NMC Builders Stella Costello and CJ Carnot

Rev Rexie and Kittie Serendipity enjoyed a sunny Spring day exploring Lund University. The Swedish campus is still being built by NMC (New Media Consortium) builders, Stella Costello and CJ Carnot. Kittie is especially excited because the build is taking place right next door to the WSU Learning Center Campus.

This was fortuitous for Kittie because she had the pleasure of meeting both Stella and CJ. They are the Master Builders working for the NMC. They are not only very prolific, they are extremely talented. They build all of the common areas on the NMC campus sims and each build is unique with close attention to detail.

Kittie also found them both to be very pleasant people and she is looking forward to seeing them again as they construct this virtual University.

WSU Virtual Journalism Summit

Endless Summer

Kittie found the perfect surfboard in Second Life and is looking forward to an Endless Summer. The Sandals wrote the theme song for The Endless Summer and and they made it for free of charge because they believed in the movie. The classic surf film was written and directed by Bruce Brown 1n 1966.

BunnyJam was fabulous !!

Hi Kittie,

I wish you could have explored EggsActly Island with me - it was a blast! I don't know how long they'll leave it up now that BunnyJam is over, so if you have a chance, you probably want to hop over there: EggsActly:128/128/24 ... When you go, there are two places you want to visit.

First, pop down the rabbit hole and walk along the path into the cavern where the egg hunt took place. You'll see Humpty Dumptys of various shapes and sizes (one of the eggs I found was in this cart). Be sure to sit in front of the painting that you see in this snapshot.


Look for the White Rabbit coming out of his hole completely focused on his pocket watch. A table is set up for the tea party nearby. The scenery is fabulous -- it's so detailed and elaborate; wonderful delicate waterfalls, beautiful flowers, and leaves with places to sit (and lounging behaviors)... there are so many details that you could easily spend hours there. I took some snapshots for you.





When you're done looking at all the trippy stuff that is down the rabbit hole, walk (or fly) back out and up to the top of EggsActly Island and check out all the Easter Egg contest entries. I don't know how they picked the winners; there are so many beautifully decorated eggs that it must have been hard. In fact, there were so many entries that they had to create a second island! Here are a couple more snapshots. You can click on them to enlarge them. All these snapshots open in a new window.




The names of the top egg decorators and those who found the eggstrordinary eggs are posted in the Second Life blog.

See you Soon! xoxo Kiana

Global Kids "Consent!"

Kittie Serendipity and Rev Rexie donned orange jumpsuits stamped with "Department of Corrections" across their backs. Why? They were participating in a digital game created by kids on the Second Life Teen Grid. Global Kids brought it over to Clemson University on the main grid.

Based on Harriet A. Washington's book Medical Apartheid, this game let Kittie and Rev experience what it may have been like to be an African American man in prison from the 1940's until the present. They were offered money and parole in exchange for participating in medical experiments.

Kittie Played the game twice. The first time she played she consented to every experiment. She died with $810. The second game she played she consented to nothing. She was forced to be a part of one medical study anyway. This time she survived, but with cancer and only $210.

This game was intense and thought provoking. If you would like to participate, click here.

The 1st Question with Pooky Amsterdam

Cougar Room members, Rev, Bing, Lucian and Kittie were in the audience of Pooky Amsterdam's quiz show, The 1st Question, on April 7th to cheer for their musician friend, Wellyn Radikal, who was a contestant that evening. Yay Wellyn! The set was packed to record levels and because of the quirky, unconventional nature of contestants and hosts, a good time was had by all.

WSU Virtual Journalism Summit

Philip Linden (aka Philip Rosedale) was appropriately the first Presenter of the WSU Virtual Journalism Summit. He is, after all, the father of Second Life.

Forward thinking Mr. Linden spoke of the necessity of learning to navigate in virtual worlds because the technology is advancing so rapidly that this sort of media will be commonplace. With over 1,000,000 members and about 80,000 people online at a time and 250,000 people everyday, the virtual world of second life is growing exponentially. He said SL is early in it's evolution, so imagine the possibilities.
Kittie was in awe of Philip Linden's Optomism and apparent ability to see possibility when things could be dismissed as fantasy.




Hamlet Au (aka Wagner James Au) of New World Notes gave an
excellent presentation on his professional virtual world journalism career. Journalism is at a crossroads with changes imminent for traditional media and Hamlet Au gave examples of how he is using Second Life to connect with people and be there as the stories unfold.

Egyptian bloggers Eureka Dejavu and Schmilsson Nilsson of
DIP's (Dancing Ink Productions) Dispatches from the imagination Age were able to be present in Second Life and premiere their latest documentary - Virtual Journalism: Inside the Virtual Newsroom of the American University in Cairo.


Kittie felt fortunate to be able to attend without having to make the physical trek across the Cascade Mountain passes to get to the other side of the state. Imagine being able to attend from Egypt.


