Second Life Times Newsmakers 2006

Every year the Second Life Times awards the avatars that made a difference in Second Life. Here now, are the Newsmakers of 2006:

• 3rd Place: You!

It may sound a little cheesy, and we have no way of putting a picture of every avatar on this page, but You are the Second Life Times Newsmaker #3 of 2006! Why? You caused more than 2,000,000 users, that caused you to overwhelm the asset server countless times. Congratulations!

• 2nd Place: The Novus Ordo Imperialis

The editorial we wrote on the Ordo was the and still is one of the top read (meaning clicked on) stories of 2006. Just under a month after it was written, the group disbanded. Could the two be connected? Who knows.

• 1st Place: Big Business!

Because all the companies with a presence in SL don’t get enough awards as it is, We here at the Second Life Times feel that Sony, Reuters, Scion, C|Net, Nissan, The BBC, Sun Microsystems, American Apparel, IBM, W Hotels, Crayon, and many more deserve the award! The C.E.O.s or Presidents of these companies can contact us and we’ll send them a nice little graphic they can put on their websites.

But Wait! There’s more!

Office Location Updated

We’ve moved! Our office is now on the opposite side of where we were in the Pumacity sim.

Click for an SLUrl.

Happy Holidays!

From all of us at The Second Life Times and Metaverse Media, we want to wish you and your friends and families a Happy Holidays.

Also, We’re running the Yule Log today!

SL Growing Faster Than LL Can Create First Land

Waaaaay back in February of 2006, I decided it was about time that The Second Life Times settle down and have its own office. So, I fired up the Search and went and bought some first land. I had a pretty good list of land choices, and I looked around at other sims before I chose a parcel in Areumdeuli.

Fast forward to today. Second Life now has over 2 million residents. This creates a problem with First Land: there isn’t enough to go around. Earlier today, I fired up SkyTimes News Chopper and flew over to where I heard about a dozen first land parcels were still available. These parcels were all bought up in just about 15 minutes. A large area of 34,304 m2 sat in the middle of the sim, wating to be split into the 512 m2 parcels of first land.  When I arrived, there was 60+ people in the sim, looking for land. If Linden Labs had gotten around to it, the 34,304 m2 could have been divided up and those residents who were looking for land would have almost all been satisfied.

But, they don’t. This has caused a incredible soar in land prices. Two parcels that had already been bought had been split in two, and the four resulting parcels were being RENTED out for L$200 a week. Smart newbies could buy a parcel and sell it for twice as much as they paid for it.

Prokofy Neva has a pretty good article on this situation at the Second Life Herald.

Obituary — Jordan Witherspoon

Normally I do not comment on personalities of military figures in Second Life. I leave that for people less biased than myself, for even if I were to eliminate the bias from myself, whom would be able to tell? News is news, facts are facts, and opinions are debatable. Yet, how do we obtain the truth? And whom is to say that just because we are charged with ensuring truth before we post it, that we actually do so? Anything that I can say about a military on here would be debated by their people. And because I am involved in militaries and these people, is there not reason to believe that I am bias?

However, it is due to my involvement in militaries that I choose to write this. And it is due to the character of the individual, about whom I write, that allows me to discard my worry about bias. For those of you whom believe that the statement I make is not true, I bid for you to go to the sim of Tethys and see the reality for yourself. It is with much regret that I post this. And it is my honor to be privileged with giving at least one place where she may be remembered.

The next Commanding Officer of the Alliance Navy’s Judge Advocate General will have large shoes to fill, for the Alliance lost one of their best. On Sunday, December 10th, Jordan Witherspoon, also known as Dorien Van Den Elshout, passed away at the age of 28. Complications of surgery that led to lung failure were to blame.

The Alliance Navy set up a memorial in Tethys. In the next few hours, some 200 odd people paid their respects. These people represented a variety of organizations, including members of the Merczateers, Grand Federation, German Army, as well as previous Novus Ordo Imperialists. Yet, this wide array of respects is incapable of showing what type of person that Jordan was.

This journalist met Jordan after one of the Alliance Navy II raids upon Tethys. The Alliance Navy II, also known as the AN II, would become the Venuma Coalition, and later, the Novus Ordo Imperialis. At the time, they were being led by Aryte Vesperia. I was a member of the Alliance Navy II, although my reasons for being so were to investigate what type of group the AN II was. After the conflict, I moved in and infiltrated Tethys, and found Jordan, whom had just logged on, and was trying to sort out what had occurred. It was there I spoke to her and asked for her help on identifying whom the true troublemakers within both the Alliance Navy, and the AN II.

