Reader Submitted: It's Only A Pixel Moon (My Time With Areal Loonie)

 

Some longtime readers may remember Areal Loonie, who stood out in his furry bat avatar, in various events such as Luskwood. Inworld since 2005, he was in a number of building and scripting groups. Sadly, Ariel has died. He passed away on February 2.

 

In this reader submission, DrFran Babcock looks at her time with this unique character, both in Second Life and other virtual worlds, which had some happy moments, and sad.

Read DrFran's story in People. 

 

Reader Submission: Moving About the Metaverse

 

Longtime readers will likely remember DrFran Babcock whom wrote for the Newser several years ago. Since then, she's gone on to other virtual worlds, first High Fidelity, then others. Recently, she sent us an article about the state of three other virtual worlds. These are Sansar, which used to be owned by Linden Lab, Horizons, which is owned by Facebook, and Vircadia. So how are these virtual worlds doing? DrFran had some observations.

Read more in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.
 

Haley Salomon's Memorial Service

Earlier this month, there was a memorial service for Haley Saloman. Haley got a little attention earlier in Second Life's history, but for the past several years did not draw the attention of headline news. But she was a friend of many longtime personalities. Her service done in both voice and text, taking place at the Second Life Synagogue.

Read the story in People.

Crew Meeting

On Saturday September 5, members of the Second Life Newser crew met up. Those attending were Wesley Regenbogen, DrFran Babcock, FoxietheJamie, Gemma Cleanslate, Nydia Tungsten (not in the picture) and myself Bixyl Shuftan.

We discussed a number of things, including Team Firestorm's party and the pets that could be picked up there. Gemma showed off her Firekitty, Puffin, from their anniversary party two years before.

We also all posed for a group picture. This time two of us had our pets with us. Guess it was "Take Your Virtual Pet to Work Day" at the office.

Bixyl Shuftan

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.

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 Girls Who Can’t Do Math – Relay Wizards for Spunky Speed Build

While the Second Life Birthday has been the big draw this week, the Relay for Life events continue. Among them has been the "Speed Build" at Builders Brewery for the Relay Wizards for Spunky team. On Wednesday June 24, a number of builders took part in the competition in which they had a short amount of time to come with what they felt would be the best build. DrFran Babcock was there, and wrote about the competition.

So who won? Read DrFran's story in Design.

Cartoon of the Day

At the Cake Stage at the SLB, DrFran Babcock's avatar gets a slight glitch that makes her "above it all" so to speak.

By Bixyl Shuftan

SL12B : First Impressions

Saturday June 20 was Press Day for the Second Life Twelfth Birthday grounds. For DrFran Babcock, it was her first chance to see the builds. With time a bit limited, she only saw a few places, and wrote on two, by Asmita Duranjaya, and iSkye Silverweb. So what did she think?

Read DrFran's article in Design.

What’s Happening In High Fidelity?

Besides Second Life, DrFran has also been checking out the virtual world Philip Rosedale has been working on lately: High Fidelity. While SL 2.0, or Sansar, remains very much an unknown to those outside Linden Lab, High Fidelity has been in open alpha for anyone wanting to go in and try things out. While the avatars aren't always "pretty," Rosedale has been focusing on problems that have been constant banes for Second Life users.

Read more in Other Grids and MMOs.

Crew Meeting

Last Saturday March 7, the Newser held it's monthly crew meeting. Attending were Gemma Cleanslate, Kiirya Huntress, DrFran Babcock, Locke Esgal, Wesley Regenbogen, and myself (Bixyl Shuftan). We also had with us someone who expressed interest in working for the paper, but it didn't quite work out.

We talked about a number of things, such as the trophy we'd gotten from Avi Choice (yay us!), and the Relay season opening this month. Talk turned to our sponsors at Nissan, and Fran and Kiirya sporting their own pony avatars (left and right respectively).

Stay tuned for a month of exciting stories.

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Suicide and Second Life

DrFran's latest article was brought on by another one. Earlier this month, Nydia Tunsten wrote an emotional commentary about dealing with Second Life friend threatening to do himself in. DrFran as it turns out has dealt with matters of mental health in real life. With her experience in mind, she wrote a response.

