Going About the SL9B

This week has been a busy one for me. Events in real-life have taken up much of my time. But I still have a little time to check out the Second Life Ninth Birthday area. On Wednesday June 20th, I took a look at a few exhibits around.

Earlier on Sunday June 17, I had a look at the Jamboree sim. Going about on the 20th, I heard about the Burn2 group having an exhibit there, and it was set on fire every sunset. So when I heard it had been set ablaze, I headed over.

Burn Temple: Greetings, (name). The Temple burns each Linden night shortly after sunset, approximately 11:30, 3:30 and 7:30 a.m. or P.M. [SLT].  The temple reappears in daylight. Please take a gift. Listen to the stream.  Let the temple sing to you.

Two gifts were available for visitors. Crap Mariner, as the "Prim Reaper" was there, "I hope you had insurance," lighting his cigar with the flames. One unusual feature was the temple didn't play music at random. but gave each avatar "his own" song and played it.

To my surprise, among the green and yellow dots on my radar, there was a blue one. And soon the others saw him too, "Ohhh, a Linden." And a Tommy Linden walked over, "What is going on here?" Toady Nakamura answered, "This is the burning temple. It incinerated each 'Linden' night, and then vanishes 'til sunrise, when it reappears. We are trying to light the world on fire for SL10B." Tommy Linden looked around, "Interesting! It is very nicely done! ... So every person that enters here gets their own song? That is a very nice touch!"


I asked Tommy Linden, "How are things at the SL9B?" "Things are great!" he answered, "I am enjoying checking everything out when I have time." "Did you have anything to say to the readers?" "Um, nope, just that everything I have seen so far has been so beautiful! Everyone did such a great job on their builds!" "Any builds that stood out in particular?" "All of them, I couldn't really pick one over the other, each one is unique in its own way and worth seeing."


Later on, the Burn exhibit was mentioned in SL9B group chat, and when it was mentioned Tommy Linden was there, one girl blurted, "Oh, emm, gee! He is hot!" She then paused, followed by, "Did I say that?" and clapped her hands over her mouth.

Looks like despite the bad press the Lindens have gotten, at least one is still getting complements.

Following the Burn2 exhibit, I saw Gemma Cleanslate by the Second Life Children (SL Kids) exhibit. She had been very busy as a volunteer, and was relieved someone else was writing something about the Birthday during the festivities. Our attention was drawn to the cardboard "transmorgifier" left by the SL Kids, which offered to turn anyone going in into a kid avatar. So Gemma tried it out ...

And she ended up changed to "Young Duckie." She had a good laugh over it, "WaaHaHAhahAHA! AhhhhHAhahhAHhahHAH! haha!"

After a few minutes to relax as a kid, it was back to virtual reality, and she had to go back to her Greeter duties. And I headed to the Auditorium in the northeast corner of the SL9B region in Negen.

 At the Auditorium at 12 Noon on Wednesday, Qarl Fizz, the former Qarl Linden was taking questions about his Mesh Deformer and mesh in general, as well as other subjects, from Saffis Widdershins and the audience.

Asked about "Kickstarter" style fundraisers to get cash infusions for projects (one that made the news earlier was "Jazz Paws" from Raglan Shire), Qarl stated he liked the concept, but "I feel there'll be blowback when projects start to fail." Talking about his working with Linden Lab as an independent, he told that he just couldn't get them to do certain things. He did like working with Third Party viewers as they were more willing to experiment with new techniques. Still, "I could kind of understand why Linden Labs was reluctant … every time they changed something, there was a 50-50 chance people would get upset." He commented they might feel a little scared and intimidated by the community of residents, "outnumbered and they have more money."

"Second Life isn't Linden Lab at all," Qarl commented, "It's us. If they shut down tomorrow, we'd move somewhere else."

Of Qarl's simple wooden puppet appearance, someone in the audience asked if people offered him textures. He laughed, and answered it's happened a couple times.

Asked about his future, Qarl answered he was looking for something else to "catch my fashion." In the meantime, he was giving classes.

