Breaking News: Patch Linden Leaving Linden Lab

 

A few hours ago as of the writing of this article, Linden Lab announced it was  "reorganizing its Product Operations and Customer Success divisions." As part of this "reorganizing," a familiar face will be leaving Linden Lab: Patch Linden.

 

As part of that reorganization, Senior VP Product Operations, Customer Success, & Trust & Safety Eric Nix will be departing the company. Eric (known to the Second Life community as Patch Linden) has been a valued member of the Linden Lab team for almost 20 years, playing an important role in the ongoing evolution and growth of Second Life.

“Eric has made meaningful contributions to Second Life over the course of his tenure,” said Brad Oberwager, CEO and Executive Chairman of Linden Lab. “We thank him for his dedication, leadership, and the impact he’s had on both our product and our community, and we wish him the very best in his next chapter.”
 

More on the story later. 

 

Source: Linden Lab

 

Hat Tip: Eric Mondrain

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

BREAKING NEWS: Second Life Hacked, Iranian "Cyberwarriors" Claim Responsibility

 

 ** Update : April Fool's! **

 

If you had trouble staying online yesterday, or couldn't access the website, you were not alone. The website was down for a short time, and for some time afterwards hard to access. People were also crashing more often and having trouble getting back online. 

 

But that wasn't the only trouble. Whole sims were hacked and covered with Iranian flags. There were also signs with pictures of hot dogs & ham and pictures of dogs, with the international "not allowed" sign over them. 

 

*Addition*: There are stories of a few women whom when knocked offline and finally able to log back in found themselves wearing a burka and found themselves unable to remove it until they relogged using another viewer. 

 

A group of self-proclaimed Iranian "cyberwarriors" took responsibility, saying this was part of their fight against America. 

 

There has been no official comment from Linden Lab, though there were some comments from individual Lindens. To read them, head to the forum thread here.  

 

 

Breaking News: Theme For SL22B Announced

 

 

 This just in. A few hours ago, the theme for this year's Second Life Birthday celebrations, the SL22B, was announced. This year's theme is "Myths And Legends."

 

 This year’s Birthday theme is Myths and Legends. It reflects the Second Life experience because we are all the heroes of our own adventures! The emphasis is on the characters and stories people create in SL both personally and within their communities. 

 

The event starts on June 23.

 

More to come. 

Hat tip: DeniseUnicorn Toonie

 

Breaking News: Linden Lab's Executive Chairman Makes Statement on Ageplay Accusations

 

This afternoon, there was an announcement from Linden Lab's Executive Chairman, Brad Oberwager, concerning some accusations that some Lindens and Moles were engaged in ageplay (virtual roleplay of child sex abuse). He stated that the charges are being taken very seriously, and while nothing's been found yet, the investigation is continuing to make double sure.

I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to the Second Life community. Thank you for being part of this wonderful world and giving us the time to carefully assess our situation after we became the subject of a blog post that has the potential to cause harm to our dedicated community members and the virtual world platform that so many people call “home.” 

The post contains a complex mix of accusations regarding Second Life, and it questions our strong dedication to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all members of the Second Life community.

Our Response to the Allegations

At the heart of the blog post were unsettling accusations about sexualized, virtual avatar ageplay, including alleged violations of our community guidelines. I want to be clear: we have a zero-tolerance policy against sexualized ageplay. The safety and integrity of the Second Life platform are paramount to us, especially concerning the protection of minors. 

We will continue to enforce our existing governance policies and community standards and we are proud of our collaboration with law enforcement and organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to combat child exploitation. These efforts underscore our commitment to a safe online environment. 

With that said, I want to acknowledge that we can do better; this has been a harsh wake-up call for us that we need to take tangible actions to improve Second Life’s governance policies and protective features that benefit the entire community.

Our Actions Moving Forward

I promise you that we are taking this very seriously. Very. Full stop. 

I promise we hear you. We know you're angry and you're confused. We are working to do our best to resolve your concerns and restore your trust in us. These are complicated issues and we want to do things right. We will make mistakes along the way. I wish I could say we will not, but we will. 

As owner of Linden Lab, I have initiated a thorough investigation, both internally and with external partners, to review whether or not there have been any violations of our company and community policies by employees, contractors, or community members. While early preliminary internal investigations suggest that some of the accusations are unfounded, I want to make sure that we get additional investigative support externally to ensure that the process is fair and thorough.

