In a recent article here in the Herald, Urizenus Sklar argued that the US Attorney in the Barrett Brown case was attempting to smear Barrett by listing a whole number of allegedly bad attributes of Barrett and then publishing them in a public court document.  

I think Uri missed the bigger picture here. Not that Uri is wrong.  But Uri missed the fact that larded into the US Attorney's comments is a tacit indictment of the entire US criminal justice system.  

The US Attorney's screed against Barrett looked like this:

Perhaps without realizing the prejudicial effects on brown the media repeatedly has publicized potentially inadmissible and prejudicial information such as Brown’s … anarchist ideology… troubled childhood and alternative schooling, declaration that he is an atheist, use and abuse of ecstasy, acid, heroin, and marijuana, lack of steady employment, claimed diagnoses of ADHD and depression, associates descriptions of Brown as a junkie, name fag, moral fag, court jester…

Now, the question is this:  Why on God's Green Earth should it be impossible, or even difficult, for someone who is an atheist, or someone who is depressed, or someone who has ADHD or someone who lacks steady employment, or someone who has used drugs to get a fair trial in this country?

You see the deep point here is that implicit in the US Attorney's statement is the admission that for people who are even just a tiny bit outside of the mainstream, the justice system can not be counted on to be fair to them.  Any perceived flaw which sets you outside of a Norman Rockwell ideal is enough to ensure that the justice system, if you find your way into it, will grind you to pieces.  Tiny pieces.

If you are depressed, you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you.

If you use marijuana, you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you.

If you had alternative schooling or raised by alternative parenting, you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you.

If you are a student of, or influenced by, anarchist writings, you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you.

If you were once a heroine addict, now on Suboxone, you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you.

If you had a troubled childhood, you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you.

If you lack steady employment, you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you.

If you are a moral fag (that is, if you are ethically motivated hacker), you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you.

In short, if you are remotely alternative and outside of the power structure, you cannot count on the justice system to be fair to you. 

That you US Attorney, for admitting this.  Now, when do we begin to fix the problem?

Over the past several years, Hacktivists like the members of Anonymous and leakers like Chelsea Manning, with the assistance of publishers like WikiLeaks, have exposed gigabytes of secrets of the American empire. The consequences have been far-reaching, and by some accounts the revelations helped fuel the Tunisian uprising and the subsequent Arab Spring.

One potential danger with any alleged hack or leak is that one wants to make sure it is legitimate. The original concept of WikiLeaks, after all, was that the vetting of alleged leaks could be crowdsourced. While WikiLeaks has since employed alternative ways of vetting documents, vetting by crowd sourcing is certainly a good idea and one that we should endorse. Leaks cannot be taken as automatically true and we cannot rely on government institutions or corporations for the truth on these matters. Leaks and the products of hacks need to be vetted by the hacktivist community. A recent hack provides an example of what is at stake and how we can crowdsource the vetting of important leaks and hacks.

Back on January 22, a hacker by the name of JAsIrX announced the release of documents from the hack of a private military contractor called Britam Defence. Critical emails among the documents suggested that the Qatari government and Britam were, with the blessing of the United States Government, discussing details of a false flag operation that would involve making a chemical weapon attack look like it was under Assad's control.

The Britam hack involved the release of gigabytes of information, but the principle smoking gun in the document dump was a Dec. 24 email apparently from Britam Defence's Business Development Director David Goulding to Founder and Dynamic Director of the firm Phillip Doughty (a former SAS officer):

Phil

We've got a new offer. It's about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.

We'll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have.

They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.
Frankly, I don't think it's a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?

Kind regards David

false flag forgery?

CW, is of course shorthand for "chemical weapon," and a g-shell is a "gas shell" for delivering chemical weapons.The document dump also included a number of contracts, and information on employees, including a folder /Iraq/People/ that contained the photocopies of passports of several Ukrainians - presumably who would be drawn on for the operation.