The SL9B continues on to Sunday evening to the late night fireworks. On Monday, there will be no more events. But the exhibits will be up for a few more days for those whom were held up by real-life events earlier, or residents who find the lag from so many avatars to be just too much.

For more information check the SL9B blog: http://sl9b.wordpress.com/ 

See more pictures at the SL9B Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sl9b/ 

Bixyl Shuftan

Places Seen at SL9B Press Day

During Press Day, I had a chance to take a short guided tour of some of the exhibits of the Second Life Ninth Birthday area. So I joined up with a group that included Saffia Widdershins of Prim Perfect/Designing Worlds, and Ginette Pinazzo, noted for organizing the Zindra Expo, whom publishes the Zindra news blog.

"Hi Bixyl," Ginette greeted me, "Welcome to the Lotus Lounge." Saffia offered me a press pack, and I took note of my surroundings. We were inside a huge flower blossom, in the northwest part of the birthday area, in the "9" that was in both the DreamSeeker SL9B Iwa, and Dziewiec sims (check the map Here). The Lounge itself would host some live music events the following day.

From there we traveled to DreamSeeker SL9B Devet  where the west half of the Welcome hub was, the east on the Nove sim. There, I found a HUD that could teleport me to each sim at the SL9B region, often at specific parts of a sim (north, south, east, west). Thinkerer Melville wrote of the HUB structure (the black cylinder), "The Hub offers you landmarks to remote destinations affiliated with SL9B.   Stand on the inner part and see the entire set. Each destination shows as a sign above a black walkway (but only if you are close to the central hub.  Look for a landmark button on the walkway."

 Next was the Lake Stage in Frolic, which Saffia told me, "this stage is completely mesh." Unfortunately as the picture to the left shows, my Singularity viewer wasn't able to process the graphics. The picture above is courtesy of Daniel Voyager. Frolic is one of two water sims at the SL9B area. Ginette told, "and of course, being stage, plenty of events here." "The schedule is now appearing on the blog," Saffia added, "Thanks to Crap (Mariner)."

Next was the Egyptian Stage at Shindig, the other sim in the Egyptian area being Kittycats SL9B Partytime to the south. Ginette told, "now this is a great area, and it also will be an area where the Treasure Hunt events will start from. Of course, there is a stage and events here." David Abbot commented, "I've spent a lot of the last week here - it's amazing. ... The hunt is set up to run over a week - with one clue being released per day. They'll be posted on the blog and a notecard version will be available at the Happy Hunting stand. It's set up as a diary, written by a 1920s explorer who... well, he gets a little confused by the sound system for starters..."

Lastly, the group headed to Jamboree, which Ginette called, "just one of countless areas in SL9B that is filled with very well done exhibits." We appeared next to the Virtual Ability exhibit.

 A little further away in Jamboree was the Second Life Kids plot, which was made up of an avatar-sized jungle gym.

And the exhibit from the Phoenix Viewer team. The main feature was of course an animated phoenix which moved it's head around and flapped it's wings a bit. There was seating there, which gave the impression of discussions to be held there later.

Ginette's final words before we parted were full of praise, "This is a potential turning point, in my mind anyway, for Secoond Life, if the residents do it right. And I really feel they will."

Callie Cline of KittyCats commented, "it's been exciting!!! To see the community charge full ahead and pull this off, with no drama that I've seen, really great support, enthusiasm, and a 'can do' attitude has been so great to witness. I'm floored by the amazing pool of resources, talent, patience that the community has."

For more information, check the SL9B blog: http://sl9b.wordpress.com/.  For more pictures, check the Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sl9b/pool/.

Bixyl Shuftan

Jeddin's Underground City

Last month, Second Life Newser was informed about a build that was created by a science-fiction writer, Dana Paxson, whom is known in Second Life as Jeddin Laval. From outside at a distance, it looks like a gazebo next to a tower on a hill with some larger white and glass towers in the distance. A closer look reveals some doorways, which lead into an underground complex, Jeddin's Underground City. A smaller building next to the city entrance has an introduction for visitors to read.

