More on The Copperfield Heights Linden Homes

 

 

As reported earlier, on Thursday February 26 Linden Lab announced their latest model of Linden Homes: the Copperfield Heights homes, both in the official blog, and the forums. 

Copperfield Heights - Traditional Craftsman homes with spacious living areas and signature architectural design.

The newest in the line of Linden Homes has arrived. These warm craftsman styled homes feature wooden beams, custom wood elements and minimalist Craftsman interiors.

Copperfield Heights is open to all Plus, Premium and Premium Plus Residents. This collection of Craftsman style homes creates communities featuring natural elements and earth tones designed to create an authentic Arts & Crafts neighborhood in Second Life.

 * * * * *

 

 Copperfield Heights brings traditional Craftsman design with spacious living areas and signature architectural details inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement. Warm wood tones, exposed beams, natural stone elements, and multi-paned windows create a neighborhood that feels timeless and welcoming.

Open to Plus, Premium, and Premium Plus members, this collection expands the Linden Homes lineup with a focus on craftsmanship and comfort.

 

Dropping in myself for a look, the place looked like a nice suburb in the middle of winter. As it turns out the neighborhood is designed to change with the seasons, with greenery appearing in the spring, and in the fall the leaves turn brown and red. I would read, "Like Aspen Ridge, Copperfield Heights regions transform automatically throughout the year. ... There is nothing to manage. The seasons shift on their own."

 

But what sets this neighborhood apart from previous Linden Home areas is it's not just Premium homes, not just Premium Plus homes, but both! Among the 512 and 1024 square-meter lots one would expect to find in a Premium Linden Home area are some 2048 sm lots that were previously only in their own spacious neighborhoods. 

 

And in terms of variety of house design, this is the most diverse Linden Home area to date with a total of twelve models. There are four homes with 512 square meter lots, Glenwood, Laurel, Maple Grove, and Prairie. There are four with 1024 sm lots, Cedarwood, Meadowbrook, Millbrook, and Sunnydale. And there are four with 2024 sm lots, Maplecrest, Oakridge, Pinecrest, and Woodland. 

 

If you want to jump right in to look around, this spot is as good as any: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Winesap%20Ridge/128/128/25 

 

Update: The Copperfield Heights area has been expanded to 27 sims, including Copperfield Crossing which connects it to Bellissera. The shore has a boat rezzing area, near All Hours (169,150,23),  so you can sail across. The sims I saw at the edge looked green, so this being March, the change of seasons may have already happened. 

 

There may be further expansions, so those who are interested in a home here, keep an eye here for more sims later. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Cartoon of The Day: Handy Chair

 

 Taken at the Caledon Anniversary celebrations. When people were watching a movie, there were only a few seats around. But this lady found a solution in hand.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

 

SL Video: "Party With A Purpose: A Sunbeamer Tribute"

 

 (click here if the video does not play)

 

From Nydia Tungsten on February 28, "A tribute to the Relay for Life in Second Life's Team Sunbeamers, 'The little team that could.'" Song by EmpressLuna Starchild. 

 

SL Video: "Maxomar - Ocean"

 

 (click here if the video does not play)

 

 From YKZSL on Dec 6, 

Announcement: All Day Caledon Anniversary Celebration Schedule

 

 Starts at Saturday 9am, ends at 9pm!  Come join us!

 9am  - NeoBokrug DJs some "music"
 10am - Trilbymania - Triblymania
 Noon - Justine Plays Live
 1pm  - Dia G. - Dia the Second Duchess of Sound
 2pm  - Secret Steampunk Movie
 4:30pm - Samm Florian: Buildarama!
 6pm  - Magda Fairlander: Swing, brother, swing ...
 7pm  - Major General Badger: Shoegaze on a Shoestring Budget

 Here:  Caledon (194,198,23) 

The PBC Black History Museum

 

At the Premier Business Center, Jarden Alexis has set up a Black History Museum to honor the history of Black Americans. There were a number of people over the course of American history mentioned. The Newser dropped by to have a look. 

 

Read more in Places. 

New Linden Homes: Copperfield Heights

 

As it turned out, the new sims just off the west Bellisseria coast that appeared this week turned out to be the first location for the next group of Linden Homes. The news was announced by Linden Lab yesterday, Thursday February 26.

 

A little more about the homes later (pesky real-life). 

 

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

Saturday February 28

 

    ~*~

 

At 10 AM PST   

 

Formal Debate: STEM versus Arts/Humanities/Social Studies Funding

 

Debaters: Mist and John O'Conner

 

Moderated by Stephen Xootfly 

 

Exact location in sim unknown

 

    ~*~

 

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

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

 

Discord Backs Down: Age Verification Delayed

 

Earlier this month, Discord announced that it's users would need to submit to age verification. Either they would need to show some ID proving their age, or they would need to show a picture or short video of themselves. The result was numerous users complaining. Part of the backlash were concerns about the safety of data collected as in October hackers had stolen the information of 700,000 government IDs owned by the platform via a third party service it was working with at the time. There were further concerns when other hackers discovered "the frontend code for their partner Persona was publicly accessible on the open internet," and the code "compares your selfie to watchlist photos using facial recognition, screens you against 14 categories of adverse media (from mentions of terrorism to espionage), and tags reports with codenames from active intelligence programs consisting of public-private partnerships."

