Some Christmas Events in Second Life

 Christmas is a time in Second Life with a lot happening. In the days before and the day after, there were plenty of events going on. Various groups, clubs, and individuals had parties and other goings-on. From the Sunweavers to Caledon to the mainland and other places, Bixyl Shuftan found a number of happenings, and took a few pictures.

See the pictures in Events.

 

Announcement: New Years At The Goblin Cave, Caledon Downs

 

Greetings to all! You are invited to the yearly New Years at the Goblin Cave! The Duchy of Downs will throw a party starting at 9 PM and will last till at least 1 AM. Music will be region wide so you can enjoy the Christmas rides and sights before they are taken down. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Downs/104/89/32

Their Grace, the Duke and Duchess of Downs
Shockwave Yareach & Cynthia Farshore

Blast From The Past: Zig Zag and The Robot (2009)

 

 Taken in 2009 at ZZ Studios in Odessa Prominent. Cindy "Zig Zag" Babii is sitting on top of a huge robot. While the tiger-striped skunk was noted for adult media, this just looks like harmless fun.

 

Cartoon of the Day: Santa at The Piano

 

 Taken at Caledon

 By Bixyl Shuftan

Men of the Year Runner-Up: The Acquisition Team

 

Besides the Newser's choice for "Man of the Year" Draxtor Despress, there were a number of other newsmakers. But the ones who stood out were the team of investors led by Randy Waterfield and Bradford Oberwager. On July 9, it was announced by Linden Lab that negotiations between them and the team had reached a deal that would result in the investors taking ownership of the company known for it's running of Second Life. All that was left needed was the approval of the US Federal Government to finalize it. The news was all the talk around the residents for a while. Some were afraid the result would be Second Life going lower in quality or even dismantled and shut down. Others felt there wouldn't be much change or possibly even some improvement. And still others felt it was too soon to tell or were otherwise unsure. Ebbe Linden stated that part of the deal was the Lab would continue to be free to run Second Life. Brett Linden added Waterfield and Oberwager had a solid view of what Second Life was and wasn't, which led to their decision to invest. After a few weeks, the chatter died down, and Residents were more or less going about their usual business.

While the investment team was only in the news for a matter of a few weeks, the move's potential implications for Second Life are obvious. So they are the Newser's Men of the Year - Runner Up.

Other notable people this year were the Moles for their continued work on Bellisseria and the Linden Homes, the staff of Gen-Con whom took their annual gaming convention online to Second Life, those whom made an effort to inform residents about the Coronavirus and honor those whom passed away from it, and of course the Relay for Life volunteers.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor, SL Newser

Firecracker Arcade Update

Remember Montecito Bay's Firecracker Arcade? I was recently informed some of the games were recently given an update, and no longer need Flash to play, which will be going inactive after December 31st. They are: Killer Instinct, Puzzle Bobble, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, Splatterhouse 2, Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Ghouls'n Ghosts, Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World 2, Yoshi's Island, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III - The Manhattan Project, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV - Turtles in Time

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Montecito%20Bay/39/29/23

 

Press Release: 2021 Prim Drop in Bay City

 

 BAY CITY'S "PRIM DROP" TO MARK THE NEW YEAR

Bay City's New Year's event coming 31st December

BAY CITY, SL (27th December, 2020) - Bay City, Second Life's® city by the bay, is one  preparing for their annual "Prim Drop" on the evening of the 31st of December, with festivities commencing at 11:30 pm SLT within the Bay city Fairgrounds in North Channel.

The party will include a two-hour set of DJed tunes presented by Marianne McCann, as well as fireworks and other festive fun. Food, drink, and other party favors will be provided for all attendees.

The event is presented as an outdoor, high-class, wintertime soirée, and black tie attire and/or full dress is requested. All Second Life® Residents are welcome to attend and ring in the New Year with the Bay City community.

