Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: Wounded Warrior Bennefit Concert Tonight

Frets Nirvana and US Military Veterans Group announce ninth 2012 Wounded Warriors Benefit concert for Sept 30, 2012. 

Frets Nirvana, the premier guitar artist in the virtual world Second Life and the US Military Veterans Group announce the first Wounded Warriors benefit for the year 2012.  

More than 30,000 troops have been injured in recent conflicts, many of them suffering traumatic brain injuries, amputations, and severe burns.  Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) provides services and programs to ease their burdens and aid in the transition back to civilian life.

Frets Nirvana states:  “As a result of the support of many in Second Life this effort raised over $9200 in 2011 for WWP.  We hope to meet a target of $12000 in 2012.  We are going for 12 in 12! Year to date in 2012 we have sent over $8000 to The Wounded Warriors project.  So we are getting close!”

Wounded Warriors concerts feature premier Second Life Talent monthly at Patriot Island.  The concert on August 26, 2012 is scheduled from 4-9 PM PST.  Featured artists will be  Waya Snowpaw, PonDman Haalan, Anj Gustafson, KInagree-Smith and Frets Nirvana. 


For more information on the concert, contact Frets Nirvana.

ABOUT WOUNDED WARRIORS  - Wounded Warrior Project began when several individuals took small, inspired actions to help others in need. The resulting objective was to provide tangible support for the severely wounded and help them on the road to healing, both physically and mentally. What had been initially viewed as a small contribution (compared with what the warriors had sacrificed while serving our country) has become WWP's signature program:"WWP backpacks delivered bedside to wounded warriors."  Wounded Warriors program has developed significantly over the last several years to include advocacy, benefits counseling, caregivers retreats, coping/family services, peer mentoring, warriors to work and many other programs for the benefit of United States wounded veterans.

To learn more about the Wounded Warriors Project visit https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,840/ 

The Sunday Night Demo Derby

For those looking for a more exciting event on Sunday evenings, or want a car race with a twist, check out the Demolition Derby in Random. One gets to participate in a number of races with a number of kinds of vehicles. If you like racing or vehicular combat, you'll have a "smashing" good time.

Read more about the derby in Events.

SL Video: "Greenies 'The Movie' "

From "Sammy Bridges," a machinima on the classic "Greenies" sim, which closed down in 2010. The sim gave the illusion of the avatars shrunk to mouse-size when in fact the kitchen was made super-big.

Roaming the Playa at Burn2

Gemma Cleanslate has been busy at the Playa, the main site of the preparations for the Burn2 event next month. She recently took a little time to take a few pictures of some small items that had been set up while their owners worked on larger exhibits.

See the pictures in Design.

Teaser

The editor was busy last night, and alas did not have enough time to finish his story. Stay tuned for details on the Sunday Night Demo Derby.

Video: "Save City of Heroes"

The effort by it's fans to save the City of Heroes MMO continues, one of whom made this video. More information can be read at http://www.savecoh.com/.

Yoz Linden Leaving Linden Lab

On his Twitter page, Yoz Linden, Yoz Grahame in real life, wrote a message that stated he was leaving Linden Lab.



Thanks for everything, Linden Lab; it's been virtual. Always remember: YOU RUN A F***ING WORLD. This is Yoz Linden Signing out. ONWARDS!

Daniel Voyager listed Yoz's roles as "technical lead for Linden Lab, social applications," and "web infrastructure." A year and a half ago, The Economist printed an article about how as one of the developers of the computer game "Starship Titanic,"  Yoz started an "Employee Forum" on the website which turned into it's own online community. When the company that made the game went under, rather than let the forum simply die, Yoz took it under his wing, "I moved it to my own hosting." Hamlet Au mused at the time if Second Life ever went under, Yoz might come to the rescue once again by taking home some of the servers.

While he probably won't be coming to rescue the Grid should such a day come, it's likely we'll hear from him again on another computer-related project.

Sources: Daniel Voyager, Hamlet Au
Image Source: Twitter, Quora

Bixyl Shuftan

Yes We Have No Pandaria

Tuesday Septemeber 25th was the day "Mists of Pandaria," the next expansion of the MMO World of Warcraft was up for sale. And so huge numbers of WoW players were up and at starting up new characters of the new race and class available in the game. So me being a player of the game, where are the screenshots?

