The Sunbeamer Air Show, And Other Weekend News

 

 Pictures from Nydia Tungsten and Kamida Delec. This weekend saw the Sunweaver Air Show, which took place on both Saturday March 14 and Sunday March 15. While the details on how much was raised on Day Two are not yet available, for Day One a combination of 51,100 for the Sunbeamers and Roos With A Dream combined. 

 

 

There were other Relay events, such as a live music performance by the Second Life Cheerleading Squad. Sadly not all the Relay news was happy as it was announced the upcoming Relaystock and Bid the Lindens Bald will be the last one as the Relay Rockers, the team behind them, will be folding at the end of the Relay season. 

 

In other news, on Friday Linden Lab would announce a new Vice President of Engineering: Jerome Despret. 

 

More on these, and other stories, later.

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Press Release: VWBPE 2026 Conference INSIGHTS 19-21 March 2026 in Second Life®

 

 

The 19th annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference, beginning on Thursday, March 19th, 2026, will be an online distributed conference happening in multiple virtual spaces. This conference focuses on the use of immersive virtual environments for educational purposes, including virtual and augmented reality. 

This year we are returning to our Earth build. Each region represents a different terrestrial biome, including wetlands, desert, badlands, grasslands, and forests. Conference attendees will be able to explore 3D immersive virtual representations of these biomes.

The conference regions will be open to the public on Sunday, March 15th at 9:00 am SLT (Second Life Time / Pacific Daylight Time).

**VWBPE 2026 GATEWAY** 
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20Grasslands%20Gateway/128/123/23 

To the best ability possible, VWBPE provides educational and networking opportunities that are relevant to educational curriculum development utilizing virtual environments and “best practices”. These include

helping to build community through extension of learning best practices to practical application of those ideas and techniques;
providing networking opportunities for educators and the communities that help support education; and
providing access to current innovations, trends, ideas, case studies, and other best practices for educators and the communities that help support education

One of the key challenges faced by the educational community is how to make the best use of new immersive technologies in a way that is sustainable and accessible based on limited budgets available to both instructors and students. Platforms that are free or open source, or that can be shared across a broad audience, are showcased, including methods and research around best practices in their use and applicability.

Our theme for this year is Insights.

The 2026 theme, “Insights”, invites us to look deeper—beyond the tools and platforms—toward the lessons, challenges, and opportunities that are redefining education in an age of rapid technological transformation. For more about the theme, see the blog post here: https://www.vwbpe.org/vwbpe-news/welcome-to-vwbpe-2026-insights.

Join us as we all share experiences and successes in how virtual technologies used in the classroom have helped shape education for the better.

This year's keynote speakers are Philip Rosedale, Ryan Schultz, and Mark Childs. Invited speakers include representatives from Linden Lab, and many of the Thinkerer Award winners. 

The VWBPE conference keynote speakers and their respective presentations are featured on the conference website (http://vwbpe.org), along with a program of exciting presentations, social activities, and networking events that will set extraordinary discussions in motion.  

The VWBPE Immersive Experiences showcase unique and interesting work being conducted across the metaverse. We invite you to join us as we explore eleven interactive and engaging locations across five virtual environments. The Immersive Experiences are scheduled from March 14th through April 1st (exclusive of the conference dates). Details and access instructions for the experiences are found at https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe26-program.   

Additionally, this open and free conference would not be possible without the generous contributions of our VWBPE sponsors. https://www.vwbpe.org/vwbpe-2026-sponsors.   

The Rockcliffe Registration Portal is open for people to register new Second Life® avatars and find out more about the VWBPE conference in-world. Go to https://www.enroll.onl/secondlife.php . The instructions are there to get you and your friends started at this educator-friendly newcomers’ region in Second Life®.

The full conference program is online here: https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe26-program. 

You can also view presentations live on YouTube at http://vwbpe.org/watch. 

All of the conference events will be in Second Life® this year, and the locations are included in the listings. When you click on a conference event and click Add to Calendar, you can add the event to your own calendar (Google and more).

NOTE: Daylight Savings Time
In most of the United States and Canada (and in Second Life), Daylight Savings Time is in effect as of 8 March 2026. In Europe, Great Britain, and many other locations, DST is in effect as of 29 March, 2026, after the conference begins. Check this page to find out when (and if) a time change is in effect for you: https://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/2026.html.


**VWBPE 2026 GATEWAY**
SLurl: 
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20Grasslands%20Gateway/128/123/23 

**VWBPE 2026 SOCIAL VISITOR CENTER** http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20Wetlands%20Marsh/175/158/21 


**KEYNOTES**
https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-2026-keynotes  

KEYNOTE:
Philip Rosedale / SL: Philip Linden
CTO, Linden Lab
Thursday 19 March 2026
12:00 pm noon SLT @ VWBPE Auditorium

KEYNOTE: 
Ryan Schultz
Science & Agriculture Librarian, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg
Friday 20 March 2026
9:00 am SLT @ VWBPE Auditorium

KEYNOTE:
Mark Childs / SL: Gann McGann
Senior Learning Designer, University of Durham (Durham UK)
Saturday 21 March 2026
9:00 am SLT @ VWBPE Auditorium