This will also be the last event within Bay City this year for donating to Child's Play Charity (www.childsplaycharity.org) .  Child's Play is a 501c3 non profit organization offers online communities such as ours an opportunity to help seriously ill children around the globe during their hospital stays with the purchase of games and gaming equipment.

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

For more information,  please contact Marianne McCann.

 

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 S, Club Crawl, New Year's Day, Blue Jeans

Happy Vixen: Frost and Sweets, Red and White, Closed, Closed, Cats and Rodents

Club Zero Gravity: TBA

Xanadu: DJ Christine, DJ TBA, DJ Christine, DJ Kit Drago, DJ Blazewing

Bouncing Bunny Club: Bunnies and Foxes, Girl's Night Out
 
Montecito Bay: TBA, After Dark

Furry Fashion Lounge: Rainbow, TBA

Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy, DJ Dita Vee

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.

Announcement: FCA New Year's Eve Club Crawl

 The Furry Club Alliance is proud to present the 2020 New Years Club Crawl!

Twelve hours of song and dance across six clubs rocking into the new year.

The club line-up and all times are SLT which is the same as PST (Pacific Standard Time)

12PM to 2PM: Bouncing Bunny Beach Club
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SunWaterThree/73/53/25 

2PM to 4PM: Club Zero Gravity
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Space/129/250/3597

4PM to 6PM: Urban Furry
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Empire%20State%20Island/76/103/3549

6PM to 8PM: Club Cutlass
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Bay/114/118/757

8PM to 10PM: Perri's Xanadu
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/HV%20community/69/208/4051

10PM to 12AM: The Happy Vixen
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Purrfection%20Estates/203/221/24

Thursday, December 31

 

Man of the Year: Draxtor Despress

 
There's been plenty of news this year in Second Life, and plenty of men and women behind it. In real life, the Coronavirus Pandemic cast a dark shadow over the world, and more people than before found themselves looking for things to do online. To bring them to Second Life, there had to be something to advertise the virtual world, and show them what was going on.

Someone helping out with both was Draxtor Despress, (Bernhard Drax in real life). Not just this year, but for the past several. Originally known for his "Flufee" videos made with Pooky Amsterdam, in 2013 he started a new series of informative videos about Second Life, "The Drax Files." This was followed in 2013 with "The Drax Files Radio Hour." In 2018, he produced a documentary film, "Our Digital Selves: My Avatar Is Me," which was about 13 Second Life residents whom overcame their various disabilities and made a home for themselves here. His work continued with the Second Life Destination videos in 2019, and this year he began hosting the Second Life Book Club.

For his work this year and in years past, Draxtor Despress is judged to be the Newser's Man of the Year.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor, SL Newser

Announcement: Toys For Tots Donation Drive Total

December 26, 2020

TOYS FOR TOTS 2020 FINAL COLLECTION NUMBERS !

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays To All !

Thanks to all of you, we have all pitched in and
help make this Christmas a better one for many
underprivileged children.

This year was a very successful Toys For Tots
Donation Drive For us here in Second Life. I want
to thank all of you for your efforts and support.

We have collected a Grant Total of: $2,022,318L
Which Equates to = $8,098.00 US
Process Credit Fee = $283.00 US
With Draw Fee From Second Life = $405.00 US
Which Gives Us A Total  Of = $7,410,00 US

Kickazz Audio Stream Rental Donated an
additional $1090.00 US to round out a donation
Total of $8500.00 US

Yea Us !  High 5's All Around.

TOP THREE DONATION COLLECTORS
517650    Chuck Clip 

207534    Yazhu Ichibara

170090    TheCowb0y Resident -

There is no way to put into words how thankful
and appreciative I am of all of you. Smile, and
feel proud of the smiles you helped create !

A special thank you goes out to two individuals,
that year after year work hard to help make
our drive successful. Thank you, Steffi Spires
and CherryBlossum Garnet !

