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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Fishiversary 2011

7seas Fishing is celebrating four years in business in SL. They are hosting the Fishiversary again for all fishers. Many creators and fishing hole owners have built some cute and lovely and fun places in the sims and are giving great fishing prizes.


Even for those who do not fish it is a great place to rezz a boat and ride around looking at the various builds in the three sims. You will find the rezzers at the ends of the docks. There will be parties and entertainment Friday , Saturday, and Sunday.


I know I will not keep all the “fish,” which may be anything not fish. But it is great fun looking at them all. The fishers are avid to be there and will move from area to area to catch all the custom fish created just for this yearly event. I caught a bookcase with readable books. I caught a tulip from my favorite hat maker and expected a hat. When I wore it I was enveloped by an enormous tulip for the yard.


Many kudos to all the owners and creators of 7Seas Fishing..Seven Shikami, Jen Shikam, Meissa Thorne, and all those who helped them get this ready for us.


Take a tour of the sims or come to an event at Osmium (111, 111, 22)


Gemma Cleanslate

Friday, April 29, 2011

Royal Wedding Exhibit in SL


Today in Britain, the much talked about Royal Wedding between Prince William and his fiance Kate Middleton will take place. In Second Life's London area, one can find an exhibit at Kensington W8 London (69, 241, 22).

And no, no matter how much the girls teased the guards before this picture was taken, they didn't say anything.

Bunny Business at the Bank

The Monday after Easter went much like any other Monday at the Podex Exchange, although Easter was on a few minds. Some of the people talking about their kids eating too much chocolate, and others talking about how their church or synagogue went all out this year.

Then a diminutive form entered the bank. It was a rabbit walking about on it’s hind legs. It trotted over to the tellers, and hopped onto the counter. The teller there wasn’t sure what was going on, but kept a straight face, “May I help you?”

The bunny then asked if there was a safe deposit box available for some rare chocolates. The teller answered that they didn’t have any, explaining they were an exchange that bought and sold Lindens for US dollars and several other legal currencies. The hare scratched it’s head, then asked if Swedish Crowns were among the currencies, saying something about one shipment of chocolate coming from a Swedish Chef. The teller answered they were, and they soon worked out a deal.

The bunny then hopped off the counter, but instead of leaving took a snooze in one of the tree planters. The tellers weren’t sure what to do about it as there were no rules against customers taking naps in the Exchange during business hours. So they left it be, and went about their business.

It was about an hour later when someone noticed the rabbit had hopped away. Where it once rested was a pile of jelly beans. They were quickly shared among the tellers, save one whom remarked something about not feeling like eating them since seeing a movie recently, but wouldn’t go into details.

The Podex Exchange is located at Moonbeam (26, 223, 34), with a website at http://www.podex.info/ . Jacek Shuftan is the CEO.

Bixyl Shuftan

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Basketball in Second Life: The VBA

Some months ago, a group of people began an effort to establish the sport of basketball in Second Life: the VBA. In their home sim of Alpha Cold and other places, their games attract no small number of fans. We recently talked to two of the VBA management staff about how the game came to be on the Grid

Read the article in Design.

Raglan Shire Spring Artwalk 2011

May 8 - 29, 2011 on Raglan Shire & Heron Shire Sims

Raglan Shire is hosting its 6th ArtWalk in May 2011. A 3-week long, multi-sim art festival, it is one of the art highlights of SL. Artist of SL show their artwork, including reproductions of RL artwork (painting, drawing, print, collage, digital fine art) that can be imported and put on a prim , along with SL artwork including virtual photography and sculpture.

Last year we had over 110 artist participants exhibiting in spaces over 2 sims. 2D artwork will be displayed along hedgerows around Raglan Shire and sculptures on Heron Shire sims. The Raglan Shire Sim Cluster is PG.

Teal Freenote is Raglan ArtWalk Director, assisted by Liandras Jameson

Later Today: Basketball

The end of "March Madness" doesn't mean the end of the basketball season. In Second Life, it's only just begining. Later today, SL Newser will take a look at this sport on the Grid.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Mystery’s “Masked Lover” Reveals Himself

For about a year and a half, the sim manager of Mystery has been receiving anonymous love notes and presents from a mysterious "Masked Lover." This Easter Sunday, besides the return of live singer Debi Latte, the day became known as when the mystery Don Juan chose to reveal himself.

Read the story in People.

