A Cane Received, Five Thrown

When I checked my e-mail today, I noticed a message from SecondLife that my bosom buddy Apmel Goosson had dropped a note card on me bewilderingly entitled "A cane".

To still my curiosity about what this was about I immediately logged into SecondLife to check what this was about. The note card didn't say much, only that Apmel had thrown a cane at me and that I should check a certain post on his blog, My Avatar´s Name Is Apmel; "Q&A plus cane throwing".

There I found these instructions on cane throwing.

"Throwing a cane means: someone (a blog owner) asks you five questions and you have to ask five questions to another blogger. It is a pyramid scheme but nevertheless some fun. So I will post the rules and then select some other bloggers. The rules:

1. Set a link to the blogger who has given you the cane..
2. Answer the questions.
3. Then throw the cane on five other bloggers.
4. Tell these persons that they have received a cane.
5. Ask five new questions."

Sounds simple enough, huh, so why not take part? OK, here goes. The first rule is already covered above, so on to the second, the questions Apmel asks me and my responses to them.

1. A blog usually is a factual report (albeit subjective) about real life. A blog about an avatar is a
factual report about a fictional life. Your thoughts about that?

I may be missing the point here, but I actually don´t see a conflict. On my blog I recount what I experience in both my realities and both are factual to me. My personality, thoughts, feelings actions and reactions are the same in both worlds. Only the superficial things are different, not the important ones, not the things that really matter to me.

2. Do you think of yourself as an immersionalist or an augmentalist Second Lifer?

"The difference in mindset between the two groups reflects the titles they're given: Immersionalists primarily see SL as an entire virtual reality, and enjoy doing the broad range of activities there that they also enjoy in RL (including shopping, sports, relationships and sex, artistic creation, tourism, vacationing and more); while Augmentalists primarily see SL as a next-generation platform for communication, and are there primarily to enhance a particular interest they already have in RL (such as marketing, architecture, filmmaking, music, artistic distribution and more)."
From the blog "In the Grid" by Jason Pettus, 2006

I am most definitely an Immersionalist. I am in SecondLife to meet R-E-A-L people and interact and engage with them.

3. Do you have more than one avatar? If so why and are they of different gender and/or species?

Yes I have ten alts  - Wild Zepp, Callum Beamish, Hedda Millar, Matt Gaboian, Ian Pomfret, Seamus Lycheborne, Angus Maldor, Duncan Aycliffe, Dan Zise and Minerva Xenno (in order of their creation). All of them are human and two of them are women, Hedda and Minerva .

I created my first alt Wild after a big row with Ars on the same day as he was going to do an important set. I did not want to miss that set but as I did not want to cave in at once Wild came to my rescue - sort of. I could catch Ars set and then make up with him the next day and not while I was still furious with him. I also told Ars that I had been there, he said he already knew because I had dressed Wild in a kilt.

Then I joined a silly in-world game called Tiny Empires (url), in that game you needed to gather subjects, so I used Wild as one and then created Callum and Hedda. The rest of them were created when Bara Jonson took part in a contest where every avatar could only vote once a day, I cheated and voted for him 11 times a day.

The alts are now entirely used for Tiny Empires and are mostly only online when I am taking my naps to gather gold.

4. Do you think you will still be in SL a year from now? If not why?

Hell yeah, I will be here til they shut down the last server at Linden Lab, standing side-by-side with Philip Linden and the rest of the aficionados.

5. What is the ratio of the time you spend on blogging contra being active in world? How has it changed over the last year?

It depends on my mood, whats on my mind and whats happening in my first or second life, but roughly I would say I am in-world about two times longer than I blog, so 66-33.

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I will now throw my canes at - and I agree with Apmel this is the most difficult part - but here goes. My selection was limited to blogs that deal with SecondLife and are mostly in English-

1. Butch Diavolo - Butch´s Ramblings
2. Carl Paneer - NakedCarl
3. Eddi Haskell - Eddi Haskell´s Second Life
4. NE0 Timeless - Free Your Mind
5. Ziggy Starsmith - Ziggy On The Edge Of Second Life

Now I must hurry to throw the canes at them, but I will post this before doing that!

