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Historical Context for August 27, 1984

In 1984, the world population was approximately 4,782,175,519 people[†]

In 1984, the average yearly tuition was $1,148 for public universities and $5,093 for private universities. Today, these costs have risen to $9,750 and $35,248 respectively[†]

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Headlines from August 27, 1984

MUNICIPAL BOND FIRM SURVIVES A RISKY START

By Lawrence J. Demaria

When Jim Cashman, Joe Gabriele and Steve Hueglin decided to start their own firm in the Death Valley that was the municipal bond market in September 1979, many friends and colleagues on Wall Street raised their eyebrows. Inflation and rising interest rates were eroding the market value of municipal bonds: By the end of 1981, some had lost 50 percent of their value. The then-recent fiscal troubles of New York and other cities had also attached a bad odor to the market. Investors were wary. It seemed an unlikely juncture to leave steady jobs and pool $350,000, much of it borrowed from family, friends and banks, to plant it in a new municipal bond firm. ''It wasn't the best of times to take a chance; it was a gamble,'' said James R. Engels, a Government bond broker with the Cantor, Fitzgerald Securities Corporation. But Mr. Engels, who knew the three men well - and their contacts - was less skeptical than some. ''I thought it was a good shot,'' he added.

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WHERE NEXT FOR ELECTRONICS?

By Andrew Pollack

When employees of the Victor Company of Japan make valuable suggestions, they are often rewarded with little statues of a dog, the company mascot. It is the same dog that once listened to his master's voice in advertisements for Victrolas. But JVC, as the company is known, has remained true to its mascot, while the RCA Corporation, the American descendant of the Victor Talking Machine Company, discarded it for a time as the company moved into high technology. Such devotion to its consumer electronics roots runs deep at the company that made Japan's first television set in 1939 and which, in 1976, developed the VHS format video cassette recorder that surpassed Sony's Betamax for the dominant share in the world market. But now JVC faces a challenge. Can it develop a product as successful as its television and video cassette recorder?

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SHORTAGE OF SEMICONDUCTORS EASES

By David E. Sanger

A critical shortage of semiconductors appears to be easing, after a year of scarcity that forced many makers of computers, video cassette recorders and other electronic products to reduce their production. Both manufacturers and industry experts say that some parts, especially a new generation of more powerful microprocessors, are still in extremely short supply. But backlogs for older products, especially 64K memory chips and Erasable-Programmable Read Only Memories, known as EPROMs, have declined sharply. In part, the greater availability of semiconductors seems attributable to an expected seasonal slowdown in orders. But also, several crash programs, involving seven-day-a-week operation of silicon-wafer fabrication plants and the building of new production lines, have increased the industry's capacity.

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METS TOP GIANTS TO END SKID AT 3

By Murray Chass

The Mets received two big surprises yesterday, one from the Giants and the other from one of their own, and both were instrumental in thwarting San Francisco's thoughts of shattering the Mets with a sweep of their four-game series. After falling into a depressed state over three consecutive one-run losses to the Giants, the Mets revived their spirits with an 11-6 victory built on home runs by Keith Hernandez and Kelvin Chapman. Therein lay the surprises. Hernandez hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning in a situation in which the Mets never expected him to get a pitch to hit anywhere, let alone over the fence. No one was on first base and a struggling Darryl Strawberry was the next batter, yet the Giants surprised the Mets by letting Hernandez hit. The homer, against Mike Krukow, catapulted the Mets into a 6-5 lead.

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BUSINESS DIGEST

By Unknown Author

MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 1984 The Economy A consensus is building within the Reagan Administration to seek negotiated limits on steel imports from third world suppliers. The President must decide soon what action to take on an International Trade Commission proposal to impose worldwide quotas and higher tariffs on steel imports. (Page D1.)

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BLEAK DAYS FOR FARM EQUIPMENT

By Steven Greenhouse

For the past five years, the depressed farm equipment industry has been hoping for an upturn. But this year's high interest rates, drop in exports and weak grain prices have aggravated many farmers' cash-flow problems and have kept equipment orders extremely low. Dealers, company officials and Wall Street analysts say one or two companies may go bankrupt or abandon production of farm equipment in favor of their other operations. The industry - which employs 100,000 people, only half as many as in 1979 - remains one of the few in the nation that is losing money almost two years after the economic recovery began. ''Everyone is trying to keep their head above water,'' said Paul Whelan, an analyst with Pershing & Company.

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URANIUM SHIPMENT WENT DOWN WITH FRENCH SHIP

By Richard Bernstein, Special To the New York Times

A French cargo ship that sank off the coast of Belgium Saturday night was carrying containers filled with a form of uranium used to make fuel for nuclear reactors, the ship's owner and French Government officials said tonight. An official in the French Ministry of the Environment, Jean-Claude Roure, said an investigation carried out by French maritime officials near the wreck revealed ''no trace of radioactivity in the area,'' indicating the containers had not broken during the collision. Guy Lengagne, the Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs, said in a communique tonight that ''the immersion of containers presents no danger'' of nuclear contamination. The containers remained on board the vessel, he said, and an examination of sea water collected from the area showed ''no leakage.''

