Second Life Newser: September 2017

Bixyl Shuftan

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Nov 2014, a video of Tomnstone's Halloween event "Helldarado."

Bixyl Shuftan

One of the "must see" places that most longtime residents know about and newcomers should be told of is "Inspired Space Park." The location has been in Second Life for about a decade, way above the Shinda sim, and even normally is a visual treat with it's sights of what could best be described as a cosmic dream with it's asteroids, planets and stars orbiting all around the planetoid and rocks you're on. But two weeks ago, people held a "Lovefest" event there to raise a little cash to help maintain the sim. It was a particle light show that was well worth the trip over.

See the pictures in Events.

Bixyl Shuftan

Come join the fun as the Goblin Cave host a party celebrating the real-life birthday of Dusk (Ginger) Giswold on Sunday Oct. 1st staring around 4PM SLT and lasting at least till 6. Dancing and sim-wide live music presented by Cynthia Farshore and her Fabulous Fidelity Factory along with games and plenty of places to lounge.

Dusk has been in Second Life since August 09, 2006, and is a founding member of the Sunweavers.

Sunlight Bay (159, 35, 30)

Bixyl Shuftan

Dates: September 30, 2017 to October 14, 2017

Kultivate Magazine is pleased to have partnered with Rock Your Rack to create a special charity art show and auction! Rock Your Rack is the signature charity of the in world group, Model’s Giving Back. Rock Your Rack benefits The National Breast Cancer Foundation, which sponsors mammograms and breast cancer screenings for women and men.

The art show will feature the following artists: angyel Resident, artandsoul constantine, Astrid Zhangsun, Beth Pentewyn, Booyakashaka Resident, CalystiaMoonShadow, captainofmysoul, chanasitsayo, Daruma Boa, DrusillaGwind Resident, Eleseren Brianna, Elle Thorkveld, emberdearheart Resident, Eucalyptus Carroll, FreeDom Voix, ilyra chardin, Inquisitor Titanium, Jamee Sandalwood, John Brianna, Karma Weymann, Kerry Streeter, M8ty Resident, Meishagirl Resident, Myra Wildmist, NaTaS Janus, retroye resident, Sandi Benelli, Sheba Blitz, tisephone resident. Veruca Tammas, Vivienne Darcy, & wintergeist.

Events will include the return of the Pink Art Ball with live performer SaraMarie Philly, a special gift card raffle, and a special art auction bundle, featuring work by Cica Ghost and Bryn Oh. The art show will participate in the Rock Your Rack hunt, where hunt goers can search for hangers throughout the art area and the rest of the sim.

About Kultivate Magazine:
Kultivate Magazine is a publication about the cultural aspects of Second Life. The goal of Kultivate Magazine is to support art, culture, photography, music, and fashion. Kultivate Magazine consists of the magazine, The Edge and The Edge Gallery, The Windlight Art Gallery, The Red Gallery, The Kultivate Bailywick Gallery, The Kultivate Select Gallery, Ristorante Ivanna, & The Tribute and Crown Pub. Kultivate Magazine is proud to be the media partner and primary sponsor of Team Diabetes of Second Life, an official and authorized team for The American Diabetes Association.

About Rock Your Rack and Model’s Giving Back:
Rock Your Rack is the annual fundraiser started in October of 2012 by Jamee Sandalwood and the team at Models Giving Back. MGB is the grid leader in trusted charity events. We do it all and have for several years now with one person responsible for the entire event. Jamee takes care of everything from Designers, to bloggers, to musicians, to models. This way any confusion is avoided and no one has to wait to check with anyone else before things are getting done. Jamee’s vision leads the event to success year after year with many of the designers coming back with us due to the smooth, efficient way things are run and reported. With 100% transparency, all of our documentation from screenshot totals, to Lindex transactions, to donation receipts account for every penny that was earned and donated all being posted right here for all to see.

About The National Breast Cancer Foundation:
The National Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1991 by breast cancer survivor, Janelle Hail. NBCF’s mission is to help women now by providing help and inspiring hope to those affected by breast cancer through early detection, education and support services. That’s why NBCF provides free mammograms to women in all 50 states through our network of hospitals. They are now joining hands with people around the world to provide breast cancer education.

For More Information:
https://rockyourrack.wordpress.com/
www.kultivatemagazine.com
https://fundraise.nbcf.org/fundraise?fcid=851628 (official Rock Your Rack & Model’s Giving Back page at The National Breast Cancer Foundation website)

Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Aftershock/68/129/23

Website: https://rockyourrack.wordpress.com/about/art-show-and-auction-by-kultivate-magazine/

Bixyl Shuftan

On Sunday, Sept 24, Veterans Isle hosted a benefit for the Homes For Our Troops charity. The event had a DJ performance and four live musicians from 4 to 9PM SL time. The fundraiser was organized in part by fellow musician Frets Nirvana.

