The Relay Celebrates 4 Million USD Raised

 

On Sunday January 17, the Relay for Life in Second Life celebrated it's recently having passed the four million US dollar mark of it's total fundraising throughout it's history. The party lasted from 10 AM to 1 PM, and took place on the border of the American Cancer Society sim, and the temporary Christmas Expo sim. The ACS sim had been recently decorated, with pictures marking each year of the Relay's history in Second Life.

There were some things of note about the event. Among them, Patch Linden was there, seated among the members of the Relay Committee. There was also a copy of the first Relay kiosk. Among the announcements were that last year, the Relay for Life in Second Life was the fifth largest chapter in the entire Relay, both real life and online. It was also announced that Nuala Maracas was awarded a place in the RFL in SL's Hall of Honor. She responded by giving a speech (1:45:30 in the video below), "The Relay for Life has given me so much over the years."

Members of the Relay also thanked the Second Life Newser for it's coverage over the years, considering being named its "Volunteers of the Decade" a badge of honor.

There would be a Youtube of the event (Click here if the video above does not play). Wildstar Beaumont would have a number of screenshots on Flickr.

The Relay season in Second Life officially starts with it's kickoff on Saturday February 20. Soon after is the start of the Home and Garden Expo, which lasts from Saturday February 27 to Sunday March 21.

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Fireside Chat: Covid-19"

 

"Fireside Chat: Covid-19"

 Saturday January 23,

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

Fireside chats are intimate gatherings with the last speaker to have a free-form discussion. Audience drives the discussion with their questions or topics. This additional opportunity for the audience to receive answers to questions will be scheduled a few days after the last presentation.

This week the open introduction of this new addition, central today Covid-19. The questions are answered by Phil Youngblood Ph.D. and Robert Hendrix MD.

For more information, Click Here. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32

Book Island Book Reading

 

On Tuesday January 19 at 2PM, Selina Greene had a book reading at Book Island, reading an excerpt from the dystopian classic "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. In the novel, "firemen" do not put out fires but are tasks with burning books as the government has outlawed them. The main character is a fireman who comes to question what he has been doing. 

Book Island (209,214,38)

Cartoon of the Day

 

 Picture by Luna Soledad in Facebook's Second Life Friends group. The avatar's skin had turned blue due to a glitch, which her posting about it resulted in a few comments.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Aneli Abeyante And Maison d’ Aneli

 

Second Life artist Aneli Abeyante has been exhibiting her work in the virtual world for a number of years. Her most recent exhibit is at her Gallery in Virtual Holland named Maison d’ Aneli. There, the works of nine different artists can be found, in addition to her own art. Kayly Iali went there to take a look.

Read Kayly's article in Design.

EOTB: SL Destination Guide Still Being Worked On

Although Linden Lab completed the move of it's data from old servers to The Cloud a few weeks ago, the job isn't quite finished. A few days ago in the official blog, Strawberry Linden stated that the way the Second Life Destination Guide is updated developed bugs and glitches in the move that are still being worked on. There will be no new updates "for the foreseeable future."

On December 22nd I announced that the Second Life Destination Guide was being uplifted to the cloud. That process is still underway, however, we have run into some errors. For this reason, the web publishing tool that allows us to update the Destination Guide is still unavailable and will be for the foreseeable future until these errors can be corrected. I am hoping it won’t be much longer than another week or two. I will continue to update you on this status every Friday.

The submission form for the Destination Guide is also giving errors because of this, so please continue to email your submissions to editor@lindenlab.com and we will add them as soon as we have access again.

To read the blog post in full, Click Here.

Inauguration Day

 

It's Inauguration Day in the United States, when the outgoing President steps down from power and the new one is sworn into office. In London City, I found a display for the incoming President Joe Biden, at London City (75/226/23). Next to it, there was another display poking fun at the soon to be former President Donald Trump, showing him in a missile launcher with his now former lawyer Giuliani hiding in some bushes. But some little touches here and there suggest not all the poking is at Trump and his men.

