Walk Around The Grid: Jason and the Argonauts

 

In her latest "Walk Around The Grid" article, Netera Landar checks out an event by Drama Libre. The club took on a Hellenistic look as the party theme was "Jason and The Argonauts." Things took on an interesting look with Ancient Greek hoplites mixing it up with mythical creatures. 

 

Read Netera's article in Design.  

Discussion on Tactics At Aether Salon

 

In Bixyl Shuftan's article for today, which was postponed due to reporting about the Second Life Birthday and the passing of Rita Mariner, he reports about last month's discussion at the Aether Salon in New Babbage. Over time, there have been many topics in these meet-ups that take place once a month most months, organized by Ceejay Writer. For July, it was "Tactics," with Jedburgh Dagger as the speaker, So how did it go?

Read more in Events. 

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 

Saturday April 12

 

    ~*~

 

    At 10 AM PST   

    The Height of The Roman Empire

    hhttps://www.sciencecircle.org/event/roman-empire/

    Presented by Chantal Jager

    Location TBA

 

    ~*~

 

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

 

Titanic Build in Yumix Region

 

 

The Newser was recently informed about a reconstruction of a famous ship: The Titanic. Dropping by Yumix Dream Land, I found the ship was enormous. So large, it had to be placed diagonally so it could fit in the sim. 

One can walk about on the decks, and there is some access inside. 

The Yumix region is most noted for a build of another famous ship: the Yamato. It's still there in the Yamato Memorial sim. 

There was a sign in the area saying that the region was 17 years old. 

The RMS Titanic was the largest ship in the world at the time it was built. The ocean liner would sink on it's maiden voyage in May 1912, taking about 1500 of the 2224 passengers and crew with it. The tragedy has continued to have an impact on popular culture to this day.

The Titanic build is located at:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yumix%20Dream%20Land/123/9/26

Bixyl Shuftan

Annoucement: Steam XIX Grid-Wide Hunt by Mieville Historical Hunts

 

 

 Mieville Historical Hunts proudly presents STEAM XIX!
Theme: Around the World in 80 Days

:STEAM XIX has three special adventures for you to enjoy:

 #1 - THE GRID-WIDE HUNT: STEAM XIX
Around the World in 80 Days, featuring 50 gifts!
(This blog post focuses on the Grid-Wide Hunt's participating shops!)

#2 - TWO THEMED MARKETS for your shopping pleasure!

 #3 - A HOT AIR BALLOON GAME played in the
Mieville Themed Market areas (Verne & Twain)
for added gifts and fun.

Use this landmark to start these adventures!
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mieville%20Shelley/82/217/22

 

 

Mieville's Silk Road 2024

 

Mieville's Silk Road 2024: On the Road Again, is a grid-wide hunt, themed markets, quest, and Silk Road exhibit. Join the Mieville Historical Hunts group for up to date event information!

Event Type: Hunt & Market

Event Start Date: July 1, 2024

Event Start Time SLT:  12:00 a.m.

Event End Date: July 21, 2024

Event Location SLURL:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mieville%20Doyle/203/225/22

Event Website:
https://mievillehistoricalhunts.blogspot.com/

Advertisements submitted by Una Kealoha on behalf of Mieville Historical Hunts.
 

Announcement: Mieville Historical Hunts & Events "A Seaside Christmas"

 

Event Description:
Visit a quaint seaside market in Mieville Dickens and the Christmas retreat in Mieville Shelley for Mieville Historical Hunts & Events "A Seaside Christmas"! Enjoy a sunny seaside holiday while you shop and explore, play the game, and join in the dances and social gatherings. Join us for the fun!

