Ishina (She is Neda)

Ishina, sometimes called "Ishy."  I don't know her well, but I do often enjoy her posts.  She posts on gV, SC MKII and SLU. She's a kick in the pants and hell on wheels.  She's opinionated, vocal and fearless, so... well, it's the internet, so I'm thinkin' either you can fill in that blank all on your own or you just have not been on the internet very long.

A little about Ishina from Ishina:

"I spend the taxpayers hard-earned money on alcohol and nights out.  I also sometimes show up at art college."

"I actually work at a perfume counter while I'm at art college (not glamourous I know, but it helps with the bills) and that the government money I spend is actually student loans I'll have to pay back when I'm in work full time."

"Art is my passion. I live and breath it and don't give a fuck about day jobs unless I absolutely have to." 

She says things like this, to Kick, who I sometimes call "Interferon," others call a wishy-washy meddlesome fencesitter (while some admittedly call him more appreciative and generous things),  and who may well be a compulsive helper:

"If you insist on throwing yourself in the middle all the time, you'll end up on the wrong side of everyone."

"You're never on any side. You just get in the way."

That's from tonight in the "Chaos Factor: I'm calling you out" thread on SC MKII.

Ishina does not mince words.  Regarding the Forum Confidential blog she says:

"I don't even understand this fucking shitty blog."

Summing up her opinion of Coldplay she says:

"Fuck Coldplay."

Expressing her admiration for Serena Williams:

"Serena is a warrior goddess.  She is easily amongst the greats. "

But posting her short and "sweet" posts is doing her a disservice as the longer ones often demonstrate her passion, wit, nerve and talent for getting to the meat of the matter like a butcher.  I'm reminded of a line spoken by Daniel Craig as Bond in Casino Royale:

Vesper Lynd: "Even accountants have imagination. How was your lamb?"

James Bond:  "Skewered.  One sympathizes."

I've often thought that being insulted by Ishina would be a bit like being insulted by Don Rickles, a little bit painful and a little bit fun and maybe even a little zeitgeisty, like it would have a kind of cachet.  I think I've run afoul of Ishina only once and we were still cautiously and somewhat respectfully tapdancing around each other, in my view and at that time, so I did not get the full impact, though I appreciated the post and the sentiments behind it.

Ishina said:

"I don’t know what to make of you. You seem too bright to start chanting this kind of mantra. You always had that sphere of presence and dignity around you that protected you from guilt by association and allowed you reasonable deniability of ever being one of 'them'."

"I had faith in you, still do. Don’t compromise yourself by scooping out that little rancid arsehole like these other shit-drinking little minions. Play it cool, Lee."

Posts I made about Ishina on gV:

Ishy

Things I'm learning about Ishina now that I'm reading her a little more:

Ishina seems politically and socially aware and engaged.

Ishina believes that "multiculturalism is a complete fucktastrophy." She feels that issues related to it are, unfortunately, thriving in Britain. She feels the people in British government could do more to mitigate that, including making strong public statements against abusive practices.

Ishina appears to be against religious practices that might be seen to limit personal freedom or promulgate hate, such as female circumcision, a Hijab requirement or curriculum that teaches that the holocaust never happened.


Ishina loves music.  Specifically Hip Hop and Trip Hop.  Soothe the savage Ishy with some Massive Attack.

She quotes proof sources.   I also like Ishina's witty use of pop culture references, natch. Little Britain, WoW and LOTR, for example.


She seems quite interested in the situation in Libya (I & II).

She also has a way with words and phrasing.


As a side note, I also learned that Cody/Dakota thinks that Ishina is hot. Monna thinks Ishina is hot too.  There's a lot of Ishy appreciation on the interwebz.  Hell, I'm a straight female and I think Ishy's hot.


She is also engaged to be married. And she had a birthday in February. Isn't that nice?

Ishina makes me cringe at times, and there are posts of hers I'd happily distance myself from, but in general, I'm a fan.  I certainly seek her out to read her.

But enough about me and Ishina.  Here's what some others have said about Ishina.

Arilynn describing Ishina:

"She is in school, working, and does activist work on a subject she is knowledgeable and passionate about."

