Ever since the hijacking of login sessions over WiFi was made really easy last year, I have been wary of using WiFi in any setting that requires a login (including LiveJournal and Facebook). I was hoping that more websites would switch to full support of Transport Layer Security (TLS, formerly known as SSL) and ensure that people could access ( Read more... )

During the discussion that followed the news yesterday of Mr. Layton’s passing, an acquaintance of mine, commodorified, came out with an observation that I think bears repeating:
That politicians are by default low and dishonest scum is one of those things [which] Everybody Knows that isn't actually so, and by believing it and spreading it [un]critically, all ( Read more... )

The current situation in the U.S. Government is so stupid, it’s truly bewildering. But that is not stopping the three players in this “Mexican standoff”.

1. In the middle: the U.S. President. He is insisting that any agreement must be a permanent one; he refuses to accept anything that will last less than a year. He is calling on both the other two ( Read more... )

I was hoping - now that the back-to-work law is in effect - that mail would more or less move just as it had before. Unfortunately, as this CBC.ca news item makes clear, it seems that I and others were too optimistic.

I suppose I should have expected it. The system was out of operation (thanks to a management lockout) for nearly two weeks [ ( Read more... )

I am - again - under-impressed with the lack of civility on the Internet. What has particularly raised my ire this time was the public response of a group of hackers known as “Lulz Security.” (See this news article on CBC.ca for more details.)

This bunch of “hackers” - which apparently is what they call themselves - has managed to steal user-IDs ( Read more... )

... and they have just Proven how clueless they are - again.

As CBC.ca reported in this story, the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) has ordered that more land or “greenfield space” be set aside for developers. This is so said developers may create yet more urban sprawl, farther and farther from this city’s center.

In an era of Peak Oil and consequent ( Read more... )

Just over fifty years ago (on 4th October 1957), a man-made or artificial object went into orbit around the Earth for the first time.

It seems that the USSR initially did not consider it too important; the announcement of the launch apparently was put in the back pages of the Communist newspapers of the time. Western Europe and North America took ( Read more... )