Knuth 3:16 (2002) | Hacker News Reader

Knuth 3:16 (2002)

larry.denenberg.com

68 pointsstepvhen20 comments

There are comments in the source of the website, explaining most of what people have asked here, including where he has taught, his organ, mistaking his identity for a football coach and bird watcher, and a plea to not be emailed that Donald Knuth is still alive.

On the other pages there appears to be more information available about passages chosen, and other fun bits. Check it out.

Is this supposed to be satirical? I am obviously missing something... What site is it satirizing?

Probably Donald Knuth's book "3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated" where Knuth goes through chapter 3, verse 16, of most books in the Bible.

http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/316.html

http://www.amazon.com/3-16-Bible-Texts-Illuminated/dp/089579...

While we’re at it, Knuth has also released a book (which is just transcripts of 5-6 lectures) wherein he discusses the 3:16 project: "Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About"

http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/things.html

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Computer-Scientist-Language-Inf...

It is satirical. If you go to the main page, at http://www.larry.denenberg.com/ , you'll see this is described as "a celebration of Don Knuth". The jokes require you to understand who Donald Knuth is and what he's done. A premise is that we're in the far future (20002), and some of the details are fuzzy.

It starts with the title. "Knuth 3:16" makes it sound like Knuth wrote one of the books of the bible. Among CS researches, Knuth's works are held in high esteem.

The "3:16" part more specifically refers to Knuth's study of chapter 3 verse 16 of every book of the Bible. See http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/316.html .

The analysis is of the 16'th sentence of the 3rd chapter of some of Knuth's (presumed) most famous works, plus commentary.

"He was an enthusiastic musician" likely refers to the organ in his house http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/organ.html .

The text "he started life as a college football coach" refers to Knute Rockne, who is shown in the picture. This is a joke on the similarity of Knuth and Knute, with the premise that in 20002 these two famous people have been blurred into one.

"Big Dummies Guide to Visual Basic" refers to a Dr. Fun (2000) cartoon at http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200002/df20000210.jpg as if it were real.

I didn't get the joke. I headed over to wikipedia to confirm that Knuth was not dead.

You made me feel a bit better that I wasn't alone in this.

I did exactly the same...

Came here to report this too.

I don't get why it said he has never held a position of any present-day institution.

Must be implying that Stanford is no longer around in 20002.

Heh, ok, I missed the 20002. I dunno, if any institution hangs around that long (including some form of www hosting for the OP), maybe Stanford has a chance, if not a copy of wikipedia or Knuth's books.

I thought 3:16 was Stone Cold Steve Austin reference. He himself was satirizing Jake the Snake's Bible thumping

I can't possibly be satire, it must be "historical records"[0]

[0] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/

>"He was an enthusiastic musician, though exactly which was his instrument is a subject of some dispute (the most likely candidates are the accordion, jew's harp, and flugelhorn)."

It seems the author missed or forgot the legendary pipe organ.

http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/organ.html

I think this was a joke (along with all the other details of Knuth that have been lost or confused in the intervening 17,986 years)

Luke 14:34-35

The title should really read "Knuth 3:16 (20002)"

I think we'll go with https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.larry.denenberg.com....

Absolutely. This would have helped me get the joke.

I'll be honest, thought it was a typo. I should have checked the source of the webpage:

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