Eclectic Reflections

I attended this talk entitled “Inventing Public Key Cryptography: A Fool’s Errand: Act 2” yesterday at Stanford‘s CS department. It was given by Martin Hellman, one of the inventors of public key cryptography, and also a participant in the Beyond War effort in the 1980′s, which has recently been re-launched. The 80′s Beyond War effort yielded a book, “Breakthrough: Emerging New Thinking“, which is available online, and worth perusing.

The talk was quite interesting, and I certainly think that engaging with people all over the world in order to try to reduce the amount of violence is a worthy, and certainly not foolish, cause.

=JeffH sez check it out!

Lest we not forget, as we collectively rush through a seemingly all-too-similar morass, and some of my children near the age of 18…

Kent May 4 Center

"[36 Years ago, on] May 4, 1970 the Ohio National Guard opened fire into a busy college campus during a school day. A total of 67 shots were fired in 13 seconds. Four students: Allison Krause, William Schroeder, Jeffrey Miller, and Sandra Scheuer were killed. Nine students were wounded."

Kent State shootings (Wikipedia)

Kent State, May 4, 1970: America Kills Its Children (Reprinted from The Ethical Spectacle, May 1995)

May 4th, 1970 Kent State (educational page)

"This [above] page is dedicated to the man who inspired me [the author, "Reese", of above page] to study the May 4th tragedy all those years ago—my former high school teacher, cooperating teacher, former colleague and current friend, Greg Parrish. He was there at Kent State on May 4th, 1970. "

Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (SongFacts.com)

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio

Gotta get down to it soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know

How Kent State could happen again (Alternet blogs)