It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Real life is hard these days, so we'll put on our Mr. Rogers sweater and journey over to the Land of Make-Believe.

First stop, Play­Station 3, which is adding a program that delivers the news to gamers. Hopefully that news will come from local TV personalities, so when you're playing "World of Warcraft," you can capture Jim Forman, lock him in Ethereum Prison and throw away the key.

Then there's alternative currency. A growing number of people are using an online system where they exchange goods and services for "life dollars."

The movement is starting small, but once enough people jump aboard, the plan is to invest heavily in fantasy mortgages -- you know, just like a real bank.

And finally, Internet porn. Julie Muhlstein writes that Everett libraries have good reason to offer unfiltered Web access, even if that gives some people access to XXX-rated material. However, they can be asked to stop. Says Everett's library director: "We take patron complaints seriously."

That's exactly what the librarian in all those porn movies would say.