Comments on: The First Time News Was Fit To Print

By: Jonny

Jonny — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:57:23 +0000

MTV
Alan Greenspan
Ted Kaczinski
Fred Rogers

By: corey

corey — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:58:14 +0000

How about “ebay”? When I first heard about an “online garage sale” I thought it was ridiculous. Wish I’d bought the stock.

Also:

The Internet or Arpanet
MP3
CD
DVD
Google
Yahoo
YouTube
MySpace
GPS
ATMs
laptop
download (-ing, -s)
modem
blog
database
spreadsheet
video game
printer
monitor
synthesizer (musical instrument)
laser

…could go on and on. Great idea for a blog post!

By: Bajsa

Bajsa — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:55:37 +0000

TV
Democrat
Republican

How old is this publication?

By: Daniel Lynch

Daniel Lynch — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:04:18 +0000

the singularity
osama bin laden
hizbullah
hamas
virus (network variety)
global warming
global cooling
email
amahdinejad
AQ Khan

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:59:56 +0000

The Mosaic web browser was first mentioned by the New York Times in December 8, 1993 by John Markoff (it was a genuine scoop).

The PR department at the University of Illinois succeeded in hiding the fact it was created by a group of students lead by Marc Andreessen and presented it as if it had been developed the heavily funded NCSA (the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.)

By: tristan hamady

tristan hamady — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:35:19 +0000

harry anslinger
ken kesey (LSD legal)
harrison tax stamp
cocaine
opium
hemp (ditchweed-the viable crop)
kids wearing helmets to ride bikes (retarded)
the day insurance companies took over our freedoms.
bush “we will not occupy iraq”
color tv
las vegas founded
hmo formation
lobbyists make appearance
deregulation of communications
first pay-tv service (ON t.v.?)
stereo sound
first on-line university (the beginning of the end of education)
california public schools #1!
boy not to make local sports team because he is not good enough
energy drink
opium,cocaine legal, alcohol not. then, the other way around.
precedent in drug laws (see anslinger,racism,inconsistency)
1st american prison (demographics)
1st drive-by shooting
1st use of crack
1st transsexual (chick with a dick)
mayor of D.C. smokes crack
christian leaders busted for any number of illicit activities
1st christian mega-church/wall-mart of religion
corporate sponsorship of church
power of censorship as exercised by mega-retailers refusing to stock media
gloria allred’s first notorious case
reginald denny beaten
o.j. absolved (first abortion of justice that i’ve seen…)
red wine good for you, red wine bad for you, red wine good for you again…
mercedes-benz makes body panels from hemp-based plastic
america going down in flames……

By: Ed Hands

Ed Hands — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:38:16 +0000

@ Drew

Sadly, that was probably the most useful I was all day…

By: Drew

Drew — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:55:10 +0000

Ooh — a misplaced modifier changes everything.

But now, thanks to Ed, I can say that until now I was wholly unaware that Butterfingers were as old as they are. These wonders, they will never cease!

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:30:46 +0000

How far back to do the archives go? Given that the NYT is more than 150 years old, I’d think people would suggest things that happened before 1970.

What about the first mention of the subway, or the telephone, or the automobile? Commercial flight?

By: Ed Hands

Ed Hands — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:27:08 +0000

@ Drew

Butterfinger was invented in 1923 (according to the Wikipedia.) 1989 was significant because that’s when Bart Simpson started hawking it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfinger

An, no, I didn’t know it was that old either, but I knew I ate them as a kid, and I’m sure as hell older than that…