What was going on when I was born?

International A qualified pledge to honor any accord made by President Carter with Iran to free the American hostages was given by Ronald Reagan, but he said he reserved the right to make new proposals if the crisis has not been resolved when he becomes President on Jan. 20. Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher conferred in Algiers with the Algerian Foreign Minister on questions raised by the Algerian intermediaries over Washington's proposals to Iran. (Page A1, Col. 6.) Efforts to resolve the hostage crisis have been complicated by legal questions over the extent of President Carter's authority to meet Iran's demands. American lawyers representing Iranian interests have quietly been helping Teheran's leaders evaluate the apparent legal obstacles. But differences of opinion may have increased Iran's skepticism about the the extent of Mr. Carter's authority. (A8:1.)

Administrators of the New York State and city court system said yesterday that they would make more judges available to try cases against people accused of serious crimes in New York City. The plan would increase by 14 judges the 125 who are now handling felony cases in the criminal parts of State Supreme Court, through the reassignment of Civil Court judges and senior Criminal Court judges. The reassigned judges would be replaced through new appointments to be made by Mayor Koch and the temporary assignment of upstate judges to Civil Courts. The state's chief administrative judge, Herbert B. Evans, and Judge E. Leo Milonas, his deputy in charge of city courts, said the plan would expand to criminal cases a year-old program under which upstate judges had been used to clear up a backlog of civil cases.

In mythical times, seers lived on craggy mountaintops and foretold the victories and deaths of kings and queens. Today they live in Florida and California and predict the highs and lows of the stock market. Joseph Granville, the Holly Hill, Fla., forecaster whose Tuesday night warning touched off a 23.8-point plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average on Wednesday, is one of the best known and most flamboyant of this breed of clairvoyants. But there are thousands of others who also ply the trade, some well known, some more obscure, but all certain that they can guide the bewildered investor. ''From time immemorial, people have sought certainty in an uncertain world,'' said William Freund, chief economist at the New York Stock Exchange. ''It goes back to reading entrails and crystal balls. Life is too difficult if you have to cope with uncertainties, and it becomes almost unbearable in the case of the stock market.''

If Walter A. Forbes is right, the future of American retailing is taking shape on the fourth floor of a nondescript office building in downtown Stamford. There, at the hub of an electronic shopping service offered by Comp-U-Card of America Inc., teams of people man telephones and scan price lists on computer terminals in a system that enables 1.5 million members to shop from home by toll-free telephone. ''We've put all our efforts into being the No. 1 electronic shopping service for the 1980's, the 1990's and thereafter,'' said Mr. Forbes, the chief executive. In addition to the 1.5 million members who shop by phone, some 5,000 other home-computer owners with access to the company's Comp-U-Star system have been able to shop with their computer for the past 18 months. An expansion of Comp-U-Star and a cable television shopping service are scheduled for the next few months.

The Carter Administration plans to propose a budget for the fiscal year 1982 with a deficit of about $30 billion, substantially less than was expected just a few weeks ago, Administration officials said today. The deficit for the fiscal year 1981, which began last Oct. 1, is now projected at about $57 billion, which is $27 billion more than the last official estimate, in July, but less than some analysts had feared. Even though Mr. Carter will be leaving office Jan. 20, his budget figures are important because they demonstrate the challenge facing President-elect Ronald Reagan, who recently moved his target date for balancing the budget from 1983 to 1984. Although Mr. Reagan is drafting his own 1982 budget, he will be working from the estimates of spending and revenues prepared by the Office of Management and Budget for Mr. Carter.

The Carter Administration plans to propose a 1982 budget that will show a deficit of about $30 billion, substantially less than was expected a few weeks ago, officials said. The budget figures do not include a tax cut endorsed by President-elect Reagan. (Page A1.) David A. Stockman, Mr. Reagan's nominee for budget chief, hinted of future conflict over budget cuts in such areas as the Tennessee Valley Authority, the space program and aid to the auto and steel industries, when questioned during his confirmation hearing. (A14.)

David H. Barnett, who last year confessed selling sensitive American intelligence information to the Soviet Union while employed by the Central Intelligence Agency, was sentenced today by a Federal district judge here to serve 18 years in prison. Mr. Barnett, 47 years old, faced a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for violating Federal espionage laws. Under the sentence imposed today, he will be eligible for parole in 1987. The defendant, whose work for the Russians represents the deepest proved penetration of the Central Intelligence Agency by the Soviet Union, according to Federal officials, stood impassively as Judge Frank A. Kaufman told him, ''I don't think there's any question that you did harm to the country.''