My questions are:

1. How long have you been in SecondLife and why did you join?

2. It is sometimes said that there is a problem with "the threshold" in SecondLife, meaning that it is difficult for new users to learn. What are your thoughts on this?

3. What do you wish for most in the future development of SecondLife?

4. What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself in SecondLife?

5. Why do you blog?

All the pictures of the canes were found at Wayfair - Shop Harvy (url).

Bara Interviewed

This seems to be the evening when all my favorite men with connection to SecondLife seem to be up to something, all except Apmel, Ziggy and Eddi... but the day is not over yet!

First my favorite Philip Linden (maybe), then my favorite Butch Diavolo and just now I got an e-mail from the Bara Jonson´s Fan Group in SecondLife with the following message.

Bara as portrayed on Virtual Music Magazine

"Yesterday I was inteviewed for the Virtual Music Magazine here in SL and its already been published.

http://virtualmusicmagazine.virtualmusicservices.com/ 

Also I have to show this amazing blog from my sons favorite uncle.. Bock McMillan...(emboldened and underlined by this blogger)

http://bocksl.blogspot.com/2012/03/bara-on-tour-in-first-life.html

See you on Friday 12.30 for this weeks only show!"

A Challenge by Philip?

(via Tinas Universum)

The always well connected Ms. PetGirl Bergman (a.k.a. Tina Dahl), with the Swedish SecondLife blog "The Universe of Tina" (Tinas universum) has picked up this through one of her many sources.

It would seem as if Philip Rosedale (a.k.a. Philip Linden), Chairman of the Board at Linden Lab, the makers of our dreams, is taking promises to one self with a side bet on the Internet.

I am probably overly suspicious, but all my alarms start sounding off because this seems as a perfect set up for a sting.

To pay someone we think we know, respect and/or love without knowing where the money actually ends up seems risky. I would stay well away from anything like this until I get some validation from Philip Rosedale himself.

NEO Shares Jewels

Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol

My friend and co-blogger NE0 Timeless shares two interesting clips with me - and you all - on his blog Free Your Mind.

The first clip To Bock McMillan (url) shows the creator of our dreams and our amazing world Philip Linden, in first life also known as Philip Rosedale, talk about the origins of SecondLife and the directions we may be heading.

The second clip To Bock McMillan (nr 2) (url), is the first part of three in a series of conversation called "BAN6 Conversations @ YBCA - Radical Identities". In the first part we can hear a mind boggling conversation between anthropologist Tom Boellstorff (url) and Philip Linden about our identities in first and second life and the interactions between them.

Rewriting the Rules

NEO is the blond dude sitting

Ars and I had many things in common. One of them was our deep love for SecondLife.

Although I have lately gotten (un)friendly suggestions that I should perhaps consider emigrating to another world, I have no plans to do so  - ever. The other worlds hold no fascination for me, as they only seem to be cheaper knockoffs of SecondLife.

Today NE0 Timeless has a post where he shows us two parts from a documentary called "Digital Nation".

NEO tells us it makes him proud to be a SecondLife user. Well, I am as proud as you are, NEO!

Watch the two videos on NEO´s blog "Free Your Mind", "Digital Nation, parts 6 and 7 - SecondLife (url).

Oh, and after seeing those videos. no one will ever be able to tell me that Philip Rosedale (a.k.a. Philip Linden in SecondLife) has ever lost faith in his creation. I love that man again, purely, simply and platonically! 

Damaged, But Not Broken

Yesterday was more or less a wasted day. I slept in long, woke up, drank some water, then crawled back to bed again. All day the only memorable thing I did was brush my teeth, nothing else really. I didn't eat, didn't talk to anyone, didn't leave my home and didn't get dressed. I walked around in the flat and slept in my boxers, a t-shirt under a hoodie and thick hiking socks. Not a pretty sight, I can assure you.

Luckily I am off from work until January 2nd, but still I want to do more in my free time than sleep, blog and be in SecondLife.

However I didn't do a worthwhile thing until I finally crawled out of bed at 9 PM to make some coffee. After my first cup of coffee I started reading predictions for 2012 in the SecondLife and virtual worlds blogosphere. That was to a large extent a dreary ordeal.

