SL Video: "A Higher Power"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

Another video from Nydia Tungsten, "My Angel Jasmine asked for a Video reflecting her beliefes and we came up with this. This is for you Angel."

Meanwhile at Space Engineers: "The Grind"

When not in Second Life, a number of the "Furry Gamers" have been building things in the "Space Engineers" game. This includes Jasmine Dawn Shuftan (known in Steam games as Jazmare), whom has been thinking big on a certain problem: how to get lots of ores in a hurry. She had the idea of making a machine big enough to pulverize whole asteroids. So she came up with a giant rock grinder that I christened "The Grind."

As far as ships go, "The Grind" is truly a beast. Row upon row of rock-chewing grinders that work across huge lengths of surface on an asteroid. It can gather up tons of ores in a hurry. And most of it gets picked up. A few rocks avoid being gathered in by the machine, but not many.

One can see the difference what about a minute of operation did to this asteroid.

Seen from below, "The Grind" is a fearsome sight with all of those rock-gnawing metal teeth. You really do *not* want to be beneath and close when it starts up.

Jasmine made this in her own game, so when the new "Dedicated servers" feature came up and Nydia started a world, she was unable to bring it there. But no doubt she'll come up with something soon that Nydia and other SE players can enjoy.

Bixyl Shuftan.

Meanwhile, Back in Rust ...

I didn't plan on writing about Rust again so soon, but my partner Jasmine's been extra busy with this game. Seems lately there's been some concerns about PvPers, so Nydia and the Angels had the idea of making a new main base in a new location. Jasmine was among those who scouted for the place, and then started building, and building, and building.When this picture was taken, it was six stories high. Since then, at least three more have been added, matching the height of the old base. Jasmine has done most of the work.

This stronghold has a few security features, such as the posts meant to prevent "siege ladders" from being built. So *if* it is found, it'll be too tough for saboteurs to crack.

As for the old base, we may not have a lot of time to empty it. The last update accelerated the "decay" feature, so lone wolves who are busy for a few days may find their base in Rust has, rusted, away.

What's New With the Angels in Minecraft

Nydia Tungsten's Angels group might have started in Second Life, as well as spending most of it's time there, but there are other places they hang out in. Among these is Minecraft, which they first started going to over a year ago. As Minecraft updated, so did then Angels' experiences as the server was rebooted for a new world. Now in a "Feed the Beast" server, the group has some new opportunities, as well as some new challenges.

Read more in Other Grids and MMOs.

"Good and Evil" Night at Club Zero Gravity's "Haunted Woods"

Among the clubs in Second Life having special Halloween events in late October was Club Zero Gravity. To begin with, the space club decided to have it's events from mid-October to Halloween not at the station, but in the "Haunted Woods," a platform created by Jasmine Dawn Shuftan. Last night's party was "Good vs Evil Night, with partygoers dressed up as angels, devils, heroes, monsters, and more.

Tonight at the Haunted Woods, it's "Good vs Evil." Do you see yourself as a perpetual good guy, always wanting to do good and be righteous? Or are you the bad guy, taking delight in acts of villainy and just being bad? Pick a role, and choose a look to go with it, such as an angel or night in shining armor, or a devil or barbarian raider? Or maybe someone "evil in a good way" like a seductress. Whatever role you wish to be, wear it with pride and fly on over.

DJ Reactor spun the tunes for the party, at one point about 20 present and dancing away, "Welcome to the Haunted Woods," visitors were greeted, "Be careful about venturing too far into the forest, as those who go too far often vanish, waking up later on the beach with no memory how they got there."

The party went on for two hours, and eventually it was time to decide the winner. Skylark Lefarve was the one who got the most votes for the 500L prize.

The next party at Zero-G's Haunted Woods is on Thursday, Halloween night, which is sure to be filled with fun, dance, and another prize to give out to the best costume. The party's at Purrfection Estates Hautned Woods (216, 39, 1314).

For those looking for a Halloween party tonight, check out Club Cutlass at 6PM at Sunweaver Space (176, 62, 125).

