Of New Santorini and Lost Gardens in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
New Santorini, July 2026 – click any image for full size

Santorini is the largest island of an archipelago in the southern Aegean Sea. Officially called Thira (Thera in classic Greek), the island is world-renowned for the brilliant, white-washed walls of its buildings – perhaps most keenly exemplified by photographs of the principal city, Fira.

Within Second Life, New Santorini is renowned for being a part of the Calas Galadhon estate, operated by Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith and a team of talented supporters. Inspired by the physical world’s Santorini, it is a place I last visited in 2019, just after its return to Second Life after an absence of around 3.5 years.

New Santorini, July 2026

At that time, Ty and Truck were still debating how to further develop the regions – Eriador and Erebor – in which Santorini and the Lost Gardens are located. As such, and with the passage of a further seven years(!), I felt it was high time I dropped back in to see what has happened.

New Santorini sits at the eastern extreme of the Calas Galadhon estate – itself a favourite location of mine, oft covered in this blog. It can be reached via direct teleport to a Landing Point sitting a brief walk away from the town, or via one of two routes linking both New Santorini and the Lost Gardens of Thera with the rest of the Calas Estate.

New Santorini, July 2026

One of these links is a causeway running out along the north side of the Bay of Bel, whilst the second take the form of a bridge connecting the Gulf of Lune, and thence up the southern island of the Bay of Bel. Both routes can be travelled on foot or horseback – they are both a part of the Calas Galadhon horse trail, and if you’ve never been horse riding in Calas Galadhon, it is an absolute must, again as I’ve written about in the past. You can either use your own horse or one from the many rezzers available throughout the parklands.

Along both of the routes out to New Santorini are villas which are open to the public, with the more southern from the Gulf of Lune passing by way of the Villa Eirini with its hilltop Zen garden, whilst also offering a teasing glimpse of some of the submerged ruins of the Lost Gardens of Thera.

New Santorini, July 2026
Like its physical word inspiration, New Santorini sits atop a tall escarpment rising from the sea. Whether this is part of a caldera wall or not is entirely up to you to decide; either way, the whitewashed houses rise up from the rocks rich in vegetation, steps offer the way up to the buildings from a waterside plaza where balloon and underwater tours might be taken, with the steps pausing first at the local church.

It is here that I should mention that all of the buildings within New Santorini are fully furnished and decorated, all in a style fully in keeping with the location, and all are open to the public. There are no private rentals within the setting, so buildings can be explored as much as New Santorini’s alleys and footways.

New Santorini, July 2026

The latter pass around, between and in front of the houses and buildings as they sit clustered together. Alleyways form canyons of whitewashed walls and blue-tiled steps which rise and fall to provide access to more and more of this engaging little town.

Many of the houses have balconies before them offering views out over the surrounding waters and across to the rest of Calas Galadhon. There are also two large terraces. One is located towards the middle of the town where it extends out over the roofs of the houses below. Backed by a small café it has plenty of outdoors seating and room for dancing whilst offering a grand view out over the bay below.

New Santorini, July 2026

The second terrace is located at the eastern end of the houses and forms another rooftop space. Reached via a spiral stair, it forms a delightful retreat, complete with a small roof garden centre on a statue of a satyr and his female lover.

This terrace is quite my favourite spot, rich in the colours of summer, watched over by a trio of friendly French Bulldogs and with a big, cosy sofa which can be shared with friends.

New Santorini, July 2026

Below the town and running across the front of the escarpment on which New Santorini sits, is a long bridge reach around to a western headland. The later points a sandy finger south to the Phoenix stage as it looks back towards New Santorini. Watched over by a large statue of Poseidon, the Phoenix is home to many of the events organised and presented by the Calas team, and a teleport up to another venue – the 1950s-style Calas Skate-o-Rama – can be found toward the end of the walk leading to it.

The western end of New Santorini’s island used to be an area of ancient ruins, perhaps destroyed by an earthquake only to leave parts of arched walls, some standing, some partially collapsed. Some still remain, but a portion of this area has been reclaimed and built upon to become home to a couple of enterprising businesses presumably catering to the beach below them.

