'Second Life' Sex Program Spawns Lawsuit

Kevin Alderman didn't bring sex to "Second Life." He just made it better. The 46-year-old Rosetta Stone outlet entrepreneur recognized four years ago that people would pay to equip their online selves which start out with the smooth anatomy of a Barbie or Ken doll with realistic genitalia and even more to add some sexy moves. Business at Eros LLC has been brisk. One of his creations, the SexGen Platinum, has gotten so popular that he's now had to hire lawyers to track down the flesh-and-blood person behind the online identity, or avatar, that he says illegally copied and sold it. The $45 SexGen animates amorous avatars in erotic positions. It is software code, written in the scripting language of "Second Life" and placed in virtual furniture and other objects. Avatars click on the object and choose from a menu of animated sex acts. Advertisement: Story continues below Alderman filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla., last month alleging an avatar named "Volkov Catteneo" broke the program's copy protection and sold unauthorized copies. Alderman, who runs his business from home in a Tampa suburb, allows users to transfer his products, but prohibits copying. "We confronted him about it and his basic response was, 'What are you going to do? Sue me?'" Alderman said. "I guess the mentality is that because you're an avatar ... that you are untouchable. The purpose of this suit is not only to protect our income and our product, but also to show, yes, you can be prosecuted and brought to justice." Catherine Smith, director of marketing for "Second Life" creator Linden Lab, said she knew of no other real-world legal fight between two avatars. However, Linden Labs itself has been sued more than once by subscribers over seizures of virtual property. In , Japanese media reported that a Chinese exchange student was arrested for stealing virtual items from other players in an online game, "Lineage II." "Second Life" isn't a game. There are no dragons to slay or other traditional game objectives. San Francisco-based Linden Lab describes it as "an online digital world imagined, created owned by its residents." Linden Lab provides a free basic Rosetta Stone Japanese avatar, a 3-D virtual representation of the user in male or female form. Everything else costs real money. A 16-acre virtual island costs $1,675 plus monthly maintenance fees of $295. Virtual money, called Lindens, can be exchanged with real dollars at an average rate of about 0 Lindens per $1. Avatars can be equipped with flowing gowns and tiny tattoos, and users with programming and Photoshop skills can reshape themselves into a virtual Greta Garbo or just about any shape imaginable. With a little cash, users can also have people like Alderman transform the avatars for them. At Alderman's "Second Life" shop, shoppers can try out a dragon bed powered by one of his SexGen engines. Along with programmers and designers, he employs a sales staff who hang around the shop like real salespeople to pitch the perfect sex toys. He is investing in a $25,000 motion-capture suit, a low-end version of one used to create digital characters in movies, to create more realistic sex moves for "Second Life" avatars. As customers demand more real life in their "Second Life," though, these virtual creations can collide with reality. "Virtually every aspect of real life is getting duplicated, and all the laws that can be applied to the real world are being applied in 'Second Life,'" said Jorge Contreras Jr., an intellectual-property attorney in Washington, D.C. Last year, "Second Life" was rocked by a scandal over users who had modified their avatars to look like children and simulated pedophilia. Last month, Linden Lab shut down gambling in "Second Life" after concerns arose that Rosetta Stone Portuguese virtual games of chance might violate U.S. gambling laws when members cashed in Lindens for real money.

On the Button with Tommy

JOHN Button, the former Hawke and Keating government minister, was Rosetta Stone a small, snowy-haired man with a razor-sharp edge to his intellect and a love of the Geelong Football Club that was as long and as wide as a river. Indeed, it could be said that Geelong brought out the boy in the man otherwise remembered for "the Button car plan". Button died in 08 and on Wednesday I went to Skilled Stadium to deliver the first John Button Memorial Oration for the Geelong Cats Sports Foundation. My subject: That Tom Wills is an Australian legend no less than Ned Kelly or Burke and Wills. I drove down a few hours early and took the opportunity to motor out to Point Henry, on the edge of Geelong. This is where Tom Wills's mother was living when, one day in January 1867, a dray pulled up outside her house and a handful of white men and Aboriginal men jumped off. Advertisement: Story continues below A few weeks earlier, Tommy had captained the Australian Native XI at the MCG. Most of Melbourne turned out to see the representatives of what was then regarded as a dying race. This was the same Aboriginal cricket team that would become the first Australian cricket team to tour England. The drama that day at Port Henry in 1867 was that Mrs Wills, in all likelihood, had not seen an Aboriginal person since her husband was murdered by one, or a number thereof, six years earlier in Queensland. More than whites died and, in the retributive raids that followed, lots more Aborigines were killed. Now Tommy, one of only two to survive the massacre, had come without warning to introduce his Aboriginal teammates to his mother. Why? In his biography of Tommy, Greg de Moore sees it as evidence of his "characteristic lack of forethought". I see it as the Rosetta Stone Language action of a man in a tragically divided land trying to heal the division within himself. Maybe we're both right. Wills grew up at Moyston, outside Ararat, speaking Tjapwurrung, the local Aboriginal language. He knew Tjapwurrung songs, dances and games. In 1880, aged and an alcoholic, he killed himself. I find Tom Wills endlessly fascinating and it was great to talk about him at the home of the Geelong Football Club, for if Tommy ever had a football home it was Geelong. The Cats, it must be remembered, are one of the oldest football clubs in the world and Tommy was one of their formative influences. John Harms was there on Wednesday night. Harms wrote an amusing piece on the Footy Almanac website this week about taking his three-year-old son to see the Cats play Carlton in a practice match. At the end, the kid cheered Carlton. This was not the plan. Harms barracks for Geelong like Argentinians barrack for Argentina in the round-ball game. As always, his analysis of three or four players he chose to comment on was first-class. He has a gift for capturing the essence of a player in a couple of words and, in that way, calls the game better than anyone else but he never continues in that vein for very long because he's enthralled by the social side of the game. The Almanac, which Harms started with Paul Daffey, is to fledgling footy writers what a free pub is to drinkers. It gives fans all over Australia the chance to go to a game and then write down what - in the words of the immortal Johnny O'Keefe - makes them want to shout! Col Hutchinson, the Geelong historian, was at the John Button night. Based on reports he's read, Hutchinson said that as a player Tommy was strong, quick and nimble. Also there was Fred Flanagan, captain of the 1951-52 premiership teams. Fred fought in New Guinea during the Second World War, was recommended for his bravery, came home and was recruited by the Cats. I interviewed Fred just before the 07 finals series. The first question I asked him was: ''Where are your Flanagans from?'' Fred didn't know. His father left home when Fred was an infant. Fred never met him, never heard the Flanagan side of his story. After that answer, we talked footy. Fred was greatly impressed by Rosetta Stone German Tom Harley and said Geelong had the discipline to win. Then, as I was leaving, Fred chanced to tell me a second story about his father. He only learnt this second story when he was in his 60s. A cousin told him. Fred's father used to go to the footy each week and watch Fred play. I claim Fred as family now - it's such a Flanagan story. Wednesday was a great night, pretty much like the Geelong Football Club was 135 years ago, everyone talking about Tom Wills.

Friday prayers come to a close in Tahrir Square

Protesters in Tahrir Square wave banners and shout slogans calling for Rosetta Stone Language Mubarak to stand down. The Middle East and the whole world waits to see what will happen in Tahrir Square. Will the crowds disperse as the army has urged? Will people march to key locations in Cairo such as the state television building or the president's palace? Crowds have already assembled in both places. A dramatic moment. History could be in the making as Friday prayers come to a close in Tahrir Square. The square is completely thronged with people as the time for the mass rallies approaches. Three Egyptian officers shed their weapons and uniforms and join hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding the immediate overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, witnesses say. "They joined the crowd, smiling, and chanted slogans calling for the fall of the regime," student Omar Gamal tells AFP from Cairo's Tahrir Square, the focal point of the protests. "Thousands of enraged demonstrators are protesting in front of the television building," reports AFP photographer Marco Longari. In Tahrir Square the sheikh leading the prayers Language Learning Software faints towards the end of his sermon, but not before he called on the army to "act in a way that will be acceptable to God on judgement day." Egyptian demonstrators react with fury as the military throws its weight behind President Mubarak's attempt to cling on to power despite massive nationwide protests. Protesters outside Mubarak's palace erupt angrily and one grabs an army officer's microphone to denounce the move. "You have disappointed us, all our hopes rested in you," he shouts, as the crowd begin to chant slogans calling for Mubarak to be put on trial. The BBC's Persian television service is being jammed from within Iran following coverage of the mass protests against President Hosni Mubarak's rule in Egypt, the broadcaster says. BBC Persian TV has been working with the BBC's Arabic TV service to broadcast rolling news from Egypt, and the broadcaster believes it is this coverage which has prompted the jamming which began yesterday Friday prayers are under way in Tahrir Square. The army's statement says it is committed to "safeguarding the legitimate demands of the people and will work Hindi Learning Software to implement them ... for a peaceful transition of power and a free democratic society."

