mike" Tyson (1966-)
KOd in round 10 (same day Nelson Mandela is freed) by unknown Columbus, Ohio native
James "Buster" Douglas (1960-) in Tokyo, Japan.
On Feb. 15 ML baseball owners lock out their players over a labor dispute; on Apr. 9 the ML baseball season opens a week late.
On Feb. 18 the 1990 (32nd) Daytona 500
is won by Derrike Cope (1958-).
On Mar. 28 late track star Jesse Owens (1913-80) receives the Congressional Gold Medal from Pres. Bush.
On Apr. 20 baseball's all-time hits leader Pete Rose
pleads guilty to hiding $300K in income; on July 19 he is sentenced in Cincinnati, Ohio to 5 mo. in prison for tax evasion.
On Apr. 21 a NL umpire is arrested for stealing baseball cards.
On May 15 during a home game of the Toronto Blue Jays against the Seattle Mariners, a couple in a room in the 348-room
SkyDome Hotel
overlooking the stadium watch the game naked wrapped in towels in front of 40K fans, then start making love in the 7th inning,
causing the hotel to warn occupants against doing it again.
On May 15-24 the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals
see the Edmonton Oilers defeat the Boston Bruins 4-1, becoming the last of eight straight Finals
with a team from Alberta (Oilers 6x, Flames 2x); MVP is Oilers goaltender
William Edward "Bill" Ranford (1966-).
On May 27 the 1990 (74th) Indianapolis 500
(AKA the Fastest 500) is won by "the Flying Dutchman"
Arie Luyendyk (Luijenjijk) (1953-)
of Netherlands, who takes the lead with 32 laps to go, becoming his first championship-level V,
setting a record avg. speed of 185.981 mph (299.307 km/h), which stands until 2013.
On June 5-14 the 1990 NBA Finals
is won 4-1 by the Detroit Pistons over the Portland Trail Blazers; MVP is Isiah Thomas.
On June 29 Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dave Stewart of the
Oakland A's become the first pitchers to hurl no-hitters in both the NL and AL on the same day:
Oakland vs. Blue Jays 5-to-0, and Los Angeles vs. St. Louis Cardinals 6-0.
On June 16 Kladno, Czech.-born Jaromir Jagr (1972-)
is selected #5 overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins, going on to win two straight Stanley Cups in 1991-2
and become the most productive Euro player in NHL history.
On July 4 the 14th FIFA World Cup of Soccer
sees West Germany defeat England ?-?; on July 4
rioting
erupts in 30 English towns following England's defeat, killing 30; Argentine-born Telemundo sportscaster
Andres Cantor
first uses his signature call "Go-o-o-o-o-o-lll!" at the World Cup of Soccer.
On July 7 Martina Navratilova (1956-)
captures a record 9th women's title at Wimbledon, easily defeating Zina Garrison 6-4, 6-1.
On July 11 All-Star Game MVP Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (1962-)
of the Kansas City Royals makes his "wall run", catching a ball 2-3 strides from the outfield wall, then walking like Spider-Man
up and down it in a game against the Baltimore Orioles; on July 17 he
hits
three consecutive at-bat homers in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th innings before being replaced in the middle of the 6th inning after
dislocating his shoulder trying to catch a ball hit by Deion Sanders; he returns on Aug. 26, hitting a homer in his first at-bat
in the 2nd inning; too bad, after winning the 1985 Heisman Trophy he decides to play NFL football too, and next Jan. 13 he suffers a severe
hip injury
playing for the Los Angeles Raiders against the Cincinnati Bengals, causing him to be released, but next June he begins walking
without crutches, and the month after that new "Bo Knows" Nike ads incl. him again; he signs with the Chicago White Sox, but turns out to be washed-up.
On July 25 comedian Roseanne Barr (1952-)
sparks controversy with a disrespectful, crotch-grabbing, off-key rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" during a double-header at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
On July 31 Refugio, Tex.-born Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. (1947-) ("the Ryan Express") of the Texas Rangers,
who at age 43 threw a no-hitter on June 11 becomes the 20th major leaguer to win 300 games as he leads his team to a V over the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.
On Aug. 26 after an initial race on July 5, 1909 in Brighton, Colo., followed by two more races in 1951-2 at Centennial Park, the
Grand Prix of Denver
Champ Car race is held in Denver, Colo., skipping 1992-2001 before ending in 2002-6; the winner of the 1990-1 races is Al Unser Jr.
On Aug. 31 center fielder George Kenneth "Ken" "The Kid" "Junior" Griffey Jr. (1969-)
of the Seattle Mariners and his outfielder father George Kenneth "Ken" Griffey Sr. (1950-)
of the Seattle Mariners become the first father-son pair to play in the ML at the same time in a
game against the Kansas City Royals, hitting back-to-back singles in inning #1 and both scoring; on
Sept. 14, 1990 they hit back-to-back homers in a game off Calif. Angels pitcher Kirk McCaskill (a first) (next ?);
they play 51 games together before Sr. retires in June 1991; Junior goes on to win 10 straight Gold Gloves in 1990-9,
resulting in a Wheaties cereal box cover and his own sneaker line at Nike.
On Oct. 6 the Fifth Down Game
sees the U. of Colo. Buffaloes defeat the Missouri Tigers 33-31 in Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo. after the officials goof
and give the Buffaloes a you know what, allowing them to score a TD on their last play of the game.
On Oct. 25 Ala.-born, Atlanta, Ga.-raised
Evander Holyfield (1962-)
KOs Buster Douglas in round 3 of their fight in Las Vegas to become world heavyweight
boxing champ #26; he goes on to defend it 3x, lose it to Riddick Bowe in 1992, regain it
in 1993 in a rematch, lose it again to Michael Moorer in 1994, then win it for a 3rd time in
Nov. 1996 against Mike Tyson as a 25-1 underdog;
meanwhile Douglas retires on his $24.6M for the Holyfield fight, gains weight to almost 400 lbs.,
almost dies from a diabetic coma, and tries a comeback.
On Oct. 26 Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angles Kings
becomes
the first NHL player to reach 2,000 career points after scoring an assist against the Winnipeg Jets
by passing the puck to Tony Granato, who passes it to Tomas Sandstrom, who beats Jets goalie
Bob Essena at 14:32 into the first period; the Jets win 6-2 after Gretzky fails to score a goal; on
Jan. 3, 1991 Gretzky scores
his 700th goal (4th NHL player) in a game against the New York Islanders, going on to score 5+ goals in four games
in the season and score an NHL record 93rd playoff goal on Apr. 10.
On Oct. 27 the 1990 Breeders' Cup Distaff
at Belmont Park sees 3-y.-o. American Thoroughbred filly
Go For Wand (1987-90) duel with Argentine mare
Bayakoa (1984-97)
(previous year's winner), going neck and neck to the home stretch, when Go For Wand tripS, breaking her right foreleg,
and has to be put down.
On Oct. 27 (Sat.) the Stanford U. marching band gets into trouble again when it lampoons the Northwest spotted owl controversy at a U. of Oregon
football game in Eugene, suggesting that marijuana growers use it as a cover for their illegal crops; "This puts a little twist on Ben Franklin's
saying, 'Just remember kids, an owl a day keeps the DEA away'."
On Nov. 2 the Golden State Warriors defeat the Denver Nuggets by 162-158 in McNicholas Arena, setting the NBA record for most points scored
by two teams in a non-OT game (320).
On Nov. 2 the first major sports event to be played by a U.S. team outside North Am.
sees the NBA Phoenix Suns defeat the Utah Jazz by 119-96 in Tokyo, Japan; on Nov. 3 the Jazz win by 102-101.
On Dec. 30 Scott Allen Skiles (1964-)
of the Orlando Magic (#4) scores an NBA record 30 assists in 155-116 win over the Denver Nuggets, breaking Kevin Porter's record of 29, going on to win the NBA most improved player award.
The first Kremlin Cup of Tennis is held in Moscow on a carpet surface; the men's singles winner is Andrei Cherkasov; in 1996 women
are allowed to compete.
Georgia Tech in Atlanta has a big sports year, with its basketball team reaching the NCAA Final Four and its football team winning a share of the nat. championship (11-0-1).
Scotland defeats England to win the Rugby Grand Slam.
Gregory James "Greg" LeMond (1961-) of the U.S. wins his 3rd and last Tour de France (1986, 1989).
The NFL introduces a 17-week regular season with byes, and expands the playoffs to 12 teams, adding two wild card teams to bring in
more TV money and streamline a complex tie-breaking system; as of the Jan. 2005 wild card playoffs, the home team is 42-18 vs. the
visiting team, 18-12 for the NFC and 24-6 for the AFC; in Jan. 2001 all four home teams win for the first time; 3 home teams win 11x;
2 home teams win 2x; in 2005 only 1 home team wins.
Nobel Prizes:
Peace: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (1931-2022) (Soviet Union) [Glasnost and Perestroika];
Lit.: Octavio Paz (1914-98) (Mexico);
Physics: Richard Edward Taylor (1929-) (Canada),
Jerome Isaac Friedman (1930-) (U.S.), and
Henry Way Kendall (1926-99) (U.S.) [quark model];
Chem.: Elias James Corey (1928-) (U.S.) [retrosynthetic analysis];
Medicine: Joseph Edward Murray (1919-2012) (U.S.) and
Edward Donnall "Don" Thomas (1920-) (U.S.) [organ transplantation];
Economics: Harry Max Markowitz (1927-) (U.S.),
William Forsyth Sharpe (1934-) (U.S.), and
Merton Howard Miller (1923-2000) (U.S.) [stock-bond valuation].
Inventions:
On Feb. 28 Space Shuttle Atlantis blasts off from Cape Canaveral on a secret mission to place a spy satellite in orbit;
it returns on Mar. 4.
On Dec. 10 the U.S. FDA approves Norplant, the long-acting matchstick-like contraceptive upper arm implant.
The first Saturn car, produced in Spring Hill, Tenn. is introduced, becoming known for no-haggle pricing.
Ordinyl, the first new drug in 40 years to treat African sleeping sickness is approved by WHO.
The U.S. govt.-run Arpanet is decommissioned, and the Internet
takes over and goes commercial, immediately being swamped with porno Web sites, which make big bucks while driving millions of men crazy and ruining marriages and families?; on Sept. 10
Archie is founded by McGill U. student Alan Amtage, becoming the first Web search engine, followed by
Veronica (1992) and
Jughead (1993);
by the late 1990s San Fernando Valley N of the Hollywood Hills in Calif. becomes San Pornando Valley
as the porno industry moves in bigtime, generating billions in sales each year (until ?).
The first rootkit is developed by Lane Davis and Steve Dake for the Sun Microsystems SunOS UNiX operating system,
giving a hacker system administrator access to allow them to take over without being detected.
"Business-to-business publication" PC Magazine reviews Microsoft Windows 3.0 in its July issue, calling it "dazzling" and "the best implementation of a graphical environment for
PC users available anywhere", and gives Microsoft Word for Windows an "Editor's Choice" designation among graphical word processors.
Sony and Philips introduce the CD-Recordable (CD-R).
Swiss mathematicians invent the (Internat. Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) to replace the aging
DES Algorithm, which had been adopted by the U.S. govt. in 1977.
Colby College roommates Peter Dragone and John Sylvan invent Keurig K-cups
for single-cup coffeemaking, founding Keurig Green Mountain Co. in Waterbury, Vt. in 1992; in 1997 Sylvan sells out for $5K;
in 1998 they introduce K-Cup pods, which become popular in offices, followed by homes, causing sales to grow to $4.7B by 2014, after which Sylvan publicly
regrets inventing them because they're not recyclable.
Rollerblades are invented by two Minn. brothers as a way for hockey players to practice in the off season.
In this decade movie theaters begin using stadium seating, becoming the biggest improvement since color in the 1940s.
Science:
In this decade after ozone depletion is discovered in 1984, Hydroflurocarbons (HFCs)
are introduced to replace ozone-depleting cloroflurocarbons (CFCs) such as freon in refrigerators, air conditioners, and insulating foam;
too bad, while the ozone shield recovers, the HFCs cause a super greenhouse effect, with 4,470x the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide (CO2?)
On Aug. 12 Susan Hendrickson
discovers the fossilized Tyrannosaurus Rex "Sue" in S.D., bringing the total number of known specimens to a whopping nine.
In Sept. Tulsa, Okla.-born physician William French Anderson (1936-) successfully injects healthy genes into 4-.y.-o.
Ashanti DeSilva, who suffers from Bubble Boy Disease (severe immunodeficiency), becoming the father of the field of
Gene Therapy (Human Gene Transfer); too bad, on July 19, 2006 he is
convicted of repeatedly molesting a colleague's 10-y.-o. daughter who took martial arts classes at his home, and sentenced
to 14 years in prison, then released on May 17, 2018 - blue jean therapy?
In Oct. the Human Genome Project begins, led by Dr.
Francis Sellers Collins (1950-) (a theist).
Am. psychologist Leonard Berkowitz (1926-) pub. the
Cognitive Neoassociation Model of Aggressive Behavior to cover the cases missed by the Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis.
Yakima, Wash.-born economist Robert Emerson Lucas Jr. (1937-) uses the rational expectation theory of John F. Muth to develop the
Lucas Paradox (Puzzle) (1990), that capital doesn't flow from developed to developing countries despite the lower levels of capital per worker.
Japanese scientist Seiji Ogawa (1934-) discovers
Functional MRI (fMRI), which uses blood oxygen levels to image the brain while performing various functions.
The First Assessment Report (FAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is pub., serving as
the basis of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change of June 4, 1992; Welsh evangelical Christian scientist Sir
John Theodore Houghton (1931-) is the lead author of Working Group I, which reaches the following conclusions:
"We are certain of the following: there is a natural greenhouse effect...; emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases:
CO2, methane, CFCs and nitrous oxide. These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect, resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth's surface. The main greenhouse gas, water vapour,
will increase in response to global warming and further enhance it";
"We calculate with confidence that: ...CO2 has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect; long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of
over 60% to stabilise their concentrations at today's levels..."
"Based on current models, we predict: under [BAU] increase of global mean temperature during the [21st] century of about 0.3 oC per decade (with an uncertainty range of 0.2 to 0.5 oC per decade);
this is greater than that seen over the past 10,000 years; under other ... scenarios which assume progressively increasing levels of controls, rates of increase in global mean temperature of about
0.2o C [to] about 0.1o C per decade";
The Pistol Star is discovered by the Hubble Telescope, becoming the brightest star known, 10M times brighter than the Sun.
A Harvard team studying a 700-gene stretch from mitochondria finds that human and chimpanzee genes differ
by 9.6%, while gorilla and chimp genes vary by 13.1% - but what about over the entire genome?
Walter Hasselbring of Crescent City, Ill. wins the Nat. Corn Growers Assoc. award in Mar. for bringing in 296 bushels per acre, the highest yield in the U.S., using 105 bison to fertilize his fields.
Nonfiction:
Peter Ackroyd (1949-), Dickens.
Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), Intellect: Mind Over Matter;
Truth in Religion: The Plurality of Religions and the Unity of Truth.
Raymond Andrews (1934-91), The Last Radio Baby (autobio.).
James Andreoni (1959-), Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving;
proposes the Theory of Warm-Glow Giving.
Darryl Anka (1951-), Blueprint for Change: A Message from Our Future.
Timothy Garton Ash (1955-),
The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of 1989 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague.
Mohammad Yousuf Azraq (1937-92), History of Afghan Independence;
Islamic Cultural and Academic Institutions of Afghanistan.
Bernard Bailyn (1922-), Faces of Revolution.
Ian Graeme Barbour (1923-), Religion in an Age of Science.
Drew Barrymore (1975-), Little Girl Lost (autobio.); the Barrymore curse of alcohol and drug abuse.
Jack Benny (1894-1974) and his daughter Joan,
Sunday Nights at Seven: The Jack Benny Story.
Bruce Berger, The Telling Distance: Conversations With the American Desert (essays);
"After several decades of journeying in the wild, I find the self is just as elusive as ever".
Peter Ludwig Berger (1929-) (ed.), The Capitalist Spirit: Toward a Religious Ethic of Wealth Creation.
Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909-97), The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas;
based on Immanuel Kant's line: "Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made."
Michael R. Beschloss (1955-), Eisenhower [1890-1969]: A Centennial Life.
H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger (1954-), Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and A Dream;
bestseller (2M copies) about the ill-fated 1988 Permian Panthers of Odessa, Tex., who lose the state 5A football title to the Dallas Carter Cowboys by 14-9, after which on June 20, 1989 two Carter players are
arrested
for robbing video stores starting five days after the game, leading to 21 robberies by 15 teenies incl. six players getting uncovered, causing the title to be stripped in Jan. 1991;
filmed in 2004 starring Billy Bob Thornton.
William Bloom (1948-), Personal Identity, National Identity and International Relations.
Robert Bly (1926-2021), Iron John: A Book About Men; NYT bestseller; the spiritual roots of maleness, pioneering the
mythopoetic men's movement.
Rosalie Bonanno, Mafia Marriage.
John Bradshaw (1933-), Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child; NYT #1 bestseller.
George J. Borjas (1950-), Friends or Strangers: The Impact of Immigrants on the U.S. Economy;
#1 U.S. immigration economist argues that the U.S. must attract more skilled immigrants,
Sylvia Browne (1936-),
Adventures of a Psychic: The Fascinating and Inspiring True-Life Story of One of America's Most Successful Clairvoyants;
her spirit guide Francine; the book that convinced U.S. TV host Montel Williams?
Peter Burke (1937-),
THe French Historical Revolution: The Annales School 1929-89.
Sophy Burnham (1936-),
A Book of Angels: Reflections on Angels Past and Present, and True Stories of How They Touch Our Lives;
based on the article "Angels and Ghosts I Have Known" in New Woman mag. (Apr. 1985).
James MacGregor Burns (1918-2014),
Cobblestone Leadership: Majority Rule, Minority Power (Nov.).
Ken Burns (1953-), Geoffrey C. Ward, and Ric Burns, The Civil War: An Illustrated History.
Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, Barbarians at the Gate;
the Oct.-Nov. 1988 Wall Street frenzy and the $31B RJR Nabisco takeover.
Laurie Cabot (1933-), The Power of the Witch: The Earth, the Moon, and the Magical Path to Enlightenment.
Robert A. Caro, Means of Ascent; bio. of LBJ.
Carolyn Cassady (1922-), Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg;
wife of "Dean Moriarty in On the Road" Neal Cassady, who drove Ken Kesey's 1964 psychedelic bus.
Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: an American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance.
Andrei Codrescu (1946-), The Disappearance of the Outside: A Manifesto for Escape.
Robert Coles (1929-), The Spiritual Life of Children.
Robert Conquest (1917-2015), The Great Terror: A Reassessment;
sequel to "The Great Terror" (1968).
Phil Cousineau (1952-), The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work.
Robert Creeley (1926-2005), Autobiography.
Lawrence Arthur Cremin (1925-90),
Popular Education and Its Discontents (last book).
David Brion Davis (1927-), Revolutions: American Equality and Foreign Liberations.
John Dos Passos (1896-1970), Afterglow and Other Undergraduate Writings (posth.).
Rachel Ehrenfeld, Narco-Terrorism: How Governments Around the World Used the Drug Trade to Finance and Further Terrorist Activities.
Barbara Ehrenreich (1941-), The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed (essays);
incl. "At last a new man".
Paul Ralph Ehrlich (1932-), The Population Explosion (Apr. 15); sequel to "The Population Bomb" (1968).
Steven Emerson (1953-) and Brian Duffy, The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation (Apr. 26).
George Fetherling (1949-), The Rise of the Canadian Newspaper.
Guy Finley (1949-), The Secret of Letting Go.
Stephen Fox (1938-), The Unknown Internment: An Oral History of the Relocation of Italian Americans During World War II.
Frank Freidel (1916-93), Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny;
a 1-vol. condensed version of his 5-vol. bio. of FDR (1952-73); "It was a time of acute national privation and foreboding that the closing of the banks reinforced.
Roosevelt instantly countered the pessimism with a bold, reassuring inaugural address that shifted the national spirit from gloom toward optimism. From an ambiguous figure seeming to possess more
charm than backbone, Roosevelt emerged amazingly as a confident, commanding President"; too bad, he dies in 1993 leaving his 6th bio. volume on FDR unfinished.
Lawrence H. Fuchs (1927-2013), The American Kaleidoscope: Race, Ethnicity, and the Civic Culture;
becomes a std. textbook on multiculturalism in the U.S.
John William Gardner (1912-2002), On Leadership.
Peter Gay (1923-2015), Reading Freud: Explorations & Entertainments;
wins the first Heineken Prize for History.
Felix Gilbert (1905-91), History: Politics or Culture? Reflections on Ranke and Burckhardt.
Mark Girouard (1931-), The English Town: A History of Urban Life.
Francoise Giroud (1916-2003), Private lessons;
"If you advance, you die; if you retreat, you die; so why retreat?" (quoting a Zulu proverb).
Chris Glaser, Coming Home!; stories about gays and lesbians finding their Christian spirituality.
Charles Glass (1951-), Money for Old Rope: Disorderly Compositions (essays).
Sita Ram Goel et al., Hindu Temples: What Happened To Them (Apr.);
lists 2K mosques that were built on top of Hindu temples as victory flags.
Galia Golan, Soviet Policies in the Middle East from World War Two to Gorbachev.
Albert Goldman (1927-94), Elvis: The Last 24 Hours; claims he committed suicide.
Naomi Greene, Pier Paolo Pasolini: Cinema as Heresy.
Stanislav Grof (1931-) and Christina Grof, The Stormy Search for the Self: A Guide to Personal Growth through Transformative Crisis.
Ian M. Hacking (1936-), The Taming of Chance (Ideas in Context).
Eugene Halliday (1911-87), Contributions from a Potential Corpse (4 vols.) (posth.).
Peter Handke (1942-), The Jukebox and Other Essays on Storytelling.
Shirley Hazzard (1931-), Countenance of Truth: The United Nations and the Waldheim Case.
Carolyn Heilbrun (1926-2003), Hamlet's Mother and Other Women.
Michel Henry (1922-2002), Phenomenologie Materielle;
Du Communisme au Capitalisme: Theorie d'une Catastrophe.
George V. Higgins (1939-99), On Writing.
Philip Hoare (1958-), Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant.
Adam Hochschild (1942-), The Mirror at Midnight: A South African Journey.
Bert Hoelldobler and Edward Osborne "E.O." Wilson (1929-2021), The Ants (Pulitzer Prize).
Sidney Hook (1902-89), Convictions (posth.).
Bob Hope (1903-2003) and Melville Shavelson (1917-2007), Don't Shoot, It's Only Me: Bob Hope's Comedy History of the United States.
A.E. Hotchner (1920-), Blown Away: The Rolling Stones and the Death of the Sixties.
Irving Howe (1920-93), Selected Writings, 1950-1990.
Michael Jensen (1939-) and Kevin J. Murphy, CEO Incentives: It's Not How Much You Pay, But How;
causes Section 162 (m) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code to be passed in 1993, making it cost-effective to pay executives with stock options,
which backfired when they begin manipulating accounting figures and outsourcing labor to use the savings to repurchase stock, with total stock buybacks reaching the trillions of dollars in 20 years.
Kaylie Jones (1960-), A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (autobio.); the daughter of novelist James Jones (1921-77).
Tony R. Judt (1948-2010), Marxism and the French Left: Studies on Labour and Politics in France, 1830-1982.
Ward Just (1935-), Twenty-one: Selected Stories.
Jon Kabat-Zinn (1944-), Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness
(May 1).
Wendy Kaminer (1949-), A Fearful Freedom: Women's Flight from Equality.
Stanley Karnow (1925-), In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines (Pulitzer Prize).
Jonathan Ned Katz (1938-), The Invention of Homosexuality; repub. in 1995; the evolution from procreative to non-procreative definitions.
Mary Margaret Kaye (1908-2004), Share of Summer (autobio.) (3 vols.) (1990-7).
Joseph Morgan Kousser (1943-), How to Determine Intent: Lessons from L.A..
Morton Keller (1929-), Regulating a New Society;
Regulating a New Economy.
Russell Amos Kirk (1918-94), The Conservative Constitution.
Charles Kuralt (1934-97), A Life on the Road.
Ray Kurzweil (1948-), The Age of Intelligent Machines;
predicts the World Wide Web and that a computer will defeat a world chess champ - but never actually invents anything?
Stanley I. Kutler, The Wars of Watergate.
Gavin Lambert (1924-2005), Norma Shearer: A Life.
Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An Historical Enquiry;
The Roots of Muslim Rage;
how the West and Islam are coming into increasing conflict; coins the terms "Islamic fundamentalism" and "clash of civilizations".
Robert Jay Lifton (1926-) and Eric Markusen, The Genocidal Mentality: Nazi Holocaust and Nuclear Threat.
Peter Maas (1929-2001), In a Child's Name: The Legacy of a Mother's Murder; filmed in ?.
Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson, And Their Children After Them (Pulitzer Prize);
the traumatic decline of King Cotton.
Rian Malan, My Traitor's Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience.
Janet Malcolm (1934-), The Journalist and the Murderer;
journalist Joe McGinniss is sued for his book "Fatal Vision" by Jeffrey MacDonald for misleading him while writing it by playing along as if he thought he were innocent then portraying him as guilty;
MacDonald ends up with a 5-1 hung jury in his favor, shocking journalists.
Peter Mandler (1958-),
Aristocratic Government in the Age of Reform: Whigs and Liberals, 1830-1852
(first book); shows how the British aristocracy stayed in power for 16 of the 22 years between 1830-52 by resisting liberal pressures.
Peter Mandler (1958-) (ed.), The Uses of Charity: The Poor on Relief in the 19th-Century Metropolis.
Ali al-Amin Mazrui (1933-), Cultural Forces in World Politics.
William S. McFeely (1930-), Frederick Douglass.
Corinne McLaughlin (1947-) and Gordon Davidson, Builders of the Dawn: Community Lifestyles in a Changing World;
in 1996 they found the Center for Visionary Leadership.
John McPhee (1931-), Looking for a Ship.
John Milbank (1952-), Theology and Social Theory
founds Radical Orthodoxy, which rejects modernity and its atheistic worldview and returns to Neoplatonism.
Alice Miller (1923-2010), Breaking Down the Wall of Silence: The Liberating Experience of Facing Painful Truth;
her abusive childhood.
Kate Millett (1934-), The Loony-Bin Trip; her bipolar disorder.
Millie (1985-97) (as told to Barbara Bush), Millie's Book.
Norma J. Milanovich, We the Arcturians: A True Experience; the Arcturians, whom she channels.
Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973), Money, Method, and the Market Process;
Economic Freedom and Interventionism (posth.).
Noel E. Monk and Jimmy Guterman, 12 Days on the Road: The Sex Pistols and Ermica; their Jan. 1978 tour of the U.S. South and West.
Alberto Moravia (1907-90), Vita di Alberto Moravia (autobio.).
Richard Ward Morris (1939-2003), The Edges of Science: Cross the Boundary from Physics to Metaphysics.
V.S. Naipaul (1932-2018), India: A Million Mutinies Now.
Shinya Nishimaru, The 41 Years of Life Theory;
claims that Western fast food is reducing the lifespan of Japanese born after 1959 to 41 (current: 77 for men, 82 for women).
Peggy Noonan (1950), What I Saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era (first book).
Elinor Ostrom (1933-), Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.
Victor Ostrovsky and Claire Hoy,
By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer.
Thomas Pakenham (1933-), The Scramble for Africa.
Francis Edwards Peters, Judaism, Christianity and Islam: The Classicl Texts and Their Interpretation (3 vols.).
Kevin Phillips (1940-), The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath.
Daniel Pipes (1949-), Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition;
The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West.
Richard Pipes (1923-2018),
The Russian Revolution.
Roy Porter (1946-2002),
The Enlightenment.
Michael S. Radu (1947-2009),
Latin American Revolutionaries: Groups, Goals, Methods;
The New Insurencies: Anticommunist Guerrillas in the Third World.
James Randi (1928-),
The Mask of Nostradamus: The Prophecies of the World's Most Famous Seer.
Ed Regis, Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition: Science Slightly Over the Edge.
Richard Rhodes (1937-),
A Hole in the World: An American Boyhood
(autobio.).
Paul Michael Romer (1955-),
Endogenous Technological Change.
Henry Rosovsky (1927-),
The University: An Owner's Manual.
Walt Whitman Rostow (1916-2003),
Theorists of Economic Growth from David Hume to the Present.
Conrad Russell (1937-2004),
Unrevolutionary England, 1603-1642;
claims that any change caused by the English Civil War was unplanned;
The Causes of the English Civil War
(Nov. 1).
Morley Safer (1931-), Flashbacks on Returning to Vietnam.
Kamal Salibi, A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered.
John Selby (1945-) and Zachary Selig (1949-),
Kundalini Awakening: A Gentle Guide to Chakra Activation and Spiritual Growth.
Hans F. Sennholz (1922-2007),
Three Economic Commandments.
Kate Simon (1912-90),
Etchings in an Hourglass (autobio.).
Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010),
The Lost Realms;
Genesis Revisited: Is Modern Science Catching Up With Ancient Knowledge?
Mark Skousen (1947-),
The Structure of Production;
2nd ed. 2007; pushes the supply-side Austrian macroeconomics as a better solution than the Keynesian aggregate demand and consumer spending model for global economics.
Hedrick Smith (1933-), The New Russians.
George Soros (1930-), Opening the Soviet System.
Gary Soto (1952-), A Summer Life (autobio.).
Thomas Sowell (1930-), Preferential Policies: An International Perspective.
Jonathan D. Spence (1936-), The Search for Modern China;
becomes std. textbook on 17th cent.-20th cent. Chinese history.
Timothy Steele (1948-), Missing Measures: Modern Poetry and the Revolt Against Meter.
Gloria Steinem (1934-), Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem.
Victor J. Stenger (1935-), Physics and Psychics: The Search for a World Beyond the Senses.
Monika Jenson Stevenson and William Stevenson,
Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POWs in Vietnam.
John A. Stormer (1928-), None Dare Call It Treason... 25 Years Later; update of 1964 1st ed.
William Styron (1925-2006), Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (autobio.).
Cass R. Sunstein (1954-), Feminism and Political Theory;
After the Rights Revolution: Reconceiving the Regulatory State.
Alan Taylor (1955-), Liberty Men and Great Proprietors: The Revolutionary Settlement on the Maine Frontier 1760-1820 (first book).
Lewis Thomas (1913-93), Et Cetera, Et Cetera: Notes of a Word-Watcher.
Tony Thomas, Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was; disses Charles Higham's 1980 bio.
Kenneth R. Timmerman (1953-), The Poison Gas Connection: The Chemical Weapons Programs of Iraq and Libya.
Alvin Toffler (1928-), Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century.
Jeffrey Toobin (1960-), The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson; filmed in 2016.
Donald Trump (1946-) and Charles Leerhsen, Trump: Surviving at the Top (Aug. 14);
claims that the U.S. govt. has covered-up the presence of U.S. POWs in Vietnam left after the war ends; full of factual errors?
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (1938-), A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812
(Pulitzer Prize).
John Harvey Wheeler (1918-2004), The Structure of Human Reflexion.
Stuart Wilde (1946-), The Secrets of Life.
George F. Will, Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball.
Garry Wills (1934-), Under God: Religion and American Politics.
Edmund Osborne Wilson (1929-), The Ants; first prof. science work to win a Pulitzer Prize (until ?).
Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World;
disses Aristotelian reasoning, and promotes E-Prime, English without the words "is" or "to be".
George Woodcock (1912-95), British Columbia: A History of the Province.
Virginia Yans-McLaughlin (ed.),
Immigration Reconsidered: History, Sociology, and Politics (Nov. 15).
Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power; bestseller.
Arthur Middleton Young (1905-95), Mathematics, Physics and Reality: Two Essays;
Which Way Out? and Other Essays.
Art:
Martin Kippenberger (1953-97), Fred the Frog Rings the Bell (Feet First) (Prima i Pied) (4' sculpture);
a frog in a loincloth is being crucified while holding a mug of beer and an egg.
Sally Mann, Last Light (photo).
Roberto Matta (1911-2002), A l'Interieur de la Rose;
Omnipuissance du Rouge;
Navigateur;
Haiku.
Geoffrey Proud (196-), Portrait of Dorothy Hewett [1923-2002].
Martin Puryear (1941-), Thicket (sculpture).
Bridget Riley (1931-), Shadow Play.
Carla Williams, A Virtuous Negro's Head (1990-1).
Music:
AC/DC, The Razor's Edge (album #13) (Sept. 21); sells 5M copies; incl.
Moneytalks,
Thunderstruck.
Jane's Addiction, Ritual de lo Habitual
(album #2) (last album) (Aug. 21) (#19 in the U.S.); album has two covers, a clean one and one
with nudity; incl.
Been Caught Stealing,
Stop!,
Three Days,
Classic Girl;
they break up next year after a farewell tour.
a-ha, East
of the Sun, West of the Moon (album #4) (Oct. 22); sells 3M copies worldwide;
incl. Crying in the Rain.
Dead or Alive,
Fan the Flame
(Part 1) (album #5) (Dec. 13).
Allman Brothers Band,
Seven Turns (album #10);
first album since 1981. incl.
Good Clean Fun.
Eric Ambler (1909-98), No Fences; sells 16M copies;
incl. Friends in Low Places,
The Thunder Rolls,
Unanswered Prayers.
Adam Ant (1954-),
Manners and Physique (album) (Mar.); incl.
Room at the Top.
Anthrax, Persistence of Time
(album #5) (Aug. 21); incl.
In My World (featured on "Married...
with Children"),
Got the Time (by Joe Jackson).
Asia, Then & Now
(album).
Fairground Attraction, Ay Fond Kiss
(album #2).
Anita Baker (1958-),
Compositions
(album #4) (June 21) (#5 in the U.S.); incl.
Talk to Me.
Marcia Ball (1949-), Dreams Come True (album).
Pat Benatar (1953-), True Love (album).
George Benson (1943-), Big Boss Band (album).
Clint Black (192-),
Put Yourself in My Shoes
(album #2) (Nov. 27) (#1 country) (#18 in the U.S.) (3M copies); incl.
Put Yourself in My Shoes (#4 country),
Loving Blind (#1 country),
Where Are You Now (#1 country),
One More Payment (#7 country).
Mother Love Bone, Apple
(album) (debut) (July 19); from Seattle, Wash.; originally scheduled to be released in Mar.,
days after the death of frontman "Father of Grunge" Andrew Patrick Wood (1966-90); incl.
Stardog Champion,
Crown of Thorns,
This Is Shangrila,
Pet Shop Boys, Behaviour (album) (Oct. 22); incl.
Being Boring,
So Hard,
My October Symphony.
Billy Bragg (1957-), The Internationale (album #4) (May).
Laura Branigan (1952-2004), Laura Branigan (album #6) (); incl.
Never In a Million Years,
Moonlight on Water,
Turn the Beat Around.
Garth Brooks (1962-), No Fences (album #2); sells 17M copies; incl.
Friends in Low Places,
The Thunder Rolls,
Unanswered Prayers,
Two of a King, Workin' on a Full House.
Echo and the Bunnymen, Reverberation (album #6) (Dec.); incl.
Enlighten Me.
Mariah Carey (1960-), Mariah Carey (album) (debut) (June 12) (#1 in the U.S.); sells 12M copies; incl.
Vision of Love,
There's Got to Be a Way,
I Don't Wanna Cry,
Love Takes Time,
Someday.
Mary Chapin Carpenter (1958-), Shooting Straight in Dark (album #3) (Oct. 9) (#11 country); incl.
Down at the Twist and Shout (#2 country).
Alice in Chains, Facelift (album) (Aug. 21) (debut); from Seattle, Wash., incl. Layne Thomas Staley (1967-2002)
(vocals), Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (1966-) (guitar), Sean Kinney, Mike Inez, William DuVall; incl.
Man in the Box,
We Die Young,
Sea of Sorrow.
Ray Charles (1930-2004), Quincy Jones (1933-), and Chaka Khan (1953-),
I'll Be Good To You.
Blue Cheer, Highlights and Lowlives (album #8).
Cinderella, Heartbreak Station (album #3) (Nov. 20) (1M copies); incl.
Heartbreak Station (#44 in the U.S.),
Shelter Me (#36 in the U.S.),
The More Things Change.
Joe Cocker (1944-2014), Joe Cocker Live (album) (May).
Judy Collins (1939-), Fires of Eden (album #21);
Baby's Bedtime (album #22);
Baby's Morningtime (album #23).
Bad Company, Holy Water (album #9) (June 12); incl.
Holy Water.
The Cramps, Stay Sick! (album) (Feb. 12);
incl. Bikini Girls with Machine Guns.
Crosby, Stills & Nash, Live It Up (album) (June 11).
The Black Crowes,
Shake Your Money Maker
(album) (debut) (Jan.) (#4 in the U.S.) (5M copies); from Atlanta, Ga., incl. brothers
Christopher Mark "Chris" Robinson (1966-) and Rich Robinson (1969-); incl.
Hard to Handle,
She Talks to Angels,
Jealous Again,
Twice As Hard.
Green Day, 39/Smooth
(album) (debut) (Apr. 13); from East Bay, Calif., inc. Billie Joe Armstrong (1972-)
(vocals), Mike Dirnt (Michael Ryan Pritchard) (1973-) (bass), and Tre (Tré) Cool
(Frank Edwin Wright III) (1972-) (drums); incl.
Green Day,
At the Library.
Grateful Dead, Without a Net (album) (Sept.).
John Denver (1943-97), Earth Songs (album); incl.
Earth Day Every Day;
The Flower That Shattered the Stone (album) (Sept.);
Christmas, Like a Lullaby.
Devo, Smooth Noodle Maps (album #8) (last album) (June); incl.
(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew.
Ani DiFranco (1970), Not a Pretty Girl (album #6) (July 18); incl.
32 Flavors.
Hamza El Din (1929-2006), Nubiana Suite: Live in Tokyo (album #7).
Celine Dion (1968-), Unison (album) (debut) (Apr. 2);
her first English language album after 14 French language ones; incl.
Unison,
Have a Heart,
Listen to the Magic Man
(for the film "The Peanut Butter Solution").
Don Dokken (1953-), Up from the Ashes
(album) (solo debut); incl.
Crash N Burn.
Goo Goo Dolls, Hold Me Up
(album #3) (Oct. 16); incl. There You Are.
Duran Duran, Liberty (album #6) (Aug. 20); incl.
Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over),
Serious.
Bob Dylan (1941-), Under the Red Sky (album #27) (Sept. 10); dedicated to 4-y.-o. daughter "Gabby Goo Goo".
EMF, Unbelievable (debut) (#1 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.); samples comedian Andrew Dice Clay;
Epsom Mad Funkers, from Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England; incl. James Saul Atkin (1969-) (vocals), Ian Dench (1964-) (guitar) , Derry Brownson (1970-)
(keyboard), Mark Decloedt (1969-) (drums).
Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet (album #3) (Apr. 10) (#10 in the U.S.); incl.
Fear of a Black Planet ("Man you ain't gotta worry 'bout a thing 'bout your daughter, nah she ain't my type.
But supposin' she said she loved me, are you afraid of the mix of black and white, we're living in a land where the law say the mixing of race makes the blood impure. She's a
woman I'm a man but by the look on your face see ya can't stand it... Excuse us for the news, I question those accused, why is this fear of black from white influence who you choose?"),
Fight the Power,
Anti-Nigger Machine ("Instead of peace the police just wanna wreck and flex on the kid. What I did was try to be the best so
they fingered the trigger, figured I was a bigger nigger, and started to search"),
911 Is a Joke,
Burn, Hollywood, Burn (w/Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane).
Modern English, Pillow Lips (album #5).
Eric B. & Rakim, Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em (album #3) (May 25); incl.
Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em,
In the Ghetto.
Exodus, Impact Is Imminent
(album #4); last with Rob McKillop; first with John Tempesta (drums); incl.
Impact Is Imminent.
Extreme, Extreme II: Pornograffitti
(A Funked Up Fairy Tale) (album #2) (Aug. 7) (#10 in the U.S.); incl.
More Than Words,
Hole Hearted,
Decadence Dance,
Get the Funk Out.
Marianne Faithfull (1946-), Blazing Away (album).
Earth, Wind, and Fire,
Heritage
(album #15) (Jan.) (#70 in the U.S.); incl.
Heritage,
For the Love of You,
Wanna Be the Man.
Dan Fogelberg (1951-2007), The Wild Places (album).
Gang of Four,
A
Brief History of the Twentieth Century (album) (Dec.).
AQi Fzono (1969-), Echoes (album #2).
Andy Gibb (1958-88),
After Dark
(album #3) (last album) (Feb.); incl.
Desire.
Debbie Gibson (1970-),
Anything Is Possible
(album #3) (Nov. 13) (#41 in the U.S., #69 in the U.K.); incl.
Anything Is Possible.
Everything But the Girl,
The Language of Life
(album #6) (Feb. 20); incl.
Driving.
MC Hammer (1962-),
Please
Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em (album #3) (Feb. 12); first diamond hip-hop album;
sells 10M copies; incl.
U Can't Touch This,
Dancin' Machine,
Have You Seen Her,
She's Soft and Wet.
Roy Harper (1941-), Once
(album #16); incl.
Black Cloud of Islam (w/Nick Harper).
Emmylou Harris (1947-),
Brand
New Dance (album).
Jeff Healey (1966-2008),
Hell to Pay (album).
Heart, Brigade
(album #11) (Mar. 26) (#3 in the U.S.); incl.
All I Wanna Do is Make Love To You
(#2 in the U.S.).
Helmet, Strap It On
(album) (debut); from New York City, incl. Page Hamilton (1960-) (vocals, guitar); incl.
Repetition,
Sinatra.
Hans Werner Henze (1926-),
Das Verratene Meer
(opera); based on the Yukio Mishima novel "Gogo no Eiko";
Requiem (1990-3).
Whitney Houston (1963-2012),
I'm Your Baby Tonight
(album #3) (Nov. 6) (#3 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.) (10M copies); incl.
I'm Your Baby Tonight
(#1 in the U.S., #5 in the U.K.),
All the Man That I Need
(#1 in the U.S., #13 in the U.K.).
Billy Idol (1955-),
Charmed Life
(album #4) (May); incl.
Cradle of Love.
INXS, X (album #7) (Sept. 25);
incl. Suicide Blonde,
Disappear,
Bitter Tears.
LL Cool J (1968-), Mama Said Knock You Out (album);
incl. Mama Said Knock You Out,
The Boomin' System,
Around the Way Girl.
Flotsam and Jetsam, When the Storm Comes Down (album #3) (May 1); incl. The Master Sleeps.
Joan Jett (1958-) and the Blackhearts, The Hit List (album); incl.
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,
Love Hurts,
Have You Ever Seen the Rain.
Elton John (1947-), To Be Continued (4-disc set)
(Nov. 8);
The Very Best of Elton John (album) (Oct. 1).
Quincy Jones et al., Back on the Block (album).
Jon Bon Jovi (1962-), Young Guns II (Blaze of Glory) Soundtrack
(album); incl. Blaze of Glory.
The KLF, Chill Out (album)
(Feb.); incl.
What Time Is Love?
(Live at Transcentral) (a mythical night journey up the U.S. Gulf Coast
from Tex. to La.).
L7, Smell the Magic
(album #2) (Sept. 1); incl.
Shove.
Laibach,
Macbeth
(album #7).
The La's, Timeless Melody;
The La's (album) (debut).
Human League,
Romantic?
(album) (#6) (Sept.); incl.
Soundtrack to a Generation.
The Flaming Lips,
In a Priest
Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine Stares) (album #4) (Sept.); first
with drummer Jonathan Daniel Donahue (1966-); incl.
Unconsciously Screamin',
What a Wonderful World.
Fleetwood Mac,
Behind the Mask
(album #14) (Apr. 10); ; first with Billy Burnette and Rick Veto replacing
Lindsey Buckingham; #1 in the U.K.; incl.
Save Me,
Skies the Limit.
Madonna (1958-), I'm Breathless: Music
from and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy (album) (May 22) (#2 in the U.S. and U.K.)
(7M copies); incl.
Vogue,
Hanky Panky;
The Immaculate Collection
(album) (Nov. 9) (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (30M copies); incl.
Justify My Love,
Rescue Me.
Iron Maiden,
No Prayer for the Dying
(album #8) (Oct. 1); incl.
Holy Smoke;
Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter.
Yngwie Malmsteen (1963-),
Eclipse
(album #5) (#112 in the U.S.); incl.
Eclipse,
Making Love,
Bedroom Eyes.
Mana (Maná),
Falta Amor
(July 2) (album) (debut); Jose Fernando "Fher" Olvera (vocals), Cesar "Vampiro" Lopez (guitar),
Juan Calleros (bass), Ivan Gonzalez (keyboards), Alex Gonzalez (drums);
Rayando El Sol.
10,000 Maniacs,
Hope Chest:
The Fredonia Recordings 1982-1983 (album) (Oct. 1).
Curtis Mayfield (1942-99),
Take It to the Streets (album #18).
Paul McCartney (1942-), Tripping
the Live Fantastic (album) (Oct. 29) (#26 in the U.S., #16 in the U.K.).
Reba McEntire (1955-),
Rumor Has It
(album #17) (Aug. 17); incl.
Fancy.
Megadeth, Rust in Peace
(album #4) (Sept. 24) (#23 in the U.S.); first with Martin Adam "Marty" Friedman (1962-)
and Nick Menza (1964-); incl.
Holy Wars... The Punishment Due,
Hangar 18.
The Dead Milkmen,
Metaphysical Graffiti
(album #5) (July 1); incl.
Methodist Coloring Book.
Kylie Minogue (1968-),
Rhythm of Love
(album #3) (Nov. 12) (#9 in the U.K.); incl.
Better the Devil You Know,
Step Back in Time,
What Do I Have to Do?,
Shocked.
Depeche Mode, Violator
(album #7) (Mar. 19) (#7 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.); incl.
Personal Jesus (#28 in the U.S.,
#13 in the U.K.),
Enjoy the Silence (#8 in the U.S.,
#6 in the U.K.),
Policy of Truth,
World in My Eyes.
Van Morrison (1945-),
The Best of
Van Morrison (album) (Jan.);
Enlightenment
(album #20); incl.
Real Real Gone.
Michael Martin Murphey (1945-),
Cowboy Songs (album #16).
Vomito Negro,
Human (album #6);
Save the World (album #7).
Matthew Nelson (1967-) and Gunnar Nelson (1967-), (Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection.
Hall & Oates, Change of Season (album #14) (Nov. 13); incl.
So Close (#11 in the U.S.). Sinead O'Connor (1966-),
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (album #2) (Mar.) (#1 in the U.S.) (#1 in the U.K.) (7M copies); incl.
Nothing Compares 2 U.
Midnight Oil, Blue Sky Mining (album #9) (Feb. 25); incl.
Blue Sky Mine;
Forgotten Years,
King of the Mountain,
Bedlam Bridge,
One Country;
The Green Disc (album #10).
Morrissey (1959-), Bona Drag (album) (Oct. 25); incl.
Piccadilly Palare,
Interesting Drug,
November Spawned a Monster
("Jesus made me so Jesus save me from petty sympathy and people discussing me"),
The Last of the Famous International Playboys.
Oingo Boingo, Dark at the End of the Tunnel (album #6) (Feb. 20); incl.
Run Away,
Flesh 'N Blood.
Robert Palmer (1949-2003), Don't Explain (album #11) (#9 in the U.K.).
Pantera, Cowboys from Hell (album #5) (July 24); their breakthrough album after they dump glam rock and pioneer
groove metal; from Arlington, Va., incl. Philip Hansen "Phil" Anselmo (1968-) (vocals), Dimebag (Diamond) Darrell Lance Abbott (1966-2004) (guitar), Rex Brown (bass), and
Vinnie Paul (drums); incl. Cowboys from Hell,
Psycho Holiday,
Cemetery Gates.
Paris (Oscar Jackson Jr.) (1967-), The Devil Made Me Do It (album) (debut) (Oct. 9) (300K copies);incl.
The Devil Made Me Do It (banned by MTV, making it more popular?).
Graham Parker (1950-) and the Rumour, Human Soul (album) (Jan.);
incl. <Big Man on Paper.
Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Live and Loud! More Chin Shouting (album #6);
The $hit Factory (album #7).
Wilson Phillips, Wilson Phillips (album) (debut) (May 8) (#2 in the U.S., #7 in the U.K.) (10M copies incl. 5M in the U.S.);
the best-selling female group of all time ahead of the Supremes until ?; from Los Angeles, Calif., incl.
Carnie Wilson (1968-),
Wendy Wilson (1969-), and
Chynna Phillips (1968-);
incl. Hold On,
Release Me,
You're in Love,
Impulsive.
Big Pig, You Lucky People (album #2); incl.
Justifier,
Hanging Tree,
King of Nothing.
Pixies, Bossanova (album #4)
(Aug. 13); incl.
Velouria (#4 in the U.S.),
Allison,
Dig for Fire (#11 in the U.S.).
The Pogues, Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah (album);
Hell's Ditch (album).
Pointer Sisters,
Right Rhythm
(album #14).
Basil Poledouris (1945-),
The Hunt for Red October Soundtrack
(album); incl.
The Hunt for Red October Theme (Hymn to Red October).
Iggy Pop (1947-), Brick by Brick
(album) (June); incl. Candy,
Pussy Power.
The Posies, Dear 23 (album)
(album #2) (Aug.); major label debut; from Seattle, Wash., incl. Jonathan P. "Jon" Auer (1969-)
(vocals), Kenneth Stuart "Ken" "Power Pop" Stringfellow (1968-) (vocals), Rick Roberts (bass),
and Mike Musberger (drums); incl.
Golden Blunders,
Suddenly Mary.
The Pretenders,
Packed! (album #5)
(May 22).
Judas Priest, Painkiller (album #12).
Skinny Puppy, Too Dark Park
(album #6) (Oct. 30); incl.
Tormentor,
Spasmolytic.
Queensryche, Empire
(album #5) (Aug. 20); sells 3M+ copies; incl.
Silent Lucidity (#9 in the U.S.),
Jet City Woman,
Della Brown,
Empire,
Another Rainy Night (Without You).
Eddie Rabbitt (1941-98),
Jersey Boy (album #12)
(Apr. 9); incl.
On Second Thought
(has list #1 country hit),
American Boy (hit with
U.S. Gulf War soldiers).
The Boo Radleys, Ichabod and I
(album) (debut) (July); name taken from a char.in Harper Lee's 1960 novel
"To Kill a Mockingbird"; from Wallasey, Merseyside, England, incl.
Sice Rowbottom (vocals), Martin Carr (1968-) (guitar), Timothy "Tim" Brown (1969-)
(bass), Steven James "Steve" Hewitt (1971-)/Rob Cieka (drums).
Ratt, Detonator
(album #5) (Aug. 21) (#23 in the U.S.); incl.
Lovin' You's a Dirty Job,
Givin' Yourself Away.
Sacred Reich, The American Way
(album #3); incl.
The American Way.
The Replacements,
All Shook Down
(album #7) (last) (Sept. 25); incl.
Merry Go Round,
Someone Take the Wheel,
When It Began,
Happy Town;
they disband in 1991, then reuinite in 2012.
Kid Rock (1971-), Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast
(album) (debut); incl.
Yo-Da-Lin in the Valley,
Wax the Booty,
Pimp of the Nation;
"There's only two types of men, pimps and johns, but there's one type of bitch,
and that's a ho"; "I've been a pimp so long I knew Gandhi when he had an Afro".
Run-D.M.C., Back from Hell (album #5).
Black Sabbath, Tyr (album #15) (Aug. 20);
the son of Odin; incl.
Anno Mundi (The Vision).
Salt-N-Pepa, Blacks' Magic
(album #3) (Mar. 19) (#38 in the U.S.); incl.
Let's Talk About Sex
(#13 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.),
You Showed Me
(#47 in the U.S., #15 in the U.K.),
Expression
(#26 in the U.S, #23 in the U.K.),
Do You Want Me.
Pharoah Sanders (1940-), Moon Child (album);
Welcome to Love (album).
Scorpions, Crazy World (album)
(Nov. 6); incl.
Wind of Change,
Send Me an Angel.
Pete Seeger (1919-2014), Folk Songs for Young People
(album);
American Folk Songs for Children.
Selena (1971-95),
Mis Primeros Exitos
(album) (Mar. 3);
Ven Conmigo (album #9)
(Oct. 6); incl.
Aunque No Salga El Sol,
Baila Esta Cumbia,
Ya Ves.
Carly Simon (1945-),
My Romance
(album #14) (Mar. 13);
Have You Seen Me Lately
(album #15) (Sept. 25); incl.
Better Not Tell Her.
Slayer, Seasons in the Abyss
(album #5) (Oct. 5) (#40 in the U.S., #18 in the U.K.)
Information Society, Hack
(album #4) (Sept.); incl.
Think,
How Long.
REO Speedwagon,
The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken
(album #13) (Aug. 30) (last album to chart, #129); incl.
Live It Up,
Love Is a Rock.
Tracie Spencer (1976-), Make the Difference
(album #2) (Aug. 20); incl.
Save Your Love,
This House,
Tender Kisses.
Toad the Wet Sprocket,
Pale
(album #2) (Jan. 16); incl.
Come Back Down.
Ringo Starr (1940-),
Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band
(first live album) (Oct. 8).
Styx, Edge of the Century
(album #12) (Oct. 9); incl.
Show Me the Way (#3 in the U.S.)
(adopted by the Gulf War Troops as their anthem),
Love Is the Ritual (#9 in the U.S.),
Love At First Sight (#25 in the U.S.).
Steppenwolf,
Rise & Shine
(album #12); incl.
The Wall.
Suicidal Tendencies,
Lights... Camera... Revolution!
(album #4) (July 3) (#101 in the U.S.); incl.
You Can't Bring Me Down,
Send Me Your Money.
Testament, Souls of Black
(album #4) (Oct. 9); incl.
Souls of Black.
Therion, Time Shall Tell (album #3).
They Might Be Giants, Flood (album #3) (Jan. 15) (#75 in the U.S.) (#14 in the U.K.) (1.M copies)
(first on Elektra Records); incl. Birdhouse in Your Soul (#3 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.),
Istanbul (Not Constantinople),
Twisting.
ZZ Top, Recycler (album #10) (Mar. 23, 1990); incl.
Doubleback (used in the 1990 film "Back to the Future Part III"),
Concrete and Steel,
My Head's in Mississippi.
Babes in Toyland, Spanking Machine (album) (debut) (Apr. 16); from Minneapolis, Minn., incl. Katherine "Kat" Bjelland (1963-)
(vocals, guitar), Michelle Leon (bass), Lori Barbero (1961-) (drums);
incl. Swamp Pussy,
Dust Cake Boy.
Cheap Trick, Busted (album).
Travis Tritt (1963-), Country Club (album) (debut) (Feb. 22); incl.
Help Me Hold On (#1 country),
I'm Gonna Be Somebody (#2 country),
Drift Off to Dream (#3 country).
Jethro Tull, Live at Hammersmith '84
(album) (Dec. 10).
Uncle Tupelo,
No Depression
(album) (debut) (June 21); from Belleville, Ill., incl. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy,
and Mike Heidorn; recorded at the Ft. Apache South Studio in Boston, Mass.; incl.
Factory Belt,
Atomic Power;
launches
Alternative Country Music,
combining elements of rock and roll, adopted by Wilco, Son Volt,
Bottle Rockets, Blood Oranges, Drive-By Truckers, Blood Oranges,
Whiskeytown et al.; in Sept. 1995 the quarterly mag.
No Depression
is launched for alternative country music fans.
Digital Underground, Sex Packets
(album) (debut) (Mar. 26); incl.
The Humpty Dance
(#11 in the U.S.); from Oakland, Calif., incl. Gregory E. "Shock G" Jacobs (1963-);
"Oh yes, ladies, I'm really being' sincere/ 'Cause in a 69 my humpty nose will tickle ya rear";
"Black people, do the Humpty Hump, do the Humpty Hump/ White people, do the Humpty Hump,
do the Humpty Hump".
Steve Vai (1960-),
Passion and Warfare
(album #2) (July) ("Jimi Hendrix meets Jesus Christ at a party that Ben Hur threw for
Mel Blanc"); incl.
For the Love of God.
Vangelis (1943-),
The City (album).
The Vaughan Brothers, Family Style (album); incl.
Hillbillies from Outer Space.
Suzanne Vega (1959-),
Days of Open Hand
(album #3) (Apr. 10).
En Vogue, Born To Sing (album) (Apr. 3)
(debut); Cindy Herron (Miss Black Calif.), Maxine Jones, Dawn Robinson, Terry Ellis;
incl. Hold On,
Lies,
You Don't Have to Worry.
Warrant, Cherry Pie
(album #2) (Sept. 11) (#7 in the U.S.); incl.
Cherry Pie (#19 in the U.S.),
I Saw Red (#14 in the U.S.),
Uncle Tom's Cabin (#19 in the U.S.),
Blind Faith (#39 in the U.S.).
Kevin Welch (1955-),
Kevin Welch
(album) (debut) (Apr. 11); incl.
Hello I'm Gone.
Great White,
Live in London
(album).
Traveling Wilburys,
Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3
(album #2) (last album) (Oct. 29).
Winger, In the Heart of the Young
(album #2) (July 24) (#15 in the U.S.); incl.
Can't Get Enuff,
Easy Come Easy Go,
Miles Away.
Steve Winwood (1948-),
Refugees of the Heart
(album #6); incl.
One and Only Man,
I Will Be Here.
Tammy Wynette (1942-98),
Heart Over Mind
(album); incl.
Suddenly Single;
We're Strangers Again (with Randy Travis).
Neil Young (1945-) and Crazy Horse,
Ragged Glory (album) (Oct. 11); incl.
Over and Over,
Love to Burn,
Love and Only Love.
Paul Young (1956-), Other Voices
(album #4) (June 4) (#4 in the U.K.) (100K copies); incl.
Oh Girl (by The Chi-Lites) (#8 in the U.S., #25 in the U.K.),
Softly Whispering I Love You (#21 in the U.K.).
Movies:
Renny Harlin's The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
(July 11) stars Andrew Dice Clay (Andrew Clay Silverstein) (1957-)
in his first starring role as a crude-rude-cool "rock & roll detective" in LA; too bad, he becomes a target for the fledgling PC police for sexism, and is banned from MTV,
and boycotted by Sinead O'Connor when hosting "Saturday Night Live", after which his career tanks.
Jane Campion's An Angel At My Table
(Sept. 5), based on her 1984 autobio. stars Kerry Fox, Alexia Keogh, and Karen Fergusson as Kiwi novelist Janet Frame (1924-2004).
John Badham's Bird on a Wire
(May 18) (Universal Pictures) is a romantic comedy starring Mel Gibson as hunk Rick Jarmin, who has been on the FBI witness protection program
for 15 years until his former fiancee Marianne Graves (Goldie Hawn) blows his cover, causing them to go on the run as he
hides behind a string of ex-lovers and she chases him; does $138.7M box office on a $20M budget;
"He's every woman's dream and one woman's nightmare."
Brian De Palma's The Bonfire of the Vanities
(Dec. 21), based on the 1987 Tom Wolfe novel stars Tom Hanks as Wall St. investor Sherman McCoy,
Melanie Griffith as his babe Maria Ruskin, Bruce Willis as Peter Fallow, and Kim Cattrall as
Judy McCoy; too bad, it only does $15.7M box office on a $47M budget.
George Ogilvie's The Crossing
(Oct. 18) stars Russell Crowe and Danielle Spencer as Sam and Meg, who get in a love triangle; Crowe gets a lost front tooth (lost while playing rugby as a youngster) fixed to star in the flick,
then romances actress Meg Ryan?
Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves
(Nov. 21) (Majestic Films) (Orion Pictures), based on the 1988 Michael Blake novel about why palefaces shoulda loved rather
than hated the injuns stars Costner as Civil War Union Lt. John Dunbar, who exiles himself to a remote outpost in Sioux country,
and goes injun with white babe Stands With a Fist (Mary McDonnell), Kicking Bird (Graham Greene), Wind In His Hair (Rodney A. Grant),
Ten Bears (Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman) et al.; the most pro-Indian Western ever, incl. Sioux language lessons; film score by James Bond Theme man John Barry;
#3 movie of 1990 ($185M U.S. and $424M worldwide box office on a $22M budget).
Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy (June 14) (Touchstone Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictures), based on the Chester Gould comic strip stars
Beatty as Dick Tracy, Madonna as Breathless Mahoney, 'Glenne Headly as Tess Truehart, William Forsythe as Flattop, Mandy Patinkin as 88 Keys, Paul Sorvino as Lips Manlis, Al Pacino as Big Boy Caprice,
R.G. Armstrong as Pruneface, and Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles; #9 movie of 1990 ($104M domestic and $162.7M worldwide box office on a $46M budget).
Renny Harlin's Die Hard 2 (July 4), based on a novel by Walter Wager stars Bruce Willis as cop John McClane, who takes on airport terrorists;
popularizes the fictitious Glock 7 porcelain hand gun, undetectable by airport metal detectors; #8 movie of 1990 ($117M).
Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (Dec. 7) (20th Cent. Fox) is a revisioning of the Frankenstein story,
starring Johnny Depp as a freak with you know whats for hands, who finds sympathy from Kim (Winona Ryder) and Peg (Dianne Wiest) before the Am. suburban mob comes with torches;
O-Lan Jones plays Esmeralda; does $86M box office on a $20M budget; "The story of an uncommonly gentle man."
William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III (Aug. 17) (Morgan Creek Productions) (20th Cent. Fox),
based on Blatty's 1983 novel "Legion" set 17 years after the 1973 film stars George C. Scott (replacing the late Lee J. Cobb) as Lt. William F. Kinderman, Ed Flanders as Father Dyer,
Jason Miller as Damien Karras, Scott Wilson as Dr. Temple, Nicol Williamson as Father Morning, and Brad Dourif as James Venamuni the Gemini Killer; features cameos by Patrick Ewing,
Fabio, Larry King, and Samuel L. Jackson; does $39M box office on an $11M budget.
Joel Schumacher's Flatliners (Aug. 10) stars Kiefer Sutherland as medical school student Nelson Wright, who talks
four classmates (William Baldwin, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, and Julie Roberts) into helping him discover what lies beyond death by flatlining for 1 min. before they resuscitate him,
then getting them to do ditto; "Some lines shouldn't be crossed"; brings in $141M on a $26M budget.
Jerry Zucker's Ghost
(July 13), written by Bruce Joel Rubin stars Patrick Swayze as Sam Wheat, a murdered investment consultant coming back in ghost form to protect his lover Molly Jensen (Demi Moore)
from a hit; Whoopi Goldberg is medium Oda Mae Brown; the ghost-human love scene at the potters wheel
makes the movie the #2 grosser of 1990 ($218M).
Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas
(Sept. 19) (Warner Bros.), based on the life of mobster Henry Hill and the 1986 book "Wiseguy" by Nicholas Pileggi is the quintessential flick about
the sleazy Italian "wiseguys" of the Lucchese crime family in the 1950s-1980s,
who stink up the East coast but are fun to watch from the safety of your anonymous seat; makes a star of Newark, N.J.-born
Raymond Allen "Ray" Liotta (1954-) as Henry Hill;
also stars Robert De Niro as James "Jimmy the Gent" Conway, Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito, Paul Sorvino as Paul "Paulie" Cicero,
and Lorraine Bracco as Karen Hill; does $47M box office on a $25M budget;
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster" (Liotta);
"Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut" (Liotta);
"I'm funny how... I'm funny like a clown, do I amuse you?" (Joe Pesci).
Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet
(Dec. 19) (Nelson Entertainment) (Icon Productions) (Warner Bros.), based on the Shakespeare play (first film from Gibson's Icon Productions)
stars Mel Gibson as Hamlet, Glenn Close as Queen Gertrude, Stephen Dillane as Horatio, and Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia; does $20.7M box office.
Philip Kaufman's Henry & June
(Oct. 5) (first film to receive NC-17 rating), based on the Anais Nin book about "Tropic of Cancer" novelist Henry Miller (Fred Ward) and
his wife June (Uma Thurman) goes into salty taboo lezzie sex with Anais Nin (Maria de Medeiros).
Chris Columbus' Home Alone
(Nov. 16) stars Macaulay Carson Culkin (1980-)
as Kevin McCallister, a 8-y.-o. left behind at home and sieged by burglars Joe Pesci and
Daniel Stern, turning him into a slapstick mini-Rambo; meanwhile John Candy plays the leader
of a polka band travelling cross-country with his mom Catherine O'Hara; #1 movie of 1990 ($286M);
"A family comedy without the family."
John McTiernan's The Hunt for Red October
(Mar. 2), based on the 1984 Tom Clancy novel stars Sean Connery as Soviet Capt. Marko Ramius (after he steals the part from Klaus Maria Brandauer),
who leads a mutiny to deliver a super sub to the U.S. to forestall WWIII, while CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) tries to keep the U.S.
from blowing it up; the bizarre non-Russian accents of the lead actors actually make it more gripping?; Scott Glenn plays U.S. sub cmdr.
Bart Manucso, Sam Neil plays Soviet Capt. Vasily Borodin, Tim Curry plays chief medical officer Lt. Yevgeniy Petrov, James Earl Jones plays
U.S. Adm. James Greer, Richard Jordan plays jellybean-loving U.S. ambassador Jeffrey Pelt, and Joss Ackland plays Soviet ambassador Andrei Lysenko; #6 movie of 1990 ($121M).
Jan Mohammad's International Guerillas (Gorillay)
(Apr. 27) is a Pakistani film portraying Salman Rushdie (Afazaal Ahmad) as a villain, and madass Muslims out to kill him as the good guys; a
dramatized version of the Feb. 12, 1990 mob scene in Islamabad, which becomes a hit in Pakistan.
Tommy Lee Wallace's It miniseries,
based on the 1986 Stephen King novel debuts on ABC-TV on Nov. 18-20, starring Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown; filmed in New Westminster, B.C., Canada.
John Patrick Shanley's Joe Versus the Volcano
(Mar. 9), written by Shanley after a near-death experience stars Tom Hanks as Joe Banks, a hypochondriac told that he has only months
to live and who decides to leap into a you know what; Meg Ryan appears in three roles (DeDe, Angelica Graynamore, Patricia Graynamore);
"A story of love, lava and burning desire"; Hanks performs the Shanley song "The Cowboy Song" on the ukelele.
Ivan Reitman's Kindergarten Cop
(Dec. 21), written by Murray Salem stars Ahnuld as Det. John Kimble, who has to go undercover you know where; #10 movie of 1990 ($92M).
Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet
(Nov. 22) (Thin Man Films) (October Films) is about a working-class North London family's life one summer, starring Jim Broadbent as cook Andy,
Timothy Spall as family friend Aubrey, Alison Steadman as Wendy, Claire Skinner as Natalie, and Jane Horrocks as her bulimic twin sister Nicola.
does $1.5M box office; first release from Thin Man Films,
founded by dir. Mike Leigh and producer Simon Channing Williams, named after their non-thinness, which shares offices on Greek St., London
with Potboiler Production, founded in 2000 by Williams and Gail Egan, which goes on to produce "Nicholas Nickleby" (2002) and
"The Constant Gardener" (2005); Thin Man Films goes on to produce "Naked" (1993), "Secrets & Lies" (1995), "Career Girls" (1997),
"Topsy-Turvy" (1999), "All or Nothing" (2002), "Vera Drake" (2004), "Happy-Go-Lucky" (2008), "Another Year" (2010), and "Mr. Turner" (2014).
Michael Caton-Jones' Memphis Belle (Oct. 12), a fictional treatment of the 1943 documentary
"Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress by William Wyler stars Matthew Modine and Eric Stoltz, and is the film debut of singer Harry Connick Jr.
Ethan and Joel Coen's Miller's Crossing (original title: The Bighead) (Sept. 21) (20th Cent. Fox) is a Prohibition era
neor-noir gangster film starring Albert Finney and "Jesus, Tom" Gabriel Byrne as Irish gangsters Liam "Leo" O'Bannon and Tom Reagan, and Marcia Gay Harden as hot moll Verna Bernbaum, who sleeps with
them both to protect her small-time bookie brother Bernie (John Turturro), causing Tom to fake executing him, only to get blackmailed and have to finish the job; Jon Polito plays Leo's Italian rival
Johnny Caspar; "Nothing is what it seems at Miller's Crossing"; does $5M box office on a $14M budget, flopping but making it up in video and DVD sales after the critics praise it to the skies for
its style and tributes to past gangster and noir films, calling it one of the top gangster films of all time; "What's the rumpus?"; "Whatsa matter, somebody hit you?";
"Tell Leo he's not God on the throne, he's just a cheap political boss with more hair tonic than brains"; "It's like I tell all of my boys, always put one in the brain";
Bernie: "Look in your heart" - Tom: "What heart?"; "Nothing more foolish than a man chasin' his hat".
Rob Reiner's Misery (Nov. 30), based on the 1987 Stephen King novel stars James Caan as a pulp novelist who crashes his car near the home
of his "biggest fan ever" Kathy Bates, who tortures him into resurrecting her favorite char. Misery Chastain; "Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now he is writing to stay alive."
Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues (Aug. 3) stars Denzel Washington as jazz trumpeter Bleek Gilliam.
Lewis Teague's Navy SEALs
(July 20) (Orion Pictures), a vague clone of jingoistic "Top Gun" shows off the macho acts of "Terminator" recycles Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton, plus Charlie Sheen;
Joanne Whalley-Kilmer plays a reporter; does $25M box office on a $21M budget; mentioned in Kevin Smith's "Clerks" as the most rented video in the store's history
("most intellectually devoid movies on the rack").
Mike Nichols' Postcards from the Edge
(Sept. 12), based on a semi-autobio. novel written by Carrie Fisher stars Meryl Streep as recovering drug addict Suzanne Vale, who writes you know whats to Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Quaid,
Gene Hackman et al.
Trevor Nunn's Othello
(June 23) debuts on BBC-TV's "Theatre Night", starring Ian McKellen as Othello, Imogen Stubbs as Desdemona, and Willard White as Othello.
Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman (Mar. 23)
(Touchstone Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictures), written by J.F. Lawton makes Smyrna, Ga.-born
Julia Fiona Roberts (1967-) (after Molly Ringwald turns it down)
into a superstar in the role of Vivian Ward, a pretty Hollywood hooker with a heart of gold, who gets rich dream hunk Edward Lewis (Richard Gere)
to give her the fairy tale and let him kiss her on the mouth, despite already naming her price (it's true what they say, opposites attract?);
Hector Elizondo continues his habit of showing up in Garry Marshall movies, playing capable Beverly Hills Hotel mgr. Barney Thompson;
Jason Alexander plays Gere's schmucky friend Philip Stuckey, and Laura San Giacomo plays Roberts' ho friend Kit De Luca;
#4 movie of 1990 ($121M U.S. and $463.4M worldwide box office on a $14M budget).
Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman
(Mar. 23), written by J.F. Lawton turns Julia Roberts (after Molly Ringwald turns it down) into a superstar in the role of Vivian Ward, a pretty hooker with a heart of gold, who gets rich
dream hunk Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) to give her the fairy tale and let him kiss her on the mouth, despite already naming her price (it's true what they say, opposites attract?);
Hector Elizondo continues his habit of showing up in Garry Marshall movies, playing capable Beverly Hills Hotel mgr. Barney Thompson; Jason Alexander plays Gere's schmucky friend Philip Stuckey,
and Laura San Giacomo plays Roberts' ho friend Kit De Luca; #4 movie of 1990 ($121M).
Simon Wincer's Quigley Down Under
(Oct. 17) (MGM) stars Tom Selleck as Am. cowboy marksman Matthew Quigley, who is hired in Australia by Elliott Marson (Alan Rickman) to eradicate Aborigines but balks and joins them instead,
along with Crazy Cora (Laura San Giacomo) from Tex., who calls him Roy; does $21.4M box office on an $18M budget.
Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
(Sept. 5) (Stoppard's dir. debut), shot in Yugoslavia based on chars. in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" stars Gary Oldman as Rosencrantz, Tim Roth as Guildenstern, Richard Dreyfuss as the leading player,
Iain Glen as Hamlet, and Ian Richardson as Polonius; does a paltry $739K box office.
Fred Schepisi's The Russia House
(Dec. 19), based on the John le Carre novel stars Sean Connery as British publisher Bartholomew Scott "Barley Blair, who gets in a spy game with Dante (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and
Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer).
Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies and videotape
(Aug. 18) (his debut) wins the first prize at the Cannes Film Festival, despite its slow pace
and way too much dialogue and too little sex?
Phil Joanou's State of Grace
(Sept. 14) (Orion Pictures), a neo-noir written by playwright Dennis McIntyre stars
Sean Penn as undercover cop Terry Noonan, whose psychotic childhood pal Jackie Flannery
(Gary Oldman) joins a Westlies-like gang in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, which is run by
his snakelike brother Frankie Flannery (Ed Harris), hooking up with Jackie's sister
Kathleen (Robin Penn Wright) and getting into the middle of fratricide; musical score
by Ennio Morricone; John Turturro plays Terry's boss Nick; Joe Viterelli (film debut)
plays Italian mob boss Borelli; does only $1.9M box office after competitor "Goodfellas" comes out.
?'s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; #5 movie of 1990 ($136M).
Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall
(June 1) (TriStar Pictures), based on the 1966 Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" is memorable as one of the few films in which
Ahnuld (Arnold Schwarzenegger) can actually almost act (like a comic book char.); his big one-liner here is "Consider that a divorce" as he shoots his double-agent pretend wife,
played by Sharon Yvonne Stone (1958-),
who steals every scene from him, and makes directors realize that the phony action movie sequences can be done by a beautiful babe instead of a muscular hunk and get higher ratings,
spelling the end to Ahnuld's career?; #7 movie of 1990 ($119M U.S. and $261M global box office on a $60M budget); refilmed in 2012.
Ron Underwood's Tremors
(Jan. 19), starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire is a comedic monster flick about a small Nevada town
fighting subterranean worm monsters called graboids, which later transform into shriekers and ass-blasters; spawns a TV series.
Michael Rubbo's Vincent and Me
features 124-y.-o. longevity champ and French actress Jeanne Louise Calment (1875-1997)
going back in time to meet Vincent Van Gogh; she is actually one of the last people to have met him in real life, at age 14?
Robert Altman's Vincent & Theo
(Apr. 27) stars Tim Roth and Paul Rhys and captures Van Gogh's work?
David Lynch's Wild at
Heart (Aug. 17) stars Nicolas Cage as Elvis clone Sailor Ripley
and Laura Dern as his hot lover Lula, who get chased across the South
by Lula's vengeance-seeking mama.
Plays:
Douglas Carter Beane (1959-),
As Bees in Honey Drown
(July 15) (Lucille Lortel Theater, New York); stars J. Smith-Cameron and Jo Foxworth.
Howard Brenton (1942-) and Tariq Ali (1943-), Moscow Gold.
Horton Foote (1916-), Talking Pictures.
Michael Frayn (1933-), Listen to This: Sketches and Monologues;
Jamie on a Flying Visit and Birthday;
Look Look.
Simon Gray (1936-2008), Hidden Laughter
(Vaudeville Theatre).
John Guare (1938-), Six Degrees of Separation
(Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, New York) (May 16) (Vivian Beaumont Theater, New York) (Nov. 8) (485 perf.); dir. by Jerry Zaks; explores the premise that all
people are connected to each other via a chain of no more than six acquaintances; based on the real-life story of 1980s con man David Hampton, who tried to con
Osborn Elliott and Inger McCabe Elliott in Oct. 1983; stars Stockard Channing as Ouisa Kittredge, John Cunningham as Flan Kittredge, and Courtney B. Vance as Paul;
filmed in 1993 by Fred Schepisi.
Women and Water.
David Hare (1947-), Racing Demon.
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), The Cure at Troy.
Beth Henley (1952-), Abundance.
John Keyes, The Importance of Being Micheal;
about Micheal MacLiammoir (1899-1978).
Reynolds Price (1933-), New Music.
Tom Stoppard (1937-), The Invention of Love (Oct. 1) (Court Theatre, London);
stars Guy Adkins and Paxton Whitehead as poet A.E. Housman.
August Wilson (1945-2005), The Piano Lesson (Apr. 16) (New York) (Pulitzer Prize).
Poetry:
Elizabeth Alexander (1962-), The Venus Hottentot (debut).
Margaret Atwood (1939-), Selected Poems 1966-1984.
Frank Bidart (1939-), In the Western Night: Collected Poems 1965-90.
Robert Bly (1926-2021), Iron John: A Book About Men; spends 62 weeks on the NYT bestseller list.
Amy Clampitt (1920-94), Westward;
Manhattan: An Elegy, and Other Poems.
Robert Creeley (1926-2005), Have a Heart;
Places.
Mona Van Duyn (1921-2004), Near Changes (Pulitzer Prize).
Donald Hall Jr. (1928-), Old and New Poems.
George Fetherling (1949-), The Dreams of Ancient Peoples.
Marilyn Hacker (1942-), Going Back to the River.
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), The Tree Clock;
his mother is "the wishing tree that died".
Anthony Hecht (1923-2004), The Transparent Man (July 7).
Ha Jin (1956-), Between Silences (debut).
Ronald Johnson (1935-98), ARK; took 20 years to write.
Jane Kenyon (1947-95), Let Evening Come.
Brad Leithauser (1953-), The Mail from Anywhere.
Mary Oliver (1935-), .
Robert Pinsky (1940-), The Want Bone;
Shirt.
John Enoch Powell (1912-98), Collected Poems.
Reynolds Price (1933-), The Use of Fire.
John Ross (1938-2011), Whose Bones.
Charles Simic (1938-), The Book of Gods and Devils.
Dave Smith (1942-), Cuba Night.
Gary Soto (1952-), Who Will Know Us?
Mark Strand (1934-), The Continuous Life;
New Poems.
James Tate (1943-), Distance from Loved Ones.
Derek Walcott (1930-), Omeros; rewrite of Homer's Odyssey as a journey around the Caribbean, the U.S. West, and London.
Robert Wilson (1941-), William S. Burroughs (1914-97), and Tom Waits (1949-), The Black Rider.
Charles Wright (1935-), Xionia;
The World of the Ten Thousand Things.
Novels:
Walter Abish (1931-),
99: The New Meaning.
Catherine Aird (1930-), The Body Politic.
Lisa Alther (1944-), Bedrock.
Reinaldo Arenas (1943-90),
El Asalto (The Assault).
Louis Auchincloss (1917-),
The Lady of Situations;
Natica Chauncey.
Jean Marie Auel (1936-),
The Plains of Passage
(Nov.); Earth's Children #4; more adventures of blonde babe Ayla and
her throbbing Jondalar among the Zelondii.
Paul Benjamin Auster (1947-),
The Music of Chance.
Letitia Baldridge (1925-),
Public Affairs Private Relations.
J.G. Ballard (1930-2009),
War Fever (short stories).
Greg Bear (1951-), Queen of Angels;
set in the year 2048, when nanotechnology rules peoples' minds.
Thomas Berger (1924-), Orrie's Story;
retelling of the Oresteia, with Agamemnon as a WWII vet.
Wendell Berry (1934-), Remembering (Aug.); a journalist on a single day in 1976 San Fran.
Maeve Binchy (1940-), Story Teller: A Collection of Short Stories;
Circle of Friends; filmed in 1995.
T. Coraghessan Boyle (1948-), East Is East;
title from the Rudyard Kipling poem "The Ballad of East and West": "Oh East is East, and West is West, and never the twin shall meet."
Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933-), The Women in His Life.
David Brin (1950-), Earth.
Anita Brookner (1928-), Brief Lives.
Rita Mae Brown (1944-), Wish You Were Here;
introduces the feline char. Mrs. Murphy; co-authored with her cat Sneaky Pie Brown.
James Lee Burke (1936-), A Morning for Flamingoes.
A.S. Byatt (1936-), Possession: A Romance; bestseller.
Scott Carpenter, The Steel Albatross;
Rick Tallman and an underwater glider.
Joseph D. Cirzone, The Shepherd.
Paul Coelho (1947-), Brida.
J.M. Coetzee (1940-), Age of Iron.
Jackie Collins (1937-2015),
Lady Boss;
Lucky Santangelo #3.
Laurie Colwin (1944-92),
Goodbye Without Leaving.
Richard Condon (1915-96),
Emperor of America.
Robin Cook (1940-), Harmful Intent;
anesthesiologist Jeffrey Rhodes is framed for malpractice.
Catherine Cookson (1906-98), The Gillyvors.
Stephen Coonts (1946-), Under Siege;
Rear Adm. Jake Grafton #5 fights Columbian drug lords that have wounded Pres. George H.W. Bush and left Dan Quayle in charge.
William Cooper (1910-2002), From Early Life.
Robert Cormier (1925-2000), Other Bells for Us to Ring (Darcy).
Patricia Cornwell (1956-), Postmortem;
bestseller introducing medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, launching the morgue novel genre; rejected by seven pub. houses before Avon Books
takes a chance on it; first novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards in a single year.
Harry Crews (1935-), Body.
Michael Crichton (1942-2008), Jurassic Park;
bestseller about an amusement park filled with reconstituted dinosaurs; filmed in 1993.
Clive Cussler (1931-), Dragon; Dirk Pitt #10.
Iris Rainer Dart, Mommy & Me; by the author of "Beaches" (1985).
Guy Davenport (1927-2005), The Drummer of the Eleventh North Devonshire Fusiliers (short stories).
J.P. Donleavy (1926-), That Darcy, That Dancer, That Gentleman;
sequel to "Leila" (1983).
Len Deighton (1929-), Spy Sinker.
Roddy Doyle (1958-), The Snapper; #2 in the Barrytown Trilogy (1987-91); filmed in 1993.
Allen Drury (1918-98), Toward What Bright Glory.
Bret Easton Ellis (1964-), American Psycho;
on Nov. 14, 1990 Simon and Schuster announced the dropping of plans to pub. the controversial novel because of passages in "questionable taste", and in
1991 Vintage pub. it, drawing charges of misogyny, nihilism, sadism, and pornography; Roger Rosenblatt of the New York Times writes "Snuff this book",
making it more popular?; filmed in 2000 starring Christian Bale as serial killer Patrick Batman.
James Ellroy (1948-), L.A. Confidential (June);
Edmund Exley, Wendell "Bud" White, and Jack Vincennes, a tight-knit group of LAPD officers in the early 1950s investigate a mass murder at the Nite Owl Coffee Shop
and get tangled in a web of corruption fueled by scandal mag. "Hush-Hush"; #3 in the L.A. Quartet; filmed in 1997.
Howard Fast (1914-2003), Bunker Hill.
Jonathan Fast (1948-), Stolen Time.
Carrie Fisher (1956-), Surrender the Pink.
Penelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000), The Gate of Angels.
Margaret Forster (1938-), Lady's Maid.
Robert Lull Forward (1932-2002), Rochworld.
Paula Fox (1923-), The God of Nightmares.
Nicolas Freeling (1927-2003), Flanders Sky (The Pretty How Town) (Henri Castang #12).
George Garrett (1929-2008), Entered from the Sun; the murder of Christopher Marlowe.
Thomas Gee, The Uses of Disguise.
William Gibson (1948-) and Bruce Sterling (1954-), The Difference Engine;
about an alternate Victorian Britain in which Charles Babbage succeeded in building
a mechanical computer.
Barry Gifford (1946-),
Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula;
Sailor and Lula #1 of 7.
Winston Graham (1908-2003),
The Twisted Sword;
Poldark Saga #11.
Patrick Grainville (1947-),
L'Orgie, la Neige;
a teenie is initiated into sexuality and death in the snow.
Andrew M. Greeley, The Search for Maggie Ward.
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018), Tehanu
(#4 and last in the Earthsea series).
Arthur Hailey (1920-2004), The Evening News.
Joe Haldeman (1943-),
The Hemingway Hoax;
about Hemingway scholar John Baird discovering Hemingway's long-lost 1921
ms. and getting into a time travel adventure.
Peter Handke (1942-),
Once Again for Thucydides.
Jim Harrison (1937-2016),
The Woman Lit By Fireflies.
Gustav Hasford (1947-93), The Phantom Blooper; sequel to "The Short-Timers";
uses the royalties to pay damages for stealing 10K library books to research a book on the U.S. Civil War.
George V. Higgins (1939-99), Victories.
Tony Hillerman (1925-), Coyote Waits; Navajo Tribal Police series #10.
Alice Hoffman (1952-), Seventh Heaven.
Peter Hoeg (1957-), Tales of the Night.
Victoria Holt, Snare of Serpents.
Janette Turner Hospital (1942-), Isobars;
A Very Proper Death as by "Alex Juniper". .
Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923-), The Light Years.
Clifford Irving (1930-), Final Argument.
Susan Isaacs (1943-), Magic Hour.
Charles R. Johnson (1948-), Middle Passage.
Ismail Kadare (1936-), The File on H.
Adrienne Kennedy (1931-), Deadly Triplets: A Theatre Mystery and Journal.
Jamaica Kincaid (1949-), Lucy.
Stephen King (1947-), Four Past Midnight (short stories).
Dean Koontz (1945-), The Bad Place;
Cold Fire.
Michael Korda (1933-), Curtain.
Judith Krantz (1928-), Dazzle.
Milan Kundera (1929-), Immortality;
his last novel in the Czech language, preferring French.
Dominique Lapierre (1931-),
Beyond Love
(Plus Grands que l'Amour).
Siegfried Lenz (1926-), Die Klangprobe.
Elmore Leonard (1925-2013),
Get Shorty;
about Miami loan shark Chili Palmer; filmed in 1995.
Ira Levin (1929-2007), Sliver.
Elinor Lipman (1950-), Then She Found Me
(first novel).
Robert Ludlum (1927-2001),,
The Bourne Ultimatum.
Peter Maas (1929-2001), In a Child's Name.
Peter Matthiessen (1927-), Killing Mister Watson.
Colleen McCullough (1937-), The First Man in Rome;
Masters of Rome #1; the rise of Roman Gen. Gaiius Marius; based on extensive historical research.
Ian McEwan (1948-), The Innocent.
John McGahern (1934-2006), Amongst Women;
IRA veteran Michael Moran, who is getting tired of the "small-minded gangsters" running his country.
Larry McMurtry (1936-), Buffalo Girls; Calamity Jane.
James A. Michener (1907-97), Pilgrimage: A Memoir of Poland and Rome;
The Eagle and the Raven.
Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Changes and Chances.
Sue Miller (1943-), Family Pictures.
William Ormond Mitchell (1914-98), Roses Are Difficult Here.
Patrick Modiano (1945-), Honeymoon (Voyage de Noces).
Brian Moore (1921-99), Lies of Silence.
David Morrell (1943-), Fifth Profession.
Sir John Mortimer (1923-2009), Rumpole a La Carte;
Titmuss Regained;
Great Law and Order Stories.
Nicholas Mosley (1923-), Hopeful Monsters;
part #5 of 5 of the Catastrophe Practice Series.
Walter Mosley (1952-),
Devil in a Blue Dress;
black Watts P.I. Ezekial "Easy" Rawlins and Raymond "Mouse" Alexander.
Alice Munro (1931-), Friend of My Youth (short stories).
Albert Murray (1916-), The Seven League Boots;
sequel to "The Spyglass Tree" (1991).
Ruth Nichols (1948-), The Burning of the Rose.
Joyce Carol Oates (1938-),
Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart.
Edna O'Brien (1930-), Lantern Slides
(short stories).
John O'Brien (-1995),
Leaving Las Vegas.
Tim O'Brien (1946-),
The Things They Carried;
stories about the Vietnam War.
Kenzaburo Oe (1935-),
A Quiet Life
(Shizuka na Seikatsu).
Sara Paretsky (1947-), Burn Marks;
V.I. Warshawski #6.
Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010),
Stardust; Spenser #17.
Milorad Pavic (1929-),
Landscape Painted with Tea;
mixes a novel with a crossword puzzle.
M. Scott Peck,
A Bed by the Window: A Novel of Mystery and Redemption;
crippled Stephen Solaris is murdered hooking up with nurse Heather.
Harry Mark Petrakis (1923-), Ghost of the Sun.
Robert Pinget (1919-97),
Du Nerf (Be Brave).
Mario Puzo (1920-99), The Fourth K.
Reynolds Price (1933-), The Tongues of Angels.
V.S. Pritchett (1900-97),
Complete Short Stories.
Thomas Pynchon (1937-),
Vineland.
Anne Rice (1941-),
The Witching Hour.
Angelo Rinaldi (1940-),
La Confession des Collines.
Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-),
Pacific Edge; an alternate future Calif.
Judith Rossner (1935-2005), His Little Women.
Salman Rushdie (1947-), Haroun and the Sea of Stories.
Lawrence Sanders (1920-98),
Sullivan's Sting.
Melissa Scott (1960-),
Mighty Good Road.
Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007),
Memories of Midnight.
Anne Rivers Siddons (1936-),
Kings Oak.
Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010),
Last Loves.
Robert Silverberg (1935-),
The Queen of Springtime.
Dan Simmons (1948-), The Fall of Hyperion;
Entropy's Bed at Midnight;
Prayers to Broken Stones
(short stories).
Lee Smith (1944-),
Me and My Baby View the Eclipse
(short stories).
LaVyrle Spencer (1943-),
Morning Glory
(Mar. 1); ex-con Will Parker answers a husband-wanted ad.
Scott Spencer (1945-),
Secret Anniversaries.
Ivan Stang (ed.), Three-Fisted Tales of "Bob".
Danielle Steel (1947-) Heartbeat;
No Greater Love.
Gerald Stern (1925-), Two Long Poems;
Leaving Another Kingdom: Selected Poems.
Whitley Strieber (1945-), Billy.
Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-92),
The Shining Company;
a retelling of the Y Gododdin story.
Donald Michael Thomas (1935-),
Lying Together.
Colm Toibin (1955-), The South
(first novel).
Thomas Tryon (1926-91), The Wings of the Morning.
John Updike (1932-2009), Rabbit At Rest (Pulitzer Prize); 2 Pulitzers in 9 years (1982).
Gore Vidal (1925-2012), Hollywood; sequel to "Empire".
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), Hocus Pocus.
Joseph Wambaugh (1937-), The Golden Orange.
James Welch (1940-2003), The Indian Lawyer; Sylvester Yellow Calf.
Fay Weldon (1931-), Darcy's Utopia.
Morris L. West (1916-99), Lazarus.
John Edgar Wideman (1941-), Philadelphia Fire.
Raymond Henry Williams (1921-88), The Eggs of the Eagle (posth.); vol. 2 of 2 of "People of the Black Mountains".
Louis Zukofsky (1904-78), Collected Fiction (posth.).
Births:
South African 5'8" ML baseball player (first African-born) (black) (Pittsburgh Pirates, 2017) Mpho' Gift Ngoepe
on Jan. 18 in Pietersburg, Limpopo Province.
Am. "Matt McGuire in Lizzie McGuire" actor Jake Thomas
on Jan. 30 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Ethiopian Olympic marathoner (black) Feyisa Lilesa
on Feb. 1.
Kosovo Albian Muslim Frankfurt Airport jihadist Arid Uka
on Feb. 9 in Kosovska Mitrovica.
Am. 6'1" football WR (black) (Seattle Seahawks #15, 2012-) Jermaine Kearse
on Feb. 6 in Lakewood, Wash.; educated at the U. of Wash.
Am. 6'7" basketball guard (black) (Golden State Warriors #11, 2011-) Klay Alexander Thompson
on Feb. 8 in Los Angeles, Calif.; grows up in Lake Oswego, Ore.; educated at Washington State U.; one of the two Splash Brothers with Stephen Curry (1988-).
Am. 6'2" football QB (Washington Redskins #10, 2012-15) (Cleveland Browns, 2016) (Baltimore Ravens #3, 2018-) (black)
Robert Lee "RGIII" "RG3) Griffin III
on Feb. 12 in Okinawa; educated at Baylor U.
Canadian "Starboy", "Heartless", "Blinding Lights" falsetto singer (black) (Ethiopian Orthodox) The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye
on Feb. 16 in Toronto, Ont.; Ethiopian immigrant parents; grows up in Scarborough; known for his Basquiat-style hairstyle.
Am. 5'11" football CB (black) (New England Patriots #21, 2014-17) (Tenn. Titans, 2018-) Malcolm Terel Butler
on Mar. 2 in Vicksburg, Miss.; educated at West Ala. U.
Am. "Julie Mayer in Desperate Housewives" actress Andrea Elizabeth Bowen
on Mar. 4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Am. 6'7" basketball forward (black) (Golden State Warriors #23, 2012-) Draymond Jamal Green
on Mar. 4 in Saginaw, Mich.; educated at Mich. State U.
Czech 6'0" tennis player (lefty) Petra Kvitova (Kvitová)
on Mar. 8 in Bilovec.
Am. "Speechless" conservative political commentator (Roman Catholic) Michael J. Knowles
on Mar. 18 in Bedford Hills, N.Y.; of Italian descent; educated at Yale U.
Am. Miss USA 2011 Alyssa Marie Campanella
on Mar. 21 New Brunswick, N.J.; Italian descent father, Danish-German descent mother.
English princess Eugenie ictoria Helena of York
on Mar. 23 in London; 2nd daughter of Prince Andrew (1960-) and Duchess Sarah of York (1959-); sister of Princess Beatrice (1988-).
Am. "Get Me Some of That" country singer Thomas Rhett (Thomas Rhett Akins Jr.)
on Mar. 30 in Valdosta, Ga.; son of Rhett Akins (1969-).
Northern Ireland journalist (lesbian) Lyra Catherine McKee
(d. 2019) on Mar. 31 in Belfast.
Am. jihadist (Sunni Muslim) Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo
on Apr. 1 in Garland, Tex.
Am. "Isabella Bella Swan in Twilight", "Lisa in Zathura", "Em in Adventureland" actress Kristen Jaymes Stewart
on Apr. 9 in Los Angeles, Calif.; Australian mother.
Am. "My Church" country musician Maren Larae Morris
on Apr. 10 in Arlington, Tex.
English "Alex Rider in Stormbreaker", "John in I Am Number Four" actor Alexander Richard "Alex" Pettyfer
on Apr. 10 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
English "Hermione Granger in Harry Potter" actress Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson
on Apr. 15 in Paris, France; English lawyer parents; moves to Oxford at age 5; educated at Brown U.; highest-grossing actress of the 2000s decade.
Am. "Wild Boy", "Bad Things", "Tickets to My Downfall" rapper-actor Machine Gun Kelly (Colson Baker)
on Apr. 22 in Houston, Tex.
British "Jamal Malik Slumdog Millionaire" actor Dev Patel
on Apr. 23 in Harrow, London; Hindu Gujarati Indian parents from Nairobi, Kenya.
Am. "Nikki Westerly in Summerland", "Daphne Powell in No Ordinary Family" actress Stephanie Kay Panabaker
on May 2 in Orange, Tex.; sister of Danielle Panabaker (1987-).
Am. 6'0" golfer Brooks Koepka
on May 3 in West Palm Beach, Fla.; educated at Fla. State U.
Am. baseball pitcher (black) Sean Patrick Gilmartin
on May 8 in Moorpark, Calif.; educated at Fla. State U.; husband of Kayleigh McEnany (1988-).
English "Newt in The Maze Runner" actor-musician Thomas Brodie-Sangster
on May 16 in Southwark, London; 2nd cousin once removed of Hugh Grant (1960-).
Am. "Losing Isaiah" actor (black) Marc John Jefferies
on May 16 in New York City.
Am. 6'1" auto racer Joseph Thomas "Joey" Logano
on May 24 in Middletown, Conn.
Am. 6'1" football FB (white) (Minn. Vikings #48, 2013-6) (New Orleans Saints #42, 2017-) Zach Line
on May 26 in Oxford, Mich.; educated at SMU.
Am. rock drummer Zachary Wayne "Zac" Farro
(Paramore) on June 4 in Vorhees Township, N.J.; brother of Josh Farro (1987-).
Am. Snapchat co-founder Evan Thomas Spiegel
on June 4 in Los Angeles, Calif.; educated at Stanford U.
Am. baseball 3B player (Washington Nationals #6, 2013-) Anthony Michael Rendon
on June 6 in Houston, Tex.
Australian "Pussy" singer-model ("New Face of Levi Jeans") Iggy Azalea (Amethyst Amelia Kelly)
on June 7 in Sydney; moves to the U.S. at age 16.
Italian "Don Fanucci in The Godfather Part II" actor Gastone Moschin
on June 8 in San Giovanni Lupatoto.
English "John Lennon in Nowhere Boy", "Ray Marcus in Nocturnal Animals". "Dave Lizewski in Kick-Ass" actor (Jewish)
Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Aaron Perry Johnson)
on June 13 in Holmer Green, Buckinghamshire; husband (2012-) of Sam Taylor-Johnson (1967-).
English "Love Me Again" musician John William Peter Newman
on June 16 in Settle, North Yorkshire.
Australian "Naomi Lapaglia in The Wolf of Wall Street", "Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad", "Tonya Harding in I, Tonya" actress
Margot Elise Robbie
on July 2 in Dalby, Queensland; grows up in Gold Coast; educated at Somerset College.
Am. "Jordan Thomkins Bernie Mac", "Tyson Tidwell in Jerry Maguire" actor (black) Jeremy Steven Suarez
on July 6 in Burbank, Calif.
Danish 5'10" tennis player Caroline Wozniacki
on July 11 in Odense; Polish immigrant parents.
Mexican 5'9" boxer Santos Saul "Canelo" Alvarez Barragan (Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán)
on July 18 in Guadalajara.
Am. actor Nicholas Allen "Nick" Bollea
on July 27 in Clearwater, Fla.; son of Hulk Hogan (1953-); brother of Brooke Hogan (1988-).
Am. child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey
(d. 1996) on Aug. 6 in Atlanta, Ga.; daughter of John Bennett (1943-)
and Patricia "Patsy" Ramsey (1956-2006).
Italian 6'3" soccer player (black)
Mario Balotelli
on Aug. 12 in Palermo; Ghanaian parents.
Am. "Silver Linings Playbook", "Raven in X-Men", "Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games" actress (feminist)
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (AKA Jenlaw)
on Aug. 15 in Louisville, Ky.
Am. 6'3" football nose tackle (black) (Kansas City Chiefs #92, 2012-)
Dontari Poe
on Aug. 18 in Memphis, Tenn.; educated at Memphis U.
Am. "Claire Bennet in Heroes" actress-singer Hayden Leslie Panettiere
on Aug. 21 in Palisades, N.Y.; sister of Jansen Panettiere (1994-).
Am. 6'2" football QB (New Orleans Saints #7, 2017-) Taysom Hill
on Aug. 23 in Pocatello, Idaho; educated at BYU.
South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-Na
on Sept. 5 in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do.
Am. 6'4" basketbal player (black) (Washington Wizards #2, 2010-)
Johnathan Hildred "John" Wall Jr.
on Sept. 6 in Raleigh, N.C.; educated at the U. of Ky.
Am. 6'1" football QB (Cincinnati Bengals #5, 2014-)
Raymond Anthony "AJ" McCarron Jr.
on Sept. 13 in Mobile, Ala.; educated at the U. of Ala.
Am. 6'1" football linebacker (black) (Cincinnati Bengals #55, 2012-)
Vontaze DeLeon Burfict Jr.
on Sept. 24 in Los Angeles, Calif.; educated at Arizona State U.
Am. "Ray Boyd in Jerry Maguire" actor (Jewish)
Jonathan William Lipnicki
on Oct. 22 in Westlake Village, Calif.
Am. 5'4" basketball player (black) (Muslim)
Bilqis "Qisi" Abdul-Qaadir
on Nov. 11 in Springfield, Mass.; educated at the U. of Memphis, and Indiana State U.
Am. 6'2" golfer Max Homa
on Nov. 19 in Burbank, Calif.; educated at UCB.
British "Hot Right Now" singer-songwriter
Rita Sahatciu Ora
on Nov. 26 in Pristina, Yugoslavia; emigrates to Britain at age 1.
Norwegian chess champ #16 (2013-)
Sven Magnus Oen (Øen) Carlsen
on Nov. 30 in Tonberg, Vestfold.
Cuban baseball right fielder (black) ("the Wild Horse")
Yasiel Puig Valdes (Valdés)
on Dec. 7 in Cienfuegos; defects to the U.S. in 2012.
Am. poet Max Ritvo
(d. 2016) on Dec. 19 in Los Angeles, Calif.; educated at Yale U., and Columbia U.
Am. "Too Little Too Late" pop-R&B singer-songwriter-actress
JoJo (Joanna Noelle Blagden Levesque)
on Dec. 20 in Brattleboro, Vt.; French, Polish, Irish, Native Am. ancestry.
Am. 5'11" football linebacker (white) (San Francisco 49ers #50, 2014)
Christopher "Chris" Borland
on Dec. 26 in Kettering, Ohio; educated at the U. of Wisc.
Am. singer-songwriter (American Idol Season 7 runner-up) (Mormon)
1991 Doomsday Clock: 17 min. to midnight - the safest year since it began in 1947, since everybody knows they got a long 9 years till the End of Days? Chinese Year: Sheep (Feb. 15) (lunar year 4689). Time Mag. Man of the Year: Ted Turner (1938-). World pop.: 5.4B; China: 1B: India: 844M; Soviet Union: 285M; U.S.: 253M; worldwide 250K babies are born a day, with 95% of the growth occurirng in developing countries (where total pop. has gone from 1.7B to 4.1B since 1950), and the other 5% in industrialized countries (where total pop. has gone from 832M to 1.2B since 1950), according to the U.N. Fund for Pop. Activities (released in May); 51% of women use birth control, compared to 10% in 1950; beginning this year the number of people moving out of Calif. is greater than the number moving in (until ?). By this year 50% of the food eaten in the Soviet Union is being grown outside the official Communist system. In Jan. the final 1990 U.S. Census figures are announced, and Los Angeles passes Chicago as the 2nd most populous city in the U.S. after New York City; 6 of the 10 largest U.S. cities are now in the South or West, and all but Houston are still growing rapidly; New York City gains 3.5% in pop., while Chicago, Philly, and Detroit lose pop. between 1980-90. This is the Year That Punk Broke? On Jan. 1 Washington defeats Iowa by 46-34 to win the 1991 Rose Bowl. On Jan. 1 the U.S. Luxury Tax for automobiles over $30K in retail value goes into effect. On Jan. 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon (Kelly) (1944-) is sworn-in as the first black female mayor (#3) of Washington, D.C. (until Jan. 2, 1995). On Jan. 3 (Thur.) the sitcom Blossom debuts on NBC-TV for 114 episodes (until May 22, 1995), starring Mayim Chaya Bialik (1975-) as bright enterprising teenie Blossom Russo, whose best friend is Six LeMeure, played by Jenna van Oy (Oÿ) (1977-), who has a crush on Joseph "Joey" Russo, played by Joey Lawrence (Joseph Lawrence Mignogna Jr.) (1976-). On Jan. 3-5 the French make an unsuccessful peace initiative to Baghdad. On Jan. 4 Les Peer wins his case before the Colo. Supreme Court, entitling him to collect $11M from the Aspen Skiing Co. for a 1982 Thanksgiving Day accident on Aspen Mt.'s "Ruthie's Run" that left him with a broken neck; the case causes the Colo. Legislature to pass legislation limiting a resort's liability to $1M. On Jan. 5-6 windstorms kill 28 in Great Britain and Ireland at sea. On Jan. 6 conservative Christian businessman Jorge Serrano Elias (1945-) of the Solidarity Action Movement, backed by the military wins a 5-year term as pres. of Guatemala (ends 1993); inflation runs at over 75%, unemployment at over 40%, and almost 100K have been killed since the guerrilla war began in the 1960s, but Serrano pledges to end human rights abuses, carry out agrarian reforms and distribute wealth more fairly, although his party fails to control a majority of seats in the nat. legislature and is unable to deliver; his govt. holds talks with the rebels from Apr.-July. On Jan. 7 Time mag. names the Two George Bushes On Jan. 7 U.S. defense secy. Dick Cheney cancels plans to purchase the McDonnell Douglas/Gen. Dynamics A-12 Avenger stealth attack bomber for the U.S. Navy, intended to replace the Grumman A-6 Intruder; litigation continues until Jan. 2014. On Jan. 7 Lake Forest, Ill,-born San Diego mayor #29 (1971-83) and U.S. Sen. (R-Calif.) (since Jan. 3, 1983) Peter Barton "Pete" Wilson (1933-) becomes Repub. Calif. gov. #36 (until Jan. 4, 1999), going on to turn around the worst state economy since the Great Depression and help pass Calif. Proposition 140 enacting term limits, keeping him for running for a 3rd time, leaving a $16B budget surplus. On Jan. 9 U.S. secy. of state James A. Baker and Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz meet in Switzerland, and fail to reach agreement. On Jan. 9 teachers' unions in Greece order a strike after a teacher is murdered by right-wingers, causing riots in Athens, hospitalizing over 100; on Feb. 27 moderate Aleka (Alexandra) Papariga (1945-) is elected gen. secy. of the Greek Communist Party, becoming the first woman to hold the post - not literally? On Jan. 11 the breakaway 94% Sunni Muslim Chechen Repub. (Chechnya) AKA Ichkeria ("land of minerals") (pop. 1.2M) is proclaimed; the Sunni-Sufi Repub. of Ingushetia (pop. 500K) also splits off from the former Chechen-Ingush ASSR, and declares independence next June 4; on Nov. 1 Soviet Air Force Gen. Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev (1944-96) is elected pres. #1 of Chechnya (until Apr. 21, 1996); Boris Yeltsin, who is responsible for breaking up the Soviet Union suddenly flip-flops and refuses to recognize it, then sends troops, but recalls them when faced with armed resistance led by former actor Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev (1959-). On Jan. 12 over the objections of U.S. defense secy. Dick Cheney, Pres. Bush receives authorization from Congress to use force to end Iraq's occupation of Kuwait; Pope John Paul II warns that a Persian Gulf War would represent "a decline for all humanity", as one of more than 50 appeals for peace between last Aug. and the Feb. ceasefire; when the war is successful and popular at home, Dems. incl. John Kerry and Joe Biden who voted against the authorization knock themselves out of the running for U.S. pres., opening the way for Bill Clinton? On Jan. 12 a Singapore-registered cargo ship sinks in stormy seas off Newfoundland, killing all 33 crew aboard. On Jan. 12 (night) the Sebokeng Massacre sees mourners for ANC leader Chris Nangalembe killed by a gang of armed men using hand grenades. On Jan. 13 Soviet troops storm Lithuania's radio-TV center, killing 14. On Jan. 13 42 are killed in a brawl and stampede during a soccer match between fans of the Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney (120 mi. from Johannesburg), South Africa. becoming South Africa's worst sporting disaster (until ?). On Jan. 14/15 a turncoat bodyguard working for the Abu Nidal faction assassinates Yasser Arafat's two senior deputies, Salah Mesbah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) (b. 1933), and Fakhri al-Omari (Abu Mohammed), and PLO security chief Hayel Abdel-Hamid in a house outside Tunis, then holds Abdel-Hamid's wife and daughters hostage for six hours before being arrested; Khalaf had flopped to support a 2-state solution? On Jan. 14 France presents a 6-point peace plan in an effort to avert a war in the Persian Gulf, but U.S. officials reject it as offering Saddam Hussein too many concessions. On Jan. 15 anti-war protesters around the U.S. demonstrate in front of federal bldgs. and many are arrested, incl. 35 in Boulder, Colo. and 22 in Denver; meanwhile tens of thousands of Iraqi demonstrate in support of their brave heroic 54-y.-o. leader's stand and against Western "arrogance". On Jan. 15 (Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday) the Peace Choir (20+ rockers, incl. Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Lenny Kravitz, MC Hammer, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty, Peter Gabriel, L.L. Cool J., Run D.M.C., Cyndi Lauper) release a version of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" with new lyrics by 15-y.-o. Sean Lennon. On Jan. 15 New York City-born chef (French Culinary Inst. grad) Robert William "Bobby" Flay (1964-) opens the Mesa Grill in New York City, going on to expand his restaurant empire and appear on Food Network and Cooking Channel, getting in a TV feud with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto on Iron Chef America in 2000 that increases his popularity. On Jan. 15-16 (midnight) the U.S. deadline for Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait expires, and the White House comments, "Jan. 15 was a day for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. It was not a deadline for U.N. action. The choice for peace remains with Saddam Hussein"; on Jan. 16 ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN cover the start of the war, with CNN featuring on-site reporting from Peter Arnett, Bernard Shaw, and John Holliman from a Baghdad hotel room. On Jan. 16 Pres. Bush orders the first-ever drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. On Jan. 16 ailing Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years in business. On Jan. 16 the Vatican appoints 10 bishops for the Ukraine, rebooting the country's Roman Catholic hierarchy after years of atheist Communist suppression; on Mar. 30 Cardinal Myroslav Lubachivsky returns to his Ukrainian diocese of Lvov after 45 years in exile; on Apr. 13 Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz (1949-) is appointed archbishop of Moscow, becoming the highest Roman Catholic public official in the Soviet Union since the 1917 Oct. Rev. On Jan. 16/17 (Wed.) the (Persian) Gulf War (AKA Operation Desert Storm) (ends Feb. 28) is launched by the U.N. to recover Kuwait less than 17 hours after Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein fails to meet a U.N. deadline for withdrawal of military forces from his "19th province"; 680K Allied troops (incl. Arab, British and French and 415K Americans) are arrayed against 545K Iraqi troops (with 480K reserves) concentrated in Kuwait and SE Iraq; U.S. forces incl. 245K Army, 75K Marines, 50K Navy, and 45K Air Force (who have use of NATO air bases in Turkey); the U.S. has 13 combat ships in the Mediterranean, 26 in the Red Sea, incl. aircraft carriers Saratoga, Kennedy, Roosevelt, and America, and 34 in the Persian Gulf, incl. the aircraft carrier Midway, and amphibious ships; the U.S. Central Command is just E of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; no-fly zones are declared and patrolled by U.S. and British planes; U.S. troops are vaccinated for anthrax in preparation for the war; the Styx song Show Me the Way is adopted by the Gulf War Troops as their anthem; Operation Desert Storm, commanded by U.S. Gen. Herbert "Stormin'" Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (1934-2012) sees coalition forces from 35 nations begin a 6-week air attack on Iraq; CNN correspondents Peter Arnett, Bernard Shaw, and John Holliman report the start of the war live from a Baghdad hotel; Iraq fires eight Scud surface-to-surface missiles at Israel; in early Feb. 1.5K allied tanks and 150K allied troops are positioned for a flanking maneuver along Iraq's lightly defended S border with Saudi Arabia; on Feb. 24 the U.S.-led coalition opens its ground war against Iraq, faking a frontal invasion in S Kuwait, with the real forces attacking from the W on three points; on Jan. 17 U.S. Navy pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher (b. 1957) becomes the first U.S. service member KIA in the Gulf War, and it takes until Aug. 2, 2009 to identify his remains; on Feb. 26 the main highway from Kuwait to Basra becomes the Highway of Death in a huge traffic jam of fleeing Iraqis, and 10K Iraqis are KIA; on Feb. 27-28 Saddam stages his last stand with a fierce tank battle (largest since WWII), in which 200 Iraqi tanks and no U.S. tanks are destroyed (during the war U.S. Abrams M1 and M2 tanks kill 2K Iraqi tanks without a loss); the fighting ends on Feb. 28 after 110K Iraqi soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians are killed, and 30K Iraqi POWs are taken; Saudi Arabia is charged $60B to pay for their defense, and takes out its first-ever ($4.5B) loan to pay for it (paid up on May 22, 1995); no Medals of Honor are issued for this action; after five U.S. aircraft carriers are deployed to the Persian Gulf, the U.S. stations at least one carrier there at all times (until ?). On Jan. 17 king (since 1957) Olav V (b. 1903) dies, and his only son Harald V (1937-) becomes king of Norway (until ?), the first to be born in Norway in 567 years (since Denmark ran it from 1381-1814, followed by Sweden from 1814-1905). On Jan. 18 three teenagers are trampled and killed during an AC/DC concert at the Salt Palace (built 1969) in Salt Lake City, Utah, causing "festival seating" to be discontinued; the palace is demolished in 1994. On Jan. 18 the Iraqis begin launching Scud missiles against Israel. On Jan. 20 in Latvia "black beret" commandos of the Soviet Interior Ministry attack the Interior Ministry HQ, killing five; Communist leader Alfreds Rubiks supports a Soviet crackdown against the independence movement, but is arrested on Aug. 23 and charged with "treason to the USSR", and sentenced to eight years on July 27, 1995. On Jan. 21 Iraq announces it has scattered POWs in targeted areas; Pres. Bush announces that Saddam Hussein will be held personally responsible. On Jan. 22 Soviet pres. Mikhail Gorbachev decrees that all existing 50 and 100 ruble banknotes are no longer legal tender, and that they can be exchanged for new notes for three days only and only in small quantities; on Jan. 26 he gives police the authority to search any place of business and demand its records at will; the economy goes into a tailspin. On Jan. 22 Pope Paul II issues the 153-page encyclical The Church's Missionary Mandate, urging the faithful to proselytize in Christian areas of Africa and the Middle East where Islam is making inroads - within a decade they better start proselytizing in England, Netherlands, and Sweden too? On Jan. 23 Iraq deliberately creates a huge oil spill in the Persian Gulf. On Jan. 26 there are massive demonstrations for and against Operation Desert Storm across the U.S.; the largest is held in Washington, D.C. On Jan. 26 in Somalia long-time Red China-friendly Marxist dictator-pres. #3 (since Oct. 21, 1969) Mohamed Siad Barre (1919-95), who attemped to end the clan wars in vain is forced to flee to Nigeria when rebels capture the capital of Mogadishu, which becomes the stage for fighting by rival militias (until ?) after former partners (pres. #5 from June 15, 1995-Aug. 1, 1996) Gen. Mohammad Farrah Aidid (Aideed) (1934-96) and pres. #4 (Jan. 1991-June 1995) Gen. Ali Mahdi Mohammad (1938-) split and start a clan-based civil war, which leads to the starvation of 100K+ by next year as the country is left in the hands of guerrilla groups and warlords who hijack aid shipments and fight with each other, while pirates flourish on the lawless Horn of Africa, threatening shipping. On Jan. 27 the super-patriotic Super Bowl XXV (25) (1991) is held in Tampa, Fla.; Whitney Houston sings a stirring rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, which is the first-ever to reach the top 40; the N.Y. Giants (NFC) (head coach Bill Parcells) defeat the Buffalo Bills (AFC) (head coach Marv Levy) 20-19 after Bills' kicker (#11) Scott Allan Norwood (1960-)'s 47-yard field goal attempt with 4 sec. remaining sails wide right; Giants' QB Ottis Jerome "O.J." Anderson (1957-) is MVP. On Jan. 30 four Cuban refugees, a doctor and his wife, plus a U. of Havana prof. and his wife wash up in wetsuits at the dock of laid-back singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett in Key West, Fla.; he gives them coffee and calls immigration on them. In Jan. Pres. Bush announces that the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) (AKA Star Wars) (proposed by Pres. Regan on Mar. 23, 1983) will be cut down to defend the U.S. mainland against rogue missiles with the 1988 Brilliant Pebbles (formerly Smart Rocks) concept of 4K low-Earth orbit satellites that fire high-velocity watermelon-sized projectiles at incoming ICBMs, which is abandoned in 1993, and ground-based interceptor missiles (Ballistic Missile Defense Org.) substituted, with U.S. defense secy. Les Aspin announcing that he's "taking the Star out of Star Wars"; deployment is set for 2005. On Feb. 1 34 (22 aboard the big plane, 12 on the small plane) are killed when a USAir Boeing 737 crashes atop a SkyWest commuter turboprop plane while landing at Los Angeles Internat. Airport (LAX). On Feb. 1 the 1-mo. Manitoba Nursing Strike in Canada ends as 10.5K nurses acccept a 2-year 14% salary increase. On Feb. 1 a 6.8 earthquake kills 1.2K in Afghanistan and N Pakistan - don't hide your feelings, Earth Boy? On Feb. 3 U.S. military officials confirm that seven of 11 Marines who were killed in combat on Jan. 30 died from friendly fire. On Feb. 3 the rate for a first-class U.S. postage stamp rises to 29 cents. On Feb. 5 a Greek military transport crashes in the Othris Mts. in Greece in stormy weather, killing all 66 aboard. On Feb. 6 Jordan's King Hussein denounces the "savage" war against Iraq as an attempt by the U.S. to control the Middle East; this comes after eight Jordanian tanker drivers are killed in allied air attacks while transporting gasoline to Iraq in violation of the U.N. embargo; on Feb. 7 Pres. Bush orders a reappraisal of $55M in U.S. aid to Jordan, and in Mar. Congress votes to cut $20M in military assistance and $30M in economic aid; on Feb. 8 Pres. Bush steps up pressure on Jordanian king Hussein not to join forces with Saddam Hussein, uttering the soundbyte: "He seems to have moved over, way over, into Saddam Hussein's camp"; in July after Jordan agrees to attend the Oct. 30 Middle East peace conference, economic aid is restored, followed by military aid on Oct. 30. On Feb. 7 Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide is sworn-in as Haiti's first democratically-elected pres.; too bad, he is overthrown on Sept. 30. On Feb. 10 approx. 100 celebs in L.A. record Voices That Care in support of allied troops in the Gulf War. On Feb. 13 41 Ash Wednesday worshippers die in a panic in a narrow alley leading to a packed church in Chalma, Mexico. On Feb. 14 two San Francisco men become the first gay couple to register as domestic partners under a new city ordinance - where did they put the ring? On Feb. 15 Saddam Hussein makes a conditional offer to withdraw from Kuwait, but the allies reject it. On Feb. 15 a truck carrying dynamite overturns and explodes in Phang-Nga Province, Thailand, killing 171 onlookers. On Feb. 15 Milo Dukanovic (1962-) is appointed PM #1 of the first democratically elected govt. of Montenegro (until Feb. 5, 1998), with the blessings of Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, becoming the youngest PM in Europe; meanwhile his Montenegran League of Communists, which scored a V in 1990 parliamentary elections changes its name to the Dem. Party of Socialists (DPS), and Dukanovic shares power with fellow party members Momir Bulatovic (1956-) (pres. #1 from Dec. 23, 1990 to Jan. 15, 1998) and Svetozar Marovic (1955-) - well I'll be a Sonofavic? On Feb. 18 the Irish Repub. Army claims responsibility for a bomb that exploded in a London rail station, killing a commuter. On Feb. 20 Slovenia votes for secession from Yugoslavia. On Feb. 22 the U.S. and its Gulf War allies give Iraq 24 hours to begin withdrawing from Kuwait or face a final all-out attack; on Feb. 22 the U.S. invades Kuwait and quickly chases out the Iraqi forces; on Feb. 24 the USS Tarawa (launched in 1973) lands troops in Kuwait; U.S. soldiers may have been exposed to minute amounts of the Russian nerve gas agent Substance 33; the drug PB (pyridostigmine bromide) is issued to U.S. troops, and many abuse it for the rush it gives. On Feb. 23 French forces unofficially start the Persian Gulf ground war by crossing the Saudi-Iraqi border. On Feb. 23 tanks roll in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand in a coup against the corrupt govt. of PM Gen. Chatichai Choonhavan (1922-98). On Feb. 24 the allies launch the official ground war against Iraq and Kuwait. On Feb. 24 a mudslide in Papua, New Guinea wipes out several villages and kills at least 200. On Feb. 25 an Iraqi Scud missile hits a crowded U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 28; meanwhile, Iraqi soldiers carrying white flags and copies of the Quran surrender to coalition troops in Kuwait en masse; some Iraqi units have a 40% casualty and 30%-50% desertion rate, and in some cases had already left their trenches when Allied troops crossed into Iraq and Kuwait. On Feb. 26 Allied troops take control of Kuwait after a 100-hour ground war as Saddam Hussein calls for a troop withdrawl; a ceasefire in Kuwait is announced by Pres. Bush on Feb. 27, and on Feb. 28 Iraq announces an end to all hostilities; on Mar. 1 Pres. Bush announces: "We've kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all"; Saddam has the last laugh as he orders 730 Kuwaiti oil wells set afire (causing a 26K-sq.-mi. smoke cloud), and a Kuwaiti refinery spiked to release 240M gal. of oil into the Persian Gulf (25x as much as the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident); oil minister Homoud al-Roqbah (pr. RUG-bah) is put in charge of putting out the fires in 597 leaking and burning oil wells; total U.S. war dead: 382; total Iraqi war dead: 100K, incl. 80K in the air campaign and 20K after the ground war was launched; "It wasn't a war, it was a slaughter. The other side didn't show up and forfeited the game. Then we killed them in the parking lot." (Scott Armstrong, Am. U. in Washington, D.C.); too bad, after the Gulf War ends, in Mar. Kuwait expels 450K Palestinians for PLO support of Saddam Hussein, lowering their percentage of the 2.2M pop. from 30% to 3%. On Feb. 29 the multiethnic (44% Muslim, 31% Orthodox Catholic Serb, 17% Roman Catholic Croat) Socialist Repub. of Bosnia and Herzegovina passes a referendum for independence from the Federal Repub. of Yugoslavia; on Apr. 6-7 the European Community and U.S. recognize the breakaway Repub. of Bosnia, pissing-off Bosnian Serbs, who on Aug. 12 declare the Republika Srpska, and begin the Bosnian War (ends Dec. 14, 1995) to ethnically cleanse their new nation of Muslims, led by "the Butcher of Bosnia" Gen. Zeljko "Arkan" Raznatovic (1952-2000) and his 10K-man Tigers in the Vukovar region of Croatia; Gen. Radovan Karadzic (1945-) orders numerous Muslim massacres across Bosnia that kill 7.5K; in Nov. Bosnian Croats declare the Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosnia. In Feb. First Lady Barbara Bush flies from Washington, D.C. to Indianapolis, Ind. to calm public fears about terrorism related to the Gulf War, becoming her first commercial flight as First Lady. In Feb. Va.-born Katherine Feinstein "Katie" Couric (1957-) (whose career began in 1979 at ABC getting coffee for Frank Reynolds) subs for pregnant Deborah Norville as co-host of NBC's The Today Show, and when Norville pisses-off the mgt. over a breastfeeding photo in People mag., it becomes permanent on Apr. 5 (until 2006); in 1995 Norville becomes host of Inside Edition on CBS (until ?). On Mar. 1 a ship carrying Somalian refugees strikes a reef in the Indian Ocean off Malindi, Kenya, killing 160+ passengers. On Mar. 1 the Nielsen SoundScan system, created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett begins tracking sales data for the May 25 issue of Billboard mag. On Mar. 1-Apr. 5 after apparent encouragement by U.S. pres. George H.W. Bush, the 1991 Iraqi Uprisings see Shiite Muslims and Kurds rise up against Saddam Hussein in an intifada, but on Mar. 26 the Americans refuse to help and they are crushed; 50K are killed, and 1M flee to Turkey and Iran, wondering what the *!*?! is wrong with Amerika; Saddam Hussein begins an extermination war against the 100K Shiite Marsh Arabs (Ma'dan), launching a massive construction program using all of Iraq's equipment to build a series of canals to divert the Tigris River around them and turn the marshes into desert, reducing their pop. by 2003 to 1.6K, after which the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq allows the dikes to be breached, so that by 2011 50% of the wetlands are restored, and 20K Ma'dan return, with 80K-120K still in refugee camps in Iran. On Mar. 2 Syrian defense minister Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlass (1932-) says in a radio broadcast that Yasser Arafat has lost all his internat. standing for supporting Iraq in the Gulf conflict, calling it a betrayal because Kuwait's ruling al-Sabah family supported his mainstream Fatah movement within the PLO. On Mar. 2 the U.N. Security votes 11-1-3 for Resolution 686, demanding that Iraq implement their 12 resolutions 660-2, 664-7, 669-70, 674, 677-8 after arranging a ceasefire; on Apr. 3 the U.N. Security Council votes 12-1-2 (Cuba, Ecuador, Yemen) for Resolution 687, laying down the law for loser Iraq, and establishing the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) to ensure compliance with WMD prohibition; on Apr. 5, 1991 the U.N. Security Council votes 10-3-2 (Cuba, Yemen, Zimbabwe) (China, India) for Resolution 688, calling for Iraq to end repression of its people incl. Kurds; France, U.K., and U.S. use the resolution to establish no-fly zones above the 36th parallel to protect humanitarian operations; on Apr. 9 the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 for Resolution 689, recalling Resolution 687 and setting up a DMZ with Kuwait and deploying the U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission of 200 military observers, with HQ in Umm Qasr, Iraq, growing to a max of 1,187 on Feb. 28, 1995 before withdrawing on Sept. 30, 2003. On Mar. 3 (shortly after midnight) after a 117 mph car chase, black motorist Rodney Glen King (1965-2012) is arrested by Los Angeles, Calif. police, who severely beat him when he's down while bystander George Holliday videotapes it all from a distance, shocking the U.S. with the appearance of Third World police brutality in the Land of the Free. On Mar. 3 United Airlines Flight 585 (Boeing 737) inexplicably crashes nose-first into a park while approaching the airport in **Colorado Springs, Colo., killing all 25 aboard; a reversed rudder is later blamed. On Mar. 3 Latvia and Estonia vote to become independent of the Soviet Union. On Mar. 3 Switzerland lowers the voting age from 20 to 18. On Mar. 5 all 43 people aboard are killed when a Venezuelan jetliner crashes on a mountain near Santa Barbara, Venezuela. On Mar. 5 Iraq releases 15 U.S., 9 British, 9 Saudi, one Kuwaiti and one Italian POW, followed by the last 35 U.S. POWs on Mar. 6 as a condition for a ceasefire, causing the U.S. on Mar. 6 to release 294 Iraqi POWs, the first of 63K to be released; 30K Kuwaiti civilians are released by the Iraqis later. On Mar. 9 an anti-Communist demonstration in Belgrade is suppressed by Serbian pres. Slobodan Milosevic, who vies to topple the collective state presidency of Yugoslavia, pressuring the presidents of Montenegro and Vojvodina to resign, and causing the six presidents of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia to meet on Mar. 28 to discuss the crisis. On Mar. 10 hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Moscow demand the resignation of Pres. Gorbachev. On Mar. 10 flash floods near Mulanje, Malawi kill 500. On Mar. 11 former Greek PM Andreas Papandreou goes on a televised trial with three others for illegal arms dealings with the Middle East; he is acquitted next Jan. 17, and in May the parliament votes to drop all charges against him. On Mar. 14 Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait returns home after 7 mo. in exile. On Mar. 14 a British court reverses the 1975 convictions of the Birmingham Six for the Nov. 21, 1974 Birmingham Pub Bombings and orders them released. On Mar. 16 a plane crash kills seven members of singer Reba McEntire's entire reba, er, band. On Mar. 16 (10:00 a.m.) (Sat.) 15-y.-o. African Am. girl Latasha Harlins (b. 1975) is shot in the back of the head and killed by 51-y.-o. Korean-born convenience store owner Soon Ja Du for stealing a $1.79 bottle of orange juice, ending up with a slap on the wrist sentence that helps spark the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, and gets Koreatown, Los Angeles targeted. On Mar. 17-18 a referendum in the Soviet Union favors preserving the union, at the same time favoring electing Boris N. Yeltsin to the presidency. On Mar. 18 Maria Damanaki (1952-) is elected pres. of the Left Alliance coalition in Greece. On Mar. 20 Khaleda Zia (1945-), widow of assassinated pres. Ziaur Rahman (1936-81) becomes PM #9 of Bangladesh (until Mar. 30, 1996) (first woman PM). On Mar. 20 the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously in the Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls case that employers can't use "fetal protection" policies (from lead etc.) as excuses for banning women from hazardous jobs. On Mar. 20 4-y.-o. Conor Clapton (b. 1986), son of guitarist Eric Clapton and Italian actress Lori Del Santo falls to his death in New York City; he is buried on Mar. 28 in Ripley, England. On Mar. 21 the U.N. releases a report stating that Iraq's public works have been bombed into a "pre-industrial" age. On Mar. 21 two U.S. Navy sub-hunting planes collide in midair over the Pacific Ocean off San Diego, Calif. during a training exercise, killing 27 crew members in the worst naval air crash in decades. On Mar. 24 "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek becomes a guest announcer at the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) WrestleMania VII, and interviews Jake "the Snake" Roberts, getting scared away by his snake Damien. On Mar. 22 not-so-smart high school employee Pamela Ann Smart (1967-) is convicted of manipulating her 15-y.-o. student lover William Flynn and three of his friends into killing her 24-y.-o. husband Gregory Smart in Derry, N.H. in 1990, and receives a life sentence. On Mar. 23 (11:37 local) a Soviet jetliner skids off a runway and smashes into concrete construction blocks in Tashkent, killing all four crew and 30 of 59 passengers. On Mar. 23 Libyan-trained Foday Saybana Sankoh (1937-2003) leads Rev. United Front (RUF) rebels into Sierra Leone and begins the 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War (ends Jan. 18, 2002), which kills 75K and displaces 2M; it becomes known for atrocities, incl. mass rapes, sex slaves, and large numbers of women soldiers. On Mar. 23 (Sun.) an airplane crash kills most of the members of the touring band of country star Reba McEntire. On Mar. 24 police clash with armed blacks in a township E of Johannesburg, South Africa, killing 12 and injuring 29; another 16 deaths are reported in the Joberg area over the previous 24 hours. On Mar. 24 Benin dictator-pres. (since 1972) Mathieu Kerekou is voted from office after 18 years, and granted full amnesty for all his murders and theft; on Apr. 4 PM (since 1991) Nicephore Soglo becomes the new pres. (until 1996), founding the Renaissance Party of Benin (PRB), restoring human rights and instituting austerity measures; too bad, the latter make him unpopular. On Mar. 25 in the Soviet Union Gorbachev's cabinet enacts a 3-week ban on street demonstrations in Moscow, putting police under the control of the Interior Ministry and taking away the authority of the elected Moscow City Council after it approves a rally on Mar. 28 in Manezh Square near the Kremlin. On Mar. 25 the 63rd Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, and hosted by Billy Crystal; the best picture Oscar for 1990 goes to Orion's Dances With Wolves (2nd Western to win after Cimarron), along with best dir. to Kevin Costner; best actor goes to Jeremy Irons for Reversal of Fortune, best actress to Kathy Bates for Misery, best supporting actor to Joe Pesci for Goodfellas, and best supporting actress to Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost; "The first thing I ever did at White Station High School was to play one of Simon Legree's dogs in the ballet 'The King and I'" (Bates to Memphis Commercial-Appeal). On Mar. 25 a military transport plane crashes near Bangalore, India, killing 25 Indian Air Force trainees and three crew members. On Mar. 25 world chess champ Gary Kasparov tells reporters in Los Angeles to "Leave us alone", saying "Within a year, there will be no Gorbachev, there will be no Communists. There will be something else. It will happen." On Mar. 26 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 6-3 in Ariz. v. Fulminante that a confession of murder in prison in exchange of an offer of protection from the other prisoners is coerced, and can't be used against him in court, but that criminal defendants whose coerced confessions are improperly used as evidence are not always entitled to new trials. On Mar. 26 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Arabian Am. Oil Co. and ARAMCO Services Co. that the 1964 U.S. Civil Rights Act does not apply to Americans working for U.S. companies abroad; Congress overturns the ruling in the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1991 (Nov. 21, 1991). On Mar. 26 Dem. United Methodist pastor Emanuel Cleaver II (1944-) is elected the first black mayor of Kansas City, Mo. (until 1999). On Mar. 26 an Austrian Boeing 767 charter jet en route to Vienna explodes in midair then crashes into the jungle near Bangkok, Thailand, killing all 223 aboard; in June an Austrian investigation reports that a computer malfunction caused an engine to accidentally switch into reverse. On Mar. 26 Singapore Airlines Flight 117 is hijacked by four gunmen of the Pakistan Peoples Party; on Mar. 27 Singapore special ops forces storm the plane, killing all four and freeing all 114 passengers and nine crew in 30 sec. with no injuries. On Mar. 27 Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf publicly questions Pres. Bush's judgment in calling a ceasefire in the Gulf War; he apologizes on Mar. 29. On Mar. 27 PM Kaysone Phomivihan opens the Fifth Congress of the Laotian Communist Party in Vientiane, vowing to continue economic reforms aimed at "our gradual advance toward Socialism" without political reforms, a strategy that has garnered them $180M in internat. aid. On Mar. 27 an Israeli gunboat thwarts a suicide attack by two Palestinians in a rubber dingy packed with explosives, sinking it and killing them. On Mar. 27 police seal off Red Square and haul away supporters of Boris N. Yeltsin; "Don't shoot, brothers, we are of the same blood" reads the front page of the radical newspaper Kuranty. On Mar. 28 tens of thousands defy the govt. ban on rallies to march in support of Boris N. Yeltsin in Moscow, but back away from a major clash with 50K Kremlin forces blocking their path, settling on Tverskaya St. 1 mi. W of the Kremlin instead of the planned spot of Manezh Square; the authorities reportedly beat several protesters, grab and tear up posters, hit them with water cannons, tear gas and truncheons, and do other fun stuff with their gloved hands; meanwhile Yeltin's supporters block hardliners in the Russian parliament from ousting him, and win a vote condemning Gorby's order to ban protests in the capital, but fail to present a no-confidence motion against Gorby; the Soviet state's ass is now grass, and Yeltsin has the lawnmower? On Mar. 27 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules unanimously in Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. that copyright protection is extended to cover originality and creativity not mere sweat of the brow such as in telephone books. On Mar. 28 the Lebanese govt. orders the disbanding of all Christian and Muslim militias, as well as Palestinian guerrillas as part of a peace plan brokered by the cabinet of pres. (1989-98) Elias Hrawi (1925-2006) with the Arab League; the weapons ban takes effect on Apr. 30. On Mar. 28 a petition signed by 110 U.S. congressmen is presented to Chinese PM Li Peng by a group of visiting congressmen seeking the release of 77 people imprisoned because of violating the law requiring worship only in state-supervised churches; the list incl. Roman Catholic bishops and priests. On Mar. 28 a bus carrying Easter pilgrims crashes into a water truck on the outskirts of Jauja, Peru, killing 11 and injuring 21. Plug it in, plug it in: Kennedy, a family company? On Mar. 30 (Easter weekend) (2 p.m.) Jupiter, Fla. resident Patricia Bowman (1961-) tells authorities that she was raped by Sen. Edward Kennedy's nephew William Kennedy Smith (1960-) at the Kennedy's Palm Beach estate at 3:30-4:30 a.m. while Sen. Kennedy and a group of friends are orgying, er, staying there; after a giant clamboomba expenditure and "justice for the rich" show trial (first big feeding frenzy in the cable-news era?), he is acquitted by a jury in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Dec. 11 of rape and battery (and O.J. gets an idea?); in 2001 news that he is considering a run for Congress from N Chicago causes him to back out in three days. On Mar. 31 Albania holds a multi-party election for the first time in 50 years, and the Communist Albanian Party of Labor, which wielded totalitarian power for 46 years wins a sweeping V over the 3-mo.-o. Dem. Party, winning 178 of 250 seats; Communist Ramiz Alia is reelected pres. over Dem. Party leader Dr. Sali Ram Berisha (1944-), who captures over 60% of the vote in the capital of Tirana, winning the industrial cities of Elbasan, Kavaje, Vlora and the port of Durres, while the Commies win in the rural areas; on Apr. 3 the first-ever U.S. foreign aid team visits Albania two weeks after the two countries reestablish diplomatic relations, ending a 50-year break. On Mar. 31 voters in the Repub. of Georgia declare its independence in a referendum backed by Zviad Gamaskhurdia (1939-), who becomes pres. on Apr. 14 (until Jan. 6, 1992). On Mar. 31 Soviet foreign minister Alexander Alexandrovich Bessmertnykh (1933-) visits Beijing for a summit of the Soviet and Chinese Communist Parties. On Mar. 31 "Partridge Family" star Danny Bonaduce (1960-) is arrested in Phoenix, Az. for robbing and beating a transvestite prostitute - everyone has a calling? In Mar. 90%-Muslim Mali becomes a democracy after a rev., which doesn't stop half the pop. living below the internat. poverty line while the country is the #3 gold producer in Africa. In Mar. a freak ice storm hits upstate New York, paralyzing much of Rochester and surrounding communities for over a week. In Mar. a survey sponsored by the Wall Street Journal indicates that voters prefer Gen. Colin Powell (Chmn. of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) to Dan Quayle as Bush's 1992 running mate by 50% to 23%; White House Chief of Staff John Sununu disses it, saying that Quayle's spot on the ticket is "lock-solid". In Mar. visitors to the Statue of Liberty are banned from gum chewing, with supt. M. Ann Belkov uttering the soundbyte: "The statue is becoming one big glob of chewing gum." In Mar. Michael Jackson signs a 15-year 6-album $175M contract with Sony; in Nov. he splits with longtime producer Quincy Jones Dangerous album. On Apr. 1 the 36-y.-o. 6-nation Warsaw Pact (Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, Czech., Romania, Bulgaria) is dissolved less than 18 mo. after demonstrators climb atop the Berlin Wall in protests that began the domino effect for the Soviet bloc; one Hungarian newspaper calls it "the winning of the Third World War"; Soviet Gens. Pyotr Lushev and Vladimir Lobov give up their titles of Warsaw Pact commander and chief of staff - on a fitting day? On Apr. 1 the Romanian govt. more than doubles basic food prices. On Apr. 1 the U.S. Supreme Court rules ?-? in Powers v. Ohio that trial prosecutors may not bar prospective jurors for racial reasons, even if they are of a different race than the defendant. On Apr. 1 the Rev. Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition demands the resignation of Nat. Endowment for the Arts chmn. John E. Frohnmayer because of its $25K grant for the Todd Haynes film Poison, which contains gay imagery; "The NEA has slapped the face of every taxpayer in America by continuing to fund filth at a time when the government is going broke", says exec dir. Ralph Reed - wait till Brokeback Mountain comes out and pay for it yourself? On Apr. 1 Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei forms a new police force to replace the feared Komiteh as part of a program by Pres. Hashemi Rafsanjani to eliminate competing power centers in Iran. On Apr. 1 the U.S. Treasury Dept. announces that it has identified 52 firms and 37 persons worldwide who are fronts for Saddam Hussein's war machine and the up to $10B he has embezzled from skimming Iraq's oil and arms trade, incl. Bay Industries of Santa Monica, Calif. and Matrix Churchill Corp. of Cleveland, Ohio; the U.S. firms are closed and their assets seized; meanwhile U.S. officials report that Iraqi troops have retaken Dohuk, Erbil, and Zahko, the last major cities held by the Kurds as they crush the Kurdish rebellion in N Iraq, while simultaneously crushing a rebellion in S Iraq by pro-Iranian Shiites; Pres. Bush steadfastly refuses to interfere. On Apr. 1 a small Belize City-based Tropic Air Cessna 402 en route to San Pedro crashes in the Caribbean, killing all eight aboard. On Apr. 1 Am. vegetarian novelist Marianne Wiggins (1947-) announces that she is seeking to divorce her husband Salman Rushdie after 13 mo. (Jan. 1988) for "ideological differences". On Apr. 2 Rita Margaret Johnston (nee Leichert) (1935-) becomes the first woman PM (#29) of Canada (until Nov. 5) after British Columbia's Social Credit Party selects her to replace William N. Vander Zalm, who was ousted for violating conflict of interest guidelines; she is voted out of office on Nov. 5. On Apr. 2 black Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley calls for the resignation of white police chief (1978-92) Daryl (Darrel Francis) Gates (1926-2010) (known for telling the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that casual drug users are guilty of "treason" and "ought to be taken out and shot") 1 mo. after the Mar. 3 Rodney King incident, saying "I simply will not stand by as our city is being torn apart"; one hour earlier the ACLU announces it has 20K signatures calling for it; councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Woo had already called for it; trouble is, Bradley doesn't have the power to fire him, and the Police Commission must do it; Gates replies that he will resign if the two blue ribbon citizen's panels in L.A. find him derelict in his duty, and calls the mayor's actions "kind of sneaky". On Apr. 2 Sotheby's reveals that a man paid $4 for an old painting and found a concealed 15-1/2" x 19-3/4" copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence that was printed on July 4, 1776, worth $1M, one of only 24 in existence; in Jan. 1990 another copy sold for a record $1.59M. On Apr. 3 the U.N. Security Council adopts a Gulf War truce resolution demanding that Iraq renounce its annexation of Kuwait, release all POWs, return stolen property, pay war reparations, renounce terrorism, abolish weapons of mass destruction (WMD) (except ballistic missiles with a range less than 90 mi.), and pay reparations; Iraq accepts on Apr. 6 - but then the fun begins? On Apr. 4-5 a series of earthquakes in Peru kills 39. That's a lotta ketchup? On Apr. 4 U.S. Sen. Henry John Heinz III (b. 1938) (R-Penn.) and six others are killed when his plane collides with a heli over a school yard, leaving his Portuguese-born widow Teresa Heinz Kerry (nee Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreira) (1938-) his $500M fortune, which Sen. John Kerry fu, er, marries into in 1995; on Nov. 5 Repub. 2-term Penn. gov. (1979-87) Richard L. "Dick" Thornburgh (1932-), who had resigned as U.S. atty. gen. to run for his seat sees a 44-point lead in the polls evaporate, and is trounced by his Dem. opponent Harris Llewelyn Wofford (1926-) - John Kerry gets his teeth whitened again? On Apr. 5 the U.N. Security Council votes 10-3-2 (Cuba, Yemen, Zimbabwe) (China, India) for Resolution 688, calling for Iraq to end repression of its people incl. Kurds; France, U.K., and U.S. use the resolution to establish no-fly zones above the 36th parallel to protect humanitarian operations. On Apr. 5 former Texas Sen. (1961-85) John Goodwin Tower (b. 1925) and 22 others are killed in a commuter plane crash near Brunswick, Ga., home of Brunswick Stew. On Apr. 6 a passenger train derails near Manacas, Cuba, killing 56, becoming Cuba's worst reported rail accident (until ?). On Apr. 7 the U.S. belatedly drops supplies to Kurdish refugees in N Iraq and warns Iraq to not interfere; U.S. secy. of state James A. Baker tours the refugee camps on Apr. 8; on Apr. 10 the U.S. and Britain impose a no-fly zone to protect Kurdish provinces in Iraq. On Apr. 8 TLW-favorite TV show Twin Peaks ends its weird ride on TV. On Apr. 9 a fire in a double-decker tourist bus in Istanbul, Turkey kills 36. On Apr. 10 200K workers stage a work stoppage in Minsk, Belarus. On Apr. 10 a car ferry collides with an anchored oil tanker in the fog in the Ligurian Sea off Leghorn (Livorno), Italy, killing at 151 passengers and crew. On Apr. 11 the U.N. Security Council issues a formal ceasefire to end the Gulf War (begun Jan. 16, 1991); on Apr. 14 the final withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from S Iraq begins 88 days after the offensive began. On Apr. 14 Zviad Konstantinovich Gamsakhurdia (1939-93) is elected by a large majority as pres. #1 of the former Soviet state of Georgia (until Jan. 6, 1992), becoming the first dem. elected pres.; too bad, his dictatorial policies turn the public against him, and he flees to Armenia on Jan. 6, 1992, dying on Dec. 31, 1993 in the village of Khibula in W Georgia (assassinated?). On Apr. 16-18 Gorbachev visits to Japan, failing to win a major aid package, then goes to South Korea. On Apr. 16 235K U.S. rail workers strike; Congress stops it by Apr. 18. On Apr. 16 700K leather, textile, and metal workers strike in Serbia for guaranteed min. wages, and the govt. caves in within 24 hours. On Apr. 17 the Dow-Jones Industrial Avg. closes above 3,000 for the first time (3004.46). On Apr. 20 Kaci Kullmann Five (1951-) is elected leader of the Norwegian Conservative Party; women now lead three of the four major parties, and hold one-third of seats in the Storting and one-half of the cabinet positions - should call it the Storking? On Apr. 22 an earthquake rocks Costa Rica and Panama, killing 60-95. On Apr. 23 a launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is scrubbed. On Apr. 23 the Soviet Union officially grants its repubs. the right to secede under certain conditions - that makes it more just than the U.S.? On Apr. 24 the Kurdish rebellion ends. On Apr. 25 Pres. Gorbachev offers his resignation as party leader, which is rejected. On Apr. 26 the Kan.-Okla. Tornoado Outbreak of 1991 sees 55 tornadoes rake Kan. and Okla., killing 25 (20 in Kansas) and injuring hundreds. On Apr. 28 hundreds of thousands of anti-abortion protesters march in Washington, D.C. On Apr. 29-30 the 1991 Bangladesh Cyclone kills 138K in Chittagong and coastal areas and leaving 10M homeless, becoming the worst natural disaster of 1991. On Apr. 29 an earthquake strikes the Repub. of Georgia, killing 100-360. In Apr. after offering the services of his Afghan mujahadeen fighters to Saudi regent Abdullah against Sadam Hussein, only to have him accept 500K U.S. troops instead, Osama bin Laden calls the Saudi govt. traitors and flees, moving to Pakistan, then to Sudan (until 1996); meanwhile returning from Afghanistan where he fought against the Soviets alongside Osama bin Laden, who gives him seed money, Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani (1959-98), Albader Parad (-2010) et al. form the militant Islamist Abu Sayyaf (Arab. "bearers of the sword of Islam") (AKA al-Harakat al-Islamiyya) group in the S Philippines, carrying out terrorist operations to create an independent Islamic province from the Roman Catholic Philippines (until ?); in 1998 Janjalani is killed in a shootout, and his men degenerate into a guerrilla gang that supports itself with kidnapping for ransom, along with torture, rape, and murder - like a Muslim Johnny Appleseed, sowing the seeds of hate apples? In Apr. FBI dir. William S. Sessions meets with black FBI agents to discuss their claims of racial discrimination and head off a threatened lawsuit - wake up, people? On May 2 Pope John Paul II issues The Hundredth Year to mark the 100th anniv. of the encyclical On the Condition of Workers, issued in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII in defense of private property and the free market against Socialism. On May 3 the Declaration of Windhoek is a statement of free press principles by African newspaper journalists. On May 3 an era comes to an end when the last episode of TLW-favorite Dallas is aired on CBS-TV. On May 4 East German officials are charged with a shoot-to-kill policy during the Berlin Wall period. On May 4 a landslide in Uzbek Repub. kills at least 50 in a mountain village. On May 6 a ferry crashes into an oil tanker in the Maranon River in Peru, killing 150 passengers. On May 8 at the Third Annual Governor's Quality Management Conference at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, Ark. Gov. Bill Clinton invites state employee Paula Corbin Jones to a private meeting and exposes the future head of the country; days later she files a sexual harassment complaint in U.S. District Court in Little Cock, er, Rock, seeking 7 inches, er, $700K in damages. On May 8 an explosion at a fireworks factory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia spreads to six more factories and 50 houses, killing 100+. On May 9 the Yugoslavian collected state presidency gives the army greater power within Croatia. On May 10 Socialist Francois Mitterrand (d. 1996) defeats incumbent Valery Giscard d'Estaing (a horndog whose mistresses fill the salons of Paris?) in the 2nd round of France's pres. election; on May 15 after Michel Rocard is asked to step down, Mitterrand appoints Edith Cresson (1934-) as France's first female PM (until 1992); Mitterrand stipulates that the Louvre Pyramid in Paris have exactly 666 panes of glass, but when finished it comes out to 673 (666+6)? On May 10 Alexander Bessmertnykh becomes the first Soviet foreign minister to visit Israel. On May 11 the drama series Sisters debuts on NBC-TV for 127 episodes (until May 4, 1996), becoming the first U.S. prime-time TV drama series to focus on the lives of women, becoming a hit with er, women; about four sisters in Winnetka, Ill., whose recently deceased father Dr. Thomas Reed wanted males, causing him to give them male names, incl. Swoosie Kurtz (1944-) as Alexandra "Alex" Reed Halsey Baker, Sela Ann Ward (1956-) as Theodora "Teddy" Reed Margolis Falconer Sorenson, Patricia Kathryn Kalember (1957-) as Georgiana "Georgie" Reed Whitsig, and Julianne Phillips (1960-) as Francesca "Frankie" Reed Margolis; Elizabeth Hoffman (1927-) plays their ex-alcoholic mother Beatrice; in season 4 sister #5 is discovered, Dr. Charlotte "Charley" Bennett Hayes, played by Jo Anderson (1958-). they love chatting in a steam bath every week. On May 12 300M watch The Simple Truth, a satellite broadcast charity concert to benefit Kurdish refugees in London's Wembley Arena, starring Rod Stewart, Sting, Sinead O'Connor, et al. On May 12 Pope John Paul II says Mass for 50K on Portugal's Madeira Island. On May 13 Winnie Mandela is convicted of abducting four young black men and keeping them at her Soweto home - I can't guess what for? On May 14 Queen Elizabeth II visits the U.S.; on May 15 she watches two innings of a ML baseball game (Orioles and Athletics); on May 16 she becomes the first English monarch to address the U.S. Congress (joint session); her visit to the White House is marred by failure to provide the short monarch a stairstep behind her podium, making her look like a dwarf. On May 14 Mao Tse Tung's widow Jiang Qing (b. 1914) commits suicide by hanging; she had been sentenced to die in 1981, and the sentence was commuted to house arrest for life in 1983. On May 14 a train collision near Shigaraki in W Japan kills 42. In mid-May flash floods in E Turkey kill at least 30. On May 18 the Soviets launch Soyuz TM-12, carrying cosmonauts Anatoly Pavlovich Arsebarsky (1956-) (Antole Arts and Parties?), Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev (Krikalyov) (1958-), and chocolate chemist Helen Patricia Sharman (1963-) (first Brit in space as part of Project Juno); on Oct. 2 Soyuz TM-13 blasts off from Kazakhstan, carrying cosmonauts Alexander Aleksandrovich Volkov (1948-), Toktar Ongarbayuly Aubakirov (1946-) (first Kazakhstani cosmonaut), and Franz Artur Viehbock (Viehböck)(1960-) (first Austrian in space, who is included after Austria pays $7M); on Oct. 10 Soyuz TM-12 returns after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev rocks the Soviet Union; Soyuz TM-13 returns next Mar. 25 with Klaus-Dietrich Flade, and Krikalev, who becomes known as "the last citizen of the U.S.S.R". On May 18 France performs a nuclear test on Muruora Island. On May 20 pres. contender Mohamed Hussein Tantawi Soliman (1935-) is appointed Egyptian armed forces CIC and defense minister (until Aug. 12, 2012). On May 21 Indian PM #6 (1984-9) Rajiv Ratna Gandhi (b. 1944) is assassinated by a suicide bomber while campaigning for an election in the S Indian state of Tamil Nadu; his widow Sonia becomes pres. of the Congress Party in 1998, leading it to victory in the 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections. On May 21 (Mon.) while on a 4-day visit to Israel, Lech Walesa gives a Speech in the Israeli Knesset apologizing for past Polish anti-Semitism, and asking for forgiveness, after which the two countries become allies (until ?). On May 21 Ethiopia's Marxist pres. (since 1977) Mengistu Haile Mariam resigns and flees into exile in Zimbabwe as rebels close in; on May 24-25 Israel airlifts 15K Ethiopian (black) Jews to safety in Operation Solomon; the rebels seize Addis Ababa on May 28; the Ark of the Covenant is rumored to be secretly taken from Axum, Ethiopia to Israel at this time in anticipation of rebuilding the Jewish Temple; in Dec. 2006 Mariam is convicted in Addis Ababa of genocide. On May 21 Greenville, Tex.-born Norvell Kay Granger (nee Mullendore) (1943-) becomes nonpartisan mayor #21 of Fort Worth, Tex. (until Dec. 19, 1995) (first woman), going on to become a Repub. U.S. rep. on Jan. 3, 1997 (until ?) (first Repub. woman from Tex. in the U.S. House); in 2016 she joins a long list of Repubs. opposing Repub. U.S. pres. nominee Donald Trump. On May 23 the last Cuban troops leave Angola. On May 23 China celebrates the 40th anniv. of the "peaceful liberation" of Tibet; despite virtual martial law, independence demonstrations break out in three parts of Lhasa on May 26. On May 26 an Austrian Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashes in Thailand, killing all 223 aboard. On May 30 the U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-3 in Calif. v. Acevedo that "The police may search an automobile and the containers within it where they have probable cause to believe contraband or evidence is contained"; prosecutors can be sued for the legal advice they give police and can be forced to pay damages when that advice leads to someone's rights being violated. On May 31 Pres. Jose Eduardo dos Santos signs a peace treaty with Jonas Savimbi of UNITA, ending a 16-y.-o. civil war. On May 31 102-y.-o. Minnie Munro (1889-) marries 83-y.-o. Dudley reid in Point Claire, N.S.W., Australia, becoming the world's oldest bride (until ?). In May ethnic Serbs in Croatia vote overwhelmingly for union with Serbia, and the disintegration of Yugoslavia accelerates after Serbia and Montenegro refuse to endorse Croatian PM #1 (May 30-Aug. 24, 1990) Stjepan "Stipe" Mesic (1934-) as head of the collective state presidency; on June 30 he becomes pres. #14 of Yugoslavia (until Dec. 6). In May ex-Communists Imre Pozsgay and Zoltan Biro form the Nat. Dem. Alliance in Hungary. In May High Times first pub. the use of the term 420 to indicate marijuana smoking in progress, after which it turns into a yearly event for pot smokers despite 4-20 being Hitler's birthday and the date of the 1999 Columbine H.S. Massacre. On June 2 Pope John Paul II makes a pilgrimage to his native Poland, visiting the town of Przemysl, close to the Soviet border, causing 10K Ukrainians to cross the Polish border to see him; he uses his platform to speak out frequently against abortion and secularism. On June 2 200 drown after 30 fishing boats sink during a typhoon in the Meghna River in Bangladesh. On June 3 Mount Unzen in the S Japanese island of Kyushu (near Nagasaki) erupts, killing 43. On June 4 Pres. Bush picks Dem. nat. chmn. Robert Schwarz Strauss (1918-) as the new ambassador to the Soviet Union (until Nov. 1992). On June 5 the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C. ordains lesbian priest Elizabeth Carl. On June 8 a passenger train crashes into a parked freight train in Sind Province, Pakistan, killing 100. On June 9-16 Mt. Pinatubo on Luzon Island in the Philippines erupts for the first time in 400 years, killing 450 (most on June 15-16), becoming the 2nd largest volcanic eruption of the cent. after Novarupta, Alaska in 1912, complicated by the arrival of Typhoon Yunya, causing tens of thousands to be evacuated, after which mudslides raise the death toll to 700; the particulates ejected into the stratosphere are the greatest since Krakatoa in 1883, forming a global sulfuric acid haze that drops global temps by 0.5C (0.9F) in 1991-3, increasing ozone depletion; volcanoes generate 200M tons of CO2 each year, vs. 24B from human activities; the eruption pumps more pollution into the atmosphere than the entire history of man? On June 10 celebrations are staged across the U.S. to welcome troops returning from the Middle East; New York City stages a ticker tape parade. On June 11 actors Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland call off their marriage three days before it is scheduled to take place. Russia responds to a decade of American cowboy Reagan by becoming as wild as the Old American West? On June 12 Boris N. Yeltsin (1931-2007) wins the Russian Federation's first popular pres. election with 57%; on June 18 he arrives in the U.S. for visits with U.S. officials, and meets with Pres. Bush on June 20; he begins "shock therapy" on the economy, adopting the liberalization program of Yegor Gaidar (1956-2009) which eliminates price controls and cuts state spending, causing a decade-long decline in standards of living and a drop in the GDP of 50%, ending in a financial crisis by 1998. On June 12 Muslim ethnic Tatar Mintimer Sharipovich Shaimiev (1937-) becomes pres. of Tatarstan, a repub. within Russia (until Mar, 25, 2010). On June 13 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-3 in McNeil v. Wisc. that a jailed suspect represented by a lawyer in one criminal case sometimes may be questioned by police about another crime without the lawyer present. On June 16 (9:14 a.m.) (Sun.) the Father's Day Bank Massacre in Denver, Colo. takes place when a lone gunman talks and shoots his way into the vault area of the United Bank at 17th Ave. and Broadway, killing four unarmed guards and making off with $200K; police later arrest former Denver police sgt. and bank security guard James W. King (1936-), but he is acquitted after testifying in his own behalf; no one else is ever charged, as the police claim they had their man. On June 17 the remains of U.S. Pres. Zachary Taylor are briefly exhumed in Louisville, Ky. to test a theory that he had died of arsenic poisoning from bad cherries; results prove negative; he was poisoned with bad cherries infected with Asian cholera? On June 17 PM Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia presents the New Development Policy, a successor to the New Economic Policy of 1971, which is declared a success in easing racial tensions. On June 18 6'5" Chicago, Ill.-born Wellington E. Webb (1941-) (whose portrait bears a striking resemblance to Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat?) is elected as the first African-Am. mayor of Denver, Colo., taking office as Denver mayor #42 on July 15 (until July 21, 2003). On June 18 mudslides claim at least 116 in Antofagasta, Chile. On June 19 Pablo Escobar, head of Colombia's Medellin drug cartel surrenders to the authorities. On June 20 German lawmakers vote to move the seat of the nat. govt. from Beethoven's birthplace Bonn to Hitler's deathplace Berlin; the transfer is completed in 1999. On June 20 the U.S. Supreme Court rules 6-3 in Houston Lawyers' Association et al. v. Attorney General Of Texas et al. that the 1965 U.S. Voting Rights Act applies to the election of state judges, incl. to the establishing of voting district boundaries. On June 21 U.S. secy. of state James A. Baker visits Yugoslavia, followed by Albania on June 22. On June 21 Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao (1921-2004) becomes PM #10 of the Repub. of India (until May 16, 1996), becoming known as "the Father of Economic Reforms" and "New Chanakya" as he launches free market reforms created by Indian economist Subramian (Subramiam) Swamy (1939-) that rescue the nearly-bankrupt country despite heading a minority govt.; the govt. starts off by airlifting 67 tons of gold for a loan. On June 23 the Soviet Union becomes the first associate member of the IMF. On June 24 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist Court rules 5-4 in Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. that the First Amendment does not shield news orgs. from being sued when they publish the names of sources who had been promised confidentiality. On June 24 state councilor Wang Fang calls for a "people's war" against drug addiction in China, claiming that narcotics use is the worst since the early 1950s. On June 25 Slavonia and Croatia declare themselves independent from Yugoslavia, forming the Serb Autonomous Oblast of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western Syrmia, followed on Aug. 12 by the Serb Autonomous Oblast of Western Slavonia, and the federal govt. refuses to recognize them, causing fighting to erupt and civil war to begin, with the federal army dominated by Serbs; on Sept. 17 Macedonia declares independence. On June 27 the U.S. Supreme Court rules that juries considering life or death for convicted murderers may take into account the victim's character and the suffering of relatives. On June 28 a 5.8 earthquake strikes S. Calif., killing two. On June 28 the South African Parliament abolishes the July 7, 1950 Population Registration Act, their last major apartheid law; on July 10 the U.S. lifts most of its economic sanctions against South Africa. The token black on the court changes faces, but the difference is between the legs not the ears? On June 28 liberal black U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (since 1967) retires, and on July 1 conservative black Pin Point, Ga.-born U.S. Court of Appeals judge for the District of Columbia (since 1990) (chmn. of the EEOC in 1982-90) Clarence Thomas (1948-) is nominated by Pres. George H.W. Bush, winning Senate confirmation by 52-48 on Oct. 15 after a bumpy confirmation process, championed by U.S. Sen. (R-Mo.) John Claggett "Jack" Danforth (1936-); on Oct. 23 he becomes U.S. Supreme Court justice #106 (until ?), and the 2nd African-Am.; his confirmation is plagued by criticism by civil rights groups for his opposition to affirmative action programs and school desegregation busing, and is almost derailed by a leaked FBI report on allegations of sexual harassment made by U. of Okla. (Norman) law prof. Anita Faye Hill (1956-), who had worked for him at the Dept. of Ed. and the EEOC, and publicly woo-woos about his sexual advances on her, incl. his bragging about the size of his brains?; in early Oct. the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Sen. (D-Del.) (1973-2009) Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden Jr. (1942-) explores the charges, which Thomas calls a "high-tech lynching", but they decide are not conclusive after Biden blocks several women from testifying to corroborate Hill's testimony; after joining the court, Thomas converts to Roman Catholicism; "He told me that if I ever told anybody, it would ruin his career" (Hill); in 2019 as he prepares to run for U.S. pres., Biden privately expresses regret to Hill, with the soundbyte: "To this day, I regret I couldn't give her the kind of hearing she deserved. I wish I could have done something"; Hill says she doesn't consider it an apology. On June 28-30 the federal base-closing commission votes to shut down 24 military bases, incl. the massive Philadelphia Navy Shipyard. In June the Hungarian nat. assembly agrees to recompensate those whose property was expropriated by the old Communist regime. In June the number of inmates in U.S. prisons reaches a record 804,524, 46,230 of which are women; 2-6% are infected with AIDS, compared to 0.1% of the general pop. On July 1 Court TV debuts, owned by Turner Broadcasting System; on Jan. 1, 2008 it becomes TruTV. On July 2 a Guns N' Roses concert at Riverport Amphitheater in Maryland Heights (outside St. Louis), Mo. gets violent after lead singer Axl Rose dives off the stage to confront a fan, causing an hour-long melee injuring 60 and causing $200K damage, and getting Axl charged with inciting (later dropped); the album cover of "Use Your Illusion" later contains a hidden message "Fuck You, St. Louis!" On July 4 the Nat. Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn. (housed in the Lorraine Hotel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968) is dedicated. On July 5 eight countries shut down the Bank of Credit and Commerce Internat., causing a worldwide financial scandal. On July 5 Howard Nemerov (b. 1920) dies of cancer, and exiled Russian poet Joseph Brodsky (1940-96) is named U.S. poet laureate #5 on May 10. On July 9 after large amounts of rainfall in E China begin on May 18, flooding the Huai, Chu, and Yantze Rivers in the Anhui, Jiangsu, and Henen Provinces, causing soldiers to be overwhelmed and call for internat. aid, at least 978 are announced killed by flooding in the Yangtze River Basin in China; by mid-May the toll rises to 1,700; next Jan. the New York Times claims a death toll of 3K. On July 11 a leased Nationair Canada DC-8 Super 61 jetliner carrying Muslim pilgrims home to Nigeria from Jidda, Saudi Arabia nose-dives and explodes on the tarmac while trying to make an emergency landing shortly after the tires blow during takeoff, killing all 261 aboard. On July 11 a total solar eclipse is visible in Hawaii and Mexico. On July 1 Japanese Arab and Persian history-lit. scholar (convert to Islam) Hitoshi Igarashi (b. 1947), Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses" is knifed to death in his office at the U. of Tukuba, Ibaraki, Japan by a suspected Iranian hitman carrying out Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa. On July 16 "tough cop" and former 2-term Philly mayor Frank L. Rizzo (b. 1920) dies of a heart attack after winning the Repub. nomination for Philly mayor in May, turning a close race into an easy win for Dem. Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell (1944-), a former city prosecutor, who next Jan. 6 becomes Philly mayor #96 (until Jan. 3, 2000); Mayor W. Wilson Goode is prevented by a 2-term limit law from seeking reelection; Rendell goes on to become Penn. gov. #45 on Jan. 21, 2003 (until ?). On July 26 Paul Reubens (b. 1952), star of Pee-Wee's Playhouse on CBS-TV since 1986 is arrested while masturbating in a porno theater in Sarasota, Fla. and charged with indecent exposure, causing his children's TV career to sputter and peter out - but wait till them kids grow up and figure what he was doing? On July 28 a dam in Bacau, Romania bursts after heavy rains, killing 66. On July 30 a dike in Mohad, India (near New Delhi) bursts after heavy rains, killing 500. On July 31 U.S. Pres. Bush and Soviet Pres. Gorbachev sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) I in Moscow, effective Dec. 5, 1994, limiting the U.S. and Soviet Union to 6K nuclear warheads and 1.6K ICBMS and bombers; it expires on Dec. 5, 2009. In July the Soviet Union for the first time acknowledges the existence of unemployment, offering to register the jobless and give them benefits a la the U.S. In July Iran announces a pop. explosion (4% in some areas), and announces that beginning next year families with three children will not receive any additional benefits if they have more children. In July high-level Guatamalan officials of the prior admin. are accused of having taken bribes from the Bank of Credit and Commerce Internat. (BCC) to keep quiet about illegal coffee smuggling. In July a ceasefire is declared in Slovenia, while fighting continues in Croatia, and the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav nat. army takes almost one-third of its territory by Sept.; too bad, non-Serbs begun to bug out of the Yugoslav nat. army. In July the Unity Coalition for Israel is founded in the U.S. by a coalition of Christian and Jewish orgs. On Aug. 1 the Serb Autonomous Region of Krajina, made up of Croatian cities with a majority Serb pop. secedes from Croatia and declares itself part of Serbia; the Serbian assembly fails to endorse it. On Aug. 1 the Wardha River overflows in the Nagpur region of India, killing 350. On Aug. 8 British journalist John Patrick McCarthy (1956-), kidnapped by Lebanese Shiite Muslims in Apr. 1986 is released, looking tanned, slim and trim and smiling. On Aug. 8 the U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 702 without vote to admit North Korea and South Korea; on Aug. 9 it adopts Resolution 703 without vote to admit the Federated States of Micronesia; on Aug. 9 it adopts Resolution 704 without vote to admit the Marshall Islands; on Sept. 12 it adopts Resolution 709 without vote to admit Estonia; on Sept. 12 it adopts Resolution 710 without vote to admit Latvia; on Sept. 12 it adopts Resolution 711 without vote to admit Lithuania. On Aug. 11 Lebanese Shiite Muslims in Beirut release Edward Austin Tracey (1931-), an American held for almost 5 years, and Jerome Leyraud (1965-), French Doctors of the World member abducted three days earlier by a rival group. On Aug. 11 the animated series Doug debuts on Nickelodeon for 117 episodes (until Jan. 2, 1994, moving to Disney on Sept. 7, 1996 until June 26, 1999), about introverted 11-y.-o. Douglas Yancey "Doug" Funnie of Bluffington, who has a crush on Patti Mayonnaise. On Aug. 11, 1991 the animated series The Ren & Stimpy Show debuts on Nickelodeon for 52 episodes (until Dec. 16, 1995), created by Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada-born Michael John Kricfalusi (1955-) (AKA John K.), about the emotionally unstable chihuahua Ren and the good-natured dimwitted cat Stimpy, going on to get in trouble with the network for its adult humor, which only makes it more popular with audiences? On Aug. 11 the Rugrats animated series debuts on Nickelodeon for 172 episodes (until June 8, 2004), created by Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, and Paul Germain, about toddlers Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Angelica. On Aug. 12 the Serbian Autonomous Region of Western Slavonia is established. On Aug. 14 Pope John Paul II returns to Poland to lead the World Day of Youth, which draws a crowd of 1M to the Jasna Gora (Góra) Monastery in Czestochowa, which houses Poland's most sacred icon, the Black Madonna; he also visits Hungary. On Aug. 15 750K people hear Paul Simon perform a nationally-televised free Concert in the Park in Central Park in New York City. On Aug. 16 an Indian Airlines jet en route from Calcutta to Imphal, Manipur catches fire and crashes 27 mi. short of its destination, killing all 69 aboard. On Aug. 16-20 Category 3 Hurricane Bob rips through New England, killing 17 and causing $1.5B in damage, incl. in Cape Cod. The Guns of August, with flowers in their nozzles? On Aug. 19 a Communist putsch in Moscow against Mikhail Gorbachev is attempted by Communist hardliners, who announce his removal and place him under house arrest, but it it fails as flowers are stuck in tank nozzles by protesters while Boris N. Yeltsin heroically stands defiantly atop an armored personnel carrier and shames the soldiers into giving up, becoming his defining moment, even after he later presides over the nation's steep decline; he is helped by pro-dem. journalists, who fly copies to TV stations around the nation; 30K citizens then respond to Yeltsin's call to surround the Russian White House to protect him from an all-out tank and air assault, and by the next morning only a few are dead as Yeltsin and his people talk thousands of soldiers into disobeying orders; on Aug. 21 Gorbachev is released from house arrest, and Yeltsin hauls him before the Soviet parliament and shows proof on nat. TV that it was Gorby's own Communist Party that was behind the coup, causing chastened Gorby to outlaw the party the next day, cementing the Yeltsin ascendancy; that evening, Ukraine, the 2nd largest Soviet Union repub. declares independence; on Aug. 23 Pope John Paul II wires Gorby that the Commie coup attempt had given him "intense apprehension", and that he thanks God for his safe return. On Aug. 19 in the evening Yosef Lifsh, an Orthodox Jewish driver strikes and kills 7-y.-o. (black) Guyanese immigrant Gavin Cato after jumping a curb in Crown Heights in Brooklyn; later that night 29-y.-o. Hasidic scholar (from Australia) Yankel Rosenbaum is stabbed to death on a Crown Heights street by a gang of black youths in reprisal; on Aug. 27 a Brooklyn grand jury indicts a black youth for murder; on Sept. 5 another grand jury refuses to indict Lifsh for vehicular homicide - gracias por nada, crackers? On Aug. 23 the FBI announces that it has disciplined eight agents for their role in harassing former agent Donald Rochon, a black; a 1990 settlement awards him over $1M, and he agrees to leave the FBI. On Aug. 27 Moldova declares independence from the Soviet Union; on Dec. 8 former Communist Party chmn. Mircea Snegur (1940-) is elected pres. #1 with 98% of the vote and an 82% turnout (until 1997). On Aug. 28 a bus plunges into a ravine in Dogubeyazit, Turkey, killing 52 of 53 aboard. On Aug. 28 a subway train on the Lexington Ave. line in New York City derails and smashes through metal beams as it approaches 14th St. Station, killing five and injuring 200, becoming the worst NYC subway accident since 1928. On Aug. 29 the Supreme Soviet suspends all activities of the Communist Party, which is now kaput - okay let's get this Winterfest started? On Aug. 30 Azerbaijan declares its independence from the Shrinking Soviet Union - join the stampede? On Aug. 31 Uzbekistan declares its independence from the Soviet Disunion and changes its name to the Repub. of Uzbekistan; on Dec. 29 Islam Karimov wins reelection with 86% of the vote after the opposition party is banned from participating. On Aug. 31 Kyrgyzstan proclaims its independence from the Soviet Union. In Aug. the KGB CVoup fails to save the Soviet Union from Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms. On Sept. 3. a fire in a chicken-processing plant in Hamlet, N.C. kills 25 trapped in freezers - they fired them 15 times, so why don't they leave? On Sept. 6 the State Council of the Soviet Union votes unanimously to recognize the independence of the repubs. of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. On Sept. 6 after being convicted of nine counts of murder, then claiming 100-110 murders in 1953-82 to journalist Wilton Earle, incl. 80-90 hitchhikers in 1969-82, Donald Henry "Pee Wee" Gaskins Jr. (nee Parrott) (b. 1933), known as "the Redneck Charles Manson", "the Hitchhikers' Killer", and "the Meanest Man in America" is executed in the electric chair in Columbia, S.C. On Sept. 7 Albania initiates diplomatic relations with the Vatican. On Sept. 8 Hollywood actor Robert Creel "Brad" Davis (b. 1949) (memorable for Chariots of Fire and Midnight Express) becomes the first allegedly heterosexual actor to die of AIDS; it later comes out that he was bi - the Gatorade didn't work? On Sept. 11 Pres. George H.W. Bush gives his New World Order Speech to Congress; after 9/11 conspiracy theorists have a field day. On Sept. 14 the Miss America 1992 (65th) Pageant at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. picks Carolyn Suzanne Sapp (1967-), who becomes the first Miss Hawaii to win, going on to admit that she's still in love with pro football running back Nuu Faaola (1964-), who battered her, starring in the autobio. film "Miss America: Behind the Crown" and becoming a spokesperson for domestic violence victims and founding Safe Places for Abused Women and Children, and Give Back a Smile. On Sept. 16 a federal judge in Washington, D.C. dismisses all three felony charges against former Marine Lt. Col. and Reagan admin. Nat. Security Council member Oliver North, ruling that independent prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh could not prove that the witnesses against North hadn't been influenced by North's own testimony at the 1987 Congressional hearings where he had been granted immunity; Poindexter waits in the wings. On Sept. 17 Home Improvement debuts on ABC-TV for 204 episodes (until May 25, 1999), starring Tim Allen (Timothy Allen Dick) (1953-) as Tim the Tool Man Taylor, who works for the Binford Tool Co., Patricia Castle Richardson (1951-) as his wife Jill, and Richard Karn (1956-) as his sidekick Al Borland; bodaceous tatas Pamela Denise Anderson (1967-) co-stars in the first two seasons. On Sept. 23 the Repub. of Armenia declares independence from the Soviet Disunion. On Sept. 24 New York gov. Mario Cuomo announces a $7B rebuilding plan for New York City. On Sept. 26 four men and four women begin their 2-year stay in Biosphere II in Oracle, Ariz. in an attempt to develop technology for future space colonies (ends 1993). On Sept. 27-28 a typhoon near Osaka, Japan kills 45 and injures 700. On Sept. 28 150K-500K attend the free Monsters of Rock concert at Moscow's Tushino Airfield, featuring AC/DC, Metallica, the Black Crowes, and Pantera. On Sept. 28 the crime dramedy series The Commish debuts on ABC-TV for 94 episodes (until Jan. 11, 1996), starring not-yet-bald Michael Charles Chiklis (1963-) as Eastbride, Upstate New York police commissioner Tony Scali. On Sept. 30 The Jerry Springer Show debuts, hosted by former mayor #56 of Cincinnati, Ohio (1977-8) Gerald Norman "Jerry" Springer (1944-), becoming known for using the grossness of its guests to achieve high ratings. In Sept. Pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti addresses the U.N. Gen. Assembly, and on Sept. 30 returns to a surprise coup by Duvalier-backed forces led by Brig. Gen. Raoul Cedras (1949-), causing him to flee to Venezuela; 300 are killed in street fighting in Port-au-Prince; on Oct. 8 the OAS calls for a hemisphere-wide embargo against the new regime, which the same day elects Haitian Supreme Court justice Joseph Nerette (Nérette) (1924-2007) as interim pres.; on Oct. 9 Pres. Bush bans all commercial trade with Haiti effective Nov. 5; 10K refugees flee Haiti for the U.S. in small boats, and are forcibly turned back by the U.S. Coast Guard, but on Nov. 19 a U.S. federal judge orders them housed at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but in Dec. a U.S. federal appeals court orders them returned to Hellish Haiti - Jesus can be their friend? In Sept. the Moderate Party of Carl Bildt assumes power in Sweden. In Sept. the number of people in New York City on welfare rises to 955K, with the 1M mark predicted for next year. In Sept. Doug Bower and Dave Chorley claim they are responsible for all the crop circles in England, and show how they did it - we're rethinking what a spaceship company can be? In Sept. the animated series AEon Flux debuts on MTV (until Oct. 10, 1995), based on New/Old Age Gnostic concepts and set in a bizarre dystopian future world, starring a tall leather-wearing secret agent ninja babe from the anarchist country of Monica, who tries to infiltrate the neighboring police state of Bregna, ruled by Trevor Goodchild, her sometimes lover. On Oct. 3 Willie Wilbert "W.W." Herenton (1940-) is elected the first African-Am. mayor of Memphis, Tenn. (#62) (until July 30, 2009). On Oct. 3 the Toronto Islamic Terrorist Plot sees five black Muslims belonging to the Pakistani Jamaat Al Fuqra org. of Sheik Mubarik Ali Gilani attempt to enter the U.S. at Niagara Falls with a plan to kill 4.5K in two Indian bldgs. in Toronto during the Hindu Diwali festival; too bad, the border guards find a sheet of paper with "dying as a soldier of Allah" on it, along with maps and floor plans, bomb-making instructions etc. On Oct. 5 a military transport plane carrying airmen taking part in Armed Forces Day crashes shortly after takeoff in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 132 aboard (plus a guard in the building) after one of the engines catches fire. On Oct. 12 Coffee Talk with Linda Richman debuts on Saturday Night Live (until Oct. 15, 1994), starring Mike Myers, who spoofs his real Yiddish-speaking Jewish mother-in-law. On Oct. 12-21 Pope John Paul II visits Brazil, expressing concern over the growing gap between rich and poor, calling for the problem of social justice to be solved, and urging its 115M Catholics to crusade against fundamentalist Protestant groups, who have made 35M converts (600K a year). On Oct. 14 imprisoned Burmese democracy fighter Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (1945-) is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On Oct. 16 Levon Hakobi Ter-Petrosian (Petrosyan) (1945-) is elected pres. #1 of Armenia, and is sworn-in on Nov. 11 (until Feb. 3, 1998); as the Soviet bloc melts, Armenia goes on to embrace democracy and idolize the U.S., with families beginning to name their children Bill, Hillary, and George; too bad, he is accused by runnerup Vazgen Manukyan of rigging the 1996 election, causing him to resign. On Oct. 16 (12:39 p.m.) George Jo (Georges Pierre) Hennard (1956-91) smashes his pickup through a Luby's Cafeteria window in Killing, er, Killeen, Tex. near Ft. Hood, firing on the customers with high-powered Glock 17 and Ruger P89 pistols, killing 23 and injuring 27; he ends up committing suicide. On Oct. 19-27 the Minnesota Twins (AL) defeat the Atlanta Braves (NL) by 4-3 to win the Eighty-Eighth (88th) World Series; on Oct. 26 Twins center fielder #34 Kirby Puckett (1960-) ("Minny's Mighty Mite") hits a winning homer in the 11th inning of Game 6; on Oct. 27 the Twins win 1-0 in 10 innings with mustachioed pitcher #47 John Scott "Jack" Morris (1955-); the Braves had gone from last to first to get to the series. On Oct. 20 wildfires sweep through 1.8K acres of the Oakland Hills section of Oakland, Calif., killing 25, injuring 148, leaving 5K homeless, and destroying 1.8K homes and 900 apt. units, causing $2B in damage. On Oct. 20 a 45-sec. earthquake in N Uttar Pradesh, India near Uttarkashi kills 1.6K. On Oct. 21 Am. student Jesse Turner is freed in Lebanon after almost five years in captivity by the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine. On Oct. 22 Kosovo Province of Serbia passes a sovereignty referendum by 99% with 87% voter turnout. On Oct. 27 the first free parliamentary elections are held in Poland, and there is a low voter turnout, with 29 parties winning seats in the 460-member Sejm (lower house of parliament), and none achieving a majority, with the most (62) going to the pro-Solidarity Dem. Union, and 60 to the Communist-backed Alliance of the Dem. Left; Pres. Lech Walesa offers to become PM, but is rejected. On Oct. 28 the U.S.-Bahrain Defense Pact is signed; it is renewed in 2001 and 2011; it allows U.S. access to bases in strategically located Bahrain, home the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and allows the U.S. to preposition its military equipment. On Oct. 28-Nov. 4 the 75 mph Perfect Storm (Halloween Nor'easter of 1991) absorbs Hurricane Grace and rocks the U.S. E coast, killing 13 and causing $200M damage; on Oct. 28 the swordfishing boat Andrea Gail out of Gloucester, Mass. sinks 180 mi. NE of Canada's Sable Island, becoming the basis of the 2000 Sebastian Junger film "The Perfect Storm". On Oct. 30-Nov. 3 the Madrid Conference attempts to negotiate peace in the Middle East, opened by Pres. Bush and Pres. Gorbachev, and attended by Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon; Israeli and Arab reps. refuse to shake hands; the talks end with no progress, incl. an agreement on where the 2nd phase talks will take place; physician Haidar Abdel-Shafi (Abdul Shaffi) (1919-2007) is the head of the Palestinian delegation; he is advised by Francis A. Boyle; since the Perfect Storm occurs on Nov. 1, this proves that God gets even with the U.S. every time it mistreats Israel? On Oct. 31 union leader Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (1943-) of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy wins multiparty pres. elections in Zambia, ousting Kenneth Kaunda and his UNIP party; on ? he is sworn-in as pres. # of Zambia (until ?). On Oct. 31 80 people are killed by an explosion near the railway station in Pyongyang, capital of the "hermit nation" North Korea - ukeleles and Communist Party literature flying everywhere? In Oct. Bosnia-Herzegovina declares independence and forms a non-Communist govt. On Nov. 1 graduate student ? kills five U. of Iowa employees plus himself. On Nov. 2 Bartholomew I (1940-) becomes ecumenical patriarch of the 250M-member Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople (jntil ?), where he lives couped up in the tiny Phanar compound and treated like merde by the Muslim govt. and pop. On Nov. 3 the Grateful Dead, Santana et al. perform before a crowd of 300K at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in honor of rock concert promoter Bill Graham (b. 1930), who died in a heli crash on Oct. 25. On Nov. 4 Ronald Reagan opens his Reagan Pres. Library in Simi Valley, Calif. On Nov. 5 Liberal Dem. Kiichi Miyazawa (1919-2007) becomes PM #78 of Japan (until Aug. 9, 1993), going on to deal with economic malaise in Japan, negotiate a trade agreement with the U.S., and get a law passed allowing Japan to send forces overseas for peacekeeping missions. On Nov. 5 the U.S. announces a trade embargo against Haiti in response to the overthrow of pres. Jean-Bertrand Aristide. On Nov. 5 flash floods sweep parts of Negros and Leyte Islands in the Philippines, killing 6K. On Nov. 7 a 24-hour gen. strike is called in Greece by two principal unions and PASOK over the govt.'s economic policy, causing 30K workers to march on parliament calling for action against unemployment and high cost of living; on Nov. 29 the Greek govt. presents a new 1992 budget calling for more austerities. On Nov. 10 Francois Mitterrand announces plans to reform the French constitution to reduce the pres. term from seven to five years and strengthen the parliament and judiciary. On Nov. 14 Norodom Sihanouk returns to Cambodia after 13 years in exile, becoming head of state again (until Sept. 24, 1993). On Nov. 14 a former postal clerk kills three and injures six in a shooting rampage at a postal center in Royal Oak, Mich. (2 mi. N of Detroit, Mich.). On Nov. 15 retired Navy rear Adm. John Poindexter's convictions are overturned by the Washington, D.C. federal appeals court after it rules that his 1987 Congressional hearing testimony had been unfairly used against him. On Nov. 18 a sailboat carrying 135 Haitian refugees capsizes in high seas off Cape Maisi, Cuba, killing all aboard. On Nov. 18 Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland are freed by their Shiite kidnappers in Lebanon. On Nov. 19 an abandoned runaway train kills 50 in Tehuacan, Mexico. On Nov. 20 White House counsel C. Boyden Gray issues a proposed pres. order telling federal agencies to eliminate their requirements for affirmative action programs, incl. requirements for cos. holding federal contracts; a public outcry causes it to be rescinded on Nov. 21. On Nov. 21 after threatening to veto it until Repub. Mo. Sen. John C. Danforth drafts a compromise bill, Pres. Bush signs the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1991, which overturns a series of Supreme Court rulings and extends to women, the handicapped, and religious minorities the power to collect monetary awards and limited punitive damages. On Nov. 21 after the 102-member Non-Alignment Movement lobbies for it, the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 for Resolution 720 to appoint Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1922-) of Egypt as U.N. secy.-gen. #6; he takes office on Jan. 1, 1992 (until Dec. 31, 1996); the U.S. vetoes his reappointment, claiming he failed to implement necessary reforms. On Nov. 22 the KGB completes a study of Dossier No. 31451, its file on Lee Harvey Oswald the Soviet Union in Oct. 1959 to June 1962, which shows they believed that he worked for the CIA, and claims that his wife Marina didn't work for the KGB; it also tells about his numerous misses during hunting expeditions. On Nov. 26 Repub. U.S. deputy atty. gen. #25 (since May 1990) William Pelham Barr (1950-) becomes U.S. atty. gen. #77 (until Jan. 20, 1993). On Nov. 27 the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 for Resolution 721 supporting the efforts of secy.-gen. Javier Perez de Cuellar to end the fighting in Yugoslavia, and begins deploying peacekeeping troops as requested by Serbia and Croatia. In Nov. rationing of basic foods begins in Moscow as a severe drought in E Siberia and Kazakhstan, combined with flooding in the Ukraine cause the grain harvest to fall by 26% from 1990 bumper crop levels; by the end of the year the Soviet economy almost collapses, with inflation at 250%. On Dec. 1 the Ukraine becomes an independent nation, with Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (1934-) of the Social Dem. Party as pres. on Dec. 5 (until July 19, 1994). On Dec. 3 the Hungarian nat. assembly votes to host the 1996 World Expo. On Dec. 4 U.S. news correspondent Terry A. Anderson, who had been kidnapped in 1985 is released; nine other Western hostages (incl. five American) are released between Aug. and Dec., but two German hostages remain in captivity. On Dec. 4 planned talks between Arabs and Israelis in Washington, D.C. are suspended when the Israelis don't show up, insisting that they need to Dec. 9 to prepare. On Dec. 6 the U.S. announces a trade embargo against Yugoslavia because of failure to end the civil war. On Dec. 7 CBS-TV airs Remember Pearl Harbor, a joint production with the Tokyo Broadcasting System anchored by Charles Kuralt and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Ding Dong the witch is dead - which old witch? On Dec. 8 the Commonwealth of Independent States Treaty is signed in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Nat. Reserve 31 mi. N of Brest, Belarus by Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus (formerly Byelorussia), putting an end to the U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union) (founded Dec. 30, 1922); on Dec. 21 Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova join the five Central Asian repubs. Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan (formerly Kirghiz), Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in agreeing to join the Commonwealth; as Boris N. Yeltsin begins to gain control of the govt., Gorbachev diplomatically resigns on Dec. 25, giving him the nuclear codes; the collapse of the Soviet Union creates a "short twentieth century", framed by the 1917 Russian Rev. and this year, throwing the U.S. out of work as the needed counterforce to the evil empire, and giving it more of an old United Kingdom imperialist role?; "The collapse of communism in effect signified the collapse of liberalism, removing the only ideological justification behind U.S. hegemony" (Immanuel Wallerstein, Pax Americana is Over); Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan return their nuclear weapons inherited from the Soviet Union. On Dec. 11 Ivana Trump (1949-) divorces real estate mogul Donald Trump (1946-) after 14 years of marriage after the latter is romantically linked with Ga.-born model Marla Maples (1963-) and she encounters her on the ski slopes at Aspen, Colo. during a 1990 Christmas holiday trip; next Mar. 24 she receives a $20M cash settlement, plus a $14M mansion, $5M housing allowance, and $350K/year alimony plus plus plus, going on to marry Riccardo Mazzuchelli than divorcing him before the 2nd anniv.; on Dec. 19, 1993 after she appears on WWF Wrestlemania VII in 1991 and her publicist Chuck Jones is caught on July 15, 1992 stealing her high-heeled shoes then is found with a copy of Spike mag. for shoe fetishists, Trump marries Maples, and they have one child, Tiffany Trump (1993-); after hosting the Miss U.S.A. and Miss Universe pageants for two straight years, they divorce on June 9, 1999, after which she goes on to date Norman Mailer's son Michael Mailer and turn spirtualist. On Dec. 15 an OAS team announces a tentative agreement to return Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in Haiti; on Dec. 22 Aristide accepts a proposal to allow Haitian Communist Party leader Rene Theodore to become PM in order to prove that an Aristide critic has a place in his "democratic govt." - and the walls come tumbling tumbling down? On Dec. 15 a ferry carrying 649 passengers (religious pilgrims) sweeps against a reef in the Red Sea off Safaga, Egypt in high waves, killing 471. On Dec. 16 nat. elections in Guyana are postponed until next year, the 2nd time since May. On Dec. 16 the U.N. Gen. Assembly repeals it 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism - look who finally got his basement back? On Dec. 17 U.N. Gen. Assembly Resolution 46/119 is adopted, promulgating the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care (MI Principles), non-binding basic standards that mental health systems should meet, defining rights that people diagnosed with a mental disorder should have. On Dec. 19 Pres. George H.W. Bush signs the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Improvement Act (FDICIA), increasing the powers of the FDIC and giving it authority to borrow directly from the U.S. Treasury to replenish the Bank Insurance Fund (BIf) and to close failing banks in the most cost-effective manner; it incl. the U.S. Foreign Bank Supervision Enhancement Act (FBSEA), establishing federal stds. for creating foreign banks in the U.S., and authorizing the Federal Reserve Board to supervise and regulate foreign banking operations in the U.S. On Dec. 20 Paul John Keating (1944-) of the Labor Party becomes PM #24 of Australia (until Mar. 11, 1996). On Dec. 21 Kyrgyzstan joins the Commonwealth of Independence States. On Dec. 22 a WWII-vintage DC-3 chartered by a film crew crashes into a hillside near Heidelberg, Germany, killing 26 of 30 aboard. On Dec. 22 the body of U.S. hostage Marine Lt. Col. William Richard "Rich" Higgins (1945-90) is found dumped along a highway in Lebanon. On Dec. 25 did-I-mention Mikhail Gorbachev announces his resignation as pres. of the sagging Soviet Union. On Dec. 26 elections in Algeria threaten to hand the fundamentalist Muslims the majority in Parliament, leading to a near civil war. On Dec. 30 the Commonwealth of Independent States agrees that member states can form their own armies, although all states are to be equal. In Dec. Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger declares the 1981 Final Report of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Internat. Commission to not be in accord with the fullness of the Catholic faith; meanwhile a special Synod on the Problems of Europe called by Pope John Paul II is snubbed by the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is pissed-off at Roman Catholic proselytism in C and E Europe. In Dec. Hollywood actor Mel Gibson (1956-) gives an interview to El Pais mag. in Spain, with the soundbyte: "With this look, who's going to think I'm gay? It would be hard to take me for someone like that. Do I sound like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?", pissing-off the gay community; he refuses to apologize, telling Playboy in 1995: "I'll apologize when Hell freezes over. They can fuck off." A peace deal makes elections possible in Angola, but Unita rejects the outcome and resumes the civil war. The European Union (EU) Treaty is signed in Maastricht in SE Netherlands on the Maas River, known for its ruined castles. The U.S. Congress extends the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide for the elimination of discrimination in the private and federal workplace based on sex, race, religion, and nat. origin. Kan.-born Soviet history Ph.D (Georgtown U.) Robert Gates (1943-) (Pres. Bush's deputy nat. security advisor since 1989) succeeds William Webster, becoming CIA dir. #15 (until 1993); the 3rd career officer to become dir. France passes the toughest anti-smoking legislation in Europe, banning smoking in all but designated areas, requiring a health warning on tobacco products, then banning cigarette advertising in 1993 - but isn't France about cigarettes and stale perfume? Former Iranian PM Shahpour Bakhtiar is murdered in Paris; on Dec. 6, 1994 two Iranians are convicted. Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat (1931-) becomes spiritual leader (Mursyidul Am) of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (until ?). The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is founded by leftist Dems. The polluting 18 de Marzo Refinery in Mexico City is closed, and later converted into a park commemorating the 2010 bicentennial. Zimbabwe signs up for the IMF's Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP), which soon cripples the country with compound interest rates, causing inflation just as one of its worst droughts hits, causing a stock market crash and crippling the economy, after which in 1997 the Zimbabwe dollar falls 74% in one day, causing pres. Robert Mugabe to reimpose food price controls, steep luxury import taxes, and controls on conversion of corporate foreign exchange accounts to local currency, which doesn't stop fatcat white farmers and mirners from going bust by 1999, allowing Mugabe to plot to grab their holdings and hand them to blacks. The Islamic Sharia-based Sudan Criminal Code of 1991 is passed, which incl. Article 149 on rape, requiring a woman to obtain four male witnesses to an alleged rape else face being charged with adultery and punished by 100 lashes if unmarried or death by stoning if married. Having been cleared of fraud, Imelda Marcos is permitted to return to the Shoepines, er, Philippines; meanwhile the Philippine Senate votes to remove U.S. bases. The Visegrad Three, consisting of Czech., Poland, and Hungary is formed as a regional framework; on May 12 it announces the formation of a battle group under command of Poland, to be in place by 2016 as a force independent of NATO. 62-y.-o. Yasser Arafat marries his 28-y.-o. private secy. Suha Arafat (nee Daoud Tawil) (1963-)) in a secret ceremony, stunning Palestinians; daughter of West Bank journalist and political activist Raymonda Tawil, she was raised a Roman Catholic and converted to Islam before her marriage; in July 1995 they have a daughter named Zahwa after Arafat's mother. Siraj Wahhaj (1950-) (Arab. "bright light"), an African-Am. male born Jeffrey Kearse, who converted to the Nation of Islam in 1969 under the name Jeffrey12x, grooving on the "white people are devils" talk, then after the 1975 death of Elijah Muhammad switched to Sunni Wahhabism and studied in Mecca becomes the first Muslim to recite an opening prayer before the U.S. House of Reps; U.S. secy. of state Madeline Albright later hosts him; too bad, although claiming to represent moderate Islam, he calls 1991 Operation Desert Storm "one of the most diabolical plots ever in the annals of history", giving a speech in Sept. 1991, uttering soundbyte: "Americans are not your friends... Canadians are not your friends... Europeans are not your friends. Your friend is Allah, the Messenger, and those who believe"; in 1992 he adds that Muslims should replace the U.S. Constitution with Sharia and a caliphate; in 1995 he is named by the U.S. as a possible co-conspirator in the 1993 WTC bombing, which he brushes off before testifying in 1999 as a character witness for Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. The U.S. Shaker congregation of perpetual celibates is down to nine people by this year, eight of which live in Sabbathday Lake, Maine, the last in Canterbury, N.H.; "The whiter your bread, the sooner you're dead" (their slogan explaining why they only eat dark bread). An Asian ship releases infected ballast water, starting a cholera epidemic in Peru, which had been free of the disease for 100 years; by 1995 1M Latin Ams. are infected. South Africa completes the dismantling of its nuclear weapons, becoming the first (only?) country to do so; meanwhile Brazil and Argentina sign a bilateral agreement to use nuclear energy peacefully. A criminal investigation of the Bank of Credit and Commerce Internat. (BCCI) implicates former U.S. defense secy. (1968-9) Clark Clifford, who made $6M in profits from bank stock purchased with an unsecured loan from them; he dies in 1998 before charges can be prosecuted. The U.S. Dept. of Justice files charges against 53 defendants in 30 cases involving hate crimes this year, 14 of them involving members of the KKK and other organized groups; by year's end only six result in convictions, 36 in plea bargains, and one in acquittal; 35 cases were filed in 1990. Women are elected mayor for the first time this year in Salt Lake City, Utah (Deedee Corradini), Ft. Worth, Tex. (Kay Granger), and Las Vegas, Nev. (Jan Laverty Jones). Nadine Strossen (1951-) becomes the first woman pres. of the Am. Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), succeeding Norman Dorsen (b. 1931). Boris N. Yeltsin suspends pub. of the Communist newspaper Pravda (Russ. "Truth") (founded 1912). The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement is founded by Am. leftist environmentalist activist Les U. Knight, with the motto: "When every human chooses to stop breeding, Earth's biosphere will be allowed to return to its former glory." After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism is formed as a moderate splinter group from the Communist Party USA by Angela Davis, Pete Seeger et al. to reject Leninism; members later incl. Van Jones. The annual Hammett Prize, named after Dashiell Hammett is established by the Internat. Assoc. of Crime Writers, North Am. Branch for the best crime novel in English by a Canadian or U.S. English author; the first award goes to Elmore Leonard for "Maximum Bob". The journal Feminism & Psychology is founded. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is formed by the Dem. Caucus of the U.S. Congress, with members incl. Vt. indep. Bernie Sanders, who becomes chmn. until 2001. New English Archbishop of Canterbury (1990-2002) George Leonard Carey (1935-) approves a resolution asking for more study of homosexual rights, causing Colo. Bishop William C. Frey to warn that the issue could be a "disaster" for the Anglican Church. N.J. mobster Robert LiButti is banned from N.J. casinos for his ties to Mafia boss John Gotti; Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, N.J. is fined $200K by N.J. for violating anti-discrimination laws after they accede to his demands to remove women and black dealers at his tables; in 1994 LiButti is convicted of tax fraud in the largest federal income tax evasion case in N.J. history (until ?). After Gen. Custer's shine wears off, the name of the Custer Battlefield Nat. Monument in SE Mont. is changed to the Little Bighorn Nat. Monument. Huntington Library in Calif. releases the Dead Sea Scrolls to the public, scooping the secretive possessive scholars. Buell Theater in Denver, Colo. opens with "The Phantom of the Opera". Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts is founded, with campuses in Austin, Tex. and Boulder, Colo. Lesley R. Stahl (1941-) joins CBS-TV's 60 Minutes. Vinyl records leave the mainstream; they continue to be manufactured until ? With financial assistance from Interscope Records, Marion "Suge" Knight Jr. (1965-) and Andre Romelle "Dr. Dre" Young (1965-) form Death Row Records, going on to sign Snoop Dogg. New Belgium Brewing Co. is founded in Fort Collins, Colo. near the Cache la Poudre River on the grounds of an old Great Western Sugar plant by bicycle-loving husband-wife team Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan to produce their flagship brand Fat Tire Amber Ale, growing to 400+ employees and being named the best place to work in the U.S. in 2008 by Outside mag., becoming the 3rd largest craft brewery in the U.S. and 7th largest in the U.S. by 2010, producing 712.8K barrels in 2011; other brands incl. Sunshine Wheat, Skinny Dip, Heavy Melon Watermelon Lime Ale, Tart Lychee, and Mothership Wit Wheat Beer; in Jan. 2013 it becomes 100% employee-owned. High Hops Brewery is founded in Windsor, Colo. by greenhouse operators Amanda Weakland and Pat Weakland, producing the Noble One et al.; in 2007 a massive hop shortage causes them to start their own hop farm. After divorcing her hubby in 1989, Albany, Ga.-born Southern chef Paula Ann Hiers Deen (1947-) opens The Lady & Sons Restaurant in Savannah, Ga., getting named "International Meal of the Year" by USA Today in 1999; in 1997 she self-pub. The Lady & Sons Country Cooking, launching her celeb chef career; in Nov. 2002 Paula's Home Cooking debuts on Food Network (until ?); too bad, on June 21, 2013 she admits to having used racial slurs sometime in the past, causing the PC police to come out and get Food Network to not renew her contract, causing her on Sept. 24, 2014 to announce her own network; meanwhile after several cos. cancel endorsement contracts, ex-pres. Jimmy Carter urges the public to forgive her, with the soundbyte: "I think she has been punished, perhaps overly severely, for her honesty"; in Nov. 2005 she launches the mag. Cooking with Paula Deen, which reaches 7.5M circ. in Mar. 2009; in Apr. 2007 she pub. her memoir It Ain't All About the Cookin'; in 2009 she and Martha Nesbit pub. Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set, which gets dissed by Barbara Walters, Anthony Bourdain et al. for its pushing of high fat, salt, and sugar on children; in 2009 she is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, covering it up until Jan. 17, 2012, drawing more criticism for being a paid spokesperson for the Danish pharmaceutical co. Novo Nordisk, an insulin manufacturer. Elizabeth Taylor (b. 1932) sues National Enquirer for $20M and receives one of the biggest settlements ever for claiming that she had been drinking while hospitalized for pneumonia in Santa Monica, Calif. in Sept. 1990, was suicidal, and suffered from the disease lupus; meanwhile the new trim 59-y.-o. Liz meets and marries #8, 41-y.-o. blonde hunk construction worker Lawrence Lee "Larry" Fortensky (1952-) while at the Betty Ford Clinic (until 1996) (her 7th hubby and 8th marriage, counting two to Richard Burton) - she goes for his long fortensky? After years working out of her apt., Detroit, Mich.-born fashion designer Anna Sui (1964-) holds her first show, becoming a hit and growing a fashion empire. Mix-and-match species rescues? The black-footed ferret, nearly extinct in the U.S. by the 1986 (down to 18 specimens), is returned to the wild after rescue efforts by the Wyo. Fish and Game Dept.; in June Calif. condor chicks are returned to the wild in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary in the Los Padres Nat. Forest (70 mi. NW of Los Angeles). AT&T buys Nat. Cash Register Corp. in a $7.4B hostile takeover. A $10K investment in Microsoft stock this year will grow to $100K-$200K by 2005? Bob Dylan receives a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and mumbles a speech so weird that some of the crowd laughs at him; "At times I felt like I don't want to do this anymore", he tells Rolling Stone in Nov. Bob Schieffer becomes anchor of CBS-TV's "Face the Nation" (until 2008). Singer Willie Nelson marries 4th wife Annie D'Angelo (1974-), a makeup artist he met in 1986, succeeding Martha Matthews (1952-62), Shirley Collie (1963-71), and Connie Koepke (1971-88). The annual Lollapalooza Music Festival for alternative rock bands is launched by Jane's Addiction's farewell tour. British theatrical producer Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (1946-) (Les Miserables", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Oliver!", "Mary Poppins, "Cats", and "Miss Saigon") founds the Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, incl. the Gielgud Theatre, Noel Coward Theatre, Novello Theatre, Prince Edward Theatre, Prince of Wales Theatre, Queen's Theatre, Victoria Palace Theatre, and Wyndham's Theatre, with HQ in London. Baltic Beverages Holding Co. is founded by the Finnish Hartwall Brewery and the Swedish Pripps Brewery, going on to acquire 19 breweries incl. Aldaris Brewery in Latvia (founded 1865), Svyturys Brewery in Lithuania (founded 1784), Utenos Alus Brewery in Lithuania (founded 1977), Kalnapilis Brewery in Lithuania, Saku Brewery in Estonia (founded 1820), and Baltika Brewery in Russia (founded 1990); in ? it is acquired by Carlsberg and Scottish & Newcastle, which is acquired in Apr. 2008 by Carlsberg. Architecture: The Nat. Firefighters Memorial is built S of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, with three bronze statues sculpted by John W. Mills, based on the original concept of WWII London Blitz firefighter Cyril Thomas Demarne (1905-2007). The San Jose Sharks NHL team is founded in San Jose, Calif., playing their home games at the $162.5M San Jose Arena AKA the Shark Tank (opened Sept. 7, 1993); in 2001 it becomes the Compac Center; in 2002 it becomes HP Pavillion; in June 2013 it becomes SAP Center. Sports On Feb. 17 the 1991 (33rd) Daytona 500 is won by Virgil Earnest "Ernie" Irvan (1959-); Richard Petty comes in 2nd; after a racing accident last fall, A.J. Foyt misses his first Daytona 500 since 1965. five unsponsored cars feature paint schemes representing the five branches of the U.S. military in honor of Operation Desert Storm. On Mar. 2 the Ballard Gutterball Incident at the PBA Fair Lanes Open in Baltimore, Md. sees Peter Weber get three strikes in frame 10, forcing Richardson, Tex.-born Delmas Perry "Del" Ballard Jr. (1963-) (1989 PBA Tournament of Champions winner) to get two strikes and 7 pins for the win; too bad, after getting the two strikes he throws the final shot into the right gutter to hand the title to Weber. On Apr. 8 famed jockey William Lee "Willie" Shoemaker (1931-2003) is left paralyzed by an auto accident that breaks his neck; his 8,833rd and last V was on Jan. 20, 1990 riding Beau Genius at Gulfstream Park, Fla; his last race was at Santa Anita Park and he came in 4th on Patchy Groundfog. On Apr. 19 Evander Holyfield scores a decision over George Foreman to retain his heavyweight boxing title in Atlantic City, N.J. On Apr. 6 Argentine soccer star Diego Armando Maradona (1960-) is suspended for 15 mo. by the Italian League for cocaine use. On May 1 pitcher Nolan Ryan Jr. (1947-) throws his record 7th and last no-hitter as a Texas Ranger, striking out 16 in a 3-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. On May 15-25 the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals (first all-U.S. Finals since 1981) see the Pittsburgh Steelers (first Finals appearance) defeat the Minn. North Stars (first Finals appearance) 4-2, becoming their first win, and the first U.S. franchise to win since 1983, also the first Finals since 1982 not featuring the Calgary Flames or Edmonton Oilers, and the first since 1981 with no team from W Canada; the first Finals not extending into June; MVP is Mario Lemieux. On May 26 the 1991 (75th) Indianapolis 500 is won by Rick Mears, who joins the 4th win club along with A.J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr. On June 2-12 the 1991 NBA Finals (first broadcast by NBC-TV after 17 years with CBS-TV) sees the Chicago Bulls win their first NBA championship, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers (coach Mike Dunleavy) by 4-1; MVP is Michael Jordan of the Bulls. On June 13 during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. lightning strikes, killing one spectator and leaving five others hospitalized. In June Miami and Denver are selected to become the homes of two Nat. League baseball expansion teams, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies, to begin playing in the 1993 season; the 1991 season sets a record of 56.9M spectators at games; on Nov. 11, 2011 the Marlinsabecome the Miami Marlins. On Aug. 2-16 Cuba hosts the XI Pan Am. Games, turning a dilapidated hotel in Old Havana into the Hall of Prado boxing arena, erecting a 55-bldg. Pan Am. Village, complete with Roman Catholic and Protestant chapels (the first religious structures built since the 1959 Rev.), and hoarding food for months to feed the thousands of foreign visitors; 4.5K athletes (850 from the U.S.) from 39 countries compete in 350 events in 31 sports; the U.S. Treasury Dept. bars ABC-TV from paying Cuba the $6M broadcasting fee for coverage, citing the trade embargo. On Nov. 7 Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (1959-) announces that he is HIV-positive, offering to retire for fear of infecting others, returning to play in the 1992 All-Star Game and winning the MVP award, then retiring again for four years, returning in 1996 to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the last time. On Nov. 16-30 the first 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup of Soccer in Guangdong, China, attended by 510K (19.6K per match) is won by the U.S., followed by Norway, Sweden, and Germany. Bjorn Daehlie (1967-) of Norway wins his first cross-country skiing world title on ?, followed by a record 28 more in world championships or the Olympics by 1999. On Dec. 21 the 100th anniv. of the invention of basketball by Dr. James Naismith is celebrated in Springfield, Mass. with a gala featuring players Julius Erving, George Mikan, Bob Kurland, Rick Barry, and coach John McLendon. Tonya Harding becomes the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel in competition on ? (#2 is Kimmie Meissner in 2006). After being drafted #53 in the 1989 NHL draft, 6'1" Swedish-born defenceman Erik Nicklas Lidström (1970-) joins the Detroit Red Wings, playing 20 seasons and winning four Stanley Cups and seven James Norris Memorial Trophies. The Atlanta Braves wear "JWM" on their sleeves this season in memory of long time (since 1947) mgr. and vice-pres. John W. Mullen (1924-91) (who was responsible for signing Hank Aaron), who died of a heart attack on Apr. 3 during spring training. Am. tennis player James Spencer "Jim" Courier Jr. (1970-) wins his first Slam at the French Open on ? after defeating Andre Agassi (1970-). The first World Memory Championships is held, skipping next year then going annual. Nobel Prizes: Peace: Aung San Suu Kyi (1945-) (Burma); Lit.: Nadine Gordimer (1923-) (South Africa); Physics: Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1932-1007) (France) [ordering of molecules]; Chem.: Richard Robert Ernst (1933-) (Switzerland) [NMR spectroscopy]; Med.: Erwin Neher (1944-) and Bert Sakmann (1942-) (Germany) [confirmation of ion channels via the patch clamp]; Econ.: Ronald Harry Coase (1910-) (U.S.) [transaction costs, externalities]. Inventions: On Apr. 5 Space Shuttle Atlantis blasts off on a mission to deploy the NASA TRW Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and returns on Apr. 11; the mission decays out of orbit on June 4, 2000. On May 13 Apple releases Macintosh System 7.0, with a corrected floating-point unit. The U.S. military begins using the Dynamic Analysis and Replanning Tool (DART), an AI program that optimizes transport of supplies and personnel while solving strategic planning problems; by 1995 it saves enough money in the Gulf War to recoup 30 years of DARPA-funded research. The World Wide Web (WWW), which had been a company-only net called Enquire Within Upon Everything is released globally by 1989 inventor, English-born Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (1955-) of CERN (European Particle Physics Lab) in Switzerland, based on the HTML (HyperText Mark-Up Language), URLs (universal resource locators), and HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol); the French trans. World Wide Web as "Toile d'Araignee Mondiale"; the Hebrew letter waw is equivalent to 6, so WWW equals 666? - could it have something to do with the Swiss love of fondue? Wi-Fi is invented by NCR Corp./AT&T in Nieuwegein, Netherlands. Linus Benedict Torvalds (1969-) of Finland creates the Linux operating system as an alternative to Windows, fighting a steep uphill battle to get people to use it when they already had to pay for Windoze whether they wanted it or not? BeOS is created by Be Inc. to run on BeBox hardware as a competitor to Mac OS and Microsoft Windows; too bad, it flops. Philip R. "Phil" Zimmermann Jr. (1954-) releases the first version of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) personal computer software, bringing military-grade cryptography to the masses for free. All Nippon Airways becomes the first to offer in-flight video games to passengers. U. of Minn. researchers release the Honeycrisp Apple, followed by the early season cold climate Zestar Apple in 1998 ("a hint of brown sugar"). Science: In Apr. AT&T Bell Labs announces that carbon buckyballs (buckminsterfullerenes) (60 carbon atoms arranged at the corners of a 32-sided solid consisting of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons) can be made superconducting at -427 deg. F by adding potassium atoms. On Sept. 19 5.3K-y.-o. 5'2" 110 lb. Otzi (Ötzi) (Iceman) is found on the Tisenjoch Pass of the Similaun Glacier in the Tirolean Otzal Alps on the Italy-Austria border by German tourist Helmut Simon, complete with yew longbow, chamois quiver with 14 arrows, a copper axe, and a flint-bladed dagger in a woven sheath; he has bad teeth; pub. in 2012, allowing 19 people in Tyrol to identified as his descendants in 2013. Japanese cardiac surgeon Amano Atsushi (1955-) pioneers Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery; on Feb. 18, 2012 he performs a successful operation on Emperor Akihito. Blockchain is invented by cryptographers Stuart Haber and Scott Sornetta, who use it to timestamp digital documents to prove authenticity, launching the timestamping service Surety, whose main product is AbsoluteProof. The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope is built in Green Bank, W. Va. to replace the one that collapsed on Nov. 15, 1988, becoming the largest steerable radio telescope on Earth. Albany, N.Y.-born economist Paul Robin Krugman (1953-) delivers a set of lectures in Leuven, followed by the paper Geography and Trade, founding New Economic Geography, which emphasizes how economic regions with the most production will be the the most profitable and attract even more production. Alex Wolszczan and Dale Frail find evidence of three extra-solar planets orbiting the spinning remains of Pulsar B1257+12, becoming the first planets discovered outside our solar system. The Human Genome Diversity Project, a sister to the Human Genome Project to look for genetic differences among world pops. and find how the DNA sequence in the human genome varies from one pop. to another is proposed by pop. geneticists, but runs into political opposition from those accusing it of racism, and others accusing it of being a "vampire project" for extracting medical info. from endangered tribes without paying them; it pub. its first major analysis in 2002. Nonfiction: Peter Ackroyd (1949-), Introduction to Dickens. Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), Haves Without Have-Nots: Essays for the 21st Century on Democracy and Socialism; Desires, Right & Wrong: The Ethics of Enough. Francesco Alberoni (1929-), The Envious. Mohamed Akram, An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America (May 19); the secret plan of the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate the U.S. and undermine its govt. to supplant it with Muslim Sharia. Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy (1957-), In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action; case studies of the U.S. Bill of Rights by a babe who looks like JFK and wears black slacks, and another atty. she met in a civil rights class at Columbia? Stephen Ambrose (1936-2002), Nixon: The Ruin and Recovery of a Politician, 1973-1990. Karen Armstrong (1944-), Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet; ex-Roman Catholic nun tries to launder Islam for Westerners, claiming that jihad means a Muslim's duty to fight for a just decent society, making her a hit in the Islam ignoramus West. Isaac Asimov (1920-92), Asimov's Chronology of the World: The History of the World from the Big Bang to Modern Times (Nov. 6); ends in 1945; weak on dates - spell my name again? Isaac Asimov (1920-92) and Frederik Pohl (1919-), Our Angry Earth. Pat Barker (1943-), Regeneration (Pulitzer Prize); about Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfried Owen, army pshrink W.H.R. Rivers, and fictional Lt. Billy Prior in WWI; first in the Regeneration Trilogy about the trauma aftermath angle of WWI (1991-5). Wayne Barrett, Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, the Downfall, the Reinvention. Herbert Benson (1935-), MindScience - An East-West Dialogue. Michael R. Beschloss (1955-), The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960-1963. Stephen Birmingham (1932-), The Rothman Scandal. David Bohm (1917-92) and Mark Edwards, Changing Consciousness: Exploring the Hidden Source of the Social, Political and Environmental Crises Facing Our World. Sissela Bok (1934-), Alva Myrdal: A Daughter's Memoir. Erma Bombeck (1927-96), When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home. Tom Brown Jr. (1950-), The Quest: One Man's Search for Peace, Insight, and Healing in an Endangered World. Rock Brynner, Yul: The Man Who Would Be King; by Yul Brynner's son, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafes. Frederick Buechner (1926-), Telling Secrets (autobio.). Vincent Bugliosi (1934-2015) and Bruce Henderson, And the Sea Will Tell. Alan Bullock (1914-2004), Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives; how their careers fed off each other; his magnum opus? James C. Burbank, Vanishing Lobo - The Mexican Wolf and the Southwest; "There are only 33 Mexican wolves left in the United States and Mexico." Sophy Burnham (1936-), Angel Letters. Michael Burns (1947-), Dreyfus: A Family Affair, 1789-1945. James MacGregor Burns (1918-2014) and Stewart Burns, A People's Charter: The Pursuit of Rights in America (Dec. 3). Guillermo Calvo (1941-), The Perils of Sterilization (Dec.); about the situation in which a central bank responds to a money supply increase in the nat. economy by selling securities and/or taking deposits to "sterilize" it and lessen the inflationary consequences, which backfires when the larger amount of govt. debt itself induces higher inflationary expectations "because sticking to a stable price level... would make servicing the public debt excessively costly from a social and political point of view." Stephen L. Carter (1955-), Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby (autobio.); a black who got affirmative-actioned through Stanford and Yale ends up dissing affirmative action - and makes a buck from white readers? Norman F. Cantor (1929-2004), Inventing the Middle Ages: The Lives, Works and Ideas of the Great Medievalists of the Twentieth Century. George Carpozi Jr., Poison Pen: The Unauthorized Biography of Kitty Kelley. Gerald Celente (1946-), Trend Tracking: The System to Profit from Today's Trends (Sept. 1); prophesies a "New Black Plague". Wilt Chamberlain (1936-99), A View From Above (autobio.); lifelong bachelor claims to have had sex with 20K women, but hastens to point out none were married; 1 a day for 40 years? Deepak Chopra (1946-), Perfect Health; Ayurveda for Westerners. Clark Clifford (1906-98) and Richard C. Holbrooke (1941-2010), Counsel to the President. Andrew Cockburn (1947-) and Leslie Cockburn (1952-), Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli Covert Relationship. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), The Hole in the Flag: A Romanian Exile's Story of Return and Revolution. Andrew Cohen (1955-), Enlightment is a Secret: Teachings of Liberation. Len Colodny (1938-) and Robert Gettlin, Silent Coup: The Removal of a President; White House counsel John Dean orchestrated the 1972 Watergate burglary to destroy info. linking his future wife Maureen Bner to a call girl ring?; 2nd ed. in Jan. 1992. Robert Conquest (1917-2015), Stalin: Breaker of Nations. Bill Cooper (1943-2001), Behold a Pale Horse (Dec. 1); the superconspiracy that's behind everything from the Illuminati and the JFK assassination to UFOs and AIDs, and is trying to rule Da World via pop. control; he later retracts the UFO stuff?; "The manifesto of the militia movement" (Terry Nichols); "There was even a time in history when the king was a sacrificial king. Just like John F. Kennedy was in the Temple of the Sun known as Dealey Plaza." David Cope (1941-), Computers and Musical Style. Robert Cormier (1925-2000), I Have Words to Spend (autobio.). Richard Ben Cramer (1950-), Ted Williams: The Seasons of the Kid. Martin L. van Creveld, The Transformation of War; predicts the shift from large-scale conventional warfare to insurgency and terrorism. Harry Crews (1935-), Madonna at Ringside. Robert Warren Cromey (1931-), In God's Image: Christian Witness to the Need for Gay/Lesbian Equality in the Eyes of the Church. William Cronon (1954-), Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (Bancroft Prize); brings out the fundamental interconectedness of city and country, with the demands of the capitalist market grafting a second Nature on the first (natural) Nature. Robert Dallek (1934-), The Lone Star Rising; bio. of LBJ. G. Brent Dalrymple (1937-), The Age of the Earth. John Darwin (1948-), The End of the British Empire: The Historical Debate (Making Contemporary Britain) (Jan. 10). Alan Dershowitz (1938-), Chutzpah; on being a schmuck, er, schlemiel, er, ewish. Jared Mason Diamond (1937-), The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal; rev. ed. 2004; humans and chimps share 98% of their genes, and both are known for murdering their own kind and ruining their environment - ergo chimps descended from humans? E.J. Dionne (1952-), Why Americans Hate Politics (first book) (bestseller); claims that the two major parties are ignoring a silenct centrist majorit8y. Countess Marion Doenhoff (1909-2002), Before the Storm: Memoirs of My Youth in Old Prussia; anti-Hitler resistance leader and post-WWII German journalist. Eric Drexler (1955-), Chris Peterson, and Gayle Pergamit, Unbounding the Future. Dinesh D'Souza (1961-), Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus; PC police at U.S. univs. Martin Bauml Duberman (1930-), Cures: A Gay Man's Odyssey. Kitty Dukakis (1936-), Now You Know (autobio.); admits her battle with alcoholism. Jacques Ellul (1912-94), Anarchy and Christianity; socially following the same goal? Steven Emerson (1953-), Terrorist: The Inside Story of the Highest-Ranking Iraqi Terrorist Ever to Defect to the West. Steve Endean (1948-93), Into the Mainstream (autobio.). Joseph Epstein (1937-), A Line Out for a Walk: Familiar Essays. Susan C. Faludi (1959-), Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women; the 1980s backlash against feminism was full of hypocritical women? Leslie Fiedler (1917-2003), Fielder on the Roof: Essays on Literature and Jewish Identity. Nancy Friday (1933-), Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Sexual Fantasies. Isaiah Friedman, Palestine Betrayed. Robert Fulghum (1937-), Uh-Oh. Paul Fussell Jr. (1924-2012), BAD: or, The Dumbing of America. Curt Gentry (1931-2014), J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets. Barry Gifford (1946-), New Mysteries of Paris. Sir Martin Gilbert (1936-2015), Churchill: A Life. Charles Glass (1951-), Tribes With Flags: A Dangerous Passage Through the Chaos of the Middle East; his travels in the Levant, incl. his 62-day hostage ordeal in Beirut. Ernst Gombrich (1909-2001), The Uses of Images. Studies in the Social Function of Art and Visual Communication. Jane Goodall (1934-), Through a Window: My 30 Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe; "At the turn of the century chimpanzees were found, in their hundreds of thousands, in 25 African nations" - today, don't ask? Mary Catherine Gordon (1949-), Good Boys and Dead Girls, and Other Essays. Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), Bully for Brontosaurus (essays). Marshall Govindan, Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition; a fraud? Germaine Greer (1939-), The Change: Women, Aging and the Menopause. A.B. Guthrie Jr. (1901-91), A Field Guide to Writing Fiction. Uta Hagen, A Challenge for the Actor. David Halberstam (1934-2007), The Next Century; predicts that Japan and Germany will surpass the U.S. economically. Victor Davis Hanson (1953-), Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience. Peter Handke (1942-), Essay About the Successful Day: A Winter Day's Dream. Donna Haraway (1944-), Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. Willis Harman (1918-97), New Traditions in Business: Spirit and Leadership in the 21st Century. Jim Harrison (1937-2016), Just Before Dark: Collected Nonfiction. Campbell Harvey (1958-) and Wayne E. Ferson, The Variation of Economic Risk Premiums; argues that not only the business cycle but risk exposures and premia should be predictable. William Least Heat-Moon (1939-), PrairyErth (A Deep Map): An Epic History of the Tallgrass Prairie Country. Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003), Me: Stories of My Life (autobio.); #1 bestselling book of 1991. Josephine Herbst (1892-1969), The Starched Blue Sky of Spain and Other Memoirs (posth.). Charles Higham (1931-2012) and Roy Moseley (1938-), Elizabeth and Philip: The Untold Story of the Queen of England and Her Prince; she loves gems and wealth-building, he's a boor? Albert Otto Hirschman (1915-2012), The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy. Michel Houellebecq (1956-), Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life; H.P. Lovecraft. Albert Hourani (1915-93), A History of the Arab Peoples; internat. bestseller. Samuel Phillips Huntington (1927-2008), The Third Wave: Democratiztion in the Late Twentieth Century. Joe Hyams, Flight of the Avenger: George Bush at War. Sandra Ingerman, Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self; how to journey to the spirit world to retrieve parts of the soul that have been lost as a result of earlier trauma. Michael F. Jacobson, The Fast Food Guide (Dec.). Peter James et al., Centuries of Darkness; proposes shifting ancient Greek history forward by 200-250 years. Haynes Johnson (1931-), Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years. Philip Johnson, Darwin Trial; launches the Intelligent Design Theory, AKA Creationism sans the Bible. Gayl Jones (1949-), Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition in African-American Literature. Pauline Kael (1919-2001), Movie Love. Efraim Karsh (1953-), Soviet Policy Towards Syria Since 1970. Efraim Karsh (1953-) and Insari Rautsi-Karsh, Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography. Nuh Ha Mim Keller (1954-), Reliance of the Traveller and Tools of the Worshipper; 14th cent. Shafi'i Sunni Islamic legal ref. work on Sharia; the first std. Islamic ref. work on Sharia trans. into a Euro language. Kitty Kelley (1942-), Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography; dices her rep "with the zest of a Benihana chef" (Michael Crowley), claiming affairs with Frank Sinatra, reliance on astrology, marijuana use by her and hubby Ronald Reagan et al., causing Ronny to utter the soundbyte: "While I am accustomed to reports that stray from the truth, the flagrant and absurd falsehoods... clearly exceed the bounds of decency." Frank R. Kemerer, William Wayne Justice [1920-2009): A Judicial Biography; the LBJ-appointed activist judge who desegregated Tex. public schools and opened them to illegal immigrants from Mexico. Philip Kerr (ed.), The Penguin Book of Lies; "For the perfect every lie is a mortal sin" (St. Augustine); Thomas Aquinas' three types of lie: mischievous (intending injury), jocose (for pleasure), officious (intending charity or benefit). Ken Keyes Jr. (1921-95) and Benjamin B. Ferencz, Planethood: The Key to Your Future. Rashid Khalidi (1948-), The Origins of Arab Nationalism. Alexander King (1909-2007) and Bertrand Schneider (1929-), The First Global Revolution: A Report by the Council of the Club of Rome (Sept. 3); sequel to the 1972 bestseller "The Limits to Growth", claiming that time has run out and it's now or never for radical environmental actions; "The common enemy of humanity is man. In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy then, is humanity itself." Alex Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. Gary A. Kowalski (1953-), The Souls of Animals. Jonathan Kozol (1936-), Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools; how rich school districts spend more per capita on education. Mark Lane (1927-), Plausible Denial; claims that the CIA killed JFK, and that E. Howard Hunt was involved - follow the signs and prepare to what? Christopher Lasch (1932-94), The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Critics. Robert Lawlor (1939-), Earth Honoring: The New Male Sexuality. Michael Lewis (1960-), The Money Culture; Pacific Rift. Mario Vargas Llosa (1936-), A Writer's Reality. Graham Lord (1943-), Ghosts of King Solomon's Mines (autobio.). James Lovelock (1919-), Scientists on Gaia; Gaia: The Practical Science of Planetary Medicine. Manning Marable (1950-2011), Race, Reform and Rebellion. Ralph G. Martin, Henry and Clare: An Intimate Portrait of the Luces. Martin Emil Marty (1928-) and R. Scott Appleby (eds.), The Fundamentalism Project (5 vols.). Rollo May (1909-94), The Cry for Myth. David McCullough (1933-), Brave Companions: Portraits in History (essays). John Paul Meier (1942-), A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Vol. 1: The Roots of the Problem and the Person (Nov. 1); N.Y.-born Roman Catholic biblical scholar-priest tries to "recover, recapture, or reconstruct" the historical Jesus using modern historical methods incl. the apocryphal gospels, and concludes that he was no magician or political leader but a you know what who wasn't even mentioned in rabbinical lit. until the late 2nd- early 3rd cents.; followed by vol. 2 " Mentor, Message, and Miracles" (Nov. 1, 1994), vol. 3 "Companions and Competitors"(Sept. 18, 2001), vol. 4 "Law and Love" (May 26, 2009), containing the soundbyte: "The real enigma is how Jesus can at one and the same time affirm the Law as the given, as the normative expression of God's will for Israel, and yet in a few individual cases or legal areas (e.g., divorce and oaths) teach and enjoin what is contrary to the Law, simply on his own authority", and vol. 5 "Probing the Authenticity of the Parables"(Jan. 5, 2016), which claims that only four parables can be considered historical incl. the Mustard Seed, the Evil Tenants, the Talents, and the Great Supper - I lost almost 12 pounds? William Meredith Jr. (1919-2007), Poems Are Hard to Read. Fatema Mernissi (1940-), Doing Daily Battle: Interviews with Moroccan Women. Agnes de Mille (1905-93), Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham. Albert Murray (1916-), Romare Bearden: Finding the Rhythm. Mark E. Neely Jr. (1944-), The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties (Pulitzer Prize). Oliver North (1943-) and William Novak, Under Fire (autobio.). John R. O'Donnell and James Rutherford, Trumped!: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump - His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall (May); a tell-all by a protege of casino magnate Steve Wynn, who worked for Trump in 1987-90 as CEO of Trump Plaza, running his only profitable casino, portraying him as a cocksure boor and narcissist who like to blame his mistakes on subordinates, and isn't good at weighing the downside of investment risks, revealing his chirophobia (fear of shaking hands because of germs), love of gossip, abstemiousness, and penchant for extramarital affairs, airing his dirty laundry incl. reporting an alleged personal comment that "Laziness is a trait in blacks", referring to a black accountant, along with "Black guys counting my money - I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day"; Trump responds in an interview with Playboy mag. in 1999, containing the soundbyte: "Nobody has had worse things written about them than me. And here I am. The stuff O'Donnell wrote about me is probably true. The guy's a fucking loser. A fucking loser. I brought the guy in to work for me; it turns out he didn't know that much about what he was doing. I think I met the guy two or three times total. And this guy goes off and writes a book about me, like he knows me!" Robert Evan Ornstein (1942-), The Evolution of Consciousness. P.J. O'Rourke (1947-), Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government. John Osborne (1929-94), Almost a Gentleman: An Autobiography: 1955-1966 (autobio.); sequel to "A Better Class of Person" (1981). Abraham Pais (1918-2000), Niel Bohr's Times: In Physics, Philosophy, and Polity. Harry Mark Petrakis (1923-), The Founder's Touch: The Life of Paul Galvin of Motorola. Julia Phillips, You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again. Daniel Pipes (1949-), Damascus Courts the West: Syrian Politics 1989-1991. Roy Porter (1946-2002), Doctor of Society: Thomas Beddoes and the Sick Trade in Late Enlightnment England. Steve Potz-Rayner and Richard Lockwood, A Little Book of Lies (Penguin Gynaecology for Beginners. John Enoch Powell (1912-98), Reflections of a Statesman. Karl H. Pribram (1919-), Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing. V.S. Pritchett (1900-97), Complete Collected Essays. Lewis Burwell Puller Jr. (1945-1994), Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet (Pulitzer Prize). Michael S. Radu (1947-2009), The Dynamics of Soviet Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa. James Randi (1928-), James Randi: Psychic Investigator. Marcus Raskin (1934-), Essays of a Citizen: From National Security State to Democracy. James Reston (1909-95), Deadline (autobio.). Howard Rheingold (1947-), Virtual Reality: Exploring the Brave New Technologies of Artificial Experience and Interactive Worlds from Cyberspace to Teledildonics; first popular treatment of computer virtual reality (VR) technology. Bernie Rhodes and Russell P. Calame, D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy; claims that hijacker Richard Floyd McCoy Jr. (1942-74) is also hijacker D.B. Cooper, based on the modus operandi and a tie and Brigham Young U. medallion with McCoy's initials left on the plane by Cooper; his widow sues, but after suspicions of her involvement in the hijacking her request for injunction to stop sales of the book is denied. Robert Maynard Pirsig (1928-), Lila: An Inquiry into Morals. Andrew Roberts (1963-), The Holy Fox: A Biography of Lord Halifax. Ginger Rogers (1911-95), Ginger: My Story (autobio.). Nathan Rosenberg (1927-) and David C. Mowery, Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth. Murray Newton Rothbard (1926-95), Freedom, Inequality, Primitivism, and the Division of Labor. Conrad Russell (1937-2004), The Fall of the British Monarchies, 1637-1642. John E. Sarno (1923-), Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection. Mark Ivor Satin (1946-), New Options for America: The Second American Experiment Has Begun. Michael Savage (1942-), The Death of the White Male. Simon Schama (1945-), Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations); tries to make a connection between the deaths of Gen. James Wolfe and George Parkman, uncle of Francis Parkman, exploring the historian's inability "ever to reconstruct a dead world in its completeness however thorough or revealing the documentation", and speculatively bridging "the teasing gap separating a lived event and its subsequent narration"; "Historians shouldn't make it up, but I did." Peter Dale Scott (1929-), Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America. Mary Lee Settle (1918-2005), Turkish Reflections: A Biography of Place. Gail Sheehy (1937-), The Silent Passage: Menopause. Rupert Sheldrake (1942-), The Rebirth of Nature: The Greening of Science and God; agitates for ditching the mechanistic view of Nature. Kenneth Silverman (1936-), Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. Robert Sobel (1931-99), The Life and Times of Dillon Read. George Soros (1930-), Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterprise and Democratic Reform Among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe. Art Spiegelman (1948-), Maus: A Survivor's Tale (2 vols.) (first vol. 1986). William Stafford, The Mozart Myths: A Critical Reassessment (Oct. 1). James B. Stewart, Den of Thieves. Michael Coleman Talbot (1953-1992), The Holographic Universe; claims that the Universe is a hologram, which gains a giant publicity boost with the 1999 release of the film The Matrix. Hugh Thomas (1931-), Ever Closer Union. Kenneth R. Timmerman (1953-), The Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq; claims it was a response to the overthrow of the shah of Iran; "The Islamic revolution in Iran upset the entire strategic equation in the region. America's principle ally in the Gulf, the Shah, was swept aside overnight, and no one else on the horizon could replace him as the guarantor of U.S. interests in the region", causing the U.S. to support Sadam Hussein as a weapon against the Islamic Repub. of Iran, removing Iraq from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in 1982; The BNL Blunder: How the U.S. Policy Allowed a Bank in Atlanta to Finance Saddam Hussein's War Machine. Sir Michael Tippett (1905-98), Those Twentieth Century Blues (autobio.). Jeffrey Toobin (1960-), Opening Arguments: A Young Lawyer's First Case - U.S. vs. Oliver North. Sir George Trevelyan (1906-96), Exploration into God. Donald Trump (1946-) and Charles Leerhsen, Trump: The Art of Survival (July); his shifting fortunes from the construction of the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to his pending divorce from Ivana Trump; doesn't mention how he stiffed contractors of $60M. John Updike (1932-2009), Odd Jobs (essays). Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage. Benjamin J. Wattenberg (1933-), The First Universal Nation. Cornel West (1953-), Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life (with bell hooks?); The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought. Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge; Utah naturalist describes the devastation the rising waters of the Great Salt Lake do to a bird sanctuary. David Wojnarowicz (1954-92), Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration - his gay lifestyle leads to AIDS? Fred Alan Wolf (1934-), The Eagle's Quest: A Physicist's Search for Truth in the Heart of the Shamanic World. Naomi Wolf (1962-), The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women; claims that the "iron-maiden" ideal of unattainable beauty is used by the male power structure to keep women down. Bob Woodward (1943-), The Commanders. Rainer Zitelmann (1957-), Adenauer's Opponents: Fighters for Unity; claims that Conrad Adenauer's critics were right to accuse him of making unification of Europe more important than reunification of Germany. Art: Lee Bul (1964-), Majestic Splendor (installation art); dead fish in plastic baggies decorated with sequins, fake jewels et al., which stink up the gallery; in 1997 the gallery adds an anti-odor chemical to the baggies, causing them to catch fire and explode, making them more popular?; she goes on to install several more around the world. Damien Hirst (1965-), In and Out of Love; potted plants, caterpillars and monochrome canvases; A Thousand Years; a cow head, an insect electrocutor, and maggots; The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living; a 14-ft. tiger shark embalmed in formaldehyde in a glass case; makes him the #1 British artist of the 1990s. Roberto Matta (1911-2002), Parmi les Desirs; Ma-Dame. Larry Rivers (1923-2002), Early Chaplin. Music: Chunky A, Large and In Charge (album); rap album by Arsenio Hall; incl. Owww. Paula Abdul (1962-), Spellbound (album #2) (May 14); sells 8.5M copies; incl. Rush Rush, The Promise of a New Day, Blowing Kisses in the Wind, Vibeology, Will You Marry Me? Bryan Adams (1959-), Waking Up the Neighbours (album #6) (Sept. 24); sells 10M copies; incl. Can't Stop This Thing We Started, Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven, There Will Never Be Another Tonight, (Everything I Do) I Do It for You. Allman Brothers Band, Shades of Two Worlds (album #11) (July). Eric Ambler (1909-98), Ropin' the Wind (album) (Sept.); first album to enter the pop charts at #1 thanks to 4M advance orders; incl. "What She's Doing Now". America, Encore: More Greatest Hits (album) (June 24). Massive Attack, Blue Lines (album) (debut) (Apr. 8) (#13 in the U.K.); first trip hop album; from Bristol, England, incl. Robert "3D" Del Naja (1966-), Grantley Even "Grant" "Daddy G" Marshall (1959-), and Andrew Lee Isaac "Andy" "Mushroom" Vowles (1967-); incl. Unfinished Sympathy. Joan Baez (1941-), Brothers in Arms (album). Siouxsie Sioux (1957-) and the Banshees, Superstition (album #10) (June 10); incl. Kiss Them for Me (#23 in the U.S.). Moody Blues, Keys of the Kingdom (album #15) (June 25); incl. Say It With Love, Bless the Wings (That Bring You Back). David Bowie (1947-2016) and the Tin Machine, Tin Machine II (album) (Sept. 2); cover features dangly nude Kouroi statues; incl. Baby Universal, Goodbye Mr. Ed. . Pet Shop Boys, Discography (album) (Nov. 4); incl. DJ Culture, Was It Worth It?. Billy Bragg (1957-), The Peel Sessions Album (album); Don't Try This At Home (album #4) (Sept. 17); incl. Sexuality. Garth Brooks (1962-), Ropin' the Wind (album #3) (Sept.); has advance orders of 4M copies, becoming the first country album to become #1 on the pop charts; first country artist with three albums in the pop top 20 in the same week; incl. Shameless, What She's Doing Now, The River. James Brown (1933-2006), Star Time (4-CD box set) (May 7). Kate Bush (1958-), Rocket Man. Mariah Carey (1969-), Emotions (album #2) (Sept. 17) (#4 in the U.S.) (3.5M copies); incl. Emotions, Can't Let Go, Make It Happen, If It's Over, Till the End of Time. Kim Carnes (1945-), Checkin' Out the Ghosts. Clarence Carter (1936-), Strokin'; "I stroke it to the east, and I stroke to the west, and I stroke it to the woman that I love the best... Have you ever made love before breakfast?" Blue Cheer, Dining With the Sharks (album #9); next album in 2007. Cher (1946-), Love Hurts (album) (June 11); sells 17M copies; incl. Love Hurts. Tom Cochrane (1953-), Mad Mad World (album) (solo debut); incl. Life is a Highway (#6 in the U.S.). Metal Church, The Human Factor (album #4); incl. Human Factor, In Harm's Way. Joe Cocker (1944-2014), Night Calls (album #13) (Oct. 7). Marc Cohn (1959-), Marc Cohn (album); incl. Walking in Memphis, True Companion. Natalie Cole (1950-2015), Unforgettable... with Love (album). Alice Cooper (1948-), Hey Stoopid (album #19). John Corigliano (1938-), The Ghosts of Versailles (opera). Elvis Costello (1954-), Mighty Like a Rose (album) (May 14); incl. The Other Side of Summer; G.B.H. Soundtrack (album). The Cramps, Look Mom No Head! (album) (Nov.). Motley Crue, Decade of Decadence (album) (Oct. 19) (#2 in the U.S.). The Grateful Dead, One From the Vault (album) (Apr. 15); recorded on Aug. 13, 1975 in San Francisco; Infrared Roses (album) (Nov. 1). John Denver (1943-97), Different Directions (album) (Sept. 24). Divinyls, Divinyls (album #4) (Jan. 29) (#15 in the U.S.); incl. I Touch Myself (#4 in the U.S., #10 in the U.K.); recorded at Jackson Browne's Groove Masters Studio in Santa Monica, Calif., with backing band incl. Randy Jackson (bass), Benmont Tench (keyboards), and Charley Drayton (drums); the video was filmed in a nunnery in Pasadena. Doobie Brothers, Brotherhood (album #11) (Apr. 15); incl. Dangerous. Crash Test Dummies, The Ghosts that Haunt Me (album) (debut); from Winnipeg, Man. Canada, incl. Bradley Kenneth "Brad" Roberts (1964-), Ellen Reid, Dan Roberts, Mitch Dorge, and Benjamin Darvill; sells 400K copies; incl. Superman's Song. Bob Dylan (1941-), The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 (album) (Mar. 26). Big Audio Dynamite II, The Globe (album) (debut); Mick Jones (vocals), Nick Hawkins (guitar), Gary Stonadge (bass), Chris Kavanaugh (drums); incl. The Globe, Rush. Electronic, Electronic (album) (debut) (May 28); incl. Get the Mesage. EMF, Schubert Dip (album) (debut) (May 6) (#3 in the U.K.). Public Enemy, Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Back (album #4) (Oct. 3) (#4 in the U.S.); incl. Bring the Noise (w/Anthrax). Enya (1961-), Shepherd Moons (album #3) (Nov. 4); sells 12M copies; incl. Caribbean Blue, How Can I Keep from Singing?, Book of Days, Lothlorien, Marble Halls. Gloria Estefan (1957-), Into the Light (album #2) (Jan. 25) (3.8M copies); incl. Coming Out of the Dark (#1 in the U.S.), Seal Our Fate (#53 in the U.S., #24 in the U.K.), Can't Forget You (#43 in the U.S.), Live for Loving You (#22 in the U.S.). Europe, Prisoners in Paradise (album #5) (Sept. 23); incl. Prisoners in Paradise, I'll Cry for You. Eurythmics, Greatest Hits (album) (Mar. 18). Exodus, Good Friendly Violent Fun (album). Violent Femmes, Why Do Birds Sing? (album); incl. American Music. Fishbone, The Reality of My Surroundings (album #3) (Apr. 23) (#49 in the U.S.); incl. Sunless Saturday, Everyday Sunshine. Foreigner, Unusual Heat (album #7) (June 4); Johnny Edwards replaces Lou Gramm; a flop. Gang of Four, Mall (album #5). Jean Francaix (1912-97), Double Concerto for Flute, Clarinet and Orchestra. Right Said Fred, I'm Too Sexy (July 15) (#1 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.); from London, England, incl. Richard Peter John Fairbrass (1953-) (vocals) and Fred Fairbrass; "I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt/ So sexy it hurts/ And I'm too sexy for Milan, too sexy for Milan, New York and Japan/ And I'm too sexy for your party/ Too sexy for your party/ No way I'm disco dancing." Psychedelic Furs, World Outside (album). Jerry Garcia Band, Jerry Garcia Band (album #2) (Aug. 27); incl. Deal, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Bee Gees, High Civilization (album #17) (Mar. 25); incl. Secret Love, When He's Gone, The Only Love. Genesis, We Can't Dance (album #14) (Oct. 28) (#4 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (4M copies in the U.S.); last with Phil Collins; incl. I Can't Dance (#7 in the U.S. and U.K.), No Son of Mine (#12 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.), Hold on My Heart (#16 in the U.K.), Jesus He Knows Me (#23 in the U.S., #20 in the U.K.). Gerardo (1965-), Mo' Ritmo (album) (debut) (#36 in the U.S.) (Jan. 29); incl. Rico Suave (#7 in the U.S). Everything But the Girl, Worldwide (album #7) (Oct. 1); incl. Old Friends, Love Is Strange. Indigo Girls, Nomads Indians Saints (album #3) (Sept. 21); incl. Hammer and a Nail (#12 in the U.S.). Nina Hagen (1955-), Street (album #7); incl. Blumen Fur Die Damen, In My World, Berlin (Is Dufte!) Van Halen, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (FUCK) (album #9) (June 18); incl. Poundcake, Runaround, Top of the World, The Dream is Over, Right Now, Man on a Mission. MC Hammer, Too Legit to Quit (album #4) (Oct. 29) (#5 in the U.S.) (5M copies); drops the "MC" from his name; incl. Too Legit to Quit, This Is the Way We Roll, Do Not Pass Me By, Addams Groove (#7 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.) (from the 1991 film "The Addams Family"). Procol Harum, The Prodigal Stranger (album #11) (Aug. 27); incl. The Truth Won't Fade Away. Heart, Rock the House Live! (album) (Oct. 5). Uriah Heep, Different World (album #18) (Feb.). Hole, Pretty on the Inside (album) (debut) (Sept. 17); sells 400K copies; Courtney Love (1964-), Eric T. Erlandson (1963-); incl. Teenage Whore, Garbage Man. Men Without Hats, Sideways (album #5); next album in 2003; incl. I Am the Walrus. Crowded House, Woodface (album #3) (July 2) (#83 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.); incl. Fall At Your Feet, Weather With You, Chocolate Cake; Kiwi band disses the U.S.; no wonder Princess Di calls them her favorite band? Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000), Symphony No. 65 ("Artstakh"), Op. 427. Janis Ian (1951-), Under the Covers. INXS, Live Baby Live (album). Alan Jackson (1958-), Don't Rock the Jukebox (album). Michael Jackson (1958-2009), Dangerous (album #8) (Nov. 26) (#1 in the U.S.) (32M copies, most outside the U.S. and U.K.) (most successful New Jack Swing album until ?); incl. Black or White (by Bill Bottrell) (fastest rising single since the Beatles' "Get Back" in 1969; he gives the video to MTV and Fox on the condition that they refer to him as "the King of Pop"), Remember the Time, In the Closet, Jam, Who Is It, Heal the World Millie Jackson (1944-), Young Man, Older Woman (album #20). Pearl Jam, Ten (album) (debut) (Aug. 27); sells 10M copies; from Seattle, Wash, incl. Eddie Vedder (Edward Louis Severson III) (1964-) (vocals), Mike McCready (guitar), Dave Krusen (drums), Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (guitar); incl. Alive, Even Flow, Jeremy, Oceans. Joan Jett (1958-), Notorious (album #7); incl. Backlash. Elton John (1947-), Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John (1947-) andBernie Taupin (album); how they work in separate rooms; incl. Basque. Jesus Jones, Doubt (album #2) (Jan. 29) (#25 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.); incl. Right Here, Right Now (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (about the fast finish to the Cold War) (used in K-Mart ads), Real Real Real. Journey, The Ballade (album). Wynonna Judd (1964-), Wynonna (album) (debut); sells 5M copies. Sammy Kershaw (1958-), Don't Go Near the Water (album) (debut). Kix, Hot Wire (album #5) (July 9) (#64 in the U.S.) (200K copies); incl. Hot Wire, Girl Money, Tear Down the Walls, Same Jane. The KLF, The White Room (album) (Mar.); incl. Church of the KLF, 3 A.M. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.), Last Train to Transcentral (Live from the Lost Continent), Justified and Ancient (Stand by The JAMs) (with Tammy Wynette); It's Grim Up North; The Black Room (album) (unreleased). Gladys Knight (1944-), Good Woman (album); incl. Men, Superwoman. Kraftwerk, The Mix (album) (June). Patti LaBelle (1944-), Burnin' (album); incl. Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is). David Lanz, Return to the Heart (album). Murphy's Law, The Best of Times (album #4) (Nov. 5); incl. Ebony and Ivory; Good for Now (album). Julian Lennon (1963-), Help Yourself (album #4) (Aug. 20); incl. Saltwater (#6 in the U.K.). Level 42, Guaranteed (album #9); incl. Guaranteed (#17 in the U.K.). Huey Lewis (1950-) and the News, Hard at Play (album #6) (Jan.); incl. Couple Days Off, It Hit Me Like a Hammer. Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, Music for the People (album) (debut) (July 23); Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (1971-); incl. Good Vibrations (no connection to the Beach Boys song), Wildside. Bob Marley (1945-81), Talkin' Blues (album) (posth.) (Feb. 4). Ricky Martin (1971-), Ricky Martin (album) (solo debut) (Nov. 6) (500K copies). Young M.C. (1967-), Brainstorm (album #2) (#66 in the U.S.) (500K copies). Paul McCartney (1942-), Unplugged (The Official Bootleg (album) (May 20); Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio (album) (Oct. 11). Reba McEntire (1955-), For My Broken Heart (album #18) (Oct. 1); incl. For My Broken Heart, Is There Life Out There. Mike + the Mechanics, Word of Mouth (album #3) (Apr. 2) (#11 in the U.K.); incl. Word of Mouth (#78 in the U.S., #13 in the U.K.). John Mellencamp (1951-), Whenever We Wanted (album). Metallica, Metallica (The Black Album) (album #5) (Aug. 13); sells 22M copies, incl. 650K the first week, and 15M in the U.S.; incl. Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters, Wherever I May Roam, Sad But True, The God That Failed. Kylie Minogue (1968-), Let's Get To It (album #4) (Oct. 14) (#15 in the U.K.); incl. Word Is Out, If You Were With me Now (w/Keith Washington), Give Me Just a Little More Time, Finer Feelings. Joni Mitchell (1943-), Night Ride Home (album #14) (Feb. 19); incl. Come In From the Cold. Van Morrison (1945-), Hymns to the Silence (double album #21); Why Must I Always Explain? Alanis Morrissette (1974-), Alanis (album) (debut); incl. Too Hot, Walk Away, Feel Your Love. Morrissey (1959-), Kill Uncle (album). Motorhead, 1916 (album #9) (Feb. 26); incl. 1916. Michael Martin Murphey (1945-), Cowboy Christmas: Cowboy Songs II (album #17). Anne Murray (1945-), Everyday. Naughty by Nature, Naughty by Nature (album #2) (Sept. 3) (#16 in the U.S.); from East Orange, N.J., incl. Treach, Vin Rock, and DJ Kay Gee; incl. O.P.P., Everything's Gonna Be Alright, Uptown Anthem. Type O Negative, Slow, Deep and Hard (original title "None More Negative"); from Brooklyn, N.Y., incl. 6'8" bass-baritone bassist Peter Steele (Petrus Thomas Ratajczyk) (1962-2010); incl. Unsuccessfully Coping with the Natural Beauty of Infidelity, Der Untermensch, Prelude to Agony. Vomito Negro, The New Drug (album #8). Robbie Nevil (1958-), Day 1 (album #3). Nirvana, Nevermind (album #2) (Sept. 24) (#1 in the U.S., #7 in the U.K.) (30M copies); peaks at #1 on Jan. 11, 1992, replacing Michael Jackson's "Dangerous", taking grunge mainstream; incl. Smells Like Teen Spirit (#6 in the U.S.), Lithium, Come As You Are, In Bloom. Yannick Noah (1960-), Black or What (album); incl. Saga Africa. Gary Numan (1958-), Outland (album #10) (Mar.) (#39 in the U.K.); incl. Heart (#43 in the U.K.), My World Storm (#46 in the U.S.). N.W.A., Efil4zaggin (album) (June). OMD, Sugar Tax (album #8) (May 7); incl. Sailing on the Seven Seas, Pandora's Box, Then You Turn Away, Call My Name, Neon Lights. Ozzy Osbourne (1948-), No More Tears (album) (Sept. 17). Teddy Pendergrass (1950-2010), Truly Blessed (album); incl. It Should've Been You. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (album) (Sept. 24) (#3 in the U.S., #5 in the U.S.); sells 13M copies; incl. Give It Away (#1 in the U.S.) (their first #1 single), Under the Bridge (#2 in the U.S.), Breaking the Girl (#15 in the U.S.), Suck My Kiss (#15 in the U.S.), Sir Psycho Sexy. Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Cringe (album #8). Tom Petty (1950-2017) and The Heartbreakers, Into the Great Wide Open (album) (July 2) (#13 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.); incl. Into the Great Wide Open (music video stars Johnny Depp as Eddie, who finished h.s., went to Hollywood and got a tattoo), Out in the Cold, Learning to Fly. The Pixies, Trompe le Monde (Fool the World) (album #5) (last album) (Sept. 23); incl. Trompe le Monde, Planet of Sound, Alec Eiffel, Head On, Letter to Memphis; they disband in 1993, and reunite in 2004, playing to sold-out world tours; on June 14, 2013 Kim Deal quits the band to work with her band The Breeders, formed with sister Kelly Deal in 1990. Jean-Luc Ponty (1942-), Tchokola (album). Manic Street Preachers, Motown Junk (Jan. 21) ("I laughed when Lennon got shot"); from Blackwood, Wales, incl. James Dean Bradfield (1969-) (vocals), Nicky Wire (Nicholas Allen Jones) (1969-) (bass), Sean Anthony Moore (1968-) (drums), and Richard James "Richey" Edwards (1967-95) (guitar). Prince, Diamonds and Pearls (album #13); incl. "Gett Off", "Cream", "Money Don't Matter 2 Night", "Insatiable". Smashing Pumpkins, Gish (album) (debut) (May 28); from Chicago, Ill., incl. William Patrick "Billy" Corgan Jr. (1967-) (vocals), James Yoshiobu Iha (1968-) (guitar), D'arcy Wretzky (1968-) (bass), Jimmy Chamberlin (1964-) (drums); incl. Rhinoceros. Quarterflash, Girl in the Wind (album #4) (last album); incl. Rindy Ross, Marv Ross, Sandin Wilson (bass), Greg Williams (drums), Doug Fraser (guitars), Mel Kubik (keyboards/sax). Queen, Innuendo (album #14) (Feb. 5) (last with Freddie Mercury, who dies from too much innuendo and headlong?); incl. Innuendo, I'm Going Slightly Mad, Headlong, These Are the Days of Our Lives. Eddie Rabbitt (1941-98), Ten Rounds (album #3) (Aug. 27); incl. Hang Up the Phone. Bonnie Raitt (1949-), Luck of the Draw (album #11) (June 25); sells 7M copies; incl. Something to Talk About, I Can't Make You Love Me. LeAnn Rimes (1982-), Everybody's Sweetheart (album) (debut). Queen, Greatest Hits II (album) (Oct.); Freddie Mercury (b. 1946), who had been gaunt-looking since 1988 dies on Nov. 23 of AIDS at age 45. Queensryche, Operation: LIVEcrime (album) (Oct. 28). Sacred Reich, A Question (EP) (July). R.E.M., Out of Time (album #7) (Mar. 8) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (18M copies); incl. Losing My Religion (based on a mandolin riff) (#4 in the U.S.) (highest-charting U.S. hit) ("That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight losing my religion"), Radio Song, Shiny Happy People, Near Wild Heaven. Shabba Ranks (1966-), Just Reality (album); incl. Dem Bow, which launches the Reggaeton movement. Keith Richards (1943-), Live at the Hollywood Palladium, December 15, 1988 (album) (solo debut). Guns N' Roses, Use Your Illusion I (album #3) (Sept. 17) (#2 in the U.S.) (5M copies in the U.S.); incl. Don't Cry, Live and Let Die (by Paul and Linda McCartney), November Rain; Use Your Illusion II (album #4) (Sept. 17) (#1 in the U.S.); sells 25M copies; last album of original material until ?; incl. You Could Be Mine, Yesterdays, Civil War, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Estranged. Skid Row, Slave to the Grind (album #2) (June 11) (#1 in the U.S.) (first heavy album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200); incl. Slave to the Grind, Monkey Business, In A Darkened Room, Wasted Time, Get the Fuck Out. Roxette, Joyride (album #3) (Mar. 28) (#12 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.)) (11M copies); incl. Joyride (#1 in the U.S.), Fading Like a Flower, The Big L, Spending My Time, Church of Your Heart. Rush, Roll the Bones (album #14) (Sept. 13); incl. Roll the Bones, Where's My Thing?. Richie Sambora (1959-), Stranger in the Town (album); incl. Mr. Bluesman (with Eric Clapton). Primal Scream, Screamadelica (album #3) (Sept. 23) (#8 in the U.K.); first commercial success; incl. Slip Inside This House, Loaded. Seal (1963-), Seal (album) (debut) (May) (#1 in the U.K.); incl. Killer (w/Adamski) (#8 in the U.K.), Crazy (#2 in the U.K.), Future Love Paradise (#12 in the U.K.). Pete Seeger (1919-2014), Abiyoyo and Other Story Songs for Children (album). Bob Seger (1945-) and the Silver Bullet Band, The Fire Inside (album) (Aug. 27); incl. The Real Love. Tupac Shakur (1971-96), 2Pacalypse Now (album) (debut) (Nov. 12); incl. Young Black Male, Trapped (w/Shock G); in 1992 a teenager who is listening to the album kills a Texas state trooper, pissing off U.S. vice-pres. Dan Quayle, who tries unsuccessfully to get stores to remove it from their shelves - only making it more popular? Lynyrd Skynyrd, Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991 (album #6) (June 11); all new members; incl. Smokestack Lightning. Slayer, Decade of Aggression (double album) (Oct. 22). Smithereens, Blow Up (album). Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger (album #3) (Oct. 8) (#39 in the U.S., #39 in the U.K.) (1.5M copies); incl. Outshined, Jesus Christ Pose, Rusty Cage. Dusty Springfield (1939-99), Reputation (album). Bruce Springsteen (1949-), Human Touch (album #9) (Mar. 31) (#2 in the U.S.); incl. Human Touch (#16 in the U.S.); Lucky Town (album #10) (Mar. 31) (#3 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl. Lucky Town, Better Days (#16 in the U.S.). Toad the Wet Sprocket, Fear All I Want (#15 in the U.S.), Walk on the Ocean (#18 in the U.S.). Status Quo, Rock 'til You Drop (album #20) (Sept. 24). Al Stewart (1945-), Rhymes in Rooms (album #13). Rod Stewart (1945-), Vagabond Heart (album #16) (Mar. 25); #10 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.; incl. Rhythm of My Heart, It Takes Two (with Tina Turner). The Rolling Stones, Flashpoint (album) (Apr. 8). Dire Straits, On Every Street (album #6) (Sept. 10) (#12 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (8M copies, incl. 1M in the U.S.); after a world tour in 1992 they disband in 1995; incl. Calling Elvis, Heavy Fuel, On Every Street, The Bug. Donna Summer (1948-2012), Mistaken Identity (album #15) (Aug. 23). Swans, White Light From the Mouth of Infinity (album #12). Talk Talk, Laughing Stock (album #5) (last album) (Nov. 19); released on Verve Records sans Paul Webb; incl. After the Flood, Myrrhman. James Taylor (1948-), New Moon Shine (album #13) (Sept. 24); incl. Copperline. Therion, Of Darkness... (album #4) (Feb.); incl. Morbid Reality, Megalomania. Babes in Toyland, To Mother (album); incl. Catatonic. Travis Tritt (1963-), It's All About to Change (album #2) (May 28) (3M copies); incl. Anymore (#1 country), Bible Belt (featured in the 1992 film "My Cousin Vinny"). Jethro Tull, Catfish Rising (album #19) (Sept. 10); first with Andrew Giddings. Tina Turner (1939-), Simply the Best (album) (Oct. 22) (7M copies worldwide); incl. (Simply) The Best, Nutbush City Limits (The 90s Version), Way of the World, Love Thing, I Want You Near Me. Shania Twain (1965-), Shania (album) (debut); incl. What Made You Say That, Dance with the One That Brought You. Thompson Twins, Queer (album #8) (last album) (Sept. 24); it flops, and they change their name to Babble; incl. Come Inside, The Saint. Bonnie Tyler (1951-), Bitterblue (album #3); incl. Bitterblue. U2, Achtung Baby (album #7) (Nov. 19) (#1 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.) (18M copies); named after a phrase uttered in "The Producers"; incl. The Fly, Mysterious Ways, One, Even Better Than the Real Thing, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses. Joe Walsh (1947-), Ordinary Average Guy (album #9) (Apr. 23). Great White, Hooked (album #5) (Feb. 26) (#18 in the U.S.); incl. Call It Rock n' Roll, Heartbreaker, The Original Queen of Sheba. Trisha Yearwood (1964-), Trisha Yearwood (album) (debut); incl. She's in Love with the Boy. Yello, Baby (album #7); incl. Jungle Bill, Ocean Club. Yes, Union (album #13) (Apr. 30); incl. Lift Me Up. Neil Young (1945-) and Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory (album); recorded at Young's 2K-acre Broken Arrow Ranch in N Calif.; Arc (album) Neil Young (1945-) and Crazy Horse, Weld (album) (Oct. 22). Frank Zappa (1940-93), The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (double album) (Apr. 16); You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 (album) (June 14); Make a Jazz Noise Here (album) (June 4); Beat the Boots (album) (July 7). Movies: Barry Sonnenfeld's The Addams Family (Nov. 22), a remake of the 1960s TV show based on the chars. by Charles Addams stars Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia Addams, Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester, Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman as siblings Wendy and Pugsley, Carel Struycken as Lurch, and Judith Malina as Grandma; #6 movie of 1991 ($114M). Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Sept. 29), based on the fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont stars the voices of Robby Benson as the Beast, and Paige O'Hara as Belle; does $440.1M box office on a $25M budget; first animated film to be nominated for a best picture Oscar; features the hit song Beauty and the Beast by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood (July 2) (Columbia Pictures), filmed in South Central Los Angeles, Calif. stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as Tre Styles, Angela Bassett as Reva Styles, Laurence Fishburne as Jason "Furious" Styles Jr., and Ice Cuba (acting debut) as Darrin "Doughboy" Baker; the dir. debut of LA-born John Daniel Singleton (1968-2019); does $57.5M box office on a $6.5M budget; gets Singleton nominations for best dir. (youngest, and first African-Am.) and best original screenplay; watch trailer. Barry Levinson's Bugsy (Dec. 13) (TriStar Pictures) stars Warren Beatty as Las Vegas founder Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Annette Bening as his moll Virginia Hill, Ben Kingsley as mob boss Meyer Lansky, Harvey Keitel as mobster Mickey Cohen, Elliott Gould as mobster Harry Greenberg, and Joe Mantegna as mob-connected actor George Raft; does $49M box office on a $30M budget; "Twenty dwarves took turns doing handstands on the carpet." Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (Nov. 13), a remake of the 1962 Robert Mitchum-Gregory Peck film based on the 1957 John D. MacDonald novel "The Executioners" stars Robert De Niro as convicted rapist Max Cady, who returns to get even with Sam Bowden, the atty. who defended him, along with his wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) and daughter Danielle (Juliette). Ron Underwood's City Slickers (June 7 (Columbia Pictures)) stars Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby et al. as midlife-crisis businessmen who go to a dude ranch, where they meet up with trail boss Curly Washburn (Jack Palance), who teaches them about the open air life on a cattle drive from N.M. to Colo.; #4 movie of 1991 ($124M U.S. and $180M worldwide box office on a $26M budget). Alan Parker's The Commitments (Aug. 7) (Beacon Communications) (First Film Co.) (Dirty Hands Productions) (20th Cent. Fox), based on the 1987 novel by Roddy Doyle is about a working class Am. (black) soul band in Northside, Dublin, Ireland, led by Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins), incl. Declan "Deco" Cuffe (Andrew Strong), Imelda Quirke (Angeline Ball), Natalie Murphy (Maria Doyle), Bernie McGloughlin (Bronagh Gallagher), and Joey "the Lips" Fagan (Johnny Murphy); does $14.9M box office on a $12M budget; it goes on to gain a cult following. Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust (Jan.) is about three generations of Gullah women from the Sea Islands. Albert Brooks' Defending Your Life (Mar. 22) stars Brooks as Daniel Miller, who dies in a car accident and arrives in Judgment City, where he is put on trial "for being afraid", and meets Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, Lee Grant, and Shirley MacLaine. Tom Mankiewicz's Delirious (Aug. 9) (MGM) stars John Candy as "Beyond Our Dreams" soap opera writer Jack Cable, who bumps his head and wakes up in the midst of his own soap opera; the last film role for Raymond Burr; does $5.5M box office on an $18M budget. Rolf de Heer's Dingo, about a young man in the Australian bush who hears jazz trumpeter Miles Davis play is his only film appearance; released in the U.S. next Jan. 31. Michael Caton-Jones' Doc Hollywood (Aug. 2), based on the book "What? Dead Again?" by Dr. Neil Shulman is a romantic comedy starring Michael J. Fox as newly-minted plastic surgeon Dr. Benjamin Stone, who crashes in his 1956 Porsche 356 Speedster en route to Beverly Hills in rural Grady, S.C., and ends up falling for smalltown candy pants girl Vailula (Julie Warner), while Nancy Lee Nicholson (Bridget Fonda) tries to get her hooks in him; Woody Harrelson plays rival Hank Gordon; David Ogden Stiers plays mayor Nick Nicholson; does $54.8M box office on a $17M budget. Ate de Jong's Drop Dead Fred (Apr. 19) stars Phoebe Cates as repressed Lizzie Cronin, who loses everything during lunch hour and moves in with her domineering mother Polly (Marsha Mason), and releases her childhood imaginary friend Rik Mayall, who sets her life back on track. Agnieszka Holland's Europa, Europa (Nov. 14), a German flick about Jewish boy Solomon Perel escaping the WWII Holocaust by passing for German and trying to uncircumcize himself so pisses the German govt. off that it won't submit it for the Academy Awards? - visit Daphne's Greek Cafe down the corner? Charles Shyer's Father of the Bride (Dec. 20), a remake of the 1950 Spencer Tracy flick stars Steve Martin and Diane Keaton as George and Nina Banks, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley as their daughter Kimberly; #8 movie of 1991 ($89M). Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita (Apr.), starring Anne Parillaud as a French noir Pygmalion hit woman becomes a cult classic and spawns a 1993 Hollywood ripoff, John Badham's Point of No Return starring Bridget Fonda, and the way cooler 1997-2001 TV series starring Peta Wilson. Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King (Sept. 20) stars Robin Williams as a crazed bum in search of the Holy Grail in Manhattan, and co-stars Jeff Bridges, Amanda Plummer, and Mercedes Ruehl, along with real street people; "A Modern Day Tale About the Search for Love, Sanity, Ethel Merman and the Holy Grail". John Duigan's Flirting (Mar. 21), a sequel to "The Year My Voice Broke" (1987) stars Noah Taylor as Danny Embling again, and features Nicole Kidman before she moves to Hollywood. Peter Weir's Green Card (Jan. 11) stars innocent Am. horticulturist Andie MacDowell, who falls in love with cultured and experienced French composer Gerard Depardieu (who forgets to tell her that she looks like the Mona Lisa?) as they attempt to fool the INS; Depardieu's English-language debut. Jon Avnet's Fried Green Tomatoes (Dec. 27) (Universal Pictures), based on the novel "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by "Match Game" panelist Fannie Flagg stars Jessica Tandy as 83-y.-o. Ninny Threadgoode, who reminisces to Evelyn (Kathy Bates) about her Ala. childhood as Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson), whose friend Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker) has a bad marriage; #10 movie of 1991 ($80M U.S. and $119.4M worldwide box office on a $11M budget). Patrice Leconte's Girl on the Bridge (Mar. 31) stars Daniel Auteuil and French pop star Vanessa Paradis, who leans over the Seine River with tears in her eyes and a violent yearning to drown her sorrows, then meets an older man. Steven Spielberg's Hook (Dec. 11), based on the J.M. Barrie play stars Robert Williams as Peter Pan (Banning), Dustin Hoffman as Capt. Hook, Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell, and Bob Hoskins as Smee; #5 movie of 1991 ($120M). Sean Penn's The Indian Runner (Sept. 20) is Penn's debut as writer-dir.; it pits good cop Joe against his bad brother Frank in Nebr., and is based on the Bruce Springsteen song Highway Patrolman. Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (June 7) stars Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra as mixed-race lovers Flipper Purify and Angie Tucci. David S. Ward's King Ralph (Feb. 15) (Universal), based on the novel "Headlong" by Emlyn Williams stars TLW, er, John Goodman as a Las Vegas lounge lizard who suddenly becomes king of England, going on to romance low-born Miranda Greene (Camille Coduri) while rejecting high-born Princess Anna (Joely Richardson); meanwhile royal secy. Sir Cedric Charles Willingham (Peter O'Toole) tries to tutor the Yank, and snide Lord Percival Graves (John Hurt) tries to get him ousted so he can restore his Stuart clan; does $52.5M box office on a $23M budget - one of TLW's top 100 comedies of all time for pure wish fulfillment? Oliver Stone's JFK (Dec. 22) changes the public's perception of the JFK assassination even more to the side of the conspiracy theorists; stars Kevin Costner as New Orleans DA Jim Garrison, Sissy Spacek as his wife Liz, Gary Oldman as lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald, Edward Asner as bad guy Guy Bannister, Brian Doyle-Murray as Jack Ruby, Joe Pesci as David Ferrie, Tommy Lee Jones as Clay Shaw, John Candy as Dean Andrews, and Kevin Bacon as Willie O'Keefe; Steve Reed and Jodie Forber star as JFK and Jackie. James Dearden's A Kiss Before Dying (Apr. 26), based on the 1953 Ira Levin Novel (first filmed in 1956) about a ruthless social climber who murders his lovers stars Matt Dillon and Sean Young. Peter Medak's Let Him Have It (British Screen Productions), is based on the 1952 case of 19-y.-o. illiterate retarded (IQ 66) Derek William Bentley (1933-53) (played by Christopher Eccleston) who is railroaded into the noose by justice-for-the-bobby British justice for shouting you know what at his friend 16-y.-o. Christopher Craig (1936-) (played by Paul Reynolds) on a roof while under arrest and restraint, followed by Craig killing a bobby; did he mean give him the cold steel or give him the hot lead, as if it should matter other than that it's a sacred cow who can shoot you with impunity and cover it up? Howard Zieff's My Girl (Nov. 27) stars Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis along with child actor Anna Chlumsky, and is the film debut of child star Macaulay Carson Culkin (1980-), who has his first onscreen kiss; spawns 1994 sequel "My Girl 2". Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho (Oct. 18), based on the 1963 John Rechy novel "City of Night" and Shakespeare's "Henry IV" and "Henry V" stars River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves as gay street hustlers Mikey Waters and Scott Favor, who don't think they're gay; the title is taken from a 1980 B-52's song, which isn't played in the film; does $6.4M box office on a $2.5M budget. David Zucker's Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell of Fear (June 28) stars Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin, Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer, George Kennedy as Capt. Ed Hockey, and spooky (in retrospect) O.J. Simpson as Nordberg; #9 movie of 1991 ($87M). Brian Gilbert's Not Without My Daughter (Jan. 11) (MGM) stars Sally Field as Am. citizen Betty Mahmoody, whose Iranian hubby Sayed Bozorg "Moody" Mahmoody (Alfred Molina) tricks her into visiting Iran for two weeks then forces her to stay, causing her to plan her escape with daughter Mahtob (Sheila Rosenhal); does $14.8M box ofice on a $22M budget; the film brings out the PC police for allegedly misrepresenting Paradise Iran. Michael Lindsay-Hogg's The Object of Beauty (Apr. 12) stars John Malkovich as Jake, Andie MacDowell as Tina, who live in an expensive London hotel beyond their means, and try to sell Tina's Henry Moore sculpture until it is stolen by deaf-mute maid June (Lolita Davidovich), who claims that it spoke to her. Chris Columbus' Only the Lonely (May 24) (20th Cent. Fox), based on the 1955 film "Mary" stars John Candy as 38-y.-o. Chicago policeman Danny Muldoon, who still lives with his overbearing Irish mother Rose (Maureen O'Hara), and tries to court funeral home cosmetician Luna (Ally Sheedy); does $21.8M box office. Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break (July 12) (20th Cent. Fox) stars Keanu Reeves as rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah (former Ohio State U. QB), who infiltrates a gang of surfers called the Ex-Presidents who rob banks wearing rubber president masks (Reagan, Nixon, LBJ, Carter) to pay for their surfing habit, led by extreme sports nut Bodhi (Patrick Swayze); also stars Gary Busey as Utah's partner Angelo Pappas, and Lori Petty as surfer girl Tyler Endicott; does $83.5M box office on a $24M budget. Barbra Streisand's The Prince of Tides (Dec. 25) (Columbia Pictures), based on the 1986 Pat Conroy novel stars Nick Nolte and Blythe Danner as the Wingo twins Tom and Savannah of Sowth Cayrohlayna, who have their personal demons exorcized by New York pshrink Susan Lowenstein (Streisand); does $110M box office on a $30M budget. Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books (Aug. 30), based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest" stars 87-y.-o. John Gielgud as Prospero, and Isabelle Pasco as his innocent daughter Miranda, showing how he relishes his 24-book recipe for life in a nudity-filled visual feast; features Michael Clark as Caliban; musical score by Michael Nyman. Steve Rash's Queens Logic (Feb. 1) stars Kevin Bacon, Linda Fiorentino, John Malkovich, Joe Mangetna, and Jamie Lee Curtis in a comedy about a bachelor's party and wedding. Martha Coolidge's Rambling Rose (Sept. 20) stars Laura Dern as a sexually liberated vixen taken in by a Southern family in 1935 and rocking their gonads; she and her mother Diane Ladd become the first (only?) mother-daughter nominated for Oscars for the same film? Kevin Reynolds' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (June 14) stars miscast S Calif.-accented Kevin Costner as Robin Hood, Morgan Freeman as cool Muslim Azeem, miscast Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Maid Marian, Christian Slater as Will Scarlett, and well-cast Alan Rickman as the sheriff of Nottingham; features the Michael Kamen song (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, sung by Bryan Adams, which becomes the #1 song of the year worldwide. Joe Johnston's The Rocketeer (June 21), produced by Walt Disney Pictures based on the comic by Dale Stevens, which is a homage to Commando Cody stars Billy Campbell as stunt pilot Cliff Secord AKA the Rocketeer, Jennifer Connelly as his babe Jenny Blake, and Alan Arkan as mechanic A. "Peevy" Peabody; brings in $62M on a $42M budget. Glenn Jordan's Sarah, Plain and Tall (Feb. 3), a TV movie based on the 1985 Patricia MacLachlan novel stars Glenn Close as a New England schoolteacher who answers an ad for a wife and goes to Kansas in 1910 to care for the family of widowed farmer Christopher "Wacked Out" Walken, who plays out of type perfectly. Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (Jan. 30) (Orion Pictures, a horror-thriller based on the 1988 Thomas Harris novel features a duel of wits between FBI cadet Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) (Michelle Pfeiffer was originally cast?) and serial killer, psychiatrist, and Renaissance man "Hannibal the Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), who tries to mimic a wildcat with his eyes and body language, models his voice after Truman Capote, Katharine Hepburn, and HAL 9000, and is transported wearing a hockey mask so he can't bite off your face; Ted Levine is perfectly cast as the sexually mixed-up serial murderer Buffalo Bill, which Hannibal helps Clarice catch only after she reveals her inner self to him so he can mess with her mind; #3 movie of 1991 ($131M U.S. and $272.7M worldwide box office on a $19M budget); first horror film to win a Best Picture Oscar, and 3rd to be nominated after "The Exorcist" (1973) and "Jaws" (1975); followed by the sequel "Hannibal" (2001) and the prequels "Red Dragon" (2002) and "Hannibal Rising" (2007); features the Buffalo Bill Dance to the 1988 song "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazzarus; "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti [slurp slurp slurp]" (Hannibal) - the con bites male flesh? Richard Linklater's Slacker (July 5), about 20-somethings in Austin, Tex. becomes a Gen X classic, showing them as not interested in careers but in UFOs, who killed JFK, and other bogus intellectual pursuits. Nicholas Meyer's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Dec. 6) rescues the Star Trek franchise with a space Cold War plot; the final appearance of the original series cast; Kim Cattrall plays Vulcan babe Valeris; grosses $96.9M worldwide. James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day (AKA T2) (July 1) (Carolco Pictures) (TriStar Pictures) ("same make, same model, new mission") is a quantum leap in sci-fi and a super hit, well-spending the $100M budget and $15M paycheck ($21,429 per word for 700 words of dialogue) to Ahnuld ($12M in the form of a jet); Robert Patrick kicks Ahnuld's hydraulically-suspended ass as the advanced T-1000 liquid metal man; Edward Furlong plays Linda Hamilton's love child from T1; #1 movie of 1991 ($205M U.S. and $523.7M worldwide box office on a $102M budget). Ridley Scott's Thelma and Louise (May 24) makes stars of Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (1956-) as Thelma Yvonne Dickinson, and Susan Abigail Sarandon (nee Tomalin) (1946-) as Louise Elizabeth Sawyer, two Okla. women who start out in Louise's 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible for a 2-way vacation that turns into a vengeful anti-male crime spree after an attempted rape; Harvey Keitel plays sympathetic detective Hal Slocumb; Brad Pitt plays J.D.; the film is criticized for male bashing, turning it into a cult hit; does $45.4M box office on a $16.5M budget. Alek Keshishian's Truth or Dare (May 10) is a semi-documentary about bottle-loving Material Girl Madonna (1958-), ex-beau Warren Beatty, admirer Kevin Costner et al. Steve Milner's Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (May 24) stars Gabrielle Anwar as Depression era runaway Sonora Webster, who joins the girl-horse high-diving act of Dr. Carver (Cliff Robertson), and falls for Carver's son Al (Michael Schoeffling), ending up blind and trying to make a last jump. Plays: Alan Bennett (1934-), The Madness of George III (Nat. Theatre, London) (Nov. 28); dir. by Nicholas Hytner; the year he almost lost it (1788-9); stars Nigel Hawthorne as George III; filmed in 1994. Robert Woodruff Anderson (1917-), Absolute Strangers; The Last Act is a Solo. Angela Carter (1940-92), The Holy Family Album. Luke Creswell (1963-), John McAuley, and Steve McNicholas (1955-), Stomp (Bloomsbury Theatre, London) (summer) (Sadler's Wells Theatre, London) (Jan. 1994) (Orpheum Theatre, New York) (Feb. 1994) (Ambassadors Theatre, West End, London) (Sept. 27, 2007) (6K+ perf.); percussion group; a physical performance using rhythms, acrobatics, and pantonime. Per Olov Enquist (1934-), Captain Nemo's Library (Kapten Nemos Bibliotek). Dario Fo (1926-), A Woman Alone. Michael Frayn (1933-), Audience. Athol Fugard (1932-), Blood Knot. Christopher Hampton (1946-), White Chameleon. David Hare (1947-), Murmuring Judges. Arthur Kopit (1937-), Success. Tony Kushner (1956-), Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Pt. 1: Millennium Approaches (May) (Eureka Theatre, San Francisco) (Pulitzer Prize). Frank McGuinness (1953-), The Bread Man. Arthur Miller (1915-2005), The Ride Down Mount Morgan. Robert Manson Myers (1921-), Quintet: A Five-Play Cycle Drawn from The Children of Pride; based on his 1972 book "The Children of Pride". Lucy Simon (1943-) and Marsha Norman (1947-), The Secret Garden (musical) (St. James Theatre, New York) (Apr. 25) (709 perf.); based on the 1911 Frances Hodgson Burnett novel; dir. by Susan H. Schulman; choreography by Michael Lichtefeld; stars Daisy Eagan as Mary Lennox. Neil Simon (1927-2018), Lost in Yonkers (Pulitzer Prize). Stephen Sondheim (1930-) and John Weidman (1946-), Assassins (musical) (Playwrights Horizons, New York) (Dec. 18) (73 perf.); a revue of successful and unsuccessful U.S. pres. assassins incl. Leon Czolgosz, John Hinckley, Charles Guiteau, Giuseppe Zangara, Samuel Byck, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, Sara Jane Moore, and John Wilkes Booth. Derek Walcott (1930-), Steel. Michael Weller (1942-), Buying Time. Robert Wilson (1941-), Richard Wagner's Parsifal; Gertrude Stein's Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (Hebbel Theatre, Berlin). Poetry: Archie Randolph Ammons (1926-2001), The Really Short Poems. John Ash (1948-), The Burnt Pages. John Ashbery (1927-2017), Flow Chart. Margaret Atwood (1939-), Poems 1965-1975. Earle Birney (1904-95), Last Makings. William Bronk (1918-99), Living Instead. Turner Cassity (1929-2009), Between the Chains. Lorna Dee Cervantes (1954-), From the Cables of Genocide: Poems on Love and Hunger. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), Comrade Past and Mister Present. Billy Collins (1941-), Questions About Angels. Robert Creeley (1926-2005), Gnomic Verses; The Old Days. Thomas Michael Disch (1940-2008), Dark Verses and Light; Haikus of an AmPart. Mark Doty (1953-), Bethlehem in Broad Daylight (Feb. 1). Stephen Dunn (1939-), Landscape at the End of the Century. Odysseus Elytis (1911-96), The Elegies of Oxopetra. Dana Gioia, The Gods of Winter. Jorie Graham (1950-), Region of Unlikeness. Allen Grossman, The Ether Dome And Other Poems. Marilyn Hacker (1942-), The Hang-Glider's Daughter: New and Selected Poems. Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), Squarings; Seeing Things. David Ignatow (1914-97), Despite the Plainness of the Day: Love Poems. Erica Jong (1942-), Becoming Light: Poems, New and Selected. Philip Levine (1928-2015), What Work Is. Larry Levis (1946-96), The Widening Spell of the Leaves. Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004), Farther Surroundings (Dalsze Okolice). Howard Nemerov (1920-91), Trying Conclusions: New and Selected Poems, 1961-1991. Linda Pastan (1932-), Heroes in Disguise. Ronald Ribman (1932-), The Rug Merchants of Chaos (Pasadena Playhouse, Calif.). Patricia Smith (1955-), Life According to Motown (debut). Mark Strand (1934-), The Monument. James Tate (1943-), Selected Poems (Pulitzer Prize). Mona Van Duyn (1921-2004), Near Changes (Pulitzer Prize). Diane Wakoski (1937-), Medea the Sorceress. Richard Wilbur (1921-2017), More Opposites. C.K. Williams (1936-), Helen; "There was more voice in her cough tonight: the first harsh, stripping sound would weaken abruptly,/ and he'd hear the voice again, not hers, unrecognizable, its notes from somewhere else,/ someone saying something they didn't seem to want to say, in a/ tongue they hadn't mastered,/ or a singer, diffident and hesitating, searching for a place to start an unfamiliar melody." George Woodcock (1912-95), Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana and Other Poems. Jay Wright (1934-), Boleros. Louis Zukofsky (1904-78), Complete Short Poetry (posth.). Novels: Kobo Abe (1924-93), Kangaroo Notebook. Alice Adams (1926-99), Caroline's Daughters. Isabel Allende (1942-), The Infinite Plan. Barbara D'Amato, Hard Tack; a Cat Marsala novel. Eric Ambler (1909-98), Waiting for Orders (The Story So Far) (short stories). Raymond Andrews (1934-91), Jessie and Jesus and Cousin Claire. Aharon Appelfeld (1932-), Iron Tracks. Margaret Atwood (1939-), Wilderness Tips (short stories). Beryl Bainbridge (1934-), The Birthday Boys. Ed Baldwin, Bookman. The Kindness of Women; sequel to "Empire of the Sun" (1984). Russell Banks (1940-), The Sweet Hereafter; based on the Sept. 21, 1989 accident between a school bus and a Dr. Pepper truck in Alton, Tex.; filmed in 1997. Clive Barker (1952-), Imajica. Julian Barnes (1946-), Talking It Over. John Barth (1930-), The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor; Simon William Behler. Ann Beattie (1947-), What Was Mine (short stories). Peter Benchley (1940-2006), Beast. Wendell Berry (1934-), Fidelity: Five Stories. Alfred Bester (1913-87), Tender Loving Rage (posth.). Barbara Bickmore, The Moon Below. Robert Bloch (1917-94), Psycho House. Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933-), Remember. Anita Brookner (1928-), A Closed Eye. Christopher Buckley (1952-), Wet Work; rich man Charley Becker declares war on drugs. Pat Cadigan (1953-), Synners; about people who turn images from the minds of performers into commercial products. Orson Scott Card (1951-), Xenocide; Ender #2. Philip Caputo (1941-), Means of Escape. John le Carre (1931-2020), The Secret Pilgrim. Angela Carter (1940-92), Wise Children. David Caute (1936-), The Women's Hour. Michael Chabon (1963-), A Model World and Other Stories. Frank Chin (1940-), Donald Duk (first novel); a young boy in San Francisco's Chinatown is embarrassed by his Chinese heritage until he learns about the transcontinental railroad workers. Agatha Christie (1890-1976), Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (posth.). Tom Clancy (1947-2013), The Sum of All Fears; the Israelis lose a nuke and it ends up blowing up in the Bronco's Stadium parking lot in Denver; filmed in 2002. Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), Loves Music, Loves to Dance. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (1940-), Onitsha; about young boy Fintan, who travels from Bordeaux to Marseilles and sails along the African caost to Onitsha on the Niger River in colonial Nigeria with his Italian mother Maou in 1948. Paul Coelho (1947-), The Greatest Gift. Richard Condon (1915-96), The Venerable Bead. Robin Cook (1940-), Vital Signs. William Cooper (1910-2002), Immortality at Any Price. Robert Coover (1932-), Pinocchio in Venice; Dr. Chen's Amazing Adventure. Evan S. Connell Jr. (1924-), The Alchymist's Journal. Catherine Cookson (1906-98), My Beloved Son; The Rag Nymph. Robert Cormier (1925-2000), We All Fall Down. Patricia Cornwell (1956-), Body of Evidence; 2nd Kay Scarpetta novel. Robertson Davies (1913-95), Murther and Walking Spirits. Douglas Day (1932-2004), The Prison Notebooks of Ricardo Flores Magon. Len Deighton (1929-), MAMista. Don DeLillo (1936-), Mao II (June 20); reclusive novelist Bill Gray, who claims that terrorists are making novelists obsolete with their "raids on consciousness". Thomas Michael Disch (1940-2008), The M.D.: A Horror Story. Roddy Doyle (1958-), The Van; Jimmy Sr. and Bimbo buy a used fish and chips van; filmed in 1996; #3 in the Barrytown Trilogy (begun 1987). Margaret Drabble (1939-), The Gates of Ivory. Andre Dubus (1936-99), Broken Vessels (short stories). George Alec Effinger (1947-2002), The Exile Kiss; last in the Marid Audran Trilogy (begun 1987). Stanley Elkin (1930-95), Mrs. Ted Bliss. Harlan Ellison (1934-), Run for the Stars. Joseph Epstein (1937-), The Goldin Boys: Stories. Louise Erdrich (1954-) and Michael Dorris (1945-97), The Crown of Columbus. Berry Fleming, The Bookman's Tale (last novel). Ken Follett (1949-), Night Over Water. Margaret Forster (1938-), The Battle for Christabel. Frederick Forsyth (1938-), The Deceiver; British secret agent Sam McCready. Robert Lull Forward (1932-2002), Martian Rainbow. Lacey Fosburgh (1942-93), India Gate. Michael Frayn (1933-), A Landing on the Sun. Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012), Ceremonias del Alba. Alan Furst (1941-), Dark Star; Night Soldiers #2. Jostein Gaarder (1952-), Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy bestseller (30M copies); English trans. 1995; 14-y.-o. Sophie Amundsen receives mysterious correspondence from 50-y.-o. philosopher Alberto Knox, Albert Knag, and his 15-y.-o. daughter Hilde. Diana Gabaldon (1952-), Outlander; 20th cent. nurse Claire Beauchamp Randall through time to 1743 Scotland and falls in love with Jamie Fraser - don't talk to the mayo I'm telling you he's trouble? Neil Gaiman (1960-), The Books of Magic; an English teenie in the DC Universe discovers his destiny as the world's greatest wizard. Barry Gifford (1946-), Sailor's Holiday: The Wild Life of Sailor and Lula; Sailor and Lula #2 of 3. Sue Grafton (1940-), 'H' is for Homicide; Calif. loner Kinsey Millhone and her one dress. Joanne Greenberg (1932-), With the Snow Queen (short stories). John Grisham (1955-), The Firm (Feb. 1); bestselling novel of 1991, causing Grisham to begin pub. one new novel a year, all bestsellers, selling 61M copies by 2000, and 250M copies by 2008, with #1s in 1994-5, 1998-2000, 2002, 2005; filmed in 1993. Allan Gurganus (1947-), White People: Stories and Novellas. Peter Handke (1942-), The Dreamer's Farewell to the Ninth Country. Barry Hannah (1942-), Never Die. Ron Hansen (1947-), Manette in Ecstasy; a cloistered Catholic nun with stigmata. Mark Helprin (1947-), A Soldier of the Great War. George V. Higgins (1939-99), The Mandeville Talent. Jack Higgins (1929-), The Eagle Has Flown; Liam Devlin #4; sequel to "The Eagle Has Landed" (1975). Patricia Highsmith (1921-95), Ripley Under Water (Ripley #5). Josephine Humphreys (1945-), The Fireman's Fair. David R. Ignatius (1950-), SIRO. Susan Isaacs (1943-), Magic Hour. Denis Johnson (1949-), Rescuscitation of a Hanged Man. Ward Just (1935-), The Translator. Ismail Kadare (1936-), Albanian Spring. Thomas Keneally (1935-), Flying Hero Class; Palestianian hijackers take on Australian aborigines; Chief of Staff (pub. under alias William Coyle). Stephen King (1947-), The Wastelands; 3rd vol. of the Dark Tower Series. Dean Koontz (1945-), Cold Fire. Emma Lathen, East is East; John Putnam Thatcher #21. Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), Maximum Bob (first-ev Hammett Prize) Charles de Lint (1951-), The Little Country. Gordon Lish (1934-), My Romance. Penelope Lively (1933-), City of the Mind. Lois Lowry (1937-), The Giver; bestseller (10M copies) (Newbery Medal), about 12-y.-o. Jonas, who lives in a utopian society which has eliminated pain and strife with Sameness, becoming the official Receiver of memory and struggling with stories of life without Sameness; the first young adult dystopian novel? Norman Mailer (1923-2007), Harlot's Ghost; fictional chronicle of CIA man Harry Hubbard, whose mentor Hugh Montague (the Harlot) has mysteriously died, and whose wife Kitteredge falls for another man, causing him to flee to Metropol, Russia and read his own file titled "The Game"; based on his 1970s essay "A Harlot High and Low". Wallace Markfield (1926-2002), Radical Surgery. Paule Marshall (1929-), Daughters. Nellie McClung (1873-1951), Flowers for the Living (posth.). Colleen McCullough (1937-), The Grass Crown; Masters of Rome #2; the Roman Social War of -91 to -88. Gregory Mcdonald (1937-2008), The Brave. Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Beginning to End. David Morrell (1943-), The Covenant of the Flame. Mary McGarry Morris (1943-), A Dangerous Woman; filmed in 1993 starring Debra Winger. Albert Murray (1916-), The Spyglass Tree; sequel to "Train Whistle Guitar" (1974). Percy Howard Newby (1918-97), Coming in With the Tide. Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000), The Nutmeg of Consolation; Aubrey-Maturin #14. Joseph O'Connor, Cowboys and Indians (first novel); Eddie Virago and his rock and roll dreams. Amos Oz (1939-), To Know a Woman. Grace Paley (1922-2007), Long Walks and Intimate Talks (short stories). Michael Palmer, Extreme Measures; doctors dabbling with the living dead? Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Pastime; Spenser #18. Ralph Peters (1952-), The War in 2020. Marge Piercy (1936-), Body of Glass (He, She and It); a future environmentally-ruined world with megacities and a futuristic Internet. Robert Pinget (1919-97), Theo ou Le Temps Neuf (Theo, or The New Era). Frederik Pohl (1919-), Stopping at Slowyear; about a planet with a 19-year-long year, and sheep with a form of prion disease. Charles Portis (1933-), Gringos. Richard Powers (1957-), The Gold Bug Variations; DNA and J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Reynolds Price (1933-), The Forseeable Future. John Rechy (1934-), The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez; a huger silver cross is seen over Hollywood, causing her to feel chosen of God. Philip Roth (1933-2018), Patrimony. Norman Rush (1933-), Mating (first novel); Botswana in the 1980s. Francoise Sagan (1935-2004), Les Faux-Fuyants. Lawrence Sanders (1920-98), The Seventh Commandment. Jose Saramago (1922-2010), The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (O Evangelho Gegundo Jesu Cristo); he'll get it right this time? Brian Selznick (1966-), The Houdini Box (first novel). Michael Shaara (1928-88), For Love of the Game (posth.); 37-y.-o. baseball great Billy Chapel at the end of his career. Robert Joseph Shea (1933-94), Shaman. Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007), The Doomsday Conspiracy. Anita Shreve (1946-), Strange Fits of Passion. Anne Rivers Siddons (1936-), Outer Banks. Leslie Marmon Silko (1948-), Almanac of the Dead. Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), Leonard's War: A Love Story; Shylock the Writer. Dan Simmons (1948-), Summer of Night; a Stephen King "It" clone set in Elm Haven, Ill. Jane Smiley (1949-), A Thousand Acres (Pulitzer Prize); bestseller based on Shakespeare's "King Lear"; filmed in 1979. Gilbert Sorrentino (1929-2006), Under the Shadow. Gary Soto (1952-), Taking Sides (first novel). Muriel Spark (1918-2006), Symposium. Elizabeth Spencer (1921-), The Night Travellers; On the Gulf (short stories). LaVyrle Spencer (1943-), Bitter Sweet (Mar. 1); Maggie Pearson and Eric Severson. Norman Spinrad (1940-), Children of Hamelin; Russian Spring. Danielle Steel (1947-), Jewels; Mixed Blessings. Steve Stern (1947-), Harry Kaplan's Adventures Underground. Whitley Strieber (1945-), The Wild. Raymond Strother, Cottonwood; the moral decline of a political consultant. Patrick Suskind (1949-), The Story of Mr. Sommer. Amy Tan (1952-), The Kitchen God's Wife. William Trevor (1928-), Reading Turgenev. Anne Tyler (1941-), Saint Maybe. Thomas Tryon (1926-91), In the Fire of Spring. Bruce Alan Wagner (1954-), Force Majeure (first novel); black novel about Hollyweird, "A dreary industrial town controlled by hoodlums of enormous wealth" (S.J. Perelman), starring failed Jewish screenwriter Bud Wiggins. Paul West (1930-), The Women of Whitechapel and Jack the Ripper. William Wharton (1925-2008), Last Lovers. Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), Cosmic Trigger II: Down to Earth; Nature's God; pt. 3 of 3 of "The Historical Illumunatis Chronicles". Births: Am. hockey player (Colorado Avalanche, 2009-) Matthew "Matt" Duchene on Jan. 16 in Haliburton, Ont. Spanish 6'0" beauty contestant (transgender) Angela Maria (Angel Mario) Ponce Camacho on Jan. 18 in Pilas; first transgender Miss Spain (2018) and first transgender Miss Universe contestant. English golfer Thomas Paul "Tommy" Fleetwood on Jan. 19 in Southport. Am. 5'8" football RB (black) (Denver Broncos #22, 2013-) Cortrelle Javon "C.J." Anderson on Feb. 2 in Vallejo, Calif. Am. "Unfabulous", "Chanel Oberlin in Scream Queens" actress Emma Rose Roberts on Feb. 10 in RhineBeck (1970-), N.Y.; daughter of Eric Roberts (1956-); niece of Julia Roberts (1967-) and Lisa Roberts Gillan (1965-). English "The A Team", "Lego House" singer-songwriter Edward Christopher "Ed" Sheeran on Feb. 17 in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. Am. auto racer Trevor Bayne on Feb. 19 in Knoxville, Tenn. Canadian 6'9" basketball player (black) (Cleveland Cavaliers #13, 2011-) Tristan Trevor James Thompson on Mar. 13 in Toronto, Ont.; educated at UTA. Am. rock bassist Wolfgang William Van Halen (Van Halen) (youngest member) on Mar. 16 in Santa Monica, Calif.; son of Eddie Van Halen (1955-) and Valerie Bertinelli (1960-); nephew of Alex Van Halen (1953-); named after Wolgang Amadeus Mozart. Am. 6'5" "Barefoot Bandit" Colton A. "Colt" Harris-Moore on Mar. 22 in Camano Island, Wash. Am. "Zoey 101" actress-singer Jamie Lynn Marie Spears on Apr. 4 in Kentwood, La.; sister of Britney Spears (1981-). Am. actress-singer-songwriter Amanda Joy Michalka (Aly & AJ) on Apr. 10 in Torrance, Calif. Am. 3B baseball player (Colo. Rockies #28, 2013-) Nolan James "Sharknado" Arenado on Apr. 16 in Newport Beach, Calif. Am. ice dancer Alex Hideo Shibutani on Apr. 15 in Boston, Mass.; brother of Maia Shibutani (1994-). Canadian 7'0" basketball player (Boston Celtics ##, 2013-17) (Miami Heat #9, 2017-) Kelly Tyler Olynyk on Apr. 19 in Toronto, Ont.; educated at Gonzaga U. Am. Miss USA 2019 (black) Cheslie C. Kryst on Apr. 28 in Charlotte, N.C.; educated at the U. of S.C., and Wake Forest U. Am. 6'8" basketball forward (black) (Minn. Timberwolves #23, 2011-) Derrick LeRon Williams on May 25 in La Mirada, Calif.; educated at the U. of Ariz. Dominican baseball pitcher (Kansas City Royals #30, 2013-) Yordano Ventura Hernandez on June 3 in Samana. Am. model-actress Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski on June 7 in Westminster, London; grows up in San Diego, Calif. Am. "Ally Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond" actress Madylin Sweeten on June 27 in Brownwood, Tex. Am. 6'7" basketball player (San Antonio Spurs #2, 2011-) (black) Kawhi Anthony Leonard on June 29 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. "Oliver Beene" actor Grant Mandel Rosenmeyer on July 3 in Manhasset, N.Y. Am. baseball pitcher (lefty) (Los Angeles Angels, 2014, 2016-9) Tyler Wayne Skaggs (d. 2019)< on July 13 in Woodland Hills, Calif. Am. singer-pianist (black) Karina Pasian on July 18 in New York City; of Dominican and Armenian descent. Am. 6'2" tennis player Tennys Sandgren on July 22 in Gallatin, Tenn.; educated at the U. of Tenn. Am. neuroscientist David Dalrymple on July 23; educated at the U. of Md., and MIT. Am. Isla Vista serial murderer Elliot Oliver Robertson Rodger (d. 2014) on July 24 in London, England. Am. "Stiles in Teen Wolf", "Thomas in The Maze Runner" actor-dir.-musician Dylan O'Brien on Aug. 26 in New York City. Australian trans model Andreja (Andrej) Pejic on Aug. 28 in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina; of Bosnian Croat and Bosnian Serb descent. English "Edmund Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia" actor Alexander Amin Casper "Skandar" Keynes on Sept. 5 in Camden, London; of Lebanese, Persian, and Turkish descent; descendant of John Maynard Keynes and Charles Darwin. Am. Miss USA 2017 (black) Kara Deidra McCullough on Sept. 9 in Naples, Italy; educated at S.C. State U. South Korean 6'1" golfer An Byeong-hun on Sept. 17 in Seoul; educated at UCB. Am. 5'6" tennis player Melanie Oudin on Sept. 23 in Marietta, Ga.; has twin sister Katherine. Am. auto racer Alexander Michael Rossi on Sept. 25 in Nevada City, Calif. Am. "Wanted" country singer-songwriter Hunter Easton Hayes on Sept. 29 in Beaux Bridge, La. Am. "Scott McCall in Teen Wolf" actor (gay) Tyler Posey (Garcia-Posey) on Oct. 18 in Santa Monica, Calif.; grows up in Santa Clarita, Calif. ; Mexican descent mother; describes himself as queer and sexually fluid. Swiss soccer player Xherdan Shaqiri on Oct. 10 in Gjillan, Yugoslavia; Kosovar Albanian parents; emigrates to Switzerland in 1992. Am. "Amy Juergens in The Secret Life of the American Teenager", "Beatrice Tris Prior in Divergent" Shailene Diann Woodley on Nov. 15 in San Bernardino County, Calif.; grows up in Simi Valley, Calif. Am. baseball pitcher (Milwaukee Brewers #45, 2015-) Corey Andrew Knebel on Nov. 26 in Denton, Tex.; grows up in Batrop County, Tex.; educated at the U. of Tex. Dutch 6'0" tennis player Kiki Bertens on Dec. 10 in Wateringen. Am. composer (Jewish) (child prodigy) Jay "Bluejay" Greenberg on Dec. 13 in New Haven, Conn. Am. 6'6" football quarterback (Kansas City Chiefs #9, 2013-) Tyler Ian Bray on Dec. 27 in Clovis, Calif.; educated at the U. of Tenn. Deaths: Am. longevity champ Carrie Joyner White (b. 1874) on Feb. 14. German Nazi bigwig Sister Pia (Eleonore Baur) (b. 1885) on May 18 in Oberhaching, Bavaria: "There is only one Frederick the Great, there is only one Adolf Hitler, and there is only one Sister Pia." New York Repub. rep. (1920-45) Hamilton Fish III (b. 1888) on Jan. 18; all the Hamilton Fishes (I-IV) are congressmen. Am. pathologist (father of modern immunology) Michael Heidelberger (b. 1888) on June 25. Am. FDR's 6th cousin Margaret Suckley (b. 1891) on June 29 in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Am. Olympic track and field athlete Abel Kiviat (b. 1892) on Aug. 24. Am. baseball player Jimmy "Scoops" (James Edward) Cooney (b. 1894) on Aug. 7; made an unassisted triple play as shortstop for the Chicago Cubs (NL) in 1926. Am. "Ain't She Sweet" lyricist Jack Yellen (b. 1892) on Apr. 17 in Concord, N.Y. Soviet politician Lazar Kaganovich (b. 1893) on July 25 in Moscow. Am. choreographer and modern dance pioneer ("the priestess of modern dance") ("the Picasso and Stravinsky of dance") ("a national treasure" - Pres. Ford) Martha Graham (b. 1894) on Apr. 1 in Manhattan, N.Y. (heart failure): "Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart"; "The instrument through which the dance speaks is also the instrument through which life is lived... the human body"; "Censorship is the height of vanity." Russian leader Lazar Moyseyevich Kaganovich (b. 1894) on July 25; last surviving original (pre-1917) Bolshevik leader. Am. Conservative Judaism leader Louis Finkelstein (b. 1895) on Nov. 29. German pianist Wilhelm Kempff (b. 1895) on May 23. Polish-born Am. ballroom dancing teacher Arthur Murray (Moses Teichman) (b. 1895) on Mar. 3. Am. silent film actress Gladys Hulette (b. 1896) on Aug. 8 in Montebello, Calif. Am. "Jailhouse Rock" film dir. Richard Thorpe (b. 1896) on May 1. Italian-born Am. "It's a Wonderful Life" dir. Frank Capra (b. 1897) on Sept. 3 in La Quinta, Calif. British epidemiologist Sir Austin Bradford Hill (b. 1897) on Apr. 18; established a link between smoking and cancer in 1952. Am. photographer Berenice Abbott (b. 1898) on Dec. 10 in Monson, Maine. Am. baseball #2 commissioner (1945-50) Happy Chandler (b. 1898) on June 15 in Versailles, Ky. (heart attack). U.S. ambassador Karl Lott Rankin (b. 1898) on Jan. 15 in Kennebunk, Maine (protate cancer). Am. "Burke's Law" actor Regis Toomey (b. 1898) on Oct. 12 in Los Angeles, Calif.; acted in 200+ movies. Am. pioneer aviator and USAF Maj. Gen. Leigh Wade (b. 1897) on Aug. 31 in Ft. Belvoir, Va.; participated in the first round-the-world flight in 1924. Catholic archbishop of Seattle (1951-75) Thomas A. Connolly (b. 1899) on Apr. 18. English actress-producer-dir. Eva Le Gallienne (b. 1899) on June 3 in Weston, Conn. Am. ballet dancer-teacher Ruth Page (b. 1899) on Apr. 7. Mexican Renaissance abstract artist Rufino Tamayo (b. 1899) on June 24. Am. "Shane" actress Jean Arthur (b. 1900) on June 19 in Carmel, Calif. German Nazi sculptor Arno Breker (b. 1900) on Feb. 13 in Dusseldorf. Finnish scientist Ragnar Arthur Granit (b. 1900) on Mar. 12 in Stockholm, Sweden; 1967 Nobel Medicine Prize. Austrian-born Am. composer Ernst Krenek (b. 1900) on Dec. 22 in Palm Springs, Calif. Irish writer Sean O'Faolain (John F. Whelan) (b. 1900) on Apr. 20. Am. "Lovey Howell in Gilligan's Island" actress Natalie Schafer (b. 1900) on Apr. 10 in Los Angeles, Calif. Canadian Newfoundland PM #1 (1949-72) Joey Smallwood (b. 1900) on Dec. 17. Am. Preparation H and Aspercreme inventor George Speri (b. 1900) on Apr. 30 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Am. silent film actress Carol Dempster (b. 1901) on Feb. 1 in La Jolla, Calif. (heart failure). U.S. Sen. (R-Ky.) John Sherman Cooper (b. 1901) on Feb. 21. Am. "Death of a Salesman" actress Mildred Dunnock (b. 1901) on July 5. Am. contract bridge champ Charles H. Goren (b. 1901) on Apr. 3 in Encino, Calif. Am. "The Big Sky", "The Way West" novelist A.B. Guthrie Jr. (b. 1901) on Apr. 26. Am. poet-novelist Laura Riding (b. 1901) on Sept. 2 in Wabasso, Fla.; gave up poetry in 1941. Am. hypertension researcher Irvine H. Page (b. 1901) on June 10. Hungarian-born Am. "Anchors Aweigh" dir. Joseph Pasternak (d. 1901) on Sept. 13. Am. poet Laura Riding (b. 1901) on Sept. 2 in Wabasso, Fla. French Olympic gold medal figure skater Pierre Brunet (b. 1902) on July 27. French Brig. Gen. Christian Marie Fernand de la Croix De Castries (b. 1902) on July 30; surrendered in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. Am. "Mark Trail" cartoonist Ed Dodd (b. 1902) on May 27. French violinist Zino Francescatti (b. 1902) on Sept. 17 in La Ciotat. Am. chmn. #1 of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1957-69) John A. Hannah (b. 1902) on Feb. 23. Am. AEC chmn. (1958-61) and CIA dir. (1961-5) John A. McCone (b. 1902) on Feb. 14. Am. "John Q. Public" cartoonist Vaughn Shoemaker (b. 1902) on Aug. 18. Polish-born Am. "Yentl" novelist Isaac Bashevis Singer (b. 1902) on July 24 in Miami, Fla.; 1978 Nobel Lit. Prize. Am. economist-historian Joseph John Spengler (b. 1902) on Jan. 2 in Durham, N.C. (Alzheimer's); in 2004 the History of Economics Society establishes the Joseph J. Spengler Prize. U.S. gen. Arthur G. Trudeau (b. 1902) on June 5 in Middlebury, Vt. Am psychologist Ernest Glen Wever (b. 1902) on Sept. 4 in Princeton, N.J. Chilean concert pianist Claudio Arrau (b. 1903) on June 9 in Murzzuschlag, Austria. Am. Negro League outfielder Cool Papa (James) Bell (b. 1903) on Mar. 7. Am. Western novelist-screenwriter Niven Busch (b. 1903) on Aug. 24. Am. "rabbit test" physician Maurice H. Friedman (b. 1903) on Mar. 8 in Sarasota, Fla. Am. "Galloping Ghost" hall-of-fame football player Red Grange (b. 1903) on Jan. 28 in Lake Wales, Fla. British "Col. Pickering in My Fair Lady" actor Wilfrid Hyde-White (b. 1903) on May 6. Am. "Twelve O'Clock High" actor Dean Jagger (b. 1903) on Feb. 5. Spanish "El Exigente in Savarin coffee commercials" actor-dancer Carlos Montalban (b. 1903) on Mar. 28. Norwegian king (1957-91) Olav V (b. 1903) on Jan. 17. Czech concert pianist Rudolf Serkin (b. 1903) on May 8. French cooking teacher Simone Beck (b. 1904) on Dec. 20. Am. "FDR in Sunrise at Campobello" actor Ralph Bellamy (b. 1904) on Nov. 29 in Santa Monica, Calif. English "The Quiet American" novelist Graham Greene (b. 1904) on Apr. 3 in Vevey, Switzerland: "Heresy is another word for freedom of thought." Am. writer-composer Jay Richard Kennedy (b. 1904) on Oct. 14 in Westlake, Calif. Chinese-born Am. "teacher in Kung Fu" actor Keye Luke (b. 1904) on Jan. 12. Am. "Cat in the Hat" author-illustrator Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) (b. 1904) on Sept. 24 in La Jolla, Calif.; wrote and illustrated 44 children's books with a total sales of 200M in 15 languages. Am. writer (in Yiddish) Isaac Bashevis Singer (b. 1904) on July 24: "God is the sum of all possibilities." Am. physicist Carl David Anderson (b. 1905) on Jan. 11 in San Marino, Calif.; 1936 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. "Nice guys finish last" baseball hall-of-fame shortstop-mgr. Leo Durocher (b. 1905) on Oct. 7 in Palm Springs, Calif.; 2,009 career victories as a mgr., along with 95 career ejections. Hungarian travel guide writer Eugene Fodor (b. 1905) on Feb. 18. German-born Am. historian Felix Gilbert (b. 1905) on Feb. 14. French anti-Vatican II Roman Catholic archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (b. 1905) on Mar. 25; excommunicated in 1988. Am. Rep. (D-Tex.) Omar T. Burleson (b. 1906) on May 14. Canadian political scientist (founder of the African Studies Assoc). Gwendolen M. Carter (b. 1906) on Feb. 20. Am. abstract expressionist sculptor Herbert Ferber (b. 1906) on Aug. 20. Am. jazz saxophonist Bud (Lawrence) Freeman (b. 1906) on Mar. 15. Japanese Honda Motor Co. founder Soichiro Honda (b. 1906) on Aug. 5 in Tokyo. Am. composer Arthur Kreutz (b. 1906) on Mar. 12 in Oxford, Miss. Scottish-born Am. voice actor James MacDonald (b. 1906) on Feb. 1 in Glendale, Calif. (heart failure); the voice of Mickey Mouse in 1947-77. Am. baseball hall-of-fame shortstop (Chicago White Sox) (1930-50) Luke Appling (b. 1907) on Jan. 3 in Cumming, Ga. Spanish Catholic priest (head of the Jesuit Order in 1965-83) Pedro Arrupe y Gondra (b. 1907) on Feb. 5. English actress Dame (1956-) Peggy Ashcroft (b. 1907) on June 14 in London. German parapsychologist Hans Bender (b. 1907) on May 7 in Freiburg: "You shall always find what you created in your mind, for instance, a benevolent God or an evil Devil. Between them are countless facets. Therefore, concentrate on the depth of your consciousness and on what you consider to be positive and good"; "Good and evil do not exist for me any more. The fear of evil is merely a mass projection here and on Earth"; "Things you create with your mind are always part of your postmortal life, whether they seem real or not"; "Please, do not visualize that we exist above you such as in heaven. The concepts above and below are products of your mind. The soul does not swing upwards. It exists in the center and orients itself in every direction." Am. reporter Homer Bigart (b. 1907) on Apr. 16. Am. historian (on China) John K. Fairbank (b. 1907) on Sept. 14. Canadian hockey hall-of-famer Herbert A. Lewis (b. 1907) on Jan. 20. Am. actor John McIntire (b. 1907) on Jan. 30; replaced Ward Bond as the wagonmaster in TV's "Wagon Train". Am. chemist Edwin Mattison McMillan (b. 1907) on Sept. 7 in El Cerrito, Calif.; 1951 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. jazz cornetist Jimmy McPartland (b. 1907) on Mar. 13. British actor Lord Bernard Miles (b. 1907) on June 14; 2nd British actor after Laurence Oliver to be honored with the peerage. Am. congressman-lobbyist James Roosevelt (b. 1907) on Aug. 13; son of Pres. FDR. Am. "Shane" author Jack W. Schaefer (b. 1907) on Jan. 24. Am. atty. William A. Shea (b. 1907) on Oct. 3; Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets is named for him for helping to win their NL franchise for New York City. German organist-harpsichordist Helmut Walcha (b. 1907) on Aug. 11. Am. physicist (transistor co-inventor) John Bardeen (b. 1908) on Jan. 30 in Boston, Mass.; 1956 and 1972 Nobel Physics Prizes. Am. "The Shadow" radio announcer Andre Baruch (b. 1908) on Sept. 15. Am. football coach (founder of the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals) Paul Brown (b. 1908) on Aug. 5 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Am. "Batman", "The Greeen Hornet" TV producer William Dozier (b. 1908) on Apr. 23 in Santa Monica, Calif. Am. Space Needle architect Jhn Graham Jr. (b. 1908) on Jan. 29 in Seattle, Wash. British "Lawrence of Arabia" dir. Sir David Lean (b. 1908) on Apr. 16. German historian Richard Lowenthal (b. 1908) on Aug. 9 in Berlin. Am. "My Three Sons" actor Fred MacMurray (b. 1908) on Nov. 5. Am. jazz trumpeter Jabbo (Cladys) Smith (b. 1908) on Jan. 16. British boxer Jack Berg (Judah Bergman) (b. 1909) on Apr. 22. Am. actress Edwina Booth (b. 1909) on May 18. Am. Dem. Fla. gov. (1955-61) LeRoy Collins (b. 1909) on Mar. 12. Am. Fender Stratocaster guitar designer Leo Fender (b. 1909) on Mar. 21 in Fullerton, Calif.; the guitar of choice for Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen et al. Am. atty. Charles R. Garry (1909) on Aug. 16; defended 1960s radicals. Am. newspaper publisher James L. Knight (b. 1909) on Feb. 5; with his brother John built the Knight-Rider (Detroit Free Press et al.) media empire. Am. photography pioneer and Polaroid Corp. founder Edwin Herbert Land (b. 1909) on Mar. 1 in Cambridge, Mass.; received 535 patents, compared to 1,097 for Thomas Edison. British nuclear physicist Lord William George Penney (b. 1909) on Mar. 3; dir. of Britain's first A-bomb development. Am. global warming expert Roger Revelle (b. 1909) on July 15 in San Diego, Calife. Am. composer Elie Siegmeister (b. 1909) on Mar. 10; composed eight symphonies, eight operas, plus numerous concertos. Am. baseball pitching star Bucky Walters (b. 1909) on Apr. 20. Am. apparel co. founder Jack A. Winter (b. 1909) on Feb. 9. USAF Gen. Joseph Carroll (b. 1910) on Jan. 20. Am. movie score composer Carmine Coppola (b. 1910) on Apr. 26; father of dir. Francis Ford Coppola; won an Oscar for musical score for "The Godfather", making the Coppolas one of only two families with three Oscars (Carmine Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola) (Walter Huston, John Huston, Angelica Huston). Am. "Wo Fat in Hawaii Five-O" actor Khigh Dheigh (b. 1910) on Oct. 25 in Mesa, Ariz. Am. "Joe Hill" composer Earl Robinson (b. 1910) on July 20 in Seattle, Wash. (automobile accident). Italian writer Mario Tobino (b. 1910) on Dec. 11 in Agrigento. Am. New York City Mayor (1954-65) Robert F. Wagner (b. 1910) on Feb. 12. Am. sports impresario Sonny Werblin (b. 1910) on Nov. 21 in Manhattan, N.Y.; signed QB Joe Namath to his first pro football contract. Am. political scientist Frederick C. Barghoorn (b. 1911) on Nov. 20. Am. jazz trumpeter Buck Clayton (b. 1911) on Dec. 8. Am. civil rights champion and Ky. gov. Bert T. Combs (b. 1911) on Dec. 4. Am. "Rex Morgan" "Judge Parker" "Apartment 3-G" cartoonist Nicholas P. Dallis (b. 1911) on July 6. Swiss architect-playwright Max Frisch (b. 1911) on Apr. 4 in Zurich (cancer). Am. golfer Johnny Revolta (b. 1911) on Mar. 3. Mexican diplomat-politician Alfonso Garcia Robles (b. 1911) on Sept. 2; 1982 Nobel Peace Prize. Am. producer Lee Sabinson (b. 1911) on Apr. 14 in Englewood, N.J.; played Nikita Khrushchev in "The Twilight Zone", episode "The Whole Truth". Am. economist George Joseph Stigler (b. 1911) on Dec. 1 in Chicago, Ill.; 1982 Nobel Econ. Prize. Am. psychologist Silvan Tomkins (b. 1911) on June 10. Am. economist Joe Staten Bain (b. 1912) on Sept. 7 in Columbus, Ohio. Am. novelist John Campbell Crosby (b. 1912) on Sept. 7. Canadian literary critic Herman Northrop Frye (b. 1912) on Jan. 23. Australian concert pianist Eileen Joyce (b. 1912) on Mar. 25. Italian-born Am. microbiologist Salvador E. Luria (b. 1912) on Feb. 6 in Lexington, Mass.; 1969 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. journalist Ethel L. Payne (b. 1912) on May 28; first black female commentator on U.S. network TV. Am. "Dirty Harry", "The Shootist" dir. Don Siegel (b. 1912) on Apr. 20. German "Nazi Butcher of Lyon" Klaus Barbie (b. 1913) on Sept. 25 in Lyon, France; (dies in jail while serving a life sentence given on July 4, 1987 - creator of the Barbie doll? Am. jazz saxophonist-bandleader Charlie Barnet (b. 1913) on Sept. 4 in San Diego, Calif. Australian actress Coral Browne (b. 1913) on May 29. Czech leader Gustav Husak (b. 1913) on Nov. 18. Am. New York City Ballet musical dir. (1958-89) Robert A. Irving (b. 1913) on Sept. 13. Am. employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) pioneer Louis O. Kelso (b. 1913) on Feb. 17. Am. geneticist Derald Langham (b. 1913) on May 10 in Welton, Ariz. Am. financial columnist Sylvia Porter (b. 1913) on June 5 in Pound Ridge, N.Y. English economist Sir Richard Stone (b. 1913) on Dec. 6; 1984 Nobel Econ. Prize. English novelist Sir Angus Wilson (Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson) (b. 1913) on May 31. Iranian PM #74 (last0 (1979) Shapour Bakhtiar (b. 1914) on Aug. 6 in Suresnes, France. South Arican-born Am. "What's My Line?" TV host (1950-67) John Charles Daly (b. 1914) on Feb. 25 in Chevy Chase, Md. (heart attack). Am. nightclub owner Bill Gazzarri (b. 1914) on Mar. 21 in West Hollywood; owner of the Sunset Strip nightclub that launched the Doors, and Caesar and Cleo (AKA Sonny and Cher). Am. tennis racket inventor Howard Head (b. 1914) on Mar. 3. Australian gov.-gen. (1974-7) Sir John Kerr (b. 1914) on Mar. 24. Am. composer-conductor Sir Andrzej Panufnik (b. 1914) on Oct. 27. Chinese strongwoman and Gang of Four convict (Mao Tse Tung's widow) Jiang Qing (Madame Mao) (b. 1914) on May 14 in Beijing (hangs herself in a hospital bathroom where she lived under the alias Li Runquing after writing a note saying "Chairman! I love you! Your loyal student and comrade is coming to see you!") Am. "Make Room for Daddy" comedian Danny Thomas (b. 1914) on Feb. 6 in Los Angeles, Calf.; his funeral is at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, where Loretta Young goes daily. Am. Olympic gold medalist hurdler Forest G. Towns (b. 1914) on Apr. 9. Canadian hockey star Phil (Phillipe Henri) Watson (b. 1914) on Feb. 1. Australian historian Manning Clark (Charles Manning Hope Clark) (b. 1915) on May 23. British economist Sir Arthur Lewis (b. 1915) on June 15; first black to win the Nobel Economics Prize (1979). Am. abstract expressionist artist Robert Motherwell (b. 1915) on July 16: "To end up with a canvas that is no less beautiful than the empty canvas is to begin with." German WWII soldier Walter Reder (b. 1915) on Apr. 26 in Vienna, Austria. Am. "The Poseidon Adventure, "The Towering Inferno" film producer Irwin Allen (b. 1916) on Nov. 20. Soviet sniper hero Capt. Vasily Zaitsev (b. 1915) on Dec. 15 in Kiev. Am. Mo. Dem. Rep. Richard W. Bolling (b. 1916) on Apr. 21. Australian "The Great Escape" novelist-journalist Paul Brickhill (b. 1916) on Apr. 23. Am. CIA agent Miles Copeland Jr. (b. 1916) on Jan. 14. Am. "Festus Haggen in Gunsmoke" actor-singer Ken Curtis (b. 1916) on Apr. 28 in Fresno, Calif. Am. cookbook writer Theodora FitzGibbon (b. 1916) on Mar. 25. Am. "Flat Foot Floogie" jazz musician Slim Gaillard (b. 1916) on Feb. 26 in London, England. German novelist-playwright Wolfgang Hildesheimer (b. 1916) on Aug. 21. Am. WWII combat vet and Japanese-Am. activist Mike M. Masaoka (b. 1916) on June 26. Am. "Dale Arden in Flash Gordon" actress Jean Rogers (b. 1916) on Feb. 24 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Mongolian PM (1952-84) Yumjaagiyn Tsedenbal (b. 1916) on Apr. 20. Am. novelist Frank Yerby (b. 1916) on Nov. 29 in Madrid, Spain (heart failure). English-born Am. Episcopal priest Dennis J. Bennett (b. 1917) on Nov. 1. Australian-born Am. novelist-playwright Sumner Locke Elliott (b. 1917) on June 24. Am. scientist Marcel Vogel (b. 1917). Am. scientist Iben Browning (b. 1918) on July 18 in Albuquerque, N.M. Am. Int. Ladies' Garment Workers' Union pres. (1975-86) Sol Chick Chaikin (b. 1918) on Apr. 1. English historian Ralph Henry Carless Davis (b. 1918) on Mar. 12. Am. "12 O'Clock High" actor-producer William D. Gordon (b. 1918) on Aug. 12. English painter Sir Lawrence Gowing (b. 1918) on Feb. 5 (heart failure). English flyweight boxing champ (1938-43) Peter Kane (Cain) (b. 1918) on July 23. German opera dir. Friedelind Wagner (b. 1918) on May 8; granddaughter of Richard Wagner (1813-83); fled Nazi Germany after attacking Nazi culture. Am. NASA head James C. Fletcher (b. 1919) on Dec. 22; launched the Shuttle program. English ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn (b. 1919) on Feb. 21 in Panama City, Panama. Am. "Sixteen Tons" singer Tennessee Ernie Ford (b. 1919) on Oct. 17. Am. crewcut comedian George Gobel (b. 1919) on Feb. 24. Am. singer Billy Vaughn (b. 1919) on Sept. 26 in Escondido, Calif. (mesothelioma). Am. poet Howard Nemerov (b. 1920) on July 5 in University City, Mo. Am. Philadelphia mayor Frank L. Rizzo (b. 1920) on July 16: "The streets are safe... it's only the people who make them unsafe." Egyptian PM (1964-5) Aly Sabry (b. 1920) on Aug. 3. Am. "Laura Hunt in Laura", "Lucy Muir in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" actress Gene Tierney (b. 1920) on Nov. 6 in Houston, Tex. (emphysema). U. Rep. (R-Mass.) (1959-91) Silvio O. Conte (b. 1921) on Feb. 8 in Bethesda, Md. Am. baseball player-exec. Hoot Evers (b. 1921) on Jan. 25. Am. "Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies" actress Nancy Kulp (b. 1921) on Feb. 3. Canadian "Studio One" dir. Fletcher Markle (b. 1921) on May 23 in Pasadena, Calif. Am. newspaperman Clark R. Mollenhoff (b. 1921) on Mar. 2. Italian-born French actor-singer Yves Montand (b. 1921) on Nov. 9 in Senlis, Oise, France (heart attack). Am. "A Chorus Line", "Hair" theatrical producer Joseph Papp (b. 1921) on Oct. 31 (prostate cancer). Am. country singer Webb Pierce (b. 1921) on Feb. 24 in Nashville, Tenn. (pancreatic cancer). Am. producer and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (b. 1921) on Oct. 24 in Santa Monica, Calif.: "We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes." Am. "Marshal Dan Troop in The Lawman" actor John Russell (b. 1921) on Jan. 19 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. writer-producer Milton Subotsky (b. 1921) on June 27 (heart disease). German font designer Otl Aicher (b. 1922) on Sept. 1 in Rotis uber Leutkirch. Am. "My Favorite Husband" actress Joan Caulfield (b. 1922) on June 18. Am. "Sanford and Son" actor-comedian Redd Foxx (John Elroy Sanford) (b. 1922) on Oct. 11 in Los Angeles, Calif. (heart attack); dies on the set of The Royal Family, grabbing a chair and falling to the floor while the castmates think he's putting on his usual act. Am. civil rights leader (CORE) Floyd B. McKissick (b. 1922) on Apr. 28. Am. blues musician William Nix (b. 1922) on July 8 in Leland, Miss. Czech-born British billionaire media mogul Robert Maxwell (Jan Ludwig Hoch) (b. 1923) on Nov. 5 at sea near the Canary Islands (falls overboard from his luxury yacht Lady Ghislaine) (suicide?) (murdered by the Mossad?); buried in Jerusalem. Am. TV "60 Minutes" newscaster Harry Reasoner (b. 1923) on Aug. 6. Am. poet James Marcus Schuyler (b. 1923) on Apr. 12 in Manhattan, N.Y. (stroke). Am. Beat artist Harry Everett Smith (b. 1923) on Nov. 27 in New York City. Japanese foreign minister (1982-6) Shintaro Abe (b. 1924) on May 15. Cuban horse trainer Lazaro Sosa Barrera (b. 1924) on Apr. 25; trained 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed. Am. Pennzoil pres.-CEO William C. Liedtke Jr. (b. 1924) on Mar. 1. Soviet sci-fi novelist Arkady Strugatsky (b. 1925) on Oct. 12. U.S. Sen. (R-Tex.) (1961-85) John Goodwin Tower (b. 1925) on Apr. 5 in Brunswick, Ga. Am. Charlie Chaplin's wife Oona, Lady Chaplin (b. 1926) on Sept. 27 in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland (pancreatic cancer). Am. jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (b. 1926) on Sept. 28 in Santa Monica, Calif. Canadian-born Am. "voice of Pazuzu in The Exorcist III", "Marilla Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables" actress Colleen Dewhurst (b. 1926) on Aug. 22 in South Salem, N.Y. (cervical cancer). Polish-born German movie actor Klaus Kinski (b. 1926) on Nov. 23. Am. baseball player Dale Long (b. 1926) on Jan. 27 in Palm Coast, Fla. Am. "Battle Cry" actor Aldo Ray (DaRe) (b. 1926) on Mar. 27 in Crockett, Calif. Am. actor-novelist Thomas Tryon (b. 1926) on Sept. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. (cancer). Am. Western Swing bandleader Billy Jack Wills (b. 1926) on Mar. 3. Am. FCC chmn. (1969-74) Dean Burch (b. 1927) on Aug. 4. Am. baseball player (pinch-hitter champ) Smoky (Forest) Burgess (b. 1927) on Sept. 15. Am. cool jazz saxophonist Stan Getz (b. 1927) on June 6 in Malibu, Calif. French poet-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg (b. 1928) on Mar. 2 in Paris (heart attack); "He was our Baudelaire, our Apollinaire... He elevated the song to the level of art" (Francois Miterrand). English Tom Jones" dir. Tony Richardson (b. 1928) on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. basketball player Ray Felix (b. 1930) on July 28 in Queens, N.Y. Am. concert promoter Bill Graham (Wolfgang Grajonca) (b. 1930) on Oct. 25 (heli crash en route from a Huey Lewis concert). Am. Apollo 15 moonwalking astronaut James B. Irwin (b. 1930) on Aug. 8. Am. singer-actor (Tony in the original Broadway production of West Side Story) Larry Kert (b. 1930) on June 5. Am. journalist Douglas Kiker (b. 1930) on Aug. 14. Am. dancer and "Steve Allen's Tonight Show" TV producer Nick Vanoff (b. 1930) on Mar. 23 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. "King of Gospel" musician-composer James L. Cleveland (b. 1931) on Feb. 9. New Brunswick PM (1970-87) Richard Bennett Hatfield (b. 1931) on Apr. 26. Am. hockey coach Bob Johnson (b. 1931) on Nov. 26. Am. poet Etheridge Knight (b. 1931) on Mar. 10 in Indianapolis, Ind. English runner Gordon Pirie (b. 1931) on Dec. 7. Am. contract bridge champ Jim Jacoby (b. 1932) on Feb. 8. Am. country singer Dottie West (b. 1932) on Sept. 4. British comedian Bernie Winters (Weinstein) (b. 1932) on May 4. Am. serial murderer Donald Henry Gaskins (b. 1933) on Sept. 6 in Columbia, S.C. (electrocuted). Palestinian PLO #2 man (founder of Black September?) Salah Mesbah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) (b. 1933) on Jan. 14 in Tunis (assassinated). Polish-born Am. "Being There" novelist Jerzy Kosinski (b. 1933) on May 3 (suicide). Am. Fluxus cellist Charlotte Moorman (b. 1933) on Nov. 8 in New York City (cancer). Am. "Here Comes My Baby" country singer Dottie West (b. 1933) on Sept. 4; known for duets with Kenny Rogers. Am. novelist Raymond Andrews (b. 1934) on Nov. 25 in Athens, Ga. (suicide). Am. "Mr. Novak" actor James Franciscus (b. 1934) on July 8 in North Hollywood, Calif. (emphysema). Am. Kingston Trio singer Dave Guard (b. 1934) on Mar. 22 in Rollinsford, N.H. (cancer). Am. economist Leonard Rapping (b. 1934) on Oct. 1 in Boston, Mass. (heart failure). New Zealand-born biochemist and molecular geneticist Allan C. Wilson (b. 1934) on July 23. Am. "Arnold Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark" actor Ronald Lacey (b. 1935) on May 15 in London. Am. "Hair" co-author Gerome Ragni (b. 1935) on July 10 in New York City (cancer). Am. "Little Joe in Bonanza", "Little House on the Prairie" actor Michael Landon (b. 1936) on July 1 in Malibu, Calif. (pancreatic cancer). Am. actress Lee Remick (b. 1937) on July 2. Pennsylvania Repub. Sen. and H.J. Heinz food heir H. John Heinz III (b. 1938) on Apr. 4. Am. "Dreamgirls" lyricist Tom Eyen (b. 1940) on May 26 in Palm Beach, Fla. (AIDS). Am. "Norman in Nashville" actor David Arkin (b. 1941) on Jan. 14 (suicide). Am. singer-songwriter-musician and Byrds co-founder Gene Clark (b. 1941) on May 24. Am. "Temptations" singer David Ruffin (b. 1941) on June 1. Am. flamboyant gay convict Richard Speck (b. 1941) on Dec. 5 in Joliet, Ill.; dies in prison of a heart attack. Am. sports journalist Peter M. Axthelm (b. 1943) on Feb. 2. Am. Byrds co-founder Gene Clark (b. 1944) on May 24 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. (alcoholism). Indian PM #7 (1984-9) Rajiv Gandhi (b. 1944) on May 21 in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu; assassinated by Thenmozhi "Gayatri" Rajaratnam of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Zanzibar-born British Queen rocker Freddie Mercury (b. 1946) on Nov. 24 (AIDS-related pneumonia); has a Zoroastrian funeral; "There was all that time when we knew Freddie was on the way out, we kept our heads down" (Brian May) - the good fags die young? Am. football player Travis Williams (b. 1946) on Feb. 17 in Martinez, Calif. Am. astronaut Sonny (Manley Lanier) Carter (Jr.) (b. 1947) on Apr. 5. English rocker Steve Marriott (b. 1947) on Apr. 20 in Arkesden, Essex (house fire). French composer Jacques Morali (b. 1947) on Nov. 15 (AIDS); creator of the Village People. Am. female jockey pioneer Mary Bacon (b. 1948) on June 8. Am. "Midnight Express" "Chariots of Fire" actor Brad Davis (b. 1949) on Sept. 8 in Los Angeles, Calif. (OD); billed as "the first heterosexual actor to die of AIDS"; he was really bi? Am. "Little Shop of Horrors", "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin" playwright-lyricist Howard Ashman (b. 1950) on Mar. 14 in New York City (AIDS). Am. Repub. Nat. Committee chmn. #54 (1989-91) Lee Atwater (b. 1951) on Mar. 29 in Washington, D.C. Am. "The Heartbreakers" rock musician Johnny Thunders (b. 1952) on Apr. 23 in New Orleans, La. (OD) (foul play?). Am. "Harry and the Hendersons" actor (7'2") Kevin Peter Hall (b. 1955) on Apr. 10 - the bigger they are? U.S. Navy pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher (b. 1957) on Jan. 17 in Al Anbar, Iraq (KIA). Am. scientist Belinda Mason (b. 1958) on Sept. 9; first HIV-positive member of the Nat. Commission on AIDS. English "Def Leppard" guitarist Steve Clark (b. 1960) on Jan. 8 in London (OD). Am. AIDS crusader Kimberly Bergalis (b. 1968) on Dec. 8; contracted AIDS from her dentist, then fought to have him tested for it. Swedish "Mayhem" black metal vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin (AKA Dead) (b. 1969) on Apr. 8 (suicide); "Excuse all the blood" (death note?).
1992 Doomsday Clock: 17 min. to midnight. Chinese Year: Monkey (Feb. 4) (lunar year 4690). Time Mag. Man of the Year: Bill Clinton (1946-). Applause, applause, possibilities? This is the Year of the Woman in U.S. politics, which starts out with three women in the U.S. Senate, Jocelyn Birch Burdick (1922-) (D-N.D.), Nancy Landon Kassebaum (1932-) (R-Kan.) (daughter of Alf Landon), and Barbara Ann Mikulski (1936-) (D-Md.), then after the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings proves men are, er, shakes things up, ends with four, Barbara Levy Boxer (1940-) (D-Calif.) (Jewish) (whom U.S. pres. George W. Bush cleverly calls "Ali"), Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun (1947-) (D-Ill.) (first African-Am. woman), Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (1933-2023) (D-Calif.) (Jewish), and Patricia Lynn "Patty" Murray (1950-) (D-Wash.), followed next year by Kathryn Ann "Kay" Bailey Hutchinson (1943-) (R-Tex.). On Jan. 1 the Washington defeats the Mich. 34-14 to win the 1992 Rose Bowl, sacking Michigan QBs 6x and giving the Huskies a share of their only nat. championship. On Jan. 6 U.S. pres. George H.W. Bush travels to South Korea for talks. On Jan. 11 right before a 2nd planned election, the military stages a coup in Algeria, forcing Pres. Bendjedid to resign; Muhammad Boudiaf becomes head of the military-backed High Security Council (HSC); the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) is dismantled and banned on Mar. 4, causing urban terrorism; Boudiaf is assassinated on June 29 and is succeeded by Ali Kafi; on June 29 Belaid Abdessalam (1928-) replaces Sid Ahmed Ghozali as PM (until 1993); French-backed Algerian secular gens. begin a dirty war against the Islamic Salvation Front, killing 150K by 2002. On Jan. 13 the 1992 Mongolian Constitution is ratified (effective Feb. 12), establishing a Western-style representative democracy complete with civil rights incl. freedom of religion, speech, press, and movement. On Jan. 16 after mediation by U.N. secy.-gen. Javier Perez de Cuellar, peace accords are signed between the National Repub. Alliance and the leftist rebels of the FMLN in El Salvador; the civil war ends on Dec. 15 with the disbanding of the FMLN after 75K are killed. On Jan. 22 Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-42 blasts off, carrying seven astronauts incl. physician Roberta Lynn Bondar (1945-), who becomes the first Canadian woman in space. On Jan. 23 the U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 732 without vote to admit Kazakhstan; on Jan. 29 it adopts Resolution 735 without vote to admit Armenia on Jan. 29 it adopts Resolution 736 without vote to admit Kyrgyzstan; on Jan. 29 it adopts Resolution 737 without vote to admit Uzbekistan; on Jan. 29 it adopts Resolution 738 without vote to admit Tajikistan; on Feb. 5 it adopts Resolution 739 without vote to admit Moldova; on Feb. 7 it adopts Resolution 741 without vote to admit Turkmenistan; on Feb. 14 it adopts Resolution 742 without vote to admit Azerbaijan; on Feb. 25 it adopts Resolution 744 without vote to admit San Marino; on May 18 it adopts Resolution 753 without vote to admit Croatia; on May 18 it adopts Resolution 754 without vote to admit Slovenia; on May 20 it adopts Resolution 755 without vote to admit Bosnia and Herzegovina; on July 6 it adopts Resolution 763 without vote to admit Georgia. On Jan. 26 Super Bowl XXVI (26) is held in Minneapolis, Minn.; the Washington Redskins (NFC) defeat the Buffalo Bills (AFC) 37-24, leading 24-0 by the 3rd quarter; Thurman Thomas (1996-) of the Bills misses the first two plays from scrimmage when he can't find his helmet; a reception by James Arthur "Art" Monk (1957-) becomes the first TD overruled by instant replay in a SB; Redskins QB Mark Robert Rypien (1962-) is MVP, passing for 292 yards and two TDs. On Jan. 26 three days after Star mag. pub. an article about Clinton insider Larry Nichols (1949-), who claims that Bill Clinton diverted Ark. state funds to engage in extramarital affairs with five women incl. Ark. state employee Gennifer Flowers (1950-), Miss America Elizabeth Ward Gracen (nee Elizabeth Grace Ward) (1961-), and Miss Ark. Lencola Sullivan (first African-Am. woman to place in the top-5 in the Miss America pageant - 1981), Bill and his wife Hillary give an Interview with Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes, in which she discusses her hubby Bill's alleged decade-long affair with Flowers, and utters the soundbyte: "I'm not sitting here like some little woman, standing by my man like Tammy Wynette", setting off a firestorm of controversy, after which Tammy Wynette (1942-98) demands and receives an apology, even though she is a Clinton supporter and later performs at a fundraiser for him; too bad, despite Bill denying any relationship with her, she airs tapes of telephone conversations he had with her, incl. admissions that Hillary is bi, surprising his own staff with his mendaciousness; in Aug. 1992 Am. journalist Daniel Eli Wattenberg (1959-) pub. an article in The American Spectator titled The Lady Macbeth of Little Rock, attacking Hillary's ideological and ethical record from a conservative perspective, causing an avalanche of articles comparing her to Lady Macbeth; in May 1995 Flowers pub. Passion and Betrayal, which incl. the soundbyte that Bill told her during their affair that Hillary was bi, and "had eaten more pussy than he had"; in 1998 Bill admits in a deposition to having had sex with Flowers; in Oct. 2016 Flowers reveals that Bill paid her $200 to have an abortion in 1977 after Ark. amends its constitution to prohibit the use of state funds to pay for abortions. On Jan. 28 Pres. Bush announces the end of the W-88 nuclear missile program, causing Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant in Colo. near Denver to be shut down after producing 70K "pits" (nukes without the conventional charge that detonates them); a $7B cleanup begins in 2000, which takes until Oct. 2005 to complete, and in 2001 Colo. Sens. Wayne Allard (R) and Mark Udall (D) get legislation passed making 6K acres of it into a wildlife refuge, where it ends up becoming home to bison; the 385 acre core area is closed to the public forever. On Jan. 30 Charles Haughey announces his resignation as PM of Ireland and leader of Fianna Fail, and on Feb. 11 former finance minister Albert Reynolds (1932-) succeeds him as PM (Taoiseach) #8 (until Dec. 15, 1994). In Jan. United We Stand America third party (Libertarian) candidate, Texarkana, Tex.-born self-made, self-nominated, and self-financed billionaire Henry Ross Perot (1930-2019), 1962 founder of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) enters the U.S. pres. race (smelling of a setup by the Dems. to outmaneuver Bush, but nobody can prove it?) claiming that the ballooning nat. debt needs his folksy common sense simplistic approach as a magic bullet (even though he made his fortune with govt. manpower and welfare check processing contracts?); his running mate is decorated Vietnam War vet vice-adm. James Bond Stockdale (1923-2005), who begins his debate with Quayle and Gore by asking the audience "Who am I? Why am I here?", which makes him the butt of jokes even though he only meant to present himself as a philosopher?; after firing his prof. advisors who wanted Stockdale out, Perot suddenly drops out in July, only to reenter in Oct., costing him millions of followers, who quit believing in his decisiveness? In Jan. Bosnia-Herzegovina begins an ethnic civil war despite the presence of U.N. peacekeeping forces; meanwhile on Jan. 15 the Yugoslavian collective state presidency condemns a decision by the EEC to recognize Croatian and Slovenian independence, claiming violation of the U.N. Charter prohibiting the changing of borders. In Jan. Israel and India begin bilateral trade, growing from $100M this year to $6.6B in 2013. In Jan. a ship sailing from Hong Kong to the U.S. loses a shipment of 29K plastic ducks in a storm; the first ducks make landfall on Baranof Island, Alaska in Nov., and others are found in 1994 N of the Bering Strait; scientists use them to verify that seawater flows from the Pacific through the Arctic Ocean into the Atlantic. In Jan. ex-U.S. defense secy. Robert S. McNamara meets with Fidel Castro, who reveals that 162 missiles and 92 tactical warheads were stationed in Cuba during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and that he accepted the complete atomic destruction of Cuba if he could have struck the U.S. first. On Feb. 4 George Bush stinks himself up at a Nat. Grocers Assoc. Convention in Orlando, Fla. by getting vowed by a quart of milk, a light bulb, and a bag of candy being run through a checkout stand, showing him up as a sheltered, elitist, out-of-touch Ivy League whimp who has his menials do his shopping for him. On Feb. 4 Luis Rodriguez hijacks a plane in Cuba with eight others, but the plane drops into the sea near the Fla. Keys, killing all aboard. On Feb. 8-23 the XVI (16th) Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France become the last Winter Games to be staged in the same year as the Summer Games, and the first to be held at the same site with the Winter Paralympics (Mar. 25-Apr. 1); 1,801 athletes (incl. 488 women) from 64 nations participate in 57 events in 7 sports; freestyle mogul skiing, short-track speedskating, and women's biathlon make their debuts; Norway wins every men's cross-country skiing event; Toni Nieminen (1975-) of Finland becomes the youngest male gold medalist at a Winter Olympics, winning two golds and a bronze; U.S. speedskater Bonnie Blair (1964-) wins the 500m and 1Km; Annelise Coberger (1971-) of New Zealand wins the first Winter Olympic medal for the southern hemisphere; Kristi Yamaguchi (1971-) of the U.S. and Midori Ito (1969-) of Japan become the first Asian-descent athletes to win figure skating medals. On Feb. 16 Abbas al-Musawi (b. 1952) is assassinated by Israeli forces, and Hassan Nasrallah (1960-) becomes leader of Hezbollah (until ?), uttering the soundbytes "There is no solution to the conflict in this region except with the disapearance of Israel", "Death to Israel", and "What do the Jews want? They want security and money. Throughout history the Jews have been Allah's most cowardly and avaricious creatures. If you look all over the world, you will find no one more miserly or greedy than they are." On Feb. 17 after he kills, murders, dismembers, commits necrophilia and eats 17 men and boys in 1978-91, gay alcoholic cannibal serial killer ("the Milwaukee Cannibal") Jeffrey Linel Dahmer (1960-94) is sentenced in Milwaukee, Wisc. to life in prison for 15 murders; on May 1, 1992 he is sentenced for murder #1 of 18-y.-o. Steven Hicks in Coventry Township, Ohio on July 25, 1978; he is beaten to death in Columbia Correctional Inst. in Portage, Wisc. by a fellow prisoner Christopher Scarver on Nov. 28, 1994 - here's the tale of Sweeney Todd? On Feb. 27 N.M. resident Stella Liebeck (1913-) is badly burned by a 49-cent cup of coffee that she opens in a stationary car and spills on her cotton sweatpants, soaking in and giving 6% of her body 3rd deg. burns, requiring skin grafts; after asking McDonald's for $20K compensation, and the arrogant schmucks blow her off with an offer of $800, she goes to court, and on Aug. 18, 1994, after her atty. S. Reed Morgan proves that McDonald's serves coffee at 180-190F rather than 140F like some other restaurants, and that they had paid over $500K to 700+ customers for coffee burns from 1982-92, a jury awards her $160K in compensatory damages, plus $2.7M in punitive damages, the latter reduced to $480K on appeal (3x actual damages), becoming known as "the poster child of excessive lawsuits" by pro-corp. attys.; McDonald's sticks to a 176-194F policy, and adds sterner labels; in 2002 after the case enters pop. culture, the Stella Awards are founded by Internet journalist Randy Cassingham (1964-) to list ridiculous lawsuits; "The moment you compare yourself to Christ, you've lost the high ground" (Cassingham). In Feb. the EEC recognizes Slovenia, and in May it joins the U.N. In Feb. India (which voted against its creation) finally recognizes Israel, allowing it to open an embassy in New Delhi, followed in May by India opening an embassy in Tel Aviv. In Feb. the UNPROFOR (U.N. Protection Force) peacekeeping mission begins in Yugoslavia, reaching a full strength of 39,992 in Sept. 1994, incl. a Rapid Reaction Force (ends Mar. 1995). On Mar. 1 voters in Montenegro overwhelmingly approve staying within Yugoslavia; meanwhile voters in Bosnia-Herzegovina approve independence, and on Apr. 6 the EEC recognizes the new repub. On Mar. 3 a ceasefire is signed in Somalia; in Apr. massive U.N. relief begins arriving; the U.N. sends 50 unarmed observers to Mogadishu in July; after U.N. secy. gen. Boutros Boutros-Ghali criticizes the U.S. for focusing aid on the "rich man's war" in Bosnia rather than the "poor man's war" in Somalia, U.N. humanitarian relief begins on Aug. 15; hijacking of relief supplies leads U.S. Pres. Bush to order 25K U.S. troops into Somalia on Dec. 5 under Operation Restore Hope (until Mar. 1994); in Sept. Belgian-born British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-93), UNICEF goodwill ambassador since 1985 makes a publicity-filled visit to help the starving children of Somalia - takes one to know one? On Mar. 3 Hungary's highest court rules a 1991 bill that would have permitted prosecutions of political criminals of the former Communist regime unconstitutional. On Mar. 9-12 mass protests in Belgrade call for the resignation of pres. Slobodan Milosevic. On Mar. 11 Hungary launches phases two of its privatization program. On Mar. 12 Jordan's King Hussein meets with Pres. Bush in Washington, D.C. On Mar. 16 Fox airs Doing Time on Maple Drive, a TV movie about a dysfunctional family, starring James B. Sikking, Bibi Besch, and William McNamara (whose char. Matt discovers his gayness), and featuring an upcoming young actor named Jim Carrey playing alcoholic college dropout Tim. On Mar. 17 a truck bombing at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 28. On Mar. 17 Russia launches Soyuz TM-14 (first Russian Soyuz mission after collapse of the Soviet Union), carrying cosmonauts Alexander Stepanovich Viktorenko (1947-), Alexander Yuriyevich "Sasha" Kaleri (1956-), and Klaus-Dietrich Flade (1952-) of Germany; Soyuz TM-13 on Mar. 25 with Flade, and Krikalev, who becomes known as "the last citizen of the U.S.S.R."; on July 27 Soyuz TM-15 blasts off, carrying cosmonauts Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev (1948-), Sergei Avdeyev (1956-), and Michel Tognini of France; it returns next Feb. 1; Soyuz TM-14 returns on Aug. 10 with Viktorenko, Kaleri, and Tognini, a landing system malfunction causing the descent module to land upside down. On Mar. 24 Space Shuttle Atlantis Flight STS-45 blasts off, carrying astronauts Charles Frank "Charlie" Bolden Jr. (1946-), Brian Duffy (1953-), Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan (1951-), David Cornell Leestma (1949-), Colin Michael Foale (1957-), Byron Kurt Lichtenberg (1948-), and Dirk Dries David, Viscount Frimout (1941-) of Belgium (1st Belgian in space); it lands on Apr. 2. On Mar. 26 Yugoslav nat. army troops withdraw from Macedonia. On Mar. 28 Moldovan Pres. Mircea Snegur imposes a state of emergency after 1 mo. of fighting in the self-proclaimed Trans-Dnestr Repub., consisting mainly of Russians and Ukrainians who don't like Moldova's ties with Romania. On Mar. 30 Michael Manley steps down because of bad health, and his deputy PM Percival Noel James Patterson (1935-) of the People's Nat. Party becomes PM #6 of Jamaica (until Mar. 30, 2006). On Mar. 30 the 64th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Calif. are hosted by Billy Crystal (2nd time), who is wheeled in on a stretcher wearing a ski mask a la Hannibal Lecter; 100-y.-o. Hal Roach Sr. rises from the audience for a standing ovation and decides to give a speech without a a microphone, causing Crystal to comment "I think that's appropriate because Mr. Roach started in silent films"; the best picture Oscar for 1991 goes to Orion's The Silence of the Lambs, along with best dir. to Jonathan Demme, and best actor and actress to Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster; best supporting actor goes to Jack Palance for City Slickers, and best supporting actress to Mercedes Ruehl for The Fisher King; Jack Palance shows that he's still spry by doing 1-handed pushups on stage; Elizabeth Taylor receives the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Ward for supporting AIDS research. On Mar. 31 the Russian Federation Treaty is signed by 18 of Russia's autonomous repubs.; Chechen-Ingushetia and Tatarstan abstain. In Mar. Orthodox Church officials accuse the papacy of trying to make converts in "its" territory, causing the dream of unity to go down the holy toilet? In the spring a new star, NL-450, 6.7M l.y. from Earth allegedly appears over Bethlehem, causing some Christians to believe that Jesus is returning to Earth and the End of Days is at hand. On Apr. 1 Nat. Public Radio (NPR) announces that Nixon is seeking office again, stirring panic. On Apr. 2 Ukrainian-descent Socialist Pierre Beregovoy (Bérégovoy) (1925-93) becomes PM of France (until Mar. 29, 1993), replacing Edith Cresson. On Apr. 5 the Siege of Sarajevo by Serb forces under the orders of Radovan Karadzic begins (ends Feb. 29, 1996) in an effort to destroy the new state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On Apr. 7 the Hungarian nat. assembly approves a second compensation for damages caused by the state between 939-49. On Apr. 9 Sali Berisha of the Dem. Party of Albania is elected pres. of Albania (until July 24, 1997). On Apr. 13 the Great Chicago Flood results from its 100-y.-o. tunnel system filling with water from the Chicago River. On Apr. 15 the Mujahidin Alliance in Afghanistan deposes Muhammad Najibullah, who resigns on Apr. 16; on Apr. 22-24 Kabul is taken without resistance, and an interim govt. takes power until the June 28 election of Burhanuddin Rabbani (1940-2011) as pres. by the people, er, a supreme council of rebel leaders (until Sept. 27, 1996); on Dec. 30 an electoral assembly confirms him, but opponents charge the election with being rigged. On Apr. 15 U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions on Libya for not surrendering two suspects in the bombing of a fatal Pan Am flight over Scotland. On Apr. 20-Oct. 12 the Seville Expo '92 in Seville, Spain celebrates the 500th anniv. of Christopher Columbus' discovery of Amrica, with Guadalquivir eing the port he sails from, receiving 41,814,571 visitors; it runs in parallel with Genoa Expo '92 (May 15-Aug. 15) in Columbus' birth city of Genoa, Italy, receiving 694,800 visitors. On Apr. 22 (10:05-11:16 a.m. local time) the 10 Guadalajara Sewer Explosions in Mexico destroy 20 blocks and kill 206 and injures 500+, leaving 15K homeless and causing $300M-$1B damage, causing the mayor to resign and a number of PEMEX execs to be charged with negligent homicide. On Apr. 22 the nat. assembly of Slovenia passes a no confidence vote on the Slovenian govt. On Apr. 25 Jozsef Torgyan (József Torgyán) (1932-2017), leader of the Independent Smallholders' Party organizes a demonstration of 20K people in Budapest, calling for the govt. to resign for betraying the anti-Communist rev. On Apr. 27 a new Federal Repub. of Yugoslavia is declared, with only two of the original six members remaining, Serbia and Montenegro. On Apr. 29 the 1992 Los Angeles Riots begin after a jury acquits four police officers (three white, one Hispanic) accused of the Mar. 3, 1991 beating of suspect Rodney King (1965-2017), with mobs shouting "black justice" and "no justice, no peace"; at 6:46 p.m. white 18-wheel construction truck driver Reginald Oliver Denny (1953-) (carrying 27 tons of sand) is attacked by the "L.A. Bad Four", a gang of pissed-off black rioters, starting with Antoine Eugene "Twan" Miller (1972-2004), opening the door of his truck at Florence Ave. and Normandie, after which the others pull him out, then Henry Keith "Kiki" Watson (1965-) (who apologizes on the Phil Donahue show in 1993), holds his head down with his foot, then an unknown man throws a 5-lb. piece of medical equipment at him then hits him in the head 3x with a claw hammer, then Damian Monroe "Football" Williams (1973-) hits him in the head with a concrete slab, knocking him unconscious, then does a victory dance over his body and flips-off news helis, while Marika Tur and Bob Tur film the whole sequence from their heli, and later spend years suing everybody who play their video without paying them; finally Anthony Brown spits on him and leaves with Williams, and bystanders throw beer bottles at him and attempt to set his truck on fire, while Gary Williams (1958-) rifles Denny's pocket and steals his wallet, and Lance Parker (1966-) tries to shoot the gas tank of Denny's truck but misses; enter the "L.A. Good Four" (all black), Bobby Green (truck driver), Titus Murphy and Terri Barnett (boyfriend-girlfriend), and Lei Yuille (dietician), who come to Denny's aid, and Green drives Denny to the hospital in Denny's truck, where he is found to have 91 skull fractures and a dislocated left eye, and suffers a seizure and comes close to death, ending up with a permanent crater in his head; on Aug. 6 after it took a riot to get U.S. prosecutors to do their job on sacred cow cops, a federal jury indicts the four officers for violating Rodney King's civil rights, and this time two of them, Laurence Powell and Stacey Koon are kapow convicted next Apr. and sentenced to 30 mo., while Theodore Brisene and Timothy Wind breeze away; meanwhile non-cops Gary Williams and Football Williams get 3 and 10 years. On Apr. 29 the Los Angeles Riots begin (end May 4), killing 55 and injuring 2K after a jury acquits four police officers (three white, one Hispanic) accused of the Mar. 3, 1991 beating of taxi driver Rodney Glen King (1965-2012), with mobs shouting "black justice" and "no justice, no peace"; at 6:46 p.m. white 18-wheel truck driver Reginald Oliver Denny (1953-) (carrying 27 tons of sand) is attacked by the "L.A. Bad Four", a gang of pissed-off black rioters, starting with Antoine "Twan" Miller (1973-), opening the door of his truck at Florence Ave. and Normandie, after which the others pull him out, then Henry Keith "Kiki" Watson (1965-) (who apologizes on the Phil Donahue show in 1993), holds his head down with his foot, then an unknown man throws a 5-lb. piece of medical equipment at him then hits him in the head 3x with a claw hammer, then Damian Monroe "Football" Williams (1973-) hits him in the head with a concrete slab, knocking him unconscious, then does a victory dance over his body and flips-off news helis, while Marika Tur and Bob Tur film the whole sequence from their heli, and later spend years suing everybody who play their video without paying them; finally Anthony Brown spits on him and leaves with Williams, and bystanders throw beer bottles at him and attempt to set his truck on fire, while Gary Williams rifles Denny's pocket and steals his wallet, and Lance Parker (1966-) tries to shoot the gas tank of Denny's truck but misses; enter the "L.A. Good Four" (all black), Bobby Green (truck driver), Titus Murphy and Terri Barnett (boyfriend-girlfriend), and Lei Yuille (dietician), who come to Denny's aid, and Green drives Denny to the hospital in Denny's truck, where he is found to have 91 skull fractures and a dislocated left eye, and suffers a seizure and comes close to death, ending up with a permanent crater in his head; on Aug. 6 after it took a riot to get U.S. prosecutors to do their job on sacred cow cops, a federal jury indicts the four officers for violating Rodney King's civil rights, and this time two of them, Laurence Powell and Stacey Koon are kapow convicted next Apr. and sentenced to 30 mo., while Theodore Brisene and Timothy Wind breeze away; meanwhile non-cops Gary Williams and Football Williams get 3 and 10 years. In Apr. there is a military coup in Freetown, Sierra Leone; Pres. Joseph Momoh flees to Guinea, and Capt. Valentine Strasser announces the formation of a Nat. Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). On May 5 the Twenty-Seventh (27th) Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is finally ratified after Md. became the 1st state to ratify it on Dec. 19, 1789; it prohibits any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress from taking effect until the start of the next set of terms of office for representatives; the last amendment until ?. On May 7 Space Shuttle Endeavour, named after Capt. James Cook's ship blasts off on its maiden flight STS-49, retrieving Intelsat VI 603, which failed to leave low Earth orbit in 1990, and relaunching it with a new upper stage into geosynchronous orbit, becoming the first 3-person EVA (until 2001), returning on May 16. On May 12 Bill Clinton pollsters Stanley Bernard "Stan" Greenberg (1945-) and Celinda Lake pub. the confidential memo Research on Hillary Clinton, which concludes that voters admire the couple's strength, but "they also fear that only someone too politically ambitious, too strong, and too ruthless could survive such controversy so well", concluding: "What voters find slick in Bill Clinton, they find ruthless in Hillary." On May 13 the Hungarian nat. assembly passes a third compensation for govt. expropriations from 1939-89. On May 13 Chinese martial arts master Li Hongzhi (1952-) founds the Falun Gong (Dafa) (Dharma Wheel Practice) at the Fifth Middle School in Changchun City, China, going on to travel throughout China making 70M converts, er, disciples, er, students by 1999, finally pissing-off the paranoid govt. and causing them to persecute it beginning on July 20, 1999. On May 19 underage ho Amy Elizabeth Fisher (1974-), "the Long Island Lolita" shoots Mary Jo Buttafuoco, wife of her lover Joseph A. "Joey" Buttafuoco (1956-) at his Long Island, N.Y. home, and gets 5-15 years for aggravated assault, being paroled in 1999 and becoming a porno actress, while Joey gets 4 mo. for statutory rape. On May 26 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules unanimously in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota that states may not collect sales tax from retail purchases made over the Internet unless the seller has a physical presence in the state; overrruled by "South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc." (2018). On May 22 France and Germany agree to form the European Corps, a joint 35K-soldier army corps, to be operational by Oct. 1995, operating under the umbrella of the Western European Union and open to other members. On May 22 (Fri.) Johnny Carson (1925-2005) hosts The Tonight Show for the last time (in NBC's Studio 1A in Hollywood), leaving after a reign of almost 30 years; his last of 22K+ guests is Bette Midler; next to last is Robin Williams; she serenades Carson on his next to last show with One More For My Baby; he makes $30M for his work this year, and wins the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year, followed by the Kennedy Center Honors next year; on May 25 Jay Leno (1950-) becomes the show's 4th host (Steve Allen, Jack Paar); his first guest is Billy Crystal. On May 23 Italian judge Giovanni Falcone (b. 1939) is assassinated after preparing to lead a drive against the Mafia, causing the chamber of deputies to tighten up and approve special police powers to fight the Mafia on Aug. 7. On May 24 Thomas Klestil (1932-2004) of the Austrian People's Party is elected pres. #10 of Austria (until 2004), succeeding beloved Kurt Waldheim; he is sworn-in on July 8 (until July 6, 2004). On May 28 Baron Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (1918-) becomes pres. of Italy (until May 15, 1999). In May the Balkan War ends; the Serbian-controlled Yugoslav army sieges the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, killing more than 250, and damaging more than 70% of its bldgs. (restored within a decade). In May the Tajikistan Civil War begins between Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan provinces vs. Leninabad and Kulyab (Kulyob) provinces, killing 50K-100K by June 1997; in Aug. pres. #1 (since Dec. 2) (former Communist Party first secy. in 1982-5) Rahmon Nabiyev (1930-93) of Leninabad Province resigns amid anti-govt. protests, and on Nov. 20 Emomalii Rahmon (1952-) of Kulyab Province becomes pres. #2 of Tajikistan (until ?). In May after Corazon Aquino decides not to seek another term, pres. elections in the Philippines are won by defense secy. and gen. Fidel Valdez Ramos (1928-) (hero of the 1986 People Power Rev.), who is sworn-in as Philippines pres. #12 on June 30 (until June 30, 1998). In May Hungary is admitted as a participant in the Eureka Initiative on hi-tech projects. In May Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina comes under intensive attack by Serbian forces. On June 3-14 the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit (U.N. Conference on Environment and Development) is held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, producing the 27-principle Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, based on the principle of sustainable development, a Rio Declaration on Forests, the Rio (U.N.) Framework Convention on Climate Change (June 4), and the devilish Marxist globalist 40-chapter $600B Agenda 21 along with an agreement to establish a Sustainable Development Commission to monitor the progress in implementing the Rio Declaration, becoming the largest and most costly diplomatic gathering in world history to date but failing to agree on an internat. ban on whaling, followed on June 13-22 by the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, in which Canadian globalist Marxist U.N. bigwig Maurice Strong (1929-2015) utters the soundbytes: "We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrialized civilization to collapse. Isn't it our responsibility to bring this about?"; "It is clear that current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class…involving high meat intake, consumption of large amounts of frozen and convenience foods, ownership of motor vehicles, golf courses, small electric appliances, home and work place air-conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable... A shift is necessary toward lifestyles less geared to environmentally damaging consumption patterns", followed by U.S. Sen. (D-Colo.) (1987-93) Timothy Endicott "Tim" Wirth (1939-) (backer of Al Gore's agenda), who utters the soundbyte: "We have got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic policy and environmental policy", going on to become undersecy. of state #1 for global affairs for the U.S. State Dept. in 1993-7, lead U.S. negotiator for the Kyoto Climate Conference, and pres. #1 of the United Nations Foundation in 1998-2013; activists claim that the Earth has only 10 years left to get global warming under control; U.S. deputy asst. of state Richard Benedick adds: "A global warming treaty must be implemented even if there is no scientific evidence to back the greenhouse effect"; Vancouver, Canada-born environmental activist Severn Cullis-Suzuki (1979-), daughter of environmental activist David Suzuki and 1988 founder of the Environmental Children's Org. (ECO) gives a speech at the Rio summit, containing the soundbyte: "I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the hole in our ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it", which becomes a viral YouTube hit, causing her to be known as "the Girl Who Silenced the World for Five Minutes"; meanwhile a climate skeptic conference is held in Heidelberg, Germany, resulting in the Heidelberg Appeal by Michel Salomon to be pub., signed by 492 scientists, calling on govt. to quit following "junk" environmental science for their "balanced" policies, calling it "pseudoscientific arguments or false and nonrelevant data", pissing-off the global warmists, who call it tobacco and asbestos industry agitprop, which doesn't stop it from having influence, after which Philip Morris pays APCO & Assocs. the create the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC) in 1993, headed by Steve Milloy. On June 4 the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is opened for signatures at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, entering into force on Mar. 21, 1994, with the objective to "stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system", setting non-binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions with no enforcement mechanisms. On June 6 a new govt. is formed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On June 9 the Serbian Dem. Movement calls for the resignation of Serbian pres. Slobodan Milosevic; in June Dobrica Cosic (1921-) is elected pres. of the Federated Repub. of Yugoslavia (until 1993); on July 14 U.S.-born multimillionaire ICN Pharmaeuticals founder Milan Panic (1929-) is elected PM #1 (until Feb. 9, 1993) after running for pres. of Serbia and coming in #2 behind Slobodan Milosevic in a dirty election, becoming the first U.S. citizen in a high-level political position in a foreign country since Golda Meir of Israel - don't panic? On June 9 Egyptian human rights activist Farag Fouda (Foda) (b. 1946) is assassinated in Cairo by Jamaa Islamiya for advocating secularism after being convicted of blasphemy by clerics at El Azhar U., one of 202 killed between Mar. 1992 and Sept. 1993; his murderers are released in 2012. On June 10 Bolivia, leading exporter of Brazil nuts privatizes 66 state-owned cos.; on Nov. 13 it signs a free trade agreement with Peru, eliminating tariffs on 6K items. On June 11 Jozsef Torgyen is suspended as head of the Hungarian Independent Smallholders' Party, and on June 23 Zoltan Kiraly announces a new left-wing Social Dem. People's Party. On June 14 the U.N. Conference onoEnvironment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro reveals Agenda 21, a non-binding voluntary plan for the 21st cent. to combat poverty et al. via sustainable development; 178 nations vote to adopt it. On June 17 the Boipatong Massacre near Vereeniging in South Africa sees 300 armed men affiliated with the Inkatha Freedom Party attack negotiations between the govt. Nationalist Party (NP) and the African Nat. Congress (ANC), causing the latter to withdraw. On June 23 "Teflon Don" John Gotti (1940-2002) is sentenced to life in prison on RICO charges, and later dies in priz. On June 24 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-4 in Lee v. Weisman that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits schools from sponsoring clergy-led prayers at graduation ceremonies, even non-denominational prayers, even if attendance is voluntary, establishing the Coercion Test, which "seeks to determine whether the state has applied coercive pressure on an individual to support or participate in religion", with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing the soundbyte: "To say a teenage student has a real choice not to attend her high school graduation is formalistic in the extreme. rue, Deborah could elect not to attend commencement without renouncing her diploma; but we shall not allow the case to turn on this point. Everyone knows that, in our society and in our culture, high school graduation is one of life's most significant occasions. A school rule which excuses attendance is beside the point. Attendance may not be required by official decree, yet it is apparent that a student is not free to absent herself from the graduation exercise in any real sense of the term 'voluntary' for absence would require forfeiture of those intangible benefits which have motivated the student through youth and all her high school years"; and "The principle that government may accommodate the free exercise of religion does not supersede the fundamental limitations imposed by the Establishment Clause. It is beyond dispute that, at a minimum, the Constitution guarantees that government may not coerce anyone to support or participate in religion or its exercise, or otherwise act in a way which "establishes a [state] religion or religious faith, or tends to do so"; dissenting Justice Antonin Scalia writes the soundbyte: "In holding that the Establishment Clause prohibits invocations and benedictions at public school graduation ceremonies, the Court - with nary a mention that it is doing so - lays waste a tradition that is as old as public school graduation ceremonies themselves, and that is a component of an even more longstanding American tradition of nonsectarian prayer to God at public celebrations generally. As its instrument of destruction, the bulldozer of its social engineering, the Court invents a boundless, and boundlessly manipulable, test of psychological coercion." On June 25 U.S. Dem. Sen. Joseph Biden gives a speech in the U.S. Senate, announcing the Biden Rule, that a Supreme Court nomination by a lame duck U.S. pres. shouldn't be considered until his successor is elected, with the soundbyte: "It would be our pragmatic conclusion that once the political season is under way, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election campaign is over. That is what is fair to the nominee and is central to the process. Others may fret that this approach would leave the Court with only eight members for some time, but as I see it... the cost of such a result, the need to reargue three or four cases that will divide the Justices four to four, are quite minor compared to the cost that a nominee, the president, the Senate, and the nation would have to pay for what would assuredly be a bitter fight, no matter how good a person is nominated by the president"; it comes back to haunt him in 2016. On June 29 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules in Planned Parenthood v. Casey to reaffirm Roe v. Wade (1973), with the soundbyte: "Matters, involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment", adding the "undue burden" standard for abortion restrictions. In June the U.N. Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro attracts 118 presidents and heads of state. In June after three British journalists pub. a story about detention camps in N Bosnia, the U.N. Security Council sends troops to Bosnia-Herzegovina to force a ceasefire between Bosnian and Serb forces in Sarajevo; Pres. Clinton later writes the soundbyte about French pres. Francois Mitterrand: "He was more sympathetic to the Serbs than I was, and less willing to see a Muslim-led unified Bosnia." On July 3 the first USAF C-130 transport planes from Operation Provide Promise arrive in Sarajevo, Bosnia. On July 4 Pres. Clinton stops Pakistan from nuking India. On July 4 the Mormon Alliance (originally the Mormon Defense League) is founded by atty. Paul Toscano and Lavinia Fielding Anderson (1944-) to document allegations of spiritual and ecclesiastical abuse by the LDS Church (Mormons); both are excommunicated in Sept. 1993 as part of the September Six. On July 8 Melrose Place debuts on Fox Network as a spinoff of "Beverly Hills, 90210) for 226 episodes (until May 24, 1992), about an apt. complex at 4616 Melrose Pl. in West Hollywood, Calif. On July 10 Panamanian leader Gen. Manuel Noriega is convicted of eight counts of drug trafficking et al. and sentenced to 40 years in U.S. federal prison. On July 13 Yitzhak Rabin (1922-95) of the Labour Party becomes PM of Israel for the 2nd time (until Nov. 4, 1995). On July 13-17 the Dem. Nat. Convention in New York City nominates Ark. Gov. William "Bill" Clinton for pres. on the first ballot, and he chooses Tenn. Sen. Albert "Al" Gore for vice-pres.; Clinton is a "New Democrat", preaching equal opportunity for all, not just the poor, in order to move the party to the center and capture some former Reagan voters (esp. former Southern Dems.); Pres. Bush's do-nothing response to the continuing recession (begun in 1990) gives an opening, and the slogan becomes "It's the economy, stupid". On July 15 Pope John Paul II undergoes an operation for a benign tumor on his holy colon, leaving the hospital on July 28, becoming his first public medical problem since 1981. On July 20 Time mag. pub. an article that quotes Pres. Clinton's deputy secy. of state Strobe Talbot as saying: "In the next century, nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. National sovereignty wasn't such a great idea after all." On July 22 Am. rodeo star Wayne McLaren (b. 1940), who starred as the Marlboro Man in the 1970s then became an anti-smoking activist, making TV ads before/after he lands in the hospital dies of lung cancer. On July 23 (night) a 4-engine Russian Antonov 12 cargo plane approaching Skopje, Macedonia strikes 8,250-ft. Solunska Glava Peak 30 mi. to the S, kiling seven incl. one crewman. On July 25-Aug. 9 the XXV (25th) Summer Olympics are held in Barcelona, Spain, birthplace of IOC pres. (1980-2001) Juan Antonio Samaranch (1920-); first Olympics since 1972 that are not boycotted; 9,356 (6,652 men, 2,704 women) from 169 nations participate in 286 events in 32 sports; King Juan Carlos I opens the games, during which Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo shoots an arrow into the Olympic flame cauldron; Germany sends its first unified team since the 1964 summer games; the debut of Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Yugoslavia is barred); South Africa competes for the first time since 1960, and South African runner Elana Meyer (1966-) (white) and Ethopian runner Derartu Tulu (1972-) (black) run against each other in the 10K race, and after Tulu wins (first Ethiopian woman to win a medal), they run a victory lap hand-in-hand; Evelyn Ashford (1957-) of the U.S. wins her 4th gold, in the 4x100m relay; 14-y.-o. Kyoko Iwasaki (1978-) wins a gold in breastroke, becoming the youngest gold medal winner in Olympic swimming; Vitaly Venediktovich Scherbo (1972-) of Belarus wins six golds in artistic gymnastics, tying Eric Heiden's record; baseball debuts, with Cuba winning the gold medal; roller hockey becomes a demonstration sport; Yael Arad (1967-) becomes the first Israeli to win a medal, a silver in judo, followed by Shay-Oren Smadja (1970-), who wins a bronze in judo; the U.S. Basketball Dream Team, coached by Detroit Pistons head coach (1983-92) Charles Jerome "Chuck" Daly (1930-2009) incl. NBA stars Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird et al., and wins gold, beating eight opponents by an avg. of 44 points, causing basketball to explode in popularity worldwide, rivalling soccer; it is followed by Dream Team II at the 1994 FIBA World Championship, and Dream Team III at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga. On July 31 a China Gen. Aviation Yak-42D overruns the runway in Jiangsu Province, China, killing 108 of 136 aboard. On Aug. 2 Franjo Tudjman (1922-99) of the ruling Croatian Dem. Community (HDZ) scores an overwhelming V in Croatia's first pres. elections since secession from Yugoslavia. On Aug. 7 the Central Bank of Uzbekistan is established by the govt. On Aug. 8 during a stadium tour with Guns N'Roses, Metallica singer James Hetfield walks into a 12-ft. pyrotechnic flame while performing "Fade to Black", and suffers 2nd and 3rd degree burns. On Aug. 9 Wichita, Kan.-born Stanley Ann Dunham (1942-95), mother of future Pres. Barack Obama is awarded a doctorate in anthropology from the U. of Hawaii under the supervision of Alice Greeley Dewey (1928-), with her 1,043-page dissertation titled "Peasant Blacksmithing in Indonesia: Surviving and Thriving Against All Odds", which claims that Indonesian villagers are just as capitalistic as Westerners, but are kept down by the power elites, who steer all the capital to themselves. On Aug. 10 thousands of Sinhalese mourners go on a rampage in Colombo, Sri Lanka at the funeral of slain military hero Lt. Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa, who was killed Aug. 9 along with nine senior military officers by Tamil rebels. On Aug. 10 Sikh militants in India herd 17 villagers into a school yard and shoot them to death to avenge a guerrilla chief. On Aug. 10 a bus plunges off the road on the way to the resort of Puerto Escondido, Mexico, killing three and injuring 25. On Aug. 11 the 4.2M sq. ft. Mall of America, AKA the Megamall in Bloomington, Minn. opens, becoming the biggest shopping mall in the U.S. (until ?). On Aug. 13 Yugoslavia recognizes the independence of Slovenia. On Aug. 13-14 the U.N., spurred by allegations of atrocities holds an extraordinary session of the Human Rights Commission, which passes a resolution condemning the Serbian policy of ethnic cleansing in the Balkan War (forced expulsion of Muslims and Bosnian Catholic Croats by Bosnian Orthodox Serbs); the U.N. Security Council demands access to prison camps in former Yugoslavia and authorizes the use of force to deliver aid. Aug.-Sept. 1992 is the worst month of natural disasters in history to date? On Aug. 16-28 Hurricane Andrew devastates the Bahamas and the U.S. South, causing a record $25B damage and 55 deaths in Fla., La. and the Bahamas, becoming the 3rd known Category 5 hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland (1935 Labor Day Hurricane, 1969 Hurricane Camille). On Aug. 17-20 the 1992 Repub. Nat. Convention in Houston, Tex. celebrates family values to placate the conservative wing of the party, and renominates Pres. Bush and vice-pres. Quayle; Patrick Buchanan utters the soundbyte on stage: "There is a religious war going on for the soul of our country"; Bush's slogan is "Who do you trust?" - whom? On Aug. 19-21 the World Federation of Hungarians holds its Third Congress in Budapest after a 54-year interval, and over 15K attend. On Aug. 21 Ocinena Waymer is found raped and strangled in Highland Park, Detroit, Mich., becoming the last of 11 women victims since Oct. 1991 of Benjamin "Tony" Atkins (1968-97) AKA the Woodward Corridor Killer, who is sentenced to 1ife sentences before dying on Sept. 17, 1997 of AIDS in prison. On Aug. 23 China and South Korea announce the reopening of diplomatic relations. On Aug. 27 the Gen. Confederation of Greek Workers calls a gen. strike of public sector workers to protest privatization of public transport in Athens, approved by parliament on Aug. 7; on Dec. 2 PM Constantine Mitsotakis dismisses his entire cabinet, and appoints a new one on Dec. 3. On Aug. 31 after pres. (since 1979) Denis Sassou Nguesso introduces multiparty politics in 1990, Pascal Lissouba (1931-) of the Pan-Malaysianafrican Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) becomes pres. of the Repub. of Congo-Brazzaville (until Oct. 15, 1997), with former pres. Joachim Yhombi Opango appointed as PM next June 23 (until Aug. 23, 1996). In Aug. computer scientist Branko Crvenkovski (1962-) of the Social Dem. Alliance becomes PM of Macedonia (until 1998). In Aug. Am. journalist Daniel Eli Wattenberg (1959-) pub. an article in The American Spectator titled The Lady Macbeth of Little Rock, attacking Hillary's ideological and ethical record from a conservative perspective, causing an avalanche of articles comparing her to Lady Macbeth. On Sept. 3 the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is adopted by the U.N. Gen. Assembly, outlawing production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons incl. precursors, with signing on Jan. 13, 1993, coming into effect on Apr. 29, 1997; it is administered by the Org. for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague; by 2018 it is signed by 165 states and ratified by 65 states, with 192 parties. On Sept. 11 Category 4 (145 mph) Hurricane Iniki (Hawaiian "strong and piercing wind") (formed Sept. 5) hits Kauai, Hawaii, becoming the first hurricane to hit Hawaii since Hurricane Iwa in 1982, and the first major hurricane since Hurricane Dot in 1959, killing six, damaging 1.4K houses and severely damaging 5K more, causing $3.1B damage before it dissipates on Sept. 13, becoming the most costly tropical cyclone to hit Hawaii (until ?). On Sept. 16 (Black Wed.) Budapest, Hungary-born Jewish New York investor George Soros (Gyory Schwartz) (1930-) (a student of Karl Popper) (Soros means "will soar" in Esperanto) of the Quantum Fund for super-rich investors (incl. the Rothschild family), based in Curacao, Netherlands Antillies becomes the Man Who Broke the Bank of England by betting $10B on the devaluation of the British pound and selling short, causing a tizzy of speculation that nets him $1.1B in profit in one day after the Bank of England withdraws from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and devalues the pound at a cost of £3.4B - welcome to burlesque, queenie? On Sept. 18 the drama series Picket Fences debuts on CBS-TV for 88 episodes (until June 26, 1996), filmed in Monrovia, Calif., which doubles for Rome, Wisc., starring Thomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt (1933-) as Sheriff Jimmy Brock, who has to deal with a weird town filled with people turning up dead in freezers, cows' udders exploding, incest, racism, polygamy and polyamory, animal sacrifice, and spontaneous human combusion, as well as every weird kind of sexuality. On Sept. 19 several thousand supporters of ultra right-wing leader Istvan Csurka (1934-) protest outside the nat. assembly in Budapest demanding the resignation of pres. Arpad Goncz; on Sept. 24 a counter-demonstration is organized by the Dem. Charter Movement; on Sept. 29 the Hungarian nat. assembly passes a bill of rights to protect ethnic and nat. minorities. On Sept. 19 the U.N. Security Council votes 12-0-3 for Resolution 777, recommending the removal of the Federal Repub. of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) from participation in the U.N. Gen. Assembly, and prohibiting its U.N. membership application; on Sept. 22 U.N. Gen. Assembly Resolution 47/1 is adopted by a 127-6-26 vote, expelling Yugoslavia; NATO imposes a naval blockade on it to enforce the U.N. embargo. On Sept. 23 ethnic Chinese leader of the Dem. Party Chuan Leekpai (1938-) becomes PM of Thailand (until May 24, 1995). On Sept. 23 the newlyweds sitcom Mad About You debuts on NBC-TV for 164 episodes (until May 24, 1999), starring Paul Reiser (1957-) as documentary filmmaker Paul Buchman, and Helen Hunt (1963-) as his public relations specialist wife Jamie Semple Buchman. On Sept. 24 Sci-Fi Channel debuts as part of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast (until ?); on July 7, 2009 it becomes Syfy. On Oct. 1 the Cartoon Network (CN), founded by Betty Cohen (1956-) debuts as a subsidiary of the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), aimed at children ages 7-15, with mature content during the late night daypart Adult Swim, reaching 94M subscribers by Jan. 2016. On Oct. 5 the U.S. Congress passes a law allowing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate cable TV co. prices. On Oct. 9 Marxist ethnic East Indian dentist Cheddi Berret Jagan (1918-97), founder of the leftist Progressive People's Party (PPP) (who was removed from power by Britain and the CIA in 1953 for Soviet ties, then became PM in 1957-64 before they did it again) defeats longtime foe Forbes Burnham of the People's Nat. Congress by 54-47 to become pres. of Guyana (until Mar. 6, 1997), putting the PPP in power for the first time in 28 years; Samuel Archibald Anthony "Sam" Hinds (1946-) becomes PM (until May 20, 2015). On Oct. 11 the govt. of Serbia calls for a referendum to authorize early elections, but it gets boycotted. On Oct. 16 Guatemalan Quiche Maya Indian rights activist Rigoberta Menchu Tum (1959-) is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On Oct. 17-24 the Toronto Blue Jays (AL) defeat the Atlanta Braves (NL) 4-3 to win the 1992 (89th) World Series; the first WS games played in Canada, which finally beats the U.S. at its own game of baseball; the USMC Color Guard accidentally flies the Canadian fag upside down during the nat. anthems; Cito Gaston (1944-) of the Blue Jays becomes the first African-Am. WS team mgr. On Oct. 26 the U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (U.S. JFK Act) becomes effective, creating the Assassinations Records Review Board, and directing the Nat. Archives to make all its records on JFK's assassination publicly available by Oct. 26, 2017. On Oct. 26 Anthony Perkins (lover of actor Tab Hunter) appears in his last film role, a made-for-TV movie thriller In the Deep Woods (also starring Rosanna Arquette) on NBC-TV. On Oct. 28 the U.S. Prof. and Amateur Sports Protection (Bradley) Act of 1992) becomes effective, outlawing sports betting in the U.S. except Nev.; on May 14, 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional. On Oct. 31 Pope John Paul II gives an Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, finally admitting that Galileo's views on the Solar System were correct, or at least that he was more adept at scriptural interpretation than theologians of his day. On Nov. 3 despite annoying "bimbo eruptions" (Clinton aide Betsey Wright), the candidacy of H. Ross Perot throws the 1992 U.S. Pres. Election away from "sure-win" (because of the popularity of the Gulf War) incumbent George Herbert Walker Bush and running mate Dan Quayle to Dem. challenger William "Bill" Jefferson Clinton (1946-) and his running mate Tenn. Sen. Albert "Al" Gore (1948-); of the 55.1% of the electorate who vote for pres., Clinton receives 44.9M popular (43.0%) and 370 electoral votes to Bush's 39.1M popular (37.4%) and 168 electoral votes; Perot receives 19.7M popular (18.9%) and 0 electoral votes; Dems. win control of both houses of Congress; the 23 Libertarian Party candidates for U.S. Sen. receive over 1M votes, the largest for a nat. third party since 1914; Ill. Dem. Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun (1947-) becomes the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate (until Jan. 3, 1999), and the only black in the U.S. Senate other than Edward Brooke (since 1967); Dem. Cynthia Ann McKinney (1955-) becomes the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress from "Gone With the Wind" Jawjaw (Ga.), where she becomes known for flashy fashions incl. braids and gold tennies; James Guy "Jim" Tucker Jr. (1943-) replaces Clinton as gov. of Ark., resigning in 1996 after the Whitewater prosecutors get him convicted in a separate case involving a scheme to reduce his tax liability on a cable TV system sale; too bad, Clinton reneges on a promise to name a cabinet by Christmas. On Nov. 4 after a special election, San Francisco, Calif.-born San Francisco mayor ##8 (1978-88) Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (nee Dianne Emiel Goldman) (1933-2023) becomes Dem. U.S. Sen. from Calif. (until ?), becoming the first woman to chair the Senate Rules Committee (2007-9) and the Select Committee on Intelligence (2009-15); Barbara Boxer is elected on the same ballot. On Nov. 6 riots in Skopje, Macedonia over police brutality causes three protesters to be killed by brutal police. On Nov. 10-11 Boris N. Yeltsin visits Hungary, and settles several outstanding claims - this will go on your permanent record? On Nov. 15 ABC-TV debuts the 5-hour miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream, about the childhood of Michael Jackson (1958-2009); highest-rated TV movie of the 1992-3 season. On Nov. 15 Alvaro Dominguez hijacks a Russian-built AN-2 biplane in Cuba and flies it to Miami, Fla. with help from the U.S. Coast Guard. On Nov. 15 the New York Times pub. the article Grunge: A Success Story, about Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, claiming that grungers have their own lexicon incl. "wack slacks" for jeans, and "swingin' on the flippity-flop" for hanging out; too bad, interviewee Megan Jasper made it up to zing them. On Nov. 19 the Norwegian Storting applies for EEC membership following a nat. referendum. On Nov. 20 a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle; on Nov. 28 Queen Elizabeth II volunteers to pay tax on her private income, and later gives a speech saying that "1992 is not a year at which I will look back with undiluted pleasure" - that got to her? On Nov. 24 a China Southern Airlines 737 hits high ground during approach in Guangzhou (Canton), China, killing all 133 passengers and eight crew. On Nov. 28 the PRI selects Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta (1950-94), head of the Solidaridad govt. anti-poverty program as its candidate to succeed Mexican pres. Carlos Salinas de Gortari; too bad, he is assassinated on Mar. 23, 1994 in Tijuana before he can run. From Dec. 1-4 a convoy of 150 private vehicles called the Convoy of Hope travels from Dover, Kent, England to Zagreb, Croatia carrying food and aid for Bosnian refugees on a 1,988 mi. round trip, becoming the largest civilian aid convoy to date? On Dec. 3 the double-bottom Greek-flag tanker Aegean Sea spills 21.5M gal. of crude oil when it runs aground and breaks up at La Coruna, Spain. On Dec. 6 the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, erected in 1528 on a site believed to be the birthplace of Hindu Lord Rama is demolished by 150K supporters of the World Hindu Council, sparking weeks of nationwide Hindu-Muslim riots in which 2K-3K are killed. On Dec. 6 former Yugoslavian pres. (1989-90) Janez Drnovsek (1950-2008) of the Liberal Dem. Party is elected PM of Slovenia (until 2002), then confirmed by the nat. assembly next Jan. 12. On Dec. 8 Uzbekistan adopts a new constitution, guaranteeing civil rights and a multi-party democracy - at what point does a govt. become more than just a govt.? On Dec. 9 Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announce their separation; their divorce becomes final on Aug. 28, 1996, and she is thrown out of the royal family (no HRH title). On Dec. 12 a 6.8 earthquake in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia kills 2.2K. On Dec. 13 Israeli border policeman Nissim Toledano is kidnapped by Hamas; after he is found dead in a ditch, pissed-off Israel arrests 1.6K Palestinians, and on Dec. 16 the govt. orders the of deportation to S Lebanon for up to two years of 400 members too bad, after Israel can't prove which ones were responsible for the violent attacks, the U.N. issues a unanimous resolution condemning the deportation, threatening sanctions, and Lebanon refuses to accept them, after which 100 are returned immediately, and the remainder a year later, allowing Hamas to regroup in its efforts to exterminate Israel knowing it can count on worldwide leftist support inside and outside the U.N. which it uses to this day; meanwhile Israeli schoolteacher-rabbi Shmuel Biran is murdered by Hamas while crossing a 2-lane highway, after which Rabin delivers a Speech to the Knesset on Dec. 21, with the soundbyte: "I have no pity in my heart, nor do I shed tears [for Hamas terrorists]. I see the media whining their hypocritical speeches, and I think instead of Nissim Toledano's orphaned children, the widow of Shmuel Biran, and the bereaved parents of Shmuel Geresh." On Dec. 17 after agreeing to allow sale of communal (ejido land) to private owners, Mexico signs the NAFTA treaty, to take effect on Jan. 1, 1994. On Dec. 17 the Hungarian nat. assembly legalizes abortion on demand. On Dec. 19 Kim Young-sam (Yong-sam) (1927-) wins the pres. election in South Korea. On Dec. 20 elections in Yugoslavia reelect hardliner Slobodan Milosevic as pres. On Dec. 24 Pres. Bush grants Christmas Eve pardons to Caspar Weinberger and five others accused in the Iran Contra scandal. On Dec. 25 Thomas Uva and Rose Marie Uva, a young married couple from Queens who had a bad habit of robbing mob-owned social clubs in Brooklyn, Queens, and Little Italy (the Hawaiian Moonlighters, the Veterans and Friends, etc.) with Uzis are each shot several times in the head in broad daylight on a busy Queens thoroughfare as they sit in a car at a traffic light; on Sept. 22, 2005 Gambino family captain Dominick "Skinny Dom" Pizzonia (b. 1942) is arrested and charged with being a part of the hit team; Ronald Joseph "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio (1951-) is the 2nd shooter? On Dec. 29 Brazilian pres. Fernando Collor de Mello resigns after impeachment processes are started against him for corruption; he is succeeded by vice-pres. Itamar Franco (1930-) (until 1995). On Dec. 29 a bomb explodes in a hotel in Aden, Yemen where U.S. troops had been staying; it is later linked to Osama bin Laden. On Dec. 31 the U.S. Nat. Debt reaches a record 65.9% of GDP (vs. 52.6% for Reagan on Dec. 31, 1988). Privatization begins in Romania. Bowing to outside pressure, the first multi-party elections in 26 years are held in Kenya; the opposition is split, and Pres. Daniel Arap Moi is swept back in power amidst accusations of election rigging. Self-made billionaire business tycoon Rafik Hariri (Rafiq Bahaa El Deen Al-Hariri) (1944-2005) (a Sunni Muslim who was made a citizen of Saudi Arabia in 1978) becomes PM #41 of Lebanon (until 1998), going on to dominate Lebanese politics and help rebuild Beirut. Kyrgyzstan joins the U.N. and the IMF, and adopts a shock therapy economic program; fighting breaks out between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in Osh in S Kyrgyzstan, killing 2K. French farmers riot against proposed cuts to French farm subsidies which the U.S. govt. had been encouraging. Cameroon stages its first multi-party elections in 30 years; new PM (until 1996) "Pa" Simon Achidi-Achu (1932-) forms a coalition govt., but pres. Paul Biya regains power in an election accused of fraud. The U.S. Navy Tailhook Scandal is gleefully manipulated by women's lib forces to emasculate the tradition-bound old boys' network in the U.S. military? Hanna Suchocka (1946-) becomes the first female PM in Polish history (until ?) - Hanna does what? Tension in the Baltics builds over the continued presence of Russian troops; new laws adopted by Estonia and Latvia are claimed as discriminatory by ethnic Russians. The first post-occupation elections are held in Kuwait. The Danish Communist Party (DKP) is dissolved. The U.S. Friends of Nations Act votes $16B to aid nations that have split off from the Soviet Union. The U.S. Senate finally ratifies the 1966 U.N. Internat. Covenant on Civil Rights and Political Rights, but not the sister Internat. Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Up-and-coming terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is arrested in Jordan for trying to overthrow the monarchy, and spends the next seven years in prison - honing his skills? Mt. Etna in NE Sicily spectacularly erupts, with lava flows threatening the town of Zefferana, which is saved by controlled explosions. The Lindbeck Commission in Sweden, headed by economist Assar Lindbeck (1930-) (opponent of the welfare state) is formed to study the economic crisis, proposing reforms next year. In Sicily two top organized crime investigators are murdered, sparking an Anti-Cosa Nostra Movement by young Sicilians, resulting in the 1993 capture of capo di capi Salvatore "Toto" Riina (1930-), a native of Corleone (whose name was stolen for the film "The Godfather") after 23 years as a fugitive. The remains of Josef Mengele (1911-79), the Nazi death camp "Angel of Death" are positively identified via DNA - and still don't satisfy Jews who never forget and forgive? The Internat. Science and Technology Center in Moscow is founded to foster collaboration between weapons scientists of the former Soviet Union and the West; it is closed in 2010. Health Economics begins pub. (until ?). The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) pub. its Food Guide Pyramid, which cautions to use fats and oils "sparingly". Former English PM Margaret Thatcher becomes a baroness. Russia finally ends its monopoly on vodka. Vt. bans smoking in prisons, even outdoors? The wildlife-filled Danube Delta (the Danube River and its daughters the Kiliya, Sulina and St. George) receives internat. recognition as a biosphere reservation, managed from the SE Romanian city of Tulcea. Gen. Than Shwe (1933-) becomes head of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in the military-controlled slave labor toilet of Burma (Myanmar), where children are drafted as soldiers, forced labor used on construction projects, and as army porters in war zones; Burmese political leader U Nu is released from political house arrest (until ?). Rwandan farmers uproot 300K coffee trees because they can no longer make a living at it; the World Bank's Internat. Development Assoc. orders privatization of Rwanda'a Electorogaz and telecommunications co., with the money from the privatization going toward the nat. debt. Horse trainer, jeweler and judo champ Ben Nighthorse Campbell (1933-) is elected to the U.S. Senate from Colo., becoming the first Native Am. to serve in over 60 years (until 2004); he is one of the first Indian artists to use diamonds, opals and gold in his jewelry, and the state of Colo. gives free samples to filmmakers to encourage them to film there. The Muslim Parliament of Great Britain is founded in London by Indian-born Dr. Kalim Siddiqui (1931-96). The Ezzedin (Izz ad-Din) al-Qassam Brigades are founded by Hamas as its military wing, going on to stage a series of rocket and suicide bombing attacks on Israeli military and civilian targets in 1994-2000. The U.S. passes a law setting the max. flush of a toilet at 1.6 gal. After being accused by their adult daughter Jennifer, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation is founded by Pamela Freyd and Peter J. Freyd (1936-), who coin the term "False-Memory Syndrome" for people recalling false instances of sexual abuse during childhood. British actress Glenda May Jackson (1936-) is elected to Parliament representing the Labour Party for the London district of Hampstead and Highgate, and retires from showbiz. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. (1951-) takes over from his father Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Sr. as pub. of The New York Times (until ?) 57-y.-o. Am. actor-dir. Woody Allen (1935-) discloses his affair with 22-y.-o. Soo-Yi Previn (1970-), adopted daughter of his aging girlfriend Mia Farrow and Andre Previn; wide criticism of his morals and grave-robbing doesn't hurt his career, since being sexually degenerate is his forte, and he marries her on Dec. 24, 1997 in Venice. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is founded in Washington, D.C. in Oct. to help finance internat. efforts to fight climate change and other environmental challenges, going on to provide $94B in co-financing and $18B in grants for 4.5K programs in 170 countries; too bad, a Sept. 2017 report concludes that a program started in Russia in 2010 to increase energy efficiency in building equipment and household appliances "did not achieve any GHG emission reductions", pointing to misappropriation of funds. The U.S. Audio Home Recording Act ineffectually attempts to control music piracy in the U.S. Stella Rimington (1935-) becomes the first female dir.-gen. of Britain's MI5 (until 1996); next year she becomes the first DG to pose for the press. After becoming the first female pres. of 20th Cent. Fox in 1980, producing "Fatal Attraction" (1987) and "The Accused" (1988), Sherry Lansing (Sherry Lee Duhl) (1944-) becomes the first female CEO of a major studio, Paramount (until 2004). going on to release its most successful string of hits since the 1930s, incl. "Forrest Gump" (1994), "Braveheart" (1995), and "Titanic" (1997). The New Universal Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church is completed after nine drafts, changing the term "mortal sin" to "grave sin", adding terrorism and offenses against the environment to the sin list, and calling for a psychological analysis for sexual sins. Azizah al-Hibri becomes the first woman Muslim law prof. in the U.S. at the U. of Richmond, Va. Nerdy-looking Jerome Vered (1958-) becomes the 2nd superstar of the TV game show "Jeopardy!" by winning five straight games with $68K in winnings, incl. $34K in one game, a record (allowing for the doubling of dollar values in 2001) that is not broken until 2004 by nerdy-looking Ken Jennings ($75K). The FCC fines Infinity Broadcasting, owner of The Howard Stern Show $600K after shock jock Howard Stern (1954-) discusses masturbating to a picture of Aunt Jemima - if he were gay it woulda been Hungry Jack pancake batter? Kudos film and TV production co. is founded in London, England, going on to produce the BBC-TV spy drama "Spooks" (MI5) (2002-11), the TV series "Tin Star", and the films "Meeting People Is Easy" (1998), "Among Giants" (1998), "Pure" (2002), "Eastern Promises" (2007), "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" (2008), "The Crimson Wing" (2008), "Death of a Ladies Man" (2009), "Brighton Rock" (2010), "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" (2011), and "Spooks: The Greater Good" (2015);; in 2007 it is acquired by the Shine Group, which in 2011 is acquired by News Corp. (later 21st Cent. Fox). The Denver, Colo. police dept. stinks up its already stinky rep by being tagged by the IRS for granting 70% of all its retired officers disability pensions, incl. several police chiefs, even though many go on to work for many years at other jobs. The TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights) amendment, sponsored by activist Douglas Bruce passes on its 3rd try in Colo., preventing the state govt. from raising taxes without permission from the people; he has to shorten the wording of the amendment, so he takes out "after the first Monday", causing all elections for raising taxes to fall on the first Tues. in Nov. After the Repubs. pack the U.S. Supreme Court with five supposedly anti-abortion justices since Reagan (O'Connor, Kennedy, Scalia, Souter, Thomas), a showdown results in a 5-4 vote to uphold Roe v. Wade, with O'Connor, Kennedy and Souter in the majority, causing them to be labelled by pissed-off Repubs. as traitors; in Freeman v. Pitts the court votes 11-0 (Thomas not participating) to provide standards for ending federal court supervision of formerly segregated school districts, even if some "vestiges of segregation" remain. The first Veritas Forum to explore the relevance of Jesus Christ to modern life is held at Harvard U., reaching 300K students on 100 campuses by 2008 and becoming a who's who of Christian apologists. The Coca-Cola Polar Bears begin appearing in commercials. A 1907 Honus Wagner baseball card is auctioned for $451K; all but about 40 were destroyed because Wagner objected to their sale in tobacco products; by this year 15M U.S. baseball card collectors spend almost $1B on 12B cards; 4M people collect about 3B football cards; 3M people collect about 2B basketball cards; 1.5M people collect about 1B hockey cards; in all, 16M different people collect cards. Arnold Schwarzenegger receives the first civilian model Humvee in the U.S. The first Komodo Dragons are bred in captivity at the Nat. Zoo in Washington, D.C. Pietro Casasanta (1938-), a "tombaroli" or Italian tomb raider who made millions from finds made while digging in broad daylight disguised as a construction worker is turned in and arrested after discovering the stunning Capitoline Triad, a statue of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva; he ends up retired and nearly broke, living in a small house in Anguillara on Lake Bracciano and being called "professore" by locals. The NAALE Program is founded by the Israeli govt. to support Jewish teenagers from the Diaspora to study for a h.s. diploma in Israel, with the goal of entering the Technion. Heterodoxy Mag. is founded by Queens, N.Y.-born former leftist David Joel Horowitz (1939-) and Peter Collier as an "antidote for the new orthodoxy" caused by the leftist Baby Boomers, going on to oppose affirmative action and reparations for slavery. The Sam Choy Poke Festival in Hawaii is founded by master chef Sam Choy to promote the yummy Hawaiian raw fish treat of poke (pr. poh-keh), incl. seaweed and kukui nut relish. Am. singer Paula Abdul (1962-) and Am. actor Emilio Estevez (1962-) wed at the height of their fame; they divorce in 1994. Famous English 'Alfie" stud and lead actor Michael Caine is offered only a minor role in a new film, shocking him into retiring and opening a restaurant in gay South Beach, Miami, Fla., until fellow star Jack Nicholson offers him a co-starring role in "Blood & Wine" (1996); "I began to play more varied, more interesting, more difficult roles than the ones I had when I was the protagonist. I retired more than 20 years ago and since then I have acted in more than 40 films! It may not be me who stays anymore with the girl, but I'll keep the papers!" ( 2018 memoir "Blowing the Bloody Doors Off"). New York City musician David Ippolito gives an impromptu summer concert in Central Park in New York City, gaining the attention of Jack Rosenthal of the New York Times, causing him to become popular and begin holding weekend conferences all summer every year (until ?), becoming known as "That Guitar Man from Central Park". The ASPCA promotes the adoption of retired greyhounds. Paris-born gay French fashion designer Hedy Lamarr, er, Hedi Slimane (1968-) becomes the asst. of Jean-Jacques Picart on the Centenary Monogram Canvas Project of Louis Vitton, which incl. fashion designers Azzedine Alaia, Helmut Lang, Sybilla, Manolo Blahnik, Romeo Gigli, Isaac Mizrahi, and Vivienne Westwood; in 1996 Pierre Berge hires him as the dir. of the ready-to-wear men's clothing line at Yvves Saint Laurent, rising to artistic dir., going on to debut his "skinny" look before leaving in 2001 for Christian Dior, designing the Higher fragrance, making fans of David Bowie, Brad Pitt, Madonna, Nicole Kidman, Mick Jagger, Beck, Jack White, and the rock groups The Libertines, Daft Punk, The Kills, and Franz Ferdinand; in Mar. 2011 he succeeds John Galliano as creative dir. at Dior; in Mar. 2012 he replaces Stefano Pilati as creative dir. at Yves Saint Laurent, working out of his own studio in Los Angeles, Calif.; in Apr. 2016 he is succeeded by Anthony Vaccarello. Sports: On Feb. 16 the 1992 (34th) Daytona 500 is won by #28 David Carl "Davey" Allison (1961-93) (son of Bobby Allison) after #43 Richard Petty gives the command to start the engines from the cockpit of his Pontiac; the final Daytona 500 start for 1972 winner "Super Tex" A.J. Foyt. On May 24 the 1992 (76th) Indianapolis 500 is won by Alfred "Little Al" Unser Jr. (1962-) (first 2nd-gen. driver to win), who beats Scott Goodyear by 0.043 sec., becoming the closest finish in Indy history (until ?). On May 26-June 1 the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals see the Pittsburgh Penguins sweep the Chicago Blackhawks (first Finals appearance since 1973) 4-0 after the Blackhawks start out leading the Penguins 4-1 in game 1, becoming their 2nd straight win; MVP is Mario Lemieux; last Finals played in Chicago Stadium, which closes in 1994. On June 3-14 the 1992 NBA Finals sees the Chicago Bulls (coach Phil Jackson) defeat the Portland Trail Blazers (coach Rick Adelman) 4-2, giving them their 2nd straight NBA title; Michael Jordan becomes MVP for the 2nd straight year. On Oct. 7 after 5'7" goaltender Manon Rheaume (Rhéaume) (1972-) becomes the first woman to play in an NHL game during the preseason, the Tampa Bay Lightning (Bolts) play their first game in Expo Hall at the Fla. State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Fla., defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 incl. four goals by 6'1" wing Christopher T. "Chris" Kontos (1963-). The AFC San Diego Chargers become the first NFL team to start 0-4 and make the playoffs (11-5) (until ?). The Nat. Basketball Retired Players Assoc. (NBRPA) (Legends of Basketball) is founded in New York City by NBA hall-of-famers Oscar Robertson, Dave DeBusschere, Dave Cowens, Dave Bing, and Archie Clark, becoming the official alumni org. for the NBA, ABA, WNBA, and Harlem Globetrotters. In the 1992-3 season the Am. Bowling Congress (ABC) introduces resin bowling balls, causing perfect games to increase by 20%; in the late 1990s particle balls are introduced. Architecture: The $16M white granite San Marga Iraivan Temple in Kauai, Hawaii (first all-stone temple in the U.S.) is begun under the dir. of Oakland, Calif.-born Shaivism convert Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (Robert Hansen) (1927-2001) AKA Gurudeva, founder of the mag. Hinduism Today (1979), and 1985 inventor of Pancha Ganapti, the Hindu alternative to Christmas and Hanukkah; it is not finished until ?. The Underground Temple of Mankind near Vidracco, N Italy, carved out of solid rock inside a small mountain by the neo-pagan Damanhur Federation (founded 1975) is revealed after disgruntled leader Filippo Cerutti sues the community, causing the city of Vidracco to try to have it destroyed then change their minds after being struck by its beauty. Nobel Prizes: Peace: Rigoberta Menchu (1959-) (Guatemala) [indigenous rights]; Lit.: Derek Alton Walcott (1930-) (St. Lucia); Physics: Georges Charpak (1924-2010) (France) [particle detectors]; Chem.: Rudolph Arthur Marcus (1923-) (U.S.) [electron transfer]; Medicine: Edmond H. Fischer (1920-2021) and Edwin Gerhard Krebs (1918-) (U.S.) [reversible phosphorylation]; Economics: Gary Stanley Becker (1930-) (U.S.) [new home economics]. Inventions: On Mar. 6 the disk-infecting Michelangelo Virus (first found in 1991), timed for the artist's birthday strikes personal computers, rendering infected disks useless; computer store owners do a land office business distributing free floppy disks with anti-virus software. On May 5 the Wolfenstein 3D PC video game is released by id Software, popularizing the first-person shooter genre; in 1998 the High District Frankfurt Court in Germany rules that it isn't entitled to an artistic exception under Section 86a of the German Criminal Code, forcing it to replace Nazi symbols with crap symbols, and replace HItler's name with Mr. Heiler or Mein Kanzler; in Apr. 2018 the ruling is overturned. Kodak introduces the PhotoCD for digitizing and storing photos in a CD. IBM begins marketing the ThinkPad laptop PC. Predictions are made that fiber-optic networks will lead to 500 channels with interactive programs, e-mail and telephony. Alkaline Hydrolysis is developed in the U.S. to get rid of animal carcasses by dissolving them in lye at 60 psi and 300F, then flushing the brown syrupy residue down the drain; i n ? it becomes accepted for human bodies. John Hunter of Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab designs a 425-ft. gun to test-launch hypersonic engines, and begins a program to build a 3.6K-ft. gun to launch objects into space cheaply. The first commercialized 6.3K-lb. 7-ft.-wide Hummers are manufactured in Ind. after Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger falls in love with the military version and talks their execs into redesigning them for the civilian market, then purchases the first two off the assembly line. The Kirby video game series is introduced by Nintendo. Science: On Aug. 21 a 5 in. x 7 in. (world's biggest) cherry-red square block crystal of rhodochrosite ("looks like a slab of Jell-O") is discovered in the Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colo. (closes Oct. 2004), becoming the Colo. state mineral. Belgium researchers develop ICSI, a method to produce human pregnancies by injecting a single sperm cell into an egg. The first complete DNA sequence of #6 of 16 chromosomes in a yeast is determined scientifically. A team at Harvard U. led by Gerald Gabrielse determines that protons and antiprotons have identical masses to within 40 parts in a billion, adding support to Einstein's Gen. Theory of Relativity. English physicist Stephen Hawking pub. the Chronology Protection Conjecture, that the fundamental laws of Nature prevent time travel on a macroscopic scale - duh? Estonian-born Am. psychologist Jaak Panksepp (1943-) coins the term Affective Neuroscience for the field that studies the neural mechanisms of emotion, claiming that animals incl. rats have them. The 2-horned Saola, AKA the Asian Unicorn is discovered in the forests of Southeast Asia; the first one is caught by villagers in Laos in 2010. Hacker St. Jude Milhon coins the term "cypherpunk". In summer the article "What to do about greenhouse warning: Look before you leap", by Austrian-born Am. physicist Siegfried Fred Singer (1924-) and electrical engineer Chauncey Starr (1912-2007) is pub. in Cosmos: A Journal of Engineering Issues, which contains the soundbyte: "Drastic, precipitous - and, especially, unilateral - steps to delay the putative greenhouse impacts can cost jobs and prosperity and increase the human costs of global poverty, without being effective. Stringent economic controls now would be economically devastating particularly for developing countries", and concludes: "The scientific base for a greenhouse warming is too uncertain to justify drastic action at this time. There is little risk in delaying policy responses"; too bad, Seattle, Wash.-born geologist-oceanographer ("Father of Global Warming") Roger Randall Douglas Revelle (1909-91) adds his name to the article after Singer allegedly hoodwinks him, causing Revelle's grad student Justin Lancaster to to call Singer's actions "unethical", after which Singer sues with the support of the Center for Public Interest in Washington, D.C., receiving a letter of apology from Lancaster sans admission of wrongdoing, only to withdraw his letter in 2006 after Robert Balling et al. continue to claim that Revelle is the article's real author, while Revelle waffles until his 1991 death. Nonfiction: Taisha Abelar, The Sorcerer's Crossing: A Woman's Journey; disciple of Carlos Castaneda; she disappears shortly after his 1998 death. Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher at Large (autobio.); The Great Ideas: A Lexicon of Western Thought. Francesco Alberoni (1929-), The Nuptial Flight; the gen. feminine tendency to seek out superior love objects, incl. crushes on film stars. Stephen Edward Ambrose (1936-2002), Band of Brothers: 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest; Maj. Richard Winters from D-Day to Berchtesgaden. Christopher Peter Andersen (1949-), Madonna: Unauthorized (Aug. 1). Paul Benjamin Auster (1947-), The Art of Hunger. George Wildman Ball (1909-94) and Douglas Ball, The Passionate Attachment; complains of the costs of U.S. support for Israel. John D. Barrow, Pi in the Sky: Counting, Thinking and Being. Robert Leroy Bartley (1937-2003), The Seven Fat Years: And How to Do It Again; praises the economic policy of the Reagan admin. Herbert Benson (1935-), The Wellness Book. Peter Ludwig Berger (1929-), A Far Glory: The Quest for Faith in an Age of Credulity; the decline of Protestantism. Kai Bird (1951-), The Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the American Establishment. Fischer Black (1938-95) and Robert Litterman, Global Portfolio Optimization; proposes the Black-Litterman Model of Portfolio Allocation, which applies the views of the investor to an asset allocation. Harold Bloom (1930-2019), The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation; how unique religions like Mormonism were born in the funky isolated U.S.; "The American finds God in herself or himself only after finding the freedom to know God by experiencing a total inward solitude... He comes to recognize that his spirit is itself uncreated. Knowing that he is the equal of God, the American Religionist can then achieve his true desideratum, mystical communion with his friend, the godhead"; claims that if he weren't a Jew he'd be a Mormon; "Joseph Smith hovers in me. There cannot be too many Mormons who are as imbued with him as I am in my own odd way"; “Smith's insight could have come only from a remarkably apt reading of the Bible, and there I would locate the secret of his religious genius… So strong was this act of reading that it broke through all the orthodoxies - Protestant, Catholic, Judaic - and found its way back to elements that Smith rightly intuited had been censored out of the stories of the archaic Jewish religion. Smith's radical sense of the theomorphic patriarchs and anthropomorphic gods is an authentic return to J, or the Yahwist, the Bible's first author”- sometimes the shark looks right into your eyes? John Morton Blum (1921-2011), Years of Discord: American Politics and Society, 1961-1974; from the inauguration of JFK to the resignation of Tricky Dicky Nixon. William Boddy, Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics. David Bohm (1917-92), Thought as a System. Kenneth Ewart Boulding (1910-93), Towards a New Economics: Critical Essays on Ecology, Distribution, and Other Themes. Douglas Brinkley (1960-) and Townsend Hoopes (1922-2004), Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal; U.S. defense secy. #1 (1947-9) James Vincent Forrestal (1892-1949); Dean Acheson: The Cold War Yars, 1953-71; U.S. secy. of state #51 (1949-53) Dean Gooderham Acheson (1893-1971). Elaine Brown (1943-), A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story (autobio.); her time as chm. of the Black Panther Party (1974-7); "A woman in the Black Power movement was considered, at best, irrelevant. A woman asserting herself was a pariah. If a black woman assumed a role of leadership, she was said to be eroding black manhood, to be hindering the progress of the black race. She was an enemy of the black people... I knew I had to muster something mighty to manage the Black Panther Party." Peter Brown (1935-), Power and Persuasion: Towards a Christian Empire; about how Christianity took over in the 200 years after Constantine the Great. Tom Brown Jr. (1950-), The Journey: A Message of Hope and Harmony for Our Earth and Our Spirits. Christopher Robert Browning (1944-), Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland; how the Nazis who did it were just ordinary guys from Hamburg; thousands of German women went to eastern territories to Germanize them and service the local ethnic German pops. Robert Vance Bruce (1923-2008) and Gabor Boritt (1940-), Lincoln, the War President: The Gettysburg Lectures. Frederick Buechner (1926-), The Clown in the Belfry: Writings on Faith and Fiction; Listening to Your LIfe: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner. James MacGregor Burns (1918-2014) and William Crotty, The Democrats Must Lead: The Case for a Progressive Democratic Party. Laurie Cabot (1933-), Love Magic (with Tim Cowan). Dolores Cannon (1931-), Jesus and the Essenes. Ben Carson (1951-), Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (autobio.); bestseller; filmed in 2006 starring Cuba Gooding Jr. Angela Carter (1940-92), Expletives Deleted: Selected Writings. Jerome Clark (1946-), The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon From the Beginning; becomes a hit for its neutral viewpoint; 2nd ed. 1998; 3rd ed. 2018; "Clark attacks skeptics for being closed-minded and dogmatic, yet he is easily impressed by questionable evidence." (Paul Kurtz) Michael D. Coe (1929-), Breaking the Maya Code; contains the "Berlin Affair" story about Russian linguist Yuri Knosorov rescuing rare Mayan codices from the burning Nat. Library in Berlin in May 1945, which later proves to be moose hockey. Robert Coles (1929-), Anna Freud: The Dream of Psychoanalysis. Robert Coover (1932-), The End of Books. Charles Andrew Crenshaw (1933-2001), Jens Hansen, and J. Gary Shaw, JFK: Conspiracy of Silence; emergency room surgeon at Parkland Memorial Hospital claims that JFK was shot 2x (3x?) from the front, and that LBJ called him demanding Oswald make a deathbed confession; on Nov. 22, 2001 he pub. the sequel Trauma Room One: The JFK Medical Coverup Exposed 1 week before his death. Mary Daly (1928-2010), Outercourse: The Bedazzling Voyage, Containing Recollections from My Logbook of a Radical Feminist Philosopher. Daniel Dennett (1942-), Consciousness Explained. Marcel Desaulniers (1945-), Death by Chocolate: The Last Word on a Consuming Passion. Joan Didion (1934-2021), After Henry (essays); in honor of her late editor Henry Robbins. Annie Dillard (1945-), The Living. Anthony Downs (1930-), Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion (June 1); proposes high occupancy toll lanes on crowded freeways along with congestion road pricing. Eric Drexler (1955-), Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909-2005), Managing for the Future: The 1990s and Beyond. Betty Jean Eadie (1942-) and Curtis Taylor, Embraced by the Light; NYT #1 bestseller about her near-death experience in Nov. 1973, claiming to visit Heaven and meet Jesus. Allan W. Eckert (1931-), A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh; Shawnee chief Tecumseh (1768-1813). Martin Edmond, The Autobiography of My Father. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Evil Money: Encounters Along the Money Trail. Barry Eichengreen (1952-), Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression, 1919-1939; claims that those countries that abandoned the gold standard recovered more quickly. Stanley Elkin (1930-95), Pieces of Soap (essays). Robert Etienne, Pompeii, The Day a City Died. William Everson (1912-94), Naked Heart: Talking on Poetry, Mysticism, and the Erotic; On Printing<. Marilyn French (1929-2009), The War Against Women. Milton Friedman (1912-2006), Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History; how reckless monetary policies led to hyperinflation. Francis Fukuyama (1952-), The End of History and the Last Man; expands his 1989 essay "The End of History?"; contradicts Karl Marx by claiming that Western liberal democracy may signal the endpoint of human sociocultural evolution; "In watching the flow of events over the past decade or so, it is hard to avoid the feeling that something very fundamental has happened in world history"; "The triumph of the West, of the Western idea is evident... in the total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western liberalism"; "What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government." R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) and Kiyoshi Kuromiya, Cosmography: A Posthumous Scenario for the Future of Humanity (posth.). Joseph Lee Galloway (1941-) and Harold Gregory Moore (1922-), We Were Soldiers Once... And Young; the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam; basis of the 2002 film "We Were Soldiers". Daryl Gates (1926-2010), Chief: My Life in the LAPD (autobio.) (with Diane K. Shah). Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950-), Loose Cannons: Notes on the Culture Wars. Mark Girouard (1931-), Town and Country. Charles Glass (1951-), Money for Old Rope: Disorderly Compositions. Albert Goldman (1927-94), Sound Bites. Al Gore (1948-), Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (June); first NYT bestseller by a sitting U.S. sen. since JFK's 1956 "Profiles in Courage"; proposes a Global Marshall Plan to address global warming and other ecological issues, calling the adaptation approach to global warming a “kind of laziness, an arrogant faith in our ability to react in time to save our skins"; in 2003 the Club of Rome et al. found the Global Marshall Plan Initiative. John Gray (1951-), Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex (A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Your Relationships) (Jan. 1); diploma mill Ph.D. in psychology starts a franchise and goes on to sell 50M+ copies - it's not just shades of gray? Stanislav Grof (1931-) and Hal Zina Bennet, The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives. Nigel Hamilton, JFK: Reckless Youth; claims that Joseph P. Kennedy was tyrannical and sexually abusive, and his wife cold, causing Sen. Edward Kennedy and his sisters Eunice Shriver and Patricia Lawford, along with sister Jean Kennedy Smith's daughter Amanda Smith to write a Letter to the New York Times disputing him. Graham Hancock (1950-), The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Jim Harrison (1937-2016), The Raw and the Cooked. James Herriot (1916-95), Every Living Thing. Jean Hill (1931-2000), The Last Dissenting Witness; the "Lady in Red" in the JFK assassination scene clings to her story of seeing Jack Ruby run from the Depository after the shooting. Edward Hoagland (1932-), The Final Fate of the Alligators; Balancing Acts. Benjamin Hoff (1946-), The Te of Piglet; sequel to "The Tao of Pooh" (1982); bestseller. Nick Hornby (1957-), Fever Pitch: A Fan's Life (autobio.); filmed in 1997 and 2005. Michael F. Jacobson, The Completely Revised and Updated Fast-Food Guide: What's Good, What's Bad, and How to Tell the Difference (Jan. 3). Philip Jenkins (1952-), A History of Modern Wales 1536-1990; Intimate Enemies: Moral Panics in Contemporary Great Britain. Paul Johnson, Modern Times. Tony R. Judt (1948-2010), Past Imperfect: French Intellectuals, 1944-1956. Wendy Kaminer (1949-), I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help Fashions. Ed Krol, The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog. Erik Larson (1954-), The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities. Rush Limbaugh (1951-), The Way Things Ought to Be; "Women obsessed with abortion & intolerance are 'feminazis'". Graham Lord (1943-), Just the One: The Wives and Times of Jeffrey Bernard. William Roger Louis (1936-), In the Name of God, Go!: Leo Amery and the British Empire in the Age of Churchill (Sept.). Madonna (1958-), Sex (Oct. 21); coffee table book with nude photos of her in suggestive scenes with both genders incl. her beau Vanilla Ice; helps makes female bisexuality acceptable in the U.S.? Robert Malley (1963-), The Call from Algeria: Third Worldism, Revolution, and the Turn to Islam. William Manchester (1922-2004), A World Lit Only By Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance - Portrait of An Age. Golo Mann (1909-94), Wissen und Trauer. Manning Marable (1950-2001), On Malcolm X: His Message and Meaning. Carol Matthau (1925-2003), Among the Porcupines (autobio.); "I married Saroyan the second time because I couldn't believe how terrible it was the first time. I married Walter because I love to sleep with him." Linda McCartney (1941-98), Linda McCartney's Sixties: Portrait of an Era (Oct. 13). Mary McCarthy (1912-89), Intellectual Memoirs: New York, 1936-1938 (posth.). David McCullough (1933-), Truman (June 15) (Pulitzer Prize). Bill McKibben (1960-), The Age of Missing Information; compares all the info. on one day of 100-channel cable TV in Fairfax, Va. to a day on a mountainop near his home. Fatema Mernissi (1940-), Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World. Norma J. Milanovich, Sacred Journey to Atlantis; the words of Ascended Master Kuthumi about Bimini. Jurgen Moltmann (1926-), The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. Paul Monette (1945-95), Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story; written while dying of AIDS. Eric Henry Monkkonen (1942-2005), History of Urban Police; Violence and Theft (w/K.J. Saur). Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life; bestseller (500K copies); "Ritual maintains the world's holiness. As in a dream a small object may assume significance, so in a life that is animated by ritual there are no insignificant things." Andrew Morton (1953-), Diana: Her True Story. George Lachmann Mosse (1918-99), Rads: A True Story of the End of the Sixties. John M. Newman, JFK and Vietnam: Deception, Intrigue, and the Struggle for Power. Lyn Nofziger (1924-2006), Nofziger (autobio.) (Oct.). William Nordhaus (1941-), An Optimal Transition Path for Controlling Greenhouse Gases, introduces the Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) Model. Don Novello (1943-), The Laszlo Letters; his correspondence with Nixon, Agnew, Ford, Bebe Rebozo, Mr. Bubble et al.; named after Laszlo Toth (1940-), who tried to destroy Michelangelo's Pieta with a sledgehammer on May 21, 1972; "I don't know of anyone who has tried harder than he has to pull his own weight in the greatest of all democracies." Gananath Obyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific. Craig O'Neill, Coming Out Within: Stages of Spiritual Awakening for Lesbians and Gays. P.J. O'Rourke (1947-), Give War a Chance. Steven Ozment, Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution. Michael Parenti (1933-), Make-Believe Media: The Politics of Entertainment. Joseph Chilton Pearce (1926-), Evolution's End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence; claims that non-natural childbirth, lack of breastfeeding et al. inhibit the growth of the child's cortex. Willard Van Orman Quine (1908-2000), Pursuit of Truth. Tom Peters (1942-) Liberation Management. James Petras, Latin America in the Time of Cholera: Electoral Politics, Market Economics, and Permanent Crisis. Dennis Michael Quinn (1944-), The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past; gets him excommunicated from the LDS Church next Sept., allowing him to come out. James Randi (1928-), Conjuring. Marcus Raskin (1934-), Abolishing the War System: The Disarmament and International Law Project of the Institute for Policy Studies and the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. Richard Rhodes (1937-), Making Love: An Erotic Odyssey. Andrew Roberts (1963-), Eminent Churchillians. Richard Rodriguez (1944-), Days of Obligation (autobio.). Eli M. Rosenbaum and William Hoffer, Betrayal: The Untold Story of the Kurt Waldheim Investigation and Cover-Up; his WWII Nazi activities. Olivier Roy (1949-), The Failure of Political Islam; the Islamists are led by intellectuals with Western educations and poor Islamic educations, who romanticize the Islamic past and don't 'get' it that there can never be a united Muslim World because of the many schisms? Henry Rosovsky (1927-) and Shumpei Kumon, The Political Economy of Japan: Cultural and Social Dynamics. Barry Rubin (1950-2014), Cauldron of Turmoil: America in the Middle East. Peter Russell (1946-), The White Hole in Time. Waking Up in Time: Finding Inner Peace in Times of Accelerating Change. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1917-2007), The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society; warns of its dangers. Andrew Murray Scott, Alexander Trocchi: The Making of the Monster; the notorious heroin-addicted novelist Alexander Trocchi (1925-84). John Selby (1945-), Peak Sexual Experience. Robert Serber (ed.), The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How to Build an Atomic Bomb. Mark Skousen (ed.), Dissent on Keynes: A Critical Appraisal of Keynsian Economics; his giant ego led him astray? Richard Slotkin (1942-), Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America; sequel to "The Mythology of the American Frontier" (1973) and "The Fatal Environment" (1985). Steven Stack and Jim Gundlach, The Effect of Country Music on Suicide; concludes that the suicide rate for whites is highter than avg. "independent of divorce, Southernness, poverty and gun availability" when they listen to it; they receive an IgNoble Prize for it in 2004. Wallace Stegner (1909-83), Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West (autobio.). J.B. Strasser and Laurie Becklund, Swoosh: The Unauthorized Story of Nike and the Men Who Played There. Harry G. Summers Jr. (1932-99), On Strategy II: A Critical Analysis of the Gulf War; vol. 1 in 1982. Cass R. Sunstein (1954-) (ed.), The Bill of Rights and the Modern State. Han Suyin (1917-), Wind In My Sleeve (autobio.). Gay Talese (1932-), Unto the Sons. Henry S. Taylor (1942-), Compulsory Figures: Essays on Recent American Poets. Telford Taylor (1908-98), The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir; a former counsel for the prosecution tells how Hermann Goering "cheated the hangman" by taking poison. Lewis Thomas (1913-93), The Fragile Species. David Thomson, Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick. Kenneth R. Timmerman (1953-), Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Cases of Iran, Syria and Libya. Adam Bruno Ulam (1922-2000), Communists: The Story of Power and Lost Illusions; Soviet expert's analysis of the fall of the Soviet Union. Jiri Valenta, Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia, 1968: Anatomy of a Decision. Various Writers, Encyclopedia of Mormonism (4 vols.) (Macmillan); semiofficial, containing 1,850 pages and 1M words by 730 contributors; too bad, it whitewashes Mormonism, pissing-off Mormon revisionist historians and leading to the 1993 September Six. Sam Walton (1918-92), Made in America. Michael Walzer (1935-), Civil Society and American Demoracy; Waht It Means to Be an American. Dudley Weeks, The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution. George Frederick Will (1941-), Restoration: Congress, Term Limits and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy. Barry Williams (1954-), Growing Up Brady. Garry Wills (1934-), Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America (Pulitzer Prize); his Nov. 19, 1863 Gettysburg Address. Andrew Norman Wilson (1950-), C.S. Lewis; Jesus: A Life. E.O. Wilson (1929-2021), The Diversity of Life; claims that the Earth is losing 30K species/year (3/hour), launching the concept of the Sixth Extinction, with the soundbyte: "The sixth great extinction spasm of geological time is upon us, grace of mankind. Earth has at last acquired a force that can break the crucible of biodiversity. The creation of that diversity came slow and hard: 3 billion years of evolution to start the profusion of animals that occupy the seas, another 350 million years to assemble the rain forests in which half or more of the species on earth now live. There was a succession of dynasties"; The Color Complex; the favoritism for light skin among blacks is brought to the white, white light. David Wise, Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors that Shattered the CIA; the 1964 HONETOL Committee. Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (Pulitzer Prize). George Woodcock (1912-95), Anarchism and Anarchists: Essays. Music: 2 Unlimited, Get Ready! (album) (debut) (Feb. 24); from Belgium-Holland, incl. Ray Slijngaard (1971-) and Anita Danielle Doth (1971-); incl. Get Ready for This ("Y'all ready for this", sampled from the D.O.C.'s single "It's Funky Enough") (becomes a sporting arena anthem), Twilight Zone. 10cc, ...Meanwhile (album #10); first since 1983. Allman Brothers Band, An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: First Set (album). Tori Amos (1963-), Little Earthquakes (album) (solo debut) (Jan. 13); incl. Winter, China, Silent All These Years, Crucify. Asia, Aqua (album #4). Clint Black (1962-), The Hard Way (album #3) (July 14) (#2 country) (#8 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl. When My Ship Comes In (#1 country), We Tell Ourselves (#2 country), Burn One Down (#4 country). Beastie Boys, Check Your Head (album #3) (Apr. 21); incl. So What'cha Want, Finger Lickin' Good, Pass the Mic. Eric Ambler (1909-98), The Chase (album); incl. The Chase. Joan Baez (1941-), Play Me Backwards (album). Buju Banton (1973-), Stamina Daddy (Quick) (album) (debut) (Oct. 16); incl. Stamina Daddy; Mr. Mention (album #2) (June 8); incl. Batty Rider; glorifies the shooting of gay men. Mary J. Blige (1971-), What's the 411? (album) (debut) (July 28) (#6 in the U.S.); founds the new genre of hip-hop soul; incl. You Remind Me, Real Love, Reminisce. Mother Love Bone, Mother Love Bone (Stardog Champion) (album) (Sept. 22). Garth Brooks (1962-), Beyond the Season (Aug. 25) (first Christmas album) (#2 in the U.S.) (#2 country) (2.65M copies); The Chase (album #4) (Sept. 14) (#1 in the U.S.) (#1 country) (9M copies); named for the 1992 Los Angeles riots; incl. We Shall Be Free. Bobby Brown (1969-), Bobby Brown (album #3) (Aug. 25); incl. Humpin' Around, Get Away, Good Enough. Chris de Burgh (1948-), Power of Ten (album #9). Mariah Carey (1969-), MTV Unplugged (album #3) (June 2); incl. I'll Be There (with Trey Lorenz), If It's Over. Mary Chapin Carpenter (1958-), Come On Come On (album #4) (June 30) (#6 country) (4M copies); incl. I Feel Lucky (#4 country), Not Too Much to Ask (w/Joe Diffie) (#15 country), Passionate Kisses (#4 country), The Hard Way (#11 country), The Bug (by Dire Straits) (#16 country), I Take My Chances (#2 country), He Thinks He'll Keep Her (#2 country); performed on the 1993 CBS-TV special "Women of Country" along with Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Suzy Bogguss, and Pam Tillis. Eva Marie Cassidy (1963-96) and Chuck Brown (1936-2012), The Other Side (album) (debut). Peter Cetera (1944-), World Falling Down (album #4) (July); incl. Restless Heart. Alice in Chains, Dirt (album); incl. Rooster, Them Bones, Down in a Hole; Sap (album); incl. Got Me Wrong. Tracy Chapman (1964-), Matters of the Heart (album #3) (Apr. 28). Chic, Chic-Ism (album #8) (Mar. 3); incl. Chic Mystique, Your Love. Eric Clapton, Unplugged (album). Leonard Cohen (1934-2016), The Future (album) (Nov.); incl. The Future ("I've seen the future, brother, it's murder"), Democracy ("I love the country but I can't stand the scene"), Waiting for the Miracle (used in the film "Natural Born Killers"). Shawn Colvin (1956-), Fat City (album #2) (Oct. 27) (#142 in the U.S.); incl. Polaroids, Round of Blues, I Don't Know Why. Bad Company, Here Comes Trouble (album #10) (Sept.); last with Brian Howe; incl. Here Comes Trouble, How About That. Consolidated, Play More Music. Cracker, Cracker (album) (debut) (Mar. 10) (200K copies); from Calif. incl. David Lowery (vocals) and Johnny Hickman (guitar); incl. Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now), Happy Birthday to Me. King Crimson, The Great Deceiver (album #12). Black Crowes, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (album #2) (May 12) (2M copies); first album with four #1 hits since Tom Petty's three in 1989; incl. Remedy, Thorn in My Pride, Sting Me, Hotel Illness. The Cure, Wish (album #9) (Apr. 21) (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.); sells 4M copies; they forget the "The" on the cover; incl. High (#42 in the U.S.), Friday I'm in Love (#17 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.), A Letter to Elise. Billy Ray Cyrus (1961-), Achy Breaky Heart (cover of "Don't Tell My Heart" by the Marcy Brothers) (Mar. 23) (debut) (#1 country) (#4 in the U.S.) (#3 in the U.K.) (1.4M copies); becomes the first single to achieve triple platinum status in Australia, becoming his signature song, causing Line Dancing to become a craze; Some Gave All (May 19) (album) (debut) (#1 country) (#1 in the U.S.) (9M copies in the U.S.) (20M copies worldwide); incl. Could've Been Me (1992) (#2 country) (#72 in the U.S.), She's Not Cryin' Anymore (#6 country) (#70 in the U.S.); becomes the first album to enter at #1 in the Billboard country albums chart, the first to log 17 consecutive weeks at #1 in the SoundScan era (43 weeks total), the bestselling U.S. album of 1992 (4.8M copies), and the #2 bestselling debut album by a male country artist after Garth Brooks. Dada, Puzzle (album) (debut) (Sept. 8); incl. Dizz Knee Land (500K copies); from LA, incl. Michael Gurley (guitar, vocals), Joie Calio (bass, vocals), and Phil Leavitt (drums). Green Day, Kerplunk (album #2) (Jan. 17); sells 1M copies; incl. Welcome to Paradise, Who Wrote Holden Caulfield? The Grateful Dead, Two from the Vault (album) (May); recorded in L.A. on Aug. 24, 1968. Hamza El Din (1929-2006), Pieces of Africa (album #8). Celine Dion (1968-), Celine Dion (album #2) (Mar. 31); incl. Beauty and the Beast. No Doubt, No Doubt (album) (debut) (Mar. 17); from Anaheim, Calif., incl. Gwen Renee Stefani (1969-) (vocals), Tony Ashwin Kanal (1970-) (bass), Thomas Martin "Tom" Dumont (1968-), Eric Stefani (keyboards), and Adrian Samuel Young (1969-) (drums); incl. Trapped in a Box. Bob Dylan (1941-), Good As I Been to You (album #28) (Nov. 3). Eric B. & Rakim, Don't Sweat the Technique (album #4) (last album) (June 23, 1992) (#22 in the U.S.); incl. Don't Sweat the Technique, Casualties of War, Juice (Know the Ledge). Melissa Etheridge (1961-), Never Enough (album #3) (May 17); incl. Ain't It Heavy, Dance Without Sleeping, 2001. EMF, Stigma (album #2); incl. It's You. Enya (1961-), The Celts (album #4) (Nov. 6). Exodus, Lessons in Violence (album); last with Rob McKillop; Force of Habit (album #5) (Aug. 17); last with John Tempesta; incl. Bitch (by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards). Extreme, III Sides to Every Story (album #3) (Sept. 22); incl. Rest in Peace. Fear Factory, Soul of a New Machine (album) (debut) (Aug. 25); original name Ulceration; from Los Angeles, Calif., incl. Dino Cazares (1966-) (guitar), Raymond Herrera (1972-) (drums), Burton C. Bell (1969-) (vocals). Alejandro Fernandez (1971-), Alejandro Fernandez (album) (debut). Earth, Wind, and Fire, The Eternal Dance (album) (Sept. 8). Kenny G (1956-), Breathless (album #6); sells 15M copies, a record for an instrumental album. Everything But the Girl, Acoustic (album #7) (June 2); incl. Love is Strange. Ice-T (1958-), Cop Killer; the controversy causes Warner Bros. Records to dump him next Jan. 27. Indigo Girls, Rites of Passage (album #4) (May 12); incl. Galileo (#10 in the U.S.). Roy Harper (1941-), Death or Glory? (album #17). P.J. Harvey (1969-), Dry (album) (debut) (June 30); incl. Sheela-Na-Gig, Dress. Sophie Ballantine Hawkins (1967-), Tongues and Tails (album) (debut) (Apr. 21) (#51 in the U.S., #46 in the U.K.); title is from Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" (2.1.214); incl. Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover. Ofra Haza (1957-2000), Kirya (album); incl. Kirya. Jeff Healey (1966-2008), Feel This (album). Helmet, Meantime (album #2) (June 23) (#68 in the U.S.) (first with Interscope Records); incl. Unsung, Give It, In the Meantime. House of Pain, Jump Around. Whitney Houston (1963-2012), The Bodyguard Soundtrack (album) (Nov. 17); sells 44M copies, incl. 1M in the 1st week (first time in history); incl. I Will Always Love You. Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000), Symphony No. 66 ("Hymn to Glacier Peak"), Op. 428. Public Image Ltd., That What Is Not (album #8) (last album) (Feb. 24). INXS, Welcome to Wherever You Are (album #8) (Aug. 3); incl. Not Enough Time, Baby Don't Cry. Alan Jackson (1958-), A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'Bout Love) (album); incl. Chattahoochee, She's Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues). Luscious Jackson, In Search of Manny (album) (debut); named after the basketball player; from Manhattan, N.Y., incl. Jill Cunniff (vocals, bass), Gabby Glaser (vocals, guitar), Vivian Trimble (keyboards), and Kate Schellenbach (drum); incl. Daughters of the Kaos. Mick Jagger (1943-), Wandering Spirit (album #3) (Feb. 8). Jamiroquai, Emergency on Planet Earth (album) (debut) (May 17); Jason "Jay" Kay (Cheetham) (1969-) (vocals), Stuart Zender (bass), Nick Van Gelder (drums), Wallis Buchanan (didgeridoo); jam + Iroquois; their logo is "Buffalo Man"; incl. When You Gonna Learn, Too Young to Die, Hooked Up, Blow Your Mind. Flotsam and Jetsam, Cuatro (album #4) (Oct. 13); incl. Wading Through the Darkness. Elton John (1947-), The One (album #23) (June 22); first since his 1991 rehab.; incl. The One; Rare Masters (album) (Oct. 20). Journey, Time 3 (Cubed) (triple album) (Dec. 1). Bon Jovi, Keep the Faith (album); incl. Keep the Faith, Bed of Roses, In These Arms, Dry County, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. R. Kelly (1967-) and Public Announcement, Born into the '90s (Jan. 14) (album) (debut); Robert Sylvester Kelly (1967-); incl. Honey Love, Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ), Dedicated. Chaka Khan (1953-), The Woman I Am (album #8) (Apr. 14); incl. Love You All My Lifetime (#68 in the U.S., #49 in the U.K.). KLF, America: What Time Is Love?. Kriss Kross, Jump. L7, Bricks Are Heavy (album #3) (Apr. 14) (#160 in the U.S.); their breakthrough album, making them the "Poster Girls of Grunge"; incl. Pretend We're Dead; too bad, Donita Sparks stinks the band up by throwing her used tampon at the crowd at the 1992 Reading Festival, then exposes herself on the late-night show "The Word"; in 2000 they top this by offering a 1-night stand with Dee Plakas as a raffle prize. Barenaked Ladies, Gordon (album) (debut) (July 28) (#1 in Canada); from Scarborough, Ont., Canada, incl. Lloyd Edward Elwyn "Ed" Robertson (1970-), Steven Jay Page (1970-), James Raymond "Jim" Creeggan (1970-), Andrew Burnett "Andy" Creeggan (1971-), Kevin Neil Hearn (1969-) (keyboards), and Tyler Joseph Stewart (1967-) (drums); incl. Enid, Brian Wilson, Be My Yoko Ono, What A Good Boy, If I Had $1000000. Laibach, Kapital (album #8). k.d. lang (1961-), Ingenue (album #2) (Aug.); incl. Constant Craving. Annie Lennox (1954-), Diva (album) (solo debut) (Apr. 6); sells 4M copies; incl. Why, Walking on Broken Glass, Precious, Keep Young and Beautiful. Def Leppard, Adrenalize (album #5) (Mar. 31) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (10M copies); first after death of Steve Clark; first album whose title doesn't end with "ia"; Let's Get Rocked, Make Love Like a Man, Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad, Stand Up (Kick Love into Motion), Heaven Is, Tonight, Rock On. Flaming Lips, Hit to Death in the Future Head (album #5) (Aug. 5); spawns the British band the Futureheads; incl. Wastin Pigs, Talkin' Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever). Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine (album) (debut) (Nov. 11); from Los Angeles, Calif., incl. Zacarias Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha (1970-), Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello (1964-), Timothy Robert "Tim" Commerford (1968-) (bass), Brad Wilk (1968-) (drums); incl. Killing in the Name, Bullet in the Head, Bombtrack, Freedom. Madonna (1958-), Erotica (album #5) (Oct. 20) (#2 in the U.S. and U.K.); (5M copies); incl. Erotica, Deeper and Deeper, Bad Girl, Fever, Rain, Bye Bye Baby. Iron Maiden, Fear of the Dark (album #9) (May 11); last with lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson; incl. Be Quick or Be Dead, From Here to Eternity, Wasting Love, Fear of the Dark. Yngwie Malmsteen (1963-), Fire and Ice (album #6) (Jan. 7) (#121 in the U.S.); incl. Perpetual, and Dragonfly. Mana, Donde Jugaran Los Ninos? (Where Will the Children Play?) (album) (Oct. 27) 3M copies) (best-selling Spanish language rock album until ?); incl. Vivir Sin Aire, Oye Mi Amor, and Como Te Deseo. 10,000 Maniacs, Our Time in Eden (album #5) (Sept. 29). Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, You Gotta Believe (album #2) (last album) (Sept. 15); incl. You Gotta Believe. Bob Marley (1945-81), Songs of Freedom (4-disc set) (Oct. 6) (posth.). Martina McBride (1966-), The Time Has Come (May 12) (album) (debut) (#49 country) (#15 in the U.S.); incl. The Time Has Come (#23 country). Reba McEntire (1955-), It's Your Call (album #19) (Dec. 14); incl. The Heart Won't Lie (with Vince Gill). Tim McGraw (1967-), Tim McGraw (album) (debut); incl. Welcome to the Club, Memory Lane, Two Steppin' Mind. The Dead Milkmen, Soul Rotation (album #6) (Apr. 14); first on Hollywood Records; incl. Silly Dreams. Sir Mix-a-Lot (1963-), Mack Daddy (album #3) (Feb. 4); incl. Baby Got Back (#1 in the U.S.) ("I like big butts and I cannot lie"). Faith No More, Angel Dust (album #4) (June 8) (#10 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.) (3M copies); incl. Easy (#58 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.), Midlife Crisis (#10 in the U.K.), A Small Victory (#29 in the U.K.), Everything's Ruined (#28 in the U.K.). Alanis Morissette (1974-), Now Is the Time (album); incl. An Emotion Away, No Apologies, (Change Is) Never a Waste of Time. Morrissey (1959-), Your Arsenal (album). Motorhead, March or (ör) Die (album #10) (Aug. 14); '92 Tour EP (album). Michael Martin Murphey (1945-), Cowboy Songs III - Rhymes of the Renegades (album #18) (Oct. 12). Allanah Myles (1958-), Rockinghorse (album #2). Vomito Negro, Compiled (album #10); Wake Up (album #11). Gary Numan (1958-), Machine and Soul (album #11) (Sept.). Sinead O'Connor (1966-), Am I Not Your Girl? (album #3) (Sept. 22); sells 1.5M copies; incl. Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home. The Offspring, Ignition (album #2) (Oct. 16); incl. Kick Him When He's Down. Midnight Oil, Scream in Blue (album) (May 5). Robert Palmer (1949-2003), Ridin' High (album #12) (#32 in the U.K.); incl. Witchcraft. Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power (album #6) (Feb. 25) (#44 in the U.S.); title from the 1973 film "The Exorcist"; incl. Walk (#35 in the U.K.), Fucking Hostile, Mouth for War, This Love. Paris (Oscar Jackson Jr.) (1967-), Sleeping with the Enemy (album #2); features an insert showing him hiding behind a tree with a Tec 9 as the U.S. pres. waves to the crowd, causing Tommy Boy Records to drop him, after which he founds Scarface Records; incl. Bush Killa, Coffee, Donuts & Death ("a cop-killing tirade"). Wilson Phillips, Shadows and Light (album #2) (June 2) (#4 in the U.S.); disappointing sales cause them to disband until 2004; incl. You Won't See Me Cry (#20 in the U.S.). Stone Temple Pilots, Core (album) (debut) (Sept. 29) (#3 in the U.S.); from San Diego, Calif., incl. Scott Weiland (Scott Richard Kline) (1967-) (vocals), Robert DeLeo (1966-) (bass), Dean DeLeo (guitar), and Eric Kretz (1966-) (drums); incl. Plush, Sex Type Thing, Creep. The Police, Greatest Hits (album) (Sept.). Insane Clown Posse, Carnival of Carnage (Oct. 18) (album) (debut); from Detroit, Mich., incl. Joseph Frank "Joe" Bruce (1972-) AKA Violent J, and Joseph William "Joey" Utsler (1974-) AKA Shaggy 2 Dope; their fans are called Juggalos, after the song The Juggla, and are initiated by dousing with 2 liters of Faygo; Beverly Kills 50187 (album); incl. Beverly Kills. Manic Street Preachers, Generation Terrorists; (album) (debut) (Feb. 10); released after proclaiming that it will be the "greatest rock album" and sell 16M copies "from Bangkok to Senegar"; incl. Stay Beautiful, Love's Sweet Exile/Repeat, You Love Us, Slash 'n' Burn, Motorcycle Emptiness, Little Baby Nothing. Judas Priest, Victim of Changes (album #13); incl. Seventhsign. Prince (1958-2016), Love Symbol (17th album) (AKA Prince and the New Power Generation); incl. "My Name is Prince", "Sexy M.F.", "7". Skinny Puppy, Last Rights (album #7) (June 30; last for Nettwerk; incl. Killing Game, Inquisition, Download, Riverz End. Faster Pussycat, Whipped (album #3) (Aug. 4); incl. Nonstop to Nowhere. Boo Radleys, Everything's Alright Forever (album #2) (Aug.). Ramones, Mondo Bizarro (album #12) (Sept. 1); first with bassist C.J. Ramone replacing Dee Dee Ramone; incl. Take It As it Comes, Poison Heart; rereleased on Aug. 10, 2004 with bonus track Spider-Man. Eddi Reader (1959-), Mirmama (album) (debut). Lou Reed (1942-), Magic and Loss (album #16) (Jan. 14); incl. What's Good (The Thesis), Power and Glory (The Situation). R.E.M., Automatic for the People (album #8) (Oct. 5); incl. Drive, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Everybody Hurts (listened to by Kurt Cobain before his suicide?), Nightswimming, Man on the Moon, Find the River. Keith Richards (1943-), Main Offender (album #2) (Oct. 19). Lionel Richie (1949-), Back to Front (album #4) (May 5). Skid Row, B-Side Ourselves (EP) (Sept. 22) (#58 in the U.S.). Roxette, Tourism (album #4) (Aug. 28); incl. How Do You Do, Queenof Rain, Fingertips 93. Paulina Rubio (1971-), La Chica Dorada (The Golden Girl) (album) (solo debut) (Oct. 20); incl. La China Dorada. Black Sabbath, Dehumanizer (album #16) (June 22); incl. Computer God, TV Crimes. Sade (1959-), Love Deluxe (album #4) (Nov. 11); incl. No Ordinary Love. Riders of the Purple Sage, Midnight Moonlight (album #13) (May 12); The Relix Bay Rock Shop, No. 1 (album). Buffy Sainte-Marie (1941-), Coincidence and Likely Stories (album); incl. The Big Ones Get Away, Fallen Angels. Joe Satriani (1956-), The Extremist (album #4) (July 21); incl. Summer Song, War. Pete Seeger (1919-2014), American Industrial Ballads (album). Selena (1971-95), Entre a Mi Mundo (album #10) (May 8) (1.2M copies); incl. Como La Flor (becomes her trademark song), La Carcacha; Baila Esta Cumbia (album) (Nov. 25). Michelle Shocked (1962-), Arkansas traveller (album). Information Society, Peace & Love Inc. (album #5) (Oct. 26); incl. Peace & Love Inc.. Spiderbait, Shashavaglava (Croatian "dickhead") (album) (debut); from Finley, N.S.W., Australia; incl. Kram (Mark Maher) (drums/vocals), Damien "Whitt" Whitty (guitar), and Janet English (bass/vocals); incl. Old Man Sam, Scenester. Big Star, Live (album) (Feb. 21); recorded in 1974. Ringo Starr (1940-), Time Takes Time (album #10); first album since 1983; incl. Weight of the World (#74 in the U.K.); praised by critics but still flops; next album in 1998. Status Quo, Live Alive Quo (album). Al Stewart (1945-), Famous Last Words (album #14) (Sept. 21). George Strait (1952-), Pure Country Soundtrack (album) (Sept. 15) (#1 country) (6M copies). Stratovarius, Twilight Time (album #2); incl. Break the Ice. Sublime, 40oz. to Freedom (album) (debut) (June) (2M copies in the U.S.); from Long Beach, Calif., incl. Bradley James "Brad" Nowell (1968-96) (vocals), Eric John Wilson (1970-) (bass), and Floyd I. "Bud" Gaugh IV (1967-) (drums); incl. Badfish, Smoke Two Joints, We're Only Gonna Die from Our Own Arrogance, 5446 That's My Number, Scarlet Begonias. The Sugarcubes, Stick Around For Joy (album #3) (last album) (Feb. 18) (#95 in the U.S., #16 in the U.K.); incl. Hit (#17 in the U.K.). Suicidal Tendencies, F.N.G. (album) (June 29); The Art of Rebellion (album #5) (June 30) (#52 in the U.S.); incl. Nobody Hears, Asleep at the Wheel, I'll Hate You Better. Swans, Love of Life (album #13). Testament, The Ritual (album #5) (May 12) (#55 in the U.S.); last with Louie Clemente and Alex Skolnick; incl. Electric Crown. Therion, Beyond Sanctorum (album #5) (Jan.). Toto, Kingdom of Desire (album #8); incl. 2 Hearts. Babes in Toyland, The Peel Sessions (album) (Apr. 1); Fontanelle (album #2) (Apr. 11); released on Reprise Records; first with bassist Maureen Herman; incl. Handsome and Gretel, Bruise Violet (disses Kat Bjelland's former bandmate Courtney Love of Hole). Jethro Tull, A Little Light Music (album) (Sept. 14). Bonnie Tyler (1951-), Angel Heart (album #9). U.S.U.R.A., Open Your Mind (album) (debut); from Italy, incl. Giacomo Maiolini (his mommy's name is Ursula), Walter Cremonini, and Alessandro Gilardi; incl. Open Your Mind (incl. a sample from the 1990 film "Total Recall"). Vangelis (1943-), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (album). Suzanne Vega (1959-), 99.9 Degrees Fahrenheit (album #4) (Sept. 8) (#86 in the U.S.); incl. Blood Makes Noise (#1 in the U.S.). The Verve, The Verve (album) (debut) (Dec. 1); from Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, incl. Richard Ashcroft (1971-) (vocals), Nicholas Jonathon "Nick" McCabe (1971-) (guitar), Simon Robin David Jones (1972-) (bass), Peter Anthony Salisbury (1971-) (drums), and Simon Tong (1972-) (guitar); incl. All in the Mind; She's a Superstar; Gravity Grave. En Vogue, Funky Divas (album) (Mar. 24); sells 3M copies; incl. My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It), Giving Him Something He Can Feel, Free Your Mind; "Prejudice. Wrong a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes." The Wallflowers, The Wallflowers (album) (debut) (Aug. 25); originally The Apples; from Los Angeles, Calif., incl. Jakob Luke Dylan (1969-) (son of Bob Dylan) (vocals), Tobi Miller (guitar), Barrie Maguire (bass), Peter Yanowitz (drums), and Rami Jaffee (1969-) (keyboards); incl. Shy of the Moon. Joe Walsh (1947-), Songs for a Dying Planet (album #10) (May). Jennifer Warnes (1947-), The Hunter (album #7) (June 9); incl. The Whole of the Moon. Warrant, Dog Eat Dog (album #3) (Aug. 25) (#25 in the U.S.) (500K copies); last with the five original members; the end of the Glam Rock Era?; incl. Machine Gun, Hole in My Wall, April 2031, Bitter Pill (w/Moron Fish & Tackle Choir - janitors et al. from the recording studio). Kevin Welch (1955-), Western Beat (album #2). Great White, Psycho City (album #6) (Sept. 14); incl. Psycho City. XTC, Nonsuch (album #11) (Apr. 27); incl. The Disappointed (#33 in the U.K.), The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead (#71 in the U.K.). Yanni (1954-), Dare to Dream (album); his breakthrough album; incl. Aria (based on "The Flower Duet"). Trisha Yearwood (1964-), Hearts in Armor (album). Neil Young (1945-), Harvest Moon (album) (Oct. 27). Frank Zappa (1940-93), Beat the Boots II (album) (June 16); You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 5/6 (album) (July 10); Playground Psychotics (double album) (Oct. 27). White Zombie, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 (album #3) (Mar. 17); major label debut and breakthrough album; incl. Thunder Kiss '65, Black Sunshine. Movies: The best year for the movies of the decade? TLW went to the movies so often he joined the free popcorn club? Ron Clements' and John Musker's Aladdin (Nov. 25) (Buena Vista Pictures) is an animated Disney flick about Aladdin (voice of Scott Weinger) and Princess Jasmine (Linda Larkin); Robin Williams voices the Genie for $75K; #1 movie of 1992 ($217M U.S. and $504.1M worldwide box office on a $28M budget). David Fincher's Alien 3 (May 22) sees Ripley's pod crash on the penal colony Fiorina "Fury" 161, where the horny all-male double-Y inmates can barely stand it; features an Alien hiding in a dog, which she kills, only to find another inside herself, which she finishes off by committing suicide in a giant furnace; does $159.8M box office on a $50M budget. Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness (Oct. 9) (Dino De Laurentiis) (Universal Pictures) is a tongue-in-cheek action movie starring Bruce Campbell as discount store employee Ash Williams, who is accidentally transported to 1300 C.E., and has to use his chainsaw to battle an army of the dead led by Lord Arthur (Marcus Gilbert) with his babe Sheila (Embeth Davidtz) and find the Necronomicon to return home; does $25.5M box office on an $11M budget; "1 man, 1 million dead, the odds are just about even." Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct (Mar. 20) (Carolco Pictures) (TriStar Pictures), written by Joe Eszterhas is the breakthrough role for Meadville, Penn.-born former model Sharon Yvonne Stone (1958-) for her beaver-glimpsing leg-crossing scene during a police interrogation (shot without her knowledge?), in the role of Calif. crime novelist and serial killer Catherine Davis Tramell, who likes to tie up her johns incl. Det. Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), knife them, then tell about it in her bestselling novels, then beg to be taken in sansa panties to show she's got nothing to hide; Jeanne Tripplehorn plays bi murderer Dr. Beth Garner, pissing-off the LGBT crowd; #9 movie of 1992 ($118M U.S. and $352.9M worldwide box office on a $49M budget). Tim Burton's Batman Returns (June 16) (Warner Bros.) ("The Bat, the Cat, the Penguin") stars Michael Keaton as Batman, Danny DeVito as the Penguin, Michelle Pfeiffer (cool lips) as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, and Christopher Walken as maniacal tycoon (big stretch?) Max Shreck; #3 movie of 1992 ($163M U.S. and $2668M worldwide box office on an $80M budget). Mick Jackson's The Bodyguard (Nov. 25) (Tig Productions) (Kasdan Productions) (Warner Bros.), written by Lawrence Kasdan stars Kevin Costner as a white ex-Secret Service agent who guards the body of black singer Whitney Houston and ends up you know what (while in actuality going out with Angie Everhart, Courteney Cox, Joan Lunden et al.); the film's soundtrack, which incl. "I Will Always Love You" (written by Dolly Parton) becomes the #1 selling of all time (until ?); #7 movie of 1992 ($122M U.S. and $411M worldwide box office on a $25M budget); "Never let her out of your sight. Never let your guard down. Never fall in love." Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (Nov. 13) (American Zoetrope) (Columbia Pictures) stars Gary Oldman as Count Vlad Dracula in 1462, who goes nuts after his wife Elisabeta thinks him dead and commits suicide, earning the curse of the Church, causing him to renounce his faith and vow to rise from the grave to avenge her, emerging in 1897 in Transylvania and leaving his brides Michaela Bercu and Florina Kendrick to feed on solicitor Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) while he sails to London with vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) hot on his trail, wooing Elisabeta's reincarnation Mina Harker (Winona Ryder), who helps him achieve eternal peace; does $215.9M box office on a $40M budget; "True Love Never Dies"; meanwhile British author Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula is finally translated into Romanian, and the first Dracula films are shown to Romanians, who are surprised by the whole new and strange saga - so that's why they thought Nadya never smiled? Bernard Rose's Candyman (Sept. 11) (Propagnda Films) (TriStar Pictures), based on the short story "The Forbidden" by executive producer Clive Barker is about graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), who is completing a thesis on urban legends, and encounters the legend of Candyman (Tony Todd), a black slave's son who in 1890 fathered a child by a white woman and had his hand severed before being murdered by a white lynch mob by being coated with honey and fed to the bees; does $25.7M box office; music composed by Philip Glass; followed by "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh" (1995), "Candyman: Day of the Dead" (1999); Richard Attenborough's Chaplin (Dec. 18) (Carolco Pictures) (TriStar Pictures), based on Chaplin's autobio. and David Robinson's "Chaplin: His Life and Art" stars Robert Downey Jr. (after Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Jim Carrey are passed over) as Charlie Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin as his mother Geraldine, Paul Rhys as his half-brother Sydney, Milla Jovovich as his 1st wife Mildred Harris, Marisa Tomei as Mabel Norman, Dan Aykroyd as producer Mack Sennett, Kevin Kline as actor Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Penelope Ann Miller as actress Edna Purviance and Kevin Dunn as J. Edgar Hoover; music score by John Barry; does $9.5M box office on a $31M budget. Neil Jordan's The Crying Game (Sept. 18) (Channel Four Fims), based on the 1931 short story "Guests of the Nation" by Frank O'Connor, and whose title is based on a top-5 British hit of 1964 (played in 3 versions, incl. one by Boy George) stars Stephen Rea as IRA gunman Fergus, who kidnaps black British soldier Jody (Forest Whitaker) and befriends him, then lets him go after being ordered to kill him, only to see him get run over by his own troops, then sets out to find his girlfriend Dil, played by U.S.-born Jaye Davidson (Alfred Amey) (1968-), whom he falls in love with until she wipes off her mouth, takes off her clothes, and shows him her dick, never mind the white-black thang?; one of the seminal movie experiences of the dickade?; does $62.5M box office U.S. and £2M U.K. on a £2.3M budget. Manny Coto's Dr. Giggles (Oct. 23) (Largo Entertainment) (Universal Pictures) stars Larry Drake as Dr. Evan Rendell Jr., who likes to rip out patients' hearts to help bring his dead wife back to life, and escaped from a mental asylum to his home town of Moorehigh, attacking 19-y.-o. Jennifer Campbell (Holly Marie Combs) and her boyfriend Max Anderson (Glenn Quinn); does $8.4M box office; "If you think that's bad wait until you get my bill". Ron Howard's Far and Away (May 22) (Imagine Entertainment) (Universal Pictures) stars Tom Cruise as Joseph Donnelly, a W Irish bare-knuckle boxer who flees to the U.S. after threatening his landlord, and Nicole Kidman as Shannon Christie, the landlord's daughter, who follows him to Boston and the 1893 Okla. Land Rush after sneaking a peak under his bowl; music by John Williams; also stars Colm Meaney; "What they needed was a country big enough for their dreams"; does $137.8M box office on a $60M budget. Paul Mones' Fathers & Sons stars Jeff Goldblm as beach-runner bookworm Max who meets a psychic on a pier who helps him communicate with his son. Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men (Dec. 9) (Castle Rock Entertainment) (Columbia Pictures), based on the play by Aaron Sorkin is about U.S. Marines Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison) and Pfc. Louden Downey (James Marshall) at Gitmo and their infamous "Code Red" discipline, which results in the death of Pfc. William T. Santiago (Michael DeLorenzo) and a chain-of-command coverup, ending in a great courtroom cross-examination of Marine Corps Col. Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson) by smart young Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise), who maneuvers the arrogant prick into blowing his own coverup, while Tom's boss (it would have to be female even though it's only JAG?) Lt. Cdr. Joanne Galloway (Demi Moore) holds his hand but never his johnson; Kevin Bacon plays straight arrow govt. prosecutor Capt. Jack Ross; Kiefer Sutherland plays Jessup's boy Lt. Jonathan Kendrick; Kevin Pollak plays Moore's aide Lt. Sam Weinberg; J.T. Walsh plays Jessup's regretful 2nd Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson, as everybody in the cast smells Oscars, even here cum da Judge Julius Alexander Randolph, played by J.A. Preston; #5 movie of 1992 ($141M U.S. and $243.2M worldwide box office on a $40M budget); first of five consecutive $100M box office hits for Cruise (a first); "You can't handle the truth"; "I'm gonna rip the eyes out of your head and puke in your dead skull. You've fucked with the wrong Marine" - the movie adds the missing trial to the JFK coverup? Stuart Gordon's Fortress (Dec.), shot in Australia stars Christopher Lambert as John Henry Brennick, and Loryn Locklin as his wife Karen B. Brennick, who are sent to a maximum security prison for violating the govt.'s 1-child policy in 2017; followed by "Fortress 2: Re-Entry" (1999). Geoff Murphy's Freejack (Jan. 17), based on the 1959 Robert Sheckley novel "Immortality, Inc." stars Emilio Estevez as race car driver Alex Furlong, who is about to die in a 1991 crash when his body is bonejacked (snatched) to 2009 Bronx to be taken over by rich Ian McCandless (Anthony Hopkins); also stars Mick Jagger and Rene Russo; does $17M box office on a $30M budget. Rowdy Herrington's Gladiator (Mar. 6) (Columbia Pictures) stars James Marshall as inner New York City h.s. student Tommy Riley, whose drunkard father owes $1,250 to some loan sharks, and agrees to fight a bout for sleazy promoter Pappy Jack (Robert Loggia) to pay it off, and gets involved with bigger promoter Jimmy Horn (Brian Dennehy); Cuba Gooding Jr. plays boxer Lincoln Haines; Ossie Davis plays cornerman Noah; Cara Buono plays Tommy's babe Dawn; too bad, it only does $9.2M box office on a $20M budget. James Foley's Glengarry Glen Ross (Oct. 2) (New Line Cinema), adapted from the 1984 David Mamet play and filmed in New York City stars Al Pacino as Richard Roma, Jack Lemmon as Shelly "the Machine" Levene, Alan Arkin as George Aaronow, and Ed Harris as Dave Moss, four high-pressure real estate salesmen in Chicago working for Premiere Properties, who are threatened by Blake (Alec Baldwin) with firing if they don't produce; Kevin Spacey plays office mgr. John Williamson; does $10.7M box office in North Am. on a $12.5M budget; "Only one thing counts in this life - get them to sign on the line which is dotted." (Blake) Curtis Hanson's The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (Jan. 10) (Buena Vista Pictures) stars Rebecca DeMornay as Peyton Flanders, the Jekyll-Hyde nanny from Hell, and Annabella Sciorra as the naive pregnant Claire Bartel; does $88M box office on an $11.7M budget; "Trust is her weapon, innocence is her opportunity, and revenge is her only desire." Stephen Fears' (Accidental) Hero (Oct. 2) (Columbia Pictures) stars Dustin Hoffman as pickpocket Bernard "Bernie" LaPlante (Dustin Hoffman), who anonymously rescues survivors of crashed Flight 104 to steal their valuables, and gets homeless Vietnam vet John Bubber (Andy Garcia) to take credit to elude the heat, and he ends up being awarded $1M by TV station; Geena Davis plays TV reporter Gale Gayley, who falls for Bubber; Joan Cusack plays Bernie's wife Evelyn; does $19.5M box office on a $42M budget; Chris Columbus' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Nov. 20) stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, taking on Harry Lime (Joe Pesci); #2 movie of 1992 ($174M). Ismail Merchant's and James Ivory's Howards End (Mar. 13) (Merchant Ivory Productions), based on the 1910 E.M. Forster novel stars Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter as freethinking English Schlegel sisters Margaret and Helen, who hook up with the wealthy conservative Wilcoxes (Vanessa Redgrave as Ruth and Anthony Hopkins as Henry) and low class Howard Bast (Samuel West), and suffer through the bast, er, Mr. Wilcox's attempts to thwart the bequest of Howards End estate to Margaret; does $26.1M box office on an $8M budget. Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans (Sept. 25), based on the 1826 James Fenimore Cooper novel stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye, Russell Means as his sidekick Chingachgook (father of the last of the Mohicans Uncas), Madeleine Stowe as Hawkeye's babe Cora Munro, Maurice Roeves as her daddy Col. Edmund Munro, and Wes Studi as studly bad Indian Magua, who leads his lusty Indians in bushwhacking a British army column in a keeper cinematic moment. Brett Leonard's The Lawnmower Man (Mar. 6), loosely based on a Stephen King short story stars Jeff Fahey as gardner Jobe Smith, who is experimented on by Dr. Lawrence Angelo (Pierce Brosnan) of Virtual Space Industries to raise his IQ, making him a supergenius with telepathic abilities who decides to take over the world by becoming "pure energy" and taking over the lab's mainframe computer; King successfully sues the producers to disassociate his name from the film. Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own (July 1) (Columbia Pictures)) stars Tom Hanks as WWII women's league baseball mgr. Jimmy Dugan, who has to handle crying cu, er, women players Geena Davis (Dottie Hinson) (after Debra Winger refuses to appear with Madonna and drops out), Lori Petty (Kit Keller), Madonna (Mae Mordabito), Doris Murphy (Rosie O'Donnell) et al.; #10 movie of 1992 ($107M U.S. and $132.4M worldwide box office on a $40M budget); "There's no crying in baseball" (Hanks). Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon 3 (May 15) stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover again as Martin Riggs and Roger Murtagh, Rene Russo as policewoman Lorna Cole, and Joe Pesci as Leo Getz; #4 movie of 1992 ($142M). Alfonso Arau's Like Water for Chocolate (Apr. 16), based on the 1989 novel by Laura Esquivel stars Lumi Cavazos as Tita, Marco Leonardi as Pedro Muzquiz, and Regina Torne as Mama Elena; the highest grossing Spanish language film in the U.S. (until ?). Spike Lee's Malcolm X (Nov. 18) stars Denzel Washington. Keith Gordon's A Midnight Clear (Apr. 24), based on the 1982 William Wharton novel about a WWII U.S. intel platoon that has to deal with a surrendering German platoon stars Ethan Hawke, Gary Sinise, Kevin Dillon, Peter Berg, and Arye Gross. Juzo Itami's Minbo no Onna (The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion) (May 16) exposes the yakuza as bullies and thugs, causing five members of the Goto-gumi yakuza gang to beat him up, triggering a govt. crackdown. Jonathan Lynn's My Cousin Vinny (Mar. 13) (20th Cent. Fox), written by Dale Launer stars Ralph Maccio as Billy Gambino, and Mitchell Whitfield as Stan Rothenstein, two New Yorkers who are mistaken for murderers while on vacation in crackerland Ala., and end up in front of snooty judge Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gwynne in his last film appearance), causing Billy's atty. cousin Vinny Gambini (Joe Pesci) and his auto repair babe Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) to come to the rescue; Lane Smith plays cracker DA Jim Trotter III; does $64M box office on a $11M budget; the breakthrough role for Brooklyn, N.Y.-born Marisa Tomei (1964-); "There have been many courtroom dramas that have glorified the Great American Legal System. This isn't one of them." Gary Sinise's Of Mice and Men (Oct. 2) (MGM), based on the 1937 John Steinbeck novel stars Sinise as George Milton, and John Malkovich as Lennie Small; does $5.47M box office. Sally Potter's Orlando (Sept.) (Sony Pictures), based on the 1928 Virginia Woolf gender-bender novel and filmed in Khiva, Uzbekistan and its 18th cent. Djuma Mosque stars Tilda Swinton as gender-switching longevity champ Orlando, Quentin Crisp as Elizabeth I, and Billy Zane as Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, with music by gay composer Jimmy Somerville, who appears in a cameo as an angel; does $5.3M box office on a $4M budget. Gillies MacKinnon's The Playboys (Apr. 22) (Samuel Goldwyn Co.) stars Robin Wright as unwed Irish mother Tara in 1957, who is courted by Albert Finney as Sgt. Hegarty, and Aidan Quinn as Tom, part of a travelng troupe of actors called you know what; does $4.9M box office. Katt Shea's Poison Ivy (May 8) stars Drew Barrymore as sexy Ivy, who befriends introverted h.s. student Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert), and schemes her way into her wealthy family, starting with seducing daddy Darryl (Tom Skerritt), who eats her in front of sickly mommy Georgie (Cheryl Ladd) - and love conquers all? Jocelyn Moorhouse's Proof (Mar. 20) stars Hugo Weaving as blind photographer Martin, who gets in a love triangle with his housekeeper Celia (Genevieve Picot) and his friend Andy (Russell Crowe), taking photos as proof of the reality of life; Moorhouse's dir. debut. Christopher Cain's Pure Country (Oct. 23) (Warner Bros.) stars George Strait as country star Wyatt "Dusty" Chandler, who decides to skip out on his mgr. Lula Rogers (Lesley Ann Warren) and go country, meeting babe Harley Tucker (Isabel Glasser), granddaughter of Ernest Tucker (Rory Calhoun); does $15M box office. John Dahl's Red Rock West (?), shot in Montana and Willcox, Ariz. stars Nicolas Cage as drifter Michael, who gets hired by bar owner Wayne (J.T. Walsh) to be a hit man for his wife Suzanna (Lara Flynn Boyle), who tries to hire him to kill Wayne; only thing, he's not really a hit man, just an actor in an improbable script?; goes straight to video, then ends up an art house hit in 1994 because of the super perf. of Walsh? Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (Oct. 23) (based on the letters in "Au Revoir, Les Enfants"), a super-violent cops-and-robbers flick about Misters Pink (Steve Buscemi), White (Harvey Keitel), Orange (Tim Roth), Blonde (Michael Madsen), Blue (Edward Bunker) ("What's special, take you in the back and suck your dick?"), and Brown (Tarantino), who face a traitor in their midst (Roth); the dir. debut of former video store clerk Quentin Jerome Tarantino (1963-); after Timothy Carey is turned down, but gets the screenplay dedicated to him, tough guy actor Lawrence Tierney plays mob boss Joe Cabot, who gives them their names; Chris Penn plays nice guy Eddie Cabot, who believes waitresses should be automatically tipped; the scene where police officer Marvin Nash, played by William Kirk Baltz (1959-) is tortured and burned alive with gasoline by Mr. Blonde to the 1972 Stealers Wheel hit tune Stuck in the Middle with You is a keeper; does $22M box office on a $1.2M budget. Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It (Oct. 9) (Columbia Pictures), written by Richard Friedenberg based on the 1976 novel by Norman Maclean (1902-90) set near Missoula, Mont. stars Brad Pitt and Craig Sheffer as brothers Paul and Norman Maclean, Tom Skerritt as their Presbyeterian father Rev. John Maclean, Brenda Blethyn as Clara Maclean, and Emily Lloyd as Jessie Burns, becoming a hit with fly fishing lovers, and the breakthrough role for Brad Pitt; does $43.4M box office; ] "Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters"; "Chicken in the car, car won't go. That's how you spell Chicago"; "My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night. But ah my foes, and oh my friends, it gives a lovely light." Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman (Dec. 23) (Universal), a remake of the 1975 Italian film "Profumo di Donna", based on the Giovanni Arpino novel stars Al Pacino as blind alcoholic retired army Lt. Col. Frank Slade, who has to be watched over by prep school student Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell), and ends up dancing the tango with much younger Donna (Gabrielle Anwar) and daring death to catch him while his nose is full of the you know what of a you know what; does $134M box office on a $31M budget. David Seltzer's Shining Through (Jan. 31), based on the 1988 novel by Susan Isaacs stars Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith as two Yanks who go to Nazi Germany on a spy mission. Emile Ardolino's Sister Act (May 29) stars Whoopi Goldberg as singer Deloris Van Cartier, who witnesses a mob crime and is hidden by the police in a convent as Sister Mary Clarence; Maggie Smith plays Mother Superior; #6 movie of 1992 ($140M); "No booze, no sex, no drugs, no way". Gianni Amelio's The Stolen Children is about a shy carabiniere and his two adopted children, an 11-y.-o. girl forced into prostitution by her mother, and her sullen 9-y.-o. brother journeying from Milan to Sicily and undergoing transformations. John Bailey's The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (Jan.) expands Lily Tomlin's 1-woman show with a cast of 12 male and female chars. Daniel Bergman's Sunday's Children (Sondagsbarn), a TV movie made by Ingmar Bergman's son tells about his dad's horrible childhood, incl. being locked in a closet and having to wear a skirt after peeing his pants; his nickname is Pu. Tom Kalin's Swoon (Jan.) (his dir. debut) is about the 1924 kidnap-murder of 14-y.-o. Bobby Franks by brainy gay Jews Nathan Leopold Jr. (Craig Chester) and Richard Loeb (Daniel Schlachet), launching "the New Queer Cinema" (B. Ruby Rich). David Twohy's Timescape (Grand Tour: Disaster in Time) (May 9) based on the novel "Vintage Season" by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore stars Jeff Daniels as widower Ben Wilson, and Ariana Richards as his daughter Hillary, who are visited by the Tourists from another time; dir. debut for Twohy; features a cameo by Robert Colbert of "The Time Tunnel". Barry Levinson's Toys (20th Cent. Fox) (Dec. 18), featuring sumptuous sets by Ferdinando Scarfiotti and outdoor scenes in SW Wash. and NC Idaho stars Robin Williams as Leslie Zevo, who is passed over by his father Kenneth Zevo (Donald O'Connor) for ownership of the Zevo Toys factory in Moscow, Idaho for his brother Lt. Gen. Leland Zevo (Michael Gambon); also stars Joan Cusack as Alsatia Zevo; does $23.3M box office on a $43M budget. Andrew Davis' Under Siege (Oct. 9) (Regency Enterprises) (Le Studio Canal +) (Warner Bros.), filmed on the USS Missouri stars Steven Seagal as Chief Petty Officer Casey Ryback, the ship's cook, who has to reclaim it from a gang of terrorists led by William "Bill" Strannix (Tommy Lee Jones), Cmdr. Peter Krill (Gary Busey), and Daumer (Colm Meaney), with only Playboy Playmate Jordan Tate (Erika Eleniak) to help him; Nick Mancuso plays Stranniz's former boss Tom Braker, dir. of the CIA: Patrick O'Neal plays Capt. J.T. Adams; Seagal's most successful film; does $156.6M box office on a $35M film; "Chaotic? Wake up, Tom! You know, and I know, that chaos and bedlam are consuming the entire world! UV light waves are only the beginning, Tom. We have an inch of topsoil left... Sexually transmitted diseases, deforestation, irreversibly progressive depletion of the global gene pool. It all adds up to oblivion, pal. Governments will fall, anarchies will reign. It's a brave new world." Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (Aug. 7) (Warner Bros.), written by David Webb Peoples stars Eastwood as aging outlaw William Munny, who takes on one more job along with partner Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) to avenge a disfigured ho in Big Whiskey, Wyo., and comes up against cruel sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman); Richard Harris plays gunfighter Richard Harris, and Saul Rubinek plays pulp fiction writer W.W. Beauchamp; grosses $159M on a $14.4M budget. Roland Emmerich's Universal Soldier (July 10) stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as U.S. Pvt. Luc Devereaux, and Dolph Lundgren as Sgt. Andrew Scott, who get in a squabble in 1969 Vietnam and kill each other, then are reanimated as universal soldiers GR44 and GR13 in 1992. Penelope Spheeris' Wayne's World (Feb. 14), based on their Saturday Night Live comedy sketch is the film debut of Canadian-born Michael John "Mike" Myers (1963-) and Dana Thomas Carvey (1955-) as Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, hosts of a public access TV show in Aurora, Ill., who try to go commercial and grovel before Alice Cooper; features a sing-along to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in their Mirthobile (baby blue 1976 AMC Pacer with flames and non-matching wheels); popularizes the use of the phrases "Party on!", "Schwing" (the sound of popping a boner when seeing a hot chick), and "...Not!"; #8 movie of 1992 ($122M); Stephen Surjik's Wayne's World 2 (Dec. 10, 1993) sees them go to an Aerosmith concert, have a dream about Jim Morrison and a "weird naked Indian" (Larry Sellers) commanding them to stage Waynestock, and rock with the Village People while Wayne's babe Cassandra (Tia Carrere) flirts with producer Bobby Cahn (Christopher Walken), causing Wayne to go after Honey Hornee (Kim Basinger). Ron Shelton's White Men Can't Jump (Mar. 27) (20th Cent. Fox), written by Ron Shelton stars Woody Harrelson as white basketball hustler Billy Hoyle, who teams up with black hustler Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes) to scam suckers who think that you know what; Rosie Perez plays Hoyle's Jeopardy-loving babe Gloria Clemente; does $90.7M box office. David Markey's The Year Punk Broke is a documentary about Sonic Youth and Nirvana on tour in 1991. Art: The 9,335-sq-.ft. Panorama of New York City is housed at the Queens Museum of Art in Queens, N.Y., and incl. 895K scaled individual structures in all five boroughs. Glenda Green (1945-), The Lamb and the Lion; New Age portrait of a Kevin Costner surfer boy Christ, a big hit. Damien Hirst (1965-), Pharmacy. Sally Mann (1951-), Immediate Family (photos). Brice Marden (1938-), Vine (1992-3). Roberto Matta (1911-2002), Champ du Vide; Cosmo-now; Le Desnomeur Renomme; Farfallacqua. James Rosenquist (1933-), Time Dust (7' x 35'). George Segal (1924-2000), Street Crossing (sculpture); installed in the College Ave. Promenade at Montclair State U. in N.J. Spencer Tunick (1967-), Live Nudes in New York; begins his career of staging groups of nudes for installation art. Plays: Howard Brenton (1942-), Berlin Bertie (Royal Court Theatre, London); the fall of the Berlin Wall unites two sisters on Easter weekend Apr. 13-15, 1990. Per Olov Enquist (1934-), Kartritama. William Finn (1952-) and James Lapine (1949-), Falsettos (musical) (John Golden Theatre, New York) (Apr. 29) (487 perf.); dir. by Lapine; stars Michael Rupert as Marvin, Stephen Bogardus as Whizzer, Brbara Walsh as Trina, Chip Zien as mendel, Jonathan Kaplan as Jason, Heather MacRae as Charlotte, and Carolee Carmello as Cordella; starts out in 1979 New York City with Four Jews in a Room Bitching, incl. Marvin, his son Jason, his pshrink Mendel, who left his wife Trina for male lover Whizzer; also features Everyone Hates His Parents. Dario Fo (1926-), Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas. Maria Irene Fornes (1930-), Oscar and Bertha; Terra Incognita; music by Roberto Sierra. Athol Fugard (1932-), Playland. Herb Gardner (1934-2003), Conversations with My Father (Royale Theatre, New York) (Mar. 22) (402 perf.); dir. by Daniel Sullivan; Russian immigrant bartender Eddie Ross (Judd Hirsch) in Manhattan and his son Charlie (Tony Shalhoub) in 1936-76 suffer through assimilation. Beth Henley (1952-), Control Freaks. John Kander (1927-), Fred Ebb (1928-2004), Manuel Puig, Kiss of the Spider Woman (musical) (Shaftesbury Theatre, West End, London) (Oct. 20) (390 perf.) (Broadhurst Theatre, New York) (May 3, 1993) (904 perf.); dir. by Harold Prince; stars Brent Carver, Anthony Crivello, and Chita Rivera. Adrienne Kennedy (1931-), The Film Club; The Alexander Plays; incl. "She Talks to Beethoven", "The Ohio State Murders". Thomas Kilroy (1934-), The Madam MacAdam Travelling Theatre. Arthur Kopit (1937-), Phantom. Tony Kushner (1956-), Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Pt. 2: Perestroika (Jan.) (Royal Nat. Theatre, London); gays and AIDS in the Reagan era. David Mamet (1947-), Oleanna; a female college student ruins a prof.'s career simply because she can? Robert Schenkkan (1953-), The Kentucky Cycle (Los Angeles) (Jan. 6) (Pulitzer Prize). John Updike (1932-2009), Memories of the Ford Administration. Paula Vogel (1951-), The Baltimore Waltz. Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006), The Sisters Rosensweig; a woman banker celebrates her 54th birthday with her two sisters. John Weidman (1946-) and Susan Stroman (1954-), Contact (musical) Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, New York) (Sept. 9) (Vivian Beaumont Theater, New York) (Mar. 30, 2000) (1,010 perf.); dancers incl. Boyd Gaines, Jack Hayes, Deborah Yates; after it wins the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical despite no original music or living singing, the Best Special Theatrical Event award is introduced in 2001. Michael Weller (1942-), Help. Poetry: Nanni Balestrini (1935-), Il Pubblico del Labirinto. Robert Bly (1926-2021), What Have I Ever Lost by Dying? Collected Prose Poems; his experiment that began in 1975. William Bronk (1918-99), Some Words. Norman Dubie (1945-), The Clouds of Magellan. Mari Evans (1923-), A Dark and Splendid Mass. Tess Gallagher (1943-), Moon Cross Bridge; about the death of hubby Raymond Carver (1938-88); I Stop Writing the Poem. William Gibson (1948-), Agrippa (A Book of the Dead); pub. on a 3.5 in. floppy disk that erases itself after a single use. Thom Gunn (1929-2004), The Man with Night Sweats; his masterpiece?; about the AIDS crisis in gay San Francisco; incl. The Man With Night Sweats. Donald Hall Jr. (1928-), Here at Eagle Pond. Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), The Golden Bough. Jack Kerouac (1922-69), Pomes All Sizes (posth.). Maxine Kumin (1925-2014), Looking for Luck: Poems. Irving Layton (1912-2006), Dance With Desire: Selected Love Poems. Denise Levertov (1923-97), Evening Train. William Matthews (1942-97), Selected Poems and Translations, 1969-1991. Frank McGuinness (1953-), Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. Mary Oliver (1935-), New and Selected Poems (Pulitzer Prize). Simon J. Ortiz (1941-), Woven Stone. Grace Paley (1922-2007), New and Collected Poems. Peter Dale Scott (1929-), Listening to the Cradle: A Poem on Impulse. Ntozake Shange (Paulette Williams) (1948-), Three Pieces. Charles Simic (1938-), Hotel Insomnia. Dave Smith (1942-), Night Pleasures: New and Selected Poems. Patricia Smith (1955-), Big Towns, Big Talk. Gerald Stern (1925-), Bread without Sugar. Donald Michael Thomas (1935-), The Puberty Tree. Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012), Non-Required Reading. James Tate (1943-2015), Selected Poems (June 14) (Pulitzer Prize). Dudley Weeks, So Far to Go When We Get There. C.K. Williams (1936-), A Dream of Mind; I Am the Bitter Name. James Arlington Wright (1927-80), Above the River: The Complete Poems (posth.). Novels: Peter Ackroyd (1949-), English Music. Jorge Amado (1912-2001), Navegacao de Cabotagem. Rudolfo Anaya (1937-), Albuquerque. Reinaldo Arenas (1943-90), Antes que Anochezca (Before Night Falls). Isaac Asimov (1920-92) and Robert Silverberg (1935-), The Positronic Man; filmed in 1999 as "Bicentennial Man". Margaret Atwood (1939-), Good Bones. Louis Auchincloss (1917-), False Gods (short stories). Paul Benjamin Auster (1947-), Leviathan; novelist Peter Aaron searches to write the story of Benjamin Sachs, who died in a bomb explosion. Clive Barker (1952-), The Thief of Always. Julian Barnes (1946-), The Porcupine; based on the life of Bulgarian Communist leader (1954-89) Todor Zhivkov (191-98). Greg Bear (1951-), Anvil of Stars; sequel to "Eon" (1987); the remnant left on Mars go after the Killers. Samuel Beckett (1906-89), Dream of Fair to Middling Women (posth.); written in 1932. Thomas Berger (1924-), Meeting Evil. Maeve Binchy (1940-), The Copper Beech. Robert Bloch (1917-94), The Jekyll Legacy. Heinrich Boll (1917-85), Der Engel Schwieg (The Silent Angel) (first novel) (posth.). Ben Bova and A.J. Austin, The Save the Sun; first in the To Save the Sun series (1992-4). Anita Brookner (1928-), Fraud. James Lee Burke (1936-), A Stained White Radiance. Herbert Burkholz (1933-2006), Brain Damage. Robert Olen Butler (1945-), A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (short stories) (Pulitzer Prize). Pat Cadigan (1953-), My Brother's Keeper (short stories) (July); Fools (Nov.). Hortense Calisher (as Jack Fenno), The Small Bang. Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), All Around the Town. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (1940-), Wandering Star (Étoile Errante); set during WWII, about French Jew Esther, who emigrates to Jerusalem, and Arab orphan Nejma, who is prevented from emigrating to Akka. Paul Coelho (1947-), Maktub; By the River Piedra/ Sat Down and Wept. Richard Condon (1915-96), Prizzi's Money. Robin Cook (1940-), Blindsight. Catherine Cookson (1906-98), The House of Women; The Maltese Angel. Robert Cormier (1925-2000), Tunes for Bears to Dance To. Patricia Cornwell (1956-), All That Remains; 3rd Kay Scarpetta novel. Douglas Courland, Shampoo Planet; "The word history triggers Harmony into telling us his theory as to why so many people are going to the gym these days." Jim Crace (1946-), Arcadia. Harry Crews (1935-), Scar Lover; his masterpiece? Michael Crichton (1942-2008), Rising Sun; why Americans distrust the Japanese. Clive Cussler (1931-), Sahara; Dirk Pitt #11. Diane Mott Davidson (1949-), Catering to Nobody; introduces Goldy Schulz, a small town caterer who solves murder mysteries. Len Deighton (1929-), City of Gold. Rita Dove (1952-), Through the Ivory Gate (first novel). Stanley Elkin (1930-95), Van Gogh's Room at Arles. Harlan Ellison (1934-), The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore. James Ellroy (1948-), White Jazz. Paul Emil Erdman (1932-2007), The Swiss Account. Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006), Inshallah; Italian troops in 1983 Beirut. Robert Lull Forward (1932-2002), Timemaster. Jonathan Franzen (1959-), Strong Motion; the dysfunctional Holland family on the U.S. East coast. Esther Freud (1963-), Hideous Kinky; autobio. novel by daughter of British painter Lucian Freud about her hippy childhood in Morocco with elder sister Bella; filmed in 1998. Barry Gifford (1946-), 59 Degrees and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango; Sailor and Lula #3 of 3; A Good Man to Know: A Semi-Documentary Fictional Memoir. Francisco Goldman (1954-), The Long Night of White Chickens (first novel); modern life in messed-up Guatemala. Joe Gores (1931-), 32 Cadillacs; Mostly Murder. Winston Graham (1908-2003), Stephanie. John Grisham (1955-), The Pelican Brief; govt. coverup in La.; filmed in 1993 by Alan J. Pakula. Gustav Hasford (1947-93), A Gypsy Good Time. Alice Hoffman (1952-), Turtle Moon. Janette Turner Hospital (1942-), The Last Magician. George V. Higgins (1939-99), Defending Billy Ryan; Jerry Kennedy #3. Jack Higgins (1929-), Eye of the Storm (Midnight Man); first of a series about Irish gunman Sean Dillon, who is hired by an Iraqi millionaire to kill British PM John Major. Susan Hill (1942-), The Mist in the Mirror: A Ghost Story; traveler Sir James Monmouth and his obsession with explorer Conrad Vane. Peter Hoeg (1957-), Miss Smilla's Sense of (Feeling for) Snow; filmed in 1997. William Humphrey (1924-97), September Song (short stories). Denis Johnson (1949-), Jesus' Son (short stories); filmed in 1999. Ismail Kadare (1936-), The Pyramid. Cynthia Kadohata (1956-), In the Heart of the Valley of Love; Los Angeles in 2052. Thomas Keneally (1935-), Women of the Inner Sea. Michael Kennedy, Very Old Bones. John Kessel (1950-), Meeting in Infinity: Allegories & Extrapolations (short stories). Dean Koontz (1945-), Hideaway. Judith Krantz (1928-), Scruples Two. Pascal Laine (1942-), Dialogues du Desir. Wally Lamb (1950-), She's Come Undone (first novel). Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), Rum Punch. Hugh Leonard (1926-2009), Parnell and the Englishwoman (first and only novel). Larry Levis (1946-96), Black Freckles (first and only novel). Elinor Lipman (1950-), The Way Men Act. Herbert Lom (1917-), Dr. Guilloton: The Eccentric Exploits of an Early Scientist. Norman Maclean (1902-90), Young Men and Fire. Armistead Maupin Jr., Maybe the Moon; a female hetero Jewish dwarf char. based on Tamara De Treaux. William Keepers Maxwell Jr. (1908-2000), Billie Dyer and Other Stories (short stories). Cormac McCarthy (1933-), All the Pretty Horses (May); first of the Border Trilogy ("The Crossing", "Cities of the Plain"); bestseller; 16-y.-o. cowboy John Grady Cole moves from Tex. to Mexico with best friend Lacey Rawlins, meet Jimmy Blevins, and Alejandra, whom Cole hooks up with. Alice McDermott (1953-), At Weddings and Wakes. Thomas McGuane (1939-), Nothing but Blue Skies. Jay McInerney (1955-), Brightness Falls. Terry McMillan (1951-), Waiting to Exhale. Larry McMurtry (1936-), The Evening Star; sequel to "Terms of Endearment" (1975), about Aurora Greenway dealing with old age; Falling from Grace. D'Arcy McNickle (1904-77), The Hawk Is Hungry, and Other Stories. James A. Michener (1907-97), America. Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), A Place to Stand. Toni Morrison (1931-2019), Jazz. Sir John Mortimer (1923-2009), Rumpole on Trial; Dunster; The Oxford Book of Villains. Herta Muller (1953-), Der Fucs War Damals Schon der Jager. Katherine Neville (1945-), A Calculated Risk. John Treadwell Nichols (1940-), An Elegy for September; autobio. novel. Ruth Nichols (1948-), What Dangers Deep. Francois Nourissier (1927-), Le Gardien des Ruines. Joyce Carol Oates (1938-), Black Water. Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000), Clarissa Oakes (The Truelove); Aubrey-Maturin #15. Edna O'Brien (1930-), Time and Tide. Zoe B. Oldenbourg (1916-2002), Alienor: Piece en Quatre Tableaux. Michael Ondaatje (1943-), The English Patient; sequel to "In the Skin of a Lion" (197). Mary Pope Osborne (1949-), Dinosaurs Before Dark (Valley of the Dinosaurs) (July 28); first in the 28-vol. Magic Tree House series (ends 2003), which sells 100M copies. Sara Paretsky (1947-), Guardian Angel (Feb.); V.I. Warshawski #7. Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Double Deuce; Spenser #19. Jodi Picoult (1966-), Songs of the Humpback Whale. Reynolds Price (1933-), Blue Calhoun. Richard Price (1949-), Clockers; the drug war in Dempsey, N.J.; filmed in 1995 by Spike Lee. Francine Prose (1947-), Primitive People. E. Annie Proulx (1935-), Postcards (first novel); rural postwar New England. James Purdy (1914-2009), Out with the Stars; Dream Palace: Selected Stories, 1956-87. Daniel Quinn (1935-), Ishmael; New Age environmental novel; a telepathic gorilla places an ad reading "Teacher seeks pupil, must have an earnest desire to save the world"; followed by "The Story of B" (1996), "My Ishmael" (1997). Vance Randolph (1892-1980), Roll Me in Your Arms (short stories) (posth.); Blow the Candle Out (short stories) (posth.). Anne Rice (1941-), The Tale of the Body Thief; 4th in the Vampire Chronicles. Nora Roberts (1950-), Divine Evil; artist Clare Kimball and sheriff Cameron Rafferty in Emmitsboro, Md. Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-), Red Mars (Sept.); #2 in the Mars Trilogy. James Salter (1925-), Still Such. Lawrence Sanders (1920-98), McNally's Secret; McNally's Luck. Melissa Scott (1960-), Dreamships; virtual reality navigation of spaceships. Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007), The Stars Shine Down. Anne Rivers Siddons (1936-), Colony. Dan Simmons (1948-), Summer Sketches (short stories); The Hollow Man; based on Dante's Inferno. Lee Smith (1944-), The Devil's Dream. Martin Cruz Smith (1942-), Red Square; Arkady Renko #3. Terry Southern (1924-95), Texas Summer. LaVyrle Spencer (1943-), Forgiving (Feb. 1); Sarah Merritt and her sister Addie. Danielle Steel (1947-), Vanished. George Steiner (1929-), Proofs and Three Parables. Neal Town Stephenson (1959-), Snow Crash, about the Metaverse, a drug slash computer virus, and Hiro Protagonist, "Last of the Freelance Hackers and the Greatest Swordfighter in the World". Robert Stone (1937-), Outerbridge Reach. Whitley Strieber (1945-), Unholy Fire. David Storey (1933-), Storey's Lives: 1951-1991 (short stories). c Graham Swift (1949-), Ever After. Amy Tan (1952-), The Moon Lady (first children's novel). Donna Tartt (1963-), The Secret History (Sept.) (first novel) (bestseller); about six classics students at Hampden College in Vt. (based on her alma mater Bennington College), incl. Richard Papen, who narrates the story of the murder of Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. Donald Michael Thomas (1935-), Flying in to Love. Colm Toibin (1955-), The Heather Blazing. Rose Tremain (1943-), Sacred Country. Thomas Tryon (1926-91), The Adventures of Opal and Cupid (posth.). Harry Turtledove (1949-), The Guns of the South: A Novel of the Civil War; pseduo-sci-fi plot has 20th cent. white supremacists travel back to give the Confederates AK-47s and help them win the war, only to see Gen. Robert E. Lee turn on them and become a bleeding heart liberal who frees the slaves? Barry Unsworth (1930-2012), Sacred Hunger; the mid-18th cent. African slave trade. Gore Vidal (1925-2012), Live from Golgotha: the Gospel according to Gore Vidal; a mysterious hacker from the future tries to erase Christianity. Vernor Vinge (1944-), A Fire Upon the Deep; the galaxy is divided into zones of thought where the higher levels of technology are farthest from the center; of course, the Unthinking Depths at the center is the realm of human intelligence, and Earth is in the Slow Zone. Robert James Waller (1939-), The Bridges of Madison County; "On the morning of August 8, 1965, Robert Kincaid locked the door to his small two-room apartment on the third floor of a rambling house." (first line) Joseph Wambaugh (1937-), Fugitive Nights. Fay Weldon (1931-), Growing Rich; Life Force. Paul West (1930-), Love's Mansion. John Edgar Wideman (1941-), The Homewood Books. Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), Reality Is What You Can Get Away With: An Illustrated Screenplay. Larry Woiwode (1941-), Indian Affairs; sequel to 1969's "What Am I Going to Do, I Think?" Catherine Woolf (Catherine Tramell) (1958-), Love Hurts; a devious diabolical-minded woman murders an Am. rock star in bed with an ice pick :) Births: Am. 4'10" Olympic gymnast Shawn Machel Johnson on Jan. 19 in West Des Moines, Iowa. Am. "William Evans in 3:10 to Yuma", "D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers" actor (Jewish) Logan Wade Lerman on Jan. 19 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Am. "Lauren Cassidy in Judging Amy" actress Karle Warren on Feb. 8 in Salinas, Calif. Am. "Jacob Black in Twilight: Eclipse" actor Taylor Lautner on Feb. 11 in Grand Rapids, Mich. English "Finding Neverland" actor Alfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore on Feb. 14 in London; son of Edward Highmore (1961-). German novelist Helene Hegemann on Feb. 19 in Freiburg im Breisgau. South Korean golfer Kim Meen-whee (Whee Kim) on Feb. 22. Japanese 5'11" golfer Hideki Matsuyama on Feb. 25 in in Matsuyama, Ehime; educated at Tohoku Fukushi U. Pakistani entertainer (Sunni Muslim) Mathira Mohammad on Feb. 25 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Mexican 5'9" 2018 Miss World Silvia Vanesse Ponce de Leon Sanchez on Mar. 7 in Mexico City. Am. "Lilly Truscott in Hannah Montana" actress-singer Emily Jordan Osment on Mar. 10 in Los Angeles, Calif.; sister of Haley Joel Osment (1988-). English "Effy Stonem in Skins", "Teresa in The Maze Runner" actress Kaya Rose Scodelario (Humphrey) on Mar. 13 in Haywards Heath; Brazilian mother. Am. 5'8" football RB (black) (Atlanta Falcons #24, 2014-) Devonta Freeman on Mar. 15 in Baxley, Ga.; educated at Florida State U. Am. 6'6 basketball player (black) (New York Knicks #5, 2013-) Timothy Duane "Tim" Hardaway Jr. on Mar. 16 in ?; educated at ?; son of Tim Hardaway Sr. (1966-); educated at the U. of Mich. English "Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens" actor (black) John Boyega (John Adedayo B. Adegboyega) on Mar. 17 in Peckham, London; Nigerian immigrant parents; educated at the U. of Greenwich. Am. 5'10" golfer Patrick Cantlay on Mar. 17 in Long Beach, Calif.; educated at UCLA. Czech 6'1" tennis player Karolina Pliskova on Mar. 21 in Louny; identical twin sister Kristyna. Am. 6'3" basketball player (black) (Cleveland Cavalers #2, 2011-) Kyrie Andrew Irving on Mar. 23 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; emigrates to the U.S. at age 2; educated at Duke U. Am. "Brittany Loud in Flightplan" "Young Jean Grey in X-Men: The Last Stand" actress Haley Michelle Ramm on Mar. 26 in Collin County, Tex. Am. baseball infielder (New York Mets #6, 2018-) Jeff "the Flying Squirrel" McNeil on Apr. 8 in Santa Barbara, Calif.; educated at Long Beach State U. English "Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens" actress Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley on Apr. 10 in Westminster, London; educated at the U. of London. Am. child bodybuilder ("Little Hercules") Richard Sandrak on Apr. 15 in Ukraine; emigrates to the U.S. at age 2. Spanish 5'9" soccer player Isco (Francisco Roman Alcaron Suarez) (Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez) on Apr. 21 in Benalmadena. Am. 6'7" baseball outfielder (Christian) (New York Yankees #99, 2016-) Aaron James Judge on Apr. 26 in Linden, Calif. Am. 6'5" football QB (Jacksonville Jaguars #5, 2014-18) (Los Angeles Rams #5, 2019-) Robby Blake Bortles on Apr. 28 in Altamonte Springs, Fla.; educated at U. of Central Fla. Am. 6'4" basketball player (black) (Orlando Magic #5, 2013-6) (Oklahoma City Thunder, 2016-17) (Indiana Pacers #5, 2017-) Kehinde Babatunde Victor Oladipo on May 4 in Silver Spring, Md.; educated at the U. of Ind. Am. "Walt Lloyd in Lost" actor Malcolm David Kelley on May 12 in Bellflower, Calif. Am. "The Cat in the Hat" actor Spencer Breslin on May 18 in New York City; brother of Abigail Breslin (1996-). Am. "Happier" singer Marshmello (Christopher Comstock) (AKA Dotcom) on May 19 in Philadelphia, Penn. English "Lay Me Down", "Money on My Mind" singer-songwriter (gay) Samuel Frederick "Sam" Smith on May 19 in London. Turkish 6'11" basketball center (Utah Jazz, 2011-15) (Okla. City Thunder, 2015-17) (New York Knicks #00, 2017-) Enes Kanter on May 20 in Zurich, Switzerland; emigrates to the U.S. in 2009. Am. 6'5" football offensive tackle (Denver Broncos #72, 2017-) (Mormon) Garett Boles on May 27 in Walnut Creek, Calif.; grows up in Lehi, Utah; educated at the U. of Utah. Am. 6'1" football WR (black) (Houston Texans #10, 2013-) DeAndre "Nuk" Hopkins on June 6 in Central, S.C.; educated at Clemson U. Am. model-actress Katherine Elizabeth "Kate" Upton on June 10 in St. Joseph, Mich.; wife (2017-) of Justin Verlander (1983-). Am. "Juni Cortez in Spy Kids" actor (Jewish)Daryl Christopher Sabara on June 14 in Torrance, Calif. Dominican baseball outfielder (St. Louis Cardinals, 2014-) Oscar Francisco Taveras (d. 2014) on June 19 in Puerto Plata. South African 6'0" Olympic sprinter (black) Wayde van Niekerk on July 15 in Cape Town. Am. "Chanel #3 in Scream Queens" actress Billie Catherine Lourd on July 17 in Los Angels, Calif.; daughter of Carrie Fisher (1956-) and Bryan Lourd (1960-); educated at NYU. English "River" singer Bishop Briggs (Sarah Grace McLaughlin) on July 18 in London; Scottish parents from Bishopbriggs. Am. "Alex Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place" actress-singer (Roman Catholic) Selena Marie Gomez on July 22 (Selena Gomez and the Scene) in Grand Prairie, Tex.; Mexican-Am. father, half-Italian descent mother. Am. baseball pitcher (Miami Marlins, 2013-16) Jose D. Fernandez (d. 2016) on July 31 in Santa Clara, Cuba. Am. actors Dylan Thomas Sprouse and Cole Mitchell Sprouse on Aug. 4 in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. Am. auto racer John Edward "Jeb" Burton IV on Aug. 6 in Halifax, Va.; son of Ward Burton (1961-); nephew of Jeff Burton (1967-). Am. conservative political commentator Tomi Rae Augustus Lahren on Aug. 11 in Rapid City, S.D.; of German and Norwegian descent; educated at UNLV. English 5'8" "Margo Ruth Spiegelman in Paper Towns, "Laureline in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", "Enchantress in Suicide Squad" actress (blonde-blue) Cara Jocelyn Delevingne on Aug. 12 in Hammersmith, London; grows up in Belgravia, London; sister of Poppy Delevingne (1986-). Am. "Mitchie Torres in Camp Rock", "This Is Me" actress-singer Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato on Aug. 20 in Albuquerque, N.M..; Mexican descent father, English-Irish descent mother; grows up in Dallas, Tex. Am. "Walter White Jr. in Breaking Bad" actor R.J. Mitte on Aug. 21 in Lafayette, La. Canadian "Sandy in Jack Reacher" actress Alexia Fast on Sept. 12 in Vancouver, B.C. Am. musician-actor Nicholas Jerry "Nick" Jonas (Jonas Brothers) on Sept. 16 in Dallas, Tex.; brother of Kevin Jonas (1987-) and Joe Jonas (1989-). Am. 6'3" football WR (black) (Chicago Bears, 2015-17) (New Orleans Saints #81, 2018-) Cameron Meredith on Sept. 21 in Westchester, Ill.; educated at Ill. State U. Romanian 5'6" tennis player Simona Halep on Sept 27 in Constanta. Am. 7'0" basketball player (white) (Charlotte Bobcats #40, 2013-) Cody Allen Zeller on Oct. 5 in Washington, Ind.; educated at the U. of Ind. Am. "Chris in Everybody Hates Chris" actor (black) Tyler James Williams on Oct. 9 in Westchester County, N.Y.; debuts on "Sesame Street" at age 4 (1996-2002); father is a pig, er, policeman. Am. "Invasion of Privacy", "Bodak Yellow", "Up", "I Like It" rapper (black) Cardi B (Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar) on Oct. 11 in Washington Heights, Manhattan, N.Y.; Dominican father, Trinidadian mother; grows up in Highbridge, South Bronx, N.Y.; names herself after Bacardi brand rum; sister of Hennessy Carolina Almanzar (1995-). Am. "Jess Aarons in Bridge to Terabithia", "Robert in Red Dawn" actor Joshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson on Oct. 12 in Union, Ky. Am. "Greg Wuliger in Everybody Hates Chris" actor Vincent Michael Martella on Oct. 15 in Rochester, N.Y. Am. "Drew in Everybody Hates Chris" actor (black) Tequan Richmond on Oct. 30 in Milwaukee, Wisc. Am. 5'11" football WR (black) (New York Giants #13, 2014-18)(Cleveland Browns, 2019-) Odell Beckham Jr. (AKA OBJ) on Nov. 5 in New Orleans, La.; educated at LSU. Am. 6'2" QB (black) (Minn. Vikings #5, 2014-17) (Carolina Panthers #5, 2020-) Theodore Edmond "Teddy" Bridgewater II on Nov. 10 in Miami, Fla.; educated at Louisville U. Am. 6'1" basketball player (black) (Utah Jazz, 2013-6) (New York Knicks #23, 2018-) Alfonso Clark "Trey" Burke III on Nov. 12 in Columbus, Ohio; educated at the U. of Mich. Am. "Hannah Montana" actress-singer Destiny Hope "Miley Ray" Cyrus on Nov. 23 in Franklin (near Nashville), Tenn.; daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus (1961-); sister of Trace Cyrus (1989-) and Noah Cyrus (2000-); Miley is short for Smiley. Am. "Us Against Them" rapper Jacob Harris "Jake" Miller on Nov. 28 in Weston, Fla. Deaths: Am. Eskimo Pie inventor Christian Kent Nelson (b. 1893) on Mar. 8 in Laguna Hills, Calif. Am. comedy film/TV producer Hal Roach (b. 1892) on Nov. 2 in Bel Air, Calif. (pneumonia); dies 2 mo. before his 101st birthday. German-born Am. choreographer Hanya Holm (b. 1893) on Nov. 2 in New York City. Am. Nembutal/Pentothal chemist Ernest Henry Volwiler (b. 1893) on Oct. 3 in Lake Forest, Ill. Am. ambassador Fletcher Warren (b. 1896) on Jan. 8. Australian "Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca" actress Dame Judith Anderson (b. 1897) on Jan. 3 in Santa Barbara, Calif. French Cordon Bleu owner (1945-84) Madame Elisabeth Brassart (b. 1897). Am. billionaire shipping magnate Daniel Keith Ludwig (b. 1897) on Aug. 27. French actress Arletty (b. 1898) on July 24; went nearly blind in 1963 from an accident; in 1995 the French govt. issues a 100 franc Arletty coin. Am. "Hazel" actress Shirley Booth (b. 1898) on Oct. 16 in North Chatham, Mass. Austrian-born British economist Friedrich August von Hayek (b. 1899) on Mar. 23 in Freiburg, Germany; 1974 Nobel Econ. Prize; greatest socioeconomic scholar of the 20th cent.? Am. college basketball coach Tony Hinkle (b. 1899) on Sept. 22. Austrian-born Jewish-to-Muslim convert writer Muhammad Asad (b. 1900) on Feb. 23 in Granada, Spain. Dutch Oort Cloud astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort (b. 1900) on Nov. 5 in Leiden. Am. actress Stella Adler (b. 1901) on Dec. 21 in Los Angeles, Calif. (heart failure); teacher of Marlon Brando. German-born Hollywood actress legend Marlene Dietrich (b. 1901) in Paris on May 6: "I'm a realist and so I think regretting is a useless occupation. You help no one with it. But you can't live without illusions even if you must fight for them, such as 'love conquers all'. It isn't true, but I would like it to be"; "I have a child and I made a few people happy - that is all." French nuclear physicist Francis Perrin (b. 1901) on July 4. German philosopher-activist Gunther Anders (b. 1902) on Dec. 17 in Vienna. Am. writer-activist Kay Boyle (b. 1902) on Dec. 27 in Mill Valley, Calif. Am. actress Natalie Joyce (b. 1902) on Nov. 9 in San Diego, Calif. Am. geneticist Barbara McClintock (b. 1902) on Sept. 2 in Huntington, N.Y.; 1983 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. fashion designer Mollie Parnis (b. 1902) on July 18 in New York City. Am. "King of Country Music" Roy Acuff (b. 1903) on Nov. 23 in Nashville, Tenn. (heart failure). Canadian hockey hall-of-fame player Ace Bailey (b. 1903) on Apr. 7 in Toronto, Ont. Am. Looney Tunes animator Rudy Ising (b. 1903) on July 18 in Newport Beach, Calif. Am. "Lamb in His Bosom" novelist Caroline Miller (b. 1903) on July 12. Ukrainian-born Am. violinist Nathan Milstein (b. 1903) on Dec. 21 in London. English children's writer Mary Norton (b. 1903) on Aug. 29. English artist John Piper (b. 1903) on June 28 in Fawley Bottom, Buckinghamshire: "Abstraction is the way to the heart - it is not the heart itself"; "Abstraction is a luxury that has been left to the present day to exploit." Am. "wunnerful, wunnerful" bandleader Lawrence Welk (b. 1903) on May 17 in Santa Monica, Calif.: "Keep a song in your heart." Am. actor Howard Ralston (b. 1904) on June 1 in Los Angeles, Calif. Russian actor Feodor Chaliapin Jr. (b. 1905) on Sept. 17 in Rome, Italy. French WWII Col. Pierre Billotte (b. 1906) on June 29. French mathematician Jean Dieudonne (b. 1906) on Nov. 29. Am. linguist-politician S.I. Hayakawa (b. 1906) on Feb. 27 in Greenbrae, Calif. U.S. Navy rear Adm. (computer pioneer) Grace Murray Hopper (b. 1906) on Jan. 1: known for illustrating what a nanosecond is by handing out 11-in. (30 cm) wires, and what a picosecond is by handing out packets of pepper; "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission"; "A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for." Am. NASA chief #2 (1961-8) James Edwin Webb (b. 1906) on Mar. 27 in Washington, D.C. Italian scientist Daniel Bovet (b. 1907); 1957 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. "Gentle Ben" author Walt Morey (b. 1907) on Jan. 12 in Wilsonville, Ore. Am. biographer William Andrew Swanberg (b. 1907) on Sept. 17 in Southbury, Conn. Austrian "Victor Laszlo in Casablanca" actor Paul Henreid (b. 1908) on Mar. 29 in Santa Monica, Calif. Am. sports announcer Red Barber (b. 1908) on Oct. 22 in Tallahassee, Fla. French birdcall-loving composer Olivier Messiaen (b. 1908) on Apr. 27 in Paris. Am. blues-jazz pianist Sammy Price (b. 1908) on Apr. 14. Irish surrealist painter Francis Bacon (b. 1909) on Apr. 28 in Madrid. Am. Western actor-singer Cottonseed Clark (b. 1909) on Jan. 14 in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Puerto Rican actor-dir. Jose Ferrer (b. 1909) on Jan. 26 in Coral Gables, Fla. Am. NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. (b. 1909) on June 7 in Ormond Beach, Fla. U.S. Rep. (R-N.J.) (1975-83) Millicent Fenwick (b. 1910) on Sept. 16 in Bernardsville, N.J. (heart failure); model for Lacy Davenport in Garry Trudeau's comic stirp "Doonesbury"? Romanian-born English bridge champ Rixi Markus (b. 1910) on Apr. 4. Am. composer William Howard Schuman (b. 1910) on Feb. 15. Am. tape dancer Charles "Honi" Coles (b. 1911) on Nov. 12 in New York City. Am. actor Gene O'Donnell (b. 1911) on Nov. 22 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Calif. Soviet diplomat Vladimir Semyonov (b. 1911) on Dec. 18 in Moscow. Danish WWII spy Wulf Schmidt (b. 1911) on Oct. 19. Am. "Elmer Gantry", "In Cold Blood" dir. Richard Brooks (b. 1912) on Mar. 11 in Los Angeles, Calif. (heart failure). Am. experimental composer John Cage (b. 1912) on Aug. 12 in New York City: "If my work is accepted, I must move on to the point where it is not." Am. "Come September" playwright-screenwriter Robert Wallace Russell (b. 1912) on Feb. 11 in New York City. Am. TV journalist Eric Sevareid (b. 1912) on July 9 in Washington, D.C. (cancer): "Edward R. Murrow created me"; "The biggest big business in America is... the manufacture, refinement and distribution of anxiety." Am. philosopher William Christopher Barrett (b. 1913). Israeli PM (1977-83) Menachem Begin (b. 1913) on Mar. 9. Am. Miss America MC (1955-79) Bert Parks (b. 1914) on Feb. 2 in La Jolla, Calif. (lung cancer). Italian fashion designer Emilio Pucci (b. 1914) on Nov. 29 in Florence. Am. Superman artist Joe Shuster (b. 1914) on July 30 in Los Angeles, Calif.; dies blind and broke. Am. actor John Dehner (b. 1915) on Feb. 4, Santa Barbara, Calif. Am. blues songwriter Willie Dixon (b. 1915) on Jan. 29 in Burbank, Calif. (heart failure). Am. TV producer Mark Goodson (b. 1915) on Dec. 18 in New York City. Am. artist Jon Schueler (b. 1916) on Aug. 5. Am. quantum physicist David Bohm (b. 1917) on Oct. 27 in Hendon, London (heart attack). British pilot Capt. Leonard Cheshire (b. 1917) on July 31 in Cavendish, Suffolk. Am. TV game show producer Dan Enright (b. 1917) on May 22 in Stanford, Calif. (cancer). English comic actor Frankie Howerd (b. 1917) on Apr. 18 in Fulham, London. Brazilian pres. #22 (1961) Janio Quadros (b. 1917) on Feb. 16 in Sao Paulo. Am. Vernon Howard (b. 1918) on Aug. 23. Am. Western Swing musician Hank Penny (b. 1918) on Apr. 17 in Calif. (heart failure). Am. billionaire Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton (b. 1918) on Apr. 5 in Little Rock, Ark. Green archeologist Manolis Andronikos (b. 1919) on Mar. 30 in Thessaloniki. Am. actor Steve Brodie (b. 1919) on Jan. 9 in West Hills, Calif. Am. judge George Harrold Carswell (b. 1919) on July 13 in Tallahassee, Fla. (lung cancer). Am. singer Paula Kelly (b. 1919) on Apr. 2. Russian-born Am. "I, Robot" novelist-writer Isaac Asimov (b. 1920) on Apr. 6 in New York City (AIDS); authored 400+ books, becoming the only author to have a book in every major Dewey Decimal category: "Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent"; "I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them"; "If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words." Am. actor Neville Brand (b. 1920) on Apr. 16 in Sacramento, Calif. (emphysema). Am. "Det. Harry McSween in Dallas" actor James E. Brown (b. 1920) on Apr. 11 in Woodland Hills, Calif. (lung cancer). Japanese comic strip artist Machiko Hasegawa (b. 1920) on May 27 in Taku, Saga Prefecture. English ATP biochemist Peter Dennis Mitchell (b. 1920) on Apr. 10 in Bodmin, Cornwall; 1978 Nobel Chem. Prize. English children's novelist Rosemary Sutcliff (b. 1920) on July 23 in Chichester, West Sussex. Am. Disneyland developer C.V. Wood (b. 1920) on Mar. 14. Am. "Rifleman" actor Chuck Connors (b. 1921) on Nov. 10 in Los Angeles, Calif. (lung cancer). Am. New Orleans district atty. (1961-73) Jim Garrison (b. 1921) on Oct. 21 Am. "Roots" novelist Alex Haley (b. 1921); buried in Henny, Tenn. Swedish actor Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt (b. 1921) on Jan. 16 in Stockholm. Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla (b. 1921) on July 4 in Buenos Aires. Am. actor John Anderson (b. 1922) on Aug. 7 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. (heart attack); one of the most famous faces that nobody can place? English "Dr. Marcus Brody in Indiana Jones" actor Denholm Elliott (b. 1922) on Oct. 6 in Ibiza, Spain (AIDS). Am. "Born Under a Bad Sign" blues guitarist Albert King (b. 1923) on Dec. 21 in Memphis, Tenn. (heart attack). English comedian Benny Hill (b. 1924) on Apr. 18 in Teddington. Hungarian-Am. computer scientist (BASIC inventor) John George Kemeny (b. 1926) on Dec. 26 in Hanover, N.H. French "La Cage Aux Folles" playwright Jean Poiret (b. 1926) on Mar. 14 in Paris (heart attack). British architect Sir James Stirling (b. 1926) on June 25 in London. Am. "Revolutionary Road" novelist Richard Yates (b. 1926) on Nov. 7 in Birmingham, Ala. (emphysema). Irish-Am. actor James FitzSimons (b. 1927) on Dec. 3 in Glendale, Calif.; brother of Maureen O'Hara (1920-). Am. "Bart Maverick" actor Jack Kelly (b. 1927) on Nov. 7 in Huntington Beach, Calif. Am. computer scientist-psychologist Allen Newell (b. 1927) on July 19. English "kitchen sink" painter John Randall Bratby (b. 1928) on July 20 in Hastings, Sussex. Am. "The Platters" singer Tony Williams (b. 1928) on Aug. 14 in New York City (emphysema). Am. "A Fan's Notes" novelist Frederick Exley (b. 1929) on June 17 in Alexandria Bay, N.Y. (congestive heart failure). Scottish ballet dancer-choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan (b. 1929) on Oct. 29 in London (heart attack). Am. "Darrin Stephens #1 on Bewitched" Dick York (b. 1928) on Feb. 2 in Grand Rapids, Mich. (emphysema). Am. philosopher Allan Bloom (b. 1930) on Oct. 7 in Chicago, Ill. (AIDS). Am. "Psycho" actor Anthony Perkins (b. 1932) on Sept. 12 in Hollywood, Calif. (AIDS); his widow Berry Berenson (b. 1948) dies on 9/11 on AA Flight 11. French chef Jacques Pic (b. 1932) on Sept. 19 in Valence. Am. poet-writer Audre Lorde (b. 1934) on Nov. 17 in St. Croix, Virgin Islands (breast cancer). Chinese Gang of Four member Wang Hongwen (b. 1935) on Aug. 3 in Beijing (liver cancer); dies in prison after being sentenced to life in 1981. Am. "King of the Road" singer Roger Miller (b. 1936) on Oct. 25 (lung cancer). Soviet world chess champ #9 (1960-1) Mikaihl Tal (b. 1936) on June 28. Am. "Jason and the Argonauts" actor Todd Armstrong (b. 1937) on Nov. 17 in Butte, Calif. Am. actress Sandy Dennis (b. 1937) on Mar. 2 in Westport, Conn. (ovarian cancer). Afghan historian Mohammad Yousuf Azraq (b. 1937) on Jan. 27 in Kabul. Am. songwriter Bobby Russell (b. 1940) on Nov. 19 in Nicholasville, Ky. (heart failure). English novelist Angela Carter (b. 1940) on Feb. 16 (cancer). Am. composer Stephen Albert (b. 1941) on Dec. 27 in Cape Cod, Mass. (automobile accident). Am. "My Guy" singer Mary Wells (b. 1943) on July 26 in Los Angeles, Calif. (laryngeal cancer). Am. "Home Cooking" novelist Laurie Colwin (b. 1944) on Oct. 24 (heart failure). Egyptian activist Farag Fouda (b. 1946) on June 9 in Cairo (assassinated). German Green Party founder Petra Karin Kelly (b. 1947) on Oct. 1 in Bonn; murdered in her sleep by her lover Gert Bastian (b. 1923), who then commits suicide. Am. "Last Dance" singer-songwriter Paul Jabara (b. 1948) on Sept. 29 in Los Angeles, Calif. (AIDS). English singer Paul Ryan (b. 1948) on Nov. 29 (cancer). Am. comic Sam Kinison (b. 1953) on Apr. 10 in Needles, Calif. (car accident); he was sober but the other driver was drunk? Am. "The Holographic Universe" writer Michael Talbot (b. 1953) on May 27 (leukemia); calls his affliction "an unfashionable disease" since he's gay and doesn't have AIDS. Am. rock drummer Jeff Porcaro (b. 1954) on Aug. 5 in Los Angeles, Calif.; dies of a heart attack from inhaling insecticide in his garden. Am. gay artist David Wojnarowicz (b. 1954) on July 22 in New York City (AIDS).
1993
Doomsday Clock: 17 min. to midnight.
Chinese Year: Rooster (Jan. 23) (lunar year 4691).
Time Mag. Man of the Year: The Peacemakers (Yasser Arafat, F.W. de Klerk, Nelson Mandela, Yitzhak Rabin.
After passing Japan in 1989, this year the U.S. finally passes Germany as the world's leading exporter of manufacturing goods ($350B),
showing a 1.5% gain in nat. productivity (12% since 1973); the other leading exporting nations (France, Italy, U.K.) all have 39% or greater
productivity gains since 1973.
WHO declares tuberculosis (TB) a global health emergency; by 2005 new cases level off, decreasing from 13.6 per million in 2004 to 13.5, killing 1.6M in 2005 (4.4K a day).
After an upsurge in cases associated with HIV and AIDS, and the growth of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains, the World Health Org. (WHO) declares a global emergency over
tuberculosis (TB).
On Jan. 1 Michigan defeats Washington by 38-31 in the 1993 Rose Bowl.
On Jan. 1 the Velvet Divorce
sees Czech. split into into its two nat. components, the Czech Repub. (capital Prague) and Slovak Repub. (capital Bratislava - only nat. capital bordering two independent countries).
On Jan. 1 the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) ("Islamic Congregation")
is founded by Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar while in hiding in Malaysia from the Suharto govt., returning in 1998 and establishing connections with al-Qaida via founder Abdullah Sungkar; in
Mar. 2015 their humanitarian wing Hilal Ahmar Society Indonesia (HASI)
is added to the U.N. list of sanctioned al-Qaida entities.
On Jan. 1 Beth Sullivan's Western drama series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
debuts on CBS-TV for 150 episodes (May 16, 1998), starring London, England-born
Jane Seymour (Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg) (1951-)
as Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, who leaves Boston, Mass. and settles in Colorado Springs, Colo. in 1867, hooking up with handsome hunky rugged outdoorsman Byron Sully, played by
Joseph "Joe" Lando (1961-).
On Jan. 2 peace talks begin in Geneva between Bosnian pres. Alija Izetbegovic, the Bosnian Serbs, and the Bosnian Croats.
On Jan. 3 the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) II
is signed by U.S. Pres. George H.W. Bush and Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin, banning the use of MIRVs (Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles) on ICBMs;
the U.S. Senate ratifies it on Jan. 26, 1996 by a 87-4 vote, followed by Russia on Apr. 14, 2000, who withdraw on June 14, 2001 after the U.S. withdraws from the ABM Treaty.
On Jan. 3 Brooklyn, N.Y.-born Marin County supervisor Barbara Levy Boxer (1940-)
becomes a Dem. U.S. Sen. from Calif. (until Jan. 3, 2017), receiving a record 6.96M votes in the 2004 election, which is surpassed by her colleague Dianne Feinstein in 2012.
On Jan. 3 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
debuts for 176 episodes (until June 2, 1999), set in the 2370s on a space station, starring
Avery Franklin Brooks (1948-) as commanding officer Benjamin Sisko,
Nana Visitor (Tucker) (1957-) as Bajoran First Officer Maj. Kira Nerys,
Rene Murat Auberjonois (1940-) as Changeling Constable Odo, Sudan-born
Alexander Siddig (Siddig El Fadil) (1965-) as Chief Medical Officer Lt. Julian Bashir,
Theresa Lee "Terry" Farrell (1963-) as Trill Chief Science Officer Jadzia Dax,
Michael Dorn (1952-) as Klingon First Officer Lt. Cmdr. Worf, and
Colm J. Meaney (1953-) as chief of operations Miles O'Brien.
On Jan. 7 Macedonia submits its application for U.N. membership; in Feb. Greece steps in and objects to the use of the name Macedonia, claiming it as theirs from historical use,
and that it shouldn't be adopted by Slavs, who might have designs on N Greece; internat. arbitration results.
On Jan. 8 (his 58th birthday) the U.S. Post Office issues an Elvis Presley Stamp (29 cents),
and prints 50M copies, becoming the first rocker so honored.
On Jan. 8 the U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 800 without vote to admit the Slovak Repub.; on
Jan. 8 it adopts Resolution 801 without vote to admit the Czech Repub.; on
Apr. 7 it votes 15-0-0 for Resolution 817 to admit Macedonia; on
May 26 it adopts Resolution 828 without vote to admit Eritrea; on
May 26 it adopts Resolution 829 without vote to admit Monaco; on
July 8 it adopts Resolution 848 without vote to admit Andorra.
On Jan. 9 police find the bodies of seven people shot to death in a fast food restaurant in Chicago suburb Palatine, Ill. in the restaurant's coolers; no suspects are charged by the end of the year.
On Jan. 10 Momir Bulatovic wins a runoff election to be reelected pres. of Montenegro(until Jan. 15, 1998).
On Jan. 13 the U.N. opens the Chemical Weapons Convention for signing in Paris; it doesn't take effect until Apr. 29, 1997,
when it gives nations 10 years to destroy their stockpiles.
On Jan. 14 the Trilateral Statement
eliminates Ukraine's nukes left over from the Soviet era.
The brains of LBJ, the gonads of Elvis?
On Jan. 20 Hope, Ark.-born Georgetown U. grad, Oxford Rhodes scholar (first to become pres.) and Yale Law School grad., former Ark. gov. (1983-92), saxophone player ("first black U.S. pres.")
(first pres. whose middle name honors a predecessor) (Ronald Wilson Reagan, whose middle name was his mother's surname, was born the year before Woodrow Wilson's election) (2nd pres.
who took a stepfather's surname) (first was Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.); 3rd youngest president (Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy) (4th post-WWII pres. with Southern ancestry)
(Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Carter) ("first pres. to wear a tangerine lalalala speedo"?) (can't type)
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (1946-) (Secret Service codename: Eagle/Elvis after his favorite singer)
becomes the 42nd U.S. pres. (until Jan. 20, 2001) in the 61st U.S. Pres. Inaguration in the U.S. Capitol in
Washington, D.C.; first Baby Boomer U.S. pres; the 7th lefty U.S. pres. (last G.H.W. Bush); 2nd pres. with a changed name (William Jefferson Blythe III) (first Ford) (next ?);
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore Jr. (1948-) (Secret Service codename: Sawhorse/Sundance) becomes the 45th U.S. vice-pres. (until Jan. 20, 2001);
the 2nd time that the U.S. has six living presidents (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton); the youngest combined age of pres. and vice-pres. (90) (until ?);
Clinton's first inauguration ball
is in keeping with his status as America's first Baby Boomer pres., and features Maya Angelou reciting her poem
On the Pulse of the Morning, and Fleetwood Mac performing "Don't Stop" (Bill's favorite thing for a woman to say?),
scaring conservatives half to death and crystallizing desperate all-out desires to 'get' him?;
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (1947-) (Secret Service codename: Evergreen) becomes the first First Lady to have her own office
in the White House, where it is rumored that she is the real president, has hairy balls, etc. (the first FLOTUS to become POTUS?); First Dog is Labrador retriever
Buddy (1997-2002) (named after Bill's dog trainer great-uncle Henry Oren "Buddy" Grisham, who died 3 mo. before
it was born in Sept.), and First Cat is Socks (1989-2009) (who was "voted out of office" when Buddy arrived, because he can't stand him);
First Daughter Chelsea Victoria Clinton (1980-) (Secret Service codename: Energy) is kept out of the public spotlight;
Pres. Clinton appoints Warren Minor Christopher (1925-) as U.S. secy. of state #63 (until Jan. 17, 1997)
(not the actor William Christopher who played Father Mulcahy in M*A*S*H, he was born in 1932),
Leslie "Les" Aspin Jr. (1938-95) as U.S. defense secy. #18 (until Feb. 3, 1994),
Robert Bernard Reich (1946-) as U.S. labor secy. #22 (until 1997), Tex.-born former Denver, Colo.
mayor (who was ousted after he failed to provide enough snowplows for a major snowstorm, making him the man for a national appointment?)
Federico Fabian Pena (Peña) (1947-) (Hispanic) as U.S. transportation secy. #12 (until Feb. 14, 1997),
Ronald "Ron" Harmon Brown (1941-96) (Dem. Nat. Committee chmn. since 1989) as U.S. commerce secy.
#30 (until Apr. 3, 1996) (first black), and Alphonso Michael "Mike" Espy (1953-)
as U.S. agriculture secy. #25 (until Dec. 31, 1994) (first black in the job); former Ariz. gov. (1978-87)
Bruce Edward Babbitt (1938-) becomes U.S. interior secy. #47 (until Jan. 20, 2001);
Lebanese-Am. Donna Edna Shalala (1941-) becomes HHS secy. #18 (until Jan. 20, 2001) (first Arab-Am., and longest-serving until ?);
Oxford-educated William Anthony Kirsopp "Tony" Lake (1939-) becomes nat. security advisor #18 (until 1997);
Leon Edward Panetta (1938-) becomes White House chief of staff (until Apr. 14, 1997);
black atty. Vernon Eulion Jordan Jr. (1935-) is one of Pres. Clinton's key advisors;
Lani Guinier (1950-), Clinton's first nominee (Apr.) to lead the U.S. Justice Dept.'s Civil Rights Div.
is dropped in June after her writings backing racial quotas cause her to be called one of "Clinton's quota queens" by the Wall Street Journal;
in 1998 she becomes the first African-Am. to receive tenure at Harvard Law School; economist Joseph Stiglitz (1943-)
joins the Clinton admin. along with Lawrence Henry Summers (1954-),
working up to chmn. of the Council of Economic Advisers in 1995-7, and proposing the "Third Way" of a limited but essential role of govt. in the marketplace, ending with
financial deregulation incl. of derivatives; after joining the World Bank in 1997, he flops and ends up as a critic of the Bush-Obama bank bailouts; too bad, Clinton wastes
his first weeks in office alienating the military by suggesting they allow gays, and by nominating non-starter Zoe (Zoë) Eliot Baird (1952-)
for atty. gen., who is found to have not paid taxes on illegal, er, domestic help, which is called Nannygate; former Watergate atty. (who worked with Hillary Clinton in 1974)
Bernard W. Nussbaum (1937-) becomes pres. counsel; Egyptian-born pro-Israel Israeli-Am. billionaire ("Power Rangers" media mogul)
Haim Saban (1944-) serves on the President's Export Council, sleeping in the White House several times during Clinton's two terms,
later pumping money into the William J. Clinton Foundation in Little Rock, Ark., reaching $8M-$10M by 2013, then publicly supporting Hillary Clinton in her 2008 U.S. pres. bid;
right before Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy for U.S. pres. in 2015, he gives an interview
to Israel's Channel 1, answering a question about her position on the pending nuke deal with Iran by claiming to "know where she stands but I can't talk about it";
Bill Clinton becomes known for freewheeling brainstorming sessions with people of all ranks incl. low-ranking people who probably shouldn't be wasting his time.
Clinton becomes known for freewheeling brainstorming sessions with people of all ranks incl. low-ranking people who probably shouldn't be wasting his time.
On Jan. 21 Amnesty Internat. reports
that Muslim women have been raped and abused during the Bosnian conflict by the military.
On Jan. 22 Croatian forces penetrate U.N. peacekeeping lines and attempt to recover Croatian forces from the Serbs.
On Jan. 23 Carol Martha Browner (1955-) becomes dir. #8 of the EPA (until Jan. 19, 2001), going on to
reorganize it, create a partnership program with industry, and tighten air quality standards.
Innsbruck becomes Outtsbruck?
On Jan. 23 200K demonstrate against xenophobia and racism in Vienna
in Austria's largest rally since 1945; meanwhile a Nov. 1992 initiative against foreigners launched by the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) gains 417K
signatures in Feb., well over the 100K needed to launch a parliamentary debate, and on July 1 the
Austrian Residence Act
is passed, limiting immigration to 30K a year, incl. asylum seekers.
On Jan. 24 Russia launches Soyuz TM-16, carrying
Gennadi Mikhailovich Manakov (1950-)
and Alexander Fyodorovich Poleshchuk (1953-);
Soyuz TM-16 returns on June 22 carrying Manakov, Poleshchuk, and Haignere; on
July 1 Soyuz TM-17 blasts off, carrying
Vasili Vasiliyevich Tsibliyev (1954-),
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Serebrov (1944-),
and Jean-Pierre Haignere (Haigneré) (1948-) of France; it returns next Jan. 14 with Tsibliyev and Serebrov.
On Jan. 25 two CIA employees are murdered and three more wounded at in their cars as they are waiting at a stoplight near the CIA HQ in Langley, Va. by Pakistani Muslim
Mir Aimal Kasi (1964-2002);
he is captured in Pakistan in 1997, and executed in 2002.
On Jan. 25 Pres. Trump issues Executive Order 12835, creating the Nat. Economic Council,
to give him economic policy advice, with Robert Edward "Bob" Rubin (1938-) as dir. #1 (until Jan. 11, 1995).
On Jan. 26 Warner Bros.' Babylon 5,
created by Michael Straczynski debuts for 110 episodes (until Nov. 25, 1998), about the five dominant species of Humans, Minbari, Narn, Centauri, and Vorlons, set in the year
2258 on the 5 mi. x 0.5 mi. O'Neill Cylinder-shaped Babylon 5 space station located in Epsilon Eridani at the 5th Lagrangian Point between Epsilon III and its moon.
On Jan. 27 after being appointed by Pres. Clinton, Prague, Czech.-born Dem. Madeleine Albright (Marie Jane Korbelova) (1937-)
becomes U.S. U.N. ambassador #20 (until Jan. 21, 1997), going on to get in a long catfight with U.N. secy.-gen. Boutros Boutros-Ghali and refuse until the end to ca;; the genocide in Rwanda genocide.
On Jan. 28 (09:40) a Provisional IRA bomb explodes near the Harrods dept. store in C London, injuring four and causing £1M damage.
On Jan. 28 Pres. Clinton holds a meeting with Federal Reserve chmn. Alan Greenspan, who warns him that he has to break his campaign promises to increase spending
for social programs to revive the economy because of the growing deficit, forcing him to cut the budget to head off higher interest rates.
On Jan. 29 Abdumannob Pulatov,
head of the Uzbekistan Human Rights Assoc. (brother of Abdurakhim Pulatov) is released from prison; meanwhile the govt. continues suppression of the Birlik (Unity) opposition party.
On Jan. 31 Super Bowl XXVII (27) is held in Pasadena, Calif.;
the Dallas Cowboys (NFC) defeat the Buffalo Bills (AFC) 52-17, converting nine turnovers into 35 points; Bills WR
Don Lee Beebe (1964-) collars showboating defensive lineman
Leon Lett Jr. (1968-) from behind at the end of a long fumble return and knocks the ball
out of his hands for a touchback; Cowboys QB (#8) Troy Aikman (1966-) is MVP; 3rd consecutive SB loss for the Bills.
In Jan. the rioting in India over the destruction of the Babri Mosque
in Ayodhya last Dec. 6 spreads to Bombay, becoming the worst rioting in India since the partition.
On Feb. 3 the Hungarian govt. announces privatization of nat. utilities.
On Feb. 5 the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)
is signed by Pres. Clinton, requiring certain employers to provide employees with
job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons esp. pregnancy.
On Feb. 7 the first elections to the upper house of Croatia gives the ruling HDZ party 31 seats.
On Feb. 9 Montenegrin PM (since Dec. 29, 1992)
Radoje Kontic
(1937-) becomes PM of Yugoslavia, and names a new coalition govt. on Mar. 2.
On Feb. 9 the Brazilian satellite Pegasus 3 is launched to study the Amazon basin.
On Feb. 10 vice-PM Nikola Sainovic (1948-) becomes PM of Serbia (until 1994) - when do we
begin the sainovic ethnic cleansing?
On Feb. 10 French pres. Francois Mitterrand becomes the first Western leader to travel to Vietnam since 1975.
On Feb. 10 the U.S. agrees to become involved in peace efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
On Feb. 10 pop star Michael Jackson appears on the Oprah Winfrey Show,
denying that he bleaches his skin, and blaming it on the disease vitiligo, claiming "very little, very little" plastic surgery, "I mean you can count on my two fingers."
On Feb. 11 Lufthansa Flight 592
(Airbus 310) en route from Frankfurt to Cairo and Addis Ababa is hijacked by Ethopian gunman Nebiu Demeke, after which it refuels in Hannover then flies JFK Airport in
New York City, where he surrenders; nobody is hurt.
On Feb. 17 Scarborough, Ont., Canada-born "Scarborough Rapist", "Schoolgirl Killer"
Paul Kenneth Bernardo (1964-) (AKA Paul Jason Teale) and his wife (since 1991)
Karla Leanna Homolka (Teale) (1970-) (AKA Leanne Bordelais), the "Ken and Barbie Killers"
are arrested for a string of rapes since May 4, 1987, and 3-4 murders in 1990-2; in 1995 Bernardo is convicted of two murders of teenage girls and given a life sentence
with possibility of parole in 25 years; after claiming that he forced her to help him, Homolka is given a sentence of 12 years, and released on July 4, 2005.
On Feb. 25 Kim Young-sam (1927-)
becomes the first non-military candidate in three decades to be sworn-in as pres. of South Korea (until Feb. 25, 1998); on Mar. 7 he grants amnesty to thousands of prisoners.
The Big Two for One Plus Ninety-Two, or, WTC One?
On Feb. 26 Muslim terrorists attempt to blow up the twin-tower World Trade Center
in New York City with a nitric acid-urea bomb in a Ryder van in the parking garage, killing six, injuring 1,042, and costing $591M in damage and lost business;
a 3-story-deep hole is ripped in the structure, collapsing the ceiling of a nearby subway line; an officer worker uses his new Timex Indiglo night lite
to guide fellow employees down 40 flights of dark stairs, causing a sales boom; the bombing is later
linked to al-Qaida (Al-Qaeda) and Osama bin Laden; on Mar. 4 Palestinian
illegal immigrant Mohammed A. Salameh (1967-)
is arrested in Jersey City, N.J., and by Aug. seven suspects have been arrested; the trial of four of them begins on Oct. 4;
Egyptian-born "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman (1938-2017)
is convicted with nine others of seditious conspiracy; on July 26, 2005 a jury rules that the New York Port Authority is negligent for not properly maintaining
the parking garage, which is a "substantial factor" in allowing the bombing to occur.
It's so whacko it won't go away, but thank Gawd I'm a country boy?
On Feb. 28 the 51-day 1993 Waco Siege begins when a gun battle erupts at the Branch Davidian Compound in
Mount Carmel Center in Elk (9 mi. ENE of Waco), Tex. when ATF agents try (in SWAT gear) to serve trumped-up warrants in a master plan to shut them down and arrest
33-y.-o. h.s. dropout, failed rock guitarist, and Jesus Christ messiah wannabe leader David Koresh (Vernon Howell) (1959-)
of the Branch Davidians (a disavowed sect of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church), but catch hot lead instead, causing four agents and six Davidians to be killed, and one ATF agent
in particular to be caught looking bad trapped on a roof while the cultists use him for target practice, causing a standoff led by the FBI; on Apr. 19 armored vehicles tear large holes
in the compound and spray tear gas for several hours, and at about noon a fire breaks out throughout the compound, which burns down in 30 min., killing all 77 members of the cult,
incl. many children; after fingers are pointed both ways, the govt. investigates and clears itself in Oct., claiming that fanatical cult members started the fire in an effort to bring on
Armageddon; on Sept. 30 a U.S. Dept. of Justice Report on Waco
criticizes the ATF for mishandling the initial raid; white supremacists have a new legend to justify hatred of the U.S. govt.; U.S. atty. gen. Janet Reno takes responsibility for the decision
to attack the compound, and in 1999 it is revealed that despite FBI denials, pyrotechnic gas grenades had been used in the siege; an investigation in 2000 by
former Mo. Repub. Sen. John Danforth clears the Justice Dept. of wrongdoing, and a Waco civil jury decides for the govt. in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the survivors.
In Feb. Coca-Cola debuts its Coca-Cola Polar Bears
in its "Always Coca-Cola" ads, drawn by artist Ken Stewart of Los Angeles, Calif. based on his Labrador Retriever Morgan.
In early Mar. the U.S. East Coast is smothered in the
No Name Superstorm (AKA Storm of the Cent.) ,
causing a 12-ft. storm surge in Taylor County, Fla. along with 11 tornadoes in Fla., moving N and becoming a historic blizzard, affecting 26 states and killing 218.
On Mar. 3 Bosniak Muslim Alija Izetbegovic (1925-2003) becomes pres. #1 of Bosnia and Herzegovina (until Mar. 14, 1996).
On Mar. 5 Palair Macedonian Airlines Flight 301 (Fokker 100) en route to Zurich from Skopje, Macedonia crashes shortly
after takeoff from ice on the wings, killing 79 passengers and four crew out of 97 aboard.
On Mar. 8 the un-PC cartoon series Beavis and Butt-Head
by Equadorian-born Mike Craig Judge (1962-)
debuts on MTV for 222 episodes (until Dec. 29, 2011), starring 9th grade delinquients Beavis and Butt-Head, who attend Highland H.S. in Tex. (N.M.?), and classify everything
as either "cool" or "this sucks - change it", while loving to critique MTV music videos.
On Mar. 10 Socialist Ruth Dreifuss (1940-)
is elected to the Swiss Federal Council (Bundesrat), becoming the 2nd woman and first Jew, described as "a rare triumph over Swiss male chauvinism" - like a four by four for those
snowy winter mornings?
On Mar. 12 North Korea announces that it is withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; on June 12 it changes its mind after internat. pressure.
On Mar. 12 three main trade unions strike in Croatia over low wages and high prices and demand that the govt. resign; on Apr. 3 a new
govt. is sworn in, with Nikica Valentic (1950-) as PM (until 1995), who promises privatization, freedom of
the press, and return of Bosnian war refugees.
On Mar. 15 accords are signed in Addis Ababa promising to end the violence in Somalia, and U.S. troops begin pulling out; the U.N. takes over from the U.S. on May 4, with only
1.2K U.S. combat soldiers remaining.
On Mar. 16 the first annual Letland March
by the Latvian Nat. Fascist Legion Waffen SS "Letland" is held in downtown Riga in front of the U.S., German, and French embassies to celebrate their first V against the Red Army
in Russia in 1944.
On Mar. 17 Jean Kennedy Smith (1928-)
(sister of JFK, RFK and Ted Kennedy, who went with JFK to Ireland in 1963) is nominated by Pres. Clinton as U.S. ambassador to Ireland, serving
from June until 1998, going on to persuade the Clinton admin. to grant a visa to Sinn Fein pres. Gerry Adams,
facilitating the peace process.
On Mar. 17 an Amtrak
train rams into a truck at a railway crossing near Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., killing six and injuring dozens.
On Mar. 21 and 28 in France legislative elections are held for the nat. assembly in two rounds, which cut the ruling Socialist Party's
share of the vote by half, and they lose all but 54 of 252 seats, while the right-wing Gaullist Rassemblement pour la Republique (Rally
for the Repub.) (RPR) gains 126 seats for a total of 247, and the center-right Union for French Dem. (Union pour la Democratie Francaise)
(UDF) goes from 131 to 213; on Mar. 29 Pres. Mitterrand names Turkish-born Edouard Balladur (1929-) as PM (until 1997).
On Mar. 22 mass demonstrations are held in Algiers.
On Mar. 22 a "secret door" is discovered in the Great Pyramid of Giza by Rudolf Gantenbrink.
On Mar. 26 Serbian trade unions strike in Belgrade after authorities begin issuing ration books and coupons for staples.
On Mar. 27 Jiang Zemin (1926-2022) is elected pres. #5 of the People's Repub. of China by the Nat. People's Congress (until Mar. 15, 2003).
On Mar. 29 the 65th (1992) Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Billy Crystal (3rd time), who rides in on a giant Oscar pulled by Jack Palance,
who does 1-handed pushups on stage; the best picture Oscar for 1992 goes to the myth-destroying Warner Bros. Western Unforgiven (3rd Western to win after "Dances With Wolves" in 1990
and "Cimarron" in 1930), along with best dir. to Clint Eastwood, and best supporting actor to Gene Hackman; best actor goes to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman
(his first Oscar), best actress to Emma Thompson for Howard's End, and best supporting actress to Marisa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny
(rumors circulate that she got it by mistake and it was supposed to go to Vanessa Redgrave); Elizabeth Taylor receives the Am. Film Inst. Lifetime Achievement Award;
Elton John throws his first Oscar party.
On Mar. 31 actor Brandon Lee (b. 1965)
is accidentally killed by a prop gun during the filming of The Crow in Wilmington, N.C.
In Mar. the Clinton admin. orders the Army to enact regulations
forbidding military personnel from carrying firearms on bases, making them susceptible to the 2009 Ft. Hood Massacre.
In Mar. Wired mag. begins pub. in San Francisco, Calif. by Conde Nast Pubs., with the theme "Move bits, not atoms".
On Apr. 2 Marlboro Friday ("The day the Marlboro Man fell of his horse" - Fortune) sees Philip Morris announce a
20% price cut on their Marlboro brand cigarettes to fight generics, causing its stock to drop 25% and take other name brand cos. incl. Coca-Cola and RJR Nabisco with it, causing rumors of the
"death of brands", which prove false as high-budget ad campaigns make brand names stronger than ever.
On Apr. 5 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 8-1 in
U.S. v. Tex.
that state legislatures must operate under the assumption that statutes will be interpreted against the backdrop of common law, with the soundbyte:
"Longstanding is the principle that statutes invading the common law are to be read with a presumption favoring retention of existing law except
when a statutory purpose to the contrary is evident. This presumption is not limited to state common law or federal maritime law."
On Apr. 6 a China Eastern Airlines MD11 accidentally deploys the leading edge slats while cruising near the Aleutian Islands,
killing two of 248 passengers during violent maneuvers.
On Apr. 14 the Hungarian parliament bans the wearing or display of Nazi and Communist symbols.
On Apr. 24 the Provisional IRA detonates a truck bomb on Wormwood St. in London, England.
On Apr. 25-26 the Bosnian Serb Assembly rejects the Vance-Owen Peace Plan for Bosnia, which had been endorsed by Bosnian Croats and Muslims.
In Apr.-Oct. the Great Mississipi/Missouri River Flood floods 30K sq. mi., killing 32 and causing $15B damage, becoming
the worst since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 (until ?).
On May 3 the U.N. proclaims the first World Press Freedom Day on the anniv. of the 1991 Declaration of Windhoek.
On May 4-June 27 the New York State Theater holds its Balanchine Celebration at the Lincoln Center in New York City in honor of the 10th anniv. of the death of City Ballet founder
and choreographer George Balanchine (1904-83);
an attempt by artistic dir. Peter Martins to perform 73 of his works in concentrated form leads to defections from his own ranks as City Ballet members criticize him in a
May New Yorker article; on July 30 Martins causes a scandal by firing Balanchine's favorite ballerina Suzanne Farrell for joining the defectors.
On May 5 the West Memphis Three
case begins when three 3-y.-o. white boys, Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore are reported missing from Robin Hood Hills in West Memphis, Ark., after which they are
found beaten, stripped naked and hogtied in a drainage canal, after which an African-Am. male called "Mr. Bojangles" is reported seen "dazed and covered with mud and blood"
by workers at the Bojangles Restaurant; three white teenagers are later convicted, incl. Damien Echols (death sentence), Jessie Misskelley Jr.
(life sentence plus 40 years), and Jason Baldwin (life sentence), but suspicions that they are innocent continue until ?
On May 7 Moldova announces a massive privatization program and introduces a new nat. currency called the leu based on the Romanian currency.
On May 11 a federal jury rules that City U. of New York (CUNY) officials had violated the First Amendment rights of black studies dept. chmn.
Leonard Jeffries (1937-)
when they removed him in 1992 because of the content of a 1991 speech in which he claimed that Jews and Italians had been conspiring to denigrate blacks
in motion pictures; on May 18 they slap CUNY with a $400K damage award to Jeffries, and on Aug. 4 a judge orders him reinstated.
On May 13 former Israeli Air Force cmdr. Ezer Weizman (1924-2005)
(nephew of pres. #1 Chaim Weizmann) becomes pres. #7 of Israel (until July 13, 2000).
On Apr. 17 pres. (since 1989) Halil Turgut Ozal (b. 1927) dies suddenly, and on May 16 longtime PM (1965-71, 1975-7, 1977-8, 1979-80, 1991-3)
Sami Suleyman (Süleyman) Gundogdu Demirel (1924-2015) becomes pres. #9 of Turkey (until May 16, 2000).
On May 17 a federal appeals court rules that the Boy Scouts of Am. is a private org. that can ban atheists for refusing to take the Scout oath to do their "duty to God".
On May 19 Bosnian lovers Bosko Brkic (Serb) and Admira Ismic (Muslim)
are killed trying to escape from the Muslim side of Sarajevo over the Vrbanja Bridge; they are allowed to remain in a dying embrace for days; subject of the 2011
Angelina Jolie film "The Land of Blood and Honey".
On May 20 Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Nat. Voter Registration Act of 1993
AKA the Motor Voter Law, effective Jan. 1, 1995, requiring state govts. to offer voter registration opportunities to any eligible person who applies for or renews
a state driver's license or applies for public assistance, requiring use of a federal voter registration form, and restricting conditions for removing registered voters from voter rolls.
On May 21 the first Nat. Public Radio program is simultaneously broadcast on the Internet.
On May 24 Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo (b. 1926)
is assassinated by gunmen in his car at the Guadalajara, Mexico airport; investigators conclude that the gunmen worked for jailed drug lord Benjamin Arellano Felix
and that they confused the cardinal for a rival drug trafficker; on Dec. 9, 2005 former police cmdr.
Humberto Rodriguez Banuelos
is sentenced by a Guadalajara court to 40 years for his role in the shooting.
On May 25 Pres. Jorge Serrano Elias of Guatemala becomes a dictator ruling by decree, dismissing the congress and supreme court; on June 1
he is ousted by the military, and on June 6 human rights minister Ramiro de Leon Carpio (1942-2002)
is elected pres. (until 1996), firing the defense minister and reassigning several top military officers on June 7 to defang the military.
On May 25 the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 to adopt Resolution 827, establishing the
Internat. Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague; it
goes on to indict 161 persons by Dec. 2004; the court is abolished on Dec. 31, 2017.
On May 27 five people are killed in a bombing at the Uffizi Museum of Art
in Florence, Italy, which ruins or damages 36 paintings.
In May U.S. rock star Melissa Etheridge (1961-),
just prior to the release of her hit album Yes, I Am announces that yes, she am a lesbian.
In May Travelgate sees seven employees of the White House Travel Office fired for alleged improprieties
during previous administrations, but soon appearing to be done to put friends in their jobs; the firings are traced to First Lady Hillary Clinton; nobody is convicted of anything.
On June 1 Slobodan Milosevic removes Yugoslavian pres. (since 1992) Dobrica Cosic for exceeding constitutional powers, and on June 25
Zoran Lilic (1953-) is elected pres. (until 1997) despite pro-Cosic demonstrations in Belgrade.
On June 1 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 6-3 in Smith v. U.S.
that giving a gun in exchange for drugs constitutes use of a firearm during and in relation to drug trafficking; on Dec. 10, 2007
the U.S. Supreme (Roberts) Court rules 9-0 in Watson v. U.S.
that receiving a gun in exchange for drugs doesn't - that changes how P.E. classes work?
On June 2 the first dem. elections in Burundi give the V to Burundi Dem. Front candidate Melchior Ndadaye (1953-93),
who becomes the first Hutu pres. of Burundi; too bad, he is killed a few mo. later in a coup, and is replaced on Feb. 5 by Hutu
Cyprien Ntaryamira (1955-94),
who becomes Burundi pres. #5 until Apr. 6, 1994, when he is is assassinated at Kigali Airport while landing along with Rwandan pres. Juvenal Habyarimana, setting off the
Rwandan Genocide.
On June 3 two dozen Pakistani soldiers working for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia are
attacked and killed by forces working for Somalian warlord Farah Aidid;
three Americans are also injured; U.N. secy.-gen. Boutros Boutros-Ghali calls Aidid "a menace to public safety".
On June 4 the U.N. Security Council adopts a resolution allowing the use of force to enforce ceasefires in protected areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Black Hawk Down?
On June 5 U.S. Adm. Philip Gardner Howe III (1962-)
puts out a $25K reward for info. leading to Aidid's apprehension, and the peacekeepers go to war with Aidid, launching
Operation Gothic Serpent on Aug. 22 (ends Oct. 13) to kick Aidid's butt.
On June 6 neoliberal MIR Party candidate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada y Sanchez de Bustamante (1930-)
defeats Gen. Hugo Banzer Suarez to become pres. #74 of Bolivia, being sworn-in on Aug. 6 (until Aug. 6, 1997), continuing the privatization policies.
On June 7 U.S. Dem. House Speaker (1989-95) Thomas Stephen "Tom" Foley (1929-2013)
joins with the League of Women Voters in a suit challenging a Washington state law imposing term limits on elected federal officials (along
with 14 other states by late 1993); in 1995 Foley becomes the first House speaker since 1862 to be defeated in a reelection campaign.
On June 10 shortly after her election, Dem. Travis County D.A. Ronald Dale "Ronnie" Earle (1942-)
indicts new U.S. Repub. Tex. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Kathryn Ann Bailey) (1943-)
(Tex. state treasurer since Jan. 15, 1991) (first female U.S. Tex. sen.) on trumped-up charges of using state property to help with her campaign, admitting
that he wants her job; in Sept. she is indicted by a grand jury, and in Feb. 1994 Tex. district John Onion acquits her and bars any further prosecution;
she is reelected in 1994, 2000 and 2005, becoming the #4 ranking Repub. in the Senate; in the 2000 election she becomes the first non-pres. candidate in Tex.
history to receive 4M votes; she serves until Jan. 3, 2013, and on Aug. 28, 2017 after being appointed by Pres. Trump she becomes U.S. NATO rep #22 (until ?).
On June 11 Pres. Clinton goes to Seoul, attempting to pressure North Korea to end its nuclear program - good luck with that?
On June 11 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules unanimusly in
Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah
that states can't pass laws prohibiting the "unnecessary killing of an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption"
because the govt. must show a compelling interest to pass a law that targets a religion's ritual (as opposed to a law that happens to burden the ritual but is not directed at it),
and failing to show such an interest, the prohibition of animal sacrifice is a violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
On June 14 Pres. Clinton chooses 5'0" Brooklyn, N.Y.-born opera loving Jewish federal judge (appointed by Pres. Carter)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (nee Joan Ruth Bader) (1933-2020)
to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court; a liberal who had been gen. counsel of the ACLU and the first dir. of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project,
she is so artful at dodging direct questions during her Senate confirmation hearings that it becomes known as the
Ginsburg Rule; on Aug. 3 she is confirmed as U.S. Supreme Court justice #107
by a 96-3 vote, and is sworn in on Aug. 10 (until Sept. 18, 2020), becoming the 2nd female justice and 1st female Jewish justice on the court, becoming known as "the Notorious R.B.G." for
her fiery liberal dissents and refusal to step down.
On June 15 a provisional agreement is reached in Geneva on a 3-way division of Bosnia-Herzegovina into Serb, Croat and Muslim sections;
too bad, the fighting flares up again around Sarajevo in July, spreading throughout the country by Nov.
On June 17 mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (1947-)
becomes PM of Afghanistan (until June 28, 1994, and again on June 6, 1996-Aug. 11, 1997), immediately announcing a program to pacify the country,
which is split into three regions: Tajik and Uzbek in the N, controlled by Gen. Abdul Dostam; the Pashtun S and E, incl. Kabul; and the W, controlled by Iran; he
begins shelling Kabul, killing 25K civilians and destroying 96% of the bldgs. by 1996, while the city plunges into ethnic conflict and mutual genocide.
The real meaning of tipper gore?
On June 23 (6/23/93) (Wed.) Lorena Bobbitt (1970-)
slices off half (2.3, er, 2.5 in.) of the 6 in., er, penis of her sleeping ex-Marine hubby John Wayne Bobbitt (1967-) with a 9.3, er, 8-in. kitchen knife,
then throws it out of her car window into a field in Va., causing a great breakthrough in U.S. printing history as the word "penis" is printed so
many times that it finally gains acceptance in print; it is successfully reattached after a 10-hour operation, and he has successful sex again 3 mo.
after the surgery, the whole affair making him a celeb incl. a stint as a
porn star;
after his history of spousal abuse is er, exposed and trumpeted by the women's libbers, she is found not guilty by reason of insanity;
too bad, the incident spawns many copycats - look at that, why did nobody tell me to get rid of that thing?
On June 25 the long recession and discontent over the free-trade agreement causes Canadian PM #18 (since Sept. 17, 1984) Brian Mulroney to resign, and Progressive
Conservative Party defense minister #30 (since Jan. 4) Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (1947-) becomes the first woman PM (#19) of Canada
(until Nov. 4); in Oct. the Liberal Party wins big, and on Nov. 4 Joseph Jacques Jean Chretien (Chrétien) (1934-)
becomes Canadian PM #20 (until Dec. 12, 2003).
On June 28 police stop the pickup truck driven by 34-y.-o.
Joel David Rifkin (1959-)
of East Meadow, N.Y. for driving without license plates, and discover the decaying body of a woman in the back; under questioning he admits to
killing 16 more women in the New York City metro area dating back two years, most of them drug addicts and/or hos; by the end of the year they
recover 14 bodies and charge him with seven murders.
On June 28 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 7-2 in
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
that the Fry Standard (gen. acceptance by the scientific community)
for admitting expert testimony in federal courts is not incorporated in the 1975 Federal Rules of Evidence, and is to be replaced by the
Daubert Standard, based on a flexible reliability standard.
On June 28 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-4 in
Shaw v. Reno
that redistricting based on race must be held to a standard of strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause to make sure it complies with
the 1965 U.S. Voting Rights Act; dissenters incl. Justices Byron White, Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, and David Souter; the
2000 U.S. Census becomes the first to apply the ruling.
In June the FBI announces a Muslim plot to bomb New York City landmarks incl. the U.N. bldg., and to assassinate public officials incl. U.N.
secy.-gen. Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Egyptian pres. Hosni Mubarak.
In June Pres. Clinton appoints former Reagan appointee Dennis B. Ross (1948-)
as U.S. Middle East envoy; he goes on to serve under four more presidents (until Nov. 10, 2011).
In June Lech Walesa (1943-) dissolves the Polish parliament; new elections are held, and the Socialists win.
In summer Denver, Colo.'s Summer of Violence
leads to increased public awareness and harsher penalties for crimes by juveniles; in 2003 Denver has 220 gangs with 14K total members.
On July 1 55-y.-o. failed entrepreneur Gian Luigi Ferri (b. 1937)
fires TEC-9 and Norinco NP44 semi-automatic pistols in the 101 Calif. St. offices of San Francisco law firm Pettit and Martin (with whom he had been involved in a lawsuit),
killing eight and wounding six before killing himself; none of the 30 law firm employees on his hit list are injured; the shooting sparks several
legislative actions leading to the 1994 U.S. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act - should have played more arcade games?
On July 4 A Capitol Fourth in Washington, D.C. honors POWs and MIAs from the Vietnam War;
Johnny Cash sings "The Old Rugged Cross", and he and June Carter cash sing "Jackson".
On July 5 the Provisional IRA detonates a 1.5K lb. car bomb in Roma's Bar in Regent St. in Newtownards, Northern Ireland; there are no fatalities.
On July 9 the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 for Resolution 849,
the first of 32 resolutions by Apr. 15, 2008 supporting the territorial integrity of Abkhazia
as an integral part of Georgia; on May 15, 2008 the U.N. Gen. Assembly adopts the non-binding U.N. Gen. Assembly Resolution 10708
recognizing the rights of refugees to return, expressing regret at the attempts at ethnic cleansing.
On July 12 U.S. Cobra helis attack a house in S Mogadishu where Aidid clan members are meeting, and four Western journalists are beaten to death by an angry mob; on Aug. 26
U.S. Rangers arrive, led by Lt. Gen. William F. "Bill" Garrison (1944-);
too bad, in Sept. U.S. defense secy. Les Aspin denies requests for armored reinforcements,
setting Garrison into a trap and turning him into a convenient patsy? - time for the Dinosaur Play?
On July 18 the U.S. announces plans to post diplomats in Vietnam to assist U.S. families residing there.
On July 19 Floyd I. Clarke (1942-)
becomes acting dir. of the FBI; on Sept. 1 he is replaced by
Louis Joseph Freeh (1950-),
who becomes FBI dir. #5 (until June 25, 2001).
On July 20 Bill Clinton's lifelong buddy Vince Walker Foster Jr. (b. 1945),
deputy White House counsel during Clinton's first term is found dead in Ft. Marcy Park off the George Washington Parkway in Va.
outside Washington, D.C., becoming the highest-ranking U.S. federal official to die under questionable circumstances since JFK;
despite the lack of blood, and the gun found in his right hand even though he's left-handed, it is officially ruled a suicide, with the FBI
concluding
that Hillary's lambasting and public humiliation of him triggered it, although right-wingers spin conspiracy theories of
coverups
involving Pres. Clinton and Hillary; on July 20 (night) Hillary's chief of staff (1993-7)
Margaret Ann "Maggie" Williams (1954-)
(first African-Am. woman to hold the position) allegedly sneaks in and
steals
personal files from Foster's office, and later becomes Hillary's senior adviser in her 2008 pres. campaign - I will follow my
leader into the very jaws of death itself?
On July 22 a new nationality law directed toward curbing immigration goes into effect in France.
On July 23 a cache of 12 tons of arms hidden in humanitarian aid containers is discovered in an airport in Slovenia, and the govt. is blamed for engineering it.
On July 23 basketball star Michael Jordan's father James Raymond Jordan Sr. (b. 1936) is murdered in a roadside robbery
as he sleeps in his car near Fayetteville, N.C., stealing his $40K Lexus (a gift from his son) and two NBA championship rings; his body is not discovered until Aug. 3
in a creek near McColl, S.C.; too bad, the dopes make calls from their victim's cell phone and are caught, and on Sept. 7 a grand jury indicts
Larry Martin Demery (1977-) of Rowland, N.C. and
Daniel Andre Green (1974-) of Lumberton, N.C. for the murder, and they both get life in priz.
On July 23 a China Northwest BAe146 overruns the runway in Yinchuan, China, killing 54 of 108 passengers and one of five crew.
On July 25 Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher
debuts on Comedy Central (until 1997, then ABC until July 5, 2002), starring
William "Bill" Maher Jr. (1956-).
On July 30 the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to block an order requiring Jan and Robert DeBoer of Ann Arbor, Mich. to return 2-y.-o.
Baby Jessica (1991-)
to her biological parents Cara and Daniel Schmidt of Blairstown, Iowa; three days after her Feb. 1991 birth her mother Cara had named the wrong man
as her father and got him to consent to an adoption, only to have the true father come forward two days later and try to get the child back.
On July 31 king (since 1951) Baudouin I (b. 1930) of Belgium dies childless, and on Aug. 9 his brother Albert II (1934-)
succeeds him as king #6 of Belgium (until ?).
In July-Aug. Washington, D.C. tests the Invincible Defense Technology
technique of having large groups publicly practice Transcendental Meditation, claiming a 24% reduction in the crime rate.
On Aug. 3 Eugene Maleska (b. 1916) dies, and Will Shortz (1952-), the first person with a degree in enigmatology (Indian U.)
(until ?), who founded the Am. Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1978 becomes ed. of the New York Times crossword puzzle, changing the
content from obscure and classical knowledge to pop culture.
On Aug. 4 the Arusha Accords
are signed in Arusha, Tanzania by the Hutu-dominated govt. of Rwanda and the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), ending the 3-year Rwandan Civil War, establishing a
Broad-Based Transitional Govt. (BBTG) and providing for repatriation of refugees and merging of armies.
On Aug. 4-16 New York City "Tuxedo King" Harvey J. Weinstein (1925-2007)
is kidnapped by disgruntled worker Fermin Rodriguez, his brother Antonio Rodriguez, and his girlfriend
Aurelina Leonor,
and held in a "barrel-shaped pit" next to Henry Hudson Pkwy. on the Upper West Side while they extort a $3M ransom from his sons, after which they are caught, convicted, and imprisoned.
On Aug. 10 the U.S. Omnibus Budget Reconciliation (Deficit Reduction) (Revenue Reonciliation) Act
is signed by Pres. Clinton, creating two new brackets of 36% and 39.6%.
On Aug. 12 Pope John Paul II lands in a heli to visit 90K in Denver, Colo.'s Mile High Stadium (home of the Broncos), touring the stadium in his
popemobile to kick off World Youth Day VIII
(first held in 1984) in Cherry Creek State Park near Denver (attendance 186K), meeting with Pres. Clinton and Vice-Pres. Gore; his heli flies
right by TLW's house as he visits Denver's Regis College? (coulda been a decoy); on Aug. 13 he says a private Mass for 1.5K at the Basilica of
the Immaculate Conception in downtown Denver (Archbishop Cardinal Francis James Stafford), then hikes and reads poetry at a Catholic
retreat in Allenspark; on Aug. 14 he gives a speech at Denver's McNichols Arena (home of the Nuggets), denouncing child abuse among U.S. priests; the
closing 3-hour Mass on Aug. 15 is attended by 500K, the largest public gathering in Colo. history; 14K are treated for heat exhaustion; the visit
becomes known as "God's Woodstock" for inspiring Catholic youth - too bad there's that celibacy thing?
On Aug. 13 the Yugoslavian govt. introduces a 500M-dinar banknote worth U.S. $6 as the inflation rate increases from 430% per mo. in July to 1.8K% this mo.
On Aug. 18 a judge in Sarasota, Fla. rules that a 14-y.-o. Kimberly Mays,
switched at birth in the hospital cannot be forced to have contact with her biological parents
Ernest and Regina Twigg, after the girl sues to sever her ties with them in May after hearing of a
successful 1992 suit by Gregory Kingsley (Shawn Russ) in Leesburg, Fla. to terminate his mother's parental rights.
On Aug. 21 PM (since 1992) Abdessalam of Algeria is forced from office by the High Security Council (HSC),
who appoint Redha Malek (1931-)
to succeed him (until ?).
On Aug. 21 deep-cover CIA officer
Trenton Parker
tells noted FAA investigator
Rodney Stich (1923-)
that his Pegasus Group had tape recordings of plans to assassinate JFK, implicating LBJ,
J. Edgar Hoover, Allen Dulles, George H.W. Bush, and Nelson Rockefeller, who was LBJ's
choice for pres. in 1968 and was picked by Gerald Ford as his vice-pres. running mate
in 1974; in 1970 Newsweek mag. called
Rockefeller the CIA's man in Congress.
On Aug. 25 a federal grand jury indicts blind radical Egyptian Sunni Muslim cleric Sheik
Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman (1938-2017)
(who lived in the U.S. since 1990) for orchestrating the WTC bombing, the 1990 murder of militant
Rabbi Meir Kahane, and other plots; 14 other co-conspirators are also indicted; all 15 plead not guilty;
Rahman had been in U.S. custudy since July 2 on immigration charges; Repub. prosecutor
Andrew C. McCarthy III
later comes out against prosecuting Islamic terrorists in civil courts rather than military tribunals,
and says that waterboarding isn't necessarily torture, but even if it is it's needed in the war against Islamic terrorists.
On Aug. 28 the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
TV series debuts on Fox TV for 145 episodes (until Nov. 27, 1995), produced by Egyptian-born pro-Israel Israeli-Am. billionaire
Haim Saban (1944-),
based on the Japanese TV series "Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger", set in Angel Grove, Calif. about two astronauts
who discover a container from outer space and release evil alien sorceress Rita Repulsa after 10K years of
confinement, planning on conquering Earth, causing wise alien sage Zordon and his robotic asst. Alpha 5 to
select five "teenagers with attitude" to save it, incl. Jason Lee Scott, Kimberly Hart, Zack Taylor, Trini Kwan,
and Billy Cranston, giving them super powers and colossal Zord assault machines, which can combine into the Megazord;
spawns the film "Mighty Morphon Power Rangers: The Movie" (1995), plus a line of
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Toys.
In Aug. peace accords are signed in Rwanda, calling for a coalition govt.
In Aug. news of secret talks between Israelis and Palestinians in Oslo, Norway
shakes the world; on Sept. 13 (9-13-93, another hidden 666 meaning?)
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin, and Pres. Clinton sign the
Oslo Accords
(Agreement) (Declaration of Principles Between Israel and the PLO)
in the U.S., which incl. Israeli recognition of the PLO and creates a
Palestinian Nat. Authority (PNA)
(originally Palestinian Authority) with limited autonomy, making Jerusalem
negotiable for the first time, and calling for Israeli military withdrawal
from parts of the Gaza Strip and 27% of the West Bank, with Arafat given
control; after a 7-year trial period a final treaty is to be signed on
Sept. 14, 2000; a family reunification provision
for Arabs causes 137K Palestinians to move to Israel by 2002 after some
engage in sham or polygamous marriages; by 2010 about 30% of Israelis
protest
Rabin's policy of appeasing the PLO, and in the next six elections, the right wins four by pledging to abandon this policy, and in the 1999 election Ehud Barak and
the left win by running on a rightist platform; the PNA emblem (coat of arms)
looks remarkably similar to the Nazi emblem;
the PFLP, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad break with Arafat over the accords; meanwhile Hal Lindsey and other Bible-thumpers thump out Bible prophecies:
"And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease; and upon the wing of abominations
shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator" (Dan. 9:27), claiming that the European Union (EU), based in Strasbourg, France will
become a new Roman Empire that will bring guess what?
On Sept. 1 FCC regulations (passed on Apr. 1) making deep rate cuts in cable TV go into effect; on Sept. 24 130 members of Congress complain that the regulations sometimes
increase rates for customers, causing Congress to begin hearings in Sept.
On Sept. 5 the Sun. morning Hanna-Barbera animated series 2 Stupid Dogs
debuts on TBS for 26 episodes (until May 15, 1995), featuring Big Dog and Little Dog, voiced by Brad Garett and Mark Schiff; the backup segment
"Super Secret Secret Squirrel" is also shown.
On Sept. 8 Minnie Joycelyn Elders (nee Jones) (1933-)
becomes U.S. surgeon-gen. #15 (until Dec. 31) (first African-Am.); she stirs controversy by suggesting that masturbation be promoted to deter young people from sex.
On Sept. 8 33-y.-o. German tourist Uwe-Wilhelm Rakebrand
is gunned down as he drives a rental car with his wife along a Miami expressway; on Sept. 14 a 34-y.-o. English tourist is shot and killed in a rental car
in a rest area +in Monticello, Fla.; on Oct. 6 police charge four teenagers with the latter murder;
a total of six foreign tourists are slain in Fun Florida this year (nine from Oct. 1992-Sept. 1993), causing the $31B Fla. tourism industry to sweat.
On Sept. 9 Yasser Arafat signs a letter to Israel PM Rabin, pledging that the PLO "recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security".
On Sept 9 the presidium of the Moldovan parliament votes to legalize the Moldovan Communist Party, which had been banned since Aug. 1991.
On Sept. 10 the super-successful TV series The X-Files
debuts on CBS-TV for 202 episodes (until May 19, 2002), created by
Christopher Carl "Chris" Carter (1956-),
with the creepy X-File Theme and other music by
Mark Snow (Martin Fulterman) (1946-)
(brother-in-law of Tyne Daly), introducing by-the-book scientific FBI babe-agent Dana Scully, played by
Gillian Leigh Anderson (1968-),
who is paid to reign in maverick paranormal-curious FBI agent-stud Fox Mulder, played by
David William Duchovny (1960-),
who is investigating the mysterious deaths of h.s. students in Ore.;
introduces Scully's Theme;
too bad, 9/11 ends up killing the series - right next to Twin Peaks?
On Sept. 12 the Labor Party wins nat. elections in Norway, and Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes PM again.
On Sept. 15 the IMF approves a standby credit for Hungary to support its economic program.
On Sept. 21 former vice-pres. (1977-81) Walter Mondale becomes U.S. ambassador #24 to Japan (until Dec. 15, 1996).
On Sept. 22 Pres. Clinton unveils his wife, er, his U.S. Health Security Act
(AKA Clinton Health Care Plan of 1993) to a joint session of Congress, which would guarantee every American a health insurance policy with a basic minimum benefit std.;
it is defeated in 1994 after a public perception that it was written behind closed doors without input; Hillary was put in charge of the Task Force on Nat. Health Care Reform,
whose membership is kept secret, incl. people who would benefit personally; people begin to believe that she's the real president after hubby Bill
calls
her "the smartest woman in the world"?; in 1997 U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth
rebukes
the Clinton admin. for "outrageous" and "reprehensible" deception about who was in the task force.
On Sept. 22 Yugoslavia passes a law allowing the federal assembly to declare a state of emergency in a repub. without its consent.
On Sept. 22 the Amtrak Sunset Limited derails near Mobile, Ala.,
plunging into Big Bayou Canal and killing 47, becoming Amtrak's deadliest accident since Jan. 1987 (which killed 16 in Essex, Md.).
On Sept. 23 the Steven Bochco and David Milch cop series NYPD Blue
debuts on ABC-TV for 261 episodes (until Mar. 1, 2005), starring Dennis Franz (1944-) as Det. Andy Sipowicz, and
Gordon Clapp (1948-) as Det. Greg Medavoy; set in the fictional Manhattan 15th Precinct;
David Stephen Caruso (1956-) plays Det. John Kelly in season 1, then gets too big for his britches and leaves for the movies, falling on his face.
On Sept. 25 Leslie Greif's and Paul Haggis' Walker, Texas Ranger
debuts on CBS-TV for 203 episodes (until May 19, 2001), inspired by the 1983 film "Lone Wolf McQuade", starring Chuck Norris as decorated Vietnam War vet (USMC) Sgt. Cordell Walker,
who uses martial arts for law enforcement while preaching Just Say No to Drugs and community service, Clarence Gillard as his partner Sgt. James "Jimmy" Trivette,
and Sheree J. Wilson as Tarrant County DA Alexandra "Alex" Cahill, who eventually marries Walker.
On Sept. 24 Norodom Sihanouk (b. 1922) becomes king of Cambodia again (until Oct. 7, 2004), becoming a filmmaker, composing songs, and later setting
up his own personal Web site NorodomSihanouk.com, which becomes a cult hit.
On Sept. 29 Gottfried Kussel (Küssel) (1958-)
is sentenced to 10 years for organizing the neo-Nazi group
Volkstreue Ausserparlamentarische Opposition (People's Extraparliamentary Opposition).
On Sept. 30 the 6.4 Latur Earthquake
strikes S and W India, killing 7.6K and injuring 16K, concentrated around the Tirna River.
In Sept. the Clinton admin. begins relaxing the U.S. embargo on Vietnam, virtually ending it by the end of the year.
In Sept. the U.N. Mission in Haiti (UNMIH)
is established, operating until June 1996, then reestablished in Apr. 2004.
In Sept. 1993 a federal judge tries to bar the new Don't Ask Don't Tell Don't Pursue
policy of the U.S. military (effective Dec. 21), prohibiting its members from engaging in homosexual acts or openly declaring themselves gay,
while preventing them from bending, er, being asked about their sexual orientation; the U.S. Supreme Court later lifts his injunction - and
soldiers in the Navy continue to bring a plate of calamari when they gather around the table?
In Sept. Martha Stewart Living
debuts in syndication, beginning the meteoritic rise of Martha Stewart (Martha Helen Kostyra) (1941-),
the perfect wife-housekeeper-cook-gardner - and ho?
In Sept. the September Six
are excommunicated or disfellowshipped by the LDS Church for criticizing it; their reasons are never given (until ?).
Moa' good mainly white tissue wasted in darkest Africa?
On Oct. 3-4 the Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down Battle/Ambush)
sees U.S. MH-60 Black Hawk helis of the elite Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) (AKA Night Stalkers) (formed during the Vietnam War and kept secret until now)
stage an urban attack on the Olympic Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, having apparently forgotten about RPGs, and Somalian militiamen shoot down two of the helis;
by the time U.N. mainly Pakistani peacekeeping forces from the nearby safe zone stadium rescue them, 19 U.S. troops are killed vs. 1K Somalians, but the press runs horrible
photos
of dead mainly white Yankee soldiers (our sons?) being dragged like dead meat through the streets in celebration (food for black cannibals?), putting a permanent shock
into not only American cowboys but most Westerners; the sole survivor is white pilot Michael J. "Mike" Durant (1961-),
who is captured and released after 11 days; on Oct. 7 Pres. Clinton reinforces Somalia, but orders all troops to withdraw by Mar. 31 of next year; the hunt for Aidid is abandoned,
and peace talks with former Pres. Carter are resumed; on Oct. 17, 2005 former interior minister
Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid (1948-)
is arrested in Stockholm on suspicion of leading the militia during the battle; Operation Urban Warrior
is launched by the U.S. Marine Corps to plan and test urban warfare.
On Oct. 5 the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-o to adopt Resolution 872,
establishing the U.N. Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR)
to assist in the implementation of the Arusha Accords of Aug. 4 ending the Rwandan Civil War; it ends in Mar. 1996 after failing to prevent the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
On Oct. 12 rail workers in France begin strikes against PM Edouard Balladur's plans to reform employment and get lazy civil servants off the public dole, and the unrest spreads
through the rest of the lazy public sector until the nat. airline virtually shuts down.
On Oct. 15 MOJO mag.
debuts, focusing on classic rock music; the debut issue has Bob Dylan and John Lennon on its cover.
On Oct. 16-23 the Toronto Blue Jays (AL) defeat the Philadelphia Phillies (NL) 4-2 to win the
Ninetieth (90th) World Series;
2nd year in a row for the Jays, Canada, and black mgr. Cito Gaston.
On Oct. 19 British Labour PM (1992-2010) Andrew Stuart MacKinlay (1949-)
introduces a bill into the British House of Commons asking for posth. pardons for all those executed for cowardice and desertion in WWI, claiming they all suffered from shell-shock; it is defeated.
On Oct. 26 a China Eastern MD82
goes off the end of the runway in a rainstorm in Fuzhou, China, killing two of 71 passengers; on Nov. 13 a China Northern MD82 crashes 1 mi. short
of the runway in Urumqui, China during approach in dense fog, killing four of 92 passengers and four of eight crew.
In Oct. after Russia adopts a new constitution restoring the 450-member state Duma that was dissolved in Oct. 1917, the
October Coup
sees tanks surround Moscow's parliament bldg. again, this time under Yeltsin's orders, forcing them to disband after he has them shelled;
2 mo. later a new constitution is approved giving Yeltsin sweeping powers, supposedly to fight corruption, although he proves a drunken
boob who is totally unsuited to the job, presiding over the sale of state-owned industries at fire sale prices to a small cadre of Kremlin
insiders, who become instant Russian billionaires; Rand Corp. political scientist
Jeremy R. Azrael (1935-2009)
begins introducing Russian leaders to U.S. business execs to help them shape the new Russian economy.
On Oct. 10 Fuji Television's well-edited TV gourmet cooking show Iron Chef
debuts in Japan for 309 episodes (until Sept. 24, 1999), featuring guest chefs battling resident Iron Chefs from the Gourmet Academy in a timed cooking battle
in Kitchen Stadium built around a theme ingredient; the host is flamboyant cape-wearing Chairman Takeshi Kaga, known for the soundbytes "If memory serves me right" (from Arthur Rimbaud),
and "Allez cuisine!" (Go cook!); Iron Chefs incl. Chen Kenichi (1956-),
Yutaka Ishinabe (1948-),
Hiroyuki Sakai (1942-),
Masahiko Kobe (1969-),
Rokusaburo Michiba (1931-),
Koumei Nakamura (1947-), and
Masaharu Morimoto (1955-); the show becomes a campy cult hit in the U.S. on Food Network, spawning
Iron Chef America (2004),
Iron Chef Indonesia (2003-6),
Iron Chef UK (2010),
Iron Chef Australia (2010),
Iron Chef Thailand (2012), and
Iron Chef Vietnam (2012).
On Nov. 3 Colo. Amendment 2
passes in Colo., prohibiting all govt. entities from giving protected status based on homosexuality or bisexuality, which causes a nat. boycott
of the "Hate State"; on May 20, 1996 the U.S. Supreme Court by 6-3 rules in
Romer v. Evans
that it is unconstitutional because of the Equal Protection Clause and because it fails a rational basis review; Justice Antonin Scalia writes
the soundbyte: "And the Supreme Court said, 'Yes, it is unconstitutional.' On the basis of - I don't know, the Sexual Preference Clause of the
Bill of Rights, presumably. And the liberals loved it, and the conservatives gnashed their teeth."
On Nov. 3 The Nanny
debuts on CBS-TV for 146 episodes (until May 12, 1999), starring vampiric-looking (Romanian Jewish extraction)
Francine Joy "Fran" Drescher (1957-)
as Fran Fine, a Jewish girl from Flushing, Queens, N.Y. with an obnoxious accent who becomes the nanny of three upper-class kids in Manhattan, while flirting with
their rich Broadway producer dad Maxwell "Max" Sheffield, played by English actor Charles George Patrick Shaughnessy (1955-)
and playing off sardonic English butler Niles, played by Ark.-born Daniel Davis (1945-)
against Max's sexy jealous socialite business partner C.C. Babcock, played by
Lauren Lane (Laura Kay Lane) (1961-),
who ends up marrying Niles in the last episode, when she marries Max;
her real-life hubby (1978-99) Peter Marc Jacobson (1957-)
is the writer-dir.-producer, and later tells her he's gay - all I could do was sit?
On Nov. 5 the first unofficial Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
in Indio, Calif. is held before 25K fans, featuring Pearl Jam; the first official festival is held on Oct. 9-10, 1999, featuring Beck;
Madonna performs in the 2006 festival, Prince in 2008, and Paul McCartney in 2009.
On Nov. 8 Pres. Clinton issues a sharp warning against North Korea for developing nukes.
On Nov. 10 NBC-TV airs The Mystery of the Sphinx,
explaining the views of John Anthony West that the Great Sphinx of Gaza might really be thousands of years older than its standard date of -2500.
On Nov. 11 Pope John Paul II dislocates his right shoulder in a fall down the steps at a Vatican audience; he stays overnight at the hospital
to undergo an operation.
On Nov. 11 (Veteran's Day) the bronze Vietnam Women's Memorial
honoring the 11K+ women who served in the Vietnam War is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
Nature's organic pretzel and eat-right snack?
On Nov. 16 after the U.S. Supreme Court rules in 1990 that the use of peyote as a religious sacrament by Native Ams. is not protected by
the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress passes the U.S. Am. Indian Religious Freedom Act
with help from comparative religion scholar Huston Cummings Smith (1919-), permitting the 300K-500K members of the
Native Am. Church to use it; a 2005 study by Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital finds no evidence that the hallucinogenic cactus causes
psychological problems or brain damage.
On Nov. 17 the U.S. House of Reps. passes the North Am. Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
followed by the U.S. Senate on Nov. 20 as fears that U.S. jobs would go to Mexico are pooh-poohed with even greater fears that unless Mexico's economy improves even more
illegal Mexican immigrants will come to the U.S.; Pres. Clinton signs it into law on Dec. 8, to go into effect on Jan. 1; Wall Street Journal ed.
Robert Leroy Bartley (1937-2003) supports it, along with a constitutional amendment reading "There shall be open borders",
with the soundbyte: "I think the nation-state is finished"; Dem. Del. Sen. Joe Biden votes for it, predicing that U.S. workers
won't be hurt by it, calling it a "legislative victory" and claiming it will "be a wash on jobs", only to see a Chrysler plant in Del. shut down in 2008, denying that it was due to NAFTA;
meanwhile in 2007 he attempts to defend NAFTA, saying that it did not "aggrieve"him, and that it was "not a problem", claiming that in his home state of Del. it created more jobs than it lost.
On Nov. 18 Joe Biden gives a speech in the U.S. Senate warning of "predators on our streets" and wanting them put in prison, because
"The consensus is A), we must take back the streets. It doesn'' matter whether or not the person that is accosting your son or daughter or my son or daughter, my wife, your husband, my mother,
your parents. It doesn't matter whether or not they were deprived as a youth. It doesn't matter whether or not they had no background that enabled them to become socialized into the fabric
of society. It doesn't matter whether or not they''re the victims of society. The end result is they're about to knock my mother on the head with a lead pipe, shoot my sister, beat up my wife, take
on my sons... They must be taken off the streets", bragging that the Biden-Hatch crime bill started out as the Biden bill because he personally sat down with Pres. Clinton on it, who wants
100K new police on the streets and supports the death penalty, saying "He does not view this as a social issue as opposed to bringing peace to the streets", concluding:
"I hope that we will have ended this notion, which is a hangover from the 1960s, that the Democrats are weak on crime and Republicans are tough on crime."
On Nov. 19 the French govt. approves an amendment to the constitution strengthing control over asylum seekers.
On Nov. 20 White House volunteer Kathleen Willey is allegedly sexually assaulted by Pres. Clinton, hugging her tightly and
kissing her on the mouth, touching her breasts and genitals; later the same day her 2nd hubby Edward E. Willey Jr. commits suicide;
she appears on 60 Minutes on Mar. 15, 1998; the White House claims she was chasing him; she is later found to have given false info. to the FBI, and gets nowhere with her claims; on
Oct. 6, 1997 she alleges that she was flown to the Md. home of wealthy Dem. Party donor Nathan Landow
and pressured to change her story - did she touch his slick willy?
On Nov. 20 after changing direction to avoid a blizzard in Skopje, Avioimpex Flight 110 (Yakovlev Yak-42) en route from Geneva
to Skopje, Macedonia crashes 4.3 mi. E of Ohrid Airport due to a pilot error, killing all 108 passengers and eight crew aboard, mostly Yugoslav citizens of Albanian descent, becoming Macedonia's 3rd aviation
disaster in 16 mo., and the deadliest (until ?).
On Nov. 22 the federal appeals court in Boston finds that the state of Rhode Island had violated the rights of a 320-lb. woman by refusing to hire her
because of her weight, and that the state's action is discriminatory regardless of whether obesity qualifies as a disability under a 1973 federal law.
On Nov. 23, 1993 after the U.S. Senate passes it by 65-34 and the U.S. House by a two-thirds voice vote, Pres. Clinton signs
U.S. Public Law 103-150 (Apology Resolution),
acknowledging that the 1893 U.S. invasion of Hawaii was illegal, but that they're not giving it back, pissing off the
Hawaiian sovereignty movement, led by
Dennis Pu'uhonua "Bumpy" Kanahele, who leads 300 in an occupation of
Makapu'u Beach, which lasts 15 mo. until Hawaiian Gov. John D. Waihee II negotiates a deal giving them the 45-acre area above
Waimanalo in the foothills of the Ko'olau Mountains, which becomes
Pu'uhonua (Hawaiian "sanctuary", "place of refuge") o Waimanalo - have
a slice of Hawaiian pizza?
On Nov. 27 after Ernest Shonekan resigns, iron-fisted Muslim Kanuri Gen.
Sani Abacha (1943-98)
assumes power in Nigeria in a bloodless coup (until June 8, 1998), going on to steal billions
and trample opponents' civil rights while making friends with Am. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan,
African-Am. U.S. Sen. Carol Mosley Braun, and Am. civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, at the same time
pumping-up Nigeria's economy, reducing the foreign debt from $36M to $27B, reducing inflation from
54% to 8.5%, and increasing foreign exchange reserves from $494MI to $9.6B.
On Nov. 30 Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act,
an amendment to the 1968 U.S. Gun Control Act instituting federal background checks on firearm purchases along with a 5-day waiting period; on
June 27, 1997 the U.S. Supreme Court in
Printz v. U.S.
holds that the background check provision is an unconstitutional violation of state rights.
In Nov. social justice champion Cardinal (since 1983)
Joseph Bernardin (1928-96),
archbishop of Chicago (since 1982) is charged with sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit filed by 34-y.-o. Philly man
Stephen Cook (1959-95),
who claims he had been molested as a teenager but had repressed the memory until this Oct.; he recants before dying of AIDS
in 1995; a slew of "repressed memory" cases flood the courts by the end of the year.
On Dec. 2 Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (b. 1949)
is shot dead by security forces in Medellin while trying to flee on the rooftops.
On Dec. 7 Ivory Coast pres. #1 (since Nov. 3, 1960) Felix Houphouet-Boigny (b. 1905) dies, and
Henri Konan Bedie (Bédié) (1934-)
becomes pres. of Ivory Coast (until 1999), going on to promote the concept of "ivoirite" (ivoirité) pure-blooded Ivory Coastness,
causing ethnic Malians and Burkinans to be driven out of the country, which doesn't stop mass immigration of Muslims from Burkina Faso from changing the
pop. mix, causing Muslim-Christian tensions.
On Dec. 7 35-y.-o. Kingston, Jamaica-born rabid black supremacist Colin Ferguson (1958-)
draws a semi-auto pistol and shoots and kills six and injures 19 on a Long Island Railroad commuter train as it approaches Garden City, Long Island, N.Y.; he acts as his own lawyer
and conducts his own defense in a ludicrous show trial where he has an ass for a client, receiving a sentence of 315 years 8 mo. to life - did you see me do it,
and when you saw me do it did you know it was me?
On Dec. 11 Pres. Clinton's chief of staff George Robert Stephanopoulos (1961-)
fails to turn papers over to the Washington Post clearing him and Hillary of the Whitewater Scandal, later calling it his greatest mistake.
On Dec. 14 (10:00 p.m. MST) 19-y.-o. Nathan Jerald Dunlap (1974-), a disgruntled former employee kills four employees and seriously injures a fifth at the
Chuck E. Cheese Restaurant in Aurora, Colo.; after being found guilty four murders, he is sentenced to death in 1996,
with the execution date set in mid-Aug. 2013 on May 1, 2013 by Judge William Sylvester; too bad, on May 22 liberal Dem. Colo. gov. John Hickenlooper grants him a temporary reprieve,
while the ACLU tries to get him off death row because he's black?
On Dec. 20 U.N. Gen. Assembly Resolution 48/114 is adopted,
drawing attention to the plight of Azerbaijani refugees.
On Dec. 20 U.N. Gen. Assembly Resolution 48/104 is adopted, promulgating the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women,
recognizing "the urgent need for the universal application to women of the rights and principles with regard to equality, security, liberty, integrity and dignity of all human beings",
after which in 1999 the U.N. Gen. Assembly designates Nov. 25 as the Internat. Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
In Dec. U.S. defense secy. #18 (since Jan. 21) Leslie "Les" Aspin Jr. (1938-95)
esigns in light of the Mogadishu ambush, effective Feb. 3.
In Dec. South Africa adopts a new temporary constitution until a permanent one can be written and take effect in 1999;
the four provinces and 10 homelands are dissolved effective next year, and nine new provinces are created in their place.
In Dec. 3 British treasure hunter Dorian Ball
finds the remains of the British sailing ship Diana, which sunk in 1817 in the Malacca Strait as it was headed for India
carrying a large cargo of Chinese porcelain; in June 1994 Ball recovers 24K pieces of blue-white porcelain, becoming the largest
chinaware recovery from a sunken vehicle (until ?).
A referendum in Malawi dismantles the 1-party regime of dictator (since 1961) Hastings K. Banda, and strips the centennarian of his title of pres. of life along with most of his powers.
The Liberal Dem. Party in Japan is defeated for the first time in 38 years; Morihiro Hosokawa (1938-)
of the Japan New Party becomes PM and forges an 8-party coalition.
Liberal party candidate Carlos Roberto Reina Idiaquez is elected pres. of Honduras,
and begins demilitarizing the country.
Jose Maria Sison (1939-),
leader of the Communist New People's Army (NPA) in the Philippines reinvigorates the fight against pres. Fidel Ramos with a call to reaffirm its Maoist principles.
Puerto Rico decides to keep its commonwealth status and not become a U.S. state; but makes English a co-official language with Spanish - doesn't want to give up its dirty habits?
Eritrea
in the N breaks off from Ethiopia after a 30-year struggle, and
Isayas (Isaias) Afewerki (1946-) becomes dictator (pres.) (until ?);
Haile Selassie Ave. in Asmara is renamed to Harret Ave.
Jiang Zemin (b. 1924),
handpicked successor of Deng Xiaoping becomes pres. of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Nigerian leader Maj.-Gen. Babangida declares the country's elections void and refuses to give up power, then resigns in favor of Chief
Ernest Shonekan,
who promises to supervise new elections.
Boratland, er, Kazakhstan overwhelmingly approves the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
British PM John Major launches the
Back to Basics Program,
focusing on education, law and order, and single mothers; too bad, the exposure of several instances of "Tory sleaze" by Max Clifford causes it to go down the tubes.
Boris N. Yeltsin visits Prague, and condemns the 1968 Prague Spring crackdown; on Mar. 1, 2006 Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin admits that Moscow bears moral
responsibilty for the invasion, and says that Yeltsin had been speaking for Russia.
Nelson Mandela is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; his acceptance speech incl. the soundbyte "This must be a world of democracy and respect for human rights,
a world freed from the horrors of poverty, hunger, deprivation and ignorance, relieved of the threat and the scourge of civil wars and external aggression
and unburdened of the great tragedy of millions forced to become refugees."
Pres. Clinton's admin. launches Operation Hold the Line,
followed next year by Operation Gatekeeper to fortify the Border Patrol's San Diego sector, cutting off two favorite routes for Mexican
illegal immigrants and causing them to switch to Ariz.
After the press begins talking of a "failed presidency", George Stephanopoulos is kicked upstairs for
David Gergen, who becomes White House chief of staff (until 1994);
Dee Dee Myers
becomes Pres. Clinton's press secy. (until 1994), calling it a "rookie mistake" by Clinton (really Hillary) to seal the press room off from the West Wing.
First Lady Hillary Clinton pushes the Socialistic Clinton Health Care Plan of 1993,
but fails to get approval from the U.S. Congress; people begin to believe that she's the real president after hubby Bill
calls her "the smartest woman in the world"?
Kan.-born legal clerk Erin Brokovich (1960-)
helps construct an environmental case against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in Calif., becoming the subject of a 2000 film dir. by Steven Soderbergh and starring Julia Roberts.
Am. anti-Big Oil activist atty. Steven R. "Steve" Donziger (1961-) leads a legal team filing a class-action lawsuit against Texaco
(bought by Chevron in 2001) for pollution in their Lago Agrio Oil Field in Ecuador, which began production in 1973, winning $18B in
damages for 30K+ farmers and natives, which are later reduced to $9.5B, causing Chevron to move its assets out of Ecuador, making collection almost impossible after the
U.N. Permanent Court of Arbitration rules in 2018 that the judgment was marred by fraud and corruption; meanwhile Chevron strikes back with a U.S. RICO lawsuit in 2011, which causes Donziger
to be disbarred in N.Y. in 2018, then put under house arrest on Aug. 2019 for contempt of court for refusing to turn over certain electronic devices, which ends in a guilty verdict and 6 mo. jail sentence in
Oct. 2021; in 2020 21 Nobel laureates sign a petition calling Chevron's actions "judicial harassment"; in Apr. 2021 six members of the Dem.-run U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus demands that the
U.S. Dept. of Justice review Donziger's case; in Sept. 2021 the U.N. high commissioner for human rights rules that Donziger's pre-trial detention was illegal, calling for his release.
The Gush Shalom (Peace Coalition) leftist Israeli peace activism group is founded by German-born Israeli
Uri Avneri (Avnery) (1923-), who personally met with Yasser Arafat on July 3, 1982, causing rightist Israelis to label him a traitor.
In 1993-8 the Scole Experiment by four psychic researchers in Scole, Norfolk, England is witnessed by hundreds and monitored by an internat. team,
producing the best evidence so far of life after death.
Iman U. in Sana'a, Yemen is founded by Sunni Muslim cleric
Abdul Majeed al-Zindani (1942-), spiritual advisor of Osama bin Laden, taking U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki as a student after he moves
there in 2004.
Citicorp becomes the largest credit card and charge card issuer and servicer in the world. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
in Washington, D.C., next door to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing opens.
The Corp. for Nat. and Community Service is established by the U.S. Congress to coordinate volunteer orgs., incl.
Senior Corps, Serve America (later Learn and Serve America), and AmeriCorps.
Heavy rains in the SW U.S. cause a pop. explosion of deer mice, leading to an epidemic of hantavirus which kills 11.
The NetEc Project is launched, followed in 1997 by the
Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) Project,
which creates a free online database of over 1M articles, using citations
to rank the Top 1000 Economists.
The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding
is founded at Georgetown U.; in Dec. 2005 it receives a $20M gift from Saudi
prince Awlaweed Bin Talal, and is renamed after him.
Spousal rape becomes a crime in all 50 U.S. states by this year.
Estee Lauder exec (creator of the Clinique line and first to wear a white coat) a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Lauder">Evelyn Lauder (1936-2011),
daughter-in-law of founder Estee Lauder founds the Breast Cancer Research Foundation,
which promotes the pink ribbon as a symbol for breast cancer awareness.
In the next 10 years 147 rapes of female cadets are reported at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Vt. becomes the first state to have an official state flavor, maple, from its state tree Sugar Maple.
The FCC requires new TV sold in the U.S. to have close-captioning ability for the deaf and non-English speakers.
By the end of this year 60 countries are on the Internet, and 137 are reachable by email, with 99 to go; in Feb. the NSFnet backbone carried 5 terabytes of traffic, and in
Dec. the USENET posted an avg. of 43K articles a day, by 9.3K users at 3K sites, totalling 83MB; there are four Internet hosts in the U.S. per 1K pop.
U.N. Watch is founded in Geneva, Switzerland "to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter",
going on to expose human rights abuses in DRC, Darfur, China, Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia, and become
outspoken against anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiment in the U.N.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Inst. in Birmingham, Ala. is founded.
Women for Women
is founded to help women survivors of war and conflict; each donor is matched with a sister.
The InterAcademy Panel: The Global Network of Science Academies (IAP)
is founded by 106+ nat. science academies to advise the public on scientific aspects of critical issues through its Gen. Council, which meets every 3rd year, going on to pub. official statements incl.
pop. growth (1994), the future of cities (1996), sustainability (2000), human cloning (2003),
access to scientific info. (2003), biosecurity (2005), the teaching of evolution (2006), ocean acidification (2009),
tropical forests and climate change (2009), and the IPCC (2010); in 2002 it founds the InterAcademy Council (IAC).
After he let the looted and pillaged Soviet Union fall, Green Cross Internat. is founded by Soviet pres. (1990-1)
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (1931-2022) to take communism global via a global propaganda machine giving cover to communists
looting many nations in the name of fighting climate change; Global Green USA is the U.S. arm.
The first Yrjo (Yrjö) Jahnsson Award for the Euro economist under age 45 who made the best contribution to the study of economics
in Europe is awarded to Jean-Jacques Laffont and Jean Tirole.
The Muslim Am. Society is founded by U.S. Muslim Brotherhood leader (1984-94)
Ahmed Elkadi (El-Kadi) (-2009) of Sterling, Va.,
an Egyptian-born physician and heart surgeon; the spinoff MAS Freedom Foundation is run by
African-Am. Muslim convert Wright Mahdi Bray (1950-).
Am. actor Dennis Weaver and his wife Gerry found the nonprofit Inst. of Ecolomonics (ecology plus economics?).
Hollywood madame Heidi Fleiss (1965-) is arrested for providing high price spreads to celebs, becoming
a celeb herself, the kind that goes first boo-hoo as her johns get away while she is railroaded to a 37-mo. sentence for tax evasion, then goes yes! when
she sells the rights to her story for $5M to Paramount Pictures in 2004?
Kansas City, Mo.-born fashion designer Kate Spade (Valentine) (Katherine Noel Brosnahan) (1962-2018)
founds the Kate Spade New York designer brand to produce stylish handbags, becoming a hit; in 1999 Neiman Marcus acquires a 56% share, reaching 100% in 2006.
English supermodel Naomi Campbell (1970-)
stumbles and falls over a pair of 9-in.-heeled shoes designed by English punk fashion designer
Vivienne Westwood (1941-) at a fashion show in Paris.
After losing his job at Uptown Records, Harlem, N.Y.-born Sean John "P. Diddy" "Puffy Daddy" Combs (1969-)
founds Bad Boy Records
along with high school chumb Mark Pitts, going on to sign Craig Mack, and The Notorious B.I.G.; too bad, the latter's success on the East Coast made Death Row Records on the West Coast
jealous, starting a war, which ends up with Tupac Shakur murdered on Sept. 7, 1996 after he signed up with Death Row Records, followed by The Notorious B.I.G. on Mar. 9, 1997;
the police never solve either case.
Canadian singer Shania Twain marries record producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange (1948-),
who ramps up her career - your spouse is your best friend?
The Beastie Boys begin pub. Grand Royal Mag.
the 1995 issue contains an article on the mullet for their song Mullet Head
("“Number one on the side and don't touch the back/Number six on the top and don't cut it wack"), becoming the first pub. use of the term; the mag. also gives the British band Sneaker Pimps their name.
By the end of the year the World Wide Web (WWW)
gains critical acceptance, providing a graphical hypertext interface and mass "dummy-proof" point-click access to the Internet at last.
Lockheed Martin in Colo. acquires the Atlas rocket from General Dynamics.
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) Research Station
in Gakona, Alaska is established to develop ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance; conspiracy theorists
claim that it can be used to modify weather and cause catastrophes incl. the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.
The FBI puts an informant in direct contact with Osama bin Laden,
finding out that he was trying to finance terrorist attacks in the U.S., and uses the info. to thwart a
terrorist plot against a Masonic lodge in Los Angeles, Calif.; the news only comes out in Feb. 2014.
After emigrating to the U.S. in 1958 and working at a bakery owned by actor Christopher Walken's father,
then opening Buonavia (It. "good road") Restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y. in 1971, followed by Villa Secondo
in Queens, Pola, Italy (Croatia)-born chef Lidia Bastianich (1947-)
and her Astoria, Queens, N.Y.-born son Joseph "Joe" Bastianich (1968-)
open Becco (It. "peck, nibble, savor") Restaurant
in Manhattan, N.Y., which becomes a hit, spawning new restarants in Kansas City, Mo. and Pittsburgh, Penn.; in
1993 Lidia tapes an episode of Julia Child: Cooking With Master Chefs on PBS-TV;
in 1998 Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen
debuts on PBS-TV (until ?); in June 1998 Joe partners with Mario Batali to open
Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca,
which becomes the first Italian restaurant to be awarded three stars by The New York Times
in 40 years, going on to open seven more restaurants in New York City.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.
is founded in Denver, Colo. by Steve Ells (1965-),
becoming known for natural organic ingredients, giant burritos, and fast casual dining (incl. beer);
it is acquired by McDonald's Corp. in 1998-2006, growing to 1K locations by 2010.
Lagunitas Brewing Co.
is founded in Lagunitas, Calif. by Tony Magee, moving in 1994 to Petaluma, Calif., becoming one of the fastest-growing craft breweries
in the U.S., growing to 27K barrels/year in 2004, 106K barrels/year in 2010, and 640K barrels a year in 2016 after expanding to Chicago, Ill. in
2014, becoming the 5th top-selling craft brewery in the U.S. in 2014; on Sept. 8, 2015 Heineken acquires a 50% stake; on Mar. 17, 2005 the
state of Calif. shuts them down for 21 days for investigation of marijuana use by employees; in 2013 they drop "420 from their labels;
their motto is "Beer Speaks. People Mumble".
Left Hand Brewing Co.
(originally Indian Peaks Brewing Co., then renamed in honor of Arapahoe Chief Niwot, whose name means you know what)
is founded on Sept. 21 near the St. Vrain River in Longmont (near Boulder), Colo. by Dick Doore and Eric Wallace, merging in
Apr. 1998 with Tabernash Brewing, growing to 50K barrels/year in 2012, and 65.8K barrels/year in 2013;
in 2011 they introduce Milk Stout Nitro, becoming the first craft brewery to bottle nitrogenated beer without a widget.
China Resources Snow Breweries Ltd. (CR Snow)
is founded in Dongcheng, Beijing, China by SABMiller and China Resources Enterprise, producing
Snow brand beer (founded in 1936), which in 2014 becomes the
best-selling beer in the world (16.5B pints).
Aspiring condo toycoon H. Ty Warner (1944-) of Ty Inc.
introduces $5 retail/$2.50 wholesale Beanie Babies
plastic pellet-stuffed dolls, mass-produced in China, incl. Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Spot the Dog,
Flash the Dolphin, Splash the Whale, Chocolate the Moos, Patti the Platypus, Brownie/Cubbie the Bear,
and Pinchers the Lobster, starting slow then turning into a nat. craze, making Warner a billionaire,
and later making up 10% of the sales of Ebay as designs are retired regularly to increase scarcity; in
1998 sales reach $1.4B, and employees are given their entire year's salary as a Christmas bonus, plus
a free red #1 Bear (only 253 produced), which reaches $5K on eBay; too bad, like Tulipmania in Holland, the
Beanie Baby Bubble bursts;
in 1996 Teenie Beanies ae introduced, sold by McDonald's for the 17th anniv. of Happy Meals; in 2008 Beanie Babies 2.0 are introduced.
Sports:
On Feb. 1 Queens, N.Y.-born atty. Gary Bruce Bettman (1952-)
becomes NHL commissioner (until ?), going on to add six new teams to bring the total to 30
while increasing league revenues from $400M to $3B in 2010-11; too bad, expanding the league
into the Am. South and being responsible for three labor stoppages makes him unpopular with fans.
On Feb. 14 the 1993 (35th) Daytona 500 is won by Dale Arnold Jarrett (1956-)
(son of "Gentleman" Ned Jarrett) at an avg. speed of 154.972 mph; rookie Jeff Gordon leads lap #1.
On Feb. 20 132,274 pay to watch four world title fights at the Aztec Stadium
in Mexico City ; super-lightweight Julio Cesar Chavez of Mexico successfully defends his title against Greg Haugen of the U.S.
Carlos Baerga of the Cleveland Indians becomes the first baseball player to hit homers
both left-handed and right-handed in the same inning on Apr. 8; Mark Bellhorn of the Chicago Cubs does it again on Aug. 29, 2002.
On Mar. 1 the Anaheim Ducks
NHL team is founded in Anaheim, Calif by Walt Disney Co., named after their 1992 film
"The Mighty Ducks", playing their home games in the new $123M Anaheim Arena (AKA The Pond)
E of Disneyland (opened June 19, 1993); in Oct. it becomes Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim; in Oct. 2006 it becomes Honda (Ponda) Center.
On Mar. 24 after passing Calvin Murphy's 1981 record of 78 by making his final 84 attempts in the 1992-3 season, followed by his first 13 attempts in 1993, 6'2"
Micheal Douglas Williams (1966-)
of the Minn. Timberwolves (#24) makes the first of an NBA record 97 straight free throws (until ?) in 19 regular season games (ends Nov. 9).
On Apr. 20 the Florida Panthers NHL team is founded in Sunrise, Fla. by Blockbuster Video magnate
Harry Wayne Huizenga (1937-),
starting play in the 1993-4 season, playing home games at the Miami Arena, followed by the new $185M
Broward County Civic Arena
(opened Oct. 3, 1998) (National Car Rental Center in July 1998, BB&T Center in July 2012).
On Apr. 20 Hungarian barking tennis player Monica Seles (1973-),
who became the youngest-ever tennis champ at the 1990 French Open in 1990 is stabbed in the back by a crazed fan, derailing her career after winning 32 titles - that crazy bark
would drive anybody into stabbing her to shut her up?
On Apr. 29 Eric Young leads off the first inning of the first home game of the Colorado Rockies in Denver with a home run, bringing the record-setting crowd
of 80,227 to its feet.
On May 4 Phoenix Suns power forward (#32) "Sir" Charles Wade Barkley (1963-),
mad about being called a "punk" in Game 2 of a 1st-round Western Conference NBA series
comes back in Game 3 and scores 27 points in the first quarter, 56 points total, and
14 rebounds, causing the Suns to sweep the Golden State Punks, er, Warriors 140-133; on
June 9-20 the 1993 NBA Finals
sees the Chicago Bulls defeat the Phoenix Suns 4-2 for their 3rd straight title
(first since the Boston Celtics); Game 6 (99-98) (first won by the home team) is
clinched by a 3-pointer by point guard (#5)
John MacBeth Paxson (1960-),
who becomes the Bulls gen. mgr. in 2003-9;
superstar basketball player (#23)
Michael Jordan (1963-)
becomes MVP for the 3rd straight year, after which on Oct. 6 he announces his retirement.
On May 14 the
1993 Islanders Miracle
sees the longtime hapless New York Islanders after surpassing 80 points per season for the first time in
six years upset the 2-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins (coming off 119 regular season points
and a record 17 straight wins at the end of the season) 4-3 at 5:16 of OT of game 7 of round 2 of the playoffs
with a goal by 6'0" "Prague, Czech.-born winger
David Volek (1966-),
winning the series 4-3, after which they are defeated 3-2 by the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the
last playoff series won by the Islanders until ?.
On May 30 the 1993 (77th) Indianapolis 500
is won by Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil (2nd win).
On June 1-9 (100th anniv. of the Stanley Cup) the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals
see the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1; MVP is "St." Patrick Jacques Roy (1965-) (pr. "WAH") ;
the Canadiens become the last team to win the Cup, and the last championship team composed solely of North Am.-born players.
On July 31 Indianapolis, Ind.-born mustachioed Mike Aulby (1960-)
defeats David Ozio 300-279 at the Wichita Open in Wichita, Kan., becoming the 2nd player to roll a 300 game in a PBA title match after Bob Benoit in 1988, with the highest-scoring televised
PBA title match in history (until ?).
On Oct. 1 Jim Epler achieves 300 mph in a funny car (front-mounted engine and carbon fiber body) in Topeka, Kan.
On Oct. 3 after making his MLB debut on Aug. 2, 1973 for the Royals, George Brett makes his last MLB appearance for the Kansas City Royals, with 3,154 career hits, 317 homers, 1,596 RBI, and
.305 batting avg., becoming a member of the 3-3-3 club (3K hits, 300 homers, career .300 batting avg.) along with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Stan Musial.
On Nov. 4 the NBA expands to 28 teams with the Toronto Raptors
after John Bitove agrees to pay a record $125M expansion fee; they pick the name after the 1993 film "Jurassic Park" after Huskies is rejected as too similar to Timberwolves,
causing a nat. contest with 2K entries; the first head coach is Isiah Thomas; team colors are bright red, purple, black, and "Naismith silver".
Mike Holmgren (1948-)
becomes head coach of the troubled Green Bay Packers NFL team, building it into a championship team.
Venezuelan-born first baseman Andres Jose Padovani "the Big Cat" "El Gato" Galarraga (1961-)
joins the Colorado Rockies, batting .370 for the season, leading the NL and hitting the highest avg. by a right-handed hitter since Joe DiMaggio's .381 in 1939; on
June 25, 1995 he ties the ML record with a homer in three consecutive innings.
World heavyweight champion boxer ape on the hoof Michael Gerard "Iron Mike" Tyson (1966-)
is stripped of his crown after a felony rape conviction of Miss Black America contestant
Desiree Washington (1973-)
in his hotel room, where he maintained it was consensual (duh, she was in his room?);
he regains it in 1996 but loses it to Evander Holyfield in Nov. 1996, setting the stage for the Ear Match on June 28, 1997.
World chess champ Gary Kasparov and British grandmaster Nigel Short found the
Prof. Chess Assoc. (PCA)
(until 1996) to compete against the "chess Mafia" of FIDE, causing the latter
to purge the two "rebels" from its rating list; the London Times puts up
$2.5M for Kasparov and Short to play each other, and Kasparov wins 20.5-7.5 after 2 mo.
George Kenneth "Ken" Griffey Jr. (1969-)
of the Seattle Mariners becomes the 3rd ML player to hit homers in 8 consecutive games (Richard Dale Long in 1956, Don Mattingly in 1987).
Architecture:
On May 15 the $186M Alamodome
in San Antonio, Tex. opens, putting the city on the ML baseball map, also serving as the home of the NBA San Antonio Spurs; on Sept. 10 78K fans fill the dome
to watch Julio Cesar Chavez win a 12-round decision against Pernell Whitaker, for the largest indoor boxing audience in history.
On Dec. 18 the MGM Grand Garden Arena
in Paradise (near Las Vegas), Nev. opens, going on to holst the annual Billboard Music Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, and several boxing matches.
Buckingham Palace opens to tourists.
The $300M Luxor Hotel-Casino (Oct. 15) and
$1B MGM Grand Hotel-Casino (Dec. 15) in Las Vegas, Nev. open, starting a fad which results in the
$460M New York, New York on Jan. 3, 1997,
the $1.6B Bellagio on Oct. 15, 1998 (on the site of the Dunes Hotel and Casino, inspired by the Lake Como resort in Bellagio, Italy),
the $950M Mandalay Bay (opens Mar. 2, 1999), and the $1.5B
Venetian Las Vegas on May 3, 1999 (on the site of the Sands Hotel and Casino, funded by Sheldon Adelson),
the $268M Palms Casino Resort on Nov. 15, 2001, the $2.7B
Wynn Las Vegas on Apr. 28, 2005,
and the $925M Red Rock Casino Resort on Apr. 18, 2006;
the $40M Bellagio Fountains shoot 460 ft. into the air and feature a synchronized light-water-music show.
The Los Angeles Library Tower (later U.S. Bank Tower) in Los Angeles, Calif. is completed.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, Calif. founds the Museum of Tolerance,
which attracts 250K visitors a year after a Calif. law requiring students and members of security forces to visit is passed; another
Museum of Tolerance
is built in Jerusalem, and dedicated in May 2004 by Calif. gov. Arnold Schwarzegger, with the Hebrew phrase "Am Yisrael chai" (The people of Israel live).
The 568-ft. Umeda Sky Bldg. in the Umeda district of Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan opens, designed by Japanese architect
Hiroshi Harai (1936-); it features the rooftop Floating Garden Observatory and an underground early 20th cent. Osaka market.
Nobel Prizes:
Peace: Frederik Willem de Klerk (1936-) (South Africa) and
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) (South Africa) [ending apartheid];
Lit.: Toni Morrison (Chloe Ardelia Wofford) (1931-2019) (U.S.);
Physics: Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr. (1941-) (U.S.) and
Russell Alan Hulse (1950-) (U.S.) [binary pulsar];
Chem.: Kary Banks Mullis (1944-2019) (U.S.) [polymerase chain reaction] and
Michael Smith (1932-2000) (Canada) [site-directed mutagenesis];
Philip Allen Sharp (1944-) (U.S.) and
Sir Richard John "Rich" Roberts (1943-) (U.K.) [RNA splicing];
Robert William Fogel (1926-) (U.S.) and
Douglass Cecil North (1920-) (U.S.) [economics-based economic history].
Inventions:
BASF Bioresearch Corp. and Cambridge Antibody Technology U.K. begin developing monoclonal antibody drugs, coming up with
Adalimumab, which is sold under the trade name Humira to treat rheumatoic and psoriatic arthritis,
ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease et al., becoming the #1 best-selling pharmaceutical product by the time its U.S. patent expires in 2016, with $16B global sales/year.
In Feb. Excite.com search engine (originally Architext) is founded by six Stanford U. students incl.
Graham Spencer and
Joe Kraus; they sell out to @Home on Jan. 19, 1999 for $6.5B.
On Mar. 22 Apple Computer introduces the Newton hand-held computer.
Intel introduces the 75 MHz 3.1M-transistor Pentium (i586)
single-core x86 microprocessor as the successor to their 4-times-slower 1.18M-transistor 486; meanwhile Motorola introduces their PowerStack
RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) chip set as competition.
On Aug. 16 the Debian
free Linux operating system (named after himself and his girlfriend Debra Lynn) is released by Ian Murdock (1973-).
Never fear, the World Wide Web is here, Or, I want you to take me out?
Mosaic,
the first Web Browser is introduced; it later inspires
Mozilla (Mosaic Killer and Godzilla).
Linus Torvalds (1958-) of the U. of Helsinki launches the
Linux
operating system free on the Internet - too little too late to stop Microsoft?
On Aug. 28 37-mi.-long asteroid Ida in the
asteroid belt approaches within 10K km of spacecraft Galileo, which photographs it; next Mar. astronomers announce the discovery of 1-mi. diam.
Dactyl
orbiting it, becoming the first moon seen orbiting an asteroid.
On Dec. 13 Space Shuttle Endeavour returns from its mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope in five spacewalks; in Jan. NASA calls the mission a success.
Compton's NewMedia is granted Patent #5,241,671,
covering info. retrieval from multimedia content such as CD-ROMs, raising an outcry from the industry that it has been around for some time, causing the U.S. Patent Office
to reexamine it and narrow its scope in 2002; meanwhile Encyclopaedia Britannica is awarded two more patents based on it, filing infringement suits against cos. using
GPS technology, incl. Honda and Toyota, but in Oct. 2009 they are ruled invalid.
In 1993 the U.S. FDA approves the sale of the atypical antipsychotic drug Risperidone (brand name Risperdale),
which becomes the drug of choice to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and irritability in autism sufferers.
Science:
On Aug. 28 37-mi.-long asteroid Ida in the asteroid belt approaches within 10K km of spacecraft Galileo, which photographs it;
next Mar. astronomers announce the discovery of 1-mi. diam. Dactyl orbiting it, becoming the first moon seen orbiting an asteroid.
A group of six scientists incl. Charles H. Bennett of IBM confirm the possibility of Quantum Teleportation.
New Haven, Conn.-born economist George Arthur Akerlof (1940-) and Denver, Colo.-born economist
Paul M. Romer (1955-) pub.
Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit,
containing the soundbyte: "Bankruptcy for profit will occur if poor accounting, lax regulation, or low penalties for abuse give owners an incentive to pay themselves more than
their firms are worth and then default on their debt obligations. Bankruptcy for profit occurs most commonly when a government guarantees a firm's debt obligations."
An infertility clinic in Atlanta, Ga., led by British-born embryologist Michael Tucker announces the '
first pregnancy created from a frozen egg.
A supernova is observed in spiral Galaxy M81 in Ursa Major.
Am. physicist John Archibald Wheeler (1911-2008) (coiner of the term "black hole") pub. a
paper coining the term "great smoky dragon" for the nearly magical ability of a particle to exist
as a smoky probability before detection.
Nonfiction:
Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), The Four Dimensions of Philosophy: Metaphysical, Moral, Objective, Categorical.
Federico Aguilo, Never Again for Bolivia;
the human rights abuses of the Bolivian military regime by the Argentine Nat. Commission on the Disappeared.
Francesco Alberoni (1929-), Values.
Bill Anderson (1937-), I Hope You're Living As High on the Hog as the Pig You Turned Out to Be.
Maya Angelou (1928-2014), Amy Tan (1952-), and Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), Mother.
Karen Armstrong (1944-), A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christiniaty and Islam; NYT bestseller.
Timothy Garton Ash (1955-), In Europe's Name: Germany and the Divided Continent.
Arthur Ashe (1943-93) (with Arnold Rampersad), Days of Grace (autobio.) (posth.).
Rick Atkinson (1952-), Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War.
William J. Bennett (1943-), The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories.
Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909-97), The Magus of the North: J.G. Hamann and the Origins of Modern Irrationalism.
Mary Frances Berry (1938-), The Politics of Parenthood: Child Care, Women's Rights, and the Myth of the Good Mother.
Michael R. Beschloss (1955-), At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War.
Robert Bloch (1917-94),
Once Around the Bloch: An Unauthorized Autobiography;
by the author of "Psycho".
David Bohm (1917-92), The Undivided Universe: An Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Theory (posth.).
Kenneth Ewart Boulding (1910-93), The Structure of a Modern Economy: The United States, 1929-89.
Douglas Brinkley (1960-), The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey.
David Brock (1962-), The Real Anita Hill
(Apr.); bestseller casts doubt on her claims of sexual harassment.
David Jay Brown and Rebecca McClen Novick,
Mavericks of the Mind: Conversations for the New Millennium;
conversations on the New Age with 17 people incl. Timothy Leary, John Lilly, Allen Ginsberg, and Laura Huxley.
Frederick Buechner (1926-), The Son of Laughter.
Herbert Burkholz (1933-2006), The FDA Follies
Jack Canfield (1944-) and Mark Victor Hansen (1948-),
Chicken Soup for the Soul;
101 motivational stories; sells 2M copies; spawns 100+ sequels selling 140M+ copies.
Dolores Cannon (1931-), Between Death and Life: Conversations with a Spirit (Jan. 1);
Keepers of the Garden (June 1).
Fritjof Capra (1939-),
Belonging to the Universe: Explorations on the Frontiers of Science and Spirituality (Jan.).
Hans Carlsson and Eric van Damme (1956-),
Global Games and Equilibrium Selection;
founds Global Games Theory,
based on games of incomplete info. where players receive possibly correlated
signals about the underlying state of the world, find application in bank runs,
currency crises, economic crises, and political upheavals.
Doug Casey, Crisis Investing for the Rest of the 90s.
Marcia Cavell, The Psychoanalytic Mind: From Freud to Philosophy.
Fred Chappell (1936-), Plow Naked: Selected Writings on Poetry.
Bruce Chatwin (1940-89), Photographs and Notebooks (posth.).
Noam Chomsky (1928-), Rethinking Camelot;
claims that "holding that JFK's plans for withdrawal from Vietnam (or some other broader policy claims) provide the motive for the cabal" is "entirely without foundation";
a govt. coverup "would have to involve not only much of the government and the media, but a good part of the historical, scientific, and medical professions. An achievement so
immense would be utterly without precedent or even remote analogue."
Deepak Chopra (1946-), Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old - or,
the tail wags the dog?
Jenny Cockell (1953-), Yesterday's Children: The Extraordinary Search for My Past Life Family;
claims to have lived before as Mary Sutton in mid-1900s Ireland.
Andrei Codrescu (1946-),
Road Scholar: Coast to Coast Late in the Century.
Richard A. Cohen (1952-),
Alfie's Home.
Norman Cohn (1915-2007),
Cosmos, Chaos and the World to Come: The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith;
rev. ed. pub. in 2001.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-98),
Commager on Tocqueville.
Gary David Comstock,
Gay Theology Without Apology;
critiques heterosexism in the Bible?
Robert Conquest (1917-2015),
History, Humanity, and Truth.
Michael A. Cremo,
Forbidden Archeology;
claims that humans are far more ancient than archeologists want to admit, and that
there's a conspiracy.
John H. Davis (1929-),
Kennedy Contract: The Mafia Plot to Assassinate the President
(Aug.);
The Kennedys: Dynasty and Disaster
(Nov. 1); by Jackie O's first cousin.
Len Deighton (1929-),
Violent Ward and Blood, Tears and Folly: An Objective Look at World War II.
Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany (1891-95) and Sarah Delany,
Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters' First 100 Years;
growing up black before the civil rights era.
E.L. Doctorow (1931-), Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution: Selected Essays, 1977-1992.
Linzi Drew (1959-),
Try Everything Once Except Incest (autobio.).
Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909-2005),
Post-Capitalist Society;
The Ecological Vision: Reflections on the American Condition.
Martin Bauml Duberman (1930-),
Stonewall.
Charles Eagles, Outside Agitator: Jon Daniels and the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama;
Jonathan Myrick Daniels (1939-65).
Sir William Empson (1906-84),
Essays on Renaissance Literature: Vol. 1, Donne and the New Philosophy
(posth.).
Joseph Epstein (1937-),
Pertinent Players: Essays on the Literary Life.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes,
Women Who Run With the Wolves.
Helen E. Fisher (1945-), Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray.
Antony Flew (1923-),
Atheistic Humanism.
Gaeton Fonzi (1935-),
The Last Investigation; the JFK assassination.
Margaret Forster (1938-),
Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller.
Erich Fromm (1900-80),
The Art of Being (posth.).
John Lewis Gaddis (1941-),
The Tragedy of Cold War History.
Peter Gay (1923-2015),
Sigmund Freud and Art: His Personal Collection of Antiquities;
examines his 2K-work collection of ancient art and its connections with psychoanalysis,
Mark Girouard (1931-),
Windsor: The Most Romantic Castle.
James Goldnick and John B. Hattendorf (eds.),
Mahan is Not Enough;
proceedings of a 1992 conference at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. that followed one
on Alfred Thayer Mahan in 1990, and vindicates British naval historians Adm. Sir Herbert William Richmond
and Sir Julian Corbett, with the recommendation that naval strategy needs the work of naval historians
to be integrated with the experience of naval officers for a full understanding.
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History (essays).
Stanislav Grof (1931-), Books of the Dead: Manuals for Living and Dying.
Susan Haack (1945-), Evidence and Inquiry: A Pragmatist Reconstruction of Epistemology; expounds her epistemological theory of
foundherentism as a middle road between foundationalism and coherentism.
David Halberstam (1934-2007), The Fifties.
Anthony Hecht (1923-2004), The Hidden Law: The Poetry of W.H. Auden.
Robert L. Heilbroner (1919-2005), 21st Century Capitalism.
Charles Higham (1931-2012), Merchant of Dreams: Louis B. Mayer, M.G.M., and the Secret Hollywood;
Howard Hughes: The Secret Life;
claims that Hughes romanced Cary Grant, was a central figure in the Watergate scandal, offering material assistance to the conspirators, and
possibly died of AIDS; filmed by Martin Scorsese as "The Aviator" (2004).
Hary Hurt III, The Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump;
claims that Ivana Trump stated in her divorce deposition that Donald Trump raped her.
Michael F. Jacobson, Safe Food: Eating Wisely in a Risky World (Feb.).
Efraim Karsh (1953-), The Gulf Conflict 1990-1991: Diplomacy and War in the New World Order.
Sir John Keegan (1934-), A History of Warfare.
George Frost Kennan (1904-2005), Around the Cragged Hill: A Personal and Political Philosophy;
advocates a nonpartisan U.S. Council of State to advise govt. "above the cacophony of political ambitions".
David I. Kertzer (1948-), Sacrificed for Honor: Italian Infant Abandonment and the Politics of Reproductive Control.
Baruch Kimmerling and Joel Migdal, The Palestinians: Making of a People;
they make up a mythical people that never existed?
Russell Amos Kirk (1918-94), The Politics of Prudence.
Michael Kremer (1964-), The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development;
proposes the O-Ring Theory of Economic Development,
named after the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, where tasks of production must be executed proficiently together in order for any of them
to be of high value, leading to Assortative Matching,
where people with similar skill levels work together, raising each other's wages, explaining brain drain and global economic disparity;
"If strategic complementarity is sufficiently strong, microeconomically identical nations or groups within nations could settle into equilibria with different levels of human capital."
Deborah Laake (1953-2000), Secret Ceremonies: A Mormon Woman's Intimate Diary of Marriage and Beyond (Apr.);
bestseller (500K copies) about the secret rituals in Mormon temples for married couples only, and how she was rooked into a loveless marriage at age 19 and
took up masturbation because of "her inability to enjoy marital intercourse", ending with "three failed marriages, attempted suicide, and two months in a
psychiatric institution", causing her to drop out before pub. the book, 2nd ed. 1994; no surprise, it gets her excommunicated.
Jean-Jacques Laffont (1947-2004) and Jean Tirole (1953-),
A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation;
becomes a std. reference.
Anne Lamott (1954-), Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year.
Erik Larson (1954-),
Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun.
Stanley Lebergott (1918-2009),
Pursuing Happiness: American Consumers in the Twentieth Century;
details the positive impact of U.S. consumerism incl. better technology,
esp. for women doing housework, higher wages, improved health, decreased drug use, and more privacy.
Leonard Williams Levy,
Blasphemy: Verbal Offense Against the Sacred, from Moses to Salman Rushdie.
Bernard Lewis (1916-2018),
Islam and the West;
Islam in History.
David Levering Lewis (1936-),
W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919
(Pulitzer Prize); sequel in 2000.
Robert Jay Lifton (1926-),
The Protean Self: Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation.
Rush Limbaugh (1951-),
See, I Told You So.
Deborah Esther Lipstadt (1947-),
Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory;
gets her and Penguin Books sued on Sept. 5, 1996 by Irving, who loses bigtime on
Apr. 11, 2000, driving him into bankruptcy into 2002 after his reputation is viciously
assassinated by British Cambridge U. historian Sir
Richard John Evans (1947-),
who utters the soundbyte:
"Not one of [Irving's] books, speeches or articles, not one paragraph, not one sentence
in any of them, can be taken on trust as an accurate representation of its historical
subject. All of them are completely worthless as history, because Irving cannot be
trusted anywhere, in any of them, to give a reliable account of what he is talking
or writing about. If we mean by historian someone who is concerned to discover the
truth about the past, and to give as accurate a representation of it as possible,
then Irving is not a historian"; after this his reputation as a historian of any kind
is supposedly kaput, and hers ascendant; on Feb. 20, 2006 he is sentenced to three years
in priz in Vienna under a 1992 law for two speeches in 1989 denying the Holy Holocaust,
despite a last minute contrite flip-flop "confession" to avoid the full 10-year sentence,
and is released on probation on Dec. 20 after serving 13 mo., and flies back to London
to his wife Bente Hogh - shut up, and that settles it?
Mario Vargas Llosa (1936-),
A Fish in the Water (autobio.).
Edward G. Longacre,
The Cavalry at Gettysburg: A Tactical Study of Mounted Operations
During the Civil War's Pivotal Campaign, 9 June-14 July 1863.
David McCullough (1933-),
Truman;
sells 1M copies.
Walter Allen McDougall (1946-),
Let the Sea Make a Noise: A History of the North Pacific from Magellan to MacArthur.
Eric Louis McKitrick (1919-2002) and Stanley M. Elkins (1925-2013),
The Age of Federalism: The Early Republic, 1788-1800
(Bancroft Prize).
John McPhee (1931-),
Assembling California;
Annals of the Former World, vol. 4.
James Merrill (1926-95),
A Different Person: A Memoir;
gay poet and scion of the Merrill Lynch family.
Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Encarta;
digital multimedia encyclopedia with 62K articles; discontinued on Oct. 31, 2009.
Fergus Millar (1935-),
The Roman Near East, 31 BC-AD 337.
Raymond Moody (1944-) and Paul Perry,
Reunions: Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones.
Sheridan Morley (1941-2007),
Audrey Hepburn: A Celebration; actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-93).
George Lachmann Mosse (1918-99), Confronting the Nation: Jewish and Western Nationalism;
how the original Zionist idea was a liberal commonwealth based on individualism and solidarity, which turned into a "more aggressive, exclusionary and
normative nationalism" with the state of Israel.
Penelope Ruth Mortimer (1918-99), About Time Too: 1940-78 (autobio.).
Bill Moyers (1934-), Healing and the Mind.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), Pandaemonium;
how he gave up his view of the Soviet Union as expansionist and Marxist in favor of a weak realistic state on the skids.
William Nordhaus (1941-), Reflections on the Economics of Climate Change.
Shaquille O'Neal (1972-) and Jack McCallum, Shaq Attaq! My Rookie Year (autobio.).
Peter S. Onuf (1945-) and Nicholas G. Onuf,
Federal Union, Modern World: The Law of Nations in an Age of Revolutions, 1776-1814.
Robert Evan Ornstein (1942-), The Roots of the Self.
Cynthia Ozick (1928-),
What Henry James Knew.
Michael Parenti (1933-),
Land of Idols: Political Mythology in America.
Francis Edwards Peters,
Distant Shrine: The Islamic Centuries in Jerusalem.
Tom Peters (1942-) The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations.
Kevin Phillips (1940-),
Boiling Point: Democrats, Republicans and the Decline of Middle Class Prosperity.
Kenneth Pomeranz (1958-), The Making of a Hinterland: State, Society and Economy in Inland North China, 1853-1937.
Colin Luther Powell (1937-), My American Journey (autobio.).
Susan Powter (1958-), Stop the Insanity!; bestseller.
Steven Pressman (1955-), Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile.
Karl H. Pribram (1919-), Rethinking Neural Networks: Quantum Fields and Biological Data.
Matthew Rabin (1963-), Incorporating Fairness Into Game Theory and Economics;
introduces Rabin Fairness, where a person is only fair to a person who treats him/her kindly.
Adrian Raine, The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior as a Clinical Disorder.
John Rawls (1921-2002), Political Liberalism.
Janice G. Raymond (1943-), Women as Wombs: Reproductive Technologies and the Battle Over Women's Freedom;
how infertility is considered a disease in the West, leading to IVF et al., which are a form of violence against women, while it's rejected in the East,
leading to forced sterlization; opens the subject of internat. trafficking of women for reproductive purposes.
Ishmael Reed (1938-), Airing Dirty Laundry.
Howard Rheingold (1947-), The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier;
his experiences incl. the WELL, multiuser dungeons, and Telematique.
Richard Rhodes (1937-), Nuclear Renewal: Common Sense About Energy.
Sir Matt Ridley (1958-), The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature.
Andrew Roberts (1963-), The Aachen Memorandum.
Katie Roiphe, The Morning After: Sex, Fear and Feminism
(first book); disses the feminist movement from going beyond a movement for freedom
to telling women what to think; pisses-off feminist Katha Pollitt (1949-),
who pub. "Not Just Bad Sex".
Conrad Russell (1937-2004),
Academic Freedom.
Kamal Salibi (1929-2011), The Modern History of Jordan.
Theodore W. Schultz (1902-98), The Economics of Being Poor;
Origins of Increasing Returns
(Dec. 8).
Peter Dale Scott (1929-),
Deep Politics and the Death of JFK.
Jerry Seinfeld (1954-),
Seinlanguage.
Hans F. Sennholz (1922-2007),
The First Eighty Years of Grove City College.
Susan Sheehan (1937-),
Life for Me Ain't Been No Crystal Stair; the
U.S. child welfare system.
Bernie S. Siegel,
How to Live Between Office Visits.
Peter Singer (1946-), How Are We to Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest.
Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010),
When Time Began.
Robert Sobel (1931-99), Dangerous Dreamers: The Financial Innovators from Charles Merrill to Michael Milken.
Ahdaf Soueif (1950-), In the Eye of the Sun;
Egyptian babe Asya "feels more comfortable with art than with life".
Thomas Sowell (1930-), Inside American Education;
Is Reality Optional?
Howard Stern (1954-), Private Parts (autobio.).
Gregory Stock, Metaman: The Merging of Humans and Machines into a Global Superorganism;
man and his technology equal a superorganism, sing a song?
Cass R. Sunstein (1954-), Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech;
The Partial Constitution.
John B. Taylor (1946-), Discretion versus Policy Rules in Practice;
gives Taylor's Rule (Principle)
for central banks, that they should raise rates by more than 1% for each 1% rise
in inflation to cool the economy, and lower rates ditto to heat it up.
Lester Thurow (1938-), Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe and America;
touts the Third Way
of govt. involvement in the economy a la Europe and Japan, along with a
stronger internat. patent system that undergirds a knowledge economy.
Diana Trilling (1905-96),
The Beginning of the Journey
(autobio.).
Gore Vidal (1925-2012), United States: Essays 1952-1992
(Pulitzer Prize).
Vernor Vinge (1944-),
The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era;
describes the Singularity, AKA "Rapture of the Nerds" (Ken MacLeod), with the John the Baptist-like soundbyte "Within thirty years, we will have the
technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended"; launches the
Artificial Intelligence Technoreligion,
popular in Silicon Valley, which confuses the exponential growth promised by Moore's Law of ICs with exponential growth of technology itself, resulting
in cultlike predictions of computers suddenly growing smarter than humans and taking over the world; actually, computers have zero IQ, they are only
fixed logic machines processing data according to programs created by humans, who can try to put their IQ into the computers, but actually
can't, and Moore's Law is about the packaging density for the same old design, which never evolves; as late as 2009 it is easy to design
captchas
that allow Web sites to tell dumb computers from human beings.
Harold Weisberg (1914-2002),
Martin Luther King: The Assassination.
Brian Weiss (1944-), Through Time Into Healing: Discovering the Power of Regression Therapy to Erase Trauma and Transform Mind, Body and Relationships
(Sept. 1).
Cornel West (1953-),
Prophetic
Thought in Postmodern Times: Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism;
Race Matters;
"What happened in Los Angeles in April of 1992 was neither a race riot nor a class rebellion."
John Anthony West,
Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt;
revives the work of
Rene Adolphe Schwaller de Lubicz
(1887-1961) on the symbolism of the ancient Egyptians.
Stuart Wilde (1946-), Whispering Winds of Change: Perceptions of a New World.
Andrew Norman Wilson (1950-),
The Rise and Fall of the House of Windsor.
Edmund Osborne Wilson (1929-),
The Biophilia Hypothesis;
is there an instinctive bond between humans and other beings?
Howard Zinn (1922-2010),
Failure to Quit: Reflections of an Optimistic Historian (autobio.) (Apr.).
Music:
A big year for crows in the music biz?
2 Unlimited, No Limits! (album #2) (May 10) (#1 in the U.K.); incl.
No Limit (#21 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (2.8M copies),
Tribal Dance (#4 in the U.K.).
311, Music
(album) (debut) (Feb. 9) (500K copies); named after the police code for indecent exposure in their hometown of Omaha, Neb., incl.
Nicholas Lofton "Nick" Hexum (1970-) (vocals), Jim Watson/Tim Mahoney (guitar), Aaron Charles "P-Nut" Wills (1974-) (bass), Douglas Vincent "Doug" "SA" Martinez (1969-) (vocals, turntables),
and Chad Ronald Saxton (drums) (1970-); incl.
Do You Right,
Freak Out.
Bryan Adams (1959-), So Far So Good (album) (Nov 2).
Aerosmith, Get a Grip
(album #11) (Apr. 20) (20M copies, incl. 7M in the U.S.); incl.
Livin' on the Edge,
Cryin',
Amazing,
Crazy.
a-ha, Memorial Beach (album #5) (June 14); incl.
Dark Is the Night,
Move to Memphis, and
Angel in the Snow.
Eric Ambler (1909-98), In Pieces (album) (10M copies); incl.
The Red Strokes,
Standing Outside the Fire.
Anthrax, Sound of White Noise
(album #6) (May 25); with new vocalist John Bush; incl.
Only,
Black Lodge.
Buju Banton (1973-), Voice of Jamaica (album #3) (Aug. 3).
Culture Beat, Mr. Vain;
sells 10M copies; Torsten Fenslau (1964-93).
Pat Benatar (1953-), Gravity's Rainbow (album); incl.
Somebody's Baby,
Everybody Lay Down,
Crazy.
George Benson (1943-), Love Remembers (album);
incl. Love Remembers.
Bjork (1965-), Debut (album #2) (2nd solo debut) (July 5); incl.
Human Behaviour,
Venus as a Boy,
Play Dead,
Big Time Sensuality,
Violently Happy.
Clint Black (1962-), No Time to Kill (album #4) (July 13) (#2 country) (#14 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl.
A Good Run of Bad Luck (#1 country),
State of Mind (#2 country),
A Bad Goodbye (w/Wynonna Judd) (#2 country),
No Time to Kill (#3 country),
Half the Man (#4 country).
4 Non Blondes, What's Up;
1-hit wonders from San Francisco, Calif.,incl. Linda Perry (1965-) (vocals), Christa Hillhouse (bass), Shaunna Hall (guitar), Wanda Day (drums).
Moody Blues, A Night at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (album) (Mar. 9).
David Bowie (1947-2016), Black Tie White Noise (album) (Apr. 5) (inspired by the L.A. riot); incl.
Black Tie White Noise (with Al B. Sure!),
Jump They Say (about his schizo half-brother Terry who committed suicide),
Miracle Goodnight;
The Buddha of Suburbia Soundtrack (album) (Dec.); incl.
Buddha of Suburbia.
Pet Shop Boys, Very (album) (Sept. 17) (3M copies); ttitle is an allusion to their gayness?; incl.
Can You Forgive Her?,
Go West.
Laura Branigan (1952-2004), Over My Heart (album #7); incl.
Love Your Girl (written by Gloria Estefan),
Mangwane (The Wedding Song),
Mujer Contra Mujer.
Toni Braxton (1968-), Toni Braxton (album) (debut); incl.
Another Sad Love Song,
Breathe Again.
Garth Brooks (1962-), In Pieces (album #5) (Aug.) (10M copies); incl.
The Red Strokes,
Standing Outside the Fire.
Jackson Browne (1948-), I'm Alive (album #10) (Oct. 11); incl.
I'm Alive.
Kate Bush (1958-), The Red Shoes (album #8) (3M copies); next album in 12 years; incl.
Moments of Pleasure (score by Michael Kamen),
Why Should I Love You? (with Lenny Henry and Prince),
And So Is Love (guitar by Eric Clapton),
Rubberband Girl;
she drops out of the biz until 2005 to raise her son Bertie by hubby Danny McIntosh.
Cake, Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle
(debut); from Sacramento, Calif., incl. John McCrea (1965-) (vocals), Greg Brown (guitar), Vince DiFiore (trumpet), Sean McFessel (bass), Frank French (drums).
Candlebox, Candlebox (album) (debut) (July 20) (#7 in the U.S.) (4M copies); formerly Uncle Duke;
post-grunge band from Seattle, Wash., incl. Kevin Martin (1969-) (vocals), Peter Klett, Scott Mercado (drums); name comes from the Midnight Oil song "Beds Are Burning";
first hit for Madonna's Maverick Records
(founded 1992), which signs Alanis Morissette, The Prodigy, and Deftones; incl.
Change,
You (#78 in the U.S.),
Far Behind (#18 in the U.S.),
Blossom,
Cover Me.
Mariah Carey (1969-), Music Box
(album #4) (Aug. 31) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (32M copies);
incl. Dreamlover,
Without You,
Hero,
Anytime You Need a Friend,
Never Forget You.
Patrick Cassidy, The Children of Lir (Sept.); first canatata written in the Irish language.
Metal Church, Hanging in the Balance (album #5) (Oct. 7); incl.
Gods of a Second Chance.
Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (album) (debut) (Nov. 9) (#41 in the U.S.) (1M copies);
named after the 1978 film "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin"; hardcore hip hop from New York City, incl. RZA (Prince Rakeem) (Robert Diggs), GZA (Gary Grice), Ol' Dirty Bastard (Russell Jones),
Method Man (Clifford Smith), Ghostface Killah (Dennis Coles), Raekwon (Corey Woods) (1970-), U-God (Lamont Hawkins), Inspectah Deck (Jason Hunter), and Masta Killa (Elgin Turner); incl.
Protect Ya Neck,
Can It Be All So Simple,
C.R.E.A.M.,
Method Man.
Judy Collins (1939-), Judy Sings Dylan... Just Like a Woman (album #24).
Phil Collins (1951-), Both Sides (album) (Nov. 9);
plays all instruments himself; incl. Both Sides of the Story,
Can't Turn Back the Years.
Bad Company, What You Hear Is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company (album).
Harry Connick Jr. (1967-), When My Heart Finds Christmas (album) (Oct. 26) (#5 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.)
(3M copies in the U.S.) (best-selling album in the U.S.); incl. When My Heart Finds Christmas.
Elvis Costello (1954-) and the Brodsky Quartet, The Juliet Letters (album) (Jan. 19).
Elvis Costello (1954-), 2-1/2 Years (triple album) (Oct. 12).
Elvis Costello (1954-) and the Attractions, Live at the El Mocambo (album) (Oct. 12).
David Coverdale and Jimmy Page, Coverdale-Page (album); incl.
Pride and Joy,
Shake My Tree,
Take Me for a Little While,
Over Now.
Cracker, Kerosene Hat (album #2) (Aug. 24) (#59 in the U.S.); incl.
Kerosene Hat,
Low.
The Cranberries, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? (album) (debut)
(Mar. 1) (#1 in the U.K.) (5M copies); original name The Cranberry Saw Us; Delores Riordan (1971-2018) (vocals), Noel Anthony Hogan, Michael Gerard Hogan, Fergal Patrick Lawler (drums);
incl. Linger,
Dreams.
Sheryl Crow (1962-), Tuesday Night Music Club (album) (debut) (#3 in the U.S., #8 in the U.K.))
(5.3M copies in the U.S.); incl. Leaving Las Vegas (#60 in the U.S.),
All I Wanna Do (#2 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.),
Strong Enough (#5 in the U.S., #33 in the U.K.),
Can't Cry Anymore (#36 in the U.S., #33 in the U.K.);
album starts slow, until "All I Wanna Do" becomes an unexpected hit next spring; she stole lyrics from an old poetry book by Wyn Cooper,
then later tracks him down and pays him royalties.
Taylor Dayne (1962-), Soul Dancing (album) (July 13); incl.
Can't Get Enough of Your Love,
I'll Wait.
Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks Vol. 1 (album) (Dec.); recorded on Dec. 19, 1973 in Tampa, Fla.
Celine Dion (1968-), The Colour Of My Love
(album #3) (Nov. 9); about her mgr. Rene Angelil, whom she married in Dec. 1994; incl.
The Power of Love,
Think Twice,
To Love You More.
Snoop Dogg (1971-), Doggystyle (album) (debut) (Nov. 23) (#1 in the U.S.);
introduces the G-funk hip hop style and West Coast hip hop to the mainstream; incl.
Who Am I (What's My Name)?,
Gin and Juice,
Doggy Dogg World.
Goo Goo Dolls, Superstar Car Wash (album #4) (Feb. 16); incl.
We Are the Normal,
So Far Away.
Crash Test Dummies, God Shuffled His Feet (album #2) (Oct. 26) (#9 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.);
cover shows their faces on Titian's painting "Bacchus and Adriadne" (1520-3); incl.
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.
Duran Duran, Duran Duran (The Wedding Album) (album #7) (Feb. 23); incl.
Ordinary World,
Come Undone,
Too Much Information,
Femme Fatale.
Bob Dylan (1941-), World Gone Wrong (album #29) (Oct. 26).
Gloria Estefan (1957-), Mi Terra (album #3) (June 14); incl.
Mi Terra;
Christmas Through Your Eyes (album #4) (Sept. 27).
Melissa Etheridge (1961-), Yes I Am
(album #4) (Sept. 21) (#15 in the U.S.); first after coming out as a lesbian; incl.
I'm the Only One (#8 in the U.S.),
Come to My Window (#13 in the U.S.),
All-American Girl (#24 in the U.S.),
If I Wanted To (#17 in the U.S.).
Eurythmics, Live 1983-1989 (album) (Nov.).
Better Than Ezra, Deluxe (album) (debut) (Nov. 16);
Kevin Griffin (1968-) (vocals), Tom Melville Drummond (1969-) (bass), and Cary Bonnecaze/Travis McNabb/Michael Jerome (drums); incl.
Good (#16 in the U.S.);
Empire Records (album #2); incl.
Circle of Friends.
Fishbone, Give A Monkey A Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe
(album #3) (May 25) (#99 in the U.S.) (title is a quote from "Principia Discordia"); a switch to heavy metal; incl.
Swim.
Dan Fogelberg (1951-2007), River of Souls (album).
Jean Francaix (1912-97), Accordion Concerto.
AQi Fzono (1969-), Ruins (album #3).
Kool and the Gang, Unite (album #21) (Nov. 22).
Bee Gees, Size Isn't Everything (album #18) (Sept. 13) (700K copies); incl.
Blue Island ("nicest song they ever wrote - Barry Gibbs),
Paying the Price of Love,
For Whom the Bell Tlls,
How to Fall in Love, Part 1.
Debbie Gibson (1970-),
Body, Mind, Soul
(album #4) (Jan. 19) (#109 in the U.S.); incl.
Losin' Myself,
Shock Your Mama,
How Can This Be?,
Free Me.
Haddaway (1965-), What Is Love
(#11 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.) (2.6M copies); 1-hit wonder from Trinidad;
Life
(Nov. 5);
Haddaway
(album) (debut) (Nov. 23).
Nina Hagen (1955-),
Revolution Ballroom
(album #8); incl.
Revolution Ballroom.
Van Halen, Live: Right Here, Right Now
(album) (Feb. 23); recorded in Fresno, Calif. in May 1992.
Emmylou Harris (1947-), Cowgirl's Prayer (album);
big flop, causing her to reinvent herself?
P.J. Harvey (1969-),
Rid of Me
(album #2) (May 4); incl.
50ft Queenie,
Highway '61 Revisited
(by Bob Dylan);
4-Track Demos
(album) (Oct. 19).
Heart, Desire Walks On
(album #2) (Nov. 16) (#48 in the U.S.); incl.
Will You Be There (In the Morning) (#39 in the U.S.),
Black on Black II,
The Woman in Me.
Faith Hill (1967-), Take Me As I Am (album)
(debut); incl.
Wild One,
Piece of My Heart.
Crowded House, Together Alone
(album #4) (Oct. 18); first with Mark Hart; incl.
Distant Sun,
Private Universe,
Locked Out (#8 in the U.S., #12 in the U.K.),
Karekare.
Janis Ian (1951-), Breaking Silence (album); incl.
Breaking Silence, about her coming out as a lesbian.
Vanilla Ice (1967-), Ice Ice Baby (Aug.) (#1 in the U.S.) (first #1 hip hop single);
rips off
the base line from Queen's hit "Under Pressure", causing years of litigation.
Billy Idol (1955-), Cyberpunk (album #5) (June 29); a concept album,
first by a mainstream celeb to use the Internet, email, virtual communities, and multimedia software.
Indian Ocean, Indian Ocean
(album) (debut); fusion rock band from New Delhi, India, incl.
Susmit Sen (guitar), Asheem Chakravarty (-2009) (drums),
Rahul Ram (bass), and Amit Kilam (drums).
INXS, Full Moon, Dirty Hearts
(album #9) (Nov. 2); incl.
Full Moon, Dirty Hearts (w/Chrissie Hynde),
Please (You Got That) (w/Ray Charles).
Michael Jackson (1958-2009),
Dangerous - The Remix Collection
(album) (Sept.).
Millie Jackson (1944-), Young Man, Older Woman: Cast Album (album #21).
Pearl Jam, Vs.
(album #2) (Oct. 19) (#1 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.); incl.
Go,
Animal,
Daughter,
Glorified G,
Dissident.
Jamiroquai, Emergency on Planet Earth (album).
Billy Joel (1949-), River of Dreams (album); incl.
River of Dreams,
The Great Wall of China;
divorces 2nd wife Christie Brinkley on Aug. 25, 1994, and doesn't release another album until ?.
Elton John (1947-), Duets (album #24) (Nov.); incl.
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
(with RuPaul) (becomes gay bar anthem).
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (1959-97), Facing Future
(album) (Nov. 1); incl. Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World;
becomes the best-selling album by a Hawaiian artist (until ?).
R. Kelly (1967-), 12 Play (album)
(solo debut) (Nov. 9) (#2 in the U.S.); incl.
Bump N' Grind (#1 in the U.S.),
Your Body's Calling Me
(#13 in the U.S.),
Sex Me, Pts. 1 & 2 (#20 in the U.S.).
Sammy Kershaw (1958-),
She Don't Know She's Beautiful.
The Kinks, Phobia
(album #23) (last album) (Mar. 29).
Diana Krall (1964-), Stepping Out (album)
(debut).
LL Cool J (1968-), 14 Shots to the Dome (album); incl.
How I'm Comin',
Back Seat,
Pink Cookies
in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings.
Janet Jackson (1966-), Janet.
(Janet, period.) (album #5) (May 18) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (20M copies); an
attempt to break away from the Jackson name; also breaks away from her Jehovah's Witness
upbringing by posing nude for the cover (ending speculation that she's really just Michael
with a wig), with lyrics talking about safe sex; incl.
That's the Way Love Goes,
If,
Again,
Because of Love,
Any Time, Any Place,
Throb,
You Want This,
Whoops Now,
What I'll Do.
Toby Keith (1961-), Toby Keith (album) (debut);
incl. Should've Been a Cowboy,
A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action,
Wish I Didn't Know How.
Korn (KoRn), Neidermeyer's Mind
(album) (demo).
Laibach,
Ljubljana-Zagreb-Beograd
(album #9) (June 7).
Cyndi Lauper (1953-),
Hat Full of Stars
(album #4) (June); incl.
Hat Full of Stars.
Murphy's Law, Good for Now (album #6).
Denis Leary (1957-),
Asshole.
Def Leppard, Retro Active
(album) (Oct. 5); sells 3M copies; incl.
Two Steps Behind,
Miss You in a Heartbeat.
Flaming Lips,
Transmissions
from the Satellite Heart (album #6) (June 22); incl.
She Don't Use Jelly
(first charting hit, featured on "Beavis and Butt-Head"),
Turn It On.
Meat Loaf (1947-), Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell
(album); sells 20M copies.
Iron Maiden,
A Real Live One
(album) (Mar. 22);
A Real Dead One
(album) (Oct. 25).
10,000 Maniacs,
MTV Unplugged
(album #6) (Oct. 26) (#13 in the U.S.); last with Natalie Merchant, who is replaced
by Mary Ramsey (1963-); incl.
Because the Night
(by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen) (#11 7 in the U.S., #65 in the U.K.).
Mayhem, Live in Leipzig (album);
Euronymous, Maniac, Manheim, Dead, Messiah, Necrobutcher et al. rock you to Satanist Norwegian sounds.
Young M.C. (1967-),
What's the Flavor?
(album #3) (last album) (June 7); incl.
Bob Your Head.
Martina McBride (1966-),
The Way That I Am
(album #2) (Sept. 14) (#14 country) (#106 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl.
My Baby Loves Me (#2 country),
Life #9 (#6 country),
Independence Day (spousal abuse) (#12 country).
Paul McCartney (1942-), Off the Ground (album #9) (Feb. 1) (#17 in the U.S., #5 in the U.K.); incl.
Off the Ground,
Hope of Deliverance,
Biker Like an Icon;
Paul Is Live (album) (Nov. 8) (#78 in the U.S., #34 in the U.K.); from his
New World Tour (1993); cover parodies the "Paul Is Dead" hoax with a new Abbey Road-crossing photo.
Paul McCartney (1942-) and Youth (AKA The Fireman), Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (album) (debut) (Nov. 15); incl.
Transpiritual Stomp,
Celtic Stomp.
Reba McEntire (1955-), Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (album) (Sept. 28).
Tim McGraw (1967-), Tim McGraw (album) (debut).
Megadeth, Countdown to Extinction
(album #5) (July 14) (#2 in the U.S., #5 in the U.K.) (2M copies); incl.
Symphony of Destruction,
Sweating Bullets,
Skin O' My Teeth,
Foreclosure of a Dream.
John Mellencamp (1951-), Human Wheels (album).
Metallica, Live Shit: Binge & Purge (boxed set) (Nov.).
The Dead Milkmen,
Not Richard, But Dick
(album #7) (Oct. 12); incl.
I Dream of Jesus.
Steve Miller Band, Wide River (album) (June).
Depeche Mode,
Songs of Faith and Devotion
(album #8) (Mar. 22); sells 1M copies; incl.
I Feel You,
Walking In My Shoes,
Condemnation,
In Your Room.
Van Morrison (1945-),
The Best of Van Morrison Vol. 2
(album) (Mar. 9);
Too Long in Exile
(album #22) (June 8); incl.
Gloria.
Motorhead, Bastards
(album #11) (Nov. 29); incl.
Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me.
Naughty by Nature,
19 Naughty III (album #3)
(Feb. 23) (#3 in the U.S.); incl.
Hip Hop Hooray,
It's On,
Written on Ya Kitten.
Nirvana, In Utero (album #3) (last album) (Sept. 13) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.); incl.
Heart-Shaped Box,
All Apologies,
Rape Me,
Pennyroyal Tea.
Laura Nyro (1947-97), Walk the Dog and Light the Light (album #9) (Aug. 17).
Midnight Oil, Earth and Sun and Moon (album #11); incl.
Truganini,
My Country,
In the Valley.
OMD, Liberator (album #9) (June 14); incl.
Stand Above Me,
Everyday,
Sunday Morning,
Dream of Me.
New Order, Republic
(album #6) (May 3) (#11 in the U.K., #1 in the U.K.); incl.
Regret,
Ruined in a Day,
World,
Spooky.
Ozzy Osbourne (1948-), Live and Loud (album) (June 28).
Teddy Pendergrass (1950-2010),
A Little More Magic (album).
Phish, Rift (album).
The Pogues, Waiting for Herb (album).
Pointer Sisters,
Only Sisters Can Do That
(album #15); last with June Pointer; incl.
Only Sisters Can Do That,
Don't Walk Away.
Jean-Luc Ponty (1942-), No Absolute Time (album).
Iggy Pop (1947-),
American Caesar
(album) (Sept.); ijncl.
Wild America,
Beside You,
Louie Louie (by Richard Berry).
The Posies, Frosting On the Beater
(album #3) (Apr. 27); title refers to masturbation; incl.
Dream All Day,
Solar Sister,
Definite Door,
Flavor of the Month
(disses Seattle grunge bands),
Coming Right Along
(used in the 1995 film "The Basketball Diaries").
Manic Street Preachers, Gold Against the Soul (album #2) (June 14); incl.
From Despair to Where,
La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh),
Roles in the Hospital,
Life Becoming a Landslide;
The Holy Bible (Aug. 29) (#6 in the U.K.); incl.
Faster/P.C.P.,
Revol,
She Is Suffering,
IfwhiteAmericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart
("Conservative say: there ain't no black in the union jack/ Democrat say: there ain't enough white in the stars and stripes").
Judas Priest, War of Words (album #14).
Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream (album #2) (July 27); sells 6M copies worldwide; incl.
Cherub Rock,
Today,
Disarm,
Rocket.
Latin Quarter, Long Pig (album); incl.
Phil Ochs.
Radiohead, Pablo Honey
(album) (debut) (Feb. 22); named for the Jerky Boys prank call skit "Pablo, honey? Please come to Florida";
from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England (formed in 1985), incl. Thom Yorke (1968-) (vocals),
Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood (1971-) (guitar), Edward John "Ed" O'Brien (1968-) (guitar, vocals),
Colin Charles Greenwood (1969-) (bass), Philip James "Phil" Selway (1967-) (drums); incl.
Creep;
written in the men's toilets at the Exeter U. student club, becomes a hit on KROQ in S Calif. and brands
them as a 1-hit wonder, which they prove false later.
Boo Radleys,
Giant Steps
(album #3) (Aug. 31); incl.
Butterfly McQueen.
Gerry Rafferty (1947-2011),
On a Wing and a Prayer
(album #7).
Ramones, Acid Eaters
(album #13) (Dec.); all covers.
Juno Reactor,
Laughing Gas (debut);
Transmissions
(album) (debut); electronic goa trance group from London, consisting of a changing ensemble
of world musicians led by Ben Watkins.
Guns N' Roses,
The
Spaghetti Incident? (album #5) (Nov. 23); all covers;
last album until 2007.
Salt-N-Pepa, Very Necessary
(album #4) (Oct. 12) (#34 in the U.S.) (7M copies, incl. 5M in the U.S.)
(first female rape, er, rap act to go multi-platinum); incl.
Shoop (#4 in the U.S.),
Whatta Man (w/En Vogue)
(#3 in the U.S.),
None of Your Business.
Manic Street Preachers,
Gold Against the Soul
(album #2) (June 14); incl.
From Despair to Where,
Life Becoming a Landslide,
Roses in the Hospital.
Juno Reactor,
Transmissions
(album #2); incl.
Laughing Gas.
Sacred Reich, Independent
(album #4).
Kid Rock (1971-),
The Polyfuze Method
(album #2) (Mar. 16).
Guns N'Roses, The Spaghetti Incident? (album);
incl. Charles Manson's Look at Your Game Girl,
pissing-off fans?
Run-D.M.C., Down with the King
(album #6) (May 4); incl.
Down with the King;
next album in 2001.
Rush, Counterparts (album #15) (Oct. 19); incl.
Leave That Thing Alone,
Stick It Out,
Nobody's Hero.
Pharoah Sanders (1940-), Crescent with Love (album).
Scorpions, Face the Heat (album)
(Sept. 21); incl.
Alien Nation
(about German reunification).
Pete Seeger (1919-2014), God Bless the Grass (album);
Darling Corey/Goofing-Off Suite (album).
Selena (1971-95),
Selena Live! (album)
(May 4).
Shaggy (1968-), Pure Pleasure (album);
incl. Oh Carolina.
Tupac Shakur (1971-96),
Stricly 4 My
N.I.G.G.A.Z. (album #2) (Feb. 16) (#24 in the U.S.); original title
"Troublesome 21"; incl.
Keep Ya Head Up,
I Get Around.
Frank Sinatra et al., Duets (album);
U2's Bono calls him "the big bang of pop";
Duets II is
released next year.
Lynyrd Skinner, The Last Rebel (album #7) (Feb. 16).
Sister Sledge,
The Very Best of Sister Sledge (album).
Collective Soul,
Hints,
Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid (album) (debut) (June 22); title from
Paul Simon's 1986 single "You Can Call Me Al"; from Stockbridge, Ga., incl.
Edgar Eugene "Ed" Roland III (1963-) (vocals), Dean Roland (guitar), Will Turpin (bass),
Ross Childress/ Joel Sefton Kosche (1969-) (guitar), and Shane Evans/Ryan Hoyle (drums);
incl. Shine.
Bruce Springsteen (1949-),
In Concert/MTV Plugged
(album) (Apr. 12).
Toad the Wet Sprocket,
Fire Live
(album).
Rod Stewart (1945-), Lead Vocalist (album)
(Feb. 22);
Unplugged... and Seated (album) (May 24).
The Rolling Stones, Jump Back: The Best of the Rolling Stones
(album) (Nov. 22).
Suede, Suede (album)
(debut) (Mar. 29); fastest-selling debut album in British history (until ?); launches
the Britpop Movement; incl. Brett Lewis Anderson (1967-) (singer), Bernard Joseph Butler
(1970-) (guitar); incl.
So Young,
Animal Nitrate,
The Drowners,
Metal Mickey.
Livingston Taylor (1950-), Our Turn to Dance
(album);
Good Friends (album).
Suicidal Tendencies,
Still Cyco
After All These Years (album) (June 15).
Testament,
Return to the Apocalyptic City
(EP).
Therion, Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas
(album #6) (Apr.); incl.
Ho Drakon Ho Megas.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony,
Faces of Death
(album) (debut) (May 28); originally B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e; from Cleveland, Ohio, incl.
Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Wish Bone, Flesh-n-Bone, and Bizzy Bone; incl.
Flow Motion.
Big Head Todd and the Monsters,
Sister Sweetly (album #3)
(Feb. 23); from Boulder, Colo., incl. Todd Park Mohr (1965-) (vocals, guitar), Rob Squires
(vocals, bass), and Brian Nevin (drums); incl.
Broken-Hearted Saviour,
Bittersweet,
Circle.
Tool, Undertow
(album) (debut) (Apr. 16); named after the male organ; from LA, incl.
Maynard James (James Herbert) Keenan (1964-) (vocals), Adam Thomas Jones (1965-) (guitar),
Paul D'Amour/Justin Gunnar Walter Chancellor (1971-) (bass), and Daniel Erwin "Danny" Carey (1961-)
(drums); incl.
Prison Sex,
Sober, and
Disgustipated.
Babes in Toyland, Painkillers
(album) (June 22); incl.
He's My Thing.
Travis Tritt (1963-),
T-R-O-U-B-L-E
(album #3) (Aug. 18) (2M copies); incl.
T-R-O-U-B-L-E (#1).
Tina Turner (1939-),
What's
Love Got to Do With It (album) (June 15); sells 13M copies; incl.
What's Love Got to Do With It.
Shania Twain (1965-),
Shania Twain
(Apr. 20) (album) (debut) (#67 country)' flops until she becomes famous then sells
1.4M copies; incl.
What Made You Say That,
Dance with the One That Brought You, and
You Lay a Whole Lot of Love on Me.
Bonnie Tyler (1951-),
Silhouette in Red
(album #1).
U2, Zooropa
(album #8) (July 6) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (7M copies); first full-length album
by Island Records; incl. Zooropa,
Numb,
Lemon,
Stay (Faraway, So Close!),
The First Time.
Dawn Upshaw (1960-) and David Zinman (1936-),
Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) (album);
sells 1M copies.
U.S.U.R.A., Sweat (#29 in the U.K.),
Tear It Up.
Steve Vai (1960-),
Sex and Religion
(album #3) (July 27) (original title "Light Without Heat"); incl.
Sex and Religion,
Touching Tongues,
Pig.
The Verve, A Storm in Heaven
(album) (debut) (June 15); incl.
Slide Away,
Blue.
Paul Westerberg (1959-), 14 Songs (album).
Winger, Pull (album #3) (May 18) (#83 in the U.S.); incl.
Down Incognito,
Junkyard Dog (Tears on Stone).
Tammy Wynette (1942-98), Honky Tonk Angels (album).
Yanni (1954-), In My Time (album).
Trisha Yearwood (1964-), The Song Remembers When (album).
Neil Young (1945-), Lucky Thirteen (album) (Jan.);
Unplugged (album) (June 15).
Frank Zappa (1940-93), Ahead of Their Time (album) (Mar. 23);
The Yellow Shark (album) (Nov. 2); last released before his death;
Civilization Phaze III (double album) (Dec.); last completed before his death.
Movies:
Robert De Niro's A Bronx Tale (Sept. 14) (TriBeCa Productions) (Savoy Pictures), adapted from Chazz Palminteri's 1989 play
stars De Niro as Italian-Am. bus driver Lorenzo Anello in 1960, whose 6-y.-o. son Calogero (Francis Capra) witnesses a murder by local mobster Sonny LoSpecchio (Chazz Palminteri)
and covers for him to the police, growing up to a 17-y.-o. teenie (Lilo Brancato Jr.) who works for Sonny against his straight-arrow father's wishes, then hooks up with local
black girl Jane Williams (Tara Hicks), causing a racial war; Joe Pesci plays Carmine, Louis Vanaria plays Crazy Mario, and Domenick Lombardozzi plays Nicky Zero;
does $17.3M box office on a $10M budget.
Frank Marshall's Alive (Jan. 15) (Touchstone Pictures), based on the 1974 book by Piers Paul Read about Uruguayan
rugby players whose plane crashes in the Andes on Friday the 13th, 1972, forcing them to turn to yummy cannibalism to survive; stars Ethan Hawke; does $36.7M box office on a $32M budget.
Roger Spottiswoode's made-for-HBO movie And the Band Played On
(Sept. 11) (produced by Aaron Spelling), based on the 1987 Randy Shilts book shows the gay movement objectively as a death style while documenting
the monumental efforts of researchers to fight govt. inertia and isolate and identify the Satanic (or Godsent?) HIV virus.
Glenn Jordan's Barbarians at the Gate
(Mar. 20), a TV movie based on the 1990 book by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar about the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco stars James Garner as F. Ross Johnson, and Jonathan Pryce as Henry Kravis.
Jeremiah S. Chechik's Benny and Joon
(Apr. 16) stars Johnny Depp as Buster Keaton wannabe Sam, and Mary Stuart Masterson as his mentally-ill babe Juniper "Joon" Pearl; Aidan Quinn plays her auto mechanic brother Benny.
Taylor Hackford's Blood In Blood Out (Bound by Honor)
(Apr. 16) stars white-skinned Damian Chapa as Milka Velka, Jesse Borrego as Cruz Candelaria, and Benjamin Bratt as Paco Aguilar in gangland East L.A. and San Quentin.
Boxing Helena
(Sept. 3) (Main Line Pictures) stars Julian Sands as lonely horny Atlanta surgeon Dr. Nick Cavanaugh, and Sherilyn Fenn as his fantasy babe Helena, whom he treasures
so much that he amputates her limbs and boxes her after an auto accident
Jennifer Lynch's Boxing Helena (Sept. 3) (Main Line Pictures) (Orion Classics)
stars Sherilynn Fenn (after Madonna and Kim Basinger turn it down) as a woman who gets in a car accident in front of the home of lonely horny Atlanta, Ga. surgeon Nick Cavanaugh (Julian Sands),
who is obsessed with her and amputates her limbs and boxes her so that he can have pure poontang, only to discover she's got a vicious sass mouth, then wakes up and realizes it's a wet dream;
features Bill Paxton as Ray O'Malley, Kurtwood Smith as Dr. Alan Palmer, and Art Garfunkel as Dr. Lawrence Augustine; does $1.8M box office - does he use her diaper for a napkin?
Renny Harlin's Cliffhanger
(May 28) stars Sylvester Stallone as rock climber Gabe Walker, and John Lithgow as bad guy Eric Qualen; #10 movie of 1993 ($84M).
Jon Turteltaub's Cool Runnings
(Oct. 1) (Walt Disney), based on a true story stars John Candy as the coach of the first bobsled team in snow-free Jamaica, who show the whiteys at the
1988 Calgary Winter Olympics; sledders incl. Leon, and Doug E. Doug; does $154.9M box office on a $14M budget;
"One Dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty Below Zero."
Steve Barron's Coneheads
(July 23) features the cast from SNL; too bad, it only does $21.3M box office on a $33M budget.
Michael Schroder's Cyborg 2
(Nov. 24) stars Angelina Jolie in her first starring role as prototype cyborg Casella "Cash" Reese in the year 2074.
Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (Sept. 24) (Gramercy Pictures)
(title from the Led Zeppelin song) is a coming of age flick introducing a new generation of stars, incl. Jason London as Randall "Pink" Floyd, Matthew McConaughey as David Wooderson,
Ben Affleck as Fred O'Bannion, Milla Jovovich as Michelle Burroush, Adam Goldberg as Mike Newhouse, and Parker Posy as Darla Marks, all on the beer-filled last day of school in 1976; after only
grossing $8M at the box office, it becomes a cult hit.
Marco Brambilla's Demolition Man (Oct. 8) (Warner Bros.) is a sci-fi action flick set in Taco Bell-filled
2032 San Angeles based loosely on Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave New World", starring Sylvester Stallone as 1996 LAPD Sgt. John Spartan (after Jackie Chan turns the part down),
who must catch criminal Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) with the help of Lt. Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock); grosses $159M worldwide on a $57M budget; Brambilla's dir. debut;
does $159.1M box office on a $77M budget; Hungarian sci-fi novelist Istvan Nemere claims that they stole the script from his 1986 novel "Fight of the Dead".
Rob Cohen's Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
(May 7) (Universal Pictures) stars Jason Scott Lee (no relation) as Bruce Lee, Lauren Holly as his
wife Linda, and Robert Wagner as "Green Hornet" actor Bill Krieger; does $63.5M box office on a $14M budget.
Robert Lieberman's Fire in the Sky
(Mar. 12), based on the Travis Walton book "The Walton Experience", about an alien abduction
in Snowflake, Ariz. on Nov. 5, 1975 stars D.B. Sweeney, and Robert Patrick; brings in $19.9M on a $15M budget.
Sydney Pollack's The Firm
(June 30) (Paramount Pictures), written by David Rabe based on the 1991 John Grisham novel stars Tom Cruise as new atty. Mitch McDeere,
who gets a plum job in Atlanta, Ga. and brings his wife Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn), then discovers they work for the mob from FBI agent
Wayne Tarrance (Ed Harris); Gene Hackman plays atty. Avery Tolar; Wilford Brimley plays bad security chief William Devasher, and Tobin Bell
plays albino bad guy Nordic Man; "Power can be murder to resist"; #4 movie of 1993 ($158M U.S. and $270.2M worldwide box office in a $42M budget).
Charles Turridge's A Foreign Field
(Sept. 10), a BBC-TV movie made to commemorate the 50th anniv. of D-Day (June 6, 1944) stars
Alec Guinness, Leon McKern, Edward Herrmann, and John Randolph as aging vets returning to the
beaches of Normandy.
Andrew Davis' The Fugitive
(Aug. 6) (Warner Bros.), based on the TV series stars Harrison Ford as framed rabbiting convicted
wife murderer Dr. Richard David Kimble, Tommy Lee Jones as the I-don't-care-if-you're-innocent
U.S. marshal Samuel Gerard, and Andreas Katsulas as the 1-armed bad guy Sykes; #3 movie of 1993
($184M U.S. and $368.9M worldwide box office on a $44M budget).
Ronald F. Maxwell's Gettysburg
(Oct. 8), based on the 1974 Michael Shaara novel "The Killer Angels" is a 254-min. reenactment filmed on the Gettysburg Nat. Military Park battlefield (first-ever), becoming the largest
period scale film filmed in North Am. since D.W. Griffith's 1915 "Birth of a Nation"; the all-male cast incl. Ted Turner (the moneybags behind it all), Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen,
Tom Berenger, Sam Elliott, Richard Jordan (last film role), Kevin Conway, C. Thomas Howell, even Ken Burns; rips-off some dialog from "The Pride and the Passion" (1957) about the losses
by the time they get to the wall being 50%?
Harold Ramis' Groundhog Day (Feb. 12) (Columbia Pictures) stars Bill Murray as Pittsburgh TV meteorologist Phil Connors,
who goes to Punxsutawney, Penn. to cover the Groundhog Day festivities, and ends up in a nightmare where he wakes up in the same time loop each morning, and can only
get out by bedding hot hard-to-get news producer Rita Hanson (Andie MacDowell); does $71M box office on a $14.6M budget.
Kenny Ortega's Hocus Pocus (July 16) (Walt Disney Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictures)
stars Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker as sister witches Winifred "Winnie", Mary, and Sarah Sanderson from 1693, who are inadvertently resurrected by a teenie boy
Maximilian "Max" Dennison (Omri Katz) in Salem, Mass. on All Hallows' Eve after his virgin babe Allison Watts (Vinessa Shaw) lights the Black Flame Candle, and they begin a crusade to suck
the souls of all of Salem's children; does $39.5M box office on a $28M budget, becoming a cult film.
Nancy Savoca's Household Saints (Sept. 15), based on the 1981 Francine Prose novel is about three generations
of Italian-Am. women, incl. Catherine Falconetti (Tracey Ullman), Carmela Santangelo (Judith Malina), and daughter Teresa Santangelo (Lili Taylor)
in New York City's Little Italy; the catch is that Catherine was won in a pinochle game, and Teresa is a religious nut who thinks she's a saint.
Adrian Lyne's Indecent Proposal (Apr. 7), based on the Jack Engelhard novel stars Demi Moore as hot married woman Diana Murphy,
who agrees to hook up with millionaire John Gage (Robert Redford) for one night for $1M with the consent of hubby David (Woody Harrelson); based on real-life Joan Collins and her first
hubby Maxwell Reed?; #6 movie of 1993 ($107M).
Wolfgang Petersen's In the Line of Fire (July 9), written by Jeff Maguire stars Clint Eastwood as aging Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan,
who regrets not taking a bullet for JFK and gets to redeem himself by catching pres. assassin Mitch Leary (John Malkovich) when not porking fellow agent
("Oh, I have to put all that stuff back on, dammit") Rene Russo; #7 movie of 1993 ($102M).
Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father (Dec. 27) (Hell's Kitchen Films) (Universal Pictures), based on the
Gerry Conlon autobio. "Proved Innocent: The Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four" stars Daniel Day-Lewis as falsely-imprisoned IRA terrorist Gerry Conlon, whose father Patrick "Giuseppe" Conlon
is also framed for the 1974 Guildford Pub Bombings that killed four off-duty British soldiers and one civilian; does $65.8M box office on a $13M budget.
Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (June 11) (Universal Pictures), based on the 1990 Michael Crichton novel stars
Sam Neill as paleontologist Dr. Alan Gant, who takes hotpants asst. Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and horny ever-divorced chaos theory mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to see
a crazy theme park with cloned dinosaurs run by John Hammond (Richard Atenborough), only to see on-the-take computer nerd Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) let the dinos out;
Bob Peck plays big gamehunter Robert Muldoon; BD Wong plays scientist Dr. Henry Wu; #1 movie of 1993 ($350M U.S. and $914.6M worldwide box office on a $63M budget);
spawns the Jurassic Park series
incl. "The Lost World" (1997), "Jurassic Park III" (2001), "Jurassic World" (2015), "Fallen Kingdom" (2018), "Jurassic World 3" (2021).
Dominic Sena's Kalifornia (Sept. 3) (PolyGram) (Gramercy Pictures) (Sena's dir. debut) stars Brad Pitt as serial killer Early Grayce, who
gives an unforgettable ride to reporters Brian Kessler (David Duchovny) and Carrie Laughlin (Michelle Forbes); Juliette Lewis plays Pitt's babe Adele Corners; does $2.395M box office on an $8.5M budget.
Mark Jones' Leprechaun (Jan. 8) (Trimark Pictures) stars 3'6" English "Willow" star
Warwick Ashley Davis (1970-) as a mischevious leprechaun searching for his stolen pot of gold in a little town in S.D. whose luck
may have just run out; the film debut of Jennifer Joanna Aniston (1969-); does $8.6M box office on a $1M budget; spawns the
Leprechaun series incl. "Leprechaun 2" (1994), "Leprechaun 3" (1995), "Leprechaun 4: In Space" (1997),
"Leprechaun in the Hood" (2000), "Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood" (2003), "Leprechaun: Origins" (2014), and "Leprechaun Returns" (2019).
Chris Columbus' Mrs. Doubtfire
(Nov. 24) (20th Cent. Fox), based on the 1987 Anne Fine novel "Madame (Alias) Doubtfire" stars Robin Williams as eccentric San Fran actor
Daniel Hillard, whose marriage with Miranda (Sally Field) is on the rocks, causing him to don a fat bodysuit and impersonate Scottish nanny
Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire to visit his kids Lydia, Chris, and Natalie; #2 movie of 1993 ($219M U.S. and $441.3M worldwide box office on a $25M budget);
a planned sequel is scotched by Williams' 2014 suicide.
Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing
(May 7) stars Branagh as Benedick, Emma Thompson as Beatrice, Robert Sean Leonard as Count Claudio, Kate Beckinsale as Hero, Denzel Washington
as Don Pedro, Michael Keaton as Dogberry, and freakin' Keanu Reeves as Don John; does $22.5M box office on an $11M budget.
Henry Selick's The Nightmare Before Christmas
(Oct. 29), based on a story by Tim Burton is a 3-D animation flick starring Danny Elfman (singing voice) and Chris Sarandon (talking voice) as Pumpkin King Jack Skellington, who
lives in Halloweentown and discovers Christmastown.
Sally Potter's Orlando,
based on the 1928 gender-bender novel by Virginia Woolf stars Tilda Swinton as Orlando, Billy Zane as Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, and Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth I.
Alan J. Pakula's The Pelican Brief
(Dec. 17) (Warner Bros.), based on the 1992 John Grisham novel stars Julia Roberts as Tulane U. law student Darby Shaw, who discovers the secret of
why two U.S. Supreme Court justices were murdered, and involves Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington), with both
getting chased by hit-men incl. Khamel "Sam" (Stanley Tucci); Robert Culp plays the U.S. pres.; James B. Sikking plays FBI dir. F. Denton Voyles;
the novel deviates from the book in having no romance between white Roberts and black Washington, even though in the novel they are both white
and end up romancing on a beach; musical score by James Horner; #8 movie of 1993 ($101M U.S. and $195.3M worldwide box office on a $45M budget).
Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World stars Kevin Costner as Butch Haynes.
Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia (Dec. 23) (the city of brotherly love, get it?) stars Tom Hanks as able atty.
Andrew Beckett, who happens to suck, er, be gay and gets AIDS, causing his firm's homophobic yogurt-joking boss Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards) to fire him, after
which he hires married straight black atty. Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to fight back in court and win one of the Gipper while his partner Miguel Alvarez (Antonio Banderas)
cheers from the sidelines and manages to avoid contracting AIDS himself; "Explain it to me like I'm a four-year-old"; features the song
Streets of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen; does $74M in the U.S. and $201M worldwide.
Jane Campion's The Piano (Nov. 12) stars Holly Hunter as mute Scottish widow Ada, who moves to
New Zealand to wed colonial landowner Sam Neill, and sneaks off to the beach to play her piano, falling in love with neighbor George (Harvey Keitel),
leading to nude love scenes and a cruel revenge; Anna Paquin plays the precocious daughter.
Mario Van Peebles' Posse
(May 14) stars Van Peebles as Jesse Lee, whose black infantry unit returns from the Spanish-Am. War with a cache of gold, and is chased by white racist Col. Graham (Billy Zane),
who gets off the Moteasa Tribe joke; also stars Stephen Baldwin, Charles Lane, Tiny Lister, and Blair Underwood.
John Dahl's Red Rock West (June 16) (Columbia Pictures), shot in Mont. and Willcox, Ariz. stars Nicolas Cage as broke
USMC vet and drifter Michael Williams, whose job at an oilfield falls through because of a war injury, after which he wanders in his car into Red Rock, Wyo., and is mistaken for hit man Lyle
from Dallas by bar owner and sheriff Wayne (J.T. Walsh), who hires him to kill his wife Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle), putting him in a moral dilemma, which is compounded when the real
Lyle (Dennis Hopper) arrives.
Ismail Merchant's and James Ivory's The Remains of the Day (Nov. 5) (Columbia Pictures),
based on the E.M. Forster, er, 1989 Kazuo Ishiguro novel stars Anthony Hopkins as perfect English butler Stevens, who prefers to wank off rather than betray his unworthy Nazi-leaning master
Lord Darlington (James Fox), freaking out lonely and comely housekeeper Miss Sarah "Sally" Kenton (Emma Thompson) with his total inability to say cheese or make a pass or grab or get a stiffy for her;
does $64M box office on a $15M budget; Christopher Reeve plays U.S. Rep. Jack Lewis; Hugh Grant plays Darlington's godson Regnald Cardinal - takes a gay dir. to pull this one off well?
Bruce Beresford's Rich in Love (Mar. 5) (MGM), based on the 1987 novel by Josephine Humphreys set in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
stars Albert Finney and Jill Clayburgh as Warren Odom and Helen Odom.
Philip Kaufman's Rising Sun (July 30) (20th Cent. Fox), based on the 1992 Michael Crichton novel stars
Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes as Yankee cops Capt. John Connor and Lt. Web Smith in a murder mystery in the offices of sinister Japanese corp. (keiretsu) Nakamoto;
does $107.2M box office on a $50M budget.
Andrei Codrescu's Road Scholar: Coast to Coast Late in the Century
(July 16) sees the Romanian-Am. poet and NPR commentator get his license and drive across the U.S. in a red Cadillac contertible; Allen Ginsberg also shows up.
David Anspaugh's Rudy (Oct. 15) (TriStar Pictures) stars Sean Astin as
Daniel Eugene "Rudy" Ruettiger (1948-), a 5'7" 165 lb. runt who overcame every obstacle to play football for
the U. of Notre Dame as defensive end #45, scoring a sack against Georgia Tech on Nov. 8, 1975 and getting carried off the field; Jon Favreau plays D-Bob, Charles S. Dutton plays Fortune,
and Ned Beatty plays daddy Daniel Ruettiger Sr.; does $22.8M box office on a $12M budget.
David M. Evans' The Sandlot (Apr. 7) (20th Cent. Fox) stars Tom Guiry as 5th grader Scotty Smalls, who learn so play baseball in the
summer of 1962 in a sandlot in the San Fernando Valley and has to deal with a nightmare dog called the Beast; Denis Leary and Karen Allen play his parents Bill and Mrs. Smalls;
does $33.8M box office on a $7M budget; becomes a cult favorite.
Steven Spielberg's B&W Schindler's List (Nov. 30) (Amblin Entertainment) (Universal Pictures), about the horrors of the
WWII Krakow Ghetto stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, Ben Kingsley as Itzhak Stern, and Ralph Fiennes as barbaric Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth is Hollywood's ultimate slam on
the Nazi regime, depicting it as pure evil; "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire"; #9 movie of 1993 ($96M U.S. and $322.1M worldwide box office on a $22M budget); Spielberg (a Jew) directs
for free, saying to be paid would be "blood money"; Ford Motor Co., which has been boycotted by Jews since the 1920s because of the anti-Semitism of Henry Ford sponsors a TV showing of the film in 1997.
Steven Zaillian's Searching for Bobby Fischer (Aug. 11) (Paramount Pictues), based on a 1988 book by Fred Waitzkin, father
of 7-y.-o. chess prodigy Joshua "Josh" Waitzkin (1976-) (played by Max Pomeranc in his debut) tries to make a silly board game into the
Sword in the Stone?; Joe Mantegna plays Josh's father Fred, Ben Kingsley plays chess teacher Pandolfini, and Larry Fishburne plays chess hustler Vinnie; does $7.2M box office on a $12M budget.
Fred Schepisi's Six Degrees of Separation (Dec. 8) (MGM), based on the 1990 John Guare play about con artist
David Hampton stars Willard Christopher "Will" Smith Jr. (1968-)
as black gay con man Paul, who pretends to be Sidney Poitier's son to gain entrance to upper-mid white society couple Flan and Ouisa Kittredge (Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing);
Poitier's real son is Sydney Tamiia Poitier (1973-), er, he has six daughters and no sons;
"I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people.
Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The president of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find it A) extremely comforting
that we're so close, and B) like Chinese water torture that we're so close because you have to find the right six people to make the right connection... I am bound to everyone on this planet
by a trail of six people" - reminds me of Barack Obama?
Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle (June 25) (TriStar Pictures), a remake of 1957's romantic comedy "An Affair to Remember"
written by Nora Ephron of "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) fame stars Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin and Meg Ryan as Annie Reed; after it goes out of its way to plug the 1957 movie and compare itself to
"The Dirty Dozen", video rentals soar; cinematograpy by Sven Nykvist; #5 movie of 1993 ($127M U.S. and $227.9M worldwide box office on a $21M budget);
"What if someone you never met, someone you never saw, someone you never knew was the only someone for you?"
Wayne Wayne's Smoke
(June 9) (Miramax Films), written by Paul Auster stars Harvey Keitel as Auggie, mgr. of the Brooklyn Cigar Co. at 16th St. and Prospect Park West; co-stars William Hurt
as Paul Benjamin; followed by "Blue in the Face" (1995);
"Raleigh was the person who introduced tobacco in England, and since he was a favorite of the Queen's - Queen Bess, he used to call her - smoking caught on as a fashion at court.
I'm sure Old Bess must have shared a stogie or two with Sir Walter. Once he made a bet with her that he could measure the weight of smoke."
Jon Amiel's Sommersby (Feb. 5),
based on the life of 16th cent. French peasant Martin Guerre and set in post-U.S. Civil War U.S. stars Richard Gere as John "Jack" Sommersby, and Jodie Foster.
Rocky Morton's and Annabel Jankel's Super Mario Brothers
(May 28), based on the 1985 Nintendo game stars Bob Hoskins as Mario, Dennis Hopper as King Loopa, and Samantha Mathis as Princess Daisy, and is the first major film role for Colombian-born
John Alberto Leguizamo (1964-) as Luigi;
too bad, it bombs, doing $20.9M box office on a $48M budget.
Peter Bogdanovich's The Thing Called Love
(July 16) (Paramount Pictures) stars Samantha Mathis as Miranda Presley, who travels from New York City to Nashville, Tenn., where she hangs out at the
Bluebird Cafe while trying to make it in country music, and hooks up with James Wright (River Phoenix in his last screen appearance before he OD's in the parking lot
of the Viper Room in Los Angeles, Calif.) and Linda Lue Linden (Sandra Bullock); too bad, it only does $1M box office on a $14M budget.
Michael Caton-Jones' This Boy's Life
(Apr. 9) based on the 1989 memoir by Tobias Wolff stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Wolff, Robert De Niro as his stepfather Dwight Hansen, and Ellen Barken as his mother.
George P. Cosmatos' Tombstone
(Dec. 24) (Hollywood Pictures), written by Kevin Jarre and shot in Ariz. stars Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, Sam Elliott as Vigil Earp, Bill Paxton as Morgan Earp,
Powers Boothe as Curly Bill Brocius, Thomas Haden Church as Billy Clanton, Stephen Lang as Ike Clanton, Michael Biehn as Johnny Ringo, Charlton Heston as Henry Hooker, and John Philbin as
Tom McLaury; a little too overdressed and stagy?; does $56.5M box office on a $25M budget; "Justice Is Coming."
Krzysztof Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs: Bleu,
the first of a trilogy named after the French tricolor flag (blue for liberty, red for fraternity, white for equality) stars Juliette Binoche as an accident survivor; followed by
Trois Couleurs: Blanc (1994) and
Trois Couleurs: Rouge (1994).
Brian Gibson's What's Love Got to Do With It?
(June 9) stars Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne as Tina and Ike Turner, telling her side.
Danny Cannon's The Young Americans
stars Harvey Keitel as U.S. cop John Harris, who travels to London to apprehend gangster Carl Frazer (Viggo Mortensen); the debut of English dir.
Danny Cannon (1968-) and his Luton friend, movie composer David Arnold (1962-).
Art:
Enrique Chagoya, Disasters of War
(1993-2003); uses Goya's 1810 prints as a platform.
Judy Chicago (1939-), The Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light.
Peter Halley (1953-), A Perfect World;
day-glo acrylic on canvas.
Damien Hirst (1965-), Amonium Biborate.
Luis Jimenez (-2006), Blue Mustang
(AKA Blucifer, DIAblo, Satan's Steed) (statue); 32 ft. tall, 9K lbs.; commissioned by Denver Internat. Airport (DIA) for $30K;
a piece of the sculpture falls on him in his studio, severing an artery in his leg.
Kerry James Marshall (1955-), De Style.
Roberto Matta (1911-2002), Leaving Your Grass;
Vertige du Vertige;
Torinox;
Colomberos.
Philip Pearlstein (1924-), Two Nude Females with Four Geese Decoys.
David Salle (1952-), Picture Builder.
Plays:
Charles Catanese, Howard Crabtree, Dick Gallagher, Phillip George, Peter Morris, and Mark Waldrop,
Whoop-Dee-Doo! (musical revue) ("a postage stamp extravaganza")
(Actors Playhouse, New York) (June 16) (271 perf.); dir. by Phillip George; camp gay musical with extravagant costumes;
features the songs "Born This Way", "Last One Picked", "A Soldier's Musical".
Michael Frayn (1933-), Here.
David Hare (1947-), The Absence of War.
Tina Howe (1937-), One Shoe Off.
Steve Martin (1945-), Picasso at the Lapin Agile;
Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein meet at the Nimble Rabbit Bar in Montmartre, Paris on Oct. 8, 1904;
performed next Oct. by the Steppenwolf Theatre Co. in Chicago, Ill.
Frank McGuinness (1953-), The Bird Sanctuary.
Arthur Miller (1915-2005), The Last Yankee.
Reynolds Price (1933-), Full Moon.
Ronald Ribman (1932-), Dream of the Red Spider
(Am. Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Mass.).
Tom Stoppard (1937-), Arcadia.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), Make Up Your Mind;
Miss Temptation.
Derek Walcott (1930-), Odyssey.
Lanford Wilson (1937-), Redwood Curtain.
Poetry:
Archie Randolph Ammons (1926-2001), Garbage.
William Bronk (1918-99), The Mild Day.
Jim Carroll (1949-2009), Fear of Dreaming;
filmed in 1993 by John L'Ecuyer as "Curtis' Charm".
Fred Chappell (1936-), C: Poems.
Andrei Codrescu (1946-), Belligerence.
Robert Creeley (1926-2005), Life & Death.
Edward Dorn (1929-99), The Denver Landing.
Mark Doty (1953-), My Alexandria: Poems (Jan. 1) (Nat. Book Critics Circle Award);
written after his gay bud Wally Roberts tested positive for HIV;
incl. "Chanteuse" (how New York and its drag queens and other homos is "my false, my splendid chanteuse"), "Esta Noche", "Fog", "Bill's Story", "With Animals".
Rita Dove (1952-), Selected Poems.
Tess Gallagher (1943-), Portable Kisses.
Louise Gluck (1943-), The Wild Iris (Pulitzer Prize).
Jorie Graham (1950-), Materialism.
Thom Gunn (1929-2004), Collected Poems.
Donald Hall Jr. (1928-), The Museum of Clear Ideas.
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), Keeping Going.
Scott Heim (1966-), Saved from Drowning.
John Hollander (1929-), Tesserae and Other Poems;
Selected Poetry.
Jane Kenyon (1947-95), Constance.
Bill Knott (1940-), Collected Political Poems 1965-1993.
Audre Lorde (1934-92), The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance.
W.S. Merwin (1927-), Travels.
Sharon Olds (1942-), The Father.
Nathalie Sarraute (1900-99), Elle es La;
Pour un Oui ou Pour un Non.
Karl Shapiro (1913-2000), The Old Horsefly.
Charles Simic (1938-), Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell.
Patricia Smith (1955-), Close to Death.
Mark Strand (1934-), Dark Harbor: A Poem.
Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012), The End and the Beginning.
Diane Wakoski (1937-), Jason the Sailor.
Novels:
Walter Abish (1931-),
Eclipse Fever.
Peter Ackroyd (1949-), The House of Doctor Dee.
Alice Adams (1926-99), Almost Perfect.
Catherine Aird (1930-), A Going Concern.
Jorge Amado (1912-2001), The War of the Saints.
A. Manette Ansay (b. 1965), Read This and Tell Me What It Says (short stories).
Evelyn Anthony (1928-),
The Doll's House (Feb.); Harry Oakham is dismissed from the English civil service because
of the end of the Cold War, pissing him off and causing him to set up a training camp for the IRA.
Piers Anthony (1936-), Killobyte.
Isaac Asimov (1920-92), Forward the Foundation (posth.) (his last book); Hari Seldon grows old and dies.
Margaret Atwood (1939-), The Robber Bride;
Roz, Charis, and Tony meet monthly in a restaurant in Toronto.
Louis Auchincloss (1917-), Three Lives.
Pat Barker (1943-), The Eye in the Door; Regeneration Trilogy #2.
Frederick Barthelme (1943-), The Brothers.
Greg Bear (1951-), Moving Mars;
about Casseia Majumdar and a split on Mars between Earth and Mars factions.
Ann Beattie (1947-), Where You'll Find Me and Other Stories (short stories).
Wendell Berry (1934-), Watch with Me, and Six Other Stories of the Yet-Remembered Ptolemy Proudfoot and His Wife, Miss Minnie, Nee Quinch.
Maeve Binchy (1940-), Dublin People (short stories).
Marie-Claire Blais (1939-), Parcours d'un Ecrivain: Notes Americaines (American Notebooks: A Writer's Journey).
Kay Boyle (1902-92), Winter Night (posth.).
T. Coraghessan Boyle (1948-), The Road to Wellville.
Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933-), Angel.
David Brin (1950-), Glory Season.
Anita Brookner (1928-), A Family Romance (Dolly).
John Brunner (1934-95), Muddle Earth (last novel); about the 24th cent., when Earth becomes a tourist attraction.
James Lee Burke (1936-), In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead.
A.S. Byatt (1936-), The Matisse Stories (short stories).
Hortense Calisher (1911-2009), In the Palace of the Movie King.
John le Carre (1931-2020), The Night Manager.
Angela Carter (1940-92), American Ghosts and Old World Wonders (short stories).
Tom Clancy (1947-2013), Without Remorse; how John Kelly becomes John Clark, a guy with a lot of dirty laundry that the U.S. uses for dirty jobs.
Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), I'll Be Seeing You.
James Clavell (1924-94), Gai-Jin; set in Japan in 1862.
Jackie Collins (1937-2015), American Star.
Laurie Colwin (1944-92), More Home Cooking;
A Big Storm Knocked It Over (posth.).
Robin Cook (1940-),
Fatal Cure;
Vt. doctors David and Angela Wilson take on a corrupt HMO;
Terminal;
the Forbes Cancer Centre creates a cancer, then cures people who get it.
Catherine Cookson (1906-98), The Golden Straw;
The Forester Girl;
The Year of the Virgins.
Stephen Coonts (1946-), The Red Horseman;
Rear Adm. Jake Grafton #6.
Susan Cooper (1935-),
The Boggart.
Patricia Cornwell (1956-), Cruel & Unusual; 4th Kay
Scarpetta novel.
Harry Crews (1935-), Classic Crews.
John Crowley (1942-),
Antiquities: Seven Stories, Incunabula.
Guy Davenport (1927-2005), A Table of Green Fields
(short stories);
The Lark.
Samuel R. Delany (1942-),
Driftglass/Starshards (short stories).
Harriet Doerr (1910-2002),
Consider This, Senora.
Roddy Doyle (1958-),
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha; a 10-y.-o. Dubliner's world.
Andre Dubus III (1959-), Bluesman.
Allen Drury (1918-98), Into What Far Harbour?
Barbara Ehrenreich (1941-),
Kipper's Game
(first novel).
Harlan Ellison (1934-), Mefiso in Onyx.
Richard Paul Evans,
The Christmas Box.
Paul Emil Erdman (1932-2007),
Zero
Coupon.
Jeffrey Eugenides (1960-),
The Virgin Suicides
(first novel); the five Lisbon sisters are imprisoned in their home in Grosse Pointe, Mich. and use the 1975 Janis Ian #1 song "At Seventeen" to
communicate with the narrator and his friends before committing suicide; filmed in 1999 by Sofia Coppola.
Howard Fast (1914-2003), The Trail of Abigail Goodman.
Sebastian Faulks (1953-), Birdsong;
sells 3M copies; Charles Hartman, Stephen Wraysford and the Battle of the Somme; #2 in the France Trilogy.
Ken Follett (1949-), A Dangerous Fortune.
Robert Lull Forward (1932-2002), Camelot 30K.
Michael Frayn (1933-), Now You Know.
Marilyn French (1929-2009), Our Father.
Esther Freud (1963-), Peerless Flats.
Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012), El Naranjo.
Ernest J. Gaines (1933-), A Lesson Before Dying;
black man Jefferson is framed for murder and gets the death sentence despite his lawyer's defense that he's a "hog" and should not be butchered, after which teacher Grant Wiggins
is asked by his godmother Miss Emma to "make Jefferson a man" before he dies.
William Gibson (1948-), Virtual Light;
#1 in the Bridge Trilogy (1993-9).
Rebecca Goldstein (1950-), The Dark Sister; William James;
Strange Attractors (short stories).
Joe Gores (1931-), Dead Man.
Joanne Greenberg (1932-), No Reck'ning Made.
John Grisham (1955-), The Client;
11-y.-o. Mark sees a murder and hires atty. Reggie Love for $1; filmed in 1994.
Barry Hannah (1942-), Bats Out of Hell (short stories).
Joanne Harris, Sleep, Pale Sister.
John Hawkes (1925-98), Sweet William.
George V. Higgins (1939-99), Bomber's Law.
Oscar Hijuelos (1951-), The Fourteen Sisters of Emilion Montez O'Brien.
Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), Sacred Clowns;
Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.
Peter Hoeg (1957-), Borderliners.
Susan Isaacs (1943-), After All These Years.
Edmond Jabes, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Book.
John Jakes (1932-), Homeland;
#1 in the Crown Family Saga.
Denis Johnson (1949-), Rescuscitation of a Hanged Man;
Leonard English of Provincetown, Mass.
Thomas Keneally (1935-), Woman of the Inner Sea;
Jacko: The Great Intruder.
Elias Khoury (1948-), The Kingdom of Strangers.
Stephen King (1947-), Dolores Claiborne;
a maid, her hubby Joe St. George, rich Vera Donovan (1946-), murder and
incest on Maine's Tall Island; "The dust bunnies are everywhere".
Dick King-Smith (1922-),
The Sheep-Pig (Babe: the Gallant Pig).
Dean Koontz (1945-),
Mr. Murder;
Dragon Tears.
Milan Kundera (1929-),
Slowness.
Pascal Laine (1942-),
L'Incertaine.
Emma Lathen, Right on the Money;
John Putnam Thatcher #22.
Brad Leithauser (1953-),
Seaward.
Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), Pronto.
Gordon Lish (1934-),
Zimzum
(July 2).
Penelope Lively (1933-),
Cleopatra's Sister.
Mario Vargas Llosa (1936-),
Death in the Andes.
David Malouf (1934-),
Remembering Babylon;
1840s Australia.
Yann Martel (1963-), Seven Stories;
The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios.
Bobbie Ann Mason (1940-),
Feather Crowns.
Colleen McCullough (1937-),
1994 Doomsday Clock: 17 min. to midnight. Chinese Year: Dog (Feb. 10) (lunar year 4692). Time Mag. Man of the Year: Pope John Paul II (1920-2005). On Jan. 1 Wisc. defeats UCLA by 21-16 to win the 1994 Rose Bowl. On Jan. 1 implementation of the 1993 North Am. Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) begins, removing most barriers to trade between the U.S., Mexico and Canada - along with most barriers to illegal immigration? On Jan. 1 the Zapatista Uprising in Mexico begins, led by the anti-NAFTA Zapatista Army for Nat. Liberation (EZLN) (founded in 1983), bringing the names Chiapas (a largely Indio state in S Mexico) and pipe-smoking, calabash (ski mask)-wearing EZLN leader Subcommndante Marcos (Delegate Zero) (Rafael Sebastian Guillen Vicente) (Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente) (1957-) to world prominence as they seize four towns and declare war against the federales like in the days of the 1910 Mexican Rev.; in May 2014 he changes his handle to Subcomandante Galeano - badges? we don't need no stinkin' badges? On Jan. 1 Estonia adopts a flat income tax of 26%, lowering it to 20% in 2009; other former Soviet satellite countries follow suit, incl. Latvia (1995), Lithuania (1995), Russia (2001), Serbia (2003), Ukraine (2004), Slovakia (2004), Georgia (2005), Romania (2005), Kyrgyzstan (2006), Macedonia (2007), Mauritius (2007), and Mongolia (2007). On Jan. 1 the Marika 7 Liberian-registered iron ore carrier sinks in high seas 930 mi. E of Newfoundland, killing all 30 Filipino sailors and six Greek officers. On Jan. 1 New York City-born former 1980s Mafia-busting U.S. atty. Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani (1944-) becomes Repub. mayor #107 of New York City (until Dec. 31, 2001), going on to hire William Joseph "Bill" Bratton (1947-) as police commissioner (until Apr. 15, 1996), who applies the "broken windows theory" that clamps down on minor violations to prevent a permissive atmosphere leading to serious crimes. On Jan. 3 an overloaded Russian airliner crashes and explodes after takeoff from Irkutsk, Siberia, killing all 125 passengers and crew, plus another person on the ground. On Jan. 4-5 Euro countries hold talks in Vienna over possible partitions of ever-warring Bosnia-Herzegovina; by Feb. Bosnian Serbs around Sarajevo get rid of their guns to prevent NATO air strikes, while Russia sends mediators. On Jan. 6 Jeffrey David Powell of Denver, Colo., onetime leader of the Weather Underground and one of the last remaining fugitives from the 1960s counterculture gives himself up in Chicago; in the Oct. 1969 "Days of Rage" in Chicago, 19-y.-o. Powell hit a police officer in the head with a lead pipe, requiring 70 stitches, was convicted of felony aggravated assault, and skipped bail to go into hiding; he now pleads guilty to a reduced charge of mob action, receives a sentence of 18 mo. probation, and is fined $500. Lipstick jungle on ice? On Jan. 6 Cinderella-like Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan (1969-) of Stoneham, Mass. is attacked and her knee whacked by a collapsible metal baton; the attack is later traced to the husband and three associates of her skating rival, trailer park-raised (trailer trash? who said trailer trash?) Tonya Harding (1970-) of Portland, Ore., but she plays the plausible deniability game and is allowed to compete in the XVII (17th) Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway on Feb. 12-27 (mascots are the folk-character kids Haakon and Kristin), which are made into a media circus by their scrap; even though Kerrigan skates nearly perfectly just 50 days after her clubbing (winning a silver on Feb. 25), and Harding falls apart, coming in 8th and leaving a photo opp of her moping face, independent Ukraine receives its first Olympic gold medal for dark horse Orphan Annie almost-too-young figure skater Oksana Baiul (1977-); the Winter Olympics are moved to a 2-year offset from the Summer Olympics starting this year for marketing purposes; crystal-clear Norwegian opera soprano Sissel Kyrkjebo (1969-) performs during the opening and closing ceremonies; 29-y.-o. Bonnie Kathleen Blair (1964-) of the U.S. wins two gold medals for the 500m and 1000m speed-skating events, giving her five career golds, the most ever by a U.S. woman in Winter or Summer Olympics; Daniel Erwin "Dan" Jansen (1965-) of the U.S. wins a gold in the 1000m speed-skating event; Johann Olav Koss (1968-) of Norway wins three speed skating golds (1500m, 5K, 10K), and sets three world records; after Cathy Ann Turner (1962-) of Hilton, N.Y. wins the 500m short-track speed skating gold for her 2nd consecutive Olympics, silver medalist Zhang Yanmei (1972-) of China accuses her of grabbing her leg during the race, then stalks off the ceremonial stand, takes her medal off, and flings her flower bouquet to the ground; the men's ice hockey gold is won by Sweden, followed by Canada and Finland; Peter Mattias "Foppa" Forsberg (1973) helps Sweden win, winning another gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics, which combined with two Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche and the 1992 and 1998 world championships makes him a member of the Triple Gold Club, and the only Swede to win each of the three competitions twice; Norway leads in total medal standings with 10 golds and 26 total, Germany is 2nd with 9 golds and 24 total, and Russia is 3rd with 11 golds and 23 total; the U.S. is 5th with 6 golds and 13 total. On Jan. 8 Russia launches Soyuz TM-18, carrying cosmonauts Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev (1948-), Yury Vladimirovich Usachov (1957-), and Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov (1942-); on July 1 Soyuz TM-19 blasts off, carrying Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (1961-) and Talgat Amangeldyuly Musabayev (1951-) of Kazakhstan; on Oct. 3 Soyuz TM-20 blasts off, carrying Alexander Stepanovich Viktorenko (1947-), Yelena Vladimirovna Kondakova (1957-), and Ulf Dietrich Merbold (1941-) of Germany; Soyuz TM-19 returns on Nov. 4 with Malenchenko, Musabayev, and Merbold; Soyuz TM-18 returns on July 9 with Afanasyev and Usachov; Soyuz TM-20 returns next Mar. 22 with Viktorenko, Kondakova, and Valeri Polyakov. On Jan. 10 NATO adopts Partnership Peace, a historic program offering former Soviet bloc countries and republics the chance for participation in certain military exercises, info. exchanges, and peacekeeping missions. On Jan. 11 Colombian Gen. Alfonso Ortega reports finding 65 bullet-ridden corpses in a cave near Landazuri village, 105 mi. N of Bogota. On Jan. 12 France frees two Iranian murder suspects who had been part of a terrorist group in a Geneva suburb, pissing-off Switzerland. On Jan. 12-19 four men are arrested by federal authorities in connection with the Nancy Kerrigan attack, incl. Tonya Harding's former husband Jeff Gillooly on Jan. 19 in Portland, Ore.; on Feb. 1 Gillooly pleads guilty to planning the assault, and in July is sentenced to two years. On Jan. 17 (4:30 a.m.) the 6.7 Northridge Earthquake centered in the San Fernando Valley strikes Los Angeles, Calif., killing 57 incl. 16 residents of a 3-story apt. complex near Calif. State U. at Northridge, and injuring 8.7K, causing $13B-$44B damage. On Jan. 18 Repub. Christine Todd "Christie" Whitman (1946-) becomes gov. #50 of N.J. (until 2001). On Jan. 19 pro-Palestinian British Labour MP George Galloway (1954-) of Glasgow meets with Iraqi pres. Saddam Hussein, pissing-off the British Parliament; he is expelled from the Labour Party in Oct. 2003. On Jan. 22 a 5.5 earthquake strikes Sumatra, followed by the 6.8 Liwa Earthquake in S Sumatra on Feb. 15 (centered in Lampung Province) just after midnight, killing 217 and injuring 500. On Jan. 23 an all-volunteer fire brigade (mostly teenagers) in Puerto Madryn, Argentina is encircled by a brush fire, and all 25 are killed. On Jan. 30 the Philippine govt. signs a ceasefire agreement with the Moro Nat. Liberation Front of Muslim separatists. On Jan. 30 Super Bowl XXVIII (28) is held in Atlanta, Ga.; the Dallas Cowboys (NFC) defeat the Buffalo Bills (AFC) 30-13 in the Bill's 4th straight SB loss; a 46-yard fumble return by James Washington helps to tie the score and turn the momentum against Buffalo; Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith (1969-) is MVP; Geoffrey Stephen "Steve" Christie (1967-) of Buffalo makes a SB record 54-yard field goal. In Jan. North Korea signs an agreement with the U.S. to permit inspection of seven nuclear facilities, which some South Koreans criticize as too lenient; on Jan. 27 South Korea announces an agreement to deploy a U.S.-built Patriot antimissile system; on Feb. 15 North Korea permits a limited inspection of all its nuclear facilities, but on Mar. 21 the U.N. Atomic Energy Agency demands full inspects, causing North Korea to threaten to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty again; on May 14 it is disclosed that North Korea has been refueling its Yong-byon nuclear reactor. In Jan. the Sunni Muslim Taliban ("student") movement, founded by 1-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar (1959-) in the S Afghanistan province of Kandahar from members of the 40M-member Pashtun tribal group rapidly advances against Rabbani's govt., and launches bombing raids in Kabul. In Jan. the Clinton admin. formally lifts its trade embargo against Vietnam after 19 years, put in place over allegations of harboring MIAs - welcome to our world? In Jan. the Guatemalan govt. of Pres. de Leon resumes peace talks with URNG leftist rebels aimed at ending the 33-y.-o. civil war, and on Mar. 29 they reach an agreement, incl. a human rights accord and an agenda for ending the civil war by the end of the year, with a full human rights probe by the U.N.; on June 23 heavy rains unearth four mass graves containing the charred remains of over 1K men, women and children in Quiche Province, 100 mi. N of Guatemala City, murdered by the govt. in the early 1980s. In Jan. Kyrgyzstan voters endorse market reforms. In Jan. veteran Bing Crosby clone singer Perry Como (1912-2001) marks his 50th anniv. with RCA Victor records and 45th year doing TV Xmas specials with Como's Irish Christmas on PBS-TV in Dublin, Ireland; he apologizes at the conclusion for not being up to his usual standards, but it becomes a hit anyway, rebroadcast annually (until ?). In Jan. an interview with Kevin Bacon about his film "The River Wild" is pub. in Premiere mag., in which he comments that he's worked with everybody in Hollywood, or someone who's worked with them; on Apr. 7 an Internet newsgroup called "Kevin Bacon is the Center of the Universe" is created; in Apr. the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Game is created by Albright students Craig Fass, Brian Turtle, and Mike Ginelli, who on Sept. 1, 1996 pub. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon; Lydia Yeamans Titus was in "The Rag Man" (1925) with Ethel Wales, who was in "Smash-Up: the Story of a Woman" (1947) with Eddie Albert, who was in "The Big Picture" (1989) with Kevin Bacon. On Feb. 1 the Marshall Islands Fireball in the South Pacific is caused by a large asteroid. On Feb. 1 (8:00 p.m. ET) Starz (Starz! until Apr. 4, 2016) premium cable-satellite network is founded in Englewood, Colo., with seven channels by Sept., starting out airing "Scent of a Woman" and "The Crying Game" and reaching 31M subscribers in the U.S. in Jan. 2016. On Feb. 3 William James Perry (1927-) succeeds Les Aspin as U.S. defense secy. #19 (until Jan. 23, 1997). On Feb. 3 the Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off, carrying Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev (1958-), the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft; Krikalev was aboard Mir for 311 days 20 hours 1 min. in 1991-2 while the Soviet Union was collapsing, causing him to become known as "the last citizen of the Soviet Union"; he eventually spends a record 803 days in space. The American Dream lives on, for the lucky few who get a chance to meet a lucky Yankee and fight for them? On Feb. 7 Peter Jennings of ABC-TV interviews 12-y.-o. Serb Eki Foco (1982-) in Sarajevo, showing him playing soccer in a garage while guns go off in the distance, causing a Calif. couple to help him and his family immigrate; on June 14, 2006 Foco, a sailor on the USS Teddy Roosevelt becomes a U.S. citizen - everything you need at one address? On Feb. 9 the U.S. recognizes Macedonia, causing Greece to protest and place a trade embargo on it (until 1995), which causes the EU to object. On Feb. 10 a bus plunges into a ravine near Gulbong in N Sumatra, Indonesia, killing 36 and injuring 11. On Feb. 12 (first day of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehmmer) Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream" is stolen from the Norwegian Nat. Art Museum in Oslo by thieves who smash a window and make off with it in 50 sec.; after it proves to famous to fence, undercover British police posing as art dealers recover it. On Feb. 13 a boat carrying about 200 Burmese workers capsizes off Bangkok, Thailand, killing all abord. On Feb. 24 the last band of 400 right wing contras in Nicaragua agree to give up their weapons to the army in exchange for amnesty and incorporation into the nat. police force. On Feb. 25 (during the overlapping holidays of Purim and Ramadan) the Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre in Hebron on the occupied West Bank sees ultra-right Jewish settler Baruch Kappel Goldstein (b. 1956) massacre 29 (39-52?) and wound 100+ Muslims praying in a mosque, until the survivors beat him to death, after which riots throughout the occupied territories cause 19 Palestinians to be killed by Israeli forces in the next 48 hours; on Mar. 1 as revenge for the massacre, Lebanese-born Muslim Am. immigrant Rashid Baz (1966-) opens fire on a van carrying over a dozen Hasidic students on the entrance ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge, killing 16-y.-o. Ari Halberstam (b. 1977) while shouting "Kill the Jews"; four others are wounded; on Jan. 18, 1995 Baz is sentenced to 141 years in prison; the ramp is renamed after Halberstam in 1995. On Feb. 25 a Russian-built Yakovlev-40 passenger plane en route from Lima, Peru to Tingo Maria crashes after passing over Huanuco, killing 29, incl. two Russian crew members. On Feb. 28 Hungary launches a massive industry privatization program. In Feb. U.S. FDA commissioner David A. Kessler announces that the FDA is declaring War on Nicotine, considering whether to designate nicotine as a drug subject to their regulation; a congressional committee begins hearings in Mar., at which cigarette manufacturers put up song and dance denying everything; a study by WHO, the Am. Cancer Society, and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in Sept. finds that about 3M people are dying each year from illnesses related to smoking (chillblains, vapors, and clangs?); on Aug. 2 a scientific Advisory panel concludes that the nicotine in cigs is addictive, and that 85%-90% of the 45M U.S. smokers are addicted, smoking five or more a day; on Oct. 21 Kessler gives a speech to the NAACP presenting his side. In Feb. African lions in the Serengeti Nat. Park in Tanzania begin to contract canine distemper virus, and by mid-June 60 of the park's 3K lions die, becoming the first time the disease strikes felines. On Mar. 1 future 2008 Nobel Prize Winner Martti Ahtisaari (1937-) becomes pres. #10 of Finland (until Mar. 1, 2000), going on to work to resolve internat. conflicts for decades. On Mar. 1 Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev and Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow enter into the first agreement since 1917 to provide Eastern Orthodox chaplains to the Russian army. On Mar. 2 the Zaptista Army (EZLN) accepts a tentative reform pact with the Mexican govt. of Carlos Salinas de Gortari after he promises amnesty, then on June 16 they flip-flop and reject the agreement, citing refusal to discuss wider dem. reforms, but continue to observe the ceasefire; too bad, on Mar. 23 Mexican PRI pres. candidate ("the JFK of Mexico") Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta (b. 1950) is assassinated in Tijuana by what the govt. calls a lone gunman (a mechanic); he had promised to reform corruption and shut down the drug cartels, who now have a blank check; a govt. investigation clears itself of conspiracy; it was a conspiracy, with inside govt. help? On Mar. 4 four Muslims are convicted of conspiracy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, each receiving 240-year sentences. On Mar. 7 a passenger ferry capsizes during a storm on Lake Victoria near Sikri Island in Kenya, drowning at least 40. On Mar. 8 a commuter train derails near Durban, S. Africa, killing at least 64 passengers and injuring another 370; the train is carrying more than 800 black passengers, and terrorists are suspected - the worst train accident in S. Africa since 1965. On Mar. 11 Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1942-), son of pres. (1964-70) Eduardo Frei (1911-82) becomes pres. #32 of Chile (until Mar. 11, 2000). On Mar. 13 an oil tanker collides with a freighter in the Bosphorus Strait, causing Turkey to issue new safety regulations for ships on July 1. On Mar. 16 Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder the investigation of the Kerrigan attack; she denies prior knowledge of the attack, but admits to conspiring with Jeff Gillooly to cover it up. On Mar. 18 Bosnian Muslims sign a charter with the Croats to create a federation, while Pres. Clinton expresses hope that the Serbs will join. On Mar. 21 the 66th Academy Awards award the best picture Oscar for 1993 to Universal's Schindler's List (last B&W film to win until ?), along with best dir. to Steven Spielberg (his first Oscar); best actor goes to Tom Hanks for Philadelphia (his first), best actress to Holly Hunter, and best supporting actress to 11-y.-o. Anna Paquin for Jane Campion's The Piano (in which Harvey Keitel shows his danglies but comes up short in the awards?), and best supporting actor to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive; Jane Campion becomes the 2nd woman dir. to be nominated for best dir. (first 1976). On Mar. 21 two Kurdish women set themselves on fire and die in Germany to protest German arms sales to Turkey and the latter's mistreatment of the Kurds; after seven more Kurds immolate themselves during this week (Kurdish New Year), they suspend arms shipments to Turkey in Apr. On Mar. 22 a Russian Aerofloat airliner crashes near Mezhdurechensk, Siberia, killing all 75 aboard, never sending a distress signal; an investigation on Apr. 5 reveals that a crewmember was showing his kids how to pilot the craft, and one of them disengaged the autopilot. On Mar. 25 U.S. troops withdraw from Somalia; approx. 25K U.N. troops remain; the U.S. loses its stomach for peacekeeping in Africa at the worst possible time? On Mar. 27 a storm system spawning dozens of tornadoes sweeps through the SE U.S., killing 22 in Ala., 17 in Ga., 2 in Tenn., and 2 in N.C.; a tornado hits the Goshen United Methodist Church outside Piedmont, Ala., killing 20 (incl. 6 children) while attending Palm Sunday services. On Mar. 27 the Org. of American States (OAS) selects Colombian pres. Cesar Gaviria Trujillo as their new secy.-gen. for a 5-year term; he pledges to work to create a single free-trade zone for the entire Western Hemisphere. On Mar. 27-28 the conservative coalition Alliance for Freedom (which incl. a neo-Fascist group) wins elections in Italy, and billionaire Silvio Berlusconi (1936-) (a former lounge singer and door-to-door appliance salesman who became Italy's richest man) becomes PM; too bad, on July 13 a financial scandal involving him surfaces, causing him to resign on Dec. 22 after a no-confidence vote - I'll be baack? On Mar. 29-Apr. 7 Bosnian Serbs assault the Muslim enclave of Gorazde SE of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, causing NATO, supported by Islam history ignoramus Pres. Clinton to bomb Serb positions until they pull back. In Mar. U.S. teenager Michael Peter Fay (1975-) is sentenced to 4 mo. in jail and six lashes on the bare buttocks with a wet rattan cane over a 1993 charge of defacing cars with eggs and spray paint, plus tearing down traffic signs a la Cool Hand Luke; Pres. Clinton appeals for clemency, but the court reduces the number of lashes to four, he gets his spanking on May 5, and is finally released after 83 days behind bars - I'm shakin' the bush, boss? In Mar. the Rand Corp. reports that state and federal govts. in the U.S. have spent nearly $13B total on drug law enforcement, and that treatment programs cost several times less than legal action. On Apr. 1 Hungary applies to join the EU. On Apr. 6 7 mo. after the Rabin-Arafat handshake on the Oslo Accords, the first Palestinian suicide bomber kills eight Israelis in Afula; on May 10 Arafat gives a speech in Johannesburg, South Africa, comparing the accords to the Hudabiya or temporary truce with the Koraish tribe signed by Muhammad, which he abrogated two years later, slaughtering the Koraish and conquering Mecca. Tut-tut-tutsi goodbye, tut-tut-tutsi don't cry? The war of tall vs. medium in a land with one-percent pygmies? On Apr. 6 (Wed.) the Rwandan Genocide begins after longstanding hate between the short-statured majority (85%) Hutu and tall-statured minority (15%) Tutsi (Watusi) tribes goes critical mass after a plane carrying Burundian Hutu pres. Cyprien Ntaryamira and Rwandan Hutu pres. Juvenal Habayrimana is shot down as it approaches the Rwandan capital of Kigali, killing them both, and triggering civil wars in both countries, with Hutu youth gangs in Burundi massacring Tutsi, crying "Cut down the tall trees", followed by the Tutsi-controlled army killing Hutus, killing 300K by 1996; Hutu Sylvestre Ntibantunganya (Gishubi Gitega) (1956-) becomes pres. of Burundi (until 1996); meanwhile across the border in Rwanda (Africa's most Christian nation), news of an imminent power-sharing agreement between Hutus and Tutsis proposed by Hutu moderate Habyarimana causes a state-run radio station controlled by Hutu extremists to inflame fears of a Tutsi takeover, and after the double assassination of Hutus (by Hutu extremists?) "proves" it, a 100-day killing spree begins as the pres. guard begins killing Tutsi opposition leaders, followed by the police and soldiers attempting to slaughter the entire Tutsi pop., resulting in 500K-1M Rwandans (mostly Tutsis, plus moderate Hutu sympathizers) out of a pop. of 7.7M being slaughtered, mainly by the 30K-member Interahamwe militia, with the gen. Hutu pop., goaded by the govt.-controlled radio (which calls Tutsis "cockroaches") joining in; on Apr. 9 Jean Kambanda (1955-) becomes PM of Rwanda, and remains in office for the Hundred Days of Genocide, later confessing to genocide; the Tutsi-led Rwanda Patriotic Front fights back, and after a 14-week civil war it sweeps the country and is victorious by July, after which Pres. Paul Kagame ousts the Hutu govt., ending the slaughter, which becomes infamous for the total lack of internat. response, the U.N. in Rwanda pulling out after a measly 10 of its soldiers are killed; a push by Catholics to establish schools, which was most successful among the Tutsi causes the schools to become killing pens; 1.7M Hutu refugees flee into Zaire, while starvation causes a slaughter of wildlife, and prof. poachers run amok without govt. control, killing 250 Congolese park wardens; the new Tutsi-controlled govt. of Rwanda allows Hutu Pasteur Bizimungu (1950-) to serve as pres. (until 2000), with Tutsi rebel leader Paul Kagame (1957-) (founder of the Rwandan Patriotic Front) as vice-pres. and eminence grise until 2000, when he becomes you-can-i-am pres. (until ?); after the French do nothing, French institutions in Rwanda are shut down, and Rwanda switches its official language from French to English; on Feb. 25, 2010 French pres. Nicolas Sarkozy issues an apology, acknowledging "mistakes"; in 2004 a French judge accuses Kagame of being behind the shooting down of the pres. plane, which he denies; the fun then spreads to Zaire, as Hutu guerrillas hiding among the refugees begin attacking the govt., causing it to threaten to exile their own Tutsi, and leading to Rwanda supporting Tutsi rebels against the same govt.; the complicity of the Roman Catholic Church in the genocide, which ends up turning thousands of Rwandans away, incl. two Catholic nuns convicted in 2001 by a Belgian court for aiding and abetting murders; a Catholic nun who helped militias kill hundreds hiding in a hospital is sentenced to 30 years in Nov. 2006; Roman Catholic Hutu priest Athanase Seromba (1963-), who ordered militamen to set fire to a church filled with 2K Tutsis huddled inside for safety and then orders it bulldozed after some remain alive, is convicted on Dec. 13, 2006 and sentenced to 15 years; by 2006 63K genocide suspects (9.2% of the 8.2M pop.) are detained in Rwanda, and authorities say at least 761K should stand trial; in 2003 a wildlife survey shows that 20K of the 50K native bonobos in existence were wiped out; the bad example of the Roman Catholic Church later causes many Rwandans to turn to Islam. On Apr. 7 an attempted hijacking of cargo-carrying Federal Express Flight 705 (McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30) en route from Memphis, Tenn. to San Jose, Calif. by suicidal employee Auburn Calloway, who brings a guitar case onboard concealing hammers and a speargun is foiled by the heroic crew, after which which he is convicted of attempted murder, air piracy et al., and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. On Apr. 8 Japanese PM Morihiro Hosokawa resigns after denying accusations of bribes and questionable stock dealings, and foreign minister Tsutomu Hata (1935-) becomes PM on Apr. 25, but resigns on June 25 after failing to gain parliamentary support, and on June 29 Tomiichi Murayama (1924-) of the leftist Social Dem. Party becomes PM of Japan (until 1996) after forming an unprecedented union of leftists and rightists - only in Japan? On Apr. 10 Archbishop Anastasios of the Albanian Orthodox Church calls for peace between Albania and Greece after the former bans an Easter procession in Tirana, claiming that ethnic Greeks caused the deaths of two Albanian border guards; on May 6 Albania charges six ethnic Greeks with formenting separatism, while Greece accuses Albania of trying to terrorize its ethnic Greek pop. On Apr. 10 Bronx, N.Y.-born Charles Osgood (Charles Osgood Wood II) (1933-) replaces Charles Kuralt on CBS News Sunday Morning (until Sept. 25, 2016), On Apr. 14 the Nat. Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health reports that mining ranks as the most dangerous occupation in the U.S., with 319 deaths per 1M workers per year. On Apr. 15 the Vatican begins allowing girl altar servers to assist Roman Catholic priests during services - their turn for sex abuse? On Apr. 15 the Uruguay Round of GATT meets in Marrakesh Palace in Morocco, attended by reps from 116 nations, lowering tariffs on manufactured goods incl. drugs and electronics while bringing vast new areas of economic activity into the global trading system incl. the service and intellectual products sectors incl. pharmaceuticals, which are protected by the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement; Japan and Korea agree to open their domestic rice markets to imports; the EU agrees to limit subsidies to farmers; the World Trade Org. (WTO) in Geneva is formed effective next Jan. 1, ending the 1947 Gen. Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) with a new world governing body representing 153 member nations (95% of world trade), meeting every two years; it holds its first round of talks in Doha in Nov. 2001, becoming "a defining moment in modern political and economic history." (Peter Sutherland) On Apr. 19 Pres. Clinton admits at an MTV Town Hall forum that he usually wears briefs - tighty whites, ask Monica? On Apr. 19 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 6-3 in J.E.B. v. Ala. ex rel. T.B that it is unconsitutional to make peremptory juror challenges based solely on the juror's sex, extending Batson v. Ky. (1986), which ruled out race-based challenges, and Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co. (1991), which expanded the principle to civil trials. On Apr. 20 after long years in hiding and other shenanigans, French Vichy collaborator Paul Touvier (1915-96) becomes the first Frenchman convicted of crimes against humanity. On Apr. 22 Lee Hoi-chang resigns after only 4 mo. as PM of South Korea, saying that he is frustrated with Pres. Kim Yong-sam's domination of policy decisions regarding pesky North Korea and its nuclear facilities; on Apr. 28 he is succeeded by deputy PM Lee Yong-duk, a North Korean defector; he is replaced on Dec. 17 by Lee Hong-koo. On Apr. 26 China Airlines Flight 140 (Airbus A300) en route from Taipei, Taiwan stalls and crashes as it approaches the runway in Nagoya, Japan, killing 264 of 256 pssengers and crew aboard. On Apr. 27 Transkei in SE Africa, birthplace of Nelson Mandela is reincorporated into South Africa. On Apr. 29 Pope John Paul II is taken to the hospital after breaking a leg in a fall in his bathroom, and undergoes hip replacement surgery; he is discharged on May 27. In Apr. three banks fail in Turkey as $9B of its $60B debt falls due, causing inflation to soar by 30% in May, and the lira to fall 58% in value, causing grumbling over the U.N. trade sanctions against Iraq, which have cost them $20B since 1990; on Apr. 5 PM Tansu Ciller announces austerity measures, and in Sept. wins approval of a plan to sell state-owned cos. in order to qualify for IMF loans. In Apr. U.N.-led talks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots collapse. In Apr. Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow Alexei II speaks to the Hungarian parliament, asking forgiveness for the 1956 Soviet invasion, and stressing his desire for ecumenical relationships with Hungarian churches. On May 2 the African Nat. Congress (ANC) wins the first multiracial election in South African history; on May 9 after the newly-elected parliament chooses him, Pres. F.W. de Klerk acknowledges defeat in favor of Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), who is inaugrated as pres. #1 of South Africa on May 10 (until June 14, 1999), calling his country a "rainbow nation". On May 2 Marc Haydel Morial (1958-), son of mayor #57 (1978-86) Dutch Morial becomes mayor #59 of New Orleans, La. (until May 6, 2002). On May 2 a cyclone sweeps along the SE coast of Bangladesh, killing at 120+ near Cox's Bazar, many of them Burman refugees, damaging 16 of 18 Burmese refugee camps and leaving 500K homeless. On May 4 Palestinians begin self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, and by May 18 Israeli troops withdraw from the area, with the exception of border and buffer zones, being replaced by 4K Palestinian police as the new Palestine Nat. Authority (originally Palestinian Authority) takes control over tourism and social services on Aug. 15, followed by educational affairs on Sept. 1, and health and taxation in Nov. On May 5 civil war erupts in Yemen as Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabia-backed S Yemen secessionists seek recognition of an independent southern state; they are defeated in July. On May 5 the Bishkek Protocol, a provisional ceasefire agreement is signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan, the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Repub, and Vladimir Kazimirov, Russian rep to the CSCE Minsk Group, ending the Nagorno-Karabakh War (begun Feb. 20, 1988). On May 6 the $15B 31.35-mi.-long Chunnel (Channel Tunnel), connecting Folkestone, England and Calais, France in Europe by rail is opened to commercial traffic two years behind schedule, with freight service beginning in Aug, and passenger service on Nov. 14; the time for a Channel crossing drops from 1 hour to 30 min. On May 7 Japanese justice minister Shigeto Nagano is forced to resign for denying that the Japanese Army massacred Chinese civilians at Nanjing in 1937 and that Japan was an aggressor in WWII; on Aug. 12 environment minister Shin Sakurai also denies Japan's aggression in WWII and is also forced to resign; on Aug. 14 PM Tomiichi Murayama apologizes for the "tragic sacrifices" which Japan inflicted on other countries during the war. The year of the dead serial murderers? On May 10 after a last meal of a dozen deep-fried shrimps, a bucket of original recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken, French fries, and a pound of strawberries, Chicago, Ill.-born serial murderer and part-time Pogo the Clown John Wayne Gacy Jr. (b. 1942) is executed by the state of Ill.; on Nov. 28 serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer (b. 1960) (who already had his kind of last meal before being arrested) is killed in a bathroom at Columbia Correctional Inst. in Portage, Wisc. by fellow convicted multiple murderer Christopher J. Scarver (1969-), who becomes an instant celeb - Christ, don't scarf me down? On May 13 the U.S. and six Euro countries (incl. Russia) announce a plan to partition Bosnia, giving Serbs 49% and the Muslim-Croat Federation 51%. On May 16 after 30K deaths, Armenia and Azerbaijan agree to a ceasefire in their ongoing war (since 1988) over Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Christian Armenian enclave in Shiite Muslim Azerbaijan; on July 27 Armenia agrees to extend the ceasefire but refuses to withdraw from Azerbaijani territory; meanwhile trillions of dollars in oil reserves are discovered in Azerbaijan, and the state oil. co. SOCAR signs several billion-dollar agreements with internat. oil cos. and adopts a pro-Western stance. On May 16 Roussel Uclaf of France, maker of the abortion pill RU-486 announces an agreement making it available in the U.S. by 1996, giving patent rights free of charge to the nonprofit Pop. Council in New York City; the pill is used to induce abortion during the first seven weeks after the big C. On May 16 the U.S. Dept. of the Interior is forced to sell the rights to mine billions of dollars in gold on federally-owned land near Elko, Nev. to Canadian co. American Barrick Resources Inc. for just $9,765 ($5 an acre) under an 1872 law that permits mining federal lands without paying royalties; U.S. interior secy. (1993-2001) Bruce Babbitt calls the sale "the biggest gold heist since the days of Butch Cassidy." On May 16 an Amtrak train en route from Fla. to New York City hits a truck and derails near Smithfield, N.C., killing the engineer and injuring 350+. On May 17 after the first multiparty election in Malawi history, Elson Baikili Muluzi (1943-) soundly (47%) defeats former dictator Hastings K. Banda and becomes pres. #2 of Malawi (until May 24, 2004). On May 18 Pres. Violeta Barrios de Chammoro of Nicaragua, hoping to free up millions of dollars of U.S. aid to her country presents a proposal to the Nat. Assembly that would place the army under civilian control. On May 23 the 1994 Hajj Stampede sees 270+ Muslim pilgrims trampled to death in Mina, Saudi Arabia (3 mi. outside Mecca) after a stampede breaks out during a religious festival. On May 27 Orochol, from Berna Biotech of Switzerland, a new oral vaccine for cholera receives approval to be marketed in Switzerland, to be followed by most other countries. On May 30 pres. (since Nov. 10, 1985) Ezra Taft Benson (b. 1899) dies, and on June 5 Idaho-born Howard William Hunter (1907-95) becomes Mormon (LDS) pres. #14 (until Mar. 3, 1995), the first pres. born in the 20th cent., the last to die in it, and the shortest term (9 mo.). On May 31 the U.S. announces that it no longer is aiming long range nukes at targets in the former Soviet Union. In May the U.N. Security Council votes to end the embargo on South Africa. In May the Andy Warhol Museum is opened in his hometown of art-challenged Pittsburgh, Penn. - 15 minutes of fame? When I was young, so much younger than today, Or, A black mayor gives O.J. no place to run with a billion dollar boondoggle in Mile-Hi Denver, the Baggage System from Hell? In May the opening of Mayor Wellington Webb's new Denver Internat. Airport (DIA), (replacing Stapleton Airport), originally scheduled for Oct. 31, 1993 is delayed for a 4th time because of problems with the automated baggage system, developed by BAE Automated Systems Inc. of Dallas, which rips luggage apart in front of TV cameras, mishandles numerous bags over the 1995 Christmas season, and becoming a nat. laughing stock ("Lookout for falling suitcases"), eventually ballooning from $250M to $700M, and being dropped by every airline except United, which finally gives up trying to make it work and scraps it in 2005 to save $1M/mo. and lower its mishandled bag rate from 12.4 per 1K passengers to the companywide avg. of 5.6; the baggage system causes the airport to open in Feb. 1995, 16 mo. behind schedule and $2B over budget; it features the longest runway in the world, 3-mi.-long; it ends up a financial success after all?; too bad, it becomes the target of OWG conspiracy theories over its weird murals and network of secret sub-basements. On June 2 a heli carrying the head of Northern Ireland's Special Branch antiterrorist security force to an antiterrorist conference near Inverness crashes in heavy fog in SW Scotland, killing all 29 aboard, incl. nine British Army intel officers. On June 3 a 7.2 earthquake triggers tidal waves that sweep through coastal villages of Java and Bali, killing 218. On June 3-14 the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit (U.N. Conference on Environment and Development) is held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, producing the 27-principle Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, based on the principle of sustainable development, a Rio Declaration on Forests, the Rio Framework Convention on Climate Change (June 4), and the 40-chapter $600B Agenda 21 along with an agreement to establish a Sustainable Development Commission to monitor the progress in i mplementing the Rio Declaration, becoming the largest and most costly diplomatic gathering in world history to date but failing to agree on an internat. ban on whaling, followed on June 13-22 by the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, in which U.S. Sen. (D-Colo.) (1987-93) Timothy Endicott "Tim" Wirth (1939-) (backer of Al Gore's agenda) utters the soundbyte to the audience: "We have got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic policy and environmental policy", going on to become undersecy. of state #1 for global affairs for the U.S. State Dept. in 1993-7, lead U.S. negotiator for the Kyoto Climate Conference, and pres. #1 of the United Nations Foundation in 1998-2013; activists claim that the Earth has only 10 years left to get global warming under control; meanwhile a climate skeptic conference to be held in Heidelberg, Germany, resulting in the Heidelberg Appeal by Michel Salomon to be pub. on June 14, calling on govt. to quit following environmental science for their policies, calling it "pseudoscientific arguments or false and nonrelevant data", pissing-off the global warmists, who call it tobacco and asbestos industry agitprop. On June 4 a Socialist resurgence caused by the economic reforms causes the Hungarian parliament to chose Gyula Horn (1932-) as PM (until 1998). On June 6 (50th anniv. of D-Day) the switchboard at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. (34,500 lines) has its busiest day ever, with 1,502,415 calls. On June 6 China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303, a Russian-built Tupolev-154 Chinese provincial airliner crashes 8 min. after takeoff in heavy rain from Xian, China, killing all 146 passengers and 14 crew after the autopilot system fails, becoming the worst single air disaster in China (until ?). On June 6 a 6.0 earthquake causes mud and rock slides in Toez and Irlanda in the Paez River Valley SW Colombia near the border with Ecuador, killing 1K, becoming the worst disaster of the year and the strongest earthquake in Colombia since the 6.8 one in May 1957. On June 7 USGS scientists meeting in Treasure Island say that there is a 90% chance of a major earthquake striking the San Francisco Bay Area within the next 30 years. On June 10 factions in Bosnia sign a 1-mo. ceasefire agreement to consider the peace-partitions plans; too bad, by Aug. the Serbs reject three straight plans. The actor figures out how to put the cops on trial and wins? On June 12-13 (night) the slasher-style murder of Nicole Brown Simpson (b. 1959) and friend Ron Goldman (b. 1968) leads to a great media circus as her hubby, former NFL football star O.J. (Orenthal James) Simpson (1947-) is arrested on June 17 after a 60-mi. nationally-televised low speed pursuit in his white Ford Bronco (which causes TV coverage Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets to be interrupted, along with the final round of the U.S. Open, a parade honoring the New York Rangers for winning the Stanley Cup, and the start of the World Cup match between Germany and Bolivia), and then in a televised media circus trial watched by 95M is tried and acquitted on Oct. 5 next year, with most blacks believing him innocent and cheering, while most Am. whites believe him to be guilty; the supermarket tabloid The National Enquirer "reminded us what good, basic journalism is about" (Ted Koppel) by breaking many authentic stories about the case; O.J.'s Wisc.-born bleached-blonde surfer boy "professional houseguest" Brian "Kato" Kaelin (1959-) (son of Gilligan and Ginger?) becomes a celeb, and ends up flip-flopping and saying he believes he's guilty. On June 13 Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela sign a free-trade agreement. On June 13 a ship carrying about 50 Somalis returning home to escape a civil war in Yemen sinks in the Gulf of Aden, killing all aboard. On June 13 after the U.S. steps up military exercises with South Korea, North Korea announcees that the situation is on the "brink of war"; on June 15 the U.S. govt. asks the U.N. Security Council to impose economic sanctions; on June 15-18 former Pres. Carter visits North Korea and meets with Kim Il-sung, cooling things down, and sets a North-South Korean summit at Pyongyang for July 28 (first since WWII); too bad, on July 8 Kim Il-sung (b. 1912) dies of a heart attack (world's longest serving leader, since 1948), causing planned talks in Geneva to be delayed until Aug., resulting in an Aug. 12 agreement by North Korea not to produce any more weapons-grade plutonium and permit inspections of more nuclear sites in return for the U.S. giving them $4B in new nuclear power plants incapable of producing plutonium, and on Oct. 12 they sign a pact to dismantle North Korea's nuke program, heading off Armageddon for awhile. On June 23 Nigerian pres. (since Nov. 17, 1993) Gen. Sani Abacha arrests former Nigerian pres. Moshood Abiola and charges him with treason, causing petroleum and other workers top stike in protest for eight weeks, but give up on Sept. 4; democracy is all-but kaput in another African country. On June 24 Austria, Finland, Sweden, and Norway sign treates of accession to the European Union (EU), subject to approval in nat. referendums. On June 24 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-4 in Dolan v. City of Tigard that the application of restrictive zoning violates the Takings Clause if it does not substantially advance legitimate govt. interests under the doctrine of Unconstitutional Conditions, that a govt. agency may not require a person to surrender constitutional rights in exchange for discretionary benefits. On July 1 Yasser Arafat makes a triumphant return to Palestinian soil for the first time in 26 years, visiting Gaza and Jericho; his welcome is partially spoiled by grumbling by Palestinians, who believe that he has conceded too much to the Israelis. On July 1 an Air Mauritania passenger airline crashes during landing in a sandstorm at an airport in C Mauritania, killing 94 of 101 aboard. On July 2 37 are killed and 20 injured when USAir Flight 1016 attempts to abort a landing at Charlotte, N.C. in bad weather. On June 30-July 8 Tropical Storm Alberto rocks the SE U.S.; on July 4 it strikes S Georgia, causing several river to flood and killing 31. On July 4 a Turkish diplomat is slain in Athens by a Greek guerrilla group for alleged crimes against "Cyprus and the Kurds", becoming the 4th diplomat slain since 1980. On July 8 82-y.-o. North Korean pres. (since 1948) "Great Leader", "Dear Leader" and "Eternal President" Kim Il-sung (b. 1912) dies of a heart attack, and his 5'3" playboy son (wearing a bouffant hairstyle to look taller) Kim Jong-il (Jong Il) (Chong-il) (1942-2011) takes power in the dirthole fever pitch slave labor camp police state of North Korea, becoming pres. and gen. secy. of the Communist Party and new Great and Dear Leader in what amounts to Communism's first family succession; daddy's attempt to build the military to conquer the South ruined the economy, causing many North Koreans to starve as his son takes power after a delay in which who knows what was going on behind the scenes; up to 2M North Koreans die from malnutrition by the end of the cent., while Kim Jong-Il goes for women, fast cars, and fine dining, his favorite food being roast donkey, and his cognac budget of $2K a day no problemo?; an avid film buff, he builds a library of 20K foreign films and produces several films, all self-serving moose hockey history?; a wave of North Koreans flee to South Korea by crossing the shallow Tumen River, where most of the get converted to Protestantism? On July 13 32 Cuban refugees drown when their stolen tugboat collides with the govt. ship that is pursuing it from Havana. On July 14 for the first time a contingent of German soldiers led by a German gen. is allowed to march down the Champs-Elysee in Paris in the annual French military parade, 80 years after the start of WWI. On July 18 the AMIA (Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina) bldg. in Buenos Aires housing Argentina's two main Jewish orgs. is bombed by suspected Iran-backed Hezbollah jihadists, killing 85 and injuring 300+; on July 19 a bomb destroys a commuter plane in Panama, killing 21, incl. many Jews; on July 26 14 are injured by a bomb outside the Israeli Embassy in London; on July 26 a similar attack on a Jewish fundraising center in London injures five; Israeli authorities blame all the attacks on pro-Iranian groups; on Dec. 8, 2017 a judge in Argentina orders the arrest of former pres. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for covering up Iran's responsibility in the AMIA attack. On July 19 Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (1938-) is sworn-in as pres. of the Ukraine, succeeding Leonid M. Kravchuk (pres. from independence day in 1991) after beating him in a July 10 runoff election with 52% of the vote. On July 20 anti-West Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (1954-) is elected pres. of Belarus (until ?), where he becomes known as Europe's last dictator, trying to outdo his hero Stalin in every way, building relationships with leaders of the former Soviet Union and integrating his country's economy with the Russian Federation. On July 21 Morocco's King Hassan II grants amnesty to 424 political prisoners from the infamous secret Tazmamart Prison in the Atlas Mts., known for cramped underground cells; Morocco's parliament repeals a 1935 law permitting arrests for any "activity liable to disturb the peace". On July 22 Army Col. Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (1965-) seizes power in a coup in Gambia, becoming pres. (until ?); he later pushes a herbal miracle cure for HIV. On July 25 Jordan's King Hussein I and Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin agree to end their 46-y.-o. state of belligerency, signing a nonaggression pact in Washington, D.C.; it is revealed afterwards that the two short guys had been meeting secretly for 20 years; on Oct. 26 they meet again and exchange ratified copies of a peace treaty on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, signed by Jordanian PM Abdel Salam Majali, and witnessed by Pres. Clinton, making Hussein the 2nd Arab head of state to sign a peace treaty with Israel (after Sadat in 1979); Jordan's special role as admin. of Jerusalem's 691 Dome of the Rock is recognized, as is the special role of the Hussein family as custodian for the last 50 years; the two countries open telephone links and border posts, and work together on economic development. On July 27 a high-level North Korean defector rats out his boss and admits that the country has five nukes, and is making missiles for them; Western intel had believed they possessed one or two nukes in 1993. On July 29 San Francisco, Calif.-born Stephen Gerald Breyer (1938-) is confirmed as U.S. Supreme Court justice #108, and is sworn in on Aug. 3 (until ?) becoming its 2nd Jewish member along with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the last appointee of the millennium (next is John Roberts on Sept. 29, 2005). On July 29 former Presbyterian minister Paul Jennings Hill (1949-2003) kills Dr. John B. Britton (69) and his security escort James H. Barrett (74) with a shotgun outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Fla., later claiming what he die was right in the eyes of God; on Oct. 5 he becomes the first person convicted under a new federal law prohibiting violence at abortion clinics; on Nov. 2 he is found guilty of first degree murder and on Dec. 6 is sentenced to die in the electric chair, becoming the first person executed in the U.S. for killing an abortionist on Sept. 3, 2003. In July the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Admin. estimates that 7.5M Americans over age 35 used drugs in 1993, compared to 6M in 1992, and that 2.1M teens used marijuana in 1993, compared to 1.7M in 1992; in Aug. several deaths in New York City are tied to a new stronger, purer form of heroin called China Cat. On Aug. 1 superstar black pop singer Michael Jackson (b. 1958) and singer Elvis Presley's white daughter Lisa Marie Presley (1968-) announce that they exchanged wedding vows on May 26 "in a private ceremony outside the U.S." (the Dominican Repub.) (she files for divorce in Jan. 1996); Presley married Jackson 20 days after divorcing fellow Scientologist, musician hubby (since Oct. 3, 1988) Daniel "Danny" Keough (1964-); Jackson's lawyers settled a civil case in Jan. for $20M involving alleged sexual molestation of 13-y.-o. white Jordan "Jordy" Chandler (1980-) at his Calif. Neverland estate; too bad, his Beverly Hills plastic surgeon dad Evan Chandler (1944-2009) has his life ruined by rabid Jacko fans, and ends up committing suicide on Nov. 5, 2009. On Aug. 5 Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign an agreement to reduce tariffs among themselves by an avg. 85% (beginning next Jan. 1). On Aug. 5 NATO launches an air strike against Bosnian Serbs, while Slobodonia, er, Serbia closes its Bosnian border. On Aug. 7 Liberal Party candidate Ernesto Samper Pizano(1950-) becomes pres. #37 of Colombia (until Aug. 7, 1998); too bad, the 8000 Process Scandal uncovers funding from the Cali Cartel for his campaign. On Aug. 8 Israel and Jordan open their first road link. On Aug. 19 the U.S. celebrates its first Internat. Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. On Aug. 12-14 Woodstock '94, "A Day in the Garden" is staged on the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival on Max Yasgur's farm near Bethel, N.Y., complete with mud as it rains while lead-off singer Stevie Nicks performs, along with 29 other acts incl. Aerosmith, Peter Gabriel, Blind Melon, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers; mud-covered Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt is almost ejected by security guards. On Aug. 14 the Am. Psychological Assoc. (APA) cautions that the widely-used procedure termed "facilitated communication" (where severely retarded people are made to type into a keyboard to answer questions) has no scientific basis. On Aug. 14 Inside the Actors Studio debuts (until ?), hosted by James Lipton (1926-) and taped at the New School's Tishman auditorium in New York City; Lipton is always accompanied by well-researched blue index cards, and asks Bernard Pivot "10 questions", incl. "What is your favorite word?", "What is your least favorite word?" et al.; the first guest is Paul Newman; Barbara Streisand and Clint Eastwood appear in 2003, and Robert Redford in 2004. On Aug. 15 Carlos the Jackal (Ilich Ramirez Sanches) is jailed in France after being captured in Sudan. On Aug. 15 59 years and 1 day after FDR signed the original act, Pres. Clinton signs a bill making the U.S. Social Security Admin. an independent agency. On Aug. 18 the 5.6 1994 Algerian Earthquake strikes the Mascara region of NW Algeria (250 mi. W of Algiers), killing 171 and leaving 15K homeless. On Aug. 19 Pres. Clinton announces his Wet Foot, Dry Foot Policy, granting amnesty to Cuban illegal immigrants if they land on U.S. soil before being intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard. On Aug. 20 Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. (1948-) is fired as head of the NAACP after 18 mo. for alleged misuse of funds, then suddenly announces conversion to the Nation of Islam in 1997, changing his name to Benjamin Chavis Muhammad. On Aug. 20 Miracle (1994-2004), a female White Buffalo Calf, sacred to the N. Plains Indians (Sioux, Cheyenne et al.) is born on the Dave and Val Heider Farm in Janesville, Wisc., becoming the first white buffalo born since 1933; a 2nd is born in 1996 and dies after 3 days ; a 3rd is born in Aug. 2006; the odds of one being born are 1 in a million? On Aug. 20 a double-decker passenger ferry capsizes and sinks in choppy waters while approaching the port of Chandpur in Bangladesh, killing 350 of 400 passengers. On Aug. 20-21 Super Typhoon Fred (Typhoon Susang) (formed Aug. 12) pounds the coastal region of Zhejiang Province in China, killing 700+ and causing $1.6B in damage; most of the casualties occur in the city of Wenzhou. On Aug. 21 Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon (1951-) of the ruling Institutional Rev. Party (PRI) is elected pres. of Mexico by a comfortable majority, and is sworn-in on Dec. 1 (until Nov. 30, 2000); the PRI has enjoyed an unbroken hold on power since 1929, but its percentage reaches a record low this year, although observers claim no visible election fraud; too bad, on Dec. 20 after Zedillo commits the "December Mistake" of reversing Salinas' tight currency control, the 1994 Mexican Peso Crisis occurs as the peso falls 20% and $5B leaves the country in 48 hours, causing the economy to tank, after which 2M farmers leave their land, and poverty rises from 45% to 50% of the entire pop., forcing 3.3M children under age 14 to go to work; the peso crisis spreads southward to Brazil, becoming known as the Tequila Effect; meanwhile the number of Mexican billionaires rose to 24 at the end of Salinas' term from only two at the start. On Aug. 21 all 44 aboard a Royal Air Maroc ATR-42 passenger plane are killed when it crashes into the Atlas Mts. shortly after takeoff from Agadir, Morocco en route to Casablanca; Kuwaiti prince Ali al Mahmoud al Jaber as Sabah, brother of Kuwait's defense minister is killed; investigators later find that a suicidal pilot deliberately caused the crash. On Aug. 22 41-y.-o. Michael Solomon (1953-) of Beaconsfield pleads guilty to criminal copyright infringement in a federal court in Montreal, becoming the first Canadian convicted of pirating software using his computer bulletin board system (BBS); he is fined $20K. On Aug. 24 the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the world's smallest nation is granted permanent observer status in the U.N.. On Aug. 28 Morocco imposes visa restrictions on Algeria, causing Algeria to close their border in retaliation. On Aug. 31 the IRA announces a "complete cessation of military operations", and on Oct. 13 Protestant paramilitary groups announce their own ceasefire, setting the stage for peace negotiations in Northern Ireland. In Aug. after Congress passes the U.S. Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994, former Washington, D.C. circuit judge Kenneth Winston "Ken" Starr (1946-) is appointed as new independent counsel for the Whitewater investigation, replacing Robert Bishop Fiske Jr. (1930-), who had been appointed in Jan. by U.S. atty. gen. Janet Reno. On Sept. 1 the last Russian troops finally leave Berlin after 49 years. On Sept. 1 Ernesto Perez Balladares (1946-) of the Rev. Dem. Party (PRD) (Manuel Noriega's old party) is sworn-in as pres. of Panama (until 1999) after receiving ony 33% of the popular vote in elections held on May 8; on Sept. 23 he pardons 200 corruptos associated with Noriega's govt. - you must have grown from the stuff on my shoes? On Sept. 5-13 the U.N. Internat. Conference on Pop. and Development is held in Cairo despite threats of violence by Islamic extremists after many Islamic nations incl. Iran decide to come to discuss overpop. On Sept. 8 USAir Flight 427 (Boeing 737) crashes in a ravine near Hopewell Township, Penn., 5 mi. from the Greater Pittsburgh Internat. Airport, killing all 132 aboard after the engines fail and it goes into a sudden descent; this is the 5th USAir crash in five years and the second in 1994, causing a fear of flying to spread through the public; this comes only half a year (Feb. 16) after USAir starts Project High Ground, a no-frills short-flight low fare program in 18 Eastern city-pairs. On Sept. 8 the 11th Annual MTV Music Awards at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City are opened by Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, who suck face on stage, exciting fans with the prospect of ebony-ivory super pop star kids? On Sept. 11 French police capture Dursun Karatas, fugitive leader of the extremist left wing guerrilla group Dev-Sol (Rev. Left), who had escaped from an Istanbul prison in 1989. On Sept. 13 Pres. Clinton signs the 1994 U.S. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, drafted by Del. Dem. Sen. Joseph Biden, which provides for 100K new police officers, $9.7B funding for prisons, and $6.1B funding for crime prevention programs designed by experienced police officers; the Federal Assault Weapons Ban bans new classes of people from possessing firearms, greatly expands the federal death penalty, and defines a variety of new federal crimes involving immigration, hate crimes, sex crimes, and gang-related crime, requiring states to establish sex offender registries by Sept. 1997; the U.S. Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), co-sponsored by Dem. Sen. Joe Biden of Del. and Repub. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah provides $1.6B for a Nazi-like police surge into homes with powers to arrest alleged perps of domestic violence even when the alleged victim doesn't want to press charges, and tightens federal penalties, imposing automatic mandatory restitution and allowing victims to sue in civil court even if there is no criminal prosecution, causing men to begin realizing they're no longer masters of their castles but at the mercy of juries who get to vote on their civil rights on a case-by-case basis, although it does net the real offenders some of the time; "the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades" (NOW); too bad, it backfires on Biden when it disproportionately incarcerates blacks and browns, depopulating whole neighborhoods of their men folk. On Sept. 16 Serbia agrees to allow inspections on its Bosnian border. On Sept. 16 the sitcom Frasier debuts on NBC-TV for 264 episodes (until May 13, 2004) as a spinoff of "Cheers", starring Allen Kelsey Grammer (1955-) as Seatle radio pshrink Frasier Crane, and David Hyde Pierce (1959-) as his pshrink brother Niles Crane. On Sept. 17 the Miss America 1995 (68th) Pageant at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. picks Heather Leigh Whitestone (1973-) as Miss America, becoming the first deaf queen and first with a disability. On Sept. 19 multinat. troops led by 20K U.S. troops land in Haiti to overthrow the military govt. of Gen. Raul Cedras, who flees the country; on Oct. 15 Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his govt. in exile returns to power (until Feb. 7, 1996), disbanding the Haitaian army and setting up a civilian police force; too bad, he turns into a voodoo dictator and perfect fit for this island hellhole, using "chimeres" street gangs to keep people in line, while resigning the priesthood next year and marrying Mildred Trouillot (1963-) of the U.S. (whose parent are Haitian immigrants). On Sept. 19 ER, created by Michael Crichton debuts on NBC-TV for 331 episodes (until Apr. 2, 2009), starring Anthony Charles Edwards (1962-) as Dr. Mark Greene, George Timothy Clooney (196-) as Dr. Doug Ross, Sherry Lea Stringfield (1967-) as Dr. Susan Lewis, and Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (1971-) as medical student John Carter. . On Sept. 21 Touched by an Angel debuts on CBS-TV for 212 episodes (until Apr. 27, 2003), starring Roma Downey (1960-) and Della Reese (1932-) as angels Monica and her boss Tess, who came down from nondenominational Christian heaven to help suffering people. On Sept. 22 a train derails near Tolunda, Angola, killing 300 and injuring 147. On Sept. 22 the sitcom Friends, created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman debuts on NBC-TV for 236 episodes (until May 6, 2004); set in Manhattan, N.Y., it stars Jennifer Joanna Aniston (1969-) as fashion lover Rachel Green, Courtney Cox (1964-) as neat freak Monica Geller, Lisa Valerie Kudrow (1963-) as eccentric masseuse and tone-deaf musician Phoebe Buffay (oldest of the friends), Matthew Steven "Matt" LeBlanc (1967-) as Joey Tribbiani, who gets the role of Dr. Drake Ramoray in "Days Of Our Lives", Matthew Langford Perry (1969-) (son of John Bennett Perry, the Old Spice After Shave sailor) as corp. exec Chandler Bing, who dates Margaret Emily "Maggie" Wheeler (1961-) as Janice Goralnik, and ends up marrying Monica, David Lawrence Schwimmer (1966-) as paleontologist Ross Geller, who hooks up with Rachel; the Friends Theme Song is by Bobby Vinton. On Sept. 23 Pres. Clingon, er, Clinton signs the Romulan, er, U.S. Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act (RCDRIA), restricting non-bank lenders from abusive lending practices toward low and moderate income homeowners, minorities, and the elderly, and incl. provisions to reduce bank regulatory and paperwork reqts.; on Sept. 29 Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act, enabling banks and bank holding cos. to branch across state lines, and permitting interstate bank mergers under certain criteria. On Sept. 26 a Russian plane en route from Krasnoyarsk to Tura is forced to divert its flight plan because of bad weather, and crashes in a forest near the remote village of Vanavara in Siberia, killing all 27 aboard. On Sept. 27 Japanese foreign minister Yohei Kono tells the U.N. Gen. Assembly that Japan seeks a permanent seat on the Security Council, but that it will not play a combat role in peacekeeping; 40 nations endorse Japan's bid. On Sept. 28 the European Court of Justice in France rules that women and men doing equal work must get equal pension benefits. On Sept. 28 the cargo door detaches from the ferry Estonia off Finland's SW coast as it travels from Talinn, Estonia to Stockholm, killing more than 900; 140 are saved. On Sept. 28 Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu (b. 1946), #2 official of the ruling PRI Party in Mexico, set to become majority leader in the chamber of deputies is assassinated in downtown Mexico City; within weeks PRI deputy Manuel Munoz (Muñoz) Rocha is linked to the slaying; on Nov. 23 his brother, deputy atty. gen. (since 1993) Mario Ruiz Massieu resigns in a press conference upstaging a Washington meeting between Pres. Clinton and new Mexican pres. Zedillo, claiming that right-wing PRI officials are implicated and are blocking his investigation, then switches to the rival center-left Party of the Dem. Rev. (PRD); too bad, next Feb. 28 his playboy brother-in-law Raul Salinas de Gortari (1946-) is arrested for masterminding the murder, and it is revealed that Mario was paid $120K in cash plus a $2M house by the govt. to quit and steer the investigation away from him; Mario then flees to the U.S., and on Mar. 3 is arrested at Newark Internat. Airport boarding a plane for Madrid while carrying $46K in cash, with $17M (probable drug money) deposited in various banks; Pres. Salinas then goes on a 36-hour hunger strike to protest the assault on his "personal honor"; the affair causes investors to withdraw capital from Mexico, hurting its economy, but wakes up the Mexican pop., leading them to begin dumping the PRI; Raul is later convicted, then acquitted in 2005 on appeal. On Sept. 29 the U.S. Congress votes to end the practice of lobbyists buying meals and entertainment for its members. On Sept. 30 the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (founded 1981) (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE) announces that it is ending the "secondary" and "tertiary" aspects of its 1946 economic boycott against Israel, but is keeping the "primary" boycott of direct trade. In Sept. U.S. occupation forces find a mass grave just outside the walls of Fort Dimanche in Port-au-Prince (1958-2016), Haiti, where an estimated 3K dissidents were messed up and killed in the 1980s and 1990s. In Sept. the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates 200 years of operation in the U.S. in a celebration in Washington, D.C. In Sept. after being kicked out of Nirvana and Soundgarden, guitarist Jason Mark Everman (1967-) joins the U.S. Army Rangers, going on to become a top soldier. In early Oct. Iraqi troops mass on Iraq's border with Kuwait, but withdraw when the U.S. airlifts troops to the Gulf and threatens military action; the U.S. then charges Gulf Arabs $750M for their services. On Oct. 3 former economy minister and ex-Marxist scholar Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1931-) is elected pres.#34 of Brazil in a landslide over Workers' Party candidate Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (1945_, after his Real Plan of July 1 promises an end to hyperinflation; he is sworn-in on Jan. 1 (until Dec. 31, 2002), and pursues a vigorous free market and privatization program. On Oct. 12 a commuter plane en route from Isfahan, Iran to Tehran crashes in the Karkas Mts. near Natanz, Iran, killing all 66 aboard. On Oct. 14 Egyptian Nobel Prize winning author Naguib Mahfouz (b. 1911) is stabbed near his Cairo home by Islamic extremists who don't like his books. On Oct. 16 German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is named to a 4th 4-year term despite a drop in popularity of his Christian Dem. Union (CDU) party. On Oct. 21 Pres. Clinton signs the Agreed Framework with North Korea, who promise to freeze plutonium production program in exchange for fuel oil, economic cooperation, and the construction of two modern NP-resistant light-water nuclear power plants, eventually dismantling existing nuclear facilities and shipping spent reactor fuel out of the country; Clinton gives a speech, uttering the soundbyte: "I'd like to say just a word about the framework with North Korea signed this morning. This is a good deal for the United States. North Korea will freeze then dismantle its nuclear program. The entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons. The United States and international inspectors will carefully monitor North Korea to make sure it keeps its commitments"; too bad for lalaland leftists, the agreement breaks down by 2003, and they detonate their first nuke 12 years later on Oct. 6, 2006. On Oct. 21 a section of the Songsu Bridge over the Han River in Seoul, South Korea collapses during the morning rush hour, killing 32. On Oct. 26-Nov. 3 Roman Catholic Bosnian Croats and Muslims begin to win Vs against the Orthodox Serbs, seizing the Serbian town of Kupres. On Oct. 27 Mozambique holds its first multi-party election; Pres. Joaquim Alberto Chissano's Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) Party wins a majority of seats in the legislature, and the Mozambique Resistance Movement (Renamo) under party leader Afonso Dkhlakama captures 40% of the seats. On Oct. 29 dishonorably discharged Army medic Francisco M. Duran fires 27 shots from a semiautomatic weapon at the White House; some strike the front pillars and shatter a window; Pres. Clinton is inside at the time but is unharmed; Duran is indicted on 15 felonies incl. trying to kill the president. On Oct. 30 a three-day Middle East-North African Economic Summit begins in Casablanca, Morocco, incl. leaders of about 40 nations and 1.5K business people. On Oct. 31 an American Eagle ATR-72 turboprop commuter plane en route to Chicago crashes into a soybean field near Roselawn in N Ind. during a rainstorm, killing all 68 aboard; on Dec. 9 the FAA grounds all ATRs when icy conditions are forecast. In Oct. there is no World Series this year (first time since 1904); the 91st World Series must wait till next year; fans lead a push to have the Montreal Expos declared the 1994 champs because of their best overall record of 74 wins and 40 losses. On Nov. 2 a train carrying fuel oil derails in Dronka, Egypt after a heavy rain loosens the tracks, causing an oil spill, which is ignited by electrical fires, causing a fire that kills at least 475. On Nov. 2 Islamic extremist leader Hani Abed is killed by a car bomb inside a Palestinian-controlled territory; his followers accuse the Israelis, and later force Yasir Arafat out of his funeral, accusing him of being an Israeli collaborator. On Nov. 3 the Susan Vaughan Smith (1971-) child abduction saga in S.C. turns kinky when she confesses to drowning her two sons (ages 3 years and 14 mo.) in her maroon Mazda Protege in John D. Long Lake in Union County, S.C. on Oct. 25 and making-up an imaginary black kidnapper as a patsy, going on TV several times and pleading for him to return her children safely; she confesses to putting them in the back seat and letting the car roll into a lake after a recent breakup with her boyfriend left her a single mom, and she wanted to hook up with a local wealthy man who didn't want a family; she is sentenced to life in prison, eligible for parole on Nov. 4, 2004. On Nov. 5 former pres. Ronald Reagan announces that, well, like millions of Americans, he too is coming down with Old Timer's, er, Alzheimer's. On Nov. 5-6 heavy rains in N Italy cause the Po and Tanaro Rivers to flood, killing at least 54, becoming Italy's worst flood since 1913. On Nov. 8 the Repub. Rev., led by Harrisburg, Penn-born. historian and Ga. rep. (1979-99) Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich (McPherson) (1943-), known for his "Contract with America" captures both houses of Congress for the Repubs. for the first time in 40 years, with a 54-seat gain in the House, which had been held by the Repubs. for only two out of the previous 62 years, stunning the Clinton admin.; the media attributes it to masses of "angry white men"; George W. Bush beats incumbent Ann Richards for gov. of Tex. after she calls him "some jerk"; liberal Repub. Dick Morris (1948-) (codename Charlie) becomes a secret consultant to Pres. Clinton, steering him into a "triangulation" policy of merging traditional Repub. and Dem. proposals to gain maximum political mileage, and becoming his campaign mgr. in 1996, resigning 2 mo. before the election amid allegations of hiring a ho and letting her listen in on his conversations with the pres. to turn her on. On Nov. 8 by 58.9% Calif. voters pass Proposition 187, a measure denying all but emergency health care services to illegal immigrants; a federal commission headed by former Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-Tex.) recommends a similar law at the federal level; it is declared unconstitutional on Mar. 19, 1998. On Nov. 8 the U.N. secy.-gen. presents a Report on Human Rights in Afghanistan, detailing the horrible retro Islamic Sharia system of the Taliban. On Nov. 12-13 Tropical Storm Gordon sends torrential rains into Haiti, killing more than 800 in landslides and floods. On Nov. 13 Sweden votes in a nat. referendum by 52.2% to join the European Union (EU); on Nov. 28-29 Norway votes the EU down. On Nov. 15 a 7.0 earthquake strikes Mindoro Island in the Philippines, with the resulting tsunami killing 60. On Nov. 16 Fall River, Mass.-born chef Emeril John Lagasse (1959-) begins hosting the Food Network show Essence of Emril (until 2007), which promotes New New Orleans style cooking, becoming known for the trademark phrases "Bam!" and "Kick it up a notch"; in 1997 he begins hosting the Food Network show Emeril Live, which moves to Fine Living Channel in 2008-10. On Nov. 18 Arafat's new Palestinian police force fires on Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip, killing 14 and wounding 200 after they fail to break up a protest outside a mosque, causing a breach with Islamic extremist groups. On Nov. 29 the U.N. Security Council votes 13-0-2 (Brazil, Russia) for Resolution 963 to admit Palau. In Nov. former pres. (1985-90) Julio Maria Sanguinetti is reelected pres. of Uruguay, and is sworn-in next Mar. 1 (until Mar. 1, 2000), promising to reform the social security system, which takes 37% of the federal budget. In Nov. Interpal (Palestine Relief and Development Fund) is founded in London, England by Ibrahim Hewitt to provide charity to Palestinians; it is suspected by the U.S. of funding terrorism. On Dec. 2 an interisland ferry collides with a freighter in Manila Bay, Philippines, drowning 140+ passengers and crew; about 450 people are saved by rescuers. On Dec. 2 an express train derails near the station in Szajol, Hungary, killing 29 and injuring 52, becoming Hungary's worst train disaster since 1968. On Dec. 5 Newt Gingrich is chosen to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades. On Dec. 5 the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances is signed by Ukraine, the U.S., U.K., and Russia; Ukraine agrees to give up its nukes in exchange for security assurances. On Dec. 8 a fire breaks out in a crowded cinema in Karamay, China in the NW region of Xinjiang, and the 1000 students and teachers are ordered to remain seated until Communist Party officials exit, killing 288 schoolchildren and 37 teachers. On Dec. 8 eight Kurdish members of Turkey's parliament are found guilty of supporting the outlawed Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK), which has been fighting since 1984 to establish an independent homeland in Turkey and Iraq. On Dec. 8 after the Serbs harass its forces, the U.N. considers withdrawing troops from Bosnia, but a EU summit on Dec. 9-10 decides to have them stay. On Dec. 10 Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres share the Nobel Peace Prize, the first-ever awarded to three. On Dec. 10 34 Western Hemisphere nations sign an agreement in Miami, Fla. to negotiate a free trade pact (NAFTA) starting next Jan. and implement it by 2005; on Dec. 11 Canada, Mexic,o and the U.S. invite Chile to join. On Dec. 10 a mail bomb kills ad exec Thomas J. Mosser (b. 1994) in North Caldwell, N.J.; it is later blamed on the Unabomber (his 2nd fatality), who normally licks stamps only for airlines and universities. On Dec. 11 Boris Yeltin orders Russian troops into Chechnya to quash the First Jihad, a Sunni Muslim separatist rebellion led by Dzhokhar Dudayev (ends 1996), with the goal of building the "Road of Life", a union of Chechnya with Georgia. On Dec. 17 North Korea shoots down a U.S. heli after it crosses the border from South Korea, returning the body of the U.S. pilot killed on Dec. 22, then releasing the surviving pilot on Dec. 30. On Dec. 20 Mexico devalues the peso by 13% on internat. markets, and within weeks it loses almost 40% of its value. On Dec. 20 U.S. ex-pres. Jimmy Carter visits Bosnia and negotiates a 4-mo. ceasefire in the 33-mo. war, beginning Jan. 1. On Dec. 30 John C. Salvi III (1972-96) kills two employees and wounds five others in a pair of suburban Boston, Mass. abortion clinics; he is later convicted of murder and commits suicide in prison. In Dec. the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is formed, replacing the Preferential Trade Area formed in 1981. In Dec. the 30-year Dallas Plan for reshaping the city of Dallas, Tex., devised by "National Lampoon" co-founder Robert K. Hoffman (1947-2006) et al. is adopted by the city council - 30 years later they'll find out what the joke was? The Social Dems. return to power in Sweden. The U.S. Senate finally ratifies a 1979 U.N. convention on women's rights and a 1984 convention on torture, but leaves unratified a 1948 convention on genocide and a 1989 convention on children's rights? Another peace accord is signed in Angola, and the U.N. sends in peacekeepers. In Bahrain a wave of rioting by Shiite fundamentalists is sparked by women's participation in a sporting event. Rwanda disarms the Tutsi people, leaving them unable to defend themselves from genocide. Lebanese Marionite gen. Samir Farid Geagea (Ja'Ja') (1952-) is found guilty of four political assassinations, incl. Lebanese PM Rashid Karami in 1987, and the attempted assassination of defense minister Michel Murr in 1991, becoming the only Lebanese militia leader imprisoned for crimes during the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-90; he is granted amnesty on July 18, 2005. The U.S. makes a deal with North Korea to freeze a plutonium-based reactor in Yongbyon, marking a high point of U.S.-North Korean relations, after which they begin going downhill, starting with the Bush admin. accusing them of a clandestine program to enrich uranium, pissing them off and causing them to restart the reactor. After preaching for the overthrow of the royal family, Osama bin Laden is stripped of his Saudi nationality. Pres. Joaquim Alberto Chissano of Mozambique takes up transcendental meditation from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and orders his soldiers and police to do ditto. Chad promulgates a new 1994 Chad Constitution, and declares amnesty for political prisoners. A diphtheria outbreak in the former Soviet Union infects 48K, of whom 2K die after the public health services fail to administer vaccines. The U.S. Congress passes the 1994 U.S. Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, allowing court injunctions to set limits for protests on a city by city basis, permitting Operation Rescue protesters to play cat and mouse with NOW, making them guess where and when they will strike next - like the Vikings on the coast of France? A federal jury in Hawaii awards 9,539 victims and heirs $1.2B in exemplary damages against the estate of former Philippine Pres. Ferdinand Marcos; next year the same jury awards them $766M injury compensation; in 1996 an appeals court in San Francisco, Calif upholds the verdict; in n 1999 a $150M settlement is reached, with the funds to come from Marcos' funds in Swiss banks. Nature's organic pretzel and eat-right snack? After the U.S. Supreme Court rules in 1990 that the use of peyote as a religious sacrament by Native Ams. is not protected by the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress passes the U.S. Am. Indian Religious Freedom Act with help from comparative religion scholar Huston Cummings Smith (1919-), permitting the 300K-500K members of the Native Am. Church to use it; a 2005 study by Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital finds no evidence that the hallucinogenic cactus causes psychological problems or brain damage. The U.S. FDA approves recombinant bovine somatotropin for commercial use; meanwhile the 1994 U.S. Nutrition Labeling and Education Act requires mandatory nutrition labeling. InStyle mag. debuts, with Barbra Streisand on its cover. Project Sapphire by the U.S. govt. to remove 581 kg of weapons grade uranium (enough for 1K nukes) for Alfa class subs from a warehouse at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant near Ust-Kamenogorsk in E Kazakhstan, where it is being stored with little protection after the fall of the Soviet Union is a success. The San Remo Manual on Internat. Law updates the 1909 Declaration of London covering the law of sea blockades. Am. Islamic scholar Daniel Pipes (1949-) founds the Middle East Forum in Philly on Jan. 24 to define and promote U.S. interests in the Middle East and protect it from Middle Eastern threats. Omar Ahmad, Nihad Awad et al. found the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington, D.C., issuing the soundbyte "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth"; George W. Bush's backer Grover Glenn Norquist (1956-) later introduces Ahwad to him; CAIR is later named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Terror trial. RMS Titanic Inc. is formed under a U.S. court ruling to explore and salvage the wreck of the Titanic. The U.S. Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) (founded 1901) is revised to incl. longer reading passages, remove antonym questions, make students give math answers rather than just pick from multiple choices, allowing the use of a calculator; as always the College Board attributes lower avg. scores by blacks and women to differences in preparation; meanwhile the initials SAT are officially declared to stand for nothing. Jad al-Haqq Ali Jad al-Haqq, grand sheikh of Al-Azhar U. in Egypt issues a fatwa that "circumcision is mandatory for men and women... female circumcision is a noble practice that does honor to a woman"; 97% of women in Egypt have had this wonderful honor. A council of Saudi clerics issue a fatwa on historical and archeological sites, declaring that preserving them "could lead to polytheism and idolatry", causing them to be closed to excavation. The biennial Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics, the largest monetary prize for economics in the U.S. is founded; the first award goes to Peter A. Diamond. The peer-reviewed Journal of Consciousness Studies is founded by the Center for Consciousness Studies at the U. of Ariz. in Tucson. The Gilder Lehrman Inst. of Am. History in New York City is founded by businessmen-philanthropists Richard Gilder Jr. (1932-) and Lewis E. "Lew" Lehrman (1938-) (former head of Rite Aid, an Am. historian, economist, Repub. politician, and investment banker, known for wearing red suspenders) to promote study and interest in Am. history, going on to establish the $50K Lincoln Prize (1991), $25K Federick Douglass Book Prize (1999), and $50K George Washington Book Prize (2005). Indian musician Amit "Papa Rock" Saigal (1965-2012) founds Rock Street Journal (RSJ), in Allahabad, India in Jan., becoming the first rock music mag. in India. The biennial PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry for an Am. poet whose distinguished and growing body of work represents a notable and accomplished presence in Am. lit. is first awarded to Jane Kenyon, followed by Franz Wright (1996), C.K. Williams (1998), Heather McHugh (2000), Frederick Seidel (2002), Robert Pinsky (2004), Linda Gregg (2006), Kimiko Hahn (2008), Marilyn Hacker (2010), Toi Derricotte (2012), Frank Bidart (2014), Ed Roberson (2016), and Kamau Brathwaite (2018). The town of Juarez, Mexico (5 mi. S of El Paso, Tex.) becomes the scene of brutal kidnappings, rapes, murders, and dumping of women, reaching 800 by 2008; it starts after the passage of NAFTA? 26-y.-o. buxom dumb (acting) blonde topless dancer and 1993 Playboy Playmate of the Year (divorced with a son) Anna Nicole (Vickie Lynn) Smith (1967-2007) marries 89-y.-o. Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II (1905-95); when he croaks in 1995, she claims the right to his $474M fortune, taking her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, while Marshall's youngest son E. Pierce Marshall (1939-2006) contends that he is the sole heir, and allegedly commits J.R. Ewing type acts to cut her off with zilcho; on Feb. 28, 2006 the U.S. Supreme Court meets with her and appears to support her, with Justice David Souter telling her that no matter how complicated the case looks, it all boils down to "I just want some money from this guy." The Bielefeld Conspiracy begins on the Internet when people begin claiming that the city of Bielefeld N of the Teutoburg Forest in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany doesn't really exist - where are you guys looking? Black drug addict Joseph Skipper (1965-) beats civil rights hero Rosa Parks and takes $53 from her during a break-in at her Detroit home, receiving 8-15 years; after her Oct. 2005 death he publicly apologizes that "I will go down in history as the man who robbed Rosa Parks". Bill Gates pays $30.8M for the 72-page 1508-9 Codex Leicester ms. by Leonardo da Vinci from the heirs of Armand Hammer - the closest he'll ever get to his lost education? Calvin Klein sells his underwear business for $64M. What your movie ticket really pays for? Cindy Costner divorces actor Kevin Costner and gets an $80M settlement; in ? Tom Arnold got $50M from Roseanne; in 1989 Amy Irving got $100M from Steve Spielberg; in 1996 Neil Diamond's Heartlight gets $150M - what do I get? Chrysler Corp. debuts the Plymouth/Dodge Neon compact front wheel drive car (until Sept. 23, 2005); it is touted in Japanese as the "Japanese car killer" due to its performance and low production cost. Rory and Wendy Alec found the God Channel on satellite, becoming the first Christian evangelical TV channel in Britain. Marc Andreessen (1971-) and Silicon Graphics founder James H. "Jim" Clark (1944-) found Netscape, which helps launch the Internet IPO boom on Wall St.; on Aug. 9, 1995 it goes public, and Clark earns $2B on an initial investment of $5M. The Old Navy mall clothes store empire in the U.S. is founded as a cheaper version of The Gap (founded 1969). Pepsi-Cola begins distributing Aquafina brand purified tap water, becoming the best-selling U.S. brand by 2003; rival Coca-Cola begins distributing Dasani (made-up name) brand. In 1994 the U.S. govt. allows the alcohol content to be printed on beer labels. In 1994 the top U.S. brewers are Anheuser-Busch (87.5M barrels/year), Miller (42.6M barrels/year), Adolph Coors (20.3M barrels/year), Stroh's (11.8M barrels/year), and G. Heileman (8.4M barrels/year); Calif. has 84 microbreweries, more than the total number of brewers in the U.S. in 1984. Schizophrenic Am. math nerd John Forbes Nash Jr. (1928-2015), one of the founders of Game Theory receives the Nobel Prize in Economics; nobody at the time cares, but when #1 movie hunk Russell Crowe plays him in the 2001 box office A-movie "A Beautiful Mind", everybody wants to look his bio up? Sports: On Feb. 7 after retiring from the Chicago Bulls in 1993 after his three-peat, Michael Jordan honors a dream of his late father and signs a minor league baseball contract with the Chicago White Sox, reporting to spring training in Sarasota, Fla.; on Nov. 1, 1994 Jordan's jersey number 23 is retired by the Bulls in a ceremony which incl. the unveiling of the sculpture "The Spirit" outside the new United Center; in the 1993-4 season the Bulls go 55-27, falling to 31-31 by Mar. 18, 1995, when Jordan announces his return with the soundbyte "I'm back", receiving jersey number 45, going on to lead them to another three-peat in 1996-8. On Feb. 20 the 1994 (36th) Daytona 500 is won by #4 Sterling Marlin (1957-) (son of Coo Coo Marlin); Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr are killed in separate pre-race practice accidents. On Feb. 25 the Big 12 Conference is founded for NCAA Div. 1 sports teams (except hockey) from the merger of the Big Eight Conference, with Oklahoma U., Oklahoma State U., Texas U., Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor U. becoming known as the Big 12 South, and Kansas U., Kansas State U., Colo. U., Nebraska U., Mo. U, and Iowa State U. becoming known as the Big 12 North, joining the ACC, Big 10, Pac-12, and SEC as one of the Power Five Conferences. In Mar. the Nat. Football League (NFL) makes the most sweeping rule changes in 20 years, permitting a 2-point touchdown conversion along with other changes to minimize the impact of field goals. On Mar. 20 Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings ties Gordie Howe's career goals record of 802 against the San Jose Sharks at San Jose, Calif. Arena, going on to reach 894 before retiring in 1999. On Apr. 24 Sam Houston Race Park in Harris County, Tex. opens, becoming America's fastest growing Thoroughbred horseracing venue (until ?). On Apr. 27 the NBA expands to 29 teams with the Vancouver Grizzlies, playing at Gen. Motors Place; after the 2000-1 season it relocates to Memphis, Tenn., becoming the Memphis Grizzlies, playing at the Pyramid Arena. On May 29 the 1994 (78th) Indianapolis 500 is won by Al Unser Jr. (2nd win) using a 3.42L 1K hp Mercedez-Benz pushrod engine. On May 31-June 14 the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals see the New York Rangers defeat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3; center Mark Douglas Messier (1961-) leads the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, earning him the nickname "The Messiah"; CBC Sports broadcasts Game 7, attracting a record 4.957M viewers; MVP is 6'0" Corpus Christi, Tex.-born Rangers defenceman Brian Joseph Leetch (1968-), who becomes the first non-Canadian MVP. On June 17- July 17 after expansion from 24 to 32 teams incl. Bolivia, Greece, Nigeria, Norway, and Saudi Arabia, the 15th FIFA World Cup of Soccer, held in nine cities across the U.S. is attended by a a record avg. of 69k per game (3.6M total); Brazil defeats Italy 3-2 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. in a penalty shootout (a first), becoming Brazil's 4th title; on July 2 a gunman in Medellin, Colombia murders 27-y.-o. Andres Escobar Saldarriaga (b. 1967) after he inadvertently scores a goal against his own team in a 1st-round loss to the U.S. On June 8-22 the 1994 NBA Finals sees the Houston Rockets (coach Rudy Tomjanovich) win their first NBA title by 4-3, defeating the New York Knicks (coach Pat Riley) 90-84 in Game 7 after trailing three games to two. On July 17 Brazil wins an unprecedented 4th World Cup soccer tournament with a tie-breaking shoot-out victory over Italy at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif; Argentina's star player Diego Maradona is removed from the roster on June 26 after failing a random drug test. On July 23-Aug. 7 the 1994 Goodwill Games are held in St. Petersburg, Russia, expanding to 2K athletes from 60 nations, suffering from facility problems (faulty filtration in the swimming pool, indoor rink ice not freezing, etc.) and poor attendance; beach voleyball holds its first internat. event; Russia sets five world records in weightlifting and wins 171 medals and the U.S. 119; in 1996 Ted Turner of TBS acquires the rights to host Time Warner. On Aug. 6 (Sat.) the 1994 (1st) Brickyard 400 is held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, featuring the largest crowd in NASCAR history and a record $3.2M purse; the winner is 2nd year driver Jeff Gordon after leader Ernie Irvan has a flat tire. On Aug. 12 the 234-day 1994 ML Baseball Strike begins after players refuse to accept a team salary cap; the last 52 days of the 1994 regular season are wiped out, along with the 1994 World Series, which had never been missed since 1905; on Mar. 30, 1995 U.S. district judge Sonia Sotomayor (1954-) issues an injunction preventing the MLB owners from using replacement players or unilaterally imposing a collective bargaining agreement, ending the strike. On Aug. 28 18-y.-o. Eldrick "Tiger" Woods (1975-) wins his first of three U.S. amateur golf championships, becoming the youngest winner (until ?). On Oct. 1 NHL team owners lock out the players despite assurances that they would not strike in the coming season; on Jan. 11 the owners' Oct. 1994 lockout is ended, and the 1994-5 NHL season is salvaged, to begin on Jan. 20, with a 48-game rather than 84-game game schedule. On Nov. 8 before changing from shooting guard to point guard when teammate Isiah Thomas retires at the end of the season, 6'3 point Joe Dumars III (1963-) (#4) of the Detroit Pistons ties Brian Shaw's NBA record of 10 3-pointers in 18 attempts, finishing with 40 points in a 126-112 win over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves; on Apr. 18, 1996 6'8" small forward Dennis Eugene Scott (1968-) (#3) of the Orlando Magic makes 11 3-pointers against the Atlanta Hawks. On Nov. 15 KAZN-AM in Los Angeles, Calif. becomes the first to broadcast an NBA game in Mandarin Chinese, a Lakers-Clippers game. On Dec. 3 Am. cycling star Greg LeMond (33) retires from racing after winning the Tour de France 3x; his 1989 victory came two years after nearly dying from gunshot wounds inflicted in a hunting accident. African-Am. former Mich. State U. QB and WR Lionel Tyrone "Ty" Willingham (1953-) becomes head coach of the Stanford U. Cardinals football team (until 2001), going on to compile a 44-36-1 record, one Pac-10 Conference championship, and four bowl game appearances, incl. the 2000 Rose Bowl before they fire him. 54-y.-o. Mario Gabriele Andretti (1940-) competes in his 407th and last Indy Car race in the Monterey, Calif. Grand Prix on Oct. 9; his 52 Indy Car wins since 1963 are 2nd to A.J. Foyt's 67. San Diego Padres right fielder (lefty) Anthony Keith "Tony" "Mr. Padre" "Captain Video" Gwynn Sr. (1960-2014) sets the modern ML record for highest single-season batting avg., hitting .394, with 64 RBIs and 12 homers and no season below .309; he retires in 2001 with a record modern career batting avg. of .338. Nobel Prizes: Peace: Yasser Arafat (Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa) (1929-2004) (Palestine), Shimon Peres (Szymon Perski) (1923-2016) (Israel), and Yitzhak Rabin (1922-95) (Israel) [Oslo Accords]; Lit.: Kenzaburo Oe (1935-) (Japan); Physics: Clifford Glenwood Shull (1915-2001) (U.S.) and Bertram Neville Brockhouse (1918-2003) (Canada) [neutron scattering techniques]; George Andrew Olah (Olah Gyorgy) (1927-) (U.S.) [superacids]; Chem.: George Andrew Olah (Olah Gyorgy) (1927-2017) (U.S.) [carbocation chemistry]; Med.: Alfred Goodman Gilman (1941-) and Martin Rodbell (1925-98) (U.S.) [G-proteins]; Econ.: John Forbes Nash Jr. (1928-2015) and John Charles Harsanyi (1920-2000) (U.S.), and Reinhard Justus Reginald Selten (1930-) (Germany) [game theory]. Inventions: The Year of Internet Search Engines? On Jan. 11 the U.S. FDA approves the arthritis drug Naproxen Sodium (Naproxen, Aleve, Anaprox, etc.), the first new nonprescription pain reliever approved since 1984. In Jan. Infoseek is founded, allowing Webmasters to submit Web pages for indexing; in Dec. 1995 Netscape begins using it as its default search engine; in Dec. AltaVista is founded, becoming the first to allow natural language queries; it is purchased in Feb. 2003 by Overture, which is acquired by Yahoo! in 2003; in Apr. WebCrawler is founded., becoming the first to index entire Web pages, selling out to AOL in June 1995; in Apr. Stanford U. grad students Jerry Yang (1968-) (born in Taiwan) and David Filo (1966-) found the Internet search engine Yahoo.com (Yet Another Hierarchical Official Oracle?) in a campus trailer, and incorporate next Mar. 2; in 1997 Yang becomes the world's youngest billionare at age 29; urls are entered manually by their staff, causing a long wait to get listed in return for higher quality search results for users; in July Lycos is founded, becoming the first with ranked relevance retrieval, selling out to Daum Communications of South Korea in Oct. 2004; meanwhile Justin Hall of Swarthmore College starts an online diary called "Justin's Links from the Underground", becoming the first blog; in 1997 Jorn Barger coins the term "weblog"; Peter Merholz coins the short form "blog". On Feb. 10 French-born Am. Jean-Noel Frydman registers the domain name France.com; too bad, in Apr. 2015 the country of France begins legal proceedings to appropriate it, causing him to countersue. In Apr. the U.S. FDA announces that Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, maker of Tamoxifen is sending a letter to 380K physicians that its drug increases the likelihood of cancer of the endometrium (lining of the uterus) among breast cancer patients using it. On July 3 the $4M General Atomics MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) makes its first flight, at first carrying cameras and other sensors for aerial recon and forward observation for up to 14 hours and 460 mi., and later fitted with two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and other munitions, going into service in July 1995 in the Muslim World incl. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Serbia; meanwhile the $10M Israeli Israel Aerospace Industries Heron (Machatz-1) medium-alt. long-endurance (52 hours) UAV makes its first flight. On July 5 online bookseller Amazon.com (original name Cadabra, which sounds too much like cadaver?) is launched in Seattle, Wash. by Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos (nee Jorgenson) (1964-), making its first sale, a science textbook, growing to the world's largest Internet online sales co.; on July 27, 2017 Bezos becomes the world's wealthiest person ($90B), growing to $130.8B by Mar. 21, 2018. On Sept. 13 the $285M Airbus A300-600ST Beluga wide-body cargo airliner makes its first flight. IBM introduces Simon, the world's first smartphone; too bad, its battery life is only 1 hour, and it only sells 50K units before being dropped after 6 mo. Mexican physicistMiguel Alcubierre (1964-) proposes the Alcubierre Warp Drive, a speculative method of stretching space in a wave to allow a ship to ride a warp bubble of flat space. Apple's QuickTake 100 is introduced, becoming the first consumer digital camera that works with home PCs. The .ru domain is created for Russia, but the .su domain (Soviet Union) survives, becoming a favorite home for cybercriminals, reaching 120K domains by 2013. The Flavr Savr Tomato by Calgene, which doesn't grow soft as it ripens is introduced to U.S. store shelves, but is pulled because of the public reaction to genetically-engineered "Frankenfoods". The U.S. Air Force tests the RQ-1 Predator remote-piloted vehicle (RPV), and begins production of a fleet of them in Aug. 1997. The first 4K-home interactive TV trial is held in Orlando, Fla. by Time-Warner Cable, with on-demand shows, games and shopping, but flops with customers. The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine (Grill) is introduced, going on to sell over 80M units; Hulk Hogan was offered the naming deal first, and passed it up by missing a phone call? Science: The search for the leptons and quarks is complete before Armageddon, hot dog? In Apr. after an effort beginning in June 1991, physicists at Fermi Nat. Accelerator Lab. (Fermilab) in Batavia, Ill. announce that using their Tevatron 900 Gev accelerator they have found evidence of the top quark, the heaviest of the 12 fundamental building blocks of matter (six leptons and six quarks); up-down, strange-charmed, top-bottom with their anti-particles give 12 quarks, which together with the 12 less massive leptons (electron and its neutrino, muon and its neutrino, tauron and its neutrino) are thought to make up the entire Universe; electrons are leptons, quarks are found inside the nucleus, while protons and neutrons are combinations of up and down quarks (the two lightest); masses (electron masses): up: 5, down: 7, strange: 150, charmed: 1.5K, bottom: 5K, top: 200K (185 AMU); too bad, the Tevatron shuts down in 1993, leaving the U.S. without a particle collider, causing it to lose its dominance - guess it's time to switch fields? The astronomical Out of Africa, or, The Search for Black Holes? In May astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Inst. in Baltimore, Md. report seeing a black hole at the center of elliptical galaxy M87 in the Virgo Cluster, about 50M l.y. from Earth; the disc of matter surrounding the small intense source of light is rotating at 1.2M mph, corresponding to an object containing 3B Sun masses. On July 16-22 pieces of disintegrated Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9), discovered on Mar. 24, 1993 by the 18 in. Schmidt telescope at the Palomar Observatory in Calif. by astronomers Carolyn Jean Spellmann Shoemaker (1929-), Eugene Merle "Gene" Shoemaker (1928-97), and David H. Levy (1948-) begin plunging into the atmosphere of Jupiter, creating the most spectacular astronomical event of the year; one collision leaves a dark blotch more than 2x Earth's diameter. In Aug. a full-sized skeleton of the Pygmy Mammoth is discovered on the Channel Islands. In Sept. Harvard U. astronomers using the NSF Very Long Baseline Array (VBLA) improve the accuracy of measurement of distant galaxies, ' indicating that the age of the Universe may be in the 7B-14B rather than 20B year range, which is curious because the oldest stars seem to be 15B-16B years old? - Bible creationists here's some ammo? Scientists at the GSI Helmoltz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstat, Germany discover the radioactive synthetic elements Darmstadtium (Ds) (#110) and Roentgenium (Rg) (#111), named after German physicist Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen (Röntgen) (1845-1923); in 1998 they discover the radioactive synthetic element Copernicium (Cn) (#112), named after Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). The "starvation hormone" Adiponectin, associated with fasting that controls sensitivity to insulin is discovered by Philipp Scherer; the appetite-suppressing hormone Leptin is discovered by Jeffrey M. Friedman (1954-), Rudolph Leibel (1942-), and Douglas L. Coleman (1931-). Little Foot, a 3.3M-y.-o. specimen of Australopithecus is found in Sterkfontein, South Africa near Johannesburg, in an area known as the Cradle of Humanity; a 2.15M-y.-o. skull named Mrs. Ples was discovered there in 1947. Leonard Max Adelman (1945-) of USC uses DNA in a test tube to solve a simple 7-node mathematical problem, making DNA Computers a possibility. Enterprise, Ore.-born economist Dale Thomas Mortensen (1939-) and Cypriot economist Sir Christopher Antoniou Pissarides (1948-) pub. Job Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of Unemployment, which describes the Mortensen-Pissarides Model of Unemployment, postulating search frictions, winning them the 2010 Nobel Econ. Prize. Applied mathematician Peter Williston Shor (1959-) of MIT invents Shor's Algorithm to factor large numbers in polynomial time (log N) using a quantum computer, making the cracking of the RSA public-key cryptography scheme possible in theory, causing the govt. and computer users to get a little nervous; in 2009 a silicon chip that implements Shor's Algorithm is demonstrated by the U. of Bristol. English scientist Sir Michael Rudolf Stratton (1957-) and Richard Wooster at the King Lab at UCB discover BRC1, the first breast cancer repair (tumor suppressor or caretaker) gene, and clone it in 1994, also discovering the unrelated caretaker gene BRCA2. Japanese-born Am. neurobiologist Clockahashi, er, Joseph Takahashi (1951-) discovers the genetic basis for the mammalian circadian clock, and in 1997 identifies the Tiktok, er, Clock gene. English mathematician Sir Andrew John Wiles (1953-) finally proves Fermat's Last Theorem (1637) after seven years locked up by himself, and also proves that all rational semistable elliptic curves are modular. Archeologists discover a 9th cent. B.C. stele near Tel Dan in N Israel containing a reference to the "House of David", erected to celebrate the V of an Aramean king (Hazael?) over the Israelites; in 1 Kings ch. 19 Elijah anoints Hazael as king of Aram; skeptics are forced to admit the historicity of King David. Nonfiction: Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), Art, the Arts, and the Great Ideas. S. Rao Aiyagari (1951-97), Uninsured Idiosyncratic Risks and Aggregate Saving (Aug.); finds that the contribution of uninsured idiosyncratic risks to aggregate saving is modest for plausible values of risk aversion, variability, and persistence of earnings (max. 3%), but can be significantly larger with higher variability and persistence parameters for the earning stochastic process. M.J. Akbar, The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict Between Islam and Christianity; how jihad is the mind and soul of Islam. Francesco Alberoni (1929-), Optimism. Nelson Algren (1909-81), Nonconformity (posth.); disses the 1956 film adaptation of his 1950 book "The Man With the Golden Arm". Stephen Edward Ambrose (1936-2002), D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. Tim Allen (1953-), Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man (autobio.). Isaac Asimov (1920-92), I, Asimov: A Memoir (posth.) (Apr.). Bernard Bailyn (1922-), On the Teaching and Writing of History. Richard Barnet (1929-2004), Global Dreams. Robert Bauval (1948-) and Adrian Gilbert, The Orion Mystery; claims a correlation between stars in the constellation Orion and pyramids of the 4th Egyptian Dynasty in Giza; first formulated by Bauval in 1983. Harold Bloom (1930-2019), The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages; the "greatest works of artistic merit" in Western history - mainly the works of dead white Euro guys? Marcus Borg (1942-), John Dominic Crossan (1934-), and Stephen Patterson, The Search for Jesus: Modern Scholarship Looks at the Gospels. John Boswell, Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe. Carol Botwin (1929-97), Tempted Women: The Passions, Perils and Agonies of Female Infidelity; claims that 40% of married women go outside their marriages for sex. Marlon Brando (1924-2004) and Robert Lindsey, Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me; "Hollywood was always a Jewish community; it was started by Jews and to this day is run largely by Jews. But for a long time it was venomously anti-Semitic in a perverse way, especially before the war, when Jewish performers had to disguise their Jewishness if they wanted a job." Richard Brautigan (1935-84), An Unfortunate Woman: A Journey (posth.). Dannion Brinkley (1950-), Saved by the Light: The True Story of a Man Who Died Twice and the Profound Revelations He Received; his two near-death experiences (NDEs). David Jay Brown and Rebecca McClen Novick, Mavericks of the Mind: Conversations for the New Millennium; conversations on the New Age with 17 people incl. Timothy Leary, John Lilly, Allen Ginsberg, and Laura Huxley. Judith M. Brown, Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy. Tom Brown Jr. (1950-), Awakening Spirits (Religion and Spirituality). Barbara Pierce Bush (1925-), Barbara Bush: A Memoir. Laurie Cabot (1933-), Celebrate the Earth: A Year of Holidays in the Pagan Tradition. Dolores Cannon (1931-), They Walked with Jesus: Past Life Experiences with Christ. Norman F. Cantor (1929-2004), The Sacred Chain: History of the Jews. Stephen L. Carter (1954-), The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion; separation of church and state doesn't mean that religion should be officially treated like manure?; Pres. Clinton's favorite book? Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (1922-), Paolo Menozzi, and Alberto Piazza, The History and Geography of Human Genes; Genoa, Italy-born population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (1922-) pioneers techniques to use genetic markers to track the ethnic background and history of individual people, proving that the ancestors of Native Ams. came from Asia 16.5K-13K years ago, chucking the entire Book of Mormon and its ancient Israelite origin of Native Ams. in the trashcan and stamping the word Dumbass on the foreheads of millions of mainly white American Mormons, who deal with the scientific facts by pretending they don't exist until ?; duh, God allegedly cursed the Lamanites by darkening their skin, meaning he changed their DNA, and he could have used his old Asian mold for funners; later, when Nephites were exterminated by the Lamanites, they conveniently took their white-skinned Israelite DNA with them? Anthony Cave Brown (1929-2006), Treason in the Blood: H. St. John Philby, Kim Philby, and the Spy Case of the Century; by a former drinking buddy of Kim Philby before his 1963 defection to the Soviet Union; claims that Kim Philby's Cambridge economics teacher Maurice Dobbs converted him to Marxism; "His message was that of the classless, scientifically run society offered by Marx, the decline of capitalism, the high superiority of the very fashionable dialectical materialism. This, in theory, was meant to provide both a general worldview and a specific method for the investigation of scientific problems. It was the official philosophy of communism. Dialectical materialism captured many men with Kim's disposition; and it is said that when he understood it, he experienced the blinding light of reality and certainty about life, a light similar to that experienced by some religious believers when they first sense the presence of God." Phyllis Chesler (1940-), Patriarchy: Notes of an Expert Witness. Nancy Chodorow (1944-), Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities: Freud and Beyond. Deepak Chopra (1947-), The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams; bestseller. Jenny Cockell (1953-), Across Time and Death: A Mother's Search for Her Past Life Children; how she reuinted with Sutton's children, some of whom accepted her. Larry Collins (1929-2005), Le Jour Du Miracle: D-Day Paris. Phil Cousineau (1952-), Soul: An Archaeology: From Socrates to Ray Charles. Harvey Gallagher Cox Jr. (1929-), Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21st Century. Richard Ben Cramer (1950-), Bob Dole. Francis Crick (1916-2004) The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul; denies spirit in the functioning of the human mind; "A person's mental activities are entirely due to the behavior of nerve cells, glial cells, and the atoms, ions, and molecules that make them up and influence them", and "You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules." A.E. Cunningham, Patrick O'Brian: Critical Appreciations and a Bibliography; "Master and Commander" author Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000). Antonio Damasio (1944-), Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain; presents the Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH) that rationality requires emotional input, hence Descartes was wrong to separate mind from body, and rationality from emotion. John H. Davis (1929-), Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Family (May 11). Vine Deloria Jr. (1933-2005), God is Red: A Native View of Religion. Jared Mason Diamond (1937-), Race Without Color; "Many anthropologists today conclude that one cannot recognize any human races at all." Jonathan Dimbleby (1944-), Prince of Wales: A Biography (Nov. 1). Thomas Michael Disch (1940-2008), The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters. J.P. Donleavy (1926-), The History of the Ginger Man. Sir William Empson (1906-84), Essays on Renaissance Literature, Vol. 2: The Drama (posth.). Robert Evans (1930-) The Kid Stays in the Picture (autobio.); title after a line by Darryl F. Zanuck regarding his part in the 1957 film "The Sun Also Rises"; his rise from kiddie star to production chief of Paramount Pictures, his marriage to hot actress Ali MacGraw, followed by his fall starting with a 1980 cocaine bust, implication in the Cotton Club Murder of Roy Radin, and his banishment from Paramount Pictures; filmed in 2002. William Everson (1912-94), Take Hold Upon the Future: Letters on Writing and Writing, 1938-1946. George Fetherling (1949-), Travels By Night: A Memoir of the Sixties. Erich Fromm (1900-80), The Art of Listening (posth.). Barbara Garson (1941-), All the Livelong Day: The Meaning and Demeaning of Routine Work. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950-), Colored People: A Memoir. Sir Martin Gilbert (1936-2015), The First World War: A Complete History. Louise Gluck (1943-), Proofs and Theories: Essays on Poetry. Paul Goodman (1911-72), Decentralizing Power: Paul Goodman's Social Criticism (posth.). Doris Kearns Goodwin (1943-), No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II (Sept.) (Pulitzer Prize); based on interviews with 86 people who knew them personally; how FDR put himself to sleep during WWII by imagining riding his sled down a hill in Hyde Park, N.Y. as a boy then climbing back up to the top. Berry Gordy (1929-), To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown (autobio.). G. Edward Griffin (1931-), The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve; the secret Nov. 1910 meeting of seven financial bigwigs that created you know what; claims that it constitutes a banking cartel and instrument of war and totalitarianism, becoming a business bestseller and favorite of Ron Paul. Stanislav Grof (1931-) and Christina Grof, The Thirst for Wholeness: Attachment, Addiction, and the Spiritual Path. Winston Groom (1944-), The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Cookbook: Recipes & Reflections from Forrest Gump; GUMPisms: The Wit and Wisdom of Forrest Gump. Lani Guinier (1950-), The Tyranny of the Majority; alternative ways to give racial minorities (blacks) more voting power, incl. cumulative voting and superdistricts; in 2001 she coins the term "confirmative action". Peter Guralnick (1943-), Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. Sir John Habakkuk (1915-2002), Marriage, Debt, and the Estates System: English Land Ownership 1650-1950. David Halberstam (1934-2007), October 1964. Peter Handke (1942-), The Art of Questioning. Willis Harman (1918-97) and Jane Clark, New Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science. Joan D. Hedrick (1944-), Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life (Pulitzer Prize). Daniel A. Helminiak, What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality - he'll tell you? Richard J. Herrnstein (1930-94) and Charles Alan Murray (1943-), The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life; bestseller; pisses-off the PC police with the statement: "It seems highly likely to us that both genes and the environment have something to do with racial differences" (ch. 13), after which 52 scientists sign Mainstream Science on Intelligence, an editorial by San Francisco, Calif.-born psychologist Linda Susanne Gottfredson (1947-) pub. on Dec. 13 in the Wall Street Journal backing the book up and dissing affirmative action, hiring quotas, and race-norming on aptitude tests; duh, ch. 13 starts out: "The debate about whether and how much genes and environment have to do with ethnic differences remains unresolved." Adam Hochschild (1942-), The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin. Michael Holroyd (1935-), Lytton Strachey: The New Biography. Michel Houellebecq (1956-), Extension du Domaine de la Lutte (Extension of the Domain of the Struggle); free market economics extends to the sexual? Irving Howe (1920-93), A Critic's Notebook (posth.); ed. by Nicholas Howe. Michael F. Jacobson, What Are We Feeding Our Kids (Jan. 8). Philip Jenkins (1952-), Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Homicide. Erica Jong (1942-), Fear of Fifty: A Midlife Memoir. Haynes Johnson (1931-), Divided We Fall. Holly Johnson (1960-), A Bone in My Flute (Mar.) (autobio.); gay lead singer for Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who was tested HIV positive in Nov. 1991 and withdrew from the music business. Pauline Kael (1919-2001), For Keeps. Neal Karlen, Babes in Toyland: The Making and Selling of a Rock and Roll Band. Kevin Kelly (1952-), Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World (first book). Daniel Keyes (1927-), The Milligan Wars. Henry Alfred Kissinger (1923-), Years of Renewal; the Ford years. Carolyn Kizer (1925-), Proses: Essays on Poets and Poetry. Klingon Language Inst. (KLI), The Holy Bible; the 2K-word Klingon Language was invented in 1984 by 10 learned Trekkers (KLI) in Flourtown, Penn.; the Miracle of the Blood Pies and the Serpent Worms. Nancy Koehn (1959-), The Power of Commerce: Economy and Governance in the First British Empire (first book). Maxine Kumin (1925-2014), Women, Animals, and Vegetables: Essays and Stories. Anne Lamott (1954-), Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Frances Moore Lappe (1944-) and Paul Martin Du Bois, The Quickening of America: Rebuilding Our Nation, Remaking Our Lives. Christopher Lasch (1932-94), The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy. Robert Lawlor (1939-), Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science. Gerda Lerner (1920-2013), The Creation of Feminist Consciousness. Philip Levine (1928-2015), The Bread of Time (essays). Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), Cultures in Conflict; The Shaping of the Modern Middle East. Penelope Lively (1933-), Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived (autobio.). John Edward Mack (1929-2004), Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens; gets him investigated by Harvard Medical School in an Inquisition, which fails to oust him but stinks themselves up. Peter Mandler (1958-) and Susan Pedersen (eds.), After the Victorians: Private Conscience and Public Duty in Modern Britain. Andrews McMeel Publishing, Magic Eye: A New Way of Looking at the World (3 vols.) (Apr. 1); NYT bestseller (20M copies); 2D color illustrations turn into monochromatic 3D figures when you look through the page as if into a deep bowl. Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006), Echoes of an Autobiography. William Manchester (1922-2004), Magellan. Robert K. Massie (1929-), Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War. Mark Matousek (1957-) and Andrew Harvey (1952-), Dialogues with a Modern Mystic; "As the Dalai Lama and many other contemporary spiritual leaders have emphasized, ours is not an era when seekers after God can afford to withdraw from the world. As darkness and danger increase around us, enlightenment becomes less and less a private affair. We are being called upon today to act as enlightened revolutionaries, bodhisattvas compassionate action to preserve the creation and to help usher in the next millennium." William S. McFeely (1930-), Sapelo's People: A Long Walk into Freedom. Corinne McLaughlin (1947-) and Gordon Davidson, Spiritual Politics: Changing the World from the Inside Out. John McPhee (1931-), The Ransom of Russian Art. Kate Millett (1934-), The Politics of Cruelty; exposes state-sanctioned cruelty in dozens of countries. Anchee Min (1957-), Red Azalea (autobio.). Eric Henry Monkkonen (1942-2005), Engaging the Past: The Uses of History Across the Social Sciences. Thomas Moore (1940-), Soul Mates: Honoring the Mystery of Love and Relationship (Nov. 4). Benny Morris (1948-), 1948 and After. Jacob Needleman (1934-), Money and the Meaning of Life. Malcolm H. Murfett, John Miksic, Brian Farell, and Chiang Ming Shun, Between Two Oceans: A Military History of Singapore from 1275 to 1971; 2nd ed. 2011. William Nordhaus (1941-), Managing the Global Commons: The Economics of Climate Change (Oct. 4); makes him a global warming/climate change hero. Christiane Northrup, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom; NYT bestseller. Sherwin B. Nuland, How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter (Pulitzer Prize). Mary Oliver (1935-), A Poetry Handbook. P.J. O'Rourke (1947-), All the Trouble in the World. Abraham Pais (1918-2000), Einstein Lived Here. Pope John Paul II (1920-2005), Crossing the Threshold of Hope; bestseller; warns Catholics to avoid Buddhist and Hindu practices. Brian Pearce (1915-2008), The Staroselsky Problem, 1918–20: An Episode in British-Russian Relations in Persia. Francis Edwards Peters, Muhammad and the Origins of Islam; Mecca: A Literary History of the Muslim Holy Land; The Monotheists: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Conflict and Competition (2 vols.). Tom Peters (1942-) The Pursuit of WOW! James Petras, Empire or Republic: Global Power or Domestic Day in the U.S. Kevin Phillips (1940-), Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street and the Frustration of American Politics. W. David Pierce and Frank Epling (1954-98), Solving the Anorexia Puzzle. Steven Pinker (1954-), The Language Instinct; claims that it is a Darwinian biological adaptation rather than a by-product of other adaptations a la Noam Chomsky, but agrees that it's an innate capacity. Richard Pipes (1923-2018), Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime; the Soviet Union traces to 15th cent. Muscovy, which had no concept of private property?; the intelligentsia who ran the 1917 rev. were intolerant fanatics from the start, and didn't deviate from a benign course? Katha Pollitt (1949-), Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism. Roy Porter (1946-2002), London: A Social History. Roy Porter (1946-2002) and Mikulas Teich, Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science: The History of Attitudes to Sexuality. Michael I. Posner (1936-) and Marcus E. Raichle, Images of Mind; uses Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to localize cognitive brain functions. John Enoch Powell (1912-98), The Evolution of the Gospel; tries to prove that Jesus was stoned not crucified. Susan Powter (1958-), The Pocket Powter. Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the U.S.. Richard Preston, The Hot Zone. Reynolds Price (1933-), A Whole New Life (autobio.). Daniel Quinn (1935-), Providence: The Story of a Fifty-Year Vision Quest (autobio.). Dennis Michael Quinn (1944-), The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power (2 vols.) (1994, 1997); traces how Joseph Smith's restoration of primitive Christianity sans priests or hierarchy crumbled. Paul Reiser (1957-), Couplehood. Tom Reiss (1964-), Fuhrer-Ex: Memoirs of a Former Neo-Nazi; first inside expose of the Euro Neo-Nazi movement. Faye D. Resnick (with Mike Walker), Nicole Brown Simpson. Susan Reynolds, Fiefs and Vassals: the Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted; argues for more private ownership of land and more centralized authorities than other historians. David Rivera, Final Warning: A History of the New World Order; Illuminism and the Master Plan for World Domination. Craig Roberts, Kill Zone: A Sniper Looks at Dealey Plaza; a perfect place for a prof. sniper team to bump JFK off? Paul Michael Romer (1955-), The Origins of Exogenous Growth. Nathan Rosenberg (1927-), Exploring the Black Box: Technology, Economics, and History; The Emergence of Economic Ideas: Essays in the History of Economics. Murray Newton Rothbard (1926-95), The Case Against the Fed. Barry Rubin (1950-2014), Revolution Until Victory? The Politics and History of the PLO. Carl Sagan (1934-96), The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God; "You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe." Ali Salem (1936-2015), My Drive to Israel; bestseller in Egypt after his trip to Israel as not "a love trip but a serious attempt to get rid of hate", concluding that Egypt and Israel could get along, getting him showered with hate and ostracized. Letha Scanzoni and Virginia Ramey Molenkott, Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? A Positive Christian Response. Orville Hickok Schell (1940-), Mandate of Heaven: The Legacy of Tiananmen Square and the Next Generation of China's Leaders; Mandate of Heaven: A New Generation of Entrepreneurs, Dissidents, Bohemians, and Technocrats Lays Claim to China's Future. Stacy Schiff (1961-), Saint-Exupery: A Biography. Israel Shahak (1933-2001), Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years; former Zionist turns on Israel for its mistreatment of Palestinians, calling Judaism a totalitarian religion ruled by rabbis, and Israel an attempt at self-segregation, causing a firestorm of controversy. Lloyd S. Shapley (1923-) and Robert J. Aumann (1930-), Long-Term Competition: A Game-Theoretic Analysis. Rupert Sheldrake (1942-), Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Revolutionary Science; proposes a grassroots scientific rev. Clay Shirky (1964-), The Internet by E-Mail. O.J. Simpson (1947-), I Want to Tell You. Peter Singer (1946-), Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics. Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx (eds.), Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism. Hank Snow (1914-99), The Hank Snow Story (autobio.). George Soros (1930-), The Alchemy of Finance: Reading the Mind of the Market; foreword by Paul Volcker. Han Suyin (1917-), Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China. Hugh Thomas (1931-), Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes and the Fall of Old Mexico. Frank J. Tipler (1947-), The Physics of Immortality; identifies the Omega Point with God. Tang Tsou (1919-99), Twentieth Century Chinese Politics: From the Perspectives of Macrohistory and Micromechanism Analysis. Michael Walzer (1935-), Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad. James Welch (1940-2003), Killing Custer: The Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians. Arnold Wesker (1932-), As Much As I Dare: An Autobiography. Cornel West (1953-), Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America. William Wharton (1925-2008), Wrongful Deaths (autobio.). Mel White, Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America (autobio.). David Whyte (1955-), The Heart Aroused: Poetry & the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America (rev. ed. 1996); #1 NYT bestseller. John Edgar Wideman (1941-), Fatheralong: A Meditation on Fathers and Sons, Race and Society. Stuart Wilde (1946-), Weight Loss for the Mind. Garry Wills (1934-), Certain Trumps: The Call of Leaders. Fred Alan Wolf (1934-), The Dreaming Universe: A Mind-Expanding Journey into the Realm Where Psychie and Physics Meet. Tobias Wolff (1945-), In Pharaoh's Army(autobi.). E. Thomas Wood and Stanislaw M. Jankowski, Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust; Polish WWII hero Jan Karski (1914-2000). Bob Woodward (1943-), The Agenda. Lawrence Wright (1947-), Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory; the Paul Ingram false memory case; on June 7, 1996 he testifies at Ingram's pardon hearing. Robert Wright (1957-), The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology; update of Charles Darwin. Howard Zinn (1922-2010), You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (autobio.); "From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than 'objectivity'; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble." Music: 2 Unlimited, Real Things (album #3) (June 6); incl. The Real Thing, Here I Go. 311, Grassroots (album #2) (July 12) (500K copies); incl. Nutysymtom, Offbeat Bare-Ass. Aaliyah (1979-2001), Age Ain't Nothing But a Number (album) (debut) (June 13) (#18 in the U.K.) (3M copies); with R. Kelly (1967-); songs by R. Kelly; incl. Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, Back and Forth, At Your Best (You Are Love). Allman Brothers Band, Where It All Begins (album #12) (May); incl. No One to Run With. America, Hourglass (album #13) (May 17); first original album since 1984; incl. Hope. Tori Amos (1963-), Under the Pink (album #2) (Jan. 31) (#12 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.); incl. Cornflake Girl (#1 in the U.K.), God (#44 in the U.S.). Apollo 440, Millennium Fever (album) (debut); incl. (Don't Fear) The Reaper. Asia, Aria (album #5). Massive Attack, Protection (album #2) (Sept. 26); incl. Protection, Karmacoma. A Tribe Called Quest, Oh My God. Anita Baker (1958-), Rhythm of Love (album #5) (Sept. 13) (#2 in the U.S.); incl. Rhythm of Love, Body and Soul, I Apologize. Marcia Ball (1949-), Blue House (album). Beck (1970-), Mellow Gold (album); incl. Loser; Stereopathic Soulmanure; One Foot in the Grave. Tony Bennett (1926-), MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett (album). The Notorious B.I.G. (1972-97), Ready to Die (album) (debut) (Sept. 13) (#15 in the U.S.); revitalizes the East Coast hip hop scene; incl. Juicy (#27 in the U.S.), Big Poppa (#6 in the U.S.), One More Chance (#2 in the U.S.). Clint Black (1962-), One Emotion (album #5) (Oct. 4) (#8 country) (#37 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl. One Emotion (#2 country), Summer's Comin' (#1 country), Wherever You Go (#3 country), Life Gets Away (#4 country), Untanglin' My Mind (#4 country). Mary J. Blige (1971-), My Life (album #2) (Nov. 28) (#7 in the U.S.) (3M copies); incl. My Life, Be Happy, I'm Goin' Down. Blink-182, Cheshire Cat (album) (debut) (Feb. 17); from Poway, Calif., incl. Mark Allan Hoppus (1972-) (bass, vocals), Thomas Matthew "Tom" DeLonge Jr. (1975-) (guitar), and Scott William Raynor Jr. (1978-) (drums); incl. M+M's, Wasting Time. Moody Blues, Time Traveller (album #16) (Sept. 27). Suzy Bogguss (1956-) and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Red Hot + Country (album) (Sept. 13) (#30 country) (#183 in the U.S.); incl. Teach Your Children (w/Alison Krauss and Katthy Mattea), Fire and Rain by Sammy Kershaw). Suzy Bogguss (1956-) and Chet Atkins (1924-2001), Simpatico (album) (Oct. 18); incl. This Is the Beginning; earns them an invite to perform for Pres. Clinton at the White House. Oingo Boingo, Boingo (album #7) (last album) (May 17); incl. I Am the Walrus (by John Lennon and Paul McCartney). Boston, Walk On (album #4) (June 7) (#7 in the U.S.); incl. I Need Your Love; net album in 2002. La Bouche, Sweet Dreams (debut) (#13 in the U.S.); French for "The Mouth"; from Germany, incl. Melanie Thornton (1967-2001), and Lane McCray (1962-). Beastie Boys, Some Old Bullshit (album) (Feb. 8); Ill Communication (album #4) (May 24) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Sabotage, Get It Together (w/Q-tip), Sure Shot, Mullet Head (uses the term "mullet", which they coined); Pretzel Nugget (album). Pet Shop Boys, Disco 2 (album) (Sept. 12). Garth Brooks (1962-) et al., Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved (album). Jimmy Buffett (1946-), Fruitcakes (album #19) (May); first album since 1989. Chris de Burgh (1948-), This Way Up (album #10). Bush, Sixteen Stone (#4 in the U.S.) (10M copies in the U.S.); from London, England, incl. Gavin Rossdale (vocals), Nigel Pulsford (guitar), Dave Parsons (bass), and Robin Goodridge (drums); incl. Comedown, Glycerine, Machinehead, Little Things, Everything Zen. Cake, Motorcade of Generosity (album) (debut) (Feb. 7). The Cardigans, Emmerdale (album) (debut) (Feb. 18); from Jonkoping, Sweden, incl. Nina Persson (vocals), Peter Svensson, Magnus Sveningsson, Lars-Olof Johannson (keyboards), and Bengt Lagerberg (drums). Mariah Carey (1969-), Merry Christmas (album #4) (5.5M copies in the U.S., 15M copies worldwide, featuring All I Want for Christmas Is You (#4 in the U.S.) (#2 in the U.K.), which becomes the best-selling ringtone in the U.S. (until ?). Alice in Chains, Jar of Flies (album #3) (Jan. 25); first EP to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200; written and recorded in one week; incl. No Excuses, I Stay Away, Don't Follow. Kenny Chesney (1968-), In My Wildest Dreams (album) (debut) (Apr. 19); incl. Whatever It Takes (#59 country), The Tin Man (#70 country). Cinderella, Still Climbing (album #4) (last album) (Nov. 8) (#178 in the U.S.); killed by grunge?; incl. Bad Attitude Shuffle, Hard to Find the Words, Hot and Bothered (from the film "Wayne's World). Eric Clapton (1945-), From the Cradle (album). Joe Cocker (1944-2014), Have a Little Faith (album #14) (Sept. 8). Judy Collins (1939-), Come Rejoice! A Judy Collins Christmas (album #25); Shameless (album #26). Shawn Colvin (1956-), Cover Girl (album #3) (Aug. 23); incl. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go. Coolio (1963-), It Takes a Thief (album) (debut) (July 19); incl. Fantastic Voyage (Mar. 8) (#3 in the U.S.). Alice Cooper (1948-), The Last Temptation (album #20). Elvis Costello (1954-) and the Attractions, Brutal Youth (album) (Mar. 8); they reunite after 12 years (1986). The Cramps, Flamejob (album) (Oct.11). The Cranberries, No Need to Argue (album #2) (Oct. 3); sells 16.7M copies; incl. Zombie (about the 1993 IRA bombers that killed two children) ("It's the same only thing since 1916/ In your head, in your head they're still fighting,/ With their tanks and their bombs,/ And their bombs and their guns,/ In your head they are dying.../ Hey hey, what's in your head, Tommy, er Zombie?"), No Need to Argue, Ode to My Family, Ridiculous Thoughts (video features Elijah Wood). King Crimson, VROOOM (album #13). Crosby, Stills & Nash, After the Storm (album) (Aug. 16). Black Crowes, Amorica (album #3) (Nov. 1) (500K copies); cover shows a woman's pubic hair peeking out of a U.S. flag bikini, causing controversy and a new more modest cover; incl. A Conspiracy, Wiser Time. Counting Crows, August and Everything After (album) (debut); from San Francisco, Calif., incl. Adam Fredric Duritz (1964-) (vocals) (of Russian Jewish descent, who likes to impersonate an African Jamaican, and sing about a paradise planet where everybody is colorblind or just impersonating it?), Dave Bryson (guitar), Matt Malley (bass), Charley Gillingham (keyboards), Steven Bowman (drums; name taken from the 1989 film "Signs of Life"; incl. Mr. Jones (#2 in the U.S., #28 in the U.K.), Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman), Round Here (#7 in the U.S.), Rain King (#4 in the U.S.), A Murder of One (#17 in the U.S.); "Well I dreamt I saw you walking up a hillside in the snow/ Casting shadows on the winter sky as you stood there, counting crows/ One for sorrow, two for joy/ Three for girls and four for boys/ Five for silver, six for gold/ Seven for a secret never to be told." Motley Crue, Motley Crue (Mötley Crüe) (album #6) (Mar. 15); incl. Uncle Jack, Hooligan's Holiday, Misunderstood; Quaternary (leftovers) (album). Green Day, Dookie (album #3) (Feb. 1) (#2 in the U.S., #13 in the U.K.); sells 16M copies; makes punk bands claim they sold out to the mainstream; incl. Longview, Welcome to Paradise, Basket Case, When I Come Around, She. The Grateful Dead, Grayfolded (album); incl. Dark Star. Crash Test Dummies, The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead; used in the film "Dumb and Dumber". Eagles, Hell Freezes Over (album) (Nov. 8); their long-awaited reunion since their 1980 breakup, during which Don Henley said they'd play together when you know what. Public Enemy, Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (album #5) (Aug. 23) (#14 in the U.S.). Erasure, I Say I Say I Say (album #6) (May 17); incl. I Love Saturday, Run to the Sun, Always. Sunny Day Real Estate, Dairy (album) (debut) (May 10); from Seattle, Wash; Dan Hoerner (vocals, guitar), Nate Mendel (bass), William Goldsmith (drums); incl. Seven, 47, Song About An Angel. Gloria Estefan (1957-), Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (album #5) (Oct. 18) (4M copies); incl. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Turn the Beat Around, Everlasting Love. Violent Femmes, New Times (album); incl. Breaking Up. Pink Floyd, The Division Bell (album). Dan Fogelberg (1951-2007), Love Songs (album). Foghat, Return of the Boogie Men (album). Peter Frampton (1950-), Peter Frampton (album #11); incl. Young Island, Off the Hook. Jean Francaix (1912-97), Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano. Kenny G (1956-), Miracles: The Holiday Album (album #7) (Nov. 22) (#1 in the U.S.); 3.9M copies in 1994-5 (best-selling Christmas album in the U.S.), going on to sell 8M copies in the U.S. Everything But the Girl, Amplified Heart (album #8) (June 17); their U.S. breakthrough album; incl. Missing (#2 in the U.S.). Indigo Girls, Swamp Ophelia (album #5) (May 10) (#9 in the U.S.). Gravediggaz, 6 Feet Deep (album) (Aug.). Sammy Hagar, Unboxed (album) (Mar. 15); incl. two new songs, which pisses-off Van Halen, leading to bad blood and his Father's Day 1996 departure. MC Hammer, The Funky Headhunter (album #5) (Mar. 1) (#12 in the U.S.); incl. Pumps and a Bump (video shows him in a speedo with an erection, causing MTV to ban it until he filmed another one fully clothed), It's All Good (#46 in the U.S., #52 in the U.K.). Herbie Hancock (1940-) et al., A Tribute to Miles (album); Dis Is Da Drum (album #39). Ben Harper (1969-), Welcome to the Cruel World (album) (debut) (Feb. 8). Roy Harper (1941-), Commercial Breaks (album #18). Sophie Ballantine Hawkins (1967-), Whaler (album #2) (Oct. 18) (#65 in the U.S.); incl. Right Beside You, As I Lay Me Down. Helmet, Betty (album #3) (June 21) (#45 in the U.S., #38 in the U.K.); incl. Milquetoast. Jimi Hendrix (1942-70), Blues (album) (posth.) (Apr. 2); incl. Born Under a Bad Sign, Hear My Train a Comin'. Hole, Live Through This (album #2) (Apr. 12); sells 2M copies; released four days after Kurt Cobain is found dead in his Seattle, Wash. home; incl. Violet, Miss World, Doll Parts, Asking for It (w/Kurt Cobain), Softer, Softest. Luscious Jackson, Natural Ingredients (album #2) (Aug. 23); incl. Citysong, Deep Shag, Here. Millie Jackson (1944-), Rock N' Soul (album #22). Pearl Jam, Vitalogy (album #3) (Dec. 6) (#1 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.); incl. Spin the Black Circle (#18 in the U.S., #10 in the U.K.), Not for You, Tremor Christ. Jamiroquai, The Return of the Space Cowboy (album #2) (Oct. 17); incl. Space Cowboy ("cannabis praise"), Morning Glory. Jimmy Eat World, Jimmy Eat World (album) (debut); from Mesa, Ariz., incl. Jim Adkins (vocals), Tom Linton (guitar), Rick Burch (bass), and Zach Lind (drums); named after Tom Linton's younger brothers Jim and Ed, and a drawing by Ed showing Jim shoving the Earth into his mouth; incl. Splat Out of Luck. Bon Jovi, Cross Road (album); incl. Always, Someday I'll Be Saturday Night. Milla Jovovich (1975-), The Divine Comedy (album) (debut) (Apr. 5); The Gentleman Who Fell, It's Your Life. Kahimi Karie (1968-), Mike Alway's Diary (album) (debut); Hugh McDonald replaces bassist Alec John Such. Toby Keith (1961-), Boomtown (album). Korn, Korn (album) (debut) (Oct. 11) (#72 in the U.S.); cornrowed musicians from Bakersfield, Calif., who go on to sell 30M+ albums, incl. Jonathan Houseman Davis (1971-) (lead vocals), Brian "Head" Welch (1970-) (guitar), David Randall Silveria (1972-) (drums), James "Munky" Shaffer (1970-) (guitar), and Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu (bass); first-ever nu metal album; incl. Blind, Need To, Clown, Faget, Daddy, Shoots and Ladders (features Scottish bagpipes). Patti LaBelle (1944-), Gems (album); incl. The Right Kinda Lover. Barenaked Ladies, Maybe You Should Drive (album #2) (Aug. 16) (#3 in Canada, #175 in the U.S.); incl. Jane, Alternative Girlfriend, These Apples, A, Life, in a Nutshell. Laibach, NATO (album #10) (Oct. 10); incl. Nato. Cyndy Lauper (1953-). Twelve Deadly Cyns... and Then Some (album); sells 6M copies. Level 42, Forever Now (album #10) (Mar. 14); last with Mark King and Mike Lindup; incl. Forever Now, All Over You, Love in a Peaceful World; next album in 2006. Huey Lewis (1950-) and the News, Four Chords & Several Years Ago (album #7) (Nov. 1). Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories Reality Bites Soundtrack (album); incl. "Stay". L7, Hungry for Stink (album #4) (July 12); incl. Andres, Stuck Here Again. Craig Mack (1971-), Flava in Ya Ear (debut) (Oct. 31) (#9 in the U.S.); first release by Bad Boy Records. Madonna (1958-), Bedtime Stories (album #6) (Oct. 25) (#3 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.) sells 5M copies); incl. Secret, Take a Bow, Bedtime Story, Human Nature. Yngwie Malmsteen (1963-), The Seventh Sign (album #7) (May 9); incl. Seventh Sign, Never Die; I Can't Wait (EP) (Oct. 21); incl. Power and Glory. Method Man, Tical (album) (debut) (Nov.). Mana, Mana en Vivo (Dec. 13) (album). Marilyn Manson, Portrait of an American Family (album) (debut) (July 10); originally the Spooky Kids; incl. Marilyn Manson (Brian Hugh Warner) (1969-), Twiggy Ramirez (Jeordie Osbourne White) (1971-) (bass), Ginger Fish (Kenneth Robert Wilson) (1966-) (drums), Chris Vrenna (1967-) (keyboards), Andy Gerold (1978-) (bass); co-produced by Trent Reznor; incl. Lunchbox, Dope Hat, Get Your Gunn. Dave Matthews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming (album); Recently (album). Maxx, Get Away. Reba McEntire (1955-), Read My Mind (album #20) (Apr. 26); incl. Why Haven't I Heard from You, She Thinks His Name Was John (first country song to talk about AIDS), Til You Love Me, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter; Oklahoma Girl (double album #21). Tim McGraw (1967-), Not a Moment Too Soon (Mar. 22) (#1 country) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Not a Moment Too Soon (#1 country), Don't Take the Girl (#1 country) (#17 in the U.S.), Indian Outlaw (#8 country) (#15 in the U.S.), Down on the Farm (#2 country), Refried Dreams (#5 country). Megadeth, Youthanasia (album #6) (Nov. 1) (#4 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.); incl. Train of Consequences (#29 in the U.S., #22 in the U.K.), A Tout le Monde (#31 in the U.S.). John Mellencamp (1951-), Dance Naked (album); incl. "Wild Night". Joni Mitchell (1943-), Turbulent Indigo (album #15) (Oct. 25); incl. Sex Kills, How Do You Stop. Moonspell, Under the Moonspell (album) (debut); Goth band from from Portugal; incl. Allah Akbar! La Allah Ella Allah! Van Morrison (1945-), A Night in San Francisco (album) (May 17). Morrissey (1959-), Vauxhall and I (album). David Lee Murphy (1959-), Out with a Bang (album) (debut) (Aug. 30) (#52 in the U.S.) (#10 country) (500K copies); incl. Dust on the Bottle. Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral (album #2) (Mar. 8) (5M copies, incl. 4M in the U.S.) (best album); incl. March of the Pigs, Closer, Piggy, Hurt. Oasis, Definitely Maybe (album) (debut) (Aug. 30) (#1 in the U.K., #58 in the U.S.)) (12M copies, incl. 1M in the U.S.) (fastest-selling debut album in the U.K. until the Arctic Monkeys in 2006); formerly The Rain; from Manchester, England, incl. Noel Thomas David Gallagher (1967-) (vocals), William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher (1972-) (guitar, vocals), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (1965-) (guitar), Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (1971-) (bass), and Anthony "Tony" McCarroll (1971-) (drums); incl. Supersonic, Shakermaker, Live Forever, Cigarettes & Alcohol. Sinead O'Connor (1966-), Universal Mother (album #4) (Sept. 13); sells 1.5M copies. The Offspring, Smash (album #3) (Apr. 8); sells 14M copies, becoming the best selling indie album of all time?; incl. Come Out and Play (Keep 'em Separated), Self Esteeem, Gotta Get Away. New Order, The Best of New Order (album). Gary Numan (1958-), Sacrifice (album #12) (Oct.). Outkast, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (album) (debut) (Apr. 26); from East Point, Ga., incl. Andre Lauren "Andre 3000" Benjamin (1975-) and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton (1975-); incl. Player's Ball. Robert Palmer (1949-2003), Honey (album #13) (#25 in the U.K.); incl. Know by Now, Girl U Want, You Blow Me Away. Pantera, Far Beyond Driven (album #7) (Mar. 22) (#1 in the U.S.); first to credit Darrell Abbott as Dimebag Darrell; incl. Becoming, 5 Minutes Alone, I'm Broken, Planet Caravan (by Black Sabbath). Paris (Oscar Jackson Jr.) (1967-), Guerrilla Funk (album); incl. Guerrilla Funk. Tom Petty (1950-2017), Wildflowers (album #2) (Nov. 1) (3M copies); incl. Wildflowers, You Don't Know How It Feels (#13 in the U.S.). Phish, Hoist (album); incl. Down With Disease. Stone Temple Pilots, Purple (album #2) (June 7) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Big Empty, Vasoline, Interstate Love Song, Pretty Penny, Unglued. Insane Clown Posse, The Ringmaster (album) (Jan. 28); incl. Chicken Huntin'. The Terror Wheel (album) (Aug. 5); incl. Dead Body Man. Manic Street Preachers, The Holy Bible (album #3) (Aug. 29) (#6 in the U.K.); incl. Faster/P.C.P., Revol, She Is Suffering, IfwhiteAmericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart ("Conservative say: there ain't no black in the union jack/ Democrat say: there ain't enough white in the stars and stripes"); on Feb. 1, 1995 Richy Edwards (b. 1967) disappeared - how great for sales? The Pretenders, Last of the Independents (album #6) (May 10); incl. I'll Stand by You. Prince (1958-2016), Come (album); incl. Come, Endorphin Machine. Queensryche, Promised Land (album #6) (Oct. 18) (#3 in the U.S.); incl. I Am I, Bridge, Disconnected. Radiohead, The Bends (album) (Mar. 13); incl. My Iron Lung, Fake Plastic Trees, High and Dry, Planet Telex. Gerry Rafferty (1947-2011), Over My Head (album #8). Bonnie Raitt (1949-), Longing in Their Hearts (album #12) (Mar. 14); incl. Love Sneakin' Up On You. Juno Reactor, Luciana (album #2); on 61 min. 20 sec. track. Eddi Reader (1959-), Eddi Reader (album #2). Steve Reich (1936-), City Life. R.E.M., Monster (album #9) (Sept. 26); What's the Frequency, Kenneth?, Crush with Eyeliner, Strange Currencies, Bang and Blame, Let Me In (written for Kurt Cobain, who dies during the sessions). Kid Rock (1971-), Fire It Up (album) (Dec.). Love and Rockets, Hot Trip to Heaven (album #5) (Sept. 26); first on American Recordings; incl. Hot Trip to Heaven. The Stone Roses, Second Coming (album #2) (Dec. 5) (1M copies); released after a long legal battle over switching to bigger better Geffen Records; incl. Love Spreads, Ten Story Love Song, Begging You; too bad, they break up in 1995, and reunite in 2011. David Lee Roth (1955-), Your Filthy Little Mouth (album); incl. She's My Machine, Slam Dunk. Roxette, Crash! Boom! Bang! (album #5) (Apr. 9); incl. Crash! Boom! Bang, Sleeping in My Car. Black Sabbath, Cross Purposes (album #17) (Jan. 31). Sade (1959-), The Best of Sade (album) (Nov. 12). New Riders of the Purple Sage, Wasted Tasters (album). Pharoah Sanders (1940-), The Trance of Seven Colors (album); with Mahmoud Guinia. Primal Scream, Give Out But Don't Give Up (album #4) (Mar.); incl. Rocks (#7 in the U.S.). Seal (1963-), Seal (II) (album) (May 23); Kiss from a Rose (July) (#1 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.) (appears on the soundtrack of the 1995 film "Batman Forever"). Selena (1971-95), Como La Flor (album); Amor Prohibido (album #11) (Mar. 22) (#29 in the U.S.) (2M copies); incl. Amor Prohibido, Bidi Bidi Bom Bom, No Me Queda Mas, Fotos y Recuerdos, Si Una Vez, El Chico Del Apartamento 512. Shaggy, Original Doberman (album). Slayer, Divine Intervention (album #6) (Sept. 27) (#8 in the U.S., #15 in the U.K.); first with Paul Bostaph replacing Dave Lombardo; incl. Serenity in Murder. Michelle Shocked (1962-), Kind Hearted Woman (album). Smithereens, A Date with the Smithereens (album). Soundgarden, Superunknown (album #4) (Mar. 8) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Black Hole Sun, Spoonman. Toad the Wet Sprocket, Dulcinea (album #4) (May 24); incl. Fall Down, Something's Always Wrong; Acoustic Dance Party (EP) (Dec. 13). Status Quo, Thirsty Work (album #21) (Aug.). The Rolling Stones, Voodoo Lounge (album #22) (July 11) (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.); first without Bill Wyman; incl. Love Is Strong (#91 in the U.S., #14 in the U.K.), You Got Me Rocking (#23 in the U.K.), Out of Tears (#60 in the U.S., #36 in the U.K.), Sparks Will Fly, I Go Wild (#29 in the U.K.). Stratovarius, Dreamspace (album #3) (Feb. 9). Sublime, Robbin' the Hood (album #2) (Oct.); incl. Saw Red (with guest vocals by Gwen Stefani of not-yet-famous No Doubt). Suede, Dog Man Star (album #2) (Oct. 10); incl. We Are the Pigs, The Wild Ones, New Generation. Donna Summer (1948-2012), Christmas Spirit (album) (Oct. 4). Swans, Celebrity Lifestyle (album #14). Livingston Taylor (1950-), Unsolicited Material (album). Suicidal Tendencies, Suicidal for Life (album #6) (last album) (June 14); last with Rocky George and Robert Trujillo; the brand breaks up in 1995-7; incl. Don't Give a Fuck. Testament, Low (album #6) (Oct. 4); last with Greg Christian; first with James Franklin Murphy (1967-) (guitar) and John Tempesta (1964-) (drums); incl. Urotsukidoji. Seven Mary Three, Churn (album) (debut); from Williamsburg, Va.; incl. Jason Ross, Jason Pollock, Casey Daniel (bass), and Giti Khalsa (drums); incl. Cumbersome (#39 in the U.S.), Water's Edge. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Creepin on ah Come Up (EP) (June 21) (#12 in the U.S.); incl. Thuggish Ruggish Bone, Foe tha Love of $. The Toadies, Rubberneck (album) (Aug. 23); from Ft. Worth, Tex.; incl. Vaden Danger Todd Lewis (1965-) (vocals), Mark Reznicek (drums), Lisa Umbarger (bass), Darrel Herbert (guitar); incl. Possum Kingdom (about Possum Kingdom Lake near Ft. Worth, with the video showing a body bag dragged up from the lake containing a block of ice with a woman inside, causing vampire fans to flock to their concerts). ZZ Top, Antenna (album #11) (Jan. 18, 1994); incl. Pincushion. Babes in Toyland, Dystopia (album). Blues Traveler, Four (album) (Sept. 13) (#8 in the U.S.) (6M copies); incl. Run-Around (#8 in the U.S.), Hook (#23 in the U.S.). Cheap Trick, Woke Up With a Monster (album). Travis Tritt (1963-), Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof (album #4) (May 10) (#3 country) (#20 in the U.S.); incl. Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof, Foolish Pride, Tell Me I Was Dreaming. Underworld, dubnobasswithmyheadman (album #3) (Jan. 24); first with Darren Emerson (1971-); incl. Dark & Long, Cowgirl. Usher (1978-), Usher (album) (debut) (Aug. 30); incl. Think of You. U.S.U.R.A., Drive Me Crazy. Vangelis (1943-), Blade Runner Soundtrack (album). Various Artists, The Lion King Soundtrack (album) (July 13); incl. Circle of Life, I Just Can't Wait to Be King, Be Prepared, Hakuna Matata, Can You Feel the Love Tonight. Weezer, Weezer (Blue Album) (album) (debut) (May 10) (#16 in the U.S.); sells 3M+ copies; from Los Angeles, Calif., incl. Rivers Cuomo (1970-) (vocals), Patrick Wilson (1969-) (drums), Matthew Kelly "Matt" Sharp (1969-)/Mikey Welsh (197-)/Scott G. Shriner (1965-) (bass), and Jason Cropper (1971-)/Brian Bell (1968-); incl. Buddy Holly, Undone (The Sweater Song), Say It Ain't So. Whigfield (1970-), Saturday Night (#19 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (starts a dance craze); Whigfield (album) (debut); incl. Think of You, Another Day, Big Time, Close to You, Sexy Eyes. Great White, Sail Away (album #7) (May 10). John Wiggins (1962-) and Audrey Wiggins (1967-), Has Anybody Seen Amy. Chely Wright (1970-), Woman in the Moon (album) (debut) (Aug. 9); incl. Till I Was Loved by You. Tammy Wynette (1942-98), Without Walls (album). Yanni (1954-), Yanni Live at the Acropolis (album); #2 best-selling music video after Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Trisha Yearwood (1964-), The Sweetest Gift (album). Yello, Zebra (album #8). Yes, Talk (album #14). Neil Young (1945-) and Crazy Horse, Sleeps With Angels (album) (Aug. 16); incl. Sleeps With Angels. Frank Zappa (1940-93), Strictly Commercial (album) (posth.) (Aug. 22). Movies: Tom Shadyac's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (Feb. 4) stars Jim Carrey, Courteney Cox, Sean Young, Ton Loc, and Miami Dolphins QB Dan Marino; does $107M box office on a $15M budget; followed by "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" (1995). Iain Softley's Backbeat (Apr. 14) portrays the early days of the Beatles in Hamburg, with Ian Hart as John Lennon, Gary Bakewell as Paul McCartney, Chris O'Neill as George Harrison (1943-2001), Scott Williams as Pete Best, Stephen Dorff as Stuart Sutcliffe, and Sheryl Lee as Sutcliffe's German babe Astrid Kirchher, using studio musicians to perform the same songs they performed in Hamburg, incl. "Long Tall Sally"; Paul McCartney disses it as a "sugarcoated version" of their lives, saying "They've actually taken my rock 'n' rollness off me". William Friedkin's Blue Chips (Feb. 18) (Paramount Pictures), filmed in French Lick, Ind. stars Nick Nolte as Western U. Dolphins basketball coach Pete Bell, who pays "blue chip" prospects under the table, incl. giving a Lexus to Neon Boudeaux (Shaquille O'Neal) (film debut) and a house and job to the mother of Butch McRae (Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway), which is exposed by sportswriter Ed (Ed O'Neill); Mary McDonnell plays Pete's wife Jenny; J.T. Walsh plays shady school booster Happy Kuykendahl; features cameos by Bob Knight, Larry Bird, Bob Cousy, Jim Boeheim, Jerry Tarkanian, Matt Painter, Louis Gossett Jr. et al.; does $23M box office on a $35M budget. Tony Richardson's Blue Sky (Sept. 16) stars Jessica Lange as Marilyn Monroe wannabe Carly Marshall, who blows the lid off a jerkwater Air Force base in Ala. in 1962, taking her nerdy military hubby Tommy Lee Jones along with him. Deepa Mehta's Camilla (Nov. 25) is Jessica Tandy's last starring role, pairing with real life husband Hume Cronyn. Jonathan Dimbleby's Charles: The Private Man, the Public Role (June 29) (ITV) gives Prince Charles' side to his marriage to Princess Diana. Paul Weiland's City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (June 10) begins with the death of Curly, whose happens to have twin brother Duke Washburn. Joel Schumacher's The Client (July 20) (Warner Bros.), based on the 1993 John Grisham novel stars Brad Renfro as 11-y.-o. Mark Sway, who witnesses a mob lawyer's suicide and hires atty. Regina "Reggie" Love (Susan Sarandon) for $1 to keep the mob and feds off; Tommy Lee Jones plays U.S. atty. Roy "Reverend" Foltrigg; does $117.6M box office on a $45M budget. Phillip Noyce's Clear and Present Danger (Aug. 3), based on the 1989 Tom Clancy novel about a clandestine U.S. op to punish Colombian drug lords stars Harrison Ford as gun-free CIA man Jack Ryan, James Earl Jones as Vice Adm. Jim Greer, Willem Dafoe as John Clark ("Variable"), Miguel Sandoval as Cali cartel head Miguel Sandoval, Henry Czerny as CIA deputy dir. for operations Bob Ritter, Harris Yulin as Nat. Security Adviser James Cutter, and Donald Moffat as Pres. Bennett; does $215.9M box office on a $62M budget. Spike Lee's Crooklyn (May 13) stars Zelda Harris as Troy, Alfre Woodard as her mother, and Delroy Lindo as her father in 1970s Brooklyn. Alex Proyas' The Crow (May 13) (Dimension Films) (Miramax), based on the comic strip by James O'Barr stars Brandon Lee as Eric Draven, who is resurrected on Devil's Night a year after his death to avenge his own murder and that of his babe; too bad, Lee dies from a set accident, and a stunt double is used to complete the flick, which is mostly filmed in the night or rain anyway, so no one can tell?; does $50.7M box office on a $23M budget; "People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right." Jeremy Leven's Don Juan DeMarco (Apr. 7) stars Johnny Depp as John R. DeMarco, who believes he's world's greatest lover Don Juan, and is treated by pshrink Dr. Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando), who gets turned on and revives his love affair with wife Marilyn (Faye Dunaway); features the Michael Kamen song Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? The Farrelly Brothers' Dumb and Dumber (Dec. 16) stars Jim Carrey as Lloyd Christmas and Jeff Daniels as Harry Dunne in a slapstick gross-out road movie crossing the U.S. all the way to ritzy Aspen, Colo.; Lauren Holly plays Harry's dream babe Mary Swanson, and Teri Garr her mother Helen; Victoria Rowell plays an athletic FBI agent; #5 movie of 1994 ($128M), launching the careers of R.I.-raised writer-dirs. (the Farrelly Brothers) Peter Farrelly (1956-) and Bobby Farrelly (1958-). Gus Van Sant's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (May 20), based on the 1976 Tom Robbins novel stars Uma Thurman as Sissy "world's biggest thumbs" Hackshaw (a mutation not a defect), John Hurt as the gay Countess, Rain Phoenix as bi cowgirl Bonanza Jellybean, Keanu Reeves as Mohawk Julian Gitche, and an interesting musical score featuring lesbian singer k.d. lang. Brian Levant's The Flintstones (May 27), a live-action remake of the TV cartoon series stars John Goodman as Fred Flinstone, Elizabeth Perkins as his wife Wilma, Rick Moranis and Rosie O'Donnell as Barney and Betty Rubble, Kyle MacLachlan as Cliff Vandercove, and Halle Berry as Miss Stone; #4 movie of 1994 ($131M). Jennifer Warren's Forbidden Choices, based on the Carolyn Chute novel "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" is about a poor proud hated family; Warren's dir. debut. Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump (June 23) (Paramount), based on the 1986 Winston Groom novel stars Tom Hanks as an IQ-75 Rainman from Greenbow, Ala. with a heart of gold who can run fast and lucks into four decades of photo ops with everybody from Elvis to Pres. Nixon and reminisces at a bus stop in Savannah, Ga. while waiting for the No. 9 bus; Hanks was on the track team at Skyline High in Oakland, Calif.; also stars Robin Wright Penn as his girl interest Jenny, Gary Sinise as legless Lt. Dan Taylor, Sally Field as his momma, and Mykelti Williamson as "I know everything there is to know about the shrimpin' business" Benjamin "Bubba" Buford-Blue; "My mother tells me that life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you'll get"; earns $330M in the U.S. (#1 of 1994) and $677.9M worldwide on a $55M budget, making 1994 the 1st year in which two films gross $300M in the U.S. domestic market ("The Lion King"). Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral (Jan. 20) stars 32-timer Andie MacDowell (after Melanie Griffith and Brooke Shields turn down the role) as single Am. babe Carrie, and Hugh Grant as terribly English 9-timer bachelor Charles, who takes too long for his own wedding; features Rowan Atkinson as an Anglican priest; nobody seems to have a job or career?; "Fuck-a-doodle-do"; "Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger"; grosses $245.7M worldwide and $52.7M in the U.S., becoming the highest-grossing British film (until ?), rocketing Grant (the English Clark Kent sans Superman side?) to internat. stardom (he had been about to give up acting when he got the part?). Kenneth Branagh's (Mary Shelley's) Frankenstein (Oct. 12) (TriStar Pictures), based on the 1818 novel with an attempt to stick to it this time, stars Branagh as Victor Frankenstein, and Robert De Niro as Frankenstein's monster (the Creation); does $112M box office on a $45M budget. Steve James' Hoop Dreams (Oct. 14) (Kartemquin Films) (Fine Line Features) is a documentary of two inner-city basketball players, Arthur Agee and William Gates trying to go from high school to the NBA, showing the long odds they face; does $11.8M box office on a $700K budget. Joel Coen's and Ethan Coen's The Hudsucker Proxy (Mar. 11) (Silver Pictures) (Warner Bros.), co-written by Sam Raimi displays the twisted minds of the Coen brothers to the mainstream with the story of a corp. whose boss Charles Durning dives from the 44th floor in 1958, causing board chmn. Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) to plot to have dumb mailboy Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) promoted to pres. to scare off investors, only to see him invent the Hula Hoop and throw a monkey wrench in the clockworks; Jennifer Jason Leight plays Amy Archer; Jim True plays Buzz the Elevator Man; Bill Cobbs plays Moses the Clock Man; 'a flop, it only does $2.8M box office on a $25M budget. Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire (Nov. 11) (Geffen Pictures) (Warner Bros. Pictures), based on vol. 1 of Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" (1976) stars (miscast?) Tom Cruise as 18th cent. New Orleans vampire Lestat, who recruits new blood Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) and Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) to create an unholy dysfunctional family, which proves that selling one's soul to the Devil in exchange for extended life has its Catch-22s; does $223.7M box office on a $60M budget; Christian Slater (who replaced the late River Phoenix) is the interviewer; "Drink from me and live forever" - you make me feel like I am young again? Edward Zwick's Legends of the Fall (Dec. 23) (TriStar Pictures), based on the 1979 novel by Jim Harrison about a Cornish immigrant family in the wilds of Montana in the early 20th cent. stars Brad Pitt, Henry Thomas, and Aidan Quinn as brothers Tristan, Samuel, and Alfred Ludlow, who vie for hot Susannah Fincannon (Julia Ormond) while their rancher father Col. William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) (who got sick of the atrocities perpetrated by the U.S. govt. during the Indian Wars) tries unsuccessfully to keep them from volunteering to fight for Britain in WWII; Gordon Tootoosis plays One Stab, and Bart the Bear plays a you know what; does $161M box office on a $30MI budget. Walt Disney Pictures' animated The Lion King (June 15), a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" with lions and music stars the voices of Matthew Broderick as Lion King Simba, James Earl Jones as his father Mufasa, Jeremy Irons as his scheming uncle Scar, Moira Kelly as his babe Nala, Nathan Lane as wisecracking meerkat Timon, Ernie Sabella as flatulent warthog Pumbaa, and Rowan Atkinson as Samba's majordodo hornbill Zazu; grosses $313M in the U.S. and $986.5M worldwide on a $45M budget, extending Disney's winning streak of 1992's Aladdin, 1991's Beauty and the Beast, and 1989's The Little Mermaid; features the songs Hakuna Matata, Circle of Life. Gillian Armstrong's Little Women (Dec. 21) (Columbia Pictures), based on the 1868 Louisa May Alcott novel stars Susan Sarandon as Marmee, Winona Ryder as Jo March, Trini Alvarado as Meg March, Claire Danes as Beth March, Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis as Amy March, and Gabriel Byrne as Jo's philosopher suitor Friedrich Baer; does $50M box office on a $18M budget. Glenn Gordon Caron's Love Affair (Oct. 21), a remake of the 1957 "An Affair to Remember" (which is a remake of the 4-star 1939 "Love Affair") is to remember only as Katharine Hepburn's last screen role, as Warren Beatty's aunt. Nicholas Hytner's The Madness of King George (Dec. 28) (Samuel Goldwyn Co.), based on the Alan Bennett play is the feature film debut of Tony Award winner ("Miss Saigon", "Carousel") Nicholas Hytner, and stars Nigel Hawthorne as George III, Helen Mirren as Queen Charlotte, and Ian Holm as Dr. Willis; does $15.2M box office. Chuck Russell's The Mask (July 29) stars Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in a breakthrough SFX movie powered by Industrial Light and Magic, revolving around a magic jungle mask that lets you be any cartoon superhero you want; #8 movie of 1994 ($120M). Richard Donner's Maverick (May 20) (Icon Productions) (Warner Bros.) stars Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick, the greatest gambler in the West, Jodie Foster as Annabelle Bransford, James Garner (TV's Maverick) as Marshal Zane Cooper, and Graham Greene as Indian Joseph; Mel Gibson's "Lethal Weapon" Danny Glover has a cameo part where he says he's getting too old for this; country singers Clint Black, Carlene Carter, Vince Gill, Waylon Jennings, and Kathy Mattea also cameo; #10 movie of 1994 ($102M box office U.S. and $183M worldwide on a $75M budget). Les Mayfield's Miracle on 34th Street (Nov. 18) (20th Cent. Fox), a remake of the 1947 film produced by John Hughes stars Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle, Elizabeth Perkins as Cole employee Dorey Walker, Mara Wilson as her 6-y.-o. precocious daughter Susan, and Dylan McDermott as her beau Bryan Bedford; Simon Jones plays Cole's employee Donald Shellhammer, known for saying "Chin-Chin"; J.T. Walsh plays atty. Ed Collins; Joss Ackland plays rival Shopper's Express owner Victor Landberg; does 17.3M box office in the U.S., and $46.3M worldwide. Roberto Benigni's Il Mostro (The Monster) (Oct. 22) is about Loris, a man mistaken by police for a serial killer; becoming the highest-grossing film in Italy until his "Life Is Beautiful" (1997). Alan Rudolph's Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Sept. 7), about the Alonquin Round Table (which met daily at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan from 1919-29) stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as wit queen Dorothy Parker (1893-1967). Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (Aug. 26) stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as Mikey Knox and his wife Mallory, who become serial killers. Robert Benton's Nobody's Fool (Jan. 13) stars Paul Newman as loner Sully Sullivan, who left his family and ends up working for contractor Carl Roebuck (Bruce Willis) and flirting with his wife Tony (Melanie Griffith) while repeatedly stealing Carl's snowblower, until his estranged son Peter (Dylan Walsh) shows up with his grandson; Jessica Tandy's last film; "In a town where nothing ever happens... everything is about to happen to Sully"; grosses $39M. The CBS-TV movie The Oldest Living Confederate Widow (May 1) stars Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland. Michael Radford's Il Postino (The Postman) (Sept. 1), based on the poems of Pablo Neruda stars Neruda as famous poet Philippe Noiret, and Massimo Troisi as Mario Ruoppolo, an Italian postman who delivers his mail and learns to dig poetry; too bad, Troisi dies of a bad heart hours after filming is completed, but garners a best actor Oscar nod. Michael Austin's Princess Caraboo (Sept. 16), based on a real-life 1817 char. stars Phoebe Cates as English maid Mary Baker, who claims to be a Polynesian princess and sells it to Mr. and Mrs. Worrall (Jim Broadbent and Wendy Hughes) and their suspicious butler Frixos (Kevin Kline). Luc Besson's The Professional (Leon) (Nov. 18) stars 12-y.-o. Natalie Portman (1981-) in her debut as Mathilda, who is taken in by French "cleaner" hit man Leon (Jean Reno) to get crooked DEA agent Stansfield (Gary Oldman), and ends up toying with pedophilic impulses while training her to be a hit woman. Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (May 12) (A Band Apart) (Jersey Films) (Miramax Films) makes writer-dir. Quentin Jerome Tarantino (1963-) and his humor-laced violent ensemble material a mainstream hit, and revives the career of John Travolta, who plays pulp fiction-reading L.A. gangster Vincent Vega; Samuel Leroy Jackson (1948-) is great as Vega's partner, vicious-but-philosophical Ezekiel-misquoting black ghetto hit man Jules Winnfield, who decides to go straight; Bruce Willis plays boxer-on-the-run Butch Coolidge, Maria de Medeiros his potbelly-hating babe Fabienne; Eric Stoltz plays coke dealer Lance, and Rosanna Arquette his nose-ringed babe Jody; Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer play restaurant robbers Pumpkin and Honey Bunny; Ving Rhames plays black gangleader Marsellus Wallace, and Uma Thurman his white wife Mia, who never talk directly to each other; Harvey Keitel plays fast-driving fixer Winston "the Wolf" Wolfe; the code that unlocks the briefcase is 666?; #9 movie of 1994 ($108M); "You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France? Royale with cheese" (Travolta); "You won't know the facts until you've seen the fiction" (ad); Jackson's killing speech: "And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee"; not really what Ezekiel 25:17 says, he got it from "Bodyguard Kiba" (1973) and "Karate Kiba" (1976); the novel that constipated heroin addict Vincent Vega is reading is Modesty Blaise by Peter O'Donnell (1965); Vega is killed with his own Mac-10 AKA Le Big Mac; does $213.9M box office on an $8.5M budget. Robert Redford's Quiz Show (Sept. 14), about the 1958 TV Quiz Show Scandal stars John Turturro as Herb Stempel, Rob Morrow as Richard N. "Dick" Goodwin, and Ralph Fiennes as Charles Van Doren, Paul Scofield as Charles Van Doren, Christopher Mcdonald as Jack Barry, and David Paymer as Dan Enright; does $24.8M box office on a $31M budget. Curtis Hanson's The River Wild (Sept. 30) (Universal Pictures) stars Meryl Streep and David Straithairn as Gail and Tom, who go on a whitewater rafting trip with son Roarke (Joseph Mazzello), and encounter violent criminals Wade (Kevin Bacon) and Terry (John C. Reilly); Benjamin Bratt plays a park ranger; does $94M box office on a $45M budget. John Pasquin's The Santa Clause (Nov. 11) (Walt Disney Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictures) stars Tim Allen as divorced ad exec Scott Calvin, who becomes Santa Claus; #3 movie of 1994 ($145M U.S. and $189.8M worldwide box office on a $22M budget); followed by "The Santa Clause 2" (2002), and "The Santa Clause 3" (2006). Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave (May 17) (Film4) (Gramercy Pictures) (PolyGram Entertainment) is a British black comedy crime film starring Kerry Fox as physician Juliet Miller, who shares a flat in Edinburgh with accountant David Stephens (Charistopher Eccleston) and journalist Alex Law (Ewan McGregor), accepting new roommate Hugo (Keith Allen), who ends up dead in his room with a suitcase full of money, causing them to hatch a plot to dismember the body and bury it in the woods in a you know what and keep the money, only to end up being hunted by Hugo's associates, killing them then turning on each other; does $198M box office on a $2.5M budget; the dir. debut of English dir. Danny Boyle (1956-). Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption (Sept. 10) (Castle Rock Entertainment) (Columbia Pictures), based on Stephen King's 1982 novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", stars Tim Robbins as bank vice-pres. Andy Dufresne, who is framed for murder and sentenced to the "toughest prison in the Northeast", Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine, where he meets new best friend Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) and cooks the books for corrupt Bible-thumping warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton) before escaping with the dough to a life of ease after almost 30 years of surviving brutality and homosexual rape while tunneling with a rockhound hammer in his cell behind a poster of Rita Hayworth; does $58M box office on a $25M budget; "Fear can hold you prisoner, hope can set you free." John Duigan's Sirens (Nov. 3) features new sensation Hugh Grant, Sam Neill, and supermodel Elle Macpherson in her acting debut in a flick saturated with tame Playboy-style nudity about Australian artist Norman Alfred William Lindsay (1879-1969) and his scandalous public exhibitions. Jan de Bont's Speed (June 10) is a gripping action flick about an L.A. bus rigged by disgruntled bomb expert Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) to blow up if it slows below 50 mph, while SWAT cop Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) tries to save it, and perky passenger Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) steps up to help; Jeff Daniels plays Officer Harry Temple, Joe Morton plays Lt. Mac McMahon, Glenn Plummer plays a freaked Jaguar owner, and Alan Ruck plays bus passenger Stephens; makes a star of Sandra Annette Bullock (1964-); #7 movie of 1994 ($121M); does $350M box office worldwide on a $30M budget. Roland Emmerich's Stargate (Oct. 28) (Centropolis Film Productions) (MGM/UA), a sci-fi thriller about an ancient Egyptian wormhole device stars Kurt Russell as Col. Jack O'Neil, James Spader as Dr. Daniel Jackson, and Jaye Davidson as Ra; grosses $196.6M on a $55M budget, spawning the Showtime series Stargate SG-1 on July 27, 1997 for 214 episodes (Mar. 13, 2007). David Carson's Star Trek Generations (Nov. 18); features the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and portraying the death of Capt. Kirk; grosses $75.7M in the U.S. and $118M worldwide on a $35M budget. George Huang's Swimming with Sharks (Sept. 10) (Trimark Pictures) stars Kevin Spacy as mean movie moul Guy Ackerman, who hires new assistant Guy (Frank Whaley) and teaches him the rope-a-dope; does $382.9K box office on a $700K budget. Steven Emerson's Terrorists Among Us: Jihad in America, a PBS-TV documentary exposes secret Islamic terrorist groups on U.S. soil, waking the U.S. govt. up, after which Emerson testifies to Congress in 1998 about the threat of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network; almost all of the terrorist suspects identified in the film are indicted, convicted, or deported after 9/11. David Giancola's Time Chasers (Tangents) (Mar. 17) stars Matthew Bruch as amateur inventor Nick Miller, who builds a time travel device with a Commodore 64 and private airplane, and travels with his babe Lisa Henson (Bonnie Pritchard) while battling evil Gencorp CEO J.K. Robertson (George Woodward); "His mission is to save the future. But time waits for no man." Peter Hyams' Timecop (Largo Entertainment) (Universal Pictures) (Sept. 16), based on the Dark Horse Comics series by Mark Verheiden stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as a 1994 police officer and 2004 U.S. federal Time Enforcement Commission agent Max Walker; also stars Ron Silver and Mia Sara; does $101.6M box office on a $27M budget; too bad, Van Damme gets greedy and turns down a 3-film $36M deal to hold out for $20M/film like Jim Carrey gets, causing him to be blacklisted, ending his movie career. Zhang Yimou's To Live, based on the Yu Hua novel "Lifetimes" is about the hardest thing to do in China in the 1940s thru 1960s. James Cameron's True Lies (July 15) stars Ahnuld as secret agent Harry Tasker, who suspects his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) of cheating on him, and uses his secret resources to track her along with his sidekick Albert Gibson (Tom Arnold); #2 film of 1994 ($147M). Jon Avnet's The War (Nov. 4) stars Kevin Costner, Elijah Wood, and Mare Winningham in a coming of age story in 1970s Miss; does $16.5M box office on a $34M budget. Mike Nichols' Wolf (June 17) (Columbia Pictures) stars Jack Nicholson as senior lit. exec Will Randall, who is bitten by a werewolf and slowly becomes one along with his babe Laura Alden (Michelle Pfeiffer after Sharon Stone turns it down, and Mia Farrow is turned down as too controversial because of the Woody Allen-Soon-Yi Previn affair); James Spader plays his rival Stewart Swinton; Christopher Plummer plays his boss Raymond Alden; Kate Nelligan plays his cheating wife Charlotte Skylar Randall; the movie is best when the actors are maneuvering for position, but the poor SFX at the end make it lame?; "I'm just marking my territory and you got in the way" (Nicholson while peeing on the lavatory floor in front of James Spader); does $131M box office on a $70M budget. Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp (June 24) (Warner Bros.) stars miscast Kevin Costner as Wyatt Earp, Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday, Tom Sizemore as Bat Masterson, Gene Hackman as Nicholas Porter Earp, Linden Ashby as Morgan Earp, Michael Madsen as Virgil Earp, Jim Caviezel as Warren Earp, Jeff Fahey as Ike Clanton, Adam Baldwin as Tom McLaury, Lewis Smith as Curly Bill Brocius, and Isabella Rossellini as Big Nose Kate; Annabeth Gish plays Wyatt's 1st wife Urilla Sutherland, and Joanna Going his 2nd wife Josie Marcus; does $25.1M box office on a $63M budget. Art: John Currin (1962-), Autumn Lovers. Damien Hirst (1965-), Away from the Flock; sheep preserved in formaldehyde; Arachidic Acid; spot painting; Do you know what I like about you? (real butterflies on painted canvas). Jeff Koons (1955-), Balloon Dog (Orange); auctioned by Christie's for a record $52M in 2013. Roberto Matta (1911-2002), Vent d'Atomes. Martin Puryear (1941-), Plenty's Boast (1994-5) (red cedar and pine sculpture). Plays: Edward Albee (1928-2016), Three Tall Women (3rd Pulitzer Prize); based on his mother-in-law? Don Black, Sunset Boulevard (musical); based on the 1950 Billy Wilder film; "All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up". Caryl Churchill (1938-), The Skriker; a shapeshifting death portent explores global ecology? Rita Dove (1952-), The Darker Face of the Earth (verse play). Athol Fugard (1932-), Hello and Goodbye. Adrienne Kennedy (1931-), The Dramatic Circle; Motherhood 2000; about the beating of her son by a police officer. Tony Kushner (1956-), Angels in America: A Meditation on AIDS. Hugh Leonard (1926-2009), Moving. Jerry Leiber (1933-2011) and Mike Stoller (1933-) Smokey Joe's Cafe (musical revue) (Doolittle Theatre, Los Angeles) (Nov.) (the Virginia Theatre, New York) (Mar. 2, 1995) (2,036 perf.); longest-running musical revue in Broadway history until ?; dir. by Jerry Zaks, with a 9-member cast incl. Ken Ard and Michael Park, and guest appearances by Ben E. King, Pam Tillis, Gladys Knight, Tony Orlando, Lou Rawls, Gloria Gaynor, and Rick Springfield; features 39 of their songs incl. "Ruby Baby", "Kansas City", "Fools Fall in Love", "Yakety Yak", "Charlie Brown", "Hound Dog", "There Goes My Baby", "Love Potion #9", "Jailhouse Rock", "Spanish Harlem", and "Stand by Me"; debuts at the Prince of Wales Theatre in West End, London on Oct. 1, 1996. Alan Irwin Menken (1949-), Howard Ashman (1950-91), Tim Rice (1944-), and Linda Woolverton, Beauty and the Beast (musical) (Palace Theatre, New York) (Apr. 18) (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York) (Nov. 11, 1999) (5,461 perf.); based on the 1991 Disney animated film; stars Susan Egan as Belle, and Terrence Mann as Beast; grosses $1B by 2017 in 13 countries and 115 citiies. Arthur Miller (1915-2005), Broken Glass; a broken marriage in 1838 Brooklyn. Terrence McNally (1939-), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Oct. 11) (Manhattan Theatre Club, New York); eight gay friends spend three holiday weekends during a summer in Dutchess County, N.Y., and perform "Swan" Lake in drag. Cynthia Ozick (1928-), Blue Light. Stephen Sondheim (1930-) and James Lapine (1949-), Passion (musical) (New York). Antonio Buero Vallejo (1916-2000), Las Trampas del Azar. Paula Vogel (1951-), Hot 'N' Throbbing. Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-), Christopher Hampton (1946-), and Ntozake Shange (Paulette Williams) (1948-), Whitewash. Robert Wilson (1941-) and Alvin Lucier (1931-), Skin, Meat, Bone. Poetry: Edward Paul Abbey (1927-89), Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey (posth.). Archie Randolph Ammons (1926-2001), The North Carolina Poems. Robert Bly (1926-2021), Meditations on the Insatiable Soul. William Bronk (1918-99), Our Selves. Jared Carter (1939-), After the Rain. Amy Clampitt (1920-94), A Silence Opens. Robert Creeley (1926-2005), Echoes. Stephen Dunn (1939-), New and Selected Poems: 1974-1994. Kenneth Fearing (1902-61), Complete Poems (July 15) (posth.); incl. Dirge (193?); "Wham, Mr. Roosevelt; pow, Sears Roebuck; awk, big dipper; bop, summer rain;/ Bong, Mr., bong, Mr., bong, Mr., bong." George Fetherling (1949-), Selected Poems. Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), The Vision (posth.). Barry Gifford (1946-), Flaubert at Key West. Marilyn Hacker (1942-), Selected Poems, 1965-1990. John Hollander (1929-), Animal Poems. David Ignatow (1914-97), Against the Evidence: Selected Poems, 1934-1994. Bill Knott (1940-), Sixty Poems of Love and Homage. Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular (Pulitzer Prize). Ted Kooser (1939-), Weather Central - or, why I'm poet laureate of Nebraska? Philip Levine (1928-2015), The Simple Truth (Pulitzer Prize). Richard McCann (1949-), Ghost Letters. Frank McGuinness (1953-), Booterstown (debut). Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004), Facing the River. Mary Oliver (1935-), White Pine: Poems and Prose Poems. Simon J. Ortiz (1941-), After and Before the Lightning. David Rabe (1940-), Those the River Keeps; prequelto "Hurlyburly" (1984). Peter Dale Scott (1929-), Crossing Borders: Selected Shorter Poems. Martin Seymour-Smith (1928-98), Wilderness. Ntozake Shange (Paulette Williams) (1948-), I Live in Music. Charles Simic (1938-), A Wedding in Hell. Gerald Stern (1925-), Odd Mercy. Calvin Trillin (1935-), Deadline Poet: My Life as a Doggerelist. C.K. Williams (1936-), Selected Poems. George Woodcock (1912-95), The Cherry Tree on Cherry Street and Other Poems. Novels: Peter Ackroyd (1949-), Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem. Catherine Aird (1930-), Injury Time. Jorge Amado (1912-2001), How the Turks Discovered America. A. Manette Ansay (1964-), Vinegar Hill. Louis Auchincloss (1917-), Tales of Yesteryear (short stories); The Collected Stories of Louis Auchincloss. Paul Benjamin Auster (1947-), Mr. Vertigo. Beryl Bainbridge (1934-), Collected Stories. Nanni Balestrini (1935-), I Furiosi. J.G. Ballard (1930-2009), Rushing to Paradise. Clive Barker (1952-), Everville; Book of the Art #2. John Barth (1930-), Once Upon a Time. Peter Benchley (1940-2006), White Shark. John Berendt (1939-), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (first novel); the eccentricities of Savannah, Ga.; sells 2.7M hardback copies in four years on the bestseller lists; filmed in 1997; the cover features a photo of the Bird Girl Statue in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah by John David "Jack" Leigh II (1948-2004). Thomas Berger (1924-), Robert Crews. Maeve Binchy (1940-), The Glass Lake. John Birmingham (1964-), He Died with a Felafel in His Hand; filmed in 2001. Robert Bloch (1917-94), The Early Fears (short stories). T. Coraghessan Boyle (1948-), Without a Hero (short stories). Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933-), Everything to Gain; Mallory Keswick. Anita Brookner (1928-), A Private View. Christopher Buckley (1952-), Thank You for Smoking; a lobbyist defends the right to get lung cancer. James Lee Burke (1936-), Dixie City Jam. Robert Olen Butler (1945-), They Whisper. A.S. Byatt (1936-), The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye. Albert Camus (1913-60), The First Man (posth.); "The novel of my maturity"; found in a muddy briefcase near his wrecked car where he died. David Caute (1936-), Joseph Losey: A Revenge on Life; Dr. Orwell and Mr. Blair. Barbara Chase-Riboud (1939-), The President's Daughter; sequel to "Sally Hemmings" (1970). Frank Chin (1940-), Gunga Din Highway. Tom Clancy (1947-2013), Debt of Honor; Japan goes nuclear and blackmails the U.S., finally crashing an airliner into the White House, after which lucky Jack Ryan becomes pres. of the U.S. James Clavell (1924-94), Escape: The Love Story from Whirlwind; adapted from "Whirlwind" (1986). Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), Remember Me; The Lottery Winner and Other Stories. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), The Repentance of Lorraine. J.M. Coetzee (1940-), The Master of Petersburg; Fyodor Dostoyevsky mourns his stepson Pavel Alexandrovich Isaev; Coetzee's real son previously died from a mysterious fall from a high balcony. Jackie Collins (1937-2015), Hollywood Kids. Patricia Cornwell (1956-), The Body Farm; Kay Scarpetta #5. Jim Crace (1946-), Signals of Distress. Michael Crichton (1942-2008), Disclosure. Clive Cussler (1931-), Inca Gold; Dirk Pitt #12. Lionel Davidson (1922-2009), Kolymysky Heights; Canadian Gitxsan Indian Johnny Porter in British Columbia is sent a coded message from Siberia and goes on a rescue mission; makes a fan of Philip Pullman. Robertson Davies (1913-95), The Cunning Man. Calvert DeForest (1921-2007), Cheap Advice. Len Deighton (1929-), Faith. Thomas Michael Disch (1940-2008), The Priest: A Gothic Romance. E.L. Doctorow (1931-), The Waterworks; mystery set in 1871 New York City. Bret Easton Ellis (1964-), The Informers. Harlan Ellison (1934-), Mind Fields: The Art Jacek Yerka (short stories); inspired by the art of Jacek Yerka (1952-). James Ellroy (1948-), Hollywood Nocturnes (short stories). Louise Erdrich (1954-), The Bingo Palace. Howard Fast (1914-2003), Seven Days in June; the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. George Fetherling (1949-), The File on Arthur Moss (first novel). Margaret Forster (1938-), Mother's Boys. Frederick Forsyth (1938-), The Fist of God; about the 1991 Gulf War; claims that U.S. state secy. James Baker advised against the invasion of Iraq, saying that it might cause the "three nations" of Iraq to come unglued. Nicolas Freeling (1927-2003), You Who Know (Henri Castang #13); The Seacoast of Bohemia (Henri Castang #14). Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012), Diana: The Goddess Who Hunts Alone; fictionalized account of his alleged affair with Jean Seberg. William Gaddis (1922-98), A Frolic of His Own; everybody sues somebody; the Japanese car is called the Sosumi. George Garrett (1929-2008), The Old Army Game: A Novel and Stories. Herbert Gold (1924-), Bohemia. Mary Catherine Gordon (1949-), The Rest of Life: Three Novellas. Joe Gores (1931-), Menaced Assassin. Shirley Ann Grau (1929-), Roadwalkers. Jane Hamilton (1957-), A Map of the World; Howard, Alice, Emma, and Claire Goodwin in Wisc. Peter Handke (1942-), My Year in the No-Man's Bay. Everette Lynn Harris (1955-2009), Invisible Life (first novel); a closeted black Am. gay comes out. Jim Harrison (1937-2016), Julip. Alice Hoffman (1952-), Second Nature. Michel Houellebecq (1956-), Whatever (Extension du domaine de la lutte) (Broadening of the Struggle's Domain) (Serpent's Tail) (first novel); "Our Hero" computer programmer Harel hasn't had sex for over two years. David R. Ignatius (1950-), The Bank of Fear. Christopher Isherwood (1904-86) and Edward Upward (1903-2009), The Mortmere Stories (posth.). P.D. James (1920-), Original Sin; Adam Dalgliesh #9. Ward Just (1935-), Ambition and Love. Cynthia Kadohata (1956-), The Glass Mountains. Elias Khoury (1948-), Majma' al-Asrar. Dean Koontz (1945-), Winter Moon; Icebound; Dark Rivers of the Heart. Judith Krantz (1928-), Lovers. Siegfried Lenz (1926-), Die Auflehnung. Jonathan Lethem (1964-), Gun, with Occasional Music (first novel); Oakland dick Conrad Metcalf. Cormac McCarthy (1933-), The Crossing (June); 2nd in the Border Trilogy; teenie cowboy Billy Parham and his younger brother Boyd hunt a pregnant female wolf. Gregory Mcdonald (1937-2008), Fletch Reflected. Larry McMurtry (1936-) and Diana Ossana, Pretty Boy Floyd. Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Catalysts. William Ormond Mitchell (1914-98), According to Jake and the Kid (short stories). Ricky Moody (1961-), The Ice Storm; bestseller about two suburban families disintegrating in Conn. over the Thanksgiving weekend; filmed in 1997. David Morrell (1943-), Desperate Measures; The Totem (Complete and Unaltered). Sir John Mortimer (1923-2009), Under the Hammer. Walter Mosley (1952-), Black Betty; Easy Rawlins #4. Herta Muller (1953-), Hertzier. Alice Munro (1931-), Open Secrets (short stories). Haruki Murakami (1949-), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; the Japanese war crimes in Manchuria; wins him the Yomiuri Prize, regaining his face and allowing him to return to Japan. V.S. Naipaul (1932-2018), A Way in the World. John Nichols (1940-), Conjugal Bliss: A Comedy for the Martial Arts; Roger and Zelda and their marriage from Hell. Joyce Carol Oates (1938-), What I Lived For; Jerome "Corky" Corcoran. Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000), The Commodore; Aubrey-Maturin #17; The Rendezvous and Other Stories. Edna O'Brien (1930-), The House of Splendid Isolation. Tim O'Brien (1946-), In the Lake of the Woods. Stewart O'Nan (1961-), Snow Angels. Grace Paley (1922-2007), The Collected Stories. Edith Pargeter (1913-95), Brother Cadfael's Penance; last in the Brother Cadfael series. Sara Paretsky (1947-), Tunnel Vision; V.I. Warshawski #8. Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), All Our Yesterdays; Walking Shadow; Spenser #21. Jayne Anne Phillips (1952-), Shelter; a W. Va. girls' camp in summer 1963. Jodi Picoult (1966-), Harvesting the Heart. Marge Piercy (1936-), The Longings of Women. E. Annie Proulx (1935-), The Shipping News (Pulitzer Prize); Quoyle moves from New York to Newfoundland to find peace and overcome his fear of drowning, and finds out everybody's dirty little secrets; filmed in 2002. Anne Rice (1941-), Taltos; Mayfair Witches #3 of 3. Andrew Roberts, The Aachem Memorandum; the U.S. of Europe in 2045. Judith Rossner (1935-2005), Olivia. Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950), The Fortunes of Casanova and Other Stories (posth.). Francoise Sagan (1935-2004), Chagrin de Passage. Freidoune Sahebjam (1933-2008), The Stoning of Soraya M.; horrible mistreatment of women in the Islamic Repub. of Iran; filmed in 2008. Lawrence Sanders (1920-98), McNally's Caper; Private Pleasures. Anne Rivers Siddons (1936-), Downtown. Dan Simmons (1948-), Fires of Eden. Gary Soto (1952-), Crazy Weekend. LaVyrle Spencer (1943-), November of the Heart (Mar. 1); Jens Harkin. Norman Spinrad (1940-), Pictures at 11; Vampire Junkies (short stories). Danielle Steel (1947-), Accident; The Gift; Wings. Steve Stern (1947-), A Plague of Dreamers: Three Novellas. Ronald Sukenick (1932-2004), Doggy Bagg (short stories). Amy Tan (1952-), Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat; children's novel set during the Qing Dynasty ca. 1840, which becomes a PBS Kids series in 2001-4. Donald Michael Thomas (1935-), Eating Pavlova. William Trevor (1928-), Felicia's Journey; Irish country girl Felicia comes to England to search for her jilted sexual sociopath lover Hilditch. Rose Tremain (1943-), Evangelista's Fan and Other Stories. Joseph Wambaugh (1937-), Finnegan's Week; Finbar Finnegan. Irvine Welsh (1958-), The Acid House (short stories). Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007) (ed.), Chaos and Beyond. Births: Philippine 5'10" 2018 Miss Universe Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray on Jan. 6 in Cairns, Queensland, Australia; Scottish father, Filipino mother. Venezuelan baseball 2B player (Texas Rangers #12, 2014-) Rougned Roberto "Rougie" Odor on Feb. 3 in Maracaibo; named after his grandfather Douglas and grandmother Nedia, with D changed to R; educated at the U. of New Orleans. Dominican baseball outfielder (Colo. Rockies #15, 2016-) Ramioel Antonio Tapia Linarez on Feb. 4 in San Pedro de Macoris. Am. 6'7" football QB (Denver Broncos #16, 2016-) Paxton James Lynch on Feb. 12 in San Antonio, Tex.; educated at the U. of Memphis. Kenyan marathon runner (black) Brigid Jepscheschir Kosgei on Feb. 20 in Sinon. Am. "Lucy Diamond Dawson in I Am Sam", "Rachel Ferrier in War of the Worlds", "Jane Volturi in The Twilight Saga" actress Hannah Dakota Fanning on Feb. 23 in Conyers, Ga.; sister of Elle Fanning (1998-). Canadian "One Time" pop singer Justin Bieber on Mar. 1 in Stratford, Ont. Am. 5'10" football WR (black) (Kansas City Chiefs, 2016-21) (Miami Dolphins, 2022-) Tyreek Hill (reeks Hell on opponents?) on Mar. 1 in Douglas, Ga.; educated at Garden City Community College, Oklahoma State U., and West Ala. U. Am. "Find Me", "With Love" singer-songwriter Christina Victoria Grimmie on Mar. 12 in Mariton, N.J.; of Italian-Romanian descent. Cameroonian 7'0" basketball player (black) (Philadelphia 76ers #21, 2014-) Joel Hans Embiid Am. actor "Caleb Prior in Divergent", "Miles Baby in Baby Driver" actor Ansel Elgort (AKA Ansolo) on Mar. 14 in New York City; Russian Jewish descent father, Norwegian-English-German descent mother; named after Ansel Adams (1902-84). on Mar. 16 in Yaounde; educated at the U. of Kan. Am. "Miles Baby in Baby Driver" actor (Jewish) Ansel Elgort on Mar. 14 in New York City; Russian Jewish descent father, Norwegian-German-Egyptian descent mother; cousin of Sam Morril. Am. 6'3" college basketball player (Villanova U.) Ryan Curran Arcidiacono on Mar. 26 in Philadelphia, Penn. Cameroonian 6'9" basketball power forward (black) (Toronto Raptors #43, 2016-) Pascal "Spicy P" Siakam on Apr. 2 in Douala; educated at N.M. State U. Am. serial killer (white supremacist) Dylann Storm Roof on Apr. 3 in Columbia, S.c. Croatian 6'10" basketball player (white) Dario Saric on Apr. 8. Am. 6'11" basketball player (black) (Philadelphia 76ers, 2013-17) (Dallas Mavericks #3, 2017-) Nerlens Noel on Apr. 10 in Malden, Mass.; educated at the U. of Ky. Am. 6'2" football RB (black) (Detroit Lions, 2016-17) (New Orleans Saints #27, 2018-) Dwayne Washington on Apr. 24 in Lakewood, Calif.; educated at the U. of Wash. Am. kid nuclear physicist Taylor Ramon Wilson on May 7 in Texarkana, Ark. Am. "Max in The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl" actor Cayden Boyd on May 24 in Bedford, Tex. Am. "American Dreams" actor Ethan Dampf on May 27. Spanish "Ofelia in Pan's Labyrinth" actress Ivana Baquero Marcias on June 11 in Barcelona. Am. 6'1" football WR (black) (Oakland Raiders, 2015-18) (Dallas Cowboys #19, 2018-) Amari Cooper on June 17 in Miami, Fla.; educated at the U. of Ala. Am. 5'6" "Annie January in The Boys" actress Erin Elair Moriarty on June 24 in New York City. Japanese ML pitcher-hitcher ("the new Babe Ruth") (Los Angeles Angels #17, 2018-23) Sohei "Shotime" Ohtani on July 5 in Oshu, Iwate. Am. ice dancer Maia Harumi Shibutani on July 20 in New York City; sister of Alex Shibutani (1991-). Dutch The Ocean Cleanup inventor Boyan Slat on July 27 in Delft. Am. "Thomas Miller in Spy School", "Mark Baker in Cheaper by the Dozen" actor Forrest Landis on Aug. 9 in Indianapolis, Ind. Canadian basketball player (black) Tyler Cameron Ennis McIntyre on Aug. 24 in Brampton, Ont.; educated at Syracuse U. Am. "Akeelah and the Bee" actress (black) Lauren Keyana "Keke" Palmer on Aug. 26 in Harvey, Ill. Am. singer Bianca Taylor Ryan on Sept. 1 in Philadelphia, Penn.; winner of America's Got Talent, Season 1. Ukrainian 5'9" tennis player Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina on Sept. 12 in Odessa. Am. 6'4" football QB (Los Angeles Rams #16, 2016-) Jared Thomas Goff on Oct. 14 in Novato, Calif.; educated at the U. of Calif. Am. 5'5" Miss USA 2018 Sarah Rose Summers on Nov. 4 in Omaha, Neb.; educated at TCU. Am. singer (Am. Idol #10 runner-up) Lauren Alaina (Suddeth) on Nov. 8 in Rossville, Ga. Am. 6'9" basketball player (black) (Los Angeles Lakers #30, 2014-) Julius Deion Randle on Nov. 29 in Dallas, Tex.; educated at the U. of Ky. Greek 6'11" basketball player ("the Greek Freak") (black) (Milwaukee Bucks #34, 2012-) Giannis Antetokounmpo (pr. "adetokumbo") on Dec. 6 in Athens, Greece; Nigerian immigrant parents. British hacker (black) Marcus Hutchins (AKA Malware Tech) on ? in Bracknell (near London); Jamaican father, Scottish mother. Deaths: Kiwi activist Dame Whina Cooper (b. 1895) on Mar. 26 in Panguru. German mutagenesis geneticist Charlotte Auerbach (b. 1899) on Mar. 7. French PM (1952-3) Antoine Pinay (b. 1891) on Dec. 13 in Rhone. Am. archeologist Luther Cressman (b. 1897) on Apr. 4. Am. freethinking religious historian Martin A. Larson (b. 1897) on Jan. 15 in Phoenix, Ariz. French tennis player Jean "the Bounding Basque" Borotra (b. 1898) on June 17; one of the Four Musketeers who won five Davis Cups in the 1920s-30s. Italian-born Am. architect Pietro Belluschi (b. 1899) on Feb. 14 in Portland, Ore. Am. LDS Church pres. (1985-94) Ezra Taft Benson (b. 1899) on May 30 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (congestive heart failure). Soviet "The Thief" novelist Leonid Leonov (b. 1899) on Aug. 8 in Moscow. English "Science and Civilisation in China" historian Joseph Needham (b. 1900) on Mar. 24 in Cambridge. Am. "Meet the Press" host (1947-75) Lawrence E. Spivak (b. 1900) on Mar. 9 in Washington, D.C. (heart failure). Am. Vitamin C-gulping superchemist-peacenik Linus Pauling (b. 1901) on Aug. 19 in Big Sur, Calif.; 1954 Nobel Chem. Prize and 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. German-born Am. psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson (b. 1902) on May 12; coined the term "identity crisis". Am. chemist Calvin Souther Fuller (b. 1902) on Oct. 28 in Vero Beach, Fla. French scientist Andre-Michael Lwoff (b. 1902) on Sept. 30 in Paris. Austrian-born British philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper (b. 1902) on Sept. 17 in London. Am. actress Esther Ralston (b. 1902) on Jan. 14 in Ventura, Calif. Austrian rocket scientist Friedrich Schmiedl (b. 1902) on Sept. 11 in Graz. Am. heavyweight boxing champ Jack Sharkey (b. 1902) on Aug. 17 in Beverley, Mass.; upset Max Schmeling in 1932. Am. rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson (b. 1902) on June 12; grand rabbi (rebbe) of the Lubavitcher sect of Hasidic Judaism. Latvian-born Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz (b. 1903) on Aug. 18. English Clue game inventor Anthony Ernet Pratt (b. 1903) on Apr. 9 in Birmingham (Alzheimer's). Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen (b. 1903) on June 9 in The Hague; 1969 Nobel Econ. Prize. British gay athlete-scholar Sir Harold Acton (b. 1904) on Feb. 27; leaves $500M to New York U. Am. neurosurgeon James Winston Watts (b. 1904) on Nov. 15. Am. actress Mildred Natwick (b. 1905) on Oct. 25 in New York City (cancer). Am. pioneer gospel singer Willie Mae Ford Smith (b. 1904) on Feb. 2. Am. neurosurgeon James W. Watts (b. 1904) on Nov. 7. Bulgarian-born British novelist Elias Canetti (b. 1905) on Aug. 14 in Zurich, Switzerland; 1981 Nobel Lit. Prize. Am. "The Third Man", "Citizen Kane" actor Joseph Cotten (b. 1905) on Feb. 6 in Westwood, Calif. English artist-educator Robert Medley (b. 1905) on Oct. 20. Mexican "The Cisco Kid" actor Gilbert Roland (b. 1905) on May 15 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (cancer). London-born Am. "Three Coins in the Fountain", "Gypsy", "Funny Girl" composer-lyricist Jule Styne (b. 1905) on Sept. 20. Canadian inventor Robert Swanson (b. 1905). Am. hall-of-fame bowler Nelson Burton Sr. (b. 1906) on May 14 in St. Louis, Mo. Belgian fascist leader Leon Degrelle (b. 1906) on Apr. 1 in Malaga, Spain (heart attack). Am. journalist William S. White (b. 1906) on Apr. 30. Am. Chicago "Minnie the Moocher", "Blues Brothers" bandleader Cab Calloway (b. 1907) on Oct. 18. French historian Alain Danielou (b. 1907) on Jan. 27 in Lonay, Switzerland. English film producer Joan Harrison (b. 1907) on Aug. 14 in London. Am. suburb (Levittown, N.Y.) developer William J. Levitt (b. 1907) on Jan. 28. Am. "The Joker in Batman" actor Cesar Romero (b. 1907) on Jan. 1 in Santa Monica, Calif. Am. historian Arthur Eugene Bestor Jr. (b. 1908) on Dec. 13 in Seattle, Wash. Am. comedian Ish Kabibble (b. 1908) on June 5 in Palm Springs, Calif. U.S. Rep. (D-Md.) (1963-85) Clarence "Doc" Long (b. 1908) on Sept. 18. U.S. diplomat George Wildman Ball (b. 1909) on May 26 in New York City: "Nothing propinks like propinquity" (Ball's Rule of Power). English TV chef Fanny Cradock (b. 1909) on Dec. 27 in Hailsham, East Sussex. Am. character actor Tom Ewell (b. 1909) on Sept. 12; fooled around (but didn't hook up with?) with Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch" (1955). Romanian-French "Theater of the Absurd" surrealist playwright Eugene Ionesco (b. 1909) on Mar. 29 in Paris. Swiss-born English writer Jon Kimche (b. 1909) on Mar. 9. German historian Golo Mann (b. 1909) on Apr. 7 in Leverkusen. Am. psychologist Rollo May (b. 1909) on Oct. 22 in Tiburon, Calif. Am. "Ozzie and Harriet" actress Harriet Nelson (b. 1909) on Oct. 2. Laotian communist leader Vongvichit Phoumi (b. 1909) on Jan. 7. Am. pro-Vietnam War secy. of state (1961-9) Dean Rusk (b. 1909) on Dec. 20. Am. actor Olan Soule (b. 1909) on Feb. 1 in Los Angeles, Calif. (lung cancer). British-born Am. "Ninny Threadgoode in Fried Green Tomatoes" actress Jessica Tandy (b. 1909) on Sept. 11 in Easton, Conn. (ovarian cancer). French mime Jean-Louis Barrault (b. 1910) on Jan. 22 in Paris (heart attack). Am. historian Philip Sheldon Foner (b. 1910) on Dec. 13 English biochemist Dorothy Crawford Hodgkin (b. 1910) on July 29; 1964 Nobel Chem. Prize. German-born Am. mathematician Fritz John (b. 1910) on Feb. 10. German-born Am. actress Dolly Haas (b. 1910) on Sept. 16 in New York City. Am. Teflon inventor Roy J. Plunkett (b. 1910) on May 12. Am.-born Norwegian hero Knut Anders Haukelid (b. 1911) on Mar. 8; helped sabotage Nazi Germany's atomic weapons program in Norway, as chronicled in the 1965 film Heroes of Telemark. Am. country musician Zeke Clements (b. 1911) on June 4 in Nashville, Tenn. Am. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" composer Walter Kent (b. 1911) on Mar. 2 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Calif. Am. architect John Lautner (b. 1911) on Oct. 24. Am. actor Stephen McNally (b. 1911) on June 4 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (heart attack). Am. tennis player Henry Ellsworth Vines Jr. (b. 1911) on Mar. 17 in La Quinta, Calif. French "Planet of the Apes", "Bridge over the River Kwai" novelist Pierre Boulle (b. 1912) on Jan. 30 in Paris. French "Think globally, act locally" Christian anarchist philosopher Jacques Ellul (b. 1912) on May 19 in Pessac. Am. poet William Everson (b. 1912) on June 3 in Santa Cruz, Calif. (Parkinson's disease). Czech-born Am. pianist Rudolf Firkusny (b. 1912) on July 19 in Staatsbourg, N.Y. North Korean pres. Kim Il-song (b. 1912) on July 8. U.S. Rep. (D-Mass.) (1953-87) (17 terms) Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (b. 1912) on Jan. 5 in Boston, Mass.; U.S. House Speaker in 1977-87: "All politics is local." Am. "Lady in the Dark" actor Barry Sullivan (b. 1912) on June 6. Ukrainian-born Am. ballet dancer-choreographer Igor Youskevitch (b. 1912) on June 13. Am. Olympic high jumper Dave Albritton (b. 1913) on May 14. Am. actor Macdonald Carey (b. 1913) on Mar. 21 in Beverly Hills, Calif Am. "From Here to Eternity" actor Burt Lancaster (b. 1913) on Oct. 20 in Los Angeles, Calif.; starred in 70+ movies, received four Oscar nominations, and won best actor 1x (1960). Engolish "Baron Frankenstein", "Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars" actor Peter Cushing (b. 1913) on Aug. 11 in Canterbury, Kent. Danish WWII resistance leader Harry La Fontaine (b. 1913) on Apr. 12; helped smuggle 8K Jews from Nazi-occupied Denmark to Sweden. Am. auto racer Sam Hanks (b. 1913) on June 27. U.S. pres. Repub. #37 (1969-74) Richard Milhous "Tricky Dicky" Nixon (b. 1913) on Apr. 22 in New York City (stroke); buried in Yorba Linda, Calif.; first U.S. pres. to resign from office (until ?); Time mag. puts him on their cover for a record 55th time; "I like the job I have, but if I had to live my life over again, I would like to have ended up a sportswriter"; "To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook. But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing: you can't trust the government, you can't believe what they say, and you can't rely on their judgment." Am. neuropsychologist Roger Sperry (b. 1913) on Apr. 17 in Pasadena, Calif.; 1981 Nobel Med. Prize. British writer Caitlin Thomas (b. 1913) on July 31; widow of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Am. Western singer Ken Carson (b. 1914) on Apr. 7 in Jacksonville, Fla. Am. "Invisible Man" writer Ralph Ellison (b. 1914) on Apr. 16 in New York City; leaves the unfinished novel Juneteenth. Am. "The Untouchables" writer Oscar Fraley (b. 1914) on Jan. 6 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (heart failure). Russian-born Am. composer Alexei Haieff (b. 1914) on Mar. 1. Am. jazz musician Sabby Lewis (b. 1914) on July 9 in Boston, Mass. Am. U.S. AEC chmn. and Wash. gov. #17 (1977-81) Dixy Lee Ray (b. 1914) on Jan. 2 in Fox Island, Wash. Am. heavyweight boxing champ Jersey Joe Walcott (b. 1914) on Feb. 25. Am. "Mr. Haney in Green Acres" actor Pat Buttram (b. 1915) on Jan. 8 in Los Angeles, Calif. (renal failure). Am. "This Island Earth" novelist Raymond Fisher Jones (b. 1915) on Jan. 24 in Sandy, Utah. Canadian "James Bond 007" film producer Harry Saltzman (b. 1915) on Sept. 28 near Paris, France. Am. singer-actress Ginny Simms (b. 1915) on Apr. 4 in Palm Springs, Calif. Am. psychologist Benton J. Underwood (b. 1915) on Nov. 29. Am. science advisor (to the JFK admin.) and MIT pres. (1971-80) Jerome B. Wiesner (b. 1915) on Oct. 21 in Watertown, Mass. Am. "Rockford Files" actor Noah Beery Jr. (b. 1916) on Nov. 1. Italian "South Pacific" actor Rossano Brazzi (b. 1916) on Dec. 24 in Rome. Am. actress-playwright-novelist Alice Childress (b. 1916) on Aug. 14. Am. consumer advocate Betty Furness (b. 1916) on Apr. 2. Am. comedian-singer Martha Raye (b. 1916) on Oct. 19 in Los Angeles, Calif. (pneumonia); known for entertaining U.S. troops since WWII. Am. actor Mark Stevens (b. 1916) on Sept. 15 in Majores, Spain (cancer). Jordanian queen (1951-2) Zein al-Sharaf Talal (b. 1916) on Apr. 26 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Am. U. of Okla. football coach (1947-63) Bud Wilkinson (b. 1916) on Feb. 9. Am. "Henry Mitchell in Dennis the Menace" actor Herbert Anderson (b. 1917) on June 11 in Palm Springs, Calif. (stroke). Am. "Pyscho" novelist Robert Bloch (b. 1917) on Sept. 23 in Los Angeles, Calif. Chinese-born Am. chef Joyce Chen (b. 1917) on Aug. 23 in Lexington, Mass. (Alzheimer's). Am. "Captain America", "Incredible Hulk" comic book artist Jack Kirby (b. 1917) on Feb. 6 in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Spanish "French Connection" film actor Fernando Rey (b. 1917) on Mar. 9; known for roles in Luis Bunuel films. Am. "April in Paris", "I'll Walk Alone" singer-actress-TV host Dinah Shore (b. 1917) on Feb. 24 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (ovarian cancer); releases 74 hit songs, stars in six films, and hosts TV shows for 20+ years: "Trouble is part of your life. If you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you a chance to love you enough." English ballet dancer Michael Somes (b. 1917) on Nov. 18 in London (brain tumor). Am. actor-dir. Ezra Stone (b. 1917) on Mar. 3 in Perth Amboy, N.J. Am. "Summons to Memphis" novelist Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor (b. 1917) on Nov. 2 in Charlottesville, Va. French composer Olivier Alain (b. 1918) on Feb. 28 in Paris. Am. writer Russell Amos Kirk (b. 1918) on Apr. 29 in Mecosta, Mich. Am. actor John McLiam (b. 1918) on Apr. 16 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. "Uncle Buck in High Chapparal" actor Cameron Mitchell (b. 1918) on July 6 in Pacific Palisades, Calif.; appeared in 90+ films. Am. Jack in the Box founder Robert Oscar Peterson (b. 1916) on Apr. 18 in San Diego, Calif. Am. "Inherit the Wind", "Auntie Mame" playwright Robert Edwin Lee (b. 1918) on July 8 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. physicist Julian Seymour Schwinger (b. 1918) on July 16 in Los Angeles, Calif.; 1965 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. record producer Lester Sill (b. 1918) on Oct. 31 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. Children of God founder Moses David (David Brandt Berg) (b. 1919) on Oct. 1 in Costa de Caparica, Portugal; his wife Karen Elva Zerby (1946-) (AKA Queen Maria and Katherine Rianna Smith) takes over his group. Am. children's book author-illustrator Richard Scarry (b. 1919) on Apr. 30 in Gstaad, Switzerland. Am. golfer Julius Boros (b. 1920) on May 28 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Am. playwright-novelist Alice Childress (b. 1920) on Aug. 14 in New York City. Am. poet Amy Clampitt (b. 1920) on Sept. 10 (cancer). Am. "Jake and the Fatman", "Cannon" actor William Conrad (b. 1920) on Feb. 11 in Los Angeles, Calif. (heart failure); the original Matt Dillon on the "Gunsmoke" radio series. Am. "Mona Kane in All My Children" actress Mary Heflin (b. 1920) on June 1 in New York City (lung cancer). Am. alcoholic writer Charles Bukowski (b. 1921) on Mar. 9 in Los Angeles, Calif. (leukemia); funeral rites conducted by Buddhist monks; his gravestone reads "Don't Try". Lithuanian-Am. archeologist Maija Gimbutas (b. 1921) on Feb. 2 in Los Angeles, Calif. German-born British historian Sir Geoffrey Rudolph Elton (b. 1921) on Dec. 3. Italian "La Strada" actress Guilietta Masina (b. 1921) on Mar. 23; wife of dir. Federico Fellini. Am. "voice of Abraham Lincoln at Disneyland" actor Royal Dano (b. 1922) on May 15 in Los Angeles, Calif. Russian-Israeli physicist Yuri Golfand (b. 1922) on Feb 17 in Jerusalem. Am. jazz singer ("the last great stylist of her time") Carmen McRae (b. 1922) on Nov. 10. Indian-born British "Master of Caius in Chariots of Fire" actor-dir.-critic Lindsay Anderson (b. 1923) on Aug. 30 in Angouleme, France (heart attack): "Art is an experience, not the formulation of a problem." Am. Battle of Iwo Jima hero John Bradley (b. 1923) on Jan. 11 in Antigo, Wisc. Italian actor Mario Brega (b. 1923) on July 23 in Rome. Am. boxer Jimmy Carter (b. 1923) on Sept. 21. Am. artist Sam Francis (b. 1923) on Nov. 4 in Santa Monica, Calif. Am. pres. mother Virginia Clinton Kelley (nee Cassidy) (b. 1923) on Jan. 6; mother of U.S. pres. Bill Clinton. Am. boxer Ike Williams (b. 1923) on Sept. 5. Dutch poet-artist Lucebert (b. 1924) on May 10 in Alkmaar: "All things of value are defenseless." Australian-born Am. "Shogun" novelist James Clavell (b. 1924) on Sept. 7 in Switzerland. Am. "Moon River", "Breakfast at Tiffany's" composer Henry Mancini (b. 1924) on June 16. Am. "Kojak" actor Telly (Aristotle) Savalas (b. 1924) on Jan. 22. Am. baseball pitcher Harvey Haddix Jr. (b. 1925) on Jan. 8 in Springfield, Ohio. Greek "Never On Sunday" actress and political activist Melina Mercouri (b. 1925) on Mar. 6. English novelist-poet-critic John B. Wain (b. 1925) on May 24; one of the "angry young men" lit. group incl. John Osborne (1929-94), Kingsley Amis (1922-95), and Philip Larkin (1922-85). Am. actor Claude Akins (b. 1926) on Jan. 27 in Altadena, Calif. (cancer). Canadian-born "Your Hit Parade" singer Dorothy Collins (b. 1926) on July 21. Soviet spy Capt. Yevgeny Ivanov (b. 1926) on Jan. 17 in Moscow. Russian psychiatrist Andrey Lichko (b. 1926). Am. writer Albert Harry Goldman (b. 1927) on Mar. 28 en route to London; leaves an unfinished bio. of Jim Morrison of the Doors. Brazilian "The Girl from Ipanema" bossa-nova composer Antonio Carlos Jobim (b. 1927) on Dec. 8. Am. jazz musician Connie Kay (b. 1927) on Nov. 30. Am. installation artist Edward Kienholz (b. 1927) on June 10 in Hope, Idaho. Am. gospel singer Marion Williams (b. 1927) on July 2. Am. minimalist artist Donald Judd (b. 1928) on Feb. 12 in Manhattan, N.Y. Am. "Gary Seven on Star Trek" actor Robert Lansing (b. 1928) on Oct. 23. Italian "Volare" singer Domenico Modugno (b. 1928) on Aug. 6 in Lampedusa Island, Sicily. Am. "A-Team", "Breakfast at Tiffany's" actor George Peppard (b. 1928) on May 8: "I love it when a plan comes together." Am. actor Timothy Carey (b. 1929) on May 11 in Los Angeles, Calif. (stroke). Am. First Lady and book editor Jacqueline "Jackie" Lee Bouvier Kennedy/Onassis (Jackie O.) (b. 1929) on May 19 in New York City; dies of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in her apt.; funeral services are held on May 23; buried alongside her first husband JFK in Arlington Cemetery. English "Look Back in Anger" playwright John Osborne (b. 1929) on Dec. 24 in Clun, Shropshire. Am. "Boss Hogg in The Dukes of Hazzard" Sorrell Booke (b. 1930) on Feb. 11 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. (colorectal cancer). Am. "The Bell Curve" psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein (b. 1930) on Sept. 13; his book is pub. after his death. Am. "Darrin #2 in Bewitched" actor Dick Sargent (b. 1930) (prostate cancer). Am. weightlifter-evangelist Paul Anderson (b. 1932) on Aug. 15 (Bright's Disease.) Am. historian Christopher Lasch (b. 1932) on Feb. 14 in Pittsford, N.Y. (cancer). British-born Canadian playwright Michael Cook (b. 1933) on July 1 in St. John's, Newfoundland. Am. writer Robert Joseph Shea (b. 1933) on Mar. 10. Danish-Dutch singer Frederik van Pallandt (b. 1934) on May 15 in Puerto Galera, Philippines; killed in a hut along with his girlfriend Susannah. Am. cancer researcher Howard Martin Temin (b. 1934) on Feb. 9 (lung cancer); 1975 Nobel Med. Prize. English actress Heather Sears (b. 1935) on Jan. 3 in Hincley Wood, Surrey (multiple organ failure). Soviet serial murderer Andrei Chikatilo (b. 1936) on Feb. 14 in Novocherkassk, Russia (executed). Am. radical Vietnam War activist (Chicago Seven member) Jerry Rubin (b. 1938) on Nov. 28 in Los Angeles, Calif.: "Don't trust anyone over 30." Puerto Rican-born "Gomez Addams in The Addams Family" actor Raul Julia (b. 1940) on Oct. 24 in Manhasset, N.Y. (stroke and stomach cancer). Am. Olympic track and field star Wilma Rudolph (b. 1940) on Nov. 12. Am. "Midnight Cowboy" singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (b. 1941) on Jan. 15. Am. "Jack Ewing in Dallas" actor Dack Rambo (b. 1941) on Mar. 21 in Delano, Calif. (AIDS). Am. artist-writer Joe Brainard (b. 1942) (AIDS) on May 25 in New York City. Am. serial killer Pogo the Clown AKA John Wayne Gacy (b. 1942) on May 10 in Stateville Correctional Center, Crest Hill, Ill. (executed); last words: "Kiss my ass". Am. personal computer rev. founder Gary Kildall (b. 1942) on July 11 in Monterey, Calif.; dies after a fall at a Monterey restaurant; he could have sued Microsoft for using his PC operating system without permission, but let it slide since he's such an easygoing guy and he thought the IBM PC would be a dud, besides, he's got a Ph.D and Bill Gates is a college dropout? Am. atty.-writer Lewis Burwell Puller Jr. (b. 1945) on May 11 in Mount Vernon, Va. (suicide). South African "Shaka Zulu" dir. William C. Faure (b. 1949) on Oct. 18 in Johannesburg (kidney failure). Canadian "Uncle Buck" actor John Candy (b. 1950) on Mar. 4 (heart attack while filming Wagons East). Am. journalist Randy Shilts (b. 1951) on Feb. 17; known for his early coverage of the AIDS epidemic. Mexican politician Luis Donaldo Colosio (b. 1950) on Mar. 23 in Lomas Taurinas, Tijuana (assassinated at a campaign rally by Mario Aburto Martinez). French actor Benoit Regent (b. 1953) on Oct. 21 in Zurich. Italian "Il Postino" film dir. Massimo Troisi (b. 1953) on June 4 in Ostia, Rome (heart attack); dies hours after completing filming for "Il Postino". Am. actor Tom Villard (b. 1953) on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, Calif. (AIDS). Am. tennis player Vitas Gerulaitis (b. 1954). Burundi pres. #5 (1994) Cyprien Ntaryamira (b. 1955) on Apr. 6 in Kigali (assassinated). Am. serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer (b. 1960) on Nov. 28 in Columbia Correctional Inst., Portage, Wisc. (murdered by Christopher J. Scarver). No, I don't have a gun? Am. Nirvana & Seattle grunge music leader and heroin addict Kurt Cobain (b. 1967) on Apr. 8 in Seattle, Wash. (found dead of an apparently self-inflicted shotgun blast); the same day Babes in Toyland plays a benefit concert for Rock Against Domestic Violence in Miami, Fla. - murder or suicide?
1995 Doomsday Clock: 14 min. to midnight. Chinese Year: Pig (Jan. 31) (lunar year 4693). Time Mag. Man of the Year: Newt Gingrich (1943-) for leading the Repub. Party Rev. in the U.S. House that ended 40 years of Dem. Party control. People born this year until the early 2000s are known as Gen. Z. U.S. farm product exports hit a record $54B this year, beating the previous (1981) record of $43.8B; Asian countries, especially China take most of the food? In the mid-decade the Celtic Tiger, a period of rapid economic growth fueled by foreign investment begins, with an avg. growth rate of 9.4% until 2000, and 5.9% until 2008. Internat. tourism skyrockets from 70M tourists a year in the early 1960s to 500M this year. At the beginning of this year 75% of the world's pop. has never made a telephone call. In early Jan. Saudi Arabia and Yemen skirmish along their 60-y.-o. border, and several soldiers are killed. On Jan. 1 (Sun.) a 4-mo. truce goes into effect in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On Jan. 1 Russian forces take control of C Grozny, but on Jan. 2 Chechen rebels oust them; on Jan. 19 the Russians capture the pres. palace in Grozny; in Apr. Russian pres. Boris N. Yeltsin orders a unilateral ceasefire in Chechnya, but sporadic fighting continues; on June 14 Chechen rebels led by Shamil Basayev (1965-2006) attack a hospital in Budyonnovsk, Russia, killing 100; on June 18 Russian PM Victor Chernomyrdin agrees to a ceasefire and peace talks in return for release of hostages held there. On Jan. 1 Sweden, Austria, and Finland join the European Union (EU), bringing total membership to 15 (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, U.K.). On Jan. 1 a 61-ft.-high Draupner Wave (rogue wave) is observed via satellite in the Bermuda Triangle, supposedly solving the mystery; in Feb. a pair of rogue waves up to 95 ft. high hit the Queen Elizabeth II, injuring 50 passengers. On Jan. 1 the Canadian-owned Bravo! "NewStyleArtsChannel" debuts; not to be confused with the U.S. Bravo cable channel (founded 1980). On Jan. 1 the Alabama-Ohio State football game (Citrus Bowl) is made memorable by Leo, a stray mixed-breed dog, who runs around the field for several minutes, delaying it. On Jan. 2 Penn State defeats Oregon by 38-20 to win the 1995 Rose Bowl. On Jan. 3 the 104th U.S. Congress convenes in Washington, D.C. (until Jan. 3, 1997). On Jan. 10 Pres. Clinton declares 24 counties in Calif. a disaster area after heavy flooding caused by a Pacific storm; on Jan. 14 10 more counties join the list, and on Mar. 13 Clinton declares more than half of Calif. a disaster area; 14 die and thousands are left homeless, and vast areas of cropland are ruined. On Jan. 11 former Nat. Economic Council dir. #1 (since Jan. 25, 1993) Robert Edward "Bob" Rubin (1938-) becomes U.S. treasury secy. #70 (until July 2, 1999). On Jan. 14 Pope John Paul II offers Mass to a crowd of 4M-5M at Luneta Park in Manila, Philippines, the largest ever. On Jan. 15 the reeling Mexican economy is bolstered by a U.S. loan guarantee, followed on Jan. 31 by an emergency $20M loan authorized by U.S. Pres. Clinton, but too late to save the ruling PRI Party. On Jan. 16 the United Paramount Network (UPN) debuts; in Dec. 2005 it is acquired by CBS Corp.; it is shut down on Sept. 15, 2006. On Jan. 17 (6:45 a.m.) the 6.9 Great Hanshin (Kobe) Earthquake devastates beef capital Kobe in W Japan, killing 5,502-6,434, injuring 36,896-43,792, and leaving 251K-310K homeless, becoming the largest death toll from an earthquake in Japan since 1923; Aum Shinrikyo cult founder Shoko Asahara (Chizuo Matsumoto) (1955-) predicted the earthquake on Jan. 8, and blames it on U.S. earthquake weapon technology, causing the cult to soon be destroyed, along with the Branch Davidians, who hacked into U.S. defense files? On Jan. 17 Lamberto Dini (1931-) becomes PM #74 of Italy (until May 17, 1996). On Jan. 17 Texas Rangers ML baseball team co-owner George Walker Bush (1946-) AKA Dubya becomes Repub. Tex. gov. #46 (until Dec. 21, 2000). On Jan. 18 Star Trek: Voyager debuts on the new UPN TV network owned by Paramount for 172 episodes (until May 23, 2001), set in 2371, about a ship stranded 75K l.y. away from Earth, starring Katherine Kiernan Maria "Kate" Mulgrew (1955-) as Capt. Kathryn Janeway, Robert Adame Beltran (1953-) as Cmdr. Chakotay, Timothy Darrell "Tim" Russ (1956-) as Lt. Cmdr. Tuvok, Ethan Phillips (1955-) as Neelix, Jeri Lynn Zimmerman Ryan (1968-) as bodalicious Seven of Nine, and Robert Picardo (1953-) as the holographic Doctor. On Jan. 22 two Palestinian Hamas suicide bombers kill 19 Israelis (most of them soldiers) at a bus stop N of Tel Aviv. On Jan. 23 Pres. Clinton issues Executive Order 12947, prohibiting financial transactions with anybody on the U.S. Treasury Dept. Specially Designated Terrorist List, which incl. Hamas, Hezbollah, the Holy Land Foundation, and Jemaah Islamiyah. On Jan. 24 Pres. Clinton delivers his 1995 State of the Union Speech, becoming the first delivered to a Repub.-controlled Congress since 1954, and first with a Repub. Speaker of the House (Newt Gingrich), proposing the New Covenant of smaller govt. and tax reductions, pushing the 1994 assault weapons ban and the Brady Bill, along with assistance for the economic crisis in Mexico, stopping North Korea from getting nukes, peace in the Middle East, legislation to fight terrorism, and illegal immigration, with the soundbyte: "Our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens." On Jan. 24 U.S. TV has its first unofficial reality show when the opening arguments for the ratings hit O.J. Simpson Murder Trial Series are aired; the I-know-I'm-guilty-but-I'm-O.J.-Simpson O.J. Simpson Defense Dream Team incl. Jewish Harvard prof. Alan Dershowitz (1938-), top black defense atty. Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. (1937-2005), famed white atty. F. Lee Bailey (1933-), and Armenian-Am. atty. Robert George Kardashian (1944-2003), who was seen leaving O.J.'s home the day after the murder with a bag (containing the murder weapon?); the inept prosecution team incl. outclassed-looking Hillary-wannabe Marcia Clark (1953-) and black beginner-looking Christopher Darden (1956-); Am. journalist Dominick John Dunne (1925-2009) covers the trial, gaining fame and later covering Simpson's 2008 kidnap-robbery trial in Las Vegas, Nev. before croaking in 2009; virtually every day until Oct. 3 the major networks cover the events at the trial, and on the big day over 100M viewers tune in as the handsome smiling German-looking trained actor with a deep dark tan and an air of an African prince presides over his subjects wearing a $1K brown suit with white shirt and yellow tie with a small blood stain from shaving, (which becomes a sought-after souvenir), putting on a "are you crazy" expression every time evidence proving his guilt is shown to the jury, as if to eclipse it with his beaming presence into irrelevacy, since a prince is above the law, and what a waste to make a jury tell the govt. so? On Jan. 29 Super Bowl XXIX (29) (1995) is held at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Fla.; the San Francisco 49ers (NFC) defeat the San Diego Chargers (AFC) 49-26 (the first Chargers SB game; they are an underdog by a record 18.5 points); 49ers QB #8 Jon Steven "Steve" Young (1961-) (a Salt Lake City, Utah-born descendant of Brigham Young) throws six TD passes and becomes MVP, finally leaving the shadow of Joe Montana, who won four SBs (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989), two with Young as backup QB; the first SB in which both teams score in all four quarters; a record 75 total points (until ?) and 10 total TDs (until ?). On Jan. 30 the U.N. Security Council votes 14-0-1 (China) for U.N. Security Council Resolution 975, transferring responsibility from the Multinat. Force (MNF) to the U.N. Mission in Haiti (UNMIH); on Mar. 31 U.S. forces in Haiti turn over their peacekeeping duties to the U.N. Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) as Pres. Clinton praises the restoration of democracy during a ceremony in Port-au-Prince. On Jan. 31 Pres. Clinton bypasses Congress and uses his emergency authority to arrange a $50B loan package ($20B from the U.S.) to help the ailing Mexican economy. On Feb. 1-2 rising floodwaters from rainstorms cause 250K Dutch residents to flee their homes, becoming the largest peacetime evacuation in Netherlands history. On Feb. 4 Pres. Clinton threatens China with $1B in punitive tariffs for copyright infringements (the biggest trade sanction in U.S. history), but on Feb. 26 China agrees to crack down on copyright violators, averting the sanctions. On Feb. 5 a German neo-Nazi group claims responsibiity for a bomb that kills four outside a Gypsy settlement in Oberwart, Austria 75 mi. S of Vienna. On Feb. 9 Riverdance opens at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, featuring traditional Irish music and dancing, with a score composed by Bill Whelan, featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler and Michael Flatley; it goes on to be seen by 25M+ people. On Feb. 8 the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 for Resolution 976 to send the 7K-man U.N. Angola Verification Mision III to Angola to police their 1994 accord. On Feb. 9-14 the Mexican govt. attacks the Zapatistas, and on Feb. 20 its Nat. Commission on Human Rights confirms that guerrillas were tortured. On Feb. 12 the ruling Institutional Rev. Party (PRI) in Mexico receives its worst defeat since its founding in 1929 when the conservative Nat. Action Party (PAN) sweeps elections in the state of Jalisco, followed by Guanajuato on May 28 and Baja Calif. on Aug. 6. On Feb. 15 North Korea threatens to withdraw from its 1994 nuclear pact with the U.S. On Feb. 19 Serbian pres. Slobodan Milosevic rejects an offer by five major countries to lift trade sanctions on his country in exchange for recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. On Feb. 22 British PM John Major and Irish PM John Bruton reach an agreement for a peace plan for Northern Ireland, brokered by U.S. special envoy George John Mitchell of Maine (former U.S. Sen. majority leader) that would allow for its unification with the Repub. of Ireland and create a legislative assembly free of Protestant domination. On Feb. 22 France accuses four U.S. diplomats and a private U.S. citizen of spying and asks them to leave the country. On Feb. 22 Muslim militants kill four guards in an Algiers prison before the authorities put down the rebellion, with up to 200 inmates killed. On Feb. 22 Afghan pres. Rabbani refuses to relinquish power to an interim council as proposed by the U.N.; deputy PM (former mujahideen against the Soviets) (former engineering student at Colo. State U.) Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai (1944-) becomes acting PM (until June 26, 1996), then flees Afghanistan in Sept. 1996 as the Taliban is about to capture Kabul, returning after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, and brokering a meeting between the Taliban and U.S. Brig. Gen. Edward M. Reeder in summer 2009. where they agree to cut al-Qaida loose but won't accept U.S. access to three airbases. On Feb. 24-28 the Mexican govt. makes several arrests for the 1994 assassinations of PRI leaders Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta and Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, saying the 1994 investigation that concluded they were done by lone gunmen was a coverup; on Feb. 28 Raul Salinas de Gortari (1946-), elder brother of former pres. Carlos Salinas de Gotari is charged with ordering the Sept. 1994 murder of Massieu, and on Jan. 21, 1999 is convicted, receiving a max sentence of 50 years without parole. In Feb. Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 is captured in Pakistan and extradited to the U.S.; he is linked to Osama bin Laden. On Mar. 2 a proposed constitutional amendment requiring the U.S. govt. to balance its budget fails in the U.S. Senate by 66-34. On Mar. 3 a former Argentine Navy commander reveals how he took part in "death flights" in 1977 in which political prisoners were tortured, sedated, then thrown into the ocean from navy aircraft; in 1977-8 about 2K prisoners were killed this way, he claims. On Mar. 3 the last U.N. forces depart from Somalia. On Mar. 3 pres. (since June 5, 1994) Howard William Hunter (b. 1907) dies, and on Mar. 12 Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910-2008) becomes Mormon pres. #15 (until Jan. 27, 2008), becoming the oldest pres. in LDS Church history (until?), going on double church membership and the number of temples, issue the proclamation The Family: A Proclamation to the World (Sept. 23, 1995) backing heterosexual marriage, and establish the Perpetual Education Fund on Mar. 31, 2001; on Dec. 25, 2005 he utters the soundbyte to the Associated Press: "We have nothing to hide. Our history is an open book. They may find what they are looking for, but the fact is the history of the church is clear and open and leads to faith and strength and virtues"; the LDS (Mormon) Church launches the Web site FamilySearch.org, containing the Family History Catalog, the Internat. Genealogical Index (founded 1969), and the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) software program (founded 1893; discontinued July 15, 2013), redesigning the church logo to display the words "Jesus Christ" in larger letters than the rest of name so that outsiders will consider Mormons to be some kind of Christians not a sick polygamy cult; meanwhile after a public outcry, the LDS (Mormon) Church announces that it will stop baptizing Jewish Holocaust victims, going on to remove 300K names from its list of church members er, database, which doesn't stop them from baptizing Daniel Pearl (2011), Anne Frank (2012), Simon Wiesenthal (2012), etc.; in 2008 the Am. Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors announces that it is ending talks with Mormons after repeated violations of agreements. On Mar. 5 the ruling (since 1992) Fatherland Party is ousted by a coalition of former Communists in parliamentary elections in Estonia. On Mar. 6 the Chicago-based Warner Brothers Jenny Jones Show (1991-2003) airs an episode titled Secret Same-Sex Crushes, in which gay man Scott Amadure confesses his lust for his straight car engineer Jonathan Schmitz (1970-), who laughs it off, then on Mar. 9 murders him, receiving 25-50 years; the show is never aired - 25-50 and all the J he can drink? On Mar. 7 former Communist Jozef Oleksy (1946-) becomes PM of Poland (until Feb. 7 1996). On Mar. 8 conservative Constantine "Costis" Stefanopoulos (Stephanopoulos) (1926-) is elected pres. #8 of Greece (until Mar. 12, 2005). On Mar. 9 Mexican pres. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon of Mexico announces a new economic plan to save the reeling economy, entailing austerity measures promising recession-level hardships for virtually all - except drug cartels? On Mar. 10 the U.S. State Dept. suspends military aid to Guatemala again after citing its failure to end human rights abuses, followed on Mar. 13 by the first report of the U.N . mission documenting them. On Mar. 10 Turkish pres. (since 1993) Suleyman Demirel learns of a coup attempt against Azerbaijan pres. Heydar Aliyev by Turkish intel that had been set up by his predecessor Ebulfeyz Elcibey, and warns him in time. On Mar. 10 twin bridges on I-5 over the Arroyo Pasajero near Coaling, Calif. collapse, killing seven. On Mar. 13 Indian physician Madan Kataria holds the first Laughter Yoga Club in a public park in Mumbai, India, spreading worldwide and reaching 8K clubs in 65 countries by 2011. On Mar. 13 The Opie and Anthony Show radio talk show, starring Gregg "Opie" Hughes (1963-) and Anthony Cumia (1961-) debuts on WAAF-AM in Boston, Mass., moving to WNEW-FM in New York City until 2002, followed by XM Satellite Radio in 2004; after the June 27, 2014 show Cumia is fired. On Mar. 14 Britain withdraws a regiment of 400 soldiers from North Ireland, becoming the largest withdrawal in 10 years. On Mar. 14 the Russians launch Soyuz TM-21 from Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, carrying Vladimir Nikolayevich Dezhurov (1962-), Gennady Mikhailovich Strekalov (1940-2004), and Norman Earl Thagard (1943-) of the U.S. (1st U.S. astronaut to enter space aboard a Russian rocket); on Mar. 14 a record 13 people are in space at one time: seven Americans aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor, three Russians aboard space station Mir, and two Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) astronauts and one U.S. astronaut aboard Soyuz TM-21; Eileen Collins (1956-) (from Elmira, N.Y., home of the Nat. Soaring Museum) becomes the first female shuttle pilot; on Sept. 3 Soyuz TM-22 blasts off, carrying cosmonauts Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko (1962-), Sergei Avdeyev (1956-), and Thomas Arthur Reiter (1958-) of Germany; Soyuz TM-22 returns next Feb. 29; Soyuz TM-21 returns on Sept. 11 with Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin. On Mar. 19 Queen Elizabeth II arrives in South Africa for a 6-day visit, her first since 1947, when she was a mere princess; she makes friends with Nelson Mandela? On Mar. 20 (a.m.) members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult in Japan release sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo Subway during morning rush hour, killing 12 and causing 5.5K to be hospitalized; on Mar. 22 police raid the sect's training compound and find equipment and chemicals for making the gas; on May 16 Sorry Ass, er, Shoko Asahara (Chizuo Matsumoto) (1955-) the leader of the cult is arrested and charged with organizing the attack; the group never confesses, claiming that renegade members carried out attacks secretly. On Mar. 21 Miss. finally ratifies the U.S. 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. On Mar. 23 Turkish officials announce their plans to establish a buffer zone in N Iraq to prevent raids by Kurdish rebels. On Mar. 23 the U.S. Senate passes legislation giving the U.S. pres. the line item veto. On Mar. 27 the 67th Academy Awards in Los Angeles is hosted by David Letterman, who is panned by critics for stinking himself up with a bizarre running joke about Uma and Oprah, and using Tom Hanks for "Stupid Pet Tricks" (Oprah won't appear on his show until Dec. 1, 2005); the best picture Oscar for 1994 goes to Paramount's Forrest Gump, along with best dir. to Robert Zemeckis, and best actor to Tom Hanks (2nd actor to win back-to-back best actor Oscars after Spencer Tracy in 1937-8, and same age); Jessica Lange gets the best actress award for her housewife Marilyn Monroe performance in the little-seen anti-nuclear film Blue Sky; best supporting actor goes to Martin Landau of Mission: Impossible fame for playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, and best supporting actress goes to Diane Wiest for Bullets over Broadway; 99-y.-o. George Burns is honored by the Screen Actors Guild with their first Life Achievement Award. On Mar. 31 Lake Jackson, Tex.-born Tejana crossover singing star Selena Quintanilla-Perez (Quintanilla-Pérez) (b. 1971) is shot in the back and murdered by Yolanda Saldivar (1960-), pres. of her fan club in Corpus Christi, Tex. during an argument where Selena accused her of embezzlement and fired her; Saldivar gets life in priz; on Apr. 12 Tex. gov. George W. Bush declares her birthday Apr. 16 "Selena Day" in Tex. In Mar. the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI), funded by the Asian Development Bank to pipe natural gas from the Caspian Sea through Turkmenistan, S Afghanistan, and Pakistan into India is launched; too bad, the Taliban nixes it in Aug. 2001, pissing-off the U.S., and after they invade and oust them, the new Afghan govt. reinstates the project. In Mar. Don Black (1953-) starts the first Web site devoted to er, white supremacy, Stormfront - black white supremacist jokes here? On Apr. 2 after newsprint prices double this year from $420 to $800 a metric ton, contributing to the demise of many newspapers, the 113-y.-o. Milwaukee Journal merges with the 158-y.-o. Milwaukee Sentinel; on Apr. 18 the 111-y.-o. Houston Post closes; on June 5 the 132-y.-o. Evening Bulletin merges with the Providence Journal in Rhode Island; on July 16 the 10-y.-o. New York Newsday closes; on Sept. 15 the 85-y.-o. Evening Sun in Baltimore closes. On Apr. 3 diplomats report the massacre of 400 Hutus, mostly women and children in NE Burundi. On Apr. 3 the Soviet KGB is rechristened the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB); on Mar. 9, 2004 it becomes subordinate to the ministry of justice. On Apr. 4 Islamic separatists in the S Philippines attack the town of Ipil, demanding a Muslim state on Mindanao Island; 52 are killed. On Apr. 9 Pres. Alberto Fujimoro of Peru wins reelection for a 2nd term with 64% of the vote. On Apr. 9 a quote from a soon-to-be-pub. work by former U.S. defense secy. Robert S. Mcnamara is leaked, describing the Vietnam War as "wrong, terribly wrong". On Apr. 10 U.S. Sen. majority leader Robert Dole announces his candidacy for the 1996 Repub. pres. nomination. On Apr. 13 Paavo Tapio Lipponen (1941-) of the majority Social Dem. Party becomes PM #60 of Finland (until Apr. 17, 2003). On Apr. 16 Canada and the European Union reach an agreement on fishing rights, ending a six-week dispute between Canada and Spain over turbot fishing off Newfoundland. On Apr. 18 the Bolivian govt. declares a state of siege after huge labor strikes and the collapse of union talks. Somebody gets smart in the U.S. homeland, or, Oh no, another right-winger listening to talk radio? On Apr. 19 (9:02 a.m. CDT) the Okla. City Bombing sees the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Bldg. in Oklahoma City, Okla. (opened Mar. 2, 1977) truck-bombed by army-trained white supremacists Timothy James McVeigh (1968-2001) and Terry Lynn Nichols (1955-), killing 168 incl. 19 children (some in diapers) and injuring 680+ in a day care center on the 2nd floor; a nurse dies during rescue efforts; the nation learns about the lethality of fuel oil and fertilizer; on Apr. 21 the feds arrest McVeigh, and his ass is grass and they got the lawnmower, fuel oil, fertilizer, and lighter?; in the days before McVeigh's arrest clears it all up, Americans assume that Muslim terrorists from the Middle East are to blame, resulting in nearly 250 incidents of harassment and violence; on Dec. 27, 2006 the House Internat. Relations Investigative Subcommittee releases its findings that there is no conclusive evidence of a foreign connection to the attack but that the FBI failed to fully investigate other suspects and executed McVeigh too soon without making enough effort to question him; the govt. covered-up connections with Muslims, incl. Ramzi Yousef (1967-) (1993 WTC bombing conspirator and nephew of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed), 1993 WTC bombing conspirator Abdul Hakim Ali Hashim Murad (1968-), and Hussain Al-Hussaini?; the govt. planted informant Andreas Strassmeir with McVeigh in advance, encouraging him to set off a bomb, which backfired bigtime, causing a coverup leading to the Clinton White House? On Apr. 24 Gilbert P. Murray, chief lobbyist for the Calif. Forestry Assoc. is killed by a mail bomb in his Sacramento, Calif. office, later linked to the Unabomber, becoming his 3rd and last fatal victim - Murray sounds like Murrah, his idea of a joke? On Apr. 26 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-4 in U.S. v. Lopez to limit Congress' power under the Commerce Clause, invalidating the 1990 U.S. Gun-Free School Zones Act regulating the carrying of handgun near schools, causing the act to be amended to apply only to guns moved via interstate commerce. On Apr. 30 Pres. Clinton announces an expanded trade embargo against Iran, suspending all U.S. trade with it, claiming that the naughty Muslims are trying to get nukes and support terrorism. In Apr. the Repub. Party stages Contract With America to focus on basic issues and gain new converts. On May 1 Croatian forces attack the Serb-held Krajina region of C Croatia and seize a section of highway between Zagreb and Belgrade, recapturing Okucani by May 2; Serb forces counterattack on May 2-3 with rocket attacks on Zagreb that kill six and injure 175. On May 2 Pope John Paul II issues the encyclical Orientale Lumen, encouraging East-West reunion; he also goes after in vitro fertilization, genetic manipulation, euthanasia, and the usual, birth control and abortion - you know the rules, you know the lifelines? In France sex sells? On May 7 after Francois Mitterrand steps down 5 mo. after the Paris Match in 1994 exposes the existence of an illegitimate daughter he had been concealing for years, even bigger playboy but conservative Parisian mayor Jacques Chirac is elected pres. of France by a 53% vote, vs. 47% for Socialist Party candidate PM Lionel Jospin (lacking in seduction power?), ending the 14-year Socialist lock on the office; Chirac is sworn-in on May 17 - Chirac's got a bigger cac? On May 6 Queen Elizabeth II opens a 3-day celebration marking the 50th anniv. of the end of WWI", along with 53 other heads of state; on May 9 the Russians stage a military parade in Moscow's Red Square commemorating the end of WWII, but most Western leaders incl. Pres. Clinton boycott it over their shenanigans in Chechnya. On May 10 Brussels, Belgium-born naturalized citizen (1945) John Mark Deutch (1938-) becomes CIA dir. #17 (until Dec. 15, 1996), succeeding R. James Woolsey. On May 11 an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Zaire, killing 244 is reported by WHO scientists et al. On May 14 Argentine pres. Carlos Saul Menem is easily reelected. On May 15 Dow Corning Co. files for bankruptcy as a result of hundreds of thousands of lawsuits filed over its silicone breast implants. On May 15 the largest burial tomb yet excavated in Egypt is reported by archeologists, dated at 3K-y.-o and containing least 67 chambers holding the remains of 50 sons of ever-ready Pharaoh Ramses II. On May 17 35-y.-o. former soldier and unemployed plumber Shawn Timothy Nelson (b. 1960) (high on meth) steals a M60 Patton tank from a Nat. Guard armory in San Diego, Calif., and goes on a 23-min. joy ride, flattening 19 vehicles in residential areas, entering state Route 163, then becoming stuck on the concrete center divider, allowing police to storm, shoot, and kill him; made use of in the 1997 flick "Jurassic Park: The Lost World"? On May 22 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-4 in U.S. Term Limits Inc. v. Thornton that states cannot impose qualifications incl. term limits for prospective members of the U.S. Congress stricter than those specified in the U.S. Constitution, invalidating term limits in 23 states. On May 25 the U.S. Senate approves a bill cutting federal spending by $1T in an effort to balance the federal budget by the year 2000; on June 7 Pres. Clinton issues his first pres. veto, overriding $16.4B in spending cuts for education and job training. On May 27 Am. "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve (1952-2004) is paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident in Culpeper (Charlottesville), Va., going on to lead efforts to find a cure for spinal cord injury; his good friend Robin Williams pays for anything the insurance won't cover - don't spit on Superman's cape? On May 28 Bosnian Serb forces shoot down a heli carrying Bosnia's foreign minister, killing him; they take 41 U.N. peacekeepers as hostages, making the total number held top 300. On May 29 Gary Benson is sentenced to five years of probation for stalking singer Jerry Lee Lewis; the punishment becomes six years in prison after he continues stalking him; he dies in his sleep in prison on Aug. 4, 2001. On May 31 Prince Charles visits Dublin, becoming the first British royal visit to the Irish Repub. since it became self-governing in 1921. In May the U.S. Sentencing Commission proposes reducing the discrepancies in sentencing mininums between crack (a black habit) and powder (a white habit) cocaine, but the white-run Congress overrides them. In May the stretch of Pennsylvania Ave. ("America's Main Street") in front of the White House is closed to traffic on Pres. Clinton's orders following the Okla. City bombing. On June 8 U.S. Marines rescue Capt. Scott F. O'Grady (1965-), whose F-16C fighter jet had been shot down by Bosnian Serbs near Mrkonjic Grad in Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 2, forcing him to go into hiding; the USS Kearsage is involved in the rescue. On June 8 an Amtrak train slams into a pickup truck at a crossing near Nyssa, Ore., killing seven members of a farming family. On June 12 the U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 in Adarand Constructors v. Federico Pena that affirmative action programs are constitutional only when they address specific acts of past discrimination, adopting strict scrutiny, and reversing "Fullilove v. Klutznick" (1980); they also rule 5-4 to reject a sweeping school desegregation plan in Kansas City, Mo. On June 15 Pres. Violeta Barrios de Chamorra finally (after 4 mos.) agrees to extensive changes in Nicaragua's constitution that had been made by the Nat. Assembly last Nov.; the changes weaken the powers of the pres. at the expense of guess what. On June 19 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules unanimously in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual Group of Boston that private citizens organizing a public demonstration can't be forced by the state to incl. groups who impart a message the organizers don't want to be presented, even on the grounds of preventing discrimination, because the freedom to associate with orgs. dedicated to the "advancement of beliefs and ideas" is an inseparable part of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. On June 21 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 6-3 in Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton that public schools may engage in random drug testing of students to allow them to participate in sports, because they are not unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment in light of the schools' interest in preventing teenie drug use. On June 20 the Southern Baptist Convention (largest Protestant denomination in the U.S.) apologizes for its past support of slavery and for "condoning... systematic racism in our lifetime". On June 22 the nomination for U.S. surgeon gen. of black-is-back OBGYN Henry Wendell Foster Jr. (1933-) is blocked by a Repub.-led Senate filibuster over his perf. of abortions. On June 26 Muslim militants ambush and machine-gun the motorcade of Egyptian pres. (since 1981) Hosni Mubarak (1928-) as he arrives in Addis Ababa, Ethopia to attend an OAU meeting; he escapes unscathed, and blames the attack on the govt. of Sudan, with whom he is engaged in a border dispute; it is later linked to Osama bin Laden - boy did his car insurance skyrocket? On June 27 after a palace coup to depose his father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (1952-) becomes emir of Qatar (until ?). On June 28 the U.S. and Japan reach a trade accord ending threatened U.S. sanctions against Japanese luxury cars. On June 28 the Aguas Blancas Massacre in Guerrero, S Mexico sees Mexican police ambush and massacre unarmed campesinos of the S Mountain Range Farmer Org. while en route to a protest march in Atoyac de Alvarez, killing 17 (39?) and injuring 21, then trying to frame them on being armed. On June 29 Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station dock in space, forming the largest spacecraft to orbit Earth so far; U.S. astronaut Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson (1946-) shakes hands with Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Nikolayevich Dezhurov (1962-) in a publicity photo. On June 29 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-4 in Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the U. of Va. that a state univ. cannot withhold funding from student religious pubs. that it provides to similar secular student pubs. On June 29 the U.S. Supreme Court votes 5-4 to set strict judicial standards for redrawing congressional districts to increase minority rep. in Congress; the losers call it a blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act. On June 29 the Unabomber sends a 35K word Antitechnology Manifesto to The New York Times and The Washington Post, claiming that if either paper pub. the full text within 90 days he will stop mailing bombs; the WP pub. it on Sept. 19 (a magnanimous move considering newsprint prices?). In June after being stung by criticism of his leadership, British PM John Major resigns in order to force a leadership vote; on July 4 he easily wins reeelection, stifling the rebellion by the Conservative Party's right wing, although he remains unpopular. On July 1 Russian Pres. Boris Yeltin's govt. survives a no-confidence vote in the State Duma. On July 3 rioting erupts in Belfast and Londonderry after a British soldier who had been given a life sentence for the 1990 murder of a Roman Catholic teenager is released. On July 5 Turkey sends 3K troops into N Iraq to kick Kurdish guerrilla butt. On July 5 in response to the 1993 shutdown of its Denver hub by Continental Airlines, low-priced Frontier Airlines, based in Denver, Colo. begins operation, expanding to 50 destinations in the U.S. and five outside the U.S.; slogan: "The spirit of the West." On July 10 Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is released from her 1989 house arrest by the Burmese govt., but remains a virtual prisoner in her own country. On July 10 Pope John Paul II issues an informal Letter to Women (dated June 29), condemning bias against women, and apologizing for the Church's endless history of sex discrimination - I'm sorry that your female ancestors were all f-d? On July 11 the U.S. gives full diplomatic recognition to Vietnam 20 years after the Communist capture of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). On July 11 Bosnian Serbs capture the silver-mining town of Srebrenica in E Bosnia-Herzegovina, supposedly under the protection of the U.N., then stage the Srebrenica Massacre of 8K Muslim men and boys (worse massacre since WWII?) under the orders of Radovan Karadzic (ends July 22), humiliating the U.N. and eventually toppling the Dutch govt. of Wim Kok (Apr. 2002); on Mar. 19, 2010 retired U.S. gen. John Sheehan claims that Dutch troops failed to stop the genocide because their ranks were weakened by openly gay soldiers; on July 25 the U.N.'s Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague indicts Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic (1945-) and military cmdr. Gen. Ratko Mladic (1942-) for genocide; after fleeing and changing his name to Dragan David Dabic, Karadzic is captured in July 21, 2008; it is an Islamic hoax and inside job, anhd the numbers of victims are vastly inflated? On July 12-16 the 1995 Chicago, Ill. Heat Wave peaks, with a high of 106F (41C) on July 13 (warmest since 100F/43C on July 23, 1934), causing 739 deaths, mostly elderly who can't afford air conditioning; additional deaths occur in St. Louis, Mo. and Milwaukee, Wisc. On July 13 the Detroit, Mich. Newspaper Strike begins, with 2.5K members of six labor unions, ending on Feb. 14, 1997, after which it goes to court and the journalists' union losing its unfair labor practices case on appeal. On July 13-15 the 1995 Chicago, Ill. Heat Wave kills 103, mainly elderly. On July 21 the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis begins when Red China accuses Taiwan pres. (since Jan. 13, 1988) Lee Teng-hui (1923-) of independence sentiments by accepting an invitation to speak at his alma mater Cornell U. on "Taiwan's Democratization Experience", causing Red China to conduct missile tests on July 21-26 60 km. N of Pengjia Islet and mobilize forces in Fujian, followed by live ammo tests on Aug. 15-25, naval exercises in Aug., and amphibious assault exercises in Nov., causing the U.S. to respond with the biggest display of military might in Asia since the Vietnam War, causing China to acknowledge inability to stop them but announce that reelection of Teng-hui on Mar. 23 will mean war, pissing-off the Taiwanese, who reelect him with a bigger margin (54% vs. 49%), after which the Red Chinese back down after firing test missiles into the Taiwan Strait on Mar. 7 and launching military exercises there on Mar. 12. On July 25 a terrorist bomb explodes in Paris near the Notre Dame Cathedral, killing seven and injuring 80 on a crowded commuter train. On July 25 peace talks resume between the Mexican govt. and the Zapatistas. On July 25 the Israeli supreme court permits Jews to pray at the Temple Mount, sparking widespread Muslim protests. On July 27 42nd anniv. of the Korean Armistice) the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. is dedicated by Pres. Clinton. On July 31 Walt Disney Co. announces that it will buy Capital Cities/ABC Inc. in a $19B deal to create one of the world's largest entertainment companies; on Aug. 1 Westinghouse Electric Corp. announces the purchase of CBS (the last independent network) for $5.4B. In July the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat buries the capital of Plymouth in 40 ft. of mud, causing over half of the island's pop. to leave. In July Tunisia becomes the first Mediterranean country to sign an association agreement with the EU. On Aug. 1 NATO threatens an air strike on the Serbs if they don't stop attacking the safe zones in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On Aug. 3 Queen Elizabeth's luxury ship, the royal yacht Britannia is put up for sale after 968 voyages and 1M mi.; at £10M a year it is considered too costly to run; saying goodbye causes the queen to break into tears? On Aug. 4 a U.N.-sponsored Conference on World Fisheries reaches agreement (approved by more than 90 countries) on the first-ever treaty to regulate fishing on the high seas as global fish stocks decline. On Aug. 4 Croatian troops invade the self-proclaimed Serb Repub. of Krajina, and on Aug. 5 they seize the town of Knin from rebel Croatian Serb forces; on Aug. 7 they recapture the entire Krajina region, committing many human rights violations. On Aug. 9 police in Brazil violently evict 1.3K landless farmers who had occupied a 40K-acre estate in the northern state of Rondonia, killing 10, arresting 350, and "disappearing" 75, causing public sympathy for the Landless Workers' Movement; on Dec. 16 Manoel Ribeiro, a politican supporting the movement is assassinated. On Aug. 10 a federal grand jury in Okla. City indicts Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for the Apr. 19 Murrah Federal Bldg. bombing; they also file charges against Michael Fortier, expected to be the govt.'s chief witness. On Aug. 14 the U.S. proposes a new Bosnian peace plan which gives the Serbs more territory. On Aug. 15 (50th anniversary of the end of WWII in the Pacific) Japan's PM Tomiichi Murayama offers his "heartfelt apology" for the suffering Japan caused "to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations" in WWII; in June the lower house of Japan's parliament had expressed remorse but refused to apologize. On Aug. 20 a train collision in Firozabad, India kills 358. On Aug. 20 to block reports of Polish worker unrest, the Soviets begin jamming Western radio broadcasts for the first time since 1973, violating the 1975 Helsinki Accords. On Aug. 21 ABC settles a $10B libel suit filed by the Philip Morris Cos. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in spring 1994 over a Feb. 1994 show aired by ABC newsmagazine "Day One" claiming that they spike their cigarettes with extra nicotine in order to addict smokers; ABC apologizes to them on the air and agrees to pay their legal expenses. On Aug. 23 anti-Derg Ethiopian People's Rev. Dem. Front (EPRDF) head (since 1991) Meles Zenawi Ares (1955-2012) becomes dictator PM #10 of Ethiopia (until Aug. 20, 2012). On Aug. 24 after spending 1960-79 in a Chinese Laodai forced labor camp and fleeing to the U.S. in 1985 and becoming a U.S. citizen, founding the Laogai Research Foundation in Washington, D.C. in 1992, Shanghai-born human rights activist Harry Wu (1937-2016) is arrested as he tries to enter China, convicted of espionage and sentenced to 15 years in prison, then immediately deported to the U.S. after an internat. campaign. On Aug. 25 35K couples are married simultaneously by Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Holy Spirit Assoc. for the Unification of World Christianity in the Olympic Stadium in Seoul; another 325K couples around the world take part in the ceremony through a satellite link. On Aug. 28 the Chemical Banking Corp. announces its plan to acquire the Chase Manhattan Corp. to create the largest bank in the U.S., the Chase Manhattan, with assets of $297B, headed by CBC chmn. Walter V. Shipley (1935-). On Aug. 28 two mortar shells are shot into the central market of Sarajevo by Islamic fundamentalists, killing 38; on Aug. 30 NATO retaliates against Serb positions in their stronghold of Pale and elsewhere. On Aug. 30 5K women from private orgs. assemble in Huairou, China outside Beijing to attend a non-govt. forum on women's issues. On Aug. 30 NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force (ends Sept. 20), commanded by U.S. Adm. Leighton Warren "Snuffy" Smith Jr. (1939-), bombing Serb positions near Sarajevo and other U.N.-designated "safe areas" in Bosnia, in their biggest military action to date. On Sept. 1 French commandos seize two Greenpeace vessels leading an internat. flotilla protesting French underground nuclear tests in the South Pacific; despite internat. protests the French govt. goes ahead and sets off a nuke in Tahiti on Sept. 5, followed by a 2nd on Oct. 2, and a 3rd on Oct. 27, with an announcement that three more are coming. On Sept. 4 (Mon.) (Labor Day) the eBay (electronic San Francisco Bay area) Web site is launched (original name Auction Web) by Paris, France-born Iranian-Am. founder (Tufts U. grad) Pierre Morad Omidyar (1967-), then renamed after Omidyar's consulting firm Echo Bay; by mid-1997 it has 150K users bidding in 794K auctions a day, and doubles every 3 mo.; it goes public in 1998, making him a billionaire, and by Oct. 1999 its stock is valued at $18B; in 2005 Omidyar donates $100M to found Omidyar Network for the purpose of making microfinance loans to poor people in developing countries. On Sept. 4 the New Zealand-based TV series Xena: Warrior Princess debuts for 134 episodes (until June 18, 2001) as a spinoff of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and set in ancient Greece, starring Kiwi-born manly woman Lucille Frances "Lucy" Lawless (nee Ryan) (1968-) (with more black hair dye on her head than Elvis?) enthralls millions of women's libbers with its vision of a self-sufficient woman who can kick 10 mens' butts at the same time, has a lesbian-curious girlfriend named Gabriel, played by Katy, Tex.-born Evelyn Renee O'Connor (1971-), and has never heard of Islam or purdah - as long as you pretend not to notice the hidden wires? On Sept. 5 Hillary Clinton addresses a special session of the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, lecturing China on human rights abuses with her hair let down sexily and wearing a pink suit, with the soundbyte: "Women's rights are human rights, and human rights are women's rights"; three days earlier her hubby Bill addressed ceremonies at Pearl Harbor commemorating the 50th anniversary of V-J Day. On Sept. 6 the U.S. Senate unanimously votes to recommend the expulsion of Repub. Ore. Sen. (since 1969) Robert William "Bob" Packwood (1932-) on sexual misconduct and obstruction charges; on Sept. 7 he agrees to resign, effective Oct. 1 - pack wood jokes here? On Sept. 7 George mag. ("not just politics as usual"), pub. by John F. Kennedy Jr. (son of JFK) debuts (closes in 2001); the premier issue features a photo of supermodel Cindy Crawford in a bare-midriff Continental Army uniform. On Sept. 9 the animated series Freakazoid!, created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini debuts on The WB for 24 episodes (until June 1, 1997), about geeky 16-y.-o. Dexter Douglas of Harry Connick H.S. near Washington, D.C., who turns into manic insane superhero Freakazoid after typing a secret key sequence into his computer. On Sept. 10 (2nd Sun.) the first Nat. Assisted Living Week is established in the U.S. by the Nat. Center for Assisted Living (NCAL). On Sept. 13 Greece ends its 19-mo. trade embargo on Macedonia (begun 1994), and formally recognizes it. On Sept. 8 Bosnian factions agree to the U.S. peace-partition plan, and agree to demilitarize Sarajevo; on Sept. 26 Serbs, Croats, and Muslims agree to a collective presidency and parliament, and on Oct. 12 a formal ceasefire goes into effect; in 2010 the Netherlands offers life benefits to Bosnian refugees who return home. On Sept. 20 the AT&T Corp. announces plans to split into three separate cos. becoming the largest breakup in U.S. corporate history. On Sept. 22 Time Warner Inc. agrees to purchase the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) (owner of TNT and CNN) for $7.5B in stock, creating the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate; it acquired an 18% stake in TBS in 1987. On Sept. 23 the "Top Gun meets A Few Good Men" takeoff JAG (Judge Advocate General) debuts on NBC-TV for 227 episodes, switching to CBS-TV in 1997 (until Apr. 29, 2005), starring David James Elliott (1960-) as Navy Capt. Harmon "Harm" Rabb Jr., and Catherine Bell (1968-) as USMC Lt. Col. Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie. On Sept. 24 the Oslo II (Taba) Agreement is signed in Taba, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, followed on Sept. 28 at the White House by Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chmn. Yasser Arafat, and witnessed by U.S. pres. Clinton and reps of the EU, Russia, Jordan, and other countries; Israel and the PLO agree to mutual recognition, and to expand Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and withdraw Israeli troops. On Sept. 25 Dallas billionaire Henry Ross Perot (1930-2019), announces the formation of the Independence (Reform) Party of the U.S.A., aimed at capturing independent voters in the 1996 race and fielding him as a pres. candidate; a ringer designed to insure that Pres. Clinton gets elected? On Sept. 20 Barack Obama gives an interview to "The Author Series" on Channel 37 Cambridge Municipal TV, telling how a man named Frank schooled him about white racism, admitting it's Commie Frank Marshall Davis, but not mentioning that he's a Commie. On Sept. 27 Taliban forces in Afghanistan capture Hierat. On Sept. 28 the pres. of Comoros is held hostage by foreign mercenaries staging a coup attempt. On Sept. 28 after the O.J. Simpson Defense Dream Team pulls the Race Card, making hay out of the alleged bigotry and incredibility of white police detective Mark Fuhrman (1952-), defense atty. Johnnie Cochran has a field day with the alleged murder gloves, which O.J. appears to not be able to fit all the way onto his widely-splayed hands, saying, "If it doesn't fit you must acquit"; he had discontinued his arthritis medicine, causing his joints to swell? - always wear ill-fitting clothes when you do the crime? If the shoe is Bruno Magli, he did it exactly? On Sept. 28 American Atheists founder ("the most hated woman in America" - Life mag.) Madalyn Murray O'Hair (b. 1919) mysteriously disappears with $500K worth of gold coins owned by her org., along with her son Jon Garth Murray and adopted granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair, and it takes a year for her estranged son William Murray to report it to police; in Apr. 2001 her office mgr. David Roland Waters is sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in their abduction and murder. On Oct. 1 Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and nine other defendants are found guilty on 48 of 50 charges of conspiring to commit terrorism by a federal jury in New York City; on Jan. 17 Rahman is sentenced to life in prison. 10-03-95 is O.J. Day in Hell? On Oct. 3 after deliberating less then four hours, a Los Angeles jury finds guilty-as-the-devil O.J. Simpson (1947-) not guilty of the murders of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald L. Goldman, causing the nation to split along color lines as 150M people witness the televised verdict at the end of the 372-day $9M trial; "Everything came together: race, celebrity, beauty, wealth, perjury, tape recordings, the chase of the car and the media focus" (Alan Dershowitz); on Oct. 11 Simpson agrees to a live interview on Dateline NBC, but cancels just hours before the broadcast because of protest calls to NBC and its affiliates from angry viewers who cry that he's as guilty as the devil. On Oct. 4 Pope John Paul II arrives at Newark Internat. Aiport in N.J. to begin a 5-day U.S. visit, and is greeted by Pres. Clinton; on Oct. 5 he visits U.N. HQ (his first visit) for the 50th anniv. of the U.N. (attended by 138 heads of state and govt.), and addresses the Gen. Assembly, saying that the world is facing "enormous challenges", and urging nations to overcome "our fear of the future". On Oct. 4 Hurricane Opal batters Fla. and Ala., killing 20 and leaving 1M without electrical power. On Oct. 5 Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin gives a Speech on the Ratification of the Israel-Palestinian Interim to the Knesset, with the soundbyte about a proposed Palestinian state: "We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines." On Oct. 9 an Amtrak train carrying 268 people derails in the Ariz. desert SW of Phoenix, killing a crew member and injuring 78; a note is found near the accident site from the Sons of Gestapo taking credit for sabotaging the track. On Oct. 12 the Bosnian Serbs and Bosnia-Herzegovina finally sign a ceasefire agreement after fighting since 1992. On Oct. 12 the ruling govt. coalition in Austria collapses after it fails to agree on a 1996 budget, causing the parliament to be dissolved pending new elections. On Oct. 12 David McLean (b. 1922), who posed as the Marlboro Man in the 1960s dies of lung cancer, and his heirs file a wrongful death lawsuit against Philip Morris. On Oct. 15 Saddam Hussein receives over 99% of the 8M votes cast in a referendum on his rule in Iraq and a Hardplace. By mid-Oct. Serious Saudi Arabia has beheaded 192 people for crimes, 3x the total for a year earlier (53); about 60% are non-Saudis. On Oct. 16 the Million Man March for African-Am. men, organized by the black supremacist Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (1933-) is held in Washington D.C., although only 400K black men show up, incl. young Barack Obama (1961-), who is inspired by it, uttering the soundbyte: "What was lacking among march organizers was a positive agenda, a coherent agenda for change"; Farrakhan's advisor is black radical academic Cornel Ronald West (1953-), a personal friend of Barack Obama, who later introduces him at his first fundraiser in Harlem in 2007. On Oct. 17 a bomb set by the Algerian Armed Islamic Group explodes on a Paris subway train, injuring 29. On Oct. 21-28 after a short (134 instead of 162 game) season in which Albert Jojuan "Joey" Belle (1966-) of Cleveland hit 50 homers, money-is-no-object Ted Turner's Atlanta Braves (NL) (100-44) defeat the Cleveland Indians (AL) (90-54) 4-2 to win the Ninety-First (91st) (1995) World Series (Oct. 21-28), their first win since 1957, and the first since moving from Milwaukee in 1966; Atlanta wins the last game 1-0 on a homer by David Christopher Justice (1966-), and MVP Thomas Michael "Tommy" Glavine (1966-) pitches a 1-hitter over eight innings - as lovely fit anorexic but gracefully aging boy toy Jane Fonda watches with Ted? On Oct. 22-24 the U.N. celebrates its 50th annivv., although its members are $3.4B behind in payments (U.S. $1.3B, U.S.S.R. $0.6B); a total of 91 presidents, 8 vice-presidents, 37 PMs, and 2 kings address the U.N. Gen. Assembly, incl. Cuban pres. Fidel Castro on Oct. 22. On Oct. 23 Pres. Clinton and Russian Pres. Yeltsin meet in Hyde Park, N.Y., and after sitting on chairs admiring the fall Hudon River Valley foliage pledge continued friendship and cooperation; Yeltsin promises that Russia will help keep peace in the Balkans; too bad, Clinton can't help Yeltsin with his little problems that ripping away economic restrictions to permit the switch to capitalism doesn't guarantee that the inefficient former Commie factories can survive in a free market, and that the Russian economy is doomed to hit bottom before having a chance to recover. On Oct. 23 the U.S. Jerusalem Embassy Act is overwhelmingly passed by Congress to fund the move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv back to Jerusalem, reaffirming it as the undivided recognized capital of Israel, and giving itself until 1999 to move it; too bad, Pres. Clinton claims that it infringes on executive branch control of foreign affairs, and use a nat. security waiver to delay the move every 6 mo., which each succeeding pres. continues until Pres. Trump in 2018; in Oct. 2010 the U.S. opens a consulate in the S Arnona neighborhood for U.S. citizens living on the W side, who had to use the cramped facility on the Arab-dominated E side. On Oct. 25 John Joseph Sweeney (1934-), pres. of the Service Employees Internat. Union is elected pres. of the AFL-CIO (until ?). On Oct. 25 British rock band Def Leppard becomes the first to perform three concerts in three countries in one day (Tangiers, Morocco; London, England; Vancouver, Canada). On Oct. 25 (7:10 a.m.) the Fox River Grove Accident in Ill. sees a train crash into the rear school bus stopped at a traffic light with its rear standing on the tracks, killing seven of 35 students, with no injuries on the train. On Oct. 26 Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Fathi Shaqaqi (Shikaki) (b. 1951) is assassinated in Malta, and Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shalah (1959-) takes over (until ?). On Oct. 30 the 1995 Quebec Independence Referendum is rejected by a narrow margin of 50.6% to 49.4%; the 1980 referendum was rejected by 59.6% to 40.4%. In Oct. the Socialist Party wins the gen. election in Portugal, falling just short of a majority in the assembly. On Nov. 1 peace talks between the Bosnian factions begin in the U.S., and an accord is reached on Nov. 21, with NATO acting as peacekeeper. On Nov. 4 Jerusalem-born Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1922) is assassinated at a peace rally by 25-y.-o. Orthodox Jewish Israeli law student Yigal Amir (1970-), who says after his arrest that he is on a mission from Jehovah; he used Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel "The Day of the Jackal" as a manual, and claims to be a lone gunman, but the Israeli govt. claims that it is a right-wing conspiracy, accusing Amir's brother Hagai and an army Sgt. of involvement; Rabin's Nov. 6 funeral is attended by more than 40 world leaders; on Nov. 4 Shimon Peres of the Labour Party becomes PM of Israel for the 2nd time (until June 18, 1996). On Nov. 8 retired Joint Chiefs of Staff chmn. Gen. Colin L. Powell announces that he will not seek the U.S. presidency in 1996, saying that it "requires a calling that I do not yet hear". On Nov. 12 Croatian Serbs in the Eastern Slavonia region of Croatia agree to rejoin Croatia peacefully. On Nov. 13 a car bomb planted by four young anti-American Saudi militants explodes in a U.S.-run military training center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing seven (5 Americans and 2 Indians) and injuring 60; in Apr. 1996 they claim on TV that they had links with foreign Islamic extremists, shocking their fellow countrymen; they are beheaded on May 31, 1996. On Nov. 14 the U.S. govt. runs out of money to play its 800K federal workers after Congress and the president fail to agree on a short-term spending bill, causing the workers to be laid off until Nov. 19, when they reach a compromise. On Nov. 17 Nigeria's military regime hangs nine political activists, incl. noted playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa for murdering four pro-govt. Ogoniland chiefs in May 1994; critics claim it is a govt. plot to silence opponents. On Nov. 19 Pres. Lech Walesa of Poland fails to be reelected for a 2nd 5-year term, losing narrowly to former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski (1954-), who on Dec. 23 is sworn-in as pres. (until Dec. 23, 2005); former Commies now control Poland. On Nov. 20 Princess Diana holds a BBC1 Panorama Interview with Martin Bashir, in which she assumes a deer-in-the-headlights posture (head down, eyes up) and admits adultery with British cavalry Maj. James Hewitt (1958-), becoming one of the top PR outings in history. On Nov. 21 the Dow Jones Avg. tops 5K for the first time. On Nov. 21 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio the presidents of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia sign the Dayton Agreement (Accords), brokered by U.S. ambassador Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke (1941-2010); B-H will divided into a Bosnian-Croat federation and a Serb repub., and 60K NATO troops (incl. 20K from the U.S.) will enforce the peace (largest military deployment in NATO history); the first troops begin arriving on Dec. 4, and on Dec. 5 a meeting in Brussels among ministers representing 16 NATO nations approves the deal; the peace agreement is formally signed on Dec. 14 by Serbian pres. Slobodan Milosevic, Croatian pres. Franko Tudman, and Bosnian pres. Alija Izetbegovic in Paris, ending the 3.5-year Bosnian War - praise which Lord? On Nov. 23 former Soviet foreign minister (1985-90) Eduard Shevardnadze (1927-) ("the White Fox") becomes pres. #2 of Georgia (until Nov. 23, 2003). On Nov. 23 Benjamin William Mkapa (1938-) becomes pres. #3 of Tanzania (until Dec. 21, 2005). On Nov. 27 Pres. Clinton asks the U.S. people and Congress to allow U.S. forces to assist NATO peacekeepers - and forget about his you know what? On Nov. 30 Pres. Clinton becomes the first U.S. pres. to visit Northern Ireland. In Nov. CBS-TV's Sixty Minutes cancels an interview with a former exec. of the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. that was to have been part of a Nov. 12 story on efforts by tobacco co. to silence critics; the wimp-out by CBS is the subject of the 1999 film The Insider. On Dec. 4 former South Korean pres. Roh Tae Woo, three of his aides and 24 business execs. are indicted for accepting or offering $370M in corporate bribes. On Dec. 4-7 unions stage huge strikes over govt. plans to reform federal welfare and trim Social Security, bringing the govt. to a standstill. On Dec. 6 Pres. Clinton vetoes a Repub. plan to balance the federal budget in seven years, saying it cuts social programs too much; on Dec. 7 he counters with his own plan, but they dismiss it as inadequate - if they could see what happens in 2008 they'd puke? On Dec. 7 a 747-lb. probe from the Galileo spacecraft descends into Jupiter's atmosphere, reaching speeds of up to 106k mph, and facing skin temps of 28K F on its heat shield as it transmits data to the mother ship (which enters Jupiter orbit) for about 75 min. On. Dec. 12 the Empire State Bldg. is lit up with blue lights to celebrate singer Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday; he gives his last perf. this year. On Dec. 13 after black 26-y.-o. robber Wayne Douglas dies in police custody, the 1995 Brixton Riots in Lambeth, South London last 5 hours, resulting in 22 arrests and injuring three police officers. On Dec. 15 Playboy mag. goes on sale again in Ireland after being banned for 36 years. On Dec. 17 parliamentary elections in Russia give the Communist Party 158 of 450 seats in the lower house. On Dec. 21 the fabled city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control. On Dec. 23 a tent fire in Dabwali, India kills 360, incl. 170 children at a year-end party near their school. On Dec. 25 Pope John Paul II is overcome by fever and nausea during a message in St. Peter's Square, and comes down with the flu. On Dec. 25 Turkish PM Tansu Ciller resigns after her True Path Party is defeated in parliamentary elections by the Welfare Party, becoming the first V by a Muslim party in Turkey's 75-year history as a secular state. On Dec. 31 militarily-connected Ahmed Ouyahia (1952-), becomes PM of Algeria (until Dec. 15, 1998, then May 5, 2003-May 24, 2008, and June 23, 2008). Major oil reserves are discovered in Equatorial Guinea; within 10 years dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema deposits over $100M into U.S. bank accounts while outlawing newsstands, bookstores, and TV/radio stations, except one radio station owned by his son. Robert James Woolsey Jr. (1941-) becomes CIA dir. #16 (until 1996), succeeding Robert Gates. Am. activist Lori Helene Berenson (1969-) is sentenced to 20 years in Peru for collaborating with the Tupac Amaru rev. movement, causing presidents Clinton and George W. Bush to attempt to free her in vain; her earliest parole is in 2010. Three U.S. Marines are charged with raping a 12-y.-o. girl in Okinawa after 85K Okinawans stage a protest; Navy 4-star Adm. Richard C. Macke is sacked as cmdr. of the Pacific Command for suggesting to reporters that they would have been better off spending their money on a ho - trained to give beejays with their thumb inserted where? The U.N. votes to send emergency food aid to North Korea; the program gives them 4M tons ($1.5B) of food until Jan. 2005, when the North Korean govt. says it has enough - shouldn't your baby be a Gerber baby? The Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS) AKA Con Air is established by the U.S. Marshals Service, with HQ in Kansas City, Mo., going on to transport 350K prisoners per year, with air fleet operations based at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Okla. Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Deepwater Royalty Relief Act of 1995, exempting oil wells drilled deep in the Gulf from the normal (12%-16%) royalty payments to the govt., causing deepwater oil production in the Gulf to increase from 42M barrels in 1996 to 348M in 2004 (15% of domestic production and 6% of total U.S. oil consumption), incl. the infamous Deepwater Horizon well. The U.S. milk indstry launches its Milk Mustache Ad Campaign. The Seine River in France gets so dirty that salmon, which had been dwindling since WWI stop returning to it; it takes until 2009 to clean it up enough so they come back. Greenpeace collects a record 8.5M signatures worldwide calling for French Pres. Chirac to end French nuclear testing in Mururoa in the South Pacific; they claim a V when France trims the planned eight tests to six. The Internat. Crisis Group (ICG) is founded in Brussels by Louise Arbour, Christopher Patten, Thomas Pickering et al. The LDS (Mormon) Church launches the Web site FamilySearch.org, containing the Family History Catalog, the Internat. Genealogical Index (founded 1969), and the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) software program (founded 1893; discontinued July 15, 2013), redesigning the church logo to display the words "Jesus Christ" in larger letters than the rest of name so that outsiders will consider Mormons to be some kind of Christians not a sick polygamy cult. The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) is founded to wage jihad on the regime of Libyan Col. Daffy. Turkish-born German Muslim Metin Kaplan (1952-) becomes leader of the radical Islamist Kalifatsstaat (Caliphate State) movement in Cologne, which seeks to overthrow the secular govt. of Turkey; Germany outlaws it in 2001; in Oct. 2004 he is extradited to Turkey and convicted of treason and given a life sentence. Moroccan immigrant Amir Peretz (1952-) (elected to the Knesset in 1988) becomes head of Israel's main labor union - knows everything about air conditioning? The body of famed scientist Madame Marie Curie (1867-1934) is exhumed and her ashes placed in the French Pantheon, becoming the only woman interred there for her own accomplishments (plus she was Polish not French). The Dalai Lama identifies the Panchen Lama (the #2 figure in Tibetan Buddhism, and his likely successor), a 6-y.-o. boy, causing the Chinese to detain him in China, where he isn't heard from until ? Donald Trump takes Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts public, selling 10M shares at $14 a share, followed in 1996 by 13.25M shares at $32.50 a share; his 1995 tax return reports a $916M loss, allowing him to legally avoid paying federal income tax for up to 18 years. Ralph Natale becomes boss of the Philadelphia, Penn. crime family (until 1999); in 1995 after underboss Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (1962-) takes advantage of him being in jail and takes over, and he is indicted for financing drug deals, he becomes the first Am. Mafia boss to turn state's evidence. Am. Jesuit Don Richard Riso (1946-2012) and Ross Hudson found the Enneagram Inst. in New York City to promote Enneagrams (Gr. "ennea" + "gramma" = nine + written/drawn), "nine one-page impressionistic sketches of the personality types". ZetaTalk Web site founder Nancy Lieder advances the theory of the Planet Nibiru Cataclysm, a collision or near-miss supposed to take place in the early 21st cent. (originally May 2003) based on alleged contact with ETs from Zeta Ridiculi, er, Reticuli, causing Zecharia Sitchin to disavow her. South Africa passes a ban on killing elephants; they have about 20K, compared to 20K in Mozambique, 80K in Zimbabwe, and 160K in Botswana. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) reports that Americans own 62M shotguns, 66M handguns, and 73M rifles - and they'd like to confiscate them all? In the U.S. the advent of computer modems cause telephone number assignments to explode, forcing the middle area code digit to be expanded beyond 0-1. U.S. wildlife officials reintroduce 31 wolves from Canada to Yellowstone Park this year and next, along with 35 into C Idaho; the pop. grows to over 1K by 2006. Coffee becomes the world's most popular beverage this year, with 400B cups being consumed annually. The Brennan Center for Justice, named for Supreme Court justice William J. Brennan is founded by NYU Law school, going on to push liberal-progressive public policies incl. raising the min. wage, opposing voter ID laws, and opposing the SCOTUS decision in Citizens United v. FEC. Canadian "Heart of Gold" singer Neil Young (1945-), an admitted "train nerd" buys an interest in Lionel Train Co. Sangamo Corp. is founded by Edward O. Lanphier II to commercialize the zinc finger technique of British crytallographer Aaron Klug for editing genes. IBM employee Craig Alexander Newmark (1952-) founds the popular Web message bulletin board site Craigslist.com in San Francisco, Calif., which goes on to become a Web site. Geocities is founded as a free Web site for millions; it closes on Oct. 26, 2009. Thawte Consulting is founded in South Africa by Mark Robert Shuttleworth (1973-) to provide free email trust certificates; VeriSign buys them out in Dec. 1999 for 3.5B rands ($575M). The outdoor Warped Tour, sponsored by skateboard shoe manufacturer Vans et al. showcases U.S. punk rock music. The Bill Chill annual music festival for chill-out music is first held on the grounds of Eastnor Castle in Ledbury, Herefordshire, England (until 2011). Belarus adopts a new eco-friendly Belarus Nat. Emblem, replacing the Pahonia arms (Crusader on horseback) (used since 1918). Curves Internat. is founded as a women-only circuit-training fitness franchise in Waco, Tex. by Gary Heavin and Diane Heavin, growing to 10K worldwide locations and 4M members by 2006. In 1995 after working for Donna Karan, Anne Klein, and Calvin Klein, gay Newark, N.J.-born fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez III (1961-) becomes design dir. of TSE in New York City and Cerruti in Paris, designing ready-to-wear men's and women's clothing; in 1996 he designs the minimal bias-cut white silk wedding dress for Carolyn Bessette for her wedding to John F. Kennedy Jr., gaining him internat. fame; on Nov. 4, 2008 he gains more fame when Michelle Obama wears one of his dresses to celebrate her hubby Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. pres. election. Ex-Weatherman Bill Ayers holds a fundraiser for Barack Obama in his living room in Chicago, Ill.; after years of White House denial, Ayers admits it in Apr. 2013. Pastor Keenan Roberts stages the first Hell House, a Christian evangelical Halloween haunted house in the New Destiny Christian Center in Northglenn, Colo., spawning 3K copycats in churches worldwide within 10 years; the typical exhibits incl. cheerleaders having abortions with fetuses made of raw hamburger, and gay men being condemned to Hell along with children who read "Harry Potter". A 22-y.-o. American is gored to death in the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, Spain, the 13th fatality since 1924, becoming the last until ? A promotional election results in tan M&M's being voted out and blue M&M's voted in. Waco, Tex.-born, Nolanville, Tex.-braid Jennifer Love Hewitt (1979-) gets her big break on the Fox TV series Party of Five (ends 1999) as Sarah Reeves Merrin, going on to become a movie star with the 1997 film "I Know What You Did Last Summer", achieving a Q-rating of 37 in 2000, making her the most popular actress on TV. Don Henley and the Eagles reunite. Am. rock star Prince (1958-2016), who wore yellow butt-baring pants to the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards announces that he's become a Jehovah's Witness - and will soon show up at your door in Minneapolis? Betty Rubble is finally added to the cast of characters in Flintstones vitamins (created in 1968). The Beanie Babies Craze begins (ends 1999), becoming a modern Tulip Mania. Yokohama Brewery is founded in Japan, becoming the first craft brewery and brewpub in Yokohama. London-born English chef Heston Marc Blumenthal (1966-) opens the Fat Duck Restaurant in Berkshire, England, which receives its first Michelin star in 1999, going on to become a pioneer in Molecular Gastronomy (term coined in 1988 by Oxford physicist Nicholas Kurti and French chemist Herve This), incl. foodpairing, flavor encapsulation, and multi-sensory cooking, with signature dishes incl. Triple-Cooked Chips, Soft-Centered Scotch Eggs, and Bacon-and-Egg Ice Cream. The first sighting of a chupacabra(s) (Sp. "goat-sucker") in Puerto Rico. Sports: On Feb. 1 6'1" point guard "Iron Man" John Houston Stockton (1962-) (#12) of the Utah Jazz becomes the all-time NBA steals leader, breaking Magic Johnson's record of 9,221 in a game in Salt Lake City against the Denver Nuggets with 6:22 left in the first half with a bounce pass to Karl Malone, ending up with 9,227 in a 129-98 win; his 860th game, vs. 874 for Johnson. On Feb. 19 the 1995 (37th) Daytona 500 is won by Sterlin Marlin for the 2nd straight year (2nd win). In Feb. the first Best Bowler ESPY Award is presented to 5'5" Mount Pleasant, Tex.-born Norm Duke (1964-) of the U.S., who passes $3M in earnings in the 2011-12 season (3rd after Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Pete Weber); the U.S. goes on to win every year until Jason Belmonte (1983-) of N.S.W., Australia in 2011; the first female winner is in ?. On Mar. 19 Michael Jordan returns to the NBA in a game with the Indiana Pacers, scoring a rusty 19 points; on June 6 the Orlando Magic defeat the Indiana Pacers 105-81 to win the Eastern Conference and advance to the NBA Finals. On Mar. 30 federal judge Sonia Sotomayor (1954-) issues an injunction preventing the ML baseball owners from using replacement players or unilaterally imposing a collective bargaining agreement, and on Apr. 2 the owners allow the season to begin; it starts on Apr. 25, with each team playing 144 instead of 162 games. In Mar. the Arizona Diamondbacks (NL) and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (AL) join ML baseball, making a total of 30 teams; they begin play in 1998. On Apr. 9 Tex.-born Ben Daniel Crenshaw (1952-) wins the 59th Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. with a 14-under-par 274, the lowest Masters score since 1976. On Apr. 25 the 1995 ML baseball season is shortened by the 1994-5 ML baseball strike to 144 games, ending on Oct. 28; on Apr. 26 the NL Colo. Rockies debut in their new $300M stadium Coors Field in downtown Denver, Colo., becoming the first baseball-only NL park since Dodger Stadium in 1962, defeating the New York Mets 11-9 and going on to win seven of their first eight games, ending with a 77-67 record, giving them their first playoff appearance as the wild card winner; the Blake Street Bombers of the NL Colo. Rockies, incl. outfielder Larry Walker (#33), infielder Andres Galarraga (#14), outfielder Dante Bichette (#10), and 3rd baseman Vinny Castilla (#9) combine to hit 139 homers (30+ each) in the strike-shortened 1995 ML baseball season, with Bichette leading with 40. On May 3 France Galop is founded as the governing body of flat and steeplechase horseracing in France; by 2007 it has 9.5K members incl. horse owners, trainers, jockeys, breeders, and officials, and organizes 6.5K races. On May 13 New Zealand wins the America's Cup against Stars and Stripes, captained by Dennis Conner (1942-); previously he had to beat the first all-female team in competition history on Mighty Mary (which qualified on Jan. 13). On May 28 the 1995 (79th) Indianapolis 500 is won by Jacques Joseph Charles Villenueve (1971-) of Canada in his 2nd start; despite dominating the 1994 race, Team Penske fails to qualify for the race. On June 7-14 the 1995 NBA Finals sees the #6 seed Houston Rockets (coach Rudy Tomjanovich), led by Hakeem "the Dream" Olajuwon (1963-) defeat the Orlando Magic (coach Brian Hill), led by Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (1972-) 113-101 to sweep in four games (4-0) and win their 2nd consecutive title; next year O'Neal leaves Orlando for the Los Angeles Lakers with a 7-year contract worth $120M, only to be on the injured list with knee problems for 28 games between Feb. and Apr. On June 17 after a short season caused by an owners' lockout, the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals see the underdog New Jersey Devils (first Finals appearance) sweep the Detroit Red Wings (first Finals appearance since 1966) 4-0, becoming their first win, and the first of nine Stanley Cups won by either the Devils, Red Wings, or Colorado Avalanche in nine seasons (1995-2003) in a repeating cycle (Devils, Avalanche, Red Wings); the first of nine straight Finals contested by U.S.-based franchises exclusively; MVP is 6'0" Devils right wing Claude Percy Lemieux (1965-) (no relation to Mario Lemieux), who is traded to the Colorado Avalanche, becoming the 10th NHL player to win back-to-back Stanley Cups with different teams. On July 8 Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf (1969-) of Germany defeats Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to win the Wimbledon women's single title; on July 9 Pete Sampras (1971-) of the U.S. defeats Boris Becker 6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 to win the men's title. On July 29 the NFL (NFC) expansion team Carolina Panthers (known as Buffalo Bills South because of the large number of former Bills players) play their first game, defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars by 20-14, going on to finish a record 7-9, followed by 12-4 in 1996. On Aug. 19 Browning, Mont.-born Blackfoot Joe "the Boss" Hipp (1962-) becomes the first Native Am. to challenge for the world heavyweight boxing title, losing to WBA champ Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on the undercard of the Mike Tyson v. Peter McNeeley fight (Tyson's first after being released from prison for rape); he goes on to win the WBF heavyweight title in 1999. On Sept. 6 Baltimore Orioles shortstop Calvin Edwin "Cal" Ripken Jr. (1960-) plays in his 2,131st consecutive game (in a streak that began 13-1/2 seasons earlier), breaking the 56-y.-o. 1939 record of "Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees; the next closest streak is 259 games by Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox; Gehrig's teammate Joe DiMaggio is on hand to personally congratulate Ripken. On Oct. 8 Edgar "Gar" "Papi" Martinez (1963-) of the Seattle Mariners hits an 11th-inning double to score Ken Griffey Jr., clinching the AL title against the New York Yankees; their late-season comeback keeps the team in Seattle. On Oct. 28 5-y.-o. thoroughbred Cigar (1990-2014) ends his undefeated season by winning the $3M Breeders' Cup Classic at Elmont, N.Y.; he began the year on Feb. 12 defeating the previous year's horse of the year Holy Bull (1991-2017), who retires to stud duty. On Oct. 28-Nov. 1 Beaumont, Tex.-born David Ozio (1954-) (1991 Tournament of Champions winner) wins the AMF Dick Weber Classic at Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond, Va., capturing his 11th PBA title and getting inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame. On Dec. 6 after being humiliated on Dec. 2 in a 11-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings by coach Mario Tremblay, allowing nine goals on 26 shots (incl. five goals on 17 shots in the 1st period) before finally being pulled in the middle of the 2nd period in favor of Patrick David "Pat" Jablonski (1967-), pissing him off and causing him to tell team pres. Ronald Corey that this is his last game, then being suspended on Dec. 3, Montreal Canadiens goalie (#33) "St." Patrick Jacques Roy (1965-) (pr. "WAH") is traded to the new Colorado Avalanche NHL team (#33) for goalie Jocelyn Thibault, left wing Martin Rucinsky, and right wing Andrei Kovalenko, retiring in 2004 after having set NHL records for games played by a goalie (1,029), regular season Vs (551), playoff Vs (151), and 'postseason shutouts (23); after being traded in Jan. 1997, Jablonski plays two games for the Phoenix Coyotes in 1997 and five for the Caroline Hurricanes in 1997-8 before leaving the NHL. Miguel Indurain (1964-) of Spain wins a record 5th straight Tour de France. Righty pitcher (#10) Hideo Nomo (1968-) exploits a loophole in his contract to free himself from the Kintetsu Buffaloes and pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers, starting a trend; too bad, after winning Rookie of the Year and starting the All-Star Game, he burns out and fades fast like Mark Fidrych in 1976 and Fernando Valenzuela in 1981, although he becomes the first Japanese-born pitcher to throw a ML no-hitter. 6'11 power forward Kevin Maurice Garnett (1976-) becomes the first NBA player drafted out of h.s. since 1975, going to the Minn. Timberwolves. Tom Izzo (1955-) becomes head coach of the Michigan State. U. Spartans basketball team (until ?), turning the team (located near depressed Detroit, Mich.) around and leading them to nat. championships in 2000 and 2009, becoming the winningest coach in school history with his 341st win on Nov. 9, 2009, becoming known as "Mr. March". The Internat. Basketball Assoc. (IBA) is founded in Alexandria, Minn. with five teams by Thomas Anderson, growing to 18 teams before merging with the CBA and IBL, continuing under the CBA name. Nobel Prizes: Peace: Sir Joseph (Jozef) Rotblat (1908-2005) and Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs (U.K.) [nuclear disarmament]; Lit.: Seamus Justin Heaney (1939-) (Ireland); Physics: Martin Lewis Perl (1927-2018) (U.S.) [tau lepton}, and Frederick Reines (1918-98) (U.S.) [neutrino]; Reines shares credit with Clyde Lorrain Cowan Jr. (1919-74); Chem.: Frank Sherwood "Sherry" Rowland (1927-2012) (U.S.), Mario J. Molina (Mario Jose Molina-Pasquel Henríquez) (1943-2020) (U.S.), and Paul Jozef Crutzen (1933-) (Netherlands) [chlorofluorocarbon damage to ozone shield]; Med.: Edward B. Lewis (1918-2004) and Eric Francis Wieschaus (1947-) (U.S.), and Christiane Nusslein-Volhard (Nüsslein-Volhard) (1942-) (Germany) [genetic control of embryonic development]; Robert Emerson Lucas Jr. (1937-) (U.S.) [macroeconomics]. Inventions: On May 26 Bill Gates sends a memo to his top execs telling them that the Internet is now Microsoft's top priority; on Nov. 22 (JFK assassination day) Microsoft unveils Internet Explorer 2.0; on Dec. 7 Gates unveils his Internet strategy to the public at an all-day session, causing millions to fear yet another monopoly in the making. On Aug. 24 Microsoft launches Windows 95 - the monopoly is a little more complete, now let's go after the browser? On Aug. 24 MSN (Microsoft Network) is founded, complete with its own search. The term "3D-Printing" is coined by graduate students Jim Bredt and Tim Anderson at MIT. Digital Equipment Corp. patents Altavista, the first searchable full-text Internet search engine; in 2003 it is acquired by Yahoo!, which shuts it down on July 8, 2013; LookSmart (originally Homebase) is founded to compete with Yahoo!, becoming an online advertising co. MP3 (MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer III) is invented by Fraunhofer Inst. to compress digital audio data using a form of lossy data compression. Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf (1968-) invents PHP (originally Personal Home Page), a free hypertext preprocessor that becomes the most popular language for creating dynamic Web pages; in 1997 Israeli programmers Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski extend it to implement recursive initialization, creating PHP 3. The Pantsir-S1 (SA-22 Greyound) phased-array radar SAM system is developed in Russia, and goes operational in 2012, with Russia shipping it to Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Brazil, and Oman, UAE, and Syria, where one downs a Turkish RF-4E jet near Latakia on June 22, 2012. Otsuka Pharmaceutical develops the anti-psychotic drug Aripiprazole (brand name Abilify), partnering with Bristol-Meyers squibb in 1999 and obtaining U.S. FDA approval for use in treatment of schizophrenia on Nov. 15, 2002, later acute manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder; in 2013 it has global sales of $7B. Science: In spring Am. physicist Edward Witten (1951-) (who became the first physicist to be awarded a Fields Medal in 1990, and is considered the world's smartest theoretical physicist) gives a lecture at a USC conference in which he unifies the five separate string theories, founding M-theory and launching the Second Superstring Rev.. (ends 1997). On July 23 Denver, Colo-born amateur astronomer Thomas J. "Tom" Bopp (1949-) and Japanese-born Am. prof. astronomer Alan Hale (1958-) discover Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1), AKA "The Great Comet of 1997"; as the comet reaches its brightest point, Bopp's brother and sister-in-law are killed in a car accident after photographing it. On Aug. 16 Harvard U. anthropologists report the discovery of 4M-y.-o. Australopithecus anamensis in Kenya, claiming it as the earliest upright walking hominid species. In Oct. archeologists report finding the 500-y.-o. frozen remains of a young female Incan sacrifice victim at the 20.7K-ft. summit of Mt. Ampato in the Andes of S Peru; remains of another man and woman are found nearby, along with religious artifacts. On Nov. 9-10 a conference in Leipzig, Germany organized by German plant physiologist Helmut Metzner (1925-99) produces the Leipzig Declaration on Global Climate Change, written by Austrian-born Am. physicist Siegfried Fred Singer (1924-) and his Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEP) (founded 1990) in Arlington, Va., and signed by 80 scientists and 25 TV meteorologists, opposing the claims of global warming; in 1997 it is updated to opppose the Kyoto Protocol after a conference on Nov. 10-11 in Bonn, Germany; in 2005 it is revised again; global warming advocates call it a disinfo. campaign. On Nov. 27-29 the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is approved by the 5th session of IPCC Working Group I in Madrid, Spain, and pub. in 1996, dropping attempts at making forecasts, with the soundbyte: "Carbon dioxide remains the most important contributor to anthropogenic forcing of climate change; projections of future global mean temperature change and sea level rise confirm the potential for human activities to alter the Earth's climate to an extent unprecedented in human history; and the long time-scales governing both the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the response of the climate system to those accumulations, means that many important aspects of climate change are effectively irreversible"; Working Group III pub. Summary for Policymakers, causing an uproar when it seems to put a money value on people, suggesting that people living in poor countries are worth less than people living in rich countries; meanwhile Am. scientist Charles David Keeling (1928-2005) of the Mauna Loa Observatory reports that the annual spring-time carbon dioxide drop in the N Hemisphere is occurring earlier each year in response to increasing global CO2 levels, lengthening the overall growing season about 12 days in recent decades; by 2005 it is a full month; "I honestly believe that we are standing at the edge of a very, very large mass extinction, and top-of-mountain species are going to be the first ones to go." (Terry Root, Stanford U.); too bad, overzealous CRU scientist Benjamin David "Ben" Santer (1955-) is lead author of Chapter 8: "Detection of Climate Change and Attribution of Causes", rewriting the conclusions of the other authors in their final draft meeting in Madrid, changing "None of the studies cited above has shown clear evidence that we can attribute the observed [climate] changes to the specific cause of increases in greenhouse gases" and "While some of the pattern-base discussed here have claimed detection of a significant climate change, no study to date has positively attributed all or part of climate change observed to man-made causes" to: "There is evidence of an emerging pattern of climate response to forcing by greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols... from the geographical, seasonal and vertical patterns of temperature change... These results point toward a human influence on global climate" and "The body of statistical evidence in chapter 8, when examined in the context of our physical understanding of the climate system, now points to a discernible human influence on the global climate", taking the IPCC report over the top with the public as proof of a scientific consensus about human-caused climate change after a quick peer-reviewed article is pub. in Nature on July 4, 1996 by Santer, Tom Wigley, Phil Jones et al. backing the report up, with Dennis Avery and Fred Singer issuing the soundbyte: "Santer single-handedly reversed the 'climate science' of the whole IPCC report and with it the global warming political process! The 'discernible human influence' supposedly revealed by the IPCC has been cited thousands of times since in media around the world and has been the 'stopper' in millions of debates among nonscientists"; after the Climategate scandal breaks, Santer sends an email threatening to beat the crap out of Pat Michaels for exposing the fraud in an article in Nature pub. on Dec. 12, 1996? A potato becomes the first vegetable grown in space. A new form of matter, a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) is created by MIT physicist Wolfgang Ketterle (1957-), who wins a share of the 2001 Nobel Physics Prize. Swiss astronomers Michel G.E. Mayor (1942-) and Didier Queloz (1966-) of the U. of Geneva announce 51 Pegasi b (AKA Helvetios), the first planet found orbiting a star other than the Sun (51 Pegasi) 50.9 l.y. from Earth after developing a technique to detect it through subtle distortions in the star's emissions; by 2009 350+ other extrasolar planets are discovered, with none proved to be habitable (until ?). The first complete genome sequence of a living microorganism is described, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae. Jacob Bekenstein of the Hebrew U. of Jerusalem pub. a paper claiming that Einstein's Theory of Gen. Relativity is just another way of stating the laws of thermodynamics. Nonfiction: Andre Aciman (1951-), Out of Egypt (autobio.). Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon. S. Rao Aiyagari (1951-97), Optimal Capital Taxation with Incomplete Markets, Borrowing Constraints, and Constant Discounting (Dec.); criticizes the elimination of tax on capital income. Barbara De Angelis (1951-), Real Moments: Discover the Secret for True Happiness. John Ash (1948-), A Byzantine Journey. Robert J. Aumann (1930-), Repeated Games with Incomplete Information; wins him a share of the 2005 Nobel Econ. Prize. Julian Barnes (1946-), Letters from London. Robert Joseph Barro (1944-) and Xavier Sala i Martin (1962-), Economic Growth; becomes a std. textbook; Barro goes on to conclude that the Keynesian multiplier is less than one, hence Pres. Bush's and Pres. Obama's stimulus spending policies are "garbage", and "the worst bill since the 1930s". Robert Bauval (1948-) and Graham Hancock (1950-), Keeper of Genesis. Edward Latimer Beach (1918-2002), Scapegoats! A Defense of Kimmel and Short at Pearl Harbor. Charles Berlitz (1914-2003), World of Strange Phenomena. Kai Bird (1951-), The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms. Kai Bird (1951-) and Lawrence Lifschultz (ed.), Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy. Howard Bloom (1943-), The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History (Jan.); "Evil is a by-product of nature's strategies for creation... it is woven into our most basic biological fabric"; claims that societies based on individual free may succomb to totalitarian systems incl. Communism and Islamic fundamentalism, pissing-off Arabs, who pressure the publisher into making him rewrite a chapter on Muslim violence. Sissela Bok (1934-), Common Values. Glen Warren Bowersock (1936-), Fiction as History, from Nero to Julian - does it matter to your children? David Jay Brown, Voices from the Edge: Conversations with Jerry Garcia, Ram Dass, Annie Sprinkle, Matthew, Fox, Jaron Lanier, & Others. Peter Brown (1935-), Authority and the Sacred: Aspects of the Christianisation of the Roman World; about how the old pagan gods of the Roman Empire got absorbed into the Church. Harry Browne (1933-2006), Why Government Doesn't Work; by a leading Am. libertarian writer who runs for U.S. pres. next year on the Libertarian ticket, and again in 2000. Avraham Burg (1955-), Brit Am: A Covenant of the People: Proposed Policy Guidelines for the National Institutions of the Jewish People. Fox Butterfield (1939-), All God's Children: The Bokset Family and the American Tradition of Violence; child criminal Willie Bosket (1962-). Thomas Cahill (1940-), How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe (Mar.); bestseller about how the Micks saved Western civilization from destruction by the pesky Germanic tribes in the 5th cent. C.E. by preserving mss. Geoffrey Canada (1952-), Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America (autobio.). Enrique Chagoya, In the Light of Goya; dhis universal qualities. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-95), Newton's Principia for the Common Reader. Phyllis Chesler (1940-), Feminist Foremothers in Women's Studies, Psychology, and Mental Health. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), Zombification: Essays from NPR; The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans (essays). William Cronon (1954-) (ed.), Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature; claims that untouched pristine wilderness is just a fantasy because Nature is interconnected; The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature (New York Times) (Aug. 13); "If wildness can stop being (just) out there and start being (also) in here, if it can start being as humane as it is natural, then perhaps we can get on with the unending task of struggling to live rightly in the world - not just in the garden, not just in the wilderness, but in the home that encompasses them both." Richard Dawkins (1941-), River Out of Eden. Ellen DeGeneres (1958-), My Point... And I Do Have One (Sept. 1). Vince Deloria Jr. (1933-2005), Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact; how anthropologists have created "a largely fictional scenario describing prehistoric North America" because the Bering Land Bridge migration is a myth. Cyril Demarne (1905-2007), Our Girls: A Story of the Nation's Wartime Firewomen. Eliot Deutsch, Religion and Spirituality. Rita Dove (1952-), The Poet's World. Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909-2005), Managing in a Time of Great Change; info. is now the exec's key resource, and requires the traditional boss-subordinate relationship to be changed. Dinesh D'Souza (1961-), The End of Racism: Principles for a Multiracial Society; claims that cultural differences cause a distinct difference in achievement between races, not racism, and disses the "civil rights industry", multiculturalism, and proportional representation as "fighting discrimination by practicing it", calling for the 1964 U.S. Civil Rights Act to be repealed. John Earman (1942-), Bangs, Crunches, Whimpers, and Shrieks: Singularities and Acausalities in Relativistic Spacetimes - got 30 minutes to burn? Paul Edwards (1923-2004), Alzheimer's Argument Against the Soul; claims that diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia prove that the soul doesn't exist; critics cite terminal lucidity to prove it does. Barbara Ehrenreich (1941-), The Snarling Citizen: Essays. Albert Ellis (1913-2007) and Arthur Lange, How to Keep People from Pushing Your Buttons. Joseph Epstein (1937-), With My Trousers Rolled: Familiar Essays. Hans Eysenck (1916-97), Genius: The Natural History of Creativity (May 11); his masterpiece?; final arguments for a genetic basis for intelligence, which later is found to have some supporting evidence, but is correlated with higher risk for schizophrenia, autism, and bipolar disorder. David B. Feinberg, Queer and Loathing: Rants and Raves of a Raging AIDS Clone; intro. by Tony Kushner. John Feinstein, A Good Walk Spoiled. Niall Ferguson (1964-), Paper and Iron: Hamburg Business and German Politics in the Era of Inflation, 1897-1927 (first book). Antony Flew (1923-), Thinking About Social Thinking. Gennifer Flowers (1950-), Passion and Betrayal (May); incl. the soundbyte that Bill told her during their affair that Hillary was bi, and "had eaten more pussy than he had." Robert Lull Forward (1932-2002), Indistinguishable from Magic. Francis Fukuyama (1952-), Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. John Lewis Gaddis (1941-), The United States and the End of the Cold War: Reconsideration, Implications, Provocations. Robert L. Gale (ed.), A Herman Melville Encyclopedia; the critical lit. on Melville has grown to whalelike proportions. Bill Gates (1955-) (with Nathan Myhrvold and Peter Rinearson), The Road Ahead. Boy George (George Alan O'Dowd) (1961-), Take It Like a Man (autobio.); how he started by copying Quentin Crisp. Newt Gingrich, To Renew America. Paul Goodman (1911-72), Format and Anxiety: Paul Goodman Critiques the Media (posth.). Amit Goswami, The Self-Aware Universe; claims that the Universe is self-aware, and consciousness not matter is the ground of all existence, creating the physical world. Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), Dinosaur in a Haystack (essays). Simon Gray (1936-2008), Fat Chance (autobio.). Ted Haggard (1956-), Primary Purpose: Making It Hard To Go to Hell From Your City; how Christians "have lost every major city in North America" - he oughta know? Pete Hamill (1935-), A Drinking Life: A Memoir. Graham Hancock (1950-), Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost civilization; claims that there was a lost advanced civilization from which all of ours sprung, without calling it Atlantis, centered in Antarctica, blaming its demise on a pole shift ca. 10,450 B.C.E. Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-), Living Buddha, Living Christ; "I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors." Victor Davis Hanson (1953-), The Other Greeks: The Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization. Ellen Harris, Guarding the Secrets: Palestinian Terrorism and a Father's Murder of His Too-American Daughter. Darnell F. Hawkins, Ethicity, Race, and Crime: Perspectives Across Time and Place (Feb. 16). Anthony Hecht (1923-2004), On the Laws of the Poetic Art. Robert L. Heilbroner (1919-2005) and William S. Milberg, The Crisis of Vision in Modern Economic Thought. Carolyn Heilbrun (1926-2003), The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem. Charles Higham (1931-2012), Rose: The Life and Times of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice; claims that British Jewish media mogul Robert Maxwell was involved in a "fund-raising scheme" with her, then "made off with the money". Philip Hoare (1958-), Noel Coward: A Biography; the definitive bio.? John Hollander (1929-), The Gazer's Spirit: Poems Speaking to Silent Works of Art. David Albert Hollinger (1941-), Postethnic America: Beyond Culturalism; calls for replacing the pluralist model of multiculturalism based on group rights with a cosmopolitan model that recognizes multiple identities and shifting group boundaries. Irving Howe (1920-93), The End of Jewish Secularism (posth.). Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White. Alexander Imich (1903-14) (ed.), Takes of the Paranormal. Chalmers Ashby Johnson (1931-), Japan: Who Governs? The Rise of the Developmental State; coins the term "developmental state". Anthony Julius (1956-), T.S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form; disses the anti-Semitic passages in "Gerontion". Robert D. Kaplan, Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite; how U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia (1973-6) James Elmer Akins turned King Faisal from not accepting the Jewish state of Israel to accepting it with the pre-1967 borders. Alfred Kazin (1915-98), Writing Was Everything; how U.S. lit has gone downhill since the 1930s; "Only in an age so fragmented, so ignorant of the unloseable past working in us, can presumably literate persons speak of Dante, Beethoven, or Tolstoy as 'dead white European males'." Linda K. Kerber (1940-) and Jane Sherron De Hart, Women's America: Refocusing the Past. Linda K. Kerber (1940-), Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar (1939-), U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays. Jonathan Kozol (1936-), Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of the Nation; takes on poverty in South Bronx, N.Y. Jon Krakauer (1954-), Into the Wild; about Alaska trekker Christopher Johnson McCandless (1968-92), who walks away from a cushy middle-class life and dies of starvation in a bus on the Stampede Trail in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, attempting to portray him as a hero and causing the bus to become a tourist destination; other think he was either a dope or a schizho in need of medical help. Tony Kushner (1956-), Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness: Essays, a Play, Two Poems, and a Prayer. Carolyn Kizer (1925-), Picking and Choosing: Prose on Prose. Stanley I. Kutler (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years. Robert Jay Lifton (1926-) and Greg Mitchell, Hiroshima in America: Fifty Years of Denial. Michael Lind (1962-), The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution; the "first American Republic" was the "Anglo-American nation" that kept blacks in slavery; the scond was "Euro-America", which kept blacks marginalized; the third led to "Brazilianization", "a high-tech feudal anarchy, featuring an archipelago of privileged whites in an ocean of white, black and brown poverty"; disses multiculturalism as an "unmitigated calamity" and "a repellent and failed regime", with the elimination of affirmative action and racial quotas a "nonnegotiable demand". Seymour Martin Lipset (1922-2006), Jews and the New American Scene; how U.S. Jews are losing their "tribal cohesion" through assimilation and intermarriage. Eric Lomax (1919-2012), The Railway Man (autobio.); his epxeriences as a Japanese POW forced to build the Burma Railway; filmed in 2013 by Jonathan Teplitzky starring Colin Firth and Jeremy Irvine. Greg Louganis (1960-) and Eric Marcus, Breaking the Surface (autobio.); reveals that he is HIV-positive and how his live-in gay lover physically abused him, causing concern about the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where he bled into the pool. Carleton Mabee (1914-2014) and Susan Mabee Newhouse, Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend (Jan. 1). Sir Fitzroy MacLean (1911-96), Highlanders: A History of the Scottish Clans. Patrick Macnee (1922-2015), Blind in One Ear (autobio.). Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006), Echoes of an Autobiography. Norman Mailer (1923-2007), Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery; Lee Harvey Oswald was a clever single-minded lone gunman who originally wanted to kill JFK so he could have a big show trial and go down in history as a hero, but after he killed a policeman he suddenly felt like a rat and clammed up and denied it all because he got dumb? - get ready to laugh out loud, it's a brand-new mission? Eric Maisel (1947-), Fearless Creating. Manning Marable (1950-2001), Beyond Black and White. Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973), The Philosophy of Existentialism (posth.). Robert K. Massie (1929-), The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. Ali al-Amin Mazrui (1933-), Swahili, State and Society: The Political Economy of an African Language. Richard McKelvey (1944-2002) and Thomas R. Palfrey III, Quantal Response Equilibria for Normal Form Games; introduces the concept of Quantal Response Equilibrium, an equilibrium measure with bounded rationality which is different from but not necessarily a refinement of Nash equilibrium, in which players are assumed to make errors in choosing which pure strategy to play because of erroneous beliefs about other players' probability distribution over strategies, and the probability of any particular strategy being chosen is positively related to the payoff from that strategy, minimizing the likelihood of costly errors; in equilibrium, a player's beliefs are correct. Robert Strange McNamara (1916-2009) and Brian VanDeMark, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam; three decades after the fact he reveals his misgivings about U.S. involvement in Vietnam, telling the press "We of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions of our country. But we were wrong. We were terribly wrong." John J. McNeill, Freedom, Glorious Freedom: The Spiritual Journey to the Fullness of Life for Gays, Lesbians, and Everybody Else. Russell Means (1939-2012) and Marvin J. Wolf, Where White Men Fear to Tread (autobio.). Fatema Mernissi (1940-), Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood (autobio.). John R. Miles (1942-), God: A Biography (Pulitzer Prize). Kenneth Minogue (1930-2013), Politics: A Very Short Introduction. Eric Henry Monkkonen (1942-2005), The Local State: Public Money and American Cities; how city govts. raise money by selling bonds that often go bad. Richard Ward Morris (1939-2003), Cosmic Questions: Galactic Halos, Cold Dark Matter and the End of Time. Sir John Mortimer (1923-2009), Murderers and Other Friends: Another Part of Life (autobio.). Nicholas Negroponte (1943-), Being Digital; forecasts the union of the interactive, entertainment, and info. worlds. Benjamin Netanyahu (1949-), Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorists. Jack Newfield (1938-2004), Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King. John M. Newman, Oswald and the CIA; claims that James Jesus Angleton, head of CIA counterintel was running the plot to kill JFK, and covered-up Oswald's CIA connections; "Whoever Oswald's direct handler or handlers were, we must now seriously consider the possibility that Angleton was probably their general manager"; "The only person who could ensure that a national security cover-up of an apparent counterintelligence nightmare was the head of counterintelligence"; rev. ed. pub. in 2008. Barack Obama (1961-), Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (July 18); (ghostwritten by Bill Ayers?); glorifies his daddy, blaming his problems on American racism while glossing over his polygamy and alcoholism, incl. losing both legs and his job from drunk driving, then later getting killed while drunk driving on his son's 21st birthday, and also attempts to coverup his daddy's Muslim religion. The last paragraph contains the soundbyte: "America requires a government that takes into account the sordid actions of its past." It also contains the soundbyte about Jeremiah Wright that he had been "dabbling with liquor, Islam, and black nationalism in the sixties", but "the call of faith had apparently remained" and he went on to study Christianity via "black liberation theologians". Tillie Olsen (1913-2007), Mothers & Daughters: That Special Quality: An Exploration in Photographs. Robert Evan Ornstein (1942-) and James Burke (1936-), The Axemaker's Gift. Elaine Pagels (1943-), The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics; trivializes Satan as a distillation of Christian hate. Michael Parenti (1933-), Against Empire. Hugh Pearson, The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America (Apr. 21). W. David Pierce and Frank Epling (1943-98), Behavior Analysis and Learning; becomes a std. textbook. Daniel Pipes (1949-), Syria: Beyond the Peace Process. Karl H. Pribram (1919-) and Joseph King (eds.), Scale in Conscious Experience: Is the Brain Too Important to be Left to the Specialists to Study?. P.J. O'Rourke (1947-), Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Haircut. Abraham Pais (1918-2000), Twentieth Century Physics (3 vols.). Iggy Pop (1947-), Caesar Lives; in "Classics Ireland, Vol. 2"; how reading Edward Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" inspires him. Roy Porter (1946-2002), Disease, Medicine, and Society in England, 1550-1860. Roy Porter (1946-2002) and Lesley A. Hall, The Facts of Life: The Creation of Sexual Knowledge in Britain, 1650-1950. Colin Luther Powell (1937-) and Joseph E. Persico, My American Journey (autobio.). (Sept.). Susan Powter (1958-), Food. Robert David Putnam (1941-), Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital; the collapse of U.S. "social capital", a "national slump in civic engagement", typified by bowling leagues (which have declined in membership while the number of bowlers has increased), and the serious negative consequences. James Randi (1928-), An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. Marcus Raskin (1934-), Visions and Revisions: Reflections in Culture and Democracy at the End of the Century. Diane Ravitch (1938-), National Standards in American Education: A Consumer's Guide. Richard Rhodes (1937-), Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb; How to Write: Advice and Reflections. Paul Craig Roberts (1939-) and Lawrence M. Stratton, The New Color Line: How Quotas and Privilege Destroy Democracy. Jim Rogers (1942-), Investment Biker: Around the World with Jim Rogers. David M. Rohl (1950-), A Test of Time: The Bible from Myth to History; proposes moving all dates of ancient Egyptian history forward by 300-350 years, claiming that Shishak is really Rameses II, Amenemhat III is the pharaoh of Joseph, Neferhotep I is the pharaoh who adopted Moses, etc., therefore the 22nd Dynasty should be eliminated. Robert S. de Ropp (1913-87), Warrior's Way: A Twentieth Century Odyssey. Tina Rosenberg, The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism (Pulitzer Prize). John Ross (1938-2011), Rebellion from the Roots: Indian Uprising in Chiapas. Murray Newton Rothbard (1926-95), An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought; Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy; Making Economic Sense. Barry Rubin (1950-2014), Assimilation and Its Discontents. John Philippe Rushton (1943-2012), pub. Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective (3rd ed. in 2000); claims a global continuum of racial differences based on 60 variables, with Mongoloids at one end, Negroids at the other end, and Caucasoids in the middle, but closer to the Mongoloids, going on to hypothesize that the Negroids evolved 200K years ago, the Caucasoids 110K years ago, and the Mongoloids 41K years ago, with the soundbyte: "One theoretical possibility is that evolution is progressive and that some populations are more advanced than others", relating this to crime and AIDS rates, and the soundbytes: "Whites and East Asians have wider hips than Blacks... because they give birth to larger brained babies", and "Hormones that give Blacks an edge at sports makes them restless in school and prone to crime", pissing-off the PC police; ss one is a religious fundamentalist and believes that man was created in the image and likeness of God, it is foolish to believe that human beings are exempt from biological classification and the laws of evolution that apply to other life forms." Peter Russell (1946-), The Global Brain Awakens: Our Next Evolutionary Leap; sequel to "The Global Brain" (1983). Michael Ryan (1946-), Secret Life (autobio.). Oliver Wolf Sacks (1933-), An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales (Feb. 7); about autistic animal expert Temple Grandin (1947-). Carl Sagan (1934-96), The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark; attempt to explain the scientific method and encourage critical and skeptical thinking to separate science from pseudoscience; "One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back"; "The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance." Eric Sams (1926-2004), The Real Shakespeare: Retrieving the Early Years, 1564-94); claims that Shakespeare wrote all of his plays between 1586-94, then spent the rest of his life revising and expanding them after releasing the early versions first (to confuse later scholars?), starting with "The Famous Victories of Henry V" (1586) (the first modern chronicle play), "The Taming of a Shrew" (1588) (first modern comedy), and "Ur-Hamlet" (1588) (first modern tragedy). Victor Sanchez, The Teachings of Don Carlos: Practical Applications of the Works of Carlos Castaneda. Simon Schama (1945-), Landscape and Memory; explores the relationship between folk memory and physical environment. Peter Dale Scott (1929-), Deep Politics Two: Essays on Oswald, Mexico, and Cuba. Orville Hickok Schell (1940-), Mandate of Heaven: The Legacy of Tiananmen Square and the Next Generation of China's Leaders. Barry Sears (1947-), The Zone: A Dietary Road Map to Lose Weight Permanently: Reset Your Genetic Code: Prevent Disease: Achieve Maximum Physical Performance (May 12); sells 2M copies. Gail Sheehy (1937-), New Passages: Mapping Your Life Across Time. Clay Shirky (1964-), Voices from the Net. Alix Kates Shulman (1932-), Drinking the Rain (autobio.); her life alone on an island during her midlife change. Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010), Divine Encounters: A Guide to Visions, Angels and Other Emissaries; covers from 4K to 400 B.C.E., incl. Hebrew prophet Ezekiel. George Soros (1930-), Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve. Thomas Sowell (1930-), Race and Culture: A World View. George Steiner (1929-), What is Comparative Literature?. Victor J. Stenger (1935-), The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology. Howard Stern (1954-), Miss America (autobio.). Ronald Sukenick (1932-2004) and Mark Amerika (eds.), Degenerative Prose: Writing Beyond Category. Harry G. Summers Jr. (1932-99), The New World Strategy: A Military Policy for America's Future; Persian Gulf War Almanac. Harry G. Summers Jr. (1932-99) and Stanley Karnow, Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War. Yaron Svoray and Nick Taylor, Hitler's Shadow; Jewish journalist Svoray's 6-mo. infiltration of Germany Neo-Nazi groups. Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), The Path to Power (autobio.) (Jan.). Lester Thurow (1938-), The Future of Capitalism: How Today's Economic Forces Shape Tomorrow's World; claims that the fall of Communism is leading to a new form of Capitalism where brainpower is the biggest capital. Sir Michael Tippett (1905-98), Tippett on Music. Alvin Toffler (1928-), War and Anti-War. David Toop (1949-), Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds. Richard Vinen, Bourgeois Politics in France, 1945-51 (first book). Chet Walker (1940-), Long Time Coming: A Black Athlete's Coming-Of-Age in America. Michael Walzer (1935-), Toward a Global Civil Sociey. Michael Walzer (1935-) and David Miller, Pluralism, Justice and Equality. Ibn Warraq (1946-), Why I Am Not a Muslim; a learned Pakistani breaks with Islam and the Quran, becoming the target of death threats and being forced to flee to the West. Rick Warren (1954-), The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission (bestseller) (1.5M copies); the five purposes: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission: You Were Planned for God's Pleasure; You Were Formed for God's Family; You Were Created to Become Like Christ; You Were Shaped for Serving God; You Were Made for a Mission. Benjamin J. Wattenberg (1933-), Values Matter Most. Cornel West (1953-) and Michael Lerner, Jews and Blacks: A Dialogue on Race, Religion and Culture in America. Ken Wilber (1949-), Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution. Stuart Wilde (1946-), Infinite Self: 33 Steps to Reclaiming Your Inner Power. Rev. Nancy Wilson, Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus, and the Bible. Al Young (1939-), Drowning in the Sea of Love (musical memoir). Steven Young (1961-) and Tom Newell, Football: The Perfect Pass: To Parents and Kids. Tukufu Zuberi (1959-), Swing Low, Sweet Chariot: The Mortality Cost of Colonizing Liberia in the Nineteenth-Century. Art: Lucian Michael Freud (1922-), Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (Nude); Christie's auctions it for $33.6M in May 2008. Duane Hanson (1925-96), Man on Mower. Roberto Matta (1911-2002), Les Arpeges; L'Ame du Fond; Melodia-Melodio. Gordon Parks (1912-2006), Sunup. Todd Walker (1917-), WRAITH; pioneer in digital photographic art. Harold Weisberg (1914-2002), Never Again! The Government Conspiracy in the JFK Assassination. Music: 311, 311 (The Blue Album) (album #3) (#12 in the U.S.) (July 25) (3M copies); incl. Don't Stay Home, All Mixed Up, Down. 10cc, Mirror Mirror (album #11) (last album). Paula Abdul (1962-), Head Over Heels (album #3) (June 13); incl. Crazy Cool, Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up, My Love is for Real (w/ Ofra Haza). AC/DC, Ballbreaker (album #14) (Sept. 26); the return of drummer Phil Rudd; incl. Hard as a Rock, Cover You in Oil, Hail Caesar. Dead or Alive, Nukleopatra (album #6); incl. Sex Drive. Allman Brothers Band, An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: 2nd Set (album). America, In Concert (King Biscuit) (album) (July); recorded on Sept. 4, 1982 for the King Biscuit Flower Hour; Horse With No Name (album); recorded in 1975 with Dan Peek still in the band. The Presidents of the United States of America, The Presidents of the United States of America (album) (debut) (Mar.) (#6 in the U.S.); from Seattle, Wash., incl. Christopher "Chris" Ballew (1965-) (vocals, guitar), Dave Dederer (1964-) (guitar, vocals), and Jason Finn (1967-) (drums, vocals); known for playing guitbasses and basitars; incl. Lump (#15 in the U.K.), Peaches (#29 in the U.S., #8 in the U.K.), Kitty, Dune Buggy. Skunk Anansie, Paranoid and Sunburnt (album) (debut) (Sept. 21); from England, incl. Skin (Deborah Anne Dyer) (1967-), Cass (Richard Keith Lewis) (1960-), Ace (Martin Ivor Kent) (1967-), and Mark Richardson (1970); incl. Selling Jesus, I Can Dream, Weak, Charity. Adam Ant (1954-), Wonderful (album) (Mar. 7). Anthrax, Stomp 442 (album #7) (Oct. 24) (#47 in the U.S.); incl. Fueled, Nothing. Massive Attack, No Protection (album) (Feb. 17). Joan Baez (1941-), Ring Them Bells (album). Siouxsie Sioux (1957-) and the Banshees, The Rapture (album #11) (last album) (Jan. 17); incl. O Baby, Stargazer. Buju Banton (1973-), 'Til Shiloh (album #4) (July 18). Ol' Dirty Bastard, Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version (album). The Beatles, The Beatles Anthology (Nov.); 8-vol. 10 hr. set of videos; becomes the #1 music video in the U.S.; incl. a set of three double albums and a book; made with the cooperation of the three remaining Beatles; Free As a Bird; the closest that the Beatles come to reuniting, as the three live ones record music to add to John Lennon's unfinished song. Bjork (1965-), Post (album #3) (June 13) (#32 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.); incl. Army of Me, Isobel, It's Oh So Quiet, Hyperballad, Possibly Maybe, I Miss You. Blink-182, They Came to Conquer... Uranus (EP). La Bouche, Be My Lover (#6 in the U.S., #25 in the U.K.) (6M copies). David Bowie (1947-2016), 1. Outside (album) (Sept. 26); 1st of 5 vols. with Brian Eno, which never happen; about Nathan Adler in 1999, in which the govt. creates the Bureau of Art Crime; incl. The Hearts Filthy Lesson, Strangers When We Meet, Hallo Spaceboy. Beastie Boys, Aglio e Olio (Garlic and Oil) (album) (Nov. 13); incl. B-Boy Breaks; Root Down (album). Pet Shop Boys, Alternative (double album) (Aug. 7). David Bowie (1947-2016), Outside (album). Laura Branigan (1952-2004), The Best of Branigan (album); her last with Atlantic Records; incl. Dim All the Lights. Garth Brooks (1962-), Fresh Horses (album #6) (Nov.); incl. She's Every Woman, The Fever (his first country single not to make the top 10), The Beaches of Cheyenne. Buckcherry, Buckcherry (album) (debut) (Apr. 6) (#74 in the U.S.); from Los Angeles, Calif., incl. Josh Todd (Joshua Todd Gruber) (1970-) (vocals), Keith Nelson (guitar) (750K copies); incl. Lit Up, For the Movies, Dead Again, Check Your Head. Jimmy Buffett (1946-), Barometer Soup (album #20) (Aug. 1); incl. Mexico. Chris de Burgh (1948-), Beautiful Dreams (album #11). Candlebox, Lucy (album #2) (Oct. 3); incl. Understanding, Simple Lessons. The Cardigans, Life (album #2) (Mar. 1); incl. Carnival, Hey! Get Out of My Way, Sick and Tired. Mariah Carey (1969-), Daydream (album #5) (Oct. 3) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) sells 25M copies); incl. Fantasy (#1 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.), One Sweet Day (w/Boyz II Men) (#1 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.), Open Arms (#4 in the U.K.), Always Be My Baby (#1 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.). Peter Cetera (1944-), One Clear Voice (Faithfully) (album #5). Tracy Chapman (1964-), New Beginning (album #4) (Nov. 4) (#4 in the U.S.) (5M copies); incl. Give Me One Reason (#3 in the U.S.). Alice in Chains, Alice in Chains (album #3) (Nov. 7) (#1 in the U.S., #37 in the U.K.); last with Layne Staley; incl. Grind (#7 in the U.S., #23 in the U.K.), Again (#8 in the U.S.), Over Now (#4 in the U.S.), Heaven Beside You (#3 in the U.S.). Cher (1946-), It's a Man's World (album) (Nov. 6); sells 7M copies. Kenny Chesney (1968-), All I Need to Know (album #2) (June 13) (#39 country); incl. All I Need to Know (#8 country), Fall in Love (#6 country), Grandpa Told me So (#23 country). Joe Cocker (1944-2014), The Long Voyage Home (4-disc boxed set). Judy Collins (1939-), Voices (album #27). Coolio (1963-), Gangsta's Paradise (album #2) (Nov. 21) (#14 in the U.S., #18 in the U.K.); incl. Gangsta's Paradise (#1 in the U.S.), 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New) (#5 in the U.S.), Too Hot (#24 in the U.S.); James Brown is once lured into performing at the same show with him, and later expresses regrets about his profanity, saying he thought he was supposed to perform with "family-friendly" Julio Iglesias. Elvis Costello (1954-), Kojak Variety (album) (May 9). Elvis Costello (1954-) and Bill Frisell (1951-), Deep Dead Blue (album) (Aug. 14). Elvis Costello (1954-) and Richard Harvey (1953-), Jake's Progress Soundtrack (album). King Crimson, B'Boom: Live in Argentina (album #14); Thrak (album #15) (Apr. 25); incl. Dinosaur, B'Boom. Counting Crows, DGC Rarities Volume 1 (album). The Damned, Not Of This Earth (I'm Alright Jack & the Beanstalk) (album #8) (Nov. 11); incl. Shut It. D'Angelo (1974-), Brown Sugar (album) (debut); incl. "Lady". Green Day, Insomniac (album #4) (Oct. 10) (#2 in the U.S.) (original title "Jesus Christ Supermarket") (8M copies); incl. Geek Stink Breath, Stuck with Me, Brain Stew/Jaded, Walking Contradiction. The Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks Vol. 2 (album) (Mar.); recorded in Oct. 1971 in Columbus, Ohio; Hundred Year Hall (double album) (Sept. 26); Dick's Picks Vol. 3 (album) (Nov. 27); recorded on May 22, 1977 in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Mos Def (1973-) and Urban Thermo Dynamics, Manifest Destiny (album) (debut). Deftones, Adrenaline (album) (debut) (Oct. 3); from Sacramento, Calif. incl. Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Frank Delgado (keyboards), Chi Cheng/Sergio Vega (bass), and Abe Cunningham (drums); album flops at first but finally sells 220K copies; incl. 7 Words, Bored. Hamza El Din (1929-2006), Lily of the Nile (album #9). Dokken, Dysfunctional (album #5) (May 23) (#47 in the U.S.); first album since 1987; incl. Too High to Fly; One Live Night (album) (Nov. 12). Goo Goo Dolls, A Boy Named Goo (album #5) (Mar. 14); incl. Name, Long Way Down, Naked, Flat Top, Only One. No Doubt, The Beacon Street Collection (album #2) (Mar.); Tragic Kingdom (album #3) (Oct. 10); their breakthrough (16M copies); incl. Just a Girl, Spiderwebs, Don't Speak, Excuse Me Mr., Sunday Morning. Duran Duran, Thank You (album) (Apr. 4); all covers; a flop; incl. Perfect Day. Bob Dylan (1941-), MTV Unplugged (album) (May 2). Finger Eleven, Letters from Chutney (album) (debut) (Apr. 19); formerly the Rainbow Butt Monkeys; from Canada, incl. Scott Anderson, Sean Anderson, James Black, Rick Jackett, Rob Gommerman/Rich Beddoe (drums). EMF, Cha Cha Cha (album #3) (last album); incl. Perfect Day. Enya (1961-), The Memory of Trees (album #5) (Nov.); incl. Anywhere Is, On My Way Home. Sunny Day Real Estate, Sunny Day Real Estate (album #2) (Nov. 7); all-pink cover; incl. Theo B, Red Elephant, 5/4. Gloria Estefan (1957-), Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) (album #6) (Sept. 26) (2.8M copies); incl. Abriendo Puertas. Melissa Etheridge (1961-), Your Little Secret (album) (Nov. 14); incl. Your Little Secret, I Want to Come Over, Nowhere to Go. Extreme, Waiting for the Punchline (album #4) (Jan. 19); an attempt to go grunge flops, and they disband in 1996, with Gary Cherone joining Van Halen as their vocalist until 1999; incl. Cynical, Hip Today. Fear Factory, Demanufacture (album #2) (June 13); first with bassist Christian Olde Wolbers; incl. Dog Day Sunrise. Marianne Faithfull (1946-), A Secret Life (album). Violent Femmes, Rock!!!!! (album). Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters (album) (debut) (July 4); Dave Eric Grohl (1969-) (drums) (formerly of Nirvana), Nate Mendel, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett; incl. This Is A Call, I'll Stick Around, For All the Cows, Big Me (parody of an ad campaign for Mentos, which backfires as fans begin throwing them at them in concerts). Filter, Short Bus (album) (debut) (#59 in the U.S.) (1M copies in the U.S.); from Cleveland, Ohio, incl. Richard Patrick (vocals) (formerly with Nine Inch Nails), Brian Liesegang (guitar), Geno Lenardo (guitar), Frank Cavanaugh (bass), and Matt Walker (drums); incl. Hey Man Nice Shot (#76 in the U.S.). Pink Floyd, P*U*L*S*E (album). Foreigner, Until the End of Time (#10 in the U.S.); features Duane Eddy on guitar. Gang of Four, Shrinkwrapped (album #6). AQi Fzono (1969-), Cathedral (album #4). Bloodhound Gang, Use Your Fingers (album) (debut) (July 18); from Collegeville, Penn., incl. Jimmy Pop, Daddy Long Legs, Evil Jared Hasselhoff (bass), Spanky G Guthier (drums), and DJ Q-Ball (turntables); Mama Say (by Duran Duran), Kids in America, K.I.D.S. Incorporated. Garbage, Garbage (album) (debut) (Aug. 15) (#20 in the U.S.) (#6 in the U.K.) (4M copies); from Madison, Wisc., incl. Shirley Manson (1966-) (vocals), Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig; incl. Vow, Stupid Girl, Only Happy When It Rains. 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, The Photograph Kills (EP) (debut); fronted by actor Russell Crowe (1964-); named after a direction made to him to take up vacant space on a film with pointless fighting - a giant turd? GZA, Liquid Swords (album); top hip hop album of the 1990s, along with Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx"? Haddaway (1965-), The Drive (album #2) (June 26); incl. Fly Away, Catch a Fire. Nina Hagen (1955-), FreuD euch (album #9) (Jan. 1); incl. Sonntag Morgen (by Lou Reed and John Cale). Van Halen, Balance (album) (Jan. 24); last with Sammy Hagar; incl. The Seventh Seal, Can't Stop Lovin' You, Amsterdam, Not Enough, Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do). MC Hammer, Inside Out (album #6) (Dec. 9) (#119 in the U.S.); a flop, after which in Apr. 1996 he declares bankruptcy with $13M in debts, a victim of the crabs in the bucket syndrome? Herbie Hancock (1940-), The New Standard (album #40). Emmylou Harris (1947-), Wrecking Ball (album); incl. Wrecking Ball; cover of a Neil Young song that is rejected by the country stations but embraced by the alternative rock stations. P.J. Harvey (1969-), To Bring You My Love (album #3) (Feb. 27) (#40 in the U.S., #12 in the U.K.); her breakthrough album; incl. C'mon Billy (#29 in the U.K.), Send His Love to Me (#34 in the U.K.), Down by the Water (#38 in the U.K.), To Bring You My Love. Wade Hayes (1969-), Old Enough to Know Better (album) (debut) (Jan. 3) (#99 in the U.S.) (#19 country); incl. Old Enough to Know Better (#1 country), I'm Still Dancing' with You (#4 country), Don't Stop (#10 country), What I Meant to Say (#5 country). Heart, The Road Home (album) (Aug. 29); next album in 2004. Uriah Heep, Sea of Light (album #19); incl. Fear of Falling. Faith Hill (1967-), It Matters to Me (album); incl. It Matters to MeI Can't Do That Anymore (by Alan Jackson). Whitney Houston (1963-2012), Waiting to Exhale Soundtrack (album) (Nov. 14) (#1 in the U.S.); songs written and produced by Babyface; incl. Exhale (Shoop Shoop) (#1 in the U.S.), Let It Flow (#1 in the U.S.), Sittin' Up in My Room (#2 in the U.S.), Not Gon' Cry (#2 in the U.S.), Count On Me (#8 in the U.S.). Janis Ian (1951-), Revenge (album). Incubus, Fungus Amongus (album) (debut) (Nov. 1); from Calabasa, Calif., incl. Brandon Charles Boyd (1976-) (Happy Knappy) (vocals), Fabio (Mike Einziger) (guitar), Dirk Lance (Alex Katunich) (bass), and Jose Pasillas II (drums); cover features an Amanita muscaria mushroom; incl. Take Me to Your Leader. LL Cool J (1968-), Mr. Smith (album); incl. Doin' It, Loungin, Hey Lover, I Shot Ya Remix. Michael Jackson (1958-2009), HIStory: Past, Present, and Future Book I (album #9) (double album) (June 16) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (20M copies); first release since his Aug. 1993 accusations of child sexual abuse; Sony places giant statues of him throughout Europe to promote the album; incl. You Are Not Alone (written by R. Kelly) (first pop music single to enter the Billboard chart at #1), They Don't Care About Us (contains allged anti-Semitic lyrics for which Jackson apologizes after Steven Spielberg breaks ranks with him), Scream/Childhood, Earth Song, Stranger in Moscow. Millie Jackson (1944-), It's Over (album #23). Flotsam and Jetsam, Drift (album #5) (Apr. 25). Elton John (1947-), Made in England (album #25) (Mar. 20); dedicated to his boy toy David Furnish; incl. Made in England, Believe. Bon Jovi, These Days (album); incl. These Days, This Ain't a Love Song, Hey God, Something for the Pain, Lie to Me. R. Kelly (1967-), R. Kelly (album #2) (Nov. 14) (#1 in the U.S.) (5M copies); incl. You Remind Me of Something, Down Low (Nobody Has to Know), I Can't Sleep Baby (If I). Kix, Show Business (album #6) (last album); flops due to the grunge rage. Diana Krall (1964-), Only Trust Your Heart. Strapping Young Lad, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing (album) (debut) (Apr. 5); from Vancouver, Canada, incl. Devin Garret Townsend (1972-) (former vocalist for Steve Vai); "One of the most disturbing albums you'll hear for a very long time" (Andy Stout); incl. Satan's Ice Cream Truck. k.d. lang (1961-), All You Can Eat (album #3) (Oct. 10). Human League, Octopus (album #7) (Jan. 27); incl. Tell Me When, One Man in My Heart, Filing Up with Heaven. Def Leppard, Vault: Def Leppard's Greatest Hits (1980-1995) (album); sells 8M copies; incl. When Love & Hate Collide. Flaming Lips, Clouds Taste Metallic (album #7) (Sept. 19); last with Ronald Jones; incl. Bad Days, This Here Giraffe, Brainville, They Punctured My Yolk. Meat Loaf (1947-), Welcome to the Neighborhood. Annie Lennox (1954-), Medusa (album #2) (Mar. 14); sells 2M copies; next solo album in 2003; incl. No More I Love You's (#2 in the U.K.), A Whiter Shade of Pale, Waiting in Vain, Something So Right. Fleetwood Mac, Time (album #15) (Oct. 15); a flop. Madonna (1958-), Something to Remember (album) (Nov. 7) (#6 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.) (3M copies); incl. I Want You, You'll See, One More Chance. Iron Maiden, The X Factor (album #10); first with vocalist Blaze Bayley (Bayley Alexander Cooke) (1963-). Yngwie Malmsteen (1963-), Magnum Opus (album #8) (Oct. 7); incl. Vengeance. Mana, Cuando los Angeles Lloran (When the Angels Cry) (album #4) (Apr. 25). Marilyn Manson, Smells Like Children (album) (Oct. 24); sells 1M copies; "Keep this and all drugs away from small children"; incl. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). Bob Marley (1945-81), Natural Mystic: The Legend Lives On (album) (posth.). Martina McBride (1966-), Wild Angels (album #3) (Sept. 26) (#17 country) (#77 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl. Wild Angels (#1 country), Safe in the Arms of Love (#4 country). Tim McGraw (1967-), All I Want (album); incl. I Like It, I Love It, She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart. Reba McEntire (1955-), Starting Over (album #22) (Oct. 3); incl. Ring On Her Finger, Time On Her Hands. Mike + the Mechanics, Beggar On a Beach of Gold (album #4) (Mar. 7); incl. Over My Shoulder (#12 in the U.K.), Another Cup of Coffee. Megadeth, Hidden Treasures (album) (July 18). Natalie Merchant (1963-), Tigerlily (album) (solo debut) (#13 in the U.S.); incl. Carnival (#10), Wonder (#20), Jealousy. The Dead Milkmen, Stoney's Extra Stout (Pig) (album #8) (last album) (Oct. 24); incl. Crystalline; they reuinite in 2008. Kylie Minogue (1968-), Kylie Minogue (album #5) (Sept. 19) (#4 in the U.K.); incl. Confide in Me, Put Yourself in My Place, Where Is the Feeling? Moby (1965-), Everything Is Wrong (album) (debut). Moonspell, Wolfheart (album) (debut) (Apr. 1); incl. An Erotic Alchemy. Faith No More, King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime (album #5) (Mar. 28) (#8 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.); first without Jim Martin; incl. Digging the Grave (#16 in the U.K.), Ricochet (#27 in the U.K.), Evidence (#32 in the U.K.). Van Morrison (1945-), Days Like This (album #23) (June 5); incl. Days Like This, Perfect Fit. Morrissey (1959-), Southpaw Grammar (album). Motorhead, Sacrifice (album #12) (July 11); incl. Sex and Death. Michael Martin Murphey (1945-), Sagebrush Symphony (album #19) (Sept. 12). Alannah Myles (1958-), A-lan-nah (album #3). Gary Numan (1958-), Human (album #13). Oasis, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (album #2) (Oct. 2) (#1 in the U.K., #4 in the U.S.) (14M copies, incl. 4M in the U.S.) (3rd best-selling album in U.K. history after Queen's "Greatest Hits" and the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"; incl. Wonderwall, Morning Glory, Roll with It, Some Might Say, Don't Look Back in Anger, Champagne Supernova. Tony Orlando (1944-), Ghetto Dope (album #4). Joan Osborne (1962-), Relish (album) (Mar.); incl. One of Us; "What if God were one of us, just a slob like one of us, just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home". Ozzy Osbourne (1948-), Ozzmosis (album) (Oct. 23). Red Hot Chili Peppers, One Hot Minute (album #6) (Sept. 12); sells 5M copies; incl. My Friends (#1 in the U.S.), Warped, Aeroplane. Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Supermodels (album #9). Phish, A Live One (album). Jean-Luc Ponte, Stanley Clarke and Al Di Meola, The Rite of Strings (album). Insane Clown Posse, Riddle Box (album #3) (Oct. 10); incl. Riddle Box; Dead Body Man. Pretenders, The Isle of View (album) (Oct. 24); pun on I Love You. Judas Priest, A Small Deadly Space (album #15); they disband (until 2003), and in 1998 Rob Halford reveals he's gay. Prince (1958-2016), The Gold Experience (album) (Sept. 26); incl. "Gold", "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", "I Hate U". Grand Puba, 2000 (album). Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (album #3) (double album) (Oct. 24) (18M copies); incl. Bullet with Butterfly Wings, 1979, Zero, Tonight, Tonight, Thirty-Three. Deep Purple, King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents: Deep Purple in Concert (album). Radiohead, The Bends (album #2) (Mar. 13); incl. High and Dry/Planet Telex, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, Street Spirit (Fade Out). Black Sabbath, Forbidden (album #18) (June 8); incl. The Illusion of Power (featuring Ice T). Sleeper, Smart (album) (debut) (Feb); original band name Surrender Dorothy; from Manchester, England, incl. Louise Jane Wener (1967-), Jonathan "Jon" Stewart (1966-), Kenadiid "Diid" Osman (1968-) (bass), Andy Maclure (1970-) (drums); after she becomes a superstar, the others begin to be referred to as "Sleeperblokes"; incl. Swallow, Delicious, Inbetweener, Vegas. Queen, Made in Heaven (album #15) (last) (Nov. 23); incl. Heaven for Everyone, A Winter's Tale, Too Much Love Will Kill You, You Don't Fool Me, Let Me Live, I Was Born to Love You. Queen Rocks (album); incl. No One But You (Only the Good Die Young); last original song recorded by original members. Boo Radleys, Wake Up! (album #4) (Mar. 27) (#1 in the U.K.); incl. Wake Up Boo!, Charles Bukowski Is Dead. Raekwon (1970-), Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (Niggaz) (debut) (Aug. 1); top hip hop album of the 90s along with GZA's "Liquid Swords"; incl. Striving for Perfection. Bonnie Raitt (1949-), Road Tested (live album) (Nov. 7). Rammstein, Herzeleid (Heartbreak) (album) (debut) (Sept. 29); cover features them shirtless, causing accusations of posing as "posterboys for the Master Race"; named after Ramstein AFB, with an extra m added to mean "ramming stone"; sound like German Frankensteins?; Till Lindemann (1963-) (vocals), Richard Zven Kruspe (1967-) (guitar), Paul H. Landers (1964-) (guitar), Olivier "Ollie" Riedel (1971-) (bass), Christoph "Doom" Schneider (1966-) (drums), and Christian "Flake" "Doktor" Lorenz (1966-) (keyboards); incl. Rammstein (in commemoration of the Ramstein AFB tragedy on Aug. 28, 1988), Du Riechst So Gut (You Smell So Good), Weisses Fleisch (White Flesh), Seemann (Seaman). Ramones, Adios Amigos! (album #14) (last) (July 18); incl. I'm Making Monsters for My Friends. Night Ranger, Feeding off the Mojo (album #6) (Oct. 17); first album since 1988; features bassist-vocalist Gary Moon; incl. Mojo. Juno Reactor, Beyond the Infinite (album #3) (Oct. 1); incl. Mars. Skid Row, Subhuman Race (album #3) (Mar. 28) (#35 in the U.S.) (1M copies); last with Sebastian Bach and Rob Affuso; incl. My Enemy, Into Another; Subhuman Beings on Tour (EP). Roxette, Rarities (album) (Feb. 15); Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! (Greatest Hits) (album) (Oct. 30). Scorpions, Love Bites (album). A Flock of Seagulls, The Light at the End of the World (album #5). Bob Seger (1945-) and the Silver Bullet Band, It's a Mystery (album) (Oct. 24); incl. Rite of Passage. Selena (1971-95), Dreaming of You (album #12) (July 18) (posth.) (#1 in the U.S.) (first Hispanic singer to have a mostly-Spanish single debut at #1 in the U.S.); incl. Dreaming of You (#22 in the U.S.), I Could Fall in Love, I'm Getting Used to You, Tu Solo Tu. Shaggy, Boombastic (album); incl. In the Summertime (with Rayvon). Tupac Shakur (1971-96), Me Against the World (album #3) (Mar. 15) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Dear Mama, So Many Tears, Temptations. Sleater-Kinney, Sleater-Kinney (album) (debut); named after I-5 off-ramp #108 in Lacey, Wash.; riot grrrl trio from Portland, Ore., incl. Corin Tucker (vocals, guitar), Carrie Brownstein (vocals, guitar), and Janet Weiss (drums); incl. A Real Man. Collective Soul, Collective Soul (The Blue Album) (album #2) (Mar. 14) (#23 in the U.S.); incl. The World I Know (#19 in the U.S.), December (#20 in the U.S.), Where the River Flows, Gel, Smashing Young Man. Spiderbait, The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake (album #2); incl. Monty, Sam Gribbles. Bruce Springsteen (1949-), Greatest Hits (album) (Feb. 27) (4M copies) (#1 in the U.S.) (#1 in the U.K.); incl. Secret Garden (#63 in the U.S.) (featured in the 1996 film "Jerry Maguire" and the 1998 film "Night at the Roxbury"); The Ghost of Tom Joad (album #11) (Nov. 21) (#11 in the U.S.) (breaks string of 8 straight top-5 U.S. albums); incl. The Ghost of Tom Joad, Youngstown, The New Timer. Toad the Wet Sprocket, In Light Syrup (album) (Oct. 31). Steppenwolf, Live at 25 (album) (Mar. 17). Al Stewart (1945-), Between the Wars (album #15). Rod Stewart (1945-), A Spanner in the Works (album #17) (May 29); incl. You're the Star, Leave Virginia Alone, This, Lady Luck, Purple Heather. The Rolling Stones, Stripped (album) (Nov. 13). George Strait (1952-), Strait Out of the Box (box set) (Sept. 12) (2M copies). Stratovarius, Fourth Dimension (album #4) (Mar.); first with vocalist Timo Kotipelto. Swans, Die Tur Ist Zu (album #15); Failure/Animus (album #16); Soundtracks for the Blind (album #17). Testament, Live at the Fillmore (album). Therion, Lepaca Kliffoth (album #7) (Apr. 4); incl. The Beauty in Black. Seven Mary Three, American Standard (album #2) (Sept. 5) (#24 in the U.S.); incl. My My, Roderigo (based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude"). Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, E. 1999 Eternal (album #2) (July 25) (#1 in the U.S.) (10M copies, incl. 6M in the U.S.); incl. 1st Of Tha Month, East 1999, Tha Crossroads. Sir Michael Tippett (1905-98), The Rose Lake. Toto, Tambu (album #9) (May); sells 900K copies. Babes in Toyland, Nemesisters (album #3) (last album) (May 9); incl. Sweet '69, All By Myself (by Eric Carmen), We Are Family (by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards). Tricky (1968-), Maxinquaye (album) (debut) (Feb. 20) (#3 in the U.K.) (500K copies); pioneers trip hop; features Martina Topley-Bird. Jethro Tull, Roots to Branches (album #20) (Sept. 4); last with Dave Pegg and Andrew Giddings; In Concert (album). Shania Twain (1965-), The Woman in Me (album #2) (Feb. 7) (#1 country) (#5 in the U.S.) (20M copies); incl. Any Man of Mine (#1 country) (#31 in the U.S.), Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? (#11 country) (#87 in the U.S.), The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You) (#14 country) (#90 in the U.S.), (If You're Not In It for Love) I'm Outta Here! (#1 country) (#74 in the U.S.), You Win My Love (#11 country), No One Needs to Know (#7 country), Home Ain't Where His Heart Is (Anymore) (#28 country), God Bless the Child (#48 country) (#75 in the U.S.). Bonnie Tyler (1951-), Free Spirit (album #11) (Mar. 26). Six Feet Under, Haunted (album) (debut) (Sept. 26); from Tampa, Fla.; incl. Chris Barnes (from Cannibal Corpse) (vocals), Allen West (from Obituary) (guitar), Terry Butler (formerly with Massacre and Death) (bass), and Greg Gall (drums); incl. Haunted. Underworld, Born Slippy (Jan.). U.S.U.R.A., Infinity, The Spaceman. Steve Vai (1960-), Alien Love Secrets (album #4) (Mar. 21); incl. Bad Horsie, Tender Surrender, Ya-Yo Gakk, The Boy from Seattle (Jimi Hendrix tribute). Vangelis (1943-), Voices (album). The Verve, A Northern Soul (album #2) (June 20); incl. This Is Music, On Your Own, History. George Walker (1922-), Lilacs (Pulitzer Prize); based on the 1865 poem "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd" by Walt Whitman on the death of Pres. Lincoln; first African-Am. composer to win a Pulitzer Prize for music - he got out of the bushes? Joe Walsh (1947-), Look What I Did! (album) (May 23). Warrant, Ultraphobic (album #4) (Mar. 7); first with Rick Steier (guitar) and James Kottak (drums); succomb to the urge to go grunge?; incl. Family Picnic, Undertow. Kevin Welch (1955-), Life Down Here on Earth (album #3). Great White, Stage (album). Wilco, A.M. (album) (debut) (Mar. 28); formerly Uncle Tupelo; from Chicago, Ill., incl. incl. Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt (bass), Ken Coomer (drums), Max Johnson, Brian Henneman; Box Full of Letters. Stevie Wonder (1950-), Conversation Peace (album) (Mar. 21); incl. For Your Love, Tomorrow Robins Will Sing. Trisha Yearwood (1964-), Thinkin' About You (album). Yello, Hands on Yello (album). Neil Young (1945-) and Pearl Jam, Mirror Ball (album) (June 27). Frank Zappa (1940-93), The Lost Episodes (album) (posth.) (Feb. 27); Lather (Läther) (pr. like leather) (album) (posth.) (Sept. 24); Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute (album) (posth.) (Oct.). White Zombie, Astro Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head (album #4) (Apr. 11) (#6 in the U.S.); incl. More Human than Human, Super-Charger Heaven, Electric Head, Pt. 1 (The Agony), Electric Head Pt. 2 (The Ecstasy). Movies: A good or bad year for sheep, depending on your point of view? Steve Oedekerk's Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (Nov. 10) is another Jim Carrey vehicle; #4 movie of 1995 ($108M). On Aug. 28, 1995 the B&W film Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction by London, England-born entrepreneur Ray Santhill (1958-) is debuted on Fox-TV, hosted by Jonathan Frakes, claiming to be film of an actual autopsy performed on an ET recovered from the 1947 Roswell, N.M. spaceship crash, becoming a sensation and earning two more airings, with the Nov. 1995 one viewed by 11.7M (14% share); it later comes out that the film is a "reconstruction" of an original that had deteriorated, and that they paid a homeless man in Los Angeles, Calif. to pretend to be the cameraman. Ron Howard's Apollo 13 (June 30) (Universal Pictures), based on the book "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13" by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger stars Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell, Kevin Bacon as Jack Swigert, Bill Paxton as Fred Haise, Gary Sinise as Ken Mattingly, and Ed Harris as flight dir. Gene Kranz; Ron's brother Clint Howard plays NASA engineer Sy Liebergot; does $355M box office on a $52M budget; "Houston, we have a problem." Chris Noonan's Babe: A Little Pig Goes a Long Way (Babe: The Gallant Pig) (Aug. 4) (Kennedy Miller Productions) (Universal Pictures), based on Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel "The Sheep-Pig" stars James Cromwell as Australian Farmer Arthur Hoggett, owner of talking piglet Babe, who was raised by talking matriarch sheepdog Fly, and wins a sheepdog herding championship with the help of a secret ovine passphrase; does $254.1MK box office on a $30M budget. Michael Bay's Bad Boys (Apr. 7) stars Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as Miami narco detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey; followed by "Bad Boys II" (2003). Scott Kalvert's The Basketball Diaries (Apr. 21), based on the 1978 memoir by Jim Carroll stars Leonardo DiCapro as a teenie New York City street junkie who destroys his promising h.s. basketball career, ends up in Riker's Island, then makes it as a poet, musician, and writer; a scene where a student in a black trenchoat shoots six classmates in his classroom is later blamed for the 1997 Heath H.S. and 1999 Columbine H.S. shootings; does $2.4M box office. Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever (June 16) stars Val Kilmer as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Chris O'Donnell as Robin/Dick Grayson, Michael Gough as butler Alfred Pennyworth, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face/Harvey Dent, Jim Carrey as Riddle/Dr. Edward Nygma, and Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian; #2 movie of 1995 ($184M). Robert Simonds' Billy Madison (Feb. 10) stars Adam Sandler as a grown slacker who has to go back to school and pass every class from K-12 to inherit his father's co., romancing teacher Veronica Vaughn (Bridgette Wilson). Mel Gibson's Braveheart (May 18) (Icon Productions) (The Ladd Co.) stars Gibson as 13th cent. Gaelic-speaking Scottish Celtic hero Sir William Wallace (1272-1305), fighting for his free-ee-ee-dom against mean old Norman English king Edward I Longshanks (1239-1307) (Patrick McGoohan) while wooing two babes, local girl Murron MacClannough (Catherine McCormack) and French-born English supermodel of the 13th cent. Princess Isabelle (Isabella) of France (1295-1358) (Sophie Marceau), and trying to get half-Scottish half-Norman fence-sitter Robert the Bruce (1274-1329) (Angus MacFayden) to join him, only to have it happen too late, after he gets betrayed and martyred; manly Peter Hanly plays gay bud Prince Edward of Wales, who later becomes Edward II (1307-27), David O'Hara plays Mad Stephen of Ireland, and James Robinson II plays young William Wallace; the totally phony reenactment of the 9/11/1297 Battle of Stirling Bridge features 1.6K extras from the Irish Army Reserve; loosely based on the verse history of Blind Harry (1440-92); Gibson puts up $15M of his own money to make it, and it grosses $210M worldwide, sparking an interest in Scottish history among the audience along with a resurgence of Scottish nationalism and interest in Scottish independence among the Scots; "They may take our lives, but they'll never take our free-ee-ee-dom"; does $213.2M box office on a $70M budget - Sean Connery's back goes out again? Clint Eastwood's The Bridges of Madison County (June 20), based on the Robert James Waller novel stars Eastwood as vulnerable photographer Robert Kincaid, and Meryl Streep as his love interest Francesca Johnson (a repressed non-Italian-looking Italian war bride farm wife) in 1965; makes the Roseman Covered Bridge in Madison, Wisc. a tourist mecca. Edward Burns' The Brothers McMullen (Aug. 9) is a comedy starring Burns, Jack Mulcahy, and Mike McGlone as Barry, Jack, and Patrick, three Irish Roman Catholic brothers from Long Island who end up under the same roof and share their Catholic sex guilt about women, sex, abortion, etc.; "Man is a like a banana, strong and firm, and is protected by his own important shield. When a woman comes along she sees this bright beast and she wants it, but she's not happy with it the way it is, so she starts to peel away the all-important shield." Michael Moore's Canadian Bacon (Sept. 25), starring John Candy (who dies 4 mo. after shooting ends) is the feature film debut of Canadian writer-dir. Michael Moore. Martin Scorsese's Casino, (Nov. 22) (Universal), based on the 1995 book "Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas" by Nicholas Pileggi s tars Robert De Niro as Mafia sports handicapper Sam "Ace" Rothstein, who runs the Teamsters-funded Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas as a front for several Midwest mob families, and has to handle super-violent enforcer Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro (Joe Pesci) and ex-ho wife Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) while fighting Clark County gaming commissioners; does $116.1M box office on a $50M budget. Brad Silberling's Casper (May 26), starring Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman and based on the comic book char. is Silberling's dir. debut; #6 movie of 1995 ($100M). Pat O'Connor's Circle of Friends, based on the 1990 Maeve Binchy novel stars Minnie Driver and Geraldine O'Rawe as friends Bernadette "Benny Hogan" and Eve Malone, with a different ending; Chris O'Donnell plays Jack Foley, and Saffron Burrows plays Nan Mahon. Kevin Smith's Clerks (Oct. 14) is the first of Smith's "View Askewniverse" films, starring Brian O'Halloran (1969-) as Dante Hicks, and Jeff Anderson (1970-) as Randal Graves in a day of their lives as libidinous young Quick Stop store clerks, who engage in long hilarious conversations while fighting drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith); it costs $27K to make and grosses $3M in theaters, reinvigorating the independent film industry; "Just because they serve you doesn't mean they like you"; "My girlfriend sucked 37 dicks." Frank Marshall's Congo, (June 9) (Paramount Pictures), based on the 1980 Michael Crichton novel stars Laura Linney, Dylan Walsh, Ernie Hudson, and Tim Curry as Dr. Karen Ross, Dr. Peter Elliott, Capt. Munro Kelly, and Herkermer Homolka, who follow talking ape Amy to the fabled Lost City of Zinj; Delroy Lindo plays Capt. Wanta; does $152M box office on a $50M budget; "The myth of the killer ape is true"; "Stop eating my sesame cake." Tony Scott's Crimson Tide (May 12) (Buena Vista Pictures) stars Gene Hackman as Capt. Frank Ramsey, whose nuclear sub crew, led by Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington) mutinies rather than launch a nuke; #10 movie of 1995 ($91M U.S. and $157M worldwide on a $53M budget); features the underwatery Crimson Tide Theme. Renny Harlin's Cutthroat Island (Dec. 22) (MGM), a $98M boring adventure flick filmed in Malta stars Matthew Modine as slave William Shaw, and Harlin's miscast wife (1993-8) Geena Davis as pirate Morgan Adams, becoming the biggest money-losing film of all time, grossing only $10M, causing Carolco Pictures to go bankrupt; Davis and Harlin make "The Long Kiss Goodnight" next year, which also flops, ending Davis' movie career along with the marriage to the Finn. Jim Jarmusch's B&W Dead Man (May 26) (Miramax Films) is a postmodern "Psychedelic Western" with soundtrack by Neil Young, starring Johnny Depp as meek Cleveland, Ohio accountant William Blake, who arrives in the Western frontier town of Machine to take a new job, only to be chased out by owner John Dickinson, waking up with a bullet lodged in his chest, hooking up with Native Am. Nobody (Gary Farmer) and transforming into a gunslinging poet; does $1M box office on a $9M budget; followed by "Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai" (1999). Robert Rodriguez's Desperado (Aug. 25) (Columbia Pictures) (Los Hooligans Productions) stars Antonio Banderas as El Mariachi, Salma Hayek as Carolina, Cheech Marin as the bartender, and and Steve Buscemi as the narrator; does $58M box office on a $7M budget. John McTiernan's Die Hard: With a Vengeance (May 19) stars alcoholic suspended NYPD cop Bruce Willis as John McClane, who chases all over New York playing Simon Says for bomber Simon Gruber (Jeremy Irons); #8 movie of 1995 ($100M). Mark Rosman's Evolver stars the voice of William H. Macy as a robot won in a game of laser tag by Kyle Baxter (Ethan Embry) that evolves from a friendly pal into a Terminator; also stars Cassidy Rae, Chance Quinn, and John de Lancie; "This toy acts like it's playing for keeps." Ulu Grosbard's Georgia (Dec. 8) stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, who is desperately searching for her older sister Georgia (Mare Winningham), a country-western artist, and does a horrible cover of a Van Morrison song. Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty (Oct. 20) (MGM), based on the 1990 novel by Elmore Leonard stars John Travolta as Miami loan shark Chili Palmer, who gets into a war with mobster Ray "Bones" Barboni (Dennis Farina), and ends up in the movie biz in Hollyweird; does $115.1M box officed on a $30M budget; the sequel is "Be Cool" (2005). Martin Campbell's GoldenEye (Nov. 13) (Eon Productions) (MGM/UA) (United Pictures Internat.) (James Bond 007 film #17) (named after Ian Fleming's Jamaica estate) is the return after six years for British agent 007, played by too effeminate, chicken-legged, and tongue-in-you-know-what (Irish not British or Scot) (but better than colorless Timothy Dalton) Pierce Brendan Brosnan (1953-) (whose contract prohibits him from wearing a tuxedo in non-007 films); Judi Dench plays a new PC M; Sean Bean plays bad guy Alec Trevelyan slash Janus; the only good things are Bond wet dream girls Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) and Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco); #9 movie of 1995, grossing $99M in the U.S. and $352M worldwide; the GoldenEye Theme is sung by Tina Turner. Iain Softley's Hackers (Sept. 15) is a cyberpunk thriller film about h.s. hackers, starring Jonny Lee Miller, Fisher Stevens, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco, Renoly Santiago, and Angelina Jolie (nee Voight) (1975-) as Kate "Acid Burn" Libby in her first Hollywood film; "Boot up or shut up." Michael Mann's Heat (Dec. 15) (Warner Bros.) stars Robert De Niro as murderous LA superthief Neil McCauley, who is taken on by Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), ending in a cool street battle followed by an airport chase scene; Val Kilmer plays De Niro's partner Chris Shiherlis, Diane Venora plays Pacino's faithful wife Justine Hanna, Amy Brenneman plays De Niro's babe Eady, and Ashley Judd plays Kilmer's babe Charlene Shiherlis; does $187.4M box office on a $60M budget. Norman Apstein's Ice Cream Man (May 9), produced by porno film dir. Apstein and written by "Wedding Crashers" dir. David Dobkin stars Clint Howard as Gregory Tudor, a deranged mental hospital inmate who opens an ice cream factory and likes to kill people and mix their body parts into his ice cream; "There are no bad days Gregory, only happy happy happy days"; "Oh, don't worry about that little boy, it's just my grenadine stick"; "You little turd you're gonna have to learn you can't run from the ice cream man"; develops a cult following. James Ivory's and Ismail Merchant's Jefferson in Paris (Mar. 31) (Tuchstone Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictures), stars Nick Nolte as Thomas Jefferson during his Paris years (1784-9), incl. his affairs with white sugar Maria Cosway (Greta Scacchi) and black sugar slave Sally Hemings (Thandie Newton). Robert Longo's Johnny Mnemonic (May 26) (Alliance Communiations) (TriStar Pictures), based on the 1981 short story by William Gibson stars Keanu Reeves as a mnemonic courier in East Asian-megacorp.-dominated 2021; Longo's dir. debut; does $52.4M box office on a $26M budget. Danny Cannon's Judge Dredd (June 30) (Hollywood Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictures), based on the British comic "2000 AD" stars Sylvester Stallone as street judge Joseph Dredd, Armand Assante as judge-turned-psychokiller Rico, Max von Sydow. Joe Johnston's Jumanji (Dec. 15) (Interscope Communications) (TriStar Pictures), based on the 1981 children's book by Chris Van Allsburg stars Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt as kids Alan Parrish and Sarah Whittle, who find a secret attic in their spooky house and uncover a magic but sinister African jungle board game that causes Alan to disappear for 26 years and then reappear as a man, bringing the jungle with him, incl. manhunter Van Pelt (Jonathan Hyde); also stars Kirsten Dunst as Judy, and Bradley Pierce as Peter; #5 movie of 1995 ($113.5M box office on a $90M budget). Tab Murphy's Last of the Dogmen (Sept. 8), about a survivor group of dog-eating Cheyenne Dog Soldiers stars Tom Berenger as bounty hunter Lewis Gates, and Geena Davis clone Barbara Hershey as anthropologist Lillian Sloane, who discover them then try to protect them; Berenger's Australian cattle dog Zip also stars; narrated by Wilford Brimley. Mike Figgis' Leaving Las Vegas (Oct. 27), based on the semi-autobio. novel by John O'Brien (who commits suicide shortly before pre-production) stars Nicolas Cage as suicidal alcoholic Ben Sanderson, and Elisabeth Shue as the hooker with a heart of gold who tries to stop him from systematically drinking himself to death; the best ad for Alcoholics Anonymous ever made? Kevin Smith's Mallrats (Oct. 20), filmed in the Eden Prairie Center Mall in Minn. stars Jay and Silent Bob, Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams, setting the bar on bathroom humor lower than ever; "So all the passengers are beating off, plummeting to their certain doom." Chris Columbus' Nine Months (July 12) starts out as just another romantic comedy until English star Hugh Grant (1960-) (supposedly going with British actress-model Elizabeth Hurley) gets arrested on June 27 for propositioning (nappy?) black Am. ho Divine Brown (Estella Marie Thompson) (1969-) for a beejay in L.A. and makes headlines, causing some movie scenes to take on a hilarious new meaning? Oliver Parker's Othello (Dec. 15) stars Kenneth Branagh as Iago, miscast French-speaking Irene Jacob as Desdemona, and Laurence "Larry" Fishburne III (1961-) as Othello, who becomes the first real black to play the white-playing-black role in a major film; too bad, viewers won't pay to see a black stud ravishing a hot white woman, so it only does $2.8M box office on a $11M budget. Daisy von Scherler Mayer's Party Girl (June 9) stars "Queen of the Indies" Parker Posey as Mary, a New Yorker who likes drugs and parties; the first commercial comedy-drama feature film shown in its entirety on the Internet; incl. the Natasha Scene. Jon Turteltaub's Phenomenon (July 5) (Touchstone Pictures), written by Gerald Di Pego stars John Travolta as average small town guy George Malley, who is visited on his 37th birthday by an ET and transformed into a genius with telekinetic powers, wowing his babe Lace Pennamin (Kyra Sedgwick) and friends Nate Pope (Forest Whitaker) and Doc Brunder (Robert Duvall), while causing the town to turn on him and the govt. to try to use him; brings in $152M on a $32M budget. Mike Gabriel's and Eric Goldberg's animated Pocahontas (June 10) (Walt Disney Pictures) features the voices of Irene Bedard as (Pocahontas) (sung by Judy Kuhn), Mel Gibson as Capt. John Smith, and Russell Means as Chief Powhatan; does $346.1M box office on a $55M budget; features the song Colors of the Wind. Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead (Feb. 10) (TriStar Pictures) stars Sharon Stone as the Lady Ellen, who rides to the frontier town of Redemption to kill its boss John Herod (Gene Hackman), and teams up with Cort (Russell Crowe) and Herod's son Fee "the Kid" (Leonardo DiCaprio); does $18.6M box office on a $35M budget. Richard Loncraine's Richard III (Dec. 29), set in 1930s Britain stars Ian McKellen as Richard III, who creates a British Fascist monarchy with Nazi trappings; also stars Annette Bening as Queen Elizabeth, Nigel Hawthorne as George, Duke of Clarence, Jim Broadbent as Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and Kristin Scott Thomas as Lady Anne Neville. Michael Caton-Jones' Rob Roy (Apr. 7) stars Liam Neeson as 18th cent. Scottish hero Rob Roy Macgregor. Todd Haynes' Safe (June 30) (Sony Pictures), set in the San Fernando Valley in 1987 stars Julianne Moore as homemaker Carol White, who develops Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) (20th Cent. Disease), and ends up in the New Age Wrenwood retreat run by controlling guru Peter Dunning (Peter Friedman); best movie of the 1990s?; first of three Haynes-Moore collaborateions. John Sayles' The Secret of Roan Inish (Feb. 3), based on Rosalie K. Fry's 1957 novel "Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry" stars Jeni Courtney as a girl sent to live with her grandparents who tries to find her lost baby brother Jamie among the seal people. Christian Duguay's Screamers (Columbia Pictures) (Sept. 8), based on the Philip K. Dick novel "Second Variety" stars Robocop Peter Weller as Col. Joe A. Hendricksson, who leads a band of survivors on radiation-contaminated Sirius 6B in the year 2078 against mechanical creatures with razor claws who originally were built to protect humans but decide to take over and breed, don't ask how; does $5.7M box office on a $20M budget. David Fincher's Se7en (Sept. 15) (New Line Cinema), written by Andrew Kevin Walker stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as homicide detectives David Mills and William Somerset, who chase incredibly sick serial killer John Doe (Kevin Spacey), who likes to punish each victim for being too much into one of the Seven Deadly Sins; Gwyneth Paltrow plays wife Tracy Mills, and R. Lee Ermey plays the police captain; #7 movie of 1995 ($100M in the U.S. and $327.3M worldwide on a $33M budget). Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls (Sept. 22) stars Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, and Gina Gershon, and becomes the highest-grossing NC-17 film of all time ($20.3M) after becoming the first to be given a wide release in mainstream theaters; too bad, it hurts Berkley's career with its gratuitous nudity incl. lesbianism, causing the phrase "Showgirls-bad" to be coined. Roger Donaldson's Species (July 5) makes a star out of blonde actress Natasha Henstridge, who plays a half-alien half-human lay-you-then-slay-you mother of her race living off the land on a new planet. Kevin Dowling's and Geoff Burton's The Sum of Us (Mar. 8), an adaptation of David Steven's play stars Jack Thompson as widowed Harry Mitchell, who lives with his openly gay son Jeff (Russell Crowe), and sucks up, er, welcomes his new boyfriend John Polson, while his own babe Joyce (Deborah Kennedy) is grossed out but learns to deal with it. Rachel Talalay's Tank Girl (Mar. 31) (United Artists), based on the British comic strip set in 2033 by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett stars Lori Petty, Ice-T, Malcolm McDowell, and Naomi Watts; does $4M box office on a $25M budget; incl. the song Let's Do It by Paul Westerburg and Joan Jett. Gary Fleder's Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (Dec. 1) (Miramax Films), written by Scott Rosenberg is the dir. debut of Gary Fleder (1962-), starring Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken, Christopher Lloyd, Treat Williams, Steve Buscemi, Fairuza Balk, and Gabrielle Anwar in a so-so Quentin Tarantino ripoff, reviving the career of Treat Williams; the title is taken from a 1991 Warren Zevon song; does $530K box office on an $8M budget. John Lasseter's Toy Story (Nov. 19) (Pixar/Walt Disney), the first feature length 100% computer animated film stars cowboy Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) as favorite toy, who has to deal with new toy Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen); incl. Don Rickles berating a hockey puck; #1 movie of 1995 ($192M U.S. and $373M worldwide box office on a $30M budget); "The toys are back in town"; "That wasn't flying. That was... falling with style" (Woody). Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys (Universal Pictures) (Dec. 29) (Atlas/Universal), based on the 1962 film "La Jetee" stars Bruce Willis as released con James Cole, who is sent back in time to gather info. on the deadly virus of 1996-7 released by the Army of the 12 Monkeys that forced the pop. to live underground, and ends up in 1990, getting put in a nuthouse by Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), and meeting up with nutcase Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt); does $168.8M box office worldwide on a $29.5M budget. Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects (Aug. 16), with title taken from a line by Claude Rains in "Casablanca" makes a star of Kevin Spacey (Fowler) (1959-) as small-time gimp con man Roger "Verbal" Kint, who is questioned by customs agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) about $93M worth of cocaine, 27 dead bodies, and a burning tanker in the San Pedro, Calif. harbor, spinning the yarn of yarns involving mysterious Hungarian devil incarnate Keyser Soze ("a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night"), bad ex-cop Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), explosives expert Hockney (Kevin Pollak), hot-headed crack-shot gunman Michael McManus (Stephen Baldwin) and his Spanglish-speaking partner Fred Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), plus mysterious lawyer Kobayashi (Peter Postlethwaite); the coolest plot twist ever?; Roger Ebert later coins the term "Keyser Soze Syndrome" for films with final scenes that redefine the reality of everything that went before; "Who is Keyser Soze?"; "Five criminals. One lineup. No coincidence"; "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist" (Kint, borrowing from Charles Baudelaire); "Keaton always said, I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him" (Kint). Brett Leonard's Virtuosity (Aug. 4) stars Russell Crowe as villain program SID 6.7 in a virtual reality world, who escapes to the real world in an android body and is chased by policeman Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington); brings in $24M on a $30M budget; like in the 1989 film "The Mighty Quinn" with Mimi Rogers, Denzel refuses to kiss hot white costar Kelly Lynch onscreen for fear of alienating the white male audience, later doing ditto with Julia Roberts in "The Pelican Brief"; in 1998 he chills out and does it with Milla Jovovich in Spike Lee's "He Got Game". Alfonso Arau's A Walk in the Clouds (May 27) stars Keanu Reeves as a returning WWII vet who ditches his wife for the daughter ( Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) of a Calif. vineyard owner (Giancarlo Giannini); brings in $50M on a $20M budget. Kevin Reynolds' Waterworld (July 28) (Universal Pictures) ("A man with a serious drinking problem") gobbles up $172M in production and causes star Costly Kevin, er, Kevin Costner to call in his chips, becoming known as Fishtar and Kevin's Gate; stars Costner as man-fish Mariner, who helps the good human survivors of global flooding, esp. his babe Jeanne Tripplehorn look for Dryland while fighting Dennis Hopper's mean Smokers on a floating set anchored off Hawaii that is once lost during a tropical storm; does $264.2M box office; it could be the best or the worst sci-flick yet made, wait till the secondary markets are milked? Plays: Samuel Beckett (1906-89), Elutheria (posth.); his first play, written in French in 1947, before his #2 play Waiting for Godot. Howard Brenton (1942-), Faust Parts 1 and 2 (Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon) (Sept.); trans. of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play. Margaret Edson (1961-), Wit (W;t) (South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, Calif.) (Pulitzer Prize); 50-y.-o. tall thin John Donne scholar Vivian Bearing, prof. of English is dying of ovarian cancer, and consents to eight rounds of chemotherapy for Stage IV by her oncologist Dr. Harvey Kelekian while ruminating on Donne's Holy Sonnet X ("Death Be Not Proud"). Blake Edwards (1922-2010), Henry Mancini (1924-94), Leslie Bricusse (1931-), and Frank Wildhorn (1959-), Victor/Victoria (musical) (Marquis Theater, New York) (Oct. 25) (734 perf.); based on the 1982 film; choreography by Rob Marshall; star Julie Andrews refuses a Tony for it, saying she would "stand instead with the egregiously overlooked" cast and crew. Horton Foote (1916-), Laura Dennis; Young Man from Atlanta (Mar. 20) (Longacre Theatre, New York) (Pulitzer Prize); stars Rip Torn and Shirley Knight. Maria Irene Fornes (1930-), Summer in Gossensass. Michael Frayn (1933-), Le Belle Vivette; based on Jacques Offenbach's "La Belle Helene"; Now You Know. Simon Gray (1936-2008), Cell Mates (Albery Theatre, London). David Hare (1947-), Skylight. Beth Henley (1952-), Signature; 2052 Hollyweird. Adrienne Kennedy (1931-), June and Jean in Concert. Tony Kushner (1956-), Slavs! Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness. Mark Medoff (1940-), The Heart Outright; The Homage That Follows. Joanna Murray-Smith (1962-), Honour. Tom Stoppard (1937-), Indian Ink. Daryl Waters, Zane Mark, and Ann Duquesnay, Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk (musical revue) (Public Theater, New York) (Nov. 3) (Ambassador Theatre, New York) (Apr. 25, 1996) (1,135 perf.); dir. by George C. Wolfe; black history told through tap dancing; stars Jeffrey Wright and Savion Glover. Poetry: Margaret Atwood (1939-), Morning in the Burned House; "In the burned house I am eating breakfast/ You understand: there is no house, there is no breakfast,/ yet here I am." Nanni Balestrini (1935-), Estremi Rimedi. Amiri Baraka (1934-2014), Wise I, WHYS (Nobody Knows the Trouble I Seen); Transbluesency: The Selected Poetry of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones. William Bronk (1918-99), Selected Poems. Fred Chappell (1936-), Spring Garden: New and Selected Poems. Billy Collins (1941-), The Art of Drowning. Robert Creeley (1926-2005), Loops: Ten Poems. Annie Dillard (1945-), Mornings Like This: Found Poems. Mark Doty (1953-), Atlantis: Poems (Sept. 1); incl. "Atlantis" ("Now the tide's begun/ its clockwork turn, pouring,/ in the day's hourglass/ toward the other side of the world,/ and our dependable marsh reappears/ ...And our ongoingness,/ what there'll be of us? Look,/ love, the lost world/ rising from the waters again: our continent, where it always was..."), "Migratory" ("I was so filled with longing// --is that what sound is for?--/ I seemed to be nowhere at all"). Rita Dove (1952-), Mother Love. Odysseus Elytis (1911-96), West of Sadness. Tess Gallagher (1943-), My Black Horse. Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), Eye of the Prophet (posth.). Jorie Graham (1950-), The Dream of the Unified Field: Selected Poems 1974-1994 (Pulitzer Prize). Marilyn Hacker (1942-), Winter Numbers. Michael S. Harper (1938-), Honorable Amendments. Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962), Evelyne Blau: Krishnamurti 100 Years (posth.). Denis Johnson (1949-), The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nation's Millennium General Assembly: Poems Collected andNew. Donald Rodney Justice (1925-2004), New and Selected Poems. Bill Knott (1940-), The Quicken Tree. Ted Kooser (1939-), A Book of Things. Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006), Passing Through: The Later Poems. William Matthews (1942-97), Time & Money: New Poems (Sept. 17). James Merrill (1926-95), A Scattering of Salts (Mar.) (posth.). Mary Oliver (1935-), Blue Pastures. Simon J. Ortiz (1941-), Center. Linda Pastan (1932-), An Early Afterlife. Robert Pinsky (1940-) (tr.), The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation. Sonia Sanchez (1934-), I've Been a Woman: New and Selected Poems; Wounded in the House of a Friend. Dave Smith (1942-), Fate's Kite: Poems, 1991-1995. Gary Soto (1952-), New and Selected Poems. Timothy Steele (1948-), Sapphics and Uncertainties: Poems, 1970-1986. James Tate (1943-), Worshipful Company of Fletchers (Dec. 1). Diane Wakoski (1937-), The Emerald City of Las Vegas; "Driving West,/ old, enlightened,/ I still cannot fold up those/ maps of lost goldmines,/ abandoned trunks full of diamonds,/ of new countries and other planets." C.K. Williams (1936-), New & Selected Poems. Charles Wright (1935-), Chickamauga. Novels: Alice Adams (1926-99), A Southern Exposure; a Yankee family moves into the South in the 1930s. Isabel Allende (1942-), Paula; her childhood in Santiago. Lisa Alther (1944-), Five Minutes in Heaven. Jorge Amado (1912-2001), Companion of the God Ogum. Martin Amis (1949-), The Information. Rudolfo Anaya (1937-), Zia Summer. Louis Auchincloss (1917-), The Education of Oscar Fairfax. Paul Benjamin Auster (1947-), The Red Notebook. Richard Bach (1936-), Running from Safety: An Adventure of the Spirit. Nanni Balestrini (1935-), Una Mattina ci Siam Svegliati. Russell Banks (1940-), Rule of the Bone. Pat Barker (1943-), The Ghost Road; Regeneration Trilogy #3. Frederick Barthelme (1943-), Painted Desert. Ann Beattie (1947-), Another You; Prof. Marshall Lockard's marriage is in crisis. Madison Smartt Bell, All Souls Rising; first of a trilogy on the 1791-1804 Haitian slave revolt. Marie-Claire Blais (1939-), Soifs (These Festive Nights). T. Coraghessan Boyle (1948-), The Tortilla Curtain; Anglos Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher of Topanga Canyon and illegal immigrants Candido and America Rincon. Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933-), Dangerous to Know; Love in Another Town. Anita Brookner (1928-), Incidents in the Rue Laugier. James Lee Burke (1936-), Burning Angel; Dave Robicheaux. Ethan Canin, The Palace Thief Stories. Clancy Carlile (1930-98), Children of the Dust; the settlement of Okla.; becomes a 1995 CBS-TV miniseries starring Sidney Poitier. John le Carre (1931-2020), Our Game. Angela Carter (1940-92), Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories. Michael Chabon (1963-), Wonder Boys. Deepak Chopra (1946-), The Return of Merlin (first novel). Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), Silent Night. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (1940-), The Quarantine (La Quarantaine); narrated by Leon Archambau, about three travelers who are forced into quarantine in Mauritius. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), The Blood Countess. Larry Collins (1929-2005), Black Eagles. Evan S. Connell Jr. (1924-), Collected Stories (short stories). Pat Conroy (1945-2016), Beach Music. Robin Cook (1940-), Contagion; forensic pathologist Jack Stapleton takes on corrupt HMO Americare. Catherine Cookson (1906-98), The Tinker's Girl; Justice is a Woman. Robert Cormier (1925-2000), In the Middle of the Night. Patricia Cornwell (1956-), From Potter's Field; 6th Kay Scarpetta novel. Jim Crace (1946-), The Slow Digestions of the Nights (short stories). Harry Crews (1935-), The Mulching of America. Michael Crichton (1942-2008), The Lost World; sequel to "Jurassic Park" (1990). Howard Cruse (1944-), Stuck Rubber Baby; graphic novel about homosexuality and racism. Michael Cunningham (1952-), Flesh and Blood; the Stassos family, incl. brilliant gay Billy. Len Deighton (1929-), Hope. Samuel R. Delany (1942-), Atlantis: Three Tales. Harriet Doerr (1910-2002), Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions. J.P. Donleavy (1926-), The Lady Who Liked Clean Rest Rooms. Allen Drury (1918-98), A Thing of State. Allan W. Eckert (1931-), That Dark and Bloody River: Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley. James Ellroy (1948-), American Tabloid; the JFK assassination; #1 in the American Underworld Trilogy about the 1960s-70s govt. conspiracies ("The Cold Six Thousand", 2001, "Blood's a Rover", 2009). Nicholas Evans (1950-), The Horse Whisperer; Grace MacLean and her friend Judith get in a horrific accident with her horse Pilgrim, causing mother Anne to seek help from you know what Tom Booker; suggested by a conversation with another blacksmith?; the first known you know what was Daniel Sullivan of Ireland (d. 1810); filmed in 1998. Howard Fast (1914-2003), The Bridge Builder's Story; Scott Waring take a Euro honeymoon in 1939, a bad time for a Jew? Jack Finney (1911-95), From Time to Time; sequel to "Time and Again" (1970). Penelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000), The Blue Flower (last novel). Thomas Flanagan (1923-2002), The End of the Hunt. Ken Follett (1949-), A Place Called Freedom; 18th cent. Scots have to slave in the laird's mines. Richard Ford (1944-),Independence Day (Pulitzer Prize); 2nd in a trilogy about N.J. realtor Frank Bascombe (1986-2006); first novel to win Pulitzer and P.E.N. Faulkner awards in the same year; no connection with the 1996 sci-fi movie about aliens taking over Earth. Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012), La Frontera de Cristal: Una Novela en Nueve Cuentos. Alan Furst (1941-), The Polish Officer; Night Soldiers #3. William Howard Gass (1924-), The Tunnel. Barry Gifford (1946-), Arise and Walk; Baby Cat-Face. Rebecca Goldstein (1950-), Mazel. Winston Graham (1908-2003), Tremor. John Grisham (1955-), The Rainmaker; written in the present tense; Rudy Baylor graduates from Memphis State Law School and can't find a job, ending up working for ambulance chaser J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone, then goes into private practice and takes the case of Donny Ray, who died from leukemia after the Great Benefit Life Insurance Co. refused to pay for a bone marrow transplant; filmed in 1997. Winston Groom (1944-), Gump and Co.; sequel to "Forrest Gump" (1986). Everette Lynn Harris (1955-2009), Just As I Am. Scott Heim (1966-), Mysterious Skin (first novel); 8-y.-o. Brian Lucky, er, Lackey of Hutchinson, Kan. is molested by his Little League coach, along with fellow player Neil McCormick, who meet later in life and have a big recall session; "The summer I was eight years old, five hours disappeared from my life" (opening). Mark Helprin (1947-), Memoir from Antproof Case; comic diatribe against the effects of coffee. George V. Higgins (1939-99), Swan Boats at Four. Patricia Highsmith (1921-95), Small g: A Summer Idyll (posth.). Oscar Hijuelos (1951-), Mr. Ives' Christmas. Elizabeth Jane Howard (1923-), Casting Off. Nick Hornby (1957-), High Fidelity; the "Bridget Jones's Diary" for men? Clifford Irving (1930-), The Spring. Thomas Keneally (1935-), A River Town. Stephen King (1947-), Rose Madder. Dean Koontz (1945-), Intensity; Strange Highways; The Key to Midnight. Thomas Keneally (1935-), A River Town. Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), Riding the Rap. Jonathan Lethem (1964-), Amnesia Moon. Charles de Lint (1951-), Mulengro. Elinor Lipman (1950-), Isabel's Bed. Robert Ludlum (1927-2001),, The Apocalypse Watch. Gregory Maguire (1954-), Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West; NYT bestseller based on the 1900 novel "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum; his first non-children's novel, launching a new career of retelling fairy tales for adults; followed by "Son of a Witch" (2005), "A Lion Among Men" (2008), and "Out of Oz" (2011); basis of the 2003 Broadway musical Wicked". William Keeper Maxwell Jr., All the Days and Nights: The Collected Stories of William Maxwell; Mrs. Donald's Dog Bun and His Home Away from Home (short stories). Gregory Mcdonald (1937-2008), Skylar. Larry McMurtry (1936-), Dead Man's Walk; The Late Child. Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Live and Learn. Sue Miller (1943-), The Distinguished Guest. Anchee Min (1957-), Katherine (first novel). Brian Moore (1921-99), The Statement. Mary McGarry Morris (1943-), Songs in Ordinary Time; bestseller (1.5M copies). Sir John Mortimer (1923-2009), Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Younger Generation. Nicholas Mosley (1923-), Children of Darkness and Light. Percy Howard Newby (1918-97), Something About Women (last novel). Joyce Carol Oates (1938-), Zombie. Kenzaburo Oe (1935-), A Healing Family (Kaifuku Suri Kakozu). Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Thin Air; Spenser #22. James Patterson (1947-), Kiss the Girls; filmed in 1997. Ralph Peters (1952-), The Perfect Soldier. Jodi Picoult (1966-), Picture Perfect; anthropologist Cassie Barret recovers from amnesia; Mercy. Robert Pinget (1919-97), L'Affaire Ducreux et Autres Textes. Stanley Pottinger, The Fourth Procedure (Apr.) (first novel). Richard Powers (1957-), Galatea 2.2; Richard Powers and Philip Lentz of the Center for the Study of Advanced Sciences confront AI. Steven Pressfield (1943-), The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life; Bobby Jones vs. Walter Hagen in 1931 Savannah, Ga. is spiced up by inviting local hero Rannulph Junah, who lost his game in WWI, but is saved by mysterious black caddy you know who, who counsels him to look for his Authentic Swing; based on the Bhagavad Ghita (Vance is Bhagavan the Supreme Being, Junuh is master archer Arjuna); filmed in 2000. Reynolds Price (1933-), The Promise of Rest; pt. 3 of the Great Circle Trilogy. Francine Prose (1947-), Hunters and Gatherers. Philip Pullman (1946-), The Golden Compass (Northern Lights) (July); written by a secular humanist atheist as an alternative to C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia", dissing organized religion; 12-y.-o. Lyra Bevelacqua uses an alethiometer (truth measure) to discover a path between worlds and finish the rebellion against the Authority started by Lucifer; filmed in 2007; first in the Dark Materials trilogy ("The Subtle Knife",1997, "The Amber Spyglass", 2000); really pisses-off Roman Catholics? Stanley Pottinger, The Fourth Procedure; by a former U.S. atty. gen. Christopher Priest, The Prestige; two young magicians clash in the dark during a fraudulent seance; all magic tricks consist of the pledge (introducing a woman to an audience), the turn (immersing her in a water tank and covering it), and the prestige (ripping off the cover and showing her outside, safe and dry). James Purdy (1914-2009), Epistles of Care. Anne Rice (1941-), Memnoch the Devil; Lestat helps the Devil manage Hell, and drinks the blood of Christ on the cross; 5th in the Vampire Chronicles. J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) (1950-), Naked in Death (July); first in a new "In Death" murder series, which is up to two dozen titles by 2009. Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-), Green Mars. Philip Roth (1933-2018), Sabbath's Theater; an aging man laments for his lost love. Salman Rushdie (1947-), The Moor's Last Sigh. Lawrence Sanders (1920-98), McNally's Trial. Jose Saramago (1922-2010), Blindness (Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira); an entire country is striken with "white blindness". Nathalie Sarraute (1900-99), Ici. Robert James Sawyer (1960-), The Terminal Experiment. Bernhard Schlink (1944-), The Reader (Der Vorleser); former Nazi concentration camp guard Hanna Schmitz goes on trial for war crimes, and her former 15-y.-o. lover Michael Berg (now a law student) reencounters her and learns her secrets; first German novel to go #1 on the NYT bestseller list. Melissa Scott (1960-), Trouble and Her Friends. Melissa Scott (1960-) and Lisa A. Barnett, Point of Hopes. Nicholas Shakespeare (1957-), The Dancer Upstairs; based on Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman; Peruvian polict lt. Agustin Rejas hunts a terrorist in 1980s Peru; filmed in 2002 by John Malkovich. Ntozake Shange (Paulette Williams) (1948-), Liliane. Anita Shreve (1946-), Resistance. Anne Rivers Siddons (1936-), Fault Lines. Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), Life Without Armour. Jane Smiley (1949-), Moo. Lee Smith (1944-), Saving Grace. Christopher Sorrentino (1963-), Sound on Sound (first novel); son of Gilbert Sorrentino (1929-2006). Gilbert Sorrentino (1929-2006), Red the Fiend. LaVyrle Spencer (1943-), Family Blessings (Mar. 1); widow Lee Reston loses her son Greg to an auto accident. Scott Spencer (1945-), Men in Black; a 40-y.-o. Jewish novelist writes a primer on UFOs; not related to the "Men in Black" movies. Norman Spinrad (1940-), Journals of the Plague Years (Aug. 1); an AIDS-like virus works its way into the gen. pop. Danielle Steel (1947-), Lightning; Five Days in Paris. Neal Stephenson (1959-), The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer; about Nell, who lives in a future world filled with nanotechnology. Amy Tan (1952-), The Hundred Secret Senses. Donald Michael Thomas (1935-), Lady with a Laptop. Roderick Thorp (1936-99), River: A Novel of the Green River Killings. Tom Tryon (1926-91), Night Magic (album). Anne Tyler (1941-), Ladder of Years. Barry Unsworth (1930-2012), Morality Play. Leon Uris (1924-2003), Redemption. Fay Weldon (1931-), Splitting. Irvine Welsh (1958-), Marabou Stork Nightmares. Paul West (1930-), The Tent of Orange Mist. Edmund White (1940-), Skinned Alive: Stories. Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), Cosmic Trigger III: My Life After Death. Births: English "Tenore", "Believe" tenor Jonathan Antoine (Jonathan and Charlotte) on Jan. 13 in Essex. Am. 5'11 football CB (Buffalo Bills #27, 2017-) Tre'Davious White Sr. on Jan. 16 in Shreveport, La.; educated at LSU. Am. celeb martyr (black) Trayvon Benjamin Martin (d. 2012) on Feb. 5 in Miami, Fla. Serbian 7'0" basketball center (Denver Nuggets #15, 2015-) Nikola Jokic on Feb. 15 in Sombor. Am. "Like a Stallion", "Thot Shit", "WAP" rapper (black) Megan Thee Stallion (Megan Jovon Ruth Pete) on Feb. 15 in San Antonio, Tex.; educated at Prairie View A&M U&. Canadian 6'8" basketball player (black) (Minnesota Timberwolves #22, 2014-) Andrew Christian Wiggins on Feb. 23 in Toronto, Ont.; educated at the U. of Kan. Am. 6'5" basketball player (black) (Minnesota Timberwolves #8, 2014-) Zachary "Zach" LaVine on Mar. 10 in Renton, Wash.; educated at UCLA. Am. 6'8" basketball player (black) (Mormon) (Milwaukee Bucks #12, 2014-) Jabari Ali Parker on Mar. 15 in Chicago, Ill.; educated at Duke U.; son of Sonny Parker (1955-). Am. "Ruby in According to Jim" actress Taylor Marie Atelian on Mar. 27 in Santa Barbara, Calif. Am. 6'1" football QB (Cleveland Browns, 2018-) Baker Reagan Mayfield on Apr. 14 in Austin, Tex.; educated at the U. of Okla. Am. "Justin Shanowski in Hope & Faith" actor Paulie Litt (Litowsky) on Apr. 17; "a 40-year-old caught in an 8-year-old's body" (Regis Philbin). Am. "You Should Be Here", "Distraction" singer-songwriter Kehlani (Parrish) (Poplyfe) on Apr. 24 in Oakland, Calif. Mexican baseball pitcher (Houston Astros #65, 2019-) Jose Luid Urquidy (Hernandez) on May 1 in Mazatlan. Am. "Noah Newman in The Young and the Restless" actor Blake Michael Woodruff on June 19 in Flagstaff, Ariz. South African 5'7" Miss Universe 2017 Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters on June 25 in Sedgefield, Western Cape; educated at North-West U. English "Lucy Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" actress Georgina Helen "Georgie" Henley on July 9 in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Am. baseball 1B player (Los Angeles Dodgers #35, 2017-22) Cody James Bellinger on July 13 in Scottsdale, Ariz.; son of Clay Bellinger (1968-). Am. 5'10" football RB (New Orleans Saints #41, 2017-) (black) Alvin Mentian Kamara on July 25 in Atlanta, Ga.; Liberian immigrant mother; educated at the U. of Tenn.; ties 1929 record of 6 TDs in one game on Dec. 25, 2020 vs. Minn. Vikings. Latvian 7'2" basketball player (New York Knicks #6, 2015-19) (Dallas Mavericks #6, 2019-22) Kristaps Porzingis on Aug. 2 in Liepaja. Am. 6'6" basketball player (black) (Boston Celtics, 2014-17, Philadelphia 76ers, 2018-) James Young on Aug. 16 in Flint, Mich.; educated at the U. of Ky. Am. 6'10" basketball player (black) (Charlotte Hornets #11, 2014-) Noah Vonleh on Aug. 24 in Haverhill, Mass.; educated at the U. of Ind. Am. football 6'2-1/2" QB (Kansas City Chiefs #15, 2017-) Patrick Lavon Mahomes II on Sept. 17 in Tyler, Tex.; son of Pat Mahomes (1970-); godson of LaTroy Hawkins (1972-); educated at Texas Tech. Am. model Kendall Nicole Jenner on Nov. 3 in Los Angeles, Calif.; daughter of Bruce Jenner and Kris Jenner; sister of Kylie Jenner; middle name is a tribute to mother's best friend Nicole Brown Simpson. Dominican-Am. 6'11" basketball center-forward (black) (Minn. Timberwolves #12, 2015-) Karl-Anthony Towns Jr. on Nov. 15 in Piscataway, N.J.; African-Am. father, Dominican mother; educated at the U. of Ky. Filipino 6'2" pole vaulter Ernest Obiena on Nov. 17; educated at the U. of Santo Tomas. Am. 6'11" basketball player (black) (Philadelphia 76ers #8, 2015-17) (Brooklyn Nets #4, 2017-) Jahlil Okafor on Dec. 15 in Fort Smith, Ark.; educated at Duke U.; distant cousin of Emeka Okafor (1982-). Am. "Kyle Scheible in Lady Bird", "Elio Perlman in Call Me by Your Name" actor (Jewish) Timothee (Timothée) Hal Chalamet on Dec. 27 in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, N.Y.; French immigrant father, Jewish Russian-Austrian descent mother; educated at Columbia U. Deaths: Am. "Damn Yankees", "Fiorello!" writer-dir.-producer George Francis Abbott (b. 1887) on Jan. 31 in Miami Beach, Fla. (stroke). Am. Kennedy family matriarch Rose Kennedy (b. 1890) on Jan. 22; wife of Joseph P., and mother of John F., Robert F., and Edward M.: "Birds sing after a storm - why shouldn't we?" Am. advertising exec Edward Bernays (b. 1891) on Mar. 9. Am. writer Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany (b. 1891) on Sept. 25. Russian-born Am. lexicographer-musicologist Nicolas Slonimsky (b. 1894) on Dec. 25. Indian PM #4 (1977-9) Morarji Desai (b. 1896) on Apr. 10 in Mumbai. Am. Maine Repub. politician Margaret Chase Smith (b. 1897) on May 29; first woman elected to both houses of Congress (House in 1940-8, Senate in 1949-72); staunch opponent of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Am. "Life" mag. photographer (1936-74) Alfred Eisenstaedt (b. 1898) on Aug. 23. Am. "Phantom of the Opera" film dir. Arthur Lubin (b. 1898) on May 12 in Glendale, Calif. U.S. Adm. Jerauld Wright (b. 1898) on Apr. 27 in Washington, D.C. Am. "Abbott and Costello", "Francis the Talking Mule", "Mr. Ed" film dir. Arthur Lubin (b. 1899) on May 11. Am. "The Bog Guide" playwright May Miller (b. 1899) on Feb. 8 in Washington, D.C. Am. Texas Instruments co-founder John Erik Jonsson (b. 1901) on Aug. 31. Dutch astronomer Peter van de Kamp (b. 1901) on May 18 in Amsterdam. Am. "Casablanca", "War of the Worlds" screenwriter Howard Koch (b. 1902) on Aug. 17. Am. radical Socialist writer and ACLU dir. Corliss Lamont (b. 1902) on Apr. 26 in Ossining, N.Y. Hungarian-born Am. physicist Eugene P. Wigner (b. 1902) on Jan. 1 in Princeton, N.J.; 1963 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. digital computer inventor John Vincent Atanasoff (b. 1903) on June 15 in Frederick, Md. German sex hormone scientist Adolph Butenandt (b. 1903) on Jan. 18 in Munich; 1939 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. "Torrey in Shane", "Wilmer in Maltese Falcon", "Icepick in Magnum P.I." actor Elisha Cook Jr. (b. 1903) on May 18 in Big Pine, Calif. British Conservative PM (1963-4) Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Lord Home of the Hirsel (b. 1903) on Oct. 9 in the Hirsel, Coldstream, Berwickshire. Am. historian-writer Paul Horgan (b. 1903) on Mar. 8 in Middletown, Conn. Irish physicist Earnest T.S. Walton (b. 1903) on June 25; 1951 Nobel Physics Prize. Canadian poet Earle Birney (b. 1904) on Sept. 3 (heart attack). Am. bandleader Phil Harris (b. 1904) on Aug. 11 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Am. auto racer Louis Meyer (b. 1904) on Nov. 7 in Searchlight, Nev. Am. physicist (digital computer pioneer) George Robert Stibitz (b. 1904) on Jan. 31. English "Ayleborne in Star Trek" actor John Abbott (b. 1905) on May 24 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. Miss America #1 ( 1921) Margaret G. Cahill (b. 1905) on Oct. 1. Am. Sen. (D-Ark.) (1945-74) J. William Fulbright (b. 1905) on Feb. 9 in Washington, D.C.; chmn. of the Sen. Foreign Relations Committee (1959-74). Am. first Miss America (1921) Margaret Gorman (b. 1905) on Oct. 1 in Bowie, Md. U.S. HEW secy. #1 (1953-5) Oveta Culp Hobby (b. 1905) on Aug. 16. French Algiers Putsch gen. Edmond Jouhaud (b. 1905) on Sept. 4 in Royan. Am. Gray Panthers founder Maggie Kuhn (b. 1905) on Apr. 22. Am. "The Teahouse of the August Moon" playwright John Patrick (b. 1905) on Nov. 7 in Delray Beach, Fla. (suicide). Am. inventor-philosopher Arthur Middleton Young (b. 1905) on May 30 in Berkeley, Calif. Am. "Men in White" dramatist Sidney Kingsley (b. 1906) on Oct. 18. Israeli archeologist Benjamin Mazar (b. 1906) on Sept. 9. Russian-born Am. writer Henry Roth (b. 1906). Am. TV journalist John Cameron Swayze (b. 1906) on Aug. 15 in Sarasota, Fla. Chinese Communist leader Chen Yun (b. 1906) on Apr. 10. U.S. chief justice #15 (1969-86) Warren Earl Burger (b. 1907) on June 25 in Washington, D.C. Am. aviator Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan (b. 1907) on Dec. 9. Am. Mormon pres. #14 (1994-5) Howard W. Hunter (b. 1907) on Mar. 3 in Salt Lake City, Utah. English economist James Edward Meade (b. 1907) on Dec. 22 in Cambridge; 1977 Nobel Econ. Prize. Am. poker player Johnny Moss (b. 1907) on Dec. 16. Burmese spiritual leader U Nu (b. 1907) on Feb. 14 in Yangon. German-born British physicist Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls (b. 1907) on Sept. 19 in Oxford. Am. "I Love the Way You Say Goodnight" songwriter Eddie Pola (b. 1907) on Nov. 3 in Medford, Ore. Am. gourmet popcorn king Orville Redenbacher (b. 1907) on Sept. 19 in Coronado, Calif. (heart attack in his Jacuzzi). Am. Repub. politician George W. Romney (b. 1907) on July 26 in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Swedish plasma physicist Hannes Olof Gosta Alfven (b. 1908) on Apr. 2 in Djursholm; 1970 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. "Nature Boy" songwriter eden ahbez (b. 1908) on Mar. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. (car accident). French "Feelings" songwriter Louis Gaste (b. 1908) on Jan. 8 in Rueil-Malmaison; composed 1.2K songs. Am. actress Lita Grey (b. 1908) on Dec. 29 in Los Angeles, Calif. (cancer). Am. country musician Billy Hughes (b. 1908) on May 6 in Horatio, Ark. Singapore PM #1 1955-6) David Saul Marshall (b. 1908) on Dec. 12 in Singapore (lung cancer). Am. singer-actor Burl Ives (b. 1909) on Apr. 14 in Anacortes, Wash. (oral cancer). Am. historian Elting Elmore Morison (b. 1909) on Apr. 20 in Peterborough, N.H. Scottish-born Am. journalist James "Scotty" Reston (b. 1909) on Dec. 6 (cancer). Am. physicist Nathan Rosen (b. 1909) on Dec. 18 in Haifa, Israel. English poet Stephen Spender (b. 1909) on July 16 in Westminster, London (heart failure); the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust is founded in 1997. Am. speed-reading teacher Evelyn Wood (b. 1909) on Aug. 26 in Tucson, Ariz. Indian-born Am. astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (b. 1910) on Aug. 21 in Chicago, Ill.; 1983 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. "I'm OK, You're OK" psychiatrist Thomas A. Harris (b. 1910). Am. "Cavalcade of Stars" actor Jerry Lester (b. 1910) on Mar. 23 in Miami, Fla. Italian celeb Edda Mussolini (b. 1910) on Apr. 9 in Rome. Russian chess champ #6 (1948-57, 1958-60, 1961-3) Mikhail Botvinnik (b. 1911) on May 5 in Moscow: "Chess is the art of analysis." Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran (b. 1911) on June 21 in Paris, France: "History proves nothing because it contains everything"; "Isn't history ultimately the result of our fear of boredom?"; "That history just unfolds, independently of a specified direction, of a goal, no one is willing to admit." "Read day and night, devour books - these sleeping pills - not to know but to forget! Through books you can retrace your way back to the origins of spleen, discarding history and its illusions"; "History shows that the thinkers who mounted on the top of the ladder of questions, who set their foot on the last rung, that of the absurd, have bequeathed to posterity only an example of sterility." Am. "Time After Time", "The Body Snatchers" sci-fi writer Jack Finney (b. 1911) on Nov. 16. Am. astrophysicist William Alfred Fowler (b. 1911) on Mar. 14 in Pasadena, Calif.; 1983 Nobel Physics Prize. English "Friar Domingo in Shogun", "Squire Thomas Banks in Disney's Swamp Fox" actor Sir Michael Hordern (b. 1911) on May 2 in Oxford (kidney disease). Am. hall-of-fame bowler Harry L. Lippe (b. 1911) on Oct. 1 in Chicago, Ill. Am. "Prissy on Gone With the Wind" actress Butterfly McQueen (b. 1911) on Dec. 22. Am. actress-dancer Ginger Rogers (b. 1911) on Apr. 25. Am. automotive designer Brooks Stevens (b. 1911) on Jan. 4 in Milwaukee, Wisc. British UFologist Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th earl of Clancarty (b. 1911) on May 18 in Bexhill-on-Sea. Am. "Ellen Stillfield in Designing Women" actress Benay Venuta (b. 1911) on Sept. 1 in New York City (lung cancer). Canadian hockey hall-of-fame player-coach Toe Blake (b. 1912) on May 17 in Montreal, Quebec (pneumonia and Alzheimer's). Am. Dem. politician Tip O'Neill (b. 1912) on Jan. 5 in Boston, Mass. Canadian writer George Woodcock (b. 1912) on Jan. 28. British Gen. Edward Williams (b. 1912) on June 26. Canadian novelist Robertson Davies (b. 1913) on Dec. 2 in Orangeville, Ont. Norwegian-born British historian Ragnhild Marie Hatton (b. 1913) on May 16 in London. English novelist Edith Mary Pargeter (b. 1913) on Oct. 14. British RAF Capt. Sir Peter Guy Wykeham-Barnes (b. 1913) on Feb. 23. Am. "Meet Me in St. Louis" songwriter Ralph Blane (b. 1914) on Nov. 13 in Broken Arrow, Okla. Am. football player Jim Lee Howell (b. 1914). English-born Am. actress-dir. Ida Lupino (b. 1914) on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles, Calif. (stroke/colon cancer). German SS Col. Max Wunsche (b. 1914) on Apr. 17 in Munich. Am. polio vaccine developer Dr. Jonas Salk (b. 1914) on June 23 in La Jolla, Calif. Am. actress Priscilla Lane (b. 1915) on Apr. 4 in Andover, Mass. (lung cancer). Am. "Out of the Body" writer Bob Monroe (b. 1915) on Mar. 17. Am. Andrews Sisters singer Maxine Andrews (b. 1916) on Oct. 21. Am. paperback pub. (founder of Penguin U.S.A., Bantam Books, Ballantine Books) Ian Ballantine (b. 1916) on Mar. 9. Scottish "All Creatures Great and Small" writer James Herriot (b. 1916) on Feb. 23 in Thirlby, England (prostate cancer). Am. actor-dir.-writer Robert R. Parrish (b. 1916) on Dec. 4 in Southampton, Long Island, N.Y. British Labour Party leader (1963-76) and PM (1964-70, 1974-6) Lord Harold Wilson (b. 1916) on May 24 in London. Am. "Wishbone in Rawhide" actor Paul Brinegar (b. 1917) on Mar. 27 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. composer Ulysses Kay (b. 1917) on May 20 in Englewood, N.J. Am. Rat Pack singer-actor Dean Martin (b. 1917) on Dec. 25. Am. "Monday Night Football" sportscaster Howard Cosell (b. 1918) on Apr. 23 in New York City (cardiac embolism): "Sports is the toy department of human life." British-born actress-dir. Ida Lupino (b. 1918) on Aug. 3; one of Hollywood's first female movie dirs. Am. "Battle of the Sexes" tennis star Bobby Riggs (b. 1918) on Oct. 25 in Encinitas, Calif. (prostate cancer). Am. TV journalist John Albert Scali (b. 1918) on Oct. 9 in Washington, D.C. Am. photojournalist Ike Altgens (b. 1919) on Dec. 12 in Dallas, Tex. Somalian pres. #3 (1969-91) Mohamed Siad Barre (b. 1919) on Jan. 2 in Lagos, Nigeria (heart attack). Am. computer pioneer J. Presper Eckert Jr. (b. 1919) on June 3 in Bryn Mawr, Penn. Am. atty. William Kunstler (b. 1919) on Sept. 4 in New York City (heart failure): "We have become the charnel house of the Western world with reference to executions. The next closest to us is the Republic of South Africa." Am. Atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair (b. 1919) on Sept. 28 in Austin, Tex. (murdered): "When you're dead, you're dead, and that's it. You return to an organic mass that starts to rot. Once the brain has deteriorated, your unique personality is gone. There is nothing there." English "Halloween" actor Donald Pleasence (b. 1919) on Feb. 2 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Alpes-Maritimes, France. Am. anthropologist John H. Weakland (b. 1919) on July 18 in Palo Alto, Calif. Russian-born Am. artist Rudolph Franz Zallinger (b. 1919) on Aug. 1. Am. nudist photographer Ed Lange (b. 1920) on May 7 in Reno, Nev. Am. "The Postman Always Rings Twice" actress Lana Turner (b. 1920) on June 29 in Century City, Los Angeles, Calif. (cancer). Am. Kitty Litter inventor Edward H. Lowe (b. 1920) on Oct. 4. Soviet cosmonaut Georgi T. Beregovoi (b. 1921) on June 30. German WWII soldier hero Fritz Christen (b. 1921) on Sept. 23 in Neusorg. Hungarian-born "Green Acres" actress Eva Gabor (b. 1921) on July 4. Am. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" novelist Patricia Highsmith (b. 1921) on Feb. 4 in Lucarno, Switzerland (leukemia). Am. actress Nancy Kelly (b. 1921) on Jan. 2 in Bel Air, Calif. Swedish-Am. actress Viveca Lindfors (b. 1921) on Oct. 25 in Uppsala. Am. Charles Scribner's Sons head (1952-84) Charles Scribner Jr. (b. 1921) on Nov. 11. English writer Sir Kingsley Amis (b. 1922) on Oct. 22 in London (stroke). Soviet engineer Georgi Lyshchinsky (b. 1922). Am. geochemist Clair Cameron Patterson (b. 1922) on Dec. 5. Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1922) on Nov. 4 in Tel Aviv (assassinated); shared 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for achieving a peace accord with the PLO. Am. "The Graduate" screenwriter-novelist Calder Willingham (b. 1922) on Feb. 19 in Laconia, N.H. Italian contract bridge champ Giorgio Belladonna (b. 1923) on May 23. Am. "Frank Pentangeli in The Godfather Part II" actor Michael Vincenzo Gazzo (b. 1923) on Feb. 14 in Los Angeles, Calif. (stroke). Romanian psychologist Corneliu E. Giurgea (b. 1923) on Dec. 30 in Bruxelles. Am. actress Janelle Johnson (b. 1923) on Dec. 2 in Los Gatos, Calif.; mother of Micky Dolenz (1945-). English "Doctor Zhivago", "A Man for all Seasons" playwright Robert Bolt (b. 1924) on Feb. 20 in Petersfield, Hampshire. Am. actress Peggy Feury (b. 1924) on Nov. 20 in Los Angeles, Calif. (automobile accident). Am. comedian George Kirby (b. 1924) on Sept. 30. Am. "The Magic Christian", "Dr. Strangelove" writer Terry Southern (b. 1924) on Oct. 29 in New York City. Am. country singer-songwriter Jean Chapel (b. 1925) on Aug. 19 in Port Orange, Fla. Am. "Sun Signs", "Love Signs" writer Linda Goodman (b. 1925) on Oct. 21 in Colorado Springs, Colo. (diabetes). Am. playwright Charles Gordone (b. 1925) on Nov. 16 in College Station, Tex. Am. poet James Merrill (b. 1926) on Feb. 6 in Tucson, Ariz. (AIDS). Am. libertarian economist Murray Newton Rothbard (b. 1926) on Jan. 7 in New York City (heart attack): "Capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism." Am. tennis pro Pancho Gonzales (b. 1928) on July 3; dies broke? English feminist writer Brigid Brophy (b. 1929) on Aug. 7 in Louth, Lincolnshire. Am. DJ Tom Clay (b. 1929) on Nov. 22 in Los Angeles, Calif. (cancer). Am. actor-comedian Severn Darden (b. 1929) on May 27 in Santa Fe, N.M. (heart failure). German "The Neverending Story" children's writer Michael Ende (b. 1929) on Aug. 28 in Filderstadt (stomach cancer); sells 20M copies. Am. actress Roxie Roker (b. 1929) on Dec. 2 in Los Angeles, Calif. (breast cancer). Am. basketball player Bill Spivey (b. 1929) on May 8 in Quepos, Costa Rica. Am. New York City "Popeye Doyle" police detective Eddie Egan (b. 1930) on Nov. 4. Am. novelist Stanley Elkin (b. 1930) on May 31 in St. Louis, Mo. Am. singer-songwriter Jimmy Keyes (b. 1930) on July 22; helped write "Sh-Boom", the song that made his group The Chords the first R&B group to reach pop music's top-10. Soviet dissident writer Vladimir Maximov (b. 1930) on Mar. 26 in Paris, France. Am. baseball hall-of-fame player Mickey Mantle (b. 1931) on Aug. 13; dies after receiving a liver transplant on June 8 and finding that he also has lung cancer; starred with the New York Yankees in 1951-68; holds the record for most lifetime homers by a switch hitter (536); on Oct. 30 former Yankee Stadium security guard Robert Pagani (1952-) is arrested after he places an offer for $27.5K on the Internet to sell a bronze bust of Mantle commemorating his 500th ML homer that had disappeared from the stadium. Am. "Laramie" actor John Smith (b. 1931) on Jan. 25 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am R&B singer Junior Walker (b. 1931) on Nov. 23 in Battle Creek, Mich. (cancer). French New Wave film dir. Louis Malle (b. 1932) on Nov. 23. Am. "Behind Closed Doors", "The Most Beautiful Girl" country singer-songwriter Charlie Rich (b. 1932) on July 25 in Hammond, La. (blood clot in lung). Am. "Helen Crump in The Andy Griffith Show" Aneta Corsaut (b. 1933) on Nov. 6 in Studio City, Calif. (cancer). Am. "Officer Ed Wells in Adam-12" singer-actor Gary Crosby (b. 1933) on Aug. 24 in Burbank, Calif. (lung cancer); son of Bing Crosby (1903-77), with whom he recorded duets. English crime boss Ronnie Kray (b. 1933) on Mar. 17 in Wexham. Am. "Samantha on Bewitched" actress Elizabeth Montgomery (b. 1933) on May 18 (colon cancer). Somalian pres. #5 (1995-6) Gen. Mohamed Ali Farrah Aidid (b. 1934) on Aug. 2 in Mogadishu (heart attack). English "Stand on Zanzibar" novelist John Brunner (b. 1934) on Aug. 26 in Glasgow, Scotland (heart attack); dies while attending the World Science Fiction Convention. Am. "Dr. Donald Westphall in St. Elsewhere" actor Ed Flanders (b. 1934) on Feb. 22 in Denny, Calif. (suicide). Scottish dir. Gordon Flemyng (b. 1934) on July 12 in London. British "Sherlock Holmes" actor Jeremy Brett (Peter Jeremy Huggins) (b. 1935) on Sept. 12. Am. "The Virginian" actor Doug McClure (b. 1935) on Feb. 5 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. (lung cancer). Am. jazz musician Don Cherry (b. 1936) on Oct. 19 in Malaga, Spain (liver cancer). Am. chef Peter Kump (b. 1937) on June 7 in East Hampton, Long Island, N.Y. (liver cancer). Am. novelist Roger Zelazny (b. 1937) on June 14 in Santa Fe, N.M. (colorectal cancer). U.S. defense secy. #18 (1993-4) Les Aspin Jr. (b. 1938) on May 21 in Washington, D.C. Am. economist Fischer Sheffey Black (b. 1938) on Aug. 30 in New York City (cancer). Am. "American Graffiti" radio disk jockey Wolfman Jack (b. 1938) on July 1 in Belvidere, N.C. (heart attack). Am. novelist Toni Cade Bambara (b. 1939) on Dec. 9 in Philadelphia, Penn. (colon cancer). Soviet-born defector ballet star and actor Alexander Godunov (b. 1940) on May 18. English rock group mgr. Tony Secunda (b. 1940) on Feb. 12 in San Anselmo, Calif. (heart attack). Am. anthropologist Ann Dunham (b. 1942) on Nov. 7 in Honolulu, Hawaii (uterine cancer); mother of Pres. Obama. Am. "The Temptations" singer Melvin Franklin (b. 1942) on Feb. 23 in Los Angeles, Calif. (brain seizure). Am. "Grateful Dead" guitarist-vocalist Jerry Garcia (b. 1942) on Aug. 9 in Forest Knolls, Calif. (heart attack); his ashes are scattered in the Ganges River and under the Golden Gate Bridge; first rock singer to inspire an ice cream flavor, Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia; the term "cherry garcia" develops a dirty sexual meaning, related to "dirty sanchez". Am. AOL founder William F. von Meister (b. 1942) on May 18 in Great Falls, Va. (cancer). Am. "The Joy of Painting" painter Bob Ross (b. ?) on ? in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. (lymphoma) - lead pigments got to him? Am. writer Paul Monette (b. 1945) on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles, Calif. (AIDS). German biologist Georges Jean Franz Kohler (b. 1946) on Mar. 1 in Freiburg im Breisgau; 1984 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. poet Jane Kenyon (b. 1947) in Apr. (leukemia). Am. wreslter-actor Big John Studd (b. 1948) on Mar. 20 in Burke, Va. (Hodgkin's disease). Am. actress Juanin Clay (b. 1949) on Mar. 12 in Los Angeles, Calif. (breast cancer?). Russian ballet dancer-actor Alexander Godunov (b. 1949) on May 18 in West Hollywood, Calif. (alcoholism and hepatitis). Am. football quarterback (Denver Broncos #14, 1974-9) Norris Weese (b. 1951) on Jan. 20 in Denver, Colo. (bone cancer). Am. "Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird" actor John Megna (b. 1952) on Sept. 5 in Los Angeles, Calif. (AIDS). Chinese singer Teresa Teng (b. 1953) in Chiang Mai, Thailand (asthma). Am. dancer Tony Fields (b. 1958) on Feb. 27 in Dunsmuir, Calif. (AIDS). Russian figure skater Sergei Grinkov (b. 1967) on Nov. 20 in Lake Placid, N.Y. (heart attack); collapses on the ice while practicing with his babe Ekaterina Gordeeva. Welsh Manic Street Preachers musician Richey Edwards on Feb. 1 (disappears - presumed deceased). Tahitian celeb Cheyenne Brando (b. 1970) on Apr. 16 in Tahiti (suicide). Am. Tejana singing star Selena (b. 1971) on Mar. 31 in Corpus Christi, Tex. (murdered by fan club pres. Yolanda Saldivar) - the good die young?
1996 Doomsday Clock: 14 min. to midnight. Chinese Year: Rat (Feb. 19) (lunar year 4694). Time Mag. Man of the Year: Dr. David Ho (1952-) (AIDS researcher). Most popular U.S. baby names: Jacob, Emily. Beginning this year Generation Z (Zog) people begin to be born (until 2002), the first to grow up with the Internet; a record 15.9% identify as LGBT, with almost 75% identifying as bi. France creates 751 Zones Urbaines Sensibles (ZUS), no-go zones controlled by Muslim Sharia, incl. two in Carcassone and 12 in Marseilles, with a total pop. of 5M, places that the French govt. doesn't control and which police avoid. Starting this year the Christian pop. of the Middle East begins declining from 7% this year to 1.5% by the end of 2016. On Jan. 1 USC defeats Northwestern by 41-32 to win the 1996 Rose Bowl. On Jan. 1 the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission, the first regulatory agency in the U.S. (founded 1887) is abolished. On Jan. 5 after his own Social Dem. party pressures him to quit for failing to end a 4-year recession, Japanese PM Tomiichi Murayama announces his resignation, and on Jan. 11 Ryutaro Hashimoto (1937-2006) of the Liberal Dem. Party (LDP) becomes PM #82 of Japan (until July 30,1998), leading a 3-party coalition - I'm rooting for Ryutaro? Nothing starts or moves, everything breaks? On Jan. 6-9 a record blizzard hits the E coast of the U.S., dumping 30.7 in. of snow on Philly, 20.6 in. on New York City, and 18.2 in. on Boston. Can we eat our bananas in peace at last? On Jan. 7 Center-Right Nat. Advancement Party candidate Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen (1947-) is elected to a 4-year term as pres. of Guatemala (until 2000), and is sworn-in on Jan. 14; on Jan. 19 he dismisses eight generals and several colonels, incl. CIA informant Col. Julio Roberto Alpirez, who had been linked to at least two murders; rebels are impressed enough to suspend activities pending peace negotiations, which Irigoyen holds on Feb. 25 with leaders of the rebel Guatemalan Nat. Rev. Union (URNG) in Mexico City, becoming the first Guatemalan pres. to meet with the rebels since the war began in 1960; on Sept. 19 they sign a treaty, followed on Dec. 29 by a final peace agreement which incl. broad amnesty; too bad, political violence continues? On Jan. 8 Robert Hoskins (1957-) (not the British actor born in 1942) is convicted of assault, stalking, and threatening to kill rock star Madonna (1958-), receiving a 10-year prison sentence. On Jan. 8 New York Times columnist William Lewis Safire (Safir) (1929-2009) calls First Lady Hillary Clinton a "congenital liar" with regard to her role in Whitewater; the Dems. dismiss it as election year politicking. On Jan. 9 Chechen rebels raid Kizlyar in Dagestan, seize a hospital and apt. house, and take 3.4K hostages, announcing that they will shoot them a few at a time until Russian troops withdraw from Chechnya. On Jan. 9 3rd Rock from the Sun debuts on NBC-TV for 139 episodes (until May 22, 2001), about four ETs sent to the insignificant planet Earth to Rutherford (near Cleveland), Ohio to pose as a human family and observe humans, starring John Arthur Lithgow (1945-) as Dick Solomon, Kristen Johnston (1967-) as Sally Solomon, Milton French Stewart (1964-) as Harry Solomon, and Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (1981-) as Tommy Solomon; also stars Jane Therese Curtin (1947-) as Dick's human anthropologist babe Dr. Mary Margaret Albright of Pendleton State U. On Jan. 10 the Mexican govt. arrests four state officials and 17 police officers in Guerrero state for a June 1995 massacre of 17 peasants who were travelling to a leftist rally. On Jan. 11 Lamberto Dini resigns, and on Feb. 1 Antonio Maccanico (1924-) becomes PM of Italy, but after he fails to form a coalition govt. Pres. Oscar Luigi Scalfaro dissolves Parliament on Feb. 16, and on Apr. 21 a center-left coalition is formed under PM Romano Prodi (1939-) (until 1998). On Jan. 13 after it abandons the original wording of Clause IV in its constitution, Nat. Union of Mineworkers pres. (1981-2001) Arthur Scargill (1938-) breaks off from the British Labour Party to found the Socialist Labour Party. On Jan. 13, 1996 the disappearance of Amber Renee Hagerman (1986-96) in Arlington, Tex. causes the establishment of the AMBER Alerts (Child Abduction Energency) system in the U.S. for missing children. On Jan. 16 Sierra Leone's ruling body, the Nat. Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) arrests Valentine Strasser and sends him into exile, replacing him with his deputy Brig. Gen. Julius Maada Bio, who agrees to elections; in Apr. Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (1932-) of the Sierra Leone People's Party is elected pres. #3 (until 1997, then 1998-2007), and soon meets with Rev. United Front rebel leader Foday Sankoh under a ceasefire. On Jan. 18 Greek Socialist law prof. and former industry minister Costas Simitis (1936-) is chosen PM by parliament, replacing Andreas Papandreou, who resigns from ill health (liver-kidney ailments), and dies on June 23; on Jan. 22 Simitis is sworn in, and turns Greece in a pro-business pro-U.S. direction, promising to cut public spending; on Sept. 22 his Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party wins 41% of the vote and a majority in the parliament, causing New Democracy Party (conservative) leader Miltiades Evert to resign; Greece and Turkey almost go to war over the uninhabited Aegean islet of Imia (Kardak), but the U.S. mediates a settlement. On Jan. 20 Israeli elections with U.S. backing are held in the West Bank and Gaza, electing 88 members to the Palestinian Nat. Authority, with Yaser Arafat as pres., in the attempt to legitimize the govt. of the Palestinian people, but it is all rejected by the leaders of diehard Hamas. On Jan. 23 Pres. Clinton delivers his 1996 State of the Union Message, delivered after the 1995-6 U.S. federal govt. shutdown, with the soundbytes: "The era of big government is over, but we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves. We must go forward as one America, one nation working together, to meet the challenges we face together. Self-reliance and teamwork are not opposing virtues - we must have both", calling for a focus on values rather than budget, causing Repubs. to call him elitist and the last defender of the status quo. On Jan. 24 Polish PM (since 1995) Jozef Olesky announces his resignation (effective Feb. 7) after accusations of passing state secrets to Soviet KGB agents during the days of Communist rule. On Jan. 26 Hillary Clinton becomes the first First Lady subpoenaed by a grand jury, testifying about the sudden reappearance of papers detailing her legal services for a failed S&L involved in the Whitewater affair. On Jan. 28 thousands of Ethiopian Jews protest in Jerusalem over revelations of a secret Israeli govt. policy of not accepting their blood for medical transfusions, throwing rocks and tree branches and injuring 30 police officers; PM Shimon Peres later meets with reps of the 60K-member Ethiopian community and apologizes for being caught, er, for the policy. On Jan. 28 Super Bowl XXX (30) (1996) is held in Tempe, Ariz.; the Dallas Cowboys (NFC) defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC) 27-17 after Steelers QB (#12) Neil Kennedy O'Donnell (1966-) (career leader in fewest interceptions per pass attempt) serves up the easiest interceptions in SB history, with Dallas cornerback Larry Brown Jr. (1969-) snagging two, the 2nd with 4 min. left, setting up the clinching TD, and becoming MVP; Dallas defensive end (#94) Charles Lewis Haley (1964-)) becomes the first player to win five Super Bowl rings. On Jan. 29 French pres. Jacques Chirac announces an end to nuclear testing. On Jan. 29 Philly-born Du Pont heir John Eleuthere (Eleuthère) du Pont (1938-2010), own of the Foxcatcher Farm Olympic wrestling facility in Penn. is arrested for the Jan. 26 shooting of Olympic wrestling champ Dave Schultz, who lived and trained on his estate in Penn.; on Feb. 25, 1997 he is convicted. of 3rd degree murder, and is sentenced to 13-30 years, dying in prison on Dec. 9, 2010. In Jan. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia appoints his half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah (1924-) (head of the Nat. Guard) as regent to quiet rumors caused by his Nov. 1995 stroke, and on Feb. 21 resumes his duties as king, although his frail health allows Abdullah to wield much authority in a country where by law all citizens must be Muslims, torture is used to extract confessions, public employees can't talk to media, and women are treated like leprous cattle, having to cover themselves up in public and be escorted by a relative, and are prohibited from driving. Early in the eyar Donald Trump acquires the rights to the May Miss Universe pageant for $10M; his wife Marla Maples hosts it in 1996 and 1997; too bad, its ratings are already in a slide, going from 35M in 1974 to 8M in 2002; on May 17 the Miss Universe 1996 Pageant in Las Vegas, Nev. is won by 5'7" Miss Venezuela Yoseph Alicia Machado Furjado (1976-); too bad, during her reign she gains 55 lbs., causing pageant owner Donald Trump to call her "an eating machine", "Ms. Piggy", and "Ms. Housekeeping", pissing-off the PC press; she goes on to pose for the Feb. 2006 issue of Playboy, and be used by Hillary Clinton as ammo in her first debate with Trump on Sept. 26, 2016, causing dirt to be dug up on her incl. how she was the babe of a major narcotics trafficker and had his baby, how she threatened to kill a Venezuelan judge, and how a govt. witness who testified about their affair was shot to death. In Jan. Gran Teatro La Fenice opera house in Venice, birthplace of Verdi's "La Traviata" and Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" burns down (probable arson), becoming the last opera house in a city that once boasted a dozen; Am. journalist John Berendt arrives three days later and starts researching his 2005 book The City of Falling Angels. In Jan. NBC has the top four most popular TV series, and six out of the top 10: ER (#1), Seinfeld (2), Friends (3), Caroline in the City (4), The Single Guy (5), and Frasier (9); Home Improvement (6), NYPD Blue (8), and 20/20 (10) are ABC, and 60 Minutes (7) is CBS. On Feb. 1 the U.S. Congress passes the U.S. Communications Decency Act, causing the Web to go black on Feb. 8 as a protest against it, followed by the filing of a lawsuit by the ACLU and a huge coalition of free speech interests on Feb. 26 (ends 1997). And first prize goes to the math student? On Feb. 2 the first in a long string of Am. School Rage Shootings takes place when a 14-y.-o. boy wearing a trench coat walks into an algebra class in Moses Lake, Wash. with a hunting rifle and kills the teacher and two students. On Feb. 3 a 7.0 earthquake strikes N of Lijian City in Yunnan Province in China, killing 250 and injuring 15K. On Feb. 5 the Napalese govt. announces that archeologists have discovered the birthplace of Buddha in Lumbini, Nepal - book your reservations now? On Feb. 6 Pres. Clinton approves the launch of four U.S. comm satellites on Chinese rockets as Wang Jung of the Chinese satellite co. CITIC visits the White House; on Feb. 8 in a ceremony at the Library of Congress, Clinton signs legislation revamping the telecommunications industry, saying it will "bring the future to our doorstep"; too bad, on Feb. 14 a Chinese rocket carrying a Loral Intelsat satellite explodes, destroying a Chinese village. On Feb. 7 Lavalas Party candidate Rene Preval (1943-) succeeds Jean-Bertrand Aristide as pres. of Haiti (until Feb. 7, 2001). On Feb. 8 Pres. Clinton signs the 1996 U.S. Telecommunications Act, revamping the telecommunications industry for the first time since 1934 by deregulating it, incl. the Internet in spectrum and broadcasting allotment and permitting media cross-ownership (Title 3). On Feb. 10 the Docklands Bomb destroys an office complex in London, killing two and injuring 100; the IRA claims responsibility, breaking the ceasefire after deciding that the British govt. is not serious about peace talks. On Feb. 10 (8:10 a.m.) (Sat.) the Toyohama Tunnel collapses in Japan, trapping and killing 20 motorists under a mountain. On Feb. 12 Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas wins the Iowa caucuses by a narrow margin; on Feb. 18 Sen. Phil Gramm of Tex. withdraws from the race, endorsing Dole. On Feb. 15 an oil tanker Sea Empress runs around off St. Anne's Head near Milford Haven on the coast of Wales, spilling 19M gal. of oil into the sea. On Feb. 15 former Congressional Black Caucus (1992-4) chmn. Kweisi Mfume (1948-) (pr. kwah-EE-see oom-FOO-may) (Swahili "son of conquering kings") (born Frizzell Gray in Baltimore) is named pres. and CEO of the NAACP, inheriting debts and scandals involving former exec. dir. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. On Feb. 16 eleven passengers die when an Amtrak train collides with a commuter train in Silver Spring, Md. outside Washington, D.C. - see an upcoming James Bond 007 movie? On Feb. 16 leftist protesters led by the Dem. Rev. Party end a 3-week blockade of about 60 state-owned oil wells in the Mexican state of Tabasco, accusing state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos of polluting the environment; meanwhile the Mexican govt. signs the first of six formal peace accords with Zaptista rebels in Chiapas to end the Zaptista Uprising (begun 1994). On Feb. 18 (22:38) the IRA prematurely explodes a bomb in the double-decker Aldwych bus in C London, killing the bomber Edward O'Brien and injuring eight. On Feb. 18 a conference is held in Rome by the Balkan presidents, who reaffirm their peace treaty. On Feb. 20 Russian troops attack and take the Chechnyan stronghold of Novogroznensky. On Feb. 20 Pat Buchanan wins the N.H. Repub. pres. primary, with Dole coming in 2nd. On Feb. 20 Saddam Hussein orders the killing of two sons-in-law, Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel, who had defected to Jordan last year but returned to Baghdad after receiving guarantees of their safety, and on Feb. 23 they are executed by members of their own clan; their wives are granted divorces first on Feb. 19. On Feb. 21 Russia launches Soyuz TM-23, carrying cosmonauts Yuri Ivanovich Onufrienko (1961-) and Yury Vladimirovich Usachov (1957-); on Aug. 17 Soyuz TM-24 blasts off, carrying cosmonauts Valery Grigoryevich Korzun (1953-), Alexander (Aleksandr) Yuriyevich "Sasha" Kaleri (1956-), and Claudie Andre-Deshays (André-Deshays) (Haignere) (Haigneré) (1957-) of France; TM-23 returns on Sept. 21 with Yuri Onufrienko, Yury Usachov, and Claudie Andre-Deshays; TM-24 returns next Mar. 2 with Valery Korzun, Alexander Kaleri, and Reinhold Ewald. On Feb. 22 Pope John Paul II pub. Universi Dominici Gregis, ordering that cardinals who have reached age 80 before the day the Holy See becomes vacant can't vote in the papal election. On Feb. 24 the Cuban govt. shoots down two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based Cuban refugee group Brothers to the Rescue in internat. airspace, causing Congress to pass the U.S. Helms-Burton Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act of 1996, signed by Pres. Clinton on Mar. 12, reaffirming the trade embargo, authorizing private claims to owners of property confiscated by Cuba, and denying admission to the U.S. to top execs that used or invested in property that was confiscated by Cuba's Communist govt., requiring the U.S. pres. to "determine that there exists a democratically elected government in Cuba" before restoring diplomatic recognition; the U.N. Gen. Assembly denounces it as a violation of internat. law; after Cuba tries to justify its actions, U.S. U.N. ambassador Madeleine Albright utters the soundbyte: "This is not cojones. This is cowardice", which Pres. Clinton calls "probably the most effective one-liner in the whole administration's foreign policy." On Feb. 25 two Hamas suicide bombers detonate on buses in Israel, killing 25 and injuring 80+, becoming the worst bombing since the Sept. 1993 peace accords. On Feb. 29 the Serbian Siege of Sarajevo (begun Apr. 5, 1992) ends after 12K are killed and 50K are wounded (85% civilians), and the city's pop. decreases to 335K (64%). On Feb. 29 Princess Diana announces that she has agreed to divorce Prince Charles; her Cambridge-educated Jewish atty. Anthony Julius (1956-) wins her a $23M divorce settlement. On Feb. 29 TV and entertainment execs. meet with Pres. Clinton at the White House and promise to set up a voluntary system for rating violence on TV programs by Jan. 1997. On Mar. 2 Australia sweets the Conservatives into power after 13 years of Labor govt. On Mar. 3 another Hamas suicide bomber kills 19 and wounds six on a Jerusalem bus; on Mar. 4 another Hamas bomber kills 14 and injures 100+ at a busy shopping mall in Tel Aviv. On Mar. 5 a UAW strike at brake factories in Dayton, Ohio, spreads, shutting down GM plants in North Am. and idling 83K workers until an agreement is reached on Mar. 21. On Mar. 5 Margaret Thatcher gives a speech on the 50th anniv. of Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. On Mar. 8 "Dr. Death" Dr. Jack Kevorkian is acquitted in a Mich. court of two counts of assisting in suicides, causing prosecutors to want to 'get' him even more. On Mar. 9 after defeating Social Dem. Party candidate Anibal Cavaco Silva by 54%-46%, Socialist Party candidate Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (1939-) becomes pres. of Portugal (until Mar. 9, 2006), going on to oversee the transfer of Macao's sovereignty to China in Dec. 1999 and publicly support East Timor's independence. On Mar. 10 pop singer Madonna performs "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" on the balcony of the pres. palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On Mar. 12 (Super Tuesday) Bob Dole wins seven Repub. state primaries, giving him more than two-thirds of the 996 convention delegates; on Mar. 14 millionaire Steve Forbes withdraws from the race. On Mar. 13 (9:30 a.m.) theDunblane Massacre in Scotland sees Thomas Watt Hamilton (Thomas Watt Jr.) (b. 1952) shoot and and kill 16 children and their teacher before committing suicide, becoming the deadliest mass shooting in Briitsh history (until ?); as a result the 1996 Cullen Reports result in two new firearms acts being passed, greatly restricting private firearms ownership in Britain. On Mar. 13 Pope John Paul II cancels a gen. audience because of an intestinal ailment with a fever. On Mar. 15 Haiti pres. Rene Preval announces plans to sell minority stakes in four state-owned industries in order to induce the U.S. to stop withholding economic aid because of dragging its feet in setting up a free market economy. On Mar. 16 Nigerian voters turn out in large numbers for municipal elections. On Mar. 18 a U.S. govt. announcement that job growth has been greater than expected causes stock and bond prices to fall more than 3% (the worst drop in 4 years), which nearly triggers a shutdown of the NYSE. On Mar. 19 a fire in a student-packed disco in Manila kills 150+. On Mar. 19 the Serbs relinquish Grbavica, the last Serbian-controlled suburb of Sarajevo, allowing it to be united under Bosnian Muslim control; on Mar. 18 they torch houses as they leave. On Mar. 19 a 6.9 earthquake in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in NW China destroys 50K bldgs., kills 24 and leaves 10K homeless. On Mar. 20 a Los Angeles jury finds Eric and Lyle Menendez guilty of the 1989 murder of their parents, despite all their sob stories. On Mar. 20 the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals by 3-0 rules that race may not be used as a criterion for college admission at the U. of Texas, even for the "wholesome practice of correcting perceived racial imbalance", pissing-off affirmative action proponents. On Mar. 20 Britain announces that a new strain of Creutzfeld-Jakob disease has been found in 10 British citizens that "most likely" has been transmitted through exposure to beef from cattle afflicted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), AKA mad cow disease; on Mar. 21 France and Belgium ban the importation of British beef, followed by the EU on Mar. 25; Britain gives up and agrees to a settlement with the EU on June 21. On Mar. 21 the sitcom Boston Common debuts on NBC-TV for 32 episodes (until Apr. 27, 1997), starring Boyd Pritchess as 20-something Boyd Pritchett, who deliver his sister Wyleen (Hedy Burress) to college in Boston then falls for Joy (Traylor Howard), who likes to do it while he likes to pursue chaste joy. This turns out to be a bad year for free white men in Montana? On Mar. 25 two members of the anti-govt. group called the Freemen are arrested at a remote ranch near Jordan in NE Mont., causing the other members to hole up in a ranch bldg., which is surrounded by law enforcement officers in a standoff; on June 13 the 14 remaining members surrender, ending an 81-day siege; members of the group face charges of circulating millions of dollars in bogus checks and threatening to kill a federal judge. On Mar. 25 the 68th Academy Awards in Los Angeles awards the best picture Oscar for 1995 to Paramount's Braveheart, along with best dir. to Mel Gibson; best actor goes to Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas, and best actress to Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking; Kevin Spacey gets the best supporting actor award for The Usual Suspects, and Mira Sorvino the best supporting actress award for Mighty Aphrodite; actor Christopher Reeve appears in a wheelchair to appeal for support for his new cause of spinal cord research, then repeats the performance at the Dem. Nat. Convention in Aug. On Mar. 26 Bob Dole wins the Calif. Repub. primary and declares himself the winner of the party's nomination - erectile dynsfunction jokes here? On Mar. 31 Pres. Boris N. Yeltsin announces a unilateral ceasefire in Chechnya, limited withdrawal of Russian troops, peace negotiations through a mediator, and elections to a Chechen parliament. In Mar. the opposition Liberal Party and Nat. Party coalition easily wins nat. elections in Australia, ending 13 years of the Labour Party in power; conservative John Winston Howard (1939-) becomes PM #25 of Australia (until Dec. 3, 2007); defeated PM Paul John Keating divorces his wife and goes gay; meanwhile the new xenophobic One Nation Party bites at their heels. In Mar. former dictator Mathieu Kerekou is reelected as pres. of Benin (until ?) over Nicephore Soglo, who alleges election fraud (and is probably right). On Apr. 1 Baby Bells Pacific Telesis and SBC Communications announce their merger. On Apr. 3 after a tip from his own family, authorities arrest 53-y.-o. Chicago, Ill.-born hermit Unabomber suspect Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski (1942-) in a log cabin in lonerland Lincoln, Mont., making America safer for FedEx; he had mailed 16 package bombs killing three and injuring 23 over a 17-year period (1978-95); on July 21, 2005 a federal appeals court in San Francisco orders his 40K pages of writings and other materials (seized from the cabin) sold to compensate his victims; as late as 2007 Big Ted is still fighting in court to reclaim them, still in govt. custody. On Apr. 3 U.S. commerce secy. (since 1993) Ronald Harmon "Ron" Brown (b. 1941) along with a delegation of 34 U.S. business leaders and journalists are killed when their Air Force CT-43A (modified Boeing 737) plane crashes into a mountain while attempting to land at Cilipi Airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia 2 mi. away. On Apr. 5 Marlon Brando (1924-2004) appears on Larry King Live, and after being asked about a 1979 Playboy mag. interview, he lets the cat out of the bag, saying "Hollywood is run by Jews... and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of people who are suffering because they've exploited - we have seen the nigger and greaseball, we've seen the Chink, we've seen the slit-eyed dangerous Jap, we have seen the wily Filipino, we've seen everything, but we never saw the Kike, because they knew perfectly well, that is where you draw the wagons around"; when King points out that anti-Semitic extremists will jump on his words, he adds "No, no, because I will be the first one who will appraise the Jews honestly and say thank God for the Jews." On Apr. 6 forces controlled by Charles Taylor attempt to arrest rival faction leader Roosevelt Johnson on murder charges, reigniting the 6-y.-o. Liberian civil war (begun 1989), and causing thousands of citizens to take refuge in the U.S. embassy in Monrovia. On Apr. 6 Hicksville, N.Y.-born serial murderer Robert Yale Shulman (1954-2006) is arrested after killing five women hos since Aug. 1991, and dismembering most of them; too bad, after receiving a death sentence in 1999, N.Y. dispenses with the death penalty in 2004, and his sentence is reduced to life in priz in Albany, N.Y., where he dies on Apr. 13, 2006. On Apr. 11 Israel begins Operation Grapes of Wrath air offensive against Hezbollah party leaders in Beirut and S Lebanon, conducting 1.1K airraids and using 25,132 artillery shells; too bad, on Apr. 18 the Qana Massacre sees an Israeli artillery barrage mistakenly hit the U.N. peacekeeping camp in Qana, S Lebanon, killing 106 Lebanese civilians; Israeli PM Shimon Peres describes it as a "grave error"; on Apr. 27 U.S. secy. of state Warren Christopher (deputy atty. gen. under LBJ) mediates an end to the operation; the Qana massacre is used by al-Qaida to recruit members, incl. Mohammed Atta. On Apr. 11 7-y.-o. Jessica Whitney Dubroff (b. 1988), attempting to become the youngest pilot to fly across the U.S., dies when the Cessna 177B Cardinal single-engine plane she is flying with her father and a flying instructor rashes on takeoff from an airport in Cheyenne, Wyo. during a rainstorm, killing all aboard. On Apr. 14 13K people representing 500 orgs. stage a "Fight the Right" march in San Francisco, Calif. against the Am. radical right. On Apr. 15 the U.S. agrees to return to Japan 10 military installations on Okinawa, giving up 20% of its land on the island. On Apr. 18 Egyptian gunmen fire on Greek tourists outside a Cairo hotel, killing 18. On Apr. 20 the Bolivian govt. signs an agreement ending a 1-mo. gen. strike by public sector employees. On Apr. 21 Chechen pres. (since Nov. 9, 1991) Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev (b. 1944) is killed by a Russian missile in revenge for the ambushing of a Russian convoy. On Apr. 22 Gen. Lino Cesar Oviedo refuses a pres. order to resign as army chief of staff, bringing Paraguay to the brink of a military coup, but he backs down, calls himself a "soldier for democracy", and announces that he will run for pres. himself in 1998. On Apr. 22 Baby Bells Nynex Corp. and Bell Atlantic announce their merger in a $22.1B deal, creating America's largest telecom firm. On Apr. 23 5K items from the estate of Jackie O., "the Cleopatra of the modern era" (Oleg Cassini) are auctioned off in New York, bringing in $35M. On Apr. 24 the main assembly of the PLO bows to demands from leader Yasir Arafat and votes to strike the clause from its 32-y.-o. charter calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. On Apr. 24 the Japanese "Trial of the Century" of Aum Shinrikyo sect founder Shoko Asahara for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack opens; he claims to be Christ; after being found guilty on 13 of 17 charges, he is sentenced to be hanged on Feb. 27, 2004. On Apr. 25 retired cricketer Imran Khan Niazi (1952-) founds the moderate Muslim Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice) party. On Apr. 26 the New Gingrich-sponsored U.S. Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act is passed, making it a federal felony for any American to provide "training", "expert advice or assistance", or "service" to any group that the U.S. govt. designates as a terrorist org., and making it hard for courts to grant habeas corpus relief; too bad, after lobbying by Bush backer Grover Glenn Norquist (1956-), a section permitting "secret evidence" to be used is stricken 2 mo. before 9/11 in July 2001. On Apr. 28 Australian gunman Martin John Bryant (1967-) kills 35 and injures 23 at the historic colonial penal colony of Port Arthur, Tasmania near Hobart in a 20-hour siege which ends when he tries to escape a burning house with his clothes on fire; on May 9 the Australian govt. bans all guns, confiscating 650K guns with a mandatory gun buyback program, causing a sharp reduction in murders and suicides; in Dec. Bryant is sentenced to life in prison; meanwhile the number of privately-owned guns in the U.S. goes from 192M in 1994 to 310M in 2009, while the firearm-related murder and homicide rate falls from 6.6 to 3.6 per 100K in 2000 and 3.2 in 2011 - Barack Obama doesn't like the second part? On Apr. 29 Pres. Clinton testifies by videotape in a closed White House session as a witness for the defense of two of his former partners in the Whitewater real estate boondoggle. On Apr. 29 Serbs armed only with sticks and rocks kill three Muslim refugees and wound dozens more as the latter attempt to revisit their homes and cemeteries. On May 1 200K union workers in Mexico City protest the economic crisis triggered by the 1994 devaluation of the peso, ignoring an official cancellation of the march by the Confed. of Mexican Workers. On May 1 the Jehovah's Witnesses flip-flop on decades of refusal to permit members to perform alternate service (hospital work, etc.) instead of military service, and begin permitting it, with restrictions (no help with blood transfusions, etc.). On May 3 fuel prices in the U.S. rise again, 5 cents in the previous six days, 17 cents in the previous 10 weeks. On May 4 Jose Maria Aznar (1953-) becomes PM #76 of Spain (until Apr. 16, 2004), its first conservative leader since Franco (1975). On May 10 India's Congress Party loses the gen. election for the first time in almost 50 years. On May 5 2.5K refugees flee Monrovia, Liberia on a Nigerian freighter, while tens of thousands flee by foot in the wake of renewed civil war violence. On May 9 the newly-elected parliament of South Africa elects Nelson Mandela as South African pres. #1. On May 10-11 after being caught in a blizzard, eight people die on 29,035-ft. Mount Everest in the deadliest single tragedy so far in its history; U.S. climber Ed Viesturs survives, and scales the mountain 6x by 2005; the area above 26K ft. is called the "death zone"; Jon Krakauer (1954-) pub. the 1997 bestseller Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster about the tragedy. On May 11 a ValuJet DC-9 en route from Miami to Atlanta catches fire and crashes into the Fla. Everglades, killing all 105 passengers and five crew, disappearing in wetland muck. On May 13 tornadoes in Chhaydana, Bangladesh (near Dhaka) kill 400+. On May 13 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court unanimously decides in U.S. v. Armstrong that racial profiling is constitutional in the absence of data that "similarly situated" defendants of another race were disparately treated, overturning the U.s. 9th Circuit Court ruling that law enforcement must proceed on "the presumption that people of all races commit all types of crimes - not with the premise that any type of crime is the exclusive province of any particular racial or ethnic group"; in 2008 it disapproves profiling of people of Arab ethnicity because "all of the persons who participated in the 9/11 terrorist attacks were Middle Eastern males". On May 15 Robert Dole announces his plans to resign as U.S. Senator from Kansas to devote all his time to his pres. campaign; he resigns on June 11. On May 16 Chief of Naval Ops. and Joint Chiefs of Staff member Adm. (Jewish) Jeremy Michael Boorda (b. 1939), the first/only CNO to rise from the enlisted ranks commits suicide, either because he was seen wearing a medal he wasn't entitled to, or because he had kissed up to the Bush and Clinton admins. on the Tailhook Scandal. On May 17 Bob Bellear (1944-2005) becomes Australia's first aboriginal judge when he is appointed to the District Court of New South Wales. On May 17 Pres. Clinton signs Megan's Law, requiring states to notify the public about sex offenders. On May 20 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 6-3 in Romer v. Evans to strike down Colo. Amendment 2 nullifying special civil rights protections for homosexuals and barring passage of any future discrimination laws, with the majority calling the provision "grounded in animus", and ruling that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. On May 22 seven reps. of China's two state-owned arms cos. are arrested by U.S. authorities on charges of smuggling illegal arms into the U.S. which they believe were en route to street gangs. On May 28 a jury in Little Rock convicts James McDougal, Susan McDougal (former business partners of Pres. Clinton), and Ark. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker of fraud and other crimes associated with bad loans issued in the 1980s by an Ark. S&L assoc.; independent federal prosecutor Ken Starr, who took over the Whitewater probe in Aug. 1994 also tries total cost is $70M. On May 29 after the fallout of the Qana Massacre, the 1996 Israeli election upsets Labor Party leader Shimon Peres in favor of right-wing Likud Party leader (great knowledge of the U.S., flawless Am. English, and made-for-TV face) Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (1949-), who on June 18 becomes the first directly-elected PM in Israel (until July 6, 1999); the Madrid/Oslo peace process advocates are set back; in 2001 Netanyahu visits a home in Ofra in the West Bank to pay condolences to the family of an Israeli man killed by Palestinians, and admits that he is fooling Pres. Clinton by making token withdrawals from the West Bank per the Oslo Accords while actually entrenching the occupation, which comes out in 2010. In May Sudan under U.S. and Saudi pressure expels Osama bin Laden, who after an invitation from Northern Alliance leader Utad Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf (1946-) moves back to Afghanistan and sets up shop with his Al-Qaida (Al-Qaeda) al-Jihad ("the base or foundation of holy war") terrorist org., which is organized into cells worldwide. In May Hillary Clinton addresses the Muslim Women's League and its parent group the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), becoming the first First Lady to address a Muslim org. outside the White House, praising them for fighting the "hatred" of Islamophobia despite their calling the Israeli response to a Palestinian bus bombing in Jerusalem a "terrorist act". On June 1 after the Congress Party is defeated in gen. elections and PM P.V. Narasimha Rao resigns, multiparty United Front leader Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (1933-) is sworn-in as PM #14 of India (until Apr. 21, 1997). On June 2 Chad holds its first pres. election since it became independent of France in 1960, and dictator Idriss Deby surprises no one by winning. On June 6 fourteen firefighters burn to death on Storm King Mt. near Glenwood Springs, Colo. On June 7 a predominantly black church in Charlotte, N.C. is burnt by arsonists, becoming the 32nd such arson in 18 mo. On June 7 Cuban Lt. Col. Jose Fernandez Pupo hijacks a Cubana An-2 plane with 10 passengers en route from Bayamo to Santiago de Cuba, landing in Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base; on May 29, 1997 he is acquitted in a U.S. court. On June 10 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules unanimously in Whren v. U.S. that police can stop drivers for supposed traffic violations when they are in fact looking for evidence of other illegal activities, disturbing many with the thought that the mere act of being accosted by a policeman can now leave you defenseless against being framed on drug charges et al. On June 10 Hezbollah terrorists ambush Israeli soldiers in a security zone in S Lebanon, killing five, causing Israel to retaliate with artillery strikes. On June 11 Bob Dole resigns, and on June 12 Trent Lott defeats his own senior senator from Miss., Thad Cochran for Repub. (majority) leader; in conjunction with House leader Newt Gingrich, Southern Repubs. now lead both houses of Congress - Kansas, Miss., Ga. - sounds like the Civil War reel running backwards? On June 12 free speech advocates score a big V when a panel of three federal judges declares major portions of the U.S. Communications Indecency Act indecent, er, unconstitutional, and block enforcement of the law; the Internet is now safe for smut, and the all-out attack on the missionary, er, traditional hetero male-female parented family is on? On June 13 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 7-2 in Jaffee v. Redmond to create a psychotherapist-patient privilege in the federal rules of evidence; Justice Antonin Scalia dissents, questioning the relative social importance of psychotherapy and the propriety of elevating pshrinks above "parents, siblings, best friends, and bartenders - none of whom was awarded a privilege against testifying in court", adding that Congress should create such a law, not the court. On June 15 (11:17 a.m.) (Sat.) the 1996 Manchester Bombing in England sees the Provisional IRA detonate a 6K-lb. bomb in a Ford lorry on Corporation St near the city shopping district, becoming the largest IRA bombing in Britain and the largest bomb to explode in Great Britain since the start of WWI; zero are killed, 212 are injured, and £411M is damage is caused; next bombing in Manchester on May 22, 2017. On June 19 the U.S. Census Bureau announces that the gap between the top 20% and the remaining 80% is wider than at any time since 1946, with 46.9% of the nation's income going to them - welcome to the casino, I'm Mister Money? On June 21 U.S. Defense Dept. officials announce that Gulf War troops may have been exposed to nerve gas when they destroyed an Iraqi ammo depot containing rockets armed with poison gas in Mar. 1991. On June 21 Pres. Ernesto Perez Balladares of Panama admits to receiving $51K for his 1994 campaign from Colombian Cali cartel member Jose Castrillon Henao. On June 23 Sheikh Hasina Wazed (1947-) (a woman), pres. of the Awami League becomes PM of Bangladesh (until July 15, 2001). On June 23 Capetown archbishop Desmond Tutu (ordained in 1961) resigns after 10 years as leader of the Anglican church in South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, and St. Helena island; he is succeeded by Archbishop Njongonkulu Winston Hugh Ndungane, who is invested on Sept. 14. On June 25 (9:50 p.m. local time) a 3K lb. truck bomb destroys the U.S. military residence of Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 servicemen and injuring 400 (incl. 250 Americans, plus Saudis and Bangladeshis), becoming the deadliest attack on U.S. forces since the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut; the complex houses Operation Southern Watch, which enforces the S Iraq no-fly zone; Iranian pres. #4 (1989-97) Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1934-2017) gets a call at 10:00 p.m. saying "The package was delivered", causing the room to break into cheers?; Arabic-speaking future CIA dir. #5 (2013-17) John Owen Brennan (1955-) is CIA station chief in Riyadh; the Clinton admin. covers up a communique implicating Iran, which is revealed only in 2015; Iranian Rev. Guards cmdr. Hadi Farhan al-Amiri later becomes transporation minister in the govt. of Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki, and is allowed to visit the Obama White House on Dec. 12, 2011 to hear him announce the end of the Iraq War; despite a 2006 U.S. federal court ruling that the Iranian govt. was behind the attack; in 2001 the Saudi govt. arrests 11 of 13 Saudi suspects, but refuses to extradite them to the U.S. (executed?); suspected mastermind Ahmed al-Mughassil, leader of the Iranian-backed Saudi militant group Hezbollah al-Hijaz is arrested in Beirut in 2015; the Saudi royal family senses that it is losing its hold on power to swelling forces of Islamic fundamentalism as the masses mumble that they have sold out to Western materialism - hey, what goes on Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas? You park the Kung-Fu, let me do the talking? On June 26 the U.N. sponsors World Anti-Drugs Day; China does their part by convicting 1,725 people of drug trafficking and taking 260+ of them straight from the courtroom to the firing squad. On June 26 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 7-1 in U.S. v. Va. to strike down the male-only admission policy of the Va. Military Inst. (VMI); Clarence Thomas recuses himself, and Justice Antonin Scalia is the only dissenter. On June 28 Turkish engineer Necmettin Erbakan (1926-) becomes PM of Turkey (until 1997). On June 28 The Citadel military school in S.C. votes to admit women after 153 years; on May 8, 1999 Nancy Mace (1987-) becomes the first to graduate - the world will end and we won't have to use her? In the summer the U.S. Congress passes the U.S. Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, radically transforming the U.S. welfare system, limiting cash benefits to most recipients to five years; some states go on and enact shorter time limits - the trajectory of your life just changed? On July 1 U.S. agents arrest 12 members of the Viper Militia for conspiring to blow up govt. buildings in Phoenix, Ariz., and on July 2 seize rifles and bomb-making materials from one of their houses, causing Pres. Clinton to praise law enforcement for making arrests "to avert a terrible terrorist attack"; later it is revealed that they were only a gun-owning group with some shoulder patches, books and mags. the govt. didn't like, but the press covers it up? On July 1 Singapore convicts a woman of possessing a Jehovah's Witness trans. of the Bible. On July 3 after shrugging off heart problems and transforming from a shaky convalescent into a spry dancing bear, Boris N. Yeltsin is reelected as pres. of Russia by an unexpectedly wide margin over Communist Party leader Gennadiy Andreyevich Zyuganov (1944-), who had earlier threatened to beat him. On July 3 the Muslim Executive of Belgium is set up by royal decrett as the official Muslim interlocutor of the Belgian govt. On July 4 storms dumping ujp to 22 in. of rain flood 1.75M acres of farmland in nine C and S Chinese provinces, killing 270. On July 5 the U.S. govt. reports that employment is booming and wages are rising, causing Dow Jones Industrial stocks to begin a downtrend. On July 10 Russia violates its peace accord with the Chechens and bombards two villages 20 mi. S of Grozny. On July 11 the 11th Int. AIDS Conference in Vancouver, Canada announces that the HIV virus can be successfully suppressed for significant periods of time with the Triple Cocktail Therapy (perfect name for male homos?), developed by Taiwan-born David Da-i Ho (1952-), who becomes Time mag.'s Man of the Year; the research was made possible by the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, funded by rich former Hollywood scout and real estate developer's wife Irene Diamond (nee Levine) (1911-2003); too bad that it costs as much as $16K a year and requires taking 30-50 pills a day at varying intervals with varying dietary restrictions - call today about our $99 special? On July 12 Prince Charles and Lady Diana announce that they have agreed to a divorce, which is granted by the British court on Aug. 28, giving both equal access to their sons William and Harry, and giving Diana a lump sum of $26M, her Kensington Palace apt., and the title of princess, making her give up the right to be queen and to use the title of HRH (her royal highness) - break out the tiger-striped bathing suits? On July 15 MSNBC debuts, with Jodi Applegate (1964-) as its first news anchor; Soledad O'Brien (1966-) hosts The Site, about the Dot Com explosion (later bubble). On July 16-Aug. 9, a swarm of 4,070 earthquakes is recorded in the Lo'ihi (Loihi) Seamount 22 mi. SE of the Big Island of Hawaii 3K ft. (975m) below sea level on the flank of Mauna Loa, becoming a record (until ?); on Oct. 5 it is reported to be rising so fast that it will break the surface in only 50K years. On July 17 (8:31 p.m. EDT) TWA Flight 800 (Boeing 747-131) 12 min. after takeoff from JFK Airport in New York City to Rome via Paris explodes in midair and crashes into the ocean near East Moriches, N.Y. off Long Island, killing all 230 passengers and crew; 200 witnesses claim they see a missile rise from the ocean and strike the plane, but the govt. settles on the story that a spark ignited the central fuel tank; scuba divers search for wreckage for 3 mo. (ending Nov. 3), recovering 95% of the plane for reconstruction and analysis; it was a bomb masterminded by WTC mastermind Ramzi Youssef? - the coverup is complete? On July 18 the PRI-dominated commission investigating an alleged $7M bribe paid by Mexican pres. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon (while a senior budget official in 1989) suddenly cancels its investigation. On July 19 134 nations meeting in the U.S. sign an agreement to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to certain target levels; Australia, Russia, and 13-nation OPEC refuse to join. On July 19-Aug. 4 the XXVI (26th) (Centennial) Summer Olympics are held in Atlanta, Ga., with 10,320 athletes (incl. 3,523 women) from 197 nations competing in 271 events in 26 sports; the opening ceremonies feature boxer Muhammad Ali as the final athlete to bear the torch to light the Olympic flame, his hands visibly shaking from Parkinson's disease; Centennial Olympic Stadium opens, becoming Turner Field next year, home to the Atlanta Braves (until ?); the U.S. wins 101 medals (the most in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1968), Germany 65, Russia 63, China 50, Australia 41, France 37; women's soccer debuts, and the U.S. wins gold; on Aug. 1 28-y.-o. Michael Duane Johnson (1967-) of the U.S. (known for his straight-up style) becomes the first male to win the 200 and 400 meters in one Olympics as he wins the 200 three days after winning the 400; 19-y.-o. U.S. gymnast Kerri Allyson Strug (1977-) becomes the heroine of the games when she completes her final vault on a badly sprained ankle to clinch gold for her team, "the Magnificent Seven"; Peace in Our Time, by songwriter and novelist-wannabe Dan Brown is performed at the games. On July 21 the Japanese govt. announces that 8K people have come down with food poisoning, and warns the public not to eat raw meat - raw fish is another matter? On July 24-25 after a 6-nation regional proposal to send peacekeeping troops is devised, a Tutsi-dominated army coup desposes Hutu Pres. Sylvestre Ntibantunganya and replaces him with by Tutsi Maj. Pierre Buyoya (until 2003). On July 25 Mexico announces that it will repay $7B of the $12.5B borrowed from the U.S. in 1995 to recover from its 1994 financial crisis; on Aug. 18 it reports that its economy grew by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter of 1996, the first growth since the 1994 peso devaluation. On July 26 an Iberia Airlines jet en route from Madrid to Havana with 286 passengers is hijacked and forced to land in Miami, Fla. by a man with scissors and a fake bomb. On July 27 a pipe bomb packed with nails explodes in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park at a late night rock concert, killing one and injuring 111; CNN scoops fledgling MSNBC on the bombing footage, even though most of MSNBC's reporters are covering the Olympics; in Apr. 2005 abortion protester Eric Robert Rudolph (1966-) pleads guilty to it; 26-y.-o. security guard Richard Jewell (1962-2007) is initially hailed as a hero for spotting a suspicious backpack containing the bomb and moving people away from it, but on July 27 he is branded as a suspect by the FBI in a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which causes him to be tried by the media even though he is never arrested or charged; it takes 88 days for U.S. atty. Kent Alexander to issue a statement clearing him; in 1998 the Ga. state legislature issues a proclamation honoring him, followed by a ceremony on Aug. 1, 2006 at the state capitol; he spends the rest of his short life living under a shadow, thanks to the stinkin' FBI? On July 30 the Federal Election Commission (FEC) sues the Christian Coalition for illegally promoting and contributing money to conservative Repub. candidates Newt Gingrich, Jessie Helms, Oliver North et al. In July a U.N. Report on the Poverty Gap states that the gap between rich and poor is widest in Australia, where the richest 20% of households have an income 10x higher than that of the poorest 20%; Australia's standard of living is ranked 11th highest in the world. In July the 2.5M-member Ky.-based Presbyterian Church (USA) in its 208th gen. assembly in Albuquerque, N.M. votes 313-236 (308-213?) to approve a report labeling homosexual practice a sin and declaring against appointing active homosexuals/gays as elders, deacons, or ministers. On Aug. 2 Somalian warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid (b. 1934), who humiliated U.S. forces in 1993 dies from gunshots received in fighting in Mogadishu; on Aug. 4 his son Hussein, who served with U.S. Marines in Somalia is picked as the new clan leader. On Aug. 6 rebel forces capture the capital city of Grozny in Chechnya from the Russians; on Aug. 31 Russia signs a pact with the rebels tabling the question of independence and declaring the war over. On Aug. 9 Boris Yeltin is sworn-in as the first democratically elected pres. of an independent Russia at a Kremlin ceremony, where he appears stiff and shaky, and only speaks during the oath of office - stiff and shaky, like democracy itself there? On Aug. 10 hot weather causes power failures and 11 wildfires in seven Western states incl. Calif., Ariz., Utah, Colo., Wyo., Mont., and Ore. On Aug. 12-15 the 1996 Repub. Nat. Convention in Houston, Tex. nominates Kans. Sen. Robert "Bob" Dole for pres., and New York rep., former Bush housing secy. and Buffalo Bills pro football player Jack French Kemp Jr. (1935-2009) for vice-pres.; on Aug. 26-30 the 1996 Dem. Nat. Convention in Chicago, Ill. renominates Pres. Bill Clinton and vice-pres. Al Gore; Clinton's campaign slogan is "Building a bridge to the 21st century"; up-and-coming Ind. gov. (1989-97) Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III (1955-) gives the keynote address; on Aug. 17 the Reform Party Convention in Valley Forge, Penn. nominates 66-y.-o. Tex. billionaire H. Ross Perot for pres., saying that it will rely on mail and telephone votes; the economic boom being enjoyed by the U.S. causes Clinton's popularity to soar, while the Repubs. cause boredom with the usual drivel about tax cuts for the rich - welcome to my home, and I married a princess? On Aug. 13 scientists release photos of the Jovian moon Io. On Aug. 15 Pope John Paul II cancels a mass after the Vatican says he is stricken by an intestinal ailment accompanied by a fever (same as on Mar. 13). On Aug. 16 41-y.-o. female lezzie USAF major Debra L. Meeks (1951-) is acquitted of charges of sodomy and conduct unbecoming an officer by a 17-member jury at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Tex., becoming the first test of the Clinton admin. "don't ask don't tell" policy for queers - all that comes out of Texas are steers and queers, and I don't see any horns? On Aug. 16 Mexican atty. gen. Antonio Lozano Gracia dismisses more than 700 commanders and agents (one-sixth of the force) of the Federal Judicial Police on allegations of corruption; when this leads to a crime wave, on Dec. 2 Pres. Zedillo dismisses Lozano. On Aug. 16 Cuban Aerotaxi pilot Adel Given Ulloa and two others hijack their plane to the U.S., but run out of fuel and ditch in the sea 30 mi. S of Ft. Myers, Fla., being later acquitted by a U.S. court and granted asylum; no more lucky hijackers until Sept. 19, 2000. On Aug. 18 West African leaders meet in Abuja, Nigeria, and choose former Liberian sen. Ruth Sando Fahnbulleh Perry (1939-2017) as head of an interim govt. of Liberia, who is sworn-in on Sept. 3 (until Aug. 2 1997), ending the civil war (begun Dec. 24, 1989); the country's leading warlords attend and agree to the choice; in Apr. 2018 Liberian warlord Mohammed Jabbateh AKA Jungle Jabbah is sentenced to 30 years in prison in the U.S. for falsely telling authorities in the 1990s that he never belonged to an armed group, causing Amnesty Internat. to welcome the verdict as the "first case to provide some justice for the victims of Liberia's civil war" even though he wasn't convicted of his atrocities. On Aug. 21 Pres. Clinton signs the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, designed to protect members of employee groups. On Aug. 22 Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996, sponsored by white U.S. Rep. (R-Fla.) (1981-2007) Eugene Clay Shaw Jr. (1939-), welfare reform legislation ending the federal guarantee of cash assistance for poor children instituted during FDR's New Deal, with a promise to "end welfare we we know it"; it establishes Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, effective July 1, 1997 to replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) (begun in 1935), and also supplants the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program of 1988 in favor of workfare. On Aug. 23-Sept. 8 Category 3 Hurricane Fran manages to bypass pop. centers until Sept. 5, when it hits Cape Fear, N.C. with 115 mph winds, killing 17 and causing $1B in damage; on Sept. 7 rivers in Va. and W. Va. flood their banks, and the many hog farms there spew the countryside with carcasses and unsanitary wastes; total damage: 26 killed, $3.2B in property damage. On Aug. 28 armed Popular Rev. Army (EPR) rebels attack police and military posts in four Mexican states (Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Mexico), killing 13 and injuring 23, becoming the 2nd guerrilla uprising since Jan. 1994; on Sept. 2 Zapatista rebels break off talks with the govt. and demand the release of 20 prisoners, but disassociate themselves from the more hardline EPR rebels. On Aug. 30 Saddam Hussein sends tens of thousands of Iraqi troops to quash enclaves of a Kurdish faction in N Iraq in the no-fly zone set up by the U.S. and its Western allies at the end of the 1991 Gulf War; on Sept. 3 the U.S. launches missile strikes against Iraqi air defenses in S Iraq in retaliation, and on Sept. 4 400K Iraqi troops pull out of the contested enclaves, but on Sept. 9 the Kurdistan Dem. Party (KDP), headed by Massoud Barzani and backed by Saddam captures the N Iraqi city of Slaimaniya (HQ of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) without firing a shot, giving the KDP control of all Iraqi Kurdish cities. In Aug. the govt. of Peru declares a state of emergency in 11 provinces caused by the resurgence of the 3K-man Shining Path rebel army in the Upper Huallaga Valley, where half of the world's cocaine comes from. In Aug. German courts finally clear Protestant anti-Nazi Dietrich Bonhoeffer of treason charges; he was hanged on Apr. 9, 1945 for his role in the 1944 assassination plot against Hitler. In Aug. the Chapin 5 Fire in Mesa Verde Nat. Park in Colo. burns 4,781 acres. On Sept. 3-16 Hurricane Hortense horribly tenses up Puerto Rico, leaving 24 dead and over $158M in damage, plus 15 more dead elsewhere. On Sept. 5 Pres. Yeltsin announces that he will undergo heart surgery, and summons heart expert Dr. Michael DeBakey to Moscow to aid in his quintuple vodka heart-bypass operation. On Sept. 6 the U.S. Dept. of Labor announces that the unemployment rate in Aug. dropped to the lowest level in seven years (5.1%). On Sept. 7 "gangsta" rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur (b. 1971) of Digital Underground is shot and mortally wounded by gang members on the Las Vegas Strip as he rides in a car driven by record co. exec. Marion "Suge" Knight; he dies on Sept. 13. On Sept. 8 the Oprah Winfrey Show debuts with a show about marrying the right person; on Sept. 16 Oprah announces her book club; by the early 21st cent. she is a billionaire, and the richest black person in the world? On Sept. 11 the U.S. dispatches warplanes to the Middle East in preparation for another attack on Iraq, and orders U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise into the Red Sea - that's Star Trek so get down? On Sept. 13 the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond debuts on CBS-TV for 210 episodes (until May 16, 2005), starring Raymond Albert "Ray" Romano (1957-) as Long Island Newsday newspaper sportswriter Raymond Albrt Barone, Patricia Helen Heaton (1958-) as his wife Debra Louise Whalen Barone, Brad Garrett (1960-) as Ray's brother Robert Charles Barone, who likes to touch food to his "crazy chin" before eating it, Doris Roberts (1930-) as Ray's mother Marie Janelle Barone, and Peter Lawrence Boyle Jr. (1935-2006) as Ray's father Francis Oscar "Frank" Barone. On Sept. 14 the first elections in Bosnia since the civil war make Muslim pres. (since 1960) Alija Izetbegovic the chmn. of the 3-man collective presidency. On Sept. 14 the Miss America 1997 Pageant in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. (last aired by NBC-TV) is won by Overland Park, Kan.-born Tara Dawn Holland (1972-), who goes on to becoming a literacy advocate. On Sept. 16 the daytime Judge Judy show debuts on WB-TV (until ?), starring Jewish New York family court judge Judith "Judy" Sheindlin (1923-), which goes on to pass Jerry Springer's show in popularity as the Jewish mother in a robe fascinates the viewers; "Listen, just because you say so doesn't make it so"; by 2007 she makes $25M a year. On Sept. 17 former U.S. vice-pres. Spiro T. Agnew (b. 1918) dies in Berlin, Md. On Sept. 17 voters in Bosnia-Herzegovina elect Muslim Bosnian pres. Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian Serb separatist Momcilo Krajisnik, and ethnic Croat Kresimir Zubak to a 3-member presidency, with Izetbegovic as chmn. On Sept. 21 (1 a.m.) Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), defining marriage as between one man and one woman, and allowing a state to refuse to recognize a same-sex marriage legalized in another state; it passed the House by 85-14 and the Senate by 342-67 after fears that Obamaland Hawaii is about to legalize same-sex marriage; on Mar. 7, 2013 Clinton repents signing the act, saying it should be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. On Sept. 22 a 66-y.-o. cancer patient in Australia commands a machine to inject him with a lethal drug, becoming the first person to voluntarily end his life under the world's first legal euthanasia law, enacted in 1995 in the Northern Territory after the NT Supreme Court dismissed an appeal to overturn it on July 24. On Sept. 25 violence is triggered in Israel's West Bank by news that Israeli PM Natanyahu authorized a new entrance to an archeological tunnel along the Western Wailing Wall of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, causing firefights between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians which leave five dead and hundreds wounded in five West Bank cities, Gaza and Jerusalem; on Sept. 29 Pres. Clinton invites Netanyahu, Arafat, King Hussein and Hosni Mubarak to Washington, D.C. to work to end the violence, but on Oct. 2 Clinton announces that the summit meeting has failed, but that they will meet again on Oct. 6 at Erez Crossing in the Gaza Strip. On Sept. 25-26 Kabul, Afghanistan is captured by the ultra-medieval throwback Pakistan-backed Taliban after a 2-day siege that kills hundreds; the warlords flee, incl. PM Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who later aids al-Qaida in fighting the U.S.-backed regime of Hamid Karzai, getting designated an internat. terrorist by the U.S. State Dept. on Feb. 19, 2003, and Ahmad Shah Massoud (1953-2011), whose Sunni Sufi views don't jive with the Taliban, making him join the resistance; meanwhile many of Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin warlords switch to the Taliban; on Sept. 26 Taliban founder Mohammad Rabbani (1956-2001) (no relation) becomes the new Afghan PM (until 2001); on Sept. 27 the Taliban force Pres. Burhanuddin Rabbani out of power, and begin reenacting medieval Islamic Sharia law incl. stoning, hand severing, and the suppression of women, who are ordered out of schools and workplaces and told to stay home; former Soviet-backed pres. Muhammad Najibullah is hanged in the soccer stadium along with his brother; men are told not to shave or trim their beards; meanwhile Afghanistan comes to the brink of starvation. On Sept. 26 Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Mental Health Parity Act, requring insurance co. coverage parity between mental health and other medical coverage; on Oct. 4, 2008 Pres. George W. Bush signs an amended version. On Sept. 30 after the Repubs. sucker the Dems. by combining it with a legal immigration bill, then ditching that part, Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, beefing up border enforcement and deportation, containing Section 287(g), authorizing the federal govt. to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement to perform immigration law enforcement, which is greatly expanded during the George W. Bush admin., rounding up 130K between 2006-9; Section 1623 prohibits state colleges and univs. from providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens "on the basis of residence within the state" unless the same rates are offered to all U.S. citizens; too bad on May 29 the IRS issues a regulation treating illegal aliens as legal and refusing to provide info. on them to other govt. agencies. In Sept. elections return Dr. Farooq Abdullah to power in Kashmir. On Oct. 1 the U.S. govt. passes the overprotective Childhood Pornography Prevention Act, banning computerized child pornography, even of fictional children, causing an immediate constitutional challenge to made in the courts. On Oct. 1 a federal district judge rules that Ross Perot has no constitutional right to be included in pres. debates between Clinton and Dole. On Oct. 1 the Loki volcano in Iceland (under Vatna-jokull glacer) erupts, spewing molten rock through a 5-mi. fissure, and eventually melting through 2K feet of ice in a glacier that covers 10% of the island; on Oct. 5 all flights are diverted from the Iceland airspace because of steam and ash rising 33K feet into the air. On Oct. 3 U.S. defense secy. William Perry announces that up to 7.5K of the 15K U.S. troops in Bosnia will remain through mid-Mar. 1997. On Oct. 4 the Nat. Center for Health Statistics announces that the number of births by teenage mothers dropped in 1995 for the fourth straight year. On Oct. 6 negotiators at the Erez Crossing meeting in the Gaza Strip begin working on a timetable for a Palestinian takeover of the city of Hebron. On Oct. 7 Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel debuts (until ?), with 17M initial subscribers, with CEO Roger Eugene Ailes (1940-) (a Repub. businessman), and featuring the nightly show The O'Reilly Factor (originally O'Reilly Report), hosted by conservative Roman Catholic commentator William James "Bill" O'Reilly (1949-), which becomes the #1 show on U.S. cable TV (until ?). On Oct. 8 Pope John Paul II is hospitalized for an operation to remove an inflamed appendix. On Oct. 9 the agriculture dept. of New South Wales releases 16 rabbits infected with a deadly virus in an effort to eliminate their huge overpop. of wild rabbits; by the end of the month 50M rabbits are eliminated. On Oct. 12 the Immigrants Rights March in Washington, D.C. becomes the first nat. march for equal rights for immigrants. On Oct. 16 a 1998 World Cup qualifying match in Guatemala City between Guatemala and Costa Rica at Mateo Flores Nat. Stadium results in a stampede, killing 84 and injuring 147. On Oct. 17 Pres. Yeltsin dismisses Gen. Alexander Lebed as Russian nat. security chief over the Bosnian fiasco; next year Lebed claims that as many as 80 suitcase nukes are missing from the Soviet arsenal and may have been sold to terrorists. On Oct. 20-26 the New York Yankees (AL) end an 18-year drought and defeat the Atlanta Braves (NL) 4-2 games to win the Ninety-Second (92nd) (1996) World Series; they lose their first game at home 12-1, their worst loss ever in 187 WS appearances, then lose again 4-0, but win the next four games 5-2, 8-6 (10 innings), 1-0, and 3-2; Yankees relief pitcher John Karl Wetteland (1966-) earns a save in every Yankee V, and is voted series MVP; new Yankee gen. mgr. Robert Jose "Bob" Watson (1946-) and team mgr. Joseph Paul "Joe" Torre (1940-) seek to create a dynasty; the regular season ends with a record 4,962 homers. On Oct. 25 Toronto, Canada is paralyzed by thousands of angry protesters protesting govt. budget cuts for social services. On Oct. 30 Hutu-dominated Zaire and Tutsi-dominated Rwanda lob artillery shells across their joint border as thousands of Hutu refugees in Zaire flee into more stable Burundi; Rwanda, claiming that Zaire is carrying out a Tutsi genocide sends troops to reinforce Tutsi rebels, led by gen. Laurent Desire (Laurent-Désiré) Kabila (1939-2001), and begin the First Congo War to oust Zairean dictator-pres. (since 1965) Mobuto Sese Seko. On Nov. 5 (Tues.) U.S. Pres. William Clinton is easily reelected along with running mate Al Gore over Repub. challengers Sen. Robert Dole and Jack Kemp (1935-), becoming the first Dem. pres. since FDR to win reelection; 49.0% of the electorate votes for pres., and Clinton receives 47.4M popular votes (49.2%) and 379 electoral votes to Dole's 39.2M popular votes (40.7%) and 159 electoral votes, dominating the balloting in all regions of the country except the South and Midwest plains; Ross Perot receives 8.1M popular votes (8.4%) and no electoral votes, and Repubs. smell a rat, as this was just enough votes to swing the election to Dole; Repubs. retain control of both houses of Congress (first reelection as a majority by the House since 1928), so naturally they plan to backstab the voters and force Clinton out of office through their control of the moneyed infrastructure; Seattle-born Gary F. Locke (1950-) is elected gov. of Wash. state, becoming the first Chinese-Am. U.S. gov.; he serves two terms (until 2005). What is a percolator, or, Affirmative action draws Calif. backlash? On Nov. 5 Calif. voters approve Proposition 209 AKA the Calif. Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), banning affirmative action (racial and gender preference) in college admissions, state employment, and public contracts; the U.S. Supreme Court upholds its constitutionality. On Nov. 5 Pres. Farooq Leghari deposes PM Benazir Bhutto, places her under house arrest, and fires her whole govt. along with her husband, a cabinet minister; they release her on Nov. 6, but not her hubby. On Nov. 6 Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussin enacts Flag Law No. 6 of 1996, modifying the secular Arab nationalist flag to add the takbir "Allahu Akbar". On Nov. 7 the U.S. launches an unmanned spaceship, scheduled to begin orbiting and exploring Mars in Sept. 1997, mapping its suface and analyzing its atmosphere; on Dec. 4 the U.S. launches a spacecraft headed to Mars to make a surface landing and deploy a remote-controlled rover. On Nov. 7 a cyclone ravages the SE coast of India, killing 1K and ravaging farmlands. On Nov. 11-12 fighting breaks out between Serbs and Muslims in the Bosnian town of Gajevi; on Nov. 15 Pres. Clinton announces that 8.5K U.S. troops will remain in Bosnia until June, 1998. On Nov. 12 a Saudi Arabian jumbo jet taking off and a Kazal Airlines plane landing collide near the New Delhi, India airport, killing all 351 aboard, becoming the worst mid-air collapse to date in history, and the third deadliest airplane crash. On Nov. 13 a male U.S. army drill Sgt. pleads guilty to having had sexual relations with three female recruits, and three other men who train recruits are charged with rape and sexual harassment of female recruits. On Nov. 14 Michael Jackson marries straight white female adult Deborah Jeanne "Debbie" Rowe (1958-), his plastic surgeon's nurse in Sydney, Australia; they go on to have son Prince Michael Jackson I (Michael Joseph Jackson Jr.) (Feb. 13, 1997) and daughter Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson (b. Apr. 3, 1998); London's News of the World tabloid claims that they used artificial insemination and that Rowe was paid $528K, which Michael denies; in May 1997 he sells photos of his baby to Britain's OK! mag. for $2M; they divorce on Oct. 8, 1999, with Rowe receiving $8M and a house in Beverly Hills and giving up custody of the children; in 2004 after Michael is finally charged with 10 counts of child abuse, she unsuccessfully tries to get full custody, having converted from Roman Catholicism to Judaism and freaking about the children being exposed to the teachings of the Nation of Islam. On Nov. 15 Pres. Clinton extends his 1995 announcement of U.S. forces in Bosnia from 1 year to 30 mo. On Nov. 18 CIA officer Harold J. Nicholson is arrested for allegedly passing secrets to Moscow for two years, becoming the highest ranking CIA officer charged for espionage to date. On Nov. 20 the U.S. govt. agrees to pay $4.8M to 12 people infected with radioactive plutonium and/or uranium in secret experiments performed from 1944-74 on several patients in Rochester, N.Y. On Nov. 21 Russia reveals that for nearly two months it has been without photo recon satellites - the first time since the early 1960s. On Nov. 23 hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 runs out of fuel and crashes 500 yards from shore in the Indian Ocean near the Comoro islands off Africa's E coast, just missing a class of scuba diving students, and killing 123 of 175 aboard. On Nov. 29 the Internat. Tribunal on War Crimes in former Yugoslavia hands down its first verdict, sentencing a former Bosnia Serb soldier to 10 years for his role in the 1995 massacre of Muslim civilians. On Nov. 18-30 French truck drivers strike, gumming up West Europe's economy. On Nov. 30 the Stone of Destiny (Scone), stolen by England in 1296 by Edward I Longshanks is finally returned to Scotland and placed in Edinburgh Castle. In Nov. paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve returns to acting for the first time following his accident in a TV movie. In Nov. an outbreak of O157:h7 E. coli from non-pasteurized Odwalla brand apple juice makes 40 people ill in the U.S. and kills one 16-mo. infant. On Dec. 1 Petru Lucinschi (1940-) becomes pres. of Moldova (until Apr. 4, 2001). On Dec. 2 Mexican pres. Ernesto Zedillo fires atty. gen. Fernando Antonio Lozano Gracia for failing to solve cases involving high-level politicos. On Dec. 3 Algerian Muslim militants explode a bomb in a crowded commuter train during rush hour in Paris, killing two and wounding seven. On Dec. 3 Hawaiian judge Kevin Chang rules that the state must issue same-sex marriage licenses, making Hawaii the 1st state. On Dec. 5 Pres. Clinton nominates chief U.S. delegate to the U.N., Czech-born Madeleine Korbel Albright (nee Marie Jana Korbelova) (1937-) as U.S. secy. of state for his 2nd term (1st woman to head the State Dept.) (until Jan. 20, 2001); he also chooses Maine Repub. Sen. (since 1979) William Sebastian Cohen (1940-) (son of a Jewish father and a Protestant-Irish mother, who marries a black woman who was raised by a Southern Baptist single mother) as U.S. secy. of defense #20 (until Jan. 20, 2001), and nat. security advisor (since 1993) Anthony Lake as dir. of the Cinister CIA, but the nomination is withdrawn after Repub. opposition, so he is made White House special envoy (until 2001); on Dec. 13 Clinton nominates Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's brother William Michael Daley (1948-) as U.S. commerce secy. #32 (until July 19, 2000), and N.M. Rep. (since 1983) William Blaine "Bill" Richardson III (1947-) as chief U.S. delegate to the U.N.; he also announces that Janet Reno will stay on as atty. gen.; on Dec. 20 he nominates former transportation secy. Federico Pena as U.S. energy secy. #8 (until June 30, 1998), Rodney Earl Slater (1955-) (black) as U.S. secy. of transportation #13 (until Jan. 20, 2001), Alexis Margaret Herman (1947-) as U.S. secy. of labor #23 (until Jan. 29, 2001) (first black), and Andrew Mark Cuomo (1957-) (son of Mario Cuomo) as secy. of HUD. #11 (until Jan. 20, 2001). On Dec. 6 Federal Reserve chmn. Alan Greenspan warns that a continued increase in stock prices could lead to a crash, uttering the soundbyte "irrational exuberance", and causing stock prices to dive, but when he fails to hike interest rates they quickly rebound. On Dec. 8 U.S. N.M. Rep. Bill Richardson III and U.S. ambassador (to Sudan) Mahdi Ibrahim Mohamed get three Red Cross workers held hostage for almost 40 days in a Sudanese rebel camp released after getting them to drop their $2.5M ransom demand for rice, Jeeps, radios and other prizes. On Dec. 9 the U.S. Energy Dept. announces plans to dispose of 52.5 tons (over half) of its nat. stockpile of plutonium from old nukes. On Dec. 10 Iraq begins pumping oil abroad for the first time in six years after the U.N. approves a plan to allow it to sell $1B of oil twice each 6 mo. in order to buy food and medical supplies; Saddam Hussein reopens a 616-mi. pipeline shut down by Turkey in 1990 to pump the oil. On Dec. 16 after working at the Nat. Security Council as liaison between the CIA and Clinton White House, using his friend John O. Brennan to deliver the daily president's brief, New York City-born George John Tenet (1953-) becomes CIA dir. #18 (until July 11, 2004), succeeding John Deutch, going on to serve under two U.S. presidents of opposing political parties and get accused of bearing the "ultimate responsibility" for failing to develop a plan to stop al-Qaida before 9/11 despite repeatedly trying to warn Pres. George W. Bush about its growing threat. On Dec. 17 rebel gunmen kill six Western Red Cross workers in Chechnya. On Dec. 17 the Japanese Embassy Hostage Crisis in Lima, Peru sees pro-Cuban Marxist Tupac Amaru Rev. Movement (MRTA) rebels led by Nestor Cerpa Cartolini (1953-97) seize the residence of the Japanese ambassador during a party to celebrate the birthday of Japanese Yamato emperor Akihito, taking 490 hostages (until next Apr. 22); by Dec. 31 they release all but 81 of them; next Apr. 22 a 140-man team of Peruvian military commandos storm the residence and rescue 72 hostages, killing all 14 guerrillas and losing one hostage and two commandos; Supreme Court chief justice Carlos Giusi Acuna is wounded and dies of a heart attack. On Dec. 17 Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay vote to admit Bolivia to the Mercosur regional trade agreement. On Dec. 24 supporters of Serbian Pres. Slobodan Milosevic rally in Belgrade, clashing with 20K anti-govt. protesters who have gathered there daily since he annulled local elections earlier in the month. Daddy just loved his daughter so much he named him after himself? On Dec. 25/26 (Christmas night) the murder of 6-y.-o. white rich-kid beauty queen (1995 Little Miss Colo.) JonBenet Patricia Ramsey (b. 1990) in "perfect town" very-white Boulder, Colo. (home of the U. of Colo., the Bolder Boulder, the Naropa Inst., and Mork and Mindy) (the only murder in that town this year), followed by the focusing of suspicion on the well-to-do parents John Bennett Ramsey (1943-) (pres. of Access Graphics, which passed the $1B revenues mark in 1996, then gave autographed paperweights to his employees) and Patricia Ann "Patsy" Ramsey (nee Paugh) (1956-2006) (1977 Miss W. Va.), followed by the failure to charge a suspect captures the world's attention; the bungling police let daddy locate and carry the garrotted body away from the basement, and the mother to hug it, while calling on Jesus to raise her from the dead like he did Lazarus?; no signs of an intruder are found, and everything used in her murder are traced to the home; a long ransom note found in the home, purporting to be by "a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction" demands $118K, the exact amount of a recent bonus received by daddy, and ends with the cryptic signature "S.B.T.C."; in Aug. 2006 after his arrest a high school yearbook from the early 1980s signed by John Mark Karr surfaces, containing the words "I shall be the conqueror", after which he is arrested in Thailand and confesses, but charges are later dropped; meanwhile local Santa Claus (ex-Univ. of Colo. journalism professor) Bill McReynolds is suspected by some - daddy really did it and mommy helped cover it up, allowing police to later suspect that she did it and he helped her cover it up? On Dec. 29 the civil war in Guatemala ends after 36 years and 100K killed. On Dec. 31 Buckingham Palace announces that billionaire Beatles rocker Paul McCartney is to be knighted, becoming the first Sir Beatle. On Dec. 31 the U.S. Nat. Debt reaches a record 68.1% of GDP (vs. 65.9% for Bush on Dec. 31, 1992). Warfare erupts in the E region of the Dem. Repub. of Congo, causing famine and disease. The U.S. Congress finally grants the U.S. pres. a line-item veto, as requested by a line of presidents beginning with U.S. Grant - watch it, the statue's moving now? Alec Station is set up by the CIA to collect info. on and infiltrate Osama bin Laden's network; its members call themselves "the Manson family"; by 9/11 it spends hundreds of millions of dollars and fails to recruit a single source? Voters in Kyrgyzstan approve constitutional changes giving the pres. more power. The U.S. Helium Privatization Act mandates that the govt. sell helium at artificially low prices to get rid of its stockpile (founded 1925) by 2015; too bad, by 2010 the Nat. Research Council predicts that the world's supply may run out by 2050. The Shanghai Cooperation Org. (SCO) is founded by Russia, China et al.; in June 2012 Turkey receives "dialogue partner" status. Citing his Southern-born wife Alma and family, Gen. Colin Powell opts not to seek the U.S. presidency. Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade of the U.S. Nat. Defense U. pub. the doctrine of Shock and Awe, (AKA Rapid Dominance), the military doctrine of using overwhelming power to paralyze the adversary's perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight. In Hosain v. Malik, a Md. court awards full custody of a daughter to her father, enforcing a court order from Pakistan and enforcing Sharia de facto - a first? In Pueblo, Colo. Douglas Comiskey (1976-) stabs and kills two priests, Thomas Scheets (65) and Louis Stovik (77) at St. Leander's Roman Catholic Church across the street from his home after a werewolf in a mirror tells him to; he is committed to the Colo. Mental Health Inst. (state mental hospital) in Pueblo. The Chinagate scandal begins to rock the Clinton admin. Al-Wasat Al-Jadid (the New Center) moderate Muslim political party is founded in Egypt from people bolting from the Muslim Brotherhood to promote a liberal tolerant version of Islam; on Feb. 20, 2011 it becomes the first party licensed after the Jan. 25 Egyptian Rev. The U.S. outlaws Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The Internet Archive is founded in San Francisco, Calif. Mustafa Mashhur becomes the leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (until 2002), publishing a multi-vol. Arabic work titled "The Laws of Da'wa"; vol. 5 is Jihad Is the Way, explicating the goal of establishing an Islamic state and dominating the world via military jihad, but warning not to rush it until it is prepared for and timed for maximum effect. The Islamic Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif. is founded by Walla Walla, Wash.-born Muslim convert Hamza Yusuf Hanson (1960-) (formerly Mark Hanson) and Berkeley, Calif.-born Muslim convert Zaid Salim Shakir (1956); this year Hanson utters the soundbyte that the U.S. is "a country that has little to be proud of in its past and less to be proud of in the present. I am a citizen of this country not by choice but by birth. I reside in this country not by choice but by conviction in attempting to spread the message of Islam in this country. I became Muslim in part because I did not believe in the false gods of this society whether we call them Jesus or democracy or the Bill of Rights or any other element of this society that is held sacrosanct by the ill-informed peoples that make up this charade of a society... Fundamentals of Islam are being compromised. Convention resolutions are meaningless Masonic exercises devised by men who desire to engage people in forums that would insure nothing changes... There should be no voting or debate... We have no room for ayes or nays"; after 9/11, he claims to become an innocuous Sufi. Washington State Penitentiary (Walla Walla) inmate Muhammad Shabazz Farrakhan sues the state for preventing felons from voting, claiming that since blacks are a larger percentage of the prison pop. than the gen. pop, it violates the 1965 U.S. Voting Rights Act; after his suit is denied in 2000, he appeals, and on Jan. 4, 2001 the U.S. Appeals Court rules that incarcerated felons should be allowed to vote in Wash. state to ensure that racial minorities are protected. The city of Madras changes its name to Chennai, for the Tamil word for face, as in face of the temple; the name Madras is claimed to come from the Portuguese name Madre de Deus or the Madeiros family. Calif. voters make it the first U.S. state to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana, resulting in San Francisco becoming a hub for "cannabis clubs". The Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is founded to support the Palestinian cause by boycotts of Israel. Am. Zen teacher Adyashanti (Sansk. "primordial peace") (Steven Gray) (1962-) founds Open Gate Sangha (Sansk. "spiritual community") in San Francisco, Calif.. Muslims in France begin creating Sensitive Urban Zones where the French state has lost control and they take over the streets for their prayers; by 2009 there are 751 of them, with a total of 5M pop. Al Jazeera (Arab. "the island", "the Arabian Peninsula") Middle Eastern TV network in Doha, Qatar is founded with a $150M grant by Qatar emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa; its first broadcast is on Nov. 11. The Boulder Pledge, written by Am. film critic Roger Ebert and promoted at the Conference on World Affairs at the U. of Colo. pleges to never purchase anything offered via spam email. Madison, Wisc.-born Dominican feminist theologian Matthew Fox (1940-), a leader in Creation Spirituality (known for calling God "Mother", associating with Native Ams. and the Wicca tradition, refusing to condemn homosexuals, and turning Original Sin into Original Blessing, which gets him silenced by Cardinal Ratzinger for one year in 1988 and expelled in 1993) founds the U. of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, Calif., which is later renamed Wisdom U.; in 2005 James Amon "Jim" Garrison (1951-) becomes pres. (until ?). The annual people's choice Hawaii Music Awards are founded by Johnny Kai, and presented by the Music Foundation of Hawaii. English gay fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) becomes head designer at Givenchy (until 2001), becoming known as "the hooligan of English fashion", staging a runway show in 1998 featuring double amputee model Aimee Mullins striding down the catwalk on wooden legs, followed by a recreated shipwreck in 2003, a human chess game in 2005, and a life-sized hologram of supermodel Kate Moss in 2006. Superman finally hangs it up and gets married. After years of declining ratings, NBC-TV loses interest in the Miss America pageant, which it had sponsored for 30 years, and ABC-TV begins airing the pageant starting next year; they drop the contract after the Sept. 18, 2004 pageant brings in a record low 9.8M viewers - Sandra Bullock was better in "Miss Congeniality", and Patsy Ramsey gives them bad vibes? Donna Karan releases the "D" line of fashion on Oct. 27. Route 375 in Nevada near Area 51 is renamed the Extraterrestrial (E.T.) Highway. France adds the Jehovah Witnesses to its list of blacklisted cults based on sealed police documents. Lashkar-e-Jhanvi in Pakistan is founded by Riaz Basra (1967-2002) after breaking away from Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. Molto Mario debuts on Food Network (until 2004), starring Seattle, Wash.-born Italian chef Mario Francesco Batali (1960-), who likes to wear shorts and orange Crocs. Cuban-Am. gay fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez (1961-) gains fame when he designs a wedding dress for Carolyn Bassette. Red Bull energy drink begins being imported to the U.S. from Austria. Roc-A-Fella Records is founded by Shawn Corey "Jay-Z" Carter (1969-), Damon "Dame" Dash (1971-), and Kareem "Biggs" Burke, going on to sign The Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls) (Christopher George Latore Wallace) (1972-97), Memphis Bleek (Malik Thuston Cox) (1978-), Beanie Sigel (Dwight Grant) (1974-), DJ Clue? (Ernesto Shaw) (1975-), Cam'ron (Cameron Ezike Giles) (1976-), The Diplomats (Dipset), M.O.P. (Mash Out Posse), and Ol' Dirty Bastard (Russell Tyrone Jones) (1968-2004). Disney Corp. is boycotted by the Southern Baptist Church for sponsoring "Gay Days" at Disneyland, and sponsoring the TV sitcom "Ellen"; they later pull the group Insane Clown Posse when Disney-owned Hollywood Records attempts to distribute their album "The Great Milenko", causing them to hop to Island Records. African-Am. comic Chris Rock (1965-) revives his Saturday Night Live career with the HBO special Bring the Pain, which features the "Niggas vs. Black People" routine, drawing fire; "I love black people, but I hate niggas, brother. Oh, I hate niggas!" A daytime talk show hosted by Queens, N.Y.-born Rosie O'Donnell (1962-) debuts (ends May 2002), causing her to be dubbed the "Queen of Nice", routinely mooning over "my Tommy" Tom Cruise, and going bonkers over Barbra Streisand, who she confesses gives her nervous diarrhea, and says "You were a constant source of light in an often dark childhood"; her first guest is George Clooney. Pres. Clinton declares a record 75 federal disasters this year. A number of countries adopt the Habitat Agenda of the U.N., outlining specific commitments to provide adequate shelter for all people. On ? Pope John Paul II gives an Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, admitting that Darwinian Evolution "is more than an hypothesis". The micronation of Ladonia in S Sweden is proclaimed by artist Lars Vilks. Mentally-ill woman Zaibun Nisa (1950-) is arrested in Pakistan for allegedly desecrating a Quran, and is not released until 2010. The Belize Barrier-Reef Reserve System, 2nd-largest mass of living coral on Earth after Australia's Great Barrier Reef becomes a World Heritage Convention site. The nonprofit Glen Canyon Inst. in Salt Lake City, Utah is founded by Richard J. Ingbrebretsen to "decommission" Glen Canyon Dam, building diversion tunnels to reduce it to run-of-the-river flows to undo the damage created by the "travesty" of the dam; meanwhile pop. increase in Calif. causes Lake Powell to systematically shrink anyway. Lucent Corp. has the biggest IPO in NYSE (Big Board) history, $3B. Brenda C. Barnes pleases women's libbers by breaking the glass ceiling to become pres. and CEO of PepsiCo North Am.; too bad, she quits next year to raise a family, pissing them off; in July 2004 she makes a comeback as pres. and CEO of Sara Lee Corp. The Ask Jeeves Web site is founded, changing its name to Ask.com in Feb. 2005. The Internet Archive (AKA Wayback Machine) is founded by Brewster Kahle (1960-) to preserve as much of the contents of the World Wide Web for posterity as possible. Operation Clambake (xenu.net) is founded by Oslo, Norway-born anti-Church of Scientology activist Andreas Heldal-Lund (1964-), who calls it "a vicious and dangerous cult that masquerades as a religion". Gen. Mills' 8th Betty Crocker makes her debut, finally ditching the lily white face for a faintly Hispanic-Asian multiethnic look. Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood (b. 1930) marries Carmel, Calif. newscaster Dina Ruiz (1965-); they have a daughter, Morgan, and move to Pebble Beach, Calif. The Macarena dance craze hits the U.S.; "When I dance they call me Macarena, and the boys they say que soy buena, they all want me, they can't have me." Firestone Walker Brewing Co. is founded in Santa Barbara County, Calif. by Adam Firestone, son of Brooks Firestone and great-great-grandson of Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. founder Harvey Firestone, and his brother-in-law David Walker, moving to Paso Robles, Calif. in 2001 and becoming known for hoppy beers and use of the Burton Union system, winning the World Beer Cup in 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2012 and becoming the 16th largest craft brewery in the U.S. in 2014. Stone Brewing Co. is founded in San Marcos (near San Diego), Calif., featuring hoppy high-alcohol beers incl. Stone Pale Ale, Stone Ruination IPA, Stone Levitation Ale, and Arrogant Bastard Ale (TLW's favorite?), reaching 325,645 barrels in 2015; readers of BeerAdvocate voted it "All Time Top Brewery on Planet Earth"; in 2018 it opens the $74M Stone Hotel in Escondido, Calif. The first World Beer Cup, "the Olympics of Beer Competition" is held in Vail, Colo., featuring 600 beers from 250 breweries, growing to 2,864 beers from 644 breweries in 58 countries in 2008, when it is held in San Diego, Calif.; there are 83 craft breweries in Colo. The Pillsbury Bake-Off awards its first $1M prize for a recipe for Macadamia Fudge Torte. Paul Haggis' EZ Streets debuts on CBS-TV, and is canceled after one season despite raves from critics, spawning better crime dramas incl. "The Sopranos". After the Booker Prize is criticized for being over-awarded to males, the Orange Prize for Fiction is established in the U.K.; in 2007-8 it becomes the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction; in Oct. 2012 it becomes the Women's Prize for Fiction; in 2014 it becomes the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Chocolove brand natural organic chocolate bar co. is founded in Boulder, Colo. by Timothy Moley, becoming the first to pub. the cocoa content percentage on its wrappers, starting a trend. BeerAdvocate online beer rating site is founded in Boston, Mass. and Denver, Colo. by brothers Todd Alstrom and Jason Alstrom (Alström); in 2006 they found Beer Advocate Mag. Sports: On Jan. 14 the Indianapolis Colts lose 20-16 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game after a playoff run that incl. road upsets of the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs. White men can jump? On Feb. 11 the 1996 NBA All-Star Game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Tex. sees the East defeat the West by 129-118; Michael Jordan of the Bulls is MVP; 6'7" guard Brent Robert Barry (1971-) (son of Rick Barry) of the Los Angeles Clippers becomes the first Caucasian player to win the 1996 NBA Slam Dunk Contest with a Julius Erving copycat slam dunk from the free throw line. On Feb. 16 Radio Shack spokesman Shaquille O'Neill scores his only 3-pt. shot in 12 straight NBA games. On Feb. 18 the 1996 (38th) Daytona 500 is won by Dale Jarrett (2nd win) On Apr. 6 Am. ML Soccer opens its inaugural season at San Jose's Spartan Stadium in front of an overflow crowd of 31,683; the San Jose Clash defeat D.C. United 1-0. On Apr. 14 British golfer Nick Faldo wins the 60th Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. for the 3rd time, with a 12-under-par 276. On Apr. 21 the Chicago Bulls defeat the Washington Wizards to finish the season with an NBA-best record of 72-10. On Apr. 24 the all-female Woman's Nat. Basketball Assoc. (WNBA) is founded as a counterpart to the all-male NBA, beginning play in May 1997, using an oatmeal and orange game ball developed by Spalding; it starts out with eight teams incl. the Houston Comets (1997-2008), Cleveland Rockers (1997-2003), New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs (1997-2009), Los Angeles Sparks, Charlotte Sting (1997-2007), and Utah Starzz (San Antonio Silver Stars in 2003); the first player drafted is 6'0" Olympic gold medal winner ("female Michael Jordan") Sheryl Denise Swoopes (1971-) (#22), who goes to the Houston Comets (until 2007); the Comets also draft 5'10" Olympic gold medal winner Cynthia Lynne Cooper (Cooper-Dyke) (1963-) (#14); 5'8" Pineland, Tex.-born guard Teresa Gaye "T-Spoon" Witherspoon (1965-) is drafted by the New York Liberty (#11), going on to win the WNBA's first defensive player of the year award in 1997, and again in 1998; by 2003 she becomes the only WNBA player to start every one of her games; on June 21, 1997 the first WNBA game sees the New York Liberty play the Los Angeles Sparks; the first 1997 WNBA Finals sees the Houston Comets defeat the New York Liberty by 65-51; MVP is Cynthia Cooper; the Comets and Cooper repeat in 1998-2000, after which Cooper retires with 2.5K+ career points incl. 30+ points in 16 of 120 games and a 92-game double-figure scoring streak; in 1998 they expand to 12 teams, adding the Orlando Miracle, and Minnesota Lynx; San Antonio Stars, Tulsa Shock; in 1999 they add the Connecticut Sun, and Minnesota Lynx; in 2000 they add the Indiana Fever, Portland Fire (2000-2), Miami Sol, and Seattle Storm; on May 23, 2000 the Houston Comets become the first WNBA team and first women's sport teams to visit the White House; in 2001 after Cynthia Cooper retires, the Los Angeles Sparks, led by 6'5" Olympic star Lisa Deshaun Leslie (1972-) (#9) sweep the Charlotte Sting in the 2001 WNBA Finals, and defeat the New York Liberty in the 2002 WNBA Finals; in 2006 the WNBA adds the Chicago Sky, followed in 2008 by the Atlanta Dream. On May 4 Grindstone (1993-) wins the Kentucky Derby, becoming the first horse in 37 years to win by a nose - to the grindstone? On May 26 the 1996 (80th) Indianapolis 500 is won by Buddy Lazier (1967-), becoming his first Indy car win. On June 4-11 the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals see the Colorado Avalanche, led by goalie Patrick Jacques Roy (1965-) win their first Stanley Cup in a 4-game sweep of the Florida Panthers in Miami, Fla., becoming Colo.'s first ML pro sports championship and finally ending the entire region's loser image created by the Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets; the first NHL to win the Cup in the season following a relocation; MVP is Avalanche center (#19) Joseph Steven "Joe" Sakic (1969). On June 16 the 1996 NBA Finals sees the 72-10 Chicago Bulls (coach Phil Jackson) defeat the Seattle SuperSonics (coach George Karl) 87-75 in game 6 to win their 4th NBA championship in six years. On June 20 Emerald Downs Racetrack in Auburn, Wash. opens, replacing the defunct Longacres Racetrack in Renton, which closed in Sept. 1992. Steffi Graf defeats Spanish champ Arantxa Sanchez Vicaro 6-3, 7-5 on July 6 to win her 7th Wimbleton's singles title and 20th Grand Slam title; on July 7 Dutch star Richard Peter Stanislva Krajicek (1971-) defeats MaliVai Washington of the U.S. 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the first men's single final in 110 years to be played by two unseeded men; English rock star Sir Cliff Richard (1940-) entertains the crowd at the officials' request during a rain delay, unaware that it is being televised by the BBC, causing the announcer to joke "We'll probably get one hell of a bill." On July 13 6-y.-o. bay Cigar captures his 16th straight race, winning the Arlington Citation Challenge by 3-1/2 lengths, which matches the streak set half a century earlier by Citation. On July 21, 1996 Wayne Gretzky signs a 2-year deal with the New York Rangers. On Aug. 7 the first ML regular season baseball game is played outside the U.S. and Canada in Monterrey, Mexico between the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres. On Sept. 21 the $127.5M First Niagara Center (originally the HSBC Arena and the Marine Midland Arena) in Buffalo, N.Y. opens as the home of the NHL Buffalo Sabres. On Nov. 2 the Miami Heat defeats the Indiana Pacers by 97-95, making Heat head coach Pat Riley the 8th NBA head coach to win 800 games in a record 2 weeks short of 15 years. On Dec. 27 after the Suns lose their first 13 games, disgruntled 6'4" point guard Jason Frederick Kidd (1973-) of the Dallas Mavericks is traded to the Phoenix Suns (#32), turning the team around, winning 10 in a row and improving the team's win total by 16 games with a 56-26 record; he goes on to lead the New Jersey Nets to two straight NBA Finals appearances in 2002-3, then wins his only NBA championship with the Mavericks in 2011; after retiring after the 2012-13 season, he becomes head coach for the new Brooklyn Nets, followed in 2014 by the Milwaukee Bucks (until ?). The Am. Basketball League (ABL) for women is founded as a rival to the WNBA, playing during the winter; it starts out signing a majority of the players from the 1996 U.S. women's nat. team, with higher salaries than the WNBA; too bad, it folds on Dec. 22, 1998 after playing 12-15 games of the 1998-9 season. The Ed Martin (U. of Mich. Basketball) Scandal begins when an investigation of an automobile accident during a recruiting trip uncovers payments by Wolverines booster Ed Martin to U. of Mich. men's basketball players Chris Webber, Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor, and Louis Bullock; Webber is convicted of lying to a 1999 federal grand jury and fined, briefly suspended by the NBA, and stripped of his 1993 All-American honors; Traylor is stripped of his MVP awards in the 1997 NIT and 1998 Big Ten Tournament; in 1997 coach Steve Fisher is fired. The Dubai World Cup thoroughbred horse race is founded, becoming the world's richest horse race, with a $10M purse starting in 2010; the first winner is Cigar of the U.S. Architecture: On Feb. 29 $250M 1.5 mi. Texas Motor Speedway (formerly Texas Internat. Raceway) in Fort Worth, Tex. opens, going on to host the NASCAR Duck Commander 500 et al. On Apr. 26 $300M Coors Field in Mile-Hi Denver, Colo. opens as the home of the ML Colorado Rockies, becoming the first baseball-only NL park since Dodger Stadium in 1962. On Oct. 17 $100M Quicken Loans Arena (AKA The Q) in Cleveland, Ohio opens as the home of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers. On Oct. 24 the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum in Paderborn, Germany opens. In Nov. after Aryan Brotherhood leader Thomas Edward "Terrible Tom" Tommy" Silverstein (1952-) proves too much for the guards at Marion Federal Penitentiary in Ill., Florence Supermax Federal Penitentiary (AKA ADX Florence) in Fremont County, Colo. opens for men only, becoming known as "the Alcatraz of the Rockies", breaking prisoners with complete isolation; inmates incl. terrorists Zacarias Moussaoui, Ramzi Yousef, Richard Reid, Umar Abdulmutallab, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Theodore Kaczynski, Terry Nichols, Eric Rudolph, Faisal Shahzad, Robert Hanssen, and James Marcello. On Dec. 2 the $260M Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. (cap. 20K) opens as the new home of the NHL Washington Capitals, NBA Washington Wizards, the WNBA Washington Mystics, and the Georgetown U. men's basketball team. The Denver Public Library Annex Bldg. in Denver, Colo. opens, designed by Michael Graves (1934-2015). The Fountain of Wealth in Suntec City in Singapore opens, becoming the world's largest fountain (until ?), with a bronze ring representing the Hindu Mandala symbol of universal harmony; the main fountain is turned off several times a day to permit visitors to walk around the central base 3x for good luck and collect coins; at night laser music-light-water shows are staged; the fountain is ringed by a shopping mall. The 24m-high Nacka Fountain in Stockholm, Sweden opens, designed by Uppsala-born Swedish-Am. sculptor Carl Milles (Carl Wilhelm Emil Andersson) (1875-1955) and copied by his asst. Marshall M. Fredericks, with the title "God, Our Father, on the Rainbow", celebrating the founding of the United Nations. The 363K sq. ft. $47.5M 80-lane Nat. Bowling Stadium (AKA the Taj Mahal of Tenpins) in Reno, Nev. opens, featuring an 80-ft. aluminum geodesic dome resembling a bowling ball, hosting the 100th Am. Bowling Congress meeting (100K bowlers in 17,285 teams), and the 1996 film "Kingpin". The funny-looking Fred and Ginger (Dancing) House on the Rasin Embankment in Prague, Czech., designed by Canadian-Am. architect Frank Owen Gehry (Goldberg) (1929-) (begun 1992) is completed. The Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center is opened at 100 S. West Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a cap. of 10,725. The Swarovski Crystal Worlds (Kristallwelten) theme park in Wattens (near Innsbruck), Austria is opened by Austrian crystal glass manufacturer Swarovski to celebrate its 100th anniv., featuring the Swarovski Fountain, consisting of a glass-covered head with a mouth spouting water. Nobel Prizes: Peace: Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo (1948-) (East Timor) and Jose Ramos-Horta (1949-) (East Timor) [for "sustained efforts to hinder the oppression of a small people"]; Lit.: Wislawa Szymborska (Szymborska-Wlodek) (1923-2012) (Poland); Physics: David Morris Lee (1931-) (U.S.), Robert Coleman Richardson (1937-) (U.S.), and Douglas Dean Osheroff (1945-) (U.S.) [He-3 superfluidity]; Chem.: Richard Errett Smalley (1943-2005) (U.S.), Robert Floyd Curl Jr. (1933-) (U.S.) and Sir Harold Walter "Harry" Kroto (Krotoschiner) (1939-) (U.K.) [new carbon molecule class of fullerenes]; Medicine: Peter Charles Doherty (1940-) (Australia) and Rolf Martin Zinkernagel (1944-) (Switzerland) [immune system]; Economics: Sir James Alexander Mirrlees (1936-) (U.K.) and William Spencer Vickrey (1914-96) (U.S.) [incentives]. Inventions: By this year the avg. desktop has 1 GB of storage, and the laptop 900 MB; Iomega introduces the Zip Disk, which is only slightly larger than a 3.5 in. floppy disk but holds 100 megabytes; by 1998 it is up to 250 MB; by 1997 it sells $1.2B a year. On Jan. 4 the advanced all-composite 5-blade armed recon-attack 2-man Boeing-Sikorsky8 RAH-66 Comanche heli makes its first flight, designed to incorporate stealth technology and to designate targets for the AH-64 Apache, featuring fly-by-wire digital flight control system and a canted tail rotor assembly; too bad, on Feb. 23, 2004 the U.S. Army cancels the program after only two are built after sinking $6.9B into it since Oct. 1988. In Jan. the BackRub search engine is founded by the future founders of Googol to rank pages based on backlinks on other pages; Inktomi Hotbot is founded in May, selling out to Yahoo! in Dec. 2003 for $235M. On Nov. 23 the Tamagotchi (Jap. "tamago" = egg + Eng. "watch") handheld digital pet, created by Akihiro Yokoi and Aki Maita is released by Bandai of Japan, selling 70M by 2008 and 76M by 2010. The Mini Autonomous Robot Vehicle (MARV) is developed at Sandia Nat. Lab, with a footprint the size of a penny; in 2011 it ends up in the Smithsonian Inst. Electrolux of Sweden demonstrates the Electrolux Trilobite, the first autonomous cordless robotic vacuum cleaner on the BBC-TV program "Tomorrow' World", introducing it to the consumer market in 2001 - imagine all the severed toes, ruined carpets, broken vases, mangled cat tails etc. during those years of development? Genetically-modified Roundup-ready soybean seeds by Monsanto go on the market. The phenethylamine class CNS stimulant Adderall, a mixture of four amphetamine salts is introduced by Richwood Pharmaceuticals, becoming popular as an athletic performance and cognitive performance enhancer as well as a treatment for narcolepsy and ADHD. Steve Demos of Boulder, Colo.-based White Wave begins marketing refrigerated soy milk, with sales of $10M next year, growing by 37x in seven years (2% of U.S. dairy sales). Microsoft adds the Verdana and Georgia fonts to Windows, designed by British-born Matthew Carter (1937-). Susan Polis Schutz (1944-) and Stephen "Steve" Schutz invent the free electronic greeting card, founding the BlueMountainArts.com Web site, finally selling it to ExciteAtHome for an astounding $1B, who unload it to Am. Greetings for $35M after the Internet boom bust. The first voice-over-Internet products are announced. Science: In Jan. R.P. Ebstein et al. pub. a study claiming that dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) exon III polymorphism is associated with the human personality trait of novelty-seeking. On Feb. 29 U. of Calif. San Francisco scientists announce the discovery of a virus that may cause Kaposi's Sarcoma. Scientists in N.C. successfully grow the first human body part in a lab, a bladder. On Mar. 12 the FDA approves the AIDS protease inhibitor drug Indinavir, invented by Kate Halloway and Chen Zhiao. Kennewick Man, a 9K-y.-o. skeleton with Caucasoid features is uncovered in Washington State, and local Umatilla and other tribes sue to have the remains given to them, while scientists countersue to keep them for research; in 2005 scientists, led by Douglas Owlsey of the Smithsonian Inst. are allowed access. On July 17 Columbia U. seismologists announce their discovery that the inner core of the Earth spins independently and faster than the rest of the planet, like a planet within a planet. On Aug. 6 a NASA team led by biochemist David McKay announces that they have found evidence of ancient life (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and hematite and iron sulfides) on Mars 3.6B years ago in the 4 lb. Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 meteorite that fell on Earth 16M years ago and was found on Dec. 27, 1984 in the Allan Hills of the Trans-Antarctic Mts. in Antarctica; "If the results are verified it is a turning point in human history" (Carl Sagan); skeptics say they're just nice rocks; by 2006 nonbiological explanations are found for every piece of evidence presented - not everybody goes for Prego? The Aug. issue of Journal of Abnormal Psychology contains an article by H.E. Adams, L.W. Wright Jr., and B.A. Lohr claiming that heterosexual men who are homophobic experience homosexual arousal when viewing gay porno. In Sept. L.S. Liebovitch, Y. Tao, A.T. Todorov, and L. Levine pub. the article Is there an error correcting code in the base sequence in DNA?, failing to find any. On Nov. 7 the Mars Global Surveyor, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Colo. is launched, scheduled for a 2-year mission; it ends up lasting 10 years (until Nov. 2006), sending 240K photos, finding geologically young gullies cut by what looks like flowing water, and water-formed mineral deposits. The USDA approves the marketing of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor Donepezil for Alzheimer's patients, marketed by Esai Co. of Japan under the name Aricept. Glyphosate by Monsanto becomes commercial available under the name RoundUp as an insecticide for GMO crops, eliminating the need for plowing of weeds and the resultant topsoil erosion; too bad, environmentalists begin a war against it, claiming that it is carcenogenic despite evidence of safety and despite EPA approval, eventually winning over a jury and throwing Monsanto open to billions in lawsuits. The Sokal Affair sees Am. physicist Alan Sokal submit a stooge paper full of moose hockey in a leading journal of cultural studies to see if it would be pub., and it is; the number is 2.9013. DNA overstretching, in which the double helix structure suddenly extends by 70% when subjected to just 65 picoNewtons of force is discovered. The brewers' yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae becomes the first eukaryote genome to be sequenced. The Hubble Telescope reveals more than 50B galaxies, and gives first-ever pictures of the surface of Pluto; on Jan. 15 astronomers release a pic that they claim shows the Universe as it was 10B years ago; on Jan. 17 Am. astronomers report detecting planets orbiting two stars. The Valley of the Golden Mummies at Bahariya Oasis in the W desert of Egypt is discovered by Zahi Hawass (1947-), containing an estimated 10K mummies dating back to Grego-Roman Egypt. Nonfiction: Peter Ackroyd (1949-), Blake. Peter J. D'Adamo and Catherine Whitney, Eat Right for Your Type: The Individualized Diet Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer, and Achieving Your Ideal Weight; "4 blood types, 4 diets". Scott Adams (1957-), The Dilbert Principle; corps. tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to middle management in order to limit the amount of damage they are capable of doing; "Leadership is nature's way of removing morons from the productive flow." Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), The New Technology: Servant or Master. Catherine Aird (1930-), After Effects. Francesco Alberoni (1929-), I Love You. Gary Aldrich, Unlimited Access. Archie Randolph Ammons (1926-2001), Set in Motion: Essays, Interviews and Dialogues. Doris Anderson (1921-2007), Rebel Daughter (autobio.). Karen Armstrong (1944-), Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. Margaret Atwood (1939-), Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian Literature. Jean H. Baker, The Stevensons: A Biography of an American Family. J.G. Ballard (1930-2009), A User's Guide to the Millennium: Essays and Reviews. Harvey Francis Barnard, Draining the Swamp: Monetary and Fiscal Policy Reform; proposes the Nat. Economic Security and Recovery Act, a plan to replace the income tax with a nat. sales tax, abolish compound interest on secured loans, and return to a bimetallic currency, which is not introduced before the U.S. Congress until ?; meanwhile conspiracy theorists claim it was passed in secret and covered-up. Robert Bauval (1948-) and Graham Hancock (1950-), The Message of the Sphinx (Keeper of Genesis): A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind. Michael J. Behe (1952-), Darwin's Black Box; introduces the concept of "irreducible complexity", that many biochemical structures, e.g., blood clotting "could not have been built in a stepwise Darwinian fashion". Herbert Benson (1935-), Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief (Jan. 1); our bodies are wired for God? Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909-97), The Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and their History; On Political Judgment; rejects any ideology that fails to acknowledge plurality and variety of human experience, while disputing that there can be a political science, with the soundbyte: "Obviously what matters is to understand a particular situation in its full uniqueness, the particular men and events and dangers, the particular hopes and fears which are actively at work in a particular place at a particular time." Paul Berman (1948-), A Tale of Two Utopias: The Political Journey of the Generation of 1968. William Bloom (1948-), Money, Heart and Mind: Financial Well-Being for People and Planet (Oct.). Marcus Borg (1942-) (ed.), The Lost Gospel Q; Jesus at 2000. George J. Borjas (1950-), Labor Economics; becomes a std. textbook in the U.S. Robert H. Bork (1927-), Slouching Toward Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline - we should have been more like Bork? Christopher Brand (1943-2017), The g Factor: General Intelligence and Its Implications, claims that intelligence is heritable, immediately bringing the PC police (Anti-Nazi League) on it, causing the publisher John Wiley & Sons to withdraw it on Apr. 17 without explanation, although everybody knew why; "It is a very different book from the Bell Curve... Brand's book traverses every step of the chain of logic needed to see IQ as critical for social and educational policy: that there is something measurable called general intelligence ('g'), that differences in 'g' are strongly influenced by genetic factors (although Brand allows for environmental factors, he estimates that about 45 per cent of the variation in intelligence is due to 'narrow' genetic factors), and that 'g' is an accurate predictor of success in life. Along that chain there are far too many shaky steps for his thesis to be acceptable to many scientists, whether it is in the way IQ heritability is measured or the very debatable link between IQ and success." (New Scientist) Peter Brown (1935-), The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000; 2nd ed. 2003. Frederick Buechner (1926-), The Longing for Home: Recollections and Reflections. Jimmy Buffett (1946-), A Pirate Looks at 50. Vincent Bugliosi (1934-2015), Outrage. James Carroll (1943-), An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us (Pulitzer Prize); by the 2nd son of a USAF gen. and neighbor of Curtis LeMay. Mart Cartmill, A View to a Death in the Morning: Hunting and Nature Through History. Olavo de Carvalho (1947-), The Collective Imbecile Brazilian Incultural News. David Chalmers (1966-), The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory; claims that all forms of physicalism fail to acocunt for the existence of consciousness itself. Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947-), It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us (Jan.); ghostwritten by Barbara Feinman; "Children are not rugged individualists"; "I believe the primary role of the state is to teach, train and raise children. Parents have a secondary role"; New York City-born Human Potential Movement leader Jean Houston (1937-) helps Hillary write the book, counseling her to imagine a meeting with Eleanor Roosevelt, which the press twists into a seance. Jenny Cockell (1953-), Past Lives, Future Lives: One Woman's Extraordinary Experiences of Other Lifetimes; claims that she will be reborn in Nepal around 2050 under the name Nadja. Norman Cohn (1915-2007), Noah's Flood: The Genesis Story in Western Thought. David Cope (1941-), Experiments in Musical Intelligence. Walter Cronkite (1916-2009), A Reporter's Life (autobio.). Clive Cussler (1931-), The Sea Hunters: True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks; gets him a Doctor of Letters degree from SUNY Maritime College, the first time they award it. Herman Daly (1938-), Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development; advances the concept of Uneconomic Growth, economic growth that reflects or creates a decline in the quality of life. Christopher A. Darden (1956-) and Jess Walker, In Contempt. John Davis, JFK and Mary Pinchot Meyer: A Tale of Two Murdered Lovers. Richard Dawkins (1941-), Climbing Mount Improbable. Jules Regis Debray (1940-), Praised Be Our LordsK (autobio.). Daniel Dennett (1942-), Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. Alan Dershowitz (1938-), Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case. Eliot Deutsch, Essays on the Nature of Art. E.J. Dionne (1952-), The Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era. Martin Bauml Duberman (1930-), Midlife Queer: Autobiography of a Decade, 1971-1981. Betty Jean Eadie (1942-), The Awakening Heart: My Continuing Journey to Love; bestseller. James Ellroy (1948-), My Dark Places: An L.A. Crime Memoir; the unsolved murder of his mother Geneva in 1958, and how it turned him into a crime fiction writer. Sir William Empson (1906-84), The Strengths of Shakespeare's Shrew (posth.). M. Stanton Evans (1934-), The Theme is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition. William Everson (1912-94), Prodigious Thrust (autobio.) (posth.). George Fetherling (1949-), Way Down Deep in the Belly of the Beast: A Memoir of the Seventies. Leslie Fiedler (1917-2003), The Tyranny of the Normal: Essays on Bioethics, Theology and Myth. Frederick Forsyth (1938-), Icon; fascists try to take over post-Soviet Russia. Buddy Foster (1957-), Foster Child (autobio.); "A cheap cry for attention and money, filled with hazy recollections, fantasies and borrowed press releases. Buddy has done nothing but break our mother's heart his whole life" (sister Jodie Foster). Al Franken (1951-), Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations. Nancy Friday (1933-), The Power of Beauty. Paul Fussell Jr. (1924-2012), Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic (autobio.); "My Adolescent illusions, largely intact to that moment, fell away all at once, and I suddenly knew I was not and never would be in a world that was reasonable or just." John Lewis Gaddis (1941-), On Moral Equivalency and Cold War History. Roger (Ragaa) Garaudy (1913-2012), The Founding Myths of Modern Israel; tr. into English in 2000; claims that the Holocaust never claimed more than 3.5M Jews, causing him to be prosecuted under the 1990 Gayssot Law, and convicted in 1998 and fined 240K francs and sentenced to a jail sentence, which is suspended; meanwhile since he converted to Islam in 1982 he is hailed as a hero in the Muslim World, esp. Iran, with Libyan dictator Daffy Duck calling him "Europe's greatest philosopher since Plato and Aristotle". William Howard Gass (1924-), Finding a Form. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950-) and Cornel West (1953-), The Future of Race. Georgie Anne Geyer (1935-), Americans No More (Sept.); decries failure of U.S. immigrants to learn English. Sir Martin Gilbert (1936-2015), Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (Sept. 22). Daniel Goldhagen (1959-), Hitler's Willing Executioners; coins the term "eliminationism" for the belief that one's political enemies must be eliminated like a cancer, and claims that most Germans knew about and supported the Holocaust because of it; dissed by German-born Jewish historian Fritz Stern et al. as unscholarly and full of Germanophobia. Dena Goodman, The Republic of Letter: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment (Jan. 10); emphasizes the role of women and their salons until the 1780s brought an age of "masculine self governance". Mary Catherine Gordon (1949-), The Shadow Man: A Daughter's Search for Her Father (autobio.). Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin; how the "full house" not the high score drives phenomena, explaining the disappearance of the .400 batting avg. and why the perception of evolution as having a goal of increasing complexity from bacteria to man is moose hockey, since bacteria remain the most common organisms today. Katharine Graham (1917-2001), Personal History (autobio.) (Pulitzer Prize). John R. Gribbin (1946-), Schroedinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality; sequel to "Schroedinger's Cat" (1984); adds string theory plus the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics, which he calls the new mythology of our time. Claude Gubler, The Big Secret (Le Grand Secret); exposes Mitterrand's prostate cancer, getting him a criminal conviction and losing him his medical license; the book is banned in France until 2004, which doesn't stop it from spreading on the Internet. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama (1935-), The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus. Wouter Hanegraaff (1961-), New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought; serious academic review of the New Age Movement. Pete Hamill (1935-), Piecework. Oscar Handlin (1915-2011) and Lilian Handlin, From the Outer World. Victor Davis Hanson (1953-), Fields Without Dreams: Defending the Agrarian Idea. Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934-2002), An Accidental Autobiography (autobio.). Paul Heelas, The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity. Robert L. Heilbroner (1919-2005), Teachings from the Worldly Philosophers. Michel Henry (1922-2002), C'est Moi la Veritie: Pour une Philosophue du Christianisme. Grant Hill (1972-), Change the Game: One Athlete's Thoughts on Sports, Dreams, and Growing Up. James Hillman, The Soul's Code. E.D. Hirsch Jr. (1928-), The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them; how the U.S. system has sold students out by deemphasizing knowledge. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes. Adam Hochschild (1942-), Finding the Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels. Matthew F. Holland, America and Egypt: From Roosevelt to Eisenhower. Michael Holroyd (1935-), Augustus John: The New Biography. John Horgan, The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the Scientific Age; revised ed. Apr. 15, 2015; claims that science is experiencing the law of diminishing returns, and is already finished, one-upping John Barrow; watch video. David Horovitz (1962-), Shalom, Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin. James P. Hosty (1928-), Assignment: Oswald; the FBI agent who visited Oswald's wife before the assassination and destroyed a note Oswald gave him two weeks before the big day. A.E. Hotchner (1920-), Louisiana Purchase. Samuel Phillips Huntington (1927-2008), The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order; answer to Francis Fukuyama's "The End of History and the Last Man" (1992); claims that people's cultural and religious identities will be the #1 source of conflict in the post-Cold War world; "The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion, but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do"; "It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation-states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future"; "Hypocrisy, double standards, and 'but nots' are the price of universalist pretensions. Democracy is promoted, but not if it brings Islamic fundamentalists to power; nonproliferation is preached for Iran and Iraq, but not for Israel; free trade is the elixir of economic growth, but not for agriculture; human rights are an issue for China, but not with Saudi Arabia; aggression against oil-owning Kuwaitis is massively repulsed, but not against non-oil-owning Bosnians. Double standards in practice are the unavoidable price of universal standards of principle"; "In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational clash, Western belief in the universality of Western culture suffers three problems: it is false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous... Imperialism is the necessary logical consequence of universalism"; "In Eurasia the great historic fault lines between civilizations are once more aflame. This is particularly true along the boundaries of the crescent-shaped Islamic bloc of nations, from the bulge of Africa to central Asia. Violence also occurs between Muslims, on the one hand, and Orthodox Serbs in the Balkans, Jews in Israel, Hindus in India, Buddhists in Burma and Catholics in the Philippines. Islam has bloody borders"; "Islam's borders are bloody and so are its innards. The fundamental problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilisation whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power." Richard A. Isay (1934-2012), Becoming Gay: The Journey to Self-Acceptance; gay Am. pshrink promotes the view that homosexuality is inborn, describing a developmental pathway specific to gay men, which is considered a breakthrough; in 1991 after he threatens to sue them, the Am. Psychoanalytic Assoc. (APsaA) (founded 1911) changes its position statement on homosexuality and adopts a non-discrimination policy for trainees, and in 1997 becomes the first nat. mental health org. in the U.S. to support same-sex marriage. Christopher Isherwood (1904-86), Diaries, 1939-1960 (posth.); ed. Katherine Bucknell. Sherman A. Jackson, Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi. Philip Jenkins (1952-), Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Social crisis. Haynes Johnson (1931-) and David Broder, The System: The American Way of Politics at the Breaking Point. Tony R. Judt (1948-2010) (ed.), A Grand Illusion? An Essay on Europe. Pauline Kael (1919-2001), Raising Kane and Other Essays. Alfred Kazin (1915-98), A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment (autobio.). George Frost Kennan (1904-2005), At a Century's Ending: Reflections, 1982-1995. Linda K. Kerber (1970-), Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America; views the Am. Rev. through the eyes of women, showing how they were limited to "Republican Motherhood" by nruturing husbands and sons for the republic, after which they had to fight for their remaining rights for cents., Toward an Intellectual History of Women: Essays by Linda K. Kerber. David I. Kertzer (1948-), Politics and Symbols: The Italian Communist Party and the Fall of Communism. Rashid Khalidi (1948-), Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness; his biggest hit, which claims an Arab Palestinian nat. consciousness began forming in the early 20th cent., overlapping with loyalties to Greater Syria, pan-Arabism, and local regions and villages, with the soundbyte: "Local patriotism could not yet be described as nation-state nationalism", pointing with pride to anti-Zionist Arab press in the 1880s. Edward Klein (1937-), The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years. Joe Klein, Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics; pub. anon.; filmed in 1998. Ted Koppel and Kyle Gibson, Nightline. Jon Krakauer (1954-), Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster bestseller about the 1996 disaster. Ann Landers (1918-2002), Wake Up and Smell the Coffee! Joseph E. LeDoux (1949-), The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life; about the role of the amygdala. John Cunningham Lilly (1915-2001) and E.J. Gold (1941-) (eds.), Tanks for the Memories: Flotation Tank Talks. Michael Lind (1962-), Up from Conservatism: Why the Right is Wrong for America. Seymour Martin Lipset (1922-2006), American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword; "Born out of revolution, the United States is a country organized around an ideology which includes a set of dogmas about the nature of a good society. Americanism, as different people have pointed out, is an 'ism' or ideology in the same way that communism or fascism or liberalism are isms. As G. K. Chesterton put it: 'America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.'... The nation's ideology can be described in five words: liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez-faire. The revolutionary ideology which became the American Creed is liberalism in its eighteenth- and nineteenth-century meanings, as distinct from conservative Toryism, statist communitarianism, mercantilism, and noblesse oblige dominant in monarchical, state-church-formed cultures. Other countries' senses of themselves are derived from a common history. Winston Churchill once gave vivid evidence to the difference between a national identity rooted in history and one defined by ideology in objecting to a proposal in 1940 to outlaw the anti-war Communist Party. In a speech in the House of Commons, Churchill said that as far as he knew, the Communist Party was composed of Englishmen and he did not fear an Englishman. In Europe, nationality is related to community, and thus one cannot become un-English or un-Swedish. Being an American, however, is an ideological commitment. It is not a matter of birth. Those who reject American values are un-American." Phillip Lopate (1943-), Portrait of My Body. Leil Lowndes, How to Talk to Anybody About Anything: Breaking the Ice with Everyone from Accountants to Zen Buddhists; bestseller. Peter Mandler (1958-), The Fall and Rise of the Stately Home; details the ups and downs of public appreciation for the British artistocracy and their mansions, becoming his biggest hit. Mark Matousek (1957-), Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story (autobio.); internat. bestseller. James McBride (1957-), The Color of Water (autobio.); bestseller. Frank McCourt (1930-2009), Angela's Ashes: A Memoir (Pulitzer Prize); his poor pathetic upbringing in starving disease-ridden oppressed Roman Catholic Limerick, Ireland. Walter Allen McDougall (1946-), Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter With the World Since 1776. John McPhee (1931-), The Second John McPhee Reader. Fatema Mernissi (1940-), Women's Rebellion and Islamic Memory. J.C. Metcalfe, The Bible and the Human Mind. James A. Michener (1907-97), This Noble Land. Ropbert L. Middlekauff (1929-), Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies; believe it or not, he wasn't loved by everyone? Norma J. Milanovich, The Light Shall Set You Free; the Laws of the Universe and the Nine Bodies. Kenneth Minogue (1930-2013) (ed.), Conservative Realism: New Essays in Conservatism. Walter Mischel (1930), Personality and Assessment. Eric Henry Monkkonen (1942-2005) and Eric Arthur Johnson, The Civilization of Crime: Violence in Town and Country Since the Middle Ages; documents a gen. decline in violence since the late Middle Ages, even in the face of industrialization and urbanization; too bad, New York City is a bad apple. Eugenio Montale (1896-1981), Posthumous Diary (posth.); ed. Annalisa Cima. Sheridan Morley (1941-2007), Gene Kelly; actor Gene Kelly (1912-96); Dirk Bogarde: Rank Outsider; actor Dirk Bogarde (1921-99). George Lachmann Mosse (1918-99), The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity; the Euro idea of manhood and its cracks. Albert Murray (1916-), Blue Devils of NADA. Caroline Myss (1952-), Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1933-), Religion and the Order of Nature (Sept. 26); Muslim thinker argues that Nature is sacred but that godless Science has turned it into a machine to be exploited. John Julius Norwich (1929-), A Short History of Byzantium; condensed version of his 3-vol. masterpiece. P.J. O'Rourke (1947-), The American Spectator's Enemies List. Lynda Obst (1950-), Hello, He Lied (autobio.). Judith Orloff (1951-), Second Sight: A Psychiatrist Clairvoyant Tells Her Extraordinary Story and Shows You How to Discover Your Psychic Gifts; propounds her practice of "energy psychiatry"; in 2001 the book is mentioned as an example of "irresponsible scientific work" in testimony before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, making it more popular? David M. Oshinsky (1944-), Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow. Cynthia Ozick (1928-), Fame and Folly: Essays. Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol. Michael Parenti (1933-), Dirty Truths (essays). Raphael Patai (1910-96), The Jewish Mind; The Jews of Hungary: History, Culture, Psychology. Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam; goes back to the start to prove that Islam wasn't "hijacked" or "perverted" by modern jihadists. W. David Pierce and Frank Epling (1954-98), Activity Anorexia. Daniel Pipes (1949-), The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy. Roy Porter (1946-2002), The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine. Susan Powter (1958-), C'mon America, Let's Eat. Karl H. Pribram (1919-) and Joseph King (eds.), Learning as Self-Organization. Reynolds Price (1933-), Three Gospels; his trans. Johan Henri Quanjer (1934-2001), The Luminous Journey: The Reflection of Pneumatocracy, the Rule of the Soul, in My Extraordinary Life (autobio.). Dennis Michael Quinn (1944-), Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example; claims that some gay hanky-panky went on that was covered-up. Richard W. Rahn (1942-) and H. Fox, What Is the Optimum Size of Government; proposes the U-shaped Rahn Curve, which indicates that a 15%-25% level of govt. spending maximizes economic growth. Jack N. Rakove (1947-), Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (Pulitzer Prize). Otto Rank (1884-1939), A Psychology of Difference: The American Lectures (posth.); ed. by Robert Kramer. Dennis Rodman (1961-) and Tom Keown, Bad As I Wanna Be (autobio.); promotes it by wearing a wedding dress. John Ross (1938-2011), Mexico in Focus. Vera Cooper Rubin (1928-), Bright Galaxies Dark Matters. Lawrence Schiller and James Willwerth, American Tragedy. Suzanne Segal (1955-97), Collision with the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self; describes her sudden experience of depersonalization incl. moments of "vastness" after using her name as a mantra, with the soundbyte "In the dissolution of the witness, there was literally no more experience of a 'me' at all"; too bad, she dies in 1997 of a brain tumor. Randy Shaw (1956-), The Activist's Handbook. Peter Singer (1946-) and Bob Brown, The Greens. Quentin Skinner (1940-), Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes. Annika Sorenstam (1970-), Dare To Be Best (autobio.). Theodore Sorensen (1928-), Why I Am a Democrat; by JFK's advisor and ghostwriter of his "Profiles in Courage". Thomas Sowell (1930-), The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy; how liberals try to build utopias and block evidence of failure to keep expanding, resorting to ridicule and shaming of conservative critics warning of serious side effects instead of logical argument. Migrations and Cultures: A World View. George Steiner (1929-), No Passion Spent: Essays 1978-1996. James B. Stewart, Blood Sport. William Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy - What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny ; Anglo-Am. history repeats itself every 80 years, starting with the Am. Rev., U.S. Civil War, and WWII; cycles incl. First (High) (Artists) (1946-64), Second (Awakening) (Prophets) (1964-84), Third (Unraveling) (Nomads) (1984-2008), and Fourth (Crisis) (Heroes) (2008-202x). Cass R. Sunstein (1954-), Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict. Gay Talese (1932-), Origins of a Nonfiction Writer. Hugh Thomas (1931-), World History: The Story of Mankind from Prehistory to the Present. Richard Vinen, France, 1934-1970. Neale Donald Walsch (1943-), Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue; homeless man in Ore. talks about his "unselfish" pantheistic God whose motto is "There is nothing you have to do", which becomes an internat. bestseller and spawns a series of 28 books; in Mar. 2003 he founds Humanity's Team in Boulder, Colo. in response to 9/11 as "a civil rights movement for the soul", gaining 60K members in 90 countries; on Oct. 24, 2010 he holds his first Global Oneness Day. Joseph Wambaugh (1937-), Floaters. Harold Weisberg (1914-2002), Case Open: Unanswered JFK Assassination Questions. G.A. Wells (1926-2017), The Jesus Legend. Arnold Wesker (1932-), The Birth of Shylock and the Death of Zero Mostel. Cornel West (1953-), Future of the Race. John Anthony West, The traveller's Key to Ancient Egypt: A Guide to Secret Places; claims that the Great Sphinx dates back to 5K B.C.E. to 7K B.C.E. William Wharton (1925-2008), Houseboat on Seine (autobio.). Stuart Wilde (1946-), Silent Power. William Julius Wilson (1935-), When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. David Wojnarowicz (1954-92), The Waterfront Journals; ed. by Amy Scholder. Fred Alan Wolf (1934-), The Spiritual Universe: One Physicist's Vision of Spirit, Soul, Matter, and Self. Mark William Worthing, God, Creation, and Contemporary Physics. Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity: From Jihad to Dhimmitude. Art: Damien Hirst (1965-), Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent Lies in Everything; multiple cows in formaldehyde. Roberto Matta (1911-2002), The Road to Heaven; Storming Water River; Redness of Blue. Thomas Schutte, Figure Nr. 11. Todd Walker (1917-), MARIVAR; WIJAN. Anne Wallace, Damage. Music: 2 Unlimited, Hits Unlimited (album) (Oct. 30). Aaliyah (1979-2001), One in a Million (album #2) (Aug. 27) (#18 in the U.S., #33 in the U.K.) (8M copies); incl. One in a Million, If Your Girl Only Knew, Got to Give It Up, 4 Page Letter, Hot Like Fire, The One I Gave My Heart To. Bryan Adams (1959-), 18 Til I Die (album #7) (June 4). Amon Amarth, Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds (EP) (debut) (Apr.); from Sweden; named after Mt. Doom in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth; incl. Johan Hegg (vocals), Olavi Mikkonen (guitar), Johan Soderberg (guitar), Ted Lundstrom (bass), and Fredrik Andersson (drums); incl. Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds. Tori Amos (1963-), Boys for Pele (album #3) (Jan. 22) (#2 in the U.S. and U.K.); incl. Caught a Lite Sneeze, Talula, Professional Widow, Hey Jupiter, In the Springtime of His Voodoo, Father Lucifer. Skunk Anansie, Stoosh (album #2)(May 20); incl. All I Want, Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good), Twisted (Everyday Hurts), Brazen (Weep). Peter Andre (1973-), Mysterious Girl; written by Glen Goldsmith (1965-). Apocalyptica, Apocalyptica Plays Metallica by Four Cellos (album) (debut) (June 13); from Finland, incl. cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lotjonen, and Perttu Kivilaakso, and drummer Mikko Siren. Fiona Apple (1977-), Tidal (album) (debut) (July 23) (#15 in the U.S.); sells 2.7M copies; incl. Shadowboxer (#32 in the U.S.), Sleep to Dream (#28 in the U.S.), Criminal (#17 in the U.S.). Asia, Arena (album #6). Beck (1970-), Odelay (album); incl. Where It's At. George Benson (1943-), That's Right (album). Bjork (1965-), Telegram (album) (Nov.). Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys (album) (debut) (May 6) (6M copies worldwide); from Orlando, Fla., incl. A.J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, and Kevin Richardson; incl. We've Got It Goin' On, I'll Never Break Your Heart, Get Down (You're the One for Me), Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Anywhere for You. Beastie Boys, Don't Mosh in the Raman Shop (album); The In Sound From Way Out! (album). Pet Shop Boys, Bilingual (album #10) (Sept. 2); sells 1.5M copies; incl. Single Bilingual, Before, Se a Vida e (That's the Way Life Is), A Red Letter Day. Billy Bragg (1957-), William Bloke (album #5) (Sept.); incl. A Pict Song. Toni Braxton (1967-), Secrets (album); incl. You're Makin' Me High, How Could an Angel Break My Heart, Un-Break My Heart. Jackson Browne (1948-), Looking East (album #11) (#36 in the U.S.) (Feb. 13). Jimmy Buffett (1946-), Banana Wind (album #21) (June 4); incl. Jamaica Mistaica; about the time when the pigs fired at his plane Hemisphere Dancer after mistaking it for a smuggler; Christmas Island (album #22) (Oct. 8). Bush, Razorblade Suitcase (album #2) (working title "Ghost Medicine") (Nov. 19, 1996) (#1 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.); incl. Swallowed, Greedy Fly, Bonedriven. Cake, Fashion Nugger (album #2) (Sept. 17) (1M copies); incl. The Distance, I Will Survive. The Cardigans, First Band on the Moon (album #3) (Sept. 17); incl. Lovefool (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.). Johnny Cash (1932-2003), I've Been Everywhere. Eva Marie Cassidy (1963-96), Live at Blues Alley (live solo album) (#86 in the U.K.); recorded on Jan. 2-3, 1996; too bad, she dies of melanoma on Nov. 2, 1996; incl. Ain't No Sunshine Bridge Over Troubled Water (by Paul Simon), People Get Ready (by Curtis Mayfield), Blue Skies (by Irving Berlin), Autumn Leaves (by Johnny Mercer, Jacques Prevert, and Joseph Kosma), Take Me to the River (Al Green, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges). Alice in Chains, MTV Unplugged (album) (July 30); performed on Apr. 10, their first concert in 2-1/2 years, aired on May 28; incl. Over Now, Killer is Me; too bad, Layne Staley's fiance dies, causing the group to virtually disband until his 2002 death. Kenny Chesney (1968-), Me and You (album #3) (June 4) (#9 country) (#78 in the U.S.); incl. Me and You (#2 country) (#112 in the U.S.), When I Close My Eyes (#2 country), Back in My Arms Again (#41 country). Chic, Chic Freak and More Treats (album); solo effort by Nile Rodgers. Joe Cocker (1944-2014), Organic (album #15) (Oct. 29). Judy Collins (1939-), Live at Newport, 1959-1966 (album #27). Phil Collins (1951-), Dance Into the Light (album) (Oct. 22); first after he leaves Genesis, and first not to chart any top 40 U.S. hits; incl. Dance Into the Light. Shawn Colvin (1956-), A Few Small Repairs (album #4) (Oct. 1) (#39 in the U.S.); about her divorce; incl. Sunny Came Home (#7 in the U.S.) (wins song of the year and record of the year at the Grammy's, with Ol' Dirty Bastard storming the stage during her acceptance speech and having to be escorted off stage, after which she says "I'm confused now"), Nothin' on Me (#24 in the U.S.) (theme song of "Suddenly Susan"), Get Out of This House. Elvis Costello (1954-) and the Attractions, All This Useless Beauty (album) (May 14); incl. The Other End of the Telescope (written with Aimee Mann). Elvis Costello (1954-) and Steve Nieve (1958-), Costello & Nieve (5-disc live album) (Dec. 3); incl. Watching the Detectives. Cracker, The Golden Age (album #3) (Apr. 2); incl. I Hate My Generation, Nothing to Believe In. The Cranberries, To the Faithful Departed (album #3) (Apr. 30); sells 6M copies; incl. Salvation, Electric Blue, Free to Decide, When You're Gone, Free to Decide, I Just Shot John Lennon; the band goes on hiatus until 1999. King Crimson, Thrakattak (album #16). Sheryl Crow (1962-), Sheryl Crow (album #2); incl. If It Makes You Happy (#10 in the U.S., #9 in the U.K.), Everyday Is A Winding Road (#11 in the U.S., #12 in the U.K.), A Change Would Do You Good (#16 in the U.S., #8 in the U.K.), Hard To Make a Stand (#22 in the U.K.), Home (#25 in the U.K.), Love Is A Good Thing; album is banned by Wal-Mart for lyrics in "Love Is A Good Thing" suggesting that guns they sell fall into the hands of kids. Black Crowes, Three Snakes and One Charm (album). Counting Crows, Recovering the Satellites (album #2) (Oct. 14) (#1 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.)); first with 2nd guitarist Dan Vickrey, and with drummer Steve Bowman replacing Ben Mize/Steve Bowman; incl. Angels of the Silences (#3 in the U.S.), A Long December (#5 in the U.S.), Daylight Fading (#26 in the U.S.), Have You Seen Me Lately? (#34 in the U.S.). The Cure, Wild Mood Swings (album #10) (May 6); sells 1M copies; first with drummer Jason Cooper; incl. The 13th, Strange Attraction, Mint Car, Gone!. Pimp C (1973-2007) and Bun B, Ridin' Dirty (album). Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks Vol. 4 (album) (Feb.); recorded on Feb. 13-14, 1970 at the Fillmore East in New York City; Dick's Picks Vol. 5 (May); recorded on Dec. 26, 1979 in Oakland, Calif.; Dozin' at the Knick (album) (Oct.); recorded on Mar. 24-26, 1990 in Albany, N.Y.; Dick's Picks Vol. 6 (album) (Oct.); recorded on Oct. 14, 1983 in Hartford, Conn., the first Dead concert attended by Trey Anastasio of Phish; The Arista Years (double album) (Oct. 15). Hamza El Din (1929-2006), Available Sound: Darius (album #10); Muwashshah (album #11). Celine Dion (1968-), Falling Into You (album #4) (Mar. 12); incl. Falling Into You. Social Distortion (Mike Ness), White Light White Heat White Trash (album); incl. I Was Wrong ("How could someone's bad luck last so long?/ Until I realized that I was wrong"). Divinyls, Underworld (album #5) (last) (Nov. 11) (#47 in the U.S.); incl. I'm Jealous. Snoop Dogg (1971-), The Doggfather (album #2) (Nov. 12) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Doggfather, Snoop's Upside Ya Head, Vapors. Doobie Brothers, Rockin' Down the Highway: the Wildlife Concert (album) (July). Crash Test Dummies, A Worm's Life (album). Electronic, Raise the Pressure (album #2) (July 8); incl. Forbidden City, For You, Second Nature. Arch Enemy, Black Earth (album) (debut) (Oct.); melodic death metal band from Sweden. Modern English, Everything is Mad (album #6). Gloria Estefan (1957-), Destiny (album #7) (May 30) (2.6M copies); incl. Reach (official theme of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics). Better Than Ezra, Friction, Baby (album #3) (Aug. 13); incl. King of New Orleans. Faithless, Reverence (album) (debut) (Apr.); Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss, and Rollo; incl. Reverence, Don't Leave, Salva Mea. Save Ferris, Introducing Save Ferris (album); name comes from John Hughes' film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"; Brian Mashburn (vocals), Bill Uechi (bass), Eric Zamora (sax), Jose Castellanos (trumpet), Monique Powell (vocals), Brian "T-Bone Willy" Williams (trombone), and Marc Harismendy (drums). Elysian Fields, Bleed Your Cedar (album) (debut) (Oct. 8); Jennifer Charles (1968-) (vocals), Oren Bloedow (1965-) (guitar); incl. Lady in the Lake, Star, Fountains on Fire, Jack in the Box, Mermaid. Fishbone, Chim Chim's Badass Revente (May 21, 1996); first without Kendall Jones and Chris Dowd; incl. Chim Chim's Badass Revenge, Riot, Psychologically Overcast. Dan Fogelberg (1951-2007), Promises (album). Foreigner, Mr. Moonlight (album #8) (Oct. 31); Lou Gramm returns, and Rick Wills and Dennis Elliott leave; next album in 2009. Kenny G (1956-), The Moment (album #8). Kool and the Gang, State of Affairs (album #22) (July 3); J.T. Taylor returns, gaining raves from critics, but it flops anyway. Secret Garden, Songs from a Secret Garden (album) (debut); Fionnuala Sherry (1963-) and Norwegian pianist Rolf Lovland (Løvland) (1955-); Song from a Secret Garden, and Nocturne. Debbie Gibson (1970-), Think With Your Heart (album #5) (July 3); only sells 25K copies; Deborath (album #6) (Dec.). Everything But the Girl, Walking Wounded (album #10) (May 21) (#37 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.); incl. Wrong. Spice Girls, Spice (album) (debut) (Nov. 4) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (23M copies); multiracial English girl group formed via ads in "The Stage" reading "RU 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance"; incl. Victoria Caroline Beckham (nee Adams) (Posh Spice) (1974-), Melanie Janine Brown (1975-) (Scary Spice), Emma Lee Bunton (1976-) (Baby Spice), Melanie Jayne Chisholm (1974-) (Sporty Spice), and Geraldine Estelle "Geri" Halliwell (1972-) (Ginger Spice); incl. Wannabe (debut single, which hits #1 in 31 countries, rocketing the karate-kicking babes to the top), Say You'll Be There, 2 Become 1, Naked (which they perform naked sitting on backwards chairs). Nina Hagen (1955-), BeeHappy (album #10) (Jan. 1). Van Halen, Best of Volume 1 (album) (Oct. 22); incl. Humans Being, My Wise Magic, Can't Get This Stuff No More. Tom T. Hall (1936-), Songs from Sopchoppy (album); incl. Little Bitty. Ofra Harnoy (1965-), The Beatles Book (Mar. 4); first Canadian CD. Beth Hart (1972-) Immortal (album) (debut); incl. Run. Procol Harum, The Long Goodbye (album #12). P.J. Harvey (1969-) and John Parish, Dance Hall at Louse Point (album #4) (#178 in the U.S., #46 in the U.K.); incl. That Was My Veil (#75 in the U.K.). Crowded House, Recurring Dream (album) (June). Whitney Houston (1963-2012), The Preacher's Wife Soundtrack (album) (Nov. 26) (best-selling gospel in history, 6M copies); incl. I Believe in You and Me (#5 in the U.S.), Step by Step (#16 in the U.S.). Isley Brothers, Mission to Please (album); first album in 13 years; incl. Down Low (w/ R. Kelly)(#4 in the U.S.). Alan Jackson, Everything I Love (album); incl. Little Bitty (written by Tom T. Hall). Luscious Jackson, Fever In Fever Out (album #3) (Oct. 29); incl. Naked Eye. Pearl Jam, No Code (album #4) (Aug. 27) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Who You Are (#31 in the U.S., #18 in the U.K.), Hail, Hail, Red Mosquito, Off He Goes. Jay-Z (1969-), Reasonable Doubt (album) (debut) (June 25); incl. Ain't No Nigga (w/ Foxy Brown), Can't Knock the Hustle. Jamiroquai, Travelling Without Moving (album #3) (Sept. 9); incl. Virtual Insanity, Cosmic Girl. Jimmy Eat World, Static Prevails (album #2) (July 23); incl. Rockstar. Elton John (1947-), Love Songs (Greatest Hits Vol. 4) (album) (Sept. 24). Journey, Trial By Fire (album #10) (Oct. 22); last with Steve Perry and Steve Smith; incl. When You Love a Woman, Message of Love, If He Should Break Your Heart. Toby Keith (1961-), Blue Moon (album). R. Kelly (1967-), I Believe I Can Fly; featured in "Space Jam" (1996). Ghostface Killah, Ironman (album) (debut). Mark Knopfler (1949-), Golden Heart (album) (solo debut) (Mar. 26); incl. Darling Pretty, Cannibals, Rudiger (Rüdiger), Don't You Get It. Korn, Life Is Peachy (album #2) (Oct. 15) (#3 in the U.S., #32 in the U.K.); incl. Porno Creep, No Place to Hide, Good God, A.D.I.D.A.S. (All Day I Dream About Sex); success allows them to launch their own record label Elementree Records next year. Diana Krall (1964-), All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio. Barenaked Ladies, Born on a Pirate Ship (album #3) (Mar. 19); first sans Andy Creeggan; incl. The Old Apartment, Shoe Box, When I Fall, Break Your Heart; Rock Spectacle (album) (Nov. 9). Laibach, Jesus Christ Superstars (album #11) (Oct. 23). Cyndi Lauper (1953-), Sisters of Avalon (album #5); incl. Sisters of Avalon. Huey Lewis (1950-) and the News, Time Flies... The Best Of (album) (Oct. 29). Murphy's Law, Dedicated (album #7) (Mar. 19). Def Leppard, Slang (album #6) (May). Rage Against the Machine, Evil Empire (album #2) (Apr. 16); incl. Bulls on Parade, People of the Sun, Tire Me, Down Rodeo, Vietnow. Madonna (1958-), Evita - The Motion Picture Soundtrack (album) (Nov. 12) (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (3M copies); incl. Don't Cry for Me Argentina, You Must Love Me, Another Suitcase in Another Hall. Iron Maiden, Best of the Beast (album) (Sept. 24). Yngwie Malmsteen (1963-), Inspiration (album) (Oct. 14) (all covers). Marilyn Manson, Antichrist Superstar (album #2) (Oct. 8) (#3 in the U.S.); sells 7.5M copies; produced by Trent Reznor; incl. The Beautiful People, Tourniquet, Cryptorchid ("Each time I make my mother cry an angel dies and falls from Heaven"), Antichrist Superstar, Man That You Fear. Dave Matthews Band, Crash (album). Maxwell (1973-), Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (album) (debut) (Apr. 2); sells 2M copies; incl. The Urban Theme. Reba McEntire (1955-), What If It's You (album #23) (Nov. 5); incl. The Fear of Being Alone, How Was I to Know, I'd Rather Ride Around with You, What If It's You. Mindy McCready (1975-2013), Ten Thousand Angels (Apr. 30) (#40 in the U.S.) (2M copies); incl. Ten Thousand Angels, Guys Do It All the Time. John Mellencamp (1951-), Mr. Happy Go Lucky (album). Metallica, Load (album) (June 4); sells 5M copies and causes fans to accuse them of selling out; incl. Ain't My Bitch, Mama Said. Joni Mitchell (1943-), Hits (album); sells 500K copies. Moby, Animal Rights (album). Moonspell, Irreligious (album #2); incl. Full Moon Madness, Opium, Ruin and Misery, Awake. Van Morrison (1945-) (with Georgie Fame and Friends), How Long Has This Been Going On (album #24) (Jan.); Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison (album #25) (Oct. 8). Alanis Morissette (1974-), Jagged Little Pill (album #3); sells 33M copies (12M in U.S.), a record for a female artist, opening up the biz for others; lyrics in her purse are almost stolen by an L.A. mugger?; incl. You Learn, Ironic, Hand in My Pocket, Head Over Feet, All I Really Want, You Oughta Know. Mountain, Man's World (album); first album since 1986. Motorhead, Overnight Sensation (album #13) (Oct. 15). Modest Mouse, This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About (album) (debut) (Apr. 16); from Portland Ore.; name from a Virginia Woolf short story; originally from Issaquah, Wash.; incl. Isaac Brock (1975-) (vocals, guitar), Eric Scott Judy (1974-) (bass), and Jeremiah Martin Green (1977-) (drums); incl. Lounge, Beach Side Property, and She Ionizes & Atomizes; Interstate 8 (EP) (Aug. 6); incl. Interstate 8, Broke, All Night Diner, Sleepwalking. Nefilim, Zoon (album) (Oct.); incl. Xodus. Nickelback, Curb (album) (debut) (May 1); from Hanna, Alberta, Canada, incl. Chad Robert Kroeger (Turton) (1974-), Mike Kroeger (1972-), Ryan Peake, and Brandon Kroeger (drums); incl. Fly. Nonchalant (1973-), 5 O'Clock. Midnight Oil, Breathe (album #12) (Oct. 15); incl. Underwater, Surf's Up Tonight. Oingo Boingo, Farewell: Live from the Universal Amphitheatre, Halloween 1995 (double album) (Apr. 16). OMD, Universal (album #10) (Sept. 2); incl. Universal, Walking on the Milky Way. Pantera, The Great Southern Trendkill (album #8) (May 7) (#4 in the U.S.); incl. Floods, 10's, War Nerve, Drag the Waters. Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Schwein Lake Live (album #10). Phish, Billy Breathes (album). Stone Temple Pilots, Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop (album #3) (Mar. 26) (#4 in the U.S., #31 in the U.K.); incl. Big Bang Baby, Lady Picture Show, Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart. Placebo, Placebo (album) (debut) (July 16); from London, England, incl. Brian Molko (1972-) (vocals, guitar), Stefan Alexander Bo Olsdal (1974-) (bass), and Robert Schultzberg/Steve Hewitt (drums); androgynous, or glam version of Nirvana?; incl. Nancy Boy, Come Home, 36 Degrees, Teenage Angst. Pogues, Pogue Mahone (album). Jean-Luc Ponty (1942-), Le Voyage (album). Iggy Pop (1947-), Naughty Little Doggie (album) (Mar. 5); incl. Look Away (tribute to Johnny Thunders of the Heartbreakers). The Posies, Amazing Disgrace (album #4) (May 14). Insane Clown Posse, The Great Milenko (album); incl. Neden Game; pisses-off distributor Hollywood Records, owned by Disney, for "not fitting the Disney image", causing it to become more popular?; sells 1.5M copies with Island Records. Manic Street Preachers, Everything Must Go (originally Sounds in the Grass) (album #4) (May 20); incl. A Design for Life, Everything Must Go, Kevin Carter, Further Away, Australia. Prince (1958-2016), Chaos and Disorder (album); incl. "Dinner with Delores", Emancipation(triple album); incl. "Jam of the Year", "Somebody's Somebody", "Betcha by Golly Wow!"; Girl 6 (album). The Presidents of the United States of America, The Presidents of the United States of America II (album #2) (Nov. 5) (#31 in the U.S.); released on U.S. Pres. Election day; incl. Mach 5, Supersonics, Volcano, Tiki God. Propellerheads, Dive! (debut); Will White, Ales Gifford. Skinny Puppy, The Process (album #8) (Feb. 27); Nivek Ogre quits on June 12, 1995, and keyboardist Dwayne Goettel dies of a heroin OD on Aug. 23, 1995, causing American Recordings to drop them, and "The End" to be printed in the liner notes; incl. Candle; they reform in 2002, The Boo Radleys, C'mon Kids (album #5) (Sept. 9); incl. C'mon Kids. Eddi Reader (1959-), Candyfloss and Medicine (album #3). Lou Reed (1942-), Set the Twilight Reeling (album #17) (Feb. 20); incl. Set the Twilight Reeling, Egg Cream, Hookywooky. Sacred Reich, Heal (album #5) (last album) (Feb.). R.E.M., New Adventures in Hi-Fi (album #10) (Sept. 9); last with drummer Bill Berry, mgr. Jefferson Holt, and producer Scott Litt; incl. E-Bow the Letter (with Patti Smith), Bittersweet Me, Electrolite, How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us. Busta Rhymes (1972-), The Coming (Mar. 26) (#6 in the U.S.); incl. Woo Hah! Got You All in Check (#8 in the U.S.). Tony Rich, Words (album) (debut); incl. Nobody Knows. Lionel Richie (1949-), Louder Than Words (album #4) (Apr. 16). Ricochet, Ricochet (album) (debut); Heath Wright, Jeff Bryant, Junior Bryant, Greg Gook, Terry Carr, Eddie Kilgallon, Shannon Farmer; incl. Daddy's Money. LeAnn Rimes (1982-), Blue (album) (debut) (July 9) (#1 country) (#3 in the U.S.) (6M copies); its success helps stop country music's decline, making her the successor of Patsy Cline; incl. Blue (#10 country), One Way Ticket (Because I Can) (#1 country), The Light in Your Eyes (#10 country), Hurt Me. Kid Rock (1971-), Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp (album #3) (Jan. 9). Rush, Test for Echo (album #16) (Sept. 10); incl. Test for Echo, Driven, Virtuality, Limbo, Carve Away the Stone. Black Sabbath, The Sabbath Stones (album) (Apr. 29). Buffy Sainte-Marie (1941-), Up Where We Belong (album). Pharoah Sanders (1940-), Message from Home (album). Scorpions, Pure Instinct (album) (May 21); incl. Wild Child. Belle and Sebastian, Tigermilk (album) (debut) (June 6); If You're Feeling Smarter (album #2) (Nov. 18); from Glasgow, Scotland, named after the children's book "Belle et Sebasten" by Cecile Aubry; known for "wistful pop"; incl. Stuart Lee Murdoch (1968-), Stevie Jackson (1969-) (guitar), Chris Geddes (1975-) (keyboards), Richard Colburn (1970-) (drums). Sepultura, The Roots of Sepultura (double album) (Nov. 29). Shakira (1977-), Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet) (album) (debut) (Oct. 6); incl. Estoy Aqui, Donde Estas Corazon. Tupac Shakur (1971-96), All Eyez on Me (album #4) (Feb. 3) (#1 in the U.S., #32 in the U.K.) (4.5M copies); too bad, he's shot and killed in Las Vegas, Nev. on Sept. 7, 1996 after watching the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand; incl. How Do U Want It (#1 in the U.S.), California Love (#1 in the U.S.); Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (album #5) (last album) (Nov. 5) (#1 in the U.S.) (3.5M copies); incl. Toss It Up (w/Danny Boy, KC & JoJo), To Live & Die in L.A., Hail Mary. Duncan Sheik (1969-), Duncan Sheik (album) (debut) (June 4); incl. Barely Breathing. Michelle Shocked (1962-), Artists Make Lousy Slaves (album). Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Christmas Eve and Other Stories (album) (debut) (Oct. 15) (3.4M copies); first in Christmas Trilogy, incl. "The Christmas Attic" (1998) and "The Lost Christmas Eve" (2004). Eve 6, Eleventeen (album). Slayer, Undisputed Attitude (album #7) (May 28) (#34 in the U.S.). Sleater-Kinney, Call the Doctor (album #2) (Mar. 25); incl. Call the Doctor. Sleeper, The It Girl (album #2) (May); incl. What Do I Do Now?, Sale of the Century, Nice Guy Eddie, Statuesque; Atomic; recorded for the film "Trainspotting" after Blondie refuses to allow their version to be used. Fatboy Slim (Quentin Leo "Norman" Cook) (1963-), Better Living Through Chemistry (album) (2nd debut) (Sept. 23); incl. Everybody Needs a 303, Going Out of My Head. Patti Smith (1946-), Gone Again (album #6) (Uune 18); back after another 8-year layoff and the death of hubby Fred "Sonic" Smith (1949-94); incl. Gone Again, Summer Cannibals. Soundgarden, Down on the Upside (album #5) (May 21) (#2 in the U.S.); incl. Pretty Noose, Burden in My Hand, Blow Up the Outside World, Ty Cobb; they break up in Apr. 1997. Spiderbait, Ivy and the Big Apples (album #3) (Oct.); incl. Buy Me a Pony, Calypso. Bruce Springsteen (1949-), Blood Brothers (album) (Nov. 19). Staind, Tormented (album) (debut) (Nov. 29); from Springfield, Mass., incl. Aaron Lewis (1972-) (vocals), Mike Mushok (guitar), Johnny April (bass), and Jon Wysocki (drums); cover features a bloody Barbie doll on a crucifix, and a knife impaling a Bible; incl. Painful, Mudshuvel. Status Quo, Don't Stop (album #22) (Feb.). Rod Stewart (1945-), If We Fall in Love Tonight (album) (Nov. 1); incl. If We Fall in Love Tonight, For the first Time. Stratovarius, Episode (album #5) (Apr. 22). Sublime, Sublime (original title "Killin' It") (album #3) (July 30) (#13 in the U.S.) (6M copies); incl. Santeria, What I Got, Wrong Way, Doin' Time, April 29, 1992 (Miami); too bad, on May 25, 1996 Bradley Nowell dies of a heroin OD, and the band breaks up. Suede, Coming Up (album #3) (Sept. 2); first with Richard Oakes replacing Bernard Butler; incl. Trash, The Beautiful Ones, Saturday Night, Lazy, Filmstar. Superdrag, Regretfully Yours (album) (debut) (Mar. 26); incl. Sucked Out (disses the major label music industry); from Knoxville, Tenn., incl. Brandon Fisher (guitar), Tom Pappas (bass), John Davis, and Don Coffey Jr. (drums). Nada Surf, High/Low (album) (debut) (June 18) (#63 in the U.S.); from New York City, incl. Matthew Caws (1967-) (vocals), Daniel Lorca (bass), and Ira Sebastian Elliot (1963-) (drums); incl. Popular (#11 in the U.S.). Livingston Taylor (1950-), Bicycle (album). Therion, Theli (album #8) (Aug. 9); incl. To Mega Therion. Pretty Things, Unrepentant (album #12). Tonic, Lemon Parade (album) (debut); Emerson Hart, Jeff Russo, Dan Rothchild, Kevin Shepard; incl. If You Could Only See, Open Up Your Eyes. Tool, Aenima (album #2) (Sept. 17) (#2 in the U.S.) (3.4M copies in the U.S.); incl. Aenema, Stinkfist, H., Forty Six & 2. ZZ Top, Rhythmeen (album #12) (Sept. 17) (#29 in the U.S.). The Tubes, Genius of America (album). Tina Turner (1939-), Wildest Dreams (album); sells 6M copies. Matchbox Twenty, Yourself or Someone Like You (album) (debut) (Oct. 1) (#5 in the U.S., #50 in the U.K.) (15M copies); from Orlando, Fla., incl. Robert Kelly "Rob" Thomas (1972-) (vocals), Brian Joseph Yale (1968-), (bass), Paul John Doucette (1972-) (guitar/drums), and Adam Gaynor (guitar); incl. Long Day, Push, 3 A.M., Real World, Back 2 Good. Thompson Twins, Greatest Hits (album) (Oct. 1). Six Feet Under, Alive and Dead (EP) (Oct. 29). Underworld, Second Toughest in the Infants (album #4) (Mar. 19); incl. Pearl's Girl, Juanita: Kiteless: To Dream of Love. Born Slippy .NUXX (#2 in the U.K.); becomes a hit after being played in the final scene of "Trainspotting". Vangelis (1943-), Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear) (album) (Mar. 11); Oceanic (album) (Oct. 25); incl. Song of the Seas. Various Artists, Trainspotting Soundtrack (album) (July 9); incl. Trainspotting by Primal Scream. Suzanne Vega (1959-), Nine Objects of Desire (album #5) (Sept. 10) (#92 in the U.S.); incl. Caramel. The Wallflowers, Bringing Down the Horse (album #2) (May 21) (#4 in the U.S.); incl. 6th Avenue Heartache, One Headlight, The Difference, Three Marlenas. 6th Avenue Heartache. Warrant, Belly to Belly (album #5) (Oct. 1). Weezer, Pinkerton (album #2) (Sept. 24) (#19 in the U.S.); named after B.F. Pinkerton in Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly"; incl. El Scorcho, The Good Life, Pink Triangle. Paul Westerberg, Eventually (album). Whigfield (1970-), Sexy Eyes; I Want to Love. Great White, Let It Rock (album #8) (May 21). Wilco, Being There (double album #2) (Oct. 29); named after the 1979 film; sells 300K copies; incl. Outtasite (Outta Mind). Chely Wright (1970-), Right in the Middle of It (album #2) (Jan. 9); incl. The Love That We Lost. Trisha Yearwood (1964-), Everybody Knows (album). Yes, Keys to Ascension (double album) (Oct. 28). Neil Young (1945-) and Crazy Horse, Broken Arrow (album). Frank Zappa (1940-93), Have I Offended Someone? (album) (posth.) (Apr. 8); Strictly Genteel (album) (posth.) (May). White Zombie, Supersexy Swingin' Sounds (last album) (Aug. 15). Movies: Stephen Herek's 101 Dalmatians (Nov. 27) (Walt Disney Pictures) (Great Oaks Entertainment) (Buena Vista Pictures) is a live action remake of the 1961 Disney animated movie based on the 1956 Dodie Smith novel, starring Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil, Jeff Daniels as Roger, Joely Richardson as Anita, Joan Plowright as Nanny, and Hugh Laurie as Jasper; does $320.6M box office on a $75M budget. David Twohy's The Arrival (May 31) (Orion Pictures) stars Charlie Sheen as radio astronomer Zane Zaminsky, who discovers evidence of intelligent ETs trying to raise Earth's temperature with CO2 emissions, becoming a victim of a conspiracy; Teri Polo plays his babe Char; Lindsay Crouse plays NCAR climatologist Ilana Green (a land of green?); does $14M on a $25M budget, becoming a cult film. Christian Duguay's The Assignment (Sept. 26) stars Aidan Quinn as U.S. Navy officer Annibal Ramirez, who looks like terrorist Carlos the Jackal, and is recruited by CIA Agent Dr. Jack Shaw/Henry Fields (Donald Sutherland) to masquerade as him to catch him; Ben Kingsley plays Mossad agent Amos; does $332.5M box office. Julian Schnabel's Basquiat (Aug. 9) (Miramax Films) stars Jeffrey Wright as rags-to-riches black artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Bowie as Andy Warhol, Dennis Hooper as Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger, Michael Wincott as art critic Rene Ricard, Courtney Love as Big Pink, Claire Forlani as Basquiat's babe Gina Cardinale, and Parker Posey as art gallery owner Mary Boone; Gary Oldman plays Albert Milo, an artist supposed to really be Schnabel, who was discovered by Boone. Ted Demme's Beautiful Girls (Feb. 9) (Miramax Films) is an ensemble film about h.s. students at the crossroads of life, incl. Matt Dillon, Lauren Holly, Timothy Hutton, Annabeth Gish, and Rosie O'Donnell; "A beautiful girl is all-powerful and that's as good as love". Mike Nichols' The Birdcage (Mar. 8), based on the Jean Poiret play stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as gay Miami nightclub owner Armand Goldman and his cross-dressing partner Albert Goldman, who have to play straight to help son Val Goldman fool Sen. Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman) and Louise Keeley (Dianne Wiest) so he can marry their daughter Barbara (Calista Flockhart); #9 movie of the year ($124M). Campbell Scott's and Stanley Tucci's Big Night (Jan. 24) (Samuel Goldwyn Co.) stars Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci as brothers Primo and Secondo from Abruzzo, Italy, who operate the Paradise Restaurant on the N.J. Shore in the 1950s, and struggle under the watered-down expectations of Yankee customers; Minnie Driver plays Secondo's girl Phyllis; Isabella Rossellini plays Gabriella, wife of competitor Pascal (Ian Holm) of Pascal's Restaurant, who arranges for celeb singer Louis Prima to dine at Paradise for one big night, causing the brothers to overspend, only to find out that it was a set-up to force them to work for Pascal; does $12M box office on a $4.1M budget. Bob Rafelson's Blood and Wine (Fox Searchlight Pictures) stars Jack Nicholson as Miami, Fla. wine merchant Alex Gates, who conspires with English safecracker Victor Spansky, and go on to bungle a jewel heist; resurrects Cain's film career; does a piss-poor $1.1M box office on a $28M budget. Mark Herman's Brassed Off (Nov. 1) (Channel Four Films) (Miramax Films), set in Grimley (really Grimethorpe) 10 years after the 1984-5 mineworkers strike in Britain in which they were you know what stars Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald as brass band players Andy Barrow (tenor horn) and Gloria (flugelhorn), who fall in love; Pete Postlethwait plays Danny Ormondroyd; Jim Carter plays euphonium player Harry; does £3M box office on a £2.8M budget. John Woo's Broken Arrow (Feb. 9) (20th Cent. Fox), written by Graham Yost stars John Travolta as nuclear weapon thief USAF Maj. Vic "Deak" Deakins, and Christian Slater as his tracker Capt. Riley Hale; features ex-football player Howie Long as bad guy Kelly, and Samantha Mathis as park ranger Terry Carmichael; soundtrack features Duane Eddy; does $150M box office on a $55M budget. Andrew Fleming's The Craft (May 3) (Columbia Pictures) is about four outcast teenie L.A. girls incl. Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk), Bonnie Harper (Neve Campbell), and Rochelle Zimmerman (Rachel True) who pursue witchcraft and form a coven dedicated to Manon before encountering negative repercussions; does $55.7M box office on a $15M budget; David Cronenberg's Crash (Oct. 4) (The Movie Network) (Telefilm Canada) (Alliance Communications) (Recorded Picture Co.), based on the 1973 J.G. Ballard novel about people with car crash fetishes stars James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Deborah Kara Unger, and Rosanna Arquette. Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking (Jan. 12), based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean stars Robbin's babe Susan Sarandon as a nun emoting with death row inmate Poncelet (Sean Penn) in a tear-jerking attack on the death penalty? - I'll give you a bacon treat? Anthony Minghella's The English Patient (Nov. 15) (Miramax Films), based on the 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje stars Ralph Fiennes as dying WWII burn patient Count Laszlo Almasy, who is taken care of by hot French-Canadian nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) in an abandoned monastery in Tuscany while he reminisces about his lost love Katharine Clifton (Kristin Scott Thomas), whom he stole from fellow cartographer Geoffrey Clifton (Colin Firth); meanwhile British bomb disposal expert Kip (Naveen Andrews) (a sexy Sikh) falls in love with Hana, and thief-spy David Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe) arrives with a private score to settle with Almasy; does $232M box office on a $27M budget. John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. (Aug. 9) is the sequel to "Escape from New York" (1981), starring Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, who fights a bevy of bad guys incl. Cuervo Jones (Georges Corraface), Map to the Stars Eddie (Steve Buscemi), Pipeline (Peter Fonda), Taslima (Valeria Golino), Hershe Las Palmas (Pam Grier), Surgeon Gen. of Beverly Hills (Bruce Campbell), Cmdr. Malloy (Stacy Keach), and Brazen (Michelle Forbes) for religious U.S. pres. Cliff Robertson. Robert Harling's The Evening Star (Dec. 25), a sequel to 1983's "Terms of Endearment", based on the 1992 Larry McMurtry novel is the last screen role for Ben Johnson as neighbor Arthur Cotton. Ethan Coen's and Joel Coen's Fargo (Mar. 8), a "homespun murder story" based on real-life events in 1987 in Minn. is filmed in snowy freezing Swedish-filled N.D. because of an unusually warm winter in Minneapolis, and is so dark that it's funny, ja, ya betchya; William H. Macy stars as auto salesman Jerry Lundegaard, who pays brutal losers Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife so he can swindle his wealthy father-in-law Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell) into paying ransom, while 7-mo.-pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) of Brainerd (Home of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox) solves it while chatting with everybody in one of the film's many Swedish accents; Jose Feliciano performs; does $60M box office on a $7M budget; "There's more to life than a little money ya know" (Marge); "Darn tootin'" (Jerry). Hugh Wilson's The First Wives Club (Sept. 20) (Paramount Pictures) based on the 1992 novel by Olivia Goldsmith is narrated by Diane Keaton, and stars Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler as divorced women Annie MacDuggan Paradis, Elise Eliot Atchison, and Brenda Morelli Cushman, who are seeking revenge on their ex-hubbies who left them for younger women; features cameos by Gloria Steinem, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Ivana Trump, who utters the immortal soundbyte: "Don't get mad, get everything!"; does $181.5M box office on a $30M budget. Annette Haywood-Carter's Foxfire (Aug. 23) (Samuel Goldwyn), based on the 1993 Joyce Carol Oates novel about a teenie girl gang in Hammond, N.Y. stars Hedy Burress as Maddie, Angelina Jolie as Legs, Jenny Lewis as Rita, and Calvin Klein and Donna Koran Jenny Shimizu as Goldie; Jolie and Shimizu begin a longtime lezzie affair after meeting on the set. Robert Rodriguez' From Dusk till Dawn (Jan. 19) (Dimension Films) is an action horror film written by Quentin Tarantino, starring Tarantino and George Clooney as bank robber brothers Richard "Richie" and Seth Gecko, who kidnap the Fuller family in their RV and force them to drive them to Mexico to the Titty Twister Strip Club, which is run by vampires, resulting in a bloody shootout that lasts you know how long; co-stars Harvey Keitel as Pastor Jacob Fuller, Juliette Lewis as his daughter Katherine; Michae Parks plays Texas Ranger Earl McGraw; Salma Hayek plays Santanico Pandemonium; Cheech Marin plays Chet Pussy; Danny Trejo plays Razor Charlie; Tom Savini plays Sex Machine; does $25.8M box office on a $19 budget, becoming a cult film. Robert Harmon's Gotti: The Rise and Fall of a Real Life Mafia Don (Aug. 17) debuts on HBO, starring Armand Assante as John Gotti. Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (Dec. 25), based on the Shakespeare play and shot at Blenheim Palace is the first unabridged theatrical film version, running 4+ hours; stars Branagh as Hamlet, Derek Jacobi as King Claudius, Kate Winslet as Ophelia, Nicholas Farrell as Horatio, Julie Christie as Gertrude, and Richard Briers as Polonius; grosses only $4.7M on an $18M budget. Dennis Dugan's Happy Gilmore (Feb. 16) stars Adam Sandler as a hockey player who can't skate but has a powerful slapshot, causing him to join the pro golf tour with a 400-ft. tee shot, turning it into a violent spectator sport and getting into a fistfight with geriatic game show host Bob Barker; "He doesn't play golf... He destroys it." Gary Trousdale's and Kirk Wise's The Hunchback of Notre Dame(June 19) (Walt Disney Pictures) , based on the 1831 Victor Hugo novel features the voices of Tom Hulce as Quasimodo, Demi Moore as Esmeralda, Tony Jay as Frollo, Kevin Kline as Capt. Phoebus, and David Ogden Stiers as the archdeacon; does $325.3M box office on a $70M budget. Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (June 25) (20th Cent. Fox) stars Bill Pullman as U.S. pres. Thomas J. Whitmore fighting aliens from outer space who arrive in 20-mi.-wide ships and zap the White House, eliciting a worldwide jingoistic human speciesist response; Jeff Goldblum plays Jewish genius David Levinson, who uploads a virus to the alien craft, which is neat since he doesn't speak their language; Will Smith steals half the show as fighter pilot Capt. Steve Hiller; #1 grossing movie of 1996 ($306M U.S. and $817.4M worldwide box office on a $75M budget); Emmerich wrote the script while promoting the 1994 film "Stargate" after a reporter asked him if he believes in aliens. Matthew Broderick's Infinity (Oct. 4), based on the memoirs of physicist Richard Feynman about his tuberculitic girlfriend Arline Greenbaum is Broderick's dir. debut; the screenplay is written by his mother Patricia. Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (Dec. 13) (Gracie Films) (Vinyl films) (TriStar Pictures) stars Tom Cruise as shark-like sports agent Jerry Maguire, who suddenly sprouts a conscience and pub. "The Things We Think and Do Not Say", based on his mentor Dicky Fox, played by Sony Pictures exec Jared Jussim (1935-), which gets him fired by sharkier boss Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr), only to be rescued by client Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who utters the 1990s' new catch phrase (taken from Ariz. Cardinal Tim McDonald): "Show me the money!"; Renee Zellweger plays Cruise's worshipful babe Dorothy Boyd, who utters the soundbyte "You had me at hello"; Kelly Preston plays Cruise's fiancee Avery Bishop; Jerry O'Connell plays hot QB Frank "Cush" Cushman; Bonnie Hunt plays Dorothy's sister Laurel Boyd; Jonathan Lipnicki plays Dorothy's cute boy Ray; Regina King plays Tidwell's wife Marcee after Janet Jackson auditions for the role; "I had two slices of bad pizza, went to bed, and grew a conscience"; the breakthrough role for Cuba Gooding Jr. (1968-); #4 movie of 1996 ($154M); Cruise's 5th consecutive $100M movie after "A Few Good Men" (1992), "The Firm" (1993), "Interview with the Vampire" (1994), and "Mission: Impossible" (1996), making him the #1 box office star of the 1990s. Brian Levant's Jingle All the Way (Nov. 16) (20th Cent. Fox), produced by Chris Columbus is a comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as workaholic mattress salesman Howard Langston, who vies with postal worker Myron Larabee (Sinbad) for a Turbo Man action figure for their sons' Christmas; Jake Lloyd plays son Jamie Langston; Phil Harman plays divorced neighbor Ted Maltin, who has the hots for Howard's wife Rita Wilson; does $129.8M box office on a $75M budget. Bobby Farrelly's and Peter Farrelly's Kingpin (July 4) (MGM), filmed in Pittsburgh, Penn stars Woody Harrelson as bowling prodigy Roy Munson, who got in trouble hustling and ended up wearing a prosthetic hook and living in a seedy apt. bldg. in Scranton, Penn. before deciding to go pro at a $1M tournament in Reno, Nev. with Amish player Ishmael Boorg (Randy Quaid); Bill Murray plays Ernie "Big Ern" McCracken, and Vanessa Angel plays Claudia; features cameos by Steve Tyler, Chris Schenkel, pro bowler Nelson Burton Jr. et al.; "From the idiots what brung you Dumb and Dumber"; does $25M box office on a $27M budget. Jay Sandrich's London Suite (Sept. 15), based on a Neil Simon play is a light romantic comedy about four couples in a London hotel, Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Clarkson, Michael Richards and Julie Hagerty, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jonathan Silverman, and Madeline Kahn and Richard Mulligan. Renny Harlin's The Long Kiss Goodnight (Oct. 11) stars Geena Davis as fast-chopping amnesia sufferer Samantha Caine AKA super assassin Charlene Elizabeth "Charly" Baltimore, and Samuel L. Jackson as her badass black partner Mitch Henessey; a flop, making Davis' movie career kaput; "The name's Charly, the spy, nice to meet you." Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! (Dec. 13) (Warner Bros.), based on the trading card series parodying sci-fi B-movies stars Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, and Sarah Jessica Parker, and features gawd-awful Slim Whitman "Indian Love Call" music along with Theremin SFX; Burton's model babe Lisa Marie Smith (1968-) plays the lethal Martian Girl; grosses $101M worldwide on a $100M budget. Neil Jordan's Michael Collins (Oct. 11) stars Liam Neeson, fighting for the Irish Free State in 1916. Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (Jan. 11) (Allen's 31st film) stars himself as New York City sportswriter Lenny Weinrib, whose wife Amanda (Helena Bonham-Carter) talks him into adopting son Lenny (Michael Rapaport), who tracks down his real mom, porno actress Linda (Mia Sorvino of "QuizShow" and "At First Sight" fame) and attempts to reform her, while a Greek chorus (F. Murray abraham, Olympia Dukakis et al.) provides a running commentary; makes Sorvino a star; the references to Woody's personal life crack an in-audience up. Brian DePalma's Mission: Impossible (June 6) (Paramount Pictures) brings the 1960s TV series to the big screen with Jon Voight as IMF team leader Jim Phelps, Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, and Henry Czerny as agency boss Eugene Kitteridge in a convoluted plot where the impossible happens and Phelps becomes a traitor; Ving Rhames plays he-must-be-black computer expert Luther Stickell; #3 movie of 1996 ($180M). On Dec. 8, 1996 Mark Saltzman's TV special Mrs. Santa Claus debuts on CBS-TV, set in Dec. 1910 New York City, starring Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Santa Claus, Charles Durning as Santa Claus, and Michael Jeter as Santa's head elf Arvo, becoming the first original musical written for TV since Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella in 1957. Lee Tamahori's Mulholland Falls (Apr. 26) (MGM) is a neo-noir film starring Nick Nolte, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, and Chris Penn as four L.A. detectives on a special squad that keeps the Mafia out of L.A. by showing them Mulholland Drive the hard way; as a way to introduce soft porno without losing its noir look-feel, they end up uncovering a scandal at the Nevada Atomic Testing Site, run by John Malkovich, and almost take a skydive without parachutes; does $11.5M box office on a $29M budget. Tom Shadyac's The Nutty Professor (June 28) (Universal Pictures), a remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis film stars Eddie Murphy as super-fat chemist Sherman Klump, who creates a potion to turn himself into love machine Buddy Love; Murphy also plays the whole Klump family; ($129M in the U.S. $273.9M worldwide on a $54M budget); followed by "Nutty Professor II: the Klumps" (2000). Gregory Hoblit's Primal Fear (Apr. 3) (Paramount Pictures), based on the 1993 William Diehl novel makes a star out of newbie Eh-Eh-Eh Edward Harrison Norton (1969-), who plays a kind, gentle altar boy accused of a brutal murder of a dirty archbishop, and who is about to be railroaded until suave publicity-loving defense atty. Martin Vail (Richard Gere) takes his case, and battles former girlfriend prosecutor Laura Linney to turn it around and get him off with courtroom tricks, only to find out that-that-that "sooner or later a man who wears two faces forgets which one is real"; "Hill Street Blues" Hoblit's dir. debut; does $102.6M box office on a $30M budget. Jean-Claude Van Damme's The Quest (Apr. 26) is kickboxer Van Damme's dir. debut. Ron Howard's Ransom (Nov. 8) stars Mel Gibson as rich Tom Mullen, whose son Sean (Brawley Nolte) is kidnapped, and who puts a giant ransom out for the kidnappers, who are led by crooked detective Jimmy Shaker (Gary Sinise); #5 movie of the year ($137M). Michael Bay's The Rock (June 7) (Hollywood Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictues) stars Sean Connery as SAS Capt. John Patrick Mason, the only man to escape from Alcatraz, who is let out to help break in and stop renegade Brig. Gen. Francis X. Hummel, USMC (Ed Harris) with the help of FBI special agent Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage, after ARnold Schwarzenegger turns it down; #7 movie of the year ($134M U.S. and $335.1M worldwide box office on a $75M budget). Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (Nov. 1) stars pretty boy Leonardo DiCapro and Claire Daines (after Natalie Portman was dumped for being too young), set in a modern era where they use guns instead of swords; also stars Brian Denney and Christina Pickles as Romeo's parents Ted and Caroline Montague, Paul Sorvino and Diane Venora as Juliet's parents Fulgencio and Gloria Capulet, and Pete Postlethwaite as Father Lawrence; does $147.5M box office on a $14.5M budget. Stanley Tong's Rumble in the Bronx (Feb. 23) is Singapore chopsockey star Jackie Chan's first U.S. release, beginning a long series of hits for this cross between Charlie Chaplin and Bruce Lee. Wes Craven's Scream (original title "Scary Movie") (Dec. 18) (Dimension Films) written by New Bern, N.C.-born Kevin Meade Williamson (1966-) (his breakthrough) based on the Gainesville Ripper, starring Neve Campbell as Woodsboro, Calif. H.S. student Sidney Prescott, who is targeted by serial killer Ghostface, satirizing slasher and horror films along the way, becoming a cult film and spawning a series, revitalizing the horror film genre, whose market had been killed by direct-to-video and endless sequels of 1970s-1980s horror flicks; "What's your favorite scary movie?"; also stars David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Drew Barrymore, and Skeet Ulrich; does $173M box office on a $15M budget; highest grossing U.S. slasher film; "Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far. Solving this mystery is going to be murder"; followed by "Scream 2" (1998), "Scream 3" (2000), and "Scream 4" (2011). Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies (May) (Thin Man Films) (Film Four Distributors) (October Films) stars Camberwelll, London-born Marianne Ragipcien Jean-Baptiste (1967-) as Hortense Cumberbatch, an educated middle-class black London optometrist who traces her family history to working-class white mother Cynthia Rose Purley, with a dysfunctional family incl. brother and sister-in-law Maurice Purley (Timothy Spall) and Monica Purley (Phyllis Logan); does $13.4M box office on a $4.5M budget; Jean-Baptiste becomes the first black British actress nominated for an Oscar. Nick Cassavetes' She's So Lovely (Aug. 29) (Miramax Films), written by John Cassavetes stars Sean Penn as Eddie Quinn, who loses his wife Maureen Murphy Quinn (Robin Wright Penn) after he gets locked up in a looney asylum for 10 years, thinking he only spent 3 mo. there, after which he tries to get her back from new hubby Joey Germoni (John Travolta); Harry Dean Stanton plays Eddie's buddy Tony "Shorty" Russo; does $7.28M box office on a $18M budget. Scott Hicks' Shine (Nov. 20) is about pushed, burned-out Australian piano prodigy David Helfgott (1947-) (Noah Taylor, Geoffrey Rush), and his return after 15 years. Billy Bob Thornton's Sling Blade (Nov. 27) (a converted stage play) is Thornton's feature dir. debut about a retardo who's smart when it comes to getting the job done. Gillies MacKinnon's Small Faces (Evergreen Entertainment) is about the Tongs teenie gang in 1960s Glasgow, starring Iain Robertson, Joseph McFadden, Kevin McKidd, Steven Duffy et al.; "can proudly rank alongside Trainspotting" (Empire). Billie August's Smilla's Sense of Snow (Feb. 18), based on the 1992 novel "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" by Poeter Hoeg, about Danish Greenland immigrant Smilla Jasperson (Julia Ormond), who investigates the mysterious death of an Inuit boy who lived in her Copenhangen housing complex, tracing it to a mysterious corp. that made several er, mysterious expeditions to Greenland. Joe Pytka's Space Jam (Nov. 15) (Warner Bros.) features basketball superstar Michael Jordan playing ball against animated evil intergalactic invaders seeking to capture Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes chars.; features the hit song I Believe I Can Fly, by R. Kelly; does $230M box office on an $80M budget. Jonathan Frakes' Star Trek: First Contact (Nov. 22) ) {Paramount Pictures) features time travel back to 2063 along with the Borgs; James Cromwell plays warp drive creator Zefram Cochrane; Alice Krige plays the Borg Queen; Frakes' dir. debut; grosses $92M in the U.S. and $146M worldwide. Steve Gomer's Sunset Park (Apr. 26) (TriStar Pictures), produced by Danny DeVito et al. stars Rhea Perlman as novice boys' basketball coach Phyllis Saroka in Sunset Park H.S. in a black neighborhood of New York City, who coaches them to a city championship in Madison Square Garden; the soundtrack features Ghostface Killah; does $10M box office. Merchant Ismail's and James Ivory's Surviving Picasso (Sept. 20), based on the 1988 Arianna Huffington bio. stars Anthony Hopkins as 70-something skirt-chasing Pablo Picasso, and Natascha McElhone as his 20-something lover Francois Gilot. Joel Schumacher's A Time to Kill (July 24), based on the John Grisham novel stars Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock as atty. Jake Tyler Brigance and his asst. Ellen Roark, who fight to save a black man (Samuel L. Jackson) who murdered two white racist rednecks for raping his 10-y.-o. daughter while in police custody; #10 movie of 1996 ($109M). Tom Holland's Thinner (Oct. 25) (Spelling Films Internat.) (Paramount Pictures), based on the 1984 Stephen King novel stars Robert John Burke as morbidly obese atty. Billy Halleck, who gets crime boss Richie "the Hammer" Ginelli (Joe Mantegna) off for murder, and accidentlly runs over gypsy woman Suzanne Lempke (Irma St. Paule), then uses his connections to avoid charges, causing her 106-y.-o. father Tadzu Lempke (Michael Constantine) to place a "thinner" curse on him, which makes him waste away; after failing to convince the old gypsy to lift the curse, he gets help from Ginelli, who pressures him until he relents, but puts in a catch, which results in his cheating wife Heidi getting a curse, along with his daughter Lucinda, and Heidi's lover Dr. Mike Houson (Sam Freed); too bad, critics pan it and it becomes a flop; does $15.3M box office on a $14M budget; Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (Feb. 23) (PolyGram Pictures), written by John Hodge based on the 1993 Irvine Welsh novel set in late 1980s depressed Edinburgh is a black comedy starring Ewan McGregor as Mark "Rent Boy" Renton, a Scottish heroin addict who tries to give it up; also stars Ewen Bremner as dim Daniel "Spud" Murphy, Jonny Lee Miller as Sean Connery wannabe Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson, Kevin McKidd as curious clean athlete Thomas "Tommy" MacKenzie, Robert Carlyle as psycho Francis "Franco" Begbie, and Kelly Macdonald as Renton's 15-y.-o. girlfriend Diane Coulston; Welsh plays drug dealer Mikey Forrester; does $72M U.S. box office on a £1.5M budget. Steve Buscemi's Trees Lounge (Oct. 11) stars Buscemi in his dir. debut as chronically underemployed alcoholic loser Tommy, who drives an ice cream truck in the summer; also stars Anthony LaPaglia, Chloe Sevigny, Mark Boone Junior, and Elizabeth Bracco. Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night: Or What You Will (Oct. 25), set in 19th cent. C Europe complete with Prussian-Polish Czapka headgear, filmed in Cornwall stars Imogen Stubbs as Viola, Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia, Toby Stephens as Duke Orsino, Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio, and Mel Smith as Sir Toby Belch; does a lousy $589K box office on a $5M budget. Jan de Bont's Twister (May 17) (Warner Bros.) stars Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as Okla. Wizard of Oz tornado chasers Bill and Jo Harding, who are on the point of divorce until an extra-bad tornado brings them together in Aunt Meg's place in Wakita, Okla., incl. flying cows; #2 movie of 1996 ($242M U.S. and $494.4M worldwide box office on a $92M budget). William Lustig's Uncle Sam (A-Pix Entertainment) (Solomon Internat. Pictures), written by Larry Cohen stars William Smith as Major, and David Fralick as Master Sgt. Sam Harper, who was killed in his chopper in Kuwait and comes back to life; "Just when you thought it was safe again to stand up and salute the flag, Uncle Sam is back, with a vengeance. Now Uncle Sam has a contract on America. Draft dodgers, watch out!... No one will ever burn another flag.... And no politician will ever lie again. And the FOurth of July will never be the same... Uncle Sam wants you... dead!"; Plays: Gabriel Byrne (1950-), Draiacuteocht; first drama in Irish Gaelic shown on Irish nat. TV TG4. Angela Carter (1940-92), The Curious Room: Plays, Film Scripts and an Opera. Eve Ensler (1953-), The Vagina Monologues; "I Was Twelve, My Mother Slapped Me", "My Angry Vagina", "My Vagina Was My Village", "The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could", "The Woman Who Lived to Make Vaginas Happy", "Because He Liked to Look At It", "I Was There in the Room". Maria Irene Fornes (1930-), Manual for a Desperate Crossing. Athol Fugard (1932-), Valley Song. Pam Gems (1925-), Stanley; Biblical scene painter Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959), played by Anthony Sher. Simon Gray (1936-2008), Simply Disconnected (Minerva Theatre, Chichester); sequel to "Otherwise Engaged" (1974). Beth Henley (1952-), L-Play. David Ignatow (1914-97), I Have a Name. (Mar. 31) (Lyric Theatre, London); stars Kate Ashfield and Tom Mannion. Adrienne Kennedy (1931-), Sleep Deprivation Chamber. Tony Kushner (1956-), Reverse Transcription: Six Playwrights Bury a Seventh, a Ten-Minute Play That's Nearly Twenty Minutes Long (Louisville, Ky.). Jonathan Larson (1960-96), Rent (musical) (Apr. 29) (New York, Nederlander Theatre) (Pulitzer Prize) (5,123 perf.); based on Giacomo Puccini's opera "La Boheme" (1896); starving HIV-infected artists in New York City's East Village Alphabet City incl. dancer (Mimi Marquez), musician (Roger Davis), filmmaker Mark Cohen, drag queen drummer Angel Dumott Schunard, gay philosopher Tom Collins, lesbian atty. Joanne Jefferson, and landlord Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III. Kenneth Lonergan (1962-), This Is Our Youth (INTAR Theatre, New York); stars Mark Rosenthal as Dennis, Mark Ruffalo as Warren, and Missy Yager as Jessica. Mark Medoff (1940-), Gila (Prymate). David Shire (1937-), Richard Maltby Jr. (1937-), and John Weidman (1946-), Big: The Musical (musical) (Shubert Theatre, New York) (Apr. 28) (193 perf.); adapted from the 1988 Tom Hanks film; stars Daniel H. Jenkins as Josh Baskin; an expensive flop despite five Tony nods, saved by a nat. tour. Peter Whelan, The Herbal Bed; William Shakespeare's daughter Susanna. Poetry: Archie Randolph Ammons (1926-2001), Brink Road. John Ash (1948-), Selected Poems. Amiri Baraka (1934-2014), Funk Lore: New Poems. William Bronk (1918-99), The Cage of Age. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), Alien Candor: Selected Poems, 1970-1995. Michael Crummey (1965-), Arguments with Gravity (debut). Thomas Michael Disch (1940-2008), The Dark Old House. Edward Dorn (1929-99), High West Rendezvous: A Sampler. Stephen Dunn (1939-), Loosestrife. Jorie Graham (1950-), The Dream of the Unified Field (Pulitzer Prize). Donald Hall Jr. (1928-), The Old Life. Jim Harrison (1937-2016), After Ikkyu and Other Poems. Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), The Spirit Level. Michel Houellebecq (1956-), Le Sense du Combat. Ha Jin (1956-), Facing Shadows. Maurice Kenny (1929-), On Second Thought. Jane Kenyon (1947-95), Otherwise: New and Selected Poems (posth.). Carolyn Kizer (1925-), Harping On: Poems 1985-1995. Maxine Kumin (1925-2014), Connecting the Dots. Denise Levertov (1923-97), The Sands of the Well. Philip Levine (1928-2015), The Simple Truth (Pulitzer Prize); "Some things you know all your life. They are so simple and true/ they must be said without elegance, meter and rhyme,/ they must be laid on the table beside the salt shaker,/ the glass of water, the absence of light gathering/ in the shadows of picture frames, they must be/ naked and alone, they must stand for themselves." W.S. Merwin (1927-), The Vixen; Lament for the Makers: A Memorial Anthology (Nov.). Lisel Mueller (1924-), Alive Together: New and Selected Poems (Pulitzer Prize). Sharon Olds (1942-), The Wellspring. Robert Pinsky (1940-), The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems 1966-1996. John Ross (1938-2011), Jazzmexico. Leslie Marmon Silko (1948-), Love Poem and Slim Canyon; Rain. Charles Simic (1938-), Walking the Black Cat. Dave Smith (1942-), Tremble; Floating on Solitude: Three Volumes of Poetry. Henry S. Taylor (1942-), Understanding Fiction: Poems, 1986-1996. Paula Vogel (1951-), The Mineola Twins. David Wagoner (1926-), Walt Whitman Bathing. David Whyte (1955-), The House of Belonging (1996), which incl. "The House of Belonging" ("There is no house/ like the house of belonging"), "The Truelove", Loaves and Fishes ("This not/ the age of information,/ This is not/ the age of information./ Forget the news, and the radio, and the blurred screen/This is the time of loaves and fishes./ People are hungry, and one good word is bread/ for a thousand"). C.K. Williams (1936-), The Vigil. Novels: Peter Ackroyd (1949-), Milton in America. Richard Adams (1920-2016), Tales from Watership Down. Rudolfo Anaya (1937-), Jalamanta: A Message from the Desert; Rio Grande Fall. A. Manette Ansay (1964-), Sister. K.A. Applegate (1956-), Animorphs ("animal morphers"); young adult sci-fi series, reaching 54 books by May 2001; in 1998 it is made into a TV series on Nickelodeon; about five humans, Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias, and one alien, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill (nicknamed Ax), who have the ability to transform into any animal they touch, using their ability to battle a secret alien infiltration of Earth by a parasitic race of aliens called Yeerks and their leader Visser Three, who resemble large slugs and take humans as a host by entering and merging with their brain through the ear canal. Margaret Atwood (1939-), Alias Grace; physician Simon Jordan researches the case of the the 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Upper Canada by servants Grace Marks and James McDermott, and comes to believe in Marks' innocence; based on her CBC TV script "The Servant Girl". Beryl Bainbridge (1934-), Every Man for Himself. J.G. Ballard (1930-2009), Cocaine Nights. Clive Barker (1952-), Sacrament. Andrea Barrett, Ship Fiver and Other Stories. Julian Barnes (1946-), Cross Channel (short stories). Thomas Berger (1924-), Suspects. Maeve Binchy (1940-), Evening Class; Cross Lines (short stories); This Year It Will Be Different And Other Stories. William Peter Blatty (1928-), Demons Five, Exorcists Nothing: A Fable. Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933-), Her Own Rules; A Secret Affair. Anita Brookner (1928-), Altered States. James Lee Burke (1936-), Cadillac Jukebox. Robert Olen Butler (1945-), Tabloid Dreams (short stories). A.S. Byatt (1936-), Babel Tower. Pat Cadigan (1953-), A Lie for a Lie; Deadpan Allie #3. Stephen J. Cannell (1941-2010), The Plan. Philip Caputo (1941-), Equation for Evil. John le Carre (1931-2020), The Tailor of Panama. Tom Clancy (1947-2013), Executive Orders; vice-pres. Jack Ryan becomes pres. after a renegade Japanese pilot crashes his airliner into the U.S. Capitol during a joint session, causing America's enemy Iran to zoom in on him, assassinating Saddam Hussein and absorbing Iraq to create the United Islamic Repub. (UIR), allying secretly with China and India, then invading Kuwait and Saudi Arabia after causing an Ebola epidemic in the U.S.; "Throughout history, people have risked their lives for love, for patriotism, for principle, and for God far more often than fear has made them run away. Upon that fact depends progress"; "How do you say tough shit in rag-head?" Tom Clancy (1947-2013) and Steve Pieczenik, Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Games of State. Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), Moonlight Becomes You; Maggie Holloway's stepdaughter Naula Moore is murdered in Newport, R.I.; My Gal Sunday: Harry and Sunday Stories. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (1940-), Fish of Gold (Poisson d'Or), about an adventurous Arab girl, her brother in Morocco, and her live in a Spanish slum, Paris, and the U.S., where she dreams of becoming a jazz singer. Paul Coelho (1947-), The Fifth Mountain. Jackie Collins (1937-2015), Vendetta: Lucky's Revenge; Lucky Santangelo #4. Robin Cook (1940-), Acceptable Risk; a scientist discovers a mind-altering drug and experiments on himself. Catherine Cookson (1906-98), The Bonny Dawn; The Branded Man. Robert Coover (1932-), Briar Rose; John's Wife. Patricia Cornwell (1956-), Cause of Death; Kay Scarpetta #7; a reporter found dead in a skin-diving suit in a derelict shipyard. Clive Cussler (1931-), Shock Wave; Dirk Pitt #13. Marie Darrieussecq (1969-), Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation (first novel); internat. bestseller (300K copies); about a woman who is slowly transformed into a sow, becoming the most popular French first novel since the 1950s. Guy Davenport (1927-2005), The Cardiff Team: Ten Stories. Len Deighton (1929-), Charity. Roddy Doyle (1958-), The Woman Who Walked into Doors; Paula Spencer covers for her violent hubby's behavior; followed by "Paula Spencer" (2006). Andre Dubus (1936-99), Dancing After Hours (short stories). James Ellroy (1948-), My Dark Places (autobio.); "I am a master of fiction. I am also the greatest crime novelist who ever lived. I am to the crime novel in specific what Tolstoy is to the Russian novel and what Beethoven is to music." Isla Fisher (1976-), Seduced by Fame (June 6) (first novel); Bewitched (Sept. 26). Ken Follett (1949-), The Third Twin. Margaret Forster (1938-), Shadow Baby. Nicolas Freeling (1927-2003), A Dwarf Kingdom (Henri Castang #15). Marilyn French (1929-2009), My Summer with George. Bruce Jay Friedman (1930-), A Father's Kisses. Cornelia Funke (1958-), Dragon Rider; NYT bestseller; human boy Ben, Firedrake the silver dragon, and Sorrel the brownie in their search for the Rim of Heaven mountain range in the Himalayas. In 2000 she pub. the NYT bestseller Alan Furst (1941-), The World at Night; Night Soldiers #4. Neil Gaiman (1960-), Neverwhere; Richard Mayhew leaves his boring girlfriend Jessica for street-girl Door, who leads him to the London "underworld" on a quest to find the Marquis de Carabas and evade assassins Croup and Vandemar. Tess Gallagher (1943-), The Lover of Horses (short stories). Doris Pilkington Garimara (1937-), Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence; her mother Molly Craig and two other mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who escaped from the Moore River Native Settlement in W Australia and trekked for nine weeks to their family while being tracked by mean whites; filmed in 2002. George Garrett (1929-2008), The King of Babylon Shall Not Come Against You. William Gibson (1948-), Idoru; Bridge Trilogy #2. Joe Gores (1931-), Contract Null & Void. Peter Handke (1942-), A Winter Journey to the Danube, Sava, Morava, and Drina Rivers: Or Justice for Serbia; loves Slobodan Milosevic, "who defended his people", and disses the internat. press for being unfair to Serbia in the civil war. Barry Hannah (1942-), High Lonesome (short stories). Ron Hansen (1947-), Atticus. John Hawkes (1925-98), The Frog. Patty Hearst and Cordelia Frances Biddle, Murder at San Simeon; about her granddaddy William Randolph Hearst and how he did in filmmaker Thomas Harper Ince in 1924. Michel Henry (1922-2002), Le Cadavre Indiscret (The Indiscreet Corpse); an honest treasurer of a political party is assassinated. George V. Higgins (1939-99), Sandra Nichols Found Dead; Jerry Kennedy #4. Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), The Fallen Man. Russell Hoban (1925-), Fremder. Peter Hoeg (1957-), The Woman and the Ape. Alice Hoffman (1952-), Practical Magic; orphans Gillian and Sally Owens have witches for aunts; filmed in 1998. Janette Turner Hospital (1942-), Oyster. Susan Isaacs (1943-), Lily White. Ha Jin (1956-), Ocean of Words (short stories). William Joseph Kennedy (1928-), The Flaming Corsage. Jamaica Kincaid (1949-), The Autobiography of My Mother. Stephen King (1947-), The Green Mile; death row guards Paul Edgecombe (good guy) and Percy Wetmore at Cold Mountain State Pen in 1932 Maine deal with giant black angel-devil John Coffey, "Billy the Kid" Wharton, and Eduard Delacroix; filmed in 1999; based on La. State Penitentiary. William Kotzwinkle, The Bear Went Over the Mountain; a bear becomes a wealthy author and talk show personality. Judith Krantz (1928-), Spring Collection. Emma Lathen, Brewing Up a Storm; John Putnam Thatcher #23. Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), Out of Sight. Jonathan Lethem (1964-), As She Climbed Across the Table; The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye (short stories). Michael Lind (1962-), Powertown (first novel). Charles de Lint (1951-), Memory and Dream. Penelope Lively (1933-), Heat Wave. David Malouf (1934-), Conversations at Curlow Creek. Ann-Marie MacDonald, Fall On Your Knees. Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014), News of a Kidnapping. George R.R. Martin (1948-), A Game of Thrones (Aug.6); #1 of 7 of the epic fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire", based on the Wars of the Roses, about the War of the Five Kings in the continents of Westeros and Essos (to the E), the Seven Kingdoms, the Wall and its Night's Watch, the wildings, wights, Others, and Targaryens, followed by A Clash of Kings (1998), A Storm of Swords (2000), A Feast for Crows (2005), and A Dance with Dragons (2011); Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark of Winterfell Castle, his wife Catelyn, his sons Bran, Robb, and Rickon, daughters Sansa and Arya, and bastard son Jon Snow: Lord John Arryn and his widow Lysa; twins Queen Cersei and Jaime, her twin brother Jaime Lannister and dwarf brother Tyrion Lannister (son of Tywin Lannister); King Robert Baratheon, his brothers Renly and Stannis, and son Joffrey; Viserys Targaryen and his sister Daenerys, Princess of Dragonstone, AKA Stormborn, Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains; Jon Snow, Bastard of Winterfell, illegitimate son of Eddard Stark, and his legitimate daughters (by Catelyn Stark of House Tully) Sansa Stark and Arya Stark; Petyr Baelish AKA Littlefinger; Varys, Master of Secrets; Lord Hoster Tully; Night's Watchmen Will, Samwell Tarly, Lord Cmdr. Jeor Mormong, Benjen, and Mance Rayder; Jorah Mormong; Olenna Tyrell (nee Redwyne), Queen of Thorns; basis of the HBO series "Game of Thrones" (2011-). Colleen McCullough (1937-), Caesar's Women (Mar. 21); Masters of Rome #4; Julius Caesar's 10 years in Rome in -68 to -58 and his babes Pompeia, Servilia, and Calpurnia. Terry McMillan (1951-), How Stella Got Her Groove Back; a 40+ black woman goes on a Jamaican adventure and falls for a gay, er, guy half her age; inspired by hubby (1998-2006) Jonathan Plummer (1975-); they divorce in 2005 after he reveals he's gay - and no real hetero man would want a 40 when they can have two thousand 20s? Larry McMurtry (1936-), Dead Man's Walk; prequel to "Lonesome Dove". Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Brief Hours. Steven Millhauser (1943-), Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (Pulitzer Prize). Patrick Modiano (1945-), Dora Bruder (The Search Warrant). David Morrell (1943-), Extreme Denial. Sir John Mortimer (1923-2009), Felix in the Underworld. Walter Mosley (1952-), A Little Yellow Dog; Easy Rawlins #5. Kate Mosse (1961-), Eskimo Kissing (first novel). Herta Muller (1953-), The Land of Green Plums. Alice Munro (1931-), Selected Stories. Larry Niven (1938-), The Ringworld Throne; Ringworld #3. Joyce Carol Oates (1938-), We Were the Mulvaneys. Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000), The Yellow Admiral; Aubrey-Maturin #18. Edna O'Brien (1930-), Down by the River. Stewart O'Nan (1961-), The Names of the Dead. Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Chance; Spenser #23. Marge Piercy (1936-), City of Darkness, City of Light. James Purdy (1914-2009), Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue. Mario Puzo (1920-99), The Last Don; #3 in the Godfather saga. Daniel Quinn (1935-), The Story of B; sequel to "Ishamel" (1992). John Rechy (1934-), Our Lady of Babylon. James Redfield (1950-) and Carl Adrienne, The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision; bestseller; Holding the Vision: An Experiential Guide. Anne Rice (1941-), Servant of the Bones; the genii Azriel. Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-), Blue Mars; #3 in the Mars Trilogy. Mary Doria Russell (1950-), The Sparrow (first novel); about first contact with aliens along with the idea of a benevolent deity in a Universe filled with evil and pain; followed by "Children of God" (1998). Francoise Sagan (1935-2004), Le Miroir Egare. Lawrence Sanders (1920-98), McNally's Puzzle. Sapphire, Push; about black Am. teenie Claireece "Precious" Jones, who gets pregnant twice by her daddy while her psycho mom freaks her out; filmed in 2009. Jeffrey Shaara (1952-), Gods and Generals; prequel to his daddy Michael Shaara's "The Killer Angels". Dan Simmons (1948-), Endymion. Mona Simpson (1957), A Regular Guy; a Silicon Valley tycoon refuses to recognize his illegitimate daughter. Lee Smith (1944-), The Christmas Letters. Muriel Spark (1918-2006), Reality and Dreams. Nicholas Sparks (1965-), The Notebook (first novel) (Oct.). Elizabeth Spencer (1921-), The Light in the Piazza and Other Italian Tales. LaVyrle Spencer (1943-), Home Song (Mar. 1); h.s. principal Tom Gardner. Danielle Steel (1947-), Malice; Silent Honor. George Steiner (1929-), The Deeps of the Sea and Other Fiction. Patrick Suskind (1949-), Three Stories and a Reflection. Graham Swift (1949-), Last Orders; filmed in 2001; a reimagining of William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying"? Colm Toibin (1955-), The Story of the Night. Barry Unsworth (1930-2012), After Hannibal. Bruce Alan Wagner (1954-), I'm Losing You; first in the Cellular Trilogy ("I'll Let You Go", "Still Holding"). David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), Infinite Jest; bestseller (1M copies); title from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" Act V Scene 1: Pres. Johnny Gentle of the Org. of North Am. Nations (ONAN), composed of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico is a clean freak who turns the NE U.S. and SE Canada into a giant hazardous waste dump; the Incandenzas, the Enfield Tennis Academy, the Ennet House Drug and Alcohol Recovery House, Les Assassins des Fateuils Rollens (The Wheelchair Assassins). Fay Weldon (1931-), Worst Fears. Rebecca Wells (1953-), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (May 22); Vivian "Vivi" Abbott Walker, Aimee Malissa "Teensy" Whitman-Claiborne, Caroline Eliza "Caro" Bennett-Brester, and Denise Rose "Necie" Kelleher-Ogden, who met as little girls in 1930, and Vivi's play dir. daughter Siddalee "Sidda" Walker, who falls out with her mother until she receives their scrapbook titled you know what. Irvine Welsh (1958-), Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance; incl. "Lorraine Goes to Livingston", "Fortune's Always Hiding", "The Undefeated". Morris L. West (1916-99), Vanishing Point. John Edgar Wideman (1941-), The Cattle Killing; a young black preacher goes nuts over the 1793 Philly yellow fever epidemic. Births: English "Charmian Charlie Ross in The Little Drummer Girl", "Katherine Lester in Lady Macbeth", "Elizabeth de Burgh in Outlaw King" actress Florence Pugh on Jan. 3 in Oxford; sister of Toby Sebastian (1992-). Am. 6'1" football WR (black) (New Orleans Saints #10, 2018-) Tre'Quan Smith on Jan. 7 in Delray Beach, Fla.; educated at UCF. Am. "Dora the Explorer" actress Caitlin Ariana Sanchez on Jan. 17 in Englewood, N.J.; Cuban-Am. parents. Am. "Tony in Daddy Day Care" actor Jimmy (James) Bennett on Feb. 9 in Seal Beach, Calif. English "Sign On" musician (dyslexic) Rat Boy (JOrdan Cardy) on Feb. 21 in Chelmsford, Essex. Am. 6'4" basketball player (black) (Los Angeles Lakers #1, 2015-17, 2023-) (Brooklyn Nets#1 , 2017-8) D'Angelo Dante (Danté) Russell on Feb. 23 in Louisville, Ky.; educated at Ohio State U. Am. "Tracy Jr. in 30 Rock", "Jimmy Mitchell in The Tracy Morgan Show" actor-rapper-comedian Bobb'e J. (Jacques) Thompson on Feb. 28 in Kansas City, Mo. Am. "Signs", "Little Miss Sunshine", "Little Rock in Zombieland" actress Abigail Kathleen Breslin on Apr. 14 in New York City; sister of Spencer Breslin (1992-). British-Argentine-Am. "Thomasin in The Witch", "Beth Harmon in The Queen's Gambit" actress Anya-Josephine Tayor-Joy on Apr. 16 in Miami, Fla.; Scottish-Argentine father; grows up in Argentina and London. Am. "Young Sean in Minority Report", "Wilbur in Charlotte's Web" actor Dominic Scott Kay on May 6 in Los Angeles, Calif.; son of actor Scott Kay. Am. "voice of Eloise", "Mark Harmon's daughter on NCIS", "Lacy Fleming in Body of Proof" actress Mary Matilyn Mouser on May 9 in Pine Buff, Ark. Am. 6'9" football offensive tackle (Denver Broncos, 2017-) Garett Bolles on May 27 in Walnut Creek, Calif.; educated at the U. of Utah. Dutch 5'9" soccer player Anna Margaretha Marina Astrid "Vivianne" Miedema on July 15 in Hoogeveen. Australian 6'10" basketball player (black) (Philadelphia 76ers #25, 2016-) Benjamin "Ben" Simmons on July 20 in Melbourne, Victoria; educated at LSU. Am. 5'11" Olympic swimmer (black) Simone Ashley Manuel on Aug. 2 in Houston, Tex.; grows up in Sugar Land, Tex.; educated at Stanford U. Am. "Annie Undocumented", "Negasonic Teenage Warhead in Deadpool" actress Brianna Hildebrand on Aug. 14 in College Station, Tex. Am. basketball forward (black) (Boston Celtics #7, 2016-) Jaylen Brown on Oct. 24 in Marietta, Ga.; educated at the U. of Calif. Am. "The Bernie Mac Show" actress Aria Wallace on Nov. 3 in Atlanta, Ga. Kiwi "Royals", "Tennis Court", "Yellow Flicker Beat" singer Lorde (Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor) on Nov. 7 in Takapuna, Auckland; grows up in Devonport, Auckland. Am. 6'3" football LB (black) (San Francisco 49ers #54, 2018-) Federico Anthony "Fred" Warner on Nov. 19 in San Marcos, Calif.; educated at BYU. Am. "Mattie Ross in True Grit" actress Hailee Steinfeld on Dec. 11 in Calif. Am. athlete Jayshawn Augusto on ?. Deaths: Austrian-Hungarian chemist Georg von Hevesy (b. 1885) on July 5. Am. football star (inventor of the kicking tee) Arda C. Bowser (b. 1889) on Sept. 7 in Winter Park, Fla. Am. politician-atty. Rush Hudson Limbaugh (b. 1891) on Apr. 8; grandfather of Rush Limbaugh (1951-). Am. supermodel Audrey Munson (b. 1891) on Feb. 20 in Ogdensburg, N.Y. Am. mechanical engineer Charles F. Taylor (b. 1894) on June 22; worked with the Wright Brothers, and helped design Lindbergh's Whirlwind engine. Am. "Tea for Two", "Swanee", "Just a Gigolo" Tin Pan Alley lyricist Irving Caesar (b. 1895) on Dec. 17 in New York City; wrote lyrics 1K+ songs. Am. "Oh, God!" comedian George Burns (b. 1896) on Mar. 9 in Beverly Hills, Calif.; habitually smoked 10 El Producto brand cigars a day - 10 a day x 365 days a year x 100 years = 365K, give that man a cigar? Am. historian Merle Curti (b. 1897) on Mar. 9 in Madison, Wisc. Polish-born Swiss chemist (cortisone and Reichstein Vitamin C synthesis process discoverer) Tadeus Reichstein (b. 1897) on Aug. 1 in Basel; 1950 Nobel Med. Prize. U.S. Court of Appeals chief justice (Fifth Circuit) Elbert P. Tuttle (b. 1897) on June 23. Japanese writer Chiyo Uno (b. 1897) on June 10 in Tokyo. English Benedictine monk and bee breeder (developer of the Buckfast Superbee) Brother Adam (b. 1898) on Sept. 1. Australian-born British "Mary Poppins" children's writer P.L. (Pamela Lyndon) Travers (b. 1899) on Apr. 23 in Chelsea, London. British landscape architect Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe (b. 1900) on July 17; designed the British memorial to JFK at Runnymede on the Thames River. U.S. Chief of Naval Ops. Adm. Arleigh A. Burke (b. 1901) on Jan. 1; most celebrated destroyer squadron cmdr. of WWII. Chinese eunuch Sun Yaoting (b. 1902) on Dec. 19; last eunuch servant of China's last emperor Pu Yi. Am. "It Happened One Night" actress Claudette Colbert (b. 1903) on July 30 in Speightstown, Saint Peter, Barbados. Am. Rice Krispies Treat inventor Mildred Day (b. 1903) on June 9 in Bloomington, Minn. English "Spread A Little Happiness" composer Vivian Ellis (b. 1903) on June 19. German-born British endorphin pharmacologist Hans Walter Kosterlitz (b. 1903) on Oct. 26. Am. Henry Adams biographer Ernest Samuels (b. 1903). Am. biologist George Davis Snell (b. 1903) on June 6 in Bar Harbor, Maine; 1980 Nobel Med. Prize. U.S. Sen. (D-Tex.) (1957-71) Ralph Yarborough (b. 1903) on Jan. 27 in Austin, Tex. Nigerian pres. #1 (1960-6) Nnamdi Azikiwe (b. 1904) on May 11 in Enugu. Am. physicist Kenneth Bainbridge (b. 1904) on July 14; built Harvard's first cyclotron, and headed Project Trinity, the first A-bomb test. U.S. atty. gen. (Eisenhower admin.) Herbert Brownell (b. 1904) on May 1. U.S. federal judge Ronald Davies (b. 1904) in Apr. 18; ordered the forced integration of schools in Little Rock, Ark. in 1957. English "Mrs. Miniver" actress Greer Garson on Apr. 6 in Dallas, Tex. (heart failure). Am. chemist (discoverer of nylon) Julian Hill (b. 1904) on Jan. 28. U.S. diplomat Alger Hiss (b. 1904) on Nov. 15; convicted in 1950 of perjury for lying to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). French tennis star Rene "Crocodile" Lacoste (b. 1904) on Oct. 12; inventor of the metal racket. Russian-born Am. poet Charles Norman (b. 1904) on Sept. 10 in Newport, R.I. Am. historian Benjamin Arthur Quarles (b. 1904) on Nov. 16 (heart attack). Lithuanian-born Am. art historian Meyer Schapiro (b. 1904) on Mar. 3 in New York City. Belgian Cardinal Leo Jazef Suenens (b. 1904) on May 6; "architect of 20th cent. Catholicism". Am. "Gunga Din", "Top Hat", "The Blackboard Jungle" film producer Pandro S. Berman (b. 1905) on July 13. U.S. Dem. Calif. gov. #32 (1959-67) Pat Brown (b. 1905) on Feb. 16 in Beverly Hills, Calif. German "Metropolis" silent film actress Brigitte Helm (b. 1905) on June 11. Am. radio soap opera inventor Anne Hummert (b. 1905) on July 5. Irish "Good Behaviour" playwright-novelist Molly Keane (b. 1905) on Apr. 22 in Admore, County Waterford. Am. father of sports medicine Hans Kraus (b. 1905) on Mar. 6. English physicist Sir Nevill Francis Mott (b. 1905) on Aug. 8 in Milton Keyenes, Buckinghamshire; 1977 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. writer-critic Diana Trilling (b. 1905) on Oct. 23 in New York City; wife of writer Lionel Trilling (1905-75). Am. zoologist Edgar John Boell (b. 1906) on Nov. 10 in Venice, Fla. French "Les Enfants du Paradis" film dir. Marcel Carne (b. 1906) on Nov. 1 British Lt. Col. Jack Churchill (b. 1906) on Mar. 8 in Surrey. Am. govt. official Roswell Gilpatric (b. 1906) on Mar. 15 in New York City. Sri Lankan pres. Junius Richard Juyewardene (b. 1906) on Nov. 1. South African writer Sir Laurens van der Post (b. 1906) on Dec. 16 in London; godfather to Prince William and spiritual mentor to Prince Charles; last words: "The stars": "Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right." Am. scientist Arthur Rudolph (b. 1906) on Jan. 3; developer of the Saturn V booster used on the Apollo missions; its transporter moves at 1 mph. English New Age writer Sir George Trevelyan (b. 1906) on Feb. 9. Am. pool hustler "Minn. Fats" Rudolf Walter Wanderone (b. 1906) on Jan. 18. Finnish mathematician Lars Ahlfors (b. 1907) on Oct. 11. Polish-born Am. psychologist Solomon Asch (b. 1907) on Feb. 20 in Haverford, Penn. Am. "King of Torts" lawyer Melvin Belli (b. 1907) on July 9 in San Francisco, Calif. Am. psychologist Evelyn Hooker (b. 1907) on Nov. 18; suggested that male homosexuality is not a psychological disorder - what hooker would? Am. writer Lincoln Kirstein (b. 1907) on Jan. 15; co-founder with George Ballanchine of the School of American Ballet (New York City) and the New York City Ballet. Am. "Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners" actress Audrey Meadows (b. 1907) on Feb. 3. Am. "Don McNeill's Breakfast Club" (1933-68) radio show host Don McNeill (b. 1907) on May 7. English jet engine inventor Sir Frank Whittle (b. 1907) on Aug. 9 in Columbia, Md. (lung cancer); "If you had been given the money you would have been six years ahead of us. If Hitler or Goering had heard that there is a man in England who flies 500mph in a small experimental plane and that it is coming into development, it is likely that World War II would not have come into being" (Hans Von Ohain). Am. actor-comedian Morey Amsterdam (b. 1908) on Oct. 28 in Los Angeles, Calif. (heart attack). Am. "All Quiet on the Western Front" actor Lew Ayres (b. 1908) on Dec. 30. Am. "The Kid" actress Lita Grey Chaplin (b. 1908) on Jan. 6; married Charlie Chaplin at age 16 and divorced him at age 18. Am. "blind flower girl in City Lights" actress Virginia Cherrill (b. 1908) on Nov. 14. Am. New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell (b. 1908) on May 24. Am. country singer Patsy Montana (b. 1908) on May 3 in San Jacinto, Calif. Am. "Field Guide to the Birds" ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson (b. 1908) on July 28. Am. aeronautical engineer Charles Horton Zimmerman (b. 1908) on May 5 in Hampton, Va. French "Hotel du Nord" actress Annabella (b. 1909) on Sept. 18 in Neuilly-sur-Seine (heart attack). Am. "James Bond 007" film producer Albert R. Broccoli (b. 1909) on June 27 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (heart failure) - shakes his last vodka martini? English art historian Quentin Bell (b. 1910) on Dec. 16 in Sussex. Polish-born Israeli Zionist leader Israel Eldad (b. 1910) on Jan. 22 in Jerusalem. English archeologist Jacquetta Hawkes (b. 1910) on Mar. 18. Am. country singer Fred Kirby (b. 1910) on Apr. 22. Am. WWII naval aviation "ace of aces" David McCampbell (b. 1910) on June 30; shot down 32 Japanese planes and received the Medal of Honor. Greek shipping magnate and Aristotle Onassis rival Stavros Niarchos (b. 1910) on Apr. 15. Hungarian anthropologist Raphael Patai (b. 1910) on July 20. Portuguese marshal Antonio de Spinola (b. 1910) on Aug. 13 in Lisbon (respiratory failure). Am. "Peg in The Life of Riley" actress Paula Winslowe (b. 1910) on Mar. 6 in Los Angeles, Calif. Greek poet Odysseus Elytis (b. 1911) on Mar. 18 in Athens; 1979 Nobel Lit. Prize. Am. mathematician and computer scientist Cuthbert Hurd (b. 1911) on May 22; worked to develop the first IBM general computer and founds the first independent computer software co. Scottish Maj. Gen. Sir Fitzroy MacLean (b. 1911) on June 15; "the real James Bond 007". Am. Blue Grass Boys musician Bill Monroe (b. 1911) on Sept. 9 in Springfield, Tenn. Am. pharmacist Leon Schwab (b. 1911) on Jan. 6; co-founder of Schwab's Drugstore in Hollywood, where Lana Turner was discovered sipping soda. Am. art collector Daniel J. Terra (b. 1911) on June 28; founder of the Terra Museums in Chicago, Ill. and Giverny, France. Am. baseball player Babe Dahlgren (b. 1912) on Sept. 4 in Arcadia, Calif. Am. "Singin' in the Rain" actor-dancer-dir.-choreographer Gene Kelly (b. 1912) on Feb. 2 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Am. "Everybody Loves Somebody" composer-musician Ken Lane (b. 1912) on Nov. 23 in Lake Tahoe, Calif. (emphysema). Am. atomic bomb (plutonium) physicist Alexander Langsdorf (b. 1912) on May 24. Am. "Howdy!" country comedian Minnie Pearl (b. 1912) on Mar. 4 in Nashville, Tenn. Am. children's writer Millicent Ellis Selsam (b. 1912). Am. musician Paul Weston (b. 1912) on Sept. 20 in Santa Monica, Calif. Am. "voice of the Yankees" (1939-64) Mel Allen (b. 1913) on June 16. Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdos (b. 1913) on Sept. 20 in Warsaw; pub. 1.5K math articles with 511 different collaborators; "I've finally stopped getting dumber" (epitaph). Am. sportscaster Mel Allen (b. 1913) on June 16: "How about that?" Am. composer-conductor Morton Gould (b. 1913) on Feb. 21. Am. theater critic Walter Kerr (b. 1913) on Oct. 9. Am. Hokey-Poker creator Larry LaPrise (b. 1913). Am. anthropologist Mary Leakey (b. 1913) on Dec. 9. Am. "Ava Coleman in The Sting" actress Paulene Myers (b. 1913) on Dec. 8 in Delaware County, Penn. Am. producer Liam O'Brien (b. 1913) on Mar. 24 in Calif. Am. Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard (b. 1913) on Mar. 27. Am. pool hustler Minnesota Fats (b. 1913) on Jan. 15 in Nashville, Tenn.; "Beat every living creature on Earth. 'St. Peter, rack 'em up - Fats'" (epitaph). Am. "Dick Van Dyke Show" actor-comedian Morey Amsterdam (b. 1914) on Oct. 27 in Los Angeles, Calif. French "Hiroshima Mon Amour" filmmaker-novelist Marguerite Duras (b. 1914) on Mar. 3 in Paris. Am. sci-fi writer-ed. Horace Leonard Gold (b. 1914) on Feb. 21 in Laguna Hills, Calif. Czech conductor-composer Rafael Kubelik (b. 1914) on Aug. 11 in Kastanienbaum, Switzerland. Am. "Road to Singapore" actress Dorothy Lamour (b. 1914) on Sept. 22 in Los Angeles, Calif.; acted in seven Bob Hope-Bing Crosby "Road to" pictures, and sold a record $300M in war bonds. Am. country music singer Patsy Montana (b. 1914) on May 3. U.S. Sen. (D-Maine) and Maine Gov. Edmund Muskie (b. 1914) on Mar. 26. Am. "The Hidden Persuaders" writer Vance Packard (b. 1914) on Dec. 9 in Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Am. Olympic sprinter Eulace Peacock (b. 1914) on Dec. 13 in Yonkers, N.Y. (Alzheimer's). Am. graphic designer Paul Rand (b. 1914) on Nov. 26. Am. real estate developer James Wilson Rouse (b. 1914) on Apr. 9. Am. Superman comic co-creator Jerry Siegel (b. 1914) on Jan. 28 in Los Angeles, Calif. Canadian economist Wiliam Vickrey (b. 1914) on Oct. 11 in Harrison, N.Y.; 1996 Nobel Econ. Prize. Am. "The Manchurian Candidate" novelist Richard Condon (b. 1915) on Apr. 9 in Dallas, Tex. Am. "East of Eden" actress Jo Van Fleet (b. 1915) on June 10. Am. actor Larry Gates (b. 1915) on Dec. 12 in Sharon, Conn. Am. "Unforgettable" songwriter Irving Gordon (b. 1915) on Dec. 1. Am. bi junkie beatnik Herbert Huncke (b. 1915) on Aug. 8 in New York City. Am. blues musician Brownie McGhee (b. 1915) on Feb. 16 in Oakland, Calif. French Vichy collaborator Paul Touvier (b. 1915) on July 17 in Fresnes Prison (near Paris) (prostate cancer); first Frenchman convicted of crimes against humanity. Am. bluegrass fiddler Chubby Wise (b. 1915) on Jan. 6. Am. sociologist E. Digby Baltzell (b. 1916) on Aug. 17 in Boston, Mass. (heart attack); coiner of the term WASP. French Socialist pres. Francois Mitterrand (b. 1916) on Jan. 8; both of his families attend the funeral - two t's, two r's? Am. baseball player and "Our Gang" and "Steve Hardy on General Hospital" actor John Beradino (b. 1917) on May 19. Am. singer "First Lady of Song" Ella Fitzgerald (b. 1917) on June 15 in Beverly Hills, Calif.; most influential jazz vocalist since Billie Holiday. Am. "Cheyenne Kid" B-movie Western actor Lash LaRue (b. 1917) on May 21; could pluck a flower with a single flick of his bullwhip. Am. muckraking journalist Jessica Mitford (b. 1917) on July 23. Am. poet Macha Louis Rosenthal (b. 1917) on July 17. U.S. Repub. vice-pres. #39 (1969-73) Spiro T. Agnew (b. 1918) on Sept. 17 in Berlin, Md.; bye-bye you "nattering nabobs of negativism", "pusillanimous pussyfooters", and "effete intellectual snobs"? Am. sportsman Charles O. Finley (b. 1918). Am. "Sam the Lion in The Last Picture Show" actor Ben Johnson (b. 1918) on Apr. 8 on Apr. 8 in Mesa, Ariz. Am. tennis player Don McNeill (b. 1918) on Nov. 28. Indian classical kirana style singer Pandit Pran Nath (b. 1918) on June 13. Am. "The Poseidon Adventure" writer-producer Stirling Silliphant (b. 1918) on Apr. 26 in Bangkok, Thailand (prostate cancer). Am. "Psycho" actor Martin Balsam (b. 1919) on Feb. 13 in Rome, Italy. Self-proclaimed emperor of the Central African Repub. Jean-Bedel Bokassa (b. 1919) on Nov. 3. Am. foreign policy advisor (JFK, LBJ) McGeorge Bundy (b. 1919) on Sept. 16. Am. Vogue high fashion photographer Henry Clarke (b. 1919) on Apr. 26. Am. major league baseball team owner Charlie Finley (b. 1919) on Feb. 18; instituted the designated hitter, colored uniforms, and nighttime World Series games. Greek political leader and PM Andreas Papandreou (b. 1919) on June 23. Am. oddsmaker Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder (b. 1919) on Apr. 21 in Las Vegas, Nev. (heart attack) - one of the first victims of political correctness? Japanese artist Kumi Sugai (b. 1919). Hungarian-born Am. chef Louis Szathmary (b. 1919) on Oct. 4 in Chicago, Ill. Am. ballerina Tamara Toumanova (b. 1919) on May 29. Am. actress Virginia Christine (b. 1920) on July 24; Mrs. Olson in Folger's coffee commercials. Am. CIA dir. William Colby (b. 1920) on Apr. 27 in Rock Point, Md. (boating accident). Am. "Voice of America Jazz Hour" host Willis Conover (b. 1920) on May 17; "most famous American virtually no American has heard of". Am. psychologist and LSD guru Timothy Leary (b. 1920) on May 31 in Los Angeles, Calif. (prostate cancer); last words "Why not? Beautiful": "Hippy is an establishment label for a profound, invisible, underground, evolutionary process. For every visible hippy, barefoot, beflowered, beaded, there are a thousand invisible members of the turned-on underground. Persons whose lives are tuned in to their inner vision, who are dropping out of the TV comedy of American Life." Am. "Winnie the Pooh" author A.A. Milne's son Christopher Robin Milne (b. 1920) on Apr. 20 in Totnes, Devon; model for Christopher Robin. Am. Sleeper House architect Charles U. Deaton (b. 1921) on Dec. 18 in Morrison, Calif. French chef Pierre Franey (b. 1921) on Oct. 15 in Southampton, England. Am. golfer Cary Middlecoff (b. 1921). German film producer Alexander Salkind (b. 1921) on Mar. 8 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. English chemist Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson (b. 1921) on Sept. 26 in London; 1973 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. "Red River" actress Joanne Dru (b. 1922) on Sept. 10 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. writer Thomas Samuel Kuhn (b. 1922) on June 17. Chinese Communist official (purged in 1967) Wang Li (b. 1922) on Oct. 21 in Beijing (pancreatic cancer); released from priz in 1982, and expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in 1983. Am. "Wild Bill Hicock" actor Guy Madison (b. 1922) on Feb. 6 in Palm Springs, Calif. (emphysema). Am. writer Walter M. Miller Jr. (1923) on Jan. 9 in Daytona Beach, Fla. (suicide); his only novel "A Canticle for Leibowitz" ends with a Roman Catholic argument against suicide. Japanese novelist Ryotaro Shiba (b. 1923) on Feb. 12 in Osaka. Latvian-born Canadian ballet dir. Ludmilla Chiriaeff (b. 1924) on Sept. 22. Italian "La Dolce Vita" actor Marcello Mastroianni (b. 1924) on Dec. 18. German political scientist Dankwart Rustow (b. 1924) on Aug. 3. Indian-born English Sufi scholar Idries Shah (b. 1924) on Nov. 23 in London: "Knowledge is something which you can use. Belief is something which uses you." Am. "The Ritz" actor Jack Weston (b. 1924) on May 3 in New York City (lymphoma). Am. supercomputer designer Seymour Cray (b. 1925) on Oct. 5 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Am. sculptor Duane Hanson (b. 1925) on Jan. 6 in Boca Raton, Fla. Spanish bullfighter Dominguin (b. 1926) on May 8 in San Roque (heart failure). Am. geneticist Julius Marmur (b. 1926) on May 20. Am. NFL commissioner (Super Bowl founder) Pete Rozelle (b. 1926) on Dec. 6. Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam (b. 1926) on Nov. 21 in Oxford, England; 1979 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. photographer Moneta Sleet Jr. (b. 1926) on Sept. 30 in Baldwin, N.Y. (cancer). Am. composer-pianist David Tudor (b. 1926) on Aug. 13; dir. of the Merce Cunningham Dance Co. (1992-). Am. humorist writer-olumnist Erma Bombeck (b. 1927) on Apr. 22. Am. NBC-TV journalist John Chancellor (b. 1927) on July 12 in Princeton, N.J. (stomach cancer). Am. poet Larry Eigner (b. 1927) on Feb. 3 (pneumonia). Am. actor-playwright Lonne Elder III (b. 1927) on June 11. Am. saxophonist Gerry Mulligan (b. 1927) on Jan. 20. Am. Cleveland, Ohio mayor #51 (1967-71) Carl Stokes (b. 1927) on Apr. 3 in Cleveland, Ohio (cancer of the esophagus). Am. "Nancy Crater in Star Trek: TOS" actress Jeanne Bal (b. 1928) on Apr. 30 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. (breast cancer). Am. Roman Catholic archbishop (of Chicago) Cardinal Joseph Bernardin (b. 1928) on Nov. 14. Am. "Windows" composer Jacob Druckman (b. 1928) on May 24 in Milford, Conn. (lung cancer). Am. "Ben Casey" actor Vince Edwards (b. 1928) on Mar. 11 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. "Sarek of Vulcan, father of Spock" actor Mark Lenard (b. 1928) on Nov. 22 in New York City (multiple myeloma). Russian composer Edison Denisov (b. 1929) on Nov. 24 in Paris: "I hate 'scholarly' music. Music has to be 'alive' but not scholarly." Am. featherweight boxer Tommy Collins (b. 1929) on June 3. Spanish soprano Pilar Lorengar (b. 1929) on June 2 in Berlin. Am. "Henry Blake on M*A*S*H" McLean Stevenson (b. 1929) on Feb. 15. English writer Lady Caroline Blackwood (b. 1931) on Feb. 14 in New York City (cancer); "I might have caught my death" (after holy water from Lourdes is accidentally spilled on her deathbed sheets). Am. folk singer Bob Gibson (b. 1931) on Sept. 28 in Portland, Ore. (progressive supranuclear palsy). Am. poet George Starbuck (b. 1931) on Aug. 15 in Tuscaloosa, ala. Am. baseball player Toni Stone (b. 1931) on Nov. 2 in Alameda, Calif. Mexican singer Lola Beltran (b. 1932) on Mar. 24 in Mexico City. Am. R&B singer Jesse Hill (b. 1932) on Sept. 17 in New Orleans, La. (heart failure). Am. conductor Henry Lewis (b. 1932) on Jan. 26 in Echo Park, Calif. (heart attack); first black conductor of a major Am. orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Am. falsetto singer and ukelele player Tiny Tim (b. 1932) on Nov. 30 in Minneapolis, Minn. (heart attack). Am. country singer Faron Young (b. 1932) on Dec. 10 in Nashville, Tenn. (suicide). Canadian Liberal PM #22 of Quebec (1970-6, 1985-94) Robert Bourassa (b. 1933) on Oct. 2 in Montreal. Am. "Barney Collier in Mission: Impossible" actor Greg Morris (b. 1933) on Aug. 27 in Las Vegas, Nev. (brain cancer); before his death he views the Tom Cruise version of M:I and hates it so much that he leaves the theater early. Am. Ventures drummer Mel Taylor (b. 1933) on Aug. 1 (cancer). Am. operatic tenor Richard Versalle (b. 1933) on Jan. 15 (heart attack); dies after singing the line "You can only live so long" in the opening scene of The Makropulos Case. Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid (b. 1934) on Aug. 2 in Mogadishu (KIA). Scottish "Performance" dir. Donald Cammell (b. 1934) on Apr. 24 (suicide by shotgun). Am. astronomer and "Cosmos", "Contact" author Carl Sagan (b. 1934) on Dec. 20; doesn't live to see the film vers. of his novel "Contact"; "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be"; "Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a Universe in which there are far more galaxies than people"; "For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love"; "The only planet we are sure is inhabited is a tiny speck of rock and metal"; "All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value"; "A celibate clergy is an especially good year, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism"; '"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring"; " If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does Science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?"; "In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the Universe"; "The Universe seems neither benign nor hostle, merely indifferent"; "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge"; "Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense"; "We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology"; "The Universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition"; "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known"; "Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out." English historian Raphael Samuel (b. 1934) on Dec. 9 in London. Am. TV "Don Hollinger in That Girl" actor-dir. Ted Bessel (b. 1935) on Oct. 6. Am. actor Danny Kamekona (b. 1935) on May 2 in Los Angeles, Calif. Irish singer Ruby Murray (b. 1935) on Dec. 17 in Torquay, England (liver cancer). U.S. Rep. (D-Tex.) (1973-9) Barbara Jordan (b. 1936) on Jan. 17 in Austin. Tex. Am. astronaut Robert Franklyn Overmyer (b. 1936) on Mar. 22 in Duluth, Minn.; dies while testing a Cirrus VK-30 light aircraft. Am. Texas Instruments chmn. Jerry R. Junkins (b. 1937) on May 29. Am. dancer Juliet Prowse (b. 1937) on Sept. 14. Israeli-born Am. psychologist Amos Nathan Tversky (b. 1937) on June 2 in Stanford, Calif. Am. "Boa constrictor girl Jane Tipton in Adam-12" actress Luana Anders (b. 1938). U.S. Adm. (chief of Naval Ops. and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Jeremy Boorda (b. 1938) on May 16; first U.S. sailor to climb from enlisted man to 4-star Adm. English "The Animals" rock bassist Chas Chandler (b. 1938) on July 17 in Heaton, Newcastle (heart failure). Am. "C'mon On, Get Happy" songwriter Wes Farrell (b. 1939) on Feb. 29 in Coconut Grove, Fla. Am. bluegrass banjo player Courtney Johnson (b. 1939) on June 6 in Glasgow, Ky. (lung cancer). Austrian-Am. "Dr. Carol Marcus in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" actress Bibi Besch (b. 1940) on Sept. 7 in Los Angeles, Calif. (breast cancer). Russian-born Am. poet Joseph Brodsky (b. 1940) on Jan. 28 on Jan. 28 in New York City; 1987 Nobel Lit. Prize. Cambodian-Am. "Dith Pran in The Killing Fields" actor-physician Haing Somnang Ngor (b. 1940) on Feb. 25 in Los Angeles, Calif. (murdered by the Oriental Lazy Boyz street gang of Chinatown). Am. "Suspicion" singer Terry Stafford (b. 1941) on Mar. 17 in Amarillo, Tex. (liver failure). U.S. commerce secy. and Dem. Nat. Committee chmn. Ron Brown (b. 1941) on Apr. 3 (plane crash). Am. "Lassie" actor Tommy Rettig (b. 1941) on Feb. 15; his memorial service in Marina del Rey, Calif. is attended by several former child stars. British fashion designer Ossie Clark (b. 1942) on Aug. 6; created the 1960s London mod style. Canadian hockey player Roger Crozier (b. 1942) on Jan. 11 in Wilmington, Del.; Polish film dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski (b. 1942) on Mar. 14. Am. "The Young Lovers" actress Sharon Hugueny (b. 1944) on July 3 in Lake Arrowhead, Calif. (cancer after a bad wreck with a police car 19 years earlier). German figure skater Monika Dannemann (b. 1945) on Apr. 5. in Seaford, East Sussex, England (suicide) Am. architect and movie set designer Frank Israel (b. 1945) on June 10. Am. serial killer William Bonin (b. 1947) on Feb. 23 in Calif. (executed by lethal injection). Am. choreographer Ulysses Dove (b. 1947) on June 11 in Manhattan, N.Y. Am. serial murderer Ottis Elwood Toole (b. 1947) on Sept. 15 in Fla. State Prison, Raiford, Fla. (cirrhosis); murderer of Adam Walsh. Am. rock drummer John Panozzo (b. 1948) on July 16 in Chicago, Ill. (cirrhosis). Am. golfer Kathy Ahern (b. 1949) on June 6 in Fountain Hills, Ariz. English actor Simon Cadell (b. 1950) on Mar. 6 in Westminster, London (cancer). Tunisian-born French guitarist Marcel Dadi (b. 1950) on July 17 near East Moriches, N.Y. (TWA Flight 800 crash). Am. "Virgil Tibbs in The Heat of the Night" actor Howard Rollins (b. 1950) on Dec. 8 in New York City. Am. tennis player-coach Tim Guillikson (b. 1951) on May 3 in Wheaton, Ill. Am. "Chic" musician Bernard Edwards (b. 1952) on Apr. 18 in Japan (pneumonia). Am. "Lipstick" actress-model ("the face of a generation") Margaux Hemingway (b. 1955) on June 29 in Santa Monica, Calif. (suicide by OD); granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway; asked five men to marry her right before her death? Am. "Waitresses" singer Patty Donahue (b. 1956) on Dec. 9 in Cleveland, Ohio (lung cancer). Am. country singer Keith Palmer (b. 1957) on June 13 in White House, Tenn. Am. "Rent" dramatist Jonathan Larson (b. 1960) on Jan. 25 in New York City (aortic aneurysm) (Marfan syndrome?). Am. musician Eva Marie Cassidy (b. 1963) on Nov. 2 in Bowie, Md. (melanoma). Am. "Audrey Griswold in National Lampoon's European Vacation" actress Dana Hill (b. 1964) on July 15 in Burbank, Calif. (diabetic stroke). Am. punk rock musician Brad Nowell (b. 1968) on May 25 in San Francisco, Calif. (heroin OD). Am. circus performer Angel Wallenda (b. 1968) on May 3; lost a leg to cancer, then in 1988 became the first person to walk the high wire on an artificial leg. Am. rapper Tupac Shakur (b. 1971) on Sept. 13 in Las Vegas, Nev.; murdered in a drive-by shooting on Sept. 7 after watching the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand; in Mar. 2015 Madonna admits to briefly dating him before his death. Am. child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey (b. 1990) on Dec. 25/26 (night) in Boulder, Colo. (murdered).
1997 Doomsday Clock: 14 min. to midnight. Chinese Year: Ox (Feb. 8) (lunar year 4695) - should be sheep? Time Mag. Man of the Year: Andrew Grove (1936-2016) (Intel CEO). Global temps. this year are the highest recorded since records began to be kept in 1880, but next year tops it, and every year until ? is in the Top 10 list of hottest years, with the hottest being 2005? World cases of poliomyelitis: 4,274 (35,251 in 1988). Global Warming stops from the start of this year until Aug. 2012, repeating the last cycle in 1980-96. The Big Dry long-term drought begins in E Australia (until 2009). There are 219M TV sets in operation in the U.S. The Dot-Com Boom and Bust (Bubble) begins, with new Internet cos. sprouting up and floating stock on little more than a Web site and an angle (ends 2001); despite big bucks invested by dopes, a string of spectacular dot-com flops results, incl. eToys.com, MVP.com (sporting goods), and Go.com (Disney); meanwhile the phenomenal growth of the World Wide Web leads to domain name speculation and instant wealth without needing big investment just by selecting a likely name, e.g., sex.com (sold for $13M in 2010), xxx.com, pussy.com, 69.com, horny.com, whitehouse.com, beer.com, pizza.com, and roses.com. Britain's Labour Party led by PM Tony blair begins a secret policy of mass immigration of workers from mainly Muslim countries at the expense of native workers to "rub the Right's nose in diversity", allowing 3M to immigrate by the time a points-based system is introduced in Feb. 2008, leaving a net pop. of 2.87M Muslims by 2010 after reverse immigration, 5.8% of the total pop., vs. 2.4% for the rest of Europe; the refusal of the Muslims to assimilate begins to obliterate British culture developed since 1066? On Jan. 1 Ohio State defeats Arizona State by 20-17 to win the 1997 Rose Bowl. On Jan. 1 after the Clinton admin. puts the screws on to deny a 2nd term to Boutros Boutros-Ghali (who had alienated U.S. U.N. ambassador Madeleine Albright), and the U.N. Security Council appoints him without a vote on Dec. 13, Kofi Atta Annan (1938-2018) of Ghana (senior official in the U.N. Dept. of Peacekeeping Operations. stinking himself up by deciding not to reinforce the beleaguered U.N. mission in Rwanda in 1994) becomes U.N. secy.-gen. #7 (until Dec. 31, 2006), becoming the first from sub-Saharan Africa and first to rise through the U.N.'s ranks, and the 2nd most important after #2 Dag Hammarskjold, eschewing his dashing flamboyant style to become an org. man, going on to serve through the troubled times before and after the Iraq War while pioneering the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Principle. On Jan. 1 off-duty Israeli soldier pvt. Noam Friedman (1975-) fires at a group of fleeing Palestinians in a vegetable market in Hebron, injuring five before fellow soldiers stop him; he later claims he shot them because "they hate Jews". On Jan. 3 the Bosnian parliament meets for the first time, and approves a new cabinet; on Feb. 4 elections for the Sarajevo city council give Vs to many opposition politicians, and Serbian pres. Slobodan Milosevic acquiesces. On Jan. 5 the micronation of Merovingia is established (until 2000); is a trend emerging? On Jan. 6 New York City-born Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer (1957-) replaces Bryant Gumbel (since 1982) as co-host of NBC's The Today Show (until ?), making $28M/year by 2016. On Jan. 9 Comair Flight 3272 (embraer EMB 120 Brasilia) en rouge from Cincinnati to Detroit, Mich. crashes 18 mi. from the Wayne County Airport in Mich., killing all 26 passengers and three crew. On Jan. 12 the artificially-intelligent HAL (Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic) 9000 Computer becomes operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Ill. :) - IBM minus 111? On Jan. 13 the action drama series La Femme Nikita, based on the 1999 film "Nikita" by Luc Besson debuts on USA Network for 96 episodes (until Mar. 4, 2001), starring Sydney, Australia-born actress Peta Gia Wilson (1970-) as a hot young homeless woman shanghaied into Section One, a top-secret counter-terrorism org. and forced to kill for them after training by equally hot Michael Samuelle, played by Ont., Canada-born Roy Dupuis (1963-); funny how it is canceled 6 mo. before 9/11? On Jan. 15 an accord brokered by U.S. special Middle East coordinator (since 1993) (Jewish) Dennis B. Ross (1948-) is signed by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestine Nat. Authority, agreeing to an Israeli pullout from 80% of the West Bank city of Hebron, giving the PNA control over virtually the entire Arab pop. of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, as well as 40% of the land; too bad, on Mar. 18 bulldozers begin prepping the ground for the hilltop Har Homa (Heb. "Wall Mountain") housing project (opens Jan. 2002), inflaming the Palestinians, who attack Israeli soldiers, causing the dozers to be protected by soldiers in riot gear. On Jan. 15 Mexico finishes repaying its $12.5B 1995 emergency loan from the U.S. ahead of time, with a U.S. profit of $560M, at the loss of thousands of Mexican jobs. On Jan. 16 27-y.-o. Ennis William Cosby (b. 1969), son of Hollywood star Bill Cosby is killed by a gunman in Los Angeles, Calif. while changing a flat tire. On Jan. 16 the Albanian Rebellion (Unrest) (Anarchy) of 1997 AKA the Pyramid Crisis (ends Aug. 11) begins after a Ponzi scheme collapses, robbing the victims of $1.2B, who take to the streets demanding govt. reimbursement, causing PM Aleksander Meksi to resign on Mar. 1, and Socialist Party of Albania leader Bashkim Fino to become PM on Mar. 11, which doesn't stop the protests, causing foreign countries to begin evacuating their citizens on Mar. 13, and the U.N. Security Council on Mar. 28 to pass Resolution 1101 authorizing a 7K-man peacekeeper force, which launches Operation Sunrise, ending in violence, with 2K killed; after it's over 25K guns are transported to the Kosovo Liberation Army. On Jan. 16 Bible-thumping Eric Robert Rudolph (1966-) bombs an office bldg. in a suburb of Atlanta, Ga. (no injuries), followed by a gay-lesbian nightclub in Atlanta on Feb. 21, injuring five. On Jan. 17 a Delta II rocket carrying a military GPS payload explores shortly after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. On Jan. 18 Austrian chancellor Franz Vranitzky resigns, and declares Social Dem. finance minister Viktor Klima (1947-) as his successor, who is sworn-in on Jan. 28 (until Feb. 4, 2000). On Jan. 18 Hutu militia members kill three Spanish aid workers plus three soldiers, and wound another in NW Rwanda. On Jan. 19 Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years to join celebrations of the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city - yes we hate Jews, so what? On Jan. 20 U.S. pres. #42 (since Jan. 20, 1993) William Jefferson Clinton is inaugurated for a 2nd term in the 62nd U.S. Pres. Inauguration in the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Al Gore continues as the 45th U.S. vice-pres. (until Jan. 20, 2001); Ark. poet Miller Williams reads his poem "Of History and Hope"; the inaug. theme is "Building a Bridge to the 21st Century"; Clinton's Second Inaugural Address waxes lyrical about "a place called Hope"; the lastt U.S. pres. inaugural address of the 20th cent., and the first to be broadcast live on the Internet. On Jan. 21 House Speaker Newt Gingrich is reprimanded and fined by the U.S. House of Reps., becoming the first time it disciplines its leader for ethical misconduct. On Jan. 22 after a Union Bank of Switzerland guard blows the whistle on the shredding of documents regarding "forced auctions" of property in Berlin in the 1930s, the chmn. of Credit Suisse proposes the creation of a $72M fund for Holocaust survivors and their relatives, which gets bumped up to $1.25B. On Jan. 22 Czech-born MadeleineJana Korbel Albright (Marie Jana Korbelová) (1937-) becomes U.S. secy. of state #64 (until Jan. 20, 2001) (first female), allegedly learning afterwards that her parents were Jewish and that three grandparents died in Nazi concentration camps (how convenient to ensure that 99-0 confirmation vote?); on Jan. 24 William Sebastian Cohen (1940-), who married could-pass-for-white African-Am. model Janet Leola Langhart (nee Floyd) (1940-) (raised by an African-Am. Southern Baptist single mother) last Feb. 14 becomes U.S. secy. of defense #20 (until Jan. 20, 2001), and approves a total force anthrax vaccination plan for all military service members; Langhart becomes known as "First Lady of the Pentagon". On Jan. 26 Super Bowl XXXI (31) (1997) is held in the La. Superdome in New Orleans, La.; the Green Bay Packers (NFC) defeat the New England Patriots (AFC) 35-21 (first win since 1967), with Packers QB Brett Lorenzo Favre (1969-) dancing around like a little boy after giving Green Bay the early lead, and New England pulling within 27-21 late in the 3rd quarter; Packers kickoff receiver (Heisman Trophy winner) Desmond Howard (1970-) (known for The Pose in a 1991 Michigan-Ohio game) runs a 99-yard kickoff return, becoming the first KOR to win the MVP award; Patriots owner Robert Kenneth Kraft (1941-) falls out with coach (since 1993) Duane Charles "Bill" "Big Tuna" Parcells (1941-) over being given input in personnel decisions, and he refuses to fly home with the team, then jumps to the New York Jets a few days later, uttering the soundbyte "If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries." On Jan. 26 the U.S. Communications Decency Act (Title V of the 1996 U.S. Telecommunications Act) is struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court after a lawsuit sponsored by the ACLU exposes it as an unconstitutional censorship of the Internet by the religious right - not that any govt. is powerful enough to control the Net anyway? On Feb. 3 Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party is soundly defeated by the Pakistan Muslim League of former PM (1990-3) Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League, who becomes PM again on Feb. 17 (until Oct. 12, 1999), seeing his big chance to make Muslim Pakistan get nukes. On Feb. 4 Pres. Clinton delivers his 1997 State of the Union Address, talking about a "detailed plan to balance the budget by 2002", and covering welfare, crime, the environment, relations with NATO and China, and the ISS, asking that top priority be given to education; meanwhile the bans on affirmative action in Calif. and Tex. cause minority enrollments in law schools to drop towards zilch, and on Apr. 5 a Harvard U. report reveals that for the 1991-4 period the U.S. has experienced "the largest backward movement toward segregation" since the 1954 Brown v. Board of Ed. U.S. Supreme Court decision. On Feb. 4 O.J. Simpson (1947-) loses a wrongful death civil suit over the death of his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman, and is ordered to pay $33.5M in damages; in 2006 daddy Fred Goldman asks a judge to give him the publicity rights to O.J.'s name, image, and likeness, saying "He personally has never paid a dime on the judgment to anyone." On Feb. 5 Zairean rebel leader Laurent Desire (Laurent-Désiré) Kabila (1939-2001) and his Rwandan-backed Tutsi rebels issue an ultimatum to Zairean pres. (since 1965) Mobutu Sese Seko (b. 1930) (who is in France to have his prostate cancer treated) to resign by Feb. 21 or face an all-out offensive; when he doesn't, they take Kisangani on Mar. 15, and on May 17 Mobutu flees Kinshasa to exile in Morocco as rebel forces wearing t-shirts and tennis shoes gleefully enter; on May 17 after a 7-mo. war, Laurent Kabila becomes pres. of Zaire (until Jan. 16, 2001); Mobutu becomes the last of the CIA-puppet Cold War dictators to fall after driving his country into poverty while squirreling away $6B and leaving his country with a debt of $13B, and on Sept. 7 he dies in exile in Rabat, Morocco of prostate cancer (couldn't take it with him?); Zaire is renamed the Dem. Repub. of the Congo (DRC), like it was before Mobutu changed it in 1971; too bad, Kabila soon rules with an iron hand himself as his Congolese Tutsi piss-off the other ethnic groups, causing them to aid Hutu rebels raiding from W Rwanda; he has no clue how to restore the economy either? On Feb. 6 gen. Jose de Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo is forced to resign as head of the Nat. Inst. to Combat Drugs (INCD) in Mexico, and detained under suspicion of accepting bribes from a top Mexican drug lord; on Apr. 30 the INCD is abolished. On Feb. 9 Court TV has another juicy winner with the Nanny Case, after 8-mo.-o. Matthew Eappen dies in Children's Hospital in Boston, Mass., and innocent-looking 19-y.-o. British au pair Louise Woodward (1978-) is charged with his shaking murder; after a televised trial, she is convicted of 2nd-degree murder (15+ years in priz) on Oct. 30, but on Nov. 10 Judge Hiller B. Zobel (1932-) downgrades the verdict to involuntary manslaughter, citing a lack of malice, and sentences her to time served (279 days), releasing his findings on the Internet (a first?); next June his decision is upheld by the Mass. Supreme Court, and she returns to her home village of Elton, Cheshire, where neighbors had funded her defense, then later enters law school, but quits to take up ballroom dance instruction. On Feb. 10 Croats battle Muslim pilgrims in the Bosnian village of Mostar. On Feb. 10 Russia launches Soyuz TM-25, carrying cosmonauts Vasili Vasiliyevich Tsibliyev (1954-), Aleksandr Ivanovich Lazutkin (1957-), and Reinhold Ewald (1956-) of Germany; on Aug. 5 Soyuz TM-26 blasts off, carrying cosmonauts Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev (1948-) and Pavel Vladimirovich Vinogradov (1953-); Soyuz TM-26 returns next Feb. 19 with Anatoly Solovyev, Pavel Vinogradov, and Leopold Eyharts; Soyuz TM-25 returns on Aug. 14 with Vasili Tsibliyev and Aleksandr Lazutkin. On Feb. 13 the Dow Jones Industrial Avg. closes at 7022.44, breaking the 7K mark for the first time amid low inflation. On Feb. 14-15 (Fri.) 9K American Airlines pilots strike at midnight to raise their paltry $120K a year pay, then go back to work 4 min. later on orders of Pres. Clinton, who appoints a board to study the dispute, saving the 3-day weekend for lovers. On Feb. 15 thousands of Turkish women march in Ankara to protest the reimposition of Sharia on them by the new (since June 28) Islamicist govt. of PM Necmettin Erbakan (1926-) and his Welfare Party, causing the Ataturk-loving military to oust him on June 18, and replace him by secular former PM (1991, 1996) Ahmet Mesut Yilmaz (1947-), 1982 co-founder of the Motherland Party (until Jan. 11, 1999); in Oct. 1998 he threatens to "poke out the eyes" of Syria over their support of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party; the Islamists regroup and rename their party the Justice and Development Party (AKP), claiming to be pro-West and pro-free market and clamoring for EU membership, denying that it is a "political party with a religious axis", and reaching 34% of the vote by 2002. On Feb. 18 after being nominated by his friend Pres. Clinton, Pasadena, Calif.-born Hispanic U.S. Rep. (R-N.M.) (since Jan. 3, 1983) William Blaine "Bill" Richardson III (1947-) (known for diplomatic missions to Baghdad, Bangladesh, North Korea, Cuba, Guatemala, India, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, and Sudan), becomes U.S. U.N. ambassador #21 (until Aug. 18, 1998), going on to fly to Afghanistan to negotiate a ceasefire with the Taliban, which fails; he goes on to becomes Repub. gov. #30 of N.M. in 2003-11. On Feb. 19 Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (b. 1904), last of China's major Communist revolutionaries dies of Parkinson's disease after allowing grassroots democracy and a semi-capitalist market economy to grow, leaving Jiang Zemin in control of China; luckily, hardliner Peng Zhen (b. 1902), who helped oust reformer party chief Hu Yaobang in 1987 followed by his successor Zhao Ziyan in 1989 after he refused to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square dies on Apr. 26; on Sept. 18 Jiang Zemin gets his rival Qiao Shi (Jiang Zhitong) (1924-2015) ousted from the Communist Central Committee. Rise and shine, superstar? Don't make me do this? You don't need a chaperon after blowing off your class yesterday? American school rage shootings ramp up all the way to Arm-a-Geddon's Door? On Feb. 19 16-y.-o. Evan Ramsey (1981-) opens fire with a shotgun in a common area at a high school in Bethel, Alaska, killing the principal and a student and wounding two students, and receives two 99-year sentences, eligible for parole in 2066; on Oct. 1 16-y.-o. Luke Woodham (1981-) kills his mother plus two high school students in Pearl, Miss., and receives three life sentences plus 120 years; on Dec. 1 14-y.-o. B-student Michael Carneal (1983-) kills three girl students and wounds five others while praying at Heath High in West Paducah, Ky., and receives three concurrent life sentences plus 120 years, which is reduced to life without possibility of parole for 25 years after pleading guilty but claiming mental illness; the U.S. school rage death toll reaches 323 by Sept. 2007. On Feb. 23 an oxygen-generating candle on the 11-y.-o. Mir space station catches fire and burns for 14 min., sending smoke throughout the station; in Mar. both oxygen generators fail, forcing the crew to rely on the candles; in Apr. coolant leaks raise the temps to 86F and cause the primary air purification systems to fail; on June 25 an accident during a practice docking exercise damages the solar arrays of the Spektr module and the loss of half of Mir's power; on Aug. 7 a relief capsule docks, and cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliev and Alexander Lazutkin land their Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan on Aug. 14. On Feb. 23 (5 p.m.) the 1997 Empire State Bldg. Shootings sees 69-y.-o. Palestinian Muslim English teacher Ali Hassan Abu Kamal (b. 1927) (from Ramallah, West Bank, who entered the U.S. on Christmas Eve and purchased the gun in Melbourne, Fla.) shoot seven followed by himself on the 86th floor observation deck using a .38-caliber Beretta pistol, wounding six and killing himself and one other; before shooting he asked victims "Are you from Egypt?"; in Feb. 2007 his relatives admit that he did it to punish the U.S. for supporting Israel and that they had been pushing a cover story for 10 years that he did it after losing $300K in a business venture that was invented by the Palestinian Nat. Authority; he chose the highest bldg. in the U.S. for effect. On Feb. 28 the 1997 Turkish Coup (Military Memorandum) (last until 2016) (1960, 1971, 1980) sees the nat. security council issue a memorandum that causes the resignation of Islamist PM Necmettin Erbakan and the end of his coalition govt., all without dissolving the parliament or suspending the constitution, becoming the first "postmodern coup" (Turkish Adm. Salim Dervisoglu); "In Turkey we have a marriage of Islam and democracy... The child of this marriage is secularism. Now this child gets sick from time to time. The Turkish Armed Forces is the doctor which saves the child." (Cevik Bir) In Feb. word leaks that independent federal prosecutor Ken Starr intends to resign from the Whitewater probe on Aug. 1, causing him to publicly reverse himself in the face of intense criticism; in 1999 Hanafi Sunni imam Fethullah Gulen (Gülen) (1941-) leaves Turkey to escape prosecution, settling in Saylorsburg, Penn. (until ?) and founding the liberal Gulen (Gülen) Movement AKA Hizmet (Turk. "service") and Cemaat (Turk. "community/assembly") while continuing to pull strings in Turkey. In Feb. Pope John Paul II cancels a gen. audience because of flu with fever; the bets mount as to when the old man is going to kick the bucket. On Mar. 3 Colo. adopts an official Celtic state tartan, consisting of primary blocks of forest green and cerulean blue separated by broad bands of black, with the forest green checks containing two pairs of tram tracks in lavender and white, joining 24 other states with their official tartans. On Mar. 3 a train wreck in Punjab Province, Pakistan kills 119 and injures 80. On Mar. 4 David E. Kelley's legal drama The Practice debuts on ABC-TV for 178 episodes (until May 16, 2004), about the Boston, Mass. law firm of Donnell, Young, Dole, and Frutt, starring Mark Anthony "Dylan" McDermott (1961-) as law firm head Bobby Donnell, Steve Harris (1965-) as atty. Eugene Young, Debra Frances "Camryn" Manheim 91961-) as atty. Ellenor Frutt, and Kelli Renee Williams (1970-) as atty. Lindsay Dole (later Lindsay Dole Donnell). On Mar. 6 Guyanan pres. (since 1992) Cheddi Jagan (b. 1918) dies after beginning to dump Marxism for free market capitalism, and his Chicago-born Jewish Marxist wife (related to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg?) Janet Rosalie Jagan (nee Rosenberg) (1920-) of the left-wing People's Progressive Party (PPP) wins election as pres. of Guyana, and is sworn-in on Dec. 19 (until Aug. 11, 1999), becoming the 2nd female pres. in South Am. (after Isabel Peron, who wasn't elected), and the first white and first U.S.-born pres. of Guyana; People's Nat. Congress opposition leader Hugh Desmond Hoyte (d. 2002) unsuccessfully challenges the election results, and spends the rest of his life in opposition - does the rabbit's foot live to see another day? On Mar. 9 black rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls) (Christopher George Latore Wallace) (b. 1972) is gunned down in Los Angeles, Calif. after a music industry party; the case remains unsolved because real bro's don't rat to the pigs?; in July 2011 Clayton Hill, who confessed to being an accessory after the fact implicates himself and other members of the Nation of Islam. On Mar. 10 the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuts on UPN-TV for 144 episodes (until May 20, 2003), starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (1977-) as Buffy Summers, who is aided by a Watcher and surrounds herself with her loyal Scooby Gang. On Mar. 11 a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Tokaimura, Japan (80 mi. NE of Tokyo) has an accident that contaminates 35 workers with radiation. On Mar. 13 House and Senate Repubs. formally request U.S. atty. gen. Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Clinton admin.'s 1996 pres. campaign financing practices; after Clinton and Gore are separately interviewed on Nov. 11, Reno announces on Dec. 2 that she won't do it, claiming that their actions are outside the scope of federal election law - playing interference? On Mar. 18 the LAPD Rampart CRASH Scandal of the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit of the LAPD Rampart Div. begins when CRASH officer Kevin Gaines goes into a road rage against undercover police officer Frank Lyga, who shoots and kills him, leading to 70+ CRASH officers being implicated in police misconduct, becoming the largest police misconduct case in U.S. history, resulting in 106 criminal convictions being overturned, and 140 civil lawsuits against the city costing it $125M in settlements, leading to the downfall of police chief Bernard Parks in 2001, and the defeat of mayor James K. Hahn in 2005. On Mar. 19 former PM (1986-91) Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson (1926-) becomes pres. #3 of Trinidad and Tobago (until Mar. 17, 2003), becoming the first active politician to be elected to the presidency. On Mar. 26 Belorusian pres. Alexander Lukashenko bans slogans which "humiliate" the authorities, and restricts the right to demonstrate; on May 1 his pigs enter the Nat. Front HQ and arrest opposition leader Yuri Khodyko, causing 10K anti-Lukashenko demonstrators to march in Minsk on Mar. 15. On Mar. 21 the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn. is founded so that artists like the Light Crust Doughboys and Crazy Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers won't be forgotten. On Mar. 24 the 69th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, Calif.; the best picture Oscar for 1996 goes to Miramax's The English Patient, along with best dir. to Anthony Minghella, and best supporting actress to Juliette Binoche; best actor goes to Geoffrey Rush for Shine, best actress to Frances McDormand for Fargo, and best supporting actor to Cuba Gooding Jr. for Jerry Maguire ("show me the money"). Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the greatest star of all? On Mar. 26 as the approach of Comet Hale-Bopp stirs the world's imagination (incl. a rash of Hollywood movies, all making money from Millennium Fever), police discover the Heaven's Gate cult mass suicide in San Diego, Calif. via phenolbarbitol, vodka, and plastic bags on their heads; these 39 castrated web designers (18 women, 21 men) (all dressed alike, with close-cropped hair), led by zany Spur, Tex.-born Marshall Herff "Bo" "Do" Applewhite Jr. (b. 1931) believed that their spirits will meet ETs in the comet after leaving their "vehicles"; they made their dough by designing Web sites under the name Higher Source, and ran their own cool Heaven's Gate Web Site. On Mar. 27 2M Russian workers strike across Russia, complaining about not being paid while a new class of govt. bureaucrats, many with criminal records never miss a paycheck; the Russian govt. exchanges $13B worth of rubles for dollars, bringing total holdings to $40B. On Mar. 27 Dexter Scott King (1961-), son of MLK Jr. meets with James Earl Ray in prison, and comes out saying he believes his story of innocence and conspiracy. On Mar. 28 the Tragedy of Otranto sees Albanian ship Kateri i Rades collide with Italian ship Sibilia in the Strait of Otranto and sink, killing 83 Albanian immigrants to Italy from the Lottery Uprising. In Mar. after apprenticing at age 16 with Christian Lacroix, then graduating from Ravensbourne College of Design and seeing her 1995 debut show featuring models Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss become a hit, London-born animal-product-hating Stella Nina McCartney (1971-), daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney succeeds Karl Lagerfeld as creative dir. of Chloe fashion house, going on to launch her own fashion house in 2001 with Gucci; in 2003 she launches her perfume Stella; in 2004 she designs clothes for Madonna's Re-Invention Tour, along with a sports line for Adidas. On Apr. 1 Japan raises its sales tax, and its economy immediately goes into a downturn. On Apr. 11 Native Am. writer Michael Anthony Dorris (b. 1945), husband of novelist Louise Erdrich commits suicide via drug OD after being accused of sexually abusing two of their three daughters. India's parliament gives its people eight good reasons to show their underarms? On Apr. 11 after India's parliament votes to let Bombay be called by its Gujariti and Marathi name Mumbai (after its patron deity, the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi) (the name does not receive widespread acceptance until ?), elections in India defeat the 10-mo.-old govt. of Deve Gowda (since June), and on Apr. 21 Inder Kumar Gujaral (1919-) (a Hindu from Pakistan) becomes PM #13 of India (until Mar. 19, 1998); meanwhile on July 11 a caste-based riot breaks out in Bombay, er, Mumbai, and on July 14 Kocheril Raman Narayanan (1920-2005) is elected pres. #10 of India (until July 25, 2002), becoming the first untouchable (Dalit) and Malayali pres. - handshaking and baby-kissing jokes here? On Apr. 15 40 mph winds cause a cooking fire to rip through an overcrowded tent city in Mina, Saudi Arabia (3 mi. from Mecca), killing 340 and injuring 1.3K Muslim pilgrims; the govt. starts out claiming only 217 killed and 1,290 injured. On Apr. 16 50-y.-o. "Terminator" Ahnuld (Arnold Schwarzenegger) (1947-) undergoes surgery to replace a heart valve; in 2005 he admits that he had a hip replacement sometime during this decade. On Apr. 18 Boulder, Colo. DA Alex Hunter acknowledges to Jennifer Mears of the AP that the parents of JonBenet Ramsey are "obviously the focus" of the investigation, but have not been named suspects; Hunter calls AP within hours of the pub. of the story to tell them "It's the quotes; they make me sound stupid." On Apr. 20 a 2.0 earthquake rocks Meers, Okla., located on the 15-mi.-long Meers Fault of the Wichita Mts. (oldest mountains in North Am.), the only fault that breaks the surface E of the Rocky Mts. On Apr. 21 French pres. Jacques Chirac dissolves the lower chamber of parliament and announces elections in order to affirm support of the upcoming EU currency, hoping to institute austerity measures to meet the criteria for joining; too bad, on June 2 leftist parties win the elections, and Socialist Party leader Lionel Jospin (1937-) becomes PM (until May 6, 2002), promising to create 700K jobs to fight the 12.8% unemployment rate while cutting the work week from 39 to 35 hours and raising wages; the extreme right party Nat. Front also gains seats. On Apr. 28 U.S. defense secy. #20 (1997-2001) William Sebastian Cohen (1940-) utters the soundbyte that some nations have created eco-terrorism weapons that "can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves... "So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations, It's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our counter-terrorism efforts." On Apr. 29 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issues guidelines to employers to take reasonable steps to accommodate employees with psychiatric or emotional problems to comply with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act - they're nuts jokes here? On Apr. 30 New Orleans, La.-born white blonde comedian Ellen DeGeneres (1954-) comes out on a 1-hour special ed. of her ABC-TV show (1994-7) Ellen (in "The Puppy Episode"), announcing "I'm gay" before an audience of 36M-42M after an Apr. 6 interview with Time mag. where she admits that yes, she's a lesbian, and stopped dating men at age 20 (and has been you know what for 23 years?); Chrysler pulls its ads, but Viacom-Paramount, the Gap, VW and Warner Bros. stay with her; Moral Majority leader Rev. Jerry Falwell steps up to bat and calls her "Ellen Degenerate", then launches a campaign to boycott ABC-TV and its owner Walt Disney (1901-66), and her career almost goes kaput, but after the Hollyweird machine cuts in, she comes, er, returns bigger than ever? - I like uncircumcised clit and that's it? On Apr. 30 Wall Street Journal reveals that Chrysler, Ford and other auto co. have been exerting pressure on mags., threatening to withdraw advertising if they run articles they don't like. On Apr. 30 Big Ben in London stops one day before the May 1 gen. election, then again three weeks later; on May 2 Edinburgh-born Clinton clone (Labour Party leader since July 21, 1994) Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (1953-) becomes PM of Great Britain (until June 27, 2007) (10th PM under Elizabeth II) (youngest PM since 1812) after his party lost four consecutive nat. elections and had been out of power for almost a generation (18 years) (1979), making them do a Bill Clinton and move toward the center, jettison Socialism, loosen union ties and present an image of fiscal responsibility to get back in, giving the Conservatives their worse defeat since 1832; on May 6 he announces that he will give the Bank of England more power, incl. control over short-term interest rates, a step towards joining the EU; between this year and early 2010 the Labour govt. makes 4,289 activities illegal, creating about one new crime a day. On Apr. 30 Medan, Indonesia-born serial murderer (local sorcerer) Ahmad Suradji (1949-2008) (AKA Nasib Kelewang, Datuk) is arrested after 42 bodies of women aged 17-40 killed in 1986-97 are discovered near his home on a sugarcane plantation near Medan, North Sumatra, all buried waist-deep so he could strangle them and drink their saliva to increase his healing powers, after which he would bury them with their heads pointing to his house, all because his father told him to drink the saliva of 70 women and killing them was the fastest way; on July 10, 2008 he is executed by firing squad. In Apr.-May after extreme temperatures and abundant snowfall, the 1997 Red River Flood of the Red River of the North in Minn., N.D., and S Manitoba causes $3.5B damage and no deaths, becoming the river's most severe flood since 1826. On May 1 John Ramsey and Patsy Ramsey give a TV interview, telling the "real" killer of their daughter JonBenet, "We will find you" - look in the mirror? On May 1 Pakistan-born Labour Party member Mohammad Sarwar (1952-) becomes the first-ever Muslim British MP, from Glasgow (until May 6, 2010). On May 8 a China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crash-lands in heavy rain in Shenzhen-Huangtian, China, veering off the runway and breaking up and catching fire, killing 33 of 65 passengers and two of nine crew. On May 10 Pope John Paul II issues an Apostolic Exhortation on Lebanon titled "A New Hope for Lebanon", with a commission established in 1995 that incl. Muslim members. On May 16 Pres. Clinton apologizes to the remaining eight of 399 survivors of the 1932-72 Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment of the U.S. Public Health Service, in addition to the $10M compensation, in order to encourage blacks to get treated for HIV. On May 23 moderate Islamic scholar (who reads Islamic law as rejecting coercion and oppression) Mohammad Khatami (1943-) (a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad) is elected, and on Aug. 2 he succeeds Ali Rafsanjani as pres. #5 of the Islamic Repub. of Iran (until Aug. 2, 2005), promising to legalize political parties with his limited powers; meanwhile on May 23 the CIA reneges on a 5-y.-o. promise to make its files on an attempted overthrow of the Iranian govt. in 1953 public, claiming they had been burned in the 1960s. On May 25 pres. (since Mar. 1996) Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone is toppled by warlord Maj. Johnny Paul Koroma (1960-), who forms the Armed Forces Rev. Council (AFRC), with him as head (until Feb. 6, 1998), and allies with the Rev. United Front (RUF); by Sept. Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) troops begin fighting with his regime, staging air raids against commercial targets in Freetown. On May 27 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 9-0 in Clinton v. Jones that Pres. Clinton can't delay facing the sexual indiscretion charges of Paula Corbin Jones by claiming immunity, with the soundbyte: "The President, like all other government officials, is subject to the same laws that apply to all other members of our society." In May the Jackson Five are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, where Michael Jackson's near-white skin contrasts sharply with that of his brothers and Motown mogul Berry Gordy. On June 1 Mary Schmich pub. the article Wear Sunscreen ("Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young") in the Chicago Tribune, and it goes viral via email after rumors that it is an MIT commencement speech by Kurt Vonnegut; inspires the Baz Lurhmann song "The Sunscreen Song" (Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) (1999); "Do one thing every day that scares you." On June 2 a federal jury in Denver, Colo. convicts Timothy J. McVeigh of conspiracy and murder for the 1995 Okla. City truck bomb explosion. On June 5 the Repub. of the Congo Civil War (ends Dec. 1999) begins, ousting pres. (since 1992) Pascal Lissouba with help from Angolan troops, who take Brazzaville on Oct. 14, causing Lissouba to flee; on Oct. 25 former pres. (1979-92) Denis Sassou Nguesso (1943-) of the Congolese Labour Party becomes pres. of Congo-Brazzaville (until ?); France backs Sassou Nguesso because he's a Freemason as are top French govt. officials? On June 11 the U.N. Security Council votes to tighten restrictions on Iraq if it doesn't quit blocking U.N. inspectors looking for WMDs, which started in Feb. 1991; on July 1 Richard William Butler (1942-) of Australia becomes head of the weapons inspection team, and on Oct. 6 reports that Saddam Hussein is blocking efforts to inspect germ warfare shells, after which on Oct. 23 the French block an attempt by the U.S., Britain, and seven other countries to keep Iraqis involved from travelling abroad; on Nov. 13 Saddam expels the U.S. members of the team, causing the entire team to withdraw in protest and U.S. Pres. Clinton to threaten military action; after Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov (1929-) intervenes, Saddam agrees to a compromise on Nov. 19, and the inspectors return on Nov. 22, accusing him of using the time to build up his secret stockpiles; on Nov. 25 U.S. defense secy. William Cohen warns that Iraq might possess enough nerve gas VX to kill everyone on Earth, although he admits that 25 countries have or are developing nukes or WMDs. On June 10 Pol Pot (1925-98) has his key aide Son Sen (b. 1930) potted, along with his 13-member family, causing a split in the Khmer Rouge, and on June 20 he is captured in the jungle by forces of co-PM Hun Sen (1952-) (a Cambodian Baby Boomer?), who seizes seizes power on July 5, defeating coalition partner Prince Norodom Ranariddh (1944-) (2nd son of Norodom Sihanouk), and promising to restore democracy incl. an opposition party; on July 25 Pol Pot is put on show trial and sentenced to life in priz; too bad, Hun Sen keeps the same old same old, incl. former Khmer Rouge cmdr. and myriad-butcher Ke Pauk. On June 14 elections in Algeria in an effort to end the undeclared 1992 war (death toll: 50K) suffers from low turnout after the Islamic fundamentalist Salvation Front is excluded; the party of pres. Liamine Zeroul wins 155 of 380 seats, causing opposition parties to charge fraud, while the unemployment rate continues at 30%. In mid-June Pres. Clinton launches a "great and unprecedented conversation about race" that he claims will "transform the problem of prejudice into the promise of unity" - ask his long rainbow list of lovers? On June 23 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 5-4 in Agostini v. Felton that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment doesn't prevent public school teachers from teaching at religious schools as long as the material is secular and neutral in nature, and there is no "excessive entanglement" between govt. and religion, reversing Aguilar v. Felton (1985); the dissenters incl. Justices David Souter, John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and David Souter, who claim "That cause lies in the maintenance of integrity in the interpretation of procedural rules, preservation of the responsive, non agenda setting character of this Court, and avoidance of invitations to reconsider old cases based on speculat[ions] on chances from changes in [the Court's membership]." On June 25 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 6-3 in City of Boerne v. Flores that the 1993 U.S. Religious Freedom Restoration Act exceeded the power of Congress under Sect. 5 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits Congress from substantially increasing the scope of rights determined by the judiciary, and may only enact remedial or preventative measures, hence the law doesn't apply to the states. On June 26 right-winger Bertie Ahern (1951-) (a devout Roman Catholic who visited Lourdes with his mother 2x) is elected as PM (Toiseach) #10 of Ireland (until ?). Beat it? On June 26 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules unanimously in Reno v. Am. Civil Liberties Union to strike down all of the anti-indecency provisions of the 1996 U.S. Communications Decency Act (CDA) as violating the First Amendment, with Justice John Paul Stevens writing the soundbyte: "We are persuaded that the CDA lacks the precision that the First Amendment requires when a statute regulates the content of speech. In order to deny minors access to potentially harmful speech, the CDA effectively suppresses a large amount of speech that adults have a constitutional right to receive and to address to one another. That burden on adult speech is unacceptable if less restrictive alternatives would be at least as effective in achieving the legitimate purpose that the statute was enacted to serve... It is true that we have repeatedly recognized the governmental interest in protecting children from harmful materials. But that interest does not justify an unnecessarily broad suppression of speech addressed to adults. As we have explained, the Government may not "reduc[e] the adult population... to... only what is fit for children." On June 26 the U.S. Supreme Court rules 9-0 in Vacco v. Quill and Washington v. Glucksberg that doctor-assisted suicide has no obvious constitutional protection from the Due Process Clause or anything else, while leaving the door open to a future case involving a terminally-ill patient suffering intolerable pain - I fought the law and the law won? On June 27 the Tajikistan Civil War (begun 1992) ends with an accord signed in Moscow. On June 30 Ismail Cem Ipekci (1940-2007) becomes foreign afairs minister of Turkey (until July 11, 2002), announcing his goal of making Turkey a state with global influence, using the 1996 alignment with Israel to improve intel and military capabilities. In June the Gates Library Foundation announces that it will spend $400M over the next five years to put new computers and the Internet into half of the 16K U.S. public libraries; Oracle Systems founder Larry Ellison kicks in another $100M; by 2008 nearly all U.S. libraries have them. On July 1 Hong Kong reverts to Chinese Communist rule after 156 years as a British colony, causing the first Hong Kong July 1 March; Christopher Francis "Chris" Patten (1944-) becomes the last (28th) British gov. of Hong Kong (since July 9, 1992); Chinese pres. Jiang Zemin promises to continue Deng Xiapong's 1982 policy of "one country, two systems" and let them keep their capitalist system, despite an Apr. 9 announcement that public protest and rights of association will be restricted; shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa (1937-) becomes the first Chinese gov. of Hong Kong (until Mar. 12, 2005), gaining the nickname "Old Confused Tung" for his track record; meanwhile on Nov. 16 Beijing releases dissident Wei Jingsheng (1950-) from prison (since 1979), and allows him to fly to Detroit, Mich. for medical treatment. On July 1 the 62-y.-o. U.S. federal welfare system ends under a law signed by Pres. Clinton last year, while most states demand that recipients work as a condition of aid. You may leave the temple, Grasshopper, and go right to the doctor's office? On July 2 Thailand's currency, the baht suddenly collapses after the govt. spends $60B to prop it up in vain, triggering the 1997 Asian financial crisis after "Asian tigers" had overborrowed throughout the decade to overbuild their manufacturing capacity; by July 16 the currencies in Malaysia (ringgit), Singapore and the Philippines also plunge, followed by Indonesia (rupiah) on Aug. 14; in Aug. the Dow Jones Industrial Avg. soars to 8.2K, then plunges a record 554.26 points on Oct. 27 to close at 7161.15 after the baht drops 35% and the Hong Kong stock market falls 13.7% in 1 day (40% for the mo.); in Nov. PM Chavalit Yongchaiyudh resigns, and former PM (1992-5) Chuan Leekpai becomes PM (until 2001), saying that Thailand will need at least until the year 2000 to recover; in Nov. the South Korean won begins collapsing, causing calls for help from the IMF. On July 6 the ruling PRI Party in Mexico loses its majority in the chamber of deputies, giving opposition parties significant influence in the federal govt. for the first time since 1910; Cuauhtemoc Cardenas (Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas) (1934-), leader of the leftist Dem. Rev. Party (PRD) is elected mayor of Mexico City by a landslide (until 1997). On July 7 Montgomery Ward (founded 1878) files for bankruptcy, and on July 17 announces that it will close its last 400 stores to concentrate on its profitable Foot Locker and other sports equipment stores, and changes it corporate name to Venator Group; the independent British Woolworth Co. continues to thrive. On July 12 the Bolivian govt. confirms the discovery of the remains of guerrilla leader Ernesto Che Guevara (d. 1967) in a mass grave near Vallegrande. On July 12 Tom Fontana's Oz debuts on HBO for 56 episodes (until Feb. 23, 2003), becoming cable's first original dramatic series, about Oswald State Penitentiary and its experimental Emerald City unit, started by Tim McManus (Terry Kinney), narrated by wheelchair-bound Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau Jr.). On July 15 the Hanna-Barbera animated series Cow and Chicken debuts on Cartoon Network for 52 episodes (until July 24, 1999), about siblings Cow and Chicken , who fight scammer Red Guy, all voiced by Charlie Adler; season two episode "Buffalo Gals" features carpet-munching biker lesbians Munch Kelly et al.; "Momma had a chicken, momma had a cow/Dad was proud, he didn't care how." On July 15 after a 4-victim murder spree that began on Apr. 27 in Minneapolis, Minn., National City, Calif.-born gay millionaire boy toy Andrew Phillip Cunanan (b. 1969) murders gay Italian fashion designer Giovanni Maria "Gianni" Versace (b. 1946) in front of his Casa Casuarina mansion in Miami Beach, Fla.; on July 23 he commits suicide with his firearm on his houseboat in Miami Beach. On July 19 the IRA announces that it will resume the ceasefire that it broke in Feb. 1996. On July 19 rebel army leader Charles McArhur Ghankay Taylor (b. 1948) is elected pres. of Liberia, and is sworn-in on Aug. 2 as pres. #22 (until Aug. 11, 2003), going on to rule the bloody U.S.-founds slave labor hole with an iron hand. On July 23 Slobodan Milosevic is sworn-in as pres. of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). On July 24 after Albania goes into near-anarchy as he and several other top govt. officials are caught behind 20 pyramid schemes bilking the country of $1.2B, compared to their nat. budget of $960M (one-third of that aid from the EU), Albanian pres. (since 1992) Sali Berisha is ousted in elections by a leftist coalition headed by the Socialist Party, and Rexhep Qemal Meidani (1944-) is elected pres. of Albania by the assembly (until July 24, 2002). On July 27 Stargate SG-1, a spinoff of the 1994 hit film debuts on Showtime for 214 episodes (Mar. 13, 2007). On July 30/31 Bao Dai (b. 1913), the last emperor of Vietnam (1945-9) dies in exile in Paris, and his son Bao Long becomes crown prince of Vietnam in exile in France. In July the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis sees the Thai baht collapse, bringing down Hong Kong, Malaysia, Laos, and Philippines; George Soros engineered it? In July Priceline.com is founded by Jay S. Walker (1956-) of Conn. for travellers to bid on airline and hotel rates online; after his stock makes him worth $4B on er, paper, the Dot-Com Crash leaves him an e-pauper. In July the British govt. ends free tuiton for higher ed., and imposes annual fees of $1.6K plus a new loan system for living expenses. On Aug. 4 (Mon.) (2:14 a.m.) the supercomputer Skynet becomes smarter than humans and begins wiping out humanity :) On Aug. 4 Time mag. runs a cover story about the Morons, er, Mormons, in which writer Richard N. Ostling asks Mormon pres. (1995-2008) Gordon Bitner Hinckley if he was aware of the Mormon teaching that God was once a man, and that men can become gods, and he waffles but acknowledges it - honey, you had me at first pump? On Aug. 4-20 the 1997 UPS Strike of 185K Teamsters members (largest strike in the U.S. in 10 years) is a V for the workers, who get 10K part-time $9-an-hour jobs converted to full-time $19.95-an-hour jobs, plus more control of their pension funds. On Aug. 5 former right-wing ruler Gen. Hugo Banzer Suarez becomes pres. of Bolivia again. On Aug. 5 Pres. Clinton signs the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), providing 5M children with health insurance; it is paid for by a budget deal between the Dems. and Repub. majority leader Sen. Trent Lott, with half of the money coming from the Attorney Generals' tobacco settlement, and cigarette taxes raised from 24 to 67 cents a pack; the legislation was sponsored by Dem. Mass. Sen. Ted Kennedy and Repub. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, but Hillary Clinton helped push it through, getting thanked by Kennedy. On Aug. 5 Pres. Clinton signs a bill cutting federal income taxes and the capital gains tax for the first time since 1981, while balancing the federal budget by er, 2002 - Robin Hood comments here? On Aug. 5 the U.S. Nat. Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997 attempts to reform the Washington, D.C. criminal justice system, ordering the Lorton Reformatory in Va. to close by Dec. 31, 2001 while transferring 6.5K prisoners from the District of Columbia around the U.S. and having the U.S. atty. gen. appoint a corrections trustee for oversight. On Aug. 5 Korean Air Flight 801 (Boeing 747-300) crashes in the jungle hills of Guam, killing 224 of 254 aboard. On Aug. 6 Bill Gates announces that Microsoft will make a $150M investment in Apple Computer to insure its survival, with of course a few little strings; meanwhile in Sept. Microsoft introduces chock-full-of-bugs Explorer 4.0, threatening browser leader Netscape (not technically, but via its chokehold on PC makers), and in Oct. Sun Microsystems sues Microsoft over its licensing of its 1995 Java computer language, and never-admit-you're-wrong Microsoft countersues; on Oct. 27 the U.S. Justice Dept. files an Antitrust Suit Against Microsoft, accusing it of being an illegal monopoly that has violated its 1994 consent decree; in Nov. otherwise-lame consumer advocate Ralph Nader holds a cool Anti-Microsoft Conference in Washington, D.C.; on Dec. 11 U.S. federal judge Thomas Penfield Jackson (1937-) issues a preliminary injunction to stop Microsoft from forcing PC makers to install its cruddy Monopolysoft Explorer, followed by orders in Dec. to stop them from bundling it with their own Windows 95 operating system; on Dec. 15 Microsoft appeals - and this time it's not a game with pastel money? On Aug. 7 country star Garth Brooks gives a free concert in New York City's Central Park to 250K-750K, with 14.6M viewers watching on HBO; Billy Joel and Don McLean appear; next year the Recording Industry of Am. proclaims him the best-selling solo artist of the cent., pissing-off Elvis Presley fans, but he ends the debate by giving the V to him, after which a recount makes it official, although the Beatles beat them both as far as albums go; on Nov. 5, 2007 Brooks officially passes Elvis, with sales of 123M. On Aug. 8 the U.S. FDA changes the rules for radio and TV advertising of prescription drugs, dropping the requirement for providing extensive technical info. about the risks; meanwhile the pharmaceutical industry spends $600M for advertising this year, $1B next year, and $13B by 1999 (more than for R&D). On Aug. 9 Haitian immigrant Abner Louima (1966-) is arrested arrested outside Brooklyn nightclub Club Rendez-Vous and then roughed up, taken to the 70th Precinct station and brutally sodomized with a plunger in his mouth and anus, severely injuring him, after which officer Justin Volpe walks through the station holding the plunger in his hand and bragging that he "broke a man down"; in 2001 the N.Y.P.D. is ordered to pay him $8.75M (tax-free), of which $3M goes to his attys., incl. Johnnie Cochran; Volpe and four other cops are indicted on federal charges, and after trying every trick in the book such as bring up his gay past and claiming it was gay sex that sent him to the hospital, Volpe finally pleads guilty and receives 30 years; Charles Schwarz gets 15 years, gets the sentence overturned, and ends up with 5 years; the other sacred cow cops slime out of it. On Aug. 11 (Mon.) The View debuts on ABC-TV (until ?), created by Barbara Walters as a morning show where women yak at each other for an hour while an audience of mainly women watch, with co-hosts Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, and Debbie Matenopoulos; on Sept. 5, 2006 the lineup changes to Elisabeth Hasselbeck (1977), and Joy Behar (1943). On Aug. 11 Pres. Clinton makes the first use of the line-item veto in history, rejecting three items in spending and tax bills; too bad, on Apr. 10 federal judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rules the line-item veto unconstitutional, and in 1998 the U.S. Supreme Court backs him up because it allows the pres. to amend laws passed by Congress. On Aug. 13 South Park, an animated show about four 3rd-grade boys (Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Eric Cartman, Stanley "Stan" Marsh) in South Park, Colo. that satires U.S. culture both right and left, created by Trey Parker (1969-) and Matt Stone (1971-) debuts on Comedy Central (until ?), ramping up to 6M viewers and reviving the cable channel. On Aug. 14 the Am. Psychological Assoc. (APA) adopts a new policy on gays and lesbians, opposing any counseling that treats it as a mental illness, but not explicitly denouncing "reparative therapy" to change sexual orientation, although it says no therapy should be done without the informed consent of a client - don't take it out of your mouth and anus just yet? On Aug. 18 Va. Military Inst. (VMI) bows to a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision and begins admitting female cadets, 30 out of a fresh er, freshman class of 460. On Aug. 28 Calif.'s Proposition 209 takes effect, ending affirmative action, causing thousands to march across San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in protest. On Aug. 29 (02:14 a.m. ET) after being activated on Aug. 4, Skynet becomes self-aware and launches nuclear missiles at Russia, causing Judgment Day - The Terminator series dir. by James Cameron. All of a sudden we thought this whole thing through? On Aug. 29 the Japanese Supreme Court rules that Ed. Ministry censors have broken the law by deleting references to atrocities against civilians committed by Japanese soldiers in Nanking, China, Korea and other countries in the 1930s and 1940s, the result of a 32-year legal campaign by Japanese historian Saburo Ienaga (1913-2002). A bad day in Paris causes the British monarchy to come close to toppling as the people's choice for queen dies young and the old out-of-touch queen shows her haughty isolated snob side? On Aug. 30/31 (Sat.-Sun.) over one year after her Aug. 8, 1996 divorce from Prince Charles, and exactly one year since she lost her royal title of princess of Wales, British Lady Diana "Di" Spencer (b. 1961) dies in a high-speed car accident in a Mercedes-Benz S280 in the Pont de l'Alma Tunnel in Paris after leaving the Paris Ritz Hotel with millionaire Egyptian Muslim boyfriend Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Moneim "Dodi" Fayed (b. 1955), executive producer of "Chariots of Fire"; nobody is wearing a seatbelt, and Dodi is killed; Rintein, West Germany-born bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones (1968-) is seriously injured, suffering amnesia about the accident; Lorient, Brittany-born driver Henri Paul (b. 1956) (deputy head of security at the Hotel Ritz) is also killed, and later found/ to be legally intoxicated; at first the paparazzi hounding her are accused of causing the crash, and later Dodi's Egyptian father Mohammed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed (1929-), billionaire owner of Harrods in London as well as the Hotel Ritz in Paris gives the conspiracy theorists a big bone, claiming a plot by the British royals to murder her to keep her from having a Muslim hubby and baby; Diana was on the verge of converting to Islam after her previous beau Dr. Hasnat Ahmad Khan (1960-) broke up their relationship in July?; Mohammad al-Fayed's sister Safia al-Fayed claims that Diana had converted to Islam and was planning to move to Alexandria, Egypt with Dodi after they got married, which is why she was murdered; on Aug. 31 Diana's brother Earl Spencer utters the soundbyte: "I always believed that the press would kill her in the end. Not even I could imagine that they would take such a direct hand in her death, as seems to be the case"; on Aug. 31 'British PM Tony Blair calls her "the people's princess", while Elizabeth II and her hubby Prince Mounbatten stay suspiciously holed-up in Balmoral Castle on their 40K-acre estate in Scotland so long that the public gets most uncommonly pissed-off, 25% claiming they want the monarchy abolished, until Blair personally arrives to strongarm her, causing them to return to London on Sept. 5 (Fri.), while ordering a British flag flown at half-mast on top of Buckingham Palace in place of the royal standard (as if to say, she coulda been a contender, but we had to have her eliminated since she was going Muslim?); as she arrives, the queen gets out of the car to view the tons of flowers propped against the fence, many with anti-royalty remarks on them, then gives a public address on BBC-TV at 6 p.m., praising Diana as an "exceptional and gifted human being"; on Sept. 6 the 3.5-mi. funeral procession from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey along packed streets sees the queen break tradition and bow as her coffin passes; next year Dodi's dad Mohamed claims a "conspiracy" opposed to his Muslim son's relationship with her; many suspect hubby Prince Charles, with Camilla Parker-Bowles (whom Princess Di calls "the Rottweiler") waiting in the wings; she had just made unflattering comments about the royal family which were making the rounds in British tabloids; she dies at the same age and same mo. as Marilyn Monroe, causing Elton John to rework his "Candle in the Wind" for her funeral; by 2005 the conspiracy theory appears to fall apart, as there is no evidence of a black Fiat pursuing them as held in early reports, the brake cables had not been cut, Di was chatting leisurely on her cell phone at the moment of the crash, and she had no intention of marrying fling-of-the-season Dodi; Mohamed Fayed erects a statue titled Innocent Victims to his son and Di outside his Harrods dept. store, showing her in a revealing skirt and him with an open shirt showing chest hair, circled overhead by an albatross; in June 2010 British atty. Michael Mansfield, who represented Mohamad al-Fayed at the inquest into the death of his son claims that Diana was killed because she planned to expose senior members of the British arms trade involved with land mines. In Aug. Chicago, Ill.-born journalist Sidney Blumenthal (1948-) becomes senior adviser to Pres. Bill Clinton (until Jan. 2001), becoming known for attacks on adversaries; "When the White House is backpedaling – a familiar move as the president's libido made a hostage of his administration – Blumenthal is the first to urge aides to man the ramparts, a fire-breathing role taken by Patrick Buchanan in the Reagan administration" (Michael Powell, Washington Post); after her Jan. 2009 appointment as U.S. secy. of state, Hillary Clinton is blocked from hiring him by Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel because of the bad blood generated by spreading negative stories about Obama during the Dem. primaries; during the 2011 Libyan rebellion against Col. Daffy, he sends 25 emails to Hillary on a secret email account giving her intel, which she sends to her aide Jake Sullivan, disguising that he is advising a group of contractors courting Libyan business. One princess down, another one up? On Sept. 8 David E. Kelley's Ally McBeal debuts on Fox-TV for 112 episodes (until May 20, 2002), starring unbelievably skinny Calista Kay Flockhart (1964-) as atty. Allison Marie "Ally" McBeal of the Boston law firm Cage and Fish, who ends up in a love triangle with ex-beau Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows) and Georgia Bellows (Courtney Thorn-Smith); the local bar features singer Vonda Shepard; also features Chinese-Am. actress Lucy Liu (1968-) as Ling Woo; features the Dancing Twins (Eric and Steve Cohen), and the Dancing Baby becomes a hit, as does its Lesbian Kiss Scene; too bad, the show's portrayal of Ally as falling over when she meets somebody attractive, and her emotional instability piss-off feminists, causing Time mag.'s June 25, 1998 issue to feature the title "Is Feminism Dead?" along with Flockhart's photo. The queen may have saved the monarchy at the last moment, but now Edward Longshanks' heir gets hers as Scotland and Wales see their chance and break free from the British Borgs? On Sept. 11 (700th anniv. of the Battle of Stirling) Scotland votes for devolution and reinstatement of its parliament, which on ? convenes for the first time since Mar. 25, 1707; a similar election in Wales approves a Welsh assembly. On Sept. 17 reps from 100 countries in Oslo, Norway agree to the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, banning nasty landmines, which kill 9.6K a year and maim or blind another 14K, mostly in Angolia, Bosnia and Cambodia; on Sept. 18 CNN founder Ted Turner announces a gift of $1B, to be paid over 10 years, for U.N. agencies that are clearing landmines; on Oct. 10 the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Vt. anti-landmine activist Jody Williams (1950-) and her Internat. Coalition to Ban Landmines (founded 1991), which got 855K signatures on their petition; on Dec. 4 122 nations sign the convention, but the U.S., Russia, China, India, and Pakistan refuse to sign, with U.S. pres. Clinton saying that 1M are used to protect U.S. troops in Korea (ditto India and Pakistan, although Pakistan later signs), although the U.S. ends up paying most of the cost for the landmine removal for the next five years; by Nov. 2007 133 countries sign, although there are still 160M left in world stockpiles. On Sept. 24 Russian pres. Yeltsin announces that the govt. will begin moving its money from private banks to the private treasury, improve its monitoring of the economy, and conduct fair privatization auctions; on Sept. 26 he reveals that 2.5K govt. officials are under investigation for fraud and corruption, and restricts religious practice to Russian Orthodox, Muslim and Buddhist faiths, limiting groups that have not been registered for at least 15 years, incl. Roman Catholicis, Baptists, Pentecostals, and Mormons, reversing the 1990 law granting religious freedom to all. On Sept. 24 Dharma & Greg debuts on ABC-TV for 119 episodes (until Apr. 30, 2002), starring Jenna Elfman (1971-) and Thomas Ellis Gibson (1962-) as flower child Dharma Freedom Finkelstein and normal Stanford-educated atty. Gregory Clifford "Greg" Montgomery, opposites who marry on their first date, and have to deal with Greg's high-class snob mother Kitty (Susan Sullivan). On Sept. 26 Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 (Airbus A-300) crashes in the hills 900 mi. NW of Jakarta after the pilot is blinded by haze, killing all 234 aboard. In the fall the Dow Jones Industrial Avg. declines sharply or crashes, repeating every year through 2005, then again in 2007 and 2008. On Oct. 2 the Amsterdam Treaty of the EU repeals the 1965 Brussels Merger Treaty, effective May 1, 1999, with a view to giving more power to the European Parliament and creating a common foreign and security policy. On Oct. 4 U. of Colo. football coach Bill McCartney's Promise Keepers hold a rally in the Nat. Mall in Washington, D.C. titled "Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men", which draws 750K, mostly white males, who beg forgiveness for racial insensitivity, infidelity, spousal abuse, child abandonment, etc., and ask for help from Jesus. On Oct. 16 (Thur.) the New York Times prints its first color front page photo, featuring the ML baseball playoffs; the Washington Post doesn't catch up until Jan. 28, 1999 (Thur.). On Oct. 16 the Space Family Robinson's ship Jupiter II leaves Earth for Alpha Centauri, getting sabotaged by a stowaway scientist and becoming Lost in Space. :) On Oct. 18-26 the Florida Marlins (NL) defeat the Cleveland Indians (AL) 4-3 to win the Ninety-Third (93rd) (1997) World Series. On Oct. 25 the Million Woman March in Philadelphia, Penn. draws 300K-1.5M African-Am. women. In Oct. a $2B contract to explore Iran's South Pars offshore natural gas field is signed by oil cos. Total (French), Gazprom (Russian), and Petronas (Malaysian) in defiance of U.S. sanctions against dealing with Iran. In Oct. the Surface Transportation Board (founded 1995) issues its first emergency order, requiring the Union Pacific RR to share its track with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Texas Mexican Railway in the Houston Gulf Area, ending a gridlock that was costing shippers $100M a mo.; the order is lifted in July 1998. On Nov. 5 top Enron Corp. officials in Houston, Tex. approve a mgt. scheme to avoid U.S. taxes through hundreds of offshore partnerships via loan guarantees to the outside Chewco partnership (named after the "Star Wars" char. Chewbacca), which owns a $383M share in Enron's JEDI limited partnership; the net effect inflates Enron's earnings and hides billions of dollars in debts - can I have a turkey sandwich? coming right up? On Nov. 11 Mary Patricia McAleese (nee Leneghan) (1951-) becomes pres. #8 of Eire (until Nov. 10, 2011), becoming the youngest pres. to enter office (46), and 2nd straight pres. named Mary. On Nov. 12 Denver, Colo. police officer Bruce Vanderjagt (b. 1950) is killed after a break-in at the apt. of Matthaus Jaehnig, the boyfriend of Lisl Auman (1976-), who kills himself; although she is handcuffed in a police car at the time, the powerful Denver Police Dept. gets more than enough justice for itself by getting her charged by the puppet Denver DA and convicted of the class 1 felony of felony murder by a jury of Denver dopes, then sentenced to life without parole by a puppet Denver machine judge; after Hollywood A-list actors and prominent attys. (incl. Hunter S. Thompson) hammer the system for her, it still takes until Mar. 2005 to get her conviction overturned by the Colo. Supreme Court, after which she pleads guilty anyway on July 11 to avoid a retrial and is sentenced to 20 years in prison - I'm kidnapped in Tokyo and am on a Japanese game show? On Nov. 13 Iraq expels U.S. members of the U.N. inspection team mandated to ascertain that Iraq has destroyed all its WMD (weapons of mass destruction: chemical, biological, nuclear, and ballistic arms); the U.S. begins a military buildup in the Persian Gulf. On Nov. 14 14-y.-o. goony-looking Indian-born Jehovah's Witness Reena Virk (b. 1983) is brutally beaten and murdered in Victoria, B.C. by seven teenie females and one male; after their 8-day code of silence is broken and they are arrested and convicted, Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatski are given life sentences for 2nd degree murder. On Nov. 17 (8:45 a.m. local time) the 1997 Luxor Massacre sees six Islamic Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya ("the Islamic Group") and Jihad Talaat al-Fath ("Holy War of the Vanguard of the Conquest") terrorists disguised as security guards open fire with automatic weapons outside the Hatshepsut Temple in Luxor (Deir al-Bahari), Egypt, going on a 45-min. killing spreee, killing 63, incl. 59 foreign tourists (36 Swiss, 10 Japanese, 6 British, 4 German, 1 French, 2 Columbian, and 1 Bulgarian-British), plus three Egyptian police officers and an Egyptian tour guide before they are killed by police; Egyptian pres. Hosni Mubarak slams the U.K. for granting political asylum to Egyptian terrorist leaders, after which the Egyptian tourist industry begins a long slide (until ?), compounded by 9/11, the July 23, 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks, and the 2006 Dahab bombings; Egyptian public opinion begins turning against Islamic terrorists; in 2011 after the Arab Spring, Islamist Labor Party leader Magdy Ahmed Hussein accuses the Jews of being responsible for the massacre, not Muslims. On Nov. 19 Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which First Lady Hillary Clinton played a leading role in advocating. On Nov. 21 South Korea requests aid from the IMF. On Nov. 22 Michael Hutchence (b. 1960), founder and lead singer for "The Devil Inside" rock group INXS (video by Joel Schumacher) commits suicide, leaving brothers Tim, Andrew and Jon Farriss, percussionist Kirk Pengilly and bassist Garry Beers to pick up the pieces, trying and losing New Zealand singer Jon Stevens after two years, then finally finding Canadian-born lead singer J.D. Fortune (Jason Dean Bennison) (1973-) through the 2005 reality TV show Rock Star: INXS. In Nov. Fidel Castro's brother Raul Castro visits China, and expresses interest in their version of free-enterprise socialism - don't ban the tiger, just keep it caged or on a short leash? In Nov. a U.N. report says that 1% of all adults in the world are infected with HIV, 90% of them in developing nations, and 90% unaware of it. In Nov. the Muslim Council of Britain is founded. In Nov. the independent nonprofit org. FairMormon (Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research) is founded to defend Mormonism from online criticism. On Dec. 1 Egyptian atty. Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei (1942-) becomes dir.-gen. #4 of the Internat. Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (until Nov. 30, 2009), receiving the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize and going on to become a foe of the U.S., calling himself a "secular pope" and being accused of pro-Iranian bias. On Dec. 4 Internat. Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People sees Nelson Mandela give a speech, with the soundbyte: "The UN took a strong stand against apartheid, and over the years, an international consensus was built, which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians." On Dec. 6 a Russian AN-124 military transport crashes into an apt. complex after taking off from a weapons factory in Ikurtsk, Siberia, killing 80. On Dec. 11 the Kyoto Protocol is signed by 192 parties incl. all U.N. member states except Andorra, Canada, South Sudan, and the U.S., effective Feb. 16, 2005, extending the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commiting all parties to reduce greenhouse emissions esp. CO2; the Oregon Petition (Global Warming Petition Project), organized by Chicago, Ill.-born biochemist Arthur Brouhard "Art" Robinson (1942-), pres. of the Ore. Inst. of Science and Medicine in Cave Junction, Ore. (founded in 1980) and endorsed by Frederick Seitz (1911-2008), pres. #17 of the U.S. Nat Academy of Sciences in 1962-9 has 31K degreed signatories incl. 39 climatologists, urging the U.S. to reject the Kyoto Protocol, with the soundbytes: "This treaty is, in our opinion, based upon flawed ideas. Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful"; "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth"; "The proposed agreement would have very negative effects upon the technology of nations around the world, especially those that are currently attempting to lift from poverty and provide opportunities to over 4 billion people in technologically undeveloped countries"; "The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind"; the U.S. Congress unanimously agrees with the advice, while the EU continues to back the Kyoto Protocol. On Dec. 15 the Washington Post reveals that U.S. Speaker Newt Gingrich and his 2nd wife Marianne were the target of an FBI sting involving a $10M bribery scandal tied to the Israeli lobby in Washington, D.C. and using the snitching efforts of internat. arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, who was promised help in collecting a $54M debt from Iraq in exchange for the baksheesh; too bad, just before the trap was to be closed, FBI dir. Louis Freeh called the sting off. On Dec. 16 the Seizure Episode of Pokemon is shown on Japanese TV, causing 385 kids to have seizures, blindess or a combo. On Dec. 18 Roman Catholic longtime dissent Kim Dae-jung (Tae-jung) (1925-2009), 1995 founder of the Nat. Congress for New Party Politics is elected pres. of South Korea, replacing scandal-plagued Kim Yong-sam and ending 50 years of 1-party rule with the first-ever opposition leader to be elected. On Dec. 19 SilkAir Flight 185 (Boeing 737-300) en route from Jakarta to Singapore crashes in Sumatra Island, killing all 104 aboard; ethnic Chinese Singaporean Capt. Tsu Way Ming (b. 1956) is suspected of suicide. On Dec. 21-25 Pope John Paul II visits Cuba, which overturns a 1969 law banning Christmas just for him. On Dec. 22 right-wing gunmen raid the Tzotzil Indian village of Acteal in Chiapas, Mexico, killing 45 Tzotzil Indians incl. men, women, and children for sympathizing with the Zapatistas. Speaking of clit, don't show yours in Egypt? On Dec. 28 the Egyptian supreme court upholds a 1996 govt. decree banning govt.-affiliated medical profs. from performing female circumcision (genital mutilation), reversing a 1994 decree giving state hospitals one day a week for it after an 11-y.-o. dies, pissing, er, off Islamic fundamentalists, who claim it is their right to do it to their daughters under Sharia to keep them from sexual activity and/or desire and/or pleasure (which should all be on the man's side?); despite world pressure, which makes some Islamic authorities crack and flop over on their interpretation of the Quran, it takes until June 2007 for the govt. to prohibit it by decree, and until June 9, 2008 for the Egyptian parliament to finally outlaw female circumcision - I'm looking for Mike Hunt? one hour or it's free? if we could just get our hands on Ellen Degeneres? On Dec. 29 Gen. Le Kha Phieu (1931-) succeeds Do Muoi as gen. secy. of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and campaigns against political corruption; Tran Duc Luong (1937-) becomes PM (until 2006) - striving to make the top 20 list of the world's worst dictators? On Dec. 30 (1st day of Ramadan) militants massacre 412 men, women, and children in villages 180 mi. W of Algiers. On Dec. 31 the roller-coaster Dow Jones Industrial Avg. closes at 7908.25, up 22.6% from its 1996 close of 6448.27. In Dec. the unemployment rate in Germany reaches 11.8%, highest since Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, and reaches similar levels in France and other Euro countries, increasing the appeal of off-center parties. In Dec. large numbr of cattle, goats and sheep begin dying in the Garissa District of NE Kenya; next Jan. the biggest outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in E Africa to date begins, killing 100K stock animals and infecting 90K people, killing hundreds in Kenya and four other countries. Cornell-educated Quill & Dagger Society member and former George McGovern campaign worker Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger (1945-) becomes the U.S. nat. security advisor #19 (until 2001). The U.S. War Crimes Act of 1996 makes it a crime for any U.S. national to violate the Geneva Convention by engaging in murder, torture, or inhuman treatment, and applies also to their superiors; the 2006 U.S. Military Commissions Act limits its applicability. The nat. capital of Kazakhstan is moved from Almaty in the SE (pop. 1.25M) (the largest city) to Astana (pr. as-ta-NA) (Kazahk "capital city") (pop. 600K) (formerly Aqmola or Akmolinsk, founds 1824, Kazakh for white tombstone, used by Stalin for his gulag called Camp for Wives of Traitors of the Motherland) in NC Kazakhstan; the expensive move is made to better control the large Russian pop. up north; the 105m-tall Bayterek Monument symbolizes the bird Samruk, which laid its egg in the crevice between two branches of a popar tree; the alt. of the deck is 97m, symbolizing the year 1997; locals call it "Chupa Chups" for a popular lollipop. The U.S. Nat. Defense Authorization Act is passed, along with the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, prohibiting the dissemination by the U.S. govt. of zoomed-in images of Israel. Chicago-born U.S. gen. Wesley Kanne Clark Sr. (1944-) (West Point valedictorian and Rhodes Scholar) is appointed SAC (Supreme Allied Cmdr. Europe) of NATO (until 2000). Gustavo De La Vina (1939-2007) becomes the first Mexican-Am. U.S. Border Patrol chief (until 2004), going on to create the Border Safety Initiative to warn would-be illegal immigrants of the dangers of border crossings. Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Adoption Promotion Act with his left hand in front of smiling adoptive parents and adopted kids; Pres. George W. Bush signs a new version on Dec. 2, 2003. The U.S. $1 Coin Act is passed, authorizing new dollar coins to replace the dud Susan B. Anthony dollars (which are confused with quarters), with the replacements to have a gold color and a smooth outside edge like a nickel; the U.S. Mint picks Lewis and Clark expedition guide Sacagawea (Sacajawea) (Sakakawea) (1790-1812) ("bird woman", "boat launcher/puller"), calling her "A woman of exemplary physical courage and stamina"; too bad, after it's released in 2000 it also proves a dud. Hwang Jang-yop (1923-2010) becomes the highest-ranking North Korean defector, whom the Washington Post compares to "Joseph Goebbels defecting from Nazi Germany". The Am. Medical Assoc. (AMA) officially supports the right of doctors to freely discuss marijuana as a possible therapy. The Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) computer system goes online in the U.S., with the motto "Process loans not paperwork", saving financial firms money by keeping them from having to file mortgage documents and pay fees each time a loan changes hands; too bad, the co. doesn't actually own mortgages, causing judges to begin questioning their right to foreclose on homes. Britain's Prince Philip offends German Chancellor Helmut Kohl by addressing him as "Reichskanzler", a title last used by Adolf Hitler. Pres. Clinton visits the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Manila, Philippines, and narrowly misses driving over a bridge with a bomb planted by Osama bin Laden, who is later interviewed by journalist Robert Fisk, and utters the soundbyte: "I pray to Allah that he permits us to turn America into a shadow of itself." The Al Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve is established by Lebanon to save their fabled cedars. The perhaps crypto-gay-friendly Teletubbies show for preschool kids debuts on BBC-TV; they speak in the voices of toddlers and show video clips on their TV tummies: purse-toting Tinky Winky (purple), Dipsy (green), Po (red), Laa Laa (yellow); Dipsy and Laa Laa are black, Tinky Winky and Po are white; Rev. Jerry Falwell stinks himself up by claiming that Tinky Winky is a gay role model and morally damaging to children, which finds supporters; May 26, 2007 Ewa Sowinska (1944-), Poland's watchdog for children's rights asks for psychologists to investigate whether the char. is gay because it carries a purse, drawing the PC Police in, after which she er, drops it. Iraqi-born pro-Palestinian Action Committee on Am.-Arab Relations founder Mohammad Taki Mehdi (1928-98), known for backing the actions of RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan wins a lawsuit to have a Muslim star and crescent mounted on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City alongside the cross and menorah - abracadra, I wanna reach out and grab ya? Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007) is honored by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most translated author in the world. Lilith Fair, an all-female charity concert tour is founded by Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan (1968-), raising $7M from 1997-9; in 1998 R&B singer India.Arie Simpson (1975-) makes a splash there. Hellcat Records is founded in Los Angeles, Calif. as an offshoot of Epitaph Records to distribute punk, ska and hardcore records, going on to sign Dropkick Murphys. The Runnymede Trust in Britain pub. Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All, which coins the word "Islamophobia" to describe Westerners who are fearful of Muslims moving in; "Unfounds hostility towards Muslims, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims"; Ayatollah Khomeini already coined the term? - you're not paranoid if they really are out to get you? A woman who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic is dug out of the frozen tundra in the Eskimo village of Brevig Mission on the Seward Peninsula in order to obtain a sample of the virus for scientific analysis. French superstar actress Brigitte Bardot (1934-) is fined by a French court for "inciting racial hatred" for speaking out about the rise of Islam and the growing number of mosques in France; she gets convicted three more times by 2008. Rosa Parks wins a lifetime achievement award from the Am. Transportation Assoc. Elizabeth Taylor (who divorced Larry Fortensky in 1996) has a benign brain tumor removed - that caused her to marry anybody who asked her? Shaykh 'Abd al-Wahid Pallavicini of Italy, who converted to Islam in 1951 founds the Associazione Internazionale per l'Informazione sull'Islam, which becomes CO.RE.IS. Italiana in 1997, reaching 50K members by 2010. Speaking of closed fists, a CIA training manual titled Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual 1983 is declassified by U.S. Dept. of Justice after a request by the Baltimore Sun under the FOIA, showing that physical and psychological torture were used by the U.S. govt. Great Britain imports over 150,538 tons of tea this year (#1 importer). The Elijah Interface Inst. in Jerusalem is founded by Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein (1956-) to promote interfaith dialogue by bringing together world religious leaders and scholars. The European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) is founded on Mar. 29 in London to issue fatwas for Euro Muslims, moving its HQ to Dublin; the Web site Islam Online is founded on June 24 in Cairo, Egypt by Qatar-based Egyptian Muslim theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi (1926-), spiritual leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and head of ECFR, whose Al Jazeera program "Sharia and Life" reaches an audience of 60M, becoming known for employing secular Muslims and non-Muslims and taking a moderate tone; in Mar. 2010 the employees walk out after getting tired of the moderate tone. The Islamic Human Rights Commission is founded in London, obtaining consultative status at the U.N. in 2007. Spartacus Educational is founded by John Simkin, becoming the first educational publisher in the U.S. with a free educational Web site. Sacramento, Calif. stages the first annual Peep Off for Peepaholics, addicts to Marshmallow Peeps, those handmade baby chicks made by Just Born in Bethlehem, Penn. since the 1950s; over 1B are made each year. The Project for the New Am. Century (PNAC) think tank in Washington, D.C. is founded (until 2006) by neocons William "Bill" Kristol (1952-) and Robert Kagan (1958-) "to make the case and rally support for American global leadership", embracing America's "benevolent hegemony" and fight isolationism, with members incl. Dick Cheney, Steve Forbes, Dan Quayle, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Norman Podhoretz, and Robert Zoelleck, influencing the military and foreign policies of the Clinton and George W. Bush admins., starting with an open letter to Pres. Clinton on Jan. 16, 1998 urging him to remove Saddam Hussein of Iraq from power using all means incl. military, and an article in Foreign Affairs titled "Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy"; they are later blamed for 9/11 by 911 Truthers because of the 2000 policy paper Rebuilding America's Defenses, which calls for a "new Pearl Harbor"; in 2009 they found the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI). The center-right newspaper Il Foglio (Ital. "the sheet") is founded in Italy by ex-Communist Giuliano Ferrara (1952-), former ed. of "Panorama" (until ?); a significant percentage is owned by Veronica Lario, wife of Silvio Berlusconi. The circular reading room of the British Museum (founded 1857) closes, and the museum moves to the St. Pancras area of London. The World Council of Churches holds a summit in Aleppo, Syria to find a common method for computing the date of Easter, defining it as the first Sun. after the first astronomical full Moon following the astronomical vernal equinox as determined from the meridian of Jerusalem; originally set to be adopted in 2001, it is not adopted until ?. The Japan Assoc. for Evolutionary Economics is founded; in Nov. 2004 it begins pub. Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review. The Hunter's Hope Foundation is founded by Buffalo Bills QB Jim Kelly and his wife Jill to find a cure for Krabbe Leukodystrophy after their 8-y.-o. son Hunter dies of it in 2005. The Museum of Hoaxes in San Diego, Calif. is founded by Alex Boese (pr. like Berza). Soviet ex-PM Mikhail Gorbachev appears in a Pizza Hut commercial. Late Night with Conan O'Brien begins the recurring sketch In the Year 2000, predicting future events "all the way to the year 2000"; it gets better when it is continued after the year 2000 arrives. Aspartame-based NutraSweet artificial sweetener is introduced in the U.S. After her gay brother Gianni Versace is murdered on July 15, Donatella Versace (1955-) becomes head designer of the Versace Group. Architecture: On Apr. 18 the 7-story 250K sq. ft. Newseum at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in Washington, D.C. opens as a shrine to journalism and the U.S. First Amendment, attracting 815K visitors/year, losing money despite high admission fees; on Jan. 25, 2019 Johns Hopkins U. announces plans to buy it for $372.5M for graduate programs. On Apr. 27 the $2B 2-tier Tsing Ma Suspension Bridge opens, linking Hong Kong with its new airport, becoming the world's longest highway-rail span suspension bridge; 1 week earlier saboteurs cut it in 32 places, but they get around that problem; Chinese officials just can't wait to take it over? On May 2 the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial next to the Tidal Basin in in Washington, D.C., designed by Am. modernist architect Lawrence Halprin (1916-) et al. is dedicated, becoming the first U.S. pres. monument since the 1943 Jefferson Memorial; his paralysis is concealed, pissing-off disability rights advocates, so on Jan. 2000 a bronze statue of FDR in a wheelchair is added. On July 17 the George O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M., founded by philanthropists by Anne Windfohr Marion and John L. Marion, and designed by architect Richard Gluckman (known for the Andy Warhol Museum and the Whitney Museum of Am. Art) opens. On Oct. 18 the futuristic $100M Guggenheim Museum Bilbao on the Nervion River in Abando, Bilbao, Spain, designed by Frank O. Gehry opens, creating the Bilbao Effect, the belief that a museum bldg. is as important as the collection it holds. In Nov. the $1B Miho Museum near Kyoto, Japan, designed by I.M. Pei and Tim Culbert opens, housing 1K ancient and Near Eastern artworks owned by the Shinji Shumeikai religious order. On Dec. 16 the $1.3B J. Paul Getty Center (The Getty), overlooking the San Diego Freeway on Sepulveda Blvd. in Brentwood, Los Angeles, Calif., designed by Richard Meier (1934-) and Michael James Palladino opens, housing works created on or before 1900. In Dec. the Saudi royal family builds a massive white mosque at the foot of Gibraltar in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar - a proclamation of the coming Reconquista? The $254M Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, Queens, N.Y. opens, replacing Louis Armstrong Stadium as the primary venue for the U.S. Open tennis tournament, becoming the largest tennis stadium on Earth (cap. 23,771); the other stadium in Queens, Shea Stadium, is a permutation? Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Tex. opens, hosting the Lone Star Million Day each Memorial Day, with six stakes races offering a total of $1M. The $38.4M Charles H. Wright Museum of African History in Detroit, Mich. opens, based on the private collection of physician Charles H. Wright (1918-), who started it in 1965. The IRS HQ in New Carrollton, Md. is built; in front stands Vox Populi (voice of the people), two black-white marble pillars topped with white hands, giving conspiracy theorists mucho cannon fodder. Sports: On Jan. 28 6'6" Philly-born Kobe Bean "Black Mamba" "KB24" Bryant (1978-) (#8) becomes the youngest player (18 years, 158 days old) to start an NBA basketball game as he plays for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Dallas Mavericks; at the start of the 2006-7 season he changes his jersey number from 8 to his h.s number of 24. On Feb. 2 U. of Neb. sophomore Jeremy Sonnenfeld (1976-) bowls the first sanctioned perfect triplicate (three straight 300-point bowling games) at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln, Neb., becoming known as "Mr. 900". On Feb. 9 the NBA announces its 50 Greatest NBA Players of All Time. On Feb. 16 the 1997 (39th) Daytona 500 is won by #24 Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon (1971-). In spring the annual USA Memory Championship in New York City is founded by Tony Dottino and Marshall Tarley. On Apr. 13 (Sun.) Eldrick "Tiger" Woods (1975-) hugs his dad (who just suffered a heart attack) after winning his first major prof. golf title, the Masters by 12 strokes and a record low score of 270, the widest margin of victory in history, becoming the first non-white and youngest golfer to win the Masters, achieving #1 ranking in his 42nd week as a golf pro, already being the first player to win three consecutive U.S. amateur titles (1994-6); he doesn't win the Masters again until 2001, and his score creeps up to 272; too bad, white golfer Frank Urban "Fuzzy" Zoeller Jr. (1951-) (who won his first Masters in 1979, but comes in 35th this time) makes joking remarks about him, saying "Tell him not to serve fried chicken next year", offending Woods and the growing PC police, after which he apologizes. On May 25-27 the rainy 1997 (81st) Indianapolis 500 is won by Arie Luyendyk of Netherlands after a messy 199th lap caused by official goofups. On May 31-June 7 the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals see the Detroit Red Wings defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0, becoming their 8th win, and first since 1955, also becoming the last team to win without having home ice advantage and with less than 100 points earned during the regular season until 2009; MVP is Wings goaltender (#29) Michael "Mike" Vernon (1963-). In May a rematch between world chess champ Garry Kasparov (1963-) and IBM's Deep Blue chess-playing computer results in a win for the computer; Kasparov beat it only a year earlier. On June 1-13 the 1997 NBA Finals sees the Chicago Bulls (coach Phil Jackson) defeat the Utah Jazz (coach Jerry Sloan) by 4-2; Michael Jordan is MVP for the 5th straight time. On June 7 (Sat.) Silver Charm falls three-quarters of a length short of winning the Belmont Stakes and sweeping the Triple Crown, losing to Touch Gold. On June 22 the first Auto Club 400 in Fontana, Calif. is won by Jeff Gordon; in 2010 it is changed from 500 mi. to 400 mi.; in 2005 it is moved to Feb., and in 2011 to Mar. On June 25 the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team is founded in Columbus, Ohio, playing their home games at $175M Nationwide Arena (opened Sept. 9, 2000); on On Oct. 7, 2000 they play their first game as an NHL expansion team, becoming the city's first major league franchise since 1938 (the Columbus Athletic Supply of the Nat. Basketball League, later NBA). On June 25 the Minnesota Wild NHL team in St. Paul, Minn. is founded, playing their home games at the $170M Excel Energy Center AKA The X (opened Sept. 29, 2000). On June 25 after the New Jersey Devils turn down a $20M relocation bonus, the Nashville Predators NHL team is founded in Nashville, Tenn., playing their home games at the new $144M Bridgestone Arena (opened Dec. 18, 1996); in 1999 it becomes the Gaylord Entertainment Center; in 2007 it becomes the Sommet Center; in 2010 it becomes the Bridgestone Arena; on Sept. 25 they adopt a saber-toothed cat (Smilodon) logo after the first skeleton E of the Mississippi River was discovered in 1971 during the construction of the First Am. Nat. Bank in downtown Nashville, Tenn. by Willow Springs, Mo.-born anthropologist Robert Bruce "Bob" Ferguson Sr. (1927-2001), Nashville record exec and composer of the song "On the Wings of a Dove". On June 28 (Sat.) Mike Tyson bites off the tip of Evander Holyfield's ear in round 3 of the Pay-Per-Chew pay-per-view heavyweight title bout (originally titled "The Sound and the Fury"), losing the match and stinking up his rep., ending his caveman-wolfman-vampire career with one bout, er, bite. On July 10 Skaneateles, N.Y.-born Michelle Feldman (1976-) becomes the first woman to roll a 300 perfect game on nat. TV as she defeats Carolyn Dorin-Ballard 300-183 at the PWBA Southern Virginia Open in Danville, Va. On Oct. 21 basketball superstar Michael Jordan signs a 5-year contract with AMF Bowling Worldwide to endorse their bowling centers. On Nov. 7 the Sacramento Kings' record 497 straight sellout streak ends. Charles Cameron Woodson (1976-) of the U. of Mich. becomes the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy (until ?); U. of Tenn. QB Peyton Williams Manning (1976-) is passed over, but is chosen #1 in the 1998 NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts over Washington State U. Ryan David Leaf (1976-), who goes to the San Diego Chargers with a 4-year $31.25M contract and rookie record $11.25M signing bonus, only to become known as the "No. 1 draft bust in NFL history" after he is let go in 2000 after just four wins as a starter in three seasons; Woodson goes on to play for the Oakland Raiders (#24) in 1998-2005 and 2013-?, finally intercepting Manning in a home game against the Denver Broncos on Oct. 11, 2015. Carmichael, Calif.-born John Patrick Daly (1966-) becomes the first PGA Tour player to average 300+ yards per drive over a full season, repeating every year from 1999-2008, and becoming the only player to do it until 2003, earning the nickname "Long John". Am. cyclist Lance Armstrong (b. 1971) recovers from testicular cancer and gets a new sponsor, USPS, the experience giving him iron balls and will? The San Diego Padres purchase the contract of Japanese pitcher ("the Japanese Nolan Ryan") Hideki Irabu (1969-2011) from the Chiba Lotte Marines, causing a posting system to be created; Irabu refuses to go to the Padres and is traded to the New York Yankees, winning two World Series, while George Steinbrenner calls him "a fat pussy toad" when he fails to cover 1st base on a ground ball during a spring training game, causing him to be traded to the Montreal Expos in 1999, after which his career tanks; in 2011 he commits suicide after being unable to get over Steinbrenner's insult? The Internat. Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame is established in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ont., Canada, with the first crop of 30 (mainly from outside North Am.) inducted at the world championships in Helsinki, Finland; the Paul Loicq Award is established to a person who has made "outstanding contributions to the IIHF and international ice hockey". The Nat. Women's Basketball League (NWBL) is founded in the U.S to play games during the WNBA off-season starting in fall; it folds in 2007. Nobel Prizes: Peace: Jody Williams (1950-) (U.S.) and Internat. Coalition to Ban Landmines; Lit.: Dario Fo (1926-) (Italy); Physics: Steven Chu (1948-) (U.S.), William Daniel Phillips (1948-) (U.S.), and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (1933-) (France) [laser cooling]; Chem.: Paul Delos Boyer (1918-) (U.S.), Jens Christian Skou (1918-) (Denmark) and Sir John Ernest Walker (1941-) (U.K.) [cell energy storage-transfer]; Medicine: Stanley Benjamin Prusiner (1942-) (U.S.) [prions]; Econ.: Robert Carhart Merton (1944-) and Myron Samuel Scholes (1941-) (U.S.) [stock option values]. Inventions: In Apr. Ask Jeeves (Ask.com) search engine is founded in Berkeley, Calif. by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen (1957-); in Mar. 2005 it is acquired by IAC for $1.85B. On May 7 the U.S. FDA approves the $45K Centauri painless laser drill for hard-tissue dental procedures incl. filling cavities. On May 17 the McDonnell Douglas X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft makes its first flight, followed by 30 more; too bad, after merging with Boeing in Aug., the project goes poof. On May 20 after a 10-year 32K-woman study, researchers at Harvard U. report that 2nd-hand tobacco smoke nearly doubles the risk of heart disease among women who have never smoked, and claim it also applies to men. On July 4 NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft lands on Mars, searching for guess what, and its mobile rover Sojourner beams back color photos to JPL in Pasadena, Calif.; too bad, it goes silent after 83 days, and on Oct. 15 the nuclear-powered Cassini probe is launched for Saturn on a 7-year voyage. On Aug. 29 Netflix streaming media Web site is founded in Scotts Valley, Calif. by Marc Bernays Randolph (1958-) and Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr. (1960-), starting out as a DVD-by-mail service, introducing a monthly subscription option in Sept. 1999 before switching to a flat-fee unlimited rental service in early 2000, going public on May 29, 2002 and earning its first profit in fiscal year 2003, $6.5M on $272M revenues, offering 35K different films and shipping 1M DVDs/day in 2005, going into streaming in 2007 and growing to 50M subscribes in Apr. in 2014 and 100M subscribers in Apr. 2015. In Aug. Sony introduces the $665 digital Mavica camera, which stores images on a standard PC floppy disk. On Sept. 7 the $150M twin-engine all-weather Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth tactical fighter makes its first flight, becoming the #1 fighter of the USAF after it is introduced on Dec. 15, 2005; too bad, because of the high cost, only 187 are produced by 2012. On Sept. 17 Intel Corp. announces a breakthrough doubling the amount of memory a computer chip can hold. Progressive Insurance becomes the first co. to permit purchase of auto insurance online. German physicist Wolfgang Ketterle (1957-) invents the atom laser, pulses of coherent matter rather than light, produced by two overlapping Bose-Einstein condensates, which behaves like a wave. Panasonic introduces interactive TV, then shuts it down after the market doesn't pan out, but continues developing it. The Intel Janus ASCI Red supercomputer at Sandia Nat. Labs in Albuquerque, N.M. becomes the first computer to perform 1T operations per sec. (1 teraflop). Toyota introduces the Prius hybrid "eco-car", that runs on both gasoline and electric batteries; 30K are sold by the end of 1999; meanwhile Daimler Benz and Toyota introduce prototype fuel-cell cars. Science: In Feb. the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) by Warner-Lambert is introduced, soon becoming the #1-selling statin drug. In Feb. the U.S. FDA declares the emergency contraception Morning-After Pill to be safe and effective; on Aug. 24, 2006 it okays over-the-counter sale of Plan B for those age 18 or older - the summer's next big splash is here? Didn't the dolly llama beat them to it by 645 years (1351)? On Feb. 22 English embryologist Sir Ian Wilmut (1944-) et al. of the Roslin Inst. at the U. of Edinburgh in Scotland announce the cloning of an adult mammal, a Finn Dorset lamb named Dolly the Sheep (1996-2003) last July 5, becoming the first mammal to be cloned, named after Nashville singer Dolly Parton because it was cloned from a cell from an adult ewe's mammary gland (really named after singer Dolly Parton for her bodacious tatas?); it later is put down after a short life marred by premature aging and disease, and when Wilmut reveals that the success rate is 1 in 40 tries, skeptics point out that the whole thing could be a false result; meanwhile on Aug. 7 a Wisc. cattle breeder announces the cloning of a calf in Feb. from stem cells removed from a cow fetus; meanwhile Wilmut also clones two ewes named Polly and Molly the Sheep (1997-) from a fetal cell that has the human blood clotting factor IX inserted; meanwhile researchers at the Univ. of Bath in England create headless tadpoles, adding to the controversy and stirring fears of coming organ factories - I reckon you ain't from these parts? On July 2 the Nat. Cancer Inst. releases a study indicating that the magnetic fields of electric power lines don't produce leukemia in children. After being introduced for the treatment of prostate enlargement in 1992, the FDA approves Finasteride (brand names Propecia, Proscar) for preventing male scalp hair loss. UCLA neurosurgeon Itzhak Fried pub. a paper describing Syndrome E (Evil) that transforms people into repetitive killers after a "cognitive fracture" when the prefrontal cortex begins ignoring signals from more primitive brain regions. Physicists in Austria and Rome, Italy demonstrate quantum teleportation, teleported photons that are quantum-mechanically entangled via the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Effect, so that measuring the exact quantum state of one instantly determines the state of the other regardless of how far away - the Twilight Zone is coming? On June 7 WinNuke, a Windows 95/NT/3.1x denial of service program that causes the "Blue Screen of Death" to appear on a locked-up PC starts out as Microsoft C source code pub. by computer user "_eci". On July 11 Cell mag. pub. a study by Swedish-born Svante Paabo (Pääbo) (1955-) et al. of the U. of Munich, reporting that DNA tests on a Neanderthal skeleton reveal a genetic makeup quite different from Homo sapiens, suggesting no interbreeding and an earlier evolutionary split than suspected. On Aug. 25 NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) is launched to study the solar wind. On Dec. 17 Am. blogger Jorn Barger (1953-) coins the term "weblog" - should be the webjornbarger? Antisense Oligodeoxynucleotide Therapy is developed to use antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to target mRNA and alter its expressions through a variety of mechanisms. The Quitsato (Middle of the World) Project, led by Cristobal Cobo discovers the first ancient astronomical ruins on Mount Catequilla N of Quito, Ecuador. Argentine physicist Juan Martin Maldacena (1968-) proposes that 10-dim. String Theory is actually a Hologram in a 1-dim. flat Universe with no gravity; in 2013 it is computationally verified. Astronomers observe a black hole in NGC 4486B, a small elliptical satellite galaxy of M87, and speculation that the core of the Milky Way galaxy is a black hole becomes rampant - therefore we all owe everything to a black hole? The Nat. Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab is begun; it is completed in May, 2009, and in Jan. 2010 it makes a breakthrough, smashing the record for the highest energy from a laser by a factor of 20. Am. physician Steven Bratman proposes the term "Orthorexia nervosa" for people preoccupied with healthy eating. Nonfiction: Diane Ackerman, A Slender Thread; working on a crisis intervention hotline. Francesco Alberoni (1929-), First Love. Eliseo Alberto (1951-2011), Dossier Against Myself (autobio.). Christopher Peter Andersen (1949-), Jack and Jackie: Portrait of an American Marriage. Darryl Anka (1951-), Quest for Truth: 100 Insights That Could Change Your Life. Timothy Garton Ash (1955-), The File: A Personal History (autobio.). Paul Benjamin Auster (1947-), Hand to Mouth (autobio.). Albert Bandura (1961-), Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control. Frank Bank (1942-2013), Call Me Lumpy: My Leave It To Beaver Days and Other Wild Hollywood Life (autobio.). Ian Graeme Barbour (1923-), Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues. Bruce Bawer, Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity. Michael R. Beschloss (1955-), Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964; he wanted them to be sealed until 2023; followed by "Reaching for Glory" (2001). Peter Ludwig Berger (1929-), Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience. Pierre Berton (1920-2004), 1967: The Last Good Year; for a Canadian, that is. Stephen Birmingham (1932-), The Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite. H.G. Bissinger (1954-), A Prayer for the City (Dec. 15); Philly mayor (1992-9) Ed Rendell (1944-). William Bloom (1948-), First Steps: An Introduction to Spiritual Practice (Sept.); Psychic Protection: Creating Positive Energies For People And Places (Dec. 18). Marcus Borg (1942-) (ed.), Will the Real Jesus Stand Up? A Debate Between William Lane Craig and John Dominic Crossan; Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings. Douglas Brinkley (1960-) and Townsend Hoopes (1922-2004), FDR and the Creation of the U.N.; The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-67. Tom Brown Jr. (1950-), The Way of the Scout: A Native American Path to Finding Spiritual Meaning in a Physical World. Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928-), The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives; "Ever since the continents started interacting politically, some five hundred years ago, Eurasia has been the center of world power"; "It is imperative that no Eurasian challenger emerges capable of dominating Eurasia and thus of also challenging America. The formulation of a comprehensive and integrated Eurasian geostrategy is therefore the purpose of this book"; "The momentum of Asia's economic development is already generating massive pressures for the exploration and exploitation of new sources of energy and the Central Asian region and the Caspian Sea basin are known to contain reserves of natural gas and oil that dwarf those of Kuwait, the Gulf of Mexico, or the North Sea"; "In the long run, global politics are bound to become increasingly uncongenial to the concentration of hegemonic power in the hands of a single state. Hence, America is not only the first, as well as the only, truly global superpower, but it is also likely to be the very last." Frederick Buechner (1926-), On the Road with the Archangel. David Brock (1962-), The Seduction of Hillary Rodham; written after Cliff Jackson pays him $5K to travel to Ark. to do research; "Some parts were surprisingly sympathetic to its subject, not that the book could be interpreted as friendly. Rather, it was the product of some impressive fact-digging, its narrative swathed in a historical dialectic that emphasized the long ideological struggle of left and right in the Cold War years in America, and tried too hard to place many of Hillary's actions in a context of leftist radicalism" (Carl Bernstein); "Hillary's direct and sometimes chilly demeanor - her high school classmates named her 'Sister Fridgaire,' predicting a future as a nun - may have reflected that of her father"; "As difficult as it may be for the general public to fathom, Arkansas political culture has a rich history of personal intrigue in which wild sex stories do feature prominently... Sit in the Capitol Bar, in downtown Little Rock, for a few nights, and you can be told that virtually every prominent public figure in the state is a rapacious womanizer and also gay - including Clinton. Even Hillary Clinton was not spared this treatment: one can hear that she was having an affair with Vince Foster and also that she is a lesbian, often from the same lascivious gossips." Laurie Cabot (1933-), The Witch in Every Woman: Reawakening the Magical Nature of the Feminine to Heal, Protect, Create, and Empower. Norman F. Cantor (1929-2004), The American Century: Varieties of Culture in Modern Times. Fritjof Capra (1939-), The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems; claims that all living systems are characterized by internal feedback loops and self-organizing behaviors, and are "network patterns" whose components continually transform one another. Angela Carter (1940-92), Shaking a Leg: Collected Journalism and Writing. Gerald Celente (1946-), Trends 2000: How to Prepare For and Profit From the Changes of the 21st Century; predicts picturephones et al. Iris Chang (1968-2004), Nanking Massacre: The Rape of Nanking. Bruce Chatwin (1940-89), Anatomy of Restlessness (posth.). Phyllis Chesler (1940-), Letters to a Young Feminist. Marcia Clark (with Teresa Carpenter), Without a Doubt - it doesn't matter who's wrong or right, just beat it? Andrei Codrescu (1946-), The Dog With the Chip in His Neck: Essays from NPR & Elsewhere. Robert Coles (1929-), The Moral Intelligence of Children. David Cope (1941-), Techniques of the Contemporary Composer. William Dalrymple (1965-), From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium. Susan G. Davis, Spectacular Nature: Corporate Culture and the Sea World Experience. Cyril Demarne (1905-2007), The East End Then and Now. David Deutsch, The Fabric of Reality; the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Physics, upon which his quantum computer is based. Jared Mason Diamond (1937-), Why is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality; attempts to explain the super-complicated issue in terms of Darwin's theory of you know what; Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Pulitzer Prize); the root causes of Eurasian dominance just can't be innate genetic or moral superiority, right, so it's the fact that the Middle East domesticated more types of animals, and that the Eurasian landmass is laid out from E-W rather N-S like America? Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code; bestseller; inspired by the Great Rabbi's Experiment; extraterrestrials leave a code in the Bible that predicts the assassination of JFK and the End of Days in 2012? Dinesh D'Souza (1961-), Ronald Reagan: How An Ordinary Man Became An Extraordinary Leader. Kirk Douglas (1916-), My Stroke of Luck; his 1996 stroke. Barbara Ehrenreich (1941-), Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War. Joseph John Ellis (1943-), American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson; "I have concluded that the likelihood of a liaison with Sally Hemings is remote"; too bad, after an article in the Nov. 1998 Nature by Eugene Foster et al. reveals conclusive DNA tests proving a link between Jefferson and Eston Hemings, he flops and admits that "this new evidence constitutes, well, evidence beyond any reasonable doubt that Jefferson had a longstanding sexual relationship with Sally Hemings", causing the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in Monticello to finally announce in 2000 that it accepts that TJ liked black sugar, although some historians continue to hold out. Joseph Epstein (1937-), Life Sentences: Literary Essays. Richard J. Evans (1947-), In Defence of History; takes on Philippe Aries (1914-84), pointing out that kids were dressed in adult clothes to have their portraits painted, and not the rest of the time. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (1957-), The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories (Nov. 25); claims that the Oklahoma City bombing was an FBI sting operation that went horribly wrong, that ATF agents were warned against reporting to work in the Murrah Bldg. the morning of the attack, and that the Justice Dept. ran a coverup. Anne Fadiman (1953-), The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down; a Hmong family in the U.S. Joseph Patrick Farrell, God, History, and Dialectic: The Theological Foundations of the Two Europes and Their Cultural Consequences. Niall Ferguson (1964-) (ed.), Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals. Thomas Frank (1965-), The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism; ever since the VW Beetle ads, advertisers knew to appeal to the consumers' desire to be different? Erich Fromm (1900-80), On Being Human (posth.). Raymond-Jean Frontain, Reclaiming the Sacred: The Bible in Gay and Lesbian Culture - God made them male and female but didn't say who could pair up with whom? Mark Fuhrman (1952-), Murder in Brentwood. John Lewis Gaddis (1941-), We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History. Oded Galor (1956-) and David N. Weil, From Malthusian Stagnation to Modern Growth; founds Unified Growth Theory to explain the transition from Malthusian stagnation to sustained economic growth. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950-), Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man. Linda Gear, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature. Sir Martin Gilbert (1936-2015), A History of the Twentieth Century (3 vols.) (1997-9). Ekaterina Gordeeva (1971-) (with E.M. Swift), My Sergei: A Love Story (Oct. 1); Sergei Grinkov, whom she married in 1991 then died of a sudden heart attack in 1995 while rehearsing with her. Annette Gordon-Reed (1958-), Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy (first book); reexamines the evidence and concludes that they hooked up, pissing-off the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in Monticello, which holds out. Vivian Gornick, The End of the Novel of Love. Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbirtrary Countdown; evolutionary biologist tries to defuse Millennium Fever with reason and logic; a very slim volume, hehe. Katharine Graham (1917-2001), Personal History (Pulitzer Prize). Stuart Grayson (1923-2001), Spiritual Healing: A Simple Guide for the Healing of Body, Mind, and Spirit. Mary W. Green, Wives of the Signers (May 10). Emily Grosholz (ed.), Telling the Barn Swallow: Poets on the Poetry of Maxine Kumin. Susan Haack (1945-), Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate: Unfashionable Essays; defends science based on logic and evidence, breaking with feminists for overriding logic with political correctness. Donna Haraway (1944-), Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium.FemaleMan@Meets_OncoMouse(tm): Feminism and Technoscience. Willis Harman (1918-97) and Maya Porter, New Business of Business: Taking Responsibility for a Positive Global Future. Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye; promotes chastity and eschews dating and premarital sex, becoming a hit with Christian fundamentalists; in 2018 Harris writes the soundbyte on his Web site: "While I stand by my book's call to sincerely love others, my thinking has changed significantly in the past 20 years. I no longer agree with its central idea that dating should be avoided... In light of the flaws I now see in 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye,' I think it's best to discontinue its publication." Robert L. Heilbroner (1919-2005) and Alan Singer, The Economic Transformation of America Since 1865. Carolyn Heilbrun (1926-2003), The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty; she commits suicide in 2003 after feeling that her life has been completed? Seymour Myron Hersh (1937-), The Dark Side of Camelot. Damon Hill (1960-), Damon Hill - My Championship Year. Philip Hoare (1958-), The Sayings of Noel Coward; Wilde's Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy and the First World War. John Hollander (1929-), The Works of Poetry. John Hollander (1929-) and Anthony Hecht (1923-2004), Jiggery-Pokery: A Compendium of Double Dactyls. David Joel Horowitz (1939-), The Race Card: White Guilt, Black Resentment, and the Assault on Truth and Justice; Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey (autobio.); how he overcame his Commie parents and went from "red-diaper baby" to neocon; "the first great autobiography of his generation" (George Gilder). Monika Jensen-Stevenson, Spite House: The Last Secret of the War in Vietnam; alleged U.S. Marine defector Bobby Garwood (1946-). Sebastian Junger (1962-), The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea; the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter and the Andrea Gail. Stanley Abram Karnow (1925-2013), Paris in the Fifties (autobio.). Efraim Karsh (1953-), Fabricating Israeli History: The "New Historians"; 2nd ed. 2000; attacks the New Historians, led by Benny Morris, who try to reverse the Zionist narrative of the basic goodness of the Jewish state of Israel, trying to portray it as a bunch of Nazis who are oppressing the so-called Palestinian people, Mollie Katzen (1950-), Vegetable Heaven (Oct. 6); Sunlight Cafe. Alfred Kazin (1915-98), God and the American Writer. Kitty Kelley (1942-), The Royals; how the Windsor family of England tried to hide its German roots. David I. Kertzer (1948-), The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (May 6). Rashid Khalidi (1948-), Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness; claims that although there never was an Arab state of Palestine before the creation of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948, they had formed a national consciousness before that because of the Zionist movement - circular reasoning? Jamaica Kincaid (1949-), My Brother; died of AIDS in Antigua in 1996. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki (1955-) and John Hardman Moore (1954-), Credit Cycles; proposes the Kiyotaki-Moore Model of Credit Cycles, where small perturbations to the economy can be amplified into large output fluctuations via the interaction between real estate prices and credit availability. Jon Krakauer (1954-), Into Thin Air; 1996 Mt. Everest tragedy. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926-2004), The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Death and Dying. Mark Kurlansky (1952-), Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World - because we do business with a great big world and no other fish is so widely accepted? Stanley I. Kutler, Abuse of Power: The New Nixon Tapes (Nov.). Gavin Lambert (1924-2005), Nazimova: A Biography; lesbian actress Alla Nazimova ()1879-1945. Ann Landers (1918-2002), The Best of Ann Landers. Walter Laqueur, A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel. Edward John Larson (1953-), Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion (Pulitzer Prize). Christopher Lasch (1932-94), Women and the Common Life: Live, Marriage and Feminism (posth.). Gayle Lemke, The Art of the Fillmore: The Poster Series 1966-1971. Jay Leno (1950-), Leading With My Chin (Sept. 10). Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), The Future of the Middle East. Michael Lewis (1960-), Trail Fever. Graham Lord (1943-), James Herriot: The Life of a Country Vet. John Lukacs (1924-), The Hitler of History. Jay Anthony Lukas (1933-97), Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America (posth.); the 1905 assassination of former Idaho gov. frank Steunenberg. Peter Maas (1929-2001), Underboss. Irshad Manji (1968-), Risking Utopia: On the Edge of a New Democracy. Manning Marable (1950-2011), Black Liberation in Conservative America. Gen. J.R. McMaster (1962-), Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of sTaff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam; claims that the military didn't stand up to Johnson and McNamara to avoid a debacle. John McPhee (1931-), Irons in the Fire. Barry Miles, Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now. Kenneth Minogue (1930-2013), The Silencing of Society. Greg Mitchell, Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady; his dirty tricks against Helen Gahan Douglas. Jurgen Moltmann (1926-), The Source of Life. Ray Monk, Bertrand Russell: 1872-1920 The Spirit of Solitude. Paul Moore Jr. (1919-2003), Presences: A Bishop's Life in the City (autobio.) (Dec.). Adele Morales, The Last Party; Norman Mailer's stabbed 2nd wife tells all. Richard Ward Morris (1939-2003), Achilles in the Quantum Universe: The Definitive History of Infinity. Andrew Morton (1953-), Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words. Suze Orman (1951-), The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. Robert Evan Ornstein (1942-), The Right Mind: Making Sense of the Hemispheres. John Ortberg, The Live You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People; live the way Jesus would? Abraham Pais (1918-2000), A Tale of Two Continents: A Physicist's Life in a Turbulent World (autobio.); "esemplastic power of the imagination". Michael Parenti (1933-), Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism. Ray Parkin (1910-2005), H.M. Bark Endeavour: Her Place in Australian History (2 vols.) (Oct. 1); Capt. James Cook's 1770 voyage to Australia. Tom Peters (1942-) The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness. Steven Pinker (1954-), How the Mind Works; claims that music is "auditory cheesecake", evolving by accident or serendipity. Daniel Pipes (1949-), Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From. George Plimpton (1927-2003), Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall his Turbulent Career; filmed in 2006 as "Infamous". Roy Porter (1946-2002), The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. Susan Powter (1958-), Sober... and Staying That Way: The Missing Link in the Cure for Alcoholism. Marcus Raskin (1934-) and Sushila Nayak, Presidential Disrespect: From Thomas Paine to Rush Limbaugh - How and Why We Insult, Scorn and Ridicule Our Chief Executives. Diane Ravitch (1938-), New Schools for a New Century: The Redesign of Urban Education. Joan Rivers (1933-), Bouncing Back: I've Survived Everything... and I Mean Everything... and You Can Too! (autobio.) (Feb. 1). Dennis Rodman (1961-), Walk on the Wild Side (autobio.) (Apr. 30). Murray Newton Rothbard (1926-95), Logic of Action (2 vols.). Don Miguel Angel Ruiz (1952-), The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Wisdom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) (Nov. 7); bestseller (4M copies); 1) Be impeccable with your word, 2) Don't take anything personally, 3) Don't make assumptions, 4) Always do your best. Rudolph Rummel (1932-2014), Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence; coins the term "democide" for murder by govt., claiming that democracy is the form of govt. least likely to do it; "Power kills, absolute power kills absolutely." Joanna Russ (1937-2011), What Are We Fighting For? Sex, Race, Class, and the Future of Feminism. Carol Saline and Sharon J. Wohlmuth, Mothers & Daughters. James Salter (1925-), Burning the Days (autobio.). William A. Schabas (1950-), The Abolition of the Death Penalty in Internat. Law (2nd ed.). Stephen Schwartz (1948-), From West to East: California and the Making of the American Mind. Hans F. Sennholz (1922-2007), Reflection and Remembrance. Israel Shahak (1933-2001), Open Secrets: Israel's Nuclear and Foreign Policies. Kenneth Silverman (1936-), Houdini!!! The Career of Erich Weiss, American Self-Liberator, Europe's Eclipsing Sensation, World's Handcuff King and Prison Breaker - Nothing on Earth Can Hold Houdini a Prisoner!!! (Oct.). George Steiner (1929-), No Passion Spent (essays). Ian Stevenson (1918-2007), Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect; Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects (2 vols.); describes 200 birthmark cases. Robert Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth Turning; breaks Anglo-Am. history into 80-to-100-year Saeculums going back to 1435, each with four generations, each with a turning point that happens every 20 years or so: "The next Fourth Turning is due to begin shortly after the new millennium, midway through the Oh-Oh decade. Around the year 2005, a sudden spark will catalyze a Crisis mood. Remnants of the old social order will disintegrate. Political and economic trust will implode. Real hardship will beset the land, with severe distress that could involve questions of class, race, nation and empire. The very survival of the nation will feel at stake. Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II." Kerri Strug (1977-) and John Loppez, Landing on My Feet: A Diary of Dreams. Cass R. Sunstein (1954-), Free Markets and Social Justice. Yaron Svoray and Thomas Hughes, Gods of Death; Svoray's hunt for snuff film dealers. Nassim Nicholas Taleb (1960-), Dynamic Hedging: Managing Vanilla and Exotic Options (Jan. 14); about derivatives risk. Hugh Thomas (1931-), The Slave Trade: The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade 1440-1870. Eckhart Tolle (1948-), The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment; a dud until Oprah Winfrey recommends it in "O" mag. in 2001, after which it becomes a bestseller (3M copies). Jeffrey Toobin (1960-), The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson. Donald Trump (1946-) and Kate Bohner, Trump: The Art of the Comeback (Oct. 27); brags about surviving the Great Depression of 1990 and making it big in the Atlantic City casino biz, then outsmarting one of South America's richest men for right to the Miss Universe pageant. Joan Veon (1949-2010), Prince Charles, the Sustainable Prince (Dec. 1); claims that the U.N. is a sinister plot by Cecil Rhodes to put the U.S. back under British control, and that Prince Charles wants to reverse the Biblical command to man to dominate the Earth. Michael Walzer (1935-), On Toleration; Arguments from the Left; Pluralism and Democracy. Brian Weiss (1944-), Only Love Is Real: A Story of Soulmates Reunited (Mar. 1). Cornel West (1953-), Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America; ed. by Kelvin Shawn Sealey. Rogers E.M. Whitaker (1900-81) and Tony Hiss, All Aboard with E.M. Frimbo, World's Greatest Railroad Buff (posth.). Garry Wills (1934-), John Wayne's America: The Politics of Celebrity. Alan Wolfe, Marginalized in the Middle. Art: Jim Dine (1935-), Three Spanish Venuses (sculpture). Joellyn Duesberry, Reflected Winter Sunlight II (painting). Lucian Freud (1922-), Ib Reading. Jenny Holzer (1950-), Lustmord. Roberto Matta (1911-2002), Flowerita; Oak Flower. Julian Opie, Imagine You Are Driving 3. Larry Rivers (1923-2002), Red Room in Charcoal. James Rosenquist (1933-), The Swimmer in the Econo-Mist (Painting 1-33) (1997-8). Sebastiao Salgado, Terra: Struggle of the Landless; 100 B&W photos documenting the plight of poor Brazilian migrants. Richard Serra (1939-), Double Torqued Ellipse (sculpture). The Young British Artists put on the Sensation exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in Oct., grossing 350K visitors out with a bust of a man made from his own frozen blood, butchered animals and a shark in formaldehyde, mass-murderer Myra Hindley, and a black Virgin Mary stained with elephant dung. Todd Walker (1917-), CCFAC2; BUSMM. Music: 311, Transistor (album #4) (Aug. 5) (#4 in the U.S.); incl. Transistor, Beautiful Disaster, Prisoner. 98 Degrees, 98 Degrees (album) (debut) (July 29) (#145 in the U.S.); from LA, incl. Nicholas Scott "Nick" Lachey (1973), Andrew John "Drew" Lachey (1976-), Justin Jeffre (1973-), and Jeffrey Brandon "Jeff" Timmons (1973-); incl. Invisible Man. Bryan Adams (1959-), MTV Unplugged (Dec. 9). Aerosmith, Nine Lives (album #12) (Mar. 18) (#1 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.); incl. Nine Lives, Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees), Pink, Hole in My Soul, Full Circle, Taste of India. Gregg Allman (1947-), Searching for Simplicity (album #5). David Arnold (1962-), Shaken & Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project (album); History Repeating (with Shirley Bassey). Joseph Arthur (1971-), Big City Secrets (album) (debut) (Mar. 11); incl. Big City Secret. Erykah Badu (1971-), Baduizm (album) (debut) (Feb. 11); incl. On & On. Joan Baez (1941-), Gone from Danger (album). Marcia Ball (1949-), Let Me Play With You Poodle (album). Buju Banton (1973-), Inna Heights (album #5) (Nov. 18). Pat Benatar (1953-), Innamorata (album); incl. "At This Time", "Papa's Roses". The Notorious B.I.G. (1972-97), Life After Death (double album) (Mar. 25) (posth.) (#1 in the U.S., #20 in the U.K.); incl. Hypnotize (#1 in the U.S.), Mo Money Mo Problems (#1 in the U.S.), Going Back to Cali (#26 in the U.S.), Sky's the Limit. Limp Bizkit, Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ (album) (debut) (July 1); from Jacksonville, Fla., incl. William Frederick "Fred" Durst (1970-) (vocals) Wesley Louden "West" Borland (1975-) (guitar), Samuel Robert "Sam" Rivers (1977-) (bass), John Everett Otto (1977-) (drums), DJ Lethal (Leor Dimand) (1972-) (turntablist); incl. Counterfeit, Sour, Faith. Bjork (1965-), Homogenic (album #4) (Sept. 22) (#28 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.); incl. Joga, Bachelorette (#21 in the U.K.), Hunter (#44 in the U.K.), Alarm Call (#33 in the U.K.), All Is Full of Love (#24 in the U.K.). Mary J. Blige (1971-), Share My World (album #3) (Apr. 22) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Love Is All We Need, I Can Love You (w/Lil Kim), Everything, Seven Days (w/George Benson), Missing You. Blink-182, Dude Ranch (album #2) (June 17); incl. Dammit, Apple Shampoo, Dick Lips, Josie. Orange Blossom, Orange Blossom (album) (debut); from Nantes, France, incl. Jean-Christophe Waechter (vocals, drums), Pierre-Jean Chabot (violin); incl. Anaconda Girl. The Moody Blues, The Best of the Moody Blues (album) (Jan. 28). Andrea Bocelli (1958-), Romanza (album) (20M copies) (bestselling Italian album until ?); his breakthrough album. David Bowie (1947-2016), Earthling (album) (Feb. 3); incl. Telling Lies (first downloadable single by a major artist), Little Wonder, Dead Man Walking, Seven Years in Tibet, I'm Afraid of America (w/ Nine Inch Nails). Backstreet Boys, Backstreet's Back (album) (Aug. 11); Backstreet Boys (album #2) (Aug. 12) (#4 in the U.S.) (32M copies); incl. Everybody (Backstreet's Back), As Long As You Love Me, All I Have to Give. Third Eye Blind, Third Eye Blind (album) (debut) (Apr. 8) (#25 in the U.S.) (500K copies); from San Francisco, Calif., incl. Stephan Jenkins (vocals, guitar), Kevin Cadogan (lead guitar), Arion Salazar (bass), and Brad Hargreaves (drums); incl. Semi-Charmed Life, Graduate, How's It Going to Be, Losing a Whole Year, Jumper. Garth Brooks (1962-), Sevens (album #7) (Nov.); 4th album to sell 10M+ copies; incl. In Another's Eyes (with Trisha Yearwood), Two Pina Coladas, To Make You Feel My Love. Meredith Brooks (1958-), Blurring the Edges (album) (debut) (May 5) (#22 in the U.S.); incl. Bitch (#2 in the U.S.), What Would Happen (#46 in the U.S.). Bobby Brown (1969-), Forever (album #4) (Nov. 4). Echo and the Bunnymen, Evergreen (album #7) (July 14) (#8 in the U.K.); incl. Nothing Lasts Forever, I Want to Be There (When You Come), Don't Let It Get You Down. Bush, Deconstructed (album) (Nov. 11). Mariah Carey (1969-), Butterfly (album #7) (Sept. 16) (#1 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.); incl. Honey (#1 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.), My All (#1 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.), Butterfly (#22 in the U.K.). Neko Case (1970-) and Her Boyfriends, The Virginian (album) (debut) (July 29); incl. Bowling Green. Peter Cetera (1944-), You're the Inspiration: A Collection (album) (May 20). Kenny Chesney (1968-), I Will Stand (album #4) (July 15) (#10 country) (#95 in the U.S.); incl. She's Got It All (#1 country) (#110 in the U.S.), That's Why I'm Here (#2 country) (#79 in the U.S.). Chumbawamba, Tubthumper (album) (3M copies in the U.S.); incl. Tubthumping, Amnesia. Wu-Tang Clan, Wu-Tang Forever (album #2) (June 3) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.) (8M copies); incl. Triumph, It's Yourz, Reunited. Joe Cocker (1944-2014), Across from Midnight (album #16). Paula Cole (1968-), Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?; no more John Waynes? Judy Collins (1939-), Christmas at the Biltmore Estate (album #28). Sean Combs (1969-), No Way Out (album) (debut) (July 22) (#1 in the U.S.); original title "Hell Up in Harlem"; pub. under group name Puffy Daddy and the Family; incl. Can't Nobody Hold Me Down (#1 in the U.S.), I'll Be Missing You (#1 in the U.S.). Coolio (1963-), My Soul (album #2) (Aug. 26) (#39 in the U.S.); incl. C U When U Get There (#12 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.). Elvis Costello (1954-) and John Harle (1956-), Terror & Magnificence (album) (May 13). The Cramps, Big Beat from Badsville (album); incl. Peter Gunn. Creed, My Own Prison (album) (debut) (Aug. 26) (#22 in the U.S.) (6M copies); post-grunge rock band from Tallahassee, Fla., incl. Scott Alan Stapp (1973-) (Anthony Scott Flippen) (vocals), Mark Tremonti (guitar, vocals), Brian Marshall (bass), and Scott Phillips (drums); incl. My Own Prison, What's This Life For, and One. King Crimson, Epitaph (album #17). Motley Crue, Generation Swine (album #7) (June 24); last with Elektra Records; incl. Afraid, Beauty. Dagda, Hibernia: The Story of Ireland (album) (debut); named after the #1 Irish Celtic god; Rod Keating, Philip O'Rely; Green Day, Nimrod (album #5) (Oct. 14) (#10 in the U.S.) (5M copies); incl. Hitchin' a Ride, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Redundant, Nice Guys Finish Last. The Grateful Dead, Selections from the Arista Years (Jan. 13); Dick's Picks Vol. 7 (album) (Mar.); recorded on Sept. 9-11, 1974 in London; Fallout from the Phil Zone (album) (June); picked by Phil Lesh; Dick's Picks Vol. 8 (album); recorded on May 2 in Binghamton, N.Y.; Terrapin Station, Limited Ed. (album) (Sept.); recorded on Mar. 15, 1990 in Landover, Md.; Dick's Picks Vol. 9 (album) (Oct.); recorded on Sept. 16, 1990 at Madison Square Garden; Live at the Fillmore East 2-11-69 (album) (Oct.). Deftones, Around the Fur (#29 in the U.S.) (album #2) (Oct. 28); incl. My Own Summer, Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away). Edison Denisov (1929-96), The Woman and the Birds (Femme et Oiseaux); homage to Joan Miro; Avane le Coucher du Soleil (last work) (Aug. 16). John Denver (1943-97), Love Again (album); All Aboard! (last album). Celine Dion (1968-), Let's Talk About Love (album #5) (Nov. 18); sells 31M copies; incl. My Heart Will Go On (from "Titanic"). Dokken, Shadowlife (album #6) (Apr. 15). Goo Goo Dolls, Bang! (EP) (Sept. 19). Duran Duran, Medazzaland (album #6) (Oct. 14); last with John Taylor. Bob Dylan (1941-), Time Out of Mind (album #30) (Sept. 30); released after being hospitalized for a serious heart infection. Finger Eleven, Tip (album #2). Exodus, Another Lesson in Violence (album) (July 8); next album in 2004. Marianne Faithfull (1946-), 20th Century Blues (album). Save Ferris, It Means Everything; incl. The World is New, Come on Eileen. Fear Factory, Burn (album); Remanufacture - Cloning Technology (album #3) (May 20). Foo Fighters, The Colour and the Shape (album #2) (May 20); incl. Monkey Wrench, My Hero, Everlong. Reel Big Fish, Sell Out. Kara's Flowers, The Fourth World (album) (debut) (Aug. 19); a flop, causing them to drop Reprise Records and reform as Maroon 5. John Fogerty (1945-), Blue Moon Swamp (album) (May 20). Maria Irene Fornes (1930-) and Robert Ashley, Balseros (Rafters) (opera); based on "Manual for a Desperate Crossing" (1996). Jean Francaix (1912-97), Neuf Historiettes de Tallemant des Reaux for Baritone Voice, Tenor Saxophone and Piano (last work). Jerry Garcia Band, How Sweet It Is (album #3) (Apr. 15); incl. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You). Secret Garden, White Stones (album #2). Paul Simon (1941-) and Art Garfunkel (1941-), Old Friends (triple album) (Oct. 27). Marvin Gaye (1939-84), Vulnerable (album) (posth.). Bee Gees, Still Waters (album #19) (Mar. 10); incl. Alone, I Could Not Love You More, Still Waters Run Deep. Indigo Girls, Shaming of the Sun (album #6) (Apr. 29). Spice Girls, Spiceworld (album #2) (Nov. 3) (#3 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (20M copies); incl. Spice Up Your Life, Too Much, Stop, Viva Forever. Guano Apes, Proud Like a God (album) (debut) (Oct. 6) (200K copies); from Gottingen, Germany, incl. Sandra Nasic (vocals), Henning Rümenapp (guitars, vocals), Stefan Ude (bass, vocals), and Dennis Poschwatta (drums, vocals); incl. Open Your Eyes, Rain, Lords of the Boards. Herbie Hancock (1940-) and Wayne Shorter (1933-), 1+1 (album); incl. Aung San Suu Kyi, Joanna's Theme (from "Death Wish", 1974). Hanson, Middle of Nowhere (album) (debut) (May 5); Clarke Isaac Hanson (1980-), Jordan Taylor Hanson (1983), and Zachary Walker "Zac" Hanson (1985-); incl. MMMBop, Where's the Love, I Will Come to You, Weird, Thinking of You. Procol Harum, Ain't Nothing' to Get Excited About (album #12); recorded in 1970 under the nme Liquorice John Death. Helmet, Aftertaste (album #4) (Mar. 18) (#47 in the U.S.); they break up in 1998, and reform in 2004; incl. Exactly What You Wanted, Driving Nowhere. Hans Werner Henze (1926-), 9th Symphony; libretto by Hans-Ulrich Treichel based on the Anna Seghers novel "The Seventh Cross"; dedicated to "the heroes and martyrs of German anti-fascism"; breaks the curse of the 9th symphony? Her Space Holiday, Audio Astronomy (album) (debut); from Calif., incl. Marc Bianchi; incl. One Million Galaxies. Janis Ian (1951-), Hunger. Incubus, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (album #2) (Sept. 13); incl. A Certain Shade of Green, New Skin. Indian Ocean, Desert Rain (album #2); first live album by an Indian band; incl. Desert Rain. INXS, Elegantly Wasted (album #10) (Apr. 15); last with Michael Hutchence; incl. Elegantly Wasted. David Ippolito, The People on the Hill (album) (debut); "That Guitar Man from Central Park". Millie Jackson (1944-), The Sequel, It Ain't Over (album #24). Rick James (1948-2004), Urban Rapsody (album #12) (last album). Jay-Z (1969-), In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (album) (Nov. 4); sells 1M copies; incl. The City is Mine (with Blackstreet), Who You Wit II, (Always Be My) Sunshine (with Foxy Brown and Babyface). LL Cool J (1968-), Phenomenon (album); incl. Phenomenon, Father, 4, 3, 2, 1. Janet Jackson (1966-), The Velvet Rope (album #6) (Oct. 7) (#1 in the U.S.) (10M copies); lyrics go into domestic violence, sadomasochism, gay sex, and despondency; signs with Virgin Records for a record $80M, eclipsing her brother Michael Jackson and Madonna, who only got $60M, making her the Queen of Pop; incl. I Get Lonely (#3 in the U.S), Together Again (#1 in the U.S.), Got 'till It's Gone (#36 in the U.S.), Go Deep (#28 in the U.S.). Michael Jackson (1958-2009), Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (album) (May 20) (6M copies). Flotsam and Jetsam, High (album #6) (June 3) (#24 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (best-selling remix album until ?). Elton John (1947-), The Big Picture (album #26) (Sept. 22); incl. Something About the Way You Look Tonight; Candle in the Wind 1997; lyrics altered for Princess Di; sells 33M copies, with £55M going to the Princess Di Memorial Fund. Jon Bon Jovi (1962-), Destination Anywhere (album). Toby Keith (1961-), Dream Walking (album); incl. I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying (with Sting). R. Kelly (1967-), Gotham City. Diana Krall (1964-), Love Scenes (album). L7, The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum (album #5) (Feb. 25); last with Jennifer Finch; incl. The Beauty Process. Patti LaBelle (1944-), Flame (album); incl. When You Talk About Love. Strapping Young Lad, City (album #2) (Feb. 11); makes them metal stars; incl. Oh My Fucking God. Jonny Lang (1981-), Lie to Me (album) (debut) (Jan. 28) (#44 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl. Lie to Me, Breakin' Me, Missing Your Love. k.d. lang (1961-), Drag (album) (June 10); incl. The Air That I Breathe, The Joker. Flaming Lips, Zaireeka (album #8) (Oct. 28); designed to be simultaneously on four separate audio systems; incl. Okay I'll Admit That I Really Don't Understand. Fleetwood Mac, The Dance (album); Lindsey Buckingham returns. Yngwie Malmsteen (1963-), Facing the Animal (album #10) (Feb. 23); incl. Braveheart. Mana, Suenos Liquidos (Liquid Dreams) (album #5) (Oct. 14) (1M copies). 10,000 Maniacs, Love Among the Ruins (album). Marilyn Manson, Remix & Repent (album) (Nov. 25); Long Hard Road Out of Hell (Nov. 11). Curtis Mayfield (1942-99), New World Order (album #19) (last album). Martina McBride (1966-), Evolution (album #4) (Aug. 26) (#4 country) (#24 in the U.S.) (2M copies); new crossover sound, joining Faith Hill and Shania Twain; incl. Valentine (w/Jim Brickman) (#9 country) (#50 in the U.S.), A Broken Wing (#1 country) (#61 in the U.S.), Wrong Again (#1 country) (#36 in the U.S.), Whatever You Say (#2 country) (#37 in the U.S.), Happy Girl (#2 country). Paul McCartney (1942-), Flaming Pie (album #10) (May 5); incl. The World Tonight, Young Boy, Calico Skies; Standing Stone (album) (Sept. 23) (#194 in the U.S.). Tim McGraw (1967-), Everywhere (album); sells 4M copies; incl. It's Your Love (with Faith Hill). Megadeth, Cryptic Writings (album #7) (June 17) (#10 in the U.S., #38 in the U.K.); last with Nick Menza; incl. Almost Honest (#8 in the U.S.), Trust (#5 in the U.S.), Use the Man (#15 in the U.S.), A Secret Place (#19 in the U.S.). Metallica, ReLoad (album) (Nov. 18); sells 3M copies; incl. Fuel. Kylie Minogue (1968-), Impossible Princess (album #6) (Nov. 1) (#10 in the U.K.); incl. Some Kind of Bliss, Breathe, Cowboy Style. The Misfits, American Psycho (album) (May 13); first studio release since 1984; incl. Dig Up Her Bones; Static Age (album) (July 15); original recordings from 1978. Moby, I Like to Score; incl. Tomorrow Never Dies Theme. Depeche Mode, Ultra (album #9) (Apr. 17); first without Alan Wilder; incl. Barrel of a Gun, It's No Good, Home, Useless. Faith No More, Album of the Year (album #6) (last album) (June 3) (#41 in the U.S., #7 in the U.K.) (2M copies); first with Jon Hudson; they break up in Apr. 1998; incl. Ashes to Ashes (#23 in the U.S., #15 in the U.K.), Last Cup of Sorrow (#14 in the U.S., #51 in the U.K.), Stripsearch. Van Morrison (1945-), The Healing Game (album #26) (Mar. 4); incl. The Healing Game (about Belfast street singing). Morrissey (1959-), Maladjusted (album). Van Morrison (1945-), The Healing Game (album) (Mar. 4); incl. Sometimes We Cry, The Healing Game, Rough God Goes Riding. Modest Mouse, The Fruit That Ate Itself (EP) (May 13); The Lonesome Crowded West (album #2) (Nov. 18); incl. Heart Cooks Brain, Lounge (Closing Time), Teeth Like God's Shoeshine. Smash Mouth, Fush Yu Mang (album) (debut) (July 8); from San Jose, Calif., incl. Steven Scott "Steve" Harwell (1967-) (vocals), Gregory Dean "Greg' Camp (1967-) (guitar), Paul De Lisle (bass), and Kevin Coleman (drums); incl. Walkin' on the Sun (#2 in the U.S.). Michael Martin Murphey (1945-), Horse Legends (album #20) (July 8); incl. Tennessee Stud (with Johnny Cash). Nightwish, Angels Fall First (album) (debut) (Nov. 1); incl. Tarja Turunen (1977-), Tuomas Holopainen (1976-), and Ermo "Emppu" Matti Juhani Vuorinen (1978-). Twisted Nixon, Nico Teens; anti-teen smoking song; formed in 1996 by Johnny Punish, Ben Madrid, Gary Henry, and Mike Henry. *NSYNC, *NSYNC (album) (debut); formed in 1995 by Louis Jay "Lou" Pearlman (1954-) (1st cousin of Art Garfunkel); incl. Justin Randall Timberlake (1981-), Chris Kirkpatrick (1971-), Joey Fatone (1977-), Joshua Scott "JC" Chasez (1976-), and Lance Bass (1979-); name supposedly made up out of letters from their names "justiN chriS joeY jasoN jC", then "lansteN" for Lance Bass after he replaces Chasez; album doesn't do too well until their 1998 Summer Disney Concert, after which it sells 10M copies in the U.S.; incl. I Want You Back, Tearin' Up My Heart. Gary Numan (1958-), Exile (album #14) (Oct. 20). Laura Nyro (1947-97), Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best of Laura Nyro (Feb. 18); released 2 mo. before her Apr. 8 death from ovarian cancer. Oasis, Be Here Now (album #3) (Aug. 21) (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (8M copies); last with Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan; incl. D'You Know What I Mean?, Stand By Me, All Around the World, Don't Go Away. Hall & Oates, Marigold Sky (album #15) (Sept. 17). Sinead O'Connor (1966-), Gospel Oak (album) (June 3); Gospel Oak railway station in London; sells 250K copies; So Far... the Best of Sinead O'Connor (album); sells 2M copies. The Offspring, Ixnay on the Hombre (album #4) (Feb. 4); sells 4M copies; incl. All I Want, Gone Away, Cool to Hate, The Meaning of Life, I Choose. Midnight Oil, 20,000 Watt R.S.L. (album) (Oct.). Yoko Ono, A Story (album #5) (July); recorded in 1974. Pantera, Official Live: 101 Proof (album) (July 29). Salt-N-Pepa, Brand New (5th album); released on the Red Ant label, which goes bankrupt; they disband in 2001. Jean-Luc Ponty (1942-), Live at Chene Park (album). Power Pop, Just As I Am. Propellerheads, Propellerheads (album); incl. Spybreak! (used in the lobby scene in "The Matrix"), Take California, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (with David Arnold). Quarterflash, Harden My Heart: The Best of Quarterflash (album). Queensryche, Hear in the Now Frontier (album #7) (Mar. 25) (#19 in the U.S.); incl. Sign of the Times, You. Eddie Rabbitt (1941-98), Beatin' the Odds (album #14) (Sept. 23). Radiohead, OK Computer (album #3) (June 16); incl. Paranoid Android, Karma Police, No Surprises. Rammstein, Sehnsucht (Longing) (album #2) (Aug. 25) (only RIAA-certified platinum album in German in the U.S.); incl. Sehnsucht, Du Hast (You Have and/or You Hate and/or You Hate Me to Say), Engel (Angel), Tier (Animal), Bestrafe Mich (Punish Me), Buch Dich (Bend Over), Spiel Mit Mir (Play With Me); Kokain (Cocaine). Night Ranger, Neverland (album #7) (July 22); incl. Neverland. Juno Reactor, Bible of Dreams (album #4) (June 18); incl. God Is God. Sacred Reich, Still Ignorant (album) (Nov.). Busta Rhymes (1972-), When Disaster Strikes (album #2) (Sept. 23) (#3 in the U.S.); incl. Dangerous (#9 in the U.S.), Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See (#11 in the U.S.), Fire It Up (#10 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.). Love and Rockets, Sweet F.A. (Sweet Fuck-All) (album #6) (Mar. 19)) (#172 in the U.S.); incl. Sweet F.A., Sweet Lover Hangover; a fire breaks out during recording at a home owned by Am. Recordings, causing the band to lose their gear and get saddled with a large legal bill to beat the insurance co. Primal Scream, Vanishing Point (album #5) (July 7); named after the 1971 film; incl. Kowalski, Motorhead. Sepultura, Blood-Rooted (album) (June 3). Shaggy, Midnite Lover (album); incl. Piece of My Heart (with Marsha). Lynyrd Skynyrd, Twenty (album #8) (Apr. 29); released on their 20th anniv. Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out (album #3) (Apr. 8); incl. One More Hour. Sleeper, Pleased to Meet You (album #3) (last album) (Oct.); incl. She's a Good Girl; Romeo Me; they split next year, and Louise Wener becomes a novelist. Patti Smith (1946-), Peace and Noise (album #7) (Sept. 30); incl. 1959. Information Society, Don't Be Afraid (album #6) (Sept. 23); incl. Are Friends Electric? 2.0. Collective Soul, Disciplined Breakdown (album #3) (Mar. 11) (#16 in the U.S.); incl. Precious Declaration (#65 in the U.S.), Listen (#72 in the U.S.), Blame. Toad the Wet Sprocket, Coil (album #5) (last album) (May 20); they disband in 1998; incl. Come Down, Crazy Life, Whatever I Fear. Steps, 5, 6, 7, 8 (#14 in the U.K.) (debut); each single comes with its own printed dance steps; from England, incl. Claire Ann Richards (1977-), H ("Hyperactive") (Ian Watkins) (1967-), Lisa Scott-Lee (1975-), Lee Latchford-Evans (1975-), and Faye Louise Tozer (1975-); formed by Steve Crosby, Barry Upton, and Tim Byrne by placing an ad in "The Stage" for models who can sing and dance, creating a sound that their songwriter Peter Waterman calls "ABBA on speed", going on to sell 15M records, incl. 14 consecutive top-5 U.K. singles, vs. 20 for The Beatles. The Rolling Stones, Bridges to Babylon (album #23) (Sept. 29) (#3 in the U.S., #6 in the U.K.); incl. Anybody Seen My Baby? (#22 in the U.K.), Flip the Switch, Saint of Me (#94 in the U.S., #26 in the U.K.), Out of Control (#51 in the U.K.). Anybody Seen My Baby? (based on k.d. lang's 1992 "Constant Craving"). Stratovarius, Visions (album #6) (Apr. 28); incl. The Kiss of Judas; The Past and Now (album). Styx, Return to Paradise (album) (May 6). Supertramp, Some Things Never Change (album #11) (Mar. 24). James Taylor (1948-), Hourglass (album #14) (May 20). Livingston Taylor (1950-), Ink (album). Within Temptation, Enter (album) (debut) (Apr. 6); from Netherlands, incl. Sharon Janny den Adel (1974-) (vocals) and Robert Westerholt (1975-) (guitar and growls); incl. Enter, Restless. Suicidal Tendencies, Prime Cuts (album) (June 3). Therion, A'arab Zaqraq - Lucid Dreaming (album #9) (May 16). Seven Mary Three, RockCrown (album #3) (June 3) (#75 in the U.S.); incl. RockCrown, Lucky. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, The Art of War (album #3) (July 29) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Look Into My Eyes, If I Could Teach the World. Randy Travis (1959-), You and You Alone (album); incl. Out of My BonesSpirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man. Shania Twain (1965-), Come On Over (album #3) (Nov. 4) (#1 country) (#2 in the U.S.) (40M copies) (best-selling country music album) (best-selling studio album by a female act); incl. Come On Over (#6 country) (#58 in the U.S.), Love Gets Me Every Time (#1 country) (#25 in the U.S.), Man! I Feel Like a Woman! (#4 country) (#23 in the U.S.), Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You) (#6 country) (#40 in the U.S.), You're Still the One (#1 country) (#2 in the U.S.), From This Moment On (#6 country) (#4 in the U.S.), You're Still the One. U2, Pop (album #9) (Mar. 3) (#1 in the U.S. and U.K.); incl. Discotheque, Staring at the Sun, Last Night on Earth, Please, If God Will Send His Angels, Mofo. Six Feet Under, Warpath (album #2) (Sept. 9); incl. Death or Glory (by Holocaust). Usher (1978-), My Way (album #2) (Sept. 16) (#4 in the U.S., #16 in the U.K.) (8M copies); incl. My Way, Nice and Slow (#1 in the U.S.), You Make Me Wanna, Slow Jam (with Monica). Testament, Demonic (album #7) (June 24); incl. John Doe, Nostrovia. Steve Vai (1960-), Fire Garden (album #5) (Sept. 17); incl. There's a Fire in the House. The Ventures, Guitars on Mars (album); Wild Again (album). The Verve, Urban Hymns (album #3) (Sept. 29) (#23 in the U.S.); incl. Bittersweet Symphony (#12 in the U.S.) (uses a reversed looped sample from the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time", causing them to be sued), The Drugs Don't Work, Lucky Man, Sonnet; too bad, they break up in 1999 and don't reform until 2007. En Vogue, EV3 (album); incl. Don't Let Go, Whatever, Too Gone Too Long. Warrant, Warrant Live 86-97 (album) (July 29). Katrina and the Waves, Love Shine a Light (#3 in the U.K.). Whigfield (1970-), Whigfield II (album #2). Whitesnake, Restless Heart (album #9) (#34 in the U.K.); first album since 1989; incl. Stay with Me. Steve Winwood (1948-), Junction Seven (album #7) (June); a flop; next album in 2003. Lee Ann Womack (1966-), Lee Ann Womack (album) (debut) (May 13) (#9 country) (#106 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl. The Fool (#2 country), You've Got to Talk to Me (#2 country), Buckaroo (#27 country), Never Again, Again (#23 country). Chely Wright (1970-), Let Me In (album #3) (Sept. 9); incl. Shut Up and Drive. Yello, Pocket Universe (album #9). Yes, Keys to Ascension 2 (double album) (Nov. 3); Open Your Eyes (album #15) (Nov. 24). Frank Zappa (1940-93), Mystery Disc (album) (posth.) (Sept. 14). Movies: Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One (July 25) is an action flick starring Harrison Ford as U.S. pres. James Marshall, whose plane is hijacked by Rusian terrorists led by Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman), after which he opts out of a golden parachute to stay on board and fight while his vice pres. Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close) minds the store in the White House; also features Dean Stockwell and William H. Macy; "Das Boot" in the air?; "Liberty Two Four is now Air Force One." Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Alien Resurrection (Nov. 26) stars Sigourney Weaver as her own clone (#8) convolved with the Alien Queen's DNA, who gives birth to a hybrid Alien who calls her mama and whom she must pitilessly murder; does $161M box office on a $75M budget. Steven Spielberg's Amistad (Dec. 10), about the 1839 slave ship that mutinies and heads for the U.S. and freedom, where John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) wins their case before the U.S. Supreme Court also stars Morgan Freeman as Theodore Joadson, Nigel Hawthorne as Martin Van Buren, and Djimon Hounsou as Cinque, who goes from the streets to Hollywood star. James L. Brooks' As Good As It Gets (Dec. 25), written by Mark Andrus (androgynous?) stars Jack Nicholson as misogynistic romance novelist Melvin Udall, who un-courts waitress Carol (Helen Hunt) while dealing with her kid and gay neighbor Greg Kinnear and his bacon-loving dog, finally getting pussy-whipped and admitting to being in love with a real woman who looks great in a bathtub; "I think of a man, then I eliminate all reason and responsibility"; "Go sell crazy somewhere else - we're all stocked up here" - one of TLW's favorite flicks, why? Jay Roach's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (May 2) stars "Yeah, baby" Mike Myers as a dentally-challenged spoof of 007, as well as his own pinkie-raising enemy Dr. Evil; Seth Green plays Dr. Evil's Gen-X son Scott Evil; makes the word "shag" (the state dance of S.C.?) popular; "Double-O Behave!"; sequels incl. Mel Smith's Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie (Nov. 7), starring rubber-faced British slapstick comedian Rowan Atkinson breaks the $100M mark at the internat. box office without a single ticket sold in North Am. Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (Oct. 10) stars "Marky Mark" Wahlberg as porn star Eddie Adams, who works in hot tubs under the name Dirk Diggler for dir. Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) in the 70s and 80s; "In 1977 sex was safe, pleasure was business, and business was booming". Vincenzo Natali's Cube (Sept. 9) (Odeon Films) (Viacom Canada) (Trimark Pictures), inspired by the Twilight Zone episode "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" (Dec. 22, 1961) stars Maurice Dean Wint as police officer Quentin McNeil, Nicole de Boer as math whiz Joan Leaven, David Hewlett as cynic David Worth, Nicky Guadagni as physician Dr. Helen Holloway, and Wayne Robson as prison escape artist Rennes AKA The Wren, who are trapped in a giant cube filled with cube-shaped rooms (26x26), each of which is a deadly trap; does $565K box office on a $350K budget, developing a cult following; Mike van Diem's Character (Karaketer) (Apr. 17) is a Dutch/Belgian film based on the novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk, starring Fedja van Huet as a lawyer suspected of murdering hated bailiff Jan Decleir, whose mother Betty Schuurman works as his housekeeper and had sex with him once, the result being guess who, which causes his guess what to come under the microscope? Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy (Apr. 4) (Miramax) stars Ben Affleck and Jason Lee as comic book artists Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards, who meet fellow artist Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), whom Holden chases until he finds out she's a lez, but guess what, she falls for him; does $12M box office on a $250K budget - think of it as a big clit? Wayne Wang's Chinese Box (Sept. 4) stars Jeremy Irons, Maggie Cheung, and Gong Li in the last days of British Hong Kong. Richard Donner's Conspiracy Theory (Aug. 8) stars Mel Gibson as New York cabbie Jerry Fletcher, who believes every conspiracy theory ever heard of, and tries to convince Justice Dept. atty. Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts) in vain, until it turns out he's not just paranoid and they are out to get both of them, they being CIA shrink Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart) and the U.S. govt. Robert Zemeckis' Contact (Nov. 22), based on the 1985 novel by Carl Sagan (who dies during production) stars "Freaky Friday" actress Jodie Foster as Seti astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway, who receives signals from Vega containing a plan for a gravity-bending spaceship, and goes through the wormholes to meet her own dead daddy (David Morse) uttering the soundbyte "Small steps", and returns only to have the govt. cover it up; Matthew McConaughey plays a crazed preacher; brings in $171M on a $90M budget; "A journey to the heart of the Universe"; "The Universe is a pretty big place. It's bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space, right?" - it would be funny if it weren't so tragic? Roger Donaldson's Dante's Peak (Feb. 7) (Pacific Western Productions) (Universal Pictures) stars Pierce Brosnan as volcanologist Dr. Harry Dalton, who fights an erupting volcano in Dante's Peak, Wash. state with mayor Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton0; does $178.1M box office on a $116M, becoming a cult hit. Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry stars Woody as blocked writer Harry Block, who travels to a univ. that once expelled him to receive an honorary degree with his son Ken (Richard Benjamin) (whom he kidnapped from his divorced wife) while reminiscing about all the people's lives he stole from for his novels; also stars Kirstie Alley, Judy Davis and Billy Crystal. Taylor Hackford's The Devil's Advocate (Oct. 17) (Warner Bros.), based on the 1990 Andrew Neiderman novel stars Keanu Reeves as never-lose Gainesville, Fla. atty. Kevin Lomax, who sells his soul to NYC law firm boss John Milton (Al Pacino), who turns out to be the cackling lecherous Devil, while virtuous wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) and evangelic but not 100% angelic mother Alice Lomax (Judith Ivey) try to save him; does $152.9M box office on a $57M budget; "Vanity, definitely my favorite sin." Alan J. Pakula's The Devil's Own (Mar. 26) (Columbia Pictures) stars Brad Pitt as IRA soldier Francis "Frankie" McGuire alias Rory Devansy, who comes to New York City to obtain anti-aircraft missiles, and ends up befriending Irish-Am. cop Sgt. Tom O'Meara and his wife Sheila (Margaret Colin) and three daughters, complicating matters; Treat Williams plays arms dealer Billy Burke; Natascha McElhone plays IRA member Megan Doherty; does $140.8M box office on a $86M budget. George Hickenlooper's Dogtown stars Mary Stuart Masterson and Jon Favreau as residents of the Midwest hick town of Cuba where incest, Bible-thumping, alcohol, and chewing tobacco are the idea of normality. Mike Newell's Donnie Brasco (Feb. 28) stars Johnny Depp as an FBI undercover agent who gains the confidence of gangster Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero (Al Pacino); based on real life FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone. Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman (Aug. 3) stars Sihung Lung as widowed Taiwanese master chef Mr. Chu, who has three unmarried daughters who buck traditional Chinese culture; Lee's first all-around hit. Shohei Imamura's The Eel (Unagi) (May 12), based on the novel "On Parole" by Akira Yoshimura stars Koji Yakusho as Takuro Yamashita, who finds his wife in bed with another man and kills him, goes to prison, opens a barber shop, and hooks up with babe Keiko (Misa Shimizu), but falls in love with her pet eel. Paul W.S. Anderson's Event Horizon (Aug. 22), written by Philip Eisner stars Lawrence Fishburne as Capt. Miller of the starship Event Horizon, which jumps through a wormhole the wrong way and ends up in Hell; also stars Sam Neill as Dr. William Weir, Kathleen Quinlan as Lt. Peters, and Joely Richardson as Lt. Starck; does $42M box office on a $60M budget, becoming a flop in the U.S., but a hit in the U.K., becoming a cult film; "Infinite Space. Infinite Terror." Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (Jan. 3) features Woody singing in a tin ear musical about love among the neurotic rich? Alan Parker's Evita (Jan. 19) stars Marilyn Monroe-wannabe pop star Madonna (1958-), who changes costume 85x, wears 39 different hats and 45 pairs of shoes, all designed by Penny Rose (U.K.) based on originals owned by Eva Peron; she once again proves she can sing but can't act? John Woo's Face/Off (June 27) stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as the quintessential Woo good-guy-bad-guy flying violent meat puppets, who literally trade faces. David Evans' Fever Pitch (Apr. 4) (Channel 4 Films), based on the 1992 Nick Hornby autobio. novel stars Colin Firth as English North London teacher Paul Ashworth, whose obsession with the Arsenal soccer team gets in the way of his relationship with his teacher babe Sarah Hughes (Ruth Gemmell); features the May 26, 1898 title match with Liverpool along with the last-min. goal by Michael Thomas that secured their 2-0 win. Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (May 9) (most expensive non-Hollywood film to date, $80M), based on a story by Luc Besson about 23rd cent. Earth stars Bruce Willis as taxi driver Korben Dallas, Gary Oldman as evil Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, Ian Holm as Father Vito Cornelius, Gary Carter as Ruby Rhod, and Milla Jovovich as messiah Leeloo, taking sci-fi into silly new territory with walking talking good space turkeys vs. bad militant space dogs; Tiny Lister plays black U.S. pres. Lindberg; don't miss the great opera-singing by a blue-skinned alien Diva Plavalaguna (bald actress Kristen Fick/Maiwenn) with built-in organ pipes; the fifth element is Love. Peter Cattaneo's The Full Monty (Aug. 29) (Channel Four Films) (Fox Searchlight Pictures) is a British comedy film set in 1972 Sheffield, England, about six unemployed steel workers incl. Gary "Gaz" Schofield (Robert Carlyle), Dave Horsefall (Mark Addy), Nathan Schofield (WIlliam Snape), Lomper (Steve Hulson), Gerald Athur Cooper (Tom Wilkinson), and Barrington "Horse" Mitchell (Paul Barber) who decide to strip for money, one-upping the Chippendales by going "the full monty"; does $258M box office on a $3.5M budget. Michael Haneke's Funny Games (May 14) (Osterreischischer Runfunk) (Concorde-Castle) (Rock/Turner) stars Frank Giering and Arno Frisch as young Viennese killers Peter and Paul, who impose themselves on families by asking to borrow eggs then move in and torture them with sadistic games while Paul breaks the 4th wall; refilmed in the U.S. in 2007. Anthony Doublin's Future War (Jan. 28) (straight to video) stars kickboxing champ Daniel Bernhardt as the Runaway, who is pursued by cyborg slavers using dinosaur trackers. Andrew Niccol's Gattaca (Oct. 24) stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman in a biopunk futurist film about a world where those born after preimplanation genetic diagnosis ("valids") are given preferential treatment over those conceived by traditional means ("invalids"). Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting (Dec. 5), based on failed genius William James Sidis (1898-1944) is a breakthrough for Boston-raised screenwriter-actor buddies Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon (1970-) (Mad Demon?) and Ben Affleck (Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt) (1972-) (Son of Affliction?), who star as precious math genius orphan Will Hunting and his blue-collar buddy Chuckie Sullivan; also stars Robin Williams as pshrink Sean Maguire, Stellan Skarsgard as Fields Medal-winning MIT math prof. Gerald Lambeau, and Amelia Fiona J. "Minnie" Driver (1970-) as Will's Harvard pre-med student babe Skylar; makes Woody's L Street Tavern in South Boston famous; Will abandons his brain career for his wiener after curing his pshrink of the loss of his wife, then is cured of his childhood abuse problems in return; brings in $226M on a $10M budget; "If you're not thinking with your wiener then you're acting directly on its behalf" (Driver); "Sorry, guys, I gotta see about a girl" (Williams); "It's not about you, you mathematical dick" (Williams to Skarsgard); "It's not your fault" (Williams to Damon); "You wanna read a real history book? Read Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States. That book'll knock you on your ass" (Will); cops an article from the Dec. 1, 1994 New York Review of Books by Gordon S. Wood and James T. Lemon for a barroom debate about early Am. economics, stimulating interest in U.S. history and/or economics?; "You dropped $150K on an education you coulda got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library." George Armitage's Grosse Pointe Blank (Apr. 11) stars John Cusack as Grosse Pointe South h.s. grad turned assassin Martin Q Blank, who returns to his 10-year reunion to see his h.s. sweetheart Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver), while his rival Grocer (Dan Aykroyd) tries to kill him; also features Joan Cusack as Martin's secy. Marcella, and Alan Arkin as his pshrink. John Sayles' Hombres Armados (Men With Guns), based on the Guatemalan civil war of 1960-96 turns gunmen into forces of Nature searching for a place free of war and politics. Mark Waters' The House of Yes (Oct. 10), based on the Wendy MacLeod play stars Parker Posey and Josh Hamilton as twins Jackie-O and Marty, whose father was murdered by her mother Genevieve Bujold on Nov. 22, 1963, causing Jackie-O to think she's Jackie Onassis, dressing up in a pink suit with pillbox hat and recreating the assassination with him in the living room while having incest on the side. Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (Oct. 31), based on the 1994 Rick Moody novel stars Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christine Ricci, Elijah Wood, and Sigourney Weaver. Jim Gillespie's I Know What You Did Last Summer (Oct. 17) (Mandalay Entertainment) (Columbia Pictures), written by Kevin Williamson based on the 1973 Lois Duncan novel is about four young friends Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Barry Cos (Ryan Phillippe), and Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr.) who accidentally hit pedestrian Ben Willis (Muse Watson) on a costal highway on July 4, 1996 in Southport, N.C. and think they killed him and try to cover it up, only to find out a year later that he survived and is out to get revenge with a hook; does $125.2M box office on a $17M budget; followed by "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" (1998) and "I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer" (2006). Frank Oz's In and Out (Sept. 19) stars Kevin Kline as high school English teacher Howard Brackett, who is about to get married when former student-turned-movie-star Matt Dillon outs him, causing a media circus; the flick is endangered when Tom Hanks thanks and inadvertently outs his h.s. drama teacher when accepting his Oscar for "Philadelphia" in 1996. Neil LaBute's In the Company of Men (Aug. 1) stars Aaron Eckhart and Matt Malloy as business execs Chad and Howard, who set out to get even with the female race by ruining the life of innocent Christine (Stacy Edwards). Pat O'Connor, Inventing the Abbotts (Apr. 7) is about town #1 citizen Lloyd Abbott (Will Patton), his wife Joan (Barbara Williams), and three beautiful daughters Alice (Joanna Going), Eleanor (Jennifer Connelly) and Pamela (Liv Tyler), whom Jacey Holt (Billy Crudup) tries to seduce to get even with Lloyd for killing his father, while his younger brother Doug (Joaquin Phoenix) falls for Pamela. Michael Caton-Jones' The Jackal (Nov. 14) is a remake of the 1975 film "The Day of the Jackal" starring Bruce Willis as the Jackal, who targets the First Lady (Tess Harper) while Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere) and FBI deputy dir. Carter Preston (Sidney Poitier) try to stop him. Gary Fleder's Kiss the Girls (Oct. 3), based on the 1995 James Patterson novel stars Morgan Freeman as Dr. Alex Cross, and Ashley Judd as escaped kidnapee Kate Tiernan in a thriller about serial killer Casanova. Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential (Sept. 19) (Warner Bros.), based on the 1990 James Ellroy novel about cop corruption in 1953 Tinseltown being exposed by the scandal mag. "Hush-Hush" stars Kevin Spacey as Sgt. Jack Vincennes, Russell Crowe as officer Wendell "Bud" White, Guy Pearce as incorruptible det. Edmund Jennings "Ed" Exley, James Cromwell as super-corrupt police Capt. Dudley Liam Smith, Kim Basinger as Veronica Lake lookalike-for-hire Lynn Margaret Bracken, and Danny DeVito as reporter Sid Hudgens, whose byline is guess what?; does $126M box office on a $35M budget. John Duigan's Lawn Dogs (Nov. 21) is the breakthrough role for Sam Rockwell (1968-) as gardener Trent; also stars Mischa Barton as Devon Stockard. Tom Shadyac's Liar Liar (Mar. 21) (Universal) stars Jim Carrey as LA atty. Fletcher Reede, who neglects his son Max (Justin Cooper) until a spell causes him to be unable to lie; Laura Tierney plays Fletcher's ex-wife Audrey; Jennifer Tilly plays his lying client Samantha Cole; Cary Elwes plays Audrey's new beau Jerry; does $302.7M box office on a $45M budget. Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful (Dec. 20) (Cecchi Gori Group) (Miramax Films) stars Benigni as Jewish Italian man Guido Orefice, who is forced into a concentration camp by the Nazis in WWII, and tries to convince his son Giosue that he is in a safe but complex game; does $229.2M box office on a $20M budget. Jon Amiel's The Man Who Knew Too Little (Nov. 14) is a parody of the 1934/1956 Alfred Hitchcock classic "The Man Who Knew Too Much", starring Bill Murray. Barry Sonnenfeld's Men in Black (July 2) (COlumbia Pictures), based on the Marvel comic book series stars Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, and Will Smith as Agent J, who work for Chief Zed (Rip Torn) to fight renegade alien immigrants from outer space; brings in $589.4M on a $90M budget, causing Marvel to option Spider-Man et al. to Columbia Pictures; followed by the animated "Men in Black: The Series" (1997-2001) on The WB, "Men in Black II" (2002), and "Men in Black 3" (2012) - is that K for kracker and J for jigaboo? Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (Nov. 21) (Warner Bros.), based on the 1994 novel by John Berendt stars Kevin Spacey as Savannah, Ga. closet gay antiques dealer Jim Williams, who is accused of murdering his lover Billy (Jude Law); does $25.1M box office on a $30M budget. Gore Verbinski's Mouse Hunt (Dec. 19) stars Nathan Lane and Lee Evans as Ernie and Lars Smuntz, who fight a crafty rodent in an antique house. John Madden's (Her Majesty,) Mrs (Mrs.) Brown (July 18) (Buena Vista Internat.) (Miramax) stars Judi Dench as Queen Victoria, and over-the-top-Scottish Billy Connolly as her Scot-Scot-Scottish manservant John Brown, who forces Anthony Sher to play an even more over-the-top Disraeli; does $9.2M box office. Marleen Gorris' Mrs (Mrs.) Dalloway (Sept. 4) (First Look Pictures) (BBC Films), based on the 1925 Virginia Woolf novel stars Vanessa Redgrave as Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway, and Natascha McElhone as young Clarissa. P.J. Hogan's My Best Friend's Wedding(June 27) stars Julia Roberts as Julianne Potter, who falls in love with her best friend Michael O'Neal (Dermot Mulroney) the day he decides to marry someone else, Kimberly Wallace (Cameron Diaz). Gary Oldman's Nil by Mouth (May 8) (20th Cent. Fox) is about a dysfunctional family living in South East London, England, starring Ray Winstone as Raymond, abusive husband of Valerie (Kathy Burke), and her drug addict brother Billy (Charlie Creed-Miles); Oldman's debut as writer and dir.; features a record 82 usages of the word "cunt" (until ?), and a record 428 uses of the word "fuck" (until "Summer of Sam" in 1999); does $266K box office on a $9M budget. Gillian Armstrong's Oscar and Lucinda (Dec. 31) (AFFC) (Fox Searchlight Pictures), based on the 1988 Peter Carey novel stars Ralph Fiennes and Cate Blanchett as ex-Plymouth Brethren Anglican priest Oscar Hopkins and teenie Australian heiress Lucinda Leplastrier, who wants to build a church out of glass; does $4.9M box office on a $16M Australian budget. Mimi Leder's The Peacemaker (Sept. 26), based on 1994 Project Sapphire, the first film released by DreamWorks stars Nicole Kidman as White House nuclear expert Julia Kelly, who investigates a terrorist detonation of 700KT of SS-18 warheads in Russia with U.S. Army special forces Lt. Col. Thomas Devoe (George Clooney and Russian contact Dmitri Vertikoff (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book (June 6), based on a book by Sei Shonagon stars Vivian Wu as Japanese girl Nagiko, whose father paints Chinese characters on her face while her aunt reads to her from you know what, and her whole body ends up as a a canvas; features dirty sex scenes with Ewan McGregor, who becomes her canvas and signs his name on her belly. Jacques Doillon's Ponette (Mar. 14) stars Victoire Thivisol as a little girl who copes with her mommy's death by withdrawing. Kevin Costner's The Postman (Dec. 25), based on the 1985 David Brin novel is a giant box-office flop about post-apocalyptic U.S. in 2013, where the survivors rally around the idea that a govt. postal worker is still on the job?; co-stars Will Patton, who steals the show? Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime) (July 12) is a Japanime about Ashitaka, the last Emishi prince of Japan during the late Muromachi shogunate (1336-1573), and the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest, incl. Forest Spirit and wolf god Moro, and the greedy humans of Irontown who are ruining it. Jean-Pierre's and Luc Dardenne's La Promesse (May 16) is about Igor (Jeremie Renier) and his father Roger (Olivier Gourment), who rent apts. to illegal immigrants. Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker (Nov. 21) (Am. Zoetrope), based on the 1995 John Grisham novel stars Matt Damon as struggly atty. Rudy Baylor, who takes the case of Donny Ray (Johnny Whitworth), who died of leukemia after his insurance co. Great Benefit refused to pay for a bone marrow transplant; Danny Glover plays judge Tyrone Kipler, Jon Voight plays insurance co. lawyer Leo F. Drummond, Claire Danes plays Kelly Riker, and Mickey Rourke plays ambulance chaser atty. J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone; does $45.9M box office on a $40M budget. Alain Resnais' Same Old Song (On Connait la Chanson) is a funny melodrama where dialogue is replaced with lip-synched popular song lyrics. Gregory Nava's Selena (Mar. 21), about late Tejana music star Selena Quintanilla-Perez (1971-95), who was murdered in 1995 at age 23 by the pres. of her fan club becomes a vehicle for a new Puerto Rican singer with even more talent, Jennifer Lynn Lopez (J-Lo) (Jay-Lo) (1969-). Masayuki Sun's Shall We Dance (Dansu?) (July 11) is about an accountant (Koji Yakusho) who takes ballroom dancing lessons. Mark A.Z. Dippe's Spawn (Aug. 1), based on the Todd McFarlane comic book series stars Michael Jai White as govt. agent Al Simmons, who is murdered, sells his soul to Satan, and returns as cool super anti-hero, the hell-born Spawn in a mission to save his loved ones from the evil Violator (John Leguizamo), who teams up with human sleaze Martin Sheen while making tire tracks with the Clown (John Leguizamo). Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers (Nov. 7), loosely based on the 1959 Robert A. Heinlein novel with great SFX filmed in Hell's Half Acre in Wyo. stars Caspar Van Dien as young soldier Johnny Rico, who joins the Mobile Infantry to fight the Arachnid Bugs on planet Klendathu while c ourting babe Lt. Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards) and being pursued by Dizzy Flores (Dina Meyer); Michael Ironside plays his civilian teacher Jean Rasczak, who becomes his lt.; grosses $121M worldwide on a $105M budget. Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (May 14), based on the 1991 Russell Banks novel about the Sept. 21, 1989 Alton, Tex. accident stars Ian Holm as a slick city lawyer who approaches grieving parents after a school bus accident in upstate N.Y. about a class action suit, and sees it blown by a student who lies and claims the bus driver was speeding. James Cameron's Titanic (Oct. 31) ("Collide with destiny"), a 3-hour blockbuster written by James Cameron with help from "Night to Remember" author Walter Lord stars Leonardo DiCaprio as happy-go-lucky itinerant artist Jack Dawson, and Kate Winslet as "dish" debutante Rose DeWitt Bukater, who go down for the last time on the same bow where her lover boy DiCaprio earlier crowed "I'm the king of the world"; costs $285M (most expensive movie ever made until ?), becoming a titanic hit, breaking box office records set by "Star Wars" and "ET"; by the end of 1998 it makes $600M in the U.S. plus $1.2B overseas, and receives 14 Academy Award nominations, winning 11 of them, tying the record set by "Ben-Hur"; after "Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy series" actress Ann Rutherford (b. 1920) turns it down, veteran actress Gloria Stuart (1910-2010) plays 100-y.-o. Rose Dawson Calvert DeWitt Bukater, and becomes the oldest person nominated for an acting Oscar (until ?); Suzan Elizabeth "Suzy" Amis (1962-) (ex-wife of Sam Robards, son of Jason Robards and Lauren Bacall) plays Rose's granddaughter Lizzy Calvert, and after Stuart gets them hooked up and he dumps 3rd wife (1997-9) Linda Hamilton, she and Cameron marry on June 4, 2000; the song My Heart Will Go On, by James Horner and Will Jennings, sung by Celine Dion becomes a titanic hit and wins an Oscar; Winslet's longtime (since age 15) beau Stephen Tredre (1963-97) comes down with bone cancer during the film's production, goes into remission, and she splits with him, then he gets ill again and dies on Dec. 8 during the opening week of the film; on the set she meets and marries James Threapleton (1974-) (3rd asst. dir.), and they have 8 lb. 9 oz. daughter Mia; they divorce in 2000, and she marries dir. Sam Mendes (1965-), who was born in the same Dellwood hospital in Reading as her - my heart will what? Roger Spottiswoode's Tomorrow Never Dies (Dec. 9) (Eon Productions) (MGM) (United Artists) (United Internat. Pictures) (James Bond 007 film #18) stars Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, and Jonathan Pryce as bad guy media baron Elliot Carver, who tries to engineer WWIII so he can get exclusive coverage; Michelle Yeoh and Teri Hatcher sex the lame flick up as Col. Wai Lin and Paris Carver; too bad, it opens on the same day as "Titanic", hurting its box office; does $333M box office on a $110M budget; the best thing is the cool Tomorrow Never Dies Theme by Moby. Michael Winterbottom's Welcome to Sarajevo (Nov. 26), based on a true story by ITN reporter Michael Nicholson stars Woody Harrelson as Nicholson, and Stephen Dillane as British reporter Michael Henderson during the 1992 siege of Sarajevo. Iain Softley's The Wings of the Dove (Nov. 7), based on the 1902 Henry James novel stars Alison Elliott as ailing Am. heiress Millie Theale, who is moved in on by vultures Kate Croy (Helena Bonham Carter) and Merton Densher (Linus Roache). Plays: Dario Fo (1926-), The Devil with Boobs; The First Miracle of the Infant Jesus; Orgasmo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo; About Face; The Virtuous Burglar. Athol Fugard (1932-), The Captain's Tiger. Simon Gray (1936-2008), Life Support (Aldwych Theatre, London); Just the Three of Us (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre). David Hare (1947-), Amy's View. Tina Howe (1937-), Pride's Crossing. Thomas Kilroy, The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde. Tony Kushner (1956-), A Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds (Joseph Papp Theater, New York); adapted from the S. Ansky play; The Good Person of Szechuam; adapted from the Bertolt Brecht play. David Mamet (1947-), The Old Neighborhood (Nov. 19) (Booth Theatre, New York); stars Pieter Rieger and Patti LuPone. Frank McGuinness (1953-), Mutabilitie. Mark Medoff (1940-), Gunfighter - A Gulf War Chronicle; A Christmas Carousel. Alan Menken (1946-) and Tim Rice (1944-), King David (musical) (New Amsterdam Theatre, New York) (May) (1 perf.); based on the Bible books of Samuel and 1 Chronicles, plus the Psalms; celebration of Jerusalem's 3000th anniv.; stars Marcus Lovett as David, Alice Ripley as Bathsheba, Roger Bart as Jonathan, and Peter Samuel as Samuel. Tim Rice (1944-), Roger Allers (1949-), Irene Mecchi, and Elton John (1947-), The Lion King (musical) (Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, Minn.) (July 8) (New Amsterdam Theatre, New York) (Nov. 13) (8,074 perf.); (Lyceum Theatre, West End, London) (Oct. 19, 1999) (Minskoff Theatre, New York) (June 13, 2006) (8,074 perf.); based on the 1994 Walt Disney animated film, with mandrill Rafiki changed from male to female, played by Tsidii Le Loka; features the songs "Circle of Life", "Hakuna Matata", "Rafiki Mourns". Tom Stoppard (1937-), The Invention of Love; about Oxford scholar A.E. Housman and his gay bud Moses Jackson. Alfred Uhry (1936-), The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Helen Hayes Theatre, New York) (Feb. 27) (556 perf.); dir. by Ron Lagomarsino; an upper class German-Jewish family in Atlanta, Ga. at the Dec. 1939 premiere of "Gone With the Wind" discovers intra-ethnic prejudice at a lavish cotillion ball; #2 in the Jews in Atlanta Trilogy (1987-98). #2 in the Jews in Atlanta Trilogy (1987-98). Paula Vogel (1951-) How I Learned to Drive (Pulitzer Prize) (Vineyard Theatre, New York) (Mar. 16); dir. by Mark Brokaw; 18-y.-o. Li'l Bit (Mary-Louise Parker) and her pedophile Uncle Peck (David Morse), who liked to molest her in his car starting at age 11. Derek Walcott (1930-), The Capeman; lyrics by Paul Simon. Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006), An American Daughter (Apr. 12) (Cort Theatre, New York); stars Kate Nelligan, Lynne Thigpen, Hal Holbrook, Bruce Norris, and Elizabeth Marvel. Robert Wilson (1941-) and Lou Reed (1942-), Timerocker. Maury Yeston (1945-) and Peter Stone (1930-2003), Titanic (musical) (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York) (Apr. 23) (804 perf.), about the Apr. 15, 1912 Titanic disaster, with orchestration by Jonathan Tunick, and scenic design by Stewart Laing; somehow turning a tragedy into a celebration, it fails to each 1K performances despite the release of James Cameron's film "Titanic" in Dec., which has no connection. Poetry: Elizabeth Alexander (1962-), Body of Life. Archie Randolph Ammons (1926-2001), Glare. Frank Bidart (1939-), Desire. Robert Bly (1926-2021), Morning Poems. Edgar Bowers (1924-2000), Collected Poems. William Bronk (1918-99), Life Supports. Amy Clampitt (1920-94), The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt (posth.). Louise Gluck (1943-), Meadowlands (May 1); interweaves Homer's "The Odyssey" with the dissolution of a contemporary marriage, "unanswerable/affliction of the human heart: how to divide/ the world's beauty into acceptable/ and unacceptable loves." Jorie Graham (1950-), The Errancy. Peter Handke (1942-), Preparations for Immortality: A Royal Drama. Robert L. Hass (1941-), Sun Under Wood. Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996. Maxine Kumin (1925-2014), Selected Poems 1960-1990; NYT notable book of the year; incl. How It Is; ("Shall I say how it is in your clothes?"), After Love (Afterward, the compromise./ Bodies resume their boundaries.../ Nothing is changed, except/ there was a moment when/ the wolf, the mongering wolf/ who stands outside the self/ lay lightly down, and slept.") Denise Levertov (1923-97), The Life Around Us: Selected Poems on Nature; The Stream & the Sapphire: Selected Poems on Religious Themes. Larry Levis (1946-96), Elegy (posth.). Patrick Marber (1964-), Closer William Meredith Jr. (1919-2007), Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems. W.S. Merwin (1927-), Flower & Hand. Mary Oliver (1935-), West Wind: Poems and Prose Poems. Stanley Plumly (1939-), The Marriage in the Trees. Reynolds Price (1933-), Collected Poems. Kenneth Rexroth (1905-82), Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems (posth.). Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012), 100 Poems - 100 Happinesses. Derek Walcott (1930-), The Bounty. C.K. Williams (1936-), With Ignorance; The Vigil. Charles Wright (1935-), Black Zodiac (Apr. 1) (Pulitzer Prize); incl. "Apologia Pro Vita Sua" ("Journal and landscape/ ?Discredited form, discredited subject matter?; I tried to resuscitate them both, breath and blood,/ making them whole again"), "Meditation on Form and Measure" ("Time and light are the same thing somewhere behind our backs"), Novels: Alice Adams (1926-99), Medicine Men. Mitch Albom (1958-), Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lessons (first novel); bestseller (14M); life-death discussions with sociology prof. Morrie Schwartz, who suffers from ALS. Mark Amerika, Grammatron; an online hypertext novel with 1K text screens. Martin Amis (1949-), Night Train. Kate Atkinson, Human Croquet. Louis Auchincloss (1917-), The Atonement and Other Stories. Frederick Barthelme (1943-), Bob the Gambler. Ann Beattie (1947-), My Life, Starring Dara Falcon. Wendell Berry (1934-), A World Lost; Two More Stories of the Port William Membership. John Birmingham (1964-), The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco; sequel to "He Died with a Felafel in His Hand" (1994). Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933-), Power of a Woman. Anita Brookner (1928-), Visitors. James Lee Burke (1936-), Cimarron Rose; first in a series about Texas atty. Billy Bob Holland. Robert Olen Butler (1945-), The Deep Green Sea. Hortense Calisher (1911-2009), In the Slammer with Carol Smith. Philip Caputo (1941-), Exiles. Tracy Chevalier (1964-), The Virgin Blue. Lee Child (1955-), Killing Floor; Jack Reacher. Agatha Christie (1890-1976), The Harlequin Tea Seat (short stories) (posth.) (Apr. 14); While the Light Lasts and Other Stories (short stories) (posth.) (Aug. 4). Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), Pretend You Don't See Her. Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), 3001: The Final Odyssey; the freeze-dried body of 2001 astronaut Frank Poole is discovered in deep space by human spaceship Goliath, who revive him and take him back to 3001 Earth, where he discovers the BrainCap, dino servants, the space drive, and the four space elevators spaced around the equator, and learns that the Jovian monolith is about to get orders from its maker 450 l.y. away to destroy human civilization, creating a virus to stop it; filmed in ?. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (1940-), Hasard suivi de Angoli Mala; consists of the novellas "Hasard", about a young girl who runs away from home after her father abandons the family and hooks up with an aging cinema producer, and "Angoli Mala", named after a legendary person cured of insanity by Buddha, about a Central Am. Indian who is destroyed by the colonialist govt. Paul Coelho (1947-), Love Letters from a Prophet; The Manual of the Warrior of Light. J.M. Coetzee (1940-), Boyhood: Scenes from Boyhood Life (fictional autobio.). Robin Cook (1940-), Chromosome 6; Dr. Jack Stapleton traces a Mafia corpse to Africa. Invasion. Catherine Cookson (1906-98), The Obsession. Patricia Cornwell (1956-), Unnatural Exposure; Kay Scarpetta #8; Hornet's Nest. Jim Crace (1946-), Quarantine. Clive Cussler (1931-), Flood Tide; Dirk Pitt #14. Guy Davenport (1927-2005), Twelve Stories. Jeffrey Deaver (1950-), The Bone Collector; quadriplegic forensic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme #1; filmed in 1999 starring Denzel Washington. Don DeLillo (1936-), Underworld (Oct. 3); waste mgt. exec Nick Say and his wife Marian. J.P. Donleavy (1926-), An Author and His Image (short stories). Margaret Drabble (1939-), The Witch of Exmoor; the Palmer family. Paul Eddy, Flint; the author, a U.K. Sunday Times journalist receives a record $2.8M advance from British and U.S. publishers. Harlan Ellison (1934-), Slippage (short stories). Paul Emil Erdman (1932-2007), The Set-Up. Louise Erdrich (1954-), Tales of Burning Love (short stories). Howard Fast (1914-2003), An Independent Woman. Helen Fielding (1959-), Bridget Jones's Diary; based on her columns in The Independent, about a babe who smokes and drinks too much and is obsessed with dieting, drinking 3,386 units of alcohol, smoking 5,277 cigarettes, gaining 74 lbs., then losing 72 lbs. - what would you do-oo-oo for a Klondike Bar? Penelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000), The Blue Flower. Richard Ford (1944-), Women with Men: Three Stories. Robert Lull Forward (1932-2002), Saturn Rukh. Charles Frazier (1950-), Cold Mountain (first novel); epic love story between Confederate soldier deserter Will Inman and babe Claire; filmed in 2006. Esther Freud (1963-), Gaglow. Elizabeth M. Gilbert (1969-), Pilgrims (short stories) (debut); The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon; about an East Village boar that opened in 1993, and pub. in Gentleman's Quarterly mag., becoming the basis for the 2000 film "Coyote Ugly"; meaning somebody so ugly that if you woke up with them pinning your arm you'd gnaw it off to get away. Francisco Goldman (1954-), The Ordinary Seaman. Allegra Goodman (1967-), The Family Markowitz. Simon Gray (1936-2008), Breaking Hearts. Judith Guest (1936-), Errands. Arthur Hailey (1920-2004), Detective. Joe Haldeman (1943-), Forever Peace. Richard Hamilton (1922-), The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto. Peter Handke (1942-), On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House. Everette Lynn Harris (1955-2009), And This Too Shall Pass. John Hawkes (1925-98), An Irish Eye (last novel). Scott Heim (1966-), In Awe. Carl Hiaasen (1953-), Lucky You. George V. Higgins (1939-99), A Change of Gravity. Alice Hoffman (1952-), Here on Earth. David R. Ignatius (1950-), A Firing Offense. Christopher Isherwood (1904-86), Jacob's Hands: A Fable (posth.). P.D. James (1920-), A Certain Justice; Adam Dalgliesh #10. Ha Jin (1956-), Under the Red Flag (short stories). Diane Johnson, Le Divorce. Ward Just (1935-), Echo House. John Kessel (1950-), Corrupting Dr. Nice. Stephen King (1947-), Wizard and Glass; 4th vol. of the Dark Tower series. Dean Koontz (1945-), Sole Survivor. Pascal Laine (1942-), Le Commerce des Apparences. Anne Lamott (1954-), Crooked Little Heart. Emma Lathen, A Shark Out of Water; John Putnam Thatcher #24. Brad Leithauser (1953-), The Friends of Freeland. Jonathan Lethem (1964-), As She Climbed Across the Table. Ira Levin (1929-2007), Son of Rosemary; sequel to "Rosemary's Baby" (1967); Rosemary Woodhouse goes into a coma in 1973, and wakes up in a long-term care facility in Nov. 1999, discovering that her devil son Andy's coven put her in a spell to keep her from running away with him, and that he is now 33-y.-o. and the charismatic popular leader of an internat. charity, and is about to reveal himself as the Antichrist and unleash a global killer virus; roast mules. Gail Carson Levine (1947-), Ella Enchanted; a retelling of Cinderella with fairies, elves etc., set in the Kingdom of Biddle. Ira Levin (1929-2007), Son of Rosemary. Paulo Lins, City of God; semi-autobio. novel about the Cidade de Deus favela in W Rio; filmed in 2002. Charles de Lint (1951-), Trader. Laura Lippman (1959-), Baltimore Blues; #1 in the Tess Managhan series, about a reporter turned PI in Baltimore, Md. Graham Lord (1943-), A Party to Die For. Robert Ludlum (1927-2001), The Matarese Countdown. Norman Mailer (1923-2007), The Gospel According to the Son. David Mamet (1947-), The Old Religion; about the lynching of Leo Frank. Peter Matthiessen (1927-), Lost Man's River. Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) (1926-2005), The Last Best Hope; the 13th and final Matthew Hope Novel; brings him together with 87th Precinct detective Steve Carella. Colleen McCullough (1937-), Caesar; Masters of Rome #5; Julius Caesar and his Gallic Wars. Gregory Mcdonald (1937-2008), Skylar in Yankeeland. Ian McEwan (1948-), Enduring Love. Larry McMurtry (1936-), Comanche Moon; prequel to "Lonesome Dove". Larry McMurtry (1936-) and Diana Ossana, Zeke and Ned. Paul Melville, The Ventriloquist's Tale; a brother-sister romance in Guyana. Walter M. Miller Jr. (1923-96), Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman (posth.); finished by Terry Bisson. Magnus Mills, The Restraint of Beasts; about a trio of fence builders. Rick Moody, Purple America. Brian Moore (1921-99), The Magician's Wife (last novel); a French official tricks Algerians into beliving in his magic to demoralize them, while his wife tags along and decides to derail him. Christopher Moore (1957-), Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story; a humorous vampire tale? Walter Mosley (1952-), Gone Fishin'; Easy Rawlins #6. Herta Muller (1953-), Heute War Ich Mir Lieber Nicht Begegnet (The Appointment). Francois Nourissier (1927-), Le Bar de l'Escadrille. Joyce Carol Oates (1938-), Man Crazy. Stewart O'Nan (1961-), The Speed Queen. Cynthia Ozick (1928-), The Puttermesser Papers. Chuck Palahniuk (1962-), Fight Club; a messianic figure founds a club for people to fight each other, turning it into a sinister cult. Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Night Passage; Jesse Stone #1. David Murray "Dav" Pilkey Jr. (1966-), The Adventures of Captain Underpants: An Epic Novel; bathroom humor for kids - how do you like your girlfriend, oh wow? Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Small Vices; Spenser #24. Robert Pinget (1919-97), Taches d'Encre (Traces of Ink). Laurens van der Post (1906-96), The Admiral's Baby (Oct.); WWII Java. Francine Prose (1947-), Guided Tours of Hell (short stories). Philip Pullman (1946-), The Subtle Knife. Thomas Pynchon (1937-), Mason and Dixon; from the POV of Rev. Wicks Cherrycoke about the fun 1760s, complete with a talking dog. Daniel Quinn (1935-), My Ishmael; sequel to "Ishmael" (1992). Tom Renton, Hostage to Fortune. Anne Rice (1941-), The Violin (Oct. 15); a ghost story. Angelo Rinaldi (1940-), Dernieres Nouvelles de la Nuit. Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-), Antarctica. Judith Rossner (1935-2005), Perfidia (last novel). Philip Roth (1933-2018), American Pastoral (Pulitzer Prize); an aging athlete grieves over his 60s terrorist daughter. J.K. "Jo" Rowling (1965-), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (June 26); sales begin to take off immediately, soon causing a healthy rise in Satanism among children as the Edinburgh welfare queen leaves the welfare rolls and becomes the richest woman in the U.K., selling 6.9M books in one 24-hour period; evil Lord Voldemort (formerly Tom Riddle AKA I Am Lord Voldemort) murders James and Lily Potter and disappears after attempting to kill their infant son Harry Potter, causing Prof. Dumbledore, Prof. McGonagall and half-giant Rubeus Hagrid to place them in the care of muggle uncle-aunt Vernon and Petunia Dursley and their spoiled bully son Dudley, who live at 4 Privet Dr., until on his 11th birthday at midnight Hagrud arrives, tells him he's a wizard, and has been accepted at Hogwarts School for Wizards; "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley... were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much" (first line); the 7-novel series sells 400M copies (bestselling series in history), and incl.: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998); Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999); Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000); Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007); "I've met thousands of children, and not even one time has a child come up to me and said, 'I'm so glad I've read these books, because now I want to be a witch'" (Rowling) (instead of a muggle?); Harry Potter "the Boy Who Lived", Ron and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Muggle cousin Dudley Dursley and his pal Piers, Peeves, Draco Malfoy, Neville Longottom (birthday one day before Harry), Sirius and Regulus Black, Remus J. Lupin, Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew, Lupin, Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody, Rubeus Hagrid, Hedwig and Errol the pet owls, Prof. Albus Dumbledore, Prof. Minerva McGonagall, Prof. Severus Snape, Prof. Flitwick, 9-3/4 King's Cross Station, Hogwarts School, Gryffindor House, Slytherin House, Ravenclaw House, Hufflepuff House, Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Diagon Alley, Mirror of Erised, Lord Voldemort ("He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"), 3-headed dog Fluffy, Floo Powder, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (tar, earwax, mud), Quidditch, Nimbus 2000 broomstick, the missing Horcruxes, the Death Eaters; Ron got super-mad at Harry and Hermione when he was wearing the Horcrux. Arundhati Roy (1961-), The God of Small Things; sells 350K copies in 5 mo. Lawrence Sanders (1920-98), McNally's Gamble. Jose Saramago (1922-2010), All the Names (Todos os Nomes); The Tale of the Unknown Island (O Conto da Ilha Desconhecida). Nathalie Sarraute (1900-99), Ouvrez. Karl Schroeder (1962-), The Claus Effect (first novel). Melissa Scott (1960-), Dreaming Metal. Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007), The Best Laid Plans. Carol Shields, Larry's Party. Anita Shreve (1946-), The Weight of Water; the 1873 Smuttynose, Maine murders are investigated by mag. photographer Jean Janes, who imagines a solution; filmed in 2000. Anne Rivers Siddons (1936-), Up Island. Dan Simmons (1948-), The Rise of Endymion. Claude Simon (1913-2005), Le Jardin des Plantes (The Garden). Lee Smith (1944-), News of the Spirit (short stories). LaVyrle Spencer (1943-), That Camden Summer (Mar. 1); Roberta Jewett in Maine. Danielle Steel (1947-), The Ghost; The Ranch; Special Delivery. Robert Stone (1937-), Bear and His Daughter (short stories). Richard Russo (1949-), Straight Man. Whitley Strieber (1945-), Evenings With Demons (short stories). Rose Tremain (1943-), The Way I Found Her. Lucian K. Truscott IV (1946-), Heart of War (May 31); Maj. Kate Guidry defends the murderer of a female U.S. Army officer. Fay Weldon (1931-), Big Women. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), Timequake; people in Feb. 13, 2001 are thrown back to 1991; Kilgore Trout again. Paul West (1930-), Sporting with Amaryllis. Edmund White (1940-), The Farewell Symphony; vol. 3 of his gay autobio. trilogy. Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), The Walls Came Tumbling Down. Tobias Wolff (1945-), The Night in Question (short stories). Births: Am. 6'2" football QB (black) (Baltimore Ravens #8, 2018-) Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. on Jan. 7 in Pompano Beach, Fla.; educated at the U. of Louisville. Am. "Zach Lair in Around the Bend", "Danny Budwing in Zathura: A Space Adventure" actor (Jewish) Ezra Jonah Bobo on Jan. 24 in Roosevelt Island, N.Y. Am. actor Matthew Gumley on Feb. 7 in West Palm Beach, Fla. Am. 6'0" football RB (black) (New York Giants #26, 2018-) Saquon Rasul Quevis Barkley on Feb. 9 in Bronx, N.Y.; educated at Penn. State U. Am. basketball forward-guard (black) (Phoenix Suns, 2017-) Joshua O'Neal "Josh" Jackson on Feb. 10 in San Diego, Calif.; educated at the U. of Kan. Am. 6'4" football QB (Arizona Cardinals #3, 2018-) (Jewish) Joshua Ballinger Lippincott "Josh" Rosen on Feb. 10 in Manhattan Beach, Calif.; educated at UCLA; great-great-great grandson of Joseph Wharton (1826-1909); descendant of Thomas Cornell Sr. (1595-1655) and Joseph Ballinger Lippincott. Am. "Rachel Hansen in 500 Days of Summer", "Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass" actress Chloe (Chloë) Grace Moretz on Feb. 10 in Atlanta, Ga.; grows up in Cartersville, Ga. Am. 6'4" football QB (Arizona Cardinals, 2018-) Joshua Ballinger Lippincott "Josh" Rosen on Feb. 10 in Manhattan Beach, Calif.; educated at UCLA. Am. celeb son Prince Michael Jackson I (Michael Joseph Jackson Jr.) on Feb. 13 in Beverly Hills, Calif.; son of Michael Jackson (1958-2009) and Debbie Rowe (1958-); brother of Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson (1998-); half-brother of Prince Michael II (2002-). Am. "Esther in Orphan", "Clove in The Hunger Games" actress Isabelle Fuhrman on Feb. 25 in Washington, D.C.; grows up in Atanta, Ga.; Russian Jewish descent parents. Am. 4'9" Olympic gymnast (black) Simone Arianne Biles on Mar. 14 in Columbus, Ohio. Am. 5'11" Olympic swimmer (Roman Catholic) Kathleen Genevieve "Katie" Ledecky on Mar. 17 in Washington, D.C.; Irish Roman Catholic descent mother. Jordanian princesses Aisha and Sara bint Faisal on Mar. 27; daughters of Prince Faisal and Princess Aliya Taaba; nieces of Abdulla II. English "Bruno in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas", "Ender Wiggins in Ender's Game" actor Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield on Apr. 1 in Islington, London. Am. affluenza celeb Ethan Anthony Couch on Apr. 11 in Tarrant County, Tex. English "Arya Stark in Game of Thrones" actress Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams on Apr. 15 in Bristol; nicknamed after "The Perishers" comic strip. Am. 6'0" golfer Brooks Kopeka on May 3 in West Palm Beach, Fla.; educated at Fla. State U. Am. "Parker Scavo in Desperate Housewives" actor Zane Huett on May 9 in Riverside, Calif. Am. 6'1" boxer Edgar Luis "The Chosen One" Berlanga on May 18 in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Puerto Rican immigrant parents. Am. "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" actress (black) Alana Etheridge on May 18 in San Diego, Calif. Am. 6'3" football QB (New York Jets #14, 2018-) Samuel Richard "Sam" Darnold on June 5 in Capistrano Beach, Calif.; educated at USC. Cuban baseball 1B player (Houston Astros #44, 2019-) Yordan Ruben Alvarez (Álvarez) on June 27 in Las Tunas. Pakistani women's rights activist (Sunni Muslim) Malala ("sad", "melancholic") Yousafzai on July 12 in Mingora, Swat; 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Am. "Young Ned in Pushing Daisies" actor Field Cate on July 22 in Burlington, Vt.; great-grandnephew of Esther Ralston (1902-94). Am. "Gracie in According to Jim" actress Sarah "Billi" Bruno on July 20 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. 5'10" football QB (black) (Ariz. Cardinals #1, 2019-) Kyler Cole Murray on Aug. 7 in Bedford, Tex.; educated at the U. of Okla. Am. reality star and billionaire cosmetics queen Kylie Kristen Jenner on Aug. 10 in Los Angeles, Calif. youngest daughter of Caitlyn Jenner (1949-) and Kris Jenner (1955-); sister of Kendall Jenne (1995-)r; half-sister of Kourtney Kardashian (1979-), Kim Kardashian (1980-), and Khloe Kardashian (1984-). Am. "Kady Kyle in My Wife and Kids" actress (black) Parker McKenna Posey on Aug. 18 in Los Angeles, Calif.; no relation to Parker Posey (1968-). Am. "Ben Newman in Click" actor Joseph Michael Castanon on Aug. 19 in Denver, Colo. Am. 6'9" basketball player (black) (Los Angeles Lakers #14, 2016-) Brandon Ingram on Sept. 2 in Kinston, N.C.; educated at Duke U. English "Darby in My Friends Trigger & Pooh" actress Kimberlea Due Berg on Sept. 8 in London. Am. "Little Eric in the Bold and the Beautiful" actor Connor Carmody on Oct. 8 in New York City. Am. "CeCe Jones in Shake It Up" actress-model (dyslexic) Annabella Avery "Bella" Thorne on Oct. 8 in Pembroke Pines (near Miami), Fla.; Cuban immigrant father, Italian descent mother. Japanese tennis player (black) Naomi Osaka on Oct. 16 in Chuo-ku; Haitian father, Japanese mother; sister of Mari Osaka (1996-); moves to the U.S. at age 3. Am. 6'6" basketball guard (black) (Los Angeles Lakers #2, 2017-) Lonzo Anderson Ball on Oct. 27 in Anaheim, Calif.; educated at UCLA. Am. actor-drummer (Jewish) Alexander Draper "Alex" Wolff (Naked Brothers Band) on Nov. 1 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. 7'1" basketball forward-center Dragan Bender on Nov. 17 in Caplijna, Bosnia-Herzegovina; grows up in Split, Croatia. Venezuelan baseball outfielder (black) (Atlanta Braves #13, 2018-) Ronald Jose Acuna (José Acuña) Blanco Jr. on Dec. 18 in La Guaira. Deaths: Am. oldest person on Earth Jeanne Calment (b. 1875) on Aug. 4 at age 122. Malawian dictator (1961-94) Hastings Kamuzu Banda (b. 1896) on Nov. 25 in South Africa. Am. mountaineer Hulda Crooks (b. 1896) on Nov. 23; namesake of Crooks Peak in Calif. German physicist Friedrich Hund (b. 1896) on Mar. 31. English writer V.S. Pritchett (b. 1900 on Mar. 20. German-born Am. physicist Henry Margenau (b. 1901) on Feb. 8. Austrian-born British opera mgr. Sir Rudolf Bing (b. 1902) on Sept. 2 in Yonkers, N.Y. (Alzheimer's and respiratory failure). Canadian-born Am. physician Charles Brenton Huggins (b. 1902) on Jan. 12 in Chicago, Ill.; 1966 Nobel Medicine Prize. Chinese Communist leader Peng Zhen (b. 1902) on Apr. 26 in Beijing. Am. "The American Beauty" actress Billie Dove (b. 1903) on Dec. 31 in Woodland Hills, Calif. Australian neurophysiologist Sir John Carew Eccles (b. 1903) on May 2 in Locarno, Switzerland; 1963 Nobel Medicine Prize; one of the few devout theist evolutionists. Am. Columbia U. pres. #14 (1953-68) Grayson Louis Kirk (b. 1903) on Nov. 21 in Yonkers, N.Y. English historian Alfred Leslie Rowse (b. 1903) on Oct. 3. Am. psychic Jeane Dixon (b. 1904) on Jan. 25 in Washington, D.C. (heart failure). Dutch-born Am. abstract expressionist painter Willem de Kooning (b. 1904) on Mar. 19 in East Hampton, Long Island, N.Y. Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping (b. 1904) on Feb. 19 in Beijing (lung infection and Parkinson's disease); last major figure in the Long March of the 1930s. Austrian "Man's Search for Meaning" Holocaust survivor psychiatrist Viktor Emil Frankl (b. 1905) on Sept. 2 in Vienna. French tennis player Rene Lacoste (b. 1905). Latvian-born Israeli Biblical scholar Nechama Leibowitz (b. 1905) on Apr. 12 in Jerusalem. Turkish-born Am. inventor Luther George Simjian (b. 1905) on Oct. 23 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. U.S. Supreme Court justice #90 (1956-90) William J. Brennan Jr. (b. 1906) on July 24 in Washington, D.C. Am. iron lung inventor John Haven Emerson (b. 1906) on Feb. 4. English lit. critic Lionel Charles Knights (b. 1906) on Mar. 8 in Durham. Am. astronomer (discoverer of Pluto) Clyde William Tombaugh (b. 1906) on Jan. 17 in Las Cruces, N.M. Hungarian-born French artist Victor Vasarely (b. 1906) on Mar. 15 in Paris. Am. scientist George Wald (b. 1906) on Apr. 12 in Cambridge, Mass.; 1967 Nobel Medicine Prize. Am. writer Leon Edel (b. 1907) on Sept. 5: "A biography seems irrelevant if it doesn't discover the overlap between what the individual did and the life that made this possible. Without discovering that, you have shapeless happenings and gossip." Am. hairdresser Sydney Guilaroff (b. 1907) on May 25 in Beverly Hills, Calif. French artist Dora Maar (b. 1907) on July 16 in Paris. Am. novelist James A. Michener (b. 1907) on Oct. 17 in Austin, Tex. (takes himself off kidney dialysis); spent a record 207 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists (#2 is St4phen King with 100); gets even with the U. of Texas for failing to name a bldg. for him by leaving his mss. to the U. of Northern Colo., where he taught in the 1930s (Colo. State Teachers College): "Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries"; "I have never had a burning desire to do anything in my life." Am. writer Samuel Woolley Taylor (b. 1907) on Sept. 26 in Redwood City, Calif. Scottish biochemist Alexander R. Todd (b. 1907) on Jan. 10; 1957 Nobel Chem. Prize. U.S. HUD sec. #1 (1966-8) Robert Clifton Weaver (b. 1907) on July 17 in Manhattan, N.Y. Am. painter Henriette Wyeth Hurd (b. 1907) on Aprl. 3 in Roswell, N.M. (pneumonia): "Nothing is easy. It is not easy to have a baby, for a tree to grow - but that's what is beautiful." Austrian-born Am. "From Here to Eternity", "High Noon" dir. Fred Zinnemann (b. 1907) on Mar. 14 in London (heart attack). Am. "The Three Faces of Eve" cinematographer Stanley Cortez (b. 1908) on Dec. 23 in Hollywood, Calif. (heart attack). French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli (b. 1908) on Dec. 1 in Paris. Am. geneticist Alfred Day Hershey (b. 1908) on May 22; 1969 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. tennis player Helen Hull Jacobs (b. 1908) on June 2 in East Hampton, N.Y. Am. "Penguin in Batman" actor Burgess Meredith (b. 1908) on Sept. 9/10 in Malibu, Calif. Am. novelist Ann Petry (b. 1908) on Apr. 28 in Old Saybrook, Conn. Polish-born Am. writer Leo Calvin Rosten (b. 1908) on Feb. 19 in New York City. "Truth is stranger than fiction; fiction has to make sense"; "We see things as we are, not as they are"; "I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful... to have made some difference that you lived at all"; "A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead." Am. actor Jimmy Stewart (b. 1908) on July 2 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (pulmonary blood clot). Japanese architect Junzo Yoshimura (b. 1908) on Apr. 11: "If a house has a center of gravity, first of all there is stability. From stability there is serenity. I think this leads to a pleasant feeling." Am. actress Polly Ann Young (b. 1908) on Jan. 21 in Los Angeles, Calif. (cancer). Am. writer-gardener (developer of Miracle-Gro) Samm Sinclair Baker (b. 1909) on Mar. 5 in Port Chester, N.Y. Am. "Judge Vail in Dark Shadows" actor John Beal (b. 1909) on Apr. 26 in Santa Cruz, Calif. Latvian-born British philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin (b. 1909) on Nov. 12 in Oxford (heart attack); Stores most of his writings in the basement of Headington House, his elegant Queen Anne residence in Oxford, and his lectures often went unpublished, while his essays were scattered in so many magazines and journals that his body of work was inaccessible to most people until his grad student Henry Hardy collects and pub. 5 vols. of it; "Like Our Lord and Socrates he does not publish much, he thinks and says a great deal and has had an enormous influence on our times." (Maurice Bowra): "I don't mind death. I'm not afraid of it. I'm afraid of dying for it could be painful. But I find death a nuisance; I object to it. I'd rather it didn't happen... I'm terribly curious. I'd like to live forever." Am. business exec Harry B. Helmsley (b. 1909) on Jan. 4 in Scottsdale, Ariz. (pneumonia); leaves his $5.5B empire to wife Leona Helmsley. Am. racehorse trainer Buddy Hirsch (b. 1909) oon Oct. 25 in Bal Harbour, Fla. Dutch-born Am. impresario (Elvis' mgr.) Col. Tom Parker (b. 1909) on Jan. 21 in Las Vegas, Nev. French gen. Georges Roger Pierre (b. 1909) on Sept. 15 in Mimizan. Am. Manhattan Project physicist Robert Serber (b. 1909) on June 1 in New York City (brain cancer). Am. actress Sally Blane (b. 1910) on Aug. 27 in Palm Springs, Calif. (cancer). French marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau (b. 1910) on June 25 in Paris: "Gravity - I saw it in a flash - was the original sin, committed by the first living beings who left the sea. Redemption would come only when we returned to the ocean as already the sea mammals have done." Am. writer Margaret Halsey (b. 1910) on Feb. 4 in White Plains, N.Y.: "The role of a do-gooder is not what actors call a fat part." Philippine pres. #9 (1961-5) Diosdado Pangan Macapagal (b. 1910) on Apr. 21 in Makati, Manila (heart failure). Am. Denver mayor #40 (1968-83) Bill McNichols (b. 1910) on May 29. Indian guru Sri H.W.L. Poonja (b. 1910) on Sept. 7 in Lucknow. Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun-missionary St. Teresa of Calcutta (b. 1910) on Sept. 5 in Calcutta; beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003; canonized by Pope Francis on Sept. 4, 2016; her beatification was the result of a media campaign, and she didn't deserve it because she let the poor suffer while she hoarded hundreds of millions?: "By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus." English historian Dame Cicely Veronica Wedgwood (b. 1910) on Mar. 9: "An educated man should know everything about something, and something about everything." English "Thomas the Tank Engine" children's writer Rev. Wilbert Awdry (b. 1911) on Mar. 21 in Rodborough, Stroud, Gloucestershire. Am. chemist Melvin Ellis Calvin (b. 1911) on Jan. 8 in Cambridge, England; 1961 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. Bob Jones U. pres. (1947-71) Bob Jones Jr. (b. 1911) on Nov. 12: "I am inclined to blame every evil on Romanism. Although I dislike everything about the harlot church, the so-called Society of Jesus is the most vicious creation of that religion of darkness and dead bones"; "I have no brief for Oral Roberts, whom I regard as one of the biggest religious phonies in America today"; "For a long time I believed that Billy [Graham] was doing more harm than any other living man. What a tragedy to see him building the church of Antichrist, masking the wickedness of popery, and providing a sheep's cloak of Christian recognition for the wolves of apostasy." English librettist Myfanwy Piper (b. 1911) on Jan. 18 in Fawley Bottom (near Henley), Buckinghamshire. Canadian sports team owner Jack Kent Cooke (b. 1912) on Apr. 6 in Middleburg, Va. French composer Jean Francaix (b. 1912) on Sept. 25 in Paris. Am. "White Dog" dir. Samuel Fuller (b. 1912) on Oct. 30 in Hollywood, Calif. Am. golfer Ben Hogan (b. 1912) on July 25 in Ft. Worth, Tex. Japanese dir. Keisuke Kinoshita (b. 1912) on Dec. 30 in Tokyo (stroke). Am. "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" composer-lyricist Burton Lane (b. 1912) on Jan. 5 in New York City. Am. "Russell Lawrence in Gidget" actor Don Porter (b. 1912) on Feb. 11 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Am. physicist Edward Mills Purcell (b. 1912) on Mar. 7; 1952 Nobel Physics Prize. German Gen. Otto-Ernst Remer (b. 1912) on Oct. 4 in Marbella, Spain (exile). Am. "The Carpetbaggers" novelist Harold Robbins (b. 1912) on Oct. 14 in Palm Springs, Calif.; pub. 20+ novels with total sales of 750M copies. Chinese-born Am. physicist Chien-Shiung Wu (b. 1912) on Feb. 16 in New York City (stroke). Vietnamese emperor (1945-9) Bao Dai (b. 1913) on July 30/31 in Paris (in exile). German politician Kai-Uwe von Hassel (b. 1913) on May 8 in Aachen. Am. football player Donald Hutson (b. 1913) on June 29 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Swiss psychologist Barbel Inhelder (b. 1913) on Feb. 17. Australian politician Harry Jago (b. 1913) on Sept. 17 in Killara, Sydney. English climatologist Hubert Horace Lamb (b. 1913) on June 28 in Holt, Norfolk. Am. comedian-actor Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton (b. 1913) on Sept. 17 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. British conductor Sir Georg Solti (b. 1913) on Sept. 5 in France. Egyptian journalist Mustafa Amin (b. 1914) on Apr. 13 in Cairo. Am. "Heartbreak Hotel" songwriter Mae Axton (b. 1914) on Apr. 9 in Hendersonville, Tex. (drowns in her hot tub after a heart attack); son Hoyt Axton (1938-99) dies 30 mo. later. Am. "Naked Lunch" novelist William S. Burroughs (b. 1914) on Aug. 2 in Lawrence, Kan. (heart attack); last surviving voice of the Beat Trinity (Jack Kerouac in 1969, Allen Ginsberg in Apr.). English WWII spy "Agent Zigzag" Eddie Chapman (b. 1914) on Dec. 11. Russian-born Am. economist Evsey Domar (b. 1914) on Apr. 1 in Concord, Mass. Am. writer Brendan Gill (b. 1914) on Dec. 27. Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal (b. 1914) on Feb. 3 in Prague; falls from a 5th floor window of the Bulovka Hospital while trying to feed pigeons; in his books suicides often leap from guess what?: "It is interesting how young poets think of death while old farts think of girls"; "To spend our days betting on 3-legged horses with beautiful names." Am. poet David Ignatow (b. 1914) on Nov. 17 in East Hampton, N.Y. Am. Colo. gov. #35 (1957-63) Stephen McNichols (b. 1914) on Nov. 25 in Denver, Colo. (heart failure). Am. Repub. Party leader Mary Louise Smith (b. 1914) on Aug. 22 in Des Moines, Iowa (lung cancer). USMC Maj. Gen. Marion Eugene Carl (b. 1915) on June 28 in Roseburg, Ore. English politician Christopher Paget Mayhew (b. 1915) on Jan. 7. Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter (b. 1915) on Aug. 1 in Moscow. South African psychologist Joseph Wolpe (b. 1915) on Dec. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. (lung cancer). Am. jockey Eddie Arcaro (b. 1916). Am. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen (b. 1916) on Feb. 1 in San Francisco, Calif. (lung cancer). Am. physicist Robert Henry Dicke (b. 1916) on Mar. 4. German psychologist Hans Eysenck (b. 1916) on Sept. 4 in London, England. Ethiopian emperor (last) (1989-97) Amha Selassie (b. 1916) on Feb. 17 in McLean, Va. Am. "Castle Keep" novelist William Eastlake (b. 1917) on near Cuba, N.M. Am. "The Price Is Right" TV personality Dennis James (b. 1917) on June 3 in Palm springs, Calif. English biochemist Sir John Cowdery Kendrew (b. 1917) on Aug. 23 in Cambridge; 1962 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. "Thunder Road","Beef...it's what's for dinner" actor Robert Mitchum (b. 1917) on July 1 in Santa Barbara, Calif. (emphysema). Am. futurist writer Willis Harman (b. 1918) on Jan. 30 in Stanford, Calif. Am. "Dr. Modesto and the Secret Swinger" novelist Alan Harrington (b. 1918). Irish-born Israeli pres. #6 (1683-93) Chaim Herzog (b. 1918) on Apr. 17. Guyanan PM (1957-64) and pres. (1992-7) Cheddi Jagan (d. 1918) on Mar. 6 in Washington, D.C. (heart attack). Am. comedian Stubby Kaye (b. 1918) on Dec. 14 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. (lung cancer). Am. "landlady Helen Roper in Three's Company" actress Audra Lindley (b. 1918) on Oct. 16 in Los Angeles, Calif. English novelist Percy Howard Newby (b. 1918) on Sept. 6. Am. architect Paul Rudolph (b. 1918) on Aug. 8 in New York City (cancer from asbestos); designed the Yale Art and Architecture Bldg. and the Lippo Center - are they full of asbestos too? Am. feminist writer Casey Miller (b. 1919) on Jan. 5 in East Haddam, Conn. French writer Robert Pinget (b. 1919) on Aug. 25 in Tours. Am. historian Don Edward Fehrenbacher (b. 1920) on Dec. 13 in Palo Alto, Calif. Am. psychologist Julian Jaynes (b. 1920) on Nov. 21. Chinese-born Japanese "Rashomon" actor Toshiro Mifune (b. 1920) on Dec. 24 in Mitaka City (near Tokyo); starred in 120+ films. U.S. Sen. (D-Va.) (1966-73) William Belser Spong Jr. (b. 1920) on Oct. 8 in Portsmouth, Va.; author of the Long Fong Spong Hong Kong Song Bill :) Am. "Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard" actor Denver Pyle (b. 1920) on Dec. 25 (lung cancer). Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (b. 1921) on May 2 in Sao Paulo. Am. "Family Affair" actor Brian Keith (b. 1921) on June 24 in Malibu, Calif. (suicide by gunshot after depression 2 mo. after the suicide of his daughter Daisy while suffering from emphysema and cancer). Am. "Bozo the Clown" actor Bob Bell (b. 1922) on Dec. 8 in Lake San Marcos, Calif. Grenadian PM #1 (1967-79) Sir Eric Matthew Gairy (b. 1922) on Aug. 23 in Grand Anse. Am. actor-writer-artist Adam Kennedy (b. 1922) on Oct. 16 in Kent, Conn. (heart attack). Am. atty Jewel Lafontant (b. 1922) on May 31 in Chicago, Ill. Canadian country singer Donn Reynolds (b. 1921) on Aug. 16 in Toronto, Ont. Am. psychologist Stanley Schachter (b. 1922) on June 7 in East Hampton, N.Y. Am. M16 designer Eugene Stoner (b. 1922) on Apr. 24 in Palm City, Fla. (cancer). Am. "Deliverance" novelist James Dickey (b. 1923) on Jan. 19 in Columbia, S.C. (lung disease). Am. Indianapolis Colts owner (1972-97) Robert Irsay (b. 1923) on Jan. 14 in Rochester, Minn. Am. writer-activist Mitchell Goodman (b. 1923) on ? in ?; dies a few mo. before his wife Denise Levertov (b. 1923). English-born Am. poet Denise Levertov (b. 1923) on Dec. 20 in Seattle, Wash. (lymphoma); dies after converting to Christianity in 1984 and Roman Catholicism in 1989. Am. pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (b. 1923) on Sept. 29 in New York City (pneumonia). Am. "The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment" writer Thaddeus Golas (b. 1924) on Apr. 16 in Sarasota, Fla. Irish actor Edward Mulhare (b. 1923) on May 24 in Van Nuys, Calif. (lung cancer). Am. "M*A*S*H" novelist H. Richard Hornberger (b. 1924) on Nov. 4 in Waterville, Maine. Am. novelist William Humphrey (b. 1924) on Aug. 20 (cancer of the Larynx). Jamaican PM #4 (1972-80, 1989-92) Michael Manley (b. 1924) on Mar. 6 (prostate cancer). Am. "Daddy Warbucks in Annie" actor Reid Shelton (b. 1924) on June 8 in Portland, Ore. English historian George Forrest (b. 1925) on Oct. 14. Am. football player-coach Abe Gibron (b. 1925) on Sept. 23 in Belleair, Fla. Am. gay beat poet Alan Ginsberg (b. 1926) on Apr. 5 in New York City (liver cancer): "I never ride the subway toward an interview for a new job without dreaming of suicide." English New Age scientist Christopher Hills (b. 1926) on Jan. 31 in Boulder Creek, Calif. Am. "Cyborg" novelist Martin Caidin (b. 1927) on Mar. 27 in Tallahassee, Fla. French historian Francois Furet (b. 1927) on July 12 in Figeac. Am. "Enter the Dragon", "Game of Death" dir. Robert Clouse (b. 1928) on Feb. 4 in Ashland, Ore. (kidney failure). Am. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 astrogeologist Eugene Shoemaker (b. 1928) on July 18 in Alice Springs, Australia (automobile accident); on July 31, 1999 some of his ashes are carried to the Moon by the Lunar Prospector, making him the first person to be buried on the Moon (next in ?). Am. R&B singer LaVern Baker (b. 1929) on Mar. 10 in New York City. Am. Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey (b. 1930) on Oct. 29. Am. economist Edwin Mansfield (b. 1930). Am. auto racer Troy Ruttman (b. 1930) on May 19. Am. philosopher Rabbi Isadore Twersky (b. 1930) on Oct. 12. Am. Heaven's Gate leader Marshal Applewhite (b. 1931) on Mar. 26 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (suicide). Am. country musician Floyd Cramer (b. 1933) on Dec. 31 in Nashville, Tenn. (lung cancer). Am. country singer Bobby Helms (b. 1933) on June 19 in Martinsville, Ind. (emphysema). Japanese dir. Juzo Itami (b. 1933) on Dec. 20 in Tokyo (suicide after an extramarital affair is exposed). Am. writer-journalist Jay Anthony Lukas (b. 1933) on June 5 in New York City (suicide). Am. "On the Road" TV journalist Charles Kuralt (b. 1934) on July 4 in New York City. Am. Muslim activist Betty Shabazz (b. 1934) on June 23 in Bronx, N.Y.; dies of injuries from an apt. fire on June 1. Am. "Louie Louie" songwriter Richard Berry (b. 1935) on Jan. 23 in Inglewood, Calif. Am. baseball player Curt Flood (b. 1938). Nigerian Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti (b. 1938) on Aug. 2 Am. blues guitarist Luther Allison (b. 1939) on Aug. 12. Am. poet William Matthews (b. 1942) on Nov. 12. Am. "Rocky Mountain High" singer-actor John Denver (b. 1943) on Oct. 12 near Pacific Grove, Calif. (airplane accident in the Pacific Ocean in his experimental Rutan Long-EZ 2-seat canard plane when he can't switch fuel tanks in flight). Am. Canned Heat musician Henry Vestine (b. 1944) on Oct. 20 in Paris, France (heart failure). Am. country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt (b. 1944) on Jan. 1 in Smyrna, Tenn. (cardiac arrest from drug abuse); dies exactly 44 years after his hero Hank Williams Sr. Am. writer Michael Dorris (b. 1945) on Apr. 11 in Concord, N.H. (suicide). English rocker Ronnie Lane (b. 1946) on June 4 in Trinidad, Colo. (house fire). Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace (b. 1946) on July 15 in Miami Beach, Fla.; murdered by spree killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan (1969-97), who commits suicide in his houseboat on July 23; he is found to be HIV negative, and leaves no suicide note and little personal wealth. Am. "And When I Die", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Wedding Bell Blues" singer-songwriter Laura Nyro (b. 1947) on Apr. 8 in Danbury, Conn. (ovarian cancer) - and when I what? Am. Olympic Hurdler Rod "Hot Rod" Milburn Jr. (b. 1950) on Nov. 11 in Port Hudson, La.; overcome by sodium chlorate fumes while working in a paper plant. Indian economist S. Rao Aiyagari (b. 1951) on May 20 in Rochester, N.Y. (heart attack while playing tennis). Am. "Lotta Love" singer Nicolette Larson (b. 1952) on Dec. 16 in Los Angeles, Calif. (liver failure). Peruvian guerrilla leader Nestor Cerpa (b. 1953) on Apr. 22 in Lima; killed by the Peruvian military. German artist Martin Kippenberger (b. 1953) on Mar. 7 in Vienna. Egyptian "Chariots of Fire" producer Dodi Fayed (b. 1955) on Aug. 31 in Paris, France (auto accident). Am. celeb Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (b. 1958) on Dec. 31 in Aspen, Colo.; hits a tree while playing football on skis. Am. "Over the Rainbow" singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (b. 1959) on June 26 in Honolulu, Hawaii (morbid obesity); his funeral is attended by 10K. Australian INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence (b. 1960) on Nov. 22 in Double Bay, Sydney (suicide) (autoerotic aspyxiation?). English Princess Diana (b. 1961) on Aug. 30 in Paris (auto accident); her funeral is held in Westminster Abbey in London on Sept. 6; "No one who knew Diana will ever forget her... I share in your determination to cherish her memory" (Queen Elizabeth II, Sept. 1997). Am. actor-comedian Chris Farley (b. 1964) on Dec. 18 in Chicago, Ill. (OD); he is replaced in "Shrek" by Mike Myers - good comedians Belushi young? Am. "Grace" musician Jeff Buckley (b. 1966) on May 29 in Memphis, Tenn. (drowned). Am. serial murderer Benjamin Atkins (b. 1968) on Sept. 17 in Duane Waters Hospital, Jackson, Mich. (AIDS). Am. rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (b. 1972) on Mar. 9 in Los Angeles, Calif. (murdered).
1998 Doomsday Clock: 9 min. to midnight. Chinese Year: Tiger (Jan. 28) (lunar year 4696). Time Men of the Year: Bill Clinton (1946-) and Kenneth Star (1946-) - I could never leave a woman for you? World pop.: 6B; 1.5B suffer from serious malnutrition, and 35K die each day; Mexico becomes the #2 trading partner of the U.S. after #1 Canada, while Japan is #3. According to NASA, this is the warmest year on Earth since record-keeping began in 1880, with an avg. temp. for the first 10 mo. of 1.25 deg. F above normal, blamed on the weather phenomenon known as El Nino (Niño) (warmer water than usual), which formed in the C and E equatorial Pacific in the first half of the year, disrupting worldwide weather patterns and feeding Millennium Fever with wildfires in Indonesia, Brazil, and Central Am., crop losses in SE Africa, record rains in the S U.S., the warmest spring in Canadian records, and the worst natural diaster in Latin Am. records (Hurricane Mitch); Jan.-Feb. are the warmest and wettest in U.S. records; the global avg. temp. this year is 14.57 C, compared to 14.0 C avg. from 1960-90; high sea temps cause massive coral bleaching in the Seychelles, Maldives and W Australian coral reefs; this year (hockey stick year) the Global Warming Pause (Hiatus) (Slowdown) begins (ends 2013), causing global warming proponents to do somersaults until NOAA scientists Thomas R. Karl et al. pub. the article Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus in Science on June 4, 2015, claiming that the hiatus disappears after the datasets are "adjusted"", which doesn't phase climate deniers, who claim it as more evidence of a govt. conspiracy. The total number of black-white interracial couples in the U.S. grows from 167K out of 49.7M (1 in 300) in 1980 to 330K out of 55.3M (1 in 165) this year - how soon until it's 50 in 100? A sharp increase in the death rate for middle-aged whites in the U.S. begins (until), caused by drugs, alcohol, cirrhosis, suicide etc. On Jan. 1 Michigan defeats Washington State by 21-16 to win the 1998 Rose Bowl. On Jan. 1 Mohammed (Muhammad) Rafiq Tarrar (1929-) is sworn-in as pres. #11 (#9) of Pakistan (until June 20, 2001). On Jan. 1 a law banning smoking in all bars, nightclubs and gambling casinos in Calif. goes into effect; smoking in all other indoor public places was outlawed in 1995. On Jan. 1 the Global Consciousness (EGG) Project at Princeton U. begins, utilizing a worldwide network of "detectors". On Jan. 1 the U.S. Sonny Bono Coopyright Term Extension Act (AKA the Mickey Mouse Protection Act) (signed last Oct. 27) goes into effect, extending copyright terms in the U.S. by 20 years, to life plus 70 for individuals and 120 years after creation or 95 years after pub. for corporate authorship; works copyrighted in 1923 or later will not enter the public domain until 2019 or later. On Jan. 2 Dr. (Ph.D in criminology) Lee Patrick Brown (1937-), the city's first black police chief (1982-90) is sworn-in as the first black mayor (#59) of Houston, Tex. (until Jan. 2, 2004). On Jan. 4 Lithuanian-Am. Valdas Adamkus (1926-) is elected pres., narrowly defeating Communist Arturas Paulauskas; he is sworn-in on Feb. 26 (until Feb. 28, 2003) as pres. of Lithuania (until Feb. 28, 2003). On Jan. 4 Israeli foreign minister David Levy resigns from PM Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition govt., leaving him with only a 61-59 majority in the Knesset. On Jan. 4-10 the Great North Am. Ice Storm of 1998 from E Ontario to S Quebeck, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Canada shuts down Montreal, Ottawa, and other cities, and kills 35, causing 16K military to be deployed in Canada, becoming the largest deployment since the Korean War. On Jan. 4 Daniel Arap Moi is elected for a 5th 5-year term as pres. of Kenya (until 2003). On Jan. 4-10 after a low pressure system stalls over the Great Lakes, pumping warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico into the St. Lawrence Valley, the Great North Am. Ice Storm of 1998 sees five successive ice storm hit a narrow swath of land from E Ontario to S Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, bordering U.S. areas from N New York to C Maine, damaging trees and electrical infrastructures, leading to long-term power outages that affect millions, causing the largest deployment of Canadian military personnel since the Korean War (16K incl. 12K in Quebec and 4K in Ontario). On Jan. 5-9 moisture from the Gulf of Mexico brings heavy rains to the NE U.S., with over 12 in. of rain in W N.C. and E Tenn., and 12 deaths from flooding; it also brings an ice storm to the NE U.S. and Canada on Jan. 5-10, causing 500K U.S. and 3M Canadian residents to go without electrical power, and causing $400M in losses; a photo of a car swerving around tree limbs and power lines in Watertown, N.Y. on Jan. 10 captures the situation. On Jan. 6 Algeria rejects a U.N. offer to conduct an internat. inquiry into the ongoing massacre of civilians by Islamic groups; 60K-80K have been murdered since 1992 - and they aren't going to investigate themselves, are they? On Jan. 7 the Canadian govt. apologizes to the country's "indigenous peoples" for "acts of oppression, incl. decades of abuse at federally-funded boarding schools". On Jan. 7 a jury deadlocks on how active a role Terry L. Nichols played in the 1995 Okla. City bombing, allowing him to escape the death penalty. On Jan. 8 the Polish parliament approves a treaty with the Vatican; a 1993 treaty was never ratified when nat. elections put former Communists in control. On Jan. 8 the Indonesian stock market drops 19%, becoming the largest 1-day loss so far in the July 1997 SE Asian economic crisis. On Jan. 8 Ramzi Ahmed Yousef is sentenced to life plus 240 years for his role in the 1993 WTC bombing - does that count his time in paradise? On Jan. 9 German chancellor Helmut Kohl concedes that his Jan. 1996 promise of halving unemployment cannot be met. On Jan. 10 a 6.2 earthquake rocks dozens of villages in Hebei Province in China near the Great Wall 150 mi. N of Beijing, killing 50, injuring 12K, and leaving 44K homeless. On Jan. 10 former Zambian pres. Kenneth Kaunta is accused of plotting to overthrow pres. Frederick Chiluba. On Jan. 11 Sonia Gandhi (1946-), Italian-born widow of assassinated PM Rajiv Gandhi announces that she will enter politics under the Indian Nat. Congress Party banner. On Jan. 12 100K gather at the Plaza de la Constitucion in Mexico City to protest the Dec. 1997 govt.-backed massacre in Acteal, demanding the withdrawal of govt. troops from Chiapas; meanwhile in the Chiapas town of Ocosingo, police fire on demonstrators, killing an Indian woman and injuring her two children while being videotaped. On Jan. 15 after U.N. intervention, Croatian sovereignty is restored to Eastern Slavonia, the last Croatian territory seized by the Serbs. On Jan. 16 Guatemala reestablishes diplomatic relations with Cuba after 37 years. On Jan. 17 Sodamn Insane celebrates the 7th anniv. of the start of the Gulf War by threatening to evict all U.N. weapons inspectors from his lovely little garden state of Iraq. On Jan. 17 the Drudge Report, an independent website becomes the first to report the hanky-panky between Pres. Clinton and White House intern Monica Samille Lewinsky (1973-), showing that the Web is now scooping the mainstream media. On Jan. 20 Pres. Clinton starts his 6th year in office with approval ratings of 60%, higher than any recent pres. other than Reagan (65%). On Jan. 20 U. of Mass. James Robi and Steven Stice announce the birth of Charlie and George, twin Holstein calves cloned from fetal cells. On Jan. 20 Kevin Williamson's Dawson's Creek debuts on the WB TV Network for 128 episodes (until May 14, 2003), set in fictional Capeside, Mass., about four h.s. friends centered around Dawson Wade Leery, played by James William Van Der Beek Jr. (1977-). On Jan. 21 Pres. Clinton denies having sexual relations with 24-y.-o. Monica Lewinsky after the Washington Post reports that independent counsel Ken Starr is investigating - how big is it? On Jan. 22 Pope John Paul II meets with (still excommunicated?) Cuban dictator Fidel Castro after opening his mission to Cuba with a mass attended by 60K-80K; on Mar. 19 the U.S. State Dept. reveals that Pres. Clinton, at the urging of Pope John Paul II is easing aid and travel restrictions on Cuba. On Jan. 22 Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty in Sacramento, Calif. to being the Unabomber and killing three and maiming 28 in return for a life sentence in prison without parole - I lost the best job I ever had, and talk about low overhead? Sex scandal in the White House involving the head of the country brings the best Democrat president since ? to the midnight hour? On Jan. 23 the Lewinsky Scandal begins after revelations about a cum, er, semen-stained navy-blue dress of 20-something White House intern Monica Samille Lewinsky (1973-) surface in the news; U.S. Pres. Clinton, already facing sexual harassment charges by Paula Corbin Jones (1966-), is accused of having sexual relations (beejay) with Lewinsky; after hearing about it, Hillary Clinton hits Bill over the head with a book, leaving blood all over their beds, requiring several stitches; on Jan. 26 Clinton tells the Am. people the boner that "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky"; on Jan. 27 Hillary Clinton blames it all on a "vast right-wing conspiracy". On Jan. 24 hundreds of Germans brawl in the streets of Dresden over an exhibit titled War of Extermination: Crimes of the Wehrmacht from 1941-44, which portrays German soldiers killing Jews and others in WWII. On Jan. 25 Super Bowl XXXII (32) (1998) is played in Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif.; the underdog Denver Broncos (AFC) defeat the Green Bay Packers (NFC) 31-24 to win their first Super Bowl in five attempts after QB (#7) John Elway (1960-) refuses to slide and takes a hit which makes him whirl like a helicopter on a third-and-6 with the score tied and less than 5 min. to go, giving them a first down and a go-ahead TD a few plays later; Broncos RB (#30) Terrell Davis (1972-) (not QB John Elway) is MVP; when the team returns, a giant parade is held for them in downtown Denver as if the pope were in town? On Jan. 27 Liberal Party candidate Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse (Facussé) (1950-) becomes pres. of Honduras (until Jan. 27, 2002), just in time for Hurricane Mitch in Oct.-Nov., which devastates the economy so bad it will take decades to recover. On Jan. 27 Pres. Clinton delivers his 1998 State of the Union Address to Congress, proposing increased social program spending and yet another plan to rescue Social Security - no mention of the harmonica blewinsky affair? On Jan. 28 26 people are found guilty of conspiring to assassinate Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, and sentenced to be hanged after a 6-year trial with 300 witnesses. On Jan. 29 an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala. is bombed, killing off-duty cop Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons; Eric Robert Rudolph is later charged with it. On Jan. 29 Russia launches Soyuz TM-27, carrying cosmonauts Talgat Amangeldyuly Musabayev (1951-) of Kazakhstan, Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin (1953-), and Leopold Eyharts (1957-) of France; on Aug. 13 Soyuz TM-28 blasts off, carrying cosmonauts Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (1958-), Sergei Avdeyev (1956-), and Yuri Mikhailovich Baturin (1949-); Soyuz TM-27 returns on Aug. 25 with Talgat Musabayev, Nikolai Budarin, and Yuri Baturin; Soyuz TM-28 returnsnext Feb. 28 with Gennady Padalka and Ivan Bella. In Jan. U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq are blocked after the Iraqis accuse U.S. team head William Scott Ridder Jr. (1961-) of being a spy; inspections are allowed to resume in Feb.; Saddam Hussein blocks inspections again in Aug., then breaks off negotiations in Oct., but relents in Nov. after the U.S. builds up its forces in the region; meanwhile U.S. Rep. (D.-N.Y.) (1975-93) Stephen Joshua Solarz (1940-2010) leads a group of conservatives urging Pres. Clinton to overthrow him; Ritter goes on to claim that Iraq possesses no significant WMDs, becoming the #1 most credible critic of the Bush admin.; too bad, he has a weakness for sex with minors, and is arrested in 2001 and 2010 for soliciting them for sex on the Internet, and convicted and given a sentence of 1.5-5 years. In Jan. the Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen harbor is vandalized, and its head stolen; it is eventually recovered and the statue restored. On Feb. 2 Cebu Pacific Flight 387 (DC-9) crashes into a mountain on Mindanao Island on a flight from Manila to Cagayan de Oro, killing all 99 passengers and five crew aboard. On Feb. 2-3 a Pacific storm lashes Calif. with 90 mph winds. On Feb. 2 Pres. Clinton sends Congress the first balanced U.S. federal budget in nearly 30 years ($1.73T). On Feb. 3 Armenian pres. Levon Ter-Petrosyan resigns 3 mo. before the ceasefire with Azerbaijan begins its 5th year, and on Mar. 30 fluent English-speaking PM Robert Sedraki Kocharyan (Kocharian) (1954-) (pr. koh-char-YAHN), who led the 1997 breakaway govt. of Nagorno-Karabakh is elected pres. #2 of Armenia's 3rd repub., taking office on Apr. 9 (until Apr. 9, 2008), continuing to press for autonomy of that region while advancing relations with both Russia and the West, AKA Complementarism, enjoying an economy that grows 12%/year due to a construction boom; Vartan Oskanian (1955-) becomes foreign affairs minister (until 2008) - we gave you Noah's Ark, give us a break? On Feb. 3 Tex. under Gov. George W. Bush becomes the first U.S. state to execute a woman since the U.S. Civil War, born-again (good idea?) Christian Karla Faye Tucker (b. 1959), who has been on death row for 15 years, becoming the 2nd woman executed in the U.S. since resumption of capital punishment in 1977 - you know the rest, chicken fingers? On Feb. 3 a U.S. Marine jet on a training flight in the Dolomite Mts. in N Italy slices a ski lift cable, causing a cable car to plunge 370 ft., killing all 20 passengers. On Feb. 4 a 6.1 earthquake strikes Takhar and Badakhshan Provinces in Afghanistan 200 mi. NE of Kabul, killing 4.5K and leaving 30K homeless. On Feb. 4 widely-hated Microsoft face, er, head Bill Gates gets a custard pie in the face in Belgium (four actually), thrown by anarchist practical joker Noel Gaudin ("Georges le Gloupier") (1945-); Gates declines to press charges. On Feb. 5 the U.S. subsidiary of Swedish drug co. Astra AB agrees to pay $9.85M to settle sexual harassment claims by 79 women and one man who worked for the firm in Westborough, Mass. On Feb. 6 Pres. Clinton and British PM Tony Blair warn Saddam Hussein that any more hanky-panky with the U.N. weapons inspectors will likely bring a cowboy, er, military response. On Feb. 9 Georgian pres. Eduard Shevardnadze survives an assassination attempt when his motorcade is attacked in Tbilisi. On Feb. 10 Maine voters repeal a law barring discrimination against homosexuals. On Feb. 12 a federal district judge declares the pres. line item veto (Pres. Reagan jelly bean dream) unconstitutional; the U.S. Supreme Court backs him up on June 25. On Feb. 14 two trains collide on the outskirts of Yaounde, Cameroon, and railroad tank cars explode, killing over 100, many of them cabbies trying to collect fuel from the ruptured tankers. On Feb. 15 100 leaders of the ousted military junta in Sierra Leone surrender to West African peacekeeping troops led by Nigerian officers, who took control of Freetown on Feb. 13. On Feb. 16 a China Air jet crashes into a row of houses just short of the runway at Chiang Kai Shek Airport outside Taipei, Taiwan, killing all 197 aboard the plane plus 9 on the ground. On Feb. 17 Voyager I becomes the most distant man-made object in space. On Feb. 18 an audience at Ohio State U. in Columbus gives Madeleine Albright and other U.S. officials a hard time when they attempt to sell the Clinton admin.'s green light on military intervention in Iraq. On Feb. 19 the Nat. Research Council announces that nearly 22K die each year in the U.S. of lung cancer caused by radon inhalation. On Feb. 19 Trinity first calls Neo in the 1999 Warner Bros. film The Matrix; at the end of the film the calling date is Sept. 18, 1999. On Feb. 20 Great Britain and Ireland suspend Sinn Fein from Northern Ireland peace talks, and eight hours later a bomb explodes outside a police station in the village of Moira, SW of Belfast - what a coincidence that Tom Clancy pub. a novel this year with a leading character named Moira? On Feb. 22 severe thunderstorms spawn at least seven tornadoes in C Fla., killing 42 and injuring 200, incl. 20 deaths in Kissimmee near Walt Disney World. On Feb. 22 U.N. secy.-gen. Kofi Annan shakes hands with Saddam Hussein on camera after brokering a deal to allow U.N. weapons inspectors to resume working in Iraq - a good time for a human bomb? On Feb. 23 10 tornadoes with winds up to 260 mph cross C Fla. from Daytona Beach to Tampa Bay, killing 42 and injuring 200+. Furthermore I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstrued? On Feb. 23 at a press conference in Khost, Afghanistan, fundamentalist (fanatic) Islam's new Robin Hood Osama bin Laden (1957-2011) announces the formation of the World Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, which he says has a duty to "kill Americans and their allies", with a single-minded purpose of driving the U.S. out of the Middle East and destroying Israel; later the real plan to Islamize the entire Earth by violence leaks out?; "In compliance with Allah's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians and military, is an individual duty for every Muslim who can, in any country in which it is possible. We with Allah's help call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and wishes to be rewarded, to comply with Allah's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. Unless you go forth, Allah will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place"; Mullah Muhammad Omar puts bin Laden into strict isolation to keep him from carrying out plots against the U.S., and tries to get a ruling by the Afghan supreme court that he is guilty of the U.S. embassy bombings on Aug. 7 in order to turn him over to the govt. of Saudi Arabia?; by 2001 up to 75% of all Muslims sympathize with the idea of supporting "jihad"; meanwhile, the stupid, er, wise Euro and U.S. authorities accept mobs of Islamic immigrants, thinking they can integrate them into their tolerant societies, but only creating a fifth column? - stay tuned for terror? On Feb. 23-24 another Pacific storm hits the Cuyama River Basin in Sunny Southern Calif., spawning flash floods, mudslides, tornadoes in Long Beach, Huntington Beach et al., and killing seven; San Francisco records its wettest Feb. ever (until ?), with 14.89 in. of rain (13.68 in. in Los Angeles) - it never rains where? On Feb. 25 Roman Catholic anti-authoritarian "Nelson Mandela of Asia" Kim Dae-jung (Tae-jung) (1925-2009) is sworn-in as pres. of South Korea (until Feb. 25, 2003), calling for reconciliation with North Korea and advocating market-oriented economics to fight the country's economic woes, worst since the war ended in 1953 - somebody pinch me I'm dreaming? On Feb. 26 Canadian actress and sex idol Pamela Anderson (1967-) files for divorce from Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee (Bass) (1962-) after accusing him of assault and child abuse. On Feb. 26 Khamtai Siphandon (1924-) of the Lao People's Rev. Party is elected. pres. of Laos. On Feb. 26 Am. talk show host Oprah Winfrey is cleared of slander in a $12M lawsuit filed by irate cattle ranchers after she disses the cattle industry in an Apr. 1996 show on mad cow disease, and the price of cattle futures drops 10% the next day; emerging from the courthouse, she says, "Free speech not only lives, it rocks". On Feb. 26 the U.S. Senate votes 51-48 to not vote on election finance reform, blocking legislation until at least next year. On Feb. 27 a British Home Office minister tells the House of Lords that the queen does not object to changing the law of succession to allow the throne to pass to the monarch's eldest child, whatever the gender - as long as it doesn't have funny ears? On Feb. 27 France, Germany, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands report qualifying economic stats for the EU's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In Feb. fighting begins in Kosovo between the Yugoslav army and the Kosovo Liberation Army in Montenegro in S Yugoslavia. In Feb. Nigerian-led ECOMOG peacekeeping troops gain control of Freetown, Sierra Leone, reinstating Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in Mar.; RUF forces keep control of the diamond-producing regions, attacking Freetown in Dec. In Feb. a judge in Honduras rules that a 1987 amnesty protects Col. Juan Blas Salazar, who was found guilty in the 1982 attempted murder and torture of six students - the first of 10 officers from a U.S.-trained battalion to stand trial for it. In Feb. Microsoft chmn. Bill Gates, one of the most hated people in the world is entarted by Belgium entarteur Noel Godin while visiting Brussels, Belgium; after getting a pie in the face, Gates gamely walks on to make some more money in his game of Monopolysoft. On Mar. 1 in London 250K protest a proposed Labour Party bill outlawing foxhunting. On Mar. 2 Lead, S.D. sets a record of 115 in. of snow falling over the previous six days; on Mar. 6-9 a blizzard in the E Great Plains and upper Midwest produces 12-ft. snowdrifts in central Iowa. On Mar. 1-3 torrential rains in SW Pakistan cause flash floods, drowning over 300, with 1.5K missing. On Mar. 3 Bill Gates testifies before a U.S. Senate committee, and admits that Microsoft does restrict its Internet partners from dealing with its competitors. On Mar. 6 the three surviving Dionne quintuplets (Cecil, Annette, Yvonne) accept a $2.8M settlement from Ontario for removing them from their parents and placing them on public display. On Mar. 8 a storm system causes blizards in the U.S. Midwest and thunderstorms in the South; Neb. receives 12 in. of snow, and Iowa 18 in. On Mar. 10 Gen. Augusto Pinochet steps down as cmdr. of the Chilean army after 25 years in power and 3K dead political opponents. On Mar. 10 the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (originally "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place") debuts on ABC-TV for 81 episodes (until May 16, 2001), starring Ryan Rodney Reynolds (1976-) as slacker Michael Leslie "Berg" Bergen, who works at Beacon Street Pizza in Boston, Mass. while attending Tufts U., Richard Robert Ruccolo (1972-) as Peter "Pete" Dunville, and Traylor Elizabeth Howard (1966-) as Sharon Carter; too bad, after it is moved to Fri. nights in 2000, ratings tank; the series finale "The Internet Show" lets fans vote online on the outcome. On Mar. 11 after receiving death threats, the Red Cross withdraws from Kosovo. On Mar. 14 the American Family Publishers reach an agreement with 30 U.S. states to pay $50K to each in settlement of charges of deceptive advertising. On Mar. 15 Indian pres. K.R. Narayanan invites Hindu Nationalist Party leader (PM for 2 weeks in May 1996) Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924-2018) to form a coalition govt., and on Mar. 19 he becomes PM #10 of India (until May 22, 2004). On Mar. 16 as per a meeting with Jewish leaders on Sept. 1, 1987, Pope John Paul II issues an Apology for the Holocaust, and calls it a moral imperative for Christians to insure that it never happens again - we guarantee it or we'll give you one thousand Hail Marys? On Mar. 17 Miss. obeys a Jan. 13 federal court order and opens the files of its Sovereignty Commission (1956-73), founds to monitor the activities of civil rights workers in order to derail desegregation efforts. On Mar. 171st vice PM (since Mar. 29, 1993) Zhu Rongji (1928-), known for his success in managing large economic projects is selected by the Nat. People's Congress as People's Repub. of China PM #5 (until Mar. 16, 2003), going on to push privatization and reduce the size of the state bureaucracy and resist calls to devalue the yuan, presiding over the spectacular double-digit growth of the Chinese economy and new presence in internat. affairs. On Mar. 20 a tornado hits five counties in NE Ga., killing 11. On Mar. 22 legislative elections in Moldova give the Communists a majority of seats, but a coalition of three Center-Right parties form a govt. On Mar. 23 Russian pres. Boris N. Yeltsin announces on TV that he is back and that he has fired his entire cabinet, incl. PM Viktor Chernomyrdin; on Mar. 23 he appoints technocrat reformer Sergei Kiriyenko (1962-) as PM, and threatens the Communist-dominated Duma (lower house) with dissolution if they don't rubber stamp him, which they do on Apr. 24; Kiriyenko lasts until Aug. 23. On Mar. 23 the Clintons begin a six-nation tour of Africa, and appear with Ghanaian pres. Jerry Rawlings before a massive (1M+) crowd in Independence Square in Accra, with everybody wearing kente cloths; he makes the mistake of stepping down from the podium to shake hands, and is almost trampled before being whisked away by Secret Service agents. On Mar. 23 the 71st Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Billy Crystal (4th time), who makes his entrance on a mockup of the bow of the Titanic; he likes to carry a toothbrush in his pocket for luck; the best picture Oscar for 1997 goes to the 20th Cent.-Fox and Paramount blockbuster Titanic, along with best dir. to James Cameron, although leading man and lady Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet are snubbed for best actor and actress in favor of Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt in As Good as It Gets (Nicholson dedicates his Oscar to J.T. Walsh, who died from a heart attack on Feb. 27) (last film since "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) to win both leading acting films until ?); funny guy Robin Williams gets serious and wins best supporting actor for Good Will Hunting, and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck win for best screenplay; the show lasts 3 hours and 46 min., 30 min. longer than the best picture winner. On Mar. 24 a tornado with 115 mph winds hits E India, killing 106 and injuring 1.1K, with 500 missing. American school rage shootings continue to bait the Millennium Fever bull? On Mar. 24 two boys, 11 and 13, pull the fire alarm then fire on their Jonesboro Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark. from a nearby woods, killing four girls and a teacher and wounding 10; they are convicted of murder but can be held only until age 21 (in 2005 Mitchell Johnson is released); on Apr. 24 a science teacher is shot to death by a student in Edinboro, Penn.; on May 19 an 18-y.-o. student in Fayetteville, Tenn. kills a classmate in a parking lot shooting; on May 21 15-y.-o. Kip Kinkel in Springfield, Oregon kills his parents and then opens fire in his school cafeteria, killing two students and wounding 20; he receives more than 112 years in prison; on the same day three sixth-grade boys are caught with a hit list in St. Charles, Mo.; on the same day a 15-y.-o. boy dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Onalaska, Wash.; on the same day a 15-y.-o. girl is shot in a suburban Houston, Texas high school; on May 24 two boys open fire from the woods on a middle school in Jonesboro, Ark., killing five and wounding ten; on June 15 two school personnel are shot in a hallway in a Richmond, Va. high school. On Mar. 25 the European Commission certifies 11 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain) to join the EU's single currency (the Euro) next Jan.; Britain, Denmark, and Sweden choose not to join. On Mar. 29 archeologists announce the discovery of the earliest known synagogue in Israel, dating as far back as 70 B.C.E. On Mar. 30 Cyprus is formally invited to begin talks with the EU to apply for membership, pissing-off Turkey, who is not invited to the negotiations even though it controls N Cyprus; on Mar. 31 Greece's application for the European Monetary Union is denied because of its poor economy, with the next opportunity to be in 2002, even though experts estimate it will take 15 or more years for its GDP to approach the EU avg; on Mar. 30 the EU also invites Hungary, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Repub. and Slovenia to begin membership talks, becoming its largest planned expansion in its 40-year history. On Mar. 31 pres. (since 1980) Sir Ketumile Masire steps down as pres. of Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland) after 18 years in power, and on Apr. 1 vice-pres. Festus Gontebanye Mogae (1939-) succeeds him as pres. #3 of Africa's oldest democracy (until ?); on July 13 Ian Khama (eldest son of Botswana's first pres. Seretse Khama) is elected vice-pres. On Mar. 31 a boat carrying Somalian refugees sinks in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen, killing 180 of 188 aboard. In Mar. Malaysia deports illegal Indonesian immigrants after it announces that due to a faltering economy it will not renew work permits for 850K foreign workers. In Mar. the Bulgarian Nurses Affair sees five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor arrive in Libya, where they inject 400 children with HIV at a hospital in Benghazi in what they claim is a botched attempt to find a cure; in 2005 they are sentenced to death, stirring internat. outcries, causing a retrial to be ordered, which results in 2006 in confirming the sentence, causing U.S. secy. of state Condoleezza Rice to say she is "very disappointed with the outcome"; meanwhile the Clinton admin. drops the terminology "rogue states" for "states of concern". On Apr. 1 a boat en route from Nigeria to Gabon overturns near the Nigerian coast, killing 280 of 300 passengers. On Apr. 2 the Tankan Quarterly (by the Bank of Japan) reports that the Japanese economy is in recession, sending the Japanese stock market into a tailspin. On Apr. 4 a methane gas explosion in the Skachinskoho coal mine in in Donetsk, Ukraine kills 63 of 264 miners; 17 died in a methane gas explosion in the same mine in Aug. 1992. On Apr. 4 the animated series CatDog debuts on Nickelodeon for 68 episodes (until June 15, 2005), about interspecies conjoined brothers Cat (voiced by Jim Cummings) (cultured) and Dog (voiced by Tom Kenny) (fun-loving), who live in Nearburg; villains incl. tailless blue mouse Winslow T. Oddfellow, the Greaser Dogs Clifford Maurice "Cliff" Feltbottom, Shriek DuBois, and Ignatius "Lube" Catfield-McDog, Rancid Rabbit, and Eddie the Squirrel. On Apr. 6 Citicorp bank and travellers Group insurance announce their $70B stock swap merger plan, largest in history; on Oct. 8 all Citicorp and travelers Group divs. merge to become Citigroup, Inc. On Apr. 6 the Dow Jones Industrial Avg. closes above 9,000 for the first time ever. On Apr. 8 a 20-year survey by world scientists reveals that at least 1 in every 8 known plant species on Earth is threatened with extinction. On Apr. 8-9 tornadoes in Ala., Ga., and Miss. kill 43 and injure hundreds. On Apr. 9 118 people fall to their deaths from a bridge or are trampled to death during the "stoning of the devil" ceremony in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 100 deg F heat. Peace at last in Belfast? On Apr. 10 (Good Fri.) after 22 mo. of peace talks the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement (effective Dec. 2, 1999) restores a measure of independence to Northern Ireland, incl. their own 108-seat Catholic-Protestant parliament, decommissioning of paramilitary groups, and a Human Rights and Equality Commission; Great Britain and the Irish reps. mutually renounce claims to each other's pot o'gold on the Emerald Isle?; the British army begins dismantling its 16 watchtowers in the "bandit country" of South Armagh, erected in the mid-1980s (finished 2006); in Sept. the Red Hand Defenders are formed by loyalists opposed to the Belfast Agreement. On Apr. 11 South and North Korean delegates attend a meeting in Beijing to discuss the north's food shortage problems, becoming the first official communication between the two countries in four years; Dear Leader Kim Jong-il is seen downing a mug of expensive cognac in a single gulp? On Apr. 15 Khmer Rouge lead Pol Pot kicks the pot in his thatched hut in the mountains of N Cambodia while being held under house arrest by his former followers, who convicted him of crimes against humanity in 1997. On Apr. 17 the Taliban and other Islamists waging civil war in Afghanistan agree to a ceasefire; too bad, the Taliban begins slaughtering thousands of Afghan Shiites (until 2002). On Apr. 21 the Irish Parliament in Dublin votes overwhelmingly to approve the Apr. 10 Good Friday Agreement. On Apr. 24 Rwandan authorities execute 22 ethnic Hutus for genocide of Tutsis. On Apr. 26 Guatemalan human rights advocate Catholic bishop Juan Jose Gerardi is murdered, and a year later after a botched investigation where a retired gen. and his son are mentioned, the chief prosecutor and two judges resign because of death threats; the case remains unsolved - Ed Harris? On Apr. 26 Juan Gerardi Conedera, Roman Catholic aux. bishop of Guatemala City is murdered in his residence two days after issuing a report on human rights violations during Guatemala's civil war, which ended in Dec. 1996. On Apr. 26 the neo-Nazi German People's Union (DVU) wins 12.9% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt elections, qualifying it for seats in the state assembly, becoming the highest vote received by an extreme right party in post-WWII Germany. On Apr. 27 the U.N. defies Iraq's threats and votes to extend sanctions because of its blocking of arms inspections. On May 1 former Rwandan PM (1994) Jean Kambanda (1955-) becomes the first (only?) govt. head to confess to genocide against members of the Tutsi tribe before a U.N. war crimes tribunal, and promises to rat out his accomplices; in Sept. he becomes the first person in history to be convicted of the crime of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention, and receives a life sentence; the U.N. tribunal then proceeds at a glacial pace, convicting only eight more by 2001, causing a U.N. report in Dec. 1999 to blame Kofi Annan and other U.N. officials for that and also for letting the Hutu-Tutsi genocide happen. On May 1 British PM Tony Blair garners a 72% approval rate in polls, making him Britain's most popular PM of the cent.; by Sept. it falls to 60%. On May 1 Yemeni troops occupy a dispute island in the Red Sea, causing Saudi border guards to fire on them, sparking the Saudi-Yemeni Border War (ends ?). On May 2 former Dutch politician Wim (William Frederik) Duisenberg (1935-2005) is appointed the first head (until 2003) of the European Union's new central bank, created to oversee their single currency (Euro). On May 2 Daimler-Benz AG announces that it will acquire Chrysler Corp. in a $36B merger, becoming the largest foreign acquisition of a U.S. company ever. On May 2 8-1 shot Real Quiet (1995-) (AKA The Fish because of his narrow frame) wins the 124th Kentucky Derby, holding off the spirited gallop of Victory Gallop through the stretch; on May 16 Real Quiet moves up from 5th place and takes the lead on the home turn, beating Victory Gallop by 2-1/4 lengths in the Belmont Stakes. So long Suharno, hello Habibi? On May 2 a peaceful demonstration in Indonesia by 10K students against dictator Gen. Pres. Suharto is fired on by Indonesian soldiers, who kill 12 and use clubs on the rest; on May 14 riots in Jakarta against Suharto's govt. kill at least 1K; unable to reverse the country's economic crisis, on May 21 Suharto resigns, kissing 32 years in power goodbye after losing U.S. support; Bacharuddin J. Habibie (1936-) is immediately sworn-in as pres.; Suharto retires to a mansion in Jakarta, where he enjoys $600M stolen from state coffers. On May 4 Theodore J. Kaczynski is sentenced by a federal judge to four life terms plus 30 years for his Unabomber mail bomb hobby after he pleads guilty to 13 federal charges on Jan. 22. On May 5 a Peruvian Air Force Boeing 737 chartered by Occidental Petroleum crashes in the Amazon jungle in heavy rain in N Peru, killing 75 of 87 aboard. On May 6 fighting erupts between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the border region of Badame. On May 6 rock and mudslides kill 142 and leave 1.5K homeless in the Campania region (Salerno and Avellino provinces) S of Naples, Italy. On May 8 Miguel Angel Rodriguez Echeverria (1940-) of the Social Christian Unity Party becomes pres. of Costa Rica (until May 8, 2002). On May 8 the U.S. Dept. of Labor announces that the unemployment rate in Apr. dropped to 4.3%; the lowest since 1970. How one side of the Earth almost got blacked out permanently? On May 11 in the face of rioting and widespread protests India and Pakistan each test their own nuclear devices; India detonates three nukes in underground tests in the Thar Desert in NW India, incl. an H-bomb, followed by two more on May 13; on May 28 Pakistan detonates five nukes, followed by another on May 30 (it had already finished tests on long-range missiles); on June 6 the U.N. condemns India and Pakistan and urges them to stop all nuclear weapons programs, in vain; the Doomsday Clock is moved up to nine minutes before midnight; the U.S. and Israel ally with India against Pakistan to keep a Muslim fundamentalist state from getting nukes, going on to work to fight fundamentalism and balkanize Pakistan by carving out independent Balochistan in the S and Pashtunistan in the NW? If an actor can become president of the U.S.? On May 11 after Fidel Ramos does not seek reelection, action film star and producer Joseph Marcelo Ejercito Estrada (1937-) (Sp. "estrada" = road) (AKA Erap, backwards for Sp. "pare" = buddy) is elected as pres. #13 of the Philippines (until Jan. 20, 2001), and he is sworn-in on June 30, going on to become corrupt and end up as the first Philippine pres. to be impeached; the ruling LAKAS Party wins a majority of seats in the lower house - is that the guy on CHiPs? On May 12-June 7 2.5K+ people die in a record-breaking heat wave in New Delhi, India, with temperatures as high as 124 deg. F. (51 deg. C.). On May 14 the U.S. House of Reps passes the U.S. Internat. Religious Freedom Act, followed by the U.S. Senate on Oct. 9, promoting religious freedom as a foreign policy of the U.S. and giving it an obligation to fight religious intolerance in other countries. On May 15 wildfires burn out of control in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and every Mexican state except Baja Calif. On May 18 the U.S. Justice Dept. and 20 states attys. gen. file antitrust suits in U.S. District Court against Microsoft over their near monopoly in PC operating systems. On May 21 expelled student Kip Kinkel murders his parents, then shoots up Thurston H.S. in Springfield, or., killing two students and injuring 25, later receiving a 111-year no-parole sentence. On May 22 citizens of Northern Ireland the Irish Repub. vote the Belfast Agreement in overwhelmingly - both Catholics and Protestants hoping that the Millennium will soon come and they better not be caught at each other's throats? On May 22 a 5.9 and a 6.8 earthquake rocks Aiquile and Totora in C Bolivia, killing 80; 150 aftershocks continue shaking things up for the next 12 hours. On May 22-Sept. 30 (132 days) the Expo '98 world fair is held in Lisbon, Portugal (its first), celebrating the 500th anniv. of Vasco da Gama's discovery of a sea route to India, attracting 11M visitors and costing $2B, and highlighting Europe's largest aquarium with the theme "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future"; each night flamethrowing cranes move around a giant inflatable egg-shaped globe in a sound and light show. On May 24 Hong Kong holds its first election since China regained control (June 20, 1997), and prodemocracy politicans ousted by the Beijing govt. are reelected to the Legislative Council. On May 24 parliamentary elections in Hungary give 134 of 386 available seats to the Socialists; the center-right Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Party combines with other right parties to control 148 seats, and on July 6 its leader Viktor Orban (1963-) becomes PM of a coalition govt. (until May 27, 2002). On May 26 Australia has its first Sorry Day to apologize to aborigines for past injustices by the govt.; 1M Australians sign books to present to their reps. On May 26 U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich visits Israel and gives a speech in thhe Knesset calling Jerusalem "the united and eternal capital of Israel", pissing-off Arab MKs; Gingrich meets with Yasser Arafat for a photo op, which is later used as agitprop. On May 27 Russia's Central bank raises interest on T bills to 90% and interest on loans to other banks from 50% to 150% in hopes of averting an economic crisis; two days earlier PM Sergei Kiriyenko gave assurances to foreign investors that Russia is solvent? On May 27 the Canadian govt. signs a treaty with the West Coast (British Columbia) Nisga (Nisga'a) people. On May 27 after being arrested for burglary in 1993 and getting released on Feb. 14, 1994 for snitching on Jeffrey Williams' murder of Karolyn Lonczak, Troy, N.Y.-born Gary Charles Evans (1954-98) is rearrested and confesses to five murders since Feb. 1985, then dies on Aug. 14, 1998 in New York City during an escape attempt from a prison van. On May 30 (06:22 UTC) a 6.9 earthquake hits Takhar and Badakhshan Provinces in Afghanistan, destroying 100 villages and killing 4K, becoming the 2nd quake this year. On May 31 anti-Milosevic reformist and PM (since 1991) (tobacco smuggler?) Milo Djukanovic (1962-) (Milo, you make me sick?) is elected pres. of 90% ethnic Albanian Montenegro (until Nov. 25, 2002), and openly discusses secession from Yugoslavia and union with Albania, causing Milosevic to begin ethnic cleansing tactics which stir NATO into its first-ever intervention in the affairs of a sovereign nation; Milosevic was framed by Muslims to get NATO on their side and wage jihad for Allah? In May 3-y.-o. Operation Casablanca, the largest money-laundering probe in U.S. history leads to the indictment of several Mexican and Venezuelan banks over the protest of their govts.; as a result of a May 21 protest by Mexican atty. gen. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, the Brownsville Agreement is signed, pledging each nation to inform the other about cross-border law enforcement operations. In May the remains of 98 leftist guerrillas executed by the Honduran army are unearthed, incl. former U.S. Catholic priest James Francis Carney (1982). In May Hispanic atty. Maria Echaveste (1954-) becomes White House deputy chief of staff (until Jan. 20, 2001). In May Ginger Spice (Geri Halliwell) announces that she's leaving the 5-member Spice Girls over "differences", leaving the group with four members, Victoria Adams (Posh Spice), Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), and Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice); their first U.S. tour starting in June is a big success. In May ABC News reporter John Miller (1958-) conducts an interview with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. On June 1 hundreds of ethnic Albanians flee Yugoslavia's Kosovo Province in the wake of the latest Serbian attack on the Kosovo Liberation Army. On June 3 a German Railways Inter City Express train derails and crashes at 125 mph into a concrete column near Eschede, Germany, killing 98, becoming the worst German train wreck since WWII. On June 4 Terry L. Nichols is sentenced to life in federal prison for his role in the 1995 Okla. City bombing; he was convicted in Dec. 1997 of conspiring with Timothy McVeigh to do the bombing, but not helping to carry out the attack. On June 5 U.S. atty. gen. Janet Reno announces that the U.S. Justice Dept. will not prosecute physicians who prescribe lethal drugs to the terminally ill - as long as they don't catch them administering them? On June 6 a team from the U.S. CDC arrives to investigate an intestinal virus that infected 200K infants on Taipaei, Taiwan on May 31 and kills 30. On June 6 the romantic sitcom Sex and the City, based on the 1997 book by Candace Bushnell debuts on HBO for 94 episodes (until Feb. 22, 2004), about the sex lives of four New York City sluts, er, singles, starring Sarah Jessica Parker (1965-) as Carrie Bradshaw, the narrator, who writes the weekly you know what column for the New York Star, Liverpool, England-born Kim Victoria Cattrall (1956-) as Samantha Jones, Kristin Landen (Lee) Davis (1965-) as Charlotte York, and Cynthia Ellen Nixon (1966-) as Miranda Hobbes. On June 6 Serbian forces shell and torch villages in Kosovo, and attack ethnic Albanians near the Macedonian border; on June 9 Pres. Yeltsin promises Helmut Kohl to intercede with Slobodan Milosevic to end the attacks, and they meet on June 16 and agree to cool it. On June 7 49-y.-o. Texas black man James Byrd Jr. (b. 1949) is beaten with a baseball bat then dragged to death behind a pickup truck by three white men, John William King, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and Shawn Allen Berry, getting decapitated alive after hitting a culvert, his trunk later dumped in a black cemetery by the happy perps, who go to a BBQ; being known as white supremacists, the FBI is called in; they are later convicted on capital murder charges, and Berry lucks out with a mere life sentence; King writes a jailhouse letter to Brewer saying "We have made history. Death before dishonor. Sieg Heil!" - after their dreamed-of white revolution fails to materialize, then what? On June 8 £5B thief pres. (since Nov. 17, 1993) Gen. Insane Hotshot, er, Sani Abacha (b. 1943) dies of a heart attack in a room with two Indian hos while trying to rig the pres. election for himself, and Muslim gen. Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar (1942-) becomes pres. of Nigeria (until June 19, 1998), announcing that the "era of coups" is over, and promising to hand over power to a civilian govt. in 1999. On June 9 a cyclone from the Arabian Sea moves into the Gulf of Kutch in W India, killing 700+; the port of Kandla is hit by a 12-ft. tidal wave. On June 11 Mitsubishi Motor Corp.'s Normal, Ill. div. agrees to pay $34M to more than 300 female employees to settle sexual harassment claims. On June 12 a boat fleeing fighting in Guinea-Bissau sinks, killing 200. On June 12 the Japanese govt. officially announces that its economy is in recession; by June 15 the Dow Jones is down 207 points as stock markets around the world react to the news, and the Japanese yen slides to a record low; on June 17 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York buys approx. $2B worth of Japanese yen to prop it up, in vain; the economies of the U.S., Canada, and Europe begin to slow as cheap Asian goods flood the markets. On June 15 a U.N. diplomatic conference meets in Rome to draft the Rome Statute, which is adopted on July 17, and enters into force on July 1, 2002, establishing an Internat. Criminal Court in The Hague to try cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity; by Oct. 2017 123 states are parties; the U.S. and Russia sign then withdraws; by the end of 2017 the Office of the Prosecutor has opened 10 official investigations and 11 preliminary examinations, indicting 39 persons incl. Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Jean-Pierre Bemga of Congo, Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, African rebel leader Joseph Kony, and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. On June 16 Cybercast News Service (CNSNews.com) (originally Conservative News Service) is founded. On June 20 Andres (Andrés) Pastrana Arango (1954-), son of pres. (1970-4) Misael Pastrana is elected pres. #38 of Colombia, defeating Horacio Seerpa; he is sworn-in on Aug. 7 (until Aug. 7, 2002). On June 22 "Mighty Mo", the USS Missouri (on which Japanese officials formally surrendered) arrives in Hawaii, to be retired and reopened as a museum in 1999, anchored 1K ft. away from the USS Arizona memorial. On June 25 Pres. Clinton begins a 5-day visit to China, and on June 27 engages Chinese pres. Jiang Zemin in a human rights debate on nat. Chinese TV - they forgot to translate his comments into Chinese? On June 25 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Cout rules 6-3 in Clinton v. City of New York that the 1996 U.S. Line Item Veto Act violates the Presentment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and that the U.S. pres. can only approve or reject a bill in its entirety. On June 25 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 8-1 in Nat. Endowment for the Arts v. Finley that the govt. may deny grants to artists whose work is deemed indecent by "general standards", upholding the U.S. National Foundation on the Arts and Humanity Acts of 1990; it also rules 6-3 that attorney-client privilege does not end with death - afternoon tea with a couple of close friends is safe? On June 28 a 6.3 earthquake strikes Adana, Ceyhan and other towns in southern Turkey, killing 100+ in flimsy apartment buildings. On June 29 Serbian troops attack the Kosovo rebels once again despite NATO threats of air strikes if they do not withdraw. On June 29 the cover of Time mag. asks "Is Feminism Dead?" In June elections are held for the new Northern Ireland Assembly. In June a report by a U.S. House subcommittee gives the 24 largest federal agencies a failing grade in their efforts to solve the Y2K computer glitch problem, which is set to go off when the last two digits of the year roll around from 99 to 00, causing many software programs to fail, and possibly bringing on Armageddon. In June the remains of the Vietnam War veteran in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Nat. Cemetery in Va. are identified as those of 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie (1948-72), an Air Force pilot shot down in South Vietnam on May 11, 1972; his remains were buried there in 1984, then removed in May, DNA-tested, identified, and reinterred in a cemetery in St. Louis, Mo. in July. In June the Am. College of Sports Medicine pub. a Statement on Aging and Exercise, saying that aging Boomers need cardio, strength and flexibility exercise as they live longer. In the summer Temple U. prof. Bruce Rind et al. pub. an article in the Psychological Bulletin of the Am. Psychological Assoc. suggesting that man-boy love is not always harmful and may actually be helpful. On July 1 wildfires begin raging out of control in NE Fla., eventually causing 30K people to evacuate. On July 1 (her 37th birthday) a memorial to Princess Diana is opened by her brother Earl Spencer on the Spencer family estate, Althorp House in Northamptonshire where she is buried on an island on a lake. On July 4 Japan launches the Nazomi (Hope) spacecraft for Mars, becoming the 3rd country to launch an interplanetary spacecraft. On July 6 Yahoo founder Jerry Yang joins co-founder David Filo and Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos (1964-) as members of the billionaire club - play the best song in the world or I'll steal your souls? On July 6 Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi breaks his hip while exercising, and undergoes surgery while denying rumors of an assassination attempt. On July 7 Moshood Abiola, imprisoned leader of the West African opposition dies suddenly, sparking riots in Lagos, Nigeria on July 8, killing 19. On July 8 Dow Corning Corp. of Midland, Mich. agrees to a $3.2B settlement of claims by 170K women over their silicone breast implants -that's a lot of what? On July 10 the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Jamuna rivers in Bangladesh flood the countryside, killing 900 and displacing one quarter of the country's 124M people; they do not begin to recede until Sept. 12. On July 11 Jonathan Norman is caught breaking into the home of movie dir. Steven Spielberg, accused of intending to rape him and sentenced to 25 years to life. On July 12 the supposed eternal peace in Northern Ireland is broken when Protestants throw a firebomb into a house in Ballymore, killing three children. On July 13 Japanese PM (since 1996) Ryutaro Hashimoto resigns after his Liberal Dem. Party suffers humiliating losses in parliamentary elections on July 12. On July 13 the IMF and World bank lend Russia $17B on top of the $5.6B already loaned in order to prop prop prop them up. On July 13 a Poughkeepsie, N.Y. jury finds Rev. Al Sharpton, Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason liable for defaming former county prosecutor Steven Pagones by claiming he helped abduct and rape a teenage girl in 1987, and orders them to pay him $345K in damages; a 1988 state grand jury determined that the story was a hoaxy hoax hoax hoax. On July 14-15 Turkish pres. Sulejman Demiral visits ally Albania. On July 15 a heat wave in Dallas, Tex. pushes temps. to above 100 deg. F for 10 straight days, causing officials to declare a state of emergency. On July 16 a federal appeals court rejects a Clinton admin. attempt to block the grand jury testimony of Secret Service agents on their knowledge of the goings on between the president and his sweet young thing intern at the White House - doesn't what goes on there stay there, like in Las Vegas? On July 17 the Rome Statute of the Internat. Criminal Court is adopted at a conference in Rome, Italy, establishing the internat. crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression; it enters into force on July 1, 2002; as of May 1, 2013 122 states sign up; holdouts incl. the U.S., Russia, China, Korea, and Israel. On July 17 three tsunamis up to 33 ft. high crash into the N coast of Papua, New Guinea, killing 3K out of 10K residents. On July 17 the authenticated remains of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and 3 of their 5 children are buried in Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg after a funeral. On July 18 Pres. Clinton announces that the govt. will spend $250M to buy 80M bushels of wheat to help U.S. farmers "in crisis". On July 20 pres. Abdulsalam Abubakar of Algeria announces that new pres. elections will be held in the next 3 mo., and power will be handed over to a civilian govt. by May 29, 1999. On July 21 a 700-ft. construction elevator collapses on the 22nd floor of the Conde Nast HQ under construction on New York City's Times Square, causing it to be closed to traffic. On July 21 the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis begins when Red China accuses Taiwan pres. Lee Teng-hui of independence sentiments by accepting an invitation to speak at his alma mater Cornell U. on "Taiwan's Democratization Experience", causing Red China to conduct missile tests on July 21-26 60 km. N of Pengjia Islet and mobilize forces in Fujian, followed by live ammo tests on Aug. 15-25, naval exercises in Aug., an amphibious assault exercises in Nov., causing the U.S. to respond with the biggest display of military might in Asia since the Vietnam War, causing China to acknowledge inability to stop them, but announce that reelection of Teng-hui on Mar. 23 will mean war, pissing-off the Taiwanese, who reelect him with a bigger margin, after which the Red Chinese back down. On July 24 (3:40 p.m.) police officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson are shot and killed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. by gunman Russell Eugene Weston Jr. (1956-) of Rimini, Mont., who pulls it out and begins firing when asked to walk through a metal detector; Weston is injured, and a Va. tourist is injured by stray gunfire in the first shooting inside the Capitol since 1954, and the deadliest since its 1800 opening; the first two policemen killed on duty at the Capital, they are later buried in Arlington Nat. Cemetery; Weston is locked up in a mental institution sans trial (until ?), refusing to take medications for paranoid schizophrenia until a May 2001 federal court order backed in July 2001 by a federal appeals court. On July 24 after Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) sues them, a jury in S.C. rules that two chapters of the Ku Klux Klan must pay $37.8M to the Macedonia Baptist Church for a June 21, 1995 arson, finding that the Klan's hate message motivated the four former Klansmen who were convicted for it in 1997; in Nov. a judge reduces the award to $21.5M, but either way the Klan is financially kaput. On July 24 Japanese foreign minister Keizo Obuchi (1937-2000) is named pres. of the ruling Liberal Dem. Party by PM Noboru Takeshita, and on July 30 he becomes the PM #54 of Japan (until Apr. 5, 2000). On July 26 the War of the Crosses sees Polish Roman Catholics place crosses outside the walls of Auschwitz in memory of Christians murdered there, while Jewish groups stink themselves up by claiming that only Jews have mourning rights there. On July 27 the Yangtze River reaches its highest level in 44 years, flooding millions of acres in Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces, killing 3K and making millions homeless; by July 29 drinking water is contaminated. In July Mt. Etna in Sicila spews lava into the air, the biggest display since its 1992 eruption. On Aug. 2 Indian and Pakistani forces exchange artillery fire in Kashmir, On Aug. 3 a 7-story concrete apt. bldg. in Bombay, India collapses, killing 32, becoming the 8th since 1995. On Aug. 3 an insurrection backed by Rwanda and Uganda against pres. Laurent Kabila begins in the Dem. Repub. of the Congo (DRC), taking control of a large portion of the country; on Aug. 13 rebels reach the outskirts of Kinshasa and seize Inga Dam, cutting off power to the city; on Aug. 22 after Angola and Zimbabwe send troops to aid Kabila, Ugandan pres. Yoweri K. Museveni warns that he will invade if they don't leave; on Aug. 2, 1998 after Namibia joins in, the 6-nation African World War (Second Congo War) begins (ends July 18, 2003); meanwhile on July 31 the monarchy of Buganda is officially restored, with Ronald Edward Frederick Kimera Muwenda Mutebi II (1955-) as kabaka #36 (until ?). On Aug. 6 Monica Lewinsky answers before a Washington, D.C. grand jury; on July 28 Kenneth Star announces that she has been granted immunity - he only wants the Big Prick? That's Ninety-Eight for Nairobi, Two Thousand One for Twin Tower Fun? On Aug. 7 (10:30 a.m. local time) the 1998 U.S. Embassy Bombings see simultaneous al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; the Nairobi blast kills 213, incl. 12 Americans, and injures 4K; the Dar es Salaam blast kills 11 Africans, and injures 85; suspicions lead to wealthy Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-born Osama (Usama) bin Laden (1957-2011) and his al-Qaida (al-Qaeda) (Arab. "the Base") global militant Sunni terrorist org. (founded in 1988), which receives its first internat. publicity; on Oct. 7 bin Laden is claimed by the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Hayat to have acquired nuclear weapons from Soviet Central Asian countries; on Nov. 4 a multi-million-dollar reward, the first of many is placed on his head by the U.S.; on Aug. 20 the U.S. retaliates by sending cruise missiles to pound terrorist camps in Sudan and Afghanistan (SE of Kabul), hoping to score payback and kill Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida associates, but he is tipped-off by Pakistani intelligence and escapes three hours before the attack; on Aug. 20 U.S. cruise missiles destroy the Al-Shifa (Arab. "healing") Pharmaceutical Industries factory in Khartoum, Sudan, and later U.S. officials lamely claim it was involved in the manufacture of chemical weapons; on Aug. 22 concrete barriers are positioned around the Washington Monument, just in case; four low-level bin Laden followers (a Lebanese, a Saudi, a Jordanian and a Tanzanian) are apprehended in Africa and extradited to the U.S., where in 2001 they are all convicted in a New York federal court for their roles in the bombings and sentenced to life; Egyptian-born Ali Mohammed al-Amriki (Arab. "the American") (1952-), a Muslim double agent mole who worked for the CIA and U.S. special forces and trained al-Qaida fighters incl. El Sayyid Nosair (murderer of Rabbi Kahane) is charged with the bombings, and pleads guilty in Oct. 2000; Tanzanian-born Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani (1974-) is captured in 2004 and held in Guantanamo Bay, and on Nov. 17, 2010 acquitted of 284 of 285 charges, and convicted only of conspiracy to destroy U.S. property, receiving a 20-year sentence, dashing Obama admin. plans to prosecute Islamic terrorists in civil rather than military courts; his lengthy confession was suppressed? On Aug. 8 the Taliban wins a V in Mazar-i Sharif in N Afghanistan, followed on Aug. 11 by Taloqan, the last major city to fall to them, after which they take more territory along the Uzbekistan border on Aug. 12, giving them control of over 90% of Afghanistan; the other 10% in the N along the Tajikistan border is held by the Northern Alliance (United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan), headed by Ahmad (Ahmed) Shah Massoud (1953-2001) AKA "the Lion of Panjshir"; on Aug. 8 nine Iranian diplomats are killed in a consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, causing Iran on Sept. 10 to announce that it holds the Taliban responsible. On Aug. 12 Switzerland's two largest banks agree to pay $1.25B to settle claims filed by 31.5K Holocaust victims for assets deposited during WWII by Jews in an affort to keep them safe from the Nazis; since 1945 the banks blocked efforts of survivors and relatives to recover the money, since the depositors had conveniently disappeared? On Aug. 12 a Titan 4A rocket carrying a spy satellite blows up 40 sec. after launch, creating a spectacular fireball 4 mi. over the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. On Aug. 15 (Sat.) a car bomb explodes in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killing 29. On Aug. 16 King Hussein of Jordan, in hospital for cancer treatments gives his brother and heir Crown Prince Hassan power to reorganize the govt. On Aug. 17 Pres. Clinton admits on TV that he had misled his family and the nation about the nature of his headlong relationship with aide Monica Lewinsky, which he calls "wrong" and "not appropriate"; Repubs. demand his resignation, while thrilled women want to line up and be next?; earlier in the day Clinton testified in front of a grand jury for over 4 hours - did he blow it? On Aug. 17 Russia defaults on $43B in short-term foreign loans, and the ruble collapses on internat. money markets; on Sept. 7 Russian central bank chmn. Sergei Constantinovich Dubinin (1950-) resigns after the ruble drops to the value of a U.S. nickel. On Aug. 18 after a flash food, two Himalayan villages in Uttar Pradesh, India are buried by mud, killing 182 incl. 100 Hindu pilgrims. On Aug. 21 a Hattiesburg, Miss. jury convicts former KKK imperial wizard Samuel Holloway Bowers (1924-2006) of ordering a firebombing that killed Miss. civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer Sr. on Jan. 10, 1966; juries had deadlocked on Bowers 4x before; he receives a life sentence, and dies in the state pen in Jackson, Miss. On Aug. 23 Pres. Yeltsin replaces Sergei Kiriyenko as PM with former PM Viktor Chernomyrdin; on Sept. 10 he drops him and switches to foreign minister Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov (1929-), who is confirmed by the Duma on Sept. 11 as PM of Russia (until May 12, 1999). On Aug. 23 internat. aid agencies warn that North Korea's food distribution system has virtually shut down, with only 10% of its rice fields cultivated; 2.3M died of famine since 1995. On Aug. 23 That '70s Show debuts on Fox Network for 200 episodes (until May 18, 2006), set in fictional Point Place, Wisc. from May 17, 1976 to Dec. 31, 1979, making stars of Christopher Ashton Kutcher (1978-) (as Michael Kelso), Topher Grace (1978-) (as Eric Forman), Kiev-born Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (1983-) (as Jackie Burkhart), Wilmer Valderamma (1980-) (as Fez), Laura Prepon (1980-) (as Donna Pinciotti), and Daniel Peter "Danny" Masterson (1976-) (as Steven Hyde); "RoboCop" villain Kurtwood Larson Smith (1943-) plays Korean War vet father Reginald "Red" Forman, and Debra Jo Rupp (1951-) plays mother Kitty. On Aug. 26 Hurricane Bonnie hits Cape Fear, N.C. with 100 mph winds - somehow this makes the year more poetic? On Aug. 27 a 5-min. burst of gamma and X-ray radiation from magnetar (magnetic neutron star) SGR1900+4 in the constellation Aquila, 20K l.y. away reaches Earth, becoming the first high energy from outside the Solar System to have a measurable effect on Earth's atmosphere; the rays are all absorbed by the atmosphere, hopefully. On Aug. 27 South Korea and Kuala Lumpur announce economic recessions. On Aug. 27 the U.N. Security Council approves a resolution sponsored by the U.S. and Britain that will suspend 1992 sanctions on Libya once two suspected Pan Am Flight 103 terrorists arrive in the Netherlands for trial; al-Daffy balks, demanding that they guarantee that they will serve their sentences in Libya - in his palace with his harem girls? On Aug. 28 the Hong Kong govt. announces an economic recession, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange ends the week at its lowest level since 1986, losing $241B in stock value. On Aug. 28-Sept. 12 6K Northwest Airlines workers go on strike, grounding 400 planes. On Aug. 29 a Cuban Tupolev-143 catches fire and explodes on a 3rd takeoff attempt from the airport at Quito, Ecuador, killing 79 of 90 aboard. On Aug. 31 North Korea launches an experimental missile over Japan, letting them freak then declaring it is simply a scientific probe - I saw that Star Trek episode? The Jaws movies don't keep them out of the water this summer? On Aug. 31 31-y.-o. U.S.-born Frenchman Benoit Lecomte (1967-) becomes the first person to swim across the Atlantic Ocean without a kickboard, beginning July 16 in Hyannis, Mass., and swimming 3,395 mi. in 72 days to Brittany, France, in the water 6-8 hours a day, and living in a boat the rest of the time. On Aug. 31 32-y.-o. Australian John MacLean (1956-) becomes the first paraplegic to swim the English Channel, swimming 21 mi. from Dover to Calais in 12 hr. 55 min.; in 1995 he was the first wheelchair athlete to participate in the Hawaiian Ironman competition. In Aug. Vietnam announces that it will release 5,219 prisoners as part of a gen.amnesty, incl. pro-democracy dissidents Doan Viet Hoat (1942-) ("the Sakharov of Vietnam") and Nguyen Dan Que (1943-), on condition they move to the U.S.; too bad, Que remains in Vietnam, where he lives under virtual house arrest until being rearrested on Mar. 17, 2003, being released on Feb. 2, 2005 and moving to Ho Chi Minh City to go at it again. In Aug. the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Richmond, Va. rules that the U.S. FDA does not have the authority to regulate cigarettes and smokeless tobacco as dangerous substances, dashing their big plans. In Aug. Kim Jong Il's 3rd and youngest son Kim Jong Un (1983-), AKA Pak Un enrolls in an elite German-speaking school in Liebefeld, Switzerland, bringing a collection of $200 Nike sneakers while being groomed as his successor. On Sept. 2 Swiss Air Flight 111 (MD-11) en route from Geneva to New York City crashes into the Atlantic off the SE shore of Novia Scotia, killing all 229 aboard, just minutes before it can complete an emergency landing. On Sept. 4 former PM Jean Kambanda (1955-) of Rwanda is sentenced to life in prison by a U.N. tribunal for his role in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis. On Sept. 4 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? debuts on ITV in the U.K., hosted by Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant (1946-) (until Feb. 11, 2014), reaching 19M viewers; on Aug. 16, 1999 the U.S. version debuts, hosted by Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (1931-), becoming the #1 TV show of 1999-2000, with 29M viewers, ending on June 27, 2002, after which a daily syndicated version debuts on Sept. 16, 2002, hosted by Meredith Louise Vieira (1953-) (until May 2013); on July 7, 2010 a federal jury in Riverside, Calif. awards creator Celador Internat. $269.2M in damages, incl. $9.2M for sale of merchandise after it sues the Walt Disney Co. On Sept. 5 Kim Il-sung's son Kim Jong-il (Jong Il) is officially declared "Great Leader" of North Korea. On Sept. 5-6 elections in Malta return Eddie Fenech Adami and his Nat. Party to power after the rival Labor Party fails to show the same interest in internat. pursuits such as the EU and NATO. On Sept. 8 15 rivers overflow their banks in Chiapas, Mexico after six days of rain, killing 120 and leaving 25K homeless. On Sept. 9 police deliver 36 cartons of grand jury testimony and other documents and tapes concerning Kenneth Star's 4-year $40M vendetta (er, investigation) of the Clintons to the House of Reps. On Sept. 9 Keiko (1976-2003), the 5-ton orca (killer whale) from 1993's feel-good flick Free Willy is flown from Newport, Ore. to live in a luxurious 250-ft. pen in a bay off Vestmannaeyjar, near Reykjavik, Iceland; he had been living in a cramped overwarm tank in Mexico City in 1996 when activists formed the Save Willy-Keiko Foundation; in July 2002 after pressure by activists, Keiko is freed in Iceland, but fails to adapt to the wild and dies in Norway in Dec. 2003. On Sept. 9 the animated series Pinky and the Brain debuts on The Web for 65 episodes (until Nov. 14, 1998), produced by Steven Spielberg, about two genetically-engineered mice living in Acme Labs located in a major U.S. city under a suspension bridge who are always plotting to take over the world, becoming the first animated TV series presented in Dolby Surround; "One is a genius, the other's insane"; "They're laboratory mice, their genes have been spliced." On Sept. 10 Iran sends 200K troops to the Afghan border. The mean Puritanical Republicans loose the dogs of war? On Sept. 11 independent counsel Kenneth Star delivers the 445-page Starr Report to the U.S. House of Reps. after a 4-year $40M investigation (witch hunt?) into the Clintons; it charges Pres. Clinton with 11 impeachable offenses, all involving perjury or obstruction of justice - lying to them about personal things that they shouldn't have had the power to ask in the first place? On Sept. 11 Pres. Clinton meets with Barack Obama's Chicago pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright at a White House Prayer Breakfast. On Sept. 12-13 elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina give V to Zivko Radisic (1937-) (Bosnian Orthodox Serb), Alija Izetbegovic (1925-2003) (Bosnian Muslim) and Ante Jelavic (1963-) (Croat) for the joint presidency; Milorad Dodik remains PM; hardliner Nikola Poplasen (1951-) is elected pres. of Serbia (until 1999). On Sept. 14 the Cuban Five Castro spy ring in Miami, Fla. are arrested. On Sept. 16 the Basque separatist group ETA announces an "indefinite" ceasefire in its 30-year war of independence from Spain which has killed 800+. On Sept. 16 Burkino Faso becomes the 40th country to ratify the 1997 Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines, allowing it to become internat. law next Mar. 1. On Sept. 18 the ferry M/V Princess of the Orient sinks in Manila Bay, 40 mi. S of Manila in heavy seas in Tropical Storm Vicki, killing 60. On Sept. 20 Malaysian deputy PM (1993-8) Anwar Ibrahim (1947-) leads a large demonstration demanding reform of the govt. of PM Mahathir bin Mohammad, who had fired him on a variety of convenient charges, and is arrested by Malaysian police wearing black ski masks and carrying machine guns. On Sept. 21 Pres. Clinton's Aug. 17 grand jury testimony about his Monica Lewinsky BJ, er, tryst is broadcast on TV. On Sept. 21 the sitcom The King of Queens debuts on CBS-TV for 207 episodes (until May 14, 2007) stars Kevin James (Kevin George Knipfing) (1965-) as Internat. Parcel Service (IPS) delivery driver Doug Heffernan of 3121 Aberdeen St. in Rego Park, Queens, N.Y., and Scientologist Leah Marie Remini (1970-) as his wife Carrie; Gerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller (1927-) plays Carrie's oddball father Arther Spooner. On Sept. 21 the sitcom Will & Grace debuts on NBC-TV for 184 episodes (until May 18, 2006), about gay New York City lawyer Will Truman (played by Eric McCormack) and his best friend, straight Jewish interior designer Grace Adler (played by Debra Messing); also features rich socialite Karen Walker (Megan Mullally), and struggling gay actor Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes), teaching millions of viewers how gay men view other men as yummy hot dishes but grow cold around poontang. On Sept. 21 the Spanish language talk show El Gordo y la Flaca (The Fat Man and the Skinny Woman) debuts on Univision for ? episodes (until ?), featuring Cuban-born photographer Raul Raúl "El Gordo" De Molina (1959-) and Cuban-born model Liliana Del Carmen "Lili" "La Flaca" Estefan Garcia (1967-), paternal niece of singer Gloria Estefan's husband Emilio. On Sept. 21-30 Hurricane Georges terrorizes the Caribbean, tearing across the island of Hispaniola on Sept. 24, killing 200 and leaving 100K homeless in the Dominican Repub.; it then hits Cuba, killing 500 and causing billions in damage, and finally hits the Florida Keys with 100 mph winds but no deaths. On Sept. 24 Saudi Arabia recalls its envoy from Kabul and expel's Afghanistan's chief ambassador from Riyadh, accusing that country of harboring arch-enemy Osama bin Laden. On Sept. 24 Iran announces that it has dissociated itself from Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 fatwa ordering the death of British novelist Salman Rushdie. 24 straight years of German Helmuts ends? On Sept. 27 Clinton-clone liberal center-left Social Dem. Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schroeder (Schröder) (1944-) i s elected chancellor of Germany, taking office on Oct. 27 (until Nov. 22, 2005), replacing conservative Helmut Kohl after 16 years in power; Duesseldorf painter Joerg Immendorff paints his portrait to hang in the chancellery; Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (1948-) becomes vice-chancellor (until Nov. 22, 2005), allying with the Alliance '90/Greens (formed 1993) and becoming the most popular politician in Germany for most of Schroeder's term. On Sept. 29 Austria begins discussions about returning the hundreds of art objects stolen by the Nazi regime from Jews and others. On Sept. 30 Pres. Clinton announces the first U.S. govt. budget surplus ($70B), and the largest in U.S. history (until ?). In Sept. Brazil's economy reels, while Japan, the U.S. and Canada cut key interest rates in an effort to pump theirs up? In Sept. Swiss investigators issue a report documenting the role of Raul Salinas de Gortari (1946-), elder brother of former Mexican pres. Carlino Salinas de Gortari (who flees to Ireland) in protecting the flow of cocaine into the U.S. in exchange for big bucks. In Sept. Chinese officials reverse their longstanding policy and permit the Puccini opera "Turandot" to be performed in China, permitting the courtyard of the 500-y.-o. temple in the Forbidden City to be used for the $15M production staged by movie dir. Zhang Yimou and conducted by Zubin Mehta. In Sept. former KGB Russian academic Igor Panarin (1958-) begins predicting the fracturization and collapse of the U.S. in 2010. In Sept.-Dec. 600K Moldovans flee the country from the poverty caused by the Russian financial crisis. On Oct. 3 conservative PM John Howard wins reelection in Australia. On Oct. 4 Pres. Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil wins reelection. On Oct. 5 the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is reunited, healing their 1996 split. The head of our country is impeached for getting out of hand with aide Monica Lewinsky? On Oct. 5 after a House vote led by Jesuit-trained Ill. Rep. Henry Hyde (1924-2007), who utters the soundbyte: "What we are telling you today are not the ravings of some vast right-wing conspiracy, but a reaffirmation of a set of values that are tarnished and dim these days, but it is given to us to restore them so our Founding Fathers would be proud", the Clinton Impeachment Inquiry begins; Calif. Rep. Gary Condit and other moderate-conservative Blue Dog Dems. vote for the inquiry; on Nov. 13 Paula Jones drops her case against Clinton for $850K; her atty. is up-and-coming Gloria Allred (1941-); on Oct. 8 the U.S. House of Reps. votes 258-176 to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to launch an impeachment inquiry against Pres. Clinton; 31 Dems. vote with the Repub. Salem Witch Hunters looking for a stain on the pres.; the JC opens hearings on Nov. 19, which feature Ken Starr as the star; on Dec. 11-12 all 16 Dems. vote against sending articles of impeachment on to the House, while all 23 Repubs. vote for it (except one member on one ballot, to make them look unbiased). On Oct. 7 Japan's parliament begins bank debt reforms, causing the dollar to drop 8% against the yen - the largest in 25 years. On Oct. 7 the U.S. Dept. of HHS announces that U.S. AIDS deaths are down 47% in 1997 from 1996 - the lowest level since 1987. On Oct. 8 the Italian govt. of PM Romano Prodi collapses after 2.5 years in office, becoming the 2nd longest-lived govt. since WWII. On Oct. 12 a truce mediated by Richard Holbrooke of the U.S. under threat of a NATO air strike is signed by Serbian Pres. Slobodan Milosevic, who agrees to withdraw his forces from Kosovo; U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark becomes proud of the fact that he doesn't lose one U.S. soldier in Kosovo; too bad, the fighting continues as Kosovo seeks full independence while Serbia wants them to have limited autonomy. On Oct. 12 21-y.-o. openly gay U. of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard (b. 1976) dies after being severely beaten and left like a scarecrow on a fence by two gay-bashing men; the incident spurs efforts to pass federal anti-gay hate crime legislation, which are blocked for years, incl. the U.S. Matthew Shepard Act in 2007; he was really killed over a methamphetamine deal by his gay lover, not because he was gay? On Oct. 14 abortion opponent Eric Robert Rudolph is charged with three bombings in 1996, incl. at the Atlanta Summer Olympics. On Oct. 14 the first Monument to U.S. Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War is dedicated at the U. of Washington. On Oct. 15 the U.S. Federal Reserve cuts interest rates for the 2nd time in two weeks, and stock markets worldwide begin to recover from the July, 1997 Asian monetary crisis. On Oct. 16 John Hume (1937-) (Roman Catholic leader of the Social Dem. and Labour Party) and William David Trimble, Baron Trimble (1944-) (Protestant leader of the Ulster Unionist Pary) of Northern Ireland are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their contributions to the Belfast Accord. On Oct. 16 the Italian govt. of PM Romano Prodi falls after losing a no-confidence vote by one vote in the chamber of deputies over a dispute with the hardline Marxist Reconstructed Communist Party, becoming the 2nd-longest Italian admin. since WWII (18 mo.) (#55); on Oct. 21 Massimo D'Alema (1949-), head of the leftist Dem. Party becomes Italian PM #76 (until 2000). On Oct. 16-21 15.66 in. of rain falls in central Tex. (the Hill Country and counties S and E of San Antonio) in six hours, flooding 60 counties, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and killing 25, becoming the most rain in the area until July 2002 (16.14 in.). On Oct. 17-21 the New York Yankees (AL) defeat the San Diego Padres (NL) 4-0 to win the Ninety-Fourth (94th) World Series; after owner Harry Wayne Huizenga (1937-) sells or trades most of its high-paid star players, the Florida Marlins finish the regular season 54-108, worst ever for a defending champ. On Oct. 18 Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile as a despot for 17 years is arrested in London after Spain requests that he be extradited for atrocities; on Nov. 25 Britain's highest court denies his appeal on the grounds of immunity; the arrest makes closet war criminal Henry Kissinger antsy because he might be next? On Oct. 18 an oil pipeline explodes in Jesse 180 mi. SE of Lagos, Nigeria, killing 1,082 after thieves punch holes in it, becoming Nigeria's deadliest pipeline explosion (until ?). On Oct. 18 a commuter train near Alexandria, Egypt jumps its tracks and plows through a crowded platform, killing 30. On Oct. 19 a federal trial begins to determine whether Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash. violated federal antitrust laws after the U.S. Justice Dept. and attys. gen. from 20 states file a lawsuit against them on May 18. On Oct. 19 a Palestinian hurls two grenades at Israeli soldiers in a bus station in Beersheba, wounding 60+. On Oct. 19 the Russian govt. announces that the number of Russians with a monthly income of $31 or less (their poverty line) has risen from 31 to 44.3M since last year. On Oct. 20 BankAmerica pres. David Coulter resigns over a bad $372M loan made to hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co. On Oct. 21 the U.S. Congress passes the U.S. Child On-Line Protection Act, intended to protect minors from porn sites on the Web by requiring site operators to employ access restrictions, such as requiring kids to give their parents' credit card number; civil liberty orgs. file suit against it in Nov. On Oct. 22 Super Typhoon Babs hits the Philippines, killing 190 and leaving 400K homeless; on Oct. 25 it hits Taiwan and Hong Kong with 20. in of rain and 80 mph winds. On Oct. 23 the Wye River Accord, an interim land-for-peace deal regarding the West Bank is agreed upon at peace talks held at the Wye River Plantation outside Washington, D.C.; the Israeli Cabinet approves it on Nov. 11; it calls for Israeli troop withdrawal from 13% of the West Bank in exchange for Palestinian crackdown on violent members. On Oct. 26 Ecuador and Peru end their 50-year 3-war boundary dispute. Central Am. is devastated by Hurricane Mitch on Oct. 26-31; 10k-20k die, and 70% of the infrastructure of Honduras and Nicaragua is destroyed - the deadliest natural disaster yet to hit Latin America. On Oct. 27 the U.N. reveals that 21M of 30M people infected worldwide with HIV reside in Africa - the drama may be real but it won't save you any money on car insurance? On Oct. 28 Ted Hughes (b. 1930) dies, and Sir Andrew Motion (1952-) becomes British poet laureate (until 1999). On Oct. 29 U.S. Sen. John Herschel Glenn Jr. (1921-2016) becomes the oldest person to go into space at age 77 on the Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-95 (his first space trip since Feb. 1962); he is part of a 7-astronaut internat. crew, and is the 121st U.S. space mission since Glenn's 1962 trip; he returns on Nov. 7 after a geriatric fun 9-day mission, and receives his second ticker tape parade in New York City on June 18, 1999. On Oct. 29 South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission issues its final report, alleging that apartheid govt. forces from 1948-94 abducted and killed citizens seeking racial equality; it also notes atrocities committed by the African Nat. Congress. In late Oct. Yasir Arafat arrests more than 100 members of Hamas after a suicide bomber tries to blow up two Israeli school buses. In Oct. French archeologists Franck Goddio et al. locate Cleopatra's lost palace on the island of Antirhodos off Alexandria, Egypt, which had sunk in the late 4th cent. C.E. during earthquakes; a sphinx bearing the likeness of her daddy Ptolemy XII is also found. In the 1998-9 season a U.S. record 1,140 in. of snow falls in Mt. Baker Ski Area, Wash. On Nov. 1 elections in Macedonia cause the ruling Social Dems. to be defeated by the Internal Macedonian Rev. Org. (VMRO), which allies with the pro-business Dem. Alternative (DA), giving them 62 of 120 seats. On Nov. 3 the Dems. gain five seats in the U.S. House, while avoiding major losses in the Senate (first time since 934 that the party of a sitting U.S. pres. gains seats in Congress in a midterm election); this is taken as a sign that the public is fed up with the Repub. end-around run on their beloved handsome well-hung (hangs naturally to the left but can point straight to the center) president and wants the impeachment party dropped like clown doodoo; Repubs. still control both houses, with 223-211 House seats (plus one independent who usually votes with the Dems.), and 55-45 Senate seats. The year that musclemen are accepted as U.S. state governors? On Nov. 3 the Reform Party in America scores a major victory when former pro wrestler and actor Jesse 'the Body' Ventura (1951-) is elected gov. of Minn.; lt. gov. Gray Davis (1942-) (a girlie man?) becomes the first Dem. gov. of Calif. since 1978 - Jesse Ventura and Ahnuld in Predator, Governor's Edition? On Nov. 3 Dem. Anthony Williams wins the mayoral election in Washington, D.C., after Marion S. Barry Jr. declines to seek reelection. On Nov. 3 voters in Washington State follow Calif.'s 1996 lead and approve a measure banning preferences based on race or sex in state or municipal hiring, state college admission, and state contracts with private businesses. On Nov. 4 a U.S. federal grand jury returns a 238-count indictment against Osama bin Laden, and offers a $5M reward for his head (er, for info. leading to his arrest). On Nov. 6 Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) announces that he will leave the House when his term expires in Jan.; he was first elected to the House in 1979; on Nov. 9 Robert L. Livingston (R-La.) is unanimously selected to succeed him, but on Dec. 19 he stuns the House by announcing that he will resign from Congress in 6 mo. because of an extramarital relationship; Richard A. Gephart (D-Mo.) is selected as House minority leader. On Nov. 11 a bronze statue honoring the 11K+ U.S. women who served in the Vietnam War is dedicated in Washington, D.C. On Nov. 14 Pres. Clinton cancels a military strike on Iraq just hours before it is set to begin after Saddam Hussein sends a vague letter to the U.N. promising what they want to hear, viz., unconditional cooperation with U.N. inspectors, seemingly ending the standoff with Britain and the U.S., but on Nov. 22 Iraqi foreign minister Mohammed (Muhammad) Saeed al-Sahhaf (1940-) (Shiite) announces that the U.N. is a sucker and they renege. On Nov. 18 the animated series The Powderpuff Girls, created by Craig McCracken debuts on the Cartoon Network for 78 episodes (unti Mar. 25, 2005), about super sisters Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, and their brainy scientist father Prof. Utonium in Townsville, who are called upon by the naive mayor to fight crime. On Nov. 19 the House Judiciary Committee opens its peachy party against Pres. Clinton with testimony by star chamber prosecutor Ken Starr. On Nov. 20 46 states attys. gen. settle their lawsuits against U.S. tobacco cos. for $206B, and they agree to limit advertising; Philip Morris banishes Marlboro Man from billboards and mag. covers, but he continues to be among the top 100 most influential people who never lived until ? On Nov. 20 after the Zarya module is launched, the Internat. Space Station (ISS) is launched into permanent low Earth orbit (250 mi.), becoming the largest artificial body in Earth orbit (until ?); it is decomissioned on ?. On Nov. 22-Dec. 7 180 die in Poland and Romania from subzero temps. and blizzard conditions. On Nov. 23 the EU lifts its 32-mo. ban on British beef. On Nov. 24 Marionite Christian Gen. Emile Jamil Lahoud (1936-) becomes pres. of Lebanon (until Nov. 24, 2007). On Nov. 24 U.S. atty. gen. Janet Reno clears Vice-pres. Albert Gore of lying to Justice Dept. officials during a 1997 investigation of fundraising calls for the DNC made from his govt. office; on Dec. 7 she clears Pres. Clinton regarding his role in an ad campaign during the 1996 election. On Nov. 24 America Online (AOL) announces plans to purchase Internet software browser maker Netscape Communications Corp. for $4.2B in stock - they then manage to ruin a great browser and let Microsoft take over the browser market walking away? On Nov. 25 the govt. of PM Mesut Yilmaz of Turkey falls after he is accused of helping gangsters buy a state-owned bank. On Nov. 26 an express passenger train en route to Calcutta collides with uncoupled mail train cars near Punjab, India, killing 200 and injuring 260. On Nov. 28 U.N. secy.-gen. Kofi Annon secures promises from eight African leaders to sign a ceasefire in Congo's civil war. On Dec. 1 the House Judiciary Committee widens the scope of its inquiry to incl. the election campaign; on Dec. 11 it votes 21-16 to approve articles of impeachment; on Dec. 17 the House decides to postpone its impeachment vote until the Gulf Crisis is resolved; on Dec. 19 House Resolution 611 (introduced by Henry Hyde on Dec. 15) is passed, making Clinton the 1st elected U.S. pres. and 2nd U.S. pres. to be impeached (Andrew Johnson in 1868); he is impeached on two of four proposed articles by narrow partisan majorities, 228-206 for perjury to a grand jury, and 221-212 for obstruction of justice; a 2nd count of perjury in the Paula Jones case fails by 205-229, and an abuse of power count fails by 148-285; four Repubs. oppose all four articles, five Dems. vote for at least one. On Dec. 4 Space Shuttle Endeavour begins a 12-day mission to attach the first U.S.-built section of the Internat. Space Station to a Russian-built section already in orbit; an insulation blanket is lost during a spacewalk. On Dec. 6 retired leftist army Col. Hugo Chavez Frias (1954-2013) is elected pres. of Venezuela (until Mar. 5, 2013), and his leftist programs spur the flight of capital from the country just when its economy is hurting the most? On Dec. 10 the U.S. celebrates the 50th anniv. of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt's baby. On Dec. 11 a Thai Airways jetliner crashes in a swamp in S Thailand during a rainstorm, killing 101 of 146 aboard. On Dec. 12 Pres. Clinton flees (er, flies) to Israel to warm them back up over the Oct. peace accord, which is backfiring on PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The All-American Three Strikes and You're Out? On Dec. 15 chief U.N. weapons inspector, U.N. Special Commission (Unscom) chmn. Richard William Butler (1942-) accuses Iraq of blocking weapons facility inspections, and on Dec. 16 the U.S. and Britain begin air and missile strikes in an effort at long term attrition, targeting Iraqi military-industrial sites from bases in Kuwait and Oman, starting with a 23:00 Baghdad time hail of 200+ Tomahawk missiles (ends Dec. 19); similar crises had been resolved without such strikes in Feb. and Nov.; on Dec. 19 the strikes end, with the U.S. crowing success, causing Iraqi officials to pledge to never allow the return of them *!?*! U.N. arms inspectors over their dead bodies? - be careful what you wish for? On Dec. 18 the Festivus for the Rest of Us episode of Seinfeld airs, in which Frank Costanza puts up an unadorned aluminum pole instead of a Christmas tree ("very high strength-to-weight ratio") ("I find tinsel distracting"), and his whole clan airs grievances, then each guest wrestles the host until someone cries uncle; Festivus was invented by writer Dan O'Keefe's father in the 1960s, featuring a clock and bag instead of pole; in 2005 Wisc. Gov. Jim Doyle puts up a Festivus Pole at the governor's mansion in Madison, then takes it down after the Michael Richards racial slur incident, even though in the episode Kramer rejected Festivus. On Dec. 20 a 27-y.-o. woman in Houston, Tex. gives birth to the last of the first surviving set of octuplets; the first was born on Dec. 8, and the smallest one dies on Dec. 27. On Dec. 21 an overwhelming majority of the Israeli parliament votes to dissolve the govt. of PM Benjamin Netanyahu after withdrawing a scheduled vote of no confidence. On Dec. 23 a freeze destroys more than one-third of Calif.'s citrus crop; the cold spell beginning Dec. 21 is the worst since 1990? On Dec. 24 Serbian forces attack separatist guerrillas in Podujevo, Serbia in N Kosovo Province, breaking a 2-mo. ceasefire, and causing internat. monitors to state that peace efforts may be pointless. On Dec. 28 the Lois Jenson Case, the first class action lawsuit on sexual harassment in the workplace is won over the actions of the Eveleth Taconite Co. in N Minn. (Wasabi Range); portrayed in the 2005 film North Country. In Dec. Miami-Dade County is kept safe for homosexuals as its county commission passes a law banning discrimination in housing and employment. In Dec. German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta sabotages German railways 3x, demanding a 10M mark ransom; after being arrested as he attempts to collect at a filling station in Bavaria, on Feb. 4, 2000 he is sentenced to life for attempted murder and extortion - sabotta is a darn good name for a saboteur? Britain passes the Human Rights Act, modeled on the 1953 European Convention on Human Rights; it doesn't start getting enforced until 2000. "Chemical Ali", Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam Hussein's right-hand man masterminds the gassing of Kurds in Halabja, Iraq, killing 5K. U.S. Sen. (D-N.J.) Robert Menendez sponsors the Iran Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act of 1998, which passes the House but not the Senate. Chuck Hagel attempts to block the appointment of James Hormel as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, calling him "openly and aggressively gay"; on Feb. 4, 2013 while being considered as U.S. Dept. of Defense head, he apologizes. Queen Elizabeth II breaks Queen Elizabeth's record of 45 years, becoming the longest reigning British monarch. The European Central Bank (ECB) is founded. The Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) is founded in Jan. to help Arab-Ams. run for political office. Pakistan-born Nazir Ahmed (1958-) is appointed to the British House of Lords, becoming the first Muslim life peer as Baron Ahmed of Rotherham in the County of South Yorkshire; he takes his oath on the Quran. The conservative online newspaper Newsmax.com is launched (until ?), later becoming a favorite of Sarah Palin. Am. economist Paul Krugman utters the immortal soundbyte about the Internet: "By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's." The Web emerges as a medium for pirating copyrighted music stored in MP3 compressed format; when Diamond Multimedia Systems of San Jose, Calif. announces the Rio, a digital personal stereo that stores up to one hour of MP3 music, they are sued by the Recording Industry Assoc. of Am. (RIAA), seeking to keep the device from the market; meanwhile on Oct. 12 the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act is unanimously passed by the u.S. Senate, making it a crime to circumvent access-protection technology built into software or other media or to traffic in code-cracking devices; it incl. the Safe Harbor (DMCA 512) Provision (Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act) exempting Internet intermediaries from liability if they follow certain rules - now every geek can be an outlaw? Czech Repub. pres. Vaclav Havel suggests U.S. secy. of state Madeleine Albright as his replacement - she's got those high Czech cheekbones? The Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church votes that homosexual practices are "contrary to Scripture"; pro-gay rights bishop Jerry Winterrowd of Colo. votes with the majority, saying the church isn't ready to accept it yet. Puerto Rican voters reject a referendum to the join the U.S. as the 51st state. The U.S. Brady Law's 5-day waiting period for purchasing handguns expires. A Peruvian diplomat is indicted for smuggling Moche art. Russian KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko (1963-2006), who is so moved by the plight of the Chechens that he later converts to Islam claims that he is ordered to kill Russian Jewish billionaire Boris Berezovsky (1946-) after he falls out with Pres. Putin, causing him to be fired; in 2001 he flees to the U.K. and changes his name to Platon Elenin. Libyan dictator Col. Madman Daffy utters the soundbyte: "I would like Libya to become a black country, hence I recommend to Libyan men to marry only black women, and to Libyan women to marry black men." Mohammad Ali Jinnah U. in Karachi, Pakistan is founded. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is founded in Jakarta, Indonesia on Aug. 17, becoming known for violent attacks on bars, massage parlors, gaming halls et al. Jamaat-ul-Mujahideeen Bangladesh is founded in Palampur by Abdur Rahman, growing to 100K members by 2005. The Middle East Media Research Inst. (MEMRI) is founded in Washington, D.C. by former Israeli counterterrorism advisor Yigal Carmon to translate Arabic and Persian media for Westerners and reveal the anti-Semitic anti-Western propaganda being disseminated by Yasser Arafat and Hamas, Iran, etc.; too bad, Western media balk at the info., playing ostrich until ?. Compaq acquires Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) for $9.6B. BMW purchases Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for $572M after edging out Volkswagen, who responds by coming out with a new Beetle with a 4-cyl. 115 hp engine; on Mar. 3 the £155K ($220K) 12-cylinder BMW-powered Silver Seraph is introduced, replacing the Silver Spirit, introduced in 1980; production ceases in 2002 - no more beer for Arnie? Eurasia Group is founded in New York City by Chelsea, Mass.-born Ian Arthur Bremmer (1969-) to foster globalization. After selling Berkeley Systems, a system co. known for their "You Don't Know Jack" trivia game and flying toaster screensaver for $13.8M, marrieds Wes Boyd (1960-) Joan Blades (1956-) found the online center-left Dem. political org. MoveOn, which pioneers e-mail activism, starting with a petition to ask Congress to "censure Pres. Clinton and moveon"; they later pioneer clicktivism. The Am. Assoc. of Univ. Professors (founded in 1915 by John Dewey et al.) puts LDS Church-owned Brigham Young U. on its list of univs. that don't allow tenured professors sufficient academic freedom in teaching and research. The term RINO (Republican In Name Only) is coined by Gardner Goldsmith. Belief in God among members of the U.S. Nat. Academy of Sciences slides to 7.0%, down from 27.7% in 1914. Intel takes over from Westinghouse in the annual high school science talent competition business. "Interview with the Vampire" writer Anne Rice returns to the Roman Catholic Church, which she had turned away from at age 18, saying she "consecrated myself and my work to Christ" - he did say drink his blood? New Age musician Yanni (b. 1954) and "Dynasty" star Linda Evans (b. 1942) break up after nine years - Oscar Mayer's criss-crossing America looking for our next new star? Scottish-born British chef (pupil of Guy Savoy and Marco Pierre White) Gordon James Ramsay Jr. (1966-) opens Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, which gains its 3rd Michelin star in 2001 (first Scot). The Arabic Web site Maktoob.com is founded by Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury; Yahoo! acquires it in 2009. Mathaba.net is founded as an independent world news network allegedly working for the underdog; not to be confused with the Libyan World Mathaba. Canadian actor Michael J. Fox tells People mag. that he has Parkinson's disease - in Morse code? People Magazine runs an article about Donald Trump, where he is quoted as saying: "If I were to run, I'd run as a Republican. They're the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they'd still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific" - NOT, it's a bogus story :) Canadian-born Cynthia Trudell (1953-) becomes the first female pres. of a major U.S. car co., Saturn Corp. (until 2004). Amr Mohamed Helmi Khaled (1967-) begins preaching on satellite TV, becoming the first-ever Muslim televangelist, and preaching against al-Qaida to his mainly middle-class audience. Jose de Sousa Saramago (1922-), known for page-long sentences and chapter-long paragraphs becomes the first Portuguese writer to receive the Nobel Lit. Prize; in 2009 he slams the Bible as a "handbook of bad morals". Modern Library pub. its list of the 100 best novels of the 20th cent. In June the Am. Film Inst. releases its list of the 100 greatest U.S. films of all time in celebration of the 100th anniv. of U.S. cinema, the top 10 being "Citizen Kane" (1941), "Casablanca" (1942), "The Godfather" (1972), "Gone with the Wind" (1939), "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), "The Graduate" (1967), "On the Waterfront" (1954), "Schindler's List" (1993), and "Singin' in the Rain" (1952); none feature Greta Garbo, Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers; only "Fargo" (1996) makes it on the 1995- list. Vosges Haut-Chocolat is founded in Chicago, Ill. by Katrina Markoff, producing globally-inspired chocolates combined with exotic spices, bacon, etc., starting a trend; she also founds Wild Ophelia to produce natural non-GMO Americana chocolates. The Furby domestically-aimed electronic robotic toy, invented by David Hampton is introduced by Tiger Electonics, becoming a Christmas season hit, selling 1.8M in 1998, 14M in 1999, and 24M in 2000; it starts out speaking Furbish, and gradually learns English; in 2005 the Emoto-Tronic Furby with voice recognition and complex facial movements is introduced, followed in 2012 by a model with LCD eyes and a mobile app; in 2005 Hasbro takes over distribution. Sports: On Jan. 9 The Hockey News selects Wayne Gretzky as the best NHL player of all time. On Feb. 7-22 the XVIII Winter (18th) (1998) Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan feature 2,176 athletes from 72 nations participating in seven sports and 68 events in 15 venues, getting the lowest TV ratings in 30 years since Grenoble (X); the debut of women's ice hockey, curling, and snowboarding (invented in the 1960s); NHL players are allowed to participate in men's ice hockey; the opening ceremonies are attended by the Japanese Yamato emperor and empress; Germany wins 29 medals (2 gold), Norway 25 (10 gold), Russia 18 (9 gold), Canada 15 (6 gold), and Japan 10 medals (5 gold); the new "clap skate" (blade not attached to skater's heel) helps spur a slew of new speedskating records; on Feb. 17 the U.S. women's hockey team wins the gold in the first women's ice hockey competition in Olympic history, finishing 6-0; the Czech. Repub. wins the men's hockey gold medal, with Russia winning silver and Finland bronze; Tara Lipinski (1982-) of the U.S. upsets Michelle Kwan (1980-) of the U.S. in women's figure skating, becoming the youngest figure skater to win gold. On Feb. 15 the 1998 (40th) Daytona 500 is won by Ralph Dale Earhardt Sr. (1951-2001) on his 20th attempt. On Mar. 31 the Arizona Diamondbacks ML baseball team make its home debut, losing 9-2 to the Colorado Rockies. On May 17 New York Yankees pitcher David Wells strikes out 27 batters in a row and pitches a perfect game against the Minn. Twins - the 15th perfect game in major league history. On May 24 the 1998 (82nd) Indianapolis 500 is won by ex-Formula One driver Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever Jr. (1958-). On June 3-14 the 1998 NBA Finals sees the Chicago Bulls (coach Phil Jackson) defeat the Utah Jazz (coach Jerry Sloan) by 4-2 after Michael Jordan steals the ball from Karl Malone in Game 6 and sinks an 18-ft. jump shot over Byron Russell with only 5.2 sec. left to play, helping the Chicago Bulls to defeat the Utah Jazz 87-86 in game 6 and win their 3rd straight title (6th during the 1990s); this is MVP Jordan's last game with the Bulls, scoring 45 points, incl. 16 in the 4th quarter and all of their last 8 points in the final 2 min. 6 sec.; this game marks 25K+ regular season games and 5M+ points scored in the NBA - what a drag it is getting old? On June 6 Victory Gallop (1995-) edges Real Quiet (1995-) (AKA the Fish for his narrow frame) by a nose in a photo finish at the Belmont Stakes, robbing him of becoming the 12th Triple Crown winner. On June 9-16 the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals see the Detroit Red Wings defeat the Washington Capitols (1st appearance) by 4-0, their 9th win, the last sweep until ?, and the last 2-peat (until ?); MVP is 5'11" Wings center (team captain since 1986) Stephen Gregory "Steve" Yzerman (1965-). On June 10-July 12 France hosts the 16th FIFA World Cup of Soccer, scoring the biggest upset in half a cent. by defeating Brazil 3-0 in the final (greatest margin since 1970) to win for the 1st time, making a big star of ZinedineYazid "Zizou" Zidane (1972-) (French-born son of Algerian immigrants), who scores two goals with his head; Brazil's star striker Ronaldo is not up to snuff, sparking rumors of illness. Never heard of vs. Who's that? On July 4 the Wimbledon women's singles match is played by two no-names, and Czech player Jana Novotna (1968-) defeats French player Nathalie Tauziat 6-4, 7-6; on July 5 Pete Sampras of the U.S. defeats Goran Ivanisevich of Croatia in five sets for his 5th Wimbleton and 11th Grand Slam win. On July 1the 1998-9 NBA Lockout starts after owners refuse to raise the min. salary and begin a lockout, f orcing the regular season down to 50 games and causing the All-Star Game to be canceled; it ends on Jan. 6 after the Nat. Basketball Players Assoc. (NBPA) agrees to max player salaries and a pay scale for first-year players, after which TV ratings and ticket sales go on a multi-season slump. On Sept. 20 Baltimore Orioles 3rd baseman Cal Ripken Jr. voluntarily sits out his first game since 1982, fixing his endurance record at 2,632 consecutive games. On Sept. 27 St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire (1963-) hits two homers in the final game of the season, bringing his home run total to 70, and breaking the 1961 61-homer Roger Maris record, which he actually did on Sept. 8 against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium in St. Louis; the ball is sold by lucky fan Phil Ozersky at auction for more than $3M. On Oct. 14 the San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves in six games to win the NL Championship. On Oct. 25 Jason Elam (1970-) of the Denver Broncos ties the 1970 63-yard field regular season field goal record of Tom Dempsey of the Saints in a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The loser (3-13) Indianapolis Colts draft QB Peyton (Gael. "royal") Williams Manning (1976-), who goes 3-13 in his first season then puts the team into the playoffs year after year, leading them to eight (seven AFC South and one AFC East) division championships, two AFC championships, and one Super Bowl championship (Super Bowl XLI) before a neck injury gets him booted out in 2011. The World Tenpin Masters tournament is founded. A Chess Olympiad inaugurates the domed Chess City in Elista, capital of the Russian Repub. of Kalmykia on the NW coast of the Caspian Sea, founded by multimillionaire Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov (1962-), pres. of Kalmykia (1993-2010) and FIDE (World Chess Federation) (1995-); in Sept. 1997 he claims to have met aliens from outer space; on June 12, 2011 he plays a game of chess with Libyan dictator Col. Daffy Duck. Architecture: On May 5 the $768M Ronald Reagan Bldg. and Internat. Trade Center at 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. in downtown Washington, D.C. opens, designed by German-born architect James Ingo Freed (1930-2005), becoming the firt federal bldg. in the city with both governmental and private sector purposes; it houses the U.S. Agency for Internat. Development, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Woodrow Wilson Internat. Center for Scholars; too bad, 9/11 causes non-govt. access to be restricted; after Reagan's death in 2004, the building is draped in black with photos on the windows. In June the Fixed Link across the Great Belt, a road and rail link from the Dutch mainland to the island of Sjaelland, where Copenhagen is located opens; it incl. the 4-mi. East Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in Europe and 2nd longest in the world. In June the completed face of the Crazy Horse Memorial (Monument) is unveiled on a mountain in the Black Hills of S.D., carved by the family of sculptor Korczak Siolkowski, who began work on it in 1948; it becomes the world's largest sculpture (until ?). On Oct. 1 New York City's newly restored ($200M) Grand Central Terminal (built in 1913) is rededicated. $3.5B Kuala Lumpur Internat. Airport in Sepang, Malaysia opens. 1,483-ft. Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (begun 1992) is completed, becoming the world's tallest bldg. (until 2004). 6,532-ft. (1,991m) Akashi Kaikyo (Pearl) Bridge linking Kobe, Honshu and Iwaya, Awaji Island in Japan opens, becoming the world's longest suspension bridge (until ?). The $180M Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, Franklin County, N.Y. is built, becoming the first supermax prison in N.Y. state, housing 1.3K inmates, later becoming the home of celeb criminal Ralph "Bucky" Phillips. Nobel Prizes: Peace: John Hume (1937-) (Northern Ireland) and William David Trimble (1944-) (Northern Ireland) [1998 Good Friday Agreement]; Lit.: Jose de Sousa Saramago (1922-) (Portugal); Physics: Robert Betts Laughlin (1950-) (U.S.), Horst Ludwig Stormer (1949-) (Germany) and Daniel Chee Tsui (1939-) (U.S.) [Fractional Quantum Hall Effect]; Chem.: Walter Kohn (1923-) (U.S.) and Sir John Anthony Pople (1925-2004) (U.K.) [electronic density functional theory]; Medicine: Robert Francis Furchgott (1916-2009) (U.S.), Louis J. Ignarro (1941-) (U.S.) and Ferid Murad (1936-) (U.S.) [nitric acid as a signal in the cardiovascular system]; Economics: Amartya Kumar Sen (1933-) (India) [welfare economics]. Inventions: On Feb. 28 the USAF Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft makes its first flight, with its hi-resolution synthetic aperture radar and long-range infared sensors and long loiter times giving it the ability to survey 40K sq. mi. of terrain a day; it will never beat a U-2? On Mar. 23 the Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon lightweight all-weather multirole fighter makes its first flight, going into service in 2005, and adopted by Pakistan; 260+ are built by Feb. 2014. In Apr. Canon releases the Canon PowerShot Digital, a pocket-sized digital camera with good image quality, which starts a digital camera rev. and dooms film cameras. On May 15 Microsoft releases Windows 98, selling 1M units in 1 mo. In June Open Directory Project (DMOZ) (originally GnuHoo then NewHoo) is founded to compete with Yahoo! with volunteer editors, selling out to Netscape in Nov., which is purchased by AOL for $4.5B; it closes on Mar. 14, 2017. On July 4 Japan launches the Nozomi (Jap. "Hope", "Wish") (AKA Planet-B) spacecraft for Mars to study its upper atmosphere, becoming the 3rd country to launch an interplanetary spacecraft; too bad, it fails to achieve Mars orbit due to electrical failures, and is abandoned on Dec. 31, 2003. On July 26 the tandem-wing Scaled Composites Model 281 Proteus high-endurance aircraft, designed by Burt Rutan makes its first flight, with the ability to orbit a point at 65K ft. (19.8m) for 18+ hours while carrying telecom relay and other payloads on a vertical pylon; only one is built. On Sept. 24 the 72-passenger Beriev BE-200 Altair multipurpose amphibious aircraft makes its first flight, going into operation in 2003 - why not land on water? On Dec. 11 the NASA Mars Climate Orbiter (Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) robotic space probe is launched to study Mars' climate; too bad, on Sept. 23, 1999 communication is lost as it tries to enter orbit, later traced to ground-based Lockheed software that outputs data in units of pound-sec. instead of newton-sec., causing it to pass too close to the upper atmosphere and burn up. On Dec. 31 the FDA approves Pfizer's Celebrex for arthritis sufferers, becoming the first approved COX-2 inhibitor - since the padded bra? Google files U.S. Patent #6,285,999, titled "PageRank System", and uses it to create a monopoly in Internet searching, making the idea of patenting software seem lamer than ever, going on to get venture funding from Sequoia Capital in 1999. The Apple iMac features USB ports (designed by Intel in Jan. 1996), which become an industry std. The Iridium satellite system is launched, promising to give cell phones global coverage; too bad, it requires 77 satellites and proves too expensive. The WWW Consortium approves XML, a generalized HTML for use on the World Wide Web. PayPal.com online payments system is founded by German-born Peter Andreas Thiel (1967-) and Ukrainian-born computer scientist Maksymilian Rafailovych "Max" Levchin (Levchyn) (1975-), merging in 2000 with X.com, founded by South African-born Am. engineer Elon Musk (1971-); it goes public on Feb. 15, 2002 and is purchased by eBay for $1.5B on Oct. 3, 2002. Dutch programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer patents the "Like Button"; on Feb. 5, 2013 patent troll Rembrandt Social Media sues Facebook over it. Science: In Jan. the Accelerating expansion of the Universe is discovered by two independent projects, the Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-Z Supernova Search; Science mag. names it the "Breakthrough of the Year for 1998"; the Supernova Cosmology Project led by Am. astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter (1959-) of Lawrence Berkeley Nat. Lab and the independent High-Z Supernova Search Team led by Am. astrophysicist Brian Paul Schmidt (1967-) of Mount Stromio Observatory in Australia and Am. astronomer Nicholas B. Suntzeff (1952-) of the Cerro Tololo Inter-Am. Observatory in Chile use observations of supernovae to suggest that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, causing Am. astrophysicist Adam Guy Riess (1969-) of NASA's Space Telescope Science Inst. to postulate the existence of dark energy or antigravity, theorizing that most of the energy of the Universe is contained in empty space, bringing back Einstein's cosmological constant, which he had called his biggest mistake?; Perlmutter, Riess, and Schmidt go on to share the 2011 Nobel Physics Prize. On Mar. 5 Lunar Research Inst. scientists in Gilroy, Calif. announce on that the unmanned NASA Lunar Prospector has detected evidence of water on the Moon, and that there may be sufficient quantities to sustain lunar colonies - smoke blowin' down from the cabin on the hill soon? On Mar. 12 U. of Calif. and other scientists announce the discovery of a galaxy 12.2B light-years from Earth, the most distant yet observed - those photons were really getting old-looking? On Mar. 25 a fossil of 113M-y.-o. Scipionyx samniticus is described by Italian paleontologists, becoming the first dino to be found in Italy; its liver, intestines, and windpipe are well preserved. On Mar. 27 the Viagra (sildenafil citrate) pill for male impotence by Pfizer is approved by the U.S. FDA, and hits the market hard, with 3.6M prescriptions written in its first 4 mo. On Apr. 21 the JPL in Pasadena, Calif. reports that the first planets have been observed being formed from swirling gas and dust around a young star; on June 22 U.S. astronomers announce the discovery of a planet the size of Jupiter with twice its mass orbiting Gliese 876, a red dwarf star 15 l.y. from Earth, becoming the first planet discovered orbiting a common low-mass star in the Milky Way - the Federation of Planets is just around the corner? Man-made global warming or Mann-made global warming? On Apr. 23 Am. climatologists Michael Evan Mann (1965-), Raymond S. "Ray" Bradley, and Malcolm K. Hughes pub. the article Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries in Nature, proposing the Hockey Stick Graph based on reconstructions of the temp record on Earth over the past 600 (later 1K years), showing an abrupt rise in temps over the last 150 years, ramping up the Global Warming Controversy over whether there is a coming runaway heat wave; his graph hides the Medieval Warm Period of 950-1250?; on Jan. 31, 2003 fossil fuel industry-funded Malaysian-born Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics aerospace engineer Wei-Hock "Willie" Soon (1966-) and Harvard/Smithsonian astrophysicist Sallie Louise Baliunas (1953-) pub. the paper Proxy climatic and environmental changes of the past 1000 years in Climate Research, blasting Mann's hockey stick, with the soundbytes: "Our results suggest a different interpretation of the multiproxy climates compared to recent conclusions of Mann et al. (1998, 1999, 2000)", and "Across the world, many records reveal that the 20th century is probably not the warmest or a uniquely extreme climatic period of the last millennium", which is quickly adopted by the Pres. G.W. Bush admin. as a basis for amending the first EPA Report on the Environment, causing a firestorm of controversy causing 10 of 20 editors to resign and German-born publisher Otto Kinne (1923-2015) to cut the authors loose and blame the ed. who passed the paper, Trinidad and Tobago-born Kiwi climate scientist Christopher Rhodes "Chris" de Freitas (1948-2017), who on May 9, 2006 pub. an article in the New Zealand Herald with the soundbyte: "There is evidence of global warming. The climate has warmed about 0.6 °C in the past 100 years, but most of that warming occurred prior to 1940, before the post World War II industrialisation that led to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. But warming does not confirm that carbon dioxide is causing it. Climate is always warming or cooling. There are natural variability theories of warming"; he also writes the soundbytes: "I am not a global warming skeptic. I accept that rising human-caused CO2 from fossil sources could 'change the climate'. The basic physics is there to support this view. But where is the evidence that the putative change would be large or damaging?" and "Climate is not responding to greenhouse gases in the way we thought it might. If increasing carbon dioxide is in fact increasing climate change, its impact is smaller than natural variation. People are being misled by people making money out of this"; on June 5, 2001 Baliunas pub. the paper Climate History and the Sun, containing the soundbyte: "But is it possible that the particular temperature increase observed in the last 100 years is the result of carbon dioxide produced by human activities? The scientific evidence clearly indicates that this is not the case … measurements of atmospheric temperatures made by instruments lofted in satellites and balloons show that no warming has occurred in the atmosphere in the last 50 years. This is just the period in which humanmade carbon dioxide has been pouring into the atmosphere and according to the climate studies, the resultant atmospheric warming should be clearly evident." On June 5 Japanese and U.S. physicists announce the discovery of the existence of mass in the ghostly neutrino, suggesting that neutrinos may indeed make up much of the mass of the Universe - does that make them the Holy Ghost? In July the U.S. FDA approves the drug thalidomide (banned since the 1960s) for treating leprosy (Hansen's disease). On Sept. 7 Stanford U. grad students Sergey Mikhailovich Brin (1973-) and Lawrence Edward "Larry" Page (1973-) (who built an inkjet printer out of Legos in college) found the search engine Web site Google in a garage in Menlo Park, Calif. with a staff of four people, originally calling it Backrub because it analyzes Web site links, then changing it to Google after the word Googol, coined in 1920 by Am. mathematician Edward Kasner (1878-1955); they base their thesis on the project; despite a crowded field of well-financed search engine sites, they find that a sucker trick of hiding the paid advertising from the user by making advertisers pay for the order their sites come up in listings, rather than the obvious but annoying approach of thumbnail aids that pop up on the search screens is a winner (despite the result that all search results are skewed by the rich?), making them go #1 and later turning them into 20-something billionaires with a dot.com that has little revenue and no real product, patent, or creativity behind it, but zillions of mindless eyeballs, who seemingly never ask for a CD or DVD of the search engine database so that they don't have to keep connecting with it every time they need a dollop of info. - the Internet helps a few amass huge fortunes, but makes nada for the little guy? On Nov. 5 James A. Thomson of the U. of Wisc. announces the isolation of the first embryonic human stem cells; five days later a team led by John D. Gearhart at Johns Hopkins U. follows suit; they are believed to have potential for treating incurable diseases such as Parkinson's; in July R.G. Young, D.L. Butler et al. pub. an article in Journal of Orthopedic Research, announcing the use of stem cells for Achilles tendon repair. In Nov. Fred Gage of the Salk Inst. discovers Neurogenesis, proving that adult humans, even the elderly can generate new brain cells throughout life, which becomes known as Neuroplasticity. On Dec. 8 Japanese scientists report that they cloned eight calves from cells from a single cow; only four survive. On Dec. 11 scientists announce the first full decipherment of the genes of a multicelled animal, a microscopic roundworm. Roy Bakay et al. of Emory U. in Atlanta, Ga. install a brain implant in Johnny Ray, who suffers from locked-in syndrome after a brain-stem stroke; he uses it to control a computer cursor with his thoughts. Monsanto Co. of the U.S. patents genetically-altered corn and soybean seeds that become a virtual monopoly on U.S. farms within a decade. The Galileo spacecraft observes volcanic plumes on Jupiter's moon Io, and discovers Jupiter's 24th moon Posiphae, named for the wife of King Minos (daughter of Helios and Perse). Scientists at the Flerov (Flyorov) Lab of Nuclear Reactions of the Joint Inst. for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia discover the superheavy artificial element Flerovium (Fl) (#114), named in honor of Russian (Soviet) physicist Georgy Nikolayevich Flyorov (1913-90). Am. psychologist Martin E.P. "Marty" Seligman (1942-) and Croatian-born Am. psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934-) found Positive Psychology, "a psychology of positive functioning... which achieves a scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving individuals, families, and communities", and seeks "to make normal life more fulfilling" rather than just treating mental illness. Am. molecular biologists Andrew Zachary Fire (1959-) and Craig Cameron Mello (1960-) of the Carnegie Inst. discover that RNA can switch off genes in what is termed RNA interference (RNAi), winning them the 2006 Nobel Med. Prize after just eight years; in 2010 John DeVincenzo et al. of the U. of Tenn use it for the first time combat a human disease, the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). James Alexander "Jamie" Thomson (1959-) et al. of the U. of Wisc. pluck stem cells from human embryos, destroying the embroys in the process and touching off a divisive sociopolitical debate; stem cells can turn into any of the 220 body cell types. Lancet pub. an article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) by Dr. Andrew Wakefield linking childhood vaccinations with autism, spawning an anti-vaccine movement; in Feb. 2010 they retract it; in Jan. 2010 they call it an "elaborate fraud". The Int. Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry confirms six new elements added to the Periodic Table of the Elements: Rutherfordium (Rf) (#104) (1968), Dubnium (Db) (#105) (1970), Seaborgium (Sg) (#106) (1974), Bohrium (Bh) (#107) (1981), Hassium (Hs) (#108) (1984), Meitnerium (Mt) (#109) (1982) - rubadubdub in the boring sea tub, have some, mite? Clint Hallam (1951-) loses his hallam, er, hand in prison, and receives the world's first hand transplant; too bad, he fails to stick with anti-rejection drugs and has it removed in 2001 in London - disposable Lady Five Fingers? The genome for the 1mm transparent nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is sequenced, becoming the first for a multicellular eukaryote. ? Lubman pub. an article in Journal of the Acoustical Society of Am. suggesting that if a person claps in front of the El Castillo Pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico, the resulting chirp sounds like the song of a quetzal bird, causing tourists to begin clapping in droves. Nonfiction: Fouad A. Ajami (1945-), The Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey; the pitiful Arab, whose inherent culture leaves him no shred of sincerity, creativity, or courage? Prince Michael of Albany (1958-), Bloodline of the Holy Grail (Oct.); the head of the European Council of Princes (who claims the Scottish throne), claims descent from King David and Jesus, and asserts that Prince Charles is not the true heir of Britain - all one word no spaces, text it to me? Francesco Alberoni (1929-), Find the Courage. Christopher Peter Andersen (1949-), The Day Diana Died; After Diana: William, Harry, Charles, and the Royal House of Windsor. Purain Bair (1944-), Living from the Heart: Heart Rhythm Meditation for Energy, Clarity, Peace, Joy and Inner Power. Edward Ball, Slaves in the Family (Pulitzer Prize). Richard Barnet (1929-2004) and Ann Barnet, Youngest Minds: Parenting and Genes in the Development of Intellect and Emotion. Robert Bauval (1948-) and Graham Hancock (1950-), The Mars Mystery: A Tale of the End of Two Worlds; claims artificial structures on Mars. A. Scott Berg (1949-), Lindbergh (Pulitzer Prize); "For more than a day the world held its breath... and then the small lane was sighted over Ireland." William J. Bennett (1943-), The Death of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals; tries to equate Clinton's sexcapades to Watergate. Stephen Birmingham (1932-), The Wrong Kind of Money; the Jewish Liebling family of New York City, who founds the Ingraham Corp. on bootlegging money. Harold Bloom (1930-2019), Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human; promotes all-out idol worship; "This book... is a latecomer work, written in the wake of the Shakespeare critics I most admire: Johnson, Hazlitt, Bradley"; "If any author has become a mortal god, it must be Shakespeare"; "No one yet has managed to be post-Shakespearean", and Shakespeare will "go on enclosing those likely to come after us"; Bardolatry "ought to be even more a secular religion that it already is"; "Shakespeare will go on explaining us, in part because he invented us"; "Personality, in our sense, is a Shakespearean invention, and is not only Shakespeare's greatest originality but also the authentic cause of his perpetual pervasiveness"; "The ultimate use of Shakespeare is to let him teach you to think too well, to whatever truth you can sustain without perishing"; "When we are wholly human, and know ourselves, we become most like either Hamlet or Falstaff." Sissela Bok (1934-), Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment (Apr. 12). Adda B. Bozeman, Strategic Intelligence and Statecraft: Selected Essays. Taylor Branch (1947-), Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65. Sir Richard Branson (1950-), Losing My Virginity (autobio.); bestseller. Alan Brinkley (1949-), Liberalism and Its Discontents. Douglas Brinkley (1960-), American Heritage History. Tom Brokaw (1940-), The Greatest Generation. Bernadette Brooten, Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism. Harry Browne (1933-2006), Fail-Safe Investing. Nina Burleigh, A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer. Edwin G. Burrows (1943-) and Mike Wallace (1942-), Gotham: A History of New York City to 1989 (Nov. 19) (Pulitzer Prize). Geoffrey Canada (1952-), Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America. June Carter Cash (1929-2003), From the Heart (autobio.). Nigel Cawthorne (1951-), Sex Lives of the U.S. Presidents; "Even Mr Uptight himself, Richard Nixon, was caught in Hong Kong making love to a young Chinese woman. Yes, Nixon really did open China." Eugene Cernan (1934-2017), The Last Man on the Moon; 1972 Apollo 17 man who became a trivia question. Bruce Chatwin (1940-89), Winding Paths (posth.). Noam Chomsky (1928-), The Common Good; "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate"; "When you come back from the Third World to the West - the U.S. in particular - you are struck by the narrowing of thought and understanding, the limited nature of legitimate discussion, the separation of people from each other. It's startling how stultifying it feels, since our opportunities are so vastly greater here"; "The goal is a society in which the basic social unit is you and your television set. If the kid next door is hungry, it's not your problem. If the retired couple next door invested their assets badly and are now starving, that's not your problem either." Tim Cohen, The AntiChrist and a Cup of Tea (Mar.); it's Prince Charles? Philip J. Corso (1915-98) and William J. Birnes (1944), The Day After Roswell; claims that Corso helped protect artifacts from the 1947 Roswell, N.M. spaceship crash, and saw a secret govt. operation under CIA dir. #1 Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter work to use alien UFO technology to pump up the U.S. defense industry with fiber optics, particle beams, and Star Wars technology; Corso dies on July 18. Dora L. Costa, The Evolution of Retirement: An American Economic History 1880-1990. Ann Coulter (1961-), High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton. Richard Ben Cramer (1950-), What It Takes: The Way to the White House; the 1988 U.S. pres. campaign. Clive Cussler (1931-), Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed. Mary Daly (1928-2010), Quintessence... Realizing the Archaic Future: A Radical Elemental Feminist Manifesto. John H. Davis (1929-), Jacqueline Bouvier: An Intimate Memoir; by her first cousin. Richard Dawkins (1941-), Unweaving the Rainbow; Isaac Newton et al. E.J. Dionne (1952-) (eds.), Community Works: The Revival of Civil Society in America. Thomas Michael Disch (1940-2008), The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World. Michael John Denton (1943-), Nature's Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe; switches from Intelligent Design to law-driven evolution; "The entire process of biological evolution from the origin of life to the emergence of man was somehow directed from the beginning." Elinor Donahue (1937-), In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue (autobio.). John Edward (1969-), One Last Time: A Psychic Medium Speaks to Those We Have Loved and Lost; makes him into an instant star, with his own well-edited TV show next year. Lewis Ellingham and Kevin Killian, Poet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance. Albert Ellis (1913-2007) and Raymond Chip Tafrate, How to Control Your Anger Before It Controls You. Albert Ellis (1913-2007) and Emmett Velten, Optimal Aging: Get Over Getting Older. Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader. Niall Ferguson (1964-), The Pity of War: Explaining World War I; the 10 great myths of the Great War; argues that it would have been better for Britain to stay out of WWI and let Germany win and create a European Union sans Communism and Fascism, causing a firestorm of controversy; The House of Rothschild (2 vols., incl. "Money's Prophets: 1798-1848", "The World's Banker: 1849-1999"); based on access to the KGB's archive with trans. by Mordecai Zucker; becomes a std. work. George Fetherling (1949-), The Gentle Anarchist: A Life of George Woodcock (1912-95). James Henry Fetzer (1940-), Assassination Science: Experts Speak Out on the Death of JFK (Dec. 30); blasts the lone gunman theory. Debbie Ford (1955-2013), The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; bestseller about dealing with one's shadow side; she goes on to write eight more books that sell 1M copies. Marilyn French (1929-2009), A Season in Hell: A Memoir. Genevieve de Gaulle-Anthonioz (1920-2002), The Dawn of Hope: A Memoir of Ravensbruck (God Remained Outside: An Echo of Ravensbruck) (autobio.). Peter Gay (1923-2015), My German Question: Growing Up in Nazi Berlin (autobio.). Mark Girouard (1931-), Big Jim: The Life and Work of James Stirling [1926-92]. Ursula W. Goodenough (1943), The Sacred Depths of Nature; promotes Religious Naturalism and the Epic of Evolution. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (1953-2012), Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth and Neo-Nazism. Lois Gould (1932-2002), Mommy Dressing: A Love Story, After a Fashion (autobio.); her life with her fashion designer mother Jo Copeland, who she liked to watch at her vanity table; "It seemed to me an ark of some covenant, with hidden doors that swung open to reveal fragrant jars and beautiful bottles, each of which held other secrets... Everything I knew about my mother, Jo Copeland, happened right there. For what I knew about her was only the dressing. Nothing of the rest of her life was visible to me. Unless the dressing was, in fact, the life." Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms (essays). Glenda Green (1945-), Love Without End: Jesus Speaks; bestseller. Robert Greene (1959-) and Joost Elffers, The 48 Laws of Power bestseller (1M copies); becomes a hit in the hip hop street world. Raven Grimassi (1951-), The Wiccan Mysteries. Stanislav Grof (1931-), The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness. David Grossman (1954-), The Yellow Wind (Oct. 30); Jerusalem-born Zionist Jew takes the side of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza; "I could not understand how an entire nation like mine, an enlightened nation by all accounts, is able to train itself to live as a conqueror without making its own life wretched." Tenzing Gyatso (1931-) and Howard Cutler, The Art of Happiness; "The very purpose of our life is happiness." Pete Hamill (1935-), News is a Verb. Graham Hancock (1950-) and Santha Faiia, Heaven's Mirror: Quest for the Lost Civilization. Pete Handke, At the Mountain Window in the Morning and Other Local Times 1982-1987; A Land of Words: A Journey Through Carinthia, Slovenia, Friaul, Istria and Dalmatia. Victor Davis Hanson (1953-) and John Heath, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom disses the loss of a common humanistic core in contemporary education as leftists attempt to deconstruct it. Elizabeth Hardwick (1916-2007), Sight-Readings. Willis Harman (1918-97), Global Mind Change: The Promise of the 21st Century. Willis Harman (1918-97) and Elizabet Sahtouris, Biology Revisioned. Andrew Harvey (1952-), Son of Man: The Mystical Path to Christ. Joseph Heller (1923-99), Now and Then: From Coney Island to Here (autobio.). Homer Hadley Hickam Jr. (1943-), October Sky/ Rocket Boys; Coalwood, W.V. student aspires to be a rocket scientist; first pub. in Air & Space Mag. in 1994 as "The Big Creek Missile Agency"; the dual titles are anagrams. Adam Hochschild (1942-), King Leopld's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Mark Lynton History Prize) (Duff Cooper Prize). Lancelot Hogben (1895-1975), Lancelot Hogben: Scientific Humanist: An Unauthorized Autobiography. Lewis Hyde (1945-), <Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art. David Icke (1952-), Lifting the Veil (June 1); an interlocking brotherhood runs big religion, big govt., big banks, big business, the media, etc.? Philip Jenkins (1952-), Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America. Arthur Jensen (1923-2012), The g Factor: The Science of Mental Ability; claims there is a general factor of human mental ability forming a triangle of abilities, which should replace intelligence and IQ, likening it to a computer's CPU; his contention that gen. cognitive ability is an inherited trait, and that conceptual learning (synthesizing ability) occurs with greater frequency in whites than non-whites brings out the PC police; "The relationship of the g factor to a number of biological variables and its relationship to the size of the white-black differences on various cognitive tests (i.e., Spearman's hypothesis) suggests that the average white-black difference in g has a biological component. Human races are viewed not as discrete, or Platonic, categories, but rather as breeding populations that, as a result of natural selection, have come to differ statistically in the relative frequencies of many polymorphic genes. The genetic distances between various populations form a continuous variable that can be measured in terms of differences in gene frequencies. Racial populations differ in many genetic characteristics, some of which, such as brain size, have behavioral and psychometric correlates, particularly g. " Tony R. Judt (1948-2010), The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French Twentieth Century. Ward Just (1935-), Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959-1969 (Part One). Donald Rodney Justice (1925-2004), Oblivion: On Writers and Writing. Linda K. Kerber (1940-), No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship. Richard K. Khuri, Freedom, Modernity and Islam: Toward a Creative Sy8nthesis. Christopher Knight, The Second Messiah: Templars, the Turin Shroud, and the Great Secret of Freemasonry (Jan. 1); the image on the Shroud is really executed Templar grandmaster Jacques de Molay? David S. Landes (1924-2013), The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor; pisses-off multiculturalists by arguing for the Protestant work ethic, the hydraulic thesis (despots control water to force the pop. to submit), the climate thesis (tropical climates hold back development), and Adam Smith's doctrine of comparative advantage, debunking claims that the Asian Miracle didn't happen and/or was financed by Europeans; he also makes a correlation between the economic level of a country and the way its women are treated. Nigella Lawson (1960-), How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food; first cookbook; bestseller (300K copies); in 1999 she hosts Nigella Bites on BBC-TV. Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), The Multiple Identities of the Middle East. Eugene Linden (1947-), The Future in Plain Sight: The Rise of the True Believers and Other Clues to the Coming Instability; rev. ed. 2002; a coming instability of economic, political, and social upheaval? Bjorn Lomborg (1965-), The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World; English trans. pub. in 2001; questions the statistical data supporting global warming claims along with deforestation, water shortages, overpop. and species loss, and questions the wisdom of govt. policies, with the soundbyte: "Global warming is by no means our main environmental threat", causing a firestorm of controversy. Alan Longhurst (1925-), Ecological Geography of the Sea; 2nd ed. pub. in 2007. John Lott (1958-), More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws (June 1). William Roger Louis (1936-) (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire (5 vols.) (1998-9). Jackson Turner Main (1917-2003), Inherited or Achieved? The Social Origins of the World's Leaders: 2000 B.C. to A.D. 1850 (last book); shows how the British colonies were the most open to leadership by self-made men, esp. in frontier areas, backing up his grandfather Frederick Jackson Turner's views on the significance of the frontier in Am. history. Marilyn Manson (1969-), The Long Hard Road Out of Hell (autobio.) (Feb. 14). Manning Marable (1950-2011), Black Leadership. Leo Marks (1920-2001), Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's Story 1941-1945 (autobio.). Jay Mathews (1945-), Class Struggle: What's Wrong (and Right) with America's Best Public High Schools (Mar.); criticizes the Advanced Placement Program. Ali al-Amin Mazrui (1933-), The Power of Babel: Language and Governance in the African Experience. Tom McBride and Ron Nief, The Mindset List; 1-liners of history for college freshmen. Malachy McCourt (1931-), A Monk Swimming (autobio.). Richard McKelvey (1944-2002) and Thomas R. Palfrey III, Quantal Response Equilibria for Extensive Form Games. John McPhee (1931-), Annals of the Former World (5 vols.) (Pulitzer Prize); title is a quote from geologist James Hutton; incl. "Basin and Range" (1981), "In Suspect Terrain" (1983), "Rising From the Plains" (1986), "Assembling California" (1993), "Crossing the Craton" (1998). James Alan McPherson (1943-), Crabcakes (autobio.). Barry Miles (1943-), Many Years from Now; bio. of Paul McCartney (1942-). Fergus Millar (1935-), The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic; how the Senate couldn't pass a law until he proposed it to a crowd of people in the Forum, while millions of others were left out; no wonder a dictatorship was so easy to foist on them? Edmund S. Morgan (1916-), Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America. Sheridan Morley (1941-2007), Marilyn Monroe; actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-62). Sheridan Morley (1941-2007) and Ruth Leon, Hey, Mr. Producer; British theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh (1946-). Stephen Morris (1963-) and Hyun-Song Shin (1963-), Unique Equilibrium in a Model of Self-Fulfilling Currency Attacks; proves that a unique equilibrium can be attained in Global Games Theory. Melisa Muller (1967-), Anne Frank: The Biography; paraphrases pages removed by her father from her diary before pub. in 1947, which contain an unflattering account of her parents' strained relationship. Kary Mullis (1944-), Dancing Naked in the Mind Field (autobio.); disses climate change along with ozone depletion and the HIV origin of AIDS, claiming a conspiracy by environmentalists and govt. to make money. Sylvia Nasar (1947-), A Beautiful Mind (first book); named by Am. economist Lloyd Shapley (1923-2016); about Am. mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. (1928-2015); filmed in 2001 starring Russell Crowe. Aryeh Neier (1979-), War Crimes: Brutality, Terror, and the Struggle for Justice. Peter Charles Newman (1929-), Titans: How the New Canadian Establishment Seized Power. Mary Oliver (1935-), Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for the Writing and Reading Metrical Verse. Stewart O'Nan (1961-) (ed.), The Vietnam Reader: The Definitive Collection of Fiction and Nonfiction on the War. Susan Orlean (1955-), The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession (Dec. 15); Orchidelirium fanatic John Laroche of S Fla. tries to clone the ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii; filmed in 2002 as "Adaptation". Jaak Panksepp (1943-), Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. Tim Page (1954-), Dawn Powell: A Biography. Thomas Pakenham (1933-), The Mountains of Rasselas: An Ethiopian Adventure. Michael Parenti (1933-), America Besieged. Teddy Pendergrass (1950-2010), Truly Blessed (autobio.). Harry Mark Petrakis (1923-), Tales of the Heart: Dreams and Memories of a Lifetime (autobio.). Roy Porter (1946-2002) and G.S. Rousseau, Gout: The Patrician Malady. James Van Praagh, Talking to Heaven. Karl H. Pribram (1919-) (ed.), Brain and Values: Is a Biological Science of Values Possible. Dennis Michael Quinn (1944-), Early Mormonism and the Magic World View; how Joseph Smith Jr. mixed Mormonism with belief in magic stones. Steven Raichlen (1953-Dennis Michael Quinn (1944-), The Barbecue Bible; 2nd ed. 2008. David Remnick, King of the World; bio. of Muhammad Ali. John M. Richardson Jr. (1938-) and S.W.R. de A. Samarasinghe, Democratization in South Asia: The First Fifty Years. Cokie Roberts (1943-), We Are Our Mothers' Daughters. David M. Rohl (1950-), Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation; claims that the Garden of Eden was 10 mi. SE of Tabriz in N Iran and that Noah's Flood was only local - so why save all them animals? Wendy Goldman Rohm, The Microsoft File: The Secret Case Against Bill Gates; their ballsy monopolistic practices exposed. Ron Rosenbaum (1946-), Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil; is Hitler's personality exceptional, or a natural result of the destructive personality of humanity? Nathan Rosenberg (1927-) and David C. Mowery, Paths of Innovation: Technological Change in 20th-Century America. John Ross (1938-2011), The Annexation of Mexico: From the Aztecs to the IMF. Walt Whitman Rostow (1916-2003), The Great Population Spike and After. Gabrielle Roth (1941-2012), Maps to Ecstasy: The Healing Power of Movement (Aug. 21). Kamal Salibi (1929-2011), The Historicity of Biblical Israel; 2nd ed. 2009. John E. Sarno (1923-), The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain. Andrew Sarris (1928-), You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet: The American Talking Film, History and Memory 1927-1949; upgrades Billy Wilder to the Pantheon. Peter Schrag, Paradise Lost: California's Experience and America's Future; how the white paradise went downhill since 1960. Peter Schweizer, Disney: The Mouse Betrayed: Greed, Corruption and Children at Risk (Sept. 25); Michael Eisner strayed the co. from Walt Disney's dream just to make money? Mary Lee Settle (1918-2005), Addie: A Memoir. Martin Seymour-Smith (1928-98), The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written. Gail Sheehy (1937-), Understanding Men's Passages - she owns the pop psych passages biz? Alix Kates Shulman (1932-), A Good Enough Daughter (autobio.). Christopher Simpson (ed.), Universities and Empire: Money and Politics in the Social Sciences during the Cold War. Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010), The Cosmic Code. Quentin Skinner (1940-), Liberty before Liberalism. Jack Spicer (1925-65), The House That Jack Built: The Collected Lectures of Jack Spicer (posth.). Barbara Smith (1946-), Writings on Race, Gender and Freedom: The Truth That Never Hurts. Patricia Smith (1955-), Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery. Robert Sobel (1931-99), Coolidge: An American Enigma. George Soros (1930-), Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism; The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered (Dec. 2); "To stabilize and regulate a truly global economy, we need some global system of political decision-making. In short, we need a global society to support our global economy. A global society does not mean a global state. To abolish the existence of states is neither feasible nor desirable; but insofar as there are collective interests that transcend state boundaries, the sovereignty of states must be subordinated to international law and international institutions. Interestingly, the greatest opposition to this idea is coming from the United States. But there has never been a time when a strong lead from the U.S. and other like-minded countries could achieve such powerful and benign results. With the right sense of leadership and with clarity of purpose, the U.S. and its allies could help to stabilize the global economic system and to extend and uphold universal human values. The opportunity is waiting to be grasped." - easy to say for a stateless fatcat? Thomas Sowell (1930-), Conquests and Cultures: An International History. Elizabeth Spencer (1921-), Landscapes of the Heart (autobio.). Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, The Millionaire Next Door. George Steiner (1929-), Errata: An Examined Life (autobio.). John A. Stormer (1928-), None Dare Call It Education. Cass R. Sunstein (1954-) and Martha Nussbaum, Clone and Clones: Facts and Fantasies About Human Cloning. Ron Suskind (1959-), A Hope in the Unseen (Pulitzer Prize); inner-city honors students in Washington, D.C. Ingo Swann (1933-2013), Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy (autobio.); his personal psychic encounters with ETs on Earth with his partner "Mr. Axelrod", who catch them draining a lake and get in a fight - Obama begins his White House run? Donald Michael Thomas (1935-), Memories and Hallucinations (autobio.). Michel Tournier (1924-), The Mirror of Ideas. U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, Bioeffects of Selected Nonlethal Weapons; not declassified until 2009, it describes plans for non-lethal psychological ray-gun weapons that cause artificial fevers or beam voices into heads. Joe Vitale (1952-), There's a Customer Born Every Minute: P.T. Barnum's Secrets to Business Success (Jan. 30). Ibn Warraq (1946-) (ed.), The Origins of the Koran: Classic Essays on Islam's Holy Book. G.A. Wells (1926-2017), The Jesus Myth; pisses of Christian scholars by pointing out the obvious facts that Jesus is a dark alley of history? Cornel West (1953-) and Sylvia Ann Hewlett, The War Against Parents: What We Can Do for America's Beleaguered Moms and Dads. Cornel West (1953-) and Roberto Unger, The Future of American Progressivism. John Archibald Wheeler (1911-2008) and Kenneth Ford, Geons, Black Holes & Quantum Foam: A Life in Physics (autobio.). Keith W. Whitelam, The Invention of Ancient Israel (May 23); claims that ancient Israel was an invention of Jewish scholars to bolster the state of Israel and deligitimize Palestinian claims. Grace Lee Whitney (1930-), The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Gallery (autobio.). Stuart Wilde (1946-), The Money Bible: The Ten Laws of Abundance. Andrew Norman Wilson (1950-), Tolstoy: A Biography; his decision forming to dump atheism for theism; Paul: The Mind of the Apostle. E.O. Wilson (1929-2021), >Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge; revives the term consilience (Lat. "con" + "siliens" = together + jumping), meaning the synthesis of human knowledge from different specialized fields to converge on a strong conclusion. Alan Wolfe, One Nation, After All. Jan Wong, Red China Blues; the industrialization of China means that "the future of China may be the West's past"; by 2010 there are two Chinas, the wealthy coastal metropolises and the miserably poor inner country. Robin Wood (1931-2009), Sexual Politics and Narrative Film: Hollywood and Beyond. Michael Woodford (1955-) and Julio J. Rotemberg (1953-), An Optimization-Based Econometric Framework for the Evaluation of Monetary Policy (Jan.); the first microfounded DSGE New Keynesian macroeconomic model. Music: 2 Unlimited, II (album #4) (last album) (May 25); new vocalists Romy and Marion; incl. Wanna Get Up (#38 in the U.K.). 311, Omaha Sessions (album) (Oct.); Live (album) (Nov. 3). 98 Degrees, 98 Degrees and Rising (album #2) (Oct. 20) (#14 in the U.S.); incl. Because of You, The Hardest Thing. Bryan Adams (1959-), On a Day Like Today (album) (Oct. 27). Aerosmith, I Don't Want to Miss A Thing (#1 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.) (from the 1998 film "Armageddon"). Queens of the Stone Age, Queens of the Stone Age (album) (debut) (Sept. 22); originally Gamma Ray; from Palm Desert, Calif., incl. Joshua Michael "Josh" Homme (1973-) (vocals, guitar), Alfredo Hernandez (drums), and Carlo Von Sexron (bass et al.); introduces robot rock; they pick queens since kings is "too macho... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls" (Homme); incl. If Only, Mexicola. Amon Amarth, Once Sent from the Golden Hall (album #2); incl. The Dragons' Flight Across the Waves, Siegreicher Marsch (Victorious March). Eric Ambler (1909-98), Double Live (album) (Nov. 17); he gives an hour-long concert beamed to 2K Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. and Canada to promote it. America, Human Nature (album #14) (Sept.); incl. From a Moving Train, Hidden Talent, Wheels Are Turning. The Presidents of the United States of America, Pure Frosting (album) (Mar. 10). Tori Amos (1963-), From the Choirgirl Hotel (album #4) (May 5) (#5 in the U.S., #6 int he U.K.); incl. Cruel/Raspberry Swirl (#38 in the U.S.), Spark (#32 in the U.S.), Jackie's Strength (#54 in the U.S.). Anthrax, Volume 8: The Threat is Real (album #8) (July 21) (#118 in the U.S.); incl. Inside Out, Crush. Apocalyptica, Inquisition Symphony (album #2) (Sept. 22); incl. Harmageddon. Massive Attack, Mezzanine (album #3) (Apr. 20); incl. Teardrop (#1 in the U.K., #60 in the U.S.) (used in Fox's 2004 hit show "House, MD", sparking a sales resurgence). Marcia Ball (1949-), Sing It! (album) (Jan.). Beck (1970-), Mutations (album) (Nov. 3). Belle and Sebastian, The Boy with the Arab Strap (album #3) (Sept. 7); incl. The Boy with the Arab Strap (an erection-maintaining device). George Benson (1943-), Standing Together (album). Mary J. Blige (1971-), The Tour (album) (July 28). La Bouche, You Won't Forget Me. Beastie Boys, Hello Nasty (album) (July 14); incl. Intergalactic. Billy Bragg (1957-), Mermaid Avenue (album) (June 23); never-heard lyrics by Woody Guthrie supplied by his daughter Nora Guthrie. Garth Brooks (1962-), Sevens (album); donates one week of earnings to Oprah's Angel Network. Jeff Buckley (1966-97), Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (posth.) (album) (May 26); incl. The Sky Is a Landfill, Everybody Here Wants You< and Yard of Blonde Girls. Jimmy Buffett (1946-), Don't Stop the Carnival (album #23) (Apr. 28) Cake, Prolonging the Magic (album #3) (Oct. 6) (#33 in the U.S.) (1M copies); first without Greg Brown; incl. Never There. Candlebox, Happy Pills (album #3) (July 21); incl. It's Alright, 10,000 Horses. Cappadonna, The Pillage (album) (Mar.). The Cardigans, Grand Turismo (album #4) (Oct. 1). Mariah Carey (1969-), #1's (album) (Nov. 16). Cher (1946-), Believe (album) (Oct. 26); sells 20M; incl. Believe, Strong Enough. Kenny Chesney (1968-), Everywhere We Go (album); incl. How Forever Feels, You Had Me From Hello (for his girlfriend Renee Zellweger of "Jerry Maguire" fame), What I Need to Do. Dixie Chicks, Wide Open Spaces (album #4) (June 27) (#1 country) (#4 in the U.S.) (14M copies); formed in 1989; incl. Natalie Maines (Natalie Louise Maines Pasdar) (1974-), Emily Robinson (Emily Burns Erwin) (1972-), and Martie Erwin Maguire (Martha Elenor Erwin) (1969-) (violin); their breakthrough album; incl. Wide Open Spaces (#1 country) (#41 in the U.S.), There's Trouble (#1 country) (#36 in the U.S.), You Were Mine (#1 country) (#34 in the U.S.), Tonight the Heartache's on Me (#6 country) (#46 in the U.S.), I Can Love You Better (#7 country) (#77 in the U.S.). Destiny's Child, Destiny's Child (album) (debut) (Feb. 17) (#67 in the U.S., #67 in the U.K.) (3M copies); originally called Girl's Tyme; from Houston, Tex.; Beyonce (Beyoncé) Giselle Knowles (1981-), Kelendria Trene "Kelly" Rowland (1981-), Tenitra Michelle Williams (1980-); incl. No, No, No, With Me. Charlotte Church (1986-) (12 years 9 mo.), Voice of an Angel (album) (debut) (Nov.); goes double platinum in 4 weeks; incl. Amazing Grace. Metal Church, Live (album). Coldplay, Safety (EP) (debut) (Mar. 25); from London, England, incl. Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin (1977-) (great-great-grandson of daylight savings time inventor William Willett (1856-1915)) (marries actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 2003), Jonny Buckland (guitar), Guy Berryman (bass), and Will Champion (drums) released their debut EP Elvis Costello (1954-) and Burt Bacharach (1928-), Painted from Memory (album) (Sept. 29); incl. God Give Me Strength. Cracker, Gentleman's Blues (album #4) (Aug. 25) (#182 in the U.S.); incl. My Life is Totally Boring Without You. King Crimson, The Night Watch (album #18); incl. 21st Century Schizoid Man; Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal (album #19) (June 23). Crosby, Stills & Nash, Carry On (album) (June 30). Sheryl Crow (1962-), The Globe Sessions (album #3) (Sept. 21) (#5 in the U.S.) (2M copies); incl. My Favorite Mistake (about ex-beau Eric Clapton?). Counting Crows, Across a Wire: Live in New York City (double album) (July 14). Death Cab for Cutie, Something About Airplanes (album) (debut) (Aug. 18); named after a song by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in the 1967 Beatles film "Magical Mystery Tour"; from Bellingham, Wash., incl. Benjamin Gibbard (1976-) (vocals), Christopher "Chris" Walla (1975-) (guitar), Nick Harmer (1975-) (bass), and Jason McGerr (drums); incl. Bend to Squares, President of What? Taylor Dayne (1962-), Naked Without You (album) (Oct. 6); incl. Naked Without You. Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks Vol. 10 (album) (Feb.); recorded on Dec. 29-30, 1977 in San Francisco; Dick's Picks Vol. 11 (album) (June 9); recorded on Sept. 27, 1972 in Jersey City, N.J.; Dick's Picks Vol. 12 (album) (Oct.); recorded in June, 1974 in Providence, R.I. and Boston. Mos Def (1973-) and Talib Kweli Greene (1975-), Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (album) (debut) (Aug. 26); title refers to Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line; incl. Definition, Respiration (w/Common). John Denver (1943-97), Forever, John (album) (posth.) (Sept. 29). Celine Dion (1968-), These Are Special Times (album #6) (Oct. 30) (12M copies) (#8-selling Christmas album in the U.@.); incl. I'm You're Angel (w/R. Kelly), and The Prayer (w/Andrea Bocelli). Snoop Dogg (1971-), Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told (album #3) (#1 in the U.S.) (Aug. 4). Goo Goo Dolls, Dizzy Up the Girl (album #6) (Sept. 22) (3M copies); incl. Iris (from the film "City of Angels") (#1 in the U.S.), Slide (#8 in the U.S.), Broadway (#24 in the U.S.), Black Balloon (#16), Dizzy (#108 in the U.S.). System of a Down, System of a Down (album) (debut) (June 30); Armenian-Am. band, incl. Serj Tankian (1967-) (vocals), Daron Vartan Malakian (1975-) (vocals), John Ohannes Dolmayan (1973-) (drums), Dave Hakopyan (bass), Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian (1974-) (guitars); incl. Sugar, Spiders. Mac Dre, Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game (album). Duran Duran, Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran (album) (Mar. 31); dance versions; Greatest (album) (Nov. 3). Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934), Third Symphony (posth.) (Royal Festival Hall) (Feb. 15); BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Public Enemy, He Got Game (album #6) (Apr. 21) (#26 in the U.S.); last with Def Jam Recordings. Sunny Day Real Estate, How It Feels To Be Something On (album #3) (Sept. 8); incl. Every Shining Time You Arrive, The Shark's Own Private Fuck. Gloria Estefan (1957-), gloria! (album #8) (May 22); incl. Heaven's What I Feel. Eve 6, Eve 6 (album) (debut) (Apr. 28) (#1 in the U.S.); originally Yakoo and Eleventeen; name comes from an episode of "The X-Files", where Eve #6 bites a guard's eyeball; from La Crescenta, Calif., incl. James Maxwell Stuart Collins III (1978-) (lead singer/bass), Anthony Edward "Tony" Fagenson (1978-) (drums), and Matt Bair (guitar); incl. Inside Out (#11 in the U.S.), Leech. Better Than Ezra, The X-Files: The Album (album); incl. One More Murder; How Does Your Garden Grow (album #4) (Aug. 25) (#128 in the U.S.); incl. At the Stars, Live Again. Fear Factory, Obsolete (album #4) (July 28); incl. Cars (with Gary Numan); Resurrection (album #5) (Sept. 14). Marianne Faithfull (1946-), The Seven Deadly Sins (album) (Sept. 29); incl. The Memory Remains (with Metallica). Faithless, Sunday 8PM (album #2) (Sept. 18); incl. God is a DJ, Bring My Family Back. Foghat, Road Cases (album). Fuel, Sunburn (album) (debut) (Mar. 31); originally Small the Joy; from Brownsville, Tenn., incl. Carl Bell (1967-) (guitar), Jeff Abercrombie (1969-) (bass), Brett Allen Scallions (1971-) (vocals), Erik Avakian (keyboards), and Jonathan Mover (drums); incl. Shimmer (#42 in the U.S.), Jesus Or A Gun, Bittersweet, Sunburn. Aqi Fzono, Cosmology (album #5). Garbage, Version 2.0 (album #2) (May 4); incl. Special, Push It. Leif Garrett (1961-), The Leif Garrett Collection (album). Bee Gees, One Night Only (Nov. 3). Godsmack, Godsmack (album) (debut) (Aug. 25) (#22 in the U.S.) (4M copies in the U.S.); from Lawrence, Mass., incl. Salvatore Paul "Sully" Erna (1968-) (vocals), Tony Rombola (1964-) (guitar), Robbie Merrill (1963-) (bass), and Tommy Stewart (1966-)/James Shannon Larkin (1967-) (drums); incl. Keep Away, Whatever, Bad Religion, Voodoo, Time Bomb (featured in the 2000 film Scream 3). 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, Gaslight (album) (debut); incl. You Treat Me Like Chocolate. Van Halen, Van Halen III (album #11) (Mar. 17); only album with Gary Cherone (1961-) on vocals; incl. Without You, One I Want, Fire in the Hole. Herbie Hancock (1940-), Gershwin's World (album #41). Roy Harper (1941-), The Dream Society (album #19). P.J. Harvey (1969-), Is This Desire? (album #5) (Sept. 28) (#54 in the U.S., #17 in the U.K.); incl. A Perfect Day Elise (#25 in the U.K.), The Wind (#29 in the U.K.). Uriah Heep, Sonic Origami (album #20) (Sept.); next album in 2008. Faith Hill (1967-), Faith (album) (Apr. 21); ends a 3-year hiatus after marrying Tim McGraw on Oct. 6, 1996; incl. Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me. Lauryn Hill (lead singer of rap group Fugees), The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (album). Whitney Houston (1963-2012), My Love Is Your Love (album #4) (Nov. 17) (#13 in the U.S., #4 in the U.K.) (10M copies); incl. My Love Is Your Love (#4 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.), Heartbreak Hotel (#2 in the U.S.), It's Not Right But It's Okay (#4 in the U.S., #3 in the U.K.). Janis Ian (1951-), The Last Great Place. David Ippolito, That Guitar Man from Central Park... In Person (album #2). Pearl Jam, Yield (album #5) (Feb. 3) (#2 in the U.S., #7 in the U.S.); incl. Given to Fly (#21 in the U.S., #12 in the U.K.), Wishlist (#47 in the U.S., #20 in the U.K.). Jamiroquai, Deeper Underground (from "Godzilla"). Jay-Z (1969-), Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (album #3) (Sept. 29); sells 8M copies; incl. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem), Money Ain't a Thang, It's Alright, Can I Get A..., Money, Cash, Hoes, Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99). Journey, Greatest Hits Live (album) (Mar. 24). Kahimi Karie (1968-), Minty Fresh (album) (Sept. 8); The Best of Trattoria Years Plus More (album) (Sept. 30). R. Kelly (1967-), R (album #3) (double album) (Nov. 10) (#2 in the U.S.) (8M copies); incl. I'm Your Angel (w/Celine Dion) (#1 in the U.S.), If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time, When a Woman's Fed Up, Home Alone. Chaka Khan (1953-), Come 2 My House (album #9) (July 21). Korn, Follow the Leader (album #3) (Aug. 18); sells 9M copies; brings nu metal to the mainstream; starts on track 13; incl. All in the Family (w/Fred Durst), Got the Life (#15 in the U.S., #22 in the U.K.), Children of the Korn (w/Ice Cube), Cameltosis (w/Tre Hardson), Freak on a Leash. Patti LaBelle (1944-), Love One Night Only (album). Barenaked Ladies, Stunt (album #4) (July 7) (#3 in the U.S.) (4M copies); first with Kevin Hearn; incl. One Week (#1 in the U.S., #5 in the U.K.) (5M copies), It's All Been Done (#44 in the U.S.), Alcohol, Call and Answer. Jonny Lang (1981-), Wander This World (album #3) (Oct. 20) (#17 in the U.S.); incl. Still Raining'. Cyndi Lauper (1953-), Merry Christmas... Have a Nice Life (album #6) (Oct. 27); incl. Early Christmas Morning. Julian Lennon (1963-), Photograph Smile (album #5) (May 4). Sean Ono Lennon (1975-), Into the Sun (album) (debut) (May 19) (#153 in the U.S.); produced by the Beastie Boys' label Grand Royal Records; meanwhile half-brother Julian Lennon (1963-) forms his own record label Music from Another Room. L7, Live: Omaha to Osaka (album) (Dec. 15). Madonna (1958-), Ray of Light (album #7) (Mar. 3) (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.) (20M copies); incl. Ray of Light, Frozen, Drowned World (Substitute for Love), The Power of Good-Bye, Nothing Really Matters. Iron Maiden, Virtual XI (album #11) (Mar. 23); last with Blaze Bayley, who forms his own group; incl. The Angel and the Gambler, Futureal. A Real Live Dead One (album) (Sept. 22); Live at Donington (album) (Nov. 8). Marilyn Manson, Mechanical Animals (album #3) (Sept. 14) (#1 in the U.S.); gets mileage because it's immediately banned by Wal-Mart, making it more popular, plus because it's 1999 (the Antichrist Millennium minus one), plus because of the Columbine H.S. Shootings, which he falsely gets blamed for; incl. The Dope Show, I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me), Rock Is Dead, Coma White; The Last Tour on Earth (album) (Nov. 12). Ricky Martin (1971-), Vuelve (Come Back) (album #4) (Feb. 10) (#40 in the U.S.) (8M copies); incl. Vuelve. Dave Matthews Band, Before These Crowded Streets (album). Maxwell (1973-), Embrya (album #2) (June 30); incl. Embrya. Martina McBride (1966-), White Christmas (album) (Sept. 29) (#9 country) (#64 in the U.S.). Paul McCartney (1942-) and Youth (AKA The Fireman), Rushes (album #2) (Sept. 21); incl. Watercolour Guitars. Reba McEntire (1955-), If You See Him (album #24) (June 2); incl. If You See Him/Her (with Brooks & Dunn), Forever Love. Natalie Merchant (1963-), Ophelia (album #2) (May 19) (#8 in the U.S.); incl. Kind and Generous, King of May (tribute to Allen Ginsberg), My Skin. Bret Michaels (1963-), A Letter from Death Row (album) (solo debut) (Aug. 25). Joni Mitchell (1943-), Taming the Tiger (album #16) (Sept. 29). Moonspell, Sin/Pecado (album #3) (Jan. 20); incl. Abysmo, Flesh, Magdalene. Van Morrison (1945-), The Philosopher's Stone (double album). Alanis Morissette (1974-), Uninvited; used in "City of Angels"; Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (album); sells a record 469K in the first week; incl. Would Not Come, Unsent, So Pure, That I Would Be Good, Thank U; Alanis Unplugged (album); incl. No Pressure Over Cappuccino. Motorhead, Snake Bite Love (album #14) (Mar. 10); incl. Snake Bite Love. Shawn Mullins (1968-), Lullaby - does he wear a mullet? Michael Martin Murphey (1945-), Cowboy Songs Four (album #21) (July 14). Dropkick Murphys, Do or Die (album) (debut) (Jan. 27); from Quincy, Mass., incl. Mike McColgan (vocals), Ken Casey (bass), Rick Barton (guitar), and Jeff Erna (drums); incl. Barroom Hero. Alannah Myles (1958-), Arrival (album #4). Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022), Back With a Heart (album). Nonpoint, Separate Yourself (album) (debut) (Dec. 8); from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., incl. Elias Soriano (vocals), Kenneth "KB" MacMillan (bass), Andrew Goldman (guitar), and Robb Rivera (drums); incl. Mindtrip. Noreaga, Superthug. Blue October, The Answers (album) (debut); from Houston, Tex., incl. Justin Furstenfeld (vocals), Jeremy Furstenfeld (drums), Ryan Delahoussaye (violin/piano), C.B. Hudson (guitar), Matt Noveskey (bass), Liz Mullally (piano); incl. Black Orchid. The Offspring, Americana (album #5) (Nov. 17) (#2 in the U.S.); sells 12M copies; Calvert DeForest (Larry "Bud" Melman on David Letterman) says "Hey, that's something everyone can enjoy" between the tracks "Why Don't You Get a Job?" and "Americana"; incl. Pretty Fly (for a White Guy), Why Don't You Get a Job?, The Kids Aren't Alright, She's Got Issues. Midnight Oil, Redneck Wonderland (album #13) (Nov. 3); incl. Redneck Wonderland. Paris (Oscar Jackson Jr.) (1967-), Unleashed (album #4); incl. Record Label Murder, Thug Livin' (w/Nutt-So). Black Eyed Peas, Behind the Front (album) (debut) (June 30); from East Los Angeles, Calif., incl. will.ia.am (William James Adams Jr.) (1975-), apl.de.ap (Allan Pineda Lindo Jr.) (1974-), Taboo (Jaime Luis Gomez) (1975-), and Fergie (Stacy Ann Ferguson) (1975-); incl. Joints & Jam. Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Alien Pubduction (album #11). Phantom Planet, Phantom Planet is Missing (album) (debut) (July 28); named after a 1961 movie; Alex Greenwald, Sam Farrar, Darren Robinson, Jeff Conrad; incl. Sleep Machine. Placebo, Without You I'm Nothing (album #2) (Oct. 12); incl. Without You I'm Nothing, Pure Morning, You Don't Care About Us, Every You Every Me. The Posies, Success (album #5); next album in 2005. Manic Street Preachers, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (album #5) (Sept. 14) (#1 in the U.K.); incl. If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (#1 in the U.K.), The Everlasting, You Stole the Sun from My Heart, Tsunami. Killah Priest, Heavy Mental (album). Prince (1958-2016), The Truth (album); incl. "The Truth". Propellerheads, Decksanddrumsandrockandroll (album); incl. Bang On!, Crash!, Velvet Pants. Eddie Rabbitt (1941-98), Songs from Rabbittland (album #15) (last album) (Apr. 15). Boo Radleys, Kingsize (album #6) (last album); incl. Kingsize, Free Huey. Bonnie Raitt (1949-), Fundamental (album #13) (Apr. 7); incl. The Fundamental Things. Night Ranger, Seven (album #8) (July 14); next album in 2007; incl. Sign of the Times, Kong. Eddi Reader (1959-), Angels & Electricity (album #4). Steve Reich (1936-), Triple Quartet. R.E.M., Up (album #11) (Oct. 26); first without drummer Bill Berry; incl. Daysleeper, Lotus, At My Most Beautiful. Busta Rhymes (1972-), E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front (album 33) (Dec. 15) (#12 in the U.S.); incl. What's It Gonna Be? (#3 in the U.S.). Lionel Richie (1949-), Time (album #5) (June 23); big flop. LeAnn Rimes (1982-), Sittin' on Top of the World (album); incl. Commitment, Nothin' Under the New Moon, Lookin' Through Your Eyes. George Rochberg (1918-2005), Eden: Out of Time and Space. Kid Rock (1971-), Devil Without a Cause (album #4) (Aug. 18); his breakthrough album (11M copies); incl. Bawitdaba ("Bawitdaba da bang a dang diggy diggy diggy said the boogy said up jump the boogy"), Cowboy ("Well I'm packing up my game and I'm a head out west, where real women come equipped with scripts and fake breasts/ Find a neat in the hills chill like Flynt, buy an old droptop find a spot to pimp, and I'm a Kid Rock it up and down your block/ With a bottle of scotch and watch lots of crotch"), Only God Knows Why, I Am the Bullgod. Love and Rockets, Lift (album #7) (Oct. 13) (last album); they disband in 1999; incl. Resurrection Hex, Holy Fool, R.I.P. 20 C. Rush, Different Stages (double album) (Nov. 10). Black Sabbath, Reunion (album)(Oct. 20); Ozzy Osbourne is back, along with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward; Richie Sambora (1959-), Undiscovered Soul (album). Pharoah Sanders (1940-), Save Our Children (album). Seal (1963-), Human Being (album #3) (Nov. 16); tribute to Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Pete Seeger (1919-2014), Birds, Beasts, Bugs and Fishes (Little and Big) (album); If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope and Struggle (album); Headlines and Footnotes: A Collection of Topical Songs (album). Shakira (1977-), Donde Estan los Ladrones? (album #2) (Sept. 29); sells 10M copies worldwide, making her an internat. star. Duncan Sheik, Humming (album). Michelle Shocked (1962-), Good News (album). Sissel (1969-) and Warren G, Prince Igor. Slayer, Diabolus in Musica (album #8) (June 9) (#31 in the U.S.). Sister Sledge, African Eyes (album #10). Fatboy Slim (1963-), You've Come a Long Way, Baby (album #2) (Oct. 19) (#34 in the U.S., #1 in the U.K.); incl. The Rockafeller Skank, Gangster Trippin', Praise You, Right Here Right Now, Build It Up - Tear It Down, Fucking in Heaven (uses the word "fucking" 108 times). Black Label Society, Sonic Brew (album) (debut) (Oct. 28); from LA, incl. Zachary Phillip "Zakk" Wylde (1967-), formerly with Ozzy Osbourne; incl. Bored to Tears, Born to Lose. Bruce Springsteen (1949-), Tracks (boxed set) (Nov. 10). Ringo Starr (1940-), Vertical Man (album #11) (June 15) (#85 in the U.K.); incl. La De Da. The Steps, Last Thing on My Mind (by Bananarama) (#6 in the U.K.); One for Sorrow (Aug.) (#2 in the U.K.); Step One (album) (debut) (Sept. 14) (#2 in the U.K.); incl. Tragedy (by the Bee Gees) (#1 in the U.K.) (1M copies), Heartbeat, Better Best Forgotten (#2 in the U.K.). Rod Stewart (1945-), When We Were the New Boys (album #18) (May 29); incl. Ooh La La, Rocks, When We Were the New Boys. The Rolling Stones, No Security (album) (Nov. 2). Stratovarius, Visions of Europe (album) (July 7); Destiny (album #7) (Oct. 5); incl. S.O.S. Nada Surf, The Proximity Effect (album #2) (Sept. 22); incl. Hyperspace, Amateur. Suicidal Tendencies, Six the Hard Way (EP) (Nov. 17). Therion, Vovin (album #10) (May 4); sells 150K copies; incl. Clavicula Nox, Eye of Shiva; Crowning of Atlantis (album #11) (June 7). Seven Mary Three, Orange Ave. (album #4) (July 14) (#121 in the U.S.); incl. Over Your Shoulder. Timbaland (1971-), Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment (album) (debut) (Nov. 24). Train, Train (album) (debut) (Feb. 24); from San Francisco, Calif., incl. Patrick "Pat" Monahan (1969-) (vocals), Jimmy Stafford (guitar), and Scott Underwood (drums); incl. Free, Meet Virginia (#15 in the U.S.), I Am; Live from Fantasy Studios (album). Steve Vai (1960-), Flev-Able Leftovers (album #6) (Nov. 10); incl. Fuck Yourself. Vangelis (1943-), El Greco (album) (Oct. 19). The Ventures, New Depths (album). The Wallflowers, Heroes (by David Bowie). Dionne Warwick (1940-), What the World Needs Now Is Love (w/TheHipHopNationUnited) (#87 in the U.S.); her 56th and last Billboard 100 hit with songs composed by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Great White, Great Zeppelin: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin (album). Whitesnake, Starkers in Tokyo (album) (June 30). Wilco and Billy Bragg (1957-), Mermaid Avenue (album) (June 23); named after a Woody Guthrie song. Men at Work, Brazil (album) (Aug. 25). Trisha Yearwood (1964-), Where Your Road Leads (album). Rob Zombie (1965-), Hellbilly Deluxe (album) (debut); sells 3M copies; incl. Dragula ("Dig through the ditches, burn through the witches, I slam in the back of my Dragula... Devil on your back, I can never die"), Living Dead Girl, Superbeast. Frank Zappa (1940-93), Everything is Healing Nicely (album) (posth.) (Dec. 21). Movies: Robert Duvall's The Apostle (Jan. 30) stars Duvall as Tex. preacher fraud Euliss "Sonny" Dewey, who runs from the law and moves to La., changing his name and preaching on the radio. Michael Bay's Armageddon (July 1) (Touchstone Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictures) stars Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Will Patton, Michael Clarke Duncan, Owen Wilson, Peter Stormare, and Liv Tyler, attempting to cash in on Millennium Fever with a giant asteroid threatening to impact Earth and a special NASA expedition to deflect it with a nuke combined with a silly love affair and overblown heroism, powered by an Aerosmith soundtrack; #2 movie of 1998 ($202M U.S. and $553.7M worldwide box office on a $140M budget); "It's time to kick some asteroid." Joel Coen's The Big Lebowski (Mar. 6) (Gramercy Pictures) stars Jeff Bridges as Jeff "the Dude" Lebowski, an unemployed bowling-loving Venice, Calif. slacker caught up in the kidnapping of a girl named Bunny (Tara Reid) with a missing toe, who is married to elderly wheelchair-bound miliionaire Jeffrey "Big" Lebowski (David Huddleston); Steve Buscemi and John Goodman play the Dude's bowling buddies Donny and Walter Sobchak; Julianne Moore plays his daughter; Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Big Lebowski's personal asst.; Sam Elliott plays the narrator called The Stranger; contains the word "fuck" and variants 292x, "dude" 160x, and "man" 147x; does $46.2M box office on a $15M budget, and later gains a cult following; "Nothing is fucked here, man"; "The Dude Abides"; "Ever thus to deadbeats, Lebowski!"; "This is wht happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass, Larry"; "I don't like your jerk-off name, I don't like your jerk-off face, I don't like your jerk-off behavior, and I don't like you, jerk-off"; "I don't fucking roll on Shabbos"; "She's not my girlfriend, I'm just helping her conceive, man"; Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos"; "Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you." Stephen Norrington's Blade (Aug. 21) (Amen Ra Films) (New Line Cinema), based on the Mavel Comics char. stars Wesley Snipes as samurai sword-swining half-vampire vampire hunter Blade (Eric Brooks), who fights a gang of vampires led by Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff) with his hematologist partner Dr. Karen Jenson (N'Bushe Wright) and mentor Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson); porno queen Traci Lords plays sexy vampire Racquet; does $131.2M box office on a $45M budget. John Lasseter's A Bug's Life (Nov. 25) is an animated flick about ants warring with grasshoppers; stars Kevin Spacey as the voice of Hopper, Dave Foley as the voice of Flik, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the voice of Atta. Alex Proyas' Dark City (Feb. 27) stars Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch, a man with amnesia accused of murder trying to discover his true identity while on the run in a world with no Sun run by the Strangers, beings with telekinetic powers who want human souls. Mimi Leder's Deep Impact (May 8) (Paramount Pictures) (DreamWorks Picutres), based on the 1951 film "When Worlds Collide" and the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke novel "The Hammer of God", an attempt to cash in on Millennium Fever about a 500B-ton 7-mi.-wide comet on a collision course with Earth stars Morgan Freeman as U.S. Pres. Tom Beck, Robert Duvall as Capt. Spurgeon "Fish" Tanner', Elijah Wood as Leo Biederman, Tea Leoni as Jenny Lerner, Maximilian Schell as her father Jason Lerner, Vanessa Redgrave as her grandmother Robin Lerner, James Cromwell as former U.S. treasury secy. Alan Rittenhouse, Charles Martin Smith as Dr. Marcus Wolf, Denise Crosby as Vicky Hotchner, and Betsy Brantley as Ellen Biederman; better SFX than "Armageddon", but only grosses $140M U.S. at the box office (#10), and #349.5M worldwide on an $80M budget. Stephen Sommers' Deep Rising (Jan. 30) stars Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, and Anthony Heald, about man-eating deep sea worms. Betty Thomas' Doctor Dolittle (June 26) stars Eddie Murphy as Dr. John Dolittle, who can talk to the animals. Tony Scott's Enemy of the State (Nov. 20), written by David Marconi stars Will Smith and Gene Hackman in a flick about how powerful the NSA is when they're out to get you; "In God we trust. The rest we monitor." Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth (Sept. 8) (PolyGram) (Working Title Films) stars Cate Blanchett as British Virgin Queen Elizabeth I in her years of struggle; also stars Kathy Burke as Mary I, Geoffrey Rush as Sir Francis Walsingham, Joseph Fiennes as her beau Robert Dudley, Richard Attenborough as Sir William Cecil, Fanny Ardant as Mary of Guise, Vincent Cassel as Duke Henry of Anjou, and gay John Gielgud as Pope Pius V; "I am married to England"; pisses-off the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights for alleged anti-Catholicism, making it more popular?; does $82.1M box office on a $30M budget. Andy Tennant's Ever After (July 31) is a remake of Charles Perrault's 1729 "Cinderella" as a real tale, starring Drew Barrymore as Danielle De Barbarac, Anjelica Huston as her evil stepmother Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent, and Dougray Scott as Prince Henry; Patrick Godfrey plays Leonardo da Vinci. Kevin Williamson's The Faculty (Dec. 25) (Dimension Films) (Los Hooligans Productions) (Miramax Films) is set in Herrington H.S. in Ohio, where the teachers get infected by an alien cephalopod parasite called a mesozoan, causing the students to fight back, incl. Casey Connor (Elijah Wood), Zeke Tyler (Josh Hartnett), and Delilah Profitt (Jordana Brewster); Robert Patrick plays coach Joe Willis; does $40.3M box office on a $15M budget; "The students of Herrington High have always suspected their teachers were from another planet. This time they're right"; Lukas Moodysson's Fucking Amal (Show Me Love), about two Swedish girls going lez with each other is a box office smash in Sweden - the Swedish Brokeback Mountain? Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters (Jan. 21) (BBC Films) (Lions Gate Films) stars Ian McKellen as aging "Frankenstein", "Bride of Frankenstein" dir. James Whale, who asks his handsome stud gardener Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser) to model for him, not telling him that he's gay until it's too late; Lynn Redgrave plays Whale's maid Lynn Redgrave; Rosalind Ayres plays Elsa Lanchester; does $6.5M box office on a $10M budget. Roland Emmerich's Godzilla (May 20) (TriStar Pictures), a lavish remake of the campy 1954 Japanese cult classic stars Matthew Broderick as nerd biologist Niko Tatopoulos, and Jean Reno as a French secret agent following the monster to its nesting spot of New York City; when it turns out to be a clone of Jurassic Park and totally misses the message of the real Godzilla, that he's a force of Nature brought forth by the gods in revenge for mankind's messing with nukes, and therefore can't be killed, it fizzles at the box office, er, it does $379M box office on a $150M budget. Todd Solondz's Happiness (Oct. 16) (Killer Films) (Good Machine Releasing) about a sexually sicko family stars Cynthia Stevenson as Trish Maplewood, Lara Flynn Boyle as Helen Jordan, and Jane Adams as Joy Jordan, three sisters whose parents Lenny and Mona Jordan (Ben Gazzara and Louise Lasser) are separating after 40 years of marriage, while Trish's pedophile pshrink hubby Bill Maplewood (Dylan Baker) like to fuck boys, and neighbor Philip Seymour Hoffman likes to make obscene phone calls; does $5.7M box office on a $3M budget; spawns "Life During Wartime" (2009). Spike Lee's He Got Game (May 1) (Buena Vista Pictures) stars Denzel Washington as Attica convict Jake Shuttlesworth, and Ray Allen as his estranged sun, er, son Jesus, who is a top h.s. basketball player, who must agree to play for the state governor's alma mater Big State to get daddy's sentenced reduced; Milla Jovovich plays hotel ho Dakota; soundtrack by Public Enemy; does $21.5M box office on a $25M budget. Hal Hartley's Henry Fool (June 19) is an indie film starring Thomas Jay Ryan as a marginally employed self-important undiscovered Wordsworth with a poetic stare and a horny johnson named Henry Fool ("centuries ago it had an e at the end"), who claims to be writing an 8-vol. confession to end all confessions ("I've been bad, repeatedly, but why brag, the details of my exploits are only a pretext for a far more expansive consideration of general truths... And when I'm through with it it's gonna blow a hole this wide straight through the world's idea of itself"), and moves in on birdlike garbage man Simon Grim (James Urbaniak), then awakens him to write pornographic poetry that goes on to win him the Nobel Prize, but not before Henry tries to drag him down by making pub. of his unreadable magnum opus dependent on pub. of his, and then presents him with another little problem, his pedophile past; Parker Posey stars as Henry's babe Fay Grim; it's all presented so deadpan straight that it's great?; "A vocation like ours, Simon, is not a nine to five thing. You can't put a fence around a man's soul. We think and feel where and when we can think and feel. We are the servants of our muse and we toil where she commands" (Henry); spawns the 2006 sequel "Fay Grim". Gillies MacKinnon's Hideous Kinky (Oct. 2) (BBC) (Arts Council of England), based on the 1992 Esther Freud novel stars Kate Winslet as an English mother with two daughters Lucy (Carrie Mullan) and Bea (Bella Riza), who moves to Morocco and hooks up with con man acrobat Bilal (Said Taghmaoui); features rock music from the 1960s incl. Richie Havens, Canned Heat, the Incredible String Band, and Jefferson Airplane; "It's not just an adventure... It's a love affair." Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer (May 15) (Touchstone Pictures), based on the 1995 Nicholas Evans novel stars Redford as you know what Tom Booker, Kristin Scott Thomas as Annie MacLean, Scarlett Johansson as her daughter Grace, Chris Cooper as Frank Booker, and Sam Neill as Robert MacLean; does $187M box office on a $60M budget. Giuseppe Tornatore's The Legend of 1900 (Oct. 28) stars Tim Roth as a man born in 1900 who spends his entire life on a cruise ship playing the piano, until they decide to demolish it. Werner Herzog's Little Dieter Needs to Fly (Oct. 2) is a documentary about U.S. pilot Dieter Dengler (played by Klaus Kinski), who is shot down in Laos on a covert mission at the start of the Vietnam War and escapes through the jungle. Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Aug. 28) (HandMade Films) (SKA Films) (PolyGram) is a comedy crime film starring Nick Moran as genius card shark Eddy, who loses £500,000 to mob boss "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale (P.H. Moriarty), causing him and his partners Tom (Jason Flemyng), Soap (Dexter Fletcher), and Bacon (Jason Statham) (former diver) to plan to rob a small-time gang that lives next door; co-stars Vinnie Jones (former Welsh soccer star) as Harry's debt collector Big Chris; does $28M box office on a $1.35M budget; the dir. debut of Hatfield, Hertfordshire-born Guy Stuart Ritchie (1968-). Martin Campbell's The Mask of Zorro (July 17) (Amblin Entertainment) stars Anthony Hopkins as the aging masked swordsman, Antonio Badass, er, Banderas as his protege Alejandro, and Welsh-born Catherine Zeta-Jones (1969-) as Elena, causing her to become Hollywood's new It girl, attracting graverobber, er, great catch Michael Douglas, whose pickup line is "I want to father your children"; does $250M box office on a $96M budget - who can say no to the son of Spartacus? Barry Cook's and Tony Bancroft's animated musical adventure film Mulan (June 19) (Walt Disney Pictures) is about a Hun invasion of imperial Han China and the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, starring Ming-Na Wen as Fu Mulan, Eddie Mursphy as Mushu, BD Wong as Capt. Li Shang, and Miguel Ferrer as Shan Yu; does $304.3M box office on a $90M budget; features the song I'll Make a Man Out of You. Charlie Peters' Music from Another Room (Apr. 24) stars Jude Law as Danny, who helps deliver Anna Swann (Gretchen Mol) when he's five, and becomes obsessed with marrying her, having to deal with the Swann family incl. blind Nina (Jennifer Tilly), cynical Karen (Martha Plimpton), big brother Bill (Jeremy Priven), and dramatic mother Grace (Brenda Blethyn); soundtrack features "Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden, and "Day After Day" by Julian Lennon and Mark Spiro. Martin Brest's Meet Joe Black (Nov. 13) (Universal Pictures), based on the 1934 film "Death Takes a Holiday" stars Bradd Pitt as Death, who comes to Earth in the body of a young man who was killed in an auto accident, and is sent for billionaire media mogul Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins), accompanying him as long as he acts as his guide, hooking up with his daughter Susan (Claire Forlani); does $142.9M box office on a $90M budget. Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe (Nov. 20) stars Peter Mullan as unemployed alcoholic Joe Kavanagh in Glasgow, Scotland, who joins Alcoholic Anonymous and hooks up with rehabilitation worker Sarah Downie (Louise Goodall); David McKay plays Joe's friend Liam. F. Gary Gray's The Negotiator (July 29) stars Samuel L. Jackson as police Lt. Danny Roman, who takes hostages in police HQ until they tell him who killed his partner, and duels with negotiator Lt. Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey); hostages incl. cmdr. Grant Frost (Ron Rifkin), Maggie (Siobhan Fallon), and insp. Terence Niebaum (J.T. Walsh); also features David Morse as cmdr. Adam Beck, and John Spencer as chief Al Travis. Tom Shadyac's Patch Adams (Dec. 25) stars Robin Williams as Hunter "Patch" Adams, a doctor who uses laughter and a clown nose as a medicine without getting kicked out of the AMA; "Laughter is contagious". Andrew Davis' A Perfect Murder (June 5), a remake of the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock movie "Dial M for Murder" based on the Frederick Knott play stars Viggo Mortenson as swindler David Shaw, who tries to steal the wife Emily Bradford Taylor (Gwyneth Paltrow) of rich man Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas), until he offers $500K to kill her for him. Darren Aronofsky's Pi - Faith in Chaos (July 10) (B&W) stars Sean Gullette as math genius Max Cohen, who builds a homemade supercomputer to decode the name of God and tries to crack the stock market with a 216-digit number it spews out, with help from his math teacher Sol Robeson (Mark Margolis) and Hassidic Qabbalist Lenny Meyer (Ben Shenkman); "A Beautiful Mind" turned inside out? Willard Carroll's Playing by Heart (Dec. 18) (Miramax Films) is an ensemble film starring Sean Connery as Paul, and Gena Rowlands as his babe Hannah; does $4M box office on a $14M budget. Griffin Dunne's Practical Magic (Oct. 16) (Warner Bros.), based on the 1996 Alice Hoffman novel stars Sanda Bullock and Nicole Kidman as grownup orphans Sally and Gillian Owens, whose aunts Fran (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest) are witches; on top of that, they have a family curse that any man that falls for an Owens woman will die, and lawman Gary Hallet (Aidan Quinn) comes along and falls for Sally; does $68.3M box office on a $75M budget. Mike Nichols' Primary Colors (Mar. 20), based on the Joe Klein satire stars John Travolta as Gov. Bill Clinton, er, Jack Stanton, and Emma Thompson as his wife Hillary, er, Susan (sans a Harmonica?); the movie is really about virgin campaign mgr. Henry Burton (Adrian Lester)?; features an appearance by "J.R. Ewing" Larry Hagman as political opponent Fred Picker; does $52M on a $68M budget; "What went down on the way to the top." Brenda Chapman's, Steve Hickner's, and Simon Wells' animated The Prince of Egypt(Dec. 16) (DreamWorks Pictures) debuts, retelling the story in the Bible Book of Exodus about Moses (voiced by Val Kilmer) and Pharaoh Ramses (voiced by Ralph Fiennes); features the voices of Michelle Pfeiffer as Moses' wife Tzipporah, Sandra Bullock as Moses' sister Miriam, Jeff Goldblum as Moses' brother Aaron, Danny Glover as Tzipporah's father Jethro, Patrick Stewart as Ramses' father Pharaoh Seti, Helen Mirren as Seti's wife Queen Tuya, Steve Martin as high priest Hotep, Martin Short as high priest Huy, and Ofra Haza as Moses' mother Yocheved; does $218.6M box office on a $70M budget. Brett Ratner's Rush Hour (Sept. 18) (New Line Cinema) stars Jackie Chan as Hong Kong Chief Inspector Lee, who teams with jive-talking black Los Angeles detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) on the last day of British rule in Hong Kong in 1997 to save Chinese girl Soo Yung Han (Julia Hsu) from evil Chinese consul Solon Han (Tzi Ma), crime lord Juntao (Tom Wilkinson) and his right-hand man Sang (Ken Leung), while finding it hard to communicate, you stole my line; does $244.4M box office on a $33M budget. Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (July 24) (Paramount Pictures), based on a Robert Rodat script about a search for paratrooper James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon, who was chosen for being an unknown, which backfires when "Saving Private Ryan" hits the theaters first) of the U.S. 101st Airborne Div., 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment after D-Day features weak screenplay and actors, except for Tom Hanks (as Capt. John H. Miller of the 2nd Ranger Battalion), but its opening D-Day invasion Omaha Beach sequence rocks the Ritz bigtime; top grossing flick of 1998 ($216M); last R-rated film to head the annual box office charts until "American Sniper" (2014); the film debut of Vin Diesel (Mark Sinclair Vincent) (1967-) as Pvt. Adrian Caparzo (paid $100K); in 1994 Rodat saw a monument in Putney Corners, N.Y. dedicated to eight real brothers who died in the U.S. Civil War. John Madden's Shakespeare in Love (Dec. 3) (Universal Pictures), written by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman stars Joseph Fiennes as William Shakespeare, who falls for hot babe Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), and writes "Romeo and Juliet" for her, while she dresses as a man to act in it, and rival theater owner Philip Henslow (Geoffrey Rush) closes in; Colin Firth plays Viola's fiance the Earl of Wessex, a title that went defunct in 1066, causing Prince Edward to ask Elizabeth II to give it to him; Judi Dench plays Queen Elizabeth I; does $289.3M box office on a $25M budget. Edward Zwick's The Siege (Nov. 6) stars Bruce Willis as U.S. Maj. Gen. William Devereaux, who is ordered by the president to implement martial law in Muslim-filled Brooklyn (pop. 2M) to catch 20 Arab terrorists, while CIA spook Elise Kraft (Annette Bening) and FBI agents Anthony "Hub" Hubbard (Denzel Washington) and Frank Haddad (Tony Shalhoub) assist and then turn on him for his fascist tactics incl. torture-murder. Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan (Sept. 11) (Paramount Pictures), based on the 1993 Scott B. Smith novel stars Bill Paxon, Billy Bob Thornton, and Brent Brisco asbrothers Hank MItchell and Jacob Mitchell, and friend Lou Chambers, who discover a crashed plane containing $4.4M in cash, after which mutual suspicions tear them apart; Bridget Fonda plays Hank's wife Sarah; does $16.3M box office on a $17M budget. Peter Howitt's Sliding Doors (Apr. 24) stars Gwyneth Paltrow as public relations exec Helen Quilley, who gets fired, waits for her train on the London Underground, and splits into two parallel universes, one in which she catches the train, the other another path she would have taken had she missed it; does $58M box office on a $6M budget. Joe Dante's Small Soldiers (July 10) stars Tommy Lee Jones as the voice of Chip Hazard, an action figure with an implanted military computer chip, whose Gorgonite team takes on the town of Winslow Corners, Ohio, leaving teenies Christy (Kirsten Dunst) and Alan Abernathy (Gregory Edward Smith) to stop them. Barry Levinson's Sphere (Feb. 13) is based on the 1987 Michael Crichton novel; stars Dustin Hoffman as Dr. Norman Goodman, Sharon Stone as Dr. Elizabeth "Beth" Halperin, and Samuel L. Jackson as Dr. Harry Adams. Jonathan Frakes' Star Trek IX: Insurrection (Dec. 11) (Paramount Pictures) is about the peaceful Ba'ku people and the decrepit Son'a race; does $70M box office in the U.S. and $117.8M worldwide. The Farrelly Brothers' There's Something About Mary (July 17) (20th Cent. Fox) stars Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon, propelling super-big-smile-petite-butt Cameron Michelle Diaz (1972-) to the top with great word of mouth and a great hairdo made of cum; does $370M box office on a $23M budget. Alex Cox's Three Businessmen stars Miguel Sandoval and Alex Cox as art dealers Benny (American) and Frank (British), who set out to find a meal in Liverpool, and ending up searching the Earth for food, meeting up with Leroy (Robert Wisdom) in the desert, then discovering a female Messiah; features Deborah Harry singing (Ghost) Riders in the Sky. Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog (Jan. 9), based on "American Hero" by Larry Beinhart and the play by David Mamet and Hilary Henkin spoofs Pres. Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair, with Hollywood producer Robert Evans, er, Dustin Hoffman hired by the White House to stage a phony war with Albania to divert media attention after the pres. is accused of fondling a Girl Scout; filmed in 29 days on a $15M budget; "Why does a dog wag his tail? Because he's smarter than the tail, otherwise the tail would wag the dog"; captured soldier William "Old Shoe" Schuman of the 303rd writes "Courage Mom" in Morse Code tears on his sweater; the book was about George H.W. Bush and Desert Storm, not Bill Clinton? Peter Weir's The Truman Show (June 5) (Paramount Pictures) stars Jim Carrey as reality TV show victim Truman Burbank, whose life from birth is being broadcast without his knowledge to billions by looney dir. Christof (Ed Harris); Natascha McElhone plays his babe Sylvia AKA Lauren Garland; does $264M box office on a $60M budget. Robert Benton's Twilight (Mar. 16), co-written by Richard Russo stars Paul Newman as Hollywood P.I. Harry Ross, who wounds himself in the thigh while trying to return runaway 17-y.-o. Mel Ames (Reese Witherspoon), turning him into an alcoholic has-been living with Mel's wealthy filmmaker parents Jack (Gene Hackman) and Catherine (Susan Sarandon), after which he gets into an unsolved murder case with ex-coworkers Lt. Verna Hollander (Stockard Channing) and Raymond Hope (James Garner); a big bomb, it grosses $15M worldwide on a $37M budget. Frank Coraci's The Waterboy (Nov. 6) stars Adam Sandler as La. bayou waterboy Robert "Bobby" Boucher Jr., who discovers that he can tackle like a mad dog and makes the team of Coach Klein (Henry Winkler); Kathy Bates plays "Mama" Helen Boucher; "Instant Hero. Just Add Water"; "You can mess with him. But don't mess with his water". Frank Coraci's The Wedding Singer (Feb. 13), a feast of 1980s pop music stars Adam Sandler as Robbie Hart, and Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan; features Billy Idol; "Gee, you know that information really would've been more useful to me yesterday." Robert Towne's Without Limits (Sept. 11) stars Billy Crudup as 1970s long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine, and Donald Sutherland as U. of Ore. coach Bill Bowerman, dealing with the heartbreak of the 1972 Olympics. Art: Barbara Chase-Riboud (1939-), Africa Rising (statue). Sally Mann, Deep South (photos). Roberto Matta (1911-2002), Youniverso. Juan Munoz, Untitled (Six Figures). Martin Puryear (1941-), Brunhilde (1998-2000) (cedar-rattan sculpture). James Rosenquist, Women's Intuition, After Aspen. Thomas Schutte, Figur Nr. 12. Todd Walker (1917-), CR36 Plays: Bola Agbaje, Gone Too Far!; tensions between blacks in London. Howard Brenton (1942-) and Tariq Ali (1943-), Ugly Rumours (Tricycle Theatre, London). Horton Foote (1916-), Vernon Early (Montgomery, Ala.). Michael Frayn (1933-), Alarms and Excursions: More Plays than One; Copenhagen. Davie Hare (1947-), Amy's View (Theatre Royal, London) (June 20); adapted from Arthur Schnitzler; stars Judi Dench, Samantha Bond, and Tate Donovan; The Judas Kiss; Via Dolorosa. Beth Henley (1952-), Impossible Marriage. Tony Kushner (1956-), Terminating, or Lass Meine Schmerzen Nicht Verloren Sein, or Ambivalence, in Love's Fire (Minneapolis, Minn.) (Jan. 7); inspired by Shakespeare's Sonnet #75, about gay neurotic Hendryk, who wants his lesbian therapist Esther to sleep with him; Henry Box Brown, or the Mirror of Slavery (Royal Nat. Theatre, London); about the 19th cent. Va. slave Henry "Box" Brown (1815-79), who had himself mailed to abolitionists in Philly; a "very big play" with a "cast of billions of people, so it's going to be huge and expensive" (Kushner). Tony Kushner (1956-), Eric Bogosian (1953-) et al., Love's Fire: Seven New Plays Inspired by Seven Shakespearean Sonnets. Bob Martin, Don McKellar, Lisa Lambert, and Greg Morrison, The Drowsy Chaperone (The Rivoli, Toronto); opens on Broadway on May 1, 2006; homage to Am. Jazz Age musicals, about the Main in Chair, who is listening to a recording of the 1928 musical comedy "The Drowsy Chaperone", and is transported into it. Terrence McNally (1939-), Corpus Christi (New York) (Oct. 13); portrays Jesus and his disciples as gay men living in modern-day Tex., Jesus as marrying two gay men, and Judas as betraying him because of sexual jealousy; McNally receives death threats over it. Mark Medoff (1940-) and Ross Marks, Showdown on Rio Road. Mark Medoff (1940-) and Phil Treon, Crunch Time. Arthur Miller (1915-2005), Mr. Peters' Connections. Neil Simon (1927-2018), The Capeman (musical); stars Mark Antony. Simon Stephens (1971-), Bluebird (debut). Stephen Trask (1966-) and John Cameron Mitchell (1963-), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical) (Jane Street Theatre, New York) (Feb. 14) (857 perf.); dir. by Peter Askin; the rock & roll band The Angry Inch fronted by transgender East German singer Hedwig Robinson AKA Hansel Schmidt, who met GI Luther Robinson AKA Sugar Daddy and underwent a sex change to marry him; too bad, the operation was botched, leaving a 1-in. thing between her legs, "with a scar running down it like a sideways grimace on an eyeless face"; her band follows rock star Tommy Gnosis around the U.S.: the theater is located in the ballroom of the Hotel Riverview, which once housed the surviving crew of the Titanic; filmed in 2001. Alfred Uhry (1936-), Parade (musical) (Vivian Beaumont Theater, New York) (Dec. 17) (84 perf.); 1913 lynching of Jewish factory mgr. Leo Frank; #3 in the Jews in Atlanta Trilogy (begun 1987). Robert Wilson (1941-), Lohengrin for the Metropolitan Opera; Bertolt Brecht's The Flight Across the Ocean for the Berliner Ensemble. Sympathetic Magic. Robert Wilson (1941-) and Philip Glass (1937-), O Corvo Branco (Teatro Camoes, Lisbon); Monsters of Grace. Poetry: Margaret Atwood (1939-), Eating Fire: Selected Poems 1965-1995. Wendell Berry (1934-), A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems, 1979-97; written "in silence, in solitude, and mainly out of doors," about "moments when heart and mind are open and aware." William Bronk (1918-99), All of What We Loved; Some Words. Jim Carroll (1949-2009), Void of Course: Poems 1994-1997. Turner Cassity (1929-2009), The Destructive Element: New and Selected Poems. Billy Collins (1941-), Picnic, Lightning. Robert Creeley (1926-2005), So There: Poems 1976-83. Michael Crummey (1965-), Hard Light. Mark Doty (1953-), Sweet Machine. George Garrett (1929-2008), Days of Our Lives Lie in Fragments: New and Old Poems, 1957-1997. Jorie Graham (1950-), Photographs and Poems. Donald Hall Jr. (1928-), Without. Jim Harrison (1937-2016), The Shape of the Journey: New and Collected Poems. Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), Audenesque; Open Ground: Poems 1966-1996. Anthony Hecht (1923-2004), Flight Among the Tombs: Poems (Jan. 12); incl. "Sacrifice", "Road to Damascus", "A Certain Slant", "Witness". Ted Hughes (1930-98), Birthday Letters; written to wife Sylvia Plath (1933-63), who committed suicide when he left her. David Ignatow (1914-97), At My Ease: Uncollected Poems of the Fifties and Sixties (posth.). Donald Rodney Justice (1925-2004), Orpheus Hesitated Beside the Black River: Poems, 1952-1997. Brad Leithauser (1953-), The Odd Last Thing She Did. William Matthews (1942-97), After All: Last Poems (posth.). W.S. Merwin (1927-), Folding Cliffs: A Narrative; verse novel about Hawaiian history. Michael Ondaatje (1943-), Handwriting. Linda Pastan (1932-), Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poems, 1968-1998. Sonia Sanchez (1934-), Does Your House Have Lions. Gerald Stern (1925-), This Time: New and Selected Poems. Mark Strand (1934-), Blizzard of One: Poems (Pulitzer Prize). James Tate (1943-), Shroud of the Gnome. Diane Wakoski (1937-), Argonaut Rose. C.K. Williams (1936-), Poetry and Consciousness. John A. Williams (1925-94), Safari West. Charles Wright (1935-), Appalachia. Richard Wright (1908-60), Haiku: This Other World (posth.). Paul Zindel (1936-2003), Amulets Against the Dragon Forces. Novels: Catherine Aird (1930-), Stiff News. Eliseo Alberto (1951-2011), Caracol Beach; a war vet living in Fla. is haunted by a winged Bengal tiger. Isabel Allende (1942-), Aphrodite. Jonathan Ames (1964-), The Extra Man. Raymond Andrews (1934-91), Once Upon a Time (posth.). A. Manette Ansay (1964-), River Angel. Aharon Appelfeld (1932-), The Conversion. Murray Bail (1941-), Eucalyptus; identify all 200 plant species on his property and you get to marry his beautiful daughter - does she look like Barbara Bach? Beryl Bainbridge (1934-), Master Georgie; set during the Crimean War. J.G. Ballard (1930-2009), Cocaine Nights; followed by "Super-Cannes" (2000). Russell Banks (1940-), Cloudsplitter; about abolitionist John Brown. Clive Barker (1952-), Galilee; the Irish Gearys (Kennedys?) vs. the black Barbarossas, incl. matriarch Cesaria and her son Galilee. Nicola Barker, Wide Open (first novel). Pat Barker (1943-), Another World. Julian Barnes (1946-), England, England. Greg Bear (1951-), Dinosaur Summer; about a plateau in Venezuela where dinos live. Ann Beattie (1947-), Park City (short stories). Alfred Bester (1913-87) and Roger Zelazny, Psychoshop (posth.). Maeve Binchy (1940-), Tara Road; The Return Journey (short stories). Robert Bloch (1917-94), Flowers from the Moon and Other Lunacies (short stories). Judy Blume (1938-), Summer Sisters; sells 3M copies. Pierre Bourgeade (1927-2009), Les Ames Juives; Pitbull. T. Coraghessan Boyle (1948-), Riven Rock; Stanley McCormick, mad son of reaper king Cyrus; T. Coraghessan Boyle Stories. Anita Brookner (1928-), Falling Slowly. Frederick Buechner (1926-), The Storm. James Lee Burke (1936-), Sunset Limited; Dave Robicheaux #11. Pat Cadigan (1953-), Tea from an Empty Cup; homicide detective Dore Konstantin; "You'd think that Artificial Reality couldn't kill you, since legally speaking, everything is a lie in AR anyway. But that seems to be just exactly what happened – in a sealed booth. And he died the same way in the real world as he did in AR – a slashed throat." David Caute (1936-), Fatima's Scarf. Tom Clancy (1947-2013), Rainbow Six; another novel about mystery man John Clark. Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), All Through the Night. Paul Coelho (1947-), Veronika Decides to Die; Essential Words. Jackie Collins (1937-2015), Thrill. Larry Collins (1929-2005), Tomorrow Belongs To Us. Robin Cook (1940-), Toxin; cardiac surgeon Kim Reggis loses his daughter Becky to E. coli and infiltrates a meat-packing plant. Catherine Cookson (1906-98), The Upstart; The Blind Years; Riley; Solace of Sin. Robert Coover (1932-), Ghost Town. Robert Cormier (1925-2000), Tenderness; teenie serial killer Eric Poole and Lorelei "Lori" Cranston; filmed in 2008 by John Polson; Heroes. Patricia Cornwell (1956-), Point of Origin; Kay Scarpetta #9; Southern Cross. Jim Crace (1946-), Quarantine; Jesus Christ's 40-day fast in Da Wilderness revisited. Harry Crews (1935-), Celebration; Where Does One Go When There's No Place Left to Go?. Michael Crummey (1965-), Flesh and Blood (short stories). Michael Cunningham (1945-), The Hours (Pulitzer Prize); an involution of Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" (1925). Marie Darrieussecq (1969-), My Phantom Husband; about a woman whose husband disappears, causing her to search for him. J.P. Donleavy (1926-), Wrong Information is Being Given Out at Princeton. Allen Drury (1918-98), Public Men (last novel). Andre Dubus (1936-99), Meditations from a Movable Chair (short stories). Alexandre Dumas pere (1802-70), The Royal House of Savoy (posth.); written in exile in Turin and Brussels. Allan W. Eckert (1931-), Return to Hawk's Hill. Bret Easton Ellis (1964-), Glamorama. Louise Erdrich (1954-), The Antelope Wife. Nicholas Evans (1950-), The Loop. Sebastian Faulks (1953-), Charlotte Gray; last in the France Trilogy (begun 1989). Vince Flynn (1966-), Term Limits; debuts CIA assassin Mitch Rapp. Ken Follett (1949-), The Hammer of Eden. Nicolas Freeling (1927-2003), One More River. Neil Gaiman (1960-), Stardust; ethereal blonde witch Yvaine in the alternate universe of Stormhold, separated from the English village of Wall by a you know what; a flying pirate ship collects lightning for sale to the black market. William Howard Gass (1924-), Cartesian Sonata and Other Novellas. Barry Gifford (1946-), The Sinaloa Story. Allegra Goodman (1967-), Kaaterskill Falls; Rav Kirshner groupies in upstate N.Y. Nadine Gordimer (1923-), The House Gun; Harald and Claudia Lingard deal with their son Duncan, who murders a housemate and hires a black atty. Mary Catherine Gordon (1949-), Spending. Winston Graham (1908-2003), The Ugly Sister. Joanne Greenberg (1932-), Where the Road Goes. Pete Hamill (1935-), Snow in August. Jane Hamilton (1957-), The Short History of a Prince. Everette Lynn Harris (1955-2009), If This World Were Mine. Jim Harrison (1937-2016), The Road Home. Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), The First Eagle. Russell Hoban (1925-), Mr. Rinyo-Clacton's Offer. Nick Hornby (1957-), About a Boy. Michel Houellebecq (1956-), Atomised (Les Particules Elementaires); half-brothers Michel and Bruno. John Irving (1942-), A Widow for One Year. Susan Isaacs (1943-), Red, White and Blue. John Jakes (1932-), American Dreams. Ha Jin (1956-), In the Pond (first novel). Charles R. Johnson (1948-), Dreamer. Denis Johnson (1949-), Already Dead: A California Gothic. Gayl Jones (1949-), The Healing; faith healer Harlan Jane Eagleton. Ismail Kadare (1936-), Three Elegies for Kosovo. Thomas Keneally (1935-), The Great Shame. Elias Khoury (1948-), Gate of the Sun; Dr. Khalil and Nahilah at a Palestinian hospital in Lebanon; English trans. pub. in 2006. Dean Koontz (1945-), Fear Nothing. Judith Krantz (1928-), The Jewels of Tessa Kent. Milan Kundera (1929-), Identity. Wally Lamb (1950-), I Know This Much Is True; Dominick Birdsey and his paranoid schizo twin Thomas. Hugh Laurie (1959-), The Gun Seller (first novel); ex-soldier Thomas Lang becomes a 007-type spy mixed with "Jeeves and Wooster". Dennis Lehane (1965-), Gone, Baby, Gone; Boston PIs Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro #4; filmed in 2007 by Ben Affleck. Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), Cuba Libre; Tonto Woman. Jonathan Lethem (1964-), Girl in Landscape. Savyon Liebrecht, Apples from the Desert. Charles de Lint (1951-), Someplace to be Flying, Greenmantle. Elinor Lipman (1950-), The Ladies' Man. Penelope Lively (1933-), Spiderweb. Alison Lurie (1926-), The Last Resort; naturalist Wilkie Walker moves with wife Jenny to Key West to commit suicide, allowing her to hook up with Lee Weiss, after which he changes his mind. Steve Martin (1945-), Pure Drivel (short stories). Bobbie Ann Mason (1940-), Midnight Magic (short stories). Cormac McCarthy (1933-), Cities of the Plain (May 12); last in the Border Trilogy; John Grady Cole meets Billy Parham in 1952, and Cole tries to rescue ho Magdalene in Juarez by taking on Eduardo. Colleen McCullough (1937-), The Song of Troy. Alice McDermott (1953-), Charming Billy; Billy Lynch and his lost love; beats Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full" and Robert Stone's "Damascus Gate" for the Nat. Book Award. Ian McEwan (1948-), Amsterdam. Carlton Mellick III, Electric Jesus Corpse (first novel). Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Against the Dark. Susan Minot (1956-), Evening. Lorrie Moore, Birds of America. David Morrell (1943-), Double Image. Toni Morrison (1931-2019), Paradise; about fictional all-black Ruby, Okla. Sir John Mortimer (1923-2009), The Sound of Trumpets. Kate Mosse, Crucifix Lane. Alice Munro (1931-), The Love of a Good Woman (short stories). Gloria Naylor (1950-), The Men of Brewster Place; sequel to "The Women of Brewster Place" (1982). Katherine Neville (1945-), The Magic Circle. Joyce Carol Oates (1938-), My Heart Laid Bare. Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000), The Hundred Days; Aubrey-Maturin #19. Tim O'Brien (1946-), Tomcat in Love. Stewart O'Nan (1961-), A World Away. Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Sudden Mischief; Spenser #25; Trouble in Paradise; Jesse Stone #2. Elliot Perlman (1964-), Three Dollars (first novel). Sara Paretsky (1947-), Ghost Country; nothing to do with V.I. Warshawski? Ralph Peters (1952-), The Devil's Garden. Jodi Picoult (1966-), The Pact. Marge Piercy (1936-) and Ira Wood, Storm Tide. Richard Powers (1957-), Gain. Steven Pressfield (1943-), Gates of Fire; the 480 B.C.E. Battle of Thermopylae. Reynolds Price (1933-), Roxanna Slade. Richard Price (1949-), Freedomland (June 1); search for a 4-y.-o. boy in an abandoned theme park. Francine Prose (1947-), The Peaceable Kingdom (short stories). Anne Rice (1941-), Pandora; #1 in New Tales of the Vampires; The Vampire Armand; #6 in the Vampire Chronicles. Julian Rios (1941-), Loves That Bind; 26 love letters, one for each letter of the alphabet. John Ross (1938-2011), Tonatiuh's People: A Novel of the Mexican Cataclysm. Philip Roth (1933-2018), I Married a Communist; radio star Ira "Iron Rinn" Ringold's story, as told by Nathan Zuckerman; Ira's anti-Semitic Jewish actress wife Eve Frame is really Roth's ex-wife Claire Bloom? Mary Doria Russell (1950-), Children of God; sequel to "The Sparrow" (1996). Lawrence Sanders (1920-98), Guilty Pleasures. Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), Thrones, Dominations (posth.); 11th Lord Peter Wimsey novel, left unfinished and completed by Jill Paton Walsh. Mike Schertzer (1965-), Cipher and Poverty (The Book of Nothing); lipogrammatic novel, incl. the longest acronym in the English language. Melissa Scott (1960-), The Shapes of Their Hearts; clone Anton Tso goes to Eden to get a copy of the sophisticated rogue AI memoriant of the planet's religious cult's founder. Hubert Selby Jr. (1928-2004), The Willow Tree. Miranda Jane Seymour (1948-), The Summer of '39; Robert Ranke Graves (1895-1985) and his babe Laura Riding take their artsy-fartsy love relationship to young Yanks Nancy and Chance Brewster (Katharine and Schuyler Jackson) on the eve of WWII, after which Chance leaves Nancy for Laura, and Nancy attempts to strangle one of her daughters, ending up in an institution. Jeffrey Shaara (1952-), The Last Full Measure; sequel to his daddy Michael Shaara's "The Killer Angels". Ntozake Shange (Paulette Williams) (1948-), If I Can Cook You Know God Can. Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007), Tell Me Your Dreams. Anita Shreve (1946-), The Pilot's Wife; the hubby of New England h.s. teacher Kathryn Lyon dies in a crash off the Irish coast, causing her to try to find out who he really was; selected by Oprah's Book Club in Mar. 1999, sales take off and her novels sell millions. Anne Rivers Siddons (1936-), Low Country. Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), The Broken Chariot. Jane Smiley (1949-), The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Nicholas Sparks (1965-), Message in a Bottle (Apr. 1); filmed in 1999. LaVyrle Spencer (1943-), Small Town Girl (Mar. 1); small town girl Tess McPhail goes to Nashville to become a singer. Scott Spencer (1945-), Rich Man's Table. Danielle Steel (1947-), The Long Road Home; The Klone and I; His Bright Light; Mirror Image. Robert Stone (1937-), Damascus Gate; a plot to rebuild the unrebuildable Temple of Big J in Jerusalem. David Storey (1933-), A Serious Man. Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005), The Rum Diary; written in 1959, about his freelance journalist days in Puerto Rico. Lucian K. Truscott IV (1946-), Full Dress Gray (July 7); sequel to "Dress Gray" (1977); Ry Slaight returns to West Point 30 years later as a Lt. Gen. and suptd. and deals with a woman collapsing in a military parade after having had sex with multiple men the night before. Harry Turtledove (1949-), Justinian; pub. under alias H.N. Turteltaub. Anne Tyler (1941-), A Patchwork Planet. John Updike (1932-2009), Bech at Bay; Jewish New York novelist Henry Bech and his epic writer's block; sequel to "Bech: A Book" (1970) and "Bech is Back" (1982). Gore Vidal (1925-2012), The Smithsonian Institution; the exhibits come to life when it's closed - are these the breed of wit so wondered at, or will you hear the king is my love sworn? Bruce Wagner's I'm Losing You, based on his 1997 novel is about a wealth L.A. family, incl. Frank Langella as Perry Needham Krohn, Rosanna Arquette as Rachel Krohn, and Andrew McCarthy as Bertie Krohn, who come together after the accidental death of young daughter Tiffany (Aria Noelle Curzon). Irvine Welsh (1958-), Filth; a corrupt sociopathic police officer and a tapeworm. Arnold Wesker (1932-), The King's Daughters: Twelve Erotic Stories. John Edgar Wideman (1941-), Two Cities. Andrew Norman Wilson (1950-), Dream Children. Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), Everything Is Under Control. T.L. Winslow (TLW) (1953-) begins his career as a fiction author, intending to initiate a new age of lit., producing the following novels this year: Five Smooth Stones (first novel) (how Islam destroys the West); Isn't Jack in Jail? (pub. under alias Hamda Lindleton) (how lesbianism inevitably takes over the world); Tegeena: Warrior Priestess (the truth about how women were squeezed out of male supremacist religion); The Incredible Billion Dollar Geek (Roman a clef); Interdimensional Clownz (the truth about clownophobia AKA clourophobia and an interdimensional conspiracy involving Hillarious Clownton of Clowncago and her hubby William Jefferson Clownton during the Harmonica Clowninsky scandal); Schwarzen Auger: Dark Eyes of Evil (the Schwarzenegger eugenics Fourth Reich conspiracy); Space Reachers 2999: Why Star Trek Sucks; TLW decides he's such a phenom he can bypass the traditional publishing industry and self-publish e-books and distribute them on the Web, which will take years to ramp up but he's got plenty of time and has a list of 500 novels on the drawing boards; too bad, when 9/11 hits and he realizes that he could be taken out at any moment, he has to shelve his lit. career to get real and work full-time on the Great Track of Time, which had only been a hobby until then. Tom Wolfe (1930-2018), A Man in Full (Nov.); bestseller (1.4M copies); a black football star is accused of raping a white woman in Atlanta Jawjaw. Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (1939-2007), The Elusive Flame; sequel to "The Flame and the Flower" (1972). Rafi Zabor (1946-), The Bear Comes Home (first novel); a bear pursues musical perfection as an alto saxophonist. Births: Am. "Sawyer Nelson in Dolphin Tale" actor Nathan Gamble on Jan. 12 in Tacoma, Wash. Am. rapper (black) XXX Tentacion (Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (d. 2018) (AKA Triple X, Jah-Young Dagger Dick) on Jan. 23 in Plantation, Fla.; grows up in Lauderhill. Am. 6'8" basketball small forward (black) (Boston Celtics #11, 2017-) Jayson Christopher Tatum on Mar. 3 in St. Louis, Mo.; educated at Duke U. Am. 6'11" football safety (black) (Buffalo Bills #3, 2021`-) Damar Romeyelle Hamlin on Mar. 24 in McKees Rocks, Penn. Am. celeb daughter (bi) Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson on Apr. 3; daughter of Michael Jackson (1958-2009) and Debbie Rowe (1958-); sister of Prince Michael Jackson I (1997-); half-sister of Prince Michael Jackson II (2002-). Am. "? in Maleficent" actress Mary Elle Fanning on Apr. 9 in Conyers, Ga.; sister of Dakota Fanning (1994-). Am. 6'4" basketball guard (black) (Philadelphia 76ers #20, 2017-) Markelle V. Fultz on May 29 in Upper Marlboro, Md.; educated at the U. of Washington. Am. "Brick Heck in The Middle" actor Atticus Ronald Shaffer on June 19 in Santa Clarita, Calif. Spanish royal brat Don Felipe Juan Froilan (Froilán) de Todos los Santos de Borbon y Marichalar on July 17 in Madrid; maternal grandson of Juan Carlos I; brother of Victoria de Marichalar y Borbon (2000-). Bahamian 7'1 basketball center (black) (Phoenix Suns #22, 2018-) Deandre Edoneille Ayton on July 23 in Nassau; educated at the U. of Ariz. Australian celeb kid Bindi Sue Irwin on July 24 in Nambour, Queensland; daughter of Steve Irwin (1962-2006) and Terri Irwin (1964-). Greek 6'4" tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas on Aug. 12 in Athens; Greek father, Russian mother. Am. 5'8" soccer player Christian Mate Pulisic on Sept. 18 in Hershey, Penn. Am. mass murderer Nikolas Jacob Cruz on Sept. 24 in Margate, Fla. Am. "Samantha in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" actress Danika Yarosh on Oct. 1 in Morristown, N.J.; grows up in Bedminster, N.J. Am. "Rue in The Hunger Games" actress-singer Amandla (Zulu "power", "strength") Stenberg on Oct. 23 in Los Angeles, Calif.; Danish father, African-Am. mother. Dominican baseball outfielder (lefty) (Washington Nationals #22, 2018-) Juan Soto on Oct. 25 in Santo Domingo. Chinese 5'10" golfer Guan Tianlang on Oct. 25 in Guangzhou. Am. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" actor Chandler Canterbury on Dec. 15 in Houston, Tex. French 5'10" (Monaco) (2015-8) (Paris Saint-Germain) (2017-) soccer star (black) Kylian Mbappe (Mbappé) Lottin on Dec. 20 in Paris; grows up in Bondy. Am. "Julia in Flightplan" actress Marlene Lawston on ? in Westchester, N.Y. Deaths: Am. Everglades environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas (b. 1890) on May 14 in Miami, Fla. Am. ceramic "Mama of Dada" artist Beatrice Wood (b. 1893) on Mar. 12 in Ojai, Calif.; inspired the char. of Rose DeWitt Bukater in James Cameron's 1997 film "Titanic". Am. investor Philip Carret (b. 1896) on May 26; father of the mutual fund; worked at his Wall Street office until 1 mo. before his death at age 101. Am. "Life with Father" stage actress Dorothy Stickney (b. 1896) on June 2 in New York City. Am. "Suzuki Method" music teacher Shinichi Suzuki (b. 1898) on Jan. 26 in Matsumoto. German physicist Ernest Ising (b. 1900) on May 11 in Peoria, Ill. Am. historian Henry Steele Commager (b. 1902) on Mar. 2 in Amerst, Mass. (pneumonia): "What every college must do is hold up before the young the spectacle of greatness"; "A free society cherishes nonconformity. It knows that from the non-conformist, from the eccentric, have come many of the great ideas of freedom. Free society must fertilize the soil in which non-conformity and dissent and individualism can grow"; "History is a jangle of accidents, blunders, surprises and absurdities, and so is our knowledge of it, but if we are to report it at all we must impose some order upon it." French-born Brazilian architect (of Brasilia) Lucio Costa (b. 1902) on June 13 in Rio de Janeiro. Am. cinematographer Charles Lang (b. 1902) on Apr. 3 in Santa Monica, Calif. Icelandic novelist Halldor Laxness (b. 1902) on Feb. 8 in Reykjavik; 1955 Nobel Lit. Prize; wrote 50+ novels. Am. Dem. politician Jennings Randolph (b. 1902) on May 8 in St. Louis, Mo.; last surviving member of FDR's Hundred Days. Am. "Eloise" musician-writer Kay Thompson (b. 1902) on July 2. English-born Am. "Broadway Melody of 1938" actress Binnie Barnes (b. 1903) on July 27 in Beverly Hills, Calif. German rare book curator Otto Bettmann (b. 1903) on May 1. Am. baritone (the original Porgy) Robert Todd Duncan (b. 1903) on Feb. 28 in Washington, D.C. Am. "Drums Along the Mohawk" novelist Walter D. Edmonds (b. 1903) on Jan. 24 in Concord, Mass. Am. actress Josephine Hutchinson (b. 1903) on June 4 in Manhattan, N.Y. Am. movie gossip columnist Dorothy Manners (b. 1903) on Aug. 25 in Palm Springs, Calif. German Nazca Lines mathematician Maria Reiche (b. 1903) on June 8 in Surco, Lima, Peru. Am. common sense baby doctor Benjamin Spock (b. 1903) on Mar. 15 in La Jolla, Calif. French fashion designer Roger Vivier (b. 1903) on Oct. 3. Am. bubble gum inventor Walter E. Diemer (b. 1904) on Jan. 8 in Philadelphia, Penn. (heart failure). Am. journalist Joseph Close Harsch (b. 1905) on June 3. Am. tennis player Helen Wills Moody (b. 1905) on Jan. 1 in Camel, Calif.; won 31 Grand Slam titles in 1923-38, and 180 straight matches in 1927-33. English "Colossus" engineer Tommy Flowers (b. 1905) on Oct. 28. Am. physician George Herbert Hitchings (b. 1905) on Feb. 27; 1988 Nobel Med. Prize. English composer Sir Michael Tippett (b. 1905) on Jan. 8 in London (pneumonia) (AIDS?). U.S. defense secy. #9 (1968-9) Clark Clifford (b. 1906) on Oct. 10; helped organize NATO and the Marshall Plan. English novelist Dame Catherine Cookson (b. 1906) on June 11 in Newcastle; wrote 90+ novels. English "Miss Marple" actress Joan Hickson (b. 1906) on Oct. 17 in Colchester. Syrian pres. (1961-3) Nazim al-Kudsi (b. 1906) on Feb. 6 in Amman. Swiss-Croatian chemist Vladimir Prelog (b. 1906) on Jan. 7 in Zurich; 1975 Nobel Chem. Prize. French mathematician Andre Weil (b. 1906) on Aug. 6: "God exists since mathematics is consistent, and the Devil exists since we cannot prove it." English-born Am. stand-up comedian Henny Youngman (b. 1906) on Feb. 24: "Take my wife - please." Am. singer-actor Gene Autry (b. 1907) on Oct. 2. French poet Rene Char (b. 1907) on Feb. 19. Am. football hall-of-fame coach Weeb Ewbank (b. 1907) on Nov. 17; dies on the 30th anniv. of the Heidi Game. Am. "I'll Cry Tomorrow" writer Gerold Frank (b. 1907) on Sept. 17. Am. politician (Tenn.) Albert Gore Sr. (b. 1907) on Dec. 5; father of U.S. vice-pres. Albert Gore Jr. U.S. Supreme Court justice #99 (1972-87) Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (b. 1907) on Aug. 25 in Richmond, Va. Swiss philosopher Frithjob Schuon (b. 1907) on May 5 in Bloomington, Ind.: "The prerogative of the human state is objectivity; the essential content of which is the Absolute. There is no knowledge without objectivity of the intelligence; there is no freedom without objectivity of the will; and there is no nobility without objectivity of the soul... Esoterism seeks to realize pure and direct objectvity; this is its raison d'etre." Am. novelist Dorothy West (b. 1907) on Aug. 16. Am. "Father Knows Best" "Marcus Welby, M.D." actor Robert Young (b. 1907) on July 21 in Westlake Village, Calif. Am. journalist-novelist Martha Gellhorn (b. 1908) on Feb. 15 in London (suicide); landed on the beach in Normandy on D-Day; the only one of Ernest Hemingway's four wives to leave him: "Why does one write in the first place? Because one sees, feels and must speak; because one wants to know what one thinks; because it is the hardest work there is, and thus, like Everest, it lures." Am. Navajo WWII codetalker Carl Gorman (b. 1908) on Feb. 5. Am. atty. Telford Taylor (b. 1908) on May 23 in Manhattan, N.Y. (stroke). Am. "Gillis in The Life of Riley" actor Tom D'Andrea (b. 1909) on May 14 in South Port Square, Fla. (heart attack). English thriller novelist Eric Ambler (b. 1909) on Oct. 22. Am. conservative politician Barry M. Goldwater (b. 1909) on May 29 in Paradise Valley, Ariz.; had a project with John Dean of Watergate fame to study right-wing penetration of the U.S. conservative movement. U.S. Navy secy. #56 (1962-3) Fred Korth (b. 1909) on Sept. 14 in El Paso, Tex. Am. restaurateur Dick (Richard) McDonald (b. 1909) on July 14; started America's first fast food restaurant with his brother Maurice in San Bernardino, Calif. in 1948, and lived to see it take over half the world - I live for art, I live for grease? German sports car maker Ferdinand Porsche (b. 1909) on Mar. 27. English children's writer Geoffrey Trease (b. 1909) on Jan. 27 in Bath; pub. 113 books. Am. Los Angeles mayor #48 (1961-73) Sam Yorty (b. 1909) on June 5 in Los Angeles, Calif. British Gen. John Hunt, Baron Hunt (b. 1910) on Nov. 8 in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Japanese "Rashomon", "Seven Samurai", "Ran" film dir. Akira Kurosawa (b. 1910) on Sept. 6 in Setagaya. Am. "Juror No. 4 in 12 Angry Men" actor E.G. Marshall (b. 1910) on Aug. 24 in Beford, N.Y. Am. novelist-photographer Wright Morris (b. 1910) on Apr. 25. Am. Dem. Conn. gov. #80) (1955-61) and U.S. Sen. (D-Conn.) (1963-81) Abraham Alexander Ribicoff (b. 1910) on Feb. 22 in New York City. Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova (b. 1910) on Mar. 2; Prokofiev wrote "Romeo and Juliet" just for her. Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova (b. 1910) on Mar. 21. Am. actor Douglas Fowley (b. 1911) on May 21 in Woodland Hills, Calif. Am. physicist Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber (b. 1911) on Feb. 2. Am. actress Jeanette Nolan (b. 1911) on Sept. 5 in Los Angeles, Calif. German jet engine inventor Hans Von Ohain (b. 1911) on Mar. 13 in Melbourne, Fla. Am. actress Maureen O'Sullivan (b. 1911) on June 23. Am. actor-singer "King of the Cowboys" Roy Rogers (b. 1911) on July 6 in Apple Valley, Calif.; starred in 90+ movies and 100+ TV shows. Am. comedy writer Arnold M. Auerbach (b. 1912) on Oct. 19 in New York City. U.S. Second Lady (1965-9) Muriel Humphrey (b. 1912) on Sept. 20 in Minneapolis, Minn. Am. auto exec Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen (b. 1912) on July 6 in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Am. electric carving knife and peristaltic pump inventor Jerome Murray (b. 1912) on Jan. 7. British politician John Enoch Powell (b. 1912) on Feb. 8 in London. Am. Nixon-backing Fla. millionaire Bebe Rebozo (b. 1912) on May 8. Am. "Sea Hunt" actor Lloyd Bridges (b. 1913) on Mar. 10 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. "Joe Average" film actor Dane Clark (b. 1913) on Sept. 11. Am. Grandpa Jones (b. 1913) on Feb. 19 in Nashville, Tenn. (stroke). French actor-dir. Jean Marais (b. 1913) on Nov. 8 in Cannes (cardiovascular disease). Am. light-heavyweight boxer Archie Moore (b. 1913) on Dec. 9; held the title for a record 9 years, and scored a record 141 KOs. Am. playwright Jerome Weidman (b. 1913) on Oct. 6 in New York City. Czech contact lens inventor Otto Wichterle (b. 1913) on Aug. 18. Am. baseball announcer Harry Caray (b. 1914) on Feb. 18 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. (cardiac arrest after hitting his head on a table at a restaurant on Feb. 14). Am. architect Joseph Esherick (b. 1914) on Dec. 17. English biophysicist Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (b. 1914) on Dec. 20 in Cambridge; 1963 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. virologist Robert Joseph Huebner (b. 1914) on Aug. 26 in Coatsville, Penn. (pneumonia and Alzheimer's). Canadian West writer William Ormond Mitchell (b. 1914) on Feb. 25. Mexican writer Octavio Paz (b. 1914) on Apr. 19 in Mexico City (cancer); 1990 Nobel Lit. Prize. Am. hockey double-hall-of-fame goalie Frank Brimsek (b. 1915) on Nov. 11. Am. actress Alice Faye (b. 1915) on May 9. Am. CBS News pres. Fred Friendly (b. 1915) on Mar. 3; inventor of the TV documentary along with Edward R. Murrow ("See It Now", "Harvest of Shame"). Am. mathematician Richard Hamming (b. 1915) on Jan. 7 in Monterey, Calif. (heart attack). Am. "Batman" cartoonist Bob Kane (b. 1915) on Nov. 3 in Los Angeles, Calif. - jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg? Am. writer-critic Alfred Kazin (b. 1915) on June 5 in Manhattan, N.Y.; dies on his birthday. Am. "New York, New York" singer-actor-entertainer "The Voice" "Old Blue Eyes" Frank Sinatra (b. 1915) on May 14 in Los Angeles, Calif.; faces the Final Curtain after recording over 2K songs; buried with a bottle of whiskey, cigarettes, a lighter, and 10 dimes: "Being an 18-carat manic depressive, and having lived a life of violent emotional contradictions, I have an over-acute capacity for sadness as well as elation." Am. poet Margaret Walker Alexander (b. 1915) on Nov. 30 in Chicago, Ill. (breast cancer). Am. record producer Owen Bradley (b. 1915) on Jan. 7 in Nashville, Tenn. Am. actress Alice Faye (b. 1915) on May 9 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. (stomach cancer). Am. Polka King accordionist-bandleader Frank Yankovic (b. 1915) on Oct. 14. Am. "Hey-hey" sports announcer Jack Brickhouse (b. 1916) on Aug. 6. Canadian chief justice #15 (1984-90) Brian Dickson (b. 1916) on Oct. 17 in Ottawa, Ont. U.S. Sen. (D-Colo.) Floyd Haskell (b. 1916) on Aug. 25 in Washington, D.C. Am. football QB Sid Luckman (b. 1916) on July 6 in Miami Beach, Fla.; pioneered the T-formation under Chicago Bears coach George Halas in the 1940s. Am. poet Hilda Morley (b. 1916) on Mar. 23 in London, England. Am. country musician Eldon Shamblin (b. 1916) on Aug. 5 in Tulsa, Okla. Am. animal rights activist Cleveland Amory (b. 1917) on Oct. 14. Am. Los Angeles mayor (1973-93) Tom Bradley (b. 1917) on Sept. 29 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. biologist Charles Gald Sibley (b. 1917) on Apr. 12. Am. "Howdy Doody" creator and host (1947-60) Buffalo Bob Smith (Robert Schmidt) (b. 1917) on July 30 in Hendersonville, N.C. British "Andy Capp" cartoonist Reg Smythe (b. 1917) on June 13. Am. country musician Cliffie Stone (b. 1917) on Jan. 17 in Saugus, Calif. (heart attack). English Sir Derek Harold Richard Burton (b. 1918) on Mar. 16 in College Station, Tex.; 1969 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. "Advise and Consent" novelist Allen Drury (b. 1918) on Sept. 2 in San Francisco, Calif. Japanese chemist Kenichi Kukui (b. 1918) on Jan. 9 in Kyoto; 1981 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. racquetball inventor Joseph Sobek (b. 1918) on Mar. 27. Am. physicist Frederick Reines (b. 1918) on Aug. 26; codiscoverer of the neutrino in 1951. Am. "The Cage", "Fiddler on the Roof", "The King and I", "West Side Story" choreographer Jerome Robbins (b. 1918) on July 29 in New York City (stroke); the lights of Broadway are dimmed in his memory. Am. baseball announcer Harry Caray (b. 1919) on Feb. 18. English "Scaramouche" playwright Ronald Millar (b. 1919) on Apr. 16 in London. Am. Sports Illustrated co-founder Jim Murray (b. 1919) on Aug. 16. Am. Dem./Ind. politician (4-term Ala. gov., 1963-7, 1971-9, 1983-7) George C. Wallace Jr. (b. 1919) on Sept. 13 in Montgomery, Ala. English "A Taste of Honey", "Torn Curtain" composer John Addison (b. 1920) on Dec. 7 in Bennington, Vt. Am. feminist atty.-politician Bella Abzug (b. 1920) on Mar. 31 in New York City (heart surgery); "The woman we want to be after the revolution" (Gloria Steinem). Am. meteorologist Tetsuya Fujita (b. 1920) on Nov. 19; inventor of the tornado severity scale. Am. basketball hall-of-fame coach William "Red" Holzman (b. 1920) on Nov. 13 in New Hyde Park, N.Y. (leukemia); 696 wins, 604 losses. Am. historian Arthur S. Link (b. 1920) on Mar. 26 in Advance, N.C. (lung cancer): "I've read a lot of history in my life, and I think that aside from St. Paul, Jesus and the great religious prophets, Woodrow Wilson was the most admirable character I've ever encountered in history"; "Most of the Hitler and Stalin scholars I know are depressed people." Am. "Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O" actor Jack Lord (b. 1920) on Jan. 21 in Honolulu (heart failure); leaves $40M to local charities. Am. "Florida Evans in Maude and Good Times" actress Esther Rolle (b. 1920) on Nov. 17 in Culver City, Calif. Am. "The Lawrence Tapes" novelist Lawrence Sanders (b. 1920) on Feb. 7. French sculptor Cesar Baldaccini (b. 1921) on June 12 in Paris. Am. "People", "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" songwriter Bob Merrill (b. 1921) on Feb. 16 (suicide). Am. hall-of-fame baseball pitcher Hal Newhouser (b. 1921) on Nov. 10. Am. actor-dir. Leo Z. Penn (b. 1921) on Sept. 5 in Los Angeles, Calif. (lung cancer). Austrian-born Am. economist Walter Adams (b. 1922) on Sept. 8. Am. actor Gene Evans (b. 1922) on Apr. 1 in Jackson, Tenn. (heart failure). Am. "JR" novelist William Gaddis (b. 1922) on Dec. 16 (prostate cancer). U.S. rep. (D-Ariz.) Morris Udall (b. 1922) on Dec. 12. Am. "The Christmas Song" composer Robert Wells (b. 1922) on Sept. 23 in Santa Monica, Calif. Am. actor Philip Abbott (b. 1923) on Feb. 23 in Tarzana, Calif. Am. actress-singer Theresa Merritt (b. 1923) on June 12. Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani (b. 1923) on Apr. 30 in London, England (heart attack). Am. astronaut (first Am. in space) Alan B. Shepard Jr. (b. 1923) on July 21. Am. "Parmen in Star Trek: TOS" actor Liam Sullivan (b. 1923) on Apr. 19 in Los Angeles, Calif. (heart attack). Am. theologian Paul van Buren (b. 1924) on June 18 in Blue Hill, Maine (cancer). South African CAT Scan physicist Allan MacLeod Cormack (b. 1924) on May 7 in Mass. (cancer); 1979 Nobel Med. Prize. Am. "landlord Stanley Roper in Three's Company" actor Norman Fell (b. 1924) on Dec. 14 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. stock car racer Tim Flock (b. 1924) on Mar. 31; won 40 of 190 Winston Cup races entered. Am. "The Outer Limits" writer Leslie A. Stevens III (b. 1924) on Apr. 24 in Los Angeles, Calif. (blood clot). Am. "Power of Love" author-lecturer Leo Buscaglia (b. 1925) on June 12 in Glenbrook, Nev. (heart attack): "I got the copyright for love." Am. New Age movement leader Carlos Castaneda (b. 1925) on Apr. 27 in Los Angeles, Calif.; one of his three "witches" Florinda Donner (1944-) disappears the day after he dies (until ?). Am. novelist John Hawkes (b. 1925) on May 15 in Providence, R.I.: "Everything I have written comes out of nightmare, out of the nightmare of war, I think." Am. country singer Rose Maddox (b. 1925) on Apr. 15 in Ashland, Ore. (kidney failure). Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot (b. 1925) on Apr. 15 (heart attack); never prosecuted for killing 2M of his countrymen - buried with a plastic bag over his head? Am. biochemist Martin Rodbell (b. 1925) on Dec. 7 in Chapel Hill, N.C.; 1995 Nobel Medicine Prize. Soviet K-19 cmdr. Adm. Vasili Arkhipov (b. 1926) on Aug. 19 in Zheleznodorozhny (Kupavna), Moscow Oblast. Am. actor-dir. John Derek (b. 1926) on May 22 in Santa Monica, Calif. (heart disease). Soviet cosmonaut Lev Dyomin (b. 1926) on Dec. 18 in Zvyozdny Gorodok. Danish Panton Chair designer Verner Panton (b. 1926) on Sept. 5. Austrian soprano Leonie Rysanek (b. 1926) on Mar. 7 in Vienna (bone cancer). Am. country singer Helen Carter (b. 1927) on June 2. Am. "The Lion in Winter" playwright James Goldman (b. 1927) on Oct. 28 in New York City (heart attack). Am. football hall-of-fame player Doak Walker (b. 1927) on Sept. 27 in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Am. atty. Eddie Elias (b. 1928) on Nov. 15. Canadian wrestler Sky Low Low (Marcel Gauthier) (b. 1928) on Nov. 6 (heart attack). English "The Planet of the Apes" actor Roddy McDowall (b. 1928) on Oct. 3 in Los Angeles, Calif.; made 130+ films. Am. dir.-producer-writer Alan J. Pakula (b. 1928) on Nov. 19 in Melville, N.Y. (car accident on Long Island Expressway). Am. who-knows-what James Earl Ray (b. 1928) on Apr. 23 in Nashville, Tenn. (liver failure from hepatitis C contracted from a blood transfusion after being stabbed at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary); his ashes are flown to Ireland at his request because of "the way the [U.S.] government has treated him." English writer Martin Seymour-Smith (b. 1928) on July 1. Am. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" jazz singer-composer Betty Carter (b. 1929) on Sept. 26. English playwright Henry Livings (b. 1929) on Feb. 20 in Delph (near Oldham). Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Artyukhin (b. 1930) on Aug. 4 in Zvyozdny Gorodok (cancer). Am. "Honkytonk Man" novelist Clancy Carlile (b. 1930) on June 4 in Austin, Tex. (cancer). Am. Fla. gov. Lawton Chiles (b. 1930) on Dec. 12. British poet laureate Ted Hughes (b. 1930) on Oct. 28. German rotting food artist Dieter Roth (b. 1930) on June 5 in Basel, Switzerland. Am. writer Thomas Covington Dent (b. 1932) on June 6 in New Orleans, La. (heart attack). Am. country musician Charlie Feathers (b. 1932) on Aug. 29 in Memphis, Tenn. (stroke). Am. physician Mary Howell (b. 1932) on Feb. 5; first female assoc. dean of Harvard Medical School. Am. social scientist Mancur Olson (b. 1932) on Feb. 19 in College Park, Md. Spanish bullfighter Antonio Ordonez (b. 1932) on Dec. 19 (liver cancer). Am. "Blue Suede Shoes" rockabilly musician Carl Perkins (b. 1932) on Jan. 19 in Jackson, Tenn. Am. economist Julian Lincoln Simon (b. 1932) on Feb. 8 in Chevy Chase, Md. Am. "Geraldine" comedian Flip Wilson (b. 1933) on Nov. 25 in Malibu, Calif. Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq (b. 1934) on July 16 in New York City. Am. actress Claire Kelly (b. 1934) on July 1 in Palm Springs, Calif. Am. "Lamb Chop" puppeteer Shari Lewis (b. 1933) on Aug. 2 in Los Angeles, Calif. (uterine cancer and viral pneumonia). Ghana pres. (1979-81) Hilla Limann (b. 1934) on Jan. 23 in Accra. Am. blues musician Junior Wells (b. 1934) on Jan. 15 in Chicago, Ill. Am. "Sonny & Cher" singer-songwriter and Repub. politician Sonny Bono (b. 1935) on Jan. 5 in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; killed after skiing into a tree; elected mayor of Palm Springs Calif. in 1994, and U.S. Rep. (R-Calif.) in 1996; his wife Mary Bono Mack (1961-) takes over for him (until ?); in 2008 former FBI agent Ted Gunderson claims that he was assassinated. Am. "Soul on Ice" writer Eldridge Cleaver (b. 1935) on May 1 in Pomona, Calif. Am. poet Ronald Johnson (b. 1935). German pianist Horst Jankowski (b. 1936) on June 29. Am. "Child's Play" playwright Robert Marasco (b. 1936) on Dec. 6 in Manhasset, N.Y. (lung cancer). Am. football hall-of-fame player Ray Nitschke (b. 1936) on Mar. 8. English intermedia artist Dick Higgins (b. 1938) on Oct. 25 in Quebec, Canada. Canadian journalist Pierre Vallieres (b. 1938) on Dec. 23 in Montreal (heart failure). Trinidad-born Am. "black power" activist Stokely Carmichael (b. 1941) on Nov. 15 in Conakry, Guinea (prostate cancer, which he claims was given to him by U.S. agents). Am. photographer-musician and animal rights activist Linda McCartney (b. 1941) on Apr. 17 in Tucson, Ariz. (breast cancer); first wife (1969-98) of Paul McCartney. Am. rockabilly singer Joe Poovey (b. 1941) on Oct. 6 in Dallas, Tex. Am. "I Love a Rainy Night" country singer-songwriter Eddie Rabbitt (b. 1941) on May 7 in Nashville, Tenn. (lung cancer). Am. "Cookie Monster" and "Oscar the Grouch" creator (co-creator of "Sesame Street") Jeffrey Moss (b. 1942) on Sept. 24. Am. "Stand By Your Man" country singer Tammy Wynette (b. 1942) on Apr. 6 in Nashville, Tenn. (pulmonary blood clot) - stood too long by her man? Am. actor Michael Zaslow (b. 1942) on Dec. 6 in New York City; 2nd person to die in "Star Trek", and first to get the "He's dead, Jim" treatment by Dr. McCoy. Nigerian pres. #10 (1993-8) Sani Abacha (b. 1943) on June 8 in Abuja (heart attack) (poisoned by Indian hos?). Am. "A Few Good Men" actor J.T. Walsh (b. 1944) on Feb. 27 in San Diego, Calif. (heart attack) - a nickel-plated .45 in the head like in the movie? Am. singer and musician Carl Wilson (b. 1946) on Feb. 6 in Los Angeles, Calif. (cancer); lead guitar and lead vocalist for "Good Vibrations" and "God Only Knows". English rock drummer Cozy Powell (b. 1947) on Apr. 5 in Bristol (car crash). Canadian-born Am. comedian Phil Hartman (b. 1948) on May 28 in Encino, Calif. (suicide). Am. CNN journalist John Holliman (b. 1948) on Sept. 12 in Atlanta, Ga. (auto crash). Am. Sha Na Na musician Dave "Chico" Ryan (b. 1949) on July 26 in Boston, Mass. Am. "Queen of Shock Rock" singer Wendy O. Williams (b. 1949) on Apr. 6 in Storrs, Conn. (suicide). Am. wrestler Junkyard Dog (b. 1952) on June 2 near Forest, Miss. (automobile accident after he falls asleep at the wheel). Am. serial murderer Gary Charles Evans (b. 1954) on Aug. 14 in New York City; dies during an escape attempt from a prison van. Austrian "Rock Me Amadeus" singer Falco (b. 1957) on Feb. 6 between Villa Montellano and Puero Plata, Dominican Repub. (DUI automobile accident) Am. Olympic track-and-field athlete Florence Griffith Joyner (b. 1959) on Sept. 21; won three golds at the 1988 Summer Olympics. German-Am. "Milli Vanilli" singer Rob Pilatus (b. 1965) on Apr. 2 in Frankfurt (OD). Am. "Myra in Family Matters" actress Michelle Thomas (b. 1969) on Dec. 22 in New York City (cancer). Am. journalist Sandy Hume (b. 1969) on Feb. 22 in Arlington, Va. (suicide).
