The Other Route 11

Poultry Report correspondent Zyx Flux is on the road again, reporting an anomaly in the road numbering systems on Second Life's Mainland. Apparently there are two roads named Route 11. I'll let her explain ...

On my way to meet some dragons about – well, that's not important – I noticed this lovely walkway in Vaktarin and found it is a terminus of Route 11 (SLurl). Frequent travelers know that there is a Route 11 that runs from Paneer (SLurl) to an end in a small sea in Jameed (Slurl), the road itself actually ending in Passendale (SLurl). So I was rather curious and hiked the walkway.

Heading North-Northeast you'll come across a little rest area after about 2/10 of a kilometer. The steps lead up the side of the mountain to a lot of abandoned land and one small residence. This is the peak elevation of the walkway, just 77 meters but it seems like quite a bit more.

The walkway drops rapidly after that then starts a gradual downslope (or upslope, depending on your direction of travel, I guess).

About 7/10 of a kilometer along the way is another rest area, this one overlooking a beach. Elevation has dropped to just over 40 meters so you'll see a change in vegetation with more tropical plants along the path.

Then just a kilometer after the start, the walkway ends and you are at the Kwaito Rez Zone (SLurl) staring at a mysterious dirt path leading up the mountain. Some local squirrels told me that only the worthy can walk the path to the Temple of the Prim so I took no chances and flew up.

Good thing, too. As I looked down I saw it was a nasty, rough trail with many switchbacks. It's good to be a pixy with wings. Someone with longer legs could probably make the 140 meter (or so) climb pretty easily. Or they could rez a helicopter in the Rez Zone. Or a motor bike. You get the idea.

So I made it to the temple (SLurl) and spent the rest of the morning exploring. My camera's memory card was full and there was no Wi-Fi to cloud-ify the pictures I had, but I'll return to take more pictures soon. In the mean time, here's the one I was able to get:

You should visit, too. This is an oft overlooked attraction. Kudos to the Linden Department of Public Work's Mouldy Mole (no longer with The Lab) and Crazy Mole (also no longer with The Lab) for their excellent work on the temple with more to Sylvan Mole and Crazy Mole for the walkway. The trip is fun and the temple is a lovely place with a few surprises.

Note: The YavaPod that travels the walkway uses the term "Old Route 11" in it's descriptions.

Zyx's explorations are a popular feature on this blog and she is now on staff full-time so look for more reports in the future. Her visit to the temple reminded me of a comment I made to Torley the other day ... The LDPW and the places they create in Our World aren't promoted or celebrated enough. Sure, we should emphasize Resident builds, but The Lab has a valuable asset. Anyone who is bored in Second Life sure hasn't been seeing what the Moles have done. Go. Check out more LDPW projects!

The Ancient Greek Regions

It all started with a post by The Lab on the profile feed ...

See the original post here.

So I sent a Poultry Report staff photographer out to take some pictures around the Sea of Fables and here's what she sent back ...

Sea of Fables - Bohol (SLurl)
A quaint little village with houses anyone may use (great as changing rooms).

Hera's Island - Sargasso (SLurl)
Silent Mole's 101 LI tribute to the goddess Hera in her apple garden.

Bacchus Island - Baffin (SLurl)
Atlas with his burden overlooks Hercules about to battle Ladon in the Garden of the Hesperides.
Near by is the old Teen Grid Transfer Station, the last stop before "graduating" to the Main Grid.

These are just three places in the Greek Isle regions, a former part of the old Teen Grid, but now accessible to all explorers. Sailing is encouraged – there's a timed course, actually, and a Rez Zone on Hephaestus Isle (SLurl) – and numerous islands to explore. Brush up on your Greek mythology and history or just have some fun. You might even explore the Labyrinth (SLurl) if you dare. It is one of the most ambitious builds of classic Second Life with a nice reward at the end. If you like the village in Bohol, visit Posiedon Island - Celebes (SLurl), a place familiar with those who have tried The Grid Hunt (AKA The Magellan Hunt; SLurl).

Don't forget to thank a mole from the Linden Department of Works when you see them for the Greek Isles and the numerous other LDPW builds dotted around Our World. Plenty of private islands are featured by The Lab in social media but the workhorses (workmoles?) of the community make sure there are plenty of great but under-promoted places to visit.