One of our top priorities has been to ensure the safety of our residents, moles, employees, and families. There are real people behind the avatars, and it has been important to confirm that nobody was in actual physical danger. 

Additionally, I am taking proactive steps to review and revamp many of our policies, including a comprehensive review of our Community Standards, Content Guidelines, and Ageplay Policy. Any violation detected will be met with swift enforcement actions to protect our community. We’ll be sharing these revised policies in the coming weeks and, critically, we are turning to the community to help us shape the future of how governance operates within Second Life. 

Our Commitment to You

Second Life remains a vibrant platform for expression, creativity, and connection. I and the Second Life team are deeply committed to protecting our community and ensuring that Second Life continues to be a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for everyone. Your trust is our priority, and we pledge to work tirelessly to maintain and enhance the integrity of our virtual world.

I appreciate the patience and support of our community as we navigate this challenge. Together, we will emerge stronger and more united in our mission to build the best possible virtual world experience.

 

The accusations were made from an anonymous account on a blog in late February.  The Newser reported on March that the Lab was starting to investigate them. 

Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

 

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: SL20B Extended

 

For those who wanted a few more days to look around the SL20B area, good news. It was just announced in the Second Life Birthday group that the sims for the event will be staying up until Sunday July 16.

Patch has generously said that the SL20B regions and the Shop and Hop will stay open thru Sunday, July 16. that means there are still seven more days to enjoy SL20B experience! Have fun! And yes parties at the exhibits are allowed!

The news was delivered by Missy Mole (Mischievous Mole), who would add, "I know rumors were floating around since the Meet the Moles talk but I wanted to make sure it was confirmed before we made an announcement."

 

The news was greeted with cheers in the Birthday group, one person musing the "Shop and Hop" being extended would be bad news to her bank account.

 

Once again, the Second Life Birthday sims, including those for the Shop and Hop, will be up until Sunday July 16.

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

BREAKING NEWS: "Dunk A Linden" To Become "Spank A Linden"

 

Update: April Fool!

 

 

 Remember at the "Hug-A-Linden/Dunk-A-Linden" event in which Patch Linden got talked into wearing a "spanker" and got his behind swatted? Well, it seems the feedback was so positive, Linden Lab has decided to do away with the dunking booths next year, and instead residents will be able to take a paddle to Linden Lab's finest.

After numerous requests by the residents for the impromptu spanking event at the Valentine's Day event on Isle of View to be somehow made part of the event next year, we at the Lab talked about it and decided to give it a try. Next year, several Lindens at the Isle will be wearing "spankers." While of course we prefer the hugs, we at the Lab aim to please, even it it means some of you will be aiming for our backsides.

So it seems starting next year, the blue dots will be a little red on the behind.

To read Linden Lab's statement: Click Here. 

Breaking News: SL20B Theme Revealed: "Our Fantastic Future"

 

 

 For those who have been wondering what the theme for the upcoming Second Life Birthday, the virtual world's anniversary, celebrations, will be, the wait is finally over. In the blogpost about the upcoming Music Fest (more on that later), Linden Lab would include the logo (above) and mention the theme.

This year we wanted a theme that not only reflects on where we have been but embraces where we are going. We are celebrating twenty years of Second Life. That is an amazing realization. Who could have imagined in 2003 the vibrant, engaging, and creative community we are in 2023? We are living the future that was only a dream twenty years ago. Now we are projecting the future we hope to see as we move ahead another twenty years as both a community and a world. 

We are pleased to announce our Birthday theme for this year: Our Fantastic Future. The cornerstone of this idea is what we would define as eco-futurism including sustainability, a focus on our environment, and the next generation of our world. Some might call this science fiction, but what is science fiction except a dream for a possible future? In Second Life we build worlds. Our worlds, our way. For SL20B, we invite you to show us your worlds of the future! 

The event will be held from Thursday June 22 to Tuesday July 11.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Linden Lab Buys Caspertech

Earlier today, Linden Lab announced it had just acquired Caspertech. For those who don't know, Caspertech is a business in Second Life most noted for it's rental vendors that allow residents to rent land or other locations in Second Life from other residents instead of dealing with the Lab. For the past few years, they have been the dominant company in that market.

Stay tuned for more information on this development, though you can read more on the Linden blog and a special episode of Lab Gab that appeared today. 

