Hello readers!

I wanted to finish my historical events timeline and post it on the Action Heroes Wanted blog. As some readers might recall, I wrote briefly about my grandmother and her recent passing (see Sunday, December 2, 2012 posting). She lived through many historical events and saw great progresses take place in technology, medicine and human rights. The chart below starts with the year 1978, picking up where I left off. I also thinking it might be fun to produce and post a timeline that projects out into the future. It would highlight events and development that I think will take place in the next 25, 50 or 100+ years. I might ask my dad to help me in producing this timeline because he is a technologist and a closet mad scientist / inventor. LOL!

-B

Year	International Events	Art, Culture & Politics	Science &	Religion &
			Technology	Philosophy
1978	Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.			John Paul II becomes Pope
1979	Soviet-Afghan War begins as Soviet forces invade and occupy important locations throughout Afghanistan	(1) Iran declared an Islamic republic by Ayatollah Khomeini
		(2) Saddam Hussein Becomes President of Iraq
		(3) Shah of Iran flees country
		(4) Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female prime minister of Great Britain.
1980
1981	Israeli troops bomb the PLO headquarters in Beirut	Anwar Sadat assassinated; Mohamed Hosni Mubarak becomes president of Egypt	(1) Voyager 2 reaches Saturn	Pope John Paul II shot
			(2) Personal Computer introduced
			(3) First reported case of AIDS
1982	(1) Israel invades Lebanon		Mary Rose raised
	(2) Falklands War
1983			Sally Ride first American woman in space
1984		United States President Ronald Reagan wins reelection in a landslide over Democrat Walter Mondale	First release of Apple's Macintosh computers; First successful personal computer with graphical interface
1985		Mikhail Gorbachev elected by the Politburo as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R.	(1) Hole in the Ozone layer discovered
			(2) Titanic found
1986			(1) Chernobyl nuclear plant accident	(1) Cary Grant dies
			(2) Voyager 2 reaches Uranus	(2) Sultan Qaboos University founded
			(3) Marlin Perkins dies
1987	(1) Iraqi Exocet missile hits American Destroyer USS Stark; 37 crewmen are killed.			Andy Warhol dies
	(2) Palestinian uprising 'Intifada' breaks out in Gaza strip
1988	The USS Vincennes shoots down Iranian Airbus Flight #655; 290 civilians are killed		A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
1989		(1) In response to massive protests, the East German government allows East Berliners to cross into West Berlin. The dismantling of the Berlin Wall begins shortly after		(1) U. S. actress Bette Davis dies.
		(2) Solidarity wins landslide victory over the Communist Party in first free elections in Poland		(2) Globe Theatre found
		(3) Hungarian parliament adopts democratic reforms and pressures Soviet Union to remove military forces		(3) Salvador Dali dies
		(4) During the "Velvet Revolution" in Czechoslovakia, protesters force the Communist government to adopt democratic reforms		(4) Laurence Olivier dies
1990	Iraq invades Kuwait, beginning the Persian Gulf War	German reunification officially completed according to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany
1991	U.S. led coalition defeats Iraqi military forces and liberates Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm	(1) Communist hard-liners launch a failed coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev in the U.S.S.R.
		(2) Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union; Effective legal dissolution of the U.S.S.R.
1992		Democratic candidate Bill Clinton elected 42nd President of the United States
1993	(1) The European Community establishes a unified European market by removing trade barriers			(1) Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List
	(2) 19 American soldiers die during the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia			(2) President Bill Clinton announces "don't ask, don't tell" policy concerning gays serving in the U.S. military
1994	Hutu militias kill 500,000-1,000,000 Tutsis during Rwandan Genocide		Shoemaker-Levy Comet strikes Jupiter
1995	Dayton Agreement ends Bosnian War and confirms Bosnian independence.			(1) O.J. Simpson acquitted
				(2) Timothy McVeigh bombs the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 and wounding 450
1996			(1) IBM's Deep Blue chess computer defeats world champion Gary Kasparov	George Burns dies
			(2) Dolly the sheep is born, becoming the first cloned mammal
1997		Collapse of the currency of Thailand sparks the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis	Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars	Mother Teresa dies
1998		Suharto forced to resign as president of Indonesia after 31-year reign Decline in commodity prices triggers financial crisis in Russia and discredits the government of President Boris Yeltsin		U.S. singer Frank Sinatra dies
1999	NATO engages in 78-day bombing campaign against Serbia for occupation of Kosovo	Vladimir Putin becomes acting President of the Russian Federation after Boris Yeltsin resigns
2000	(1) Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon
	(2) USS Cole Attacked in Aden
2001	Terrorists destroy World Trade Center in New York City and damage the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
2002	U.N. Security Council passes resolution demanding that Iraq disarm
2003	United States and allied forces invade Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom		(1) Edward Teller, "Father of the H-Bomb," dies.	(1) U.S. actress Katharine Hepburn dies at age 96.
			(2) Space shuttle Columbia breaks up on re-entry over Texas	(2) Former U. S. poet laureate Josephine Jacobsen dies.
2008		Democratic candidate Barack Obama elected to be 44th President of the United States

