Linden's VAT bombshell hits the SL art world
An early, obsessively detailed island that epitomized Second Life's first explosion of art and nature is now on sale. The move is a protest against an abrupt announcement that European value added tax (a sales tax) will be charged by Linden Labs. 25% more on a monthly charge of $200 or more is a big jump. But there has to be more to this than a tax protest.
The island was one of the first places I visited. It is a combination artificial ecology and pastiche of Maya art and architecture. A product of a time when there were only a few thousand people using SL (I entered when there were 350,000) and a skillful artifact created with crude 3D tools of the time. Now there are almost 10 million people who have tried SL, and times have changed.
At 1.6 million lindens (around $6000 US) Lauks Nest is one of the most expensive properties on sale in SL now. A bit of virtual world history, and a patron may well step in. But what would $6000 do for a living Maya family right now? For an under-funded archaeologist, for that matter?
A victory for opponents of the dam in Guerrero state, Mexico. Thanks to Manuel and Anni for the news.
Judge Halts Construction of Mexico's La Parota Dam
WNYC - The Leonard Lopate Show: Protecting Maya Ruins
Excellent evocation of place and spirit, by pal Chris Shaw of course.
The Geography of Religious Experience - New York Times
And a PDF. One for the archives and the best of Adirondack writing.
For the aficionados. An extra room for the shack. And given the nature of the shack, the Airstream might have brought UP the property values. Love that shape.
Testing embedding a movie, recorded with Google Earth Pro, in a webpage. At present there is no way to put Google Earth directly in a page, since it is a separate application.
Here's the future location of Lower Eastside Girls Club. Just testing to see how we want to use Google Maps and Google Earth.