This Day in Blogging History: German prince's volcano; Whitewashing Sarah Palin on Wikipedia; Suburbs make you fat

Cory Doctorow 9:00 am Fri Aug 30, 2013

One year ago today

That time a German prince built an artificial volcano: When a 18th century German prince visited Mt. Vesuvius in Naples, he insisted on building a replica of it on his estate back home.

Five years ago today

Who scrubbed Wikipedia's entry for Sarah Palin just before nom announcement? Some suspicious whitewashing went down in Sarah Palin's Wikipedia entry just before she was revealed as the GOP's candidate for vice-president.

Ten years ago today
Suburbia makes you fat: Suburbs built without sidewalks are strongly correlated with net weight gain for residents of those regions.

Blogging History: Painting characters on coin-heads; UK wants brawl-proof pint glasses; EFF kicks Diebold's ass

One year Coins painted as fictional characters: Andre Levy, a designer in Frankfurt, likes to paint coins. Five years Britain seeks ban on glass pint-glasses to prevent bar-brawl injuries: The… READ THE REST
Blogging History: Soviet plane-spotting head-gear; Ralph Lauren visits Uncanny Valley; Internet bubble's blessings

One year Soviet plane-spotting head-gear: Drakegoodman scanned this 1917-ish photo of Soviet planespotters in exotic headgear; according to a commenter, the binox are focused at infinity "so that when you… READ THE REST
Blogging History: Non-gender kids' clothes retail; London cops apologize for geek-mugging; Lucas ships Xbox malware

One year Better way to organize kids' clothing departments: Ever since our daughter's birth, my wife Alice and I have found ourselves shopping the "boys" section of the department stores… READ THE REST
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