Taking the Cake at Podex

It was a late June day at the Podex Bank. Summer was here, and many of the customers were talking about getting a new surfboard or jetski with their Lindens, or a new swimsuit. One customer from Sunweavers talked about seeing an anthro mouse in a snakeskin bikini, which got a few chuckles from the staff. Considering snakes and regular mice, why would girl with mouse features be wearing something made out of snakeskin, especially a bikini?

Other things were discussed too. The jet airshow was mentioned, as was the science-fiction convention in a few days. But the real topic of conversation was "The Birthday," or SL9B. Life as they had known it had been organized nine years ago. While many residents didn't seem to care that much, others were very interested, heading on over to the exposition area to see the sights, play the games, get souvenirs, and just plain have fun. Some of the tellers had gone or were planning to go. Others didn't want to fight the crowds.

In the middle of this, someone entered the bank. He was dressed somewhat plainly, shorts and a T-shirt, but he looked like was wearing a cake for a hat! Upon a closer look though, it wasn't really a cake, but a cake hat.

"Um, can I help you?"

"Yes, I picked up a voucher for this place at the SL9B, but, just what are you again?"

"Well sir, we're an exchange service. We accept US Dollars, Euros, and several other currencies, and exchange them for Lindens."

"What if I have Lindens to trade for dollars?"

"We do that too."

"Can't I just buy Lindens at, what's the place, Lindex?"

"We charge less than Lindex does."

The visitor looked over his shoulder and at a sign, "What's this about a Visa card?"

"We worked it out with Zachodni WBK, one of Poland's largest banks. Like any other Visa card or debt card, you can use it for both Internet transactions or withdraw cash from any ATM across the world. There are no fees for exchanging Lindens into your local currency, and your money will be on the card within the same day."

The man thought for a moment, "Well, I own a shop here, so I'll take one."

The customer and the clerk went over a few details, and the paperwork was taken care of, "You should be getting it in your mail soon."

"Great. Well, back to the SL9B."

"Have fun. By the way, just what is it you sell?"

"Oh, I run a party store. I sell lots of cakes," he grinned, "and getting to this birthday first thing they do is stick one on my head!"

The two laughed, and the customer gave his farewell and went on his way.

The Podex Exchange is located at Moonbeam (26, 223, 34), with a website at http://www.podex.info/ . Jacek Shuftan is the CEO. Podex has recently been offering an SL Visa Card, aka "Second Card," with details at http://www.podex.nazwa.pl/card/ .

Note: The preceding is a fictional story, written for the dual purpose of advertisement and entertainment.

Bixyl Shuftan

The World-Famous Steelhead Critter Races

A Benefit Event for Relay For Life in Secondlife
Sponsored by Team Steelhead Salmons & the Steelhead Public Library

Sunday July 1, 2011
Races start at 6pm SLT
Steelhead Port Harbor (132, 127, 3012)


If you have a critter and it can be raced, this event is made for you!

Bring your horses, tigers, ostriches, banthas and other ridable critters!
(Ground critters only - Sorry, our course is not suitable for flying races)


You are critterless? Ostrich is lame? Bantha has mange?
Then drive one of our free Roman Chariots!

Trophies for the winners
Commemorative items for all entrants
Entry fee 500$L for 1 race, 1500$L for more than 1.
All proceeds benefit RFL.

Schedule (All times are SLT/PST)

5:45pm
Practice session.
Open track available to all registered entrants.

6pm
Races start.

7-8pm (or after end of last race)
Afterparty with DJ Thadicus Caligari.

Races:
Race 1 - Reasonably Sized Critters
Open race for any ridable animal that will fit into the starting gate.

Race 2 - Unreasonably Sized Critters
Open to any non-flying critter
LeMans-style race - avatars will stand in starting gate, at start run to a designated spot, rez their critters, begin race.

Race 3 - Horse Race
Open to any SL horse that will fit in the starting gate.

Race 4 - Roman Chariots
A free chariot will be furnished with each entry & only these chariots will be allowed on the track. LeMans start - avatars in starting gate, at start run to your chariot and drive away.

Steelhead Port Harbor -19th c. Pacific Northwest , Steelhead Port Harbor (132, 127, 3012)

SL Youtube: "SL9B - The Cake Explodes "

Posted by KT Syakumi, "If you didn't see it, just before the sims went offline, Mikatis beautiful cake exploded! I videoed it for all to see." Asked "if anyone got hit in the noggin by a flying piece of cake," KT answered, "I did, repeatedly, and she left it all for me to clean up." KT explained this was her first try at a SL video, as Mikati was going to get someone else to film, "but they didn't show up. So five minutes before she exploded it, I downloaded Fraps and learnt how to film. I did almost everything wrong." Despite her lack of confidence, others in SL9B chat cheered her on, and RacerX Gullwing invited her to join in the filming of the next Cross-Sim Giant Snail Race (today).

