Taken at the Happy Vixen. This lady's obviously at least a bit knowledgeable about Star Trek and electronics.
By Bixyl Shuftan
18 hours ago
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Saturday, January 23, 2021
CSA Announcement: "Hie Ye to The Highlands" Celebrating Robert Burns Birthday
Come join us for a Celebration of Robert Burns Birthday (a day early!)Featuring maggi morpath's songs and tales. Haggis and whisky will be served.
Sunday, January 24,
from 11am to 12noon SLT
@The_Venus_Cafe.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Colonia%20Nova/57/162/37
Press Release: SLEA - First Annual International Celebration of the Arts
Ƒíɾʂƭ ⱭղղʋąƖ ӀղƭҽɾղąƭíօղąƖ ƇҽƖҽɓɾąƭíօղ օƒ Ƭɦҽ Ɑɾƭʂ
SATURDAY JANUARY 23 and SUNDAY JANUARY 24
Sponsored by
Տҽƈօղɗ líƒҽ Ҽղɗօωɱҽղƭ ƒօɾ Ƭɦҽ Ɑɾƭʂ
☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸
ⱭƖƖ Ƥҽɾƒօɾɱąղƈҽʂ held at ՏlҼⱭ Ƥҽɾƒօɾɱíղɠ Ɑɾƭʂ Ƈҽղƭҽɾ
Saturday January 23, 2021
All Times ~ SLT
1:00PM Blue Oleander and Wizardoz Chrome ~ Machinima Artist Presentation and Screening
2:00PM Moondance Parx ~ Visual Arts Particle Show
3:00PM Arimo Teixeria ~ Spanish Acoustic Guitar/Sponsored by Cats MusikCircus
4:00PM Caledonia Skytower of Seanchai LIbraries ~ INTERSECTION:Prose and Poetry of the Moment
5:00PM "Misfit Follies" ~ A Showcase of Theater Dance ~ Misfit Dance and Performance Art
SLEA7 (127/172/3000) (Special Location)
☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸☸
Sunday January 24, 2021
SLT Time
6:00 AM Thet and Wheelbyte ~ Indie-Folksters
7:00 AM Keeba and The Tiny Maniacs ~Theater and Creative Arts and Shenanigans!
8:00 AM Delia Lake ~ Literary Arts ~ Live "Art and Ecosystems" Prose, Poetry
9:00 AM Suzen Juel ~ Acoustic Soul and Blues sound, Composer and Artist
10:00AM Lyric Serendipity ~ Live Rock 'N Roll, Pop, Blues ~ Sponsored By Kultivate
11:00AM Sandia Beaumont ~ Performing Arts ~ Live Classical Jazz Pianist
12:00PM Prowess Rayna ~ Performing Arts ~ Live Pianist ~ Composer
1:00 PM The Imaginals and Mad As Dance ~ Theatrical and Performing Arts
2:00 PM Chap Zane ~ Live Folk/Americana/Appalachian
3:00 PM Rapid Randy ~ Live Country Live Singer/ Sponsored by Kultivate
4:00 PM Saxman66 ~ Live Jazz Sax
5:00 PM KalenVanKalen ~ Live Singer Songwriter
6:00 PM Thoth Jansen ~ Media Arts Premier of "Quantum Field Theory" Experience ~ TJ is our DJ
7:00 PM Thoth Jansen's "Quantum Field Theory" Media Experience continues with DJ Verdant
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA7/32/32/56
Friday, January 22, 2021
The Relay Celebrates 4 Million USD Raised
Members of the Relay also thanked the Second Life Newser for it's coverage over the years, considering being named its "Volunteers of the Decade" a badge of honor.
The Relay season in Second Life officially starts with it's kickoff on Saturday February 20. Soon after is the start of the Home and Garden Expo, which lasts from Saturday February 27 to Sunday March 21.
Bixyl Shuftan
Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Fireside Chat: Covid-19"
Saturday January 23,
10 AM to 11 AM SL time
Fireside chats are intimate gatherings with the last speaker to have a free-form discussion. Audience drives the discussion with their questions or topics. This additional opportunity for the audience to receive answers to questions will be scheduled a few days after the last presentation.
This week the open introduction of this new addition, central today Covid-19. The questions are answered by Phil Youngblood Ph.D. and Robert Hendrix MD.
For more information, Click Here.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Book Island Book Reading
Book Island (209,214,38)
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Cartoon of the Day
Picture by Luna Soledad in Facebook's Second Life Friends group. The avatar's skin had turned blue due to a glitch, which her posting about it resulted in a few comments.
By Bixyl Shuftan
Aneli Abeyante And Maison d’ Aneli
Read Kayly's article in Design.
EOTB: SL Destination Guide Still Being Worked On
Although Linden Lab completed the move of it's data from old servers to The Cloud a few weeks ago, the job isn't quite finished. A few days ago in the official blog, Strawberry Linden stated that the way the Second Life Destination Guide is updated developed bugs and glitches in the move that are still being worked on. There will be no new updates "for the foreseeable future."
On December 22nd I announced that the Second Life Destination Guide was being uplifted to the cloud. That process is still underway, however, we have run into some errors. For this reason, the web publishing tool that allows us to update the Destination Guide is still unavailable and will be for the foreseeable future until these errors can be corrected. I am hoping it won’t be much longer than another week or two. I will continue to update you on this status every Friday.
