The American Chemical Society has begun development of their island. ACS will host various SL events which mirror the two RL National Meetings - these events will include poster sessions from RL presenters and a career fair. In addition, there will be a SL museum devoted to important chemistry landmarks. The grand opening will be in early April. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact Finola Graves in-world.
Visit ACS (78, 230, 26)
Submitted by Finola Graves

The Foundation for Rich Content awarded Linden grants of L$25,000 each to three proposals for the last Fall granting cycle. In addition, the grant foundation awarded L$10,000 to fund a best practices report for how to interact with rich content makers on the teen grid. A fourth proposal was awarded space on FFRC partner community Orange Island. The project selected for the land lease was called SL Storyland Tales, Mother Goose Machinima & Immersive Storytelling. All are encouraged to visit the immersive machinima set on Orange Island (Orange 2 - 212, 130, 44) FFRC is located at FFRC, Sami (215, 170, 45).
Visit Sami (215, 170, 46)
Submitted by Rocket Flasheart

Horse riding is getting as popular in Second Life as it is in real life. Being born a city dweller in real life, I had never been horse riding, but the thought of getting a horse in Second Life really appealed to me. I traveled to AKK Ranch at Aeos and was delighted to be able to interview the owners, Kristivon Kolache and her partner Spritely Pixel.
The ranch was founded in 2005 and is a well established and thriving business with approximately 500 visitors a day. Kristivon tells me that she always had a love of horses and had been sketching them in real life since she was 4 years old, she has a fleeting memory of her mother waking her up to draw a horse for someone when she was small. Spritely says that the horses in Second Life are all of Kristivon’s babies and she agrees, saying she wanted ‘bunches’ of them! Kristivon and Spritely first met 2 years ago when Spritely was looking for a horse to pull his carriage. He came across Kristivon who was building horses at her small parcel of land. Spritely is a scripter, and Kristivon needed a scripter to make her horses move, so between them they have the ideal combination of scripter and builder. Kristivon and Spritely together paved the way for horses with moving legs and flexi parts. They were the first people in Second Life to produce a horse that could actually be animated like a real one.
The horses they supply can stand, walk, trot, gallop, run in race mode, fly and bow. I went back to AKK Ranch with a friend later on to try out the demo horses and we had a great time putting the horses through their paces, we both thought that the horses were marvelous and they looked elegant as well. Kristivon tells me that the AKK was the first actual riding ranch for horses, as well as being designed for riders. Spritely told me that he believed that they provided the impetus for the horse riding culture in Second Life. The AKK ranch is very beautiful, there are three sims that people can explore on their horses, stopping in picnic areas and watching the sunset. The choice of horses are truly astounding, all colors, and they range from English horses, Western sidesaddle horses, armored horses, draught horses, and ponies through to horses for tinies and hatchlings. There is also a skeletal horse, which looks pretty startling, perfect for the Grim Reaper to ride. There is also a ridable goat for tiny avatars. They told me that they have deer and stags too which are about to be put on display. Kristivon said that they have had special build requests from people, one being a Gorean Kaiila, a cross between a horse and a lion, which is now in it’s second generation. It was originally commissioned by Ozz Seattle for his Gorean Red Savages Tribe’s tribal chief. They also built horses for the Roman Cavalry, which have Roman style saddles with the logo on them.
If you fancy riding in style there are many carriages you can buy, ranging from being able to carry one passenger to a total of six passengers. Spritely told me that they do some other specialty horses for other sims and that they were involved with the Melbourne Cup in Second Life, which was a lot of fun. Kristivon and Spritely are builders in Second Life and they tell me that is what they love to do. I can quite believe them when they say that the horses sell themselves, as I defy anyone to go to the ranch and not want to come away with one. Hard work and devotion have certainly paid off for Kristivon and Spritely and the nice thing is that they are doing exactly what they enjoy and giving pleasure to everyone who visits their ranch. For more details visit their website at www.akkhorseranch.com.

Submitted by Janey Bracken

Janurary Darkstone, Reporting from the Wild Mustang Horse Park, The SL Riding Club had an introduction clinic and practice for barrel racing, it looked like fun check it out.
Visit Utopia V (213, 94, 2

Submitted by Janurary Darkstone

Botticelli Gabardini Launch of the MetaNetwork Media broadcast company at synergy island. First broadcast displayed grid wide.
Visit Synergy Island (102, 137, 23)

Submitted by Botticelli Gabardini

Part of the Second Life infrastructure is a budding police force: Virtual Police Department. It is not associated with Linden Labs, but provides protection and deterance to Land owners and Club operators in Second Life. Captain Wendy Forager (pictured) is a patrol officer, a dispatcher, and head of PR for VPD. She tells iReports, “We are not a roleplay department as some are in SL. We have officers that are ex service or still in service who run this department, we do not have firefights with mafia groups as roleplaying game.” At this time, they have 18 officers, and patrol 8 sims, but are hiring more personnel and adding customers. Chief Drakken Calhoun: “I have had the VPD police dept here in SL for almost 2 years. My dept are only police on the lands we are hired to patrol. We have been given ban and eject rights on these lands and we do not use offensive tactics on any griefers.” Customer Sophianne Rhode states, “I have worked with them and I really rely on them to keep our PG community safe.” As SL develops, services provided by VPD allow residents to spend more time devoted to developing their interests, rather than protecting them. For iReports, this is Jim Sella.

Submitted by Jim Sella

Paulo Casaca, former Professor of Economics with the Azores University and present member of the European Parliament of the European Union spoke regarding the Iraqi Conflict entitled “From Berlin to Baghdad” at a special conference held in the Avolon Isle Sim. He is distinguished in being the first member of the Union to join forces with SL to present an open format for the presentation and discussion of the historic political, social, economic realities of the conflict in the Middle East. A sort question and answer session was included in the conference.
Visit Avalon Isle (29, 142, 24)

Submitted by Marisa Merryman

January 16, 2008, (Fairchang Village, Second Life) - Second Life’s longest running museum, the Crescent Moon, is hosting a retrospective exhibition of the work of Random Calliope. A master of micro-prim manipulation, Random’s jewelry is the most coveted and prized in virtual worlds; his limited edition sets often selling at auction for $50,000L or more. Every piece of jewelry is 100% prim work. No textures, no scripts… just hundreds of beautiful prims placed with precision and an artful eye. The exhibit opened Sunday, January 13th to rave reviews and a fully packed sim. Guests at the opening received copies of RC’s newest release, The Pearl, now available exclusively at WorthWhile Gallery (Ode 155,31,25). The show will run for one week, closing on Sunday, January 20th, so there is still time to make a visit to the Crescent Moon and see these extraordinary sculptures of wearable art up close and personal. Share a moment with a dreamcatcher and storyteller of rare skill and depth of feeling. Please do join us in celebrating the stories and art of Second Life as seen through the eyes of Random Calliope. About the Crescent Moon Museum This pre-eminent art house was founded, created and is still run today by Tayzia Abattoir, as a venue for Second Life’s artists to display their creations. It is the oldest Museum in SL (established February 2005) and has been the host to hundreds of pieces of original art. The Crescent Moon’s exhibits change frequently in order to display art from the greatest number of Second Life’s extraordinary artists. Coordinates: FairChang Village (187, 142, 21) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fairchang%20Village/187/142/21/

Submitted by Elizabeth Tinsley

Tool Thibaud has opened his private collection of Starax Statosky & Atilde sculptural menagerie to the public. More than 31 pieces including rarely seen pieces are on display.This is one of the most significant privately owned collections valued at more than $2 million Lindens or a real world value in excess of $7000.00 USD. Many will remember that Starax left SL for a time after client update issues affected his Magic wand, an incredible temporary rezzer that could produce dozens of his artworks on word command. Some time later he returned to SL reinventing himself as as the even more creative Light Waves searching for newer more inventive ways to express himself.
Visit Codename Denmark (228, 87, 26)

Submitted by Marisa Merryman

Wondering what the new year may bring? Join Darkmoon Choche for his annual tarot reading on the US and the World! This is an annual event that is being held on Second Life for the first time! Readings will also be performed on the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Admission is free. This event will take place in the main ritual area Sunday January 20 at 2PM SLT. This event will be done entirely in voice. See you all there!
Visit Samhain (32, 163, 29)
Submitted by Cethlenn Miles