The RFL "Back to the 50's" Weekend

Last weekend while the SL9B was the main event, there were other happenings on Second Life. For the Relay for Life, the big event was the "Back to the 50's" Weekend. There were many attractions and smaller events there, from the dunking booth and mechanical bull, to the Sock Hop and trivia contest. And a Relay favorite, the "Jail and Bail" in which one might end up in the slammer for charity.

Read more in Events.

Thank You SL9B Community

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Second Life 9th Community Birthday Celebration for all your hard work and volunteer spirit. True community spirit in the face of short time, insane deadlines and with all the team work that you could muster. Amazing!!! I was humbled by your efforts and collective energy.

We would like to thank our sponsors http://sl9b.wordpress.com/our-sponsors/ for the sims and services that were donated and delivered to us without a moments hesitation.

This year’s gathering expressed what true community is about. Community is not just a word it is an entity; a living, breathing entity. An interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location. Our common location is Second Life. It was truly humbling for me to see so much collaboration that the Second Life community shared for this event.

If you enjoyed the event and want to be a part next year, keep an eye on this blog and stay in the SLB Community Group for notification of next year’s festivities.

It was and always has been an honor and my pleasure to once again work with all of you.

Cya next time.....

Doctor Gascoigne

Submitted by Gemma Cleanslate

SL Machinima: SL9B - Give Us Feedback aka "The Angel Of Death #30"

Crap Mariner's 30th video on the SL9B. It was made on Monday June 25th, the day after the last official event. The self-professed "Wackadoodle" invited the others in SL9B group chat over (including a certain fox reporter, whom can be seen near the front), and congratulated them on a job well done before and after the filming of this video, in which the "Prim Reaper" asks for feedback on the Second Life Ninth Birthday, "Tell us what we did right! Tell us what we did wrong! Tell us what you want us to do next year! Tell us you want to join us! GIVE US FEEDBACK OR GIVE US PIE!"

Crap clowned around a little with the Prim Reaper voice, but not much once the filming was done. All those "Angel of Death" videos as the raspy-voiced specter had been a little hard on his voicebox.

"Boogie boogie boogie"

News and Commentary: Goodbye SL9B

Wednesday June 27 was the last day to see the SL9B, Second Life Ninth Birthday Exhibits. So went out on the field one last time to see what I had missed. I took a few freebie souvenirs, played a couple games, and of course saw a lot and took lots of pictures. Most of which will probably never see the light of this paper, though I'll probably add a few to my Flckr when things quiet down a little.

Why the Lindens refused to even so much as contribute a single sim, we can only speculate. There have been numerous suggestions from cutbacks due to the recession, worries about bad press due to drama, and of course "corporate ADD/Dilbert Symdrome." Or perhaps it was a little of these and more. As with so many other things, the Lab isn't talking, and many of us have come to the point it's futile to ask.

Bur what did happen was the residents of the Grid did not take the Lab's decision lying down. People came forward to offer resources, time, or both. We had twenty sims of land and water, with hundreds of exhibits constructed on them. Second Life Newser's own Gemma Cleanslate spent many hours as one of the staff in first organizing "The Birthday," and then guiding people around as they came.

Daniel Voyager had some interesting statistics about the event. The total number of visitors is still unknown, but there were over 300 in the first hour alone, despite it happening when much of the user base was at their real life jobs. The Cake Stage alone is believed to have gotten over 6000 visitors throughout the event. Besides the 20 sims, there were 357 exhibits, 318 performers and DJs, over 1200 pictures posted on the SL9B Flickr Community, and about 69,000 hits on the SL9B blog. Despite the Lab officially having nothing to do with the event, several stopped by, including Philip Linden himself.

It is true SL9B was not completely free of drama. There was a 9-11 memorial exhibition showing an airliner about to collide with the Twin Towers. The staff was approached by people whom felt while well intentioned, this wasn't the place for it. Chatting with KT Syakumi, she told me, "I think the people who made it were sincere in the sentiment behind it. … They built a new exhibit in it's place … and we featured it on a pic of the day. … We have rules to follow, but I'd rather work with someone to get their build to meet the rules rather than just delete it and boot them. … I understand that most Americans feel strongly about 9/11. But it's also very emotional. … Maybe there is a place for that, but not at a birthday celebration."

