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Changing offices everywhere!
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Pac-Man was released in the US, gripping people in an addictive rage.
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Hostages taken captive from the US embassy in Tehran were finally released by Iran on January 20, 1981 after a total of 444 days.
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Mark Hinckley attempted to murder the then-US president Ronald Reagan on March 30 to impress teen movie star Jodie Foster.
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Cases of AIDS were reported: Many homosexuals were infected by what was suspected to be a strange form of cancer. Not much was known then, other than the fact that it was highly contagious and fatal.
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MTV is born.
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Other interesting facts of this day: Easter Sunday
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The virus behind AIDS, i.e., HIV -- Human Immunodeficiency Virus -- was discovered by French scientist Dr. Luc Montagnier. AIDS cases were first found in homosexuals; as a result it came to be known as Gay syndrome or GRID earlier, which stood for Gay-Related Immune Deficiency.
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US Embassy was bombed in Beirut, Lebanon by a suicide bomber truck weighing 400 pounds. Over 400 people were injured while 63 lost their lives.
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'Crack' cocaine was made for the first time in Bahamas and was used vastly in the US within a couple of years.
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First hole in the Ozone layer was detected near the Antarctic region by scientists Farman, Gardiner, and Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey.
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Later in the year, it was found that Ronald Reagan went against the official policy and assisted in selling arms to Iran as ransom in exchange for the six American hostages. Furthermore, the profits from this sale were redirected to the rebels uprising against the Nicaraguan government.
Assassinations. -
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End of the Cold War: The cold war ended in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall. Alternatively, it is said to have ended in 1991 with the disintegration of USSR; both the theories are considered equally correct.
