Second Earth

Next to the NOAA sim Meteora, I found a noteworthy place: Second Earth. The sim is also sponsored by NOAA. It is made around a globe, but what a globe. The height of a skyscraper, a normal-sized avatar appears only as a small speck next to the Second Earth sphere.

Underneath the globe is a base with a few controls, a much smaller globe a little bigger than an avatar’s head, and a board. The board and the base have the NOAA emblem as their default pictures. But one can bring up a satellite picture of the weather and detail it either in a geographical map or a normal one. One can also narrow or expand the map, and move it in any of all 4 directions. The weather patterns seem to update every several minutes. On the small globe, one can also highlight a location on the big one (provided it’s in the database).

Both the globe and the base are in a transparent sphere, clear on the outside, but from the inside looks black with stars. The globe is also covered by a clear “plastic” cover with cloudlike patterns on it. By accident or design, there are some tiny gaps in the cover. One can zoom in through the gaps and look at the globe close-up inside. The globe itself is very well done, showing exaggerated mountain heights and close detail to terrain. When razzing, sections may seem to fit roughly, but smooth out when fully rezzed.

This huge globe can be used like any other in real-life. But with people here in Second Life having friends many miles apart, sometimes on different continents, it can be fun for a group to head there and point out where friends are in reality.

Second Earth is at Second Earth 1 (125, 132, 29). There are other sims named “Second Earth” nearby, but this reporter has yet to find out what they are for.

Bixyl Shuftan

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