Care2.org Act on Banning Drilling

While I was busy raising a family, then starting a career, the world turned and churned even though I wasn’t paying attention.  I filtered information that came to me so it only concerned science and technology. Now, that my kids are grown, my career is doing well, and I have the energy, I decided to poke my head out in the world to see what was going on. UGH! Mayhem, freedoms being violated, ignorance running rampant, and the loonies seem to be taking over.

There are issues I can’t and won’t ignore any longer. I became concerned mostly about two big areas: Violations of Separation of Church and State, and Environmental issues.

My initial reactions to how bad these situations are was like most other people who feel equally angry, frustrated, and appalled. I ranted, complained, and spewed ideas. By nature though, I am a doer, and all this whining, though justified, only increased my feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. I decided to act!

Fortunately, I’m getting politically active at a great technology period in history. The Internet makes getting details about problems and issues easy, and it is the ideal medium to act and get involved in initiating change. While people still hold signs of protest aloft the old fashion way, many more are rallying people of like minds en masse virtually. Social networks and sites provide tools to email protests and support for bills and causes as easy as clicking a button.

Sites like Care2.org, Defenders of Wildlife,  Secular Coalition of America, VoteHemp.org and The Environmental Defense Fund not only provide online petitions, but they also provide a thought out email you can send your state Representative, Congress persons, Senators, and even the President to either protest or support a bill or issue.

From Facebook Page

Sharing links to these sites in Facebook allows you to spread a cause virally, reaching thousands, and even millions of people.

For instance, I was livid when I heard that Discovery Networks was giving Sarah Palin a show on Alaska. I was not alone. Defenders of Wildlife created a petition I could sign in protest, as well as a letter to the network executives I sent through a button click.

From there, I shared that link on my Facebook page with over 200+ friends, and I posted it to twelve other pages with thousands fans who would likely want to add their signatures in protest.  I specifically targeted Facebook pages that protested Sarah Palin, and pages about wildlife conservation and wolves specifically. In this way, Defenders has collected nearly a million signatures. Whether or not Discovery cares about all these unhappy viewers remains to be seen.

Interactive Web Board

Petitions and letters to government officials are great for getting your opinions out there, but we also must go that extra step at times. For combating the issue of violations of church and state, I felt I had to do more. Lo and behold, I discovered a site via a Facebook post about the Secular Coalition of America, a 501(c)4 advocacy organization whose purpose is to amplify the diverse and growing voice of the nontheistic community in the United States.

I went to their site to learn more about the current issues, the laws and wording in the US constitution regarding these problems, and I signed up for Action Alerts. Additionally, I discovered the Executive Director Sean Faircloth was speaking in my area about grassroots and starting SCA branches in each state. Now, I have an organization to speak my concerns and lobby on my behalf.

I signed up to donate monthly, and spread the word virally through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, plus Second Life(SL). I own the Secular Community in SL, and have created an interactive board with the SCA website on it. Additionally, I am informing SL citizens about this organization, sharing the problems of violations of church and state, and hope to grow awareness in a huge way.

Signing petitions, sending emails to the right government officials, donating money to causes, and spreading the word via social networks and web sites alleviates helplessness and hopeless while initiating much needed change. If we don’t find the right outlets for our voice, our opinions won’t be heard. Virtual political activism makes it easy for people to come together in a causes and support or protest. Your voice and your money does go a long way in making change happen.

Religion has been growing in frightening, threatening, and in fanatical ways.  Religion is infecting our schools, taking over cities and governments, and breaking our constitutional rights. Children are murdered because “God asked me to prove my faith by offering what I love most,” and behind the most vile terrorist attacks are religious fanatics. Non-believers are discriminated against in once friendly organizations like Boy Scouts of America, atheist school children are bullied, and Jewish children have been hit over the head with Gideon’s bibles.

Now, more than ever, non-believers feel the need to unite in communities. Many live in towns that are overrun by fanatical Christians, and they have no friends who understand their world view. They feel isolated, overwhelmed, and frightened by the religious dogma pushed at them. Fortunately, they are not alone.

