But the hacker or hackers who recently broke into the Epilepsy Foundation’s Web site apparently had pure unmitigated malice on their hearts and minds. After exploiting a security hole in the organization’s Web publishing software, the hacker or hackers made a good number of posts.

Disguised as helpful messages, these posts included hundreds of pictures, while others led online visitors to linked Web sites with flashing images. Visitors with photosensitive epilepsy may be prone to seizures caused by flickering or flashing images. Some video games and TV programs also cause similar reactions.

Times like this, we can only wonder why anybody would do such things to harm other people. Did these hackers hate epileptics so much that they could stoop to such levels of evil and cowardice?

This corner has always had admiration, albeit grudgingly at times, for hackers. One way or the other, these computer experts help in improving IT security. But for the hacker or hackers who posted those seizure-inducing messages on the Epilepsy Foundation’s Web site, we join the rest of ordinary Internet users in condemning their actions. May your tribe decrease into oblivion.

Seven years after launching its online pizza ordering system, American pizza chain Papa John’s International Inc. marked its billion in online sales. The online ordering system has been so effective that according to company executives the phones are silent, yet the kitchen crews are having a hard time keeping up with the orders.

Want another proof that Papa John’s International’s online ordering system works? Several other pizza and fastfood chains have launched their own online systems for taking orders.

Does it still make sense to talk about IT when the ordinary family is having a hard time buying a kilogram of rice? Would it help Juan de la Cruz any bit in forgetting about his gnawing hunger if we were to tell him about the tremendous advances in microprocessor speeds and processing prowess? Would it matter to him whether local wireless operators further expand their networks?

With bleaker things on the horizon, sometimes it is quite easy to lose heart. And make no mistake about it, times indeed are hard. I remember my grandfather telling me of the hardships he, my grandmother, and my mother, aunties and uncles had to endure during the Second World War years.

Two things, among the countless stories my lolo told me, have struck me, and as much as I would want to shake them off, I cannot help but see some parallels in their experiences and the hardships that my generation now endures.

First, my lolo and his family had to deal with rice shortage. With clashes between guerilla fighters and Japan’s imperial forces happening with frightful regularity, especially during the war’s waning years, farmers never had the time or sufficient death wish to work on their farms.

Second, my lolo and his family and the rest of my hometown’s populace had to bow down and show respect to every Japanese soldier they would meet along the way. Or suffer the consequences, which sometimes could be fatal, of forgetting to perform the usual and required obeisance.

I am sure, you too can see the similarities between my lolo’s experiences and ours.

On the other hand, let us not lose hope. Things may be hard and these hardships may seem unending, but in the end our spirit will overcome. It better be.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.