New Santorini, July 2026

The open-end oval of the bay caught within the sweep of New Santorini and the Phoenix headland forms the first part of the extensive Lost Gardens of Thera, an absolute must-see for any visit.

The Gardens can be enjoyed in many ways – merfolk are especially welcome, but swimmers and scuba divers can also freely explore, whilst ancient steps just off the causeway leading out from the Landing Point allow those on foot easy access to the gardens (and allow those who take the submarine tour with a way to climb back up to dry land at the end of the tour). Note that scuba gear can be obtained from a free vendor towards the bottom end of these steps.

New Santorini, July 2026

The submarine tour is really the best way to gain a good view of the entire Lost Gardens and the sea floor beyond them. It can be found just below the terrace in front of the steps leading up to New Santorini. Tours take around 20 minutes and are really worthwhile.

Capable of sitting individuals or couples, the submarine is a very Steampunkian-come-wind-up take on the Disney Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. To use it, simply sit on board, set your desired pose(s) then touch the hull to get started (you will likely have to adjust the position of your camera as well).  It might take a few seconds before the submarine starts moving; presumably it is winding itself up – the key to its propulsion system sticks out the back and serve as the propeller!

New Santorini, July 2026

The 20-minute balloon tour, meanwhile will carry passengers around New Santorini and beyond. Once seated in a balloon, touch the top of the envelope to get started. After circling New Santorini and the Lost Garden it will take passengers further over the parklands, eventually depositing them in the heart of Calas Galadhon – so if you specifically want to see New Santorini after TPing / riding there but are also interested in the balloon tour, be sure to take the latter after you’ve wandered the town and explored the Lost Gardens!

Calas Galadhon is a joy to visit wherever you choose to set down. It is possibly the longest-running, privately held public park in Second Life, providing no fewer than 14 publicly-accessible regions to explore, none of them restricted by private residences or similar, as well as providing a range of weekly music events. And, of course, there are also the special Calas seasonal regions for Halloween and Christmas.

New Santorini, July 2026

Calas Galadhon continues to exist through the generosity of visitors to the parklands; so if you enjoy visiting New Santorini or any other part of the parklands, please do consider making a donation towards the estate’s continued presence in SL.

SLurls and Links

Bamboo’s The Core – Murky Sphere in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
SLEA1 July 2026: Bamboo Barnes – The Coire – Murky Sphere

I received an invitation from Bamboo Barnes to visit her SLEA installation The Core – Murky Sphere. Bamboo is, as I’ve frequently noted in these pages one of the most vibrant, evocative, provocative, and emotive artists displaying her work in Second Life; I’ve never failed to be intrigued and fascinated by her exhibitions for multiple reasons.

With The Core – Murky Sphere, Bamboo offers something of an enigmatic installation; there are no notes from the artist supplied to offer thoughts or ideas, just a single poem and a hint of a theme in the accompanying biographical notes. And this is good, as it leaves the mind uncluttered when entering, free to consider the art and the words of the poem and those Bamboo offers following it.

SLEA1 July 2026: Bamboo Barnes – The Coire – Murky Sphere

However, before getting into things, do note that this is an installation best viewed under the Shared Environment and on a PBR enabled viewer. Draw Distance does not have to be high (around 64 metres will suffice), and if graphics quality can be pushed up to around High, so much the better.

The arrival point sits with a tunnel, the way ahead marked by a series of avatar studies by Bamboo. Two red spheres sit alongside the arrival point and, when touched, will supply a copy of the poem and Bamboo’s biography. Both should be taken and read. Beyond the tunnel, the installation opens out into the interior of a large cube.

SLEA1 July 2026: Bamboo Barnes – The Coire – Murky Sphere

On first viewing, this appears to be chaotic; 2D art and shapes mixing with 3D geometric forms including a cube-within-a-cube (with more elements within) and what  what might be a square stage, and seemingly random appearances of the poem. However, this is entirely in keeping with the thread of theme Bamboo offers for the installation in her biographical notes: a visualisation of emotions. Because is not a tumult of emotions we can so often feel – particularly in response to something – the most chaotic of experiences?

