I finished Digital Fortress (audiobook), and started listening to Snow Crash this week. I am flipping back and forth periodically between Snow Crash, written by Neal Stephenson (who also wrote Cryptonomicon) and learning Spanish, por que es importante para mi.
Archive for the 'Reading' Category
Someone at work heard of my interest in Cryptonomicon, and recommended that I check out Digital Fortress, a Dan Brown (I know…) novel (fiction of course) about the NSA, and an “unbreakable” code. It’s an interesting book so far, but it’s a bit frustrating to experience technical details that are incorrect or grossly misleading. I hate when writers do that. There’s so little good crypto fiction out there that what’s out there should be vetted by someone in the business prior to publication. Bits vs bytes, bad buzzwords, and even worse, terrible character names. I mean, come on, “Trevor Strathmore?”
So the other day, Sunday morning I think it was, I woke from a dream in which my wife was asking me, “Who is iang?” She was pronouncing it as a word, but in my mind I saw it spelled that way. I take dreams as hints, so I immediately cracked open the laptop (what? we don’t ALL sleep with a laptop within reach?) and opened a Google window, typing in iang. Imagine my surprise when the second entry is directly relevant to recent experience and reading:
iang.org
Blog on Financial Cryptography · Free Banking Page · Papers · European Digital Money · Rants · Crypto Fiction Reviews · SSL Considered Harmful …
iang.org/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages
Relevant because I recently read the prime example of modern crypto fiction, Cryptonomicon, and of course isn’t everyone in the IT industry touched by examples of encryption these days? SSL certificates, encrypted file systems, VPNs, PGP, etc. I’ll wager that 10-20% of us can wax poetic about which encryption algorithms provide the best protection and which have been cracked.
Fascinating because I had never heard of IanG or his blog/site, and it came to me in a dream.
It gets weirder. Of course the first link I clicked on IanG’s Crypto Fiction Reviews page was down at the bottom:
Unsolved and Solved Ciphers
Elonka maintains a list of well-known unsolved codes and ciphers. A couple of the better-known unsolved ancient historical scripts are also thrown in, since they tend to come up during any discussion of unsolved codes.
Elonka’s list includes a mention of the fascinating Voynich Manuscript, an old unsolved illustrated manuscript. Voynich is very similar to the Codex Seraphinianus in that it is also illustrated and unsolved. I actually own a copy of the Codex. I found it interesting that Elonka doesn’t mention the Codex, and emailed to mention that fact. No response yet.
I bought a copy of Cryptonomicon. As an IT professional working in the security field, it seemed to fall right into place as the next book to read. It was originally recommended by Mike Terry, who seems to be a big Neal Stephenson fan. I was liking the book, but having limited time to read it now that I’m no longer commuting by train, I picked up the AudioBook of it.
Now I’m simultaneously gratified and annoyed. Sure, I can listen to it during my commute, and that works out well, especially with the Prius’ integrated audio and navigation system. When I get a call from my wife during the commute, the bluetooth-integrated system intercepts the call, PAUSES the CD while I take the call, and then resumes when I hang up. But I’m finding there are things I don’t like about audiobooks, especially for large books such as Cryptonomicon. Namely, the abridgements. I had left off reading the book shortly after a particularly satisfying brawl scene in a sushi bar, which had elements of comedy and adventure that I found fulfilling. This entire scene is left out of the audiobook and only referred to vaguely when describing the other character as having been met in a bar fight.
This friend of mine from high school ended up in Portland, OR doing a column called “Night Cabbie.” In high school, she was the queen of alternative. I ran into her a few years out of school, working in a bar, kept in touch with her there for a while, then she disappeared out west. Here are some links to her column during the two year stretch it belonged to her:March 16th, 2005 Being a girl in this job is not usually an issue
March 23rd, 2005 There’s a good-looking black guy on the corner of Broadway and Burnside
March 30th, 2005 Tonight…
April 6th, 2005 FELONY FLATS…
April 13th, 2005 Prostitution should be legal…
April 20th, 2005 “Do you know where the nearest Internet cafe is?”
April 27th, 2005 “God, your hair is so beautiful-please, can I touch it?”
May 4th, 2005 I’m a reasonably bright individual…
May 11th, 2005 I really, really love cats…
May 18th, 2005 “You want to smoke some weed?”
May 25th, 2005 That’s where you hide the bodies, right?
June 1st, 2005 Trying to rip off a crack dealer
June 8th, 2005 I picked up my fare downtown…
June 15th, 2005 You seem a rather odd sort to be a cabdriver
June 22nd, 2005 Passengers always talk to me about sex.
June 29th, 2005 You’re playing my girl!
July 6th, 2005 A THUNDERSTORM
July 13th, 2005
July 20th, 2005 Goddamn it, you fucking fuckers!
July 27th, 2005 IT’S ABOUT 2 AM, AND I’M CRUISING DOWNTOWN
August 3rd, 2005 The Plaid Pantry at Grand and Burnside
August 10th, 2005 THERE SEEM TO HAVE BEEN A LOT OF IRISHMEN
August 17th, 2005 I must have said something typically pretentious
August 24th, 2005 My BMW got locked in the SmartPark
August 31st, 2005 A trip to Vancouver
September 7th, 2005 We need to get to Interstate Grill
September 14th, 2005 Portland sure is a small town.
