Weekend in Brief

 

 There were a number of things happening this weekend. The "Wootstock" at Raglan Shire took place with plenty of live music. Also was the start of the "SL Fandom Con" which had plenty to see, shop, and it's own live music events. An event called "Furchanted" was taking place. The exhibits of last weekend's "Burn2" summer spinnoff event were still up to see, and more.

More on these and other happenings later.

 

Weekend in Brief

 

 

 There were a number of events of note this past weekend. The Burn2 festival officially concluded with the Man Burn (above) and the Temple Burn taking place, though the builds will be up for a few more days. The Renegade Burn festival started, with it's art displays and music events. The Sci-Fi Expo continued with a number of discussions and music events. There were also various Making Strikes fundraisers such as "I Pink I Can" and "Spooky Strides." 

More on one or so of these happenings as time allows.

 

A Busy Weekend

 

Plenty happened this weekend in Second Life. Saturday at the Sunweaver Estates had longtime member Dudk Griswold have her real-life retirement party, leaving the Post Office after over 30 years. On Sunday, Bay City had it's Tree-Lighting Party and Silent Benefit Auction. Bellisseria had it's third annual Winter Wonderland party (above). Throughout the weekend, the Relay's Christmas Expo took place. And more.

More on these events as time is available.

News In Brief

 
There's a lot going on, and only a little time to write about it. So here's some news in brief that we will try to describe in more detail later.

The Veterans Tribute is back in Second Life. To check it out, head to Rainbow Dream (128/128/21).

The Film Threat Theater has a new movie, made by a small independent studio, being reviewed: "Corona Zombies," and they plan to review a new one every month.

In the official blog, Linden Lab has the "Spotlight" on noted artist Bryn Oh.

There's a couple new places for gaming in Second Life. One is in Bellisseria at Zwischen (79/228/33). The other is at Montecito Bay, their new Arcade at Montecito Bay (118/223/22).

In the Web User Group on November 3, Inara Pey wrote that the Lab says they haven't given up on making a mobile app, and is aware that many residents were disappointed at the news of development being halted. But the pause will likely last for "a number of weeks." There was also some talk about the Zenescope NFT Sweepstakes, there should be a new batch of last names around Christmas, and some Marketplace store owners are reporting drops in income of 30 to 50 percent.

There's more going on about Facebook changing its name to Meta, such as a computer company already having the name, and the owner asking for $20 million for it (IGN article). Neal Stephenson, the author of the the novel Snow Crash that coined the term "Metaverse," had a few things to say about Facebook's move (Axios article), as did Grumpy Linden in an interview with a French magazine (Modem World article).

More on these subjects, and more, when we have time. 

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Weekend in Brief

 

Plenty happened this weekend. On Saturday, the Rosehaven Regatta boat race and party took place. Sunday had the Homes For Our Troops veterans' fundraiser. It also had the start of the Virtual Burn 2021 event.

Stay tuned for more on these events.
 

Weekend in Brief

 

A number of events happened in Second Life this past weekend. Raglan Shire had their Wootstock music event (above) from Friday to Sunday. The Burnstock took place in Burning Man - Deep Hole also from Friday to Saturday. The six clubs of the FCA held their "Christmas in July" club crawl on Saturday, mostly in the Sunweaver community. Sunday at the Veterans Isle sim, they held their Homes For Our Troops fundraising concert. 

More on these events later.
 

News In Brief

There's a lot going on in Second Life. But between the Relay, the SLB, and our upcoming anniversary, so little time to write about it. Here's a brief mention of a few things going on.


In an article in Vice magazine, Linden Lab's CEO Ebbe Altberg stated Second Life's monthly usership was close to 900,000 thousand. Ryan Schultz would point out this was a 50% increase from the days before the Coronavirus Pandemic.


There's a new Firestorm viewer out, Update 6.3.9.58205, "this one comes with a LOT of changes, bug fixes and improvements."


