Around Rubi, 01 June 2, 2010

Near the center of the Forest of Rubi, looking back on the blue Victorian house.

My friend Flynn’s digs in Tyta, on the north side of the forest. And I also use to “live” in Tyta for a spell, back in 2008. My property was just on the other side of Flynn’s from this direction.

Just turning around in Baker’s tracks, here’s more land I use to rent or own, to the right and next to the Great Wall. Now there’s what appears to be a giant, transparent castle on the parcel; the land is still for sale, and at 15.4 lindens per square meter it can be yours, hehe.

I also noticed that the giant 28x28x28 borg cube that use to be just across the Linden road from my land here is now gone. I feature it, for example, in my “Dueling Borg Cubes? Yes!” post from last year, where you can also find some interesting pictures of my own property at the time. Seems not much has changed — on the Rubi property now, you find the same Slum Econo Apt. building, a Victorian house, a single pool, and then one small hill on the property (but I still like my new Rubi property better for other reasons).

Southern terminus of the Great Linden Wall of the Heterocera continent. My old land is directly to the right again.

I couldn’t resist taking a peek inside the ol’ Wall again. Baker couldn’t resist, I mean.

But I sent Baker back onto the road quite soon. Still biking east on the road bordering the Rubi Forest to its north, he soon comes across this small gallery in Minoa called “‘The Gallery’ and Moveable Art by Etta”. He remembers it from previous explorations, with not much seemingly changed about it in the meantime. He recalls the Lennon images being there before as well.

Several sims west in Oslar. Baker enounters a more surreal setting. Ah yes, land on both sides of the road here are owned by “*The Realm of Mythos*” group, whose triple headed owner includes one of Baker’s immediate neighbors in Rubi, Patricia Garza. Baker has likewise passed through here before and encountered art by this group at the time as well. Unlike the gallery just up the street, though, the scenery here is completely different from what it was during his previous visit. Compare here.

https://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/snapshot1194_009.jpg

https://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/snapshot1194_010.jpg

https://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/outwards-and-upwards/

Speaking of that 2009 “Outwards and Upwards…” post, we also have a couple of pictures of what the parcel below looked like at the time, also a completely different affair. Before were *giant*, towering redwood like trees; now there’s what first appeared like a collapsed, one eyed alien but what Karoz now thinks may actually be a representation of an ant — hard to tell still.

Outwards and Upwards… July 17, 2009

Probabilities August 12, 2008

“Hucka D., with your help we’re going to do a little experimenting tonight.”

Hucka D.:

Sounds good.

bb:

Tell us what you can about the Temple of TILE and whatever else comes to your mind tonight.

Hucka D.:

The Temple of TILE is a rough copy, a sketch almost, of a more polished temple that use to sit in almost that exact position in the Silver Forest. To review, the Ruby Forest still present very nearby is a remnant of the considerably larger Silver Forest — we know that now. The Silver Forest also spread out to CK’s land in [delete name] sim. That’s one reason she is involved in all this. And ZZ is involved in railroads so that’s why he would be interested in the Edwardston Station. You see, it’s all coming together for you baker, Bakers. CK’s land gives you an indication of the size of the Silver Forest; it’s almost 256 meters away. The forest may have covered 9 sims altogether, but my guess is that it’s more like 4. And it was a very magical forest, very powerful. It’s influence certainly continues today. The Ruby Forest contains remnants of this magic as well. Isn’t it good.

bb:

This has something to do with SID. Syd-to-SID.

Hucka D.:

Yes.

bb:

SID’s 1st Oz.

Hucka D.:

Walt SIDney. Magic Kingdom.

bb:

But more.

Hucka D.:

Some more.

bb:

This was a moth temple of sorts.

Hucka D.:

Yes. Built by the land loving moth people.

bb:

Did they leave behind clues to their history/religion/mythology in this forest?

Hucka D.:

In part. It’s more about the Ancients.

bb:

Aren’t the moth people the Ancients?

Hucka D.:

In part. The Ancients are still here. Users.

bb:

Ah, of course. The rl people behind the avatars.

Hucka D.:

Yes, that. But more. The complete set of people behind the avatars. Probabilities. We haven’t talked about that.

bb:

It’s not just rl verses sl?

Hucka D.:

No.

bb:

Like the offshoot of the Second Life railroad. This is a probable line.

Hucka D.:

Exactly. It is not on the grid currently, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. It’s just as real as any other offshot of the main line currently in existence.

bb:

In one probable reality the Silver Forest still exists.

