Tags
Buffalo NY, Columbia University, Hirdy-Girdy, Hollerith, IBM, Key Punch, Patent Office, Punched Card, US Census
That Bogdan Yelcovich – – – he’s at it again.
Today he brought another one of those nutty newspapers to work.
Then he insisted we read it and tell him what we thought.
We looked at it and I said “I don’t know anything about “nocturnal telegraphy.”
Bogdan retorted “No – – – not the nocturnal telegraphy – – – the letter from the Hollerith guy.”
So I read the letter and I had no idea what an accumulator was.
One of the guys – – – there was quite a group of us by now – – asked Bogdan what an accumulator was.
Bogdan said “It is like a bucket of ball-bearings. The bucket accumulates the ball-bearings until someone has a chance to count them.”
Well we all looked at one another in silence. Nobody had a response to the bucket thing.
And then Bogdan insisted we look at another document he obtained from some library or other.
Bogdan insisted that this Hollerith guy was going to be in on something big.
When we pressed him Bogdan said he was not sure what it was but there was something big going to happen.
“Like a war?” someone asked.
“No. It isn’t going to happen all at once.” said Bogdan. Then he continued “It is going to be like a creaping incrementalism type thing.”
We pressed him but he couldn’t give a better answer than that.
Bogdan said that Hollerith could make holes in paper. That didn’t make any sense either.
Hell, I can make a hole in paper with a pencil.
In fact I demonstrated it on the newspaper that Bogdan was showing us.
Boy – – – did he get mad. Wouldn’t speak to me for the rest of the day.
Let’s see if this guy can make any more sense out of the whole thing.
Well – – – that didn’t seem to help much. Lets just enjoy some music.
