I was grateful for some downtime after the 7:30 AM to 6:30 PM gig, including commute, with some even longer hours ahead. I'm just staying at home ("home me o stays is") and marveling at the strange colors. Oregon's forests are burning, British Columbia's too. The moon, almost full, is blood orange (deeper red than just copper). The atmosphere is full of ash.
Hurricane Harvey has already struck as of this writing, lots of collateral damage. Irma is still swirling in the Atlantic, its future uncertain. Computer models see about two weeks ahead max. That's less a deficiency in computing than a feature of everyday math. Climate modeling and weather modeling are two different things. The former need not be detailed about day-to-day weather phenomena whereas in weather modeling, that's the whole point.
The downtime has not been idle time. I have more freedom to dwell on my own projects, which these days includes drilling into Jupyter Notebooks more, and sharing them on Github. I'm recycling some of my homework from the 1990s wherein I dove into cryptography some.
The whole RSA thing (public key crypto) was fascinating. These days we hear more about the blockchain, with crypto-currencies bopping up and down like publicly traded stocks, investments in some Global Data Corporation (GCD) of the science fiction future (but with value today).
RSA is in every web browser so is for sure not off limits to journalism, given Mozilla is free open source, plus the patents have expired.
When you use your Visa card number via HTTPS (little lock next to URL), you're in TLS mode, meaning your browser and some distant server have shaken hands (shorthand for "opened an encrypted channel") that makes it difficult for 3rd parties to crack in, stealing info. People are meant to have secrets in current economic models, if prosperity is a goal.
What I'm attempting is an on-ramp into Python the computer language, where I explain a little Group and Number Theory along the way, somewhat mirroring an established academic approach you will find in some progressive high schools and colleges.
RSA is completely open, as an algorithm. What makes it cryptographically secure are current facts about the state of the art, in mathematics and computing power.
Bitcoin and blockchain technology leverage similar facts.
A bitcoin miner, a dedicated computer, has the job of brute forcing through a math problem that should take about ten minutes.
The miner that gets there first broadcasts to all the others, and in the case of a tie, there's a way of breaking it.
The miner's version of the blockchain thereby "wins the day" (actually just the block) and the block detailing what just happened (a set of transactions) around the world, in the last twenty or thirty minutes or so, is accepted by all the others as "the truth" and on we go, block by block.
Lots of blockchains are up an running, many of them experimental given this is all recent technology.
Glenn and Joanne Baker came through for dinner with Carol and I at Bread & Ink. They were on vacation too, exploring Ashland (pun intended) after catching the eclipse. I was at work during the eclipse, but allowed to go outside to get the 99.4% experience (not totality).
They were able to see Crater Lake, but on some days I gather the smog has been filling the crater, hiding the lake from the rim.
Oregon is burning, as I said at the top.
We had heavy rainfall all winter and a lush spring, then the water shut off (no rain) and lush vegetation turned to tinder. The flick of a cigarette will set off a major forest fire. Some jerk was doing fireworks near Eagle Creak. There's no telling how careless some will be.
Glenn Stockton (different Glenn) has been assiduously working on the back patio and backyard, on those C6XTY sculptures. I've had an art teacher visit. I should encourage Julian to swing by.
Most of these sculptures are on their way to a photo shoot, and some won't come back.
I'm reminded of Bonnie Tinker's Love Makes a Family float, a tall-tiny house on a wagon, that used to sit out there too.
Our Quaker Meeting was supportive of liberal values, with member Dawn Wicca providing safe haven for said float (I believe I'd become a non-member by then, without changing in my love of beer).
Vacation time is a chance to run errands and catch up on stuff.
I rolled over on my glasses (talk about careless) and wonder if Lenscrafters at Lloyd Center will be up for fixing them.
Carol (88, hard of hearing) needs to replace a charge card she canceled, then thought she'd lost, then found again. Lloyd and OnPoint are not far apart.
Hurricane Harvey has already struck as of this writing, lots of collateral damage. Irma is still swirling in the Atlantic, its future uncertain. Computer models see about two weeks ahead max. That's less a deficiency in computing than a feature of everyday math. Climate modeling and weather modeling are two different things. The former need not be detailed about day-to-day weather phenomena whereas in weather modeling, that's the whole point.
The downtime has not been idle time. I have more freedom to dwell on my own projects, which these days includes drilling into Jupyter Notebooks more, and sharing them on Github. I'm recycling some of my homework from the 1990s wherein I dove into cryptography some.
The whole RSA thing (public key crypto) was fascinating. These days we hear more about the blockchain, with crypto-currencies bopping up and down like publicly traded stocks, investments in some Global Data Corporation (GCD) of the science fiction future (but with value today).
RSA is in every web browser so is for sure not off limits to journalism, given Mozilla is free open source, plus the patents have expired.
When you use your Visa card number via HTTPS (little lock next to URL), you're in TLS mode, meaning your browser and some distant server have shaken hands (shorthand for "opened an encrypted channel") that makes it difficult for 3rd parties to crack in, stealing info. People are meant to have secrets in current economic models, if prosperity is a goal.
What I'm attempting is an on-ramp into Python the computer language, where I explain a little Group and Number Theory along the way, somewhat mirroring an established academic approach you will find in some progressive high schools and colleges.
RSA is completely open, as an algorithm. What makes it cryptographically secure are current facts about the state of the art, in mathematics and computing power.
Bitcoin and blockchain technology leverage similar facts.
A bitcoin miner, a dedicated computer, has the job of brute forcing through a math problem that should take about ten minutes.
The miner that gets there first broadcasts to all the others, and in the case of a tie, there's a way of breaking it.
The miner's version of the blockchain thereby "wins the day" (actually just the block) and the block detailing what just happened (a set of transactions) around the world, in the last twenty or thirty minutes or so, is accepted by all the others as "the truth" and on we go, block by block.
Lots of blockchains are up an running, many of them experimental given this is all recent technology.
Glenn and Joanne Baker came through for dinner with Carol and I at Bread & Ink. They were on vacation too, exploring Ashland (pun intended) after catching the eclipse. I was at work during the eclipse, but allowed to go outside to get the 99.4% experience (not totality).
They were able to see Crater Lake, but on some days I gather the smog has been filling the crater, hiding the lake from the rim.
Oregon is burning, as I said at the top.
We had heavy rainfall all winter and a lush spring, then the water shut off (no rain) and lush vegetation turned to tinder. The flick of a cigarette will set off a major forest fire. Some jerk was doing fireworks near Eagle Creak. There's no telling how careless some will be.
Glenn Stockton (different Glenn) has been assiduously working on the back patio and backyard, on those C6XTY sculptures. I've had an art teacher visit. I should encourage Julian to swing by.
Most of these sculptures are on their way to a photo shoot, and some won't come back.
I'm reminded of Bonnie Tinker's Love Makes a Family float, a tall-tiny house on a wagon, that used to sit out there too.
Our Quaker Meeting was supportive of liberal values, with member Dawn Wicca providing safe haven for said float (I believe I'd become a non-member by then, without changing in my love of beer).
Vacation time is a chance to run errands and catch up on stuff.
I rolled over on my glasses (talk about careless) and wonder if Lenscrafters at Lloyd Center will be up for fixing them.
Carol (88, hard of hearing) needs to replace a charge card she canceled, then thought she'd lost, then found again. Lloyd and OnPoint are not far apart.
