Literally made this comment and been surprised with the notion of Shamir Secret Sharing! Check my comments
Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
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Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#72> Q) This isn't really in line with how horcruxes work in the harry potter universe! > A) It's pretty close! You can't allow any one horcrux to be used to resurrect the original file (and why would you that would be useless) but you can allow two horcruxes to do it (so only off by one). Checkmate HP fans. Well the whole point of hurcruxes is to have backup in several places. This tool to backup your backups in severa…
Yes, but no! Technically, horcruxes were backups, but the emotional weight of the concept came from splitting your soul, lessening your essence as you hedge against danger. Partial backups follow the spirit of the idea better. As an aside, I read the concept as an attack on promiscuity. "Whore crux". Contrast to Lord of the Rings' assault on marriage, where wearing the ring makes you invisible and slowly fade into no…
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Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#73There was a post about shamir secret sharing recently by levchin (and chaos that it caused at paypal): https://max.levch.in/post/724289457144070144/shamir-secret-s... This is 100% one of my favorite algorithms, but I have to say I've started to wonder if I just have an academic fascination with it and the practical use cases are more limited (limiting?) than I think
Great story, thank you!
> I've started to wonder if I just have an academic fascination with it and the practical use cases are more limited (limiting?) than I think
I don't think the linked post should prompt such wondering? (It's not clear if you are drawing a causal link between the two) It was an issue with the interface _to_ the algorithm, not with the algorithm itself.
Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#74There's a cool paper-based backup tool that also uses Shamir Secret Sharing to let you distribute a bunch of paper copies to your friends to restore a file optically: https://github.com/cyphar/paperback
I really need to set aside some time to work on some kind of usable interface, graphical stuff has never been my strong suit. At the moment, all of the features work but you need to copy-paste the contents of the QR codes into the command-line. And I need to freeze the on-disk (on-paper?) format.
Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cool. Not being privy to Harry Potter inside baseball I could not tell from your original comment whether you had seen that FAQ entry.
I’m not an extreme Harry Potter fan or anything. It just bothers me when people ride the coattails of some popular term/phrase but then get it wrong. Another one is “isomorphic” as in “isomorphic JavaScript” which abuses the term from mathematics to mean something completely unrelated.
I had a coworker try to use "isomorphic" to mean "when given the same inputs and environment, always produces the same outputs", then accused me of pedantry for pointing out that misusing a word with a very clear definition was likely to cause confusion.
Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#76Isn't fountain code doing something similar? Albeit for slightly different purpose?
Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#77> Q) This isn't really in line with how horcruxes work in the harry potter universe! > A) It's pretty close! You can't allow any one horcrux to be used to resurrect the original file (and why would you that would be useless) but you can allow two horcruxes to do it (so only off by one). Checkmate HP fans. Well the whole point of hurcruxes is to have backup in several places. This tool to backup your backups in severa…
Yes, but no! Technically, horcruxes were backups, but the emotional weight of the concept came from splitting your soul, lessening your essence as you hedge against danger. Partial backups follow the spirit of the idea better. As an aside, I read the concept as an attack on promiscuity. "Whore crux". Contrast to Lord of the Rings' assault on marriage, where wearing the ring makes you invisible and slowly fade into no…
Tolkien fell in love with his future wife when he was 16 and they were so close they were buried together under one gravestone.
Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#78Caution, this tool uses AES in OFB mode[0] to encrypt/decrypt the file, without any guarantee of the ciphertext integrity(no MAC).
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher_mode_of_operation...
Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but no! Technically, horcruxes were backups, but the emotional weight of the concept came from splitting your soul, lessening your essence as you hedge against danger. Partial backups follow the spirit of the idea better. As an aside, I read the concept as an attack on promiscuity. "Whore crux". Contrast to Lord of the Rings' assault on marriage, where wearing the ring makes you invisible and slowly fade into no…
I don't think these concepts occurred in Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Is it possible you maybe you made these up?
https://www.voxco.com/blog/everything-about-textual-analysis...
"Reading" into text (similar to reading betwen the lines) is a skill taught in the arts. The idea is that there are meanings beyond the literal. Symbols can stand in for feelings or ideas, and multiple interpretations can be kinda true and not true at the same time.
Here's an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nucYxqgiV7k
The literal interpretation is that this is a liquid that alters people's perceptions, and you could ask literal questions about it.
- How was it made?
- How do the police know if people are drinking it?
- What are its effects on the brain?
But those questions don't have satisfying answers, because it's a symbol, a stand-in, a variable:
- It's an allusion to "rose-colored glasses". When people are passionate, they look for the good and ignore problems.
- It's about addiction. The act of drinking is similar to drinking alcohol. He "comes to" in a filthy, miserable living space, the same way someone would after a downwards spiral caused by substance abuse.
- It's about social pressure, "drinking the koolaid", and the emptiness of modern office life.
Which one of these interpretations is "the right one"? None? All?
Re: Horcrux: Split your file into encrypted fragments
#80Someone check this mans hard drive