Inventory Cleanup from Second Pride 2014

So Ebbe Linden (a.k.a. Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab, The Makers of SecondLife) did not deign to respond to my tweets asking him to take some time to honor the largest LGBT event on the grid with a visit, nor did he pay us a visit (as far as I know).

For next years Pride I may choose to send him the invitation through bloggers and SLebrities Jo Yardley or Strawberry Singh, whose tweets he does seem to respond to.

However, as you see below we did get attention from at least two other first life celebrities from stage and screen, Conchita Wurst and Peggy Bundy!

Conchita Wurst (PuPi)

Peggy Bundy (B.J. Floyd)

On the last afternoon of Second Pride we also got to crown a King and Queen of Second Pride 2014 in a pageant arranged by Frolic Mills. I completely agree with the judges choices. The judges were, by the way, my hug-buddy Takuya Jinn - CEO/Chief Designer Gabriel, my dear old friend and hug-buddy Kharissa Indigo - Board Member of Second Pride, the lover of my Jesters Hat and therefore close to my heart Hobbit Zenfold - MR. V♛ GERMANY 2014 and Frolic Mills - CEO Partyculars and founder/former CEO of BOSL and Miss Virtual World.

The winners if the pageant were Queen Locuala Madrugi and King jOrGe (a.k.a. Manito12). Below presented in their first and second outfits of the evening.

Although Frolic repeatedly made excuses for there only being three candidates in each category, I must honestly say I think it was quite enough. Two hours are a suitable time frame for these events, we lead busy lives with two of them to juggle.

In closing I would like to share this Bitstrip my other half posted on Facebook today.

Bitstrip comic on Facebook by Tomais Ashdene

We had a wonderful Pride celebration in SecondLife this year.

My sincerest gratitude to all of the board members, 

this was the best Second Pride evvvahhhhhhhh!

In my opinion Second Pride 2014 had a King and a Queen that did not take part in the pageant. The two are King Petr, "The reluctant chairman", and Queen Khar, "The old trusted hand who stepped in and saved the day". 

In gratitude for their services and together with the rest of the board I hereby declare them to be honorary citizens of Southern Charm, with those citizenship's granted to them they are of course all now also royalty with princely titles. 

Another Try...

Dear @ebbealtberg (@SecondLife @LindenLab) can we expect a visit from you at the ongoing largest #LGBT #Pride celebration on the #Grid?
— Bock McMillan (@BockMcMillan) June 26, 2014

Please help getting the message across by retweeting if you are on Twitter.

A Brave New Virtual World Is Underway

"Moment" Photography by Tomais Ashdene
(Totally unrelated to the subject of the post, but I couldn't find any suitable illustration)

The most sensational news yesterday - for those of us with a presence in virtual worlds - was undoubtedly Ebbe Altberg (a.k.a. Ebbe Linden in-world),  CEO of Linden Lab, confirmation that the lab is investing heavily in creating a new SecondLife.

The project is expected to take several years to accomplish. The new virtual world will not be constrained by the limitations that the existing SecondLife and "backward compatibility. Although there are some hopes for some levels of migration, given the new platform may well be revolutionary, rather than evolutionary, whether this will be possible , and at what level cannot at this time be determined." (Quote from "Living in a Modemworld")

There are already  many excellent summaries on this development on other blogs, so I will refer you to them.

New World Notes:
BREAKING: Linden Lab Confirms It's Building New Virtual World "Far Beyond What is Possible with Second Life" (Updated with Official Statement)

Living in a Modemworld: 
a) Ebbe confirms: “we’re working on a ‘next generation’ platform” (with audio) with an interview with Ebbe Linden
b) Lab: “We’re not giving up on Second Life”

Jo Yardley's Second Life: 
a) Linden Lab working on new virtual world
b) Linden Lab officially responds to the new virtual world story

Eddi & Ryce's Second Life:
Hear Ebbe Linden Make the Announcement of Linden Lab's New Virtual World Over at Inara Pey's Blog

Mona Eberhardt │ Living Virtualy:
Linden Lab working on Second Life’s successor?

