The computing museum is also interesting; BTW, in addition to the Colossus rebuild, they're also constructing a working EDSAC replica (using metallic delay lines instead of mercury tanks for memory, but otherwise as exact as possible), and have a bunch of other interesting old machines in the collection. For visit planning, though, it's open fewer days than the Trust-managed property.
It's a joyful place with so much old technology yet a refreshingly hands on attitude. I don't think there was a single exhibit that wasn't interactive by one method or another - which really matters when you're talking about technology that is largely at an age where kids are too young to have grown up with so it gives them a chance to play with the predecessors to their much loved consumer hardware - and it gives us adults a chance to do more than just reminisce about the fun days experimenting with emerging technologies.
I'd highly recommend that museum on it's own merit; let alone spending the day exploring the site and Bletchly Park as well.
They're currently located in an industrial estate in Cambridge, I'm sure if/when they move they will get much more attention.
Are metallic delay lines sufficiently similar to mercury tanks that it's not an architectural issue to switch them?
As to architectural properties, the main thing that they want out of them is that they delay signals by the same number of microseconds; arranging that is not a problem.
I don't see why the lottery (which is the only gambling that has any measurable positive impact on society) deserves to be singled out. Or is it that the positive impact that makes it a tax, instead of just a way of [company k] making profits.
There's plenty of poor people that know there is better stuff to spend you money on.
You can't spend the time dreaming you'll win it, if you don't buy a ticket.
I still don't buy it, but I've stopped being so judgemental on people who buy them.
> You can't spend the time dreaming you'll win it, if you don't buy a ticket.
I think this statement is more key to a lot of things than people realize. You can never be lucky if you don't take chances. People often like to defend gambles they take in life by using expected returns/risks as a premise that they are making an "informed risk". At the end of the day, however, buying stocks, creating a business, starting a new job, etc, are all gambles.
That's pretty standard. Most of those are profit centers as well. That 10 dollar turkey sandwich has a massive markup. Frankly, its weird to go to a tourist venue that doesn't have some level of merchandising. I don't see Bletchley as some holy ground where these kinds of things defile it. Perhaps people need to have more realistic ideas of what a tourist destination means.
Colossus was running by that point (we made a separate donation), but most of the extras you've mentioned are clearly new. Certainly glad to know it's not going to crumble into obscurity anytime soon.
Then they got National Lottery funding. Now they've rebuild most of the huts in brick, re-landscaped the grounds, have elaborate displays, added the "National Museum of Computing", renamed it "Historic Bletchley Park", put in a visitor's center, a children's playground, a cafe, and, of course, a gift shop. There's "Turing Gate" "Colossus Way", "Enigma Place", two memorials, and more stuff under construction.
All this is on the Bletchley Park side. The Colossus rebuild is at the National Museum of Computing, which is on the same property but has separate staff and funding. (http://www.tnmoc.org/) They don't get along with the Bletchley Park tourist operation and don't have public funding. ("Other exhibitions are available at Bletchley Park, but operated independently of the Bletchley Park Trust.", says the Trust site.)