Little David, all smiles in the arms of Guy Ritchie (not in picture); Madonna shows her attitude. (Reuters)

There’s a buzz in the blog world about Second Life. For those not in the know, Second Life is a 3D virtual world that is (second) home to more than a million people across the globe. Inside this online address, developed by Linden Lab, one can create an ‘avatar’ of any shape, sex or even species. The avatars interact with each other, buy virtual real estate, go to virtual offices and even marry, virtually. Second Life has its own newspaper and news agency. Reuters last week opened a Second Life bureau that would report only on the community.

An increasing number of Second Life residents are chucking their jobs in the real world to make their living within the virtual economy. Sounds incredible? Nicholas Chase (http://www.chaosmagnet.com) explains: “Everything in Second Life is built by residents, and you can buy and sell these using Linden dollars. What’s cool about that? Well, how about the fact that you can buy and sell those Linden dollars using real dollars. Yes, that means that if you make money in Second Life, you can turn that into cold hard cash. How much cold hard cash? The exchange rate fluctuates, but as far as I can tell, it’s about one American dollar for 250 Linden dollars.”

Businesses have hitched a ride on the bandwagon. Second Life resident Kimberly Maul (http://thebookstandard.typepad.com) lists what’s on offer: “Companies like Adidas and Toyota promote and sell products in this virtual world... Penguin is the first major publishing company to have a presence in Second Life... London-based literary agency Greene & Heaton has weekly ‘office hours’ where Second Life residents can talk to an agent. Author Kurt Vonnegut has an avatar.” So does Duran Duran.

Some residents have chosen to blog only on their Second Life experiences. Here’s Alaska Metropolitan (http://alaskametro.blogspot.com), a fashion designer in Second Life: “I don’t have as much time to spend in Second Life as I wish I could, because of my attempt to balance school + work + financial responsibilities + a social life (the last especially seems to suffer lately). Every once in a while when I log in, the growth of the grid sneaks up and surprises me. My clothing sales have increased over the last few months; it wasn’t until they announced the millionth account created that I clued in as to why this was happening.”

Brangelina (Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie) are reportedly in the process of adopting an Indian child even as Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s adoption of little David Banda from Malawi kicks up a storm.

Herclitus (http://the-reaction.blogspot.com) says: “White celebrities should just forego mentioning Africa altogether (I’d even be in favour of passing a law requiring it)... Well, now Madonna is back from Africa, and going on the offensive (and on Oprah, no less)… Apparently, she still doesn’t understand why people are less than admiring of her ploy of going to Africa and carrying off someone else’s child as a symbol of her moral goodness, a pendant to pin to her chest to remind the world of how noble she is.”

The fierceness of the criticism has prompted the Material Girl to use, what else, but her blog (http://madonnasthoughts.blogspot.com) to clarify her position: “I DID NOT pick my baby out in a lineup! I was sent photos of children to consider. Please help me get the truth out. Friends have told me about stories implying I picked my son out like I was shopping for a ‘handbag’. Nothing could be further from the truth!”