One of the longtime residents of Second Life's Sunweaver community, RECoyote Mindes, known as Richard Orth in real-life, is in need of some help. He explained his situation in a GoFundMe.
... I used to make a good living as a truck driver, but one frozen
winter's night I fell off my truck and totally destroyed my back,
requiring spinal implants which then got infected and resulted in even
further damage.
Today I can just barely walk, and an in constant pain of about 30
on a scale of 1 to 10, but I live with it because others depend on me,
especially all my friends on Second Life and other internet communities.
On top of all that, I have diabetes and bad neuropathy. Oh, and
the kidney and lung cancer isn't helping anything either. I have to see
some 16 specialists, each of whom want a $35 co-pay. I own the local
hospital over $1,300,000 that I will never be able to pay. And every
day my situation starts to look more and more unsustainable.
I have applied for every bit of assistance I can get to keep things
going, but I already have everything I'm eligible for, and it's not
enough. Every month I have overdrafts and things just keep getting
farther and farther behind. If this keeps up I risk losing my house, as
well as my life on the internet. And, even being in as much pain as I
am, I'm not ready to disappear from the world yet. So if anyone out
there would like to help I'd be much appreciative.
For those wishing to donate, Click Here to get to the GoFundMe, "I need extra $1,000 a month to survive. Anything you can contribute would surely help"
Magnus (Magnustemporal Resident), recently sent in a commentary about the state of Second Life, which is based on observations he has had over time. So what future does he see for the Grid. From his point of view, it depends. It depends on what we the residents, from DJs to content creators to viewer teams, can do to spread the word and make things a little easier for newcommers.
It's been a little while since we last wrote about Panda Jenn's Pad. The Internet cartoonist and artist has been busy in real life, with little time to get on Second Life. She recently messaged the Newser to say she will be having more time to get online and have events there (as well as impromptu meetups with friends). But, there's a problem.
Panda Jenn's friend Logan Bamaisin (Laufiair Hexicola) had been letting the venue stay on his land. But due to his financial situation will soon no longer be able to keep up the payments, at least not without help. People wanting to help can send Linden dollars to Logan or Panda Jenn (PandaJenn0 Resident), or then can send real world money to her via Paypal at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/pandajenn .
Panda Jenn's Pad is of Asian (mostly Japanese) style, and has a number of
rooms, including a game room
(not all of the games work). There's also a club area for music and
dance events, as well as a fish pond and hot tub.
It was recently posted in Discord, and later as a Sunweaver group notice, "Hey, I don't know if you remember a Kattywampus Oh in Second Life, but she's needing financial help, in a pretty bad situation. Also a member of the Sunweavers. But if you could take a look at her GoFundMe and pass it around, I would appreciate it. https://gofund.me/2495d614 "
Hi, I'm Katty, and I hate to ask for help!
But this time, I really don't know what else to do.
I am a 45-year old BIPOC artist and bluecollar grunt surviving on a parcel of land in the desert around Three Points, AZ.
Here's part of my story: I ended up camping in a small
unincorporated area about 22 miles from Tucson, AZ last year, due to how
ridiculous the housing market is. I eventually moved into a 5th wheel
RV after living in some hotels, a van, and a tent. After an abusive
situation including my spouse and my landlord a few months ago, I ended
up in my friends' 45 year old RV you see in the banner image.
If you've ever been at your wit's end with a loved one with a
severe addiction issue, you unfortunately know where my money went. I
was determined to keep going, getting professional help for my PTSD,
anxiety, and suicidal depression. I started doing great at work and
enrolled in night classes that my employer paid for, in order to attempt
to score a juicy promotion!
Katty had a goal of $10,000 for her fundraiser. As of the writing of this article, almost $2000 had been raised, close to half from one anonymous donor.
At Veterans Isle yesterday, September 17 at 2PM SL time, a noted performer came out of his hiatus. Frets Nirvana, known best for his help in organizing fundraisers for Homes For Our Troops, was once again picking up his guitar and singing after a break from performing.
