Sneak Peak

 

 Here's a preview of what we'll be writing about Monday, baring technical difficulties. So what is this location? Stay tuned to find out.

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Announcement: Montecito Bay's Funabashi Station

 

"Huh, what's this? It looks like an alley full of little shops! Don't worry, nothing going on here that isn't- KSSSSSHHHH "

Funabashi Station has a little hideaway... right next to Studio 86! These little mini-stores are perfect for RP and photos! There's many different ones, with different themes and objects, and are just the perfect spot to explore~

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Montecito%20Bay/195/58/23

Come check them out!

Becky Nosferatu

 

"Forget Me Not" Fundraiser and Location

 

 

 A few days ago, a fundraising event started in Second Life: "Forget Me Not."

 

 The Forget ME not Fair is an annual fundraiser shopping event to benefit Open Medicine Foundation – leading research of ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), Long Covid, Fibromyalgia and related chronic conditions.

Exclusive items of this event are mainly BLUE (the color of ME awareness).

The event to raise money to help combat Myalgic Encephalomyelitis , or chronic fatigue syndrome, started on Tuesday August 8 "to mark the 'Severe ME Day' in honor of the most severely affected and in remembrance of those who have passed." Besides the items up for purchase, with some of the money going to the Open Medicine Foundation. 

 

There's also a raffle that people can enter for a chance at one of five 1000L gift cards. The first ticket is free. More can be purchased for 100L each, with all of the Lindens going to the charity.
 

The event lasts until Tuesday August 29, at is at:

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Calidea/160/96/3502

 

You can also find out more on the items for sale at their Flickr page:

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/197813859@N04

"Forget Me Not" also has a permanent location in Second Life, at the Super Island sim at (160/49/22). It was recently shown in Second Life Destinations, and was built by Adelia Meli (QueenAdelia Resident) who has been combating the syndrome since 2010 and hopes to raise awareness for the condition. Dropping by, there were numerous short testimonials from various people with ME. 

 

 

 (click here if the video does not play)

 Bixyl Shuftan

 

Some Events and Places at Bellisseria

 

Following the anniversary of the Bellisseria Bureau of Bureacracy, Gemma has continued to find noteworthy events, and places, around the Linden Home continent. A fan of the SS Galaxy when it was in private hands with a crew, she was plesantly surprised to see a wedding there. She also found the BBB had moved to a new location. For those whom are homeless while waiting for a Linden Home, there's a homeless shelter. But not all the fun was on the continent. With Mardi Gras soon, she went elsewhere to check out a parade.

Read Gemma's story in Places.
 

Bellisserian Stamp Location At The Newser Office

 *

For about a year and a half, the Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy, or BBB, has been offering passports to residents. And these residents have gone about Second Life to add stamps on them representing locations. Now, the main Second Life Newser office has a passport stamper. 

Just go to our main office at HV Community, go inside, walk past the desk, and in the back is a stand marked "BBB." Touch the top of the stand to get your stamp, and you'll have another mark to show what a traveler you are. 

While you're there, why not explore around? Walk the stairs to a train station, where occasionally the Sunbeamer Express stops to pick up passengers. Just across the street is a shop, Brandi's Intimates. To the east is Sunlight Bay, with Farshore Field where one can rezz and fly a plane and the Puddlejumper Mall. To the northeast at Sunny Beach and SunWaterThree, there are the Gathering Oak and Bouncing Bunny Beach Club, in which between events one can surf or drive bumper boats. In SunWaterTwo are hidden caverns one can explore. In SunWaterOne is a German pocket Battleship and a small volcano.

Just respect privacy at homes when going about.
 
HV Community, (140, 85, 25)

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Rare Sight: Camping For Linden Dollars

 

 Now here's a sight I haven't seen in many years in Second Life. 

Zipping around the mainland while trying out a Cloud data detector (more about that later), my curiosity drew me high above a sim to the platform above full of stores and hangouts, and I happened to notice what looked like an avatar cleaning a window. I thought it was the building owner, or maybe his/her assistant. But getting closer, I noticed the following display at the ladder:

Camper: (name of avatar)
L$1 every 95 minutes
So far: $L0

It was a blast from the past, an actual camping spot!