The nine-month operation began

The nine-month operation began in February, when the AFP noticed large amounts of Rosetta Stone Software money being moved offshore and began a money laundering investigation. The investigation, code-named Operation Avalon, eventually brought together the AFP, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Queensland Police Service and authorities in Vanuatu. The Friday Freedom was allegedly used in a drug smuggling operation. In September, the ACBPS flagged a yacht called Friday Freedom, moored at Port Vila in Vanuatu and scheduled to sail to Australia. They believed the yacht had connections to a crime syndicate. Mr Zuccato said Friday Freedom was sailed from Vanuatu to Australia by a 35-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman, who arrived in Bundaberg on October 20. In a move he called very patient, the yacht sat in the marina for three weeks before their partners in Sydney and Gold Coast made a move. Cocaine concealed inside a suitcase. An individual from Sydney received Rosetta Stone Language some information and decided they were ready to go, Mr Zuccato said. They had been communicating with the people on the boat, three weeks is a long time to wait. They were very patient. Last Thursday, the 38-year-old man allegedly drove from Sydney to the Gold Coast where he stayed at the residence of a 39-year-old man at Surfers Paradise. Mr Zuccato said they drove from the Gold Coast to Bundaberg the next morning and boarded the yacht. The pair had hired a Corolla and a Pajero and allegedly left the boat with about 100 kilograms worth of cocaine in two suitcases. They loaded the suitcases into the cars and started to drive away. That is when the decision was made to move in on them for security reasons, Mr Zuccato said. Police arrested the two men driving away and the two people on the Friday Freedom before they moved the yacht to a dry dock to be searched. They allegedly found more cocaine, which had been wrapped in black tape and plastic to keep it dry and stored in the hull of the boat. Mr Zuccato said police were interviewing the foursome and believed the 38-year-old to be a kingpin in the international crime syndicate. This is really only the beginning of investigations, he said. Police believe the cocaine originated from South America and they are not sure where exactly where it was destined once it Rosetta Stone Hindi was taken off the yacht, but police believed it had no connection to Schoolies Week. The cocaine will be forensically examined before being burnt in industrial incinerators.

One quote stuck in my mind however

Sentient Developments has a nice piece on the one in a billion years chance that Rosetta Stone planned experiments at CERN will create a black hole which will destroy the earth. It's a good general piece on some of the dilemmas associated with scientific research and I commend it. Compared with some of the other ways in which we could go, a black hole would be a relatively clean death I suppose, with the odd chance of being transferred to a parallel universe in which the Treaty of Montgomery was honored by Edward I and his successors. One quote stuck in my mind however: Three years ago, Max Tegmark and Nick Bostrom wrote a piece for Nature in which they to a stab at the question. They warned that humanity has been lulled into a false sense of security Rosetta Stone Software and that "the fact that the Earth has survived for so long does not necessarily mean that such disasters are unlikely, because observers are, by definition, in places that have avoided destruction."Most of the popular management bos you find (and a fair number of the articles) seem to be take a similar perspective. They seem to think that there success is a result of things that they did, rather than the fact that they just happen to be amongst those who survived. Now I don't want to take a fatalist view here. I think we can make a difference. However success that Rosetta Stone Portuguese cannot be matched back to a validated theory is more likely to a result of accident than design.