The only other example of drama was much simpler. Crap Mariner's version of the story was someone added a "pornographic" picture to his exhibit, and when asked to remove the picture in question, the result was a "ragequit," getting mad, removing the whole build, and up & leaving. But the empty space was soon filled with a replacement, Tateru Nino's "Second Life: The Game," an amusing parody of monopoly.

There were other things that went on and off the Grid that Second Life Newser hasn't or hasn't yet been able to report on. From a forecast of the Grid losing ten percent of its private sims in the following year, to Gez Linden leaving Linden Lab, to an early look at Linden Lab's text adventure game "Dio." South Korea also made the decision to "ban trade for commercial game items." Habbo Hotel is in trouble after a sex scandal. And of course there is the "Cloud Party" that's gotten some attention.

We'll do some work on these, don't worry. We just need a free moment after getting some rest.

I could go on and on about "The Birthday," and I'll try to write a little more on it in the near future. After that, maybe some pictures on my Flickr account. So I'll leave with these final words by Christopher Organiser.

"On behalf of the SL9B staff team, we would like thank each and every one of you for celebrating Second Life's 9th birthday with us this past week! It truly has been a blast. On June 23, 2003, Second Life was launched with only 16 sims. Now there are thousands! It was, indeed, disappointing to hear the news that Linden Labs would not be sponsoring SL9B this year; however, it is astonishing to see how the Community can join as a team and create a birthday party bigger than Linden Labs themselves can!

"Second Life is our home, real life getaway, a place for entertainment, hangouts, connecting, chatting, and loving one another as a whole Community where dreams come true and nothing is impossible. Thank you to the participants, staff, and performers for your dedication to make this celebration possible. Thank you to DreamSeekers Estates for sponsoring this occasion and providing the 20 sims! Let's all celebrate and party one last time at SL9B! Second Life's birthday only comes once a year, but our Community sticks together 24 hours a day for 365 days.

"We will see you all again next year when SL10B comes around! Good night, all, and have an enjoyable Second Life!"

Sources: New World Notes, Dwell on It, Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan

Loki Goes to SL9B

Chatting with KT Syakumi, she recommended this video of the SL9B by Loki Eliot, "My Machinima documenting this years SL9B community expo in Second Life."

Cartoon of the Day

Picture from Skylark LeFarve
by Bixyl Shuftan

Tank Club

Grey Lupindo's neighbors in Syzygy, in addition to a few others, have been having fun with some heavy metal, and not the music kind. Meet the Tank Club, a group of armor enthusiasts. In their customized tanks, the group has engaged in battle. But for the most part, they mostly go on tours around places on the mainland, the sight of tanks rolling about drawing looks from passersby.

Read more in Extra.

"Bid Treminari Human" at SL Newser

On Monday, at 5PM SL time, the Passionate Redheads Relay for Life group held an event not at one of the clubs from one of their groups, but at the SL Newser office building. Redhead Treminari Huet took part in a "Bid me Human" event, which was called "Bid Treminari Human."

Well, it's time for our next Relay event, "Bid Treminari Human." If we raise 3000, Tremi has to spend a day as a human avatar. For each additional 750L, she spends another day as human up to Friday July 13th. But if we hit Gold Level, that means Treminari has to run the whole Relay weekend as a human avatar.

So will it be "Skin to win?" Come over and "Bid Treminari Human"

Next to the Newser office, a temporary dance floor had been placed next to the building and in front of the fountain (which was acquired by SL Newser through another Relay event). Treminari also brought over a "Fox De-fluffer," which she would step into once the target amount was reached.

DJ Kryxia played the tunes for the event. Turnout was somewhat light at the beginning. As time went on, more showed up. Among the people there were Nydia Tungsten, Bain Finch, and Redhead leader Dusk Griswold. But still turnout remained smaller than at the previous Redhead "Bid Me" events this year. Treminari reasoned this late in the season, people were getting low on cash. Still, it wasn't long before the 3000 goal was reached, and Treminari stepped into the "De-fluffer." After a few seconds, it fell apart, and a dark-skinned ethnic avatar, with red hair of course, was in the place of Treminari's white Lusk vixen.

The event went on, and more money was added to the kiosk. When it came to an end, the total raised was 5,500. This and the amount raised during the 50s Weekend brought the total amount raised this year to 197,025 Lindens. There would be no Gold Level today, but there were still several weeks left in the Relay season. Treminari would be stuck as human for four days.

