iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Agreed that would be very impressive. It wasn't the impression I first got from looking at some of the attachments in the report, I'll go back and study it more closely!

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Guessing possibilities for a doubtful ciphertext letter is something I have done in recovering Jaguar keys, although it's often not necessary as you can skip doubtful letters in Bombe menus (some of the simulators don't support that).

I don't doubt that the break was achieved far quicker than it would have been using just human effort and basic computation, but I'm wondering what conclusion we should draw from this?

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Having had a quick read through the report, it seems to me that there were no new techniques developed (hillclimbing, trying suspected crib plaintext and working around doubtful ciphertext letters are all well known) and the strategy was, as the report says, "researcher-led".

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Paul @pbrainedoptimist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is very interesting! I wonder if it can explain how it did it?

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Reposted by Craig Heath

Today is Battle of Britain Day. 15 September 1940 was the battle's turning point. This is Squadron Leader Sandy Lane, 23 years old, of 19 Squadron, based at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, the first squadron to fly Spitfires. He was lost over the North Sea in 1942. May they all rest in peace. #WW2

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Quite right too. After my final debacle with them they gave me a £25 voucher, but they can stuff it.

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Eating fireman's hose? ;-)

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

It appears to have Cyrillic letters on, so Fialka?

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Probably not the primary concern here, but is it really the best idea to train AI on the business practices of _failed_ companies?

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I can prove you wrong on that one (the interested part :-))

Laura Wolz @laurawolz.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Reposted by Craig Heath

The number one reason children are drawn to and inspired by a Jodrell Bank visit is THAT IT IS A WORKING TELESCOPE. They get to meet scientists (like me!) and we all come together to adore the majestic creature that is the Lovell Telescope. 1/2

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I like how Greenland is "Not Surveyed / Unclear" - I think I could have a pretty good guess 😀

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I would like to announce that going forward I shall be transitioning into the role of head of unnecessary, thank you for your attention to this matter! 🤣

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Agreed, but "head of international" though? I'm going to take some time to consider what adjective I would like to be head of 😉

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I'm just wondering if Gmail is designed for people who get more email than they can, or want to, read. Consider the categories it puts messages in - I don't read all of "Social", and hardly any of "Promotions", for example.

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Interesting that you mention Gmail - I wonder if newest-at-top betrays an expectation that you won't look at everything, just pop in to check the latest posts/emails and read as far down as you have time for.

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

I'm afraid it still pisses me off when I read the lawsuit was brought by "The Santa Cruz Operation". I worked for them for 15 years, and they weren't evil. The lawsuit was brought by "SCO Group", a.k.a. Caldera, who purchased the Santa Cruz Operation's IP when they left the Unix business.

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Reposted by Craig Heath

Sarah Drummond @rufflemuffin.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Took a break to build BinFax for the people of Clacton binfax.netlify.app

A ceefax page in black with yellow and white font. It says One man, one bin, one chance to save clacton.

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I'm not convinced that the AI is more helpful than Stack Overflow is/was in that case, but I have limited experience with these new-fangled toys 😉

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

With the AI being the pair programming partner, right? Makes sense. BTW, a long time ago at a firm we both have worked at, I shared a taxi with the head of engineering, and was amazed to discover he had never read the XP book 🤪

Wendy M. Grossman @wendyg.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Reposted by Craig Heath

This week's net.wars, "International relations", sees the arrival of "Schrems III", when SCOTUS put US agencies under US president's control, plus a recap of talk this week at @cambskeptics.bsky.social, a rerun of April at @profchrisfrench.bsky.social : netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2026/07/03/i....

netwars.pelicancrossing.net

International relations

The US Supreme Court's decision this week in Trump v. Slaughter, giving the US president the power to control supposed-to-be independent agencies set up and fu

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Reposted by Craig Heath

Rob Ford @robfordmancs.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

This is a big problem. If the last information people receive is always “numbers went up” because “numbers went down” is never reported we shouldn’t be surprised that perceptions about immigration end up so skewed. Media should take some responsibility here - this is a salient and polarising issue.