The submission form for the Destination Guide is also giving errors because of this, so please continue to email your submissions to editor@lindenlab.com and we will add them as soon as we have access again.
To read the blog post in full, Click Here.
Inauguration Day
There will be events that day in the sim for the Inauguration, and earlier in the day for the former President's departure. Someone in the sim told me the first events will be at 8AM, but this is unconfirmed.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/75/226/23
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Events This Week at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay Clubs, The Fallout Shelter, and Furry Fashion Lounge
Club Cutlass: Best in W, Down South, High Class
Happy Vixen: Pets, Flight, TBA, Mix and Match, Cute and Fluffy, T-shirts, Ears and Tails, Military and First Responders
Club Zero Gravity: TBA
Xanadu: DJ Christine, DJ TBA, DJ Kit Drago, DJ Blazewing
Bouncing Bunny Club: Magic, Next to Naked
Montecito Bay: CAYA, After Dark
Furry Fashion Lounge: CAYA, Disney, Neon, Rave, Video Games, Late Night, Royalty,
Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy, DJ Dita Vee
Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.
Press Release - Burn2 Winter Burn 2021: Bubble Gum and Duct Tape
Opening 5:00pm SLT, Friday, 29 January 2021
Ending Midnight SLT, Sunday, 31 January 2021
SLURL:Burning Man- Deep Hole (174/32/25)
Winter Burn 2021: Bubble Gum and Duct Tape
With Winter
Burn, we welcome 2021 buoyed by a measure of hope and optimism, perhaps
with a touch of caution. The Ten Principles serve as our framework for
how we want to live and do things together. We chose a theme: Bubble Gum and Duct Tape.
When you ponder this theme, think about
what makes things stick together, if it helps. Love, support, respect,
chain, a guy rope, tie,wire, clasp, screws, nails, bandage, cord,
harness ... and of course, Bubble Gum and Duct Tape. Basically, think
outside of the box, beyond bubble gum & duct tape.
Life
has begun to stir on the virtual playa. Trucks are hauling in the prims
needed for infrastructure and various builds. Interesting creations are
sprouting up out of the frosty dust. Performers are booking their slots
for the stages. Preparations are well underway!
The event opens
on the 29th of January at 5:00 PM SLT, when the Lamplighters will arrive
with their usual fiery enthusiasm for a walk-on. Everyone is welcome to
walk along on a tour of the art installations and camps until finally
arriving at the Main Stage. Lamplighters love to let loose a little fire
to properly start things off, and start they do with music and much
dancing!
Burn With Us!
The moment you step onto the dusty playa, you will not be a mere spectator; you become part of the spectacle. Welcome Home!
SHARE the News and Plan to Come!
We
look forward to welcoming Home Burners and the community. Experience
Burn2 once again. Enter the playa through the Gate, and if you are a
virgin Burner, ring the bell! Walk-on with the Lamplighters; visit the
Rangers, see the effigy that shall be burned. Wander, explore, climb,
interact. Visit the stages, where DJs and musicians bring music to
soothe, inspire, excite and incite to dance. You will be surrounded by
art, music, fire and welcoming Burners! See the (continuously updated)
BURN2 Calendar at https://www.burn2.org/event-calendar/ for the event’s
schedule.
Monday, January 18, 2021
Palmwood City to Close
I know this may not be the most shocking thing to hear given how quiet things have been for a while now but still having to put it in writing officially does give it some weight.
To put it plainly I do not want to run this project any more. It requires a lot of time, effort, energy, and patience that I have not possessed for a few years now. Not only that but the fluctuating costs of adding expansions, updating buildings, and maintaining a strong presence in Second Life can sometimes be too much for a guy who doesn't have alot of spare money to begin with. Palmwood has always sustained on a break even business model which can only stay good for so long before things just add up and people lose interest.
I’m glad I’ve been able to make friends and meet cool people through this project over the years but I’ve been less and less active in Second Life as the years have gone by due to work, school, and also just simply not relying on it for a bulk of my social life as I did when I was younger.
Much of this is coming from personal reasons. It's not a project that excites me anymore and I’ve sadly just lost all passion and aspiration for it. But even then the technical issues have also begun to show their ugly head as years have gone by. Things I could have done better, things I just didn’t think were important at the time but definitely were, etc. Palmwood was always kind of a pretty sim first and everything else an afterthought. That only gets you so far.
I’m sure it would be possible to find help and get things running in a positive direction again before turning in my keys. Sadly that won’t happen overnight and would require me to stay invested in the project for an indefinite amount of time longer before turning it over to a person or group who may or may not stick with it and that just seems like it would be more borrowed time from my perspective.
So on January 16th, 2021, we will no longer accept money for the remaining rentals in Palmwood and let the sim be re-claimed by the covenant its hosted by.
I’m sorry to everyone this comes as sad news to. All good things come to an end sometime.
Jimmy did say he was "working on a smaller, more manageable and less involved project in the spirit of Palmwood" with the help of some fans, "Thank you for almost 5 long years of fun. It’s been a ride."
Hat Tip: Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich Resident)
A Busy Weekend
Quite a bit happened this weekend. The Relay for Life in SL had their party to celebrate having reached the four million USD mark in their history (during which they thanked the Newser for their coverage over time). Also, the Museum of Contemporary Art in the C.D.S. held an event to celebrate a new exhibit of pictures. The Aether Salon in New Babbage had their monthly discussion, the topic being Dieselpunk.
