Between Worlds: a Second Life machinima

This post originally appeared over at our sister site, Metaverse Health

There’s not a lot to add to the great description provided by the creators:

“Between Worlds: A Journey of Hope” is a machinima produced by Panacea Luminos of NY HealthScape (USA) filmed and edited by Aliceinthenet (UK) and written by Skylar Smythe (Canada).  The inspirational piece is a story of cancer survival and accessing health information, supports and friendship in the virtual world of Second Life.   We invite you to visit: http://tinyurl.com/3esr334 to view the film and encourage your feedback and comments.

There’s four parts, which you can see below:

Multiracial Identity in Second Life: survey participants sought

Passing on a call for survey participants from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. To participate you need to be from a multi-racial background. The full details:

This is research conducted by Dean A. F. Gui (Second Life avatar, Hartwig Valerian) for research into multiracial identity in virtual worlds. Your participation is voluntary and identity kept anonymous. The only pre-requisite is that you have an avatar in Second Life (http://secondlife.com) and that you consider yourself from a multiracial (more than one racial bloodline) background. Additional enquiries may be sent, via note card, directly to Hartwig Valerian in Second Life, or emailed to ecdafgui@inet.polyu.edu.hk. Thank you and I look forward to your prompt responses.

Until further notice, all participants who submit a completed survey will receive 100 Linden dollars sent to their Second Life avatar, but only if avatar names are spelled correctly in the consent portion of the survey, and only as Hartwig Valerian is able to generate the funds… so please be patient! 😎

Please click on this link to complete the survey: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGlqRGRVRjdqdVBRNG9RWk1mR3c1ZUE6MQ

Beethoven

A tour to in Vienna is traipsing through a graveyard when he starts to hear music. No one is around, so he starts searching for the source. He finally locates the origin and finds it is coming from a grave with a headstone that reads: Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827.

Then he realises that the music is the Ninth Symphony and it is being played backward! Puzzled, he leaves the graveyard and persuades a friend to return with him.

By the time they arrive back at the grave, the music has changed. This time it is the Seventh Symphony, but like the previous piece, it is being played backward. Curious, the men agree to consult a music scholar. When they return with the expert, the Fifth Symphony is playing, again backward. The expert notices that the symphonies are being played in the reverse order in which they were composed, the 9th, then the 7th, then the 5th.

By the next day the word has spread and a throng has gathered around the grave. They are all listening to the Second Symphony being played backward.

Just then the graveyard’s caretaker ambles up to the group. Someone in the crowd asks him if he has an explanation for the music. “Don’t you get it?” the caretaker says incredulously. “He’s decomposing!

HIV / AIDS and YouTube: a great mix

It’s difficult to write anything on the video you’re about to see. Just watch it and be touched / amazed / inspired / angry.

Hard to argue with anything in that isn’t there?

[via ScienceRoll]

The genesis of Angry Birds explained

I’m defintely in the huge cohort of people who loves Angry Birds. At least now one mystery is solved: who created them?

[via Tumblr]

The end of ‘reality’

Released in 2009, a short film called ‘the third & the seventh’ was released. Created by Alex Roman. it’s essential viewing for anyone in doubt about the future of computer-generated images in film. Computer-generated or not, it’s one of the most stunning pieces of work I’ve seen. Have a look for yourself (watch in full screen / maximised mode):

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

The most exciting thing about this for the coming 5-10 years, is the ability for creative people with more limited budgets to be able to realise their visions in full. Does it get any better than that?

Large businesses in Second Life: they still exist

One of the most frequent questions I’m asked (after “Is Second Life still around?”), is what large businesses are still actively involved in Second Life. I noticed this afternoon while reading my RSS feeds that Daniel Voyager has compiled a list of those at the big end of town still involved.

They include Air France, Cisco Systems, Dell, IBM and Siemens (pictured). All businesses featured on Daniel’s list have SLURLs so you can have a look for yourself.

Direct from Wollongong: a vibrator for women by women

Here at Cultured Tech we get some interesting press releases. One of the more interesting ones was released this week. Interesting as in being a little different from the bog standard “hey we’ve released a new gadget”. Although still a gadget, vibrators don’t tend to make the tech beat often, and it only really does this time because it looks a lot like a mouse. Called the The Be Be, it’s the creation of two women from Wollongong (Australia).

For your entertainment I’ve provided the full press release, all puns included:

It’s not everyday you read about two savvy mothers from Wollongong launching a ground breaking product aimed at the sensuality and well being of women, but then you probably haven’t met Kristine Morgan and Lisa Hughes.

These two friends were enjoying a morning run along their local beach in Wollongong when they started talking about women and their conversation turned to vibrators (as friends’ conversations sometimes do). ‘Do you think any of the vibrators out there are actually designed by women?’ Kris asked. ‘Seriously, why can’t we buy a vibrator that looks great and better still, feels great!’

The friends laughed. Kris had a point. ‘We’re women. We love beautiful things’, added Lisa. ‘So what’s with all the tacky imagery and packaging? Why can’t normal women, walk into a normal shop and buy a vibrator like it’s a totally normal thing to do?’ By the time they had finished their run, the girls were sweaty, buzzing with excitement and eager to get some answers. And so their research began.

‘We really wanted to understand what other women thought of this whole market,’ explains Lisa. ‘And who better to understand what women really want, than women who really want it?’

After talking to ‘real’ women everywhere – mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and girlfriends – Kris and Lisa’s company, Love Being Woman was born.

‘The brand is really about inspiring and empowering women from all walks of life,’ says Lisa. ‘We live by the philosophy that ‘when you feel good about yourself, you can give the best of yourself to others’.

After holding a series of intimate and fun focus groups Kris and Lisa knew they were onto something special. They had spoken to hundreds of women who wanted an intimate massager that was enjoyable to use and that they weren’t embarrassed to buy. They wanted something that suited their lives, their style, their needs. An intimate massager that was discreet, high quality,feminine, accessible and best of all worked!

From that moment on the girls spent every waking minute (when they weren’t being wives and mothers) finding out everything they could about vibrators. They even had their husbands on alert for any information that would help them with their mission.

After months laughing and looking, designing and experimenting, their work finally paid off and THE BE BE was born, Be beautiful, Be you! ‘This is all about making women feel confident in and out of the bedroom,’ explains Lisa. ‘This is not just about launching a new vibrator. It’s about saying it’s great for women to explore their sensuality. This is about their health and wellbeing and giving them the right to be in charge.’

‘We developed THE BE BE so women can feel empowered, not embarrassed,’ states Kris.

‘THE BE BE is about feeling sexy, not sex obsessed.

“Happy not inhibited, Frisky not frustrated.”

THE BE BE is the first product from Love Being Woman and has been designed to embody the Love Being Woman philosophy. Kristine and Lisa live by the philosophy

‘When you feel great about yourself, you give the best of yourself to others’.

They hope you’ll discover this philosophy too.

For more information and pricing (currently around the AU$120 mark), check the Be Be’s website.

Radiation dose: sanity checking matrix

The folks over at XKCD have created a brilliant comparative chart showing examples of key activities generating radiation and the levels to which humans can cope with them. The format provides an excellent sanity check for a lot of the hysteria around at the moment, whilst also showing some casuses of radiation that you’ll be less aware off.

Have a more detailed look for yourself.

Flickr Gettr and Second Life

Draxtor Despres has created a machinima on a great Second Life installation that takes the Gettr functionality on Flickr and merges it into an underwater Second Life installation. Have a look for yourself:

Here’s the direct teleport link

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