Events This Week at the Sunweaver Clubs

It's an exciting week for the Sunweaver Clubs. The new Club Cutlass gets into it's routine going from the silly to the serious with it's "April Fool's" party, followed by a "Formal Night" and wrapping things up with a "Beach Party." At "The Vinyl," the silliness continues with their "Silly Night," and they get into the Easter spirit with "Bunny Night." And the new club on the block, Castle Primal Passions, has a Relay for Life benefit the weekend with a tribute band performing in a concert.

Read more in Events this Week.

Veterans Isle Bennefit Raises over 200,000 Lindens

On Sunday March 29 from 5PM SL time to 9PM, Veterans Isle hosted a benefit for the Homes For Our Troops" charity. Frets Nirvana helped to organize the event. He and three other singers, Mankind Tracer, Anek Fuchs and Ganjo Mokeev, performed for the audience at the veterans-themed sim.

Over the course of the four hour event, about 210,000 Lindens were raised.

The benefits are a monthly event, always occurring on the last Sunday of every month.

To learn more about the Homes For Our Troops visit https://www.hfotusa.org

Press Release: Team Strange Journey Castle Contest

2nd Annual Castle Contest
In Support of Relay For Life of Second Life
June 15-21
Sponsored By: Relay D'Alliez, Chung Estates

Come one, come all to a weeklong event featuring castles built by amateur and professional builders alike! Builders sign up and then construct a castle that is featured. Castles are laid out onto the sim and everyone can walk around and take a look at each castle set up!

At the end of the week, seven judges will go around and use a list of criteria to judge their castles. The castle with the best score will win first prize of L$100,000! This prize will go to the team of their choice or to the General Kiosk, supporting the American Cancer Society (which is actually an international organization).

Throughout the week, we will have round-the-clock DJ entertainment, plus various contests and castle parties/dances throughout the week! We will also have many vendors sprawled across the Sims.
We are still in need of more castles. Please consider building a castle yourself-- or if you can't do that, find someone who can! Then, go to this website and read the guidelines and sign up.
http://wright914.wix.com/teamstrangejourneys…

May the best castle win... and remember why we're here.
What a strange world..
What a strange journey..

GO RELAY!

Thank you,

Rowena Dubrovna, Captain
Sidonie Carlberg, Co-Captain

Ithil Ar Giliath

Jamie, once called Theonlyjohnny Resident, is back after a little exploring. He recently took a look at a place called "Ithil Ar Giliath," A Fantasy-Medieval roleplay. So what did he think of the area?

Read Jamie's review in Places.

What A Weekend

Lots of events happened this weekend. The big thing was the "Burnal Equinox" festival, which ended with a bang, or rather a tower burn. But there were other events such as a tank rally in New Bastogne, the "Homes For Our Troops" Benefit at Veterans Isle, the Bacchanalia in the Roma area, and of course the Relay for Life events, which included a mermaid party and a "jail and bail."

More on these later.

Video of the VWBPE Conference Holocaust Discussion

Genocide Survivor Fanny Starr Speaks March, 2015 from Petlove on Vimeo.

After Explorer Dastardly heard about the article we did about the talk her mother Fanny Starr gave at the VWBPE Conference about her experiences of the Holocaust, she sent us a video of the event (Click here if the video fails to play).

Tales from Podex: Eggs Over Squeezy

By Bixyl Shuftan


March had been a good month for the Podex Exchange. As always, people went there to exchange their dollars, Euros, and other global currencies along with bitcoins for Lindens. Often they'd talk to the tellers what they were getting them for. Some were out to enjoy the winter season while there was still winter around. Others were buying them for apparel for the St. Patrick's parties, getting outfits, decorations, and kegs of green beer. Then there was the start of the Relay Season, and people were donating to their teams in various events. And of course, late in the month people were starting to get Easter decorations, which would fall on the first weekend in April.

The tellers were talking about the various goings on, when a certain figure walked in. He was wearing some colorful shorts, had long ears, and was carrying a basket of eggs and chocolates. And there was a sign inside, "Happy Easter."

The tellers looked at him, "Um, can we help you?"

"Yes, I'm the local Easter Bunny around here, and need to hide some eggs. This looks like a good spot."

"You want to hide eggs here?"

"Yes, in the back of the place, in the room you call the vault."

"I think not," the teller chuckled, "Clumsy Cooper, you honestly thought that lame disguise would work?"

"Who's Clumsy? I'm just here to hide some eggs."

"Yeah, right. Just turn right around before we call the police."

"Okay, be that way!" Clumsy then pulled out one of the eggs, "These are actually bombs. Just hand over the Lindens, and no one gets hurt."