My Tweet to Ebbe Linden

Hi @ebbealtberg, @SecondLife I hope you received an invitation to the celebration of @SecondPrideSL June 20th-29th, 2014.
— Bock McMillan (@BockMcMillan) May 8, 2014

A SLebrity Drops By

Yesterday evening, while I was taking selfies on how my eyes sink into my head when I am using poses, a male avatar dropped in almost right on top of me. Even without his name tag I would've recognized him at once, with all the brouhaha that has been going on about him the last couple of months in SecondLife.

"So, you motherfucking cocksucker, you finally deigned to pay me a visit after spending months on charming the asses off of Frau Jo Yardley and Miss Strawberry Singh and all those other important women in-world, huh? Now the time has come to charm the asses of a sweet and innocent gay man like me?", I said to him.

"Hahaha Bock, you fuckmented shitjizzle you! You know I love you and besides the ladies were nice and had important information to share, I know everything you have to say already because you have told me a thousand times the last seven years, even long before I accepted this job at Linden Lab."

"Well Ebbe, you could at least have told me you knew my Philip back then, I would only have asked to be introduced as one of his many loving residents."

"Don't be silly, Bock, you know exactly what would have happened if I had told you that or if I had introduced you to him. You would have gone all weak in the knees, start drooling and make his socks all wet while you lay drooling at his feet. Now come along, show me this beautiful sim of yours. I understand you have had it for a while."

As I took my old buddy on the long tour of Southern Charm and the buildings, we talked about everything that had happened to us since last we met and I told him the shortest version of my SecondLife.

While we were preparing to say good bye after an hour and a half, I remembered the most important thing and asked my friend for a picture for the blog. Being Ebbe he kindly acquiesced.

The Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm etc. etc., and Ebbe Linden, CEO of Linden Lab

This post is also a reply to Elblin's challenge to me about using the words "fuckmented shitjizzle" in a sentence.

Maundy Thursday 2014

As an atheist and a secular Swede, I don't celebrate Easter in a religious way. Nevertheless I still enjoy eating our traditional Easter foods and - most of all - I love the mini-vacation all of us who do not work in emergency services or in the trade sector get.

I am off from work from today through Easter Monday, five whole glorious days, and am going to make the most of it by catching up with my sleep, essential household chores and blogging obligations. Among my blogger-duties the highest on my to-do-list is to watch the keynote speeches by Ebbe Linden and my Philip (i.e. our beloved creator Philip Rosedale) at the recent Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference.

I started off slowly today by sleeping until ten, then having an extremely long breakfast, filing my taxes and paying the Swedish state SEK694 in back taxes.

Paying taxes is actually one of my favorite hobbies, as I still feel most of it goes to worthy causes such as caring for the young, the old and those less fortunate than I am. I much prefer paying taxes and let the state provide me with health care and security than paying exorbitant fees to a privately owned insurance company which will only try to find some loophole to squirm away from fulfilling their obligations toward me if and when I need it.

Have a wonderful Easter holiday everyone!

Mergers & Acquisitions (Updated)

"Linden Lab, the makers of SecondLife, announced today that it is in discussions with High Fidelity over merging the two companies and thus consolidating in anticipation of a future collaboration with or takeover bid from Facebook", the Financial Times reports, citing sources.

As Philip Rosedale, a.k.a. "our creator", Philip Linden or "my beloved Philip", has a major interest in both companies it is assumed that the discussions will go smoothly and a deal will be made before the end of the week.

According to the article  it is probable that Philip Rosedale will become the Chairman of the Board of the new company, while Ebbe Altman, a.k.a. Ebbe Linden, will remain as CEO.

Read the full article Financial Times: Linden Lab & High Fidelity to merge?.

More updates on this will be posted here, as soon as I learn more.

UPDATE April 2, 2014
This entire post is of course a fabrication, it was my attempt at trying to fool you on April Fools Day.

Welcome Ebbe Linden!

Hamlet Au and Daniel Voyager just revealed that our wait is over and that Linden Lab has a new CEO.

The new CEO is Ebbe Altberg, presumably to be called Ebbe Linden.

Read more about this exciting news at Daniel Voyager's Blog: Ebbe Altberg new CEO of Linden Lab or New World Notes:  Linden Lab Hires Yahoo! Exec Ebbe Altberg as CEO - Announcement Emphasizes Blocksworld as Much as SL.

Bock in SecondLife would like to welcome Ebbe to our world!