Contribute to an Upcoming Health and Wellness Shareout!

Hey all, I'm doing a 20 minute presentation at HealthCamp Nashville this coming Saturday, and I welcome the addition of any information that is relevant to the issue of Health and Wellness as it is addressed in Virtual Worlds. Just add to my Wallwisher wall, which will serve as my presentation vehicle. I reserve the privilege of edit, of course...

Linden Lab Goes Green!

A new post by FJ Linden at the Second Life Blog details Linden Lab's (notice that's a possessive, not a plural! I see sooooo many instances of Linden Lab being called "Linden Labs," which is purportedly a touchy point at the corporate offices. Especially if communicating with them, and also when communicating about them, use the right form--the singular "Lab!") efforts to conserve energy and boost power capacity on their servers.  Its well worth a read. 

I wondered what the power consumption of Linden Lab servers is and went looking to discover some kind of answer...

At the risk of being accused of "quoting the quoter," I cite the Second Life entry at the P2p Foundation:

"He quotes Philip Rosedale, the head of Linden Lab, the company behind the virtual world: "We're running at full power all the time, so we consume an enormous amount of electrical power in co-location facilities [where they house their 4,000 server computers] ... We're running out of power for the square feet of rack space that we've got machines in. We can't for example use [blade] servers right now because they would simply require more electricity than you could get for the floor space they occupy." ... If there are on average between 10,000 and 15,000 avatars "living" in Second Life at any point, that means the world has a population of about 12,500. Supporting those 12,500 avatars requires 4,000 servers as well as the 12,500 PCs the avatars' physical alter egos are using. Conservatively, a PC consumes 120 watts and a server consumes 200 watts. Throw in another 50 watts per server for data-center air conditioning. So, on a daily basis, overall Second Life power consumption equals:

(4,000 x 250 x 24) + (12,500 x 120 x 24) = 60,000,000 watt-hours or 60,000 kilowatt-hours

Per capita, that's:

60,000 / 12,500 = 4.8 kWh

Which, annualized, gives us 1,752 kWh. So an avatar consumes 1,752 kWh per year. By comparison, the average human, on a worldwide basis, consumes 2,436 kWh per year. So there you have it: an avatar consumes a bit less energy than a real person, though they're in the same ballpark." (http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/12/avatars_consume.php)

Now, what??? Does that mean that I'm doubling my carbon footprint by playing Second Life? Not if you really look at the math, which fails to take into account that I'm in real life all the time and only in Second Life for an hour or less a day (most days:). Still, it's food for thought, isn't it? Hmmmm....

I guess, actually, Phillip Linden is attempting to spread the responsiblity evenly amongst the avatar population, which isn't really fair. This is not to disclaim my own portion of the power consumption responsibility. It has me thinking. You?

Henny at VSTE on Quest Atlantis and CSO Talk Talks--A Busy Monday Night!

A GREAT session last night at VSTE's weekly get-together in SL, followed by an intimate and fun watch of a GREAT TED video. What does TED stand for, anyway? [opens a tab to google the answer]. Oh, "Technology, Entertainment, and Design." Hmph, learn somethin' every day!

The speaker last night was my good friend Jeff Agemenoni, aka Henny Zimer in SL. He appeared dressed in an avatar he affected early on in his Second Life "career," that of a diminuitive pizza maker. His topic was Quest Atlantis, one that is dear to my heart. I led my own 4th graders into QA this year for the first time and it's been absolutely stellar, and in very complex ways.  Today, I had a student proudly smile at me and share that she started the newly enabled NASA Quest this very morning, beaming "Mr. Merrick, I'm working with NASA!" 

Here's a slideshow of three pics I snapped during the presentation, which I hope I'll be stealing for our Birds of a Feather at NECC. Jeff and I are generally of like mind on this sharing thing, but he clearly put so much effort into his presentation, which should be available soon at his blog, "From Mr. A. to Mr. Z," that he may get possessive about it. I predict not. :)

I had to leave before Henny had completely finished, but as you can see from the pics, his session was well-attended. He did a great great job! When I can get the links to his presentation archive I'll slap them in here!

CSO Talk Talks is an odd thing, a simple chance for educators to meet and watch a TED video chosen by vote, and during it to take advantage of the built-in backchat opportunities that SL's text chat feature provide. I plan to build it slowly (there's so much going on), experimenting with some different times, exploring options to publicize it, and nurturing it as if I were blowing gently on a handful of kindling glowing red with potential flame. All the chat is at the CSO Talk Talks wiki, along with a little slideshow from that gentle event. Suffice it to say that we overcame recurring technological difficulties to enjoy a wonderful 18 minutes with Margaret Wertheim, creator of a giant collaborative project to create and display a full-sized coral reef made by volunteers solely by crochet. Yup, needles and yarn.

