Artemis II Splashdown Seen in Second Life

 

 With a lot going on in Second Life on Friday April 10, it was easy to miss one big event in space news. Artemis II, the spacecraft that went around the moon, returned to Earth. Having launched on April 1, for nine days it traveled through space farther than any human had gone since the last of the Apollo Moon missions in 1972, circling the moon and getting a peek at the seldom seen dark side on April 6. And Friday was when the journey would end.

 

The event would be broadcasted live in a number of locations in Second Life, such as the Premier Business Center. But yours truly dropped by the International Space Museum at Spaceport Alpha where the descent was shown live at the auditorium area. And at 5:07 PM SL time, it splashed down. 

 

Commentary: There's been plenty of bad news in real life lately, war, corruption, political discord so bad, much of the public sees not just politicians but the people behind those they oppose as a threat to the country.  There are those who feel the money spent on manned space program should be spent on other things such as expanding foreign aid or building even more and better bombs and missiles. But humans have always been explorers, looking at new frontiers. And this moon mission was a reminder we've still got it.

 

"To the moon, and beyond,"

 

*Addition* I would also do a post on my Food on The Table. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Brandi Streusel Back Online, "Two Vixens And A Wolf" At Cutlass, Other Sunweaver News

Early this month, it was announced that Brandi Streusel had taken an indefinite break from Second Life. The Newser is happy to report that the little mousegirl of the Sunweaver/Angel community is back, and doing some music DJing, " I've missed both so much." She is currently playing at Python's Dance Club on Wednesdays.

Also, the "Two Vixens and a Wolf" radio show, which the Newser reported on recently, is getting a new location to listen in from inworld besides their studio in Rabbit Valley: the Sunweaver's main club and hangout of Club Cutlass. Svetlana Snowpaw (Sarah Golem) made the following announcement on Tuesday July 17.

Hello I just wanted to let everyone know about our fairly new Radio show "2 Vixens and a Wolf" we are going live at 5PM SL Time (27 Minutes) you can listen in at allfurradio.com for our 3 hour furry talk show which we do EVERY MONDAY (Today is exception due to technical difficulties) from 5PM-8PM SL TIME

Unfortunately, not all the news from the Sunweaver community has been good. On Monday or Tuesday this week, community leader Rita Mariner was taken to the hospital due to an infection. She was released Wednesday. Also Dusk Griswold's real-life spouse has been in the hospital for several days. Her condition was initially serious, but she has been recovering and will hopefully be home again soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: How to Broadcast from Anything

Almost a year ago, Tantari Kim, also known as DJ Tantari, sent in a reader submission, "How To DJ The DJ Tantari Way." In the article, she used MIXXX software for her DJing. But what about other software? There are some free commercial ones, notably the free version of Virtual DJ and Traktor and Serato, but they aren't made for playing to Shoutcast. In a reader submission she recently sent in, she describes how to enable them so that they can.

Read Tantari's reader submission in Extra.

Drax Files Radio Hour's First Episode

On Friday January 10, the first episode of the "Drax Files Radio Hour" took place. The broadcast took place at 7AM SL time "From an attic somewhere in Berlin" with Draxtor Despres doing the show with Jo Yardley, noted for her "1920s Berlin Project." The show opened with a short "Friendly greetings" by Torley Linden, then after the introductions Draxtor and Jo discussed several topics.

The first subject was Occulus Rift reviving interest in virtual reality. The details and realism attracted a number of fans, though there was one down side: the realism of the experience while moving around while standing still in real life was making some people nauseous. Jo felt Occulus Rift would be used for more than Second Life and computer games. They described Babbage Linden as thinking differently, who felt it would start small and never really go mainstream.

They then talked about the NSA, and it's investigating Second Life. At one point Jo remarked, "seems that the NSA is taking Second Life more seriously than the media." "I don't know if that's good," Draxtor replied, "or very very sad." "A little bit of both?" "At least someone takes us seriously." Drax played in interview with "Ashkin," in which they talked about the NSA investigating Second Life's furry population. Their conclusion was that they often worked in creative fields and were actively involved in programing. There were also worries a Bin Laden avatar could be used to recruit terrorists, Jo and Draxtor comparing it to worries about neo-nazi activity. They also discussed with amusement pop singer Lily Allen confusing bitcoins with Lindens in being offered "hundreds of thousands of bitcoins to perform in Second Life years ago."

There was also a discussion about "fitted mesh" with guests involved with Second Life fashion design. Draxtor also brought up the upcoming "Feed a Smile" event in the Lavender Fields later that day, and concluded with an uncut soundtrack of the Drax Files episode with Scottius Polke, "too much stuff ended up on the cutting room floor."

The recording of the Drax Files Radio Hour's first episode can be found here: http://draxfiles.com/2014/01/10/show-1-oculus-nsa-fitted-mesh/ .

The Super Bowl in Second Life

Last Sunday, millions across the United States sat down in front of their TV screens, or attended parties next to a TV, as the biggest game in football, the Super Bowl, took place. In Second Life, there was a Super Bowl party taking place at Areo Pines Park. Grease Coakes dropped in to see how the party went.

Read more in Events.