1999 The worlds population exceeds Six Billion. The Wars in the Balkans continue to cause suffering in the region, but both sides do come to the table and a peace is agreed. The world prepares for the new millennium parties and computers around the world run testing for the millennium bug which could cause wide scale disruption to business and infrastructure if not fixed. The take up of the Internet and Mobile Phones around the world open up new opportunities for successful entrepreneurs.

Cost of Living 1999

How Much things cost in 1999
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 2.19%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 11,497
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 8.50%
Average Cost of new house $131,750.00
Average Income per year $40,810.00
Average Monthly Rent $645.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas $1.22
Average cost of new car $21,050.00
US Postage Stamp 33 cents
1 LB of Bacon $2.59
Ground Coffee per LB $3.41
Loaf of Bread $1.49
Dozen Eggs 89 cents



What Events Happened in 1999

• Renewed fighting between Pakistan and India over Kashmir
• Democracy restored to Indonesia
• Ford Acquires Volvo
• 2 Devastating Earthquakes kill 14,000 people in Turkey
• Serbs accelerate ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians leading to a NATO bombing attack
• New multi party assembly in Northern Ireland meets restoring self rule after 22 years
• European Union bans Beef Imports from the US over the widespread use of growth hormones
• The human population of the world surpassed six billion.
• Euro currency introduced
• Great Britain Introduces the Minimum Hourly Wage Rate of all adults must be paid at least £3.60 an hour
• Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping.
• A F5 tornado slams in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma killing 38 people
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time
• The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Miloševic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo
• Lance Armstrong wins first Tour de France.
• A powerful, magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits Athens, killing 143 people
• Earthquake in central Taiwan kills about 2,400 people.
• Jack Kervorkian was sentenced for the second-degree murder of Thomas Youk (assisted suicide).
• New US Gun Control Bill Rejected for new controls going too far, and new controls not going far enough.
• Thirty-one people die in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, west of London, England.
• Earthquake and Tsunami in Vanuatu
• Russia offensive on Chechnya using Missile Attacks
• Australian voters decided to keep the queen and not become a republic
• The Millennium Dome opens in London
• The Geneva Convention celebrations for 50th Anniversary
• Walmart continues it's world wide expansion plans when it buys the UK supermarket chain ASDA
• Mattel's Barbie Doll celebrates it's 40th Birthday
• Daredevel Evil Knievel Jumps the grand canyon on a rocket powered motorcycle
• Torrential rains caused catastrophic floods and mudslides in the coastal regions of Venezuela, killing an estimated 25,000 people and leaving 100,000 others homeless.
• Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, replaced by Vladimir Putin
• Dr. Jack Kevorkian, was found guilty of second-degree murder for for giving a lethal injection in a case of voluntary euthanasia
• Impeachment Proceedings are bought against President Bill Clinton
• Prince Edward marries commoner Sophie Rhys-Jones at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
• The Queen opens the first Scottish Parliament in 300 years
• Osama bin Laden sets his Al-Qaeda terrorist base in Afghanistan ( he is on the FBI's Most wanted List ) following involvment in American embassey bombings in Africa
• U.S. women's soccer team wins the FIFA Women's World Cup champions
• Total Eclipse Of The Sun Is Seen In cities of Europe and Asia
• The Liberty Bell space capsule recovered in Florida during an expedition sponsored by the Discovery Channel.
• Start of Millennium celebrations worldwide (technically the Millennium started in 2001 not 2000).

Popular Culture 1999

Popular Films

• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
• The Sixth Sense
• Toy Story 2
  
• The Matrix
  
• Tarzan
  
• The Mummy
• Notting Hill
  
• The World Is Not Enough
  
• American Beauty
  
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
  
• American Pie
  
• October Sky
  
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
  

Popular Musicians

• Lenny Kravitz
  
• Sarah McLachlan
  
• Britney Spears
  
• Enrique Iglesias
  
• Kid Rock
  
• Madonna
  
• Cher
  
• S Club 7
  
• Ko?n
  
• Christina Aguilera
  
• Whitney Houston
  
• Mariah Carey
  
• Backstreet Boys
  
• Jennifer Lopez
  
• Pearl Jam
  
• Foo Fighters
  
• Ricky Martin
  
• Eminem
  
• Limp Bizkit
  
• The Offspring
  
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
  
• Santana
  
• Shania Twain
  
• TLC
  
• Blink-182
  
• Phil Collins
  
• New Radicals

Popular Television

• Simpsons
  
• Beverly Hills 90210
  
• Frasier
  
• The X-Files
  
• Chicago Hope
  
• ER
  
• Friends
  
• 7th Heaven
  
• Everybody Loves Raymond
  
• Ally McBeal
  
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  
• King of the Hill
  
• South Park
  
• The Practice
  
• The Wonderful World of Disney
  
• Becker
  
• Charmed
  
• Dawson's Creek
  
• Sex and the City
  
• That '70s Show
  
• The King of Queens
  
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
  
• Will & Grace

Technology 1999

• Internet Explorer version 5 released
• The "Melissa" e-mail virus, infects more than 1 million computers worldwide causing more than $80 million in damage, clogging up E-Mail Systems around the world
• The year 2000 problem known as the Y2K problem and the millennium bug was the most important thing on most companies minds in 1999. Critical industries (such as electricity or financial) and government functions could stop working at 12:00 AM, January 1, 2000. This fear was fueled by the press coverage and other media speculation, as well as corporate and government reports. All over the world companies and organizations checked and upgraded their computer systems.
• My Space was officially introduced to the Internet
• Bluetooth announced.
• The initial release of Napster
• The genetic code that comprise the euchromatic portion of human chromosome 22 is released into the public domain for the good of mankind.

I have been asked why I have included Myspace in 1999 rather than the official launch in 2003 . ( When I used archive.org to look back MySpace was changed in 1999 from a site for virtual storage to a social networking site ) although very different than today.