They started a bookcrossing group on second life so start a caving group. I
did not join the bookcrossing second life as I spend the time reading.
Quinta
----- Original Message -----
From: "Diana Tomchick" <diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu>
To: "CaveTex" <texascavers@texascavers.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 3:16 PM
Subject: [Texascavers] above ground caving vs. virtual reality caving
All this talk about other-than-underground caving reminds me of an
incident that occurred a few weeks ago. Will Harris, Bill Steele and I
took a group of four young women from the Metroplex to Austin to
introduce them to underground caving. BTW, many thanks to Julie Jenkins
and the TCMA for providing access to Whirlpool and Maple Run Caves for
our adventure. On the trip down to Austin on Saturday morning, the women
had many questions about caving and cavers and we managed to spend the
entire 3.5 hours regaling them with stories and assuring them that
ceiling collapse was not a likely danger in most caves, and certainly not
in the ones they would be visiting.
On Sunday morning, after our visit to Maple Run, we loaded up the truck
and headed north. This time the conversation waned, so I plugged my iPod
into the sound system and played a few episodes of NPR's "Science Friday"
podcast (www.sciencefriday.com). The first episode featured astronomers
who had discovered a "hole in the universe"--a region nearly a billion
light-years across that is empty (no stars, no dust, no gas, no dark
matter, nothing). That was kind of neat, thinking about exploring a giant
hole in the universe, rather than a giant hole in the ground. The second
episode featured a panel of guests who talked about on-line virtual
worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft (see
http://www.sciencefriday.com/ pages/2007/Aug/hour2_083107.html for this
particular podcast). This sparked a brief discussion in the truck, as one
of the young women has been an active participant in Second Life for many
years. One of the guests in the podcast pointed out that many handicapped
people find it therapeutic to participate in these on-line virtual
reality worlds, as they are able to design avatars that aren't limited in
their physical abilities.
So...does anyone out there know if there's a lot of caving going on in
any of these on-line virtual reality worlds? Imagine the possibilities!
Your avatar could look like Floyd Collins, or the Geico caveman, or just
a really buff version of yourself. Think of the things you could discover
while caving! Chupacabras, dragons, pirate booty, lost cities, wormholes
to Mars, the connection between Carlsbad and Mammoth, the list goes on...
Diana
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Diana R. Tomchick
Associate Professor
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Department of Biochemistry
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Rm. ND10.214B Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A. Email:
diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu
214-645-6383 (phone)
214-645-6353 (fax)
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