Unfortunately I don't have any, because World of Warcraft stopped working for me.

Expansions to the game are always preceded by a major patch. And in the middle of downloading, it just stopped cold. The suggestions provided by technical support are not working. This is the most trouble I've had in over five years of playing the game.

One friend of mine who's been spending more time in Warcraft and less in Second Life suggested going ahead and scraping the game and reisntalling. But that's going to take quite a bit of time.

In the meantime, any pictures of Pandaren on the Newser in the near future are going to come from others.

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Using a Mesh-capable viewer didn't completely eliminate the "invisible pants" problem for me. But these kinds of bugs are a never-ending source of chuckles.

Bixyl Shuftan

Crap Mariner's 100 Word Stories

Crap Mariner is known for a few things in Second Life. One weekly event is about his ability to come up with short stories quickly and tell them to an audience. For more of a challenges, he limits himself to 100 Words. So the event was called "100 Word Stories."

Read more in People.

Events This Week in Second Life from Sept 25 to Oct 1

September comes to a close this week. But the events on the Grid go on. Stop by Madpeas for the Perfumed Cutlass hunt, the Oktoberfest celebrations in the Confederation of Democratic Sims, or the London City Disco Spectacular. And there's our sampling of various live music and DJ club events, races, book and poetry readings, church services, and talk shows.

See the list in Events this Week.

Pop Art Lab to Close

After about five years in Second Life, Pop Art Lab's founder and director Claus Uriza will be taking a break from the virtual world. And with his departure the group and inworld location will be closing down. In the blog, Claus stated the group and place would close in November.

The time has come to step away for a while from virtual worlds. After spending 5 years testing and playing with Second Life and Virtual Worlds platforms, I have decided to take hiatus. It has been a fantastic ride but I don’t think we can push it much further without significant changes in the technologies surrounding these environments.

In this 2010 video, Claus describes himself as a "music librarian" who went through a number of CDs every day, selecting the best ones to play at Pop Art Lab, "ten to twenty new albums each week." He had wanted to provide music available for listening in a 3D environment, the style of the location involving futuristic looking builds. There are four listening booths, each representing different genres: rock, pop, electronic, and R&B/hip-hop. The location itself was built in November 2008, and got a boost in traffic after being listed on the Second Life website for a few months.

Claus gave several reasons for the closing. Streaming could be done using other services, he wanted to "focus on real life and real life clients," and it was his observation the "mass adoption of virtual worlds" had stalled, with few musicians and bands from outside Second Life willing to invest here.

Pop Art Lab's group will continue in Second Life, but future updates will be linked to  posts on Facebook, Google, and Twitter to "focus entirely on posting news about music and shiny new tech in social media" including games and virtual worlds. The Facebook page was no longer focused on Second Life. The group will cease streaming music inworld, except on special occasions.

As a final note, I would like to assure that Pop Art Lab loves the Second Life platform, Linden Lab and the people who create the magic in there. During the years, there have been many issues in the way Linden Lab handle(s) Second Life. I want to point out it’s a wonderful platform they have created: especially the unique democratic tools that give everyone without specific skills a golden opportunity to create and visualize their culture, history and lives.

I sincerely hope all who have helped and still help create wonderful experiences inside virtual environments will flourish in the years to come. Lastly, thanks so much to my team behind Pop Art Lab, because without you none of above would ever have happened!

For more information, check out the Pop Art Lab blog, or Daniel Voyager's article.

Info Island DK (187, 109, 225)

Image sources: Pop Art Lab, Al Kohn 

Bixyl Shuftan

A Look at Linden Lab's "Patterns"

Last week, Linden Lab revealed two of the projects they were working on, "Creatorverse" and "Patterns." Seeing the pictures and description of Patterns, some dismissed it as the Lab trying to rip off Minecraft without coming up with anything original. Just after the announcement, gaming Internet magazine IGN published an article by Anthony Gallegos in which he looked at the game and had a few words with Rod Humble about it. His observation was that it was "dramatically different" from the familiar sandbox game.

Rod Humble admitted Minecraft was an influence, "So the notion was you take a very simple 3D Creation tool you take that lovely elegance of the resources that's in Minecraft, and them make the whole thing have physics from the ground up." In both, one has an avatar in a world gathering up resources. But in Minecraft the avatar builds tools which it can use. It doesn't in Patterns. Nor are there monsters and hot lava to make survival a question. The world itself is different, alien looking compared to the familiar grass, trees, and hills. And instead of cubes, the world is made up of triangular tiles, as is the avatar.

