I find it amazing how you can spend a day in SL without actually being in world. One of those "I'm not in world, but it feels like it" things is definitely Flickr and the creative and inspiring Sl community on Flickr. Friendships are born there, and "how to the hell did you do that" in PS questions and tricks are explained & shared. Not only i find it a great community and a great source for all sl related photo's, so does NBC4.

The only big difference, is that i upload my photo's and they seem to download and use photo's without permission from the owners. And to make it even better, they used those stolen photo's in a report. To make it even more better, the presentor (M. Medinae) even claims that he is that "young, groovy, sassy character" that you see in the snapshots/cutout. He even explains in this videoblog why he made Sheletta and that his second avatar look half human/wolf.(see photo)

Now that "young, groovy, sassy character" is in my opinion Ardemus Howitt. And even if she wasn't that avatar, than at least it is her photo. Another photo used, right after you first see Ardemus her photo, is a cut out of a photo called "Red hot" made by October Hush. Once again, no permission has been asked by nbc4 to use the photo.

All the photo's on Flickr are automaticly "All rights reserved", which means they should have asked permission to the owners. But since that never happend, plus the resporter clearly states in the video that he "IS" that person, I wonder what can be done and if Ardemus and October want to do something about it. If so, Flickr has the following information:

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide Yahoo!'s Copyright Agent with the following information:(read more)

Way to go NBC4! And just in case, Yes i asked for permission to use October's photo.

*Update*

NBC4 deleted the video's and where so kind to post a new video with there apologies and a full explanation about what happened. Way to go!(video)

I confess, i haven't blogged in a while, cause lately all i see in world is my beloved Imogen which we are rebuilding. So without exploring the grid, there is not much for me to blog about right? Unless you wanna read how we still haven't managed to make "Bukkake on ice" a spectacular show. But on a serious note.

Since 14-04-07 i can not log into our virtual world which makes it perfectly impossible to hunt for nice stories or inspiration to write something. After 30 seconds when i logged in, my Avatar can't move anymore. A few seconds later chatting or IM's stops working and 10 seconds later the mini map turns red. (Vini, Vidi, Fade out)

So i first did our number one favorite thing to do: Clear cache. Then reinstalled SL, checked the modem/router, network card, network cables, Tested WIFI but all without success. Since i work for the Internet company, i tested everything here plus made some phone calls to network operations centers and send some mechanics to see where the problem is. But as you might have guessed, I still can not stay longer in SL than a minute. And since im not really an one minute AV and there is tons of work to do for Imogen & Clients, I don't know what to do.

(you can make donations now! Call 0900-helpmennotorezzagain)

But please read the S.L.O.G. posting that the great Frans wrote and vote on Jira so not only me but many more Dutchies can get back to there work/friends/camping chairs/grieving/pose ball Hu.......never mind!

You need to be a Neko! After six weeks of traveling through Asia, i could finally log in our beloved world and see my dearly missed crew. I never expected when Imogen rezzed it would also rezz 16 extra hairy ears and 8 wobbling tails waving me a warm welcome back. You need to be a Neko said Tess. Why the hell should i be a Necro.....phile? No silly! look at us, we are Neko's, as Tess waved her tail faster in my face than Bob Ross made paintings. Okay wait for one second guys. Can someone of you Mogwais please explain me what the hell is going on here?

And that was my introduction to this thing called Neko. But what does it really mean to be Neko? Well after one week of getting adjusted to the new big kitty litter called home, i thought the time was right for me to find out. So before my AV completely transformed into Garfield on crack, i first bought me a couple of ears. Just to find out if it would change any of my being " in world" adventures. Men-neko was born and ready to pwn this new world.

So the first hours i stayed on the workspace getting comfortable with two ears sticking out of my beanie. I zoomed in, zoomed out, zoomed in, zoomed out and zoomed in for the last time until i felt comfortable with those ears. Time to meet my fellow kitties in the kitty litter.

One Tp later i stood there with my ears in the wind, waiting for the first purr to realise. And as that little green dot on the minimap came closer, i couldn't wait to find out if i was going to be accepted as a part of the Neko gang. Hiya Sweety, said the sexy kitty as her tail spoke in a unknown but seductive language. And as i responded back, i slowly started to get nervous. For a few moments silence became to intro theme to my new Neko world, untill the following text appeared in my screen.