This is reason enough to consider the installation: a personal exploration through art of often tumbled nature of our own emotions. But there are perhaps other interpretations lying within it and revealed according to our own outlook on life. For example, one that occurred to me is that the installation seems to also speak to matters identity and alienation, of hatred / anger expressed by some for the somehow-threatening differences they see in others, differences expressed within the installation by the repeated use of images and forms.

SLEA1 July 2026: Bamboo Barnes – The Coire – Murky Sphere

This is because the majority of the poem seems to speak of separation, of alienation and isolation, be it by choice or by being a member of a clique in which it is easy to subsume personal doubts and fears by giving vent to anger and the dismissal of others on the basis of their differences, their beliefs or outlook or thoughts. In doing so, it is possible to feel safe, strong – and even “cool” when among those sharing such views. For those encountering these attitudes it can be disturbing, thoughts and emotions on the encounter rising unbidden long after occurred, just as the poem itself appears several times amidst the art of the installation.

The words accompanying the poem, meanwhile, serve as a reminder that the differences we see in others are not failures or weakness or something to be scorned / feared;  they are the very things that make all of us unique – and perhaps better and stronger as a whole. Through acceptance of such differences come opportunities to learn, to grow, to find common ground and end the negative separation created by anger, fear and hatred and find more in the way of harmony together. As the final line of the poem itself notes: separation, anger, fear lead a person nowhere – but that doesn’t stop those whom they would shun and reject from caring about them.

SLEA1 July 2026: Bamboo Barnes – The Coire – Murky Sphere

But again, that a personal reaction to The Core – Murky Sphere; there are obviously others (another that came to my mind was more in line with the idea of self-reflection, but I’ll say no more on that here). So this being the case, you should take those two paragraphs above with a degree of scepticism and put them aside when visiting The Core – Murky Sphere, and allow it to speak directly to you unencumbered by any preconceptions.

Slurl Details

A Blue Finch summer in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Blue Finch, July 2026 – click any image for full size
It has been a couple of years since my last visit to Blue Finch, the Full region held and designed by Dianna (Dianna Harmony), and which has once again been featured in the Destination Guide.

In previous iterations of the location – some of which you can read about here – I’ve found it to be richly diverse, attractive and highly photogenic. This very much remains true of the current iteration, although I have to admit that at times I felt there was perhaps a little too much going on, particularly around the Land Point, where a lot is packed in.

Blue Finch, July 2026

The flipside to this is that for those who like to have things to do when visiting a location, Blue Finch certain delivers:  there are boat tours through the waterways running through the region; a land-based tour on the back of an owl bear; mini-golf; and bicycles to ride. Plus the fact that the events space, cave dining and mini-golf have all been gathered together means that they don’t intrude into the rest of the region’s very natural beauty.

Excellent use is made of trees and foliage throughout the region, which combine with the rugged uplands and hills and curtain walls of cliffs to naturally break-up the landscape and separate the various areas, the paths and trail winding through, over, under and between these giving a sense of space to the entire setting and quickly overcoming the initial sense of “busy-ness” that might be felt around the Landing point and its immediate surrounds.

Blue Finch, July 2026
Welcome to Blue Finch, a charming coastal town with stunning waterfront views and relaxing activities. Tour the region aboard the Cuddly Owl Bear, explore by bicycle, enjoy a boat ride, play mini golf, visit cosy cafés, swim, relax on a floating raft, or unwind on the beach. Whether seeking adventure, friendship, or quiet moments, Blue Finch offers a perfect escape filled with beauty, comfort, and discovery.

– Blue Finch Destination Guide entry

Blue Finch, July 2026

That Landing Point sits to the south-east of the region, located on a high terrace at the mouth of a dramatic gorge cutting through the region. The terrace is home to a parade of shops, with a welcoming information board to one end of them, together with teleport links to key locations across the region, together with the bicycle rezzer for those wishing to ride around the setting.

