Pics by Peep

By far, one of my favourite memes I have completed was the Flat Rodvik Meme. I laughed so hard while I was doing the photos for it, largely because Rod just looked so…ok, I’ll say it – GOOFY! Ebbe, on the other hand, is handsome and stylish. I have no doubt when the new stock avatar he is sporting is released it will be a popular one. But because he looked so much better, I felt guilty about doing to him what I did to poor Rod. No wonder he resigned; I nearly drowned the poor man!

Now that Linden Labs has a new CEO, of course Miss Berry had to do a new “Flat CEO” meme. I have no doubt she has been stalking him simply so she could do another meme 😉 It is a little different this time around, so here is a rundown of the instructions:

Meme instructions: Pick up a copy of Flat Ebbe Linden from my marketplace store for free and take him to one of your favorite places on the grid. Also, share at least three things that you’d like to tell Ebbe. Please remember to leave a link to your post in the comments (of this post) and share your Flat Ebbe picture in the Blog memes flickr group.

I decided to take Flat Ebbe to my favourite place in Second Life: Calas Galadhon Park. But I had a bit of an agenda in addition to just showing him the sights. And that is one of the three things I want to share with Ebbe.

1. Help support non-profit sims. I know there has been a lot of talk lately about A Petrofsky Flux, which you have visited yourself, possibly disappearing from the grid. Hopefully, since it is part of The Spencer Museum installation of the University of Kansas in Second Life and your team is already working to reinstate better rates for educational institutions it will be able to remain. But over the years there have been a lot of beautiful sims vanish, simply because the owners didn’t have the funds to keep them going.

That is why we went to Calas Galadhon Park today. Ty Tench and Truck Meredith self-fund the nine sims that make up Calas Galadhon Park. It used to consist of thirteen, but they had to scale back last year. And now due to changing economic conditions for them, unless they receive enough donations to help cover a large portion of the tier, they may have to close part of the park. Last month, things went well for them. But that may not continue and it would be a shame to see a place that is funded solely by these two residents (without tenants) change or disappear, simply because of economics.

I’m not saying that Calas Galadhon is the only non-commercial sim out there that deserves to be saved. It is one of many. But there has to be something we can do to help save one or two.

I have two suggestions; one that is based solely on Linden Labs stepping up to the plate and one that is in effect, resident-driven.

I have visited a lot of the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) sims. Many of them are truly amazing. However, there are a fair few that are, in my opinion, less than stellar. My suggestion is that one or two of those grants be set aside for tier payment of an established, non-profit sim. That would allow the recipient to keep their current sim, yet be funded by Linden Labs. That five month buffer could mean the difference between some of these beautiful places disappearing and being able to remain available to the inhabitants of Second Life.

The second suggestion has to do with unused tier allowances of Premium members. I have been a Premium member for several years, and other than for a short time, I haven’t owned land on the Mainland. I have 512 sqm of land credit just sitting there. I would be willing to give up rights to that credit to allow it to be used toward funding a private sim that has been deemed a Second Life Wonder of the World (or whatever you want to call it) and I believe a lot of other people would be willing to do the same. It is a worthwhile use of a benefit for paid membership that could be added to the Premium package. The program could be part of the LEA responsibilities or a separate group of residents could be selected to choose the awarded sim(s). It might be a bit tricky to administer, as I am sure a lot of people drop in and out of Premium Membership regularly, but if even a portion of the pledged land rights were used I believe this could work.

Whew! That was long-winded! Sorry 😦 I’ll be brief on my final two.

2. Keep getting out in world and encourage staff to do so. I have been in Second Life for well over five years and I have never met a Linden. I would love to bump into one someday, so keep on mingling!

3. Come have your picture taken! Shameless plug 😀 Yep, I’d charge you, but if you ever decide to have your portrait done in Second Life, hit me up! I’ll even give you a ride to my studio. I’ll even throw in a couple’s shot, free of charge. The photo above is just a raw shot with a few Easter eggs added, and you’re looking a bit stiff there 😉

Pretty stuff I’m showing off:

Top: ISON – silk camisole – (pink) by Harry Hyx (available at Collabor88 April 2014)
Jacket: .tsg. Bunny Bomber – YellowxPink by Eilfie Sugarplum (available at The Seasons Story April 2014)
Pants: *BOOM* Norfolk Tweeds (Doll Pink) by Aranel Ah
Shoes: Candy Doll _CD_ Newell Heels – SLINK HIGH FEET by Rebeca Dembo
Hair: *ARGRACE* Lily A – True Red (upper part) by Rika Oyen
Skin: [PXL] Creations [PXL] JADE NAT Terre MEB C2 by Hart Larsson
Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual by Siddean Munro
Feet: Slink Mesh Feet (Av) High by Siddean Munro
Hand & Feet appliers:[PXL] Creations – [ PXL ] Slink Hand & Feet Appliers NAT by Hart Larsson
Eyes: Amacci Gaze Eyes – Ocean Blue by Carina Larsen
Lashes: Mon Cheri *MC* “Falsies” Eyelash by Freya Oliveri

Flat Ebbe Linden by Strawberry Singh

Pose & basket: .::Poise::.Poses and Props Poise_Easter_1 by Mojo Skytower (currently closed)

Photo taken using the LumiPro HUD