RFL in SL Video: "2026 Relay For Life - WILD SPECULATION"

 

 (Click here if the video does not play)

 

 From King of Queens Productions in February 7, " This video was created for Relay For Life 2026 in Second Life, celebrating hope, love, and the strength of community. The story follows two teams — Ertina Loopen Memorial Foundation and Hope Floaters — alongside two dinky cats, whose faith is tested as they face a heartfelt question: should they marry, or follow separate paths? 🐾💍 Created with love in Second Life to support cancer awareness, remembrance, and fundraising through Relay For Life.

 

"To vote, please TP inworld to the following Second Life location: https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kangean/138/124/3211 

 

The PBC's Voting Registration And Fall Arrives at Yosemite

 

Gemma Cleanslate went to a couple places to see what was going on there at this time of year. At the Premier Business Center, there's events going on to encourage residents who are US citizens to register to vote. At Yosemite, fall has arrived and the leaves are showing it. But there were also some new places that came about since her last visit.

 

Read Gemma's article in Places. 

Relay 2022 Season Theme Chosen: Heroes of Hope

 

Yesterday on Thursday July 29, Stingray Rainmaker announced that the theme for the 2022 Relay for Life fundraising season had been chosen. After counting the 259 votes made, "Heroes of Hope" came out on top with over 38% of the tally. 

Over the last two weeks, the ACS community in Second Life have cast their votes for the theme of the 2022 Relay For Life of Second Life.

259 votes were cast, making this the largest community decision on a theme in our event’s history. This is a good indicator for how excited everyone is about reaching our $500,000 USD goal.

Each year, our theme guides our motivation, inspires our creativity, and gives each season a unique identity. Considering the fact that our goal for next year is the highest we’ve ever set, we know that it will take a “super-heroic” effort from everyone in the ACS community.

This theme can be interpreted in so many ways, all of which are going to make for an unforgettable Relay season and event. The theme that received the most votes is the perfect description for each member of our community. We can’t wait to see how each team embraces our 2022 Relay For Life of Second Life theme: HEROES OF HOPE.

Among the other choices, "Hope Floats" came in second with 27% of the vote. Third was "Decades of Hope" with 12.7%. "Toon Out Cancer" was fourth with 11.3%. And fifth was "Lights, Camera, Hope" with 10.8%.

Chatting with a few in RFL team Sunbeamer chat, there was a little surprise about the choice made, but general agreement that there was plenty of room with the theme to work with. As to why "Lights Camera Hope" came out last, more than one commented perhaps this was a reflection of peoples' opinions of Hollywood and movies in recent years.

Source: Second Life ACS Information

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Announcement: Vote For The 2022 Relay Season Theme

 

It is time to vote for our 2022 Relay For Life Theme!

We asked for suggestions the last 2 years and this year we are using some of the ones that were previously submitted.

There were plenty of good ones to choose from:

1     Heroes of Hope (Superheroes, first responders, personal heroes, great people in history, survivors, etc.)

2     Lights, Camera, Hope (movies/series/hollywood)

3    Hope Floats (oceans, rivers, swamps, rain, waterfalls, bridges, ice, water, etc.)

4    Decades of Hope (1920s, 30s, 40s, etc.)

5    Toon Out Cancer (cartoons, animation, etc.)

Here is the link to vote!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdiz3LTuaUzpqS1xP5o82Y_L1cks-qSQYjBnbtx9Z4duZEs6w/viewform
 

Vote Open For 2021 Relay For Life Season Theme

For those wondering what the theme will be for next year's Relay Season, the answer has been put up to a vote. A choice of four themes is up:

Cure For A Happy Ending (Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes)

Heroes of Hope (Superheroes)

Lights, Camera, Cure (Hollywood)

Toon Out Cancer (Cartoons)

To vote, Click Here and make your choice.