A few days ago, Linden Lab would announce all further US dollar transactions, not just those for cashing out Lindens to real world currency, would be handled via it's Tilia service, "to stay compliant with regulations across a number of U.S. states." Also a few days ago, the Lab announced it would be adding the Value Added Tax to transactions involving residents of Norway and Australia.


Earlier this month, Daniel Voyager reported that the Second Life app, powered by Android, was still in an "internal alpha" stage of development, "This is a communications only app, for now." There's no date as to when a public beta will be out, Ebbe Linden recommending for now the web-based Speedlight.


Yours truly was also given a tour of the CDS Catacombs, located at Colonia Nova (78,108,22). Mermaid Celene (CeleneHighwater Resident) of the Radegast Viewer group met up with me to discuss "Silver Economy," which blind SL users can take part in. After a tip from a friend about "a free downloadable board game ... based around making fun of the toilet paper shortages," I had a talk with the maker, Wanders Nowhere.


We'll have more on some of these when time permits.

Bixyl Shuftan

News In Brief

Quite a lot has been happening. Too much to go into detail about it all, so we're going to give the short version.

The HFOT Benefit in Veterans Isle was a success with 258,870 Linden dollars raised.

Montecito Bay has decided to postpone their Nuyu Modtacular Gacha Event until December.

In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread, a Linden claimed adult content was "less than 5% of our revenues."

There are no plans to introduce adult content to Sansar, in part because Linden Lab is searching for corporate sponsors for the virtual world.

An agreement was reached with Linden Lab to save the Chouchou sim, which was in danger of closing in May.

The Gacha Guild event is taking place, with avatars such as the Spirit Fennec.

Firestorm has a new release out, with Bakes On Mesh compatibility. After earlier deciding to offer separate Second Life and Opensim viewers, Firestorm decided to combine them again. Jessica Lyon admitted they were struggling with Opensim "we do not have, and cannot find, a dedicated Opensim viewer developer with lots of time on their hands."

More on these stories when time permits.

Sources: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

A Busy Weekend

It's been quite the busy weekend in Second Life. Friday was the "Yuri's Night" celebration held by the National Space Society. The anniversary of the first man in space was also one of the themes at the Burnal Equinox, which ran from Friday to Sunday night. There were also a number of Relay for Life events. Saturday had the Sunbeamer Air Show which launched Team Sunbeamers well into Gold level fundraising. On Sunday was the conclusion of the "Bid Me Bald" Team Challenge which raised a total of almost a half million Linden dollars in which the Cure Chasers team won and Mieville Steampunks ended up with bare scalps.

More information on these happenings, and more, to come.

A Big Valentines Day

There was a lot to see for yours truly yesterday for Valentines Day in Second Life. There was the "Hug a Linden/Dunk a Linden" at the Isle of View. There was the One Billion Rising event. And in the Sunweaver/Angel community where the Newser office makes it's home, Club Zero Gravity and the Happy Vixen Beach club held hours of parties. We'll have some more pictures for you later. In the meantime, enjoy your Valentines Day presents (or have fun at the RFL Kickoff).

Bixyl Shuftan

Deepmarsh Sim In Trouble

Late last night, Anne Brightstar told me about a picturesque sim that may not be on Second Life much longer. Deepmarsh, located in the Beck sim, the sim had been owned by River McCallen. But apparently there is some kind of trouble with the payments. Anne told me who to contact for more information. And after I have more, I'll have an update. For now, those who want to check out the sim for themselves, donate, or both, can head to: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beck/114/148/21

Bixyl Shuftan

A Busy Weekend

Quite a bit happened this weekend from the last of the Sunbeamer Relay Bid-Mes reaching it's conclusion, to the Firestorm fundraiser being declared a success, a "Furry Prom" that was attended by over fifty avatars, and more. Details on these and other goings-on.

A Busy Weekend

Quite a bit happened this Labor Day Weekend. Friday saw the "Christmas in August" party in Caledon to raise money for it's university. Saturday saw Marianne McCanne's last summertime fireworks. Sunday saw the last day that the Lovefest event was officially open. And of course there were parties all over to celebrate the traditional end of the summer vacation season. Stay tuned for articles on these, and more, as time allows.