Bixyl Shuftan

Minecraft: Building Around Angels Villiage

While Nydia Tungsten's been experimenting with Minecraft maps for her friends to game on, the players on her new Angels Village on her servers have continued to build after the village took shape. Quite a few statues and other things were built. Including a tribute to the players.

Read more in Extra.

"Feed The Beast" and The Minecraft Building Contest

Nydia Tungsten and her friends in the Sunweaver and Angel Estates have continued to have plenty of fun in the popular "Minecraft" game. With the players having fun with the "Feed The Beast" version, Nydia decided to put a new server to the test by holding a building contest. So what was build and who won? And what's next in store for Minecraft's Angels?

Read the story in Extra.

Cartoon of the Day

By Jasmine Dawn Shuftan

Steelhead Elections: The Recount

Jasmine Dawn Shuftan attended the Tuesday night town meeting at Steelhead. Among the subjects at hand was the recount of their recent mayoral elections, "Fuzz and his commitee have personally counted the ballots and have come up with the same answer as Jimmy. Jobias has won by a single vote. However we are investigating the ballots themselves ... just because."

Here is a statement by Jobias about the recount:

"Bah! In time, you will come to accept and respect me. I would be there to tell you this myself, but as A SMALL number of you seem to be against the election results, I felt it best to stay safely away from any objects being thrown from me." -Jobias

Jasmine met up with Willow Leafstorm, a member of the "Browncoats." This organization sprung up in resistance to Jobias, determined to keep him from taking office. There are "No Jo" posters going around, Jobais' picture with the international "not allowed" sign over it.

Jobias himself reportedly will be attending the next Friday Night ball at Steelhead, the theme of the party being "Villains Night." There are also stories of a vixen from out of town going around Steelhead, asking about Jobias.

More to come.

Bixyl and Jasmine Dawn Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Picture taken at the "Happy Vixen" by Jasmine Dawn Shuftan, with help from Cynthia Farshore and Shockwave Yareach

By Bixyl Shuftan

Minecraft Angels Village: An Ending and a Beginning

Jasmine Dawn Shuftan and friends have done quite a lot in Nydia's Minecraft server. Havenshire has become a larger and more complex place than Angels Village, from which the server gets its name, and its players have done much. But change is coming, and it looks like new pastures, and tunnels, for the Angels.

Read more in Extra.

SL Newser Building in Minecraft

When Nydia Tungsten first invited me to her Angels Village in Minecraft, she reserved a small cabin with my name, christening it the "MC Newser." As others in the server were making various places away from hers, I had the idea of doing my own: an office building. It was made in a patch of desert not too far away from Angels, and within sight of a desert village christened "Torchlight." After some weeks, three floors were complete, and a sign made of of white and black wool on top on the side facing Angels. While I planned to finish it, I was busy with other things, and it sat there, remaining less than complete.

Jasmine Dawn Shuftan however has been on a building spree in Minecraft. And after my help with her tunnels, she took it upon herself to not just finish the office building, but improve on it. She replaced the black wool with glowstone, with redstone torches just behind them, resulting in a sign in which the letters glowed brightly at night. Then she made a second one on the other side.

Finishing the roof, she added one more touch: five small towers, one for each corner and the center. They have lamps triggered by mechanisms added in recent updates. When the sun goes down, they light up.

So now the office is pretty much complete. While I may add some furiture later, the job is pretty much done. But Jasmine continues to work on her place far to the north of Angels, sometimes called "Jazzytown" by others. So there are still things to do here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Back to Minecraft Part 2

Earlier in April, we reported on the continued activity in the Angels Village Minecraft server. Since then, the activity hasn't stopped but continued, such as the finishing of a long-distance tunnel. So here's a progress report on the digs in Nydia Tungsten's Minecraft realm.

Read more in Extra.

Springtime in Bronytown

The pony, or "brony," avatars and the community that sprung up around them made some news when they first appeared a couple years ago. Not much has been mentioned about them in a while. Recently, Bixyl Shuftan looked around the Bronytown sim just as the local ponies were getting ready for a festival, and saw quite a bit about the place and it's residents.

