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.

Bock: "2012 Will Be Wonderful!"

"Farm in fog", photography by Gary Hamburgh

OK, I felt the pressure building up inside me as the end of the year came closer.

Just as we watch the fogs slowly lifting over the farmhouse in Gary Hamburgh´s beautiful picture, here are my predictions for 2012.

Universal

1. The universe as we know it will still be here
2. We will have made contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence. However, they decline any further contact because they think we are dumb asses.
3. The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything will remain 42.

Global

1. The Arab spring will continue with baby-steps and a few set backs, it will eventually also turn into a Persian spring. There will still be no Chinese spring in sight
2. The Internet will remain free, power mongers must realize you cannot put the genie back in the can once it is set free.
3. Barack Obama will be reelected for a second term as President of the United States of America

SecondLife

1. SecondLife will still be here, things will improve inworld when Viewer 1 has been dropped
2. Linden Lab will remain as owners of SecondLife and their financial situation will slowly improve
3. Mesh will...  ugh lets wait and see, my answer on this one is 42

Metaversal

1. The blog "Tinas universum" (Tina´s Universe) will be up and running again, the oldest Swedish avatar known to man cannot hold back long
2. "Bock in SecondLife" will most likely still be here, lets say 42 on this one
3. As for the rest - 42

Personal

1. I will be 42 and Bock will be 5, but we will still look like 32 and act like 12
2. I and Bock will have had sex again with another human being and/or avatar. Finally!
3. I will still be on antidepressants but vastly improved

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That´s it folks! All in all, we have a wonderful and marvelous year waiting for us. Enjoy 2012!

Blog Shut Down By Bullying

Yesterday we were reached by the sad news that PetGirl Bergman, a.k.a Tina Dahl, has decided to shut down her blog "Tinas universum" ("Tina´s Universe").

"Tina´s Universe" has been the largest Swedish SecondLife blog almost since it´s start. It has been a mighty source of information and education on all things to do with SecondLife for all Swedish noobs in-world since it´s start.

As one of the oldest Swedish avatars in SecondLife PetGirl has acted as an ambassador between the Swedish community in SecondLife and Linden Lab. She has been able to help many Swedish avatars through the red-tape at the Lab. Tina has also worked hard on establishing excellent contacts with the Swedish Institute and has  acted as a well known and highly respected ambassador to the Swedish authorities and the real life world.

Tina Dahl has always maintained a high profile in the Swedish community though her blog. through the in-world group "Swedish People in Second Life" (which she created) and through her strong and charismatic personality. Tina was without a doubt the inspiring, organizing and driving force behind many of the large events and activities that have occurred in the in-world Swedish community.

Her unrivaled position as the unofficial leader evoked much envy among smaller souls who would have preferred to have that position themselves.

During the last three years Tina has been under unrelenting pressure by a handful of Scandinavian avatars and their hangarounds who have focused an unrelenting and hateful campaign against her, on their blogs, in comments on other blogs and in-world.

It is - in my mind - not strange at all that Tina finally succumbed to this pressure and lost her inspiration to continue blogging, many of us would not have lasted as long.

I will maintain my hopes that this shut down is only temporary and therefore refuse to take leave of "Tina´s Universe" but instead will hope to wish her welcome back when she has found her strength and inspiration again. 

On Moderation of Comments

Photo by Nam in Geum

I always like to tell people "I am the most patient man in SecondLife, absolutely everyone tells me so!" Those who know me well and love me - like my Ars, Guyke, Andrey and perhaps Millimina also - laugh in my face when I say this because they of course know damn well it is as far from the truth as you can get.

All the same I still persevere in telling all and sundry this as soon as I can possibly squeeze it into a conversation, in the vain hopes that someone who has known me longer than 15 minutes will one day agree.

The last week I myself  feel I have shown an amazing restraint that would rightfully make me entitled to truthfully keep on stating that I am in fact am the the most patient man. Alas no one seems to have noticed...

The Swedish SecondLife bloggers have been... hmmm... "discussing" the question of whether they - and everyone else - should use pre-moderation or post-moderation/reactive moderation on the comments made on a blog. There are of course valid reasons for each approach. I found an excellent summary here "Everything in Moderation - On Four Types of Moderation".

On my blog I have lately chosen to switch to post-moderation/reactive moderation primarily because I have had no experience with any misuse by commenters and I believe that a free flow of opinions between the commenters is of vital importance.

It is my personal opinion that it must be the choice of each blogger which type of moderation they choose. This choice must of course always take into account the experiences the blogger has had earlier, for instance it is well known that the Swedish blogger PetGirl Bergman with her blog Tinas universum has is the not-to-distant past had problems with defamatory personal attacks on herself and on others by anonymous or signed commenters.

