Reminder: Sunbeamer Air Show Today

 

Just a reminder, the Sunbeamer Air Show is today, It starts at 11 AM, and goes on to 6PM SL time. Events go on for the whole six hours, and will provide plenty of entertainment, from aerial acrobatics to DJ music.Plus, there's the balloon rides, the dunk tank with the German 88, and the aircraft displays that have been part of the show for years.

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunlight%20Bay/174/67/22 

 

Press Release: RFL Sunbeamers 11th Annual Air Show

 

Welcome to the 11th Annual Sunbeamer Relay For Life Air Show

Team Sunbeamers welcomes you to the 11th Annual Sunbeamer RFL Air Show Fly-in on Saturday March 29th between the hours of 8AM to 5PM SLT. This year’s theme is World War II USO. There will be planes on display with information about them. You can rezz Your Own Plane and stunt around yourself but do ask you clean it up afterwards. Private flying will stop at 10:45am for the sky to be clear for the flight demonstration teams.

This year we welcome four flight demonstration teams and a closing dance
1. Anemone Wing Walking - 11 am slt.
2. Team Phoenix- 12 noon slt
3. French Air Patrol (PAF) - 1 pm slt'
4. Blue Angles - 2 pm slt.
DJ Kayla and the Kangaroos - 3pm till 5pm

A Pilot will be on hand to give balloon rides around the Sunweaver regions.

There will be a Laser Tag arena as well as a carnival midway with a number of activities to participate in. At each activity we ask for a donation to the Relay For Life kiosk located at each, not required but it would be nice.

On the field are Avatar Cannons! For a donation you will be shot out as an Avatar Cannonball!! Oh, and you should grab the free RFL 2025 logo textured parachute provided so that you have a gently landing.

You can take turns dunking either your partner, a Sunbeamer, or anyone in a dunk tank, Just onnnne little detail, instead of a beanbag you fire a German 88mm shell into its target!! There will be lots of other activities so come explore.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunlight%20Bay/174/67/22

 

Press Release: 2021 Christmas Expo

 

2021 SL Christmas Expo Opens Friday December 3rd
“The 12 Days of Christmas” Helping To Fight Childhood Cancer

Since 2011, the SL Christmas Expo has been “Giving The Gift of Hope”, and is dedicated to children with cancer. The event which supports the American Cancer Society, is the premier Holiday shopping and entertainment event in Second Life. Opening on December 3rd, the “12 Days of Christmas” features more than 150 stores and shoppes, spread over 15 gorgeously designed regions, and brings together merchants, Breedables, entertainers, and volunteers for 12 days of shopping, music, auctions, and holiday special events.   

As always the Holly Jolly Café presents the top performers in Second Life for nearly non-stop entertainment. Buy a ticket for the Holiday Shopping raffles, visit the Christmas Tree Lot and the Merchant village or stop for a Picture With Santa.

Once again, American Cancer Society partner Linden Lab will take part in the Expo with special surprises and events.  Take a picture with Santa Patch & the Elf Moles, get a Limited Edition Patch on a Shelf elf, and check out the newest Linden Homes at the 2021 winter reveal region.

And don’t forget to check out the Holiday Lights at The Lights of Hope home decorating competition, returning once again for 2021. The Lights of Hope regions feature homes decorated for the holidays by some of the best home designers in Second Life and an entire region of Linden Homes decorated by Lindens and Moles. Vote for your favorites by donating to special kiosks located at each home.

While shopping continues until December 14th, The Expo culminates with the giant Winter Breedable Auction and the Holidays of Hope Ball on Sunday December 12th.

For a list of merchant sponsors, entertainment and event schedules* and to learn more about the Expo and how it helps the American Cancer Society fight Childhood Cancer visit the Expo @ https://slchristmasexpo.com/.

If you or a loved one is affected by childhood or any cancer, or want to learn more about the American Cancer Society and its research and support programs visit the American Cancer Society region in SL, the Society website (cancer.org),  or call 800.227.2345 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

The American Cancer Society is the world’s leader in the fight against cancer and is attacking childhood cancers from every angle.

*Note: Merchant Sponsors, Landmarks and Entertainment Schedules will be available on the website during the week of November 29th. Please Check Back.
 

Eleven Years of the SL Newser

 
What is it like to take part in a dream, and one day being the ones to continue the dream?

It was eleven years ago, Saturday June 5 2010 that the leading newsletter of Second Life at the time closed, and the one formed by four of it's reporters that carried on where it left off began. For myself and others, especially SL Newspaper editor Dana Vanmoer, the past several months had been a challenging time. In October, the SLN's main sponsor had gone bankrupt with no warning. Linden Lab had made some decisions such as closing their mentor program that made people wonder about their concerns of the well being of the residents. Over time a number of reporters had left. And events in real life had forced the paper's owner, JamesT Juno, offline and were dragging Dana away. Fortunately I could update the paper when Dana couldn't.

Finally in a meeting in early April, Dana informed us she could no longer keep the Second Life Newspaper going, and it would close in two months. We were shocked and surprised, Gemma suggesting there could be another way. But Dana felt without James' input, there were no other options. After a little time to recover and talk, four of us, Gemma Cleanslate, Grey Lupindo, Shellie Sands, and myself came to the decision to form a new one. And so just as Dana was finishing the closing article for the Second Life Newspaper, the Second Life Newser had begun.

