Chilbo, Spheres… November 19, 2009

One more shot from Nowtown by Baker Bloch, depicting a huge water drop positioned above the lava stream flowing from near the top of Nowtown Mountain, as we’ll call it for lack of an official name. But admittedly it’s a trick shot, for the giant drop is merely a tiny drop of water Blochs found floating in front of a small store selling heraldry paraphenalia near the Brainwash Art Center. He just moved his camera around until the tiny object seemed to be hugely superimposed above the lava flow, a phony threat to snuff out its heated existence by dropping, thus. As is my nature, I suspiciously believe that even the chance to even create such an impossible, surreal juxtaposion may have meaning in a larger picture, since this lava flow down into the Fyre Maven temple, where it is actually quenched by water, represents the spiritual centerpiece of the community, at least according to Hucka D. and also Little Robert Plant Variant.

Is this new juxtaposion shown above any less real, actually, than the positioning of the temple and lava flow together in the first place? A metaphysical question not unworthy of asking, I feel.

But moving on…

… to Karoz chill’n in Chilbo, the next day I believe. Some sit poseballs at the “Art Part” museum near the center of the Chilbo sim, or not to far south of it, attract Karoz’s attention because of their similar color and texture to the Joplin Ball — yes, that’s actually what he thought when he saw them. Currently the small, 2 room museum houses only 3 distinct pieces of art, including the one behind Karoz by Gretchen Capalin, inspired by fractal art it seems. Quite nice.

More art nearby in a place called the Gemini Art Corner, with all pictures on easels this time. Works in progress? All look in finished form to Baker Bloch upon checking behind Karoz today; must be a stylized way of displaying the pieces, then (10 in all).

Karoz sitting beside what might be Chilbo’s largest water course, but I’m not sure of that… hafta check. This would be right next to the Gemini Art Corner, which lies just out of the picture frame to the left here.

Interesting textured rock just upstream from where Karoz sits above, more of a ground level shot this time.

One thing The Baker Family really appreciates about Chilbo, I believe, is the obvious, loving care given to the design of the community, such as the inclusion of this interesting detail involving a discarded piece of food and grateful ants, near the source of the aforementioned stream.

Moving to the south central part of Chilbo, Karoz finds this basically empty 512 parcel surrounded by a white picket fence, with some wooden prims stacked up near its northwest corner against the fence. Relationship with other Chilbo property owners: unknown.

Interesting sculpture of a “Bine Rune” owned by Fleep Tuque on a wall just south of the huge Oracle Tree. According to wikipedia, a bind rune is a ligature (character overlap) of two or more single runes. In studying the matter just a little further, it could be that this object represents a Bluetooth bind rune of very contemporary origin. Not certain of this, though.

Then Karoz finds yet another Chilbo mediation spot on top of the Art Part. Ooohmmm chillll ooohmmm.

Then its over to the Temple of TILE to take a more close up look at the Joplin Ball/Sphere. Exactly how *powerful* is its influence? Does it extend to Chilbo? Nowtown? The Moon sim? All of the above and much more? Much, much more?

Loose Thoughts, then Hucka D., etc. November 17, 2009

Hucka D. has indicated that Gypsy, in triplicate form, is or was the last holdout to [him] owning all of Jeogeot and Maebaleia. The solution?: perhaps to separate The Moon sim (and attached Sea of Despair and Gelsomina) from the mainland, as it is now. But what does the triplicate form of Gypsy mean? I know in Karoz’s initial visit to The Moon, he found this tangle of “Gypsies” that took a bit of research to unravel.

I can’t help thinking that the 3 Gipsys in Alabama and Missouri are involved here.

What the heck, let’s just bring in Hucka D., if he’s game. “Hucka D.?”

Hucka D.:

Yes, we had to separate The Moon from Maebaleia. The Blue [galleries] are traces of this… indicate Blue Earth or Earth itself, blue as seen from The Moon, of course. And then the cube of Blue Feather Sea itself, another Earth. Blue Feather… Blue Earth, subtract the “F”. Blue “E” as well…

bb:

Can you tell me more about the Blue Feather Gallery in Crabwoo?

Hucka D.:

Giant “E” in the [northwest] corner. Tells history of my continents. Museum.

bb:

Yes, Plant mentioned the Blue Feather Gallery is a museum as well, but I think he was talking about the one in Sternberg.

Hucka D.:

Yes…

bb:

The “E” in Crabwoo replaced something that was there earlier, didn’t it? I’m thinking that the Blue Feather Cube was there, the “e” before the “E” or that became the “E”.

Hucka D.:

Close enough. The Seed. Direct conduit.

bb:

Between Second Lyfe and Earth.

Hucka D.:

Between Second Lyfe and All Earths.

bb:

Was the cube the same as the Temple of TILE?

