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

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.comLendtable, 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.OrgJackson Bird on Twitter

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.