Many of us read of the Britam hack back in January and didn't pay much attention to the contents at the time, but given recent events and the accompanying drumbeat to war, people are revisiting the released documents, which seem remarkably prescient. If the documents from that hack are authentic, they provide evidence that the United States gave its blessing to the Qataris for a false flag chemical warfare attack, presumably as a pretext to propel us into military intervention in Syria.

News of the Britam hack was originally published in the Daily Mail's online publication The Mail Online and in Cyber War News, which is a usually reliable online publication that keeps track of hacktivist actions - in particular those by Anonymous. This was soon followed by a counternarrative in which it was claimed that Britam had in fact been hacked, but that it was a state-sponsored hack - either by an Iranian groups or by the Syrian Electronic Army - and that the incriminating emails were faked. The Israeli online publication Ynet, summarized the counter-narrative as follows.

Computer security experts called in by Britam have proved that the emails relating to Syria and Iran were fabricated, the report said.

"They are 100% false," said Simon Lalor, Britam's chief executive. "From a technical point of view, the emails are fabricated. Who wrote the content is another question."

He estimated that the company had been "used as a vehicle to create tension and embarrassment for those with a political motivation."

The hacking is being investigated by cybercrime and counterterrorism specialists at Scotland Yard, likely in collaboration with the security services. Iran's possible involvement in the cyber attack is also being probed.

Britam subsequently sued the Daily Mail, which removed the story from its website (the story is still available via web archive) and apologized saying "the emails turned out to be forged". Other publications did not remove the story (a spokesperson for Cyber War News told us the breach of Britam had been authenticated even if individual documents had not, so they do not intend to remove the story).

With the recent developments in Syria the Brtiam false flag story has regained legs, and a number of online news sources have been suggesting that the emails are credible evidence of a false flag operation. These include voltairenet.org, beforeitsnews.com, globalresearch.ca, and rumormillnews.com. Meanwhile, The Examiner, which published the story when it first came out continues to keep the story online and that story has been linked to frequently on Facebook and elsewhere in social media.So what are we to make of this? Are all these documents the product of the Britam hack (which no one disputes having happened), or are some of them manufactured? If there is "proof" that the documents are fraudulent, it would be nice to know what that proof is.

We asked some hacktivists connected with Anonymous to look into the matter and here is there basic assessment. While many of the files look legitimate, the document dump also included two emails (one on the Syrian false flag plot) that seem out of place in the context. The two emails in question are entitled "Iranian Issue" and "Syrian Issue". The real problem comes in the headers of the two emails.

Header from "Iranian Issue"
For; Thu, 16 Oct 2012 23:57:18 +0800 (SGT)
Received: (qmail 18137 invoked from network), 16 Oct 2012 15:57:27 -0000

Header from "Sirian Issue" [sic]
For; Mon, 24 Dec 2012 23:57:18 +0800 (SGT)
Received: (qmail 18137 invoked from network), 24 Dec 2012 15:57:27 -0000

is something odd in the e-mail header?

First, the process ID of the Qmail email program is the same (18137) and the possibility of two emails sent at different times having the same process ID is miniscule.

Second, the time on the emails is also identical down to the second. So it appears that the headers were the same and the hacker substituted two different messages in the body of the text. The only difference is the date. One is changed to 16 Oct and the other is set to 24 Dec. One problem with just changing the date is that the hacker forgot to change the day, so that it reads "Thu, 16 Oct 2012." Oct. 16, 2012 was a Tuesday. This is a devastating critique of the key letters that provided the evidence for a false flag operation.

None of this is to suggest that the Syrian gassing incident was not a false flag operation. Indeed The Mint Press has a very interesting article suggesting that Saudis provided the weapons to the rebels and that the attack was carried out by rebels (or perhaps the weapons were misused by the rebels).