Every SecondLife blogger with any ambition or pretension to be a serious part of the metaverse had come up with some prophesy or other on what we could expect of 2012. Many seemed to have taken their starting point in Philip Rosedale´s views on SecondLife as he expressed it earlier this year. The "high threshold" and the residents being “Smart people in rural areas, the handicapped, people looking for companionship, they love it. But you have to be highly motivated to get on and learn to use it.” statements.

Some of them even went so far as to say that a vast majority of residents are "broken" (physically. emotionally, mentally and/or spiritually).

I have never ever considered myself broken in any way, shape of form, and certainly not when I first arrived to SecondLife and decided to come back again, again, again and over again for almost five years now. Maybe I have gotten somewhat damaged during my time here, but I sure as hell have not been broken by this life.

Although most of them predict SecondLife will still be around for all of 2012, they still rant on about its high threshold compared to online games like "World of Warcraft", which is one of the fastest growing games and is therefore seen as a model to which SecondLife should adapt to recruit new users. So I went ahead and tried that game to see how easy it would be to join, learn and how interesting it would be in there.

I spent four (4) hours in the trial version of the game. First I must say it was not that easy to sign into. One has to register twice, which I cannot understand the need for and which was totally bewildering because the sign in´s come at different points of the registering process.

Once you are in, you choose if you want to belong to "the good" or "the bad" side and what kind of apparition you want to be in those alliances and how you want to look. Creating your looks isn't as advanced as in SecondLife if you want to vary from the given avatars and the resulting avatar is a disappointment.

After downloading, registering twice on different services (the game itself and something called "Blizzard" - if I remember correctly) and creating my looks for about 30 minutes I spent 3,5 hours honestly trying to give the game a chance to intrigue or fascinate me.

There was never any interaction with real people, just with machine dummies who gave you missions or could bring you to life if you died, all the set was about clicking fast and hard on things you had to kill. I admit, I am easily bored sometimes, but after doing this for 3,5 hours my brain was numb and bored to death by the simplistic shit.

If that's what they think we should strive for I for one don't want any part of it - ever.

Do you finally see to what extremes I am prepared to go so you should not have to, my dear readers?

Sven Analyzes "the Threshold"

Swedish virtual worlds blogger Sven Idyll over at Svens(k) Idyll has been thinking over Philip Rosedale´s statement to the New York Times recently and come up with this interesting analysis (rough translation by me) in his post "It becomes impossible only when you know it is"

"Philip Rosedale made a statement recently about the threshold of Second Life being high, and to some extent it is true, but one thing is absolutely critical, the willingness to learn and explore. I have in the past month seen how quickly primary school pupils will take on such a thing as building in virtual worlds like Second Life and Open Sim. They do not think it is particularly difficult - if they have the interest they learn extremely fast. Learning how it works is not the hardest part for them but to learn to utilize the many options that are available is difficult. Children do not see so many obstacles, but they try - and often several times. Sometimes, the impossible happens.

Children have not acquired the limitations that we have as adults. We as adults mean something else with "impossible" than children do. Impossible for us older people is a pretty solid stop but for the young, it is a condition that exists until someone finds a way. A few adults manage to keep this desire to conquer the impossible and I would have liked to be one of those but I have put up too many stop signs and signs for both "one way traffic" and "forbidden passage" in my mind.

If you could make a wish for new feature or something else new in Second Life would it be something that has a counterpart in real world, or you could come up with something completely new - something that can only exist in the virtual world? Some children just spurt out such ideas. We are well accustomed to some of those things, being able to teleport, fly and change our avatar anyway we wish - or so we think.

We have a whole new world waiting for us where everything is possible, but we just copy things from real world into virtual reality. When will things start coming in the virtual worlds that we can copy over to the real world? Lack of imagination is in short supply in the virtual worlds!

We want to come to the virtual world because it is different but when we get there we immediately start converting it to a copy of the world we want to disconnect from.

In how many areas of your life are you free from rules and patterns and have a belief that there are no limitations? If you have that, can you describe that which has no borders and that cannot be captured by rules or exhibit patterns?

Second Life needs pure imagination to grow but to let go of the rational thoughts completely and let your imagination reign free is probably the hardest things to do."

---
I must say I agree with Sven, if a total gaming idiot like myself - and a few other fools I know all to well - could learn to enjoy SecondLife and develop our skills inworld by ourselves and with the eager help of our friends I do not really see where the huge threshold problem is. There is nothing "impossible" with SecondLife!