It has been quite a while but I am happy to inform you that inspiration has hit and I will once again climb the stage in Second Life today September 17 @ 2 PM. I will be performing at the Veterans Isle hangar and all tips/donations are going to our efforts for HFOT in Second Life. You can expect a new repertoire of tunes and hopefully my music has gotten better with age. Rest assured that it has still been a big part of my life even though I have not been performing it in SL for quite a while. My intention is to once again inspire you and put a smile on your day with music. I hope to see you today at Veterans Isle. We will see where life’s musical adventure takes us after this! David Steel has been kind enough to offer his DJ talents at 1 PM prior to my performance so come on out early and have a great Sunday afternoon.
Frets performed for a moderate though enthusiastic crowd, which dropped money into two house-shaped kiosks on either side of the stage. Bri McMahon, who was assisting, would thank them, "tysm for your generous donations to HFOTS! ... tp in your friends, don't let them miss out on Mr Frets being back for a special concert, or miss out on helping us Build Homes and Rebuild Lives along with Homes for Our Troops!" She would continue to say more, "365 homes built, 74 current projects going, and 90 cents on the dollar goes directly to the program. ... Homes for Our Troops is a BBB Accredited Top Rated Military and
Veteran Charity that will never cold call you asking for donations. ...
Their mission: To build and donate specially adapted custom homes
nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 Veterans, to enable them to
rebuild their lives.... Since its inception in 2004, nearly 90 cents out of every dollar spent has gone directly to our program services for Veterans. HFOT builds these homes where the Veteran chooses to live, and continues its relationship with the Veterans after home delivery to assist them with rebuilding their lives. ..."
There was also some musing during the event, "Sorry xxxxxxx, didn't mean to kick ya like a can can girl." "I can't feel my avi butt." There was someone using the "LEEROYYYYY JENKINS!!!!!" gesture. And there was someone with an unusual name, "Welcome, ThisPainsme."
At the end of the event, a total of 40,000 Linden dollars had been raised. Frets kept his promise, and donated an additional 40,000 L, bringing the total to 80,000 Linden dollars.
Fundraising events at Veterans Isle are usually on the first Wednesday of every month. But there have been occasional additional ones. For more information on Homes For Our Troops, click here: https://www.hfotusa.org/.
The "Spoonful of Sugar Festival" is back in Second Life. This is a fundraiser event to raise money for the Doctors Without Borders charity. Based in Switzerland, the group helps the sick and injured in over 70 countries, notably where conflict and natural disaster have struck.
While we do not "earmark" our funds raised for MSF for any specific aspect of what they do, at the Spoonful Of Sugar, we do like to choose an area of their work for our focus and education. While in Tahiti we are looking more at environmental issues and impacts MSF/Doctors Without Borders faces.Please join us at destinations around our planet - which are not only astoundingly beautiful and wealthy, but at the same time devastatingly vulnerable and poor. Lets all learn and understand this connection between environmental imbalance and the illness, safety and resource insecurity facing so many on our planet.
The event area covers ten sims. Most are full of shopping areas with items up for sale with all or part of the money going to the charity. This includes at least one limited edition item on sale only at the Festival. There's also the "Get Crabby Hunt." There are also occasional music parties with DJs (the one I saw was in the southernmost sim). There are also auctions and raffles for giftcards,
The scenery was picturesque, with many of the stores set up as island huts. There were also groups of script-controlled islanders dancing and playing music, as if welcoming the attendees. For shoppers, there is a variety of items to get from pets, to furniture, to Halloween goods, to farming game supplies, and more.
For more information, check the event blog at https://www.thesosfestival.com/ (note, for some reason, a few of the pages have warnings on some browsers as of the writing of this article)
Taken at Club Squeaks. I had another idea for a cartoon, but this time posted the picture on DJ Squeaks' Discord page. Brandi Streusel gave me the idea for the dialogue here.
