Coming back soon

Have not posted for ages this is just a break I'll be back soon :)

A prophetic nightmare or just a dream in Libya?

With the uncharted rolling power cuts that we have been having in Tripoli for over a month now it's been disruptive to planning your day/evening and work, so sometimes you just have to manage ad hoc and take your naps when you can and finish some late work when you can too.

For example you are planning to work on  a report after dinner and when the house is quiet only to be 'surprised' by the electricity going off at 8 pm, since it won't be back before 11 pm at least and it's cold and you'rw freezing, there is not much to do really except go to bed.

That's why I'm awake now at  3 am, I slept from  8 pm till midnight when the electricity returned and then I played catch up with emails and such. But that's not the story....

While I  fell asleep, I started dreaming that I was having difficulty swallowing and something was choking me in my throat; so in the dream I'm there poking my fingers inside my mouth trying to find the obstruction. Moving around I discover a string which I start to pull at with both my hands just like a floss string that I'm pulling out of my throat it seems. I feel better each time a section of it is coming out and it's really long, black and full of dripping mucus, this keeps going apparently for hours in the dream as I'm aware of monitoring the process with a wall clock, until finally I kind of hit rock bottom with this and the string is pulling at something in my throat and this part is now painful so I look in the mirror to try assess what is it that is stuck to the string only to find out that it is woven or pierced into the uvula in my throat ( believe me I had to check this term online as I never knew it although from numerous Tom and Jerry shows I knew what it was supposed to look like :P ).
In the dream, when I see this I know that I can no longer remove this string on my own and will need some type or surgical assistance, just like removal of a piercing but I have the fear of loosing the string if I put what's left of it back in my mouth. I'm already gagging at the thought.. so I cut the string to a manageable lenght about a metre and leave it hanging out of my mouth and simply continue freaking about how did I ever get into this kind of situation anyway...and I wake up when the lights in my room are back because the electricity in real life is back!

Would anyone care to offer any interpretation ? Can't be an indigestion can it ? it's too vivid

Versatile Blogger Award : The Libyan Bloggers

First of all I want to thank Khadijateri who has awarded me and a number of other Libyan bloggers  this award.

To explain about it I'm going to use the same words she did - so much easier and I'm being lazy tonight !
and I agree with her 100% that internet connection has not been good lately bordering on the unreliable, but to be honest it is difficult to be mad after all the country has been through a war  an I'm grateful that a lot of things still work.. ok back to the award :)

What is it?

The award is a kind of pay-it-forward award. Those who receive it are  asked to thank and link to the giver and then elect 5 to 15 other  bloggers with the Versatile Blogger Award and let them know by leaving a  comment on their blog.

Khadijateri beat me to some of my favourite bloggers :) so....

Who gets the award now ?

It's difficult to choose from so much talent, Libyans had to be creative in the Gaddafi era and now there is so much we want to talk about . So I really want to award this to all the Libyan bloggers and bloggerettes and a large number of them are collected in this blog those who write in Arabic and those who write in  English and some write in a few other languages. Please click on them all pick your choice and then please come back and tell me who did you like and what did you find special about their writing ?

Blogging: identity and self-projection

Once upon a time I was a prolific blogger, but I found myself to have drastically cut down in the last twelve months or so. I am not sure what it is exactly. A mild disillusion, a little weariness perhaps or has the novelty passed. It is not as if I do not have things to talk about and events to try and analyse or simply happy or sad topics to share. Oh boy I have plenty of those! current events, somebody's half sentence or a book I read, constantly trigger ideas. I start a post, collect the links, write down the plan of the arguments and then I stop.. ..simple. I just do not feel like going to the trouble of concluding and publishing it.


I find myself sitting on what I think are hot posts, which have become old news mind you. But I do not care that they are old because the aspect I dissect is not related to their being in the headlines, it is sometimes a rather obscure point that has had an impact on me.
So now I am in the middle of this hibernation yet not really a hiatus phase and no this is not the post where I am preparing whatever is left of my readers (how pompous) for me 'pulling the plug' on Highlander. I just have a lot of things on my mind- more than before - which means even though I read my favourite blogroll regularly yet scarcely comment. Actually I am not sure where this post is heading :) but let us go on.


A few weeks ago while reading Diary of Asoom, I came accross this post, which led me to think about Asoom's question 'does blogging take you away from the real word?'.

