Tonight at 8:00pm SLT, Robb Rail is hosting an open-format political discussion he’s titled the “Wednesday Night Political Extravaganza.” Should be good, and plus… extra points for using the word extravaganza.
From the blurb:

“Come join us for our weekly discussion of all things political. The crowd will dictate the type of discussion that is held, so show up and speak your mind!

We do this every Wednesday, so mark your calanders.”

It’s Wednesday night, and that means it’s time for wednesday night chat at the Benicia Hill Community Center at 8pm slt. Tonight is “open topic” so brings ideas for stuff to discuss. Serious. Silly. Whatever you like.

Also tonight are two other tempting discussion events:

• Obama for President (6pm slt)
• Rubyists of Second Life Meeting (6pm slt)

The Rubyists meeting is “show and tell.” From the description: ” Bring any Ruby or Rails script you’ve developed and would like to discuss & share with the group.” Sounds like good, clean, nerdy fun.

Wednesday night, we’re eschewing the obvious Valentine’s Day theme and going for a political discussion instead. Take that, Cupid. Come discuss the War in Iraq at the Benicia Hill Community Center.

Tuesday night is hoppin’ with four (at the time of this writing) excellent discussion events, at various places around SL with various hosts:

• 3:30PM Thinkers Discussion: Can the Lindens become Deist gods?
• 6:00PM Meet the Authors Of the Second Life Official Guide
• 7:00PM Political Forum: Iran – Rogue State?
• 9:00PM Socrates Cafe

Go nuts!

Tee shirt reads: “Somewhere in Texas there’s a village missing an idiot.” BHCC chat participant 24 January 2006

Here are two events I recommend next tuesday, 30 January 2007:

• 3:30pm slt – Thinkers Discussion: Will the metaverse kill the planet? – Blurbage: “It sure is fun working and playing in cyberspace, and it does not seem to require much energy. Not much effort in using a mouse and keyboard, huh? But Google’s datafarms require a massive 5 gigawatts in order to handle web 2.0 applications, which is enough to power Las Vegas-hotels, casinos, restraunts and convention centres included-on the hottest day of the year. And the average SL resident requires as much energy anually as the average Brazillian (in terms of carbon emmissions, it amounts to driving a car 2,300 miles per year). With energy wastage and climate change such big issues, is cyberspace a luxury we can ill afford? Come discuss with Extropia DaSilva. All welcome!”

• 7pm slt – Political Forum: Terrorism and the Politics of Fear – Blurbage: “How has your country’s government responded to the threat of terrorism? Have they done enough to make you feel secure? Or have they gone too far? Do you regard the loss of personal freedom as a necessary part of coping with an unfortunate reality or the first steps towards an Orwellian style future? Do you feel that your government has utilized the fear generated by terrorism to secure unnecessary power? … Please join the group Political Forum if you’d like to receive notifications of upcoming events and group activities. Political Forum has been set up for people who’d like to get together for casual, fun political chats. IM Misty McConachie if you have any questions.“

Wednesday’s topic at the Benicia Hill Community Center: Hillary Clinton has thrown her hat in the ring to be the next president of the United States. How do you feel about her as a politician? Do you think the U.S. is ready to elect a woman president? Come and share your views.

Bieneff’s pick for today’s discussion is Soren Ferlinghetti’s discussion about religion and politics in the Middle East tonight at 5pm slt. From the event listing: “Short introduction to the issues (Jewish-Muslim relations, intra-Jewish interrelations, intra-Muslim relations, Middle East politics in the world context) followed by discussion on what can be done to promote understanding between people of differing religious and political orientations, especially in the Middle East.”