The Relay Weekend Approaches

With five days left until the Relay for Life weekend walk from Saturday July 18 to Sunday July 19, the sims of the track are taking shape as the various team camps set up their builds.

In previous Relays, the American Cancer Society sim itself was not part of the track. This year, it is, placed among the sims, and the path going through it like the others.

While many of the exhibits are up, some have yet to be placed there.

But much of it has. This includes the Sunbeamer camp, but we can't show the whole thing yet, though some sneak peaks will be up in a day or two

Because of the huge amount of lag from the numbers the Relay Weekend promises to bring, some people on the Relay teams are taking advantage of the quiet before the crowds, such as our DrFran Babcock of Team Relay Wizards, seeing the track while things can quickly rezz, enjoying what's been put up early.

It promises to be a great weekend, and the Relay has never disappointed.

For more information, check out the RFL website: http://relayforlifeofsecondlife.org/ 

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

Dress For Success

Syndra's Fashion story today is a little different than most. This time she offers advice about how to dress when looking for a job, or rather, how to look when applying for a job. Besides clothing, you also have to think about your hair, and with the development of mesh, things like one's hands are now details. These things can be even more important in adult entertainment where clothing isn't always involved.

Read Syndra's article in Fashion.

Game Review: Ark - Survival Evolved

With "Jurrasic World" in the theaters in recent weeks, it's no real surprise a dinosaur game would be released to the public around this time. And on Steam, the latest wilderness survival game available, "Ark: Survival Evolved," takes place on an island full of dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts. While some are strict plant eaters, and a few are completely harmless to even the clumsiest players, anyone who knows anything about dinos realizes any encounter with a meat eater bigger than you can end very badly. So does this game offer a T-Rex sized bite, or is it as dead as a dodo?

Read the review in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Two Newser Contributors in the Hospital

It hasn't been the best of times for two people connected with the Second Life Newser team, as different circumstances have rendered both of them requiring medical attention.

Xymbers Slade, whom while no longer a filling the position of a full time reporter still sends occasional material. He had the misfortune of being mugged a couple blocks from his home, " I was 50% to unconsciousness, I twist out, and try to throw myself into the street to make a scene. That is when I hear something go POP and I scream. The animals shambled off, but the cops never showed (It's a terrible neighborhood) despite a bystander calling 911 (and people driving by just kept driving)."

"Friend brings me to the hospital, I sit it out a day, then surgery. As basically a skeleton, I can feel the plates. NOT comfortable. Total damage: Fractured humerus bone. Fractured ulna bone, dislocated elbow joint. My guess on recovery: 9-18 weeks with therapy thereafter. No sling, huge cast from above elbow to wrist."

"Looking back, this could have gone much worse. If they had gotten my wallet out of my pocket only to see no cash, I would have been beaten to a pulp at the very least. I got a bad break (literally) but it takes more than a shattered arm to take me out."

* * * * *

Ranchan Weidman isn't often seen in Second Life outside the HV Community sim, usually in her space carrier or the places linked to it in the Robotech roleplay it's a part of. But she has gotten a reputation as a creative builder. While usually quiet, she has occasionally found herself the focus of attention. She is best known as the builder of the Second Life Newser's office, both the old one and the new one. She also did the "space news truck" for our Second Life Twelfth Birthday exhibit.

Unfortunately, Ran has had a little bit of bad luck, or good depending on your point of view. When getting a checkup from her doctor, he found something wrong with her heart that she had to have taken care of very soon. So she's been in the hospital. She recently passed on a message for those in HV Community.

"Nods and kisses. I'm basically a guest right now on involuntary vacation. At least till Sunday night when they will do labs for Monday. After that I'll probably be unconscious for Monday after procedure till late Tuesday. And then conscious again after and home by Saturday give our take a day."

We at the Second Life Newser wish them a speedy recovery.

Cartoon of the Day

Skylark Lefavre requested to be in a cartoon. So here you go Skye. ;-)

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted Cartoon

From Stephanie Meyer, who did one of the "What Second Life Means to Me" videos, "Dear Newsers, Thank you for mentioning my machinima on “What Second Life Means to Me”. I’m hoping to improve. My next machinima will be on Second Life Geography. In the meantime, I’ve been thinking I might try some cartoons."

