[Spooks] Spooks, spies, and students

[Borja Marcos]

On the subject of "ancient" long range communication there are some references that your students can enjoy.

Arthur C Clarke wrote an excellent book on transoceanic communications and the competition between undersea  cables and satellites. The first  undersea  cable was layed in the Victorian era, go figure! Of course it was used to transmit telegrams in Morse code: "How the World Was One".

There's also a movie depicting the role of cryptography in the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII. "Enigma". It's based on a novel by Robert Harris. With the necessary simplifications, I think it's an excellent and understandable description. And the novel is nice.

On the subject of cryptography, there is an amazing book written by a historian: "The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet" by David Kahn.

On other surprising "ancient" uses of radio communications in WWII search for a bbc documentary available on YouTube called "The Battle of the Beams".





Borja.

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El destrozo ortográfico y gramatical del que es capaz el corrector de este chisme es un buen ejemplo de la eficacia de eso que llaman "inteligencia artificial".

The surreal ortographic and grammatical mistakes this appliance can make is an excellent example of the real utility of the so called "artificial intelligence.

On 23/06/2014, at 08:32, Ashley Dugan <weablab at gmail.com> wrote:

> Visit http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/spooks to unsubscribe from this list
> 
> Justin
> I explained a bit about my (very rudimentary) shortwave hobby to my
> students and also played some numbers stations recordings.  Besides being
> astonished that any type of long-range communication took place before the
> internet, several of them became interested in short wave and bought radios
> themselves.  I do wish there was as much activity as there used to be on
> the waves, but there's still enough culture and bits of "spookiness" to
> keep them entertained.  One kid I've kept in contact with is still an avid
> listener and attends MIT.  So the torch is still being passed!  And thanks
> for being brave enough for asking the "newbie" questions for the rest of us
> chicken-hearted newbies. : )
> 
> Ashley Dugan
> 
> PS  I teach literature, so I had to do some contortions to fit dxing into
> my lesson plans.  Don't know if Common Core endorses that! : )
> 
> PSS Another newbie question: what is the significance of "73"?
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