I have not, and I don't think that conjuring up the dead is a good idea for several reasons:

1.  These people are at peace, let them alone!

2.  You don't know who or what you're really dealing with in the Spirit World, and sometimes doing these things can be, from what I've read, doors to let in rather unpleasant things.  Read Ed and Lorraine Warren's The Demonologist to see what can happen when one tries to contact the other side.

3.  I don't see why the dead would have any better or worse info for us, since they are on the other side, so to speak.  Isn't getting info what the Web is for? :P

I have heard of mediums talking to the spirits of dead people that are still here on earth but don't realize they are dead --- some kind of fast death that leaves the spirit thinking he/she's still alive.  Some hauntings are actually the dead person doing things they would "normally do" around the house.  I've read a few books where the medium talks to the spirit who replies, "what do you mean I'm dead?"  After a bit of chit chat the spirit moves on and the haunting ends.

My friend said after her beloved cat died, she heard it meowing around the house and scratching in the litter box when the other cat was fast asleep.  She spoke to it and said it was ok, and time to go to the other side, and the sounds stopped shortly after.  Make of that what you will!

Happy Halloweenie!

-V

10/31/09

Hat tip to dandelion Kimban -- I replied on her blog but wanted to expand here.

So apparently there is a big plan by Artists' Voice -- a group dedicated to stopping content theft in SL -- to have a 'Just Say No' day:  as they say on the blog on SDC:

On November 5th, let’s band together as a community and just STOP! We can show Linden Lab how much pull we actually do have in Second Life by pulling together and STOPPING for just 48 hours!


This is a wonderful idea, really.  I do support the voice of people rising up in righteous anger against something they find intolerable.  And I do think that some kind of consciousness-raising could occur.

But what is their main desire:  to "show Linden Lab how much pull we actually do have in Second Life."  I hate to tell the folks putting this thing together this rather sad fact, but here it is:

Linden Lab could really give a rat's ass less about your plan.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a bad idea.  But there is no way in hell that LL is going to be cajoled to do anything via this idea.  Nothing.  Zero.  Zip.  Nada.  Niente.  Why not?  Because it doesn't affect them in the place it would have to:  the bank account.

I've said this several times before on my blog and in responses around the Net, but I guess I have to say it again.  Linden Lab is interested in one thing only, making money.  That's it.  You, your content, your ideas, my ideas, my ability, my anything is only worthwhile to them vis-a-vis making boatloads of cash for their investors and themselves.

That's not to say that they don't care at all about content theft, but unless it's going to affect them in the almighty pocketbook, doing anything beyond basic policing isn't going to be any kind of priority for them.  So if the entire grid "stops selling" for a day, that's not going to mean anything to them since it doesn't affect them.  If no one blogs, wtf would they care about?  Heck, you could get as much of the population as possible walking naked around Zindra carrying huge signs saying 'STOP CONTENT THEFT NOW OR WE WILL NEVER PUT OUR CLOTHES BACK ON' and they would probably have a three martini lunch and laugh themselves silly.

I always find it rather amusing when people try to have some kind of 'Boycott Day' to protest something.  Around  here, local radio stations have tried to push a "Boycott Gas for a Day'' protests when gas prices get too high.  And so what?  Even if every single person in Los Angeles bought NO gas for a day, or two days, or TEN days, sooner or later we would all need gas again, we'd all go back to the pump and pay whatever inflated price at which they sell gasoline, and mumble and grumble and go back to normal.  Not a single gas station would close, not a single price would drop, nothing would happen. 

Same thing in SL, folks.  The folks at LL don't care about this strange take on Guy Fawkes Night.  At best they might lose a few LIndens Dollars at XStreet since they make a small percentage of each sale, but even that would be mostly if not totally insignificant.  The only way to affect them is to really hurt them financially, such as the vast majority of land owners (both mainland and islands) threatening to abandon their land and drop their tier to zero unless LL does something about content theft.  Only then would you see them rushing to do anything that's desired, and even then only if they believed, or could be credibly convinced, that the vast majority of landholders would do it.

Do you think the vast majority of landholders are really ready to do that, to carry that out to the bitter end?  Some?  Any?  You?  Me?

Thought so.

Now a "No Buying" day might raise some consciousness for the people that participate, but that's about all it will do.  As dandelion pointed out in her blog, a large mass of people enter SL, look around, bitch about not having enough freebies, and then leave.  And a lot of people that do stay don't give a rat's behind about "stolen content."  Only a few of us really do care -- I do, I hate seeing my friends that create things get ripped off, and I won't buy anything that appears to be stolen.  But that's only a few, the vast minority of residents, which is hardly enough to really get a social movement going.

So good luck to you folks at Artist's Voice!  Remember, remember the 5th of November!

Your F*ing voice of happiness and general bluebird of F*ing joy,

-V

While I identify as a Catholic, I have always had an open mind and rather eclectic view of religion -- truth is spread out over all religious traditions in greater or lesser amounts.  Some of my recent spiritual musings have had me looking over Wicca and neo-paganism, and I've been reading some books on both subjects, as well as attending Wiccan circles and classes in SL.

One thing I have found is lots of Wiccans and Neopagans feel what they are practicing is the "Old Relgion,"  that is the ancient pagan religion (really religions) found in the British Isles primarily and continental Europe before the coming of Christianity.  Thus, they feel that they have a strong connection to the past and that they are doing things the "way were they done."

The problem with this idea is that what exists today as Neopaganism is a modern understanding of a pre-literate culture.  The little we know of these cultural practices today are marred by time, syncretism with other religions, and both passive and active attempts to suppress those beliefs.  Undoubtably these modern rituals have connections to the past, but as we simply don't know how these ancient folks worshipped, to say that anyone worships in the same way as the ancients is to some degree mistaken.

Every religion has similar things happen -- Jesus, Buddha, and Confucius started fairly simple religious and philosophical systems that were then changed with a couple thousand years of various thinkers, scholars, and theologians altering and adding to what these men taught.  I often like to think them sitting in a bar together, looking down at the various human worshipers on earth and wondering "What have they done???"

Anyway, on to Samhain.  This festival is the most sacred on the Wiccan calender, the start of the new year.  Correctly pronounced not "Sam- hayn" but "Sav-in" or perhaps "Sow-wen", Samhain was the festival in ancient Ireland that ended the harvest and signaled the start of winter.  While today Wiccans and some Neopagans celebrate this festival on October 31, there didn't seem to be any real "date" for it, but was just a festival of the final harvest and the oncoming winter. 

On the night of Samhain, the village would gather after extinguishing all other fires in the town and light a bonfire, in which they would throw the bones of slaughtered animals (thus, "Bone Fire").  They would then light torches from the common fire and light their hearths, with other rituals being walking between two bonfires as a purification ritual, and driving animals between the bonfires for the same purpose.

