Safari Goes Looking - a little more

 John Snow: Ahhh, glad you made it. I'm told by my old colleagues at Westminster Medical School that you are one of their finest graduates, Stephen. I am in need of a skilled yet young-minded doctor to help me with an investigation of utmost importance. Do you feel up to it? (say "yes" in local chat).

Cholera, and OnLook might not sound like an appealing mix but for this week's Safari it was a wild ride through space and time!

Our second stop was a big change of theme, but also extremely well thought out. We went to REDGrid, which is the virtual world belonging to Ball State University. Dr Stephen Gasior uses the 3D environment to help students learn about investigating epidemics to figure out the cause.
Getting to REDgrid was no picnic, because the hypergrid was spitting back landmarks - but as you all know by now our Safari notecard includes the low-tech HG Address for each destination.

 At REDGrid on a sim named after pioneering medical detective Dr Snow.

Fuschia and me blend right in with the Victorian ambience

It's called 'Virtual Epidemiology Investigation' - a series of NPCs explain about the theories held in Victorian times about what caused cholera. The visit starts in the classroom with the received wisdom of the time, and with the help of a HUD, follows in the footsteps of Dr Snow by allowing the student to interview various sufferers and survivors of cholera, trying to understand the anatomy of the outbreak. It's interactive learning - you're meant to respond to questions and answers given by the  NPCs. Some are funny, some poignant, all very lifelike!

Death and the Diva

 We keep going back although I'm not sure any of us become any the wiser. 
Art Blue's latest theater production is called "True Death" and the Safari was invited to load test the sim. 

Load testing, that's something we do understand, and we're good at it! This was week 68 of the Safari, so you might say we're experts at this point.

Dancing with Doro

 Feriae Quinquennial and 1001 Nights are two wonderful regions by Dorothea Lundquist on OSGrid and really they're two of the regions we should be most proud of for their fabulous atmosphere and the quality of the textures and constructions. This was the first half of our trip, you'll find the photos of our second stop in the matching post called 'Mill-er Time' - a punny reference to Graham Mills, who puts up with a lot of ill-advised humor. He's a good guy.

Feriae in the mist

 First up, the is a Roman themed build, Feriae Quinquennial which is a reference to the 5 year festival for OSGrid, no mean feat with all the turmoil of testing, crashes, competition and so on. OSgrid is going strong now, better than before and we can only hope that things continue to improve, and grow. It will do, if we encourage and support the devs, so i guess we need to be nice!

Mill-er Time

Graham Mills has a lot to put up with. He's a man with a huge amount of knowledge to share with the community, and along we come and just stare and joke about the whole time.

Graham Mills

Graham Mills has been on Kitely for a couple of years now, previously his builds were located on New World Grid. He likes the stability of Kitely and the opportunity it gives him to turn into 3d models all manner of science - related builds that astound and delight for their intricacy, beauty and the lessons they teach.

Every time I see one of Graham's builds it's even bigger, better, Mill-er than the last, and always making science more approachable. The guy works hard to get the message across!

Ad Astra

 Dorrena's World is one of the oldest grids in Opensim and the oldest continually active German Grid with a stable and welcoming community and a wealth of lovely sims full of detail freebies, art, and historical information - not to mention clubs and dance halls. The grid takes its name from Dorena Verne, pictured here.

It happens, sometimes, that a sim decided that, no matter what you want to do, the Landing Point is   underwater. Probably everyone has had this experience, and no matter how many times you restart or re-jig the sim, that wretched Landing Point won't budge.

Series Stuff

 Just two stops this week on Safari, as it's high summer here in the Northern Hemisphere and lots of people are away from their desks and desktops.

Joe Builder welcomed the Safari back for some racing on his Mad Max sim.  Joe's grid Lost World is huge, and he has made dozens of different regions, in a variety of styles, many inspired by movies like Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Star Trek and more. Other builds include a biker's hangout, a fantasy world of elves and fairies, underwater adventure places and more. Not all sims are online at the same time, but if you visit his Welcome sim you will find all the portals and can either sample what is up, or Im Joe and ask him to open a region for you to visit.

Safari Back on Path

After a little bit of a break, Safari returned with a roar this week. 

We went first to a destinations right here on OSGrid. If you're ever visited the iconic Maritime Club venue, which has regular Sunday night music events, you'll know our first host. 

Stiofain MacTomais invited us to discover more about Irish culture, and the changing face of Belfast from the photos of Frankie Quinn The build records some of the city's lost landmarks and reminds us of its rich heritage.