With July a few days away, the attention of the Passionate Redheads is turning to the end of the fundraising season: The Relay Weekend, also known as "The Walk." Before long, the builders will start work on the team's area, and on the weekend of July 14th and 15th, the Redheads will take their place among the other Relay teams for the main event.

"Until there's a cure."

Bixyl Shuftan

Events This Week in Second Life June 26 to July 2

"The Birthday" is over. But that doesn't mean the good events are gone. Science Fiction fans can enjoy Trek, Star Wars, Whovian, and other geekery at the Second Life Science Fiction Convention Five. There's the New Babbage Bar Crawl. And of course there's our selection of regularly scheduled events from book and poetry readings, live music and DJ dance parties, church session, game and talk shows, and more.

Read more in Events this Week.

SL Youtube: SL Newser Office "Meeting" at the SL9B

Filmed by Qwark Allen Sunday June 24 sometime in the afternoon. Qwark, his partner Gemma Cleanslate, and I have an office get-together with a few friends of ours. Most of us loved it, but Gemma had mixed feelings, "Hey! My mouth's open! I look like I'm yelling at the boss!"

No she wasn't, and I was there as her witness. But it's still a great souvenir for us from the SL9B

The SL Ninety-Nines

While at the SL9B, Grey Lupindo heard about a group of women virtual pilots in Second Life: the 99s. Based on a real-life aviation group, they encourage women to take to the skies. Grey reports on the group, and describes her first experiences in the pilots seat.

Read Grey's story in People.

Funny Picture of the Day: SL9B Humor

Picture from Val Kendal, she attributed this joke exhibit of the SL9B to KT Syakumi. The staff of the Birthday sure didn't forget their sense of humor.

It could be easily seen as a parody of Marianne McCann's "History of Prims" exhibit.

SL9B Ends, "We Made it the Best SL Birthday"

Late Sunday night, after a week of events, it was time for the Second Life Ninth Celebration to officially end.

Next up on the Cake Stage is THE SL9B GRAND FINALE WITH FIREWORKS BY BEWLL ORMEGA ACCOMPANIED BY DJ LAZ DRESLER FROM 11PM TIL MIDNIGHT!!! Join us at the Cake Stage as we celebrate Second Life's 9th Birthday with this outstanding finale!!!

And so people from around the Grid gathered at the four-sim Cake Stage, for the final Event, "The last performance at SL9B is here!"

The event was attended by dozens of people, in many heights and types of avatars. Laz Dresler told everyone, "Thank you all so much for hanging with me tonight. I hope you had a great time." She played a number of songs, such as "You're Poison," and "Running Down a Dream."

Running down a dream
Never would come to me.
Working on a mystery.
Going wherever it leads.
Runnin' down a dream.

Among those at the party was the Cake stage creator, Japanese pop artist Mikati Slade. Her huge build got complements, "Mikati, I love your cake!" "Thank you!" Other compliments and cheers went around, "Thank you everyone for your hard work this year! You guys rocked!" "Awesome display and a perfect final for SL9B, Congratulations for a fantastic event!"

Someone remarked that for those who missed the event, a smaller show of fireworks would be going on "24/7" in the Celebrate sim. The sims themselves would remain up for a few more days so people could continue to see the exhibits, but would be coming down as soon as Wednesday.

Before the final event, people were thanking and congratulating one another for the event. Marianne McCann remarked during chat, "this event wasn't even supposed to happen. Instead, we made it the best SL birthday. I think we beat SL 3rd for the best title." "And Mari should know 'cause she's an old kid," someone seconded her. Crap Mariner after a few jokes told, "just wanted to thank everyone in here for giving it your all and then some. And I hope you got more back from it than you bled, sweated, and cried into it."

When someone asked what the record number of exhibits at an Second Life Birthday event was, KT Syakumi answered, "there are 357 exhibits, not counting the stages, infrastructure and events. Marianne McCann added, "I know we've not had 350± at any previous SL birthday."

There are numerous pictures taken of the exhibits, which can be seen in the Sl9B Flikr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sl9b/pool/. Crap Mariner had several hundred up, "I'm not sure how many I've go snapshots of." Marianne McCann commented "I have been shooting a few things, but I know it's gonna be about impossible to see it all."

And so, the Second Life Ninth Birthday, the SL9B, probably the most discussed Birthday event on the Grid in years, is over.

"Thank you all for coming to SL9B! On behalf of the entire staff at SL9B, we hope you had a fun and memorable time celebrating Second Life's 9th birthday!"

