Category Archives: Sunklands

November 8, 2012 · 5:39 am

New Pietmond

*New* Pietmond is shaping up. I see now that Carcass-One, the virtual village I created and owned in May and June of this year, was probably just a warmup of sorts for this 3rd version Pietmond. The giant X shaped gallery (X Spot) has been re-rezzed and set on the ground this time, at the very southern limit of Pietmond where the Otaki Gorge sim borders Kopikopiko to the south. Kopikopiko, by the way, is another New Zealand related name, as are many sims in Sunklands as a whole, like Otaki Gorge itself. I had to edit the X Spot down a bit from its original Carcass-1 version, but the essence is the same. And now, underneath the X gallery in the open spots formed in the spaces between the arms of the overall “x” shape, I’ve created New Pietmond, or the apparent center of such. I believe a focus will be on the SoSo Gallery (formerly SoSo East), which will still contain the Oblong series of my Art 10×10, probably the most important and consistent series in this opus. Working on the assoc. “Floydadada” text seems a given… hafta pull that out of mothballs soon. Other structures have been incorporated into New Pietmond already, including the econo slum tower (called Gallery in the Rocks when it held fellow syncher Stegokitty’s art), Home Orange, and others. Very exciting! And it also reminds me of Lion’s Roar and its protective, overhanging wall, with the giant “x” filling in for the wall. There’s actually 2 “x”s in the shape, woven together to form a more solid mass. Anyway, everything it being raised to another level, virtually speaking. Pietmond is reborn a 3rd time, it seems.

Tidbits.

Water obelisk from Runescape:

http://misc.thefullwiki.org/Water_Obelisk

http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Water_Obelisk_Island

Compare:

—–

Looking up other Pietmond related names in atlases and came across SoSo Springs in Brewster County, Texas, more commonly known as Pena Blanco Springs. This appears to be the only significant place named Soso outside those directly connected with the Soso, Mississippi village. Quite amazing: a swimming pool formed from the spring waters was the landing spot of a 150+ lb. meteorite in 1946. Article here:

http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM32/AM32_354.pdf

INrnooucrtoN
As far as known, man has never constructed a device in which to trap
a meteorite falling to the earth. Had he done so, possibly he could not
have improved upon the swimming pool at the headquarters of the Gage
ranch about 9.5 miles southeast of Marathon in Brewster County, Texas.
This swimming pool received the Pefla Blanca Spring meteorite with a
violent splash at about 1:20 p.u. on August 2, 1946. The meteorite is
named from the spring which forms the swimming pool and which is
an historic landmark in the region. The exact location is longitude
103″7.l’ west longitude 3007.5′ north latitude. The unusual location of
the fall, the fact that the meteorite fell within a few hundred feet of
twenty-four people, and its unusual petrographic character appear to
warrant a fairly complete account….

http://www.encyclopedia-of-meteorites.com/meteorite.aspx?id=18786

—–

Hmmm, well we can go several directions in Pietmond storytelling with this one. First off, Obelisk Pond is the site of a *meteor or meteorite fall*, and the obelisk represents the meteor itself, or marks the location of the fall. Perhaps the falls behind the pond represent the fall of the meteorite. Like the Pena Blanco Springs meteor, our Pietmond meteor, perhaps nicknamed SoSo, fell into this body of water on the western edge of the village. Perhaps it created the pool in the first place. Or it could have been so large that the obelisk was made from it, or at least the obelisk *contains* the meteor or meteorite in some way. I also think back to a realtor I was renting from in Aotearoa who jokingly said to me that all these sinks in the area, including the Aoteaora Sink we were jointly staring into at the time, were perhaps created by meteors. Did the SoSo Meteor create the Pietmond sinkhole itself?? A possibility (!)

http://www.meteorite.com/meteorite-gallery/meteorite-pages/Pena_Blanca_Spring.htm

Might even have some kind of SoSo Meteor gallery based on the pictures in that page linked to above.

—–

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradise_Syndrome

Meanwhile, over the two-month journey back to the planet, Spock works on the translation of the obelisk’s symbols. He theorizes the obelisk may have been placed on the planet as an “asteroid deflector” built by the ancient Preservers who are believed to have seeded the galaxy with humans, particularly groups that may have been in danger of dying out thousands of years ago. The asteroid deflector was designed to protect them in a high-risk star system. Spock concludes that the device has ceased to work properly. Spock determines that the only hope of saving the planet is to somehow activate the deflector. He eventually realizes that the symbols aren’t words but musical notes; a possible activation code of some kind.

