Oh/. -- haven't posted a comment here in years, but you're still so cute. First off, dude's name is Curt Schilling, not Shilling. 38 is a significant number -- it was the # he wore on his jersey when he pitched his teams to two world series titles. Not that his time in MLB is pertinent, but come on -- at least identify the guy correctly so people know who the hell you're talking about.
Here in Boston, about most of the city's residents and commercial property is sitting on land fill. (At its time, the filling of Boston's Back Bay was the nation's largest public works project ever. The Big Dig is us reclaiming that dubious title) Buildings sit on wooden pilings that are buried in the landfill below the water table. As long as those pilings stay wet, the buildings and streets on top of them are supported. But if and when the water recedes, those pilings start to rot, and bad things can (and likely, will) happen. A century's worth of construction has started to upset groundwater levels. Since most of the landfill material used was sand, I wonder if this discovery could be used to solve the problem here in Boston (and any other cities with similar problems).
anyone more familiar with kashrut than I know if this would be considered kosher? Like if an observant Jew were to handle the media would he then not be able to have a dairy meal?
This is a serious, if off topic, question. Anyone?
I bet those employees are in the beta already
on
Gmail Addresses For Sale
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Weren't all "active" blogger users invited into the beta? Something tells me the odds that maybe one or two employees from Yah, AOL (nescape, who?), or MSFT just might have slipped through the cracks that way.
um... if it were watered down, it would be a lower proof and would be marked on the bottle. Most vodkas are around 80 proof. Occasionally you'll see a product in larger liquor stores called "light vodka" that is actually watered down. The big 1.5L bottle of Poland Spring (yes they make liquor.. horrid stuff) will get you just as fucked up as the 1.5L of Grey Goose or other premium vodka. Sure you can taste a difference, but that has nothing to do w/ alcohol content,
For those of you wondering why someone would do this, how about reading the damn article?
The program doesn't e-mail back with a mere mirror of a google / yahoo results page. It actually filters through the individual results compressing the entire page. e.g. my search turns up a CNN page and a blurb on MSNBC and I get, e-mailed to me, compressed versions of those actual sites, not just links to them.
As far the "my 28.8 modem is just fast enough" crowd -- read the article! Some of these locations the software is being developed for don't even have access to a phone line on a regular basis. And the lines they do have access to are more likely than not to be noisy as hell and not able to support a 28.8 connection.
Because if you purchased a document and it turned out to be useless, you just request a refund and get one -- no questions asked. I found that policy encouraged me to download more articles because I wasn't afraid of duds. It was all on the honor system, and I paid what I truly owed.
Skeptics would think unscrupulous users would take advantage of the situation. True, there were some who did (though excessive document return would result in termination of the account), but most of us who used it, ponied up. It was affordable, and they were actually profitable. Back in my consulting days, I saved my firm a ton of money by using northernlight instead of L/N. Of course, not of that money got passed to me... but that's a story for another post
The telcos WANTS VoIP. The current phone network requires a real, physical, uninterrupted circuit exist between the caller and the callee. That's a lot of freakin' wire. And the switches to handle it are expensive, cludgy, and prone to error. VOiP solutions reduce equipment and network costs while still enabling the telcos to provide service at THE SAME COST to its users. Translation = lower capital expenditures, AND higher margins.
This is especially true for CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers). ILECs (the baby bells) aren't nearly as thrilled, yet they recognize the market is moving that way, and are preparing their business plans to make the switch.
NO ONE is fighting VoIP. Even the equipment manufacturers like Lucent and Nortel are looking forward to it because they can sell their VoIP solutions to the telcos who otherwise wouldn't be buying new switches.
I'm not even going to begin to comment on the falacy about a " 'net tax for the voice over IP"... I think that just might be trolling.
::sigh:: Every time I see a telecom post on Slashdot, there are lots of "experts" who don't have a clue what they're talking about.... reminds me to take that into account when reading posts on topics I'm unfamiliar with.
I tried to download the MP3's and listen to them, but every time I tried, it crashed my damn computer. Thankfully, it didn't do anything worse.
Embedded code in what should be a data file is a horrible, horrible, horrible idea. What's to stop someone from putting up an MP3 that's supposedly an eLicense file that when played corrupts your hard drive, or installs a back door into your system?
Someone's gotta come up with a better way to handle this.
Being the son who got the server.... yeah, my Dad gave it to me... Gateway told him it was free w/ the 15 computers he ordered. He tried to get a discount by not taking it, but they wouldn't do that. So he took it for the hell of it, knowing I'd come up w/ some way to use it.
Unfortunately, I missed the Oscars last night. Was anyone able to do a vidcap of Robin Williams singing Blame Canada? Please post if you do, would love to see it. Thanks!
Okay, so I'm at that small technical school on the Charles River in Cambridge. Being a Masshole originally, many of my high school friends are inmates at UMASS Amherst. Though they are not obliged to do as much work as I in order to simply get a diploma, those enrolled in the honors program or just a more difficult major do as much if not more work than I.
The quality of education is nearly identical as well. Yes, MIT and schools like it might have "world class" researchers and Nobel Lauriates, but ask most students and you'll find that a faculty member's ability to teach is almost always inversely proportional to the amount of recognition they have in their field. Our undergraduate laboratories are comparable, and in many cases, a motivated student at UMass has more opportunity to do higher research than a student here at the Institute because there is less competition for such positions.
So why are my friends' public school degrees worth "less" than mine when we graduate?
The answer -- the pre-screening of the students. MIT, Hahvahd, Yale, Stanford, etc. are all considered top notch because they're a bitch to get into. The public schools are less-selective, which lowers the respectability of the degree. My father is a graduate of the State University of New York system, and had to work his ass off for years to prove he could do better than the Ivy graduates who walked through doors held wide open for them after graduation.
Where this all fits in is that Saylor intends to make his university avaialable to EVERYONE. Presuming he manages to overcome all the other difficulties mentioned (how will a student get access to personal help?, how will students collaborate?, how will lab work and research be performed?, etc.), the degree will still have little value to its holders if ANYONE is able to obtain one. Yes, the argument will be made that one still has to prove they deserve the degree --- but talk to the admissions staff at all the "top tier" schools and you'll find plenty of students who would be successful are turned away. Being qualified isn't enough, you must be OVER qualified.
So, while I applaud Saylor's efforts, and think that he might even be able to create a formidable university (ever the optimist, when it comes to technology), I think he'll be making a major mistake if he doesn't institute at least a semi-rigorous admissions policy that should get even stricter once a student base is established.
Very true, Edison had nothing to do with inventing the light bulb (which company says "we don't invent a lot of the products we make.... we just make a lof of the products we make better?"_
Like many great inventors, he lucked out --- when, up against a deadline to come up with a working filament, he frustratedly took a singed piece of hair and put it in his bulb. It worked.
