Don’t throw away those old calendars

With the economy still in the tank, it’s always nice to save a little money whenever you can. One way you can do this is to save your calendars.

Did you know that your old Creed and Avril Lavigne calendars from 2002 have the exact same dates as 2013? It’s true. Although if you hang up a 2002 calendar on the wall, you might start thinking that it actually is 2002. I mean, back in 2002 there were large companies like K-Mart, WorldCom and United Airlines filing for bankruptcy. There were snipers killing people at random in Washington, D.C. There was unrest in the Middle East. A new Lord of the Rings movie came out (“The Two Towers”).

There were wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes and . . . you know, I guess things haven’t changed that much. Then again, gasoline was $1.61 a gallon, so maybe a few things are a little different.

Many calendars from just the past hundred years share the exact same dates as 2013, so let’s go back and take a nostalgic walk through a few of those dates.

1991: Yes, you can pull out those Vanilla Ice and Marky Mark calendars once again. “Silence of the Lambs” and “Backdraft” were big hits in the movie theatres. Operation Desert Storm, the Oakland hills fire  and the Rodney King arrest all happened in this year. The Dow Jones topped 3,000 for the very first time. The Soviet Union ceased to exist. Airbags were first installed in cars. And Jeffrey Dahmer and Mike Tyson were both arrested (though not for the same thing).

1985: “The Color Purple” and “Back to the Future” were packing them in at the movies houses while the song “We are the World” was driving us crazy on our radio. Compact discs were introduced to American consumers and the very first mobile phone call was made. The Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Microsoft Corp. released the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0, and gasoline set us back $1.09 a gallon.

1974: If you hang this calendar on your wall, feel free to reach in your closet and pull out your lime green paisley leisure suit. Righteous! Richard Nixon resigned as president after the Watergate scandal. The 55 mph speed limit was imposed to preserve gas (gasoline being a whopping 55 cents at the pump). The Earth’s population first topped 4 billion. Work began on the Alaska oil pipeline. The first use of a UPC bar code scanner happened in Ohio. Pocket calculators were the latest craze. And “The Waltons,” “Kojak” and “The Six Million Dollar Man” entertained us on the boob tube.

1963: No doubt the Beatles are on the front of this calendar (either that or kitties and puppies). The Fab Four hit it big with the release of “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” John F. Kennedy became the last U.S. president to be assassinated. The Studebaker ended production in the U.S. and Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closed its doors. ZIP codes were implemented. AT&T introduced touch-tone phones. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I have a dream” speech. Alcoa introduced pull-tab cans. Gas cost 29 cents a gallon. And a certain columnist for the Daily Republic was just starting to learn how to walk. And write.

1957: You can slick back your hair while hanging up your Elvis calendar. During this year the first nuclear reactor plant opened for electricity production in Pennsylvania. The Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth (Sputnik 1). The Asian flu epidemic resulted in approximately 70,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. And a hi-fi portable record player (the very latest in technology) would set you back a whopping $79.99.

1946: Calendars from this year would sport the faces of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Perry Como or the Andrews Sisters. World War II just ended, so the baby boom had officially begun. Tupperware was first sold in department stores. Bikinis were the latest craze in Paris. And the electric blanket was the latest technology.

Other years that you can use would be 1935, 1929 and 1918. If you have calendars older than that, then God bless you.

I hope that 2013 is a good year for all of you!

You can contact C.W. Plunkett at cwplunkett33@yahoo.com.