Hucka D.:

Ask about the continents spinning around each other.

bb:

Ok, I’m asking.

Hucka D.:

Taijitu. Black and white. 09 and 09. Newton…

bb:

… Jasper. (pause)

*****

bb:

Let’s see, the two continents were formed, the Rabbit Hole, then [connecting the two], and then the Joplin tree was brought from Maebaleia to Jeogeot. At the time these were the only two Second Lyfe continents.

Hucka D. (reinforcing):

Only two. Rabbit Hole connected, yes. Residents were called residents still, but it was understood that the name came from The Residents. In your — our — reality now, this connection has somehow been lost. Not really understanding why myself. Must be a masking from a higher dimension.*

bb:

Did the continents physically *spin* around each other?

Hucka D.:

*Yes.* Circle.

bb (ruminating):

Chilbo and Crabwoo… hmmmmm…

Hucka D.:

2 parrots, one red and the other blue-green. Between them Little Robert Plant Variant was born. *Through* the Korean Channel, Baker Bloch on one side and Karoz, now, on the other. Big E and Big Schwa. Had the tube… mentioned that several times now, a number of times.

bb:

LRPV *stabilized* the spinning?

Hucka D.:

Yes again!

*****

Hucka D.:

We are very fortunate to have Little Robert Plant Variant helping our blog generation here, baker b. Marty moreso but Plant is very important as well. Not priceless like Marty, but he comes at a very high price normally.

bb:

So, let’s see, Gene Fade, a toy avatar, perhaps the last of the mossmen, slips through a crack in reality to enter Second Lyfe. He eventually makes his way to The Moon and impregnates Gypsy with Karoz to continue the mossman species. Karoz technically has the ability to safely walk on Granddaddy Mtn in any location, a thing forbidden to Mossmen of Frank and Herman Park next to Granddaddy.

Hucka D.:

Because he is virtual… phantom, at least as walking in RL goes. But as you know now — today — the portal system is broke.

bb:

Yes (pause). Does Gene Fade come to The Moon after it has been broken away from Maebaleia?

Hucka D.:

That is stability. It also separates from a 1:1 relatioship with Mos Ainsley, then. Yes, Gene Fade broke the spinning. Karoz was born.

bb:

You said Plant ceased the spinning, [though].

Hucka D. (not directly answering):

Real taste buds we had in those global days. Salad Days, which are the same as Lemon Days.**

*****

bb:

I think I have part of it. The *Joplin Tree* stabilized the spin and made Jeogeot more separate from Maebaleia. The Joplin tree is both black and white. Taijitu. 2 continents in one, because it was brought from one [Maebaleia] to the other [Jeogeot].

Hucka D.:

And then *planted* in the middle of Big Sink. Except it wasn’t.

bb:

The [Joplin Tree] seed was the same as the tube, wasn’t it? [Plant's tube.]

Hucka D.:

What is the Chilbo tree, then?

bb:

It’s like a roulette wheel. The ball entered the Chilbo slot, not the Crabwoo slot. Crabwoo was almost forgotten. Chilbo became the peak of Second Lyfe and the 2 continents.

Hucka D.:

Except it wasn’t. Big Sink. Chilbo needs Korean Channel needs Sunklands…

bb:

What is my relationship to Chilbo now?

Hucka D.:

Chilbo is the eyeball to the outside. Sternberg… it’s not much different than Sternberg, really. Sternberg could be another eye. Was for LRPV. Before he became just RPV [without the Little].

bb:

Plant stayed peripherally involved in Sternberg like I did — am doing — with Chilbo?

Hucka D.:

He kept singing there, yes. Off and on. Not a lot. Sunklands kept him fairly busy. Tube and all.

bb:

I’m picking up something about MessiaenSphere, Hucka D.

Hucka D.:

Fuchsia diamond. Center. No reflection. S. Jackson. Perfection. Alien. Ball… sphere.

bb:

We better end.

Hucka D.:

Thank you.

*****

* Hucka D. has indicated that the name “residents” for the avatars of Second Lyfe was actually inspired by the group The Residents, also hailing from San Francisco like SL founder Philip Rosedale. But for some reason, this fact has become lost.

** In directly associating “Lemon Days” with “Salad Days” here, Hucka D. seems to be referring the following quote from the liner notes of Cheer-Accident’s Introducing Lemon album: “It wilts the lettuce, but freshens up the salad.”

Vehicles of Transport, Etc. November 11, 2009

After discovering a most probable link between Hucka D.’s so-called Uniko language and Unicode, Baker Bloch heads back over to the Okinu sim on a hunch, only to encounter, upon beaming in randomly, what looks like a question mark without the completing dot. Wasn’t Hucka D. just talking about the key character string “2E2E” being Unicode for a backwards or reversed question mark? I know it to be so.

