Time Capsule - May, 2012

"Duck" Dunn, famous bass guitar player, has died. Nicolas Sarkozy is out of office in France. Angela Merkel is on the ropes in Germany. Financial crisis continues in Spain and Greece. Analysts fear a panic "run" on Greek banks. Fighting continues in Syria. JPMorgan is being sued. Wall Street is still over 12,000 - amid all this. The President has publicly revealed his support for same-sex marriage. The 4th installment of Robert Caro's new biography on LBJ (The Passage of Power) is available (#1 on NYTimes bestseller list). 50 Shades of Grey is the #1 bestseller fiction. (Don't ask...) Rupert Murdoch's media empire is sinking faster than expected. Mark Zuckerberg just turned 28 (years old); his Facebook empire is now worth 100 billion in assets. (But is it a good investment or a passing fad? They're debating that on the financial pages.) The budget crisis in California continues to loom large. Governor Jerry Brown is forced to propose massive budget cuts. Celtics are in the second round of the play-offs against the Sixers. The Red Sox may be turning the corner - riding a 5-game win streak. There's a blazing forest fire still raging in Arizona. The John Edwards' trial is dragging on as well (do they have to publicize this train wreck?). The Oprah network is in trouble. Dr. Oz has a show. The (Marvel) Avengers film is setting records at the box office. How does that compare to Hunger Games? Will the Dark Knight be able to compete? Mad Men is still the talk of the town...Rush Limbaugh has lambasted his numerous critics while being inducted into the "Hall of Famous Missourians." (True story.) Levon Helm has also died - along with Vidal Sassoon, Maria Trejo, April Kauffman, Carl Beane, Maurice Sendak, Carlos Fuentes and Mike Wallace. There's a sniper in Mississippi who pulls people over driving what appears to be an "unmarked police car." The sandwich is celebrating its 250th birthday.