Tuesday, 22 February, 2005

So I went to Paris for the second time in a month this weekend and met my long time crypto-buddy, Tom St Denis. While I was there I talked at length about cryptography and an assortment of things.

While I was there with Tom I met up with this professional cryptographer who also posts on Sci.Crypt called Greg Rose he was incredibly cool - he's about fifty and he's real cool. I would go into the details of the conversation because some of it was very interesting but I'll wait until Greg has something to announce for himself.

It was great to discuss cryptography in person, for once. It's a subject I've studied only by reading and posting on forums on the internet. It was a great weekend! I feel like my understanding of the subject would advance a lot more quickly if I could just speak to these people in person from time to time. Really, what i'm trying to say is that my appetite has been suffiently whetted, i've decided that I'm going to California in September to experience a security conference for myself.

In other news, The "Rise of the Chavs" programme was an absolute abomination. I think the editor of that show was seriously trying to undermine the presenters views on the issue. Not only did she get demolished by her guests on at least two occasions, she just made some clearly retarded points. For example, she said "Would Nigella Lawson have been famous if she had been called Nigella Smith?", to which I retort that Delia Smith certainly made it to celebrity status despite the "handycap" of having a common lastname (I don't know, the point is moronic anyway). We hate chavs not because of the clothes they wear but because of the way they act. It's as simple as that.