A package for J.D. Salinger, and other tales

A few items worth reading this week:

J.D Salinger, who'd been hiding out for decades in a hilltop redoubt in Cornish, New Hampshire, died last week His desire for privacy was so complete that many residents of the tiny town didn't know he was there and, if they did, kept mum about it in that laudable Northern New England way. Turns out the Forecaster's very own Steve Mistler is from Cornish, and has this entertaining account of his chance discovery of his famous neighbor while on the job for FedEx.

Maine may have difficulty winning a replacement for The Cat, a high-speed catamaran that recently gave up the runs to Nova Scotia from Portland and Bar Harbor. Industry watchers have long said that a standard ferry makes more sense on the run (now that fuel prices are high) and that operators might seek to operate in or closer to Boston, which has a much larger customer base. MaineBiz has picked up on this. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia taxpayers have been surprised to learn that that they're on the hook to The Cat's owners for $3 million for not renewing a subsidy of $6 million to keep the service going. Looks like somebody hired a clever contract lawyer.

Further afield, read what happens when a journalist leaves his notebook on a suburban train in Japan's teeming capital at The Blog of Rob, and what my Bratislava-based colleague Michael J. Jordan, recently returned from Hong Kong, thinks his Chinese journalism students will take back with them from exposure to the less restrictive island, with its Twitter access and all the rest.