In memoriam: Alan Turing 1912-1954

While on the youtube website, I came across a university lecture at UNSW 2008 on Alan Turing, who turned out to be a really fascinating brilliant mathematician. Awarded the OBE, he had 3 major accomplishments, he made the Turing Machine which turned out to be the basis for modern day computers, second, he began talking about the concept of Artificial Intelligence and thirdly, he broke the Enigma code and helped turn the tide of World War II.

He worked with a team at Bletchley Park with other codebreakers. The Enigma machine had 150 million million possible encryptions and the Germans believed that it was virtually unbreakable.

The enigma machine was used by the Uboats. When they broke the enigma code, they were able to stop the UBoats from sinking British Merchant Ships, enabling Great Britain to remain fighting the war and saved numerous lives. In a documentary at Nat Geo, they said that British Merchant Marine service suffered 70% casualties! So when he broke the code, more Uboats were sunk and practically put an end to the threat of Uboats in the atlantic.

I love the idea that my beloved mac is his invention. It's just really sad that he killed himself in 1954 at the age of 42. He was persecuted for being gay. He commited suicide by eating an apple injected with cyanide. Accdg to Wikipedia his favorite story was Snow White, where she eats a poisoned apple and sleeps forever. I was touched to find that in 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote an article in the Guardian deploring how Turing was badly treated by the government.

What the lecturer at UNSW said was really interesting. He said that modern computers are NOT more powerful than the Turing Machine. They're just faster. To think he made it in the 1950's. If only he hadn't killed himself, I wonder where he would have taken modern computing.

Rest in peace, Mr. Turing.

All Hail Britannia!

England Stands Alone 1940-1941

It was a cold January day in 2010 when I learned that Great Britain fought Hitler alone. I thought "Man, what a people...what a nation". Before this, I had always thought that Allied and Axis forces were like football teams, all joining in at the same time. But to find that Britain stood alone after the fall of Paris (in the midst of V2 bombing) was more than I could fathom. I'm sure Winston Churchill also had a lot to do with it, helping the people fight the good fight with his speeches and plans to rearm.
Is it possible to give the British a purple heart? I'm not Obama, but I hail thee British! I heard your food over there is pretty bland, but being the last hope of the free world more than makes up for it. I salute every last one who fought at the battle of Britain. Churchill said it all : Never was so much owed by so many to so few.
Okay, so I'm an anglophile, but I have really good reason to be.
Oh, i also better mention that I'm sure the commonwealth forces deserve to be recognised too. All hail the commonwealth forces! (and the merchant marines too, agent Garbo, the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, and the list goes on and on!)

In Memorial

To the 16 brothers massacred on 12 Feb 1945 by the Japanese occupying forces in World War II.

Most especially to Bro. Baptist de la Salle Janos who saved a 6 year old boy by hiding him beneath a mattress before he was bayonetted to death.

Their full story can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_La_Salle_Brothers_in_the_Philippines

Hail Stonewall Jackson

for his tactical brilliance during his Valley Campaign. With only 17,000 men he ties down a force of 60,000 union soldiers, preventing them from reinforcing Gen. McClellan in his campaign to threaten Richmond.

McClellan, although he outnumbered the Confederates at Richmond, withdrew his troops, believing that he faced superior numbers there.
See the animation of this campaign at:

http://www.historyanimated.com/ValleyAnimation.html

Spotsylvania stump

From the smithsonian website:

This shattered stump was once a healthy oak tree in a rolling meadow just outside Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia.

On the morning of May 12, 1864, 1,200 entrenched Confederates, the front line of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, awaited the assault of 5,000 Union troops from the 2nd Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Twenty hours later, the once-peaceful meadow had acquired a new name, the “Bloody Angle.” The same fury of rifle bullets that cut down 2,000 combatants tore away all twenty-two inches of this tree's trunk. Several of the conical minie balls are still deeply embedded in the wood. Originally presented to the U.S. Army's Ordnance Museum by Brevet Major General Nelson A. Miles, the stump was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1888.


Division of the History of Technology, Armed Forces History
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Behring Center
Transfer from the U.S. War Department

Kinda makes you wonder how they had any survivors.

A grand salute to Lt.Col Richard Sakakida

He is another of my fave people from WWII. At the fall of Corregidor, Gen. Douglas MacArthur reserved a seat for Sakakida on the submarine he would ride to go to Australia. Instead of going, he gave up his seat to Clarence Yamagata, a hawaiian born intelligence officer with a family. Pretty selfless, huh?

He endured severe torture at the hands of the Kempei Tai.

Despite being suspended from his wrists tied to his back and being burned by cigarettes, he did not change his story; that he was merely a civilian pressed into serving as translator for the US army.

He managed to escape and even returned to Manila to participate in the War Crimes Tribunal.

His was an epic journey. His amazing story can be read in detail at:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1996_cr/s960130a.htm

in 1996 he was awarded the Bronze Star and Prisoner of War Medal and in '98 the Distinguished Service Medal (posthumous).

The Thach Weave: Brill Baby, Brill

In WWII Japanese Zeros could out fly allied aircraft. At its height, the zero had a manueverability and climb rate that was unmatched.

An aviator of the US Navy, John S. Thach devised a tactic, now known as the "Thach Weave" that would give F4F american fighters a better chance at defeating the zeros.

Begin with 2 allied fighters. As a Zero commits to following one plane, both allied planes will now engage in a looping maneouver until the zero is in the sight of the other allied plane.

Just by looking at the diagram, it looks pretty simple. But I'm quite sure there was a lot more to it than that. Timing must have been crucial, above all.

I came across this technique thru the web a year or two ago and it just took my breath away.

What I find interesting is that it's dependent on distracting the enemy, getting him to be totally absorbed in one target, to the exclusion of all things.

John S Thach retired a Navy Admiral. The frigate Thach (FFG-43) was named in his honor.

Coool.