The Chrysler Loan Guarantee Board has found the recovery plan submitted by the Chrysler Corporation unacceptable and has decided to draw up its own plan, Douglas A. Fraser, president of the United Automobile Workers union, disclosed at a news conference here today. Mr. Fraser said that he had been advised by Treasury Secretary G. William Miller yesterday that the loan board and its staff were working to come up with a ''redesigned'' plan as quickly as possible. Mr. Fraser said it was obvious that the plan presented by Chrysler, which asks for more than $1 billion in concessions from the U.A.W., banks and Chrysler's suppliers, ''is not a plan that he (Mr. Miller) can sell to'' the other members of the loan board, who are Paul A. Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and Elmer B. Staats, the Comptroller General. Neither Chrysler nor the Federal Loan Guarantee Board could be reached for comment on Mr. Fraser's remarks. But a Treasury spokesman said that the loan board would meet again with Chrysler officials next Wednesday.

Boxes with things in them or on them are the subject of ''Kindred Spirits,'' an exhibition opening today at the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, L.I. Featured are works by Joseph Cornell, known for his enclosed constructions containing a surrealistic array of found objects, cutouts and type, and other artists, including Louise Nevelson -who also filled boxes but negated the ''otherness'' of the items by painting the entire structure the same color. Admission to the museum, on Prime Avenue off Route 25A, is free. A lecture on the legacy of Joseph Cornell by Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, a specialist on the artist, is scheduled at 8 P.M. in the Old First Church, Main Street. Admission is $4. Information: (516) 351-3250. 'MERRY WIDOW' OF 74TH ST. The Light Opera of Manhattan, at 334 East 74th Street, is celebrating the New Year with a work it would match for bubbliness with champagne, ''The Merry Widow.'' The music is by Franz Lehar and the lyrics by Alice Hammerstein Mathias. The widow of the title is the wealthy Sonia (Mary Jennings), whom we find enjoying her new freedom in Paris. She is wooed by Count Danilo (Craig Schulman), who was once her fiance when she was a simple peasant girl - a match squelched by his parents. Tickets are $6.50 to $10 ($5 for students and the elderly; children, half-price). Information: 861-2288.

Two Justice Department lawyers testified yesterday that they had criticized an undercover operator in the Abscam investigation for ''putting words'' in the mouth of Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr. that would later be used to incriminate him. What was wrong ''was telling someone to say something and then prosecuting him for saying it,'' said one of the lawyers, Robert Weir Jr. Mr. Weir is on the staff of the Justice Department's organized crime strike force in Newark. He and Edward J. Plaza, first assistant United States attorney in New Jersey, testified yesterday in Federal District Court in Brooklyn at the trial of Representative Raymond F. Lederer of Pennsylvania on bribery and conspiracy charges growing out of the undercover investigation. Senator Williams, a Democrat of New Jersey, faces trial next month on bribery charges stemming from the Abscam investigation.

If city library officials ever decide to close the Muhlenberg Branch in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, they might find the way blocked by some thoroughly militant readers. ''I'm perfectly prepared to go in there with my sleeping bag,'' says Lois Katz, head of the library association at the branch, on 23d Street off Seventh Avenue. ''I look upon civil disobedience as a very decent way to deal with a bad situation, and if the crunch comes, I'll do it.'' Mrs. Katz has watched the Muhlenberg branch cut its services precipitously in recent years. From 60 hours a week a decade ago, it is down to just 22 hours now.

Oil price increases of $4 a barrel yesterday by Qatar - and apparently by Kuwait as well - provided mounting evidence that consumers would be paying more for petroleum products than analysts had expected just after the meeting last month of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Qatar increased its crude oil price to $37.42 a barrel, according to an official notice received by a major United States oil company. In addition, reports were circulating that Kuwait had increased its price by $4, to $35.50, although buyers had not yet received official word. Oil analysts said the developments were ominous because they indicated that Persian Gulf countries had decided to take full advantage of the maximum price increase approved by OPEC, despite widespread expecations these nations would be more moderate. In addition, prices of the big Middle East producers tend to set the tone for oil prices everywhere. Non-OPEC oil exporters such as Mexico, China and Canada have also raised prices in recent weeks, and Britain and Norway are expected to follow suit.