The teleport board obviously offers the quickest means of getting somewhere from the landing landing, but I like the fact that boards aren’t scattered around at every point of interest. While the latter can be handy, they also can encourage simply hopping form point-to-point without necessarily visiting / exploring. Here, whilst it is possible to reach one major part of the region with a teleport hop, you’re then on Shanks’s pony (aka walking) or one of the tours to get around, thus letting the region naturally unfold before you.

Blue Finch, July 2026

On the subject of the tours, the boat ride through the waters sits at the feet of stone steps leading down the side of the gorge from the shops and alongside the bridge reaching across it to the outdoor events area. To start the boat tour, sit in the boat (and accept the oars if you want), select whether you want to row or just sit (pause), then click the boat to get things started.

The ride will take around 7 minutes before returning you to the wharf on the opposite side of the gorge to where you boarded it, taking you a little way around the coast and then inland to appreciate the detailing evident along the water’s edge as you glide along the waterways.

Blue Finch, July 2026

The owl bear is reached by following the signs along one of the paths leading away from the landing point – signage through the region is very well done, so the major point of interest things are hard to miss as you wander.

This tour lasts some 5 minutes and carries you past places like the swimming pony, the outdoor library, one of the lighthouses and one of the entrances to the cave dining area, before depositing you (perhaps a little abruptly) in a little meadow alongside a covered café-bridge spanning the gorge and giving excellent views of the waters below.

Blue Finch, July 2026

However, it is when exploring on foot that the magic of Blue Finch really takes hold. From waterside places to sit hidden romantic gardens hidden within the tall wall and stonework of ancient ruins, the region is literally brim-full of places to delight, even to the point of corners-within-corners waiting their opportunity to surprise.

As noted, individual locations have been designed so they can be appreciated in their own right and with a sense of privacy, but the whole of the landscape to the north and west flows beautifully along paths, trails, steps and waterways to blend as a whole.

Blue Finch, July 2026

Colour – through plants, flowers, blossoms and hanging fronds of luminescence – bring a vivid life to the region, aided by the presence of waterfowl, birds, foxes and deer. Along the coastline to the north and west lay a quiet sub-tropical sandy beach neatly separated from a more rugged section of coastline with piers, raised decks extending over the water and a boardwalk running out over the rocky shallows to where a café sits as the land turns to the west.

Here the coastal path passes over the waters flowing out from the region’s interior via an old railway carriage body pressed into service as a bridge. This north-western area of the sitting has a feeling of decrepit age to is, like a seaside resort well past its prime.

Blue Finch, July 2026

When I first wandered it, I felt it to be a little jarring compared to what lay behind it, although it has admittedly since grown on me – although I couldn’t help be feel the off-region surround perhaps draws up a little too close the region’s edge, and the north side of the setting in particular might benefit from more in the way of open water to help the ebb and flow of the surf to look more natural.

But it is those little corners and corners-within-corners that caused, for me, the greatest delight; the geodesic domes tucked under the shade of trees; the way the quiet settings can be located practically side-by-side and yet feel as if they exist each in their own world. Even the mini-golf it tucked away above the event space is surround by trees, such that it only takes a walk of a few metres and it becomes hidden from view.

Blue Finch, July 2026

Back during my 2024 visit, I noted that those seeking an immersive location bringing together assorted themes and ideas and which offers huge scope for photography, relaxing, having a little fun or romantic interlude would appreciate Blue Finch. This, despite my little niggles, continues to holds true in July 2026.

Slurl Details

July 2026 SL Trust and Safety User Group meeting

Posted on by Inara Pey
Linden Estate Services: Trust and Safety User Group meeting place
The following notes were taken from:

  • My chat log of the Trust and Safety meeting held on Tuesday, July 21st, 2026, together with my chat log of that meeting.
  • Pantera’s video of the meeting (embedded at the end of this article) – my thanks to her for providing it.
Table of Contents

Meeting Purpose

  • The Trust and Safety User Group is to provide a forum to discuss topics relating to safety and security in Second Life. However, please note that for matters of privacy and personal safety, the following will not be openly discussed by members of the team:
    • Reports of abuse, together with the outcome of investigations or actions taken in response; specific account information (including terminations, suspensions, warnings, etc.); DCMA or copyright issues; internal processes; ToS interpretations.
  • The meetings:
    • Are held on the 3rd  Tuesday of the month, at 11:00 SLT.
    • Take place at the Linden Estate Services meeting place.
    • Are a mix of Voice and text chat.
  • Dates and times of meetings are recorded in the SL Public Calendar.
  • For descriptions on all SL user groups and their purpose please refer to SL Official User Groups.