Stay tuned for more info later.
Announcement: This Week at the Seanchai Libraries
All events at Nowhereville (203/43/26) , unless otherwise noted.
All stories told in open voice unless otherwise noted. All times SL/PT
* * * * *
**MONDAY, January 18th at 7pm: Patricia Wrightson's THE DARK BRIGHT WATER continues with Gyro Muggins.
**TUESDAY, January 19th:
~ at Noon: RUSSELL EPONYM, Live! with music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen, live on stream. Nowhereville (194/131/21)
~ at 7pm: Ursula K. Le Guin's GIFTS begins with Willow Moonfire, live on stream.
**WEDNESDAY, January 20th, at 7pm : IN WALT WE TRUST, "An Obvious Fact" continues from Craig Johnson's Sheriff Longmire Series with Kayden Oconnell and Caledonia Skytower.
**THURSDAY, January 21st, at 7pm : POE STORIES & POEMS, with Shandon. (Also in Kitely! Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI)
*****
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Announcement: Stormhold Rising Art Gallery Opening Invitation
Opening Event for the Stormhold Rising Art Gallery
Saturday 16th of January 12pm SLT
Live Music - Poetry Reading - Introduction into Art Therapy and a Raffle!
Come as you are and everybody welcome!
Newbie friendly, PG rated event with voice.
Stormhold rests upon the rugged northern mountains of Caledon, hosting incredible natural beauty and a magnificent skyline. The Stormhold Rising Art Gallery, a community project between likeminded Residents, offers Second Life creators from all over a chance to display their talents and explore SL's many creative outlets. The gallery's theory is to shine light upon the positive side of second life and encourage mental well-being. That is why inventive, ambitious, & mysterious characters come from all over to make Stormhold Rising an amazing community project and venue.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Stormhold/120/159/22
Program of Events:
12:00 - 12:30 Opening Remarks
Spoken word Artist, Kaneha
12:30 - 01:00 Titi Therapist (Kristiina McKenzie):
"SL as a form of Art Therapy"
01:00 - 02:00 Thet & Wheelbyte, live music
Raffle draw at the end of the gig
02:00 Onward Gallery is open tours available
Friday, January 15, 2021
Trump Twitter Ban Raises Questions About Roles and Responsibilities of Social Media
Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.
Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "The Global COVID-19 Pandemic – Are We Winning Yet?"
Saturday January 16
10 AM to 11 AM SL time
We will present an update covering some of what has been learned in the past year, 2020, regarding
– the molecular biology of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,
– mechanisms of disease in humans
– medical COMPLICATIONS of COVID-19 infection.
Treatment will be reviewed, including strategies and limitations of various new vaccines, with some discussion of the potential of public health versus the failings of human compliance.
By Robert A. Hendrix, MD
For more information, Click Here.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32SL Video: "RFLofSL First Lap 2021"
From Bain Finch on January 10, "Relay For Life of Second Life
Full Relay First Lap 2021"
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Various Events on New Year's Eve
See the pictures in Events.
Crew Meeting
Saturday January 9 was the day of the Newser's first crew meeting of the year. It was at the Newser's main office in HV Community to plan on what to write this month. Taking part from right to left were Fritter Enzyme, Kayly Iali, Penny (Deaflegacy), Bixyl Shuftan (myself), and Gemma Cleanslate. Penny is currently on leave, but wanted to keep in touch. Also there visiting was Slithia Resident.
We'll have some interesting stories for you this month, and year.
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Cartoon of the Day: The Ultimate "Rule 63"
Taken at Club Zero Gravity. Probably the second most infamous of the "Rules of the Internet" is Rule 63, "for every given male character, there is a female version of that character, and vice versa." While no one might be truly immune, I can't help but wonder of most men would be too nervous about pulling it off on Chuck Norris, the martial artist whom in Internet memes beats up almost everyone but Superman and the "One Punch Man."
By Bixyl Shuftan
Whatever Happened to Linden Lab's Blocksworld?
Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.
"Board of Directors" Added to Lindenlab.com's About Page
Brad Oberwager
Brad Oberwager has spent his entire career in technology and consumer focused companies as an entrepreneur and board member.
Currently, he sits on the board of two public companies, Asure Software (NASDAQ: ASUR) and Better World (NASDAQ: BWACU). He is the chairman of two companies he founded, Jyve and Sundia and is also on the board of TEGSCO (aka AutoReturn). He owned Bare Snacks, acquired by PepsiCo in 2018.
Brad was Vice-chair of YPO International, a global organization of 25,000 CEOs.
Brad received his BS from Georgetown University, his MBA from the Wharton School and lives in San Francisco.
J. Randall (Randy) Waterfield
Mr. J. Randall (Randy) Waterfield, is the Chairman of Waterfield Holdings, which traces its origins to 1928. After selling the largest private mortgage company in the US and largest Indiana based bank in 2006 and 2007 respectively, he diversified into technology, manufacturing and other industries.
Randy holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a graduate of Harvard University. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Red Oak Partners, Waterfield Technologies, Linden Research, Inc. and has previously served on the boards of YPO (and was the 2017-2018 Chairman of YPO), Asure Software ( NASDAQ: ASUR), SMTC Corporation (NASDAQ: SMTX), RF Industries (NASDAQ: RFIL), among others. He is also the Co-Chairman of Missouri Cobalt, LLC, the largest cobalt mine in North America.
