Alan Turing collection saved

Back in issue 89 of Custom PC, you may remember that our own ex-news hound Gareth Halfacree wrote about his efforts to raise funds in order to purchase a rare collection of Alan Turing's papers. Through the power of Twitter and a generous donation from Google of $100,000, Gareth raised just under £90,000 for the Bletchley Park Trust so that it might purchase the documents for public display.

The collection, originally property of Professor Max Newman, a friend and colleague of Turing's at Bletchley Park, includes offprints of 15 of Turing's 18 published works, along with Newman's annotations. The collections is so significant because very little remains of Turing's work or personal belongings, with much of Bletchley Park's documents and records destroyed after World War II.

However, with a guide price of between £300,000 and £500,000, the collection looked set to end up in the hands of a private collector. Happily, though, this price was not met when the collection went up for auction last November, and the collection sat un-purchased, awaiting later sale.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, which aims to save the most outstanding parts of our national heritage at risk of loss to the nation, stepped in with additional funding of £213,437. Once this was added to Bletchley Park's own funds, the group was able to meet the list price and purchase the collection privately.

Simon Greenish, CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust said 'The acquisition of this hugely important collection has been made possible only by the astonishing support demonstrated by the public, the media, Google, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Christies the auctioneers whose help in brokering the purchase is gratefully acknowledged. We're delighted to have the collection here at Bletchley Park, which is surely its most fitting home, and it will be an incredible addition to the visitor experience.'

The collection with go on display later this year in the Bletchley Park Museum. All of which just goes to show that it's possible for us to make a difference. We'd very much like to congratulate Gareth on this achievement, and also thank the National Heritage Memorial Fund for getting involved with the extra cash.

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For Wisconsin Lawmakers, a Hero?s Homecoming

But this group of once-obscure lawmakers ? a dairy farmer, a lawyer and a woman who is seven months pregnant, among others ? that fled this capital nearly a month ago, returned Saturday to the cheers of tens of thousands who once again packed the streets in protest.

Many in the crowd wore buttons or held signs bearing admiring nicknames for the group: the ?Fighting 14,? the ?Fab 14? or, simply, ?the Wisconsin 14.? They chanted, ?Thank you? and ?Welcome home.?

This is, of course, not the standard reception for state legislators, typically as anonymous as they are unglamorous.

?Before all of this occurred, I wouldn?t have known a lot of their names,? said Paul Fieber, a retired state employee carrying a sign declaring, ?Our heroes.? ?But that has changed for me and a lot of the population.?

The reason for the reception was that the 14 Democratic state senators had returned weeks after fleeing to another state in a dramatic ? if ultimately failed ? effort to prevent a vote on a bill that would significantly weaken public-sector unions.

Their disappearance ? ?a really, really weird trip,? in the words of one senator ? was one of the most memorable and divisive aspects of the legislative standoff, and it helped escalate a policy dispute into a protracted battle over union rights that seized the attention of the nation.

On Saturday, the senators spoke, sometimes boastfully, about their pride in the outpouring of support, their dismay at the law that passed in their absence and their eagerness to meet the protesters who have backed their actions.

?I?m one of the Fabulous 14, and I?m so proud,? said Spencer Coggs, who was first elected to the State Legislature nearly three decades ago. ?We are back to unite and fight with our supporters. We gave them hope. They gave us inspiration.?

Though officially in hiding, the Democrats had been more visible than ever, giving countless interviews from ?undisclosed locations? around Illinois, where they stayed out of reach of the Wisconsin state troopers dispatched to bring them back to the Senate.

Fred Risser, a Senate Democrat whose nearly six decades of service make him the longest-tenured state legislator in the country, said he had never been so widely recognized. ?I?m quite amazed at the number of strangers who have come up and thanked me,? he said.

