Thursday, April 1, 2004

Glowing Language

As a break from all the great student posts, I would like to call your attention to two articles from slashdot. (I am a regular reader of slashdot and it provides a wealth of information on lots of computer oriented, science and curiously interesting topics.) The first is about a language for passwords called l33t, pronounced "leet". l33t is a password language and provides you with substitution rules for letters, converting them to alphanumerics. For example in basic l33t, you substitute 4 for a, 3 for e, 1 for i and 0 for o. Note that the numbers vaguely resemble the letters. More advanced l33t, substitutes more letters with numbers and other characters. The article mused as to whether some avant garde parents were using l33t to name their children! I would be Gr3gg in basic l33t. Just a slice of software culture.



The second slashdot article is not exactly fun but is fascinating. The referenced site chronicles a motorcylce ride through Chernobyk, site of the worst nuclear reaction accident in history. The narrative and pictures are very thought provoking especially for those of us who lived through the Cold War.



I hope you enjoy the sites if you had not already seen them on slashdot. Later!



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