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Science Cafe"

"Science Cafe"

Saturday, August 15

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

For more information, Click Here

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/206/216/25

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - " Follow The Food 3," "Science Cafe"

"Follow The Food 3"

Saturday August 1,

7:00 AM to 8:00 AM SL time

Follow the Food is a BBC documentary sponsored by one of the big Three agriculture companies, Corteva Agrisciences. It covers the current food chain, challenges to feeding the world, and new technologies in world agriculture. Come watch Season 1 over 4 weeks from July 11th through August 8th with a Q&A after each one with a Corteva Agrisciences Scientist.

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

For more information, Click Here.

*  *  *  *  *

"Science Cafe: The Future of Higher Education"

Saturday August 1

10:00 AM to 11:00 AM SL time

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/206/216/25

For more information, Click Here.

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - " Follow The Food 2," "Science Cafe"

"Follow The Food 2"

Saturday July 25,
7:00 AM to 8:00 AM SL time

Follow the Food is a BBC documentary sponsored by one of the big Three agriculture companies, Corteva Agrisciences. It covers the current food chain, challenges to feeding the world, and new technologies in world agriculture. Come watch Season 1 over 6 weeks from July 11th through August 22nd with a Q&A after each one with a Corteva Agrisciences Scientist.

For more information, Click Here.

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

*  *  *  *  *

"Science Cafe: The Future of Higher Education"

Saturday July 25,

10:00 AM to 11:00 AM SL time

For more information, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/164/184/22

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - " Follow The Food," "Science Cafe"

"Follow the Food"
Saturday July 18,
7:00 AM to 8:00 AM SL time

Follow the Food is a BBC documentary sponsored by one of the big Three agriculture companies, Corteva Agrisciences. It covers the current food chain, challenges to feeding the world, and new technologies in world agriculture. Come watch Season 1 over 6 weeks from July 11th through August 22nd with a Q and A after each one with a Corteva Agrisciences Scientist.

For more, Click Here.

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

*  *  *  *  *

"Science Cafe"
Saturday July 18,
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM SL time

"Selected by means of a poll on the calendar page of our website. Vote for this week."

For more, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/164/184/22

Photogrpahy Contest Voting Up At Newser Office

 Remember the photography contest we announced on June 3? Well, between a few events in real life and covering the news about Second Life, we got a little distracted from our plans to start the voting after a month. But not for long. The seven entries are up at the Second Life Newser office in HV Community for people to look and, and vote on for favorite..

The contest judging is in two parts. One part is by a panel of judges. The second part is up to the residents to decide. So come on over and vote for your favorite of the seven pictures. Just press which one on the voting panel you want. But think about it a moment, once you vote you can't change your mind and cancel it.

You have until Monday July 15 at 11:59PM SL time to vote. After that, we pick up the voting board and tally the count. The results will be announced soon after.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/HV%20community/152/90/25

What Happened With the CDS Elections?

"Suppose they gave an election and nobody came." That wasn't quite what happened with the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, or CDS. But the number of people who stepped up to run for office was small, just enough to fill the seats. Both the soon to be Chancellor, and the current CDS leader, had a few words about the matter to say to the Newser.

Read more in Extra.

Voting Ends Today at 5PM For Avi Choice Nominees

For those who haven't yet voted for the nominees in the Avi Choice Awards, you have until 5PM SL time today to do so. At that time, no more will be accepted, and the votes will be totaled. Among the nominees elegible for an award is the Second Life Newser, which can be found in "The Arts" category. So if you haven't yet, please click the link and vote for us in the "Favorite Magazine, Newspaper or Periodical" poll on the top.

It is suggested that readers look further down "The Arts," as well as "Fashion" and "SL Life"  to see what else they could vote for. For instance, the Relay for Life and a number of groups or people connected to it have also been nominated for awards, such as T-1, Whip, and Krypton Radio, Wildstar Beaumont, and others.

The Avi Choice Awards will be presented on December 4 at 1PM SL time in a show hosted by Trader Whiplash and Nuala Maracas. The sim will be closed to the general public and be limited to the up to 85 people who purchase tickets to the event. The tickets cost 400L, and are non-refundable should the person be unable to attend.