Samhain was also associated with the spirit world and the honoring of the deceased ancestors, although many of the ideas we have about fearful spirits walking around to hurt people are mixed up with the Festival of Lemuria, a Roman practice of giving propriations to the noxious spirits to leave the living alone.  The original Christian day of All Saints was on May 13, the end of the Lemuria.  As observation of that festival faded, the Church shifted All Saints to November 1, as Samhain was seen as a similar kind of festival. 

While the Celts certainly remembered and honored the dead at Samhain, it wasn't til later, with a slow synchretism of the ideas of Celtic, Roman, and Christian views, that Samhain became a fearful day of the dead and evil spirits walking about, which then influenced "Halloween".   What records we do have of the earliest rites seem to be the Celts putting a skeleton, a head, or a carved turnip (the "head" of a vegetable) in a window to honor the past dead.  It wasn't til later in Celtic and Brythonnic cultures that people were carving these turnips or other vegetables to scare away spirits, and the North American custom of carving a jack-o-lantern comes from the later, synchretic idea of evil spirits walking about.

The modern views of Samhain are to some degree related to the old rites, but have been strongly influenced by a couple thousand years of Christianization and time-muddling.  Wiccans and Neo-Pagans use the festival to honor the dead, do divinations, and welcome the coming darkness.  The Wiccan idea of the God dying, to be reborn at Yule, is a modern interpretation of seasonal folklore, as ancient pagan religions were rife with resurrection gods dying and being reborn.  However, the Celts had no writing system til after Christianization, so we  have little knowledge of their beliefs about their deities, and a resurrection cult is not known as part of the fragmentary remains of Celtic pagan belief.

Anyway, what is called the "Old Religion" is really a synchretic form of leftover pagan, Christian, and modern ideas.  This isn't to say there's anything wrong with celebrating Samhain in the way one feels -- religion is after all for the living, not the dead or the past.  People should practice their beliefs and faith as best suits them!  However any group practices and honors the day should be respected, and I believe that great spiritual worth can be found in any rite or celebration.

So a blessed Samhain to you all!  Remember your dead, honor the Wheel of the Year spinning to darkness, and get lots of treats :)

-V

Ah yes, it's almost Halloween.  Kids wearing their costumes, people carving pumpkins, haunted houses, that chill in the air, the wind blowing the brightly colored leaves about.

And the scariest part of it all:  conservative Christianity rearing its usual ugly head. A few examples:

Paintball Spree by Pastor Targeted Halloween Kids
Controversial pro gun campaigner and ardent Christian evangelist Peter Hammond stated that he was charged with assault after organizing an anti-Halloween paintball gun shooting spree.

In an interview, Hammond said that his wife and four children including himself, do not approve of Halloween. The Hammond family believes that Halloween is an "occult holiday celebrating human sacrifice, witches and goblins".

Hammond went on further to state that his children asked him to do a "counter Halloween", and he agreed and devised a plan to drive the children around the neighborhood to fire paintballs at trick or treating kids on Halloween.

"It was meant to be a joke: nobody was meant to get hurt," Hammond said.

"I laid down a few ground rules: we were just going for teenagers, no kids."

His care for the younger folks in their costumes warms the deepest reaches of my heart.   In Ellettsville, Indiana, a local church didn't go to these extremes, but did pass around fliers:

Church's Anti-Halloween Flyer Upsets Family
An Ellettsville family, whose home is decorated for Halloween contacted police after someone placed on its porch a flier that suggests Halloween praises the devil.

The church's pastor, Larry Mitchell, said the people who left the flier would have preferred to talk with Gully, but she wasn't there.

Mitchell said the church didn't intend to upset the Gully family, but rather tell people that Halloween isn't harmless fun."Halloween is not fantasy," Mitchell said. "We're training up our children, and obviously this lady was trained up in this. Halloween seems like it is taking just as much prominence as Christmas."
 

The picture on the flyer is really scary!  That witch is about to drop a 500lb devil bomb on that church!  Oh no!  Quelle horreur!

The Brits are also feeling the "Halloween == Devil" meme, as we find here:

Row Over Halloween Devil Article
A Leicestershire church magazine has been criticised for describing people participating in Halloween celebrations as "siding with the devil".  The Belvoir Angel article also claims the practice of trick or treat uses "extortion and blackmail".

Churchgoer Mariel Heald said she was being made to feel guilty for helping children to have fun.

The article focuses on the celebration's effect on children.

It appears to condemn parents who take youngsters trick-or-treating, saying it is a time when normal law-abiding people damage their "good neighbours" property and in some cases "bring on fear".

One of the parishoners in the area,  Mrs. Heald, said that the community is going to have their celebration, and as is the usual reaction to the nutcase religionists, felt they were doing more harm than good with their article.

This year, however, brings the best of the best out.  As some of you have probably heard, Amazing Grace Baptist Church in North Carolina is going to have a book burning on Halloween.  Not Harry Potter, not the Satanic Bible, not pornographic material....but BIBLES!

North Carolina Church plans Halloween Bible Burning
Mark Grizzard, the pastor of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina, say he and his congregation plan to burn Bibles on Halloween.

Marc Grizzard, of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina, says that the first King James translation of the Bible is the only true declaration of God’s word, and that all others are “satanic”.

Pastor Grizzard and 14 other members of the church plan to burn copies of the other “perversions” of Scripture on Halloween, 31 October.

The New Revised Version Bible, the American Standard Version Bible, and even the New King James Version are all pronounced to be works of the Devil by Pastor Grizzard and his followers.

Pastor Grizzard said: “I believe the King James version is God’s preserved, inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God… for English-speaking people.

“We are burning books that we believe to be Satanic.”

As well as inappropriate translations from the original Hebrew and Aramaic, the pastor and his associates will be burning books by various Christian authors, as well as music of every genre.

“[We will be burning] books by a lot of different authors who we consider heretics, such as Billy Graham, Rick Warren… the list goes on and on,” Pastor Grizzard told reporters.   Mother Theresa is also on the list of Satanic authors.

The church website, which looked like it was made and written by a 10 year old, listed all the various Bibles, music, and authors that will be burned in praise of Lord.  (Un)fortunately, it seems to have been taken down.  Drat, I wanted to see if Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington were on the burn list.

Conservative Christianity's View of a Typical Halloween Celebration



Another stereotypical image



Actual kids in Halloween costumes
Notice the "Diabolical" looks and marks of possession!




Real Halloween Celebration (notice the booze)
 

We hear the usual nonsense about "cats being sacrificed to Satan," or "Halloween candy is poisoned by madmen" to the ever popular "Satanists Murder People on Halloween just like the Satanic Druids Did!"  All of these bizzare beliefs are either total fabrications that come out of a moral panic, or may be based on a single incident that is then amplified into millions of Satanists running around, looking to poison kids, sacrifice them to the Devil, or eat your cat.

