ajmatt blog

I promise not to start documenting every trip to the public library because… what better way to lose readers? But I had to write a follow-up post, just this once.
Last time I visited my local library, someone asked me for a recommendation. Today while browsing around Geraldine Brooks* a girl down the aisle from me [...]

The scene: Potomac Yards, location of the Target and Best Buy closest to Washington D.C., and hence very crowded. The worst drivers in the area convene in that parking lot, resulting in chaos and traffic jams. Yes, I mean traffic jams inside a strip mall.
Completely unrelated background: this area was once a superfund site. Ha!
Last [...]

I was efficiently making the rounds at my neighborhood public library—off-duty, incognito and librarian glasses long gone (lost, sadly)—when a total stranger asked me for a book recommendation.
I must have looked like I knew what I was doing, a pile of books under one arm and inspecting the “new books” section with the other, because [...]

Even though most operating systems now keep themselves up to date, particularly from a security point of view, applications can be notoriously bad at staying current. And who wants to go hunting for the latest updates?!?
As an interim solution while we anticipate future software innovations, if you use Microsoft Windows, you can use Internet [...]

I set up a Google Analytics account years ago, sometime around 2004 when it was first released. I hadn’t logged in for at least two years, but dusted it off last week for a non-blog related project. It turns out that while I have been ignoring Google, Google has dutifully been tracking traffic at ajmatt [...]

How exciting - scientists have discovered a double Einstein ring!!!

You might be thinking - what’s an Einstein ring? When two galaxies line up, the one in the front acts like a lens for the one in the back. From our perspective here on Earth, the light from the farther one is distorted and [...]

Well, a new semester is beginning. As Allegra previously mentioned, I have decided to take two classes this semester:

Main Themes in the Philosophy of Science & Technology I
Culture, History, Politics of the Internet

Yes, I’m crazy!! However, based on where I want to go in the program and the timing of the various courses [...]

Jet lag + Matt is sick + holiday + Allegra is sick = 2 slugs who watch waaaay too many movies
According to the latest estimates, Matt and I collectively watched 20 movies over the last two weeks. Movies from Netflix, movies from Comcast on Demand, movies from Amazon Unbox.
We even darkened the door of a [...]