Cartoon of the Day: "What's in A Name?"

Taken at Virtual Ability

By Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: This Week at the Senchai Libraries

THE SPOOKABLE GOOD TIMES ARE ROLLING!
The rich turn to autumn is such a good time for stories, and we present another week of them - ghost stories, science fiction, tales of intrigue and infinitives.  Not to mention that FRANKENSTEIN is on his way! 

Check out the stories and the storytellers at www.seanchailibrary.com

All events at Senchai Library at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise noted
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Holly%20Kai%20Estates/215/44/27

All stories told in open voice. All times SL/PT


**SUNDAY, October 14th, at 3pm: STORIES AT THE PARK at the Holly Kai Gallery (just a stroll over from the Library), live in voice.

**MONDAY, October 15th at 7pm: John Brunner's THE INFINITIVE OF GO begins with Gyro Muggins.  

**TUESDAY, October 16th at 7pm:  GHOST STORIES FROM HOME with Caledonia Skytower

** WEDNESDAY, October 17th at 7pm: Charles Stross' THE JENNIFER MORGUE begins with Corwyn Allen
   
** THURSDAY, October 18th

    ~ at 7pm - DOORBELLS AT DUSK - Halloween Tales with Shandon Loring  (Also in Kitely!  Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI,  in Kitely)

    ~ at 9pm - SEANCHAI LATE NIGHT, late night contemporary Sci-Fi with Finn Zeddmore

COMING OCTOBER 21st - FRANKENSTEIN!

Montecito Bay Versus The Slime And Maw Monsters

Today, Montecito Bay celebrates it's first anniversary. But last week the community was facing down some weirdness, even weirder than what regularly happens here already. For some days before, there had been some sightings of puddles of slime. This day, that and more was confirmed by multiple eyewitnesses, notably slimy creatures that looked like the lounge chair from Hell.

Read the story in Extra.

SL Video, "Soul Eater"

From Furry Andy in November 2017

Announcement: This Week At The Science Circle : "

Saturday October 13
10 AM to 11 AM SL tim

Following the coming departure of the Exploratorium from SL (April 2019) we visit the interactive Second Life museum together.

The exhibitions are in their current state, for us as an educational institution, unusable and we would like to hear from you which of these exhibitions are worth replicating in Mesh and should be made available in our own region.

In all likelihood, the vision and years of work of Paul Doherty for the Exploratorium in a Virtual World will inspire us and enable future projects in physics, astrophysics, mathematics and technology.
 
Join us Saturday at 10 AM PDT, discover and experiment with the many exhibitions, photograph or write down your favourites and talk to us about new ideas!

Wikipedia about Exploratorium

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Exploratorium/142/128/23

Back in Business

The leftovers of Hurricane Michael had some punch to them, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands far inland from where it made landfall. Where yours truly lived had a "High Winds" watch, and power was knocked out last night, not getting it back until late this afternoon. We'll have some more news up soon. So stay tuned.

Bixyl Shuftan

Technical Difficulties

If you can read this, then somehow I lost my connection to the Internet (or was too sleepy to reset the "deadman's switch").

Hopefully it'll be fixed, soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: Akea at the Happy Vixen

From Little Spirit. In one of his last appearances in Second Life, Akea Grommet dropped by the Happy Vixen during the "Squirrels and Raccoons" party in February this year. "Gotta go see this handsome individual," Akea spoke of JB Raccoon whom was DJing at the time, "Hiyas, Bix.  How do you like my twin?" He gave JB a new pair of sunglasses.

Shockwave's Haunted Maze And The Angels' Haunted Mansion

Halloween has come to the Sunweaver community. Already, it's residents have two places within their estate lands to have some spook-tacular fun. Shockwave Yareach has a maze with a cash prize for the first ones to successfully brave the traps and monsters and walk out with the treasures. Jasmine Dawn offers the Happy Vixen's Haunted Mansion, which will be both the location for the beach club's events, and offers a mystery to solve, and a prize for those who can.

Read more in Places.

Press Release: First Annual FCA Furry Halloween Club Crawl, October 26

Takes place Friday October 26, starting at 12 Noon SL time

12-2pm
Club Zero Gravity - https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Space/129/249/3597

2-4pm
The Happy Vixen (Haunted Manor) - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Purrfection%20Estates/126/175/2004

4-6pm
Urban Furry - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mystic%20Timberland/164/239/2701

6-8pm
Club Cutlass - https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Bay/114/117/757

8-10pm
Club Zero Gravity - https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunweaver%20Space/129/249/3597

Sunweaver Akea Grommet Has Died

On the evening of Tuesday October 9, sad news hit the Sunweaver community. Longtime member Akea Grommet, had died following a five day stay in the hospital. His partner, Angel Scaraborough, gave the following announcement.

We have lost the Coon (Akea Grommet)

Akea was in the hospital from October 4th - October 9th.   He was starting to do better, just waiting for some further tests, when he passed away very suddenly this morning. Sunweavers was very important to Akea and I know many here cared for him so I wanted to let everyone know as soon as I could.   I am sorry that I don't have any other information.   I was going to call the hospital tomorrow to check on him and then received word today that he had passed this morning.