For more information, check out the website at: https://avichoiceawards.com/

Second Life Newser Nominated By Avi Choice Awards For Favorite Newspaper

A month and a half ago, Avi Choice started accepting submissions for nominations for their Last Avi Choice Awards. Last night, they informed the Newser that it had been chosen as one of the nominees. The newsletter had been nominated for "Favorite Magazine, Newspaper or Periodical."

Congratulations!  You have been nominated for an Avi Choice Award!  For the past few weeks Second Life residents have been submitting nominations, for the SLife, Fashion ad Arts categories, via the Avi Choice website.  After a process of consolidation, you are a finalist and eligible for voting.  http://avichoiceawards.com

"Favorite Magazine, Newspaper or Periodical" falls into Avi Choice's category "The Arts." To vote for us, just (Click here) and go to the first part and click next to Second Life Newser.

There are many other selections to vote for such as favorite radio station, favorite DJ, favorite store, favorite annual event, etc. So you may want to browse through the whole list, as well as "Fashion" and "SLife."  Voting ends on Nov. 28th at 5PM SL time. Voting is limited to one vote per avatar.

This year's Avi Choice Awards are planned to be the final one after taking place every year for several years. This final show will happen on Dec 4, 2016 at 1PM SL time.

The Newser has been nominated twice before for the Avi Choice awards, in 2012, and 2015.

Nominations Sought For Last Avi Choice Awards

The Avi Choice Awards, who brand themselves as "the premier annual awards presentation recognizing the people and talent of SL’s™ amazing creations, chosen and voted on by SL™ residents," are once again accepting submissions. However, this will be the final time the awards will be done, at least in their current form.

As announced during last year’s Avi Choice Fashion Awards, we are retiring the Awards, as we know them.  We are talking about continuing our mission forward in some way ...  But for now.. we have an announcement to make! On December 4th, 2016 we will host one more Avi Choice Awards!  The GRAND FINALE!  This one will take us back to the early days of our Awards when we had one program a year celebrating as many recipients in all three genre’s as we could.

 There will be some special mentions and moments as we all say our goodbyes to what has become an amazing part of Second Life history.  This program will be the conclusion of the Avi Choice Awards, as we know them.  It’s been a good run and we could not have done it without support and cooperation and input from the amazing virtual community known as Second Life.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

The Awards are in three categories: Fashion, The Arts, and SLife.

Among the categories for Fashion are clothing, avatar, avatar accessories, and jewelry stores and makers.

The categories of The Arts include "Favorite Magazine, Newspaper, or Periodical," Favorite Radio Station, Favorite Male DJ, Favorite Female DJ, Favorite Streamed Music Club, Favorite Machinima Artist, and more.

For SLife, which has the most selections, categorizes include Favorite Furniture Maker, Favorite Sim to Explore, Favorite Place to Take a Date, Favorite Shopping Region, Favorite Roleplay Sim, Favorite Second Life Blog or Website, and Favorite Second Life Blogger.

Residents have until Wednesday October 12 to cast their votes. Going through the guidelines, there doesn't seem to be any rules against voting for someone or something in multiple categories.

The Second Life Newser fits the "Favorite Magazine, Newspaper, or Periodical" in "The Arts."  But the several sections qualify for "Favorite Second Life Blog or Website" in "SL Life." Bixyl Shuftan and Becly "Sha" Shamen qualify for votes in "Favorite Second Life Blogger," also in SL Life. The Newser has been nominated twice in the Avi Choice Awards, but has yet to win first place in getting an award.

So the Second Life Newser asks you the readers for your support for the Awards.

Bixyl Shuftan

Steelhead Votes For Mayor

 Following Steelhead's weekly town meeting on Tuesday, Interum Mayor Jimmy Branagh declared the polls open. And getting to the place, voting was simple enough, pick up the paper, read the attatched applications of the three candidates for additional information, write down your name and choice of mayor in the respective areas, and drop the paper in the box.

