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Trolling the news feeds this morning, I learned that yesterday, June 23, was an important day in GLBT history–and geek history, too. For yesterday was the birthday of Alan Turing, the mathematician and cryptologist whose work during World War II cracked the Nazi’s secret code and put a major nail in the Axis coffin. He was also directly responsible for computing as we know it. And he was gay. I’d write a homage to the man myself, but Robert Dumas has already done so–and far more eloquently than I could ever do:

Alan Mathison Turing was born June 23, 1912. He developed theories in the 1920s about a “digital computer” which would be a machine that could answer just about any mathematical problem. He helped crack the Enigma code. He is the father of computer science. He was persecuted (and prosecuted) for his homosexuality. He committed suicide just before his fifty-second birthday by eating a poisoned apple. He is the biggest single reason—more than Steve Jobs, Linus Torvalds or Bill Gates—that you are reading this very sentence.

— via RobertDumas.org, courtesy of BB

(FYI: Tyler penned a great bio for Mr. Turing over at GLBTQ.com. Totally worth your time.)

There was a brilliant, if rather stagy, Masterpiece Theatre biopic of Mr. Turing called Breaking the Code made in 1996 with an outstanding cast that included Derek “Claw-Claw-Claudius!” Jacobi, Prunella Scales (of Mapp and Lucia fame), and one of the 20th century’s most important playwrights-cum-actors, Harold Pinter. If you haven’t seen it, a very industrious young man has hacked it to bits and posted it to YouTube. Episode 1 starts here:

Enjoy your daily computing, courtesy of the Gays.

Here’s the way it usually goes: around 9:30pm, I start to fade. I nod off for a couple of seconds, jerk back to life, realize it’s too early to go to bed, walk around the sofa a couple of times, and try to hold my head up until Adult Swim is underway. When I just can’t take it anymore, I’ll shuffle off to the bedroom, typically leaving the TV on. (It keeps the hounds company–though it may annoy the housemate.)

In the morning, I’ll stumble into the living room, coffee in hand, and flip to the local news, which I leave on mute for most of the time because it’s just so damn folksy and peppy. But this morning, my fingers were especially fat, and instead of going to the news, I went to the mildly bizarre LA-based ARTS Channel, which is kinda like MTV, but for weird art stuff. So instead of a couple of perky newscasters, I got this:

Fernand Leger’s Ballet mécanique, part 2

Which was perhaps better than the coffee at waking me up (seriously, Kiki of Montparnasse rules the school), but admittedly not what I’m used to at 6:41am.

“I’m exhausted. Are you exhausted? I’m totally exhausted. Is it Miller Time yet? Omigod, I’m sooooo exhausted.”

That’s what I’ve heard all day. Ordinarily it would just be vaguely annoying, but since I, too, am exhausted, I’m ready to wring this person’s neck. If I don’t fall asleep first, that is.

What sort of exhausting activities have I been up to, you ask? Well, between work and rehearsing A Place in the Sun and writing for the [totally nsfw] Fleshbot masters, not much I guess. I have, however, been learning a lot, and learning a lot takes a lot out of me. Here are some things I’ve learned:

• I get especially lazy when I consume less than 1,000 calories a day– which, for some reason, has been my eating pattern of late. Funny: you’d almost think calories were some kind of magical energy source.
• Naomi Campbell and I are totally alike. She wins some and loses some–and so do I! Admittedly, there’s shade of difference between her garnering a YSL campaign and me unlocking an extra hula hoop game on Wii Fit, but still.
• Flotilla DeBarge is my new hero–again. I can’t remember the whole story behind her nailing that B&T chick in the head with a pump, but Michael Soldier can. Ask him sometime.

See? Three measly things, and I’m already pooped. I should up my calorie intake. Where’s that chocolate mojito…?

Things to love about the short, sweet video “Fucking Hell” from Jake and Dinos Chapman:

• It’s pretty.
• It’s obsessively detailed.
• Even though the “fucking” quotient is a little low for my tastes, there’s plenty of hellishness afoot.
• It demonstrates once again exactly why Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” is one of the best pieces of music ever–especially in films depicting landscapes of carnage.