Akea has been a part of the Sunweaver community for most of it's history, since 2008 or 2009. As a DJ, he would perform at Club Cutlass, often dressed in theme for the event. There is one record of a song he sung, "Rocky Top Tennessee." For the past few years, he was seen less and had stopped DJing. But would still come on once in a while. I personally last saw him at the Happy Vixen some weeks ago at an event, in good spirits, and welcoming those he hadn't seen before.

As news of his passing spread, various Sunweavers, and some of his friends from Seal Cove dropped by Akea and Angel's house. People shared memories and talked about good times they had with him. Angel would put up a slide show of pictures.

"Thank you again everyone for coming," Angel told everyone, "I truly believe that Akea knows about and is touched by this gathering for him."

Rest in Peace.

Bixyl Shuftan

News in Brief : Possible Viewer Trouble, Updated Linden Game, Google Plus Shut Down

 Once again, there's a lot more news than there is time to go over it in detail. So here's more brief descriptions of several things that have been going on.

Is Animesh Update Causing Viewer Trouble? - Has your viewer been having problems lately? A couple people have come to me, saying they've been crashing a lot lately. My attention was directed to JIRA BUG-225584 done by the creator of the Black Dragon viewer, saying ever since the Animesh update to Second Life, his viewer has had "massive performance loss" with frame rate. The problem isn't limited to Black Dragon, but could hit any Second Life Viewer. Linden Lab is investigating the issue, and people with problems, are encouraged to discuss it on this thread in the official forums.

Source: New World Notes

New Linden Realms - On the Linden Blog, there was an announcement that one of the older Linden games has been given a new twist. Linden Realms is now "Linden Realms: The Search For Magellan."

New Sunweaver Halloween Attractions - The Sunweaver community has two new Halloween-themed attractions. These are Shockwave's Haunted Maze at Sunweaver Eclipse (102/39/2201) and the Happy Vixen Haunted Manor.

Google Plus Shut Down After Data Breach Exposed - Google announced on Monday October 8 that it would be shutting down it's social network Google Plus. This announcement came shortly after a Wall Street Journal article that there had been a data leak affecting a half million users, and Google made the decision not to warn people fearing disclosure might mean bad press and possibly increased regulation as a result.

Source: Ars Technica 

Dysphoria to Euphoria. The Newser was alerted to a sim that had been recreated by it's fans. Dysphoria was an Alice-in-Wonderland style sim that it's owner announced would be closing due to her changing real life. When an attempt to save it failed, fans made the decision to rebuild it, under the new name Euphoria.

Source: Euphoria Wonderland

More on these stories, and others, when time permits.

Bixyl Shuftan

Hurricane Michael Makes Landfall On Florida Panhandle Today

A month after Hurricane Florence threatened the East Coast, another storm is threatening to knock out power to thousands: Hurricane Michael. With winds up to 130 mph around it's eye, it was upgraded to Category Three and forecast to go to Category Four. Hurricane warnings are across the Florida panhandle, and tropical storm watches go all the way from the Louisiana border to Tampa. The storm is projected to go northeast, with over half of Georgia having storm warnings, and tropical storm watches extending well into North Carolina.

The storm has the potential to knock out power over a wide area, with the Florida panhandle and southern Georgia hardest hit. But unlike Hurricane Florence, the storm is faster moving and will not linger as long. So power should be restored quicker (though as some friends will tell you, there's always that one block that the power company takes their sweet time). So if you have online friends in this area, they might be offline for a little while.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Drax Files: World Makers "Episode 47: Mad World"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Draxtor Despress on October 8, "Halloween holds a special place in many people’s hearts. Dressing up in scary, funny and or weird ways [Drax once went trick/treating as Mitt Romney with a binder full of scantily clad Barbie dolls and was briefly detained by local police in California…] Even though it is a very American holiday, Kiana Writer from MadPea Games loved everything around Halloween when growing up in Finland. Especially the scary parts! She and her team brought her sensibilities and imagination into Second Life with a year-round celebration in form of a massive amusement park called 'MadWorld': lots of games, rides, role-play, special events and prices await the SL resident who dares to enter…. 'Halloween used to be much scarier when I grow up' she says, 'but we can relive these childhood memories in Second Life everyday!' Needless to say that everything that MadPea offers in MadWorld is completely custom built and scripted for Second Life and can be enjoyed as the chosen avatar embodiment. Case in point: Drax went ghost hunting - in the rain - with his beloved slider shoes…

+++++++++++

"A very special thanks as always to our background actors and gracious sim owners / event organizers [including but not limited to BCreative Wilde, Gaius Tripsa, Quiggles78, Threshin Bartnett, Sangi Phaeton, Thalia Lupindo, Raceyy, LadyRose Writer, TheOnlyNoMad] and of course production designer, location and logistics wrangler Marianne McCann: can you spot her in this one? Hint: she looks quite pale in a couple of scenes …. "

 In this video the following sims were featured visited [pay them a visit this Halloween season and tell them Count Draxula sent you!] Madworld = https://secondlife.com/destination/ma... The Well = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Bay City = https://secondlife.com/destination/ba... Twisted = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Trick or Treat Lane = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Everwinter = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Skull Creek = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Ripe = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Malaika Park = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Rose Garden = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Cica Ghost = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... Bryn Oh = http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife... For more information about MadPea check out http://www.madpeagames.com/ This episode contains carousel music from the historic Playland amusement park in San Francisco as well as from Disneyland’s “King Arthur” carousel. We also used a little bit of New Orleans jazz performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz Academy.

