Adding to our selection of fine pinwheel designs comes this one for St Patrick’s Day or anyone who wants to show a little “Irish Pride.” Features green blades, including a shamrock pattern. Also, while holding say “patrick” for a shower of airborn clover!
Pinwheel spins in the Second Life wind, and animates you as well!
Available at the following You Know, For Kids locations:
Also new at the Bay City – Imaginario and Livingtree locations only: Cheek Art! Yes, little face paintings for boys, girls, and everybuggy!
16 initial designs available, including rainbows, suns, hearts, butterflies and even spiders, skull & crossbones, and snakes! Designed using the tattoo layer on SL Viewer 2.0, but people on all versions of SL will be able to see them!
Sold in a gatcha-gatcha machine (You know, those capsule machines like you see at the mall or supermarket), so you can randomly win one of the designs every time you buy. Transferrable too, so you can trade with friends!
Also check out my other goodies (Whee-Los, EZ Bake Ovens, Lamps, Music Box, Lemonade Stand, Wax Lips, Pinwheels, and more), an all the other goodies for both kids an adults!
Nearly two years ago, Second Life announced a new area. A bit of a throwback to the days of Nova Albion, this would be a city area composed of several regions, planned to be in an “American urban experience” theme, focusing on Art Deco stylings and a “Chicago in 1950″ feel. I immediately wanted a part of this place. Since then, I have remained a part of the area, helping in some small way to keep the area growing as best as I can with the members of the Bay City Alliance.
To be honest, I’ve put in a lot of time in Bay City. It’s not like I haven’t stepped back a time or two for various reasons, and re-accessed why I’m there — but in the end, I always come back to it. So… why?
First off, I have to look at the three things that appealed to me in the first place:
1. I’m a sucker for mid century design, especially Deco and Streamline. This could mean being a part of a virtual recreation of these times and their structures, much as Caledon is a “steampunk” version of Victorian England.
2. I run a toy store that has a higher than average focus on older “retro” toys that would appeal to those reliving a childhood that happened in the same — or similar — times as my own.
3. I envied the sense of community that existed in Nova Albion, and hoped to see a similar, vibrant community that I could be a part of.
Note on that last one: I did not feel I could be a part of the Nova Albion community given the high cost of land there. Little did I know how much Bay City would be!
These reasons are still a part of it, but it’s more complex now than it was then.
For one, I’ve become involved in the mainland as a whole, looking at some of the “historical” parts of the grid, helping to see them preserved (when they can be) or modernized, and feeling a kinship to the grid.
My avatar may have grown up on the other side of the Sansaran continent, but I first rezzed into the world in Ahern. Nowadays, my home location is in Shermerville, north of Nova Albion, and a six or so region trip from my Bay City store. I feel a odd sort of “kinship” to this chunk of virtual land. It is “home.” Bay City is, as some might put it, my “stomping grounds.”
The city has not been without its challenges, but it does have its Art Deco flair. It may well be the most consistent, on theme part of the mainland, which is in many ways a miracle. It’s far from being a mid-century modern paradise, but compared to a lot of the mainland, you’ll find a consistency beyond the rest of the grid.
And then there is the community. In Bay City – Imaginario — the region I own land within — I know all my neighbors. We chat when we’re in the region together, and I often find myself in IMs with others from the city. We all meet regularly to discuss “city business” with ourselves and with Blondin Linden. We all — particularly lately — do a good job of acting as a group, and coming up with plans that will benefit us all. I think that too is a bit of a rarity.
It’s not a perfect place. Land is still frightfully expensive (tip: always ask a seller and try to bargain if you can). May parcels sit vacant as a result. Not every parcel is going to be a showpiece, either.
That said, it has a charm and “specialness” not found all that often. It’s worth taking another look at i you haven’t for a while.
I realize I mentioned Miramare Place in my last post, but did not give any further information on it!
After a long time of wanting to be in Nova Albion (I had actually poked about there before Bay City was announced), a friend finally persuaded me with this small chunk of land. I faced it as a challenge, given the following actual and imposed contraints:
1. The parcel is 192 square meters, and supports only 87 prims. Further, it is 8m x 24m. This would require some cautious use of prims.
2. It is in Miramare, a PG region within the old city area of Nova Albion, and the neighboring buildings are largely futuristic in design. Because of the style of the neighboring builds, it should be build with standard prims versus sculpted as much as possible as well as have a futuristic look.