It's like when the sulfur fell into the rubber, and vulcanization was accidentally discovered.
From the article: "the radio stays tuned in until the car goes out of range or the driver switches off the RDS feature." So, it's easy to fix this problem: Step 1. Notice the signals' been hijacked (hmm... I don't remember my Classic Rock station ever playing 'N Sync before....) Step 2. Hit the "RDS Off" button (or equivalent)
When I first saw this article, I thought immediately if Michio Kaku, who spoke at MIT's orientation last fall. Kaku is an incredible speaker with vast vision into unified string theory, which is an attempt at unifying most scientific knowledge. Kaku, like this freak, is attempting to find what Einstein was looking for when he died -- the one, simple equation, that unified all the laws of physics. Finding the below quote from Kaku in the article was proof enough to me that this guy doesn't quite get it. Oh, and as an aside, if you're looking for REAL research about this -- check out Kaku's _Hyperspace_ (ISBN: 0385477058). Great book for scientists and laymen. >
Actually,the next "even" date can't be 2/2/2000 The digit zero is neither even nor odd. In fact, it's not even fair to call zero a "number" at all.. it's the absence of a number or a value. The next "even" date will be 2/2/2222. So we'll probably all be dead then too. Not too sure why I know this...
Here's a paper I wrote a few years ago (as a junior in high school). Not the best writing in the world, but interesting if you're into the historical implications of technology
Throughout the first half of World War II, Allied forces were struggling with a powerful, invisible foe known only as Enigma. Enigma was a device with lots of wiring and electromechanical rotors that was no larger than a television set. The intrigue and danger of Enigma was that is was a device that belonged exclusively to the Germans. The Germans used the Enigma's capability of generating codes in any one of 100 trillion possibilities to outmaneuver their enemies. The exact workings of the Enigma are beyond the scope of this paper; suffice it to say that it was originally believed to have taken 1,000 code breakers working twenty-four hours a day for 14.5 years to break one Enigma code (Momsen Chapter 2). Even if an enemy was somehow able to produce the manpower required to break a single Enigma code, it was just a matter of the Germans turning a rotor one notch to generate a completely different code. What is more is that even if armed with another Enigma, the Allied forces would have needed to know the exact settings of the German sending machine in order to decrypt the codes. Hence, Hitler thought he had the perfect machine in the Enigma and relied on it for nearly all communications to the front. The Allies' spies were good enough to get a hold on a lot of information concerning the Enigma. They were able to piece together their own Enigmas from Polish plans and they were able to intercept Enigma codes. However, it had seemed impossible to be able to translate the codes into meaningful information. Eventually, code breakers were able to crack Enigma codes within a few months of reception, but by then, the information contained in the code was useless. The Allies turned to two machines for help. In the United States, project Magic was developed. Using the Polish machines known as bombes, the top cryptoanalysts in the nation scurried to break all intercepted codes. The US had the advantage of being able to intercept Japanese codes (the Japanese utilized a specially made version of the Enigma) which always began with the phrase "I have the honor to inform your excellency" (Momsen Chapter 3). This gave the codebreakers something to hone in on and the US was shortly decoding all of the Japanese transmissions. However, this information proved useless in cracking the German codes, and was not even that helpful against Japan since most of the information transmitted in code was already known by American intelligence. It was in Britain that the true key to cracking the Enigma developed. Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician was invited to take over control of the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) located at Bletchley Park. Here in Bletchley, Turing developed Colossus - arguably the world's first electronic computer. The details of Colossus are still foggy, partly because of its partial classified status, but mainly because the secret of Colossus died with Turing. What is known, however is that Turing was able to set up the Colossus machine to crack the German Enigma codes within minutes of receiving them. They were then translated to English and the Allies had a complete knowledge of what the Germans thought they were sending privately. The information generated by the Magic Project and Enigma was collectively referred to as Project ULTRA. Since the recent declassification of the project, historians have struggled to determine its effect in World War II. However, analysis shows the following to be true: The usage of project ULTRA did not cause the Allied forces to win the war. However, its usage allowed for better decisions on the part of Allied leaders and hastened the end of the war. Also, it is mandatory that historians go over their previous analyses of World War II to determine the effect of ULTRA on individual decisions and battles. There are several arguments that will be presented to point to this conclusion. First of all, ULTRA provided a direct link to the minds of Hitler and his advisors, allowing the Allies to learn how these men thought. Also, data about ULTRA's usage in individual battles shows that its value was immeasurable in hastening their end. It can also be shown that the events that were caused as a result of ULTRA knowledge would have happened anyway, it just would have taken longer and more lives would have been lost. Finally, it can be shown that since ULTRA was so long unknown to historians as a result of it being well protected during the war, historians must reanalyze previous conclusions on the war in light of its recent declassification. Part of the reason why ULTRA has rarely been referred to by historians is the way it was protected during the war. Simply put, no one outside of the ULTRA project was ever aware of its existence. And, since this was before the time of great public skepticism and conspiracy theories, there was little to no conjecture on the existence of such a project. The man who can be recognized for his efforts to keep ULTRA a secret is Alan Turing. The man behind Bletchley Park, Turing viewed Colossus as a child. He wanted to protect it from outside knowledge so he could keep it to himself. Since Turing was so bright and cunning, he was even able to prevent 90% of the scientists working at Bletchley from even knowing of the existence of Colossus. Much like the Manhattan Project, different people worked on different parts of the project so no one but Turing really knew the whole project (Lewin 113). And Turing, though not the only man to see the plans of the project, was perhaps the only man who ever understood them completely. Knowing that the location and physical characteristics of ULTRA was kept secret for so long is not enough to prove that the existence of the project was a secret. After all, ULTRA constantly produced reams of information about cracked German codes. Turing's response to this was simple. Not only would just a few people be allowed to receive ULTRA information directly, there would be no written transcript of this data. Additionally, all ULTRA information was passed directly from Bletchley Park to the officers in charge of troop movement via one person. A specially trained corps was created to shuffle between Bletchley and all portions of Europe to deliver the information verbally. These were the only people besides Turing and a few others at the GCCS and intelligence officials of the US government that knew of the existence of ULTRA. At first, commanding officers found it difficult to receive orders from lower ranked strangers (the ULTRA messengers), but soon learned it was in their best interest to do so. Another thing that should be noted about the messengers is that they were so well trained that none were ever captured, but if they had been captured, they were prepared to commit suicide (Winterbotham 21). Another major step to preventing the enemy from knowing about ULTRA was the way in which officials chose whether or not and how to use ULTRA data. If the Germans