RFL Announcement: Relay Kiosks Reset To Offseason As "Wild For A Cure" Ends

 **Relay For Life 2026 is one for the books!** 

As of **July 1**, all Relay For Life kiosks have been reset, and all new donations will now benefit the **American Cancer Society's General Fund

Our  2026  Relay season was truly phenomenal, raising an incredible **L$391,443**!

You've helped create **real change** and **real hope** for everyone impacted by cancer. Every donation, every event, has made a meaningful difference.   Thank you for making this another unforgettable Relay year.  We are deeply grateful for our community!  

SLB Music Events (Officially) End

 

 

After ten days, the music events in Second Life have ended, at least officially. The last one scheduled was at 11PM SL time last night. And now, the stages are quiet, such as the "Funky Monkey" pictured above, with only the radio stream going, with only the occasional visitor passing through.

 

But this doesn't necessarily mean no more music events period. In the past, occasionally a DJ would take to the stage of one and play for a while. And there just might be some of that going on the last night of the SLB, July 19, maybe. In the meantime, there's the Shop and Hop, the Golden Ticket contest, the Swaginator hunt, and of course the exhibits. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Burn2 Festival Ends, Sims Still Up For Now

 

 

 This weekend was the high point, and the final two days of the Burn2 art and music festival. Saturday was the burning of "The Man," which took place just after Noon SL time. The wooden build burned, and collapsed to the ground, followed by the Burners going over and dancing over the embers. 

This was followed on Sunday with the Temple Burn. Starting at Noon, various prayers were read as they burned in the censor, "Peace & Love for the World, which we live in." After a half hour, it too began going up in flames. Like "The Man," once the temple's ashes started to cool, the Burners paraded and danced around the remains. Someone would post a short video of the burn (link).

 

 

But Burn2 is about much more than the burning of it's two most important structures. The twelve sims have numerous builds, some quaint, some very well done, and some that show a lot of imagination. 

The sims should be up for a few more days, though some of the camps will likely be taken up early, allowing more people to see them before most of the sims fade back into the virtual nether, leaving only the permanent Burning Man - Deep Hole. But for those who missed it, there are a few spinoff events across the year.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

 

 

Relay's Rennissance Festival Concludes, I Pink I Can Begins

 

 Sunday October 1 was the final day of the Second Life Renaissance Festival. Among the events that day was the Royal Court Gala, which went from 1-4PM SL time. 

 

Once a year, her Majesty, the Festival Queen commands  a royal party during the SL Renaissance Festival. She orders an extravagant festival and gala in your honor!  The Queen opens the Royal Court Gala to all in Second Life who wish to attend. Dance and merriment with grand entertainment shall be found indeed with DJs Ajay McDowell & Dar Zombie .The Royal Gala celebrates the tournament winners and participants, the merchants, villagers, shoppers, entertainers and all who wish to join in the festivities. Come explore the gleaming dance-floor and dance the afternoon away. 

 

Numerous people showed up in their finer period clothing.

But as one major event was ending, another was starting. Sunday October 1st was also the start of I Pink I Can, taking place in American Cancer Society2 and IPIC.

 

Enjoy four weeks of live music, live DJs, camping, shopping, raffles, and more Halloween fun as we join forces to fight breast cancer! This benefit is for The American Cancer Society and all proceeds will be going to their Strides Campaign. The event runs from October 2nd through the 29th.

Dropping by, American Cancer Society had the look of a small city celebrating Halloween with it's decorations at dim lights. The kickoff party was at 12 Noon, attracting a large crowd, some who were looking a little on the spooky side themselves. One of the two performers on stage was wearing a dark mask that glowed neon eyes and mouth.

Both the Renaissance Festival and  I Pink I Can are part of Making Strides in Second Life, a Relay for Life in Second Life fundraiser which raises money for breast cancer research.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Fantasy Faire's "Children of Stories" Roleplay Finalle

 

 

 Of of the activities in the Fantasy Faire is the Children's Roleplay, done by the "Children of Stories." This year marks the tenth such roleplay, and the one for 2023 incorporated characters from the previous nine, "The Children of Stories And The Secrets of Flambois." Characters from the nine groups found lanterns that requested their help, summoning them to the Fairlands Academy of Magic, at Flambois. Some of the children were eager to accept the invitation to enroll. Others were hesitant, wondering if there was something not so innocent going on. And over the next several days were a series of roleplay sessions, in which the story came about, gradually revealing what was going on and what was needed to do about it. There was a witch up to no good, and it turned out she had the help of some dark entity, the details which can be revealed on the Daily Update page (here).

