Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Titanaboa & Fireside Chat" and "The Dynamic Geology of Asia-Oceania"

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"Titanaboa and Fireside Chat"

Saturday September 11

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

This is an abbreviated replay of June 5 presentation with a Fireside Chat attached.

The Science Behind Titanoboa

Dr. Alex Hastings will lead part of the tour discussing the world of Titanoboa, 60 million years ago. How and why was the snake so big? What else lived in those murky waters?  Plus he’ll share what it was like finding Titanoboa fossils in the Cerrejon coal mine.

Linda Kelley’s Ecosystem

Linda will talk a little about what it takes to bring fossils to life and particularly building an ecosystem from what is shown and not shown in the fossil records. For her this entailed doing a lot of literature review and sussing out how all these things could plausibly fit together.  In addition to the fauna that shared space with the Titanoboa, and the kinds of flora,  this included reading about geologic changes during that period and estimates of Paleocene weather.

Creating an Animated Animesh Titanoboa for Second Life

Dr. Greg Bollella will discuss the process for creating, texturing, rigging, and animating an animesh object for Second Life. Most of the presentation will be an overview of the processes with more detail for a few very interesting techniques and observations. The workflow and tool-chain are important and will be presented. The tools used were, ZBrush, Maya, Photoshop, Substance Painter, and Substance Designer.  Of particular interest is that no images were used in creating the textures for Titanoboa, only math!

For more on the event, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/104/125/1114

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"The Dynamic Geology of Asia-Oceania"

Saturday September 11

9 PM to 10 PM SL time 

The dynamic geology of the Asia-Oceania region might be viewed as a metaphor for the history of the area itself. While living in harmony with earth, water, fire, and air during tranquil times, each generation is reminded of the tension and power inherent in these elements, in the form of earthquakes, violent seas, volcanoes, and typhoons, just as they are aware of the tension and power of the human forces in the area.

While we will concentrate on geology this hour, it is difficult not to look at geography as well, that is, the relationship of people to the land. The Asia-Oceania region is a complex array of blends and contrasts. Just as it hosts some of the oldest and youngest physical features, plus the tallest and deepest points on Earth today, the land was also host to some of the earliest and most recent human origins, plus some of the oldest and youngest human cultures.

Join me as we explore the dynamic geology of the Asia-Oceania region, the harmony and tensions inherent in the earth, water, fire, and air that are influenced by it, and how this affects the lives of the people who live there.

For more on the event, Click Here.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32

 

9/11 Memorial at Fijan Bay Yacht Club

 

Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States, and tributes and memorials are in various places in Second Life. In Bellissaria chat, I heard about one at the Fijan Bay Yacht Club. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chiens%20Isle/140/50/23
 

Announcement: Avagora Mall Openings

 

Hey everyone! The Avagora Mall has a lot of open stores now, if anyone who makes avatar or avatar parts/mods needs a store! It's free to anyone interested! You just need to message me in SL and agree to our rules and the spot is all yours!

So go tell that one friend of yours that never leaves their skydome that they can get a spot for free 

Becky Nosferatu

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Montecito%20Bay/96/129/703
 

Cartoon of the Day: Frog in the System

 Taken at Club Cutlass

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Announcement: Raglan Shire Medieval Grand Ball

 
Oyez Oyez!  The Raglan Shire Medieval Grand Ball will occur this Saturday September 11th at 12 Noon to 2PM SLT.  At the Raglan Shire Castle Grand Ballroom. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Raglan%20Shire/83/156/58
 

Events This Week at the Sunweaver and Montecito Bay Clubs, The Fallout Shelter, and Furry Fashion Lounge

 

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

Club Cutlass: Best in 'F', Blue & Green, End of Summer

Happy Vixen: Chocolate, Angels, Canidae, Chibi Dragons, Maddkatt Madness, TBA, Barnyard Critters, Predators and Prey

Club Zero Gravity: TBA

Bouncing Bunny Beach Club: First Responders

Xanadu: DJ Christine, DJ Jesse

Montecito Bay:  CAYA, After Dark

Furry Fashion Lounge:  Canines, Disney, Retro, Sexy, Late Night, Red, TBA

Deathlands Fallout Shelter:  DJ Wolfy,

Read the schedules in SL Clubbin'.
 