More glyphs found that same visit.

Nothing happening yet in the Aotearoa sink. No surprise there, though. Still luving the view in the meantime.

Karoz is still over at Mos Ainsley, attempting to find further clues about the link between Uniko, Petemond and his possible alien origin. Here he’s hiking on the circular ridge surrounding the moon base, looking down the other side, away from the base, at some sea patternings there as well. Without the sharp angles of the quite unique Okino glyphs, though. Still pretty neat.

Also on this visit, Karoz finds an abandoned space shuttle in the waters of nearby Byeulddongbyuel, west of Quark star which is, in turn, just west of Mos Ainsley. Karoz immediately recognized it as a Space Base vehicle which you can freely rez there and ride around. Karoz had also heard stories of people flying the vehicles to the mainland. Apparently this one didn’t quite get there. Karoz was further very pleased to find out, after some adjustments, that he himself could resume the flight of this wayward vehicle, and set out not back to Mos Ainsley to return the ship, but further west instead. His idea: see if he could fly it all the way to Chilbo (!).

Now the first try (yes, there were two that night), he made it about 1/2way to Chilbo from Byeulddongbyuel, still a considerable distance. All was well until he found himself automatically rejected after entering a parcel requiring age verification to continue further. The space ship kept going without him. I assumed it derezzed somewhere along the way as well.

But Karoz had the “bug” by then, and enjoyed the only partially successful flight so much that he immediately returned to the Moon Base of Mos Ainsley itself to rez another, identical shuttle. His idea this time was to make it to the protected Korean Channel and then fly more south to reach Chilbo. He almost reached the channel before something went wrong again: as my computer locked up at that instant I was unable to pinpoint the problem, unlike before.

As I said, though, Karoz had some kind of vehicle bug by then, and also decided that night to head over to the Arcadia Asylum library in Cheonma, not far from Chilbo, and purchase whatever drivable/flyable vehicle he could find, all of which he knew would be absolutely free thanks to AA’s full perms/no-profit policy regarding her many builds. He subsequently went to a rez zone on Highway 10 just north, and after some experiments (forklift, etc.), found what he considered a *perfect* complement to the space shuttle’s look and feel in this simple bike, which you wear and ride instead of sit in and ride. He tested it out all the way to Chilbo and then even beyond a bit. My guess is that you’ll soon find a series of Karoz related posts on a bike tour of the continent in one form or another very soon (!). Unlike my other experiences with vehicles, this one — actually both — turned out to be much more satisfying. I certainly don’t expect the focus to be taken away from SL exploration on foot, but biking/shuttle flying (or whatever comes next) may make for a nice kind of complementary way of exploring. And it’s just a lot of fun, which is the ultimate point, I think.

Then shifting back to ol’ hiking Baker, a new structure was found in the Moa sim of Big Sink last night, but one quite familiar in another setting. For it’s the water part of the water/fire temple from Little Robert Plant Variant’s Nowtown, an exact copy sans the stream of lava and resulting steam when it meets the interior water, it appears. And the yoga place is gone, along with the tent just below it as described in this post from only a couple of weeks ago. Shouldn’t be surprised that SL changes so quickly but I always am for some reason.

4 Characters… November 6, 2009

“Hucka D., take a look at the last 4 characters of this transmission from a screen at the Mos Ainsley Space Base. This was taken in May by Karoz. Its “2E2E”. *Now…* take a gander at what Petemond said for this blog near the very end of part 18 in mid-August. Here’s the post, and I’ll just cut and paste the quote I’m talking about here, which is the last line he said.

Ickle dickle do de dum don’t da. Weiner eeple to two e two e.

This is the same thing (!) — 2E2E equals “two e two e”. Is the terminal somehow generating the text of what Peter said??? Very interesting coincidence even if not!

And can we speak of the probable relationship between this “coincidence” and the “Ruins in the Woods” exhibit now showing at the Temple of TILE in Aotearoa?”

Hucka D.:

Crabwood has a deeper intensity than Chilbo. Already a debate has occurred between 2 [foundations] about the role of Sunklands in future development. A friendly debate, of course, for this is Chilbo. You are a focus, and through you The Residents… all residents. Of Jeogeot I mean (smiles).

Chilbo has a chance to open up to a quite considerably larger scale. Beef up… up a notch… and so on. You have played a small role in their thinking, mostly unconsciously but there. The powers have decided… well, there’s obviously 2 ways to go. Up or down. “Up” leads to a greater responsibility for Chilbo in a Linden run grid. Chilboans and Lindens will move forward more hand in hand. “Down” leads to increasing isolation for Chilbo, a condensing toward its center and small town perfection. Chilbo will shrink to eventually just Chilbo, and then probably just wink out of existence or turn into something totally new. This is the wave breaking now, baker b. Sunklands plays a small role in this as I said.

bb:

What’s this got to do with the transmission on the screen at Mos Ainsley?