Weekend in Brief

A number of events took place this weekend. At the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, the Ferragosto festival look place. At the Middle Earth sim was a Woodstock tribute. It was also the start of the "Lovefest" which will go on for several more days.

More on these stories, and more, as time permits.

Weekend in Brief

A few things happened this weekend. From Friday to Sunday, the "Burnstock" took place. Also the Gallery Graine had a closing party. There were further developments on the aftermath of the InWorldz shutdown. It was also a little more than a year ago since Sansar was officially opened.

Stories on these, and more, later on.

News in Brief

There's been a lot going on in Second Life. So here's a list describing several happenings in brief.

Kim Kardashian has been using Second Life avatars as part of her promoting a new brand of her perfumes (article by Ozon).

It was announced that the The Garden of Absentia and Memorial in Garden of Absentia (135/155/22) would be closing on August 1.

Graine Macbain, the owner of Blue Curacao where The Riverside Café and Galleries and The Avian Retreat are announced her sim would be closing on August 2 (Fritter Enzyme's 2014 interview): Blue Curacao (54/52/21)

Andreas Jones' "Reflections of Darkness" opened at the National Museum of Caledon on Sunday July 22: Caledon II (164/52/23)

Team Shadow, The Cure Chasers, and Team ACTS jointly held their final event, a formal ball on Saturday July 21.

The Corsica International Air Show took place over the weekend, Saturday July 21 to Sunday July 22.

Jadyn Firehawk announced a schedule on which the different parts of the Yosemite sim would be closed (Gemma's article earlier this month about the closing).

There will be more information about most of these, and other, subjects when time permits.

Sci-Fi Expo Tomorrow

The Sci-Fi Expo is coming back to Second Life. For nine days from Saturday May 12 to Sunday May 20, there will be exhibits and events over a four sim area. You'll find Star Trek, Star Wars. Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, and other science fiction groups represented. The Expo is a fundraiser for the Relay for Life in Second Life.

For more information, Click Here to get to the website: https://slscifiexpo.wordpress.com/

For a calendar of the events, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SciFiExpo%20Landof%20Giants/128/128/24

Relay Weekend, Day Two

Day two of the Relay Weekend was a bit slower paced than the first. Many who pulled all-nighters were still sleeping in the morning. In the "Coffee, Curlers, and Cake" themed hour, Team ACTS was providing some free coffee, donuts, and other goodies at their campsite at RFL Hero (first image by Bain Finch).

Normally I try to be at the closing ceremonies. But this year, my computer just can't take the lag, given I was lasting a minute or less in the opening. So I just spent the time with my team, the Sunbeamers.

At 11 AM SL time was the "Victory Lap, in which the team got onto the field." And our team had a new victory to celebrate. We had won Second Place in campsite design. "The little team that could" had done it again.

Fireworks went off at various points along the track. While the Sunbeamers had come away with much this season, in fact the real victory belonged to every single Relayer. Once again, hundreds of thousands of US dollars had been raised this season for cancer research and treatment, bringing the world a little closer to the day suffering from it is a thing of the past.

Eventually, many of the people began heading out, to real life or other places in Second Life. But some would stick around, some at a couple parties at T1-Radio's location or Radioactive Air's place at RFL Support.

One team, OD Designs, was so close to leveling, that they held an event to try and push them over the mark while it was still the Relay Weekend. A few friends from the Sunbeamers came by to help things along, and eventually, "Team OD just made Silver! ... We made it ... thank you!"

This not yet the end of the Relay season, or the Relay track. The areas will still be up for a few more days. As far as yours truly knows, Wednesday July 19 will be the last day the sims and exhibits will soon be up, with the traditional "flood party" taking place sometime that day. After that, the sims will be closed and the contents picked up. Following that, teams can still hold events, and some will continue to do so. This will likely include the Sunbeamers, whom are talking about one last party to celebrate their successful season.