Read more in People.

Back to Minecraft

Nydia Tungsten's been continuing to do things in Minecraft, along with a few other Second Life friends. Yours truly hasn't been there much as there's always something going on in Second Life. Then my partner Jasmine got into the build and dig game, and it was time to do an update on what's been going on.

Read more in Extra.

The Steelhead Salmons' Kickoff Party

By Jasmine Dawn Shuftan

 Well folks, the Steelhead Salmon's are at it again. They're taking no prisoners this time. Not even the Sheriff Fuzzball Ortega is safe. I hear through the grapevine that he's been locked up, and what do I find when I come to check it out? Why I see ole Fuzz locked up and a 4x4x6 cell. With bail set at 5000 Linden, and him still in his tiny little cell put on public display for all to laugh at, even throwing tomato's was authorized. I thought to offer a pair of scissors to help his "colorful" hairdo. Was digging them out till he started the Gangnam Style dance. Lucky for him, during the event here at Club Gearz, the locals all pitched together, raised the 5000L needed for his release.

Upon his release I asked if there was anything he wanted to say and his reply was that this year, the Steelhead Salmons is more about FUNraising than FUNDraising. Also that it's good to be free.

Within a few short minutes of the Sheriff's release another poor soul, Annechen Lowey, was locked up over slander, and accusations of bad fashion sense. Cost of release: another 5000L. This reporter beginning to fear that she might soon get locked up and unfairly accused of a bogus crime decided to flee the scene and town before these random lock-up's got out of hand. I was later informed that the lock-up event was running till well into the night (9 pm SLT).

Jasmine Dawn Shuftan

For Bixyl Shuftan's article, head to People. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Jasmine has a little Thanksgiving fun with Second Life family and friends at this holiday meal table, with Shockwave Yareach providing some entertainment with his turkey av with a table dance.

"We're having a Turkey dinner here at my place for a 'Shockingly' delicious gathering. ... Even though the food disagrees, we all think he's delicious."


Submitted by Jasmine Dawn Shuftan

Lab's Grid Tinkering May Affect Moderating Larger Groups

Jasmine Dawn Shuftan got the following from the Builders Brewery.

*  *  *  *  * *  *  *  *  * *  *  *  *  *

Beginning tomorrow, Linden Labs will be rolling out some changes across the grid in the code for groups that will affect ALL viewers being used in SL right now - including the SL viewers. The rollout should be completed by Friday

What it means is that you will be unable to access the member lists in any group with 10,000 or more in the group.

You will still be able to get group chat. You will be able to send group notices and invite people to join the group if your group role allows it.

You will be unable to assign a role and you will be unable to eject anyone from the group since you will not have access to that particular individual's name. If you are a moderator in the group, you will be unable to exercise any mod abilities such as taking away chat privileges for the same reason..

The SL viewer should be updated soon. Firestorm will be updated but the timeline is unsure at this point (hopefully this weekend but that's not a sure thing yet).

We have no information about any of the other viewers at this time.

Addition:  Daniel Voyager reported the reason for the code changes, "The new code changes will fix groups using HTTP which makes it more reliable for loading and editing for 10k+ members in SL groups. This is a switch-over from the old UDP which is not that great for handling large groups with 10k+ members. Its slow loading and harder to edit things with additional issues within groups."

Meeting Up With Prokofy Neva

Recently I was contacted by Prokofy Neva, whom had just found out about Second Life Newser and was interested in interviewing me. So he and Jasmine and I met up, and I was the one being interviewed for a change. Prokofy has a reputation for being opinionated, and has been banned from a few places, but he was friendly and courteous to me, and the interview went without a hitch.

One can find Prokoky's "Avatar on the Grid" interview Here on his "Second Thoughts" blog. Expect an interview of this noted personality of Second Life soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Halloween Fun All Over Second Life

It's been a Halloween full of events on the Grid, and Grease Coakes was able to get out and about to a few scary happenings. In his article, he describes his time at Club Zero Gravity, ZZ Studios and the Corner of Revolving Time, in which he encountered his share of thrills and chills.

Read more in People.