Join the Newser For a PARTY!

 

It was today, sixteen years ago, in which the Second Life Newser began.. It was quite an eventful month, in which we wrote about the end of the classic "Greenies" sim, the decline of Ozimal breedable pet bunnies, the Relay for Life, the Second Life Seventh Birthday, and of course Linden Lab laying off thirty percent of it's workforce followed soon by the resignation of then CEO M Linden. And since then, the Newser and it's writers have kept on going.

 

And now, we're taking a moment to celebrate. There will be a party at the Happy Vixen Beach club tomorrow, Saturday June 6, from Noon to 2PM. There will be a small contest prize (CAYA) up for grabs. It's a chance talk to some of the reporters, and a moment to celebrate journalism in this virtual world.

 

Purrfection Estates (236, 219, 24)  

 

*Addition* It slipped my mind earlier to mention the party was on Saturday, for some reason.  

 

Subject to last-minute change 

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

Newser Crew Meeting

 

On Saturday December 13 at Noon SL time, the Newser staff would hold a meeting. It would be at its office in HV Community. From right to left were Gemma Cleanslate, Nydia Tungsten, Netera Landar, Penny Shuftan, and Bixyl Shuftan (myself). We would talk about subjects to write about, which December certainly provides plenty of,

And eventually came "meeting adjourned," which brought out a festive gesture.

 

Stay tuned for more stories from the Newser crew.

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Looking Back: Shellie Sands and Grey Lupindo

 

As the Second Life Newser approaches it's twelfth anniversary, there is much to look back on. We have reported much on the People, Places, Events, and things across this virtual world over time. And perhaps a little about ourselves. Gemma Cleanslate and Bixyl Shuftan have been here since the beginning. But there were two others at the start who are no longer with us. Shellie Sands was noted for her poetry and love of pet bunnies. Grey Lupindo wrote about various places around Second Life, including her home community of Syzygy. Today, we look at these two founding members of the Newser.

Read more in People.
 

Where Are They Now: Becky Shamen and Deaflegacy

 

As the Newser gets close to it's anniversary, here's some recent developments on two of the people whom wrote for it in the past: Becky Shamen and Deaflegacy, whom took on the display name Penny Shuftan.

After her last article, Becky continued to live in the Sunweaver Community. But a few months ago, she announced she would be having to depart the virtual world. Her real-life finances were getting tighter to the point she could no longer afford a place in Second Life, or to pay for an Internet connection every month. She told the others in the community not to worry as she wasn't seeing this as the end, only the next chapter in a great adventure.

Deaflegacy's last article was in 2019. After that, she sadly informed me of her inability to write articles on a regular basis due to her health. She didn't want to quit, only take medical leave until she was once again ready to write. 

Since then, she's continued to stay in Second Life, and moving to the Sunweaver community where she keeps a few horses. She also "adopted" yours truly as her SL brother, hence her display name "Penny Shuftan."  Recently she had some trouble with her computer, but four friends chipped in with money and technical know-how to get her a new machine. So she stayed in Second Life, getting by with a little help from her friends and neighbors. She says she will try to write an occasional article, and looks forward to when she can once again report on the virtual world on a weekly basis.

On a final note, one reporter for the Newser, Kayly Iali, recently announced she will be reporting from her other account, Anita Kimono. So the crew page has been updated to reflect this.
 
Bixyl Shuftan
 

Crew Meeting

 

Saturday April 10 was the monthly crew meeting for the Second Life Newser, taking place at the main office in southern HV Community.  From left to right are Dancerina Starlight, Rosie (RougeRedHead01 Resident), Bixyl Shuftan (myself), Gemma Cleanslate, and Kayly Iali. The five of us talked about recent subjects written about, such as the VWBPE education conference, and subjects for later this month, notably the Relay for Life and the upcoming Fantasy Faire.
 

On another note, those with desks on the second floor no longer have to come up to the third just for coffee. Rosie got us a coffee table with another pot and some coffee cake. Nothing like a pick-me-up when working on an article.

Bixyl Shuftan
  

Crew Meeting

 

A few days ago, the Newser staff had it's crew meeting, which took place in it's main office in HV Community. It was fairly small, those showing up being Kayly Iali, Gemma Cleanslate, Fritter Enzyme, and myself. We talked about accomplishments in the previous month, and what we could work on in the month ahead. 

