| Virtual world, real money
Whole new worlds are taking shape in cyberspace. But is it really just a case of second lives, same old messes? Matt Philp investigates. Dave Manley's story begins like the stories of so many other naive arrivals to a new town. Broke, with no prospects, he falls back on his only asset: his body. Dancing at a strip club leads to work as an escort (only with women, mind). Eventually, he banks enough to finance a climb to respectability. But this is where the going gets weird. In real life, Mr Manley is a genial, bald, bearded 71-year-old from Dunedin and his foray into the sex industry was not only vital, it was virtual. The stripping was entirely the work of his online alter-ego or "avatar" a tall, buffed, Nordic hunk he calls Jay. Mr Manley is living out his racy second life in Second Life, the Internet-based, fully immersive 3D world where you can be whoever you want to be, and which, it is claimed, now numbers four million registered users, or "residents".
Agenda 21 or Freedom 21: Making the right choice
Which do you choose? A way of life where you are the master of your destiny, or one where virtually all decisions are made for you by one ruling body or another? It's the classic struggle facing every human on earth. Freedom or control.
Truth be known, there are many who actually choose control. It makes for a well-ordered society with few surprises. In a controlled society one doesn't have to make complicated career choices, health care is provided.
Community planners decide where housing will be placed. Committees decide what industries are to be allowed and how they will operate. Self-appointed watchdogs decide the foods that you shall be permitted to eat, to protect our health, of course.
Family planners decide the number of children allowed and how they will be raised.
Music for Hypocrites 03.19.07: In The Year 2001, Part One
I was making decent money in the dot-com world and my lease was up on an apartment I had with a bunch of other dot-com folk. I moved my stuff into my parent's garage with the intention of saving up bank for a couple of months and looking for a condo. I moved back on a Saturday. That Tuesday, I was laid off from my job. The months that followed and year of rambling back into the world of gainful employment are an entire novel worth of babbling for another site on another day. However, there were 5 things that changed my life for the better that summer. I'm going to cut two off this list, since my wife and my old band are not proper reading material for a music site. Wait, a rock band not being material for a music site? Moving along, the last three I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks talking about.
Katie Holmes Tells Tom Cruise, Get off My Ass
HOLLYWOOD - Katie Holmes has had it up to her cleavage with Tom Cruise' round-the-clock surveillance, strip searches, and smothering presence. Cracking under pressure that would have sent a normal person reaching for a semi-automatic long ago, Ms. Holmes, 28, told the smirking little control freak to "get off my ass." The watched pot boiled over last weekend when Ms. Holmes decided to take in a basketball game at Beverly Hills High School, where Mr. Cruise' adopted son, Connor, is a member of the team. As Mr. Cruise, 44, was busy at the Scientology Centre in Hollywood that night, proctoring sensory depravation training for a class of new recruits, Ms. Holmes decided to attend the game with daughter Suri, her nanny, several personal attendants, and three or four of Mr. Cruise' relatives. Thinking she might enjoy some quality time alone, Ms.
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