We return you to this episode of Diamonds and Rust, already in progress.

In episode 58 of Podmafia, they were discussing the ‘grid ghosts’, that Yxes had been seeing. She first spotted Sougent Harrop walking in place as a ghost, when he was offline. Later, there was another spotting of an avatar ‘ghost’ on the sidewings of the stage during a taping of SLCN’s, Tonight Live. Nika was in the audience that night, and witnessed the ‘ghost’, as well as half of the audience and SLCN staff. A few nights later, Keeme and Nika experienced this phenomena firsthand when it happened to Keeme.

The donut contest is over- and the winner is Crap Mariner! Keeme promises (threatens?) to mail donuts to him.. whether he’ll actually want them or not is another story. It could be worse.. at least its not olive loaf.

A sixth island has recently joined Edloe. Harbour is run by Feline Slade and Chris Norse. Its absolutely breathtaking! They have done a fabulous job with it. But, see for yourselves.

Harbour: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Harbour/111/121/558

JC Hutchins came to visit Podcast Island, and talk about his latest work, Obsidian. It was one of the most chaotic but fun meetups in a long time.

The episode has not been released yet, but search for Podcast Island Podcast on iTunes.

Podcast Expo is this week, and Nika will be meeting several people from Second Life. This will be her very first time attending. Keeme hasn’t gotten to go yet either, but they are both hoping to attend SLCC 2009. Fingers crossed!

A couple of years ago, Keeme had a lot of friends that were going to PME who really wanted him to be there. Since he wasn’t able to, the folks over at Borderline made up some Keeme buttons that circulated the podcast expo that year.

During feedback, we get into a couple of interesting conversations about tipping etiquette.. and also, the impact of how attached people can get to even the image or idea of certain avatars and SL pets. We would love to hear people’s thoughts on this, so send your feedback to darpodcast@gmail.com

Keeme has a very good tip for playing Craps, that involves placing your bet on the do not pass line to bet with the house.

Be sure to do a group search on Diamonds and Rust if you’d like to join our group. You can leave feedback for us here under comments, or email us at:  darpodcast@gmail.com 

The direct link to the show for downloads is: http://diamondrust.mypodcast.com/

We broke a record with this episode of Diamonds and Rust- its about two hours long! Because of this, we broke it down into two parts.

Part One:

Keeme has inventory issues. This is probably caused by his compulsion to grab copies of every single free item he’s ever seen since joining SL.

Keeme and Nika both have discovered 7 Seas Fishing, which seems to be growing in popularity around Second Life.

There are now fishing locations on Podcast Island, Edloe, Woodbridge, and Nowhereville.

Keeme has a bad habit/a new identity. “The Naked Pirate” Don’t worry.. there are no actual pictures of this! Unless Daphne, Madison or Tristen took a picture when they came over to visit the other night. Although.. there IS the picture Nika took of the ‘censored’ bar she put around Keeme the night before.

Speaking of bad habits, and overstuffed inventory- everytime Nika rezzes Fricken the cat, she always takes it back to inventory rather than deleting a copy. The other night, she rezzed them all as one object. The result was a monstrosity that she sent after Keeme.

There have been a series of pranks going back and forth between Keeme, Nika and their friends. Crap started this, by leaving his (adorable cute!) kitty at their house.

Since then, there have been a series of items being left at each others homes. Everytime Nika comes home, she finds something hidden about the house.

Keeme has a fondness for olive loaf. So, Crap went on a mission to bring him some in Second Life. Thus, Nowhereville became OliveLoafVille for a short time. And there is video to prove it.

Crap also used Olive Loaf as his topic for 100 Word Story Weekly Challenge, episode 120. Keeme entered with his own story on Olive Loaf.

http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com/2008/08/weekly_challenge_120_olive_loa_1.html

Keeme has a new avatar, that has been making appearances all over Second Life.

Staypuft Marshmallow Man storms Edloe Clocktower.

Staypuft Marshmallow Man attends JC Hutchins event on Podcast Island

Nika recently started a new blog project, called Second Homes. The blog reviews freebies, new releases and places to buy anything home related.

http://secondhomes.wordpress.com/

Two other great websites to check out that cover homes in SL are Prim Perfect and Second Spaces.

Keeme has an awesome idea for a new blog also.. hopefully, that will be coming soon.

