shrapnel

It takes an academic to catch an academic art thief.

OK, racism is the foundation of World of Warcraft (Undead pwn!) and “Bow Nigger” caused quite the stir a while back. But racism in Second Life?

I’m pretty sure I know what Dr. King would think of a protest against an anti-immigrant political party, but if you asked me what he’d say after the thing devolved into a virtual conflagaration of mini-guns, cursing Frenchmen, and exploding pigs, well, there I’m somewhat at a loss.

The first night I arrived at the protest against the Second Life headquarters of Front National, the far right French political party of Jean-Marie Le Pen, it was ringed on all sides by protesters with signs to wave and statements to distribute.  By the second night I came (this was late last week), the conflict had become more literal, for many Residents had armed themselves.  Multi-colored explosions and constant gunfire shredded the air of Porcupine, a shopping island which FN had inexplicably picked for the site of their virtual world HQ, in December.

On the Internet, everyone’s room is famous.

This video of a Tickle Me Elmo doll on fire is possibly the most disturbing video ever made.

Math on The Simpsons.

Over at my other blog I’ve talked about the Patrick Suskind book Perfume a few times. The book is about a murderer with an unusual sense of smell, but the BBC has used the film adaptation as an excuse to explore the world of people with no sense of smell.

Stormtroopers march in the Rose Parade, led by their evil leader: George Lucas. As it turns out, it takes a lot of training to be a parade stormtrooper. You can read all about it over at this Star Wars blog. Strangely, there were no sightings of femtroopers at the parade.