What can one do with the triangular tiles? They can be used to create three dimensional blocks. And these blocks can be used to build larger structures. The tiles can come from a variety of materials, wood, stone, clay, etc. And the hardness and weight of the cubes can have an effect on what one can build. Physics and gravity matter here much more than Minecraft. If one keeps extending a horizontal column of blocks, it will eventually break and fall. And a mostly stone column with a clay base will break sooner than a clay column with a stone one.

When working with the world, sometimes the physics acted in ways that surprised the Linden team. The Lindens are hoping to get users on board to continue to see what can be done with the place, as Humble stated in the video trailer from Linden Lab, he wanted "creators in from the earliest possible moment." A few days after the  IGN article was published, Linden Lab began taking pre-orders for the game's "Genesis version" for $9.95. The page stated those buying would be "entitled to have your name featured in the credits of the game in version 1.0."

Hamlet Au commented that  in giving an advance peek to IGN, it looked like Linden Lab was aiming at gamers rather than users of Second Life as more likely to give Patterns a try. He also states he managed to get in touch with Minecraft's creator Markus Persson. Of Patterns, he thought, "Looks great."





Once again, Patterns Genesis can be pre-ordered at: http://buildpatterns.com/buy/.

Sources: IGN, New World Notes  

Bixyl Shuftan

Minecraft: Beyond Angels' Village

 My virtual friends and neighbors are still spending time in Minecraft at the Angels Village server. As time has gone on, the builds have been getting further away, but bigger and better. This place at the western end of the island takes about ten-fifteen minutes to get to from the village. It was creative with it's use of hanging vines, and somehow the sheep got colored. Wool can be dyed in the game, but I didn't read about doing that before sheering it from the critters.

"Shiriville" is so far southeast of Angels' Village, it goes off my map centered there. It took over a Minecraft day to get there. The owner of the place spent quite some time on the details. These three-masted ships for instance, it took some creative use of logs, fence posts, planks, ladders, and for the sails wool. Other builds include a dam with water outflowing.

Other locations are less spectacular visually, but notable in other ways. RECoyote Mindes' "Coyote's Den" south of the village is dug into and under a hill, with features such as underground wheat, cattle, and chicken farms. Skylark LeFarve went way, way north, the road to her place crossing the  expanse of desert , the water north of the island, another expanse of desert, and through some tundra before coming to a mountain. It's a safe bet it takes thirty minutes to walk there from Angels on foot.

And yours truly? So far just a few small shelters while exploring around, plus a cabin a few minutes away east of Angels Village. It's most notable feature? It's connected to my room in the village via a tunnel, so trips back and forth are monster free (and dry during rain). Maybe something else will be built soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Loosing bets can be such a "drag." ;-)

By Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: "Couleurs de la Danse" by Ballet Pixelle

Ballet Pixelle® will premiere its fourteenth original ballet "Couleurs de la Danse”, Sunday, September 23 at 5:00 pm. 

Performances will take place every Sunday at 5pm and Wednesday at 2pm at the Ballet Pixelle Theatre, through the month of October.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Quat/42/24/107

"Couleurs de la Danse" is a ballet about color...and dance.
There is no story, there is only movement.
A dashing and strong danseur in green with his vibrant green ballerina. 

A  quick and jazzy danseur in red with his fleet-footed and daring red ballerina. 

And a study in femininity and grace -- the lavender ballerina.
Then, a solo ballerina in white lace daintily follows the lines of the baroque violins.
And finally, red passion erupts!

Discussions following all performances.  Please come early as seats fill quickly!

For more general information, our web site is:  http://balletpixelle.org/

New Second Life Official Trailer for 2012

A new official trailer for Second Life by Linden Lab, uploaded on Youtube last week.


Second Life is an online 3D virtual world imagined and designed by you. From the moment you enter Second Life, you'll discover a universe brimming with people and possibilities.

Create and customize your own digital 3D persona, also known as your avatar. Be a fashion diva, a business-savvy entrepreneur, or a robot or all three. Changing identities is quick and easy, so if you tire of your avatars outfit or body, shop for a new one in Second Life or from your web browser. Then switch it in seconds.