Mulch talking about Ishina on gotVirtual.net:

"ishina understands the words she uses, and chooses them well"

Still playing it cool, Ishina.


Links:
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showpost.php?p=238382&postcount=101
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showpost.php?p=264217&postcount=22
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showthread.php?p=376949#post376949
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showthread.php?p=376948#post376948
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showthread.php?p=375065#post375065
http://www.secondcitizen.net/Forum/showthread.php?p=375116#post375116
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/the-saloon-a-mature-area17-nsfw-red-thread.1200/page-10#post-85951
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/lees-coffee-house.801/page-16#post-82706
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/lees-coffee-house.801/page-16#post-82785
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/mulch-waits-for-wad.1699/page-31#post-82771
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/mulch-waits-for-wad.1699/page-28#post-82671
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/tell-you-what-uncle-fester.1645/page-8#post-79570

Pserendipity Daniels (sometimes Pep)

I've also been asked about Pep.

Here's what I said to Prokofy Neva about Pep on gotVirtual.net in February of 2011 after being asked twice:

Pep is Pserendipity Daniels. As a self-described (through the quotes and references in your blog) reader of the official Second Life blogorums, you would no doubt recognize the poster by that name, "Pserendipity Daniels." He also has a blog.

Pep's Parenthetical Postscripts

His tenure on SC MKII and SLUniverse is too short-lived for you to lump him in with the rest of the posters from those sites. But Pep was prolific on the SL blogorums.

He likes to enlighten, educate, agitate, uncover, expose and tilt at windmills too. You might like him.

For more on Pep, see here.

I brought a visual aid.



Is Pep a person? Yes.
Is Pep a persona on the forums? Yes, with this caveat: "Every forum version of Pep has been very careful to point out that none of them are the same persona as any of the rest of them, and can not be guaranteed."
Is Pep a poster on this forum? Yes.
Is Pep an acronym? No. It's a short nickname for Pserendipity Daniels. Hence "Pep" and not "PEP."
Is Pep the name of an avatar? Yes, a forum-poster avatar. And quite possibly the nickname of an inworld SL avatar known as Pserendipity Daniels. Though some distinction has been made between "inworld Pep" and "forum Pep."
Is Pep the name of some kind of role? No, although in some ways... yes. (See Pep's own remarks on that subject and the remarks of others who have something to say about the role he plays.)
Is Pep bigger than a bread box? Yes, much bigger.
Can I put Pep in my mouth? That's between you and Pep.
Is Pep a forum term like "OP" original poster? No.
Does Pep have a blog? Yes.
Does Pep respond when you post to him? Yes. Usually, anyway.
Does Pep answer questions? Yes. He sometimes grants wishes too.
Is Pep one of those blowhard posters constantly on transmit-only mode? No. Pep reads and "receives," so to speak. He "listens."
Does Pep have any strong opinions about things? Why yes, yes he does.
Does Pep like lolcats? No, and it's best not to push that particular issue with him.
Does Pep like any pictures? Yes, "as long as they complement the text, or are not a lazy, meaningless option."
Does Pep "get" pop culture references? Pep knows information vegetable, animal, and mineral. He knows the kings of England and can quote the fights historical. Pep gets them, uses them, and wields them like a bouquet of roses or a cannon, depending on the situation, which is why he will appreciate some of the ones I've stuck in here.
Is Pep a "tough guy"? Chuck Norris and Ron Perlman ain't got nothin' on Pep.
Does Pep have a sense of humor? Yes, thank god.
What is the joke? Pep is more of a joker, than a joke. Chat with him and you'll find out.

I'll be writing the Pep Wikipedia entry next.


From Pep's blog:

ABOUT ME

PSERENDIPITY DANIELS

Pep for short (saving wear and tear on those sensitive digital sex organs) to my friends, although those who tend to over-react over-emotionally and illogically use various other nonPG appellations.

