December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Last nail for US crypto export policy?
by sameer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

http://now.cs.berkeley.edu/ > Yee-hah! Congratulations (and enjoy the $1000 check!) > So what did you do interesting cryptographically in the crack, > other than coordinating a bunch of workstations? > Was it just brute force with well-tuned code? > Given the figures in your press release, it sounds like you > tested about 350 billion keys out of a trillion possible, > so you hit the winner a shade early. That's about 400,000 keys/sec/box. > Are the machines mostly Pentiums, Alphas, Suns, etc.? -- Sameer Parekh Voice: 510-986-8770 President FAX: 510-986-8777 C2Net http://www.c2.net/ sameer(a)c2.net

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Re: Trolling with Dale (a bite)
by Dale Thorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Huge Cajones Remailer wrote: > From: Dale Thorn <dthorn(a)gte.net> > Subject: Re: overview.htm (fwd) > Dale Thorn hopelessly wrote: > >Let's be realistic about how AIDS is acquired. > Yes, Dale, let's. Dale makes an excellent case for having a moderated > list right here. What do his nutball beyond-the-fringe remarks have > to do with crypto, privacy, security? Cripes, in the old days even an > _accurate_ off-list remark would open a blast furnace of condemnation, > a la Jim B. If the list won't moderate itself to "guide" the Dale's, > it DESERVES to be moderated. He's gotta be trolling to keep it hard. Well, I don't know who you are, so (despite your remarks) I can't really tell what your question is. I suppose if we sat down with a human moderator and a copy of Applied Cryptography, you'd know the XOR's and S-boxes and whatnot better than I. That's why we need people like you on this list, especially the moderated list, since you know the conventional (academic) crypto really well. To be honest, I'm after more important things, but hey, keep plugging away and maybe I'll learn something from you. Hugs and stuff....

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Re: can Sun Tzu be a cypherpunks?
by Dale Thorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

nobody(a)nowhere.com wrote: > Quotations from the Art Of War by Sun Tzu > A Military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, > appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective. > Draw them in with the prospect of gain, take them by confusion. > Use humility to make them haughty. Tire them by flight. Cause division > among them. Attack when they are unprepared, make your move when they > do not expect it. The all-time master was Rudolph Wanderone (sp?), a.k.a. Minnesota Fats. There was an article on him that told how he cleaned the pool champ in Atlantic City circa 1960. In later years, he played Mosconi on TV several times, and had quite a few people convinced he wasn't a very good player, at least "not as good as" Mosconi. The movie Color Of Money shows what this meant, and just how unprepared the public is to believe that someone like Fats could really be the best. Kinda like Tom Wolfe and the pirates thing.

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Re: Rejection policy of the Cypherpunks mailing list
by Sandy Sandfort 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, On Tue, 28 Jan 1997, Richard Fiero wrote: > Get it straight Sandy Sandfort. I'm not in your home. I am in > my home and I will observe my priorities, not your's. Silly things happen when one responds literally to an obvious metaphor. (see, "analogy.") > ...In part I refer to a > Sandy Sandfort reply to a criticism made by Paul Bradley. The reply was > made public two hours before the criticism was. Nonsense. Richard may have read my response on the Unedited list and Paul post on the Moderated list, but I sent my response to each list in the appropriate order, Paul's post, followed by my response. In any event, how would intentionally reversing the order have benefited me? This specious argument makes no sense. > In the reply, Sandy Sandfort employs the name-calling "sophist" > and "hypocrite." Nope, wrong again. I referenced sophistry and hypocracy. I leave the significance of the difference as an exercise to the student. (Hint: one is an argument to the man, the other isn't.) > Also in the reply is the Freudian slip or obscene proposition: > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Force," my ass. > Shouldn't this have gone to cypherpunks-flames? And wrong yet again. Not a personal attack but commentary on wooly thinking. > One might wonder just what the rules of proper decorum are. One might read my posts on this point and pay attention. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Re: Best Computer School?
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