We are sponsoring September 2017"s benefit for Homes for Our Troops tonight. It is always a pleasure and a highlight of the month and tonight is no exception. Just look at this lineup!

Senjata Witt 5-6 PM SLT
Suzen Juel Resistence 6-7 PM SLT
Soulvision 7-8 PM SLT
Hogan Baily 8-9 PM SLT

As the event went on, people donated cash into two kioska on either side of the stage. On occasion, Frets would challenge people to put a certain amount in, offering to match it. The event would raise a total of 75,500.

Fundraisers for Homes For Our Troops are held monthly at Veterans isle, usually held on the last Sunday of the month. The next event should be on Sunday October 29.

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

The following was announced in a group notice for the Sunweavers yesterday

Sunnies; Some of you may have known Jaxx Tardis, he was an early member of the group, but suffered from issues, that ended up cutting his life short. He passed away, at a nursing home, yesterday morning. Shockwave Yareach was closest to him and may have more info. I knew him and will miss him. He was a crazy fox. At least he is at peace now.

Jaxx first came on Second Life in 11/09/2005

Bixyl Shuftan

Thursday 28th 7 PM - 9 PM PDT

Exploratorium (143,116,23)

   → Come play with exhibits on the island

   → Live video feed: Exploratorium in San Francisco
       of RL event where we'll be showing SL exhibits

https://www.exploratorium.edu/

* * * * *

Saturday Sept 30th, 10 AM PDT

“Ways of Knowing in Chemistry” by Michael Shaw Ph. D, USA

Abstract: How do we know what we say we know? In synthetic chemistry, there are tools we use which give us data from which we can deduce details of a molecule’s structure. Many of these tools are spectroscopic in nature and some rely on changes in how a molecule rotates, vibrates, how its electrons are distributed, or even how individual types of nuclei spin.   There are also methods based on diffraction that can yield a “snapshot” of a molecule’s structure. This talk will be from a synthetic perspective, i.e. how do we make sure that what we tried to make is what we actually made, and what sort of purity did we achieve?

More information about Dr. Shaw's presentation at https://sciencecircle.org/upcoming-saturday/

The Science Circle (61/126/32)

Bixyl Shuftan

We need your help!

C H R I S' H U R R I C A N E D I S A S T E R F U N D

Dear Designer,

In times of need, every penny counts. A good friend of ours, McChris Flanagan, lives in Florida and experienced major flood damage to his house as a result of Hurricane Irma which struck land in Florida on Sunday, September 10. As a result of the flooding, Chris's house currently needs new floors and walls and needs to be cleared of mold that has already started to grow. A lot of his furniture had to be thrown away and kitchen cabinets were destroyed. In addition, the fence around his yard was destroyed. Chris has a physical disability that prohibits him from being able to walk or use his hands and arms properly and is bound to a wheelchair. His mother works very hard and very long hours to make ends meet. The family is struggling to pay for the repairs to the interior of the house and we would like to help!

ORGANIZERS: Kira Paderborn and Jolene Carami

We have started a GoFundMe account where you can see photos of some of the damage to his house.
https://www.gofundme.com/ChrisHurricaneFund
Please feel free to share this site on all social media.

We are organizing a sales event which will take place from October 6th - 22nd, with 100% of donations collected going to Chris and his mother.

Here is how you can help:

Designers:
1) Create a new item to be sold at a charity event to be held from October 6-22 (with 50% or more going to Chris)
* Designers will have 35 prims available. If you need more please ask!
* Gachas are allowed as long as they have at least a 50% split to the charity
2) Place older items at the event at a discount (with at least 50% or more going to Chris)
3) Place a kiosk at your store to collect donations
4) Create a one of a kind item to be auctioned off at an auction event
5) Advertise for the event in your groups

Bloggers:
1) Advertise this event!
2) Link to our GoFundMe page on your blog
3) Auction your services at the event and donate the money earned to the event!
- auction a profile photo
- auction a 1 hour lesson about how to take a great photo, etc.

General Public:
1) Donate to the event!
2) Spread the word about the event
3) Spread the word about the GoFundMe page
4) Offer services and donate proceeds to the event

**other ideas are welcome!

TIMELINE

September 24 - Kits Released
October 1 - October 5 - Setup for event
October 6 - Event opens (noon SLT)
October 22 - Event Ends (9pm SLT)

******** I F Y O U W O U L D L I K E T O H E L P P L E A S E F O L L O W T H I S L I N K *********

APPLICATION: goo.gl/F8uNfq

*** All items donated must follow Linden Lab's TOS and must not break any copyright rules. Anything questionable will be returned.

