Sail for life is the sailing community’s season of events held as a part of Relay for Life in SL. Activities comprise cruises, races, parties and opportunities for sailing communities across SL to come together in support of Relay for Life.
Of particular interest this year is a special Sail of Life Art Auction, which is being organised by Nber Medici. The auction will take place on the weekend of May 15th-17th, starting with a launch party (time TBA) on Friday, May 15th, and a closing party on Sunday, May 17th, again time TBA.
The parties and the auction will take place at the beautiful Holly Kai Park,which I wrote about back in November 2014. Art pieces will be display throughout the park, offering visitors and bidders the opportunity to explore the park and enjoy some truly unique pieces – and I do mean unique, although Nber and the park’s gallery manager, Autumn (autumnxrain) are seeking the help of artists across SL to make it so.
Holly Kai Park – venue for the Sail for Life Art Auction
“We’d like this to be a nautical art auction,” Nber informed me, when we discussed the event. “And we’re inviting artists who might be interested to consider donating exclusive works, either 2D or 3D art, they have created on the theme, which we can then auction to the highest bidder, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Relay for Life of Second Life. ”
Artists who are interested in offering pieces for consideration in the auction can contact either Nber Medici or Autumn (autumnxrain) in-world for full details on requirements and on how to submit your work.
Holly Kai Park – offers beautiful setting to wander and enjoy art in a natural setting
If you are interested in owning a unique piece of art, keep the weekend of the 15th-17th May marked in your diaries, and get ready to visit Holy Kai park and bid!
I’ll have more details on the event nearer the weekend, but in the meantime, details of all the Sail for Life 2015 events can also be found on the Sail for Life 2015 calendar.
It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to Second Life and Kitely by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.
As always, all times SLT / PDT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island, or at their Kitely Homeworld.
Sunday, March 15th
11:00: Seanchai Kitely: The Quiet Man
Released in 1952, John Ford’s The Quiet Man is regarded as a classic Irish-American romantic comedy / drama. Starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara (and assorted members of their RL families!) and Barry Fitzgerald, it is a popular choice among critics and film-lovers.
The screenplay for the film was drawn in a large part from a short story of the same name originally published in 1933 in the Saturday Evening Post, and penned by Irish author, Maurice Welsh. Together with a number of other short stories by Walsh, The Quiet Man was gathered into a single volume of his short stories, The Quiet Man and Other Stories, which dealt with many recurring characters living in rural Ireland of the 1920s, and set against the backdrop of the civil unrest which affected the country at that time, while examining the complexities and occasional intrigues of life, love and Irish traditions.
Join Caledonia Skytower as she reads Walsh’s original tale of The Quiet Man, Paddy Bawn Enright. (grid.kitely.com:8002/InisArcain)
13:30: Seanchai SL: Tea Time at Baker Street
Caledonia, Kaydon OConnell and Corwyn Allen reconvene at the rooms of 221B Baker Street to this week read the story of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, which first appeared in The Strand Magazine in January 1892.
The Illustrated Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
One December, Watson arrives at 221B Baker Street to offer Holmes season’s greetings and best wishes, only to find the Great Detective earnestly studying a battered hat. Holmes explains it had been delivered by commissionaire Peterson, who had witnessed a scuffle between some men, all of whom had run off, one of them dropping the hat and a Christmas goose in the process. Happy to let Peterson keep the goose, Holmes had found the hat to be of great interest, and by the time Watson arrives, had formed a quite clear set of deductions concern its owner, which he then proceeds to relate to the good Doctor.
Their conversation is interrupted by the return of Peterson, who presents Holmes with The Blue Carbuncle, a priceless jewel stolen from the hotel suite of the Countess of Morcar a few days previously. Peterson explains he found the jewel inside the goose. Having been quick on the case at the time of the theft, the police had already arrested known felon John Horner, who had previously been seen in the Countess’ suite cleaning the fireplace, and charge him with the theft. But Horner had from the start protested his innocence, and the police had been unable to locate the jewel, leading them to believe it is in the possession of an accomplice.