Hucka D.:

Go back there…

bb:

… Knew you were going to say that.

Hucka D.:

This is a message from Petemond. Petemond came into existence after the death of Peter the rabbit. He was refound. And… that’s not the last time Petemond said that phrase. Check please.

bb:

Ok. Yeah, I vaguely remember something else. Later on, when I was considering buying land in the Egg Hill sink of Corsica Prime.

*****

bb:

Yes. Found it. This was immediately after the Corsica incident, as it was then called by you seemingly. But that was Peter, not Petemond, although the 2 seem to be 1 and the same.

Babble de boble hop tielly de winkle teu, e teu e.

Hucka D.:

Yes.

bb:

There it’s “teu e teu e”. Phonetically identical, though. And, again, this is the last thing Peter or Petemond said that night. This was still considerably before my move to Aotearoa, so the New Zealand influence couldn’t have been so strong. Speaking of “e”s I have one snapshot to share with you tonight, maybe another in a minute.

Hucka D.:

Black and white; on and off. Karoz stares at the “e” from one direction, Baker Bloch the other. This is also the choice Chilbo faces now. Which way to look at the “E”. Do they look through Karoz’s home body eyes or do they share, in part, Baker Bloch’s more western-type Sunklands vision? The Korean Channel is a division point. Does Noru remain the limit of Greater Chilbo? Karoz is Noru. Karoz is Chilbo. And… what do you do with Karoz now? His fate hangs on the fate of others [as well].

bb:

What does this have to do with the “2E2E”?

Hucka D.:

That is a bird. Language of The Birds. Uniko, da.

bb:

Why was it on the monitor at Mos Ainsley?

Hucka D.:

Obviously someone is trying to get in touch with you.

bb:

I think this has to do with The Residents as well.

Hucka D.:

Plant is unavailable tonight. We better end.

bb:

Thank you.

Kahruvel Forest > Chilbo November 4, 2009

Karoz attempts to get some shut eye in the tent and await the morning light for further exploration.

However, he couldn’t settle in, and quickly arose to look over the ruined tower base…

… and reexplore the airport itself more, with its nifty blue neon trim leading him through the various spaces.

Then it was back to lands further west, even beyond Rosedale this time to Georgean, the site of a Vehicle Sandbox according the land description. In fact, the sandbox and sim appear to be one and the same.

And over the mountain to the south is a “sandbox sandbox”, 4 adjacent sims worth, in fact. I remember Baker Blinker sitting on this high vantage point at times and viewing the various builds being executed. She also use to sit on a smaller, wooded ridge just north of the Cowell lighthouse and watch the flying vehicles coming and going from Abbotts Aerodrome. All this happened mainly before I started this blog about one month into my SL existence. By the time I started the blog, I had essentially left the forest behind to explore other areas of Sansara, and also beyond. But I’ll never forget finding Kahruvel — also a nighttime event. I was amazed, in flying west through sim after sim, that such a large, relatively natural area existed so close to the oldest, much more built up areas of Second Life just to the north. How could such a chunk of land remain protected all these years? Kudos, once more, to Mr. Jack and his immediate family for the idea of a Kahruvel trust.

But, as it turned out, Karoz quickly got homesick, and returned to Jeogeot even before dawn could arrive in Second Lyfe. What a home body; even worse than The Bakers! Below he sits on a bench in one of his favorite Chilbo parks, soaking in the warmer air, as Karoz later put it. Was it really warmer? Perhaps to him it was, and although SL has no defined equator that I know if, Jeogeot is considerably south of Sansara. Hmmm… have to think about that warmth issue more.

Trees And Such… October 30, 2009

“Trees, Hucka D. Arkansas and trees.”

Hucka D.:

And Missouri. Sunklands in both. Sunk Lands. Which one’s real?

bb:

You prefer Arkansas over Missouri. You stated that a number of times now. You and Grassy differ on this.

Hucka D.:

Residue. Wilderness. Toy vs. Virtual avatars. Last war. Explosion.

bb:

When Karoz originally entered Chilbo, he was “killed” when he tried to hide behind the base of the town’s huge Oracle Tree, Hucka D. Now he’s thinking there’s more to this. The *tree* is the key, the center. Now… was there a similar tree in the center of Big Sink, where you state Vortextra was? Important question, Hucka D.

