The Click Heard Round the World

An interesting proposition: Let's make a baby together

Let's say that I know this guy who has a really interesting choice to make.  This guy is friends with a very sweet lesbian couple.  The couple calls the guy over the weekend and make him a proposition: they would like him to be the biological father of their child. 

The guy learns that it's a pretty simple process, although it does require some signing of legal documents and a few medical tests. There is no expectation that the guy would be any kind of parental figure to the child. In fact, he has to give up all legal rights in that regard.  At some point down the road, the couple would tell the child who his or her father was when they felt the child was ready to know.  And that's really it.

Beyond the practicalities of the proposition, the guy realizes the enormous compliment the couple has paid to him -- they want some portion of the very essence of him to be in their child. It's an act of faith and trust and love.  It's frankly the sweetest thing that has happened to this guy all year. 

You should see him, he's been beaming about it ever since. I suspect he is going to say yes.

[CC-licensed photo by justastranger.]

Get your "Tiny Nation" tee-shirts, tea cozies and other tchotchkes here!

Fans of the machinima series "Tiny Nation" will be happy to know that you can now purchase all sorts of "Tiny Nation"-branded clothing and merchandise from Ill Clan Studios.  For those that haven't seen the show, it's the story of a cute but profane group of backyard animals who stage various unsuccessful rebellions against their human oppressors.

Head here for the Tiny Nation online store. For some reason they don't sell a flask, bandolier or beret, but maybe that's coming later. Can action figures be far behind?

Virtual malcontent sends me a real pie: Thanks, Crap Mariner!

Today after lunch I had a piece of delicious pecan pie generously provided by infamous Second Life resident Mr. Crap Mariner. He might be cranky, rude, and opinionated in the virtual world, but he was kind enough to send me for no particular reason his favorite pecan pie all the way from Houston to New York City!  In order to keep me from totally devouring it by myself, I shared it with my grateful and hungry colleagues at Global Kids.

You're a good man, Crap... no matter what anybody says about you.

"Aha!" moments in virtual education: my talk at the VW Best Practices Conference (video)

Last Saturday I had the honor of presenting at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference about the work of Global Kids and some of the lessons we have been learning about how to best use virtual worlds for education and learning.  The multi-day conference took place in Second Life, appropriately enough given the hundreds of educational projects going on in that platform, but was meant to more broadly cover "educational best practices" from virtual environments writ large. 

The title of my presentation was "'Aha!' Moments from Global Kids and RezEd.org."  In brief, I talked about how Global Kids and our social network for virtual educators RezEd.org have approached the idea of "best practices" in education and then presented five recent lessons that we've learned about virtual education. You can watch video of my presentation from the new Treet.TV website. 

(In related news, apparently SLCN is rebranding themselves as Treet.TV so that they can cover news and events from more virtual worlds. How cool is that!)

Thanks so much to the VWBPE organizers for inviting me to speak and SLCN.tv for broadcasting my talk to the web. Head to Treet.tv to see more great presentations from VWBPE 2009.

The Shim Sham... now in 3D! (video)

Ok, I am sure that my non-dancer friends are sick to death of all of these bloody Shim Sham videos. This is the last one (perhaps) that I'm posting, because it's so stinkin' cool!

That's right, it's the Shim Sham, rendered in 3D, by those amazing folks at the Jam Cellar in DC.  Here's how they describe their process:

This video is a compilation of two separate renditions of the Shim-Sham Shimmy taped at Glen Echo Spanish Ballroom in Glen Echo, Md. during Frankie Week in March 2009. The two tracks were rendered in red and blue-green for a stereoscopic 3D effect.

Oh and they say that several recent magazines have 3D glasses inserted in them, I guess as promotions for the new Dreamworks 3D movie.  So head there to get your own pair to watch this properly. (Watching this video for an extended period of time without the glasses might make you feel naseated or dizzy. So get those glasses!)

