Our wise old men (i.e. the admins) have decided to schedule a regular maintenence window for matrix during which they reserve the right to take the machine down as necessary.
This will be the first Thursday and Friday of each month, and during this time you cannot rely on matrix being available. We won't be reminding members about this possible downtime every month, but it does mean that the only other times the machine will be down will be due to an emergency. If you have a project due/demo in or around then, let us know in advance and we'll see if we can "accommodate" you (if you know what we mean*).
*and we think you do.