Photo by Natalia Luzuriaga

The Swedish bloggers war was raised another notch when my bosom-buddy Apmel Goosson, the enfant terrible of Swedish SecondLife with the oldest Swedish SecondLife blog "Min avatar heter Apmel" (My Avatars Name is Apmel) the other day stated that he would link differently to blogs that used pre-moderation.

This decision by Apmel caused one blogger to stop blogging altogether and another blogger to express hurt feelings on being negatively discriminated against by not receiving the same exposure as post-moderated blogs.

It is my firm belief that every blogger has the prerogative to choose not only which blogs he wants to link to or not to link to, but also how he wishes to link to them as long as it isn´t done in a derogatory or defamatory way. There is no human rights issue involved in this, nor is it an infringement on anyones freedom of speech or expression.

I have actually kept myself a bit distant from these discussions where I have many opinions, in a way that is totally unlike me in these situations, so thats why I believe I now deserve at least a plaque or  medal telling the world that I am indeed the most patient man in SecondLife.

(The pictures on this post were chosen solely for their beauty and calmness so as to sooth any hurt feelings of my readers.)

Cloud Panic Planing

The oldest female avatar known and the Swedish Queen of SecondLife blogs, Ms. PetGirl Bergman over at Tinas Universum, today shares some of her hard earned wisdom with us.

PetGirl recommends us to read Inara Pey´s excellent post "Avatar A Cloud" which contains several handy tips in case you get stuck in a cloud-state or if you are ruthed.

Among the many tips Inara shares with us in that post is to create a panic-folder for those ugly situations. I am going to make one as soon as I log in-world today.

Hair Fair 2011

The Hair Fair 2011 has started.

Get all the landmarks to all the designers at my good friend Tina´s blog Tinas universum - Hair Fair 2011 (url).


I will not even attempt to go there until the end of the week, and then only when the Americans are sleeping!

A good idea could be to join the "Hair Fair DEMO Group" (url), then you can try on the demos hey are esnding out in your lag free homes to decide what to buy.

A Mystery

"Tinas universum" used to be one of the most active Swedish/Scandinavian SecondLife blogs as long as it was run by PetGirl Bergman (aka Tina).

Through Tina´s hard work, efforts and her good connections - she was after all one of the hmm lets call it most experienced (but I really mean oldest known still active Swedish avatar with her 6+ years in-world) she made it the most influential among the Scandinavian communities and the Scandinavian blogs.

It was almost "a must" to read for all residents with any self respect or interest in what was going on in SecondLife.

After more than a year of in-world conflicts PetGirl was finally so fed-up with it all that she transferred the blog to an un-named group of 6-8 other Scandinavians. They said from the start that they would not be able to keep her tempo in updating but started out nicely with a few posts everyday.

Suddenly I discovered there was something missing in my life. It used to be my habit before logging in-world to read "Tina´s Universe" just to get information what was going on, now I suddenly realized that I had not read it for awhile. So I just checked and saw it had not been updated for 6 days.

That is totally unheard of, not even when Tina was sick as a dog or on vacation would this have happened before. Is there some news I have missed about this?

Now I am looking for answers to this mystery, does anyone know whats happened? Please inform me and the rest of us in the comments below!

Poor Wretches

After more than a year and a half of harassment, bullying and threats Tina Dahl, a.k.a. PetGirl Bergman, recently announced that she had decided to hand over the most read Swedish/Scandinavian blog on SecondLife - "Tinas universum" - to 5 unnamed persons.

Mind you, I am not saying that PetGirl has been totally without fault in this matter, but in no way has she gone to the extremes of her opponents.

This decision of PetGirls has led to a wealth of unfounded speculations among her bullies that is both disturbing and on occasion amusing to follow.

I guess it most be extremely traumatic for bullies to suddenly lose their whipping dog.

What´s happening?

Suddenly my SecondLife is shaken in a most upsetting way as I read the the Queen of Swedish SecondLife PetGirl Bergman is going to stop bloging on the most read Swedish SL-Blog "Tinas universum".

PetGirl has decided to leave the blog to 5 unnamed Scandinavians to continue her work. Things will not be the same.

Valentine´s Day Teaser

Don´t make other plans for Monday February 14th, the traditional Valentine party at the Swedish Embassy in SecondLife is on and absolutely everyone is invited, and our International friends in particular..

This party is a collaboration between the Swedish Institute, the blog "Tinas universum" and was made possible by the arduous work of Annabella, Ewa and Tina (PetGirl).

This is going to be an awesome party I am sure, it usually is!

I am so sorry I am going to miss it myself due to being out of town that day. I emphatically refuse to use my work laptop for private entertainment purposes, my employer knows way too much about my private life already.

More information to follow.

All-Time High

Wow I didn't even know that this was about to happen so imagine my surprise when I happened to look in the all time statistics. This blog had over 10.000 page views in January 2011.

Wooohooooo! Eddi Haskell, PetGirl Bergman and Apmel Goosson beware, I am catching on to you!