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

FYI, not working in the UK (maybe you knew that!)

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I expect the majority of folk in these isles who are likely to read Pterry already have it :-)

Sean Eric Fagan @kithrup.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Reposted by Craig Heath

There are still 2 UK/IE Kindle copies of #MenAtArms, a #Discworld novel; I can't do another giveaway until these are taken! #KindleBookGiveaway Remember, as this is a #UKKindleBookGiveaway, you MUST have an amazon.co.uk Kindle account. #GNUTerryPratchett

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Sean Eric Fagan @kithrup.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

amazon.co.uk/kindle/redee... amazon.co.uk/kindle/redee...

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Turns out, if you have one fan, it is better to have it blow _out_ of the window (and also move it back a couple of feet): youtu.be/1L2ef1CP-yw

youtu.be

Best fan placement to move air through the house

YouTube video by Matthias random stuff

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Reposted by Craig Heath

The National Museum of Computing @tnmoc.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Happy Birthday, Alan Turing! His genius shaped our world. This autumn, honour his biggest milestone with at Bletchley Park (Sept 16-18) for Computable 90, celebrating 90 years of his foundational paper. 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/183725955578… #AlanTuring #Computable90

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Actually, when I first saw your post, I thought you were referring to "La Montagne", i.e. Robespierre et al. (now swallowing my intellectual shame:-)) On reflection, that probably isn't miles away from what his supporters want...

"Jessica Alyssa Cerro, better known as Montaigne, is an Australian musician, singer and Twitch streamer." ;-)

Further thought - if you have two fans, wouldn't the best arrangement to have one in and one out?

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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Does it really make a difference which way the fan is blowing? Isn't the air getting exchanged either way?

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Reposted by Craig Heath

I mean, none of this is to excuse the absolutely ridiculous credulity on display above, but one of the most effective products of the tech industry is the tech lobby, which has spent a lot of money on getting serious and important people to repeatedly believe a load of old cobblers

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Reposted by Craig Heath

Royal Astronomical Society @royalastrosoc.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Don't forget to tune into tonight's episode of the BBC's The Sky at Night. 🪐🔭 'Space Weather: The Perfect Storm' airs on BBC Four and the iPlayer at 10pm and features our new President Professor @jim-wild.bsky.social talking to @chrislintott.bsky.social. 👉️ www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

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Adrian Bowyer @adrianbowyer.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Petition to set rules for MPs to attend both Parliament and their constituencies for minimum times. At the moment, amazingly, they are under no obligation to do either at all. Please sign.

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Reposted by Craig Heath

Jason Gorman @jasongorman.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

This is the final voyage of my flagship 3-day Code Craft workshop for for the knowable future - 17 years in the making. Just 3 places left. I'll be very happy to see you.

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Good luck! With your contacts, I would think you've got a good chance of finding a worthwhile gig.

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

In an amusing(?) coincidence with another thread this morning, my car is called Paul Macan :-)

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

I'm giving up on Wildewood, I'm afraid. I got 40% through. It's well-enough written, and the ghost story is mildly interesting, but there is entirely too much space given over to the aching and throbbing of the romance for my taste. I'm clearly not the intended reader!

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Slightly ruin a book... Strangler in a Strange Land

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I'm happy to report that my Macan EV has none of these stupid design choices :-)

Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

At first I thought you meant O'mei, but now I've discovered what happened to it, I suspect not :-)

Internet Archive @archive.org · 26/05/2026

Reposted by Craig Heath

🧵 Musician & human rights activist Peter Gabriel sent a congratulatory message to Brewster Kahle, founder & digital librarian of the Internet Archive, on being honored as a 2026 Computer History Museum Fellow on April 25th. Watch Gabriel’s message & more ⤵️ blog.archive.org/2026/05/20/b...

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Craig Heath @heathcr.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

I'll give it a go, thanks! Just finishing up with a paperback copy of Rainbows End that I bought a long time ago, but forgot to read :-)