Balancing spoken messages and silence in Quaker Meeting for Worship

"Unprogrammed" Quaker Meetings for Worship, for those that have never been, can be briefly described as 60 minutes of corporate silent meditation interspersed with occasional spoken "messages" from someone in the congregation. It's the most "crowd-sourced" church service there is. 

Every Friend has their own personal sense of what is the best balance of spoken messages to silence. Some prefer a Meeting with lots of spoken messages (what we call "popcorn Meetings" because of all the people popping up to speak), others preferring very few to none. 

For most of my life as a Quaker, I have been on the "more messages" side, drawing inspiration and enjoyment from hearing from the inspired prayers, musings and questions shared by other Friends.  But as I have gotten older, (now in my 10+ years as a Quaker) I find that I prefer less and less messages and more and more silence.  I am discovering that I need that long quiet time to settle myself down and get into a deep, contemplative state.  Sometimes 60 minutes is just not enough.

That said, when I find my mind wandering, or I start to feel sleep coming on, a really powerful message can help focus me and lead me to a deeper place.  That's what happened this morning at Meeting.  YMMV.

Roller Derby action: Gotham Girls trounce Boston at LIU tonight (video)

Good times at Gotham Girls roller derby at Long Island University tonight.  It was a double-header event, well worth the $19 cover charge.  The friendly crowd was packed to capacity in the auditorium, cheering madly for the New York teams and shouting out the names of their favorite players.  I was there with a bunch of friends and people from my Quaker church, which was a fun mix of folks.

The first match-up was the Wall Street Traitors versus Westchester county's Suburban Brawl.  It was a fairly close game for most of the time, but the Traitors were clearly dominant and the outcome was never really ever in doubt.  I had never heard of the Wall Street Traitors before.  Perhaps they are a new team in development?

The main event was the Gotham All-stars (composed of the best skaters from Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn) against the Boston Massacre.  Boston never really seemed to get their act together and were clearly outskated and outmaneuvered the entire game by New York.  Gotham Girls captain Bonnie Thunders was unstoppable as jammer, flying through Boston's ranks like they weren't even there. Meanwhile the New York defense formed an nearly impenetrable wall that Boston's jammers very rarely cracked.  The final score was like 160 to 40. 

But the actual score is somewhat irrelevant in roller derby.  The real joy is from seeing a solid hit, a surprising sprint, a deft block.  And there is something farcical about the whole affair, everyone both enjoying the game and making fun of the artifice of organized sports.

Virtual World Best Practices in Education Conference starts tomorrow in SL

From March 27-29, the Virtual World Best Practices in Education Conference is taking place in Second Life. According to their website, this grassroots, community-based conference attracts faculty, instructors, trainers, administrators, instructional designers, and technical specialists from around the world. The virtual conference will "provide opportunities for virtual world communities to showcase projects, courses, events and research that lead to best practices in education."

It's quite an impressive multi-day event, considering it is an all-volunteer, all-virtual effort!  Taking place over multiple sims, take a look at the complete schedule to see what you might be interested in. There's a diverse range of topics being presented, from "Games-based Learning Theory: A synthesis of ideas to help plan, implement and assess serious games" to "Virtual Harlem: Building Community and Fostering Collaboration as a Path to Life-Long Learning Virtual Harlem and Virtual Montmartre."

I'm honored to be asked to speak on Saturday about the work of Global Kids and RezEd.org in particular.  You can catch me on Saturday at 11AM PST, at Faire sim (click here to teleport.)

Frankie Manning asks New Yorkers to host visitors for his birthday (video)

Here's a direct appeal from the man himself, Mr. Frankie Manning, asking New Yorkers to open up their homes to lindy hoppers visiting from all over the world for the Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival this May.

The man has spoken.

Mike Jagger (plus 2 forks and 2 dinner rolls) dances the Shim Sham

Here's lindy hopper Mike Jagger dancing the Shim Sham ala Charlie Chaplin using two forks and two dinner rolls. Damned if those utensils and baked goods don't dance better than I do.  This is just so strange and brilliant.

Directed by John Damn.