March 12, 2015

Gas cost $2.45 a gallon in the spring of 2015, and the Dow Jones stood at 17,425 — the Senate was debating a controversial letter from Republican senators to Iran's leadership over nuclear negotiations, one of the more pointed foreign policy disputes between Congress and the White House in recent memory. On the cultural side, "Uptown Funk!" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars had been sitting at the top of the charts for weeks, and "Birdman" had just taken home the Academy Award for Best Picture. In sports, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers to claim the NBA championship, the same spring that NASA's Dawn probe became the first spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet when it entered Ceres's orbit on March 6.