more stable but busy
work
My work week was surprisingly still busy despite the Eurocrypt deadline passing. I still have some projects that are getting pushed now, so that we have time to edit well before the S&P deadline. But honestly, I don't think it's the amount of work, but just a lot of nagging thoughts. It's strange to have many responsibilities without regular accountability. I am trying hard to be diligent and prioritize the projects that need to be prioritized, but I am worried whenever I don't make progress on everything.
Recently, for example, the talks I have in a couple of weeks have me stressed out, because they'll both require new slide decks and some practice. I also need to make sure to recruit PhD students and apply for grants, but those processes are really unfamiliar to me. I need to just get over it and use the resources that Stevens provides. The recent austerity measures and internal system changes discourages me a bit, but I know that I have to be more assertive in order to succeed in the job.
The stress might also be due to traveling, but it's probably going to be a common situation, especially when I start teaching a class.
non-work
My week outside of work was pretty good! I went to San Diego to visit my partner on Thursday. We're in the middle of a really fun long weekend, because she has Columbus Day off. It is a long flight, but it's nice to know that it's feasible. I was able to work remotely on Friday with a pretty nice setup at her place, so we can hopefully do more in the future. I'm also very happy that I get to see the cat that she took with her :).
I also finished The Fifth Season and started Obelisk Gate! The end of the book was as intriguing as I had expecting. I'm very invested in the world that Jemisin built and curious to learn more about the magic system, characters, and politics. I'm guessing that I'll finish this series before I move on to anything else. I haven't been too drawn toward non-fiction in a while, so that's good too.
questions
What are the best information-theoretic and computational constructions of PIR which are secure against a collusion of servers?
I recently learned that people have studied PIR with multiple malicious servers a lot, but I've somehow not come across these papers.
Can you prove a black-box separation between size-hiding SPIR and efficient PIR?
It'd be interesting if our recent paper got around a separation.
I'd be encouraged by more and more proofs getting around proof barriers, because I don't know if our intuitions about them are very good.
Thanks for reading to the end! Here’s a picture of the cat I’ve missed, right after he was grooming himself and forgot to close his mouth:
