Lost Light

One of the giants of virtual worlds, Lumiere Noir, died about a year ago, on August 10, 2015. He had been ill for quite some time, but his passing came suddenly, sending shockwaves through the community of virtual worlds where he had long been revered as an inspirational educator for hundreds of builders. 

Lumiere Noir on Craft Grid in 2011

The expression 'Ivory Tower' was coined in 1837 by the French writer Sainte-Beuve and it means a frame of mind, or sometimes a place of scholarship and learning, that holds itself aloof from the less educated, everyday happenings. That's rather ironic, considering Lumiere's lifelong desire to inform and assist others to be part of the building community.

Craft Turns Four

Tonight was the big party on Craft, celebrating the grid's fourth anniversary with a building competition, a ceremony and of course a knees-up. There were 23 of us, by the end, and I don't think a single one of us didn't get kicked off the grid, or the sim, at least once during the night, although (as always happens) it got much much easier once the speeches were over and the prizes all handed out.
At the beginning though, the lag was eye-watering, and did scary things to some of the guests.
I've never seen a clustersit quite like this one.

Taking photos was challenging, between the clouds and the mesh and the grays popping in and out but it felt all very familiar and deliciously nostalgic. 

About an hour after I got there, the prizes were awarded. Debbie Lighthouse took third place, Rumegusc Altamura came in second and Dade Catronis got first place...  but they're all winners on Craft, not because the grid doesn't occasionally shrug everyone into temporary oblivion, but because when it does, you just have to go back. That is the secret of the grid, the sense of loving community, and they know it.
Tosha Tyran: Craft is the place where I feel at home, can wander about, meet the nicest bunch of people and can build all I want to build :) and I love it to be absolutely non-commercial! I am here since the very beginning and have seen it grow and become the nice place it is now - and I feel very proud of having participated in the making of this wonderful grid.

Another long-time resident is Ger Orsini, and he is proud of the way the grid has been growing, especially since this last summer, and has been sought out by educational initiatives like edu3d.
Ger Orsini: Craft is what Italy ought to be like, and not just in this time of economic crisis. Here we help one another!

Prize-winning teacher Michelle Tech seen above has been here three years and loves it too. Hey try out your translating skills! There will be a quiz at the end.
Michelle Tech: Io sono entrata qui in corrispondenza del primo anniversario. C'era una grande esposizione dei lavori e subito ho capito l'ottimo livello tecnico quiil mio ingresso qui ha fatto si che potessi utilizzare i mondi virtuali per la didattica. C'era una grande esposizione dei lavori e subito ho capito l'ottimo livello tecnico qui. Il mio ingresso qui ha fatto si che potessi utilizzare i mondi virtuali per la didattica perchè la comunità aveva quello spirito di condivisione delle conoscenze che mi ha aiutato.

Blogger, 'builder'  and collector Virtual Christine hasn't been here as long as many, but she's here to stay. She has a collection of Arcadia Asylum treasures that makes her the envy of the metaverse, and it's on display right here in Craft at Monte Gorgo.
virtual christine: I chose Craft, because had I not stumbled onto this grid and met GeR and Licu and Tao, I would have left OpenSim and never come back!  I have been here two years.  I have gone from having a region full of junk  to having  the first Arcadia Asylum museum in OpenSim! Craft actually donated an extra region to the museum, instead of saying 'make it smaller!!' They dumb things down and give me articles to read They never complain no matter what crazy bullshit Shawn and I try. To someone like me, with virtually no technical knowledge, Craft has been a godsend. I tell EVERYONE to try Craft first on the hypergrid. This grid has a tremendous amount of heart and soul. It is an honor to be here, with these people.

Well done, Licu and Tao. May they bask in this much deserved praise, and may their Craft go on virtually forever!
And now, some more dancing!

Inside Story

Il rimpianto è il vano pascolo di uno spirito disoccupato. 

Bisogna soprattutto evitare il rimpianto 

occupando sempre lo spirito con 

nuove sensazioni e nuove immaginazioni. 

Gabriele d'Annunzio

A Roman Count in love with Art itself, a Sicilian family at odds with destiny, a smoker struggling wittily with his conscience, and a madman who returns to sanity, only to find himself trapped in an elaborate hoax. Four turn-of-the-20th century tales from Italian Literature with one thing in common - they have all been brought to life in Craft.
Marina Ninza teaches literature at the Ernesto Balducci Institute in Pontassieve, near Florence. In Italy, kids have options, when it comes to what kind of liceo or High School they attend; glamorous sounding options like classico, linguistico, artistico. The Ernesto Balducci is a liceo scientifico. Kids who choose this option are more into chemistry than classics, as you can imagine, so Marina's challenge is to find a way to get her students interested in texts that matter.
Marina Ninza:  We've used a lot of approaches to present the material, including ebooks and video games. I had the idea to recreate the settings in 3D. We're just getting started, it's a joint venture with the Computer department. This year, there were only a couple of computers and four avatars for the students to use in the classroom, so it's not as hand-on as we would like, and we live in the country, so a lot of the students don't have broadband at home.
The four builds are on sim Pindaro, donated by Craft owners Tao Quan and Licu Rau. Tao took charge of building  the house with the Nespolo tree, from verga's  I Malavoglia. The famous courtyard is full of charming little details, like the hen house, the bread oven, and round fishing nets.

Tao Quan: I'd never heard of the book before I started this build, but there is a lot of information on the internet and the teacher helped me too. The children aren't online very much, and are still learning cam skills, so if you look at the garden, you may see some of the vegetables floating above the ground!