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.

Greetings from Doug´s Family

Marsdeb after a makeover

I sent an email to Doug´s sister Debbie yesterday, and received her answer today. (Debbie is my link to Doug's first life family.)

As some of you may remember, Marsdeb Yoots was the avatar created by Doug's first life family to represent them at the second memorial service in SecondLife for Doug/Ars.

That memorial service was held at Calas Galdhon a week after his passing with more than 70 avatars joining us from the whole world (from New Zealand and Australia in the east to California, United States, and British Columbia, Canada, in the far west and everywhere in between.)

Through Marsdeb´s participation eight of Doug's first life family (including his parents) could join us at the beautiful memorial service.

"Tell the second life family hello. One of these days Marie and I might just surprise you and plan a trip to Sweden to meet you and others from second life who would care to join us.

Be happy as you know that is what Doug/Ars would want.

Love to all,
Debbie"

This would perhaps be an appropriate time to ask you all who may have been at the memorial service to please send me any pictures you may have from that occasion, I was too busy with myself to even think about taking pictures. You can either drop them on my SecondLife profile or send them to me in an e-mail to lundamats@gmail.com

200,000 pageviews

Yesterday March 12, 2012, Bock in SecondLife passed 200,000 pageviews since June 1, 2010. This is the 1 294th post.

By my own calculations this event should have came today, but due to three persons eagerness to read one of my posts on Sunday it came a day earlier. Thanks guys for helping out!

The blog has been in existence since August 25, 2009, although I didn't start blogging regularly until January 12, 2010. I initially blogged in my native Swedish but since August 14, 2010, it´s been mainly in English (with the spellchecker on American English).

The blog passed 100,000 pageviews on June 23, 2011. I am really surprised and happy that it doubled that count in only nine months.

I would like take this opportunity to thank to all my readers, regular or incidental ones! Lots of hugs all around! (...and if you are looking for some more tangible appreciation from me you are most welcome to collect your reward on June 6, 2012, - exact time to be posted at a later occasion - in the virtual world of SecondLife, when I will once again be throwing my annual Kiss-A-Swede event.)

A Gift From Millimina

I had a good evening with my Ars today.

Some friends came by and sat with me for awhile, others I talked with in IM. It was a wonderful time we talked about Ars and myself somewhat but also about their lives and their experiences. Sharing is always good.

First I will show you two beautiful pictures taken by Millimina Salamander that she gave to me from last years gathering. In the pictures you see, from left to right, Sarco Halderman, Andrey Messmer, me, Janttu Winkler, Guyke Lundqvist and Millimina herself.

"Remembering Ars 2011" by Millimina Salamander

"Remembering Ars 2011 in The Jesters Hats" by Millimina Salamander

This is a picture I took earlier in the evening while I was still alone and just enjoyed the peacefulness, the music and the sweet memories.

Remebering Ars 2012 by Bock McMillan

Ars In Memoriam

Joseph Douglas Wilson Jr., in SecondLife better known as the avatar Ars Northmead, passed away peacefully on March 12, 2010, at 8.30 PM SLT. Doug died at hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, of respiratory failure and complications due to double pneumonia.

In his first life Doug left behind parents, four siblings and their families. In SecondLife Ars left behind me, our son Guyke and Ars´s three brothers Andrey, Dejerrity and Jeb and very many friends. All of us miss him terribly in our lives.

Hey, my darling, I am back to sit and talk with you at Mirromere again. Somehow this is still where I feel closest to you, even if I know you are with me everywhere. The calmness of this place soothes me. 

Its strange really, today is two years since you passed away and sometimes it still feels like it was only two weeks ago. These two years have been rough, but I am doing much better now and am getting increasingly better as time lingers on. Nowadays I can even think of you, talk with you or about you without breaking up - most of the time. Other times are not so good, but those days are farther apart. 

I think a lot about our years together, babe, when I first saw you, when I first heard you laugh, when we first kissed, when we first made love on those damn pose balls that weren't adjusted to our sizes, when you first told me you loved me and I confessed that I had loved you for the longest time and had gotten to love you more every time we met.

I remember how we went looking for our new home together in secrecy. Not telling anyone what we were doing or why we were doing it. The many, many, places we saw before we came to Southern Charm and saw the house on the waterfall and both knew at once that this would have to be it. It felt like home from the start. 

