Archives for 2009

God, the Devil and Fat

In the beginning God covered the earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, with green, yellow and orange vegetables of all kinds so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God’s bountiful gifts, Satan created Norgen-Vaaz Ice Cream and Magnums. And Satan said ‘You want hot caramel fudge with that? And Man said ‘Yes!’ And Woman said, ‘I’ll have one too with chocolate chips’. And lo they gained 5kg

And God created the healthy yoghurt that woman might keep the figure that man found so fair.

And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat and sugar from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 12 to size 16.

So God said, ‘Try my fresh green salad’. And Satan presented Blue Cheese dressing and garlic croutons on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said ‘I have sent you healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them’.

And Satan brought forth deep fried coconut king prawns, butter-dipped lobster chunks , followed by deep-fried Mars Bars, and Man’s cholesterol went through the roof.

Then God brought forth the potato; naturally low in fat and brimming with potassium and good nutrition.

Then Satan peeled off the healthy skin and sliced the starchy centre into chips and deep-fried them in animal fats adding copious quantities of salt.. And Man put on more kilos. God then brought forth running shoes so that his Children might lose those extra kilos.

And Satan came forth with a cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering light and started wearing stretch jogging suits.

Then God gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite.

And Satan created McDonalds and the $2 double cheeseburger.. Then Satan said ‘You want fries with that?’ and Man replied, ‘Yes, and super size ’em’. And Satan said, ‘It is good.’ And Man and Woman went into cardiac arrest..

God sighed ……… And created quadruple by-pass surgery.
And then ………… Satan chuckled and created Medicare!!!

Finally,after an exhaustive review of the research literature, here’s the final word on nutrition and health.:

1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
2.Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
3.Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
4. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
5. Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.
6. The French eat foie-Gras, full fat cheese and drink red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than us

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like – Speaking English is apparently what kills you!!

Copenhagen, climate change and Second Life

copenhagen1-smlUnless you’ve avoided all news over the past year or so, you’ll have heard about the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, which starts on the 7th December and runs through to the 18th December.

OneClimate, auspiced by Non-profit organisation OneCLimate, has created Virtual Copenhagen a large exhibition space in Second Life. Aside from the numerous exhibitions (some are listed below), the presence will be streaming content from Copenhagen plenary sessions, press conferences and “voices from the global south that might not otherwise be heard”. Aside from the streaming aspect, those attending in Second Life will have the opportunity to put questions to people being interviewed by the broadcasters in Copenhagen.

I spent half an hour walking around the exhibits and there’s certainly plenty of interesting information to be digested. There are some exhibition spaces remaining (contact Coughdrop Littlething in-world if you’re interested). For more details on the Second Life activities, teleport there yourself or check the OneClimate website.

copenhagen2

Exhibitor listing

All but the last two listed below will have staff representatives in-world:

Beta Business Park, HeatSaver Energy Systems Inc, SmarterEarth (working in with the University of Iowa), Commonwealth Islands, NOAA, Virtual Native Lands, V-Innovate, European Metaverse Association, Public Policy Virginia, L’Ultimatum Climatique, Better World – Center for Water Studies, Human Mosaic Systems, The Institute for Sustainable Communication, Four Bridges, Peace Train, Etopia, ViO, State of the World Forum and The Transition Network.

Once the real-workd discussions fire up in December, it’ll be interesting to see what impact the Second Life aspect will play. Virtual Copenhagen is certainly well resourced and organised: whether it can cut through the enormous level of activity that’ll be occurring remains to be seen, but OneClimate certainly won’t die wondering with their efforts.

Check it out in-world

Newspaper Ad

A lonely widow, age 70, decided that it was time to get married again.

She put an ad in the local paper that read:

HUSBAND WANTED:
MUST BE IN MY AGE GROUP (70’s),
MUST NOT BEAT ME, MUST NOT RUN AROUND ON ME
MUST STILL BE GOOD IN BED !!!!!
ALL APPLICANTS PLEASE APPLY IN PERSON.

On the second day, she heard the doorbell.

Much to her dismay, she opened the door to see a grey-haired gentleman sitting in a wheelchair.

He had no arms or legs. The old woman said, ‘You’re not really asking me to consider you, are you? Just look at you…you have no legs!