 

 

On Sunday April 30, the finale of the roleplay took place in the Fairlands Junction sim. The characters were ready to confront the evil witch and get rid of her once and for all, "Lets do this!" "... for we have all been touched by the Unweaver .. we will show him what for!!" "Be prepared though, once we have the witch trapped here, there is no telling what will happen!" "Ready your spells children!!!"

 

The event was turned into a party with DJ Madonna playing the music. Over time, tens of thousands of Linden dollars were donated, some people offering to match large amounts, "I will match the first 5,000L donation made." There were also avatars of all shapes and sizes, some getting comments, "OMG those tiny kitten wearing mushrooms outfits are the CUTEST THING ever seen!!!" And there were comments about the event, "watches that kiosk jump, cause this is the power of the children!! NOTHING CAN STOP THEM!!!!"

 

 (Click here if the video does not play)

 Loki Eliot would post a video of the confrontation with the witch, and the greater dark force revealed. At the very end, there was an unexpected surprise.

 

The total amount raised that day exceeded 500,000 Linden dollars.

Go Relay! 

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of The Day: Eyes Down There

 

 Taken at American Cancer Society 2. I guess you can call it a case of girl's behind starring back.

By Bixyl Shuftan

RFL Season Concludes

 

While the Relay Weekend in early June was the high point of the 2021 Relay for Life fundraising season, the end didn't really come until yesterday, June 30. With the volunteers on the verge of beating a season fundraising record that had lasted for seven years, they came together to make one last push.

Read the story in Extra. 
 

Announcement: The Relay Wrap-Up

Everyone is welcome to wrap up the 2019 Relay For Life season with a party at the American Cancer Society Island in Second Life on Sunday, June 23 at 10am SLT.
Final Awards will be presented in between songs and dancing!
If you can't make it, listen live at http://www.t1radio.com
Or Watch the LIVE STREAM at http://www.facebook.com/rflofsl.

VWBPE, Home and Garden Expo, Conclude

Two big events in Second Life came to a close this weekend. On Saurday night, the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education had it's conclusion with the closing ceremony followed by a Dick Clark Tribute Concert, featuring performers representing various singers of the past from Freddie Mercury to Louis Armstrong to Aretha Franklin to (preteen) Michael Jackson. On Sunday, the Relay for Life's Home and Garden Expo had it's last shows, including a special appearance by Patch Linden at the Relay Rap.

The sims for the VWBPE will remain up for a few more weeks, allowing people to see the exhibits (and try out the underwater hunt). But it won't be long before those for the Home and Garden are closed. Later this month is the next mega-event for the Relay, the Fantasy Faire, which will be in temporary sims in the area.

We'll soon have a little more about the VWBPE.

Addition: For those who want to check on VWBPE discussions they missed, check the list of videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/VWBPE/videos .

Cynthia and Shockwave's "Bid Me" Period From Relay Season Ends

In a sense, it was the last event for Team Sunbeamers, the Relay for Life team of the Sunweaver community. During the Relay season, Cynthia Farshore, known for her anthro nannygoat avatar, volunteered for a "Bid Me Foxy" fundraising event for the team. Shockwave soon followed up with his "Bid Me Goat" fundraiser. The two "Bid-Me" events raised over 62,000 Lindens for the team when the totals were tallied on Friday June 15, and helped it reach Sapphire status that weekend. But they were stuck in their new looks for twelve weeks.

When the Relay season ended in July, Rita offered to let Cynthia and Shockwave off the hook as technically all Relay events were over. But the two answered that a promise was a promise and they would stick to it. So they stayed in their "Bid Me" looks until the night of Friday September 7 at the "Lemon/Lime" dance at Club Cutlass when the 12 weeks were finally up. For the first hour, they danced about as usual.

