On the Use of Performance Enhancing Substances in Major League Python
May 10, 2008 at 12:26 pm

(Above: Python luminaries Neal Norwitz, Ping Yee, Guido van Rossum, and Alex Martelli. Caught red-handed. Call it the Krstić Report.)

Harvard Law goes Open Access
May 8, 2008 at 5:29 am

In February, Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) unanimously approved an Open Access resolution, committing to make all its research available through a public repository. It was the first US college to do so.

Yesterday, Harvard Law School unanimously voted to become the first US law school with the same commitment.

Over a scant few years, Harvard Law pulled together Larry Lessig and Jonathan Zittrain, and recently recruited both Yochai Benkler and Cass Sunstein. These are, along with folks like John Palfrey, the finest legal thinkers of their generation. I am incredibly hopeful about the kind of cyberlaw activism and trendsetting we’ll see with these minds all sharing an affiliation.

On security and languages: Boston, May 27th
May 1, 2008 at 11:30 pm

I’ll be leaving Boston for Europe on June 1st, and am likely to spend the summer there. If you want to come see me off or just say hello and commiserate about the world, the human condition, and the heart-breaking ennui of it all, you’ve now got a chance.

For some time, I’ve been giving talks about OLPC and systems security; my slide deck from AusCERT 2007 captures the gist of my positions. So far, however, I’ve never discussed another subject that deeply interests me: the tense and uncomfortable relationship of programming languages and security.

I’m pretty excited to have written a new talk on just that topic, and will be giving it at the Boston Lisp meeting on May 27th, 6PM at MIT building 34, room 401B. Come hear me talk about attempts to secure everything from Perl to Python, C, Java and Javascript, and be treated to dinner courtesy of the awesome Lispers at ITA Software. The talk is short, sweet, and will feature one of my patent-pending Ask Me Anything™ segments at the end. That’s where I brilliantly field all questions I can answer, and make up incredibly convincing answers for any I can’t. (In the past, I’ve been asked about computer science, geophysics, abstract algebra, and British post-modern literary theory. Really.)

Faré has the details, including dinner RSVP instructions. Hope to see you there!