**INVITED SPEAKERS**

ABOVE THE BOOK: Catching Up with the Lindens
Host: Kevin Feenan / Phelan Corrimal
Linden Lab Guests: TBA
Friday 20 March 2026
1:00pm SLT @ VWBPE Auditorium

ABOVE THE BOOK: Catching up with the Thinkerers
Lynne Berrett / Lissena (Wisdomseeker)
VWBPE 2021 Thinkerer
Saturday 21 March 2026
3:00 pm SLT @ VWBPE Auditorium


**WEB PAGES**

Conference Information: http://vwbpe.org 
Program: https://www.vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe26-program   
Registration: http://vwb.pe/register  
Sponsors: https://www.vwbpe.org/vwbpe-2026-sponsors 
Rockcliffe Gateway to Second Life®: https://www.enroll.onl/secondlife.php 
Watch VWBPE Livestream: https://www.vwbpe.org/watch 

**MAJOR SPONSORS**

Linden Lab
https://www.lindenlab.com/

Rockcliffe University Consortium
https://urockcliffe.com/ 

Knomaze Corporation
https://knomaze.com/ 

Virtual Ability
https://virtualability.org/ 

Agile Dimensions
https://www.agiledimensions.com/blog/ 

Whole Brain Health
https://www.agelessmindproject.org/  


**CONTACT**
Bevan Whitfield
VWBPE Communications Chair
marketing@vwbpe.com 

Cartoon of The Day: Dragons At The Air Show

 

 Taken at the RFL Sunbeamer & Roos Air Show (which raked in 50,000 L on Day One). Among those in the audience were two dragons. Why weren't they flying too? One very good reason came to mind

 

By Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Advertisement: The FREELY Couples' Shared Motion System

 

By Bixyl Shuftan
 

For couples in Second Life, there are a number of things they can do together. They can dance at clubs under a couples danceball . They can sail in a boat seated together.  But they can't usually do much else. A very few parks offer a couples walk poseball, but this isn't an option in almost all of the virtual world. And nowhere can you swim together (an option merfolk pairs should enjoy), or fly together (an option a couple with winged avatars should like). 
 

With this in mind, Wisdom d'Avi Σ (Wisdom Davi) has come up with a solution that can be used most anywhere: FREELY.
 
I interviewed Wisdom, and her partner Oxi (KingOfNorway Oxidor), about the system. She would describe it as, "FREELY is a PG & adult shared motion system for couples that transforms movement into connection. It lets couples move in perfect sync — walking, flying, swimming, running, dancing, and being intimate…. with smoothness and effortless control." Oxi commented, "Basically it allows a couple to get on, spend a couple hours doing whatever couple do and never have to get off it. It's also condifugable, That is, you can add about as many animations as you want." Wisdom added, "peeps will be able to add their own anims and actually change their menu, etc."
 

Oxi described how it could be used, " You want to sit and watch the sunset, fly to the nearby island, stroll through the woods and find a nice glen to sit down and talk, sit on a bench by the path, without having to jump off, swim across the lake and walk out the other side, sit on the couch and watch TV and then walk upstairs to the bedroom, (it's) a relationship builder... you just never have to let go." "FREELY is easy on sim crossings," Wisdom added. Oxi went on, "Oh, and by the way - its has shared control. So either partner can control the motion, and the animation selection." 
 
Oxi did go on to say there was one catch, "It does have the limitation that it has to be rezzed and sat on. So in venues that are no-rez, it cannot be rezzed and used. But if already on it, you can use object entry."
 

A couple could use FREELY to dance. I asked how many dances did it have. Wisdom told me it had 28, though Oxi stated more could be added. He went on to say, "It has an autopilot so that you can chat while walking."

At one point, they decided to demonstrate. There was a demo FREELY on the wall nearby, and they clicked, rezzed it, and got on. They did a few dances at first, showing different styles, Oxi commenting, "ow, I dint even know I could do those moves...." Then they switched over to walking mode, going down the street in sync. They then looked for a bench to sit on, Wisdom commenting, "Actually we can use the bench sit to also sit on the wall, but that takes a little practice. To sit on a bench or furniture you need to walk up to it lock FREELY and choose the correct sit pose, then use the arrows for fine alignment" Oxi remarked, "The thing that is nice is that you are not at the mercy of the bench animator. The sitting animations are all in FREELY. So they work on any bench, or bed, or steps, or wall."

At one point, Oxi had to step away from the keyboard, This left Wisdom in charge. She walked down the street, then to the beach. She then went to demonstrate the swimming animations, but there was one detail, "I can't undress Oxi," so the clothes were left on. Eventually they came back to shore, and soon after Oxi returned, and Wisdom explained what happened, grinning, "We went for swim babe. You're all wet."
 

They did say that it there's a significant difference in height between the two people using FREELY, there'd have to be some one-time manual adjustments made. Also, "The idea that it needs rez able location may sound like a limitation, but I have discovered that there are lots of places that are rez able, and also the mainland has REZ zones, which makes mainland exploration really appealing. Also, many really nice sim allow you to join their group free, so you can rez."

