May 29, 2010
child avatars, law, policy, thoughtcrime
1 Comment
((
If I may take the liberty to speak for a few in my class, we don’t like US Representative Mark Kirk (R.-Ill.) because of this and this. His cheap political gimmicks may have helped his career, but they protected no one and led to a summer of harassment and disruption of service for hundreds of Second Life users around the world who choose to present in child-like shapes, and others who are just shorter than the imposing norm. Linden Lab, which like many user-content-driven internet resource providers is often reactive more than pro-active in matters of community standards, was caught off-guard, and instituted a lasting change in atmosphere, if not policy. On a larger scale, Kirk’s unfounded accusations in the forum of the US Congress harmed Second Life and the business interests of an individual US private business, Linden Lab, for no good reason. Nothing was gained. Two years on, Kirk hasn’t revisited this issue, despite having presented it as a crisis threatening our nation’s children. Now, he is running for Senator, and obviously we hope he doesn’t make it. Therefore, here is some well-deserved dirt on Mark Kirk, via a DailyKos diary.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/29/871133/-IL-Sen:-Mark-Kirk-has-some-explaining-to-do
Mark Kirk has a bit of a problem, that’s likely to soon be a very big problem. See, it turns out he’s been less than truthful about his own military service, and that it’s looking like it’s a bit of a habit with him.
In 2005, a political tussle in Ohio led to Rep. Jean Schmidt claiming that Rep. Mark Kirk (who’s currently running for Barack Obama’s former Senate seat) was a “veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.” It was news to me that any politician had served in Iraq by that time and, as it turned out, it wasn’t true. Mark Kirk was claiming on his campaign site to be “the only member of Congress to serve stateside during Operation Iraqi Freedom,” which was true, but on his official web site he claimed to be “the only member of Congress to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom.”
Then there’s this:
From U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk’s official website.
The U.S. Navy named Kirk “Intelligence Officer of the Year” in 1999 for his combat service in Kosovo….
…Try doing a Google search for “Intelligence Officer of the Year” and “U.S. Navy…
It doesn’t surprise me that a slimeball like Mark Kirk would add Theft of Valor to his crimes against large numbers of innocent Americans he’s never met. He’s fundamentally a coward, and I hope his career in politics is soon to be finished.
-Big Adz))
May 13, 2010
child avatars, identity, research
No Comments
Survey: What’s Your Second Life Avatar Type? (NWN)
Fox-tailed and/or cat-eared children will need to decide on one category.
October 18, 2009
child avatars, policy, science
No Comments
The Humboldt squid is pretty big. It can be up to six feet long. It lives in the Pacific ocean, near the western shore of the US. They are carnivores. They have strong tentacles and a razor sharp beak. This species of squid has long been known to attack divers and fishermen, but the attacks are much more common when they are being fished. Some researchers decided to figure out why the squid fight back. It is rare for a fish to know it is about to be caught. How do they know who their aggressors are? How can they be so smart? Read the rest…
July 8, 2009
child avatars, childhood, family, music
No Comments
My little brother David wrote about MICHAEL JACKSON. He misses him, and I feel bad.
I would like to add a recent quote from Brooke Shields that appeared in Us magazine.
She last saw Jackson at Elizabeth Taylor’s 1991 wedding.
“He seemed like his own funny self,” she says. “We snuck in and took pictures of ourselves next to her dress. We always seemed to revert to being little kids. It was a sanctuary for him, because he knew I never wanted anything from him but his happiness.”
I think some of us in the (virtual) kid community can identify with that.
December 31, 2008
child avatars, policy, thoughtcrime
No Comments
(( This article I am about to link to is not relevant to what I want this blog to be about. But, it does deserve a least a link considering Linden Lab’s policy dilemma I discuss here from time to time. M.S.M. articles with on this topic always make me cringe, and dredge up some bad emotions from multiple origins; so, I usually avoid clicking them. I took a risk with this one. It is interesting and link-worthy because of the “+5 Insightful” SlashDot comments on the matter. As always, there is an unreasonable perspective out there, but I think that the default +5 filter does its job in this case.
Slashdot: The Slippery Legal Slope of Cartoon Porn.
I’ll resist the temptation of quoting the comments I find particularly insightful and simply recommend that you read them all.
The only further comment I will add on my part is that for the sake of Free Speech in America, I hope the discussion continues. You can find a link to the text of the ruling in the comments. Much of it is beyond my grasp, and I would be out of place commenting on it directly here. If you are inclined to read it, yourself, let me add that the opinions of the individual justices are sometimes more reasonable than the ruling as a whole.
-Big Adz ))
December 31, 2008
artificial boy, child avatars, family, photos
No Comments
I clicked on the age banana at The Vortex and it said that today is my 1000th day! Wow!
Meanwhile the rest of Second Life, and the outer-space world of course, is celebrating the turn of the New Year. Epic Epoch! Read the rest…
December 4, 2008
child avatars, photos, policy
5 Comments
I thought I’d never have a chance to do this, as this blog has some dare I say attention outside of the child-like-avatar-wearing community. But, here it comes: a (real-life image|avatar portrayal|other depiction) of a (sexual|lewd) act (involving|appearing to involve) a (child|minor)*, right here on this very blog. Ready? Read the rest…
