Congrats to my friend Cyrus Huffines (RL: Bryan Campen) for getting recently hired as Online Community Coordinator for the Interfaith Youth Core. About the Core: There are millions of religious young people in the world interacting with greater frequency. That interaction tends either toward conflict or cooperation. Where so many of these interactions tend towards…
Anshe Chung donates second sim to Non-profit Commons
Frank Foley of TechSoup just announced that SL entrepreneur Anshe Chung has agreed to donate a second sim to the Non-profit Commons. We’ve been bursting at the seams and have more requests for office spaces than we can accommodate, so this is welcome news. I was in on some of the side conversations on this…
Suggest some low-carb, low-sugar snacks!
Lots of people (offline and on) have been very supportive of my diet and healthier living efforts, which is super sweet. Seriously, it has been nearly a painless, stressless process. My one fear is that I will get bored by my food options and slide back into carb and sugar binges. My tough times are…
The Cannery Art Gallery: merging Web2.0 and virtual world communities
As I write this, 50-some avatars are busy partying away in the new Cannery Art Gallery (Teleport SLURL), created by SL developer Rezzable. This is unremarkable in itself — there are parties going on 24/7 in Second Life. But what it represents for me is the coming together of Web 2.0 and virtual world platforms…
SL designers sought for “Pink for Life” Breast Cancer benefit
I just got this call for contributions for a mixed reality Second Life / real life benefit for cancer research called "Pink for Life." The European cancer research Gustave Roussy Institute is throwing a fashion exhibit and auction on the Champs Elysee in Paris from October 9-10 to raise funds and awareness towards breast cancer…
Rik’s weight loss secret: eat more, exercise more
Over the past three months, I’ve lost somewhere around 10-15 pounds. My doctor is very proud of me, and my girlfriend of five years said the other night that I’ve never looked better. Here’s the Rikomatic two-step plan for getting healthy and losing weight: Eat More Food Exercise More There really isn’t much more to…
The Media Research Hub: cutting edge tools for media justice, scholarship and policy
My program on Media and Democracy at the Social Science Research Council has publicly launched the Media Research Hub, a new online resource for researchers, advocates, practitioners, and policymakers working for a more democratic and participatory public sphere. Through the Hub, activists and researchers can find out about funding opportunities for research work, get access…
NORML launching virtual headshop, I mean, headquarters on September 6
On September 6, at HIGH NOON (get it!) PST, the Second Life headquarters of the marijuana reform group NORML will be publicly launched at Lorax Island Resort (teleport SLURL). From their announcement: Experience the freedom of marijuana law reform at the grand opening celebration of NORML’s Second Life Office. The National Organization for the Reform…
More details about Brazilian “City of Knowledge” conference today in Second Life
Gilson Schwartz send me more details on the "Cidade do Conhecimento" / "City of Knowledge" conference happening in Brazil today, which I had blogged about earlier: The City of Knowledge is a research group at the Dept. of Film, Radio and TV of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. We´ve been into web-related research since…
TVP, LLC recreates “Bourne Ultimatum” trailer in Second Life
I read in the Metaverse Messenger that Virtual consulting firm TVP LLC had recreated the "Bourne Ultimatum" movie trailer completely within Second Life. The machinima was an entry in a contest sponsored by Machinima.com challenging contestants to create a movie trailer of the action film using machinima technology. The winner gets $500. Having seen and…