Running from November 4th through until the 14th included, the events sees Emma Portilo, taking over from Quan Lavender with the latter’s blessing, take the reins, ably supported by Chloe Seljan and Johannes1977 Resident, who will be coordinating entertainment throughout the event, and Jessii2009 Warrhol managing the PR. The event itself will take place in stylish region designed by Kimmera Madison.
Over 70 designers are taking place in this year’s activities, and all of the hats will be available for purchase by visitors, with 100% of proceeds from sales going to the ADA, as will money raised through a special Charity Auction which will close the event on Saturday, November 14th.
Art in Hats will open to the public on Wednesday, November 4th at 06:00 SLT, and there will be featured DJ sessions every day through to Friday November 6th.
The Grand Opening for the event will take place on Saturday November 7th, at 12:00 noon SLT, and will be followed at 16:00 SLT by the Grand Opening Fashion Show and then at 20:00 SLT by the Art In Hats 2015 Event Gala.
Highlights for Sunday, November 8th include Josie Anderton singing live at 14:00 SLT, followed by the Bring it On! Styling Contest at 15:00 SLT, in which the public is invited to show off the hats they have created on the Art in Hats stage, with random gifts will be given during the show. Sunday’s activities will round-out with the Style it Party: dance and wear your own hat to the music of DJ John, with the best in style prize awarded by popular vote during the event.
Music events will then continue through until Saturday, November 14th, and the close of Art in Hats. This will feature a final fashion show at 16:00 SLT, with the Public Hat Contest winners announced and prizes for the top two designs awarded at 18:00 SLT, followed by the Charity Auction in support of The American Diabetes Association featuring unique hats donated by creators. The event will then draw to a close with the Final Chance Shopping Party at 22:00 SLT, offering attendees a final opportunity to buy the hats they like, raise more money for ADA, and dance.
For a full line-up of activities and entertainment, be sure to check-out the Art in Hats 2015 schedule.
About Arts in Hats and Team Diabetes of Second Life
Founded in 2013 by Quan Lavender, the initial event offered a means for SL couture designers and artists to present images of hats as statement of art, each with a story to tell. In 2014, over 100 hats and their paired images displayed by designers and photographers, with Art in Hats supporting the work of Feed A Smile.
Some 387 million people globally live with diabetes, and the World Health Organisation estimates that diabetes could be the 7th leading cause of death by 2030.
Founded by Jessi2009 Warrhol and Johannes1977 Resident, Team Diabetes is the official and authorised team of the American Diabetes Association in Second Life. Functioning as an advisory board, Team Diabetes of Second Life comprises members Jessii2009 Warrhol, Johannes1977 Resident, Emma Portilo, Veruca Tammas, Sandie Loxingly, Rob Fenwitch and Earth Nirvana, with Saiyge Lotus serving as special advisor to the board.
Team Diabetes of Second Life’s mission is to raise awareness of diabetes, promote greater understanding of the issues those suffering from diabetes face, and to raise funds to further research into cures for diabetes.
SLurl Details
Art in Hats, Crestwood Acres (Rated: Moderate) – note this SLurl will not be generally available until Art in Hats opens on Wednesday, November 4th
Starting on Monday November 2nd, and running through to the end of the month is a new exhibition at Dathúil Gallery, operated by Max Butoh and curated by Lυcy (LucyDiam0nd).
Moments features a series of images by Shurely Shan, who describes herself as a “Second Life erotic photographer and model, and all-around expert in messing around with stuff.” given this, it should come as no surprise to visitors to Dathúil will find Moments has more than a little bit of an erotic / NSFW touch.
“Over the past two years I have tried to explore intimacy, desire, emotion and passion through photography in Second Life,” Surely states. “Moments is a collection of some of my favourite shots. I hope you enjoy it.”
The result is a selection of images capturing intimate moments, which vary in style from an intimacy with just a hint of eroticism through to those which are both deeply intimate and very sexual in pose and content.
There is also a voyeuristic element to some of the images which gives them an additional twist. The naked woman caught sleeping, for example, is this a picture taken by a lover, capturing that intimate moment of sleep, to be shared with the sleeper when she awakes? Or is it a picture taken entirely in secret, and set to remain outside of the sleeper’s knowledge, thus shifting it into the realm of voyeurism?