Featured Destination Video: "Top 10 Photogenic Places in Second Life"



This featured video on the Second Life website shows what the narrator calls the "top ten" of the most picturesque sims in Second Life. People may beg to differ, but this is certainly a good variety of places to visit.

InSilico - INSILICO (187, 173, 3602)

S.I.C. - sick (231, 138, 28)

Parallel Worlds - Farscar New Earth (36, 139, 34)

Antarctic Stronghold - Wolfenstein (134, 22, 19)

Innsmouth - Innsmouth (13, 241, 13)

Alirium - alirium (170, 128, 2)

La Perla II - Furizon (113, 60, 25)

San Francisco - Golden Gate (63, 98, 39)

Paris' Eiffel Tower - Paris Eiffel (33, 169, 247)

Grand Canyon - Grand Canyon (98, 189, 123)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Events this Week in Second Life from April 26 to April May 2

April comes to an end this week, early spring moving on to later spring. And with this week come the events, from talk shows to dance parties, and more.

Notices from Club Zero Gravity and SpiritValley are late, so we are using last week's times.

Read the article in Events.

Saint George’s Church

Besides having fun with bunnies and the Easter eggs, there of course are the churches in Second Life people could experience in Second Life this Easter season. I heard about one such church, St. Georges. Of Eastern Orthodox design, it's primary purpose is to inform people about this old form of Christianity.

Read the article in Places.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Southern Colorado Sim Due to Vanish

When Daaneth Kivioq of Relay for Life’s team “Passionate Redheads” suffered a stroke earlier this month, team members gave their support to their stricken comment in both well-wishes and an event held in his honor. But a few raised one question: “What happens to Daaneth’s sim, Southern Colorado?”

Sad to say, it seems the sim’s days are numbered. Talking to team leader Sabine McGettigan and team member Nydia Tungsten, the sim was paid for another month, but after that nothing, “More renters on the sim would otherwise help, but without a way to get them into Daan’s ... account, there’s just no way.”

Southern Colorado has been the location of a number of Relay for Life events by the Passionate Redheads, from weekly meetings, to music and dance parties, and more. Nydia’s zeppelin club, Little Dove, is there, as is Fimi Falls, named after a Redhead whose battle and end to cancer continues to inspired teammates, many whom know her only by stories.

If you’ve never visited the sim, by all means do so. There is much to see there, including the rental village sometimes overlooked by Relayers heading to events. But what draws many are the falls, which were one of the favorite locations of the late Artistic Fimicloud.

To get to Southern Colorado, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Art and Music at DNA

Art Galleries are wonderful places to spend some time in SL. I came across DNA last week . The three story gallery opened in February and is still acquiring new works of art, so it will be a place to keep in your favorites for a return visit.

I met one of the co-owners, Armany Thursday, on my first visit and learned that the gallery is a place for fusion of music and art. The charter of the DNA states the “primary vision at DNA is to raise awareness, appreciation, and patronage of fine art and live music here in Second Life and to strengthen the arts community as a whole as our artists and patrons get to know one another finding common interests in the arts and ways to collaborate with each other on ideas and projects of their own.”

I wandered the first floor looking at the lovely pieces of art . There are some exquisite sculptures One, by the renowned artist Nessumo Myoo, caught my eye. It is called “Souls Strings Touch.” I consider this piece a perfect example of the fusion of art and music that is the goal of the gallery. The walls of the museum are lined with lovely paintings both inworld art and RL art. There is an entire photo exhibit of Buttons in the outer gallery by Em Larrson. Em 's notecard says her passion is using her camera to make abstract images of beauty. She has two portfolios on that table in the outer gallery if you would like to see more of her works and other of her pieces in the main gallery. Neeks Karu has some haunting images and scuptures you will not want to miss.


Armany and her partner, Dyce Underwood, are still planning to invite more artists and also have many live music events in the sim. There are many more artists for you to check out. You will find a group joiner at the entrance if you would like to keep informed of the new artists and events. The Galley hovers on the edge of the water at Captive Oasis and can be entered here . At the doorway to the main floor you will find a teleport to the 2nd and 3rd floors. Enjoy!


To get to DNA, head to Captive Oasis (202, 206, 51)

Sources: third picture by Nessumo


Gemma Cleanslate


Eye on the Blog: "Dash Deals," bargins on SL Marketplace Through Facebook and Twitter

Last week, Brooke Linden announced on the Official Blog that Second Life Marketplace was introducing an experimental program they called “Dash Deals.”


