Ebbe Linden & Second Life in Education

Ebbe Linden (Altberg) gave the opening speech at Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) earlier this year. (Reference) They have videos available.

Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable 12 March 2015
Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable 12 March 2015 by Sheila Yoshikawa, on Flickr

On March 21, 2015 Time: 9:00 – 10:50 a.m. in the Second Life Main Auditorium (SLURL) a panel of people from Second Life will be discussing and answering questions in Second Life about “…how NonProfit Commons has contributed to significant dialogue around the uses of virtual worlds like Second Life. The panelists will discuss how they have changed and grown, as well as the different opportunities and moments that have distinguished the group and the manner in which they promote and spotlight best practices.” (quoted from the VWBPE site) 

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Second Life: Euro-Dollar Exchange Rate

Someone in the forum is thinking now is the time to cash out their dollars for Euros. It might be. But, it is not a simple decision. Both market and personal factors set when is best.

Today the exchange rate is US$1.00=€0.95. (That changes by the minute) January 1, 2015 it was €0.826. So, if you cashed out US$1,000.00 in January you got €826. If you cash out today, you will get €951. Is that a good deal? It depends.

Dollar to Euro Exchange Rates 2015
Dollar to Euro Exchange Rates 2015

According to the graph the trend is a strengthening dollar and a weakening Euro. So, the longer you wait the more Euros you are likely to get for your dollar. Said another way, euros are getting cheaper, losing value. The problems with Greece and the European banks is portending big problems. People are abandoning the euro in anticipation. 

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Second Life Music Videos

Jo Yardley has written: Music videos shot in Second Life and why we need more of them. She is on about promoting the nicer side of Second Life. I agree with her. Drax is into such promotion too. His radio show (DraxFiles.com) and World Builders videos are evidence of his passion for the subject.

Jo thinks music videos have the possibility of going viral and thus are a good way to get a positive impression of Second Life out to the world. That is certainly a possibility. But the chances of any video going viral is slim.

There is a lot of amazing stuff out showing Second Life in positive ways. But, few people see it. The problem is getting the positive example into people’s faces. Think about that. What do I need to do to get my “information” in front of you and have you look at it? Remember. I don’t know you, your phone number, address, or email.

A music video that goes viral reaches a few million people. Most music videos do well to break 100,000 views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7Ie6PMZJk

The above video has just under 76,000 and was uploaded in 2009. 

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Second Life is Looking Good

Flickr has different Second Life related groups. There are some awesome pictures there. The good stuff is easiest to find in the groups. One group, MOST EXCELLENT Second Life, requires an image have 30 Favs before it can be added to the group. Most have 30 or more Favs.

You’ll find many of the images have rights reserved. But, the Flickr license allows Flickr to use them. It appears they have classed SHARE as Flickr use for promoting Flickr. Click the images here and the click takes you to Flickr. One must change settings to specifically stop that sharing. Some people do. Others leave it open. Those below are ones from the later group.

**Stellagraphics**

The definition of natural is Second Nature
The definition of natural is Second Nature by **Stellagraphics**, on Flickr

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Slink Updated Update

Today I got a new update to my recent update. This brings my Slink Hands to version 2.1. When you wear the hands you get an update shipped to you. It lands in the OBJECTS folder. You need to unpack it.

♫
♫ by Lana Quicksand, on Flickr

The hands, Utilities HUD v2, and the OmniHUD v6.1 update. I think the alpha layer remained the same. I can’t see a difference. I have noticed that the hands don’t fit the same as the previous version, at least with my shape. I’ll have to tweak my shape again. Or it may be SL acting up again. I’ll give it a day, may be two, before I start changing my shape. 

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