Earlier that day, Jimmy had given his endorsment: for Lunar.

'ello people of Steelhead.  Oy've enjoyed bein' th' Mayor an' awl but tomorrow th' polls open ta select a new permanent toipe Mayor. So make sure ya get yer butt ta th' polls befoe Friday at 9:00 PM when they close.  An' no funny votin' neither. Think Oy won't foind out? As wot will loikely be me foinal official act Oy officially throw me support behoind an' endorse Mr. Lunar ta get back his Mayor's job an' he can be all cushy an' stuff.

Anyone technically a citizen of Steelhead may vote, not just those living there. But Lunar's concern was about the safety and security of the ballots, "Safe secure voting my arse, its a cardboard box!" Someone else thought even the tape holding the box together looked loose.

I saw a number of people drop in. This included one self-described "timelord" who knew who was going to win, but couldn't say who it was. Jobias Barthelmess (the man in black in the second picture) was there when I showed up, but soon left.

Second Life Newser will not endorse a candidate, but will note that aside from Jobias, the campaign has been a remarkably civil one with a general agreement on most issues and willingess to listen and compromise. And the two leading candidates are remaining friends without an ill word with one another. A remarkable feat for an election that this reporter seldom reads about, let alone encounters. 

The polls will be open until Friday, and the winner announced at the next Steelhead community meeting next Tuesday.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Newser Nominated For Best Newspaper by Avi Choice Awards

Second Life Newser received a nomination recently. It was among several publications to be nominated for the "Avi Choice Awards" in Second Life.

The Avi Choice Awards is the premier annual awards presentation recognizing the people and talent of Second Life’s amazing creations, completely chosen and voted on by SL residents.  The 2011 Avi Choice Awards response was tremendous and the websites saw an amazing 35,000 visits and a staggering number of votes.  This year we expect even more.

The Newser was nominated for the category "Favorite Magazine, Newspaper, or Periodical," which was in the "Entertainment" nominations. Some people, places, and groups familiar to readers were also nominated, such as Fuzzball Ortega for favorite DJ, Jaycatt and Frogg for favorite musical duet, and T-1 Radio for favorite radio station. The news was also announced in a notice in Steelhead.

"The Avi Choice Awards is presented each year at the Christmas Expo, a holiday event to benefit the American Cancer Society. And yes, the Steamlands are well represented, including the citizens of Steelhead City listed as 'Favorite SL Group.' Read and vote for your favorite."

Residents have until December 12 at 8PM to vote.

Click Here and scroll down to about the level of the Relay for Life symbol to vote for the Newser.

And It's Obama, Again

Last night, Second Life residents watched the election returns not only on TV, but also got together at locations like the GOP HQ, Cafe Wellstone, and Obama HQ. It was just after 8PM SL time in which the winner was declared. President Barrack Obama had won, overcoming a weak economy with an unemployment rate that would have brought down previous incumbents.

Stay tuned for an in-depth look at election night on the Grid.

Election Day

On Monday while boating on the Blake Sea in the Mizzen sim, Gemma Cleanslate got a reminder of what season it was. She spotted another boat heading her way, and as it got closer, she noticed a certain someone's picture on the sail: the Republican candidate for US President, Mitt Romney. The boat itself had no one aboard. Scripts made it go automatically on it's course, as a floating billboard for the election.

Second Life Newser will not endorse either candidate for office. What we do ask is that people get out and do their civic duty and vote.

For those wishing to discuss the election in Second Life, one can go to the hangout for Democrats/liberals and progressives at Cafe Wellstone in the mainland Pini sim (56, 78, 45) , or the meeting area for Republicans/conservatives at The Republican Party of SL Headquarters in the Sunset River sim (180, 198, 23).

Go out and go vote.