Announcement: Frets Nirvana Performance Tonight

 

Hi there….

I pray you are doing well.

I am sending you this notice to let you know of my coming back into SL and performing on September 7 @ 7 PM.  

This coming week is an important week concerning all of our extremely injured veterans.  It is National Suicide Prevention month and suicide is a major problem with our injured veterans.  Then of course this is the week of 9/11 and that event was the start of two wars that have now caused so many of our veterans to be extremely injured.  And lastly we have now just experienced the loss of 13 of our heroes while ending the Afghanistan war.  

To commemorate all of these issues I will be performing once again in Second Life in support of Homes For Our Troops. Helping our extremely injured veterans receive mortgage free homes.  I will be providing my usual blend of guitar and creative arrangements to keep you inspired in helping our veteran heroes.  Some old tunes and some new tunes...so if you need a refreshed Frets experience ...come on out and I will give it my all for this great cause.

I am setting a target of 40,000 lindens in donations while I perform.  AND I WILL MATCH. THOSE DONATIONS.  In fact if we exceed that I will match all those donations as well.   So consider it a way to double your kind support for our heroes who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.

In addition to all this Waya Snowpaw DJ will be warming up the stage from 4-6 PM with his usual great variety of excellent music.

 If you want to know more about HFOT visit https://www.hfotusa.org/ .

Here is the link to teleporting to Veteran’s Isle:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Veterans%20Isle/134/113/3501

Thank you for being my friend and I hope to see you Tuesday night!

Frets Nirvana
 

Reader Submitted Commentary: "The Many Faces of Linden Lab"

 

I have been on Second Life for close to 15 years now.  I have been here through the deforming teleports, the iffy, sim crossings, the constant red clouds.  Over the years, the people at Linden Lab have worked on many of these issues and have reduced if not eliminated many of them.  Sim crossing, with vehicles, is still hazardous however. I have no idea why they can't seem to fix that issue, most other video games have no such problem.

I remember when they had actual Lindens hangout with the people that inhabited their world, listening to what we said about Second Life. What was good, bad, needed work, etc.  That kind of feedback in valuable. They stopped doing that to save money, they said, and service has suffered.

I can understand why Linden Lab stopped gambling, on Second Life years ago and just recently Gatchas. US and state gov'ts breathing down your neck, is great incentive to deal with it.  The issue I have was the way they dealt with it.  It was a major PR disaster in both cases.  With gambling, people lost so much money they had invested, in SL, they got really upset, and left SL, never to return.  The player base of SL has never recovered.

Their biggest fiasco has been Sansar.  No one asked for this, nor wanted it. Linden Lab failed to take into account that we would NOT be able to take with us years and thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of sims, avatars, clothes, no copy items, custom items, etc, to  their new grid. That was a non starter. No one was willing to toss away all their accumulated inventory, to move to a new sim. That would be madness.  LL really didn't think that one through. Instead, all that time and money could have been better spent on improving their existing grid, Second Life!

Another issue is the two-faced handling of content creators.  Linden Lab loves the lindens they get from players buying, the items these creators, Spending hours building items like avatars, furniture, homes, clothes, misc, whatever you heart desires. How many of these talented creators have left SL, because LL doesn't care that their creations get copybotted and sold by the offenders. Complain the LL, you get deaf ears.  Going after the copybotters is WORK!

Linden Lab, instead of trying to figure new ways to wring more money out of your existing player base, you might work at making it more attractive to actually WANT to play Second Life.  Build your player base.  The more new folks you can get to play the game, the more might actually like it, and start spending money..

