technonaturalist

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life

Glitchy sophos web intelligence probably actual nsa spyware proxy

After all that experimentation, it was the antivirus after all (one of the first things I turned off to no effect because I’m not sure how the “web intelligence” bit is attached to the main part of the program).

JJ guessed “something” between the http and the transport layers and this makes sense as the “web intelligence” scans incoming file attachments and I think may also be checking websites for malicious scripts (which would probably never get executed because I use NoScript, unless it got injected by a website I use frequently that didn’t have it before).

Christmas shopping like a boss

Makedo

There was a large set at SciTech in the main exhibition on our last trip and 8yo made a wearable R2-D2. It was the first time I’ve seen it in action and I’ve since acquisitioned a few sets of 3 as group presents for friends’ kids.

EcoToys

One of my automatic go-tos at least every Silly Season, if I’m organised enough I’ll occasionally poke in to organise a birthday present as well. Beautiful and quality stuff (a Green Toys tea set that I bought for 7yo a couple of years or so ago got taken outside so they could have tea party with water and then got left outside since is still looking in very good nick, could probably scrub it up and have it looking more or less new) that gets played with constantly because it looks good and doesn’t break when you look at it. Just wish I had more money.

Skype interfering with http on OSX Mavericks

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So turns out our NSA spyware proxy may actually be Skype.

The intermittent http losses had been getting closer and closer together and it eventually got to the point where I lost it twice in a day. I was in the middle of burning Debian CDs (to reinstall the kids laptops, because apparently using the 7.1 cds I have and upgrading is not as good as downloading the 7.2 cds and using them) and quietly simmering about having to do a clean reinstall, when JJ came up with the brilliant idea to kill Skype because apparently Skype uses port 80.

Seven

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She recently found a birthday buddy. I’m just slow and have been busy, hence the late celebration post.

I got told once (not directly, the person doing the telling was telling it on a forum) that personalities are more or less developed by the age of 7 or something to that effect. If this is the case, then my daughter has my nasty streak which is not something I wanted her to inherit, but fortunately she is a lot nicer than I am most of the time.

OSX Mavericks http problems

It started sometime after I upgraded to Mavericks (it was 10.9.something by the time I got around to it, and I really do quite enjoy using it) and before the next update. I would be poking around on the internet and seemingly at random, everything would just stop working.

Everything that wasn’t going over http would work fine (ssh on terminal, im programs, Tor).

I initially assumed there was something wrong with dns so tried using OpenDNS instead of my isp, but that didn’t fix it.

What do you want for Christmas

6yo: Mummy what do you want for Christmas?
Me: world peace and everyone to stop shoving their beliefs down everyone else’s throats.
6yo: w…orl…d…pea…ce…world peace I think.

[I look over and realise she’s writing a list]

The kind of big day one can generally do without

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All times are estimated :P

4am: 4yo wets the bed for the second morning in a row (yesterday morning it was 5am). I bathe him and strip the sheets and make up half the bed and in the meantime he goes to his bed where JJ is. JJ comes and squeezes into the dry side of the bed with me (tight fit as it’s the equivalent of a single at this point)

Random keys

8yo (watching me touch type): how do you tap random keys and come up with words?

Freo heave ho...

So once upon a time (not really so very long ago, only a handful of years), JJ’s favourite AFL team the Fremantle Dockers made it into a qualifying final (and then got knocked out). I said that if they ever made it into the finals again, I would do the anchor in my hair.

They’re currently up for a semi.

So…

Hair bleaching

I wonder if whoever it was got the idea for the Minbari horn crests while waiting for their hair to bleach

Christmas Island: long photopost and fyn's bad luck saga

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Back in Perth now and this post is going to be a long one.

The holiday has been great because I was home and crap because in the second week, I got a swollen gland or lymph node that pressed onto the nerve of one of my back teeth and caused a LOT of pain and made eating difficult, and the kids got sick. In the third week the kids recovered and I got sick (two days completely out of action and just general misery, persistent headache and neverending mucous production for the rest of the week and continuing as I type). I am feeling slightly bitter about it and thinking it’s brutally unfair but at least I stayed there the entire time unlike a certain Christmas where I got medevac’d.