So on Tuesday February 24, Discord announced a change of plans. They were delaying age-verification checks. Discord's co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy would explain:
 

In hindsight, we should have provided more detail about our intentions and how the process works. The way this landed, many of you walked away thinking we're requiring face scans and ID uploads from everyone just to use Discord. That's not what's happening, but the fact that so many people believe it tells us we failed at our most basic job: clearly explaining what we're doing and why. That's on us.
 

Our goal is straightforward: keep the Discord experience completely unchanged for the vast majority of people while ensuring an age-appropriate experience for everyone. Over 90% of users will never need to verify their age to continue using Discord exactly as they do today. This is powered in part by our internal safety systems, which can already make an age determination for many adult users without any user action. We'll publish the methodology behind this in a technical blog post before we launch globally.

Vishnevskiy would go on to say the age-verification was "being shaped by legislation already in effect in the UK and Australia, with Brazil quick to follow, and Europe and multiple US states close behind." They were also no longer in a partnership with Persona, the platform they were working with when the hacking breach happened. 

So Discord users can relax a little, though perhaps not for very long. An article by "The Verge" stated, "Age verification is a reality on a growing number of social media platforms, requiring an ID or facial scan for full access to everything from YouTube to Roblox. The age-gating wave is coming along with calls for stronger child safety measures online, despite concerns about privacy, security, and censorship. In the US, lawmakers are pushing forward bills like the App Store Accountability Act and Parents Over Platforms Act to have app stores themselves verify users’ ages." So users of platforms valuing privacy will likely be needing to be very watchful for a while

 

Sources: Discord, Arstechnica, International Business Times. The Verge  

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

New Sims Off Bellisseria Coast

 

Listening in on Bellisseria chat the other day, it was pointed out there were some new sims on the map. Checking it out, there was a new group of eighteen off it's west coast, next to the "dragon in a boot eating a pickle." They're separated from the rest by a one sim wide gap, and cannot be seen from outside, other than the map, or tped to. 

 

 Hard to say what theme these sims will be. While "Smeagol Brook" sounds like something out of "Lord of The Rings," "Trampoline Man" certainly doesn't.

 

I heard that the sims first appeared on Monday, and at first there were just a few, then more appeared. So by the time this is posted and read, there may be more. 

 

Stay tune for further developments,

 

Update: The sims on the map have changed color, looking wintry, though are still off-limits.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

It Came From Bellisseria Chat: Minion Matress Mischief

 

 From Traci Quandry in Bellisseria chat, "Minions being minions." It looks like her raccoons have been watching the "Meatballs" movie and were inspired by the ending. 

 

"Think we should warn her?"

"Nah she is going to find out quick enough." 

 

Raglan Shire Pre-Valentine’s Day Party

 

Second Life had quite a few Valentine's Day events.  Among them was at the tiny community of Raglan Shire in it's Gazebo. Reporter Netera Landar went there, and saw a variety of the little folk, taking a number of pictures.

 

See Netera's article and pictures in Events.  

Cartoon of The Day: Big Kitty

 

 Taken at Muddy's Music Cafe. One guy had a big pet kitty with him. I could think of one reason to get him, and a side benefit.

 

By Bixyl Shuftan 

 

RFL Team Sugar Skols Hit Two Million Raised

 

On Tuesday February 24, the RFL team Sugar Skuls passed the two million Linden dollar mark in fundraising. They had passed one million over a week ago following their "Battle of The DJs."

 

As of the writing of this article, they are over ,034,000 Lindens and at Diamond Rank fundraising. The Sunbeamers are second with almost 777,000 raised and at Sapphire rank. Third is Team Harmony of Hope with over 573,000 raised.

 

Go Relay! 

 

For current totals, check - https://sasun.info/rfl_teams?s=total_desc

 

New SSP Sims on Map

 

There's some new sims in development by Linden Lab. On the map, far north of the mainlands and Belissaria, One can see a number of light blue squares with the front part of the name being "SSP" followed by a number. There is also a group of ten whitish sims, looking like winter landscapes from above, named "QT 1" to "QT 10."

 

"SSP" has been a common temporary name for sims in development. It's short for "Super Secret Project" according to the Lindens and Moles. 

 

As of now, there's no official word on what these sims are for. But no doubt people will have fun speculating just what their purpose will be.

 

Time will tell.

 

Hat Tip: Zada Bury

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

Willows Pre-Show For Valentine’s Day

 

A little over a week ago, Netera Landar dropped by a place called The Willows, which was having a Valentines Day "pre-show." The place was decorated fancy, and there were a variety of people and outfits at the event. As the owner would say, “We never know who (or what) will come through the door.”

 

Read, and see, Netera's article in Events. 

 

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: Footwear, Colors, TBA

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

Club Zero Gravity: Snowy - Hooves and/or Horns

 

Bouncing Bunny Beach Club:  DJ Snowy - Cyber

Xanadu: DJ Jesse 

 

Montecito Bay:  CAYA, After Dark

Club Scorn: Th 8-12, Sat 2-12

 

Furry Fashion: Beach Party, Halloween, Robots Androids & Cyborgs

 

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

 

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'

 

Abba Tribute By Merryjest

 

 

On Friday February 20, Merryjest Starchild had a tribute performance in honor of the 70s band Abba. 

 

Billed as the "Abba Super Trooper," it was at 5PM SL time, Merryjest singing various songs done by the band. Sometimes the stage would change shape between music tunes. And there was also some trivia about the musicians offered. There would also be a themed costume contest. 

 

It was a unique event delivered as only Merryjest could. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan