In Memoriam Ebbe Altberg

Yesterday we got the sad news that Ebbe Altberg, a.k.a. Ebbe Linden, had passed away the day before. 

My thoughts and condolences first go to Ebbe's family, friends, and coworkers at Linden Lab in their loss, but also to all residents of SecondLife. 

Ebbe was a game-changer for Secondlife when he came to us as the new CEO of Linden Lab in 2014, especially when it concerns the relationship between the Lindens and us residents. 

Inara Pey has expressed my feelings eloquently and much better than anything I can achieve so I refer you to her blogpost; Living in a Modem World, In Memorian: Ebbe Altberg.

Inara Pey - Meet the Lindens

Second Life’s 17^th birthday starts on Friday, June 19^the, with a preview for members of the SL17B group on Thursday, June 18th. (...) The celebration will have a series of Meet the Lindens sessions featuring individuals and teams from the Lab discussing their work and Second Life.

Read all about it at Living In A Modem World: Meet the Lindens (URL).

A New Look for SecondLife

SecondLife launched a new logo today.

"The old logo has served us well but no longer projects our vision for SL as we move into this next decade. The new logo uses clearer, bolder type to communicate our optimism and confidence in what the future holds for SL. We retired the soft green color in favor of bright blue to reflect the boundless energy of our residents, who create amazing content and experiences. When it comes to what you can do with SL, the (blue) sky’s the limit!" (SecondLife Community blog)

I like it!

A Fun Project

Yesterday I was part of a fun project in recreating The Village People's "YMCA" in SecondLife in both a photograph and a video.

"It Takes A Village" by Tomais Ashdene

"It takes a village...and that song" by Wayne GoodmaNZ

Please click the creators' names to see the larger versions on Flickr. Don't forget to like and follow. 

"Everyone Is A DJ..."

Ars, who himself was a DJ, often used to say "Everyone is a DJ in SecondLife!" As the years have gone by I have found that his assessment is close to the truth. Surprisingly many of my friends or acquaintances have on some occasions tried it.

Recently I learned that my friend Mirco, a.k.a. Schatzi by me, has a regular set every Saturday at The Midnight Museum region with music from the '80s. This evening I had the pleasure of being there.

Mirco at the deck

Now I am eagerly awaiting the day that my sweet husband Tomais will inform me that he also wishes to start DJ-ing.

Linden Lab Releases EEP

Linden Lab yesterday released a new SecondLife viewer with uses an entirely new way to create and use environment settings for the appearance of the sky, day cycles and, Linden Water, within the viewer. This is called the Environment Enhancement Project (or in short EEP).

Photo by Inara Pey (as used in her blogpost)

But instead of me trying to explain this wonderful feature for you, please head on over to the infinitely more technologically savvy Inara Pey on her blog "Inara Pey: Living in a Modem World" (URL).

As I understand it Firestorm will release a compatible viewer in the near future.

Thank you, Linden Lab!

Linden Lab Keeps Promise

I love Linden Lab, they always keep their promises, at least since Ebbe Linden has been at the helm!

Yesterday Linden Lab announced on the SecondLife Community blog (url) that last names, by popular demand, are now back again after being gone since 2010.

Those Premium Members who wish to change any part of their names, both first and last, can do so for a fee of $39,99. Residents will be able to choose from a rotating list of available last names, which will be on display on your SecondLife account page under "Change Name".

Neo Japan 2020

I don't often recommend shopping events, but I had to tell you about this year's Neo Japan event because there are lots of fun, interesting, well made and rather inexpensive things to pick up, many of them exclusively for the event.

There are accessories, clothing for both men and women, buildings, hairs, poses, skins and much more.

The event closes on April 19th, 2020, so you still have some time left to do a bit of shopping.

In the picture, I am wearing some of my loot... I bought a lot! (Someone has to support the SecondLife economy in these dire times.)

[Rezz Room] Japanese Dragon Animesh Light (Companion)
kosmii :: Maru Uchikatsugi [black] (The amazing hat)
toksik - Isolate Pants (Gianni) (Olive)
toksik - Isolate Top (Gianni) (Olive)
{kokoia} Jackson :: Male Boots :: for sig. Gianni

Here is your landmark to Neo Japan (SLurl) 

The Demise of an SL Institution

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. It is also the first day without a new blogpost on My Avatar Name is Apmel, a SecondLife institution that has been accompanying and guiding us residents since 2006.

"She was in Paris" by Sergey Rybakov

Mr. Apmel Goosson Esq., enfante terrible, universal genius, philosopher, rebel, blogger, author, artist, cartoonist, etc., etc. and the honored 2011 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bock McMillan Art Foundation (a part of the BMcM Corporation), has for some selfish reason decided that after 10,000 blogposts enough is enough. He did so without due consideration of the significant emotional distress and soul-wrenching turmoil he thereby causes to his faithful readers.

However, I must begrudgingly admit that my bosom buddy, of course, has the right to make such a decision and move on to new endeavors. In a heart-to-heart conversation, Apmel promised that we would find him on other media platforms but did not want to specify saying "Only the future can tell! Besides I won't leave SL, my avatars would never forgive me :)".

Thank you for your dedicated work through these fifteen years, Apmel! We are all looking forward to seeing your future work.