So could it be that the man who dropped the goose and hat was Horner’s mysterious accomplice, or is something else going on? And why hide the jewel in a goose? For Holmes and Watson, the game is once again, very much afoot!
Monday, March 16th
06:00: The Emerald Atlas
Cata Charisma continues his reading of John Stephens’ The emerald Atlas, the first volume in his fantasy trilogy for young adults, The Books of Beginning.
Having been passed from pillar to post through orphanages, three siblings, Kate, Emma, and Michael, find themselves lodged at the home of one Dr. Stanislaus Pym. Kate, the eldest of the three is driven by a promise made by her mother, that if Kate protects her younger sister and brother, then their family will be one day reunited.
But in their explorations of Dr. Pym’s house the three of them find their way into the basement, where they come across a mysterious door and a equally mysterious emerald-covered booth, entirely without text. When an old photograph touches the blank pages of the book, however, the three are immediately transported to the time and place depicted in the photograph. Her they find themselves in a realm populated by witches, henchmen, giants, dwarves and more – and one Dr. Stanislaus Pym, a good deal younger than when they last saw him in his house…
19:00: Starswarm
Starswarm Station is a remote research station established to study strange alien life. The planet on which it is located is the home of the starswarm, intelligent plants living under the planet’s shallow lakes and seas, and roaming bands of centaur-like creatures dubbed “haters”.
The station is also home to Kip, a teenage boy living under the guardianship of his “uncle”. However, as Kip begins to discover, he has another guardian: Gwen, an AI system his mother had been working on, prior to her death, and which communicates with Kip via a small implant placed inside his brain at birth.
Gwen knows far more about the planet and the lifeforms it harbours than Kip could imagine. It also knows a lot about the company that runs the station and, for all intents and purposes, “owns” the planet on which it sits.
Slowly, Gwen reveals these various truths to Kip, including his own destiny. But in doing so, it puts Kip, and potentially the entire station, at risk.
Join Gyro Muggins as he continues a reading of Jerry Pournelle’s 1998 novel intended for teenage readers but which offers an interesting look at subjects such as neural nets and living computer systems.
Tuesday March 17th, 19:00: Celtic Tales
With Aoife Lorefield.
Wednesday March 18th, 19:00: Gorak the Gobbler
An original tale written and read by Caledonia Skytower.
Thursday March 19th, 19:00: Celtic Myths and Magick
With Shandon Loring.
Sunday March 22nd, 12:00 Noon: Seanchai library SL’s 7th Anniversary
Mark the date in your diaries, and check the Seanchai Library blog for more news nearer the date!
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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule. The featured charity for January / early March is Project Children, teaching and building peace in Northern Ireland, one child at a time.
The following notes are primarily taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, March 13th, a video of which is included at the end of the article (my thanks as always to North for recording it and providing it for embedding), and any time stamps contained within the following text refer to it.
Server Deployments Week 11 – Recap
As always, please refer to the sever deployment thread for the latest updates and information.
There was no Main (SLS) channel deployment on Tuesday, March 10th
On Wednesday, March 11th, all three RC channels received the same new server maintenance package comprising “internal improvements for premium users”.
SL Viewer
The Avatar Hover Height viewer reached the release channel on March 10th, with the release of an RC version (3.7.26.299635). Avatar Hover Height allows you to adjust the vertical position of your avatar within some preset limits. See the wiki page and my overview.
This brings the total number of RC viewers in the viewer release channel to four, however:
[0:41] It is unlikely the Maintenance RC viewer (currently version 3.7.26.299610, released on March 6th) will be promoted without further update, as it has been found to contain a significant number of additional bugs which require fixing
[0:51] As the Avatar Hover Height RC viewer has only just been released, it is unlikely that the Lab will have enough stats on it to judge whether or not it can be promoted to the de facto release viewer in the immediate future; it is therefore likely to remain at RC status for at least another week, although initial reports suggest it is stable and doesn’t hide any unpleasantness
[01:07] The back-end support for Experience Keys / Tools still isn’t ready for the service to go live, although the Lab is making further progress with whatever needed to be done; it is therefore remains unlikely the that Experience Keys viewer (currently version 3.8.0.299338, released on March 9th) will be promoted to the de facto release viewer until such time as the remaining back-end work has been completed.