When I first came to Second Life in 2006-2007, camping spots were very common. They were a means to boost traffic for a sim for just a few Lindens per avatar. Some sims had a lot of them, and they were in many different styles. In some, you just sat down. Others had you dancing in place. And some made it look like your avatar was performing some task such as sweeping or cleaning. There was even a website that listed camping spots and how much they paid. 

Like many other things in Second Life, camping had it's fans and it's detractors. Many called it "gaming the system" as high traffic numbers attracted more people. One friend of mine commented "if you must camp, do so in a sim that isn't heavily populated." Supposedly some people would be on for hours to get just a few Lindens, which got some people wondering if these campers were better off taking an SL job or buying Linden dollars.

To me, it was a way to get a few extra Lindens while checking my email and maybe a few websites (I didn't usually have too many IMs at this time), usually at a spot that paid me a few Lindens every 10-15 minutes. But once the emails were done, I'd soon be gone. Why didn't I buy Linden dollars? After a talk with family once I got on Second Life, I decided not to put any real money into the virtual world for a while. Once I got a job at SL Newspaper, I pretty much stopped using camping spots.

It's hard to say exactly when camping for Linden dollars went downhill. I think by 2009, they had become an uncommon sight. Second Life was starting to change as money wasn't as easy to come by as in the early days. Although camping would remain, it would be in the form of chairs that would allow you a free item, usually in stores, for sitting on them for a half hour or so. A much better deal if you were trying to get Lindens for new clothes. Camping for Lindens, aside from a few rare locations such as this, pretty much became history.

 Bixyl Shuftan

The Winter Swaginator Hunt, Gift Five Location

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.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Winter Swaginator Hunt: Clue to Gift Five

After five weeks, the Winter Swaginator Hunt is coming to a close. This week, the clue leads you to the sim where the gift is.

It begins with a Z and ends with a T, a cute little cabin and a wintery tree. Located at the center of a frozen lake, the prize can be yours if you find it to take! http://bit.ly/2QCTWkg

Clicking on the SURL takes you to the Zermatt sim. The first thing I saw was the scene above. So just where is the gift and what is it? Stay tuned for where and what it is.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Winter Swaginator Hunt, Gift Four Location

It's the final day to get gift four of the Winter Swaginator Hunt. The clue was a vague one, suggesting it was somewhere around the Winter Wonderland area accessible from Portal Park. Turns out that the gift was placed just outside Winter Wonderland's entrance, at Portal Park 1 (180,112,52).

Unpacking the gift, there are four items of furniture: a bed, a bedside table, a bedside table with books, and a table lamp.

Check the Linden Blog tomorrow for the fifth gift in the Winter Swaginator Hunt, and the last one for free players. Premium accounts get one more gift.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Winter Swaginator Hunt, Gift Three Location.

It's the last full day to get gift number three of the "Winter Swaginator Hunt." If you couldn't figure how how to get it by now, here's where it is. First of all, if you haven't gotten the hunt HUD, head to the Winter Wonderland area in Portal Park and get it. If you have the HUD, then good news. The area you need to go is within sight once you land in Portal Park: Linden Realms.

They last part of the clue is "It's hidden nearby a tree that glows." Not too far from the Linden Realms base is the glowing tree in the first part of "The Search For Magellan." The gift box you'll need to touch, with the Swaginator HUD on, is at LR 46 (153/50/41). Oh, and as this is a game area, watch out for bear traps, quicksand traps, rock monsters that want to eat you, and if you're in the area at peak times the "air blobs" can lie around anywhere completely invisible until someone runs over them and gets knocked out back to a regenerator.

Opening the gift box, there are four furniture items. There's a working floor lamp, two rugs, and a bookshelf. The bookshelf has some humorous titles such as "Rolling Restarts," "Cubes, Spheres, and Other Shapes," "Linden Realms Cheats," and more.

Check the Linden Blog tomorrow for the fourth gift in the Winter Swaginator Hunt.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Winter Swaginator Hunt, Gift Two

It was about a week ago that residents had one more day to pick of the first of the gifts from Linden Lab's "Gift-Grab" event, or "The Winter Swaginator Hunt." The following day, the Lab would announce the second gift was out for residents to grab. The clue was "Travel the globe to discover this cove, wrap up warm as it’s bound to be cold! Where oh where could your gift be? Have you checked under the town's Christmas tree?"

Although the clue gives Atlas Cove (226/214/26) as the location to go to, where you actually end up is Atlas Cove (226/214/26). But this is actually a better place to start as you just turn and face south, and you're in the direction you need to go.