Events This Week at the Sunweaver, Montecito Bay, and Furry Fashion Clubs

Here's what's going on at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay clubs and the Furry Fashion Lounge.

Club Cutlass: Best in 'G.' , D and D, Yellow Night

Happy Vixen's Haunted Manor: "Murder, Monsters, and Mayhem", Horned, Foxes and Wolves, Magic, Dragons, Sharknado, Good vs Evil, Night Creatures, Games and Anime, Ferals

Club Zero Gravity: TBA

Momtecito Bay: Taco Tuesday, Musical Expedition, Lem and Em Show, Space, Montecito Bay's Birthday

Furry Fashion Lounge: Horror, Sexy, Rainbow, Orange vs Purple, Nerds and Geeks, Rave

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'

Press Release: Oktoberfest in the CDS

It's almost time for the annual celebration of Oktoberfest sponsored by The Confederation of Democratic simulators.

Here's what's planned for Oktoberfest 2018.

Friday, October 12, 11am-12pm SLT:
The Oktoberfest Pub Crawl, featuring The Art Cafe, Gasthaus, an Irish Pub, ending at The German Biergarten.
DJ will be Han Held, the intrepid Chancellor of C.D.S. We start at The Art Cafe. Come and join us!
The Art Cafe - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Locus%20Amoenus/123/195/25

Saturday, October 13, 12-1pm SLT: J
Jaynine Scarborough performs at Rhenus Docks.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Colonia%20Nova/16/102/22

Saturday, October 13, 1-2pm SLT:
Friedsee by Horseback with Delia Lake. Horse rezzer will be available or bring your own!
Horse Rezzer - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Neufreistadt/5/194/172

Sunday, October 14, 10am-12pm SLT:
Party on the Platz! We close Oktoberfest with DJ Gabrielle Riel. Come in your best Oktoberfest costume and compete for L$$ prizes!
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Neufreistadt/138/157/173

See you there!

The Calas Galadhon Haunted Maze

Gemma Cleanslate's travels took her back to a favorite location, Calas Galadhon Park. The owners Ty Tenk and Truck Meredith often have something new and interesting for Halloween. Last year, they had a sci-fi horror exhibit. This year, they have a maze to try and get through. Unfortunately, navigating the passages is just one of the challenges. You also have to fight all sorts of monsters trying to eat you.

Read Gemma's story in Places.

CSD Announcement: Han Held Declares For Reelection

Just giving everyone a head's up that when Oct 31st rolls around, I will be sending the Dean of the SC my declaration of Candidacy to be the Chancellor for the 30th Term of the Representative Assembly.

We are unique in SL; unlike Zoha or Caledon or any other estate **WE** shape the decisions of our estate. But we can ONLY do that through participation.

I encourage everyone to vote, and to run for office as well.

Thank you for giving me the chance to serve.

Hannah Marie Tempestwolf's (Han Held)

Windows 10 October Update Postponed Due To File-Deleting Bug

Windows 10 has had a number of problems since it's release by Microsoft. Last month, it was "warning" users not to use more popular web browsers and use Microsoft's own. But this time there's a more serious problem. On October 2, the "Windows 10 October 2018 Update" was released for Windows 10 insider testers and anyone else whom wanted to go ahead with the update. Soon after, some people were finding important files deleted, including music recordings and pictures. One user posted on the Microsoft forums, "it deleted all my files of 23 years in amount of 220gb. This is unbelievable, I have been using Microsoft products since 1995 and nothing like that ever happened to me." Fortunately, he had backed up his files a couple months earlier, but more recent ones were still gone.

Those whom had already updated were urged to migrate documents in their user directory, and those Windows 10 users whom hadn't to temporarily disable updates. Eventually, Microsoft suspended the update due to the reports of deleted files.

If you use Windows 10, and you're not sure if your computer installed the update, "To check if your system downloaded and installed the update, click the Windows / Start key and then type 'View Installed Update History.' Click that result and then check the last version that was installed. If it wasn't 1809, you should be safe."


Sources: ZDNet, Forbes, Microsoft.com

Bixyl Shuftan

Gaming News in Brief

Antilia Releases Character Creator Demo: Antilia, the Fantasy game that's been in development for about a decade, recently released a game character creation demo. Besides species, and appearances, players can chose what kind of background the character had, such as location, occupations of the parents, education, etc. (youtube) But don't expect the game to be available to play anytime soon. The game "is still in early to mid development," and no beta release has been set yet.

