According to the Google Adsense policy statement, I'm not supposed to solicit clicks on the ads they serve up. So, whatever you do, don't click on them! Resist.
I’m bummed. Second Life is having one of its semi-monthly cosmic override meltdowns. Logins are disabled; in-world concurrency (the number of people currently logged in) is dropping; dogs and cats are living together. It’s terrible!
I’m trapped — TRAPPED I’m telling you — in the physical world. Whatever will I do? I might have to read a book or (gasp!) talk to someone in person. …no, I’m not going to do something stupid like that. Must. Stay. In. Control. I just tried to right-click on my cat to get her edit menu. I can’t fly! I’m overweight and under 6 feet tall! What is going on!?!?
A couple of people have sent me links to a story that has apparently caught the attention of real life news agencies. Summary: A man and a woman meet, fall in love, and get married in Second Life (SL). They take the relationship into real life (RL) and get married there too. Man is caught having an “affair” with an SL “escort” (prostitute) online. Real life and Second Life marriages are ended. The end. Oh, wait… RL news agencies go nuts.
Now this probably sounds dramatic and strange to most people but I’ve seen and heard of this sort of thing happening all the time in SL. People hook up at the avatar level, get “partnered” (10 linden dollars at the web page), maybe even have a blingy, poofy wedding in-world and then get divorced (for 25 linden dollars) a few weeks or months later. There are many reasons: Sometimes the relationship ends when the thrill does; sometimes one of the partners wants to take the relationship to real life while the other one doesn’t. Or, in some cases, a guy finds out his bride is also a guy… not that there’s anything wrong with that. (Stuff happens — you chose your gender the first day and can switch it at will. Volumes could be written about gender and sexual orientation in virtual worlds.) Emotions felt in-world are real and those sometimes slam into a wall of reality when the flesh-and-blood people behind the characters draw closer. My in-world partner and I have a phrase for this: “Until sunrise doth us part.” It doesn’t have to be like this of course, but it often is.
Did I just say I have an in-world partner?!?! I guess I should say a little bit about my SL partner. She and I are in very stable real life relationships. We don’t have cybersex — that would be awkward in any case since our real life partners are usually in the same room with us. Her real life fiance knows all about me and my real life wife (of 23 years) knows all about her. We just like each other a lot and people in-world had begun to think of us as a couple because we’re both such dorks. So, we spent the 10 lindens to become partnered. There are no secrets, and indeed, there’s nothing worth keeping secret. We just work and play well together in the SL setting. We’re also less likely to get hit on when we’re out on our own since anyone can look at our profiles and see that we’re partnered. /me shows wedding ring.
All of that to say, I’ve seen this in-world marriage/partnership thing handled any number of ways and I’ve seen it go wrong in nearly as many ways. It comes as a bit of a surprise to me, then, to see this single failed SL/RL marriage gain so much traction in RL news. Haven’t people been “hooking up” in chat rooms and email since chat rooms and email were invented? Haven’t some small percentage of those relationships gone real world and subsequently blown up? Is this really new(s)? I guess it is since it’s titillating and alien to the billions of people who don’t participate in Second Life. Boring. Next. Get a third life! lol
My advice? Stay friends with your partner/spouse and keep talking to one another. Works well in both worlds. No matter what, don’t talk to reporters. They’re the Devil.
While the new Star Trek movie is already doomed in that it comes in at number 11 (an odd number), I very much hope this is not true:
It has been confirmed that Romulans are the main antagonists in the film, led by Nero (the primary villain) and his second-in-command, Ayel. Their plot involves not only time travel but also the destruction of a planet using a type of “drilling rig,” during which time they come into confrontation with Kirk and crew (which involves a fight between a sword-wielding Sulu and a Romulan).
[source... about one third the way down the page near footnote 100]
Ugh… more time travel and — HEY, wait just a minute. Sulu and a Romulan can’t actually meet each other that early in the time line. Prior to “Balance of Terror,” no one in the Federation (save perhaps the Vulcans) had ever seen a Romulan. If this movie is supposed to take place before the classic television series, there is no way this can be canonical. And don’t give me that Klingon appearance change argument; they cleared that up in Enterprise.
I’m calling BS on this right now. In fact, I’m so mad, I’m gonna move out of my parents’ basement and go kiss a girl. I haven’t been this mad since McDonald’s ran out of Trek Action Figure Happy Meals… when I was 29.
Anyway, I’ll see you in line when the movie comes out because *HELLO?* Star Trek!
After seeing this, I never again want to hear someone tell me that I have too much time on my hands. Clearly someone else does.
I accidentally stumbled onto this almost-completed replica of the U.S.S. Enterprise while looking for something else. Ever go down a “rabbit hole” when surfing the web? Well this was the same thing. Exploration for it’s own sake is just one of the joys of Second Life.
The comments in the object descriptions suggest that this thing will be flyable and, I presume, for sale. The trick of course will be finding a space (the final frontier) large enough. It’s HYOOGE! Region crossings are gonna blow but, then again, warp drive is a tricky technology. This will be great for folks who want to do intense Star Trek role playing.
Check it out next time you’re in-world at SPACEPORT in Palmira II. They’ve also got Babylon 5 themed stuff. It’s a sci-fi geek’s dream.
Facebook has a number of interesting applications that can be added to a person’s profile. One of them that popped up today promised to find a person’s polling place based on their zip code. Here are my results.
Apparently my polling place is at the Ben & Jerry’s in Spokane, Washington. My vote will be full of flavor. …to be followed by a sugar coma. So, pretty much normal!
No matter what part of the galaxy you inhabit (and, yes, I’m talking to you methane breathers too!), this is the most important election of our current life times (symbionts excluded). So, please, vote.
Remember when MTV played music? Back in nineteen-hundred and eighty-two, if I remember correctly, our family signed up for cable. Two things happened as a result:
I saw MTV for the first time.
God was removed from this once great nation of ours, leading to increases in gang activity and mullets.
Well now you can see it all again for the first time. Only this time your parents won’t come home early from vacation and bust you for watching devil music on the sin box. MTV has gone nuts with the Duran Duran and them Split Enz. MTV Music has the more modern selections — popular with today’s youth — as well. Embeddable, linkable, and on demand. Here’s one of my all-time favorites:
Contributing to global climate change since 1965, Allen believes that you have a Constitutional right to his opinion. 