Please contact either Jolene Carami or Kira Paderborn or Enticestore Resident with any questions

Bixyl Shuftan

Taken at Club Cutlass. And yes, someone really did say that to Jenni Greenfield about her "Invisible Girl" costume. ;-)

By Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

Introduction

JFC Bike store was founded in 2008 by Jayra Magic. She was tired of bikes that ride and steer the same way. So, she decided to make her own bikes in Second Life. She wanted to create a bike with their own character and spirit. She spend many nights with “Mr. Try” and “Dr. Error” to fine tune the good old HQ 1.0 script. Before Jayra Magic made bikes in Second Life, she was pole-dancing at a club called “Killing Floor” to make some money for her first bike-parts. The challenge was to seek a balance between the different vehicle parameters, because when you change one it affects the others. Lexei Glas (LG Bikes) taught her the basics of bike creation and also shared scripts. That’s when the JFC bike script was born.

JFC Bike store

The first “official” JFC Bike store was on Biker World. There she met up with Moppi Riddler , who asked her if she could do some creative stuff in Second Life too. She agreed and Moppi Riddler agreed to make some biker outfits to fit with the bikes Today Moppi Riddler is the proud owner of MRSTYLE bike outfit store, which is located next to JFC Bike Store.

Dixie Jefferson completed their team she helped out with scripts, building, sculpts and mesh to create the awesome roads that surround the sim. There are so many people that Jayra Magic would like to thank.

After the store moved to different other locations, the store finally stranded on the “CALI to NYC’ sim, and that’s where the store is still located.

The JFC Bike store building is a modern building with rez pads for every single bike. So, when you want to try out a bike, just click on the rez pad and it will rez a demo bike for you. Then you can ride the bike to see if it fits you. You can ride around the roads surrounding the store to find out if the bike rides like you want it to. When it does, you can buy the bike at the store.

Everyone is welcome to hang out at the store and enjoy riding the bikes.

At the JFC Bike store you can find bikes, motorcycles, choppers. They are all made in high quality bike-parts and they are all scripted with the unique feature-rich and low lag scripts of JFC bikes.

Jayra Magic says “"Let me create to enjoy and share the fun and feeling."

Her bikes are the best bikes in Second Life.

So, come and find your new bike at JFC bike store at :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/CALI%20to%20NYC/195/176/142

Wesley Regenbogen

Bixyl Shuftan

Massive Multiplayer Online Games have been around for ages, but some might be surprised to hear that the first game that most would recognize as an MMO was released twenty years ago this week. Before World of Warcraft, before Everquest, there was Ultima Online. designed as a spinoff of the already years old "Ultima " series of games and partially as an experiment in gaming, "UO" would become much more successful than anticipated. Although later outclassed by later games in the genre it started, Ultima Online is still around today, it's fans celebrating it's anniversary with a new questline arc.

Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Bixyl Shuftan

One well designed sim that's gotten attention for it's beauty, and for being the location of a group of a virtual actors and actresses that did an award-winning performance and machinima, will soon be gone. On her blog, Canary Beck announced Basilique, located in the Isolotto di Garda sim, will be closing on September 30.

I’ve decided that I will no longer keep up the Basilique (Isolotto di Garda) region in Second Life and will close it on September 30th, 2017. I’ve enjoyed maintaining the region and hope that you have enjoyed visiting it as well.

Canary did state in her blog that she was willing to have the sim transferred over to someone willing to pay the costs by Sept 23, but there was no mention of any such purchase after the date.

Wesley Regenbogen wrote about the place in November 2014. The sim, made in the image of a waterside Italian town, was created in January 2013 by Canary and Harvey Crabsticks. It's Basilique Performing Arts group staged plays there, the most noted was it's interpretation of "Paradise Lost" which won an award in the Avi Choice Awards.

The sim was the source of some controversy in which on the day of it's Linden inworld meetup in May 21 2015, I and a number of other nonhuman avatars were told our appearances were against the rules and only normal human looks were permitted, one telling me a friend had been ejected. Going there later, the locals I ran into neither had a problem with my appearance and seemed to be saying the rule wasn't really enforced. Looking around today, the rule had been relaxed to "Unless otherwise noted, we request that visitors to Basilique dress as humans in a minimum of casual dress."

