Day 146/365 40 Years Ago ....

Earth was very different.

I've just watched the Moon Landing (again) live on the History Channel. And at the same time on http://www.wechoosethemoon.org.

We Choose the Moon had some interesting little facts tucked in among the moon info.

In 1969:

The median income in the United States was $8,389

A gallon of milk cost $1.10

A first class stamp was 6 cents

A gallon of regular gas was 35 cents (and we were all driving full-size cars)

A dozen eggs wwere 49 cents.

I decided to run with all that, and find some more 1969 info:

A new house could be built for $15,550

Or you could rent an apartment for $135 a month (usually included utilities)

The average new car cost $3,270 (but you could get a new Toyota Corona for $1950)

The Dow Jones closed at 800 points.

A transistor radio cost $8.10

A large bottle of ketchup was 49 cents.

A dozen tangerines cost 29 cents.

The Pontiac Firebird Trans Am was introduced.


Two weeks after the astronauts returned, members of Charlie Manson's Family committed their infamous murders.


Less than a month after the Moon Landing, 500,000 people ended up at Max Yasgur's farm in upstate Woodstock, New York.

Hurricane Camille hit the Gulf Coast, killing 248 people.

and three events that would shape our present-day world occurred:

Wal-Mart incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the first Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)is installed and the microprocessor was invented.

1969 left its imprint in so many ways, just as surely as Neil Armstrong's boot print is still in that lunar dust.