> Merchants can apply now for a free spot:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc50gSkhFNxc9rsNaRUlzManmJbpTndGiP8Kxp9GEA1TaRkzA/viewform     

Event Start Date:
December 1, 2023

Event End Date:
December 31, 2023

Event Location SLURL:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mieville%20Doyle/203/225/22

Event Website:
https://mievillehistoricalhunts.blogspot.com/

Contact Person: Una (UnaLunaqat Resident)

The Yamato Memorial Returns

 

 

Battleship fans will know about a number of ships, among them the Yamato. This symbol of Imperial Japanese might served from December 1941 to April 1945, when it was sunk in the Imperial Navy's last major operation in World War Two, the sinking sometimes considered a metaphor for the end of the Japanese Empire.  The ship would live on in poetry, as well as the "Star Blazers" anime.

Second Life has its own version of the Yamato. First appearing around 2008 or 2009, it's vanished and reappeared a few times over the years. The Newser last wrote about the sim-long vessel five years ago in March 2018. 

The ship would once again vanish some time later. But I was told by a friend recently it's back, alongside the carrier Akagi and the cruser Myoko. While you can't go below decks, it's still one of the most impressive ships in Second Life.

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/YAMATO%20Memorial/172/50/26

 

Hat tip: Anne Brightstar

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Announcement: Steam Hunt And Expo 2022

 

Welcome to the 16th STEAM Hunt & Expo 2022, a grid-wide hunt and entire themed sim.  The theme this year is "The Brass Menagerie".

WHEN:  5-27 March 2022

There will be free gifts throughout SL for you to find.  You'll be offered a variety of gifts as you search for the hidden items.  Only high-quality designers have been invited to participate, and their exclusive items will be available free only for the duration of the hunt.

This is the starting landmark:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mieville%20Shelley/62/160/1016

When you join the group Historical Hunts, Ltd. you can obtain a list of all the merchants' shops so that you can start wherever you like.  The hunters group is extremely valuable when you are stumped and need help, or simply to meet like-minded friends.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  

http://historicalhunts.blogspot.com/

There is NO HINT BLOG!  You will find hints at each shop location.

We ask you these favors:

● Please do not contact shop owners directly.  All enquiries should come to Perryn Peterson in the form of notecards as I/Ms are frequently capped.  

● Please respect everyone participating:  designers, shop owners, other hunters.  We expect courtesy in the group I/M as well.

● Please keep your lag as low as possible while hunting; do not wear a lot of prims, scripts and items like bling, weapons and HUDs.  These will slow things down for everyone.

All hunt items are clickable and will place items directly into your inventory in folders.

Enjoy and bring lots of friends with you!

Perryn Peterson
Producer, HHL Hunts & Events

HINT FOR THIS LOCATION:  There's a rare bird here!
 

A Glance at Roma

 

Years after they first came online, the Roma sims are still around. This is a historical location and community that makes it's home on three sims: Roma, Roma Suburbia, and Roma Transtiberium. Unlike some roleplay communities, Roma doesn't have a problem with furry avatars. But child avatars do have some special rules including being banned from a few portions of the sims. While roleplay is encouraged, it's not a requirement, and visitors are welcome as long as they don't bother anyone. On the last weekend of most months, they have festivals in which both local residents and visitors are invited.

For those whom haven't been to Roma before, there's a welcome center at ROMA (213/26/22). There, one can get explanations about the rules in detail and free mesh men's tunics and women's togas. There's also a playable game in which one is asked to find clues to what happened to a missing person. For still more information, one can check their blog at http://romacitizens.blogspot.com/ (not recently updated). One can also look in the Newser archives for stories we've written about them in the past, such as when one reporter dropped in on the day a new Senator was sworn into office.

For history fans, a neat place to explore, whether on the Ides of March or any other day.

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Charles Dickens Project"

Saturday December 21
10 AM to 11 AM

Put on your Victorian attire (optional) and join us at the Dickens Project for a holiday tour. We will discuss research in virtual worlds for historical simulation and see examples.

