SL Video: "Second Life's Lab Gab - Haunted Halloween 2020"

 

 The video of the Lab Gab on Friday October 20, where Strawberry and Tara Linden checked out a number of Halloweenish locations. Among what goes on, Strawberry expresses a weakness for merry-go-rounds, and they check out an escape room.

The Gacha Guild Halftime Hunt And The Furry Fashion Halloween Area

 It's Halloween, and the last day to enjoy some Halloween events. Two offer spooky thrills as well as prizes. At the Gacha Guild, it's the last day to take part in their Halftime Hunt. Head to the grounds, find the huge spooky head, check the board on how to play and get the HUD and flashlight, then go through the head's mouth, and enter the dark carnival.

 

The game promises prizes for those who look long enough, click on the ravens, as well as a story about what happened. A short look revealed nothing of either. Just be careful of where you step, of you'll be sent back to a respawn point.

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dew%20Drop/162/168/1128

 

 One of the Gacha Guild participants, Furry Fashion, also has it's own Halloween Area, complete with a maze with treasures to find.

 The maze itself has a few rooms, divided by a maze of caverns. Click on the globes to get the prizes. But of course there's plenty of sights. There's also a photo contest going on, so if you see a great scene, take some pictures.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Furry/112/18/4001

Check out more haunts in the Destination Guide.

 Happy Halloween

Bixyl Shuftan

 

SL Video: "Second Life Monster Mash Halloween"

 By InWorld Films and Suzie Anderton in Oct 2019

Announcement: Halloween Party At The Happy Vixen

We're having a Halloween Blowout event here Saturday from 4pm to 7pm SL time.  Costume party of course with a massive 5000 Linden prize to be divided out to 3 lucky winners. Yours truly (DJ HornyCorn) will be rocking the Halloween night away to all manor of Halloween tunage.  None this popularity voting mind you.  Will be a Random Draw Fishbowl setup to give everyone a equal chance at all my Treats for all you lovely peoples. All people including Club personnel are welcome to join into the Halloween event. So grab a friend and help us party the night away on All Hallows Eve.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Purrfection%20Estates/233/233/2513

Jasmine Dawn

 

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Recent Developments in Materials Science"

 

"Recent Developments in Materials Science"

Saturday October 31 

10 AM to 11:30 AM

Join Matt Burr and Mike Shaw for a discussion about materials. What new materials such as graphene and nanotubes hold promises for new technologies? What are the prospects for advanced batteries? What can we look forward to with breakthroughs and novel materials?    

Guests: Dr. Michael J. Shaw, Dr. Kurt Winkelmann

For more information, Click Here. 

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

 

Luskwood Anniversary Tribute At The Happy Vixen

 

On Sunday October 25, the Happy Vixen held a special event at it's Halloween Haunt. It was the Luskwood Tribute party. For those who don't know, Luskwood is the first and longest lasting furry community in Second Life, possibly the oldest that is still going. For years, it held annual anniversary events. But the one in 2017 was the last they held. Since then, they've had to postpone then cancel the events. In 2018, the staff of the Happy Vixen offered to host a tribute to them to celebrate their turning fifteen. This year, the club decided to hold another.

Tonight we are celebrating Luskwood's 17th Anniversary! All of Luskwood's avatars and clothing from years past are in theme. Come on up to our Special Events Club and party with us for the next three hours with our wonderful DJ Snowbuns!

From 3-6PM SL time, besides people from the beach club, a number of people from Luskwood were also there. There was Ardy Lay, Saunder Hand, and others. And of course Luskwood founder Michi Lumin. There were also a couple ponies from Trotsdale, which Luskwood has a close relationship. And there was Prof. Grey (BrianL61 Landar) of Arcadia Asylum.

For three hours, DJ Snowbuns played music for the crowd. Close to thirty people showed up for the event. The normally 250L prize for the contest was boosted to 2000L by a generous donor. It was split at the end of the event by Go Fish (Swiftkill Resident) and Fortunas Sands.

Luskwood will likely have something special for Halloween. It's not a sure thing with real life butting into peoples' plans. But a way to celebrate their anniversary had been found.

Bixyl Shuftan

CDS Announcement: Schloss Dungeons Halloween Bash 2020

 

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a MAD World
Halloween Bash
Schloss Neufreistadt Dungeons
Saturday, October 31, 2020
1:00 pm slt
Creepy toons by DJ Qt Nightfire
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Channel your inner mad-scientist and join us for a fun time!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Neufreistadt/247/128/175

Cartoon of the Day: Needled Nurse

 Taken at the Happy Vixen, punch line based on actual dialouge.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Return to Darkwood

 

Many longtime readers are familiar with Calas Galadhon Park, made by Truck Meredith and Tymus Tenk. But these two landscapers also have a Halloween-themed place: Darkwood. Gemma Cleanslate recently went back to the place, and there was much to see with this years spooky sights.

