Bullying

Written 10 April, 2011

Bullying

I was lucky enough not to have been bullied when I was growing up. Several bullies tried to start with me, verbally, but something about me caused them to soon gave it up.Not so with many people, who have horrible times in school and later on the job.

Social media have brought a resurgence of bullying. For those who might have been frightened by my recent description of what I called a high-tech lynching, please know there are far more people who are willing to help you than to make fun of you. Don't be afraid. If you get griefed, just go somewhere else or log off for a while, and then file an abuse report. No one can really hurt you here.

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The Internet Gods Relent

Written 10 April, 2011

The Internet Gods Relent

My internet is up after being down since Thursday evening. Comcast has given me six different stories about the failure from the fanciful (the feed from the Master's golf tournament in Augusta messed up my service) to the blameful (my equipment has failed or the wiring inside my house has gone bad). Clearly the problem was systemic, because just when it came back online I got a phone call saying it was working.

Four years ago, or even two, I would have gone nuts without access to SL for sixty hours. Strangely, although I was frustrated at every turn (couldn't check weather, look up a word, stream a film, talk to Sweetie in Skype), I managed. In fact, I got productive and cleaned out my rented storage shed, ridding it of five years of accumulated dust and trash-- of which there was considerable, since they had put a new roof on when I wasn't looking.

Still, it's great to be back.

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No Lights on the Modem

Written 7 April, 2011

No Lights on the Modem

I'm generally pleased with the internet service I get from Comcast, but today was an exception.

Our sim neighbor Leaf Shermer scheduled a concert by Second Life Musician Mankind Tracer. Because Sweetie and I had been building what amounts to a Temple of Doom underwater and near the stage, the theme of the concert was Indiana Jones.

I worked like mad to finish the temple, coordinating with Sweetie (the designer) and Leaf. I finished up a scant hour before the concert and went downstairs for a zen moment. When I returned I did a few final tasks. Then, just five minutes before the concert was scheduled to start, I crashed.

And I not only crashed, the lights on the moden showed no connectivity.

Arrgh!

I called Comcast and learned that yes, my build was paid, and yes, there was a general internet and Cable TV outage in my part of Atlanta. So I attended the concert with a Bluetooth in my ear, talking to Sweetie on my cell phone. Mankind and his guitar were a low-fidelity soundtrack in the background.

I have to say, I got a lot done. I sorted folders of accumulated incoming mail and Second Life snapshots, removed the pedestal from my office chair (I had managed to put it on backwards when working on the blasted thing over the weekend), and finished a task for a consulting job (real life).

Wouldn't you know it, the lights on my modem came back on thirty minutes after the concert had ended. I was just in time to hug Sweetie before she retired for the night.

I asked Sweetie to take some photos. I'll post them after she gives them to me. I understand there were a lot of people in Indiana Jones costumes. Must have been a sight to see.

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Mankind Tracer at Eccentricity, 5 PM LST, Thursday, 7 April, 2011

Written 7 April, 2011

Mankind Tracer at Eccentricity, 5 PM LST, Thursday, 7 April, 2011

Renowned Second Life musician Mankind Tracer will be performing his Indiana Jones-themed show today at Leaf Shermer's Eccentricity sim (Just jump to Eccentricity on the map). The time is 5 pm Linden time.

Following the show, or perhaps as part of it, attendees will tour our newly constructed Temple of Dooom.

I'm blog more about the temple later, but let me just say it's and interactive build filled will the same sorts of things Indiana Jones faced in the first scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. You know-- pirates, poisoned darts, skulls firing laser beams, giant tikis that fire red-hot boulders at you. That sort of thing.

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Spring Flowers

Written 6 March, 2011

Spring Flowers

For the past six weeks or so I've been walking daily around the little lake that is just feet from my house, taking photos of plants and wildlife and enjoying Atlanta's early spring. I'm happy to share some images of flowers with you. I'll post more photos in a day or two.

Click Below to See More!

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A High-Tech Lynching

Mary the Elephant, Lynched in Erwin, Tennessee, 13 September, 1916

A High-Tech Lynch Mob, 2 April, 2011, Help Island Public. The Headless Victim is at Center

Written 2 April, 2011

A High-Tech Lynching

I saw something ugly tonight, and I'm afraid to say I was caught up in it for a time, until I processed what was going on and tried to put a stop to it.

I was hanging out at Help Island Public, along with about 40 other avatars, when a one-day-old new resident appeared and managed, in the space of three short minutes, to antagonize almost everyone.

It started in a small way when an older resident welcomed her to Second Life and called her man. You know, like "Welcome to Second Life, man." She said "I"m not a man!" He apologized, telling her he had read the wrong tag in the crowd.

She then said hello to everyone. But then she made the mistake of bragging. She said she had just gotten home from a photo shoot in a club. She hated the smoke, but they paid her $3000 USD for 30 minutes work, she said.

That started it. The resident bully, a popular DJ in Second Life said, "Of course they are."  When she said she did it for the fans and mentioned she was an Eye Candy model, he called BS on her. From then on everything she said was somehow wrong. Before long most of the people present were picking on her, ridiculing her, sniping at her. Eventually she snapped back, and the bully's girlfriend decided she was the target.

That's when the lynching really began.

Suddenly her avatar was being animated and deformed, and against her will.. She was hunching the air, rolling on the ground, sticking her head up her backside, spinning her head like a top. Eventually she was grossly deformed, stretched out 50 meters in all directions.

This went on for an hour (I timed it from the chat log). Through it all she kept asking why her person was behaving so. Through it all people kept saying horrible things to her and laughing at her. It was a high-tech lynching.

I had participated at first, but found it increasingly unfunny as the scene continued to play out. I was in IM with a friend who was also present. He grew upset before I did, and our conversation helped me understand early on that something horrible was happening.

I made a few feeble attempts to stop it, but the group dynamic was going strong and the lynching continued. So I IMed the victim and talked to her at length to make sure she understood she was being abused. She wound up friending me, which made me feel a bit guilty.

The more I process what happened, the more angry I become. I'm mad at the people who led the pack, I'm angry at the people who followed, I'm angry at whoever deformed her, and I'm angry at myself for not coming to my senses sooner and for not trying harder to stop the lynching.

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Robot Love at First Sight

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