Giant Avatar at The Ivory Tower

 

 Going by Natoma the other day in one of my Rezz alts, I saw this huuuuuuge avatar. There's a running joke about many Second Life residents wanting to be above average in height to the point in reality they'd be seven foot tall basketball players. Some take things a little more, going for eight or nine feet. But this guy was the size of a mountain, even crouched down, towering over the Ivory Tower of Primitives. He was well over a hundred meters in height.

His name was Fop (Kingforri Resident). As it turned out, I'd seen him once before, at the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Natoma's "The Man" statue. But before I could message him, he was gone.

Such avatars are impressive, but highly impractical. Without chat extenders, you can't talk to anyone. You can't really interact with anyone. So most likely Fop only appears like this once in a while. So outside the Fantasy Faire, it's rare you'll encounter a mega-macro avatar like this.

Bixyl Shuftan

"The Man" Statue Turns 20

 

July 19, 2022 was the anniversary of one of the oldest objects in Second Life and possibly the oldest one more detailed than a single prim: "The Man." People came by the Ivory Tower of Primitives where the statue is located where they danced away to music provided by GoSpeed Racer. This included several Lindens and Moles such as Oatmeal Linden. The Newser was there, and took a number of pictures. 

 

Read more in Events.
 

"The Man" Statue Turns 20

 *

Yesterday, July 19, 2022 was the anniversary of one of the oldest objects in Second Life and possibly the oldest one more detailed than a single prim: "The Man." 

This statue, created by Oldjohn Linden, was created on July 19 2002, twenty years ago.  This would be almost a year before Second Life was officially open.

 

People came by the Ivory Tower of Primitives where the statue is located where they danced away to music provided by GoSpeed Racer. This included several Lindens and Moles such as Oatmeal Linden. At one point, someone in a HUGE mega-macro showed up. made 

Happy anniversary to "The Man"

 

Addition: Check out more pictures of the event (here). 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

"The First Nickel" - First Textured Object Twenty Years Old

 

Late last month was the 20th anniversary of the rezzing of Second Life's oldest prim. But as we all know, building doesn't stop with prims as they need to be shaped and textured. And it was twenty years ago today, February 11 2002, that the first known finished object, known as "The First Nickel," came to be.

There are two copies of the nickle known to the Newser, both owned by Marianne McCann, who got it from James Linden. One is at the grounds of the Ivory Tower of Prims in Natoma at (233/159/26). The other is at the Bay City Community Center in Daley Bay at (225/51/25). 

"Avi was kind enough to allow me to share it there, which I deeply appreciate," Marianne told the Newser, "The Bay City location was one I always have considered 'temporary,' but then it's been temporary for a couple years now. (smile).

"I had approached Avi (Arrow) about displaying it in Natoma a couple years back, figuring it may be a good, neutral and public location for such an artifact, given some of the other items in the region (the Man, the Ivory Tower), but we could not agree to a location. She had suggesting putting it on Philip's Hill right next to the Man, but I didn't want to diminish the importance of the Man! She eventually offered the spot under the Arch d Linden Grande, with a number of other displays, and that seemed both visible, but not overwhelming the importance of other objects."
 
Happy anniversary

Bixyl Shuftan
 

"It All Starts With A Prim" - Oldest Known Prim Rezzed 20 Years Ago

 

So how old is the oldest known prim in Second Life? While the world officially went online on June 23 2003, 18 years ago, people were here when it was in beta, so some objects are known to be from early 2003 or even late 2002. But what about January 25, 2002, twenty years ago yesterday?

Yesterday I found out this oldest known prim (to be technical, a copy of, but it retains the creation date) was on display at the Ivory Tower of Prims sandbox, courtesy of SarahKB7 Koskinen. It was a safe that when clicked on, the door opened to show the prim. And when examined, it showed the date: Friday January 25, 2002, 8:46 PM. Twenty years old.

There was no creator listed, as it had been made before Second Life's tools could show who made objects. According to Inara Pey, it was an Avi Bar-Zeev who not only rezzed it, but was the creator of prims. Talking to Philip Rosedale in Second Life's early days, Philip was trying to figure out how to make them, and Zeev offered to, "wrote a couple of hundred lines of code to make all the primitives in the world, with various knobs and capabilities to stick them together."

The safe is no longer at the Ivory Tower sandbox, the item being returned at Midnight. But later, to commemorate the Prim's creation,  SarahKB7 headed to Da Boom, the oldest sim on the Grid, and exactly at 8:46PM rezzed the original prim, then a brand new one over it, "The 2 prims are exactly 20 years of age apart.  I will call my newer prim the +20 Prim!"

Happy anniversary to the Prim, and thank you Avi Bar-Zeev.

Addition: Sarah would later message me, saying I made a slight mistake with the phrase "It all starts with a prim," saying, "the actual correct phrase has always been 'It all starts with a cube' (smile)."