I am very sorry it has taken me time to post to my blog. I had a violin recitle and a ton of homework over the past couple weeks. Please forgive me.

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Even though Newtown Connecticut is over 700 miles away from my home in Michigan, the tragic event that occurred there last week affectedd me emotionaly as if it happened in my own neighborhood. I am deeply saddened by what took place and like many I find it difficult to comprehend. I cannot imagine the level of pain that the victims' families are going through. I also can't imagine the pain that the gunman was going through that led him up to his unforgivable actions.

Everyone wants to know why the gunman went on his rampage, because an act like this is incomprehensible. Sadly, having the answer to this question will not make the pain for the families and the community of Newtown any less.

I understand that people want or need an explanation for something as horrific as last week's shooting because it is hard to understand and cope with the fact that someone like Adam Lanza and many others like him walk among us every day. We pass by and interact with dozens of emotionally unstable people on a monthly basis, unaware that the smallest thing could trigger them to ignite as Adam Lanza did.

I am confused about the uproar for increased gun control that followed the shootings. I seriously doubt that increased gun control or eliminating guns all together will stop certain individuals from going on a killing spree. China, a country where it is illegal for its citizens to own guns or even play with toy guns has had similar tragic events occur over the past few years. The country is sadly experiencing a string of rampage attacks at schools, daycare centers, retirement homes and on city streets that have left dozens upon dozens dead and scores more wounded. All these crimes were committed without guns.

I think the answer to correcting and eliminating tragic events such as these is far more complex than banning guns or putting stricter gun control laws into place. If someone such as Adam Lanza is going to go on a killing spree, he or she is going to figure out a way to inflict as much damage as possible and get around the limitation of not having a gun. A can of hairspray a small tube of BB's and a 9-volt battery can inflict an immense amount of damage. The items are readily available and don't require permits to buy. My point is that banning guns won't stop this type of crime, especially with the technology we have today.

The questions I would like answers to are:

• Nancy Lanza knew her son had severe emotional and behavioral issues, so why did she get into gun collecting and keep so much ammunition on hand? I realize that she was one of the victims, but in my mind, she is just as responsible for last week's events. If my child showed signs of being unstable, then there wouldn't even be a butter knife in my house.
• Why aren’t schools built more like banks? They should have high levels of security, doors should be locked, windows should be bulletproof like bank teller windows and there should be an armed security guard at every entry. No one gets in or out without being frisked and walking through a metal detector. Schools don't have to look like prisons to be secure. Banks protect our money better than schools protect our greatest asset- us kids!
• Why don't we have better mental health care available in this country? How could Adam fall through the cracks?  

