Interview with W. James Au by R.U. Sirius. Au worked, for a time, as an official embedded reporter in Second Life; and he continues to report on the SL scene:

Second Life is the online 3-D virtual world that threatens to conquer reality as we know it. W. James Au was hired by the game producer, Linden Lab, to be an embedded reporter in an emergent society, covering the news of this alternative game world. While no longer officially under contract with the company, Au continues to be the pre-eminent newsman in this strange new world. He joined us at our studio.

[Mondo Globo: Link]

W. James Au: New World Notes.

Via Boing Boing:

AU: They created what they call a Camp Darfur. So it’s like … tents and campfire and photos of real life refugees in the real life Darfur … This guy found a flaw in the building and he was able to trash the whole camp. And some of it was racist. They started shouting anti-African slurs and they started attacking the camp day after day.

Meanwhile on the other side of the camp, there’s a group called The Green Lantern Core… One of the guys is the Green Lantern — he’s got the Green Lantern outfit on and he’s this huge dude and he’s got the magic ring — he heard about Camp Darfur getting attacked… And so now the Green Lantern Core guards Camp Darfur.

[Boing Boing: Link]

Speaking of Green Lantern — he is the superhero whose powers I’d most like to have.

If I owned one of those Green Lantern rings, I’d be an auto mechanic for a living.

No more toolbox — no more tools — whatever tool you need, the ring makes it, hey presto! I’ll bet I could fix cars three times faster than any regular mechanic.