Second Life is an online community where members create personalities that interact through graphic avatars. You invent your new persona, then create a graphic representation of that person that other members of the community will see.

One member stands out though: wilde Cunningham is actually a character created by a group of severely physically disabled individuals whose condition keeps them in a care center.

As described in multiple articles on Wagner James Au’s New World Notes blog, the group is varied in many ways, and wilde Cunningham evolved accordingly:

“How did we decide on what we would look like, and our gender? We formed the man avatar first, because that day, we had more men in the group. We always wanted a female one, but we haven’t taken the time to create her yet. Mary and Johanna would like that very much. We decided on how wilde would look first by starting with skin colors. We have both black and white in our real life group, and didn’t want to have those because neither is better than the other. So we picked orange.”

Check out the multiple entries on Au’s blog, starting with this first one.

Update: The Wilde’s have their own blog online! Stories, Wriitings – all sorts of wonderful stuff!

United Airlines is in bankruptcy. They are alienating their employees by imposing 11% wage cuts. The situation is so desperate that even senior executives are accepting salary reductions.

So, you ask, what is United doing to rebuild their business and escape bankruptcy protection?

That’s easy – they’ve launched a determined campaign to drive away those few customers that still remain!

Flying back from San Francisco I was booked on one of those routes that is possible only when flying on frequent flyer points – San Francisco to Toronto via Washington Dulles. Still though, I only had one transfer, which is not too bad these days, with a two hour layover in the Dulles Airport. The latter was actually a good thing because if the first flight was late I still had lots of time to make the second.

We landed at Dulles at 7:30 PM. The first thing that I noticed was that my flight had been delayed by an hour to 10:30 PM. I could live with that. I looked over the slim choices for dinner in Concourses C and D, and decided that I might as well take the shuttle bus to Concourse G and grab a bite there. A side note: as far as I can tell there are no Concourses E and F.

United actually seems quite proud of Concourse G. And yet I have been unable to find a single picture of it anywhere on the web. Oh! Good! I took my own picture! (more…)

These past few days I have been working long hours with a group of wonderful and loving people in San Francisco.

The work has been stimulating, and the company wonderful and talented.

The unexpected joy of this week though has been the opportunity to be part of the celebrations surrounding Hanukkah.

As I look back I’m honestly surprised that I’ve never managed to be part any Jewish holiday. Certainly I have been as aware of such things, and have had no shortage of friends raised in these traditions.

Still it was moving experience, lighting candles in the menorah, hearing new and wonderful songs, gobbling down potato latkes, and learning all of the traditions and family customs that accompany the Festival of Lights.

I would be remiss though if I did not point out that Monday was also St. Lucia Day, a Norwegian variant that also includes many candles and much good food.

Check out the always delightful Mark Morford.
Aerosmith Sells You A Buick / In which the rock icons waste their finest song, and rock n’ roll finally gasps its last

“Maybe rock n’ roll finally died, really and truly and once and for all, roughly a decade ago, when Microsoft shelled out a whopping and still quite ludicrous $10 million to Jagger & Co. for the use of the Stones’ classic “Start Me Up” for the massive overblown launch of the utterly awful and terrifically bug-addled Windows 95.

…

Video may have killed the radio star, but TV commercials nailed the coffin shut.”

Westlake Drive Through Beer Store, Erie PA. Cold refreshing beverages on the left, munchies on the right. Gave Victoria, Alison, and Janna three free beers.

The Food City Shopping Cart Drag Racer

Remember the days when bad service was so noteworthy that you would tell people about it? When did things get so bad that you now express surprise when you get good service?

Today was one of those lost days when I needed to contact a number of the companies who supply essential services.

The first was our long distance company Primus Canada. In general terms I actually like them and am happy with their prices and service. I nearly fell off my chair though when I called their customer service line and was faced with a recording telling me that I could expect to wait on hold for at least one hour before a representative would talk to me. One hour. They actually admitted up front to a one hour hold time. (more…)

I am working like the proverbial Canadian beaver, trying to get five days of work done before leaving for a week in San Francisco with our good friend Annice. (on the right)

At times like this there is one essential element: good music which can keep my mind from being sidetracked. Today that means Dolly Parton.

