While I was researching information on strong encrytion alogrithms, I kept reading people saying that one algorithm was "stronger" than another. But it seems to me that there is no way to compare algorithms in terms of strength beyond the ability to stand up against know attacks.
From what Ive read, the only way to crack blowfish, des, rinjdael and the other 'strong' algorithms is through a brute force attack. And the ability for an algorithm to withstand a brute force attack has nothing to do with the algorithm itself, but the length of the key. So, it seems obvious to me that comparing relative 'strength' of the 'strong' algorithms is pointless because it all depends on the length of the key, which can be extended to any length desired using any algorithm by doing multiple passes with different segments of the key.