Stephanie Meyer (not the famous one) otherwise known as Rufferta/Rufferto/Fluttersafar and RuffertasAlt

SL Video: "Flight over Seagull"

(Click here if the video fails to load)

From Marx Catteneo on June, 2010, "Flight over Seagull. Short film about Seagull and it's neighbor regions in Second Life. All buildings in the regions are done by Balthasar Trebuchet, for sim information contact Angel Baxter. Music by Phoenix J http://www.phoenixj.com/ Featuring COCONUTS DeCuir as the bird. Fishing contest hosted by Fredo Nestler. Written, directed and filmed by Marx Catteneo."

Since then, all but one of the Seagull sims have closed, now known as Seagull Island Park.

Grendel's Children Saved From Shutdown

This week, Grendel's Children, a well-known avatar and accessory store, came close to being shut down due to Paypal, and then Linden Lab, bureaucratic stubornness over technical details.

When I asked Toady Nakamura, one of the co-owners of the place, about the problem, she answered, "we seemed to have fixed it. Some snafu in the billing caused the Lindens to lock Flea (Bussy) out right after the holiday weekend, and it took a few days to sort it out. ... today (at) 9:35 am, they let Flea back in.  It was kinda Miracle on Avaria Street, all our old friends and customers came out of the woodwork and between the good energy and their shopping energy, they helped us get around the PayPal/Linden snafu. So (it) was very scary for a while, because they really weren't listening. And even today 'when the fix was in,' it still took 3 calls to get thru to someone down there who had read the memo."

Toady went on, "Ah yes, Paypal (not known to us) decided that all accounts must be VERIFIED. That means something like cellphone or chargecard. Well, (Flea) doesn't have cellphone and the chargecard had rolled over with new expiration date. And kaboom, no good says Paypal, (and the) Lindens go 'no good' and lock him out. So he couldn't get to his linden balance to pay. (It) was annoying, catch 22 and a half,  subsection (really annoying 1.34.c)."

"So finally this morning it all got straightened out, but only after SEVERAL people had run it all up the flag pole and back down. ... We were a couple hours from losing the sims. It was a bit of an overreaction. We wouldn't have raised holy hell without it being so close. It's always around holidays that their billing department goes kukaburra. They did similar to me around Memorial Day 2014. My credit card did same thing, rolled over, new expiration date. And they wouldn't take my premium membership and the letter I got was all full of threats. ... Which was amazing stupid cuz not one week before they'd told me to send in copy of my drivers license and utility bills (which I did) for 'personal verification' and during that time they also threatened to close my account if I didn't comply. So two times in less than 30 days. Their problem solving department was apparently trained by 500-lb canaries."

"The Lab wouldn't listen to you?" I asked. Today answered, "I sent in all my stuff initially, but it wasn't good enough, driver's license and utility bill showing HOME address. They wanted (a) cellphone.  I don't have one. So I was being threatened for verification of something I don't have. And no they didn't listen very well. Ifilled out ticket after ticket and finally one of them was read well enough for comprehension to trickle down. I told them I'd be delighted to get cellphone, but they'd have to pay for it. Then I'd be so happy to give them the # for their files. They stopped being so demanding."

"This time, the Lab listened to a LOT of people freaking out all at one time.  I don't know if they'd have listened to us individually, but I would hope they would have."

"So what happens now?" I asked. Toady answered, "We have to straighten out the Paypal problem. But we have some time now... Hopefully Lindens take look at system that makes 9 year paying customers feel like they went in and out of SingSing. Not nice. But I can't tell them what to do, I can only hold up my end and wish they'd play nicer." She commented of Linden Lab's behavior, " 'plays well with others,' D- this week. 'Takes care of pets and toys,' F. 'Runs with scissors in stairways' (PLEASE!!)."

Toady called the effort by others to prove their worth to Linden Lab a "miracle," "Our customers and old friends, and people we never met before got enough $L in our accounts by buying things to render the PayPal snafu moot for now.  That's miraculous, and MUCHLY appreciated. A total wonderful flock of angels descended on our store and literally saved us. And PS, I never got so much $L in so short a time, even in the old days when sales were wonderful."

Toady had been one of the volunteers at the Second Life Birthday celebration, the builder of their live music stage, and was in the process of dismantling it as the cash flow came in, "I was taking down the birthday sim, prim by prim, set by set. And almost as I was taking prims, the balance of $ was going up up up, inverse, was utterly amazing."

