Well, here we are, just the seven point one billion of us.
Here's the situation:
- Depending on how you reckon things, it's 平成25年, ԹՎ ՌՆԿԲ, or 12013.
- American children born this month will likely graduate from high school in 2031 and from college in 2035.
- Children born in 1992 can legally drink in the United States. Those born in 1995 can vote in the U.S. (and drink in Britain).
- That means it's been 21 years since Boutros Boutros-Ghali became U.N. Secretary-General, 21 years since President George H.W. Bush puked in Kiichi Miyazawa's lap, and 21 years and one week since Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the U.S.S.R.
- Coming up soon: the 50th anniversaries of Tab Cola, and of Bull Conner turning on the fire hoses; the 100th anniversaries of the Federal income tax, the direct election of U.S. Senators, and the British Board of Film Censors; and the 200th birthdays of Stephen Douglas, Søren Kierkegaard, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, and David Livingstone (I presume).
- Garry Kasparov, Russel Davies, and Valerie Plame turn 50 this year; Divine, Andy Gibb, and Lee Marvin have been dead for 25.
- Unless Congress once more extends copyright, Mickey Mouse will fall into the public domain in ten years.
- 2112 is less than a century away. This is important if you're a fan of Rush, Babylon 5, or Wall-E.
Updates as conditions warrant.