Invasion of the bluestockings

It looks as if SL may be on the verge of another wave of new people. Following a long and not entirely positive article in the London Times yesterday, the influential BBC radio 4 programme Today just ran an item on an SL meeting in Davos.

The main focus of their article was the involvement of Arianna Huffington, nee Stassinopoulos, most famous in the UK for her relationship with the Times columnist Bernard Levin, but now famous for her blog, The Huffington Post. Arianna reported that she is in Second Life in the guise of Hera. She said that he daughters aged 15 and 17 had been appalled at her first avatar and had insisted that she tone it down - with no midriff nudity.

Arianna! Newbie mistake! Never allow your teenage offspring to control your Second Life! They have enough impact on your first life… the whole point of having a Second Life is to leave those roles and responsibilities behind you. You CAN be whomever you want, including a slut goddess if you want to be.

Arianna in talking to the BBC explained one of the benefits of SL: that people in the grip of mid-life crisis may work it out in virtual form rather than running off with their secretary. Whether that will endear it to the SL widows and widowers out there is unknown.

The item wasn’t very deep or meaningful in itself, but among the UK literati of a particular age, Arianna is well-known, and I think it may encourage other intellectuals to try it. Probably they will be visible by their attempts to demonstrate their erudition in choice of avatar name. Expect lots of Greek and Roman dieties!