Hat Tip: DeniseUnicorn Toonie, Oldesoul Eldemar

BREAKING NEWS: Hackers Redirecting Residents From Second Life to "Putin World"

* Update - April Fool's*

In what is either an escilation in the growing tensions between Russia and the West, a massive troll by pro-Putin hackers, or perhaps both, residents of Second Life are getting re-routed to the wrong virtual world.

Starting at 1 PM SL time March 31 (Midnight Moscow time), a few residents in Russia, Turkey, and east Africa were finding trying to login to Second Life, they ended up in another virtual world entirely. The entry area looked like Red Square in Moscow, complete with the Kremlin and Lenin's tomb. As time went on, more and more residents in more and more countries, starting when their own region reached Midnight, found themselves in this place as well. As of the writing of this article, a few residents in Eastern Standard Time in the Eastern US, Quebec & Ontario, and Columbia & Peru are posting on Facebook that they've somehow logged onto there. Logging out and logging back in, they end up back in this other virtual world.

This copy of Second Life is called "Putin World." Going beyond the Red Square area, there's a much smaller number of sims than Second Life. There are Russian cities with cheerful workers, Russian towns with happy locals, Russian farms with happy peasants, slums with banks flying American and European flags, with unhappy masses, WW2 battle scenes showing retreating German soldiers fleeing from T-34 tanks, and woods with builds of a bare-chested Putin riding a bear. Everywhere are signs describing Putin as the "glorious leader" who made Russia great again, and that anyone opposed to him is either a fool needing institutionalization, or a criminal needing prison.

So far, only a tiny fraction of residents have been re-routed. But the number has been growing as time goes on. Linden Lab is investigating the hacking, and trying to come up with a solution.

Update. Linden Lab has announced that they've come up with a patch that will prevent residents from being sent to Putin World, and should fix affected accounts and send them back to Second Life.

To read more on the patch and to download it, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Breaking News: Gachas To Be Banned in Second Life

 
A popular way of selling items in Second Life is coming to an end.

In the official blog today, Linden Lab announced that it will soon be banning sales through gacha machines in Second Life. The reason given was "Due to a changing regulatory climate."

Due to a changing regulatory climate, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to sunset a very popular sales mechanism for content in Second Life.  It’s widely known as "gacha", and is defined by a chance-based outcome as a result of a payment.  

We know that creators plan their content releases far in advance and will need to re-tool their products, so to mitigate the impact to those affected, we are giving a 30-day grace period, until midnight SLT on August 31.  After that time, selling content via gacha machines will no longer be permitted in Second Life.  Enforcement won’t start until September 1; after that date an Abuse Report for “Gaming Policy Violation” will be the preferred method of reporting this content to Linden Lab.  

We will continue to allow any sales where a payment is given for a known item, which means that items that had been purchased as “gacha” will be allowed to be re-sold as long as the buyer knows in advance the item and quantity they will receive. We will, of course, still allow fatpacks, and any other currently-allowed distribution mechanisms.

We did not make this decision lightly and we understand that it will impact creators as well as event organizers and certainly the shoppers! We look forward to fun creative ways of engagement that will come instead.  

Probably most familiar with shopping in Second Life knows about gachas. Based on Japanese gashapon games, they've become very popular in Second Life. The way it works is a machine gives one of a number of items listed at random, often with one or more listed as uncommon or rare. Events such as the Arcade and the Gacha Guild have sprung up selling items through only gacha machines. While highly popular, this method of shopping has also been criticized, notably by those calling it a form of gambling.

The ban does not apply to the reselling of gacha items, which has also gotten a following in Second Life, with groups for the selling and trading of them.

This move will no doubt have a big impact on Second Life, as well as be the target of much criticism (and praise from gacha's critics).

The Lab created a thread on the forums about the upcoming ban and invited discussion, and already people are responding, both opposing the ban, supporting it, and asking questions.

Stay tuned for further developments on this big move by the Lab.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Breaking News: Fantasy Faire Extended To May 12

 
Good news for fans of the Fantasy Faire. While it's not official yet, the Newser was present at today's Jail and Bail involving Patch Linden. After hearing calls to extend the ending date of the Fantasy Fair, Patch offered to do so after a few more donations had been made. Finally, enough had been done so.

[15:19] Patch Linden shouts: Thank you everyone!!!!   Enjoy it to the 12th!

So thank you Patch for extending the Faire a few more days.