The old man smiled, ‘Therefore, I cannot run around on you!’

She snorted. ‘You don’t have any arms either!’

Again, the old man smiled, ‘Therefore, I can never beat you!’

She raised an eyebrow and asked intently, ‘Are you still good in bed???’

The old man leaned back, beamed a big smile and said,

‘Rang the doorbell didn’t I?’

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

1. The Huffington Post (USA) – Real Man Traded for Cartoon Rabbit. “Getting people to change their opinion of you is tough – especially if you are a rodent who has generated billions of dollars and has become a global icon like Mickey Mouse. Mickey wasn’t Walt Disney’s first star creation, that was another big eared little mammal, Oswald the Rabbit. Oswald was taken from Walt by his employer, Universal Studios. Disney soon left Universal to start his own company. Since he didn’t have the rights to Oswald, Disney shortened and rounded Oswald’s ears and created Mickey Mouse, one of the world’s most enduring fantasy characters.”

2. Hypergrid Business (Hong Kong) – A Wayback Machine for virtual worlds? “One of the joys of exploring virtual worlds grids is finding new fantastic new regions and builds. Then comes the pain of virtual worlds — you bring your friends back to visit, and the builds are no longer there. Maybe it cost too much to keep the region up and running, or the owners decided to put up something else, instead. As Second Life and the various OpenSim grids evolve into a true 3D Web, these early builds will become items of historical interest. It would be a shame if they all disappeared forever.”

3. San Francisco Chronicle (USA) – 3D Web will save high-performance computing industry, Intel CTO says. “Three-dimensional Web technologies will save the high-performance computing industry from its current state of financial stagnation, Intel CTO Justin Rattner predicted at the SC09 supercomputing conference in Portland, Ore. Tuesday. Delivering the opening address, Rattner said the HPC market is struggling, with a compound annual growth rate of about 3.6%. Based on current trends, there is no sign of a future upswing. “This is not a healthy business,” he said. Demand for high-performance computing capability is limited to small markets, but Rattner believes that virtually the entire population can benefit from HPC if given the right platform.”

4. allmedia Scotland (Scotland) – Ready to Check Out the 3D Me? “For all the talk of Generation Y, you don’t really have to be young to ‘get’ social media. As an employer, I follow, with interest, reports about the imminent flood of hungry young workers about to transform the jobs market with all their net savvy ways. It’ll be great for business to welcome in a workforce who grew up with social networks and see the obvious benefits without the need for a seismic shift in thinking. However, there are already plenty 30 and 40-somethings who are changing mindsets and working practices to embrace new and social media. I include myself, since I am blogged-down, Tweeted-up and Facebooked-in; fluent in audio, video and other rich content, as well as the trusty, old written word. Still, though, there is one aspect of the newfangled communications I have real trouble with: virtual worlds.”

5. Gulf News (UAE) – Virtual policing: Training for Dubai Police. “Police detectives have sealed off a violent crime scene at a Dubai flat and are busy picking up clues leading to the suspect’s arrest – and they didn’t even have to open the front door. The officers are actually Dubai Police trainees playing “serious games” that digitally rebuild real crime and accident scenes from the city onto a computer screen. Be it a celebrity murder, jewellery shop robbery or a massive car crash, the police force’s virtual training and crime scene reconstruction sections put cadets in the middle of the action. The games use actual case file details like photographs, security camera footage, documents – plus three-dimensional scans of rooms or streets – to create life-like virtual worlds where cadets can “walk around” and uncover evidence.”

6. The Globe and Mail (Canada) – THE $350 MILLION PENGUIN. “The most surreal moment of Lane Merrifield’s career came on Oct. 24, 2008, when the young B.C. entrepreneur found himself standing on a stage in the middle of New York’s Times Square, surrounded by hundreds of adoring children and crowds of equally enthused parents. It was three years to the day that he and two partners-Lance Priebe and Dave Krysko-had launched Club Penguin, a virtual world where millions of preteens meet, chat and play games via 2-D penguin proxies. The three men had plenty to celebrate.”

7. news.com.au (Australia) – Virtual world opens doors for autistic. “A VIRTUAL “thinking head” generated by hi-tech computer software is teaching autistic children to recognise and respond to facial expressions. Flinders University research has found the computerised tutor helps the children improve their social skills and communicate more effectively with bullies. Children are shown facial expressions corresponding with specific emotions and are encouraged to respond.”