The teller laughed, "The only bomb is your act. We're calling the cops."

Clumsy reacted by taking the egg and hurling it at the teller. But it didn't hit him. Instead, it hit the counter, bounced off, and hit him square in the forehead, "Owwwww!

"Get 'im!"

Realizing his plot was foiled, Clumsy turned around to bolt away. But while he had been confronting the tellers, someone had stepped inside the exchange after him. From the waist down, she had a serpintine, snakelike body: a naga. Clumsy yelped and tried to get around her. But she whipped her tail out at him, and tripped him. He tried to scramble up, but found her tail winding around him. "Ahhhhhhh!" He yelped again, trying to break free, but the naga's tail was just too strong. Clumsy was tighly bound.

"Lemme go!" the burglar begged.

"So ya can rob this place again?" The naga asked.

"Heeeellllppp!" Clumsy looked frightened.

"How long can you hold him, Ma'am?" one of the tellers asked.

"How long does it take to get the police here?" She answered.

"Not long. You want anything while we wait."

"Nah, I'm fine. He's actually kinda cute. I just wanna give him a nice big squeeze."

Clumsy felt the coils around him get a little tighter. He wasn't sure who to be afraid of more, time in the slammer, or being a little too close to a phobia of his.

"Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?"

It wasn't long before the SLPD arrived. Clumsy Cooper was arrested and charged with attempted griefing.

But even if Cooper's scheme had worked, there was no way he could have gotten away with any ill-gotten gains. “All our exchanges are done through electronic transfer,” a teller later explained to the SLPD, “He wouldn’t have walked away with a single Linden.”

The Podex Exchange has a record of being one of the safest Linden exchange services in Second Life, the data processing done outside the exchange, and has a record of thousands of satisfied customers. Transactions can be done at their website, or their location inworld at the Coda sim at (45, 218, 61).

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

By Bixyl Shuftan 

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted Pictures: WoW Selfies

"World of Warcraft," the largest of MMOs, has been continuing to do well with it's latest expansion, "Warlords of Draenor." Recently came their latest patch, 6.1, which involved a few fixes and updates, including a Garrison quest for a certain gadget, the S.E.L.F.I.E. camera (video).

The game has always found ways to sneak in elements of pop culture for chuckles and fun, though this is less subtle than most. It's also a way for some players to have a neverending source of chuckles, though others groaned that not even WoW was immune to the selfie craze.

One can take pictures next to some important folk, such as King Varian Wrynn in the picture above. Or perhaps for a Worgen, a picture under a full moon would be appropriate.

And who might this charming lady Worgen be? None other than Alleara Snoodle. A highly skilled Second Life content creator whom was once involved in the Metanomics SL TV show and the Chilbo community, she later withdrew from both due to real life events. Although not appearing as often on the Grid as she once did, she still does, in addition to other places.

Besides the SELFIE camera, there have been other hapenings in WOW, such as the sale of a special pet goat of which the money went to the Red Cross.

SL Video: "Baa Baa NAS Misfits - Episode 1"

(Click here if the video fails to load)

Filmed Feb 2015, from SL Premiere Magazine, starring Cahuet, Diana, Dsnipe Hotshot, Florence Philly, Klaus Von Rictor, Mojo Greywolf, Mr. Pilot Sinn, and Trans Sands

Holocaust Survivor Speaks at the VWBPE Conference

Last Friday March 20, Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr (FannyStarr Hilltop) spoke to an audience at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference about her experiences during her ordeals from the Lodz Ghetto to the concentration camp of Bergen Belsen. She was with her real-life daughter Explorer Dastardly onstage, who helped with the discussion. The people there had a number of questions for them about the atrocity, and some related issues.

Read about the event in People.

Burnal Equinox Opens

The springtime Burn2 spinnoff event "Burnal Equinox" has begun. This art and music festival will take place all weekend until The closing event on Sunday 9PM SL time.

A number of DJs and musicians will be performing. This includes Grease Coakes tomorrow on Saturday at 10AM SL time.

Schedule of events: http://www.burn2.org/calendar

List of exhibits: http://www.burn2.org/BE2015-artistbuilds

Burning Man-Deep Hole (224/92/25)

Japanese Dance at the Fashion For Life

There's more going on at the "Fashion for Life" Relay event than just fashion shows. On Saturday March 21, there was a troupe performing a number of Japanese dances.

Among the dances was, " 'Soran Bushi'-a traditional Japanese dance from the northern most. It is fisherman's dance, representing the process of catching herring. This powerful dance uses one's entire body to express hard work."

