First they Came For the Communists...

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'Crocodile Hunter' Dead

Well, its all over the news. Blogs and other websites are filled with the news. Steve Irwin died today. All the shows that he did where he messed with poisonous snakes, crocodiles and other beasties and he didn't get hurt. Trying to get some shots for a childrens show he died when he startled a stingray and it stuck its barb through his chest. You never know when life will be over so make the most of today. Cape Diem! Rest In Peace Steve.

Second Life

Well, I took the plunge and opened an account for the virtual world, Second Life. The picture to the left is my character, RabidRabit Helios. RabidRabit is the name I use on UT2004 and I had to pick a last name from a list so Helios was it.

As you can see from my character, I had some trouble editing my appearance. I'm not sure where the hair went and what is left is a lovely shade of green. I'm still not sure how I got strips across my bare chest. The shirt I was provided with disappeared sometime during my travels. Then there is the milky white skin. I resemble a punk rock version of Powder.

Other than the minor technical difficulties that I had with my avatar it was a pretty pleasant experience. The idea of a 3-d virtual world is fascinating. I created a lot of primitive objects, leaving many of them scattered where the land owners would allow. One of them was a US flag beach ball that was almost as tall as my avatar.

I enjoyed playing around. I socialized minimally but where I did, I found the controls pretty easy to use. If you've got a few hours I recommend trying it out. Be sure to take your time at the beginning to learn how the world works. It'll make things so much more pleasant.