It turns out that, in the online world of Second Life, many people prefer to take the shape of anthropomorphic animals called "furries," and this one is in a virtual bar talking about her frustrating job at a New York publishing house.

Seeing the term "furries" in a Washington Post article stopped me down the same as seeing a mention of "goatse" in...well, a Washington Post article, would have done.
 Alexander Wolfe | 1:00 PM

I remember seeing George Lucas's short student film, THX-1138, back in the late '60s. It won the top prize at a student film festival--he was out of USC or UCLA, if I recall.

It was about claustrophobia in a subterranean world of electronic artifice. Then the hero finds a tunnel leading to a door and bursts through, into the empty desert, just as the blazing sun is rising in all its glory.

Only the actual touch of the sun, or water, or a woman, breaks through and wrests me from our collectively self-imposed dream.

Virtual? Not enough time left for that.
 williamyard | 12:39 PM