And that is the power of each of the images on display; while it may be easy to feel somewhat titillated or offended by the subject matter, the fact is that each of these pictures tells a story, regardless of how much overt sexuality they each display; they are moments caught in time. Moments which can be seen to be deeply personal and involving to those caught within them, and also to the picture taker, whoever we imagine that might be.
This is the first exhibition to take place in the remodelled Dathúil Gallery, which now sports a tall brick build whilst still retaining the look and feel of a converted distillery. It’s a design that works well, offering a catwalk like upper floor which runs around the four walls of the building, and reached by wooden steps. With its slender brick pillars, overhanging first floor and the opportunity to divide the floorspace into distinct areas, there would appear to be a lot of flexibility in how the spaces within the gallery might be used in future exhibitions.
But right now there is Moments, a display of intensely intimate and beautifully framed scenes, something lovers of adult-themed art should definitely not miss.
This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
Official LL Viewers
Current Release version: 3.8.6.305981, October 26 – formerly the Notifications RC viewer download page, release notes
Restrained Love Viewer updated to version 2.9.15 on October 27th – core update: parity with the Lab’s 3.8.5 code base; RLV updates and fixes – release notes
UKanDo updated to version 3.8.6.28161 on October 27th – core updates: parity with the Lab’s 3.8.5 code base and RLV 2.9.14 – release notes
In September I reported on images captured by the New Horizons space probe of the night side of Pluto, backlit by the distant Sun. In a follow-up to those images, the New Horizons team has released stunning high-resolution images captured by the probe shortly after passing the point of closest approach to Pluto on July 14th, 2015.
The images were captured from a distance of just 18,000 km (11,000 miles) from Pluto using the Multi-spectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC), part of New Horizon’s Ralph suite of instruments, which were pieced together to form a magnificent view of Pluto with a resolution of some 700 metres per pixel.
The mosaic of images shows the rich complexity of both Pluto’s surface features and its atmosphere, the enhanced images clearly bringing the bands of haze in the latter into sharp relief.
An enhanced image of Pluto’s night side, composed of images captured by the MVIC instrument on New Horizons on July 14th, 2015. As Pluto is “tipped over” on its axis by 120 degrees, the planet’s north pole is to the right and south pole to the left (image: NASA/JPL / JHUAPL / SwRI)
The clearest detail of Pluto’s surface can be seen to the right, which because the planet’s axis is tilted by 120-degrees, is the north polar region. The sheer ruggedness of the terrain can be seen here, some of the pitted hills almost looking like clouds above a distant landscape. However, the left side, and the south pole isn’t entirely without interest: caught by the glow of sunlight refracted by Pluto’s tenuous atmosphere, the rugged nature of the little world’s chaotic surface can also be seen.
Subject to enhancement, a portion of the images capturing the northern regions of Pluto reveal even more detail, particularly within the complex layering of Pluto’s atmosphere, where the enhancements reveal it to be made up of around a dozen layers, far more than had been thought during New Horizon’s final approach to Pluto in late June. These layers are made up of tholins, soot-like organic compounds created as a result of ultraviolet radiation from the sun interacting with the upper layers of Pluto’s atmosphere. These particles, undergoing some chemical changes as they drift back down through the various layers, eventually precipitate down onto Pluto’s surface, staining it red.
An enhanced image of Pluto north polar region revealing an incredibly complex surface of hills and valleys, ice features and high mountains, while above can be seen an enhanced view of the complex atmospheric banding (image: NASA/JPL / JHUAPL / SwRI)
Cassini’s Enceladus Encounter
Cassini, NASA’s deep space probe exploring Saturn and his retinue of moons as a part of the Cassini-Huygens mission, is approaching the end of its 20-year mission. Launched in 1997, and following a 7-years transit to Saturn, Cassini has been studying the system in great detail, and delivered a tiny European lander vehicle, Huygens, to the surface of Titan, the largest moon in the solar system, and one with its own rich atmosphere, and standing bodies of liquid on its surface.
With fuel reserves set to expire in late 2017, Cassini will be ordered to fly into Saturn’s own dense atmosphere before it does so, where it will burn-up. In the meantime, however, the vehicle continues to return a marvellous wealth of data about the Saturn system, including several studies of another of the giant planet’s remarkable moons, Enceladus.