It is also worth considering that the Britam hack might have been engineered by Britam itself and designed specifically to discredit anyone who might make a false flag charge. On the one hand, whoever made the forgery appears to have had access to an email that arrived on the Britam servers. Whoever made the forgeries was also clever enough to integrate some information on the emails with those of the legitimate material in the files - for example introducing an IP address from Singapore. But at the same time the forger made a very detectable error of getting the day of week wrong. So one might think that it could be an attempt to create an easily discredited false flag claim, thus inoculating Britam against future charges of that nature.

False flag operations are not new or rare. There is a long history of them, dating to the Roman Emperor Nero who used the pretext of the burning of Rome to carry out his persecution of Christians, and of course the burning of the Reichstag, which Adolf Hitler used as a pretext to purge the Communists from the German government.

False flag operations are also carried out by the United States - for example operation Ajax, which was an operation that removed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh from power in Iran in 1953. According to declassified CIA records (detailed by James Risen of the New York Times), among the many other actions in that operation, Iranians working for the CIA posed as communists and harassed Iran's religious leaders, and in one case bombed the home of a leading cleric. The operation successfully turned the religious leadership against the Mossadegh government.

Today false flag operations are so salient in our culture that even video games like Modern Warfare include false flag elements. The problem with trying to expose a false flag operation today is that the Internet is clogged with people claiming that any tragedy or attack is some sort of false flag operation - a notable example being 9-11 truthers. Truthers and other conspiracy theorists thus end up being "useful idiots" for the power structure, as they undermine the credibility of actual conspiracies and false flag operations when they do arise.

And this is the problem. People claiming the possibility of a false flag operation in Syria needs to be particularly cautious to make sure that their evidence is in order. The credibility of the hacktivist movement demands that we get the facts right. We expect governments to lie when expedient. We expect corporations to lie when expedient. Hacktivists cannot afford to be casual with the truth. Getting at the truth is their fundamental cause. It cannot take a back seat to any other cause. Truth first.

Why fat?

Today I present Bobbele Boucher. Or just Bob if you prefer. He's probably the fattest guy in SL. The question is simple: in a world where everyone can look astonishing, why did he decide to be this way? And more: there's a whole community of fat people. Curious?

Bob Boucher

αℓєѕѕα: Why are you so fat? Most guys want to look muscled...
Bob: I like it. Simple like that.

αℓєѕѕα: Do you consider yourself SL's fattest man?
Bob: I'm sure one of the fattest.

αℓєѕѕα: Do you intend to become fatter?
Bob: I'd like to be the fattest.

αℓєѕѕα: Is there a fat men and women community?
Bob: You are right inside.

αℓєѕѕα: Do you usually walk around naked or you find clothes for your size?
Bob: There are no clothes in my size.

αℓєѕѕα: Do you go to concerts, shopping, visit clubs, etc?
Bob: Not really.

αℓєѕѕα: What do you enjoy doing in sl?
Bob: To get connected with other people.

αℓєѕѕα: You're 6 years old in SL. Have you always been this fat?
Bob: No... I worked on the perfect look.

αℓєѕѕα: Is the fat community growing?
Bob: I'm not sure... It has always been there. But it's easier for fat women.

αℓєѕѕα: Do you hear bad comments because of being fat?
Bob: Sometimes in other places. People are shocked.

Bob Boucher is big

αℓєѕѕα: Do they say bad things and mock you?
Bob: Not really.

αℓєѕѕα: People tend to be nice?
Bob: Mostly tolerant.

αℓєѕѕα: Don't you get bored always stuck here?
Bob: No because here are the people who like the same.

αℓєѕѕα: Is it like a family?
Bob: Yes.

αℓєѕѕα: Do you have many visitors at this sim?
Bob: Mostly the same.

αℓєѕѕα: Would you like to have more visitors?
Bob: Sure. More women with a favour for fat guys. 

It's always sad when someone you love takes a turn for the worse. Even more terrible is when they turn for the worse and you don't even know their real name. Or where they live. Or anything whatsoever about them that might be a microdium of truth

The only way to help these poor souls is to seek out the problems early, and urge them to find help.

