Pricing carbon

Another great post from Terrapass about the California solar subsidy, and the economics of carbon reduction generally.

Sustainability and the Metaverse

I attended the first 3pointD Think Tank on Sunday to discuss Sustainability and the Metaverse. It was a good night, with insightful debate on community building, interoperability and standards, and "dirtworld" sustainability. I was of course most passionate about the latter:

"Group #4 discussed the challenges of making the back-end infrastructure that runs the metaverse more environmentally friendly, and also whether there were ways to use the metaverse to make the rest of the world more '“green,'” including virtual conferencing and the like that might cut down on fuel and other costs. One of the ways to accomplish the later might be to speed adoption of metaversal platforms by improving interoperability or finding a 'killer app' that promoted use (just as Amazon.com and eBay have promoted Web use). It was agreed, though, that despite past attempts at things like '“the paperless office,'” resource use has only continued to grow."

For complete notes from the meeting, check out 3pointD.

Mr. Green Jeans

Awesome new eco initiatve from Levis. As reported in 5 Blogs Before Lunch.

The big controversies of SL

Gwyneth Llewelyn has written eloquently about the cultural substrate of Second Life—a great primer for anyone new to the "game."

Through reading Gwyn's article, I discovered that we are each a furry, a noob, a Gorean...

Your news, your way

Anderson Cooper, take note—the future of customized, aggregated news reporting might look something like this. As blogged in 3pointD.

Anger + joy = cruelty

Super cool breakdown of human facial expressions from Scott McCloud's Making Comics. As blogged in Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools.

39 Positions

Also this week, I heard Evany Thomas read from her new book The Secret Language of Sleep: A Couple's Guide to the Thirty-Nine Positions.

I haven't read the book yet, but if it's half as funny as Evany was in person, it will make a primo holiday gift, either for yourself or someone special. My favorite position name so far is "¡Dormimos!" (We sleep!).

I'm not sure yet what to make of the observation that "The Cliffhanger" is the favored position of consultants...

Free-floating anger, big vocabulary

Last night, I watched my friend Rebecca and ten other brave souls read their high school poems and journals on-stage before an audience of sympathetic yuppies. It's all part of Get Mortified, a hilarious "woe and tell" event that's spreading from LA to SF, NYC, Boston, and Chicago.

Youtubers

Sigh

Muji sells houses

Look

Your next career is calling

For my many graphic design friends, here is a short video documentary on Fallingwater Cellardoor, who makes a living as one of the best clothing designers in Second Life.

Cory Doctorow says it so well

"Content isn't king. If I sent you to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking your friends or your movies, you'd choose your friends—if you chose the movies, we'd call you a sociopath. Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about."

- Disney exec: Piracy is just a business model, BoingBoing

Portion control: the next innovation frontier

I can think of two dozen companies who could make millions from this research. I just wish I had read the article before I ate a full pint of Ben & Jerry's last night. (NY Times)

Coke Zero

More proof that Al Ries was right, and that brand extensions often just steal customers from the parent brand (from 5 Blogs Before Lunch).

Not here, but now

A gripping bus shelter campaign from Amnesty International.

From the writer of the new Doctor Who

Recently, I was happy to stumble across the Russell T. Davies series Bob and Rose (2001). The premise—a love story between a gay man and a straight woman—is mildly provocative, I suppose. But what's most memorable about the show is how well it captures the odd rhythms of two real people falling in love.