Toady added, "And you could also thank the Lindens who were contacted. I don't know their names, but I know some of the people that heard about this contacted them. One twittered the CEO, others got strings pulled somehow so he didn't have to go thru the 'outsourced billing department' but got bounced 'up into Linden billing,' whatever that difference is. Again I don't know, but those were things we were told to tell him ... when he calls, insist to be transferred to 'Linden billing.' It's just a paperwork/computer problem that got really way too big, and way too out of hand."

Toady stated, "And if I had one wish in all this, is the Lindens would have some sort of algorithm for their customers. Anyone paying for one or two sims for 9 years is not your enemy. They don't deserve to be treated badly. So like have some account history for these poor people in billing. 'Oh gee, 9 years, at least two sims, maybe I should take that into account and skip the threats,' ... yanno really, they should just skip the threats, no matter how long someone been (a) customer. In truth, today's 1 month old sim owner who is late for snafu is just as important as 9 year old member, yanno?"

Toady did say that she wasn't bitter toward the Lab, "I am really grateful that the Lindens did listen, cuz the alternative would be watching 1600 of Flea's avatars disappear totally, plus all his other zany stuff. ... Just today one linden said they remember getting our 'new Linden gift pack' in 2007(?) or 6, and still having all the contents. You know Flea has two avatars in your library? (The) Box Bot (which the Lindens use in their premium adverts), and Fae Dragon ... You have Library > Clothing > Box bot, 'cardboard box bot' and 'dragonlet.' "

Today went on, "Back in the ooooold days, they flew Flea out to San Francisco to receive a Linden award, in 2006, and Philip said 'As goes Grendel's so goes the grid.' I then brought up a few years ago the quote had been used when Grendel's had some trouble. "We had four sims," Toady answered, "two of them went utterly wonky and we couldn't get customer service at all. So Flea sold them. THEN we got customer service for a while. Apparently there was a LOT of press."

Toady would then show me around Grendel's hidden areas, in addition to the roleplay area beneath the store. It was a reminder a lot more would have been lost than just a store had this bureaucratic snafu not been broken.

Bixyl Shuftan

Radegast Has Recieved an Update!

by Celene Highwater

I know this might not mean a whole lot to those using regular SL viewers, but Radegast has just received an update by its developer.

In November 2014, Latif Khalifa announced that he was ill and could no longer continue work on the project. However, we have received the news that the viewer has been updated to version 2.18.
The viewer is a text-based viewer that works well for the blind and visually impaired. This  viewer has allowed people like me to not only enter Second Life, but participate in events and activities as if we were using a 3d viewer. So if you like, please take a look. The project is open-source so if you like what you see and no how to code, please consider helping us keep it alive so those who can't see can continue to enjoy SL.

Source: Modem World

Press Release: Sail for Life and SLCG Blake Sea Ball

Our last event before relay weekend  is the Blake Sea Ball.  Please join us for this event celebrating all we do to support Relay for Life through Sail for Life and SLCG Teams. 

Details:

When July 11 from 2:00 to 5:00
Where:  The Hollywood Bowl
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hollywood/144/71/24
Who:  Music by  by BennyThe Boozehound
What: Dancing, Awards for our Triple Crown Winner and, fight Cancer

So get dolled up, come celebrate

Reader Submitted: Grendel's Bids Farewell to the SL12B

Toady Nakamura, who was the builder of the Live Stage in Spellbound, sent in this picture of how she left the sim after taking the stage down.

Toady, and her partner Flea Bussy, run Grendel's Children, a huge store long known for discount avatars and other goods. There's also a prehistoric roleplay area in the sims.

SL12B: A Message From Doc

Doc Gascoigne, the co-leader of the SL12B staff, had one final message for the people behind the Second Life Twelfth Birthday.

Thank you SL12B Community

 We would like to thank everyone who contributed, volunteered and exhibited. All the DJs and Performers and the builders. It took an army of volunteers to bring this year’s birthday celebration together. 

If you enjoyed this year’s event and want to be a part next year, keep an eye on this blog and stay in the SLB Community Group for notification of next year’s festivities.

 It is always my pleasure to work with all of you.

The message came with the picture above, appropriately titled, "C'ya next time."

