a0 connects to the internet through a router.

a0's router has a feature that lets you disable internet access to a specific computer during certain times of the day.

a0's mom uses this feature to restrict a0's internet access between certain times.

the router's internet access disabling feature has a bug. this bug is that when it restricts internet access, it only restricts new connections. this means that, if a0 opens a persistant connection before his internet access becomes restricted, it will stay open while his internet access is restricted. examples of things that use persistant connections are irc, im programs, ts/vent, and hamachi. so he's able to stay on those things, but can't access websites and whatnot, because his computer would have to open a new connection to do that.

hamachi is a virtual lan program. it's basically a program that lets you create a lan over the internet. it can be used for various things, most notably to play lan games online (e.g. warcraft 3).

hamachi creates a persistant connection between everyone in the virtual lan. any communication on the virtual lan goes through this connection. this means a0 can use it to play games over a virtual lan while his internet access is disabled. however, everyone on the virtual lan is connected to each other, not through a main server. this means that while a0's internet access is restricted, new users on the virtual lan won't be able to connect to him, and therefore won't be able to participate in a lan game with him. therefore, if we want to get a game together with a0 while his internet access is restricted, then everyone who would like to play must connect to the virtual lan while he has unrestricted internet access. (note this only applies to p2p games like wc3, client-server games like renegade will work as long as a0 is connected to the person who's hosting the server)

also, another bug in a0's router is that, while his internet access restricted, he gets a 1 minute window with unrestricted access at 11:59 (CDT, GMT -5).

a0's current restricted times are: 10:30PM to 6AM (CDT, GMT -5).