Marie Vans

Read more (here)

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Dickens%20Project/233/68/21

Berlin Wall Display in Second Life (2008)

It was thirty years ago this month that the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the Cold War and the failure of Communism, was opened and began to be taken down. For years, the city of Berlin was divided, the state of East Germany keeping it's subjects behind a barrier of concrete, barbed wire, minefields, and guards with orders to kill anyone trying to flee. Hundreds died trying to cross it before it the guards began letting people through and over in in November 1989. For Baby Boomers and Generation Xers old enough to know, the fall of the wall was history in the making, a revolution without a shot being fired. But for younger generations, many know little to nothing about it. In November 2008, a Christo Larsen built a Berlin Wall exhibition in Second Life, detailing the history around The Wall. The article was originally published in Second Life Newspaper that month.

Read the republished article in Places.

New Infohub and Pod Station Launches in the Heart of Historical SL

Of the thousands of sims in Second Life, Da Boom was the first one. It came online in Second Life's beta days in November 2002 months before the Grid officially went online. After the virtual world's first few years, not a great deal has happened to this old area. But recently something did happen. There's a new infohub and pod station in the sim. Klaus  Bereznyak dropped by, and took a look at what the new location had to offer.

Read Klaus' article in Places.

The Borobudur Temple

After a short vacation, Newser reporter Marcel Mosswood is back in business. Her latest article is about the Borobudur temple. Located in the Gentility Land sim, Borobudur is a detailed replica of the world's largest Buddhist temple, built around 800 AD and located in central Java, Indonesia. Marcel had the chance to interview Aryluke, the person behind this great build.

Read Marcel's story in Places.

Gathering at Notre Dame In Memory of the Original Struck By Fire

It survived for over eight centuries, outlasting revolutions and two world wars, only to go up in flames in a matter of hours. On April 15, the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris France was hit by a devastating fire. Ironically enough, the building was starting to undergo renovations to repair parts that were deteriorating from age. Some artifacts and art were saved, including several statues which had been taken down from the roof for cleaning. But the building itself was gutted.

In Second Life, people were gathering at the Notre Dame building in Paris 1900. Conversation was a mix of English and French, "I pray for our church. Even though I am not from France, Notre Dame is the heart of Europe." "Truly horrible." "Breaks my heart and for the people in Paris."

The sim would be close to capacity for a while, some looking in from the next sim.

At one point, fires broke out in the building. People thought it was griefers and a couple Lindens came over to invistigate. It turned out the one of the staff had set the fire.

Someone started passing around French flags to those at the club.

An article from a French paper would eventually be posted next to the cathedral.

I would stay for over an hour, but as the place remained full, and presumably remained so for much of the day, I eventually left to let others come by.

The disaster was bad. But thankfully no one was hurt. French leaders have vowed to rebuild the cathedral. Notre Dame will never be quite the same again, and reconstruction will take years. But it will be remade. It's just a question of time, money, and effort.

Third picture from  Lia (Female Winslet)

Bixy Shuftan

Announcement: 2019 ROMA Paganalia Festival Schedule

Saturday, 26 January

10am - Roman Paganalia Ritual and Feast
In celebration of Paganalia, the Roman festival of sowing, we will be performing a ritual to honour Ceres (the goddess of agriculture) and Tellus (Mother Earth), followed by a feast in Collegia Religio Romana. Come join us in celebrating the beginning of the Paganalia!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Vinovium/110/231/24

12pm - Croc Race
You may have explored ROMA's Cloaca Maxima before, but have you ever raced through it on the back of a crocodile? Well now you can! Our Cloaca Croc Race will be a timed race, with the 3 best times winning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Can you navigate your croc through to victory before the competition? Join the race and find out!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA/211/11/580

*************************************

Sunday, 27 January

12pm - Paganalia Grand Feast

ROMA's Paganalia Festival  continues with an evening of feasting and dancing. Live music will be provided by Franklee Anatra - so come dance the night away to good tunes and great company!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Transtiberim/193/220/27

1pm - Legio XIII Death-match
Come watch our brave soldiers challenge each other in a a brutal death match on a rope bridge

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/ROMA%20Transtiberim/79/188/42

SL Video: "Mont Saint Michel In Second Life"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

Posted by Richardus Rainmaker in October 2015. A cool video of Mont Saint Michel. But instead of shutting down "at the end of September," the build would remain up for another year before vanishing. Shortly afterwards, it returned due to Linden Lab's intervention in November 2016, only the third time they'd intervened to keep a virtual build up.

