Slashdot Mirror

if you consider time and age i suppose either pong or the thing that cracked enigma although was that really "soft" ware ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... https://www.iwm.org.uk/history... at least a runner-up :)

>> came during the Vietnam war when soldiers would be fighting one day and a few days later, back home

It also happened during the first World War, when men would be regularly rotated from the static lines of trenches out back to civilization using a super-efficient system of trains and ships. See http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/... etc.

The Imperial War Museum (also in London) has three Gyrojets in its collection: http://www.iwm.org.uk/search/global?query=gyrojet&x=0&y=0 .

But they don't seem to be interesting for their artistic design, which is what the V&A collects and exhibits.

Inamo was featured on Engadget and definitely a place to check out.

One place I would have liked to check out but which did not fit in my trip are the cabinet war rooms where you can see (amongst other WW2 things) the hotline between the UK prmier and the US president on display.

Definitely ... taking the water taxi from Embankment to Greenwich is something my mother always does when she visits. It's a great way to see the sites of London.

I'll add my voice to the chorus for the Science Museum, and also the Natural History Museum. No geek should avoid going to these two! The British Museum is great fun, too.

Overall, it largely depends on what sort of geeky things you go for. Check out Pollock's Toy Museum if you're into games and construction toys. If you're into trains, check out the London Transport Museum. If you're into military, there's the Imperial History Museum, or the Royal Air Force Museum. The Design Museum is pretty cool, too. If you're into history, checkout the Museum of London, which is a history of the city. Also, the Victoria and Albert Museum is also pretty interesting. More about arts and crafts, though.

Otherwise, there's also loads of art stuff, like Tate Modern, the National Gallery ...

Have fun!

I would also recommend the Imperial War Museum if you are interested in ww1 and ww2.

It doesn't have AF One, but the American Hanger at the Imperial War Museum Duxford is truly impressive. No B2, but a blackbird, a U2 and a B52 all under one roof is still amazing.

      North American AT-6D Texan (s)
      Consolidated B-24M Liberator
      North American P-51D Mustang (r)
      Douglas C-47 Skytrain (s)
      Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
      Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
      Grumman TBM-3 Avenger (s)
      Boeing B-29A Superfortress
      North American B-25J Mitchell (s)
      Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird
      Boeing B-52D Stratofortress
      Lockheed U2-C (s)
      North American F-100D Super Sabre (s)
      Bell UH-1 Huey
      McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II
      General Dynamics F-111E
      Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (s)

http://aam.iwm.org.uk/

Visiting these sites in person is chilling, and nothing like looking at a few photos online. The sites act as a focal point for community and expertese. They are authentic pieces of history, not Disney theme parks.

A Walmart-on-your-block to all those who think we should not preserve these kinds of places!

And yes, some terrorist groups do have the capability to build custom electronics. You can see examples of IRA custom circuit boards in the Imperial War Museum, London.

And from the Imperial War Museum Londonhttp://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/10/enig ma/enigma12.htm:
"The British sailors climbed into the conning tower and began a search of the deserted submarine. The bookshelves still contained books of every description - navigation manuals, seamanship manuals, code books and signal books. The Bulldog's telegraphist pointed to an interesting piece of equipment that looked like a typewriter. This, along with all the books from the shelves, was transferred with utmost care to HMS Bulldog. It was important that everything was kept dry as the code books and signal books were printed in ink that disappeared if they were dropped in seawater.
On Bulldog's arrival back in Britain they were met by a representative from Bletchley Park, who photographed every page of every book. The 'interesting piece of equipment' turned out to be an Enigma machine, and the books contained the Enigma codes being used by the German navy."

Newman's early machine was just called "Robinson". And both it and the Colussus machines *were* used to crack Enigma ciphers.:-

http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/10/enigma/eni gma13.htm

OK, I'm old. I knew what it was.

Having just visited Duxford in the past week I actually saw one.

Now how many others of you got the ref.?

But remember that Britain was very much the declining power at this time and the labour government was cancelling most areospace projects at the time.

Also remember that the early space programmes were the public face of ICBM programmes. It became clear that trident was going to be our nuclear deterent, so there was little point in continuing the rocketry side of things. The deterent we had in the meantime was characteristicly heath-robinson. I'm a huge fan of the 'delta lady' myself - the vulcan, but they have one of each at Duxford

did tou mean The codebreakers or did they make a movie about it?

You can still see Churchill's phone at the Cabinet War Rooms in London. I don't know if Roosevelt's phone is in a museum or not.

Was this the thing mentioned in Cryptonomicon? I can't remember.

...when first we practice to deceive. It wasn't just the yanks and ruskies who were engaged in the spying game. The Imperial War Museum in London (just near Waterloo station) has a permanent exhibition about the British secret war. The exhibition has lots of miniture radios and cameras, invisible writing equipment, escape maps, weaponry and cipher machines from M15, M16, SOE and Signals Intelligence. Super stuff, but far too many School Kids milling around on a week day.