RIP J. D. Salinger 2010

J. D. Salinger Died On Wednesday and I think the New York Times did a good Article on his death.

My favourite quote from Catcher In The Rye isn't by Salinger, it is a quote that he had a character read on page 169:

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one
- Wilhelm Stekel

In this quote Salinger is trying to save himself from taking a lonely path or one that results in his younger self sacrificing too much for too little. Something he seemed to do many times in his life.

Mustard Does Creep By Radiohead

Mustard sings Creep from Rex Kramer on Vimeo.

Boba Flash Dance

Mandalorian Dance
by PatrickBoivin

Apple 27th New Product Announcement Prediction

I predict that the new product that will be announced on the 27th (next wednesday) will be an eBook reader called the iBook.

Here is my reasoning:

1. This fits the rumours of a tablet like device.


2. The Kindle is Amazon's top selling product, so there is clearly a market for eReaders. This is a new device that is on a rapid upward trend.


3. Most eReaders on the market today are either rather ugly or feel like a first generation product. So there is a gap in the market for an eReader with an Apple quality feel to it.


4. Digital distribution of eBooks isn't far from Apple's core competency with the iTunes store. They could just bolt it on like they did with TV, Movies and iPhone applications.

This doesn't fit a lot of the rumours because a lot of the supposed leaks talk of an iSlate that is just a large iPhone type interface.

Science Won't Save Us

I keep hearing polaticians encuraging more spending in science to combat climate change. I think this is good because I love science, but science already has a silver bullet solution and that is Nuclear Fusion, but as Steven Cowley explains in his Ted Talk, it will be at least until 2030+ before we know how to do it properly. If we wait until that time the planet will be well into a state of rejecting us. So we need to use the techniques we have now to do as much as we can.

The Cove

Everybody should see The Cove, a very good documentery about the Dolphin Slaughtering in town called Taiji in the Wakayama prefecture of Japan where tens of thousands of dolphins are killed each year as part of a government subsidised trade. It is subsidised because Japanese people don't eat Dolphin meat and I can only assume it is preserved out of some misguided notion of historical preservation.


View The Cove in a larger map

Ending Corruption For Proffit

Corruption is a big issue in a lot of countries, where this is the case there is usually a cultural acceptance for bribes and exploitation. Shaffi Mather has had enough of corruption in India and has a plan to stop it with a for profit organisation. It sounds insane and impossible, but I think it can work.

Planet M.U.L.E.

M.U.L.E was a Commodore 64 game where players where transported to a uncolonised planet to compete on the virgin ground for profit. You place farms to make food, solar stations to make power and mine metal and crystal out of the ground to earn the big bucks.

Now it is back as Planet M.U.L.E. and it is free, online enabled, has much better graphics and I know what I am doing because of the improved interface. I don't know what the developers have planned for it, but at the moment it is a very faithful recreation of the original.

M.U.L.E. is not a balanced game, whoever lands the sweet deposits at the start of the game will most likely win; so I would like to see a reworked version to make the gamplay more strategic.

Happy New Year

I have a good feeling about this year.