The top three warning signs:

please log out now and go outside: babyfurs are not real!

1.) Fiction seems to be reality

Many people suffering from mental illness will spend countless hours logged into Second Life. They will participate in almost every activity; they will often tell stories about themselves, of which the facts (when compared with previous stories) just don't match up. They will make up facts and believe them to be true.

serial online Gorean relationships are not entirely normal

2.) Going through Second Life relationships or goals like water.

People with mental illness have trouble focusing on one thing. You will often find they are involved in a very wide variety of things, and what they are involved in can help determine their problems. Possibly, they are involved in sex-related events almost constantly - this would indicate a severe problem with perversion. Possibly they were abused as a child. Maybe this person even believes they are a true Gorean practitioner, or a furry, or involved in the objectification of one sex or the other.

warning sign: possible plurk emotional over-reaction!

3.) Emotional over-reactions.

Mentally ill folks in Second Life often have a problem keeping a handle on their emotions. They can fly off the handle on a whim, at the wrong word put to the wrong meaning, or, quite often, they will simply pick a fight over nothing inflammatory at all. You will often find that they can't "take a joke", and although they are lashing out, they are actually very emotionally sensitive, scarred people who feel backed into a corner.

Urge these people to seek help before they get caught in their own webs of despair. It's mental health week, after all: http://www.nami.org/

Someone pass me the Pepto Bismol, please! That is all I can think of saying after surviving the social event of the decade in the new, post-Linden, metaverse.

 [photo by Paparazzo Joenz]

Attending this A-list event were Alphaville Herald staffers Urizenus Sklar, Pixeleen Mistral, and PaleFire, former PN boss Windowlic Klaar, Woodbury alums Tizzers, Atlas, and Huns, Woodbury Dean Edward Clift, Hollywood film-makers Brett Baum and Vivien Lesnik (she of the pro-Castro documentary, /busted!). Well it all just makes you think, doesn’t it?

What possible reason could there be for this confluence of ne’re-do-wells, griefers, pointy-headed intellectuals, and Hollywood moguls? I don’t know and I don’t care, because whatever nefarious plots and technocommunist revolutions they were planning, they partied like it was 1917!
 

Atlas and Tizzers not drinking that Moet Crap.

Agent from Chapman University joins the conspiracy.

Tizzers, Huns, and Atlas in the Queen Elizabeth Herald Suite.

But what are they up to? Is it a new transmedia ARG done under the auspices of Henry Jenkins – one of the technocommunists from whom they take their marching orders? Is it a plan to turn us into a nation of brony-loving, rainbow-pooping yiffers? Is it yet another tendril of the monster that has become the Occupy Movement? The Rabelaisian quality of the evening suggested that perhaps they were planning a 21st Century Carnival of the Grotesque. Only one thing is for sure: In the hall of mirrors that is the Interwebs, we may never know.

 

When I was last a Second Lifer I learned quickly that it's important not to get too excited about the "Events" listed in the SL search, as most will be a huge disappointment. Empty sims trying to sell or rent lots, struggling clubs, and sex bed sales made up the majority of results and sifting the "actual" things to do from the lame attempts at generating traffic was more trouble than finding one's own favorite things to do.

So the other day when some girlfriends and I were looking for something to do, I was trepidatious about trying the Search Events function, but what the heck, maybe it's better than 2007.

Turns out it's not (but, to be fair, the Lindens seem to be doing a good job of keeping the "Featured Events" in the "Destination Guide" up to date). Still, I discovered a "Bowling Event" that looked like fun, so we went.

As an event, it was a total fail because it was one of those "We're not really having an event, but we're here and we're open" type of events and predictably, the place was empty, but it was a complete win because we discovered Second Life Bowling.