Republican lawmakers, who called the Democrats cowards and accused them of abandoning their posts, made numerous efforts to get them back, including holding their paychecks, stripping their parking spots, issuing fines, threatening arrest and pursuing other legislation before ultimately maneuvering to vote without them.

The bill, which limits collective bargaining rights and requires annual votes for unions to stay in existence, among other provisions, was signed into law on Friday by Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, after passing in both Republican-controlled chambers earlier in the week.

The Democrats are still officially in contempt of the Senate, though both sides said it was unlikely that they would be detained. In addition, eight Democrats ? as well as eight Republicans ? face recall efforts stemming from the dispute.

Scott Fitzgerald, the Senate majority leader, released a statement saying that the Democrats should be embarrassed about their conduct. ?Today, the most shameful 14 people in the state of Wisconsin are going to pat themselves on the back and smile for the cameras,? he said. ?They?re going to pretend they?re heroes for taking a three-week vacation.

?It is an absolute insult to the hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who are struggling to find a job, much less one they can run away from and go down to Illinois ? with pay.?

As the senators walked around the Capitol square, where one of the largest protests in what has been a daily outpouring of union employees and supporters was under way, the crowd pressed in to shake hands and shout words of encouragement. Many called the senators by name, a fact that caught some off guard.

Senator Timothy Cullen was visibly moved and called it his greatest experience as a public official. ?We heard about how strongly they felt,? he said. ?But you have to be here to feel it.?

The size of the crowd, which the Madison police estimated at around 100,000, and the amount of positive energy was striking, coming a day after the long battle over the bill was lost, though legal efforts were under way to keep it from taking effect.

For weeks the rhythmic chanting of protesters has filled this city like a heartbeat, proof that despite the lack of legislative power, the political left in this state is still a visible, and audible, presence. At the very moment that the noise was expected to fade in disappointment, that thumping proof of life ? the staccato refrain of ?This is what democracy looks like,? was the most popular of the chants ? continued with renewed vigor.

But it is unclear how long the protests will continue.

?We wanted to come together one more time to let people know this is not over,? said Ann Soderman, a high school science teacher who carried a sign listing the Democratic senators. She said she had attended several rallies but was now focused on recall efforts against eligible Republican senators, including her own. ?All this energy is going to go into a different avenue,? she said.

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Political Memo: Democrats See Wisconsin Loss as Galvanizing

In a push to raise money for their candidates, Democrats hope Wisconsin will be for them what the health care overhaul was for Republicans in last year?s midterm elections: a galvanizing force for their base, and an example of overreaching that will win them crucial independent voters, not just in Wisconsin but also in Congressional races and the presidential election next year.

They point to polls showing that the same level of intensity that helped Republicans campaigning against health care is now behind Democrats on the issue of collective bargaining. Gov. Scott Walker?s refusal to compromise with Democrats has given them a vivid way to demonstrate the point they tried unsuccessfully to make during the midterms: that Republicans are motivated by ideology, not just budget balancing.

?This is one of the uglier examples of the tyranny of a temporary majority, and I think it?s going to backfire badly,? said Gov. Martin O?Malley of Maryland, the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

?Democratic governors are facing some of the same budget challenges, and we?re asking for some of the same concessions, but we?re staying at the table and working with our work force and their union representatives,? he said. ?The Republicans are taking advantage of the economic downturn to sharpen their ideological axes and settle old scores.?

Polls and the impassioned crowds who have jeered Mr. Walker and the Republican-led Legislature outside the Capitol in Madison, Wis., offer some evidence to lift Democrats? hopes.

But for all the trumpeting of how Mr. Walker?s bill has awakened a sleeping giant of once-dispirited Democrats and union members, it will undeniably weaken labor, historically a key voting bloc for the party. And even some Democrats say that whatever the energy now, that will hurt the party long term.

Still, reactions among Republicans suggest that they, too, recognize that their party might suffer, given national polls showing that most Americans support collective bargaining rights. While fights over the cost of public workers and collective bargaining have emerged in a number of states, some Republican governors appear to be drawing careful distinctions between their own plans and Mr. Walker?s.

