Dwell On It

Why virtual land?

2009-12-19T07:41:25Z

I get asked why people buy/rent/lease virtual land a lot. It’s both a tough question to answer and an easy one at the same time. [...]

A new career for Tateru Nino

2009-12-18T03:07:56Z

That’s not a new career for me. That’s a new career for the other Tateru Nino. [...]

Welcome, fellow tool-users

2009-12-18T01:21:46Z

Joining the relatively elite group of species who are intelligent enough to use tools. Let’s give it up for the Octopus.

Everybody knows: Nuclear power plants are a higher radiation risk than coal

2009-12-17T05:30:13Z

And ‘everybody’ would be wrong. For a given amount of power generated, a coal power plant releases approximately 100 times more radioactivity into the surrounding environment than a nuclear plant. [...]

New comic: Incentives

2009-12-16T04:41:38Z

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Freedom of choice and the three Ns

2009-12-14T09:51:40Z

There’s a thing that passes for ethical choice in many video games, occasionally referred to as the three-N system (Nice, Neutral, Nasty). It usually goes something like this: 1. Cure Cancer. 2. Walk away. 3. Pour boiling oil on blind orphans. You’ll pardon me if I feel that this fails to adequately encapsulate the nuances of ethical choice and the sheer interestingness that can be generated when you break away from this simplistic and exaggerated model. [...]

There’s nothing to do in Second Life

2009-12-14T04:48:51Z

That might not take the prize for the most bizarre and ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard, but it’s right up there. [...]

Social richness

2009-12-11T14:33:29Z

Isn’t the point of social media to be able to connect and listen to people who are beyond or outside the group that is defined by your existing relationships, blood ties, marriages, workplace, and whatever assorted dark pacts? [...]

New comic: A matter of timing

2009-12-11T09:34:03Z

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Dark Fantasy

2009-12-09T04:20:47Z

“Dark Fantasy” is often used to indicate an alternative to fantasy genres and settings that are Tolkien-esque. [...]

Timeless messages

2009-12-09T02:42:37Z

Waking up today has been a bizarre pastiche of instant messages from Second Life. At least two of them are identifiably from the beginning of November. The rest? Well, that’s a good question. Reports are quite widespread about the old IMs suddenly arriving for lots of people, but I’ve ended up with a novel problem. [...]

Newspapers

2009-12-07T07:32:54Z

thompson-typo Newspapers are dead, some say. Newspapers are dying. Newspapers are transforming. [...]

New comic: Generations

2009-12-06T15:27:11Z

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The gate-gate scandal

2009-12-02T07:01:18Z

In Foggy Bottom in Washington, D.C. is the Watergate complex. A site covering ten acres with a hotel-office building, three apartment blocks and an office block. It was completed in 1971, and is one of the most popular residential spots in the city, having a particular popularity with executive appointees and Congressional members. Due to events that took place in the Watergate’s hotel-office building in the HQ of the Democratic National Committee, we have the scandal that was named, the Watergate scandal. [...]

Don’t forget to wave

2009-11-30T17:49:59Z

It’s taken me a while to figure out the niche for Google Wave, but I can pretty much see it now. Or at least what it is at present. [...]

Rusalka

2009-11-29T16:09:40Z

It’s common for films to be described as ‘breathtaking’ or that they ‘will take your breath away’. I’ve never had a film do that to me, ever. Not until now, anyway. Anna Melikyan’s award-winning 2007 Russian film Rusalka did that to me just now. [...]

Enough to make you cry

2009-11-25T13:50:40Z

Almost all Australians now acknowledge that domestic violence is a crime, but a quarter of the nation believe women make false claims about being raped, and one in five think violence is OK if the perpetrator later regrets their actions. – The Age Let’s try phrasing that a little differently. [...]

The property dichotomy

2009-11-24T06:27:54Z

Intellectual property is a funny thing. That’s funny-strange, not funny-ha-ha – although I imagine that depends a little on your perspective. You see intellectual property has an unfortunate name, because it isn’t actually property in the conventional sense and doesn’t conform to the same rules that govern other kinds of tangible or intangible property. [...]

Schrödinger goes shopping

2009-11-22T16:30:14Z

The last time I clearly remember buying software was sometime in the 1980s. Oh, I still pay for software, over and over – and so do you, but if you read the EULAs closely, you’ll find that the makers would have it that you are not purchasing anything at all. You might think you bought it, but as far as they’re concerned, you’re making a contract, not buying a product. [...]

New comic: A New Evil

2009-11-18T10:48:10Z

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