[Klug-general] Alan Turing Pardon Petition

Wed Sep 2 11:56:38 UTC 2009

>
 I have no wish to participate in the recent "Discussion" but some-one
mentioned that the ladies at bletchley should be recognised for their
contribution to the effort. Well they have. A lady who I play Bridge with
was at Bletchley and is to receive such an award. Typically it was
another member of the club that told me, and when I asked her she
confirmed it but would not say what it was.
P.S. I too signed the Turing petition
 May I also say to Ben Keely " Don't be put off by what has been going on
it really is a VERY friendly group and full of very knowledgeable people
who patiently share their knowledge with old duffers like me
        rich
> Ben Keeley said 'Welcome to the Kent Linux User Group website. If you are
> interested in
> joining our friendly group of Open Source Software enthusiasts please
> signup to our mailing list.'
>
> Friendly?
>
> Ha Ha
>
> I went through a similar period of puzzlement as a disagreement,
>  on much stronger terms, broke out when I first joined KLUG mailing list
> I've come to the conclusion that these folks know each other well enough
> to know where their boundaries are,
> but sometimes forget [?] how open the whole internet facade is to others,
> not so well known to the group
> It still comes across as riddled with pedantry, but is very informative
>
> I posted my support for the Turing partition, as, were it not for the
> posting,
> A) I wouldn't have known about it, or the Bletchley show
> B) I wouldn't have been able to put it on the Puppylinux forum and get
> more support from there
>
> Thanks, James!
>
> Somehow I can't help wondering if it might have been better for the
> family, if an alternate petition
> for an honorary professorship might have been better?
> I still don't quite believe the suicide story - we had another one of them
> recently, Dr David Kelly,
> that seemed part of 'the way things are done'
>
> On a more positive note, and as a matter of interest, I had a brief use of
> the 'secret bunker' war rooms
> at Dollis Hill, [GPO research station] many years ago, which we used as a
> recording studio,
> though it is pretty well unknown that this was where the British computer
> was built by a team
> led by Tommy Flowers that was later used at Bletchley Park for code
> breaking by Turing & team
> It was an amazing place in its own right, being a [2nd WW] 'bomb-proof'
> shelter,
> with its own huge Rolls Royce 3 phase generator, and 10,000 line telephone
> exchange
> The air conditioning gas filter room was 1/2 the size of a football pitch
> - wink
> More info:
> http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/p/paddock/index.shtml
>
> My view on the posting - right on
> If pedantry becomes narrowing of interest to the exclusion of alternates,
> then linux is dead, and the world is lost IMHO
>
> Aitch :)
> ===================================================
>> Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 19:30:38 +0100
>> From: box at yeleek.co.uk
>> To: kent at mailman.lug.org.uk
>> Subject: Re: [Klug-general] Alan Turing Pardon Petition
>>
>> 'Welcome to the Kent Linux User Group website. If you are interested in
>> joining our friendly group of Open Source Software enthusiasts please
>> signup to our mailing list.'
>>
>> Friendly?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> George Prowse wrote:
>> > James Blake wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi All
>> >>
>> >> I've been campaigning for a long time for an official pardon for
>> >> Turing who, when facing prosecution in the UK for being homosexual,
>> >> committed suicide rather than face chemical castration.  My father
>> was
>> >> the headmaster of Wavendon School in the grounds of Bletchley Park
>> >> where Turing worked to crack the German Enigma code (among others),
>> so
>> >> I've always had an interest in the man and his work.  I know that
>> this
>> >> is a little 'off list' but if it wasn't for Turing we'd all still be
>> >> using mechanical calculators and signing  Deutschland über alles
>> every
>> >> morning...
>> >>
>> >> Alan Turing was one of our country's national heros hastening the end
>> >> of the Second World War and, along with Von Neumann, making some of
>> >> greatest contributions to the developing what is now considered a
>> >> computer.
>> >>
>> >> A petition on the same site to save Bletchley Park elicited a direct
>> >> response from the Prime Minister, it would be great if all of those
>> >> interested in this great man and the shameful way he was treated
>> could
>> >> take the time to sign this petition.
>> >>
>> >> For those interested in cryptoanalysis and the part it played in
>> >> defeating the Nazis in the Second World War, there is an exhibition
>> >> this coming weekend at Bletchley Park celebrating the 70th
>> anniversary
>> >> of Turing's arrival:
>> >>
>> >> http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/calendar/event_detail.rhtm?cat=special&recID=567861
>> >>
>> >> If you're interested in Turing there have been several books written
>> >> about him, but one of the best is David Leavitt's "The Man Who Knew
>> >> Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer" (ISBN
>> >> 978-0393052367)
>> >>
>> >> The petition for an official pardon for Turing can be found at:
>> >>
>> >> http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing/
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> James
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> > There are some things that are close enough to the topic to warrant a
>> > slight deviation but getting people to sign up for things - no matter
>> > what the subject - is too far.
>> >
>> > This subject is already on the klug website by you, why did you think
>> it
>> > warranted a second inclusion?
>> >
>> > Also, can people STOP replying to emails and then changing the subject
>> > to reflect another completely different subject, you need to create a
>> > new email.
>> >
>> > George
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Kent mailing list
>> > Kent at mailman.lug.org.uk
>> > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/kent
>> >
>> >
>>
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>
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