In any event the closing of such a well-designed sim is a sad moment for the Grid. Those wanting to visit the place before it goes, head to http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isolotto%20di%20Garda/84/30/24 .

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

It's the final week of September, and a week full of events at the Sunweaver and Angel clubs and the Furry Fashion Lounge.

Club Cutlass: Best in 'S,' TBA, TBA

The Happy Vixen: Golden, Truth and Lies, Videogames and MMOs, Bunnies, Bones and Skulls, Silks, CAYA

Club Zero Gravity: Best in Wolves, Sharks, Best in White, TBA, TBA

Furry Fashion Lounge: Cartoons, Movies, Musicals, Pokemon, Modder's Monthly, Goth, Pop vs Metal, Fantasy, Videogames

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.

Bixyl Shuftan

You may or may not be aware, but our fellow creator Maxwell Graf has had a very upsetting situation in RL, causing him and his partner to have to leave their home. He has to find for his family urgent accommodation and move in very quick order.

He is a proud guy and put a message out asking people to buy his items, but I think we as a creator/blogger/event community we could also help him. We have rallied before from One Voice to the benefit for Sway Dench and our lovely

Eku Zhong, and so I am calling on you to help Max.

Our idea is to host a small event, where creators can donate a new or historical item with a percent of the proceeds for Max.

The adorable Callie Cline has agreed to offer us sim space.
We already have a handful of amazing designers signed up ready to donate!!

Early thoughts are we need to move quickly so we are suggesting the dates before for the event.

Set up on 30 September through to 8pm SLT on 2 October
Event Open 3 October
Event Close 10 October

Note I am checking these with Callie to ensure ok, so a rough guideline for now.

If you feel you can help please can you pop me an IM / notecard inworld or hit up Sophia Harlow to confirm if you can help with any of:

Creators
Raffle Contributors
We have a full set of bloggers now (thank you all!)

Designers so far signed up are:
alaskametro
Apple Fall
Azuchi
Besom
Big Bully
Boom
Bueno
Bunyi
Cheeky Pea
Click Poses
Culprit Fine Furniture
Dahlia
Double Take - Poses
Dust Bunny
Dysfunctional Designs
E-Marie
Fri.Day
HIVE
Ingenue
ISON
Jian
Just Because
Little Llama
Llorisen
Mad Pea
Maxi Gossamer Jewellery
Milk Motion
Mossu
O.M.E.N.
Rebel Hope
Reign
Robin Sojourner
Scarlet Creative
Second Spaces
Thistle Homes
Valentina E
Veechi Cosmetics
Vinyl
{le fil casse}

Our target is 50 designers! We can do this!!

Thank you for taking the time to read
Scarlet Creative

Bixyl Shuftan

Since Breezes Babii passed away on September 9, there have been many people expressing their sympathy for her, including friends talking about memories of her. Among those friends was Chigadee London Chigadee recently sent in a reader submission describing her friendship with Breezes and how it went from Second Life to real life, including the final days when she had some conversations with her daughter-in-law.

Read Chigadee's reader submission in People.

Bixyl Shuftan

by Bixyl Shuftan

Maxwell Graf, best known for being a content creator and his well-designed sim Rustica is in trouble. A few days ago, he sent a plea for help, saying the house he and his wife were supposed to spend their retirement in will soon be lost due to a falling out with the wife's family, "We have to vacate ... This is terrifying. We have no savings, we have to credit cards to run up. Even in a best case scenario, we can only afford a small two-bedroom apartment ... What I want is a safe place for Cheryl and my dogs to sleep at night. Nothing else matters. I am not the kind of person who wants a handout ... What I am asking is that you take a visit to my sim (Rustica) and purchase an item or two, or visit my admittedly small marketplace store and find something there. If you want something but it costs too much, IM me and I will send it to you for whatever you do have. ... Every single item will make a very real difference in this crazy transition, and I honestly have never needed your help and support more in my life."

I got in contact with Maxwell, and we talked about his situation. He didn't have anything to add about his real-life situation other than "my schedule is absolutely messed up crazy right now, and going to go dark here at any time due to the move." But not everything was going bad, "I can say this.I have never before experienced the kind of love and caring and support that I have seen from so many people for Cheryl and I. In the middle of those closest to us, the siblings who are doing this to us, we have had an army of people we only know through 'virtual reality' do the most amazing things for us. It's such a strange dichotomy. I mean, people I have never even heard of sending me five or ten dollars to my Paypal somehow (I did not give it out), and randomly sending me lindens. People offering to let us stay with them, people offering to come help us pack. It's just amazing and I've been crying a lot.(smile).

