Our Lady's Futurecast

   With the elections and all the turkeys behind us, we begin looking forward to the holiday season and the end of another year. December is a time for recalling things from our past and making hopeful predictions of what the future will bring.

   This year had plenty of ups and downs, but we also had two rewarding, memorable experiences. For a half century, I have been an amateur esoteric scientist. I took delight in telling friends things that science didn't know, but would soon discover. My favorite stories were 1) that the true shape of the universe would be found to be a giant donut and 2) that scientists would soon begin to prove there is a god (or supreme designer). Admittedly, these are some fantastic topics, but in SL, with it's preponderance of sci-fi nerds, they are great "ice-breakers" and have generated many great chat sessions. This year, I found a number of videos, on line, that science was now beginning to echo my theories. One group of scientists had even shown where our galaxy, the Milky Way, was located on the donut. My joy was short lived, when I remembered that I had never written them down and so could not prove that I had predicted them in advance. Oh well, there's still a silver lining. Now that science was accepting my introductory logic, I can point out some of the logical extensions to the theories. Hopefully, by getting it on paper this time, I can enlighten the world or, at the very least, entertain the nerds among our readers.

   We aren't trying to write a book here, so we will just give some short thumbnails of the theories that we think science will be discovering in the near future.

THE MATRIX

   There is Energy and there is Form, a.k.a. Matter. We keep finding increasingly smaller bits of matter, but there seems to be no end in sight as too how small or big matter can be. Where is the dividing line between Energy and Matter? If Energy can not be created or destroyed, it is Eternal. What is causing the eternal to be confined by the dimensions of time/space? The connection is neither and both finite and infinite. It is only a mental image. Science will come up with a math formula that will take a whole blackboard to write, but this same thought can also be expressed in the form of a simple, short sentence, such as "To be or not to be..." or "I am becoming that which I will become". Words and numbers aren't even required, as long as you "get the picture" in your mind.

THE FOURTH DIMENSION

   If you ask most people what the fourth dimension is, they will, incorrectly, say Time. If the first dimension is "here to there", the second dimension is perpendicular to it or "left and right". The third dimension will be perpendicular to the first and second or "up and down". Keeping with this series, the fourth dimension will be perpendicular to all of the first three or "bigger and smaller", or Scale. This understanding of dimensions may seem unimportant, but as the world's thinking begins to take it into account, many new doors will open to science.

DARK MATTER

   Science observes the behavior of the matter in the universe and finds it behaves like there is much more matter than they can see. Science will soon discover that it is like the matter that we can see, but with an added twist, which they will call "Nutation" or wobble. If you spin energy, like a top, that spinning form is what we call matter. If we could "freeze-frame" these units of matter, we would see that the spinning energy is never evenly distributed around the center of rotation. The imbalance of energy is like putting a bowling ball in a washing machine, during the spin cycle. Every unit of matter has a slight wobble to it. Although the frequency or rate of nutation can have a wide spectrum of speeds, there are certain speeds that will be harmonically in tune with other speeds and they will stand apart, like notes in a musical scale. You could be standing next to a person or object and not be able to see it, if the matter in your eyeballs is wobbling at a different rate than the matter that the person or object is made from. Like the spokes on a bicycle wheel, they are there, but you can’t see them. Operators of web fed printing presses, like those used for printing newspapers, use strobe lights to see the printed images as they speed by. Science will soon develop machines to view other forms of matter. Individual humans can develop the ability to see other forms of matter, because their bodies are made up of matter of the different nutational rates. There are various yoga exercises that can help develop an awareness of other grades of matter.

SPEED OF LIGHT

   The speed of light is not a constant. It is already known that light slows down as it gets near mass. What is yet to be discovered is that light also changes speed relative to the scale of the matter being looked at. If you could shrink down in size, to where a single quark is the size of the whole universe, it would take light the same amount of time to cross from one side of the quark to the other as it does to cross the entire universe. Scientist will figure this out, using theory, because they can never build actual machines that can zoom in to the needed frame of reference. Thought is the only thing in the universe that can travel faster than light.

Sha

Paradise Eiland

   Ever since I wrote about Creations for Parkinson's, I have been attending their Sunday night angel's dance. Several friends, including some of the other Newser Reporters, also make frequent trips to Creations. I have also made many new friends there. Last Sunday, Maia Antarra asked me if I would be interested in writing about the coming opening of a new healing center which she was involved with. This new center, "Paradise Eiland Retreat & Event Center" uses non-medical, New Age therapies, like Reiki, Tai Chi, meditation and sound to restore balance and health. I found this topic very interesting, for two reasons. I have been looking into the idea that Second Life can provide real life therapy. Add to this, in the last few months I have developed a problem with poor circulation and pain in my feet and legs. I have very little faith in medical doctors and have been trying to book an appointment in a RL healing center, like the one Maia was describing in SL. I was given a LM and told to contact the owner, Rod Eiland. When our Sunday event ended, I headed for Paradise. In addition to reporting on it, I was hoping to offer myself as proof that these virtual reality techniques do, in fact, work.

   The landing put me right in front of the healing center. While waiting for things to rez, I noticed and enjoyed the soothing music stream. The peace was enhanced as natural scenery and classic Greek architecture came into view.