The place we went to was called Bowl-a-Rama Bowling Center, here's a Slurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Topaz%20Square/31/95/26

The bowling action is predictably cheesey, but it's not easy to get perfect scores, so it makes for some good fun if you're the competitive type and bring some friends over. If nothing else, both of my girlfriends loved it and have been back since, so you might meet some hot avatars.

bowl - and maybe meet hot avatars too!

I was curious if this bowling script/animation/scoring that we were experiencing at Bowl-a-Rama would be found at other places, so we jumped to a couple other bowling places. I liked (and my girlfriends agreed) the Bowl-a-Rama version best.

there is no place like an SL Welcome Area - and some things never change

After bowling, I futzed about a while, then wondered what my Home Location is after all this time away. I teleported home and learned it's the Plum Welcome Area. (I'm guessing my old home landmark no longer exists on the grid?) I didn't have much time to think about it, however, as I was almost immediately attacked by Zenfreckels's Prim and a gazillion gross pictures. I had to TP away and then relog to end the assault.

So, those of you who might have wandered away from the Grid and wondered how life in the metaverse is progressing - it feels a lot like 2007 still, but at least there's good bowling now.

Hello Herald! I like to call this pose "Putting your money where your mouth is!"

For those who don't know me, I used to be a blogger for several SL news services, and I was also the Post 6 Photographer for a while. I dropped out of Second Life for a couple of years and have now found my way back.

One of the few people on my friends list who is regularly on these days is Carol Pixelmaid-Morpork, wife of Post 6 Photographer Timothy, so she and I hang out a lot. Recently, Timothy got me to pose for his Beautiful Avatars blog, and so I took advantage of that to get him to help get the Herald moving again.

"Why don't you pose?!" Timothy said. His wife Carol joined him in praising this as a good idea. I have to say I see the merit of it, as Timothy does make me look a LOT better than I usually feel And now you see why I also call this pose, "Putting your money where your mouth is."

So, you get to see the news lady naked, the bits the blogger probably wants to keep off the webs. I'd do that for the Herald. It's a worthy cause and I hope any of you who agree with me will contact Timothy Morpork and sign up to do Post 6, or if you have a story idea, contact me, or if you can write, contact Pixeleen for an interview. Let's re-energize the best game blog, the best virtual world blog, the best virtual news source....whatever this is, let's get it going again.

Finally, in the rider in my "appearing nekkid" contract there are a couple of things I get as perks. In addition to Jimbo Quality picking the brown M&M's out of the bowls in my dressing room, I have the right to plug my friend Carol's store, and, despite his protestations, plug her husband Timothy's blog, where you can see more of me from the Post 6 shoot as well as his other awesome pictures.

Thank you Timothy for coming back, and thank you for making me look so beautiful. I hope you all like the pictures, they were fun to make and the start of what I hope is many more great weeks of Post 6 here on the Alphaville Herald.

I logged into SL the other day for the first time in ages, and only one of the old gang was online. I haven't been a regular here in years, so I guess this should be no surprise. I IM'd my friend and then ended up hanging out with her. For old times sake, we went to a fashion show.

I used to go to two or three fashion shows a week because I covered them for a number of blogs and I hadn't been to one in ages. We hit the Viktor-Viktoria Fashion Show that is part of Menswear Fashion Week. It's my understanding that there are multiple shows this week and lots of sales and freebies. Here's a slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Menswear%20Fashion%20Week2012/122/214/24/

We were late to the show, and there was a lot of lag in the sim next to the fashion show sim, but once we'd navigated ourselves to the actual runway, it was heaven. The designer and builder of the set, Lexie Jansma, CEO of Siren Productions, created a 3D multi-level runway that winds around the audience.

The audience was seated in upside down umbrellas that levitated at staggered heights, allowing us the opportunity to focus on one part of the runway, or follow an espeshially fabulous model and outfit all the way around the circuit. I loved the design.

The show's concept was gender bending and androgeny, as the models used were female and the clothes presented are sold for men. The gray and black and white motif in the design was perfect in support of this theme, and the models, who were instructed to go easy on the make-up and work with the theme, were fabulous.