Everyone loves a great deal, right? So, we’re introducing a new test program called “Dash Deals.” During this test, we will be running one Dash Deal per week, for the next five weeks. Dash Deals will provide Second Life Marketplace shoppers with the opportunity to purchase a specific virtual item for 24 hours at a 50% discount or more. Hand-picked by the Linden team from Merchant submissions, these products highlight the creativity and variety of products available to Marketplace shoppers. We hope that you enjoy our selections and take advantage of the deals! And, if the test goes well, then you can expect to see more Dash Deals beyond the test period. Here’s How to Score a Dash Deal: We’ll alert Second Life shoppers when the Dash Deal is available on Facebook, Twitter, and in a weekly email. Just click on the SL Marketplace link provided, take a look at the Dash Deal item, and snap it up while it’s still available.


This is the latest in a number of ways Second Life has been trying to use the highly popular social media sites of Facebook and Twitter. In this case, using it to encourage the use of its SL Marketplace site (and buy more Lindens to use in purchasing items there. In my opinion, it has potential. Taking a look at the “Dash Deal” thread on the forums, some of the posters expresed skepticism about it, saying the email option would be no good to some as the first Dash Deal was good only for 24 hours, and some people didn’t get emails from Linden Labs until more time than that expired.

One poster, Shockwave Yareach, brought up this might do nothing more than annoy some residents, “Do most customers Like, Dislike, or have no opinion about being prodded over and over about sales, new products and the like? I personally do not have any sort of advertising for the simple reason that I'm in SL to get away from things like that which permeate every second of RL. I thus assume my customers likewise don't want to be bothered -- just sell them their gizmodo and let them have fun with it.”

In New World Notes, Hamlet Au had his own opinion, calling it a “Groupon-style offer (a deal-of-the day website)” that reflected “the current Silicon Valley craze for anything which looks even remotely Grouponic. It's a good move to better monetize Second Life's ecommerce site as the company moves away from its unsustainable land revenue model, but I definitely think it could be improved.” His idea of improvement, have people contact a number of friends to reach a minimum number set before the deal becomes active.

This reminds me of something I’ve seen in Second Life for a while. Many Residents have seen those boards in stores (the name escapes me) which promise a free item if a set number of people (one common number is 25, though may be more at popular places) click on it. I myself have been asked by a few lady friends to port over to one of these boards to click on it so they can get an item of clothing they feel is must-have. A tad annoying at times when you don't want to be bothered, but no arguing it draws shoppers, and money, to stores. I can see Linden Labs doing something similar, but on Facebook and/or Twittter instead of Inworld.

Sources: Second Life Blog, Second Life Forums, New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter


Happy Easter from the crew of Second Life Newser

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Easter Egg Decorating at ISTE Island

Those wanting to do a little Easter egg decorating inworld might want to head to a spot at the ISTE sim, which had a simple but fun way to do the job, as well as offering a lesson in texturing objects in Second Life.

The first thing one does is to click on the yellow Egg Coloring box next to the Easter basket. Doing so will have the box send a folder to your inventory, which contains a couple egg shapes, and a few decoration textures.

Decorating the eggs is simple. First rezz one of the eggs on the ground (click and hold, followed by draging it on the ground). If you want one solid color, go into "Edit, " click the "Texture" tab, then click on the second (white) square to bring up the color screen, and chose which color you want.

If you want a more detailed egg, you still go into Edit and click Texture, but you go into your inventory, chose what texture you like, and drag it onto the second square. This will copy the texture onto the egg.

One thing not shown in the pictures is being able to change the sizes of the eggs. So you can reduce them in scale so they won't look like they came from monster hens.

And there you go. Happy Easter Egg decorating.

You can pick up the Easter Egg kit at ISTE Island (129, 61, 30)

Bixyl Shuftan

Debi Latte to Appear at Mystery Easter Sunday

Among the events on Easter Sunday, one is the return of a popular singer to the "Queen of Hearts" riverboat club at the Mystery sim. Debi has sung at the Queen every other week, until last month when she fell ill. Debi got better, returned to Second Life, and will be singing once again for her adoring fans.

Debi will be singing Easter Sunday at 12 Noon SL time at Mystery (79, 89, 23).