For us, it was a scary time. And for me personally I wondered if I was up to the task. But we had a job to do, and with big stories coming in such as the layoff of a third of Linden Lab, the return of Philip Linden, the Second Life Birthday, and the Relay for Life, we went to work reporting the news. We soon had our office thanks to the Sunweaver community, then our first sponsor, the Podex Exchange. By the end of the year, it was clear we were around to stay. The news would continue to be reported.

And so over the past eleven years, we've written much about the people, places, events, and things in Second Life. While I would make a few changes from Dana's model, the Newser would report the news in much the same style as the SL Newspaper did. While yours truly was the one in charge, we were a team effort, reporting from our perspectives. Shellie had stories about her misadventures with bunny raising. Grey liked to explore around a lot, but would also report on the goings-on with her home community. Gemma would also explore, report on a new art gallery exhibit, and once in a while talk about a nice little fishing event. Myself, I would do a little bit of most everything from writing about goings-on in the Sunweaver community, to breaking news about Linden Lab, an interesting sim I came across, amusing advertisement articles for the Podex Exchange, and more.

Over time much has changed, both with the Newser and Second Life itself. While this paper didn't cover Second Life in it's golden age, it did began as the Lab was reacting to it's end. Over time, the Newser covered three changes of leaders at Linden Lab, and various changes of strategy. We covered the introduction of mesh which would change the way objects and avatars were made. We covered changes in the terms of service, such as one vauge change that caused confusion about the rights of content creators for many months. More recently, there has been Second Life's long slow decline in it's numbers coming to a halt, and then the virtual world experiencing a resurgence as it's numbers grew once more, and then came it's getting acquired by investors.

And the Newser itself would change some. Sadly Shellie Sands and Grey Lupindo would depart as circumstances in real-life dictated changes in plans. But others would come in over time such as DrFran Babcock, Xymbers Slade, Any1 Gynoid, Becky Shamen, Breezes Babii, and many others over time. Each had their own perspective of the virtual world, and covered Second Life from that perspective. Those whom had only been on for just a few months were just as welcome as those whom had been on for many years as sometimes those whom have been around for just a year or less can notice things "oldbies" often miss. And of course those whom have been around for a while have a sense of history and how things used to be, as well as earlier times when residents panicked about the virtual world ending and of course it didn't. In recent times, three fine reporters have joined the team: Anita Kimono, Dancerina Starlight, and Rosie.

But what never changed was our mission to get the news out of the people, places, and events of Second Life, and to do so without unnecessary controversy. Unlike the tabloids, we don't make things up outside of April Fool's day unless it's the occasional piece of SL fiction (such as the advertisements we used to do for Podex). Nor do we need to. Eventually some troublemaker reveals himself, or Linden Lab does something that results in unintended consequences. There have been a few times we've made a mistake, but we try to correct them.

We have done much. Over the past eleven years, we've posted over ten thousand briefs, announcements, videos, cartoons, and of course articles. And for those interested in what happened in the past, one can quickly go back to a certain time and see what was going on, such as previous Second Life Birthday and Relay Weekend events.

And now, eleven years have passed, with the virtual world we cover now reaching it's eighteenth year. Thanks to the combined efforts of our reporters over the years, and of course you the readers, we have not just endured but prospered. It's a different Second Life than the one we started in, but we cover it just the same.

And our future? Some of my friends feel all it would take for the virtual world to collapse is one really dumb move by Linden Lab. But the virtual world's demise has been predicted more times I can count. Most likely, it has at least several years left. Unless there's some unforeseen calamity such as an Internet-destroying solar flare or catastrophic economic calamity, Second Life is here to stay, at least for the rest of the decade. And the Newser will be around to cover it.

Special thanks to our sponsors Lorena Chung Estates, Montecito Bay, The Deathlands, Coral Estates, the Safe Waters Foundation, Farshore Radio, and the Sunweaver Estates. Special thanks to James and Dana who taught us how a newsletter should be run. And of course special thanks to you the readers whose readership makes this paper possible.

Bixyl Shuftan
Editor
SL Newser
 

Scenes From Bay City's Anniversary

On Sunday May 19, Bay City celebrated it's 11 anniversary. The event was marked by the Grid's largest annual parade, followed by a music and dance event at the Fairgrounds. The Newser was there, and got some pictures.

See the story in Events.

Luskwood's Eleventh Birthday Party This Friday

Second Life's oldest active community, hangout, and avatar maker, is about to celebrate it's anniversary, it's eleventh. On Friday, October 24 the celebration officially begins at 6PM with live musician Shannon Oherlihy. At 7PM, the second live performance begins with the popular Frogg Marlowe. DJ Cabaleer takes the stage at 8PM, and at 9PM squirrelgirl DJ Haley arrives to spin the tunes. The DJs for the remaining two hours have yet to be chosen, but Lusk founder Michi Lumin assures something will be going on at the Big Tree until Midnight SL time.