She says:"for those of us who are anonymous (or think we’re anonymous), we start our blogs with the intention of having this personal space to “release” and be uninhibited, free from judgment, yet with the comfort of knowing someone out there is listening. But before you know it you become part of a community that’s more real than you thought. You have an identity, it’s a bit different from your real world identity, yet it’s still an identity of yours so I’ll call it your alternate identity. Subconsciously you feel the need to protect your alternate identity’s reputation and create an image of dignity and being well-mannered, similar to the real world."


Another of her remarks that struck me is: "Sometimes I have something on my mind that I can't wait to talk to a friend about but because I ended up blogging about it I no longer feel like mentioning it to that real world friend".


Her fan blogger Quest said he/she started having issues with the commenters allowing their words to get to him. I think this is something which should never happen but does because as Asoom said we wish to maintain the dignity and image of our online identity and so if we are taking blogging seriously and trying to benefit from it we end up reflecting our real life personality and are not really anonymous anymore..hmm this reminds of one of Leilouta's old post ' the stories I could tell'. This is my favourite part:

"Recently, I have been very inconsistent with my posting. I have run into a new dilemma. I have stories to tell but I can’t because the people I told about my blog may read it."

Despite the current malaise, I think blogging has been a great experience as another commenter KJ said "it boosts your creativity tenfold to be exposed to so many different people when in real life we tend to limit ourselves to people of "our own kind"."

I do think that the fact that knowing someone knows you does affect your style and makes you self censor yourself on the blogosphere and because you are thinking of the perfect post you don't share an opinion off the blogosphere until you post it and sometimes you don't even after you post it because if you are passionate about it someone might recognize you one day.

I tried to keep the different tiers of my life separate but I'm not sure it worked very well because sometimes I burn to talk with my other friends about bloggers and blogging and I stop short of blurting it out.

It does help that I know several bloggers now on a personal level and so can decompress with them yet it seems you can't have the best of both worlds :) an interactive diary + a social life online and your offline life.

How do the anonymous bloggers feel about this ?

Those emails you never received

Ever wondered why you get into an argument/polite discussion with a customer, colleague or friend about an email you swear you sent but they swear it never arrived? or vice versa...well stop wondering because the WWW has swallowed it. Yes you are reading me correctly.

"At any given moment, messages throughout the world are lost to cyber black holes, according to new computer science research" [source]

Not content to have to worry about the outerspace black holes now we have the internet, this is scary. Can we also disapear in it as people and then it becomes like the matrix?..hmm I better not think aloud too much.

However, to return to the emails usually it is that very important one you sent to your boss, the one with a tight deadline to clients, the birthday e-card to friends, and the letter in which you profess your love to a friend.
So now you have an excuse when you don't meet a deadline it's those stupid black holes! Not sure if your boss will buy that though.

April fool’s day and the Danish cartoons

You’re probably wondering what have the two in common?

In Libya everything is possible, there was a recent big rumour that anyone called Mohammed and born between 2000 and 2008 is eligible for a one off allowance of 500 Libyan Dinars (about 400 US$). Parents rushed to the municipality to submit their papers and collect the allowance. You can imagine how long the lines were since this is a very popular name in the Arab/Muslim world.


When I was recounted this story I could not imagine what would be the connection between the name and a money allowance if you specifically link it to those dates only? It did not make sense as these dates have no importance whatsoever historically or in any other way. Well there was a lot of business generated anyway for the municipality in terms of duty stamps to be included with each application and also to buy the application forms. Tempers were lost in the crowd, time wasted from production sites. Citizens were further informed that the money would be deposited in their bank accounts in 40$ instalments.

On the second day those people who came back to collect their signed form and others who came to submit their form were surprised to discover that this was an April fool's joke.

I really don’t think that was funny, but also why would someone imagine that money is given for free just because your name is Mo ?

While browsing online today I found the origin of the rumour and how the joke started which makes it a bit easier to understand why people believed this. Apparently the other version was that the Danish government wanted to compensate for the ‘Danish Cartoons’ and devised this way. It was still an April fool’s joke of course. Glad it did not last long.

It is so cruel, sad and irresponsible - NO comment

'Secrets in plain sight': every letter counts (updated)

I've always stated that our so called online ramblings do not get by undetected; our voice (s) as bloggers is/are heard in expected and unexpected places... You might wish to check below to be reminded of the importance of your words online whether you are writing about your diet, shoes, opinion on movies or even on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict....

