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Newt Gingrich, the disgraced former Speaker of the House, had a sit-down with IBM where he learned all about the horrors of the 3-D Internet, including Second Life, the annoying virtual world for undersexed adults, and Webkinz, the online-and-offline toy pet game for children. He calls Second Life a "sophisticated extranet," it represents "the next wave of collaboration using a 3-D Internet virtual world." He finds it compelling that "people actually spend real money to buy real estate in this online reality." So do we, in the sense that a train wreck is "compelling."


As an added bonus, Gingrich is gracing Second Life with his presence on September 27. American Solutions, an advocacy group helmed by Gingrich, is renting out the virtual front of a pretend U.S. Capitol for workshops.