Cardenio Culture Questions

Sweden - Science and nature

Situated in Northern Europe, Sweden is neighbour to Denmark, Norway and Finland. The very north of the country borders on the Arctic Circle, and is home to the Saami people. Like all Northern European countries, winter days are short whilst summer days are long. Sweden has the distinction of being named a 'land of the midnight sun' along with her arctic circle neighbours.

Sweden is renowned for creativity in technology, science and business and for the invention of the Nobel Prize, a prize that has been awarded to 7 Swedish individuals. A great achievement for a country with a small population.

The Swedish institute has an exhibition to celebrate the 300th anniversary of a famous Swede's birth. This scientist was an influential thinker in the fields of botany and ecology, and was been described by the playwright August Stringberg as "... a poet who happened to become a naturalist."

Visit the Swedish Institute and find the room dedicated to our thinker
What did he have to say about the spectacle of nature? (Clue: there are 2 slideshows in the room.)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Swedish%20Institute/70/212/30


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Morocco - Food


Morocco is a North African country famous for the Mosque created for King Hassan II in honour of his 60th birthday. Inaugurated in 1993, the mosque is the 2nd largest in the world after the Masjid-al-Haram in Mecca. Morocco is an ethnically diverse nation, with a history of cultural mix created a vibrant diversity, a heritage that the country wishes to protect. Morocco successfully integrated indigenous cultures with external influences. There are two main ethttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhnic groups in Morocco, Arab and Berber, with dialects of both the Arab and Berber languages being spoken. Morocco is famous for the diverse cuisine around the world, with ingredients such as spices, Harira, saffron, olives and lemons.

The country has a number of mountain ranges, the tallest of which is the High Atlas, the largest in North Africa. The mountains are inhabited by the Berbers, who are famous for one particular dish found all over the world in Moroccan restaurants.

Visit Virtual Morocco, Casablanca and find the marketplace. Can you find the name of the distinctive traditional cooking dish used to cook the famous dish mentioned above?
Clue: Look for a big red I sign near the potted plants round the back of the main market.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Casablanca/135/87/26


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Germany - Art



Dresden has been well-known in recent times for the destruction it suffered during the Second World War. Prior to this, however, the city was famous for her engineering and art galleries. In 1933 , the Ihagee kamerawerk created the first Single Lens Reflex camera, and in 1936 the first SLR camera that used the standard cine film, the Kine-Exacta. Exacta cameras also included innovations such as attachments that allowed for medical and scientific photography.

The purpose-built art gallery in Dresden, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister or Old Masters Gallery, is home to an impressive art collection. You can visit the gallery in Second Life, and take an audio tour.

• When you go into the gallery, don't forget to pick up your headphones at the bottom of the stairs on the right-hand side.
  
• Go to the top of the stairs and through the first gallery. You should go past the board showing your location.
  
• In a gallery room very near here you should find a painting numbered 1010. There is a small audio symbol underneath. Click this to listen to the commentary.
  
• This painting is of Diogenes in the market place by Jacob Jordaens.
  
• Who is Diogenes looking for in the marketplace?
  

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dresden%20Gallery/123/128/26


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Wales - Landscape

Wales is one of the 4 countries that constitute the United Kingdom, and is a bilingual nation with a culture often centred around the ancient indigenous language of Welsh. Heavily industrialised during the 'Industrial Revolution', Wales nevertheless sustained a vibrant culture of education, language and performance related arts to name a few. Every year, the National Eisteddfod takes place in a different town or city and the festival is the largest performance arts festival in Europe.

Wales is also renowned for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Snowdonia National Park was created in 1951. The highest mountain in the Wales in Mount Snowdon.

Visit Snowdonia and take the train up to see the Welsh sheep on mountain side.
What is curious about the faces of these sheep?


http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cymru/193/96/24


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Japan - Architecture

Japan is an island nation which is home to 3,000 islands , and the tenth largest population in the world at 128 million in habitants. Japanese history has been characterised by periods of cultural isolation, but in recent history Japan has embraced modern technology and culture to become the world's 2nd largest economy and a world leader in technological innovation.

Japan is also renowned for a rich tradition of crafts, performance and ceremony with many tradition such as the tea ceremony or Kabuki theatre famous across the world. Modern culture such as Manga and Anime have also proved to have popular appeal outside Japan.

Like all nations, Japan has a rich military tradition. Kumamoto Castle, built in the 16th Century, and was considered impregnable at the time of its construction. The castle's designer, Kiyomasa enjoyed an excellent reputation for his architectural skills due to the innovative defensive design features of Kumamoto.