Erica Driver, Bernhard Drax, Lane Merrifield, and Lila King were also featured keynote speakers and participated in a roundtable discussion with Philip Rosedale and moderated by Wagner James Au.

Headliners, Helen Thomas and Bob Schieffer were the final speakers of the day. They answered questions in both Second Life and real life, and shared their thoughts on the future of journalism.



The summit was held in Pullman, WA, main campus of Washington State University in real life in CUB Auditorium, sponsored by Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. It was also simultaneously held in Second Life on the WSU Virtual Campus Sim. People attending in Second Life were able to view a live stream of the event on the internet and interact with each other and ask questions of the presenters via chat.

Those who missed the live event may view the archived stream at http://experience.wsu.edu/

Virtual Journalism Summit

WSU conducts its first live event within Second Life Monday, April 6, 2009



Helen Thomas, former White House bureau chief Bob Scheiffer, CBS News' chief Washington correspondent
Philip Rosedale, founder, Second Life
Lane Merrifield, Executive Vice President, Disney Online Studios
Lila King, senior producer, CNN Interactive Storytelling
Erica Driver, co-founder, ThinkBalm
Wagner James Au, virtual world journalist
Bernhard Drax, virtual world journalist

If you will be attending in Second Life:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/WSU
There will not be a video and/or audio stream of the live event within Second Life. Instead, Second Life participants are encouraged to use the live video access link
If you would like to view the summit Live via streaming video: http://experience.wsu.edu/
If you will be attending in person:
http://visitor.wsu.edu/

Schedule of Events

10 a.m. - OPENING PRESENTATION – Linden Lab chairman/founder Philip Rosedale

11 a.m. - THE IMMERSIVE INTERNET WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU WORK – Erica Driver, ThinkBalm

Noon - LUNCH BREAK

1-2:30 p.m. - 3D ROUNDTABLE ON VIRTUAL WORLD MEDIA – All guest speakers/presenters, This event will be moderated by prominent virtual journalist Wagner James Au.

2:30-3 p.m. - INTERACTIVE SCREENING: "The Inaugural Broadcast of the American University in Cairo's Virtual Newsroom: Eight Egyptian Political Bloggers and an American Digital Diplomat Talk Transition of Power" – Rita J. King and Joshua S. Fouts, Dancing Ink Productions

3 p.m. - CHILDREN AND VIRTUAL WORLDS – Lane Merrifield, Club Penguin co-founder

4 p.m. - HOW TO BECOME A VIRTUAL WORLD REPORTER (And Do Real World News) – Wagner James Au

5:30 p.m. - SPECIAL EVENT: A Virtual Q&A with Veteran Journalists Helen Thomas & Bob Schieffer

Former White House Bureau Chief Helen Thomas and CBS News´ Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer will appear in Second Life for an interactive Q&A session, held simultaneously on both the real and virtual campuses of Washington State University.
Avatars created by Second Life designer Haver Cole.

ALL DAY - INTERACTIVE ART EXHIBIT by WSU Graduate Student Heather Losey McGeach

A complete schedule of events can be found on the official Web site at: http://communication.wsu.edu/virtualjournalism

Seal Racing at Southhaven

Shortly after her arrival to Southhaven, Kittie was greeted by a demure young lady who sweetly asked Kittie, "Would you like a tour?"

"Love one!" Kittie eagerly replied.

Kittie had barely hopped aboard the sled and they were off! Blasting over jumps, shredding corners, and flying through the absolutely gorgeous terrain on Southhaven, Willow Graysmark took Kittie Serendipity on the ride of her life.

It turns out Willow was Seal Racing Champion in 2007.

A sled pulled by a seal? Who would have ever even come up with such a concept? Owner Farley Crabgrass would and did.

[12:27] kittie Serendipity: where did the idea for seal racing come from?
[12:28] Farley Crabgrass: We had found some old dog sleds two years back and played with them and made a few jumps - small stuff
[12:28] Farley Crabgrass gave you Seal Racer Outfit - Retail - Unisex.
[12:29] Farley Crabgrass: then last year I made a course all around Farhaven and Willow and I would race for hours
[12:29] kittie Serendipity: thanks for the outfit
[12:29] Farley Crabgrass: she was going away for Christmas this year and didn't want to miss the racing so I built the course on this sim
[12:29] Farley Crabgrass: did you see the videos ?
[12:30] kittie Serendipity: I love the videos
[12:30] kittie Serendipity: :)

Seal Racing sleds are available at no cost as single sleds, double sleds and a version for tinies. Willow told kittie that the larger sleds are best for beginners because they are the easiest to handle.

If relaxation is what you are after, the rest of the sim is delightful and offers free hot air balloon tours over the breathtaking island. If action is more your speed, hop on a sled! Whatever your fancy, for a good time teleport to Southhaven.



A great article on Seal Racing by Farley Crabgrass