Steelhead Shanghai Sim Opening Celebration

All are invited to join the citizens of Steelhead for the official opening celebration of their latest sim, Steelhead Shanghai!

WHERE: Behind the Shanghai Slums on the isle across from the pagoda
WHEN: 7 - 9 PM SLT

Lord & Lady Fluffytail Set Sail

After coming from a friend's Rez Day party in Raglan Shire, I went to Steeltopia for the grand opening of the Pneumatic Club. Dia was the musical presenter and I had another surprise as Edwina was there as well! It has been quite a while since the three of us were at a dance together. Eds complimented me on the fluffiness of my tail and asked me what beauty products have I been using for it...
Afterwards, I convinced Phin to climb into my tiny sailboat and we sailed all over the waters of Steelhead...I moored the boat and we explored Shanghai. We found a door at Ho Ping's Knick Knack Paddywhacks. Being tiny rodents, we could not help but to be a bit curious. I was relieved when Phin made it back...

The Emperor's New Things

"Ellie, can you come over and see my new toy?" was the message that I received from Steel, also known as the Mad Blue Emperor of Steeltopia. Only he and one other in this world can get away with calling me by that nickname, and when he says "new toy", I am admittedly always a little nervous. When I arrived, he showed off the latest vessel in his naval fleet...
I did enjoy the blasting of its cannons and guns very much, but its Steeltopia colors fireworks was quite a pleasant surprise!Afterwards, I braced myself as we rattled through the streets in what I can only describe as Steel's "Transport O'Doom"...And he showed me the latest structure in town...the new Pneumatic Club, which has a fantastic central floor and should be a nice place for his dances and such in the future.

Steelhead Town Mtg: 8/25

Tonight, the citizens of Steelhead gathered for the weekly town meeting. What would one be without something unusual happening? Of course Lunar's birthday cake exploded! For more Steelhead events and goings-on, please peruse HERE.

Steelhead Shanghai Open to Public

I paused at the bridge to Steelhead Shanghai, marvelling at its structures...
What a fantastic sim this is shaping up to be...And who knows what mystery and adventures await?!

Steelhead Town Meeting: Aug 18

The citizens of Steelhead gathered for their weekly meeting last night. Given that the rainy Pacific Northwest weather was upon us that evening, there was a bit of a surprise at the leaky roof. The meeting went on anyway, with all of us raising our umbrellas anyway. To read more about events and goings on in Steelhead, please read on HERE.

Primgraph 7 Now Available

The latest issue of the Primgraph is out. As always, fantastic articles about and related to the historic sims and Steamlands...

The Primgraph: Issue 7 - September 2009

Publish at Calaméo or browse others.

Home with the Bunnies

I was working on something for Lunar the other night and sat down in the grass of my front lawn for a moment. Not too long afterwards, my bunny rabbit Sunneh hopped into my lap--and promptly went to sleep. I love unexpected moments like that. So cute.

Elle Overseas: Funicular Railways

My goal? The top of the Montmartre Butte. My reality? There was no way that I was going to make it up all of those stairs (300!) to its summit and Sacre Coeur. What's a lady to do? The funiculaire!

Funicular railways were devised as a way to move passengers or loads up and down steep inclines by a means of counterbalancing the cars. For example, as one goes up the track the other is going down. If you look at the postcard of the original one above (which was completed in 1900), it follows the standard parallel track configuration that was popular until the 1890s, when passing tracks became the standard--allowing the cars to pass mid-track. Montmartre's original funicular was powered by water, moving the cars as the cisterns filled or emptied.

Although this is the more modern incarnation of it, I thought I'd share my ride up with you:

Shanghai Surprise...

Where in Steelhead Shanghai am I? Let us just say that when the sim is ready you will have to explore and find out for yourself!

Elle Overseas: The Eiffel Tower as Steampunk Monument

"Here is the string of iron that the wizard has thrown up to the heavens...which he invites his friends to climb..." --Jean Giraudoux

I have returned home from my travels overseas and while in Paris, I once again visited that most recognizable and magnificent of steampunk edifices--the Eiffel Tower...Called everything from a "tragic street lamp" to a "hole-riddled suppository", the Tower was rather reviled at the time of its construction for the Exposition. In 1887, leading artists and tastemakers of the time thought it would bring a "dishonor and ugliness that could not be corrected." Naysayers be damned, no? It was the vision of its creator Gustave Eiffel, whose main design consideration was actually wind resistance and stability--as any proper engineer would be mindful of. He believed that the Tower would "possess its own beauty..." and mused "Do people believe that because we are engineers, beauty plays no part in what we build...?"Completed in 1889, Eiffel's masterpiece stands 1063 ft tall (including its antenna), weighs 7300 tons, has 2,500,000 rivets (like those of boilers and locomotives) and 18,038 iron parts that were created in the Fould-Dupont factories as seen below... Eiffel saw the Tower's scientific possibilities and encouraged it to be used for metereological and aerodynamics purposes, maintaining a lab upon it and encouraging other scientists to perform experiments there as well. This is a shot of the elevator wheels in the North pillar. While waiting to go up, I could see the counterweights and such. What an impressive hydraulics system for its time! Although I have visited the Tower before, I was still in awe of this stunning engineering marvel...

Town Meeting: August 11

The citizens gathered for the weekly town meeting. No unusual hijinks or incarnations of folks to report this time around, but as always, there was much "Hoooo"-ing to be heard. To read the highlights and this week's events in Steelhead, please click HERE.

Steelhead Shanghai Has Landed

I went away for a few days and came back to a new lighthouse at Miss Katt's island...And the ability to look at Port Harbor and Capital City from the brand new sim of Steelhead Shanghai, which landed while I was gone! There are only a few lots left there, so do contact TotalLunar Eclipse if you want them, as it looks promising! It is always so exciting when a new sim lands. Oh, the possibilities!