Malburns Writer's Metaverse InfoHub

One day, a man called MalBurns sent me an invitation to join his group - the Metaverse InfoHub. You have to admit the name sounds good.... I checked the group out :

"Working Together" across arts, entertainment, development, commerce and the media. Helping co-ordinate the activity in a rapidly evolving new society.
A private group for those involved with information provision, collection and distribution in Second Life and other Metaverses.
Based at Mal Burns' InfoHub - BFP Bouwinvest 2 (57, 199, 35). For membership information please contact Malburns Writer inworld.
Mal Burns constantly publishes SL links online via http://twitter.com/malburns throughout the day.

Well, I was flattered and joined the group right away. To this day I do not regret it, because now and then Mal organises very interesting meetings involving top SL players. I went to visit Mals' conference and central operations facility today and caught him in the midst of last minute preparations for a Metanomics meeting to be held this evening.

The walls were covered with digital screens, connecting Mal to news agencies, and data distributors. If something happens at SL, MalBurns is sure to know about it, you can count on that!. He got numerous proposals to work as a professional reporter in SL, but he says he prefers to remain independent.


In one corner there was a CNN camera. CNN is now recruiting reporters, and anyone can join and send an SL I - Report. Sending an SL I-Report is easy. Use the FILE menu at the top left of your screen and select "Take Snapshot." Then send it as a postcard to slireport@cnn.com. In the "Message" field, tell CNN your avatar name, where you took the snapshot, and give a brief description of your SL I-Report. It’s that simple. If it's good, they will publish it at http://www.cnn.com/secondlife.

I let Mal continue tweaking his central operations facility and went on to visit CNN . I stumbled onto a conference for future CNN - Ireporters.

People mostly wanted to find out what could motivate them to send CNN I-reports, given that CNN offers no monetary compensation. They also talked about what kind of topics in SL would make good stories. Tyson iReport, conducted the meeting and tried to provide answers.


He said, iReporting shouldn't be considered as a job, but as sharing stories with the SL community. Someone said that iReporting could be a great avenue for free advertising, and another said that CNN is looking for volunteers.

The Humans Behind the Avatars

These are male and female avatars, obviously a couple. They are operated by human beings sitting in their homes behind computers. Once the human logs off Second Life his avatar ceases to exist. The avatar was created by the human, and controlled by him. The avatar does not have an independent life of his own.

I used to have a girlfriend in Second Life. I mean, my avatar had a girlfriend avatar. I guess it's the same thing. Anyway, we didn't have sex but we did all the things couples do in SL like dance and cuddle in romantic places. SL is practically a heaven for people who like to do those things. Anyway, we broke up and don't see each other anymore.

She sent me a picture of herself in RL. That means I got to see what the human who controls my avatar's girlfriend looks like. She does not look at all like her avatar. I must say that I too don't look like my avatar. My avatar is much more handsome and athletic than me. But there are similarities between me and my avatar. Our style is similar. We are both simply dressed, no jewelry, no studs, and nothing too fancy. Just simple guys.

This is now, but a while ago I had a warrior phase. My avatar was armed to the teeth with weapons of all kinds - bow, knives, swords etc... It's called role play. Many people in SL take this to the extreme and have avatars that are animal like or non human - monsters, fairies, Furries, Gothic. Some sims in SL look like a big Halloween party. But a 365 days in a year Halloween party.

Tornadoes on Mars

By Fresh Catteneo

The Martian area at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the California Institute of Technology experiences tornado storms every few minutes. Scientists who studied these swirling pillars of sand in Nevada measured electric charges of up to 4000 volts. They believe the voltage occurs as a result of friction between the dust particles rubbing against each other. These tornadoes are often called dust devils, and they form when hot air near the earth's surface flows upwards through a cooler pocket of air. On Mars, dust devils can be five times larger than on Earth.

But the three dust devils which simultaneously attacked the Viking Lander I were not strong enough to turn it over or even move it. It landed on Mars in 1976 in a mission to explore the Martian terrain and continued sending data to Earth until November 1982. There was also a Viking 2, and each Viking had an orbiter.

Another strange phenomenon I encountered on the red planet were big airbags which would pop out of nowhere and start bouncing down the cliff. As I was examining the Viking spacecraft I suddenly heard a strong rumble and then saw a strange cluster of giant balloons rolling straight towards me. I didn't have time to run away, so in a desperate attempt to save my life, I clicked on it to sit. To my great surprise I managed to sit on it but it kept on rolling and I soon found myself up side down with my head buried deep in the sand. Don't try this at home !
I think that these types of airbags were used for cushioning spacecrafts' landings on Mars.

The ride on Nasa's little blue glider was much smoother, enjoyable and very recommended,


although there was a gigantic rocky grey asteroid constantly chasing me.


A view of Nasa's rockets bathing in the magical red sunset, made me soon forget all my worries.