?This is not Wisconsin,? Rick Snyder, the newly elected Republican governor of Michigan, was quoted as telling a union group recently, even as protests were emerging in Lansing over a bill there that could allow emergency financial managers to overlook union contracts in the most financially distressed cities.

A Pew poll last week showed the number of people holding a very favorable view of unions had risen ? with a particularly sharp rise among liberal Democrats ? while the percentage of those holding negative views remained the same.

Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster, said other surveys had showed a gap of about two to one favoring the Democrats. ?That was the issue with health care reform,? she said. ?It wasn?t that we were losing 52-48, it was that twice as many people strongly disapproved as approved. It?s the exact opposite now.?

Democracy for America and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, two Democratic groups, said they had jointly raised $200,000 in the 12 hours after the Wisconsin Senate approved Governor Walker?s bill, and a total of $750,000 to run ads against Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature who are facing recall campaigns over the collective bargaining bill.

?On every front of the battle to take back the House ? fund-raising, volunteers, candidates ? what is happening in Madison is helping,? said Representative Steve Israel of New York, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. ?People who we have talked about running now seem more energized by what?s happening. They understand that this is part of an ongoing Republican attack on working families, and they want to fight back.?

Republicans counter that the energy will not last.

Scott Fitzgerald, the Republican majority leader in Wisconsin?s Senate, said that by 2012, the fallout from this bill seemed more likely to him to harm Democrats? hopes for the state (which Mr. Obama easily won in 2008). ?I think once some of the union members wake up and say, ?I?ve got to wake up and write a check to the union every month?? union membership may quickly drop, and some of their power falls apart,? Mr. Fitzgerald said.

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80 Seconds of Warning for Tokyo

Residents of Tokyo likely had about 80 seconds of warning before a devastating quake rumbled through the city after striking 373 kilometers away, off Japan's northeast coast, thanks to a new early warning system. But tsunami alerts take longer to generate, giving just minutes of warning before the waves first struck the coast?a reflection of the differing technologies needed to detect earthquakes and calculate their impacts, researchers say.

Japan has the world's most advanced earthquake early-warning system, with more than 1,000 seismographs scattered over the country. Collectively, they detect tremors and allow for brief advance warnings not only to vulnerable sectors like railroads and utilities?so they can slow down high-speed trains and shut off gas lines?but also to the public via television, Internet and text-message. "This hits probably what I would consider the best prepared country in the world for earth quake preparedness," says Stephane Rondenay, a geophysicist at MIT.

The seismographs detect the first evidence of a quake?P-waves, which have short wavelengths and generally do little damage?and calculate the location of the epicenter. The longer-wavelength and far more damaging S-waves come next, usually within seconds. 

The quake struck at 5:46 GMT. It would have taken about ten seconds for sensors to detect enough signals to conclude the quake was serious and issue the alerts. Since the more damaging secondary waves travel at 4 kilometers per second, it would have taken them about 90 seconds to travel the 373 kilometers to Tokyo, Rondenay says.

While the systems can only furnish warnings from a few seconds to a minute or two before serious shaking starts, this can be enough time for people to take cover, stop performing surgery in a hospital, exit an elevator, or pull over to the side of the road. Countries including Taiwan and Mexico are implementing similar systems, and California has been researching a warning system. A Stanford University research effort, called Quake-Catcher Network, aimed at using data from accelerometers in laptop computers to detect shaking.

Tsunami warnings take longer to generate.  The Japanese government issued a local tsunami warning three minutes after the quake struck, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, run by NOAA, issued its regional warning nine minutes after the quake struck, or at 5:55 GMT. These longer response times were a reflection of heavier computation requirements. NOAA must determine whether the quake happened in an ocean basin, the likely deformation of the ocean floor, and what kind of motion was created by the quake, Rondenay says. Too many false alarms would weaken faith in the system, and warnings issued too quickly would not have good data about arrival times in various regions, he added. "A lot more parameters have to be taken into account," he says.