Hucka D.:

Probable realities. Jane Roberts up to another level. All in one. Trunk is one. Branches are many. One is many. Tree.

bb:

If you’re saying the tree was there, was it… well I obviously have several questions: 1) was it uprooted to make Vortextra?, 2) was it of the same species as the Oracle Tree, the same seed in other words, 3) …

Hucka D.:

It is more than the same species. It is the same tree. The tree in the center of Chilbo saves it from the probable reality where it is destroyed — stabbed — by an atomic explosion. Big Sink’s loss was Chilbo’s gain. That’s the residue you are encountering in Big Sink, the continued reference to trees. That’s what the meditating avatar is picking up on; that’s what UK Heights picked up on. There are, of course, other emphases spread out from Big Sink but this is a junction, a nodal point. Big Sink’s loss was Chilbo’s gain.

bb:

Fascinating. Vortextra is, um, the hole resulting from the uprooted tree.

Hucka D.:

The Chilbo tree is stated to come from unknown dimensions; Chilbo was built around it. You should ask [Fleep] the story of that sometime. What Chilbo has Big Sink lost.

bb:

Yes, good to restate that, I suppose. But… Big Sink’s loss was also a gain.

Hucka D.:

*Yes.* It would not become Chilbo. It was out of danger as well.

bb:

I’m not understanding…

Hucka D.:

It gained the hole.

bb:

Hucka D., did The Bakers, the probable Bakers, live in the tree?

Hucka D.:

*Yes.* They weren’t alone, though. In Chilbo now, no one lives in the tree. It is largely forgotten as far as that goes. It is the quiet center. In Big Sink, it was the center center. Children played on its branches, knowing that if they fell they would not be harmed. Grownups moved to the upper branches to talk more grown up things like philosophy, art, science. All was good.

bb:

What happened, then?

Hucka D.:

The Lindens. SL was coming, and the elders knew it. They could live in splendid isolation or they could join the new initiative, despite the obvious disadvantages and losses that would result in this. It was decided to build a new community to better handle the changes. This became Chilbo.

bb:

The tree was moved.

Hucka D.:

Yes. Shifted. Not really uprooted. Well, maybe uprooted. Trees had real, virtual roots in those days. Grew pies as well. (smiles)

bb:

This has something to do with the Sandbox treehouse, doesn’t it?

Hucka D.:

Synchs were shown there. K.C. Life. Second life. In the center: Centerville. Centreville.

bb:

I think I need to study the philosophy of the world tree.

Hucka D.:

And the art and the science of it.

bb:

So the tree was planted or existed on that 1024 parcel in the sw corner of Pudding Hill. The UK Heights group now has a virtual presence there [in that sim], and identify with their Trees video. Must be a connection. You must be telling the truth at least in part.

Hucka D.:

Always do. I fully tell the truth in part.

bb:

This was no ordinary tree.

Hucka D.:

The shift to the Linden Grid diffused the magic. However majestic the tree is in Chilbo now, it was 10x so in Big Sink. More senses back then — taste, touch, smell.

bb:

The Zeppelin tube! It has something to do with the tree.

Hucka D.:

There’s a reason Plant lived next to that parcel but not in it. Where the Hammer of the Gods people live now in Brouwer. You could ask him.

bb:

Ok.

Plant:

Luvly evening for late October. You want to know about the tree now.

bb:

Was, I don’t know, the tube the *seed*?

Plant:

It was all probable realities of Big Sink, and also Jeogeot as a whole. This would of course include my Nowtown, my, ahem, Zen City. You can buy property there now if you wish, baker Beach.

bb:

I’m having trouble picturing the immensity of this tree.

Plant:

Well… it certainly didn’t stop at that 1024, believe me. I was in it!

bb:

You were inside that vast plant, Plant.

Plant:

Uh, yeah.

bb:

Did you actually *plant* it?

Plant:

You didn’t actually have to live in it to be a part of it. You could set the limbs for phantom, or make them almost invisible. Yet the energy was still there. Potent. That’s why I had to be purified.

bb:

Sirius?

Plant:

Yup.

bb:

Care to elaborate?

Plant:

Nope. Not now. Hucka D. is back.

Hucka D.:

Now you know about the tree, think of the uprooting. Gaping hole. Loss. Gain for Chilbo but the grid was then superimposed. *Everything* changed.

bb:

What is R110, Hucka D.?

Hucka D.;

That had to do with [the moving of] the tree.

bb:

Was the tree Arkansas, Hucka D.? Wait… I already know.

Hucka D.:

It was the *Joplin* tree. Treemonisha. Interesting, eh?

bb:

Very!

Hucka D.:

You’ve absorbed a lot tonight. We should stop soon.

bb:

Hucka D., you were black then. Not necessarily African-American but just black. A black colored avatar.

Hucka D.:

What am I to The Bakers — you — in this reality?

bb:

Yes, I suppose we should end here. Ty!

Hucka D.:

Good night. Talk soon.

Trees, Etc. October 30, 2009

Baker Bloch visits an interesting island in the Blake Sea, near the current eastern edge of a New England themed archipelago. Called Great Island, and spanning two sims: Point of Pines and Land’s End. Appropriate to the name, it is one of the largest islands of the archipelago.