Big hugs and lots of thanks to my loyal readers, and all the newcomers also!

Show Me Some Skin, Rodvik

Stolen from "Tinas universum"

Well as you all may know I finished a project on my blog with naked avatars from SecondLife (Nakna avatarer i SL) on Christmas Day.

Today I went out on the Internet in search of nudie pics of Rod Humble or Rodvik Linden, I was even going to be satisfied with semi-nude pictures.

Believe it or not but I couldn´t find a single picture of either of them without a shirt on and not a single one of them in bathing trunks or sexy white American boxers.

Rodvik, you better get your act together and send me a picture of you in bathing trunks or white underwear or - if you should happen to prefer it - just without a shirt!

This is an example of what I am looking for, stolen from www.eddihaskell.com

...or perhaps even something like these, if you dare, Rodvik! This is Ryce Skytower, one of Eddi Haskell´s beautiful creations.

Come to think of it, perhaps you even should let Eddi style your SecondLife avatar, Rodvik!

We really need a CEO-avatar that is way sexier than Philip Lindens was, before and after the remake!

The funniest picture I came across during my search was this one, and it doesn´t even show any part of you.

Send your pictures to lundamats@gmail.com.

And while you are at it you might as well answer my message to you on Facebook, dude. (Don´t even for a moment think I haven´t noticed the answers you have already sent to other bloggers!

The 2011 Bloggies

It's time for the Eleventh Annual Weblog Awards. Nominations have now opened and will close on January 16th, 2011.

The Bloggies began in 2001 to discover which blogs the Web considered the best, and have grown to be the longest-running and one of the largest awards for weblogs. Which lucky bloggers will earn a Bloggie this year?

I don´t expect to be nominated -  or even win. Well not this year...

But there are actually some categories that really fit this blog like a glove
a) European - well undeniably
b) LGBT - Hell yeah, I am here and I am queer
c) Religion - I have faith, not in God perhaps, but in mankind
d) Politics - Hell yeah again, what would life be without it?
e) Food - Yummy, I like good food and drink
f) Parenting - This may be unexpected, but I have seen "Supernanny"
g) Music - Let me just give you a hint - "Mauro"...
h) Gossip - Well, this is the category I call "news"
i) Fashion - Has anyone missed my Jesters Hat?
j) Topical - Any topic, I am game...
k) Group - Any group, I am game...
l) Humorous - Well I get 5 points for trying
m) Secret - Hell no one knows about this blog
n) New - Fresh and spruce
o) Lifetime - well I have been around for a rough year
p) Weblog of the Year - This would suit me best I guess.. dunno why, just feels like it´s all me...

There are a few more, but I got bored and tired.

Best wishes to "Tinas Universum", "Min avatar heter Apmel", "Joe.My.God" and "www.eddihaskell.com", I am keeping my fingers crossed for you all

Happy Third Anniversary

Today is the third anniversary of the most read Swedish blog on SecondLife, Tinas Universum.

The blog is owned and operated by a single hard working woman, Miss PetGirl Bergman, aka "Tina", "that woman", "the shedevil", "the queen of Swedish SL", "the concierge at the Swedish Institute". "portvaktskärringen" etc. etc.

Imagine 7 970 posts in only three years, it´s like my dear friend Taco Rubio said about her: "A new post every 18 seconds".

Congratulations "Tinas Universum", you set an example for the rest of us!

Sofia Talvik Debuts in SecondLife

Photo by Kirk Stauffer

Sofia Talvik was born on an island just off the west coast of Sweden. Her debut album Blue Moon took forty intense hours to record and the end result is a collection of songs presented virtually intact from the original live studio sessions.

Having earned a reputation as a great live performer, she is frequently playing at clubs in and around Stockholm and throughout Sweden, this is naturally the only way of bringing Sofias gentle, almost fragile voice to you and gives the album a unique sound, making it almost timeless in the sense that it could have been recorded twenty years ago as well as twenty years from now.

2010 is the year when Sofia Talvik celebrates 5 years as an artist. At least if you count from when she released her first album. Since then she’s had air play all over the world, played huge festivals like the Lollapalooza and and established her name amongst the most interesting new singer/songwriters. With her new album ‘Florida’ we’ll get to see a new side of Sofia. Her delicate songs have gained more power and volume and she’s mixed her usual acoustic instrumentation with electric sounds and programmed beats.

On Thursday December 9th, 2010, at 1 pm SLT you can hear Sofia Talvik performing LIVE in SecondLife at OneLove Events. The amazing Swedish builder Aallotar Takaaki has built a special stage for this performance

All tips will go to ECPAT according to Sofias wishes.

Read an interview with Sofia before her SecondLife debut (in Swedish, but there is a Google thingamabob-translator) at "Tinas universum"

Take me to OneLove Events!

