Tripp Foxtail, the man behind the "Elsewhere in Second Life" blog, was also the person behind a few locations in Second Life in the Ulyanovsk Oblast sim, notably the Travelers Station. It's entry in the Destination Guide had this description:
Travelers Station encourages travel across Second Life and transforms your exploration into a game-like experience. It is located on Route 8B in Satori and connects you everywhere. Curated destinations and vehicles and horses are provided for your convenience. Divers Station and Travelers Park are also located here. Stay curious and enjoy your travels.
There was also Travelers City, Travelers Square, Hooligan Hill, Night Meadow Gallery, The Castle, the Oubliette Coffee Shop, and others. But on Monday August 4, he made the following announcement on his blog.
This notice was sent out today to all groups & individuals involved with my virtual businesses. This has been a very emotionally difficult decision for me, but my declining health combined with diminishing financial situations, that are out of my control, force me to take this action.
_______________________________________
Dear Friends & Travelers,
It is with great sadness that I must inform you of the closure of Travelers Station, Travelers City, Travelers Square, Hooligan Hill Farm, The Docks, and The Salvage Yard Research Facility.
The Ulyanovsk Oblast Region will be returned to Linden Lab on August 20th.
Thank you for your patronage. It has been a pleasure providing these public spaces for you. I hope you will all continue to stay curious and enjoy your travels in Second Life.
-Tripp Foxtail
______________________________________
As you know, building in this virtual world has meant so much to me over the past 13 years. I will retain my account but can no longer pay the land fees required to keep the public lands.
Our real world is changing so rapidly. We are walking through some very dark times. Hold on to hope during this passage, hold on to each other and remember that everything eventually changes and that love always wins in the end.
The blog started in March 2024, but the second entry wasn't until May 2025, where there would be a number of updates, but on July he would announce a hiatus in the blog due to events in real life.
Travelers Station has a Discord and a Flickr page (here).
Travelers Station is located at Ulyanovsk Oblast (174/116/92)
Readers will most likely remember Skype, the chat application that was commonly used from the late 2000s and 2010s, and still used by 36 million computer and smartphone users as late as Feb 2023. But it was announced a month ago that in May, it will be shutting down.
We want to express our deepest gratitude for your support over the years. Skype has been an integral part of countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of your journey.
Microsoft, which has owned Skype since 2011, announced that Teams, it's newer platform, will be taking it's place.
Skype was widely used in the 2010s, but as time went on, some users would drop it, using others such as Discord and Zoom.
Last week, the owners of Magicland, a Disneyland tribute park, announced the place would soon be closing, the last day it would be open on Sunday April 14. Over the weekend, the park which often had just a few people, sometimes just one or two, swelled in numbers as people came by for one last look, to give the rides one more spin. Or perhaps they heard about the place and kept putting off making a trip over, and finally went when time was running out.
There were also a number of comments in the park group, "I've seeen Mouseworld close. I've seen Enchanted Adventures close. I've seen Wedcot close like three times. This is the park I hoped I'd never see close. I'm heartbroken." "I'm gonna cry when its closing time, I've been coming since the beginning"
On Monday, the sim was still up. But most of the sounds were off, and most of the rides were still.
[16:33] Greeter: Thank you for visiting Magicland Park. We have ceased operations. [16:33] Greeter: All of the attractions are no longer operational. [16:33] Greeter: Thank you, and we hope you have a great day.
Looking around, the rides were still, the scripts disabled. No longer would the monorail travel around. No more would the Carousel of Progress show how the family home had changed over the course of the 20th Century. Checking the castle, there was one sound clear, that of a ticking clock. Panning around, one could hear the sounds of the "It's A Small World" ride, faintly.
A number of people had gathered in the central area, talking about the park and how great it had been. A couple were in themed avatars. Among those there was Pixie Ella, one of the team behind Magicland was also there.
