> When I was 12, my favorite TV and movie series, Star Trek, returned to television in the form of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It eventually spawned three feature length films and three more television series.

Four films, by my count: Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis. Unless there was one you were trying to forget the existence of. ;)

Anyway. When I was 12, Reagan came into office, and the 52 American hostages in Iran were released minutes later.

Rupert Murdoch bought The Times, as well as The Sunday Times.

Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time on the CBS Evening News.

Reagan was shot in the chest. He would not only complete that term, but serve a second, and die in 2004.

Pope John Paul II was also shot. He would die in 2005.

Di married Charles.

A PC with an 8088 was released in the US at a base price of $1565.

O'Connor became the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jumping back for selected births: Elijah Wood, Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton, Hayden Christensen, Danielle Fishel, Anna Kournikova, Beyoncé Knowles, Jonathan Taylor Thomas*, Jennifer Hudson, Zachery Ty Bryan*, and Britney Spears.

And again for selected deaths: Bob Marley, Anwar Sadat, Moshe Dayan, William Holden, and Natalie Wood.

*Yes, really! The guy who played the middle brother is actually a month and a day older than the guy who played the oldest brother.