Comment by aa-jv

Once, back in the woolly days of the Internet and before crypto became a household name, Wired magazine published an article about Phil Zimmermans' work .. and included his phone number at the end of the article, for some strange reason.

I was immediately star-struck, and without even thinking about it, called him up - not really expecting an answer.

He answered, and I was suddenly lost for words. What the heck was I calling him for? I told him, sorry, I just wanted to see if that phone number was real, and whether or not he was really so accessible to the general public to discuss crypto things.

He was very cordial, said yes indeed he enjoyed hearing from people who had constructive ideas about his work, and what was I really interested in. I glibly told him, I was just really testing the phone number - how did he feel about being so contactable - and he replied he had no problem with it whatsoever, and thanks for my call. I stupidly tried to explain to him how important it all was, and bumbled my way out of the call .. and I still, decades later, distinctly remember his chuckle as he put the receiver down on the other end ..