3. The build should reflect my interest in Second Life(tm) exploration and my knowledge of the local area surrounding Miramare.
4. The build should help promote Livingtree Island in some fashion, but any such marketing should be non-obtrusive.
5. The build should be a social place, where people can gather and hang out.
The result is Miramare Place, a small refreshment stand featuring snow cones served by a robotic friend (he was inspired by another Nova Albion resident Osprey Therian’s suggestions for the parcel). The build is retro-futuristic befitting both a city of the 1960s or a far-flung city of tomorrow.
It is designed to liven up its side of Miramare, which has been mostly unused for some time. Smaller than its skyscraper neighbors, it still seeks to fit in amongst them, providing a place for the weary traveller to rest and relax. The music stream, too, is space-age loungey stuff.
Much of the content is interactive, with a board that gives out landmarks to explore, another with local area information in a notecard, a snack selling robot, napkin dispensers (probably the single most useless thing in SL, but still fun), and even an easter egg or two hidden in the build.
Come on by and check it out, enjoy a break by the water in Miramare, and say hi if I’m there. I’d love your feedback!
New from You Know, For Kids – a barrel of baby blocks!
Yes, a barrel of baby blocks! simply rez the barrel and tell it to “dump out blocks” to have a set of sixteen blocks at your disposal. All letters are available, and a couple spares, just in case! They rez out as physical objects, but you can turn that on or off with a simple command. When you’re finished, just say “clean up blocks” to tidy your room or sandbox!
It’s copyable, and all prims are modifiable (incase you need bigger or smaller blocks). No transfer, but if you need it as a gift, you can buy a “golden ticket” for them at any of the below store locations for easy gift giving!
Available at the following You Know, For Kids locations:
Also check out my other goodies (Whee-Los, EZ Bake Ovens, Lamps, Music Box, Lemonade Stand, Wax Lips, Pinwheels, and more), an all the other goodies for both kids an adults!
It’s been a while since I’ve had something new in my store (I’ve been busy building buildings an stuff), bur finally, from You Know, For Kids – the Rosebud Flyer Little Red Wagon!
Rideable as a vehicle by two kid avvies, only 9 prims too, so it’s not too much to leave sitting out either. Tons of fun, too!
This is rezzed out onto the ground (or wherever). You can then sit in it to ride it around like a vehicle. It’s not too fast an doesn’t go up hills much, but it’s fun going down then!
It’s 9 prims, and sold modify, copy, no transfer. You can modify the prims in case you need to make the wagon a little bigger for you.
It handles sim crossings fairly well, or as well as most vehicles in Second Life. You may snap back a bit when you ride in it. If you lose it on a sim crossing of whatever, just rez another one from your inventory.
Jes up the street from my store and around the corner is the Bay City Municipal Airport in Hau Koda. It’s a mole build I followed from ground breaking to completion with some enthusiasm. So much so that I made a video out of all I saw as it was built.
Today, that place is an Info Hub — and thanks to a glitch in the way people are allocated to hubs (location over load), it’s the busiest on the grid. As I write this, it’s late evening for the West Coast of the united states, and about as close as one gets to a “quiet time” on the Second Life Grid. There are 39 people in Hau Koda, with 31 in the neighboring sim, Bay City – Docklands. By comparison, there are 17 people in the Moose Beach info Hub in Bay City, two in the Helfell info Hub, seven in Hyannisport, five in Degrand, and eight in Violet. Even the big four corner hubs of Ahern and Hanja are at 25 and 15 Residents, respectively.
This is a problem.
Established residents are unable to get into Hau Koda throughout much of the day to provide assistance, and Bay City – Docklands remains heavily lagged due to the avatar load in the sim. The Residents — a mix of new residents in Hau Koda and Info Hub “regulars” populating a corner near the Info Hub in Bay City – Docklands — are largely staying put and not circulating. The stores in Bay City – Docklands remain un-shopped, and landowning Residents who had hoped for a boon from the Info Hub feel they’ve been left holding the bag.
To Linden Lab’s end, they have promised both a short term and long term fix. They plan to ad a couple of “spinoff hubs” to the north and west of Hau Koda, to help alleviate some of the pressure, while exploring a new system of allocating new and bounced Residents to hubs based on load versus location.
