November is best known for Thanksgiving, but Veterans Day is also celebrated on November 11th, the anniversary of the end of World War 1.

Which is a good lead into one of the best educational sims I have ever seen The First World War Poetry Digital Archive (More Pictures – Link to website) built by a group from Oxford University.

The link will take you to a starting spot, where you can get a free WW 1 uniform or a nurses outfit. This is not a RP sim so you don’t have to dress up. I decided to dress as a soldier anyways. I know a female on the battle field is not historically accurate, but what the heck. The region is very sound heavy, so make sure you can hear things. There are a lot of historical recordings, many of which you hear as you click on objects.

Follow the arrows to the “This Way To The Trenches” sign and click on the object there, and you will be teleported over a build of a trench. As you fly over and pass through a biplane dogfight, you hear a description of the history of trench warfare. When you finally land, you can follow the trench or try and run across the battlefield dodging mortars and mines. Click on the soldiers and hear personal accounts from the trenches.

This is a truly awesome use of Second Life that is immersive and educational, and everyone should check it out.

Meanwhile, on the boards was a request for links to recreations in SL of US historical places. The list assembled on the NMSUA website is already extensive, and worth trying some links.

The first link is for a place I knew existed but never visited, an SL recreation of the Vietnam Memorial Wall (More Pictures). The place takes a while to load as the wall plates are in high definition so as to show you the list of soldiers killed in Vietnam. If you never been to the real wall in Washington DC, this is a good substitute. Turn on your video and see images, songs, and a robot voice reading all the names on the wall, something you don’t get at the real wall.

Virtual Society education, exploring, secondlife, war memorials

40 years ago this week, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on its way to being the first manned space ship to land on the moon. In honor of this anniversary, I thought I’d find a way to recreate the mission in Second Life.

Well the first stop in our voyage is of course the International Space Museum at Spaceport Alpha. If you have never been to this awesome region (which I am sure I have mentioned before) well shame on you. It is one of the best educational regions in Second Life.  I have known people who joined Second Life, just to go see this place.

At ground level they have a display of all the famous rockets in space exploration history.  Above is a picture of me standing in front of my favorite rocket, the Ariane 01 used by the EU to launch satellites.

Apollo 11 was a Saturn V rocket, and I am sure there is one somewhere in the museum, but the only rideable rocket is a Gemini ship which predates the Saturn V. Close enough for this mission.

Before we take off though, we probably should get a spacesuit.  A quick check of Xstreet has a few available, but I managed to score a freebie helmet, gloves, and life support pack in the National Space Society region. Add your favorite leather body suit and boots, and you have a working space suit. Not authentic by any means, but good enough for virtual space travel.

So here we are aboard our ship waiting for launch. Actually launching will take us to the International Space Station display and the beginning of a tour of all the planets . A nice display, but not where we want to go.

We want to go to the Moon, so it is time to move on to the Daden Space region. This place requires that you be in a spacesuit. Pick up a HUD and stand on a teleport pad.  Yay! we made it to the moon!

Finally, it is worth mentioning that NASA has some 40th anniversary activities and events planned. You can find a schedule, along with a couple of detailed lunar lander lunar rover models in the Nasa CoLab region (right next door to the ISM).

Media, Virtual Society education, event, exploring, secondlife, space