Don't laugh. If it sounds like the punchline of a lawyer joke, it's not. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, "a program in the virtual world Second Life, on the application of law in virtual worlds, is counting for continuing legal education credit by the State Bar of California."

The Chronicle joins a chorus of pundits who've been telling us that virtual reality is going mainstream, articles like last week's Wall Street Journal article, "The 3D Internet Will Change How We Live."

Behind this recent headline flurry lies this month's launch of Google's answer to Second Life, Lively.

Some virtual-world scholars are unimpressed by Lively, and you can see and hear their virtual-life responses on the Terra Nova blog.