MIT probably has a need-blind admissions policy; they don't care whether or not you have money. When they admit you, at least. Let me plug Carnegie Mellon University, which consistently ties with MIT and one of them California schools for first place in computer science. It's not quite as hard to get into as MIT, though you do have to deal with Pittsburgh winters. The town itself is small enough to be friendly, and big enough to be interesting. Jim Morris, the head of the computer science department, was my instructor for a data structures class and truly seemed to care about his students' well-being. Oh, and I remember we had t-shirts saying: "MIT -- the CMU of Massachusetts." -Declan Rick wrote: >At 12:32 PM 1/28/97 -0500, Derek Atkins wrote: >>This is really exagerating. You do not need a 4.0, 1600, etc. to be >>admitted to MIT. Sure, you need good grades, but a 3.6 average and >>1350-1400 SAT scores is perfectly adequate to be admitted to MIT. > >I disagree and can speak from experience. I was denied admission to MIT >even thought I had a 3.82 GPA, 1440 SAT (one try), and had taken 9 AP tests >with two 5's, four 4's, two 3's, and one 2. As for being well-rounded, I >was on several academic teams, sang in Chorus, acted and stage managed in >Drama, and played Tennis. > >The only thing I didn't have that the next MIT applicant had was money. I >made the mistake of letting them know that I was dirt poor and would need >full aid/grants/etc, and to quote "The Great Escape" it was "Zzzt! To the >Russian front!" > >>For what it's worth, I wanted to go to MIT my sophomore year in high >>school, too > >Lucky you. It had been a dream of mine since I was an annoying >overachiever of 6. Sux to be white trash, I guess. > >MIT may be a great school, but they tend to be snooty assholes for the most >part. (DISCLAIMER: Not all MIT grads/attendees are necessarily "snooty >assholes", I'm just saying that I've yet to meet one that wasn't.) >_________ o s b o r n e @ g a t e w a y . g r u m m a n . c o m _________ >"He who knows, does not speak. >He who speaks, does not know." ------------------------- Washington Correspondent The Netly News Network http://netlynews.com/

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Re: Fighting the cybercensor
by Dale Thorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

OKSAS wrote: > On Tue, 28 Jan 1997, blanc wrote: > > From: jim bell > > I was thinking the reason that most people don't think of applying AP is > > because they're normal. It is not the first thought of a normal person to > > kill another human, just because they've been offended - even severely. It > > takes an extraordinary circumstance to motivate one to such destruction, > > especially if there are a thousand armed troops supporting the object of > > the attempt. > Any normal person has potential to kill, > why they don't...? They have other thoughts > and dreams for a better future. Some people in society are like a bad dream (ok, ok). Anyway, they are a lot harder to get rid of than just waking up and going back to sleep. But AP offers the first practical solution to this problem. Get rid of the bad dreams, have good dreams. What could be better?

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Re: Getting into MIT is impossible
by ichudov＠algebra.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

can any kind soul tell me, what are the SAT scores needed to be in the top 10%, top 1%, and top 0.1% of all the students who take these tests? thank you igor Anonymous wrote: > > > > According to Rick Osborne: > > "I disagree and can speak from experience. I was denied admission to MIT > even thought I had a 3.82 GPA, 1440 SAT (one try), and had taken 9 AP tests > with two 5's, four 4's, two 3's, and one 2. As for being well-rounded, I > was on several academic teams, sang in Chorus, acted and stage managed in > Drama, and played Tennis." > > People get into MIT--or don't get into MIT--for lots of reasons. Most > intelligent people apply to several schools, knowing that admissions > practices are subject to the vagaries of reality. > > In my case, my SATs were about 1500, with some 800s in achievement tests. > And the usual bullshit high school clubs, political offices, etc. etc. I > was accepted by MIT, but not by Caltech. I didn't lose any sleep over the > way things turned out. > > And I decided not to go to MIT, either. > > "The only thing I didn't have that the next MIT applicant had was money. I > made the mistake of letting them know that I was dirt poor and would need > full aid/grants/etc, and to quote "The Great Escape" it was "Zzzt! To the > Russian front!"" > > My guess is that "other factors" were involved. > > I noted with some interest, but little surprise, that the guy claiming MIT > required a 4.0 GPA and a 1600 combined SAT score could barely spell, and > had major problems making a coherent point. Methinks this is why MIT > rejected him, not his lack of a "1600." > > ">For what it's worth, I wanted to go to MIT my sophomore year in high > >school, too > > "Lucky you. It had been a dream of mine since I was an annoying > overachiever of 6. Sux to be white trash, I guess." > > MIT offered me a substantial economic aid package, in the form of loans, > grants, and various campus jobs. What does this tell you? > > "MIT may be a great school, but they tend to be snooty assholes for the most > part. (DISCLAIMER: Not all MIT grads/attendees are necessarily "snooty > assholes", I'm just saying that I've yet to meet one that wasn't.) > > I've known about a dozen or so MIT grads, and only one of them was a snooty > asshole, and it was a _she_, one of the first MIT women grads (and she was > _very_ impressed by this). > > Most MIT grads are perfectly reasonable. > > Xanthar > > > > > -- > - Igor.