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Youtube: "Celebrate" SL9B Party

A video of a party at SL9B, by "Chaîne de Sliennedunord"

Cartoon of the Day

From Treminari Huet's picture of the build of Philip Linden.
By Bixyl Shuftan

"Bid Treminari Human" at SL Newser

Second Life Newser, usually simply covering the news, will be hosting an event for the Passionate Redheads. In our third "Bid Me" event this year, our Treminari Huet is putting her fur coat on the line. So on Monday June 25th at 5 PM, head to "Bid Treminari Human." Those at the event will have the chance to bid her human, or stay in the fur.

The event will have one kiosk. If at least 3,000 Lindens are raised, Treminari goes human for a day. For every additional 750 Lindens raised, she has to spend at least one more day without a fur coat up to Friday July 13th. However, if enough Lindens are donated to the point the Redheads reach Gold status, our Luskwood vixen has to run the Relay Weekend as a human.

This year, Skylark raised over 30,000 Lindens. Last year, Rita Mariner raised 75,000. How much can we raise for our third and final "Bid Me" event this year?

The event will be just to the east of the SL Newser office at HV Community (140, 67, 25), Monday June 25 at 5PM SL time.

Bixyl Shuftan

A 500 Meter Mesh Avatar

Remember the giant Colossus avatars that made the news in May? Someone else made an even bigger avatar that stretches higher than most people normally set their draw distance (field of vision to those outside Second Life).

Introducing "the Giant XXXL500M - biggest mesh avatar of Secondlife." Someone mentioned this avatar at the SL9B, and showed a link to this Youtube. Looks like people are trying to test the limits of Mesh and how it works.

Second Life Officially Turns Nine Years Old

It was nine years ago today, June 23 2003, that Second Life was officially made open to the public. As others such as Daniel Voyager point out, "It seems so long ago." Most of us didn't get on until later in it's history, and new residents keep joining. One of the people I ran into at the SL Newser exhibit had only signed up with Second Life a couple days before.

Second Life was a much different place back then. The virtual world was a lot smaller than the one today (link to map). And as the 2003 trailer below shows, it looked different too, the avatars and landscapes a bit simpler. There was no currency or the ability to teleport around. Linden Lab got money through the residents via a tax of how many prims a resident rezzed.



Second Life actually has some history before that. Linden Lab was founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale (the future Philip Linden), and work began on what became known as "the Rig," which was given a limited release as an "alpha" in March 2002 as "Linden World."



It certainly looked a lot more gamelike back then with it's guns and grenades, and had a limited ecosystem and weather. Supposedly "The Rig" is still packed away somewhere in Linden Labs, "It was shoved in a box at some point and largely forgotten."

During the process of changing from this to start of the Grid as we know it, much of the staff wanted to keep the name "Linden World," but others convinced them a better name was needed, Robin Linden saying, "We believed a place name would give people a sense of destination, and possibly some added layer of meaning. And we thought a descriptive name would help people understand this new concept of a shared, 3D collaborative space." Proposed names with "Life" came up, leading to "Life2," and then "Second Life," which was ultimately the name chosen despite it supposedly "not popular among the Linden staff."

Since June 2003, the Grid slowly changed to Second Life as we know it. Later that year, Linden currency was introduced. Version 1.1.0 introduced telehubs, which residents could port around the Grid on. In 2004, the revenue model was changed to land tiers from property ownership. In late 2005, residents gained the ability to teleport to any place not blocked.

There have been a number of changes since then, Mesh being among the latest ones. And no doubt as Second Life goes on, there will continue to be more.

For more history, check out the "History of Second Life" on the Second Life Wiki: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/History_of_Second_Life . One can also check out a series of articles Tateru Nino did for Massively in 2010: "A Brief History of Second Life."

Image credit: Christopher Organizer, Second Life Wiki

Bixyl Shuftan

The SL Newser at SL9B Party

On Friday, June 22nd, SL Newser held a party at it's exhibit at the Second Life Ninth Birthday area, in the Kyuu sim. The party was held on a platform way above the exhibit. People began showing up at 1 in the afternoon, and it went on from there.

DJ Qwark spun the tunes, mostly 70s & 80s pop.

Gemma Cleanslate (green ball over head) was able to take a break from greeter duties. Bejita, a regular to Qwark's parties, had on some colorful armor.

Not usually one for parties, Xymbers showed up ... as a female werewolf in a dress and tiara.


Other guests included blogger Treminari Huet, DJ Kryxia and Hostess Miyuki from Club Zero Gravity, and a number of other friends. It could get a bit laggy, as shown by the grey avatars in this picture.

