Watch your newsstands this week!

It is frustrating for me, too, Ingrid-who-can't-hear-me, like banging my head against a stone wall, whenever I bring up ideas and other people try to make everything about personal traits (or, more accurately, their estimation of one's personal traits).

It's like, I'm talking about equal opportunity, PR Suggestion Boxes, all those things, but some of the people I'm talking to want only to talk about hypocrisy and mental illness and who they personally think sucks.

That's actually two different conversations, isn't it. And so it is frustrating.

coco

Yeah, yeah . . . blah blah blah. Is the issue on the stands yet?

Dunno - haven't been out yet. Is Fortune weekly? If so, I'd better hurry up.

coco

Thank you, Jade, but I must bow to Jonquille as well - she is the master.

Unless, of course, they don't publish that opportunity and they just go with names they already had from something else... as is the case with Fortune, and as was the case all this time that you and your girlfriend clucked and howled about it. You're a hypocrite for saying it's fine now after clucking about it all these months.

Just admit you're letting it slide because it's now your girlfriend that's benfitting from it. Making excuses and pretending you're too stupid to understand is only making you look like you're dense on top of the hypocrisy.

See, case and point, Jonquille sums it up like no one else, and is dead on.

Sigh . . . the something ELSE they already had, Jonquille, was the newly created PR Suggestion box!

But that's okay. Y'all care less about logic or understanding one another than you do about calling me names, so I hope you find that as enjoyable as you seem to.

coco

One of the things I think we as a community could do better, is learn to have a dialogue about second life. Right now it seems many of these discussions rapidly deteriorate into sort of a "you're stupid, insane, whining, hypocritical, condescending, or any other jab" ultimately concluded by that holy of holies "you can't spell so you obviously have no idea waht you are talking about."

SL is something brand new. Platform or game, we call all agree SL is not like anything else and its not like anything that has been done before. LL is not like other compnaies because other companies have not created virtual worlds that require some sort of governance. Other companies have not been confronted with rule of law issues, because other companies have tried to create a social/economic/political entity from scratch. You cannot simply define the relationship between SL and LL just like any other business relationship. Its different, expectations are different. We are at a new frontier.

So here we have these forums, which could provide a dialogue for how we users think a virtual world should operate. We have a chance to help roadmap the future of SL, and really, if we follow Philips vision, the internet. Needles to say, my overall impression of the discussions in the forums are not positive. I have been much happier in recent months treating the whole exercise as a joke and buffoonery, with the same predicatble responses from the same people, across the board. Give me a topic and I could predict almost to the letter what will be said on it, by whom. Yet somehow this makes me sad.

I am not convinced, as some others have written, that improving the process by which developers, LL, and prospective real world clients will bring about the onslaught of mediocrity that people seem to think. I thin it obvious that even if LL had a formal bidding process for such opportunities, groups like bedazzle would win the lions share. A bidding process isn't meant to bolster the mediocre, its to ensure competition from perhaps unknown sources. It strikes me as funny how some people can be so absolutely worshipful capitalistic competion in some issues, and then when a competitive bid process is suggested, they tremble at the implications of this most capitalistic of processes.

But that is neither here nor there. The question really is philosophical: what duty does LL owe its customers to facilitate exposure of busniess opportunites? To me it seems obvious that LL feels at least some level of duty-hence the creation of the developer directory and the PR suggestion box. The question is what things can they do to make this process better. How Does LL go about letting users know about things like the media list? I cannot even figure out how to get my business listed in the "find" menu-clearly policy and instruction are lacking (yes I am sure the answer is simple-but its not intuitve).

Ultimately, for me, this boils down to the coldest hardest truth I know: an ounce of prevention saves a pound of cure. I think having a stated policy about how LL willl interface between in world developers and out world clients and media is a wise idea, and will save lots of headache in the long run. From my pespective, if we had real names and would be subjected to real enforcement of agreements, then LL might be fine with taking a hands off attitude towards residents.

As it is now LL controls absolutely the enviroment, and, consistent with a cornerstone pricipal of corporate law: the greater the control the greater the obligation. LL has, to some extent placed themselves in this situation. At least now we have a chance to discuss what policy should be. Frankly I'd rather it be us discussing these issues than some bloated buch of over inflated postmodernists meeting at some law school in new york to tell me what the potentials and limitations of virtual reality is. (Christ just look at the damned build competion-academia is so out of touch with the world, even the virtual one).

And no I cannot spell. Sue me.

I understand you all too well, attention whore. I understand the glee you take in appropriating the hard work of others in your own name, I understand the enjoyment you get out of thumbing your nose at people as you do so, and I understand the support to your flagging ego that comes out of one of your friend getting an interview that wasn't announced to others.