Virtual havens for non-believers are appearing in places like Facebook and Second Life. Additionally, those of us living in more progressive areas also feel the need to unite non-believers into communities. Standing for nothing is being replaced by standing for freedom, freedom of religion and freedom from religion.

Non-believer communities are growing each day on Facebook through pages, such as Happy Atheist, Atheist Alliance, Atheist Revolution, Positive Atheism, Card-Carrying Atheists, Religion – The number one obstacle to world peace, we CAN find 10 million Atheists on facebook, Atheist, The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, The Secular Buddhist, and many more. On these pages, non-believers share their frustrations and fears over government officials engaging in prayer, and breaking constitutional rights with events like National Prayer day. Non-believers share history and facts about the falsity of religious texts and mythical characters.

Through mediums like YouTube, many people are expressing anger and outrage in the Creationism versus Evolution debate, while many non-believers patiently address the many misconceptions and incorrect science of believers.  Thinking advocates like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitches are influential icons, leading the way for speaking out.

While many non-believers come out the closet, many fear openly admitting their lack of belief in a mythical God. Instead, they flock to virtual havens like Facebook, and the free 3D worlds of Second Life. By simply registering for a free account and choosing an avatar, non-believers have all the anonymity they want and need.

In Second Life, there are many groups non-believers can join, such as Atheist Center, Dawkins Atheist, Secular Buddhist Land, SL Humanism, Atheists United, Atheists/Freethinkers/Secularists, and Agnostics of SL. Some of these groups have a home base in SL, while others meet at various places. By joining these groups, members receive notices of events, discussions, etc.

This year I created a SIM (an island in SL) called Secular Community for non-believers and free thinkers. Originally, the title had been Secular Buddhist Community, as I saw a real need for a place where modern day Buddhists could share common interests and concerns for problems of ecology and wildlife, and who wanted core Buddhist teachings without the superstitious beliefs of some of the other Buddhist traditions.

However, Secular Buddhists are also atheists, agnostics, or Humanists, so I decided to open the community to include all non-believers. As more people have arrived, I discovered they came from all over the globe, with much relief and happiness to find a place they can discuss their concerns and share their fears and frustrations.

Virtual conversations happen now between non-believers and the religious through places like those mentioned above, and through Twitter. These discussions are not always friendly. Sometimes it’s a battle of closed-minded wills. Yet, for those who are on the fence, for those who have doubts, for those who are simply unaware, these discussions can prove fruitful and freeing, sometimes downright liberating.

Religions need to be exposed for the dangers they pose, for the scams they are, and for the false hopes and real fears they create. While we raise awareness in the world, we provide much needed support for each other. Additionally, we now stand for freedom and the preservation of separation of church and state.

It’s easy to fall into cynicism when discovering how badly religion is influencing our government, dragging down our society, and corrupting morals left and right. But recently, I had the opportunity to listen to and talk with Sean Faircloth, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition of America in a meeting for learning about this organization and starting a grassroots branch for California. I felt inspired with renewed hope.

In addition to pointing out the many problems with religion in our government currently, Sean also pointed out the power of groups, and the determination of the Secular Coalition of America. It became clear to me that non-believers have to unite and work on this problem together. While we are a minority, we are a growing, large group, and we need to be more vocal and united in our efforts.

As these virtual havens have evolved on the Internet, many of us encourage non-believers to come out of the closet, while educating believers into seeing past the myths and stories. Additionally, there are many religious groups, such as Jewish people, Hindus, and Pagans who also feel Christianity violating their rights as individuals and groups.

While we were nearly invisible in the past, non-believers are becoming visible now in both virtual and physical communities. I want to stress to all of them that we need to unite and fight this problem of religion invading our government peacefully and with intelligence. We have the US Constitution to back us up, as well as organizations like the Secular Coalition of America, American Atheists, American Humanist Association, Atheist Alliance International, Secular Student Alliance, and others.