"Fashion for Life" goes on until Sunday, March 29. The event is coordinated by Frolic Mills.

Bixyl Shuftan

Press Relase: Sunweaver Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Hunt! Farshore Field March 28th

It's that time of year again and with it comes the Easter Egg Hunt. Once again Shockwave Yareach has devised a search for little treasures. Yes treasure eggs just what every Sunny Pirate wants. Course such will not be on a shelf for you to grab, oohhh nnooo! You must search low and high and AVAST no map! On the date of 28th of March be it a Saturday you must voyage to The Puddle Jumper store on the Pacific Waters sim The Puddle Jumper, Pacific Waters (51, 86, 31) there upon it's counter you will find a chocolate bunny and the start of your search. Simply touch the bunny and us basket cases will send you a basket and a note card instruction.

The entire sim is yours to hunt and granting a little mercy I shall tell you a hint. Thy shall not the need to search in the clouds though high it may be nor does one need to be a fish though close it may come.

Pacific Waters (51, 86, 31)

Cynthia Farshore and Shockwave Yareach

Team Firestorm Says " 'Restore to Last Position Needs You' "

Presumably if Team Firestorm and Linden Lab have a disagreement about how things on the viewer should appear, it gets quietly resolved. This time they called out to their fans about a certain feature that the Lab is planning to do away with: "Restore to last position."

In a recent meeting, LL mentioned that they are considering blocking the  “Restore to Last Position” functionality at the server level. This is because it results in permanent content loss if it fails when using it on no copy items. Since version 4.6.7 Firestorm prevents the feature from being used on no copy items as a simple measure to prevent loss, but the underlying issue here is that LL doesn’t understand the feature’s value to residents who use or rely on it.

Kicking, screaming and calling foul will not save this feature, nor will criticizing LL or anyone else for not understanding the feature. In fact actions like that will speed up its demise. What WILL save it however is a well structured set of use cases that demonstrate clearly and concisely how useful and valuable this feature is to you.

If you use this feature and would like to see it stick around please leave a comment on this post detailing how you use it and why it is valuable to you. In a week’s time we will extract the best use cases and formulate an email to LL that will demonstrate both the feature’s value and its usefulness.

One can view the comments here: http://www.firestormviewer.org/restore-to-last-position-needs-you/#comments. As of the posting of this article, there are over 350 of them.

Press Release: "Homes For Our Troops" Benefit at Veteran’s Isle This Sunday

Frets Nirvana and US Military Veterans Group announces the March 2015 benefit for Homes For Our Troops in Second Life! 

Frets Nirvana, the premier guitar and songwriting artist in the virtual world Second Life and the US Military Veterans Group announce the the second benefit in 2015 in Second Life for the Veterans Support Organization, Home For Our Troops . 

Frets Nirvana states:  “HFOT is a privately funded 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization building specially adapted, mortgage-free homes nationwide for the most severely injured Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of these Veterans are multiple amputees, paraplegic, quadriplegic or suffered severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).  These homes restore some of the freedom and independence our Veterans sacrificed defending ours, and enable them to focus on their family, recovery, and rebuilding their lives. Since its inception in 2004, over 90 cents of every dollar spent by Homes for Our Troop has gone to directly support Veterans. ”

Home for Our Troops benefit concerts feature premier Second Life talent monthly at Veteran’s Isle.  The concert on March 29, 2015 is scheduled from 5-9 PM PST.  Featured artists will be Anek Fuchs, Ganjo Mokeev, Frets Nirvana and Seth Regan (Mankind Tracer).

ABOUT HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS  - HFOT builds homes as a departure point for Veterans to rebuild their lives, and once again become highly productive members of society. Despite their life-altering injuries, many Veterans have embarked on new careers, completed their college degrees, or started families. Empowered by the freedom a mortgage-free and specially adapted home brings, these Veterans can now focus on their recovery and return to their life’s work of serving others. Many have embraced their roles as motivational speakers, sharing their messages of persevering through tragedy with groups and classrooms around the country; others take to a national platform to promote awareness of veteran suicide, homelessness and PTSD. Their incredible stories are the driving force for the work for HFOT.

To learn more about the Homes For Our Troops visit https://www.hfotusa.org

Cartoon of the Day

From the "Bahama Beach Club," by Rory Langdon and Scratchmusikatt Fox, in 2009.

By Bixyl Shuftan

The 500 Word Snatch

When a favorite writing event of his at Book Island came to an end, Grease Coakes was disheartened as he liked the chance to exercise his skills. Fortunately, he heard about another event, The "500 Word Snatch." So what did he think of this new creative writing meetup?

