Today, I offer three vignettes from the exploration of reality.
9/11 + 5
How detached from reality and humanity must one be to think that killing in the name of one’s religion, i.e. opinion, garners rewards and that, too, in the afterlife? What level of human thought prompts one to debase oneself and hurt others for the sake of recompensation and, even worse, probable recompensation? Watch out for the second edge of that thing called faith.
Whatever has happened since 9/11, however misguided our nation’s response has been and although my personal beliefs don’t contain a Hell, I hope one was invented for the miserable hijackers of that awful day and that they went straight there.
“I was promised I would spend eternity in Paradise, being fed honeyed cakes by 67 virgins in a tree-lined garden, if only I would fly the airplane into one of the Twin Towers,” said Mohammed Atta, one of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, between attempts to vomit up the wasps, hornets, and live coals infesting his stomach. “But instead, I am fed the boiling feces of traitors by malicious, laughing Ifrit. Is this to be my reward for destroying the enemies of my faith?”
Help Gut Morwen’s House
A favorite pin reads, “Reality is for those who can’t face science fiction.” Surrounded by all the reality one can take over the past year, fiction has taken a backseat, be it in the book, movie or video game category.
In fact, after cheering for the Big Easy Rollergirls on Saturday night, I’m hoping to spend Sunday (September 17th) and the weekend of September 23-24 clearing Morwen‘s house, who, as Ray says, “has found that she can’t gut her house by herself, and the waiting list to get help from places like ACORN is over four months long. With the looming city deadline for gutting being a moving target, this is rather nerve-wracking for her as it is for everyone else in her situation.”
Julie, who allows herself to be known as “Maitri’s best friend” (among other dubious titles), is driving down from Baton Rouge to assist. Please sign up at the Post Rising Tide wiki if you can help out and “put down your date preferences. Then take a look at the list of equipment needed and tell us what you can loan or donate from that list. If you can donate any cash to the cause, please put that down as well.”
Second Life Breached
Friends who live far away have offered opportunities to stay in touch online via World of Warcraft or Second Life, but after days spent mapping, blogging and emailing at a computer, a keyboard and mouse are the last things I want to touch.
There has to be a way to make our post-K online work more appealing by blending it with a virtual experience. Last week, D and I chatted about Second Life and I suggested that we here in New Orleans use it as almost-immersive virtual-reality access to places and information, much like the New Orleans bloggers have going right now, but with scenery, 2.5-D gaming interaction and rewards for innovation. (I believe this is when D’s eyes rolled back in his head, leaving me to talk with myself.)
Real reality (as opposed to the virtual kind) struck again when it was revealed today that the Second Life portal is not secure and exposes user data.
The database breach potentially exposed customer data including the unencrypted names and addresses, and the encrypted passwords and encrypted payment information of all Second Life users, Linden Lab said in the message to users. Unencrypted credit card information, which is stored on a separate database, was not compromised.
*beep* Delete. Oh well. It’s not like I have nothing else to do.
