RIP English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, died this week in 1973. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost.” "So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!
How Did the Alps Develop Their Own Architecture?Architecture and Tradition
Your dislike of eating bugs may be 9,000 years oldScience Daily
How art invented humanity (instead of the other way around).
Is democracy without elections possible? Could a lottery be better? I actually watched this a couple of months ago but never got around to writing it up. More on this from Alex Guerrero.
I really wanted to get to this one but just never could find the time: Historia Civilis on The History of the City.
Could this cookie made from waste and plastic help food crisis? Talker News
‘Mad honey’ that can stop your heart is now being sold online worldwide The Conversation
Meat of the Matter Harper’s
The Great Bean Awakening Enlightened Omnivore
Gen Z men are skipping showers before dates: Here’s why Firstpost
Treasury launches task force to prepare financial sector for quantum cyber threats
NextGov/FCW: “The Treasury Department announced a new effort Monday to help the financial sector replace widely used cryptographic tools that could eventually be broken by quantum computers. The Quantum-Readiness Task Force will bring together government officials, financial institutions, market infrastructure operators and technology providers to coordinate the shift to post-quantum cryptography. Those protections are designed to withstand attacks from both conventional computers and future, more powerful quantum systems. Financial institutions are widely considered high-value targets for hackers because they hold vast amounts of money and sensitive data and operate payment systems whose disruption can ripple across the economy.
A sufficiently advanced quantum computer could break many of the cryptographic tools that protect financial records, payment systems and market transactions. The technology does not yet exist, though cyber adversaries can collect encrypted information today and retain it in hopes of decrypting it once quantum capabilities improve, in a practice commonly dubbed “harvest now, decrypt later.”
The Treasury task force will divide its work among coordinating the financial sector’s broader post-quantum transition, assessing the readiness of technology vendors and other third parties and examining risks involving digital assets and emerging technologies. Treasury said the group will also work to identify critical dependencies, improve interoperability and promote “cryptographic agility,” or the ability to replace encryption methods as security standards and threats change.
“Post-quantum cryptography readiness is no longer a future-proofing exercise — it is a present-day risk control,” said Deborah Guild, chair of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council and head of technology at PNC Financial Services Group. Guild said organizations will need to prioritize their most important systems while managing dependencies throughout the financial ecosystem.
- The task force builds on a roadmap released in January by the G7 Cyber Expert Group, which is co-chaired by Treasury and the Bank of England. The roadmap calls on financial institutions to inventory where cryptography is used, assess their most sensitive systems and data, develop migration plans and test quantum-resistant technology…”