Rusty Badger

I stumbled across a link I bookmarked many, many years ago last night and (thanks to a couple of minutes on Google) managed to find the page again, as it’s original host had removed it.

Enigma is a UCLA organization which exists for people who, in their own words: “share interests in gaming, science fiction, fantasy, and other shiny goodness.”

Hmm – Your initial thought might be light-sensitive nerds swapping D&D scores and screen grabs from World Of Warcraft (and this may well be true! B->), but this particular set of pages makes for interesting reading.

Again, in their own words: “In 1990 Enigma created its own “future history“, attempting to create a plausible, or at least entertaining, description of the events over the next 130 years of Earth’s history.”

Now having looked at their predictions over the past few years, they’re a little wide of the mark, but there is still value is considering their view of the future, even if only from an entertainment point of view.

I wonder how many Sci-Fi authors have obtained their plot lines from these pages? B->

Note to self: Don’t stay at the Holiday Inn in Croydon again.

Any hotel that charges as much as this shouldn’t try and charge £10 for parking and £9.99 for internet access!

I’d rather watch TV! B->

UPDATE:

Just managed to convince T-Mobile to upgrade my Web ‘n’ Walk datacard to the USB model several weeks early, so I can use it with my MacBook Pro – no more expensive hotel broadband! B->

My name is Cliff Pearson, I’m 41 years old and live in a little village on the North-east Essex coast, to the eastern side of the UK, some 70-odd miles from London with my wife of 22 years, Wendy. We don’t have any kids, but a cat, a dog and a pair of cockatiels keep us busy!

(Sorry about the stupid viking picture, but all the others were worse, believe me!)

I’ve always worked in IT and have been a web developer for 13 years now. I’ve focused on ColdFusion for the past 12 years and have been self employed for almost 9 years now.

Favourite TV shows include Heroes, Prison Break, House, 24, Doctor Who, Jericho, QI, Life On Mars, Battlestar Galactica, Bones & Waking The Dead.

Food – I cook a mean Italian and my wife says I’m a better cook than she is!

Outside of computers and the Interweb, my main passion is music. I was a part-time DJ for about 20 years, but retired recently, due to health problems (it’s a young man’s sport!) I dabble with various instruments – mainly keys and bass guitar.

I’m a Progressive Rock fan – a deeply unfashionable musical genre which most people dismiss. I won’t start preaching about it here, but yes, there are people still making this music, it didn’t die out in 1976, despite what the press might want you to believe!

Curious? Then I urge you to check out:

• The Flower Kings
• The Tangent
• Riverside
• Porcupine Tree
• Blackfield
• Pure Reason Revolution
• Mew
• Lazuli
• Beardfish

..among many others!

Probably the strangest thing I’ve ever done (apart from skiing) was to dress as a pregnant bride at a friend’s wedding, chasing the groom around the hall to the sounds of Yvonne Fair’s ‘It Should Have Been Me’! (No, Vicar Of Dibley fans, I’m afraid that wasn’t an original Richard Curtis idea – I did this in 1990 and have video evidence! B->).

I spend far to long reading other people’s blogs, but find I learn so much.