Read Gemma's article in Places.

The Caledon Downs Halloween Ghost Hunt

It's Halloween, so time for this year's spooky attraction at Caledon Downs. In the past, they've had haunted trails and a spooky shooting gallery. This year combines a bit of both with a "Ghost Hunt." A notecard about the event had the following

We are fed up with the high population of ghost that appear all across our region. Therefore we are announcing a bounty on them. There are 4 levels to achieve. The levels are for who gets the most of these ghastly specters. The rewards are for the most L$1500, 2nd most L$1000, 3rd most L$500, 4th most L$250. You may use what projectile firing weapon you like. These ghost are popping up all over Downs but only appear for a few seconds before vanishing again so you will have to watch carefully and move around.

 The "hunting lodge" so speak is the Goblin Cave Community Center located in the center of Caledon Downs. In there is located the information panels and the totals counter. The hunt will last till the end of the Halloween Dance at the Goblin Cave at 8PM SLT on Oct 29th then the winner of the bounties will be announced. Course there is no bag limit and season ends on the morning of Nov 1st. giving more time to just enjoy hunting.  Have any questions contact Dame Cynthia Farshore or Duke Shockwave Yareach.

As the notice says, any projectile gun can be used in the hunt. I just used an old freebie popgun. Presumably those interested in taking part know how to go in and out of mouselook. Looking around the sim, I found ghosts in various places. A few places on the sim have more concentrations than others. When hit, the ghosts say one of several various comments, "Hey, I'm already deceased!" "Dead again!", then vanish. They won't be gone long, and will soon reappear, sometimes with the sound of spooky laughter, but only for a few seconds. They still count as additional kills for score

The kill counter as stated is in the Goblin Cave, located not far from the bar counter. It lists the best several scores. Also as stated, Linden cash prizes are being offered to the four best shooters, with 1500L going to the top scorer, 1000L to second place, 500L to 4rd, and 250L for fourth. It should be noted that just because you're on the scoreboard doesn't mean you'll stay there as new hunters enter the game and those already in get higher scores. Those whom want the top prize can't relax until the contest is declared done at 8PM Thursday October 29 at the end of the Goblin Cave Halloween Dance. But the game will go on until early November 1, the morning after Halloween, for those whom want to keep on hunting ghosts.

A very Halloweenish and fun shooting game.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Downs/123/102/31

Bixyl Shuftan

Lion's Hell Grand Opening and Halloween Conest

_________________________________________________
 

Lion's Hell Advertise 30 October Grand Opening & Halloween Contest Party                                   

_________________________________________________

                              
Club Lion Entertainment presents Friday 30 October 2020
                                        
G R A N D O P E N I N G P A R T Y of The L I O N S - H E L L Club
                                        
💀 🎃 H A L L O W E E N P A R T Y 🎃 💀
C O N T E S T  
"Best Halloween-Nightmare Costume"
5000 LD$ will be in the Pot (Jury Choose) 

________________________________________________

 
                
9 am slt DJ Soul in chains                                                 
11 am slt Dj Eluriel Varnish               
1 pm slt Clairede Dirval                                                    
2 pm slt Ricardo Avalira                                                   
3 pm slt UnBes0Grande                                                   
4 pm slt Djane Sonnenplume   

"You want it dark? Then you will be at the right place. Even the devil swings his hooves to the beat"

Lion's Hell rises again out of the depths of darkness. We are calling all Dark Souls of the Other Side to join us for a journey and Spooktacular Event. We will pull you into the deepest abyss of fantastic music, great live Singers, DJs, and a breathtaking atmosphere of hellish fun! Wear your Scariest Costume and join our Contest; 5000 LD$ will be in the Pot!

We would like to Invite you to our Party. Meet some new Friends and have a Great Fun Time.
We look forward to welcoming you, to make us a place where you will come to enjoy a happy times with us.

Hells Carriage : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Lions/156/96/1868

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

 

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

Club Cutlass: Best in 'H' and 'I', Videogames, Halloween

Happy Vixen: Trick or Treat, Wolves, TBA, Villians, Harvest Moon, Graveyard Smash, Halloween, Black and White, Skimpy

Club Zero Gravity: TBA
 
Montecito Bay: TBA, After Dark

Furry Fashion Lounge: Creepy vs Cute, Monsters and Magic, Horror, Undead vs Survivors, Halloween, Orange and Black

Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.

