SL© on SL™

Iran Blames US for Soap

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slipped on a wet floor this morning. After getting back on his feet, he immediately contacted the Iranian state-run TV service to present a three-hour tirade on why the US and the UK were behind the slip. He allegedly has proof that the soap manufacturers are being supplied by the US with extra slippy soap so as to cause mass chaos in Iranian bathrooms.

To support his allegations, he produced the bodies of three Iranians who had admitted to being pawns of the Great Satan - just before being executed. He waved their signed confessions dramatically, although for security reasons, he was unable to provide any copies to anyone.

Ahmadinejad said that revenge would be swift and proportionate, such as a nuclear missile fired at Israel - which, he hesitated to add, Iran does not possess. "But if it DID," he said, "we would be targeting all soap factories that are actually covert CIA operations."

At the end of the briefing, he dropped his pencil - and promptly blamed the UK government, the "lapdogs of the Capitalist aggressors."

New article in Metaverse Tribune

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:09:00 +0000

As I slowly ratchet up to a cruising speed, I'm starting to produce articles again. The latest published offering in in the Metaverse Tribune entitled Microsoft(R) to Close Second Life(TM) Island.

A New Project

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:27:00 +0000

I've mentioned before that I have a virtual art collection in my house. As you might expect, I've been adding to it slowly. I am now starting work on my next venture; The Leominster Gallery(TM).


Dedicated primarily to 18th-19th century Symbolists, Romantics, and Pre-Raphaelites, the Leominster Gallery will be sited way up in the sky above my house. And technically, it has come about thanks to two pieces of "technology."

The first is the existence of a 6-prim skybox that costs L$9. At such a low prim count, I can stack these above my house and get lots of space for artwork.


Second, I found a 1-prim temp rezzer that lets me store over 50 paintings for nothing! I can therefore have a gallery of over 50 paintings PLUS the building for 7 measly prims ;)

And currently I have two such galleries with 25 painting in each. My aim is to have four galleries with a total of 200 paintings - for 28 prims. This probably means sacrificing some of my furniture but I still have 15 prims on my 1024 sq. meters of land so the sacrifice may be minimal.

Lack of posts due to vicissitudes of real life

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:05:00 +0000

For almost two years I have been fairly active in the Second Life(R) virtual world, writing for different magazines, working with MBC and Life On Line, and keeping a blog or two. But in June 2009, something happened that caused my to put my Second Life existence on hold: my wife was diagnosed with renal cancer following a routine colonoscopy. This sort of reality tends to realign one's perspective on the virtual world.

I told a small number of my closest SL friends about this and their support was encouraging. All of them offered their best wishes and prayers, which puts paid to the notion that virtual friends can't be "real" friends.

Three months on and the real world is now settling down to some normality. Following the removal of an entire kidney and renal gland, my wife now shows no other evidence of cancerous cells and treatment, as such, is over. No chemo and no radiation because the cancer has been removed. She now sports a battle scar of 11 inches in length and aims to be back at work in a few weeks.

Once she's back, I will have some time to slide back into some level of virtual existence, starting with articles for SLentrepreneur, Prim Perfect, and perhaps the Metaverse Tribune. Steve Cropper has been great letting me maintain my news slot on Life On Line, and if time permits, I'd love to go back to the occasional "second fiddle" part on MBC News with Dousa Dragonash.

I'll be trying to add to the blog, but my focus will initially be on the media stuff. I also have a real life blog to maintain - and a job!

Thanks for hanging on in there, dear reader.

Life On Line; Episode 11

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:44:00 +0000

It's that time of month again; the latest edition of Life On Line.

40 years ago the world watched on in amazement as NASA landed two men on the moon for that famous, “giant leap for mankind.” But to this day, there are still many who believe it never actually happened. On Life On Line, we meet a leading skeptic, who reviews the evidence and tries to settle the matter once and for all.

The Relay For Life is an annual fundraiser in support of cancer research. It happens in cyberspace too. The organizer for the Relay in the virtual world Second Life, Fayandria Foley previews the event starting July 18th.