Uhmmmmmm Baby said the kitty. I think your ears are a little to big. Yes i know, i had some problems with adjusting them i said nonchalant. Uhmmmmmm baby, I think it would be better to buy some different hair to match those ears said the kitty. Yes i agree, i always have troubles finding hair that i like. I know she said, as she changed her hair to show me the possibilities. As minutes past by, i looked at the kitty and slowly realised that being Neko go's way beyond attaching ears. So it was time for a confession.

Kitty, i wanted to be a neko to see what it is like, and to support you hard working pwnd kitties. But to be honest, i think it is save to say that i am far from being a Neko. Yes said the kitty laughing out loud. And to be honest Menno. You now look more like cousin IT meets an ewok. We both laughed our ass off and that comment still makes me laugh. But the truth is, she was more than right. You can never discover what "Being Neko" is, by only adopting the look.

So do i now know what Neko is really about? Nope i still don't have any idea. But i can bet you for 30 boxes of Ketamine that the new edition of PWND will teach me all about it.

Keep your eyes on the blog, cause the new edition is almost there!

Menno

The boring 9 to 5 or seeing the same faces on different days. Work that never seems done, or creativity that died on the first day of your job. In RL we have one solution and that is taking a long break. And that long break means usually sand between your toes and sunshine in your face. But what can you do when you want to change your scene in a virtual world?

"Catch a wave" Keala Mimistrobell would say! And before i knew it, i found myself on a little island "somewhere deep in the Caribbean". No scum bar and grog, but lovely beach huts, palm tree's and a young hip crowd doing what they love to do. Having fun and riding those digital waves till the morning sun. Welcome to Namiko surf!

When Keala joined our beloved world, all she really wanted to find was a nice beach. And when she finally found the beach she was looking for, she quickly discovered that the same beach was shared with like minded, open and generous people, who embraced her and made sure she felt home on the beach or in the water. They all never knew that the same girl they warm welcomed on the beach would do something back for them.

And so Namiko was born. Literally translated from Japanese to mean wave child (Nami ko). Or child of the wave (wich she clearly is). And as i am standing here on the beach writing this, i can easily tell you that Namiko indeed became the child of the Sl surfing community. And like Keala back then, i received a warm welcome from everybody on the beach. So Menno are you ready to ride the waves? And as soon as i agreed (without a doubt) my AV was standing there in hip camo board shorts and ready to ride the waves. Needless to say that Dick Dale & The Del Tones - Misirlou was blasting way to loud through my speakers.

And there i was in the middle of the ocean, waiting for that big wave. And when i finally gathered enough courage to peddle in front of the wave, my av stood up.........and was thrown of his board. With in a few seconds i was saved by the super friendly KK (Kaela Kamloops) who took the time to explain me how to master this brute force of scripting in these virtual sea of possibilities. And before i knew it i was riding the waves and hearing " Awesome Menno" from the crew that gathered on the beach.

Surfing rules! But compared to these guys it feels like i just landed on orientation island. But i am more than sure they will learn me all about riding the waves and there surf style of living in SL.
Check out the Namiko website here and there machinima here.

With many thanks to Keala & KK for teaching me and showing me around Tropical Island surf. As Keala would say: See you on the water!

The Dutch public prosecution service wants to start with trail processes, so jurisprudence can be created regarding child porn on second life. Since the (Dutch) law is not clear regarding those subjects at this point, we need jurisprudence said Mrs Nooij from the public prosecution service, in a Dutch television programme called Network. Child porn, where real images are shown of children who are used for sexual purposes are with out a doubt punishable. But since there are no "real" images and the virtual child is "probably" an adult with a kid avatar, it is difficult for the (Dutch) law to judge this new phenomena. So by creating jurisprudence, the public prosecution service can present it to the Judge who will decide if this will be punishable in the future.

J. Buschman who works as a psychologist for the Mesdag clinic in Groningen, said that Second life is per definition a "learning school for pedophiles" and he fears that virtually having sex with children will result in sexual child abuse in the real world. Since "normal" pixel humping is not even a part of my SL, and not amongst my imogen crew & friends, i was kinda shocked to discover the other Second life. Although there are no english subtitles, you can find the documentry here. But without subtitles you can clearly see that this IS a part of our beloved virtual world.

My qeustion is, what are we gonna do about it, what can we do about it, and do we (residents and LL) want to do something about?

Network documentry.