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Second Life isn't just fun, it's therapeutic
Man, talk about the feel-good story of the year. Here's a refreshing article on how Second Life is being used by various people as a therapeutic tool to combat various illnesses and conditions, including stroke recovery, agoraphobia, and what sounds like Asperger Syndrome.Part of the underlying mechanisms at work here is the ability to safely interact with other residents anonymously, or being able to roleplay frightening situations safely. From the article: "Because the full-color, multifaceted nature of the experience offers so much more "emotional bandwidth" than traditional Web sites, e-mail lists and discussion groups, users say the experience can feel astonishingly real." And when the experience centers on more than just combat, this could be said of more virtual worlds than just SL -- I'm sure there are incidences of these sorts of benefits in World of Warcraft and Everquest, as well. It's time for the World Health Organization to take a serious look at the health-improving benefits of virtual worlds, and what it means to the millions of citizens worldwide.[Via Nashua Telegraph]
Enjoying OTA HDTV broadcasts? Not if you live by an airport
In a report that may get more frequent as we move towards all-digital broadcasting, Nashua Telegraph writer Joe Konopka complains about aircraft knocking out his HDTV signal momentarily every night. Sure it was annoying after the nearby airport was built and sound pollution and radio interference affected his ability to get a good night's sleep or listen to the radio. But now that he's purchased a high definition television with a built in OTA tuner, losing picture during a tense moment of 24 is the simply unacceptable. Unfortunately, now that the airport is built he doesn't have much ability to change things and laments not joining forces with an environmentalist friend to get plans changed while the airport was still being built.Ouch. Any HD Beat readers dealt with a similar issue and have suggestions? (Other than switching to cable or satellite.)
