For amusing journalistic contortions, observe the New York Times' take on online retail in Second Life. In the headline, we learn that marketers in Linden Lab's 3D environment are still "awaiting real sales from virtual shoppers." 1-800-Flowers sent avatars island-to-island for a couple of days to promote its online flower store: the team "interacted" with about 1,600 people. The effort is more about "relationship building" than sales, apparently. The virtual Reebok store allowed customers to "get comfortable" with their product. In other words, the truth is that nobody is selling anything in Second Life, but nobody has an interest in the truth: not the marketing execs who've wasted hundreds of thousands on their virtual world efforts, and are hoping the boss won't notice, nor the consultants who've had a conveniently opaque new service to sell, nor even the reporters, who can sell Second Life to their editors as a harbinger of the wacky future, but can only pitch it, as a bust, just the once.