Enceladus revealed: captured on October 28th, this image reveals the icy beauty of the moon as Cassini closes for its penultimate, and closest, approach (image: NASA/JPL / Space Science Institute)
Like Jupiter’s moon Europa, Enceladus is a domain of ice, under which likely sits an ocean of liquid water. Shortly after arriving in orbit around Saturn, Cassini made the first of numerous flybys of the little Moon, which is just 500 km (310 mi) across, and detected the presence of a very thin atmosphere primarily made up of water vapour. In particular, the craft observed geysers erupting from the south pole, spewing water vapour, ice particles and other material into space, some of which likely contributes to Saturn’s “E” ring.
At the end of October 2015, Cassini made its penultimate flyby of Enceladus, passing over the Moon at an altitude of just 48 km (30 mi) and at a speed of some 30,000 kph (19,000 mph), diving through another of the geyser plumes in the process to measure the composition of gas and ice particles launched from the underground ocean.
A stunning images taken by Cassini following the October flyby reveals a crescent Enceladus floating above Saturn’s magnificent rings (image: NASA/JPL / Space Science Institute)
In particular, the Cassini science team will be analysing the data returned by Cassini following the flyby to see if the sensors found any evidence of molecular hydrogen in the plumes. Doing so would help verify suspected hydrothermal activity is taking place on the floor of Enceladus’ ice-shrouded ocean which could give rise to hot environments rich in mineral and chemical deposits suitable for the development of microbial life, just as deep-ocean thermal vents here on Earth provide life-sustaining environments.
Cassini will make one more return to Enceladus on December 19th, but will pass further from the little Moon as its orbit gradually swings it around Saturn for a further and final set of encounters with giant Titan, before finally moving inwards to pass between Saturn and its rings for the first time to study Saturn’s atmosphere in detail as the mission draws to a close in 2017.
Dawn Descends Over Ceres
On October 23rd, the NASA / ESA joint mission to explore two of the solar system’s three “protoplanets” located in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, commenced manoeuvres to lower itself to is final orbit around Ceres.
The Dawn spacecraft, which arrived at Ceres in March 2015, after a 2.5 year transit flight from Vesta, its first destination, fired its ion engine to start reducing its orbit from 1,450 kilometres (915 miles) to just 380 km (235 mi), a manoeuvre which should see the vehicle spiral gently downwards to arrive in its new orbit in mid-December. At that time, Dawn will commence a final mapping and data-gathering mission, providing images with a resolution of 35 metres (120 ft) per pixel.
Occator crater and its bright spots images from directly overhead and a distance of 1,450 km (915 miles) by the Dawn space vehicle (image: NASA / JPL / DLR)
It is hoped that this final science orbit will offer definitive data on precisely what is giving rise to a series of odd bright spots within the crater Occator on Ceres, and which appear to be related to what seems to be a small and very localised trace atmosphere within the crater. Current thinking is the bright markings are salt or ice water deposits which are being out-gassed from Ceres’ interior.
Britain’s Spaceplane Gets £80 million Investment
SABRE is the name of a radical “air-breathing” hybrid engine which has been in development by a small British company called Reaction Engines Limited (REL) since the late 1990s. The aim is to reduce the amount of on-board oxidiser required in the rocket combustion process by allowing the engine to draw on the air around it during the initial ascent through the denser part of the Earth’s atmosphere, much like a regular jet engine uses the air around it. Only when the air becomes too thin to support combustion does the rocket engine switch over to its on-board supplies of liquid oxygen to burn with its liquid hydrogen fuel.
Ultimately, REL hope to use the SABRE engine in a single stage to orbit (SSTO) vehicle called Skylon, a fully reusable space launch vehicle, capable of operating from and to a conventional runway just like an aeroplane, and carrying up to tonnes into low Earth orbit. However, the SABRE engine potentially has a wide range of applications, including a purely “air-breathing” variant (called Scimitar) which could be used to power aircraft within Earth’s atmosphere at speeds close to five times that of sound.