Randy supports various education, environmental and community development charitable causes through the nonprofit Waterfield Foundation and J. Randall Waterfield Foundation.
Raj Date
Raj Date was the first-ever Deputy Director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As the Bureau’s second-ranking official, he helped steward the CFPB’s strategy, its operations, and its policy agenda. He also served on the senior staff committee of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and as a statutory deputy to the FDIC Board.
Before being appointed Deputy Director, Raj acted as the interim leader of the new agency, serving as the Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury. He led the CFPB for most of the first six months after its launch.
Currently, Raj is the Managing Partner of Fenway Summer, an advisory and investment firm focused on financial services and financial technology. In that capacity, he chairs the investment committee of Fenway Summer Ventures, a fintech venture capital fund, and works with clients of FS Vector, the fintech advisory firm. He also serves as a Director for a number of innovative firms in financial services: Prosper, the marketplace lender; Green Dot, the bank holding company; Circle, the digital asset firm; Grasshopper, a de novo bank; and College Ave, a private student lender.
He is a graduate of the College of Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley (highest honors) and the Harvard Law School (magna cum laude).
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau came about in 2011 as a response to the financial crisis of 2008. Before Fate joined it, he was a senior vice-president at Captal One and as a managing director at Deutsche Bank. He was also on the Board of Directors of Prosper Marketplace. He left banking work in 2009, and started the Cambridge Winter Center, which was "devoted to promoting the regulation of financial firms." His being apointed Deputy Director of the CFPB came with some controversy as it was reported that he was active in the discussions over the the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which led to the CFPB's creation. But he "was never found to be in violation of any laws and he had always recused himself from rule-making regarding peer-to-peer lending." It was after he left the Bureau he founded Fenway Summer.
More on Oberwager and Waterfield can be read in our first article about the acquisition.
Sources: Linden Lab, Wikipedia
Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager
Announcement: Celebrating Four Million at ACS Island
We're having a party on ACS Island to celebrate raising $4 Million for the American Cancer Society.
Everyone is welcome. An overflow island will be there courtesy of Linden Lab and you can listen from anywhere on t1radio.com.
Stingray Raymaker, ACS Ambassador, will be sharing a few really BIG announcements along with some special guests and great music.
Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021 10am - 1pm SLT American Cancer Society Island
It's so clear... every year we get stronger... so let's shine our lights... it is time to celebrate... we have come so far and we got so far to go...
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Events This Week at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay Clubs, The Fallout Shelter, and Furry Fashion Lounge
Club Cutlass: Best in U and V, Beach Party, Pink and Red
Happy Vixen: Felines and Wings, Wolves and Bunnies, Last Avatar, Heroes and Villains, Under the Sea, Stripes, Best in Red, Space
Club Zero Gravity: TBA
Xanadu: DJ Christine, DJ TBA, DJ Kit Drago, DJ Blazewing
Bouncing Bunny Club: Blue and White, Intimate Wear
Montecito Bay: CAYA, Rainbow, Rave, After Dark, Disney
Furry Fashion Lounge: Monsters, Bunnies, Ferals, Purple, CAYA, Late Night, Feathers,
Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy, DJ Dita Vee
Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.
Announcement: "Feed A Smile" Event With Çağ University
The Lavender Field for "Feed A Smile"
WITH SPECIAL PRIZES!
*********
With our event, we'll be helping those children by creating a small library for them, we plan to do an event that includes multiple concerts by loved musicians like Fly Kugin (flyqueeen) and ᴍʀ ʙıʟᴇʀ™ (erol.biler) , an exhibition and a puzzle! The first three people who will make the highest number of donations will win special prices such as an INFINITY HOUSE, QUEEN II YACHT and a PJ A4 YACHT!
*********
Our event will take a place in the Feed a Smile's Lavender Field. It will be on 14th of January at 12pm in SL Time. Here's the link to the Lavender Field if you want to check it out!
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Feed%20A%20Smile/68/140/22
*********
As Çağ University we are honoured to work with Feed A Smile. We'd very much appreciate it if you could join us and help the others in need!
https://llk-selb.de/?lang=en
Best wishes & Kind regards,
gracee27
Monday, January 11, 2021
The Firecracker Arcade Updates It's Games
Read more in Design.
The New Furry Fashion Lounge
See the pictures in SL Clubbin'.
EOTB: Linden Lab Asks For Merchants For Valentine "Shop And Hop"
Linden Lab is winding up for a Valentine’s Day inworld shopping event - and we’re now looking for Merchants who would like to participate.
The 2021 Valentine’s Day edition of Shop & Hop will open on Friday, February 5th, and will run through Wednesday, February 17th. This is your opportunity to bring a ton of new customers to your brand, by offering some of your best items. We are looking for Merchants willing to offer a discount on their items (at least 20% off) and provide a small non-exclusive gift to shoppers.
Those merchants interested in taking part need to fill out a form (Click Here) as soon as they can. Entries are to be no later than one week from now, Monday January 18, and there is no guarantee that every entry will be accepted. For those whom are, the set-up period is from January 28 to February 2. The Shop and Hop will be from February 5 to February 17.
