Rhinoceros, Cañón de Malibu and CD-ROMs

En geomorfología y geología, un cañón es un accidente geográfico provocado por un río que a través de un proceso de epigénesis excava en terrenos sedimentarios una profunda hendidura de paredes casi verticales. Es, pues, una especie de desfiladero ensanchado por la larga actuación de los procesos de erosión fluvial.

Los cañones (también llamados gargantas cuando son relativamente angostos) son incisiones lineales de tendencia rectilínea (o curvilínea en el caso de los meandros encajados) y que poseen carácter estructural cuando son originados por levantamientos o hundimientos tectónicos. También pueden originarse por la dinámica fluvial, debido al descenso del nivel de base o por la erosión remontante del río principal.

Philip Taylor Kramer (July 12, 1952 – February 12, 1995) was a bass guitar player for the rock group Iron Butterfly during the 1970s. After this he obtained a night school degree in aerospace engineering, he worked on the MX missile guidance system for a contractor of the US Department of Defense and later in the computer industry on fractal compression, facial recognition systems, and advanced communications. His disappearance on February 12, 1995 caused a mystery lasting for years.

Life

In 1990 at the age of 38, Kramer co-founded Total Multimedia Inc. with Randy Jackson (brother of Michael Jackson) to develop data compression techniques for CD-ROMs.The firm claims it developed the first video compression capable of producing full motion video from a single speed CD-ROM in 1992. In 1994 the company was reorganized under bankruptcy and hired new leadership. Kramer continued working there until his disappearance.Kramer co-developed SoftVideo based on fractal compression and he also claimed to work on a transmission project that would result in faster-than-light speed communications. The latter related to his father Ray's long-running family effort to discredit Albert Einstein's theories.

Death

On February 12, 1995 he drove to Los Angeles International Airport to pick up an investor. He spent forty-five minutes at the airport but failed to meet the investor. Kramer did make a flurry of cell phone calls, including one to the police during which Kramer said, "I’m going to kill myself."

He was never heard from again. This led to a massive search, many news reports, and talk show segments including an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, America's Most Wanted, The Unexplained ("Strange Disappearances," first aired June 7, 2000) and Unsolved Mysteries some years later. An article in Skeptic reported numerous conspiracy theories about his death.

On May 29, 1999, Kramer's Ford Aerostar minivan and skeletal remains were found by photographers looking for old car wrecks to shoot at the bottom of Decker Canyon near Malibu, California.Based on forensic evidence and Kramer's emergency call to the police, authorities ruled his death as a probable suicide committed on the day on which he was last heard.