Does Burning Man count as an alternate reality? On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 1:44 AM, Lewis Land<lewisland(a)windstream.net> wrote: _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

I'm glad to hear that the author of the original post is at least making some decent money teaching square dancing in Second Life, considering the rather low wage scale of callers in the real world, but I'm amazed to read that he's from Massachusetts. I have contra danced in Oklahoma, North Carolina, Colorado, Oregon and Texas, but never in New England. Considering the widespread availability of contra dance outlets in that part of the country, I can't help but wonder why anyone would feel the need to indulge in virtual dancing while sitting in front of a computer monitor.

On 9/21/2011 3:59 AM, Donald Perley wrote: > Does Burning Man count as an alternate reality? > > On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 1:44 AM, Lewis Land<lewisland(a)windstream.net> wrote: >> Second Life, hmm. I must say, it is hard for me to imagine any experience >> more divorced from the spirit of contra dance than a virtual contra dance >> performed in a computer-generated alternate reality. To quote Snoopy in a >> long-ago Peanuts cartoon, "my mind reels with sarcastic replies". That's >> about as polite as I can get about such a bizarre concept. >> >> Lewis Land >> >> On 9/19/2011 3:46 PM, Dhuntdancer(a)aol.com wrote: >>> Perhaps if someone is curious enough to dance in virtual reality then >>> they >>> might be curious enough to try it in real life. I guess the challenge is >>> to get them to step away from their computer. Uummm, I'll step away in >>> just another minute... >>> >>> Donna Hunt >>> "Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should >>> dance." -unknown >>> >>> >>> In a message dated 9/19/2011 5:36:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, >>> cmbaker(a)tiac.net writes: >>> >>> >>> On Sep 16, 2011, at 12:51 PM, Chip Hedler wrote: >>> >>>> (Bizarre aside: anyone remember Second Life? Wouldn't it be cool if you >>>> could program avatars to do dance moves and have a virtual contra dance, >>> or >>>> test dance sequences? Actually, forget that! It's totally against what I >>>> value about real dancing! ) >>> I sent the following e-mail to the MWSD caller's list on April 1, 2010... >>> >>> Begin forwarded message: >>> >>>> From: Clark Baker<cmbaker(a)tiac.net> >>>> Date: April 1, 2010 12:37:41 AM EDT >>>> To: sd-callers(a)all8.com >>>> Subject: Square Dancing in Second Life >>>> >>>> With the box office success of Avatar, you may be interested in my >>> experiences taking square dancing to Second Life. In this virtual world, >>> users >>> (residents) can interact with each other through avatars. Residents can >>> explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and >>> group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with >>> one >>> another, or travel throughout the world. >>>> Second Life has an internal currency, the Linden dollar (L$). L$ can be >>> used to buy, sell, rent or trade land or goods and services with other >>> users. L$ can be purchased using US Dollars and other currencies on the >>> LindeX exchange provided by Linden Lab, independent brokers or other >>> resident >>> users. >>>> I put two and two together and created a square dance hall and offer >>> square dance lessons. People pay in L$ but I have made enough to make >>> more >>> teaching dancing in Second Life than at some dances in the real world! I >>> know that some of you are going to say that teaching square dancing in >>> virtual >>> reality doesn't count, and that the computer users should meet and >>> interact with real people. However, I believe that they are square >>> dancing, and >>> any kind of square dancing is better than nothing. >>>> Let us know what you think. >>> -- >>> Clark Baker, Belmont, MA >>> cmbaker(a)tiac.net >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Callers mailing list >>> Callers(a)sharedweight.net >>> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Callers mailing list >>> Callers(a)sharedweight.net >>> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >> _______________________________________________ >> Callers mailing list >> Callers(a)sharedweight.net >> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >> > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers(a)sharedweight.net > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

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On Sep 21, 2011, at 10:10 AM, Lewis Land wrote: some decent money teaching square dancing in Second Life, considering the rather low wage scale of callers in the real world, but I'm amazed to read that he's from Massachusetts. The author of the original post wrote it as an April Fools Joke and sent it to a MWSD caller's list, trying to get a few to bite (i.e., fall for the joke) by appealing to 1) A way to make money, and 2) The issue is dancing in second life count as dancing (like we are discussing here) I am happy to continue reading discussion on this but people should realize the initial post which I forwarded to this list was originally an April Fools Joke about square dancing in second life. -- Clark Baker, Belmont, MA cmbaker(a)tiac.net _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)sharedweight.net http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers

Pretty clever. I've always been a sucker for a well-crafted April Fools joke.