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New years hijinks from the gang

The Bubbles Saga continues

Pintsize!

Holiday adventures with Veronica, Sam and JIm

Science with Raven!!

Tai and Doras wedding

The Origins of Corpse Witch

Hanners enters The Bubbles Saga

The return of Winslow and Meiville

Flying Roomba Adventures

Sathe Ham with Space Pizza and Beer

Brun gets a job!!

Clin-ton and Emily - The Redating

Drinks at 'the Horrible Revelation' with Will, Penny and Jimbo

Purple Monkey AnthroPC Dishwasher

Butts!!

[de_la_Nae]

Hooooly crap, i know I don't come into these threads, but it's 'great' to see that some of you are still Debbie Downers.

These evils can be pushed back, these demons can be slain. They never go down without a fight, but they also never go down if you don't fight.

Get angry! Get up! Get out there and grab your friends and *figuratively burn that Corpse Witch to the ground*.

Or do you want the figurative jackboot pounding down on Bubbles' face over and over again for all time?

GET. HYPE.

[Akima]

I was all "Awww!", but then I thought: "How does Bubbles keep her lenses clean, and her eyelids lubricated when they close over them?" If she used the same trick as certain lizards, social interaction would be difficult.

These evils can be pushed back, these demons can be slain. They never go down without a fight, but they also never go down if you don't fight.

Damn straight!

[de_la_Nae]

and eventually, in a tone of outrage, asked the guy organizing the whole thing, "Why are you feeding these people?!"

The answer was the second finest shut-up I have ever witnessed:  "Because they are hungry."

Also I can't upvote this enough, i just want to state that

[BenRG]

I wonder what the consequences will be of Hannelore informing Station of what is going on? Will Corpse Witch suddenly be remotely accessed and she'll find herself in a virtual court, surrounded by the avatars of the Gods of the AIs, all declaring judgement on her?

I was all "Awww!", but then I thought: "How does Bubbles keep her lenses clean, and her eyelids lubricated when they close over them?" If she used the same trick as certain lizards, social interaction would be difficult.

It's possible that she uses a different form of cleaning solution than tears, maybe a transparent second eyelid that regularly slides up into a cleaning area (with a new one coming up from below and the two swapping out every few seconds). It occurs to me that a military chassis wouldn't be designed with an optical sensor cleaning system that reduces visual acuity under high stress scenarios.

[TRenn]

I've been in the same situation as Bubbles in the middle bottom panel. It's not the tear ducts, it's the heart. Cruelty and opposition I can cope with, I thrive on it, and I bet Bubbles does too. But kindness... seeing just how Good some people are.. especially when they're being good to you.. no defence.

Sam Starfall also feels your pain.

"Accusations I can handle. I know what to do when threatened with violence. But a hug? How am I supposed to counter a hug?"

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff500/fv00483.htm

[Case]

2. In the north, yes, most houses have basements or attics. (Basements are less common in the southern US.) But Faye doesn't live in a house, she lives in an apartment building, and many of those do not have a storage space as part of the deal. We've never seen one in all the time Marten and Faye have lived in that apartment, so I'm guessing they don't have one.

Thanks! It's sometimes a bit difficult to translate terms between our coordinate system and that of the US, particularly with the different philosophies regarding home ownership, or the readiness to take out loans.

Germany's home-ownership rate is much lower (43% vs. 69%), in part due to historical reasons. Renting has long been encouraged by various Governments, and building a 'house' can easily cost you 300.000€. I was quite astonished when I learned about GWB's plans to "spreading the dream of home ownership", since over here, home-ownership is seen as sign of ... well, not quite 'wealth', but certainly as 'being comfortably in the secure range of the middle-class'.

As I said, apartment buildings having a basement partitioned into storage spaces for the tenants may not be the norm, but it's far from rare.

Most beautiful words anyone ever heard, if they want to break encryption.  "A variant of". 
...

Need moar crypto-nerding!  (Just yesterday, I read about Turing's 'eins'-catalogue, or 'The world wonders' ...)


Comic: D'aaaaaaaaaaaw - HanneloreHugs are magic! 

[brasca]

WRT Bubbles not being equipped with tear ducts, bear in mind that some AIs ARE equipped with them.