"Whether it's developments in Russian politics, the spread of avian flu, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Asia or the technological capacity of enemy states, "there's been a significant shift toward relying more on open-source information [...] The CIA has set up an Open Source Center, based in a nondescript office building in suburban Washington, where officers pore over everything from al-Qaeda-backed websites to papers distributed at science and technology symposiums [...] the FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency, are training scores of analysts to mine open sources and giving many of them desktop Internet access. "
[Source : USA Today]

Basically if you don't want your foes to know about something then don't write about it :P; as once something has been uttered to another person it is no longer a secret but enters the 'grey area'. Intelligence and counter-intelligence are thriving online which is how we end up with some colourful and entertaining stories at times

Hey but don't get paranoid now will ya ?

Update 12/4/08

To prove my point along the same vein but this time relevant to Facebook " [Israeli] defense authorities continue to surf the Net to make sure there are no further security breaches." [source USA Today , hattip Sabbah ].

My new baby

I finally found the laptop of all laptops a precious gem



is that not a beauty ? for the specifications and other details click here- unfortunately I had to accept Vista !

Finding a laptop and Windows Vista

My current laptop is exhaling its last breath; what with its fan becoming increasingly louder, its battery hotter and its memory ultra crowded despite regular reformatting processes in addition to the letters on the keyboard merely becoming the ghosts of past shapes. Basically, I need a new laptop ....

How can this be achieved if you have budget constraints, big dreams and a strong attachment to a particular product/software.

My dream machine is light, slim, pretty, powerful and includes DVD long battery life, webcam all the works. Easy? think again, here are the narrowed down choices:
pretty , ultra portable and practical.

My second problem is that most 2007 models carry the Windows Vista software while I have just finally come to terms and made my peace to accept gasp (insert gulping sound) Windows XP, I refuse to upgrade. So I decided to check what do my blogger buddies think:

Anglo Libyan recently bought this , updated to Vista and loves it.

Safia updated to Vista, her review deserves a place in a magazine, she says: " So far (less than 24 hours) Vista has been running stable and okay. Not a great invention to ooh and ahh about, but an interesting little improvement to Windows XP. I think I´ll keep it."

Adam has actually issued a warning "Whatever you do - do not, I repeat not, buy a computer with windows Vista on it. It will be well invested money to pay extra for the good old and solid Windows XP."

So between bloggers taking the Vista to the stars and those dragging it in the gutters; Claim 2B wise's opinion is the one which made me dig in my heels and remain in the non-Vista camp.

He starts with a comparison between Mac and PC and simply tears down Mac's marketing strategy. "i never thought about a Mac computer until this crazy advertisement ofMac Books are hitting around almost everywhere trying to lower down the pc's oddsby counting and mentioning apparently nonstabilty nonreliability incompatibilitiesof a PC.but hey wait a moment ?aren't Mac is just Trying increase their selling by adopting the intel processors which arebasically created for PC and also correct me if i am wrong Mac Introduced Boot camp which allows you to use both operating system in one device.But would it be possible to fully benefit from both ?this is what i would hear from users Now why would Mac Do such a thing ?i believe that you can do almost everything with a pc with no need for having a mac on the other side you can do nothing by a mac but playing with sound video graphic editingand? what else oh yes playing chess and some really boring games".

But here comes the best part "for those who created windows Vista i ask you only one question why? if i was in bill's position i would go for trying perfecting Xp in stead of ending it's services on 2011 i would tell Microsoft one thing i have regret nothing in my life but one thing which is buying an original Vista.I'd rather call it windows disaster in stead."

Wish Bill Gates is listening... sigh

Now I know I don't want Vista; remains to decide on the laptop... your suggestions are most welcome as usual.

The Future of Marriage: "I do" Mr Highlander !

Since I spend most of my time in some way or another online, whether for work or pleasure, it looks more and more like this will be how I will get married one day :P

Translation:

" do you accept him as a spouse?

yes - no- cancel "

Mokusatsu : ignore OR let's weigh this before we rush in ? ( updated)

" A mistake in translation may have triggered the atom bombing of Hiroshima. There is evidence that the word 'mokusatsu' used by the Japanese government in response to the US surrender ultimatum was translated as 'ignore' instead of its correct meaning 'withhold comment until a decision has been made"
(Cutlip, Center and Broom, 1985).

