Bad Jive From Java

 So, we all know to update our security.  We know to keep our computers antivirus and malware defenses current.  We know to install all of those numerous, pesky updates.

It's getting harder and harder for a hacker to make a dishonest day's living.  So what is he/she to do, now that exploiting the OS and browser is harder?

Go after the third-party-plug-ins, like Java.

So they are, by the bushel load.  And apparently, if you don't update Java, or even if you do, the bad guys are so far ahead of the game that it's going to take Java forever to catch up.

A lot of us don't use Java for much any more, so on another website, where i read about this, i decided to disable it for protection.

Then i got on Blogger, and found out that you have to turn it back on.

This means that uninstalling Java would make me unable to blog here.  Not something i want to dispense with.

Now, i doubt that i'm of much interest to most of these bad guys -- i'm not doing payroll after all, or raking in big bucks.  But the idea of losing all the data on my computer because i forgot to update Java, or it still had an old version hanging around, is unsettling.

In fact, even just having to have it now gives me the creeps.

So i blog with trepidation, now, even though i updated Java and removed the older version.


Today is:

Animals' Day -- Curacao

Another Look Unlimited Day -- sponsored by Envira Myntyl, a day to look around and see what you don't need and can donate to charity, to lessen the flow to landfills

Ceremony of Transformation through Anubis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Concordia Fall Festival -- Concordia, MO (celebrating agriculture and the German heritage of the area; through Saturday)

Eat An Extra Dessert Day -- internet generated, you have the WWW permission to indulge today

Immigrant's Day -- Argentina

Ludi Romani -- Ancient Roman Calendar (through the 19th; a festival to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, also called Circensian games)

National Macadamia Nut Day

Newspaper Carrier Day -- US (anniversary of Benjamin Day, publisher of the New York Sun, hiring Barney Flaherty as the first newspaper carrier in 1833)

Play Days -- sponsored by the HUMOR Project, add humor to your life; through Saturday

South Carolina Apple Festival -- Westminster, SC, US (through Saturday)

St. Ida of Herzfeld's Day (Patron of brides, widows)

St. Rose of Viterbo's Festival -- Viterbo, Italy (actual feast day of the saint is March 6)


Anniversaries Today:

Ford Motor Company introduces The Edsel, 1957
The comic strip Beetle Baily is introduced, 1950
The first Beatrix Potter story featuring Peter Rabbit is published, 1902



Birthdays Today:

Beyonce Knowles, 1981
Mitzi Gaynor, 1930
Dick York, 1928
Paul Harvey, 1918
Henry Ford II, 1917
Richard Wright, 1908
Nigel Bruce, 1895
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, 1768


Today in History:

Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor in the West, is formally deposed, 476
Edmund Halley, English astronomer, first observes the comet that now bears his name, 1682
The City of Los Angeles is founded in Bahia de las Fumas (Valley of Smokes), 1781
Robert Fulton begins operating his steamboat, 1807
Barney Flahery, age 10, is hired to be the first newsboy, by the NY Sun, 1833
Although he had demonstrated their use before, the first major lighting with electricity comes online as 400 bulbs are lit in offices on Spruce, Wall, Nassau, and Pearl streets in lower Manhattan by Thomas Edison, 1882
The last major US-Indian war ends with the surrender of Apache Chief Geronimo, 1886
George Eastman patents the first roll-film camera and registers the trademark name "Kodak", 1888
Beatrix Potter first tells the story of Peter Rabbit, 1893
Comic strip "Beetle Bailey" first appears, 1950
The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel, 1957
Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games, 1972
Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University, 1998
A 7.1 earthquake strikes the South Island of New Zealand, causing widespread damage, 2010