Sigmund Leominster joins us for his regular round-up of internet news.

Our resident band SpaceJunky performs their new single ‘Love Forgives’.

That’s Life On Line from July 15th. Click on the right to watch the episode.

SL6B Video

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:41:00 +0000

Here's a great video from the folks at the Machinema Artists Guild.


The promo video was made for the Second Life 6th Birthday event, where Machinima Artists Guild were represented as a part of a huge party/exhibition. The girl who appears on the video Josie Anderson, Project Manager from the Guild Group on SL6B

You can find more about the Machinima Artists Guild at http://slmachinimaarts.ning.com

SS Galaxy article in "Prim Perfect" magazine

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:59:00 +0000

My latest piece is a look at the SS Galaxy, published in the July 2009 edition of Prim Perfect magazine.


It's well worth a trip to see this huge build. My article looks at some of the people involved with the Galaxy.

Life On Line 1st July

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:41:00 +0000

In this edition of Life On Line:

The world was shocked by the recent death of Michael Jackson. We remember him on the show and look back over a remarkable career.Fashion is a favorite obsession for millions of people the world over and in virtual worlds too!

Fashion expert Scarlett Niven explains why and previews a new virtual world dedicated to fashion, Frenzoo.com.

A company’s good name is worth its weight in gold but many companies promise the earth in advertising but don’t deliver. Corporate reputation expert Alex Harris explains what companies – larger and small – can do to improve their standing with the community.

Musically, Shakti Cianci introduces a reggae band from Tasmania, the protest group Bomba, who is campaigning against logging in the ancient Tasmanian forests.

Click on the screen to the left or go to Blip TV.

SLebrity Update: Spinning Out of Control

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:33:00 +0000

The Google hit count for SLebrity continues to amaze and astound! As of this moment (12:30 pm Eastern Standard Time) is stands at an underwhelming 1,660. Astute observers may notice that this is down from May's 1,940.

In January of this year (2009) the hits stood at 2,730, so that's 1,070 down over six months. Mmmh. This is something of a bummer as far as my campaign to promote the use of the word goes. Not exactly a stratospheric rise in provenance and if this were shares in a company, I think "sell" would be a more frequently used word.

I grasped a straw in the form of Microsoft's new Bing search engine, thinking that it may have a better ability to find occurrences of the word. Tragically it didn't even hit the Google mark, returning a paltry 1,120. That sucks.

I could thrash around looking for a scapegoat but that strikes me as being both pathetic and fruitless. I clearly over-estimated my ability to become a one-man promotion machine for a single word. Clearly. If I were a marketing company, I'd be having to give the money back!

Of course, there's is also the teensy weensy fact that I have not actually been doing any promotion, and my trips in-world have dropped off drastically over the past month. Medical issues with my wife have me focusing more on her than SL - which is a good thing ;)

Still, I refuse to give up hope that SLebrity will reach SLebrity status by the end of the year.

MBC News 6-17-09

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:45:00 +0000

This week's MBC News with Dousa Dragonash and Sigmund Leominster. Jenaia Morane is in the studio with virtual guide dog "Max" and Dousa and Siggy report on this week's news in the real and virtual worlds.

Life On Line: Episode 9

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Life On Line is proud to support two very worthy causes. The Friends Fighting Cancer who have tirelessly worked to raise money for the Relay For Life, a global cancer research fundraiser staged in the virtual world Second Life.

And Amnesty International has recently appointed the extremely hard-working Amy Cross as their global Online Coordinator to campaign in support of Amnesty International through the internet.

We also take a closer look at remarkable new virtual technology – a digital artificial intelligence called Milo, created by Lionhead Studios.

Musically, Shakti Cianci of SpaceJunky introduces the winner of the recent Sony Remix contest. We showcase the winning music video by Metaphysics from Germany.

Click the video to the left to watch or link here to Life On Line. Note that my voice is different because Kayden O'Connell stepped up to the plate to pinch hit while I was on the road. At least the actual copy was mine!

Moribund Blogs and Work In Progress

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Like most bloggers in Second Life, I have been guilty of creating more blog space that I can physically manage. Hence the slow-down with this blog and the sporadic postings elsewhere.

Over at SL Bloggers I managed to crank out two introspective (or possibly omphaloskeptic for the more pretentious among us) comments on blogging and the use of blogs.

The first, The Irony and Moribundity of the Second Life Blogger, bemoans the tendency to want to be all things to all people by setting up, and then neglecting, blogs - or as one writer labels them, "mogs" for "moribund blogs."

The second, Blog or Ad, simply observes that a fair number of blogs are simply advertising pieces for someone's latest SL venture; clothes, shoes, clubs, malls, in fact anything that people create. I'm not sure whether this is a criticism or just a legitimate form of blog.

Meanwhile, I am currently working on a profile piece on the SS Galaxy sim. This will appear in Prim Perfect magazine later this month. As I write, 2000 words are done and I'm slated to add another 1000 before submitted. So, I'm about to slip in world and track down some interviewees.

Latest Life On Line Now Transmitting

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:59:00 +0000

Click on the video window in the left-hand column to catch Episode 8 of Life On Line.

This edition of Life On Line gazes into Microsoft’s crystal ball as we talk with Microsoft evangelist Zain Naboulsi, who describes how we will experience the internet in the future.

Musically, we have the Aussie talent of Hughie performing ‘Slap That Ass’ from an album produced with Kirk Pengilly of INXS.

Newsman Sigmund Leominster reports on the news from and virtual worlds and the metaverse in general.

Blogger Not Letting Me Publish Comments!

Thu, 21 May 2009 23:49:00 +0000

Both Moggs Oceanlane and Deadlycodec have added comments in the past two days but I can't get Blogger to let me publish them! All I get is as error message:

We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.

When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:

* Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
* Provide the following error code and additional information.

bX-p2ixs5
Additional information
blogID: 796214310334781259
host: www.blogger.com
uri: /moderate-comment.do

Bummer! The Blogger Support and Help Group offered suggestions but they didn't work. Double bummer!

And I mention this why? Well, seeing as a whine an awful lot about the horrors of censorship, my failing to publish comments might be interpreted as the very act I abhor. I keep telling my American colleagues that the First Amendment is one of the most beautiful constitutional additions to any constitution and that it is vitally important to protect it. So I'm doing my bit for democracy by at least proclaiming that I am not censoring stuff!

Of course, maybe it's a plot by the people at Blogger...

SLebrity Update: How Can I Spin This..?

Tue, 19 May 2009 05:33:00 +0000

Blogger and Plurker Moggs Oceanlane offered to do her bit for promoting the frequency of the word SLebrity by letting me know that her friend Valiant has added it to the Urban Dictionary. As of today, it isn't there yet but maybe soon...

On the downside, I checked the Google hits for the word and it now stands at 1,940. This represents a minor downturn in its use and I still hold out hope for a resurgence.

Life On Line: 7th Edition

Tue, 19 May 2009 03:57:00 +0000

We're going from strength to strength! Now showing on more sites than ever before - after only three months.

This week on Life On Line, we help celebrate the launch of Second Pride, a week-long festival in the virtual world Second Life celebrating Gay Pride. We catch up with co-founder of the virtual world Twinity and learn about their exciting Illuminati competition, part of the hit sequel to the Da Vinci Code, just released. And music by SpaceJunky as they perform their original hit, I Am. All that and more.

Click on the screen on the left to watch this edition.

I Want To Be A Celebrity

Sat, 16 May 2009 20:53:00 +0000

The Metaverse Broadcasting Company, MBC TV, are currently airing episode 3 of their virtual reality show, I Want To Be A Celebrity, which is curiously entertaining. However, I don't want to talk about that but the theme song to the show, Celebrity by the UK band The Thought Criminals.