Wildstar Closure Announced: Carbine Studios, the makers of the Wildstar MMO which was recently slated for shutdown due to Carbine's owners, NCSoft, announcing the closing of the studio, announced the date of the game's shutdown: November 28. Some seasonal in-game events have been placed on an accelerated schedule, and Carbine invited all players on the last day to "Join us in-game for the final few hours as we have some fun. More details to come!"

PC Magazine, MassivelyOp , 

Maple Story 2 : There's an upcoming MMO that will be launched later this week that's gotten a little talk among people I know: Maple Story 2. A prequel to the original game, there's much more content here than the previous game, such as player housing. One review I listened to cautioned that the game comes from a company, Nexon, "that loves to monetize their games" and that it had the potential to go "very pay to win very fast."

MMOByte, MassivelyOp  

 Image credit: Nydia Tungsten, MMOByte

Announcement: This Week at the Senchai Libraries

Check out the stories and the storytellers at www.seanchailibrary.com

All events at Senchai Library at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise noted
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Holly%20Kai%20Estates/215/44/27

 All stories told in open voice. All times SL/PT

 **MONDAY, October 8th at 7pm: Ellen Anthony's MURDER IS BLISS Concludes with Gyro Muggins. Multiple murders including that of an old friend, entangle policeman Jasper Stone in a web of danger.

**TUESDAY, October 9th at 7pm:  John Bellair's THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS Concludes with Faerie Maven-Pralou

** WEDNESDAY, October 10th at 7pm: A HAUNTING WE WILL GO, with E.F. BENSON with Caledonia
  
** THURSDAY,October 11th at 7pm - STAIRWAYS - The Strange Stairs at the Aldebourne Estate with Shandon Loring  (Also in Kitely!  Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI,  in Kitely)

COMING OCTOBER 21st - FRANKENSTEIN!

Cartoon of the Day: "Quack Doctor"

Taken at Club Cutlass's "Doctors and Nurses" event. Kylee Gracemount showed up in this avatar. So she should have see the joke coming. ;-)

By Bixyl Shuftan

Eye On The Blog: Linden Lab Blocks "IM To Second Life" Android Client

On Friday, Oz Linden announced that the Android application "IM to Second Life" was being blocked. Oz cited "serious violations" to the privacy of users and account security.

Linden Lab has blocked the third party Android client “IM to Secondlife”; it may no longer be used to access Second Life. We did so due to serious violations of the Policy on Third Party Viewers relating to user account security and user privacy.
 

If you have ever used that viewer, Linden Lab strongly suggests that you secure your Second Life account, beginning with updating your password on the Second Life account page:

https://accounts.secondlife.com/change_password/

"IM to Second Life" as it's name implies is not a true viewer, but allows someone with a handheld device to access Second Life to just send and receive Instant Messages. Oz stated, "We may need to temporarily hold some accounts in connection with this incident." The reasons for this were not given.

It's rare that Linden Lab announces it's blocking a third-party client. It was September 2010 that Linden Lab announced it was blocking the Emerald Viewer.

Image source: Google Play

Caption This

Remember the cartoon two days ago? I couldn't help but wonder if I could have made a better punch line. So here's your chance. What lines of dialogue would you use?

SL Video: "Erin and Blue's Journey"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

By YKZ Productions on August 23

News in Brief

There has been quite a bit going on lately in Second Life and the Internet. Too much to go in-depth for all of them, and some have been around for a few days. So here's some of the stories, in brief.

Facebook Hacked: Last weekend, Facebook announced fifty million accounts had been exposed and vulnerable by a "security issue" due to a "vulnerability" in the social media app's code. Although Facebook's owner Mark Zuckerberg insisted the problem was fixed, others such as Virginia Senator Mark Warner called for increased regulation to protect the public's privacy and security.

BBC, Mashable, Mark Warner Twitter

Net Neutrality Lawsuit: The US Federal Government filed suit against California earlier this week over the state's Net Neutrality law. Despite 200 businesses and trade groups asking them not to do so, last December, the FCC voted to scrap Net Neutrality protections. Several states responded by setting up their own net neutrality protections, California's being among the toughest. In the lawsuit, the Justice Department charges California's actions are a violation of the Constitution. In response, one of the people who wrote California's protections charged that the state's law was written in response to the Federal Government abandoning it's obligation to help protect public access to the Internet.

Petition at Change.org , ars.technica, Washington Post , The Verge, 

Internet Throttling Has Begun:  Adding fuel to the fire behind the efforts of California and others trying to bring back Net Neutrality protections was a report written about last month that confirmed major Internet Service Providers were already throttling Internet traffic through Youtube, Netflix, and other places. Verizon is already in trouble for throttling the communications equipment used by California firefighters while they were working to stop wildfires.