Press Release: Volunteers Needed for Civil War RP RFL Carnival

July 11th - Sat -      12pm - 2pm Circus/Carnival
Please Help Fight Cancer -Participate or Volunteer

Please let DakotaCheyenne know which area you would like to help/volunteer for by sending a Notecard with the name of the event you want to help and how you want to help .
.........................................................
EXAMPLE OF NOTECARD:
  DakotaCheyenne - I can do the
  * Circus Tent: 12:30p - 1:30p: - Trapeze
  * Cart/Greeters: 12p- 12:30   * Cotton Candy Cart
  *  Attractions:1:30p to 2pm:  - Fat Lady
  * my RFL team can sponsor the Fat lady exhibit and put out a kiosk
.........................................................
**  ALL PROPS ARE PROVIDED **

* Circus Tent: 12:30p - 1:30p
    - Trapeze
    - Tight Rope Walker
    - Clown
    - Elephant tamer
    - Lion tamer
    - Juggler
    - Target shooter
    - knives thrower ( maybe )
    - trick horse riders
   
  * Cart/Greeters: 12p- 12:30 and 1:30p to 2pm
    * Cotton Candy Cart
    * Juice Cart
    * Popcorn Cart
    * Ticket taker
   
* Attractions:12p- 12:30 and 1:30p to 2pm
Relay For Life Team sponsored Attractions
( RFL Teams may put their kiosk by these Attractions)
    - Fat Lady
    - Bearded Lady
    - Muscle Man
    - Tiger Lady
    - Snake lady or man
    - Tattoo Man
    - Kissing Booth
   
.................................................
Relay For Life Team sponsored games
( RFL Teams may put their kiosk by these games)

    - Bean Bag Toss
    - Greedy
    - Tic Tac Toe
    -  (several more to be announced)

Cartoon of the Day

Taken at Steelhead. 

By Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes from the July 4rth Weekend

In real life, the weather doesn't always cooperate when it comes to having fun on the most American of holidays, the Fourth of July. The heat may drive people indoors, and rain may ruin a good fireworks show. But in Second Life, people are free to have all kinds of red, white, and blue fun, from themed club events, to a virtual fireworks show.

See the pictures in Events.

Nerdapalooza 2015

Welcome one and all to the Nerdapalooza 2015 event!  What is it you may ask? Well it's basically as it sounds actually. Nerdapalooza is basically an event going on from July 5th to the 11th at StormWind for all geeks, nerds, and gamers alike to come and hang out and raise funds for Relay For Life of SL. In the information section of the sim the end states that it is a fund-raiser event for the American Cancer Society. As you can see the land is very unique and of course, a geeks dream. Unfortunately there is only a few more days till it ends depending on where you live of course, but needless to say its worth checking out.

When you arrive there you are  rezzed on a warp pipe from the  beloved and famous Mario Franchise, and with your imagination you can assume you came out of said warp pipe. Around you is a small but interesting place to explore and the different buildings and other warp pipe shaped buildings lead you inside to lists of different vendors selling different items and such, which most of them seem pretty top quality nonetheless. While looking around you can also fine one or two themed ones that are centered around Minecraft and mostly Mario. Upon exploring it I came across items you can buy for your avatar, which aren't totally themed to any games in particular, more of a nerdy style though, but still wonderful!  Besides the vendors and shops there is also a little castle where you can play games or just hang out in the ball pit and yell, BAZINGA!

While there weren't really any people here when I went to check it out, there hopefully will be during the days left of the event. Besides myself I bet many of you geeks, nerds, and gamers a like would want to check this out and hang around here with your friends. Don't forget the important part of it though!; that is to try and donate to a good cause. This sim was of course made possible by a few people, but of course the sim is owned by a group instead of just one particular person. The group is called, 'NFC RFL Designers and Bloggers'. I hope everyone who attends the event has a swell time there!

Stormwind (61/56/3691)

Bloodykitty

Goodbye Second Life Birthday, and Hello Relay Walk

Today, Wednesday July 8 is the last day for the exhibitors at the Second Life Birthday to pick up their exhibits. Already, much of the place looks bare. July 9, the sims all go offline. It was a great fun event, but now it's time to move on.

And just as the SL Birthday is fading away, at least until next year, the sims for the Relay for Life Walk are now open to builders, such as Dusk Griswold here for Team Sunbeamers.

So far, only the team's flag has been placed to say "we're here" at our location on RFL Strength, But the team has been working on parts of the exhibits for the past few weeks, so we'll soon have the camp ready. While the Newser will offer tantilizing sneak peek pictures to show what's there, the whole thing won't be revealed until just before the Relay. Same thing with other team camps (unless they want), although the special designer sims are fair game.