The party went on for almost two hours until a sim restart brought it to an end a few minutes early. Despite that and the lag, a good time was held by all.

Bixyl Shuftan.

SL Machinima: SL9B

SL9B from Freeta Kayo

Going About the SL9B

It's been quite a birthday event for Second Life, with the SL9B in full swing. Although a bit busy in real-life, On Wednesday I had a little time to explore a little. I saw a few exhibits in action, ran into a Linden while there, and even saw some of a question and answer session with Qarl Fizz, the former Qarl Linden about mesh.

Read the story in Places.

Come to Second Life Newser in SL9B for a Party

Today, Second Life Newser is having a party at it's SL9B location. The party will be on a platform over the office exhibit, and is open to all. DJ Qwark will provide the tunes.

The party will be at 1PM SL time at DreamSeeker SL9B Kyuu (80, 72, 152)

Nydia Tungsten and Her Impact on Second Life

Grease Coakes recently sat down with one of the Newser's longtime friends, Nydia Tungsten. Nydia has made a name for herself in Second Life as a DJ. But there's a lot more to the little white vixen than just that, much more. Grease talked with her about a number of things she does on Second Life, from DJing, to her clubs, to her rental agency, and more.

Read Grease's article in People.

Special Show of "the 1st Question" this Sunday at SL9B 4PM

This Sunday June 24th, Pooky Amsterdam's "The 1st Question" will have a special two hour show at the Second Life Ninth Birthday. The "The Quiz Show to the Stars" event will be held at the Auditorium in Negen at 4PM. The show may be broadcasted live on treet.tv (so your chance to get on SL TV during a shot of the audience), and will be recorded for later viewing in the archives.

"If you have an answer, we have a question."

4-6 PM DreamSeeker SL9B Negen (70, 56, 23)

SL Machinima: SL9B - Inside Art" aka "The Angel Of Death #25"

The Prim Reaper is back, this time giving a review of the "Inside Art" Gallery, by Ginger Lorakeet. The pictures in this gallery are unique in one respect: you can step into the painting to become part of it, temporarily. The artist is also giving away one of the works to someone.

"Inside Art can be found on Dreamseeker Nove (108, 61, 25)"

Update on the Blake Sea Dispute

Yesterday, Gemma Cleanslate, with the help of Howdy Colter and Marianne McCann, reported on a dispute in the Blake Sea region between the sailors of some modern day ships whom had just arrived there and the pilots and sailors of civilian craft whom had been using it before. The last development was when there was a ban enacted against the warships. The full bulletin that was posted was finally recovered by Gemma.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hello All,

Due to the excess, disruptive events and protesting at Hollywood Airport and surrounding sims including Blake Sea - China, the management team has now found it necessary to implement a temporary ban of all navel/combat oriented vessels in the water surrounding the airport on the Santa Catalina sim, We hope to be able to lift this ban as soon as possible.

Exclusions to this ban are SLCG (Second Life Coast Guard) vessels. Also this ban does NOT apply to the peaceful use of military planes, jets or helicopters used for leisure flight.
---
How it works:
---
One warning will be given, failure to comply to this warning will result in an immediate two-week ban.

If poor conduct is given to the administrator that is warning the person, the ban time will be bumped up to a minimum of one month.

The ban will be from the Hollywood Estate, including the regions:

Santa Catalina (Hollywood Airport)
Hollywood (Starboards Yacht Club)

Any other consequences will be pressed if necessary-

We would like to remind everyone that Hollywood Airport is meant to be a fun and peaceful place to come and share a common interest, flying. Disrespect of your fellow pilots, security and/or management will NOT be tolerated.

Once again, we hope to return to regular operations as soon as possible. We are sorry for the current inconvenience


Sincerely,


jetplane1123 Hanly
Serendipity Weatherwax
Felicia Humbridge
---
Hollywood Airport Management Team
June 20th, 2012
Santa Catalina

Reader Submitted: Philip Linden's Swollen Head at SL9B

Blogger Treminari Huet was going about the Second Life Ninth Birthday area when she encountered this build of Philip Linden's avatar. At first, it seemed like a simple statue. But she noted the head slowly moves, on occasion going slightly left or right.

And then things got, interesting.


On occasion, the head will swell up to many times its proper size. After a while, it shrinks back down to normal. Given how Philip was revered in Second Life, and still is among some even after he moved on from Second Life to other projects, perhaps one could expect from him a case of "swelled head."

