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March 12, 2014 8:38 AM Subscribe
While CNN is known for its flashy technology displays like holograms of Will.I.Am and its glossy map displays, not everything about the network is so up-to-date: the CNN Interactive: In-Depth Food website appears to have remained unchanged since 2001. via
That takes ya back (to the top!)
posted by notyou at 8:43 AM on March 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
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# Created by WebMap 1.0.1
# Monday, April 7, 1997 at 2:41 PM
# Format: NCSA
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rect http://www-cgi.cnn.com/cgi-bin/redirect?INFOSEEK 0,0 85,50
rect http://www-cgi.cnn.com/cgi-bin/redirect?BIGYELLOW 0,55 85,107posted by notyou at 8:43 AM on March 12, 2014 [8 favorites]
...and holy cats, there are articles dating back to 96 on here.
posted by jquinby at 8:44 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by jquinby at 8:44 AM on March 12, 2014
Meh, deep links are like that. Show me a path to get to it from CNN.com home page.
I bet it'll be updated (or gone) by the end of the day.
posted by intermod at 8:44 AM on March 12, 2014
I bet it'll be updated (or gone) by the end of the day.
posted by intermod at 8:44 AM on March 12, 2014
Eh. I'm more impressed that Zombo.com is still online.
posted by ChrisTN at 8:46 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by ChrisTN at 8:46 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
oh god what does the brown banana man do?
posted by Think_Long at 8:50 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by Think_Long at 8:50 AM on March 12, 2014
Meh, deep links are like that. Show me a path to get to it from CNN.com home page. I bet it'll be updated (or gone) by the end of the day.
You might be right about it being gone by the end of the day, but the page still seems pretty findable from google. To steal from the reddit thread:
For me searching Google for CNN indepth gave me this as the second result
I was worried about my history (clicking the reddit link) possibly influencing the search results.
But, on a google search through an the iOS app Atomic browser (which isn't connected to my google accounts nor has it ever been) CNN indepth still put the same link as my secound option.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:52 AM on March 12, 2014
You might be right about it being gone by the end of the day, but the page still seems pretty findable from google. To steal from the reddit thread:
For me searching Google for CNN indepth gave me this as the second result
I was worried about my history (clicking the reddit link) possibly influencing the search results.
But, on a google search through an the iOS app Atomic browser (which isn't connected to my google accounts nor has it ever been) CNN indepth still put the same link as my secound option.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:52 AM on March 12, 2014
CNN has some other very old, but still relevant pages up from 2001, including:
List of World Trade Center tenants
Profile of Bono
And from 2002:
Academy Awards info
CNN Student News
Texas election results
posted by beagle at 8:56 AM on March 12, 2014
List of World Trade Center tenants
Profile of Bono
And from 2002:
Academy Awards info
CNN Student News
Texas election results
posted by beagle at 8:56 AM on March 12, 2014
ChrisTN: "Eh. I'm more impressed that Zombo.com is still online."
He took the site offline for a day during the SOPA blackout.
I like Zombo. It's like the Waffle House of the internet.
posted by schmod at 8:57 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
He took the site offline for a day during the SOPA blackout.
I like Zombo. It's like the Waffle House of the internet.
posted by schmod at 8:57 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
And even older:
From 2000: Food Feedback
From 1999: Pundits: Out of Gas?
posted by beagle at 8:58 AM on March 12, 2014
From 2000: Food Feedback
From 1999: Pundits: Out of Gas?
posted by beagle at 8:58 AM on March 12, 2014
Safari cannot open the page because the server cannot be found.
Now how am I going to get my Quick Facts about caffeine?!
posted by spinifex23 at 9:00 AM on March 12, 2014
Now how am I going to get my Quick Facts about caffeine?!
posted by spinifex23 at 9:00 AM on March 12, 2014
The CNN "Daily Almanac's" last update was January 21, 2001. Quote of the day:
posted by Iridic at 9:02 AM on March 12, 2014 [9 favorites]
"It is a low probability. Recessions are low probability, they are rare and they happen for numbers of different reasons."-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, on chances of an economic recession.
posted by Iridic at 9:02 AM on March 12, 2014 [9 favorites]
Possibly the oldest page on CNN, June 28, 1995.
(CNN, this is a historic landmark, please don't take it down...)
posted by beagle at 9:05 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
(CNN, this is a historic landmark, please don't take it down...)
posted by beagle at 9:05 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Eh. They're still using Wolf Blitzer, and he runs on DOS.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:07 AM on March 12, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:07 AM on March 12, 2014 [11 favorites]
I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
STOP SAYING HOLOGRAM!
posted by lumpenprole at 9:08 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
STOP SAYING HOLOGRAM!
posted by lumpenprole at 9:08 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
If you're not at least considering saving a copy of that angry fruit gif linked in the first comment above for your own possible future use, I'm not sure we can be friends.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:08 AM on March 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:08 AM on March 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
Oldest full story I could find, August 14, 1995.