Fortunately, while tsunamis are fast, they are not as fast-moving as the earthquakes themselves.  Tsunamis travel as fast as jet aircraft in deep water, where they are spread over a far deeper water column and make for smaller and very gradual waves at the surface. They slow down and produce higher waves in shallower water. Residents of the hardest-hit areas likely only had 15 minutes of warning, though Tokyo would have had at least 40 minutes of warning.

Japan may also have benefited from structural improvements made since the devastating Kobe earthquake in 1995. "My sense is that buildings behaved pretty well. More and more buildings now are being made with dissipation devices," that absorb tremors, said Eduardo Kausel, an engineering professor at MIT who specializes in seismic engineering. "The Japanese learned a hard lesson in Kobe and were embarrassed by the level of damage, so they have tried to correct most of the known defects in the intervening years.  But no matter what you do, you will have damage. There is uncertainty in earthquake engineering."

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Enermax to launch CPU coolers

Enermax to launch CPU coolers

Posted on 19th Feb 2011 at 10:32 by Richard Swinburne with 18 comments

During a brief discussion with Enermax recently, a PR person let slip that the company's planning to launch a new CPU cooler range, which will be based on the principles of vortex generator flow technology, while featuring a couple of Enermax's Twister bearing fans.

The cooler has six heatpipes that get direct contact with the CPU, while a Twister fan sits on either side of the tower. Meanwhile, the LEDs can be switched off using the little buttons below each fan in the picture. The fans *should* feature 4-pin PWM power connectors as well, but we don't know whether they'll be tied together with a single connector yet.


More information about the coolers is likely to start doing the rounds soon, though, as Enermax is encouraging folk to visit its booth in the usually wet (sometimes snowy), cold and miserable surroundings of the CeBIT tradeshow in Hannover, Germany, at the start of March.

Does this design look like a winner to you? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

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Same-Sex Marriage Bill Falls Short in Maryland

The speaker of Maryland?s Democratic-controlled House of Delegates, Michael E. Busch, said that the bill, the Civil Marriage Protection Act, had fallen short of the 71 votes required for passage and that Democrats had decided to withdraw it instead of holding a vote that would fail.

?This is a distance run, not a sprint,? Mr. Busch said. ?We?ll come back next year and take a strong look at it.?

The withdrawal capped a tumultuous few weeks, which began with the bill?s sponsors saying that its passage was all but assured and that Maryland would soon become the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage.

But the closer the bill got to a final vote, the bumpier its path became. One of its co-sponsors, Delegate Tiffany T. Alston, a freshman Democrat from Prince George?s County, had withdrawn her support, apparently bowing to pressure from her constituency, which contains a powerful religious community.

Two national groups that oppose same-sex marriage, the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council, both highlighted African-American and religious opponents of the bill as central to its defeat.

?Particular thanks must go to the African-American pastors, church members and delegates who spoke out against the attempted hijacking of the concept of ?civil rights,? ? the Family Research Council said in a statement.

Democrats hold 98 of the House?s 141 seats, more than enough to overcome near-total Republican opposition, but ultimately about a third of all Democrats opposed it.

?Without the intelligence and cooperation of the Democrats who also wanted this bill to be defeated, today?s victory would have been much more difficult,? said Don H. Dwyer Jr., a Republican delegate.

The National Organization for Marriage said that it would spend part of the $1 million it had pledged to spend in Maryland to support Democrats who went against the bill, and to oppose the lone Republican who voted for it, Senator Allan Kittleman.

During the debate, Democrats gave some of the most impassioned opposition.

?I submit there is a cancer growing on the political process here,? said Emmett C. Burns, a delegate from Baltimore. Same-sex marriage violates natural law, he said, adding, ?It does not create a family but a naturally sterile union.?