Sven is also correct in my mind when he calls for even more imagination in virtual worlds.

Challenges should not be easy, but they must be fun and interesting and allow us to develop in our own pace. Only then will the curiosity and childlike creativity be awakened that makes life so fun sometimes.

Model: Millimina Salamander

I am still waiting in vain for my fashion statement "The Jesters Hat - only for the boldest among fashionistas" to be copied into first life.

Foggy Monday

"Serenity in the fog", photography by Gary Hamburgh

It´s Monday and I didn't sleep well last night. All weekend my head was bursting with images of the things I was going to create now that I had finally started building again in SecondLife. I also had some splendid ideas about future posts for the blog.

I woke up this morning - 35 minutes too late - and all the enthusiasm was gone. Instead I have spent the whole day trying to catch up with myself and my first life after spending last week mostly in meetings or conferences.

Luckily nothing too bad had been going on so by the end of the day I had finally gotten through all the mail and caught up with everything else, so tomorrow I can start afresh without any immediate deadlines or crisis's needing to be averted.

When I got home I was tired but restless and uninspired and cold. I tried taking a nap to refresh myself but couldn't sleep, so I feel foggy, dazed and cold. More or less like the photo by Gary Hamburg but not as beautiful.

I have been rereading Philip Rosedale´s statements in The New York Times interview that have caused such an uproar among residents and trying to fit them to my realities.

Before entering into SecondLife I can honestly say that I could sometimes be alone, but that was never a problem for me because I never ever felt lonely. There were always people at hand if and when I wanted them. Now there are days that I feel lonely even if I am not alone, no matter how many people I am surrounded by.

Ars and the rest of my onetime SecondLife family seem to somehow have changed my perceptions. In the light of Philips words this makes me feel warped and abandoned. I don´t know if I am making any sense at all and may very well remove this post later.

Whatever, tomorrow is another day, anything can happen!

What Did You Mean, Philip?

SecondLife founder Philip Rosedale, a.k.a. Philip Linden, according to an article in New York Times talking about SecondLife recently made two statements that have caused a great deal of speculation and concern among residents and bloggers.

The two statements are, "The problem with creating an immersive 3-D experience is that it is just too involved, and so it’s hard to get people to engage,” and “Smart people in rural areas, the handicapped, people looking for companionship, they love it. But you have to be highly motivated to get on and learn to use it.”

Among most bloggers the statements have been interpreted as derogatory and as an almost treacherous attack by the previously well liked former CEO, now Chairman of the Board, of Linden Lab. (See for example The Metaverse Journal Philip Rosedal spruiks new venture, talks down Second Life?, Eddi Haskell Shame on Philip Rosedale. He´s Joined the Second Life Haters!, Ener Hax Philip even thinks SL is dead, Botgirls Second Life Diary Rosedales Milkshake or Sven Idyll (in Swedish) Second Life 2012 to mention a few.)

On New World Notes today blogger Herman Au makes a completely different - and more beneficial - interpretation on Philips statements in this post, No, Second Life Founder Philip Rosedale Probably Doesn't Think Second Life is "Dead". Herman Au writes,

"So I read what Philip's saying as good news: It's clear that he understands the challenges SL faces, and it explains why he's passed the reigns of its day-to-day operations to Rod Humble, who has managed to make a 3D virtual experience with user-generated content -- i.e. Sims 3 -- into a mass market phenomenon. For many years, Philip and other Lindens insisted the high learning curve and the 3D graphics and the heavy client and all that wouldn't hurt SL's growth. (I said as much myself.) But Second Life can only grow if its developers recognize who is using SL now, and what it will take, for people outside these smaller segments to embrace it."

Instead of everyone speculating about what Philip Rosedale may or may not have meant by his statements I wish he himself would come out and clarify what he actually does mean.

I hope that some of the major blogs with well developed lines of communications with Linden Lab - or those that are known to be read by Linden Lab officials or employees - will pick up on this as I do not expect this humble blog is on any of their reading lists.

I Think I Love it!

This is a photograph using "depth" instead of "color", cool huh?