Many of the Residents of Bay City, especially Bay City – Docklands, have approached the folks at the hub as being a problem to be fixed. I think thats only half right. The load is an issue, but I also don’t feel the residents of the area are doing all they can to capitalize on the issue at hand. I think what it comes down to is not thinking like an established Resident, but as a new Second Life Resident.
To my fellow Bay City Residents, I offer this:
The stores in Bay City – Docklands include, amongst others, two high end vehicle stores based on affiliate sales, two stores that sell houses, one texture vendor, and one build that apparently features sales of art. There’s all fine stores, but are selling almost exactly the wrong things.
The majority of new users are not coming in with bulging pocketbooks. Most have exactly L$0 in their account. Some might be willing to part with a linden or two if the item seems right. Very few are going to come by for a vehicle that is going to cost them more than L$1,000 to own, let alone a house. Texture sales are meaningless to a new Resident who hasn’t yet decided they want to learn to build, especially in a sim that has very little land that allows building.
This is not to say the products in Bay City – Docklands are bad. Far from it. It’s simply the wrong audience for those products.
A wise land-owner might consider instead placing a store focusing on clothing, avatar shapes and skins, or wearable avatar accessories for this area. New residents are most involved with trying to customize the one thing they come into the world with — their body.
Provide basic instructions for using your products, and consider having “loss leader” products to introduce people to your brand. Sell your goods there, but make sure to include additional landmark givers so they’ll eventually make it to your main store as they grow into their Second Life.
Bay City is also a loosely-themed area, based on the 1930-1960s American urban experience. With that in mind, build a store (or find a good prefab) that reflects the look, that is easy on the eye, and draws new people in. You’re trying to make money today and tomorrow, so avoid the garish “mainland ad farm” aesthetic in favor of something that will draw them into the experience. People *do* go back to regions that catch their eye, such as Straylight, Tableau, Lloyd, and other that have a unique theme and style to the overall area.
Finally, spend some time at your store and in the hub area. Help teach these new Residents. Suggest places for them to explore and things for them to do. Think about answering “the big three questions” (what can I do here, how can I get money, where can I “have relations”), because you will be asked ‘em. Try to avoid thinking only in terms of “policing” the new Residents, but in educating them about our world.
Again, these folks are the future of the Second Life Grid, and if you help them now, they may reward you later. They may eventually become your best customer, a top designer that will enhance your own Second Life experience, or even your future neighbor.
We can make the place work for us, but it really comes from looking at these new residents as something other than a hassle, and considering that appealing to their wants and needs will — in the long run — help them to help you.
As well as the somewhat difficult change of homes, I also moved one of my stores. A parcel became available next door, and I was able to invest a bit into getting it. I’ve needed some additional prims for my Bay City store for some time, and this gave be the option.
Of course, much like when I first built my Bay City store, I could not simply do it the “normal” way. The plot was fenced, with large condemned signs, and a foreman’s trailer was brought in. I tilled the land with the use of dirt textured prims and some earthmoving equipment. Eventually, a concrete foundation was laid. Then the flatbed truck showed up.
A couple hours later I had all the items moved into the new location and the store was up and running. It i essentially the same building as I had before, albeit a bit longer to fit the new parcel better, and in a much better location. Right along Route 66, with the tolley stop and a park right across the street. One sim down from an active infohub, so it’s close — but not too close.
Next will be putting a building on the old plot — but for now, it too is a construction parcel, complete with dirt, a foreman’s trailer, and so on.
Livingtree Firework Show – 5/30 at 8:00p.m. SLT
Summer is upon us, and that means the start of my Summertime firework shows! Come down to Livingtree this Saturday, May 30th at 8:00 p.m. SLT and join in the fun!
Refreshments will be provided for all. Event is free of charge. All are welcome, so come on down an enjoy. Come early, too, because the sim can fill up pretty quick!
Shows will be every Saturday at 8, though Labor Day!
While there, feel free to check out the island. All of Robin Sojourner’s stores (The AV store featuring her skin and clothing work, The Broom Closet, and Kick The Can for child avatars) are located there, as well as her texture tutorial, library, and Wiccan learning center. You’ll also find You Know… For Kids and Pygar’s Stuff That He Made main stores, as well as Marianne McCann’s herbs and plants.
Also, there are rentable (free) kayaks for exploring the island, a big playground, a swimming hole, drum circle, as fishing area (offering both Neo-Realms and 7 Seas fishing), and other goodies to explore. There’s even a few hidden surprises here and there!