REMEMBER:
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
― Albert Pike

Thank all of you again,
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year,

Jayson Marjeta

Cartoon of the Day: Bent Bento Avatar

 From "Nescafay" in the Facebook "Second Life Friends" group.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Veterans Isle Fundraiser Gets Over 100,000 Lindens

 

 On Sunday December 20, Veterans Isle was the scene for their monthly concert. The event with several live musicians and one DJ, organized in part by guitarist Frets Nirvana, was to raise money for the Homes For Our Troops charity. It ran from 4PM to 9PM SL time, with people donating money to two

T’is the night folks …of our last benefit for Homes For Our Troops.  Come on out and get i  the real spirit of giving for our extremely injured veterans.  We have a great lineup for theis grand finale.  Check this out!

DJ Waya Snowpaw started things off at 4 PM. At 5PM, the live performances started with Ambrosia. At 8PM, it was Toxie Darkmatter's turn. Erika Ordinary took to the stage at 7PM. And finally Neomaximus Brandenburg finished things off at 8 PM.

Both kiosks had 53100 Lindens donated, for a total of 106,200 Linden dollars, or over $400 USD.

Normally Veterans Isle has these monthly events on the last Sunday at the month. But with Christmas weekend, December is an exception.

"Thank you so much for the donations to Homes For Our Troops"

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: New Ride at Santa's North Pole on Down's

 

 

The Duchy of Downs is happy to announce the opening of the new Santa Sleigh Ride. This is a wonderful ride that travels through every region across all of Caledon! You travel high and low seeing many sights of our wonderful state. The ride is located at Santa’s workshop floating above the Goblin Cave. To get there you can use the attached landmark to the train station. There you will take the special Christmas train #25 on a ride up to Santa’s home and workshops. There is much to see around Santa’s estate so look all around. To get a sleigh ride head over to the elves workshop where a sleigh being loaded is parked and then touch the sleigh Santa will appear with his eight reindeer. The rider will carry two and you have 30 seconds to board by right click and select “sit”. Should something hold you up and he takes off simply touch the sleigh for another. In closing I do apologize for the late start of this as it became a much more involved construction due to many land restrictions and my own real life matters.

Duchy of Caledon Downs

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Downs/200/114/44

"Season's Greetings from Linden Lab"

 

 There's been a number of Christmas well-wishes going around. And among them was one on the Second Life forums from Linden Lab, posted by Strawberry Linden.

2020 has been quite the year for everyone, all around the world. We wanted to take a moment to wish you a safe and happy holiday season. I thought I would do another employee campaign, similar to the SL17B campaign that I did back in June. This time I asked different teams to volunteer for a seasonal image. The following are the teams that volunteered, and the last image is (almost) all of us, right after one of our All Hands Meetings!

Besides the group picture above, there's screenshots of the Executive, Tila, Engineering/Ops, Infra/Payme, Concierge, Marketing, and QA teams. There was also a picture of the furry (and feral & tiny) Lindens. 

For pictures of individual Lindens, one can check out Strawberry's "Meet The Employees" thread in June, and the Linden Lab Employees Flickr page.

  Source: Second Life forums

SL Video: "Winter Ice Christmas Fest 2018"

From InWorld Films on Dec 2018, "A place where you can take a sleigh ride, ride a train, ice skate, relax in the chateaux or take a ski lift..... plenty to do and see here. Merry Christmas everyone. May the festivities be merry and holly ..Stay safe and well."

Merry Christmas

 Picture from Caledon Downs

  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Second Life Newser.

 

SL Video: "Second Life Travels: A Calas Christmas 2019"

 From Veemonthedemonking, on Dec 2019, "We take a sleigh ride like we do every year ala Calas's holiday sim, wonderful views await us."

A Few More Christmas Locations and Displays

 

Gemma Cleanslate found lots of Christmas-themed locations this year. But before Santa arrives with his presents, a few more Holiday themed places, and an Xmas display or two.

Cynthia Farshore has her "Christmas Express" up again in Caledon Downs.

