Blowfish (cipher)

Blowfish is a symmetric-key block cipher, designed in 1993 by Bruce Schneier and included in a large number of cipher suites and encryption products. Blowfish provides a good encryption rate in software and no effective cryptanalysis of it has been found to date. However, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) now receives more attention.

Schneier designed Blowfish as a general-purpose algorithm, intended as an alternative to the aging DES and free of the problems and constraints associated with other algorithms. At the time Blowfish was released, many other designs were proprietary, encumbered by patents or were commercial or government secrets. Schneier has stated that, "Blowfish is unpatented, and will remain so in all countries. The algorithm is hereby placed in the public domain, and can be freely used by anyone."

Notable features of the design include key-dependent S-boxes and a highly complex key schedule.

The algorithm

Blowfish has a 64-bit block size and a variable key length from 32 bits up to 448 bits. It is a 16-round Feistel cipher and uses large key-dependent S-boxes. In structure it resembles CAST-128, which uses fixed S-boxes.

Tone (literature)

Tone is a literary compound of composition, which shows the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work. Tone may be formal, informal, intimate, solemn, somber, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many other possible attitudes. Works of literature are often conceptualized as having at least one theme, or central question about a topic; how the theme is approached within the work constitutes the work's tone.

Difference between tone and mood

Tone and mood are not the same, although they are frequently confused. The mood of a piece of literature is the feeling or atmosphere created by the work, or, said slightly differently, how the work makes the reader feel. Mood is produced most effectively through the use of setting, theme, voice and tone. while tone is how the author feels about something.

Usage

All pieces of literature, even official documents and technical documents, have some sort of tone. Authors create tone through the use of various other literary elements, such as diction or word choice; syntax, the grammatical arrangement of words in a text for effect; imagery, or vivid appeals to the senses; details, facts that are included or omitted; and figurative language, the comparison of seemingly unrelated things for sub-textual purposes.

Tone (Jeff Ament album)

Tone is the debut solo album of American rock bassist and Pearl Jam-member Jeff Ament, released September 16, 2008 on Monkeywrench Records. 3,000 copies of the album were pressed and distributed through independent record stores across the United States, as well as through Pearl Jam's official website. The album has also been made available as a digital download via Pearl Jam's official website for US$4.99.

Background

The album contains ten songs written over a span of 12 years. It features a raw, experimental sound and was recorded by Ament over an eight-year period at Horseback Court in Blue Mountain, Montana, which is Ament's home studio, and completed in 2008.Tone was mixed by Brett Eliason, who had previously worked with Ament as Pearl Jam's sound engineer. Its cover art was created by Ament.

Former Three Fish drummer and frequent Ament collaborator Richard Stuverud contributed his drumming to seven songs on the album, and King's X frontman Doug Pinnick contributed lead vocals to the song "Doubting Thomasina". Pinnick would later in 2010 feature as the lead singer of another Ament/Stuverud project, "Tres Mts". "The Forest" was recorded by Pearl Jam; however, vocalist Eddie Vedder never got around to adding vocals to the track. The instrumental version by Pearl Jam is featured in the 2007 Pearl Jam concert film, Immagine in Cornice. The version of the song on Tone features vocals by Ament and music taken from the original demo version of the song.

Tone (musical instrument)

Tone and sound are terms used by musicians and related professions to refer to the audible characteristics of a player's sound. Tone is the product of all influences on what can be heard by the listener, including the characteristics of the instrument itself, differences in playing technique (e.g. embouchure for woodwind and brass players, fretting technique or use of a slide in stringed instruments, or use of different mallets in percussion), and the physical space in which the instrument is played. In electric and electronic instruments, tone is also affected by the amplifiers, effects, and speakers used by the musician. In recorded music, tone is also influenced by the microphones, signal processors, and recording media used to record, mix, and master the final recording, as well as the listener's audio system.

Stringed instruments

The tone of a stringed instrument is influenced by factors related to construction and player technique. The instrument's shape, particularly of its resonant cavity, as well as the choice of tonewood for the body, neck, and fingerboard, are all major determinants of its tone. The material and age of the strings is also an important factor. Playing technique also influences tone, including subtle differences in the amount of pressure applied with the fretting hand, picking or bowing intensity, use of muting and/or drone techniques.

Gray (unit)

The gray (symbol: Gy) is a derived unit of ionizing radiation dose in the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as the absorption of one joule of radiation energy per one kilogram of matter.

It is used as a measure of absorbed dose, specific energy (imparted), and kerma (an acronym for "kinetic energy released per unit mass"). It is a physical quantity, and does not take into account any biological context. Unlike the pre-1971 non-SI roentgen unit of radiation exposure, the gray when used for absorbed dose is defined independently of any target material. However, when measuring kerma the reference target material must be defined explicitly, usually as dry air at standard temperature and pressure.

The equivalent cgs unit, the rad (equivalent to 0.01 Gy), remains common in the United States, though "strongly discouraged" in the style guide for U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology authors.

Etymology

The gray was named after British physicist Louis Harold Gray, a pioneer in the field of X-ray and radium radiation measurement, and their effects on living tissue. It was adopted as part of the International System of Units in 1975.

Grey (manga)

Grey is a Japanese science fiction manga created by Yoshihisa Tagami that was published in the 1980s.

It was also adapted into an original video animation under the title Grey: Digital Target.

Setting

The world is covered in wastelands that are dotted with numbered "Towns". All Towns are supervised by computers called "Little Mamas" (nodes connected to the world governing super-computer called "Big Mama"); the underprivileged live in the slums and are referred to as "People". One can only become one of the privileged "Citizens" by joining the army and fighting the other Towns' forces, as the Towns are continually at war with one another. Combatants earn 50 credits per mission, plus 30 credits for every enemy killed. Once the total reaches 1000, the fighter's class is increased by one category (starting at F, then going to E, D, C, B and making one's way up to A). The A class guarantees a transfer to the idyllic, legendary "City".

Citizens have numerous advantages over People: in addition to getting out of the ghetto, they do not worry about being beaten up, raped or otherwise victimized. It's this advantage that leads Grey's lover, a girl known as "Lips", to become a Trooper. Her death, during her first and only operation, leads Grey to join the army as well and follow her dream of getting to the City by sheer force of will. Grey soon earns the nickname "Grey Death" for his tenacity on the battlefield and ability to survive when the rest of his comrades are killed. He only accepts orders that keep him alive, and will not kill the resistance fighters that fight against the Town system because they are not worth any points. Sullen and cocky, Grey exists only to survive and kill, in that order.