1999 Doomsday Clock: 9 min. to midnight. Chinese Year: Rabbit (Feb. 16) (lunar year 4697). Time Mag. Man of the Year: Jeffrey P. Bezos (1964-) (Amazon.com CEO). The El Nino (Niño) condition in the Pacific of the past two years is replaced this year by a La Nina (Niña) condition (cooler water than normal), continuing the worldwide weather disruptions and stoking Millennium Fever. This year is the last time that U.S. gasoline prices drop below $1 a gal. (until ?). This year U.S. paper consumption peaks, reaching the 1990 level by 2009. U.S. household income peaks this year (until ?). Baby you can drive my car, baby you can be star? Kiddie rage shootings at U.S. schools peak just before the big triple oh, as an inevitable result of teaching godless evolution and barring God from school curricula combined with religion's revenge, Millennium Fever? The U.S. secy. of state hosts a Muslim Iftar dinner to mark the end of Ramadan, becoming an annual tradition (until 2017). Jacob becomes the #1 male newborn name in the U.S. (until 2003). On Jan. 1 Wisconsin defeats UCLA by 38-31 to win the 1999 Rose Bowl. On Jan. 1 the Eurodollar (Euro) is launched in 11 EU countries incl. Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. On Jan. 4 the U.S. agrees to ease restrictions on Cuba - they have cigar-chomping fathers too? On Jan. 4 Bronx, N.Y.-born lt. gov. #44 (since Jan. 2, 1995) Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. (1942-) becomes Dem. Calif. gov. #37 (until Nov. 17, 2003), becoming the first Dem. Calif. gov. in 16 years, going on to achieve a 62% approval rating in Feb. 2000 before tanking over the Calif. (Western U.S.) Electricity (Energy) Crisis of 2000-1 and the Dot-Com Bubble of 1997-2001. On Jan. 4 the animated series Ed, Edd n Eddy debuts on Cartoon Network for 69 episodes (until Nov. 8, 2009), about three suburban preteenies who live in a cul-de-sac in Peach Creek, and try various schemes to purchase jawbreakers, becoming a hit with a peak audience of 31M households in 120 countries, becoming the network's longest-running original series. On Jan. 6 Ill. Rep. (1987-2007) John Dennis "Denny" Hastert (1942-) is elected to replace Newt Gingrich as speaker #59 of the U.S. House of Reps. (until Jan. 3, 2007), going on to surpass Joseph Gurney Cannon as the longest-serving Repub. speaker in history. On Jan. 6 the NBA labor dispute ends after 191 days. On Jan. 7 after House Judiciary Committee member (1995-2003) (R-S.C.) Lindsey Olin Graham (1955-) brings the House's case to it, the U.S. Senate begins the Clinton Impeachment Trial (2nd U.S. pres. to be tried before the Senate, after Andrew Johnson), presided over by chief justice William Rehnquist; on Feb. 12 after a motion sponsored by Olympia Jean Snowe (1947-) (R-Maine) and Susan Margaret Collins (1952-) (R-Maine) to allow the Senate to vote separately on the charges and the remedy (on the grounds that picayune perjury charges aren't grounds for removal from office), he is acquitted even though his perjury charge is 55-45 for (10 Repubs. against, 0 Dems. for); the obstruction charge is a 50-50 vote (5 Repubs. against, 0 Dems. for) - he cums close but no cigar? On Jan. 10 The Sopranos debuts on HBO for 86 episodes (until June 10, 2007), about the life of N.J. Italian-Am. mobster Tony Soprano, played by James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. (1961-2013), his pshrink Dr. Jennifer Melfi, played by Lorraine Braco (1954-), his wife Carmela, played by Edith "Edie" Falco (1963-), and his protege Christopher Moltisanti, played by James Michael Imperioli (1966-). On Jan. 11 Mustafa Bulent Ecevit (1925-2006) of the Repub. People's Party (CHP) (whose mother Fatma Nazli was one of the first women to become a prof. painter in Turkey) becomes PM of Turkey (until Nov. 18, 2002). On Jan. 12 after winning by 8.3K votes (1% of votes cast), Fort Worth, Tex.-born Repub. Colo. state treasurer (since 1994) William Forrester "Bill" Owens (1950-) becomes Colo. gov. #40 (until Jan. 9, 2007) (first Repub. Colo. gov. in 24 years), promising to cut taxes, repair the state's aging infrastructure, and continue school accountability reforms; in 2002 he is reelected by the largest majority in Colo. history (until ?). On Jan. 13 First Lady Hillary Clinton is the keynote speaker at the first CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy) dinner in Chicago, Ill., with chmn. Susan Axelrod (co-founder with hubby David Axelrod) uttering the soundbyte: "Hillary Clinton is in many ways one of the founding mothers of CURE." On Jan. 24 the Internat. Olympic Committee (IOC) expels six members over the bribery scandal. On Jan. 25 an earthquake in Colombia becomes the worst since 1875. On Jan. 25 the animated TV series Dilbert debuts on UPN for 30 episodes (until July 25, 2000), based on the Scott Adams comic strip, starring the voices of Daniel Stern as Dilbert, Chris Elliott as Dogbert, Gordon Hunt as Wally, and Larry Miller as Pointy-Haired Boss. On Jan. 31 the U.S. Navy discontinues use of Morse Code for official communications - squeeze those buns, you are so worth it girl? The coming Armageddon is delayed by blond big boy god John Yahweh? On Jan. 31 Super Bowl XXXIII (33) is played in Miami, Fla., featuring Cher singing the U.S. nat. anthem; the Denver Broncos (AFC) defeat the Atlanta Falcons (NFC) 34-19 (2nd straight win); Broncos defensive tackle (#97) Michael Timothy "Mike" Lodish (1967-) becomes the first player to play in six SBs (Buffalo 1991-4, Denver 1998); MVP QB John Elway gets both a passing and running TD, incl. an 80-yard TD pass to Rod Smith which beats Atlanta safety Eugene Robinson, who received the Bart Starr Award for "high moral character" only to be arrested for soliciting an undercover ho the night before the game; happy big Leave it to Beaver boy Elway retires after the game; the Falcons had been the laughing stock of the NFL since their inception in 1966; the Atlanta coach is Elway's former Broncos coach Daniel Edward "Dan" Reeves (1944-), whom Elway got fired after two Super Bowl blowout losses - keep it up, Danny boy? On Jan. 31 the animated sitcom series Family Guy debuts on Fox Network for ? episodes (until Nov. 9, 2003, then May 1, 2005-), created by Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (1973-), about the dysfunctional Griffins family of Quahog, Providence, R.I., consisting of parents Peter and Lois, children Chris, Meg, and Stewie, and talking dog Brian; Peter Griffin is based on a security guard at Rhode Island School of Design, who "could read a phone book and make me laugh" (MacFarlane). In Jan. Pope John Paul II visits the U.S. In Jan. Kazakhstan pres. Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev is sworn-in for another seven years after an election in which an opposition leader was disqualified on a technicality. In Jan. Starbucks opens its first outlet in tea-loving mainland China at the China World Trade Bldg. in Beijing; by May 2016 it has 2.1K stores in 102 cities. On Feb. 1 Moldovan PM Ion Ciubuc resigns, and on Feb. 12 is replaced by Ion Sturza (1960-), who lasts until Nov. 12; on Mar. 22 pres. Petru Lucinschi proposes a constitutional amendment to increase his powers. On Feb. 7 Jordanian king (since 1952) Hussein I (b. 1935) dies of cancer, and is succeeded by his eldest son Abdullah II bin al-Hussein (1962-), along with his Palestinian-born (in Kuwait) wife (since June 10, 1993) Rania al Yassin (1970-), who becomes Jordanian queen consort Rania Al Abdullah (until ?). On Feb. 9 the 1,830-mi. natural gas Bolivia-Brazil Pipeline between Rio Grande, Bolivia and Sao Paulo, Brazil opens. On Feb. 10 after decided to prevent him from contacting foreigners, the Taliban sends a group of 10 gunmen to replace the bodyguards of Osama bin Laden, causing a gunfight; on Feb. 13 they take control of his compound near Kandahar, Afghanistan and take away his satellite phone. On Feb. 16 Hollyweird "Moses" actor Charlton Heston (John Charles Carter) (1923-2008) gives the speech Winning the Culture War, complaining about the leftist attack on "the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle-class Protestant – or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern – or even worse, rural, apparently straight – or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun owning – or even worse, NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff – or even worse, male working stiff – because, not only don't you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant; and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new America", concluding: "Political correctness is tyranny with manners." On Feb. 19 the U.S. Postal Service commemorates the 1945 Slinky craze with a 33-cent Slinky postage stamp. On Feb. 20 Russia launches Soyuz TM-29, carrying cosmonauts Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev(1948-), Jean-Pierre Haignere (Haigneré) (1948-), and Ivan Bella (1964-) of Slovakia, who becomes the first Slovak in space; Soyuz TM-29 returns on Aug. 28 with Viktor Afanasyev, Jean-Pierre Haignere, and Sergei Avdeyev. On Feb. 24 a China Southwest Airlines Tupolev-154 en route from Chengdu to Wenzhou explodes and crashes near Ruian, China 12 mi. from its destination, killing all 50 passengers and 11 crew. On Feb. 24 Bill Clinton has his first sex scandal with nursing home admin. Juanita Broaddrick on Dateline NBC, when she accuses him of raping her in spring 1978 after she volunteered for his Ark. gov. campaign and ended up in his campaign office in Little Rock followed by her room at the Camelot Hotel, where he went for it by grabbing her, biting her lip, and ripping off her pantyhose (once driven there's no going back?); too bad, she files then recants an affadavit, ruining her credibility, and the snake slithers away; in Sept. 2016 nursing home worker Norma Rogers gives an interview, saying that she found Broaddrick in her hotel room crying, with her mouth swollen and cut, and her pantyhose ripped. On Feb. 25 a Guatemalan commission attributes 93% of the nation's civil rights abuses to the army and only 3% to the rebels; on Mar. 10 Pres. Clinton visits Guatemala, and apologizes for past U.S. aid to right wing military govts. On Feb. 28 gen. Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo (1937-) (former political prisoner who is a Christian of Yoruba descent) is elected pres. #12 of Nigeria, and is sworn-in on May 29 (until May 29, 2007); on May 5 the 1999 Nigerian Constitution is adopted, providing for multiparty elections, featuring the return of former Christian Biafran pres. #1 (1967-70) Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (AGPA); jubilation over the end of military rule is soon replaced by Christian-Muslim fighting; in Odi 300+ are killed by the military after the murder of a dozen policemen. In Feb. Uzbekistan declines to renew its collective security treaty with the CIS as miltant Islamic rebels continue fighting to overthrow the secular Russian-backed govt. In Feb. Angola accuses Zambia of helping UNITA rebels; on Feb. 28 bombings in Lusaka, Zambia are suspected of being a retaliation. On Mar. 2 the U.S. Supreme (Rehnquist) Court rules 7-2 in Holloway v. U.S. that the federal carjacking law only requires "conditional intent" to harm the driver if he resists. On Mar. 3 the U.S. (Rehnquist) Court rules 7-2 in Cedar Rapids Community School District v. Garret F. that the 1990 U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires public schools to fund "continuous, one-on-one nursing care for disabled children" regardless of cost, establishing the Bright-Line Rule, by which "the services of a physician (other than for diagnostic and evaluation pruposes) are subject to the medical services exclusion, but services that can be provided in the school setting by a nurse of qualified layperson are not"; dissenting Justices Clarence Thomas and Anthony M. Kennedy claim that the ruling "blindsides unwary states". On Mar. 4 the U.S. Marine pilot in the 1998 Italian ski gondola accident is acquitted of killing all 20 of them, pissing-off the Italians. On Mar. 5 the U.S. accuses China of stealing nuclear secrets. On Mar. 5 Serbian pres. (since 1998) Nicola Poplasen is deposed, while a Western arbitrator gives control of the stragic town of Bracko to the Muslim-Croat Federation, causing Serbia to withdraw from its union with Bosnia-Herzegovina and tensions to heighten; NATO postpones plans to reduce occupation forces in the year 2000. On Mar. 4 Mexican pres. Ernesto Zedillo breaks with tradition and announces that he won't continue with dedazo, the selection of his own successor for the next election. On Mar. 6 Bahrain's Sunni emir (since 1960) Sheik Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa (b. 1933) dies of a heart attack in Manama after a 38-year reign in which he started out as king for the first 10 years, and the latter years were marred by vicious suppression of the increasingly uppity Shiite minority with a mercenary force commanded by a former British police officer; his Cambridge and Sandhurst-educated son Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa (1950-) succeeds as emir of Bahrain (until ?) (upgraded to king in 2002), promising to turn it into a "people's kingdom", magnanimously suspending the law that has allowed prisoners to be held without charge for up to 3 years, emptying the jails of political dissidents, and promising to hold free elections in 2002 with women given the vote; some Shiite leaders continue to be held under house arrest until 2001. On Mar. 8 "Mister Coffee" Joe DiMaggio (b. 1914) dies at age 84. On Mar. 8 U.N. Gen. Assembly Resolution 53/144 is adopted, promulgating the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. On Mar. 12 Poland, Hungary and the Czech Repub. join NATO, bringing its membership to 19. On Mar. 14 secret U.N. talks in Turkmenistan end in an accord that "in principle" Afghanistan will soon be ruled by a coalition govt.; this doesn't stop the Taliban, which continues through the year, beginning a major offensive on July 28 to attempt to gain control of the remaining 10% of the well-bearded country. On Mar. 18 the Grand Hyatt Shanghai Hotel in Pudong, China is opened on floors 53-87 of the 88-story Jin Mao Tower, China's tallest bldg. (1377.9 ft. or 420 m.), offering spectacular views of the Bund financial center and the Huang Pu River - I am man hear me roar and I'm headed out the door for a Texas Double Whopper that's good? On Mar. 19 the Dow Jones Average tops 10K for the first time, followed by 11K on July 16. On Mar. 20 the first nonstop round-the-world balloon flight (begun Mar. 1) is completed by Bertrand Piccard (1958-) of Switzerland and Brian Jones (1948-) of Britain. On Mar. 21 the 71st Academy Awards in Los Angeles are hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, who opens in full Elizabethan regalia and wears a total of nine different outfits; Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi Dench both receive Oscar nominations for playing Queen Elizabeth I in different films, with Dench's perf. totalling 8 min.; the best picture Oscar for 1998 goes to Miramax's Shakespeare in Love, along with best actress to Gwyneth Paltrow and best actress to Judi Dench; best actor goes to Italian star Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful, best supporting actor to James Coburn for Affliction, and best dir. to Steven Spielberg for Saving Private Ryan; 1950s "snitch" dir. Elia Kazan receives an honorary award, which many audience members protest. On Mar. 21 the Zapatistas (EZLN) hold a nationwide referendum on the rights of Mexican Indians, receiving 800K+ ballots. On Mar. 22 Belen, N.M.-born David Parker Ray (1939-2002) AKA the Toy-Box Killer is apprehended, and accused of the murder of as many as 60 people in Ariz. and N.M. out of his soundproofed "toy box" truck trailer in Elephant Butte, N.M. 7 mi. N of Truth or Consequences; in 2001 he is convicted of kidnapping and torture, but not murder, and dies of a heart attack on May 28, 2002 prison in Hobbs, N.M. On Mar. 24 former Italian PM Romano Prodi becomes pres. of the European Commission. On Mar. 24 Operation Allied Force sees NATO launch 78-days of air strikes on Yugoslavia (Serbia) (ends June 3) to protect mainly Muslim ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, causing the Serbs to go nuts and retaliate against their historic enemies even worse, and 850K to flee from Kosovo into Albania (610K) and Macedonia (240K); NATO launches a total of 2.3K missiles at 990 targets, and drops 14K bombs incl. cluster bombs and depleted uranium bombs, killing 2K civilians incl. 88 children, and injuring thousands, damaging or destroying 40K homes, 300 schools and libraries, 20+ hospitals, and 90 historic-architectural monuments; this event allegedly sets future terrorist Anders Behring Breivik (1979-) on his path; the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) under Hashim "the Snake" Thaci (1968-) kidnaps young Serbs then ships them to the Yellow House in the mountains of Albania, where Turkish doctor Yusuf Sonmez extracts their organs for sale in Europe? On Mar. 24 the U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education that schools have a duty under Title IX to protect students against harassment by other students, but only when it is "so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive, and that so undermines and detracts from the victims; educational experience, that the victim-students are effectively denied equal access to an institution's resources and opportunities." On Mar. 26 agricultural chemist Jacques-Edouard (Jacques-Édouard) Alexis (1947-) becomes PM of Haiti (until Mar. 2, 2001). On Mar. 26 after 130 assisted suicides (voluntary euthanasia) and four acquittals since Janet Adkins in 1990, "Dr. Death" pathologist Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian (1928-2011) is charged with 2nd-degree murder in Mich. for assisting the suicide of Lou Gehrig's disease patient Thomas Youk, representing himself and getting convicted, receiving a 10-25 year prison sentence, threatening to starve himself to death if they don't relieve, er, release him, which they don't buy; he is not released on parole until June 1, 2007 after first vowing to give it up. On Mar. 29 an Open Letter to DDT Treaty Negotiators urging renewed use of DDT inside houses, claiming no ill effects on human health and no proof of eggshell thinning in raptor birds or other environmental concerns is signed by 380 scientists, causing South Africa next year to resume house spraying with DDT following a resurgence of malaria, after it has killed more than 100K in Madagascar and Swaziland since spraying was suspended in the mid-1980s. On Mar. 31 former pres. Kenneth Kaunda is stripped of his Zambian citizenship by the country's highest court because his parents were Malawian missionaries, and barred from running in elections. In Mar. a coup in Paraguay ousts Pres. Raul Cubas in favor of former basketball hopeful Luis Angel Gonzalez Macchi (1947-), who becomes pres. of Paraguay (until 2003); there have been 45 free throw coups or coup attempts in Paraguay during the past 100 years. In Mar. Khmer Rouge leader Ta ("Grandfather") Mok (Chhit Choeun) (1927-2007), AKA "The Butcher" and "Brother Number Five" is captured along the Cambodian-Thai border; he had once kidnapped Pol Pot; he dies in captivity. In Mar. neocon Thomas Friedman pub. an article in the New York Times with the following soundbyte: "For globalism to work, America can't be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is... The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist - McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps." On Apr. 1 the Canadian Northwest Territories are officially divided to create a new territory in the E to be governed by the Inuits (85% of the pop.). On Apr. 5 Libya hands over two suspects in the 1998 Pan Am jet bombing. On Apr. 11 Hungary is called upon by NATO to block attempts by its former ally Russia to ship fuel and food to Yugoslavian Serbs during the Kosovo crisis. On Apr. 12 a passenger train on a bridge near Nis, Serbia is bombed by NATO, killing 14 and injuring 44. On Apr. 13 after advice by White House chief of staff #20 (Oct. 1998-2001) John David Podesta (1949-), Pres. Clinton launches a U.S. war on Yugoslavia via Executive Order 13119 order, designating it and Albania as a war zone, followed on Apr. 20 with EO 13120, ordering reserve units to duty, after which on Apr. 28 the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly rejects a concurrent resolution authorizing the continuation of the air war; on May 26 and June 2 Clinton notifies Congress that he has sent more troops and aircraft, and on June 5 notifies them of sending more troops; on Nov. 1 U.S. News and World Report calls it "Project Podesta", causing Congressional hearings to be convened to investigate abuse of executive power. On Apr. 14 The Naked Chef debuts on BBC-TV for 25 episodes (until Dec. 19, 2001), starring Clavering, Essex, England-born chef James Trevor "Jamie" Oliver (1975-), known for his Mockney dialect and relaxed style, turning men onto cooking, getting an invite to prepare lunch for PM Tony Blair; he becomes known for driving his scooter around London gathering food to cook; in 2002 Oliver's Twist debuts on Food Network (until ?), making him an internat. star. Happy 120th Birthday, Herr Hitler? On Apr. 20 (Tues.) starting at 11:21 a.m. the Columbine High School Massacre in Littleton, Colo. (less than 10 mi. from TLW's home) sees America's worst school rage shooting (until ?), with 13 killed (12 students and a teacher) and 23 injured by two disaffected white supremacist (closet gay?) students, 18-y.-o. Eric David Harris (b. 1981) and Dylan Bennet Klebold (b. 1982), who finish by killing themselves, leaving insane Web pages; later students are permitted to place memorial tiles in the school, and one reading "Jesus Wept" is banned for being religious?; families of victims sue to have historic statements by the killers and their parents sealed or destroyed, while the U.S. Nat. Archives and Records Admin. offers to store them, and in Apr. 2007 U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock orders them sealed for 20 years - why weren't the Columbine shooters black, and when will they be? On Apr. 21 the Second Liberian Civil War breaks out in N Liberia against the govt. of Charles Taylor, led by Liberians United for Reonciliation and Dem. (LURD), backed by neighboring Guinea (ends Aug. 18, 2003). On Apr. 22 Genova, Colombia-born "the Beast", "Tribilin" (Goof) Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos (1957-) is arrested for attempted rape of a boy, after which he confesses to anally raping, murdering, and decapitating 146 boys, and is convicted of 138 murders, after which the lenient criminal justice system reduces his sentence from 1,853 years to 22; he is suspected of 300+ murders. On Apr. 27 Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1937-) becomes pres. #5 of Algeria (until ?), proposing a Law of Civil Concord guaranteeing amnesty to all Islamic fundamentalists, ending the bloody 7-year civil war - well flick my booty, applause, applause, applause? On Apr. 28 at 10:30 a.m. GMT the first phone call between people at the North and Soul Poles takes place, lasting 45. min; all participants are Americans; on Apr. 27 the same team carries out the first Internet link and webcase from the North Pole. On Apr. 30 the neo-Nazi White Wolves bomb a pub in Soho, London; they issue letters warning all non-whites to leave Britain by Dec. 31. In Apr. federal district judge Susan Webber Wright (1948-) cites Pres. Clinton for civil contempt of court for "wilful failure" to obey repeated orders to testify truthfully in the Paula Jones suit, and gives him a $90K fine; from now on Al Gore is paralyzed, being unable to point to Clinton's good record on the economy and world affairs because of fear of being smeared as a moral reprobate, causing the pres. election to be all about who (George W. Bush) is more moral appearing and little else? On May 2-8 the 1999 Okla. Tornado Outbreak sees 154 tornadoes touch down in Okla., Kan., Neb, Tex., Ark., and Canada, incl. 72 in Okla., culiminating with an F5 SE of Chickasha, Okla. that tears through Oklahoma City and its suburbs incl. unlucky Moore, Okla.; on May 3 (6:23 p.m. CDT) the EF5 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore Tornado touches down in Grady County 2 mi. SSW of Amber, Okla., with wind speeds up to 301 mph, devastating portions of S Okla. City in its 38-mi. 85-min. rampage that kills 36 and injures 583, destroying 8K homes and causing $1B damage; too bad, on May 20, 2013 the EF5 2013 Moore Tornado travels adjacent to the 1999 tornado's track, killing 24 and injuring 212. On May 4 the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Peace Accords expire without the declaration of a Palestinian state. On May 6 elections for a new Scottish parliament and a new nat. assembly for Wales are held, and powers are formally transferred from the U.K. on July 1. On May 7 NATO (U.S.) forces bomb the Chinese Embassy in Serbia during air attacks designed to relieve the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo, killing three Chinese, later calling it a mistake; prior to this a London newspaper had quoted three NATO officers accusing the Chinese of using the embassy to provide intel to the Serbs; the Chinese govt. stages angry protests, with "Down with American Imperialism" signs outside U.S. fast-food franchises in China, and goes on to develop the Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) AKA the Aircraft Carrier Killer. On May 8 the Citadel military academy in the U.S. graduates its first woman, Nancy Mace (1978-), who graduates magna cum, er, laude; in the 2014 GOP primary she challenges 2-term Repub. Sen. Lindsey Graham. On May 9 (Mother's Day) a landslide at Sacred Falls State Park in Hau'lula on the N shore of Oahu, Hawaii kills eight hikers and injures dozens. The vodka-soaked Yeltsin admin. staggers like a drunk? On May 12 Boris N. Yeltsin sacks his cabinet; impeachment hearings begin in the Russian Duma on May 13, but on May 15 the impeachment vote fails; on May 19 the Duma approves Sergei Stepashin (1952-) as PM, but he is dismissed by Yeltsin on Aug. 9, and even though Yeltsin abolished the KGB, he turns around and names KGB veteran Vladimir Putin (1952-) as PM, succeeding Stepashin on Aug. 16. On May 14 Pope John Paul II shocks conservative Catholics when he kisses the Quran in the Vatican for visitors from Iraq, causing Mel Gibson's Sedavacantist genius daddy Hutton Gibson to begin calling him "Garrulous Karolus the Koran Kisser". On May 16 the U.S. govt. announces that the crime rate has fallen for the 7th consecutive year. On May 17 Labor Party leader (former military officer) Ehud Barak (1942-) defeats Benjamin Netanyahu, and on July 6 becomes PM of Israel (until Mar. 7, 2001). On May 19 after defeating longtime leader Sitiveni Rabuka, Mahendra Choudhry (1942-), leader of the Fiji Labor Party is sworn-in as the first Indo-Fijian PM (until 2000). On May 18 treasury secy. (PM in 1993-4) Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1920-) succeeds Oscar Luigi Scalfaro as pres. of Italy (until May 15, 2006). On May 19 Sir Andrew Motion (1952-) becomes poet laureate of England (until May 1, 2009). On May 20 a student opens fire in a high school in Conyers, Ga., injuring six schoolmates. On May 20-25 the U.S. inspects a suspected nuclear weapons site in North Korea, finding nothing. On May 25 the Lionel Jospin govt. in France narrowly survives a censure motion for its policy on separatist violence in Corsica. In May the U.K. govt. decides to sell 415 tons of it gold reserves, flooding the world market and causing the price to fall to $252 an oz. by Aug., lowest in 20 years, ruining Ashanti Gold Co. in Ghana, 3rd largest gold mining co. in the world and the first black-owned co. on the London Stock Exchange; too bad, they hire Goldman Sachs, who recommends that they purchase huge hedge contracts on gold prices, after which on Sept. 15 Euro banks make a surprise announcement that they will stop selling gold on world markets for five years, causing gold prices to rebound to $362 an oz. by Oct. 6, ruining them with $570M in losses; it later turns out that Goldman Sachs played both ends against the middle. On June 9 after 78 days of NATO air attacks, Yugoslavia (Serbia) signs an agreement to pull its troops out of Kosovo; on June 10 NATO declares the war to be over; too bad, Russia insists on participating in the peace deal independently of NATO jurisdiction; on June 11 Pres. Clinton initiates Operation Noble Anvil, bombing Serbia sans U.N. authorization, his defense secy. later claiming on nat. TV that Serbia has murdered 100K Albanians, when it was really closer to 4K-5K?; on June 12 Pres. Clinton informs Congress that he is deploying 7K more U.S. troops to permanently occupy Yugoslavia; meanwhile on June 11 the KFOR internat. peacekeeping force of 50K troops enters Kosovo, and by Sept. 1 most refugees return; earlier in June future singing star (Life Guards Capt.) James Blunt (1974-) is ordered by U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark to attack 200 Russian troops holding Pristina Airfield in Kosovo with his 30K NATO troops, until British cmdr. Mike Jackson radios "I'm not going to have my soldiers be responsible for starting World War III", and orders them to encircle the airfield instead. On June 13 Swiss voters okay a nat. referendum restricting foreign refugees from seeking asylum; on Oct. 24 elections for the nat. council give the xenophile Swiss People's Party the largest vote and 2nd highest number of seats, threatening Switzerland's 4-party ruling coalition. On June 14 Nelson Mandela retires as pres. of South Africa, and is succeeded by Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (1942-), who becomes pres. #2 of South Africa (until Sept. 24, 2008), the first democratically elected pres. of South Africa. On June 15 Pope John Paul II misses celebrating mass in Crakow, Poland for 1M pilgrims because of flu and slight fever. On June 18 Israeli PM Ehud Barak announces a plan to link the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with an enormous bridge carrying a 4-lane elevated road to provide Palestinians with safe passage; on Oct. 5 Israel and the Palestinians agree to a "safe-passage" route - it's just a matter of time before the bridge becomes a small guarded hole in a wall? On June 19 England's Prince Edward Windsor, Earl of Wessex (1964-) marries Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones (1965-), who wears an ivory silk full-length long-sleeve dress by Samantha Shaw; Edward bans guests from wearing hats; Andrew Motion's first job as poet laureate of England is to compose a wedding ditty? On June 21 France sends 7K troops to Kosovo as part of the NATO Kosovo Security Force (KFOR); on June 24 Italy sends 2K troops. On June 22 the Calif. state assembly passes Assembly Joint Resolution 27, sponsored by Chinese-Am. Dem. Calif. Rep. (1996-2000) Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda (1941-), demanding that Japan apologize for its WWII actions and pay compensation to victims. On June 25 the U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 1248 without vote to admit Kiribati; on June 25 it votes 14-0-1 (China) for Resolution 1249 to admit Nauru; on July 28 it adopts Resolution 1253 without vote to admit Tonga. On June 29 Catholicos Karekin I dies, and on Oct. 27 Karekin II (1951-) is elected the 132nd Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of the Armenian Church (until ?). On June 29 Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan (1948-) (pr. like urge-a-lon), co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), who was captured on Feb. 15 in Kenya, triggering the seizure of Greek embassies around the world by Kurds is sentenced in Turkey to death for treason, which is commuted to life after the death penalty is abolished in Aug. 2002, and he is held on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara as an only prisoner. In June two North Korean ships are sunk and another disabled after trespassing in South Korean waters. In June the Clinton admin. sends a secret letter with a peace overture to sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said of Oman at his chateau near Paris, France asking their foreign minister Yousef bin Alawi to meet with Iranian pres. #5 (since Aug. 3, 1997) Mohammad Khatami, which he does on July 20, passing it to supreme assahola Khomeini; too bad, when they find that the U.S. suspects Iranian involvement in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, the Iranians send a rejection letter in early Sept. On July 1 part-African Francisco Guillermo Flores Perez (Pérez) (1959-) of the Nat. Repub. Alliance (ARENA) is elected pres. of El Salvador (until July 1, 2004). On July 2-5 Wilmette, Ill.-born white supremacist Benjamin Nathaniel Smith (b.1978) goes on a drive-by shooting spree in the U.S. Midwest, targeting blacks, Jews and Asians, and killing two and wounding nine before killing himself, pissing-off Pres. Clinton, who calls it "a rebuke to the very ideals that got us started", concluding "we still got work to do here at home". On July 2 Lawrence Henry "Larry" Summers (1954-) becomes U.S. treasury secy. #77 (until Jan. 20, 2001). On July 4 pop singer Victoria "Posh Spice" Adams (1974-) marries soccer star David Beckham (1975-) in Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland, and they later release photos showing them sitting on golden thrones; they later move into "Beckingham Palace", their net worth growing to $700M by 2017. On July 11 Taiwanese pres. (1988-2000) Lee Teng-hui (1923-) challenges the "One China" policy of soccer-bum China, causing it to launch the Taiwan Strait Hacker War (ends ?). On July 12 liberal-turned centrist (Bill Gates lookalike?) Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (1953-) becomes PM #47 of Pentium, er, Belgium (until Mar. 20, 2008). On July 13 after murdering up to 15 since 1991 while railroad-hopping between the U.S. and Mexico and being added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted List, Matamoros, Puebla, Mexico-born "Railroad/Railway/Railcar Killer" Angel Maturino Resendiz (Ángel Maturino Reséndiz) (Angel Leoncio Reyes Recendis) (1959-2006) (AKA Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, Angel Leoncio Reyes Recendis) is arrested on a bridge between El Paso, Tex. and Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and convicted of only one murder, Baylor College neurologist Claudia Benton, then executed by lethal injection on June 27, 2006 in Huntsville, Tex. On July 14 the U.S. Fair Tax Act is introduced to the U.S. Congress, based on the research of Bozeman, Mont.-born economist Dale Weldeau Jorgenson (1933-), replacing the income tax with a nat. sales tax and monthly tax rebate to households; it is passed in ? On July 16 (inebriated?) pilot John F. Kennedy Jr. (b. 1960), along with wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette die in a single-engine plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard en route to a family wedding; conspiracy theorists later point to the Prophecies of Nostradamus as seeming to predict it; others point to how lucky N.Y. senatorial candidate Hillary Clinton was; in 2001 Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lauren Bessette receive $15M from his estate - a conspiracy, or just another Irish on poteen? On July 20 the Chinese govt. under market reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gen. secy. (1989-2002) Jiang Zemin bans the apparently harmless Falun Gong meditation cult just for having so many members that it just might threaten their power; they go on to put millions of followers into reeducation labor camps and prisons, torturing to death at least 2K by 2009, causing the CCP to sink to a level so low it may never recover? - keep banging and they'll set you on fire? On July 23 Moroccan king (since Feb. 26, 1961) Hassan II (b. 1929) dies, and his eldest son Mohammed VI (1963-) becomes king of Morocco (until ?), distancing himself from his daddy's harsh rule, closing Tazmamart prison, permitting the pub. of memoirs by former prisoners, and allowing a commemorative march to it. On July 23-25 Woodstock '99 in Rome, N.Y. attempts to recapture the lost spirit of 30 years earlier, but the slick capitalism and rain rains on their parade? On July 28 12-y.-o. African-Am. Lionel Alexander Tate (1987-) beats and stamps 6-y.-o. playmate Tiffany Eunick to death in Broward County, Fla., and in 2001 becomes the youngest person in modern U.S. history to receive a life sentence; he claims it was an accident as he was imitating pro wrestling moves saw on TV; in 2004 an appeals court throws out his conviction, and he pleads guilty to second degree murder, receiving 10 years probation; he is sent back for 30 more years after he robs a pizza delivery man at gunpoint in May, 2005; "In plain English, Lionel Tate, you've run out of chances" (Judge Joel Lazarus). On July 29 a pissed-off day-trader kills nine and wounds 13 in two Atlanta, Ga. brokerage offices, then commits suicide. In July Chicago, Ill. experiences its 2nd heat wave of the decade (first 1995), killing 80 elderly. In July Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (1936-) founds the Jammu and Kashmir People's Dem. Party, with the goal of persuading India to resolve the Kashmir problem; it comes to power in Oct. 2002. In July a peace agreement is signed in Lome, Sierra Leone giving Foday Sankoh the vice-pres. job and a share in power along with amnesty to his RUF rebel forces if they agree to demobilize; they later renege and go back to civil war, cutting off peoples' limbs, etc.? In July the EU lifts its 3-year ban on British spongy insect-ridden pathetic (BSE) beef; on Nov. 22-Dec. 8 France puts up a show of balking at importing it. On Aug. 2 a train collision N of Calcutta, India kills 285+. On Aug. 7 the War of Dagestan begins when Islamic militants based in Chenya led by Shamil Basayev et al. invade the Russian repub. of Dagestan, declaring independence and launching a jihad against Russia, launching the Second Chechen War (ends Apr. 16, 2009). On Aug. 18 after suffering a heart attack, Guyanan pres. (since 1997) Janet Jagan (b. 1920) resigns, and her finance minister Bharrat Jagdeo (1964-) (of Indian descent) of the People's Progressive Party (PPP)is sworn-in as pres. of Guyana on Aug. 11 (until ?). On Aug. 9 Boris N. Yeltsin replaces PM Stepashin with ex-KGB man Vladimir Putin in the 4th govt. shakeup in 17 mo. On Aug. 10 40-y.-o. white supremacist Burford Furrow shoots-up the Jewish community center in West Los Angeles, Calif., but proves a bad shot, wounding five and killing one before he flees. On Aug. 17 a 7.4 earthquake rocks Turkey, with epicenter about 80 mi. SE of Istanbul, killing 17K; Greece supplies substantial assistance, improving relations. On Aug. 25 Austrian police in Vienna arrest Bosnian Serb gen. Momir Talic (1942-), who is wanted by the U.N. for war crimes. On Aug. 25 U.S. atty. gen. Janet Reno reopens the investigation of the 1993 Waco, Tex. standoff - oh, it's a miracle card for Janet? On Aug. 25 Mount Baker, Wash. reports 1,140 in. of snowfall for the 1998-9 season, becoming the most snowfall for a single season in U.S. history (until ?); in 1971 it received 1,122 in. Not so fast? On Aug. 30 a provincial referendum for independence from Indonesia is approved by the people of Timor Timur, which becomes the Dem. Repub. of East Timor (Timor-Leste), with capital at Dili; Indonesian-trained militia are unleashed, massacring civilians and burning 85% of the bldgs., causing East Timor to appeal to the U.N. for protection - hurry, don't dili? In Aug. French "urban climber" Alain "Spiderman" Robert (Robert Alain Philippe) (1962-) climbs the Sears Tower in Chicago, Ill. using his bare hands and feet; a thick fog causes the last 20 floors to be slippery. On Sept. 1 Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodriguez (1946-) of the Arnulfista Party becomes pres. of Canal Land Panama (until Sept. 1, 2004), becoming the 2nd woman elected pres. of a Latin Am. country after Violeta Chamorro of Nicaragua (1990-7); too bad, she leaves office with a 59.1% unpopularity rating, making her the worst head of state in Panama in 15 years? On Sept. 4 Israeli PM Ehud Barak and PLO leader Yasir Arafat announce a peace accord. On Sept. 4 the 1999 Russian apt. bombings begin when Chechnyan rebels detonate a car bomb in front of a bldg. in Buynaksk on the Russian border, killing Russian border guards; on Sept. 9 another bomb detonates in the basement of an apt. bldg. in the working-class Pechatniki district of Moscow, killing 106; on Sept. 13 another car bomb in Moscow kills 119; on Sept. 16 a final bomb detonates in the S Russian cit8y of Volgodonsk, killing 17; the bombings kill a total of 300 and injure 1K+, throwing Russia into a siege mentality that allows Russian PM Vladimir Putin to get put in charge, leading it on a path from democracy to totalitarianism. On Sept. 7 U.S. ambassador to Germany (1993-4) Richard Charles Albert "the Bulldozer" Holbrooke (1941-2010) (known for brokering the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords) becomes U.S. U.N. ambassador #22 (until Jan. 20, 2001), going on to use his presidency of the U.N. Security Council to broker a deal in Dec. 2000 to lower the U.S. dues in return for paying $900M in back dues, helped by a contribution by billionaire Ted Turner, founder of the UN Foundation, get the U.N. Security Council in Jan. 2000 to hold six debates on African crises in DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe incl. the AIDS epidemic (first time a health issue is treated as a global security matter), and secure membership in the U.N. Western European and Others regional group for Israel, along with consultative status for the Hadassah Jewish women's service org.; after he leaves he takes over the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS, expanding it from 17 to 225 members and increasing coverage to malaria and TB, becoming Hillary Clinton's top choice for U.S. secy. of state. On Sept. 12-16 the 11th Internat. Conference on AIDS and STDs is held in Lusaka, Zambia; the World Bank pledges $3B for R&D. On Sept. 13 nuclear waste from Earth on the dark side of the Moon explodes, knocking it out of orbit and sending Moonbase Alpha into space :) On Sept. 15 Larry Gene Ashbrook (b. 1952) shoots up Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Tex., killing seven and wounding seven during a concert by Christian rock group Forty Days before committing suicide. On Sept. 17 Hurricane Flood, er, Hurricane Floyd strikes the N.C. coast, doing damage second only to Hurricane Andrew? On Sept. 17 North Korea agrees to permit U.S. inspections teams into suspected nuke site Kumchangri return for food and economic aid, and also to suspend long-range missile testing. On Sept. 19 Pope John Paul II visits Slovenia for the 2nd time since its 1991 independence - you're just as slovenly as ever? On Sept. 19 Judging Amy debuts on CBS-TV for 138 episodes (until May 3, 2005), starring Amy Brenneman (1964-) as divorced family court judge Amy Gray, and Ellen Tyne Daly (1946-) as her social worker mother Maxine; at the end of the series Amy quits to run for the U.S. Senate. On Sept. 20 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (a spinoff of "Law & Order") debuts on NBC-TV (until ?), about the NYPD unit that handles sexually-based offenses, starring Christopher Peter Meloni (1961-) as Det. Elliot Stabler, Mariska Hargitay (1964-) (daughter of Jayne Mansfield) as Det. Olivia Benson, B.D. (Bradley Darryl) Wong (1960-) as Dr. George Huang, Richard Jay Belzer (1944-) as Sgt. John Munch, and Ice-T (Tracy Marrow) (1958-) as Det. Odafin "Fin" Tutuola; Hargitay goes on to become the longest-running female char. in a primetime non-animated series (until ?). On Sept. 22 the liberal-oriented political drama The West Wing debuts on NBC-TV for 156 episodes (until May 14, 2006), starring Martin Sheen (1940-) as Pres. Jedediah "Jed" Bartlet, Stockard Channing (1944-) as his wife Abigail, John Spencer (1946-2005) as his chief of staff Leo McGarry, Bradley Whitford (1959-) as deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman, and Richard Schiff (1955-) as pres. advisor Tony Ziegler (ends 2006); John Wells of Denver, Colo. is the exec producer; co-producer Aaron Sorkin leaves in 2002; as chimp, er, new Pres. Bush rocks their world, liberals can dream on until the Obama era? On Sept. 23 the $125M Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft is lost as it enters orbit around Mars; the cause is later traced to failure of technicians to convert between the metric and English measurement systems - I'm the guy who loves cars, so doesn't it make sense that I should get paid to do what I love? On Sept. 23 the first Celebrate Bisexual Day is observed in the U.S. - get well-connected? On Sept. 29 the CIA founds the venture capital firm In-Q-Tel to invest in Silicon Valley startups that support its mission. On Sept. 30 Japan has its worst nuclear accident to date, exposing dozens (thousands?) (millions?) to radiation. On Sept. 30. after rebel raids led by Shamil Basayev on neighboring Dagestan, and apt. house bombings in Moscow and two other cities on Sept. 13 that kill 300+, Russian troops reinvade Chechnya and capture a third of it by Oct. In Sept. the Am. Muslim Assoc. of North Am. (AMANA) is founded, going on to produce material attacking Jews, Christians, and gays while supporting Islamic terrorists. On Oct. 1 Calif. becomes the first state to pass an Anti-Paparazzi Law protecting celebs from intrusive paparazzi; after a paparazzi runs him and his family off the road, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a tougher law on Jan. 1, 2006 - One look at Ahnuld and they know they're right? On Oct. 3 a gen. election in Austria gives the once-boss Social Dems. only one-third of the vote, with the right-wing anti-immigration Freedom Party tying for 2nd with the Center-Right People's Party, becoming the strongest popular support for a far-right party in Western Europe since WWII; Roman Catholic Wolfgang Schuessel (Schüssel) (1945-) of the conservative People's Party becomes chancellor, taking office next Feb. 4 (until Jan. 11, 2007). On Oct. 5 a train collision near Paddington Station, London kills 31 and injures 245. On Oct. 11 (10-11-99) world pop. reaches the 6B milestone. On Oct. 11 Geoff Hoon (1953-) becomes British defense minister (until May 5, 2005). On Oct. 12 a coup in Pakistan ousts Nawaz Sharif, and puts Gen. Pervez Musharraf (b. 1943) in power as the new dictator, er, pres. - Sharif, Sharraf, they all talk funny? On Oct. 13 the U.S. Senate rejects the 1996 Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, pissing-off internat. leaders. On Oct. 13 Philip Morris Co. finally admits on its Web site that there is "overwhelming medical and scientific consensus" that cigarette smoking causes deadly diseases such as emphysema and lung cancer". On Oct. 13 (Thanksgiving Day) (1:45 p.m.) the Les Eboulements (St. Joseph) Bus Accident in leaf-peeping country in Quebec, Canada kills 44 (all from the same village), becoming the deadliest Canadian road accident (until ?). On Oct. 15 the U.N. Security Council votes 15-0-0 for Resolution 1267, designating Osama bin Laden and his assocs. as terrorists and establishing sanctions for them, al-Qaida, and the Taliban; on Dec. 11, 2008 it adds the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jamaat-ud-Dawa and four others as terrorist fronts under its 1999 Resolution 1267. On Oct. 16 a 7.0 earthquake hits Hector Mine, Calif. in the Mojave Desert. On Oct. 19 Am. TV journalist Walter Cronkite addresses the World Federalist Assoc., uttering the soundbyte "I'm glad to sit on the right hand of Satan" before introducing Hillary Clinton, after which he is presented the Norman Cousins Global Governance Award for supporting a OWG, and disses Christian evangelists like Pat Robertson, stoking conspiracy theorists. On Oct. 20 Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid (AKA Gus Dur) (1940-), founder of the Nat. Awakening Party (PKB) becomes pres. of East-Timor-less Indonesia (until 2001). On Oct. 23-27 the New York Yankees (AL) defeat the Atlanta Braves (NL) 4-0 to win the Ninety-Fifth (95th) (1999) World Series; Panamanian-born relief pitcher (#42) Mariano "Mo" "Sandman" Rivera (1969-) is series MVP. On Oct. 25 a plane crash kills pro golfer William Payne Stewart (b. 1957) and five others. On Oct. 30 (Halloween) the first annual Naked Pumpkin Run is held by college students in Boulder, Colo., who run clad only in running shoes with hollowed-out pumpkins on their heads through downtown at 11 p.m.; in 2002 they do it in 3 ft. of snow; too bad, the authorities don't like it, even though laid-back Boulder has no laws against public nudity, so in 2009 they decide that the pumpkins make it "indecent exposure", a conviction carrying lifetime registration as sex offenders. On Oct. 31 EgyptAir Flight 990 en route from JFK Airport in New York City to Cairo crashes in the Atlantic 60 mi. S Nantucket Island, Mass., killing all 217 aboard; Muslim pilot Gamil El-Batouty (Gameel Al-Batouti) (b. 1940) is later suspected of deliberately causing the crash in a jihad for Allah - to get his 72 virgins? On Oct. 31 elections in Uruguay oust the center-right Colorado Party, which wins 32 seats to 40 for the Progressive Encounter Party; on Nov. 28 Jorge Batlle Ibanez (Ibáñez) (1927-2016) of the Colorado Party wins the pres. election, and is sworn-in next Mar. 1 (until Mar. 1, 2005). In Oct. after 13 mo. a grand jury in Colo. gives up on indicting anybody for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey on Christmas night in 1996 in Boulder, Colo. - perfect murder, perfect town? In Oct. after giving up alcohol and marijuana and going on a spiritual search, Everett, Wash.-born white conservative Roman Catholic radio announcer Glenn Lee Beck (1964-) converts to the LDS Church, launching the Glenn Beck Radio Program in Jan. 2000 in Tampa, Fla., going into nat. syndication on Jan. 2, 2002, becoming the #3 radio program in the U.S. by 2009, combining flag-waving Am. patriotism with Mormonism and dissing Pres. Obama daily to make himself more popular; his TV show is launched in Jan. 2006-Oct. 2008 on HLN, followed by Fox News Channel on Jan. 2009-June 30, 2011, peaking in 2009 at 3.4M viewers; on Sept. 12, 2011 he launches the multimedia network TheBlaze in Irving, Tex. In Oct. blind-since-birth (retinoblastoma) St. Joseph, Mo.-born Edward "Eddie" Timanus (1968-) becomes the 3rd superstar on the game show "Jeopardy!" by winning five consecutive games and retiring undefeated with $69,700 in winnings, having to memorize the board in order to play - a rock can touch your heart? On Nov. 2 West Chester, Penn.-born "Psychic Twins" Linda and Terry Jamison are interviewed on the Art Bell radio show, predicting a terrorist attack on the WTC in 2002. On Nov. 7 the Mexican ruling PRI Party holds its first-ever pres. primary, which is won by interior secy. Francisco Labastida Ochoa (1942-). On Nov. 11 the British House of Lords Act removes the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, but provides that the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain continue for the time being to have seats so as to carry out their ceremonial functions; all but 92 hereditary peers are removed, with big brain Bertrand Russell's son Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell (1937-2004) elected to top the list of the peers to remain in their seats despite having argued in favor of abolishing the Lords completely and replacing it with an elected senate - dry your tears, one last kiss, it is time to let you go? On Nov. 12 after greasing by the newly-merged Citigroup and Travellers Insurance conglomerate, Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act (GLBA), repealing parts of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition among banks, security cos., and insurance cos. by allowing a single institution to offer a combo of investment, commercial banking, and insurance services, and allowing commercial and investment banks to consolidate, incl. Citibank and travellers Group, which form Citigroup, pioneering the "financial services industry"; too bad, it doesn't give the SEC authority to regular large investment bank holding cos., leading to the Great Credit Meltdown of 2008; U.S. Treasury secy. Robert Rubin, who pushed the bill steps down in July, then joins CitiGroup in Nov; members of Congress who support the bill receive twice the money from the banking sector than those who oppose it?; within 20 years the time bomb that allows banks to buy up heavy industry starts going off? On Nov. 12 after the 1996 pilot "The Chicken from Outer Space" is nominated for an Oscar, the Hanna-Barbera animated horror series Courage the Cowardly Dog debuts on Cartoon Network for 52 episodes (until Nov. 22, 2002), about pink fraidy-cat dog Courage (Marty Grabstein), who lives near Nowhere, Kan. with Muriel and Eustace Bagge, fighting horror chars. incl. zombies, demons, monsters, mad scientists, and aliens along with fortune-telling chihuahua Shirley the Medium. On Nov. 14 the U.S. and U.N. tighten economic sanctions on Afghanistan for refusing to turn over Osama bin Laden, freezing foreign assets, which sparks anti-U.N. riots across Afghanistan. On Nov. 15 the U.S. and China reach a landmark trade agreement, causing China to ramp up its Shenzen ("special economic zone") and force zillions of low-paid workers to churn out consumer goods for export as U.S. corps. move in to hire them; foreign corps. are permitted to own up to 50% of Chinese telephone cos. and invest in Chinese Internet business, foreign banks are allowed to operated in China, the Chinese govt. agrees to reduce tariffs on imports, incl. cars and agricultural products and to import twice as many foreign films a year; in return the U.S. agrees to drop quotas on Chinese textile exports by 2005. On Nov. 18 the Texas A&M Bonfire containing several thousand logs, under construction at Texas A&M U. collapses, killing 12 and injuring 27; it was to have been lit on Nov. 25, Thanksgiving evening before a Nov. 26 morning football game with the U. of Tex. Speaking of microfinance? On Nov. 19 after Thomas Penfield Jackson (1937-) issues a "finding of fact" that Microsoft holds an illegal monopoly in personal computer (PC) operating systems, a federal mediator is appointed to oversee settlement talks; Microsoft's stock continues to rise to $119 by Dec., then slides down to below $70 next year as the court breaks Microsoft up, but recovers as the court later bogs down in its attempt under a Noah's Flood of sheer cash - bogs down very much like Microsoft's operating systems? On Nov. 19 center-right VMRO candidate Boris Trajkovski (1956-2004) becomes pres. #2 of Macedonia (until Feb. 26, 2004) after winning a runoff against Tito Petkovski. On Nov. 19 a 12-y.-o. male shoots and kills a female classmate at a middle school in Deming, N.M. On Nov. 19 Ariz.-based Saudi-born Muslims Hamdan al-Shalawi and Muhammad al-Qudhaieen, are caught on an Am. West flight staging a dry run of the 9/11 attacks, and sue the airline for "ethnic discrimination"; the suit is dismissed by the court. On Nov. 21 China launches its first spacecraft. On Nov. 24 China and the Philippines sign a pact resolving their conflict over the Spratly Islands, but that doesn't stop Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia from trying to grab some of the 200+ small islands and reefs surrounded by rich fishing grounds and gas-oil deposits. On Nov. 25 a raft carrying 5-y.-o. Elian Gonzalez (1994-) and his mother Elizabeth capsizes off the coast of Fla., and Elian is rescued by a pair of sport fisherman, starting an internat. custody battle with his Cuban father Fidel, er, Juan Miguel Gonzales, his cousin Marsiales Gonzales and his great-uncle Lasaro Gonzales. On Nov. 29 the World Trade Org. (WTO) begins a conference in Seattle, Wash., and is rocked by organized 1960s-style protesters, some of whom get violent. On Nov. 30 the Jordanian Millennium Al-Qaida Plot is uncovered by Jordanian authorities who intercept a telephone call from Abu Zubaydah to Abu Hoshar, with the former uttering the soundbyte "The time for training is over", later arresting 16 incl. U.S.-born Raed Hijazi. In Nov. the Waqf, the Muslim org. that administers the holy places in Jerusalem digs rubble out of the ancient Solomon's Stables (Marwani Mosque) and dumps it i n the Kidron Valley, claiming it of no historical significance; 27-y.-o. archeology student Zachi Zweig digs up pottery shards, stirring interest in an official dig, which moves 75 truckloads of rubble to Mt. Scopus and goes through it for years, discovering Babylonian and Roman arrowheads, 3.3K-y.-o. Egyptian alabaster, a clay seal naming Ge'aliyahu, son of Immer (mentioned in Jer. 20:1) et al. On Dec. 2 Northern Ireland begins self-rule for the first time in 25 years. On Dec. 5 Helen Elizabeth Clark (1950-) becomes PM #37 of ever-progressive New Xena, er, New Zealand (until ?), going on to be listed by Forbes mag. as one of the 20th most powerful women in the world in 2006. On Dec. 6 after "exploding" under the pressure to make good grades, 13-y.-o. student Seth Trickey in Ft. Gibson, Okla. opens fire at school with his father's 9mm semi-auto handgun, wounding five schoolmates, incl. a 13-y.-o. girl he shoots in the head. On Dec. 8 a Memphis, Tenn. jury concludes that there was a govt. conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. on Apr. 4, 1968. On Dec. 10 Croatian pres. Franjo Tudjman dies of stomach cancer after being replaced in Oct. by parliamentary speaker Vlatko Pavletic (1930-) (until 2000) after the supreme court rules that Tudjman is incapable of holding office; he becomes provisional pres. for 2 mo. (riding the Millennium). On Dec. 12 Palestinian militant Khadr Abu Hoshar and 15 others are arrested for the 2000 Millennium Attack Plots to bomb LAX scheduled for Jan. 1, 2000; on Dec. 14 Algerian Canadian immigrant Ahmed Ressam (1967-), AKA Benni Noris AKA the Millennium Bomber is arrested at Port Angeles, Wash. carrying explosives, and is sentenced to 22 years in prison. On Dec. 13-23 France begins negotiations with Corsica over its separatists, ending with an unconditional ceasefire being declared by the Nat. Front for the Liberation of Corsica (FLNC). On Dec. 14 Pres. Clinton signs the U.S. Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, aimed at helping foster children transition into adulthood; First Lady Hillary Clinton played a leading role in advocating it. On Dec. 14 William F. Buckley Jr.'s TV show Firing Line (begun Apr. 4, 1966) tapes its last two of 1,504 episodes, and shows them the week of Dec. 26 - a sense of humor from him? On Dec. 17, 1999 the U.N. Security Council votes 11-0 (China, France, Malaysia, Russia) to adopt Resolution 1284, creating the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) to replace the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM); Iraq rejects the resolution, claiming it doesn't meet its reqts. for the lifting of the 1990 sanctions. On Dec. 18 Italian PM Massimo D'Alema resigns after his center-left coalition falters, then on Dec. 22 forms a new coalition govt. and is back as PM (until 2000). On Dec. 20 the Vt. Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedding couples - maple syrup flows from many kinds of holes? On Dec. 20 Portugal turns the Asian seaport and gambling paradise of Macao over to China. On Dec. 24 pres. Henri Konan Bedie is overthrown by the first military coup in Ivory Coast since 1960 independence, and Gen. Robert Guei (1941-2002) becomes dictator-pres. (until 2000), causing most foreign aid to be cut off. On Dec. 24 al-Qaida-connected Pakistani Muslim terrorists hijack Indian Airlines Flight 814 (Airbus A300) en route from Kathmandu to Delhi with 189 aboard, forcing it to land in Afghanistan, then using the Taliban to negotiate the release of terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar (1968-), British-born Pakistani militant (with high Pakistani govt. connections) Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (1973-), and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar (1967-), who all go on to be harbored by the Taliban and Pakistan govt. and engage in terrorism against the U.S. despite U.S. secy. of state (1997-2001) Madeleine Korbel Albright (1937-) telling Congress that she is "concerned about the fact that groups... involved in the recent hijacking... operate in Pakistan" and "We have been concerned about Pakistan's support for the Taliban, who are in turn closely linked to Osama bin Laden"; thanks to lame U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton and his soft-on-Muslim-terrorists policy, Ahzar, founder of the Pakistani terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad with the goal of separating Kashmir from India later helps kidnap and murder U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002; Sheikh became Osama bin Laden's "special son", and Oct. 6, 2001 it is revealed that he wired $100K from the UAE to 9/11 terrorist Mohamed Atta, then on Nov. 28, 2008 tries to start a war between Pakistan and India by calling billionaire Pakistan pres. (2008-) Asif Ali Zardari (1955-) from prison and pretending to be Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee; in Dec. 1989 Zargar founds the Pakistani Islamic terrorist group Al Umar Mujahideen, a subgroup of Lashkar-e-Omar, which also helps with the Daniel Pearl murder. On Dec. 26 Guatemalan Repub. Front candidate Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera (1951-) wins the pres. election despite connections with former bloody dictator Gen. Efrain Rios Montt; he is sworn-in next Jan. (until 2004). On Dec. 27 the Russian govt. launches an official website www.government.gov.ru. On Dec. 30 ex-Beatle George Harrison is stabbed in his 100-room Oxfordshire mansion by an unknown assailant - the Walrus? On Dec. 31 Boris N. Yeltsin stuns the world by announcing his resignation, saying "I want to beg forgiveness for your dreams that never came true, and also I would like to beg forgiveness not to have justified your hopes"; shady KGB secret police veteran PM Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (1952-) is named acting pres., promising to restore Russia's old pride and power, pumping up the military and systematically undermining the new democracy by threatening, jailing, or murdering anybody in his way while the West looks the other way, and backing Iran in its goal of becoming a nuclear power; Pres. George W. Bush later says that he looked into Putin's soul and saw a good man - knock, knock, anybody home? On Dec. 31 after a silent coup orchestrated by hardcore KGB man Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (1952-) (PM since Aug. 9), Russian pres. (since July 10, 1991) Boris Yeltsin resigns after naming Putin as acting Russian pres., uttering the soundbyte: "I want to beg forgiveness for your dreams that never came true, and also I would like to beg forgiveness not to have justified your hopes"; Putin is sworn in as Russian pres. #2 on May 7, 2000 (until May 7, 2008), becoming a DINO (democrat in name only) tsar-wannabe, promising to restore Russia's old pride and power, pumping up the military and systematically undermining the new democracy by threatening, jailing, or murdering anybody in his way while the West looks the other way, and backing Iran in its goal of becoming a nuclear power, going on to install 6K former KGB colleagues in govt. posts by 2004, bringing Communism back under the West's nose; Pres. George W. Bush later says that he looked into Putin's soul and saw a good man - knock, knock, anybody home? On Dec. 31 the U.S. hands the Panama Canal over to Panama. On Dec. 31 a fire destroys the 4th floor of the Agriculture Hall of Mich. State U.; in 2008 four members of the Earth Liberation Front are indicted. On Dec. 31 during the fireworks a Cezanne painting is stolen from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England. On Dec. 31 Time mag. declares Albert Einstein the Person of the Century, with FDR and Gandhi as runners-up - TLW becomes the person of the next century? On Dec. 31 NPR interviews sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), asking him if anything happened in the 20th cent. that he could not have anticipated, and he utters the soundbyte: "Yes, absolutely. The one thing I never would have expected is that, after centuries of wonder and imagination and aspiration, we would have gone to the Moon... and then stopped." In Dec. the Northern Ireland Assembly (founded 1973) is given formal power by the U.K. In Dec. Los Alamos Nat. Lab. scientist Wen Ho Lee (1939-) is indicted on 50 counts of mishandling nuclear info., and is held in solitary confinement for 9 mo. until he pleads guilty to a single felony count in Sept. 2000, receiving an apology from the judge who released him; in 2005 N.M. Gov. Bill Richardson, Pres. Clinton's energy secy. at the time admits in his autobio. that he was "badly treated", and that "Here was the government putting this skinny 60-y.-o. guy into solitary confinement for nearly a year. I have come to realize that it was wrong, and I should have spoken out more." - anything worth stealing can be found on Rodeo Drive? Canada becomes the #1 exporter of oil to the U.S. - billion with a B? Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, fresh out of prison takes part in a failed attempt to blow up the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman, Jordan; it is finally blown up on Nov. 9, 2005. British citzen of Indian descent Haroon Aswat (1964-) is sent to Bly, Ore. by 1-eyed radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri to set up an al-Qaida terrorist training camp; in Mar. 2015 he pleads guilty, facing up to 20 years in prison. U.N. peacekeepers withdraw, and civil war resumes in Angola. The Lusaka Accord, signed by all six countries in the African World War (begun 1998) slows it down, but doesn't stop several rebel groups. Hizb-an-Nusra is founded in Tashkent, Uzbekistan by Hizb ut-Tahrir to overthrow the govt.; 1996 Akromiya breaks off from it after deciding they don't need to create a caliphate but only a local Islamist govt. The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) in Washington, D.C. is founded in Mar. by Muslim and non-Muslims "to contribute to the promotion of democracy, good governance, freedom, and human rights in the Arab and Muslim World." Cradle-robber Yasser Arafat's wife Suha Arafat (1963-) causes an internat. uproar when she comments to U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton that Israel had poisoned Palestinians with gas and toxic waste, leading to an increase in cancer among women and children. The $5B Plan Colombia is launched by Colombian pres. Andes Pastrana Arango backed by U.S. pres. Bill Clinton to stop the drug trade; too bad, it turns into a boondoggle and poisons the land with herbicides. The U.S. Congress passes an U.S. Animal Overprotection Act making it a crime for anyone who "knowingly creates, sells, or possesses a depiction of animal cruelty", which is struck down by a federal appeals court in 2008 as a violation of First Amendment rights, causing the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on ?. After considering the Cold War to be over, Pres. Clinton shuts down the U.S. Info. Agency (USIA) and gives its responsibilities to the State Dept., returning things to before its creation by Pres. Eisenhower in 1953; premature in the face of the rise of Islamist terrorism? The Great Rocky Mountain Pine Beetle Infestation begins as warm winters fail to kill off the larvae, causing massive deforestation in Colo., Wyo., Mont., and Canada (ends ?). The right-wing nationalist secularist Yisrael Beiteinu Party is founded in Jerusalem, Israel by immigrants from the atheistic Soviet Union. After claiming to be visited by Tobias of the Crimson Council on an airplane in 1997 Appleton, Wisc.-born Geoffrey Hoppe (1955-) founds the Crimson Circle Energy Co. in Incline Village, Nev. The Fiancial Stability Forum (FSF) is founded by the G7 nations, and managed by the Bank for Internat. Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; in 2009 it is superseded by the Financial Stability Board. The U.S. Mint begins the 50 State Quarters Program, replacing the eagle on the back of the Washington quarter with a symbol representing a U.S. state, five new state quarters each year through 2008; the first state quarter is for Delaware, "the First State", showing Caesar Rodney on horseback dashing to Philly to sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Exxon and Mobil merge into Exxon-Mobil, combining the tiger and pegasus trademarks - pegatiger? tigasus? Time mag. changes its Man of the Year award to Person of the Year. England replaces Latin legal terms with plain English, e.g., witness summons instead of subpoena. The Guardian online newspaper is founded in the U.K. Jobhunger site Monster.com is founded via merger of the The Monster Board (TMB) and Online Career Center (OCC) Web sites. The nonpartisan New Am. Foundation is founded to foster new thinkers and new ideas on U.S. policy. As the millennium ends, the highest grossing movie series of all time is (play da theme music) Bond, James Bond. The Am. Film Inst. proclaims Katharine Hepburn (b. 1907) "the greatest actress of all time" for her four Best Actress Oscars (1933, 1967, 1968, 1981), 54 movies, and 16 plays among other things - not giving a damn about any trumpet-playing band? Georgetown U. becomes the first in the U.S. to appoint a Muslim chaplain recognized by univ. clergy. 300+ lb. U.S. singer Carnie Wilson (1968-) undergoes gastric bypass surgery as a last resort to lose weight, making the operation popular after she writes a book. A warehouse fire in Worcester, Mass. kills six firemen, incl. the cousin and boyhood pal of actor Denis Leary (1957-), who establishes the Leary Firefighters Foundation and later co-creates the FX Network TV show "Rescue Me" (2004-). Cuban-Am. Georgetown U. law school grad Marilyn Milian (1961-) is appointed to the Miami Circuit Court by Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush, and in 2000 is signed up for The People's Court TV show by creator-producer Stu Billett; "I wouldn't believe you if your tongue came notarized." Am. economist Milton Friedman utters the soundbyte "You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state." Scottish actor Sean Connery is knighted, wearing his kilts to the ceremony - is that a sporran or are you just glad to see me? Susan Lucci finally wins an Emmy for her Erica Kane soap opera role. Notorious inmates Charles Manson and Juan Corona are attacked by three inmates from an adjacent secure housing unit when a guard leaves a door open at the protective housing unit (capacity 47) inside Corcoran State Prison in San Joaquin Valley, Calif.; Manson is unhurt, Corona is hit in the back, and an unidentified 3rd inmate is hit on the shoulder with Manson's guitar. Penn. becomes the first U.S. state to put its Web site url on its license plates, www.state.pa.us, with Penn. gov. Tom Ridge saying that this will tell everybody that Penn. is "high tech, high energy, and ready for the new millennium"; in 2005 W. Va. becomes the first state to take its url off its license plates. The annual $10K Mark Lynton History Prize is established by Marion Lynton in honor of her husband Mark Lynton for a book "of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression"; the first award goes to Adam Hochschild for "King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa" (1998). The 2-year Children's Laureate position is established in the U.K. for a "writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field"; the first award goes to Sir Quentin Saxby Blake (1932-) (1999-2001), followed by Anne Fine (1947-) (2001-3), Michael Morpugo (1943-) (2003-5), Dame Jacqueline Wilson (1945-) (2005-7), Michael Wayne Rosen (1946-) (2007-9), Anthony Edward Tudor Browne (1946-) (2009-11), Julia Catherine Donaldson (1948-) (2011-13), Malorie Blackman (1962-) (2013-15), and Chris Riddell (1962-) (2015-7). Am. real estate mogul Olivia Hsu Decker buys the 17th cent. Chateau de la Villette, situated on an 185-acre estate NW of Paris, and restores it, adding 15 bathrooms and a remote-control Poseidon fountain - no handrails on the stairway? Princess Caroline (1957-) of Monaco, after a failed marriage to French playboy Philippe Junot and the death of 2nd hubby Italian Stefano Casiraghi in a 1990 boating accident marries Prince Ernst August V of Hanover (1954-) - he may not have that hair, girls, but he has that voice? Mosquito-borne West Nile Fever first appears in the U.S. The British Film Inst. pub. the BFI List of the Top 100 British Films of the 20th Century, with David Lean being the most popular dir., followed by Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, John Schlesinge, Alexander Mackendrick, and Tony Richardson (no female dirs.); most popular actor is Alec Guinness, followed by Michael Caine; most popular actress is Julie Christie. Broken Bow Records is founded in July in Nashville, Tenn. by Benny Brown to produce country music; its first #1 country hit is "That's What I Love About Sunday" by Craig Morgan (2005), followed by "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not" by Thompson Square (2011), and 10+ by Jason Aldean; in 2009 it launches sister label Stoney Creek Records, followed in 2012 by Red Bow Records. Bigelow Aersopace Co. in Las Vegas, Nev. is founded by Budget Suites hotel magnate Robert Bigelow to launch the expandable space station module. Cheerios produces a special Millennios Ed., incl. "2"s. J.R.R. Tolkien's 1950s trilogy The Lord of the Rings is voted "book of the millennium" by users of Amazon.com. Bernard Weber (1963-) of Switzerland begins a campaign to name a new list of wonders of the world, obtaining almost 200 nominations from around the world, and whittling it down to 21 by 2006, with the pyramids at Giza, Egypt given an automatic spot; on July 6, 2007 the voting closes, and the final list is: ? Bioheart Inc. is founded to develop effective stem cell treatments for cardiovascular diseases. The Web site Fark.com is founded by Drew Curtis (1973-) of Lexington, Ky. to post links to bizarre far-left and far-right news articles and let users comment on them, growing to 4M visitors a month by June 2009, with anybody linked to getting overwhelmed with hits, or "farked". Maureen Dowd (1952-) is awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her series of columns in The New York Times on the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The popularity of rock music slides as rap music gains white mainstream acceptance; meanwhile former mousketeer Britney Spears (1981-) explodes onto the pop music scene in tight low-cut pants as the heir apparent to mainstream female liberation role-modeling to 40-ish Madonna (1958-); before turning 20 on Dec. 2, 2001 she sells 37M records, helped by Swedish music producer Max Martin (Martin Karl Sandberg) (1971-), who goes on to engineer hits for 'NSync, Backstreet Boys, and Kelly Clarkson. The Los Zetas (named after a Mexican radio code for high-ranking army officers) drug cartel is formed from deserters from a special forces unit of the Mexican army by the Gulf Cartel based in Matamoros, Mexico, which defeats the Sinaloa Cartel from the Pacific Coast, after which they split and battle for control, killing 60K in 2006-2013. Sucralose-based Splenda artificial sweetener is introduced in the U.S., overtaking Equal by 2006 because it is stable up to 450F and can be used in baking; in 2006 Equal's maker Merisant sues them over their tagline "Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar"; it is settled out of court. Sports: After a group of native Americans file suit in 1992, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board cancels the trademark of the Washington Redskins; a federal judge overturns their decision in 2003; on June 18, 2014 after more pressure the board does it again. On Feb. 14 the 1999 (41st) Daytona 500 is won by #24 Jeff Gordon (2nd win), becoming the first pole sitter to win since Bill Elliott in 1987. On May 12 Rapid City, S.D.-born Colo. State U. Rams star Rebecca "Becky" "Big Shot" Hammon (1977-) signs with the WNBA New York Liberty (#25), taking over in 2004 from Teresa Witherspoon as the starting point guard and becoming a co-captain with Vickie Johnson and Crystal Robinson; in 2008 she becomes a naturalized Russian citizen, playing for the Russian team in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics; on Aug. 5, 2014 she becomes the first full-time female asst. coach in the NBA and first in a major prof. sport in North Am. when she signs with the San Antonio Spurs. signs with the WNBA New York Liberty (#25), taking over from Teresa Witherspoon as the On May 23 the pay-per-view Over the Edge prof. wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo. sees the accidental death of Canadian wrestler Owen James "the Blue Blazer" Hart (b. 1965) when he tries to make a dramatic aerial entrance and his harness line malfunctions, causing him to plunge 70 ft. into the ring, after which the greedy WWF stinks itself up by continuing the event after carting off the groceries. On May 30 the 1999 (83rd) Indianapolis 500 is won by Kenny Brack (Bräck) (1966-) after leader Robby Gordon runs out of fuel within sight of the white flag, becoming the 1st Indy win for owner A.J. Foyt to go with his four as a driver. On June 5 Charismatic (1996-), owned by Bob Lewis (owner of 1997's Silver Charm) finishes 3rd in the Belmont Stakes after breaking a bone in his leg in the stretch, ending his quest for the Triple Crown. On June 8-19 the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals see the Dallas Stars (first appearance since their 1993 move from Minn.) defeat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 after Stars right wing Brett Andrew Hull (1964-) (son of Bobby Hull) scores the winning goal in triple OT with his foot in the crease but the puck not, causing a firestorm of controversy, with Sabres fans calling it the "No Goal" game; MVP is 6'2" Stars center Joseph "Joe" Nieuwendyk (1966-). On June 16-25 after a shortened season (by 32 games), the 1999 NBA Finals sees the San Antonio Spurs (coach Gregg Popovich) defeat the New York Knicks (coach Jeff Van Gundy) by 4-1 to win their first NBA title in 26 years; MVP is Tim Duncan of the Spurs. On June 19-July 10 the 1999 Women's World Cup of Soccer is won by the U.S. in extra time with a penalty shootout won by Brandi Denise Chastain (1968-), lifting the sport's popularity out of the mud in the U.S. for the first time; the failed penalty shot of Chinese player Liu Ying (1947-) and save by Brianna Colette Scurry (1971-) of the U.S. costs China the cup; the first World Cup in which the host nation wins (until ?). On July 18 New York Yankees pitcher David Cone pitches a perfect game against Montreal, becoming the 14th in the ML since 1900. In July after seven schools lead the Western Athletic Conference, the NCAA Div. 1 football Mountain West Conference (MWC) begins operations; member schools eventually incl. the USAF Academy, Brigham Young U., Colo. State U., San Diego State U., U. of N.M., U. of Nev. Las Vegas, U. of Utah, and U. of Wyo. On Aug. 7 Tampa, Fla. native Wade Anthony Boggs (1958-) scores his 3,000th hit, a homer for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. On Sept. 27 Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Mich. sees its last Tigers game; a sign reads "Today there is crying." On Oct. 9 the NHL Atlanta Thrashers (founded June 25, 1997) play their first regular season game, going on to play their home games at the new $213.5M Philips Arena (opened Sept. 18, 1999); after being eliminated in round 1 of the 2007 playoffs by the New York Rangers they move in 2011 to Winnipeg, Man., becoming the new Winnipeg Jets - for a team based in hot steamy Atlanta to win the Stanley Cup, Hell would have to freeze over? On Nov. 2 (7:00 p.m. ET) (NBA season opening night) NBA.com 24-hour TV network debuts, with free Japanese audio broadcasts of games on Nov. 6-7 involving the Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings in Tokyo; 6'10" rookie forward Lamar Joseph Odom (1979-) (#7) of the Los Angeles Clippers scores 30 points in his NBA debut in a 104-92 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics. In Dec. Bowlers Journal Internat. of Chicago, Ill. pub. an issue listing the 100 greatest bowlers of the 20th cent., with Don Carter as #1, and Marion Ladewig (#7) as the highest-rated woman. The Madden Curse begins after Barry Sanders is featured on the cover of the Madden NFL 2000 video game, then retires from the Lions before training camp; Michael Vick of the Falcons (Madden 2004) breaks his right fibula and plays only five games; Donovan McNabb of the Eagles (Madden 2006) misses seven games because of a sports hernia; Shaun Alexander of the Seattle Seahawks (Madden 2007) breaks a bone in his left foot. Serena Williams (1981-) wins the U.S. Open, becoming the first black woman since 1958 to win a Grand Slam tennis title. NHL star Wayne Gretzky's jersey #99 is retired (in 1999). Architecture: On Feb. 19 the $265M Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ont., Canada (begun Mar. 2, 1997) opens as the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, hosting their 639th game with their arch-rival Montreal Canadiens. On Oct. 17 $375M Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif. opens, becoming the home of the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), Clippers (NBA), Kings (NHL), Sparks (WNBA), and Avengers (AFL) (first arena to become home of five different pro sports franchises); on Nov. 3 the Los Angeles Lakers make their debut at home, defeating the Vancouver Grizzlies by 103-98; too bad, on Oct. 10 the LA Times stinks itself up by pub. a special Sun. mag. issue dedicated to it, generating $2M in ad revenue and secretly sharing it with Staples office supply corp., causing retired publisher Otis Chandler to call it "unbelievably stupid" and "the most serious single threat to the future" of the paper - other than the Internet? On Oct. 29 the $158M Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena (ESA) in Raleigh, N.C. opens as the home of the NHL Carolina Hurricanes, becoming the Royal Bank of Canada Arena in 2002, and the PNC Financial Services Arena in 2011. On Dec. 31 the Millennium Dome in London opens (closes Dec. 31, 2000) - you were made for each other? Don't sit on the rooftops like a millennium ago, sit inside a dome? On Dec. 31 (20:00 GMT) the 443-ft. (135m) high London Eye (Millennium Wheel) is opened by PM Tony Blair, becoming the tallest observation wheel in the world (until May, 2006). $290M LP Field in Nashville, Tenn. opens as the new home of the NFL Tennessee Titans (formerly Houston Oilers and Tenn. Oilers). The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda City, Osaka, W Japan (home of Ramen) opens. The Southwark Gateway Needle in London at the S end of London Bridge is erected at the point on the old bridge where he heads of traitors used to be impaled on long wooden spears by the Keeper of the Heads; there were 30 heads on display in 1599. Nobel Prizes: Peace: Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) (France); Lit.: Gunter (Günter) Wilhelm Grass (1927-) (Germany); Physics: Gerardus "Gerard" 't Hooft (1946-) and Martinus Justinus Godefriedus Veltman (1931-) (Netherlands) [electroweak interactions]; Chem.: Ahmed Hassan Zewail (1946-) (U.S.) (2nd Muslim Physics Nobel Prize winner) [femtochemistry]; Gunter (Günter) Blobel (1936-2018) (U.S.) [protein targeting]; Economics: Robert Alexander Mundell (1932-) (Canada) [monetary dynamics]. Inventions: On Mar. 26 the Melissa Computer Virus is released by David L. Smith of Aberdeen Township, N.J., spreading through the Internet and infecting up to 20% of PCs worldwide, using the numerous bugs in Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Word to spread. On Apr. 4 Alibaba Group multinat. e-commerce Internet conglomerate is founded in Hangzhou, Zheijiang, China by Jack Ma (Ma Yun) (1964-), going public on Sept. 19, 2014 and reaching a market cap of $527B by Jan. 2018. In May Toyota introduces the Toyota Tundra, becoming the first full-size pickup truck marketed by a Japanese manufacturer. On June 2 the $9M-$14M Embraer EMB 314 Super Tocano turboprop light attack aircraft makes its first flight, going on to be used in recon, close air support, and conterinsurgency missions, featuring a low heat signature and 4th gen. avionics that deliver precision-guided munitions, becoming a favorite in Latin Am. and Africa, with 200+ manufactured since 2003. On July 16 Col. Eileen Collins (1956-) (already the pilot in 1995 and 1997) becomes the first female U.S. Space Shuttle cmdr. - she likes it on top? On July 20 Gus Grissom's 1961 Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule is recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic. On July 23 (night) Space Shuttle Columbia Mission STS-93 blasts off from Cape Kennedy (26th launch and 21st night launch); Eileen Marie Collins (1956-) becomes the first female Space Shuttle cmdr.; it deploys the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) (original name Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility) before returning on July 28; during takeoff a gold pin comes loose from an oxidizer post in engine #3 (right), tearing open three colling tubes in the nozzle's inner surface, affecting engine performance. In Oct. the Zumba exercise fitness program is founded by Colombian dancer Alberto "Beto" Perez (1970-) in Miami, Fla., performing dance and aerobics to energetic Latin music, growing to 14M practitioners in 160K locations in 185 countries, making fans of Wyclef Jean, Pitbull, Daddy Yankee, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, and Don Omar. On Dec. 3 the Mars Polar Lander gives NASA another black eye when it fails to make radio contact with Earth after its planned landing. On Dec. 19-27 a Space Shuttle Discovery mission (STS-103) to repair the Hubble Space Telescope is led by John Mace Grunsfeld (1958-), grandson of a planetarium designer. Former Hewlett-Packard software employee Jim Barton and former Silicon Graphics hardware employee Mike Ramsay introduce TiVo, the first digital video recorder (VCR), which revolutionizes TV viewing with a big yellow pause button and suggestions of shows to watch, becoming a cultural phenomenon; in 2016 it is sold to Rovi for $1.1B. The last official Morse code message is sent by the Globe Wireless master station S of San Francisco, Calif., ending an era. The Inst. of Medicine of the Nat. Academy of Sciences releases a Study on the Possible Medical Properties of Marijuana, finding a potential therapeutic benefit for THC and recognizing the need for additional study on its medical uses, but concluding "There is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication", recommending the prescription Marinol form. Research in Motion, founded by Michael "Mike" Lazaridis (1961-) begins marketing the BlackBerry wireless 2-way pager; in 2002 it becomes a smartphone. AllTheWeb search engine is founded in May; it sells out to Overture in Feb. 2003 for $70M; Overture Services (formerly Goto.com) becomes the first search engine with pay-per-click placement. The Japanese cash-in on Millennium Fever with the Armageddon Bra, with sensors to detect objects falling from the sky. Sony Corp.'s AIBO ("artificial robot") (Jap. "pal") Entertainment Robot ERS-110, a robotic pet puppy ($2,066) goes on sale for the first time on May 31 (until 2006); 3K are sold in the first 20 min. The Honda Insight becomes the first mass-produced hybrid automobile sold in the U.S., achieving up to 70 mpg. French WHO scientist Andre Briend invents Plumpy'nut, a peanut-based powdered milk paste that can be used to save starving children whose ignorant mothers keep having them when they can't feed them, doesn't require water or refrigeration, and has a long shelf life; one of the biggest humanitarian advances of all time was looking Jimmy Carter in the teeth? The Wi-Fi Alliance is founded to promote high-speed wireless networking. Science: On May 17 SETI@Home is launched to search space for signs of ETs, becoming the first attempt to use distributed Internet Ps power; in 2002 it becomes BOINC; by 2009 it has 2.5M users giving a total of seven petaflops of computing power; it ceases operations on Mar. 31, 2020. On July 21 Bashkir State U. scientists claim to find a stone slab 120M years old with a relief map of the Ural region on it. The USFDA approves the marketing of the acid inhibitor Rabeprazole for acid reflux and ulcers, marketed by Esai Co. and Johnson & Johnson Co. under the name AcipHex - has a big effect on your ass? Calves are first cloned from frozen cells. Jochen Brocks of the U. of Sydney claims to find the earliest life on Earth, 2.7B years old - I'll buy that for a dollar? Shrinivas "Shri" Kulkarni and Joshua Bloom of Caltech link cosmic ray bursts to the collapse of massive stars. Am. psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris conduct the Invisible Gorilla Test, showing that a group of people focused on a group activity can fail to notice a gorilla walking in and thumping his chest. Kraft Foods starts the first nanotechnology lab for foods - smaller than one-thousandth of the width of a human hair? Deep-sea explorer Robert Duane Ballard (1942-) (1985 discoverer of the Titanic) explores the Black Sea in the summer, finding evidence to confirm his theory that a flood of Biblical proportions occurred in the region about 7.5K years ago, when the freshwater lake there was flooded by the Mediterranean; he also discovers a pair of perfectly preserved 2.5K-y.-o. Phoenician vessels off the coast of Israel, holding ceramic jugs of "some excellent wine". Researchers at the Joint Inst. for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia report producing superheavy Element 114; too bad, nobody can duplicate their results until Lawrence Berkeley Nat. Lab does it in 2009. Nonfiction: Fred Adams and Gregory Laughlin, Thne Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity; Primordial, Stelliferous (current), Degenerate, Black Hole, Dark. Christopher Peter Andersen (1949-), Jackie After Jack: Portrait of the Lady; Diana's Boys: William and Harry and the Mother They Loved; Bill and Hillary: The Marriage; she slaps his face hard enough to leave a red mark and calls him a "stupid bastard" when he confesses about Harmonica Blewinsky to her, with the soundbyte: "My God, Bill, how could you risk everything for that?" Bruce Bagemihl, Biological Exuberance, Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity; lists 450 animal species that are known for males mounting males, incl. some species known for females mounting females; they aren't truly homosexual, just seeking pleasure before the mating chore? - and how many penetrate the anus and ejaculate semen or perform fellatio, but true, all perform cunnilingus and anal licking, or am I just jealous? Mike G.L. Baillie, Exodus to Arthur: Catastrophic Encounters With Comets. Robert Ballard (1942-), Noah's Flood/ The Black Sea Expedition; the Mediterranean burst through to the Atlantic in 5K B.C.E.? Russell Banks (1940-) and Arturo Paten, The Invisible Stranger: The Patte, Maine Photographs of Arturo Patten (June 23). Brigitte Bardot (1999-), Pluto's Square (Le Carre de Pluton); criticizes the Muslim festival of Eid el-Kebir for ritually slaughtering sheep; a French court fines her 30K francs for it in June 2000 - why freedom of thought is dead in Europe? Frederick Barthelme (1943-) and Steven Barthelme (1947-), Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss (autobio.). Robert Bauval (1948-), Secret Chamber. Gary S. Becker (1930-) and Guity Nashat Becker, The Economics of Life: From Baseball to Affirmative Action to Immigration, How Real-World Issues Affect Our Everyday Life. Peter Ludwig Berger (ed.), The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics. Ira Berlin (1941-), Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in Mainland North America; 1619-1819. Marshall Berman (1940-), Adventures in Marxism. Brad Bernall and Misty Bernall, She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall; by her parents. Truman F. Bewley (1941-), Why Wages Don't Fall During a Recession; claims that mgt. tries to keep morale up by not decreasing employee compensation during times of low demand. Maeve Binchy (1940-), Aches and Pains. John Clifton Bogle (1929-), Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor (Mar. 18); NY bestseller; becomes a classic; "The mutual fund industry has been built, in a sense, on witchcraft." Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno (1932-2008), Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story (autobio.). Marcus Borg (1942-) and N. Thomas Wright, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions. George J. Borjas (1950-), Heaven's Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy; argues for U.S. immigration rates to be reduced from 1M per year to 1970s levels of 500K per year - another immigrant wants to shut the door behind him? George Botterill (1949-), The Philosophy of Psychology; explaining the relationship between common sense or folk psychology and contemporary scientific psychology, focusing on the ways in which cognitive science challenges our common sense self-image. Douglas Brinkley (1960-), The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Quest for Global Peace. Douglas Brinkley (1960-) and Stephen Ambrose (1936-2002), Witness to America. Robert Bruce (1955-), Astral Dynamics: A New Approach to Out-of-Body-Experiences (Nov. 1); s ells 50K copies. Trevor Robert Bryce (1940-), The Kingdom of the Hittites. Frederick Buechner (1926-), The Eyes of the Heart: Memoirs of the Lost and Found (autobio.). Thomas Cahill (1940-), The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels. William "Buddy" Carter, Billy Carter: A Journey Through the Shadows; his daddy William Alton "Billy" Carter III (1937-88), brother of U.S. pres. Jimmy Carter. Anthony Cave Brown (1929-2006), Oil, God and Gold: The Story of Aramco and the Saudi Kings (last book). James MacGregor Burns (1918-2014) and Georgia Jones Sorenson, Dead Center: Clinton-Gore Leadership and the Perils of Moderation; portrays them as smart enough to get elected but lacking the political courage to lead, saying that Clinton won't be regarded as a "great" president in the tradition of Washington and Lincoln, or even a "near-great" one because he pursued a centrist agenda in office; "A contradiction lay at the heart of Clinton's leadership: if he truly aspired to presidential greatness, the strategy he had chosen ensured that he would never achieve it." "The test is 'what immediately works?' - with no consideration of broader, long-term aspects." Brandi Chastain (1968-), It's Not About the Bra: Play Hard, Play Fair, and Put the Fun Back Into Competitive Sports (autobio.). Nancy Chodorow (1944-), The Power of Feelings: Personal Meaning in Psychoanalysis, Gender and Culture. Tom Clancy (1947-2013) and Gen. Chuck Horner, Every Man a Tiger: The Gulf War Air Campaign. Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), Profiles of the Future (essays); rev. of the 1962 and 1973 eds.; adds Clarke's Fourth Law: "For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert". Andrew Cockburn (1947-) and Leslie Cockburn (1952-), Saddam Hussein: An American Obsession. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), Messiah; A Bar in Brooklyn (short stories). Robert Coles (1929-), The Secular Mind. Andrei Codrescu (1946-), Ay, Cuba! A Socio-Erotic Journey; Hail Babylon! Looking for the American City at the End of the Millennium. Robert Conquest (1917-2015), Reflections on a Ravaged Century. Catherine Cookson (1906-98), My Land of the North: Memories of a Northern Childhood. Vincent Courtillot (1949-), Evolutionary Catastrophes (La Vie en catastrophies); claims that impact events are the cause of mass extinctions. Elsimar Coutinho, Is Menstruation Obsolete?; claims it has no proven benefit to those not trying to conceive a child, and recommends injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera or birth control pills. John Cornwell, Hitler's Pope; Pope Pius XII was a silent collaborator of the Final Solution? Antonio Damasio (1944-), Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain; about how the brain constructs the mind. The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. Samuel R. Delany (1942-), Times Square Red, Times Square Blue; Bread & Wine: An Erotic Tale of New York (autobio.); illustrations by Mia Wolff. Annie Dillard (1945-), For the Time Being. Earl J. Doherty (1941-), The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus; backs his thesis that Jesus never lived, and that Paul thought of him as a spiritual being executed in a spiritual realm, making him the #1 modern Jesus mythicist. Mark Doty (1953-), Firebird: A Memoir (autobio.); growing up in Memphis, Tenn. John W. Dower (1938-), Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (Pulitzer Prize) (Bancroft Prize) (Mark Lynton History Prize). Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909-2005), Management Challenges for the 21st Century. Martin Bauml Duberman (1930-), Left Out: The Politics of Exclusion: Essays, 1964-1999. Betty Jean Eadie (1942-), The Ripple Effect (Sept. 25). Martin Edmond, The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont. Masaru Emoto (1943-), Messages from Water; first in a series about how human consciousness effects water's molecular structure, esp. in water crystals. Joseph Epstein (1937-), Narcissus Leaves the Pool: Familiar Essays. Karl Evanzz, The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad. Helen E. Fisher (1945-), The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World. Frank Fitzpatrick, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: Kentucky, Texas Western and the Game That Changed American Sports; the 1966 NCAA Div. 1 basketball championship. Mick Foley (1965-), Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks; bestseller; prof. wrestler tells all. Derek Freeman (1916-2001), The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead: A Historical Analysis of Samoan Research; her work is a pretty fable based on her preconceptions? Jo Freeman (1945-) and Victoria Johnson (eds.), Waves of Protest: Social Movements Since the Sixties. Richard B. Freeman (1943-), What Workers Want. Nancy Friday (1933-), Our Looks, Our Lives: Sex, Beauty, Power and the Need to Be Seen. Thomas L. Friedman (1953-), The Lexus and the Olive Tree; NYT bestseller; claims that the world is undergoing simultaneous struggles for prosperity and development along with the desire to retain local identities and traditions; the benefits of economic integration reduce the policy changes open to govts., making war so unattractive as to be almost unthinkable?; no two countries that both have a McDonald's have ever fought a war against each other? Francis Fukuyama (1952-), The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of the Social Order. Jordi Gali (1961-), Technology, Employment, and the Business Cycle: Do Technology Shocks Explain Aggregate Fluctuations?; uses structural vector autoregressions to claim that improvements in labor productivity cause decreases in employment, contradicting New Classical models. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950-), Wonders of the African World. Peter Gay (1923-2015), Mozart. Sir Martin Gilbert (1936-2015), A History of the Twentieth Century, Vol. 2: 1933-1951; A History of the Twentieth Century, Vol 3: 1952-1999. Charles Glass (1951-), Tribes With Flags: A Dangerous Passage Through the Chaos of the Middle East. Amit Goswami, Quantum Creativity: Waking Up to Our Creative Potential. Steven Macon Greer (1955-), Extraterrestrial Contact: The Evidence and Implications. John R. Gribbin (1946-, The Little Book of Science; repudiates his "Jupiter Effect"; "I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it." Stanislav Grof (1931-), Peter Russell, and Ervin Laszlo, The Consciousness Revolution: A Transatlantic Dialogue. Holly George-Warren (ed.), The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats: The Beat Generation and American Culture. Thomas Gold, The Deep Hot Biosphere; claims that the discovery of thermophile bacteria in the Earth's crust supports the abiogenic (non-fossil) origin of petroleum. Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), Rocks of Ages; Jewish agnostic evolutionist biologist whose daddy was a Marxist claims to end the science v. religion debate with his new killer NOMA (Non-Overlapping Magisteria) concept; "The magisterium of science covers the empirical realm... the magisterium of religion extends over questions of ultimate meaning and moral value"; "Science and religion do not glower at each other... [but] interdigitate in patterns of complex fingering, and at every fractal scale of self-similiarity" - is that like mental masturbation? Brian Greene (1963-), The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Pedro Jose Greer Jr. (1956-), Waking Up in America: How One Doctor Brings Hope to Those Who Need It Most; son of Cuban immigrants becomes physican helping thousands of homeless in Miami-Dade County, Fla. at the Camillus Health Concern. Sir Alec Guinness (1914-2000), A Positively Final Appearance (autobio.). Peter Guralnick (1943-), Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley; pt. 2 of a bio. of Elvis (1994). Irene Gut (1918-2003), In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer (autobio.); bestseller about how she saved 12 Polish Jews in WWII. David Halberstam (1934-2007), The Children; about the 1959-62 Nashville Student Movement; Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made. Grace Elizabeth Hale, Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the South, 1890-1940. Geoffrey H. Hartman (1929-), A Critic's Journey. Earl Hamner Jr. (1923-2016), The Avocado Drive Zoo (autobio.); by the creator of "The Waltons". Victor Davis Hanson (1953-), The Wars of the Ancient Greeks and the Invention of Western Military Culture; The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny. Jane Hawking, Music to Move the Stars (autobio.); ex-wife of physicist Stephen Hawking. William Least Heat-Moon (1939-), River Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America. Peter Hitchens (1951-), The Abolition of Britain. Edward Hoagland (1932-), Tigers & Ice. Michael Holroyd (1935-), Basil Street Blues. David Joel Horowitz (1939-), Hating Whitey and Other Progressive Causes. Karen Houppert, The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmentionable Taboo: Menstruation; "While 70 percent of American women use tampons, only 100 million of the world's 1.7 billion menstruating women do. In Asia and Latin America, two of the most populous parts of the world, only 3 percent of all women use tampons." Mark Huband, Warriors of the Prophet: The Struggle for Islam; the new Muslim jihadists such as Osama bin Laden have less to do with religious imperialism than local politics and are not into global domination? Samuel P. Huntington (1927-2008), The Lonely Superpower; "The circle of governments who see their interests coinciding with American interests is shrinking. This is manifest, among other ways, in the central lineup among the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council"; "In the multipolar world of the 21st century, the major powers will inevitably compete, clash, and coalesce with each other in various permutations and combinations. Such a world, however, will lack the tension and conflict between the superpower and the major regional powers that are the defining characteristic of a uni-multipolar world. For that reason, the United States could find life as a major power in a multipolar world less demanding, less contentious, and more rewarding than it was as the world's only superpower." David Icke (1952-), The Biggest Secret: The Book That Will Change the World; claims the existence of Reptilians (Reptoids) (Reptiloids) (Draconians) who are infiltrating the Earth. Peter Jennings (1938-2005) and Todd Brewster, The Century. Joyce Johnson (1935-), Minor Characters: A Young Woman's Coming-of-Age in the Beat Orbit of Jack Kerouac (autobio.). Paul Johnson, A History of the American People; the story of America is "essentially one of difficulties being overcome by intelligence and skill, by faith and strength of purpose, by courage and persistence"; "The creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures. No other national story holds such tremendous lessons, for the American people themselves and for the rest of mankind." Walter Johnson Jr. (1966-), Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market (Frederick Jackson Turner Prize); establishes his rep. Efraim Karsh (1953-) and Inari Rautsi-Karsh, Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789-1922; reverses the usual narrative about the Ottoman Empire being a puppet of the Euro Great Powers in the 19th cent., with the soundbyte: "Great-power influences, however potent, have played a secondary role, constituting neither the primary force behind the region's political development nor the main cause of its notorious volatility." Montague Vernon Keen (1925-2004), The Scole Report; investigator for the Society for Psychical Research claims that mediums "had established contact with a 'team' of spirit communicators comprising, or in contact with, a number of former scientists"; after he passes in Jan. 2004, his widow Veronica Keen begins channeling messages from him while running the Montague Keen Foundation. Morton Keller (1929-) (ed.), Taking Stock: American Government in the 20th Century. David Michael Kennedy (1941-), Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (May 6) (Pulitzer Prize). Jane Kenyon (1947-95), A Hundred White Daffodils: Essays, Interviews, the Akhmatova Translations, Newspaper Columns, and One Poem; the poet laureate of N.H. Edward Klein (1937-), Just Jackie: Her Private Years. Naomi Klein (1970-), No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (Dec.); NYT bestseller (1M copies); after spending her teenage years in shopping malls obsessed with designer labels, she flops and attacks the consumer culture, globalization and large corps., pissing-off Nike and causing them to pub. a point-by-point response; followed by "Fences and Windows" (2002). Michael Korda (1933-), Another Life (autobio.); claims that his friend Graham Greene attributed his failure to be awarded a Nobel Lit. Prize to an anti-Catholic judge "who seemed determined to outlive him". Alan Charles Kors (1943-) and Harvey Alen Silverglate (1942-), The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty On America's Campuses; how U.S. universities are trampling freedom of speech and becoming PC enclaves and enemies of free society, causing them to found the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) in Philly this year; "It seems now that the place where you see the most obvious censorship is on college campuses - the precise place where you would expect to see the least." (Kors) Joseph Morgan Kousser (1943-), Colorblind Injustice: Minority Voting Rights and the Undoing of the Second Reconstruction. Maxine Kumin (1925-2014), Inside the Halo and Beyond: The Anatomy of a Recovery; her July 1998 riding accident that broke her neck. Ray Kurzweil (1948-), The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence; it will be around 2019 when sand brains beat us? - yawn? Anne Lamott (1954-), Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith; bestseller (450K copies) about a boozed-out druggie who gets converted at St. Andrew's Presbyterian in Marin City, Calif., then tells God "All right, you can come in"; "I try to carry this candle around for regular people about Christ and counter the dogma of the Christian right" - the peoples' answer to Bush? Philip R. Lane (1969-) and Aaron Tornell (1969-), The Voracity Effect; how a shock, e.g. a trade windfall perversely generates a more-than-proportionate increase in fiscal redistribution and reduces growth, which is ameliorated by diluting the concentration of power. Erik Larson (1954-), Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History. Brad Leithauser (ed.), No Other Book: Selected Essays by Randall Jarrell. Michael Lewis (1960-), The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story; Silicon Valley and its obsession with innovation. Desmond Llewelyn (1914-99), Q: The Biography of Desmond Llewelyn. Graham Lord (1943-), Dick Francis: A Racing Life. John Edward Mack (1929-2004), Passport to the Cosmos: Human Transformation and Alien Encounters. Bill Mandel (1917-2016), Saying No to Power (autobio.); intro. by Howard Zinn. Eric S. Margolis (1947-), War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Tibet. Russell Martin (1936-), Beethoven's Hair; a lock of the maestro's hair journeys from his head to the hands of Americans. Bobbie Ann Mason (1940-), Clear Springs: A Memoir. Ali al-Amin Mazrui (1933-) et al. (eds.), The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities. John McCain (1936-), Faith of My Fathers (autobio.) (Aug.); bestseller; filmed in 2005. Frank McCourt (1930-2009), 'Tis: A Memoir; sequel to "Angela's Ashes". Malachy McCourt, A Monk Swimming (autobio.); brother of Frank McCourt (1930-2009). Carson McCullers (1917-67), Illumination and Night Glare (autobio.) (posth.) Terence McKenna (1946-2000), Food of the Gods: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution; claims that Homo sapiens started as a "stoned ape" when Homo erectus began consuming the psychedelic mushroom Psilocbe cubensis about 100K B.C.E. Richard L. Meehan, Ignatius Donnelly and the End of the World. Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Stanley Middleton at Eighty (autobio.). Earl Mills, Dorothy Dandrige: An Intimate Biography; by her mgr. Ruth Montgomery (1912-2001), The World to Come: The Guides' Long-Awaited Predictions for the Dawning Age. Raymond Moody (1944-), The Last Laugh: A New Philosophy of Near-Death Experiences, Apparitions, and the Paranormal. Tim Moore (1964-), Frost on My Moustache: The Arctic Exploits of a Lord and a Loafer; tries to copy Lord Dufferin (1826-1902), but ends up emulating his butler. Sheridan Morley (1941-2007), Judy Garland: Beyond the Rainbow; actress-singer Judy Garland (1922-69). Benny Morris (1948-), Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001. Edmund Morris (1940-), Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan; Reagan's official biographer is so flummoxed by a "great president" who is also "an apparent airhead" that he creates an imaginary alter ego to narrate a hodgepodge of fact and fiction? Richard Ward Morris (1939-2003), The Universe, the Eleventh Dimension, and Everything: What We Know and How We Know It. Andrew Morton (1953-), Monica's Story. Edna O'Brien (1930-), James Joyce. Suze Orman (1951-), You Earned It Don't Lose It; The Courage to Be Rich. Robin Orr (1909-2006), Musical Chairs (autobio.). P.J. O'Rourke (1947-), Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics. David M. Oshinsky (1944-), Lewis L. Gould, and Jean R. Soderlund, American Passages: History of the American People (2 vols.). Richard N. Ostling (1940-) and Joan K. Ostling (1939-2009), Mormon America: The Power and the Promise (rev. ed. 2007); introduces gen. readers to the LDS Church, with 10M members, $30B in assets, and $6B/year in income, mainly from tithes; "It was from the beginning optimistic and upbeat, a reaction against the establishment New England Calvinism.... It was a religious version of the American dream: Everyman presented with unlimited potential"; "This is a real faith and must be understood in those terms, without caricature." Michael Parenti (1933-), History as Mystery. Jay Parini, Robert Frost: A Life. Ralph Peters (1952-), Fighting for the Future: Will America Triumph? Tom Peters (1942-) The Brand You50, The Project50 andThe Professional Service Firm50. Jordan Peterson (1962-), Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief; examines the "structure of systems of belief and the role those systems play in the regulation of emotion" using "multiple academic fields to show that connecting myths and beliefs with science is essential to fully understand how people make meaning"; an attempt to "explain the meaning of history"; makes him a star. Kevin Phillips (1940-), The Cousins' Wars: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America. Clifford Pickover, Time: A traveller's Guide. Steven Pinker (1954-), Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language (Oct. 27); claims that language is an innate evolutionary pschological adaptation. Daniel Pipes (1949-), Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From (May 1); knocks "conspiracism" as the product of misguided thinking often connected with anti-Semitism, tracing it all back to the First Crusade in 1095-9. Richard Pipes (1923-2018), Property and Freedom: The Story of How Through the Centuries Private Ownership Has Promoted Liberty and the Rule of Law. Kenneth Pomeranz (1958-), The World that Trade Created: Society, Culture and the World Economy, 1400 to the Present. Reynolds Price (1933-), Letter to a Man in the Fire: Does God Exist and Does He Care?; A Singular Family: Rosacoke and Her Kin. Daniel Quinn (1935-), Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure; promotes New Tribalism. John Rawls (1921-2002), The Law of Peoples; "How the content of a Law of Peoples might be developed out of a liberal idea of justice similar to, but more general than, the idea I call justice as fairness". Richard Rhodes (1937-), Why They Kill: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist; Lonnie Athens. Richard Rhodes (1937-) (ed.), Visions of Technology: A Century of Vital Debate About Machines, Systems, and the Human World. Sir Matt Ridley (1958-), Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. Andrew Roberts (1963-), Salisbury: Victorian Titan. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) (1972-) (with Joe Layden), The Rock Says: The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment. Conrad Russell (1937-2004), An Intelligent Person's Guide to Liberalism. Peter Russell (1946-), Stanislav Grof, and Ervin Laszlo, The Consciousness Revolution. Acharya S (D.M. Murdock) (1960-2015), The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold; claims that the Christ story is a Roman fraud based on pagan myths; "Early Christian history [appears] to be largely mythical, by sorting through available historical and archaeological data." Edward Wadie Said (1935-2003), Out of Place (autobio.); a Christian Palestinian in the U.S. Vincent J. Salandria (1926-), Mystery: An Anthology of Essays on the Assassination of JFK; claims that the "nat. security state" killed him to perpetuate the Cold War. Dan Savage (1964-), The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant; memoir about a gay couple adopting baby son D.J. Simon Schama (1945-), Rembrandt's Eyes; contrasts Rembrandt van Rijn and Peter Paul Rubens. Orville Hickok Schell (1940-) and David Shambaugh (eds.), The China Reader: The Reform Years Stacy Schiff (1961-), Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) (Pulitzer Prize). Lawrence Schiller (1936-), Perfect Murder, Perfect Town; about the JonBenet Ramsey case and the Communist Repub. of Boulder, Colo.. Alice Sebold (1963-), Lucky: A Memoir; her 1981 rape as a freshman at Syracuse U. after which a policeman tells her she is you know what because she wasn't killed; she later recognizes the rapist on the campus and kills, er, tells mommy, er, turns him in. Israel Shahak (1933-2001) and Norton Mezvinsky, Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel; likens Israeli intolerance and hatred to Nazism. Carl Shapiro (1955-) and Hal R. Varian (1947-), Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy; applies information economics to the Internet, incl. how to save Encyclopaedia Britannica from Wikipedia; getting Varian hired by Google in 2002, after which he works up to chief economist. Gail Sheehy (1937-), Hillary's Choice; bio. of Hillary Clinton. Rupert Sheldrake (1942-), Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals; about telepathy. Alan Sheridan (1934-), Andre Gide: A life in the Present. Maria Shriver (1955-), What's Heaven? Tom Shroder (1954-), Old Souls: Scientific Evidence from Children Who Remember Previous Lives; about the 40-year research of Canadian psychologist Ian Stevenson (1918-2007). Bernie S. Siegel, Prescriptions for Living. Peter Singer (1946-), A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution, and Cooperation; by a leftist Australian Jewish philosopher who was appointed in 1998 to a chair at Princeton, drawing demonstrations and protests from right-wingers. Moneta Sleet Jr. (1926-96), Special Moments in African American History: The Photographs of Moneta Sleet Jr. 1955-96 (posth.). Robert Sobel (1931-99), When Giants Stumble: Classic Business Blunders and How to Avoid Them. George Stephanopoulos (1961-), All Too Human; insider tells of the Clinton admin. Jon Stewart, Naked Pictures of Famous People (Sept. 30). Gloria Stuart (1910-2010), I Just Kept Hoping (autobio.). Ray Suarez, The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration, 1966-1999. Harry G. Summers Jr. (1932-99), Korean War Almanac; The Vietnam War Almanac; "One of the great tragedies of the Vietnam War is that although American armed forces defeated the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong in every major battle, the United States still suffered the greatest defeat in its history. A clue to how this could happen was provided by Sun Tzu... 'If you know... not the enemy,' he wrote, 'for every victory gained, you will suffer a defeat'." Cass R. Sunstein (1954-) and Stephen Holmes, The Cost of Rights. Baylis Thomas, How Israel Was Won: A Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Oct. 25); paints the Jews as the bad guys and the Arabs as the good guys. David Toop (1949-), Exotica: Fabricated Soundscapes in a Real World. Joan Veon (1949-2010), Global Straitjacket; the evil sinister coming OWG; "My grave concern is that with the advent of Y2K the Christian community - at the time in history when it should 'stand in THE GAP' - will be unwittingly processed through the Hegelian Dialectic into world government without even realizing it." Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian. Michael Walzer (1935-), Reason, Politics, and Passion. William W. Warner (1920-), Into the Porcupine and Other Odysseys. Charles Weldon, Tragedy in Paradise: A Country Doctor at War in Laos; his USAID years in 1963-74. Mark J. White, The Kennedys and Cuba: The Declassified Documentary History; shows that JFK approved a probe in Nov. 1963 to see if relations with Castro could be improved. Stuart Wilde (1946-) and Leon Nacson, Simply Wilde: Discover the Wisdom That Is. Garry Wills (1934-), A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government; Saint Augustine (5 vols.) (1999-2004). Andrew Norman Wilson (1950-), God's Funeral: The Decline of Faith in Western Civilization. James Wood (1965-), The Broken Estate: Essays on Literature and Belief; "The gentle request to believe is what makes fiction so moving". Robin Wood (1931-2009), The Wings of the Dove: Henry James in the 1990s. Bob Woodward (1943-), Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate. Howard Zinn (1922-2010), The Future of History: Interviews with David Barsamian. Art: Maurizio Cattelan, The Twentieth Century. Lucian Freud (1922-), After Cezanne (1999-2000); unusual shape makes it kinky-hot?; bought by the Nat. Gallery of Australia for $7.4M. Damien Hirst (1965-), Beautiful Axe, Slash, Gosh Painting; glossy house paint on canvas; Hymn; 20 ft. scultpure based on his son Connor's toy soldier. Lani Irwin, The Red Wall. Jasper Johns (1930-), Catenary (Jacob's Ladder). Roberto Matta (1911-2002), Blanche ou Fleur. Larry Rivers (1923-2002), Fred and Ginger. Jenny Saville (1970-), Hem; a towering woman. Music: 311, Soundsystem (album #5) (Oct. 12) (#9 in the U.S.); incl. Come Original, Flowing. 98 Degrees, This Christmas (album) (Oct. 19). Bryan Adams (1959-), The Best of Me (album). Christina Aguilera (1980-), Christina Aguilera (album) (debut) (Aug. 24) (#1 in the U.S., #14 in the U.K.) (8.2M copies); incl. Genie in a Bottle (#1 in the U.S.), What a Girl Wants (#1 in the U.S.), Come On Over Baby (All I Want is You) (#1 in the U.S.). Amon Amarth, The Avenger (Sept. 2); incl. Bleed for Ancient Gods, Metalwrath. Tori Amos (1963-), To Venus and Back (album #5) (double album) (Sept. 21) (#12 in the U.S., #22 in the U.K.); incl. Bliss (#91 in the U.S.), 1000 Oceans (#22 in the U.S.), Glory of the 80s (#46 in the U.K.), Concertina (#48 in the U.S.). Skunk Anansie, Post Orgasmic Chill (album #3) (Mar. 22); last album before they break up in 2001; incl. Charlie Big Potato, Lately, Secretly, You'll Follow Me Down. Fiona Apple (1977-), When the Pawn... (album #2) (Nov. 9); incl. Fast As You Can (#20 in the U.S., #40 in the U.K.), Limp, Paper Bag. Backstreet Boys, Millennium (May 18) (album #3) (#1 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.) (40M copies); incl. I Want It That Way, Larger Than Life, Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely. Beck (1970-), Midnite Vultures (album) (Nov. 23); incl. Sexx Laws, Nicotine and Gravy, Mixed Bizness. Lou Bega (1975-), A Little Bit of Mambo (album); incl. Mambo No. 5, 1+1=2, Mambo Mambo. The Notorious B.I.G. (1972-97), Born Again (album) (Dec. 7) (posth.) (#1 in the U.S.); incl. Dead Wrong (#39 in the U.S.). Limp Bizkit, Significant Other (album #2) (June 22); sells 14M copies; incl. My Generation, Nookie, Break Stuff, Re-Arranged, N2 Gether Now, Nobody Like You; Fred Durst (vocals), Sam Rivers (bass), John Otto (drums), DJ Letal (turntables). Clint Black (1962-) and Lisa Hartman-Black (1956-), When I Said I Do. Mary J. Blige (1971-), Mary (album #4) (Aug. 17) (#2 in the U.S.) (2M copies); incl. All That I Can Say, Deep Inside, Your Child, Give Me You; As (w/George Michael). Third Eye Blind, Blue (albm #2) (Nov. 23) (#40 in the U.S.) (1.25M copies); incl. Anything, Never Let You Go, Ten Days Late, Deep Inside of You; too bad, on Jan. 25, 2000 Cadogan is fired. Blink-182, Enema of the State (album #2) (June 1) (#9 in the U.S.) (15M copies); first with drummer Travis Landon Barker (1975-); cover features porn star Janine Lindemulder in a nurse uniform; incl. What's My Age Again? (#58 in the U.S.), All the Small Things (#6 in the U.S.), Adam's Song (#101 in the U.S.). Moody Blues, Strange Times (album #17) (Aug. 17); last with Ray Thomas; incl. English Sunset. Andrea Bocelli (1958-), Sacred Arias (album) (5M copies) (bestselling classical musical album until ?). David Bowie (1947-2016), 'hours...' (album). Beastie Boys, The Sounds of Silence (album); incl. Alive; "Created a monster with these rhymes I write, goatee metal rap please say goodnight". Pet Shop Boys, Nightlife (album #11) (Oct. 11); sells 1.2M copies; I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More, You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk, In Denial (with Kylie Minogue), New York City Boy. Garth Brooks (1962-), Garth Brooks in... The Life of Chris Gaines (album #8); sells a paltry 2M copies after his planned film "The Lamb", where he plays a rock singer doesn't make it with his country music fans, after which he retires on Oct. 26, 2000 after selling 100M albums in the U.S.; on Oct. 9, 2000 he divores his wife, and on Dec. 10, 2005 marries Trisha Yearwood (until ?); incl. Lost in You (his first U.S. top 40 pop single). Jimmy Buffett (1946-), Beach House on the Moon (album #24) (May 24). Echo and the Bunnymen, What Are You Going to Do With You Life? (album #8) (Apr. 16) (#21 in the U.K.); last with Les Pattinson; incl. Rust, Get in the Car. Chris de Burgh (1948-), Quiet Revolution (album #12). Bush, The Science of Things (album #3) (Oct. 26) (#11 in the U.S.); incl. The Chemicals Between Us, Warm Machine, Letting the Cables Sleep. Mariah Carey (1969-), Rainbow (album #7) (Nov. 2) (#2 in the U.S., #8 in the U.K.) (10M copies); incl. Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme) (#28 in the U.S.), Against All Odds (#1 in the U.K.), Heartbreaker (w/Jay-Z) (#1 in the U.S., #5 in the U.K.), Crybaby (w/Snoop Dogg). June Carter Cash (1929-2003), Press On (album); incl. The Far Side Banks of Jordan (w/Johnny Cash). Alice in Chains, Music Bank (boxed set); incl. Get Born Again, Died. Kenny Chesney (1968-), Everywhere We Go (album #5) (Mar. 9) (#5 country) (#51 in the U.S.) (2M copies); incl. How Forever Feels (#1 country) (#27 in the U.S.), You Had Me from Hello (#1 country) (#34 in the U.S.), and She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy (#11 country) (#66 in the U.S.). Chic, Live at the Budokan (album); Apr. 17, 1996 concert in Tokyo; Bernard Edwards dies the next day of pneumonia. Destiny's Child, The Writing's on the Wall (album #2) (July 27) (#5 in the U.S.) (16M copies); incl. Bills, Bills, Bills, Say My Name, Jumpin, Jumpin, Bug a Boo. Metal Church, Masterpeace (album #6); the original members return; incl. Sleeps with Thunder. Joe Cocker (1944-2014), No Ordinary World (album #17). Natalie Cole (1950-2015) and the London Symphony Orchestra, The Magic of Christmas (album) (Sept. 21) (#157 in the U.S.) (#84 R&B); incl. The Christmas Song (w/daddy Nat King Cole). Phil Collins (1951-), You'll Be My Heart; from the Disney film "Tarzan". Sean Combs (Puffy Daddy) (1969-), Forever (album #2) (Aug. 24) (#2 in the U.S.); incl. Satisfy You (w/R. Kelly). Elvis Costello (1954-) and Bill Frisell (1951-, The Sweetest Punch (album) (Sept. 21); incl. The Sweetest Punch. Counting Crows, This Desert Life (album #3) (Nov. 1) (#8 in the U.S., #19 in the U.K.); cover by Dave McKean; incl. Colorblind, Hanginaround (#5 in the U.S.), Mrs. Potter's Lullaby (#40 in the U.S.). The Cranberries, Bury the Hatchet (album #4) (Apr. 19); first after 1996 hiatus; incl. Promises (her misgivings about Irish divorces). Creed, Human Clay (album #2) (Sept. 28) (#1 in the U.S., #29 in the U.K.) (12M copies); incl. Higher, What If, With Arms Wide Open, Are You Ready?. King Crimson, Cirkus: The Young Persons's Guide to King Crimson (album #20) (May 25); Live in Mexico City (album #21); The ProjeKcts (album #22) (Oct. 26). Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Looking Forward (album) (Oct. 26). Black Crowes, By Your Side (album). Motley Crue, Supersonic and Demonic Relics (album) (June 29); Live: Entertainment or Death (album) (Nov. 23) (#133 in the U.S.). Culture Club, Don't Mind If I Do (album) (Dec. 14); first album since 1986; too bad, it flops; incl. I Just Wanna Be Loved, Your Kisses Are Charity (with Dolly Parton), Cold Shoulder. Taylor Dayne (1962-), Planet Love; from "Flawless". The Grateful Dead, Dick's Picks Vol. 13 (album) (Mar.); recorded on May 6, 1981 in Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, N.Y.; Dick's Picks Vol. 14 (album) (June); recorded on Dec. 2, 1973 in Boston; Dick's Picks Vol. 15 (album) (Oct.); recorded on Sept. 3, 1977 in Englishtown, N.J.; So Many Roads (boxed set) (Nov. 7). Mos Def (1973-), Black on Both Sides (album) (solo debut) (Oct. 12) (#25 in the U.S.); sells 500K copies; incl. Ms. Fat Booty. Hamza El Din (1929-2006), A Wish (album #12) (last). Celine Dion (1968-), All the Way... A Decade of Song (album #6) (Nov. 12); sells 20M copies; goes on a 2-year hiatus to have a baby. Snoop Dogg (1971-), No Limit Top Dogg (album #4) (May 11) (#2 in the U.S.); incl. Bitch Please. Dokken, Erase the Slate (album #7) (June 15); features Winger guitarist Reb Beach. 3 Doors Down, The Better Life (album) (debut) (Feb. 8) (6M copies); from Escatawpa, Miss., incl. Brad Arnold (vocals), Matt Roberts (1978-2016) (guitar), Todd Harrell (bass), Chris Henderson (guitar), and Greg Upchurch (drums); incl. Kryptonite (Feb. 5), Loser, Duck and Run, Be Like That. Crash Test Dummies, Give Yourself a Hand (album) (Mar. 23); features new singer Ellen Reid; incl. Give Yourself a Hand. Duran Duran, Strange Behaviour (album) (Mar. 23). Electronic, Twisted Tenderness (album #3) (Apr. 17); incl. Prodigal Son. Eminem (1972-), The Slim Shady LP (album) (May); incl. 97 Bonnie and Clyde, Guilty Conscience. Public Enemy, There's a Poison Goin' On (album #7) (July 20). Melissa Etheridge (1961-), Breakdown (album) (Oct. 5); incl. Angels Would Fall, Scarecrow. Eurythmics, Peace (album #9) (Oct. 9); first studio album since 1989; incl. I Saved the World Today, 17 Again. Eve (1978-), Ruff Ryders' First Lady (album) (debut). Marianne Faithfull (1946-), Vagabond Ways (album). Feist (1976-), Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down) (album) (debut) (Aug. 24); incl. Monarch, It's Cool to Love Your Family. Save Ferris, Modified (album) (Oct.). Foo Fighters, There is Nothing Left to Lose (album #3) (Nov. 2); first with drummer Oliver Taylor Hawkins (1972-); incl. Generator, Learn to Fly. Filter, Title of Record (album #2) (Aug. 24) (1M copies); incl. Take a Picture, Welcome to the Fold, and The Best Things. Dan Fogelberg (1951-2007), The First Christmas Morning (album). Foghat, King Biscuit Flower Hour (album) (May). Kenny G (1956-), Faith: A Holiday Album (album #10) (Nov. 16) (#6 in the U.S.) (#4 R&B) (3M copies). Secret Garden, Dawn of a New Century (album #3) (Apr. 20); incl. Dawn of a New Century. Montgomery Gentry, Tattoos & Scars (album) (debut) (Apr. 6); Ky. vocalists Gerald Edward "Eddie" Montgomery (1963-) and Troy Gentry (1967-2017); incl. Hillbilly Shoes (#13 country), Lonely and Gone (#5 country). Everything But the Girl, Temperamental (album #11) (Sept. 28). Indigo Girls, Come On Now Social (album #7) (Sept. 28); incl. Faye Tucker. Lamb of God, Burn the Priest (album) (debut) (Apr. 13); from Richmond, Va., incl. David Randall Pierre "Randy" Blythe (1971-) (vocals), Abe Spear (guitar), Mark Duane Morton (1972-) (guitar), John Steven Campbell (1972-) (bass), William M. "Willie" Adler (1976-) (guitar), and Christopher James "Chris" Adler (1972-) (drums); incl. Goatfish. Macy Gray (1967-), On How Life Is (album) (debut) (July 5); her raspy voice evokes a combo of Billie Holiday and Betty Davis?; incl. I Try, Still, Why Didn't You Call Me. Nina Hagen (1955-), Om Namah Shivay (album #11) (Oct. 29). Emmylou Harris (1947-), Dolly Parton (1946-), Linda Ronstadt (1946-), Trio 2 (album). Beth Hart (1972-), Screamin' for My Supper (album #2) (#143 in the U.S.); incl. LA Song (Out of This Town) (featured in the final season of "Beverly Hills, 90210"). Sophie Ballantine Hawkins (1967-), Timbre (album #3) (July 20); incl. The Darkest Childe, Help Me Breathe. Faith Hill (1967-), Breathe (album); incl. Breathe, The Way You Love Me, Let's Make Love (with Tim McGraw). Her Space Holiday, The Astronauts Are Sleeping, Vols. 1&2 (album). Crowded House, Afterglow (album) (May). Incubus, Make Yourself (album #3) (Oct. 26) (#47 in the U.S.) (3.1M copies); their breakthrough album; incl. Drive (#1 in the U.S.), Stellar (#2 in the U.S.), Pardon Me (#3 in the U.S.). David Ippolito, Just a Thought for Christmas (album #3). Alan Jackson (1958-), Under the Influence (album). Luscious Jackson, Electric Honey (album #4) (last album) (June 29); incl. Ladyfingers. Jamiroquai, Synkronized (album #4) (June 14); incl. Canned Heat, King for a Day (about ex-bass player Stuart Zender). Jay-Z (1969-), Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter (album #4) (Dec. 28); sells 3M copies; incl. Jigga My Nigga, Girl's Best Friend, Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up), Big Pimpin'. Flotsam and Jetsam, Unnatural Selection (album #7) (Jan. 26). Jimmy Eat World, Clarity (album #3) (Feb. 23); helps found emo rock; incl. Clarity, Blister, Lucky Denver Mint (used in the Drew Barrymore comedy film "Never Been Kissed"). Elton John (1947-), Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida (album) (Mar. 23); incl. Written in the Stars; The Muse Soundtrack (album) (Aug. 24). Ronan Keating (1977-), When You Say Nothing at All (#1 in the U.K.); from the film "Notting Hill". Toby Keith (1961-), How Do You Like Me Now (album); incl. How Do You Like Me Now. Rilo Kiley, Rilo Kiley (Initial Friend EP) (album) (debut); from Los Angeles, Calif., incl. Jenny Diane Lewis (1976) and Blake Sennett (Swendson) (1973-). Korn, Issues (album #4) (Nov. 14) (#1 in the U.S.); sells 11M copies; incl. Falling Away from Me, Make Me Bad, Somebody Someone, Trash. Diana Krall (1964-), When I Look In Your Eyes. Def Leppard, Euphoria (album #7) (June 8); incl. Promises. L7, Slap-Happy (album #6) (last album) (Aug. 24); incl. On My Rockin' Machine, Freeway, Mantra Down. Flaming Lips, The Soft Bulletin (album #9) (May 17); Race for the Prize, Waitin' for a Superman. Jennifer Lopez (1969-), On the 6 (album) (debut) (June 1) (#8 in the U.S.) (7M copies); title refers to Subway Line No. 6, which she commuted on from Manhattan to the Bronx; incl. If You Had My Love, Waiting for Tonight, Feelin' So Good, No Me Ames (w/Marc Anthony). Baz Luhrmann (1962-), The Sunscreen Song (Everybody's Free [To Wear Sunscreen]); based on the 1997 essay by Mary Schmich. Rage Against the Machine, The Battle of Los Angeles (album #3) (Nov. 2); incl. Calm Like a Bomb, Sleep Now in the Fire, Guerrilla Radio, No Shelter; The Matrix Soundtrack (album); incl. Wake Up ("Movements come and movements go/ Leaders speak, movements cease/ When their heads are flown/ 'Cause all these punks/ Got bullets in their heads/ Departments of police, the judges, the fedsNetworks at work, keepin' people calm/ You know they went after King/ When he spoke out on Vietnam/ He turned the power to the have-nots/ And then came the shot." Ricky Martin (1971-), Ricky Martin (album #5) (May 11)(#1 in the U.S., #2 in the U.K.) (20M copies); incl. Livin' la Vida Loca (#1 in the U.S.), Be Careful (w/Madonna). Richard Maltby Jr. (1937-), Fosse (musical); 2nd musical revue to win a Tony for best musical after his "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1978). 10,000 Maniacs, The Earth Pressed Flat (album). Bob Marley (1945-81), Rock to the Rock (album) (posth.); Chant Down Babylon (album) (Nov. 16). John Mayer (1977-), Inside Wants Out (album) (debut) (Sept. 22); incl. No Such Thing, Neon. Martina McBride (1966-), Emotion (album #5) (Sept. 14) (3M copies) (#3 country) (#19 in the U.S.); incl. I Love You (#1 country) (#24 in the U.S.), Love's the Only House (#3 country) (#42 in the U.S.). Paul McCartney (1942-), Run Devil Run (album #11) (Oct. 4) (#27 in the U.S., #12 in the U.K.); first album released after Linda McCartney's 1998 death; performs on Dec. 14 at the Cavern Club to publicize it; Working Classical (album) (Nov. 1). Reba McEntire (1955-), The Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection (album #25) (Sept. 21); So Good Together (album #26) (Nov. 23); incl. What Do You Say. Tim McGraw (1967-), A Place in the Sun (album); incl. Please Remember Me, Something Like That, My Best Friend. Mike + the Mechanics, Mike & the Mechanics (M6) (album #5); last with Paul Young. Megadeth, Risk (album #8) (Aug. 31) (#16 in the U.S.); last with Marty Friedman; first with Jimmy DeGrasso (drums); incl. Crush 'Em (#6 in the U.S.), Breadline (#6 in the U.S.), Insomnia (#26 in the U.S.). John Mellencamp (1951-), Rough Harvest (album) (Aug. 17); incl. Love and Happiness. Natalie Merchant (1963-), Live in Concert (album). Moby (1965-), Play (album #6) (May 17); first album to have all of its tracks commercially licensed; sells 10M copies; incl. Honey, Find My Baby, Porcelain, Run On. Moonspell, The Butterfly Effect (album #4); incl. Lustmord. Van Morrison (1945-), Back On Top (album #27) (Mar. 9); incl. Back on Top, Precious Time, The Philosopher's Stone. Motorhead, Everything Louder Than Everyone Else (album) (Mar. 9). Modest Mouse, Night on the Sun (EP). Smash Mouth, Astro Lounge (album #2) (June 8); incl. All Star (#4 in the U.S.) (used in the 2001 film "Shrek"). Michael Martin Murphey (1945-), Acoustic Christmas Carols (album #22) (Sept. 14). Dropkick Murphys, The Gang's All Here (album #2) (Mar. 9); first with vocalist Al Barr; 10 Years of Service. Dropkick Murphys and Agnostic, Unity (EP) (Dec.). Nine Inch Nails, The Fragile (album #3) (Sept. 21) (#1 in the U.S.) (1M copies); incl. The Day the World Went Away, We're in This Together, Into the Void, Starfuckers Inc. Mr. Oizo (Quentin Dupieux) (1974-), Flat Beat. Brad Paisley (1972-), Who Needs Pictures (album) (debut) (#13 country) (#102 in the U.S.); incl. Who Needs Pictures (#12 country) (#65 in the U.S.), We Danced (#1 country) (#29 in the U.S.), He Didn't Have to Be (#1 country) (#30 in the U.S.), Me Neither (#18 country) (#85 in the U.S.). Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication (album #7) (June 8) (#3 in the U.S., #5 in the U.K.); first album after a 6-year heroin hiatus; sells 15M copies; incl. Californication (#69 in the U.S., #16 in the U.K.), Scar Tissue (#9 in the U.S., #15 in the U.S.), Otherside (#14 in the U.S., #33 in the U.K.), Around the World (#35 in the U.K.). Tom Petty (1950-2017) and The Heartbreakers, Echo (album) (Apr. 13); incl. Room at the Top, Free Girl Now. Stone Temple Pilots, No. 4 (album #4) (Oct. 26) (#6 in the U.S.); incl. Down, Sour Girl (#78 in the U.S.). Iggy Pop (1947-), Avenue B (album) (Sept. 14); incl. Corruption, Shakin' All Over. Insane Clown Posse, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers (May 25) (album). Pretenders, Viva el Amor (album #7) (June 22); incl. Popstar and Human. Prince (1958-2016), Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (album); incl. "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold", "So Far So Pleased" (with Gwen Stefani). Propellerheads, Take California and Party. Queensryche, Q2K (album #8) (Sept. 14). Rammstein, Live Aus Berlin (album) (Aug. 31). Ratt, Ratt (album #6) (July 6); next album in 2010. Guns N'Roses, Oh My God; used in the film "End of Days". Roxette, Have a Nice Day (album) (Mar. 9); Wish I Could Fly (#11 in the U.K.). Santana featuring Rob Thomas, Supernatural (album) (27M copies); incl. Smooth. Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-), Energy Flow. Scorpions, Eye II Eye (album) (June 22); incl. Mysterious, To Be No. 1; the video features a Monica Lewinsky lookalike. Jessica Simpson (1980-), Sweet Kisses (album) (debut) (Nov. 23) (#25 in the U.S., #36 in the U.K.) (4M copies worldwide, incl. 2M in the U.S.); incl. I Wanna Love You Forever, Where You Are (w/Nick Lachey). Eve 6, Horrorscope (album); incl. Promise, On the Roof Again, Here's to the Night; Max Collins (vocals, bass), Jon Siebels (guitar), Tony Fagenson (drums). Lynyrd Skynyrd, Edge of Forever (album #9) (Aug. 10). Sleater-Kinney, The Hot Rock (album #4) (Feb. 23); incl. Hot Rock, Get Up, The Size of Our Love. The Smithereens, God Save the Smithereens (album) (Oct. 19); based on the world ending at the end of the year; incl. Gloomy Sunday. Information Society, InSoc Recombinant (album). Collective Soul, Dosage (album #4) (Feb. 9) (#21 in the U.S.); incl. Heavy, Tremble for My Beloved (used in the opening sequence of the 2008 film "Twilight"), Run. Britney Spears (1981-), ...Baby One More Time (album) (debut) (25M copies); incl. ...Baby One More Time. Jimmie Spheeris (1949-84), An Evening with Jimmie Spheeris (posth.). Spiderbait, Grand Slam (album #4); incl. Glockenpop. Bruce Springsteen (1949-), 18 Tracks (album) (Apr. 13) (#64 in the U.S.). Staind, Dysfunction (album #2) (Apr. 13) (1M copies worldwide); incl. Mudshovel, Just Go, Home. Status Quo, Under the Influence (album #23). Steps, Steptacular (album #2) (Oct. 25) (#1 in the U.K.); incl. Love's Got a Hold on My Heart (#2 in the U.K.), Say You'll Be Mine (#4 in the U.K.), Deeper Shade of Blue (#4 in the U.K.). Ringo Starr (1940-), I Wanna Be Santa Claus (album) (Oct. 18). Stratovarius, The Chosen Ones (album). White Stripes, The White Stripes (album) (debut) (June 15); from Detroit, Mich., incl. Jack White (John Anthony Gillis) (1975-) and Meg White (1974-); always wear only red, black, and white; married but pretend to be siblings?; incl. Stop Breaking Down, The Big Three Killed My Baby. Styx, Brave New World (album #13) (June 29); last with Dennis DeYoung. Suede, Head Music (album #4) (May 3); incl. Electricity, She's in Fashion, Everything Will Flow, Can't Get Enough. Donna Summer (1948-2012), Live & More Encore (album) (June 6). Supertramp, It Was the Best of Times (album) (Apr. 12). Suicidal Tendencies, Freedumb (album #7) (May 18); incl. Freedumb, Cyco Vision. Pretty Things, Resurrection (album #13). Livingston Taylor (1950-), Snapshot (album). Testament, The Gathering (album #8) (June 8); incl. Riding the Snake, Fall of Sipledome. TLC, FanMail (album); incl. No Scrubs. Tonic, Sugar (album); incl. Knock Down Walls, You Wanted More. Spooky Tooth, Cross Purpose (album #9) (Feb. 23); first album since 1974. Jethro Tull, J-Tull Dot Com (album #21) (Aug. 23); Live at the House of Blues (album) (Oct. 9). ZZ Top, XXX (album #13) (Sept. 28); 30th anniv. album. Four Tops, Lost & Found: Breaking Through (album). Toto, Mindfields (album #10) (Mar. 16); incl. Cruel; Livefields (album). Train, One and a Half (album) (Oct. 21). Cheap Trick, Music for Hangovers (album). Tina Turner (1939-), Twenty Four Seven (album); sells 3M copies; incl. Twenty Four Seven, Whatever You Need. Bonnie Tyler (1951-), All in One Voice (album #12) (Dec. 28). Six Feet Under, Maximum Violence (album #3) (July 13); first with Steve Swanson (guitar); incl. Short Cut to Hell. Underworld, Beaucoup Fish (album #5) (Mar. 1); original title "Tonight, Matthew, I'm Going to be Underworld"; last with Darren Emerson; incl. Push Upstairs, Jumbo, Moaner (from the film "Batman & Robon). Usher, Live (album) (Mar. 23) (500K copies). Steve Vai (1960-), The Ultra Zone (album #7) (Sept. 7); incl. Frank (w/Frank Zappa), Jibboom (w/Stevie Ray Vaughan). The Ventures, Walk Don't Run 2000 (album). Warrant, Greatest & Latest (album). Kevin Welch (1955-), Beneath My Wheels (album #4). Westlife, Westlife (album (debut) (#2 in the U.K, #129 in the U.S.) (1K copies behind "Steptacular") ( 4M copies worldwide); from Sligo and Dublin, Ireland, incl. Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden; signed by Simon Cowell; incl. Swear It Again, If I Let You Go, Flying Without Wings, I Have A Dream, Seasons in the Sun, and Fool Again, all of which go #1 in the U.K., along with their next two, setting a U.K. record; they go on to sell 44M records worldwide, incl. 11M in the U.K., equalling Steps with 14 #1 U.K. singles while only having one U.S. hit, "Swear It Again", which reaches #20 in 2000. Great White, Can't Get Them From Here (album #9) (July 6); next album in 2007; incl. Rollin' Stoned. Wilco, Summerteeth (album #3) (Mar. 9); sells 200K copies; incl. Can't Stand It, A Shot in the Arm. Chely Wright (1970-), Single White Female (album #4) (May 18); incl. Single White Female, It Was. XTC, Apple Venus Volume 1 (album #12) (Feb. 17) (#42 in the U.K.); last with Dave Gregory. Yello, Motion Picture (album #10) (Dec. 14). Yes, The Ladder (album #18) (Sept. 20); Igor Khoroshev; incl. Lightning Strikes. Movies: John McTiernan's The 13th Warrior (Aug. 27) (Touchstone Pictures), based on the 1976 Michael Crichton novel "Eaters of the Dead" based on the old English tale of Beowulf plus Ahmad ibn Fadlan's history of the Volga Bulgar Vikings stars Antonio Banderas as ibn Fadlan, Diane Venora as Queen Wellew, and Vladimir Kulich as Viking leader Buliwyf (Beowulf); does $61.7M on a $85M-$160M budget, becoming the biggest box office bomb of the year (all-time until ?). Sam Mendes' American Beauty (Sept. 8) (DreamWorks Pictures) stars Kevin Spacey as middle-aged blue collar worker Lester Burnham, a suburban father lusting after young bimbo Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari), his daughter Jane's (Thora Birch) cheerleader friend; Annette Bening stars in an Oscar-nominated role as his real-estate broker wife Carolyn; does $356.3M box office on a $15M budget. Paul Weitz's and Chris Weitz's American Pie (July 9) (Universal Pictures) stars Jason Biggs as Jim Levenstein, Chris Klein as Chris "Oz" Ostreicher, Thomas Ian Nicholas as Kevin Myers, Alyson Hannigan as Michelle Flaherty, and Shannon Elizabeth as Nadia, basically pulling all the stops of decency to expose the alley cat sexual degeneracy of its entire production co., becoming a hit, proving ditto about the end-of-the-millennium viewing public; the title is based on the song of the same name, and the protagonist masturbating with a warm apple pie after being told that's what 3rd base feels like; the theme song is Laid by James; does $235.4M box office on an $11M budget; spawns sequels "American Pie 2" (2001), "American Wedding" (2003), and "American Reunion" (2012); "There's something about your first piece." Jay Roach's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (June 11) stars Mike Myers as Austin Powers, who fights Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) in the 1960s and tries to keep from his losing his mojo so he can shag Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham); #4 movie of 1999 ($205M). Chris Columbus' Bicentennial Man (Dec. 17), based on the 1992 novel "The Positronic Man" by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg stars Robin Williams as NDR series robot Andrew, who lives 200 years, and in 2205 is officially recognized as human. Dennis Dugan's Big Daddy (June 25) stars Adam Sandler as carefree slob Sonny Koufax, who babysits 5-y.-o. Julian and tries to adopt him; #7 movie of 1999 ($164M); "Once you adopt a kid, you've got to keep him." John Swanbeck's The Big Kahuna (Sept. 16), written by Roger Rueff based his play "Hospitality Suite" stars Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, and Peter Facinelli as industrial lubricant salesmen Larry Mann, Phil Cooper, and Bob Walker, who attend a trade show and are desperate to arrange a meeting with the head of a large co.; ends with a recitation of "Wear Sunscreen" by Mary Schmich; does $3.7M box office on a $7M budget. Jeff Yonis' Born Bad is about a group of teenie bank robbers led by Craig (Ryan Francis); James Remar plays Sheriff Larabee, and Taylor Nichols plays FBI agent Rickman, who use Craig's babe Heidi Noelle Lenhardt to make him give up. Wim Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club (June 4) is a film documentary about guitarist Ry Cooder's journey to Havana to play with musicians from Cuba's golden age. Daniel Myrick's and Eduardo Sanchez's The Blair Witch Project (Jan. 25) (Haxan Films) stars Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard as student moviemakers who get lost in Oct. 1991 in the woods in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Md. and disappear, their home video equipment found a year later; home-made for only $22K, but grosses $141.5M in the U.S. and $240.5M worldwide (1:10,931 ratio), becoming the first major motion picture in which the three principal players shot nearly all of the complete film; a good ad for Maryland not?; followed by "Blair Witch" (2016). Phillip Noyce's The Bone Collector (Nov. 5) (Universal Pictures) (Columbia Pictures)), based on the 1997 Jeffrey Deaver novel stars Denzel Washington as tegraplegic New York City crime investigator Lincoln Rhyme, who uses miscast bony-ass police officer Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) to find clues to catch mysterious serial killer ? (really Richard Thompson AKA Marcus Andrews, played by creepy Leland Orser), who leaves a piece of bone and scrap of paper at each crime scene; Queen Latifah plays Nurse Thelma; Michael Rooker plays Det. Howard Cheney; does $151.5M box office on a $48M budget. Frank Oz's Bowfinger (Aug. 13), written by Steve Martin stars Martin as Bobby Bowfinger, a broke film dir. who tries to secretly film a movie starring high price star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy), but without his knowledge or paying him. Lasse Hallstrom's The Cider House Rules (Dec. 10) (Miramax), based on the 1985 John Irving novel stars Tobey Maguire as St. Cloude, Maine orphan Homer Wells, who is training to be an obstetrician by Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine) and hooks up with pregnant babe Candy Kendall (Charlize Theron) while visiting to get an abortion; Delroy Lindo plays Arthur Rose; does $88.5M box office on a $24M Budget; "Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England." Alex Proyas' Dark City (Feb. 27) stars Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch, a man with amnesia accused of murder trying to discover his true identity while on the run in a world with no Sun run by the Strangers, beings with telekinetic powers who want human souls. Kevin Smith's Dogma (Nov. 12), stars Linda Fiorentino as abortion clinic worker Bethany Sloane, who saves humanity from renegade angels Loki (Matt Damon) and Bartleby (Ben Affleck) trying to reenter Heaven through a loophole by passing through an archway of a church celebrating its 100-year jubilee, with the help of holy prophets Jay (Jason Mewes), Silent Bob (Kevin Smith), Rufus the 13th Apostle (Chris Rock), and Metatron, the voice of God (Alan Rickman). Darrien O'Donnell's East Is East (Nov. 5) (FilmFour) (Miramax Films), based on the 1996 play by Ayub Khan-Din stars Om Puri as Pakistani Muslim Zaheed "George" Khan, who has lived in England since 1937 and is obsessed with the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, and is freaked that his children are giving up the Pakistani lifestyle to go British; Linda Bassett plays George's wife Ella Khan; does £10M box office on a £1.9M budget. Ron Howard's Edtv (Mar. 26) stars Matthew McConaughey as video store clerk Ed Pekurny, who agrees to have his life filmed by a reality TV crew for 24 hours for exec Ellen DeGeneres, only to have it interfere with his love life with his babe Shari (Jenna Elfman). Alexander Payne's Election (May 7), based on the Tom Perrotta novel stars Matthew Broderick as h.s. teacher Jim McAllister, who helps eager students Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell et al. in a school election. Peter Hyams' End of Days (Nov. 16) (Beacon Pictures) (Universal Pictures) stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as former NYPD detective Jericho Cane, who protects innocent young Christine York (Robin Tunney) from Satan (Gabriel Byrne) on the Millennium; Mark Margolis plays the pope, Rod Steiger plays Father Kovak, Derrick O'Connor plays Thomas Aquinas, and Kevin Pollak plays Bobby Chicago; does $212M box office on a $100M budget; "Lethal Weapon meets The Omen". Jon Amiel's Entrapment (Apr. 30) stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as insurance agent Virginia Baker, who is sent to entrap, er, catch art thief Robert MacDougal (Sean Connery), and ends up joining him as the Millennium approaches; "Entrapment is what cops do to thieves"; also stars Will Patton as her boss. David Cronenberg's Existenz (eXistenZ) (Apr. 23) stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allegra Geller, and Jude Law as Ted Pikul, who live in a world where organic game pods are inserted into their spines through umbilicans, and get caught in a war between rival game cos. Antenna Research and Cortical Systematics, and don't know what's real and what's part of the game. Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (July 16) (Kubrick's last film) stars Tom Cruise and his wife Nicole Kidman as Dr. William "Bill" Harford and his wife Alice, who stumble into a Baal-worshipping cult in Jew York after she admits to almost cheating on him; the film breaks them up for real? David Fincher's Fight Club (Oct. 15), based on the 1996 Chuck Palahniuk novel stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter, becoming a cult film. Dean Parisot's Galaxy Quest (Dec. 25) stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Ruckman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell about a Star Trek-like TV series cast who are taken as the real thing by ETs, and have to help them fight an alien warlord; brings in $90.6M on a $45M budget. James Mangold's Girl, Interrupted (Dec. 21) (Columbia Pictures), based on the 1993 memoir by Susanna Kaysen about her 18-mo. stay at Claymoore Mental Hospital in 1967-8 stars Winona Ryder as Kaysen, Brittany Murphy as Daisy, Elisabeth Moss as Torch, Angela Bettis as Janet, and Jillian Armenante as Cynthia, making a star of Angelina Jolie as sociopath Lisa Rowe; does $48.4M box office on a $24M budget. Doug Liman's Go (Apr. 9), about a drug deal told from three points of view stars Katie Holmes, Sarah Polley, Suzanne Krull, and Desmond Askew. Frank Darabont's The Green Mile (Dec. 10) (Warner Bros.), based on the 1996 Stephen King novel stars Tom Hanks as Cold Mountain Penitentiary (Maine) death row guard Paul Edgecomb, who must guard big dumb black convicted rapist-murderer John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) in 1935, who has amazing supernatural abilities, and he realizes is innocent; David Morse plays fellow guard Brutus "Brutal" Howell; Doug Hutchison plays sadistic guard Percy Wetmore, who doesn't wet the sponge on inmate Eduard "Del" Delacroix (Michael Jeter), who loves his pet mouse Mr. Jingles; Sam Rockwell plays crazy serial killer William "Wild Bill" Wharton; Dabbs Greer plays Old Paul Edgecomb; does $291M box office on a $60M budget. Audrey Wells' Guinevere (Jan.) stars Sarah Polley as Harvard student Harper Sloane, who hooks up with photographer Connie Fitzpatrick (Stephen Rea), and names her you know what until she learns that he has a string of them. Michael Mann's The Insider (Nov. 5), stars Russell Crowe as a research chemist who blows the whistle on big tobacco and is treated like spit; the first Oscar-nominated movie to have 60 Minutes newsman Don Hewitt as a character (#2 is "Good Night, and Good Luck", 2005). Jon Turteltaub's Instinct (June 4), based on the 1992 novel "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn stars Anthony Hopkins as gorilla anthropologist Ethan Powell, who is imprisoned for defending gorillas from park rangers, and Cuba Gooding Jr. as prison pshrink Theo Caulder, who tries to get into his head. Brad Bird's The Iron Giant (Aug. 6), based on the 1968 novel "The Iron Man" by Ted Hughes is an animated flick about boy Hogarth Hughes (Eli Marienthal) of Rockwell, Maine, who finds an innocent 100-ft. robot (Vin Diesel) that fell from space in Oct. 1957 and protects it from the paranoid govt. with the help of beatnik Dean McCoppin (Harry Connick Jr.); Jennifer Aniston plays his widowed mother Annie Hughes; brings in $31.3M on a $50M budget. Peter Kassovitz's Jakob the Liar (Sept. 24) (Columbia Pictures) stars Robin Williams as a Polish Jewish shopkeeper who lives in a Nazi-controlled ghetto and buoys the hopes of fellow Jews by pretending to have a radio; does $4.9M box office on a $45M budget. Alison Maclean's Jesus' Son (Sept. 5), based on the 1992 book by Denis Johnson stars Billy Crudup as FH, who turns from life of drugs and crime to compassion. Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia (Dec. 8) stars Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, John C. O'Reilly, Tom Cruise, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman et al. in an ensemble story about San Fernando Valley; "Things fall down. People look up. And when it rains, it pours." Milos Forman's Man on the Moon (Dec. 22) stars Jim Carrey as puzzling crypto-genius comic Andy Kaufmann, who blurs the line between his work and reality; "Hello, my name is Andy and this is my poster." Andy Wachowski's and Larry Wachowski's The Matrix (Mar. 31) (Warner Bros.) stars Keanu Reeves as trenchcoat-wearing hacker Neo, super-slick black-vinyl-and-hair dream babe Carrie-Ann Moss as Trinity, and pince-nez-wearing Samuel L. Jackson as Morpheus (Roman god of dreams) in a quantum leap in sci-fi flicks, where the Internet becomes a bad joke that can be bypassed with telephones, and all humans are really held in vats and fed virtual reality stimuli so that their bodies can be farmed for energy to feed computerized robots who have taken over the Earth; in the VR world the initiated can perform impossible feats and do neat Kung Fu with hidden wires; Hugo Weaving plays the ultimate villain Agent Smith; #5 movie of 1999 ($172M U.S. and $463.5M worldwide box office on a $63M budget), it spawns two sequels, "The Matrix: Reloaded" (2003) and "The Matrix: Revolutions" (2003); the flicks are full of cool psychobabble soundbytes, incl.: "I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries; a world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you"; "I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole"; "You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth"; "Unfortunately, no one can be told what The Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself"; "I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it"; "You take the blue pill, the story ends here, you wake up and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and I'll show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes"; "The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth"; "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"; "Reality is a thing of the past"; "There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path"; the little problem of where the liquid human food comes from, if not humans, raises a little problem with the Law of Energy Conservation? Luis Mandoki's Message in a Bottle (Feb. 12), based on the 1998 Nicholas Sparks novel stars Robin Wright Penn as divorced single mother Theresa Osborne, who discovers a you know what and searches for its author, coming up with widowed Wilmington, N.C. shipbuilder Garret Blake (Kevin Costner), son of cantankerous Dodge Blake (Paul Newman), and hooks up with him then discover he's hiding something in his past. Michael Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Apr. 26), based on the Shakespeare play stars Kevin Kline as Nick Bottom, Stanley Tucci as Robin Goodfellow/Puch, Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania, Rupert Everett as Oberon, Calista Flockhart as Helena, Dominic West as Lysander, and Christian Bale as Demetrius; features Felix Mendelssohn's 1843 music; does $16M box office on a $11M budget. Stephen Sommers' The Mummy (May 7) stars Brendan Fraser in a hi-tech remake of a remake of a remake; this mummy is afraid of cats?; co-stars Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, Kevin O'Connor, and Jonathan Hyde; #8 movie of 1999 ($156M); "Matute" (now you die). Kinka Usher's Mystery Men (Aug. 5) (Universal Pictures), based on bob Burden's "Flaming Carrot Comics" set in Champion City stars Ben Stiller as Mr. Furious, William H. Macy as the Shoveler, Hank Azaria as The Blue Raja, Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing AKA Lance Hunt, Geoffrey Rush as Casanova Frankenstein, Eddie Izzard as Tony P, Kel Mitchell as Invisible Boy, Paul Reubens as The Spleen, Wes Study as The Sphinx, and Janeane Garofalo as the Bowler; a flop, doing $33.4M box office on a $68M budget. Roger Michell's Notting Hill (May 21) (PolyGram) (Workng Title Films) (Universal Pictures) written by "Four Weddings and a Funeral" writer Richard Curtis stars Hugh Grant as divorced London bookshop owner William "Will" Thacker, and Julia Roberts as Hollywood star Anna Scott, who hooks up with him at his shop; the single When You Say Nothing at All by Ronan Keating becomes an internat. #1 hit; does $363.9M box office on a $43M budget. Joe Johnston's October Sky (Feb. 19) (an anagram of "Rocket Boys"), shot in and around Knoxville, Tenn. stars Jake Gyllenhaal as late 1950s coal miner's son Homer Hickham, who watches Sputnik in the you know what sky then wins a nat. science award for rocketry and leaves Coalwood, W. Va. to become a big NASA scientist after fighting his dad John Hickham (Chris Cooper) and being helped by his science teacher Miss Riley (Laura Dern). Martyn Burke's Pirates of Silicon Valley (June 20), based on the 1984 book "Fire in the Valley" by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine is a TV movie starring Noah Wylie and Joey Slotnick as Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates; "Good artists create... Great artists steal." Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil (Nov. 26) (Universal Pictures), based on the novel "Woe to Live On" by Daniel Woodrell about the Confed. 1st Mo. Irregulars AKA Bushwackers and the Lawrence Kan. Massacre stars Tobey Maguire as Jake "Dutch" Roedel, Skeet Ulrich as Jack Bull Chiles, Simon Baker as George Clyde, Jeffrey Wright as freed slave Daniel Holt, and Jewel as Sue Lee; does only $635K box office on a $38M budget. Catherine Breillat's Romance (Apr. 14) stars Caroline Ducey as schoolteacher Marie, who gets bored with her beau Paul (Sagamore Stevenin) and becomes a nympho, pushing the limits. Garry Marshal's Runaway Bride (July 30) stars Julia Roberts as Maggie Carpenter, who has a rep for deserting her beaus on the altar, causing journalist Ike Graham (Richard Gere) to shadow her to record her next score; #9 movie of 1999 ($152M). Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson's animated film Shrek (May 18) ("The greatest fairy tale never told"), about the Kingdom of Far Far Away stars the voice of Mike Meyers, who subs for Chris Farley after he dies in 1997, then re-records it a 2nd time after deciding that green ogre Shrek should have a Scottish accent, costing the studio $4M but paying off after the brilliant animation and voice work make it a big hit and franchise; Cameron Diaz plays the voice of Princess Fiona, and Eddie Murphy plays the voice of the donkey. M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense (Aug. 2) (Hollywood Pictures) (Spyglass Entertainment) (Buena Vista Pictures) stars precocious boy actor Haley Joel Osment (1988-) as 9-y.-o. Cole Sear, who has the power to see dead people, and Bruce Willis as child pshrink Dr. Malcolm Crowe, who doesn't know he's dead and tries to cure him, creating a great revelation at the end the first time you see it; puts Shyamalan (the king of shamelessly shamming the audience until the end?) on the map; #2 movie of 1999 ($293.5M U.S. and $672.8M worldwide box office on a $40M budget); "There are ghosts walking among us, looking for help." Trey Parker's South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (June 30), a film about censorship, about a potty mouth war between the U.S. and Canada and involving Satan and his cornhole lover Saddam Hussein; features the Oscar-winning song Blame Canada, which has a word censored from its Oscar performance; "It's not just another day in the park" - degenerate sex talk is the new ass-rimming dick-sucking pussy-fucking creativity? George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (May 19), the 4th installment of the Star Wars saga pre-thrills movie audiences with a trailer that causes thousands of moviegoers to pay to see the 2-min. clip in theaters, then leave without watching the main flick?; the flick brings the Star Wars saga back with much improved special effects, but no cool-talking Darth Vader, and takes in $431M in the U.S. (#1 movie of 1999) and $926M worldwide; Ewan McGregor plays young Obi-Wan Kenobi, Natalie Portman plays Queen Amidala/Padme, Jake Lloyd plays cute little Anakin Skywalker, Ian McDiarmid plays Sen. Palpatine; Liam Neeson scores big as doomed Jedi warrior Qui-Gon Jinn; the video game-like pod race sequence pegs the target audience as males; the stupid "exsqueeze me" Jamaican-like animated alien Jarjar Binx character (voiced by Ahmed Best) (Whoopi Goldberg?) causes a violent reaction in many true believers. Istvan Szabo's Sunshine (Sept.) (channel Four Films) (Bavaria Film and TV Fund) (Alliance Atlantis, co-written by Israel Horovitz stars Ralph Fiennes as father, son, and grandson Ignatz Sonnenschein (Sors), Adam Sors, and Ivan Sors in a flick about three generations of Hungarian Jews from the late 19th cent. to the mid-20th cent.; "The definitive Jewish experience movie"; does $7.6M box office on a $26M budget. Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (Sept. 4) is about boozing top jazz guitarist Emmet Ray (Sean Penn), who idolizes Django Reinhardt while liking to watch passing trains and shoot rats. Disney's animated Tarzan (June 12) (Walt Disney Pictures), based on the 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs story features the voices of Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan, Minnie Driver as Jane Porter, Glenn Close as Tarzan's adoptive gorilla mother Kala, Lance Henriksen as Kala's mate Kerchak, Nigel Hawthorne as Jane's father Prof. Archimedes Q, Rose O'Donnell as Tarzan's best friend gorilla Terk, and Wayne Knight as Tarzan's elephant friend Tantor; features Phil Collins singing the Oscar winning song You'll Be in My Heart; #6 movie of 1999 ($171M U.S. and $448.2M worldwide box office on a $130M budget); followed by direct-to-video "Tarzan & Jane" (2002), "Tarzan II" (2005). Gil Junger's 10 Things I Hate About You (Mar. 31), a high school ripoff movie based on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" stars Heath Ledger as Pat, and new teen It girl Julia Stiles as Kat, doing a funky dance and reciting the soundbyte: "I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair. I hate the way you drive my car. I hate it when you stare. I hate your big dumb combat boots, and the way you read my mind. I hate you so much it makes me sick, it even makes me rhyme. I hate the way you're always right. I hate it when you lie. I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when you're not around, and the fact that you didn't call. But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you - not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all"; break-out movie for Ledger, Stiles, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" gets a workout, but not Rammstein's "Du Hast Mich"? Terence Malick's The Thin Red Line (Jan. 8), his first film in 20 years, based on the 1962 James Jones novel opens to critical acclaim but audiences just about the size of Uranus, grossing $36M in North Am. on a $52M budget, but finally creeping to $81M worldwide. Julie Taymor's Titus (Dec. 25) (her dir. debut) becomes the first film adaptation of Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus", starring Anthony Hopkins as Titus, Angus Macfayden as Titus' eldest son Lucius, and Jessica Lange as Tamora, Queen of the Goths; does a measly $2M on a $20M budget. John Lasseter's Toy Story 2 (Nov. 24), an animated sequel sees Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) stolen by a toy collector, causing his friends Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) et al. to try to rescue him, while Woody doesn't want to be rescued; stars Joan Cusack as Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, Jim Varney as Slinky Dog, and Kelsey Grammar as Stinky Pete the Prospector; #3 movie of 1999 ($246M). Michael Polish's Twin Falls Idaho July 22) stars twins Michael and Mark Polish as Siamese twins Francis (sickly) and Blake (healthy) Falls, who meet hot young ho Penny (Michele Hicks), after which she hooks up with Blake until Francis becomes so ill that they have to be separated. Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides (May 12), based on the 1993 Jeffrey Eugenides novel stars James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, and Josh Hartnett. John Bruno's Virus (Jan. 15), based on the Dark Horse comic book by Chuck Pfarrer stars Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin, and Donald Sutherland as the crew of the Sea Star, which encounters the stranded Russian vessel Akademik Vladislav Volkov, which has been taken over by an alien virus that manufactures robots; does $30.6M box office on a $75M budget, causing Curtis to call it "the all-time piece of shit." Barry Sonnenfeld's Wild Wild West (June 30), based on the 1965-9 TV series stars Will Smith as Maj. James West, bringing in a funky steampunk slave thang dimension; also stars Kevin Kline as Artemus Gordon and Pres. Grant, Kenneth Branagh as bad guy Dr. Arliss Loveless, and Salma Hayek as Rita Escobar. Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland (May 13) (USA Films), written by Lauence Corlat, about a London family over a Guy Fawkes Night weekend stars Shirley Henderson as Debbie, Gina McKee as Nadia, Molly Parker as Molly, Ian Hart as Dan, John Simm as Eddie, Stuart Townsend as Tim, and Kika Markham as Eileen; "A modern-day London turn on Chekhov's 'The Three Sisters'." (New York Times) Michael Apted's The World Is Not Enough (Nov. 8) (Eon Productions) (MGM) (United Internat. Pictures) (James Bond 007 film #19), based on the Bond family motto "Orbis non sufficit" stars Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, Sophie Marceau as oil heiress Elektra King, Robert Carlyle as pain-free Renard, and miscast Denise Richards as nuclear physicist Dr. Christmas Jones, who wears a tank top and hot pants to work, stinking Bond girls up?; the The World Is Not Enough Theme Song is performed by Garbage; takes in $361M box office on a $135M budget, becoming the highest grossing Bond film to date; "I always wanted to have Christmas in Turkey" (Bond). Plays: Howard Brenton (1942-), Tariq Ali (1943-), and Andy de la Tour, Collateral Damage (Tricycle Theatre, London). Don DeLillo (1936-), Valparaiso. David French (1939-), That Summer (Blyth Festival). Jeremy Gable (1982-), The Bench. Simon Gray (1936-2008), The Late Middle Classes (Watford Palace). John Guare (1938-), Lake Hollywood. Peter Handke (1942-), The Canoe Ride, or The Play About the Film About the War. Catherine Johnson (1957-), Goran Bror Benny Andersson (1946-), and Bjorn Kristian Ulvaeus (1945-), Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward Theatre, West End, London) (Apr. 6) (Prince of Wales Theatre, West End, London) (June 9) (Winter Garden Theatre, New York) (Oct. 18, 2001) (Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, London) (Sept. 6, 2012) (5,773 perf.); named after the 1975 ABBA hit song, and filled with ABBA hits incl. "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Lay All Your Love on Me", "Money, Money, Money", "SOS", "Take a Chance on Me", "Thank You for the Music", "Voulez-Vous", "The Winner Takes All"; filmed in 2008. Kenneth Lonergan (1962-), The Waverley Gallery. David Mamet (1947-), Boston Marriage; Henry James' term for lesbianism. Frank McGuinness (1953-), Dolly West's Kitchen (Abbey Theater, Dublin). John Pielmeier (1949-), Voices in the Dark (76 perf.). Antonio Buero Vallejo (1916-2000), Mision al Pueblo Desierto. Robert Wilson (1941-) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-), The Days Before: Death, Destruction & Detroit III. Poetry: Nanni Balestrini (1935-), Le Avventure Complete della Signorina Richmond. Robert Bly (1926-2021), Snowbanks North of the House; Eating the Honey of Words: New and Selected Poems. William Bronk (1918-99), Metaphor of Trees and Last Poems. Robert Creeley (1926-2005), Daybook of a Virtual Poet. Rita Dove (1952-), On the Bus with Rosa Parks. Louise Gluck (1943-), Vita Nova. Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), The Light of the Leaves. John Hollander (1929-), Figurehead and Other Poems. Michel Houellebecq (1956-), Renaissance. David Ignatow (1914-97), Living Is What I Wanted: Last Poems (posth.). Ted Kooser (1939-), Riding with Colonel Carter. Philip Levine (1928-2015), The Mercy. W.S. Merwin (1927-), The River Sound. Robin Morgan (1941-), A Hot January: Poems 1996-1999. Sharon Olds (1942-), Blood, Tin, Straw. Mary Oliver (1935-), Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems. Marge Piercy (1936-), The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme. Kenneth Rexroth (1905-82), Swords That Shall Not Strike: Poems of Protest and Rebellion (posth.). Sonia Sanchez (1934-), Like the Singing Coming Off of Drums. Charles Simic (1938-), Jackstraws: Poems; NYT notable book of the year; Selected Early Poems; incl. Tapestry; "It hangs from heaven to earth./ There are trees in it, cities, rivers,/ small pigs and moons. In one corner/ the snow falling over a charging cavalry,/ in another women are planting rice." Mark Strand (1934-), Chicken, Shadow, Moon & More; 89 Clouds. David Wagoner (1926-), Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems. Dudley Weeks, On Love and Change and Other Subversive Things. C.K. Williams (1936-), Repair (Pulitzer Prize). Charles Wright (1935-), North American Bear. Novels: Peter Ackroyd (1949-), The Plato Papers. Alice Adams (1926-99), The Last Lovely City. Richard Adams (1920-2016), The Outlandish Knight. Isabel Allende (1942-), Daughter of Fortune. Kurt Andersen, Turn of the Century (first novel). A. Manette Ansay (1964-), Midnight Champagne. Gwenaelle Aubry (1971-), The Devil Spotter (Le Diable Détacheur) (first novel); about a teenie girl who is haunted by the figure of Persephone and has the hots for a mature man. Louis Auchincloss (1917-), The Anniversary and Other Stories. Paul Benjamin Auster (1947-), Timbuktu. Toni Cade Bambara (1939-95), Those Bones Are Not My Child (If Blessings Come) (posth.); ed. by Toni Morrison; about the Atlanta child murderer. Nanni Balestrini (1935-), La Grande Rivolta. Melissa Bank, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing (first novel). Barrington J. Bayley (1937-2008), Eye of Terror. Greg Bear (1951-), Darwin's Radio; about the retrovirus SHEVA, which evolves the next generation in the womb, creating new human species; followed by "Darwin's Children" (2003). Thomas Berger (1924-), The Return of Little Big Man; sequel to "Little Big Man" (1964). Alice Blanchard, Darkness Peering; private eye Rachel Storrow in creepy Flowering Dogwood, Maine. Pierre Bourgeade (1927-2009), Warum; Telephone Rose. Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933-), A Sudden Change of Heart. Anita Brookner (1928-), Undue Influence. Christopher Buckley (1952-), Little Green Men. James Lee Burke (1936-), Heartwood; Billy Bob Holland #2. Pat Cadigan (1953-), The Web: Avatar. Philip Caputo (1941-), The Voyage. Orson Scott Card (1951-), Ender's Shadow (Aug.); Ender #3. John le Carre (1931-2020), Single & Single. Michael Chabon (1963-), Werewolves in Their Youth (short stories); "I had known him as a bulldozer, as a samurai, as an android programmed to kill, as Plastic Man and Titanium Man and Matter-Eater Lad, as a Buick Electra, as a Peterbilt truck, and even, for a week, as the Mackinac Bridge, but it was as a werewolf that Timothy Stokes finally went too far." Deepak Chopra (1946-), Lords of Light. Mary Higgins Clark (1927-), We'll Meet Again. J.M. Coetzee (1940-), The Lives of Animals; animal rights activist Elizabeth Costello; Disgrace; post-apartheid South Africa. Jackie Collins (1937-2015), Dangerous Kiss; Lucky Santangelo #5. Robin Cook (1940-), Vector; disgruntled Russian immigrant Yuri Davydov plots to do the U.S. in with Soviet bioweapons. Catherine Cookson (1906-98), The Desert Crop; The Thursday Friend; Desert Crop (posth.). Stephen Coonts (1946-), Cuba; Rear Adm. Jake Grafton #7. William Cooper (1910-2002), Scenes from Death and Life. Robert Cormier (1925-2000), Frenchtown Summer (short stories). Patricia Cornwell (1956-), Black Notice; the 10th Kay "always right" Scarpetta novel? Laurence Cosse, A Corner of the Veil (first pub. in France in 1996); an obscure priest sends Father Bertrand Beaulieu a 6-page proof of God's existence - is that like a special code hidden in Pi? Jim Crace (1946-), Being Dead. Michael Crichton (1942-2008), Historyscope; great title?; a silly time travel plot, but a cool recreation of the 14th cent. C.E.; "Professor Johnston often said that if you didn't know history, you didn't know anything. You were a leaf that didn't know it was part of a tree." Mitch Cullin (1968-), Whompyjawed (first novel). Clive Cussler (1931-), Atlantis Found; Dirk Pitt #15. Marie Darrieussecq (1969-), Breathing Underwater (Undercurrents); a young mother and daughter flee to the Basque coast, causing the father to recover her, after which she heads for Australia, surrounded by her beloved omnipresent ocean; Clarifications on the Waves (Précisions sur les Vagues); a poetic description of marine phenomena. Thomas Michael Disch (1940-2008), The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft. Roddy Doyle (1958-), A Star Called Henry; IRA assassin Henry Smart and his rebel son; #1 in the Last Roundup Trilogy (1999, 2004, 2010). Andre Dubus III (1959-), House of Sand and Fog. James Ellroy (1948-), Crime Wave. Per Olov Enquist (1934-), The Visit of the Royal Physician; schizo Danish king Christian VII's German physician Johann Friedrich Struensee (1737-72), who makes out with Queen Caroline Matilda and ends up running the country until the axe falls. Kjell Eriksson, The Illuminated Path (first novel). Loren D. Estleman, The Hours of the Virgin; Amos Walker. Janet Evanovich, High Five; Stephanie Plum. Howard Fast (1914-2003), Redemption. Janet Fitch (1956-), White Oleander (first novel); 12-y.-o. Astrid Magnussen's mother Ingrid kills her unfaithful lover Barry Kolker in L.A. with DMSO and oleander sap, causing Astrid to have to endure numerous foster families; filmed in 2002. Margaret Forster (1938-), The Memory Box. Frederick Forsyth (1938-), The Phantom of Manhattan; a sequel to "The Phantom of the Opera". Michael Frayn (1933-), Headlong. Freedom Writers, The Freedom Writers Diary. Nicolas Freeling (1927-2003), Some Day Tomorrow. Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012), Los Anos con Laura Diaz (The Years with Laura Diaz). Alan Furst (1941-), Red Gold; Night Soldiers #5. Tim Gautreaux (1947-), The Next Step in the Dance; The Clearing. William Gibson (1948-), At Tomorrow's Parties; Bridge Trilogy #3. Ken Goddard, First Evidence; "CSI" meets "The X-Files"? Joe Gores (1931-), Speak of the Devil: 14 Tales of Crimes and Their Punishments. Winston Groom (1944-), Such a Pretty, Pretty Girl. Joe Haldeman (1943-), Forever Free; A Separate War; #2-#3 in the Forever War Trilogy (begun 1974). Peter Handke (1942-), Lucie in the Forest with the Thingie (Lucie im Wald mit den Dingsda). Ron Hansen (1947-), Hitler's Niece; Geli Raubal. Thomas Harris (1940-), Hannibal; Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter hides out in style in artsy-fartsy Florence and is tracked down by his defaced pedophile enemy Mason Verger. Keith Hartman, The Gumshoe, the Witch & the Virtual Corpse; occult pagan ritual murder in Atlanta, Ga. pisses-off Christian extremists. Kent Haruf (1943-), Plainsong; school teacher Tom Guthrie in Holt raises two boys after their depressed mommy moves out. Homer H. Hickam Jr., Back to the Moon. George V. Higgins (1939-99), The Agent. Oscar Hijuelos (1951-), Empress of the Splendid Season. Tony Hillerman (1925-2008), Hunting Badger. Russell Hoban (1925-), Angelica's Grotto. Alice Hoffman (1952-), Local Girls; Gretel Samuelson of Franconia, Long Island. David R. Ignatius (1950-), The Sun King; Great Gatsby set in Washington, D.C.? Ha Jin (1956-), Waiting. Gayl Jones (1949-), Mosquito. Ward Just (1935-), A Dangerous Friend. Stephen King (1947-), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon; Red Sox pitcher Tom "Flash" Gordon, who has 43 consecutive saves in 1998, then surrenders three hits and two runs in game 4 of the div. playoff against the Indians, causing the Sox to lose 2-1. Dean Koontz (1945-), Seize the Night; False Memory. Maxine Kumin (1925-2014), Quit Monks or Die; animal rights mystery. William Kowalski (1970-), Eddie's Bastard (first novel). Paul LaFarge (1970-), The Artist of the Missing (first novel). Jhumpa Lahiri (1967-), Interpreter of Maladies (Pulitzer Prize). Dominique Lapierre (1931-), A Thousand Suns (Mille Soleils). Siegfried Lenz (1926-), Arnes Nachlass. Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), Be Cool; Chili Palmer's exploits in the LA music biz; filmed in 2005. Doris Lessing (1919-2013), Mara and Dann. Jonathan Lethem (1964-), Motherless Brooklyn; Lionel Essrog, a P.I. with Tourette's syndrome. Jonathan Lethem (1964-) and Carter Scholz (1953-), Kafka Americana (short stories). Elinor Lipman (1950-), The Inn at Lake Devine. Jeff Long, The Descent; troglobite hominid hadals mentored past human civilizations, becoming the reason for belief in demons? Graham Lord (1943-), Sorry - We're Going to Have to Let You Go. Gregory Maguire (1954-), Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister; NYT bestseller; a retelling of the tale of Cinderella; made into a 2002 TV movie by Gavin Millar. Peter Matthiessen (1927-), Bone by Bone. Gregory Mcdonald (1937-2008), Flynn's World. Larry McMurtry (1936-), Crazy Horse; Duane's Depressed; Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen; Still Wild: A Collection of Western Stories. Stanley Middleton (1919-2009), Necessary Ends. Sue Miller (1943-), While I Was Gone. David Mitchell (1969-), Ghostwritten (first novel); the first planetary novel, nine stories in eight countries about the same spirit. David Morrell (1943-), Black Evening: Tales of Dark Suspense. Haruki Murakami (1949-), Sputnik Sweetheart. Robert Nye (1939-), The Late Mr. Shakespeare. Joyce Carol Oates (1938-), Broke Heart Blues. Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000), Blue at the Mizzen; Aubrey-Maturin #20. Edna O'Brien (1930-), Wild Decembers. Kenzaburo Oe (1935-), Somersault (Chugaeri). Stewart O'Nan (1961-), A Prayer for the Dying. Simon J. Ortiz (1941-), Men on the Moon: Collected Short Stories. Chuck Palahniuk (1962-), Survivor (Feb.); Tender Branson, last member of the death cult Creedish Church; Invisible Monsters (Sept.); Shannon and Brandy, a pre-op transsexual. Sara Paretsky (1947-), Hard Time; V.I. Warshawski #9. Robert Brown Parker (1932-2010), Hush Money; Spenser #26; Family Honor; Sunny Randall #1. James Patterson (1947-), When the Wind Blows; 11-y.-o. Max leads Colo. vet Frannie O'Neill to discover the murderer of hubby Dr. David with the help of FBI agent Kit Harrison. Ralph Peters (1952-), Twilight of Heroes; Traitor. Jodi Picoult (1966-), Keeping Faith. John Rechy (1934-), The Coming of the Night; gay fun just before AIDS arrives. Anne Rice (1941-), Vittorio the Vampire; #2 in New Tales of the Vampirs. Angelo Rinaldi (1940-), Service de Presse. Chroniques. Kim Stanley Robinson (1952-), The Martians (short stories). Patrick Robinson, H.M.S. Unseen. Boualem Sansal (1949-), Le Serment des Barbares (first novel). Robert James Sawyer (1960-), Flashforward; an experiment with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN causes the entire human race to lose consciousness for 2 min. and see themselves 21 years in the future; made into an ABC-TV series debuting on Sept. 24, 2009, with the parameters changed to 137 sec. and 6 mo. Anita Shreve (1946-), Fortune's Rocks. Leslie Marmon Silko (1948-), Gardens in the Dunes. Alan Sillitoe (1928-2010), The German Numbers Woman. Dan Simmons (1948-), The Crook Factory; Ernest Hemingway's WWII spy ring in Cuba. Martin Cruz Smith (1942-), Havana Bay; Arkady Renko #4. Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) (1970-), Bad Beginning; the first in "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (13 vols.) (1999-2006), about the Baudelaire orphans Violet, Klaus and Sunny, whoss parents and spacious home were destroyed in a cataclysmic fire by evil Count Olaf, their designated caretaker, who is after their fortune; Carmelita "cakesniffer" Spats, former "tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian" turned "ballplaying cowboy superhero soldier pirate"; Lucky Smells Lumber Mill, Anxious Clown Restaurant, vice-principal Nero. Gilbert Sorrentino (1929-2006), Gold Fools. Ahdaf Soueif (1950-), The Map of Love; Omar (modeled after Edward Said). Nicholas Sparks (1965-), A Walk to Remember (Oct. 7). LaVyrle Spencer (1943-), Then Came Heaven (Apr. 1). Norman Spinrad (1940-), Greenhouse Summer. Danielle Steel (1947-), Bittersweet; Granny Dan; Irresistible Forces. Neal Town Stephenson (1959-), Cryptonomicon (May); bestseller based on the story "The King of Maleputa" (1984) by Sol Yurick, about the imaginary island nation of Kinakuta, set up via computer fraud in order to steal from the global bank system. Steve Stern (1947-), The Wedding Jester. Ronald Sukenick (1932-2004), Mosaic Man. Ronald Sukenick (1932-2004) and Curtis White (eds.), In the Slipstream. Frederick Taylor, The Kinder Garten; the post-WWII feral children of Berlin. Colm Toibin (1955-), The Blackwater Lightship. Rose Tremain (1943-), Music and Silence. Barry Unsworth (1930-2012), Losing Nelson. Leon Uris (1924-2003), A God in Ruins. Vernor Vinge (1944-), A Deepness in the Sky; Pham Nuwen and the Qeng Ho interstellar trading fleet vs. the Emergents above the spider planet of Arachna orbiting the OnOff star; Victory Smith and Sherkander Underhill, "an intelligence greater than anything on ten legs"; the Zipheads, the ultimate Rainmen, infected with the Focus. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction. Peter Watts (1958-), Starfish; about Lenie Clare, a deep-ocean power station worker physically altered for underwater living, followed by "Maelstrom" (2001), "Behemoth: B-Max" (2004), and "Behemoth: Seppuku" (2006), AKA the Rifters Trilogy. John A. Williams (1925-94), Clifford's Blues. T.L. Winslow (TLW) (1953-), Anti-World War I (the ultimate victory for Americanism, and the price paid); Dork Dick (a computer crime detective and his hangups about Bill Gates); Horror High School (the real truth behind U.S. high school shootings?); Young Howard (a lost autobio. of a famed shock jock is found). Kirill Yeskov, The Last Ringbearer; J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" from the POV of the bad guys. Helen Yglesias (1915-2008), The Girls. Hong Ying (1962-), K: The Art of Love; English poet Julian Heward Bell (1908-37) (nephew of Virginia Woolf) leaves letters describing a relationship with a married woman while teaching at Wuhan U. in China; in 2002 a Chinese court rules it "defamation of the dead", causing him to repub. it in 2003 as "The English Lover". Sol Yurick (1925-2013), Confession. Howard Zinn (1922-2010), Marx in Soho: A Play on History. Births: Canadian "Jason in 3-2-1 Penguins!" actor Quinn Edmond Julian Lord on Feb. 19 in Vancouver, B.C. Am. artistic gymnast (black) Nia Dennis on Feb. 23 in Columbus, Ohio; educated at UCLA. Am. "Old Town Road" rapper (black) (gay) Lil Nas X (Montero Lamar Hill) on Apr. 9 in Little Springs (near Atlanta), Ga.; named after the Mitsubishi Montero. Am. 5'5-1/2" Olympic figure skater ("the Quad King") Nathan Chen on May 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Am. "Lisa the child in Grey's Anatomy", "Julia Miller in Ghost Whisperer" actress Madison Leisle on June 2. Am. "Ramona Quimby in Ramona and Beezus", "Emily Cale in White House Down" actress Joey Lynn King on July 30 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. 6'6" football QB Trevor Lawrence on Oct. 6 in Knoxville, Tenn.; educated at Clemson U. Russian figure skater Evgenia (Yevgenia Armanovna Medvedeva on Nov. 19 in Moscow; Armenian father, Russian mother. Deaths: The ones who couldn't wait for the Millennium to roll around? Am. sleep researcher Nathaniel Kleitman (b. 1895) on Aug. 13 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Scottish novelist-poet Naomi Mitchison (b. 1897) on Jan. 11 in Carradale. English-born Am. "Now, Voyager" dir. Irving Rapper (b. 1898) on Dec. 20 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Calif. - now, voyager? Russian-born French writer Nathalie Sarraute (b. 1900) on Oct. 19 in Paris. Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayao (b. 1902) on Mar. 12 in Rockport, Maine. Am. golfer Gene Sarazen (b. 1902) on May 13 in Marco Island, Fla. Am. "Keep America Beautiful PSAs" actor Iron Eyes Cody (b. 1904) on Jan. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. (mesothelioma). Am. writer-ed. Clifton Fadiman (b. 1904) on June 20: "We are all citizens of history"; "When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book that you did before, you see more in you than there was before." Dutch-born Am. psychic Dora Van Gelder (b. 1904) on Aug. 25. German art historian William S. Heckscher (b. 1904) on Nov. 27 in Princeton, N.J. German-born Canadian physical chemist Gerhard Herzberg (b. 1904) on Mar. 3; 1971 Nobel Chem. Prize. Am. candy mogul Forrest Edward Mars Sr. (b. 1904) on July 1. Am. religious historian Sidney E. Mead (b. 1904). Am. actor Buddy Rogers (b. 1904) on Apr. 21 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. French chef Louisette Bertholle (b. 1905) on Nov. 26. Am. TV-film producer Philip Ned Krasne (b. 1905) on Sept. 18 in Los Angeles, Calif. Russian economist Wassily Leontief (b. 1905) on Feb. in New York City; 1973 Nobel Econ. Prize. English-born Am. anthropologist Ashley Montagu (b. 1905) on Nov. 26 in Princeton, N.J.: "Human beings are the only creatures who are able to behave irrationally in the name of reason." Am. real estate magnate Fred Trump Jr. (b. 1905) on June 25 in New Hyde Park, N.Y. (Alzheimer's and pneumonia); leaves a fortune of $250M-$300M to his children The Donald, Maryanne, and Robert Trump, of which The Donald gets $40M-$200M after a bitter will dispute, during which they cut off support for the infant (The Donald's nephew) William Trump (1999-), son of Fred Trump IV (b. 1962), son of Fred Trump III (-1984), who suffers from a rare neurological disorder - son, it's not your fault, it's not your fault, it's not your fault? Am. judge John Minor Wisdom (b. 1905) on May 15 in New Orleans, La. Am. "Shaving Cream" singer-songwriter Benny Bell (b. 1906) on July 6 in New York City. French-born Am. photographer Andreas Feininger (b. 1906) on Feb. 18. Am. Western actor-singer Eddie Dean (b. 1907) on Mar. 4 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. philanthropist Paul Mellon (b. 1907) on Feb. 1 in Upperville, Va. U.S. Supreme Court justice #98 (1970-94) Harry Andrew Blackmun (b. 1908) on Mar. 4 in Arlington, Va. English gay celeb Quentin Crisp (b. 1908) on Nov. 21 in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester - every gay wishes he could die there? Canadian-born Am. "The Caine Mutiny", "The Carpetbaggers" dir. Edward Dmytryk (b. 1908) on July 1 in Encino, Calif. German historian Fritz Fischer (b. 1908) on Dec. 1 in Hamburg. English explorer Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs (b. 1908) on Nov. 11. Am. "The Philadelphian" novelist Richard P. Powell (b. 1908) on Dec. 8 in Fort Myers, Fla. Am. writer C. Vann Woodward (b. 1908) on Dec. 17 in Hamden, Conn. Am. cardiac surgeon Charles Philamore Bailey (b. 1910) on Aug. 18. Am. "The Sheltering Sky" novelist-composer Paul Bowles (b. 1910) on Nov. 18 in Tangier, Morocco; "It was Bowles's genius to suggest the horrors which lie beneath that floor, as fragile, in its way, as the sky that shelters us from a devouring vastness" (Gore Vidal). English hovercraft inventor Sir Christopher Cockerell (b. 1910) on June 1 in Hythe, Hampshire. Am. historian Jack Donald Foner (b. 1910) on Dec. 10. Swiss composer Rolf Liebermann (b. 1910) on Jan. 2. Am. actress Sylvia Sidney (b. 1910) on July 1 in New York City (throat cancer). Am. comedian Joey Adams (b. 1911) on Dec. 2. Am. "Sounder" children's writer William H. Armstrong (b. 1911) on Apr. 11 in Kent, Conn. Am. "Grandma" Walton" actress Ellen Corby (b. 1911) on Apr. 14 in Woodland Hills, Calif. Am. Minn. Twins owner (1955-84) Calvin Griffith (b. 1911) on Oct. 20. Norwegian economist Trygve Magnus Haavelmo (b. 1911) on July 26 in Oslo; 1989 Nobel Econ. Prize. Am. Universal Life Church founder Kirby J. Hensley (b. 1911) on Mar. 19 in Modesto, Calif. Am. "Wheeler & Woolsey" actress Dorothy Lee (b. 1911) on June 24 in San Diego, Calif. English "Father of Advertising" advertising exec David Ogilvy (b. 1911) on July 21 in Chateau de Touffou, France: "The customer is not a moron, she's your wife." Am. cardiologist Paul Maurice Zoll (b. 1911) on Jan. 5. Am. "Adam's Rib", "Pat and Mike", "Born Yesterday" writer-dir. Garson Kanin (b. 1912) on Mar. 13 in New York City. Am. football player Riley Smith (b. 1911) on Aug. 9 in Mobile, Ala. Am. "Dr. Jeffrey Dolenz in The Six Million Dollar Man" actor Henry Jones (b. 1912) on May 17 in Los Angeles, Calif. (complications from a fall). Am. chemist Glenn Theodore Seaborg (b. 1912) on Feb. 25 in Lafayette, Calif.; 1951 Nobel Chem. Prize; first living person to have an element publicly named after them (Seaborgium). German aircraft designer Walter Horten (b. 1913) on Dec. 9 in Baden-Baden. Am. parapsychologist Jose Silva (b. 1914) on Feb. 7. Am. sportsman Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr. (b. 1912) on Nov. 12 in Mill Neck, N.Y. Am.-born Canadian psychologist Mary Ainsworth (b. 1913) on Mar. 21 in Charlottesville, Va. Am. psychologist Benjamin S. Bloom (b. 1913) on Sept. 13 in Chicago, Ill. Am. country singer Myrtle Eleanor Cooper (b. 1913) on Feb. 8 in Ingalls, N.C. Am. "Samson" actor Victor Mature (b. 1913) on Aug. 4 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (leukemia): "I'm not an actor, and I've got 67 films to prove it." Hungarian-French painter Endre Rozsda (b. 1913) on Sept. 17 in Paris. Argentine novelist Adolfo Bioy Casares (b. 1914) on Mar. 8 in Buenos Aires. Am. New York Yankees player (1936-52) "Mister Marilyn Monroe" "Mister Coffee" Joe DiMaggio (b. 1914) on Mar. 8 in Hollywood, Fla. (lung cancer); .325 batting avg; 56-game safe-hit streak in 1941. Am. "Candid Camera" host Allen Funt (b. 1914) on Sept. 5 in Pebble Beach, Calif. - did they capture it on film? Reddi-Wip inventor Aaron Bunny Lapin (b. 1914) on July 10. Welsh "Q in James Bond" actor Desmond Llewelyn (b. 1914) on Dec. 19 in Firle, East Sussex (auto accident); Roger Moore speaks at his funeral. Am. "Lone Ranger" actor Clayton Moore (b. 1914) on Dec. 28 in West Hills, Calif. (heart attack). Canadian country singer Hank Snow (b. 1914) on Dec. 20 in Madison, Tenn.; sold 80M albums. East German PM (1964-73, 1976-89) Willi Stoph (b. 1914) on Apr. 13 in Berlin. Am. baseball player Birdie Tebbetts (b. 1914). Am. Amerada Hess Corp. founder Leon Hess (b. 1914) on May 7 in New York City; in 2000 Robert Wood "Woody" Johnson IV (1947-) purchases the New York Jets from his estate for $635M. Am. journalist Martin Agronsky (b. 1915) on July 25 in Washington, D.C. English film producer Betty Box (b. 1915) on Jan. 15 in Chiltern, Buckinghamshire. Am. artist Miriam Davenport (b. 1915) on Sept. 13 in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (cancer). Am. "Kismet" lyricist George Forrest (b. 1915) on Oct. 10 in Miami, Fla. Am. "The Twilight Zone" TV producer Buck Houghton (b. 1915) on May 14. Am. TV journalist Ray Forrest (b. 1916) on Mar. 11. Am. jazz composer (inventor of the Trimba) Louis "Moondog" Hardin (b. 1916) on Sept. 8 in Munster, Germany. Am. "Samson" actor Victor Mature (b. 1916) on Aug. 4 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (leukemia). Am.-born violinist Lord Yehudi Menuhin (b. 1916) on Mar. 12. Am. economist Herbert Stein (b. 1916) on Sept. 8 in Washington, D.C. Am. writer Robert B. Stone (b. 1916) on Jan. 8 in Thailand. Australian "Shoes of the Fisherman" novelist Morris Langlo West (b. 1916) on Oct. 9. Am. historian Leonard James Arrington (b. 1917) on Feb. 11 in Salt Lake City, Utah (heart failure). Greek pres. (1973-4) Gen. Phaedon Gizikis (b. 1917) on July 27 in Athens. Irish PM #4, #5 (1966-73, 1977-9) Jack Lynch (b. 1917) on Oct. 20 in Dublin. Zimbabwean vice-pres. (1987-99) Joshua Nkomo (b. 1917) on July 1 in Harare (prostate cancer); dies after converting to Roman Catholicism; declared a nat. hero. Am. psychologist Wayne Edward Oates (b. 1917) on Oct. 21. Am. TV host Gene Rayburn (b. 1917) on Nov. 29 in Gloucester, Mass. Am. Iditarod Sled Dog Race founder Joe Redington Sr. (b. 1917) on June 12 in Wasilla, Alaska (cancer). Am. "The Organization Man" writer William H. Whyte (b. 1917) on Jan. 12 in New York City. Am. critic-biographer Walter Jackson Bate (b. 1918) on July 26 in Boston, Mass. Am. poet William Bronk (b. 1918) on Feb. 22 in Hudson Falls, N.Y. Am. pharmacologist Gertrude Belle Elion (b. 1918) on Feb. 21 in N.C.; 1988 Nobel Med. Prize. U.S. federal district judge Frank Minis Johnson (b. 1918) on July 23 in Montgomery, Ala. (pneumonia). Am. cardiac surgeon Clarence Walton Lillehei (b. 1918) on July 5. Welsh novelist Penelope Ruth Mortimer (b. 1918) on Oct. 19 in London (cancer); leaves her autobio. Closing Time. German-born Am. historian George Lachmann Mosse (b. 1918) on Jan. 22 in Madison, Wisc. Am. "Dr. Joe Early in Emergency!" actor Bobby Troup (b. 1918) on Feb. 7 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. (heart attack); composed the song "Route 66" in 1946. Am. jazz singer Joe Williams (b. 1918) on Mar. 29. Am. artist George Cohen (b. 1919) on Apr. 18. Am. "Sach Jones in the Bowery Boys" actor Huntz Hall (b. 1919) on Jan. 30 in North Hollywood, Calif. (heart failure). Greek PM #69 (1967-73) and pres. #4 (1973) Georgios Papadopoulos (b. 1919) on June 27 in Athens. Yugoslavian dir. Vladimir Pogacic (b. 1919) on Sept. 13 in Belgrade. Irish-born British novelist-philosopher Dame Iris Murdoch (b. 1919) on Feb. 8 in Oxfordshire (Alzheimer's): "The great task in life is to find reality." English historian Lawrence Stone (b. 1919) on June 16 in Princeton, N.J. Chinese-born Am. political scientist Tang Tsou (b. 1919) on Aug. 7 in Chicago, Ill. Am. actor Rex Allen (b. 1920) on Dec. 17 in Tucson, Ariz. (heart attack). Am. civil rights leader James L. Farmer (b. 1920) on July 9 in Fredericksburg, Va. English artist Patrick Heron (b. 1920) on Mar. 20 in Zennor, Cornwall. Am. Watergate figure Elliot Richardson (b. 1920) on Dec. 31 in Boston, Mass. - it had to be him? Am. painter Norman Bluhm (b. 1921) on Feb. 3. English actor Dirk Bogarde (b. 1921) on May 8 in London. Irish novelist Brian Moore (b. 1921) on Jan. 11 in Malibu, Calif. (pulmonary fibrosis). Am. physicist Arthur Leonard Schawlow (b. 1921); 1981 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. "The Godfather" novelist Mario Puzo (b. 1921) on July 2. Am. "A Christmas Story writer-actor Jean Parker Shepherd (b. 1921) on Oct. 16 in Sanibel Island, Fla. Am. playwright William Alfred (b. 1922) on May 20 in Cambridge, Mass. Am. "Merry Christmas Baby" blues singer Charles Brown (b. 1922) on Jan. 21 in Oakland, Calif. Am. "Domino Kid" actor-producer Rory Calhoun (b. 1922) on Apr. 28 in Burbank, Calif. (emphysema). U.S. Sen. (R-R.I.) (1976-99) John Chafee (b. 1922) on Oct. 24 in Bethesda, Md. Am. trumpeter Al Hirt (b. 1922) on Apr. 27 in New Orleans, La. (liver failure). Am. actor-singer Richard Kiley (b. 1922) on Mar. 5 in Warwick, N.Y. Am. AFL-CIO pres. Lane Kirkland (b. 1922) on Aug. 14 in Washington, D.C. (lung cancer). Russian Mayan linguist Yuri Knorosov (b. 1922) on Mar. 31 in St. Petersburg (pneumonia). Tanzanian pres. #1 (1961-85) Julius Nyerere (b. 1922) on Oct. 14 in London, England. Am. actress Ruth Roman (b. 1922) on Sept. 9 in Laguna Beach, Calif. English actress Mollie Sugden (b. 1922) on July 1 in Guildford, Surrey. German medical researcher Ernest L. Wydner (b. 1922) on July 14. Am. writer Joseph DiMona (b. 1923) on Nov. 6 on Los Angeles, Calif. Am. "Catch-22" author Joseph Heller (b. 1923) on Dec. 12 in Long Island, N.Y. (heart attack): "It is the anonymous 'they', the enigmatic 'they' who are in charge. Who is 'they'? I don't know. Nobody knows. Not even 'they' themselves." Am. jazz musician Milt Jackson (b. 1923) on Oct. 9 in Manhattan, N.Y. Austrian-born anthropologist Eric Robert Wolf (b. 1923) on Mar. 6 in Irvington, N.Y. (cancer): "Anthopology is the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the social sciences." Am. actress Faith Domergue (b. 1924) on Apr. 4 in Santa Barbara, Calif. (cancer). Venezuelan scientist Humberto Fernandez-Moran (b. 1924) on Mar. 17 in Stockholm, Sweden. Am. singer Ella Mae Morse (b. 1924) on Oct. 16 in Bullhead City, Ariz. Am. singer Jimmy Roberts (b. 1924) on Feb. 6 in Clearwater, Fla. (bone cancer). Am. psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West (b. 1924) on Jan. 2 in Los Angeles, Calif. (cancer). Am. Watergate figure John D. Ehrlichman (b. 1925) on Feb. 14 in Atlanta, Ga. German plant physiologist Helmut Metzner (b. 1925) on Sept. 20 in Tubingen. Am. jazz singer Mel Torme (b. 1925) on June 5 in Los Angeles, Calif. English "Morecambe & Wise" comedian Ernie Wise (b. 1925) on Mar. 21 in Nuffield, Buckinghamshire (heart failure). Am. novelist Alice Adams (b. 1926) on May 27. Am. physicist Henry W. Kendall (b. 1926) on Feb. 15 in Wakulla Springs State Park, Fla.; 1990 Nobel Physics Prize. Am. nightclub owner Doug Weston (b. 1926) on Feb. 14 in Los Angeles, Calif. (pneumonia). Am. pop singer Guy Mitchell (b. 1927) on July 1 in Las Vegas, Nev.; sold 44M records. Am. "Patton" actor George C. Scott (b. 1927) on Sept. 22 in Westlake Village, Calif. Am. physicist Sam Treiman (b. 1925) on Nov. 30 in New York City (leukemia). Am. "2001: A Space Odyssey" dir. Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928) on Mar. 7 in Hertfordshire, England (heart failure); killed for telling the truth about the Illuminati in "Eyes Wide Shut"? Am. microbiologist Daniel Nathans (b. 1928) on Nov. 16; 1978 Nobel Med. Prize. French-born Japanese actress Yoko Tani (b. 1928) on Apr. 19 in Paris. English singer Frankie Vaughan (b. 1928) on Sept. 17 (heart failure). Am. poet Edward Dorn (b. 1929) on Dec. 10 in Denver, Colo. (pancreatic cancr). Moroccan king (1961-99) Hassan II (b. 1929) on July 23 in Rabat. Am. actress Bethel Leslie (b. 1929) on Nov. 28 in New York City. English "Oliver!", "From Russia With Love" composer Lionel Bart (b. 1930) on Apr. 3 in Hammersmith, London (cancer). Am. novelist Marion Zimmer Bradley (b. 1930) on Sept. 25 in Berkeley, Calif. (heart failure). Am. astronaut Pete Conrad (b. 1930) on July 8 in Ojai, Calif. (motorcycle accident). Lithuanian-born Am. economist Zvi Griliches (b. 1930) on Nov. 4 in Cambridge, Mass. Am. "A Boy Named Sue" songwriter Shel Silverstein (b. 1930) on May 10 in Key West, Fla. (heart attack). English "Goldfinger" singer-songwriter Anthony Newley (b. 1931) on Apr. 14 in Jensen Beach, Fla. (renal cancer). Am. historian Robert Sobel (b. 1931) on June 2. Am. country singer Boxcar Willie (b. 1931) on Apr. 12 in Branson, Mo. (leukemia); sold 100M records. Am. writer Harry G. Summers Jr. (b. 1932) on Nov. 14 in Washington, D.C. English historian-politician Sir Robert Rhodes James (b. 1933) on May 20. Am. Wrigley Co. pres. (1961-99) William Wrigley III (b. 1933) on Mar. 8 in Chicago, Ill. Am. JFK mistress Judith Campbell Exner (b. 1934) on Sept. 24 in Duarte, Calif. (breast cancer). Argentine economist Rolf Mantel (b. 1934). Jordanian king (1952-99) Hussein I (b. 1935) on Feb. 7 (cancer). Am. baseball coach-mgr. Cal Ripken Sr. (b. 1935) on Mar. 25 (lung cancer). French auto racer Claude Ballot-Lena (b. 1936) on Nov. 9. Am. basketball player Wilt Chamberlain (b. 1936) on Oct. 12 in Bel-Air, Calif. (heart failure); on Nov. 8 the Philadelphia 76ers pay tribute to him when hosting the Seattle SuperSonics with a moment of silence and a video highlight of his 1962 100-point game, inviting Teddy Pendergrass to sing the national anthem - didn't want to have to break in another 20K women after the millennium? Am. writer Andre Dubus (b. 1936) on Feb. 24 in Haverhills, Mass. (heart attack). Am. "Die Hard" novelist Roderick Thorp (b. 1936) on Apr. 28 in Oxnard, Calif. Am. Radcliffe College co-founder Arthur Gilman (b. 1837) on Dec. 27 in Atlantic City, N.J. Am. singer-actor Hoyt Axton (b. 1938) on Oct. 26 in Victor, Mont. (heart failure); dies 30 mo. after his mother Mae Axton. Am. linguist James D. McCawley (b. 1938) on Apr. 10 in Chicago, Ill. Am. novelist George V. Niggins (b. 1939) on Nov. 6 in Boston, Mass. (heart attack). Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Vasilievich Malyshev (b. 1941) on Nov. 8 in Zvyozdny Gorodok. Am. musician Doug Sahm (b. 1941) on Nov. 18 in Taos, N.M. Canadian "The Band" singer Rick Danko (b. 1942) on Dec. 16 near Woodstock, N.Y. (heart failure). Am. actress Madeline Kahn (b. 1942) on Dec. 3 (ovarian cancer). Am. "Superfly" singer Curtis Mayfield (b. 1942) on Dec. 26 in Roswell, Ga. Am. folk singer Jackson Carey Frank (b. 1943) on Mar. 3 in Great Barrington, Mass. (pneumonia). Am. sculptor Frederick E. Hart (b. 1943) on Aug. 13 in Baltimore, Md. Am. "Just the Two of Us" jazz saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. (b. 1943) on Dec. 17 in New York City (heart attack). Mexican TV comedian Francisco "Paco" Stanley (b. 1944) on June 7 in Mexico City; killed by gunmen in the street. Am. poet Sherley Anne Williams (b. 1944) on July 6. Am. "Leo the Replicant in Blade Runner" actor Brion James (b. 1945) on Aug. 7 in Malibu, Calif. (heart failure). English "Robert Muldoon in Jurassic Park" actor Bob Peck (b. 1945) on Apr. 4 in London (cancer). Am. baseball player Catfish Hunter (b. 1946) on Sept. 9 in Hertford, N.C. (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Am. "Chicago Tribune", "Siskel & Ebert" film critic Gene Siskel (b. 1946) on Feb. 20 (brain cancer). Canadian-born Am. "Moby Grape" singer-songwriter Skip Spence (b. 1946) on Apr. 16 in Santa Cruz, Calif. Am. painter Martin Wong (b. 1946) on Aug. 12 in San Francisco, Calif. (AIDS); donated his giant graffiti collection to the Museum of the City of New York in 1993. Am. "Little Luke in The Real McCoys" actor Michael L. Winkelman (b. 1946) on July 27. Am. venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson (b. 1947) on Dec. 6 (brain cancer). Am. actor-dir. Richard Marion (b. 1949) on July 19 in Los Angeles, Calif. Am. mass murderer Larry Gene Ashbrook (b. 1952) on Sept. 15 in Fort Worth, Tex. (suicide). Am. hall-of-fame football player Walter Payton (b. 1954) on Nov. 1 in South Barringon, Ill. (cancer); rushed for 110 TDs in a 13-season 190-game career (1975-87), averaging 88 yards per game while only missing 1 game. Am. golfer William Payne Stewart (b. 1957) on Oct. 25 in Mina, S.D. (airplane crash). Am. Megadeth drummer Gar Samuelson (b. 1958) on July 22 in Clewer, Orange County, Fla. (liver failure). Am. publisher John F. Kennedy Jr. (b. 1960) on July 16 in the Atlantic Ocean (airplane accident). m. "South Park" voice-over actress Mary Kay Bergman (b. 1961) on Nov. 11 in Los Angeles, Calif. (suicide) - if you're gonna commit suicide, why not wait until the last second before the Millennium to go out with a bang? Canadian wrestler Owen Hart (b. 1965) on May 23 in Kansas City, Mo. (wrestling ring accident). Am. socialite Carolyn Bessette Kennedy (b. 1966) on July 16 in the Atlantic Ocean (airplane accident). Am. "Suddenly Susan" actor David Strickland Jr. (b. 1969) on Mar. 22 in Las Vegas, Nev. (suicide); hangs himself in the Oasis Motel - was it a sudden decision? Am. white supremacist Benjamin Nathaniel Smith (b. 1978) on July 4 in Salem, Ill. (suicide).