So with this new tie-in, perhaps the obelisk of Pietmond likewise deflects asteroids, perhaps put in place after the original asteriods created the Sunklands sink. Or it may be a model of an original, larger meteor-deflecting obelisk. Words as musical notes…. interesting.

Also interesting is this conjunction of names in Washington state:

http://bakerblinker.wordpress.com/?s=stranger

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, Jeogeot, MAPS, Pietmond-, Sunklands, Texas, Washington

November 6, 2012 · 7:46 am

Return of Pietmond — fur sure (!)

… except I might call it New Pietmond. Here’s Ol’ Running Baker testing out part of the Sink Rim Trail running behind the Rose Cottage on the 512 he just purchased. But that purchase turned out to be just a prelude of things to come…

… because the next day he bought a parcel 16 times as large on the other side of the sink from here: an 8016 square meter one to be exact. So Baker Bloch is back in the business of virtual townmaking fur sure.

An event that made the purchase much easier to choose was the sudden deletion of Baker’s Siliconicus Temple of TILE and Toxic Art Gallery, which have been in what I call Philo for almost a year. The land was wiped and set up for auction, but I have no desire to purchase land over there now. I have Pietmond again! Sort of.

Obvious difference from previous Pietmond versions (if this is truly a new version): I don’t own the land in the actual center of the sink. For this reason, I’m hesitant to rez the Temple of TILE in the new town, because that’s traditionally associated with the very bottom of the Otaki Gorge sink. But it doesn’t seem right to not have the temple *anywhere* in virtual reality. Let’s talk to Hucka…

Hucka D.:

Congrats, baker. Yes, you weren’t suppose to wait any longer for the Pietmond revival. This one will be different.

bb:

It was the same as before — same ol’ song and dance. First I explore Teepot and the possibilities there before moving on over to Pietmond. This happened in 2010, 2011, and now 2012. I see keeping this Pietmond for about 3 or 4 months, or until Spring hiking season begins in late Feb. or maybe early to mid- March. Must get my money’s worth out of it. Hucka D.? It seems he’s gone.

Return of Pietmond — Kinda

Baker Bloch sits under the lower wall of Mysten Parva, one of the twin cities of Mysten in Lower Austra owned and created by psimagus Hax. “Is this really my virtual home?” he might ask himself while sitting here. Turns out it’s probably not.

Soon Baker began work on illegals builds again in the old Teepot area, just like he did in the Mysten/Siliconicus/Goremoor area earlier this year. A forest with a considerable number of plant species suddenly springs up next to the version of the House of Truth already there, also containing a shed, several monuments, and some other, assorted objects Baker found in his inventory and thought worthy of inclusion. So is Baker destined to return to Teepot? Turns out that’s probably not going to happen either.

A perceived center within this new forest… really an extension of the forest I already set up there around the House of Truth 2 years ago now.

Although severely depopulated from when I first came upon it, Sunklands still retains some classic spots, such as Q’s Gas n’ Glass in the Pudding Hill sim making up part of Big Sink (largest of 6 identified sinks of Sunklands). I’d also like to write soon about Kidd Road now connecting Big Sink with the Blackmount Sink in essence, which is not Linden built but privately made. That’s actually something of an improvement over the old Sunklands, acting as a unifying artery of transportation cutting across its heartland. Although tenuous, Sunklands still shows promise.

Which brings us to *Pietmond*. Yes, Pietmond has been reborn and now represents the true virtual home of Baker Bloch, not Lower Austra, not Teepot, not Big Sink even. But since Pietmond is in Sunklands as well, Baker Bloch is a Sunklander once more. Ich bin ein Sunklander (etc.). And probably not by coincidence, I’ve basically decided to create a new domain name called sunklands.com. Probably should go ahead and register it — I was kind of surprised the name was still available to be honest.

For the rebirth, we start on the western edge, where I revamped a small park containing a central pond and waterfall surrounded by small hillocks. Since creating this park about 2 years ago, someone — perhaps about a year ago I suppose — decided to insert a plain prim (“plywood”) block on basically the top of the waterfall, of about 10mx10mx20m dimensions. Ugly, obviously — ruined the effect. So although I couldn’t move or delete the thing, I decided to disguise it as a building, or the structure I’ve elsewhere called Home Orange, and used as my main office space in given locations. Unfortunately since the hidden prim is solid and not phantom, I can’t actually use the building. But it certainly looks better than before. Because the building looks kind of odd sitting on top of the waterfall, I also decided to add an obelisk to the tableau, and in the center of the fronting pool itself. This helps hide the rather incongruent juxtaposition of building and waterfall, I hope.

Baker Bloch here sits in the Orange House (not to be confused with Home Orange!), which is another new edition to Pietmond and perched on the ridge above the aforementioned park — I guess I’ll call it Obelisk Pond Park. Nice view of the park from the lower floor here. Again, Orange House has been in a considerable number of virtual towns of my making now, including the oldest and most long term version of Pietmond, where it acted as Baker’s office for several months.

Another obelisk/monument has been inserted to the south of the pool as well (pictured above the edge of Baker Bloch’s couch here), making the appellation Obelisk Pond all the more appropriate.

Newly positioned Orange House seen over top of Peter SoSo’s grave and between House Greenup (right) and House of Truth (left). The House of Truth, in new version Pietmond, has replaced the circular gazebo formerly situated at the same spot. However, the House of Truth sat on this spot during most of the classic Pietmond phase, making the switch a natural. This gazebo would shortly return to Pietmond, as we’ll soon see.

Now to the eastern side of Pietmond, where more significant changes have taken place. So first I worked on the westernmost parts of Pietmond and then then easternmost parts, seeming to need to reinforce the frame for the whole. First off, I rebuilt the old Pietmond Heights Town Hall (left) which had fallen into disrepair in the meantime and was, for example, missing the whole front wall. Now it’s in better shape, although the interior is still unfinished, and likely will remain so. It’s more a historic landmark for certain now, which is fine for me. Next, we have an Arcadia Asylum built shop in the left background, where formerly no building sat. It doesn’t have a history yet. In the center of the picture we find the return of the “Brash” statue to eastern Pietmond, but further east than when it found a home in the center of Pietmond Heights, as seen here in this 2011 Baker Blinker Blog post. I do not own the land at the center of Pietmond Heights now, although it is for sale and perhaps I can procure it later on (1024 parcel). Anyway, around Brash are pieces of the old Newton-Jasper memorial park also present in older versions of Pietmond, including a map of Jasper County, Illinois and a ribbed fountain with a deciduous tree of uncertain species growing beside it. Brash’s head, which he is standing on (as in a head stand) is basically covered by a blue flower bush — concealment meaning unknown for now. Is Brash also *bash*ful?

To the right we find the moat surrounded Smelly’s Bar, present in Pietmond since its 2010 beginnings, and then another new edition in Pietmond beside it in the below picture: the Sync Lair Gallery, first found in Maebaleia’s Carcass-One village earlier this year.

The Rose Cottage, another Fatima Ur creation like House Greenup and House of Truth but smaller and cosier in design, has been erected on the only land I actually owned in Pietmond at the time this picture was taken. This may be the site of Baker Bloch’s new, official office, but I’m still uncertain of that, and another candidate has especially surfaced in the meantime just across the sink from here. All is still in development.

The handstanding Brash seen in the distance from behind Goldie, making a very nice set of east-west bookends to Pietmond.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, Jeogeot, Lower Austra, Nautilus, Pietmond-, Sunklands, Teepot+

October 27, 2012 · 7:22 am

Lion’s Roar Tomorrow…

… and will probably just turn over the bottles to keep them from breaking, along with taking down the 37 pieces of track. Just like with Billfork, I can rebuild all this later. I still have some bottles set up in Billfork, but they are reversed and stuck in the ground itself. The ones at Lion’s Roar are standing upright.

The problem? Why Hurricane Sandy of course. There’s a very good chance for some accumulation of snow (a rarity even in these higher elevations for October) and also high winds are expected. I can’t take a chance with my bottles smashing. Good news out of this? I think I can just leave my pots and non-glass objects where they are there.

So winter is almost here, at least an early taste. Batten down the hatches as they say!

—–

Knock:

The town will still be here, as they say. You don’t need the physical town to have a town. Lion’s Roar will always be there.

bb:

Thanks Knock.

Knock:

Wallace3, please.

Wallace3:

Sorry[ once more]. Soooo….

Knock:

We must have addition spirits, as I think Hucka D., your Hucka Doobie, would agree.

Wallace3:

Return to Second Life.

Knock:

Probably. Any ideas?

Wallace3:

I’m from Jeogeot, so I just could establish a base there again.

What I “have” still:

Am I still a refuge from Jeogeot? Pietmond has been destroyed for 9 months now. Boris was very short lived. I should ask Knock — as Wallace3 I mean. But I think he would encourage me to return to Jeogeot, to write the history of that continent. Can I do this from Nautilus instead? No, he would probably answer. So I have several options. The most attractive, actually, may be Noru again. The Centre.