Well, actually, a whole lot of stuff, including spending some time with klicrai and someone who tends to go by Crymerci online, but doesn't have an active LJ.

But, the topic of this LJ entry is the work I've been doing on creating a nice C++ interface for Skein, Bruce Schneier and friends entry into the NIST SHA-3 competition.

Anyway, I'm basing my work ( Read more... )

There is an interesting new result showing that the distribution of prime numbers obeys a modified version of Benford's Law. The result also shows that another sequence who's distribution is somehow fundamentally related to the distribution of primes, the 0s of the Reimann zeta function.

It is my feeling that results like this do not strongly ( Read more... )

I just fell for a new kind of phishing scheme. They sent me a message which looked exactly like messages from my bank usually do and asked me to call an 800 number regarding restrictions places on my check card. The 800 number then put me through an automated process asking for my card # and my PIN. I didn't give them then PIN because I've ( Read more... )

This xkcd cartoon has the perfect analogy!


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It is best understood in context. This is a response to an article about Richard Feynman, the Challenger, and engineering. And it is specifically in response to a post in which someone blames capitalism for the problem's Richard Feynman outlines in Feynman's Appendix to the Rogers Commission Report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident.

( Read more... )

So, I receive this call from Well's Fargo. They want money from me. I actually have money now, so I'm not at all displeased about this. But, to my surprise, the conversation does end up displeasing me greatly, and to illustrate why I'll give you a paraphrase, since I don't remember it word for word:
( longish conversation elided )