A member of the staff at Furry Fashion has a problem. This would be Albright Smol-Bite (Bully Doge), who is a builder and the head of the security staff. Her pet is sick, and she doesn't have quite enough money to spare for vet bills.
One of our FF Creators has a realllllllllly sick kitty which she needs funds for to get him better! She's got commissions open or just a small donation would really help! If you can't spare a dollar, spare a hollar and share her link!
Just a struggling possum artist living day to day down near Memphis. I'm
mostly a cartoonist, sticking to a sketchy, rough style. I also do
texture work for 3D mesh in Second Life. I offer customs and commissions
for both. I rely on this as my only income, so if you enjoy my
creations, please consider supporting me!
Please join us in celebrating what will be an exciting weekend for SOS. The unveiling of our new Forever Home on a full 20k prim region kindly given to us by our friends at Linden Labs at a nonprofit rate and lovingly built and landscaped by non other than our Director himself, Sebastien Bouevier.
Mental Health has faced a particularly difficult time during the Covid pandemic and, as a result, worldwide lockdowns. However, we have continued to support our peers and members throughout this time and now that we are, hopefully, nearing an end to the crisis - what better way to celebrate?!
The Grand Opening Weekend will commence Saturday the 21st of August at noon SLT - Sunday 22nd August. There will be 2 hours of live music and, of course, free snacks! It will also be a great opportunity for visitors to explore the new sim and check out all of our new facilities.
We really hope to see as many of you as possible at this exciting event!
On behalf of the entire SOS team, we would like to thank you all for your valued and continuous support.
Sincerely
Sherridon Mercury Director of Events Survivors of Suicide
Among the personalities at the Sunweaver community (and RFL Sunbeamer team) is Valkyrie Ice (Valkyrie McGill). She stands out as being a demihuman in a place full of furs, as well as having written for a futurist magazine (and the Newser a couple times). She's also has skills as an artist. And recently has decided to get back into her artistry. But, she needs a little help. She recently lost her job in real life, and made the decision to post a Gofundme.
I lost my job due to Covid, and I am wishing to concentrate on trying to make a living with my art. I need assistance currently with meeting living expenses, and keeping myself online in order to do so. I am diabetic, with peripheral neuropathy, and having difficulty standing for long periods. As I live in a very small town, my job options are very few. I am fortunate that my living expenses are small, and the amount requested would cover a couple of months worth as I try to start making a income with my art.
I need the funds within a month or so, so that I can apply them to my upcoming bills. I've had to stop working on my art for several years so I am having to reteach myself how to use the software, so any support would be very helpful in allowing me to begin producing artwork regularly.
And even if you cannot help me, I would like to thank all of you for even considering doing so.
Depression, anxiety and tragedy are nothing new to people, in and out of Second Life. But in the past year, the Coronavirus Pandemic have made them worse. Even for those whom haven't lost anyone, there's still the anxiety from lockdowns and news events. In his article for today, Fritter Enzyme offers reminders of some suicide hotlines, and a few places in Second Life where one can mourn the departed.
As you may know, we are in the process of moving Second Life to the cloud!
Our first ever cloud simulators, on the beta grid, have been uplifted,
and we can use your assistance. Here’s your opportunity to be among the
first Residents to test the performance of uplift. Log in to the beta grid (click here for instructions) and start at the Aditi Portal Park to
try out Linden Realms in the cloud. Bring your friends and spend some
time engaging in the virtual experience produced and provided by Linden
Lab. You may even run into the often unseen technical Lindens working
away. Don’t forget to ask them for their Linden bear, and beware of the
rock monster! If you find any issues with Linden Realms on the beta grid, please file a BUG jira at https://jira.secondlife.com,
and make sure to include the time, date, region you were in when you
found the issue, and a description of what happened, as well as what you
would expect to happen in a similar situation on the Main Grid today.