A notecard given described some of what his place was about. In 1995, Dana Paxson wrote a novel he titled "Descending Road," a number of stories about an underground city on the Earth colony world of Tarnus. The story takes place ten thousand years after it's settlement, which takes place "after 20,000 years of difficult evolution beyond our present time." The main story is about a man named Andrew as he grows up on the world, in a tale that "is painful, lonely, brutal, passionate, courageous, and wildly varied."

Contacting Jeddin, he teleported me to inside his virtual city, "We're standing on the floor of a City access well, called an 'aswal' in the stories. There are several floors above us." Describing this setting of his Descending Road  novel, clickable items often give links to a webpage, a notecard describing the object, or animated something, "I always encourage touch to explore here."

Talking more about the novel his build is based on, "The story is a large-scale struggle among human factions, andros, and aliens to take control of the planet. The planet, Tarnus, was colonized by humans about 10 millennia before the time of the story. The aliens played a role in attempting to destroy humanity long before, and try again. There are several parallel stories in the work.  The main line centers around Andrew, a human caught up in a poverty-stricken life, who finds his way to a rebel faction. And of course he runs into terrible trouble from almost every side."

Jeddin noted the changing light in the city, "The overhead lighting here changes color and intensity as the Second Life day advances. That echoes the story setting, which is far underground, doing the same thing. … the underground city tracks the aboveground day." He also pointed out some groups of vines hanging from the ceiling, "Those hangings are plants designed to provide enriched air in the deep city." To get between levels without flying up and down the central shaft, there were various disks on the floors, "These floor circles are 'Eleporters' to take us between levels. … I play with words.  A lot." Another notable spot in the city is the memorial wall, or "Memwall, where the dead are remembered. … If you touch a few of the graffiti … you'll get a page offered of the scene in which a person died." In another spot, "there's a commemoration of a terrible scene. A detachment of corpo soldiers toches a home, killing two old women. But an alien revives one of the corpses and speaks to the soldiers  via the body. The alien condemns the whole human race for its crimes against itself."

In the stories, the city has both human residents, and bioandroids. Jeddin took me to where the "andros," as they were called, are created: large tubelike vats, big enough for a human-sized avatar to enter and slide down, "The embryos are inserted at the top, and grown through several floors of fluid until they emerge fully-grown and trained at the bottom. Several of the story characters, including one named Jeddin, are andros." Some information on the wall nearby explained more about the andros, "ere you get some writeup on andro capabilities, and an exhibit regarding their five-octave visual capacity. Andros can see from IR to UV, and have many color names for colors in each range."

Jeddin went on to say in the stories, the main character "Andrew is assaulted by a powerful industrialist named Arlen, founder and owner of ArCorp, the company that built the andro vats where we're now standing." The businessman suspects Andrew is somehow mixed up with the aliens plotting against the humans. Before leaving, Jeddin showed me the control panel for the vat valves, "A visitor here can let a friend drop down through a vat and come out at the bottom. The one inside a vat can also open and close valves by touching them.  The valves are the pale blue-green floor circles."

One place we went to was Caladrina's Restaurant, which in the stories is where a number of scenes took place. In one, "A girl writes silent messages to her father in salt she spills on a table in the back. … The girl is Lejina, and her story is called 'Lejina's Change' or 'Lejina's Song'." In one of his secondary stories, "One guy trashes the place with a beam weapon. The trasher is in one of the secondary stories - his name is Tomas, and the story is 'Pyro'. …Pyro is a drug. … So much of what I write has some resonance with SF I've read long before."


Jeddin showed me other rooms, some showing the architecture of the city through diagrams and holograms, both 2D and 3D. Another showed a room with a simple but challenging game where one tries to move all the pieces from one pole to another, one at a time, until they're all on the other side. One of the last rooms Jeddin showed me displayed Tarnus from space, along with it's larger moon Lulith. There was also a small model of the colony ship that had settled the world long before the plot of the novel takes place. On the wall is a poem, written by one of the settlers:

They clapped us in the chains of sleep,
and drove us frae the Sun,
The bitter chills of blackest space
near killed us every one.
But now we've got a new world's light,
nae mair to gang awa,
We'll walk again the hills and dales
of Caledonia.