Read Grease's story in Events.

Tonya Souther On Latest News of SL 2.0

Tonya Souther, the head of Firestorm's Apple Client team, recently had a few things to say about Ebbe Linden's recent talk about SL 2.0, or "Next Gen" as Linden Lab prefers to call it. Of their plans to not make the new virtual world open source, "possibly never," Tonya expressed her disappointment on her blog.

"... it doesn't speak well for their openness to NIH ('not invented here') ideas on the new platform. Basically, they're saying 'we know what's best for you, so shut up and eat your Brussels sprouts'. We've been here before. Remember Viewer 2? Yeah, me too. There's a reason that Firestorm has the overwhelming majority of users on Second Life, and Viewer 3 (the descendant of Viewer 2) is in third place: LL's viewer does not fail to suck. Users told LL all about that, loud and long - and LL didn't back off and didn't listen."

Toyna went on to say she could understand why Linden Lab was keeping their viewer closed - gaining control of their platform. Not being in control of it with Second Life  put them in "a very unenviable position for a business." But given their track record of listening to their customers with their first virtual world, how well does this bode for their viewer for the new one?

"... there has to be a happy medium there somewhere. I'm disappointed they're not even trying to find it."

For Tonya Souther's in it's entirety, click here.

Facebook Insists No "Games Character" Names

Earlier this month came two developments from social media that were less than welcome news to Second Life users. For residents who use Facebook and Twitch, those services just became a little less friendly.

For Second Life residents who use Facebook, one constant complaint is that many would rather have an account under their avatar's name than their real life one, while Facebook has insisted that only real-life identities should be used. The result was that Facebook accounts named after Second Life avatars were sometimes suspended or banned. When it was revealed that Facebook was altering their policy somewhat in regards to drag queens, some Second Life users were hoping that this would soon mean a change in it's policies to avatar names.

But when Facebook recently clarified their policies on names, they clearly stated they would have none of it, insisting on "authentic identities. ... If you want to create a presence on Facebook for your pet, organization favorite mocit, games character, or another purpose, please create a *page* instead of a Facebook profile." But as New World Notes commented, "A Facebook page has less functuality than a Facebook account, so some SLers are unlikely to find this acceptable."

So does this mean Second Life users of Facebook have no choice but to bite the virtual bullet and say goodbye to having their virtual personas' names on their social media? Not necessarily. Singer Mankind Tracer (Seth Regan in real-life) in the "Second Friends" group on Facebook suggested there were ways to reduce the chances of winding up suspended.

Becaaue many SL'ers post SL avatars as their profile pictures, Facebook looks at SL Fb accounts partially as "inactive" or as "Fake Accounts", as others have also corroborated and I've seen 150+ "Likes" on SRM simply VANISH in a day! We all lunderstand the anonymity that SL affords. But please, don't get yourself on Facebook's BOOTING sights. Post a real life photo or two, also make sure you post once a day for the next few days at least. This will help you to not be booted.

Yours truly has kept his own Facebook profile under his Second Life name for over five years without incident. Possibly because he's already been doing what Mankind suggested, posting most every day, and having a real-life picture among those in the profile. So maybe there's something to this advice.

Sources: New World Notes,  New York Times 

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "Giant Snail Race 369 Mar 21 Relay For Life Giant Snail Cross Country Race"

(Click here if the video fails to load)

On March 21, the first of this year's cross-country Giant Snail Races took place in Second Life's mainland. This is the video of the competition, "This is probably the best footage of one of these Giant snail races we've ever made. This is the first Giant Snail Cross country race of the Relay For Life season in second life. Though we don't attract as many Snails as we used to to these events it makes for better footage of the ones that do race . So maybe we've finally reached the optimum amount of snails. We raised 36,000 L. Big thanks to Mae Best for her generous donation that brought all the snails to the top tier starting position."

Caiten Carter was the winner, with Snurky Snoodle coming in Second.

The Giant Snail Races run every Saturday in Second Life. Usually the race is on an obstacle course in a single sim, but once a month during the Relay season, they hold a cross-country event to raise money for the Relay for Life. RacerX Gullwing is the one who organizes the races, with the help of his team.

VWBPE Conference Closes

Well, the 2015 Virtual Words Best Practices in Education Conference is over. Last year was quite big with Philip Rosedale, the former Philip Linden, giving the keynote and the new CEO Ebbe Linden making his first public appearance. This year Ebbe delivered the keynote and gave some details about SL 2.0, or "Next Gen" as Linden Lab prefers to call their upcoming virtual world.

