The Lenna (or Lena) picture is one of the most widely used standard test images used for compression algorithms.'lena' or 'lenna' is a digitized Playboy centerfold, from November 1972. (Lenna is the spelling in Playboy, Lena is the Swedish spelling of the name.) Lena Soderberg (ne Sjööblom)
a type of nuclear explosive being developed by the US Department of Defense could blur the critical distinction between conventional and nuclear weapons. The work has also raised fears that weapons based on this technology could trigger the next arms race.
Cambridge University Library holds the largest and most important collection of the scientific works of Isaac Newton (1642-1727). More than 4,000 pages have been scanned, including his annotated copy of Principia Mathematica, containing Newton's laws of motion and gravity.
A PAL -- a "Permissive Action Link" -- is the box that is supposed to prevent unauthorized use of a nuclear weapon. It's supposed to be impossible to "hot-wire" a nuclear weapon. Is it?
Guy Steele's keynote at the 1998 ACM OOPSLA conference on "Growing a Language" (mostly about JAVA) discusses the importance of and issues associated with designing a programming language that can be grown by its users.