Now, whatever floats people's boats is fine with me.  If socially inept folks really want to confound kids running about a neighborhood in funny costumes, getting candy, and having fun with praising Satan, that's their issue.  If they want to peacefully go about protesting Halloween, that's fine.  Once they cross the line into hurting folks or tresspassing, that's wrong, but that's obivous.

What's less obvious, at least to people of this mindset, is it makes Christianity look utterly stupid to be doing things like this.  In the United States, the religious right and their beliefs are constantly the target of mockery, and whatever credibility they had is going down the tubes.  They wonder "why" -- and this is pretty much why. 

More mainstream Christian churches have Halloween parties or "harvest festivals" where kids can go and dress up in funny costumes (and yeah, I completely understand if they ask no witches, ghosts, goblins, etc on church property), and get a "wholesome" experience.  Most Christians understand that Halloween is about as "spiritual" these days as Christmas is in secular society, and it's just a day to pass out candy, dress up and have some fun.  

Heck, The Church of Satan, the best known "Satanic" group out there, specificly denies there is a real "person" called Satan, the 11 Satanic Laws specificly eshew harming kids or anyone that hasn't harmed the person, and directly forbids harming animals except for food or being attacked.  So pretty much all the ideas we have of "Satanists" running around doing horrid things on All Hallow's Eve are myths and the result of a moral panic. 

I'm not here to support or defend Satanists, though.  What they believe is their business, just like what conservative Christians want to believe is their biz.  As long as both groups leave each other be, to do what they want, I couldn't care less about either.  But the absurd notion that a kid in a Power Rangers suit, getting candy door to door, is unknowingly in league with the Devil is just about the most idiotic thing I've heard.

The wackos out there are their own worst enemies:  the scorn they are given is what they heap on themselves.  Too bad moderate and liberal Christian folks get lumped in with the vocal minority.

Anyway, happy Halloween!

-V

Well firstly, if we're talking about money in a wallet, turn it in, no question about it.

As for money just floating around, I dunno.  A few times in my life I've found money on the ground, and just kept it.  And a few times I've lost money out of my bag or pocket, so I figure it all comes out in the wash ;)

The few times I've lost money, I tried to retrace my steps to see if I saw it on the ground (never have), but I've never bothered to ask the people working at the place if any money was turned it, as I was always sure the answer would be 'no', even if it had been turned in, heh heh.

A friend related a story to me about a time he and his date found a $50 bill in a restaurant.  He thought about keeping it, she said no.  So when no one came around by the end of the meal, he just dropped it on the table as a tip.  He heard a happy squeal from the food server as they left!

-V

Air conditioning, hands down.

I know I might be weird, living in the L.A. Metro area and maybe 45 minutes from such places as Malibu and Zuma beaches, but I haven't been to the beach for nearly 20 years.  I don't really like sand, I don't like getting burned, I don't like all the people all over.  I do like the ocean itself, there is something very peaceful about being in the ocean -- but then you have to go back to your towel, and get sand all over your legs, then go to your towel, which has blown away and is covered with sand, and then get your sandwich, and get sand in your mouth.

Did I mention I don't like sand all that much?

Then there's that snotty kid screaming over there, or those drunk people hiding their vodka in water bottles, or some couple three steps away from public sex. 

Nah, I'll take the movie theater, tyvm.

-V

Right now here in the United States, there is a huge fight over health care and reforming the system.  As usual, this has caused all the expected kinds of polarizations, with the Right screaming "Say NO to Socialized Medicine" and the Left pining for a Canadian medical system to be implemented in the US.

I want to avoid the philosophical slants that both sides of the coin use, which boils down to "is health care a right, to which all person should have access, or is it a privilege that you can have if you have ability to pay?"  Instead I want to look at the problem behind the system, and show why there will never be substantive changes to U.S. health care without a total reform of the underlying strata in the political, economic and social arenas.

The biggest issue behind the scene is the corporatization of health care, which started in the last century. 

Modern insurance didn't exist until the early 20th Century, with 1929 being the year that Baylor University Hospital gave 21 days of semi-private room and board to schoolteachers in the area.  Blue Cross developed in the 1930s and most other known insurance companies came after.  Also, hospitals were run by religious groups and charities and were non-profit, but slowly these non-profit hospitals were overtaken by investor-run hospitals that have not doctors but investors as the main decision makers vis-a-vis the kind of medical care a patient might get.

What all this did was take medical decisions out of the hands of doctors and their patients, and put them into board rooms, insurance claims adjusters, and investors' bank accounts.  Doctors often have to fight insurance companies to get basic care for their patients, never mind anything that might cost the insurance company real money.  And investor-driven hospitals simply aren't all that interested in dealing with patients with minimal or no insurance, so if someone comes in having a heart attack, the hospital will stabilize the person and then send them off, hopefully to find a bed in county hospital.  Hopefully.

What's happening is that many US doctors are now shunning the insurance companies altogether, going to retainer/fee based medicine rather than dealing with insurance companies that will invalidate claims based on "prior conditions," or "needless treatments."  This might be good for doctors, but if a patient needs anything beyond primary care, they aren't going to be able to get it without some kind of insurance.

When a patient is wheeled into a hospital, two things occur:  the hospital administration sizes up the patient like a starving man would the sudden arrival of a Chicken Delight truck crashing on his lawn, and the insurance company gets out the garlic, crosses and holy water to keep the "vampire" investors away from the liability -- um, I mean patient.  Doctors are stuck between the two megaliths, and what services, if any, that will be given are determined by forces beyond real medical care.  As a visual:



So what this means is that medical conditions in the United States are not left in hands of doctors and patients, but in the hands of firms looking to make a buck and perform a "Walletectomy" on the poor person on the stretcher.  The less insurance coverage a person has the more he or she is seen as a liability by the hospital, and the more insurance a person has the more he/she is a liability to the insurance company, knowing the medical center is going to do a jig with all the tests and services they can do on the person.

And this is the essential problem with health care in America.  It's really not doctors -- yes, certainly there are some unscrupulous doctors out there looking to make a buck, but I think the main problem is the medical-industrial complex and how it deals with medical crises.

More doctors today are coming out for some form of universal health care for patients.  Rather than spend endless time filling out forms, and have claims denied which are then sent to the patient who probably can't pay, more doctors today feel a universal system would allow them to give better care with the patient in mind.  This interesting article from Physicians for a National Health Program is a pretty good look at what could be done. 

We spend over $2 trillion on health care in the United States, and the government in one way or the other (via Medicare, funds to Medicaid, the VA and funds to local hospitals) already foots nearly 45% of that bill.  Meanwhile in 2008, the top medical insurance companies racked up  nearly $16 billion in profits while rejecting nearly 25% of claims that came through (on average).  So the meme that "taxes will go up astronomically if we have universal health care" is silly -- we already spend more on health care than we do on national defense in the United States!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a Libertarian at heart and scared of big government.  I work in the education field and I see how government mismanagement of tax funds works, and how overhead and administration costs eats between 30-50% of what money is allocated.  However, when choosing between a for-profit system that doesn't have medical issues of patients at heart, and a universal system that might be flawed as well, but lets doctors and patients make such decisions, I'm floating in the "universal" direction nowadays.