You see, about a month or so ago, one of the primary landholders in my end of Bay City decided to sell his properties. This put several plots on the market. In short order, they started to be flipped back and forth between a few of the larger names in land. Then, fate stepped in.
CP Costello and Mystery Moonlight bought the plot next to mine and set up a shoe store for a friend of theirs, Nikki Hird. they took design cues from my own store, and themed it like an ice cream store. Looks really nice up next to mine. They also bought a plot across the sim, putting in a tattoo shop dressed as a barber shop. The plots in question had never really been home to much, with only one of the two housing even a slightly active business (a collection of affiliate vendors) for any length of time.
Rezit Sideways and Infiner Morigi grabbed a slightly larger plot on my end of town for a new main store for Designs of Darkness. This filled in a gap that had formerly been home to an unused garage-like structure.
Ewan Mureaux scored a plot and turned it into a rental property, luring Elle74 Zaftig of Bellissima and Jacqueline Boehm of 1-800 Bettie’s to open a joint location where there previously was an unused factory build.
I also bought one of these plots, where once a largely unused skyscraper stood. I turned around and sold it to my friend Johnathon Spad, who wanted a place for his bicycle shop. It’s a great, googie-inspired storefront.
Rounding out this area is a store for jewelry and accessories called Seventy Seven owned by Seraina Benelli, a home owned by Anya Enyo, a mixed products store called Gatespace owned by konp Koba, and the offices of a couple different land dealers (TC Enterprises and R & S Investments).
Its exciting to me to look at this area, and see the builds there. They all generally fit the area’s theme. They all look good. They carry quality merchandise. All of us who own these stores are able to work together.
Perhaps most exciting to me is this: when people come through they area, they’re actually interested enough to walk around. These stores catch their eyes, and make them curious.
Now sure, the average fan of 1-800-Bettie’s might not be shopping for a bicycle. The “You know, For Kids” crowd is not entirely likely to pop over to Designs of Darkness for all their “ebil” stuff (though, to be honest, I think their stuff is pretty cool). Nevertheless, the average shopper might at least find this eclectic collection of shops to their liking in one way or another. There’s a lot of retro fans. DOD folks might like the Slingray “Chawper” bikes. Bettie’s fans might enjoy some of the goods at Seventy Seven. My customers will like some of the shoes, the bikes, and maybe some of the other goods there. I know my traffic has gone up in the last week, and I’m sure it has for all the others in the area, too.
This is a business community, and one that works. We support each other, in our own little ways. We might call to each other across the sim, or talk to each other about issues within the sim, or heck, just walk over some night and say hi.
it’s unlike most of the mainland. It’s different. It’s fun — and I like it.
In the SL forums, someone said that it was up to the Residents of Bay City to make the place a success or a failure. I can’t speak for the other regions in the area, but Imaginario is racking up a lot of wins right now.
Another Second Life kid, Abby McDonnaugh, had to be rushed to the hospital. She was facing a serious, life-threatening health condition and had to be rushed into surgery. The response form the other SL kids was to do what they could to help their friend.
Over the course of the weekend, L$409,000 was raised for her, with L$178,262 of that in an auction hosted at HardKnock Elementary. At L$259 to US$1, this is a sizable amount of real money we’re talking about. Given the sort of medical bills she will be facing from surgery and aftercare, it is likely a drop in the bucket, but it’s a whole lotta money in either world.
If you listen to the most people Second Life is a game, a pasttime where people go and have throwaway relationships. No one really cares, and heck, few of the people there are really people anyway. It’s a ghosttown.
Further, all the virtual kids are creepy at best, deviants and perverts at worst. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
None of that makes any sense when you got back up a couple paragraphs. People opened their hearts to someone who they know only in pixel form, who has touched their lives, and who they’re willing to drop hundreds of real dollars for. Heck, people who did not even know Abby, but who knew and trusted people they knew who knew Abby, dropped money into the kitty.
Cool. huh?
That is the amazing part. I’ve seen people give selflessly in hours, dollars, and anything else they can muster for a good cause. Abby’s story is not an unheard of one. Many others in need have found themselves several thousand Lindens richer thanks to the caring souls in their lives. This community wants to help each other.
I think that culture of caring is the single most important thing to me in Second Life, beyond the exploration, the building, any of it. It’s seeing the heart that is within each avatar, somewhere beyond the prims, the mesh, and the pixels.
