Second Life’s Oldest Virtual Object?

For all the blogs I link to, I don’t read them as often as I should. So I was catching up on Wagner Au’s New World Notes, and I ran across this article from June 24, especially significant in light of SL5B:

One day Green Beebe noticed a brightly colored beach ball floating above Smoky, and flew up to see. “Now it might not seem very interesting, a beach ball,” Green acknowledges. “Except this beach ball was made by Philip Linden in April 2002 before SL was even launched.”…

Now that’s not bad, something surviving that long (at least in some form; Ham speculates that it may simply be a copy of a long-gone item). The odds are that there are other things out there, lost somewhere in the vastness of What Philip (and many others) Hath Wrought. But how would you be able to tell unless you started right-clicking on everything you see and checking properties?

Someone needs to build a museum to house this forlorn little beach ball. It should be placed on the Metanational Register of Historic Landmarks. It should be preserved somehow!

(By the way, Ham, who was the owner listed on the thing?)

I Need Me a Fireplace….

…a chalkline about four meters out from it, and a large glass of Bushmills (preferably the Black Bush!).

While catching up on the news, I passed through the front page of Ham Au’s New World Notes.  One of the stories from this week was about him talking about his new book with an in-world psychologist who runs a podcast.

The title of the article:  “Shrink Rapped.”

Logins Restricted Last Thursday

Linden Lab confirmed to Eric Reuters last Thursday that it had restricted logins briefly to Residents with (apparently) some RL financial record on their books.  The login block lasted for approximately seven minutes, and was laid down to Grid issues.

Linden reserves the right to restrict logins in such manner, as announced by them in 2007 on the Big Blog:

When you open your log-in screen and see in the upper right hand corner “Grid Status: Restricted,” you’ll know that only those Second Life Residents who have transacted with Linden Lab either by being a premium account holder, owning land, or purchasing currency on the LindeX, will be able to log-in. Residents who are in Second Life when this occurs will only be affected if they log-out and want to return before the grid returns to normal status.

At the same time, new account registrations will be closed.

I was not active most of the day, as I recall, but I was not blocked when I logged in.  However, as I usually keep a balance in my wallet by buying on the LindeX, I may have been within the exemption charter.  Were any readers here affected?

Land Prices Depressed from Increase in Available Linden Plots

Catching up on the in-world news….

According to Eric Reuters, land prices have been depressed quite successfully by Linden Lab in their recent moves to quench the accelerating land market.  According to Linden’s April announcement, which I paid little attention to at the time, the Lab was getting interested in the growing land price (up to around L$ 11/m), and chose deliberately to release more land in an effort to bring the prices down.  They also decided to drop opening auction prices on whole regions to US$ 750 (L$ 199,500) from the previous minimum bid of US$ 1250.

As noted, the effort has been quite successful.  I check figures on the land auction site myself, and found an average price of approximately L$ 4.50/m.  Linden was aiming for a target figure of L$ 8-9/m, and so they are throttling back their plans somewhat.

None of this news is really good for the despised “land barons” who’ve been taking advantage of the supply, of course.  But, for the average avatar who just wants a plot of “ground” to call their own, the chance for a bargain is terrific.  If you’re a paid member, able to own mainland plots, now is the time to get into the market.  The opportunity is also good for nascent land barons to start their rise, of course, so I’d suggest that actual prospective homesteaders should check their pocketbooks and take a good look at the plots available before the prices start rising again.  Of course, you should teleport to the lots in question and take a good look at them, see if they’re free of annoyances and so on, before you plunk down a bid; remember, caveat emptor.

Almost makes me wish I had a paid account; but I’m satisfied with renting for now.

My Little Egg (Shen) Roll

Ele Newell has added in something fresh to her Tiny TAMA store of goodies for tinies: a pet for both tinies and human avatars! She was nice enough to gift me with one, and he’s so kawaii!!! riding on my shoulder. (That’s “drop-dead cute” in Japanese for non-manga-heads.)

I decided to name him Egg Shen, after the good wizard in Big Trouble in Little China, one of my favorite cheesy kung fu movies. (And boy, that movie is pure white cheddar!)

A Professional Portrait at Last!

Connie Arida, also known as Connie Sec, has been featured in Contact Sheet several times here, and with good reason. Take a look almost any night at her Flickr photostream, and you’ll see why; Connie takes pains with her composition, whether formal sittings or something as relatively impromptu as having some fun with the kitty kat at the Greenies’ house. So, when she invited me to sit for a portrait, I was honored and flattered.

The problem: this avatar is standing on her head in terms of time. In other words, mate, she’s Australian. That sort of puts us at the antipodes, to borrow from Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. When I’m up, she’s just about to go down, and vice versa. And, since I work closing shift in RL most nights, and don’t get home until well into my A.M., that makes it difficult…. But I had a night off last week, and we came together, and things worked out!