Bixyl Shuftan
  

Breaking News: Second Life's Cloud Servers Degrading, Lag And Other Issues To Get Significantly Worse

 Update: April Fools

In a stunning development, Linden Lab announced an unexpected and severe problem with the Amazon Cloud Servers that now house Second Life's data. The servers have been deteriorating and glitching, and the problem is going to get much worse.

"It turns out the servers that Amazon provided us with weren't meant to take the strain of a virtual world as active as Second Life is," the statement by the Lab explained, "Not only are we not getting the performance improvements we were hoping for, the lag and other issues such as teleport fails and inventory issues have been slowly getting worse over the past few months."

The statement went on to say that the servers are starting to deteriorate faster,  and so the issues will start to get even worse, and fast. It's estimated that within two weeks, viewers will need four to five times to load information around an avatar after TPing or logging on. Crashes an teleport fails will be several more times likely to happen as well, and items will start vanishing from inventories. Within three weeks, viewers will take ten times as long to process information after logging on or teleporting. That is if people can log on or teleport at all as fails will start to keep people from doing so for five to ten minutes. And within a month, Second Life will become unusable to those without newer and more powerful computers.

Linden Lab is working with Amazon to get better servers and transfer the data to them, but this will take time. For now, the Lab is offering a downloadable code that will allow the servers to better recognize users and their data and not suffer quite as much lag.

For more information and to download the code: Click Here. 

Bixyl Shuftan
 

BREAKING NEWS: Linden Lab Has Been "Acquired By Investment Group"

In a surprise move, earlier today Linden Lab announced in a press release on its website that it was now under the ownership of investors, with Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager as it's leaders.

 Linden Research, Inc. announced today it signed an agreement to be acquired by an investment group led by Randy Waterfield and Brad Oberwager. Closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval by financial regulators in the U.S. related to Tilia Inc.’s status as a licensed money transmitter as well as other customary closing conditions. Upon closing, Mr. Waterfield and Mr. Oberwager will join the Board of Directors of Linden Research, Inc.

Randy Waterfield is described in his Linkedin page as "the Chairman of Waterfield Group, a diversified financial services holding company" with holdings in "technology, real estate, and asset management." The man is also described as a member of Mensa and a graduate of Harvard. He also worked at Goldman Sachs as an asset manager.

Bradford Oberwager  had this to say in his LinkedIn, "I have founded and/or run five tech/CPG companies—Jyve, Bare Snacks (acquired by PepsiCo), True & Good! Snacks, Acumins/more.com (acquired by HealthCentral), and Blue Tiger/Open Webs (acquired by CarParts). Of course, I founded more than these five, but I have had my share of failures as well. Learned a lot from them. These companies were built in partnership with spectacular executive teams and based on strong cultures. My father always said, 'The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.' At each of these companies, our 'main thing' is culture. We are obsessed with it. These teams believe diversity of thought is essential to success and understand with diversity comes conflict, which we wholeheartedly embrace. We have complete trust—in each other and in the certainty that in working through the conflict in a healthy way, we’re going to get someplace good."

The press release did quote Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab, as saying, "I’ve known Brad for 14 years personally and professionally, and I’m confident he will bring his passion and proven strategies to help Linden Lab achieve new heights in distribution, scale, and quality while remaining true to the original vision, creativity, and community that makes Second Life unique and special.” So the Lab is trying to put a positive spin on the change.

It's too soon to tell what effect this change will have on Second Life. But there's already discussion brewing about it, in various groups inworld and a thread in the official forums. Do you have any comments? Feel free to leave them below.

Stay tuned for more information on this breaking news.

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Last Names Are Back

Good news for Second Life residents with "Resident" as the last part of their account name, which is everyone who signed up after late 2010. Linden Lab just announced that after months of development, users can now either get or change their surnames. Or in layman's terms, last names are back. At least if you have a Premium account.

Given the ongoing interest in “last names” among our community,  we’ve reinstated “last names” effective today as a new option for Second Life Premium Members. If you have a Premium account, you will be able to visit https://secondlife.com/my/account to change your first, last or both names. In the true spirit of the original “last names” option last seen in 2010, participating Residents will once again be able to choose from a rotating list of available last names. Some names may only be available for a limited time, so if you see one you like then you might want to claim it quickly!  

Already changed your name and want to go back to one of your old names?  You can do that too!  After you have changed your name once, you will see a list of your previous names below the list of available last names.