Due to time restrictions, I was unable to complete that task, although I often talked to Jordan about flaws I saw, or tried to check my information with hers. Looking back, there were several times that we disagreed. And there were several times that we argued, that I was in the wrong. While I never got to know her all that well, Jordan was always there to hug me when I figured that out and apologized. I suppose I could say that Jordan was partially responsible for me retaining my sanity, amongst other things.

I never saw Jordan lose her temper or instigate a fight. She was always one of those people whom tried to solve problems with actual solutions, not rumors, nor any unseen tactics. She cared greatly for what she did, and she put many hours and much effort into leading the Alliance Navy down a path of righteousness. That isn’t to say that the Alliance Navy has never done wrong – but what goods it has contributed to Second Life, can in turn, be attributed to the leadership that Jordan provided. Indeed Jordan promoted from the Rank of O-5 to the Rank of A-1, Rear Admiral (lower half), as an honorary promotion that came after her passing.

If you would like to post memories of Jordan or comment, feel free to do so. Also, donations for operation PearTree are still being accepted.

Links for this article are;

SL Public Forums

Moolbora Memorial

Tethys Memorial

New Metaverse Media Office!

We’ve Moved!

Metaverse Media is now headquartered in Pumacity Tower. Click Here for a SLUrl to the new office!

Our old office is for rent! L$250 a week in a no-lag, quiet sim. 60+ prims! Contact Simon Lameth.

Pear-Tree Tosses Tea-Crates of Cheer!

It was a few weeks before Christmas, and down from the skies… Fell toys and candy, wrapped in a tea box disguise. The builders were building, completely unaware, of the crates that may have been falling straight into their hair. And all the while, the Alliance Navy went down their list, going from one target to the next, their fleet ship ‘Pear-Tree’ loaded with gifts.

The Pear-Tree drops a load of Christmassy Cargo.

The Alliance Navy, also known by their initials as the ‘AN’, began ‘Operation Pear-Tree’ yesterday. Operation Pear-Tree is a Christmas based operation where the military organization flies around Second Life, dispensing Christmas gifts upon unsuspecting persons, Sandboxes, their allies, and even, their enemies. Their gifts are in tea-box crates, which the Alliance Navy’s fleet is notorious for. When asked about the different divisions of the Alliance Navy, Cirius Montale was once quoted: “Fleet drink tea, and Marines kill people.” Cirius Montale is a robot. He is also the Fleet Commander of the Alliance Navy, and it was he whom we caught loading the Pear-Tree in the Alliance base of Tethys, this morning.

Cirius is caught loading up the Pear-Tree.

Cirius was nice enough to take time out of his loading to answer some questions.

I began with the question of “What gave you the idea to do this operation ‘pear-tree’?”

Cirius Montale: “The idea itself came from Admiral Salome, who thought it would be a nice idea to give something back to the community.”

Cirus Montale: “As well as being a nice thing to do at Christmas, it’s also an acknowledgment of our roots. We started in the sandboxes, as did so many other groups.”

 

On Cirius’ list for drops were Sandbox Cordova, Sandbox Island, Sandbox Goguen, and Sandbox - Weapons testing. Cirius told us why the Alliance selected so many sandboxes before we could even ask the question. “And it’s inevitably where all the new folk to SL arrive very quickly, so the sandboxes are the easiest way to reach a large number of people.” He said.

The sandboxes won’t be the only places to be hit, though. The Alliance plans to make drops on their allies’, random people they fly over, and even their enemy’s. They specifically named the ATF, whom have been at war with the Alliance Navy for the past several weeks. When asked about the ATF being their enemy, Cirius replied “Yes, but its Christmas.”

 

The Alliance elected to use a fleet ship for several reasons. The first of all is of course, that the Alliance Navy takes pride in their fleet. The Alliance is equipped with several medium-sized non-physical fleet ships of different designs. The second is that the alliance continued the use of a sleigh. But as Cirius put it “I thought about a sleigh, but thought I’d look a little too much like the evil guy from Futurama…”

 

The Alliance does not plan to do this freebie drop just for this Christmas. Cirius stated that other holidays were certainly a possibility, and that it was hopeful that the Christmas drop would become an annual event. While he does not expect that they will have Christmas Merry men dropping gifts onto Tethys in return, Cirius does expect cookies and Brandy to be waiting for him in the sandboxes. And for the builders of Jessie, Cirius had this to say: “I’m not hitting Jessie…they’ve been naughty.”