Among the more amusing moments was when someone wondered if the coffee was getting stale. So someone whipped out a small keg of Guinness. But unfortunately it ended up on a plate of cookies.

Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Crew Meeting

 

 Saturday January 9 was the day of the Newser's first crew meeting of the year. It was at the Newser's main office in HV Community to plan on what to write this month. Taking part from right to left were Fritter Enzyme, Kayly Iali, Penny (Deaflegacy), Bixyl Shuftan (myself), and Gemma Cleanslate. Penny is currently on leave, but wanted to keep in touch. Also there visiting was Slithia Resident.

We'll have some interesting stories for you this month, and year.

Crew Meeting

On Saturday August 8 at Noon SL time, the Newser had a crew meeting at it's office in HV Community. Besides Gemma Cleanslate and I (Bixyl Shuftan), also there was Angel Fencer (Ender Leven), whom should be returning to writing articles after a real-life interruption, and Nydia Tungsten. Cyfir wasn't about to show up due to real life.

We discussed some possible ideas for articles. And what ideas will these be? Stay tuned to find out.

Bixyl Shuftan

Holding Down The Office

Readers may have noticed that for over a week, there hasn't been any articles from the rest of the staff. This isn't because they haven't found anything, but that real-life has been butting in to the point they've had to put down their pens, at least for the moment.

So for now, yours truly has been keeping things running on his own. But only temporary. One reporter has already contacted me about an article in progress. And everyone else should be back on track soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Join the Newser Crew For a Party

The Newser crew work hard to give you the news about the people, places, and events across Second Life. But this weekend, we're going to take a little time to relax. Tomorrow at the Happy Vixen beach club, we're going to have some fun with a beach party. The party is open for most everyone to come by and say hello to the crew. And if enough come by, there will be a small prize up for grabs. The music will be provided by DJ Applebloom.

Saturday January 12

12 Noon SL time

Purrfection Estates (236, 219, 24)   

Crew Meeting

On Sunday November 3, the Newser had it's monthly crew meeting. Present from right to left were Deaflegacy, Gemma Cleanslate, Nydia Tungsten (whom is rejoining), and Bixyl Shuftan (myself). We talked about possible subjects to cover, such as Veterans Day and Thanksgiving-themed places and events.

Bixyl Shuftan

Crew Meeting

 Saturday July 7 was the day of the Newser's crew meeting. Attending from right to left were Jamiethefoxy, Klaus Bereznyak, Deaflegacy, and Bixyl Shuftan (myself). We traded ideas about what to write about, such as the upcoming Relay Weekend (which was the reason this pictures weren't posted last week), and other subjects.

At the end up the meeting when we all stood up, I noticed something about Klaus. He was shoeless. "Oh yes - it's the summer," he told me, "I have been hoboing." I reminded him with a grin, "Bare feet for a fur is one thing, for a human avatar, a bit more watch where you walk." "Hee hee - I will."

Getting to the foot of the matter, I guess

Bixyl Shuftan

Crew Meeting

Saturday February 11 was when the Newser had it's staff meeting. The meeting took place in the Newser office in HV Community. Gemma Cleanslate was busy with helping to make the One Billion Rising video, and Kain Scalia and Grease Coakes were having real-life matters to deal with. So that left Deaflegacy, Mylie Foxclaw, and myself. Also coming by was MajikVixen, whom stated she might be able to end her hiatus soon, depending on her real-life schedule.

Majik's appearance was that of a multicolored KittyKats breedable, the same kind as the Newser's mascot "Chilly." She had taken one, and made it her avatar.

We discussed a few things, such as the upcoming One Billion Rising and "Hug a Linden/Dunk a Linden," and a few ideas for articles.

Be sure to keep watching to see what the writers of the Second Life Newser report on.

Crew Meeting

 February 6 was the day of the monthly crew meeting for the Second Life Newser team. Attending were Becky "Sha" Shamen, Gemma Cleanslate, Deaflegacy Darkbloom, Nydia Tungsten, Wesley Regenbogen (not in the picture), and myself. The meeting took place at the Newser office in HV Community.

