Open Space Sim Protests

I purchased my 1/2 sim in August, so happy to have found something pretty that I could afford. I had more prims allowed me than I would ever use. There was lots of open water for sailing. It cost me $135 US down and about $42 a month, which would continue unchanged indefinitely, or so I thought. Yesterday or the day before Jack Linden announced that Open Sims were being abused by overuse. They are going to raise the tier as of January 1 to some amount I can not afford. I am under the impression that my sim owner has many folks in my situation living on his open sims. I think this means that he will have to default and I will not even be able to sell my sim. I will lose my initial investment. It's only money, but it's sad and unfair just the same! Thank you, Anibal, for the photo. http://www.saveouropenspaces.org/forums/index.php

Running into the Boss

It's always nice to log into Second Life and find Flying Story wandering around. Last night Jazmemo and I nabbed him and took him to see Cafe 101, one of our favorite teacher hangouts. I was able to pull in Louise, Mandie, Cyrus, and a couple others joined by chance. Jaz couldn't stay connected, Louise got busy, and Cyrus had to leave to teach; but Mandie was able to pin Flying down a little about his vision for our project. It's so nice to have communication. (In the photo, left to right: Flying, Mandie, me, and Louise as Lily Muster for a Halloween party!) I've passed on three pages of notes, quotes really, to the team. We have our official meeting tonight at 7 PM our time, 4 PM SLT. Here are the key points: [16:45] Flying Story: i want the pieces connected [16:45] Flying Story: I don't want parts floating on their own [16:46] Flying Story: i want their to be some logic as one moves across the island [16:46] Flying Story: it seems there are things on [another educational sim] that are there because they could be rather than should be [16:47] Flying Story: i want the whole island to be a demonstration of the future for SL in Education. [16:55] Mandie Mimulus: we have 256X256 square meters [16:56] Mandie Mimulus: I had thought of dividing the island like the map [17:01] Flying Story: didn't i ramble enough on the island? do you have specific questions? [17:01] Mandie Mimulus: the existing building? [17:02] Mandie Mimulus: do you want it on the new island? [17:02] Flying Story: i want a building. I don't care if it is the existing. you guys were talking about redoing it [17:02] Thunder Insippo: We are thinking of two [17:02] Mandie Mimulus: Milosun is attached to it and we can't do much [17:02] Thunder Insippo: an HQ and a meeting place similar to this [17:02] Flying Story: he is supposed to be packaging it for us [17:03] Flying Story: but i don't care if you use it or not [17:03] Mandie Mimulus: we thought of moving the existing as a temporary [17:03] Flying Story: that is fine [17:03] Mandie Mimulus: but Thunder has wonderful plans for an open and airy space like this coffee house [17:03] Flying Story: that is great [17:03] Thunder Insippo: what we need is ideas for reasons to meet [17:04] Thunder Insippo: we are tossing that around [17:04] Flying Story: virginia vegetation? [17:04] Thunder Insippo: that would be nice [17:04] Mandie Mimulus: do you like this coffee house atmosphere? [17:04] Thunder Insippo: dogwood [17:04] Flying Story: i don't care about that level of detail. [17:04] Thunder Insippo: Mandie is awesome at designing spaces [17:04] Thunder Insippo: her island is beautiful [17:05] Mandie Mimulus: we also have a bit of money now [17:05] Flying Story: where does money come from that you all have some? [17:05] Flying Story: you aren't buying it are you? [17:05] Thunder Insippo: we were [17:05] Mandie Mimulus: no... it is a small grant I wrote