Seeing as how Momo had a stereotypical anime chassis I imagine it had built in tear ducts for occasions like that.  Bubbles has a military chassis so it's amazing her face can actually express emotion at all. 

Although it's possible that Hannelore and her resources won't be enough as Bubbles theorized it doesn't hurt to try.  It's also possible that all of this can be averted if they just bribe Corpse Witch enough.  She is a business AI. 

[ZoeB]

These evils can be pushed back, these demons can be slain. They never go down without a fight, but they also never go down if you don't fight

They can't always be slain - but that just means you never get the chance to rest from fighting them, it doesn't mean they can't be beaten back.

Besides which, it's the only game in town. It's not as if opposing them is a choice, or optional. Neither does the fight have to be just you alone.

[Skewbrow]

I don't think I qualify for a crypto nerd. I am just a math guy who had reason to get somewhat familiarized with the algebra side of crypto (Read: I have served as the external examiner in one math PhD dissertation on some point of elliptic curve crypto). Also I once was the algebra guy in one crypto project our math department ran together with a couple of engineers from various companies.

Anyway, in theory it is possible to design a cryptosystem that is mathematically secure, i.e. one that not even Station with his considerable computational power cannot crack. But (what I learned from the engineers), there will often be various and sundry implementation attacks (depending on the application, and what the attacker has access to). If you google up "Implementation attack", you will find stuff about how a password to, say a smartcard, may be vulnerable if you can measure the chip's power consumption or time it when running.

None of that is at all relevant in this case where we have something like a partition of a hard disk encrypted. However, the human component is the weakest link in most crypto (your PIN-code is likely to be 0000 or 1234, or if you are a math nerd 3141). IOW: What Morituri said. There are other exploitable weaknesses in such systems. So Station may be able to help if he can locate an expert, but he probably cannot help by applying raw computational power.

[Method of Madness]

Wouldn't it be 3142? (1000pi rounded to the nearest integer)

[pwhodges]

There are so many ways to be a maths nerd, though.  If that were my basis for choosing a PIN (which it wasn't!), I would have gone for 0628.

[cesium133]

There are so many ways to be a maths nerd, though.  If that were my basis for choosing a PIN (which it wasn't!), I would have gone for 0628.

80th--84th digit of pi?

[pwhodges]

Hardly!

(click to show/hide)

First two perfect numbers (had to add the zero to make four digits)

Or perhaps I could have gone for 1597...

(click to show/hide)

First four-digit Fibonacci number

[Skewbrow]

Well. The PIN-code and the screenlock code (dunno what's it called in English) to my cell phone are 1416 and 26535 respectively. When I worked for Nokia, I was to select a PIN to operate the door at wee hours. I first asked for 3141 or 3142. Both were already taken

This from someone who memorized Pi up to 465 decimal places in junior high.

Or perhaps I could have gone for 1597...

(click to show/hide)

First four-digit Fibonacci number

There was no need to spoiler that. That number appeared in an IMO problem in '81:

How large can the sum m³+n³ be given that m,n are positive integers less than 1981 such that (m²-mn-n²)²=1?

Solving that played a big role in me earning my first IMO bronze medal.

(click to show/hide)

The fun part was to figure out and prove that the equation holds if and only if m and n are consecutive Fibonacci numbers. 1597 is the largest Fibonacci number below 1981.

[cesium133]

I only memorized Pi to 190 digits in high school.

[St.Clair]

Most beautiful words anyone ever heard, if they want to break encryption.  "A variant of". 

Meaning somebody did their own crypto implementation, meaning unless they are a specialist they almost certainly got it wrong.

Well, that's good to hear.  My worry, upon hearing that, was that it would be just different enough to foil the "usual" approaches/exploits, allowing the "auto-destruct" feature to kick in.
(And that may have actually been Jeph's narrative intent, depending (among other things) on his own knowledge of crypto, etc.)

On the gripping hand, it's possible that CW is (supposed to be) a specialist ... just in particular subjects and with history which, like Bubbles, make her either unemployable or not temperamentally inclined toward "legit" work.  Mid-level career criminal or fellow product of government black project?  Perhaps we'll find out.