SL Youtube: Greg Colburn "Far From Home"



Earlier this week, Shellie Sands reported on Second Life musician Greg Colburn. In this Youtube, he performs "Far From Home" (From the CD-Album "Save None, Keep None, Change None") at The Acoustic Abyss in Second Life.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Steampunk Art Show

Grey Lupindo reports from the Ataria sim, where the locale is hosting an art show. This one has a steampunk theme. Held in honor of a patron of the arts whom passed away recently, a number of artists are featured here, including the noted Bryn Oh.

Read Grey's article in Design.

The Return of "There?"

Longtime users of virtual worlds may remember “There.” Founded about the same time as Second Life, it didn’t do quite as well despite promoting itself as family friendly and full of games. In March 2010, “There” closed down citing lack of funds due to the lasting recession. A year later, the company behind it Makena Technologies is considering relaunching the virtual world as “There2.” On the website, one can find a link to a survey.


This is just a survey to see if there's enough interest, financially, to re-open what we're calling for now, "There2". ... "There2" would be a PAID service. There would be monthly charge for everyone, except people with lifetime beta accounts. ... "There2" must be an 18+ site. One of the biggest expenses was supporting a PG-13 environment. This does not mean we would allow pornography, hate speeches, or copyrighted materials-- we just won't be responsible for people under 18 using the service.


Makena CEO Michael Wilson published the survey results on his blog “I Am So There,” and about 80% of the 2400 who answered were willing to pay at least $10 a month to be able to get to There2. He also answered a few questions. Asked about avatars with corporate brands on them, they would come back as ordinary as the sponsorships were gone.

It should be mentioned that Second Life began without the option of free accounts, those coming about later when the Lindens wanted to expand their population. And of course it was officially adults only until a few months ago. It’s interesting that returning as “There2,” the virtual world is making a big departure from it's days as being teen-friendly, and going to policies Second Life put aside.

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Over 65,000 Lindens ($260 US) Raised in RFL Event in Honor of Daaneth Kivioq

On Tuesday night, a special Relay for Life event was held in honor of Passionate Redheads team officer Daaneth Kivioq, whom had recently been hospitalized from a stroke. It was a night in which team differences meant nothing, and Daan's friends wanted to wish him well in a way he would be proud of.

Read about it in Events.

Random Ride Through the Stargate

Xymbers Slade recently decided to do some exploring. Not sure where to go, he went to a Stargate to teleport him to random locations in it's network. Not having used it before, he wasn't sure what to expect. What he found, he wrote about.

Read about what Xymbers found in Places.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Cartoon of the Day


"Some girls will just eat you alive."

Bixyl Shuftan

Easter Delights

Looking for an egg tree, or a bunny wishing Happy Easter? As usual Vickijo Rivera is way ahead of you with a myriad of Easter trees, bunnies, flowers and much more! You will find some delightful bunnies, large and small, eggs of all varieties, egg trees, arches and so much more.

The best thing about this place is that as usual it is all free. Sweetsister Silverstar and Saucy Loire, at Vickijo’s direction outdoes themselves at every holiday making sure you will get some wonderful decorations for your homes. I walked across a few emitter rugs that threw out some cute bunnies. I tasted a cake and some candy and found a sweet pair of bunny slippers to wear.

Be sure you get there in the next week to pick up your fun items. Look up in the air and you will find some low prim floaters you may like.

The decorations are available at Tranquility Harbor (50, 150, 22)


Gemma Cleanslate

IBM Announces Closing of Three Art Exhibition Sims

Hamlet Au of New World Notes was recently contacted by his friend IBM Design Researcher Andrew Sempere, or Tezcatlipoca Bisiani as he's known in Second Life. Andrew had a little sad news. IBM would soon be closing three sims used for art exhibitions.

The official statement read, "Since 2006, IBM has maintained a presence in Second Life which has included the venerable IBM 6 sandbox, a home and training ground for some of the grids most talented builders, both IBMers and non IBMers. Through the operation of these servers, IBM has recognized that community building and social content creation are a key part of the value of virtual worlds. With regret we will be closing the IBM Exhibition Space and Sandbox on May 1st, 2011.

"We have had an excellent run and are incredibly proud to have been able to bring you several years of some of the best sim-scale artworks the grid has to offer. The artists we have hosted have gone on to win government grants, brought thousands of visitors to Second Life and helped to raise the profile of virtual artwork for everyone. We wish all of our alumni and visitors continued success in all the endeavors."

