May 1

From Gnomon Chronicles
Jump to navigation Jump to search


Better Than News

Beyond Plausible

In Other Words

File:Two Dogs Fighting - Lambda calculus and e.e. cummings.jpg|link=Two Dogs Fighting: Lambda calculus and e.e. cummings|Inside me there are two dogs fighting: Lambda calculus and e.e. cummings.

Are You Sure

• ... that during the Second World War, British codebreaker and mathematician William Thomas "Bill" Tutte (1917–2002) made a brilliant and fundamental advance in cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher, a major Nazi German cipher system which was used for top-secret communications within the Wehrmacht High Command, and that the high-level strategic nature of the intelligence obtained through the subsequent bulk decrypting of Lorenz-enciphered messages contributed greatly, perhaps even decisively, to the defeat of Nazi Germany?

• ... that cryptographic numina were once explained away as St. Elmo's fire, Will-o'-the-wisp, and various other natural phenomena, or perhaps a hybrid phenomenon such as the Hessdalen Valley lights?

Selected Anniversaries

Topic of the Day

Star Trek