Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Blogger Meet Up

By Marcel Mosswood, Virtual Ability community member


Writing is so much fun. And getting money from what I like to do is a blessing. That’s the reason why I like blogging. I’ve been blogging since 2007, but I’m not a blogging expert. Why? Because blogging is more than writing and publishing your writing. It is mainly about technology. About how you manage the technology to make your writing published in its best way.

Blogging is also about working together in teamwork. Brainstorming, collaborating, and supporting each other is how we work. We should collaborate with other bloggers to maintain a significant position in the search engine.

Based on this thought, I want to invite bloggers in the SL to brainstorm, collaborate, and support each other to make our blogging activity more fun. The meet up will be on Thursday, May 23, 5 PM SLT and will repeat every month on the 4th Thursday. Here is the SLURL:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cape%20Heron/158/30/22

Monday, May 13, 2019

Put Your Phone in a Sleeping Bag and Unplug for a Day


Ms. Fatemeh Rezaee, PhD student at Seoul National University, presented on March 26 at Virtual Ability’s Mental Health Symposium. During her presentation, she mentioned the National Day of Unplugging, which this year had been held March 1-2. Several audience members asked for further information about this, recognizing that they spend an increasing amount of non-quality time engaged with their phones. They seemed particularly intrigued by the idea of a “cell phone sleeping bag” to cut off some of the electronic device’s allure.

Ms. Rezaee sends along a couple of web links that are related to the concept of purposeful unplugging from your cellphone.

The National Day of Unplugging organization has a great deal of information on how to get involved. This page shows their Cell Phone Sleeping Bag: https://www.nationaldayofunplugging.com/sign-up. The page also links to a resource toolkit of activities you or your organization can use to promote the need to unplug once in a while.

Another company that makes cell phone sleeping bags is Bagby: https://bagby.co/collections/all.

Of course, if you are crafty, you don’t need to purchase one of these products. You may be able to knit, crochet, or sew a cover for your phone. One enterprising community member stated that if the one she plans to make for herself works well, then she will think about starting a home business!

Thank you Ms. Rezaee for introducing our audience to this important simple tool we can use to reclaim our lives.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Asperger's Are Us - Comedy About Not Asperger's

By Orange Planer

I recently ran across an article in The Boston Globe regarding a comedy troupe named Asperger’s Are Us.  The members of the group are Noah Britton, New Michael Ingemi, Ethan Finlan, and Jack Hanke.  They met at a summer camp in 2005 where Britton, who had recently been diagnosed with Asperger’s, was a counselor (which makes him older than the others).  They got along well enough that four years later they created their troupe which specializes in absurdist comedy and clever wordplay.

Since then they’ve been touring and have generated an HBO six-part series called “On Tour With Asperger’s Are Us.”  They don’t make a secret of the fact that all of them have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Initially they were seen as “the Asperger’s comedy team,” but they firmly reject that idea.  They formed the group to make people laugh: they just happen to have Asperger’s and do not bring attention to syndrome in any way. In fact, they’re so adamant about it that Britton says he has a response ready for the next time someone takes a patronizing approach at a show.

“Next time someone in the audience says it’s so inspiring what we’re doing, overcoming challenges, I’m going to ask, ‘What do you do?,’ ” Britton says. “Then I’ll say, ‘It’s really inspiring that you have that job, period, rather than that you’re bad or good at it. I won’t comment on that, just that it’s inspiring that you go to work as a secretary.’ Hopefully, then, they’ll sit down.” (Quote courtesy of The Boston Globe.)

I find their sense of humor brainy, multi-leveled, fun, and satirical.  I hope you get a chance to check out the article in The Boston Globe (email address required, no password) and to view their website (both linked above).