There were some other events, such as Holocaust survivor Fannystar Hilltop giving a talk, and Oz Linden at a discussion. But those will have to wait. Yours truly has been one busy fox, and it is time to rest before he can report on what he can. For now, Ciaran Laval and Daniel Voyager have posts you can read on their blogs.

Bixyl Shuftan

LM Gallery: A Gallery in the Sky

Usually known for his club reviews, today's article by Wesley Regenbogen is of a different kind of venue: an art gallery. Here, he visits the LM Gallery, built by Meredith Staheli in honor of her late friend Lattita Capalini. Included in the exhibition are three-dimensional works created by a third artist. So what did Wesley think of the place?

Read Wesley's article in Design.

Linden Lab Not Allowing Use of Linden Dollars in Other Virtual Worlds

About a week ago, Hypergrid Business reported that the virtual world Avination have announced that the transfer of Linden Dollars from Second Life to them "is no longer available, including payment for Avination regions" via ATMs in the virtual world.

“Following discussions with Linden Labs they have advised that any use of Linden Dollars in payment for currency of any other virtual world, or for external services which are not used in SecondLife is in violation of their terms of service,” stated Leonie Gaertner, an Avination spokesperson.

Daniel Voyager found a press release on the matter in his email:

Due to recent interaction with Linden Labs, we regret having to inform you that the transfer of Linden Dollars to Avination is no longer available, including the payment of your Avination sims via the Avination ATMs. Following discussions with Linden Labs they have advised that any use of Linden Dollars in payment for currency of ANY other virtual world, or for external services which are not used in SecondLife ™ is in violation of the TOS.

Avination Management has attempted to discuss this matter with Linden Labs by reiterating the importance of this option as well as trying to understand how this is a violation of TOS, but unfortunately these talks have since broken down.

Linden Labs’ Lawyers are adamant that these TOS clearly state that Linden Dollars cannot be transferred. This stance will not just affect us as at Avination but could also see far reaching consequences for other companies considering legal use of L$, including services like Shoutcast Stream Rentals and other services rendered outside of SecondLife. 

Unfortunately, for our loyal users and us this means an end to offering a fast and convenient way of exchanging Linden Dollars to C$. According to Linden Labs, users of SecondLife must cash out through LindeX before using the real currency to pay for services not rendered within SL.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause you and please accept we have tried everything in our power to reach an amicable solution with Linden Labs.

Daniel Voyager called this "really bad news for the Avination community and this will effect them deeply."

Source: Hypergrid Business, Daniel Voyager's Blog 

Fashion For Life Schedule

A schedule of the events for the Relay of Life's "Fashion for Life" is available

The entertainment events are listed as follows:

Monday March 23rd
1:00 pm TBD
2:00 pm blake Hambleton - DJ - sent invite

Tuesday March 24th
1:00 pm  DJ Theo (Zimny)
2:00 pm “The Jersey Boys” by the  Kittens and Tigers Dance Group.

Wednesday March 25th
1:00 pm - BONIEFACIO - DJ
2:00 pm - Lady Garden Cabaret Dance Troupe - Chandra Meehan

Thursday March 26th
1:00 pm Anek Fuchs - Singer
2:00 pm Zimny Zane - DJ

The location for entertainment events is FFL CentralPark North (62/193/23)

The fashion shows are listed as follows:

Monday, March 23rd 2015 at 4 PM SLT Fashion show by BLVD Fashion House

Tuesday, March 24th 2015 at 4 PM SLT Fashion show by aQuarela Models

Wednesday, March 25th 2015 at 4 PM SLT Fashion show by SCALA Models Agency

Thursday, March 26th 2015 at 4 PM SLT Fashion show by PENUMBRA

Friday, March 27th 2015 at 4 PM SLT Fashion show by The queenS

Saturday, March 28th 2015 at 10 AM SLT 2nd styling challenge MISS SL 2015 by MISS SL Organization

 The location for fashion shows is: FFL CentralPark South (96/251/24)

RFL Team Sunbeamers Reach Bronze Rank

Saturday March 21 was the "Midnight Madness" event for Relay for Life. This was a multiteam event, and the first in which the Sunbeamers, the team of the Newser office's neighbors the Sunweaver Estates, were a part of after the Kickoff weekend. It was hosted by the "Cherubs for a Cure" team.

March Madness RFL Style ""The Tournament you WANT to be eliminated in"" The challenge to have every RFL team ranked to at least Bronze level by the Big Game Day of April 6th!!! First elimination round takes place March 21st from 12 to 10 pm SL time. Come join several RFL teams as they strive to be ""eliminated"" and dance to some great music, have some fun, make some new friends and experience why RFL is ONE TEAM, ONE GOAL and truly is a family!