To begin with, the option is available only to Premium accounts, which are $11.99 USD a month. Also, one will need to pay a fee to have their name changed, $39.99 USD. So someone with just a basic account will need to pay $51.98 USD.

The Lab has made available a Frequently Asked Questions page.

Stand by for further details in what is clearly a long-anticipated and big development in Second Life


For the blog post in full, Click Here.

Breaking News: Linden Lab to Downgrade Second Life Graphics in Response to Coronovirus Internet Slowdown

*Updated: April Fool!*

As many of us know, with more people staying home due to the Coronovirus Crisis, the Internet has been taxed more than ever before. Nexflix has had to downgrade the quality of it's movies. Youtube has had to do the same with it's videos. And Sony has decreased the download rate of it's games. And now, Second Life has been added to the list as Linden Lab announced that due to the ammount of people using the Internet these days, in a few days the quality of it's graphics will be significantly downgraded.

"We had hoped that the situation would be temporary," Linden Lab's CEO Ebbe Altberg/Ebbe Linden stated in the announcement, "But it is becoming clear that with the growing numbers of people, the Internet is being slowed down almost to the point of Los Angeles at rush hour. So unfortunately, we'll have to reduce graphics quality for the forseable future."

The changes are expected to take hold in a week. For those wishing to take an early peek, the viewer for the downgraded SL is available. Yours truly downloaded it, and took a few pictures. The results were the graphics quality were, severely cut, to put it mildly. Rather blocky like a 1980s eight bit game in three dimensions. But there was no more lag.

To read the statement from Linden Lab, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Linden Lab May Be Looking to Sell Sansar

Earlier this month, Linden Lab hit it's Sansar staff with it's second round of layoffs in two months, raising questions about the future of the virtual world. At Strawberry Linden's "Lab Gab" show today, the first thing CEO Ebbe Altberg / Ebbe Linden brought up was their plans for it. They were "looking for a plan B ... for Sansar to continue."

Yeah, so as you might have heard, sadly we have decided that we, as Linden Lab, couldn’t continue to sponsor the project financially, so we’re looking for a plan B for Sansar to continue. I can’t say much, but we’re having very interesting conversations with several parties to help that project move forward, which I’m really excited about. But no deal is done yet, so people will just have to be patient and see what happens with it, but yes  it is true that Linden Lab going forward will focus entirely on Second Life and Tilia. I’m still busy making sure that Sansar finds a great home and that the great work that that team has started can continue.

So that’s where things are at. Hopefully, we can be more specific on what’s going on in the next couple of weeks or so. So lots of conversations going on.

The "conversations with several parties to help that project move forward" could very easily mean that the Lab is looking to sell Sansar. But it could also mean they're looking for a company to partner with to keep the next-generation virtual world running. In either case, they're still in the middle of negotiations. So it will be some time until a decision is made.

There was much more discussed at the Lab Gab, which will be covered later.

Sources: Modem World, New World Notes, Ryan Scultz

 Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Linden Lab Says Last Names Available Again By Jan 31, For Premium Residents

Earlier today, Linden Lab posted on the official blog a date on one of the more persistent questions of residents, the return of last names. The Lab stated it is "working furiously" to have the option to get or change a last name. However, the option will only be available for Premium Residents, and there would be a fee for it.

Soon it will be possible to change the name of a Second Life account. This is one of our Residents’ most requested features and we’re working furiously to make it available by the end of January.  Name Changes will be exclusively for Premium members at an additional fee. Changing one or both of your First and Last Name will be available as a single transaction. Last Names will be picked from a list, which you can help us curate.

It was also announced the Lab would soon hold a contest for suggestions on new last names. Five of the people who submit suggestions will get a free name change, regardless of their being Premium accounts or not. The contest will run for a month from December 16 to January 15.

At the SL16B this year, Oz Linden stated that the reason it was taking so long for last names was, "every part of Second Life, absolutely everything, was built with the assumption that your name can never change.  ... we have to go back and find that assumption everywhere in Second Life. And that's a *lot* of code."

The Lab would also announce a new level of Premium membership, Premium Plus, "an additional choice for Residents who want to get even more value from their Second Life."

Also announced were changes in Marketplace, including the fee to list an item as Featured reduced ten percent and "commission rates on Marketplace sales will become 10% of the item price." There was also a reminder about the Linden Home at the Christmas Expo.

To read the blogpost in full, Click Here.

