This quote from legendary American journalist Edward R. Murrow has been bouncing around my head the past few days: The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how…
Trying on Adam n Eve’s “Hiro” asian skin
I read up in the cool men’s fashion blog Men’s Second Style about the new ethnic skins created by the folks at Adam and Eve (teleport SLURL). I bought the "Hiro" asian skin that I thought was close to my skin tone to see how it looks. I’m not interested in creating a photorealistic duplicate…
Obama supporters gathering on Second Life Capitol Hill sim this Saturday
Just got word of what sounds like one of the first Second Life rallies in support of a presidential candidate. According to a group notice I got from the Capitol Hill group, supporters of Barack Obama will gather on Saturday March 31 at 2:30pm PST at SL Capitol Hill (teleport SLURL) for a rally to…
Online Pornography Research Call for Papers
(If this doesn’t shoot up my google search stats, I don’t know what will.) I just received this call for papers for an academic "Collection on Online Pornography": Proposals are sought for a new edited collection on online pornography. Although online pornography attracts a great deal of public attention and is frequently the focus of…
Tracking presidential hopefuls’ blogs: Wannabepresidents.com
The US Presidential race, still far far away, is already heating up on the net with presidential hopefuls from all parties announcing their candidacy. How to keep track of all the action? One cool new tool is the hilariously named Wannabepresidents.com, a blog aggregator that pulls in content from all of the official blogs of…
This American Life: the TV show!
My favorite radio program "This American Life" has made the transition from radio to television with a new program on Showtime. "Reality Check" the first episode, which has two of my favorite stories, is available for a limited time for free online. It’s great just seeing the nerdy host Ira Glass sitting in a desk,…
Rock the Net: musicians need an internet that goes up to eleven!
Those cool music activists at the Future of Music Coalition have launched a new initiative in support of Net Neutrality called "Rock the Net" to highlight how a free and open internet helps musicians and music fans connect. From the press release: Net neutrality is the idea that all websites and services should be equally…
Machinima for Good: check out these cool fair trade machinima!
The machinima production group Strange Company has just released a couple sweet machinima videos intended to raise public awareness about fair trade issues using The Sims 2 and World of Warcraft. The Sims 2 machinima is probably easier to understand, but the WoW video is a more direct analogy comparing a virtual economy to a…
Hippacus: teaching math through online gaming
Clickable Culture sent along the link to a new MMORPG called "Hippasus" where you apparently have to fight green-armed guys using only an abacus and a TI-36X scientific calculator. That’s right, your worst nightmare: an online game where you have to use your math skills to pwn your opponents. Seriously, this has the potential of…
Discussion today on politics in First and Second Life
Kei Moana of Clear Ink moderated a roundtable discussion today about presidential campaign politics in SL. The event happened, appropriately enough, in the chambers of SL Capitol Hill (teleport SLURL) from 11am-noon PDT. There was a spirited and respectful conversation among a small but diverse group of resident politicos about politicking in SL and their…