Please, begin by forgetting those horrid Burt Reynolds movies from seventies and eighties. Instead track down some of her albums. Of late Dolly’s work has moved back to the simple roots music of her youth – the kind of acoustic music that all but disappeared before the Americana explosion of the nineties. Just as Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn found new audiences in recent years, so has Dolly Parton.

Once you have worked through the lovely, delicate, and awe inspiring discs of the last few years you really do though need to go back to “old” Dolly Parton, the Nashville Dolly if you wish. Songs like “Jolene”, or “A Coat of Many Colors” tell stories in a way that so-called new country never will. Consider if you will a song like “Love Is Like a Butterfly”

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love
Are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly
A rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you’ re with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling
That I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you
I think of butterflies

That song has been covered by lots of people, but surely none have made it as lovely as Dolly Parton. Heck, even the rather mediocre recordings from the “Nine to Five” era sound pretty good – not even bad eighties production could entirely mask the talent of Dolly Parton.

My friend Penney Kome has a lovely article on the Straight Goods website that looks at the possibility of another wave of immigrants from the US trying to escape the military draft. As well as making reference to the many waves of Americans that have traveled north as part of various Underground Railroads, she also makes a wonderful point about the group that came here during the Vietnam war:

Although this wave of immigration is often called “draft-dodgers and deserters”, in fact a slight majority of the immigrants were never eligible for the US Selective Service. They were women.

Be sure to check out the links in the article as well.

Found this at Bill Doskoch’s blog.

The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time, by writer John Scalzi.

Here’s a taste:

Noam Chomsky: Deconstructing Christmas (1998)

This PBS/WGBH special featured linguist and social commentator Chomsky sitting at a desk, explaining how the development of the commercial Christmas season directly relates to the loss of individual freedoms in the United States and the subjugation of indigenous people in southeast Asia. Despite a rave review by Z magazine, musical guest Zach de la Rocha and the concession of Chomsky to wear a seasonal hat for a younger demographic appeal, this is known to be the least requested Christmas special ever made.

A friend works for Blockbuster Video here in Canada. Blockbuster has never been known as the most progressive or loyal employer, at least judging by the discussions on this web forum.

Fine, that sort of behaviour is the norm in corporate North America.

Today we spotted a good looking full-time job at another video rental place, and passed on word of it to our “maybe it’s ten hours this week, maybe it’s fifteen, and can you come in on fifteen minutes notice on Friday night” beleaguered friend. We thought that he would welcome the change from one minimum wage retail video store job to another.

“Nope,” he says, “When I was hired at Blockbuster I had to sign a non-compete clause which prevents me from working at any other video store for a year after I leave Blockbuster.”

The wonderful thing about a story like this is that I feel no need to explain how stunningly stupid and unreasonable a clause like this is. And there are Blockbuster employees who agree!

BBC says ” Send us your mock Turner Prize entries”

A white gentlemen’s urinal has been named the most influential modern art work of all time.

Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain came top of a poll of 500 art experts in the run-up to this year’s Turner Prize which takes place on Monday.

One of Britain’s more entertaining arts events is the annual Turner Prize. The Tate Museum, who host this event, describe the prize:

The Turner Prize is the UK?s most prestigious art award and is awarded annually to a British artist under the age of fifty.

(more…)

December is here and Christmas approaches. That of course brings many festive traditions, few of which are so moving as the annual debates about gift giving.

Should the whole family exchange gifts? Should they exchange names? Should they set a minimum value? A maximum? Should gag gifts be outlawed?

Or should we abandon the whole idea and just give to the charity of our choice?

I try very hard to stay above these debates.

I like Christmas, and I like giving gifts. This has nothing to do with religious tradition or with the Hallmarked sentimentality that surrounds this holiday. It has nothing to do with the anticipation of the gifts that I will receive. And it certainly has nothing to do with a need for reciprocity in gift giving.

No, my love of gift giving is because it offers me the opportunity to try and demonstrate my love and respect for the people around me. (more…)