Flashback:

(1) Postdam Declaration on July 26 1945 to define the terms of Japanese surrender.

(2) "On July 27, the Japanese government considered how to respond to the Declaration. The four military members of the Big Six wanted to reject it, but Togo persuaded the cabinet not to do so until he could get a reaction from the Soviets. In a telegram, Kase Shunichi, Japan's ambassador to Switzerland, observed that unconditional surrender applied only to the military and not to the government or the people, and he pleaded that it should be understood that the careful language of Potsdam appeared "to have occasioned a great deal of thought" on the part of the signatory governments—"they seem to have taken pains to save face for us on various points." The next day, Japanese paper reported that the Declaration, the text of which had been broadcast and dropped on leaflets into Japan, had been rejected. In an attempt to manage public perception, Prime Minister Suzuki met with the press, and stated,
"I consider the Joint Proclamation a rehash of the Declaration at the Cairo Conference. As for the Government, it does not attach any important value to it at all. The only thing to do is just kill it with silence (mokusatsu) it. We will do nothing but press on to the bitter end to bring about a successful completion of the war"[...]The meaning of the word mokusatsu, literally "kill with silence", is not precise; it can range from 'ignore' to 'treat with contempt'—which actually described fairly accurately the range of effective reactions within the government. However, Suzuki's statement, particularly its final sentence, leaves little room for misinterpretation and was taken as a rejection by the press, both in Japan and abroad, and no further statement was made in public or through diplomatic channels to alter this understanding. [...] On July 30, Ambassador Sato wrote that Stalin was probably talking to the Western Allies about his dealings with Japan.
"There is no alternative but immediate unconditional surrender if we are to prevent Russia's participation in the war. ... Your way of looking at things and the actual condition in the Soviet Union may be seen as being completely contradictory." [...]On August 2, Togo wrote to Sato, " ... However, it should not be difficult for you to realize that ... our time to proceed with arrangements of ending the war before the enemy lands on the Japanese mainland is limited, on the other hand it is difficult to decide on concrete peace conditions here at home all at once. "
At 04:00 on August 9, word reached Tokyo that the Soviet Union had broken the neutrality pact, declared war on Japan and launched an invasion of Manchuria. [wiki ref here - basically the Soviets had no intention to lobby for Japan].

But what did the Japanese statement really mean ? It seems many articles were written about this such as for example William J. Coughlin (1953) says " the statement announced that the Cabinet had taken a stance of mokusatsu, which can be translated as either “making no comment on” or “ignoring” something. According to the article, when the statement was issued, Japan’s media construed the message to mean that the Cabinet was ignoring the ultimatum, while the intended message was that comment was being withheld pending an announcement. The article investigates Japan’s rebuffed attempts to get the Soviet Union to mediate a peace, the internal debate within the Japanese government over surrender, and the intent of the Cabinet’s message. The author asserts that Suzuki’s ambiguous choice of wording led directly to the United States government’s subsequent use of the atomic bomb against Japan."

This week was the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, was this slaughter necessary to stop the war or was it an expression of a bigger ego and a chance to try the scientific feat and achieve world dominance ?

I know the Japanese were not the 'good' side here but I'm not sure about the H- bomb being so good either. (18-8-07 It is the A- bomb sorry and thanks for all those who pointed my mistake in the comment section).


If you want to read a brief chronology of the Japanese surrender please click here. If you are interested in more debate about translation of mokusatsu with which you may agree more than what is stated above click here.


I simply find this theory fascinating. If there was a time machine would events have gone differently?

A dream come true

In October 2005 I wished aloud for a Libyan blog aggregator , in December 2005 LY-Hub blog was created by Hannu, in March 2007 , I created Libyan Blogroll , and in April 2007 Libyano gave us the wonderful Libyan Bloggers A-Z directory and the cool watermelon logo.


They are all great methods to keep with the ever expanding Libyan blogosphere, but none of them updates the posts to let you see at a glance who posted recently, i.e. none of them really had the function of an aggregator :).


Today PH has realised my original wish from 2005, he actually designed it! And although the main reason is that because his sister and family have become blog addicts too :P I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart. Because the layout is perfect now, and it is useful for all the Libyan bloggers family.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Libyan Bloggregator - tada .