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Downs/194/137/50

 Grendles' Children, the long-lived shopping mall, had this unusual Christmas tree, or should we say "Tree-Rex", up. Toady Nakamura says there will be tinies caroling at different times Christmas day.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Avaria%20Tor/128/140/302

Featured in the latest Second Life Destinations was Silent Night. Made by Nessa Nova, it was described as "like a movie set, with visitors starting at a train station before following a path through the snow and glowing trees to a cafe, an ice skating rink, a carousel, and more. The atmosphere feels at once unique and familiar, like a communal reverie." Nessa made it in part to help people depressed about the Coronavirus Pandemic and how it put a cloud over the year. Check out the video Draxtor Despres made about it.

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20Jersey%20Beach/131/247/23/

I could keep on going, but then I wouldn't be able to post this before Midnight. Merry Christmas everyone.

Bixyl Shuftan

Furry Fashion Winterfest Hunt

 

 On Monday December 21, Furry Fashion started it's Winterfest Hunt, Amethyst Crystal giving a few details in Discord and the SL group.

From now until Jan 1st you have to find the snowflakes hidden around the sim, from the Winterfest area to Lilyvale there is 30 hidden each with a prize, find it, touch and receive a gift! Staff do NOT know where they are, this is just a bit of fun so don't be whiney or cheat! 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Furry/212/61/30

"We Are Now In The Cloud"

 
It's been about a month since April Linden announced that the data from all the sims (aside from a few Linden ones) had been moved to Cloud servers. But there was still some work to be done. This week, there was some more news about the last stages of the move. On Tuesday, it was announced that "as part of our overall migration to the cloud, some of our web publishing tools ... may be unavailable for our internal editorial team." And so the Second Life Destination Guide was getting a temporary freeze on updates. Also on Tuesday, according to Inara Pey, at the Simulator User Group meeting April and Oz Linden had stated all Second Life systems and service were now running on Amazon Cloud Servers. So the Lab was clearing all of it's equipment from it's "former co-location facility in Arizona."

At the Wednesday Third Party Viewer Meeting, supposedly Oz Linden was more direct, "Actually, we disconnected the datacenter last night ... everything is now running in AWS."

It's not an announcement that's being celebrated by all. There's been a number of glitches on the Grid lately, and Inara Pey stated in the same article that the Lab was working to fix an issue on the map. While the move to the Cloud may be done, the job of taking care of the bugs and glitches as a result of the move remains.

Source: Modem World , SL forums 

Bixyl Shuftan

Passing The One Thousand Mark

 

The Newser prides itself on being a daily source of news about Second Life and related topics. I sometimes say we update 363 days a year, leaving out a couple days due to the Internet (and computer hardware) being subject to bugs and glitches. But we usually have two or three articles, leads to articles, briefs, videos, cartoons, announcements, and other posts per weekday and sometimes weekend days. It all adds up, and on Monday our 1000th item for this year went up in the newsletter.

This isn't the first time we've done this. Actually for most of our ten year history, we've posted close to this number, and since 2015 have exceeded 1000 in all years but one. Still, it's something to be proud of. Not only have we done this milestone this year, but we've been doing it for a while, and barring technical difficulties will keep on doing it.

Bixyl Shuftan, Editor

 

Cartoon of the Day: Scrooge's New Job

 

  Taken at Club Xanadu. Most know the story of Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" and how he reformed. But in a story with ghosts, would this really be the last we hear of him? It doesn't take much to imagine that perhaps he'd end up convincing some of today's wealthy to spread a little holiday cheer.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

The Dickens Project And Party At The Bellisseria Fairgrounds

 

In her search for Christmas-themed places, one of the best was an event: The Dickens Project. Organized by the Seanchai Library, This event and location takes visitors back to Victorian England at the time of A Christmas Carol and other stories by Charles Dickens, and will continue past Christmas to January 3. She then went to the Bellisseria Fairgrounds where a Christmas ball was being held.

Read Gemma's article in Events.

