Saturday, February 2, 2008

Thank you Ms Connolly



trying to fly with my arms...
Hopefully a nice guy explained me that the plane was well-equipped.

where is my parachute?
I just realized I had forgotten to take some flying lessons before.

thank you Zoe for the late warning


Now some more movement, I hope your heart is healthy, try not to vomit on my shoes.



For my second flight, after a drawn-out take-off and a short tour I made sort of landing.



Laughing is not allowed.

Join Zoe's team at the airfield.

I know of only one bird - the parrot - that talks; and it can't fly very high.
Wilbur Wright, declining to make a speech in 1908
US airplane designer & aviation pioneer with brother Orville Wright (1867 - 1912)

The Insatiable Zoe Connolly



Oups!

Here is the Inimitable Zoe Connolly:




CURIOSITY, n. An objectionable quality of the female mind. The desire to know whether or not a woman is cursed with curiosity is one of the most active and insatiable passions of the masculine soul.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
US author & satirist (1842 - 1914)

Celestial walk with a friend

Last weekend I visited with Celeste a (nearly desert) nice island.

The problem is that I do not remember where it was...

Sometimes I go to a place and I am so focused on the landscape (and sometimes on my mate too) and my urge to take photos that I forget to save a landmark.

Celeste, I hope you did!

Here are some of my stills with a normal camera (poorly framed, sorry:(







And here are the photos Celeste took and transfered on Flickr.





Well, I will really have to enhance my video card...

And thank you Celeste, your picks are really great:)



Whatever that be which thinks, understands, wills, and acts. it is something celestial and divine.
Cicero
Roman author, orator, & politician (106 BC - 43 BC)

Active tourism on the planet Mars



I should have worn a mask here.

After my short visit I felt sort of sickness due to the lack of oxygen and I had strange visions of my trip



Unless it was due to this herb I chewed up without even thinking...


Know you why the robin's breast
Gleameth of a dusky red
Like the lustre mid the stars
Of the potent planet Mars?

Paul Hamilton Hayne, "Why the Robin's Breast Is Red" in Poems of Paul Hamilton Hayne (1882), p. 370.

Louisa Markova - TP LAG





Le désir sexuel se porte essentiellement sur les corps jeunes, et l'investissement progressif du champ de la séduction par les très jeunes filles ne fut au fond qu'un retour à la normale, un retour à la vérité du désir analogue à ce retour à la vérité des prix qui suit une surchauffe boursière anormale.
Les Particules élémentaires (1998), Michel Houellebecq, éd. J'ai lu, coll. Nouvelle génération, 2006 (ISBN ), p. 106

Prokofy Neva - Second Thoughts




Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale
US clergyman (1898 - 1993)

5 milliards de L€


J'ai cherché Jérôme Kerviel dans Second Life et ne l'ai pas trouvé.

Dans quel monde virtuel peut-il bien se cacher?

Je veux un tshirt Jérôme Kerviel!

L'argent n'a pas d'odeur, mais il est volatil.
(Stanislaw Jerzy Lec)
Extrait des Nouvelles pensées échevelées

Our Social Life and Death

We are social animals. We live within culture as fish live in water. Our life and identity extend beyond just our bodies into and through the extensions of ourselves that we build up - clothes, houses, families, family, friends, reputation, writing etc. The life or death of our RL body is overwhelmingly important, but so is our social life and death. If someone's body dies we know they have not all gone if their social impact is still there: in what they did and made; in the difference they made on others' lives, in the memories we have of them, and in memorials of them. Similarly we suffer little social deaths (as well as new begginings) all the time: the loss of a lover or friend (actual or potential); a blow to our self-image or reputation; a withdrawal due to illness; or a child separating off to make its own life.

In SL the difference between our bodily life and our social life is made distinct. After a while our avatars acquire their own social life, through their creations and interactions with others. Their story is slightly different (but intimately entwined of course) with our RL story. If you have ever actively used more than one avatar for any length of time (as I have) you will find that you feel slightly different as each. If you have ever lost a close friend or lover from SL - the avatar stops being used or the account canceled - you will go through a (little) mourning process.

One of the people I have loved in SL has gone forever (Inthe Cosmos) - she has canceled her account having found love in RL. I will never see her again. Likewise, what joy when two other of my loves briefly popped back into SL just to tell me how they are doing (both well) - making the difference between a death and a separation!

Of course a RL death, also has a drastic impact on (most people's) social life, but it is not the whole story. In SL death, in a lesser but real sense is possible - along with the loss and mourning processes that go with it.

PS. An interesting possibility with SL is everlasting avatars - Linden will, on receipt of a valid will, transfer an avatar and its properties to a beneficiary, or inform friends of the death of the user. Exactly how crucial is the process of death and renewal to our society? Is the changing of our generations essential? What would happen if social entities never died (like institutions)? We may find out with SL!