The Story of Mother's Day

Based on text from Wikipedia and web.


Different countries celebrate Mother's Day on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins.

The earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, England celebrated a day called "Mothering Sunday." Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter), "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England.

During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church" -- the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration. People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.


The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic) after the American Civil War.She first suggested a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother's Day meetings in Boston, MA, every year. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war.

In 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors. In parts of the United States it is customary to plant tomatoes outdoors after Mother's Day (and not before).


When Jarvis died in 1907, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. The first such Mother's Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on 10 May 1908, in the church where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Originally the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on — spreading eventually to 45 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.


Please, feel free to leave your message for the Mother’s Day.


I wish a happy Mother’s Day and a peaceful and joyful weekend for all readers of this blog and your families.

Summer Model Contest

New Summer Model Contest brought to you by

Flavah Modeling Group .
Audacious Designs /Slick .

Audacious Bade is the Owner of Audacious Designs a high quality clothing store that has been reviewed and received excellent ratings from the SL media for her clean cut designs that compliment all women no matter what their shapes may be. In late May of 2008 Audacious will be launching her line of mens apparel called *SLICK* and for this reason we have decided to put a face to both clothing lines.

We are holding a 2 weeks search for both a female and male model to be the face of Audacious Designs and *SLICK* summer clothing lines. Along with many other prizes in which will be outlined and detailed below. Contest opens May 2nd last day to enter may 17th midnight.

For More information contact Audacious Bade in world

FASHION ROCKS at Subtle Tease Galleria

This information just arrives from my new friend Annie McAlpine

Grand premiere of the Galleria at Subtle Tease Island featuring an exclusive fashion show starting at 8PM SLT Tuesday May 6th.

Featuring five of SL top designers showing their latest fashions, live music and tons of freebies.

Mark your calendar and plan to attend. Also, plan to hang out and join the after party at the Grand Opening Party at Picasso's Club. .... Adress here
be there !!

FASHION ROCKS!

FASHION TRENDS AND TIPS

This is the May Issue I wrote for Déjà vu magazine. You can also find other great articles here: Deja vu international



Text and Photography from Anna Avalanche


I felt I am lost in terms of Second Life fashion style. There are very good outfits items on good stores. That’s not the question. Here woman decide about clothes, accessories, hair style, animation and also body skin and shape. This means everyone can get confuse from the many opportunity and combinations we have on Second Life outfit. I don’t pretend to make this article a fashion manual. But “All fashion is clothing; although clearly not all clothing is fashion...we need fashion rather than clothes-not to clothe our nakedness but to clothe our self esteem” (Colin McDowell – 1995). This quote is particular truth in Second Life. The difference we need to choose also shapes, skins, hairs, etc.



Dress from Pietra Biondi and Halisson Usher

The problem is how combine everything to make us beautiful and desirable. How can we catch attention from our outfit on this wonderful world? On real life we can change very little our natural body shape with plastic surgery. This is not a problem on second life but might be a dilemma. I have seen people trying to make their outfit into a Christmas tree. Maybe we can find some “presents under the tree”. But, if you put a fabulous diamond on a box full of sparkling jewels you might not seen it. However, if you put this same fabulous diamond on a wood box with simple dull jewels you might notice it. “The best thing is to look natural, but it takes make-up to look natural” (Calvin Klein).



Dress from Pietra Biondi and Halisson Usher


So I interviewed some fashion expertise friends about my doubts. Lucille Morigi is equivalent to “Gisele Bündchen” from Second Life. She is a SL top model, fashion teacher and an expertise on Second life fashion. She has attended some of the best modeling shows on Second Life like; Shakture Couture Unveiled Fashion Show on late 2007.







Anna Avalanche (AA): what's your style?
Lucille Morigi (LM): My mood tells me what kind of outfit I must wear. Sometimes I want to be the girl next door and others I want to be a Star. Therefore I don't have one outfit I like best.







AA: What suggestion you would like to give to designers?
LM: Show some real fashion, show things that come from your minds. Work with prims and attachments. Bring different textures, dare to be different!





AA: What is your advice for those women that what to be a models?
LM: Women that want to become models should get used to be thinner, have less muscle, less butt, hips and breasts. Never and I mean Never wear blings and body oil. And then apply to a Modeling School. It's really important. It opens doors for you. They should also start reading fashion blogs or magazines to know something about style. Start going to fashion shows and see what that is all about. They should also know that they will spend much money before anything happens. Portfolio, Classes, poses, skins, hair, outfits, all that have a cost. So, you'd better do it for fun.





AA: What is your opinion about people that like to use oil in the body and big muscle shape?
LM: In my opinion body oil makes avatar look like plastic people. Well, that's not my taste. Each person shows here what they want to have in return. Obviously, they are not well dressed, but maybe they don't care. The important thing is to be happy!