Halloween Across Second Life

It's the last week of October, and places across Second Life are getting darker and spookier as Halloween approaches. Gemma Cleanslate has been across various Halloween-themed places across the Grid. At the Spookydoo Halloween Market, you can get decorations to make you own place a little spooker as well. At the Spooktakulum Event, gacha lovers can get some thrills and chills while satisfying their shopping fix. At the Trick or Treat Lane, you can do more shopping while enjoying spooky sights while searching for occasional freebies. At "Scare Me Silly," you can do still more Halloween shopping for a good cause. And for those whom spooky isn't enough but want a blood n' guts Halloween, there's the Linden Halloween area.

Read Gemma's article in Places.

EOTB: "Second Life Destinations - Raglan Shire Shocktober 2020"

 
While many Halloween happenings go into blood n' guts horror, others prefer something more on the playfully spooky side. Among the latter is the "Shocktober" event by Raglan Shire, which was recently featured in Second Life Destinations.

 We have a bonus Second Life Destinations video for you this week: let’s take a look at Raglan Shire, a community of tinies in the midst of month long Halloween festivities. No need to worry if you are what they refer to as a “biggie,” as they are welcoming to all.

 As their land info states: “The original community of fun for folks of all sizes. Many different locales, events & activities for anyone seeking friendship & adventure! Whether you're dinkie, tiny sized or any size or shape, come visit & enjoy!”

Every October Raglan Shire celebrates “Shocktober” to celebrate the spooky season, but their revelry is defined not so much by blood and gore as by whimsical creativity.

Attractions include a brand new interactive Haunted House for 2020, where you can choose the level of exposure to Halloween madness: the options are cute or creepy. The Raglan Shire Ride of Horrors is back, and filled with custom rooms created by the community. Hop into that snake cart to cruise through tons of spaces brimming with unbridled creativity. Not to mention the Haunted Wooden Roller Coaster of DOOM is faster than ever before.

Musical performances and many other themed activities round out the celebration of a month that puts creative expression first, in the world of biggies and tinies alike.

For more information, check out Shocktober's entry in the Destination Guide. And of course to check things out for yourself, head to Raglan Shire's Shocktober yourself at Heron Shire (128/135/3728)

Announcement: This Week at the Seanchai Libraries

THIS WEEK: Among THE BEST weeks of the year! Live broadcasts, more Bradbury, a series continuing, and so more. Join us this week for stories, presented LIVE in Second Life, on Seanchai Library's properties in Kitely, and at The Haunted Hollow in SL.

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

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

 *  *  *  *  *

**MONDAY, October 26th 7pm: Alan Dean Fosters RUNNING FROM THE DEITY concludes with Gyro Muggins.

**TUESDAY, October 27th:

    ~ at Noon: RUSSELL EPONYM, Live! with music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen, live on stream. Seanchai Library - www.seanchailibrary.com, Nowhereville (193, 131, 21)

    ~ at 7pm: More from THE PRINCESS BRIDE : Storming the Castle with Caledonia Skytower, live on stream.

**WEDNESDAY, October 28th, 7pm : Ray Bradbury's FROM THE DUST RETURNED with Shandon, Faerie, and Caledonia, live on stream at HAUNTED HOLLOW. There will be a teleport from the main landing point.  Dark Site, Island Of Joy (149, 23, 46) 

**THURSDAY, October 29th, 7pm: THE WALKER IN THE CEMETERY. Shandon presents Iam Watson's thrilling adventure. (Also in Kitely!  Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI)

Cartoon of the Day: Witch on a Broom

 Taken at the Happy Vixen's Halloween Haunt. So why is Scratch Musikat's skirt staying in place even when upside down? Probably the same magic that keeps the broom flying.

By Bixyl Shuftan

The Pink Power Rodeo, And The "Haunted Wild West And Saloon Ride"

 

 The Pink Power Rodeo is going on. This "Making Strides For Breast Cancer" event is taking place in a temporary area north of the American Cancer Society sim: Pink Power Hope and Pink Power Country. 

There's much to do here. There are music events. There are cowboy-themed competitions such as a bull-riding contest. People outside the contest can also ride the bull, though there's no record of who rode it the longest. There's a stable for getting horses to ride around. And there's a track around the two sims for people to walk laps around.