Linden Lab is in the process of moving data from existing servers to Cloud-based servers.
Matt Carlton was a big help to the Relay for Life in Second Life this year, having raised well over a hundred thousand Linden dollars at several events. Now Matt is in need of some help herself. She recently started a Gofundme campaign to help pay some medical bills.
Since around June 6th I have been having lots of digestive issues. I
have been to the ER once to be given fluids and have tests ran, then to
urgent car twice to have more tests and some xrays an a CT scan done.
Apparently something is causing enteritis, or inflammation of my little
intestines. I was recently referred to a specialist, and have been
scheduled for a colonoscopy set for Aug 19th to try and get a few more
answers as to why this is happening. While they will let me make
payments, any help with the bills will be greatly appreciated. I set the
goal at what my current ct scan bill amount and the estimated
Colonoscopy bill combined would be. I know times are hard right now on
everyone, and being a driver for Postmates, I have very little income at
the moment, esp with not being able to be online as much as needed due
to all the doctors visits in the last four weeks and frequent....restroom
visits, for lack of a nicer what to put it. I am able to work a bit as
of recently at least. I thank you much for the help, and even if the
goal is not reached, anything helps right now, even if it just pays a
bill for one of my visits with the specialist or something. Thanks
again.
Soon after posting, Matt was in a car accident while riding with a friend. While she wasn't badly hurt, the visit to the hospital did add to her medical bills.
Last week, Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich Resident) wrote some helpful hints for those brand new to Second Life. Today, in his second part of the series, he has some more tips for newcomers whom are familiar with the basics (and a few whom have been around a little longer whom haven't figured them out yet). One is the Caledon Oxbridge University area which is full of help for new residents. The rest are about the viewer's Preferences menu, which can help you get to more places and make lag less of a problem, the Search function, and how to handle griefers and trolls.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." That can describe day one of a Second Life resident who's been around for a while. But while Second Life is extremely open-ended with lots around to do, it can be confusing for a newcomer whom will find it a lot different than a quest-oriented MMO. To help out new residents overcome these seemingly daunting challenges, Cyfir (Cyfiremmerich Resident) came up with an article with tips and advice that those more experienced with the virtual world can pass to friends interested in joining, or to newcomers they come across.
If you were a resident in Second Life from 2007 to 2010, Torley was one of the Lindens you heard about the most, if not the Linden you knew about the most. He was the Linden who did various videos for Second Life residents, both tutorials with basic information and tips for more experienced residents. They often started with the cheerful opener "friendly greetings," which became an unofficial trademark of his. So was his going about in bright green and pink avatars, his "watermelon" look.
When interviewed by Saffia Widdershins in 2016, Torley stated he joined Second Life in 2004, "I was in a really hard place in my first life, and I discovered Second Life through various sources ... and I was reading a lot of cyberpunk and transhumanist literature at the time, thinking about a brighter future for my whole life. And I soon found myself – well, there’s no nicer way to put it than I was utterly obsessed with being here every day." After several months, "I basically sent this crazy, rambling note card to Char linden at the time." She and a few other Lindens "gave me the opportunity to apply. So I went through that. Guess it turned out OK."
Torley would say of his time in Second Life, "I’ve mostly been a nomad explorer. I have had homes, and I have had full regions. I still do in fact. But I think the prime thing that always drives me is really the force of discovery, and to share those discoveries, and I really get curious, and I love asking people 'where did you get your avatar?' or 'did you make these parts of your avatar?' or comment on a cool build they’re making. And finding the connections. I love introducing wonderful creative minds in Second Life to each other, and we’ve had so many over time."
Torley would make his Tips and Tricks videos from 2006 to 2009. They can still be found on his Youtube channel. In February 2010, he would announce there would be new Second Life tutorial videos on their own channel. He would do a few of these newer tutorials, which were not as numerous as the ones he did before. He would explain in the 2016 interview there had been a "shift in focus" at the Lab for him to promote newer features and his time was more limited, "I wish I could clone myself." He did feel that numerous bloggers had helped fill the role he had earlier.