To read the blog post in full, Click Here.
Announcement: This Week at the Seanchai Libraries
*
All events at Nowhereville (203/43/26) , unless otherwise noted.
All stories told in open voice unless otherwise noted. All times SL/PT
* * * * *
**MONDAY, January 11th: Patricia Wrightson's THE DARK BRIGHT WATER Continues, with Gyro Muggins
**TUESDAY, January 12th:
~ at Noon: RUSSELL EPONYM, Live! with music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen, live on stream.
Nowhereville (194/131/21)
~ at 7pm: More from Simon Sebag Montefiore's WRITTEN IN HISTORY: "Letters that Changed the World" with Caledonia Skytower, live on stream.
**WEDNESDAY, January 13th, at 7pm : IN WALT WE TRUST - "An Obvious Fact" continues from Craig Johnson's Sherriff Longmire Series with Kayden Oconnell.
**THURSDAY, January 14th,
~ at 7pm : MONSTERS & MYTHS: The Pig's Ploughman - Conclusion, Shandon presents another mythic adventure from the works of Bernard Evslin. (Also in Kitely! Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI)
~ at 9pm : SEANCHAI LATE NIGHT. Finn Zeddmore presents contemporary sci-fi-fantasy from such online sources as "Escape Pod," "Light Speed," and "Clarkesworld" online magazines.
***
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Saturday, January 9, 2021
SL Video: "Glowing At Night"
(Click Here if the video fails to play)
From Furry Andy on March 2017, "Jo Cohen BQ - Glowing At Night"
Friday, January 8, 2021
EOTB: SLEA Sims Up
The first sims up the Second Life Endowment of the Arts, or SLEA, are up and accessible. The news was announced on the official blog earlier this week.
The Second Life Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Linden Lab, launched January 1st, 2021. The new initiative, originally announced in September, provides an opportunity for artists to apply for use of grid space to create artistic experiences in Second Life while also promoting the overall virtual arts community in SL.
The SLEA, which is the spiritual successor to the former Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA), bears a colorful aesthetic that is part university courtyard and part amusement park, influenced by art galleries, the cosmos, and more. There are a total of nine regions of varying thematic focus, such as machinima or performing arts.
This ambitious initiative, which is aided by the help of 21 core volunteers and many more contributors, aspires to give grant awards to selected applicants about twice a year. For the debut exhibitions, the SLEA was pleased to receive wide representation from the arts both in terms of genre, style and nationality.
On arrival, visitors will be given access to a HUD experience which enables ease of travel around the regions in addition to a teleport network. The Landing Pod provides a view over a Performing Arts Center, Arts Education and Innovation facilities, Machinima Land, and the dPod where SLEA’s archives are located for all to peruse. The SLEA regions are expected to further evolve over time as more artists collaborate and new exhibitions are brought into rotation.
Tansee emphasizes that the SLEA aims to draw attention to all artists, galleries, art venues, communities and art education locations in SL. That goal is evident by the presence of a massive T-shaped “connection bridge'' spread across two regions that aims to connect SLEA to the larger community of artists and venues. As visitors stroll across the bridge, they will encounter numerous promotional posters along the way. There are also additional kiosks that visitors can click to get teleport links and even more information about the wide range of artists and exhibitions to be found across all of Second Life.
A Second Life Destinations video was made of the area as well, with Tansee Resident as the narrator.
The Newser will have more on the SLEA later. For those wanting to see the area for themselves: Click Here.
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLEA7/32/32/55/
Bixyl Shuftan
Linden Lab's Buyout Now Official, Second Life Listed As Part Of Waterfield Network
Almost unnoticed at the end of Linden Lab's announcement that the move of Second Life's data to Cloud servers was now complete was an announcement of another kind. When the Lab announced the agreement with a group of investors to be acquired in July, it was mentioned the deal required the approval of the US Government. At the end of Tuesday's announcement, it was stated the approval was finally granted after a review. The big reason for the approval was Linden Lab's money service Tilia.
On the Waterfield Holdings webpage, Second Life was listed as part of the Waterfield Network, alongside other companies such as Goldman Sachs.
And what does this mean for Second Life and it's residents? For now, not much. It was earlier stated that the investors plans were to pretty much let Linden Lab continue to run Second Life as they see fit. In this latest announcement, they hinted the investors would be sending over some money.
While the owners may be new, things are “business as usual” in Second Life. Last year saw strong growth for our virtual world and, as a result of this acquisition we expect even more resources in 2021 to further improve and grow Second Life in the future.
Hamlet Au in New World Notes would have a few things to say on the topic. Among them, that over time Waterfield would likely send the Lab some directives over time to keep it's profit margin. This likely includes higher fees and more incentives to go Premium.
Hat Tip: Hamlet Au
Bixyl Shuftan
Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "The COVID-19 Pandemic A Year On"
Saturday January 9,
10 AM to 11 AM SL time
The last time The Science Circle presented on the COVID-19 pandemic was back at the beginning of April when we were alarmed that the number of known cases in the world had reached 1 million. By the time of this presentation, a conservative estimate of the number of cases worldwide will have reached 100 million, with no end yet in sight. One bright piece of news in recent days, however, has been the beginning of vaccinations in some countries and the unprecedented race to create more vaccines.
Over three Saturdays from 9 January through
23 January, we will revisit one of the most pressing issues of our
times, now a year after the novel coronavirus was identified.
