Ask Jake Anything

because someone has to look out for the hawks..the other 99% want to be sure noboby sees somethign they can't.

Dear Jake,

Why must my cat gakk up a hairball on the rug when she is only inches from the vinyl floor in the kitchen?

Sincerely,
former cat lover, Siobhan OFlynn

Jake, what is an ARG? Does it have something to do with pirates? Is this something I'm missing by not watching network television for the last 10 years?

because your cat is constantly testing your devotion and unconditional love, to search for any failure in your ability to serve her. She knows it is more inconvenient to produce a hairball on the carpet, and so she does.

If you still feed her and take care of her after she does this, then she knows she has you eating out of her hand and feels secure of your love for a moment.

In this way cats are not unlike human women who lay down an obstacle course of pit falls wher by they can test thierpartner's love. If he does not remember to perform these inconvenient steps (like rembering the anniversey of the first time they held hands in public) then a mark is placed against the hapless guy. he will then be compared to every other ex boyfriend, her freinds current and ex-boyfriends and if he is found lacking..the doom bell is ringing on the relationship.

If he does remember this obscure date, she settles down, forcing him to snuggle in what she imagiens is a romantic manner and enjoys twenty minutes of security until its time to bring up the next pitfall.

thus your cat's behavior with the hairball is just a simple test of love. But we men know cats and women are psycho. We adore them anyway...and that is both the plaeasure and the problem with life.

An alternate reality game.. where the implications fo the show extend beyond the show itself..like lost, where people are trying to sort out the mystery along with the characters in the show. Sometimes this is intention on the part of the producers, and sometimes its a manifestation of the internet fan clubs.

this is a good discussion relative to lost: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.lost/msg/eb0195cb431e1585

in short ARGs are what people who don't play SL do for fun on the internet.

Jake when will people stop complaining about the ResMod program? I think it is working just fine, but apparently I am wrong or something.

That would be no fun

Again, no question. Should i use a bare hand or a riding crop?

depends on how gropey a mood you're in

they will stop complaining when they get to be resmods. LOL

But seriously, I think there is an ingrained conflict between people who want SL to be very traditional and people who see sl as an experiemental, dynamic, virtual community. The traditionalists are comfortable with the LL as the authority figure, but don't like non LL emplyees having that the authority. For some this is a matter of simple neutrality, as a player an resmod can have an agenda, in thoery the lindens are not subject to thier own biases.

In many more cases, it is simply a matter of developer worship. The deelopers are the mysterious gods of the community, all powerful with an intent that cannot be understood by mere mortals, and thus it is proper for delvepoers to handle moderation duties. Afert all if the resmods were worthy of such a task, they would be developers.

On the other hand, the virtual community people see SL as a cooperative environment facilitated, but not necessarily administered by LL. They beleive that resident have th power to work out modles of policing and stadandards of behavior for themselves. For them, the resmod program represents the proper input inot the forums..why should the resident not police themselves? LL fall solidly into this category-they see themselves as innovators and not administrators. they key issues they face are trying to sort out how to move SL from a game to a platform.

Right now Sl is decidedly on the game side...its marketed that way, and its early adopters coem fromt he game side of things...this is of necessity..you need to have people who are confortable with using an avatr and interacting in virtual environments. Society helps by making computer gaming a known quantity to most of the younger generations..most every person under 30 in america has played or been regularly exposed to video games. they key is translating that expereince into practical 3 web like environments.

I should imagine LL is looking for ways to get out of administering SL as a game and turning it inot a platform. I would expect open-sourcing of SL's code to enoucorage broader delvelopment for SL activities..but also to allow for other companies to work out integration.

WEB 2.0 is the buzzword of note in the internet business, and LL knows they must open the architecture to meet these standards, they can hit the ground running as a decentalized web 2.0 expereince rather than a walled garden web 1.0.

I'll take that as a question. Very.

Then shouldnt need a riding crop ..

Jake, your legal opinion, if you could. Last week, there was noise in the House about prohibiting credit cards from sending payments to Internet gambling sites. This week, a man who runs an online sports betting site was arrested. And of course, we have many people running, and playing at, casinos here in SL.

Just how illegal is SL gambling, if it is at all? How at-risk are the people who run the games? The people who play them? What do you see happening to SL gaming?

Dearest Jake:

You're a lawyer. You love baseball.

Will Barry be indicted?

http://barrybonds.mlb.com/players/bonds_barry/imgs/bb_new_hp_p1.jpg

(and, don't ya think he has a nice smile?)

Does Colette's flirting need to be any more obvious? Or have you "gotten it"?

I doubt it. They are gunning for bonds like he did something wrong because modern american prosecutors love nothing more than a witch hunt. They will keep trying though, because like martha stewart, barry bonds is public enemy number one and they will not rest until he is indicted and tossed from baseball.

To me its obscene..for twenty years MLB has been aware of players on the juice, turnign a blind eye at every corner..because the juice kept the game exciting..superstars played longer, and had career seasons past thier prime.

No I don't think the juice made a guy like barry bonds or mark mcgwire better hitters..if a guy is jacking them 530 feet, well 475 feet is still gonna clear every park in the country. And it takes timing to get the hit int he first place. But the juice means they play longer and stay healthy longer. and MLB loved that incresed revenue.

Now it has bitten them on the ass, and they hope that they can redeem themselves by going after Bonds-and ignoring everyone else. The best thing for baseball would be to make their rules, have thier testing and quietly cashier any players who fail the tests.

But this BB thing is a witch hunt, cause BB is about the best player in history and noone wants to admit an asshole has mad skills. Or it could be racist..noon wants to mention Bonds in the same lofty realm as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Dimaggio and Mantle. But hey, those guys were assholes too...white assholes. Just sayin...

What do you mean colette's flirting? who is she flirting with?

The short answer is that SL gambling is not ilegal since SL is a game and it is played with a game currency (that the currency can be bought and sold is not exactly material (until someone tries to liken it to a poker chip). thus we are protected because what we do in SL is play games with monopoly money.

howmuchwoodcouldawoodchuckchuckifthepopecrappedinthewoods?

Jake..

Are you Prokofy's Alt ?


lol

? write this in english and I might answer it.

No. I am not. Nor am I Aimee webers alt, despite rumors that I am a fictional construct of linden lab. Of course I might be weapon-x, and really if you explore the inner workings of buddhism with me, you will find that i do not, in fact exist at all, yet at the same time I am very real.

I was flirting?

*looks shocked*
What sort of girl do you think I am??

A good one of course..

Hmm I thought Jake was always right.