At 7PM, Cynthia vanished in a cloud of pigeons flying in every direction. Then a few minutes later, both reappeared in another cloud of pigeons and red smoke, both in their usual appearances. "Showmanship counts," Shockwave would comment. The two then resumed their dance.

And so, the last of Team Sunbeamer's events was truly over. While the team is proud to have reached Emerald rank for the first time ever, it is also tired. While the team will be doing Bid-Mes and other fundraisers next year, there will probably be no games like this year's "Cancer Shooting Train." But the next season is months away, and Cynthia and Shockwave have a few things to work on in the meantime, such as the Caledon Downs sim and the relocated Goblin Cave,

Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: The RFL Wrap Up Event

                 The Relay For Life Of Second Life
                *+.*+.* 2015 Wrap Up Party *+.*+.*
                     Sunday, August 16, 2015
                         9:00am slt - 1pm slt
                                                
Live music, award presentations, wrap up speakers, special performances, dance party and the 2016 Theme announcement along with other surprises.
                                                     
The Rose Theatre and Art Gallery http://www.impl.org.uk/, Angel Manor (152, 214, 29)                              

This is one last party for the Relay to THANK EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU for all your work, time, effort, and dedication to make the RFL of SL such a huge success.

The following awards will be handed out at the Wrap Up Party:

Team Fundraising Club Award - To Teams Who Moved Up A Level Since July 18 Relay
Best Man and Maid Of Honor Awards
Smell The Roses - The Clown Awards
Top Team Convio (Website) Fundraising  1,2,3
Top Individual Convio (Website) Fundraising 1,2,3
Convio Website Participation Award 1,2,3
Top Team Fundraising Award  - Overall 1,2,3
The Spirit Of Relay Award - Team
The Spirit Of Relay Award - Individual

You can still enter your nominees for some awards until August 9
http://relayforlifeofsecondlife.org/

We will be announcing the 2016 Theme and have a few other surprises in store!

We have a live music performance starting at 9am that you do not want to miss! Followed by the awards and Wrap Up event......then.... hang on to your hats...... we have a very very special performance that will leave you wanting more, followed by an hour dance party!

All music, award presentations and the Wrap Up event will be streamed live over the Official Relay For Life Of SL Radio broadcaster, T1Radio.

If you are arranging a listening party of your own, or cannot make it to the awards, you can use the following links to hear the music / events: 

http://t1radio.serverroom.us:8242

http://tunein.com/radio/T1-Radio-s113797/     (on the web)


Listening locations for overflow will be located here:

American Cancer Society, American Cancer Society (183, 78, 23)

Relay dAlliez Common Area, Relay dAlliez (128, 21, 23)

Requested Attire:   Relay T-shirts and jeans / skirt  - let's keep the load on the sim to a minimum.
Please detach all huds (dance, game, roleplay, hair, shoes, clothing etc), if your clothing, shoes or hair has a resize script then please remove the script or put on different clothes, hair, shoes. Turn your draw distance down to 128 or lower, set your quality to Medium if you need to for this time period, turn your particles to 50 or lower, set your Max Avatars lower if needed .  Remember, you control your own lag.  Your computer processing speed is the majority determinant for how you experience an event. Adjust YOUR settings and things will improve. But we can all help each other out by doing the simple steps above with our huds and clothes.

We look forward to seeing you at the party !!      

Relay for Life Wrap Up Date Announced

Daniel Voyager wrote on his blog that the Relay for Life in Second Life "Wrap-Up" event will be on Sunday August 16. Although the Relay Weekend last month was the climax of the Relay season, it's the Wrap-Up that marks the official end. On the RFL of SL website, people are asked to submit nominations for the Spirit of Relay awards, for both team and individual, and other awards. The deadline for nominations is Sunday August 9, a week before the wrap-up.

http://relayforlifeofsecondlife.org/

SL Video: "SL12B Cake Explosion "

(Click here if the video fails to load)

Of the Cake Stage takedown party on Sunday night, July 5th, Nic Blackthorne had a video up, soon after. The "explosion" takes place around 11:25 into the video, and around 31:30, I appear in the video.