One interesting thing I saw was in the town in the northwest corner of Pink Power Country. Brian Topp and theme park ride designer Nance Clowes had made a "Haunted Wild West and Saloon Ride" for the Rodeo. The carts for the ride look like small covered wagons. When someone rezzes one and boards it, he or she is greeted by a ghostly bartender, telling them that while some of the ghosts in the saloon are just there to relax, others have "a bone to pick with the livin'." And so the ride goes through a number of spooky encounters, some amusing, some more on the scary side.

The last day of the Pink Power Rodeo is today, Sunday October 25. The Saloon Ride, and other attractions, may be up a day or two longer, but no guarantee.

For more information on the Pink Power Rodeo: Click Here.  To go straight to the list of music events, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

SL Video: "2020 Second Life Renaissance Festival"

 

From  Bain Finch on October 21, "2020 Second Life Renaissance Festival Unites Medieval Role Play Communities to Crusade Against Breast Cancer in support of the American Cancer Society Strides Campaigns in Second Life. Russell Eponym Sonnets captured and used by permission. Many thanks to all involved. slrenaissancefestival.com "

SL Video: "Beat It"

 

 From Mishy Pou in October 18

The Burning of The Man And The Temple Burn

 

The Burn2 festival is now over. But before it ended the main events took place. On Saturday, the Burning of the Man took place. Sunday, the final day of the Burn, came the Temple Burn. Gemma Cleanslate was there, and took a few pictures.

Read Gemma's article in Events.

Rainworx Owner Rain Puddles Banned Over Claw Game, Reinstated

 

A few days ago on October 20, customers of Rainworx Labs got an unpleasant surprise. The owner, Rain Puddles, had been permanently banned from Second Life by Linden Lab. The reason? For having a claw game at her store. The Marketplace store for Rainworx was also down. She would post about it on Twitter, her attempts at reasoning with Linden Lab being ignored.

So @SecondLife perma banned me for something I was not aware of. The product I was banned for using is still avail on the MP. How is this fair?! every ticket I submit is an automated reply with the same wording. I just called them on the phone to talk to a human being still nada

She would later say the claw game in question was apparently considered gambling by the Linden who banned her. She would add it was at other peoples' stores and there was no Linden dollar payout, and that she had heard nothing from Linden Lab until the babn, "They have claimed I have been warned several times and I was not. The only thing I have received from LL was a ticket they opened that I wasn't even aware of since there was no emails about it until I went to submit a ticket I didn't even know it exissted. ... I have grown my business' on SL for 10+ years to just have them take it from me is so heartbreaking."

Word soon got around about what happened. The Newser heard about it from a friend on our Discord channel. Rain would get a number of replies. "This whole situation smells of stinky vindictive bull****." "It just blows my mind that they wouldn't take every possible step first to ensure you were contacted in some way, even going to direct messaging, and then removing the machine. Or hell, why not just remove the machine, give you a notice and a slap in the wrist, and go about it?" "This is so unfair. I hope you'll be able to fix it, and that LL will see how this was a honest mistake."

Eventually, someone came up with what the issue was, "It's been a law case in California for years now. Essentially California courts ruled claw machines are technically gambling on the account  of not being guaranteed a prize. And because gambling is illegal in California, any definition of gambling follows." But in the words of one person on Twitter, "I didn't know that a claw machine would be considered gambling, I honestly don't know HOW MANY residents know either tbh."

Eventually, Patch Linden responded on Twitter that he was looking into the matter. The following day, Rain would announce the ban had been lifted.

So good news! @SecondLife @LindenLab have decided to unban me! I want to thank everyone for their support during all of this and thank you @LindenPatch. My marketplaces are still not available so please bare with me.

As of the writing of this article, Rainworx Marketplace is still down. But the items in the mainland store have been discounted. A Marketplace search would reveal a few claw machines up and available for sale. Talking with friends about the incident, a few considered it an example of Linden Lab's behavior.

In any event, a big misunderstanding has been cleared up.

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Microbial Life Beyond Earth"

 

"Microbial Life Beyond Earth" 

Saturday October 24

10 AM to 11 AM

By James Woods 

"Introduction to astrobiology and the scientific search for evidence of microbial life beyond Earth, especially on moons in the solar system. Review, with questions welcome, the very real and exciting possibility of finding such life in the fairly near future, and its far-reaching implications. For a general audience, brief discussion of key basic principles in areas of microbiology, physics and chemistry that drive, inform and focus the search."

For more information, Click Here. 

