Strawberry Singh Hired By Linden Lab

Strawberry Singh has made a name for herself as Second Life's most popular fashion blogger. A few days ago on April 12, she had an announcement for her readers. She had gotten a job with Linden Lab. Her position is Marketing Content Specialist.

This is a new chapter in my life which came at a perfect time when I felt like I really needed a change. I am incredibly excited to be working for a company for whose product I have so much love and passion.

Going forward, this blog will no longer promote brands in Second Life as I don’t want there to be a conflict of interest because of my new position. Therefore, I will no longer be sharing style credits or reviews on items inworld. I will, however, continue to use this blog to occasionally do exploration videos of various Second Life destinations, other topics of interest, as well as specific announcements that Linden Lab might want me to make.

As a skilled blogger, video maker, and photographer, there's no doubt she'll be a strong asset to the Linden marketing team. What she comes up with, we'll likely soon see.

Bixyl Shuftan

CDS Calling For Candidates For Election

Yesterday, the CDS announced it was calling for residents among it's citizenry to run as candidates in it's upcoming elections for their Representative Assembly and office of Chancellor. Those eligible to run were listed in the CDS census a few days ago.

You qualify to stand for office if you are listed on both censuses( April 6th and 13th) and no challenge is received and upheld to bar you from doing so.

If you wish to declare as a candidate, send a notecard, inworld, to the inventory of the Dean, Roguegeek Cooperstone AND to Soro Dagostino, stating  your name and whether you are running for Chancellor or RA . The Dean or Soro will post the names of candidates as they are received.

CDS citizens have until April 30 to declare they're running for office. On May 1, the Dean will announce a list of candidates for both the Assembly and office of Chancellor. The campaign season officially starts May 4. On May 11, the polls open and stay open until May 17.

Reader Submitted: Space Engineers "The Walkyure"

Besides busy modding her outfits, Valkyrie Ice has been busy in the MMO "Space Engineers." Here is a work of hers that took over a year to make: "The Walkyure, an exercise in large scale ship building." But as the game is in early release in beta, it has been subject to change. Among the changes were some that made the ship impossible to finish as planned, at least for now.

Well, at least you can see what I spent over a year building, only to have SE's "PVP balancing" make impossible to finish.

The Ship made to use the Leviathan Engine wings, The Walkyure was supposed to be a massive carrier ship, able to support multiple fighters, manufacture more at will, defend itself against entire fleets of pirates, etc.

Instead, she's an unfinshed hulk that is likely to never be finished until Keen decides to make the game friendly to BUILDERS again, instead of PVP combat junkies.

Oh well. If you have any interest in ART instead of blowing each other up, feel free to load her. It's a world, and will load all mods. It's primarily Shao mods, with a few others for specific items. You can fly through most of her since the game has turned the majority of her into a ghost, and made it impossible to add any more blocks.

Being Human, Part Deuce

In Second Life, one can take on more or less whatever appearance they want to. But the most common avatars are human ones. So what happens when someone who usually appears nonhuman goes about in a human avatar for a while? Bixyl Shuftan gave it a try as a result of a Relay for Life fundraiser a few years ago. When he got requests to try another "Bid Me Human," he did so and was without his usually foxy look for a while. So how did people react?

Read Bixyl's story in People.

Linden Lab's Sping Egg Hunt

For those who like games, notably hunts, Linden Lab just announced "a most egg-cellent adventure." They're calling it their "Spring Egg Hunt."

Spring is in full swing, and that means the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, and those Glytches are … well glytching!

We've scattered special eggs around various Regions throughout Second Life. Your task is to find the eggs, follow the clues inside, and if you make it to the end of the hunt, you’ll earn an exclusive prize!

This Spring hunt is only here for a week - so be sure to get hunting by April 24th, 2019 - or this prize will be lost forever.

The first clue is at Hartyshire (129/122/23), the hub location of the Glytches game. But you won't be hunting any of the little critters. Instead  you'll be looking for an egg. It isn't too hard to find, and when you do, you'll get a clue to the next location. Do not go directly there from the SURL. Instead, go to the sim via Portal Park. Once you find the egg and clue there, you can go ahead and directly teleport to the rest of the locations given to you. You should have little trouble finding the eggs, at least once everything rezzes as once the egg was among the last items to appear.

