not good news

i dunno, i just always imagined IF hackers had a political bent, it would lean rather to the left. guess i was wrong (again)

anyway, this is a shame. i know what it's like to lose data from a personal and a work perspective. as a matter of fact, i just had to set my laptop back to the factory settings (on monday). oh a shout out to dell on that. the customer service rep i had was WONDERFUL. and no, i didn't pay an additional $100+ dollars to have a 'north american' answer my call. i don't give a shite WHO answers my call as long as 1) they know what they're doing 2) they have manners (as with everything in my life it IS manners manners manners)/customer service skills 3) i can understand them. accents don't bother me. i DO have to understand though otherwise all is lost.
i was unable to do any backups (but i DO have an external hard drive so m0st of my music and pictures and documents were- thank the goddess -saved). i lost all my bookmarks and some programs i had (now if i can only find those installation discs)

(oh, p.s. i wouldn't think it was right if conservative blogs were hacked either)

Hackers take down ring of key progressive blogs
Nick Cargo and Mike Sheehan
Several major blogs were in jeopardy after a Tuesday hack of their software provider had its owner ready to throw in the towel.

According to SoapBlox owner Paul Preston, the attack on its servers--which prompted SoapBlox's Internet service provider to shut it down--was connected to a shadowy group called Astalavista, which claimed credit for the attack in the site's altered source code.

"Consider this the 'We're Out of Business' post," Preston wrote on Wednesday morning. "Most of the servers have been taken off line because they were being used to hack and exploit other websites. The hackers install this crap on servers after they get in. SoapBlox's ISP then takes the servers off line... It was a good ride, but it's over."

The affected blogs include American Liberalism Project, BeThink, Blue Hampshire, Blue Jersey, Blue Mass. Group, Minnesota Progressive Project, My Left Wing, Never In Our Names, Pam's House Blend, RadicalRuss, Swing State Project and West Michigan Rising and other mostly state-focused political blogs of note..................