"There IS love and kindness in the world, beyond what I have ever known. I have always had a hard time asking for help, so I am just a pile of mush lately with the outpouring we have had from the SL community. ... amazing people. Never believe that this place is just a bunch of sex addicts or trolls or fashionistas, like they would have us believe. I know you never felt that way and I have not either, but this goes beyond what I have ever experienced. So much love from people."

For anyone wishing to help out, head over to the Rustica sim, Rustica (130/116/58), to purchase an item, or do so at Rustica's Marketplace page.

Source: Prim Perfect

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

Taken at the Exploratorium.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

The following was posted by Linden Lab yesterday.

It has come to our attention that some Residents are sending messages - which may appear as popup windows in some viewers - informing other Residents that their accounts have been compromised and encouraging them to contact Support, using a phone number that is not associated with Linden Lab.

These messages are phishing attempts to gain access to your Second Life account. Neither Linden Lab, nor Second Life Customer Support, would attempt to contact you in this manner. You can always find Linden Lab’s official customer support contact methods within the following links:

https://support.secondlife.com/billing-support/

https://support.secondlife.com/contact-support/

As always, please be wary of suspicious messages and contact from other users. If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us via support case at https://support.secondlife.com/

Hat Tip: Fuzzball Ortega

Bixyl Shuftan

(Click here if the music fails to play)

By Calaval on April 2015

Bixyl Shuftan

Times have not been easy lately for Perri Prinz, one of the members of the Sunweaver community where the Newser makes it's home. She is best known as a writer, and one of the things a writer fears is having access to one's audience cut off. First Livejournal, the hosting service of her Spectral Shadows serialized science-fiction novel, demanded a huge amount of money from her to keep the illustrations on. Her response was to put her fiction writing on hold, and instead use her pen to non-fiction, writing commentaries about the Furry Fandom and society at large. But a few people didn't like what she had to say, and one day she found Facebook, where most of her audience was getting her stories, had shut down her account. The Newser recently met up with Perri, to talk about this de-facto censorship, and she had a few things to say about it. As it turns out, she may be writing soon again.

Read the story in People.

Bixyl Shuftan

On the Second Life section of Reddit, a "Neuromancer72" posted on Wednesday September 20 that after dropping out from the Grid around 2010, he had returned last year, and come across "many people" who had done the same. Which left him wondering, how many residents who had dropped out were coming back?

Mine is a familiar story - very active in SL from 2006 to maybe 2009-10, then dropped off for years only to return in the last year or so. I've met many people since my return who followed a similar route - left years ago and have now come back. Posts to this sub show others doing the same. I can't help but wonder if this is really a widespread thing, or if I've just been more aware of it because of similarities to my own history. If it is a thing, any ideas what might be driving people to give SL another go?

There were several responses, including one by "Jadziyah":

I think a majority of residents take long 'breaks' at one point. Why we all come back is harder to nail down. Linden Labs has actually had several positive changes lately such as land prim increases and the addition of bento bones, so those generated a lot of excitement. And there will always be the social aspect.

Hamlet Au thought that this very well could be the case, suggesting "if a few thousand oldbies are jumping onto the grid more regularly, it might not show up in the data, but still be significant." He felt there were two reasons for such a probable resurgence, One was social media, as many Second Life residents use Facebook and former residents would continue to keep their former virtual neighbors and friends on their friend list and continue to communicate with them, and hear about new content and goings on. He also felt the talk about Sansar would get former residents wondering "Whatever happened with Second Life" and come back to see what's been going on here.

So what do you the readers think? Have you seen numbers of former residents returning? Or perhaps you are someone who left and returned? What's getting people to come back?

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

Frets Nirvana and US Military Veterans Group announce the 2017 September benefit for Homes For Our Troops in Second Life!

Frets Nirvana, the premier guitar artist in the virtual world Second Life and the US Military Veterans Group announce the 2017 September benefit on September 24, 2017 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). As of January 2017 they have built 229 homes for severly wounded Veterans and have another 85 projects underway. 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 onSeptember 24, 2017 is scheduled from 4-9 PM PST. Featured artists will be DJ Waya Snowpaw, Senjata Witt, suzen joel, Soulvision, and hogan Baily .

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

Bixyl Shuftan

Saturday 23th 10 AM PDT

“Virtual Reality in Science!” by William Schmachtenberg, Ph. D (Dae Miami in SL)

Abstract: VR in Education. There has been a lot of hype about Virtual Reality in the Media, but what is actually involved in using VR in education? How much does it cost, what hardware do you need, how do you set it up, and how good is the software that is available? For the most part, VR in schools has meant Google Cardboard, but other forms of VR are getting cheaper such as Gear VR and even Oculus Rift.

