1978 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

• Science: The Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) was launched. President Clinton granted nonmilitary users access to the unscrambled GPS signal in 2000.
• The Top Song was Night Fever by The Bee Gees
• The Big Movies included Grease, National Lampoon's Animal House and Jaws 2
• The peak year for vinyl sales was 1978. #disco
• Pentax K2, SLR Camera: $300.00
  Bing Cherries: 69 cents/pound
  Minimum Wage in 1978: $2.65
• The World Population was ~ 4,223,000,000
• The first Star Wars action figures were released in 1978.
• And... he legendary dance floor scene in "Saturday Night Fever" used Boz Scaggs Lowdown, but Columbia Records refused to grant clearance for the song. The studio rushed to replace the music with the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive.

Prior to 1978, the National Weather Service only used female names for hurricanes because they were viewed by the all male staff as most appropriate for the unpredictable and dangerous storms.

During a 1978 Monday Night Football game, to fill dead air, Howard Cosell commented on a delicious new snack he was eating, thus stadium nachos went mainstream.

It wasn't until 1978 that turning right on a red light was allowed throughout the US.

A study titled "Where Are They Now?" in 1978 followed up on 515 people who were prevented from attempting suicide using the Golden Gate Bridge from 1937 to 1971. About 90% were either alive or had died of natural causes, concluding "suicidal behavior is crisis-oriented" rather than inexorable.

In Yukon, Canada a bulldozer uncovered buried reels of nitrate film during excavation of a landfill. About 500 old films dating from 1910 to 1921 have been uncovered. This treasure trove includes long lost newsreels of World War 1, and many long lost silent movies.

Before the casting of Christopher Reeve as Superman in the 1978 film, Burt Reynolds, Sylvester Stallone, James Caan, Christopher Walken, Nick Nolte, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Jenner were all potentials for the part.

Superman was supposed to go public domain in 2014, but a bill was passed that made everything copyrighted before 1978 have 95 years of copyright protection.

Ben and Jerry opened their first ice cream parlor in Burlington, Vermont.

Jimmy Carter signed the bill that made homebrewing legal in 1978. (It took effect in 1979)

Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler made it to the top of Mount Everest, the first to do so without supplementary oxygen.

At a 1977 Aerosmith concert in Philadelphia, a fan threw an M-80 at the band, which exploded and prematurely ended the concert. When Aerosmith returned to Philadelphia in 1978, a fan threw a beer bottle at the stage, which shattered and prematurely ended the concert.

The first Test Tube Baby, Louis Brown was born.

The 1978 arcade game "Space Invaders" was so popular upon its release that by mid-1981, Space Invaders machines had grossed more than four billion quarters.

Neiman Marcus sold an all-chocolate version of Monopoly. The entire set was edible.

The French had their own version of the internet called Mintel. It was created in 1978 and you could online shop, send mail, check stocks and buy tickets. In 2009 there were still 10 million monthly connects and it was shut down for good in 2012.

Milton Bradley made a board game that tried to teach kids not to get fat, called 'Fat Chance'.

The Maryland state legislature considered a bill that would have made it illegal to play the song "Short People" on the radio. It didn't pass.

Home Depot was founded in Atlanta, Georgia.

Glenn Burke was the first MLB player to come out as gay to teammates and team owners during his professional career and the first to publicly acknowledge it. Burke said "By 1978 I think everybody knew" and he was "sure his teammates didn't care."

Aveda shampoo was invented by Horst Rechelbacher.

In 1978, while only making $25,000 a year, Hilary Clinton invested $1,000 in Cattle futures. 10 months later when she closed her account, it was worth $99,541, a 10,000% return on her initial investment.

Until 1978 a tennis player was allowed to use absolutely any object as a racket.

Over 500 silent-era films from the early 20th century were discovered preserved in the permafrost in the subarctic town of Dawson City, Yukon.

Tim Burton's first job out of college was working on Ralph Baksi's 1978 Lord of the Rings film.

Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated movie, to date, that has won an Oscar.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 1978: $162,000

Actor Marlon Brando was paid $3.7 million and a percentage of the profits for twelve shooting days playing Jor-El, Superman's father, in the superhero flick Superman. For ten minutes of screen time, Brando earned $14 million. For his role, Marlon Brando proposed that his character (Jor-El) only appear as a suitcase or a green bagel with Brando's voice.

APF-M1000 Game Console, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Simon, Coleco released the Telstar Gemini, the Telstar Colortron, and the Telstar Marksman

Country Living began publication

Omni Magazine (1978-1998)

Food & Wine began publication