End of Part one.. to be continued.

Be sure to do a group search on Diamonds and Rust if you’d like to join our group. You can leave feedback for us here under comments, or email us at:  darpodcast@gmail.com 

The direct link to the show for downloads is: http://diamondrust.mypodcast.com/

The Crime House has landed! Keeme and Nika moved to a gorgeous corner of Nowhereville.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Nowhereville/88/207/23

Nika and Keeme also got new pets. Fricken, and Keeme’s brontosaurus.

Nika is on a search for French Provincial style furniture, in white. Here is a picture of the style:

If anyone has seen furniture like this in SL, please drop a slurl or creator name in the comments.

Speaking of provincial furniture- Keeme keeps claiming to not have his own space in the house. Here is a picture of ‘Keeme’s room’, which runs the entire length of the house on the 2nd floor, that was decided on before we even bought the house! It will be designed in the style of his chosing. (All in white, french provincial furniture and a baby grand piano.)

Plurkazoids group has finally made the move to Subscribe-O-Matic, so anyone can join without taking up a group space. The kiosk is on Podcast Island, across from Destination Station. Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Podcast%20Island/97/50/26

All Plurkazoid members get three shirts, designed by Keeme and Itazura Radio.

(Yes, I know about the fashion faux pas I made. If you can’t see it, I’m not pointing it out! -Nika)

Congratulations to Yxes Delacroix and Thraxis Epsilon for their recent exchanging of vows last week. Thraxis also finished the Plurkhud, which allows you to post plurks and slurls from within SL. You can buy the Plurkhud in Avilion. Slurl- http://slurl.com/secondlife/Avilion%20Vale/201/63/39

We discuss Rezzables charging admission for their Black Swan Sim, Keeme goes off on a Greenies rant.

We also talk about Google Lively. Here is a promotional video.

Zoe Connolly of the SL Bloggers group has been exploring Google Lively quite a bit, and has posted a series of videos on her blog. http://zoeconnolly.blogspot.com/

We mentioned Scottlo Scorbal during feedback, and his podcast, “Meet Scottlo Scorbal”.

http://meetscottloscorbal.blogspot.com/

Keeme and his family have been hard at work with some house construction (and destruction). And it has not been a walk in the park. Between his nephew falling through the ceiling, the gigantic Palo Verde beetles, the heat, and minor ‘war injuries’. Below are a couple videos of their misadventures. (This could almost make its own podcast.)

Palo Verde Beetle:

After much resistance, Keeme and Nika both caved and joined Plurk, after abandoning Twitter. In fact, Keeme created a new group for the plurkers of SL. Search in groups for PLURKAZOIDS, or IM either Keeme or Nika for an invite. We will be moving the group to subscribe-o-matic very soon, so as not to take up people’s group spots. The idea of the group is to organize parties and meet-ups within SL, and to just have fun.

Keeme broke up with Twitter. It was very messy.. http://twitter.com/thekeeme

The grand opening of SL5B happened far sooner than Nika realized.. just hours after the posting of this podcast, rather than a week or two from now. Crap Mariner of 100 Word Stories was invited to have an exhibition at the event, and has been hard at work building a Podcast exhibit. He also has been putting out a series of interviews with other podcasters that is included with the exhibit. But its also the beginning of his newest podcast- I, Podjacker. Subscribe to this on iTunes, or visit the site at http://ipodjacker.libsyn.com/. You can also find a direct slurl to his SL5B build in the header on that website.

We ran into Scottlo Scorbal last night, of

http://meetscottloscorbal.blogspot.com/. Podcast Island has been having a lot of traffic lately of various podcasters coming through, such as Pizzababe* (http://pizzababe.com/) and Frank from The Overnightscape. (http://theovernightscape.com/) *Warning, content not work safe.

We are now homeowners! Even if we are not landowners.. Keeme calls it Crimehouse, and Nika calls it Mobile Mansion. Watch the brief house tour and Rezzhud demo, then judge for yourself.

Rezzhud was created by Itazura Radio, and can be found on Slexchange.com. http://tinyurl.com/5t6wlf

Nika will be filming a longer tutorial soon that will demonstrate how to add and save items to your build.