REL propose using the SABRE engine in their Skylon spaceplane capable of lifting up to 15 tonnes (cargo or 24 passengers) into orbit. however, the engine has many potential uses, hence the interest from BASE Systems and the UK government (image: REL)
On Monday, November 2nd, REL announced that BAE Systems Ltd is to invest some £20.6 million (US $31.8 million) in REL in return for a 20% stake in the company, while the UK government has awarded a further £60 million (US $92.8 million). Together with recent funding from the EU, REL has now raised some £95 million (US $146.6 million) to further develop SABRE.
Skulls in the Sky
Halloween 2015 brought with it a creepy-looking visitor which looked down on Earth as many across the world took to marking All Hallows Eve on Saturday, October 31st.
The visitor in question was asteroid 2015 TB145, a lump of rock around 600 metres (1,968 feet) across. Tumbling through space, it passed by the Earth at a distance of roughly 480,000 km (300,000 miles) – slightly further from us than the orbit of the Moon, at a speed of some 126,000 kph (78,293 mph).
Such Earth-passing asteroids are not rare, although this one was only identified on October 10th, 2015. It well be the last close passage to Earth by a very large asteroid until 2027, and its size offered scientists a unique opportunity to image it using radar.
Asteroid 2015 TB145 in an eerily skull-like image captured by the Arecibo Observatory on Friday, October 30th, 2015.
On Friday, October 30th, the The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico used radar mapping to capture an image of the asteroid in which it looks like a gigantic skull. It was all an optical illusion of course, the combined result of the radio reflections from the asteroid giving rise to the grey shaded image and the effect of pareidolia, in which the human brain perceives shapes and patterns that aren’t really there; as the asteroid tumbled through space, the similarities to a human skull were quickly lost as the radar reflections changed.
Nevertheless, it was fittingly spooky for Halloween!
Discover Gale Crater
I’ve written extensively about NASA’s Curiosity rover and its explorations within Gale Crater on Mars since its arrival there in August 2012. Now NASA and the Los Angeles Times have combined to provide a virtual reality exploration of Gale Crater, which examines some of the principal features to be found there, traces the rover’s route from crater floor and up the flank of “Mount Sharp” and which allows visitors to fly over the crater or take a guided tour using simple keyboard controls.
In 2012, Loki Eliot created The Well, a horror themed mystery adventure about attempts to rescue a little boy who had fallen down an old well and into the labyrinth of tunnels and caverns which lay beneath it. In 2013, he followed this with The Well:Sollicitus. Set a year later, it set players the challenge of discovering what had happened to a science team that vanished while exploring the labyrinth.
Now, in 2015, comes the third instalment of this unfolding story: The Well Infirmos. Set some time after the events of 2013, it places the player in a mental hospital. how they got there, they have no idea – but perhaps it was a result of their experiences beneath the well. But there is something strange out this hospital: the staff and other patients have vanished, and while the wisest move would be to simply get out of there, the only way to do so is by investigating what has happened; something which means an eventual return to the well and its caverns.
The Well is an Experience based game, requiring the payment of a one-time fee of L$100 to the vendor at the landing point, which registers you to play the game as often as you like. Once paid, press the Start button on the vendor to receive the game HUD, which will auto attach to the bottom of your screen, and will self-destruct on leaving the game area. Should you return another time to play again, simply click the Start button on the vendor to receive a new HUD.
Once you have the HUD attached, approach the Well to view a brief introduction to the game before you arrive in the day care room of the hospital. Here you must explore the various rooms and offices – door will open as you reach them, and your camera will auto-focus on items of interest. You will need local sounds enabled, and make sure you have the volume turned up.
I don’t want to give too much away, other than to say the child’s drawing you find around the hospital are of import. However, you’ll know you’re on the right track when you emerge from the Security Office after seeing / hearing everything you need, to find the hospital strangely altered and the day care room is now dominated by a huge hole which offers you the only way forward.
And so you return to the tunnels beneath the well, and you must find your way through them using the teleporters, which may either carry you forward or backwards, and avoid the child-like Shadows. A direct encounter with this will affect your sanity, as shown on your HUD, and if this drops to zero, you will be returned to the landing point and have to start over. You’ll also be returned to the mouth of the well when you have successfully reached the end of the game – and receive a little prize as a memento.
