Category Archives: Computing

Cryptanalysis: Martin and Mitchell defection

Posted on June 25, 2020 by

Close-up of the rotors in a Fialka cipher machine “In September 1960, two U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) cryptologists, William Hamilton Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, defected to the Soviet Union. A secret 1963 NSA study said that: ‘Beyond any … Continue reading →

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Sterling Hall bombing – August 24, 1970

Posted on May 8, 2020 by

“The Sterling Hall bombing that occurred on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus on August 24, 1970, was committed by four men as a protest against the university’s research connections with the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. It resulted in … Continue reading →

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Katherine Johnson

Posted on February 25, 2020 by

“Katherine Johnson (born Creola Katherine Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020), also known as Katherine Goble, was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and … Continue reading →

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ARPANET

Posted on October 29, 2019 by

“The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was an early packet-switching network and the first network to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet. The ARPANET was initially founded by the Advanced Research … Continue reading →

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Alphaville – Jean-Luc Godard (1965)

Posted on May 1, 2019 by

“Alphaville: une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (Alphaville: A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution) is a 1965 French New Wave science fiction noir film directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It stars Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Howard Vernon and Akim Tamiroff. The … Continue reading →

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“Mother of All Demos”

Posted on April 15, 2019 by

Bill English preparing for the 1968 Demo. “In the America of 1968, computers weren’t at all personal. They were refrigerator-sized behemoths that hummed and blinked, calculating everything from consumer habits to missile trajectories, cloistered deep within corporate offices, government agencies … Continue reading →

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The End of Privacy Began in the 1960s

Posted on December 5, 2018 by

A view of the F.B.I. National Crime Information Center in Washington in 1967. In the 1960s, lawmakers began to question the government’s gathering of Americans’ data. “In the fall of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson’s administration announced a plan to consolidate … Continue reading →

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Decolonizing society: the legacy of 1968

Posted on October 7, 2018 by

Student protesters in Paris, May ’68. “In 1964, students at the University of California at Berkeley staged a sit-in at Sproul Hall to protest campus restrictions on political activism. Shouting through his bullhorn, Mario Savio, the leader of the Free … Continue reading →

Posted in Berlin Wall, Black Power, Chicano, CIA, Civil Rights Mov., Computing, Cuban Revolution, Czech, Dick Gregory, Eldridge Cleaver, Feminist, Free Speech Mov., Happenings, Hippie, Huey P. Newton, Italy, Jerry Rubin, Mexico, Napalm, Paris, SDS, Street theater, Timothy Leary, Tom Hayden, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

USCO

Posted on October 2, 2018 by

Gerd Stern, NO OW NOW, USCO Two Mantras, 1966-70 “USCO was an American media art collective in the 1960s, founded by Gerd Stern, Michael Callahan, and Steve Durkee in New York. USCO, an acronym for Us Company or the Company … Continue reading →

Posted in Alan Watts, Allen Ginsberg, Computing, Counterculture, Happenings, Movie, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sir George Williams affair

Posted on September 27, 2018 by

Sir George Williams “The Sir George Williams Riot (also referred to as ‘The Sir George Williams Computer Incident’) was a 1969 event at Sir George Williams University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, now a part of Concordia University. It was the … Continue reading →

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