stepvhen 10 years ago

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.

bcook 10 years ago

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

  • josso 10 years ago

    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...

  • dalke 10 years ago

    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.

    • mtdewcmu 10 years ago

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

      • Numberwang 10 years ago

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

        • saberduck 10 years ago

          I did exactly the same...

          • devillius 10 years ago

            Came here to report this too.

    • shoover 10 years ago

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

      • tjr 10 years ago

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

        • shoover 10 years ago

          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.

    • muddi900 10 years ago

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

jcr 10 years ago

>"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

  • rjtobin 10 years ago

    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)

pqhwan 10 years ago

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

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