[Storel]

Well. The PIN-code and the screenlock code (dunno what's it called in English) to my cell phone are 1416 and 26535 respectively. When I worked for Nokia, I was to select a PIN to operate the door at wee hours. I first asked for 3141 or 3142. Both were already taken

Wasn't very secure for them to tell you they were already taken. Now if you ever wanted to pretend to be someone else using the door at wee hours, you had two other codes you could use.

[Morituri]

I was all "Awww!", but then I thought: "How does Bubbles keep her lenses clean, and her eyelids lubricated when they close over them?" If she used the same trick as certain lizards, social interaction would be difficult.

"No, honestly, humans don't cut their eyelashes, their eyelashes are just naturally that short.  Don't ask me how they keep their faces clean; many of them don't." 

If anyone can identify the quote you win a tasty, tasty biscuit.

Cameras and lights on some military all-terrain vehicles are mounted inside a rotating, hemispherical (usually bullet resistant) plexiglass housing, with a fixed helical "wiper" (and usually a spray nozzle that can be turned on) to wash/wipe crud off the housing as it rotates under the wiper.  Bubbles' eyes could be the same sort of system, with the cleaning and lubrication system mounted inside her head.

[Morituri]

Anyway, in theory it is possible to design a cryptosystem that is mathematically secure, i.e. one that not even Station with his considerable computational power cannot crack. But (what I learned from the engineers), there will often be various and sundry implementation attacks (depending on the application, and what the attacker has access to). If you google up "Implementation attack", you will find stuff about how a password to, say a smartcard, may be vulnerable if you can measure the chip's power consumption or time it when running.

For starters, the unencrypted form probably still exists on a server somewhere accessible to military and intel brass.  Military vehicles mount cameras and audio recorders, and that data gets analyzed and archived.  I've no reason to suppose they wouldn't do the same to Bubbles' sensory memories.   Soldiers have no right to privacy which affects that, but citizens, once they've mustered out, do have FOIA access to it provided that it's stuff they saw in person first. 

As an American citizen she has the right to make an FOIA request for those recordings. If she had it when she mustered out, she has a right to know, so the FOIA request would be approved unless someone is deliberately breaking the law.  Which, admittedly, they might likely do, but no matter what, refusing it if she has a right to know would still be breaking the law.  Someone making the decision might not choose to risk his own ass in order to cover the ass of someone else who made illegal decisions.

ObCrypto, People will find even more stuff by searching on "Side Channel Attack." 

Did you know that when you're doing math on large numbers, most math libraries will use an algorithm that allows an observer who can time the operation to drastically narrow down their guesses as to what number it was?  And one who can measure power consumption at the same time to narrow it down to within a few dozen guesses?  Did you know that numbers particularly vulnerable to this used to be PREFERRED as the factors in key exchanges and RSA encryption, and that people have demonstrated the ability to pick up the needed timing/power information from recordings of bluetooth networks in the area when the operation was done?  Did you know that a major linux distribution spent YEARS failing to initialize their random-number generator correctly, and people would get 256-bit keys (secure until the last star dies!) that had only 64-bit security (secure until about thursday afternoon)?  Did you know that your smartphone can be used to covertly get a recording of you typing a password or key? And that given the recording, even if it's audio only, it's REALLY REALLY easy to get the password or key?  Hell, if Bubbles *heard* CW typing the key or passphrase, and has recorded audio, it can be recovered.

[Case]

I don't think I qualify for a crypto nerd. I am just a math guy who had reason to get somewhat familiarized with the algebra side of crypto (Read: I have served as the external examiner in one math PhD dissertation on some point of elliptic curve crypto). Also I once was the algebra guy in one crypto project our math department ran together with a couple of engineers from various companies.

Had a quick look at elliptic curves: Fascinating subject, but it went quickly over my head -> I have the standard physicist training in analysis and (linear) algebra and am  familiar with elliptic integrals, complex analysis and elliptic functions (to a degree), though my 'mathematical horizon' is pretty much Lie-groups/algebras (and my bag of 'what I picked up along the way' usual for physicist).  Pretty much the "It's neither differentiable, nor combinatorics, so why bother?"-attitude to 'discrete stuff'. Guess that was a bit ... premature. 