The final clue, you get not only an egg but a gift package. So what's in the package? You get a chair, a garden shed, a couple benches, and a number of smaller, decorative, items. If you're not into gardening or home decor, oh well, it was a fun little hunt.

The Egg Hunt ends on April 24, 2019.

Bixyl Shuftan

RFL News: Bid Me Bald Team Challenge Results.

As far as Relay events, go, the Bid Me Bald Team Challenge, in which several teams put their hair on the line, was a complete success. The teams involved raised a total of 493,358 when the kiosks were stopped at the celebration party at Arinultra Cay at 3PM on Sunday April 14.

Final Totals - BMB Team Challenge! Congrats all!
Cure Chasers    101063
Season Leads    70678
Heroes Helping Heroes    60037
ACTS    41550
Roos With  A Dream    39002
Relay Rockers    39000
UFS metamorphosis    36901
Relay For Christ    36442
Inspired Dreamwalkers    36353
Mieville Steampunks    32332
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE TEAMS!

L$ 493358   FIFTY DAYS!  UNTIL JUNE 3RD

So the Cure Chasers ended up making the Mieville Steampunks sans hair. At least they'll grow it back in time, as Bain Finch (bainfinch Resident) pointed out, "Hummm? 50 days + 5 days of Relay before we Relay in 55 days. Nice symmetry."

Picture from Nulala Maracas

Press Release: Le Cirque de Nuit - April 19-28 2019

"Le Cirque de Nuit" Lights up Idle Rogue for 2019 Production

Idle Rogue, Second Life.  Magic sparkles across the skies above Idle Rogue as the beloved production, Le Cirque de Nuit awakens for 2019.

Basing their work on Erin Morgenstern’s novel, "The Night Circus", dance entertainers of Idle Rogue Productions lead enchanted audiences back into a steampunk circus that is refurbished, and presented, as Idle Rogue's flagship production each year.

The 2019 Production is directed by Blaze DeVivre with the assistance of Sho Kyong.Morgenstern’s story, set in the 19th century and traversing Europe and the US, is an intrigue that sees a natural-born magician pitted in ruthless competition against a highly trained illusionist. The arena for their battle is a traveling circus, and each bout adds more dazzling illusion to the wildly popular, but always enigmatic, Night Circus.

Using the novel’s setting as a background to their own stories, Idle Rogue’s production features dance acts with steampunk, illusion and circus themes, each built, as is the Idle Rogue tradition, by the dancer performing it.  While some acts are carried forward from the previous year, they are balanced with news acts in a creative blend that makes every year's production unique.

True to the novel, the Circus acts, props and costumes are created in black and white. Dance acts are interspersed with viewings of art installations constructed in blazing colour and we are delighted to announce that this year’s guests include renowned artists, Bryn Oh and Cica Ghost.

Idle Rogue is once again joined by special guests Seanchai Library, who will provide opening entertainment with a selected reading from "The Night Circus" by Caledonia Skytower, whose story-telling skills are unmatched in Second Life, adding a literary lustre our audiences thoroughly enjoyed in 2018.

Performance Dates and Times for 2019 (all times slt):

Friday 19 April at 10pm

Saturday 20 April at 2pm

Sunday 21 April at 7pm

Friday 26 April at 10pm

Saturday 27 April at 7pm

Sunday 28 April at 2pm

Seats for this popular production fill up fast. While there is no admission for the performances, seats must be booked in advance. Saturday Melody will be available online 24/7, beginning April 1st until all six performances are booked.  Please contact her to reserve seat(s) and to be added to the access list to the performance area for your booked time and date. 

Timestamps of messages will determine the order in which bookings are processed.

Audiences are reminded that dance entertainment performances rely heavily on the resources of the sim. Those attending shows can assist the show by reducing their script useage - removing non-essential HUDS, facelights and particles, and by checking for highly scripted hair and jewelry. This consideration is very much appreciated!

Cartoon of the Day: The Morning After

Taken at the back of "The Blarney Stone" in Dublin. One of the problems of running a pub are the customers who overdo it. If there's no one to take them home, sometimes the best thing to do is find some place for them for the night.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Easter Town

Easter is almost here. For some, the holiday is primarily a religious one. But both the devout and the secular have a love of chocolate, bunnies, bonnets, and other examples of fun also associated with the day. And at Laura Liberty's Easter Town, you'll find plenty of fun things to do. Besides the shopping, including gachas, there's also a balloon ride, a peeps race, an egg decorating contest with a prize, interactive builds, and of course lots of hidden Easter eggs to find.