A large salt marsh dominates the center of the island, which a wet footed Blochs is standing in below, looking east toward a wooded hill.

We then shift to Karoz meditating in the huge branches of the great Oracle Tree of Chilbo, which Hucka D. has just talked about in a blog post and with certainly some interesting stories about its possible, ancient or pre-Linden origins. (!) I’m sure Karoz will be returning to this tree soon. Just for the record, it looks like the Oracle Tree stands something under *200* meters tall, starting at an elevation of 122 at the base. Top elevation, then, would be around 300 meters or so. Below, Karoz sits at the 242 meter level. The name of the tree’s creator is Xirro Link, it seems, with another curiously empty SL profile to his name.

A look up from his meditation spot towards higher parts.

A pool at the base of the tree, actually in an open area underneath the hollow base. Nice… it’s “Water for Super Hottub 1.1″ that I use to fill all my pools with as well. Here you’ll find a teleporter to the shrine Karoz was just meditating inside as well.

As Karoz is checking behind Baker Bloch today, he also finds that you can fly up about 30 meters through the hollow trunk as well, fwiw.

Nightime view of the tree behind a Chilbo welcome banner spanning the original main street (Route 10).

I should add more about trees here. Weird run of “tree” references from many different directions yesterday. Let me list them out. 1) Visited UK Heights own sim in Pudding Hill sim, Big Sink, and came across the band’s “Trees” video, inspired by vision of a since deceased band member; 2) Later in same day visited meditation spot obviously focused upon dense cluster of trees, also in Big Sink but on the western side; 3) That same night when Baker Bloch logged in, found lone notecard waiting for him from Quadrapop *Tree* group that he didn’t even know he belonged to. Never got a notecard from ‘em before. But by this time he was aware of the tree motif going on, and promptly visited the “Halloween Hideout” it advertised and met a very nice avatar who managed the three Univ. of Western Australia sims it was located within. He also bragged about the works of the artist owner of the Quadropop Tree Gallery that the aforementioned SL group promotes, one Quadrapop Lane, who has some art showing at the Halloween Hideout as well.*

On more minor note, perhaps, saw man with last name of “Trees” on the tv, what little I watched that day, although I can’t remember the show or the context. Also came across, earlier in the day, mention of beings from Sirius as tree-like. There were other, more indirect references that later surfaced in Hucka D.’s late night thoughts on the subject, including seeing a car bought at a dealership in Joplin, Missouri on my short commute home from work (I’m American, but nowhere *near* Missouri, and I can’t remember the last time I’d seen a Missouri license plate, if ever), and a couple of other bits and pieces I’m not recalling right now.

Below, Baker Bloch once again stands in the largest dry sink of the Corsica continent, this time to specifically visit the Quadrapop Tree Gallery. I’ve also added the gallery to this blog’s SL galleries list. Had to, don’t you think?

Baker rides on a metallic severed hand at the UWA Halloween spot.

* related blogspot is found at http://qtartssalon.blogspot.com/. In addition, here’s a post about her art at NPIRL.

Loose Thoughts… October 28, 2009

Attempted a switch of themes for this blog, and after activating several decided to stick with the current one (Rounded). My main complaint still about this theme is that there’s a gap between the header and the main body of texts/links. But the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Coming in a fairly close second were, let’s see, Inove and, maybe especially Silver is the New Black. See how the head and body are much closer in these 2 examples? (note: you have to be logged into WordPress to see the examples).

Chilbo:
I am now an official resident of Chilbo. Not sure what that entails, except that I filled out Chilbo Community Land Use Application and also, I *think*, a Chilbo Community Building Project Membership Application. Have to double check on that last one, because I had to fill out 2 versions of the first, I know, for various reasons all of my own fault, basically. More overall SL issues. I have been welcomed by the founder herself, a great honor. Always nice to have an active leader.

Early on in my experiences, I will give some very preliminary insights: I don’t think I could have been a member of the Chilbo group and Yapland group at once, since both create a lot of notecards. Both have active leadership, if you will. Yapland is very art oriented, although Kelly collaborated with a number of other SL organizations such as Bookstacks — there was actually a lot going on there that I let pass me by, being the introvert I am and avoiding crowds whenever possible. And the same would apply to Chilbo, *except* Chilbo is a much more diverse and larger community than Yapland, although it has a strong art component as well. However, if you look at the overall *mainland* sections of the SL Art Galleries Map (each gallery is located through a kiosk provided free by Sasun Steinbeck’s marvelous system) you’ll see the unique nature of both. There are simply not many diverse clusters of art galleries in these locations, with Chilbo and Yapland representing two of the largest, if not the *two largest*. But Chilbo is perhaps a much better fit for me because of all the other things going on there. The Chilbo Road Press acts as an excellent information portal to the community, and provides me, as well, with a type of window to the “outside inner” world. In other words, it keeps me from being totally enclosed in my own mythology, although I want that development to always take priority over shared projects. Just a personal preference — I have a lot of things going on both up front, blog-wise, and also behind the scenes. I think Chilbo may act, then — again for me — as a collective eye drawn to the attention of this and that, which I follow. I believe I respect the basic ideas of Chilbo enough, centered by that strong and active leadership I already mentioned, to trust that this eye is turning in profitable and valuable directions for me as well. I want to share this vision, in other words. Now how active I can be with hands on, virtually speaking, community building within Chilbo itself, the actual town, I’m much more uncertain about. Probably not a lot; my center in that respect is Sunklands presently.

