I went and saw a punk show on Sunday night -- part of the KSCU's Stop, Drop and Rock at the Gaslighter in Campbell -- cute little venue. I love shows in old theaters. Stunt Monkey were awesome. It was a little weird though -- the two bands that played before Stunt Monkey didn't excite a lively crowd -- there were piles of people standing in front of the stage -- many of them young girls in short skirts. I don't remember there being so many cutely dressed girls at the punk shows I used to go to. But they'd just stand there in front of the stage. Not moving. It looked really weird. I don't know how you can stand so close to the music and not move. I'm not graceful, and I can't dance, but music -- no matter what kind -- gets under my skin, makes me tap my feet, bob my head, wiggle my hips.

But when Stunt Monkey came on -- most of those cute little girls were gone, and the mosh pit opened up for a second to let a handful of people tear across the floor a couple of times, then throughout the rest of the show, these goofy ass motherfuckers took turns in the middle of the floor to dance with each other. Old eighties moves, poorly done, but I think almost purposefully so -- the running man, the sprinkler, some bad break dancing. All of it entertaining to no end. Other peoples' energy is so infectious.

This article was on slashdot today. Uninteresting little article about NP problems and how once we build our magic NP box, our current methods of encryption will be rendered useless. I particularly liked this statement: The Internet would be vulnerable to hackers and computer viruses. As though it currently isn't vulnerable. Once we build a quantum computer or perhaps a cellular computer, it'll be our magic NP box. No one can say when that'll be, but I'm certain the day will come. The only interesting tidbit I garnered in that article is that Adleman is at USC.

What I don't understand is why Garfinkel wrote the article (and spelled Adleman's name wrong). Is this new information to him? He mentions last month's Crypto conference, but did they have anything new to say about P vs NP problems? Probably not. And if they did, he doesn't mention it.

And this makes me think how interesting it is to watch things go from rigorous scientific publications to mass media. How trendy some topics get. For a little while. Then you realize how long lived said topic is and the public loses interest again. Until the next cycle.