I have been conducting hands-on research with Google Cardboard, Gear VR and Oculus Rift setups and will be sharing those results in this presentation, but I hope you will come and share your information on VR as well. I will also include reviews of current VR software.

More information about Dae's presentation at https://sciencecircle.org/upcoming-saturday/

The Science Circle (61/126/32)

* * * * *

Sunday 24th 10 AM PDT

“Horse-hunting Crocodiles and Tiny Alligators: Crocodilian Evolution after the Age of the Dinosaurs” by Alex Hastings, Ph. D

Crocodiles have had an impressively long evolutionary history. During the Age of the Dinosaurs they reached massive size and diversified into a wide array of forms, but their lineage did not die with the mass extinction that ended that era. After the massive ecological shifts that occurred, crocodilians adapted to new circumstances and have been enormously successful.

Dr. Hastings will present some of his research on this fascinating group of animals in the millions of years that have followed since the extinction including running crocodiles and dwarf alligators.

More information about Hasting's presentation at https://sciencecircle.org/upcoming-sunday/

The Science Circle (61/126/32)

Bixyl Shuftan

It was September 3, 2010 that Team Phoenix, later renamed Team Firestorm, was formed. They had come about as the result of the "Emeraldgate" controversy, which soon led to the removal of the Emerald Viewer. On Saturday September 9, Team Firestorm had their anniversary party. Besides two live music performers, there was also a gift available: a rideable pet mule, in Firestorm's colors.

As with nearly every major event we hold we try to arrange a gift for all Second Life residents and this year will be no exception! ABC – AWESOME BREED CREATIONS have very generously created an exclusive collectible pet mule with an amazing one of a kind coat and eye! I like to think the Mule represents our strength and perhaps our stubbornness! WOW it’s gorgeous! Thank you so much ABC!

I headed to Firestorm Dow Forest (224/232/3902), and found the avatar giver in the size and shape of the mule. I clicked on it to get the package, went to the Ivory Tower to rezz it, and got a box. Opening it, I got the mule and was able to rezz it on the ground and ride it. I was able to name it, and my friend with me was able to click to get saddle and reins.The mule was listed at 143 days old, and was perfectly rideable. It didn't need food or water, but it was not breedable,

Unfortunately, Chilly the firekitty at the Newser office has no mule companion. By accident, I tried rezzing him in a spot where only the landowner could, and not only did the horse fail to rezz, it failed to appear in my inventory. When going back to the mule rezzer, it wouldn't give me another. So be careful where you take the mule from you inventory.

It is unclear how long the anniversary gift will be available. So go get a mule while you can.

Update: I later found the mule in my inventory after logging back on.

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

ShadowRene Ivanova and me in my "Pie rat" look at Luskwood. The mouse may soon be in for quite a hug.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

Ari (Arisia Vita) is one of Deaflegacy's favorite people to write about. She didn't expect to be writing about him again so soon, but he was recently honored in Cape Heron with a park for him by an anonymous donor where he can play music. So once again, she picked up her pen to get the story.

Read Deaflegacy's article in Places.

Edited 12:20PM

Bixyl Shuftan

In late June, and more recently in late August, Linden Lab was talking about a "grid-wide gaming experience" coming "soon." On Monday September 18, they announced it had arrived: "Tyrah and the Curse of the Magical Glytches."

The plot of the game is that Tyrah, the girl in danger in the Horizons game, has been rescued. But somehow Magellan Linden has apparently died. While Tyrah and the Moles are still talking about who will help protect the Grid, a new threat emerges: Ruth. Furious at being all but forgotten, she takes advantage of Magellan's departure to unleash magical creatures called "Glytches" on the Grid to wreck havoc. Not sure what to do, Magellan's robot sidekick Punkee decides on using the tactic of his former boss: get the residents to help out.

(Click here if the video fails to play)

To play the game, head to Portal Park and head to the portal to the new area, called Hartyshire, and pick up the HUD and beginning weapon at the Gem Apothecary. The HUD will take you to the places you need to go to catch the Glytches. For those who got the SL14B avatar and it's egg this summer, there's a place at the Apothecary you can hatch it.

We'll have some more details soon on how to play the game and the prizes you can get. But if you're in a hurry to start, head to Portal Park at (175/118/52).

Read the announcement in full here. You can read more information about it here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

Yesterday, September 19, was "Talk Like a Pirate Day." Usually on the day the Newser celebrates with a chuckle. But we delayed making a deal out of it for a day out of respect to Breezes Babii. The Sunweaver community celebrated it at the Happy Vixen with a pirate party, with the high-energy DJ Tantari spinning the tunes. The 250 Linden prize was split between Tantari Kim, Amaya Hotshot, and Gnawtooth Greymoon.

