I should imagine any serious (and even the not so serious) Second Life explorers among us are aware of AM Radio’s Far Away. The virtual Wheat fields opened their doors nearly a year ago and since then they have grown in size and locations.

The whole drive behind AM Radio’s work is to raise money for Heifer International, and using Second Life, he most certainly has.

Heifer International was founded by Dan West, a farmer who spent time handing out rations of milk following the Spanish Civil War. As he did this work he realised “These children don’t need a cup, they need a cow.” Heifer International was born with the mission to offer livestock and accompanying training to manage and maintain the animals and surrounding land. At the forefront of the foundations main goal is “pass on the gift”; simply put a cow will provide milk for a family and every year produce a calf, this ‘gift’ can be passed on in order to benefit neighbours and others in the community.

AM Radio initially set out with the goal to raise $500, enough to purchase one heifer from money raised in Second Life. Now one year on he has raised over $4,600 and has secured more than enough money currently for over 9 heifers. He currently stands in the top 5 contributors for the charity.

The Wheat fields have grown, as well as having The Far Away and space at NMC Arts Lab, a newer temporary location as opened at The Refuge and Expansion.

Immediately it strikes you the latest area is similar in theme to the first. It contains very well built and detailed structures, including some favourites such as the prim power cables and train. However the area here is spread over two sims and therefore the available prim counts are higher so we bear witness to some new structures.

Following the road and line of power cables you arrive at a small settlement. Inside the house is decorated with highly detailed pieces, including the microscope & telescope pictured below (both of which are freely given out when clicked on).

Also another new structure here is the Gasoline station. Sitting at the crossroads junction where you arrive the build certainly has ‘wow factor’.

Further down the road you can see the now famous old train. Be sure to click on various parts of the train to experience some of the in-built poses.

Finally at the end of the road you can find information about Heifer International. You can buy a plot of wheat and even the train, of course all money going to Heifer International.

If you like the original Far Away, you will not be disappointed with this area. Unmistakably the main achievement by AM Radio is the experience; not only can you wander amongst some of the most beautifully crafted prims in Second Life, but you can also help a charity to make a difference.

Regular readers to our fair magazine, will remember that once not that long ago, I set out on a Phileas Fogg worthy trip around the world, using Second Life locations to get me from one bordering country to the next. Well, recently I have been yearning for another such quest, seeing as how much fun that expedition had been. However, seeing that I'd conquered the globe, I needed a new challenge. After some careful consideration, I decided that this time, rather than travelling in the conventional sense, this time I would take a journey back through time.

First things first, as any experienced traveller will tell you, the most important thing when embarking on any journey, is preparation. Therefore, to embark on my chronological mission, I would need the correct equipment. Fortunately, I discovered the "Pack to the Future" courtesy of Loftvoker, complete with a Flux Capacitor, a hover board, a sports almanac from the future, and the keys to a Delorean (if only I could remember where I parked it).

If Doctor Who taught me anything, it's that any time traveller worth their salt, needs a youthful companion to accompany them. With this in mind, I lured the lovely Allanah Tomsen along to assist me, through a clever use of a freebie Tardis that I once picked up on my travels. So now, with the right equipment, and my eager helper, we set out into the mysterious past.

To start off, we decided to make a small jump, back half a century to the 1950's. We typed our destination into search, picked a random desination, and shot into the past. Or rather, we teleported to Artilleri, a stunning sim, and location of the main store from which the sim gets it's name. As many of the most fashion concious in SL will be able to tell you, Artilleri produce some of the most stylish and well made retro and rockbilly clothing you can find inworld, drawing on 50's and early 60's style for their inspiration. As well as being able to pick up some of this superb clobber, on the sim, you can pick up some well built funiture from the period, as well as just enjoying the gorgeous builds on the sim, with the main store styled like a classic American diner, and a kitcsh bowling alley and drive in movie theatre to enjoy.

Leaving this time behind us, we decided to aim a little further into the past this time, heading back to the 18th Century, to a time when Pirates sailed the seven seas, getting up to all sorts of skulduggery as they did. To explore this time, we ended up at Buccaneers Reef, a swashbuckling themed sim. They have many Pirate Ships for you to enjoy, one that serves two purposes, as a giant aquarium and dancefloor, and undersea one for those of a mermaid persuasion, a chillout ship with a large hot-tub to relax in, and one out in the sea, which for some reason is full to the brim with almost every s&m toy you can find inworld. However, the main appeal of the sim, would be the pub, with regular musical events, and games for the patrons to enjoy, including arm wrestling, which Allanah and I had fun playing (even though she wiped the floor with me).

From there, we decided to get even more ambitious with our time leaps, this time ending up in Medieval England. I'll admit that at this point, we got a little touristy, stopping to pose with the soldiers who proudly stood welcoming us to the sim, and wandering around the beautiful buildings and gardens. There are a smattering of shops, but the real joy of this place is in the sights to see, from the rustic houses and gorgeous plants, to the majesty of the looming castle that dominates the area.