One of the things Sean stressed was the need for peaceful, level-headed discourse. While it may be tempting to tell people their beliefs are lame, organizations must focus on the legal aspects, and keep the argument on what rights are being violated. Aside from organizations, we can do a lot in setting an example of intelligent arguments, exposing religions through facts and documented anecdotes, a refrain from being insulting or falling into defensiveness.

In spite of the many problems of the world, we are fortunate to come together in these virtual havens to support and help each other, to increase awareness concerning the problems with belief, faith, and religion, and to unite and multiply efforts to donate money to our lobbyists and causes, to voice our concerns, and to alert the public to violations of the separation of church and state.

Together we can take a stand for our freedoms.

Dana Noure, in Second Life Dana Oceanlane

Redwood Forest

I have been in Second Life for 6 years. I started there as a part of my job, leading talks for Java developers. But it didn’t take long before I developed a personal interest in that multiverse, started exploring the many places there, and the variety of communities. Pretty much, any interest you have will be of interest to others, and very likely there is at the least a group devoted to it, and at the most an entire sim or several.

Joining groups is a good way to get invites to events for your various interests. I had joined several for my interest in Buddhism. And interestingly, I found that the Buddhist world in Second Life closely mirrored the one outside, in the physical world.

All the Buddhist places I visited were made to look Asian, with big statues of Buddhas everywhere, prayer flags, mediation cushions, and sand gardens. That’s all fine and lovely. Really pretty stuff. But my trip through Buddhism had taken a slightly different route personally.

Though I started in Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism like so many others, I decided I didn’t agree with the teachings, and I moved onto Zen. While that was a slightly better fit, I still found it too laden with ritual, especially Asian rituals, and not on the practical level I thought the Buddha’s teachings to be.

Later, I discovered Theravada Buddhism, but again it is steeped in Asian ritual and some superstitions I don’t agree with. What I wanted was to practice the valuable Buddhist tools and path, without cultural infiltrations, metaphysical beliefs and superstitions, and the praying and chanting.

Watermill/Waterfall Area

Second Life, I discovered, had a group called the Skeptical Buddhist Sangha. The title enticed me, and when I went to their discussions I found myself right at home, talking about teachings, but in a skeptical manner, not just accepting everything as is. This, to my mind, was much closer to what the Buddha taught, and is more in alignment with modern day people.

The Skeptical Buddhist Sangha’s discussions are great, and there was a small piece of land to go with it. But when I bought a SIM, I thought it would be neat to create an entire community, with an environment that reflected the needs of modern day Secular Buddhists, who don’t follow a specific tradition, and embraced the concerns of today, such as our ecology.

So, I created the Secular/Skeptical Buddhist Community island to augment the Skeptical Buddhist Sangha. There we have regular meditations with both chairs and cushions. You won’t find statues of Buddha all over the place, as we want to discourage the practice of praying to the Buddha, and making him some kind of god. In addition, there are home rentals, where we ask folks to hold the 5 precepts.

Mindful Gardening Area

In addition, we also have a wonderful Redwood Forest, a fun drum and dance circle, a mindful gardening area, yoga and tai chi for mindful movement, a Scientific Research area, and several areas that are just beautiful to sit in and watch wildlife. And, of course, there is a group you can join, Secular Buddhist Land.

We have wind turbines and solar panels to energize the place, are growing hemp fields for cloth, paper products, plywood and biodegrable plastic, and provide transportation via free horses, bikes, canoes, and rowboats.

We hope to grow this community of Secular/Skeptical Buddhist, who want to study and practice the teachings, and enjoy socializing and living on the island. It’s been fun and creative to try to put together the kind of environment we feel reflects who we are in this modern day world.

Secular/Skeptical Buddhist Community Island

Events Calendar

Skeptical Buddhist Sangha

Facebook Page

Transformed to Winter

Change is easy in Second Life. I just transformed my SIM from a lovely, sunny tropical paradise into a winter wonderland. All it took was swapping out a few textures, and the entire landscape morphed from the sandy beaches to fluffy white snow. With the installation of a few weather generators, I can create rain, snow, and even lightning. Virtual change is fun and easy. In-person, change is also on the horizon in all kinds of ways, but for many people it’s not so easy.