Tools Update Viewer and XP Users
[01:20] This potentially means that the Tools Update RC viewer (currently version 3.7.26.299443, released on March 4th) may be promoted to the de facto release viewer in week #12.
When this happens, it will obviously mean that all future builds of the official viewer will be made using the new tool chain and autobuild process. This in turn means that any Windows version of the viewer built using the new tools set (which includes MS visual Studio 2013) will not run on any version (32-, or 64-bit) version of Windows XP. To this end, the installer is being set so that it requires a minimum of Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 installed, in order for it to successfully install the viewer.
Note that this is not a deliberate attempt to block XP users from Second Life; it is purely the result of the Lab moving towards the use of up-to-date tools for building the viewer (and which will yield positive benefits elsewhere, such as with greater tool commonality between the Lab and TPVs), and some of these tools do not support windows XP due to its age and it no longer being actively supported by Microsoft.
[16:54] Some TPVs may investigate / opt to build the viewer somewhat manually using the new tool chain in such a way that it can be used on XP, but this is reportedly requires a “very large amount of work” to achieve, requires a lot of command line input, an avoidance of VS 2013, and is “really hacky”.
Project Viewers
[03:28] The Viewer-Managed Marketplace project viewer (currently version 3.7.25.298865, released on February 13th) is liable to be updated in week #12 as a result of further fixes and updates that came out of the last round of testing
[04:20] The Mesh Importer project viewer (currently version 3.7.25.298441, released on February 3rd), is currently undergoing further update with new fixes and will be updated as a project viewer in the near future.
Avatar Layers Global Limit
Vir Linden – working on the new wearable layers code
[04:41] In response to BUG-6258, “Popularity of Mesh Attachments Facilitates Need For More Alpha Layers”, the Lab is working to implement a new “global” limit to the number of system clothing layers an avatar can wear.
Under the current system, there are 12 types of clothing layers or wearables (alpha, tattoo, undershirt, shirt, jacket, underpants, pants, gloves, socks, skirts, shoes, and physics), with (generally) up to 5 of each type of wearable able to be worn at the same time, giving a maximum of 60 wearables that can worn simultaneously.
Under the new code being developed by Vir Linden, a new “global” limit of 60 wearable layers is being set per avatar, and users will be able to wear any number / combination of layers up to that limit (so you could opt to wear 60 jacket layers if you wanted, or 10 each of alpha, shirt, pants, gloves, jacket and socks, for example).
This update requires changes to both the viewer and to the server-side Appearance (SSA) service. The viewer-side changes are updates to the viewer’s logic, so it is purely checking the number of worn layers against the global limit of 60, rather than limits set for individual layers. The SSA changes will similarly support the new “global” use of clothing layers, but will also continue to support the 5-per-layer limit for viewers that do not adopt the newer code, or require a longer lead time in order to adopt the new viewer code, once it is available, thus providing a measure of “back compatibility”. The viewer code is expected to appear in a project viewer once it, and the back-end changes have cleared the Lab’s QA team.
Group Chat
[09:29] As noted in my recent updates, changes made to the group change service in the last two weeks unexpectedly resulted in up to 20% of messages failing to be delivered correctly. Simon Linden spent a fair amount of time during week #10 stabilising things and delivering further updates to try to correct the problem. As a result, in what has been called an “educational” two weeks for the Lab, the situation has been largely reversed, although some problems still remain.
The Server Beta User Group meeting on Thursday, March 12th, saw a further set of updates from Simon undergo testing on the Beta grid, and during the TPV Developer meeting on Friday, March 13th, Oz indicated that the Lab will probably undertake a further round of “serious” upgrading of all the technology associated with group chat before they declare the project in any way “finished”. This will likely involve putting the back-end service support group chat on more up-to-date hardware and OS environments.
Two of the most fascinating sci-fi / fantasy builds in Second life for several years were those of Alpha Point and Omega Point, two adjoining regions created and looked after by Masoon Ringo and Sweetlemon Jewell. They were incredible builds, occupying the entire ground level areas of both regions, with multiple additional elements up in the sky.
