In 2000 I visited what is probably one of the most interesting attractions for geeky history buffs in the UK: Bletchley Park.

Even back when I visited it, the Park was in a dismal state, badly preserved, run down — definitely far from what it should be, given both the fact that sixty years ago it was a British Government secret installation and its immense importance in World War II — and all that in a country whose culture even today is still fundamentally affected (I’d dare say defined) by the two World Wars. Today, about 8 years since my visit to Bletchley Park, I read at Bruce Schneier’s blog that it may close in a few years due to lack of funds. Having grown up in Hellas, a country with a long history and thousands of ancient sites all over the country, I always thought that the dismal state of Hellenic antiquities was due to the country’s deeply rooted nepotism, corruption, stupidity, indifference and total incapacity for efficient, constructive work. While the British government has quite frequently showed that it’s not far from the Hellenic one, one would expect that they’d care more to preserve a small-ish park and a Victorian mansion.

If you appreciate 20th century history and/or cryptography and are visiting the UK (or, better yet, live there), pay a visit to Bletchley Park. The tour may be somewhat indifferent to many, the park itself may be run down, but you’d be seeing first hand the place where Enigma was systematically deciphered during the war and — through your purchase of a ticket and or other souvernirs or donations — will help preserve a piece of modern history. Finally for all those interesting in computing, Bletchley Park hosts a small, and seemingly uninteresting computer museum; this is nothing like some of its counterparts in the U.S.. Nevertheless it has a unique exhibit that’s bound to thrill every computer scientist, programmer, engineer or geek visiting it: a working replica of Colossus.

For more information about the Park go to their page here or visit its Wikipedia entry.

I got to know of Neal Stephenson from a good friend in the winter of 1999, some months after Cryptonomicon was published. He used to read it during the long boring lecture days at Imperial and over the course of a couple of weeks I got to catch a glimpse of the interweaved stories Stephenson eloquently presented in that book; enough of a glimpse so that when the summer of 2000 came and I was killing time at Heathrow, waiting for my return flight to Athens I picked up a paperback copy myself from an airport bookstore.

Love for Sci-Fi. Aversion to Cyberpunk.

I used to read a lot of literature when I was a child and until my early to mid teens. Yet by 2000 my relationship with literature had largely given its place to countless hours spent with technology, music and other interests; perhaps it was the thirty odd hours of lectures per week plus the constant progress reports, coursework and weekly tests the university required, along with my numerous other interests, friends etc. that relegated reading literature books to the backburner. It certainly was not what it used to be some years earlier. During those years most of my reading was either purely technical or scientific or involved history.
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Missile Defence is a controversial issue that has troubled diplomats and military leaders alike for more than forty years. Ever since Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), later nicknamed ‘Star Wars’ after the synonymous film and due to its alleged inclusion of Space-Based Interceptors, Missile Defence has largely become a popular term, even though the programmes predate that particular programme by more than fifteen years. More recently, its rebirth, through the efforts of people like Newt Gingrich and the very controversial Richard Perle, one of the loudest advocates of the 2003 Iraq war has attracted media attention after it caused a war of words between U.S. and Russian officials. Richard Perle recently appeared in America at a Crossroads, an 11 hour PBS documentary series that addresses both the rift between Islamic fundamentalism and the West, the reasons behind extremism, the situation in Iraq (both from the U.S. and Iraqi perspectives), U.S. social cohesion and the integration of its Muslim population and the general issue of security vs. liberty. His interview is perhaps characteristic of his out-of-touch view of the world, his ignorance of the facts that stare him in the eye and his insistence on a position that has long been proven wrong.

The documentary is an excellent, largely unbiased depiction of the outcome and side-effects of the war as well as the challenges facing the U.S. and by extension the world as a whole. It is highly recommended.

I recall having several long conversations on the subject of Missile Defence with friends just after the turn of the century, and later in 2002 when the U.S. withdrew from the 1972 ABM Treaty. The significance of the U.S.’s faith in the programme is quite high, both for its multilateral relations with Europe and Russia, but also for the European relations with their neighbours.
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The Armenian Genocide is a controversial issue. I’ve written before about its historical value and how it has been manipulated, both by Turkey and its commercial partners to improve relations at the expense of historical fact. I’ve applauded France for standing up to the Turkish threats and acknowledging a fact that has been long ignored by many in the international community.

Yet the voting of the French Parliament on whether it should become illegal to deny the Armenian Genocide is as wrong, as controversial and as politically — and not historically or culturally — motivated as Turkey’s denial that it ever happened.

At a time when even Germany is considering dropping the post-WW2 law that forbids the public display of the nazi insignia, perhaps a token of how times have changed and how the need for freedom of speech has been gradually replacing the fear of extremism, France is making a U-turn by considering voting on what is effectively a gag order; this is not about prevention of history distortion. France has officially accepted the Armenian Genocide as a historical fact, along with many countries all over the globe. That was commendable and a sound political move on principle. This is about freedom of speech and short-term political interests.

Less than a year after the controversial islamic prophet sketches that largely exposed Europe’s inability to live up to its assumed role as a culturally and socially advanced continent, comes another politically motivated move that serves no one, but the politicians organising it.

Back in March I mentioned Google Techtalks (now split into multiple series, engEDU, authors@google etc.). Well, back then I watched a video about how a team was using technology to restore an Archimedes Palimsest, an old parchment with some of the great mathematician’s writings that had been overwritten several times throughout the previous two millenia. It seems they finally reached a breakthrough, as the BBC covered their work in a story last week.