ever became suspicious that their Enigma was no longer safe, they would've stopped using it instantly. Instead, the Allies wanted the Germans to feel they could use Enigma since it provided direct insight into the workings of German forces. Therefore, no action was EVER made on the basis of ULTRA data unless it were theoretically possible the data was obtained elsewhere. For example, when it was made clear through ULTRA the exact locations of an entire fleet of German U-Boats, Allied ships in the area were instructed to send a sighting signal towards specific locations (Hinsley). Unbeknownst to the captains of these ships, these sighting signals were being intercepted by German forces. So, when the U-Boats were sunk by Allied bombers, German commanders assumed it was because of the sightings made by the Allied ships. In reality, had it not been for ULTRA, there is little chance that all of the U-Boats would have been sighted by Allied fleets. ULTRA was also protected through misinformation. German prisoners of war were released as unwitting carriers of Allied lies. While in prison, they "overheard" stories of an advanced Allied RADAR that could detect ships and planes a thousand miles away (Hinsley). This false information was relayed back to German headquarters, offering the Allies the opportunity to imply that information that was known about Germany was known from this RADAR, when it in fact came from ULTRA. It has only been a couple of decades since the existence of ULTRA was declassified (the process began in 1972). However, the specifics of Project Magic and of the Colossus machine remained very sketchy until recently. Sine Magic played only a nominal role in the European front, there has been little public outcry calling for more knowledge of it. However, Colossus was further "exposed" in F.W. Winterbotham's book, The Ultra Secret, first published in 1974. This was the first published account of ULTRA and of Colossus. Winterbotham was a British airman who became active with Bletchley Park during the war. As an indication of how well kept the ULTRA secret was, Winterbotham's book was originally believed to be a hoax by many. It wasn't until the British and US governments conceded the existence of ULTRA that Winterbotham's story was confirmed. Since most of the history on World War II had been written by this time, historians have been reluctant to go back over their previous conclusions in light of this revelation. This is why history books were oblivious to the value of ULTRA and continue to downplay its role in hastening the end of the war. No amount of reconnaissance intelligence could tell the Allies what the next Axis move would be. Although Allied spy technology had provided information on the locations of Axis armaments and troop movements, it was always hard to use that information to stay one step ahead of the Axis powers. ULTRA provided the necessary insight into the minds of the Axis leaders to win the war. Throughout World War II, the German U-Boats were the most successful submarines in battle. The deployment of these boats were undetectable by Allied RADAR, and they struck with lightning speed and efficiency. Until Colossus and Magic came online to produce ULTRA, it had appeared as if the Allies had lost the oceans. However, once the cryptoanalysts at Bletchley Park began to decode the Enigma broadcasts, the location of every U-boat was known within two-hundred yards (Winterbotham 128). Over the second half of 1941, Allied naval forces were able to reduce the size of the U-Boat fleet by a factor of 10 (Russell). ULTRA had won back the seas from the German U-Boats and ended the effectiveness of the Axis strategy to control the waters. Another advantage that ULTRA stole from the Germans was Blitzkrieg - lightning war. Rommel, as the commander of German forces depended upon the element of surprise for his fast, powerful, deadly attacks on Allied territory. However, since ULTRA information was available prior to many of these attacks, the Allies were able to position their troops and supplies in such a way that Blitzkrieg eventually proved to be a useless tactic. ULTRA also provided information about Rommel's supplies to Allied commanders. Whenever Rommel ordered tanks to the front, Allied troops would lay down mine fields. When Rommel began to run out of anti-aircraft fire, The Allies would bring in more bombers (Halter 27-29). ULTRA allowed the Allies to constantly be one step ahead of Rommel, thus avoiding heavy Allied losses and inflicting incredible damage to German armaments. Another weakness ULTRA revealed in German strategy was the fact that the Germans were often poorly organized. When preparing to invade England, the Germans sent out Enigma cyphers showing that the barges they had built in English waters were inadequately small. Thus, the Allies were able to ignore the barge building and concentrate their efforts on fighting the German Luftwaffe air force away from the British Isles. When the Luftwaffe launched their attack on the British Royal Air Force, they were met with an Allied force five times as large as they had predicted (Halter 18). Germany retreated and ULTRA saved England. Japanese leaders too, had their minds "probed" by ULTRA. The skeptical Japanese leaders relied much less on cryptography than Germany, so ULTRA was less successful in helping the Allies win the war in the Pacific than the war in Europe. However, Japan did use two forms of Enigma encryption, called "Red" and "Purple." Red and Purple were used right before Pearl Harbor, but since information on the invasion could not have come from any source but ULTRA, and ULTRA depended on corroborating sources to protect its secrecy, the information was withheld. Therefore, the decrypted message was never used to help the US fleet in Hawaii (Momsen Chapter 2). ULTRA did prove to be advantageous against Japan at the end of the war though. Red and Purple cyphers concerning the placement of Japanese troops were key with negotiations to end the war. Since the Allies knew where the Japanese forces were, they knew which Pacific countries were most in need of protection through the peace treaty (Hinsley). Also, ULTRA had decoded information sent to Japanese negotiators detailing what the Japanese government would settle for in terms of monetary, troop, and land losses. Armed with this information, Allied negotiators knew exactly what Japan would accept and were able to control the entire negotiation process (Hinsley). It is important to constantly realize that ULTRA was the most secretive "weapon" of World War II, and its secrecy depended on the fact that every Allied decision based on ULTRA had to be theoretically confirmed by another source. It is for this reason that ULTRA was ignored in Pearl Harbor. This is also why the German supply submarines, the milchcows, which were stationed throughout the Atlantic were attacked one by one even though ULTRA indicated the locations of the entire fleet (Halter 24). Even with this limitation, ULTRA intelligence was extremely effective in many battles. As has already been mentioned, ULTRA provided the Allies with invaluable information regarding the location of German U-Boats. The systematic destruction of these submarines made it possible for the Allies to ship supplies freely while hindering the Axis abilities to do the same. There were many other instances where ULTRA provided the key in Axis defeats. In the Battle of Matapan, Enigma signals were decrypted that gave warning to the British fleet that they would be attacked by Italy. Also, ULTRA gave information to the Allies that led to the sinking of the Bismarck in May '41 and assisted the Allied soldiers who were sent to Greece retreat without harm when decrypted transmissions showed that they could not beat the Germans in that battle (Hinsley). Additionally, having ULTRA allowed the Allies to force Germany into stalemates when Germany had more manpower as well as causing greater German losses when the Allies had more manpower. On the German attack of Crete, the attack was not thwarted, but high German losses made the German attack more detrimental than helpful for Hitler. Also, when Germany won the Battle of Gazala in '42, ULTRA data allowed the Allies to prepare for Rommel's attack on Egypt. By knowing the location of all supplies and reinforcements, the Allied forces starved Rommel of fuel and ammunition while the British waltzed towards am easy battle at El Alamein, ending all German hope of securing Egypt (Hinsley). Although