There will be events that day in the sim for the Inauguration, and earlier in the day for the former President's departure. Someone in the sim told me the first events will be at 8AM, but this is unconfirmed.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/75/226/23

Events This Week at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay Clubs, The Fallout Shelter, and Furry Fashion Lounge

 

Here's what's going on at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay clubs, The Fallout Shelter, and the Furry Fashion Lounge.

Club Cutlass: Best in W, Down South, High Class

Happy Vixen: Pets, Flight, TBA, Mix and Match, Cute and Fluffy, T-shirts, Ears and Tails, Military and First Responders

Club Zero Gravity: TBA

Xanadu: DJ Christine, DJ TBA, DJ Kit Drago, DJ Blazewing

Bouncing Bunny Club: Magic, Next to Naked
 
Montecito Bay: CAYA, After Dark

Furry Fashion Lounge: CAYA, Disney, Neon, Rave, Video Games, Late Night, Royalty,

Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy, DJ Dita Vee

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.

Press Release - Burn2 Winter Burn 2021: Bubble Gum and Duct Tape

  Opening 5:00pm SLT, Friday, 29 January 2021
Ending Midnight SLT, Sunday, 31 January 2021
SLURL:​​Burning Man- Deep Hole (174/32/25)

Winter Burn 2021: Bubble Gum and Duct Tape

With Winter Burn, we welcome 2021 buoyed by a measure of hope and optimism, perhaps with a touch of caution. ​The Ten Principles​ serve as our framework for how we want to live and do things together. We chose a theme: ​Bubble Gum and Duct Tape​.

When you ponder this theme, think about what makes things stick together, if it helps. Love, support, respect, chain, a guy rope, tie,wire, clasp, screws, nails, bandage, cord, harness ... and of course, Bubble Gum and Duct Tape. Basically, think outside of the box, beyond bubble gum & duct tape.

Life has begun to stir on the virtual playa. Trucks are hauling in the prims needed for infrastructure and various builds. Interesting creations are sprouting up out of the frosty dust. Performers are booking their slots for the stages. Preparations are well underway!

The event opens on the 29th of January at 5:00 PM SLT, when the Lamplighters will arrive with their usual fiery enthusiasm for a walk-on. Everyone is welcome to walk along on a tour of the art installations and camps until finally arriving at the Main Stage. Lamplighters love to let loose a little fire to properly start things off, and start they do with music and much dancing!

Burn With Us!

The moment you step onto the dusty playa, you will not be a mere spectator; you become part of the spectacle. Welcome Home!

SHARE the News and Plan to Come!

We look forward to welcoming Home Burners and the community. Experience Burn2 once again. Enter the playa through the Gate, and if you are a virgin Burner, ring the bell! Walk-on with the Lamplighters; visit the Rangers, see the effigy that shall be burned. Wander, explore, climb, interact. Visit the stages, where DJs and musicians bring music to soothe, inspire, excite and incite to dance. You will be surrounded by art, music, fire and welcoming Burners! See the (continuously updated) BURN2 Calendar at https://www.burn2.org/event-calendar/​ for the event’s schedule.

Palmwood City to Close

 

In May 2019, the Newser wrote about Palmwood City, "a thriving furry Second Life community themed around a 'retrowave' city aesthetic." Sadly, we were just informed Palmwood will soon be closing down. Jimmy Talon stated the following:

I know this may not be the most shocking thing to hear given how quiet things have been for a while now but still having to put it in writing officially does give it some weight.

To put it plainly I do not want to run this project any more. It requires a lot of time, effort, energy, and patience that I have not possessed for a few years now. Not only that but the fluctuating costs of adding expansions, updating buildings, and maintaining a strong presence in Second Life can sometimes be too much for a guy who doesn't have alot of spare money to begin with. Palmwood has always sustained on a break even business model which can only stay good for so long before things just add up and people lose interest.

