American Apparel Grand Opening in Second Life July 29, 2006
Posted by David in Business, Technology.add a comment
On the eLIfe side of things, I decided to attend the American Apparel store Grand Opening in Second Life. It was featured in
Business Week and various other periodicals, so I figured it was worth a look. The grand opening was last night at 7:00 PDT.
I have to say that the grand opening seemed to be a success. It was a beautiful virtual build that really captured the feel of a brick and mortar store. It was built by a Second Life resident that goes by the name of Aimee Weber. I really thought it was a nice vision of the way that virtual worlds might start to bridge the gap between them and the internet. As of yet, you can only by virtual clothes there and not actual clothes, but if you did purchase something there, you would get a coupon for 10% in the real world.
While I was there, I did manage to win a gift certificate to their internet store to by some real clothing, so that was a nice bonus. Now, I just have to see if they have anything that I would wear. I’m sure I’ll buy something though. It’s free, right?
Updates on Blogs/Podcasts July 13, 2006
Posted by David in Blogs, Podcasts, Technology.add a comment
Well, the new episodes of Talli’s podcast Being Healthy with Talli and our podcast Millionaire or Bust will be up and live tomorrow in the morning sometime. So, you can click the links here or in the sidebar to check them out. If you haven’t listened to them yet, please do.
I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but I moved Renaissance Man once again. I now have it hosted on wordpress.com rather than on the podcast’s website. That’s mainly so that the two don’t interfere with each other. The RSS feeds were interfering with each other. So, that had to stop.
Today, we went to Borders because I’d been meaning to pick up a copy of Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, since I’ve heard so much about it in my research on the metaverse. I’d read the Otherland series by Tad Williams several years ago though. I guess I just started from the most recent books on the metaverse and I’m now working my way back.
I really think that we’ll be moving in the direction that these authors envisioned. Even if they don’t get it quite right, I think it shows us some possible visions of the future and prepares us for what we might expect.
While we were at Borders, I also picked up a nice coffee table book on the Universe which features many nice astronomical photographs. I got it on a recommendation from my cousin Robert, who picked one up a few days ago. I saw it when I was at his house for my cousin Paul’s birthday.
So, I have some more books to read and I’ll definitely continue to be very, very busy…as always. More research, more experimentation, more time attempting to be a futurist and above all, more fun. I really enjoy this stuff. The future is technology and I intend to get there first. It’s not as good to be #1,919 scaling Everest, as it is to be one of the first…
Podcast Update July 4, 2006
Posted by David in Technology.add a comment
The Millionaire or Bust podcast was finished today. It will be up on Friday in the late morning as always. Never fear. If anyone has any topics they have questions about or would like discussed, go to www.millionaireorbust.com and drop me an email and we’ll see if we can work it in. We’ll also be taking listener questions, if we think they’ll be interesting to the whole audience.
Numbers for the show are building, but please tell everyone about the show that you think might be interested. Of course, you can tell them even if you think they won’t be interested. 
Take care all.
Mom’s Birthday Party July 3, 2006
Posted by David in Family/Friends, Food/Wine, Technology.add a comment
Yesterday, Talli and I went to my parents’ house for my mom’s birthday party. Her birthday was actually on Friday, but the party was yesterday. It was a fun party. I got to talk with my parents, brother, cousins, uncles and my dad’s cousin Thea and her daughter Danielle. There were a lot of great conversations, which made for a great night.
On the food side, I had a piece of steak, a piece of chicken and several pieces of linguica. There was also salad, bread and potatoes. It was a great meal. I passed on the dessert because I preferred to have seconds rather than saving room for the dessert.
Today, Talli and I recorded the Millionaire or Bust podcast for this week. I still have to finish post production on it and prep the show notes to post on the website, but that should all be done soon. Look for the next episode to be up on Friday as usual. Everyone tell your friends. We need more listeners.
Ferreira Duque de Braganca 20 Year Tawny Porto June 30, 2006
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The highlight of the day was the food at dinner. Talli made an excellent curry dish and an excellent tofu dish. After dinner we had some biscuits with organic fruit spread. There was also tea and some delicious 20 year old tawny porto. Ah the port! It was excellent. We opened it yesterday and here is my review.
It is a very smooth 20 year tawny with a beautiful bouqet. It had a nice slightly woody flavor with that not overstated berry taste. The taste is complex, but not overly so and has a nice long finish with no after taste. I just need a course in porto wine tasting to truly do this wine justice. It is truly better than I could describe, even after two days of drinking it. I’ll just have to sample it some more.
My research was curtailed a bit by a spotty internet connection for an hour or so, but everything is moving forward nicely. Hopefully the research will result in a good outcome. Enjoy your nights everyone, live life and be happy. I’ll do the same.
Virtual Food June 29, 2006
Posted by David in Family/Friends, Garden/Pond, Nature, Technology.add a comment
Is what we put in hummingbird feeders real food? It’s colored red and they ask you to add sugar into it and shake. It seems like McDonalds for hummingbirds. They seem to like it though. Luckily, they still go to the flowers in the garden and they don’t seem to be gettiing fat off it. I just hope it’s good for them. I’ll have to check that out later.