The Humanist Report , Bloomberg , The Guardian

Leaving Behind One's Avatars In Their Will:  Blogger Ryan Schultz, who writes about Sansar and other virtual worlds, recently announced that he might have cancer. In response, he says he will be putting avatars he made in his will so they can still be used after he dies. While people interested can contact him inworld, he doesn't plan on leaving avatars that took a lot of time, sometimes money, to make to just anyone. (first update) (second update) (third update)

Hat Tip: Hamlet Au

Star Trek RP Worries: A virtual recreation of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation was ordered taken down by lawyers from CBS, prompting worries from New World Notes' Hamlet Au that they might go after Star Trek roleplays in Second Life soon as well, despite an agreement several years ago.

Eurogamer, New World Notes, 

Second Life Sims Still Growing: In late August, the Newser noted that five of the past seven weeks then had seen an increase in the number of private sims. According to Tyche Shepard in Sept 23, the increases have been continuing "an additional 45 regions since 31st Dec 2017 , a 0.3% growth and overall the Total Grid has regrown to the the size it was in April last year." But a week later, he stated five sims had closed, bringing the growth back down to 40 sims and 0.2% .

Source: Virtualverse  Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

Gossip/Slam Blog Owners Banned: New World Notes reported a couple weeks ago about the owners of a blog called "SL Secrets." The blog allowed anonymous users to make all kinds of claims about those they didn't like from copybotting to fat-shamming to catfishing to ageplay. From the point of view of content creators, it was a potential cause of lost revenue through charges of ripping off others in which the accuser would be completely unknown. The two co-owners were reported to have been banned by Linden Lab from Second Life citing violations for several sections, including 5.3 which Hamlet Au called "the nuclear option," stating, "We may terminate your Account if we determine in our discretion that such action is necessary or advisable to ... protect the rights or interests of Linden Lab, the Service community or any third party." More recently, the owners have decided to remake their blog to cover territory beyond Second Life, called "Virtual Secrets." The co-owners insist they're doing so to expand their coverage and not because of a lawsuit by Linden Lab to remove the "SL" part of their name.

Source: New World Notes

New Avatar Review Website. Some fans of furry avatars may remember "Second Life Avatar Review Files," or SLARF. It used to have a large database of reviews of furry avatars, but stopped updating in 2015, and is now accessible in the Internet Archive after being taken down from the net. Blau Rascon is now doing a new blog of avatar reviews: The "Second Life Avatar Index." Already, there are several reviews of recent furry and feral avatars.

Announcement: Dates For Upcoming Election Campaign For CDS

Official Dates, Election of 30th RA and Chancellor

This is official notice of the relevant dates for the 30th Representative Assembly Election and Election of the Chancellor.

Dean of SC notifies citizens of key dates: Sept 30 (Forum posting and inworld group notice)

Qualification deadline to run for office : 12 noon SLT Oct 1 (census generated on this date by Sudane)
Qualification deadline for right to vote: 12 noon SLT Oct 11 (census generated on this date by Sudane)
Deadline for declaration to run for an office: 12 noon SLT Oct 31 (via notecard to the SC dean)

Dean posts official list of candidates: Nov 2 (Forum posting and inworld group notice)
Campaign officially starts: Nov 3
Polls open : 12 noon SLT Nov 10
Polls close: 12 noon SLT Nov 17

Dean of SC announces names of the new RA and chancellor when received (Forum posting and inworld group notice)
Inaugural RA Meeting (LRA selection) 24 Nov 2018

Qualification means that:
You own a parcel of land in the CDS and that land is held in your own name (not deeded to a group) and that your tier is not in arrears at the time a census is taken.

If you wish to stand for office and/or vote it is your responsibility to ensure that you meet the qualification requirements.

Announcement: This Week At The Science Circle: “Analog Computing Devices”

“Analog Computing Devices”

 Saturday October 6
7AM to 8AM SL time

by Phil Youngblood / Vic Michalak
 
A spectrum of devices that were used for a thousand or more years before the modern electronic computer, including the abacus, astrolabe, quipu, slide rule, the Antikythera device, Babbage’s calculators, and other tools used to calculate and compute numbers and dates and positions or record them

Phil will show and describe them and compare how they work to the digital computer.

A large abacus and slide rule and possibly other devices he can demonstrate during the presentation in an interactive session with the audience!

For more information, Click Here: https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/analog-computing-devices/

The Science Circle (61/127/32) 

Annoumcement: Making Strides Event on Sunday

Mark your calendars! The A-Team - DJ Ari and her sidekick Adam - will be at Greased Lightning on Sunday, October 7th at 7PM for an event supporting Making Strides Against Breast Cancer! Come on out and party with us! Grab the attached poster and spread the word!

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Greased%20Lightning/44/181/22

Charity Concert At Veterans Isle Raises Over 273,000 Lindens

On Sunday September 30, Veterans Isle held their monthly benefit concert. From 11AM to 4PM SL time, one DJ and several live musicians performed for the crowd, DJ Waya Snowpaw, The Vinnie Show, Erin and Satin, Singergirl, and Austin Moores. The event was organized by Frets Nirvana.