But the bill?s supporters ? including six of the House?s seven openly gay delegates ? offered deeply personal and sometimes tearful speeches that drew applause and standing ovations.

?I?ve heard that somehow, I am less than natural, I am less than human, I am less than,? said Luke H. Clippinger, Democrat of Baltimore. ?I am here today to claim to this house that I am not less than.?

Anne R. Kaiser, Democrat of Montgomery County, spoke of how coming out had affected her mother.

?She did what so many mothers do, when she heard I was gay,? she said. ?She cried at first, and then she told me she loved me, and then she made me lunch.?

Heather Mizeur, also a Democrat of Montgomery County, said the speeches helped, even if the bill did not pass.

The bill?s supporters would settle for no less than full marriage rights, as are legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia. A Democrat?s proposal to make the bill about civil unions instead of marriage failed.

?The law walks. It doesn?t run,? said Michael A. McDermott, a Republican who supported the civil union alternative. ?You need to take it a step at a time.?

When asked how he was feeling after the session, Mr. Clippinger said, ?Tired, but not broken.?

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Enermax to launch CPU coolers

Enermax to launch CPU coolers

Posted on 19th Feb 2011 at 10:32 by Richard Swinburne with 18 comments

During a brief discussion with Enermax recently, a PR person let slip that the company's planning to launch a new CPU cooler range, which will be based on the principles of vortex generator flow technology, while featuring a couple of Enermax's Twister bearing fans.

The cooler has six heatpipes that get direct contact with the CPU, while a Twister fan sits on either side of the tower. Meanwhile, the LEDs can be switched off using the little buttons below each fan in the picture. The fans *should* feature 4-pin PWM power connectors as well, but we don't know whether they'll be tied together with a single connector yet.


More information about the coolers is likely to start doing the rounds soon, though, as Enermax is encouraging folk to visit its booth in the usually wet (sometimes snowy), cold and miserable surroundings of the CeBIT tradeshow in Hannover, Germany, at the start of March.

Does this design look like a winner to you? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feeds | Amazon WordPress PluginHud 1 Settlement Statement

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/blog/~3/v-oENFSSRoA/

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Google users targeted by politically motivated Windows exploits

Highly targeted, politically motivated attacks that affect all supported versions of Microsoft?s Windows operating system are being carried out on Google users, requiring the search giant to issue a bulletin warning those who use its services.

Attacks on Google users utilise an unpatched MHTML vulnerability that, although disclosed in January, allows attackers to steal sensitive information by exploiting the way Internet Explorer users on Windows parses MIME-formatted webpages, also allowing trusted websites to be spoofed and actions to be performed without authorisation.

Microsoft has issued a temporary fix but it is unknown how long it will be until a full patch is released.

Google, worried that its users were at risk, issued a warning via its Online Security blog, stating that the company believed activists were the target of the attacks. Interestingly, the post noted that users of another popular social site (possibly Facebook, which will not confirm either way) were also being targeted:

We?ve noticed some highly targeted and apparently politically motivated attacks against our users. We believe activists may have been a specific target. We?ve also seen attacks against users of another popular social site. All these attacks abuse a publicly-disclosed MHTML vulnerability for which an exploit was publicly posted in January 2011. Users browsing with the Internet Explorer browser are affected.

For now, we recommend concerned users and corporations seriously consider deploying Microsoft?s temporary Fixit to block this attack until an official patch is available.

Google says that it has deployed ?various server-side defences? to make the the MHTML vulnerability harder to exploit, adding that although the measures are in place, they cannot be guaranteed to be 100% reliable. With that in mind, the company is in contact with Microsoft to work on a solution for the issue.

If you are an Internet Explorer user and want to make sure you are not vulnerable to the MHTML exploit, head to Microsoft?s patch page and install the update.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/03/12/google-users-targeted-by-politically-motivated-windows-exploits/

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