After reading the Swedish blogger Sven Idyll´s posts about the new Beta Viewer 3.2. and seeing the short explanatory videos he has posted there Linden Labs new instruction videos for Viewer 3 I just couldn't contain myself and was eager to try out the new viewer.

I followed my own previously described routine about how to Install a Fresh Viewer and then downloaded the new one. I must say I fell for it immediately. You can move almost everything around anyway you want it to get the thingies exactly where you want them to be and with the shapes you desire.

Is it strange I love the guys and girls at Linden Lab as much as I do? These brilliant people have given me everything I can ask for in a viewer.

Love you guys, have a round of beer on me (but no more than 30 of you and you must include CEO Rodvik Linden/Rod Humble) and chairman of the Board Philip Linden. (Rodvik is almost catching up with my all time favorite CEO Philip with this stroke of genius.)

Sorry for being unfaithful to you guys there for a while, but I am back home in the fold with ya´ll now!

Named Avatars 5

I am very pleases to introduce you today to Sjöfn Stoneshield in my series on how we decided on the names for our avatars-

"My cousin, Vanadis Falconer, lured me into Second Life because she thought I needed a little break now and then from the work on my dissertation in psychology.

When I joined I needed a good first name. "Vanadis" was already taken by Vanadis. Since we are almost the same age and cousins, we have grown up with the folklore about the Norse gods Thor, Odin, Frigg and Freya. Now I had to think a little extra. 

We have an old tradition in Scandinavia; If you pick seven kinds of wild flowers from seven different fields in absolute silence on a midsummer night and then put the flowers under your pillow you will dream about your future husband or wife. In the pre-Christian era there was also a goddess named Sjöfn, sister of the goddess Freya, who was worshiped if you had love troubles. The goddess was revered by both men and women.

There was only one small problem with that first name. It was not possible to use the Swedish letters Å, Ä and Ö in Second Life at that time (A´s and O´s with circles or two dots above). The Swedish Ö (O with two dots) is pronounced as "I" in "bird". Should I spell my name "Sjifn"? Nah, it made no sense to other Scandinavians. Should I use the German "OE"? Nah, only Germans would understand that. So I just gave up and called myself Sjofn. 

Then it was time to choose the surname. One name sounded more ridiculous than the other, eventually I came to the "S" and Stoneshield. Sjofn Stoneshield that´s good, I thought. A shield of stone for a strong and independent woman - perfect!

One of the first things I did after joining Second Life was to write to Philip Linden and tell the boy that he should ensure that Swedish Å, Ä and Ö could be used in Second Life names. And because Philip is obviously a well-mannered and obedient boy, Second Life introduced Å, Ä and Ö in the next update. So now I have my dots over the o and Sjofn is now and for eternal time called "Sjöfn Stoneshield".

Ars go Fridars ("prosperity and good harvest" in Old Norse)
Sjöfn"

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If you would also like to participate in the series by sharing your reasons for choosing the name you have given your avatar, please send me an e-mail lundamats@gmail.com. Please include a picture of your avatar.

I may take some editorial liberties with your text and picture, such as correcting obvious misspellings in the US English and perhaps shortening. However I promise that I will not distort any facts and that I will contact you if the changes are of a major nature (or if I have reason to believe that you would think so).

Attaboy Rodvik!

Video streaming by Ustream

This video from the SecondLife Community Conference this year.(SLCC 2011) is going completely viral on the SecondLife blogs. It shows Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab (in our world better known as Rodvik Linden) giving his keynote speech.

Noob Rodvik is actually starting to gain my confidence. I like what I hear him say in this speech. Testing and bug-fixing are a priority for him, as are lag, usability and added value features for the paying customers.

Best thing is that Rodvik reveals he doesn't much like the Viewer 2 either and actually hates the sidebar like many of the rest of us!

Keep this up Rodvik and you may become my second favorite CEO. There is no one that can beat my dreamer Philip Linden, but they can come pretty damned close.

My Favorite Geek

Philip Rosedale, my favorite Chairman of the Board and computer geek, is seen here talking geek-talk and more with Kevin Rose. It´s a truly inspired and wonderful interview/conversation.

I understand all the words they utter but much of the technical dialog is totally wasted on me. I watch it because I love seeing the fascination in Philip´s face and for the non-tech talk of how it all started! Thats the creator of my dream-world!

