voyeurism

joyeux anniversaire, Citroën!

hooray!

today is the 90th anniversary of my favourite marque of automobiles :-)

Additional reading:

- Denis's 11 January 2009 entry (Citroën updating Chevron Logo as part of 90th anniversary celebration) Cit Bitz
- Thami Masemola's 4 February 2009 entry (2011 Citroen DS Model Range Further Details Emerge) World Car Fans

Technorati Tags: Citroën

Raymaker Land Management - first-year anniversary :-)

one year ago, i made the decision to enter the rental market in Second Life, with Raymaker Land Management :-)

through God's grace, i have been blessed with meeting many new people as my tenants, whom i would not otherwise have had the opportunity to interact with.

i am very grateful to each of you - thank you.

:-)

i haven't planned for any celebrations in-world; nevertheless, here are some celebratory pictures taken at a car showroom in Singapore during a traditional 'lion dance', on this, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year :-)

Technorati Tags: Citroën, Raymaker Land Management, rent, Singapore

re-opening of St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum

happy New Year to all!

:-)

i open the year with the one-hundred-and-sixty-sixth episode of ventriloquy, in which i share with you the news of the re-opening yesterday of St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum!

those of you who have been following this blog for some time would perhaps recall that in July 2007, in episode 117, i introduced St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum as the first facility of its size in Second Life to honour the life and creative works of Jules Gabriel Verne.

the museum remained open for fourteen months, and was featured in the March 2008 issue of Deja Vu International magazine.

over the past four months, i have been looking for a new site to rebuild the museum. i finally found such a site at Lily, in the Lost Lakes region of the original Linden mainland continent of Sansara.

after five days of feverish work with valued help from Kirstenlee Cinquetti and Felixx Shepherd (during which time i also designed and opened the nearby Lily Airstrip and Lily Beach), i was extremely pleased to be able to let the general public start visiting the museum from New Year's Day 2009!

please do join me in this 3.5 MB download, as i try to give you a taste of what to expect if you are able to find the time to visit the newly re-opened St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum :-)

Technorati Tags: education, Jules Verne, learning, podcast, Second Life, Singapore, St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum

NOTAM for the Lily Airstrip

strictly speaking, this isn't a proper NOTAM - being improperly formatted - nonetheless i hope it will be useful to those of you planning to fly in to the newly opened Lily Airstrip.

after a hectic four days of building, i am very happy to announce that the Lily Airstrip is open to the public from today, just in time to usher in 2009 :-)

the Lily Airstrip affords you a base from which to explore the Lost Lakes region of the original mainland continent of Sansara. the airstrip is immediately adjacent to Lily Beach, which offers great surfing and diving opportunities, and also an upcoming tribute-build that i am working on.

the runway is at sea-level. it is 60 metres long, with overrun areas of 10 metres on either end.

object auto-return is set to one minute at the rezzing area near the southern end of the runway.

in addition, there is a helipad with emitter beacon.

happy landings!

APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH

approaching from the North is the easiest and more recommended vector.

from the Linden-protected sim of Bothnia, just align yourself with Runway 18 and fly straight in.

please note that there is an embankment directly at the end of the runway, so apply braking as soon as your wheels make contact with the ground.

there is sufficient space for you to turn your aircraft around at the end of the runway.

APPROACHING FROM THE SOUTH

approaching from the South is NOT RECOMMENDED at all and would demand an exceedingly steep descent, with no emergency nets to arrest your aircraft should you overrun and end up in the water.

Additional reading (wikipedia entries):
- NOTAM
- runway

Technorati Tags: geography, Jules Verne, landmarks, maps, navigation, place, Second Life, St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum

Citroën C5 takes 2nd place in Japan's Car Of The Year awards 2008

w00t!

the Citroën C5 has pipped some pretty tough competition, with only the Toyota iQ beating it to Car Of The Year in Japan :-)

Technorati Tags: Citroën

Alpha Delta

thanks to the exquisite craftsmanship of Asterion Coen, visitors to Temasek now have the opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with Concorde :-)

built to full-scale, Concorde at Temasek is a replica of G-BOAD.

you can read more about Alpha Delta here :-)

Alpha Delta resplendent in her livery from 1979, making a low pass over Temasek at sunset

Technorati Tags: globalization, Second Life, Singapore, Temasek

exploring Bay City

just a note to thank Dennis Slocombe, of AAA Tours & Tourism, for so kindly taking me around in his Tegatti Microbus (designed and built by Tegen Barzane), as i was idly wandering around Bay City.

it was great fun, Dennis :-)

Technorati Tags: Second Life

aloft!

third post today :-)

what a very pleasant way to cap off a long day - flying with my friend Master Nestler in his Cessna 172, somewhere over Hortensio :-)

Technorati Tags: Second Life

from the inventors of the world's first V6

Will Szymborska, who's organizing the Cross Grid Rally 2008, asked me recently if i would like to participate as a driver :-)

i must admit, the thought is pretty tempting :-P

but then, there's the small issue of an appropriate car to drive...

of course, the Citroën DS enjoyed a distinguished rallying record in its day; nevertheless, i was very glad, when i discovered just a few hours ago that Sandi Omlet has built a driveable replica of a Lancia Flaminia Super Sport.

the Flaminia Super Sport was built by Zagato between 1964 and 1967, and had a triple-carburettor 2.8 litre V6. it was the flagship of the Lancia range, and had double-wishbones at the front, a de Dion transaxle at the rear, and disc brakes all round.

in all, only 150 Super Sports were built.

:-)

the Flaminia Super Sport by Zagato, parked on the slopes at Durango

Technorati Tags: CGR2008, Lancia, Raymaker Land Management, Second Life

Cross Grid Rally - Vehicle Road Rally Event

posting this on behalf of my good friend Will Szymborska :-)

********************************

Be there when Second Life's first planned rallying event hits the Linden streets July 20th! Many drivers from all over the world (car enthusiasts, racers and car builders), will dominate the roads. CGR is unlike any other car event; It travels through some 250 regions (broken up into 3 stages).

Anyone and everyone is invited to be at the opening event, at the starting line of the most anticipated motoring event! In-between rallying stages, check out their cars at one of the 3 locations along the way, and spend time with SL's most car-savvy residents. This is a one time event, you won't want to miss! Also check out the website: crossgridrally.webs.com

CGR kicks off in the snowy regions of the Sansara mainland continent from Grouse, where it travels through the two-lane snow-covered road-ways past local Austrian Police to the north, traveling some 67 sims. Then it's time to do some serious back-country driving through the scenic tropical regions of the Heterocera wandering the single-lane Japanese-police-patrolled roads until reaching a beach under the palms. Lastly, CGR heads from southern Sansara, and speeds its way over bridges and large scenic canyons, covering hundreds of thousands of road-textured prims.

********************************

Stage One starts from Grouse.

Date: 20 July 2008

Time: 1100 hrs SLT

Technorati Tags: CGR2008, navigation, Raymaker Land Management, Second Life, wayfinding