No matter how one feels about President Obama’s stance on various issues, it’s become clear he is an initiator of change. I must admit, I am impressed with the way he and his staff have embraced virtual technologies to make it easy for people to help in his campaigns. Additionally, while his messaging is going out to the public on all typical streams, they’re also going out on all the social networks. At the bottom right navigation on his web site is Obama Everywhere, which lists 16 virtual tools you can use to follow him. Never in the past have we had a president who is so accessible, who answers emails.

It’s refreshing to see a president embrace technology so thoroughly and take advantage of its strengths. You don’t need to suffer through the news to get to hear Obama speak on an issue. His site has many of his recent talks, and you can search him on YouTube.

“Reform” is top priority for President Obama, and he makes this clear on his site and in his messaging.

I like change. Real improvement and growth can only come from change. We’ve watched over the last few decades as the Internet went from a cryptic, confusing place, to a virtual environment with many types of social networking tools. This all came through change.

Virtual mediums have not only made it easier for the president to address so many, but it’s made it easier for us to get our opinions and concerns out there, to commiserate with others, and to get clarification on issues.

If you want to get involved politically, it’s never been easier. President Obama’s site makes it easy for you to find out how you can help with various programs in your area, how you can find out about other volunteers in your area, and a letter you can sign to get Congress to support this plan health reform.

Really, if you think about it, there is nothing in the universe that does not change. To cling to old ideas, beliefs, and hanging onto tired out systems because they are familiar or because of fear of the unknown, just creates more unhappiness and stress.

President Obama’s site is called Organizing for America. The first paragraph reads:

“Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama for America, is building on the movement that elected President Obama by empowering communities across the country to bring about our agenda of change.”

Agenda of change . . . I like that, both virtually and in-person.

Working on Blog

Recently I purchased a SIM in Second Life, meaning a huge chuck of land I’ve called Dana’s Islands of Paradise. So, for the past few weeks I’ve been busy terraforming, shaping the place into a tropical paradise. It’s been a lot of fun raising and lowering plots of land, reshaping mountains, and smoothing out sandy beaches.

There are many places to go and many things to do in Second Life, and I wanted to create a place that can eventually evolve into a community. So, naturally I carved out some space for myself, put a house on it, a few pets and wild animals, and then proceeded to create rental properties for other residents.

But I didn’t want to create row after row of houses, a crowded neighborhood as in-person. Instead, I created just  five rental properties that are in secluded areas, and have either a nice bit of land and wild life, or a wonderful view.

Dolphin House Rental

Shopping for houses to put on these scenic plots was fun, but even cooler when my very talented friend Donnalyn decided to do some house designing of her own. She created this beautiful modern home with an open deck on the second floor and surrounding glass below. You can sit in the living room and watch the water fall, the jumping dolphin, and the swimming birds.

But if that is more land than you need, or more house than you care to fill, I set up several other cozy properties. One is a small cabin on a mountain top, and another a nice sized cottage with it’s own private beach.

SL Meditation Hall

A community, of course, is more than places to live though, so I also created a recreation area that has a tiki lounge and plenty of sandy area for dancing. In addition, you can lie in one of several floaties in the water, and watch the Orca swimming and breaching.

Additionally, I now finally have a hall where I can lead talks and meditation. My SL Insight Meditation group meets here, as well as people from many other groups. I decided to focus the talks on various ways we can gain more insight into ourselves, how our minds operate, as well as learning to use meditation practices for insight.

I schedule talks and meditation in a calendar in the main Office and in the meditation hall. You can also join the group SL Insight Meditation to receive notices of when talks and meditation are going to occur.

Lastly, the SIM would not be complete without a shopping area. This is no mall, however, but cut little tiki huts. If you want to sell your creations, you can rent one of these huts as well. I have the store space limited though so the SIM doesn’t get laggy.

Store Huts and Fishing Vendor

Next to the shopping area is a dock where you can fish, go paddle boating or kayaking, or just sit and watch the orca and dolphins at play.