This is reposted from Sven Idyll´s blog opensweden. I just had to have it myself!

(P.S. Did I ever tell y´all I love computer geeks? My Ars was one of them too!)

Nobel Prize for Philip Rosedale?!!

Philip in a tuxedo - like I want to see him soon again

So I was dreaming a bit during the night and now I am going to share parts of my dreams with you, dear readers. The dreams were totally wild and crazy but happy ones.

I had a short one about kissing my Ars, it was so real that I even dreamed of feeling his breath on my face. The only thing was my mind could not decide which Ars I was kissing, his SecondLife avatar or his first life person Doug, so it kind of shifted from one to the other all the time.

In my dreams I also remembered the amazing memorial services that were held in Ars honor, first the one at St. Magnus Kirk in Hinterland (arranged by Chade, Hiroku and the other wonderful men at Hinterland) and then the one at the Calas Galadhon Garden sims (arranged by two of Ars´s brothers, Dejerrity and Jeb, and the two owners of Calas Galadhon, Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith, and finally wonderful builder Bora Rossini).

Come to think of it I really wish I had pictures from those two services, but I was too preoccupied with other things to take any myself.

At both places we had many avatars coming in from all corners of the world to be together and support each other at this point in time and in their busy first life´s. All because we shared a love and admiration for the avatar Ars Northmead and Doug, the man behind the avatar.

The memorial at Mirromere with me, our boys and Millimina
(Photo courtesy of Millimina Salamander)

Did you know that we were more  than 70 avatars at Calas Galadhon for the whole ceremony? And one of the avatars actually had parts of Doug´s first life family sitting there watching the computer screen, his father, his sisters and brothers and some cousin and nephews.

We were all there, from all over the world sharing these moments of remembrance together, being with each other, supporting each other.

The first thing I thought when I woke up was "Philip Rosedale - and possibly Linden Lab also - should be awarded the Nobel Prize!"

The Nobel Prize comes in the following categories Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and finally Economic Sciences. The last prize is awarded by Sweden's National bank in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

I can imagine Philip Rosedale receiving the prize in possibly three of the six categories, Physics, Physiology or Medicine and Peace, but maybe also Economic Sciences.

What do you people think? Could he receive the prize? If so, in which category/categories and why? Talk amongst yourselves then tell me. I have a few ideas myself that I may possibly leak.

Happy 8th Rezday, SecondLife!

Today June 23rd, 2011, SecondLife will officially be eight years old. Would you believe it?

This wonderful world of ours is only eight years old and the celebrations have already started and will be going on the whole week. For more information on what is happening please go to the SL8B-site.

I would like to congratulate Linden Lab and all who work there - and have worked there - since the start until now.

Happy Eighth Rezday, SecondLife!

I love you guys, all of you - with the possible exception of M Linden and the guy that I have blocked out from my memory who messed up my "not so flourishing" business on XStreet (these days better known as Marketplace).

I would also like to convey my gratitude to all Lindens and Ontynes - and whatever other surnames you may have - from the Chairman of the board over Customer Services to the errand boy on the third floor of the offices.

Special thanks with kisses and hugs go to my own very special Lindens,
Philip Linden - the man who shared his dream of another world with us and the sexiest Chairman of the board in both the first and second world,
Rodvik Linden - the man who will move us into the future safely and with awareness of that SecondLife is not just another game but a community and the coolest CEO known to man (even if he needs help in answering messages),
Alexa Linden - for her great kindness and good sense of humor and also for taking good care of a dear friend whom I alas usually only meet once a year,
Belinda Linden - for being warm, caring, competent and supportive towards a crazy Swede with legal problems,
Keira Linden -  for being kind, sweet, efficient and supportive in solving the crazy Swede´s technical problems and last, but in no way least,
Gareth Ontyne - for being calm, polite and efficient although the crazy Swede did not appreciate it at the time (Sorry Gareth!)

In Linden Lab I Trust

Well it seems I wrote my earlier post about being able to build again much too soon, because I wasn't able to build using the Phoenix or the Firestorm viewers this evening. I have uninstalled them both, I do not want viewers that I cannot work with and rely on.

I am now back to the Linden Lab viewers Snowglobe and Snowstorm. I did a quick test after downloading both and it seems they work for me!

