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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
 Posted - 11/15/2008 : 06:18:21 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
Originally posted by Cuneiformist
Sometimes, it is clear I am waaay behind on things like computers and technology.
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...and I had to look up the second amendment on wikipedia to get the point. However, it was a very good point. |
Um. What was the point? |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2008 : 17:10:13 [Permalink]
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RSA is an encryption method used to encode documents, using two very large prime-numbers as keys. It was patented by MIT, but the algoritm got used in a popular e-mail encryption program called Pretty Good Privacy (or short: PGP) before the patent expired (2000).
Also, heavy crypto-programs was classified military, and RSA crypto (and thus PGP which was distributed as open source) was classified as munitions within the US export regulations.
Making RSA encryption available to countries that are/were under export restrictions like Cuba, Soviet Union/Russia, Iran, etc. was considered criminal.
Edited to add the actual point:
The author of PGP got around the export restrictions as munitions by publishing a book with the cource code of the PGP program. Selling and exporting books goes under freedom of expression, the First Amendment. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 11/15/2008 17:18:54 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2008 : 12:30:17 [Permalink]
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| What with all the other election excitement, it took me this long to wonder how Hal Bidlack did in his quest for election. He lost, by a rather large margin. He's vowed to run again in two years, though. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 11/17/2008 : 12:55:05 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
What with all the other election excitement, it took me this long to wonder how Hal Bidlack did in his quest for election. He lost, by a rather large margin. He's vowed to run again in two years, though.
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That's too bad. He ran in a very heavy Republican district and he knew it was a long shot. You have to admire his tenacity though. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 12/18/2008 : 22:26:28 [Permalink]
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| My son is in to a childrens program called The Wiggles. Inevitably, you end up listening to what goes on in these sorts of programs. In a Christmas special, one of the characters introduces a guest: John Fogerty! I must admit that I feel a bit ambivalent about this. On the one hand, I get a "oh, how the mighty have fallen" feeling. On the other, it's quite cool to hear the guy sing "Rockin' Santa". |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2008 : 03:08:30 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Catwoman died on Christmas. Nurse Chapel preceded her by a week.
The world is obviously going to hell in a handbasket.
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Major bummer...
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Hittman
Skeptic Friend
134 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2008 : 09:30:26 [Permalink]
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I never remembered Ertha as Catwoman. That honor went to Julie Newmar.
Catwoman, Emma Peel, 99 and Mortica Adams began my lifelong love of sexy brunettes, who always seemed much more intriguing than blonds.
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When a vampire Jehovah's Witness knocks on your door, don't invite him in. Blood Witness: http://bloodwitness.com
Get Smartenized® with the Quick Hitts blog: http://www.davehitt.com/blog2/index.phpBlog |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2009 : 20:07:03 [Permalink]
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| After just three months of trying, I have happy news on the baby front. Assuming this one takes, I'll be a mom for reals in September. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2009 : 21:56:21 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by marfknox
After just three months of trying, I have happy news on the baby front. Assuming this one takes, I'll be a mom for reals in September.
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Congrats, marf! The two things I've never regretted in my life are helping bring my daughter into existence, and being too lazy to kill her when she pooped her diapers.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 01/13/2009 21:56:53 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 15:02:50 [Permalink]
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I saw Daniel Dennett yesterday. He was at Stanford University, giving a follow-up Q&A session to his talk there of the previous day. Sadly, I'd missed his Stanford Presidential Lecture ("The Evolution of 'Why' as the Key to Free Will") due to mistaking the second appearance for the first. D'oh!
I didn't understand the Q & A well enough to justify a separate posting on one of our fora, due missing the main talk, my own general weakness in philosophy, and the fact that I've not yet completed any of his books.
I was sitting, I believe, next to Douglas R. Hofstadter, who introduced himself merely as "Doug." On a hunch, I later Googled Hofstadter, and the guy's pictures look like the Doug I spoke with pior to the session with Dennett.
Hofstadter mentioned he's working at Stanford with a group which studies the interface between technology and culture, and that he's the "culture" part, with most of the others being tech weenies. When I asked Doug when the Technology Singularity was coming, he shook his head and said something like, "Maybe never." When I then suggested that maybe we've been experiencing it for years, he agreed this was possible.
Hofstadter also volunteered his curiousity as to when and if the computer people will take responsibility for the present recession. The guy really doesn't like geeks much. (Hofstadter, by the way, mentioned he's quite familiar with SFN.)
Damn, I'd read Doug's Gödel, Escher, Bach decades ago and loved it. I wish I'd known who I was speaking with yesterday!
I did get my new copy of Darwin's Dangerous Idea signed by Dennett at the end of the 1-1/2 hour session, and shook his hand, thus adding his handshake to a collection that includes JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dennett (or "Danny" as I now call him) is a jolly old elf. He speaks naturally and in the most general English he can use for a topic. He fills his talk with humor and wit.
At very serious risk of misrepresenting Dennett, the discussion revolved mainly around free will within a "deterministic" universe, and how humans being able to ask "why" is central to both free will and our ability to make ethical decisions.
I can't wait to catch up with Dennett's writings.
One Horseman down, three to go.
[Edited considerbly, after I realized I'd (probably) chatted with Douglas R. Hofstadter.]
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 01/14/2009 18:22:46 |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 15:15:01 [Permalink]
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| I met Dennett at TAM4. (Didn't get a picture though.) You're right Mooner, he is a cool guy for, you know, an egghead... He was one of the highlights of that TAM. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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The water cooler, part 3
