Cool Stuff Ride Home

Thu. 12/02 - How a College Student Invented Oregon Trail 50 Years Ago

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How a twenty-one-year-old student-teacher and his roommates created Oregon Trail fifty years ago, and never made a cent from their creation. Plus, a letter Catherine the Great wrote in favor of vaccinations just sold for $1.3 million. And, for one night only, you can stay in the original Home Alone house.

Sponsors:

  • Tentree, Use code KOTTKE to get 15% off at tentree.com
  • Lendtable, Use code KOTTKE at Lendtable.com to get an extra $50 added to your Lendtable balance

    • Links:

    ‘Oregon Trail’ at 50: How Three Teachers Created the Computer Game That Inspired — and Diverted — Generations of Students (The 74 Million)
  • Oregon Trail game history: An interview with the inventor, Don Rawitsch. (Slate)
  • Watch the creators of retro gaming classic Oregon Trail reminisce in a now-retro video (A/V Club)
  • The Oregon Trail emulator (Archive.Org)
  • Oregon Trail Gets A Makeover With More Accurate Native American Representation (NPR) 
  • Miracle Workers (TBS)
  • George Washington and the First Mass Military Inoculation (Library of Congress)
  • Catherine the Great Letter Supporting Inoculations Sells for $1.3 Million (NY Times)
  • Catherine the Great's Letter Endorsing Vaccines Sold at Auction (Mental Floss)
  • 'Home Alone' house will be on Airbnb for one night only this month (NBC News)
  • The 'Home Alone' house is on Airbnb. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal. (Mashable)
  • In Denmark, a snow storm means people overnight in an IKEA (AP)
  • Kottke.Org
  • Jackson Bird on Twitter

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