ULTRA was obviously responsible for hastening the end of several battles, it probably caused nothing to happen that would not have eventually happened anyway. Since all ULTRA data was corroborated, it would have only been a matter of time before careful examination of available intelligence would have resulted in the same conclusions ULTRA provided. An analysis of some of the events of the War prove this statement. By keeping Rommel out of Egypt, Germany never had an opportunity to gain control of Africa. Had Hitler controlled the continent, many historians estimate it would have taken up to a year for the Allies to recapture it (Lewin 287). Also, according to Sir Harry Hinsley, German control of Egypt would have made it impossible for the Allies to control all of Northern Africa by May '43, as had really happened. Control of this region resulted in the opening of the Mediterranean to Allied ships. The opening of the Mediterranean made it possible to concentrate naval efforts off the Normandy beachheads for the D-Day invasion of '44. This domino effect shows that intelligence gained from ULTRA allowed the Allies to reach goals in quicker times than would have been possible without such knowledge. ULTRA also sped up the process of winning the war through enhancing communication between the US and the British governments. Since the British Colossus was largely responsible for breaking Enigma codes, and the American Magic was the main source of deciphering Japanese Red and Purple codes, the two powers were forced to combine their efforts. The combination of Magic and Colossus to form ULTRA was apparently unbeatable. Also, since relations had to be strengthened in order to support ULTRA, Churchill and Roosevelt were forced by circumstances to increase their trust of each other. This resulted in more shared decisions between the two countries, thus doubling the thought that went into each decision. In order to prove that the Allies would have won the War without ULTRA, there are three key points to look at. First of all, since Russia initially distrusted ULTRA data revealed to them since its source was never revealed (Halter 24), all Russian victories were achieved without ULTRA. The decisive Battle of the Bulge, in which Germany was halted from further Russian advances, showed Germany was defeatable without ULTRA's capabilities. Secondly, the US Government entered the war without relying on ULTRA from the beginning. However, many of the battles the US was first involved with (before the full operation of ULTRA) were decisive wins for the allies (Lewin 120). Therefore, American strategy was effective without ULTRA's assistance. The third, and most important point to look out, is the relative strength of the Axis and Allied powers. Germany and its allies were most effective in quick battles and short wars. The Allied forces, on the other hand, were used to centuries of multi-year wars. Also, the Allied forces had greater overall man and weapon power compared to the Axis powers. In the long run, ULTRA did not win the war -- it was inevitable -- it only served to hasten the war's end. The arguments presented have shown that ULTRA provided insights into the minds of German and Japanese leaders, ULTRA led to wins in many decisive battles, and that ULTRA only hastened inevitable events. It has also been shown that since real information on ULTRA has only become available recently, it is imperative that historians re-examine the events of World War II to determine where ULTRA had a considerable impact. This conclusion helps to explain a phenomenon that has occurred throughout history; technologically advanced nations will triumph over less technologically advanced nations. ULTRA was a combination of US and British technological superiority over Germany and Japan. The US use of the atomic bomb against Japan was another example of technological superiority, as was the US success over Russia in the Cold War. The final example of technological superiority advancing a nation over others is seen in present day Japan; being the most technologically advanced nation in the world, Japan is capable at holding the US economy at bay. The fact that ULTRA was another technological superiority adds more credence to the theory that technologically superior countries will lead the world. ULTRA also helps to provide answers to previously hard to explain situations of World War II. Originally, most nations believed the US had developed some sort of "advanced RADAR" that could find all the U-Boats in the world's seas. Yet, after the war, evidence of this RADAR never surfaced. It was, in reality, ULTRA that provided this information, which disproves the advanced RADAR theory. Also, ULTRA explains why Germany appeared so disorganized. It made little sense until recently how a country with such a smooth military machine could be defeated so decidedly. Now that it is known that the Allies knew everything the Germans were planning, it is easy to see how the Allied matching of all Axis moves would make Germany appear foolish. It also explains how the most advanced naval forces of the time, the U-Boats, were destroyed by decades old Allied ships. Perhaps the most important lesson that can be learned from ULTRA is the fact that history is not static. For close to three decades, no one outside of Bletchley Park fully understood or even know of the existence of ULTRA. Now, it becomes apparent that the current view of the way events took place in WWII may be entirely incorrect. It is necessary now for historians who are truly in favor of discovering the truth in history to examine all available documents and events pertaining to World War II to determine ULTRA's effects in the War. The most devastating effect of ULTRA to history (and perhaps the reason why many historians still continue to ignore its existence), is that it requires people to examine the ways history is viewed. The question now must be constantly asked of each explanation to a historical event, "Is this REALLY why?" Also, official government reports must be questioned. If two governments are able to keep ULTRA secret for thirty years, while successfully denying its existence the whole time, how can any "official" report be trusted? The answer is, everything must now be questioned; the effects ULTRA had on WWII are nothing compared to the effects it will have on the way history will need to be studied in the future.
Bibliography
Primary sources: *Calvocoress, Peter. Top Secret Ultra. London: Cassel, 1980.
Hinsley, Sir Harry. "The Influence of ULTRA in the Second World War." Babbage Lecture Theatre, Bletchley Park, England. 19 Oct. 1993.
Cracked German Enigma code as found on page 372 of: Lewin, Ronald. Ultra goes to war. London: Hutchinson & Co., Ltd., 1978.
Russell, Commander Jerry C. ULTRA AND THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE U-BOATS IN WORLD WAR II. Carlisle Barracks, PA, US Army War College, 1980.
*Winterbotham, F.W. The Ultra Secret. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.
Slashdot Mirror
thank you so much for posting this. This might be my first /. comment in nearly a decade, that's how valuable this link was for me.
Oh /. -- haven't posted a comment here in years, but you're still so cute.
First off, dude's name is Curt Schilling, not Shilling. 38 is a significant number -- it was the # he wore on his jersey when he pitched his teams to two world series titles.
Not that his time in MLB is pertinent, but come on -- at least identify the guy correctly so people know who the hell you're talking about.
Here in Boston, about most of the city's residents and commercial property is sitting on land fill. (At its time, the filling of Boston's Back Bay was the nation's largest public works project ever. The Big Dig is us reclaiming that dubious title) Buildings sit on wooden pilings that are buried in the landfill below the water table. As long as those pilings stay wet, the buildings and streets on top of them are supported. But if and when the water recedes, those pilings start to rot, and bad things can (and likely, will) happen. A century's worth of construction has started to upset groundwater levels. Since most of the landfill material used was sand, I wonder if this discovery could be used to solve the problem here in Boston (and any other cities with similar problems).
anyone more familiar with kashrut than I know if this would be considered kosher? Like if an observant Jew were to handle the media would he then not be able to have a dairy meal?
