Easter Miscellany!

I haven't done one of these in a while, mostly because I've been overwhelmed by other life tasks. But, now I have a brief reprieve, and a pot of tea. Let's get to work!

• You all know that Heartbleed means you need to change your passwords (maybe). But what caused Heartbleed? Apparently, it mostly, if not entirely, comes down to OpenSSL ignoring both industry standard and home-brewed safety measures in favor of faster browsing. Details here, here and here.


• Cold War II is officially on, with NATO about to deploy troops to Poland and the Baltic States (2). The Polish-American part of me feels relieved. The rest of me questions the necessity of taking on the role of World Policeman again.


• On the one hand, this guy's marriage has serious issues. On the other, the financial hit from a prostitution problem might be a hell of a lot cheaper than that from a gambling problem --- assuming of course that he doesn't bring home, you know, an STD.


• Remember Geek Code? Do you have, or did you used to have a Geek Code Block? If so, you might be interested in my project GeekML, an easily upgradeable, "Web 2.0" version of Geek Code. So far all I have is a JSON schema, and a pretty bare bones one at that. I'm contemplating adding specific shorthands to it, like the ones Geek Code has for Linux, Babylon 5, etc. Right now, however, my next step is crafting some reference implementations for web. Stay tuned!


• If you don't watch Portlandia, I can't blame you. But still, watch Episode 8 of Season 4 (last week's episode). My friend Caitlin Nolan is brilliant as the babysitter. (She also had a role in The Glue That Binds, SC's and my entry in the 2006 Portland 48 Hour Film Project.)