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

 

Linden Lab Asks For Patience For The Next Few Weeks With Cloud Migration

 

It's no secret things have been more glitchy in Second Life than usual. Last Friday, Linden Lab through Oz Linden came out and apologized for the various glitches, crashes, and bugs recently, saying they were from it's moving things to cloud servers. Yesterday, Wednesday October 21, in the "Tools and Technology" blog, it was April Linden's turn. She gave an update on how much has been done so far.

We’re in a really exciting time in the history of Second Life. We’re in the home stretch on moving the grid to the cloud. We hit a fun milestone a few days ago, and now there’s over 1,000 regions running in the cloud!

Everyone in the Lab is working hard on this project, and we’re moving very quickly. I just got out of a leadership meeting where we went over what’s currently in flight, and there’s so many things moving that I lost track of them all. It’s amazing!

However, not everything was good news. She asked residents to be patient.

I’ve come to ask for a favor.  ... I’ve come to ask you for is your patience. 

We’re doing our very best to fix things that come up as we go. This means that we might need to restart regions more often than you’re used to, and things may break just a little more often than we’ve all been accustomed to.

In order to get this project done as fast as possible and minimize the time (and resulting bugs) we have to spend with one foot in our datacenter and the other in the cloud, we don’t want to limit ourselves to restarting regions just once a week. We’re ready to get this project done! We’ve seen how much better Second Life runs in the cloud, and we’re ready to have everyone on the grid experience it.

I’m sorry that things might be a little rough over the next few weeks. It’s our goal to finish the cloud migration by the holidays, so that everyone, Resident and Linden alike, can have a nice quiet holiday with our friends and families.

 We can’t promise we’ll make it by then, but we’re sure giving it all we’ve got. The mood around the Lab is really positive right now, and we’re all working hard together to make it happen. I’m really proud to be a part of the team that’s transforming Second Life as we know it.

Thanks so much for hanging in there with us. We know it’s frustrating at times, but it won’t last for too long, and there’s a better future on the other side of this. We truly appreciate your understanding and patience as we finish up this project.

So it appears in addition to the glitches we've been seeing, we're very likely to have to deal with sim restarts as well. Perhaps the Lab may slow things down a bit next week interfere with Halloween less. If not, residents may have to contend with having to suddenly leave sims in a hurry in addition to the ghosts and goblins.

To read the Linden blog post in full, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: Sleepy Storntrooper

 

Taken at the Sci-fi Expo.

By Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "Second Life Destinations - Election Simulator 2020"

 

From Linden Lab on October 20. Remember the 2020 Election Simulator the Newser wrote about last week? It was just featured in the Second Life Destination Guide. It featured the above video in which creator, Duncan (ABoysPlaceMall Resident), describes the build through voice actor Reverend Quar.

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

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

Club Cutlass: Best in 'H', Spaced Out, Fall Colors

Happy Vixen: Bats and Cats, Anime, TBA, Monster Mash, Stripes and Spots, Workin' For a Livin', Witches and Warlocks, Luskwood Tribute, Bare, Pre-Halloween Spooktacular

Club Zero Gravity: TBA
 
Montecito Bay: TBA, After Dark

Furry Fashion Lounge: Come As You Are, Angels vs Demons, Newbs vs Trolls, Fantasy, Late Night, Steampunk

Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.

Linden Lab: "We Apologize For Recent Service Disruptions"

Glitches are more or less a part of the Second Life experience. But if it seems they've been getting worse lately, it's not your imagination. And even Linden Lab is admitting things are buggier than usual. In the Tools and Technology blog on Friday October 16, Oz Linden stated in the "Uplift Update" that while there's been overall improvement in the Second Life infrastructure, "it’s the bumps in the road that are most noticeable to our residents. We apologize for recent service disruptions ..." He would point out several "rough spots."

Region Crossings
One of the first troubles we found was that region crossings were significantly worse between a cloud region and a datacenter region. We did a deep dive into the code for objects (boats, cars, planes, etc) and produced an improvement that made them significantly faster and more reliable even within the datacenter. This has been applied to all regions already and was a good step forward.

Group Chat stalls
Many users have reported that they are not able to get messages in some of their groups; we're very much aware of the problem. The start of those problems does coincide with when the chat service was uplifted; unfortunately the problems did not become clear until moving that service back to the datacenter was not an option. We haven’t been able to get that fixed as quickly as we would like, but the good news is that we have some changes nearly ready that we think may improve the service and will certainly provide us with better information to diagnose it if it isn't fixed. Those changes are live on the Beta grid now and should move to the main grid very soon.

