4362 B.C.
First evidence (from Scythia, modern day Crimea) of a four-wheeled book cart. Within two generations this design was adopted throughout Europe and Asia, replacing the more maneuverable, but much less stable two-wheeled book cart.

Spring, 3193 B.C.
First serial title attested: “Publications of the Royal Sumerian Academy.”

Late summer, 3193 B.C.
First serial title change attested: to “Royal Sumerian Academy Publications.”

537 B.C.
The National Library of Babylon, finally switching to papyrus, ceases maintaining its clay tablet shelflist, but is unable to discard it for nostalgic reasons. Two years later, under seige by the Persians, the city finds a new use for the old tablets and manages to inflict severe losses on the beseiging army by pelting them from the ramparts with large quantities of shelflist tablets.

43 B.C.
First attested use of an ISBN (for the special collector’s edition of Caesar’s Gallic Wars with an introduction by Marc Anthony): IXIVVIIXVIIIVIIIVIVII.

81 A.D.
Second gospel of the Christian New Testament becomes the first document written in MARK format.

427 A.D.
The Library at Alexandria decides to contract out its annual weeding project; Vandal hordes are the lowest bidder.

This gave me quite a chuckle the other day.

I found it via Happy Catholic.

Today I am less happy with technical services since they chose to shut down my old password and the computer refuses to accept that any of my new choice of passwords are correct. Plus they keep changing the rules for the stupid password. I’m sick of that too.