Read the paper. Something unbelievably horrible happened to a girl named "Antigone." What an ill-starred name to give a child. I can't imagine having a baby a thinking, "Hmmm... Antigone... yes, I'll name her after that tragic girl." On the other hand, if the girl this morning had been named Anne the fate that awaited her would've been no less horrific. Unless you believe in names=destiny.

Second Life
Last spring I found Second Life and was aching to go there, but I had dial-up and that was insufficient. Then I discovered There, signed up for the Beta, and was accepted, but not called in until late September. I fell in love with the cunningly wrought landscape, and enjoyed it immensely. Then There,inc pulled the struts out from under us all and we felt disheartened and confused. Was There closing? Should we invest emotional energy in a doomed world? I decided to get broadband and investigate There further while at the same time trying out Second Life. As an artist, the frustrating thing about There is that it's expensive to create things, even if you want to have just one for your own use. In Second Life, admittedly, the avatars perambulate strangely -- however, creating is an integral part of the world. In There I never saw the point in having a house. In Second Life I immediately placed a bid on land as the point became clear -- I can alter the land itself and create anything I'm skilled enough to place on it. I want both worlds. Second Life is far more suited to artists and designers. There has avatars that are not creepy, and a clarity that comes from immutability. It's that very immutability that is its weakest point. For people who work in other fields and don't want to have to make everything from scratch, There is probably better. In Second Life everything works very well. As a Therian, I'm used to bugs and work-arounds. I never much minded them, but it is a sign of instability in the platform. It was ok until There,inc pulled the engineers off the project and no fixes were possible. So -- I'm a resident of both those worlds, and this one, too. Second Life is actually my Third Life.