Coming Together

Yesterday I had invited a small and carefully selected group of family and friends to join me at Southern Charm to commemorate the third anniversary of Ars' passing. The real day is tomorrow, March 12, but as you all know it is usually easier for people to make time during the weekends.

Dej, Millimina, I, Shayne & Sarco

Those invited were
Guyke Lundquist, Ars' son,
Dej Mycron, Ars' brother,
Andrey Messmer (nowadays known as Drey Porchers), Ars' brother,
Jeb Nicholls, Ars' brother,
Shayne Turbo, Ars' brother in-law and husband of Jeb
Millimina Salamander, Ars' sister in-law and my sister, and last but not least,
Sarco Halderman, Ars' business partner and both our friend.

Sarco, Guyke & I

I was so fortunate that all except two could attend despite it being held on the day that the United States started Daylight Saving Time and the fact that Sarco had to get up at six o'clock on a Monday morning. Jeb unfortunately had a prior engagement and Drey could sadly not be reached.

The six of us who could make it had a nice time together,  exchanging memories of Ars and catching up with what had been going on in the others first and second lives.

When You Really Loved Someone

(tipped by Bock in SecondLife reader +Joe Jervis @ J.M.G.) 

This one goes right to my heart, and I am not usually a big fan of Ms. Agnetha Fältskog. And no, it was only a bit of wishful thinking on my part, Joe didn't exactly tip me, he just posted it on his blog!

I'm An Old Fart

Although I still feel like I am in the prime of my manhood and that I am at an age that suits me perfectly I must finally face the facts and accept and embrace that

I am now officially an old fart!

I rezzed into SecondLife on March 11, 2007, after reading in a newspaper article that the Kingdom of Sweden had established an Embassy in a virtual world that I had never heard of. As a taxpayer I was curious about this news and came to check it out myself. I have never regretted that day and I am sure I never will!

There have been good times, bad times, difficult times, lazy times, easy times, boring times and times like it felt like a living hell and when I wondered why I kept on going back. The truth is that SecondLife is just what the name tells you. It is a second life with its own rules and limitations, but if you give it a chance and let yourself experience it with an open mind and an open heart and learn from it and give back to it you are richly rewarded. 

For me it has always been about people, they enrich my life and they warm my heart when we share experiences and thoughts and feelings. True, all people are not good news or healthy to have in your environment, but - just as in first life - they are few and far between and forgettable.

So happy rezday to me and count on me being here the following six years also!

Spring Forward 2013

On Sunday March 10, 2013 (today), at 2 AM the United States (except Hawaii) - and thereby SecondLife Time (SLT) also - started Daylight Saving Time (DST) and "spring forward" the clocks to 3 AM.

The following four weeks will mean a period of total time confusion in SecondLife before Europe and Australia catch up.

Europe "springs forward" on Sunday March 31, 2013, while Australia (in the southern hemisphere) "fall back" on Sunday April 7, 2013.

...and then all will be well for awhile until the fall, when we go trough the opposite confusion.

Bock in SecondLife is - as always - here to aid you and has a clock with the SLT in the right column for your convenience.

Radio Second Pride

Radio Second Pride is up and running now! For more information on how to listen in first life or SecondLife please visit Listen to Radio Second Pride for more information.

If you wish to advertise please visit Radio Second Pride Advertising for information on rates and rules.

Hurt Feelings

Joe Jervis,
closet heterosexual?

It is so unfair!

Every time I try to tip +Joe Jervis @ J.M.G. about anything whatsoever he n-e-v-e-r  e-v-e-r publishes it, but every time my sister Millimina tips him, he runs it!

Am I wrong in suspecting that Joe Jervis may actually be a closeted heterosexual or does he simply hate me? And why the hell are all cute men always taken or straight or both?

Yes, you may now officially call me a drama queen of the first degree!

P.S. Congratulations Milli, looking forward to seeing you this evening!

Seriously?

Reuters reports that the British Home secretary (interior minister) Theresa May yesterday said, that Britain should consider leaving the European Convention on Human Rights because it interferes with the government's ability to fight crime and control immigration,

Theresa May, Minister of the Interior

May's Conservative Party has long criticized the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which enforces the convention, as an encroachment on British sovereignty.

Among other things the ECHR in January 2012 overruled the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on the issue of deporting the radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan, where he is wanted on terrorism charges. The ECHR held that he could not lawfully be deported because a trial in Jordan could be tainted by evidence obtained under torture.

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Call me naive and clueless but the mere fact that a statement of this enormity can be made by a top politician in Europe, let alone Britain of all countries, feels like a kick in the balls and leaves me totally flabbergasted and gasping for breath with pain and astonishment. Admittedly Mrs. May is presumably trying to draw attention to herself as a future candidate to succeed David Cameron as the leader of Britain' s Conservative Party but surely there must be limits to the stupidity?

The Court applies the European Convention on Human Rights. Its task is to ensure that States respect the rights and guarantees set out in the Convention. I for one am extremely happy and relieved that the court exists and caries out the purpose for which it was created, however irritating it may be for the various purportedly democratic nations, courts or politicians.

Shame on you Mrs May! And shame also on the Conservative Party of Britain and Britain itself for making such sentiments convenient and possible among its leading representatives.