The First Time News Was Fit To Print

A perk of being a weekend subscriber to The New York Times is the access to their online archives. (A less reliable perk: actually getting the paper.) I've decided to use this privilege to determine exactly when people and things were elevated to the level of ink-worthiness.

The Simpsons
December 23, 1988

It is rare that an underground cartoonist finds himself in demand for commercial work, but Matt Groening has made the leap. Mr. Groening is the creator of Life in Hell, an anarchic strip that appears in 103 publications, mostly alternative newsweeklies. Now, The Simpsons, a strange cartoon family he invented for television's Tracey Ullman Show, will be featured in a new ad by Lintas: New York for Butterfinger candy bars, a Planters Life Savers product that makes its debut Jan. 2.

iPod
October 24, 2001

Apple Computer introduced a portable music player today and declared that the new gadget, called the iPod, was so much easier to use that it would broaden a nascent market in the way the Macintosh once helped make the personal computer accessible to a more general audience. But while industry analysts said the device appeared to be as consumer friendly as the company said it was, they also pointed to its relatively limited potential audience, around seven million owners of the latest Macintosh computers. Apple said it had not yet decided whether to introduce a version of the music player for computers with the Windows operating system, which is used by more than 90 percent of personal computer users.

Barack Obama
February 6, 1990

The Harvard Law Review, generally considered the most prestigious in the country, elected the first black president in its 104-year history today. The job is considered the highest student position at Harvard Law School. The new president of the Review is Barack Obama, a 28-year-old graduate of Columbia University who spent four years heading a community development program for poor blacks on Chicago's South Side before enrolling in law school. His late father, Barack Obama, was a finance minister in Kenya and his mother, Ann Dunham, is an American anthropologist now doing fieldwork in Indonesia. Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii. "The fact that I've been elected shows a lot of progress," Mr. Obama said today in an interview. "It's encouraging."

Jon Stewart
November 4, 1988

Also performing are the stand-up comedians Bob Shaw, Ray Romano and Jon Stewart. The cover charge is $10 tonight, $12 tomorrow, and $7 on Sunday, and there is a two-drink minimum. Reservations are suggested.

Microsoft
August 13, 1981

Instead of having to type detailed instructions on a keyboard, using a special language, in a few years users will be able to communicate with computers more like they do with fellow human beings. Computers might develop the ability to understand the particular nuances and style of their owners. "They will have as much stored knowledge of what you know, what you've said, what you've done than any friend would have the patience to learn," predicts William H. Gates, president of Microsoft, a Bellevue, Wash., company that has designed software for many personal computer manufacturers, including I.B.M.

George W. Bush (?)
October 12, 1972

A half dozen years ago the Americans were known for their parties, but that is largely a thing of the past....As a result, one American official said, "we're being downgraded a lot" by other diplomats who are tired of the cold buffet at United States functions. But happily, perhaps, George W. Bush, the American representative, has a flair for off-beat party ideas. A few weeks ago he took a number of guests up to the Bronx Zoo to see 550 kinds of birds. No other mission topped that number.

I guess this could possibly be a different GWB. More likely, it's his father. Anyway, what other subjects should I tackle? Let me know and I'll be back with a sequel.

(I plan to run this feature into the ground.)

Update: Lots more first mentions here.

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