EOTB: "Winter Photo Challenge"

 

 In the official blog, Tara Linden announced a "Winter Photo Challenge."

It's time for another photo challenge! Whether you're going for festive or cozy, share a picture of your escapades in one of your favorite winter regions. It can be a solo or group shot, and let us know the name of the region.

Strawberry and I took the photo above at Silent Night. It's absolutely gorgeous but I was not prepared for the cold, as you can see from our frosty breath. I'm also probably about to trip over my untied shoelaces. 

Will your pic be silly or dramatic? Featuring a snowman or an ice skating rink? Scope out the winter attractions soon, we can't wait to see what you get up to! 

Tara didn't say where to send or post the pictures, I had to look around and after some time found the pictured posted in a thread in the Second Life forums. There is no prize money or any kind of reward being offered.

To read the blog post, Click Here. 

 

New Sims With Beach House Linden Homes Open

 

 Despite the number of glitches on the Grid lately, as stated by Patch Linden on Sunday, on Monday December 21, a number of sims northeast of Bellisseria were opened, containing both houseboats, and the new stilt house style Linden Homes.

 The date for when the Chalets, revealed recently at the RFL Expo, will be open for residents has not yet been announced.

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: Christmas Party, Closed, Take Wing

Happy Vixen: Frost and Sweets, Red and White, Closed, Closed, Cats and Rodents

Club Zero Gravity: TBA

Xanadu: DJ Christine, DJ Littlepaws, DJ Kit Drago, DJ Blazewing

Bouncing Bunny Club: Monochrome, Mice and Canines
 
Montecito Bay: TBA, After Dark

Furry Fashion Lounge: Formal, Celtic, Minty's Christmas/Green, CAYA, Drag Queen, Late Night, Red vs Green

Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy, DJ Dita Vee

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.

Reader Submitted Picture: Subnautica Tribute

 

Some readers may remember Rita Mariner's seven part series on the oceanic survival game Subnautica. Rita's still been playing. At the endgame, you build an escape rocket to get off the planet. This time, she named it after a certain publication.

Picture from Rita Mariner.

 

SL Poetry: "Oh TP Crash"

Oh tp crash,
Oh tp crash,
How I love the tp crash,

Oh tp crash,
Oh tp crash,
How I love the tp crash,

Just when I want to simply go home,
You lock me up and throw me to the gnomes,

Oh tp crash,
Oh tp crash,
How I love the tp crash,

Here is my hope for Linden wootmas gifts,
They only get smelly coal and malware bits.

Oh tp crash,
Oh tp crash,
How I love the tp crash,

The End , Thank you and Merry Wootmas 

by Caleb Kit, on the Raglan Shire Discord channel

Looking Back at Dax Loon and Woodlin

 

Yours truly has met a number of people in Second Life over the years. A number have had an impact on me of some kind. Among those whom left an impression on me in my early years was Dax Loon. I met her and her Woodlin community about a year after I started coming to the virtual world on a regular basis. What followed was six months of happy times, in this place led by the vibrant skunkgirl and it would be first community I would put down money for a place to live on a sim. Sadly though, the good times did not last forever. I recently heard about Dax's passing, and it brought back a number of memories, some sad, but there were happy ones as well.

To read the story, check it out in People.

Beach House Linden Homes To Go Up Today (If All Goes As Planned)

 For those waiting for the stilt house Linden Homes that were announced in the Second Life Birthday in June, a clue that they would be available soon came about earlier this month when new land was spotted off the coast of Bellisseria. Well, on Sunday, Patch Linden posted on Flickr, in a tribute to Lil Orphan Annie, that the beach houses from the Lab would finally be available the next day, Monday December 21, which is today. 

It didn't take long for the news to reach the Second Life forums, and soon, Patch would remind him of the disclaimer: "if everything goes according to plan."

 Heed the big huge disclaimer at the bottom of my Flickr posting:

[Giant Disclaimer™ - if everything goes according to plan]

I'm going to clearly warn you all now, if you leave your homes and this DOES NOT work, there's no going back potentially and you'll be homeless.