I don’t want to give up renting to become a premium member again either; it seems to me, according to my calculations, that you have to really own at *least* 8192 square meters, a full 1/8th of a sim, for the Linden tier fee system to clearly become more advantageous than renting from the now many excellent and established rental businesses in SL. I’ve dealt with a number of ‘em now, with no problem in the least. No land yanked out from under me in the middle of the night. As many people/avatars have correctly pointed out, we’re renting from Linden Labs through their tier system. Actually, the most problems I’ve encountered in “renting” have been from the larger estates such as Azure Islands and Otherland, perhaps queerly. But if you rent on the mainland through established companies, then you should have no problem. The basic (mainland) infrastructure should remain intact — I’ve heard stories to the contrary but I haven’t seen them acted out in person. Estates? Different story, unfortunately, although I think old version Azure Islands and, perhaps especially, the original version of Otherland (which largely remains intact despite a change of ownership, surprisingly) provided the best foundation for what a virtual reality such as Second Life *should* look like, ideally. Mainland, in comparison, is quite a mess, especially outside the oldest regions and even within. The double prim 1024 parcel basis of Nautilus City is, in essence, the idea of homestead regions turned inside out, which I don’t think works at all. The Nautilus City concept, I mean — homesteads are much closer, to me again, to an ideal virtual reality, which needs *space*, dammit (!) between structures. Castles, you know, are fine, unless they, say, take up a whole damn 4096 or 8192 or larger parcel. A lot of this is LL’s fault, of course, and I know much of it is out of their hands now. Much of it, though, is the fault of premium members who don’t understand the concept of, er, (say) *skyboxes*. And I’m guilty as well — look at my Rubi builds in the archives of this blog. There’s a balance of SL as a place of experimentation — parcels as simply sandboxes, in essence, and the balance of aesthetics in relation to surrounding parcels. In my defense, I’ve always tried to create a park-like setting for my sometimes semi-monstrous builds. I’ve never really been bashful about planting trees, bushes, and doing a bit of landscaping at least around the edges. And I think my Aotearoa parcel looks pretty good because of the practice — this has been reinforced by my travels around Big Sink recently, especially the western side.

And this brings me back to Chilbo. Despite being a mainland establishment, Chilbo is a very *aesthetically pleasing* place to visit. It seems very well designed, even though the development is mainly organic and not planned (if I’m understanding the history correctly). Each time I visit the town through one of my avatars, I see something new. Despite being only 2 sims, in essence (although it is spreading out, slowly, into neighboring sims to these two oldest as well), there’s a lot to take in — I haven’t figured out how everything is laid out yet, which is a good thing. It means the development is fractal and complex, and seems to speak to the organic nature, again.

I better end this for tonight… more to say about Chilbo soon! Hard to speak about the possible negatives in the light I’m casting it, but maybe I can eventually touch upon, with more community experience, how Chilbo might improve in time, or develop.

And, yes, there is an SL before *this* SL — mythology has not been forgotten in the least. Karoz is right about this. Chilbol is probably just as real as Chilbo. It represents paths less taken, or paths more taken; some of this can be traced back to the founding of the community. But for now, for me, and perhaps for Karoz through me, the focus must be on *present* Chilbo. The role of Chilbo in Second Life and virtual reality in general is itself coming into sharper focus through its anticipated participation in the LL Communiy Partnership Proposal. Virtually speaking, this is damn important stuff, and will speak largely, I believe, to the continued success of SL itself. Can there be a meaningful dialog in this manner between Chilbo and LL, and between other communities and LL? I’m certainly biased, but I also can’t help but think that Chilbo has more to offer than the great majority of “internal” communities to the larger, overarching SL community, because of its more open nature and also the evolution from a mainland backdrop, to name two obvious advantages that spring to mind.

I’ll provide more links and thoughts soon.