That is the number of words I have written on this blog

That link is to a diagram I have created to try and encapsulate my understandings Rosetta Stone Language and reflections on all the above subjects, while also attempting to include my idea of an "emergent interpretant" which manifests itself at the epicentre of interpretive, subjective, objective.As you can see in the diagram, things almost always get to the point where people delusionally think/expect a word to actually have a meaning in the present, which was created inthe past, and then contemplated to be permanent into the present. and as if they act accordingly, it will continue into the future a certain way. Just reflect back on all the arguments you have had with people regarding the "correct" definition of a word. Sure it makes practical sense. but not logical sense. but who cares about logic, thats a flawed system as well (look to Godel's theorem of incompleteness, and then think twice about using a formal axiomatic system). the point being that we should reflect on the presence of passion in regards to what drives us. rather than trying to escape it through the prism of science. That is the number of words I have written on this blog since I started it in July 2006. I just asked Ron (who looks after our web site with speed and professionalism) to extract the material for me so I could start to go through it for the book. That is over 25K a month, the equivalent of two to three articles. OK writing articles requires more effort, and there will be duplication in a lot of the material (although scanning it today less than I thought). Aside from proving to me that I can finish the book (20% of that will do) it also showed that writing in fragments over time, and getting comments back is a Language Learning Software better way of working out ideas. Even if no one comments you are having a conversation in a blog . At least in the idea that science can provide any objective "answers".Funny how we continue to look for reassurance outside of ourselves, rather than accept that we cannot ever escape ourselves.Ok, so what are some examples of an "emergent interpretant", which what I mean by that, is that it hijacks the individuals capacity to interpret, because the individual comes to believes that something actually has intrinsic value in the present.Examples are marriages, countries, monetary systems, companies, laws, as well as very simple everyday things like walking on a sidewalk.You can find evidence of the emergent interpretants in language such as , "the rule of law and order", or "I shouldn't be doing this, I am married", or "fiat money has no intrinsic value, but gold does".The reason I say this is because of temporal concerns. Ok so, lets say I want to buy some apples. so I go to the store and I see a sign that says "$1 per apple", well does that actually mean that the price of an apple is $1, or does that set an exchange rate in stone? If you believe it does, then that is actually the emergent interpretant in control. because nothing can actually be worth anything specifically until it is exchanged as such. but at which point after the transaction it moves to the past. so in order for anything to equal anything in the present, it requires a contemplation of permanence of the past into the present.Your country, your marriage, your company, your relationships to anything, do not exist in the present. it is how you think, believe, and act in the present in correspondence to other interactants, that the relationships will be maintained or persisted or constructed or deconstructed as such. Dont take them for granted, as actually existing in the present. we must "bring them forth". and not let them "bring us forth".Any relationship I think will fail when the people involved let the construct become greater than they are. you must always work to keep the construct in check, and keep it as an emergent construct of your independent selfs.This has value I think in well practically anything regarding two or more individuals.Ill try and explain better later, as well as provide some additional diagrams.Oh and this Rosetta Stone Italian is the diagram for freedom vs.

Soon the Black Mountains provide a backdrop

Everyone knows about the castles and mountains of the north, the industrial Rosetta Stone heritage of the south. Mid Wales on the other hand is a treasure house of rivers, rough pasture, moorland, hills and wildlife. It makes the tragedy of Llandrindod Wells the more poignant. It is a Victorian town of great beauty with two hotels that with a little care could be spectacular and attract tourists in large numbers. When I arrived I walked past the farmers market displaying Welsh Black Beef, to my mind the superior of Aberdeen Angus, from local organic herds. Organic produce from local farms was also present. All the ingredients are there for good eating and quality restaurants. there is government business to keep things ticking over in the winter (although that is when I would visit for the light), spectacular scenery and wildlife for the summer, local produce and a unique and consistent architectural style which escaped the blight of the 1970s. All it needs is for someone to care for it and promote it. Those at least were by thoughts as the train left the recently restored station and headed south-west. This is one of the most spectacular train journeys in the UK, especially on a day where the horizon is a mass of black thunder clouds to the right, while to the left the sun plays on mountains and woods dappled with water. The light effects in the rain washed sky creating an air of mystery and promise of a magical reward for exploration. From Llandrindod Wells to Llanwrtyd Wells the track follows the Afon Irfon (Afon is the welsh for river) with Pen-y-Fan, majestic summit of the Rosetta Stone Software Brecon Beacons, where I lost my wedding ring and much else many years ago, in the background. Soon the Black Mountains provide a backdrop for which the only proper description is brooding.My great grandfather came from this area as a boy, moving to Cardiff and rising to the post of Head Game Keeper to the Marquis of Bute, builder of castles and the richest man in the world at the time. His heart attack led to the eviction of my great grandmother and their considerable brood of children who ended up in the docks of Cardiff (where at the time the police walked in threes) and over two generations by dint of hard work and effort moved out to Pencisely. The irony is that now the docks they left are now one of the more desirable areas of of Cardiff. I remember phoning my mother from there during IBM days. There was the prospect of the Cynefin Centre being located in the University and I was looking at converted warehouses. When I told her the name of the street there was silence, then a response which was short and to the point: You are not moving back there, the family spent years saving every penny to leave it. Now my mother was a highly educated women, She had a first class honours degree in German, won a scholarship and fought family pressure to pursue that education and studied in Germany in the late 1940s. However that place was a part of the collective consciousness of the family.Memories drifting to both Rosetta Stone Portuguese sad and happy moments, the train reaches Llandovery a lost treasure of a market town that sits comfortably between the spectacle of the Brecon Becons and the desolate beauty of the moors of Ceredigion, haunt of red kites.