BUFFALO, N.Y. — 10 Years ago this week in 2013:
The former Millard Fillmore hospital still towered over Gates Circle and the US Army passed a new regulation prohibiting soldiers from having visible tattoos.
Mariano Rivera retired after 19 seasons as Major League Baseball's all time career leader in saves, which is a record that still stands today.
Back in Buffalo a Canadian company, Gracious Living, announced plans to purchase Terminal A on the outer harbor and convert it into a plant to make furniture and hire 250 workers.
The plan never materialized and today that building remains as empty as it was this week in 2013.
20 years ago this week in 2003:
Text messaging from cell phones was becoming all the rage is all the rage, particularly among teenagers.
Many of those same teens may be parents today, and perhaps would have to explain just how cumbersome the process of texting was for them, because they didn't have smart phones, and texting required using the numeric keys on their flip phones and other devices.
There was growing concern over children and chatrooms, and we saw the beginning of a disturbing trend in stores to start putting out Christmas stuff before it was even Halloween...a scourge which has only worsened over time since this week in 2003.
30 years ago this week in 1993:
The first ever crew of 8 humans emerged, after spending two years inside of a massive facility built as a closed ecological system where they grew crops and raised animals as part of an experiment in self sustainability.
This week's News 2 You Pop Quiz: do you remember the name of this place in Arizona, the original purpose of which was to demonstrate the viability of colonizing space someday. (For the answer, watch the conclusion of the video attached to this story)
That same week Dave Munday, a parachutist from Ontario, Canada made history by becoming the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a "barrel" twice, and live to tell about it.
Munday's craft, from which he emerged bruised and woozy, was actually an altered diving bell which he had purchased from the Canadian Coast Guard before making his unprecedented trip over the brink this week in 1993.
40 years ago this week in 1983:
Smoking was still quite common in public spaces including, the halls of courthouses and even among lawmakers sitting at the dais of the Common Council chambers at Buffalo City Hall.
Billy Martin was still managing the New York Yankees, and John Otto was still a popular voice to radio listeners in Buffalo through his nightly telephone talk show on WGR.