Long Story, but Kennylex

Long story but I'm just gonna say Kennylex Luckless, Second Life's premier Prim Doodler. He's always experimenting with prims, textures, and the texture-enhancing Materials feature. I was at his freebie shop in Minna (SLurl) again and took some pix for another purpose and I'm publishing them here for a reason not terribly important to anyone. All are unedited and feature standard Windlight (except the first one).

This is the Old Watermill in Minna, a really cool structure that Kenny built to hold his freebies and experiments. Pretty sure he lives here, too, but I don't poke around (wink wink).

Turn on Advanced Lighting and you see this ... projected light and prims you can almost feel.

Turn off Advanced Lighting and it is like SL was rolled back two years.

Turn on Advanced lighting and the magic happens.

Turn off Advanced lighting and you see the most basic of textured prims again.

Kenny's experiments often become freebies in a little shop plus you can grab items that will help you learn his tricks and techniques. I've learned so much from Kenny and he alway brightens my day. Visit Minna to see what I mean.

Alien Conspiracy Continues

Sunrise at a mysterious monument in Luna Point, SL.

Luna Point, SL (SLurl) - Another wreck of an alien space craft was discovered today in Luna Point, SL near a mysterious monument and local sea life has been affected. Reporter Uccie Poultry used a submarine from The Report's fleet to investigate.

Regular readers of this blog should be familiar with The Poultry Report's pointless obsession on-going investigation of aliens from other (virtual?) worlds visiting Second Life and the conspiracy of the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) to co-opt alien technology for unknown and possibly nefarious purposes. If you aren't aware of this extensive coverage, click here to catch up with the rest of us.

The downed spacecraft, pictured above through the front port of the submarine, bears a striking resemblance to the spacecraft at a no-longer-secret LDPW space launch facility in Mare Secundus (SLurl) and another wreck in Gaigano (SLurl).

As seen in the following images, the presence of the alien technology is affecting the local wildlife (as mentioned earlier, if you had really been paying attention).

Cubes are sprouting tentacles and losing their natural plywoody coloration

Octopi and other creatures are taking on un-natural hues and behaviors. 

Beware the cave. Approach only when the inhabitants are asleep (you can tell by the eyes).

Continuing efforts to elicit comments from Governor Linden and Michael Linden (King Mole at the LDPW) will ... er ... continue.

H2oOh! Waterpark & Underwater Caves

While scanning the MySL microblog I came across a snapshot from friend Benjamin Wahl that a party was being held in a waterpark in SL.

Waterpark?

Waterpark?!?

ahhhhh .... waterpark!

Being a total sucker for waterparks I zipped over as soon as I could, all impressed by Benjamin's photos and hoping for the best. I was not (not, I say! Not!) disappointed. Far from being kitschy and derivative, the H2oOh! Waterpark & Underwater Caves (SLurl), is a refreshing, attractive, and professionally created intimate little paradise.

When I first visited, a stage was here for a live performer. Join the group to learn about other events and please find the tip jars so the owners can pay tier costs.

As the name says, there are underwater caves. Provide your own scuba gear and watch out for the bloody pirate or just drop in and wander as if you can breathe underwater.

Refreshing: There are no other water parks like this in Second Life. At least none I can find. Most have poorly made watersides or poorly utilized equipment. Many simply sit on flat land and don't bother having a personality. I would expect to see a waterpark like H2oOh in Real Life.

Waterfalls everywhere and turn up your sound to hear them. Quite relaxing.
Look around for little details, too ... water spots on the decking, cute signs, etc. Great touches.

Two adult watersides, but no lifeguards so hop on kids and scream your guts out!

Attractive: Just look at it ... This park isn't just a flat layout with water features evenly laid out. There's depth from broken sight lines, brilliant use of rocks, and very good water caustics in the genuine Linden water. Choice and placement of vegetation is top notch, too.

The kids have a play area complete with wading pool and picnic area.

Explore, explore, explore. Fun for romantic couples, too, abounds.

Professionally created: If Florecita Zabaleta doesn't do this for a living, she should. The use of space, texture, and pre-fab selection is brilliant. Sure, there are some rough spots ... a couple places where the bounding boxes are too large (like in the kiddie pool) or something could be set to phantom for a better experience. Some of the water isn't deep enough for swimming (I love my Siggy's Waterworks swimmer HUD). But show me a build that is flawless.

