Slashdot Mirror
PGP Leads Corporate Efforts To Save Bletchley Park
blake182 writes "CNET reports that PGP, together with IBM and other technology firms, is mounting a fundraising effort to benefit the ailing Bletchley Park, home of the Station X codebreaking efforts in World War II. 'We're calling attention (to the fact that) Bletchley is falling into disrepair, and that, probably, the world owes a debt of gratitude to that place,' said Phil Dunkelberger, chief executive of PGP."
Nissan were working with Nazi Germany to build their own V1/2 rockets.
That would be Nissan the Japanese company, based in a country which was allied with Nazi Germany?
Consider purchasing a pocket enigma, or making a donation (link from their home page or as part of order).
Loose lips lose spit.
The British newspaper The Independent started a campaign to save Betchley Park on 20 August 2008. I wonder if these are connected ?
Sounds like a great cause - it should definitely be preserved.
I went there recently and I really loved it. My wife however was very bored. She found it more interesting however when there were speakers talking about the history.
I preferred the really techy stuff - particularly seeing electronic commponents that I worked with when I first started making electronic projects. Unfortunately for me (but fortunately for the exibits) you could not touch them. Probably a good thing otherwise I might have been taking the Bombe apart to get a better idea how it worked.
Perhaps they need different color coded streams:
Children, young geeks, wives (or non-geek husbands), old farts.
I hope they get funding sorted. This place is real history. More than almost any castle or birthplace tourist "adventure".
There's no price-tag because this isn't the sort of thing you buy off a store shelf. The first thing they'll need is a budget to do is a museum-grade architectural survey.
Have you seen Bletchley Park? It's not just the main building but the remaining temporary WW2 structures.
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/locations/bletchley-park/bletchlypark-l-lewin/index.html
The survey can produce a series of restoration & upkeep senarios, based on how much activity & cost can be devoted over what periods of time, and how much each year of delay will add to the costs and losses. Till that (expensive) survey is done, no one can quote remotely realistic figures.
Another detail: when I was a renovation carpenter it was a firm requirement that any time a project required a wall to be opened, the client MUST have 60% over budget in the bank to deal with unpleasant surprises. Most of the houses I dealt with were less than 100 years old. Even houses built in the 60s regularly had surprise structural problems. About three of those required immediate work that was a good deal more than 60%.
Getting a complex like Bletchley Park surveyed and a reliable maintenance schedule put in place is going to be a major work in itself. Then the costs and compromises (yes, the sheds will probably have to be let go. or replaced by replicas.) are going to be frankly enormous compared to what the place can draw in revenue. No wonder the usual sources have shied away. A serious influx of cash from special-interest groups as proposed is really the only chance the place has of getting to a (still expensive) maintainable state.
I hate to say it, considering the Godwinism, but the parent's right. It's pretty ironic that IBM should be putting in to save Bletchley, when during the war they were directly involved with Nazi Germany.
"Offtopic" is not the same as "I'm annoyed by this comment"...
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
I think you underestimate. The book "IBM and the Holocaust" details how the CEO of IBM was closely involved with Nazi Germany, even receiving a medal. These systems were not off the shelf, but custom-built for the Nazis' needs. After the war, when everyone was aware what had happened in the concentration camps, IBM insisted on recovering its profits from the machines used at the camps. They have subsequently refused to apologise for the company's role.
And just because the allies did nothing to stop the holocaust, that doesn't mean that it wasn't being reported. It was known about, especially at higher levels, but generally ignored.
A closed mouth gathers no foot.