Thraxis Epsilon is working on a new Plurkhud. Right now its in beta testing, but when its finished you’ll be able to post your slurl location and some text from Second Life into plurk. Stay tuned for more information on that.

Arminasx Saiman and Radar Masukami will be filmed tonight on SLCN.tv for the Second Question show. Check the website to see that episode, soon.

Nika has had a busy week, appearing on a handful of podcasts.

http://slundertheradar.com/ Episode 30

http://ipodjacker.libsyn.com/ Both Keeme and Nika were interviewed

http://rezzedandconfused.com/ Episode 8

She was very flattered to be asked on as a guest, and it was a lot of fun.

Be sure to do a group search on Diamonds and Rust if you’d like to join our group. You can leave feedback for us here under comments, or email us at:  darpodcast@gmail.com 

The direct link to the show for downloads is: http://diamondrust.mypodcast.com/

This being our very first milestone podcast, we decided its time for a contest! The rules are short and sweet. Be the first person to email us with the answer to the following question:

What did Nika name the Pirahna that attacked Keeme in episode 9?

The first person to email the correct answer to darpodcast@gmail.com will win a gift card to Blaze.

Keeme has two new avatars- a huge robot, and a huge TRex. Unfortunately there are no pictures or video of the robot as of yet, since Nika is usually too busy running away to get any snapshots.

Dinosaur Park slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/DinosaursPark/10/132/23/

RUN!!!

Don’t eat me..

At Relay For Life kissing booth. Photo by Arminasx Saiman of http://www.secondeffects.com/

Keeme invades the Clocktower of Edloe. Photo by Crap Mariner. http://secondlife.isfullofcrap.com/

Raptor Avatars- Avatar and sim creators Nargus Asturias and Xacarith Zelmanov

Keeme has got us both addicted to Twitter! If it ever stays up long enough, you can add us:

http://twitter.com/thekeeme and http://twitter.com/NikaDreamscape

We are not completely sold on Plurk, yet.

After the great tv debate, we steered the conversation in a more serious direction and discussed the rising gas prices, and how we feel that telecommuting should become the way of the future.

We were a bit behind everyone else, but we finally visited the Greenies sim. Does Vint Falken have something to do with this? http://www.vintfalken.com/

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Greenies%20Home%20Rezzable/147/187/61

Congratulations to Crap Mariner for celebrating 3 years of 100 Word Stories. He hosted a reading at the Lonely Yak Club recently, which we attended.

You can find his podcast at http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com/

We had lots of feedback this week! We heard from Crap Mariner, Arminasx Saiman, Jezabell Barbosa, Radar Masukami,  and Douglas Rishmal.

Strongbad email reference, cause its funny-

Keeme is soon becoming an internet radio DJ- Watch out for Keemecast Radio to go live very soon.

http://keemecast.com/

Be sure to do a group search on Diamonds and Rust if you’d like to join our group. You can leave feedback for us here under comments, or email us at:  darpodcast@gmail.com 

The direct link to the show for downloads is: http://diamondrust.mypodcast.com/

May seems to be the month of Rez Days- most of the SL podcasters all came into SL within the same couple of weeks of one another, May 2006. We celebrated Chugabug Goodnight’s rez day, and Keeme had his as well. The usual banter and verbal sparring. Keeme may not be the best cook, but he gets an A for effort.

Wheelies Nightclub: The world’s first virtual disability nightclub in the  World. Sky home of Wheelies. Dance, socialize, and play in a safe setting. Dances are available for the able bodied, those with wheelchairs, and tinies. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun. Founded by Simon Stevens.

We visited the Wheelies nightclub and met a lot of cool people, including Aleja Asturias and DJ Namav.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Showashinzan/28/98/301/

New Location (Under Construction) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Taupo/167/92/22/

Nika stopped by the new location after the podcast was recorded to get the slurl, and met some members of the group who invited her to sit and chat for a bit. Polgara Paine, Atsuko Watanabe, Jenifer Mazi and Louise Later discussed some of the upcoming plans for the Wheelies group. The new build thats currently under construction will include a community development with accessible housing and shops for members of the group who would like a place to call home. Rent will be accepted, but not required to live there. Any rent that is paid will go towards paying the staff of Wheelies.

