Rituals

The plain scarred by the lines covers the snow. The snowflakes fall down to the ground in red light of the Sun on the horizon. There is a small silent oasis in an infinite whiteness. The lonely house and the lost boat only remind us a purity of the spirit of the human itself and its humility, of which we miss in this cloven world in these days.

I myself remind it during Christmas time every year. Daily rituals that we do every day during the whole year, the next moment they obtain another dimension. As if we would change and try to slow our swim and to think about us ourselves.

The Christmas tree decoration is one of these rituals. At the first look, it seems that it is every year the same, but it is not truth. I always remember, how we (I and my sister in childhood) decorated the tree, which my father brought from the forest. Later it changed. We bought some plastic tree and we have it till now. These child bulbs and small lamps in a form of red fly agarics are maybe funny. But nevertheless, I like them and in general, the next generation, ergo sister children like them as well.

Even Second Life is full of the rituals. Although, we do not admit it ourselves. Maybe they exist only close to the bounds of our observations. Thereabout, where our eyes or other senses already cannot reach. It is just the interface between that, what it already is and is not real or virtual.

This is my last contribution in this year. I would like to wish to all of them that stray here the best to the next year and I hope that we will meet somewhere in SL

Peace to all people of good will.

The Tower

Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars. (Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy – Purgatorio)

Since it is possible to see many interesting and fantastic things in Second Life, I already know for long time. During my stay in SL I have seen so much amazing and fully surprising that I never had supposed to be surprised by something.

There is one interview of SL freelance writer Mariner Trilling with SL builder Mariner Trilling on The Alphaville Herald blog. You can find the whole interview here. The SL tallest object is interview topic. Certainly you remember my blog contribution about the largest object in SL. It is SS Galaxy ship that lies on 4 sims. In this case, it is a huge column built from about 300 proms and it rises up to height of 2 miles, which is 3.22 kilometers.

I have decoded to explore it. So, I have flown there myself. This object is placed on sim named Campus and in fact you will land right now near it. Then I have decided to fly right to the top and to see world and the tower from close-up.

It is a bit heady feeling, when you rise up, you pass different skyboxes and you see fading sim surface. It is so breath-taking away feeling that you do few stops. One look up, an end is in distance beyond sight. I am continuing up and I am gradually passing several platforms, where you can have a rest. The horizon is missing now and the stars waken their lights. I am breathing heavily du to tiredness and even my wings do not obey me.

Finally top! I am landing heavily on the platform. Coordinate z, so altitudinal one, is showing the value of 4097. Here maybe only the angles may. I am staying calmly and I am listening the distant singing of the stars.

SLUrl: Campus

Documental movie

There is no enough information about Second Life world. Now I have in my hands an interesting contribution at New World Notes blog. Here, some documental movie about SL is presented. This super machinima is made by Studio Kanzen for its SubPixel series.

Are you newbies in SL and do not know what SL is and what you can do here? So, this machinima is just for you.



WARNING: It contains sexual content, which is suitably filtered over blurry graphic to do not go against ToC at YouTube! The full version is placed at the official site.

(Source: New World Notes)

Decision

We make the different decisions every day. Often it is the essential decision; otherwise it is wholly common one that we make automatically without any forethought. Often they are the painful decisions that we do not want make. However, the agreeable ones we make without a blink.

Even I have made recently several decisions. The first one was surprisingly spontaneous. And I did not have to force myself to do it. There was my old vice, which I could not get rid of time. I have stopped smoking. Ah, of course in RL!

Look at the world is still super beautiful! The second decision was more prosaic. I needed the winter shoes. I chose a long time and finally I found something to my satisfaction.

It is funny, that both are possible to live it up also in Second Life – a cigarette, a cigar or a pipe and super shoes and other accessories as well. One has to buy them only. You do not worry about where they are stored. Maybe only, if the inventory would go crazy and the thing would disappear from it.

One says: “The third time all good.” Nevertheless, my third decision was absolutely cardinal because of SL. I am longtime member of our Czech and Slovak community in SL. I was at many births and at many endings here. The newbies support is one example. So, I decided to leave just the support for good. I think that a scope for help is exhausted and to continue with team that did not satisfy me yet.

So, I have enough time now to paddle, to wander and to explore beauties of Second Life. One example is the sim Peterhof with the beautiful palace from time of tsarist Russia.

SLurl: Peterhof

Long Way – Point Ten – Magazine

“… same away from the stars and from the atoms as well we extend our knowledge to grasp both the very small and the very large.”

Carl Sagan

It is a bit longer delay, but I would like to come back to my wandering through Second Life. Actually, I do not know how it is begun. Somebody spoke to me, if I wanted to work in a team, which is preparing new and particularly the first Czech in-world magazine. At that time, I was already writing my blog, so not a big problem to disagree.

If I am looking back at this, so I think that nobody of us in the team was not doing some illusions that we will be the best and the most interesting. But some ambitions were, at least by some of us and by me too. Without these I would never join such a business. Thus for some time, ma SL wandering was teaming with many people, who were embarking on some experiment. However, they did not know how this experiment ever will end.

The number of published issues finally achieved number ten in a span of the entire one year. We also published even one special issue about the Blue Mars virtual world. The content quality and the graphics increased with each new issue. I wrote rarely, but I had a big task to make language correction of each contribution.

To speak to bigger amount of people by force of our magazine was surely our main aim. If it succeeded, other people would have to judge it. Of course, some objection could exist, for example, a website or a blog can speak to more people. But on the other hand (Btw. we had also our own blog.), if some is launched longer time, then it has much bigger chance than some new.

However, I would not want is as an excuse. We achieved at least certain audience both the magazine and the blog. We recruited the advertisers and fair number of group members. The magazine was available at many Czech and Slovak sims and it was also free to buy at xstreet.

I do not regret it and it was my great pleasure to work wit these people. The matter that the magazine closed its existence is one thing. The second one is that it was big experience for me in all respects, both proofreading and work with people.

And some small paraphrase at the end: “The distance from the stars or the atoms is, actually, big in both directions – big and even small. Nevertheless, I extended my knowledge in both directions as well.”

Fragments

Today, it will be not long contribution. I am working on some longer now. Now there are only two fragments from today's. In the morning, I wanted to sit under the tree with book in my hands in park in Bohemia and to meditate bit. Day has flashed by quite slow and I have remembered later, what day has been today. So even I have joined to the AIDS Day as you can seen on the second picture.