This is a serious, if off topic, question. Anyone?
Weren't all "active" blogger users invited into the beta? Something tells me the odds that maybe one or two employees from Yah, AOL (nescape, who?), or MSFT just might have slipped through the cracks that way.
um... if it were watered down, it would be a lower proof and would be marked on the bottle. Most vodkas are around 80 proof. Occasionally you'll see a product in larger liquor stores called "light vodka" that is actually watered down. The big 1.5L bottle of Poland Spring (yes they make liquor.. horrid stuff) will get you just as fucked up as the 1.5L of Grey Goose or other premium vodka. Sure you can taste a difference, but that has nothing to do w/ alcohol content,
Don't you mean Bangalore?
For those of you wondering why someone would do this, how about reading the damn article?
The program doesn't e-mail back with a mere mirror of a google / yahoo results page. It actually filters through the individual results compressing the entire page. e.g. my search turns up a CNN page and a blurb on MSNBC and I get, e-mailed to me, compressed versions of those actual sites, not just links to them.
As far the "my 28.8 modem is just fast enough" crowd -- read the article! Some of these locations the software is being developed for don't even have access to a phone line on a regular basis. And the lines they do have access to are more likely than not to be noisy as hell and not able to support a 28.8 connection.
Because if you purchased a document and it turned out to be useless, you just request a refund and get one -- no questions asked. I found that policy encouraged me to download more articles because I wasn't afraid of duds. It was all on the honor system, and I paid what I truly owed.
Skeptics would think unscrupulous users would take advantage of the situation. True, there were some who did (though excessive document return would result in termination of the account), but most of us who used it, ponied up. It was affordable, and they were actually profitable. Back in my consulting days, I saved my firm a ton of money by using northernlight instead of L/N. Of course, not of that money got passed to me... but that's a story for another post
The telcos WANTS VoIP. The current phone network requires a real, physical, uninterrupted circuit exist between the caller and the callee. That's a lot of freakin' wire. And the switches to handle it are expensive, cludgy, and prone to error. VOiP solutions reduce equipment and network costs while still enabling the telcos to provide service at THE SAME COST to its users. Translation = lower capital expenditures, AND higher margins.
... I think that just might be trolling.
This is especially true for CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers). ILECs (the baby bells) aren't nearly as thrilled, yet they recognize the market is moving that way, and are preparing their business plans to make the switch.
NO ONE is fighting VoIP. Even the equipment manufacturers like Lucent and Nortel are looking forward to it because they can sell their VoIP solutions to the telcos who otherwise wouldn't be buying new switches.
I'm not even going to begin to comment on the falacy about a " 'net tax for the voice over IP"
::sigh:: Every time I see a telecom post on Slashdot, there are lots of "experts" who don't have a clue what they're talking about.... reminds me to take that into account when reading posts on topics I'm unfamiliar with.
thankfully someone will be making linux laptops still
This optical mouse, unlike the ones of years past doesn't require either a reflective surface or any moving parts.
Great idea...
...too bad it didn't work.
I tried to download the MP3's and listen to them, but every time I tried, it crashed my damn computer. Thankfully, it didn't do anything worse.
Embedded code in what should be a data file is a horrible, horrible, horrible idea. What's to stop someone from putting up an MP3 that's supposedly an eLicense file that when played corrupts your hard drive, or installs a back door into your system?
Someone's gotta come up with a better way to handle this.
Being the son who got the server....
yeah, my Dad gave it to me... Gateway told him it was free w/ the 15 computers he ordered. He tried to get a discount by not taking it, but they wouldn't do that. So he took it for the hell of it, knowing I'd come up w/ some way to use it.
Starting at 7 EST would mean 4 pm Pacific, where the event is actually held...
...now that doesn't make very much sense, does it?
Unfortunately, I missed the Oscars last night.
Was anyone able to do a vidcap of Robin Williams singing Blame Canada? Please post if you do, would love to see it.
Thanks!
Okay, so I'm at that small technical school on the Charles River in Cambridge. Being a Masshole originally, many of my high school friends are inmates at UMASS Amherst. Though they are not obliged to do as much work as I in order to simply get a diploma, those enrolled in the honors program or just a more difficult major do as much if not more work than I.
The quality of education is nearly identical as well. Yes, MIT and schools like it might have "world class" researchers and Nobel Lauriates, but ask most students and you'll find that a faculty member's ability to teach is almost always inversely proportional to the amount of recognition they have in their field. Our undergraduate laboratories are comparable, and in many cases, a motivated student at UMass has more opportunity to do higher research than a student here at the Institute because there is less competition for such positions.
So why are my friends' public school degrees worth "less" than mine when we graduate?
The answer -- the pre-screening of the students. MIT, Hahvahd, Yale, Stanford, etc. are all considered top notch because they're a bitch to get into. The public schools are less-selective, which lowers the respectability of the degree. My father is a graduate of the State University of New York system, and had to work his ass off for years to prove he could do better than the Ivy graduates who walked through doors held wide open for them after graduation.
Where this all fits in is that Saylor intends to make his university avaialable to EVERYONE. Presuming he manages to overcome all the other difficulties mentioned (how will a student get access to personal help?, how will students collaborate?, how will lab work and research be performed?, etc.), the degree will still have little value to its holders if ANYONE is able to obtain one. Yes, the argument will be made that one still has to prove they deserve the degree --- but talk to the admissions staff at all the "top tier" schools and you'll find plenty of students who would be successful are turned away. Being qualified isn't enough, you must be OVER qualified.
So, while I applaud Saylor's efforts, and think that he might even be able to create a formidable university (ever the optimist, when it comes to technology), I think he'll be making a major mistake if he doesn't institute at least a semi-rigorous admissions policy that should get even stricter once a student base is established.
Very true, Edison had nothing to do with inventing the light bulb (which company says "we don't invent a lot of the products we make.... we just make a lof of the products we make better?"_
Like many great inventors, he lucked out --- when, up against a deadline to come up with a working filament, he frustratedly took a singed piece of hair and put it in his bulb. It worked.
It's like when the sulfur fell into the rubber, and vulcanization was accidentally discovered.
From the article:
"the radio stays tuned in until the car goes out of range or the driver switches off the RDS feature."
So, it's easy to fix this problem:
Step 1. Notice the signals' been hijacked (hmm... I don't remember my Classic Rock station ever playing 'N Sync before....)