AA: What about Second Life?
LM: Second Life seems to be growing fast in fashion and entertainment. Musicians, video makers, builders and scripter’s these seem to have future. Second Life has amazing places to explore, to learn and to open mind, if one is willing to do so. That's really interesting. I can see some future here.



I also talked with Pietra Biondi and Halisson Usher. They achieved success in Brazilian Second Life fashion world. In real life they really work on fashion. Halisson is graduated in Industrial Design from the University of Brasilia, Brazil. But he also studied product design and had a close relationship with professionals and fashions centers. Pietra has worked as a producer of fashion.







Anna Avalanche (AA): What are the difficulties for a designer?
Pietra Biondi and Halisson Usher (PB and HU): The most difficulty is creating and innovating. Follow the SL progress require some real life time.

AA: What is your view about people outfit? Especially those that like to use oil in the body and big muscle shape?
HU: The stature of Brazilians avatars is influenced by the Latin-American people self esteem. The Brazilian people are vain and try to create a beautiful figure.
PB: About the fashion, I know a few women who really dress their avatars very well. Oil, tan lines and low-cut clothes, commonly seems artificial in the SL and I don’t like it. The extreme hinder the finality. Women with strong muscle legs and body lose their female curvilinear shape.

AA: What is your opinion about Second Life?
HU: The Second Life is the best interface to customize own appearance. For who has patience and wish a relationship it is a good tool for socialization and contacting new people. I believe that the Linden should seek partnerships and integration with browsers "in-world", expand the possibilities of real business and improve graphics mechanisms. The Integration with other Internet services is in my opinion, a matter of survival.


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I would like to give my personal fashion tips and suggestions. Please don’t understand this as an obligation to be beautiful. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself aloud” (Coco Chanel). This is only Anna Avalanche thinking of myself aloud. Lol!

Tall Boots:
Knee-high boots make great sense because they let you wear everything from skinny jeans to miniskirts. Black or dark color pairs with almost everything.

Fitted Jacket:
A great tailored jacket fitted to show off feminine curves, not a baggy masculine style, will pair with everything from work trousers to jeans. A jacket adds structure to your figure and creates waistlines and smoothes out lumps and bumps for all shapes.

Chic Colors
Opt for something red, crimson or pink…. Red can give your skin a lift. It reflects back its warm color to your skin. Whether it is a wide belt, round toe heels or matte red lips, this color is always a good choice. Also try the classic colors of black and white.

The Baby Doll Dress

Baby Doll dress rises to the occasion. The baby doll dress comes in different styles with fullness in the skirt and a shorter length. Perfect for day into evening... look cute and casual in a sundress, a pretty mini, or splash out in something special.

Skirts style

Some skirt could make your lumps and waist look bigger. Take care and reduce your lumps and waist if that is the case.

Emphasize Your Curves!
Women have coveted the hourglass figure for centuries. Now it’s easy to create those classic curves no matter how you’re shaped. You could also use clothes to emphasize that.

Face Light!

This is a tricky tip. The face light can shine your face. But don’t use the strong light in some places if you want to see the natural lights. You can fine a very nice faceFX Designer light at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cleary/102/72/114


I personally think that we should look at the overall situation, background and timing. Don’t forget that our “diamond” must shine. So maybe you must simplify. One who better understood the relation between fashion and context in real life was Coco Chanel. “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different. A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous” (Coco Chanel).

The background context changed with the introduction of automobile and modern industrial machinery on daily life. After 1900 women's clothing became lighter and lighter in construction and materials. A popular style in this period was the "Lingerie Dress" a feather-light white cotton dress inset with strips of open work lace and net.

Most women's dress in this era was highly influenced by the advancing feminist cause, which after 1903 escalated to widespread civil disobedience by "Suffragettes" (radical suffragists). Women modeled their behavior and appearance upon the “Gibson Girl” the popular image of the "New Woman". Men's clothing styles such as the suit, shirt, hard collar and tie were worn by women forcing themselves into professions formerly occupied by men. Health fads of the 1890's and 1900's also encouraged women's sporting activities, particularly bicycling, which, in turn promoted sport clothing as a fashion.

“Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening” (Coco Chanel). Chanel understanding of the relationship between woman context and fashion was unique. She was completely modern in this respect. She once said: “women have to be light, quick, to run to catch a bus or a taxi”. Maybe we might be less attached to be seen well in a lagging place. In Second Life we must understand that our image must download on someone else computer. With a lot of attaches, sparkle and particles you might be beautiful but not rezz totally. “Fashion is all about expressing yourself without saying a word” (MuñekaWear).


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I would like to conclude with real life designer's quotes that might help you.

“Be yourself is about the worst advice you can give some people” (Tom Masson).

