What was going on when I was born?

computer and office automation group, stepped in to rescue Britain's ailing Acorn Computers Ltd. Olivetti said that it would pay $11 million to acquire a 49.3 percent stake in the British company.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher addressed a joint meeting of Congress today, where she warmly endorsed the policies of the Reagan Administration and said that the military strength of the Western allies ''has brought the Soviet Union to the bargaining table in Geneva.'' In an address that stirred applause in the packed House chamber - especially among Republicans - Mrs. Thatcher also stressed that she firmly supported President Reagan's space- based missile defense research plan. The Conservative leader raised the prospect that British scientists ''will share in this research.'' ''Let us be under no illusions,'' Mrs. Thatcher said at one point to the throng, which included the diplomatic corps and Cabinet officials. ''It is our strength, not their good will, that has brought the Soviet Union to the negotiating table in Geneva.''

A Washington dispatch yesterday about the Navy's offer of bonuses to keep its fighter pilots misidentified the home state of Senator Warren B. Rudman. He is a Republican from New Hampshire.

When the Whirlpool Corporation began producing its new Design 2000 automatic clothes washers in volume in November, it was the culmination of a dozen years of product development. The Design 2000, to an untrained eye, is a big enamel box like any other top-loading washer. But according to Whirlpool, the 2000 line represents a fundamental redesign, not only of the washing machine itself but, equally important, of the manufacturing process. Cheaper to make, easier to service, the 2000 comes off a computer- driven assembly line in Clyde, Ohio, with 30 percent fewer parts than previous models.

A furor erupted today among governors, mayors and other local officials over the Supreme Court ruling that 13 million state and local government employees are subject to Federal wage and hour standards. Some said Tuesday's 5-to-4 decision would raise costs and increase bureaucratic red tape. But beyond that, there was a consensus that the ruling struck at the heart of efforts by state and local governments to win broader authority through the courts to operate their jurisdictions with less interference from Washington. ''I always viewed the Supreme Court in the role of referee, standing on the field in a striped shirt, mediating the contest between the state and Federal governments,'' said Gov. Bruce Babbitt of Arizona, a Democrat who is a leading advocate of restoration of state powers. ''What this decision does is have the referee leaving the field and heading for the shower.''

Drawing by Charles Waller ''Pencilmarkings,'' upper left, by Alan Buchsbaum for V'Soske; 6 by 6 feet, $7,500 list, through designers. Center, Sonja Flavin's ''For Aalto Scroll Chair,'' 76 by 47 feet, by commission; $1,555. ''G-6,'' right, reissue of a Juan Gris rug; in several sizes, from $1,050 list; Furniture of the 20th Century, through designers.

John A. Zaccaro was sentenced yesterday to perform 150 hours of community service for his admitted involvement in a fraudulent real-estate transaction that prosecutors said was aimed at yielding millions of dollars for him and several associates. Mr. Zaccaro, a 51-year-old real-estate and insurance broker, told Acting Justice George F. Roberts in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, ''I have learned my lesson, Judge, the hard way.'' He also told the court, ''I hope that this puts an end to my microscopic viewing by the press and people in general.'' New Inquiry by State Mr. Zaccaro's 20-minute sentencing in an 11th-floor courtroom at 100 Centre Street appeared to signal an end to what one of his attorneys called ''his season in the light,'' a prominence occasioned by last year's Democratic Vice-Presidential candidacy of his wife, Geraldine A. Ferraro. However, the New York Secretary of State's office said yesterday that it was preparing a complaint against Mr. Zaccaro and that it would subpoena him to appear at a hearing within several weeks to examine his fitness to hold brokerage licenses. The state could suspend or revoke the license or levy a fine.

The shake-up of Argentina's economic team this week does not signal a change in Argentina's approach to its economic troubles, according to President Raul Alfonsin. After swearing in Juan Sourrouille as successor to Economics Minister Bernardo Grinspun Tuesday evening, Mr. Alfonsin told reporters that ''the economic conception of Sourrouille is the same as that of Grinspun.'' Mr. Sourrouille, a 44-year-old former Planning Secretary, immediately promised new measures to address the problem that has plagued the Alfonsin administration since it took office 14 months ago: how to recover economic growth at the same time as combating inflation. But he added, ''There is only one economic plan, which is the Government's plan.''

After weeks of talk of racial ''reform'' from white officials, the familiar images of South Africa's recent history have reasserted themselves: the police firing on black demonstrators in a crowded squatter camp; the 3 A.M. rap at a flimsy door by a security operative come to search a home and detain those opposed to white rule. Sixteen people are now reported to have died in the police action in the Crossroads squatter camp outside Cape Town on Monday and six black activists face treason charges after their arrest on Tuesday. South Africa seemed to be showing that the sinews of raw, white power remain as taut as they were before the advent of ''constructive engagement,'' the Reagan Administration's policy of bringing about racial changes through diplomatic persuasion instead of confrontation. Arrests Are Protested The debate, as far as United States policy makers are concerned, centers on whether the Government's harsh tactics, so reminiscent of Sharpeville in 1960 and Soweto in 1976, reflect the uncertainties and anxieties that, historically, have surrounded efforts at easing the state's racial policy.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1985 International Margaret Thatcher, addressing a joint meeting of Congress, warmly endorsed the policies of the Reagan Administration and said that the military strength of the Western allies ''has brought the Soviet Union to the bargaining table in Geneva.'' The British Prime Minister stressed that she firmly supported President Reagan's research plan for a space-based missile defense. (Page A1, Col. 6.) Stringent conditions must be met before the deployment of new space defense weapons, according to Paul H. Nitze, the senior United States arms control adviser. One condition, Mr. Nitze said, is that the technology ''must produce defensive systems that are survivable,'' able to withstand a pre-emptive nuclear attack. Otherwise, he said, ''the defenses would themselves be tempting targets for a first strike'' and this would ''decrease, rather than enhance, stability.'' (A1:5.)

David Summers built his nightclub act around an illness he knows may kill him soon. Mathew J. Shebar left his Wall Street law practice to give legal counsel to friends and colleagues he saw dying of AIDS. Sister Patrice Murphy expanded her hospice program to minister to patients with AIDS and their families. AIDS has afflicted more than 8,000 people in the United States, with almost half of them in the New York metropolitan area, and as the numbers have grown, so have the support networks to meet the crisis. Formally and through casual arrangements, people with AIDS, their families, friends and lovers have been joining together to treat, help and console each other. Clinics and Legal Counseling Three years after the disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, first received widespread public attention, these networks have become extensive and sophisticated. And while AIDS has sometimes faded from the general consciousness, the number of people dedicated to helping AIDS victims continues to grow.

ABOUT the most serious decorating problem posed by the average-size television set is finding a place for it to be viewed comfortably. But what does the interior designer do with a room that must accommodate a projection television set, whose screen size can be as large as 10 feet, and in which both projector and seating must be placed a precise distance from the screen? Then there is lighting: Most projection television sets must be viewed in movie-theater conditions of darkened rooms. According to the Electronic Industry Association, 195,000 projection units were sold to American dealers in 1984, an increase of 35.4 percent over 1983. Interior designers are increasingly confronted with arranging rooms to incorporate projection television. ''These large-screen TV's are conversation killers,'' according to their inventor, Henry Kloss. In the early 1970's, Mr. Kloss freed television from small boxes with his invention of large-screen projection television and in 1977 he formed Kloss Video, a company manufacturing only large- screen projection television sets. Since then, other companies have entered the field.