I should start by saying that I loved it so much, I bought the album. And at $9.99 from iTunes, it's a bargain. Here's what the blurb on Amazon.com has to say:

"The Thought Criminals was formed in South London, UK in 2004 when programmer/musician Kirlian Blue and vocalist/frontman Rocky Goode, set out to form a band that would blend early 80s dark electronic music with the more modern alternative dance music of today. The duo worked feverishly on their concept and then enlisted the help of famed dance producer Tony Messenger and mixer Robb Henry to tie things together. The result of their effort is the debut album, Die Young: Stay Pretty.

"The Thought Criminals sound can only be described as an EBM laced Sci-fi/80s/Electro Punk montage. Kirlian, supplies the backdrop for Rocky's tongue & cheek (sic) vocals. Die Young : Stay Pretty, is a 10 track release which contains 3 bona fide singles: The catchy pop hit (I'm Gonna Be a) Celebrity, the old school EBM Date Rape Lovers and the explosive My Baby's a Suicide Bomber. In addition to the album tracks, Die Young: Stay Pretty, includes seven bonus remixes that will be sure to pack dance floors across the globe."

Electro/dance/punk is the best way to describe it. Cyberslut is another great tune that will appeal to the Second Life brigade, which also comes as a 12" Club Remix version with the iTunes download. I need to make a visit to 6th Element Club to see if anyone's playing parts of this album.

The Conferederation of Democratic Sims: New Article in Prim Perfect

Wed, 06 May 2009 04:10:00 +0000

The Confederation of Democratic Sims (CDS) is Second Life's longest functioning democracy and my latest two-part article has just been published in Prim Perfect magazine.

You can read it online as a Calaméo publication, or download the PDF version to print out and read at your leisure.

This is a special second birthday edition of Prim Perfect that includes retrospectives and comments from folks who have been involved with the magazine over the past two years.

Life On Line Episode Six Now Available

Sat, 02 May 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Click on the video to the right on this page to watch the May 1st, 2009 edition of the popular internet show, Life On Line.

In this edition, Life On Line takes on a more serious tone with discussions about damaging gambling addiction and the risk of falling foul of cybercrime online. Lawyer Seamus Byrne, a leading authority on cybercrime, talks about what everyone can do to better protect themselves against financial or identity theft and other forms of cybercrime.

Resident online psychotherapist Roman Candle talks about the dangers of online gambling and what it does to people’s lives. He also provides some helpful tips to help people recognise the warning signs in those they love and getting them off the habit.

Newsman Sigmund Leominster reports on the latest games and virtual worlds in the metaverse. And musically, we are joined in the studio by satirist Eva Moon with her song Cash from Nigeria.

SL on SL Slowdown

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:21:00 +0000

The real world economy is causing problems and challenges for many people. And this is true for the man behind Sigmund Leominster too. But not in a bad way. Although I chose to keep my RL and SL separate, in the real world, my international company has been going through some significant growth over the past two years and it continues to do so. And without revealing too much about "me," my role is at a senior level and I have to ensure that all the employees are fully tasked and able to do the jobs needed.

So, what with hiring new people, shipping large quantities of products, and having to travel around to continue expansion, poor Siggy has been in SL much less of late. This, of course, doesn't necessarily mean he's idle. As news anchor for Life On Line and a co-presenter on MBC's news, Sigs has four shows per month to cover. And writing for SLentrepreneur, Prim Perfect, and The Alphaville Herald still keeps crusts on the table.

Where sacrifices have been made are in the blogging arena. SL on SL comments have slowed down, as have SL on VL. However, that's not really a problem.

I also have a blog in real life - which gets many more readers than SL on SL - so that also takes up time. It all comes down to numbers really. We all have to divvy up our time to make best use of our scarce resources. Second Life is fun and being part of it is a great escape at times. But, as my friend Mony Markova keeps reminding me, it is, after all, not "real" or "important" in the grand scheme of things.

So don't think that fewer posts in SL on SL means I have gone away. No, I'm just shuffling the deck a little.