Trust and Safety Blog Posts Blog Posts

  • The Second Life Trust and Safety team shares regular community blog posts to help keep the community informed and educated on various topics. These blogs cover topics such as maintaining strong account security practices, tips and tricks, and helpful how-to guides.
  • All posts can be found within the Trust and Safety Tuesdays section of the Community blogs and are now tagged as such.
  • Those who wish to receive the updates via e-mail can hit the Follow button on the page.
  • Going forward, Trust and Safety blog posts will be made on every second Tuesday of the month (i.e. the week before the Trust and Safety User Group meetings).

Updates from the Team

  • Since the previous meeting, the number of phishing attempts within Groups and IMs appears to have decreased. This is put down to:
    • Greater awareness among users, thanks to word-of-mouth and the Lab’s Phishing blog post.
    • Work the Lab has put into implementing measures on the back-end to more readily address the issue.
    • However, dealing with the problem is still viewed as an on-going effort, including addressing other areas of attempted scamming.
  • To further help combat phishing, it has been suggested that the use of a logo icon with official SL links is extended to include 3rd party sites where there is an established SL presence / use (e.g. Primfeed, Flickr, Gyazo) so that genuine links to these sites can be easily identified when appearing in chat, IMs. etc., and – if possible – in embedded links (those using [] to display them as a word rather than a URL).
  • There will be blog posts in the future focused on Abuse Reports – how and when to file, and what information is helpful.
    • There is also my own Abuse Reports tutorial, which has been submitted for further review by the T&S team (given it is now seven years old), and has been found to still correctly reflect the process of filing an AR.

Abuse Reports

  • There is a backlog of Abuse Reports that are being addressed.
  • However, incoming reports do still get reviewed for prioritisation. Every effort is made to address all ARs in a timely manner wherever possible.
  • In terms of disclosure of personal information – raised at the meeting – it was acknowledged that these can take time to resolve, due to the need to carry out a full investigation and make sure the situation is fully understood and the correct action taken (see below as well).
  • Offensive / hate-related graphics and symbols seen in-world should be subject to Abuse Report filing (with images of the items, if possible).
  • Land encroachment issues (particularly on Mainland) should be AR’d if they cannot be addressed through contact with the owner of the encroaching object(s).
  • A question was asked about Abuse Report categories and LL providing more information on them.
    • Currently, I have a breakdown based on information provided by the Governance team (part of Trust and Safety) – see: Abuse Report Category notes.
  • A reminder was given that while it may not appear that an Abuse Report appears to result in “no action”, this may not necessarily be the case: it is possible that the issue is still under investigation; or that action has been taken, but not in the manner anticipated when filing the AR; or that investigation failed to produce sufficient cause/ evidence for action to be taken; or (at the current point in time) the report is caught in the backlog
  • Even if previous ARs relating to a situation or individual, etc., appear to have resulted in “no action” filing further reports where the actions are repeated is worthwhile as they help T&S built up a pattern of behaviour which can be applied to investigations / actions taken.
  • Note that telephone support staff cannot assist with filed Abuse Reports, as they do not have access to the information, nor are they in a position to file an Abuse Reports on a user’s behalf.

Marketplace Reports

  • These are dealt with by Trust and Safety.
  • It is acknowledged that there are issues with MP reporting – lack of categories, mis-matching between categories and flags, etc.
  • T&S is working with the Web Team to try to improve this, and it is possible that Melody Linden from T&S could attend the Web User Group meetings to discuss there.