Seems rather close to Andrew Wiles famous work? And if I understand correctly, Shor's algorithm wouldn't help(?), so even if Station had quantum computational capacities, it wouldn't be able to brute-force elliptic curve crypto?

EDIT: Just saw that Shor also had a second algorithm for discrete logarithms?

Well. The PIN-code and the screenlock code (dunno what's it called in English) to my cell phone are 1416 and 26535 respectively. When I worked for Nokia, I was to select a PIN to operate the door at wee hours. I first asked for 3141 or 3142. Both were already taken

Wasn't very secure for them to tell you they were already taken. Now if you ever wanted to pretend to be someone else using the door at wee hours, you had two other codes you could use.

Hmmmh, I'd rather suspect that, with Nokia being a geek-factory, somebody told building-security to disable 3141(2), play a well-known tune for 1701 and award style-points for 2718 

[Skewbrow]

ObCrypto, People will find even more stuff by searching on "Side Channel Attack." 

Conceding that!

Did you know that when you're doing math on large numbers, most math libraries will use an algorithm that allows an observer who can time the operation to drastically narrow down their guesses as to what number it was?  And one who can measure power consumption at the same time to narrow it down to within a few dozen guesses?  Did you know that numbers particularly vulnerable to this used to be PREFERRED as the factors in key exchanges and RSA encryption, and that people have demonstrated the ability to pick up the needed timing/power information from recordings of bluetooth networks in the area when the operation was done?  Did you know that a major linux distribution spent YEARS failing to initialize their random-number generator correctly, and people would get 256-bit keys (secure until the last star dies!) that had only 64-bit security (secure until about thursday afternoon)?  Did you know that your smartphone can be used to covertly get a recording of you typing a password or key? And that given the recording, even if it's audio only, it's REALLY REALLY easy to get the password or key?  Hell, if Bubbles *heard* CW typing the key or passphrase, and has recorded audio, it can be recovered.

I did not know about vulnerability via Bluetooth recordings but that makes perfect sense! When I learned about these they showed me timing data of a chip performing RSA primitive operations, and pics of how you disturb (with a carefully timed EM or laser pulse) a chip doing RSA aided with the Chinese remainder theorem in such a way that from the error you can easily recover the secret key. At that time the rage was to blind the true RSA decryption exponent by a random multiple of lcm(p-1,q-1) so that different runs used exponents blinded differently (making statistical analysis over several runs of square-and-multiply impossible). Same on ECC. But I'm not at all up to speed with what has happened in the last 10+ years. And, I don't know if e.g. the timing attacks are accurate enough that you could actually read the secret key bit-by-bit from data on a single run of the algorithm (rendering above blinding moot).

But, no, I didn't know about the other things you mentioned. Thanks for sharing.

[Skewbrow]

Had a quick look at elliptic curves: Fascinating subject, but it went quickly over my head -> I have the standard physicist training in analysis and (linear) algebra and am  familiar with elliptic integrals, complex analysis and elliptic functions (to a degree), though my 'mathematical horizon' is pretty much Lie-groups/algebras (and my bag of 'what I picked up along the way' usual for physicist).  Pretty much the "It's neither differentiable, nor combinatorics, so why bother?"-attitude to 'discrete stuff'. Guess that was a bit ... premature. 

Lie groups/algebras! Were you doing stuff on elementary particles, supersymmetry and the like? My own dissertation was on algebraic groups (= positive characteristic analogues of Lie groups) where the Lie-algebra side is the same (but won't give quite as conclusive results as in the boring characteristic zero case). We use algebraic geometry there as a subsititute for analysis. Thankfully you only need to believe in (the results of) algebraic geometry. Something I could do even though I never quite got the hang of AG (other than in the simple case of curves). Equally thankfully familiarity with curves allows you to have fun in EC crypto as well as in error-correcting-code side - the latter I have worked on more seriously.

Seems rather close to Andrew Wiles famous work? And if I understand correctly, Shor's algorithm wouldn't help(?), so even if Station had quantum computational capacities, it wouldn't be able to brute-force elliptic curve crypto?

EDIT: Just saw that Shor also had a second algorithm for discrete logarithms?

Andew Wiles did study elliptic curves, but the machinery he used goes way over my head. I once had a colleague who wanted to work on Wiles' proof. He got to something like the half-way point (that's what he said), but then had to quit. The poor guy never finished his PhD. He took up teaching and running, and went on to win the 50+ class at Berlin Marathon!

