The work that the code breakers at Bletchley park did prevented a lot of Ally deaths. When the Germans instituted using the 4-wheel enigma it was impossible to tell what the U-boats were doing out in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of this, supply boats going to the U.K. were being sunk at a high rate, unable to avoid the U-boats, eventually the Brits could have been forced out of the battle (no war supplies == no war). Near the end of 1942 however, some documented daily settings on the new 4-wheel enigma were pulled off of a sunken U-boat in the Mediterranean allowing german naval deciphers to be broken. Through the man-power, knowledge, and tools available at Bletchley, they could decipher and relay german naval messages (at least in the Atlantic) to high command often within hours of obtaining them. After this, supply ships in the Atlantic were nearly invisible to German U-boats. The monthly settings booklets still had to be retrieved to continue this, but through missions and sometimes luck most of them were captured
That's the WWII side of the story (or at least a very small part of it).
The importance to/. is probably that this war was the first time machines were used to cipher messages, and thus machines had to do the deciphering. To break the regular ground enigma's daily settings scientists at Bletchley designed and manufactured the Colossus(es). If you ever see this thing run, especially the interior mechanisms, you'll know this was a great unknown leap towards multi-purpose computing machinery. Unfortunately because of U.K. laws, the work and knowledge of those at Bletchley couldn't be released until sometime in the 80's (I think)
I heard an interview with his older brother on NPR the past Thursday. Apparently, he was arrested and sentenced more because of what his older brother did (published a book or something, I don't remember) than what he himself did (ran some blog I think). His brother said that the sentence has to be approved by someone higher up than the courts (president?) and that it has nearly no chance of actually being carried out.
Someone with more interest should go to NPRs website and look this up then make a more insightful post so they can get modded 5 while I remain in the shadows with my lowly 1 or 0. I just don't feel like looking this stuff up.
I'm pretty sure the maxthon browser is made in China, their website lists some place in Beijing as their mailing address. Not to mention they have pretty pearls of subject-verb agreement hanging around.
If China wants to shut them down, they'll just knock on their front door probably. That or kick it in.
Ouch. What a large amount of money. I wonder why they're suing for so much? Probably trying to defend their name.
Guess that's what you get for messing with Big Blue. . .
I, like most others here, read xkcd too. I don't mind the link on the front page though. It seems like the idle category is just like the games category, nice and small. If the post took up a few paragraphs, it would be a waste of space, but the way it is now doesn't look like a big deal to me. I like idle.
Slashdot Mirror
Great for engineering and then for programming. There are also a number of cool books that can go along with the set.
The work that the code breakers at Bletchley park did prevented a lot of Ally deaths. When the Germans instituted using the 4-wheel enigma it was impossible to tell what the U-boats were doing out in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of this, supply boats going to the U.K. were being sunk at a high rate, unable to avoid the U-boats, eventually the Brits could have been forced out of the battle (no war supplies == no war). Near the end of 1942 however, some documented daily settings on the new 4-wheel enigma were pulled off of a sunken U-boat in the Mediterranean allowing german naval deciphers to be broken. Through the man-power, knowledge, and tools available at Bletchley, they could decipher and relay german naval messages (at least in the Atlantic) to high command often within hours of obtaining them. After this, supply ships in the Atlantic were nearly invisible to German U-boats. The monthly settings booklets still had to be retrieved to continue this, but through missions and sometimes luck most of them were captured
That's the WWII side of the story (or at least a very small part of it).
The importance to /. is probably that this war was the first time machines were used to cipher messages, and thus machines had to do the deciphering. To break the regular ground enigma's daily settings scientists at Bletchley designed and manufactured the Colossus(es). If you ever see this thing run, especially the interior mechanisms, you'll know this was a great unknown leap towards multi-purpose computing machinery. Unfortunately because of U.K. laws, the work and knowledge of those at Bletchley couldn't be released until sometime in the 80's (I think)
I heard an interview with his older brother on NPR the past Thursday. Apparently, he was arrested and sentenced more because of what his older brother did (published a book or something, I don't remember) than what he himself did (ran some blog I think). His brother said that the sentence has to be approved by someone higher up than the courts (president?) and that it has nearly no chance of actually being carried out. Someone with more interest should go to NPRs website and look this up then make a more insightful post so they can get modded 5 while I remain in the shadows with my lowly 1 or 0. I just don't feel like looking this stuff up.
I'm pretty sure the maxthon browser is made in China, their website lists some place in Beijing as their mailing address. Not to mention they have pretty pearls of subject-verb agreement hanging around.
If China wants to shut them down, they'll just knock on their front door probably. That or kick it in.
I hope some kids take advantage of this and the scholarship, I'm sure it's a dream come true to some parents.
Maybe the same little old lady that sued McDonald's over the coffee will pay Shentech a visit.
Ouch. What a large amount of money. I wonder why they're suing for so much? Probably trying to defend their name. Guess that's what you get for messing with Big Blue. . .
I, like most others here, read xkcd too. I don't mind the link on the front page though. It seems like the idle category is just like the games category, nice and small. If the post took up a few paragraphs, it would be a waste of space, but the way it is now doesn't look like a big deal to me. I like idle.