You can also go sit at the Fireside Chat Circle area, invite your friends to come hang out, watch my new pet dragon Hestia blow fire, my tiger Zack patrol the area and swim in the pond, and the sea birds swim about and dive for food. I also have a silly white peacock that can’t quit seem to walk on the ground but a few inches above!

Come to Dana’s Islands of Paradise! You can either use the teleporters on the islands, or fly around. Play in the tiki and boating areas, enjoy sitting and watching the wildlife, or shop at one of the Tiki huts.  If you are interested in renting property, be sure to go into the Office, where the rentals are listed with a teleporter that will take you to each.

Enjoy!

Hestia behind me

It can be difficult and frustrating to find people in your in-person (IP) neighborhood, city, or state who share your opinions, your philosophies, or interests. This is especially true for people who live in small towns, but even for some in larger cities. But there is a lot to choose from in Second Life among its vast networks of social groups and themed worlds. Second Life is even has groups that are out of the norm from what we are used to IP.

In California, there are many Buddhist sanghas for me to choose from. But in my years of studying Buddhism, I have decided I don’t care for the religious aspects of it, and I don’t agree with all of the teachings hook, line, and sinker. Yet, IP Buddhist groups conform to one school or another for the most part. In Second Life, however, there is a group called Skeptical Buddhism. This is a wonderful group who welcomes all, and each week discussions are on various aspects of Buddhism, but they are discussed with a healthy dose of skepticism. We talk at length about the teachings, what cultural aspects it may have, how it can be tested, and issues if it can not be tested. I like that group a lot because of the focus on Buddhism with the openness to disagree with some of the teachings.

I decided recently that I wanted to take those kinds of discussions in a slightly different direction. I will continue to participate in the Skeptical Buddhist group, but in addition, I am starting another on my own SIM that will combine the effective mindfulness tools of Buddhism and combine them with the modern ethics and values of Humanism.  I like Humanism a lot, and I think the mindfulness of Buddhism can be a great asset to bring to the principles of Humanism. To create my SL Insight Meditation group such as this IP wouldn’t be easy, but in Second Life it’s a snap.  To join Skeptical Buddhism or SL Insight Meditation, use the Search on Groups. Alternatively, follow the links I’ve provided, go to those places and look for the signs that allow you to join.

Joining groups in SL allows you to be notified of upcoming discussions and events.

Second Life seems to allow for a lot more diversity than most IP groups, and because of anonymity attendance is sometimes better than IP. There is a wide variety of groups already established in Second Life, but if you can’t find the social network you want, then create what you need! Very likely, others will be happy to find your group.

Me by my pond

In Second Life people often refer to life outside SL as RL, for real life. But according to the dictionary, the word real has these definitions:

• Being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory. Well, activities, events, and conversations do actually occur in Second Life, though the avatars representing each of us are made of pixels. In addition, I can verify what I see in SL, just as other people can verify for me what they are seeing. When people meet me on my property in SL, they are going to see the same scene as I do.
• Substantial: having substance or capable of being treated as fact; not imaginary; “the substantial world”; “a mere dream, neither substantial nor practical”. Though the virtual environment is not as substantial as the physical, it is certainly not imaginary or make believe. If it were, you wouldn’t be able to visit with me there and have a live conversation with me.

I’d like to propose that people stop using SL versus RL, and instead use SL versus IP, for In Person. In Second Life when we interact with others, we are often doing so in a very real way by talking with friends, trying to get information, learning from a class, or interacting in a business meeting. And even though when you are role playing in Second Life, you are intentionally not being yourself, you are pretending to be something else, the interaction is still real and varifyable, just as seeing a play in person.

Although in Second Life we are not there in person, we are there by representation of an avatar, and our very real act of typing or speaking and moving our avatar about.

I have a friend who keeps calling Second Life imaginary. Though I have had dreams that took place in Second Life, all my waking interaction there is not imaginary. If it were, I couldn’t meet with my friend Donnalyn and exchange objects with her. These objects are real. They are not physical, but they are varifiable by both of us, and anyone else standing around, and they do exist within the virtual environment.