Jeddin had first come to Second Life five years ago, through a real life friend of his, "Daaneth Kivioq got me a place to start, and that was when I started building. He and I go back to the 1980s. He and I ran D&D campaigns together. One of mine was set in, an underground city. That was the seed for the fiction, which was the seed for this place. Our D&D campaign lasted over ten years. When we finished, I was starting to write science-fiction. That's when I started writing the City as it is here."

Jeddin explained his build had gotten some attention outside of Second Life, "This place has been shown as stills and a video in art shows at two colleges. University of Michigan Alumni Shows, and SUNY Empire State College shows too."

Jeddin's Underground City is at the Palm Breezes sim. His website http://www.danapaxsonstudio.com suggested "if you want to start exploring on the surface level, use the City Surface Link" at (100, 98, 46). But if you want to start at the city's lowest level, go to  (130, 117, 25).

Bixyl Shuftan

UWA's Winthrop Hall is Back

There is a marvelous re-creation of Winthrop Hall at the University of Western Australia resurrected from 2009 that you may like to visit if you missed it. The UWA is the virtual presence of the university located in Crawley, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. 

Jayjay Zifanwe (Jay Jay Jegathesan) is  leader of the UWA virtual presence in Second Life. Of the re-creation he says, “FreeWee Ling, the UWA Curator of Virtual Arts has done a remarkable job in bringing this space to life. I graduated in Winthrop Hall, as did many thousands throughout UWA's 100 year history. This brings full circle the efforts to recreate Winthrop Hall in Second life. The facade and atrium were created by Dr Chris Thorne & David Gaze in 2009, and in May 2012, thanks to FreeWee Ling, the full creation is realized!“ 

The entrance is on the ground at http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20WA/89/182/24 .

The facade of the building is on the ground and to visit the interior click the cone inside the entrance  and it will take you to the interior where you can view the magnificent organ. To read more about the building and see photos of the real Hall you may like to visit the website http://uwainsl.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/uwas-treasure-chest-winthrop-hall-comes.html
 
While I was visiting the building  Jay Jay told me of the UWA  machinima challenge that is going on now.  The theme is 'Seek Wisdom'. Sponsored by UWA, AviewTV, Philip Vought, Freemason Magic, Virtlantis & the Tornado Gallery the prize pool is sits at L$725,000 (approx USD 3,200). You can read more about the challange and the rules on their  website above, under the topic ‘Seek Wisdom’

Gemma Cleanslate

Memorials to Veterans in Second Life

One can find just about anything in Second Life. And that includes tributes to those who died in defense of their country. Almost two years ago, Second Life Newser took a look at some of the memorials on the Grid. Sadly since then, some have faded away. This includes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. But there are also some additions.

 Although known more for it's Relay for Life events, Southern Colorado has a small veterans memorial.

" 'My Angel, his name is Freedom - Choose him to be your king. He shall cut pathways east and west, and fend you with his wing.' - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Dedicated to all those who have given life or limb in the service of the Angel named Freedom."

The Southern Colorado is at Southern Colorado, (129, 41, 25)

Patriot Island is home to a community of veterans in Second Life. It's also home to a replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Patriot Island (165, 125, 28)

In the Thynk sim, there is "The Path of Freedom" memorial, "The Path to Freedom memorial was made in honor of all who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces and the millions that have been affected through the many wars that this country has had to face."

The memorial mentions well-known wars in American history, as well as the Indian Wars, the Cold War, and conflicts and operations in recent history (pictured just above), some well known, some which have become smaller historical footnotes.

"The Path of Freedom" is in Thynk (174, 35, 23)

 In the Arena sim, the Operation Enduring Freedom Memorial, a tribute to the soldiers who fell in Afghanistan. The wife of a veteran got the help of Jade Opel and Jester Knox in building the memorial. The name on the stone and the picture changes every few moments.

"My husband is in the Army and was stationed there for a year in 2005, and left Jan 24, 2007.  His first deployment, fortunately they only lost one soldier from their unit, but many others have died.  This is my way of honoring those that gave their lives for this country."