I’m glad I’ve been able to make friends and meet cool people through this project over the years but I’ve been less and less active in Second Life as the years have gone by due to work, school, and also just simply not relying on it for a bulk of my social life as I did when I was younger.
Much of this is coming from personal reasons. It's not a project that excites me anymore and I’ve sadly just lost all passion and aspiration for it. But even then the technical issues have also begun to show their ugly head as years have gone by. Things I could have done better, things I just didn’t think were important at the time but definitely were, etc. Palmwood was always kind of a pretty sim first and everything else an afterthought. That only gets you so far.

I’m sure it would be possible to find help and get things running in a positive direction again before turning in my keys. Sadly that won’t happen overnight and would require me to stay invested in the project for an indefinite amount of time longer before turning it over to a person or group who may or may not stick with it and that just seems like it would be more borrowed time from my perspective.

So on January 16th, 2021, we will no longer accept money for the remaining rentals in Palmwood and let the sim be re-claimed by the covenant its hosted by.

I’m sorry to everyone this comes as sad news to. All good things come to an end sometime.

Jimmy did say he was "working on a smaller, more manageable and less involved project in the spirit of Palmwood" with the help of some fans, "Thank you for almost 5 long years of fun. It’s been a ride."

Hat Tip: Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich Resident)

A Busy Weekend

 

 Quite a bit happened this weekend. The Relay for Life in SL had their party to celebrate having reached the four million USD mark in their history (during which they thanked the Newser for their coverage over time). Also, the Museum of Contemporary Art in the C.D.S. held an event to celebrate a new exhibit of pictures. The Aether Salon in New Babbage had their monthly discussion, the topic being Dieselpunk.

 Stay tuned for more info later.

Announcement: This Week at the Seanchai Libraries

 

THIS WEEK:Our regular 7pm sessions plus a bouquet of special readings and activities hosted and lead by Shandon to celebrate Edgar Allan Poe's Birthday. Join us this week for stories, music, and more presented LIVE in Second Life, on Seanchai Library's properties in Kitely.

All events at Nowhereville (203/43/26) , unless otherwise noted.

All stories told in open voice unless otherwise noted. All times SL/PT

 *  *  *  *  *

**MONDAY, January 18th at 7pm: Patricia Wrightson's THE DARK BRIGHT WATER continues with Gyro Muggins.


**TUESDAY, January 19th:

    ~ at Noon: RUSSELL EPONYM, Live! with music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen, live on stream. Nowhereville (194/131/21)

    ~ at 7pm: Ursula K. Le Guin's GIFTS begins with Willow Moonfire, live on stream.

**WEDNESDAY, January 20th, at 7pm : IN WALT WE TRUST, "An Obvious Fact" continues from Craig Johnson's Sheriff Longmire Series with Kayden Oconnell and Caledonia Skytower.

   
**THURSDAY, January 21st, at 7pm : POE STORIES & POEMS, with Shandon. (Also in Kitely!  Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI)

*****

Cartoon of the Day: Big Organ

 

 Taken at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris 1900

By Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: Stormhold Rising Art Gallery Opening Invitation

 
Opening Event for the Stormhold Rising Art Gallery
Saturday 16th of January 12pm SLT

Live Music - Poetry Reading - Introduction into Art Therapy and a Raffle!

Come as you are and everybody welcome!
Newbie friendly, PG rated event with voice.

Stormhold rests upon the rugged northern mountains of Caledon, hosting incredible natural beauty and a magnificent skyline. The Stormhold Rising Art Gallery, a community project between likeminded Residents, offers Second Life creators from all over a chance to display their talents and explore SL's many creative outlets. The gallery's theory is to shine light upon the positive side of second life and encourage mental well-being. That is why inventive, ambitious, & mysterious characters come from all over to make Stormhold Rising an amazing community project and venue.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Stormhold/120/159/22

Program of Events:
12:00 - 12:30     Opening Remarks
                         Spoken word Artist, Kaneha
12:30 - 01:00     Titi Therapist (Kristiina McKenzie):
                         "SL as a form of Art Therapy"
01:00 - 02:00     Thet & Wheelbyte, live music
                         Raffle draw at the end of the gig
02:00                 Onward Gallery is open tours available

SL Video: "Body Like a Back Road"

From Fierce Cutie on April 2017