Feel free to check our Pirate Speak and pirate-themed locations articles from earlier.

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

On Sunday September 17, the Tombstone community gave it's goodbye to one of it's noted members: Breezes Babii. In the Old West roleplay community, she didn't have an especially prestigious position such as town mayor, ranch owner, or sharpshooter. But she won the hearts of both the other characters and their players alike, as well as having many friends on the outside, such as the Relay for Life and the Second Life Newser. People from all three and more would get together to give their farewells to their beloved friend.

Read the story in Events.

Bixyl Shuftan

It's a week full of events, including our tribute to "Talk Like a Pirate Day" today, at the Sunweaver and Angel clubs and the Furry Fashion Lounge.

Club Cutlass: Best in 'Q' and 'R," TBA, TBA

The Happy Vixen: Mythology, Pirates, Leather and Lace, Ponies, Mardi Gras Tribute, Naughty, CAYA

Club Zero Gravity: Pokemon, Orange and Brown, Featherx, Maniac Music Mix

Furry Fashion Lounge: Vaporware, Animation, Monsters, Video Games, 80s and 90s, LBGTQ Pride, Metal, Slumber

See the schedules at SL Clubbin'.

Bixyl Shuftan

By Wesley Regenbogen

About Jayra Magic

Jayra Magic is the owner and creator of the JFC Bikes and the store. She’s a bike builder and has a bike store. Making bikes in Second Life is her passion and she’s good at her job. Her bikes are awesome bikes, because she puts her passion into making them.

I met Jayra Magic at the place where she makes her bikes, after she teleported me over.

I first asked how she was doing and she told me “I’m doing fine” and she asked how I was doing and I told her I was doing very well.

I asked how she got started in Second Life and how she got started as a bike creator. She told me that a friend of her told her about Second Life and that it didn’t take too long before she met people that liked bikes as she did.

Next, I asked her how bikes are made and what processes that it goes through to get into the final product and ready to be sold. She told me that there are multiple ways to get a bike made : she buys bike parts and puts them together until it looks like a bike, or she buys bike-kits and puts her own scripts into it and also adds her own textures.

Creating a bike can take weeks, she also told me. So, making bikes is time consuming. It takes so long because she has her own vision on how it needs to look and sometimes she can't find the right bike parts. So, that's why she makes her own bike parts too. She wants every bike to have their own character and not only a look. So fine tuning it can also take a few days work.

Then I asked her if she has a collaboration with other bike creators or she only works solo. She told me that she always likes to learn from other bike creators and that Lexei Glas (LG Bikes) teached her the important things about Second Life bikes. She has a special collaboration with Moppi Riddler, the bike outfit creator called MRSTYLE, they have been friends for over 9 years. Her shop is located next to the JFC bike store.

When I asked her where she gets the inspiration for creating bikes in Second Life, she told me that gets many ideas from customers and also from real life role models and also her own fantasies and ideas that she has.

Then I asked her if she has lots of customers from MCs, or motorcycle clubs, around Second Life. She told me that she has many people from MC’s in Second Life, but also non MC related people that want to buy a bike. There are many people that are in a MC in Second Life that ride bikes from JFC. She is proud that people ride her bikes in Second Life.

I asked her what if a customer wants a custom made bike. She told me that if it doesn’t cost her more to make it, she sells it at the regular price, but she currently is unable to make custom bikes. She doesn’t make bikes for 1 person, but she wants to make bikes for everybody out there. She wants to share her creations ( the bikes ) with everyone.

The last question I asked was what plans that she has for the future. She told me that she hopes to keep on selling bikes and that her shops continues to grow and that her store runs for a couple of years at least. And she hopes that she never runs out of ideas to make bikes. She also hopes that she can spend more time exploring biker sims and also join in on parties/concerts and also doing some sailing in Second Life.

I thanked her for taking the time for doing the interview and wished her luck in the future.

Wesley Regenbogen

Bixyl Shuftan

Besides Halloween, October in Second Life is also known for the main Burn2 festival. Although the "Burners" as they're called have spinoff events around the year, October has always been the time of the original of the yearly events, based on the real-life Burning Man festival in Black Rock Nevada and originally called Burning Life, that have taken place in Second Life from it's first year. Klaus Bereznyak had a look at the preparations for the "Octoburn" from the scene of the event as the people behind it get ready. This year's theme: "Radical Ritual."