By the way these are all found easily via Google search using quotes: "© 1995 Cable News Network"
or whatever year.
posted by beagle at 9:10 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
By the way these are all found easily via Google search using quotes: "© 1995 Cable News Network"
or whatever year.
posted by beagle at 9:10 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Possibly the oldest page on CNN, June 28, 1995
From that page's broken links, 6/23/1995:
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/Bosnia/updates/june95/6-23/index.html
"the United States planned to deploy unmanned spy planes known as UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)"
posted by slater at 9:12 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
From that page's broken links, 6/23/1995:
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/Bosnia/updates/june95/6-23/index.html
"the United States planned to deploy unmanned spy planes known as UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)"
posted by slater at 9:12 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
They do know what a Porta Bella mushroom looks like.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:16 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:16 AM on March 12, 2014
OMG - from beagle's Mother's day link - It's a Mom's Day Mad Libs Poetry Generator!!!
...brb...
posted by Mchelly at 9:27 AM on March 12, 2014
...brb...
posted by Mchelly at 9:27 AM on March 12, 2014
poops are pretty,
Mothers are too,
Give her a poop,
It's the least you can do.
She gave you butt,
She gave you your life,
armpits are pretty
Mom's pretty and nice.
She fed you and bathed you
Oh, the books that she read!
She gave you such happiness
Now YOU give instead.
butts are pretty,
But Mother is too,
Give her a fart
It's the least you can do.
It's 1997 and I'm 8 years old again!!!
full disclosure: In 1997 I was actually 28. I regret nothing!
posted by Mchelly at 9:31 AM on March 12, 2014 [5 favorites]
Mothers are too,
Give her a poop,
It's the least you can do.
She gave you butt,
She gave you your life,
armpits are pretty
Mom's pretty and nice.
She fed you and bathed you
Oh, the books that she read!
She gave you such happiness
Now YOU give instead.
butts are pretty,
But Mother is too,
Give her a fart
It's the least you can do.
It's 1997 and I'm 8 years old again!!!
full disclosure: In 1997 I was actually 28. I regret nothing!
posted by Mchelly at 9:31 AM on March 12, 2014 [5 favorites]
Oh man, I remember when the best web design you could do had to be readable on a Windows 3.1 system with a 4-bit graphics card and 640x480px monitor.
CSS? Hah!
posted by ardgedee at 9:32 AM on March 12, 2014
CSS? Hah!
posted by ardgedee at 9:32 AM on March 12, 2014
Per Wikipedia, CNN actually launched its website on August 30, 1995. If that's correct, the various summer 1995 pages we're finding are actually from a beta period. The Wayback machine has no CNN.com pages before 2000.
posted by beagle at 9:35 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by beagle at 9:35 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Huh! I just noticed that Chrome doesn't include an anchor link hover color in its default user agent style. I want my #00FF00!
posted by ardgedee at 9:36 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by ardgedee at 9:36 AM on March 12, 2014
Atom Eyes: "Eh. They're still using Wolf Blitzer, and he runs on DOS."
CP/M, I think.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:42 AM on March 12, 2014
CP/M, I think.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:42 AM on March 12, 2014
The funny thing is that Metafilter in that same era looked just about exactly the same as it does now...
posted by beagle at 9:44 AM on March 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by beagle at 9:44 AM on March 12, 2014 [4 favorites]
I absolutely love how CNN has managed to keep old articles like this in their original presentation. However, it makes me worry that some day some manager will say "eh, who needs old news" and "this is a pain to maintain" and wipe out all old articles that don't use whatever CMS system they use at that time. US News and World Report just did that very thing: all articles from before 2007 are now gone from their site.
posted by zsazsa at 9:44 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by zsazsa at 9:44 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
The funny thing is that Metafilter in that same era looked just about exactly the same as it does now...
Not quite. They got rid of the eye-searing stripes.
posted by sonic meat machine at 9:45 AM on March 12, 2014
Not quite. They got rid of the eye-searing stripes.
posted by sonic meat machine at 9:45 AM on March 12, 2014
The funny thing is that Metafilter in that same era looked just about exactly the same as it does now...
Not quite. They got rid of the eye-searing stripes.
And we are no longer a "Community 'blog."
posted by ChrisTN at 9:48 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
Not quite. They got rid of the eye-searing stripes.
And we are no longer a "Community 'blog."
posted by ChrisTN at 9:48 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
If we can just go back one more year, we can stop Justin Bieber from being born!
posted by ericbop at 10:00 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by ericbop at 10:00 AM on March 12, 2014
Oh man. The best part about that MeFi wayback page is the Salon article complaining about how the internet has "ruined" San Francisco, and that the city was so much cooler 2-3 years ago.
I'm pretty sure that Salon has been running that same exact article on rotation every few weeks since 2001.
posted by schmod at 10:06 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure that Salon has been running that same exact article on rotation every few weeks since 2001.
posted by schmod at 10:06 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
CSS? Hah!
