At the time of writing, the Conservative Party has almost completed the process of electing a new leader who will automatically become the new Prime Minister. The twelve or more candidates have dropped out, one by one, and we have the final two: Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson.

Boris Johnson has become the clear favourite. I have found a clip of him answering a question on a television show. The interviewer has asked him if he has a hobby. Note his facial expressions as he answers.

I read issue one of The Silver Surfer: Black the other day, and I found a set of bonus features at the back. These included a three stage illustration of every page in the comic: first with pencils, then with inks, and finally with full colours.

In 2002 Arcada began an experiment that aimed to develop a learning laboratory in the form of a virtual culture embodied in an online world. This essay examines how and why this was attempted; the opportunities that it offered; and the reasons why the experiment was ended.

The essay is a (slightly) revised version of a chapter included in Transforming Virtual World Learning, edited by Randy Hinrichs and Charles Wankel. The book was published in 2011 by Emerald: London.