That day, there would be an announcement from Kriste Beck, one of the owners
For the past 15 years, it's been nice having our own personal Disneyland in Second Life that we got to share with everyone. It was kind of fun to be able to bring back certain attractions, such as Captain EO, the Peoplemover, the Carousel of Progress, and CircleVision. There were magical evenings of stories being told at the Golden Horseshoe by Caledonia Skytower. There were celebrations, achievements, happy moments, sad moments, and memories to be made for a lifetime.
I thank God for being able to share all of this with all of you. Every show has an opening and a closing date, and as we close the show, we thank you for sharing your time and your lives with us and being a part of our 15-year story.
Viltrigen came of with a few videos of Magicland attractions, including this one of Tomorrowland. There was also the It's A Small World ride, and the Jungle Cruise. Nance Clowes would also state in the group there would soon be a new Disney-themed park opening soon.
There are a few other Disney-themed parks still operational, Wedcot at Real Dreams (42/4/106), Sarah's Magic Kingdom at Toyah (203/161/51), and Enchanted Castle at Risian Flux (207/53/63).
Some sad news for Disney fans in Second Life. Two days ago on Tuesday April 9, the owners of Magicland Park, a tribute to Disneyland, announced the place would soon be closing.
Every good thing comes to an end and it's unfortunately time for us to say goodbye to Magicland Park. THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us over the last 15 years. This has been an amazing incredible journey that we were fortunate to be able to share with all of you. Magicland Park was a labor of love and we enjoyed this journey we were on.
It was with a heavy heart that we came to this decision, but our lives have moved us into a different direction.
We hope that you enjoyed the moments you had here with us on this
amazing journey. Magicland Park's last day of operation will be Sunday,
April 14, 2024. So grab your friends and family, come on down and take a
last spin on the teacups or a final trip back through time on the
Carousel of Progress. We have our favorite attractions and know that you
do too.
Thank you for all your support and encouragement over all these years.
So there are just a few more days for visitors to come by. Besides walking around, one can check out the rides. There's a "Star Tours" attraction in which riders go on a ship supposedly piloted by R2D2. There's the "Captain EO" ride which is around a Michael Jackson music video. There's the "Carousel of Progress" which shows how households have progressed through the 20th century. And more.
Once again, the last day the park will be scheduled to be up is Sunday April 14.
Some sad news for the people in the Caledon steampunk area. Last night, community leader Desmond Shang announced that three sims (four if a homestead is counted) will likely be closing soon.
Now that I've got notices out to everyone in Kittiwick, Tanglewood, and Cay, this is a general announcement that we are cutting back 3 standard regions and one homestead (tbd due to possible swaps).
Residents, if you haven't paid your parcel meter, I'm going to assume you don't want the parcel, and a displaced resident from a closing region can have the unpaid parcel.
Caledon currently has 22 sims, full and homestead. It started out as two, and quickly expanded to 29 in 2007. But over time, it got a little smaller. This loss would make it 18.
Hopefully a way to be found to keep these sims from closing.
Second Life has one less breedable pets company. Last weekend, the BioBreeds company apparently closed down due to a dispute between the co-owners.
I found a notecard in the BioBreeds Advertising group, and the Relay for Life Volunteers group, the latter where I found it first. It was signed "Oz," presumably meaning co-owner Ozzie Drucker, the Group Management and Marketing leader.
I have always been as transparent with you all as possible from the start, so let me explain what has happened.
Our provider last fall informed us that we needed to “migrate” our server to the cloud. And needed to do so by the end of the year. At that time they would no longer provide service if we failed to do so. Our coder, Bytecode Republic, who also is an owner, refused to do so. He also refused to move us to another provider. Since then I have attempted a variety of ways to convince him that it was necessary so that we could continue. Then, after I took some additional steps to force a migration, and without entangling you in technical jargon, he shut us down on Friday. And in a way that it cannot be undone. Up until late yesterday I was hopeful that somehow this could be resolved.
But he refuses to re-establish us.