   Entering the healing building, I found a group prayer/invocation animation and some massage tables, with animation balls for the healers to use. The walls were decorated with iconography from various world religions. From experience, I knew that healing requires the patient to believe in the effectiveness of the treatment. I could tell that this environment would be very believable, for most people. I went back outside to explore more of the center and spotted Rod Eiland was on the West end of the sim with another member of the healing staff. I found them dancing on a beautiful glass dance floor. Introducing myself, I learned that they had already been told to expect me. The three of us talked, until Rod's assistant had to log off. Rod then offered to give me a private tour. The center occupies the Southern half of the Sugar Valley sim http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sugar%20Valley/193/17/23

   Our first stop was the Tai Chi area, on the North side of the dance floor. Rod explained that his specialty was sound healing, using brass bowls and gongs and he offered a free session. He said it would work best if I wore headphones, so I dimmed my lights, lit a candle and put my headset on. I could feel the sound vibrating, all the way down to my solar plexus and, for the first time in weeks, was not having any shooting pains from my left foot.

   I made an appointment to return the following night for a full treatment. Our timing was off, so I missed the scheduled time and spent time getting more details of the upcoming grand opening.

    The center will open on November 26, with opening ceremony beginning at 1pm SLT, with the release of a flock of eagles. Technically speaking, I can't tell you that these healing techniques will cure anything. I can say that, based on experience in SL and RL, there is great potential for real healing here. These things also take time, so don't expect any instant miracle cures on your first visit. I'm going to keep my walking cane handy, until I've been to a few more sessions.

   At this point of the story, I would normally be telling readers to come have a great adventure. What I will say is, if you or a friend have been feeling your light has dimmed, you owe it to yourself to explore Paradise Eiland and see if they can turn up the light and get you in the pink.

Sha

Seduction

   While scanning the World Map for interesting, unusual sim groups, we came across this cluster of 30 sims. The individual sims were laid out in such a way as to allow one to travel to all points in the cluster, while being spread out over a larger area of the grid than a compact grouping would cover. It was also clear that every sim also contained water areas that made it obvious that the preferred mode of transportation is by boat. We have a collection of boats, but thought it best to make a quick visit to determine what the rules are and what kind of craft would fit best in the area. Zooming in on the map, we notice that the sim which is fourth from the top and second from the right is the only one without any water of it's own and has a darker texture at the center. This seemed like a good clue that this sim might be an administration and gathering area, so it was selected as a starting point for our adventure. Arriving on a beach, on the West side of the sim, we open "About Land" and read up on what the area is about. The entire cluster is known as "Seduction Estates" and is dedicated to selling or renting residential properties. There are no shops or dance clubs or other public gathering spots. This region is for rich, hedonistic, clothing optional adults to have their mansions in a "Tropical Paradise", kind of like a "Berverly Hills on the sea". The rules say no child avatars are allowed, but there is no mention, for or against, of furries being permitted. We played it safe, by going as a 4' tall adult human female. To keep up with the Jones's, we decided to get an inexpensive motor yacht and found one at the Marketplace, for only $75.

   We rezzed our yacht at Sunny Beach, to get a feel for how it handles. Satisfied that it would be a good craft for the adventure, we dressed in a yellow polka-dot bikini and a modesty top, to give us the rich girl, playing with "Daddy's Money" look.

   We plotted a course that would begin at the Northeast sim and would take us through all thirty sims, using the public waterways. Since most of the properties have security orbs, we wanted to avoid getting sent home, so most of our exploring would be done by zooming and panning our camera. 

   To aid navigation, we made good use of both the World Map and the Mini Map. Unlike most of the places that we have visited, the world map, at this location, showed all the properties that are for sale or rent in yellow. This would help us locate and price the available properties.

   Although we never found any offices for administration and land sales, we did discover the only gathering spot on a hill in the center of the sim we did our first research on, Seduction Isle. This "club" has a stage, with piano, and three dance floors, we assumed for couples dances, but there was nobody there during our adventure.

   Each of the many individual properties is a small island, surrounded by rocks, waterfalls and trees, for privacy. Most have a large mansion in the center. I was impressed by several that even had the nautical equivalent of a drive way, to moor boats off the main water ways. Few of the mansions had a lived in look, so we began to think, if you've seen one cookie cutter mansion, you've seen them all, until we spotted an old, derelict sailing ship.

   The ship and nearby building are probably not a residence. It seemed more like a local park, the sort of place that young adults might gather, to be away from the eyes of elders, while enjoying forbidden fruits.

   Speaking of being unseen, we noticed that the number of people, on all of the sims, was highest after 9p.m., but even then was only a few individuals and couples and they were mostly up in skyboxes. We had hoped to find some residents that could be zoomed in on, to check out what the natives were wearing, but they seemed to vanish, each time we were near.

   Following the World Map, we tracked down the three property sizes that are offered at Seduction. All of the properties require a one time payment of L$500 plus a weekly tier payment, based on size. They each come with a house, which can be replaced with your own. Houses provided count against the prims allowed for each property. A 1/16th sim is $1550 per week, with 460 prims. 1/8th sim is $2500, 900 prims. 1/4 sims are $2900, 930 prims.

   Personally, as an efficient shopper, I enjoy a higher quality home and community, for half the price, so I'm not planning on moving. In SL, we can become anything we desire. If you feel seduced by Seduction Estates, I wish you all the pleasure desired. Live there or not, we found it to be a fun adventure. We navigated through 30 sims, in a shiny new mega motor yacht and it was like a Hollywood bus tour of the homes of movie stars.

   Come, enjoy a tropical vacation and let your inner, petite, cuter than dimples on a bunny, rich white girl come out to play, Queen For A Day.

   We already know what all the guys want,

Sha