[I apologize for my extended absence, loyal Herald readers, but I had some offworld things to attend to. Please accept along with my apology this week's model, Justine Babii, in a special SLebrity edition of Post 6. As you can see from the pictures, Justine is amazing and a pleasure to work with. Thank you Justine for dragging me back into this.~Timothy Morpork]

Hello Herald! I like to call this pose "Putting your money where your mouth is!"

For those who don't know me, I used to be a blogger for several SL news services, and I was also the Post 6 Photographer for a while. I dropped out of Second Life for a couple of years and have now found my way back.

One of the few people on my friends list who is regularly on these days is Carol Pixelmaid-Morpork, wife of Post 6 Photographer Timothy, so she and I hang out a lot. Recently, Timothy got me to pose for his Beautiful Avatars blog, and so I took advantage of that to get him to help get the Herald moving again.

"Why don't you pose?!" Timothy said. His wife Carol joined him in praising this as a good idea. I have to say I see the merit of it, as Timothy does make me look a LOT better than I usually feel And now you see why I also call this pose, "Putting your money where your mouth is."

So, you get to see the news lady naked, the bits the blogger probably wants to keep off the webs. I'd do that for the Herald. It's a worthy cause and I hope any of you who agree with me will contact Timothy Morpork and sign up to do Post 6, or if you have a story idea, contact me, or if you can write, contact Pixeleen for an interview. Let's re-energize the best game blog, the best virtual world blog, the best virtual news source....whatever this is, let's get it going again.

Finally, in the rider in my "appearing nekkid" contract there are a couple of things I get as perks. In addition to Jimbo Quality picking the brown M&M's out of the bowls in my dressing room, I have the right to plug my friend Carol's store, and, despite his protestations, plug her husband Timothy's blog, where you can see more of me from the Post 6 shoot as well as his other awesome pictures.

Thank you Timothy for coming back, and thank you for making me look so beautiful. I hope you all like the pictures, they were fun to make and the start of what I hope is many more great weeks of Post 6 here on the Alphaville Herald.

Failing rental revenue dooms historic Second Life sex sim

The notorious Hard Alley may be doomed by the faltering Second Life in-world economy - a shocking development for both militant protesters and forced urban roleplay fans who are likely to lose a formerly vital venue.

Hard Rust - the owner and mastermind of the Hard Alley experience for over 5 years - has been circulating a notecard warning that he can no longer cover his expenses from rentals and donations. Unless an investor with deep pockets steps forward soon, the sim is slated to close in early March.

We can only hope that well connected fanboys will prevail on their special Linden friends to save this historic site so that future generations of noobies can experience the finest Second Life has to offer. As this priceless artistic treasure's fate hangs in the balance the world looks toward "thought leaders" such as  Prokofy Neva and Dusan Writer for hope. Oh wait -- did they check out too?

After 5 years, Hard Alley can no longer cover expenses

The closing is the latest chapter in a series of sim shutdowns that threaten historic Second Life landmarks - and ultimately the viability of Linden Lab's virtual world. While Linden Lab is unwilling or unable to reduce land "tier" fees, virtual world entrepreneurs such as Mr. Hard Rust are increasingly hard pressed to cover their costs from revenue earned in the virtual economy. The economic pressures are intense, with regions running $295/month USD and Linden Lab showing little sign of cutting costs to stimulate demand. For all but the most wealthy, the long term outlook is grim.

After the sim is gone, how long will the Hard Alley web site last?

If the virtual sex and land rental business is failing to cover expenses, what is left for the Lab? More importantly, where will the Hard Alley Reform School and School Girls Gone Bad inmates be housed?

#Occupy2012 video documents live manifestation of Prophetseer Emeritus

"Turn off your TVs for a start"

Featuring a healthy dose of pepper spray - which sources on the UC Davis campus recently learned is basically a food product - the latest Rap News release from TheJuiceNews continues Robert Foster's grand tradition of "turning bollocks-news into socio-poetic/comedic analyses which everyone can relate to and understand".

TheJuiceNews regulars Terrence Moonseed and General Baxter are interviewed early in the coverage followed by an unforgettable Anonymous human megaphone mic check. But the highlight of the coverage is likely to provide a near religious experience for linguistic students as we learn that Noam Chomsky is capable of a doing a very good Chomsky impression. Who could have guessed?