brainleak

I came home from Angela's birthday lunch to find the activity LED on my cable modem going crazy, and that I'd somehow used up a quarter of my monthly download limit. I'm not sure if it was a rogue filesharing app (I generally have sharing off because of the stupid limit), a spyware trojan horse or what. In any case, I'm going to investigate a more powerful firewall. If you've got a permanent Internet connection, I'd recommend some thought about this, too. Update: apparently the trick is to set up a "stealth" firewall that offers no response to packets of data hitting unauthorised ports, thus simulating a dead IP address. Otherwise you're still encouraging denial of service attacks, which you still pay for.

I've been spending a lot more time with my nephews and niece lately. It lifts my spirits, even if everything eventually turns into a game of "Let's Tear Uncle Ben's Arms from His Sockets". Today I taught them how to play the piano with one's head. The other week Jacob, who is 7, asked me, "why does a metal pole taste like blood when I lick it?", upon which I commended his observational skills and explained the iron content in blood. Meanwhile, Lena wishes he wouldn't lick everything. Two-year-old Sarah is big into gauging everything via facial expressions at the moment. We were reading Peter Pan, and there was a picture of Captain Hook sporting an evil smile. "'E's good now!" she explained, missing the evil glint. The next page had Hook with a snarl, to which she responded, surprised, "'E's nawty again!" Faciality squared. I love them to bits. I hope they feel the same about me. Given my general soreness at the moment, it would seem to be so.