I suggest you do NOT abandon your homes until we are absolutely sure the release is proceeding as planned tomorrow - we will not run out of Stilt homes for several days.

So it would appear baring a glitch, the wait for these homes is almost over.

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

Bixyl Shuftan

RFL Sunbeamers: 100,000 L Raised For 2021 Season

 The Sunbeamer Team has been planning ahead for the next Relay For Life fundraising season. Rita Mariner set up a donation jar out at Club Cutlass, with all funds going to the team after the season opens for anyone to contribute to. A few days ago, the total amount raised passed the 100,000 Linden dollar mark, well into the total needed to bring a team into Silver rank (by 2020 standards).

All money raised goes to the American Cancer Society.

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Bay/114/117/757

 

Announcement: Winter Solstice Holiday Party at the National Space Society

 

Monday 21 Dec. starting at 3pm SL time (instead of our regular meeting).
Join us as we celebrate the Winter Solstice with dancing, skating, and enjoying our Winter Holiday playlist on the audio stream. Come as you are (just remember our General rating)…extra credit for festive, space-suitable attire!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/National%20Space%20Society/128/152/1261

 

RFL Announcement: Season Registration Starts January 15

 

 "Are you ready to register your team for the 2021 Relay For Life of Second Life? Registration opens January 15th, less than 4 weeks away! If you have questions feel free to contact Gem Sunkiller, or Selene Jashan for more information."

Cartoon of the Day

 

Taken at Sunweaver Bay. This funny glitch had to be done.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

RFL Christmas Expo Raises over $32,000

 The Relay for Life Christmas Expo that ran from December 4 to 13 was a big success. Over the nine days, the amount of Lindens raised added up to $32,510 US Dollars.

 Nuala Maracas, "Thank you everyone for your support! We couldn't have done it without you!"

 

SL Video: "Linden and Resident Snowball Fight 2020"

 

 By Linden Lab, Strawberry Linden and other Lindens and Moles scrap against the residents, and each other on Friday December 18 at 10 AM SL time, "Get in the winter spirit for the most epic snowball fight in Second Life. Come with a group of friends and meet new people - either way, you're sure to have a blast as you toss snowballs at other Residents and even Lindens!"

 

DJ Naughty Nydia's Twisted Christmas Special

 

Different clubs do different things around Christmastime. Some play lots of Christmas tunes. Some had special events. And then there's what's become a tradition at the Happy Vixen for the past seven years, DJ Naughty Nydia's "Twisted Christmas Special." For two hours, she played a selection from mild to wild to "are you kidding me?" It was a well-attended event with plenty of folk.

See the pictures (the safe for work ones anyway) in SL Clubbin'.

SL Video: "The Look of Christmas - Second Life Dance and Ice Skating"

 From Trine Epiphany on Nov 2013, "Winter is on and Christmas is drawing near!"

Christmas at Devon Dream

 

There's a number of Christmas displays across Second Life, some large, some small. One I see every year is in Devon Dream, made by Safra Nitely. After most of the job was done, Safra invited me to take a look around. While she had been building for less than a day, already plenty had been done.

Read the story in Extra.

Christmas Places: Rebel Yell and Christmas Town

 

Christmas is coming, and Gemma Cleanslate continues her exploration across Second Life of holiday-themed locations. In her latest article, she looks at two, Rebel Yell and Christmas Town. At Rovaniemi Lapland's Rebel Yell, there's plenty to see and plenty to do, with winter sports and Santa's village. Christmas Town by Laura Liberty has some old favorites, but also new activities, and you can shop for both Xmas and New Years.

Read Gemma's story in Places.

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Urban Agriculture And Sustainable Food"

"Urban Agriculture And Sustainable Food"

Saturday December 19, 

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

Urban agriculture and sustainable food: field trip to a Second Life backyard food garden with Delia Lake

UN Sustainable Development Goal #2 is Zero Hunger, yet worldwide, hunger is increasing.