Hamlet Au stated IBM used to be a much larger sponsor of Second Life than it is today, once hosting dozens of sims. Most were part of a large virtual campus that in 2007 made the news from a virtual labor protest. But the campus was closed without any announcement sometime in early 2010. As of now, IBM now holds less than 20 sims, not all of which are open to the public.

Hamlet Au speculated Bryn Oh's builds, both artistically well designed and getting much praise and attention from residents on the Grid, were the reason the three exhibition sims lasted for as long as they have. Now, the artists will need another sponsor to house their works.

Source: New World Notes

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

What's Going On in Your SL Church?

Last year at Palm Sunday, the You Are Loved Ministries held a virtual Passover service. Attented by over 80, it was an experience many found educational, some spiritually uplifting, some both.

SL Newser is interested in what is going on at the various churches in Second Life this Easter season. If you belong to a religious group on the Grid, please let us know what special events you will be doing online.

Image from Second Life Newspaper

Events this Week in Second Life from April 19 to April 25

This week in Second Life, stop by Regent's Park in the Mephilo Tor sim this weekend for St. George's Day and have some good English fun in honor of the country's patron saint. Besides this medieval fair, there are numerous dance parties, book and poetry readings, and talk shows.

To read the article, go to Events.

And of course this week has Good Friday and Easter Sunday. While we haven't been passed any bullitens from SL churches (or from synagouges concerning Passover), keep an eye out for them.

Pianist Champagne Rain at Netera's Coffee Lounge


Stopping by Netera's Coffee Lounge on Saturday April 16th, their guest of honor was the talented Champagne Rain. A skilled pianist and singer who performs in real life, she's been making appearances in Second Life recently. This picture was taken while she was both playing the keys, and singing an opera aria.

If you like the classics, by all means drop by an event where she performs.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Music Notes: Greg Colburn and Pillowfish

Shellie Sands is back from her break with a double article on the music scene in Second Life. She writes about Greg Colburn, whom will be moving on to concentrate on his real-life music career. But one group of performers who left, Pillowfish, returned for a "mini-tour" at Woodstock.

Read Shellie's article in Events.

RFL Red Hair Event in Honor of Daaneth Kivioq

Daaneth Kivioq from the Passionate Redheads was hospitalized for a stroke recently. Evangeline Ling of Team Relay for Hope announced, "to show Daaneth and Sabine and all of the Redheads our loving support and solidarity, we will be having a Come in Red Hair event at ACS island. This is a multiteam and volunteer effort to show our love. Redheads kiosks will be used. Keep an eye out for more information coming soon."

The event is Tuesday April 19th, 6:00PM - 8:00 PM.

The Relay for Life Cross-Sim Snail Race

On Sunday April 17th, what was billed as the "Greatest RFL Giant Snail Race of all Time and Space" took place on the Second Life mainland. The action began at 11AM SL time at the Superior sim, and took place across about forty more. Along the track, spectators lined up (the organizers asked for no more than ten a sim). And of course there was Racer X in his macro-bunny, more recently joined by Sante Klees in his giant kangaroo rat, cheering them on.

Considering the enormous lag the race can produce, I went to one of the spots along the way, Canal and Castle at the Lakeville sim. There, I ran into one of the spectators, waving a Relay flag and cheering. It was Ariel Loonie of Luskwood. We chatted a little, watching what snails we could see through the lag go by. I myself checked on the Treet.tv broadcasts time to time.

Ariel and I were in front of a French restaraunt. Looking in the back was a surprise: a dead racing snail. Green mush leaked from the shell. Was this the fate of the loser of one of the races? No one was talking.

The race would go on for well over an hour. Finally, the first snail crossed the finish line just in front of the Noyo sim. Or was it really a snail? Winner Tindallra Soothsayer had a heavily modified racing snail with an Easter theme, notably a big bunny face. Instead of the bubbly froth most snails drooled, Easter eggs dropped from it's mouth.

Meeting up with Sante Klees later, he told me organizers behind the scenes joked it was a "snabbit." Did being part bunny give it an unfair advantage? Perhaps the next cross-sim race in May will tell.

*edit* The film of the event is now available



Bixyl Shuftan

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Grand Opening Party at Savannah's Oasis

Late last night, dropped in on the Grand Opening party at Savannah's Oasis. While not jam-packed, Savannah told me that a number of people dropped by during the day, saying they wouldn't be able to make it, and wished her well.