Mark Your Virtual Calendar--May 11, 6pm SLT!

CSO TalkTalks opens quietly for a FIFTH friendly shared experience amongst science educators on Monday, May 11, at 6 pm SLT! You don't have to be a science teacher, Just a teacher interested in learning and sharing!

Sometime between now and then, please visit and when you rez in click on the Vanderbilt teleporter. Once at the CSO building, enter and vote for the TED video you'd like to share and talk about. Then we'll see you Monday night at 6 pm SLT to view and chat! Come early! Voting ends at 6:05 and the video airs promptly at 6:10! Chatting allowed in text during the event--ENCOURAGED, in fact! Come join us: You KNOW you want to make time to watch and share. You'll logoff all the better for it!

Here's a SLurl! While you're there feel free to look around the Center HQ!

Here are the 4 videos from which we'll choose one, or two if we're lucky, for Monday, May 4, 2009, along with their descriptions at TED.com! Can't come Monday night? Watch them at TED by clicking on their names below, all by your lonesome--but I guarantee it won't be as fun!

At the CSO HQ, click the red square for Joann Kuchera-Morin:

Joann Kuchera-Morin demos the AlloSphere, a new way to see, hear and interpret scientific data. Dive into the brain, feel electron spin, hear the music of the elements ... and detect previously unseen patterns that could lead to new discoveries.

Select the green square for David Bolinsky:

Medical animator David Bolinsky presents 3 minutes of stunning animation that show the bustling life inside a cell.

Pick the yellow square for Margaret Wertheim:

Margaret Wertheim leads a project to re-create the creatures of the coral reefs using a crochet technique invented by a mathematician -- celebrating the amazements of the reef, and deep-diving into the hyperbolic geometry underlying coral creation.

Or choose the blue square for Tim Ferriss:

From the EG conference: Productivity guru Tim Ferriss' fun, encouraging anecdotes show how one simple question -- "What's the worst that could happen?" -- is all you need to learn to do anything.

Basic Tips for n00bs from Jo Kay

This be cool. Just watch it :)

Blog-o-the-TWO-Months!

Hey, ya'll!!!

Please enjoy the RSS feed of May's Blog-o'-the-Month, Educators Coop! In an unprecedented development, The Blog-o'-the-Month for June has already been chosen. It will be The Islands of Jokaydia, due to the fact that it TIED with EC during April Voting. Monthly placement for each blog was determined by a toss of a 1922 Peace

 Silver Dollar. This means we will be voting over the next TWO months at the blog hut for July's featured blog! It also means that the transition from Jokaydia's blog to the one chosen in this voting cycle will take place dead-in-the-middle of NECC09 in Washington, D.C. Did I mention I'm going to be presenting? LOL.

Educators Coop also has won the right, should they choose to exercise it, to place the image to the right on their blog.

 

When you visit the hut you can check out the nominated blogs in a browser window whilst you enjoy a chat with your friends in Second Life!

This month we're breaking out some blogs you may or may not be familiar with. To my recollection, none has thus far been nominated. All of these recommendations, btw, came from a call to my Twitter PLN. Life(s) is good.

Help yourself to a look-see from the urls below, then simply visit the Blogger's Hut and touch the appropriate color on the polling object to vote....uh-uhhhhh, only one vote per avatar!!! Bloggers, snag the image to the right for your blogs, if ya'd like to!

   

Thumann Resources--Lisa Thumann

http://thumannresources.com/

The Power of Educational Technology--Liz B. Davis

http://edtechpower.blogspot.com/

Blog of Potential--Kathy Gryta

http://ibloghere.edublogs.org/

and

PESD Island--Noreen Strehlow

http://pesdisland.blogspot.com/

In the event of a tie I'll find some groovy randomizing SL tool to choose the winner! Any suggestions? Leave 'em in the info dropbox!

Past Features:

In a Strange Land--Iggy O et al

Second Life in New Zealand--John Waugh, Terry Neal, et al

Hey Jude!--Judy O'Connell

Learning Games--Daniel Livingstone

Learning Visions--Cammy Bean

Dr. Z Reflects--Leigh Zeitz

Hendron's Digest--John Hendron

Phasing Grace--Grace McDunnough

From Mr. A to Mr. Z--Jeff Agamenoni

Around the Corner--McGuhlin.net

Fleep's Deep Thoughts--Fleep Tuque/Chris Colling

NMC Campus--New Media Consortium

PHSPrincipal Blog--Dave Meister

Teaching Math Technology Blog--Maria Anderson

2CentsWorth--David Warlick

The Story of My Second Life--Kevin Jarrett

Oh! Second Life (now Oh!VirtualLearning!)--Scott Merrick :)