Read Gemma's article in Places.

New Linden Homes Continent Opens

The sims with the new Linden Homes are now open. On Monday April 15, Linden Lab announced on the official Second Life blog that the homes were now ready for residents to move in.

Let’s be honest - those Linden Homes from 2010 were long overdue for some updates and improvements. It was clear a fresh coat of paint and some new landscaping were just not going to make the amount of curb appeal we were shooting for. In fact, it was time to return to the drawing board and start a better-built Linden Home experience, from the ground up - literally.
The first of several planned Linden Home updates launches today - with the introduction of New Linden Homes - exclusive to Premium members. Your new home may be in the mountains, along the shore, or in a rolling landscape of low hills and river valleys, but you’ll also be part of a large community experience, with navigable waterways, a network of roads, and community areas to socialize and have fun.    
There are two new themed styles in this release - Traditional and Houseboats - and some are twice as big as previous Linden Home offerings.

While only Premium residents can claim a home, the land is open to all. People appeared on the new land, named Bellisseria by the Lab. Many quickly claimed some of the new homes. But not everyone was there for a new house, or houseboat. Some were just there to explore around. And the new land has much to see from rocky hill areas, to beaches and islands, trees, sandy areas with little grass, roads, including angles roads for people to drive uphill or down, bridges to cross, lighthouses, traffic circles, piers, and more.

Thanks to a string of water sims connecting it to the landmass to the south, known as Jeogeot, as well as the water sims that connect it to the one to the north, Sansara, It's now possible to travel from Glade of Sorrows in the south west end of Jeogeot to the Fillip sim on the north edge of Heterocera without teleporting. So there's been lots of people walking, flying, and boating around.

Someone did tell me they came across one new homeowner putting up a security orb, giving those flying about only a few seconds to leave or be teleported out. Fortunately for those who love to explore, this will soon be a thing of the past. In an announcement in the forums by Constantine Linden  yesterday, ban lines are not allowed here, and while security orbs are permitted for now, it's only for a few days.

... at 6am SLT on Wed April 17th, we are going to uncheck the box on the Linden Homes estate that allows parcel owners access restrictions to be more restrictive than the estate. Meaning: no ban lines. It's our belief that with a sense of community being a main goal of Linden Homes, ban lines send the wrong message. Parcel owners can still ban troublesome individuals by name on their parcel but they will not be able to put their land in virtual lock down by restricting access to group only.
 
... We want to allow Residents to fly, walk, drive, sail and explore freely across Bellisseria without compromising Residents privacy and security on their own parcels. To that end we are allowing the use of security orbs. However, since many orbs can be set in ways that preclude even the most innocent of straying across a parcel boundary or being sent home even though you are 500m in the sky we are forced to come up with a compromise. 

You may use your personal security orbs or devices in Linden Homes for now, but early next week: we are going to provide you with an approved device via the Linden Homes Content Packs. It will work just as aggressively in protecting your homes from unwanted intrusion, but still reasonably allow Residents to explore without fear of being ejected or teleported home without warning. Once those are added to the Linden Homes Content Packs, the use of other scripted security devices will not be allowed and this will be noted in an update to the Linden Homes covenant.

So finally a piece of Mainland free of those cursed ban lines and those security orbs that boot you out with little to no warning. Though with the "Good Neighbor Obelisks" being seen around, hopefully that will be less of a problem there too.

On a final note, between the opening of the new land and the reaction to the fire at Notre Dame, a few stories we planned to write about got put on the back burner. We'll get to those soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Fantasy Faire Begins Tomorrow

One of the more popular of the Relay for Life events, the Fantasy Faire, is almost here. There will be sixteen sims with plenty of scenery to explore. There will be numerous shops to get items from. There will be numerous events from book readings from roleplay discussions, and music and dance parties. There will be the Fairelands Quest game. There will be "Jail and Bail" events by the Fairelands Police, which include Jessica Lyon of Team Firestorm and yet to be revealed Lindens. And much more.

The Faire opens at 11 AM SL time tomorrow, Thursday April 18. The events go on until May 5, with the sims remaining open for a short time afterwards.

For more information, check the Fantasy Faire website at https://fantasyfairesl.wordpress.com/ .

