And so time, as it is wont to do, marches relentlessly forwards. This blog has really just been pining for the fjords, honest mate. I mean it’s not like much has really changed. The sun continues to shine intermittently on Melbourne. I continue to sit in front of a keyboard typing words for a living. Family is now 25% larger and I’m still getting emails intended for other Matts around the world. I mean come…
I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural…
I’m a little behind on this one, but I found this recent message from the old media rather amusing: Bloggers terrorizing politicians? Well that will never do. That’s your job, isn’t it Rupert? Also, while I’m at it Rupe, do try to remember that if you’re going to make claims about what results a particular Google search returns, you might not want to do that on the internet, where such claims are laughably easily verified.
Just catching up on a couple of recent Private Eyes, I couldn’t help notice that they chose to conclude a story about recent problems at the Times Literary Supplement with this somewhat surprising paragraph: The resulting outcry is awkwardly timed for [Sir Peter Stothard, the editor of the TLS], since to access his organ online is to find utter chaos. Already a laughing stock because it is reached via the Times’s “entertainment” division, the TLS’s…
We’re booked in to attend a foodie event next week that’s part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Yesterday I received the following email: Just as well it’s not the Melbourne Spellers Festival…
Once again, a somewhat baffling not-quite-spam message arrives in my inbox, intended for one of the other Matts. I can’t help thinking that the author of this message could have phrased that last line a little better… To: [A Different Matt] Greetings All Thank you Matt and Jennifer for your insights. I appreciate the distinction ..having a critical spirit or critical thinking. Many times when I take a hard line I question it after the…
I’ve written before about some of the random emails I get from time to time that were supposed to go to a different Matt (we really need a word to describe this phenomenon; “spam” just doesn’t quite cut it), but I was reminded recently that I never actually posted my all time favourite. This one was apparently successfully sent to its original recipient, who then tried to forward it on to someone she knew called…
I’ve moaned about stupid design patterns on the mobile web before, but here’s another example of just how frustrating it can be when web developers decide to lock you out of their site just because you happen to be using a mobile device. This time the culprits are Singapore Airlines, one of my favourite airlines. Shame their web presence sucks. I have a flight coming up shortly and there’s a great big flight cancelling ash…
In the olden days it was a lot easier for newspapers to pass off ridiculous claims as facts because anyone who wanted to verify them would have to go to some serious effort to do so. These days, however, we have teh internets, and fact checking has suddenly become a whole lot easier. So if you’re going to make claims about teh internets, then you’d better be pretty sure that your claimed facts are, you…
I know I got there first with the best Gmail address for our name, but just because you’re jealous it doesn’t mean you have to give out my email address to people and pretend it’s yours… So no, “The Cast of Disneyland Paris”, I don’t think I can give you feedback on my recent visit there, given that I haven’t left Australia for over a year. I also won’t be reviewing my recent stay at…