September 21st, 2005 Ask a cab driver to wait for you
September 28th, 2005 I don’t think your halo will fit in the cab.
October 5th, 2005 She drank the Kool-Aid.
October 12th, 2005 A fare in McMinnville
October 19th, 2005 I’m not really a Motley Crue fan
October 26th, 2005 Blood
November 2nd, 2005 I probably give free or discounted rides…
November 9th, 2005 Up until now…
November 16th, 2005 She’s on the verge
November 23rd, 2005 Do you know who Richard Alpert is?
November 30th, 2005 Goddamn bicyclists shouldn’t be on the road.
December 7th, 2005 The biggest bitch ever to get into my cab
December 14th, 2005 You don’t want to take us just because we’re black
December 21st, 2005 So I’m sitting in front of Club 1222
December 28th, 2005 Are you into clubs?
January 4th, 2006 What is it with you guys and the front seat?
January 11th, 2006 “Excuse me, the no-smoking signs in the cab are not restricted to tobacco.”
January 18th, 2006 You don’t have one of those cameras in this cab, do you?
February 1st, 2006 This girl, there’s something about her.
February 8th, 2006 You know what I hate most about smokers?
February 15th, 2006 Don’t forget your fucking phone!
February 22nd, 2006 I’m not the only one having a bad night.
March 8th, 2006 “OK, so either Soundgarden or Alice in Chains”
March 15th, 2006 Oh hey, it’s you!
March 22nd, 2006 Take me to the Aladdin
March 29th, 2006 Dammit, don’t park in the taxi zones!
April 5th, 2006 I’m leaving the Walgreen’s on Belmont
April 12th, 2006 Sometimes things work out.
April 19th, 2006 Take me to Dove Lewis.
April 26th, 2006 So you’re saying you have no money?
May 3rd, 2006 Where can we get some ice cream?
May 10th, 2006 I arrive at a Land Rover dealership, at about 10 minutes to 6.
May 17th, 2006 “Morphine is the best band name ever…”
May 24th, 2006 She insists on sitting in front…
May 31st, 2006 I can’t believe it. [CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK]
June 7th, 2006 So what happened?
June 14th, 2006 You’re a pretty good driver, for a girl.
June 21st, 2006 What do you all have to talk about?
June 28th, 2006 We’re the drunk guys at the end of the night
July 5th, 2006 What do you do when you kill someone?
July 12th, 2006 Mission of Burma is one of my favorite bands.
July 19th, 2006 Time to break out the gypsy cab.
July 26th, 2006 Club 1222, but I need to scan the parking lot first.
August 2nd, 2006 Please. It’s a good word.
August 9th, 2006 The DUI argument, yet again.
August 16th, 2006 I pick up a middle-aged couple at…
August 23rd, 2006 Homosexuals love drama.
August 30th, 2006 Oh my god, it’s my cab driver!
September 6th, 2006 “I’m just glad my husband isn’t around to see this.”
September 13th, 2006 “I used to be a Marine…”
September 20th, 2006 Oh, joy, another music column!
September 27th, 2006 My passenger is a little old lady
October 4th, 2006 “So I was thinking about being an egg donor…”
October 11th, 2006 So, do you think I can sue TriMet for this?
October 18th, 2006 “Let’s go to the Chart House.”
October 25th, 2006 “What was wrong with your car?”
November 1st, 2006 “Have you read Blinded by the Right?”
November 8th, 2006 “Do you have any ’80s music?”
November 15th, 2006 I’m always being asked where I’m from.
November 22nd, 2006 When my passenger gets in, Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” is playing.
November 29th, 2006 “I hate picking up passengers at the Ace of Hearts”
December 6th, 2006 I get a call at our own garage, which is almost always from another cab driver.
December 13th, 2006 R.E.M.’s Murmur is on the stereo when another aging ex-hipster gets in my cab.
December 20th, 2006 I’m in the transit lane in front of the Rose Quarter, to pick up someone from the MAX.
December 27th, 2006 “Hey, you’re the Night Cabbie, right?!”
January 3rd, 2007 “There’s lesbian porn made for men, and lesbian porn made for women.”
January 17th, 2007 “I’m going to ‘Sinferno.’”
January 31st, 2007 “Dahlia,” I say. “They’re a local band.”
February 7th, 2007 Some folks take their jobs a little too seriously.
February 14th, 2007 I’d been on autopilot for days.
February 21st, 2007 “Oh for god’s sake, get a room!”
February 28th, 2007 I was delivering a box of blood to Kaiser Sunnyside.
March 7th, 2007 “So these gas prices, they must really hurt you cabbies?”
March 14th, 2007 “When are you guys going to start driving hybrids?”
March 21st, 2007 Undoubtedly there are many unsung, Uncapitalized Cabbies out tonight
March 28th, 2007 “How did you get this gig, anyway?”
April 4th, 2007 People often hesitate to open the door when you have a trainee on board