The notecard was in the Relay group on Sunday January 29, but not in the BioBreeds Advertising group, the largest BioBreeds group I could find, until Tuesday January 31. I couldn't find an existing larger Biobreeds group. Trying to head to the Biobreeds sim, it was closed. Their Marketplace page was also closed. There was nothing about what happened on the blog (http://www.biobreeds.com/). Their Facebook and Twitter hadn't been updated in a while.
I was able to send an alt to a sim known as "The Farm," which came up when I did a search on Biobreeds-related places. I only saw one to two to three people around and most of the stalls were closed. Talking to someone, she told me the creators were making an effort to preserve the pets still out there. She copy-pasted from a group I wasn't able to find on Search.
[15:30] Ozzie Drucker: Group Notice Sent by: Ozzie Drucker Free Food Plus DO NOT BUT FOOD!
Around midnight tonight We will be rezzing vendors for you to be able to use to get free food and free medkits.
Hope this helps some.
I would go by later, and there were some food and medkit packages available for free at the main building. They were at The Farm (172/207/21).
The notice I saw in the Relay for Life Volunteers group was a bit panicky, saying the animals were in danger of dying. Checking with a friend, her Biobreeds permapet was just fine and her regular one was sleeping but otherwise okay. She told me it was a shame BioBreeds was closing as it was her impression they were one of the few companies that tried to keep prices reasonable.
Biobreeds was created on February 5, 2010, the company closing just days before it's thirteenth anniversary.
Sad news for fans of the Free Dove store. It's founder and owner, Palomma Casanova, has passed away. Dolleen McMillan, one of the store team, posted the following:
It is with great sadness and pain that I have to announce you that Palomma Casanova left us on Saturday January 14 after a long illness. This is a shock to me and a huge loss. She fought her illness with all the energy she had and endured the pain very bravely. Her passion for her work and for helping others was admirable.
Of the store's future, Dolleen explained it will be closing.
When the subject of her eventual departure was brought up, Palomma's response was that Free Dove would POOOOF when it was over for her. Free Dove was her baby, the vehicle that allowed her to express her love of people and her willingness to help them, but she didn't want it to outlive her. She had created Free Dove in 2006 and when she left, her group had reached nearly 150,000 members, a rare achievement. We will remember her as the generous woman who dedicated 17 years of her life to SL citizens.
I have no idea when Free Dove will disappear. In the meantime, I have blocked all payment boxes for Free Dove shops, I am unable to refund your last payments, but your shops can remain in place until the end comes.
Dropping by the store in Gallii on the mainland, the place was full of shoppers. At first the sim was full, so I had to wait to get in. As the day went on, there would be more post in the group, paying tribute to Palomma.
Some sad news from Club Livewire. Owner Whiskey Ravenhurst (formerly Thorrin Resident) announced that the venue is about to close.
"I'm working way too much the past few months to where i am only logging into Second Life ... to pay tier and then off to work again," Whiskey told the Newser, "So seeing I can not commit to the place, I don't see a reason to keep it going." While it's possible the club may be back in the future, for now he is just too busy in real life.
In the past, Whiskey ran the Urban Furry club until it's closing in January 2021. Several months later, he announced the opening of Club Livewire (sometimes spelled L!vew!re). DJ Squeaks and DJ Snowbuns from the Sunweaver community (the neighbors of the Newser office) would play music there.
The last scheduled events will be on Friday July 29.
Some sad news. After fourteen years in operation, The Tempura Island sim is closing. The announcement was given in the sim's group.
After such a long journey of 14 years traveling together in Second life, we made hard decision to close TEMPURA sim.
When opening TEMPURA we could never imagined that will last for so long time. TEMPURA touched so many hearts and bring amazing memories to everyone and for that we are deeply glad.
With humbleness and huge grateful we Thank you, to each of you who ever admired, loved and healed, at TEMPURA.
Tempura is a SIM of love! We say Bye to you, but it's a Welcoming of a new beginning.
May Buddha full your hearts with love and happiness!