Such was the beauty of the builds, I wrote about them in 2011 and again 2012, although I don’t feel my images ever really caught their true magnificence, and was disappointed to discover in 2013 that both had gone from SL. I also wasn’t alone in being enthralled with them – Honour McMillan always had been as well. So when she blogged that Sweetlemon was once again building in SL, Maya and I were immediately off to investigate.
The new Omega Point is smaller than the original, covering a little over 11,500 sq metres of the region of Nippon Koku – but that doesn’t mean it’s any the less fascinating or engaging as the original; quite the reverse. Not only does the new build carry strong echoes of the original whilst also remaining entirely unique to itself, it also appears to offer the outline of a narrative.
Sweetlemon apparently describes the build as a dark fantasy model; Honour refers to it as sci-fi meets medieval. Both are accurate descriptions, but there’s also more here as well; giving it a kind of sci-fi meets middle Earth with a sprinkling of medieval and ancient Egyptian influences (the latter two may not be directly obviously without some exploration.
A work in progress at the time of writing, the build offers cathedral-like structures, both hewn from the living rock. The larger and most obvious of the two (you’ll have to search for the other 🙂 ), offers high, vaulted ceiling supported by great pillars carved with hieroglyphs. Stone fire bowls vie with electric blue lighting throughout this great chamber, where stone stairs climb slowly towards a statue of a warrior maiden. This route to her feet, though straightforward, is nevertheless fraught with danger, as great lighting bolts periodically arc down from above, scorch marks and burnt remains testament to the unfortunate souls caught unaware by these powerful bursts of energy.
Outside of this great structure lies more to see, centred on the entwined forms of an elven-like couple, carved in stone, but seemingly set within a stasis field. The plaza around this has been the scene of a bloody fight – possibly with the two horned beasts standing and snorting to one side, while overhead three strange craft float.
Quite what this all means is up the the visitor to decide – but the narrative is there, ready to be woven into a story of your choice, and more is being added – at least for the present. A great row of towers guarding a walkway sprang up between my first and second visits.
There are many elements in the build which resonate with the original Alpha and Omega Points, including several secrets within the build waiting to be found; one of which in particular will lead to more interesting discoveries, such as the second of the cathedral-like structures, this one with more of a medieval feel. As Honour mentions in her article, look for the stairs to find it.
If you are one of the many of us who were constantly fascinated by, and drawn to, the original Alpha Point and Omega Point, this is a build you’re likely want to visit. And if you’re someone who never had such an opportunity to see the original, here is a chance for you to delve into the imagination of Sweetlemon Jewell.
On Friday, March 13th, Hypergrid Business relayed news that Linden Lab has called a halt to the use of Linden Dollars outside of their own platforms. The news itself came from the OpenSim based Avination, which has for several years provided the means to exchange Linden Dollars to their own currency (C$) via the use of an in-world ATM mechanism.
In an announcement, which has also been distributed to their users via e-mail, Avination state: “Due to recent interaction with Linden Labs, we regret having to inform you that the transfer of Linden Dollars to Avination is no longer available, including the payment of your Avination sims via the Avination ATMs.”
The announcement goes on to further read in part:
Following discussions with Linden Labs they have advised that any use of Linden Dollars in payment for currency of ANY other virtual world, or for external services which are not used in SecondLife [sic] is in violation of the TOS …
According to Linden Labs [sic], users of SecondLife [sic] must cash out through LindeX before using real currency to pay for services not rendered within SL.
This move is being linked to matters of potential liability for the Lab. In 2013, the company moved to put greater controls on the re-sale of Linden Dollars through third-party exchanges. At the time, there was a lot of speculation (including my own) as to whether this was in response to FinCEN recommendations or as a more general means of dealing with issues of fraud, etc.
In 2013 the Lab moved to provide greater control over the re-sale of Linden Dollars, including prohibiting third-party exchanges from either buying back L$ amounts from users or providing them with the means to cash-out L$
While the Lab did subsequently allow third-party operations to continue to sell Linden Dollars to users (said L$ having been purchased from the Lab), a prohibition was placed on such operations to either buy L$ amounts from users or cash them out of the platform; a move which allowed the Lab to demonstrate it can effectively monitor and control the outward flow of money from Second Life.