Didn't know that Shor would have a quantum computer algorithm for discrete logs? God, I'm out of touch of what's going on. Years of teaching calculus to reluctant physics majors and bottles of fine single malts are taking their toll

[Storel]

Well. The PIN-code and the screenlock code (dunno what's it called in English) to my cell phone are 1416 and 26535 respectively. When I worked for Nokia, I was to select a PIN to operate the door at wee hours. I first asked for 3141 or 3142. Both were already taken

Wasn't very secure for them to tell you they were already taken. Now if you ever wanted to pretend to be someone else using the door at wee hours, you had two other codes you could use.

Hmmmh, I'd rather suspect that, with Nokia being a geek-factory, somebody told building-security to disable 3141(2), play a well-known tune for 1701 and award style-points for 2718 

Okay, I recognized 2.718 as e pretty quickly, but it took me a couple of minutes to figure out what "well-known tune" should go with 1701 -- I was trying to think of mathematical and physical constants, not pop culture references! But yes, some geek absolutely would have chosen that one if it were available.

I would love to believe that Nokia's security was that geek-savvy -- I suppose it depends on how much of a geek the person in charge of their security was. One can hope.

[gprimr1]

So I see two ways this could go:

1.) Corpse Witch is obv a very, very skilled tech as Bubbles admits the procedure she did was not easy. Her encryption could be very well done, and very hard to break.

2.) Corpse Witch's own arrogance could have resulted in her leaving a fatal error in that she would not consider a powerful AI working against her since she doesn't believe in AI/Human relationships.

Now, based on reading the comic, I would be disappointed if the comic goes in direction 2. Direction 2 has several flaws.

1.) Corpse Witch knows the police have AI crimes units, which are staffed by AIs.
2.) Corpse Witch has to know that when your working in the underworld, people and AIs can turn or be turned.

[oeoek]

By the by, not sure if this has been mentioned before; Do we remember the management's awesome power of password? And might that management be Corps Witch? Station might have trouble solving a problem at that level...

[BenRG]

New Comic Up!

Just out of interest, what's 'Plan B'? I know that Plan A is for Station to pull some deus ex machina out of his avatar's backside and save the day but Plan B? Disable Corpse Witch with an electropulse bomb and leave her disassembled and harmless until they can put together enough from her personal data to hand her over to Detective Basilisk as a gift-wrapped Thanksgiving gift?

[TinPenguin]

That 'donk' killed me.

[Storel]

Plan C? More like Plan D-minus...

(Or maybe Plan Demonium?  )

Just out of interest, what's 'Plan B'? I know that Plan A is for Station to pull some deus ex machina out of his avatar's backside and save the day but Plan B? Disable Corpse Witch with an electropulse bomb and leave her disassembled and harmless until they can put together enough from her personal data to hand her over to Detective Basilisk as a gift-wrapped Thanksgiving gift?

My guess:

Plan A: Station says "A modified form of AegisMaze QSE? Pff! I'll dedicate a quantum server to that right now; should have something for you by Tuesday."

Plan B: To be decided when/if Plan A fails.

[pwhodges]

Plan B is anything other than plan C.

[Perfectly Reasonable]

Need moar crypto-nerding!  (Just yesterday, I read about Turing's 'eins'-catalogue, or 'The world wonders'

Google is mai furendo:

EINS was the commonest tetragram in German Naval traffic, something in the region of 90% of the genuine messages contained at least one EINS. An EINS catalogue consisted of the results of encyphering EINS at all the 17,000 positions of the machine on the keys of the day in question.

(http://www.ellsbury.com/hut8/hut8-000.htm -- Enigma, Alan Turing, Bletchly Park)

[A small perverse otter]

2718 (and 1828) both get style points for e, but I'd also award style points for 1618 (golden ratio) or even 0577 (or 5772) for Euler's constant. I mean, really, let's geek out for real.

Speaking as a bit of a crypto-geek, I read "a variant of" as "some idiot changed the algorithm and almost certainly introduced major new vulnerabilities". Subtle attacks always lose to "randomness? what randomness?" attacks.