Preparations For Influx of Refugees

"As residents of SecondLife, we must prepare ourselves for an influx of refugees from First Life due to the constraints on living conditions and mobility brought on by the raging pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. The new arrivals must be taken care of, housed, fed and clothed, and be made to feel welcome amongst us. However, we should also be aware they may have been living in difficult circumstances and may suffer from some post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Suitable security measures are therefore advisable.", says The Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm etc., etc., who has already set aside the building named "The Aviary" on his large estate

 as temporary housing for some of the refugees. (See picture above). 

When the blog was visiting, all - or at least fourscore - little princes and princesses in his realm were busy cleaning, furnishing and putting the place in excellent order. Fresh linen on 14 beds, and lots of flowers and candle lights. 

Although the building has no privy of its own some will be prepared in an adjacent outhouse. The building is located between a large lake and the sea, which can be used for hygenic purposes.

A Message from Ebbe Linden re. SecondLife & Covid-19

Ebbe Altberg, a.k.a. Ebbe Linden, the CEO of Linden Lab, today published a message regarding the novel coronavirus and SecondLife operations on the SecondLife community blog (URL).

"Second Life will continue to be available without interruption as we get through this tough time together. Due to our previous crisis contingency planning and the flexible nature of our distributed workforce, we are not expecting any changes to response times for support inquiries and payment processing. 

We know that Second Life serves a great purpose for our community as people seek ways to stay in touch with their friends and co-workers, as they grapple with new social distancing protocols, mandated remote work requirements, and other precautionary measures. 

With the closure of many universities and displaced conferences and events, Second Life also continues to be an option for disrupted organizations looking for new remote work, classroom or event solutions. To help, we recently implemented a reduction in pricing to a flat $99/month per region for qualified education and nonprofit organizations."

Read the full message at the link posted above!

Covid-19; Yet Another Reason For Using SecondLife

In these, the latter days, with all the panic caused by the pandemic of the Covid-19 virus, and the calls for social distancing to inhibit the spread of the disease virtual realities like SecondLife can fill the void with our needs as humans for safe social interaction.

Although Sweden as yet has only 775 (8 per 100,000 inhabitants) confirmed cases and no deaths so far, signs of the ongoing panic are emerging. When I visited the pharmacy today, I was informed that they were rationing paracetamol to only 2 items per person as people had been stockpiling the medication. I am sure there are other things being rationed also, but I haven't encountered them.

My elderly mother lives in an assisted living facility where relatives have been asked to completely avoid or severely limit visits until further notice, especially if they have upper respiratory symptoms.

Neighbouring Denmark is closing its borders from 12 PM (noon) tomorrow Saturday, March 14^th until April 13^th. Travelers will be rejected at the border if they cannot show that they work in the country or have an exceptional reason for entry.

Ars in Memoriam 2020

Joseph Douglas Wilson Jr., in SecondLife known as Ars Northmead.

★ April 21, 1953 (First life)
★ October 25, 2006 (SecondLife)

† March 12, 2010

Ars Forever, Forever Ars!

Thirteen - I Cannot Believe It

Today I celebrate my thirteenth rezday in SecondLife, it's almost impossible to fathom all the joy, sorrow, loving, shopping, flying, playing, teleporting, friending and un-friending (not so many, but still some) that have occurred during those many years.

I first joined just to check it out, who knew I would still be here and having fun. Many times before I have said that I'll probably be here when Linden Lab pulls the plug in San Francisco, now I actually believe it.

At Cape Dejerrity

Today, while I was waiting for my husband to log into SecondLife, I went for a walk around the home region and ended up at "Cape Dejerrity", which is what I call the hook of land where my late brother's parcel used to be.

The wind was howling and I felt alone while I reminisced about my obstinate, cantankerous, sentimental, loving and lovely brother. I miss him a lot and feel sad about his untimely death, especially the fact that he was all alone and probably frightened when he passed. 

The LGBT+ Gateway to SecondLife Has Opened

It is with great pride I can now announce that the LGBT+ Gateway to SecondLife at SecondPride - after much delay - finally opened at the end of August 2019.

Newcomers who use that entryway will be dropped into the SL 101 learning area at Second Pride. The area is constructed as a building site that the new resident goes through to learn the basics of being a resident in SecondLife. The area was designed and built by Tomais Ashdene, my husband, and his daughter Kerowyn Kirke.

There is an entryway on the Second Pride website (url), but I will put one on this blog as well.

Love Made in SecondLife

Draxtor Despres and SecondLife have a series of documentaries (five so far, but more to come) running on YouTube about how people meet and fall in love in SecondLife and carry that love over into first life.

Imagine being 71 y.o. living comfortably in the USA and then packing everything up to move to the UK after meeting the love of your life in SecondLife. Well, they had known each other for over ten years in SecondLife so it wasn't as if they were strangers.

You can find the YouTube playlist here: Love Made in SecondLife (url) (As always like, comment and share!)

Draxtor has told me that he is still looking for couples who want to share their stories with us. If you feel like it, you should drop a notecard on his profile in-world or better yet send him an email: drax@draxtor.com. 

Tenth & Final Day of Second Pride Festival 2019

It's the last day of Pride and it feels a bit bitter-sweet, but let's make the most of it! Here is today's line-up of entertainment. Please enjoy!

Ninth Day of Second Pride Festival 2019

This day is going to be a killer, look at this line-up! WooT!

Eighth Day of Second Pride Festival 2019

Today's program at Second Pride Festival for all you party people who want to flaunt your pride for the world to see!