Passing The One Thousand Mark

 

The Newser prides itself on being a daily source of news about Second Life and related topics. I sometimes say we update 363 days a year, leaving out a couple days due to the Internet (and computer hardware) being subject to bugs and glitches. But we usually have two or three articles, leads to articles, briefs, videos, cartoons, announcements, and other posts per weekday and sometimes weekend days. It all adds up, and on Monday our 1000th item for this year went up in the newsletter.

This isn't the first time we've done this. Actually for most of our ten year history, we've posted close to this number, and since 2015 have exceeded 1000 in all years but one. Still, it's something to be proud of. Not only have we done this milestone this year, but we've been doing it for a while, and barring technical difficulties will keep on doing it.

Bixyl Shuftan, Editor

 

Team Sunbeamers Reach Silver

The good news for the Relay for Life's team Sunbeamers continues. Just eight days after the team representing the Sunweaver community reached Bronze rank among the various Relay teams, it's climbed to the next one. The Sunbeamers are new Silver. It was a donation from chieftess Rita Mariner that pushed the total into the next level. As of the writing of this update, the total amount raised this year is 196,240 Linden dollars.

Our team is now SILVER.  Bunny went nutz and dumped 25K lindens into the BID ME kiosks. Now it is up to the rest of you to get us to GOLD!

Some of the money went to the three "Bid Me" events going on with the Sunbeamers. Rose Evans' "Bid Me Human" now stands at 700 Lindens for "stay furry," and 10,500 Lindens for "go human." For Becky Shamen's "Bid Me Bald," the current totals are 150 Lindens to keep her hair, and 17,550 for the "hare cut."  But for Rita's own "Bid Me Pink" event, the balance has shifted from "pink bunny" at 8,550 Lindens to "stay white" at 22,100 Lindens. With almost 60,000 Lindens in total raised by these three events, these "Bid Me"s are proving very beneficial for team morale (though maybe slightly embarrassing for the three volunteers.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

Team Sunbeamers Reach 150,000 Lindens Raised, 50K From One Donor

What a difference a week makes. Several days ago, Team Sunbeamers had raised a total of about 54,000 Lindens. Not a bad total, which was greater than some noted teams such as the Giant Snail Racers and the Relay Wizards for Spunky, but for the team that takes pride in being the heir to the highly successful Passionate Redheads, and being the team of an active community with some noted members such as Lomgren Smalls and Alleara Snoodle, it seemed like the team had seen better days. This year, a number of members were suffering from illness, dealing with family tragedy, or were hit with financial troubles. As one member put it, "we don't have the deep pockets of some of the bigger teams, and lately some of those pockets have been sewn shut."

But fortunes can change, and in the past few dayss they have. On Wednesday night, the team total went up to Bronze level thanks to a donation by Becky Shamen. It was a total that would continue to rise as donations kept coming in over the weekend with our presence at the Relaystock. Then came a surprise. One individual had donated 50,000 Lindens to one of the team's kiosks. Donations would continue to come in, Rita Mariner herself chipping in 10,000, and on Sunday night, the total was 150,000, or $600 US dollars.

Last year, 100,000 was enough to get Silver rank. But this year the requirements have gone way up, the amount needed to reach that being 180 or 190,000 Lindens. But with three "Bid Me" events currently going on (more about them later), and an upcoming air show and road rally, confidence is high that silver rank will soon be reached.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan.

Sunbeamers Reach Bronze, and "Bid Dusk Something" Results

It's been a rough start for Relay for Life in Second Life's Team Subbeamers. Various team members have had problems from economic difficulties to illness to family tragedy. Finding out that the level to reach bronze had been jacked up to 75,000 Lindens also affected team morale. But the members persisted, doing a few events such as the "Fox Avatar Challenge," and slowly collecting Lindens from those inside and outside it's Sunweaver community.

Finally last night, the team reached Bronze rank. As of the writing of this article, the total amount raised by the team this year is $79,494 Lindens.

Next goal: Silver Level, which is at 180,000 Lindens. Only 100.506 Lindens left to go.

Also the results of the team's last "Bid Me" are in. The results of this year's "Bid Dusk Something" was for the gazelle avatar, probably influenced by the "Zootopia" character of the same name. So Dusk Griswold's stuck in the avatar for about a week.

Word has it the Sunbeamers will soon be doing a third "Bid-Me." Stay tuned for more information.

Go Relay!