Sofia´s web-page sofiatalvik.com

42 Is the Answer! What Was the Question?

Douglas Adams was asked many times during his career why he chose the number 42. Many theories were proposed, but he rejected them all.

On November 3, 1993, he gave an answer on alt.fan.douglas-adams:
"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story."

Adams described his choice as "a completely ordinary number, a number not just divisible by two but also six and seven. In fact it's the sort of number that you could without any fear introduce to your parents."

Look here Tinas universum or here Wikipedia.

Microsoft makes bid for SecondLife?

I almost fell of my chair when I read about this rumour on my friend Eddi Haskells blog Eddi Haskell´s Second life. I am not sure of how I really feel about it either but I thought you should know. (And "Tinas universum" has a post about the rumours too)

Rumours are that Microsoft has made more than one bid to buy SecondLife. The rumour still seems to be unsunstantiated and lacking confirmation, but lets just wait and see...

P.S: After thinking about this for five (5) minutes I think Microsoft should consider OutWorldz instead, some say it´s an exciting place although most of us would not agree!

Dear Bill Gates, it would be a better bargain if you bought "OutWorldz", its a much cheaper place...

The Emerald viewer debacle

The Emerald viewer has been my favorite way to access Second Life for a long time.

After the recent criminal activities on that viewers developement team, which you can read about on other blogs,("Tinas universum" or "Eddi Haskell´s Second Life"), the viewer was taken off the Linden Labs "Third-Party Viewer Directory" yesterday.

This means it is now against the TOS to access Second Life with the Emerald viewer If you do that anyway you can get into some major problems with Linden Lab and your account can get suspended (see the link below about Eddi´s experiences).

Hopefully my friend Eddi Haskell is correct in his assessment that the Emerald viewer probably will be quicky reinstated, but the recent events have caused me to lose all trust in the people involved with that viewer.

I hate changing to a new viewer, does that mean I am getting old already? (I am so NOT allowing comments on that - at least not if you agree!) I already tried the official viewer and hated it...

If I do not answer you in SL you know the reason, I am only trying to learn how to control my new viewer. Aaaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhh...

Philip Linden agrees to makeover

My favourite interim CEO Philip Linden (aka Philip Rosedale in RL) of Linden Lab gave a keynote adress at the SLCC 2010 where he promissed us a lot of improvements in SL before the end of the year.

SLCC 2010 stands for "Second Life Community Convention 2010" and was held in Boston, U.S.A., August 13-15, 2010.

Philip was as always charming and easy to listen to, even for a technically challenged person like myself. I would say I understood close to 98,7 % of what he was talking about, which amazed me. You can read all about the serious stuff on many other blogs, for example here "Tinas universum" (there is also a list of the serious promises and a link to the video of the speech) but they all seem to have missed the three most interesting  and important points Philip made.

Firstly Philip actually agreed to a long-awaited makeover of his avatar and invited all designers and the rest of us to help him out in that process. Philip wants the new look to make him sexier and better represent what Second Life offers us today but still stay in the "general area" of his present avatars looks.

We will all get the possibility to suggest a new and more up-to-date head and body. Among the contributions that are sent in Philip will choose the heads and bodies he feels comfortable to be in and we will all get to vote which combo we like the best.

Secondly Philip gave me his e-mail adress. (Well OK, not me personally but thats totally beside the point.)

Thirdly Philip promissed us all to make it easier to wear shoes in the future.

I was listening carefully to hear him promise something about my long asked for 50 group for premium accounts, but alas he said nothing about that this time.

Grattis till 2000 dagar i Second Life

I dag vill jag gratulera PetGirl Bergman till hennes 2000:e dag i Second Life.

Trots att vi inte känner varandra alltför väl har vi ändå haft en hel med varandra att göra i samband med olika evenemang i Second Life, alltsedan du drog med mig i luciatåget 2008.

Dina insatser för den svenska gruppen i Second Life kan inte nog framhållas

Din blogg "Tinas universum" är ett viktigt organ för att sprida kunskap, information och dagsfärska nyheter om vad som händer, särskilt oss som redan finns i Second Life men även de som inte vågat sig in ännu.

Den svenska grupp du skapade långt innan de flesta av oss andra ens visste att Second Life fanns har också blivit den naturliga kanalen för svenskar i Second Life att få kontakt med varandra. Kommunikationsvägarna och nyhetsspridningen hade blivit oerhört mycket mer komplicerade om inte "Swedish people in SL" hade funnits.

Dessutom bidrar du med din initiativkraft, ditt engagemang och dina arbetsinsatser till att gång på gång dra igång evenemang med syfte att förena och samla svenskarna i Second Life.

Tack för de första 2000 dagarna och lycka till med de kommande 2000!

P.S. Ett särskilt tack till Sjofn Stoneshield för påminnelsen om denna händelse på Vanadis blogg idag