Second Life 6th Birthday - A First Look

Hi Everyone, and i hope you are enjoying the 6th Birthday Celebrations!

In case you haven't visited yet, let me take you on a quick look at some of the places i've seen so far.... as usual, my sense of direction is not good, so i'm not sure quite where i've been, but...

Loki had arranged for a group of us to go around together, so we gathered at his build and checked we were prepared - it's possible i overdid it slightly.



One part of Loki's build is a wonderful floor made up of a thousand photos of kid AVs. I'm there, as is Loki, and we went to find his picture. I wonder what it would be like if we could all gather together and stand on our own pictures?

So, we wandered off, and soon came to a party, with loads of very friendly people dancing away. There are all sorts of builds that make you think, and ponder the future of the Virtual World, but it's nice to see some people's idea of the future is a big party!


This is me dancing with some of our new friends, with a wonderful Latin beat. Myrtil wondered how i could dance with my big pack on, but i think we should be able to dance anytime, anywhere, just cus we want to!

Still, it was soon time to head on, and we said goodbye to our friends, leaving them still partying away.

Loki an i found a HUGE hamster wheel, so we jumped on and ran - i think we were powering the world!



A little further on we found a set of HUGE drums, with a ladder to climb up to the top of them. Imagine our suprise when we found we could bounce up and down on the tops, making a beat just by having fun!

It was quite scary at times, but no-one fell off, and we had a great time.

I did think of playing my flute while jumping, but would probably have lost my teeth!


Just around the corner, we found a huge statue of a very nice white fox, fully dressed for the future. She didn't say much, but was very impressive, and when i looked up i saw her air supply on her back was a huge tree in a glass dome, very ecological! Some of the rest of the exhibit was a bit puzzling, but i think it was about Furry Pride.

Having a beautiful tail and ears myself, i can fully understand!

Still, time was getting on, and we still hadn't seen even a small amount of the builds, so we set off on the road again.




Well, the roads.... this year, the whole place has more of a theme and a flow to it, partly because of these wonderful looking modernistic roads. The whole place is divided into grids by them, and they soar over one another at the junctions, very impressive, especially the green glowing edge markers! Was a bit worried about walking along them to start, after all, such fantastic roads should have some VERY fast vehicles running along them, but we didn't see any.

They did have stairs and crossings to cross over on foot, but we just jumped up and over - quicker and more fun!

Sadly, it was about time for me to head for bed, so i said my farewells, leaving the group to explore further. I did come back the next day though, and have put some of the pictures here to show you what i saw...


Have fun exploring,

Tepic

Exploring New Babbage

Hi everyone!

It's been a bit of a time since i last posted anything, so thought now would be a good time. Over the past few days i've been dropping in at New Babbage, somewhere i used to visit quite regularly, but where i haven't been for a while.

Naturally, i prepared myself before going, dressing in my best urchin things, and equiping myself with a broom and bucket in case there was the opportunity to make a few pennies sweeping streets and stuff for the residents.

However, there were not many people around when i arrived, and although i did say hi to one rather impressive and beautiful lady, she just said "Good morning" and vanished!

The place is very wonderful looking though, and i met a new friend, even if he was rather stoned when i found him....

I wandered down to the docks area, and found i was looking over to a huge iron giant, with an airship going past. He looked quite fearsome, and was looking towards the city, but even though i watched for quite a time, he didn't seem to be coming any closer.



There i was, wandering along, when i smelt a wonderful scent. Around a corner was this lovely little chocolate shop, with huge chocolate animals and some delicious lookimg sweets. Ah! What a pity i am a poor urchin, and not able to but such treats! There is the impression of my nose on the window now!


A little way off was a very fancy fire engine, belonging to the Ladies Fire Brigade of Babbage, standing outside it's Station. It was fired up, with smoke coming from the stack, but unfortunately i didn't see it working. Suppose, well, it was better not to see it in action as that would mean something would have to be on fire... but...




Then, over in the corner of one building, i saw some stairs. Now, being a curious sort of fox, i headed up, and to my delight, i found myself in a tiny little cinema showing Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow! i stood in the aisle and watched a bit, but soon had to continue my explorations.



