David Nichols' Favorite Links

sites...

Computer people check here

It's been fascinating to watch the growth of the computer industry from infancy to its current stage, all during my life time. I don't think any other field of human enterprise has come from nothing to a full-blown major industry in so short a time. So I'm always interested in Web sites that show the history of computing.

The Boston Computer Museum
This is the grand-daddy of all computer museums, founded in 1979 in, of course, Boston. Unfortunately, it closed in 1999. The renowned Boston Museum of Science is keeping up the tradition. Check it out.
Canadian computer history site
A new computer museum. They say it's the first in Canada. The focus is on commercial data processing and office automation. Help them get off to a good start and visit.
The Obsolete Computer Museum
Tom Carlson has put together a very cool site focusing on early PC's. There's a ton of great pictures and other info on historic machines. Also some great links to other computer history sites. Well worth a visit!
A great History of Computing Time Line
The IEEE Computer Society has put together a great graphical time line of the history of computing. I like this site because it makes me feel young - they start with the history back in the real early days, the 1800's, with Lady Ada Lovelace and all that... The time line is also available as a PDF document you can download.
Society for Ancient Computing
There's a brand-new museum in town - The Society for Ancient Computing has just opened the doors of their 1401 Museum. Grab your ear plugs and join docent Paul White for the tour.
The high end of high-end computing
This shows you where all the technological progress has brought us: the supercomputers at Los Alamos Labs, used in nuclear weapons research by the government. I worked with the folks at Los Alamos as the IBM branch manager for New Mexico in the 1970's, and they've always been on the frontier of computing.
June 13, 1997- Late breaking news about the ASCI supercomputing initiative. Supercomputer breaks the TERAFLOP barrier!!! 9,000 processor MPP used to simulate actual nuclear weapon explosion, also effect of comet crashing into earth. Is it time to "Move over, Deep Blue"?

Different stuff

Transportation, machinery, and other technology. Just some Web sites I've found that are interesting and a little different.

National Cryptologic Museum
The National Cryptologic Museum shows how the National Security Agency has intercepted secret communications from U.S. enemies over the years, as well as protecting classified U.S. communications. In the 1960's, I worked in a U.S. Air Force unit that collected Russian intelligence for the NSA. Then, even the fact that the NSA existed was Top Secret. Now, the NSA has its own Web site!
"Steam Engine Joseph Stalin" - World transit information
An incredible site, with rich graphics and a million places to go. Put together by a Russian guy on Long Island, the focus is on subways, trains, and other transit info, but even if that's not your primary interest, you should check out this site!
An unusual Russian site (it's in Russian / cyrillic)
I found this through "Steam Engine Joseph Stalin." It's all in Russian - if you can read any Russian at all, and your browser supports Cyrillic (in Netscape, it's under "Options: document encoding"), you should visit. It's got great graphics and will introduce you to the thriving world of the RUSSKAYA SET' (Russian Internet).
Like the seashore? Check this out.
Live video from one of my favorite spots. It's in the heart of Silicon Valley, but it feels like a world of its own. (Hint: the sea slug is the mascot of the University of California at Santa Cruz)
The DIRECTORATE OF TIME (!!!)
Do you know there's an official U.S. Directorate of Time ? For the exact time, down to the picosecond (a very small unit of time, folks), sunrise/-set, phases of the moon for your town, and a way to put a super-precise clock on your Web page, visit this site.
Cool Spy Satellite stuff
Until recently, info on reconnaissance (spy) satellites was Super Top Secret! But now it's all out there on the Web... this site tells all about US, Russian, French, South African (yes, South African) satellites. It gives info about commercially available satellite images. There's even a cool Russian spy photo of the Pentagon!

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