This is quite possibly the one time and place where I'd like to use that freaky [you] function that's so popular over on SC MKII.


http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/standing-invitation-for-scmk-ii-and-slu-people-who-have-an-axe-to-grind.243/page-81#post-27486
http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/peps-ball-field.830/page-2#post-27928



Here's something Pep said about himself and his name and posting in general on gotVirtual.net in the "axe to grind" thread:

"Careful Lee. Every forum version of Pep has been very careful to point out that none of them are the same persona as any of the rest of them, and can not be guaranteed even to have the same rl author from one post to the next. About the only thing that you can be sure of is that the Inworld Pserendipity Daniels has the same author as Forum Pserendipity Daniels (both known informally as Pep) because LL would have kittens if they thought that a different rl person was using the same login for the two "physically" separable environments which LL consider to be one "logical" internet namespace. It is probably fair, though, to assume that most (but not necessarily all) of the posts in the Pserendipity Daniels blog are made by the same real life author.

I am, however, sure that Forum Pep would want me to point out that the graphic you show is misleading, as he never intentionally posted in any other official "new" forum than General Discussions, and the chart you show is for *all* the SL Jive based forums, including the Commerce (*spit*) forum and SL Answers, where his abilities were not up to the post-doc level of cutting and pasting that was required. He was actually second only to Queen Suspiria in GD, whose post count was artificially inflated by an unlimited number of posts saying 'thank you for posting your badly composed shot of your ugly-cankled and linebacker-thighed avatar to my vanity thread'.

Pep (also is reputed to have a multitude of nefarious and malicious alts, according to the paranoid Suspiria and her Forum Alt Alt Cartel, including one by the name of Cato, which is why our sweet CaTo - Caitlin Tobias inworld - has been branded as his alt by the LeckaLike admin over in the OffWorld forum.)"

http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/standing-invitation-for-scmk-ii-and-slu-people-who-have-an-axe-to-grind.243/page-81#post-27554


Links:
Pep's Ball Field:  http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/peps-ball-field.830/
Pep's Parenthetical Postscripts:  http://pserendipitydaniels.blogspot.com/

http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/standing-invitation-for-scmk-ii-and-slu-people-who-have-an-axe-to-grind.243/page-81#post-27486

http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/standing-invitation-for-scmk-ii-and-slu-people-who-have-an-axe-to-grind.243/page-81#post-27554

http://gotvirtual.net/community/threads/peps-ball-field.830/page-2#post-27928

Why is Prokofy Neva famous?

One of the Search Keywords phrases that led to my blog is "why is prokofy neva famous?"



A reasonable question.

Here are some possible answers:

1.  Prokofy Neva writes a controversial, much-viewed and frequently updated blog called Second Thoughts that is bot-fed to forums and linked on other sites.  Prokofy Neva used to write for the The Alphaville Herald.  Neva's writing is...colorful.
2.  Prokofy Neva is an avatar, an SL "oldbie," landlord, writer, political activist and some would say "conspiracy theorist," "troll" and "fuckwad."  Prokofy Neva actually makes money on Second Life.
3.  Prokofy Neva is also the subject of many searches, posts, discussions and harassment and stalking efforts.
4.  Prokofy Neva has profile pages on Encyclopedia Dramatica, SecondLife.Wikia.com and Urban Dictionary.
5.  Prokofy Neva has been interviewed by major news organizations such as The New York Times and Wired Magazine.
6.  Prokofy Neva has a pretty impressive ban record (forums).
7.  Prokofy Neva is or has been involved in multiple lengthy, high-profile (in the virtual world) and virtual-earth scorched feuds that have captured the attention of many netizens.
8.  Prokofy Neva reportedly popularized the term "Fetid Inner Core (FIC)."
9.  Prokofy Neva is reportedly a vocal critic of communism, human rights abuses, excessive influence and posturing of child avatar and BDSM groups in virtual worlds, griefers, lack of voting on JIRA, Linden Lab, the open source movement, Wikileaks and Woodbury University.
10.  Prokofy Neva has attracted the attention of many people including those that want to read Neva, argue with Neva, support Neva, find Neva, play with Neva, copy Neva or spoof Neva.

Do you have interviews in The New York Times and Wired Magazine?  Do you have profile pages on Encyclopedia Dramatica, SecondLife.Wikia.com and Urban Dictionary?  That may be why Prokofy Neva is famous.

