I just got pointed to @elliottkember’s page about a challenge he calls “The Kember Identity” – basically a search for a 32-character string which, when passed through the MD5 function, returns a 128 bit value – which when converted to its hexadecimal string representation, is identical to the original string.

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around exactly WHY Elliott Kember is trying to find such a value, except perhaps for the lucrative naming rights to such a weird trivia bit.

The funny thing, is that the 32 character input string, as input to the MD5 function, is a 256 bit input.  The output, before its encoded as a hexadecimal string, is 128 bits.  So while the effort being throw by various people at this challenge is admirable, its not really a search for a true MD5 identity value.

Additionally, if I remember my Applied Cryptography correctly (and if I don’t and by some chance Bruce Schneier happens upon this blog post, I am sure I’ll be turning red even if I never find out about it)… the MD5 function processes its input in 512 bit chunks.  So any input that’s less than 512 bits, essentially gets padded to 512 bits to make all the gears spin.  If I think about it this way, then there’s really no such thing as a possible MD5 function “identity value” given that in a strict interpretation, the domain and the range can’t overlap.

Elliott states that the exercise is a “proof of concept” on the front page of his site.  I suppose its an interesting exercise – perhaps in seeing how quickly a problem can be implemented in as many languages as possible with the help of twitter, the web, etc, etc.  I applaud Elliott for thinking of it.  I just hope it doesn’t land him an entry in Urban Dictionary that defines a Kember Identity as a case of mistaken identity.  Oh, and let me know if any geniuses out there introduce similar challenges for SHA, RIPE-MD, etc, etc.  Also I haven’t considered the possibility that this might all be British humor of some weird variety.  Clue me in if it is.

A while ago FUSE posted a link to a Flash animation entitled Maiyahi (in the FUSE What the F*ck section – highly recommended, go to their site and click on the menu option Timekillas and then on What the F*ck). Needless to say this resulted in numerous replays of said Flash animation, to everybody learning the song, etc, etc. For a while I thought the song was in Japanese, but apparently its actually in Romanian. Here are the lyrics to Dragostea Din Tei by Haiducii (or here without translation. I’m pretty sure the MP3 is floating around on file sharing networks, just search for that or some permutation of “nu ma, nu ma iei” or “ma-ia-hii” or something like that. Of course, not to be outdone, other people made their own renditions of the song. Here’s an especially bizzare animation. In terms of absurdity, this last one is up there with the Star Wars kid, but not quite as funny.

Update: O-Zone CD on Amazon.fr, apparently not available from the US Amazon site. And a Lego video for the song has surfaced. Truly bizzare, and I’m amazed that somebody would spend that much time doing frame-by-frame animation with Legos for ANY song. (via Anticlown Daily)

Update 2: Ok, just for sake of completeness, here’s the real video and their official site under Universal Germany and a Romanian official site and a fansite. Apparently the Lego version is pretty close to the way the real video looks, who would’ve figured. Except the real video is basically a flashback to the era of boyband videos – ouch, maybe that’s still popular over in Europe.

And here are the lyrics:

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If you haven’t seen this flash animation, you’re missing out.

And here are the lyrics…

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The Coors Light Wingman commercial is hillarious, and apparently the song is by GoldSpot. I read about it a little bit on Shanti Bradford’s blog.

This song is so funny, and I’ve found myself signing it on random occasions. Sweet. Note to my brother Konst, you have to learn this song and perform it for me .

Here’s a link to the video, to the Lyrics and Chords. Here they are..

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