Bake Failures
Wednesday and especially Thursday of this past week were bad days for avatar appearance, and we're very much aware of how important that is. The avatar bake service has actually been uplifted for some time - it wasn't moving it that caused the problem, but another change to a related service. The good news is that thanks to a great cross-team effort during those two days we were able to determine why an apparently unrelated simulator update triggered the problem and got a fix deployed Thursday night.

Increased Teleport Failures
We have seen a slight increase in the frequency of teleport failures. I know that if it's happened to you it probably doesn't feel like a "slight" problem, especially since it appears to be true that if it's happened to someone once, it tends to keep happening for a while. Measured over the entire grid, it's just under two percentage points, but even that is unacceptable. We're less sure of the specific causes for this (including whether or not it's Uplift related), but are improving our ability to collect data on it and are very much focused on finding and fixing the problem whatever it is.

Marketplace & Stipend Glitches
We've had some challenges related to uplift for both the Marketplace and the service that pays Premium Stipends. Marketplace had to be returned to the datacenter yesterday, but we'll correct the problems that required the rollback and get it done soon. The Stipends issues were both good and bad for users; there were some delays, but on the other hand we sent some users extra stipends (our fault, you win - we aren't taking them back); those problems are, we believe, solved now.

So why all of the glitches and bugs? Oz called the Uplift to move Second Life's data to cloud servers "a massive, complicated project that I've previously compared to converting a steam-driven railroad to a maglev monorail -- without ever stopping the train." He would later try to reasure the residents, "While this week in particular has seen some bumps in the road, it's actually going well overall. Lots of the infrastructure you don't interact with directly, and some you do, has been uplifted and has worked smoothly." He would go on to say almost all of the Beta Grid's sims were in the Cloud, and "we've uplifted around a hundred regions on the main grid. Performance of those regions has been very very good, and stability has been excellent." He would go on to say more sims would be uplifted over the weekend and that "Uplift of the Release Candidate regions, which will bring the count into the thousands, will begin soon."

Oz would say the Uplift to the Cloud should be completed, or at least be close to it, by the end of the year.

To read the blog entry in full, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Weekend in Brief

 

Quite a bit happened this weekend in Second Life. The last official events of Burn2 took place, including the Burning of The Man (above) on Saturday October 17 and the Temple Burn on Sunday October 18. Also on Saturday, the annual "Scare Me Silly" Halloween-themed event by Team Diabetes began. On Sunday was the Tenth Anniversary party of Team Firestorm. The weekend would also see events for the Relay for Life's "Making Strides."

More on these and other events later.

Press Release: "Scare Me Silly" by Creations for Parkinson's

 

Join us from October 16 to 23, 2020 for the 5th Annual Scare Me Silly Event! This event will feature shopping, 2 hunts, live music, tricks & treats, and an art asylum where you can purchase art from some of your favorite artists, all in one location to benefit Team Diabetes of Second Life, an official and authorized team of the American Diabetes Association! Participation is 100% free for all merchants and artists!

For more information, Click Here.

Slurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Water%20Haven/137/132/23 

Cartoon of the Day: AFK Pokeball

 Taken at the Happy Vixen. The problem with taking a couple moments away from keyboard to take care of something, you never know what someone will throw your way.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

SL Video: "Halloweentown 2020"

 From Candido Ferraris on Sept 12

Burn2 Exhibits And Other Builds

 

The Burn2 festival has been going on this week. And as always, the builders have gone all out with some great builds. And this weekend, the Burning of the Man and the Temple take place. Gemma Cleanslate, whom is doing duty as a Burn2 Ranger as well as a reporter, was on the scene to write up about what to see.

Read Gemma's story in Design.

Kayly Iali, CDS Artist

 

The Confederation of Democratic Simulators is home to a number of creative residents. Among them is artist Kayly Iali, whom paints in real life and shows it her in Second Life. Recently, the Newser had an interview with her. She would describe how she came to Second Life, and how she came to be an artist here.

Read the interview in People.

Firestorm 10th Anniversary Party This Sunday

 

After being delayed for about a month, Team Firestorm, the volunteers behind the Firestorm Viewer, is ready to throw it's tenth anniversary bash. It's real anniversary was actually last month, September 3 2010 being when the team (known then as Team Phoenix) was formed. The event starts at Sunday October 18, Noon SL time, and will last for three hours to 3PM SL time. Each hour offers music from three big-name musicians.

We’ve lined up 3 BIG names to bring us live performances through our 3-hour party!

Savannah Rain opens up the party for us, 12–1 pm! ...