Dropping by, I found the area quite picturesque. While it is Japanese-owned, not everything is Japanese-themed. Tempura's largest structure is the palace in the north, which has a large dance ballroom, and a number of places and private rooms for couples. The south had a wooded area, partially green and partially autumn red and orange. In between was a circle of meditation pillows and a tai-chi practice area, both of which were being used when I dropped by at close to midnight SL time. There's plenty to explore, including a few hidden areas.
After thirteen years, Second Life's largest depression-support group will soon be closing.
On Saturday October 16 at 2PM, SoS leader Sebastien Bouevier met with others in the group. There, he would first announce that he had reluctantly made the decision to close the group. He would also post the news in the group's blog (https://www.survivorsofsuicidesl.org/post/sos-is-closing), and on Facebook.
Today I did the hardest thing I have ever had to do in Second Life. Survivors of Suicide has been a part of my life for a full decade. It has been my pride and joy, and a real privilege to have been at the helm of this organization for the past seven years. It makes saying goodbye so hard, and I am so sad to announce that after 13 years in Second Life, Survivors of Suicide is closing.
Sebastien was interviewed in 2017 and 2019 by the Newser. He had first joined the group as someone in need of it's services. Eventually, he would end up taking over the group when it's founder could no longer lead it. Although the group started out for those whom attempted suicide, or whose friends and family had, it eventually expanded to help others suffered from depression (and friends of).
Chatting (with an alt) with some people in the group, a few mentioned on new depression support group: Impact Mental Health. It is led by Kitten Stratten-Jaks (Kitten Meridoc).
The last meeting of Survivors of Suicide is scheduled for Saturday October 23rd at 3PM.
All good things must come to an end. For club Urban Furry, the end was last Saturday January 30. Both regulars and people wanting to see the club before it was taken down came by. The Newser was there, and documented the event.
Some sad news for the fans of the Arcadia Asylum Library in HV Community, just down the road from the Newser office. The building will soon be closing. Possibly as soon as today.
Earlier Prof. Grey (BrianL61 Landar) had announced the upcoming end of the place.
Dear Friends,
It saddens me to announce that the Sunweaver branch of the Arcadia Asylum Library and freebie center will be closing on Februrary 1st 2021.
Due to Real Life demands the $1000.00 U.S. Dollars I spend each year in world must now be diverted to home repair and maintenance.
Eventually, someone approached Prof. Grey about the upcoming close, Cynthia Farshore. Yesterday, Wednesday January 27, I met up with them at the Arcadia building and they told me about the plans they had made. Prof Gray told me, "I'm shutting down this location and have turned over control of Anilis to another curator. In real life, my father in law (85) is starting chemo and the money i would spend in Second Life is needed in real life. ... He's a tough old goat, he'll make it through this."
As for what happens to the freebie store, Cynthia informed, "I am about to rebuild the old Puddle Jumper (mall) back on the (Farshore) airfield. So one section will be the Library. The new build will have a center lobby and wings opposite each over. One side is the freebie the other various sellers. So there will be a gap but in the end the freebies will still be around." She had plans for the items other than just the Sunweaver lands, "Also I'll have to check but hopefully I can also add the freebies to the Emporium in Caledon.
Prof. Grey added, "With a selection of 9487 free items she can rotate the goodies when ever she wants and keep it fresh, so to speak. Hazelee Haller is the new owner of Anilis Library she is expanding her current land holding and will be relocating Anilis to that sim. I will be taking this location down starting tomorrow (Thursday January 28) most likely."
Eventually, Prof. Gray had to check up on his father-in-law, and had to go. And so that may have been the last time I set foot in the Sunweaver Arcadia building, of which some of Gray's builds across the road have made the Newser a few times. While the Arcadia Asylum Library may be going away, the freebies will remain as part of another store.
In May 2019, the Newser wrote about Palmwood City, "a thriving furry Second Life community themed around a 'retrowave' city aesthetic." Sadly, we were just informed Palmwood will soon be closing down. Jimmy Talon stated the following:
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."