A convenient changing area with free and premium swimwear right at the entrance (SLurl). Direct teleport is enabled so you could show up anywhere, actually, if you use the map or need to double-click TP. M-rated region but please keep your clothes on as kids may be around.

A view of the kids (family) area from the "Adult" pool (pictured below).

Intimate little paradise: It is rather small but very fully packed. Hard to believe that everything is in just 8192 m2. Fortunately it is part of a full region, not a Homestead, so scripts aren't limited and a full 100 avatars (set higher than the standard 40) can be in the whole region at any given time. When this spot becomes super popular you should still be able to get in, grab a tube, and hang out.

Gib mir einen Kuss!

"Gib mir einen Kuss," according to Google Translate, means "Give me a kiss" in German. I needed to know that when I found Hesse (SLurl) by map hopping around the secret (and not so secret) Linden sims. Some of you might remember the parrot at Welcome Island when you were a new Resident, the one that would chat to you if you asked for a kiss. The one at Hesse is German, or so I gather from reading all the signs.

But I will never know for sure, I suppose, because scripts aren't running on the island. The "Click Me" help hands don't work, the signs don't work, the clothing givers don't work, and the parrot is looking for work. Apparently German stops working, too, as all the signs at the exit are in English. Such as "Exit." Probably good because "Ausfahrt" makes me laugh when I read it.

Remarks on Landmarks

Wandering about Second Life today I noticed that for someone who really does not collect landmarks (LM), I have an awful lot of them. I try to sort and file ones for places I frequent because with an LM I need only start typing it's name in the viewer address bar and like Google Auto Suggest, places that match show up and I can pick one. No need to open my Places folder.

Still, quite a few collect there and I try to keep them organized, but between auto-givers, friends that suggest places to me, and LMs I make "just in case," the little buggers multiply faster than gropes in a mosh pit. Thus part of my wandering today has been checking what various landmarks go where.

The name on the landmark for this place was no help at all and right-click > More Information was slower than just visiting.

If The Lab could create "Smart Landmarks" all this running around and sorting would be easier, I think. What? Smart Landmark?

• A Smart Landmark creation/editing pane has checkboxes for attributes such as type of location (shopping, scenic, Linden land, recreation, Teh Sex, etc.), Maturity rating, public or private, and an option to set the LM to expire after X number of days or on a certain date (great for events with locations that close after a period of time).
• A limited number of attribute checkboxes for type of location would be available other than Lab-defined options to allow Residents to sort with their own schemes but not so many that others who may be given the LM get confused.
• Smart LMs can be updated remotely by the creator. Great for when a store moves or the landing area location is updated. No more "dead" LMs or having to send new LMs to your group.
• Copy/Mod/Trans would apply to Smart Landmarks so creators can limit changes to attributes and limit distribution (great for Early Access for assistants/bloggers to certain events).
• Share links (via SL, Twitter, Plurk, MyFace, the Web, etc.) in every Smart Landmark.
• Smart Landmarks would automatically sort themselves into pre-defined folders or via a spreadsheet-style Places window based on the assigned attributes.
• Hovering your mouse pointer over a Smart LM in the Places window or in your Inventory shows more information than just the very basic repeat of the LM name the action shows now.
• Smart Landmarks could be viewed/edited/shared outside the Viewer via the Web.

Smart Landmarks would benefit exploration of Our World, too, because their enhanced functionality would encourage people to use them for more than just zipping from place to place. How many times have you heard in a group chat "I can't find my landmark for such-n-such-a-place! Can someone shoot one to me?"

What ideas do you have for landmark enhancement or organization? Drop some comments below and maybe a discussion worthy of bringing to The Lab's attention might ensue.

Where do we go from here?

Shortly after reading the news that Rod Humble (who still owes me a bear) has left Linden Lab (see here), I popped into the Sutherland Abyss (SLurl) on a lark and was about to move on when I just stopped in the stillness. Then I thought "Where do we go from here?"

Year in Review: MySL

For the last however many days – it seems like forever, but Internet time is like that – the My Second Life feeds have been down and few people have been able to post pictures. As a means of keeping our community together it is nearly dead and just waiting to be buried. As with the year 2012, though, I spent a good part of my 2013 posting pictures and sharing my Second Life with friends and various hangers-on. Here's a sampling of my snapshots. I hope you enjoy them. Click the titles over the pictures to see the original posts.