Besides the Sunbeamers, several other teams, such as Team Fox, took part. Although the teams were supposed to be out once reaching 10,000 Lindens ($40 US Dollars), the Bronze rank level, they (at least several of them) remained up and the donations continued. The Sunbeamers made over 3,000 L that event, and as of Sunday evening, their total is 13,000 ($52 US Dollars).

The Sunbeamers have yet to have an official event of their own, but there's been discussion about "Bid Me" events, themed parties, and an air show.

Although the "beamers," have gone further than some other teams such as Relay Wizards, Lanterns for Life, Too Tough to Die, and Team Caledon, other teams have gone further. The Steelhead Salmons have passed the 60,000 Linden mark. Five teams have already reached the second highest rank, Platinum: Harmony for Hope, Sail 4 Life, Cherubs for a Cure, Unmasking a Cure, and at the top, Goreans for Life. At over 960,000 Lindens ($3,800 US Dollars), they're almost at the highest rank of Sapphire.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Picture from 2009, this fox had a rather odd glitch that put his head in an unusual position.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Kylie Sabra to Sing at "Fashion For Life"

Today at 1PM SL time, Kylie Sabra, known for her managing the Rose Theater, her being an advocate for content creators' rights in the 2013-14 ToS controversy, as well as her line of outfits, will be singing at the "Fashion for Life" event.

The location given is listed as: FFL CentralPark North (62/193/23).

Other events today include DJ Coniefacio at 12:00 noon, and at
3:15 pm music by T1 Radi. There will also be a fashion show at 10 AM at FFL CentralPark South ( 96/251/24).

For those wondering how Kylie Sabra sounds, here's a sample: "Lover Undercover."

The New Bastogne WW2 Combat Roleplay Celebrates Five Years

Last weekend on Friday the 13th, the New Bastogne combat sim officially celebrated its fifth anniversary. While there was a hunt for some vehicle crates placed around the area, the main event was a band performance and dance in the German teams' sports hall. Vickster Khun, the owner of the sims and the head of the German teams was there to lead the celebration, and had an announcement concerning one of the officers.

Read more in Places.

Press Release: Grand Reopening ofthe Primal Passions Club

The Primal Passions Club has moved from it's former location to the Sunweaver Estates. "And we're going to have a huge grand reopening on (Saturday) the 28th," Rayven Tentigo (rayven.avalira) told the Newser. They'll be kicking things off with the main event being a "Disturbed" tribute concert (the band name).

Bandit Starrwolf (banditwolf100) added, "We are planning a pre-concert party and contest from 6-8, a rock concert by Disturbed from 8-10 and a post concert party and contest from 10-12. The concert will be done by Rockshoppe. The pre-party contest theme will be best in Hard Rock gear. The post-contest will be best in BDSM gear. with starting prizes at 500L but will increase with more patrons entering the contest."

Rayven also stated there are plans for a date raffle, with her for the men and Bandit for the ladies. Rayven stated she can appear on the date either as normal human or her indigo-toned exotic.

Primal Passions is located at Sunweaver Bay (170, 215, 25).

Press Release: Fashion For Life Opens Today

MARCH 21 TO MARCH 29, 2015
 
FASHION FOR LIFE 2015 IN SUPPORT OF RELAY FOR LIFE OF SECOND LIFE

FASHION FOR LIFE 2015 opens for one week of non-stop, boundary-breaking, uplifting, shop-till-you-drop, dazzling entertaining events – the magnitude of which we guarantee you have never before experienced – beginning Saturday, March 21st at 10:00 a.m. SLT and ending on March 29th, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. SLT with a colossal closing party!  Our goal is to raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s RELAY FOR LIFE, the world’s (and SL’s) largest non-profit event which supports, promotes awareness, and gives hope to the millions of people around the globe battling the ravages of cancer on a daily basis – the patients, caregivers, families, research teams, and medical professionals at the forefront of the war against this abysmal disease.

For one week we will come together, celebrate life, honor memories, have a lot of fun, and make a difference.  Your jaw will literally drop when you behold architecture inspired by “Seven Fashion Capitals of the World” on NINE Sims designed and built by immensely talented and distinguished SL craftsmen – filled to capacity with art, beauty, color, music, entertainers that will permeate your senses with the captivating enchantment and breathtaking magic that is FASHION FOR LIFE WEEK!