And so in one day, we say goodby to one of Second Life's bigger events, and hello to it's next one.

Bixyl Shuftan

Events This Week at the Sunweaver Clubs

The Second Life Birthday and Fourth of July may be over, and the Relay Weekend may not be until later this month. But there's lots of events going on at the Sunweaver clubs. From "Best in N," "White Night," and "Summer Fun," at Cutlass, to "Pool Party" and "Good vs Evil" at The Vinyl, and the beach parties at the Happy Vixen, there are events six days a week. So come on over and have fun.

Read the schedule in Events This Week.

Over a Thousand Second Life Residents Sign Petitions to Keep Linden Exchangers Open

In the latest article from Hypergrid Business about Linden Lab's announcement for third party currency exchange businesses to shut down after the end of the month, it seems two petitions to keep them running have gotten an number of signatures. One at "savetheexchanges.com" at over 300, and a German language one at "Open Petition" at over 750, for a total as of the writing of this article of over 1050.

Linden Labs says it has many advantages to buy through Lindex, but the fact is, that they will ask you for your RL data, this is something many people in Second Life don’t feel comfortable doing.

We fear the problems, that will be caused by this, will have a great impact on Second Life and its residents. It will be of influence on shopkeepers, residents, and communities. Many SIM’s will have to close down, events, depending on Exchanges, cannot take place and shops with ATM’s and other possibilities to buy Linden Dollars will have to accept losses. 

We need your help! We call on everyone to protest against these incomprehensible and damaging steps that Linden Labs will take from 1 August 2015! Help us to keep the Exchanges in Second Life!

The article described  various residents describing their problems with the upcoming exchanger ban.

“I have no other option than to buy Linden dollars on the Eldex and was shocked about what Linden Labs has done,” wrote Pfister Hammer Matthias from Vilshofen. “My preferred payment option is the Paysave card.”

“I pay through my bank,” wrote Günther Kaffrell from Fürth. “Not with plastic.”

“Unfortunately, the majority of the world’s Internet-enabled population still has neither PayPal nor credit cards nor MoneyBookers,” wrote Beate König from Heiligenhaus. “This poses a huge hurdle for new and current Second Life users.”

“I don’t want to put payment info on file, there are too many griefer tools in Second Life,” wrote “Havoxx Resident” from Berlin. “If they stop the Reseller Program, I’ll stop buying Lindens.”

“I have always used Podex which has provided great service for years,” wrote an anonymous user from Dillingen. “I want it to stay.”

“It is easier and faster to buy L$ with VirWoX,” wrote an anonymous user from Mülheim an der Ruhr. “An immediate transfer is possible.”

“Using PayPal, it takes me two weeks to get money into Second Life,” wrote Ralf Secker from Heilbronn.

Maria Korolov, who wrote the article, added in the comments afterwards, "Those who are using the third party exchanges use them because they have to. The thousand people who signed the petitions signed them for a reason. If they thought the exchanges were ripping them off, they'd go right back to the Lindex."

Unless Linden Lab can be persuaded to change it's mind, the third party currency exchangers will have to close on August 1.

Source: Hypergrid Business

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "SL12B Cake Explosion "

(Click here if the video fails to load)

Of the Cake Stage takedown party on Sunday night, July 5th, Nic Blackthorne had a video up, soon after. The "explosion" takes place around 11:25 into the video, and around 31:30, I appear in the video.

Second Chance at Gachas

Linden currency exchangers have been in the news lately. But what about gacha resellers? Have you found out about a cool item that was on sale at a gacha but it's now over? Syndra takes a look at the market for goods obtained from gachas and are now up for resale to anyone interested.

Read more in Design.

SL12B: The End of the Cake Stage

"All good things must come to an end," and a week after the official end of the Second Life Twelfth Birthday Celebrations, it was time to take down the main stage, also known as the Cake Stage. And so on Sunday July 5, after a day of being closed to all but basic staff, the four sims of the Cake were reopened to all so people could party and witness the cake going "boom." Although it would be more of a collapse then an explosion, they still called it blowing up the Cake.

The festivities began at 4PM SL time. BubbaCJohn (in an Elvis avatar) and Erin Fenser took to the stage and did music for the crowd. Later on, they were joined by a fast-stepping dragon who managed to avoid stepping on anyone.