Excerpt from Wired Magazine online article called "Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers, the Sociopaths of the Virtual World" written by Julian Dibbell in 2008:

"People laughed at those attacks, but for Prokofy Neva, another well-known Second Life real estate entrepreneur, no amount of humor or creativity can excuse what she sees as 'terrorism.' Prokofy (Catherine Fitzpatrick in real life, a Manhattan resident, mother of two, and Russian translator and human-rights worker by trade) earns a modest but bankable income renting out her Second Life properties, and griefing attacks aimed at her, she says, have rattled some tenants enough to make them cancel their leases. Which is why her response to those who defend her griefers as anything but glorified criminals is blunt: 'Fuck, this is a denial-of-service attack ... it's anti-civilization ... it's wrong ... it costs me hundreds of US dollars.'

Of course, this attitude delights the terrorists in question, and they've made Prokofy a favorite target. The 51-year-old Fitzpatrick's avatar is male, but Goons got ahold of a photo of her, and great sport has been made of it ever since. One build featured a giant Easter Island head of Fitzpatrick spitting out screenshots of her blog. Another time, Prokofy teleported into one of her rental areas and had the 'very creepy' experience of seeing her own face looking straight down from a giant airborne image overhead.

Still, even the fiercest of Prokofy's antagonists recognize her central point: Once real money is at stake, 'serious business' starts to look a lot like, well, serious business, and messing with it starts to take on buzz-killing legal implications. "

Excerpt from Encyclopedia Dramatica:

"So many people have ordered pizza for her without her consent that all pizza parlors on the East Side of Manhattan now call her to confirm orders are valid before delivering."

JLU BrainiacWiki on Prokofy Neva:

"An outspoken and often contraversial writer and critic for the Second Life Herald. Her views are considered extreme by many, though she generally supports the notions of peace and order within the metaverse. Because of this, she is the target of much taunting and mockery by griefer groups, the most recent being the Patriotic Nigras.

Prokofy Neva is a SL resident running the land rental business Ravenglass Rentals. She is also known for posting controversial viewpoints on her blog (see links) and various Second Life-related forums."

Dale Innis on Prokofy Neva:

"Prokofy Neva is a well-known Second Life Resident, landowner, and weblog author, with a long experience in the world, strong and strongly-expressed feelings on various subjects, and good writing skills. He is one of the founders of the SL Public Land Preserve, among other interesting and worthwhile things in the world. He is also, unfortunately, prone to posting long and vicious diatribes against other Residents, full of profanity, name-calling, accusations of hidden malicious motives, and elaborate conspiracy theories."

Here on Youtube at about 3:00, Prokofy Neva is described as "arguably the clearest thinker of the virtual world, never too tired to hold the Lindens' feet to the fire."

Prokofy Neva posting on Broken Systems:

"The fundamental problem with Second Life is arbitrary abuse of power. When it becomes more just on a whole number of fronts -- when it stops hiding statistics, or banning critics, or favouring one business with windfall advertising or giving some people special deals, then it will do better. What I write about isn't crazy; it's absolutely normal stuff. The sort of stuff that all the anonymous zealots here who always beat up on me would want for their own real lives, even though they curiously never want it for their games."

Note that Prokofy says,

"To get to know me write dyerbrookME [at] juno.com rather than google witch-hunting me : )"

Links:
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/
http://secondlife.wikia.com/wiki/Prokofy_Neva
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=prokofy%20neva
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/prokofy-neva/2/353/710
http://twitter.com/#!/prokofy
http://wiki.sl4.me/index.php/Prokofy_Neva
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/technology/19virtual.html?pagewanted=2
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/business/yourmoney/09second.html?pagewanted=
http://brokensystems.com/showthread.php?189-Second-Life-Community-We-REALLY-Fear-Change&p=3247#post3247
http://alphavilleherald.com/2010/12/prokofy-neva-vs-robert-wright-the-video.html
http://virtuallyblind.com/benjamin-duranske-on-prokofy-neva/
http://www.vintfalken.com/benjamin-duranske-vs-catherine-fitzpatrick/
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.ch/Prokofy_Neva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_A._Fitzpatrick
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/second-life-safari/shiplog-uss-prokofy.php
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2005/06/feted_inner_cho.html
http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2007/12/19/prokofy-nevas-predictions-for-2008/
http://getasecondlife.net/2008/04/second-life-geral/another-side-to-the-issue-prokofy-neva/
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=prokofy+neva&aq=f
http://wb.gemnetworks.com/8/Periwink-whatmall/default_098.html
https://www.economist.com/user/3226509/comments
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prokofy-Neva/278069566320
http://prokofywatch.blogspot.com/
http://thelistsl.blogspot.com/2011/02/prokofy-neva-catherine-fitzpatrick.html?zx=d716eb47926aee11
http://alphavilleherald.com/