A group offering free gifts to it's members will soon be no more. On it's webpage, the "Stay At Home Club" announced it was closing on Friday September 25.
On it's webpage, the group was described as, "a group of designers based on the City of Neon Dreams at the HILTED
region. During one of the harder times in everyone's real lives, we came
up with the idea to gather a set of gifts to offer to people for free.
Together we stay strong and in times like these we need each other. Originally the City of Neon Dreams team wanted to
create a collection of gifts to offer to people, but we decided that it
would be a good idea to involve other designers. The more the merrier!
We started talking to a few friends and shared our ideas with them, that
resulted in so many positive vibes and reactions that we decided to
start The Stay at Home Club."
We have decided to close the
Club for multiple reasons and we want to be open about this difficult
decision. Firstly, we have dealt with over 1000 of incredible, generous,
and outgoing designers. Many of which have gone above and beyond to
help and provide gifts, some of which regularly updated and added more
to help support us all. As of today, the in-world group has hit nearly
16,000 people, the Discord has over 900 members, the Facebook page has
2,600 likes, and the website has well over 2 Million page views! With
this comes a lot of maintenance, the team has sunk much of their
personal time and money into the Club to keep things running smoothly
and up to date. Although we have worked with many incredible people, we
have also experienced negativity.
We have sadly had to deal with
abusive designers and residents, copyright infringement, hate speech,
and even personal attacks in-world, on Discord, and on Facebook. This
was not what the Club stands for, we wanted to bring a bit of light to a
dark time by helping to provide gifts, support, and a place for people
to not worry about ongoing real life situations. That being said, it was
the minority causing those issues, but they did greatly affect us as we
were also going through the same real life issues that many of you were
also facing. We feel at this stage, the Club has served its purpose and
has been an incredible experience for many of us involved, but now is
the right time for us to say goodbye. Thank everyone involved and wish
you all the best for the future. Times may be difficult, but stay
strong, we will get through it!
While "multiple reasons" are listed for the closing, it seems "the attitude of a few hundred people" was the main one. Although they had banned the worst of the troublemakers, "the continuous attacks we received throughout multiple channels cannot be stopped." The webpage would state that some members reacted badly to the announcement, and reminded people that abusive behavior would be reported to Linden Lab.
The announcement stated that no new members were being accepted, and on Friday September 25, both the inworld group and the Discord server would be taken down. On the Facebook page, there were a number of statements expressing support, and sadness that the group was going, "It's
sad to see you go, but you guys did amazing work. Sorry you had to
deal with such negativity over such a positive helpful thing during a
pandemic." "Thank you for the great work. Sad sl is full of bullies." "We
really thank all yours for the hard work all this time and truly sad
for all this happens. Just the hope and best wishes for future projects
knowing always will have the fans supports with all yours. Sadly the
haters are in every place but helpful people too and they are the only
who really matters." "Thank
you so much for all the gifts, the time that has taken to the creator
to make all of them and for this project that bring a moment of
happiness to our life. But, it's so sad that you have to deal with
negative and toxic people's and you have to close the project."
"Once again, we thank you all for joining us on this adventure and we hope it brought a little bit of happiness to your day. Stay safe and stay strong!"
On Friday August 21, Yavanna Llanfair, the creator of the Yavascript pod travel system that covered most of the continents of the mainland, announced she would be "suspending all services" due partially to a 24 hour ban by Linden Lab she had traced to a pod glitch and partly due to the lingering effects of a Coronavirus infection. The service had been going since it's start exactly ten years earlier.
The result has been numerous statements of people expressing their sadness, and some people wondering why the lack of a response by Linden Lab to her ticket. On Saturday, Patch Linden would respond.
I am potentially as confused as everyone else. But then again I've
been out of town this week and I have some catching up to do. In any
case while standing in the house of mouse, this did make it to my
attention to look in to. While I'm digging in to find out what
happened there are a few things I can assure everyone of:
We've made no policy changes surrounding automated vehicles on the Mainland.
