Author Archives: matt

Some while ago I wished aloud that the internet has a site that would give walking directions. To my knowledge this has not yet occured, but something along those lines has made an appearance: WalkScore, a site that purports to … Continue reading →

I would take issue with this article wondering about the future of the hybrid car. It seems like an opinion piece masquerading as news. The thrust of the article – that hybrids aren’t The Solution to all of life’s (i.e. … Continue reading →

I’ve spent much of the last couple of hours playing around with Growl. (The balance of the hours was spent clearing up divisibility confusion and evacuating the building.) It’s a nice idea in much the same way that RSS is … Continue reading →

For about the last week or so, people in my neighbourhood have been setting off firecrackers in great quantities. Today it’s been going on all day, and I anticipate many more when the sun goes down. If I were clever, … Continue reading →

So the automotive difficulties I mentioned in the last post? As it turns out, the actual drivetrain and electrical systems of the car are pretty much fine. The issue is with the central computer… specifically, the part of the central … Continue reading →

The good news: a former student (from over a year ago) just stopped by my office to tell me again how much he enjoyed the course, and to give me a feather for my hat. So. Very. Cool. The bad … Continue reading →

Last week I had a bit of a scare when my jump drive blandly informed me that no computer I had access to would read it anymore. This was an inconvenience, since I’d just downloaded a program to install on … Continue reading →

For instance, this post taught me that Americans don’t use the word budgie, preferring the usage parakeet. I don’t know why I’m so bemused by this. Maybe it’s because I’ve always considered budgies and parakeets to be two different birds, … Continue reading →

…man has yearned to barbecue with the sun. In grade something or other — 5, maybe? — I did a science project about solar power. As part of this, I (with parental aid) built a solar hot dog cooker in … Continue reading →

On my way into the office today, I overheard one of our graduate students using the phrase internal biological clock. This naturally got me thinking about what an external biological clock would be; I concluded that it would be something … Continue reading →