 "And as of 27 May 2012 there have been 4222 visitors,  I reset it by accident, I am actually amazed at that number and I am sorry I have not kept the memorial up to date, however RL has taken priority and it's toll on me, so I hope you will forgive me.  I haven't forgotten about any fallen hero, I have just been delayed.

"If you are also interested you may donate to the following places.Armed Forces Relief Trust (www.afrtrust.org).  The people help the families that have lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Operation Family Fund (http://www.oeffamilyfund.org)  They help provide help to the families and also to help build a memorial on the lost soldiers behalf."

The memorial is in Arena, (70, 95, 46)

For those looking for a British memorial, there's one in the London area, the Tower Hill Memorial in Knightbridge.

"The Tower Hill Memorial is a replica of the real life Tower Hill Memorial, which is located in London. The Tower Hill Memorial commemorates military personnel from WW1. The memorial also includes a replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior."

The Tower Hill Memorial is in Knightbridge (95, 230, 21)

No doubt there are other memorials, so by all means don't stop looking, and honoring.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Derby at Areo Pines

This is the first time I have been able to get to a Kentucky Derby party in Second Life. I was invited to the 138th Kentucky Derby running at the Aero Pines Park in Equus. I donned my hat and got going! 

Equus, one of the numerous sims of the Aero Pines Park and Recreation center is very horsy, with a stable and a race track. You can rezz a horse to ride the many delightful trails across the many sims. There was an enormous TV set up in the  middle of the race track for the race and a wonderful viewing center with a full bar. The mint juleps were delicious and refreshing as we waited for the race to start. 

There were about 34 people in attendance. The enthusiasm was tremendous. Every one had their favorite horse. Some had money on a horse in real life, so had more invested. A couple were from Louisville so knew the intense interest in the race and everything surrounding it. Most were wearing the “obligatory“ fancy hat that women wear all over the place at Louisville during the race time. 

As we watched the TV feed practically in sync with the real-life feed, Areo Pines owner Cindy Bolero made an announcement, “Other news! The Aero Pines Park Equestrian Center will also be known as Virtual Horse World starting this summer. We're doing a makeover of the facilities to better educate new users of SL with the many types of horses created in SL. As you know it is quite overwhelming for newbies. We're also taking the firefighter training here to another level, but we feel the blend with the equestrian center, airport, and biker roadhouses will still blend well.” 

All in all it was an excellent event and Cindy Bolero is to be congratulated on the build made just for the race.There will be replays on Sunday with parties.  Aero Pines is a wonderful place to visit. There are always so many things going on  according to the season. Take a trip there and pick up the landmarks card.  

Gemma Cleanslate

Virtual Yosemite

Wandering around SL the other day, I was informed of a place called Virtual Yosemite. It is touted thusly: "Enjoy the natural scenery of Virtual Yosemite. This virtual version of the famous national park in the USA is an example of a whole new generation of sculpted off-sim environments by Sominel Edelman (Landscapes Unlimited). More info at http://landscapesunlimited.blogspot.com."

I don't know what I was expecting, but when I got there, whatever original expectations I'd had were quickly shattered. This is one of the best sims I've seen on the grid in a long long time, and the effort really shows. It's a pretty open sim, surrounded on all sides by off-sim mountains representing the area around Yosemite. There's a little campground, a store to buy the off-sim mountains and environments, a little wooden lodge, and... well, that's it, really, but no one ever said a sim had to be full to bursting of prims to be attractive. I looked around and then got in touch with the creator of this wonderous landscape, Sominel Edelman, to talk to him about his masterpiece of Virtual Yosemite.

Sominel Edelman, "Hi, welcome!"

Xymbers Slade, "This is quite the landscape. I haven't seen many, if any at all, better than this one in a long time. (smile) How long did it take to design all of this and put it together?"

Sominel Edelman, "It may very well be unique in SL; about a month, perhaps even a bit more. I've used a new technique on this one. That's why it takes so long, the first one is the hardest."