The following persons have graciously agreed to be sponsors and/or builders for the 2015 Fashion For Life Event Sims:

FASHION FOR LIFE 2015 CAPITALS, BUILDERS & SPONSORS:

TOKYO: Builder, Ryo Ixxel | SPONSORED BY: Takuya Jinn – GABRIEL
LONDON: Builder, Rebeca Bashly | SPONSORED BY: rika Oyen – Argrace
PARIS: Builder, Kaya Angel | SPONSORED BY: Belle Roussel – Chop Zuey
NEW YORK CITY: Builder, Frank Dexter | SPONSORED BY: Zzoie Zee – Zanze
BERLIN: Builder, Setsuna Infinity | SPONSORED BY: Azlyn Vaher – Yasum Designs
MILAN: Builder, MaximilianIII Massenberg | SPONSORED BY: Sage Pexie – Sage
LOS ANGELES: Builder, Regi Yifu | SPONSORED BY: Hunterminta – Zaodyeck Magazine
CENTRAL PARK: Builder, Spankmy Boucher | SPONSORED BY: Marcus Lefevre – MISS SL ORGANIZATION (BOTH SIMS)

One day cancer will no longer threaten the lives of our loved ones or claim another year of anyone’s life.  Be a part of making that dream a reality.

Please contact Frolic Mills, 2015 Fashion For Life Coordinator, if you would like to become a merchant or sponsor for this special event!

About Relay For Life of Second Life:

Relay For Life of Second Life (RFL of SL) is an annual activity that takes place in Second Life in July each year. Volunteers form or join teams to have fun while fundraising and raise awareness from mid-March through mid-July. In July teams build campsites and walk a track that spans more than 40 virtual regions.

In 2014, Relay For Life of Second Life reached a milestone of having raised $2,500,000 since its fundraising beginning in 2004, for the American Cancer Society.  Relay For Life has become an international movement in RL and in SL. In 2013 participants from over 80 countries took part in Relay For Life of Second Life.

About the American Cancer Society:
For more than 100 years, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has worked relentlessly to save lives and create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Together with millions of our supporters worldwide, we help people stay well, help people get well, find cures, and fight back against cancer.
LET’S RELAY!!!

For More Information:

www.relayforlifeofsecondlife.org
http://www.cancer.org/involved/participate/relayforlife/second-life

SL Video: "Second Life Anime Dance"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Magalsghost, Aug 2014

Club Cutlass' Grand Re-Opening

On Wednesday evening at 6PM SL time, the new Club Cutlass, the sixth club to bear the name, had it's official opening event.So what does the new club look like, what does it have to offer, and how did the grand re-opening go?

Read more in Events.

Club Vraiment

Wesley Regenbogen is back with another club review. In his article today, he checks out "Club Vraiment." The owner wanted something a little different than what he often saw in Second Life clubs. So what did Wesley think?

Read Wesley's review in Design.

Petition To Save An Island

People don't always think about what happens to their items when they die. In real life, courts often rule when there's no will or one or more items owned by a deceased individual aren't covered by one. But what it the item in question is virtual and used by a number of the deceased person's friends?

My friend Madonna Daehlie of the Relay for Life told me about Helgi Island, also known as "Miss Lucie's Land of Fun & Fantasy". She asked me to get in touch with a Gordan Ninetails, whom told me the sim's owner had passed away and the sim was facing deletion by Linden Lab. "It's a bdsm themed sim, but its focused more around having fun than anything else. It's open to anyone to come and hangout, aslong as your over 18 and not a child avi. We regualy get over 9000 traffic, going upto around 15,000 when we have a dance at our club."

What to do? Rather than just let the place die, the fans of the location started a petition to try to convince Linden Lab to transfer ownership to a group which can keep up the teir payments, "Its up to 73 signatures in 6 days."

So will the petition suceed? Time will tell. In the meantime, Helgi island remains up until the tier is normally due. There are games people can play, and a balloon ride.

Bixyl Shuftan

Video and Transcript of Ebbe Linden's Keynote for VWBPE Conference

(Click here if the video fails to load)

Mal Burns' recording of Ebbe Linden / Ebbe Altberg giving the keynote address on Wednesday March 18. The video lasts for an hour and nine minutes, with Ebbe Linden appearing at about 2:20.

Inara Pey also posted a transcript on her blog, which can be read here: (link).

VWBPE Opens, Ebbe Linden Speaks

The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) Conference opened yesterday. The opening keynote address was delivered by none other then Linden Lab's CEO Ebbe Linden.

Yours truly didn't get there until late due to real-life matters, though Daniel Voyager was there. The address began at 1PM SL time and went on for a little more than an hour, followed by a Question and Answer session that would go on until about 3:05PM SL time. Gentle Heron narrated his voice into text.