Confidential

  

Wikipedia said:

"Confidential was a periodical published quarterly from December 1952 to August 1953, and then bi-monthly until 1978. It was founded by Robert Harrison and is considered a pioneer in scandal, gossip, and exposé journalism. Newsweek said it featured 'sin and sex with a seasoning of right wing politics'.

Its journalism consisted just as much of innuendo as of exposés. For example, the magazine alleged that Bing Crosby was a wife beater and that Rock Hudson and Liberace were homosexuals ('Lavender Lads'), and made public the fact that Robert Mitchum had been charged with smoking marijuana. Apart from spreading gossip and outing homosexuals, Confidential combined its exposés with a conservative agenda especially targeted at those who sympathized with the political left and at celebrities that it claimed were engaged in inter-racial affairs.

Humphrey Bogart described its popularity: 'Everybody reads it but they say the cook brought it into the house.'

Confidential's technique for the writing of an article was also innovative. In 1955 Time described the journalistic approach: 'By sprinkling grains of fact into a cheesecake of innuendo, detraction and plain smut, Confidential creates the illusion of reporting the 'lowdown' on celebrities. Its standard method: dig up one sensational ‘fact’ and embroider it for 1,500 to 2,000 words. If the subject thinks of suing, he may quickly realize that the fact is true, even if the embroidery is not. […] The magazine specializes in finding one black mark in a subject's distant past, and hammering him with it...'

The first issue was published in 1952 under the headline "The Lid is Off!". Under the slogan "Tells the Facts and Names the Names" Confidential soon became the fastest growing magazine in the U.S. After only a couple of issues the magazine claimed its circulation was four million copies.  As each copy was reckoned to be read by ten persons this meant that the publication reached every fifth American if Confidential's own figures were accurate). Robert Harrison was estimated to make half a million dollars per issue.

By July 1955, TIME was decrying Confidential's success: 'In a little more than two years, a 25¢ magazine called Confidential, based on the proposition that millions like to wallow in scurrility, has become the biggest newsstand seller in the U.S. Newsmen have called Confidential ('Tells the Facts and Names the Names') everything from "scrawling on privy walls' to a 'sewer sheet of supercharged sex.' But with each bimonthly issue, printed on cheap paper and crammed with splashy pictures, Confidential's sale has grown even faster than its journalistic reputation has fallen.'

Due to Confidential's success, and the large amount of revenue it generated, competing magazines soon were created – Hush-Hush, Uncensored, Naked Truth, Rave, Private Affairs, Revealed, Side Street, Exposed, The Lowdown, Exclusive, Blast, Inside, On the Q.T. All of these magazines had striking slogans in the Confidential tradition: "Uncensored And Off The Record", "What You Don’t Know About The People You Know", "Stories The Newspapers Won’t Print!", “All The Facts...All The Names”. Even Confidential recycled their own articles in Whisper, one of Robert Harrison’s other publications."

The Washington City Paper said:

"Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer were a couple of New York City newspapermen who had the chutzpah in 1951 to publish a book, Washington Confidential (*), that promised the 'low-down on the big town.' The writers had earlier published Chicago Confidential, which, according to the dust jacket for WC, 'was viciously attacked and vilified by public officials, notables and literary critics all over the country.'

The fact that Lait and Mortimer's publisher, Crown, thought such information might help sell the new book said a lot about everyone involved. It said they were way ahead of their time in understanding that scandal and hyperbole sell so much better than facts and reason."

