Popular CBS crime-based science-fiction series, CSI:NY aired last night across North America, featuring Second Life as a major feature of a two-part story, the second part of which is due to air in February 2008.

I hate spoilers, so we'll skip talking about the story. Second Life, as it is portrayed, is given a pretty reasonable treatment - the skepticism of many of the core characters is not unusual - however, this is not the Second Life you know, just as CSI is not the forensics department you'll find if you go downtown.

Linden Lab and Vivox are taking the voice system down for maintenance tomorrow morning (Wednesday, 24 October) between 2AM and 3AM SLT (US Pacific) for unspecified improvements.

Could this have anything to do with the projected influx of CSI:NY fans tomorrow? It would be too coincidental to suggest otherwise. Apparently Linden Lab has been robustifying a number of subsystems, particularly the user-registration system.

It's nice to find people who understand. Don Heider, associate at the Journalism School at the University of Maryland and Kim Gregson, professor of Journalism, Park School, Ithaca College, talk in a three way audio interview about Second Life at the Online News Association annual meeting in Toronto.

The Shelter gets a positive mention (and so it should!). A lot of territory gets covered, what Second Life is, anonymity (and the lack thereof), Second Life as a virchspace extension of the physical world, physical world extrusions of brands and businesses into Second Life, CSI:NY, Linden Lab's business model and more. Not 100% complete (it would be much longer for one thing) and not quite totally correct, but still well worth listening to, especially if Second Life is a bit opaque to you.

Sharp-eyed reader KMeist Hax has spotted a grid of telehubs far to the north of everything. When selected, the text reads 'CSINY Orientation Island East, with coordinates. It's all there for you to see, but teleports are blocked, of course. Are you excited yet?

While I missed Mr. Zuiker's keynote speech at the Virtual Worlds Conference in San Jose, I have to say I was impressed with the short clip that I saw. At least one of the characters of the show is willing to defend SL, when so many other shows denigrate it. Mr. Zuiker also has had a hand in the experience awaiting us all on the CSI sim, which sounds as though you'll be helping the characters in the show track down the killer. I'm willing to believe. Let's keep our eyes open.

(Thanks, KMeist!)