British Apologize to Gay WW2 Codebreaker Alan Turing

This week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered a belated apology to one of the most famed computer scientists in history. Alan Turing, the hallowed Father of Modern Computer Science, was instrumental in breaking the German’s “Enigma Code” during WW2. He was also gay.

The history of Alan Turing is a sad one. A few years after he broke the German’s code for the British government – which Winston Churchill claimed was the most significant, tide-turning victory of WW2 – he was outed as a homosexual and arrested. At the time, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder. It was also illegal. He lost his security clearance, effectively canning him from his government job, and was convicted of “gross indecency.” To avoid prison, Turing chose to instead undergo a chemical castration process. Two years later, he committed suicide.

Today, the Association for Computing Machinery grants the “Turing Award” each year. It’s something like the Nobel Prize for computing – i.e. a pretty big friggin’ deal. The British government’s apology, while appreciated,  is long overdue.

Read a couple of Turing-related posts here and here.

Filed under: Politics, alan turing, human rights

Did Glenn Beck Rape and Murder a Young Girl in 1990?

Meme.

Just so we’re clear: Glenn Beck probably didn’t rape and murder a young girl in 1990.

Please tell all your friends that Glenn Beck most likely did not rape and murder a young girl in 1990.

Still… if he’s innocent, then why hasn’t Glenn Beck denied that he raped and murdered a young girl in 1990?

I love internet memes, especially ones aimed at dramatic political douchebags.

Filed under: Humor, Internet, Odd, Glenn Beck Raped And Murdered A Young Girl in 1990

A Rhetorical Question

So, here’s my question: You’re a policy analyst in a DC nonprofit, and you submit comments to the FCC stating your case for spending  $7.2 billion on rolling out broadband internet to rural communities. Even if you really, really want the government to tax and spend $7.2-freaking-billion, do you really, truly believe rural broadband access is the ABSOLUTE BEST, most urgent cause to spend that kind of money on? Not, for example, disaster relief, AIDS or malaria prevention, feeding starving third-world children, public health initiatives, alternative energy research, infrastructure improvements, education, hiring more police officers, or any other public benefit or humanitarian cause? Why spend $7,200,000,000.00 on bringing FIOS out to the middle of nowhere?

Filed under: Politics, Washington Sucks