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Re: Machine readable form (was:RE: [DES] DES Key Recovery Project, Progress Report #7)
by Tobin Fricke 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> This seems clear enough. If it's printed on paper, it's kosher for > export. But if we're really overt about it, we may goad the government > into attempting to control printed source code as well. That could > prove most interesting. Hmmm.. Printing out, say, PGP as a book where each page is a 2 dimensional bar code would be rather interesting. Then again, OCR works pretty well for normal text. A printed book or other printed material setting forth encryption source code is not itself subject to the EAR (see Sec. 734.3(b)(2)). However, notwithstanding Sec. 734.3(b)(2), encryption source code in electronic form or media (e.g., computer diskette or CD ROM) remains subject to the EAR (see Sec. 734.3(b)(3)). Does a barcode fall under "electronic form or media" or is it "printed material"? What about punched cards? (-: Tobin Fricke

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Getting into MIT is impossible
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

According to Rick Osborne: "I disagree and can speak from experience. I was denied admission to MIT even thought I had a 3.82 GPA, 1440 SAT (one try), and had taken 9 AP tests with two 5's, four 4's, two 3's, and one 2. As for being well-rounded, I was on several academic teams, sang in Chorus, acted and stage managed in Drama, and played Tennis." People get into MIT--or don't get into MIT--for lots of reasons. Most intelligent people apply to several schools, knowing that admissions practices are subject to the vagaries of reality. In my case, my SATs were about 1500, with some 800s in achievement tests. And the usual bullshit high school clubs, political offices, etc. etc. I was accepted by MIT, but not by Caltech. I didn't lose any sleep over the way things turned out. And I decided not to go to MIT, either. "The only thing I didn't have that the next MIT applicant had was money. I made the mistake of letting them know that I was dirt poor and would need full aid/grants/etc, and to quote "The Great Escape" it was "Zzzt! To the Russian front!"" My guess is that "other factors" were involved. I noted with some interest, but little surprise, that the guy claiming MIT required a 4.0 GPA and a 1600 combined SAT score could barely spell, and had major problems making a coherent point. Methinks this is why MIT rejected him, not his lack of a "1600." ">For what it's worth, I wanted to go to MIT my sophomore year in high >school, too "Lucky you. It had been a dream of mine since I was an annoying overachiever of 6. Sux to be white trash, I guess." MIT offered me a substantial economic aid package, in the form of loans, grants, and various campus jobs. What does this tell you? "MIT may be a great school, but they tend to be snooty assholes for the most part. (DISCLAIMER: Not all MIT grads/attendees are necessarily "snooty assholes", I'm just saying that I've yet to meet one that wasn't.) I've known about a dozen or so MIT grads, and only one of them was a snooty asshole, and it was a _she_, one of the first MIT women grads (and she was _very_ impressed by this). Most MIT grads are perfectly reasonable. Xanthar --

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Re: overview.htm (fwd)
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Nurdane Oksas <oksas(a)asimov.montclair.edu> writes: > On Mon, 27 Jan 1997, Dale Thorn wrote: > > > Nurdane Oksas wrote: > > > On Sun, 26 Jan 1997, Dale Thorn wrote: > > > > Nurdane Oksas wrote: > > > > > On Sun, 26 Jan 1997, Igor Chudov @ home wrote: > > > > > > Nurdane Oksas wrote: > > > > > > > i think it's good also to exercise outdoors as well as your > > > > > > > indoor nordictrack machines..sun and air is esp. necessary; > > > > > > > > but remember, tanning will kill ya. > > > > > > > Yes it will; Not a fan of tanning myself...it also causes lot > > > > > of skin problems, have seen women age too soon tanning; > > > > > we don't go outside naked here in NorthEast...do remember; > > > > > > The real babes in So. Cal. go to tanning salons. That way the evenly- > > > > distributed tan looks best with, say, a pure white bikini. You can > > > > go to the beach, of course, and hang out with the hoi polloi, but > > > > it's mostly kids with pimples and stuff. > > > > > i don't see why she would wear a bikini if she already is tan. > > > She just goes to show off right??? California is know for > > > very beautiful girls ... I like the pale look :) > > > > There are two really major beaches in the L.A. area that I know of. > > One is Bolsa Chica, several miles long, north of Huntington Beach, > > which attracts most of the young'uns south of L.A., and Zuma in the > > northmost points of Malibu, which gets a lot of Valley people > > (fer sure). To quote the L.A. Weekly of a few years ago, in a > > "Best of L.A." review, "Why do all those hot young girls go to Zuma? > > Because that's where all the hot young boys are." > > I see. > > > But the real babes don't go there. They get skates and nifty little > > costumes and zip up and down the boardwalks in Santa Monica and > > Pacific Palisades mostly, in case some hot producer/director should > > happen along. > > I see. > Why is a mere "I see" classified as cypherpunks-flames??? Stop picking on girls, Sandy. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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