Read DrFran's article in People.

DrFran’s Alt Goes Hunting: Furry Fashion Valentine Hunt

This week, the Furry Fashion store is running a Valentines Day hunt. DrFran decided to give the event a try, taking a look at what could be found. So what did she think of the hunt?

Read DrFran's article in Fashion.

Crew Meeting

Saturday at Noon at February 7 was when the Newser crew met for it's monthly meeting at the office at HV Community. Those attending included DrFran Babcock, Grease Coakes, Bixyl Shuftan (yours truly), Gemma Cleanslate, and a new writer, Kiirya Lii (kiirya.huntress).

Topics included our new sponsor M&M Creations, which Gemma was especially happy to hear as she remembers them well from her days at the old SL Newspaper, and us being nominated for two awards of Avi Choice (vote here).

A Visit to Linden Endowment for the Arts 17

DrFran Babcock is back with a review of an interesting exhibition. At the LEA 17 sim. Sniper Siemens has built there a series of displays of the history of Second Life. Sniper had tried this once before last year at another LEA sim, though didn't have enough time. So what did DrFran think of his current effort?

Read more in Design.

Crew Meeting, And Remembering Charlie Hebdo

Sunday January 11 was the Newser's monthly crew meeting, discussing out successes for the past month, and what lay ahead in the next month or two. In the picture are DrFran Babcock, Locke Esgal, myself (Bixyl Shuftan), Gemma Cleanslate, and Nydia Tungsten.

Among the things brought up was the terrorist attack in Paris on the real life Charlie Hebdo magazine. Gemma, whom was among those who had written about the memorial to the fallen journalists (and cops) in the Paris area in Second Life, sported a "Je Suis Charlie" (I Am Charlie) T-Shirt.

The magazine would continue to make news with the release of a "Survivor's Edition" this week, in which a cartoon of the Muslim prophet Mohammad crying and holding an "I Am Charlie" sign, the captain reading "All Is Forgiven." The reaction of Muslims seems to be a mixed one, although there were those saying their views on blasphemy need to change, militants called the cartoon an insult that demanded further retaliation and bloodshed.

"To be continued"

The 2014 Christmas Expo and Breedables Fair - Relay for Life

The Christmas Expo is on. Among those getting an early peek was DrFran Babcock. She looked around, not just at the great scenery, but also the items. Ignoring the free samples given out by some, she picked a few items she felt stood above others and fit in with the spirit of the event.

Read more in Fashion.

Geo Roulette: A Game of Random Explorations

Ever feel like just exploring new places? A few years ago Xymbers Slade wrote about doing so using the system of Stargates then. But suppose you have no idea where to find one? DrFran found a new way to visit locations at random and made a game out of it: Geo Roulette. In her article today, she explains the rules and a few locations she found while playing.

Read DrFran's article in Places.

Crew Meeting

 Saturday October 4 was the day the Newser crew met for it's monthly meeting at our office in HV Community. Attending were Wesley Regenbogen, DrFran Babcock, Nydia Tungsten, Theonlyjohnny Resident, and Bixyl Shuftan (myself). Also there was Any1 Gynoid, a former CNN iReporter for Second Life, and Jian Allicot, whom expressed interest in Nydia's idea for broadcast news videos.

Dr Fran showed up a little early. She was back from a vacation in real life, and looking forward to writing again. As usual, she had a pet with her, this time a little piggy she insisted was "lunch." Heh, at that size, expensive bacon.

And with me putting the spotlight on Fran on her pets so much, well, turnout's fair play. Here I am with "Chilly," the Firekitty from the Firestorm anniversary party last month. It got a few jokes from Any1, whom brought up an infamous joke between Johnny Carson and Zsa Zsa Gabor about the pet cat she brought with her and was on her lap. ... well, infamous to me.

Never a dull moment around here.

Bixyl Shuftan

DrFran’s Alt Goes Shopping

After a vacation, DrFran is back, or at least her alt is. And she finally has a new Fashion article. With Halloween approaching, she checks out some Halloween hunts. So what did the intrepid alt scare up?

Read DrFran's story in Fashion.