Actually Satan

reblog to pet prev

It's easy to think you'd be able to do something when you know that you'd never have to actually do it.

You can take the apartheid out of South Africa but you can never take it out of a white South African

Years and years ago, I read a book on cryptography that I picked up because it looked interesting--and it was!

But there was a side anecdote in there that stayed with me for more general purposes.

The author was describing a cryptography class that they had taken back in college where the professor was demonstrating the process of "reversibility", which is a principle that most codes depend on. Specifically, it should be easy to encode, and very hard to decode without the key--it is hard to reverse the process.

So he had an example code that he used for his class to demonstrate this, a variation on the Book Code, where the encoded text would be a series of phone numbers.

The key to the code was that phone books are sorted alphabetically, so you could encode the text easily--picking phone numbers from the appropriate alphabetical sections to use ahead of time would be easy. But since phone books were sorted alphabetically, not numerically, it would be nearly impossible to reverse the code without exhaustively searching the phone book for each string of numbers and seeing what name it was tied to.

Nowadays, defeating this would be child's play, given computerized databases, but back in the 80s and 90s, this would have been a good code... at least, until one of the students raised their hand and asked, "Why not just call the phone numbers and ask who lives there?"

The professor apparently was dumbfounded.

He had never considered that question. As a result, his cipher, which seemed to be nearly unbreakable to him, had such an obvious flaw, because he was the sort of person who could never coldcall someone to ask that sort of thing!

In the crypto book, the author went on to use this story as an example of why security systems should not be tested by the designer (because of course the security system is ready for everything they thought of, by definition), but for me, as a writer, it stuck with me for a different reason.

It's worth talking out your story plot with other people just to see if there's a "Why not just call the phone numbers?" obvious plot hole that you've missed, because of your singular perspective as a person. Especially if you're writing the sort of plot where you have people trying to outsmart each other.

#this has wrapped back around to reaching someone who cares about security more than writing#like this kind of thing is EVERYWHERE#anyways @op drop the title

@demo-ness, here you go:

love starting a war show they just throw 25 identical looking guys at u and then leave u too it. they don't even wish u good luck or nothing just. here have the lads. its like getting into a new kpop group

I love the cast of mota

Ive circled all the faces I think are just just same guy

Please save me from the high cheekbone chiseled jawline thick eyebrows brown hair blue eyes 30-50 year old conventionally handsome thin rectangular faced symmetrical white men with detached earlobes and a cleft chin I'm begging you

Straight up just didn't see the fucker

before the poll, a quick definition of terms:

with that out of the way:

SHE THINKS HER LAUGH IS A SONG SO SHE SINGS BACK

Player, observing 5ft by 5ft squares that are also 5ft diagonally (DM said we don't need math):

Fanfic writers are like crows. If you give them treats (comments) they will bring you shiny things (fanfic)

I thought this said cows and thought, "Okay, tell me more..."

Fanfic creators are like cows, some people think you can just milk them for content, but actually they need enrichment (comments) and a nice pasture to graze on (kudos/likes) and they secretly also like cuddles (asks about their fic/art)

they used to make smackable technology. you used to be able to hit your tv when it didn't work good.

when I was a kid I had an old tv in my room that would always turn to unwatchable static in the middle of shows but one night my sister and I were watching Naruto & every time Kakashi was on-screen the static cleared so we were like “hahaha the tv looooves Kakashi.”

I had a Kakashi bookmark so we held it up against the screen as a joke but the static actually cleared up. Mystified, we tried different bookmarks and objects with the same plastic material but nothing else worked, only the Kakashi bookmark.

We ended up taping it to the corner of the screen and it stayed there for 11 years until we moved out. When I was older people would be like “can you move the bookmark off the screen” bc it did sort of block a bit of the view but I would demonstrate the static issue and everyone was always just like “huh. what the hell?? well…alright.”

No explanation, but thanks Kakashi.

Never forget your vote counts. End MAGA.

Hey New York people!

The city’s libraries have already had to cut Sunday service and limit hours. The new budget being put forward is even worse for libraries and may require the loss of another day of service.

Please contact City Council and the Mayor asking for budget restoration

Syrup the tiger and her two cubs Earl and Gray at the Izu Animal Kingdom in Japan.

Excuse me while I sneeze 30 times in a row…

IS THAT POLLEN???????????????????????????????????????

magic spell

I cast “allergies bad enough to delete you from existence”

everyone in the notes either has allergies or is a whore

I know it’s not hard to point out reactionaries hypocrisy when it comes to like safe spaces or hug boxes or whatever but genuinely how much of an echo chamber do you have to exist in for you to think this is a reasonable thing to say

reblog if attacking fascism is really the hill you want to die on

this is literally like one of the most justified and honorable hills you could die on??? lol??

Quick someone reply with the gif™️

I feel I should specify when I talk about the vast majority of Israelis supporting this genocide it's not to call for violence of them or even to demonise them. It's to call attention to Israel having a genocidal education system which dehumanises Palestinians from the moment Israelis start school. Ilan Pappé did a study in 1994 of the Israeli education system and raised the alarm that it would raise a generation who are even worse than those who first colonised Palestine in 1948. We're seeing the truth of that now.

I raise this point because we're seeing this attempt by politicians and the media to claim that it's just Netanyahu who is to blame for this genocide and not a systematic problem that requires boycotting, divestments and sanctions to push them to correct. This lie is being pushed because they do not want to change the status quo which allows for Israel to steal Palestinian land and homes and keep Palestinians under military occupation.