Cryptographic challenge: crack a “numbers station.” These mysterious shortwave broadcasts consist of a monotone human voice endlessly reading a series of numbers. There’s been some thought that these are a way for intelligence agencies to communicate with agents in the field, but no one’s sure. Reputedly, a civilian has never decrypted a numbers station message. Reputedly, the NSA has.

The Numbers Station Crack

Challenge is inspired by the RSA Laboratories Secret Key challenges which are designed to demonstrate the weakness of short key

lengths in commercial cryptography applications.

With the advances in networking that are available to everyone, an unprecedented amount of processor power can be rallied to crack

mathematical problems. Previously, only Governments that could afford Cray Supercomputers has access to this type of computational

power, and in the case of Cray the American Government forbade the export of such machines, effectively making them unavailable to

the rest of the world. Now with client based network cracking, almost any brute force cryptanalytic attack can be mounted with a more

than reasonable chance of quick success. Spectacular cracks have already been successfully mounted on problems that seemed

insurmountable only a few years ago. This can be done, the problem is, how can it be done? You are free to use any methods that you

can devise, using whatever you have at your disposal.

“World’s Hardest Movie Quiz”

Martha Graham Dance Troupe suspends operations due to dire financial straits. Insufficient support for one of the world’s preeminent dance companies. “This would never have occurred in France or Germany

or Denmark. They would not let this happen. The arts

flourish in this country because of the people who pay for it.

But it’s not enough.” [New York Times]

Susan Sontag plagiarizes?

Seventh-Grade Boy Held in Killing of Teacher in Florida: “…the boy had taken the pistol a week ago

from a dresser drawer in the home of his grandfather, who

owned it.” The boy had been ejected from the last day of class for throwing water balloons, and returned late in the day with a Saturday night special.[New York Times]

I generally like muckrakers, but the gentleman profiled in this article presents as an irresponsible, unoriginal attention-seeker. I knew him during his training; having had some pretty inspiring mentors back then, he appears to have been burdened ever since by the problem of his reach exceeding his grasp.

Salon.com: Who will care for the crazy? “The benefits provided by insurance companies for mental

illness are starvation rations. Reimbursement to providers for

face-to-face services have been cut in half over the past 10

years. Dr. John Iglehart in the New England Journal of

Medicine described typical benefits as consisting of ‘a

maximum of 20 outpatient visits and 30 hospital days each

year.’ “

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,

And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

–Abel Meeropol (Lewis Allan)

A friend suggests that, if we refer to weblogs as blogs, shouldn’t we call the links they contain blinks? If it catches on, you saw it here first. I think.

It makes intuitive sense that dietary cravings can indicate something about brain chemistry. For instance, a new study suggests that “alcoholics with strong cravings for carbohydrates may form a distinct

subgroup of patients with this disease. This type of alcoholic may drink to increase their serotonin levels, and may

increase their intake of carbohydrates if not drinking, to achieve the same effect, the researchers suggest.” Recognition of this alcoholic subgroup, if valid, might impact their drinking with therapeutic strategies that affect serotonin.

What To Do With Your Single, Precious Presidential Vote? Environmental activist Donella Meadows ends up not making much of an argument for her plan to “waste” her vote on Ralph Nader. Even if voting Green robs Gore of the chance to beat “George the Gerbil.”

Miami Herald op-ed piece calls for Repeal of The Second Amendment: “The right to bear arms made sense in the 18th Century to provide for the common defense

and afford citizens a guarantee against the encroachment of absolute monarchs. But today

we don’t rely on a militia to defend the country, and tyranny would involve a monopoly of

media, not muskets. Born as a bulwark of democracy, the Second Amendment is the last

refuge of gun fundamentalists and their well-financed lobbyists indifferent to the tragedies

their liberal gun laws produce. Who will be the first politician to stand up and shout:

‘Repeal!'”