Read more in Design.

Bixyl Shuftan

Bay City is not only Second Life's largest urban area, but also one of it's more noted communities and the scene of many events. It's most recent major event was the "Hot Bay City Nights" classic auto show, which included the Miss Bay City Nights contest. While this event is over and done with, Marianne McCann still had a few things to say about it, and other events the community and area has every year, including the Oktoberfest later this month.

Read Deaflegacy's article in Extra.

Bixyl Shuftan

In a development that's clearly of interest to music lovers, youtube-mp3.org, once the top website for converting Youtube videos into MP3 files, was shut down earlier this month following an out of court settlement between the site's owner and the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA. The website www.youtube-mp3.org had been one of the most visited websites on the Internet according to an article in Torrent Freak magazine. But checking the location only shows a dead link, the site having been taken down.

About a year ago, Philip Matesanz of Germany and PMD Technologies UG, the owners of the website had been sued by a number of record companies, charging that the "Defendants are depriving Plaintiffs and their recording artists of the fruits of their labor," while raking in money from advertising. In the agreement between Matesanz and the companies, the domain had been handed over to RIAA and it's owner making a payment of an undisclosed cash settlement, the recording labels agreed to halt further prosecution, and the defendant accepts the blame of the charges against him.

While this is the end of www.youtube-mp3.org, these music companies feel the problem of "stream ripping" shouldn't have gotten so far to begin with, complaining that Youtube needs to take more responsibility in trying to stop them. As it turns out, Youtube did threaten legal action against the website, as well as the video downloader TubeNinja.

For those whom had been depending on youtube-mp3.org for their music, such as possibly some Second Life DJs, they will now have to find another way to get new music.

Sources: The Next Web, Torrent Freak

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

Yesterday at Sunlight Bay, Cynthia Farshore had an "Open House" party at the newly remodeled Goblin Cave. The party was a small one to celebrate the sim being officially open for business.

It was a little more than a month ago that Cynthia and Nydia Tungsten agreed to switch their ownerships of the sims Sunlight Bay and Pacific Waters. Although the renovations are not yet complete, the Farshore Field airfield is ready for use, the shop at the northeast corner of the sim is ready for business, and the Goblin Cave where Farshore Radio makes it's home is ready for events.

At Pacific Waters, Nydia now has a manor where her friends can hang out, a "float-in" theater on the water, and and office building for White Vixen Enterprises, which controls the Angel community sims and the Happy Vixen and Zero Gravity clubs.

Cynthia Farshore is planning a larger celebration in a couple weeks, a birthday party for Dusk Griswold. In the meantime, her shop has a number of goods, including some outfits from Zan's Clothing.

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From RacerX Gullwing yesterday, Sept 15. :What are the Giant Snail Races without the giant snails? The "Anything Goes" races. These have been going on since at least August.

FionaFei Resident, in a tiny avatar, was the winner of this race. Although the number of participants in this race was small, there are usually more runners.

Bixyl Shuftan

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Furry Andy on Aug 13

Bixyl Shuftan

With the passing of Breezes Babii almost a week ago, her friends have been looking back at memories of her. For those in the Tombstone Wild West roleplaying community, she was a friend and neighbor whom was involved in many things. Adrian Wise, the town mayor, put his thoughts to pen with a reader submission.

Read Adrian's reader submission in People.

Bixyl Shuftan

As Florida begins to assess the damage from the devastation from Hurricane Irma, people in Second Life are starting to respond with fundraising events like they did with Hurricane Harvey earlier this month at Furry Fashion and Arima City. In the Fender sim, the music venue "The Dirty Grind," whom features musicians such as Bat Masters, Beth Odets, and Jaycatt n' Frogg, has been doing a "Grind Back at Irma" fundraiser, collecting money to donate to relief efforts in Florida by Americares.

In light of recent and current events, any and all donations to The Dirty Grind from today until Monday the 18th will go to Americares Hurricane Relief Fund - we hope we can help a little bit, and that everyone is safe out there ! You can check their website here:

The event actually started on September 10, so there are a few days remaining that the event is taking donations. On Sunday September17, The Grind will have music events from 4 to 8 PM SL time

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fender/80/142/24

Bixyl Shuftan

Bixyl Shuftan

Inspire Space Park is one of SL's longest running hangouts and the centre for a great community of people. They are a having a fundraiser event Thursday Sept 14 from 11am to 10pm.

"Surprise DJs and performance artists throughout the day. Stop by and show your Linden love for ISP. Keep the family love at ISP. Donations are very much appreciated. Peace and Love."

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Shinda/32/223/1559

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