Source: Modem World  

Hat tip: Tantari Kim

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Avi Arrow, Owner of The Ivory Tower, Has Died

 

Sad news for fans of the Ivory Tower of Primitives. Avi Arrow, the owner of the noted longtime location in Second Life, has died. The news was announced in the Ivory Tower Library Group.

We are very sad to inform everyone that our beloved friend Avi Arrow passed away at home Saturday, October 23, 2021 surrounded by her family.

She will be deeply missed.

I had a few words with Marcov Carter, one of four officers in the group. "She will be deeply missed," he spoke of her, "she had a lot of good friends, she did a lot for the comunity, very sad." He stated an inworld memorial service was being planned and "we will rez two statues, in Zoe, as she wanted, close to (the) Lumiere Noir memorial." Of the Ivory Tower area, "Kennylex Luckless and I, will do our best to keep this place as it is, as Avi asked to us."

For those wishing to pay their respects now, "as a lot of friends started to rez objects for Avi near the table, where she used to stand, we made a temporary memorial." Taking a look for myself, there were candles, a rose, and a screen showing a slide-show of pictures of Avi.

Avi Arrow helped the founder of the Ivory Tower of Primitives, Lumiere Noir, run the place until he passed away in 2015. The Tower was created early in Second Life history to be a place of learning how to build and script.

Avi would present the Newser with an improved sign for it's office as a tenth anniversary present last year.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/74/172/26

Rest in Peace

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Robin Sojourner (Robin Wood) Has Died

There was some sad news yesterday. It was announced that Robin Sojourner (Robin Wood) had died after a long illness from cancer. Marianne McCann first gave the news in the Livingtree Island group.

Robin (Sojourner) Wood passed away after an extended struggle with cancer (phyllodes tumors).

Livingtree Island and her stores will remain open for some time. I will continue to help manage this on her behalf, per her final wishes.

I will provide more information when I can.

In her over sixteen years here since coming to Second Life in September 16 2004, Robin was busy in Second Life. She was a content creator, and her products can still be found in her store (https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/1021). But she was more than that. She contributed to the Ivory Tower the Texture Tutorial, helping residents to quickly learn how to build at their own pace. She was also an instructor at the Builder's Brewery for years, "Her writings on many topics include texturing hollow prims, how to make clothing, stained glass, and how to work with materials and Alpha channels on Textures." She would also set up the Wiccan Learning Center. In March 2018, she was listed as part of the "Ten Women Who Made a Difference" exhibit in the CDS.

On the ACS channel in Discord, others would talk about her, "Robin was a well-known force for good and kindness within Second Life and her real life. In SL she built a safe space for all avatars, big and small, and created incredibly useful tools that countless residents use to this day. I don't think there's a single negative thing to be said about the woman. She will be deeply missed." "I knew her through her Tarot Deck in RL, decades ago. I found her in SL about 5 years ago. She had such a a calm spirit. ... Another light has left the worlds. ... and may she have peace and the causes of peace." "She ... had her own Relay Team for years! Robin was a dear soul and will be missed."

One can check out her Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/robin_sojourner/, and her website at https://www.robinwood.com/ .

Addition: Robin also had a blog, with the last entry made by a family member: http://robinwood.com/blog/ .

Bixyl Shuftan
  

SL Poetry

Don't know much about aligning prims
Don't know much about path cut trims
Don't know much about blender stuff,
Don't know much about terrain rough
But I do know that Pi is 3.2,
And I know that if you're building, too,
What a wonderful world this would be.

Clarence the crosseyed lion (binghamton Resident)
Ivory Tower chat

Ivory Tower Poetry

Don't know much about aligning prims
Don't know much about path cut trims
Don't know much about blender stuff,
Don't know much about terrain rough
But I do know that Pi is 3.2,
And I know that if you're building, too,
What a wonderful world this would be.

From Clarence the crosseyed lion (binghamton Resident) in Ivory Tower Library chat.

Anniversary Gift From The Ivory Tower

Remember our "Big Ten" picture in our anniversary article last week? It was made at the Ivory Tower in Natoma, run by Avi Arrow. Avi happened to see it as it was being made, and asked what was up. Hearing the reason, she promised to send a small present. A few days later, she sent me several signs, with one going on the side of the Newser office.

Thanks again Avi

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: December B.A.D. Build Contest

Hey kids!  This Friday the next B.A.D. contest will begin. The theme is, "Christmas Selfies". Your build must include a photo or cutout or figure (3D figure) of yourself. Anything with your face on it that you include in your build. I think this will be fun and full of interesting possibilities!

The build phase of the contest will run from Friday, Dec. 13 thru Friday, Dec. 20. There will be both popular voting and judged voting for this one. The prim allowance is set at 200 but Avi said that is subject to change and more prims might be allowed, depending on how many are available. Below are the rules and the LM to the platform. You can rez one prim on a spot now if you like to hold that place. You can begin building Friday morning at 6 SL time. Hope to see you there! Happy Holidays!