Go out the door, and then left to face south again, then go through the arch with the word "Winter" over it with the two human-sized nutcrackers. Continue south until you get to the Christmas tree there. The present is next to Atlas Cove (226/214/26). Touch it with the HUD on to get it.

So what is the present this time? It's a set of furniture consisting of a cushioned chair, a couch with a few poses (none of them frisky), a coffee table, and a tray of hot chocolate.

Check the Linden Blog tomorrow for the third gift in the Winter Swaginator Hunt.

Bixyl Shuftan

The First "Winter Swaginator Hunt" Gifts

Since I wrote about the "Winter Swaginator Hunt" last week, a number of people have messaged or emailed me, asking where the location of the first of the gifts is. As this is the last full day the gift will be around, we can go ahead and show it. It's in Winter Wonderland 5 (104/140/24).

 But you can't just up and TP there. The closest you can get just by TPing is Portal Park 1 (128/128/23). Where you'll want to go from there is the Winter Wonderland doorway, which is in the opposite side of the room. Once you walk through, look around for a blue sign. That has the Swaginator, which you'll need to claim the gift. Once you have that, walk a little further, make a left, and walk straight to the Snowball Arena area. Go up and down the stairs to the arena, past the gun pickup area, and walk around until you see a bridge over a frozen river

The bridge is where the gift is, a grayish-blue box with a light gray top. Just touch it, and you should receive your gift, as long as you're wearing the Swaginator (someone told me she didn't get it even though she says she had the HUD on, so there might be a bug).

Unpacking your gift, you get three items: a welcome mat, a basket of logs, and a lantern with a flame.

Stay tuned for the announcement in "Featured News" on the Linden Blog for the next gift in the Winter Gift Grab.

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submission: Proyecto Latino, New and Innovative.

Just opened three months ago and is already a point of reference for many Spanish speakers, Project Latino is innovative and willing for all those who come to enjoy the facilities and the variety of services that this place offers. It's a commercial area with a diversity of stores focused on kemono fashion, an area of ​​free items such as can not be missing today in most social areas.

Among other things this site has locker rooms, a site aimed at dictating classes, and a cinema where movies are designed daily in a very good quality and in a very familiar environment with the only requirement to be users of the Firestorm Viewer. A very pleasant experience.

And what makes this site different from other sites and Spanish-speaking places to socialize? Shiroe NignTяoad (f1729) stated, "Personally I like to create spaces that give the same experience as real life." That's what makes this place different, says one of the administrators of this great place.

An article of Seven (flchp)

"Feel the Bern" Bernie Sanders Themed Location

The US Presidential election continues to make news in real life, with Donald Trump all but having won the nomination for the Republicans. For the Democrats, the race between the two candidates continues, with Bernie Sanders having a following in Second Life. Recently, I stopped by the "Feel the Bern" hangout in the Young sim, built by Addie Tozz. She talked some about the spot and her plans.

Read more in Places.

The SS Galaxy Fades Away

Taking one more look at the Galaxy sims, overhead on the map, they were red and offline. 

So it was no surprise that on the closest sim, Temasek, the ship was nowhere to be seen, even though I was using the same draw distance that allowed me to see the whole thing one day earlier.

And so, the SS Galaxy is truly gone, with nothing left but written accounts, pictures, videos, and memories.

Bixyl Shuftan

Goodbye SS Galaxy

Well, yesterday Sunday May 3, was the day the SS Galaxy was closed to the public. I was still able to see the ship from the nearby sim of Temasek. But trying to walk to the Galaxy Quest sim next door, I was blocked. Trying to teleport to the ship wouldn't work either.

While the ship might still be visible from outside, it can no longer be accessed. How long it will still be up for the purposes of taking pictures is unknown.

While panning around, I noticed this location floating above and to the front of the ship. I hadn't heard of it before, so have no idea who owns it. Taking a look, it resembles some kind of planetarium-themed club.

Quite a few comments have been made about the ship's closing. The Newser will try to have some commentary about it later.

Bixyl Shuftan

New Podex Location

The Podex Exchange has moved. They recently moved to a new and larger office building. They now can be found in the Coda sim at (45, 218, 61).

Podex Exchange, sometimes called the Podex bank, exchanges Lindens for several world currencies. They are a sponsor of Second Life Newser.