Dihydrogen monoxide parody story has since been used in science education to encourage critical thinking and discussion of the scientific method. A 1983 April Fools' Day edition of the "Durand Express", a weekly newspaper in Durand, Michigan, reported that "dihydrogen oxide" had been found in the city's water pipes, and warned that it was fatal if inhaled, and could produce blistering vapors. The first appearance of the parody on the Internet was attributed by the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" to the so-called "Coalition to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide", a parody organization at UC Santa Cruz following on-campus postings and newsgroup discussions in 1990. This new version
Worse is better in comparison with "The Right Thing". However he also states that "it has better survival characteristics than the-right-thing" development style and is superior to the "MIT Approach" with which he contrasted it in the original essay. Gabriel was a Lisp programmer when he formulated the concept in 1989, presenting it in his essay "Lisp: Good News, Bad News, How to Win Big". A section of the article, titled "The Rise of 'Worse is Better'", was widely disseminated beginning in 1991, after Jamie Zawinski found it in Gabriel's files at Lucid Inc. and e-mailed it to friends and colleagues. In "The