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STEEL CURB CONSENSUS IS FORMING

By Clyde H. Farnsworth

A consensus is building within the Reagan Administration to negotiate limits on steel imports with third world suppliers, including Brazil and South Korea, according to Administration trade officials. They said the limits would be part of plans being formulated to protect the domestic industry from foreign competition. President Reagan must decide by Sept. 24 what action to take on a proposal by the International Trade Commission to place worldwide quotas and higher tariffs on steel imports. The recommendation was the trade agency's response to a petition for protection by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation and the United Steelworkers of America.

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SOUTHEAST, AWASH IN WATER, WORRIES OVER RUNNING SHORT

By William E. Schmidt, Special To the New York Times

With its abundance of swamps and streams and wide, swollen rivers, the southeastern United States has always seemed a region rich in water resources, a humid landscape where water management has usually meant flood control. But public officials in the South are trying to come to grips with another alarming truth: Despite the appearance of plenty, farmers, towns and industries are slowly but surely depleting the supply of cheap, clean underground water that underlies large areas of the region and has historically provided the water for anything from drinking to crop irrigation. Once Seen as a Nuisance ''Up until now, people in Mississippi and many parts of the Southeast have thought of water as mostly a nuisance,'' said Prof. Marvin T. Bond, who heads the Water Resource Research Institute at Mississippi State University. ''They said, just keep the floods away from my back door. ''But with the demands on those resources increasing,'' Professor Bond added, ''we are having to convince people that, amid all that plenty, we are facing what could be a real crisis in long-term water supply.'' This summer Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, each bordering the Mississippi River, are studying the adoption of some sort of comprehensive policy to better protect the quanity and quality of a resource that until recently was perceived as limitless.

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TRAITS SHARED BY MASS KILLERS REMAIN UNKNOWN TO EXPERTS

By Joseph Berger

Before being convicted of murdering two women and a young girl in Florida and linked to the murders of 36 others, Theodore Bundy had helped the Seattle Crime Prevention Commission design a program for preventing rapes. James Huberty, who shot 21 people to death at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., in July, had previously been able to find work as a security guard Kenneth Bianchi, who confessed to five of the 10 ''Hillside Strangler'' murders in Los Angeles in the late 1970's, was not only able to get a job as a security guard, but was also regarded by police officials in Bellingham, Wash., as a good prospect for law-enforcement work. If these examples are any measure, American society is not very good at recognizing potential multiple murderers - neither mass murderers like Mr. Huberty who kill groups of people in a single outburst nor serial murderers who kill many victims over a long period. Indeed, criminologists, psychiatrists and law-enforcement officials say that research into the psychology and behavior of the multiple murderer is only in its infancy and that, in the words of one scholar, ''the mass killer cannot be predicted.'' Yet, more studies than ever before appear to be in progress, and they are confirming some preconceptions and confounding others.

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JOHN HENRY ROMPS IN ARLINGTON MILLION

By Steven Crist

It seemed as if everyone at Arlington Park was rooting for John Henry to win the Arlington Budweiser Million today, and the Methuselah of thoroughbred racing did not let them down. The 9-year-old gelding, whose entire career has defied time and credibility, won so easily that it was difficult to remember that horses of his age are supposed to be out to pasture. The roar began at the top of the stretch, as the filly Royal Heroine clung to a length lead turning for home and John Henry swung into high gear. He accelerated and went after her, catching her just before the eighth pole and then drawing away to a 1 3/4-length margin over the filly. Three lengths farther back, Gato del Sol got up for third in a four-way photo over Nijinsky's Secret, Hot Touch and Majesty's Prince. Desert Wine, second choice at 3-to-1, finished last with no apparent excuse.

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I was wondering if anything interesting on the news was going on when I was born, and decided to create this website for fun. The purpose is to show people what was going on when they were born. With this website I've found out that it was a pretty slow news day on my birthday, but I bet it would feel cool to know a historical event happened on your birthday.

The data used in this project is provided by the New York Times API. They have by far the best API I was able to find, with articles dating back to the 1950s. There weren't any other major newspapers that had an API with close to as much data. The closest was the Guardian API, but theirs only went back to the 1990s. I decided to only use articles from the New York Times because their API was by far the best. This tool works if you have a birthday after the 1950s or so.

Some important dates in history I'd recommend looking up on this website are:

  • 9/11/2001: The September 11 Attacks happened on this day, the news articles from this date provide great context to the tragedy our nation suffered and the immediate response from the American people. The headlines capture the shock, confusion, and unity that emerged in the aftermath of this devastating event.
  • 7/20/1969: The historic Apollo 11 moon landing, when humans first set foot on another celestial body. The articles from this date showcase humanity's greatest achievement in space exploration and the culmination of the space race.
  • 11/9/1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall, marking the beginning of the end of the Cold War. The coverage provides fascinating insights into this pivotal moment in world history and the emotions of people as decades of division came to an end.
  • 1/20/2009: Barack Obama's inauguration as the first African American President of the United States, a watershed moment in American history that represented a major milestone in the ongoing journey toward racial equality.
  • 8/15/1969: The Woodstock Music Festival began, marking a defining moment in American counterculture and music history. The coverage captures the spirit of the era and the unprecedented gathering of young people.

These historical events are just a few examples of the fascinating moments in history you can explore through this tool. Whether you're interested in your own birthday, significant historical dates, or just curious about what was making headlines on any given day, this website offers a unique window into the past through the lens of contemporary news coverage.

You can read more on our blog.