At 6PM, the main event began to take place. First the stage was raised a hundred meters in the air.

A view of the stage from below.

After some minutes of not so paitently waiting, it finally came crashing down.

What had taken weeks to create disintegrated in seconds.

At ground level, a few people began having more trouble with lag. But most continued to dance.

Yours truly wasn't under the cake when it fell, but in a news chopper piloted by Uccello Poultry. But something went wrong, possibly a stray prim hitting the blades, and we had to bail out.

There were a number of SLB volunteers around, including Mikati Slade, the builder of the cake stage.

And so, the biggest build of the SL12B was now history. But this will be only the first to come down. From tomorrow July 5 to Wednesday July 8 is the "take down" period when the exhibitors pick up their builds. And on Thursday July 9, The Birthday is truly over when the sims themselves go offline.

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Taken at Nydia Tungsten's birthday party

By Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: Farewell Concert and Fireworks at Decades

Guitarist Joaquin Gustav
Sunday, July 5 11:00 am - noon SLT
The Main Pavilion at Decades

The concert will be followed by fireworks and we'll "premiere" a new video by an award-winning RL filmmaker.

The DECADES festival is technically over, but we are going to celebrate one more time with a concert and fireworks this weekend before we take down the region.  Hopefully we'll raise a bit more cash to increase the capabilities of our historical and education communities website.

A highly trained guitarist and professional musician, Joaquin Gustav is one of SL's most popular and requested performers for live music concerts.

Joaquin is from Argentina, the birthplace of the tango.  His repertoire includes smooth jazz sounds, the classic tango and South American music, as well as world, folk, and pop music.

Come to hear and dance to some great music, see the fireworks, visit the exhibits for one last time, donate to support our communities and give a cheer for everyone who worked so hard to make last weekend's festival a reality!

Decades Festival, Vahalla Island (79, 131, 26)

Scenes From Team Sunbeamer's Road Rally

Last weekend on Saturday June 27, Team Sunbeamer, the Relay for Life team of the Sunweaver and Angels communities, held their second annual Road Rally in the Pacific Waters sim. The event took place over several hours much of the day, involving quite a bit of car and motorcycle racing, as well as showing off some wheels. The one with the winning lap took home a prize. But more importantly, this was the event that got the Relay team into Gold level.

See the pictures and story in Events.

Happy Fourth of July

Have a Happy Independence Day from the staff of Second Life Newser

Taken at Carnforth (21, 170, 22)

SL Video: "SL12B Free Avatar Giveaway 'Crazy' "

(Click here if the video fails to load)

June 11, 2015, the day of Linden Lab's early release of their freebie avatar for the twelfth Second Life Birthday.

HuMaNoiD Resurrection

Some longtime residents by remember Dirk Talamesca, whom had a sim named "HuMaNoiD," noted for its detailed exhibits. But Dirk passed away, and regrettably so did his sim. But Dirk had help with building the sim, Wendy Xeno, and she recently brought back some of the items from the sim up for display at LEA6. Gemma Cleanslate was there to take a look.

Read Gemma's article in Design.  

*edited July 4*

SL12B Inteview: Danger and Troy Linden with Saffia and Draxtor

With five "Meet the Lindens" interviews, the Newser reporters couldn't be at every single one. Fortunately they were recorded, so DrFran Babcock had that to work with when writing about the interview of Danger and Troy Linden, respectively the Senior Director of Product and a Senior Producer, of Linden Lab. The interview was done by Saffia Widdershins and Draxtor Despress. DrFran felt the interview was informative, revealing new details about Project Sansar, the official name of Linden Lab's next generation virtual world. But she wasn't entirely happy with how one person performed that day.

Read DrFran's article in People.

Press Release: Burn2 "Primordial"

A primeval jungle surrounds the Playa as it was long long ago, a great lake.  On the edges here and there are hot springs and geysers, some of which remain even until today. Steam drifts from them out across the water in the same way the dust we know so well does today.  Thick mats of vegetation float upon the surface, some large and strong enough to hold sizable structures.  Other mats are less substantial. You must pick your path across the maze of them; one wrong step and you drop below into briny water.  Who knows what else has slipped below? What rests or lives there awaiting its genesis, ready to emerge in the next stage of our growth?