We like the Yavapods system
We use it in Bellisseria as the "engine" for the ferry boats, with Yavanna's permission of course
We keep having it back to SLB every year
These items do not seem like a recipe for a change in policy.
Hopefully things will unfold and we'll get to the bottom of this in a
positive manner. I can't really see any other way forward, and the team
and I have no reason to not support or help Yavanna.
Of her account being suspended for 24 hours and the lack of a response to the ticket she filed:
This is where part of my confusion is. The LDPW and the Moles do not
have a real ticket system. We sometimes receive JIRA's for issues, but
that's not really a ticket and the Moles are not reachable directly
through the support ticketing system. While I'm not here to dispute any
of this, there also seems to be some real confusion on what or how this
happened. If this took place in July, this is the first I'm becoming
aware of it. There is no "fight city hall" here, again, we have no
reason to do anything other than help with the system and the situation.
Ebbe Altberg/Ebbe Linden, the CEO of Linden Lab, would also have a comment. In response to a Tweet by Anne Brightstar, he responded, "No one is stopping them from running."
It should be noted not every single resident is speaking out in favor of the pod car travel system staying. Prokovy Neva would make a detailed post saying it was preferable that the system be closed down, on the grounds all the riderless pods going around were "endless spam," and when going about on roads as half-spheres, they looked like something from "outer space" that didn't fit in with most sims. But most everyone else on the official forums was speaking out in their favor.
Taking a look at the pod stations this weekend, many of the pod rezzers I checked were still up and running well. One would just click on the sign, jump on the pod (or boat at some stations), and click on the vehicle to get going. But this was not the case of every single one. A few at the Durango (154/188/118) station would vanish about a minute after running. Of the two stations at Bay City, they run differently than the others I found with the railcars and boat already there, and not moving until about a minute after the person or persons get on.
So as of Sunday, the pod tour system is still up and running. The problems are some of the routes are glitched, and of course there's the uncertainly of if the system will still be running. But Patch Linden's comments do hint at a solution soon that should put the minds of the pod car fans at ease. Asadora Summers, a moderator for the Pod Riders group, would say on Saturday, "Things are very much way better than they were yesterday morning ... just believe me that all things will go back to what we know." She would also thank fans for the well-wishes they'd sent Yavanna, and invite others to send her notecards so she could email her the messages. Also, there would be a "Second Life Pod Riders Group" set up on Discord where fans could share pictures and stories.
Stay tuned for more details
Addition: Earlier I reported one of the Bay City stations wasn't there and the other didn't work. Another look showed the first was there, the car and boat were just some distance from the LM, and the pods at both do work, they just need some time after the person hops on to get going.
Addition Part Two: I had an alt check a few more routes. While one did glitch soon after starting (probably a sim crossing), most were running fine, including one that glitched earlier.
The Newser was just tipped off to a sad announcement. After ten years of taking residents around the mainland, the Yavascript pods made by Yavanna Llanfair will be shut down after today. The reasons are a lack of communication with Linden Lab following a 24 hour ban, and her recovery from a Coronavirus infection that has had lingering effects on her body.
Dear pod riders,
Today is the 10th anniversary of the first road pod - "YavaScript Pod V5.0 (MCT)" - MCT standing for Monowai Constant Tour, which I put on the road in the morning of Saturday 21st August 2010. I have set that pod running again; it will run until it is swallowed by some random event (like a sim restart or a crash).
However, I am sorry to report that it is also the last day of the
pods as we know them today. I have made the decision to suspend all
services as of later today. The reason is as follows:
For the
entirety of the running of the pod service, I have said I will only run
the service where I considered I had the approval of the Lindens and the
community. Whilst there have always been a few who would criticise
(sometimes quite vocally), they have been a very small minority. And I
have always felt that the Lindens have tacitly approved of them, though
they would never say so directly. Certainly a number of moles have
expressed their approval, and to them I am very grateful.