Visit Kumamoto and go to the top of the castle.
What device is there to look through, and what do you see?
If you see Chikao-san (the SIM builder) ask him for a notecard on Kumamoto

http://slurl.com/secondlife/KUMAMOTO%20JAPAN/181/197/36

News update and thank you

Hello all,

Thanks for staying with us so far!

I'd like to say thank you for all the work you've put into the blog. I know it's an effort. :)

We have 2 things left to do. One is a short quiz to find the answer to 5 questions by visiting a location in SL. I'd be eternally grateful if you could send me the answers by next Thursday!

Then we have a party next Friday 7th December. We'll have a discussion about culture in SL, and then a quiz using the quiz ball.

After that, we can dance the night away!

How Do We All Remember?

It's part of all of our cultures. Remembering those who have finished this life. Each culture has a way of remembering. In Second Life, we meet new friends and we spend amazing amounts of time with them. Some of our SL friends become as close as family to us. Sadly, sometimes we loose them. How do we mourn them, how do we remember them. How does our Real World culture influence how and what we want to do.
Another question. Can we mourn our real world losses in SL, and find healing? Can we find a place to memorialize our real life loved ones in this virtual world and then find comfort in that?
Your quest is to find the place. I will not be giving you a slurl or landmark. I will give you a clue. Look for the garden where you can find remembrance. When you find this lovely place, spend some quiet time. Read the memorials. Enjoy the serenity of the place.

Jezzie McCellan


PS if you get stuck, check out my picks

Sparkling little lights

Hey yeah! After hours of searching and wondering through the secret garden :) I found the card that told me what those little lights were - I thought that Will-o-wisp was a cartoon (British Cartoon in the early 80's) but how wrong I was!

I had no idea that they were part of our British folklore - fairy lights or as I found one entry in wikipedia that they were the lights of a wicked blacksmith given and second chance by St Peter but then he keeps being horrible and so ends of living on the dark side.

Personally, I blame the horrible British weather and limited TV channels which has led to the development of these 'fairy stories' lol :))))

The great treasure hunt

Well this is all I could find. Actually I did find something else but it looked much more American than European! The area that I am in has alot to do with my country - although it is in the past (which this country spends most of its time!!)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Barete/166/74/73

Maneki Neko

Here's a question for Erasmus, who I heard is lurking on the blog, and who is an authority on cats.

Usually the Japanese lucky 'neko' has a raised paw - what does it signify?

Why doesn't this one have a raised paw?

Ophrys

Octoberville - the Halloween hunt

Octoberville was an amazing place to visit, with lots of really interesting details. When I first arrived, I did indeed have to wait for the world to rezz around me. I started to follow the railway line around the sim. As I was on a bit of a mission, I didn't have time to explore the haunted house, but I did find the upside down house, the train that managed to crash, and the very strange outside loos. I was rather disappointed there wasn't an amusing animation to accompany them. I joined forces with Bubbly to search for our goal, but Octoberville was so popular and SL was having an off-day, and it was just too hard to move. It was a fun place to visit though, I loved the houses most of all think.

Halloween is indeed a huge event in SL, with pumpkins at every turn, special pumpkin coloured clothing, freebies and other Halloween specials. Jezzie and I had fun decorating the castle with Halloween things, and growing giant pumpkins. These grew so much that they were actually poking out the walls. I loved the bats I found though at Animania, I think they'll be a permanent fixture.

Halloween isn't something that I bother about that much in RL, but it is such a fun festival in SL. I really enjoyed all Halloween atmosphere immensely, and it must have rubbed off when in RL. On the way home from work I met a small boy who was dressed as a pirate, he was busy giving sweets away to passers-by with his giantess of a mum. A very cute lad, and he made me appreciate the festival that day. Far too often, I've encountered teenagers whose prime motivation has been to use Halloween as an opportunity for revenue generation.

Unfortunately Octoberville is now gone and to be replaced by Christmasville. Sorry Jezz, I didn't manage to finish your quest, though I tried quite a few times. :(

Denmark, windmills and red herrings

The snapshots of the windmill taken by those of you who went on my quest are great, and Don Quixote would love them too, but I fear I have accidentally been misleading or offered you a Scandinavian herring.

It's true, there ARE windmills in Scandinavia but I had in mind a more MODERN equivalent often seen on the landscape. Tall, slim and environmentally p.c. so back you go and look again.

Ophrys :-)

Weekend walks and a children's story

I couldn't resist adding this post after my visit there this afternoon with 2 friends. I spent a lovely hour or so wandering with Aeslynn, talking about walks in the woods as children and sharing memories of favourite places and activities. We talked about families too. This sim is really beautiful, somewhere you can contemplate the view and think about the world in general. I recommend a visit to look at the trees, plants, interesting features and the wonderful views. We had a wonderful time contemplating the scenery and later discovered some volcanic rocks and a beautiful icey landscape. Wandering through the snow, we came across and iced up volcanic crater. It was too good an opportunity to miss, and we so put on our skates. It was the first time either of us had skated, and we'd had the skates since last winter. I really recommend it!