On the first Saturday (9 Jan), Phil Youngblood Ph.D., will talk with you
about where we have come over the last year and perhaps what we will
see in 2021, as well as the many ways the pandemic has taken a toll on
us this past year.
On the second Saturday (16 Jan), Robert A. Hendrix, MD, will present the medical side of the pandemic, that is, what we have learned about how this new virus affects the human body and how the vaccines work.
Finally, on the third Saturday (23 Jan), we will hold a “Fireside Chat” intended to address the types of issues that is of most interest to our audience about these issues.
For more information, Click Here.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32Thursday, January 7, 2021
2020: Year in Review
2020 was a challenging year in real life, with much drama and overwheling tragedy. Second Life would see it reflected here in some ways, as well as it's own special set of challenges. But there were some happier milestones as well.
In real life the big news was the Coronavirus Pandemic. Worldwide over eighty million caught the virus and close to two million perished, probably more as some countries can't or won't report all their cases. Both all of Europe and the United States each suffered twenty million getting sick, and in the US over a third of a million would die, with over half a million perishing in Europe. Most whom were infected recovered, some not getting sick, but some people were left with lasting symptoms from being short on breath after even light exercise to memory trouble and difficulty concentrating. In Second Life, there were numerous reminders of COVID-19. There were displays in health areas and discussions in numerous places. There were also memorials to those whom passed away. People also reacted to the toilet paper shortages with humor, virtual TP showing up a lot, and one avatar maker would take his talents to real life by making a tabletop game poking fun at the absurdity of it all. The biggest reaction was of people either spending more time in Second Life, coming back after an abscence, or showing up for the first time. While the Pandemic might have been good for the virtual world's numbers, it wasn't always good for the residents. While some merchants made more money with more people buying things, some landowners having lost their real-life sources of income would have trouble coming up with the money to pay for their sims.
2020 was also the year Linden Lab would find itself acquired by a group of investors. In mid-July, it was announced by Linden Lab they were now under the ownership of an investment group led by Randy Waterfield and Bradford Oberwager. Waterfield was the chairman of an investment group.. Oberwager had founded and/or run five technology companies. Linden Lab's founder Philip Rosedale stated he new Oberwager and had high hopes for this development. Bret Linden stated the two had a good deal of knowledge of what Second Life was and wasn't, and that the deal allowed Linden Lab to continue to run independently and run Second Life. The reaction from the residents was that while some were optimistic things would continue to run well, some expressed worry that the new owners would either run Second Life badly or dismantle it. As to what attracted the investors, some wondered if they were confident the Pandemic ensured Second Life would be profitable for a few more years. Others looked at Tilia, the online payment service the Lab had come up with. But after a few weeks, the chatter went down.
In April, Linden Lab finally made good on something many residents have wished for a decade, the return of last names for accounts. But, there was a catch. A more accurate description would be last names as an option for new accounts as newcomers will still continue to get "Resident" for a surname. And the option is only available for Premium accounts, whom also have to pay a fee. Someone with a basic account would have to pay $52 for a change. A number felt Linden Lab was being greedy at a time some residents had lost their real-life jobs. Others felt with as many as there were asking for the return of last names, the Lab might have been worried about being swamped with requests. A smaller complaint was that the options for last names were lousy ones. But with Linden Lab committed to sticking with it's system of not offering a surname again after it's been discontinued, it's options were limited.
One thing on the minds of residents this year was the move to The Cloud. Work by Linden Lab on moving Second Life's data from it's old servers to Amazon Cloud servers had begun earlier. It continued throughout 2020, with the Lab announcing in November that half the sim data had been moved. And in December, it was announced at all sim data had been moved over, "We are now in The Cloud." But throughout this time, many residents complained about the number of glitches, saying they were getting worse and thought the move to The Cloud was to blame. Linden Lab finally had to admit that there were some complications, and asked the residents for patience. While some are optimistic that eventually the results will be lower fees and tiers, others feel the move was a mistake that will mean a buggier Second Life.
With the Pandemic, there were more people buying sims. And Second Life had it's biggest growth in years going from 24,740 to 25,555, with close to a thousand more private sims. But with Linden Lab moving the Grid's data to Amazon Cloud servers, it found that there was only so much growth that could be handled. So they announced there was a "limited availability" of new land, and not everyone whom asked would get the chance to buy a new sim.
In 2019, one of the big stories was the new continent of Bellisseria. In 2020, the Moles continued to work on it, expanding it to the east and doubling it in size. The area wasn't just homes and roads, but also wilderness areas and railroads. Late in the year, there were sims full of beach areas appearing to eastern Bellisseria's northeast, and when opened were full of the stilt houses that were announced by Linden Lab six months earlier at the SL17B. Linden Lab had just earlier announced a second new design of Linden home for 2020, the Chalets. Most likely, they will be available sometime in the spring or summer of 2021.
Despite all the resources going to the Cloud move and Linden Homes, there was one major technical development. In April, Linden Lab announced the Environmental Enhancement Project, or EEP. Under development since 2017, this was a successor to Windlight and offered more options in allowing landowners to change the sky of their lands to make day and night cycles longer or shorter, or make them like something out of a fantasy or science fiction tale. But at first only a minority of residents could see the results. For a time, those using the more popular Firestorm viewer could only see oddly-colored skies in sims making use of EEP. Finally in December, the latest Firestorm viewer was EEP compatible. But as a few residents using it felt their viewers were going slower, not everyone would make the change right away.
