Monday, February 28, 2011

Bletchley Park Turing archive saved after campaign

From V3

"A campaign to save a collection of Alan Turing's most important works has succeeded in purchasing them for Bletchley Park.

The collection contains offprints of 15 of Turing's 18 published papers assembled by his friend and colleague Max Newman. It includes Turing's first published paper, as well as his initial plans for computing and artificial intelligence."

Friday, February 18, 2011

How fearless British pilots downed giant German Zeppelins using exploding darts in the First World War

From the Daily Mail

"It was the logical way to take targets that were essentially a massive balloon filled with flammable gas.

When British First World War pilots were asked to take down German zeppelins they did not turn to guns - but a giant exploding dart."

Monday, February 14, 2011

First Valentine: Lasting legacy of 500-year-old love

From the BBC

"Love it or hate it, even the most hardened anti-Romeo will be hard pressed to avoid Valentine's Day this year. But as an exhibit at the British Library currently on show is testament to, there is a first for everything - even on Valentine's Day."

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Genetic study uncovers new path to Polynesia

From Science Daily

"Surprising new evidence which overturns current theories of how humans colonised the Pacific has been discovered by scientists at the University of Leeds, UK."

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Civil Rights on the Flip Side: Vintage Gospel 45s Show a Surprising Number of Civil Rights Songs on Their “B” Sides

From News Wise

"A surprisingly large number of “B” sides on old 45s of gospel songs address the subject of civil rights, the Vietnam War and other social issues, according to a Baylor University researcher who is overseeing a preservation effort called the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project.

The recent discovery “tells us that the gospel community was much more involved in the civil rights movement than we previously thought — outside of Mahalia Jackson and Dorothy Love Coates, who we knew were very involved,” said Robert Darden, an associate professor of journalism at Baylor and a former gospel editor for Billboard magazine."