“Designing is a matter of mixing known elements in new and existing ways in order to create fresh combinations and products” (Sue Jenkyn Jones).

“When in doubt, wear red” (Bill Blass).

“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months” (Oscar Wilde).

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safer, the creatures of the common place, the slaves of the ordinary” (Cecil Beaton).

“Zest is the secret to all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest” (Christian Dior).

“Fashions fade, but style is eternal” (Yves Saint Laurent).



Lucille Morigi wore:
skin - Splashing Doll Pinkie
Outfit - TaP - Effervecent Dress
Shoes - Zhao Clover - Black/ Gold
Hair - DH, Sydney Hershey



Anna Avalanche sponsored by:
AA Trade Company, Cleary (111, 69, 113): AA Trade


For more pictures and information see my flickr

New SL site rankings may signal end to camping

From Reuters: New SL site rankings may signal end to camping
Text: Eric Reuters

Linden Lab is working to revamp its current traffic ranking system, which has long been manipulated by landowners who pay users to camp out for hours or days at a time in an attempt to climb to the top of the “Popular Places” list.

“It is clear that the current Traffic system is not an effective means of determining the success or popularity of a parcel, nor does it provide useful information about Residents visiting those parcels,” Linden executive Jeska Dzwigalski said in a blog post.

The “Popular Places” tab is often one of the first places that new Second Life users look when exploring the virtual world. But the sites listed almost never offer the rich educational and social content beloved by Second Life’s dedicated users. Due to property owners gaming the system, the top results often offer “free money” or adult-themed content.

Linden is seeking input on how to change its site rankings as a first step in improving Second Life’s in-world search engine. Dzwigalski said Linden will offer a “Second Life Showcase” of content it feels best represents its virtual world.

The current system gave rise to the Second Life phenomena known as “camping”: in order to boost their listing on Linden’s traffic rankings, landowners pay avatars called “campers” simply to visit the sim and spend time there. Camping benches, which pay cash to an avatar simply for sitting on them, are ubiquitous at top ranked sites.

“The system was completely gamed and useless,” said Taran Rampersad, author of “Making Your Mark In Second Life: Business, Land and Money.”

Surprisingly, many owners of sites currently listed on the “Popular Place” list say they don’t mind the change.

“We all knew that the popular list wouldn’t last forever, and it will force some of the islands to reconsider their whole marketing strategy,” said Doug Sievers (Second Life: Doug Pau), whose “Freebie Island” currently ranks as the sixth most popular place in Second Life.

Sievers and other camping site owners complain that even as they’re gaming Second Life’s rankings, users are gaming them. The past few months have seen a rise in “bots,” software-controlled avatars that take up every open camping chair. The bots have forced camping sites into an arms race of open seats and pushed camping rates down from as high as L$24 per hour to under L$3.

“One of my associates and I worked out how much the ‘camping bots’ could be potentially making if they just ran 3 PCs on a 24 hour schedule and it was well over a few hundred dollars a day,” Sievers said.

While the absolute sums are trivial — L$24 translates to less than nine American cents — within Second Life’s economy they can represent significant pocket money. Many avatars have no access to credit cards and no way to purchase in-world currency, and in Second Life’s inexpensive economy, many virtual goods are priced from L$1 to L$10.

If the traffic rating is eliminated, one unexpected result may be a decrease in Linden’s population metrics. It’s impossible to measure how many of the roughly 60,000 avatars typically online in Second Life are campers or camping bots, but it is widely considered to be a significant component of Linden’s population. Second Life’s total hours may also fall sharply.

The camping sites say bots poisoned the old model anyway, and they’re ready to adapt.

“Things change and the system needs to be changed,” said Kenneth Boone, whose Second Life avatar Tray Dyrssen runs the number three and four ranked places in Second Life, “Money Island” and “Money Tree Island.”

“I am not worried about the popular places,” Boone said. “We are able to build interesting things to bring in the traffic.”

Dear readers what do you think about the end of camp? Will that be good for the SL economy?

SL Statistics for Mach 2008

Base on the official information from Linden Lab, we present an exclusive summary with the main statistics, on the Second Life.

• Total of hours spends by users: little more than 30.7 million hours, a growth of 9.5% in relation to February;

• Increase of the total population: they had been opened 408,499 new accounts, 3.22% increment, rising for 13,080,137 residents (historical mark, above of 13 million). However in percentile terms, it was to the worse mark of all times;

• Premium accounts: in March a fall of 1,656 accounts was registered , from 91,531 in February to 89,975 in Mach (-1.81%).

• Brazil active resident registered a fall of -2.22% avatars(about 575 residents less), finishing the month of March with 25,236 avatars active, and keeping 6ª world-wide position (with a representation of 4.64% of world-wide the active population in the SL).

