This Day in Blogging History: Spelling-error bomber foiled by typos; Stephanie Meyer v 4chan; The problem with contextual advertising

One year ago today

Bomber enraged by spelling error can't blow up sign because his bomb instructions were riddled with typos: A 50-year-old man was upset that the sign in front of the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission read "Oregon Teacher Standards an Practices Commission" (the D had fallen off the sign or been worn away), so he resolved to explode it with a pressure-cooker bomb. But the bomb didn't work, an outcome the man blamed on the spelling errors and typos in the bomb-making instructions he'd downloaded from the Internet. So he took his bomb into the Oregon Teacher Standards an Practices Commission and gave them a piece of his mind, vis-a-vis bombs, standards, and education. And practices.

Five years ago today

Stephenie Meyer vs. 4chan — XKCD: On today's XKCD, Stephenie "teen superstar author" Meyer takes on 4chan, home of Anoymous and the Internet's most prolific trolls. And wins.

Ten years ago today
The problem with contextual advertising: Great musings on contextual advertising by John Battelle. He says that they aren't all they're cracked up to be because the advertiser has no control on where the ads will show up, and so they can have a real relationship with the audience, or the publisher, for that matter.