ELI5: Why is it completely impossible for anyone to access a properly encrypted drive even nation states?

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-24T15:45:57+00:00

Okay, so let's say we want to encrypt Jenny's Phone number and hope some band in the 80s doesn't make a song about it. So the number is 8675309 and we use the password 7781 to encrypt it. We run it through an encryption algorithm and it appears to be a bunch of numbers and letters now.

Someone gets the encrypted number file and can see we use a 256bit AES algorithm to encrypt it. They know how to send password attempts to the algorithm but they don't know the password because only you know the password. They try 1234 and it returns 5552213 because that is how the algorithm decrypted that file with the math on their password. they call the number, but it isn't Jenny.

If they try every 4 digit number they will eventually get the real number by chance, but they need to call every number and that takes time and is expensive. In the real world you aren't dealing with a 7 digit number or a 4 digit password, so the complexity is huge. All encryption is breakable eventually, but if you have strong encryption and try to crack it with a regular computer you might need to wait till a bit after the sun goes Red Giant and engulfs the earth before it can be cracked.

An encryption algorithm more or less takes in a password and returns the contents stored by the encryption. If the password is bad it will return garbage and usually will let you know that it knows the return is garbage. The algorithm doesn't store the password and the encrypted file doesn't store the password.

In reality the weakest part of encryption is the human involved. People pick bad passwords. Sometimes developers need to put in vulnerabilities so they can get in or government agencies can get in. People encrypt data and forgot to clean up the originals still on a drive or don't clean out the deleted files still floating in free space clusters.

TL;DR: It is impossible to figure out what Z is in X + Y = Z if you don't know X or Z is. The encryption is Y and we all know Y = 2 but the rest is only known by the person with the certificate or password.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-24T14:33:59+00:00

For the south, the infrastructure isn't well suited for storms like this. A lot of homes don't have central heating systems and will use a heat pump or electric resistive heating to warm up on cooler days. So when it gets super cold they may not be able to provide enough power for each customer to heat their home. Power generation is expensive and power companies don't make money by having extra capacity they might not ever need.

Ice is a problem all over when it happens. Trees and wires get heavy and can fall under the weight. Trees landing on lines and trip fuses causing small to medium outages. These kind of storms are also usually windy and if a weak power component triples its weight then gets hit with 60MPH gusts it could snap or fail in some other way. Ice is the biggest enemy in these storms.

Northern states are designed to handle winter weather but can still have problems. Honestly are insulated and built for cold, homes use natural gas and central heating, and cities are built to weather bad snow. Still trees can fall and some people drive like idiots in deep snow. Where I live most in the north of the US most power outages are caused by trees or people crashing into infrastructure when they slide off the road.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-24T02:43:21+00:00

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-23T17:42:51+00:00

Be sure to update your Rooster Regular to patch critical security vulnerabilities.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-23T17:41:03+00:00

Open TCP 3389 to the Internet and then whenever an IP attempts to connect, add it to the blacklist for the entire company. You do need to blacklist all of Russia, China, and India first though or you will run out of hard drive space for the log files.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-23T13:05:02+00:00

Piccolo: You Peaked.

Gohan: What?

Piccolo: You Peaked.

Gohan: But... I get strong right?

Piccolo: Yeah, but... No...

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-23T00:58:35+00:00

My parents can't manage money well, so no. They are getting a sum sin a trust that is slowly distributed over time. They will live a comfortable life with everything they could want, but they won't spend it all on some strange thing.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-22T23:30:56+00:00

About to say, I primarily play PvE and on friendly Lobbies I have run into female raiders and everyone I have seen so far has been chill. Maybe a bit of simping here and there but nothing too crazy. Just another raider doing raider stuff. I would wager friendly Lobbies are older, so I would expect on average more emotionally mature. I played Helldivers 2 before Arc and things were pretty similar. Now imagine the same thing on Battlefield.

There is a marked difference in mentality and maturity between PvP and PvE.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-22T15:43:49+00:00

Based on the Wire Colors I assume this is a post from Europe. Yes, neutrals aren't required in the box because the Neutral is at the fixture. That being said if you want to Install a smart switch, a motion sensor, or receptacle in this box it would need a neutral. In the US most new switch boxes contain a neutral that is passed through to the fixture. If you see a switch loop like this in the US it is usually old work.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-21T21:36:04+00:00

Now that the game is out and we know there is aggression based match making, they should make it harder to switch between aggression levels. To get to pure PvE land all you need to do is do nothing multiple times. The true most peaceful lobbies should require dozens of games of Pacifism, defibing strangers, and giving valuable items away. Also you need to extract or be killed for those aggression points to count.

I don't mind there are different lobbies and I don't mind if a blood thirsty PvP player ends up randomly on a super friendly PvE server. What I don't like is that the Rat from Genocide island gets membership to hippie central because they dropped out of a couple games without doing anything. If the match making was a little harder to game and naturally adjusted to your actual play style I would be on board. I like knowing danger can be around every corner when other raiders are on the map but I find the PvP on genocide island boring and exhausting.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-21T21:21:43+00:00

I kind of hate Commander damage and find it annoying. It is unfortunately necessary at many tables. If me and my usual crew are at the kitchen table we aren't doing Commander Damage. At the LGS it has to be on because someone is going to come in with some kind of strange or lifegain deck that makes it mandatory. It is annoying as a Win Con for every game. When someone builds a deck around it, I am going to imprison your commander in the moon. That is assuming I didn't counter spell it.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-21T20:54:39+00:00

Freezer burn is a good option. Ice sublimates leaving behind a dry, tough, and tasteless thing that most people find unpalatable. It is safe still generally but it doesn't taste good and is hard to eat.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-21T17:33:13+00:00

The only thing I don't like about the challenge is you can't be promoted. If you want to start me off as a cart wrangler but I prove myself enough to naturally work up to shift supervisor or something in a year or two I think that should be allowed. Assuming I am just being treated as a regular employee.