Linden Lab has always been good to me, in every way possible, and now they came to my rescue again. I love you all, the people at Linden Lab, from Philip, Belinda (yes I know she is no longer at the lab, but to me she still represents the best spirit of the lab), Keira and to those I haven't met yet, with the possible exception of Rodvik. But thats only because Rodvik didn't answer my message to him on Facebook and I am sure he is a really nice guy too!

Shocking Philip

I woke up in the middle of the night and went to my computer and there I found this shocking news on "The Second Life Blog". It´s an announcement posted by my favourite interim CEO Philip Linden on Oct 19, 2010 4:28:33 PM

"After about four months as interim CEO, working closely with Bob Komin, the management team, and the board, we've decided we are ready to start the search for a new CEO. I'll be leaving day-to-day management of the company and continuing in my role on the board, including helping in the search to find a great CEO. I will also be continuing my work with my new company, LoveMachine. Bob will lead Linden Lab while we conduct the search. It's been an intense few months of transition, and we all feel like we are in a better place now, with a clearer sense of direction and more focus, and are ready to bring someone new into the mix as a leader."

Philip, my darling Philip, how could you do this to me! I should think Bob is a great man, but I do not yet have the same trust in him as I have in you - and now you make the trust I placed in you seem totally misplaced.

My trust in Philip cam from him being "the original dreamer", than man who made my beautiful Second Life possible. I counted on him to understand who we - the day-to-day users experienced our world and what improvement and changes were necessary to make our experience better - more fast, fun ad easy.m I really do feel a bit betrayed, Philip, I also know the OutWorldzers and "Bastians" will ridicule me now for my belief and trust in you, that makes it even more heavy.

I don´t know Bob Komin at all, he really may be a perfectly decent guy, but I have no hopes stuck to him yet and no trust. I have to try sleep on this terrible news...

Philip Linden 2.0 - We Have a Winner

 

Woooohoooo the winner of the "Philip Linden 2.0" contest was declared today!

The winner is Mars Absent of The Abyss. And I must say I think he did a stunning job given the limitations Philip set up for the contest. It is a sexier and updated version of Philips earlier avatar, so I can fully understand why he chose it (but I hope he drops that glittery crotch- and asscover thingy a.s.a.p.).

.......

The finalist I personally would have selected for my favourite interim CEO of Linden Lab was Twisted Lemons entry (below), but I guess it is way too sexy for Philips purposes.

Thanks so much to the wonderful, the lovely and the bodacious Mrs. Vampi Twine DeSantis for alerting me of this development.

Linden Lab Hears My Prayers

I read about it first on my friend Frostlands blog and then on The Second Life Blog (where P.J. Linden tells us about a lot of other interesting news and updates also).

My friends at Linden Lab have heard my prayers! Well everyone elses too, I guess, but I still choose to think of this as a personal favor to me from my friends at the lab.

We are getting 40 groups before the end of the year, yeaaaaaahawwww! OK, OK it´s just a trial and they may change it back but it will do for now...

Love ya right back Philip, P.J., Belinda and the rest of you Lindens!

BMcM Corp + Microsoft + SecondLife = TRUE

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh my God, the plot thickens! What a busy afternoon it has been. This is an account of what happened when I was celebrating my nieces 2nd birthday in real life today.

I, that is Bock McMillan, Laird of Southern Charm, Second Life fahionista and business tycoon (interim CEO och Chairman of the Board of BMcM Corporation) etc. etc., was joined there by my bosom buddies Mr William "Bill" Gates, businessman (Microsoft), computer geek and philantropist and Mr. Philip Rosedale (a k a Philip Linden), stunningly cute non-fashionista, computer geek and interim CEO and Chairman of the Board of Linden Lab (owners of Second Life).

The three of us have a long-standing and very close friendship, although both Mr Gates and Mr. Rosedale hastily implored me to add that our friendship is "of course of a totally non-sexual nature".

Between eating birthday cake, drinking excessive amounts of black coffee and singing birthday songs for the lovely little girl, we had time to discuss the upcoming merger of our three companies. I am happy to inform you we are letting our minions close the deal before the end of the coming week.

After all this name-dropping I hope you all realize it´s high time to start sucking up...

(And then I woke up and discovered I had to hurry to get to the party in time!)