Sunklands, Brouwer 02 October 25, 2009

Let’s start with a picture of Karoz sitting in a tomb of Linden Memorial Park Island…

… moving quickly to Karoz in Chilbo. He’s not afraid, he’s not afraid. Why should he be afraid? Because this is the same thoroughfare at about the same location where he got blown up by a tank during his first visit to *current* Chilbo. He thinks it was just a freak accident though. No, not an accident. A *synchronicity*, designed by powers unknown to shock him into remembering this past Chilbo, and the differences between it and the present. For one thing, it was not called Chilbo but Chilbol or Chilbolton or Chilboltown. Hucka D. has indicated that the exclamation mark of the many “Chilbo!” banners around town are a “corrupted” version of the “l” that use to end the town’s name. Interesting theory anyway. More reminders: Hucka D. says that not only Karoz was from Chilbo*l*, but also he himself. He’s also indicated two houses or properties where he lived, one — further away from Chilbo proper — perhaps more valid that the second, closer and nicer one. The former property’s name is Cabron, perhaps, in turn, a corruption of “Cub Run”, as in Cub Run, Kentucky very near a Bee, Kentucky. Also has associations with the Cub sim of SL, where the Baker Famliy almost located their first art gallery in this virtual reality (“Just Call Me Ernie Banks”), and also where Hucka D.’s first “beehive” was built.

But back to the immediate point, Karoz does feel safer now. After all, Baker Bloch has now had conversations with many Chilbo notables, including founder Fleep Tuque. Through Baker, Karoz certainly feels more rooted in the modern community, with the present reality more stabilized and non-fluctuating.

I have more plans for Karoz and Chilbo (again, *without* the “l”!), which I’ll explain in another post coming up soon.

Baker Bloch watches the always changing scene in the center of the Aotearoa sink from the cottage on the edge of his property. Floating apple trees now — soon, however, they went the way of all else that has appeared in the sink since his move there 3 weeks ago now (and I renewed for another month!).

Then it’s back to the exploration of Big Sink, an ongoing project for Blochs. Here he examines a road sign not seen before, indicating that he’s on Route 1, and with the outline of the Jeogeot continent on it as well. Nicely done.*

Baker Bloch stands beside a cannon in Brouwer aimed toward Moa, whose western border begins a couple of meters to its front. Baker wonders: was there a struggle between the two sims for control of this part of Big Sink at one time? Anyway, something to log into the blog and move on from for now…

The cannon, as well as much of the Brouwer sim, by the way, is owned by the group Hammer of the Gods or its owner, specializing in jewelry making. They’ve left much of the sim as a kind of “natural park” — good for them. Cannon included.

Hey, wasn’t the real Mr. Plant featured in a Hammer of the Gods book. Yes, I remembered correctly! And also the name of a famous tribute band.

Another business located in Brouwer, a fence making enterprise.

Speaking of which, Blochs then finds a Tom Waits poster on a nearby fence. Strangely, just last night dreamt I met Tom Waits at some sort of golf charity event — or sumtin. Anyway, I distinctly remembered meeting him, and couldn’t wait to tell the wife (still in the dream), since she’s a *huge* fan of his.

A number of these “kitten toy balls” are located around the property. Hmmm… rainbow sphere.

Then I found kittens (!). These two were trying to get together for some fun, but for some reason couldn’t leap up to the pool tile separating them. In real life: no challenge for these two nimble felines, of course. Too bad; looks like they could make good friends. Perhaps they’re part of the same family, even?

*****

* But isn’t this suppose to be Route 10?

From Chilbo to Genesis… October 17, 2009

Karoz starts another dance in the jazz club in Chilbo. Don’t worry, though, he didn’t take it nearly as far this time…

Ancient Chilbo? (found in a neighboring shop to the club just before the dancing began, I suppose)

Soon the dance ended at the Crazy Diamond sim, where Baker Bloch heads sometimes when he’s itching for a twitch as well. Instead, Karoz touches something on the dance floor and suddenly finds himself in this nifty prog rock museum. The below pictures were taken in the large Genesis skybox section of the museum, very meaningful since regular blog readers may recall that Peter Gabriel (yes, young’ns, he was an original member of Genesis, when they were really *good*) has been mentioned a number of times now by Hucka D., and very recently again as well. Hucka D., or, sorry, Plant I believe, said that Peter Gabriel was the only musician of Sunklands that was *not* a variant of a RL counterpart (unlike Plant himself, for instance).

The Lamb Lies Down On, um, Broad Walk? Dunno. I assume it’s the same lamb, though, since it is surrounded by other early Genesis album images (see directly above and below for more). Has to be, don’t you think? Of course. Now, Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, as you may recall, is the audio source of Tronesis also mentioned a number of times already in this blog. Hucka D. had a fascination with it for a time while living on Azure Islands in Spring 08, shortly after he was “reborn” into this virtual world.

As usual, the ever resourceful Karoz remains a head of the game (sorry).