Critical crypto bug leaves Linux, hundreds of apps open to eavesdropping (ars technica)

Posted Mar 5, 2014 17:07 UTC (Wed) by jwarnica (subscriber, #27492)
In reply to: Critical crypto bug leaves Linux, hundreds of apps open to eavesdropping (ars technica) by jwakely
Parent article: Critical crypto bug leaves Linux, hundreds of apps open to eavesdropping (ars technica)

Probably, but since it is almost a miracle to get certs to validate, testing the infinite combinations of failure conditions is an infinite task.

It is an engineering failure; the core math may be solid, but I see this as (yet another) example of how crypto fails in the real world.

There is a huge layer of black magic between "solid math", and "green lock icon". For example, here in just the past few days, there was a bit of a minor emergency because a site did not have [proper/enough??] SSLCACertificateFile lines. Worked in all browsers, not with curl. I know, I know. I should be smarter. But how does a reasonable design even allow that failure condition to exist? Why did Apache start up?

Up until a few weeks ago, I had concluded that the crypto community was just trolling everyone else, but now I realize that they just don't know any better.

There is a huge layer of black magic between "solid math", and "green lock icon"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 17:19 UTC (Wed) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (11 responses)

This is the difference between Maths and Science! Or sort of, at any case.

Maths lives in an IMAGINARY world where everything is correct.

Somebody didn't do their experiments (testing) to show that maths and reality were in agreement (Science).

Cheers,
Wol

"maths"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 18:43 UTC (Wed) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link] (10 responses)

So this is off topic, but I've seen it enough here and it's really bugging me...why do people use "maths" rather than "math"? It's not like "mathematics" is a plural ("mathematic" is an adjective and we don't say "mathematics are" either). Wiki leads me to believe the 's' was added to match "physics" and calls it an "apparent plural". Also seems to be a ¬America thing.

"maths"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 19:23 UTC (Wed) by dtlin (subscriber, #36537) [Link] (1 responses)

Is it Math or Maths? - Numberphile [YouTube]

It's a British thing.

"maths"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 19:32 UTC (Wed) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]

Huh. I watch Numberphile pretty often. Wonder how I missed that one.

"maths"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 20:30 UTC (Wed) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link] (6 responses)

I'm guessing we call it "maths" because the long version ends in "s", so we make the short version end in "s" as well.

And why is it people insist in believing that an "s" at the end means a plural! There are plenty of words out there which are plural and DON'T end in "s", plus plenty of words that are single and do.

English has acquired a lot of words from a lot of sources, and they don't all abide by the rule "adding an 's' makes it plural". One word that really bugs me is "indexes" - the correct form is "indices" - dammit!!!

Okay, I know indexes is now a perfectly standard form, but it still annoys me. Mind you, I'm not a believer in "correct" English - how can a young dialect like the Queens English be "correct" while a far older dialect like Yorkshire is "wrong"? However, you do need "standard" English, so I'm quite happy with "you should be using standard English and that is wrong because it's not *standard*". Plus as a speed reader I insist on standard spelling because mistakes there mess you up - like a bicycle hitting a half brick in the road as I describe it.

Cheers,
Wol

"maths"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 20:35 UTC (Wed) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link] (5 responses)

Are there any other words where the trailing 's' sticks around? I'm coming up blank off the top of my head (I guess "physics" would be a good test, but it's already short).

I agree about the spelling making a difference though…especially when they get into stable interfaces….

"maths"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 21:26 UTC (Wed) by sfeam (subscriber, #2841) [Link] (4 responses)

You mean a shortened form that keeps the trailing s but is used as a singular? How about "props" for "propers".

"maths"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 23:17 UTC (Wed) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link] (3 responses)

I wasn't familiar with "propers", but I'd say it was plural (and Wiktionary seems to agree[1] in both usages).

[1]https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/propers

"maths"

Posted Mar 6, 2014 0:08 UTC (Thu) by sfeam (subscriber, #2841) [Link] (2 responses)

As I've heard it used "props" is basically a plugin replacement for "kudos", which is also a singular that looks confusingly like a plural.

"maths"

Posted Mar 6, 2014 1:06 UTC (Thu) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link] (1 responses)

Yeah, but "kudos" is the word, not a shortening (and it seems that it is being reinterpreted as a plural too). In any case, I doubt I'll get anyone to drop the 's' from "maths" anytime soon :) .

"maths"

Posted Mar 6, 2014 13:46 UTC (Thu) by jwakely (subscriber, #60262) [Link]

> I doubt I'll get anyone to drop the 's' from "maths" anytime soon :) .

blah blah blah cold dead hands!

"maths"

Posted Mar 5, 2014 23:12 UTC (Wed) by neilbrown (subscriber, #359) [Link]

You say potayto, I say potarto.