RIP Tom Clancy

Sadly one of my favorite writers Tom Clancy died today at the age of 66. He was most known for the creation of the Jack Ryan character that was the star of a bunch of his books from the mid-80s to today with five movies created based on the character. I have been reading his books since I was in Jr High with some of my favorite books being Red Storm Rising, The Sum of All Fears and Executive Orders. I have long looked forward to each new novel, reading through them in just days. I recommend reading any you can get hold of with a special focus on the Jack Ryan series. While his post 2001 politics often mucked up the books, they were still entertaining reads. His last Jack Ryan novel, Command Authority, will be out at the end of the year. While my mini write-up is frankly crap, I do recommend reading AV Club's look back at this fantastic writer an enduring character that will soon be as well know as Jason Bourne and James Bond. Thanks you John Clancy for the great childhood reads that carried on into adult. Your creativity will be missed.

Linkfest

Lego Princess Ceinwyn
Hit the link for a gallery of images of the Princess Ceinwyn created by Luke Hutchinson out of Lego. Very pretty with cloth sails and a nice Lego ocean base to complete the look. (via Brothers Brick)

Warren Buffet - Stop Coddling the Rich
In an article in the NY Times, super rich Warren Buffett makes the rather obvious argument that it is time to tax the rich. The 10 year experiment of constantly cutting taxes on the "job creators" that the GOP has been advocating has simply not worked. Two recessions and negative economic growth for the poor and middle classes have proven this. The only people that have seen growth in these last years from the GOP policies? The super rich of course. Thanks to the multitude of tax loopholes that the GOP refuse to close, the rich actually pay less a percentage of taxes than any other group. Buffett points out he paid 17.4% while other people in his office averaged 36%. I am lower middle class and my burden came out to about 27%. I think the national average is something like 24%. Net result is all this crap about "being fair" that the GOP advocates fails to point out that the rich actually are paying less than everyone else. The article is worth reading and it sums succulently as tax cuts for the rich ("job creators") does not equal job creation as the rich do not allow tax policy to interfere with their efforts to invest and make more money.

Meet Comex, iOS Hacker Supreme
Forbes has posted a great article that covers hacking genius of 19 year old Nicholas Allegra who has 3 times now hacked the Apple's iOS used in iPhone and iPad to create incredibly easy jailbreaks for those devices. A jailbreak allows you to use your paid for device in whatever way you see fit on whatever carrier you choose without big brother (Apple) having to approve it first. Hats off to Comex for his outstanding efforts, may he continue to be successful in thwarting Apple's iron fist of control.

US Patent System is Killing Innovation
An interesting op-ed piece on Gizmodo that points out how the new era of "Civil War" between tech companies will likely stifle innovation. What is currently happening is in the billion dollar markets of smart phones and tablets various companies is trying to use patents to squash the competition and become the only real provider of a certain type of product. The main culprit is Apple who is attempting to use courts to block the sale of any tablet device that isn't an iPad. This leads to other companies going over their lists of patents and using Apple in return saying their iPad violates patents and shouldn't be sold either. This goes back and forth until an agreement is reach. The problem though is this kind of fierce legal fighting (besides being the opposite of capitalism), means that some bright guy in his garage will likely be sued into oblivion or just bought up before some new product that might be better than the iPad could ever reach the public much less the market. When that happens, innovation ceases to occur.

Top 100 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
NPR compiled a list of the top 100 books of all time based on the votes of their readers (apparently a paltry 60k). The list isn't definitive nor is the number order that important but as a list of fantastic books to read it works as a great resource.

Links of the Day

Post-Transaction Marketing Warning - With Black Friday a few days away and online shopping only expected to break new records, be sure to click the link to read about Post-Transaction Marketing and the companies you should refuse to do business with for participating in the scam. Essentially, what they were doing is after making a purchase, you would get a screen offering you a rebate or coupon if you provide your email address or simply click a confirm button. What often instead happened is the website would provide your just used credit card information to a marketing company would then charge you a monthly "loyalty". The result is the website gets paid for providing your information and the marketing company gets money off the fee they are charging. You get nothing out of the transaction except a headache as the fee is hard to remove, hard to stop, and usually banks refuse to refund. If these companies are willing to be so cavalier with your credit card information, who else have they provided it to for a quick buck?

Complete History of Tie-In Novels - A nice breakdown of the tie-in novel business that often builds on universes such as Star Trek, Star Wars and more. I continue to read the Star Trek and Star Wars novels that come out so found this peak to be very interesting.

Netbook Holiday Buying Guide - A nice simple breakdown of all the various netbooks currently available to help you decide how to get the most bang for your buck. I love my Dell netbook and look forward to upgrading sometime next year as the small size can be very convenient sometimes.

Atari 2600 Arcade - For once, official and legal versions of 2600 games that you can play online for free. These games for the Atari 2600 back in the early 80s helped created the foundation for the video game industry that we now all enjoy.

New Final Fantasy XIII Trailer - Another trailer for the game coming out in 3 week in Japan and about 4 months in the States.