Every minute, Residents assemble buildings, design new fashion lines and launch clubs and businesses. Theres always more to see and do.

Compared to some earlier ones, there's more detail in the graphics and more gaming, such as the zombie combat.
 
Source: Daniel Voyager

Lovecraft Festival in Second Life Starts Today

Fans of the stories written by HP Lovecraft, a science-fiction and horror writer of the early 20th Century, have organized a "multiple community festival" to celebrate the author and his works.

The 2012 SL H.P. Lovecraft Festival runs from September 22-30. The heart of the festival is the carnival located in the Staccato sim in the Lovecraft community of Sheffield. The carnival contains a market at which vendors will sell a variety of Lovecraft, Early 20th Century and Science Fiction wares. The big top on the carnival grounds will host weird and wonderful events.

At the carnival, there will be ticket booths that provide festival information and that will transport the attendees to the various host sims that are taking part in the festival. A different Lovecraft experience awaits at each location! There will be several ticket booths on the carnival grounds as well as in each host sim. There will also be a festival wide hunt that will send participants searching high and low across the host sims for eldritch relics.

The schedule can be found at the festival blog at http://festival.sllovecraft.com/?p=5, or it and more information can be gotten at ticket booths in the Staccato sim. Or one can contact Nosfera Ravenheart via notecard.

(http://slurl.com/secondlife/Staccato/229/160/22)

SL Video: "The Cube Project LEA 2012 Second Life "

From Marx Catteneo, The Cube Project August 2012, "Over 25 virtual artists have joined the ranks of The Cube Project, curated by Bryn Oh, to create a 20-sim exhibit in just 5 days. What's the theme? Artists can only use two distinct virtual objects: a black cube, and a white cube."

Bryn Oh: "We are turning away for a moment from the wonderful range of mesh or photoshopping beautiful textures to work instead on simple minimal compositions in black and white, over 20 regions. The overall idea is to create a massive harmonious environment rather than follow the standard exhibition practice of each artist having a clearly defined separate space to exhibit."

The Cube Project is a collaborative artwork consisting of virtual artists Bryn Oh, Cajska Carlsson, Charlotte Bartlett, Dancoyote Antonelli, Giovanna Cerise, Haveit Neox, Kicca Igaly, L1Aura Loire, London Junkers, Maya Paris, Misprint Thursday, Nessuno Myoo, Oberon Onmura, PatriciaAnne Daviau, Pol Jarvinen, Rag Randt, Rowan Derryth, Sea Mizin, Secret Rage, Solkide Auer, Remington Aries, Solo Mornington, Tony Resident, Werner Kurosawa and Xineohp Guisse.

"Talk Like a Pirate Day" in Second Life

Grey Lupindo is back with another story. On "Talk Like a Pirate Day," she looked for a pirate-themed event, and found three. Three clubs offered three different events, each with it's own special twists. And she took notes as the buccaneers went about their revelry.

Read about Grey's pirate adventure in Events.

Free Still at Yadni’s Junkyard

While I was on the playa at Burn2 this morning I came across a build that looked familiar. I clicked the build to see the creator and had a fit of nostalgia. It was a vehicle from Yadni’s Junkyard! This is a place where I spent a lot of time my first year because it is one of the best places for newbies to go to collect all the junk you need for Second Life. 

So I took a trip over to the check out the junkyard. It has changed a lot since 2007. But there were the familiar boxes full of treasures for a newbie: Gadgets, clothes,  jewels , avatars , weapons,  textures, animations! I could not stop myself from buying a few of the old boxes. What fun! There are also some new contributions and I did collect a couple of new boxes to inspect. 

You can read the history of the yard on the wall. Across the road you will find Le Monde de Yadni where he has set a ”museum” of all his builds on the walls, showing those alive and working, and all those that have been extinguished. It is a remarkable number of builds that have been and still are in Second Life. 

Another very nostalgic moment! I glanced up at a row of media boxes where you can pick a newspaper or magazine and lo and behold there was our old SL Newspaper box. I clicked and it still took me to the page that announced the closing. 