So please go and visit this sim. There are 2 things you can go and find here. One of them could be a place for Pooh Sticks as mentioned by AA Milne in Winnie the Pooh. If you're not familiar with Pooh Sticks then a search in Google should give you the answer.

Around the woodland you'll see some beautiful lights that sparkle in the undergrowth. These aren't the rainbows or sunbeams, but coloured dots that appear randomly in different places. Ghostly lights that are seen flickering at night. (Not the Northern Lights) Post me your pictures of them. :) Find the vendor for them, and the notecard should tell you about the mythology that surrounds them. Once you find their name you should be able to find out more about these ghostly lights on the web. I'd love to know what you find out about them, and whether a similar idea is part of your culture. Have you ever seen them?

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Straylight/197/14/38

Annie

Task 1 an SL search

A majestic sight for a wonderful building not often seen in my country anymore though there used to be thousands.....nowadays yuppies buy them to make into homes and denude them of their beautiful sails.... an abonimation on their houses i say !!



Had great fun in New Denmark finding the tourist place and looking through the brochure's till i found your ELK!!!
What sweet animals they are and do indeed typify the whole scandinavian culture for me too.

British Gardening Culture

Phew.. after quite a search I found these little rascals hiding under the potting bench....and i beg to differ ...trolls indeed! What an insult to those dear little creatures who so diligently guard our gardens.

Gnomes are reputedly from scandinavian descent , though most cultures have their equivelant in one form or another. The first known reference to the word Gnome is attributed to Paracelsus the Swiss alchemist who listed them as elementals.

The first garden gnomes were thought until quite recently to be Germanic in production. it was however an erroneous assumption as researchers now believe this honour is Polands.

Their introduction to England was in 1847 by Sir Charles Isham for his gardens at Lamport Hall Northamptonshire, where surprisingly one of the original batch(known as Lampy) still survives,and is insured for a mind boggling million pounds.

Gnomes are not only found in Europe but in every corner of the globe from Iceland in the northern hemisphere to Australia in the southern hemisphere and all points in between.Every country has their own legends for instance in Australia it is believed that the gnomes there are as good at cricket as they are at tending gardens.

One thing though that is found in all cultures is the belief that gnomes are the guardian and nurturers of the garden and although they have fallen foul of the garden fashionista's in recent years long may they continue to be so.

Ophrys post and my adventure to Wonderful Denmark

Wonderful Denmark

I arrived in Wonderful Denmark and promptly landed on someone's head. After a brief encounter with a bench, I managed to fly up into the air to get a view of the landscape. I flew across around quite a few times to get an overall impresssion of the place, and then again to start to take in details. There's a lovely little Danish town beneath you, farm animals such as horses and cows. I landed next to the cows and interestingly they were brown and not the Fresian or Jerseys you might see here. Maybe even Highland cattle on wilder regions. I started to get really interested in the landscape, and began to appreciate the features that were different to the UK. I was set on finding an elk. No elks to be found, anywhere. :(

Somewhat bemused, I went back to the blog entry and discovered that I was looking for an inanimate object rather than an animate. So, providing someone hadn't put a giant stuffed elk on the landscape, the answer wasn't going to be that. Hmmmm, so what is it?

I flew around again, and again. Finally I spotted a very large structure on the hill and though, "Aha! Maybe that is my familiar giant." So my choice is also a windmill, now sadly missing from much of the UK landscape. (Please note that windmills are also green technology) The thought that triggered my choice of windmill was the flat landscape and the rural theme, so the connection to windmill counties such as Norfolk.

I remembered a very lovely drive I made with a friend a few years ago across the fields of East Yorkshire. We stopped and looked at the (sailess) old windmill on a bright sunny day. This lovely ancient white structure was one of the last of its kind in the area. We stood and pondered for some time, before driving through the country lanes to our destination.

British Gardening Culture

Hi
I found them in a corner: two illustrious gnomes.



In British gardens, gnomes seem to me to be the slightly latter day equivalent of the current fad for decking- a kind of garden status symbol to make your garden the envy of your neighbours. They first appeared in the 1840s in England apparently.

The French typically use garden gnomes to make a political statement:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1437439.stm

Garden gnomes (any different from trolls?) were documented by Swedes back in the 1500s, and are said to have orginated in Scandanavia.

Wonder whether they've travelled as far south as Spain and Italy or are they only a northern European phenomenon? If they can be found in the Spanish or Italian garden - do they dress differently and wear sunhats instead of the long red ones?

Ophrys