There’s a thing called the Second Life Community Convention. It’s a yearly thing. This year it’s in Tampa, early September.

It costs US$200 to register, it lasts two days, and there are three ‘tracks:’ Education, Business, and Community. There is only one schedule of events up thus far, for the community track. And, uh, it’s kind of only a month away…

Some people I want to meet up with are going to be there, but I’m having a hard time being excited about the prospect, because of cost and travel tedium. Which leads me to ask: What’s in Tampa?

A person can do many things to be more optimistic in life.

Most of these things are wasted effort, however. Optimism as a goal is not a worthwhile one.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

Houston is #26 of 40 in terms of ‘walkability.’

Seattle? #6.

Of course, the neighborhood where I live in Seattle scores pretty much the same as the neighborhood where I’m staying with my parents. The difference is that the sidewalks are steep there, while here they’re unsafe and it’s 100 degrees.

Note that on the Houston map, walkability tends to increase with population density. Suburbs bad.

Hey, Momaroo… Don’t try to friend me just because I read one of your ‘blogs. We’re not that close, OK? I mean, you’re probably married.

Here’s an update to an earlier post…

The HCI Reforestation Project is up and running. Teleport here.

It’s a whole sim of trees that you can help save from the forces of ‘progress.’ The project is combination political statement, artistic expression, and data visualization. You can save the trees by paying them or hugging them, but the inevitable is coming… Just in slow motion. The scope of the project is huge. You can hang out in the trees and never know what’s on the other side of the island, until the deforestation comes your way.

Coded and presented by resident genius, Elpis Oh.

This is the sort of thing I want to see more of on SL. Data viz that actually makes a point.