Our trip was becoming one feast for the eyes after another, as we now headed back from AD to BC, as we arrived in Ancient Eypt, on Pharaohs Isle, a desert sim replete with Pyramids and other buildings from the time. However, as we wandered into the Sphinx, we discovered a catacomb of tunnels, leading us all over the sim, into mysterious rooms covered in authentic hieroglyphics and statues, and also a little not-exactly-period nightclub, which at least gives you the chance to "Walk like an Egyptian".

I finally set the SL time machine back as far as it could go, taking us back to prehistoric times, courtesy of Spirit Stonehenge. At first glance, the sim has a plethora of standing stones and lush greenery, although at times, the overuse of the sculpty stones lends towards creations bordering on Flintstone-ish. Also there are certain items, like a hot-tub and beach furniture, which are completely out of place, and threaten to ruin the feel of the theme. However, as with the sim before, the true joys of the sim come when you venture underground. A series of linked caves, complete with cave paintings and animal skin decorations give a great caveman experience, and the Love Cave is filled with some very sweet and romantic poseballs for you to share with your special someone.

At this point, my SL Time Machine went haywire, and Allanah and I found ourselves thrown forward to the Future. Or rather, we ended up at Future. So, what can I report from Second Life's very own Future? Well, worryingly enough, the Future sim is owned by big business, with Nokia, Electolux, CNN, Organic, and Popular Science magazine all having builds there. On a more positive note, the work here is breathtaking, and shows a very positive attitude from these companies to the future, and to SL's part of it. From Popular Science creating accurate SL replicas of new renewable energy solutions, to CNN's new hub, where they film reports from inworld (check out Allanah and I playing newsreader below), and invite residents to submit their own stories from around the grid; and finally Electrolux's amazing light bulb lounge, showing off the awards for inworld innovation, given to some of the biggest names in inworld creativity. And that seems to sum up what the Future sim is all about: Innovation. And if that is what we have to look forward to in Second Lifes's future, I think we are in for some fun times indeed.

It's happened to all of us. You log into Second Life only to find, or to be told by those witness to your arrival, that rather looking your usual dapper, stylish and mighty fine looking self, you have shrunk, men have transformed into women, and you are sporting a very unchic light-brown basin bob hairdo that is interfering with the coiffured prim hair that you spent hours choosing. You sigh, and realise that once again, you've been "Ruthed". However, with the release of the latest SL viewer, this humiliating inconvenience has now been resigned to the history books. Linden Labs have now corrected this phenomenon. With this in mind, I thought I would take a moment to acknowledge the passing of something that has been a part of our Second Lives for as long as many of us can remember.

Being Ruthed was the affectionate term for what happened when an avatars appearance had problems updating, and therefore reverted to the default avatar shape, that of a short female, proving that as with foetus' in rl, we are all born female, and our sex is decided in gestation (or on orientation island anyway). It was usually resolvable through going into the "edit appearance" menu, and then closing it again, in effect refreshing your avatar shape, but there were times that even this couldn't save you. There are rumours that the name Ruth comes from an early Linden avatar, but the term became so commonplace, that one of the sims dedicated to the SL 5th Birthday event was called "Ruthed".

Ruthing meant that when you went wandering from sim to sim, there was never a shortage of sexually ambiguous avatars, as bearded men suddenly developed breasts. (Pic by Tid Kidd)


Women weren't any safer, as prim hair became swallowed by the Ruth bowl, and they suddenly shot down in stature. (Pic by Restless Roizman)


Of course, nothing spoilt your attempts to look dark moody and gothic, than a good Ruthing (Pic by Strawberry Holiday)


It's never more difficult to chat up the ladies than when your nipples are suddenly jutting out of the tank top designed to show off your manly muscular frame. (Pic by Tid Kidd)


And nothing would spoil the romantic impact of a SL wedding, than when all the guests are giggling and resisting the urge to shout out "You may now kiss the Ruth!" (Pic by Restless Roizman)


Of course, it's all well and good for me to laugh at the misfortune of others, but even such powerful SL superstars as Trin and I were not immune to that attack of the Ruth (me more than most, to be honest) (Trin pic by Voodoo Buwan, Voo pic by dana Vanmoer)


Lastly, I'd just like to mention, that although being Ruthed is a thing of the past, the Lindens have kindly added the Ruth avatar to all of our default Libraries, meaning that even though she may be gone, Ruth will always live on, in our inventory.

There are many live musical events happening all over the grid, almost every night. However, almost every single one of them features one or two people, singing either covers, or their own little compositions in a rock or indie style, usually while playing a guitar, and while there are some very talented performers out there, after a while a lot of the acts can seem to get a little... samey. And at worst, it can get downright boring. Yet still, I tend to search on, seeking out these acts, hoping to find one of the rare gems in the mix.


