
The Machine that Indexed the Bible (1955) - mthoms
https://books.google.com/books?id=8CkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA173&lpg=RA1-PA173&dq=%22Machine+that+indexed+the+bible%22&source=bl&ots=pIfUbLwwQj&sig=YTAEYqe9iqzK5Pm5Fi8uIfOjq-Q&hl=sv&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAGoVChMI74uroM6iyAIVCo1yCh3RKQOf#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Shivetya
I think the best part of the article for me was the times given, how long to
prepare the data, process it, and such. The manual labor hours are simply
astounding let alone the computing hours once the data was ready

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dctoedt
If you keep scrolling down, you'll see some interesting simple mechanical
hacks in "Hints from the Model Garage" on page "Sidan 181" (that page number
is at the top right corner of the browser window).

My favorite hack there is a sartorial one: "Your best hat won't get sat on
_[in the car]_ if you stow it out of the way in a holder." The text and a
diagram show how to make a hat holder with a coat hanger and metal screws.
This of course was in the days when men and women wore hats. (I've read that
John F. Kennedy single-handedly killed the hat industry: He didn't like to
wear them, and when he became president he set a new fashion trend.)

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dalke
I think this is cribbed from a Popular Science article from November 1956,
available at:
[https://books.google.com/books?id=8CkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA173&...](https://books.google.com/books?id=8CkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA173&lpg=RA1-PA173&dq=%22Machine+that+indexed+the+bible%22&source=bl&ots=pIfUbLwwQj&sig=YTAEYqe9iqzK5Pm5Fi8uIfOjq-Q&hl=sv&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAGoVChMI74uroM6iyAIVCo1yCh3RKQOf#v=onepage&q&f=false)
. More strongly, I suspect plagiarism.

The presentation is in almost identical order as the PopSci article, and all
of the facts in this mashable.com essay are a subset of those in PopSci,
including the quote from "Dr. Grace Murray Hopper". A modern author who knew
the topic is more likely, I think, to use "Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper". The
PopSci article also covers many other details - you should read it if this
article interests you.

That quote, by the way, comes from page 1 of her 1955 book "Automatic Coding
for Digital Computers", available at
[http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/univac/HopperAutoCodi...](http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/univac/HopperAutoCodingPaper_1955.pdf)
. A search for that quote using DuckDuckGo and Google finds matches only from
the book, the PopSci article, and this new essay. This is consistent with my
belief that PopSci is the primary and sole information source for this new
piece.

FWIW, I learned about the PopSci article because of a reference in the seminal
book 'Punched Cards'. One of the chapters describes textual analysis, and
cites several articles about the Univac work, at
[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3958636;view=1up;...](http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3958636;view=1up;seq=389;size=150)
.

~~~
dang
Wow, what a find. Thanks! Also, ugh.

We've changed the URL from [http://mashable.com/2015/09/27/univac-
bible/](http://mashable.com/2015/09/27/univac-bible/), which I think dalke has
shown has plagiarized this excellent 1955 article. It's pretty sickening to
think of what else these websites must be ripping off without attribution.

I've marked this subthread off-topic because hopefully the thread can be about
the extraordinary details of the original article. But props to dalke for an
extraordinary bit of research.

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hellyeasa
Might be plagiarized, but the pictures from the mashable article add to the
story. People should still check it out after reading the original but they
should really source this issue :/

Particularly the last photo, a man drawing out computer workflow with a bible
open in front of him. Quite a juxtaposition to think about!

"The lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want;

he makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me...."

~~~
jamessb
_Quite a juxtaposition to think about!_

This makes me think of _King James Programming_ : "Posts generated by a Markov
chain trained on the King James Bible, Structure and Interpretation of
Computer Programs, and Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby"
[http://kingjamesprogramming.tumblr.com/](http://kingjamesprogramming.tumblr.com/)