Maximillion Kleene rocks the second show from Canada, 1–2 pm. ...

Keeba Tammas and the Tiny Maniacs performs the finale show, 2–3 pm. ...

As with most of their anniversary events, Team Firestorm is offering presents to it's fans. One is a tiger from Wild Kajaera. The other, appropriately enough, is a pet phoenix made by Rezz Room.

Rezz Room is celebrating Firestorm’s anniversary by donating an incredible, animesh, fiery Phoenix companion pet. It can be worn or rezzed and can be set to a radius or to follow its owner.

The SURL of the location hasn't been officially announced yet, the team asking you check their blog an hour before the event. Though a search for Firestorm-owned places revealed a likely location high above their sims.

Once again, the party is on Sunday October 18, from Noon to 3PM SL time.

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "The Dragon’s Smile"

 

"The Dragon's Smile"

Saturday October 17
10 AM to 11 AM SL time

A presentation by Dr. Mary Anne Clark.

Snooping in the Databases:  Amelogenin in the Komodo Monitor

I love browsing the databases when new genome sequences are published.  I’ll be talking about looking for the gene for amelogenin in the genome fragments of the Komodo monitor, whose genome was published in 2019.  I’ll describe how I found the gene, how you can do your own snooping in the databases, and what I learned about lizards in the process. 

For more information, Click Here. 

 https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/114/206/30

Apple Says No To IOS SL Mobile Client

 

As you may know, Linden Lab has been working on a Second Life app for mobile devices. Last month, it looked like one would be soon be available in beta. But it appears the wait will be a little longer. In the Web User Group meeting held on Wednesday October 7, it was revealed that a beta version of the IOS (iPhone Operating System) version of the SL mobile app had been submitted to Apple to appear in it's app store, and was rejected. The reasons for the rejection were not revealed, only that the Lab is working to correct the issues.

For now, the IOS app remains in closed alpha. The Android version is described as behind the IOS in development.

Unrelated to Second Life but of note to gamers,  Apple has been at odds with Epic, the company behind the popular Fortnite game, over what both sides claim is unreasonable behavior. Apple took Fortnite off it's app store over what it called violations of the agreement between them and Epic. A week ago on October 9, a judge ruled that Apple didn't have to put the game back.

Sources: Daniel Voyager, Modem World, CNN, Forbes

Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: September 2020 HFOT Donations

 

Here we are folks, the final quarter of our efforts to help extremely injured veterans through Homes For Our Troops.  And we are starting this off right!  In the month of September we sent $1650 to HFOT.  This is because of some extra efforts by kind folks in Second Life. So the tally for 2020 is $11050 ….and we know now that we can surely beat 2019’s tally of $14000.     

On hearing about the donations in September Jamie Crossman, Manager of Individual Giving for Homes for Our Troops stated:

"Another great month of supporting HFOT!  We are so grateful for your efforts I am running out of ways to express our thanks.  September was a milestone month thanks to your generosity combined with all who believe and support our mission.  On September 12th we presented our 300th Home to a deserving Veteran and their family in Hillsboro, MO. This would not have been possible without your support.  Although this is an incredible milestone, our mission is not complete.  There are still more than 1,000 severely injured Veterans who need our help!  With your continued support together, we can continue to change lives for so many who have sacrificed for our freedom.”

Once again we should thank several folks for their help in achieving September’s results. Let’s stand up and salute these hard won gains through the efforts of the following:

To the performers and DJ’s:....Thank you…

DJ Waya Snowpaw
Nina Setner Bing
Amforte Clarity
Hogan Baily and
DJ Hale Compton

Everyone of you used your talent and made an extra effort to help us generate donations in September.  Thank you!

Then we had extra efforts put forth by the following:

Lainey Thorne, DJ Hale Compton, all the folks at Sanctuary of Rock and all of their supporters
EastbayRay, Cattleya Lovette LadySmack Gears and the Legion of Vets MC
Tammaryon Galicia and all the folks at Dandy’s place
J.J. Fired Roseblood and all the folks at Roseblood Rogue Nation MC
JulesA Flow, Salonios Koolhoven and DOOWOPS FOREVER at Gigli  Isles
Fire Bonfire and everyone at Boots and Lace Country Rock Club
Cayleen Linette and everyone at Cay's at Woodland Lake
Kyle W Forrester and all of his DJ efforts

And we are very appreciative of those consistent supporters who keep helping through the kiosks that they have placed throughout the grid.  Thank you:

Ashley Steele and all the folks at Saddles Live Music Venue & Retreat
All the folks at Southern Fried Country Club
Bixyl Shuftan and  Purrfection  estates

There are many others who have recently joined this fight by placing donation kiosks.  We are looking forward to your ongoing help with our effort.  Thank you!