  

Gawker.com said:

"Henry E. Scott — In the new book Shocking True Story, Henry E. Scott details the rise and fall of Confidential magazine which was the TMZ of 1950s Hollywood sleaze. We have an excerpt. And Scott was nice enough to scan some covers.

The magazine, in stripping away layer upon layer of Hollywood puffery, left a legacy of skepticism and cynicism that was quickly embraced by Americans who had come to doubt the oh-so-wholesome image of life they saw projected endlessly on the silver screen.

Although Confidential eventually fell, it spawned dozens of imitators, some of which continue to prosper. In many ways, Confidential was father to the National Enquirer, the Star, E! True Hollywood Story, Access Hollywood, TMZ.com, and for that matter, today's Vanity Fair. Confidential was, in a sense, inevitable. 'Half-fictionalized as they are,' said Camille Paglia, the feminist social critic who grew up reading Confidential, 'the tabloids, with their twin themes of sex and violence, tell the lurid pagan truth about life.' As Robert Harrison put it, 'I sincerely believe the basic vehicle of the story-behind-the-story will be here long after we are all dead.'"

See more here:  http://gawker.com/5454839/when-gossip-was-gritty-confidential-magazine




Beltway Confidential, Los Angeles Confidential and now... Forum Confidential.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidential_(magazine)
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2010/06/29/washington-confidential-on-d-c-dining-and-nightlife-circa-1950s/
http://gawker.com/5454839/when-gossip-was-gritty-confidential-magazine
http://blog.chron.com/beltwayconfidential/
http://la-confidential-magazine.com/
http://slconfidential.blogspot.com

Blog Snapshot (July 1, 2011)

Pep issued a challenge in his post, "Friday Competition."  It's a rare and excellent opportunity to get a LOLcat on his guarded-by-puppies blog.




Forum Confidential gave out awards ranging from Best Actor and Actress in a Comedy or Drama to Troll of the Week.  I won Best Set Decorator.  Go to the comments section of the post to see my acceptance speech.


 

Ariane blogged about virtual women and dating sims including...

Cloud Girlfriend
Web Girlfriend
V-Girl
Kari Girl
ArianeB
3DGirlz
Pinkobox
Keeley
Biwihotohaisi.com

Ariane B said:

"Ugo.com recently did a list of Virtual Girlfriends You Can Date of which I am number 5.  Its an entertaining list covering many kinds of virtual dating with virtual girls. Stay away from #4 (3D Girlz) I got a malware warning when I went there.   Another list that had me as an entry is a list of dating sims at playforceone.com (link NSFW due to ads), a list of 36 other dating sim games available online.  A couple I have tried before were not that good, but that still leaves 34 I have not tried." 

The bloggers at Dwell On It discussed the simplification of age-verification in Second Life and announced that Linden Lab is looking for a new spokesperson.  And look!  Duran Duran!

Tateru Nino said:

"Now Duran Duran has announced that they’re actually going to open up their Duran Duran Universe site in Second Life at last, after almost five years.

Well, it’s been announced a second time, leastways. I’m not exactly sure how high my confidence level is in that opening right now."

Prokofy Neva continues to talk about AnnMarie OToole's runaway vehicles, Rodvik Linden and childishly short avatars.

Prokofy said:

"It occurred to me today that if it weren't about height and proportion, it could be about almost any other thing -- the Scourgemobile "vehicle rights" that AnneMarie Otoole is demanding to impose on the entire grid, even on other people's land; on ARC scores; on who knows, avatar toenail polish. Someone could start complaining that it's unfair that you can't paint your avatar's toenails in appearance mode, and have to buy workaround tatoos that take up attachment areas..."

"'Just wait until the world grows!' Cocoanut used to say in many a forums argument with these people, because she knew that their sectarian and elitist arguments would wither when more and more and more normal people -- ordinary, everyday people who use virtual worlds instead of build them -- came in the door and challenged the insanity and cultishness of these freaks." 

Daniel Voyager provided a list of significant real life companies still maintaining a presence in Second Life.  He also helpfully recapped recent SL news and provided a heads up on some July 2011 events.