On 27th July, my account was suspended for 24 hours because of a pod crash in Mieum (on the Wellington Road). At least, that is what I traced it to, because the Linden who suspended me would not tell me of the reason - merely that the object was returned to me. I explained that it is impossible to avoid crashes in all circumstances. I raised a ticket to the LDPW asking them to let me know if this meant my pods were no longer welcome on the roads. I said that I would take anything other than a positive to be a negative. My ticket was closed without comment.
It would have been a shame for the pods to have fallen short of their 10th anniversary, and so I have continued the service until today. And for now, I will merely suspend all operations by flicking a switch on my server. This means that the road pods will still rez, but de-rez shortly after (within 5 minutes). Pods will also still be available from the pod stations by clicking on the rezzer. But this is not a sustainable situation, as the vast majority of people come to know about the pods by seeing them pass on the road, so without that, the service is far less likely to be sustainable in the longer term.
I announced back in June that I was stepping back, due to a long Covid-19 recovery. That recovery is still not complete; whilst I have made progress, I still have some issues, mostly neurological. And stress is therefore something I have to avoid at all costs. Therefore I am not willing at present to fight anyone on this. Maybe one day I will. If the Lindens wish to get in contact to ensure me that the pods are welcome again, I will of course re-instate them. But I suspect that is not likely to happen.
I will continue to support pod owners who run their own systems.
Thankyou to each and every pod rider for coming along on the journey with me. It has been exciting and a lot of fun. It isn't necessarily over, but for now autonomous vehicles from the YavaScript stable will no longer be on the SecondLife mainland roads.
Thankyou, Yavanna Llanfair
For those wishing to check out the pods one last time, head to the main station at Durango (154/188/118). You can also join the Pod riders group (link here) for a list of her other stations.
Yavanna would list the following as her reason for coming up with the rides.
Why do I make these tours? Well, I believe that mainland should be enjoyed and appreciated. Yet there is so little on mainland as a whole which attracts people, simply because they don't know about it. Most people don't travel around and look to see what is there; they go from landmark to landmark in their inventory, without taking the time to look around them. But mainland has so much going for it; beautiful areas, historic locations, educational establishments, rail and sea transport, which most people probably don't know exist. Mainland should be alive, it should be a community. We should all care about it, and then maybe we would take more pride in it and in our buildings. The road network is extensive (though not always as complete as it might be). It is there for using, and should be used as a way to help fulfil this need.
Going about, there was a lot to see while taking a ride. It was an effortless way to cover a lot of ground and see how much was on the mainland. It is a service that will be missed.
Remember, after today, the pods will probably no longer work.
It's been a lot of fun, but the Second Life Birthday event is about to come to a complete close. After Midnight SL time tonight, the SL17B sims will be closed to the public. So now's your last chance to see any exhibits you might have missed.
In what can only be described as a stunning development for artists and supporters of the arts in Second Life, the Linden Endowment for the Arts is set to close down on the last day of August.
The Committee of the Linden Endowment for the Arts regrets to inform residents of Second Life that the LEA regions will be closing at the end of August 2019.
In November 2018, the Committee decided that the best way forward was for the members to step down, and allow Linden Lab to revamp or re-organise the program, with new members if they wished. At that time, the bi-annual Land Grant (the AIR regions) were shuttered. A small number of the Committee stayed on to administer the Core regions until the remaining grant commitments ran their course. Those grants are now coming to an end, and therefore the LEA will be closed at the end of August 2019
The Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) was established to help create a center of arts activity in Second Life. It was founded in 2010 and launched its first events in 2011. For the last eight years, it has been a collaborative venture between Linden Lab and the arts community. Guided initially by a board of renowned Second Life artists and more latterly also bringing in people with a strong interest in promoting the Arts in Second Life, the LEA has been committed to providing access to engaging experiences in the arts for the Second Life community. Over the last eight years, through its exhibitions, programs, and events, the LEA has fostered awareness of artists’ contributions to our virtual world and encouraged others to get involved and be inspired.