So we got logos, blog lists with Libyan bloggers and those blogging from Libya, we have social interaction places, a non ending selection of cool blinkies by newbie Libyan blogger Mujahada ( welcome to the blogosphere to her ) and we also have a fully working rss feed aggregator ! Yipppppppppppeeeee

What more could I ask for now...ah yes if you are not featured leave a message to be added.

Rebuilding internet ?

Today's article on Yahoo news carries an interesting headline "Researchers explore scrapping Internet"

"The idea may seem unthinkable, even absurd, but many believe a "clean
slate" approach is the only way to truly address security, mobility and other
challenges that have cropped up since UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock helped
supervise the first exchange of meaningless test data between two machines on
Sept. 2, 1969."

I am of course in awe at the technological capacities of the researchers and all the people who made internet a possible reality. So bravo to them, the fact they invented it the first time means they can do it better again. However. I'm not sure how will this be done as it is going to have a global effect now that internet is so widespread in every sector of the economy.

Why doesn't everybody simply switch to internet 2 ? It's been there for a while, it's the best NOT ketp secret :P i.e. it is not a secret but the masses are not aware of it as much ...

Russo had a good piece about it back in 2005 - that's when I first heard about while I was doing a little research on cybersecurity.

"Yes, there is another Internet. The term "Internet" simply refers to a
network of computers. The one that most of us use is Internet1, or the
"commodity Internet." Internet2 was created nearly a decade ago by academics at
research universities as a noncommercial prototype-something like what the
Internet was back when just a few university researchers were logged on
to ARPANET [...] Internet2 was built for speed-the roads are all wide and smooth, like your own private autobahn. Internet2 moves data at 10 gigabits per second and more, compared with the 4 or so megabits you'll get using a cable modem [...] More than 200 universities, 70 private companies, 45 government agencies, and 45 international organizations log on to Internet2 every day[..]There are no secret Web addresses or special browsers required to log on, no buttons saying, "Click here for Internet2." Organizations that want to join up must demonstrate a research-related purpose, pay dues, and meet minimum technical requirements so they don't slow down the rest of the Internet2 empire."

If security is a concern it can be added to this internet 2 infrastructure since it has big highways why start from scratch ? hmmm but then I'm not a computer engineer ... whatever the future has in store for us - programmers won't be out a job so soon :P

The Day it All Changed : a novel ?

Last year this post generated some interesting comments and my friend Adam decided to make his own experiment with some volunteers. He called it a Tandem Story :)

After many months of work ( since September 2006) the story has ended. I know I promised the finale in December, but I was sidetracked.


So, has the experiment failed or succeeded? is female and male writing the same or different those of you who followed it what did you expect ? and LOL can I make it as a writer :P any publishers out there for Tom and I ?

I would like to thank Adam for his brilliant idea which brought a blogger from North Africa and one residing in the Bermuda toghether. I would also like to thank TomQ for his patience when I disappeared for several months and for volunteering to participate with me.
Big hugs to the readers who expressed encouragement and took part in the parallel thread.


Ladies and gentlemen : The day it all changed - just in time for Friday the 13th :P

Excerpt from the last installment:

" I was blindfolded and tied to some type of bed. The narcotic was now fading
and I was trying to think clearly. The first thing was that he should not
discover I was awake as he is probably watching me, so I must maintain a steady
breathing rhytm. I really had to think about getting out of this alive. What are
my options? "

Islamic websites : weeding out the true from the false

Someone brought my attention to the point that some websites which aim to inform about Islam are actually fake (regardless of who is suspected of having developped them so please do not bring that into the discussion). The objective is to do something about it not point fingers, so please some constructive information ok .

Therefore you must use your judgment when reading.

If any of you knows could you please update us whether the ones listed below are reliable or not ?


www.answering-islam.org
www.aboutislam.com
www.thequran.com
www.allahassurance.com

In general how can we vouch for the reliability of a website ( Islamic or otherwise ? )

Introduction

I recently received the following comment on a older post also pasted below :

"dear highlander, I have stumbled on your blog through the following link: http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/04/02/touring-libyan-blogs-chaperones-redux-successful-women-mothers-day-and-more/
which throughly spoke about a few popular Libyan blogs, yours and ours included, and I felt very informed by your blog, (i can't believe anyone would think of such a stupid rule!), and thought to let you know.
and I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our blog for Libyan Mental TV, and I was wondering if you could give me your feedback, thank you
http://lmtv.wordpress.com
LibyanMentalTV@GMail.com [sic]"

So I'm acceding to their request and posting it here :P, Hannu already did a while back.