Search for Wheelies under groups if you are interested in joining, and visit the website at: http://www.wheeliesclub.com

We got off on a bit of a tangent this week about various podcasts we listen to. (Check out some of these podcasts, they’re really good!)

Podcast Pickle Directory: http://www.podcastpickle.com/

Barely Podcasting http://barelypodcasting.com/

Keemecast http://www.keeme.com/

Zee and Zed Show http://zeeandzed.com/

The Big Show http://www.bigshowradio.blogspot.com/

Red Boy Radio http://www.redboypodcast.com/

Shelly’s Podcast http://shellyspodcast.com/

Dawn and Drew http://dawnanddrewwp.podshow.com/

Geekbrief TV http://www.geekbrief.tv/

Keith and the Girl http://www.keithandthegirl.com/

Stefanik Dagostino of the S&S Gallery of Fine Arts has started up a group that will serve as a workshop for artists to share ideas and school one another on programs such as Gimp and Photoshop. Search for The Artists Workshop in groups.

S&S Gallery of Fine Arts http://slurl.com/secondlife/Portabello/83/149/152/

Yxes Delacroy also has a gallery of art and photography she’s done, you can see by visiting her gallery in Blaksleeworld: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Blaksleeworld/63/38/85/

Soho has joined Podcast Island, since Podshow Island is no more. Ron Bloom of Mevio (Formerly Podshow) had some interesting comments about Mevio’s stance on independant podcasting:

“We have never believed in user-generated content as a business, or even as a sustainable entertainment offering,” said Ron Bloom, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, MEVIO.

Be sure to do a group search on Diamonds and Rust if you’d like to join our group. You can leave feedback for us here under comments, or email us at:  darpodcast@gmail.com

The direct link to the show for downloads is: http://diamondrust.mypodcast.com/

This week, Keeme and Nika visited Zoe Connolly of the SL Blogger community at her airfield in Caledon. She was very gracious and gave us a tour of the airfield, showed off some of her aircrafts, and even gave a few to Keeme.

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Penzance/106/45/40/

Group: Royal Caledon Airforce (RCAF)

Zoe, thank you so much for showing us around, it was a lot of fun! (Even if it did result in a bit of a he said/she said skirmish.. or three.)

Apolon Island (For all your aircraft needs) Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Apolon%20Island/75/97/34/

Itazura Radio joined us for a little bit as his new avatar, the mailbox. Nika got a little bit of video of Keeme and Itazura chasing her around Caledon. (No, the video has no sound.)

Be sure to check out the Rezzed and Confused Podcast at http://rezzedandconfused.com/

Speaking of Itazura Radio, he also has been hard at work with putting together the Destination Station on Podcast Island.

What is this place?

This is the DESTINATION STATION!!!

The one thing people ask us more than anything else when they first come into Second Life is, “Yeah, it’s kinda neat and all… but what is there to DO?!?!?” That is what this place is for… it’s a place to meet, talk, socialize… and even more importantly, a place to find cool and interesting places to visit all over Second Life!

Think of it like an Infohub… except with info to places you can actually ENJOY!

This place is for YOU! Feel free to join the group and set your home here. Use it as your base of operations in SL. Hang out and meet new people and maybe make new friends!

To join the group:

Go to Search and choose the Groups tab. Now type in “Destination Station” and Join!

Once you join, you can set the Station as your home by going to World > “Set Home to Here”.

It’s as easy as that.

About the Station:

Level 1 - Ground Level - This is the main meeting areas of the Station. There are areas in the center to sit and relax by the fire and socialize with friends.  Surrounding the inner walls of the lower level are the Destination Station Terminals.

Each terminal is activated by simply touching it. When you do, it will open a window from were you can teleport directly to that destination!

The terminal will also open a menu dialog (one of those blue popup thingies in the upper right of your screen). The menu will ask you if you want more information (in the form of a Notecard with a brief description of the destination and a landmark to keep). You can keep this card and even transfer this landmark to your inventory if you like. If you decline the information the menu will close. You can always touch the terminal again later if you change your mind and decide you want a copy.

Level 2 - Podcast Deck - The second floor of the destination station is dedicated to video podcasts about Second Life. To view a podcast, just grab a seat and click on one of the big screen monitors. It will open a dialog box where you can choose from different podcast offerings and watch at your leisure!

(To view video in SL you need to have the newest version of Quicktime installed on your computer. If it is not working and you have Quicktime installed, go into your preferences (Ctrl-P) and look under Audio & Video. Make sure you have Play Streaming Media When Available checked. If so, you should have the movie camera icon on your viewer available. Press the Play button to start your show if it doesn’t start automatically. )

-Itazura Radio

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Podcast%20Island/90/30/25/

October Country

Ever want to wander around a haunted hotel, and have the feeling of Halloween, anytime? We did too, so we visted October Country, and we weren’t disappointed.

From the hotel to the town below, there’s a lot to see and become immersed in here.  Check out the various rooms and floors of the hotel, and the underground tunnels too.

(Movie coming soon!)

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/October%20Country/73/189/64/

Be sure to do a group search on Diamonds and Rust if you’d like to join our group. You can leave feedback for us here under comments, or email us at:  darpodcast@gmail.com

The direct link to the show for downloads is: http://diamondrust.mypodcast.com/

Itazura Radio addressed our question regarding avatar rendering costs on his podcast, Rezzed and Confused. http://rezzedandconfused.com/

Our big discovery for this week was the cruise ship, SS Galaxy. This fully functional cruise ship has all the amenities that you would find on a real life cruise, and then some. Each month this 3-sim long ship docks at a different sim. It has staterooms and suites available for rent, either long term or short term. For a full list of features, visit their website: http://ssgalaxy.com/

SS Galaxy

Keeme and Nika meet ship architect Bill Stirling, Director of Staffing Belle LaSalle, and Director of Security Arkady Yost.

Bill Stirling appeared on SLCN.tv Meta Makeover. You can see that episode here: http://slcn.tv/meta-makeover-bill-stirling

Keeme and his model ship

Exhibit A

Radar Love

Keeme’s helicopter machinima

Moment Captured - Taken on the October Country sim

We got just a little bit behind schedule, but here is episode 6. This one is a little bit shorter, but we have SO much to talk about in the next one, so stay tuned for that.

In this episode we touched on a topic Nika has been wanting to discuss for awhile: the Second Life job market. Keeme ponders getting a job as a slingo host, so he can ban her from playing.

(Meanwhile- he caved to temptation and got hooked on slingo himself. Photo and video evidence to prove it below.)

Our biggest news this week is that we got partnered. (Just in case there’s anyone left on the Grid that Nika -hasn’t- already told yet.)

Again, this is a somewhat short episode- we didn’t get to listener feedback or much else to post links for this time, but we promise to cover all of that in episode 7, so stayed tuned!

Be sure to do a group search on Diamonds and Rust if you’d like to join our group. You can leave feedback for us here under comments, or email us at:  darpodcast@gmail.com

The direct link to the show for downloads is: http://diamondrust.mypodcast.com/index.html

We had such a busy week, so there was plenty to cover in this episode of Diamonds and Rust. And many, many pictures to go along with the show notes this time around.

The war between SL Under The Radar and Diamonds and Rust continues, but its unclear who has the upper hand.

Protect your land and terrorize your enemies with Guard Bot. Guard Bot can be set to patrol, fly, attack, and has customized friend and enemy lists. Its also copyable so you can make an army of Guard Bots. Find this on the Boardman sim at the Galactic Mall.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Boardman/113/126/22/

Brooklyn Is Watching

“Welcome to Brooklyn is Watching. “Here” you will be able to be seen by visitors to Jack the Pelican Presents, an art gallery in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Do something ‘here’ and ‘you’ will be watched, thought about and commented on.. whatever.. leave ’something’ ‘here’ and it will be chronicaled on our blog (www.brooklyniswatching.com ) and talked about on the Brooklyn is Watching podcast or.. possibly.. ignored.. or possibly.. mocked. Visitors to the gallery might take snapshots or write about what you do, but to be sure its documented, document it yourself post it to the web and send links to posted videos or snapshots to watchable@brooklyniswatching.com

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Popcha/80/180/22/

Black Swan- follow the path…

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Black%20Swan/245/120/39/

For more Second Life podcasts, visit the SL Podcast Network.

http://slpodcast.net/

Arri Gaffer sent us some feedback and mentioned a Geocache he placed in real life. The link for that is:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=405c8a6c-56b4-46b1-9255-519cbbabcbea