Today is my thirtieth birthday.

I'm uncomfortably realising that perhaps this means something - I just need to figure out what that is, and mark the occasion appropriately.

I was lucky enough to hear the wonderful Tim Flannery speak recently and he made a comment about how difficult it is for us to forecast. I'm paraphrasing him here:

Imagine telling someone in 1915 - a time of empires that had existed for centuries, rigid social structures, and an economy dominated by the dollars of a few and the work of many - that by 1950 they would have experienced two world wars, the emergence of nuclear energy, a growing middle class and widespread technology adoption in the form of electricity, telephones and cars (if only in the west).

Mind blowing, right?

So prompted by Tim, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to reflect on what the world looked like at the beginning of my lifetime, to remind myself how impossible it would have been to those around then to predict what was to come in just 30 short years.

A few points, according to Wikipedia:

The World population was less the 5 Billion people.
Bob Hawke was Prime Minister of Australia.
Neighbours started, originally on the Seven Network.
Ronald Reagan was sworn in for his second term as President of the USA and the War of Drugs was in it's violent early stages.
The world was in the grips of the Cold War. Mikael Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union. Reagan and Gorbachev met for the first time. The Fall of Communism began in Afghanistan, ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Troubles were still in full flight in Northern Ireland with the Provisional IRA carrying out the Newry mortar attack against the Royal Ulster Constabulary killing nine.
South Africa ended its ban on interracial marriage, but apartheid would persist for another 9 years.
Live Aid Concerts raised over $50 million dollars for the Ethiopian Famine.
Huge advances were being made in biological technology. The US FDA approves a blood test for AIDS.
DNA was used for the first time in a criminal case.
The wreck of the Titanic was located using sonar.
Super Mario Bros and the first Nintendo consoles were released.
Minolta released the first autofocus single lens reflex camera.

And my 26 and 27 year old parents gave birth to their first child, at Goulburn Valley Base Hospital.