 Artists, builders, creative minds and hands - we invite you to claim your piece of prehistoric playa. Find your place, let the ancient soup teem with a riot of forms, colours and shapes. Plot signups are ready! Oh, and did we mention, plots are FREE! Musicians and DJs, performers of every kind - we invite you to take the stage in this weekend of reverse evolution. Bring your tunes, particles, movements and voices to touch hearts and minds and bring us all together in rhythm. People lovers, friends, inclusionists - populate the welcome area and all through the steamy expanse of water, mud and lava, to draw in those curious and even adventurous visitors and let them step through to a steamily distant past of our playa. Not least of all - Burners and visitors, come to experience a playa before time. You will soon find there are no bystanders, you will become part of the Primordial spectacle.

Roleplay Etiquette

Besides her love of the shopping scene, Syndra is also an avid roleplayer. With roleplaying, there are a few "do"s and "don't"s on how to go about one's way. Recently Syndara came across one example of play that she felt wasn't just a newbie mistake but poor behavior.

Read more in People.

Veterans Isle Raises 100,000 Lindens in Benefit

On Sunday June 26, Veterans Isle held it's monthly fundraising concert. Frets Nirvana and three other live performers played music for the crowd. The event was to raise money for the "Homes For Our Troops" charity.

Frets Nirvana: We are kicking off this July 4th week with our monthly benefit for Homes For Our Troops.  Come out and support our severely wounded veterans and enjoy a great lineup of performers.

The musicians performed on stage with a flag background with a "Homes Four Our Troops" logo. Blindboink Parham was first, starting things up at 5 PM SL time. TerryLynn Melody started playing at 6 PM.
Frets himself took to the stage at 7PM. Finally at 8PM SL time, ReggieSunset Rookswood rounded things out. The donations were made into two kiosks, one on each side of the stage, which resembled overturned helmets.

The crowd was a little lighter than some events earlier in the year, possibly because this was of the Second Life Birthday events going on at the time. Still, there was quite a bit of fun going on. I was there, while TerryLynn was performing. Her performance was well complemented by those in the audience, one saying of a particularly moving tune, "Make me cry again TerryLynn and I am never speaking to you again."

In the crowd, a neko named Mystery Kitten (Mystery Snowpaw) was livening things up with her antics, "Hehe spent my coffee money myself to buy (Lindens)." *keeps singing* "maybe I care scare my RL sons to give more to shut me up." When someone was going around in a Yoda avatar, "Hehe! Matthis has officially made my 8 yr old ... son's night. He loves Yoda (grin) and loves your singing (TerryLynn), he stole my headset." Eventually though, she had to go, "Well all my lovily fellow military bro and sissies and supported huggles till next time. Great to see everyone again. I must poof, RL, little one needs mommy now."

A total of 100,250 Lindens were raised that night.

To learn more about the Homes For Our Troops visit https://www.hfotusa.org

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "What Second Life Means to Me - Skyspinner Soulstar"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Skyspinner Soulstar, on June 28, "For the Second Life 12th Birthday video share project, "What Second Life Means to Me" by Skyspinner Soulstar." http://www.skyspinnersoulstar.com/

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day from the staff of Second Life Newser

(Taken at the Great Canadian Cabin at the Raingap Dynasty sim)

Cartoon of the Day: At The SL12B

Taken at the SL12B Auditorium

By Bixyl Shuftan

SL12B : Marianne McCann, Revisited

While at the Second Life Twelfth Birthday celebrations, DrFran Babcock had a chance to interview Marianne McCann, whom was part of the staff organizing the event. As it turns out, getting the interview arranged took a little trickery on the part of Marianne's fellow coordinator Doctor Gascoigne. DrFran (pictured here in the Linden SL12B avatar) had a few questions for her, such as her opinions about the future of Second Life with new virtual worlds developing and being developed, and where the theme of this year's Birthday celebrations came from.

Read more in People.

The Confederate Flag's Place in Real Life and Second Life

In recent days, the Confederate flag from the American Civil War has been in the news. In the wake of people demanding it be taken down from South Carolina's state capitol building, people have been calling for it's removal elsewhere, and it has been removed from sale in some stores. As it turns out, Confederate-themed items are available in Second Life, including for sale in Marketplace. Following a call by someone in SL media for Linden Lab to ban these items, I contacted someone in the Civil War Roleplay sim in Dakota to talk about the matter. She had a few things to say about it.

Read more in Extra.