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:

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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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