• Getting fresh food to people with little waste and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)
• Food – one of the essentials for life.
• Over 4 B people worldwide and growing live in urban areas.
• 1/3 of food produced worldwide is wasted, with people in affluent countries wasting even more, while almost 1 B people experiencing food insecurity.

Most food is produced far away from where it is eaten and is transported to us. All told, it’s estimated that it takes about 10 kcal of energy for every 1 kcal of food we get.

Can we get fresh food to people with little waste and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)? Yes, we could grow a significant portion of our food in or near urban areas where most people eat it, but as Joni Mitchell said it in Big Yellow Taxi (1970). “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone? They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.”

There is a nascent and growing movement toward urban and suburban farming. I have been growing vegetables in real-life urban environments for decades, and in SL since 2008. On this Second Life field trip we’ll explore a few ways that each of us might advance urban farming in our solid lives.

Organizer: Linda M. Kelley

For more information, Click Here.  

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

New Firestorm Viewer, Christmas Gifts

 

Although the Linden Viewer made the Environmental Enhancement Project part of it's features in April, it wasn't until August that Team Firestorm so much as had a beta version of a viewer with the feature available. A few days ago on December 10, they finally released an official version of their viewer with the feature: 6.4.12 (62831).

Many of you have been waiting a long time for our full release of EEP! This is Linden Lab’s “Environmental Enhancement Project,” which replaces Firestorm’s Windlight feature. This feature has meant we’ve had to redesign some UI panels and functionality within the viewer. Now, we know that change can be hard, but there’s no getting around this one. EEP is here to stay, and Linden Lab did a crazy amount of hard work on this as we and others incessantly found and reported the bugs. ... But this update has LOADS more than just EEP packed inside. It’s been a long time since our last release, and we’ve had plenty of time to add valuable changes, features, fixes and improvements! ...

Some friends of mine have already downloaded the viewer. A few have told me that the new viewer seems to take longer to rezz objects than the last one, so some people may want to be prepared to reinstall the previous version. The beta EEP viewer and Firestorm version 6.2.4.57588 will be blocked on December 31, "As per our 3-version rule."

To celebrate, Team Firestorm threw a party with some gifts. While the party is over, the gifts are still available. In the sky platform above the Firestorm sims, one can pick up the "hair gift" and two pets, a panther and a ferret. 

!!Firelight!! is celebrating with a unisex holiday hair gift. It looks great on both male and female avatars. The gift includes two versions: a rigged version and an unrigged version. You can resize and reshape the unrigged version to fit almost any head. The gift comes with a 16-shade hair-color HUD. A color wheel is also included so you can tint to your liking.

Wild Kajaera has made us 2 gifts! First is the most amazing and stunning Limited Edition Black Panther to celebrate the holiday season.

Their second gift is a Ferret! WK Ferrets are much like the real world they love to run around and play with their toys they have. As a forever pet they need no food unless you give them a wild thing potion.

It's unknown how much longer the gifts will be around.

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Firestorm%20Dow%20Forest/228/244/3902

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: Green Caroler

 

Taken at the RFL Christmas expo. One of the mesh figures took longer to rezz than the others. So why would someone be greenish at Christmas? I could think of one reason.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

SL Video: "Made in Second Life - Holiday Stories"

 (Click here if the video does not play)

 Filmed by Draxtor Despres for Second Life Destinations on December 15

 This week we are listening to five inspiring stories as Residents share how they celebrate the holidays in Second Life. 

Isabelle Cheren, a video artist and blogger, speaks highly of SL Residents’ adaptability to the current social isolation in the physical world. Given the depth of connections people can have with each other in the virtual world, she thinks people may be more inclined to give it a try. Having grown up in Australia, Cheren says the winter holiday spirit of SL “feels like those films I used to watch when I was a young girl because… we never had any of this, the snow, that Christmas tree, all those things.” She also has the advantage of living with her friend, prominent SL YouTuber Yorkie, so they certainly never run out of ideas for inworld adventures and activities.