After a while, i got a bit tired, so sat down on a box and warmed my feet on a couple of cans which were burning nicely - not sure how! Behind me, you can see a notice, telling people about the dangers of climbing the ladders up to the roof. Of course, i read the notice carefully, and obeyed it absolutely.... errrrr... well... what do you think i did next? heheh

Have fun,
Tepic

Director of Oscar winning Movie uses Child avatars in new SL Machinima!

from new world notes "This is the trailer to 'Dear My Father', an SL machinima currently in development, scheduled for a Summer release. (Warning: contains some brief sexual imagery.) It's the work of Japanese filmmaker Hidetaka Nagahama (known in Second Life as Sela Boa), who was also Assistant Director of Departures, which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film."

It looks to be a film with some hard themes especially for some of our community members. What strikes me is the way the director has used slightly cartoonish backgrounds to make his main characters stand out. Looks very kool.

A rough translation of the video's dialog/captions "The boy loved his father... The boy didn't love his father.... The memory of father in his boyhood.... Of himself in his boyhood... His memories were different from others... But his memories were same as others. Dear My Father. 2009 Summer. Coming soon."

Secondyouth.net - Second Childhood Website

To coincide with the Second Childhood Network, we have released a website that gives outsiders a little info on our community, places and how to join. The website offers to guide you through joining the virtual worlds and to arrive directly at a Learning Tree where you quickly become a child avatar and join a group.

if you ever visit the learning trees and see a new person there, please give a helping :)

Visit the Website HERE

Second Childhood Network

This week saw the release of the Second Childhood Network. The Network is a collection of 24 most popular kid places in SL connected via a Visual HUB that lets you travel from place to place.

"it's a way to see our community as a whole, many of us are unaware of the many places available to our community"

here is a video created to help explain the Second Childhood Network and show how to use it.



The HUBS are available at all 24 locations on the network. It is hoped that this will encourage members of the child avatar community and normal SL residents to travel and explore the whole circle of places.

How Dangerous is the Internet to REAL kids? - Growing Up Online

Today i stumbled across an article by David Pogue for the New York Times which examines closely the question of internet safety. He makes reference to a PBS Frontline documentary film which is certainly worth watching and is in SEVEN parts, each 8 minutes in length exploring many aspects from over protective mothers, to cyber bullying.

“One of the biggest surprises in making this film was the discovery that the threat of online predators is misunderstood and overblown. The data shows that giving out personal information over the Internet makes absolutely no difference when it comes to a child’s vulnerability to predation.” (That one blew my mind, because every single Internet-safety Web site and pamphlet hammers repeatedly on this point: never, ever give out your personal information online.)

“Also, the vast majority of kids who do end up having contact with a stranger they meet over the Internet are seeking out that contact,” Ms. Dretzin goes on. “Most importantly, all the kids we met, without exception, told us the same thing: They would never dream of meeting someone in person they’d met online.”

Several teenagers interviewed in the story make it clear that only an idiot would be lured unwittingly into a relationship with an online sicko: “If someone asks me where I live, I’ll delete the ‘friend.’ I mean, why do you want to know where I live at?” says one girl.

[From How Dangerous Is the Internet for Children? - Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog]

View the very good VIDEO here

Bunny Hop

Hi All!

Easter is almost here, and, as usual in sl, there are Easter Egg Hunts beginning! A friend mentioned on to me, and I have been following the links to see the places and find the eggs. This one is called the Bunny Hop (that might explain the people you see hopping around sl..... I do say MIGHT! heheheh), and covers a lot of different places, there being apparently over 160 different eggs to find.

The Bunny Hop HQ, aduchi momoyama (146, 189, 40) is where it all starts, with a notice and an example egg. Follow the directions the rabbits are taking the eggs, and you will soon find your first real egg, with a gift and the landmark to the next location.

It's not a quick race, some of the eggs are REALLY difficult to find (yes, I did follow the yells of "It's over here!" a couple of times...), others are in plain view. Take time to look round places and enjoy the exploration, it's well worth it. As in most such hunts, the eggs are placed by stores to get you to see their stuff, and there are some nice things out there! It's the different locations that are really fun though, the colourful, the strange, the downright weird (like the place covered in blood, and where i stood in something icky..... rather cool really...) and the truely beautiful like the place in the sky with transparent floors. I've put some pictures in to let you see.

So far I have found seven eggs, the next is proving difficult to find... but there are still loads for me to discover, and I am going to have fun doing so.... anyone want to join me?

Tepic