Dennis Hans, freelance writer and occasional adjunct professor of American foreign

policy and mass communications at the University of South Florida, reports on the Merger of CBS and the Colombian government. [Common Dreams]

His knighthood is well-deserved, IMHO, but he had to wait two years to have it conferred until he was cleared of pedophilia charges.

CNN.com – Technology – Microsoft to delay Outlook patch : “Microsoft said it will delay

until the week of June 1 the release of a

major security update to its Outlook 98

and 2000 e-mail software. The delay will

allow Microsoft to make certain

last-minute modifications to the software

in response to feedback from customers.” The new, kinder, gentler, Microsoft?

There’s alot in Salon.com’s health column that’s fascinating this week, for various reasons. Take your pick:

Sound and fury Thousands of deaf

kids can hear, and speak, thanks to a

stunningly effective ear implant. So

why is the deaf community in an

uproar?

By Arthur Allen [05/24/00]

Into the closet Can therapy make gay

people straight?

By Barry Yeoman [05/22/00]

Ladies who spray If you sprinkle when

you tinkle, cut it out!

By Mary Roach [05/19/00]

Skin trade Are burn victims going

without so that supermodels can

engorge their bodacious bodies?

By Art Allen [05/19/00]

Very little catches my eye on TV, and very little caught my eye in Salon’s preview of the fall TV lineup. These items did, for different reasons. On ABC,

People Who Fear People “stars David Krumholtz as a paranoid guy

who thinks everybody is spying on him. Jon Cryer plays

his neighbor, who’s spying on him.” Sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud, but as a mental health professional I’m worried this will be another insensitive attempt to make a joke of mental illness. And it’s an old joke, a one-liner really: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.” And, also on ABC, Gideon’s Crossing, ‘starring Andre Braugher of Homicide: Life on the Street and executive produced by

Homicide creator Paul Attanasio. The ABC

announcement describes Braugher’s character, Dr. Ben

Gideon, thusly: “The voice of reason, empathy and

wisdom in a world of medical chaos, bureaucracy and

hypocrisy … he is Disease’s mortal enemy.” ‘ As over-the-top as that is, this one makes me worry that Braugher, an estimable and charismatic actor, will repeat David Caruso’s mistake in leaving NYPD Blue and flounder in a star vehicle without strong ensemble support. And speaking of Caruso: David Duchovny, in reluctantly signing on for another season of The X-Files, praised Caruso’s courage for walking out on a lucrative TV contract. (To self-destruct on the large screen, and then crawl back to the TV world with his tail between his legs and complete the act?)

Scholars, artists and fans from around the globe gathered in Romania Thursday for the Second World Dracula Congress, four days of

lectures and debate on the blood-sucking legend.

‘Bob Auger of Electric Switch, a DVD production

company, says: “This is the first time DVD is being seen as it is meant to be seen.” ‘

This doesn’t surprise me at all: “Concern over the accidental planting of genetically modified seed on several farms in Europe reached fever pitch

last week. And now a company in the US has warned that the problem is probably commonplace…In tests done last

year, but not widely publicised, 12 out of 20 random American consignments of conventional maize seed contained detectable traces of

GM maize. Two of these contained almost 1 per cent GM maize…Low levels of mingling are inevitable.” One more Pandora’s box has been opened.

Creative Skills Can Develop With Dementia. “In some patients with dementia, specific musical and visual skills can be

enhanced, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco and Los Angeles report….Miller and his colleagues explain that ‘these processes have in common the recall of previously learned

information or images’ that permit them to continue ‘without the mediation of language.’

Importantly, while creativity continues, the quality of the creativity is different since it lacks an abstracting

or symbolic component, the researchers explain. In paintings, this results, for example, in realistic

depictions.” The researchers are fascinated by this glimpse into the machinery of creativity and the neurological locus of dementia. But, for the families devastated by the development of dementia in a loved one, this would be at best a poignant consolation prize, if you ask me.