My final bitch at Linden Lab, is a big one, and I can see ZERO EXCUSE for it.  If your Second Life account gets hacked, instead of LL going after the offender that HACKED you, YOU are treated as the criminal, get your account banned and they REFUSE to help you get your account back, no matter what info you supply. Then when you create a new account, they ban that one too, SACRILEGE!  LL wakeup and smell the coffee!  We play your game, we pay your bills, start treating us with respect!

Rita Mariner
 

Logo for 2022 RFL Season Chosen

 
On Friday September 3, Stingray Rainmaker announced that the logo for the 2022 Relay for Life fundraising season had been selected. The design selected was by Arizona Ballinger. The news was announced on the Second Life ACS website.

The 2022 Relay For Life of Second Life theme is: Heroes of Hope! - which will undoubtedly manifest itself through tales of heroes, both fiction and non-fiction. The theme will align perfectly as we pursue our goal of raising $500,000 USD in a single year...and as we close in on $5 Million USD, all-time.

We would like to thank everyone who submitted logo concepts over the last several weeks and we’re excited to unveil the final version of the 2022 Relay For Life of Second Life Theme Logo, designed by Arizona Ballinger.

This logo will serve as our flagship symbol for our Relay For Life efforts in 2022. We’re going to try something new this year by integrating the RFL logo into the theme logo (notice “O’ in Hope). Because we cannot sell anything with the ACS/RFL logo on it, we will also make an alternative version of the logo available to anyone who wishes to sell items for donations with the theme logo on them. You can get a copy of both logos in the “logo section” of the Relay Building on the American Cancer Society Island in Second Life.

The theme, "Heroes for Hope," was chosen on July 29.

Already, the logo is being used. In Steelhead Bay, Fuzzball Ortega, the captain of the Steelhead Salmons team, put it on display.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Announcement: SL Renaissance Festival Seeking Entertainment Hosts

 

Hear ye, Hear ye, all ye Ladies and Noblemen!

The Entertainment Consort is seeking fundraising hosts for this year’s Renaissance Faire in support of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

Lady Adrianna has booked 64 hours of lively entertainment for the festival and Lady Deanna requires the help of individuals who can give 6 to 8 hours of time between September 23rd and October 2nd and act as fundraising hosts during the event.

Fundraising hosts should be outgoing, enjoying chatting with attendees and willing to share fundraising goals and encourage donations in support of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and the American Cancer Society.

Interested? Apply Online at  https://bit.ly/RenaissanceFestivalHostApplication Complete Form
Applicants will receive a notification of the organizational meeting, to be held the week of Sept 12th
 

Announcement: This Week at the Seanchai Libraries

 

THIS WEEK: Welcome September - new series and adventures waiting to be savored. Join us for fun and adventure, this week. Check out the stories and the storytellers!

All events at Nowhereville (203/43/26) , unless otherwise noted.

Stories told in open voice unless otherwise noted. All times SL/PT

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--------->> COMING THIS WEEK

**MONDAY, September 6th, at 7pm: Alan Dean Foster's MOCKING PROGRAM begins with Gyro Muggins.
    

**TUESDAY, September 7th:

   ~ at Noon: RUSSELL EPONYM, Live! with music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nowhereville/194/131/21
   
   ~ at 7pm: Alice Hoffman's NIGHTBIRD  begins with Willow Moonfire.

**WEDNESDAY, September 8th at 7pm: HOLLYWOOD CHICKENS & More from the short works of Terry Pratchett with Caledonia Skytower, live on stream.    

**THURSDAY, September 9th

   ~ at 7pm: Mara Amberly's SEA OF TIME AND STARS with Shandon in The Octopus' Garden

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

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China To Restrict Children and Teens' Video Game Time to Three Hours A Week

 

On August 31, it was reported that by order of the national government, Chinese game players under 18 would be limited to playing video games to three hours a week. This time is limited to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, at one hour each day. This law replaces an earlier one that limited game time for minors to 90 minutes a weekday.

The reasons given for this action by the Chinese Communist government depend on who one asks. State media has reported concerns about videogames being "spiritual opium" harmful to the young. But it's widely believed the law is not so much about protecting the young but controlling what they see and hear, as the Chinese government is increasingly concerned about Western influences on children.

In the recent past, some in the gaming industry have gone through great lengths to appease the Communist government, such as when Activision-Blizzard was quick to ban a Hong Kong gamer who made a brief statement in support of protestors.

Sources: BBC News, foreignpolicy.com, Washington Post, 

Image credit: Kotaku

Bixyl Shuftan
 

800,000 Still Without Power Following Hurricane Ida, 46 Dead In New York As Storm Causes Flooding

 

When Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana on Sunday August 27, it caused a huge amount of damage with over a million losing power in the state and next door Mississippi. But the storm wasn't done yet. It's still powerful remnants moved inland, eventually reaching the northeast US, where it caused major flooding in several states, notably New York City where some were trapped in their basements and drowned. There was video footage of one of the city's subway's choked with floodwaters. The storm has been blamed for 46 deaths, and counting.

Back in Louisiana, power is still out for over 800,000 people, with nine people confirmed dead. Numerous gas stations are described as having long lines of people waiting to get fuel, and some grocery stores are reportedly rationing certain foods and ice as people anticipating gasoline shortages are stocking up to reduce trips by car.

Due to it's level of destruction, "Ida" will be retired as a name for Hurricanes.

Sources: Daily Advent, MSN, Reuters, weather.com,

Bixyl Shuftan
 

SL Video : "Dance Compilation 2"

 

From Panda Jenn on August 15, scenes of dancing at several clubs, including Club Cutlass, the Happy Vixen, Xanadu, and the Flying Pickle Lounge.
 

Animal Crossing Sim of Retroville

 

Many readers are likely familiar with "Animal Crossing," an open-ended game by Nintendo that's gotten several sequels over the years. Recently the Newser found out about a place in Second Life that's modeled off it: Retroville. So how did Retroville come about and what can one do there?

Read more in Places.
 

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "Ingenuity: First Aircraft on Mars!" And "Flight"

  
"Ingenuity: First Aircraft on Mars!"

Saturday September 4

10 AM to 11 AM SL time 

We were not even sure it would work, but Ingenuity, the first helicopter on Mars, indeed the first manoeuvrable aircraft to operate outside the Earth’s atmosphere, has been a stunning success!

First we will examine the conditions and mechanics of flight and what makes Ingenuity’s performance a “Wright Brothers” moment.

Then we will follow Ingenuity’s progress from the drawing board through the dozen or more flights it has taken so far, with a look at how it can operate when its ‘pilot’ is 100s of millions of miles away, plus a peak at possible missions it might undertake in its future.

Finally, we will explore where and how other craft might operate in our solar system now that this technological breakthrough has been achieved.

— Dr. Phil Youngblood founded the CIS/Cyber Security degree programs at the University of the Incarnate Word, following retirement from naval aviation and research at NASA.

In the Auditorium

For more information, Click Here. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32

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"Flight"

Saturday September 4

9PM to 10PM SL time

Welcome aboard Science Circle flight 409, covering the scientific principles and technologies that enable and enhance air transport. We ask that you please fasten your seatbelts before we discuss the fundamentals, from aerodynamics to aircraft stability. Take a few minutes to locate and understand the mechanisms of aircraft engines, whose designs have evolved for fuel efficiency and noise reduction.

As we experience astounding innovations in areas like material science, descriptions of the benefits to the environment and your comfort in the cabin will be deployed. Thank you for choosing the Science Circle. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your Flight!

A presentation by Karthik P., Graduate Student

In the Auditorium

For more information, Click Here. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32 
  

Fundraiser Concert at Veterans Isle Raises Over 140,000 Lindens

 

On Sunday August 29, Veterans Isle had it's monthly fundraiser concert. The event, organized in part by Frets Nirvana, was held from 4PM SL time to around 9PM SL time.

Tonight is the last of our summer series of benefits for Homes For Our Troops.  And with the recent developments and losses, it could not be more appropriate.  Come on out and support those who make huge sacrifices for our freedom. We have a great lineup of music for tonight. First up is Erin and Satin at 5 PM. 
 
Several live musicians and one DJ played music for the crowd. DJ Waya started things up at 4PM. At 5PM, it was Erin and Satin's turn on stage. At 6PM was the popular Keeba Tamas and her Tiny Maniacs band. 7PM brought Hogan Baily. And last but not least was Austin Moores at 8 PM. As they played music to the crowd, the people would donate cash to two house-shaped kiosks on either side of the stage.

Austin would say at one point, "Many of our troops are coming back, but they don't come back whole. They come back with peices missing, or their mind isn't whole." He mentioned that his brother came back from Vietnam, "but Nam never left him," and he drank himself to death. 

At the end of the event, a total of 144,860 Linden dollars had been raised.

The purpose of Homes for Our Troops is to raise money to help keep roofs over the heads of wounded veterans. To learn more, visit https://www.hfotusa.org.
 

Registration Open For Team Diabetes' "Scare Me Silly" in October

  

For merchants, musicians, and artists wanting to take part in a Halloween event for charity, Team Diabetes has announced they're accepting applications from people interested in taking part in their "Scare Me Silly" event.

The 6th Annual Scare Me Silly Event in support of Team Diabetes of Second Life will take place October 16 to 22, 2021 and will feature shopping, 2 hunts, art, live music, contests, giveaways, tricks, treats, & more!! Registration is 100% free for all participating artists and merchants, we simply ask that you place 2 items in our vendors at 100% donations to the charity.

Those interested have to fill out an application form (here). As the announcement stated, merchants must have at least two items with 100% of the proceeds going to the charity. The event runs for one week from October 15 to Oct 22. 

Team Diabetes raises funds for the American Diabetes Association.

For more information, Click Here.
 

Picture of the Day: Going Topless

 

Taken at Club Cutlass' "Topless Party." Kylee Gracemount showed up not just without her blouse, but with everything above the waist invisible, quite literally appearing topless. She ended up winning the contest that night.

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

"Unscheduled Maintenance" Offlines Second Life For Hours

 

If you tried to log into Second Life yesterday and couldn't get on, you were far from alone. For much of the day, residents couldn't log in, or access secondlife.com, or the Marketplace. The Grid Status Report first mentioned there was a problem at 11:14 AM SL time. 

We are currently seeing intermittent issues with Profiles, Marketplace, and Log ins, and we are currently investigating this. Please watch this blog for updates.

Posted * ***** ***. Aug 31, 2021 - 11:14 PDT

Unfortunately, the issue was not resolved quickly. Hours would pass, and the Lab's finest were still working on the issue.

We are still working on resolving this, and we thank you for your patience! Please watch this blog for updates. 

Finally at 3:57 PM SL time, the Lab stated they were on their way to fixing the problem.

All services should be recovered, and we continue to monitor their performance. If you're having trouble getting to some of the websites, please try clearing your cookies. Thank you for your patience, and we hope the rest of today is going to be all smooth sailing. 

Still, it wouldn't be 5:54 PM SL time before the Lab would say with confidence, "This incident has been resolved," over six hours since they announced their was a problem. When residents tried to get on the website, sometimes all they got was a blank page. At other times they would get the "Uh oh, it's buggy" 500 error message shown at the top. A few residents would look back to earlier times when Linden Lab was more willing to poke fun at itself and post a picture of apes armed with bones gathering around a monolith, "The grid is down while we bang on things." A few more irritated residents wondered if the glitch was a result of the Cloud Servers, and something they could expect time to time for the forseable future. 

In any event, the glitch has been fixed, and all is well again, for now.

Bixyl Shuftan