Expedition Central

"Ah'm proud to beeee a coal miner's daughter..."

Deep Down (the Virtual Mine) is a TV documentary about coal mining that was recently nominated for an Emmy.  Produced by PBS’ Independent Lens, the documentary by Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin is about the experience of a coal mining town in Appalacia. Part of the project was a virtual recreation in Second Life.  Rich subtle textures, careful landscaping and judicious use of lighting capture some of the natural beauty of Kentucky and juxtapose it against the nastiness of coal mining.  Definitely worth a visit!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Mine/128/221/63

Macchu Pichu will tax your spelling ability to the utmost!

There has been lots of debate about exactly what this “lost city of the Inca” was for.  Certainly its craggy mountaintop home doesn’t look like a great place for agriculture, and certainly it’s not on the way to anywhere.  Regardless, thanks to the miracle of technology you can visit this engineering marvel in your jammies…

http://slurl.com/secondlife/USMP%203D/130/129/24

Cognitive overload was never so much fun!

Maya Island is the capstone project of the University of Washington’s Virtual Worlds graduating class of 2011.  This is a dense, interactive sim that explores the astronomy, medicine, agriculture, science and language of the Mayan civilization.  Follow the Jade Path…  Crack the hieroglyphic codes…  Ride a giant bat from the underworld into the light of day… Explore!

Seriously… this is a chewy one.  Like Disney World, you won’t be able to see everything in one day.  Plan several visits… it’s worth it!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20Washington/128/124/31

Mt St Helens slumbers peacefully. Shhh... don't wake her!

The steelhead is a kind of trout that likes cold water and is native to the Pacific Northwest and up through Alaska.  Steelhead in Second Life consists of seven sims built on a steampunk/turn-of-the-century Pacific Northwest theme.  Like most steampunk sims there are a lot of detailed and clever builds to be found here, including Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens (which erupts periodically to remind us of the dangers of complacency).  The Steelhead residents also seem to be extremely hospitable and laid back.

Windsor Hotel in Melbourne/Steelhead Town Hall

There are several re-creations of historical buildings in Steelhead, from the American west and elsewhere.  For more information check out the fine article here. 

In the center/east of the group lies the Shanghai sim which is rated adult.  I’m not really sure exactly why it needs to be rated adult but you won’t be able to get in to that sim if you are not age-verified with Linden Labs.  However you can and should stand in an adjoining sim and cam about, because there are some truly amazing Asian builds to be found there.

Inside Town Hall

For more information about Steelhead, check out their ning:  http://steelheadsl.ning.com/

…or go there yourself!  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Steelhead/90/253/27

Dark twisting alleys capture the feel of old Hong Kong

Oh my goodness I have never blogged about Kowloon!

Kowloon is a lush, dense, thick, atmospheric recreation of old Hong Kong City, maybe circa 1960 or so.  This is another of my top five favorite sims in Second Life, and I’m not sure if I can even define why except to say that one square meter of Kowloon contains enough complexity and mystery to supply several ordinary sims.  Dark twisting alleyways snake between towering yet seedy buildings.  Bright neon Asian signs glare beneath rickety aerial walkways.  Faint jingles of oriental music seem to come from the end of the street and wait… what was that in that dark corner..?

Hungry?

Kowloon is filled with games, hunts and quests of one sort or another, and the fact that the directions are all in Japanese add a bit to the challenge…  You can ride pandas, explore secret rooms and passages, and shop for some of the most bizarre clothes, accessories and furniture I have ever seen in SL.  There is also a game where you can hunt down the dark alleys for Chinese ghosts.  When you find them you are supposed to absorb their “evil minds” with an enchanted dagger (and a free HUD).  There are teams of avatars working together to find these apparitions, and if you can find one who speaks English he or she can explain the directions!

Aiiieeee...! The ghost of a coat-hanger!

Cool stuff!  http://slurl.com/secondlife/kowloon/148/48/24

A review of the Fukushima reactors

In March 2011, the nation of Japan was hit by one of the most powerful earthquakes on record.  A subsequent tsunami slammed into its northeast coast, killing thousands and doing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage.  Later news reports told of explosions at one of the Fukushima power plants, and the subsequent battle to regain control of several crippled reactors has been in the news pretty much daily since then.  This disaster has called into question the future of nuclear power in this country, and whether the energy benefits are worth the risks.

I was invited by the VSTE Island management team to lead a presentation/tour of several Second Life exhibits that delve into this issue.  There were probably about 15 educators who came along.  We began at VSTE island with a brief slideshow providing background information.

We then headed over to a remarkable two-sim scale relief map of Japan showing the locations of the crippled reactors as well as the epicenter of the quake.  http://slurl.com/secondlife/DHSL01/87/28/24

We then zipped over to the Areva Nuclear Power Plant, touring the facility and examining the cooling systems from the inside.  Areva is a French company that is the largest manufacturer of nuclear plants in the world.  There is a guided tour vehicle at the landing point, and several links to web sites intended to educate visitors about the benefits of nuclear power.  This sim is actually part of a nuclear engineering graduate project at the University of Denver.  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Science%20School%20II/125/121/25

Finally we finished up at Japan Kenjin, a recreation of an old-style Japanese fishing village representing the fragile and beautiful environment as it might have been prior to the tsunami.  http://slurl.com/secondlife/JAPAN%20DREAM%20KENJIN/147/39/24

"Instead of the cross, the albatross about my neck was hung..."

One of the more entertaining applications of virtual worlds is to bring to life works of classic literature.  In Empyreal Dreams, four classic works havce been recreated:  Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge), The Bluebell (Bronte), The Raven (Poe) and Les Miserables (Hugo).  Construction on more is underway.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ctrl%20Shift%20H/49/137/22

…by the way, if you dig this and you haven’t been there you definitely should go check out Macbeth!

A marine biologist's must-see!

 This is a remarkably detailed exhibit of oceanography and marine biology.  The above-water sections include a museum and a knockup of the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer, while the underwater parts include exhibits of different types of oceanic habitats and an observation lounge.  Definitely worth a visit!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second%20Earth%203/128/128/21

Get along little dogie!

If you want to feel like you just stumbled into a John Wayne movie, check out this colorful desert sim.  A great place for horseback-riding, this sim includes waterfalls, rivers, country stores and an abandoned mine.  Cool stuff!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Marina%20Del%20Mar/5/165/21