Breaking News: Linden Lab Cancels Basic Account Group Limit Cut

On Wednesday, Linden Lab announced that in addition to their Premium account price hikes and increasing the fees to cash out Linden dollars, they were cutting back the number of groups residents with basic accounts could have. The residents reacted quite negatively, more than a few calling the Lindens saying that more groups per resident was taxing the system either highly exaggerated, or outright false. Finally, the Lab partially relented. Less than two hours ago on the official blogs, the Lab announced that due to the "strong and convincing feedback from many in our community," they were cancelling the cuts for basic account group limits.

... many Residents have shared how they rely heavily on Groups to stay informed about new product releases as Merchants use this feature to regularly communicate news and updates to their customers, and how much Groups are used for keeping communities active.

We hear your concerns and, as a result, Group Membership limits for Basic Residents will NOT be reduced as part of our Premium Membership changes rolling out on June 24.

The other parts of the May 29 announcement, notably the Premium account price increases and the cashing out fees doubling, remain the same.

Breaking News: Linden Lab to Impose Complexity Limits on Avatars

In an announcement in the official blog, CEO Ebbe Altberg. Ebbe Linden announced that due to increasing complaints about lag, Linden Lab has decided to put a cap on avatar complexity, at least for those on standard accounts. Starting tomorrow, users without Premium accounts will be limited to a complexity rating of 40,000. While this seems like a lot, popular skins such as Maitreya can use up 80-100,000 with just the base body alone.

We at Linden Lab have strived to encourage improvement for this virtual world. However, the improvements on detail on certain avatars have come with a complexity that is more than two or three times that of characters in leading computer games. This increased complexity multiplied over many avatars has made attending popular events difficult to close to impossible for many without frequent graphics card crashes. So we are encouraging designers to be more creative and are putting a limit on how complex in polygons an avatar and it's accessories can be.

For regular residents who don't change from a high complexity avatar, when logging in tomorrow they will appear in the old default avatar, or "Ruth." Avatars under Premium accounts are unaffected, and still have no complexity limit, yet.

In the forums, one skin designer accused Linden Lab of trying to run her out of business, "Unless you're a pony or furry, you need lots of detail to look good." One fashion blogger felt Linden Lab's real reason was money, "There's an old joke it takes real money to look real beautiful. It seems The Lab wants a piece of that money and is once again reaching for our wallets."

Details are still coming in about this latest move by Linden Lab that is sure to generate no shortage of discussion.

For the blog post in detail: Click Here.

Fran Seranade Dies at 92

Some sad news for Second Life. One of it's oldest and inspirational residents, Fran Seranade, has passed away. She had celebrated her 92nd birthday just a few days before. She was the inspiration for the Creations for Parkinsons sims and group, run by her real-life daughter Barbie Alchemi.

*  *  *  *  *

Our family is so sorry to share the sad news that our mom, Fran, passed away on Sunday morning March 3rd.

As you know our dad died with Parkinson's 16 years ago. Much to our surprise, one year later mom was also diagnosed with the same disease. In spite of the challenges, Mom gallantly kept going, enjoying her life right up to her 92nd birthday. A few days later we shared an especially happy and precious day. She said "Today would be a good day to die." I asked if she would like to move into my home and have me call Hospice. Her face lit up with a smile and she told me it was the right time.

For 15 years Mom has been a Hospice volunteer. It was my honor to care for her as she had cared for so many others at the end of their lives. I spent the last 84 hours by her side, nursing her round the clock with the guidance of Hospice. I will be forever grateful for the precious opportunity to be with her for this time.  During her final hour as I held her hand, I could feel love and wisdom pouring from her heart and flowing into my own heart. As she exhaled for the last time, I knew her spirit was lifted into perfect peace and she was united again with our dad.

We will be planning a memorial service in SL in about a month. I will keep you informed as soon as we know the date. I will set up a special L donation Kiosk in her memory.

Please read more about her life of love and service at this link https://fundraise.michaeljfox.org/tf-2019/FranSwenson
If you wish, you may make a RL donation in her memory.

Here is the link, if you would like to watch the remarkable video made 6 years ago about the benefits of SL for our RL Mom. This will touch your heart! The Drax File: World Makers- Episode 13 Creations for Parkinsons
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyiiWxNguGo&feature=youtu.be

Please share this note card with your friends so we can reach as many people as possible.

We are so grateful for your caring and love,
Barbie Alchemi and AlmostThere Inventor