In a lot of ways I am really glad that my children have grown and left home. When they were growing up all we as parents had to worry about was sex, drugs and rock n‘ roll. Now parents have to worry about sex, drugs and the Internet – or at least the bad and evil Internet as propagated by the mainstream media.

The evils of IRC (Internet relay chat for you young ‘uns out there) and ICQ are now replaced by MySpace stalking, Bebo suicides, and Second Life drugs and porn. Next, it will be the dangers of Twitter and the hidden terrors of Facebook. It is all about using scare tactics to drive up ratings, but in the end parents are left scared and not knowing what to do. (more…)

Probably everyone has heard of the Sims by now, the computer — and online - game where you create an “avatar” and choose a name in a virtual world where you can have a virtual house, job, spouse, kids and social activities. You can also own a virtual country or even a continent.

There’s another 3-D virtual world out there called “Second Life.” It’s run by a group of developers called the Lindens. It has virtual money that can be bought with real money for pennies on the dollar or converted back to real money on the “LindeX Exchange.” I’ve heard of real estate agents making millions of dollars selling virtual land, and others making thousands selling virtual clothing, “skins,” hair, jewelry, etc. Sound crazy? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Avatars can be animated with facial expressions and body movements (go to a nightclub and click on a dance “poseball” to make your avatar the envy of Fred Astaire were he alive). Everyone in Second Life can also fly, although some choose to attach wings to make it look a bit more consistent. (more…)