Bixyl Shuftan (image from Gemma Cleanslate)

CISPA Internet Bill Passed in US House

According to Forbes.com, the CISPA Internet bill, which sparked privacy worries among numerous Internet freedom advocates, was passed in Washington. "In an earlier-than-expected vote Thursday evening, the House of Representatives voted 248 to 168 in favor of the bill."

According to writer Andy Greenman, Trevor Timm, a lawyer and activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, felt, "the House’s early vote on CISPA as an attempt by its author, representative Mike Rogers, to squeeze the bill through before its opposition grew any stronger." The bill was also amended before passage, "the House voted to amend the bill to actually allow even more types of private sector information to be shared with government agencies, not merely in matters of cybersecurity or national security, but in the investigation of vaguely defined cybersecurity 'crimes,' 'protection of individuals from the danger of death or serious bodily harm,' and cases that involve the protection of minors from exploitation." It was a move that raised further concerns from opponents. Techdirt.com's Leigh Beadon called it "an absolutely terrible change."

"Somehow, incredibly, this was described as limiting CISPA, but it accomplishes the exact opposite," Beadon wrote, "CISPA is now a completely unsupportable bill that rewrites (and effectively eliminates) all privacy laws for any situation that involves a computer. Far from the defense against malevolent foreign entities that the bill was described as by its authors, it is now an explicit attack on the freedoms of every American."

The bill still has to be passed in the Senate before heading to the White House, which has come out against it recently. Timm saw hope it would be beaten, "We’ve seen an explosion of a variety of groups and congressmen coming out against the bill,” he says. “As the Senate debates this, it’s good that privacy and civil liberties will be front and center.”

Sources: Forbes.com, Techdirt.com

Bixyl Shuftan

SOPA Act Two? CISPA to be Decided in US House as Soon as Today

Remember the mess over SOPA in December and January? This proposed law had the potential for becoming "The Great Firewall of America," possibly meaning the end of favorite places online such as Youtube, Facebook, and Second Life. Despite a Congress seemingly poised to approve it, opposition to it and it's sister bill PIPA grew in numbers. The backers of SOPA eventually shelved it from a vote, and the opponents had seemingly won.

However, a new bill, H.R. 3523,  has made it through committee: the "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act," or CISPA. Intended to "allow the voluntary sharing of attack and threat information between the U.S. government and security cleared technology and manufacturing companies to ensure the security of networks against patterns of attack," the bill "has been criticized by advocates of Internet privacy and neutrality, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation … because they feel it contains too few limits on how and when the government may monitor private information when it might become collaterally entangled in the process of passing threat information, and too few safeguards with respect to how the data may be used; they fear that such new powers may be used to find and punish file sharers and copyright infringers rather than the stated foreign spies or hackers."

An article in Forbes.com describes opposition to the bill as mounting, "On Monday, a group of more than fifty professors, entrepreneurs and information security professionals published an open letter to Congress calling on lawmakers to oppose CISPA and other overbroad cybersecurity bills like the SECURE IT Act … CISPA has a very different focus from SOPA and PIPA, the much-loathed antipiracy bills killed by a similar groundswell of Internet anger in February. Whereas SOPA and PIPA raised fears of censorship, CISPA’s vague data-sharing statutes are largely seen as a threat to privacy, although some are also interpreting the bill as allowing site blocking. And whereas SOPA pitted Silicon Valley against Hollywood, CISPA seems to have the support of many technology and Web-based companies, including Facebook, Microsoft, Symantec, and IBM."

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web, spoke last week the bill "is threatening the rights of people in America, and effectively rights everywhere." Senator Ron Paul spoke out against the bill, saying it would make "government spies of Facebook and Google." Eighteen House Representatives signed a letter opposing the bill, at least in its current form. The White House has also come out against CISPA. Avaaz.org has a petition against the bill with three-quarters of a million signatures, with the goal of making it a million. Reddit has a number of "anti-CISPA discussions."

CISPA is expected to be voted on in the House of Represenatives today.


Sources: Wikipedia, Forbes.com, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Avaaz.org, Reddit,

Bixyl Shuftan