However, simply put, unless there is a radical change in the economic and social system of society, we aren't going to see universal health care.  Politicians are in the pocket of the system.  While we might be able to get some basic reform through, in the end the United States is a corporate system, and the insurance companies, the AMA (which is less for doctors and more for profits) and the investor-driven special interest groups that run the medical system will not allow their cash cow to disappear. 

And that, my friends, is the essential problem.  Not doctors, not patients, and not even the government, the investor based system.  Until that is altered, we won't see universal care.

Which means, we won't see universal health care.

-V

Ok it's nearly a week late, but....




Back in the 1970s, jazz genius Chick Corea worked with bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White under the moniker "Return to Forever," putting out four albums together and working in the then emerging field of "fusion jazz" in a similar style to the Mahavishnu Orchestra (but better, in my opinion.)  This was the first night of a new tour with these jazz giants, sadly Al Di Meola was not there to round out the RTF quartet from back in the 70s.









Return to Forever,
back in the day


The show was absolutely amazing, and I mean that in a technical way -- these guys are top notch jazz musicians, and hearing them just go like great jazz artists will do blew away the crowd.

Corea came out first and did a very intense, technical piano piece, then brought out Clarke and White and they launched into some of the RTF material from the 70's.  Rather than Al Di Meola, old RTF guitarist Bill Conners came out, he had worked on only one RTF album, and was then replaced by Di Meola (who was only 19 at the time.)  

Also joining the band onstage was jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty.  Yeah I know what you're thinking, "jazz violinist?"  Ponty is one of the few jazz artists working in the field with a violin, but he is an absolute virtuoso with his instrument -- he made the violin do things I had never heard before in his arpeggios and sounds, straining the limits of it in an Igor Stravinsky sort of way. 

I love classical music for the technical perfection of it, and some classical lovers disdain jazz for not having the same level of technique, being too free flowing and improvisational.  Listening to these five gentlemen playing perfectly with each other, trading licks and just melding with each other musically, I don't know what such critics are thinking. 

After several pieces were performed, Chaka Khan came out to sing.  I like Chaka Khan, but she was very clearly nervous and took a bit to warm up.  She had worked with Corea, Clarke and White on a jazz album in 1982 called "Echoes of an Era," and so she did a couple of the numbers off that album, and she was very good.

The highlight though was during the band's rendition of  the Gershwin number "I Love You, Porgy" from Porgy and Bess, out came Stevie Wonder to sing with Chaka and play harmonica for the song.  Yes, Stevie Wonder!  The crowd just went nuts when he came out, as he had been unbilled and was just brought out with no introduction.  

The group ended with Chaka Khan's hit "Through the Fire," and for an encore came back out for an instrumental number where Corea traded piano licks with Stevie Wonder.  Clarke and White were absolutely amazing, taking several turns during the night doing solos that were mindblowing.  An absolutely amazing night of music -- while I enjoyed the Steely Dan show the week before, their band being top notch,  listening to Corea, Clarke, White et al, it was nothing short of sonic brilliance.

The show was opened by John Scofield, a great jazz guitarist who has worked over the years with Corea, Charlie Mingus, Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Gary Burton, and for three years was in Miles Davis' group, contributing to three of his albums in the 80's.  He has a new album with a New Orleans set of jazz musicians doing gospel numbers, and his band was just fantastic, mixing "Nawlin's" style jazz, gospel beats and Scofield's wild electric work in a fun, get up and dance sort of way.  A great way to start the show.

For wine (of course), we had the Curtis Winery "The Crossroads," which is 75% Grenache and 25% Syrah.  Dark and very fruity, it has the complex notes of raspberry and strawberry from the grenache, with the dark blackberry and some plum from the syrah.  Very nice, and it was the perfect accompaniment to the music.

Next up, Natalie Cole on September 9, and then "Blame it on Rio" to close the Bowl season out on the 11th.

This comes up a lot in SL:  "I have to know your RL age, location, and GENDER!"   A small sampling about this:

Is there anyway to tell if the woman you are talking to is not really a man? or vice versa? Is Linden Lab considering adding gender verification to protect people from getting tricked into hooking up with the undesired gender of personal choice? This is of paramount importance to one third of all players! -- Jauani Wu, 11-2-2006, SL Forums

When two people start to fall in love they ARE going to start to fantasize about the future, about romantic encounters, about starting a family even! Most personal traits really wouldn't stand in the way of these dreams, but gender WILL. So I think the player that was lied to has a right to feel hurt. -- Aimee Weber, 11-18-2005, SL Forums

Too often women are violated by men in SL. Men come to women only areas and use a female avatar to cause troubl emotionally and in other ways. This is a form of cyber rape. Second Life has age verification in place that could be used to voluntarily allow residents to become gender verified. It's not foolproof but it would allow female users in SL to feel safer. -- Mandy Dorfler, asking for a RL Gender Verification system in the JIRA, 4-30-09

There's nothing more nasty than a gender deception in SL. There's a large percentage of female avatars in SL who are males posing as females, and deceiving both straight and gay women -- friends and lovers alike -- and those women are right to be angry and hurt, and to want to do something about this. -- Profksy, 'Second Thoughts' Blog, 5-10-2009

This all came to mind since I had a couple talks with folks inworld about RL gender, both in general conversation and with a couple that had some "issues" concerning the person they thought was atk, who wasn't.  I've talked about this before, but it just never really seems to die, so let's take the horse out and flog it again.

Firstly, those who know me also know I don't care one whit concerning RL info about the person atk.  Age, gender, number of kids, bank accounts, that's all your private info.  After I meet a person the only RL question I might ask is "where in the world are you?" so I can get a feel for time zone and culture.  If all the person wants to say is "eastern time zone" that's fine with me, or if they are totally forthcoming or tell me to shut up, just as well.  People can be open or closed about their RL info, and I really don't worry about it -- just treat me well in SL and you can keep your RL as confidential as you like, and I expect the same back, tyvm.

However, this doesn't sit well with many people, and a level of "trust" via RL info needs to be established before any futher relationship building can begin (you can read the augmentationist vs immersionist debate here if you wish.)  And of course, gender is the paramount thing that must be known -- you're having cyborz with a person after all!  If you have cyborz with the wrong person, you COULD BE GAY!  THE SHOCK!  THE "HORRAH!" 

*ahem*

For those that "gotta know" or just want to have fun doing it, here is a short list of things to look for to "spot the gender deviant."  For those that enjoy gender-bending their avi, consider this also a primer to help you effect your RP better.  I want to point out these are generalizations, not to be taken as "end alls" in terms of how persons with certain RL genders might act.  I culled some of these from various posts on the SL site and on Google as well as added my own.  I've left out the usual "I won't voice or cam with you" as there is a whole debate on that, and it's too superficial.

Let's start with the more common ones:

1.  Out of proportion body -- yes, the old standard.  Certainly some gals do this too, and certainly some number of guys try to make their avi realistic, but the average, red blooded d00d comes into SL, picks "female avi" and then says "whoo hooo!  Boobs 100!  Butt 100!  Waist 0!" and turns their avi into the "girl of his dreams."  Guys, if you want to look like some kind of 20 year old golddigger with multiple surgeries, that's your call, but most gals simply don't look like that.

2.  Blond with out of proportion body -- The other old standard, and while things have changed over the years, most social research shows that as far as US and many European men, "blond" is still associated with sex more than brunette or red hair.  So when above d00d makes avi, he usually thinks "blond!  yeah!"  Yes, we are talking about Barbie, folks.  Many (not all, certainly, but many) of the Barbie gals you see walking about SL are guys atk, so if this kind of thing matters to you, you may want to avoid such folks.

3.  SlutWear! -- Yeah, I know there are a fair amount of women that enjoy slutwear, after all, we get to make perfect avis wearing clothes we may have either never worn ourselves, or haven't worn since high school (*cough*).  So why not wear slutwear?  And, on top of that, a large number of SL designers make slutwear, so sometimes it's hard to find more "casual" attire.

But let me make a point:  women like various types of clothes.  Sometimes a slutty look is fun, sometimes a casual look is fun,sometimes a formal look, a beach look, a lazy day in the hammock look, etc.  A lot of guys have no fashion sense, so they dress their Barbie girls like "Barbie hooking on the street behind the pier" all the time.  So "blond + out-of-proportion body + slutwear" is a "red flag" for those that care about such things.

4.  One piece of SlutWear! -- Guys, listen up:  IN GENERAL, gals like to shop.  Gals like outfits:   "Outfits" are very important (more on that term shortly).  Why do you think Barbie dolls have so many outfits available -- the toy manufactuer is working on even a little girl's desire to have many outfits to wear.  So when SL Barbie has ONE thing to wear all the time, that really screams "GUY ATK".  In other words, go shopping!  And now on to one more old standard:

5.  SeXX0RZ!  -- Yes, nothing screams "GUY ATK" more than asking "do U want 2 f**k" about five minutes into any conversation, if there is a conversation.  Or 10, 15, 20 mins in for that matter. 

Guys, let me dispel a myth:  women like sex.  A lot, actually.  But, it doesn't mean that women want to have sex all the time, with any person they meet, five minutes after said meeting.  Women in general like a certain amount of romance and seduction.  So when one sees a person trying to get to home plate almost immediately, that's a dead giveaway in most cases, or at least enough to send up a red flag.

Now on to the less obvious ones:

6.  Lack of Communication -- a lot of research shows that women use up to 45% more words than men in a given day.  While some numbers have been overblown (like 25K for women and 10K for men,) women do tend to speak more.  So if a conversation goes something like this:

Female Avi:  hi
Me:  Hey there!  How are you doing? :)
Female Avi:  fine
[pause]
Me:  So, what's going on? 
Female Avi:  ur hot
Me:  Gee thanks!  I take pride in my avi, and I like looking nice.
[pause]
Me:  Hello?
Female Avi:  I think ur hot.

Well you get the picture.  If any gal has the conversational style of a cherrystone clam, and you care about RL gender, there's a good marker for you.  And guys, TALK! :P

7.  Topics and Styles of Conversation -- going beyond the usual "sports/food/sex" stuff, there are other differences in the way gals talk.  Let me reconstruct the way the above dialog would go with two probable RL gals:

Female Avi:  Hi! :)
Me:  Hi there!  How are you doing?
Female Avi:  I'm doing really good!  I LOVE that outfit you're wearing, where did  you get it?
Me:  Thanks!  I got it at Bare@Rose!  Really cheap too!
Female Avi: :)
Female Avi:  I might just have to go there.  That hair is cute too!
Me:  Thanks! :)  I like those shoes you're wearing. 
Female Avi:  ooooooh thankies!  Just got 'em yesterday!  They're great.
Me :)
Me:  So what are you up to here?
Female Avi:  Just looking for a place to dance and meet some folks.  Your friends seem cool! :)
Me:  They are, come over and dance with us :)
Female Avi:  Thanks!
Female Avi:  You know, I just got over this stupid relationship.  Why are people so lame here as they are in RL?
Me:  I know, I know.  It seems like the RL person just oozes out after a while, doesn't it?
Female Avi:  Totally! :)
Female Avi:  I like to think that not all guys/girls/whatevers are jerks, but sometimes I just have to wonder.
Me; Just go buy more shoes, they're cheap enough here in SL! :P
Female Avi:  :P
Female Avi:  THERAPY!
Me:  OMG, that reminds me of something that went on at work today......
Female Avi:  Tell me!  What went on?

And so on and so on....see the difference?  Lots of chatter, topic switching, use of exclaimation points (!) to denote excitement and tone of voice along with lots of smilies :) to denote interest and emotion.  Use of words like "cute" and "OMG".  Again, this is a generalization, and sure there are talky guys and women with the conversational style of a coral reef, but if you care about RL gender, and your conversations aren't approximating something close to the above at least sometimes, it's another marker.  Did I say:  "Guys, TALK" already? :P

7.  More on "outfits" -- I mentioned above that women like outfits.  Things that match and going well together in style.  SL is a great place to change hair (which takes hours on end in a salon, I *know* this) in a flash, zip from one outfit to the next, and change skin and makeup in a jiffy.  Thus, "outfit" here encompasses the whole avatar.

Guys, in most cases, don't do much to alter the appearance of their avi in SL.  Part of that is due to the much smaller selection of male clothing, skin and hair than what we see for gals, but it's also based on market:  most guys don't care about that.  It's not all that surprising to see a guy who rezzed two years ago still  sporting a newbie skin and hair.  So when you see a gal who's six months old in SL and has nothing beyond either the newbie stuff or one Barbie outfit to offer, that *suggests* something about the RL gender of the person.

Gals, in general, like lot of different things to wear, and things that MATCH in color and style.  Wearing a microskirt with a T-shirt is a bit odd, or wearing a purple top and orange pants, and these are the kinds of things that get people read.  In other words, style and color combos MATTER!

8.  I'm a Lez, kthxbai! -- This is one that is rather controversial, but let me make a point here:  after years upon years of scorn, ridicule and even violence on First Life LGTB communities, a lot of LGTB folks simply put are not in a rush to just give out this kind of info.  Yes, that's a generalization, yes, there are very vocal members of such communities, but from first hand experience, most LGTB people are not going blurt that out right upon meeting someone.  Rather, it just sort of "comes out" over time, via talk, appearance, mannerisms, etc.  This is not about "lack of pride" of oneself, but why in the world do I need to tell you intimate details about my life upon meeting?  How many hetero folks say "HI, I'M HETEROSEXUAL, GOT IT?" upon meeting someone?

So when I see a hot gal in SL with "GUYS!  LESBIAN!  DON'T BOTHER" I almost always think "guy ATK".  And it's sort of an inverse relationship:  the more "LESBIAN!  GUYS BEAT IT!" that appears in a profile, the more that tends to get a person read IMO.  As a large number of guys are phallo-phobic, and are scared of doing it with a guy atk, they seem to think that the more they proclaim themselves "LEZ" the better the chances they will have a RL woman at the keyboard.  I guess.

By the way, I'm not talking about someone that puts a little bit about their First Life LGTB status in their profile somewhere, usually in the First Life tab or in their picks; my point is about people that have it as the first thing, in CAPS in their profile blub on page one, and remind you over and over about it.

Finally, 9.  An overwhelming interest in *your* FL gender -- In my experience, a RL gal is much less likely to care about the person atk, but is more likely to take the person as they come.  Guys, since they are phallo-phobic, are more likely to *have* to have this information before progressing to the come ons, or more advanced 'let's go f**k' lines. 

So when you meet a person, and within five minutes they're asking things like "are u rly a girl?  what do u look like?  do u have pics 2 give me?  do u have a cam?" etc, that often suggests a guy trying to lay his mind to rest about your identity before you hop on a pose ball with him for 20 minutes of silence punctuated by the occasional "I'M F*ING YOU, B**CH!" :P

Of course the funny part of this is that they may not be forthcoming in their own pics, or say "Oh, you can cam to me, but I don't have one" etc.  That's questionable at best.  Or when pictures are given of size 0 models, or girls in various sexual poses, those are usually dead giveaways.  

Guys, it's not too difficult to tell what's a *real* picture and what's a fake.  Don't get pics off google or porn sites, those are WAY too easy to find or read.  And handing out pics of your ex-girlfriend (or current!) and saying "that's me" is just grossly unethical.  Just don't.

OK, I hope that helps the fieldspotters out there!  Again, this is of no real concern to me, but as a sociologist, I love the whole construction of gender idea, and how norms spring up about "Gender Honesty" in an online world.

As this one has the potential of getting people riled, I'm going to screen comments, but I welome your informed, thought out views on this topic.

-V

Truth be told, I love Steely Dan.  I know Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are old enough to be my dad, I know I wasn't even 12 years old when Gaucho came out in 1980, but I love jazz, rock, and the smarmy lyrical style of these guys.  Whenever they come to L.A., I buy tickets to the show, and this time was no exception -- as soon as I saw that the Dan were bringing their Rent Party '09 tour to the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, I got on the line to Ticketmaster and flexed some credit.

Universal City is home to the Universal lot, Universal Studios tour and CityWalk, a giant shopping/entertainment center.  It's a really nice place to walk around, shop and eat, so we got there early and headed over to Karl Strauss' Restaurant and had a couple pints of really good beer...and some food (fish tacos made with whole tilapia fillets, I could barely finish one!)

The short walk to the amphitheater was punctuated by looking at shops along the way, but we made it without further expense.  The Gibson Amphitheater is a beautiful place to see a concert, having been redone by the Gibson Guitar company.  Walking inside they have giant replicas of the the Gibson line on the walls, and the theater itself is all done up in smart black and red, which as many of you know, is my favorite color combination.

Sitting down with a margarita and a thing of popcorn, I was doing the proper sociologist people watching, and came to a rather scary conclusion...most of the crowd was 10-20 years older than we were.   There were some young folks being dragged in to see these two old farts play their 70's hits by their parents (or maybe grandparents....) but I'd say most of the crowd was late middle age to heading to senior.  Kinda figures, but it felt a bit odd.  I guess I am getting older :P

Opening the show was a jazz quartet featuring two of the members of Steely Dan's traveling band (Walt Weiskopf on tenor sax and Michael Leonhart on trumpet).  Very good jazz and a great way to start the show.

The night we went to was "Internet Request Night," in which ticket holders were given a web site to go to and vote on what song they wanted to hear at the show.  I'm not sure in what order they went, or they just took the most requested songs and then performed them in an order amenable to the band.  A special treat was guitar genius Larry Carlton, who did some of the best guitar solos ever working with the Dan, appearing with them for the show!

The band came out and fired into "Black Friday" off Katy Lied.  I have seen SD many times now, but I have to say that this was the best backing band they have had, ever, bar none.  From the SD website, here is the band:

Left Bank Holiday / Rent Party '09 [ 2009 ]

Tawatha Agee [Backing Vocals: '08, '09]

Jim Beard [Keyboards: 08, 09]

Keith Carlock [Drums: 03-'09]

Jon Herington [Guitar: '00-'09]

Carolyn Leonhart-Escoffery [B. Vocals: '00-'09 Rent Party ]

Michael Leonhart [Trumpet, Keys: '00-'09 Rent Party

Janice Pendarvis [B. Vocals: '09 Left Bank Holiday]

Jim Pugh [Trombone: '00-'09]

Roger Rosenberg [Baritone Saxophone: '06-'09]

Catherine Russell [B. Vocals: '08, '09]

Marvin Stamm [Trumpet: '09 Left Bank Holiday]

Freddie Washington [Bass: '06-'09]

Walt Weiskopf [Saxophone: '03-'09]

Keith Carlock can absolutely tear it up on the drums, and guitar riffs were traded between Walter Becker, Jon Herrington, and Larry Carlton.   The backing singers were fabulous (I adore Carolyn Leonhart's voice, and have several of her jazz albums), and the horn section was top notch as well.  Add to that the lighting and staging, it was an amazing show.  The set list included:

1) Black Friday
2) Aja
3) Hey Nineteen
4) Peg
5) Dirty Work -sung by the female backing trio
6) Bodhisattva
7) Rikki Don't Lose That Number
8) Home at Last
9) Dr. Wu
10) Any Major Dude Will Tell You
11) Do It Again
12) Love is like an Itch (Band Intro)
13) Babylon Sisters
14) Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More -sung by Walter Becker
15) Black Cow
16) Josie
17) Don't take Me Alive
18) Kid Charlemagne

19) Reeling in the Years (encore)

The highlights were definitely "Dr. Wu," which I had never heard them do live and is one of my favorite songs, "Home at Last," a reworking of the Odyssey story by Homer, "Don't Take me Alive" which was on The Royal Scam and we got to hear Larry Carlton replicate, note for note, his amazing guitar work on that song, and "Kid Charlemagne," also with fantastic work by Mr. Carlton.

The encore, which is usually "My Old School" was instead "Reeling in the Years," with Larry Carlton trading the guitar solo with Jon Herrington, a great guitarist in his own right.    Donald Fagen is not one for much audience banter, so it was mostly going from one song to the next, but the crowd just loved it.  