If you have never been to Yadni’s Junkyard you should make a visit just to look around a bit. It is amazing to find a freebie place that has been here in Second Life for such a long time. It's still helping newbies and oldies looking for fun bargains. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Leda/210/28/54 

Gemma Cleanslate

Nonprofit Commons to Celebrate Five Years in Second Life

Nonprofit Commons announced on their blog a few days ago that on Friday September 21st, they will be celebrating their fifth anniversary. Events are scheduled at their Aloft and Plush sims throughout the day. Among them is a meeting at their amphitheater at 8:30 AM SL time in Plush to discuss their history and give awards, and a "Meet and Greet" dance party at 3:30 PM in Aloft.

Nonprofit Commons, or NPC, describe themselves as "managed by a community of volunteers, under the leadership of TechSoup Global. Nonprofit Commons was designed to lower the barriers of access to Second Life, to create a community of practice for nonprofits to explore and learn about the virtual world, and to investigate the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize this unique environment. Through this community, we provide free office space to qualifying groups, meet and network, create a cooperative learning environment and foster outreach, education, fund-raising, all in a virtual space." Meetings are held every Friday at the Plush amphitheater.

Source: Daniel Voyager

Club Zero Gravity's Pirate Night

 "Talk Like a Pirate Day" might have been on September 19th. But it was the night before that Second Life's noted space club, Club Zero Gravity, held its Pirate Night. So avatars dropped in from all around, sporting their best pirate look.

See more pictures in Events.

Happy "Talk Like A Pirate Day" From SL Newser

September 19th is unofficially "Talk Like a Pirate Day." Don't forget to be on the lookout for pirate themed events around the Grid for some swashbuckling good fun.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Reveals Two New Products Outside Second Life, Website Changes to Reflect Scaled-Back Mission

Yesterday on September 18th, Linden Lab announced two of the four projects outside of Second Life they've been working on. The one that was described with the most detail was "Creatorverse," an application for the iPad.

Become an inventor as you design unique creations and then set them in motion. You’ll never know what to expect as you watch your creations bounce, roll, tilt -- or even accelerate on the screen. Let your creations come to life as you play with different joints, forces, motors, and teleporters and then watch what happens next. From the simplest bouncing ball to an elaborate pinball machine, the possibilities for tinkering are endless on Creatorverse.

In their press release, Linden Lab stated it should be available from the Apple App store in a few weeks. There's also a video narrated by Rod Humble (see below), "Here at Linden Lab, we make shared creative spaces." He touted the ability to upload creations for others to use, and edit into something different.

The second thing Linden Lab announced was a 3-D environment named "Patterns."

Imagine a 3D Universe of creativity ...

Explore caverns and valleys, while you harvest substances with real world densities. Build large scale structures that reach the sky or bridges that traverse chasms. Challenge real-world physics to see which creations will tumble -- or withstand -- the power of gravity.  It's your universe to shape.

"Patterns" bears a resemblance to Minecraft, though there is the promise of gravity having an affect on what's built. Creatorverse drew some comparisons to a program called "Crayon Physics Deluxe," with it's brightly colored shapes. Prim Perfect called it "very firmly targeted at the tablet market."

Reaction to these products seems mixed. The thread in the official forums is short with a few posts expressing cautious optimism.  The SL Universe thread did as well. Those commenting in response to Prim Perfect and Hamlet Au in their articles were less cheerful. Crap Mariner commented until Linden Lab found a way to make money off the, "your SL tax dollars are paying for others to play Gummy Minecraft and Crayonland." Shockwave Yareach commented of the two, "One is a clone of Crayon Physics Deluxe, which was sold more than half a decade ago. And the other is a clone of Minecraft."

The same day these new products were released, Hamlet Au noted something interesting on Linden Lab's website at http://lindenlab.com/. There were the words Rod Humble used in the earlier video used as a slogan, "Linden Lab, maker of shared creative spaces." He noted how different it was from the old mission statement, "It is our mission to connect us all to an online world that advances the human condition," saying they had become much more modest in this respect.

Hamlet Au called this "A second life for Linden Lab" No longer do they have the idea that they should be "building the metaverse," he felt. Instead, they would be in multiple projects while not loosing sight of Second Life, making products that would allow users to express their creativity. How successful they'll be with these first two products remains to be seen.

