Cartoon of The Day: 'Taured Musician

 

 

Taken at the Fantasy Faire. Being a centaur has obvious disadvantage: you need to eat more, it's hard to find cars, toilets, etc, you can use, most clothes you can use are breezy, etc. But if you're a musician with electric instruments, you can just hang the loudspeakers (and batteries) over your back. 

But all those long hours on stage, any musician will soon be feeling 'taured.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Ebbe Linden Speaks at the VWBPE

On Thursday March 15, Ebbe Linden (Ebbe Altberg) spoke at an event for the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference. This was the fourth year he had done so. Unlike the first two times, he did not speak live in front of an audience at the conference, but did so in a livestreamed interview in front of a small number of people. Also there answering some questions was Bret Linden (Bret Atwood).

Ebbe described the topic of education as "core to the idea of what Second Life is." Sansar was mainly focused on "revenue and user growth. And so education would be a tough area for us to spend money on ..." but still wanted educational areas to be part of their new virtual world. Ebbe brought up places such as the Apollo Museum and virtual replicas of an ancient Egyptian tomb. Of ease of use for the disabled, Ebbe conceeded that, "Sansar actually has a ways to go, and might actually be way more restricted with accessibility for some time to come, compared to Second Life."

Ebbe stated that Linden Lab was still putting money in Second Life, "we’re still really serious about our investment in Second Life, and the team is very motivated and dedicated to get growth .... So it’s not something that we’re just letting run its course or milking for revenues, or anything like that." He admitted that the price of virtual land was high, and would shift revenue from Second Life away from that and toward other fees, comparing them to "consumption taxes." He went on to say that this shift would benefit nonprofits as they would be paying less for land, of which they already get a 50% discount.

Of the topic of building in Sansar, Ebbe stated that unlike Second Life, Sansar builders would have to continue to rely on third-party platforms, "because we have to do so many things, we chose specifically chose not to focus on the creation of original content, if you will. There’s so many great third-party tools ..." Sansar also differs from Second Life in that if no one is visiting a region, after a few minutes it shuts down. If someone wants to visit it, it only takes a few seconds to turn it back on. He wondered if it might be possible to do something similar with Second Life someday.

Improvements in Second Life itself would include animesh and weather control. Ebbe also hinted there would also be better ways to combat griefers. Some questions were asked after the stream was done. Of the Teen Grid, Ebbe stated there were no plans to bring it back, though the issue could be up for discussion "later next year."

To watch the discussion, one can still see the recording on Youtube Gaming. There is also a transcript provided by Inara Pey.

Bixyl Shuftan

Editor To Be Guest Speaker at Safe Waters Foundation Today

Yours truly, Bixyl Shuftan, will be the guest speaker at the Safe Waters Foundation's mer Chat Pavilion today. The topic, at least which I'll be speaking about, is about writing for an online newsletter, or blog. Among the people there, Grace Wrigglesworth, the head of the Safe Waters Foundation, and Barbie Alchemi of Creations for Parkinson's.

The discussion is at 1PM SL time.

Mer Chat Pavilion  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Union%20Passage/96/229/1

Press Release: Virtual World Conference Supports Quality of Life in Mental Health

Virtual Ability, Inc. announces the third annual Mental Health Symposium to be held Saturday, April 26th, 7:00 am PDT/SLT to 5:00 pm PDT/SLT in Second Life®. The theme of this year’s conference is “Quality of Life.”

The World Health Organization defines quality of life as an individual’s “perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, standards and concerns.”

Quality of life is important to us all, but may be more difficult to attain for those with mental health issues. Overall quality of life is affected by psychological state, physical health, level of independence, social relationships, personal values and beliefs, and the relationship of all of these to the person’s environment.

Symposium presentations include (in alphabetical order):
•    Hillary Bogner, MD, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, will offer insights from her research on depression among older adults.
•    Colleen Crary, Executive Director of Fearless Nation, Inc., will share lessons from adversity for creating a vibrant life.
•    Dick Dillon, CEO of Innovaision, LLC, shares surprising information about why some recovering addicts become “weller than well.”
•    Teresa Goddard, Senior Consultant with the Job Accommodation Network, will inform us about attaining employment equality through accommodation and self-advocacy.
•    Dr. Christine Karper and Michelle Stone, members of the American Counseling Association’s Cyber Task Force, will talk about the role of counseling and virtual service delivery.
•    Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie, University of Southern California, will describe the use of virtual worlds as healing spaces for veterans.
•    Dr. Nicolas Rüsch, of the University of Ulm, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, will explain the results of his research on well-being among persons at risk of psychosis, focusing particularly on shame and stigma.

Alice Krueger, president of Virtual Ability, Inc., stated: “I am pleased to see an increasing focus on quality of life in mental health care in recent years, since many persons with mental health diagnoses struggle with these issues. The Symposium’s international presenters are acknowledged experts in their fields. I will be interested to hear what they have to say on these important topics. Please join us on April 26 to learn more from a variety of exciting speakers!”

All sessions, done in voice and text simultaneously, will take place at The Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability Island within Second Life®:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/53/172/23
 
The full schedule of presentations is posted at http://www.virtualability.org/conferences/mh-symposium/mh-symposium-2014/.
 
About Virtual Ability, Inc.
Virtual Ability, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation based in Denver, Colorado, dedicated to enabling people with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for them to enter and thrive in on-line virtual worlds like Second Life®.
 
For more information on Virtual Ability, Inc., including the benefits of virtual worlds for people with disabilities, please see www.VirtualAbility.org.
 
For further information, please contact:
Alice Krueger, President
Virtual Ability, Inc.
Office: (303) 400-3306
akrueger@VirtualAbility.org

Press Release: Virtual Ability Presents "Quality of LIfe"

Save the Date: April 26, 2014

Last year, the Virtual Ability Mental Health Symposium focused on mental health care and including the person in the process. This year, we'll take a broad focus: QUALITY OF LIFE.??

Please MARK YOUR CALENDARS to join us on Saturday, April 26, 2014 between 7 am and 5 pm SLTime for a variety of speakers and topics.

We'll be posting speaker bios and detailed information about topical sessions on our blog at http://blog.virtualability.org. You can go there and sign up to be notified by email, if you wish!

This year, you can also receive a heads- up about sessions, schedule, and topics via Twitter by following us @virtualability

Please join your friends, colleagues, and others from our virtual world communities for learning, dialogue, and exploration of key topics about mental health and quality of life. All sessions will be held at Sojourner Auditorium:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual Ability/53/172/23

Thank you for putting this on your personal or group calendars. Please pass this notecard to your friends and colleagues, and consider including it on your blog or other public venue, including through your Twitter and other social networks!

More info? Contact Gentle Heron or Sister Abeyante via IM, or email sister@virtualability.org .