I'm not quite sure who Lyndon LaRouche Jr. is, even after reading his "About me" page, nor reading about him on Wikipedia.

However, he's had a froth at the mouth about some MMORPG that's just been released (Halo 3), and in the same diatribe attacked WoW,
Entropia, Counterstrike and the like. Apparently they undermine the social fabric of America. Second Life gets a special mention, as a hedonistic and for "the adoption of an arbitrary set of anti-scientific, anti-principled rules, like that of Second Life[.]" Even wikipedia comes in for a swipe or two.

Of course the fact that there are people that use Second Life for education, and there are some excellent science education sites within Second Life doesn't matter. There's no development of the argument that makes it clear how we're all hedonistic and how SL is anti-scientific and anti-principles, but if you enjoy reading rants, you might just enjoy his article. If you don't you might want to be braced in case your boss does when you try to sell him on SL.

(Thanks to Jonah for the original tip)

Having made news earlier with their respective Entropia bank licenses, Anshe Chung and Jon Jacobs have teamed up to create the Virtual Worlds Academy, an organization designed to honor achievements such as "Best Virtual Fashion Designer" and "Most Dynamic Virtual Economy."

It's still too early to get answers to questions, but here are a few: Who gets to nominate? Which virtual worlds will be eligible? Where will the ceremony take place? While this is a cool thing and all, I'm sure there will be the predictable naysaying from the predictable quarters. I look at this as more of a giving back to the community, rather than a bid for more exposure. This should be fun! Let's hope there's a "Best News Source"!

(Via news.yahoo.com)