Hucka D.:

Still exists on the Atoll.

bb:

We can enter that probability.

Hucka D.:

That we can. Through magic.

bb:

The door is opened.

Hucka D.:

Open. (pause — anticipating bb’s next comment/question): we have SID and that is all that is needed.

(to be continued?)

Running the Atoll’s Second Life RR, Part 6 of ? August 4, 2008

Continuing south down the railroad again, Baker Bloch spies additional Heart pines looming over the top of a rock cliff.

Another rr station, for the Clearwing sim this time.

And then the station down from that one (Crenulate). This is the first place that another railroad has joined the main railroad I’ve been hiking on all this time. Pretty juncture… must head up this “side” railroad soon for more adventures.

Yet another station, Agirus this time. We’re getting pretty far down into the continent again here, with flatter land beginning to dominate once more.

Then I thought I’d end this post with the discovery of the second Pink Floyd related image found by Baker Bloch on his railroad adventures in the Heteracera Atoll continent, this time from the Dark Side of the Moon album. I can’t recollect the exact location of this dance floor, but it’s somewhere above Agirius, on the downward side of the railroad.

Baker dances something called the Black Orchid. You know, he’s pretty good! Quite agile.

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Running the Atoll’s Second Life RR, Part 5 of ?

Another station, for the Foxglove sim near the top of the SL RR loop around the continent’s interior.

I don’t think that train’s been in service for awhile. Which reminds me that I must tell a story about meeting my first Linden while running this railroad, after 6 months of logging in a lot of SL experience. Won’t give the name out directly, but will relate, soon, some more synchronicities concerning the meeting and events that transpired almost immediately afterwards.

Back to the tour for now, though…

Ok, (S-Bum is retracing my steps again to get sim names, locations, etc. — thnx once again to *Super*bum, hehe), this is a nice little garden spot in Angel Mountain Valley, Campanula sim. This particular sim is directly north of another interesting sim called Sagittata, which appears to be completely empty of structures. Perhaps it is all Linden protected land like a Kerchal. I do remember that the part bordering Angel Mountain Valley, to the north of the railroad, is Linden land.

Those little fairies are being emitted from a mushroom circle just behind Blochs here.

And just in the neighbor’s yard Baker Bloch sees some bananas falling from the sky, which makes him think of the Temple to the Velvet Underground once on AI1 and the revolving banana statue in front. Come to think of it, Baker actually only saw one banana fall. Maybe he just imaged the banana falling, because S-Bum is over there right now and only sees a couple of bananas on the ground. Hmm…

Behind these lands lies the torturously steep mountains shouded in mist as they say. Baker Bloch *must* return to the mtns. here.

Moving along the railroad again, heading south now, Blochs then comes upon this beautiful little nature spot of rock faces and waterfalls, and completely covered over, almost, with 30 meter Lillith Heart Wild Mountain Pines. This gives a great model for what more of SL should look like, imho.

The bear agrees!*

* As I finished writing the text of this post, S-Bum accidentally wandered into a cave lying beneath this rock formation. Looks like Baker Bloch is due for a return visit sooner than expected!

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Running the Atoll’s Second Life RR, Part 4 of ? August 2, 2008

So now we come to the *really* high stuff.

Baker Bloch begins the hike up the huge mountain. I believe this is in Lapara, or at least the top of the mtn., which Blochs is about to visit, lies in this sim (northeast corner).

What appears to be a quite spooky spectre is positioned in a bowl-type thingie near the top. Upon an original inspection it seemed to be titled “nobody” created by “nobody”.

Later on Baker Bloch rechecked and found actual names substituted for the nobodys. And also the figure had rezzed in completely. Blochs was even able to take a copy for later rezzing. Baker had a hunch that some kind of unrequited love relationship might be involved, but he’s going to study the matter later more fully. I’ll report what he finds.

(S-Bum is now checking the tiptop elevation of the mountain and finds it to be 368 meters. That’s over a 1000 feet! Could this be the highest mountain in SL? I must look that up.)

Unusual species to be found near the top of a huge, waterless mountain don’t you think?

And then I’m not sure exactly how Baker Bloch got to it, but somewhere on or near this mountain he was able to teleport into a planetarium of a kind, and enjoy the circling planets and stars.

“Is that speck over there perhaps Baker’s Island?” he wonders as he continues to squint and squint.

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Running the Atoll’s Second Life RR, Part 3 of ?