Step 2. Hit the "RDS Off" button (or equivalent)
doesn't seem so tough to me....
When I first saw this article, I thought immediately if Michio Kaku, who spoke at MIT's orientation last fall. Kaku is an incredible speaker with vast vision into unified string theory, which is an attempt at unifying most scientific knowledge. Kaku, like this freak, is attempting to find what Einstein was looking for when he died -- the one, simple equation, that unified all the laws of physics. Finding the below quote from Kaku in the article was proof enough to me that this guy doesn't quite get it.
Oh, and as an aside, if you're looking for REAL research about this -- check out Kaku's _Hyperspace_ (ISBN: 0385477058). Great book for scientists and laymen.
>
Actually,the next "even" date can't be 2/2/2000 .. it's the absence of a number or a value.
The digit zero is neither even nor odd.
In fact, it's not even fair to call zero a "number" at all
The next "even" date will be 2/2/2222.
So we'll probably all be dead then too.
Not too sure why I know this...
Here's a paper I wrote a few years ago (as a junior in high school). Not the best writing in the world, but interesting if you're into the historical implications of technology
. html.
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Throughout the first half of World War II, Allied forces were struggling with a powerful, invisible foe known only as Enigma. Enigma was a device with lots of wiring and electromechanical rotors that was no larger than a television set. The intrigue and danger of Enigma was that is was a device that belonged exclusively to the Germans. The Germans used the Enigma's capability of generating codes in any one of 100 trillion possibilities to outmaneuver their enemies. The exact workings of the Enigma are beyond the scope of this paper; suffice it to say that it was originally believed to have taken 1,000 code breakers working twenty-four hours a day for 14.5 years to break one Enigma code (Momsen Chapter 2). Even if an enemy was somehow able to produce the manpower required to break a single Enigma code, it was just a matter of the Germans turning a rotor one notch to generate a completely different code. What is more is that even if armed with another Enigma, the Allied forces would have needed to know the exact settings of the German sending machine in order to decrypt the codes. Hence, Hitler thought he had the perfect machine in the Enigma and relied on it for nearly all communications to the front.
The Allies' spies were good enough to get a hold on a lot of information concerning the Enigma. They were able to piece together their own Enigmas from Polish plans and they were able to intercept Enigma codes. However, it had seemed impossible to be able to translate the codes into meaningful information. Eventually, code breakers were able to crack Enigma codes within a few months of reception, but by then, the information contained in the code was useless. The Allies turned to two machines for help.
In the United States, project Magic was developed. Using the Polish machines known as bombes, the top cryptoanalysts in the nation scurried to break all intercepted codes. The US had the advantage of being able to intercept Japanese codes (the Japanese utilized a specially made version of the Enigma) which always began with the phrase "I have the honor to inform your excellency" (Momsen Chapter 3). This gave the codebreakers something to hone in on and the US was shortly decoding all of the Japanese transmissions. However, this information proved useless in cracking the German codes, and was not even that helpful against Japan since most of the information transmitted in code was already known by American intelligence.
It was in Britain that the true key to cracking the Enigma developed. Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician was invited to take over control of the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) located at Bletchley Park. Here in Bletchley, Turing developed Colossus - arguably the world's first electronic computer. The details of Colossus are still foggy, partly because of its partial classified status, but mainly because the secret of Colossus died with Turing. What is known, however is that Turing was able to set up the Colossus machine to crack the German Enigma codes within minutes of receiving them. They were then translated to English and the Allies had a complete knowledge of what the Germans thought they were sending privately.
The information generated by the Magic Project and Enigma was collectively referred to as Project ULTRA. Since the recent declassification of the project, historians have struggled to determine its effect in World War II. However, analysis shows the following to be true: The usage of project ULTRA did not cause the Allied forces to win the war. However, its usage allowed for better decisions on the part of Allied leaders and hastened the end of the war. Also, it is mandatory that historians go over their previous analyses of World War II to determine the effect of ULTRA on individual decisions and battles.
There are several arguments that will be presented to point to this conclusion. First of all, ULTRA provided a direct link to the minds of Hitler and his advisors, allowing the Allies to learn how these men thought. Also, data about ULTRA's usage in individual battles shows that its value was immeasurable in hastening their end. It can also be shown that the events that were caused as a result of ULTRA knowledge would have happened anyway, it just would have taken longer and more lives would have been lost. Finally, it can be shown that since ULTRA was so long unknown to historians as a result of it being well protected during the war, historians must reanalyze previous conclusions on the war in light of its recent declassification.
Part of the reason why ULTRA has rarely been referred to by historians is the way it was protected during the war. Simply put, no one outside of the ULTRA project was ever aware of its existence. And, since this was before the time of great public skepticism and conspiracy theories, there was little to no conjecture on the existence of such a project.
The man who can be recognized for his efforts to keep ULTRA a secret is Alan Turing. The man behind Bletchley Park, Turing viewed Colossus as a child. He wanted to protect it from outside knowledge so he could keep it to himself. Since Turing was so bright and cunning, he was even able to prevent 90% of the scientists working at Bletchley from even knowing of the existence of Colossus. Much like the Manhattan Project, different people worked on different parts of the project so no one but Turing really knew the whole project (Lewin 113). And Turing, though not the only man to see the plans of the project, was perhaps the only man who ever understood them completely.
Knowing that the location and physical characteristics of ULTRA was kept secret for so long is not enough to prove that the existence of the project was a secret. After all, ULTRA constantly produced reams of information about cracked German codes. Turing's response to this was simple. Not only would just a few people be allowed to receive ULTRA information directly, there would be no written transcript of this data. Additionally, all ULTRA information was passed directly from Bletchley Park to the officers in charge of troop movement via one person. A specially trained corps was created to shuffle between Bletchley and all portions of Europe to deliver the information verbally. These were the only people besides Turing and a few others at the GCCS and intelligence officials of the US government that knew of the existence of ULTRA. At first, commanding officers found it difficult to receive orders from lower ranked strangers (the ULTRA messengers), but soon learned it was in their best interest to do so. Another thing that should be noted about the messengers is that they were so well trained that none were ever captured, but if they had been captured, they were prepared to commit suicide (Winterbotham 21).
Another major step to preventing the enemy from knowing about ULTRA was the way in which officials chose whether or not and how to use ULTRA data. If the Germans ever became suspicious that their Enigma was no longer safe, they would've stopped using it instantly. Instead, the Allies wanted the Germans to feel they could use Enigma since it provided direct insight into the workings of German forces. Therefore, no action was EVER made on the basis of ULTRA data unless it were theoretically possible the data was obtained elsewhere. For example, when it was made clear through ULTRA the exact locations of an entire fleet of German U-Boats, Allied ships in the area were instructed to send a sighting signal towards specific locations (Hinsley). Unbeknownst to the captains of these ships, these sighting signals were being intercepted by German forces. So, when the U-Boats were sunk by Allied bombers, German commanders assumed it was because of the sightings made by the Allied ships. In reality, had it not been for ULTRA, there is little chance that all of the U-Boats would have been sighted by Allied fleets.
