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On the date

Friday, February 18, 1983

From the day

Perspective: The Future Historian · Sight

I stand beneath a flicker of buzzing neon, watching a man in a boxy wool overcoat shout into a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X as if its gray plastic skeleton could bridge the gap between gods and men. Despite the grody slush pooling on the sidewalk, there is a frantic, electric pulse in the air; somewhere in the unseen architecture of the city, the new TCP/IP standard is weaving the first threads of a digital net that will eventually catch us all. Through the window of a dim computer shop, a glowing monitor displays the sterile, blinking cursor of Microsoft Word, a silent harbinger of the end of the ink-stained era. The silhouettes of passersby, wrapped in oversized shoulder pads and heavy fabrics, move with a determined weight, oblivious to the fact that their physical world is already beginning to dissolve into the coming slipstream.

Memories from that day

No memories yet. Add yours if you remember this day.

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100

Baby, Come to Me

Patti Austin and James Ingram

#1 at the box office

Tootsie

$7,524,261

The must-have

Cabbage Patch Kids

On This Day

  • Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.

    Wikipedia →

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

awesomebodaciouscheesychill

Valley Girl

as ifbarf me outgag me with a spoongrodytotally

Hip Hop

baddefdopeflyfreshword

Yuppie

greed is goodpower lunchnetworking

Catchphrases of 1983

  • Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Willis?
  • Say hello to my little friend

Tech Check

Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, Internet (TCP/IP Standard) & Microsoft Word.

Cost of Living (1980)

Loaf of Bread

$0.50

Gallon of Gas

$1.19

Average Home

$47,200

New Car

$7,200

Time Elapsed

15,813 days ago

(43 years, 118 days)