In May, Linden Lab announced it was slightly changing the official logo of Second Life. The change was minor, making the hand and eye symbol from bluish-green to blue and slightly changing the lettering of the words "Second Life" and making them black. But it was the first change in the logo since the virtual world first came on in 2003.
In 2019, the Linden Endowment of the Arts shut down after eight years of operation following a vote by it's committee, a blow to Second Life's artist community. About a year later in September, Linden Lab announced it's upcoming "spiritual successor," the Second Life Endowment of the Arts. The SLEA was scheduled to open it's first sims of exhibits sometime in January 2021.
Also in September, Linden Lab launched an online store to sell Second Life-themed merchandise. There were T-shirts and coffee cups with the Second Life logo. Curiously, although there were Linden bear pins, there were no plush Linden bears. Even more curious, Linden Lab didn't do the website on it's own but through the Redbubble online store service which was made for independent artists and not multi-million dollar corporations.
When 2020 started, the "next-generation virtual world" of Sansar was in trouble. After two and a half years, it had failed to gain much of a following, the high hopes Linden Lab had for it unrealized, and it had recently gone through layoffs in Novemeber 2019. Three months later in February, there was an even greater number of layoffs, with a few people and resources moved back to developing Second Life. In February, CEO Ebbe Altberg let on that the Lab was looking to either partner with someone to run Sansar or sell it. Then in March, Linden Lab announced Sansar had been sold to Wookey. While some were sad to see the former Torley Linden, whom stuck with Sansar, no longer part of the Lab, the more vocal residents viewed the news of the sale along the lines of "it's about time," glad Linden Lab was no longer spending money on it. Despite no longer being part of Linden Lab, Sansar seems to be holding it's own under Wookey. But the place looks less like it's on it's way to being an open-ended virtual world and more of a "virtual venue platform" in which most of the people, and money, come from the events held there.
As every year, there would be many events held in Second Life. This year though, with the Coronovirus Pandemic making large events in real life. Burning Man, known for it's fans holding a spinoff event in the fall, would move it's festival online to a number of virtual worlds, including Second Life. Gen-Con, "the largest tabletop game convention in North America" would also hold it's events online, Second Life being a key part of it. 2020 being an election year, there were some political exhibits inworld. But the increasing bitter tone of politcal rhetoric resulted in fewer residents showing interest compared to twelve years ago, or even four years ago. With the "Black Lives Matter" protests in the United States in real life, they would have an impact inworld with two places inworld about the movement as well as at least one discussion. This year's Second Life Birthday, the SL17B, had "Vacations and Road Trips" as a theme. It would be distinguished by the exhibitors having greater freedom on what to build, in addition to the first time many would see the Environmental Enhancement Project feature in use for the skies of sims. But there would be no great revelations from Linden Lab as to what was in the future, aside from the next Linden Homes. This year's Relay for Life season, "Game On Cancer!" was a success, with over 200 teams raising over $300,000 USD worth of Lindens. On the Relay Weekend, over 1400 avatars walked the 49 sim track, the biggest in years. It's spinoff events, the Fantasy Faire, the Christmas Expo, and Making Strides also got attention. Other notable events included the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference, which at least one discussion talked about how the Coronovirus crisis might lead to lasting changes in teaching, and Burn2, which did well despite being overshadowed by Burning Man moving to online.
Other changes that went on worthy of attention included the Confederation of Democratic Simulators having two elections free of drama, and Motecito Bay redesigning it's sim.
Sadly, Second Life would say goodbye to some of it's residents. The Coronovirus that had claimed so many in real-life claimed Ucello Poultry, a noted resident and former blogger of Bay City. Cerdwin Flanagan noted for her work in the Fantasy Faire, had also passed. So did Autopilotpatty Poppy of Caledon, Ertina Loopen of the Relay Rockers, and Zed Ravenhurst of the Relay's Team ACTS. William Beauclerc, noted for his work at the Builders Brewery, had died. For the Newser's home community the Sunweavers, it was discovered Tigerclaw Apps had passed away the previous year. Comcat Fenstalker, a member of the Relay's Maniacs whom occasionally went to Sunweaver clubs, also died. One passing outside Second Life caught the Newser's attention, Ferne Le'roy in the Final Fantasy MMO had passed from Corona and friends held an online funeral in the game.
Second Life would say goodbye to some places. Once the scene of yearly art competitions that awarded huge prizes, the last of the University of Western Australia sims was shut down this year. One community that almost closed down was Second Norway in the Blake Sea, the owner taking a financial hit due to the Cronovirus Crisis. But thanks to a deal with Linden Lab, most of it's sims were saved. The Yavascript travel pod tours were almost taken offline following a misunderstanding due to a 24 hour ban on the builder. But it was cleared up and the pod tours continued.
For the neighbors of the Newser, the Sunweaver community, the year brought some sadness with the passing of two friends. But there was also activity with a Relay season that brought an air show and a bumper car event. The Arcadia Asylum would hold an amusement park and a haunted house. A new club opened, the Bouncing Bunny Beach Club, and a 12 hour marathon event, a club crawl involving six clubs on New Years Eve brought in 2021 to the locals.