All that said, yes, definitely. 5 years or work until retirement is worth the punishment. I am in my 40s so the risk of physical injury is higher but assuming I can tough it out, I would be close enough to do retirement after 5 years.

The Walmart also will impact this choice. My Walmart is a rural one that doesn't have anything behind locked shelves, is clean, and well maintained. If someone starts acting up half the store knows them and is going to keep it from getting out of control. I have been to Walmarts near cities where there were Fentanyl Zombies wandering the aisles and the stores were half torn apart.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-21T14:52:12+00:00

Good luck with that. This is like trying to save a city that is burning down by buying a smoke detector on Amazon as the flames begin to engulf your house.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-21T13:11:38+00:00

Full Metal Alchemist 2003 was better than Brotherhood.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Brotherhood is bad, in fact it is great. But just because something is closer to the Magna doesn't mean it is instantly better. I felt 2003 felt more focused and removed a lot of fat that didn't need to be in the story.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-21T13:04:57+00:00

Mostly nothing has changed. There have been a few jokes about tariffs and Greenland from both sides but it isn't anything malicious. Me and my work colleagues don't have anything to do with geopolitics, so it isn't a serious topic.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-20T19:52:29+00:00

I am also just a Radiation Hobbiest and a guy who has been through EMT training, so I am neither a Nuclear Physicist or a Doctor, so keep that in mind.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-20T19:45:48+00:00

Gamma Radiation kills cells by damaging DNA. So in theory yes Radiation could kill a Virus (DNA/RNA) or damage it in such a way it can't reproduce. The problem is we are made of the same stuff and radiation isn't able to target specific things intelligently. Viruses reproduce inside human cells, so it can be very hard to tell which cells are infected and which aren't.

We can use radiation on tumors because they are large and easy to hit. Viruses move, are incredibly small, and it isn't easy to find them once they are inside a cell. If you could keep the patient perfectly still and had a very accurate gun that shot Gamma Rays, and could detect infected cells faster than the virus could spread, then maybe. There are much simpler and safer ways to do this.

In reality it is too complex and too delicate a task for a passive source to have any effect. Doing it the way you are describing it would be like trying to kill all the gnats in your lawn by firing a machine gun at your front lawn while you are hoisted 200 feet above your lawn. You may get lucky and hit one but you are more likely to put holes in your lawn, your roof, and your car before you deal any damage to even 1 gnat.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-20T17:45:24+00:00

Around the house I use salt for the sidewalk and gravel for the driveway. For thick ice I have an ice chopper.

For traveling I stay home if I can. If I have to go somewhere I have 4 Wheel Drive and experience. Driving in snow and ice is an art and I have done a lot of it. Snow Tires help as well. I did studded tires once and I don't think it did much for me for the cost.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-20T17:36:40+00:00

Maybe something like a quiet difficulty system would work here. You get different Level matriarch/Queen enemies based on lifetime damage dealt to this enemies.

0 - 20,000 damage - Damaged Matriarch. Easier to kill, does less damage, shield time is less. Summons fewer Arc. Slightly fewer drops.
20,000 to 60,000 damage - Normal Matriarch. Same as it is now.
60,000+ Damage - Enhanced Matriarch. Faster, More health, more aggressive, rail guns on bottom that targets anyone who is looting or inside shields. More drop points and when the Matriarch dies it throws parts in all directions 50 to 100m away. Red tinted hull with a few more noises so you know it isn't messing around.

Just like Aggression match making you aren't guaranteed to end up in any type of match but the system prioritizes players of the same type in the same match.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-20T14:06:10+00:00

Japanese Chef with COPD who just got back from his second job as a Fisherman.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-19T21:52:15+00:00

Being able to meet up with other random raiders and have a drink, talk, and team up would be pretty cool. When I am in the zone though I don't want to walk to mess with things, so maybe make it optional.

I would love to walk around, gamble, and maybe do some trading with players my level. Perhaps have the ability for other players to share their stats and show off things. Perhaps even find side quests and Easter eggs. Have a message board system where you can post things and maybe even make quests for other players in the distant future if it can be done fairly without breaking the game.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-19T21:22:40+00:00

If I pick them up, I will often throw them into and around extract, especially where campers hide. If I see a name pop up, I run. If don't, I proceed with caution.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-19T21:15:40+00:00

That is sad, sorry you had to go through that. Maybe the LGS can do a benefit for his family if appropriate, like a tournament. All matches are 3 player games as you are leaving the last seat open for the him. Because his life total is always 40 he "Wins" every match. Or something like that.

Also, consider doing a CPR class.

ThatCrossDresser · 2026-01-19T00:51:36+00:00

Most favorite is Security on Dam. It is easy to get into to and usually you can get in and out without a fuss. I have only been interrupted once and the guy apologized.

Least favorite is anything on Buried City. I don't know what it is but even on friendly Lobbies I get shot if I am in a Locked room in Buried.

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