Xymbers Slade, "Was it a difficult process? Or do you find generating landscapes comes natural to you?"

Sominel Edelman, "The technology can be difficult, but the process of sculpting itself is fun. Nothing but fun (smile). I'm a geographer myself in real life. I studied landforms like these."

Xymbers Slade, "What got you interested in landscapes specifi... well, I guess that answered that, then. Heh."

Sominel Edelman, "At first I did jewelry, but I didn't find that very motivating. I'm not a jewelry type of guy (grin)."

Xymbers Slade, "So you go around looking at landscapes all the time?"

Sominel Edelman, "No, I don't go around that much. Except in real life, I love to travel there, visit new places. in Second Life, I'm mostly just busy making new things."

Xymbers Slade, "I guess I was expecting to see Old Faithful or something here. I don't see it included... didn't want to add the most famous part of the place?"

Sominel Edelman, "Uhm... Old Faithful is part of a different park (grin). That's Yellowstone, this is Yosemite."

Xymbers Slade, "Shows how smart I am, I have the direction sense of a brick and the geography sense of a bag of apples."

Sominel Edelman, "This is what it should look like: http://www.yosemitedistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/yosemite1.jpg "

Xymbers Slade, "What do you use to make these kinds of wonderful landscapes?"

Sominel Edelman, "A few 3D programs and a couple of scripts. I won't be very specific about that.... I'm sorry."

Xymbers Slade, "Ah, ok, no problem. I can understand not wanting to 'reveal trade secrets.' Is there something you want to do landscape-wise but can't, due to limitations in SL or something else?"

Sominel Edelman, "Well... The amount of detail you can get in off-sim builds is not that big. It would be great to be able to use mesh, but meshes can't be that big."

Xymbers Slade, "I wasn't aware meshes had a limit but then again I don't build."

Sominel Edelman, "The waterfalls, for example, I wish I could make a more natural shape. They can just be 64x64x64 meters... this is 1024x1024 so they [mesh] would be way too small."

Xymbers Slade, "What's your next planned project? I find this hard to top off the top of my head."

Sominel Edelman, "I do have the Grand Canyon high on my list, but... there are not that many trees there, and I do love the off-sim trees."

Xymbers Slade, "Heh. Maybe add a little creative artistry then and add more trees (grin). I've never been out there so I don't have a clue (I live in a major city, so)."

Sominel Edelman, "I have a couple of other environments that I want to make, I think they should all be on the Unesco World Heritage list."

Xymbers Slade: "You mean the Grand Canyon isn't?"

Sominel Edelman, "I want to go all over the world (smile). It is, this is too, but it should be special to people, and well-known all around the world."

Xymbers Slade, "Ok, last question in this little rapid-fire... do you do commissions?"

Sominel Edelman, "How do you mean, commissions?"

Xymbers Slade, "Like if someone asked you for a specific landscape or skybox (off the top of my head I know a dragon looking for a new lair, so to speak)."

Sominel Edelman, "No, in general I don't. I did that for a while, but it made me go off-track. I want to keep my focus."

Xymbers Slade, "I know what you mean (smile). Keeping focus is definitely a skill in Second Life when there is so many things to see/do/create and whatnot."

Sominel Edelman, "And, it's hard to create something someone else has in mind. They can almost never show me a picture, and that makes it hard."

"That's great, thank you Xymbers! How did you find this place?"

Xymbers Slade, "Honestly, my editor mentioned it to the rest of the reporters and went 'who wants it?' --- I haven't done a piece in months, so I said I'd take it on. (smile)"

Even as a big open space, it's a wonderful quiet spot for when you need to unwind from the hustle and pixel-flavored mayhem of SL. Without a doubt I'm giving it 5 Dragon Hoards out of 5, and I'm not even a huge wilderness buff!

Virtual Yosemite can be found at the Landscapes Unlimited sim: Landscapes Unlimited, (99/143/22)

Xymbers Slade

Mcarp Land in LEA

When I spent time talking to Aley in her sea at LEA, she told me she was sharing the sim with her friend, Mcarp Mavendorf. I had seen Mcarp’s giant avatar image over looking the sea from above. But on closer inspection she had just stepped on a church like structure and ruined it. Well, it was one of her own builds so I guess that is ok. 