Image source: Linden Lab

Sources: Prim Perfect, Linden Lab, New World Notes 

Bixyl Shuftan

Events This Week in Second Life from Sept 18 to Sept 24

It's a week full of events in Second Life. This week, "Talk Like a Pirate Day" is sure to mean a number of pirate-themed events at clubs. Madpea holds its Perfumed Cutlass game, plus there is London City's disco event, and others. And of course there's the regularly scheduled book and poetry readings, races, games, talk shows, and church services.

Read the sample of happenings in Events this Week.

Nydia Tungsten's Angels' Beach Land Rentals

Nydia Tungsen in Second life is a great person when you get to know her. Warm funny and caring and she seems gifted on how to run a business and sims. She put a lot of great care and hard work into making her Angels' Beach Land Rentals a great place to rent a place to call home. I visited her one day and chatted with her wanting to hear more about her estates. She said humans are welcome just like furries like me.

For one thing you’re not stuck with ho-hum housing With 11 sims there’s lot of variety of places to call home. One is the Southern Colorado sim set in a beautiful environment. Here you can rent a wonderful house for 1,750 per week or 7k per month. A great way to hold a dinner party or live in glamor you could even hold a small dance party and have room left over for beds and board games. Also on the bottom of the Southern Colorado sim there were drums to play with. Nydia was saying it’s really fun to play with them with 4 or 5 people at once.

Sherkin Island and Furrection are sims for humans and furries who want a place to call home but aren’t looking to spend a lot of linden. For 800L per month you can own a parcel to create a house. Don’t have a house? Nydia can give you a house on the house. As an added bonus Nydia’s partner Brandi has a custom texture shop where she adds textures to vehicles such as cars and motorcycles called “Brandi’s Custom Painting.”

Another great feature is Nydia does her best to keep out any greifers off her sims. The result is a friendly environment on the Sherkin Island sim that Nydia guided me around. I was greeted by warm and friendly people like Sabeen Schmidt and Helios Auxifur. The next day I asked Helilos was it okay to play a board game at her house, and she said it was fine.

Nydia is a reasonable person as well if you’re behind of your weekly or monthly rent she can work something out with you. On top of that from what I understand Nydia is also a caring person to talk with, so if something is bothering you don’t be shy. You can talk to her and she’ll make you feel better.

I talked with the residents of Sherkin Island and they only had positive things to say about Nydia. Helios Auxifur said, “And yes I’ve tried to bring a few friends here. The trouble has been almost everybody I know on SL already has a spot somewhere.” Sounds like Helios wants to share the positive friendly environment with others.

If you want a place to call home in the pixel universe of Second Life check out Nydia’s Angels' Beach Estates I’m sure she can find the right home just for you.

Grease Coakes

Pirate Night at Club Zero Gravity Tonight

"Avast ye landlubbers! Tis true "Talk Like a Pirate Day" be not til tomorrow, but ye git o' chance ta revel a wee bit early. Club Zero Grav'ty be havin' it's Pirate Party tonight. So git yer peglegs, yer cutlasses, yer eyepatches, yer parrots on th' shoulder, and whateva mark ye as one o' th' Brotherhood o' th' Coast. So no time ta arrrrrrgue, git yer best buccaneer look an' be quick about it or ye walk th' plank."

Shockwave Yareach will be the DJ for tonight, with a prize of at least 500 Lindens for the best pirate look. The party starts at 6PM SL time tonight.

Club Zero is at the Purrfection Estates (229, 11, 3365)

"Brought to you by the letter 'Arrrrrrrr.' "

Burn2 Update

It is amazing that a whole year has passed since the 2011 Burn2 event. The playa is humming with activity as this year’s burners begin creating their builds on the six regions. That is two more than last year so there will be more to visit. The temple build is underway as is The Man. Stages are in progress also, to accommodate all the entertainers and djs that will spin for the many parties that will take place.

There are still many people in sl who have never experienced a burn. You can read the history of this event in SL at http://burn2.org/burn2-history. It will give you a background for your visits to the playa. In case you missed the dates, the Bur2n will be open from October 20 Noon SL time through October 28 11: 59. It sounds like a long time, but it will pass so quickly you will miss all the builds if you don’t save time to visit more than once.

I will be a ranger volunteer as I have since 2009. There are many opportunities to volunteer in some capacity. Take a look at the volunteer section in the blog and think about becoming a burner. There is a wealth of information in the blog that will appear as time passes. Keep it in your favorites. As we say to everyone who arrives on the playa, “welcome home.”