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 Furry Fashion's Furscape

Club Cutlass: Best in "M", Sci-fi Night, Magical

The Happy Vixen: Fantasy, Flowers, TBA, Spots, Red White and Blue, Best in Purple RFL Event, "Cadburry Bunny Tryouts", Wings, TBA

Club Zero Gravity: DJ JB, DJ Snowbuns, DJ Naughty Nydia, DJ JB

Montecito Bay: Moni's Birthday, CAYA, Expeditions,  Lem N Em, After Dark, Pastels

FF Furscape: CAYA, Forest Animals, Disney, Fairy Tales, Pastels, Sea Life, Memes, After Dark, Retro, Cats vs Dogs, Rock

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'. 

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

Oasis for Parkinson’s

Creations for Parkinson's, the group in Second Life raising funds to help find treatments for Parkinson's Disease, has a fun event going on. "The Oasis," built high above the Greenmist sim, was built in cooperation with the Miss Globe Universal Charity Foundation. At this place made in the style of Ancient Egypt, one can shop, take part in hunts, explore a maze, and take part in some music and dance. Gemma Cleanslate donned her archeologist's helmet, and went out to explore the place.

Read Gemma's article in Events.

First Annual International Photography Festival

For fans of photography in Second Life, there's an event going on that should interest them. The First Annual International Photography Festival is taking place. Organized by Nils Urqhart, a dozen photographers will have various works of theirs on display. Marcel Mosswood went to the exhibition in Helvellyn, and had a few words with the man behind it.

Read Marcel's story in Design.

A Busy Weekend

It's been quite the busy weekend in Second Life. Friday was the "Yuri's Night" celebration held by the National Space Society. The anniversary of the first man in space was also one of the themes at the Burnal Equinox, which ran from Friday to Sunday night. There were also a number of Relay for Life events. Saturday had the Sunbeamer Air Show which launched Team Sunbeamers well into Gold level fundraising. On Sunday was the conclusion of the "Bid Me Bald" Team Challenge which raised a total of almost a half million Linden dollars in which the Cure Chasers team won and Mieville Steampunks ended up with bare scalps.

More information on these happenings, and more, to come.

RFL Team Sunbeamers Reach Gold, Pass 150,000L Mark

Saturday April 13 was the Sunbeamer Air Show at Farshore Field in Sunlight Bay. This was the sixth air show hosted by Cynthia Farshore held by the Relay for Life's Team Sunbeamers. Despite some technical glitches related to the "teleport disconnects" issue that caused some planes in flight to crash, the crowd enjoyed the event  The event also netted almost 50,000 Linden dollars for the team, increasing it's total almost fifty percent to a little past 150,000 Linden dollars.

And another successful air show, thanks to Cynthia Farshore. People were doing the blimp race, and taking Snowy's balloon tours.  Not only did the team reach Gold level fundraising, it kept going to 150,000. We're well on our way to Platinum level.

What the Sunbeamers want for the long term is for the team to achieve last year's record-setting fundraising level once more: Emerald rank. One complication though is the amount of money it will take has been raised some. Achieving Emerald level will take a whopping one million Linden dollars. For now, the next goal of the team is Platinum level, or 250,000 Lindens. As an incentive, yours truly is offering "The Platinum Avatar Challenge," taking on an unusual look for a week. The first couple times I did so, I took on looks I had never been in public before. What will it be this time, I have yet to decide, though have heard suggestions such as being the Rita clone again, or a Crux hybrid.

Our next event will be this Saturday April 20 at the Happy Vixen Club in Purrfection Estates. The beach club will be host to a six hour event with three DJs, with all tips going to the Relay kiosk.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

From a picture of Nydia Tungsten's office sent by JB Raccoon. There's been numerous jokes about Australia's wildlife, such as "the big effing spiders." When someone uploaded a video of one having caught a mouse, that made it even more so. While the meme "Everything in Australia is out to kill you" may not be true, the size of the spiders are enough to discourage tourists.

By Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "New World"

(Click here if the video does no play)

From Furry Alex on Jan 18.

Burnal Equinox: Eyes To The Skies

The Burnal Equinox, the spring spinnoff event of Burn2, starts today and goes on to Sunday. There will be art to see, and music to listen to. For more information about the festival, Newser reporter Marcel Mosswood went to talk to iSkye Silverweb, one of the leading volunteers. iSkye had a number of things to say about the event.

Read Marcel's interview in Events.