NationStates Jolt Archive

Anyone else here that is fascinated by cryptology? I just finished Cryptonomicon and it has certainly sparked my intrest in this field.

"Number theory informs cryptography, much as hydrodynamics informs the design of a ship's hull."

I love that line.

Anyone else here that is fascinated by cryptology? I just finished Cryptonomicon and it has certainly sparked my intrest in this field.

Did you work out what Enoch Root was guarding?

Anyone else here that is fascinated by cryptology? I just finished Cryptonomicon and it has certainly sparked my intrest in this field./me deliberately misreads this.

No, not really. I have no interest in exploring crypts. Let the dead rest in peace, I say.

--The Jovial States of Cogitation
"Laugh about it for a moment."
NationStates Self-Proclaimed Court Jester

...

Okay, seriously, I do have a mild fascination for crypotology.

-The Democratic States of Cogitation
Founder and Delegate of The Realm of Ambrosia

Did you work out what Enoch Root was guarding?

I don't remember Enoch in Cryptonomicon, I read it a few years ago. I've just finished reading Quicksilver & The Confusion and he plays a role in those two.

I don't remember Enoch in Cryptonomicon, I read it a few years ago. I've just finished reading Quicksilver & The Confusion and he plays a role in those two.

Really? I'm surprised at you not remembering - he is pretty much the central character, even though the narrative focuses on Shaftoe and the hacker.

Really? I'm surprised at you not remembering - he is pretty much the central character, even though the narrative focuses on Shaftoe and the hacker.

I don't remember much of it to be honest. Something about Japanese gold in the Philippines. I'll have to back & re-read it, as soon as I've finished The System of the World. I also want to re-read Diamond Age.

Did you work out what Enoch Root was guarding?

Gold? Or Douglas Shaftoe? What was it?

Hmmmmm... Libel to stay away from anything with -phile at the end.

I'm sort of a cryptophile. I'm interested in simple ciphers mostly, those I can use in real situations. (granted a simple date shift or matrix based cipher won't hold up against and FBI cryptographer, but I'm not exactly trying to create pass nclear secrets)

So basically, I do the "cryptogams" or whatever (the whole nomenclature seems a little wooden to me) in my local paper. But they're pretty easy as they're almost always an inspirational quote. So, either find "Anonymous" "Source Obscure" or "Source Unknown" in the Author line, or find "man" "life" or some derivative in the text. It's kind of relaxing, actually.

End of next week I recive my masters in computer information security

My focues are advanced knapsack/Block and eliptical cypers (my other master is in networking) so most of my applied tends to be key server and osi layer security

But I have a few years of number theory and cryptography under my belt :D anything you would like to know I am sure I can drag my notes out on :-D

Anyone else here that is fascinated by cryptology? I just finished Cryptonomicon and it has certainly sparked my intrest in this field.

Not really. But I do continue to agree with your taste in books.

Gold? Or Douglas Shaftoe? What was it?

The Philosopher's Stone. That's how he was able to raise Shaftoe from the dead, and also why he didn't age between WWII and the end of the twentieth century. Realizing this does tend to settle the debate over whether the novel is actually science-fiction or not too as a side result.

Carterway and I went to visit the National Cryptologic Museum (http://www.nsa.gov/museum/index.cfm) yesterday. When we got there, the parking lot was very empty, but hey, we figured -- it's a Friday, there probably aren't many people coming out here....

We get to the door of the museum, and there is a friendly hand-printed note:

"Welcome! The Museum is open, but we have no electricity and no water. The docent has a flashlight and will be happy to assist you in viewing the exhibits.

We apologise for the inconvenience."

It was so amazingly silly, we had to laugh. Needless to say, we did not go in -- we'll return when the museum returns to the 19th century (at least).

I like cryptology quite a bit, but unfortunately I fail miserably at it. I can't do the math at all. So the most I can do is watch other people do it.
Grr.