The Seven Wonders in Second Life

Ed has decided that he would like to see the Seven Wonders of the World. That's not possible in the real life now of course, but is it possible in Second Life?

There are two or more different list of Wonders of the World to consider, one is the seven wonders of the ancient world, and another the seven wonders of the medieval world. The first thing to decide is whether to use just one of the lists, or a combination of locations from both.

While Ed was thinking about that PBK started searching SL and found a full scale representation of Stonehenge , an ancient monument sure enough and one that is on the medieval wonders list. By a coincidence, Monday December 21st was the Winter Solstice in the real world. Ed grabbed his camera and TP'd over for a look.

The Pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world. The Solstice was also known as the‘Yule’ and this is the origin of many customs and traditions of Christmas.

In real life the winter solstice this year occurred at 5:12pm local time, after the sun had gone down. Ed was able to use SL's magic to create a sunset to photograph, he also reported the solstice for 'Our virtual Trilogy', have a read for more information.

Remembering

Ed had a solumn duty to perform to-day. PBK wanted to spend some quiet time reflecting and remembering, so they returned to Ed's home on Ambrose. There Ed has been building a model to serve as a memorial to 5 young lives lost on this day 30 years ago. The model is of a 24 pounder muzzle loading gun, mounted on a Koehler depression carriage. This was a weapon used by British artillery batteries during the Great Siege of Gibraltar from 1779 -83, it has a special meaning to PBK.

Keith, Alan, William (Paddy), Simon and Peter Grundy

Ordinary guys who did an extraordinary job.

To-day Is The First Day ...

Today is the first day of the rest of your life', a famous wall poster used to proclaim. Ed was 'hanging out' at the UGC Cafe as had become a habit of late. He was feeling a little bit sorry for himself and thinking he had become a rather sad avatar. He seemed to be spending all of his second life within the 5 London sims, an area of little more than a quarter of a square kilometer. This wasn't what Ed was about, this isn't what Second Life is about. Ed needed to get out more.

Ed selected a location at random from the Showcase menu and TP'd there straight away. It was called Artic Greenhouse and what a lucky and inspiring choice. Ed had never before seen the Aurora, the incredible celestial display of moving streamers and bands of coloured lights, greens, reds, blues and violets. These are caused by particles of the solar winds striking the gravity fields in the Ionosphere high above the Earth. This was the kind of unnatural beauty that Ed knew existed in Second Life, but he had been looking in the wrong place.

The greenhouse at the centre of the sim also contains beauty of a smaller, more exquisite type. It is a retail outlet selling flowers, each one an genuine original work of art. Also available are green plants in pots for both inside and outdoors use. The creator of this wonderful place is SL resident Logan Bauer.

Today had indeed turned out to be the first day of the rest of Ed Follet's life.

Big Musical Weekend

With the final countdown to Christmas under way, all the stops are being pulled out in the London sims to provide quality entertainment for visitors. On Friday night Ed went along to the first of the seasons parties being held in the new Westminister sim. The venue was a club called 'Comptons' and musical performances were from an all UK line up which varied from blues guitar to jazz saxophone.

The Underground Clubs new cafe was officially opened on Saturday evening with a gig in the club from singer/guitarist Maximillion Kleene. Max has played London before and is obviously very popular with his distinctive voice. This was followed by the weekends main event, a Bon Jovi tribute from SL’s Bad Ampitude virtual rock band. The venue was a stage rezed 500 metres above the UGC in the Knightsbridge sim.

Bad Ampitude are a group of friends in SL, some are RL musicians, who act out live performances in tribute to a number of RL bands. They have already performed a Queen tribute in SL London back in October and will be doing a Beatles tribute next weekend. Ed reported on the Bon Jovi gig for Virtually London (lite).