It was on just such a night that a random group notice drew me to Circe Broom's Cairo Theatre where I found something truly different. A performance by Kazoo Twang and Lizzie Ryba, seen above with their piano accompanist Leemiguel Arguello and occasional guest performer Harmonica Sorbet (Kazoo is the redhead, and Lizzie is the blonde), drawing on the rich musical tradition of English Music Hall which entertains with such warmth and humour as to make you feel drawn in to a party full of fun, laughter, more than a little drink, and above all else, music. To explain the performance a little better, and give us a little more background, I met up with Kazoo and Lizzie in Kaz's personal garden (for some reason, Kazoo is the one with the bear head):


Voodoo: Ok, so firstly, could you describe your act for the uninitiated?
Kazoo Twang: Old time music hall
Lizzie Ryba: Brit style
Kazoo Twang: English burlesque
Lizzie Ryba: Sing-along
Kazoo Twang: Crowd participation - sing-a-long. Or type-a-long!!! lol Singing for those who cannot hold a tune in a bucket!!!
Lizzie Ryba: And just a barrel of laughs. Well we have a ball don’t know bout anyone else lol. Kazoo Twang: Singing for those who cannot hold a tune in a bucket!!! and just a barrel of laughs
Lizzie Ryba: Well we have a ball don’t know bout anyone else. lol
Kazoo Twang: Spontaneous audience appreciation!! Voodoo?? You do!!!
Lizzie Ryba: We try to get everyone involved cos that’s the fun of it all
Kazoo Twang: Lizzie and I know each other from rl theatre http://www.playhousecheltenham.org . I have performed in SL before. I came here with friends from an online music site - www.macjams.com. I ran into Circe recently and she asked me to perform again. I asked lee to accompany me - again - he used to live here and has played piano on some of my uploads at macjams. Lizzie got involved when....
Lizzie Ryba: I went to see Kaz perform and enjoyed it. We were going to London the following week in my car, and got talking bout what we could do together. I suggested we could do some of the music hall numbers we knew
Kazoo Twang: Music hall is always popular at our rl theatre
Lizzie Ryba: And it went from there
Kazoo Twang: Circe loves us, and ppl come back!!
Lizzie Ryba: I have to say I have never enjoyed myself so much as I have in gigs
Voodoo: Lizzie, had you originally come to SL with musical aspirations in the first place also?
Lizzie Ryba: Nah!! Kaz told me bout SL, and so I came, and haven't looked back but never for one moment did I think I would perform here. I've been on stage for real, directed musicals etc Kazoo Twang: She played bloody Mary in south pacific!!!
Lizzie Ryba: But SL different ball game
Kazoo Twang: You should see her acting in front of the microphone - it’s a riot!!
Voodoo: How does performing in SL differ to being on stage in rl?
Kazoo Twang: You don't have to worry about yer make-up!!
Lizzie Ryba: Mind u finding the right cossie is fun. I love shopping in SL!!!!
Kazoo Twang: Lizzie loves to shop - another day ... another costume!! It's easier to make up songs about the audience - in rl they don't wear their names over their heads!!
Lizzie Ryba: We love the improvisation of it all
Kazoo Twang: She doesn't get tips - she sees them as hair and shoes!!!
Lizzie Ryba: Yeah new meaning to the words shop till u drop
Voodoo: How have you found the music scene in SL? Do you go and check out any other acts?
Kazoo Twang: I have enjoyed watching the music scene grow in SL?
Lizzie Ryba: Kaz does more than me but I am beginning to check out other things
Kazoo Twang: I remember when Circe and slim warrior were the only promoters
Lizzie Ryba: Particularly those that Circe promotes
Kazoo Twang: I think we do something rather more special than singing to a karaoke machine. it may not be perfect but it is most definitely LIVE!!!!
Lizzie Ryba: too right
Kazoo Twang: Also - we don’t have to learn lines in SL :))))
Lizzie Ryba: Just have to keep finding the bits of paper u lose
Kazoo Twang: Less lines - more paper!!
Voodoo: What do you hope to achieve through your performances here inworld?
Kazoo Twang: More hair and shoes!!!! LMAO. Spreading a little personalised happiness. More pink and fluff in a grey and miserable world!!!
Lizzie Ryba: And giving a bit of laughter around. If we are enjoying it others will too
Kazoo Twang: And I think that ppl love that we are having such a good time and also they like those old songs. They are like comfort food, full of memories of grannies and aunties
Lizzie Ryba: Keeping the traditions going
Kazoo Twang: Fun!! We like fun!!
Lizzie Ryba: What is SL for if not for fun. No boundaries in SL they say.
Kazoo Twang: And ... I think the Americans appreciate the English traditions, and love a cock.. ney accent
Lizzie Ryba: Or indeed a British accent whatever lol
Voodoo: And finally, what advice would you give to anybody thinking about getting up onstage and performing themselves?
Kazoo Twang: Do it!!!
Lizzie Ryba: Go for it
Kazoo Twang: Have fun and do it. If you cannot do it in your secondlife - where and when???
Lizzie Ryba: There is a saying in our theatre - its JFDI - just fucking do it
Kazoo Twang: I teach this drama stuff in rl too, and it is a case of - just go for it!!


To experience the party for yourself, head over to the Cairo Theatre on Friday at 1PM SL time. Tell em Voodoo sent you! ;)