[DSL]

Plan B is anything other than plan C.

For me, "Plan B" was defined as "Plan A without the crap the boss put in."

[Mad Cat]

Plan A: All's normal, hope in time CW ponies up the correct encryption keys and the memories are unlocked without any further mental booby trappage.

Plan B: Binary Bedevilry from a Buddy's orbitting Brain.

Plan C: Compact Corpse Witch into a tin Can.

[Is it cold in here?]

2718 (and 1828) both get style points for e, but I'd also award style points for 1618 (golden ratio) or even 0577 (or 5772) for Euler's constant. I mean, really, let's geek out for real.

Speaking as a bit of a crypto-geek, I read "a variant of" as "some idiot changed the algorithm and almost certainly introduced major new vulnerabilities". Subtle attacks always lose to "randomness? what randomness?" attacks.

Welcome, informative new person!

[BenRG]

Panel 3 is a lovely Bubbles character moment. She really isn't used to any kind of displays of affection, is she? In fact, I really do wonder if she doesn't feel worthy of them. The way she blushes every time Faye (or anyone else for that matter) gets into her personal space in a nice way is a lovely little 'coming out of her shell' moment.

I'm pretty sure that we're at the end of this arc now. Tomorrow and Friday will either be filler or something else (possibly going back to Brun trying to survive in an alien world full of rules that make no sense to her). However, I'm wondering just how long Bubbles will be able to keep her pretence of defeat around Corpse Witch and I can't shake the worry that she might have a second layer of coercion ready to deploy.

[oddtail]

In fact, I really do wonder if she doesn't feel worthy of them.

It's a gross oversimplification, but I think on some level, *most* people don't feel worthy of them.

Given Bubbles' probable history, I think affection is something she rarely had the chance to experience, and also something she semi-consciously avoided. And if she's not used to affection, she likely thinks that she needs to do something super-special to deserve it, which she thinks she hasn't. In my experience, that's how it often works.

[Case]

Had a quick look at elliptic curves: Fascinating subject, but it went quickly over my head -> I have the standard physicist training in analysis and (linear) algebra and am  familiar with elliptic integrals, complex analysis and elliptic functions (to a degree), though my 'mathematical horizon' is pretty much Lie-groups/algebras (and my bag of 'what I picked up along the way' usual for physicist).  Pretty much the "It's neither differentiable, nor combinatorics, so why bother?"-attitude to 'discrete stuff'. Guess that was a bit ... premature. 

Lie groups/algebras! Were you doing stuff on elementary particles, supersymmetry and the like? My own dissertation was on algebraic groups (= positive characteristic analogues of Lie groups) where the Lie-algebra side is the same (but won't give quite as conclusive results as in the boring characteristic zero case). We use algebraic geometry there as a subsititute for analysis. Thankfully you only need to believe in (the results of) algebraic geometry. Something I could do even though I never quite got the hang of AG (other than in the simple case of curves). Equally thankfully familiarity with curves allows you to have fun in EC crypto as well as in error-correcting-code side - the latter I have worked on more seriously.

No, I work in theoretical solid state physics; my toolbox is statistical quantum field theory - but that means I'm 'only a Wick-rotation away' from many of the ideas and concepts from high-energy/particle physics & there's always been an overlap between the two fields (cf. Feynman, Dyson etc.). We also get the basic training in "second quantization" that the high-energy/particle physicists get, and I'm 'comfortable' with most of quantum electrodynamics, but I have no serious training e.g. QCD.

I have no formal training in Algebra - but Lie Algebras are so ubiquitous in quantum theory ((bosonic) Commutator, Poisson Bracket, outer vector (cross-) product, SO(n), SU(n), Campbell-Baker-Haussdorff relation ...) that you 'know' how the gears work long before you pick up a book to "let a mathematician confuse you about stuff you already use on a daily basis". 

(Especially as a theoretical physicist, you have to take care not to 'drown in the mathematics', because there's "Just so much Shiny!" - technically, my toolbox touches on pretty much three fourths of the hot topics of mathematics of the last two centuries - you need to get a working knowledge on what you need to do your job rather than an exhaustive insight into every subject.)

