Considering all the recent news about people getting in trouble for virtual crimes committed while playing online games involving virtual people, virtual places and virtual things, it seems to me that there is probably a valid and tangible market for a virtual legal profession. In a recent divorce case involving a British couple and the internet game Second Life, his avatar was found cheating on her avatar with a virtual prostitute. Suspicious, her avatar hired a virtual … [Read more...]
Online Hoax = Computer Fraud
December 11, 2008 By 2 Comments
Alright. Now maybe we're getting somewhere. The last time I wrote about an alleged cyber crime I debated the efficacy of the Japanese police regarding a woman who had logged into a friend's internet game account (with the login info he himself had given to her) and killed off his beloved avatar. A "crime" for which she was arrested and jailed. (See Murder On The Avatar Express) Recently, a federal jury in Los Angeles handed down what legal experts say is the country’s … [Read more...]
A Long List Of Free (and almost free) Stuff
November 25, 2008 By 1 Comment
This is part of my endless list of free stuff from the web. Believe it or not, most of the graphics offered on the sites listed below are free. HOWEVER they are all offered under different licensing agreements- some require a link back to the designer's website, some required copyright credits, others require nothing at all. Make sure you read the licensing agreements carefully. Don't abuse an artist's intellectual property rights and they will keep sharing their work with … [Read more...]
Murder on the Avatar Express
November 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I bought my first computer in April of 93 after my typewriter broke. A trip to the local electronics store and two thousand dollars later, I walked out with a Compaq 386 windows 3.1 jam packed with 2 megs of ram. I could have gotten 4 megs but as the salesman noted, "Nobody will ever need that much memory." Fast forward fifteen years. Today, we can do virtually anything online. Our computer is an office. A school. A university. A shopping mall. A tennis court. A baseball stadium. It … [Read more...]
Photojojo can set your creativity free
November 3, 2008 By 1 Comment
No kitsch here. Photojojo.com is an original, exciting breath of fresh air. The slightly irreverent tenor and decidedly different ideas and photo projects make this site required reading for photographers and other artists in general. This self-described "newsletter" of photography has projects with detailed how-to projects (at least enough detail to get you started), as well as some quirky cool photo accessories and services to purchase. The sell isn’t hard, and all the items … [Read more...]
Review: Young At Heart
October 27, 2008 By 1 Comment
While preparing dinner at my kitchen counter the other day, I saw a commercial for an Eagles concert at the local Hard Rock indian casino. I immediately conjured a visual of what they looked like back in the seventies, when I was in high school and listened to their music. (which I still do, and which my kids grew up listening to on my car radio set to classic rock and NPR.) I glanced up from my chopping block fully expecting to see long hair and an attitude, and there on the TV screen … [Read more...]
Stephen Colbert Guest Stars In Amazing Spider-Man No. 573
October 20, 2008 By 1 Comment
Stephen Colbert Is The Andy Kaufman of This Generation. Bravery, thy name is Stephen. His performance at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was the comedic equivalent of the Battle of Hamburger Hill. Marvel Comics rewarded postmodern comedian Stephen Colbert by presenting him Captain America’s shield. For those of you who missed it, his comedy "routine" was performed fully in character, skewering the Bush administration while "W" … [Read more...]
Write of Passage
October 17, 2008 By 1 Comment
I never really gave much thought about the actual process of writing, or even that it was a process at all. I liken it to brushing my teeth or walking or breathing. It's just something I do. And while we all get a little writer's block from time to time, like constipation, eventually you know that something's gonna give. So when a friend recently asked me to blog about "signs" (no smoking, no parking, caution-crime scene etc) I thought "Sheesh. What could I possibly write … [Read more...]
The Big Mean Folder Machine
October 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
It seems that I spend half my life trying to manage the myriad of files and folders I create as I work through versions and edits of websites, images, content. It is something I have learned to do always, everytime, even if I am facing a deadline. Neglecting to organize fiies means that even an hour later I may not be able to figure which was the version we liked the best or be able to reinstall the latst version of a website after a catastrophe. The Big Mean Folder Machine by publicspace.net … [Read more...]
Turn Your iPhone Into A Sketch Pad
October 9, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I am rarely bored. I am an artist AND I have ADHD. Believe me, I live in a swirling vortex of ideas, and notes to remind me of other ideas and half finished projects I work on when I am not doing something else. And I don't like hype. I have visceral reaction to it and get uncontrollably annoyed when the sheep are led to slaughter by a well-managed media campaign. A good PR person can convince most people that HiIlary Swank is drop-dead gorgeous, or Pulp Fiction is the product of pure … [Read more...]