Press Release: Relay for Life's "Back to the 50s Weekend"

Get out those poodle skirts, bobby socks and saddle shoes or the leather jackets, cuffed jeans and don those ducktails, we're headed back to the 50's! It's time for the 6th Annual Back to the 50's Weekend for Relay for Life! It's all happening June 22nd, 23rd and 24th, 2012.

The weekend begins with a Sock Hop on June 22nd, from 5-7 PM.

Saturday will see festivities all day long. The carnival opens at 9 am. Carnival rides, game booths, the mechanical bull (with a FABULOUS grand prize); kissing booth; Dunk Tank; carnival clowns and watch out for the Police who will be slamming all hooligans straight in the slammer. Send out a warrant and have them arrested Yep,they'll have to bail their way out. The Classic Car Contest returns on Friday night, where you can vote over and over again for your favorites. Be sure and visit the Labyrinth, too.. who knows the fun twists and turns that could take? Saturday will end with another Sock Hop and a Skating Party.

Be sure and shop our town shoppes and look for the special things selling especially for RFL, by some our RFL teams!

The fun continues all day Sunday, the 24h and ends with skating party at 6pm or a double feature at the drive-in movie theater from 4-6:30pm SLT.

It's a jam-packed oldie, but goodie weekend.. and it's all for Relay for Life!

Be There or Be Square!

* * * * *
Friday's event is a Sock Hop

5pm-7pm SLT
Team: Rays of Hope Team Captain Suzetta Moonites Co-Captain Broody Flow and
Team: Eternal Beacon Captain Dione Kohime Co-Captain Dys Babi
with DJ Suzetta "SweetReds" Moonites

Check the Relay for Life of Second Life Blog for the full Schedule: Here.

Cartoon of the Day

Taken at Gracie Kendal's farewell bash to her "1000 Avatar Project." The "crab dance" is actually a gesture from who-knows-how-long-ago. But it's worth a chuckle.

by Bixyl Shuftan

Troubled Waters at the Blake Sea

The Blake Sea has been the location of some controversy. Groups of WW2 era ships have recently come to the waters, to the irritation of the sailing community that was already there. The result has been protests and counter-protests over the use of the ocean sims. Gemma Cleanslate got together with Howdy Colter to write about the dispute

Read more in Extra.

SL9B Birthday Hunt Trailer

"In addition to all the fabulous installations at the community birthday celebration, there will be a birthday treasure hunt as well! Watch and learn how to find your free prizes!"

Read more in the article here: http://sl9b.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/the-egyptian-hunt-clue-one/

Reader Submitted: "Where I Found My Ivory Tower Surrounded by ..."

Artée (Artistide Després) has primarily worked for the last 2 years on the creation of musical instruments with brilliant optical and acoustic effects, which have been frequently awarded. Parallel to the furthering of perfection of instruments, many important incidents occurred across the globe which are still changing the world: The bank crashes with the result of the worldwide Street Occupy Movement and the atomic accident at Fukushima. Both themes are already heavily influenced the previous works of Artée, but that did not prevent her from believing more and more in the ivory tower of the protected environment of her artistic world. The result is the current work "Huxley, Orwell & Ivory Towers."

We see around the centered instruments in the ivory tower several fields of worldwide misevaluation: Urbanisation, Totalitarianism, war and violence, misuse of financial power and pollution. Artée shows that our society loses freedom via new media and switches from Huxley’s social vision in “Brave new World” of dictatorship via Entertainment to Orwell’s vision in “1984” of a society under total control.
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SL opening:
Saturday 16 June 1 PM SLT
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RL opening:
22 June - Santa Fe New Media Festival
http://currentsnewmedia.org
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SLURL:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA22/187/116/21
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Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/arteespage
YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Artistide
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Written by Quan Lavender (pictures from Gemma Cleanslate)

Events this Week in Second Life from June 19th to June 25th

Second Life's Ninth Birthday is here! And with it are a huge number of exhibits, as well as events inside and out of the SL9B regions. But by all means "The Birthday" is not the only show in town. The rest of the Grid continues to hold events, from the Flying Tigers' jet show to art shows. And of course our regularly scheduled live and DJ music events, story and poetry readings, science lectures, talk shows, and other happenings across the Grid.

Read more in Events this Week.

The SL9B Commencement Speech

Monday June 18th was the start of the Second Life Ninth Birthday, and it began with a commencement address. But this time it wasn't delivered by a Linden, but by a resident. Saffia Widdershins gave the address to an audience of four packed sims, thanking those who got the birthday started, and answering a question: "Why are you celebrating Second Life’s birthday, when Linden Lab can’t be bothered to?"