There are several more buildings on the sim, all seeming to be cathedral or castle like  buildings. Each is lovely . In each you find clocks, all set to the proper SL time. Each clock is more interesting than the other. If  you open the large map while you are there, you will see the sim is actually a clock itself! The most magnificent building is filled with interesting clocks. Someone said to me when we visited,  “this is a temple to time.” 

I met Mcarp in the cathedral and she took me for a tour of the clocks and explained her thinking in creating them. She admitted she is obsessed with clocks.  She is evidently a math wiz and loves to script, some scripting based on calculus. That was the end of my understanding. I know she would like to have more but is running out of ideas on new creative ways of making clocks. “my problem is I don't do clocks where the face is some picture, in those you can do a million of them ... to come up with some new mechanical concept so each clock is about a different mechanical look.”  

Her favorite center piece is in the sanctuary area of the church. That is not a clock but a counter based on AND gates (complicated) .  We took a tour of the rest of the building where you will find a lovely organ that you can play. There is a gorgeous fountain in the middle which is a fully functioning carillon on top.  The windows are beautiful and enhance the cathedral. We then moved over to the castle where there are more clocks. In the kitchen Mcarp turned on the dishwasher, one of Aley’s creations and immediately plates began falling to the floor and smashing. We went out to the lift and met Aley and we all took a ride over the sim where we could see all the churches and the mount with faces that they called "Mount Lag."   When I sat in the lift, I was left holding on the outside desperately not to fall. “this is our special 'hang the reporter out to dry' sit target” said Mcarp. On the way back I was able to sit on the roof. 

There is not room enough to write about all I saw or learned. Be sure not to miss the garden gnome at the draw bridge . Fascinating!  This exhibit will be in LEA for about four more months. I know you will love and understand everything if you are a scripter. but if not you will love just to gaze at it all and enjoy. The first time I went there I climbed a long set of stairs arising out of Aley’s sea. You could go that was but  I will make it easier for you to get there.

 
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA11/39/155/21  Have fun!!

Gemma Cleanslate

The Titanic in Second Life

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. For Second Life residents, there is a sim-length replica they can visit. One can head there for an appreciation for the history, take someone out on a date, or both.

Teleporting into the sim, one arrives at the dock. It's a few steps to the entry ramp to the ship, the start having an overhead sign "RMS Titanic, White Star Line." Besides walking up at one's own pace, there's a couple's walk animation that a pair can use to go about the ship.

Heading to the right once you get up to the ship, one can go to the bow and with a friend re-create the "I'm King of the World" Scene. Or one can go about exploring the ship, whether on the outside, inside and both. There is much attention to detail, notably in places like the stairways with crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Going about, some of the cabins seen also had fine details. The sim's website stated here, "you can be a passenger and experience the romance and luxury of a bygone era." That the ship succeeds in doing. There is also a Titanic Museum, "A Second Night to Remember," on the port side of the top deck.

Second Life being what it is, there have been some compromises made. To help with expenses, a shopping area has been set up where one can get a selection of dresses and jewelry, and some tuxedos. The very bottom of the ship is the engine room. But only on rare occasions can one see the engine up and running. Most of the time it's packed up to cut down on lag. There is also a pool, and a wedding area. At the bow of the ship is the ballroom, where live musicians perform for dace parties. One can dance in the ballroom, or on the deck outside.

The ship is owned by Mara Menges, who bought the ship from it's builder, with Guus Menges as co-owner. The dress code is formal, with the crew reserving the right to bump off the ship those who won't answer requests to change. Animal avatars (also known as ferals to some) are also banned. This does not mean nonhuman characters are always disallowed as neko and furry avatars dressed in formal wear are welcome.

The Second Life Titanic was built by Reborn Wingtips, or Morphius Barbose as he was known at the time of it's construction. A sign on the bridge stated the ship is 254 meters long, slightly shorter than the real-life Titanic's length of 269 meters, and 60 meters high. It consists of roughly 4,500 prims, not counting the furniture.