Gemma Cleanslate

Steelhead's "Scooby Doo" Party

On Friday night, September 15th, the Steelheads held a "Scooby Doo" party. It was held on the outskirts of their community in a usually abandoned building in the St. Helens sim.

Along the wall were a few pictures of the cartoon, as well as a few doors that when entered would lead to another door in the opposite side of the room, like the some of the cartoon's chase scenes. The party was held in honor of the show's debut on September Friday the 13th in 1969.

People were invited to dress up as characters of the cartoon, or as ghosts and monsters. Some girls showed up as Velma and Daphine. More often, dancers chose going as one of the monsters that bedeviled the mystery solvers. This included one dragon who could play one mean set of drums.

Fuzzball Ortega was the DJ for the party, which was also attended by his partner Eugine Nurton Ortega.

Everyone had some scary good fun that night.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Adult RolePlay 2012

For Second Life residents interested in adult-themed role-play areas and groups, it can be difficult to find just the right one. It can also be just as hard for such groups to find individuals interested in joining up with them. A member of one such group has began organizing an inworld convention for both, the "Adult RolePlay 2012."

Read more in Extra.

Cartoon of the Day

Taken over a week ago, some odd SL bug was occasionally making the top half of my avie go "bottoms up." No one else I talked to seemed to have it or see it. Whatever it was, it only lasted a day.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Two Contests

For those interested in contests involving art and photography, there are a couple contests on the Grid. One is the "Avalon Fall Festival Autumn Art Contest."

Avalon Town invites all SL artists to enter the Fall Festival Autumn Art Competition. For this competition we will do two categories; flat works (paintings, photos, etc.) and 3D (sculptures, ect.). The work must be created by the submitting artist and obey all copyright and DMCA laws. The theme of the artwork should be autumn, fall, or the colors associated with the season.

We will be accepting submissions from now until September 16th at midnight SLT. Artwork will be on display and open for public voting through the Fall Festival from September 17th through the 29th. Winners will be announced at the Harvest Ball on Saturday, September 29th.

First place for both sculptures and 2D artwork is 1000 Lindens. Second place is 750L. Third place is 300 for 3D work, 500 for "flat works.

Those interested contact Tricia Aferdita or Rowan Derryth.

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

The second contest is for photos, held by the S.S. Enigmatic sim and RP group.

From now until Oct 7, 2012 the SS Enigmatic will be holding a photo contest. All images must be taken on the SS Enigmatic Sim. Images may or may not include avatars. A variety of styles of shots is encouraged, scenery, action, romance (keep it clean!) depicting life and the environment on the sim. The winner will be awarded L$5000 Linden dollars.

For more information, contact Sonrisa Seminari or check out the contest page on the S.S. Enigmatic website.

SL Machinima: "Gangnam Style in Second Life "

From Iron Serpentene, "Gangnam Style Parody Video made by Second Life users. We tried to make very close to original video using several second life items and tools. Thanks to Korean SL players and sim managers who supported places."

Hamlet Au had a few words about this funny machinima of the Korean pop fad Here.

Video: Rally to Save City of Heroes

Footage of a demonstration in the City of Heroes MMO on Saturday Sept 8. The decision by NCsoft to shut down the game naturally isn't sitting well with the players. Many aren't just sitting down, but taking action to get the attention of the company behind the game and hopefully change their minds.

Massively writer Eliot LeFebvre who plays CoH is among the supporters of the protests, admitting the odds are against them, but, "at this point, 'winning' doesn't enter into it. The point is that was as players have to stand up and make it clear that this game is important to us, that whether it remains online or not, you can't just shut it down after three months with no warning. We have a voice; we need to make use of it. Sometimes you fight because you need to fight, not because you expect it to work."

More of LeFebvre's article can be found Here. You can also sign a petition to keep City of Heroes running, Here. There's also one particularly imaginative protest: sending capes and masks to one of the three NCsoft offices (find the forum thread Here).

The Corner of Revolving Time Celebrates

Gemma Cleanslate reports on one of her favorite hangouts, the Corner of Revolving Time. The place has long been noted for it's fishing contests and special freebies every holiday. More recently, the prizes for fishing have gotten bigger, and a weekly raffle is offering big prizes. The place is certainly worth a look.

Read more in Places.