Dropping in the second to last hour while Austin Moores and his performers were on stage, well over 100,000 Lindens had already been raised, going into two house-shaped kiosks on either side of the stage. There were some match challenges in which someone agreed to match if a certain amount was donated within a certain amount of time. This included Austin, "OK I just put in my 10,400 as a match. And thank you!" People were happy to lend a hand to needy veterans, "They are not forgotten." "We'll NEVER forget what they've done for us...for our country." "NEVER !" "And the King will answer then, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'  Mathew 25:40"

As the concert went into it's last hour with Singergirl (Singergirl Mode) on stage, the donations continued. The total passed 150,000 Lindens, then 200,000. When Singergirl's set was over at 4PM, there had been 231,000 Linden dollars donated. But the donations continued. Checking later, a total of 273,500 Linden dollars had been raised for the event. This is the second month in a row at least a quarter million Lindens had been raised.

The mission of Homes For Our Troops is, "To build and donate specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 Veterans, to enable them to rebuild their lives." The charity has been given a four-star rating by Charity Navigator. To learn more, go to  https://www.hfotusa.org/


Bixyl Shuftan

National Space Society Celebrates NASA's 60th Anniversary

On Monday October 1, the National Space Society in Second Life celebrated NASA's 60th anniversary. It was October 1 1958 when the organization was first operational. For a couple hours on Monday afternoon, the NSS held a small party at the International Space Museum, in the Spaceport Alpha sim, to celebrate.

Press Release: Art/Photo Contest: Trotsdale 7th and Luskwood 15th Birthday

Trotsdale is turning 7 and Luskwood is turning 15. Time sure does fly, doesn't it? Let's celebrate! Show off your love and what Trotsdale and/or Luskwood mean to you in this art/photography contest. Be thinking and looking, there are several chances to win in this one.

Theme: Celebrating Memories: What Trotsdale and Luskwood mean to me! 2018

=Rules=
1. One entry per avatar per sim represented(total of four entries).
2. Entrants may submit pictures of real-life artwork related to Trotsdale or Luskwood.
3. Entrants may submit screenshots and/or SL photographs.
All textures, photos, and notecards MUST be full perm.
4. All entries MUST be done via a full perm notecard dropped into the dropbox with the following information included in the card.
* A) Avatar Legacy name,
* B) Display name to announce if you win,
* C) The title you are giving your photo or art,
* D) Whether the piece is for Luskwood or for Trotsdale.
* E) Whether this is for Traditional/Digital Art or Screenshot/SL Photography division
5. Absolutely NOTHING explicit. Explicit submissions will be disqualified.

=Where to enter=
Dropbox easels will be available at the Trotsdale Square and Luskwood Social Platform.

=Deadline=
Please have your submissions into one of the dropboxes by Midnight SLT, Monday Oct 15, 2018 to be picked up later that day.

=Prizes=
The prize pool will be divided into four prizes equally as noted below.

Trotsdale
1. Traditional/Digital Art
2. SL photo/screenshot

Luskwood
3. Traditional/Digital Art
4. SL photo/screenshot

=Prize Pool=
Starting Prize Pool is 2000L courtesy of Amehana ishtari and MechaEnigma.

Prize Pool is held by Midomaru Resident, an alt of Amehana Ishtari (Arashi) to keep the funds for this contest separated from the funds for the overlapping Halloween contest. Prize disbursement will be sent out via Midomaru Resident (display David Valnarius).

=Want to increase the Prize Pool?=
Send donations to the prize pool for this particular contest to Midomaru Resident or pay the contest sign to have the funds relayed.

Cartoon of the Day

Taken at the Happy Vixen. Yep, that's a fifteen foot anthro bovine avatar on the floor. Hopefully after she recovers from her fall, she won't see her dancing partner like a red cape.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Interview With DJ Khyra Ares

Some clubs consider Mondays to be a day not to bother opening up their doors. Not so the Happy Vixen, which has held events on this day of the week for a while. Playing the music for these parties is Khyra Ares, aka DJ Khyra or "The Dazzlecat DJ." Deaflegacy recently interviewed the lady tigress DJ with the unique fur pattern about how she came to Second Life, and her plans.

Read Deaflegacy's interview in People.

Eye On The Blog: "The Return of the Haunted Halloween Tour," Halloween Glytches, and Premium Gift

Linden Lab is getting into the Halloween spirit by announcing the return of the "Halloween Haunted Tour." The fifth installment of this haunted ride, the Lab promises some new tricks to this Halloween treat.

Who says horror series can’t get better and better? The bone-chilling Haunted Tour is back again - and this fifth installment offers some new twists! Hop in a coffin and enjoy the wild ride through the twisted mind of madness. There is a rule in horror that you’re more likely to survive if you travel with a friend - so face your fears, grab your favorite squad of fiend-fighting friends and follow the Halloween path at Portal Park to the abyss of oblivion at the Haunted Halloween Tour.