Of education in Second Life, Ebbe stated there were over three hundred educational and nonprofit organizations, and he had heard "great stories of success from educators." The discount for those organizations for sims would continue, and Ebbe hoped more could be done to make them less costly.

Of upcoming changes in Second Life, Ebbe stated he wanted to work on improving the new user experience. He also acknowledged there was competition, and staying in the lead would take some effort. When asked about lowering tier and sim set-up fees, he responded no, "We charge for land, but almost nothing for transactions," suggestion any lowering of the tier would have to be made up by adding fees to transactions. He also stated there were no plans to bring back official mentor programs, citing "we had issues in the past."

Of Linden Lab's upcoming virtual world, Ebbe Linden commented, "We call it (the) Next Generation Platform, not SL 2.0." He stated there were over thirty engineers working on it, and wanted it to be able to support mobile devices and able "to so events for 10s of thousands." In the summer, it will be available to a limited number of alpha testers, "after summer we will invite more people as it gets easier to use." He suggested it would evenrually be opened to third parties, "whatever we don't supply 3rd parties can extend to provide additional solutions." He stated the age one can access Next Gen would be lower than Second Life, "we realized there is no legal difference between 13 and 16."

Of Second Life and Next-Gen being virtual worlds, "I don't say 'world' about the next gen platform. I find SL less a world. The map doesn't do much for me. But more like a collection of interconnected experiences. More like the web." Of it's areas, "Land by default will be much larger, thousands of meters."

About the time I arrived, I did hear some questions about if nonhuman avatars would be allowed in the new Grid. Ebbe suggested the more unusual varieties might be able to be made better, "non human form avies, skeletal systems will be flexible and maybe customizable. ... we will use completely new avies, nothing borrowed from SL." He also stated physics for vehicles would be "more sophisticated" than in Second Life, "we are working with a 3rd party who will supply a physics engine."

As of the writing of this article, no transcript of the talk is available.  Besides Daniel Voyager, Ciaran Laval was also there.

To get to the VWBPE, head to VWBPE Gateway (128/128/35) . For more information, check out http://vwbpe.org/.  The event calendar is on : http://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-2015-calendar .


Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: RFL "March Madness"

Cherubs for a Cure is hosting a March Madness RFL style.  Only our version of of the "game" is to try and have all teams achieve bronze status by the BIG game day of April 6!

 Our first game day will be March 21st from 12 to 10 pm SL time.  The venue is a basketball gym ( A nod to the real March madness) and we will be keeping this venue set up, and other event days to help us reach our goal of all teams ranked until at least bronze.

As the hosting team we will contact the top teams nearest the goal of bronze and let them know when and what our event is and they must be here with us at the event.  Any team that reaches bronze and chooses to leaves during the day is "eliminated" and must also remove their kiosk.This event really is a One Team One Goal event because in the end all money raised goes to the exact same place, so it is our hopes that they will choose to stay and help another team also reach bronze.

It is our hope that are first day at this is a success and that other top ranking teams might decide to join in the game and see if we can reach our goal of all teams ranked.

Gabriel and Misti's Home, Ohana Mau Loa (180, 204, 23)

Because this an event in a gym feel free to sport your fave team outfit, referee shirt or even Cheerleader outfit!!!!!

Cartoon of the Day: St. Patrick's

Taken at "The Blarney Stone" pub in the Dublin sim.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Xavier Thiebaud's Play "The Little Prince"

Recently Gemma Cleanslate wrote about the SL play "The Little Prince," produced by Xavier Thiebaud. A few days ago, Grease Coakes got in touch with him and Andy Loon (Szerewp Loon) who directed and played the role of the title character. They had more to say about the play and what it took to make it.

Read Grease's story in Extra.

More St. Patrick's Fun

 St. Patrick's Day brought much fun to Second Life. Besides the events mentioned yesterday, there were other goings-on. One place was Elizabeth Town, with it's "St. Patrick's Town" up and running.

Instead of looking around the shops, people were dancing and drinking beer. Sim owner Laura Liberty was there, "Are you having good St. Patrick's Day? We just are drinking and dancing all day."

 Another spot was the Trotsdale pub, with had a St. Patrick's party that evening, the event publicized in the Luskwood community group, "Come on down folks, we're starting up the celebration here.  We have three DJs lined up tonight, starting with our good friend Dashy!"

There was quite a mix of pony, furry, and at least one normal human avatar. Usually the Pony community frowns on alcoholic drinks, except maybe for hard cider. But an allowance was made for this particular holiday. In the short time I was there, there didn't seem to be any sign of anyone getting tipsy.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Bixyl Shuftan