Though I had intended to merely go as an appreciative member of the audience, I must say I was swept up in the excitement and immediately started begging my friend to let me blog it on her blog. You can find my breathless account here, as well as some pictures that aren't shown here.

Later, I got to thinking that since I apparently need to let the world know that fashion and creativity is alive and well in Second Life, and the Herald can always use some articles, I would pen a second rave review of this show and send it in.

Because I hadn't intended on blogging this, I am not as replete with descriptions of each outfit or the models or anything as I would have been, (though I will say that Gryphon Ronas of Siren Productions did her very best to get me up to speed late in the game when I knew I'd have to blog this, and I thank her!)

Visit this Slurl for more information and outlet stores for many of the designers and brands shown in the Viktor-Viktoria show.

I joined Second Life in 2006, and it wasn't long before I was meeting folks on the grid and making a digital name for myself, something I never had when I was growing up. As a child, I was far too smart and far too shy to be bothered with any social aspects of life. Second Life, strangely, was my foray into a niche-type fame (or infamy as many of you may be apt to categorize me) from running a 2,000 to 3,000 and sometimes 5,000 hit-a-day website that operated solely on the gossip on the grid and attempting to fight the good fight -- and making enemies in the process.

Tenshi Vielle in Second Life (file photo)

My time spent on the Second Life grid was an entire escape from reality. In late 2005, I was pregnant, going to school, and working 3 part time jobs. By 2006, I had my baby and had joined Second Life after seeing an article in Wired magazine - and joining simply to laugh at the ridiculous hype this virtual world was getting.

I began making friends in-world, and logging in was a daily thing after my morning cup of coffee. When I wasn't out with my family, my newborn slept on my lap or in a seat near my feet. The burdens of my real life built up, so I threw myself into building something I could actually manage in Second Life - a small, stong website, a reputation, a cause to log in. I spent a lot of time supporting the artists of SL, large and small. They became my close friends.

When I found myself with one part time job and the baby, I found employment in the virtual world with a real-life company on a short term basis. It became more of an excuse to log in, because they were sending me actual checks with official pay stubs. My newborn was growing, I couldn't shake the baby weight between caring for him, my so-called depression, and attempting to care for my injured baby-daddy who had also moved in with myself and my family.

The burdens grew. Folks who didn't like me in the virtual world stalked me, called me all kinds of names, harassed me, blamed me for ruining their birthdays, even their anniversaries. It got ridiculous.

Shortly afterwards I was also moving in real life to find a job. The economy in my home state was tanking hard, and I was sorely affected. I worked a job as a janitor - yes, any port in a storm - and not only caught scabies that year, but pinkeye, two cases of the flu, and god knows what else. It was not a job I wanted to continue.

Logging in became more and more of a chore, and I had lost my desktop computer in favor of a laptop. In desperation, I elected co-administrators on my website and began dealing with social issues and helping with stories for the site via text message while at my new job. It was just too much.

I never realized I was so deep into Second Life until a tiff over administrative rights on the website caused me to dump my virtual best friend, which pulled a domino affect into other online friendships and caused me a lot of personal pain. I'd never cried over anything in the virtual world before - not the digital riff raff, griefers, nothing - but this was different and I realized I was far too invested with people I didn't even really know anything about.

My virtual life fed my ego in a way my real life couldn't - my word was important to other SL users. I could assist making a virtual artist, or help bring them down - something I attempted to avoid doing until I felt just cause for it. The group I fell in was small, cliquish and petty, sniping at each other and then being the world's greatest frenemies scripted by a bad episode of Desperate Housewives. Ostracization was a favorite technique of theirs.

I had more virtual shoes and clothing than I did in my real life - and I had, at one time, owned a lot of shoes and clothing in my real life. I had more hair styles in my virtual life.

