Second Life Indagatrix: Commonwealth

There are days when you stumble upon something that has been right in front of you all along. It's pleasantly frustrating, and a humble reminder that there are no coincidences, only those moments at which you decide to pay attention. On Monday I stumbled upon Commonwealth Island after following a SLURL from a 3pointd post about EnviroLink and their geolocated feeds project.

I teleported to a tiny glass platform inside the GeoGlobe and was met by Hayduke Ebisu. Hayduke (aka John Knauer) is a friendly and bright avi who seems to have dabbled in many interesting SL projects including SLQuery and is the proprietor of the beautifully tranquil Commonwealth Island.

Commonwealth is stashed among a neighborhood of sims that are loosely related, and mostly dedicated to information and education. It borders the famous Info island, which is why I was surprised to not have seen it earlier in my travels. Commonwealth is a project of the EnviroLink Network, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization since 1991 and includes several meeting places and US Forest Service-like buildings used to host participating organizations. According to the welcome notecard:

Commonwealth Island is about building a community in Second Life focused around organizations working for social equity and environmental sustainability. Commonwealth will provide a starting place for organizations who wish to try out spreading their mission/message in Second Life without making a big financial and time commitment.

There are a number of recognizable and worthwhile groups hosted on Commonwealth. I'm not going to spell them all out here for you - nay, jump on that SLurl and go check this place out for yourself and when you do, don't miss the hang-gliding and the geothermal feature. You'll be glad you did.
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Congratulazioni Mario

This post is nothing but gush about the most recent accomplishment of my dear friend Frank Koolhaas in Second Life. Frank, aka Mario Gerosa just had his book entitled "Second Life" published in Italy by Meltemi.

When I first met Frank in late 2006, I was immediately drawn to his exuberance and wonderful Italian charm and I am sure much of this is reflected in his book. Frank and I are one third of the Kuurian Expedition leadership, we are the domestic and international "Consul", as appointed by Poinky Malaprop. Our on-going friendship is one of those classic and cherished conincidences that seem to be so prevalent in Second Life. During one of our first conversations, Frank declared that he was going to write a book and at that time I was certain it would be primarily about his passion - architecture - but in the end, Frank wrote about the cultures and trends of the Second Life experience from art, architecture, sex, business, travel and law as relayed by numerous Second Life residents and their diverse perspectives.

Frank presented the book to the SL community at a Kuurian event on Monday and in true Frank form, even had the publisher in world to participate in the discussion. An English version should be released, although during the presentation to the SL community on Monday the time frame was not specific.

If my Italian was better, I would highlight some of my favorite parts, but so far all I've translated is the section I wrote in the chapter "Piccolo dizionario enciclopedico per il futuro di SL". Go get a copy!
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Second Life Indagatrix: Weather

I stopped by The Weather Channel's new Second Life presence today to soak in what I thought might be a more spectacular weather-themed experience than the NOAA sim. My expecations were not met, and were probably misaligned anyway since NOAA is all about the science of weather, and The Weather Channel is about linear network broadcasting. I don't know what I was thinking.



The Weather Channel islands offer Residents three interactive experiences they've called "Epic",Extreme Skiing, Moab Desert Biking, and Big Wave Surfing. None of these really held any appeal for me personally, but you may find a few minutes to waste here.


If you aren't into extreme sports, you can view some linear programming from The Weather Channel on a big screen and a smaller set of viewing areas inside a central pavilion.


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