SL12B: The End of the Cake Stage

"All good things must come to an end," and a week after the official end of the Second Life Twelfth Birthday Celebrations, it was time to take down the main stage, also known as the Cake Stage. And so on Sunday July 5, after a day of being closed to all but basic staff, the four sims of the Cake were reopened to all so people could party and witness the cake going "boom." Although it would be more of a collapse then an explosion, they still called it blowing up the Cake.

The festivities began at 4PM SL time. BubbaCJohn (in an Elvis avatar) and Erin Fenser took to the stage and did music for the crowd. Later on, they were joined by a fast-stepping dragon who managed to avoid stepping on anyone.

At 6PM, the main event began to take place. First the stage was raised a hundred meters in the air.

A view of the stage from below.

After some minutes of not so paitently waiting, it finally came crashing down.

What had taken weeks to create disintegrated in seconds.

At ground level, a few people began having more trouble with lag. But most continued to dance.

Yours truly wasn't under the cake when it fell, but in a news chopper piloted by Uccello Poultry. But something went wrong, possibly a stray prim hitting the blades, and we had to bail out.

There were a number of SLB volunteers around, including Mikati Slade, the builder of the cake stage.

And so, the biggest build of the SL12B was now history. But this will be only the first to come down. From tomorrow July 5 to Wednesday July 8 is the "take down" period when the exhibitors pick up their builds. And on Thursday July 9, The Birthday is truly over when the sims themselves go offline.

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.

The 2012 RFL Wrap-Up

On 4PM SL time on August 18th came the official close of the Relay for Life: the Wrap-Up party. Taking place in a temporary sim of the same name next to the permanent ACS Isle, it was a chance to reflect on the season this year, and look forward to the one ahead. For those who couldn't be there or had sound trouble, T1 Radio broadcasted the event on the Internet.


Following a poem read in honor of those who passed away from cancer, the Relay Commotte thanked the Relay's sponsors, as well as the Lindens for helping out with things like "last moment requests." There were a number of awards given out. Among them was a "Shapeshifter Award" given to Dwen Dooley for his amusing use of numerous avatars. Genie Ortega was also given an award for her "Squeee!" that spread around the Relay groups. The Purple People Eater" was awarded for it's creator's use of imagination and humor. There was also an award for Best Display Name to David Fangirl.

The top three performing teams were announced. Third was "SL Music Races for a Cure" with 4,172,000 Lindens raised or $16,688. Second was "Friends Fighting Cancer" with 6,670,000 raised, or $26,281. And the number one team was "Amaretto Ranch Breedables" with a whopping 8,668,000 raised, or $34,672.

The Spirit of Relay Team Award went to Team Shadow. The Individual Award went to Zanier Green.

Following the awards, the theme for 2013 was announced: "Celebrating 100 Years of Hope." This was in honor of the American Cancer Society's 100 year anniversary. The Kickoff event will be on March 9, 2013, with the Relay Walk on July 13-14, 2013. MamaP Beerbaum announced she was stepping down as the Chairwoman, "On one hand it is sad to say goodbye, but I will be relaying for years to come." For 2013, Nikki Mathieson will have the chair.

And with the song "One Hundred Years to Live," fireworks began going off outside the building, with the event officially coming to an end, "Have a great offseason," "It's hard to say goodbye to Relay." "Good night everybody."

The "unofficial total" raised for 2012, as of the time of the Wrap-Up event, is $374,829. The Steelhead Salmons, the team of one of the Newser's sponsors, were Platinum ranked with 551,650 Lindens raised, or $2,207. The Passionate Redheads, the team whom make up many of the neighbors of the Newser office building, raised $307,810 Lindens, or $1,231.

Official Website of RFL in SL: http://rflofsl.intuitwebsites.com/index.html

Bixyl Shuftan

The End of the 1000 Avatars Exhibit

Gracie Kendal, the artist behind the "1000 Avatar Project," ended her most famous art exhibition on Sunday June 3. But before she took down the pictures, she held one last party there with song, dance, and fun. And being an artist, Gracie made the very end of her Project a show of art in itself.

