MaisonBisson

So the project to crack a 64-bit RC5 encryption key is over. Some computer in Japan figured it out in July, but everybody was too busy to notice until last week. The real news here isn’t that 64-bit RC5 is crackable (everybody knew it could be done, eventually), the real news is that they compiled efficiency statistics on the various computer platforms that did the job. Here’s the quote, straight from their press release: “Our peak rate of 270,147,024 kkeys/sec is equivalent to 32,504 800MHz Apple PowerBook G4 laptops or 45,998 2GHz AMD Athlon XP machines…”

To emphasize the point, it takes about 1.5 PCs to do the work of one Mac, even though they operate at very different clock rates.

Hmmm.

<a href=“http://www.cera.com/commandingheights/" title="Commanding Heights“>Commanding Heights authors Daniel Yergen and Joseph Stanislaw tell us that workers in communist Russia were not motivated to work simply because the government controlled economy offered no rewards for innovation. This they use as the basis for their argument that communism/government controlled economies were bad and capitalism was good.

And what’s truly amazing is that in this obvious comparison between the USA and communist Russia, they find the most significant difference to be economic. In one brilliant stroke they appear to toss aside the fact that the USSR was a totalitarian, insular society. Or, and this is an interpretation that might only come paranoid thinkers like Noam Chomsky or Michael Parenti, maybe Yergen and Stanislaw found that the average American and Russian had equivalent freedoms (albeit controlled by different means).

The person [closest to the act/holding the instrument of the act], no matter how qualified or culpable is first to be assigned [credit/blame] for the act.

Weeds and flowers alike seek the sunlight — nobody can fault them for that — but some of them learn do it with beauty and grace.

I’m all wrapped up by Flight of Passage, Rinker Buck’s tale of his 1966 journey cross country with his brother in an old Piper Cub. As much as it’s a tale of flying, it’s a tale of teenage angst. Both subjects that I identify with (but aren’t we supposed to grow out of teenage angst?).

The worst forms of tyranny are those so subtle, so deeply ingrained, so thoroughly controlling as not even to be consciously experienced. So there are Americans who are afraid to entertain contrary notions for fear of jeopardizing their jobs, but who still think they are “free.”

     –Michael Parenti’s Democracy for the Few.

Years ago, I used to wake up with a start. I’d be trying to sit up with my hands outstretched in front of me. I’d wake up thinking I’d been falling.

Now. I find that I wake up thinking I’d stubbed my toe or hit my head.

Somewhat unrelated: I’ve gotten no end of laughs and amusement from Dion Mcgregor Dreams Again, a collection of sleep talking from Dion Mcgregor, an apparently famous “somniloquist.”

Hot weather demands cool drinks. Lemonade is fine for the kids, but adults need a pitcher of something more entertaining.

Give it a try:

Vicker’s Delight:

• 1 part Vodka
• 2 parts Lemonade
• dash Lime Juice
• dash Orange Juice

Prepare in a pitcher with ice and share. Adjust quantities to taste.

Enjoy safely.

What a motley crew who work for ITS. Click for pictures.