In my day, we used tables, cellspacing, cellpadding, and invisible GIFs to lay our stuff out and we liked it. And some of us had desktop wallpapers with squares drawn on them, so that we could resize our browsers to 640x480 and other such sizes to check the layout.
shakes fist at cloud
posted by jquinby at 10:08 AM on March 12, 2014 [6 favorites]
In my day, we used tables, cellspacing, cellpadding, and invisible GIFs to lay our stuff out and we liked it. And some of us had desktop wallpapers with squares drawn on them, so that we could resize our browsers to 640x480 and other such sizes to check the layout.
shakes fist at cloud
posted by jquinby at 10:08 AM on March 12, 2014 [6 favorites]
It's easy to make fun of the design, but it's kind of awesome there's still content--and links--from 1995 on a corporate website that haven't rotted away yet.
posted by mrbula at 10:23 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by mrbula at 10:23 AM on March 12, 2014
For some reason, the presence of the ICQ protocol link on that waybac mefi made me viciously nostalgic for a second. Both because, well, ICQ, but also because it reminded me that pretty much every part of the entire Internet was a fair bit more more techy than it is now.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:39 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 10:39 AM on March 12, 2014
From the 1999 mefi link:
If you haven't heard of Napster yet, check it out. This is a killer tool, a combination mp3 player and file transfer client/server. While you play mp3s, other users can download songs from your library, while you do the same from their libraries. This is a great idea but must be a nightmare for the recording industry. This could be a really cool community tool, if everyone is generous with their music.posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 10:43 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by mathowie at 2:28 PM PST - (0) comments - Post a Comment
More oldweb on MeFi:
Dole Kemp '96 is still online
Club Bacardi '97 (from Archive.org, sadly)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:56 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Dole Kemp '96 is still online
Club Bacardi '97 (from Archive.org, sadly)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:56 AM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
If you want a name for these early examples, "incunable" is the term used for the first works from the printing revolution.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:04 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by benito.strauss at 11:04 AM on March 12, 2014
The BBC a couple of years ago was considering deleting much of its older website content, but luckily didn't; instead they curated it to the extent that it has prominent "last updated on" notices.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:38 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by MartinWisse at 11:38 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's nice to actually see what these web pages look like, since in 1995, me and my 14.4 modem were heavily dependent on Lynx.
posted by bibliowench at 11:48 AM on March 12, 2014
posted by bibliowench at 11:48 AM on March 12, 2014
Remind me again why we all stopped using image maps? It seems like it's a way better solution than CSS sprites/lots and lots of tiny images.
posted by zixyer at 12:27 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by zixyer at 12:27 PM on March 12, 2014
I was not satisfied until I found a spacer .gif. Now my trip down memory lane is complete!
posted by geeky at 12:41 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by geeky at 12:41 PM on March 12, 2014
Really, geeky? You don't need to CLICK HERE to another web site you might like in this web ring?
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:59 PM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:59 PM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sorry, the webring is UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:09 PM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 1:09 PM on March 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
needs moar dancing baby
posted by entropicamericana at 2:04 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by entropicamericana at 2:04 PM on March 12, 2014
> Remind me again why we all stopped using image maps? It seems like it's a way better solution than CSS sprites/lots and lots of tiny images.
Image maps are unwieldy.
Fundamentally, vanilla anchor tag links degrade gracefully and are more versatile in responsive page designs. Set up a web page properly and it's totally usable even if every single link is an image and all the images change, all the link behaviors change, if the images relocate to elsewhere on the page, or even if none of the images load. Image maps can't do that without exerting more development effort than it's worth. Some people -- the sort who are also prone to rant about the superiority of table-based page layouts -- seem to prefer detect-click-coordinates-to-determine-link scripts to emulate old-school image maps, and that's probably the second-worst possible approach (the worst being, of course, Flash or Java).
posted by ardgedee at 3:48 AM on March 13, 2014
Image maps are unwieldy.
Fundamentally, vanilla anchor tag links degrade gracefully and are more versatile in responsive page designs. Set up a web page properly and it's totally usable even if every single link is an image and all the images change, all the link behaviors change, if the images relocate to elsewhere on the page, or even if none of the images load. Image maps can't do that without exerting more development effort than it's worth. Some people -- the sort who are also prone to rant about the superiority of table-based page layouts -- seem to prefer detect-click-coordinates-to-determine-link scripts to emulate old-school image maps, and that's probably the second-worst possible approach (the worst being, of course, Flash or Java).
posted by ardgedee at 3:48 AM on March 13, 2014
For the record: it's a week later and CNN has not yet taken down any of the ancient pages linked in the OP or comments above. (Contrary to a few predictions that they would.) So, good for them — the pages survived through someone's lack of thoroughness, no doubt, but at this point they are ephemera that should be preserved.
posted by beagle at 9:10 AM on March 20, 2014
posted by beagle at 9:10 AM on March 20, 2014
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posted by jquinby at 8:42 AM on March 12, 2014 [2 favorites]