There was much funnery about, one of the guys prancing for the girls in a dance cage, and then Savannah herself doing the same for the males. Despite the party advertised as "clothing optional," people mostly behaved themselves and kept them on ... mostly. At a couple times, the store caught fire. Fortunately for the insurers, it was soon put out without damage. Savannah must have expected the party to get pretty wild.

Almost unnoticed next to the store was a statue on a fountain. At first I thought someone was hiding behind it. Then I saw nobody was. The statue itself was an avatar! It was probably an alt that someone managed to have on at the same time as her main, but I didn't ask.

In private earlier, Savannah told me the store wouldn't have gotten off the ground if it wasn't for her best friend Covadonga Writer. Longtime readers may remember Cova as one of our beloved coworkers from Second Life Newspaper. A real-life journalist as well, her articles were imaginative, such as her "SLoop" and SL fiction "Real Life Raider" stories.

Cova told me she'd been quite busy in real life for some time, but should be able to be inworld a little more often. Let's hope she'll be able to share some more of her experiences in print.

Savannah's Oasis is at the Beehollow sim at (102,32,22)

Bixyl Shuftan

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Featured Machinima - "Your Pets Will Set You Free"



In this featured machinima on the Second Life website, a group of pirates are set to plunder a town. But getting there, they find no gold, just lonely pets looking for friends.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Savannah's Oasis Grand Opening



★ You are Invited to the GRAND OPENING!!! ★

of

~~ ♥ ~~ SAVANNAH'S OASIS ~~ ♥ ~~




Enjoy dancing, freebies, and drawings
throughout the evening. Win prizes, such as:
☯ A grand piano
☯ Living Room Furniture
☯ A 1000L Shopping Spree

.... and many more!




☸ Come early to get your name in the hat for the drawings!

DETAILS:

DATE: Saturday, April 16th
TIME: 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. SLT
PLACE: Beehollow 102/32/22
(Click Here for Teleport)

♪♫♩ Tunes will be spun by Covadonga Writer ♪♬♩




~~~~~ Come celebrate with us! Bring your friends! ~~~~~



★ NOTE: This is a clothing optional parcel...
wear whatever you like or nothing at all!

Syzygy Steampunk Conservatory Opens

A Steampunk Conservatory is now open to the public at Syzygy Eos (46, 55, 21). Residents of the Syzygy community are experimenting with constructing temporary, rotating installations near their new community center, and I volunteered to do the first one.

The project officially opened on April 9 with an Open House for residents and friends. Among those who stopped by for cake and champagne were Celtic Infinity, Pipsqueak Fiddlesticks, Samantha Glume, Judykins Guyot, Kulta Hannu, Grijandomore Greene, Eugenia Calderon, Bixyl Shuftan, Anika Deschanel, Desiree Laryukov, and Adra Letov.

The Conservatory and most of the items are from Steam4, the steampunk hunt that was held in March. Some of you may remember that I wrote about Steam4. The prizes were fantastic—much too nice to stay in my inventory. The conservatory building is from Primwynly, and the lovely fountain is from Zoe’s Garden. Perryn Peterson, who organized Steam4, was unable to attend the open house, but she participated by donating the steampunk sounds. Some of the more unusual plants that are on exhibit are the Ironopillus, both flowering and immature ones, Iron Leaf Shroom, and Gear Grass. These were part of the “Forest In a Box” collection from Epic Toy Factory.

On a stand inside the conservatory, you will find a Steampunk Journal. It contains note cards about the build, shopping landmarks for many of the items that are on display, and information about the Syzygy community. Help yourself to a slice of Decadent Chandelier Cake and a glass of champagne, too. As you walk through the conservatory, watch out for Jules, a mechanical bird from Damani. He nips.

The Conservatory will be open until May 9.


Grey Lupindo

Thursday, April 14, 2011

A Friend Moves On

Regular readers know of Any1 Gynoid, the perky neko freelance reporter whom once worked with us during the days of Second Life Newspaper, and later joined CNN iReports, inviting us to use her articles. Her articles, although on occasion political, had a bouncy tone and were overall optimistic.

Today, she contacted SL Newser, stating for personal reasons she will stop writing her articles about Second Life. A glance at her iReports page showed only a blank space: erased.

Any1 didn't say what her plans were, but we at Second Life Newser wish her well.