8. BBC (UK) – What happened to Second Life? “Not long ago Second Life was everywhere, with businesses opening branches and bands playing gigs in this virtual world. Today you’d be forgiven for asking if it’s still going. Once upon a time Second Life had a Twitter level of hype. Even those without a cartoon version of themselves couldn’t plead ignorance due to blanket coverage in newspapers and magazines. Second Life is a virtual world started by the US firm Linden Lab in 2003, in which users design an avatar to live their “second life” online.”
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9. Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) – BigPond pulls plug on Second Life. “Telstra has decided to close its doors on Second Life, evicting the residents of its virtual BigPond Island and revoking their unmetered usage, in a move that has infuriated some subscribers. BigPond’s islands will cease to exist on December 16, signalling an end to its two-year “experiment” with Second Life, and residents of the swanky virtual Pond Estate have been given a month to relocate elsewhere.”

10. WarCry (USA) – Five Years of Warcraft: Speaking With Blizzard’s Rob Pardo. “Mega-MMO World of Warcraft turns five this month, and to celebrate, our sister site The Escapist sat down with Blizzard’s VP of Game Design, WoW mastermind Rob Pardo to chat about the lessons they’ve learned, the mistakes they’ve made, and how they’d like to beat themselves at their own game.”

Talking Dog

A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: ‘Talking Dog For Sale ‘ He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.

The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.

‘You talk?’ he asks.

‘Yep,’ the Lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says ‘So, what’s your story?’

The Lab looks up and says, ‘Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.’

‘I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn’t getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.’ ‘I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I’m just retired.’

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

‘Ten dollars,’ the guy says.

‘Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?’

‘Because he’s a liar. He never did any of that shit.

Weekend Whimsy

1. Coulrophobia – The Fear of Clowns – Second Life Machinima

2. New World Hallows’ Eve in Second Life® — the short version

3. Second Life: The Traveling Laughter Crew

World’s shortest fairy tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl ‘Will you marry me?’ The girl said, ‘NO!’

And the guy lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and went fishing and didn’t invite people he didn’t like to his BBQ’s and played

golf a lot and drank beer and rum and wore whatever he wanted whenever he wanted and had tons of money in the bank and left the toilet seat up

and farted whenever he wanted.

The End

Games for Health at Game Connect Asia Pacific

gameconnect-nov2009 Game Connect Asia Pacific 2009 is convened by the Game Developers Association of Australia.

On the 6th December there is a workshop session on games for health, supported by HISA. Registrations are through http://www.gameconnectap.com/register.html (Forum pass, Sunday only).

This event is a key part of the strategy to create momentum in games for health in Australia, so if that’s an area of interest for you, this is a must-attend event.

Telstra responds to questions on Second Life withdrawal

bigpond-secondlife-nov2009-3-smlAs mentioned yesterday, Telstra have announced their withdrawal from Second Life, and there’s been no shortage of discussion on it around the blogosphere.

We’ve had some passionate comments and a couple of emails from residents quite upset at the decision.

I took the opportunity to put some questions to Telstra’s media spokesman, Craig Middleton, to get some further clarity on future plans and what will happen to the content that’s been successful for their presence:

Lowell: After more than two years of operation, what are the key lessons Telstra has learnt from the experience?

Craig: From our venture into Second Life we learnt a great deal in a variety of areas, including online community anagement and how to foster event-based traffic – experiences in relation to the in world support team and management of frequent in world events .

Lowell: It’s arguable that Telstra has been one of the more successful examples of a business building a community, through regular activities, dedicated staff support and a large presence. Was the costs of delivering that service too much for the returns it provided?

Craig: We don’t discuss the commercial aspects of our business, however we were very happy with the popularity of the islands and the interaction they allowed us in-world.

Lowell: In regards to cost – how does Telstra plan to report to shareholders on any substantive outcomes from the Second Life foray? BigPond’s involvement on the face of it has been a success, so how will those successes be captured?

Craig: BigPond’s activities and investment in Second Life have been widely reported since our launch. I do not expect any further reporting beyond that.

Lowell: Are there any particular issues with Second Life that have hastened the decision to leave?

Craig: Our focus is now moving towards other social media options that are gaining in popularity and functionality on computers, mobile phones, TVs and game consoles. Watch out for such announcements in coming months. It is important for a communications company like Telstra to continue to experiment with emerging Web 2.0 applications

Lowell: What will happen to all the BigPond content? Does Telstra have any plans to archive it or even make it available for BigPond customers to use as a basis for further content creation?

Craig: There are no plans beyond helping our customers transition their inworld residences to other locations

Lowell: Does BigPond have any plans to continue development of products in virtual environments at all?

Craig: As per above.

For mine, after the impact on the community of residents, the disappearance of all the BigPond content is the biggest shame of the decision by Telstra to withdraw from Second Life. It appears they’re not ruling out further forays into virtual environments, but aside from that and anything they’ve learnt from the experiment, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of joy for BigPond customers who are Second Life residents.

New Words for 2008

* SALAD DODGER.
An excellent phrase for an overweight person.

* SWAMP-DONKEY
A deeply unattractive person.

* TESTICULATING.
Waving your arms around and talking bollocks.

* BLAMESTORMING.
Sitting round in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a
project failed, and who was responsible.

* SEAGULL MANAGER.
A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and
Then leaves.

* ASSMOSIS.
The process by which people seem to absorb success and advancement by
sucking up to the boss rather than working hard.

* SALMON DAY.
The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get
screwed and die.

* CUBE FARM.
An office filled with cubicles.

* PRAIRIE DOGGING.
When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and
people’s heads pop up over the walls to see what’s going on. (This also
applies to applause for a promotion because there may be cake.)

* SITCOMs.
Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn
into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home
with the kids or start a ‘home business’.

* SINBAD.
Single working girls. Single income, no boyfriend and desperate.

* AEROPLANE BLONDE.
One who has bleached/dyed her hair but still has a ‘black box’.

* PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE.
The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it
to work again.

* ADMINISPHERE.
The rarefied organisational layers beginning just above the rank and
file. Decisions that fall from the ‘adminisphere’ are often profoundly
inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to
solve. This is often affiliated with the dreaded ‘administrivia’ – needless
paperwork and processes.

* 404.
Someone who’s clueless. From the World Wide Web error message ‘404 Not
Found’ meaning that the requested document could not be located.

* AUSSIE KISS.
Similar to a French Kiss, but given down under.

* OH – NO SECOND.
That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you’ve just
made a BIG mistake (e.g. you’ve hit ‘reply all’).

* GREYHOUND.
A very short skirt, only an inch from the hare.

* JOHNNY-NO-STARS.
A young man of substandard intelligence, the typical adolescent who
works in a burger restaurant. The ‘no-stars’ comes from the badges
displaying stars that staff at fast-food rest au rants often wear to show
their level of training.

* MILLENNIUM DOMES.
The contents of a Wonderbra, i.e. extremely impressive when viewed from
the outside, but there’s actually naught in there worth seeing.

* MONKEY BATH .
A bath so hot, that when lowering yourself in, you go: ‘Oo! Oo! Oo!
Aa! Aa! Aa!’.

* MYSTERY BUS.
The bus that arrives at the pub on Friday night while you’re in the
toilet after your 10th pint, and whisks away all the unattractive people so
the pub is suddenly packed with stunners when you come back in.

* MYSTERY TAXI.
The taxi that arrives at your place on Saturday morning before you wake
up, whisks away the stunner you slept with, and leaves a 10-Pinter in your
bed instead.

* BEER COAT.
The invisible but warm coat worn when walking home after a booze cruise
At 3:00am .

* BEER COMPASS.
The invisible device that ensures your safe arrival home after booze
cruise, even though you’re too drunk to remember where you live, how
you got here, and where you’ve come from.

* BREAKING THE SEAL.
Your first pee in the pub, usually after 2 hours of drinking. After
breaking the seal of your bladder, repeat visits to the toilet will be
required every 10 or 15 minutes for the rest of the night.

* TART FUEL.
Bottled premixed spirits, regularly consumed by young women.

* TRAMP STAMP
Tattoo on a female

* PICASSO BUM.
A woman whose knickers are too small for her, so she looks like she’s
got 4 buttocks

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