Lastly thank you Gjackie Winkler and Bri Mcmahon for your help with our monthly benefit at Veteran’s Isle.  

With that said we once again ask all to please say some prayers for our good friend Dahlea Milena who is now fighting cancer.  We pray she beats this and is back with us soon.

If we can maintain the momentum we have going through this last quarter of 2020 we can surely beat the $14000 that we achieved in 2019.  Let’s help Homes For Our Troops build another 300 homes for our extremely wounded veterans!

God Bless and stay safe and well,

Frets Nirvana

Cartoon of The Day: Rave Ball Or Giant Jawbreaker

 

 Taken at Club Cutlass' "Rave Night."

Punch line by Shockwave Yareach

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Scenes From Burn2

 

Burn2 is going on. This yearly art and music festival is a virtual counterpart to the real-life Burning Man event which was a partial inspiration for Linden Lab to come up with this virtual world, is taking place to Sunday October 18. Among the "Burners" helping out is Gemma Cleanslate, taking part as a Ranger. She had a good position to look at things from within, and had a few things to say.

Read Gemma's story in Events.

Commentary: A Few Words on "My Little Pony"

 

As a cartoon, "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" was a highly successful one, going on for nine seasons, given numerous award nominations, and of course a huge fanbase that goes behind the show's intended audience of girls and young women. Some of the fans are here in Second Life, including pony communities living in sims made in the style of the cartoon. Nydia Tungsten recently decided to take a look at the cartoon, which made her think some about how the show's fans are sometimes ridiculed. She had a few things to say about it.

Read Nydia's commentary in Extra. 

Sci-Fi Expo Starts Today

The Sci-Fi Expo, a twice a year event that raises money for the Relay for Life's "Making Strides", officially starts today. The opening ceremonies take place at 12 Noon SL time at the Main Stage in SE3 Utopia (192/192/75). The theme this year is "To Boldly Go!"

Now more than ever is the time to be bringing people together, and so we are thrilled to announce that the 2020 SciFi Expo will be taking place from October 14th to October 28th, 2020. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic it is important for people to come together to share their common love of a genre that has brought so many beloved franchises which has allowed us to create and expand on them in ways that are truly unique.

This year we’ve decided to go bigger than ever before and are bringing 5 regions in the shape of a medical cross in celebration of those who are currently or have worked throughout the medical industry, and anybody who has been affected by Cancer or the COVID-19 virus. We hope that this event can help to bring people together who may have been affected and give them a place to let their imaginations roam free.

Our main theme this year is “To Boldly Go” paying tribute to the ideals that SciFi brings to us about being able to go out and explore the unknown. Our four exhibit sims have the themes of The Void, Cloud City, Manaan, and Gallifrey while our hub sim will be based on a Utopian colony world.

The SciFi Expo will be open to the public from October 14th to October 28th. The SLurl to the expo will be available on our website on opening day. We hope you will come and join us on this new adventure!

There will be plenty to do and see, with events such as DJ parties, numerous exhibits by various stores and roleplaying groups, plenty of cool stuff, to get, and more.

 

There was also this promotion video.

For more information, check of the Sci-fi Expo blog: https://www.slscifiexpo.com/ .

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

Here's what's going on at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay clubs, The Fallout Shelter, and the Furry Fashion Lounge.
 
Club Cutlass: Best in 'G', Dark Colors, Pirates

Happy Vixen: Asian, Gone Nuts, TBA, Kitsune and Nekoes, Mice and Ponies, Night Creatures, Orange and Black, Dragons, Creepy vs Cute, TBA

 Club Zero Gravity: TBA
 
Montecito Bay: TBA, After Dark

Furry Fashion Lounge: Fantasy, Gothic, Scalies, Anime, Monsters, Late Night, Forest Animals

Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.

 

Cartoon of the Day

Taken in Ravenlock
 By Bixyl Shuftan

 

The 2020 Election Simulator

 

America's Presidential Elections are less than a month away.  While the polls can tell us who's ahead among a cross-section of people across the country, in the end it's not just one big contest but fifty-one smaller contests in which their results are counted as electoral votes. At least if things go according to plan. One resident decided to build a "2020 Election Simulator" in the Eyharts sim, to help give people ideas on how it could turn out. The Newser went over to take a look.

Read the story in Design.