Nike Concept

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Beauty.

Easier to Play Than Your Mom

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(Click to Enlarge)

Second Life

Maybe I've just been unaware, but when did Second Life become ridiculous?!

Some observations

1. Second Life's Economy:

Second Life economy posts solid growth in Q4

Economic Growth. Many of our economic metrics showed much slower growth from Q2 to Q3 as can be seen in the charts below. We believe the slower growth was primarily due to the impact of stricter security on credit card processing, shutting down gambling in July and beginning to charge VAT September. With those things behind us in the fourth quarter, the Second Life economy demonstrated its resiliency. The LindeX - the purest measure of economic activity in Second Life - grew 13.2% to nearly $7.6 million USD for December and $22 million USD for the full quarter.

It's unbelievable how close Second Life is mirroring Real Life, complete with economic indicators. By the way, the economic data was available in Excel format, too (feel sorry for the poor guy who had to spend time organizing FAKE data).

2. People make money playing. A lot of money.

Virtual worlds are now producing real millionaires. Example: Ailin Graef announced that her avatar inside Second Life had amassed virtual-property holdings worth $1 million in U.S. funds.

3. There is a Reuters section devoted JUST to Second Life.

3. Even the IRS is paying attention to the incomes being made, and they are seriously looking into taxing the proceeds of Second Life and other virtual worlds. via http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/commentary/games/2006/12/72317

4. College professors are conducting entire classes in Second Life. And these aren't bullshit University of Phoenix Online College professors. I'm talking about Harvard, Princeton, and my favorite school, New York University.

5. There is a lot of sex going on. The funny thing is, you don't even start out with a penis. You have to buy one. Theres a gold penis with flames selling for 150 Linden $ (the currency of Second Life) but unfortunately this is a little problematic for public situations as the penis never becomes flaccid...

6. Bands have become popular through Second Life by playing in tours and shows in Second Life. They stream their content and have people rock out.

A parody of Second Life is probably the best part, though. With taglines like "Go outside, Membership is free!", "Find out where you actually live!" and "Fornicate with your actual genitals!", the website "Get a First Life" is pretty funny.

Edumacation

One of the best speeches I have ever heard.

"But what we do know is that if you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original... And by the time they get to become adults, most children have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this, by the way, we stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is, we are educating people out of their creative capacities."

Sir Ken Robinson on why the education system fails to recognize brilliance

It's 20 minutes, and yeah if you're in Stern that's like time you could be reading useless shit in the WSJ or checking the Bloomberg or mingling with recruiters and professionals that won't ever get you a job or do shit for you...

but for me, this was a brilliant speech and made me think -- something that Stern doesn't do very often for me.

Chanel Choco Phone

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The screen images are projected between two pieces of glass for a holographic look, and to reduce weight.


via:
http://www.tuvie.com/chanel-choco-phone-by-fred-de-garilhe

Harajuku

Interview with Tiffany Godoy, author of Style Deficit Disorder

http://www.highsnobiety.com/Interview-Godoy/index.html

N Blox

3857. This is the number of games of N Blox I have played on Facebook. Assuming that each game was 2 minutes, I have spent 7714 minutes playing N blox. That's 128.5 hours. Assuming that a work day is 8 hours, that's about 16 straight days of work playing N Blox. Broken into work weeks, this is about 3 weeks and one day of playing N blox from 9 am - 5 pm straight.

Let's take a look inside the National Institute of Health's description of crack cocaine for a friendly comparison...

"Physical effects of cocaine use include constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure."

Sounds like a game of N Blox.

" Some users of cocaine report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. "

Check.

"Can result in a period of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the user loses touch with reality"

3 weeks of full time work equivalent to my playing time? I definitely broke up with reality.


So, folks at Stern: Stop playing N Blox. You can go outside and enjoy the sunny world, it's really much better than multicolored blocks and extreme anguish! I am hereby retiring from N Blox, and I couldn't be happier. You can do it too!

P.S.

"Attempts to stop using the drugs can fail simply because the resulting depression can be overwhelming"

Will update on my condition as the weeks pass...