It helps a bit that German physics undergraduates going the 'Diploma'-curriculum path (the system before we adopted 'Bologna') trained together with the mathematicians for about 4 Semesters - we pick up a 'algebraic structures emergency field-kit' already in the first two Semesters, so to speak, but our knowledge is application-oriented, rather than rigorously formal. Wrt. Algebra, you're often introduced to the general ideas using specific matrix-representations of generators (e.g. Pauli-matrices) and over time, you see that certain stuff just keeps showing up again and again ... 

My speciality is strongly correlated 1-dimensional systems & I'm dabbling in topological isolators/crystals - Luttinger Liquid theory and bosonization are my weapons of choice.

Andew Wiles did study elliptic curves, but the machinery he used goes way over my head. I once had a colleague who wanted to work on Wiles' proof. He got to something like the half-way point (that's what he said), but then had to quit. The poor guy never finished his PhD. He took up teaching and running, and went on to win the 50+ class at Berlin Marathon!

Didn't know that Shor would have a quantum computer algorithm for discrete logs? God, I'm out of touch of what's going on. Years of teaching calculus to reluctant physics majors and bottles of fine single malts are taking their toll

Hey man - you do understand I'm riffing off of a Bio of Wiles' I once read & the three jargon-buzzwords I picked up from sleeping through sitting in the talks of the quantum-CS department, do you? (Jeez, you Mathematicians are so easy discombobulate ...  ). The stuff about Shor's discrete log algo I picked up on Wiki, btw ...

IIRC, "half of Wiles' proof" is already the equivalent of two or three Masters-level courses plus a dissertation or three? I heard that the beauty of it was that Wiles connected two (three) different fields of research so rigorously that Fermat's conjecture simple falls into your lap as a byproduct in the end - but that it's applications go far, far beyond it?

[A small perverse otter]

Poisson Bracke

OT, sort of, but back when I was working on my Ph.D. in math, our department required that each of us demonstrate the ability to translate articles in two languages other than English into English. One of the other graduate students translated "supports Poisson" as "fish hooks" during his French translation exam.

The examiners were so taken aback by the translation that they gave it to him, even though it was totally wrong.

[cesium133]

In my graduate classical mechanics course, after a lecture on Poisson brackets, one of the Chinese grad students in the class asked me why they called them "poison brackets." I then had the pleasure of explaining to him that they were named for a guy whose name means Fish.

[Case]

In my graduate classical mechanics course, after a lecture on Poisson brackets, one of the Chinese grad students in the class asked me why they called them "poison brackets." I then had the pleasure of explaining to him that they were named for a guy whose name means Fish.

Shoulda told him "Because it's such a derivative concept" ... 

[Thrudd]

Just to add to the Geek list of geeky constants and numerical values .... I may have used some of these in the past  Guess what my major was. 

299792458	c
6674	G
6626070	h
1256637061	μ0
8854187817	ε0
1602176620	e
2112

[Skewbrow]

OT, sort of, but back when I was working on my Ph.D. in math, our department required that each of us demonstrate the ability to translate articles in two languages other than English into English. One of the other graduate students translated "supports Poisson" as "fish hooks" during his French translation exam.

The examiners were so taken aback by the translation that they gave it to him, even though it was totally wrong.

Thanks for reminding me about the fact that one of the main reasons why I didn't study more algebraic geometry was that the definitive texts are available in French only.

No, I work in theoretical solid state physics; my toolbox is statistical quantum field theory - but that means I'm 'only a Wick-rotation away' from many of the ideas and concepts from high-energy/particle physics & there's always been an overlap between the two fields (cf. Feynman, Dyson etc.). We also get the basic training in "second quantization" that the high-energy/particle physicists get, and I'm 'comfortable' with most of quantum electrodynamics, but I have no serious training e.g. QCD.

I have no formal training in Algebra - but Lie Algebras are so ubiquitous in quantum theory ((bosonic) Commutator, Poisson Bracket, outer vector (cross-) product, SO(n), SU(n), Campbell-Baker-Haussdorff relation ...) that you 'know' how the gears work long before you pick up a book to "let a mathematician confuse you about stuff you already use on a daily basis". 