I understand it all. And believe me, there is little to no logic in you, you who switches tacks and change your mind every time the wind blows, so long as it is blowing in your favor.

Your mind is so twisted you make a pretzel look linear.

You sicken me.

Ah! I knew I was missing something. Let me try one more time.

Like a klein bottle wrapped in a mobius strip smothered in Soviet-style revisionist sauce on a lightly toasted pretzel bun.

Between you and Belaya's brilliant blog comment that included a chili con carne recipe, I keep getting hungry - though your concoction sounds a bit bitter.

o/~ The circle of life o/~

So, how about giving away stuff for free. Is that unfair to people who might want to sell stuff?

The glass from the bottle, I think, might hurt a bit going down. And I imagine a two-dimensional object like the mobius strip would get stuck in the teeth.

If you're hungry, go to the store and score yourself a loaf of french (or Cuban) bread. Cut that sucker in half along its length and down its middle. Take one of the resulting slices and bread and coat it with pizza sauce, which can be had for a buck a jar. Sprinkle some grated cheese of your choosing (mozzarella and four cheese blends are both favorites of mine).

You might top it with some left over meats, sliced ham from the deli, or even some pepperoni if that pleases you. Warm it in the oven or a toaster oven at 375 until the cheese browns slightly and the bread is toasty.

The whole process will take you all of five minutes if you have the ingredients on hand, plus cooking time. You will be pleased, if only because for about eight dollars you've got four day's worth of lunch.

I think I understand Coco completely. And I didn't even have to think too hard

Thank you Jonq for your wonderful responses, always refreshing to read.

But Coco, wouldn't it have been better if it were different people and not the same ones who have been heard before? I thought that's what you were campaigning for. Or were you just campaigning to be included. I'm confused.

Where can I find this?

Reuters - 11:40 GMT Friday, 18 Nov. 2005

Dozens Injured in Newsstand Explosions

At least seven newsstands have spontaneously combusted this morning, in five major U.S. cities. Three in New York City alone. No fatalities have been reported. The victims of the blasts do not appear to have been injured in a manner consistent those normally associated with those produced by explosions. They were found unconcscious nearby, within an approximately 25 meter radius of the blast origins.

Said one women who was just a block away from an explosion in Roswell , New Mexico, "It just sounded like the air was ripping in two, it wasn't really a 'boom'. Then, when I got over here, I saw these people lying on the ground with blood dripping from thier ears! It was horrible! This type of thing just doesn't happen in Roswell!

All of the victims are reportedly being cared for in local hospitals, in stable but unresponsive condition.

The FBI and the ATF are currently investigating.

There will be different people, April, and more of them as time goes on.

Remember, they are limited to how many people actually APPLY. Eighty thousand people (even if we actually had that many distinct people in SL) are not going to apply to a build contest. Probably far fewer than we might think actually apply for these opportunities. Even those who are interested and capable often won't have the time.

Even fewer are going to offer themselves up for a magazine interview. As time goes on, we will see more variety. We have ALREADY seen more variety than we would have otherwise.

Would you prefer no variety?

It is not necessary that certain people are chosen for whatever, or that no person is ever chosen twice for whatever. It is important only that everyone have equal advance notice and fair opportunity to submit themselves to the selection process. LL (as well as the magazines, etc.) still have the right to select who they want.

Others were campaigning for this besides me. Speaking for myself, of course I was campaigning to be included. That's why I'm happy I had a chance to be considered for inclusion!

But this was never a campaign to "just include Coco please, kthnxbai." It was always a campaign to make all these opportunities open to everyone. (Which, of course, all of you know perfectly well.)

And that what we have now.

This sort of expectation is hardly unique in human history. It is therefore a ridiculous stretch to try to turn my imminently reasonable desire for equal opportunity for all residents into a personal flaw (particularly considering the Lindens apparently want the same thing), and reflects very poorly on those of you (not April) who grasp any opportunity to express more hatred.

Karma's gonna getcha, guys. And Karma's a bitch.

coco

/me tries to picture that.

Nope, no luck. Want to draw a picture? It sounds interesting and I'd LOVE to see it!!

I suspect that if karma is sharpening its knives, it has its attention focused on a repeat TOS violator who is prohibited from posting here.

My karma ran over my dogma...

Will it be fun to discuss the article when it are official????

Yes it will. Very fun.

Fun for those who like to make fun of others, he means.

coco

I have never seen you say a single thing that was logical. You don't fight with logic, and neither do I. But at least I don't try and pretend that I'm a logical person. You respond with feelings and what you think is right at the moment. You sway with the wind. And that is fine. It is just some of us can do it and not piss everyone off. The key to that is to not be self-rightous and arrogant when using feelings and thoughts to make your debate. And it doesn't hurt to be able to admit you are wrong from time to time.