So to continue… for some of these pictures here we have to backtrack a bit. Actually, we’re backtracking with all of ’em, but let’s press forward. Here’s a picture of the Neumoegen station that I’ve mentioned before…

Yes, here’s something new (note: I’m having S-Bum fly back around to these locations as I write to check names, directions, etc.). Yes, this creepy graveyard is in Achemon…

… and this nearby tranquil pond in the Zen Gardens of Achemon, complete w/ some straylight effects it looks like, was a welcome relief after the walk through the land of the dead.

Thought I’d take a snapshot of this currently barren ridge right next to the railroad that I’d like to revisit when I can. A cluster of 3 rocks sits near the top, in view of, in turn, a purple cluster of 3 crystals (amethyst?) across the tracks. This is in the northwest corner of Jodis and northeast corner of Aplasta (thank you S-Bum!).

Speaking of 3’s, here’s a snapshot of 3 Linden eucalyptus trees in south Lunalis that I found interesting because of their close proximity. Give ’em some space!

Then it’s back to the Athetis station again and up the hill toward the almost sim-long but totally barren ridge I mentioned before. In the near future I’d like to hike/fly this whole range that extends far south and north of the Athetis sim, actually, and which the main track of the SL railroad gently curves around inside of.

There’s a look north, in the direction we’re heading next. Bigger mountains await!

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Running the Atoll’s Second Life RR, Part 2 of ?

Another station… from the Spini sim this time. Just so you’ll know, I usually leave the default environment setting on when exploring especially, so this is a “natural” night-time setting.

Baker Bloch finds a large open space to the left of the railroad in Athetis and can’t help but explore a bit. A completely tree-less, plant-less, rock-less ridge line runs roughly north to south across almost the length of the sim. Height at peak: 145 meters. This area can be accessed by stairs across from another nice little station in the sim pictured here. Elevation of station – 80 meters (hint: elevation will become a bigger issue in future rr-running posts!).

Things get even more interesting for Baker Bloch in Lunalis, where he finds, among other things, these big prim trees of unknown specimen.

Exploring a beautiful little natural area on the other side of the railroad leads him to this artist’s enclave. I think the offslanted windows are a nice touch — the art’s a *bit* expensive here, though.
“Am I undercharging for my own original art?’ Baker Bloch ponders upon viewing some of the price tags here. Maybe so.

Nearby abandoned motel viewed from a field of flowers. Watch the bees!

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Running the Atoll’s Second Life RR, Part 1 of ? August 1, 2008

So it seemed appropriate that since the Great Second Life Railroad almost makes a complete loop around the Heterocera Atoll continent and my shop/gallery was set up almost at the southern terminal of such, that I start at my shop, right?, and run the entire almost-loop. So that’s what started to happen even before the gallery was open.

Just to the north of the sim my gallery is located in, we find what’s called on the SL map “HOBO”. I’ve already mentioned and provided a picture of the Arcadia Asylum mecca in the former post that’s found in the sim directly north of mine (Caletta). A little further north in Oculea the hobo/urban grunge related derilects continue with structures like this shack in a wheat field, complete with cows and hobo campfire and also one of those rusty metal windmills that my neighbor on AI1 has. And of course some of this is Asylum created, as is rampant in the area. Nifty.
/.

Then right next to the wheat field shack we have this huge structure called Unity Station that looks like something straight out of communist Russia circa 1950s. Floor after floor, 9 in all, of pure emptiness with alternating straight and spiral ramps connecting them, and with literally hundreds and hundreds of tiny windows on each floor arranged in a checkerboard-type pattern. I took a picture of a fist sculpture positioned on the bottom floor near the entrance to the whole thing– maybe this means something obvious in relationship to the whole building but I couldn’t figure it out. Tooter Claxton is the name of the fist’s creator.

Above Oculea in Neumogeon we come to more open space and breathing room, which was admittedly welcome. I mean, I like urban grunge stuff obviously, but I prefer to contrast it with more natural settings. I inserted a snapshot of the Neumogeon Station here in this post above — there are beautiful little stations, all very different in structure and feel, positioned all along the railroad, and I”ll be presenting pictures of some more in future posts as well. Btw, there is a forest of simply towering trees (redwoods?) just across the railroad from this station.

Speaking of towering, here’s some really big flowers growing near the railroad, but not as near as this photo would indicate. That’s how big they are.

Another station, this time for the Eppirrhoe sim.

Baker Bloch continues north. Still a longs ways to go, with many stops along the way!

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