Read the speech in Events.

Places Seen at SL9B Press Day

Sunday June 17th was Press Day at the Second Life Ninth Birthday area, and members of the media covering the Grid, bloggers, newsletter writers, video producers, and others, were invited to take a day-early look. There were also tours offered, one of which SL Newser managed to join up with.

See more in Places.

SL Machinima: SL9B - Meet the Greeters" aka "The Angel Of Death #24"

The latest of Crap Mariner's SL9B videos, in which the Prim Reaper talks about the greeter volunteers of the SL9B, "Remember, they're here to help you ... all together now: boogie-boogie-boogie!"

Jukebox Build-Off Winners

Grey Lupindo was at the Virtual Museum of Architecture for another 50s-themed build-off contest. This time each of the contestants were asked to make a jukebox. It had to be more than just good but it had to play music too. Six good builders took part. And the winner's build was certainly worth dancing to.

Read more in Design.

SL9B Opens Today

After weeks of preperation, the Second Life Ninth Birthday event finally opens today. At 11AM SL time, the sims open, and the keynote address is given. Whom is giving the address, Second Life Newser hasn't heard yet, but it is unlikely to be someone from Linden Lab as they weren't a part of this year's event. And at 12 Noon SL time, the events begin.



Thanks to DreamSeeker estates and other sponsors, there are 20 sims of exhibits, large and small, representing many communities, as well as groups such as Team Phoenix, and talented individuals such as Dr.Fran Babcock. The number is too great to mention here. But to help find them, you can grab a HUD to help go around in DreamSeeker SL9B Devet (250, 116, 22)

Don't forget to stop by at our own exhibit at DreamSeeker SL9B Kyuu (86, 76, 21). For a great view of the area around, just click on the hat and select "sit."

Be sure to read more later today. There was so much to see, we're going to have to wait until later today to write more about it.

For more, check up on the SL9B blog: http://sl9b.wordpress.com/

Machinima credit: Moo Money

Bixyl Shuftan

PC Gaming: Civ2 Game Lasted Ten Years

Remember the popular computer game Civilization? Created by Sid Meier, and first sold in 1991, it was just a few years before a sequel was sold: Civilization 2, or Civ2 as it became known by fans. Starting with a single city, players researched technology and harvested resourced to build and expand their territory through conquest or development. Games could sometimes last a while, taking some weeks, maybe a month or two to play out before someone either conquered the world, or researched enough technology and industry to build a starship to be the first to reach Alpha Centauri.

But how about a game lasting ten years?

In an Associated Press article by Derrik J. Lang, a player known as Lycerius posted on Reddit the details of his ten year campaign. In his game, it's the year 3991 with a 1700 year war that's left the planet scarred by numerous nuclear blasts, "The world is a hellish nightmare of suffering and devastation. There are 3 remaining super nations in the year 3991 A.D, each competing for the scant resources left on the planet after dozens of nuclear wars have rendered vast swaths of the world uninhabitable wastelands. … My goal for the next few years is to try and end the war and thus use the engineers to clear swamps and fallout so that farming may resume."

The Associated Press contacted Sid Meier about the game, to which he responded, "My first thought was, 'Wow! I can't believe anyone has been playing "Civ II" for that long,' ... It's been more than 15 years since we released that game, and I don't think any of us expected a decade-long game would come out of it."

As our real-life civilization has gone on, three more sequels, each with further changes to the game and graphics, have come out, in addition to a Facebook version .

Sources: Yahoo News, Reddit, Wikipedia

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Taken at Loligagger Lane at a RFL benefit. The hot dogs are a little something "cooked up" by Crap Mariner.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Press Day in SL9B

It's Press Day in the SL9B area. So this means the building is done, and time for us in the media to start covering. Well, in some cases cover a little more. This picture by Zuzu Ritt shows the welcome area from above. For more pictures, check the SL9B Flickr.


A map of the area, complete with names.



And for a little humor, the Prim Reaper shows off the SL9B Mesh stage which will be the scene of a number of live music performances at the birthday event, "SL9B will feature some of the best musical performers in Second Life... and this video features the absolute worst!"

For more, check up on the SL9B blog: http://sl9b.wordpress.com/

"Horsing Around" at the Office

From July 2010, during a staff meeting at SL Newser's office, Gemma Cleanslate teleported in still on horseback. Needless to say, there were a number of horse jokes from me, Shellie Sands, and Grey Lupindo for the next few minutes.

Bixyl Shuftan