Connie published this shot on her stream. (You can comment on it to Connie by following the link.)

She gave me copies of the others, and I’ve used one for a gravatar change, but I think the Veronica Lake look is actually starting to grow on me (grin).

Contact Sheet 9

Contact Sheet is an irregular column of selected photographs and portraits from Residents of Second Life. Images used in this article are used under permission of the owners via their participation in the Creative Commons license; otherwise, all rights are reserved. Click on the links as necessary to go to the required blog, Flickr or Snapzilla page. Please go to these artists’ pages in any case to leave comments, if you have an account on the appropriate service.

Suggestions are appreciated; please send descriptions and links to me by in-world IM, notecard, or E-mail to harper.ganesvoort@gmail.com.

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The usual melange of goodies for this edition of Contact Sheet: a fashion shot here, a personal snap there, a few new faces and a few old hands to these columns. We start with the fashion….

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Cajsa Lilliehook, as noted elsewhere, is one of the photographers at MDR Photography, and seems to be one of the busiest shutterbugs on the Grid. In this sample, she gives us a lovely dress from MG Fashion with a flower-print skirt and a top with magenta mutton-chop sleeves. You don’t normally think of sleeves like that as still stylish, but this dress works, and so does Cajsa’s camera. I’m pointing you to her blog, as that gives several poses, but she includes a link there to her Flickr page.

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Chouchou seems to be a very popular region now, and newcomer Milana Henley celebrates it in a small series of “sun worshiper” photos.  Her Flickr collection is small, but it looks to be of high quality; for instance, another shot further down the stream contains a nice water-reflection piece from a build in Dolce Vita, and there are also several more in this series.

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For pure out and out sexiness, it’s hard to beat this photo from Faerie Hax.  Also a relative newcomer to Flickr, Faerie poses herself and a friend in a set of naga avatars.  What’s a naga, you say?  Go here first!

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Chrisy Jewell is back, with art coming out of adversity.  It seems that the region she had her house in was closed down for reconstruction for a time, and she had missed the notes warning her.  There she was, cast adrift, alone in an empty sea of non-rez, with only an umbrella and a carpetbag to her name (cue the violins and melodrama)….

I know, I’m laying it on thick.  Any road, she came up with this retouched shot, which many agree convey the feelings any number of people go through when their house disappears from beneath them, so to speak.  Incidentally, Chrisy has found somewhere else to doss down her avatar for now, and she should get her old house back soon enough, so all is well there.

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I came across this last night while preparing to wrap this piece up.  Emerald Eberhart has been uploading photos even less than my two other newcomers, but her pieces show talent.  This retouched image shows her in the circle at Stonehenge in Mystica, and reveals the energy sheeting off the nematons….

A Real Bang-up in RL

Well, I had some fun last Friday in Real Life, and so did my children — not.

I was driving down the highway to my home, after a fun day swimming at a public pool with the Daughter and Son, and with a pan full of two slabs of Dreamland ribs for the SO (who is a rib fiend). We were coming up on a pretty open corner, when some woman comes blundering out just as I’m approaching. I tried to swerve around, but she kept on a-comin’, and there was no way to avoid the crash.

The other driver was in a vintage 90s land yacht; she got her left front stove in. My 2005 car — which had just had body work from a fender bender with the SO last month! — well, me and the kids were safe, thank God. The kids came through with nary a scratch, in fact. I took the worst; I have two big bruises across my right chest and belly, and one side aches from strained muscles. But I’m alive, and that’s what counts. I can live with a totaled car, and we’re already shopping for a replacement. (I hope I can come up with a decent down payment….)

I’m glad I’m still able to report to you here, and I’m sincerely thankful to God for pulling my hide out of the fourth wreck I’ve participated in within 50 years.

Ele Newell’s New Store

Many readers have seen me praise the work of Ele Newell, the owner and designer of The Oh! Factor. (Her Adagio gown was one of the three I modeled in my holiday fashion article last Christmas.) Ele’s also has written her own blog, SubliminaLuminations, which is a good read to keep track of her fashion work.

But lately, Ele and a friend, Fox Obviate, have been working in a new, different direction: goods for tinies. Ele likes dressing as a tiny when she isn’t in her “own” skin, and she’s taken to filling the needs of fellow tines for conspicuous consumption with a vengeance (grin). The result is that she’s announced the grand opening this weekend of Tiny TAMA Lifestyle, “a tiny slice of oriental flavor for your home.” If you have any interest in this sub-world on the Grid, check out the store! Fox’ and Ele’s work is excellent. Click here for a sample look….