After salivating for months over these beautiful katanas being sold in Samurai Island, I finally decided tonight to get one. 800 Linden Dollars later, I was a happy owner of a Musashi Eternal sword, swinging it around like the Star Wars kid, when I ran into several swordfighters who proceeded to cut me to ribbons….
The sad state of real world politics in Second Life
My buddy Hamlet over at New World Notes blogged today about the explosion in French political activity in Second Life over the past month, with not one but TWO political parties setting up headquarters in the virtual world. Both the far-far right Front National and the Socialist Party have pitched their pixelated tents in SL,…
Diversity festival coming to SL in March!
Verum Vacirca and a cast of volunteers are throwing a Second Life festival to celebrate diversity in all its forms in March in Han Loso (teleport SLURL.) "Diversity 2007 – Wandering the World" is a project to promote diversity, inspire discussion and educate. A series of classes on various diversity issues has already kicked off…
Beyond Gangsta Rap: Reforming black-owned media
The Black Agenda Report has an insightful and well-rounded article by Bruce Dixon that gives an African-American perspective on media reform. Dixon notes it’s important for blacks to support the diversification of media ownership from radio to television to newspapers, beyond white male dominance of these markets. However, he comments that "media reform will have…
ABC News on US Congress in Second Life
I got a teeny-tiny quote in an ABCnews.com article on the opening of the 110th Congress in Second Life by Steve Grove : "It was kind of surreal," says Rik Panganiban, a blogger who was in the audience. That’s 1 second out of my 15 minutes of fame, I guess. Not a bad piece on…
Pioneering legal scholar Jerome Barron on the First Amendment and the Internet
“Ideas matter and they have enduring power.” – Jerome Barron Today, Jerome A. Barron, legal scholar at the George Washington University School of Law, delivered a lecture to mark the 40th anniversary of a groundbreaking Harvard Law Review article he wrote in 1967 entitled “Access to the Press – A New First Amendment Right.” In…
ARIN: you read the RFC, now read the comic book
In Memphis I chatted with Richard Jimmerson of the American Registry for Internet Numbers . ARIN is a Virginia-based non-profit that "allocates Internet Protocol resources; develops consensus-based policies; and facilitates the advancement of the Internet through information and educational outreach" for the US, Canada and parts of the Caribbean. I already knew a bit about…
State Department sponsors Net Freedom conference on January 30
According to CNET, the US State Department is planning to hold a "Net Freedom" event on January 30 in DC. The goal of the event is to "preserve the Internet as being a conduit for the free flow of information," according to US Ambassador David Gross . The State Department already has a "Global Internet…
Send in your snippets to SL Machinima mash-up on February 17
My pal Milki Unknown passed on to me the info on a cool machinima mash-up being organized by Salazar Jack and Osprey Therien at 2PM, February 17 at Cowell Amphitheatre. Here’s how they describe the exercise: Each person sends a 10-20 second snippet of SL machinima to machinimanight@gmail.com. Salazar Jack will retrieve the snippets and…
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…