Please note that I am only 11 and that guns for the most part scare me. I have a Daisy BB gun that I shoot tin cans with and my dad has an old shotgun that has been locked up longer than I have been born. So my oppinions are not that of a gun slinging, pro-gun person. They are just my observations right or wrong.

On Saturday, my family and I laid my great grandmother Lois Bumstead to rest. She was born in 1921, so that made her 91 years old.  It was a beautiful ceremony. I played my violin at the church to honor her and to thank all who came to pay tribute to her. I was nervous because I wanted to do my best.  

The family met after the ceremony at Adiamo restaurant in Livonia, Michigan to reminisce about her life. I loved my great grandmother for her warmth and kindness. Today I learned so much more about who she was and gained an appreciation for the period of time she lived through.

To get a better understanding for the events that she witnessed, I did a little historical research on the web and put the following table together. She saw and lived through so much that I have to break the table up into two blog postings! This posting will cover years 1920 – 1977. My next posting will cover years 1978 – 2012.

My great grandmother lived through the greatest technology boom in human history. I can't even imagine a world without indoor plumbing, washing machines and computers, yet at one point in her life these things were all new.

Date	Event	US President
1920	Women earn the right to vote	Warren Harding - Rep.
1921	My great grandmother Lois Smith is born
1923	Frigidaire releases the first self-contained home refrigerator
1927	Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic	Calvin Coolidge – Rep.
1928	Amelia Earhart crosses the Atlantic
1929	Stock Market crashes	Herbert Hoover – Rep.
1930	Worldwide depression begins
1933	Franklin Delano Roosevelt begins "New Deal" program	Franklin D. Roosevelt – Dem.
1934	Adolf Hitler becomes Fueher of Germany
1935	Franklin D. Roosevelt introduces Social Security Act
1937	Dow Chemical invents plastic
1937	Hindenburg catches fire and explodes in New Jersey
1939	World War Two begins – Germany invades Poland
1940	Oldsmobile introduces first automatic transmission in cars
1941	Japan surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
1944	Normandy landings
1945	United Nations is formed	Harry Truman – Dem.
1945	U.S. Drops atomic bomb on Japan
1948	Cold War begins
1949	Soviet Union develops an atomic bomb
1950	Korean War
1952	First commercially available jet flight – BOAC - London
1954	Television overtakes radio in popularity	Dwight D. Eisenhower – Rep.
1954	U.S. Nautilus first nuclear submarine
1955	Black Americans boycott busses in Montgomery AL
1955	Supreme Court orders school desegregation
1955	CIA get involved in Vietnam
1957	Soviets launch Sputnik – first artificial satellite
1959	Soviets land the first manmade object on the moon
1960	Maiman develops and demonstrates first laser
1960	Civil Rights Movement begins
1961	President Kennedy launches Apollo manned moon project	John Kennedy – Dem.
1962	Cuban Missile Crisis
1963	U.S. President Kennedy is assassinated
1963	First McDonalds TV commercial airs
1965	U.S. begins sending troops to Vietnam	Lyndon Johnson – Dem.
1967	The Beatles release Sgt. Peppers album
1967	Texas Instruments builds a proto-type pocket calculator
1967	Amana introduces first countertop microwave oven
1968	Stanley Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey  hits theaters
1969	Apollo 11 first manned mission to land on the moon
1971	Pocket calculators become available retailing at $300
1970	U.S. Invades Cambodia	Richard Nixon – Rep.
1970	Home dishwashing units (dishwashers) become affordable
1972	Magnavox release the first home video game console
1973	BIC introduces its first disposable lighter
1974	Richard Nixon resigns over Watergate	Gerald Ford – Rep.
1976	United States celebrates its bicentennial
1976	Viking 1 & 2 land on Mars
1977	Atari release the Atari 2600 video game console	Jimmy Carter – Dem.
1977	Star Wars hits movie theaters

I would really love to hear from you, so drop me a note at actionheroeswanted@gmail.com and let me know how you are doing!

-B