Eve Online Gamer "Vile Rat" Among US Embassy Dead in Libya

On Wednesday Sept 12th came some news from Eve Online that was linked to the attack on the US Embassy in Libya that killed four Americans. The GoonSwarm alliance issued a statement that among the dead was Sean Smith, an Air Force Veteran whom in the game was known as "Vile Rat." Ironically, the man who worked at a diplomatic compound was noted in the alliance for his diplomatic skills.

directorbot: My people, I have greivous news. Vile Rat has been confirmed to be KIA in Benghazi; his family has been informed and the news is likely to break out on the wire services soon. Needless to say, we are in shock, have no words, and have nothing but sympathy for his family and children. I have known Vile Rat since 2006, he was one of the oldest of old-guard goons and one of the best and most effective diplomats this game has ever seen.

Numerous players of the game posted their condolences on a thread in the Eve forums, which as of the writing of this article reached 63 pages in length. "If you play this stupid game, you may not realize it, but you play in a galaxy created in large part by Vile Rat's talent as a diplomat. No one focused as relentlessly on using diplomacy as a strategic tool as VR," Smith/Vile Rat's friend Alex Gianturco, known in Eve as "The Mittani" wrote on his website, describing a few of his more noted in-game accomplishments, concluding, "It seems kind of trivial to praise a husband, father, and overall badass for his skills in an internet spaceship game. But that's how most of us know him. So there you go."

A number of stations and systems are being renamed in honor of the late gamer. There was also an in-game memorial set up for him mentioned in Reddit when a "Blix65" posted a picture and described the scene, "It's the star at the center of the largest trade hub system in the game. A bunch of players have stopped by and jettisoned cargo containers named 'R.I.P. Vile Rat' as a memento. I didn't know him at all, but hearing of a regular dude who enjoys video games being killed so senselessly... just brings it home. "

Hamlet Au called the memorial, "a tragically ironic coda, because the riot itself was reportedly provoked by a video uploaded to YouTube. So an event with global repercussions that was sparked by one act of user-generated content, ended with another."

Sources: CNN, Massively, Wired, New World Notes, Reddit,

Bixyl Shuftan

9/11 Tribute Event at Mystery

On Tuesday September 11th, a special 9/11 tribute live music event was held at the Queen of Hearts Club in Mystery. Chillee Hernandoz sang heartfelt, moving songs for the audience and in honor of those departed. Surprisingly, someone actually tried to disrupt the solemn occasion. But the show went on.

Read more in People.

9/11 Stairclimb Tribute at Areo Pines

This week, Grease Coakes went to Areo Pines Park. Not for it's usual outdoor activities, but for it's special memorial. Cindy Bolero, the owner of the park, had set up a stairclimb tribute in honor of the firefighters in New York City whom had bravely went up the floors of the World Trade Center before it came crashing down. People were invited to see what it was like to step in their place that day.

Read about the tribute in Places.

Job in Counter-Terrorism, Second Life Experience Desired, May Require Travel to Afghanistan

With attention on 9/11 this week, New World Notes had an article about a certain job offer from Lockheed Martin. They're looking for a "Counter Threat Finance Analyst" for a job in Tampa Florida to work with US Central Command. Among the desired skills, "Knowledge of emerging alternative and mobile payment methods is also desired (Bitcoin, Secondlfe, etc.)" The hitch, there may be occasional work in Afghanistan.

Hamlet Au did note there's been plenty of trade between Bitcoin and Second Life's Linden dollars, and wondered "if CENTCOM has reason to believe that the Taliban are using Second Life and Bitcoin for those purposes." Far-fetched perhaps, but it seems lately the terrorists have been using Facebook to create fake profiles of attractive girls to lure soldiers into revealing sensitive information.

September 11th

My morning hours were spent in at several memorials for the victims of 9/11. At the New York World Trade Center Memorial, I sat and listened to the reading of the names. At Aero Pines in Equus, I watched the firemen tell their stories on the TV below the stairs, where you could don firefighters and make the climb up to the top.

At Stagg Island after gazing at the wall of names I went below to the bridge facing the waters representing the tears of the survivors and their families. Candles rose from the water below into the sky representing each of the victims. We shared our thoughts about the day as we sat in the bridge.

Being in Second Life to commemorate is shared with people around the world who joined us in remembering. I took these pictures to share with you.

Gemma Cleanslate