Reborn stated on the sign, "Titanic has been a build of passion. I studied it in school years ago. Claude Kirshner made land available free of charge for me to build it here in Second Life. Obviously I couldn't create the ship to detail as prims don't allow it. Plus Second Life has tier fees, etc."

"It has taken six months (for the ship) to reach its current condition. This is the fourth or fifth build. I needed to take a few steps back to make one step forward a few times. Later on as the Titanic was nearing completion, the build was discovered by Kallisto Estates, who have generously jumped at the opportunity to provide a sim to sheer Titanic with the world."

" … I think I was in college when we did a big study on the Titanic in Social Studies, covering every aspect, even some things that weren't commonly known. There was a rumor that there was actually a cursed mummy onboard. Even now if I try to imagine being on the ship that night, I get a chill, the humble men, the fear, the desperation. What was God's involvement that night? That's my biggest question."

The website states more than half a million residents have visited the ship since it's opening in 2009, with over 700 visitors a day. This week marks the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the real Titanic. Over 2100 visitors came to the ship on April 12th, which was also the day of the "Last 1st Class Dinner on the Titanic" event for European visitors. On Friday the 13th, there will be another such event for American hours at 5:30PM (reservations required). Saturday the 14th has the Steerage Party, from Noon to 2:30PM SL time, 2:30 PM being when the ship hit the iceberg (reservations required).

On Sunday at 1PM is the memorial service. This event takes place outside the ship at the Titanic memorial on the sim's land. This event is open to all. In an article on the Metaverse Tribune, Mara is described as setting up the memorial after meeting the great-grandson of Captain James Smith, "she discovered that many of those who were lingering at the memorial were relatives of witnesses or survivors."

There is also a souvenir shop where one can get a memento of their visit to the ship. Considering the history of the ship and how its memory is kept alive by numerous books and movies, such as the one by James Cameron a few years ago, this is one build that is unlikely to be forgotten, and a place one may end up returning to again and again.

The entry point to the Titanic sim is at Titanic (128, 191, 134). For more information, one can go to the Second Life Titanic's website at http://www.titanicsecondlife.nl/.

Bixyl Shuftan

Easter Town

I was able to see a few Easter events this weekend. There were a number of small events, mostly egg hunts of some kind. But the biggest show was probably at "Easter Town."


"Easter Town is a holiday destination that dips you in colorful happiness, visual wonders and experiences sweeter than a chocolate bunny. Ten talented designers have come together to sell an eclectic range of original items. Combine this with egg hunts, peep races and other holiday activities, and Easter Town is an panoramic explosion of holiday joy."


Dropping in, it took a few minutes for most everything to rezz due to the crowd there. What got my attention about the people around were the several child avatars around, "Look, the Easter Bunny!" Hopping around in a circle were a "BugsBuny Resident" and a "BabsBuny Resident," in avatars resembling the cartoon characters. I never found out if they were part of Easter Town, or a couple alts made by a visitor for the holiday. By clicking on the "Bunny Hop" cube in the middle, one could join them.

The place itself had a cartoonish style, with the stores made with crooked windows and colored roofs. There were also a number of whimsical exhibits, such as an Easter egg machine that cranked out colored eggs factory style, and one of the Easter Bunny after apparently having over-indulged on his candies until he had a bellyache.

There were a number of freebies around, such as a bouncy ball one could sit on and bounce around on. There was also a freebie "egg avatar," which looked strange and hilarious with eggs with human heads walking about. There was also a basket for an egg hunt going around on the sim. Looking around, I found only one egg.

Some attractions one had to pay to play, such as the Peep Race. The stores themselves had a number of Easter-related goods for sale from clothes to jewelry and more. But one didn't have to spend money here to have a pleasant time. The freebies and cartoony atmosphere made the place well worth a visit.

Easter Town is at Elizabeth Town (151, 104, 22). The exhibit is scheduled to remain up until April 15th.

Bixyl Shuftan