Squid and Timberwolf, a couple who met in SL this year, are proof that love can be found even in the darkest of times. Squid is a student in Derry, Northern Ireland, and Timberwolf lives in Central New York. They have been together for 6 months and getting a place together inworld has been a breeze. Squid says that SL has given them “a sort of proximity that we don’t have physically with each other,” which is so valuable in long distance relationships, especially now.

Rosie Gray lives in the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS), one of the oldest communities in SL. It comprises six interconnected sims of varying themes that are governed by one administration. Gray affirms that “snow is greatly anticipated” in the CDS: Residents happily engage with the technical aspects of changing the terrain textures to make way for skiing, ice skating, and the magic of winter. Their commitment truly pays off, with Gray adding, “you can absolutely feel presence here.”

iSkye Silverweb and Slatan Dryke are another long distance couple in SL. With Silverweb in Wisconsin and Dryke in Italy, one look at their avatars shows that their bond is undeniable. They are Dinkies, which is a type of Tiny. Of their anthropomorphic feline figures, Silverweb says “they’re really cute, [with] round tummies,” and like many others, their favorite activity is ice skating. They are also both active in Virtual Ability, a community gateway for Residents with disabilities. Silverweb, who is deaf, says that “in SL there is the freedom of being able to express who you are in the choices you make with your avatar.”

Game Wylder, Todd Squall, and Lain Southpaw from Club Furzona emphasize that the winter holidays in their region are all about uniting different people from different backgrounds. Furzona is a community-based, cyberpunk themed region with a constant rotation of events, music, and  games. The large outdoor area has been transformed into a winter themed space, and Furzona welcomes all, not just furries.

The concert at the end is by Fly Kugin, a violinist from Istanbul, Turkey. It takes place in her region, White Mask. We hope that you all have a safe and relaxing break for the winter holidays, and remember that each season has its ups and downs. Spring will be in the air before we know it, so for now, let’s enjoy our ugly sweaters and unleash our inner snow bunnies upon the gorgeous winter regions forged by the love and creativity of SL Residents.

 

Announcement: Freda FrostBite Sings, Saturday Dec 19, 26

 

 

 Freda Frostbite will perform her favorite winter songs live on the winter platform in Bellesmere!  
Saturday, December 19 at 12 Noon SLT
Saturday, December 26 at 5 PM SLT

Freda has been a professional singer for most of her life.  She holds advanced degrees in music and voice and brings a sophisticated interpretation to music of many varieties.  This year's holiday concert will include a little country, some showtunes, a couple of traditional songs, and some rock/pop.  You won't want to miss Freda's Winter Wonders!  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Relax/41/198/2002

 

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 'Q' and 'R', 80's Flashback, Purely Purple

Happy Vixen: Red and Green, Ice and Snow, Twisted Christmas, Cats and Fennecs, Hoof-It, Toga Party, Winter Ball, Rave

Twisted Christmas,

Club Zero Gravity: TBA

Xanadu: DJ Kit Drago, DJ Blazewing, DJ Littlepaws

Bouncing Bunny Club: Red White and Black, Barely There
 
Montecito Bay: TBA, After Dark

Furry Fashion Lounge: CAYA, Anthros vs Ferals, White and Blue, Rainbow, Horror, Late Night, Anime

Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy, DJ Dita Vee

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.

RFL Announcement: 4 Million US Dollars--1 Billion Lindens

 

 Congratulations to everyone who has been involved with Relay For Life of SL over the years !!!

The 2020 Christmas Expo took us over  $4 million USD total raised since 2004 !

That is ONE BILLION LINDENS !

As we celebrate, take a few minutes and journey with us as we chronicle the history of Relay For Life of Second Life.

We titled this video “Jade Lilly - An Army of One” because it all started with her in 2004! One person turned into an army of thousands!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvGYDMLtry4