I learned about asymmetrical and symmetrical algorithms this weekend. It was quite interesting. The topics I covered included basic and digest authentication including hashing algorithms. I also did some reading about digital certificates and digital signatures. Those last two always confused me.

A particularly interesting topic was the Diffie Hellman algorithm which made sense to me for the first time in a long time. The idea behind it being able to generate a symmetrical key, which is a key that can decrypt cipher text and encrypt plaintext but here is the kicker: you can generate this key which both parties become aware of even though you’ve never met each other before. So you can generate a “shared” key and communicate that between parties over an insecure medium. Thats pretty amazing. You basically use asymmetric encryption(to generate the shared symmetrical key) to begin with, then you drop down in to using symmetrical encryption, and use the key for the remainder of the casual communication from that point onwards. Symmetrical encryption using symmetrical keys is which is faster and more efficient.  

Also learnt that about TLS – never quite knew that TLS is really just the name of the many version of SSL.

Apart from that, I watched the Accountant which left me feeling like a secret agent for the rest of the Sunday.

'Girl on the escalator' by Charles Bukowski (short film) from KAYHAN LANNES OZMEN on Vimeo.

Reading the newspapers after the United Kingdom voted to leave the E.U has them reading like a classic and thrilling drama series on T.V. 

I must admit, I've become rather addicted to the eventuality that the next days' news story will most likely be more shocking, more dramatic and more intriguing than the last. On Friday morning, first thing before gym, I whipped up my phone and dialled it into BBC news's website, eager to see the result. When I saw the result of the vote, I experienced feelings of uncertainty and caution which then turned into wonder and intrigue and partial excitement much like I guess, a child's reaction would be to seeing its first roadkill, prior to prodding it with a stick and later realising that death is in fact a real thing.

I thought about it during the day, thought about it before going to bed, woke up and it was on my mind - all those guts and blood and from a real used-to-be alive animal. How disturbing.  It was the much the same with Brexit - I've been prodding at it with a stick ever since...

Over the past couple of days leading into the weekend, since the Brexit vote, its become very clear to me that the media thrive on exactly this instinctive speculation and drama. The newspapers know all to well what drives sales and has readers champing at the bit, so to speak. And I think, its those raw emotions that any T.V drama or newspaper appeal to - but how far do you do until its neither appropriate orresponsible to do so?

The call to leave or remain in the E.U has many reasons for and against - not just one or two or three - and many people have a diverse range of reasons for why they voted the way they did. So it always amazes me how the media narrows things down to a few reasons, usually dramatically, filters out the boring, non-speculative or emotional ones and then sets sides off against each other into a gladiatorial arena and sits back grinning, rubbing their hands together and watching the bloodbath the soon ensues  - much too the excitement of all the spectators. It reminds me of a dialogue in the Ridley Scott movie, Gladiator between Senators Gracchus and Falco:

Gracchus: Fear and wonder, a powerful combination.

Falco: You really think people are going to be seduced by that?

Gracchus: [about Commodus] I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they'll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they'll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it's the sand of the Colosseum. He'll bring them death…and they will love him for it.

Subsitute Commodus for the media, Rome for the public and death for drama and you've got what the media's strategy has always been.

And as the sides fight to the death to defend the one or two points that the media has chosen, they quite happily disregard all the others that would otherwise balance an unfair fight - although might reduce its impact, ferocity, splendour and audience...

It then stuck me. Newspapers rule our perception of the world. They control mob's perception. This might be obvious to some, but what isn't perhaps is that in this day and age, they are going too far. They are far too bias, siding with the most beneficial views that generate the most hype. They aren't responsible anymore.

That conclusion, in my mind started by idly refreshing the BBC news' website every couple of hours to see what new exciting drama has been positioned, then after getting sick of the same dramatic, emotionally one sided views and fuel, I decided to try CNN(For a foreign view to see how they might represent it), then the Independant, The Mail, the Sun, the Times, The daily express. The same. All the same views. Doom and hell fire. Hellbent on setting up gladiatorial re-match upon re-match. Hmm hold on, something's ary here.

Why isn't there any representation for the other side? Surely with a near 50/50 split on the E.U referendum with the majority going one way, isn't that majority's views being represented..at all? Why?

So then I decided to try the Telegraph - well OK better, there is some balance and objectivity at least but its a far, far cry from what it should be (around 50/50 in either direction). Its still heavily mixed-in with the seemingly golden rules of the media - fear, wonder, speculation and drama, heavily focused in one direction... Hmm something's definitely ary in the media.

That'ts it - I don't trust them anymore.

The media in fact are having such an absolute field day with the Brexit story here in Blighty. They are loving it because nowhere else in recent times has their been so much uncertainty, fear and wonder, making it fertile grounds to invoke the kind fear and speculation that makes any spectator reader froth at the mouth. And still I ask myself, 'But is it appropriate?' Is it responsible?

Is it too much speculation, too much staged drama, too much uncertainty - too much skirting around the edges of the truth in order to invoke emotions in order to sell ideas and intrigue? It is. 

So much so that people now know that they have to rely on their own judgement to find the facts in amongst all the drama and speculation manufactured by the media.

And this sentiment carries over to one particular view of the recent E.U vote - that many people have lost trust in the establishment, in the politicians, in experts, in the E.U and in anyone who tries to tell them what they must and musn't do and what is or isn't good for them. And if this is how the media operate, and how difficult it is for the public to extract fact from speculation - I'm not surprised no one trusts them or anyone else in the establishment anymore.

 Perhaps the only person you can trust these days is yourself and perhaps that is what was reflected in last weeks E.U vote.