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,…
Category: Travel
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.
Off to Memphis for the weekend
I’m off to Memphis tomorrow to participate in the National Conference on Media Reform, put on by Free Press. And as excited as I am to be with 3,000 media activists, researchers and policy-makers, right now I just want me some Memphis barbeque. I have fantasies about making it out to Graceland, but I think…
Real World Places in Second Life #13: Ancient Rome
Torin Golding’s outstanding sim called simply "Roma" (teleport SLURL) is a feast for the senses and a powerful demonstration of the potential for virtual environments to immerse you in historic places.
Real World Places in Second Life #12: Virtual Morocco!
I just ran across an amazing new build called "Virtual Morocco" on the Casablanca sim (teleport SLURL). Created as an initiative of faculty and students at Johnson and Wales University in partnership with the Moroccan ministry of tourism, Virtual Morocco is one of the most immersive real world places in Second Life that I’ve ever…
“Real Life Places in SL” HUD
I just finished playing with the new open-sourced TourHUD created by the Electric Sheep Company for the GSD&M ad agency. The Tour HUD ("heads up display") is a very easy-to-use tool for creating your own custom tours of various spots in Second Life. There are already two — one for newbie-friendly areas and another of…