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This resource is interesting in light of our discussing Babbage and Lovelace, as well as Ada Lovelace Day. This article is particularly interesting to me as it deals with women's contributions to significant advancements in history, many of which are often ignored or excused.

Riley, I mentioned in class that October 14th is Ada Lovelace Day, an international day for recognizing the contributions of women in science. Details: http://findingada.com/. I've wanted to organize an Ada Lovelace Day event here at Vanderbilt for a few years now, but never found the time. Let me know if you'd like to cook something up (an event? a blog series? a Wikipedia editing party?) for the 14th.

I found it really interesting that people took the fact that Lovelace made a few mistakes as an excuse to try to remove her contribution to computer programming. Male scientists and programmers also make mistakes, but we rarely see those used in an attempt to discredit them. Also, she literally designed a computer program before the computer even existed. I think we can excuse a few past mathematical errors.

Senator John McCain has filed an amendment that would allow the FBI to retrieve email metadata and web browsing history without warrants. He's proposing we expand use of National Security Letters, which get around the need for warrants and often come with gag orders, so that if you receive an NSL asking for data, you can't tell anyone about it.

Interesting to read a little more about the history of the Vigenere Cipher. Also explains how it is cracked.

Cryptology is a young science. Though it has been used for thousands of years to hide secret messages, systematic study of cryptology as a science (and perhaps an art) just started around one hundr...

Cryptology is a young science. Though it has been used for thousands of years to hide secret messages, systematic study of cryptology as a science (and perhaps an art) just started around one hundr...

This article concerning the science behind poker and its categorization as either skill or luck is particularly well written in that it draws its audience in by presenting a recent event that concerned poker, and then proceeding to present information on the history of poker as well as the statistics that support its argument.  Furthermore, the author establishes credibility throughout her post by referencing credible studies done. Her voice throughout the post continues to be entertaining, keeping the reader's attention for the entirety of her post.

I thought this post was well written. It was short and concise but was well organized and polished. I also liked that it wasn't too informal. The pseudo-scientific explanations for the malformation were very interesting.

This blog incorporates both researched information and personal anecdote in a well-balanced, entertaining manner. The topic is new information to me, and I would assume most readers, and was presented compellingly. The photo was also a nice addition!

This is a cryptography blogger's translation of Kerckhoff's article about military cryptography. He denotes that secret methods of communication are limited to higher officers due to potential leakage; but by limiting cryptographic use, are they potentially putting at risk the safety of lesser positions in order to keep the secrecy of their cipher methods? Is this just the inevitable nature of cryptography in general?

How have humans protected their secret messages through history? What has changed today?

Some pre-Internet history of ransomware.

This particular blog post caught my eye because of its funny, and somewhat goofy, title. Instead of simply listing the facts, the author describes a piece of history in a comedic and entertaining manner.

Discusses some interesting undercover cryptography work during the Cold War era

This site has some really neat pictures and a video detailing Babbage's Difference Engine. The pictures are gigapixel, so they are incredibly detailed.

Wow. That's a lot of zoom.

A look at some older cryptography used by the military and a look at what they are transitioning to

A brief history on Mary, Queen of Scots, and her secret plotting against Queen Elizabeth.