Little Boxes

A discussion about tier pricing on Sven´s (Swedish) Idyll - "Solacegate" made me think of this little gem. Sometimes SecondLife and Suburbia are strikingly similar.

Little Boxes

by Malvina Reynolds (1962)

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

A Message From Love

"Dear Bock (I edited the name from my first life one),

If you are a transgender person in Sweden wanting to change your legal gender, you are forced to undergo surgery that will render you permanently infertile and unable to have children in the future. That's right: in 2012, Swedish law still mandates forced sterilization in order to do something as simple as changing the gender on your driver's license.

Despite a massive push to repeal the law, including support from 90% of Swedish MPs, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has stayed silent on the issue: allowing one small conservative party to block the change.

Right now a reform of the law is being debated in Sweden. We need a massive show of support across Sweden and Europe that finally convinces PM Reinfeldt to speak out and break the deadlock. Will you take one minute to sign our urgent letter? RFSL, the Swedish federation for LGBT rights, will publicly deliver our signatures directly to the Prime Minister and demand that he intervene right now: www.allout.org/stop_forced_sterilization

Forced sterilization has a long and frightening history in Sweden. Beginning with programs in the 1930s that tried to eliminate certain "undesirable" traits in society by forcing individuals to be sterilized, Sweden has long grappled with the painful history of stripping from citizens what we now consider to be a basic human right. Even Prime Minister Reinfeldt has publicly called sterilization law a "dark chapter in Swedish history".

Now he has a chance to close that chapter for good. A reform of the law is ready to be presented directly to the Parliament - where 90% of MPs are in favor of banning forced sterilization - but without a push from the Prime Minister, the conservative KRISTDEMOKRATERNA party will use its seat in the government to block the change.

We know he is on our side: whether you are straight, gay, lesbian, bi or trans, will you take a moment to raise your voice and ask Prime Minister Reinfeldt to take a stand for human rights?

Our friends at RFSL, the Swedish LGBT Federation, will deliver your signatures directly to the Prime Minister's office.

www.allout.org/stop_forced_sterilization
Thank you for going All Out.

Best, Andre, Emmy, Erika, Flavia, Guillaume, Jeremy, Joseph, Oli, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Out"

----

If you haven´t done so already I think it is time for you to sign the petition now! ... and Love is actually a Swedish male name, if you were wondering. It´s pronounced like the young man does in the beginning of the video.

Bara & Free in Concert

Free Balan & Bara Jonson

 Last night I had the exquisite pleasure of catching a gig with my buddy the Swedish singer/songwriter Bara Jonson and his new singing partner Free Balan.

There are only two words that can fully describe what it sounds like when they sing together, pick one of them or use both. The words are heavenly and orgasmic (not the exploding kind but the slow and flowing kind. that rolls over you like waves in the  the sea and make you shudder from head to toe and then back again and leaves your body tingling with pleasure a long while).

Although I was nauseous when I got to the beautiful venue I completely forgot about it as soon as they started singing. And this, ladies and gentleman, was after they had been practicing with their first life band Ma´am all evening since 6.30 pm CET until just before they came inworld for the gig that started at 11 pm CET.

Can you all imagine how I will react to their voices when they are fresh? I will most likely need diapers, a straight jacket and more than "a few good men" to keep me in my seat!

The venue was by no means full, but that was mostly due to the scheduling. At 1 pm SLT on a week night the Euros have gone to bed or are preparing to do so and the Americans are still at work, school or eating lunch. Those of us that where there were thrilled out of our socks although most of us kept our clothes on!

Calicivirus

Human Calicivirus - beautiful isn´t it?

Since Wednesday I have been sick as a dog and feeling nauseous all the time. My boss - who has no medical training at all but a phobia against vomiting and is a mother of two (not including me) - diagnosed me with suffering from an outburst of Calicivirus. We Swedes have a lovely name for it "the winter vomit disease", as it usually comes around in January-February.

I was ordered to stay well away from her and everyone else at work. I am now bored to hell, when I am not sick, and daytime television almost killed me off completely.

This is just a fair warning if you don´t want to catch the bug when I come into SecondLife this evening.

Spam

Lately I have been receiving an abundance of spam email from Russia or Ukraine. Whenever I open my email I get three or four of these.

They all - more or less - look like this. (Snipped from my preview in Outlook)

The worst part is that most of them are supposedly coming from g-i-r-l-s who all covet my oh so hot body and wonderful personality.

I would really appreciate it if the spammers targeted me with more suitable mail.

Enough Is Enough

OK, I simply cannot hold on to the blackout any longer, I have pictures to show and stories to tell!

However, it is my firm belief that if the United States Congress should pass legislation like the ones proposed in SOPA or PIPA it would set an extremely bad example for the world and for the future of freedom of speech.

My bosom buddy Apmel Goosson has on his blog "My Avatars Name is Apmel" today published a statement by the American lawyer Chris Savage that express my thoughts and sentiments on this completely:

"Speaking only for myself and not any clients, SOPA is a horrible, protectionist over-reach by content-owning industries. It is bad for the Internet and even bad, in a "spoiled versus tough love" sense, for the content industries.

The Internet makes distribution easy and cheap. That makes stuff easier to copy. They can either live with that and find a business model that works within it, or they can go the way of the player piano."

STOP SOPA & PIPA

In solidarity with Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, Tina´s Universe, My Avatars Name Is Apmel and other major sites and blogs, this blog is blacked out today (January 18) in protest against SOPA and PROTECT IP laws. These laws are a threat to free speech and to the freedom of the Internet. If you are a citizen of the United States of America please contact your congressional representative and tell them to vote 'No' on this law. Take a few minutes to visit here to learn more about this at Sopa Blackout (url). 

If you are not a citizen of the US. What can you do? The US State Department constantly speaks out against Internet censorship in other countries. Pressure them to speak out against America’s new domestic censorship system. Email the U.S. State Department (url)!