We had many good times, my darling Ars, and they are good to think about now. We had some bad times also, babe, but they never, ever, made us doubt that what was good between us would hold whatever came in our way. I have never been happier than when I have been with you, my Ars, you always made me feel safe, you made me feel clever and you made me feel worthy of your love. 

Did I ever tell you that I sometimes seem to forget what that wild and crazy laughter of yours sounds like? But you always come through for me, and the next night or the night after that I hear it in my dreams and get all warm and fuzzy allover again. Yeah, yeah, we aren't religious any of us but still, that's what actually happens.

Oh Ars, did I tell you today? Yes I know that you know I love you, but did I actually speak it out. Somethings need to be said out loud and repeated as often as it suits you. So whether or not I already told you, I love you so much Ars baby, always and forever.

Bara On Tour in First Life

The cute guy with white hair in the center of the picture is my buddy Bara Jonson, the well known singer and songwriter in SecondLife. He is also the first musician in SecondLife to sign a recording contract in first life.

Well, soon now my buddy is going to go off on a tour to Germany with The Rockland Band. I don´t know if they are going to visit the town of "Rastatt - Germany", but if they do I hope he says "Hi from Lund - Sweden" to Heike Babii! Heike is a "Bara Jonson Professional Stalker" like myself.

...the only thing missing to make this the best tour any band ever did is of course the dance troop  "The Bara Dancers With A Singer" under the magnificent leadership of yours truly.

Best of luck on the tour Bara buddy! ...and now please remember to send hugs and kisses to the wonderful Nickel your beautiful little son Kris from me when next you speak with them.

A Blogs Demise

It was not without some pleasure and great satisfaction that I late last night noticed that the Swedish virtual worlds blog Netlott, previously named Prim Team, declared that it was closing down after only 20 days (February 21 - March 11, 2012).

I have informed you about this blog earlier in my posts "Ich Bin Ein Prim Teamer" and Bukowski & Witches.

The blog started by declaring that the bloggers were a group of people with technical interests and that they together had amassed more than 25 years of experience in virtual worlds. They also declared that they were going to remain anonymous but gave no specific reason for this decision.

I am sure the blog would have been welcomed in the Swedish SecondLife community despite the fact that the bloggers wished to remain anonymous if the blog had settled for their proclaimed field of expertise, the technical aspects of virtual worlds. Such a blog written by people with keen insight and knowledge on the workings of the viewers and a willingness to share and educate the rest of us is sorely needed and would fill a vacuum.

However, the Prim Team and Netlott blog (Netlott is by the way a word play on the English word "net" and the Swedish word "nitlott" which means "drawing a blank"), instead chose to start delving in social issues and unearthing dirty linen and rusty battle axes from the close or distant past. This caused the Swedish community in SecondLife to erupt and the tentative armed peace that had been established over the past two-three months evaporated. Ghouls from the past that had relished in the previous unrest reappeared and the favorite object of hate was yet again reviled.

Once the blog started declaring who was not a member of the blogging team I declared myself to be one of them to see how they would handle that. This was never commented upon.

I am now completely certain that one of the team members is in fact "The avatar formerly known as Sven Idyll". I have come to this conclusion from the language used in some of the posts, some of the topics raised on the blog, a question directed at me by one of the anonymous bloggers which was exactly the same as one Sven Idyll previously had posed to me and now - finally - the way in which the blog was closed.

The blog was shutdown in exactly the same way as Sven Idyll´s previous three (3) blogs. with some choice words of recrimination, "no one understands me", "you have all misinterpreted me" and "you bore me" etc., and letting the blog stay online for a while after removing all the previous comments and assorted posts and not allowing any new comments.

I would be the first to welcome a new Swedish blog that focused on the technical aspects, but we do not need more trolls. We have enough of those already, thank you very much!

UPDATE (04:58 AM SLT): And now "The avatar formerly known as Sven Idyll" has read this post and has posted a not so subtle comeback at me. Hilarious! (No link to that waste of time will be supplied here, I am sure that others will be happy to help you.)

PROBABLY RELATED: My buddy NE0 Timeless over at Free Your Mind has found an interesting article from March 7, 2012, on a Swedish website that could have some connection to this matter. An IT-consultant of sorts is bashing SecondLife as a waste of time and claiming we now have drugs inworld, something called "Seclimine". 

Apparently it is something that messes with the shared inworld experience I gather, as he mentions something about a hazy viewer and sound distortions. I never heard about it though, but I am a sanctimonious prick so...