I may be disappearing for a while

On the 15th I had cataract surgery, they did my left eye which had the worst cataract. It's weird to think of having this done in your early 50's, but that's the way it is. My night vision has been getting progressively worse with huge amounts of glare from oncoming traffic, regardless of whether their brights were on. So I decided to get it done as soon as the semester ended.

I hope I'll be glad when all is said and done, because I'm not very happy right now.

As I type this, I'm in Nick Fury mode: I have an eye patch over my left eye, I've removed the left lens from my normal daily-wear glasses that have progressive bifocals, and that's the only way that I can use my computer. Contrary to what the doctor said, and from what I've heard from other people, you don't just get off of the operating table and see perfectly. In 25% of cases the replacement lens fogs, and you'll need laser corrective surgery later.

I am in the 25%.

My post-op uncorrected vision in my left eye is about 20/30, which is the same as my previously corrected vision. But because of this fog, I can't see nearly as well. And it is truly vexing. Watching TV is difficult, but doable. Last night we went and saw the new X-Men movie (recommended), and I could see it, but it was definitely poor focus. Bright light hurts. Etc. So to use my computer, I have to go to this extreme.

And that ends Thursday. On Thursday, my right eye gets fixed. And when that happens, I'll be unable to read anything close. I'll totally lose my ability to read without my glasses, and to be honest, I'm more than a little apprehensive about that. The doctor said to just go to the drug store and get some reading glasses. The issue there is that they distort massively if you move your head, and I do tend to move my head a bit while reading. They don't focus properly without distortion.

The thing that really bothers me is that I don't know how this will affect my photography, and that's a major part of my life and happiness. I know eventually everything will shake out, but it's TWO MONTHS before they'll do the laser surgery! And if my right eye fogs like my left one did, I'm doubly-screwed. We were going to go to Colorado to see my recently widowered friend, but I can't confidently drive long distances. Today is going to be a big test of that, we lent my car to one of my wife's co-workers so that she could cover my wife's first half shift Thursday night: my aunt passed away and we needed to go to Las Cruces to help out my dad, so we have to go to 'Cruces to get my car back, which means I'll be driving it 80 miles or so back. We'll be doing it in broad daylight, away from the sun, so it shouldn't be too bad. I've been doing some driving, I'm just very conscious of wanting the sun to be high in the sky when we do it.

I know my ophthalmologist doesn't want to prescribe glasses before my eyes fully settle, but we will probably have to press the issue because my only way of making money right now is connected to the computer, and if I can't easily functionally use it, I'm screwed. We don't need me to work, but I need to for my own emotional well-being and satisfaction.


So. I will probably disappear for a bit, which will frustrate the heck out of me since it will mean that I can't read news and comics and can't propagate said bits of tid. *sigh* I think the big problem is that my wife and I did not research cataract surgery, problems, and recovery before my procedure. I still would have had it done, I just would have been better informed as to what I should expect.

The Syrian Electronic Army hacks the RSA conference web site

RSA is a security firm that came out with those little electronic dongles that provides people with an ever-changing one-time password. Impressive tech, but they've been compromised before. This time, the SEA used a JavaScript exploit combined with spearphishing to compromise a web site analytics company, they track clicks and where people come from and stuff like that. So instead of seeing a video where a security researcher talks about exploiting trust relationships and says the SEA are like cockroaches scurrying through the undergrowth of the internet, you get a message from the SEA saying that he's the cockroach.

And the exploit happened exactly how the video described how it was usually done.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/05/complexity-as-the-enemy-of-security/


Krebs goes on to point out that thus far, the SEA has only been doing its hacks for propaganda, whereas criminals use the same techniques to compromise servers to dish out malware. He also describes some techniques for making your computer a safer place.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/tools-for-a-safer-pc/

RIP: TrueCrypt

From Krebs: "The anonymous developers responsible for building and maintaining the free whole-disk encryption suite TrueCrypt apparently threw in the towel this week, shuttering the TrueCrypt site and warning users that the product is no longer secure now that Microsoft has ended support for Windows XP."

TrueCrypt provided full-disk encryption, but apparently they are no more. This is going to make a LOT of Linux users unhappy as it was their go-to software for disk encryption.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/05/true-goodbye-using-truecrypt-is-not-secure/