Hat tip:  Bastian Endless

Luxembourg "Pfaffenthal" Sims Moving to Sansar

The number of historic sims in Second Life is about to get slightly smaller. According to an article in Jo Yardley's blog, the "Pfaffenthal" sims, which are a reproduction of the central city of Luxembourg, will soon be closing down while their counterpart in the Sansar grid opens.

The moment has finally arrived, for the 1867 project to move on to SANSAR, were land is free, where we can have better graphics,VR headsets and real physical interactivity. Note that sansar works very well on a normal PC,for desktop mode you do NOT need a gamer PC.
IMPORTANT!
All the 1867 sims in second life will be shut down next monday, on the 26th of november. Please pack all your stuff by then.

Jo Jardley was disappointed by the news, "As a history addict I’m sad to see one of the few historically accurate sim in SL vanish. Personally I’m not sure Sansar is ready for a historical roleplaying community. Are there enough Victorian clothes, is there a rental system yet, could you buy enough period furniture to decorate the homes, can you even open doors in Sansar?"



Ryan Schultz called this development a first as he'd never before heard of a "wholesale move of virtual land directly from Second Life to Sansar." Will this be the first of a number of moves? While it might be the first, there may be few others, at least for now, as Sansar's numbers have been low. But for the people of Second Life, they'll soon only have screenshots, and this youtube, to remember the place.

Sources: Jo Yardley, Ryan Schutlz

Bixyl Shuftan

Bismarck in SunWaterOne

 The SunWaterOne sim in the Sunweaver Estates often has some small craft going about in the waters. But recently a very big craft has been there: The Bismarck. It is owned by Rita Mariner

For those less than familiar with naval history, the German battleship had a short but active career in which it served one mission in May 1941 in which it was sent to raid Allied shipping but would end up the subject of a massive search by the British. At  823 ft 6 in (251 m), it was a quarter kilometer in length. The ship boasted eight 15 inch (38cm) guns, twelve six inch (15cm), sixteen four inch (10.5 cm) guns, and numerous smaller guns for anti-aircraft fire. It also had a catapult and four floatplanes.

In May of 1941 the war had just begun
The Germans had the biggest ship that had the biggest guns
The Bismarck was the fastest ship that ever sailed the sea
On her decks were guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees

Despite it's advantages, the Bismarck was eventually damaged by torpedo bombers, and following a long battle with two battleships, three cruisers, and six destroyers, it sunk, taking with it all but 114 of it's 2200 crew. Following the sinking, the Germans would make no more raids in the Atlantic with surface ships, instead relying on submarines.

In 1960, Johnny Horton would do a song in honor or the pursuit and battle, "Sink the Bismark."

We'll find the German battleship that's makin' such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismarck cause the world depends on us
Yeah hit the decks a runnin' boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismarck we gotta cut her down

It's possible the SL Bismarck might be used in a video. But if so, it'll be done in the Blake Sea region. The Sunweaver community waters are just too small to resemble open ocean.

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: Moon Landing Day Celebration! Friday, 20 July 2018

Join the National Space Society in SL on July 20th at our Tranquility Base venue as we celebrate the anniversary of mankind’s first lunar landing.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/National%20Space%20Society/50/100/3675

We will gather there at 1pm SL time ahead of the landing time, and again at 7:30pm in advance of the first steps on the Moon to watch the videos and discuss the past, present and future of space exploration and development.

Ad astra (“to the stars”)!

Also, check out the Apollo 11 historical tour here:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/National%20Space%20Society/152/123/3012

Pick up a free Apollo 11spacesuit here:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/National%20Space%20Society/77/124/3005