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You may have read about media outlets like CNN and Reuters opening bureaus in Second Life [2]. Well, in an ironic twist, an inhabitant of the virtual realm has embedded himself here, in the “real world.” It’s me! That’s right, I’m an avatar. I revealed this to my therapist yesterday, and he said it “sure explains a lot.” And AdFreak has started paying me in Linden dollars. My mission is to study your culture and learn all I can about your society. That is also the mission of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who’s really from Mars—and lately hasn’t been hiding it so well [3]. Since my world is a digitally generated mirror image of yours, it’s pretty similar to Earth, except that we spell mirror “rorrim.” There are other differences. In my world, every citizen is required to display at least five brand messages on his or her exposed skin or clothing at all times. You’re about a month away from that here. (Stop staring at my swoosh.) One quick question: How do you maneuver in 3-D without constantly slamming into the furniture? Ouch!!
—Posted by David Gianatasio