Decka Mah...just a second

Wearing a Nyla original, I went to the grand opening of Nyla's House of Fashion today. Her stunning new store is filled with colour and today was filled with her adoring fans. Her gowns should be on the red carpet worn by the stars. The crowd partied on to great music surround ed by Nyla's wearable art. After seeing the web pics, I can't wait for the new Second Life collection !!

Thanks to the courageous efforts of Fireman, Haut Lean, tragedy was averted when a runaway campfire burned out of control in a remote mountain area of Terra incognita. Priceless art work was saved from the flames as Haut risked life and limb to quench the flames. Island owner, Decka Mah is considering a total fire ban except in designated fireplaces.

Today the BLAST recreation visited Terra. A crowd gathered to watch the balloon launch adn we were lucky enough to be able to ride the gondola. We turned on a wonderful particles light show for the event complements of Arcanus Projects or Hyperbolic Labs. (IM Arcanus for prices and designs)

Corwin's photos

Project details:-
Welcome To Virtual BLAST!

BLAST (Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope) is a scientific ballooning project dedicated to understanding the origins of the universe. Last December, BLAST flew from a Long Duration Balloon over Antarctica. By providing the first sensitive large-area submillimeter surveys at these wavelengths, BLAST will address some of the most important cosmological and Galactic questions regarding the formation and evolution of stars, galaxies and clusters.

Virtual BLAST brings a detailed recreation of the gondola and telescope to Second Life! Virtual BLAST will be flying over the SL main grid today, visiting several educational and scientific builds. The BLAST crew will be handing out scientific ballooning goodies and spreading the word about balloon-borne scientific achievements.

Inside this classified box are a few items to make your BLAST viewing experience a lot better! You will find a miniature version of the balloon and satellite to keep, as well as an official BLAST Antarctic jacket to keep warm.

Virtual BLAST doesn't end here! On March 4 (tomorrow) at 11:00am SLT, Matthew Truch (SL: Half Moo), one of the BLAST scientists, will be speaking at the International Spaceflight Museum. He will give an overview of the project, talk about what it's like to work in Sweden and Antarctica, and comment on the results to date.

SLURL Spaceport Alpha

This event was brought to Second Life by the Immersive Media Team at Johnson & Wales University, including Professor Hilary Mason (SL: Ann Enigma) and students Kyle Pouliot (SL: Kyle Childs), Bjorn Minde (SL: Bjornson Donaldo), and Chris Hempel (SL: misterchris Oxberger).

BLAST is funded by grants from the NSF and NASA.

Real Life BLAST related websites:

http://chile1.physics.upenn.edu/blastpublic/telescope.shtml
http://ketiltrout.net/ice/
http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~gmarsden/antarctica_2006/

ROn Februalry 26, 2007, my mortal, Lindy McKeown, was a guest on ABC (that is the Australian one not the US one) Radio National Program, Australia Talks with Paul Barclay.
Link to listen

Other guests on the program were:
Jenny Diski (link to her post in the London Book Review)
Writer

Abigail Thomas
New Media and Digital Services Manager, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Stephen Hutcheon
Online Technology Editor, Sydney Morning Herald
Some of his work on SL
Avatars with attitude
Second Life miscreants stage members-only attack
Grand Slam tennis that's out of this world

Lots of people have responded to this program on the site, in their blogs, in email to me and in Instant Messages in the world of Second Life. Many were very upset that Jenny Diski who seemed to have spent so litte time in a vast place like Second Life had made such generalisations about it...akin to visiting a country and judging it from a tour bus window seat. Here are some of th e comments and links.

Thanks also to those people on the Second Life Educators email list who posted examples of their great uses of Second Life for education. Also thanks to all the people in world who IMed me with support, comments and ideas. I love the Second Life community and the people there who share, help, teach, create, work, have fun and inspire. I only wish that Jenny could see MY Second Life and share the many wonderful experiences of generosity, kindness and friendship with peopel from all over the world that it has been my privilege to enjoy.

Blogs:
Signpost Marv
Beth's Second Life