 

Wisdom would explain that FREELY also had intimate pose menus with Adult animations, "It's Intimacy in Motion. ... It works in skyboxes, and dungeons." But since the Newser is a Safe For Work publication, there couldn't be neither pictures or very detailed explanations. 

Wisdom explained that FREELY was still being worked on for some small improvements, "We are working on a couple little improvements to make it totally shared experience and some smoothing of the animations."

Of the price, the non-demo version is 3968L.  
 
As for how Wisdom came up with the idea, that is it's own story. 
 
So for an all-purpose, modifiable, and very versatile couples motion system, consider FREELY by Wisdom d'Avi.
 
Bixyl Shuftan 

_________________________

For more information on FREELY visit the website https://gridwise.company/freely

Step into FREELY’s world at the following demo locations:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Locus%20Amoenus/54/21/24/
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/192/245/24
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solace%20Dreams/64/22/22
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Guanacaste/235/21/25
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noir%20Wen/58/90/23
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FairChang%20Ensenada/219/253/22
 

Reminder: Sunbeamer Air Show Today

 

 Just a reminder. Today is the day of the Relay Team Sunbeamer's annual air show. The fun starts at 10 AM. There will be DJ events, air squadron acrobatics, game such as the bicycle blimp race, and more.  

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunlight%20Bay/121/169/22 

 

Over 170,000 Raised at Veterans Benefit Concert

 

 

On Sunday March 8, Veterans Isle hosted a concert to benefit the Homes For Our Troops charity. The fundraiser went from 4 to 7 PM SL time. Things started off with Texas Starchild, dressed in red, white, and blue, DJing some tunes. Among them were, "Unsung Heroes," "You Can't Spell Hero Without Her," and "If You Have a Right to Burn My Flag (Then I Have a Right to Kick Your *ss)."After him at 5PM was guitarist Chapmap Zane. As the event went on, people donated to two house-shaped kiosks on either side of the stafe.

 

By the time the event was over, a total of 171,000 had been raised. 

 

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

 

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 

Saturday March 14

 

    ~*~

 

At 10 AM PST   

 

Updates in Chemistry

 

Moderated by Michael Shaw PHD

 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/59/128/29

 

    ~*~

 

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝  

Cartoon of The Day: Steamed Up

 

 Taken at Caledon's Writer's Meeting. This charming fellow was all in armor with a boiler for a helmet. So why a boiler? I could think of one reason.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Press Release: Sunbeamers RFL Air Show 2026 - Saturday March 14 and Sunday March 15

 

Team Sunbeamers along with partners Roos With A Dream happily invites everyone to the 12th annual Sunbeamers RFL Air Show March 14 & 15. This year we’re very happy to present to you five flight demonstration teams, a dance, two BYOK dances, contest and lots of fun. Aerial demonstrations Teams and dance with DJ Kayla and the Roos will be performing on Saturday 14th 10:00 am to 5:00 pm SLT. All visitors will arrive at the viewing platform as the air field will be closed to the public until the end of flight demonstrations when the field will then open for the dance.

SATURDAY MARCH 14TH *note ALL times are SLT.
Bleachers open at 10:00 am
Bleachers – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/HV%20community/249/150/41

Anemone Wing Walking – 10:45 am

EAR – Especialistas da Aeronautica – 11:30 am

Team Phoenix – 12:15 pm

Patrouille de France SL – 1:00 pm

Blue Angels – 1:45 pm

DJ Kayla and the Roos – 3:00 to 5:00 pm

SUNDAY MARCH 15TH
Activities begin at 8:00 am and go till 5:00 pm. Be sure to bring friends it will be much better as some activities like the Combat Bumper Cars require more than one. There will be two BYOK dances the first at 10:00 am till noon featuring the Sunbeamers with DJ Cynthia. The second BYOK dance is at 3:00 pm till 5:00 PM featuring Roos With A Dream with DJ Kayla.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunlight%20Bay/121/169/22

 

FogBound Blues Club

Newser reporter Netera Landar recently visited the FogBound Blues Club. Located in Blue Moon Bay, the venue is over a decade and a half old, created by Yanik Lytton and Meredith Mistwalker, and has events every day.  Netera had a few words with it's manager Saphire Jinn about how the place has changed over time, and what and who has helped make it work. 

 

Read Netera's article in Places.  

 

Events This Week at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay Clubs, Furry Fashion, Urban Furry, and Club Scorn

 

Here's what's going on at the Sunweaver, Montecito Bay, Furry Fashion, Urban Furry, and Scorn clubs.

Club Cutlass: Heavy Metal Night, Uniforms, St. Patrick's Day

Happy Vixen: DJ Scratch, TBA, TBA, DJ Khyra

Club Zero Gravity: Snowy - TBA

 

Bouncing Bunny Beach Club:  DJ Snowy - Green and Gold

Xanadu: DJ Jesse 

 

Montecito Bay:  CAYA, After Dark

Club Scorn: Th 8-12, Sat 2-12

 

Furry Fashion: Fir vs Scales, CAYA, Horror

 

Urban Furry :  DJ Juana, DJ Charlee, DJ Whiskey, DJ Vantox

 

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'