--- begin forwarded text Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 14:22:41 +0000 To: "EFCE 2K Conference List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "R. A. Hettinga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: EFCE2K EFCE 2000: (Cattle) Call for Presentations Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ...From the country which brought you both James Watt *and* Adam Smith... ...*and* every Scottish engineer (*and* free banker) there *ever* was... ...we bring you... The First Edinburgh Financial Cryptography Engineering Conference (or, EFCE 2000, to its friends, and, yes, *we* thought it was a very clever homonym-overload, too) June 23-24, 2000 James Watt Conference Centre, The Heriot Watt University, Riccarton Campus (Guess where?) Edinburgh, Scotland THE EFCE2000 MISSION STATEMENT We can't let the cryptographers and academics have *all* the fun, can we, with them all traipsing off to various tropical garden-spots every winter for a peer-reviewed scientific conference? <huddled-masses> "NOOOOO!" </h-m> So, what are *we* going to do???? We're *not* going to review any Peers, and we *are* going to go where it rains a lot, and, of course, we're going there in the *Summer*! <h-m> "YEAAHH!" </h-m> THE EFCE2000 EXISTENCE PROOF (And now for a little self-referent logic, Peer-reviewed by the EFCE2000 Committee of Peers...) Theorem: If you write, or want to write, *running* financial cryptography code, you have to go to this conference. Proof: Because all people who *write*, or want to write, running financial cryptography code are going to go to this conference. Just show the above existence proof of EFCE2000 to your boss. He'll sign the req. We know he will, because he did it for *Anguilla* not six months ago, using roughly same logic for someone with a doctorate in computer science and/or mathematics. *Edinburgh's* gonna be a piece of cake, after that, believe it. THE SERIOUS BIT ...But, seriously, folks... A bunch of us have been thinking about putting together an *engineering* conference on financial cryptography for a number of years now, based on the success of the peer-reviewed financial cryptography conference IFCA has put on, every year so far, in Anguilla. Another number of us wanted to do something cool in Edinburgh, (which is actually quite pretty that time of year, around the solstice), home not only of whiskey, beer, golf, modern economics, hedons, dolors, and industrialism, but also of a very large group of internet professionals, particularly those with an economic bent, which means, of course, <huddled-masses> "FINANCIAL CRYPTOGRAPHY"!!!! </h-m> Right. Ahem. Yes. Well... And, so... THE EFCE2000 COMMITTEE OF PEERS ...was born in Anguilla this past February, when one group schmoozed the other about their respective ideas, on, and off, various sailing craft, and lo, the following Committee of Peers emerged, some frog-marched, other marching like, well, frogs, onto yet another conference committee email list, currently populated by, in marching order: Fearghas McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ian Grigg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Rachel Willmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Paul Makin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ...and, for extra added conundrivity, not because he's a Scot, or an engineer, or writes any code at all, or anything, and no, we can't figure out what he does, either: Robert Hettinga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> STATEMENT OF LUCREOUS INTENT: "Money doesn't buy happiness, but it usually does, and, when it doesn't it buys the most interesting substitutes." - -- Rhett Butler, in Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone With the Wind' Yes, you damn betcha, we're doing this (mostly) for the money, thank you very much. We don't call it *financial* cryptography for nothing, hmmm? *But*, what should *really* matter, to those of you who actually *code* for a living, is that we're also doing *this* conference *cheap*. That's because... THE VENUE ...is the James Watt Conference Centre at the Heriot Watt University Riccarton Campus. The conference centre has a website - not easily found from the main site: http://www.ecc-hw.com/ Full of shockwave and crud, but it *does* have an html only version, for the Pure Among Us... THE CURRENT COSTS (Subject to change at the capricious whim of the Committee of Peers)... We expect to be able to do this for 300 UKP or 450 USD/Euros *including* accommodation but excluding your travel to Edinburgh if you are presenting. If you are not presenting then the rate will be higher, but that's what you get for lurking and not presenting, yes? Sign up to the [EMAIL