How far ahead of the unclassified world is the classified world?
By 1981 or earlier there was a whole classified literature on compromising
emanations, yet the unclassified world -- the "open literature" -- is only
starting to examine this subject in earnest now. (Wim van Eck's paper on
emanations was published in 1985, four years after that, but later FOIA
requests suggest van Eck's work only scratched the surface -- the state
of the military art was much broader than what van Eck referred to.)
British researchers
invented
public-key cryptography years before Diffie and Hellman (and also
figured out RSA before Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman). But the public
only found out about this recently, because the invention was
classified.
Civilians are starting to get
good satellite photos, but how
many years behind military spy satellites are they?
I've been to two incredibly good Japanese restaurants recently. I'd
been to each before, but the new visits reminded me of just how good
they are.
I went with Praveen to Ryowa Ramen (2068 University Avenue, Berkeley),
which has the best ramen I've ever had. (My fellow California loyalty
oath opponent Jimmer Endres introduced me to Ryowa.) And then I went
with Ren to Minako Organic Sushi (2154 Mission Street, San Francisco),
which has the best sushi I've ever had. My opinions on Japanese food
may be perceived as eccentric because I don't eat fish, and some people
can't imagine how you could have a proper opinion on Japanese food
without eating fish.
But actually, I think my first meal at Minako was the best meal I've
ever had -- from any cuisine.
Speaking of great restaurants, I also went with Praveen and friends
to the Indian Oven,
which has been rated as the best Indian restaurant in San Francisco.
It was also excellent, and I'm tempted to go there for my
birthday.
My ear infection is finally gone. That's a relief; I was feeling
sick for over four weeks, which contributed to the lack of diary
entries here. I'll try to get back in the habit of writing more
regularly.
Unfortunately, I'm having a lot of arm pain again. It's funny how
problems can seem to line up in series, so that they're experienced
one at a time (seriatim, as the Latin adverb-wielding
lawyers put it).
I visited Kragen and Beatrice
and tried out wedding cake (remember:
choose the strawberry!) and got to meet some of their friends and
make pirate jokes.
We had a meeting at the headquarters of
AC Transit in Oakland to
talk about privacy issues in the new TransLink system. If Lee
doesn't mind, I may publish some notes soon. Transit privacy is
an interesting issue which is becoming more so as more transit
operators accept more payments with stored-value instruments linked
to large databases.
I went to the RSA Conference and saw various people I knew, and got
to talk DRM with several interested strangers. I also had the
latest of my meetings with Microsoft on trusted computing, had an
informal meeting with AMD, and resolved to finish a paper on the subject.
In other RSA news, I got to ride a Segway scooter for the first time, thanks
to a company using it as a booth attraction. It is a wonderful
feeling. (I don't see it as a healthy replacement for a bicycle,
or a practical replacement for a car, but it's fun!)
Supposedly I'm going to get e-mail with a digital picture of myself
riding the Segway.
While I was in the South of Market, I dropped by a convenience store
where I used to shop, and bought a few things for old time's sake.
I told the owner about moving away from the South of Market area
because of the rents. During the boom, I told him, they tried to
increase our rent to $3,000 a month, or was it $4,000? The store
owner said he thought those rents were back down around $2,000 now.
It's sad to wander around there and see the CoffeeNet closed down
(and even painted white instead of purple, the only signs of its
former glory being some purple spots on the sidewalk where the paint
had dripped) and the Something
Wonderful gone, too.