Despite no more of his "friendly greetings" videos, Torely was still around. He would appear at events such as Burn2 and the Linden Snowball fights, either as a Linden or in a "civilian" avatar. And he would appear at the Second Life Birthday as well. Although obviously male in real life, his avatars were often female. He would also post thousands of screenshots on his Flickr page.
In 2017, he would be among the Lindens moved to the Sansar team. There he would remain until last month February 2020, about the time of the layoffs in which the next generation virtual world's staff was reduced to a skeleton crew.
Exactly why Torley was apparently let go, one can only speculate. His old position on the Second Life staff had long been filled by others, but he could have been given a position in public relations, which the also popular Xiola Linden left after stepping down from in January with her leaving Linden Lab. Perhaps he wasn't dismissed, but like Xiola decided it was time to move on. But this is all speculation. Linden Lab isn't talking and neither, at least for now, is Torley.
In any event, the "watermelon man" will remain a part of Second Life history. Whereever he goes, we at the Newser wish him well.
JB Raccoon, the co-owner of KXVN Radio, has run into some financial difficulties. The reason: some paperwork snafus that have thrown a monkey wrench into his Social Security income.
"I am STILL trying to sort everything out however after I pay my rent that leaves me with $30 to pay my other expenses including my medication refills which the reality is, I just can't make it. So here I am calling for help, hoping to raise the funds so I can cover my expenses while I fight to get this sorted."
"Thank you in advance to all that help, my words would never be able to describe how appreciative I will be."
Addition: For some reason, Gofundme took the page down. Those who already sent cash will have it refunded. JB is also accepting help via Paypal : paypal.me/jbraccoon .
To those who say online friends aren't real friends, the parents of a 17 year old gamer, Adian Jackson, would disagree. They were watching TV in their home in Widnes, Great Britian, while their son was playing games on his computer upstairs. They had no idea anything was amiss until two police cars with lights flashing drove over. The three officers told them they'd gotten a call that something was wrong with the boy. Going upstairs, the boy was found "severely disoriented and not fully conscious of his surroundings." He still had his headset on, and a gamer friend, the one whom had made the call, was still online trying to talk to him.
The other gamer was Dia Lathora of Texas, 5000 miles away. While they were both gaming online, he suddenly stopped talking Dia was able to guess he was having a seizure. She had his address, but not his phone number, so she tried to reach an emergency number. While she couldn't find it, she was able to talk to someone, and though that person was able to explain what was happening.
"We always say to the kids, be careful who you speak to online," Caroline Jackson stated, "but in this case, it was invaluable."
Second Life can help people in many ways. One way it can is allowing people to reach out to a person or persons for help. For those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, one group they can contact is Fearless Nation. The Newser recently met up with it's director Anya Iborm who had much to say about the group. She also had a request, volunteers for a study on PTSD,
The Winter Swaginator Hunt by Linden Lab is almost over. Last Monday, the fifth and final gift in the gift grab was placed out on the Grid, the clue leading to the Zermatt sim. But of course the SURL provided didn't take you right next to the location. But the clue does tell you it's in the center of a frozen lake and involves a log cabin. And within sight of where you land is a frozen lake with a small island in the middle. And on that island is a cabin.
As it turns out, it's a copy of the cabin that's a gift for premium accounts. You'll find it at Zermatt (148/145/83)
Around the cabin, you'll find copies of earlier weeks gifts. Pretty clever of the moles involved. And the package for this week's gift is on the rug.
The gift package contains a snowy bench, a chopping log, a snowy fence section with one post, a snowy fence section with two posts, a section of snowy path, and three snowy trees, one that's full of snow.
And so that's the last of the gifts from the Winter Swaginator Hunt. Hope you had fun tracking them down, and Merry Christmas.
