This Day in Blogging History: Good people v bad people; Janes in Love; Friendster spider

Cory Doctorow 9:00 am Tue Aug 13, 2013

One year ago today

How to Tell Good People from Bad People: The advice in the book is good, but even as a callow youth I thought there was something bogus about the illustrations of "good people" vs "bad people."

Five years ago today

Janes in Love: graphic novel is a call-to-art for young people: The P.L.A.I.N. Janes are an arts collective made up of high-school girls all named Jane, who stage daring, commando-style public art projects in the dead of night, transforming their tight-ass suburb into an outdoor art gallery. They're not just in it for the hell of it, either: their little suburb was the site of a terrorist scare and bombing that has everyone on edge and baying for authority.

Ten years ago today
Friendster spider: Ben Discoe has created a system to "spider" Friendster.com and build diagrams of the results. His website points to source code and binaries, so you can dink around with it yourself.

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
Short Post, just one paragraph

Dessert cheesecake wafer bear claw fruitcake. Fruitcake chupa chups donut candy canes marzipan. Apple pie sweet roll tart chocolate cake macaroon marshmallow carrot cake gummi bears sweet. Pastry sugar plum… READ THE REST
Save 50% on a 1-year subscription to Dashlane's premium password manager

We all know vital information about ourselves and our private digital accounts can be compromised by cybercriminals. However, many would be frightened to know just how compromised they and their… READ THE REST
The Bite Helper removes the itch of a mosquito bite in seconds

While mosquitoes have certainly earned their title as the deadliest animal on earth, their impact on most of our lives is usually a lot less consequential. But even though they… READ THE REST