ULTRA was also protected through misinformation. German prisoners of war were released as unwitting carriers of Allied lies. While in prison, they "overheard" stories of an advanced Allied RADAR that could detect ships and planes a thousand miles away (Hinsley). This false information was relayed back to German headquarters, offering the Allies the opportunity to imply that information that was known about Germany was known from this RADAR, when it in fact came from ULTRA.
It has only been a couple of decades since the existence of ULTRA was declassified (the process began in 1972). However, the specifics of Project Magic and of the Colossus machine remained very sketchy until recently. Sine Magic played only a nominal role in the European front, there has been little public outcry calling for more knowledge of it. However, Colossus was further "exposed" in F.W. Winterbotham's book, The Ultra Secret, first published in 1974. This was the first published account of ULTRA and of Colossus. Winterbotham was a British airman who became active with Bletchley Park during the war. As an indication of how well kept the ULTRA secret was, Winterbotham's book was originally believed to be a hoax by many. It wasn't until the British and US governments conceded the existence of ULTRA that Winterbotham's story was confirmed. Since most of the history on World War II had been written by this time, historians have been reluctant to go back over their previous conclusions in light of this revelation. This is why history books were oblivious to the value of ULTRA and continue to downplay its role in hastening the end of the war.
No amount of reconnaissance intelligence could tell the Allies what the next Axis move would be. Although Allied spy technology had provided information on the locations of Axis armaments and troop movements, it was always hard to use that information to stay one step ahead of the Axis powers. ULTRA provided the necessary insight into the minds of the Axis leaders to win the war.
Throughout World War II, the German U-Boats were the most successful submarines in battle. The deployment of these boats were undetectable by Allied RADAR, and they struck with lightning speed and efficiency. Until Colossus and Magic came online to produce ULTRA, it had appeared as if the Allies had lost the oceans. However, once the cryptoanalysts at Bletchley Park began to decode the Enigma broadcasts, the location of every U-boat was known within two-hundred yards (Winterbotham 128). Over the second half of 1941, Allied naval forces were able to reduce the size of the U-Boat fleet by a factor of 10 (Russell). ULTRA had won back the seas from the German U-Boats and ended the effectiveness of the Axis strategy to control the waters.
Another advantage that ULTRA stole from the Germans was Blitzkrieg - lightning war. Rommel, as the commander of German forces depended upon the element of surprise for his fast, powerful, deadly attacks on Allied territory. However, since ULTRA information was available prior to many of these attacks, the Allies were able to position their troops and supplies in such a way that Blitzkrieg eventually proved to be a useless tactic. ULTRA also provided information about Rommel's supplies to Allied commanders. Whenever Rommel ordered tanks to the front, Allied troops would lay down mine fields. When Rommel began to run out of anti-aircraft fire, The Allies would bring in more bombers (Halter 27-29). ULTRA allowed the Allies to constantly be one step ahead of Rommel, thus avoiding heavy Allied losses and inflicting incredible damage to German armaments.
Another weakness ULTRA revealed in German strategy was the fact that the Germans were often poorly organized. When preparing to invade England, the Germans sent out Enigma cyphers showing that the barges they had built in English waters were inadequately small. Thus, the Allies were able to ignore the barge building and concentrate their efforts on fighting the German Luftwaffe air force away from the British Isles. When the Luftwaffe launched their attack on the British Royal Air Force, they were met with an Allied force five times as large as they had predicted (Halter 18). Germany retreated and ULTRA saved England.
Japanese leaders too, had their minds "probed" by ULTRA. The skeptical Japanese leaders relied much less on cryptography than Germany, so ULTRA was less successful in helping the Allies win the war in the Pacific than the war in Europe. However, Japan did use two forms of Enigma encryption, called "Red" and "Purple." Red and Purple were used right before Pearl Harbor, but since information on the invasion could not have come from any source but ULTRA, and ULTRA depended on corroborating sources to protect its secrecy, the information was withheld. Therefore, the decrypted message was never used to help the US fleet in Hawaii (Momsen Chapter 2). ULTRA did prove to be advantageous against Japan at the end of the war though. Red and Purple cyphers concerning the placement of Japanese troops were key with negotiations to end the war. Since the Allies knew where the Japanese forces were, they knew which Pacific countries were most in need of protection through the peace treaty (Hinsley). Also, ULTRA had decoded information sent to Japanese negotiators detailing what the Japanese government would settle for in terms of monetary, troop, and land losses. Armed with this information, Allied negotiators knew exactly what Japan would accept and were able to control the entire negotiation process (Hinsley).
It is important to constantly realize that ULTRA was the most secretive "weapon" of World War II, and its secrecy depended on the fact that every Allied decision based on ULTRA had to be theoretically confirmed by another source. It is for this reason that ULTRA was ignored in Pearl Harbor. This is also why the German supply submarines, the milchcows, which were stationed throughout the Atlantic were attacked one by one even though ULTRA indicated the locations of the entire fleet (Halter 24). Even with this limitation, ULTRA intelligence was extremely effective in many battles.
As has already been mentioned, ULTRA provided the Allies with invaluable information regarding the location of German U-Boats. The systematic destruction of these submarines made it possible for the Allies to ship supplies freely while hindering the Axis abilities to do the same. There were many other instances where ULTRA provided the key in Axis defeats. In the Battle of Matapan, Enigma signals were decrypted that gave warning to the British fleet that they would be attacked by Italy. Also, ULTRA gave information to the Allies that led to the sinking of the Bismarck in May '41 and assisted the Allied soldiers who were sent to Greece retreat without harm when decrypted transmissions showed that they could not beat the Germans in that battle (Hinsley).
Additionally, having ULTRA allowed the Allies to force Germany into stalemates when Germany had more manpower as well as causing greater German losses when the Allies had more manpower. On the German attack of Crete, the attack was not thwarted, but high German losses made the German attack more detrimental than helpful for Hitler. Also, when Germany won the Battle of Gazala in '42, ULTRA data allowed the Allies to prepare for Rommel's attack on Egypt. By knowing the location of all supplies and reinforcements, the Allied forces starved Rommel of fuel and ammunition while the British waltzed towards am easy battle at El Alamein, ending all German hope of securing Egypt (Hinsley).
