It's News to Me

Philippa Beadle, the Global Footprint Manager for Identum whose encryption product Private Post I discussed yesterday, responded this morning to my further questions with the following summary:

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After some experimentation, Paul and I have been able to exchange encrypted messages using Private Post that I mentioned earlier this morning. While installing it here on my computer, I read the EULA and discovered in it that the software is a 60-day trial version and that after that time there is a license fee for the Pro version but that there is a Lite version that will remain free. Interestingly, I didn't see that anywhere on their website. Because of that I tried to send an email to their support group and got the message from my mail program that the message was not sent because the «destination was not valid in DNS.» That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, I must say. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Bruce Schneier has to say about it, once he has had a chance to review it. When I see that response, I'll note it here.

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This morning I awoke to find an email from my friend Paul Moor alerting me to a new encryption technology service called Identum. The company makes it's product, called Private Post, available for free. The encryption technology used for this product is the so-called Sakai-Kasahara Identity-Based Encryption (SK-IBE). A highly-technical document called the «Security Proof of Sakai-Kasahara's Identity-Based Encryption Scheme» can be downloaded in this PDF.

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This morning, for the first time ever, I got up early and went out into the zoo that is called Black Friday for the inaugural day of the shopping season for the Christmas holidays. As I approached the Best Buy store near my home at around 5:45 a.m., I could see that finding a parking place in their lot would be a frustrating, if not an impossible task, so I parked in the Lowe's parking lot near by. The doors were scheduled to open at 5:00 a.m. and I had hoped to be there in line for that opening, but my best laid plans, like those of mice and men before me, went awry. Even at 5:45 a.m. when I arrived there was a queue that stretched the length of the building, outside the store, awaiting permission just to go inside and partake of the bountiful bargains awaiting us there.

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«Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.» -- Cicero

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I have just gotten off the phone with Carole, my ex-wife, who just yesterday completed the last of her 33 radiation treatments for breast cancer. She had the radiation after completing chemotherapy, so all of the immediate treatments related to the cancer that was discovered and removed surgically from her left breast have now been completed.

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Always look on the bright side of life, originally uploaded by razorbern.

This photo was taken by Bernie D and is reproduced with his specific permission. I've left his title for the picture just as he has it on Flickr because it is so appropriate to the picture, and for me, it creates what some call an «ear worm,» that I just can't get rid of. The song is «Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,» and I first encountered it in Monty Python's, «The Life of Brian.» The lyrics can be found here.

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Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that back in July when my Internet and cable television connection went down for five days, I began walking around the neighborhood for exercise. I've since learned that the route I cover is a little over 2 miles. For a while I was counting off the milestones as I they passed. Today marks the 120th day of that program, but alas! I have missed one day (November 2nd) so the string is no longer in tact. However, I've missed only one day, so I'm pleased that I have continued with my program even though «the streak» is over.

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Last night as I sat here at the computer, engrossed as I often am in playing Freecell, I got a Skype IM from Tom Simpson, wishing me an early «Happy Birthday,» just so he didn't forget to do so tomorrow, which actually is the day. I mentioned to him that I had heard from James Prudente, the author of Mixcast Live, and that James was having some problems with the company that was hosting the media for his BigFeeder.com site. Those problems weren't insignificant, because the hosting company has gone belly up, but James is working feverishly to make new arrangements. Tom and I were both beta testers for Mixcast Live so he knew James.

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Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time talking with Shannon Kamer by Skype. He lives only a couple of counties away from me here in Tennessee, but Skype provides a hands-free way for us to talk while we are exploring things on the Internet together. He was helping me set up WAMP5 on my system so that I could host a shadow version of my WordPress blog here on my own computer. As always, his help was invaluable in getting things to work properly. It was just the kind of hand-holding everyone can use when they are trying something new.

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