There are just some days you see how brilliant people are compared to you. And the worst (best?) part was I felt smart before I read this. I even felt smart while reading it (caught the cipher block chaining mistake in the code before the explanation).

Then they have to get to bit flipping and BLEW MY MIND. My seemingly small and primitive mind that consumes Kahn's books for the historic and not mathematical joy. This reminds me how I was in Chicago on a panel once with Thomas, Dave Aitel, and Alex Sotirov. I remember being about to hop on stage and thinking (as I'm sure they were) "So who got sick and dropped out?"

blah blah blah DOM tree blah blah blah document.referer blah blah blah XSS blah blah blah charlatans, punch in the face

Matasano Chargen » Blog Archive » Typing The Letters A-E-S Into Your Code? You’re Doing It Wrong!

Enter an improbable accident waiting to happen. Rust, 19, was determined to prove that the empire really wasn’t all that evil and that Gorbachev was earnest in his desire to end the Cold War. His plan was simple: Violate the most heavily defended airspace in the world, get to Moscow in one piece, and show the world the softer side of the Soviets.

[snip]

Within minutes Rust was picked up by a radar station in Skrunda, Latvia (then part of the Soviet Union). Missile units were activated. Ground units were put on high alert. It wasn’t long before a Soviet fighter jet was in pursuit. Rust could see his fellow aviator, but said later he wasn’t given any instructions by him. Turns out the MiG could only communicate on military frequencies that the Cesna couldn’t receive. Eventually, the MiG just broke off and disappeared.

[snip]

At any moment Rust could have been fired upon, or at least forced to land. But the KAL incident had made the Soviet military gun-shy. Only the most senior commanders now had the authority to issue shoot-down orders and, on this day, they were all at a meeting in East Berlin.

May 28, 1987: Teen Tests Soviet Air Defenses | This Day In Tech | Wired.com

As a webmaster, you have a unique understanding of your web pages and the content they represent. Google helps users find your page by showing them a small sample of that content -- the "snippet." We use a variety of techniques to create these snippets and give users relevant information about what they'll find when they click through to visit your site. Today, we're announcing Rich Snippets, a new presentation of snippets that applies Google's algorithms to highlight structured data embedded in web pages.

For later reference

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Introducing Rich Snippets

Why oh why do I need Silverlight to view other background images in Bing?

Cause Tom makes me write out all the source...

<img id="paint">
<br/>
<span onclick="back()">prev</span>
<span onclick="fwd()">next</span>

<script>

var photos = [];
var index = photos.length -1;

window.onload = function() {

	photos = [
	"http://ncip.nssc.nasa.gov/images/Home/Moon%20Salute.jpg",
	"http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/385806153_c69fa2229b.jpg?v=0",
	"http://www.wired.com/news/images/full/billyh1_f.jpg",
	"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JdybrokZBAk/RcwA0k1O5tI/AAAAAAAAAUo/N0DPfOwEkq4/s320/DSCN0327.JPG",
	"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_p4tgkwtZjQ8/RklDPwv9oDI/AAAAAAAAAFk/oXMa5epUz3s/s320/C.Sima-Oct06+smaller+version.jpg"
	];

	index = 0;
	show();
}

function back() {
	if(index >=1) index--;
	show();
}

function fwd() {
	if(index < photos.length-1) index++;
	show();
}

function show() {
	document.getElementById('paint').src = photos[index];
}


</script>

Load the array through a remote JSON call and add a fading transition and you are good to go.

100 VC blogs. Hold for later

Global VC Blog Directory – Ranked By # of Google Reader Subscribers (May 2009) « Thinking About Thinking

In the tradition of Garfield minus Garfield (where if you remove Garfield from Garfield comics you are left with the sad delusional rants of Jon Arbuckle talking to himself) I give you Porn Sans People.

Porn Sans People

The present invention discloses a system for providing real-time validation of text input fields in a Web page during text entry. Such a system can include a validation-enhanced text input element and an input text validator. The validation-enhanced text input element can be configured to contain a validation expression for a text field in a Web page. The validation-enhanced text input element can be contained in the source code document that corresponds to the Web page. The input text validator can be configured to validate a character entered into the text field against the validation expression in real-time. Characters determined as invalid can be visually indicated by the input text validator in the text field.

<script>
  regexs = {};
  regexs['zip']=/\d{5}/;

</script>

<input
   style="background-color:white;"
   type="text"
   id="zip"
   onchange="this.style.backgroundColor = (this.value.match(regexs[this.id])) ? 'white' : 'red';"
>

Go fuck yourself.

USPA 0090132950: Or IBM, go fuck yourself

Creating New Yorker cover art? There's an app for that, too. Yep, that's right. The cover for the current issue of the New Yorker was created with an iPhone app.

The cover sports a night scene around a hot dog stand on 42nd Street in Manhattan. To create the image, artist Jorge Colombo used a $5 iPhone application called Brushes. Colombo told The New York Times he loved creating the scene with the iPhone because he didn't draw attention to himself, the way he would with an easel and paint, as he stood on 42nd street for over an hour tapping away on his iPhone.

I think this for 2 reasons:

1- I'm intrigued you could do something so high quality on a smart phone.

2- I'm amused you can stand on a street corner in New York for hours on end, not dressed like a bum, and no one says anything.

New Yorker Cover Art Created on an iPhone - PC World

Six German states have told retailers to stop selling Red Bull Cola energy drinks after a test found a trace amount of cocaine.

The bans started Friday after a sample test conducted by authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state found 0.4 micrograms per liter in the drink.

Five other states also banned it from shops amid concerns over possible narcotics law violations.

Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment said Monday that the cocaine level was too low to pose a health risk. It planned to produce a more detailed report Wednesday.

Red Bull said its cola is "harmless and marketable in both the U.S. and Europe." It said similar coca leaf extracts are used worldwide as flavoring, and a test it commissioned itself found no cocaine traces.

Germany is freaking out about trace amounts of Cocaine in Red Bull?

They should go to Italy...

The River Po was found to be carrying the equivalent of nearly 4kg (8.8lb) of cocaine daily. The Po Valley is home to about five million people.

of course that might explain some of the "interesting" side effects...

Red Bull + Cocaine? Check Italy

good times

Prajakta vs. the beer