For those playing the "Tyrah and the Magical Glytches game," there are some Halloween-themed Glytches to collect. So keep your HUD and weapon handy.

For Premium residents, Linden Lab is offering a special gift just for you: the Haunted Campsite.

This is a fully interactive scene straight out of an 80s horror movie. You can control so many different elements, including weather, bats, music, and much more. Customize your tombstones, seek some relief from the unrelenting elements in your very own tent (though it won’t protect you from machete-wielding maniacs or hungry monsters!), and enjoy candy apples and scary stories around the roaring campfire.
 

There are so many options, it’s almost terrifying!

 To read the blog post in full, Click Here. 

Press Release: Team Diabetes of Second Life to Return For a Fourth Season

WEBSITE: www.teamdiabetessl.org

SLURL:http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plush%20Non%20Profit%20Commons/221/30/26

We are pleased to announce the fourth season of Team Diabetes of Second Life! Team Diabetes of Second Life is an official and authorized team of The American Diabetes Association. The mission of Team Diabetes of Second Life is to raise awareness, tolerance, and funds for diabetes in the virtual world of Second Life. According to the World Health Organization (2016): 422 million adults in the world have diabetes and 1.5 million deaths are directly attributed to diabetes each year.

The official Team Diabetes of Second Life’s season will take place from October 2018 to December 2018, with the following events scheduled to take place:

Off Season Event – October 19 to October 27 – Scare Me Silly Event and Autumn Art Show
November 1, 2018- Team Diabetes of Second Life’s Season Begins
November 1 to 30 - The Red Hunt
November 1 to 30 – National Diabetes Month
November 3, 2018- The Red Ball
November 14, 2018-World Diabetes Day
November 30 to December 9 – Winter Showcase and Winter Art Show
December 31, 2018 – Team Diabetes of Second Life’s Season Ends

In addition to the events mentioned above, individuals, businesses, and organizations are encouraged to hold fundraising events in support of Team Diabetes of Second Life!  The official 2017 fundraising season toolkit will be available to the second life public on October 1, 2018, at the organization’s office in the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life.

About The American Diabetes Association:

The American Diabetes Association’s mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. The American Diabetes Association leads the fight against the deadly consequences of diabetes and fights for those affected by diabetes by funding research to prevent, cure, and manage diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association delivers services to hundreds of communities and provides objective and credible information and resources about diabetes.

Free resources are available in English and Spanish at http://www.diabetes.org and 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2382).

For More Information:

Team Diabetes of Second Life’s American Diabetes Association Page:
http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?px=11304578&fr_id=12466&pg=personal

Team Diabetes of Second Life’s Website:
www.teamdiabetessl.org

American Diabetes Association Page:
www.diabetes.org

International Diabetes Federation Page:
http://www.idf.org/membership/meet-our-members

Events This Week at the Sunweaver, Montecito Bay, and Furry Fashion Clubs

Here's what's going on at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay clubs and the Furry Fashion Lounge.

Club Cutlass: Best in 'F.' , Doctor/Nurse, Disco Night

Happy Vixen: Space, Mix and Match, Silks, Cowboys, Scalies, Skunks, Disney, Worst Superhero, Mad Science, Ponies, TBA

Club Zero Gravity: TBA

Momtecito Bay: Taco Tuesday, Remix Roundup, Lem and Em Show, Funkstep, After Dark, Cool Jazz

Furry Fashion Lounge: Fandoms, Disney, Murder Mystery and Monsters, Avatar Release Party, 80s, Steampunk, Bewbs and Bits, Heroes and Villains,

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'

Announcement: Trotsdale and Star City Halloween Stories 2018 Contest

It is time once again for a writing contest with the Intersim Library Network. This is open to everyone within Second Life. If you are coming to us via the forum or website first, then please join Second Life in order to be able to receive your prize if you are chosen as a winner.

Suggested Theme: Halloween, Spooky, Harvest, or anything appropriate to this time of year.

Suggested Length: 2,000 word maximum

What: Poetry or short story

Deadline: Oct 31, 2018

Examples: www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/boo-scared-you#.qeP8K3WVv

Number of submissions: up to 3 per person!

How to submit:
1. Via notecard at one of the following locations in the dropbox
Trotsdale Library,  Trotsdale (22/156/25)
The ASA: Sapientia Concha Library,  Star City (155/226/63)

or
2. In a reply on this thread after you have made sure your entry is ready to post.
http://intersimlibrary.freeforums.net/thread/23/halloween-2018-writing-contest

What we are looking for:
Please no one liners. We will be judging on structure, recognizable characters, dialog, setting, tone, style, and point of view. It is suggested that you also have proof read and edited your submission(s) before turning them in. All submissions must be suitable for PG 13.

Prize:
Starting pool: 700$L
The amount of $Lindens to be distributed will depend on what is in the prize pool. Hanaarashi Resident will be the holder of the funds. To contribute to the prize pool you can send $L to Hanaarashi Resident, or tip the jar at the dropsites by the submission boxes. If you'd like to donate an item prize (ex: shop gift card) for this or future contests then please send a note to me on this forum, or to Amehana Ishtari (Amehana Arashi) on Second Life.