Read more in Events.

Virtual World Meta7 Closing Due to Court Order

One of the smaller alternatives to Second Life, Meta7, had some sad news for it’s residents on April 21st. “Another company, that has trademark rights to the use of a similar logo used by us and the name 'Meta7' is forcing the company behind Meta7 to stop using the trademark ...”A judge had ordered them to stop using their name, and so they would be closing down May 1st.

The following was posted on their forums:


OFFICIAL NOTICE MAGNE METAVERSE RESEARCH LLC, THE LEGAL OWNER OF META7 IS UNDER A COURT ORDER TO STOP USING THE META7 TRADEMARK BY APRIL 30TH 2011. MAGNE METAVERSE RESEARCH LLC, ITS DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS, ARE TAKING ALL STEPS TO COMPLY WITH THE INJUNCTION. FURTHER USE OF THE META7 GRID OR ASSOCIATED WEBSITES WILL THEREFOR NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE COMMENCING MAY 1ST 2011.

Meta7 closing May 1st It is with sadness in our hearts that we have to inform you of the imminent closure of the Meta 7 grid at such short notice. Legal proceedings have led us to a point where we now must comply with this court order, or endure heavy fines and possible personal complications for the Meta7 team members. After almost 3 years of pioneering history, creating this unique place in the internet landscape, we have had to make a very hard and unpleasant decision and shall be closing Meta7 permanently by May 1st 2011.

We would like to thank all our loyal metazens for using Meta7 as a homebase over the last few years. We hope you use these last few days to make sure you can keep in touch with your friends as you move off into different grids. Obviously a number of you will have question concerning Land, credits and inventories. Please read about this in the special goodbye-FAQ.

As for us, we are going to take a break for a while.

Thank you all, it has been an amazing ride.

The Meta7 Team

On the question of if they’ll be coming back, the answer seemed to be probably not, saying, “It would involve a full rebranding and round of investments of the viewer, inworld content, all related websites and legal paperwork. It would take an enormous amount of time from a small group of people who are stretched to their limits as it is.”

Of where its residents should go, they gave a link to a list of Opensim-based worlds, “Besides that list, you might want to go to Second Life, the granddaddy of the sim based virtual worlds.”

The list gave Meta7 as having a total of almost 5,000 users with over 1300 having logged in at least once in the past 30 days. Hypergrid Business gave a total of over 7100 residents, but gave a number of "active residents" as only about a thousand. It stated numbers had been dropping in the past few months, possibly because it was "one of the most expensive grids in OpenSim."

The Pais Kidd’s Weblog, which reported on Meta7 time to time, stated it started out as an Opensim experiment that came to be called K-Grid before becoming Meta7, “I know this is a devastating situation for the Meta7 team and their loyal supporters. There has been a lot of work, money, creativity, hope, and dreams put into Meta7. This is a sad day.”

Hopefully the residents will be able to find new pastures somewhere, whether in Second Life, or another alternative.

Sources: Pais Kidd's Weblog, Hypergrid Business, Meta7 Community Forums, Daniel Voyager's Blog

Bixyl Shuftan

AM Radio to Close His Places in Second Life in Six Months

AM Radio’s places in Second Life, notably his “The Far Away” wheatfield, have become known as classic areas on the Grid. Unfortunately, AM Radio has apparently announced they will close later this year. Those wanting to visit them have six months left.

Read the story in Places.

SL Poetry - Endings of Chapters of Our Lives

my eyes traverse the landscape
I am stunned by what I see
the house stands empty
the land is barren
save for an empty flower bed
it is a lonely feeling

as I stand here taking it all in
I can only wonder ...
three years of accumulation
of stuff ....
vanished in the blink of an eye
I can only wonder at the rationale
what does it mean?

is it a sign?
perhaps from heaven above
is it a time to purge and rebuild?

another misfortune
in what seems like a
long history
the enormity of it all
seems tragic

Ending of two eras in less than two weeks
turtles have died
bunnies vanished in some
twisted SL plot
people not talking to me
others just angry with me

and I am so sad ....

but I know
that this too shall pass
and one day I
will laugh

(ya think?)

By Shellie Sands