After being homeless in real life for about a month, after getting kicked out of my "midway" place after moving (but thankfully keeping my newly aquired job) I attempted to continue work on the site as I had before, but couldn't.

My life was still a mess. In the course of three years, we rented an apartment; we bought a house; then my relationship went so far south that I thought I was at the cusp of hell. I sold my web site for $200 and used some of the money to pay for an apartment for a month so that I could escape my dissolved relationship and move on.

I kept my virtual friends up on what was going on in my real life and why I was absent, but my own life narration began to sound absolutely ridiculous even to me, despite the fact that I was living it. How could anyone go through so many horrible things and be able to talk about it online and believe it? There are so many sociopaths in Second Life who make up horrible stories (including medical diseases and traumas) for attention, but I wasn't one of them. I was simply logging what was actually happening to me, which was as hard for me to believe as the one living it as anyone reading it.

My virtual life is in shambles now. I rarely ever log in - I think I was last online about two weeks ago, for a half an hour. I couldn't find anything I wanted to do, and everyone who was online on my friends list seemed completely foreign to me.

Those friends I had in Second Life that I truly loved, I took with me to my first life. They are on my personal Plurk account, they are on my Facebook. I stayed at one SL friend's for a week after I left my relationship and my home. She allowed my son and I to shack up over there until other arrangements could be made, and even drove with me a good 100 miles to make sure everything was going to be alright.

Although my virtual life no longer exists, I prefer my real life. Second Life has become secondary, although I am not completely sure whether it's due to my real life becoming so busy (work and a small child) or if it's because Second Life, in general, seems vacant save for my old friends that still hang around. I now have a low profile and the virtual stalkers have moved on to other prey. I have no idea what is going on with the artists I used to help protect - I believe many of them have moved on from Second Life as well.

I firmly believe the worst and best thing about Second Life was how heavily it was propelled by its users - and how often it was held back by its developers.

As for Second Life in my real life, I spoke about it often while I was still involved heavily. Now it's like a dirty secret. My friend asked me how I knew one of my Second Life friends last night, and I hemmed and hawwed and avoided answering all I could until I could avoid no longer, and gave a very vague answer. It's not the friends in Second Life I'm trying to keep hidden; it's the fact that I was once so deeply involved in something that revolved so heavily around basic social psychology, and that I so easily handled it, that becomes embarrassing.

Those of you still hanging around Second Life more than 2 hours a day, I would advise you to please consider logging out for a while and doing something else. Go out, talk to a stranger, ask them about the weather. Keep your virtual life, but learn how to keep it proportionate. Video games only temporarily assist in making a person feel better. The secondary benefit is that Second Life, as a platform, appears to be tanking. Unless there's a sudden resurgence of popularity due to the open development available (with no support from the developers themselves) you are, so to speak, putting your money in a hole.

Rating: PG-13 for gore and mature themes.
What: Crack the case and you could win L$10,000!
Duration: 2 Hours with Friends
When: Mystery and Contest starts October 7th and ends November 1st @ noon SLT.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pixeleen Mistral is dead and we must find out who killed her! Answer all 10 questions correctly, collect all 26 clues to solve the mystery, and join the Taunt Murder Mystery group to be entered into a L$10,000 drawing on November 1st at 7pm SLT. Play the game with friends to crack the case quickly! The entire mystery unfolds on Taunt sim.

The HUD can be found at Taunt starting October 7th.

**!! The first clue is inside the police department! !!**

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

TAUNT MURDER MYSTERY is produced by BabyDoll's Sexy Lingerie. Game written and designed by BabyDoll LaFontaine. HUD and components scripted by Dreamstalker Xevious. Custom buildings constructed by Ramirez Falta. Plants by Lilith and Dolly Heart from the Heart Garden Centre.

A final big thank you to all our friends, customers and Taunt Village merchants for their continued support! Models for the game are dressed by BabyDoll's, Short & Sweet, and The Bimbo Cheerleaders.