15Dec 2013 by R&O No Comments
Netscape Flashback

Netscape Flashback

Internet, Of Interest, Technology
Way back in 1995 Netscape was king. It was king because it was a direct descendent of Marc Andreessen's ground-breaking Mosaic software, one of the first cross-platform web browsers available to users on the newly paved superhighway. Those were the days. Sort of. Unfortunately for the Netscape company, who saw part of their future in the secure transactions business, a 27 year-old graduate student in France broke the security code that allowed their commerce server software to offer security to its customers. This, in the world of web server software companies, was a very bad thing. Up to that point, Netscape advertised that its security was bulletproof and would allow all types of sensitive financial transactions to take place over the internet without fear of credit card numbers and bank…
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15Dec 2013 by R&O No Comments
Hacker Scumbags

Hacker Scumbags

Assholes, Internet, Observations, Technology
I think it's time we legalized lynching as punishment for hackers that deface, destroy or hijack websites. I speak from experience because this blog has been attacked numerous times over the past year and cost me hours of time spent picking malicious code from the hundreds of files that make up this blog. So why do these scumbags do it? There's a variety of answers to that question but most are attempting to inject iframes or other bad code into pages allowing them to reroute traffic or deliver malware to unsuspecting site visitors. And then there's the little bastards that sit in their basements and troll the net looking for vulnerabilites to exploit. But, whomever these miscreants may be, they should all be dragged from their homes, strung up left…
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23Oct 2013 by R&O No Comments
Movember is almost here

Movember is almost here

Cancer, Of Interest
It's that time again. Time to prepare for the month of November which, according to a number of the world's prostate cancer agencies, has been renamed MOVEMBER. A time for all good men (and women, due to a bizarre genetic anomaly or Eastern European performance enhancing drug) to begin growing a moustache and collecting contributions in support of the efforts to eradicate this nasty scourge and help those suffering from the disease. Prostate Canada picked up the considerable tab (in excess of $1200) for my single hormone therapy injection prior to surgery and, without them, would have borne the cost myself. And for that I'm indebted to them, but that's not why I'm participating in this year's event. I'm participating because it's something that needs to be done. It's a…
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27Jun 2013 by R&O No Comments
Prostate Cancer: Round Two

Prostate Cancer: Round Two

Cancer, Health, Of Interest
In the second half of 2009 I discovered I had prostate cancer and outlined the situation within this blog. I had surgery, endured some of the bad bits, healed and moved on. I even raised a bit of cash for the cause. And that, I thought, was that. Until last month. I've had regular PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) tests to ensure the nasty stuff isn't still lurking inside my body and, until the end of last year, all was good. But then the tests began showing a slow increase in the amount of PSA in my blood which meant that some cancer cells remain even after the host prostate was yanked out and dropped in the trash. To say I was bummed out is an understatement as I figured the…
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