Last Weekend For The Home and Garden Expo

 

After almost a month, the Relay for Life's Home and Garden Expo is winding down. Tomorrow will be the last day of events. The sims and their shops will probably be up a few days longer, though there are always those who pull out right away.So be sure to stop by.

"Building a cancer-free world together."
 

The Relay Track Comes Down

"All good things must come to an end." And so must the Relay Weekend track and it's camps. While the Fantasy Faire has risen in it's own right over the years, nothing has replaced the annual gathering of the Relay teams in a building of campsites and walking together, and raising funds

Sadly, we have to say goodbye to 2019 Relay Season. The sims will stay up until Thurs.  After that, all items left will go into the mystic with the sims. So please clean up before then. Thank you all for the most amazing Relay Season! We are here all season if you need anything! Stay tuned for awards notices and wrap up info too!

While a few builds had been taken down in the few days following the Relay Weekend, most stayed up until the Flood Party on Wednesday afternoon. After that, people started The Takedown. But not everything went down right away. In one case, a building was left half-sunken in the water.

A few teams, once taking down their camps, left a final message.

Team Sunbeamers would meet up one last time at the camp for a few team pictures. With over 400,000 Lindens raised and a campsite trophy under it's belt, it's been a good year for the team. But it might not be over yet. Word has it someone sent a large donation by mail to the RFL in SL in the team's name that once it clears will put the team well over 500,000, and Jade level status.

And so, the sun sets on another great Relay Weekend event. But the season's not over yet. A few teams have one more event. The season finally concludes on June 23 at 10AM with the "Relay Wrap-Up," in which the final awards for the year are given out. But the struggle against cancer won't stop until next year. In October is the "Making Strides" event that raises funds for breast cancer. And in December is the RFL spinoff event, the Christmas Expo.

For those wanting more pictures, you can check out

RFL in SL Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/slrelayforlife/

Wildstar Beaumont: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wildstar_b/albums/72157708988008796

Ishtarkiss: https://www.flickr.com/groups/slrelayforlife/pool/ishtarskiss

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

The Relay Winds Down

Despite the lag on Saturday, it was a good Relay Weekend on July 14 and July 15. Most of the team campsites were up for a few more days, a few being picked up early for whatever reason. After the "Raze the Relay" party, a number of teams moved fast. Rather than simply pick everything up, the Sunbeamers had their Hope Lodge go up in a blaze of glory (image credit Cynthia Farshore).

When I walked the track that night, it looked like half the campsites were gone or mostly gone.

But there were still others up which I explored. Among them, Stingray's designer sim which included a twin-tower roller coaster.

A few people left a final message on their plots.

And so, with the Relay track all but down, the sun is setting on another Relay season. I have heard a handful of complaints, and at least one Relayer told me she will be taking a break next year. But all in all, it was a great season, and for my home community, it's team the Sunbeamers had their best year ever. For me personally, this means the "busy season" is winding down and after a few more articles about the Relay, I'll be able to relax a little. But only a little as the news never stops for long around here.

I'll try to have more pictures up soon. For now, one can check the Relay's Flickr page. Wildstar and Ishtarkiss took a lot of screenshots.

Bixyl Shuftan

Checking the Relay Track

Been doing more checking the Relay Track than writing tonight, as today is the last day most of the camps will be up. So be sure to check out these great builds, such as this tower in the Second Life Cheerleading Squad's campsite at North America Reflection. When someone clicks on it, a piece is added to it. So over time it's gotten quite tall.

This afternoon is the Flood Party, or the "Razz the Sims Party" as it's being called this time. It's from 4-7PM, though which sim it will be on has yet to be announced. Get your free inner tube in the Relay for Life Volunteer's group.

Bixyl Shuftan

OS Grid Hypergrid Business "Winding Down" After Nine Years

For fans of Opensim, some sad news. HyperGrid Business, the leading source of news and other articles about the OS grids has been scaling back it's coverage lately. Maria Korolov, the editor, stated they have just two more articles, "after that, there's nothing else in the pipeline."

"What's Next?" Maria stated, "I’m going to continue maintaining the site itself, so that the article archives stay up, and all the resources stay available. I’m also going to do a monthly active grids list — just the list of active grids, not any of the usage stats. I’ll stop updating the list of popular hypergrid destinations, since I’ll no longer have the traffic numbers.I’ll continue running press releases and guest columns, and the free ads will stay up. We might do a short news piece or two each month as well."

Of her cutting back, "The reasons are both personal and practical. Personally, I’ve moved on from covering virtual worlds to covering cybersecurity and, most recently, artificial intelligence. ... I barely spend any time in OpenSim anymore."

"Practically, there was once a strong possibility that OpenSim would evolve into an open source, virtual reality metaverse. That’s not happening. Our viewers are still stuck where they were ten years ago, without any real support for web or mobile access or for virtual reality headsets. All projects to address that issue seem to have faded away. Instead, the focus has shifted to VR-native platforms from Google, Facebook, and, to some degree, Microsoft. We don’t know yet what Apple is cooking up, but they’re busy as well.

"It’s increasingly looking like the whole SL-OpenSim ecosystem has hit a dead end. It will probably continue to exist as a niche platform for its half million active monthly users, shrinking slightly each year until it’s just a nostalgia thing, like text-based adventure games or manual typewriters."

Those commenting on Korolov's article tended to support her observation about OpenSim. One stated, " The open source developers have been great, but if OS is not to degenerate into an historical curiosity, there needs to be a linking of business cases and investments with resources and developers. Investors need to understand the need for Open Source, and OS developers need to be open to dealing with the changes that come with resources." Another commented, " It does feel like we are stuck in Limbo at the moment. ... Opensim development seems to have hit a dead end." A third remarked, "To get to the next level of user involvement is going to take a lot of development. The kind of capitalization needed to do that means big players will develop it. Yes, there is the possibility of a grass roots development effort, but that is much harder to coordinate." But one remained optimistic about OpenSim, "I think Opensim still has a lot going for it and for those of us that still use Second Life too and are perfectly happy still using our PC's."

Hamlet Au didn't agree with Korolov's comments, at least in regards to Second Life, " I don't quite buy that last bit, because unlike OpenSim, Second Life is still backed by a profitable company with a highly engaged, highly monetized userbase, giving Linden Lab enough money to evolve ... . As with many open source-based projects, OpenSim was relying almost solely on the community spirit and voluntary work of assorted tinkerers and enthusiasts -- and that rarely leads to a commercial product with a consumer userbase." It was his wish though that Hypergrid Business somehow find a way to continue on, "maybe a benefactor could buy the site and take over?"

Sources: Hypergrid Business, New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan