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In October Reuters’s full-time correspondent in the online virtual world Second Life reported on a possible consequence of the booming in-game economy there: taxes. Players exchange real-world money for in-game money, which is then used to buy virtual goods and services from other players; as much as $500,000 changes hands every day, and Second Life’s GDP is estimated at a real-world $64 million. Currently, players run into real-world taxes only if they cash out, but a U.S. government economist said that a congressional committee would soon consider whether to start levying taxes on in-game income and assets that never leave the virtual economy.
According to a September Wall Street Journal article, a British Airways 747 flew from Los Angeles to the UK in February 2005 even though one of its four engines had caught on fire nine seconds into the flight; though originally bound for London, the plane made an emergency landing in Manchester when fuel ran low. Air traffic controllers in Los Angeles who’d seen flames pouring out of the engine were stunned when the pilot said he would contact the airline for instructions, then reported back that they’d decided “to set off on our flight plan route and get as far as we can.” Press accounts agreed there was no evidence that this decision was affected by a recent EU regulation requiring carriers to compensate passengers for significant delays.
Emerging from a field that included deep-fried mac-and-cheese on a stick and a candy-filled burrito dipped in pancake batter and fried, the breakout snack food at this fall’s State Fair of Texas in Dallas was Abel Gonzales Jr.’s invention, fried Coke–deep-fried balls of a batter containing Coke syrup and strawberries, served in a cup and topped with more Coke syrup, whipped cream, and cinnamon sugar. Gonzales sold about 35,000 orders at the fair, and copycat recipes soon turned up at fairs in Arizona
Lawrence Roach of Seminole, Florida, told Tampa’s Bay News 9 in October that he would fight to change state alimony law. He said it was unfair that he was still making $1,200 payments each month to his ex-wife, who since their divorce had undergone a sex change. “I’m a man,” he said, “and I don’t want to pay alimony to a man.”
