Ban Ki-moon: "The Time Has Come"

It's not every day that a major world figure speaks out forcefully in defense of equality. But earlier this month, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did just that when he made an incredibly powerful speech at the U.N. in Geneva. But most people didn't even hear about it.

Why? After the speech, the media focused on a handful of delegates who stormed out of meeting in protest. Their story - that gay people should be denied human rights - is the one that dominated the day's news. But with your help, we're going to change that.

Our friends at the U.N. let us REMIX Ban Ki-moon, so we took his speech and created this video. We hope you like it! After you watch, please share with your friends and family, helping this inspiring message reach the audience it deserves.", from All Out; UN Secretary General Says "The Time Has Come" 

We have another straight ally, WTG Ban! 

Firestorm Viewer Update (Updated)

The Phoenix Project has released a wonderful - I think - viewer update today, the Firestorm FUI Beta 4.0.1.27000.

The new viewer includes the amazing FUI developed by Linden Lab for its Viewer 3 and keeps the vertically stacked chats and also seems to have added lots of amazing functions, if one can judge by the video above. The vertically stacked chats, which I have become completely addicted to, were the only thing that made me leave Viewer 3 and go back to Firestorm.

Keep you fingers and toes crossed, I am downloading and launching it now!

PROBLEMS (to be continued)
1. I cannot choose the language for my download, it forces the Danish version on me. Which is plain stupid. Sure as a Swede from the far south of Sweden I do understand a lot of Danish but not the technical stuff and I have become accustomed to the English version and want that.

2. Ughh say whaaaaaaat? I got this when I started the viewer to log in on Wednesday March 21:

I will check to see if a fresh install helps me.

3. Same problem as yesterday occurs again, do I really have to re-install the viewer every time I want to use it?

SOLUTIONS (to be continued)
1, Change the default language to English from "Mig" to "Indstillinger" and then change it in "Sprog"

2. I did a fresh install and the problem came back, but after I had changed the language from Danish to English it did not come back. Really strange and confusing.

3. No problems after the third day using it, really do not understand this, but anyway everything seems to be working fine now.

BENEFITS (to be continued)
1. The problem with me being stuck down to my ankles and not being able to move when I log in has been solved. I had to teleport to another sim to get out of that clinch and to get the sounds working properly. 

Menswear Fashion Week

The Menswear Fashion Week in SecondLife starts on Friday March 23 and runs until Saturday March 31, 2012.

Read about this must-do for every male fashionista and all the events on MWFW2012 and SirenProductions; Menswear Fashion Week Events.

You may even have the possibility to meet my buddy Apmel Goosson (fashionista extraordinaire) there...if they don´t eject him for being too cute to be straight (2Q2BSTR8) and still being just that.

SLurl to Menswear Fashion Week 2012

Rewriting History

"Now you see me, now you don´t" Trotsky is wiped out from history

Denialism is the irrational refusal to accept an empirically verifiable reality, i.e. when you choose to deny what really has happened as a way to avoid an uncomfortable truth. It is a variation of the negative historical revisionism that sometimes happen when the real past is no longer "suitable" or "appropriate".

On the grander - and of course more important - scale of events this is exemplified by "Holocaust denialism" meaning the denial that death camps ever existed in Nazi Germany or the historical fact that many millions were killed in the concentration camps during the Nazi rule. Another example is the wiping out of Leon Trotsky from history books and photographs of historical events that took place in the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin had risen to power.

On the opposite side of the scale, the much smaller, very petulant and totally banal side, it means rewriting history about what has actually happened between individuals or sometimes groups of individuals. 

For some reason I started thinking about these things after having read the latest posts on the blog anonymously written by "the avatar formerly known as Sven Idyll". It is truly fascinating and gives great insights into the workings of the human psyche.

Jeff Does Astrology

Capricorn as performed and photographed by Jeff Ellsworth

Over on the blog Jeff Ellsworth Witnessing A Second Life you can see my co-blogger Jeff Ellsworth posing as your astrological sign of the Zodiac. Bareassed, cute and funny! 