PROTECTED] list and we will announce the pricing soon. If you are from a small company, are presenting, and want to bring a colleague or two, talk to us and we will see what deals we can parlay. For those of you with, um, recent venture funding, there is a Marriot Country House Hotel very close. With a championship Golf Course to keep your management out of your hair... The conference centre accommodation is en-suite, and not student accommodation. i.e., it is specifically for delegates. They have 127 rooms available. That means space is limited. It has a 2 star rating from the Tourist Board. Did we say yet it was *cheap*? We're in *Scotland* after all, hmmm? LOCATIVES AND LOGISTICS Although the conference centre is on the edge of the city, Edinburgh itself is only 9 miles across so it is 4.5 miles from the centre. Although the website says 6 miles :-). Situated 1 mile from Riccarton, Curriehill is the nearest local rail station to Heriot-Watt University. Trains to this station go from Edinburgh Waverley, Haymarket and Glasgow Central. This service does not operate on Sunday. Please note that Curriehill station is quite isolated with no street lighting, so onward travel to Riccarton by taxi is advisable. Being close to the airport will enable people to fly up from London on the first flight of the morning and make the registration before 9am. BANDWIDTH IS THE THING, YOU SEE... ...because the bandwidth is going to be cheaper and easier to get at the James Watt Centre than at other Edinburgh venues, so that's a major reason for doing it there. We will probably doing more wireless than wired so this will be the excuse to get that 802.11 card for your laptop. Feel free to try the existence proof above for this, if you want, and let us know how it works... PULLING THE TRIGGER (Woops. We're in Scotland, aren't we? Can't *do* that here. So Sorry...) We have a booking for the 23/24 June 2000, we've plunked down the deposit, so we're going to just plain *do* this now, and you had better *be* there, dammit... SO, WHAT DO *YOU* HAVE TO DO? 1. Save the above dates on your calendar. 2. Extort your boss, beg your spouse, or delude yourself out of the requisite fundage. 3. Book passage to Edinburgh. Don't forget to stay a few days on either side to see the sights, as The EFCE2000 Committee of Peers expect that you won't have much time to do much of anything but hack, be hacked, and/or thrash words and code for the duration of the conference itself. As we said, Edinburgh is quite pretty that time of year, and a lot of really cool history happened there. 3. Go to this website: <http://www.efce.net>. It has a manager-friendly page you can print off, so management can sign off on your expenses. We have found that the above self-referent EFCE2000 existence proof for managers works, and especially on those with degrees from prestigious business schools in post-IPO dotcom startups, but not nearly so well on those who bootstrapped their own businesses and still control them, for instance... 3a. Give us whatever money we say you owe us, *and*, most important, tell us what you want to talk about so we can put you on the schedule. (Talk about anything you want, as long as you demo some code, running or not, that's the main rule. You can even write it as you talk, if you're brave...) If we do this, we'll be running non-stop, 24X2, and *anyone* who wants to talk *will* talk, believe it. :-). 3b. Yes, you can just show up at the conference and lurk. Maybe. Especially if you give us the money we say you owe us for *that*. 3c. Join the mailing list - send an email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] to subscribe. You will receive a confirmation email that you must reply to in order to be subscribed. 4. Show up. 5. Thrash for two days. 6. Crash. 7. Visit the delights of Edinburgh before and after EFCE2000. Sound good? (We thought you'd say that...) Right. See you in Edinburgh! Cheers, The EFCE2000 Committee of Peers, Fearghas McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ian Grigg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Rachel Willmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Paul Makin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Robert Hettinga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.5.1 iQEVAwUBONYu+MUCGwxmWcHhAQE0xwf9GPzipLt84iO4puz2VPd099UqnkRpX3IX gRzUh/+5P+P6bNqY7R4mEjvpedjn3+bZfCkKzsjQmhcuP0hqNTWnE8NE3CHxxNAR ySa0pRLR6NjDevQpEoEHLsJiX7WzZGnd7fszrSNaDnb0MIZG0yHJsvsRqKkE3n7d hAje8NJExF1nr/aB1lXnNzgRjgCTKoPySOZD/9Lquy+/ZBr7fOHB9lHe+YFwGU8M 9ZmtjsiLA9Fxu6BgpR4XEz7yoMWoKlHgWW1NyDr8i+WDWS5WJi1bMWIQv3ZjdNQx EjtuDX80n21zrP5BAhtgvcnfRcFtEzk+RLw/daQRDzjLgio54jfInQ== =Tu5t -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