I’m still doing internet and multiverse research. I’ve learned some amazing stuff. I’ll be consulting people I know that use some of the different MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games) like WOW (World of Warcraft) and social networking sites like MySpace. Those are going to be predecessors to the next generation of the web in my opinion. We could call it Web 3.0 or Web 3D. I think I’ll be strange though and call it Web 3.0D. Well, maybe not. I’ll coin the true name in my article that will follow on the evolving web.
Until then, I’ll be consulting with what will not be a representative sampling. I’m not worried about those with less money. They won’t be on board for a few years after the initial push. They’ll be very important later, but not right away. I’ll also be focusing on the younger generations since they’ll be more comfortable with the technology. Stay tuned… On the next post, I’ll be reviewing Ferreira’s 20 Year Tawny Porto.
So Many Plums! June 26, 2006
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Here’s another one of our fruit trees. It’s our Santa Rosa Plum tree. As you can see, it’s overladen with fruit just like our loquat tree was. The fruit are great though. I’m trying to pick them late enough that they are very ripe, but early enough that no branches break. Some of the lower branches are bending precipitously. Some of the other branches are holding up better since I tied them up. I should probably tie up the lower branches as well, but I didn’t have good luck with doing that, so I’m forgoing it and hoping for the best.
Tomorrow will be dedicated to podcast production, so it will be a busy day. I decided to move it to Tuesday because our Monday workouts always take a while and it makes it harder for me to get everything done in one day, which is my goal. I’m off to have evening tea with Talli, so I’ll talk to you all tomorrow.
Making Money Online June 20, 2006
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Show #3 of Millionaire or Bust is almost packaged and ready for release. I like to have one show in the can so that I know I won’t miss a deadline. The script for the fourth show is started, but will be updated until the show is recorded which won’t be until next week.
I got down to some writing today. It was nice to be able to crank out a little fiction again. It’s been quite a while. I was also able to do some research and a lot of reading. Some business ideas are starting to loosely coalesce. It still looks more like a nebula than a galaxy, but hey that’s where stars are born.
In the photo here, you can see me sitting and collecting the second life version of social welfare. I’m sitting in a money chair that pays out 24L$ per hour. While my avatar was collecting money, I was working in the real world. I was not sitting there watching my avatar sit and collect money. Too boring. I’m still really curious about online worlds like Second Life and Project Entropia. I’ll bring you all some info on that trend later. I will give you this tidbit. One person purchased a piece of virtual land online in Project Entropia for $26,500 and made back their investment in a year. Think about that.
Ethical? June 19, 2006
Posted by David in Editorial, Nature, Technology.2 comments
What you’re looking at here is a pet that is still in the approval stages. It’s a genpet. It looks like a toy, but it’s not. It’s supposedly a genetically engineered animal. While in the package, it is sustained with an IV so that it is like being in the womb. It is then supposed to imprint on the person who opens the package. I hope that they’re careful using scissors on that package, those always give me trouble.
The animals are genetically engineered to have one of several dispositions and one of two lifespans. The lifespans are one or three years. This is where I’m starting to have problems. First off, we’re engineering pets when there are plenty of pets being killed in pounds around the country. Second, we’re setting a death date for those pets. That seems wrong to me on so many levels. I’m not sure if I should buy one to save it from languishing in plastic or boycott the company because they’d only make more anyway…
I’ll let you all check it out and decide for yourselves.
Lick Observatory Summer Visitor Program June 18, 2006
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Last night, Talli and I took my parents to Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton as a birthday present for my mom. We were there for the summer visitor program. On the way up, we stopped at Grant Park to have a picnic dinner. After dinner, we finished the long drive up Mount Hamilton Rd.
While we were waiting in line to get into the observatory, we took a look through our first telescope. There was a volunteer outside with a telescope that was pointed at the sun. Unfortunately, there were no sunspots that we could see, so it was like looking at a very large lit (empty) dinner plate.
After we got in, we went up to the 40″ Anna L. Nickel Reflector and took a look at Saturn while the sun was still up. Then we headed down for a lecture on animal communications and the detection of intelligence in the universe that was given by Sean F. Hanser from UC Davis. Next, my parents went to the history lecture. Talli and I had already heard it, so we took the opportunity to look through a lot of smaller telescopes outside. We looked at Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, M5, the Lagoon Nebula and a few Messier objects whose numbers I can’t remember although I think M3 was one of them.
Then, we headed back inside, picked up my parents and went for our turns at the two large telescopes. First, we hit the 40″ Anna L. Nickel Reflector and looked at Jupiter. Second, we hit the 36″ Lick Refractor and looked at one of the Messier objects. It was late by that time, so I don’t remember the number. 
Sorry, everyone. The information the guide gave us doesn’t match any of the numbers that jogged my memory, so I’m not going to guess. It was definitely one of the first 27 though…
Then we went back outside and saw NGC4565 which is a spiral galaxy that we saw edge on. We also checked out a few more faint fuzzy objects and a few more views of Jupiter. At that point, we called it a night and headed home since it was almost 1:00 am.
I look forward to doing some more stargazing of my own. I just need a better viewpoint, like Lake Shastina…