Disclosure of Personal Information

  • This is definitely against the ToS / Community Standards and should be AR’d.
  • HOWEVER it also requires forethought from users: whilst there is a “1st Life” tab in the Profile floater (which would perhaps be better relabelled to something like “Further Information” or similar and carry a warning about disclosure), people should take care as to what they place within that tab and be mindful not to put anything which might be used as personally identifying (or indeed, anywhere else in their Profile.
  • Where such disclosure goes beyond Second Life and presents the potential for harm, additional doxing, etc.), the matter should additionally be reported to local law enforcement.
  • Personal Data disclosure with external tools:
    • It was noted that there is a growing use of AI tools in relation to Second Life for the production of images, etc.
    • Whilst LL has no jurisdiction over such tools, a reminder was given that those using them should take the time to read any related terms of service, etc., particularly in regards to collection and re-use of personal information / personally identifying information.

General Discussion

  • A question was (again) asked on what is allowed within region maturity ratings – the clearest answer is via the Maturity Ratings guide. There is also the Adult Content FAQ.
  • There was a discussion on security orb timings, covenants and breaking covenants. This can be a complex subject (e.g. estate  – Private and Mainland) operating covenants which specify how systems systems should be used (contact estate owner); Mainland areas managed directly by LL (e.g. Bellisseria) – raise an AR if the security owner refuses to address covenant violation; security systems that encroach public spaces / rights of way (e.g. waterways and roadways) – AR, etc.
  • The question was asked whether T&S work with third-party sites closely associated with Second Life (e.g. Primfeed), to address ToS violations. In sort: LL have no direct jurisdiction over such sites, and the likes of Primfeed tend to be very well moderated anyway.
    • However, if a post on Primfeed, Flickr, etc., includes an image directly related to something viewable in-world which is against the ToS / Community Standards, then this can be subject to an AR, especially if an identifying location / avatar name can be supplied as a part of the AR.
  • Requests have been made for increased moderation on SL’s Discord channels to deal with spamming, attempted scams, etc. One suggestion is for LL to deploy a honeypot bot to help address these issues.
  • Use of bots / scripted agents / traffic gaming came up:
    • Traffic gaming can be reported via AR.
    • Bots not registered as scripted agents can be AR’d.
    • As it was noted that it is not always easy to tell an “unregistered” bot from a properly recorded scripted agent, therefore it would be useful to add a field to the agent profile indicating it has been properly tagged as a scripted agent, making identification instantly possible.
    • The latter point has been previously raised as a Feature Request, currently being tracked by LL.
    • Policy for reference: Scripted Agent Policy.
  • The subject of linking alt accounts to a main account was again raised “to allow blocking in bulk”.
    • This could be a privacy issue. For example: I might want to have an alt for a specific legitimate purpose in SL (role-play, research) or for business use, etc., and I do not wish to have that account directly associated with my “main” account.
    • Alt linking resulted in one of the most drama-laden situations in Second Life in the early 2010s with the user-created Red Zone “alt linking” system.
    • Obviously, LL have the means to link accounts for investigative purposes.

Next Meeting

A Return to The Rusty Nail in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Rusty Nail, July 2026 – click any image for full size

Busta (Busta Blakewell, and formerly known as BadboyHi) has over a decade or so, been responsible for many region designs in Second Life. He’s built locations both for himself and the enjoyment of others, and he has designed settings for others, some of which have been opened to the public as well.

I’ve been covering Busta’s work since 2016, including The Rusty Nail, a setting mixing public spaces with private rentals and which I first covered when it was located within a Homestead region (see: The Rusty Nail in Second Life). It has since moved to a Full region utilising the additional Land Capacity bonus, and that was reason enough for me to pop have and have a look.

The Rusty Nail, July 2026

The first thing to note about this iteration of The Rusty Nail is that while it does offer extensive parcels for rent, they are placed around the outside of the region so that each enjoys a waterfront view. This allows the interior of the setting to be left open to public spaces, the majority of which are separated from the rentals by the looping flow of a body of water cutting into the landscape, although a neck of land does extend out from the south-east corner to connect with the central spaces, also forming a public area of its own.

This latter space, whilst abutting some of the rental properties, includes some foreshore seating locations and a kind of garden space within the remnants of some ruins complete with a meditative shrine and a climb up to the region’s highest point where a deck-straddling lookout / retreat can be found.

The Rusty Nail, July 2026

The remains of an old church sits at the foot of the climb up the hill, now propped up against its own potential collapse, together with more remnants of the older ruins. The ground here is extensively paved to form the neck reaching out to the centre spaces of the region, whilst a path meanders out to a southern corner of the setting to present a quiet retreat looking out over open waters.

The main bulk of the public spaces sit on a long paved terrace running south-to-north from where it joins to the rest of the setting, and broadly split into four areas.

The Rusty Nail, July 2026

The first of these is a centred around a pond from which a Kraken rises, with seating available for customers of the Solace Bar and Café. A single pier extends out into the waters, rowing boats moored alongside together with a deserted houseboat

Through the gates from the pond is the main bar and events space. The latter provides room for dancing together with seating to one side under a trellis and a small wild garden. The bar is fronted by the DJ stage, also under an extensive trellis, and is an inspired use of Cory Edo’s Yara Treehouse design, copies of which have been neatly kitbashed together, with one element sitting to one side as a little coffee house.

The Rusty Nail, July 2026

The final area is given to the main café and a wine bar, the terrace space before them carrying with it Parisian flavours together with a comfortable range of seating, with a further very cosy seating space to the rear of the café.

The detail packed into these spaces very much bring them to life, and it is worth spending time wandering around and through them to see all that is on offer. Outside of them to the east, the paving takes on the look of a waterfront walk, complete with places to sit out over the water, a horse stand for those wishing to rez a horse and take a ride and views out across the inland waters.

The Rusty Nail, July 2026

Beyond the terraces, the land broadens out into a continuing paved area edged by places to sit by the water and dominated by huge metal frame of a former glasshouse, now forming the nucleus of one of the many wildling gardens cultivated across the region. This area is also home to the region’s Land Point.

Those exploring the wider reached of this area and around the west side of the bar and café terraces will doubtless come across slabs of heavy rock arrange to form broad, shallow steps leading down to the water, where flat-topped boulders provide the means to cross to steps on the water’s far side, where smaller public spaces have been cosied-in between some of the rentals, providing further places to sit and pass the time.

The Rusty Nail, July 2026

Sitting under the perfect EEP sky – do be sure to use the Shared Environment when visiting – The Rusty Nail is a gorgeous, extremely photogenic region, folding into itself as it does hints of the East, a sense of swamplands without their more claustrophobic elements (or alligators / crocodiles!) and smatterings of cosmopolitan necessities, all wrapped in an idyllic atmosphere and given a sense of tranquil age by the ruins.

As with the rentals in the original Rusty Nail, the houses offered here have been select to fit the environment, allowing them to blend into it rather than standing apart or appearing uneasily placed within the landscape. There is no rental office to clutter the place up – so anyone interested in renting one of the houses (there were at least a couple available when I dropped in), contact Busta in-world.

The Rusty Nail, July 2026

Should you require rezzing rights for photo props, these can be obtained by joining the local Group. As auto return is not set, please do pick-up your pieces afterwards!

Slurl Details and Website

2026 week #30: SUG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Simulator User Group meeting place at Longfellow

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, July 21, 2026 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. These notes form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. They were taken from the video recording by Pantera, embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks to Pantera for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas is held every other Tuesday at 12:00 noon, SLT (holidays, etc., allowing), per the Second Life Public Calendar.
  • The “SUG Leviathan Hour” meetings are held on the Tuesdays which do not have a formal SUG meeting, and are chaired by Leviathan Linden. They are more brainstorming / general discussion sessions.
  • Meetings are held in text in-world, at this location.

Simulator Deployments

  • As recorded in my notes from the the previous Simulator User Group, there has been a bug which has been causing some regions to fail to grant capabilities.
    • A hot fix for this was deployed on July 14 and July 15 across all simhost channels. This is described as “not a complete fix, but at least now we aren’t taking out an entire simhost at a time”.
  • Tuesday, July 21 saw the SLS Main channel server restarted without a deployment.
  • Wednesday July 22 should see the Mango update deployed to the simulator RC channels.
  • The next simulator release after Mango is Nectarine.

In Brief

  • Rider Linden has as been finishing up a first pass on the VS code integration and is looking forward to getting it out, although it will need to be coordinated with the next Lua release
  • Leviathan Linden:
    • Has cut a new pre-release of the game_control viewer, and acknowledged the assistance of user Wolfgang Senizen for submitting changes to help in mapping actions to buttons, and Horny nuzzle for the suggestion to use PromptFont for the game_control preferences UI (see my Leviathan Office Hours notes).
    • What’s new with the updated viewer:
      • You can map buttons to avatar movement actions.
      • The DPad is mapped by default to fwd/back and strafe left/right.
      • You can run if you tilt the sticks far enough.
      • The UI mapping is revamped, mapping actions to inputs rather than the other way around.
      • There is an improvements to show the raw inputs/outputs in the per-device axes options (offset, invert, dead_zone), another sub-tab that shows raw data being sent to the server.
    • There are some further server-side aspects to game_control Leviathan wishes to complete, but these will be as his schedule allows.
    • Following discussion of an issue he introduced into UDP messaging at his last Office Hours meeting, he now has a fix for the problem (which is related to avatars that stay cloudy on log-in).
  • Roxie Linden noted that:
    • Has been working on the WebRTC p2p IM bug where sessions fail to start, and is making progress. There is now a potential fix for at least some of the failures, and which should be going out “soon”.
  • Pepper Linden:
    • Has been “hacking away on a new test harness” which creates a “fake grid” with multiple real simulators and viewers, and which can be used to reproduce some of the more tricky scenarios that are hard to pin-down – in this case, region crossing issues.
    • As a result of this, Pepper has managed to put together some fixes which – all things being equal – should help out with vehicle region crossings.
      • These fixes include changes to hold a vehicle in a region until all passengers are “ready” before it is allowed to enter another region, with an extension to what it means for a viewer to be “ready”.
      • This means the hand-off will only be performed after each passenger/viewer has polled their new neighbour’s event queue and it’s been able to verify there’s a real circuit/session in place.
      • Pepper is willing to have these updates deployed to the Blake Sea region on Aditi (the Beta grid) for user testing.
    • Pepper also noted that there is still an open question of how to handle region hand-offs when an avatar is crossing into parcel to which they do not have access to, such as perhaps fining the nearest open parcel and deliver the avatar there , or simply “tunnel through” the blocking parcel.
    • Another issue area Pepper hopes to be able to look in to is getting caught in TP limbo.
  • Harold Linden (Lua):
    • Is currently trying to catch-up on a backlog of word after being caught up with a house move an all that has involved.
    • Given the majority of changes LL wanted to implement are now in the SLua 0.710 branch and are relatively stable, he plans to merge-in the updates from upstream Luau in the next day or so.
      • This was not going to include the Luau integer implementation, however, as discussion in the meeting which indicated that integers are enabled by default, classes are not, in the most recent Luau updates may have given Harold pause to consider swapping LL’s integer implementation over to the upstream Luau implementation first.
      • He also noted he’s very much like for classes to be stabilized before general release but will “see how that goes”.
      • Once merged, the updates will take a little time to reach release as he catches up on the pending definition changes.

General Discussion

Please refer to the video below for  more on the following.

  • Pepper’s work on vehicle region  crossing led the a discussion on banlines and providing better means for those driving / sailing / boating / flying to identify parcels they are not able to access before then come up against the banlines and encounter problems (being unseated, becoming stuck and having to relog, etc., losing their vehicle, etc) – such as by highlighting parcels where access is block on the Mini-Map.
    • This led to a discussion on security orb, warning, marking parcels with orbs in operation, etc.
  • A further general discussion on Lua ran through the latter 2/3s of the meeting, interpolated with the above discussion for part of the time.
  • The slight drop on crossing regions when free-flying was discussed among region attendees.
  • Assorted commentary and one or two gripes and some viewer-side requests with the suggestion they are referred to the viewer (open-source) meetings.

Date of Next Meetings

  • Leviathan Linden: Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
  • Formal SUG meeting: Tuesday, August 4, 2026.