Barry Joseph and I had a remarkable first day running around the city of The Hague in the Netherlands, spreading the Global Kids love to groups around here. The Hague has an incredibly rich history as a center for diplomatic, international law, and peace activities, with over 150 international organisations based here, including the International…
Category: Travel
Off to The Hague to meet with the ICC!
Barry Joseph and I are getting ready to board a plane headed to the city of the Hague in the Netherlands to meet with some folks at the International Criminal Court. We are going to bring them up to speed on our plans to launch the International Justice Center in Second Life on March 20,…
Why I love Virgin America
[This post is not a paid endorsement] I just flew from Los Angeles to New York on Virgin America, and I have to say it was one of the highlights of my trip. Here’s some of the stuff I liked: Seats: Leather, comfy, good legroom in coach class. Decor: Lounge-y and muted, with ensconced magenta…
Travelling the world responsibly
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…
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…