These cats are gettin' up there, so if you are a fan of jazz-rock, I would definitely recommend getting out to see the Dan before they are just a bit too long in the tooth to tour anymore :P  An amazing night of great music with a great band.  Ten out ten stars, Mr. DeMill.

-V

Way,  way, way back in high school, my first job was working for a company called "Sun America," some kind of solar power scam.  I would sit in a boiler room cold calling people who had given some basic info to canvassers about their interest in solar power.  To get them to have the high power salesperson come over, we would offer then a certificate to a free 2 nights stay in Las Vegas.  I saw the certificates so I knew they were real, but I have no idea where the victi...er...customer got to stay.  Probably the "Tick Tock Inn" wayyyyyy off the Strip.

They gave us this horrid script to follow ("Hi!  My name is ___ with Sun America!  We have a great Vegas package all ready for you, three days and two nights of fun, gambling and great food!  When can we send over our salesteam to get your certificate to you?  What are you doing right now at 8:30 on a Thursday evening?")  and the woman running the boiler room was screaming "BROs!  Get me BROs!" which was short for "Be Right Over!" 

I worked there two weeks and then I was let go for not getting enough people interested in the certificates.  I felt *really* bad about it, let me tell you.

My next job was at "Pic'n'Save" which has since become "Big Lots!".  That was almost as bad, but at least I wasn't in a boiler room.

-V

PS:  The company I worked for, "Sun America," has no relationship to this SunAmerica at all.  

It's a hard question ... on one hand, a person who is in the public eye is exactly that :  in the public eye.  Every move they make is going to be noticed, every action commented on, and everything they say analyzed.  This is just part of the nature of being a celebrity.

On the other hand, a celebrity is a person with the same right to privacy as anyone else.  We have seen their lives invaded, the press make every allegation of immorality one can think of, and even in some cases lead to their death (Princess Di?) 

I would say that anything that is a matter of public record or done in public is fair game -- pretty much like anyone else, the only difference being that the press doesn't care about any of us :P).  However, what they do in private is private, just like anyone else.  It's going to come with the territory of being famous that the press is going to try to get that inside scoop, but a celebrity has the same right to live his or her life in peace like the rest of us, and should be able to use any and all legal tools to mitigate the spying.

However, it might be worthwhile to remember a famous quote by Oscar Wilde: "There is only one thing worse in life than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

-V

Filmmaker John Hughes died today at the age of 59, from an apparent heart attack.

I grew up in the 80's and remember watching movies like Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.   I really enjoyed his movies with their clever dialog, good use of music, and relation to what young people my age (at the time) were thinking. 

He really sort of defined the "Brat Pack" generation, and even though I wasn't a huge fan of his later movies (Home Alone and its sequels were just "eh" to me), even today I like tossing in one of his 80's films and remembering what high school was like, when I had way too much Aqua Net in my hair and all my clothes were black and white.

John Hughes, RIP.

-V

Heading off on a wine trip this morning at 8:30 or so!  Looking forward to hitting the usual places, plus may also stop at Ballard Winery to see what they have.  We belong to four wineries in the Santa Ynez area, so free tastings for us and guests (and no, YOU can't come! :P)

I will report on the wines tasted and possibly purchased tomorrow.  Have a wonderful Friday, and happy wining! :)

V

Not going through college fast enough.  I started Junior College when I was 18, and took 6 units a semester and then stopped going to college entirely so I could work for three semesters.  By the time I got done there and then finished with a BA at a four year university I was already 28 years old.  Then I waited a year and went back for my MA, which made me almost 31 by the time I had a Masters.  After five years of part time teaching, that made me 36 when I finally started in my career.

Now I have to work til I'm 66 to get full retirement.  Which I guess isn't the worst thing in the world, but had I started 10 years earlier like I should have, I could have retired before I hit 60.  Ah well.  I might make it 10 years after that :P

-V

Last night we had a bottle of Pancake Cellars Big Day White.  Pancake is a winery in the Paso Robles area, about 3 hours north of yours truly here in the Los Angeles area.  This wine is 60% Sauv Blanc, 27% Chardonnay, 12% Gewurtztraminer, and a whopping 1% Pinot Blanc.  It has several notes of citrus (mostly lemon), and the chard comes in on the back of the pallate with a buttery kind of feel.  The Gewurztraminer lends a sweetness to the wine, and all in all is not bad for the $5 we spent on it.

If you have a Trader Joe's around you, this is not a bad at all for the price!

-V

The Hollywood Bowl season started this week, and we took in two great shows and of course brought two great bottles of wine!

The first show was on the 7th, when we went to see some of Sergei Prokofiev's music, including Peter and the Wolf.  Prokofiev was a very gifted composer who fled Russia at the start of the October Revolution, but returned in the 1930's as a hero.  Much of his music in his later years was with a very definite "Soviet" flavor, but he is best known for his stunning Romeo and Juliet and of course Peter and the Wolf.

The show included excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, his Piano Concerto No. 2 (amazing!), and then Peter and the Wolf.  For the final part, a recent stop action film adaptation of the work was shown on the video screen as the Philharmonic played the music.  It really was wonderful, a very nice evening of classical music and film.

For wine, we brought a bottle of Buttonwood Farm Syrah Rose.  This is a light, fruity wine with notes of bananas and strawberries, and we figured that it would be a perfect way to kick off the summer concert series.  Tacos from Rubio's Mexican Grill, Syrah Rose, and Prokofiev...a great way to pass a Tuesday night!

Friday night was "Ultimate Mancini," a tribute to the work of film composer Henry Mancini.  Best known for "The Pink Panther Theme", "Peter Gunn", and "Moon River," Mancini scored movies and TV, as well as released albums of his work.  He was an amazing man whose creative genius was matched, as Julie Andrews and Richard Chamberlin said at the show, by his warmth and "down to earth" personality that gravitated those nearby to him.  

The most interesting part of the show was listening to music and realizing that pieces we knew were by Mancini, even though we had not tied his name to them.  "Baby Elephant Walk" from Hatari!, the scores for The Great Waldo Pepper, The Days of Wine and Roses and the TV miniseries from the 1980s The Thorn Birds were some of the notable parts of his canon that I was not as familiar with, but when they played music from these, I knew them immediately.

At the end of the show, the conductor, who had worked with Mancini extensively over the years at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, said "There were three things that Hank loved....good Italian food, good red wine, and fireworks."  Then he looked at the sky and said "Hey Hank!  These are for you, paisano!" and the orchestra launched into music from The Great Waldo Pepper while fireworks went off.  The perfect end to a magical evening of laughter, tears and fantastic music from a great American composer.

For wine, we brought a Zaca Mesa 2008 Cinsaut, which came in a wine shipment a while back.  This wine is simliar to a grenache, but a bit frutier and lighter on the palate, with lots of notes of strawberry and pomigranite.  It went down perfectly with burgers from the local deli and fresh rainier cherries.