Mole Day!

Dancing with Angela at Mole Day, an annual Bay City event honoring our friends the Moles from the Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW). Tons of Moles turned out and a good time was had by all.

One Billion Rising (OBR)

Yes, I misspelled my name on my own shirt. But I was Greeter Lead for OBR, a worthwhile event iRL and iSL.

Modeling

My friend Kaelin makes some wonderful mesh avatars and I was thrilled when she asked me to model some of them for her. Check out my blog (here) for entries about her and the avatars.

Merlin and Death in the Forest of Kahruvel

On a couple of my several visits to the Forest of Karhuvel to do what I could for the investigation into the disappearance of Salazar Jack (see here for more info) I ran into Merlin (yes, that Merlin) and one time watched him talking to Death (I had a pic ready to post here but lost it).

Topless Tuesday

Apparently, I started Topless Tuesday.
The main thrust of this blog post was to point out that I hadn't accomplished anything of note in 2013. It seems, though, that I inaugurated the MySL feeds tradition on February 19 with the above image and this blog post.

Caturdays!!

I also used the MySL feeds to document Caturdays (sometimes Fursdays, too).

The Pouloco Station

My brother's Pouloco gas station in Bay City - Dennis (SLurl) was often featured on the MySL feeds by me and others. He's thinking of doing something different for 2014, with fewer dinosaurs, I hope.

Holidays

Holidays would often find me zipping around The Grid in some sort of themed outfit. Easter 2013 was Cabbit Time.

Griefers

My friend Marianne was often the target of griefing, sometimes intentionally, but like when the birds attacked her home lots of us rallied around and held Abuse Report parties. As a community, Bay City residents will do the same whenever ne'er do wells strike Our Fair City. Sometimes there's dancing.

One for the Guys

Not too long after Topless Tuesday started the guys started Wiener Wednesday. I helped.

Bay City Alliance Meetings

Lots of Bay City Alliance meetings. We start with Metrics, Moles, Servers, and Events. Then we move onto Food and sometimes Dancing or Food Fights.

Miss Bay City

My loving wife Angela reined as Miss Bay City for a year and was featured in the town's anniversary parade. With the help of Anthony, I put together a parade car for her and hired Kato to drive her. Sadly, I crashed and my account was locked so I couldn't actually be in the parade.

Towel Day!

May 25th was Towel Day, celebrating the life of author Douglas Adams.

Rodvik Sneaks Into Bay City

Filmmaker Drax helped Our Fearless Leader Rodvik Linden sneak into Bay City but a crowd quickly formed. By the way, Rod? You still owe me a bear.

Fireworks!

The skies of Livingtree caught fire every week over the Summer and I attended whenever I could if only to see if "this time" Marianne would finally burn down the school building.

Relaxing

MySL was a great way to document all the times I just hung out. Which was often.

SL10B

Second Life's 10th Birthday Party was amazing, at least what I saw of it. I was banned for doing mySL10B job someone who claimed to be a good friend. The same person who trained me to do what I was doing that got me fired. Really made the whole event suck. But I visited some highlights like this history walk by Marianne McCann.

Boobies!

During 2013 I upgraded my "implants" in SL because I like the look and I'm this big iRL, too, so I wound up taking lots of pictures of me and The Girls for the MySL feed. Look for more next year, of course.

CC Columbo

My brother CC pops in as himself now and then, though usually he hangs out in Caladon in his other avatar. We have one computer that runs SL fairly well and one that is rather poor at it but sometimes we can hang out together.

A Nice Pair

Lots of boobies pictures from me on MySL in 2013, but I tried to keep them funny.

Hot Bay City Nights

Another event in Bay City is the annual Hot Bay City Nights. It's a car show, a car wash, a dance, and a Miss Bay City Pageant, too. Money raised at this and many other events in Our Fair city go to childsplay.org

There are about a dozen more pictures I singled out from my snaps bin, but this post has gone on long enough and you can review my blog (here) and on Flickr (here) to see lots of what I might have posted on MySL because I'd often put the best of them in other places. What you should really be doing is going out and making your own memories in Second Life.