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The Year Was 1995

The Year Was 1995

Don't get me wrong I am planning on getting to the current Century at some point but I wanted to stick to the 1990s for a little bit longer. Minimum wage was still $4.25 p/h, a gallon of gas cost $1.15 and people were very angry that the cost of a stamp increased from 29 cents to a WHOPPING 32 cents! (Which was the funniest part of the 90's to me.)

Major News

Riots break out in Brixton, London

The Year Was 1995

The Riots started after news of the death of a black 26-year-old, Wayne Douglas, held in police custody reached protestors outside of the station. Who as far as I understand it were protesting racial profiling. (British G@Gers chime in below on the cause of the protest if I missed it.) Douglas had allegedly robbed a couple in bed at knife point hours earlier. With several hundred people involved, the riot resulted in damage to property and vehicles in the area.

Police sealed off a three-kilometer (2 mile) area around Brixton in south London. The riot lasted for five hours. 22 people were arrested and charged with public order offenses, theft and criminal damage. Three police officers were hurt. The then-Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine, condemned the riots and said "efforts to improve Brixton would continue". (From an outsider view Brixton seems to riot a lot.)

Oklahoma City Bombing

On April 19, 1995 a domestic terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in downtown Oklahoma City ended up killing 168 people and injuring more than 680 others.

Tokyo Sarin Gas Attack

On March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo, a religious cult based in Japan, used chemical weapons in a terrorist attack on Tokyo's subway system. During the morning rush hour, five cult members carried bags of liquid sarin into Tokyo's subway and pierced the bags with the tips of their umbrellas, allowing the deadly nerve agent to evaporate and spread. The attack killed twelve people and injured thousands more.

Midwest Heat Wave

The Year Was 1995

From July 12 to July 16 an unprecedented heat wave struck the Midwestern United States Temperatures exceed 104°F in the afternoon for 5 straight days. At least 3000 people die, 750 in Chicago, Illinois alone.

Tech News

Windows 95-

The Year Was 1995

Released by Microsoft on August 24, 1995 Windows 95 could be originally installed it with just 13 1.68MB floppy disks! The Start button was introduced and you could also have long file names. Graphically, it was fairly intuitive, and looked pretty good.

eBay

The Year Was 1995

September 3, 1995 eBay started the online auction and shopping website, where people buy and sell goods and services worldwide. On a personal note I originally thought this site was at worst a scam and at best a community garage sale, thinking both would end badly. Time fooled me.

DVD

The Year Was 1995

DVD, optical disc storage media format, is announced but wouldn't be released in mass until '96.

Hottest Computer


By 1995, many laptops were running on Intel Pentium processors, had built-in CD-ROM drives, operating Windows 95, and were gaining notoriety. The Gateway Solo 2000 was one such popular model. The price for this 15in laptop was only $3,499 but for roughly the same price you could get a full Desktop.

Movies


The Top 3 movies of the year were Toy Story, Batman Forever and Apollo 13. The Worst movie was Showgirls. It went on to win 6 Razzies for Worst Picture, Actress, Director, New Star, Screen Play and my favorite award Worst Screen Couple for Any combination of two people or two body parts!

TV


NBC owned the year for most popular TV shows in the U.S. with the very first season of ER, The 6th season of Seinfeld and a sluggish first season for Friends in the top 3 spots.

Music


Gangsta's Paradise, Waterfalls and Creep were the most popular and over played songs of the year. The worst song Can't Stop Loving You by Van Halen trying to cash in on a small power ballad resurgence. And just to annoy y'all here it is...


Sports

Super Bowl XXIX


We saw the San Diego Chargers take on the defending Champs the San Francisco 49ers. Yet the 49ers defeated the Chargers by the score of 49–26, becoming the first team to win Five Super Bowl championships! You can also thank Disney for the horrible Half-Time Show.

NBA Finals


For the first time in four years we didn't see the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan make it to the Final Four. Instead we got to see the Houston Rockets win all Four Games against the Orlando Magic. (Shaq Sad)

World Table Tennis Championships

In a Major Upset China took the Gold in the WTTC! (Kidding I had no clue this was a thing until Forrest Gump came out and didn't look it up until now.)

All in all '95 from my view was hectic as hell. I was 14 turning 15 and I was a huge pain in the ass. Testing the limits of the "Bro-code," using the good old five finger discount for most purchases and trying to find this "pot" everyone was raving about. (Ya had to know people back then.) And in case I missed some stuff here's someone Else's Flashback from YouTube.

Peace Out Y'all!

The Year Was 1995
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