The final event, the Relay Wrap-Up will take place next month in August.

One image from Bain Finch

Bixyl Shuftan

The Reelay Weekend, Day One in Brief

At 10AM, the Relay Weekend officially started with the Opening Ceremony in the meeting place of the four sims. To help keep people from crashing, people were asked to listen in via T1 Radio's website, the SL radio stream disabled in the four sims for the first hour. Despite this, yours truly had a bit of trouble crashing, and so the pictures I was able to take were only so good.

Softpaw Sommer took this picture of the Relay traffic. There were hundreds of avatars on the road. Unfortunately the result of the avatars was a lot of lag, and about the same number of Relayers in several less sims than last year didn't help. So it was a bit crashy for me, and some others, for a little while.

 But lag or no, the show must go on, or rather the Relay. And me and my friends did our share of walking the track.

The hours had different themes. One was "Crazy Hats and Hair." So yours truly brought out "The Hat," the Sunbeamers' answer to the Steelhead Salmons' "The Hair." It got a number of looks and comments.

At one point, Gemma Cleanslate ran into this guy, "Who you gonna call?"

More cash continues to be raised by the Relayers, and several teams have gone up a fundraising level so far. The Sunbeamers have gone up to over 600,000 Linden dollars raised, third among the four Platinum level teams, and first in terms of inworld raising alone (two were boosted by funds coming in from outside Second Life). So how much will be raised today? We'll see.

Go Relay!

Hat tip: Softpaw Sommer , Gemma Cleanslate

Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary: Linden Lab Among Tech Companies Filing Brief Against Trump's Executive Order On Skilled Worker Visas

By Bixyl Shuftan

In early February, Linden Lab issued a statement concerning President Trump's executive order at the time concerning several Middle Eastern countries. Branded a "Muslim Ban," eventually a judge blocked part of the order and eventually Trump dropped in in favor of a slightly different executive order later on. Recently the White House has found a new target: the H-1B visa program that allows skilled foreign workers to come to America. Linden Lab was among over 150 tech companies to sign a brief sent to the US District Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, calling for the executive order to be blocked.

Congress in 1965 prohibited discrimination in immigration decisions on the basis of national origin precisely so that the Nation could not shut its doors to immigrants based on where they come from — but the Order does just that. Moreover, the President’s authority under the immigration laws must be exercised reasonably, and is limited by the detailed standards enacted by Congress to address a variety of issues, including preventing entry of terrorists into our country. The Order overrides those standards without sufficient justification. Finally, the President lacks authority to impose sweeping, long-term changes on the entire system governing eligibility for entry into the United States by immigrants and non-immigrants; such changes require notice-and-comment procedures conducted by one or all of the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security.

The brief would also refer to calls on restrictions on immigration in the past, such as a quote by Woodrow Wilson whom criticized immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe saying the people had "neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence." And on laws based to restrict it which were mainly based on prejudice on these people in addition to Asians, Jews, and other groups, such as the Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924. It branded Trump's new executive order as an abandonment of "the principles that have undergirded U.S. immigration policy for more than half a century," "unlawful," and "substantively unreasonable."

Although some such as Hamlet Au call the order part of the "Muslim ban," the country that benefits most from the program is India, which has a mainly Hindu population. Plus the H-1B visa program has been criticized for quite some time on the grounds of allowing companies to allow businesses to lay off native-born workers in favor of cheaper foreign workers. The most notable recent example of this was when Disney told 250 of it's workers they would soon be laid off and their last assignment would be to train their replacements.

Linden Lab's stake in the H-1B visa program is obvious, being able to attract foreign talent to work with them in the United States. But considering how Islam is so often linked to terrorism, such as the attacks France has suffered in the past few years, and an attack in Fresno California by a convert, those against Trump's executive order may want to pursue a different strategy in persuasion than link it to his effort to limit immigration from certain countries in the Middle East.


Sources: Yahoo News, New York Times, New World Notes, Business Insider, Redcode   

Bixyl Shuftan