I guess after a well deserved vacation in Maine, it's time to drag my sand-covered ass back to the Insider and resume my relentless, steadfast, unwavering pursuit of ... oh god I wish I was still on vacation! I can still smell the surf on my unwashed bikini (available soon on eBay.)

Speaking of vacation, some loyal Second Life Insider readers may recall that earlier this December I wrote about our beach houses, the very ones where I spent a sizable chunk of every summer since I was a little girl. It was by modeling the location that my family holds near and dear that I was able to make my Grandmother understand what I do for a living.

Well, I have an interesting twist.

Welcome to the ninth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast!

This episode features our interview with Slim "Slimmie" Warrior, musician in both SL and RL. Aimee Weber co-hosts with me, and we talk about tolerance, the realities of being SL famous, and how voice might change attending live music shows. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!

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As previously reported, the Swedish Institute will be opening The Second House of Sweden, a virtual embassy which will exist to promote understanding of the country to non-residents.

While the article gives information about the event itself, there is an interesting bit at the end, almost an afterthought: "In January Swedish authorities said they would clamp down on Swedes earning money through internet games such as Second Life." What form will this 'clamping' take? Will this negatively affect Swedish citizens from taking an interest in SL, possibly to emulate content creators such as Aimee Weber? Citizens of Sweden, I ask your opinions!

(Via cooltech.iafrica.com)

Welcome to the sixth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast! This episode features our interview with Frank Koolhaas, writer for Architecure Digest, and founder of Synthravels. Aimee Weber and moo Money co-host with me, and we talk about the need for metaversal evangelism, as well as what's missing from SL. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!

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[RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[Mp3] Download the MP3 directly

[UPDATE: Experiencing technical issues; working on it!] [UPDATE 2: FIXED!] Welcome to the fifth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast! This episode features our interview with Adri Saarinen and Peter Newell, co-founders of Metaversatility, Texas's coolest MDC. Aimee Weber co-hosts with me, and we discuss the challenges of developing for SL, There.com, and Hello Kitty buttplugs. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!

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[RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly

Welcome to the fourth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast! This episode features our interview with Eureka Dejavu, investigative journalist, blogger for the Huffington Post, and author of her upcoming book about her journeys and spiritual growth. Aimee Weber co-hosts with me, and we talk a little bit about the Belgian police patrols and Open Sourcing SL's servers. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!

Get the podcast:
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[RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly

Welcome to the third episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast! This episode features our interview with Plastic Duck, the notorious alleged griefer and neg-rater. You may think you know all about him, but what he has to say might surprise you. Joining me on this episode are Aimee Weber and moo Money. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!

Get the podcast:
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[RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
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Our own Aimee Weber has been included in BusinessWeek's Virtual World Rich List, which profiles their selection of SL's wealthiest residents. Alongside Aimee are such notables as Anshe Chung, MillionsOfUs's Reuben Steiger, and Crucial Creations's Crucial Armitage, among others.

This list reads more like a Most Successful than necessarily the Richest, but it's yet another indication that the Real World is taking virtual business seriously. Regardless of dissenting opinions, life seems to be moving us ever closer to an integrated virtual space as a common way of conducting our lives. Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen.

This will be a recurring feature, every couple of weeks at first, featuring an interview with a prominent resident or associated media figure, and discussion of recent news stories. For our inaugural 'cast, we spoke with Nethermind Bliss, one of the coordinators of the upcoming SLCC 2007. I'm joined by Aimee Weber and moo money, and a blast was had by all!

Please feel free to drop your comments and questions; if we like them, they could get a mention on our next episode! Enjoy!

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You may remember our own Aimee Weber and Aimee Weber Studios created an scientific island paradise for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The above video is a tour of the end results of that development. The Tsunami build is one of my favorite spots in all of Second Life.

It was the happiest day of my life! The virtual man of my dreams proposed to me! (Uh, what's-his-name ... Ralph I think. Yeah, that's good enough.) I blurted out "I DO" with no hesitation. For the rest of my current account's life, he would be the man I would spend my early evenings with just after work, but just before Nip/Tuck and House (Hugh Laurie is SUCH a babe!)

But first things first! We needed to pick out a virtual diamond. Not just any diamond! But a glorious, gleaming, towering beacon of radiance that would that would blind the skeptics and naysayers with our eternal love! I wanted a rock that would warn ships in the harbor of shallow waters and become the new benchmark of quality for ALL jewelry purchased with four months' stipend.

A new Second Life centric magazine has hit the news stand. This one is published by Axel Springer the same publisher as BILD magazine. BILD is a tabloid newspaper and you can find it online here. The first issue of the AvaStar is available now as a PDF download. Future issues however will cost you L$150, a certain departure from the free pricing of similar magazines. The magazine is available on their website and on their island, which was built by our own Aimee Weber.

I don't really like the idea of paying for things that I can get from other places for free. However, we will have to wait to see if the quality of their content makes up for the price. Considering that we are talking about a $0.50 USD price tag, I am sure many people will be willing to give it a try at least once. If this magazine catches on we can expect to see other magazines taking the plunge into virtual publishing.

As we mentioned previously, Save The Children and Aimee Weber Studio are doing the Yak Shack fundraiser, to raise money for needy children in impoverished areas.

Today's the big Yak Shack Showdown, where you can display your customized, personalized or generally tricked out pimpin' yak, for a chance to win a fab spread in Miller Copeland's In The Grid magazine.

Come ready to show your yak at 12 Noon, SLT -- which doesn't leave you a lot of time left for last -minute styling. As Aimee says, "Be creative now, damnit!"

It's the season, people and it's a good cause besides. If you haven't donated to Child's Play (and even if you have) come by and pick up a yak to help feed and clothe needy kids.

I planned to blog about the surprise return to SecondCast of Torrid Midnight, who went off a couple of weeks ago, saying it made no sense to podcast about Second Life when she wasn't planning to be there. For those who want to reprise the whole drama, you can find my colleague Aimee's report here, and there is a vast quantity of pixellated reportage all over the web about it from varying angles. Somewhere in the archives of SecondCast ooh, a whole two or three weeks ago, you can catch her exit too. And the rest of the guys quietly stabbing her in the back the moment she went. Actually that episode is worth listening to just for that. They are supportive and sweet for the first part, in which she participates, and then lose no time whatsoever in making it clear that they would never have done what she did, and that they think she is too fragile to succeed in the big bad world of business if the comments she has had have made her give SL up. It's breathtaking, and tells us far more than they want us to know about what sort of support they are to a friend in trouble.