Number of winners: Up to two!
Judge's Choice winner
Popular Choice winner

Judging:
People's Choice Award - After the close of the submission period Amehana will make sure that all entries (both via forum and SL notecard) are posted in this thread. A poll will then be set up to allow the People to choose their favorite entry.
Judge's Choice Award - After the close of the submission period Amehana will ensure that all chosen fellow judges have access to all the stories. Judging deadline is yet to be set. Judges will then give their vote as to who they feel the winner should be.

Templeton Cove

Gemma Cleanslate's travels took her to a sixteen-sim estate named Templeton Cove. A mostly wilderness and water area, some places are only for those who rent there, but there are plenty of fun areas open to all. Among the things one can do are horseback riding, hiking, and biking trails, ballooning, kayaking, bumper cars, and more. And of course there's the scenery.

Read Gemma's story in Places.

Interview With Tonya Souther of Team Firestorm

It was a week ago Sunday that Team Firestorm celebrated it's anniversary. One member of the team whom was around since the start is Tonya Souther, whom is in charge of development of the Firestorm's Macintosh computer viewer. The Newser recently interviewed her about how she came to Second Life, the end of Team Emerald and the beginnings of Team Phoenix (now Team Firestorm) from her point of view, and some of the challenges the team has faced since.

Read the interview in People.

Rescuing Deepmarsh

On late Thursday night, September 27, I was informed about Deepmarsh, a beautifully-designed sim that apparently was in trouble and in danger of vanishing. Given a name, Honor Woodget, I messaged her, and the following day got in contact with her. She told me she was an estate owner, "The lady that rents from me has had this place for ages. Her display name is River, but her account name is Moya McCallen. She set it up as a relaxation sim, come hang out calm down, take photos, etc. As you can see, she's done a wonderful job."

"About three weeks ago, the sim went past due. Because she'd been here a long time and it was such a well done place, I was patient instead of reclaiming it. At eight days late, I managed to catch her online. She said real-life work had kept her really busy, and she was having trouble getting online. As she was TPing to the tiles to pay rent, she crashed. (I) haven't seen her since."

"Now, she had a good friend who was listed as co-owner of the place: Bigticket Resident. He couldn't afford to pay rent on it, and offered to let me spam the group for help." She directed my attention to the donation box in the building in the middle of the sim, "At two weeks late, I put up that ugly box you see behind you (laughter) for donations." I asked how much was raised. Honor answered, "Visitors and group members paid me enough to pay the two back weeks rent, plus this past week." As we spoke, someone came into the sim, dropped a little cash into the box, and left, Honor saying, "And there's another 200L$"

"So tier is due again today (Sept 28)," she went on, "and I'm hoping to keep it going another week. ... From 11 L to 2000L donations, every single bit goes to the rent." Honor told me most was coming from other members of the group, saying they really wanted the sim to stay, "they love it."

"I'm just hoping Moya aka River comes back soon," Honor commented, "I think she'd be amazed at how people stepped up to help." She had no idea when that might be, "Two people have email addresses and have updated her, but no reply yet." They are considering the possibility she might not be back, "Right now, the community is weighing its options. ...to confirm the rumor, last weekend I did a donation matching thing for a bit. (We) got 4k in donations in 1 hour, which I matched. I might end up doing a dance here. But the 20 avatar limit bites. But yeah a fund raising event is possible. And there may be a buyer for it who would keep it as is."

"It's a great place for photo shoots or just zoning out. I mean I decorate some, as a land lady, but this place rocks."

Those who want to check out the sim for themselves, donate, or both, can head to: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Beck/114/148/21. There's also a Flickr group for pictures. 

Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: Thank You From Pixel to Pixel

I want to thank everyone who came to the Pixel To Pixel 9th Anniversary Party, or sent a donation, or messaged us with well-wishes. The donations will help keep us going for the next several months, and I so very much appreciate your support.

In the words of one of the P2P stipend recipients: "Altruism is a rare trait and everyone who gives anything to this program has made SL and the world a better place."

Stop by the P2P Foundation headquarters at Clairehaven if you'd like to see more of the heart-warming messages of appreciation we've received from the people who you are helping to support. They're posted up on the walls.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Clairehaven/130/136/24
I wish you all the best!

Jadyn Firehawk, a.k.a Pixel Falconer
Pixel To Pixel Foundation

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SPECIAL THANKS to Mrs. Di Zuidde for all her help in planning the Anniversary Party, and to Clairehaven for generously donating the office space for our headquarters since 2012.

A Busy Weekend

Quite a bit happened this weekend. The "Rolling Thunder" heavy metal concert took place between Thursday September 27 and Sunday September 30. Also on Sunday, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer had their "Meet and Greet"event (above). And Veterans Isle had their monthly fundraiser concert for the "Homes For Our Troops" charity.