[Via Juxtapoz]

This just in from Sallie Ann Glassman:

On Monday, June 23rd at 7pm, Sallie Ann Glassman and La Source Ancienne Ounfo will celebrate St. John’s Eve with their annual ceremony on the footbridge over Bayou St. John (near Cabrini High School).

Vodou Ceremony: Wear all white and bring a white scarf or rag for your head. (It will get dirty.)

Marie Laveau: Bring an offering for Marie Laveau. She likes flowers, blue and white candles, Creole foods, hair ribbons and hair dressing supplies,(she was a hairdresser), Vodou-esque items (Voodoo dolls, potions, gris-gris bags, etc.), or images of Marie Laveau.

FYI, this is not the same as her annual Hurricane Ceremony–nor, obviously, are the stakes as high. But it’s always a good time.

I IS A ARTIST! SEE?

<a href="http://wordle.net/gallery/Why_I_Live_at_the_P_O_&quot;
title=”Why I Live at the P.O.” target=”_blank”><img
src=”http://wordle.net/thumb/Why_I_Live_at_the_P_O_&#8221;
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”
>
“Why I Live at the P.O.”
by Eudora Welty (1941)

<a href="http://wordle.net/gallery/Chapter_1_of_The_Autobiography_of_Alice_B__Toklas&quot;
title=”Chapter 1 of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” target=”_blank”><img src="http://wordle.net/thumb/Chapter_1_of_The_Autobiography_of_Alice_B__Toklas&quot;
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”
>
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, chapter 1
by Gertrude Stein (1933)

<a href="http://wordle.net/gallery/State_of_the_Union_address%2C_Jan_2008&quot;
title=”State of the Union address, Jan 2008″><img
src=”http://wordle.net/thumb/State_of_the_Union_address%2C_Jan_2008&#8243;
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”
>
State of the Union Address (with applause marks)
by George W. Bush (2008)

Big-ups to the Hodg-man for spreading the word about Wordle.

Timewaster Alert: the totally free Spore Creature Creator is live, y’all!

In case you haven’t heard, Spore is a new game for PC, Mac, and the three major consoles. It’s kinda like The Sims, if The Sims were set in a pool of primordial ooze, and you had to fight your way to the top of the food chain instead of just making your character take regular showers. As you’ve probably guessed, the Creature Creator allows you to create your own little genetic hatchling, modded out to your hearts content. If/when you purchase Spore , you can drop him/her/it right in and commence battling to be the fittest. Think of it as a cutesy, cuddly way to satisfy your inner atheist.

I’m not committed to the full game yet, but, you know, anything to keep me indoors for the next few months is a definite plus.

Dear Asshole:

Is that your dog–the one tied up on the sidewalk? At noon? On the 16th of June? In New Orleans?

Just checking.

Next time you step inside the Mardi Gras Zone to buy a couple of microwave burritos with a fistful of pennies you found in the gutter, tie up Fido in a shady spot. Or better yet, leave him at home. Assuming you have a home, that is.

Dear Everyone Else:

Sorry, but that is so my pet peeve. (No pun intended).

Question: Why is it so hot in August when the longest day of the year is way back in June?

THINGS THAT DID NOT SUCK THIS WEEK

The super-secret ninja trick I learned to do with Reader, thanks to an anonymous coder/gaming addict at Google. [FYI, although it’s kinda hot, you’ll wanna undo it. Just type in the code again for a full reverse.]

My excursions in Zon, an MMO designed to teach Mandarin Chinese. I haven’t learned a damn thing, but the implications are totally sweet.

Tchoupitoulas’ photo uploads at Flickr.com–which will probably eventually viewable in his New Orleans set. The weather is great, the city is awesome, wish you were here.

A new term for an old phenom: the “Aunt Minnie” [courtesy of Sunday]. Who knew it had a name?

“Thriving Office”–not because I’ve actually bought the CD, but because the concept and title are so optimistic. The creators could’ve called it “Busy Office” or “Harried Office” or “Deadline’s Afoot!”, but no, they’ve placed you in a work environment that’s doing just great, thank you very much–thriving, even. The difference is subtle, but of course, those of you who know me know how much I looooove subtlety.