It has long been divided into two parts; The Core Regions and the Artists in Resident Regions.
The LEA Land Grant (the AIR Regions) was a program to distribute 20 regions (LEA10 - LEA29) generously donated by Linden Lab. These regions were used to promote art and artistic endeavors in Second Life. Full regions of virtual land were made available to in-world artists through an application process. The AiR Land Grant was a 6 month grant.
The LEA Land Grant was shuttered by Linden Lab in January 2019 at the request of the LEA Committee, pending decisions on the future of the LEA.
The Core regions (LEA1- LEA9) hosted a variety of artistic events and installations for a three month period. The Core regions included a Welcome Area, a four region theatre, a sandbox for artists, and partial and full regions that could be used for the three month period, with a great emphasis on community art events.
This program will be closing at the end of August when all the regions will be shuttered by Linden Lab at the request of the Committee.
The Committee wishes to express its gratitude and deep respect for the artists of Second Life, whose work they have been privileged to support over the last eight years. We hope that in time Linden Lab will be able to create a new program that will continue their support of the arts in Second Life.
Any questions concerning the Linden Endowment for the Arts should be addressed to PatriciaAnne Daviau or JMB Balogh.
The Linden Endowment for the Arts Committee: PatriciaAnne Daviau, JMB Balogh, LaPiscean Liberty, Jayjay Zifanwe Advisors: The Dove Rhode and Corcosman Voom
Saffia Widdershins invited me to talk to her for a few minutes. She
stated Linden Lab had nothing to do with the LEA closing down. If
anything, they wanted it to keep going. But the LEA Committee "were
pretty much burned out." After inviting a number of people to join the
Committee, and being refused, they had decided to step down so a fresh
start could take place.
Saffia told me this wasn't
necessarily the end of the LEA. It could still be saved in some form,
"But the initiative needs to come from the arts community. They need to
pull together and create a workable proposal (or several proposals) for
the Lab."
Inara Pey had a number of things to say on her blog, "As was pointed out to me after I wrote the article on the 2018
restructuring announcement, running any organisation like the LEA is
going to be a thankless task; there is no remuneration for time given,
there is always going to be hostility over actions taken and the grants
awarded, and so on; it really can be a thankless task. ...
"However, there can be no doubting then when all is said and done, the
LEA did a tremendous amount of good for the artists who participated in
its programmes, offering many the means to express themselves and reach
audiences in a manner that might never otherwise been able to achieve.
"While the LEA many have had its warts and at times had to face undue
criticism, it has through its nine years of existence been a force for
good for those arts who have been able to make use of its facilities and
it has certainly helped enriched art within Second Life and allow many
to appreciate work and installations they might otherwise never get to
see. So, it’s not unfair to say its passing will be missed."
So will the LEA be saved, or will this chapter of the history of the arts in Second Life come to a close? Stay tuned for more details.
While Second Life itself may not be a "game," even though it gets called one a lot out of simplicity, one can play games on it. One company behind one or more you may have played is Ember Games. Jez Ember, the owner of the company, has several games to his name. Some of these are clearly based off of real-life counterparts such as "U-Know" (Uno), "Munchman" (Pac Man), "Clued-Up" (Clue) and more.
Makers of great card, board and action games. Check out our life sized Munchman game; our popular dice game Zilch; Sparkle, our gem puzzle; our detective board game Clued Up; and U-Know, the best uno card game in SL!
If anyone is interested in getting one of these games, or getting one for a friend, hurry up, as it was recently announced the place would soon be closing. As a parting gift, all the games had been marked down to one Linden dollar.
For those who don't know yet, Ember is closing. All boardgames cost 1 L$, which you will get right back, so it's FREE. Games like Ziilch, Uno, Skippy , Sparkle and more..
Checking by the place, the games indeed cost just one linden to get. Not only could you get one for yourself, but you could get one for a friend.
It is unclear how much longer the store will remain open, so hurry.
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