In world-wide level the March month registered increase in the total active users (breaking the increase of fall in the last month), about 17,375 new users, what corresponds to 3.29% increase. The month of March closed with a total of 544,290 active users in the world.

• TOP 10, they represent 80% of all activity in the SL:

1º U.S.A. (194,899 active users) – same position as last month
2º Germany (44,908) - 1 position up
3º the United Kingdom (43,859) - 1 position down
4º France (27,130) - 1 position up
5º Japan (27,081) - 1 position down
6º Brazil (25,236) - same position as last month
7º Italy (23,577) - same position as last month
8º Canada (18,279) - 2 positions up
9º Spain (17,868) - 1 position down
10º Holland (17,202) - 1 position down

• Total area of grid (world-wide map of the SL) grew about 5.24% and it reached the mark of 1,093. 42 Square kilometers

• Total regions (islands) about 16,600 .

• Total L$ circulating in the system went up 4.9%, reaching the total mark of L$4.8 billion (new historical record, beating the previous month), equivalents US$18.4 active millions in the financial system.

• There was an increase of L$ trades in the official market (LindEx-Linden Exchange), from US$8.4 millions to US$9.1 million (8.33% growth).

• The Linden Lab invoiced US$ 884,000 in March, with direct sales of L$ (Linden Dollars), at LindEx market.


Analysis:
The Second Life is really an interesting system. If compared with a country in real world, it would be among the fast grown country. The growth projection for this year is 40% disrespecting the users with only one access, those that open account and never connect again.

This growth projection is superior of many countries in terms of USD$. Therefore 40% in revenue return is fantastic.

The growth in the indices of the virtual economy is more solid. This confers to the system a status of bank, as a result of more than USD$18 millions inside Second Life! This amount of money is equivalent to a GDP of USD$215 million /year. Corresponding to a developing country economy with a potential for grow and rising funds. An excellent scene for who knows what to invest in the world domestic market. Lands and commerce are the business investment suggestion.

With the contract of Mark Kingdon - career executive in the technology area - Linden Lab confirmed the changes in board. In terms of history, he has a background in art, economics, and business. he has been in successful and highly regarded leadership roles at two companies that are bigger than Linden Lab: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Organic. Kingdon is a weight name to conduct the critical internal changes in the company, moving away the possibility from an I.P.O.

The problem of retention of new users is critical in the Second Life. If it was not for the constant growth in North American users, the system would have a considerable fall in this month.

The constant instabilities had not been enough to knock down the volume of used hours. They grew about 10%. Could grow even more if, there wasn’t many problems in the Linden Lab servers this month. The installation of gravitational system Havok 4 is speculated to be the cause of server problem. In general terms, the perspective is very good for Second Life.

Dear reader, what is your opinion about Second Life business?

Based on: mundolinden.com
Translation and adaptation: Anna Avalanche

Sana Models fashion show

I want to congrats Sana Models and its President Keely LeFavre for the beautiful model show this week. The Sana beautiful models in the show were:

Incolumis Lancaster
Ken Poikolainen
Liane Maertens
Mimmi Boa
Mortimer Vhargon
Salvo Waydelich

Sana Models is a subsidiary of Sana Mall and in addition to be a newly formed agency it is available as a service to Sana Mall vendors. Basically, the vendors of Sana Mall are able to use the models in any professional manner that they require: billboards, logos, in-store modeling, fashion shows, etc. The show featured Sana mall vendors: Micro Dinzeo Underwear, Just for Him, and Safran’s - Which are men’s clothing stores. The famous Nicky Ree clothing design was also featured. This was a high quality fashion show.

After the show I interview two beautiful models, the top model prize winner Mimmi Boa and Liane Maertens.

According to Liane Maertens – also a Déjà vu Journalist – “was really a pleasure to model for Sana Model mall and agency and I wish to make more shows like this in a near future. KeeLy Lefavres is a very nice and friendly person. The clothes were not very difficult to match with the most different accessories and jewels.” Liane featured Safrans Micro and Nick Ree beach wear at the runway on the paradisiacal Sana beach mall.

Mimmi Boa is an Italian Model, Here curriculum include big model agency like Modavia Model, SL Supermodels. She has large experience in fashion shows, no admire that she won the contest. I found Mimmi very happy and satisfied about the catwalk. As she say: “I worked really hard to learn more and more every day. Is really amazing and I’m so happy and proud!” To Mimmi these last weeks are really incredible she was chosen as pre-finalist for Miss Universe 2009 and also won the rank of Top Model for Sana Modeling. Congrats girl!

I would love to have had the chance to interview all the lovely models on the show. Hope I have the chance next time. For those beautiful models that I didn’t interview, please feel free to add a comment about your impression and feeling of the Sana Models high quality fashion show here.