Eavesdown Docks

This is called Crucible in Exploration Central. I'm not sure why. It's a dilapidated space station. I don't get it. This is a "boy sim" I think. Obvoiusly a lot of work went into it and there is a lot to see. There just isn't anything I want to see. I did get to ride a merry-go-round. Maybe the issue was that there was no one to explore with.

 

Here is a view from a distance. Sigh. Not my cup of tea. Maybe someone can tell me how this is interesting. By the way, I know I'm missing landmarks for these sim reviews. Just go to Timbucks and find Exploration Central where all the landmarks live.

Retropolis

I have started being "helpful" to Cyrus' Expedition Central project. This morning I visited Retropolis. I discovered that Cyrus already has landmarks (LM) in all the prims with graphics. They are just missing the script that gives them. I'm adding the script and a notecard about the build the LM takes you to.

Isn't this beautiful!? It's not where you land when you visit Retropolis but it's one of the places you see if you pursue the path through doorways to other areas. You start in a ship in the clutches of a sea monster on huge ocean swells in the middle of a storm. If you persist to what I think is the end you come to a room from which there is no exit! There is a puzzle to solve to escape. Of course I gave up and teleported home.

The friend with me in the photo is Dodge. He kindly explored with me and helped me try to solve the puzzle until he had to go back to real life.

Expedition Central Clubhouse 2

Cyrus has long been concerned that his clubhouse was too heavy on prims. He has finally settled on making his own and it IS  very low prim. It's basically a hallow oval column 50 meters tall with a central circular stairway. Now, instead of 100 Landmark prims to interesting and educational SL places, Cyrus has room for hundreds of them. I counted 17 in one trip around the perimeter and they were 9 deep from the bottom to the first floor. He's in lowprim, map and landmark heaven!

When he created this group Cyrus made me his second in command. Now I'm co-owner, but so far I have had little to do with it. I sit and watch him work. Here he notices and sits with me for a minute before he leaves SL for the evening.  It's nice to have a friend who wants to include you in his projects but I don't know how to help.  He once gave me a list of things I could do, but the only thing I have done successfully is check the LMs for errors. If I take initiative to do anything else I feel I'm in the way. 

Virtual Pioneers Walk Through History

VP had a fashion show last night in which I got to participate. Xavier did a wonderful job of taking our notes on our periods of history, outfits, and what we like to do in SL and created professional descriptions with humor.

I portrayed the Pilgrim women of Massachusetts, specifically Priscilla Mullins Alden, my ancestor. 


Participating in a fashion show in which I was not an organizer was fun. I got to take a lot of photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29329438@N06/4806795123/in/photostream About 30 minutes into the event my computer became unable to continue rezzing everything I wanted to photograph. Second Life is very demanding on a graphics card. I'm hoping the 4 gigs of RAM I have coming today will help but I'm not sure it will have any affect on graphics. 


Enjoy some of my favorite photos.

Summer Greedy Games

When our director said he wanted more traffic on VSTE Island I started considering what else we might do. I had four ideas I thought pretty cool almost immediately: Summer Concert Series, iPod Users Group, Open Mic Nights, and Tech Tools Talk. I am trying the iPod group first and decided to call it iApps and include Droid users. I think ten different avatars have come to two meetings. I'm not sure it will survive after the summer.

In the meantime it occurred to me that I had these two Greedy tables from the September Math Night meeting that weren't getting much use. I placed them on an empty corner of VSTE Island and every so often I call out to VSTE, ISTE, EC, and other groups to see if I can get up a game. Sometimes one or two take me up on it. I have no evidence yet that anyone plays if I'm not there, but on this particular afternoon there were eight of us off and on. I grabbed this photo of Serena, her friend Skipper (?), Neo, Xavier, PZ and myself. Amethyst and someone else were there at one point, too. It was good fellowship. Teachers who play together find more fun in working together.

Zen Bridge

I stumbled onto this beautiful place when alone in SL the other day. I was searching via the Showcase and tried several new places but when I landed here, though there was no one else there, I had to stay and explore. The sim seems to be Italian, inhabited by a couple of women. There were fields of tall grasses and wild flowers and aging buildings all over. The textures on the buildings were quite realistic. Interesting music plays simwide from a URL which is hidden. Violins swell and a flute plays a dramatic melody with a full orchestra like that of a movie soundtrack. In the background you hear the ambient sounds of fish jumping, a babbling brook, and soft rain.  Throughout you are surprised by unusual pose balls. Take a special friend if you decide to visit.

September 2009

September 14th VSTE in SL group meeting was held on Monday, September 14, at 5:00pm SLT (8:00pm EDT). Mandie Mimulus shared with 15 participants the new VSTE Island exhibit of the first Africans to arrive in Jamestown in 1619. The event was tied to the essential knowledge that all Virginia students must understand about this period of history. Participants were directed to the Teacher Resource Center on VSTE Island, where educators can find additional resources, lesson plans and an example of a student-created project that focus on the arrival of the first Africans. 

September 21st Cyrus Hush took us on a tour of Ivy League college sims. We toured Harvard and Princeton. It's impressive to see what these institutions do with the SL platform. There were replicas of buildings on campus, mock courtrooms, and entire avatars you could copy and wear. I guess shopping and choosing hair and shoes isn't the point for Ivy Leaguers!
There were some interesting places to visit while there.

September 28th Trig Inkpen and Thunder held the first VSTE in SL Math Night. We had about 30 participants. Trig shared how he uses the Greedy game with his high school math classes to teach probability and then we played! We had four tables differentiated by Greedy experience: Novice, Practicing, Masters, and Mixed. The winner of each table and a wild card player with a rose under their chair advanced to another round. The winner of the second round, Miss Amethyst H one a Greedy Table and a pendant. The pendant was created by Thor. I searched math groups and profiles for days to find math related sims and gifts.