Matt's Cool and Interesting Blog of The New Millennium 

BAX Forum

Between studying and studying, I set up a forum for the realest of all fraternities: BAX. Check out the forum here: http://baxfraternity.proboards28.com/!

Coming soon: Matt's Cool and Interesting Blog of the New Millenium Puzzle Chall

Watch and Wait and You will See

Puzzlestorm 2004 Results

We got 17th, which is pretty good, considering 50 teams were involved, and some were grad students and whatnot. Next year we'll get those X-Boxes for sure.

Random Game I Like #16: Metroid Zero Mission

I haven't even played this yet, but I'm sure it's quality enough to make this exclusive list. It's a remake of the first Metroid, plus it has new areas, puzzles, and features. It's going to be great. If you missed the first one you have to play it.

Even More Mysteries

Part 1
Yesterday, walking to Econ, I felt what I thought was a pack of life savers in my right jacket pocket. I tried to get one out, when I realized it was something wooden. Looking at it, I discovered that it was a small (1 inch by 1-2 inch), wooden, carved pawns. It has a distinct head/body seperation and two straight slash looking eyes. I have no idea where I got it. I don't think I picked it up anywhere. I feel as though someone slipped it into my pocket at some time within the past week. I figured it would probably be good luck, so I rubbed it a few times before my Econ test.

Part 2
Today walking to my Physics recitation, Vishesh pointed out a page size poster on a bulletin board. It has my pawn stretched to full page size in the background and an email address in the foreground. I've contacted the address. I'll keep you posted when I receive information.

Mysterious Sterile Gloves

When I got back from Econ, 4 sterile gloves were hanging from the top of my door. Questions ripped through my brain. What did this symbol indicate? How would my life change after this occurence? Was there a vast conspiracy to kill me? All I know is this: some questions can never be answered, and some were never meant to be asked.

I take back everything I said (I won $50)

I just won $50 on our super bowl pot. I only bought one square of the grid for 50 cents. I take back everything I said below about the super bowl. It's the best, most exciting game there ever was. Sports are cool, Patriots rule!

Superbowl Commercials

Is it just me or do the Superbowl commercials get less funny every year? I think it's correlated with the techs. Ever since the dot bomb slide they've been less enjoyable.

The Scrittore Case: Hoax or Truth

A bunch of posters such as this:
have been floating around the CMU campus. I went to the website to see what this is about. The site is a platform to sell an independently published book: "The Scrittore Case Book" edited and Compiled by Thomas Stanton and Daniel Calderone. The book contains "The Scrittore Manuscript" and some philosophical treatises and essays based on it. The gist of it is that several high school students went to a house for a party and all died. A manuscript was found describing the deaths written by Jake Scrittore. In the manuscripts, the students were at the party. The morning following the sun didn't rise, and does not rise again for 12 days following the beginning of the party. The students can not leave and when walking away from the house (Bode house) they arrive back at the house again as though they were walking around a small sphere. At the end all of the teenagers are dead due to various causes.

The website contains some treatises and interviews about the manuscript and book. In the interview "Getting to the point" Scrittore Case Book co-writer Daniel Calderone is asked by James Gerhart of the Modern Day Seeker, "There were rumors circulating that this project was nothing more than a hoax created by you and Mr. Stanton, that this was nothing more than an attempt to see how far you could take this. What do you say to that?". Calderone replies "Well it's an obvious possibility, and something we knew would come up due to the nature of the material. I say simply that it's not a hoax, and I hope that with time and more publicity its validity will become obvious, and people will no longer question it. Of course, people question everything. There are those who believe the earth is flat, or that no one ever went to the moon." It is my opinion that this case is a hoax.

Evidence:
I immediately searched Google for evidence of this case.
First of all, how did these posters get around CMU?
A search for author Daniel Calderone reveals that he is a psychology major here at Carnegie Mellon.

Next I attempted to find if this actually happened. A search for "Jake Scrittore" on Google reveals no results "Scrittore Manuscript" gives a link to purchase the book. "Bode house" gives a bunch of hits for cleaning services, but nothing relate to the case.

There is no online information which refers to this case that was not created by one of the writers. I believe this is a hoax. Furthermore these posters violate CMU bulletin board policy, to the point that I'm surprised the tyrannical Student Senate has not attempted to force the writers to remove them all. Only one poster per board and only recognized groups may post.

Umami Jokes

I saw it mentioned on Book of Ratings that there is a fifth type of taste. Now the complete list includes sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. I've been trying to do some research on what exactly umami tastes like. And all I can come up with is ambiguous adjectives like "rich" and "savory". Also it is somehow assosciated with MSG. Now I know from forays into Chinese Food that MSG is probably bad for you, from the capitalized notices on soy sauce packets and Chinese food cartons that shout out: NO MSG USED. So maybe the umami sense should have been called "rich and savory tasting poison taste".