I stumbled upon the Friends of World Heritage website recently, and I liked their tips for responsible travel. They are focused on travel to visit the World Heritage Sites, but their recommendations are applicable to any kind of tourism or business travel. Much of the tips are fairly basic like "learn a few words of…
Category: Travel
Six suggestions for the virtual Philippines embassy
Ok, I was a bit negative yesterday when I dropped in on the planned Philippines virtual embassy in Second Life. Here are some constructive suggestions for how the Philippine government should use their first virtual presence: Expose people to the richness of Filipino culture: How about creating a tinikling dance animation? Or selling/giving away Filipino…
Amy Wilson’s real paintings of virtual vistas
Bryan Campen sent me news about this fun art book Postcards from Second Life, created by Amy Wilson. Amy has created a series of lovely watercolors chronicling her travels in the virtual world. I love how her broad strokes and washes lend a dream-like quality to the fantastic vistas one sees everyday in SL. And…
STA Travel dorms: the future of SL housing?
Over the weekend I stopped by the new STA Travel sim, created by the Electric Sheep Company. For those who haven’t been to college in awhile, STA Travel is a ubiquitous presence in campuses all over America, tempting you with discounted travel packages to farflung places. Nothing makes an Intro to Electrical Engineering class go…
A 1,000 day sea journey casts off: God speed, Schooner Anne!
Today (Earth Day, by no coincidence) begins the epic 1,000 sea voyage of Reed Stowe and Soanya Ahmed from a pier in Hoboken out to parts unknown. Sailing aboard the beautiful and sturdy sailing 70′ vessel the "Schooner Anne," Reed and Soanya don’t intend to ever put into harbor or resupply for their entire voyage,…
The social impact of in-flight cell phone and wi-fi use
Yesterday the FCC closed its proposed rule making procedure pertaining to the use of cellular phones during air travel. The FCC decided to uphold the ban on in-flight cell phone use, citing a lack of technical evidence that in-flight cell phone use would not interfere with regular cell phone transmissions. There was no mention in…
Lunch with Hamlet
I had the pleasure of meeting Hamlet Au of New World Notes today over burritos at Papalote’s on Valencia Street in San Francisco. It was cool chatting with him about Hamlet’s forthcoming book with Harper Collins that I can’t wait to read. We also discussed political action in SL, whether in-world voice chat is a…
Hanging in SF for a few days
sliced sf skyline Originally uploaded by on2wheelz. I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area for a few days, to get my lasik-ed eyes looked at by my optomitrist and spend some long-past-due family time. I was actually expecting to go under the laser again today, but my doctor told me yesterday that he didn’t think…
Meet me at the Casbah: Pics from Virtual Morocco
About a month ago I visited the Casablanca sim (teleport SLURL), a jaw-dropping recreation of Morocco, from the souk market to the mosque to the detailed tilework. Created as an initiative of faculty and students at Johnson and Wales University in partnership with the Moroccan ministry of tourism, it’s a must see build. I took…
Barbecued lamb riblets at Rendezvous… be still my fat-clogged heart
I’ve had barbeque for three days in a row in Memphis. But the penultimate ‘que experience I’ve had here is the lamb riblets at Charles Vergo’s Rendezvous Charcoal Ribs. Dry-rubbed, tender, fatty and crispy on the outside. Simply awesome. Warning: Don’t click on the image if you aren’t near a decent bbq place.