However, it might be said the the use of in-world scripted devices such as “ATMs”, which enable the direct conversion of Linden Dollar values to other virtual currencies which can then be cashed out, potentially gives rise to liability exposure for the Lab, should it be shown that such mechanisms might be used for illegal purposes. Thus, the Lab has made this move to distance itself from such a risk.
In their announcement, Avination also suggest that this move may affect how Second Life users can pay for external services such as audio stream rentals in the future. Whether this is the case or not remains to be seen. Most of these services provide such a payment mechanism through a registered Second Life account, without any supplemental transfer of the value of the payment outside of the platform (the funds can effectively only be cashed-out via the Lab’s LindeX). Thus, there wouldn’t appear to be any issues with services working in this way to continue to do so. However, this is purely speculation on my part, and we’ll have to await official word from the Lab.
March 21st through March 29th inclusive will see Fashion for Life open its doors for a full week of non-stop, boundary-breaking, uplifting, shop-till-you-drop, dazzling entertaining events and more, all as a part of the 2015 Relay for Life season.
This year’s events will allow you to visit the great fashion centres of the world – Milan, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Berlin – and experience the best and greatest in virtual world fashion and couture. Throughout each region will be lots to see and enjoy, starting at 10:00 SLT on Saturday, March 21st, and ending at 23:00 on Sunday, March 29th.
Live entertainment will be taking place throughout the week across all nine regions of the event, which will be filled with art, beauty, colour and more – all the hallmarks of another breathtaking Fashion for Life Event. All with the goal of raising funds for the biggest non-profit event in any virtual world which supports, promotes awareness, and gives hope to the millions of people around the globe dealing with the ravages of cancer on a daily basis – the patients, caregivers, families, research teams, and medical professionals at the forefront of the war against this abysmal disease.
Sneak peek: Ryo Ixxel’s and Ouka Ugajin’s Tokyo promises to bring together old and new Japan
The nine regions of Fashion for Life are currently under construction, and are being designed / sponsored by:
Paris: builder, Kaya Angel; sponsored by Belle Roussel – Chop Zuey
Milan: builder, MaximilianIII Massenbergl; sponsored by Sage Pexie – Sage
London: builder, Rebeca Bashly; sponsored by rika Oyen – Argrace
New York: builder, Frank Dexter; sponsored by Zzoie Zee – Zanze
Central Park (both regions): Spankmy Boucher; sponsored by Marcus Lefevre – Miss SL Organisation
Los Angeles: builder, Regi Yifu; sponsored by Hunterminta – Zaodyeck Magazine
Tokyo: builder, Ryo Ixxel; sponsored by Takuya Jinn – Gabriel
I hope to have the opportunity of previewing the event closer to the opening; in the meantime, the sneak peeks here will hopefully serve to pique interest 🙂 .
Sneak Peek: Regi Yifu’s Los Angeles presents an iconic building from that city in a unique setting
About Relay For Life of Second Life
Relay For Life of Second Life is an annual activity that takes place in Second Life in July each year. Volunteers form or join teams to have fun while fund-raising and raising awareness from mid-March through mid-July. In July teams build camp sites and walk a track, just like a Real World Relay. Since 2005, Relay For Life of Second Life has raised over $2.25 million USD for the American Cancer Society. In 2013, Relay For Life of Second Life has raised over $390,000 for the American Cancer Society. Relay For Life has become an international movement in RL and SL. In 2011 participants from over 80 countries took part in Relay For Life of Second Life.
About the American Cancer Society
For more than 100 years, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has worked relentlessly to save lives and create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Together with millions of supporters worldwide, ACS helps people stay well, helps people get well, find cures, and deal with their journey against cancer.
Sail for life is the sailing community’s season of events held as a part of Relay for Life in SL. Activities comprise cruises, races, parties and opportunities for sailing communities across SL to come together in support of Relay for Life.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 