Enigma

While struggling my way through documentation of 3DES encryption, I found a site explaining in detail about the Enigma, a typewriter like machine, used by the Nazi''s in World War II to encrypt military messages. This article is a lengthy piece which appeared originaly in Nautical Brass magazine, and reads like a book :

The Enigma could have been unbreakable, at least with the methods available at the time, had the machine been used properly. The biggest mistake the Germans made was their blind belief in the invincibility of Enigma. Procedural errors in using the machine, combined with occasional operator laziness, allowed the Poles and, subsequently the British, to crack the "unbreakable" codes.

The Found Magazine

The Found Magazine is a website about the lost and found objects people find on the street : love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ... - anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life.

The IBM songbook

We're proud of all our Engineers in I. B. M.
No problem is insolvable to these great men.
Their mastery of the technical -- mechanical -- electrical --
Behold in their accomplishments.

Each year they perfect new machines for I. B. M.
Superior products all the time for business men.
We thank and praise our Engineers,
The whole wide world unites in cheers,
To the Engineers of I. B. M.

If you have friends working at IBM, you can allways nag them about the IBM songbook, which was apparently the result of the enthusiasm of the IBM salesmen in their dark suits and white shirts who set out to sell IBM's to the world.

The Spam Letters

This guy actually replies to the spam he gets . Read some of the replies and you'll love this guy's wit. The favorites, top 20, and My Buddy Kutty sections are good places to start.