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Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

bbc.com

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Re: Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

#81

Post by hgomersall »

slg wrote: post #67
louthy wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's insane how the largest conflict in human history is just now passing out of living memory. Don’t worry, there will be another one along any minute now.

It seems more than coincidental that global fascism started to rise as soon as the generation that last defeated it had mostly died off.

It's much simpler to think that as a society we've manufactured a similar set of circumstances to the last time. That is, a growing proportion of the population that feel they have very little and no prospects or hope.

Re: Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

#82

Post by chgs »

wil421 wrote: post #70
andrepd wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's insane how the largest conflict in human history is just now passing out of living memory. It's also insane how 1 in 4 Americans under 40 believe the holocaust is a fabrication or exaggeration.

Do you have a source or are you flamebating[1]? The myriad of trash google results on the topic aren’t even close to 1 in 4. Even an Israeli tabloid says it’s 1 in 10. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

Was widely reported but was discredited.

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/12/07/one-in-fi...

Re: Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

#84

Post by eitland »

tocs3 wrote: post #20
toomuchtodo wrote: post #13

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Webb_(code_breaker)

From wikipedia: some tasks performed include registering messages on little cards, which Webb believes totaled 10,000 a day in the whole park, and organizing the cards into shoeboxes according to a strict order so they could be retrieved efficiently when called for. I suppose times have changed.

More interestingly IMO:

> In Block F, she worked on intercepted Japanese messages, something she excelled at so much that she was later sent to Washington to support the American war effort.[6]

Re: Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

#85

Post by mprovost »

louthy wrote: post #66
AndrewOMartin wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Hut 6 Story, goes into enough detail that Gordon Welchman (Simply put, Turing's boss) lost his security clearance. If you care about the human side, but are keen to take on the details there's no better book possible.

Another vote for The Hut Six Story. The title includes ‘Six’ not ‘6’ (not that it should trip up a search algo, but you never know)

Apparently some computers still aren't able to crack the simplest encryption schemes.

Re: Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

#87

Post by 0xEF »

tialaramex wrote: post #73
0xEF wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, it is very easy to forget the struggle when one has sacrificed nothing to achieve it. At least WWII, unlike those preceding it, has a vast well of literature to draw those lessons from. The trouble, however, is not just getting younger people to sit, read and analyze it, but also to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, with all the propaganda and misinformation to be had these days about the events…

Ha, maybe I should read (in translation) some Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I recognised his name having never seen it in print but only heard it repeatedly in that episode of Game Changer where it's a loop and the same questions are asked repeatedly.

There's an audiobook these days too, but the short clip I listened to was pretty rough because the narrator (Frederick Davidson's) voice is very pinched and nasal, with the audio quality sounding like it was recorded in a tin can. I'm on the hunt for a better copy to add to my library, but yes, I think a re-read at this time sounds pretty good.

Re: Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

#88

Post by ArnoVW »

hgomersall wrote: post #81
slg wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems more than coincidental that global fascism started to rise as soon as the generation that last defeated it had mostly died off.

It's much simpler to think that as a society we've manufactured a similar set of circumstances to the last time. That is, a growing proportion of the population that feel they have very little and no prospects or hope.

I won’t enter into a conversation about inequality and social justice, even though there are indeed points to be raised.

I would however like to point out that people are not only victims of society, and that they have a responsibility as a critical member of society and an elector. Historic awareness, understanding of economics, law and geopolitics.

To give an example: Mr Trump was not just votes into office, but RE voted into office. His plan was public for all to see.

More than 50% of American voters voted for him. I am having a difficult time to believe that 50%+ of the US are economically oppressed that had no choice but to vote for Trump.

Inequalities exist but they do not justify everything, neither do they explain everything.

Re: Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

#89

Post by tialaramex »

Tainnor wrote: post #79
fsckboy wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's not different in the US, there is not a market of misinformation about WWII here. There is the the anti-war left alleging that that the allies committed war crimes and their opponents rejecting those arguments, but it's easy to find what happened in Dresden, Holocaust, etc, the disagreement is on interpretation.

The allies most definitely committed war crimes - the Red Army was pretty brutal in Eastern Europe, for example, for literally no reason. As for the Americans, there is certainly ongoing debate as to whether the nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were really necessary.

Fire-bombing a city full of civilians is probably also a war crime. Tokyo was not a giant aeroplane factory, it was full of Japanese citizens who we would consider innocents, "Grave of the Fireflies" is about that period† - the children literally starving to death isn't an exaggeration for the sake of making a sad movie - that's the reality of what we did to win.

Not to mention the US literally rounded up citizens who had Japanese ancestors and sent them to concentration camps. They apologised, decades later, but note these aren't enemy civilians who happen to be in the wrong place, they're your own citizens who merely look similar to the enemy.

Because the Americans sent babies to these camps for the crime of having ancestors born in Japan there will be a decade or so of people who have memories (albeit fuzzy ones) of this actually fucking happening to them after the people who fought WWII are dead.

† Grave of the Fireflies is set in Kobe, which was also fire bombed.

[Edited to specify that Grave is in Kobe]

Re: Bletchley code breaker Betty Webb dies aged 101

#90

Post by robertlagrant »

ArnoVW wrote: post #88
hgomersall wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's much simpler to think that as a society we've manufactured a similar set of circumstances to the last time. That is, a growing proportion of the population that feel they have very little and no prospects or hope.

I won’t enter into a conversation about inequality and social justice, even though there are indeed points to be raised. I would however like to point out that people are not only victims of society, and that they have a responsibility as a critical member of society and an elector. Historic awareness, understanding of economics, law and geopolitics. To give an example: Mr Trump was not just votes into office, but RE…

Inequality is very different to no prospects, or no hope.
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