Rules:
Prim allowance is 200 prims (possibly more later). You MUST build everything yourself. I will be checking each build to make sure the entire thing has your name as creator on it. You are allowed to use mesh and sculpt maps. You are also allowed to use a few things you already made and have in your inventory but the main part of your build should be created during the contest dates. I know it can be costly and really time consuming to create mesh items plus, if you are like me you hate having to recreate something you already have ten copies of in your inventory that you made before!  So I decided to allow builders to use a few items they created previously.

At the end of the contest I will put up a voting board which will stay up for one day and I will send out several notices to encourage people to come see the builds and vote. There will also be judged voting.

Sound files are ok as long as they aren't looped or excessively loud. I prefer you use the kind that are activated when an avi steps on or near the prim with the sound in it.

Particles are ok but please make sure they stay within the boundaries of your build spot.

In the middle of the platform I put out a FREE box. It contains a texture board and a sculpt map board. Help yourself to that! There is also a LM giver to Sanna Science and Art. She has lots of cool stuff you can get to create your own animated textures.

You can work in teams of two if you like. If you should win then I leave it to you to divide the Lindens with your build partner.

The main thing I always stress and re-stress is to make sure everything in your build was created by you!  I HATE having to disqualify anyone and this is the #1 reason why people have been DQ'd in the past.

Last rule - have fun!  That's what this is all about, after all. IM me if you have any questions or need help with anything.

Luna (LunaEnigma Resident)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/146/108/3751

Announcement: New Event at The Ivory Tower

This Saturday and Sunday we will have a mini build contest at Ivory Towers. I want you to get acquainted with the place and the folks there and thought this would be a good start. The theme will be, "Baby It's Cold Outside!" The platform is all set up with snow and you are to create a build that makes people shiver and run for the hot chocolate!  ... I will need for you to contact either Avi Arrow or me to say you want to join so that Avi can add your name to a list which will prevent your prims from being auto returned. So please do this sometime before early Sat. morning.  Ivory Towers is a really nice sandbox. I think you will like it there and will also like Avi Arrow. She is a peach!

Theme: "Baby It's Cold Outside"
Starting date: Saturday Nov. 23 - six a.m. SL time
Ending date: Sunday night midnight SL time
Voting open from Sunday night midnight until midnight Monday, Nov. 25

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Natoma/156/131/3752

Luna (LunaEnigma Resident)

For complete details, message Luna or Avi Arrow, or get the notecard from the Ivory Tower Library group.

Memorial Tower to Lumiere Noir

Avi Arrow recently told me about a new structure south of the Ivory Tower of Prims. In the adjacent Zoe sim is a memorial to Lumiere Noir, the man who created the Ivory Tower and it's library of instructions for those learning how to build things inworld. But on August 10, 2015, he passed away. His memorial service later that month was well attended by his friends and admirers. While the Ivory Tower could be considered a memorial to Lumiere, Avi felt there should be something else.

"That is something Lumiere created for Planet Mongo," Avi spoke of the tower, "few things of his have survived as he rarely took stuff into inventory. So, I took the tower and created the base for it and pavilion around it." The base had a few models at the outer edge of what looked like "Flash Gordon" style spaceships. The tower itself had a base with a thin section of glowing blue rings. Higher up were a few larger blue rings rising and lowering around the top part.

To the west a short distance is another structure. This one is brick, and resembles a more conventional memorial building. "The upper area is the actual memorial itself," Avi told me. In the front is a metallic statue of Lumiere's "Spy vs Spy" inspired avatar, with prims between it's hands, "Had one member create his statue which Kennylex also had a hand in making." Inside the building are a number of objects placed together, the memorial "houses the objects people gave to me to place in remembrance of him, at the actual memorial service itself."

And the name of the memorial for Lumiere? Avi told me, "Celebrity Ant Farmer was the last group title he gave to himself. So, his memorial park will be called the Celebrity Ant Farm."

Avi Arrow is working on another project. But details are mum until it's closer to being finished.

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Zoe/180/252/27

Bixyl Shuftan

Ivory Tower Honors Michael Linden

Avi Arrow alerted the Newser of what was going on over the Natomi sim where the Ivory Tower of Prims is. Over the map was a picture honoring Michael Linden, whom had recently left Linden Lab. "I've been doing a series of Sky Art," Avi explained, "I'll continue ... for Michael for a few more weeks."

The First Sims – Natoma

DrFran Babcock continues her "First Sims" series with a visit to Natoma. This place is distinguished by two feaures: the landmarks and old builds, one a remnant of Second Life's alpha grid days, and that unlike many places there was someone always here on the sim when someone stopped by. So what else did the intrepid writer find?

Read DrFran's story in Places.

The First Sims: Zoe

DrFran Babcock continues her series of the oldest sims in Second Life. Today, we feature her third article: the sim of Zoe. Like the sim of Ritch, there wasn't much written about the place. So what did DrFran find when exploring?

Read about Zoe in Places.