So, virtual worlds offer very real experiences, different from IP, in person, but shared and varifable.

Twitter Searches in Seesmic

In The Usefulness of Twitter, I talked a bit about the useful of Twitter concerning finding great product reviews, getting product support, and finding communities of  interest. All of this is done through saving Searches.

I want to extend this concept, as I am discovering Twitter is also making self-learning easier for me. I have found by saving Searches on the software I use that I get a lot of links to great blogs and tutorials, and tips for using software. As a big fan of online tutorials, I decided to create a Search called tutorials. I skim this Search, looking for keywords of interest that direct me to tutorials in my areas of interest. Not only software tutorials come up, but tutorials in other areas of interest as well.

The screen shot on the right is of my saved Searches. A lot of people say they don’t have time for Twitter. They don’t want to have to read through a bunch of posts to find just a few nuggets of useful information. I don’t either! The idea of saved searches is that they filter out the noise of no interest to you, and I don’t know any Twitter fanatic who actually reads every post.  Save a Search, and then skim through the list quickly for posts of interest. With each post being less than 140 words each, this is easy-peasy to do.

I want to end this blog with tips for squeezing the most usefulness out of Twitter in the least amount of time:

• Find the right Twitter reading tool (don’t use the Twitter web page): Seesmic Desktop, TweetDeck, Twitter Tools. Ask for recommendations from Twitter users through a tweet!
• Save Searches in your areas of interest, using the tool of your choice.
• Create communities of interest to you through hash tag words, and look for other communities with Search.
• Note Twitter is one of my saved Searches. You’ll get great Twitter tips with this Search.
• Ask questions in your Tweets, and you are sure to get responses quickly.
• Give back to the Twitter community. Posting tweets teaches you the usefulness of Twitter.
• Think of Twitter as a multiverse of communities, a variety of social networks, not a whirlpool of noise.

Enjoy!!!

@DanaNourie

Later, I discovered some interesting people to Follow, like Astro_Mike, who I mentioned in my blog
Getting Past Twitter Noise to Useful Information. Now, after several months of using Twitter for myself personally and for the company I work for, CollabNet, I am getting to the heart of Twitter and discovering it’s usefulness on several levels.

Twitter really is a virtual multiverse. It’s not just individual people sending out tweets, but it’s people sending out tweets that connect with other tweets, tweets that often contain useful information, and tweets that form communities around various topics and events. The real essence of Twitter  isn’t so much Following and being Followed, but using Search and hash tags to get at your interests. And, I’m sure, there are other mechanisms I have yet to discover.

I have set up Searches for products I own, products I’m having issues with, or products I’m considering buying. For instance, when I was considering buying a Kindle, I could see on Amazon that people were leaving reviews. Those reviews have also affected my decisions to buy, but they don’t always tell me what I need to know.

So, I set up a Search in the Twittersphere for Kindle. Lo and behold, I got pages of Kindle users and would-be Kindle users. People tend to throw opinions, good or bad, out in tweets quickly. They get to the point. And I can directly ask them questions. What I discovered was that Kindle users are very happy with this gadget. I could see how people were using it, any issues I could expect or watch for, and tips for using it. I bought a Kindle, and now add my own thoughts out there where others can make use of my comments or ignore them.

Product searches are also good for instant support.  Don’t know how to do something with your new MP3 player? See what the Twitter community has already said about it, and if your answer is not there, ask someone. I have found this works more quickly than going to the product site, or emailing the company.

Speaking of companies . . . another great use of Search is that it allows companies to see what people are saying about them, the difficulties they may be having with a product or service, and allows them to interact directly with customers. When I first downloaded Seesmic (my Twitter tool of choice), I sent out a tweet saying how much I liked the software. Seesmic sent out a tweet response seconds after mine, thanking me, and telling me they were in the Twittersphere in case I had any issues. Instant customer service!

At CollabNet, we are doing the same thing. We search for people talking about CollabNet, our products and platform, and respond to tweets where appropriate. We have cleared confusion about downloads, thanked customers for bragging about us, and asked for feedback, which we have received.

Twitter is very much a vibrant, thriving community when you discover how to find the tweets of value to you. Search is an excellent tool to help you do just that. I have saved searches on Star Wars, Second Life, Kindle, CollabNet, Subversion, Sansa MP3 Player, and communities, etc. In addition, groups are formed around certain topics with hash tags.

I keep my eye on the  “hashtag communities” #ochealth, and another #octribe.  The first are people who are interested in Online Community Health, hence #ochealth, and the other, #octribe, is the keyword we were given at a conference I went to. So now all the people who attended that conference have a way of seeing what topics people are continuing to talk about from that conference. We we tweet something we think will be of interest to those folks, we include that hash tag keyword.

Now, in addition to having discovered some interesting people to Follow, I have also discovered communities around various topics through Search, and see how hash tag keywords allow groups to connect and communicate. These are ways of using Twitter are truly useful to me, and I can see how they are useful to companies to connect them with the people who use their products.

This is social networking at it’s most practical and useful, IMHO.

I’m often asked what’s the point of owning a home or land in Second Life? It’s certainly a valid question. You sure don’t need to have a home or land. You can just as easily find a place you like, and put your avatar there when you log off, so when you log back on, that’s where you’ll appear. There are plenty of public sandboxes and changing rooms to use when you buy new clothes or hair.

Even so, many of us want a place we can call our home base, a place where we own the rights, where we can have privacy, where we can play, learn to script or build, or even work. It’s nice to own a place you can decorate to your taste, then change it around as often as you like.

I have rented apartments and houses in Second Life, but I enjoy owning land even more. The avatar Dana Oceanlane most closely resembles my physical life, and so when I decided to buy a homestead, I did it under her name. My other avatars also come here to use this space as home, but when I want to kick back and relax in SL, it’s usually with Dana Oceanlane.

Relaxing by the waterfall

I’ve owned land in the past in SL, but this time I took a little more time to research the various types of land available, and settled on a half SIM Homestead. Homesteads cost less because you are only allowed 20 avatars on a full SIM, and 10 on a half SIM. You also get a smaller prim allowance. The reason is these SIMs are set up to be low traffic, fairly private areas that contain mostly land. It’s ideal for those of us who want to emulate  nature, and enjoy privacy.

I found a few SIMs that were flat, square plots of sand, with the islands being close together. No thanks. I found land for sale on the mainland that cost less, but I’d have to put up with ugly buildings from neighbors. I really wanted something where I could enjoy the view, play with some terraforming, and not have to worry about neighbors. So, a Homestead is ideal for me. I found a great island, and half of it was for sale. This gave me a little over 16 K square miles, with an 1875 prim allowance, which is plenty!

To my delight, this land  was already terraformed nicely. Scripts had been set up so as soon as I purchased it, everything went right into my name and I had the permissions I needed to set up the place like home.

House shopping is a lot of fun, but after awhile can become grueling. Lag is bad on the SIMs where homes are already rezzed, and after awhile houses start looking a lot alike. But I found the perfect house for me, then set off to do some furniture shopping.

Last, but not least, I shopped for animals, both wild life and pets. I have three dogs, one of which is an adorable puppy who plays with his bone, chases a ball, sleeps in his bed, and pees on his newspaper. My husky Zooley growls and barks when he looks out the windows, and outside, Zack, my tiger roams the property and swims in the ponds.

I enjoy watching the ducks, the loon, and the swans, all of which dunk their heads to feed. I have dragonflies and humming birds, as well as butterflies flying around.

Now, between going to Buddhist talks and meditations, role playing in the Star Wars SIMs, and blowing Linden dollars like there’s no tomorrow, I sit and fish or just watch the wild life, which is surprisingly entertaining and not unlike their physical counterparts.

No, it’s not the same as being out in physical nature, nor is my home the same as my physical home. But it’s a lot of fun in all kinds of ways.

Come by and visit when you get a chance!