Matt's Blog

I recognize that people come in different shapes, sizes, and intellectual abilities. Some people are articulate writers, while others struggle. Some people are naturals when it comes to spelling, but others have a really tough time. For the most part, though, we all go about our daily lives without a difference. The person in front [...]

It seems I lost the MegaMillions drawing on Friday night. If I ever win, I think I’d like to take out a series of billboard ads displaying random facts that I think everyone should know, yet too many people don’t: Pretty much 100% of spam has a completely forged “From” addresses. Do not reply. Do [...]

I’ve done just enough SEO at work to have been irritated when my search for “cancun nh mexican restaurant” didn’t turn up Cancun Mexican Restaurant, in Bedford, NH. Not that my site carries tremendous weight, but I’m hoping a link will at least get them into the first page of search results for their name. [...]

I think I mentioned this a long time ago. It took me a long time to figure out why my saved game in Grand Theft Auto would always start at erratic points. I eventually figured it out: the Xbox 360 has no clock. When you turn it on, it seems to default to 11/22/05 at [...]

Most sites give each user a unique ID, which is usually implemented as a sequential integer. Some sites don’t show this information at all (since it’s really just a behind-the-scenes primary key). Some sites “show” it in the URL as the unique identifier for a person. Some sites, Slashdot being the only one I can [...]

I think most people have a mental filter. Ideas might randomly occur in their heads, but they’re run through that filter. They might have a thought like, “People don’t ever use fire extinguishers, leaving them unprepared. There should really be annual fire-extinguisher certifications that everyone gets.” I know I have. But most people would have [...]

I received a letter from my bank today. Before the fold, it contains this simple text: Matthew—We’re writing to remind you it’s important for us to receive the missing information indicated below by November 5, 2009. “Oh no,” I thought in a panic. I’m in trouble with my bank. I must have missed something important. [...]

A lot of times I see a headline and jump to a conclusion. I think that makes me a typical American. Or probably just a typical human. But sometimes I actually think about the news and read the whole article. And sometimes I find that it’s actually very important to read news instead of forming [...]

I saw a handful of news articles about the Sidekick. Basically, all T-Mobile Sidekicks apparently store everything–contacts, texts, photos, etc.–in the cloud. If the device is hard-rebooted, it doesn’t bother saving them, since it can just pull them back from the cloud. No one was ever really aware of this, it seems, since it worked [...]

For reasons I can’t quite articulate, I have an irrational phobia of poison ivy. I’ve never had poison ivy, which means that it’s theoretically possible I’m not even allergic, though I doubt that. It’s just that poison ivy and its toxins seem terrifying to me. So I always assumed it was just my paranoia when [...]