For the Newser, it was our tenth year of covering the news of the people, places, and events across Second Life. It's been a pleasure covering the news this past decade. And we look forward to continuing to cover it for years to come.
Bixyl Shuftan
SL Newser
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
EOTB: "The Migration Of Second Life To The Cloud Is Now Complete!"
On Tuesday January 5, Linden Lab announced on the official blog they had completed the move of Second Life data from their old servers to the Amazon Cloud servers.
All the interconnected services and databases that collectively provide you with Second Life have been migrated to Amazon’s cloud servers. The "uplift" to the cloud will help bring better simulator performance and also improves our ability to diagnose problems and scale our systems for future growth and improvements.
They showed a picture of "the former cage in our colocation facility that housed our servers since 2009, now cleaned out and completely empty." They also showed a video of the old hardware being destroyed.
Many have asked us what happened to the “old” hardware that steadily
served up Second Life for so many years. Most of it was too old to have
any value and has been scrapped, but it is important to note that as
part of our standard security protocols, all of the drives have been
shredded and destroyed. Thanks for all the memories, old friends!
While
the physical move is complete, there remain some optimization tweaks
that we will continue to make to further improve performance over the
coming weeks, and of course there are always bugs to hunt. We are truly
grateful for your patience, especially during the final few weeks of
2020 as we worked furiously to finish the last parts of this migration.
Of the video, Zidders Roofurry would post in the comments with song lyrics:
Oh grind up the homes where the avatars roamed
and the neko's and furries once played.
Where ever was 'heard' many a virtual word
and via Windlight our stars were displayed.
Roam, roam SL's range
as the servers to clouds are all changed.
Now afloat with our words our dreams fly like a bird
And our Second Life is Amazon conveyed.
To see the Linden blog post in full, Click Here.
Bixyl Shuftan
New Links: Destination Guide, Grid Status Report
We at the Newser should have done this earlier, but better late than never. We're putting a couple useful Second Life pages among our links.
One is the Second Life Destination Guide, which offers a very brief description on dozens of sims.
https://secondlife.com/destinations?lang=en-US
The other is the Grid Status Report, which shows any bugs and glitches (and lately there's been a lot).
https://secondlife-status.statuspage.io/
We're sure you will find both useful.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Announcement: Virtual Ability Presents Tucker Stilley Art Exhibit
Tucker is an artist in four
genres: music, film, lifestyle and painting. This gallery show displays
20 of his works. Tucker has ALS (amyotropic lateral sclerosis, or Lou
Gehrig’s Disease) which has resulted in progressive paralysis of his
body as it leaves his mind and creativity intact. He has come to a deep
understanding of the frailty of the human condition over the past 15
years.
Tucker has had a Second Life
account since about 2005. Over the years, as his disease progressed, he
has used a variety of assistive technology, not only to access Second
Life, but also to create his art. Most recently he has used eye gaze
technology.
Treasure Ballinger, curator of
the Gallery, said, "As estate manager for Cape Able, and a member of the
Virtual Ability Executive Team, I'm honored to facilitate the exhibit
by Tucker Stilley. His love of art is apparent, as well as his obvious
determination to 'get it done'. Welcome to Excellence!"
The general public is reminded
that if you are unable to attend the gallery opening on Tuesday between
noon and 2pm SLT, you can visit the sim at any time during January to
see this impressive exhibition.
For more information about Tucker Stilley and views of other collections of his artwork, please see his website: http://www.tuckerstilley.com/
For information about amyotropic lateral sclerosis: https://www.als.org/
Virtual Ability promotes the
Ability of persons with DISability by showcasing artwork by artists with
disabilities. For more information about Virtual Ability, please see
our website: https://virtualability.org
Gentle Heron
Events This Week at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay Clubs, The Fallout Shelter, and Furry Fashion Lounge
Club Cutlass: Best in T, Good vs Evil, Green and Blue
Happy Vixen: Bats and Ponies, Spies and Secret Agents, Armed and Armored, Tails, Wizards and Lizards, Spots, Mad Science, Best in Purple
Club Zero Gravity: TBA
Xanadu: DJ Christine, DJ TBA, DJ Kit Drago, DJ Blazewing
Bouncing Bunny Club: Silks, Seven Deadly Sins
Montecito Bay: CAYA, Rainbow, Rave, After Dark, Disney
Furry Fashion Lounge: BA
Deathlands Fallout Shelter: DJ Wolfy, DJ Dita Vee
Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.
Announcement: This Week at the Seanchai Libraries
**
All events at Nowhereville (203/43/26) , unless otherwise noted.
All stories told in open voice unless otherwise noted. All times SL/PT
* * * * *
**TUESDAY, January 5th:~ at Noon: RUSSELL EPONYM, Live! with music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen, live on stream.
~ at 7pm: Simon Sebag Montefiore's WRITTEN IN HISTORY: "Letters that Changed the World" with Caledonia Skytower.
**WEDNESDAY, January 6th, at 7pm : IN WALT WE TRUST - More from Craig Johnson's "Sheriff Walt Longmire" Series with Kayden Oconnell.
**THURSDAY, January 7th, at 7pm: MONSTERS & MYTHS: Pig's Plougman, Part 1. Shandon Loring presents Bernard Evslin's tale of the Lord of Winter in the first of two parts.
***
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