Codebreaker - 4 Stars

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Codebreaker is another of many recent documentaries about Alan Turing. It covers the many noteworth points of his fascinating life that we've all seen in the previous productions of late, and a bit more. One new aspect of his studies brought to light and covered in some detail by this presentation is Turing's work in the area of biomorphology. Turing was interested in why the particular number of petals on a given flower often corresponded to Fibonacci numbers, and how individual cells in an organism "know" what kind of cells to become in a fully formed organism.

"Morphogenesis," of particular interest to Turing, describes how shapes and patterns emerge in living organisms as they develop. Turing was the first to try to develop a mathematical explanation for how stripes and spotted patterns form in nature. His pioneering work in the 1950's showed that chemical processes, following simple mathematical rules, could spontaneously create striped and spotted patterns such as those we observe in nature. Turing's scientific paper, "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis," described the process by which spots on cows are formed. 

I found the scenes in which the actor portraying Turing speaks with his psychiatrist about his life and his feelings to be a bit contrived, but not a major distraction. Those scenes still managed to convey something of the character of the man that may have been difficult to present in any other way. Overall production was extremely informative and entertaining. I give it 4 stars out of 5, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone with even a cursory interest in the life of Alan Turing.

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Ukraine Drops Neutral NATO Status

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Russia may be going broke due to falling oil prices; still, things in Ukraine are getting even more interesting with their vote to drop their neutral NATO status. 100 years after the outbreak of WWI, we are, quite possibly, on the cusp of a situation that could explode, or fizzle. What role will this moment play in the history as it is written 100 years from now? Interesting times. Here are a couple of articles from BBC news on the ongoing crisis:

Ukraine votes to drop non-aligned status - BBC News 

The Russians fighting a 'holy war' in Ukraine - BBC News

 

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RT is (unsurprisingly) biased towards Russia's viewpoint on political issues. Regardless of that fact, here are a couple of clips of recent commentary coming from RT: 

 

 

 

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UPDATES: 

 

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UFOs and Nukes?

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Coast to Coast Radio tonight is discussing the claims from several military personnel who have openly discussed the fact that their nuclear missile systems were affected at different times and in different ways by UFO's. I know... sounds crazy. I'm not saying that I believe that this set of accounts represents the truth, but experience has taught me that you definitely can't trust the official story all of the time.

Researching strange sounding stories is just another way to practice leaving the mind open to new potential realities. I certainly can't say that I know for a fact that these claims are beyond the realm of possibility. I am not a zealous believer in anything; I'm also not a zealous denier of anything. If nothing else, this topic is good for entertainment purposes when conversation has run dry. Here are some links to more information.

UFOs and Nukes

UFOs and Nukes - Book

OpenMinds TV - UFOs and Nukes Author Creating Documentary

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Russia Update

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It seems to me that Russia is trying to go out with a bang, as it bankrupts itself while trying to prove that it is still a major world power, worthy of the concern of its military rivals around the globe.

Had the last month's worth of developments from Russia happened in the 1970's or 1980's, the hype out of Washington would have been unstoppable. It is truly interesting how the change in focus changes our perception of reality, and of what we should be worried about, or not.

Here are some of the recent developments that would have had politicians up in arms, once upon a time (some of these clips are from RT, which is going to be reporting from a Russian point of view - I provide the links for information only, and do not endorse any political views expressed within these clips).

The news media keeps reiterating that Russia does not pose a real military threat to the United States, which is probably true in a direct sense. I think that, if there is a threat, it comes from what may be the repercussions of Russia's unclear end-goal in eastern Europe. If the history of the last one hundred years teaches us anything, it is that we should pay close attention to what is happening there.

Russia may not pose a threat militarily (except for their nuclear arsenal, which has been a threat for as long as most of us can remember), but the actions of a country looking to regain some long-lost glory at any expense could be the kind of spark that lights an unpredictable powder keg. Hopefully not.

Hopefully this is all just a bunch of bluster that everyone will be able to keep in perspective and ignore completely, or shut down where appropriate.

Russia ending key cooperation with US on nuclear safeguards

Russia plans bomber flights near U.S. shores

Russia sends fleet of warships towards Australia ahead of G20 summit

US Spy Plane Evades Russian Military Fighter

Russia, China drop US dollar for mutual trade

Japan Jets Scrambling To Counter Rising Russian Incursions

Kiev accuses Russia of fresh incursion into east

A New Cold War? Causes and Consequences of Confrontation with Russia

West and Russia Moving Toward 'new Cold War'?

'Ironically Russia is playing peacemaker in face of US warmongering'

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Russia to Curtail Nuclear Security Efforts With U.S.

Russia vows to fly bombers near U.S. airspace

Sweden widens search for 'Russian submarine'

Danger of Russian Aggression Outweighs Nuclear Danger

Putin's speaks about the global situation.

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Cold War History Programs

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NOVA: Astrospies

Produced by C. Scott Willis and James Bamford ". . . Millions remember the countdowns, launchings, splashdowns and parades as the U.S. raced the USSR to the Moon in the 1960s. Few know that both superpowers ran parallel covert space programs to launch military astronauts on spying missions. In Astrospies, NOVA delves into the untold story of this top-secret space race, which might easily have turned into a shooting war in orbit. In Astrospies, viewers meet the elite corps of U.S. military astronauts, several of whom have never before talked about their clandestine training missions during the 1960s. As seen in footage broadcast for the first time, they practiced in full-scale mock-ups of the spy station, complete with spy cameras capable of resolving three-inch objects on the earth below. While the Apollo astronauts enjoyed ticker-tape parades, their astrospy colleagues trained in total obscurity until cost overruns and the new satellite technology doomed the program. Meanwhile, in response, the Soviets actually built three manned spy stations named Almaz and flew five missions during the 1970s. NOVA gains first-time access to a surviving Almaz station in a restricted Russian space facility, where an ex-cosmonaut demonstrates the high-powered spy cameras that were trained on U.S. cities. With a cannon designed to destroy hostile satellites or attack American astrospies Almaz was probably the only manned spacecraft ever equipped for space war."

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Access to History - Blackbird: The Fastest Spy Plane - SR-71

Published on Oct 15, 2013 - In this episode of Access to History, we leave the studio for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center, where student veterans who are part of Montgomery College's Combat2College Program got up close to aircraft that made history. They also spent time with Retired Air Force Colonel Joe Kinego, who recorded over 900 hours piloting the famed Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird in military reconnaissance missions all over the world during the Cold War. Traveling up to 17 miles above the Earth at over 3 times the speed of sound, foreign powers tried to shoot down the Blackbird but none were successful. Colonel Kinego's presentation to the students during this visit contained information that at one time was Top Secret.

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American Signal Corps 1947-1960 


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Cold War Spies (1944-1994)

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