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Free Knowledge Culture Calendar/November 4

From Wikibooks, open books for an open world

Today in 1952 millions of people got introduced to electronic computers when the television network CBS calculated an accurate prediction of the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower on their fifth build of a UNIVAC I system. When the machine predicted against all other predictions, the head of the news team decided to hush up the exact prediction, until the actual result fell within 1 % and an embarrassed newscaster admitted the cover-up.


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