Although ULTRA was obviously responsible for hastening the end of several battles, it probably caused nothing to happen that would not have eventually happened anyway. Since all ULTRA data was corroborated, it would have only been a matter of time before careful examination of available intelligence would have resulted in the same conclusions ULTRA provided. An analysis of some of the events of the War prove this statement.
By keeping Rommel out of Egypt, Germany never had an opportunity to gain control of Africa. Had Hitler controlled the continent, many historians estimate it would have taken up to a year for the Allies to recapture it (Lewin 287). Also, according to Sir Harry Hinsley, German control of Egypt would have made it impossible for the Allies to control all of Northern Africa by May '43, as had really happened. Control of this region resulted in the opening of the Mediterranean to Allied ships. The opening of the Mediterranean made it possible to concentrate naval efforts off the Normandy beachheads for the D-Day invasion of '44. This domino effect shows that intelligence gained from ULTRA allowed the Allies to reach goals in quicker times than would have been possible without such knowledge.
ULTRA also sped up the process of winning the war through enhancing communication between the US and the British governments. Since the British Colossus was largely responsible for breaking Enigma codes, and the American Magic was the main source of deciphering Japanese Red and Purple codes, the two powers were forced to combine their efforts. The combination of Magic and Colossus to form ULTRA was apparently unbeatable. Also, since relations had to be strengthened in order to support ULTRA, Churchill and Roosevelt were forced by circumstances to increase their trust of each other. This resulted in more shared decisions between the two countries, thus doubling the thought that went into each decision.
In order to prove that the Allies would have won the War without ULTRA, there are three key points to look at. First of all, since Russia initially distrusted ULTRA data revealed to them since its source was never revealed (Halter 24), all Russian victories were achieved without ULTRA. The decisive Battle of the Bulge, in which Germany was halted from further Russian advances, showed Germany was defeatable without ULTRA's capabilities. Secondly, the US Government entered the war without relying on ULTRA from the beginning. However, many of the battles the US was first involved with (before the full operation of ULTRA) were decisive wins for the allies (Lewin 120). Therefore, American strategy was effective without ULTRA's assistance. The third, and most important point to look out, is the relative strength of the Axis and Allied powers. Germany and its allies were most effective in quick battles and short wars. The Allied forces, on the other hand, were used to centuries of multi-year wars. Also, the Allied forces had greater overall man and weapon power compared to the Axis powers. In the long run, ULTRA did not win the war -- it was inevitable -- it only served to hasten the war's end.
The arguments presented have shown that ULTRA provided insights into the minds of German and Japanese leaders, ULTRA led to wins in many decisive battles, and that ULTRA only hastened inevitable events. It has also been shown that since real information on ULTRA has only become available recently, it is imperative that historians re-examine the events of World War II to determine where ULTRA had a considerable impact.
This conclusion helps to explain a phenomenon that has occurred throughout history; technologically advanced nations will triumph over less technologically advanced nations. ULTRA was a combination of US and British technological superiority over Germany and Japan. The US use of the atomic bomb against Japan was another example of technological superiority, as was the US success over Russia in the Cold War. The final example of technological superiority advancing a nation over others is seen in present day Japan; being the most technologically advanced nation in the world, Japan is capable at holding the US economy at bay. The fact that ULTRA was another technological superiority adds more credence to the theory that technologically superior countries will lead the world.
ULTRA also helps to provide answers to previously hard to explain situations of World War II. Originally, most nations believed the US had developed some sort of "advanced RADAR" that could find all the U-Boats in the world's seas. Yet, after the war, evidence of this RADAR never surfaced. It was, in reality, ULTRA that provided this information, which disproves the advanced RADAR theory. Also, ULTRA explains why Germany appeared so disorganized. It made little sense until recently how a country with such a smooth military machine could be defeated so decidedly. Now that it is known that the Allies knew everything the Germans were planning, it is easy to see how the Allied matching of all Axis moves would make Germany appear foolish. It also explains how the most advanced naval forces of the time, the U-Boats, were destroyed by decades old Allied ships.
Perhaps the most important lesson that can be learned from ULTRA is the fact that history is not static. For close to three decades, no one outside of Bletchley Park fully understood or even know of the existence of ULTRA. Now, it becomes apparent that the current view of the way events took place in WWII may be entirely incorrect. It is necessary now for historians who are truly in favor of discovering the truth in history to examine all available documents and events pertaining to World War II to determine ULTRA's effects in the War.
The most devastating effect of ULTRA to history (and perhaps the reason why many historians still continue to ignore its existence), is that it requires people to examine the ways history is viewed. The question now must be constantly asked of each explanation to a historical event, "Is this REALLY why?" Also, official government reports must be questioned. If two governments are able to keep ULTRA secret for thirty years, while successfully denying its existence the whole time, how can any "official" report be trusted? The answer is, everything must now be questioned; the effects ULTRA had on WWII are nothing compared to the effects it will have on the way history will need to be studied in the future.
Bibliography
Primary sources:
*Calvocoress, Peter. Top Secret Ultra. London: Cassel, 1980.
Hinsley, Sir Harry. "The Influence of ULTRA in the Second World War." Babbage Lecture Theatre, Bletchley Park, England. 19 Oct. 1993.
Cracked German Enigma code as found on page 372 of:
Lewin, Ronald. Ultra goes to war. London: Hutchinson & Co., Ltd., 1978.
Russell, Commander Jerry C. ULTRA AND THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE U-BOATS IN WORLD WAR II. Carlisle Barracks, PA, US Army War College, 1980.
*Winterbotham, F.W. The Ultra Secret. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.
Secondary Sources:
"Cryptography - Enigma Cypher." http://www.trincoll.edu/~cpsc/cryptography/enigma
Fargo, Ladislas. The Broken Seal. New York: Random House, 1967.
Goldston, Robert. Sinister Touches: the Secret War Against Hitler. New York: The Dial Press, 1982.
Halter, Jon C. Top Secret Projects of World War II. New York: Julian Messner, 1978.
Koczaczuk, Wladyslaw. "The Origins of the Enigma/Ultra Operation." http://biwww.urv.gov.pl/ mszdp:/enigmaa.html.
Lewin, Ronald. Ultra goes to war. London: Hutchinson & Co., Ltd., 1978.
Momsen, Bill. "Codebreaking & Secret Weapons in WWII - Chapter I 1926-1939."
http://members.aol.com/nbrass/1enigma.htm.
- - -. "Codebreaking & Secret Weapons in WWII - Chapter II 1939-1941."
http://members.aol.com/nbrass/2enigma.htm.
- - -. "Codebreaking & Secret Weapons in WWII - Chapter III 1939."
http://members.aol.com/nbrass/3enigma.htm.
Sale, Anthony E. "Colossus Rebuild." http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/CCC/BPark/colossus.htm