We sadly do not return to the Bowl til August when our jazz series starts, but I will keep you abreast of both the music and the wines!

-V

Stay in air conditioning.

The "Dog Days" of summer are actually named after the star Sirius, the brightest star in both the sky and in the constellation Canis Major, and the "Dog Days" are based on the time that Sirius rises in the sky at morning right before sunrise.  In ancient Rome, this was towards the end of July (on or around July 24), but due to the precession of the equinoxes, which causes the times and places to change where and when we see heavenly bodies and constellations,  the "Dog Days" start around July 3 rather than the 24th.

In ancient Rome a dog was sacrificed on the morning that Sirius appeared in the sky right before sunrise, in the hopes that the worst of the summer heat could be reduced.  For some reason, I doubt that worked.

-V

Everyone knows that MJ has passed away under rather dubious circumstances.  Talk of drug use, stress, and who knows what else will be going on for some time, even after the coroner's report is made public.

First of all, I'd like to send out condolences to the surviving family of MJ, his friends, and all his fans.  The passing of anyone is sad, but when a person of his magnitude passes on, certainly many, many people will feel it.

I was never much of an MJ fan myself.  Some of his songs were catchy, but really he never caught my interest the way the other musician that was seen as his peer -- Prince -- caught my eye and musical ear.  But still, no one can take from him his place in music history and what he accomplished in his career.

That said, the love/hate relationship that people have had with MJ is continuing past his death.  He was a polarizing figure, to be sure, and it's nearly impossible that such feelings would not continue after his passing.  I'm not here to make any judgments concerning MJ, but just to comment on what seems to be going on.

One one hand we have the fans and true believers who don't care anything about the allegations of child molestation, the odd behaviors, the strange looks, etc, but just are shocked that one of the best known and most highly successful music icons of the last 30 years has passed away.  I'm sure that just as people flock to Graceland on Elvis' birthday and anniversary of his death, so will people hold services and vigils on both August 29 and June 25 (his birth and death days, respectively).  These folks say regardless of his past or oddities, he should be remembered for his body of work, talent, and the way he touched so many people with his music.

On the other hand, we have folks on the opposite side that say that none of the accusations and oddities should be forgotten, and simply because the man died, he should not be sainted now that he has passed on.  This is a fellow, they say, who was accused numerous times of child abuse, allegedly paid $20 Million US to silence someone who would have told the truth, and 'got away' with it the time he was brought to criminal court.  He's also a fellow who "turned white", wore germ masks like Howard Hughes and in general was just strange.  These people claim that MJ should not be mourned without forgetting his whole body of work, a lot of which happened in courts and in the public eye.

I'm not really sure what's right here.  I do think for the moment that the family, friends, and fans should be given time to grieve and let their sad loss be reconciled to them.  I really would like to see the haters with their crude websites and jokes (and NO I will not link to any) just go away.  Whatever we may think about MJ, he was a human being who has passed on, and that should be respected as we would want our passings, or the passings of our loved ones, to be respected.

That said, MJ does leave a lot of "baggage" behind him, and can we just forget that?  The fans and true believers would like to see the oddities and court/legal issues to be tossed in the social dustbin in favor of his music and talent.  But this was a fellow who was constantly in the public eye, did have some rather eccentric behaviors, and stood accused of some rather horrid activities with children (yes, I agree, charges that were unproven, and he was never convicted of anything, but accusations in the public mind are what make and break people).  

Can we just forget this?  No.  Should we just forget it?  I don't know.  We remember Elvis more as the young, handsome, 'King of Rock' Elvis, but there's also the fat, drug addicted Elvis that we saw not too long before his sad passing.  OJ Simpson will die as an unproven and unconvicted "murderer" in the court of public opinion, his fame at USC and the NFL overshadowed by the later things that went on.  And MJ will be remembered as an alleged "child molester" and all around odd person just as much as he will be remembered for his remarkable talent and incredible fame.

Personally, I'd rather see the man remembered for his music and the way he touched people, but we will see him remembered for a lot more.  I guess my question is:  is this fair?  What is the right way to remember MJ?  Should we only think of his musical work, should that be overshadowed by his legal and social problems, or is it fair to remember both?  

I'd be interested in your views.  But this is what I'd like to say for MJ:

In paradisum deducant te Angeli:
in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,
et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.
Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,
et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs receive you at your coming
and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem.
May a choir of angels receive you,
and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.

--In Paradiso, from the Requiem Mass.

Michael Jackson, Rest in Peace.

--V

I can't imagine being a mortician. I've had to occasionally handle dead animals and I'm utterly horrified when I have to do that, but I can't imagine dealing with a dead human body.  We've all heard stories about corpses making noises, suddenly sitting up due to a burst of brain activity, etc, and I think I would scream and run from the room just having to see that, never mind having to deal with it.

I know we need morticians, and kudos to the folks that do it, but that is not a gig I would want for any amount of money.

As for the worst particular job, back in 2000 I read about this woman's employment in a Russian cigarette factory  which must be the worst form of employment that I've heard.  Russian cigarettes are far worse than American cigarettes, with something like 200% the tar and no filters.  Larissa Solovoya's job is to sit in a room tasting Russian ciggies one after the other, with a committee of four others.  From the article:

"I've been smoking 48 years, and I never tried to quit. All my conscious life has been devoted to this," says the committee chairman, Anatoly Topekha.

"He taught me everything I know,"  [Larissa] Solovyova says humbly. "He taught me to memorize the flavor specifics of each tobacco and the sensory perceptions that a smoker has while smoking. It's a complicated process."

A complicated process that apparently took FIVE YEARS in a class to even begin to understand. These cigarettes she was smoking were called "papirosi," made of fifth-grade tobacco and as I said without a filter; instead of any kind of device to cut down on the tar and impurities in the smoke, there is a hollow cardboard tube the smoker squashes before sparking up.  Apparently this isn't an easy job;

"It is hard when we are tasting for more than an hour," Solovyova says. "Sometimes we take a 10-minute break to revive." The committee members avoid spicy foods on Thursdays and drink weak black tea at testing sessions to refresh their exhausted palates.

I don't see what's so difficult about this -- you show up, smoke, get cancer and/or heart disease, and die.  According to the article:

Last year [1999], 63,092 Russians died of lung or throat cancer, and health authorities blame 90% of the cases on smoking. In the same year, 2,355,658 died of cardiac disease, and 25% of these fatalities are blamed on smoking.

This article is also rather disturbing (and more up to date) about cigarette related deaths in Russia.  However, committee chairman Topekha doesn't seem to be worried, as he asserted:

Topekha insists that the work isn't harmful and doesn't lead to disease because "tobacco leaves the body very quickly."

"According to the latest research from the Academy of Medical Science [in Russia], tobacco is useful for your body in certain quantities," he asserts. "Tar is hazardous, but nicotine is not."

Well at least he had that much right.