We discussed a number of topics, such as Valentines Day, Superbowl Fifty, and the "One Billion Rising" demonstration. Gemma had volunteered to be a greeter at the last event, showing off her shirt.

New Reporters, New Sponsorship Level

It's been a lot of fun celebrating the Newser Anniversary, but that's not all we have to crow about.

In the past couple weeks, we've had three new reporters join our ranks, Leona Kitty, Syndra (Katakanna), and Ozymandius (0zymandi). They've already sent in some articles. Ozymandius did a great review of the Insilico roleplay area. Syndra brought our Fashion section out from inactivity. And Leona has gotten the attention of people wanting to advertise here. We're looking forward to more of their articles.

Also, we've had requests for a smaller level of sponsorship from people who are looking to do so long term, but have doubts about doing so at the level our normal sponsorships require. So we're introducing our Secondary Sponsorships. These are much like Primary Sponsorships, but are on other sections other than the main one (People, Places, Events, etc.). These are currently 5,000 Linden dollars for a three month period, extendable by purchasing more time.

Want to Work For the Newser?

Since the beginning, the Second Life Newser has been open to new talent coming in. We have had a few people who've asked us if we could be a little more clear about it. We thought we were, but we've gone ahead and added a page about contacting us for employment. Click the link at the top, or (Click Here).

Wesley Regenbogen made a contribution to the page, which you can see (here).

Newser Crew Beach Party

On Sunday January 20, the reporters of Second Life Newser and some of their friends met at Cova's Cove for a beach party.

The place was a private beach island, owned by our friend Convadonga Writer, whom some of us worked alongside with at JamesT Juno's old SLN. She plans to join us when real life matters permit. But in the meantime, she loves having us over at her place for parties.

Among those showing up were KariaKae KariaKae (Kariakae Karu) of the Second Life Coast Guard, shown above dancing, our friend Any1 Gynoid, Annie Brightstar, Lanai Jerrico of the Second Life Enquirer, and others.

 Skylark Lefavre appears with Kiwi and Recoyote Mindes, doing a little "horsing around" with pony avatars.

Grey Lupindo shows off her grass skirt, which got complements from fellow writers Gemma Cleanslate, DrFran Babcock, and Joshua Xavier.

At one point, Joshua changed to a dragon avatar Xymbers Slade had written about earlier. Xymbers himself wasn't able to make the party in-avatar, but it could be argued because of the dragon, he still had a presence around. The results were jokes along the lines of, "hey, I came to have a picnic lunch, not end up a pincic lunch!"

A fun time was had by all

Newser Beach (and Pool) Party this Sunday

This Sunday, the crew of Second Life Newser will be taking a brief break from their reporting. We'll be heading to Cova's Cove, the home of our friend Covadonga Writer, and enjoying a little fun on the beach. This is a private residence, so instead of giving out a landmark, please Instant Message Bixyl Shuftan or one of the other Second Life Newser reporters.

The Party will be on January 19 at Noon SL time. Swimwear is encouraged. We have plans for a DJ to perform the music.

A Note From The Editor About Recent Articles

I had a few words with a friend on Facebook, who wondered if the Second Life Newser team was losing interest in Second Life. While we've always reported on something related to computers and other virtual worlds on occasion, lately there's been a number of them. Plus, a few of the reporters haven't been as active as usual.

This is for a few reasons. In recent days, there's been a number of developments outside Second Life that concerned at least some residents of the Grid, or which I felt were relevant in some way. For instance, the development of Runescape deciding to involve players in the punishment of offenders I felt would be very interesting to a resident whose favorite sims are plagued by griefers. As for the reporters, some have had real life matters to attend to, and others were busy working away to find and write articles. This weekend I got a number in the mailbox which will appear this week.

If there's something out there you feel isn't getting attention, by all means let us know. And of course we're interested in any Reader Submissions you the readers may have.

Stay tuned for a month full articles of what October in Second Life offers.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Newser Staff Meeting

A picture from the Second life Newser meeting last weekend. Pictured are Grey Lupindo, Gemma Cleanslate, Grease Coakes, Bixyl Shuftan, and newcomer: Zyker Finesmith.