Fair enough. I had theoretical physics as a minor subject as an undergraduate. May be because in high school I dreamed of being a particle physicist? Anyway, my course load ended with elements of QED and something called Lagrangian field theory. One of the final exam questions was to derive the electro-weak Hamiltonian - that one long formula spilling over 3 pages in a textbook. I realized that it was not for me

(Especially as a theoretical physicist, you have to take care not to 'drown in the mathematics', because there's "Just so much Shiny!" - technically, my toolbox touches on pretty much three fourths of the hot topics of mathematics of the last two centuries - you need to get a working knowledge on what you need to do your job rather than an exhaustive insight into every subject.)

I sort of see where that comes from. When I was trying to read Misner, Thorne & Wheeler differential geometry and tensors didn't feel too bad. But when you try to pick it up from a math book you get this WTF? I tell my physics friends that I gave up physics and went into math because I didn't know enuff math to do physics

Hey man - you do understand I'm riffing off of a Bio of Wiles' I once read & the three jargon-buzzwords I picked up from sleeping through sitting in the talks of the quantum-CS department, do you? (Jeez, you Mathematicians are so easy discombobulate ...  ). The stuff about Shor's discrete log algo I picked up on Wiki, btw ...

Figures. I have become somewhat desensitized to the fact that the internet has a lot of people sounding reasonably knowledgeable when they are in fact just googling things up. I guess it's the generation gap

[Method of Madness]

In my graduate classical mechanics course, after a lecture on Poisson brackets, one of the Chinese grad students in the class asked me why they called them "poison brackets." I then had the pleasure of explaining to him that they were named for a guy whose name means Fish.

Shoulda told him "Because it's such a derivative concept" ... 

[Kugai]

I shall be extremely disappointed if we get filler after today

And compacting Corpse Withch is something I want to see 

[brasca]

Panel 3 is a lovely Bubbles character moment. She really isn't used to any kind of displays of affection, is she? In fact, I really do wonder if she doesn't feel worthy of them. The way she blushes every time Faye (or anyone else for that matter) gets into her personal space in a nice way is a lovely little 'coming out of her shell' moment.

I'm pretty sure that we're at the end of this arc now. Tomorrow and Friday will either be filler or something else (possibly going back to Brun trying to survive in an alien world full of rules that make no sense to her). However, I'm wondering just how long Bubbles will be able to keep her pretence of defeat around Corpse Witch and I can't shake the worry that she might have a second layer of coercion ready to deploy.

Since it's going to take some time to figure out what to do most likely the focus will shift to one of the other plotlines.  While I'd like to see if Brun found a job I'd also like to revisit some of the other characters and see what they're up to. 

[BenRG]

New Comic Up!

Well, Corpse Witch is screwed. She's a whiff of ionised ozone, argon and helium flashing away at hypersonic velocities from a railgun strike that hasn't realised it yet. The whole assembly of god-tier AIs know about her tricks and they are not happy.

Still, Station is right about one thing. Bubbles has to take the next step; she and she alone can set the wheels (and the linear electromagnetic impeller) in motion.

[osaka]

Does "Orbital Railgun Justice" mean that he'd sock CW with a space pizza? Sounds as more justice-y than just the standard railgun projectile.

[brasca]

New Comic Up!

Well, Corpse Witch is screwed. She's a whiff of ionised ozone, argon and helium flashing away at hypersonic velocities from a railgun strike that hasn't realised it yet.

And so would every other AI working at the skate park and potentially anyone else in the immediate area which is probably why Hannelore would prefer not to go that route.  Besides if AIs can download themselves into new bodies then more than likely she'd just escape into a new body and strike back later. 

It's actually refreshing to see that this problem cannot be resolved by Hannelore's resources because that would be too easy.  Maybe they can trick Corpse Witch into giving up the key all on their own or maybe Bubbles walks away from her memories, but this isn't going to be wrapped up with a privately owned Death Star or Beatrice Chatham's financial network. 

[TinPenguin]

Jeph has clearly put a lot of thoughtful planning into this storyline, and I can't imagine he'll waste it on a magical fairy wand. I am very interested to see what resolution he is leading us towards, though, and I'm hoping it's not "everyone accepts the harsh reality and decides to live with it for now" - as bold an authorial move as that would be.

[Mordhaus]

Oribital Railgun Justice reminds me of this https://youtu.be/vWpuhz8-EHY