MBC News Show For April 17th Now Available

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:03:00 +0000

The mid-April Metaverse Broadcasting Company news show is now available. For the fashionistas, I'm wearing a sweater and shoes from Redgrave, along with trousers from Muism.



For those who really don't care about what I'm wearing, I'm curious why you are still reading my blog!

Life On Line Episode 5 Now Available

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:52:00 +0000

Click on the video to the right of this post to see the April 15th edition of Life On Line.

"This week, we visit one of the newest virtual worlds to be created on the Open Grid. ‘Reaction Grid’ puts the emphasis on building rather than buying. One of the creators tells how she left her job as a nuclear weapons expert in the US military in favor of a career in virtual world building.

"Newsman Sigmund Leominster reports on Quest Online’s new virtual world, Alganon, described as “the first viable alternative to World of Warcraft - and Sony Entertainment’s PS3-based mystery centered on a character from their virtual world, Home.

"Our resident band the incredible SpaceJunky performs their hit Killer Coat.

"And the very very strange Some Grey Bloke blows the lid on what Facebook is really all about."

Sky News Closes Second Life Bureau

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:01:00 +0000

The Prophets of Doom can wallow in the demise of yet another major news corporation's exit from the Second Life(R) virtual world. Britain's Sky News has announced that it is formally closing down its SL island and moving to a "new 'Immersive Workspaces' platform in Second Life where employees meet to exchange ideas and do business."

News will still be delivered to these workspaces via "News Pods," a essential a screen with streaming video.



Obliquely reference the departure of other news providers, Sky News says that "life, even Second Life, and technology, move on. In Second Life, increasingly, the trend has moved away from corporate islands like the Sky Newsroom."

Virtual world Cassandras can eagerly point to this as being further evidence that "the end is nigh," whereas more sober commentators will simply point out that the economics of news reporting and delivery in Second Life is very different from real life, and spending lots of money to have virtual world analogs of real life newsrooms doesn't necessarily make any financial sense.

New Journal Publishing Late 2009 - Early 2010

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:45:00 +0000

The Journal of Virtual Worlds and Education is an academic peer-reviewed journal that will present the best writing and thinking available about Virtual Worlds and their applications and implications for the field of education.

The Journal was conceived in 2007 by educator and designer Anton Hand and Xenius Revere chief executive officer Kevin DiVico. The idea was furthered by a wide ranging group of educators including Larry W. Belle PhD, formerly the Dean of Continuous Education at the Rochester Institute of Technology; Sarah Higley Ph.D., author and professor of English at the University of Rochester; Anton Hand, an adjunct instructor at the University of Buffalo media studies department, as well as former Creative Director for Deep Think, and former Metaverse designer for Electric Sheep Company; MCLS library clerk Patricia Rapp, one of the developers of one of the first distance learning programs for the military while working with CyberMath; Jack Greeny, computer scientist and doctoral student in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Buffalo; author, designer and educator David Pascal; and Kevin DiVico, CEO of Xenius Revere, a Virtual Worlds solution corporation focusing principally on educational and training applications of Virtual Worlds technologies.

The Journal plans initially to publish freely available materials online in digital formats three times annually at its web site, www.jvweducation.org. Keep checking back for the official Call for Papers, or sign up for more information and free e-mail notices.

Journal of Virtual Worlds Research - Latest Edition

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:32:00 +0000

The latest edition of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research has just been released. This is Volume 2, number 1, and the theme is Pedagogy, Education and Innovation in Virtual Worlds. This edition is dedicated to exploring the breadth of designs, pedagogies and curricular innovations that are actually already being applied to teaching and learning in virtual worlds.

The next two editions will cover 3D Virtual Worlds for Health and Healthcare (May, 2009) and Virtual Worlds: Technology, Economy, and Standards (September, 2009). You've just missed the deadline for the September issue (me too!) but there is a Call for Papers for Volume 2, Number 4, Virtual Economies, Virtual Goods and Service Delivery in Virtual Worlds. The deadline for abstracts is 15 June 2009 and it will be published in November 2009.

Mmmh, maybe I could manage that one?

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