Good luck to Libyan Mental and may you make great videos!

The Limits of Humaneness

"What makes good people do bad things? How can moral people be seduced to act immorally? Where is the line separating good from evil, and who is in danger of crossing it? "

Phillip Zimbardo's book 'The Lucifer Effect " ( hattip if you want to be mentioned say so), is the latest book on my to read list.

According to the reviewers : "This is a book that dares to hold a mirror up to mankind, showing us that we might not be who we think we are. While forcing us to reexamine what we are capable of doing when caught up in the crucible of behavioral dynamics, though, Zimbardo also offers hope. We are capable of resisting evil, he argues, and can even teach ourselves to act heroically. "


Are we really bad or do we become bad due to some bad influences ? Remember when your mother would always warn you about bad influence or refgat al su'?

i.e are there 'bad apples' or 'bad basket' ?

Second Life: real or fantasy ? ( updated scroll down for sunset view)

Being a blogger means you are involved quite a long part of the time online. Additionally internet technology advances mean we are 'IM ing' our friends, relatives and colleagues all over the place and at any time. If you put telephony platforms like Skype where we can actually talk voice and video conferences for free ( pc to pc ) into consideration, then it seems like myself and many others on this planet are living in a virtual world where the physical distance is hardly a problem anymore : with an internet connection and a console you are set .

However, there has been a small secret kept for the nerds and initiated which has started to spread in popularity in the last year(s). It’s a whole parallel world in cyberspace called appropriately ‘Second Life' . Corny eh ?

Articles are increasingly cropping out about Second Life and that means I can no longer keep silent about this phenomenon or another of my addictions : P to see new horizons, especially if the Swedish Embassy is opening an office now ! While the radical French politician Le Pen ideology has recently been greeted with protests and even violent demonstrations here ( hattip Programmer_Craig ).

Politics and activism ? this is serious stuff so if you were thinking that this place is teaming with cybersex and all sorts of 'fun' then think again. The 'greenies' are here as well , so if you care for the environment and global warming then why don't you log on to 'climate island' and check what solutions they can offer.


WOW, this means Second Life is NOT a fantasy world as we thought but a REAL one with all the attribute of this first life somewhere else. Online !


Background info

“Second Life, established in 2003 by the San Francisco-based Linden Lab, is proving an increasingly alluring alternative to the real world. Its founder, Philip Rosedale, says he's been into computer simulations since he was a kid. The firm provides a platform for users to create virtual businesses, take virtual marriage vows, have virtual sex, file for virtual divorces, build homes, hold jobs, buy Nikes and other pretend duds so their avatar (at least) looks cool. Second Life exists online, though there is a warehouse a few miles south of San Francisco humming with the expanding number of servers required to sustain its residents' dreams.[…] Avatars gather to simulate terrorist attacks using software that might be used in the real world - ideally, to prevent them from happening there. Politicians have started doing interviews in Second Life: earlier this year, the former Virginia governor Mark Warner, a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, flew into a virtual town hall on Second Life (or rather, his avatar did) to be questioned by a virtual journalist and a crowd of avatars about such real-world issues as Iraq. Doctors are doing simulations that may have real-world benefits: a Californian psychiatrist, for instance, reported the Economist this week, has created simulations of schizophrenic hallucinations in Second Life to convey to his students a sense of how his patients suffer.” [more The Guardian].


Second Life has it’s own paper as well : The Herald ?

I have to admit I am a member there as well and my avatar is cute he he he. I was not very imaginative and tried to make it look like me ( modesty again). So NBA if you want that toe photo you can ‘see’ me there, while Craig can check my belly dancing outfit (joke).
Upon my arrival on ‘orientation island’ recently the inhabitants have been very gallant, maybe I managed to have that lost look even in cyberspace? Apparently men love to help you …. Well that is my experience at least :P so don't be shy or afraid everybody try it!

Now readers , would you confess if you are living in Second Life too ? tell me about your experience(s).

Actually thinking about it… maybe the Libyan Bloggers could have their meet up there since we are located in so many different countries saves on travel expenses eh ? or alternatively we could all agree to meet on Skype one day …. what do you think?


Other links :

(1) Journalism in Second Life
(2) Second life for kids
(3) Blogging Second Life
(4) Murder in /because of Second life


Some inhabitants enjoying the sunset!