The lovely and talented Elfay Pinkdot has been hosting and DJing a great jazz and blues party on Saturday mornings in Second Life. She plays an ecclectic mix of great tunes interspersed with her sultry voice that’s great to wake up to. Here’s a YouTube video of her recent party yesterday, and a larger Quicktime…
Remembering the “Greatest Bar on Earth”
As the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attack approaches, I am feeling nostalgic and sad about the loss of the “Greatest Bar on Earth” on the 107th Floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. It was my most direct connection to the WTC, my regular Saturday night hangout for awhile. The “Greatest…
Shikima’s virtual World Trade Center: tribute or mockery?
I stopped in briefly to check out Shikima Riel’s tribute to the World Trade Center in Second Life. It’s not finished, but already I find it difficult to visit. (Direct teleport here.)
Second Life 9/11 Remembrances Planned
I just got word that the Second Life Library is planning a display of replicas of the World Trade Center and a space for people to share their memories and emotions on September 11 at 9pm EST. Sounds like a really great idea. I’ve also heard rumors of another group planning a Second Life re-enactment…
Harvard Law class taught in Second Life this Fall
In May I had the honor of hearing Dr. Charles Nesson, head of the Berkman Center at Harvard, map out his conception of educational institutions in an internet era: From Harvard’s point of view, this is a new world of education we are entering. Stressing open access to knowledge. The core value of a university…
Leopold the Katrina cat
One of the lesser tragedies of Hurricane Katrina were the hundreds of displaced animals who were seperated from their owners by the disaster. Hundreds of them were round up by caring individuals and humane societies and sheltered and fostered around the country. My girlfriend Cindy has been caring for a Katrina cat named Leopold for…
Jeff Barr, Web Evangelist for Amazon.com in Second Life
Just logged off from a cool talk given by Jeff Barr, Web Services Evangelist for Amazon.com. (I love that his official title is "evangelist.") Jeff gave a great overview of the myriad web services provided by Amazon, fielding detailed questions from techies in the audience. The organizers from the Kuurian Expedition I am sure will…
Shout-out from Starwood on my virtual Aloft hotel visit
A couple of weeks ago, I dropped in on "Aloft" virtual hotel being sponsored by the Starwood Hotel chain and posted some pics. Only later did I find out that the sim wasn’t open for business yet and that I was trespassing. Oops. Anyway, the Starwood Hotels travel blog theLobby.com has a nice little write-up…
Snow Crash comes to Second Life: where’d I put my wakizashi?
This weekend I finished re-reading Snow Crash, the seminal 1992 cyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson that was a central inspiration for the virtual world Second Life. Snow Crash is in my top five sci-fi novels and I have re-read it several times over the years. But its been at least five years since I have…
Fake conference scam: “International Conference on Child Labour, Abuse and Neglect”
It’s been awhile since I got a decent scam email from a UN or NGO pretender. These burn me because they play upon people’s good hearted nature, wanting to do something about racism or the environment or child labor. Today I got one ostensibly from the "YCIO," a group who’s acronym was never spelled out…