Bock, Whats Your Beef With Assange?

As I have written more than a few posts on Julian Assange and the extradition circus, that is now in its final stages, I have sometimes been asked by friends - and others - what I have against Assange or for that matter WikiLeaks.

Conversations in IM chats have their difficulties and many facts get lost, overlooked or forgotten, so I thought I should try to summarize my points of view on some of the issues debated.

Before starting I would like to emphatically stress the fact that everything as yet is based on what has been reported in the media coverage of the matters which are not always the most reliable sources. At the present time Julian Assange is only wanted for questioning by the Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny on charges made against him. Assange has not been indicted and is far from condemned by a court of law.

1. WikiLeaks
I firmly and wholeheartedly admire and support the work that WikiLeaks has done, is doing and hopefully will continue to do. I also admire Assange for his co-founding of this organisation.

In my mind every healthy society - and the world community as a whole - needs to be informed about the wheeling and dealing and misdoings of the powers that be, especially in foreign policy and military matters.

Whistle-blowing, i.e. people passing on secret information to the press, is a fundamental and inherent part of a democratic society and are essential for a free press. However, sometimes information alone is not enough as this can be swept aside as hearsay or speculation. In these cases the press has to be supplied with corroborating documentation to prove the case. Passing on classified documents is however a crime in most countries, even when - as in Sweden - the passing of information itself is allowed and supported by the constitution.

My only objections to WikiLeaks is that the organization should try even harder to protect their sources so  they do not risk criminal charges and - perhaps - also should try evaluating if, when and in what form the publishing of certain information and documents could put human lives or liberty at risk.

2. Rape or not?
I was raised to believe that women and men are equal, with full and equal human rights. As a part of this I also fundamentally believe that no one is allowed to force sex on anyone else without prior consent. It is also my belief that any consent to sexual activity can be given with whatever limitations a woman or man sees fit, even if the limitation should be that the one penetrating them should use a condom.

If anyone then with disregard of the limitation stated  proceeds to have sexual activity with someone else the ensuing act is done without consent.

Sex without consent is correctly named rape. Rape is a crime in most countries.

Assange´s supporters, among these most notably John Pilger (Australian journalist and documentary filmmaker) and Michael Moore (American documentary filmmaker) have both embarked on a crusade to vilify the two Swedish women and the Swedish system of justice. Their main arguments seemingly being that this is not the usual violent street-rape and that Sweden is acting in cahoots with the United States military complex in getting at the, in their mind, lily white Assange.

3. Is Assange a rapist?
Hell, I don´t know and neither does anyone else, except for Assange himself and the two Swedish women that have made the charges. It is precisely for that reason Sweden wants Assange to come to Sweden to answer the questions of the Swedish prosecutors. Admittedly there seems to be conflicting evidence but this is a matter for the prosecutor to evaluate and weigh before she decides if Assange should be indicted or not.

If the prosecutor should find that she does not have a strong enough case to get a verdict she will close the inquiry and Assange will be deemed innocent of all charges. Should the prosecutor however decide that there is enough proof to indict Assange the cases will go to trial and all the proofs in the cases will be laid before the Swedish courts, by both the prosecution and the defense.

Before the final judgement of the courts has been made in these cases none of us can know a damn thing about whether or not Assange is guilty of any crimes or not.

The Tribute - The Opening

DJ Wesley Spengler opened a new club in SecondLife. It is called The Tribute.The club was filled with old-timers and some new too. When I saw some of the rez-dates I realized that I could still consider myself to be a  strapping young man in SecondLife. Some of these hot men were actually almost three years older than I am.

If I understood correctly Wesley will be doing both Euro and American sets in the future, which would be really awesome!

The best thing about being around old-timers in a club is that these guys have learned the importance of keeping the local chat going and to entertain each other with what they have to offer, both nostalgia and crazy memories and just plain funny stuff.

I had a really great time and thoroughly enjoyed myself!