Three Things I Hate Most in Second Life!

Second Life - A must see!

If you would like to experience something really new and different on the Internet please give Second Life a try. It’s free unless you decide you want to buy land or start up a business in this virtual world. I’ve been hanging out there for a year or so now and find something new about each day I’m there.

SL provides a rich world where just about anything is possible. You start out as a rather simple avatar in one of the in-world greeting areas where, trust me, it will be a challenge to figure out what’s going on. But, this is due more to the incredible amount of stimuli that will assail your senses as you wander around in a virtual world that is the physical size of two large cities combined. Once you get accustomed to the place, you can enjoy a wide range of activities. Everything from shopping, building, joining clubs and attending simulcasts given by various corporations and universities. If your looking for a job and need to interact with other companies worldwide, this place is for you! My only caution is that it will take you some time (like a couple of weeks) to really begin to get the feel for the possibilities of this place.

I hope to see you there. here is the link for Second Life.  If you do get to In-World, please look me up. My avatar name is Danomanno Redyard. I’ll try and help you out with questions and instructions.

An old magazine found in my attic

Parks by My Home

The Tunnel of Political Love can be Fleeting

Cold Frame October 2009 Update - Romaine lettuce

It’s been some time since I made an entry concerning the two small cold frames I maintain at my home in southwest Missouri. True, while they aren’t much to look at, they still make me smile every time I harvest something that was grown in them.

Right now I have a fall planting of romaine lettuce with a few radishes that were seeded in early September. Now as it is getting toward mid October, they are all beginning to look like something that will make it to the kitchen before too long. Even if the temps go down to freezing, I know from past experience, that the lettuce will come through in fine shape. Later in the year, if I still have something in the frames by, say December, I’ll just put the window sashes over them and even though they will cease growing very much, I’ll be able to keep them in edible condition right through the winter if I so desire!

When these plants get a little larger, I’ll post a follow up blog.

What the Future May Hold for Media Reporters

Recent televised rock throwing encounters in Jerusalem were somewhat troubling to a purist like myself. There was the usual configuration in place. A small groups of youths throwing rocks at the police. But, that's not what concerned me. No, it wasn't the combatants, but the sizable crowd of media people that were straining for good camera angles even as rocks whizzed by their heads. I wasn’t sure at one point which was larger, the police or the media. (At least the police had plastic shields with which to ward off incoming rock missiles. The reporters and cameramen were not so lucky and I understand one unfortunate even got injured).

So, is this going to be a trend or what? Will future confrontations look somewhat like a meatball sandwich with the fighting factions surrounded on all sides by hundreds of cameras, sound men and reporters? At some critical juncture, will a CNN or Fox reporter pick up a stone and throw it himself? These imaginings trouble me to say the least. I can even foresee a disastrous encounter where two groups of media, each representing one side, will drop their equipment and battle each other while the people who should be fighting stand around watching in awe. Actually, that would make for very interesting news!