Those who have played previous iterations of The Well will find this latest version familiar – which doesn’t make it any the less interesting. The major change is to the start of the game when your are in the hospital, but “down below” in the caverns has also been given a few new wrinkles. If I’m honest, moving around some of the hospital rooms can leave your camera on the wrong side of a wall and it can also be a little tricky getting close enough to some of the drawing to auto-focus on them, but not to the extent that the game is spoiled.
Overall, The Well: Infirmos is an engrossing third instalment to the story, which I enjoyed as a returning player, and Jodi and Andi, who took to the caverns as first timers, reported they had a great time playing. And if you have an Oculus Rift, make sure you use it when playing – The Well is fully suited to complete VR immersion.
It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, November 1st 13:30: Tea time at Baker Street
The Valley of Fear, The Strand Magazine, 1915. Illustration by Frank Wiles
It was the fourth of February in the year 1875. It had been a severe winter, and the snow lay deep in the gorges of the Gilmerton Mountains. The steam ploughs had, however, kept the railroad open, and the evening train which connects the long line of coal-mining and iron-working settlements was slowly groaning its way up the steep gradients which lead from Stagville on the plain to Vermissa, the central township which lies at the head of Vermissa Valley. From this point the track sweeps downward to Bartons Crossing, Helmdale, and the purely agricultural county of Merton. It was a single-track railroad; but at every siding—and they were numerous—long lines of trucks piled with coal and iron ore told of the hidden wealth which had brought a rude population and a bustling life to this most desolate corner of the United States of America.
For desolate it was! Little could the first pioneer who had traversed it have ever imagined that the fairest prairies and the most lush water pastures were valueless compared to this gloomy land of black crag and tangled forest. Above the dark and often scarcely penetrable woods upon their flanks, the high, bare crowns of the mountains, white snow, and jagged rock towered upon each flank, leaving a long, winding, tortuous valley in the centre. Up this the little train was slowly crawling.
The oil lamps had just been lit in the leading passenger car, a long, bare carriage in which some twenty or thirty people were seated. The greater number of these were workmen returning from their day’s toil in the lower part of the valley. At least a dozen, by their grimed faces and the safety lanterns which they carried, proclaimed themselves miners. These sat smoking in a group and conversed in low voices, glancing occasionally at two men on the opposite side of the car, whose uniforms and badges showed them to be policemen.
Several women of the labouring class and one or two travellers who might have been small local storekeepers made up the rest of the company, with the exception of one young man in a corner by himself. It is with this man that we are concerned. Take a good look at him, for he is worth it.
Thus opens the second part of The Valley of Fear, and with it we are transported to the United States in the year 1875, and introduced to a man by the name of Jack McMurdo. But where, in all of this, might sit the hand of Moriarty?
Join Caledonia Skytower, Kayden Oconnell and John Morland as they continue to read the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel.
Monday November 2nd, 19:00: One Step From Earth
What would happen if, by setting up a screen in one place and another somewhere else – the same planet, another planet in the same star system or even halfway across the galaxy – you could step into one and instantly step out of the other? What happens if one of the screens is one-way, and once you’ve passed through, your cannot return?
What are the social and political ramifications of such a system, for individuals and humanity as a whole when the entire galaxy is potential one step away from Earth?
Join Gyro Muggins as he explores the ramifications of instant teleportation through One Step from Earth, a collection of short stories on the theme by Harry Harrison.
Tuesday November 3rd 19:00: Serafina and the Black Cloak – Concludes
Caledonia Skytower continues reading of Robert Beatty’s spooky mystery thriller.
Serafina lives a life of total secrecy. While her father may be the maintenance man for the great house of the Biltmore Estate, the wealthy owners of the estate have no idea that he lives in the basement of the house – and much less that his daughter lives there with him.
Not that this is a problem for Serafina; she is quite at home exploring the great house and its grounds whilst avoiding being seen. There’s certainly no need for her to venture into the great forest beyond the estate, and with which, he father has said, lie many dangers.
But when the children on the estate start vanishing, Serafina is forced to join forces with the young nephew of the Biltmore’s owners, and discover the identity of the one they believe to be behind the disappearances: the Man in the Black Cloak. But in order to do so, Serafina must enter the forest her father has warned her against; and within that forest lies a deeper secret Serafina must confront – that of her own identity.
Wednesday, November 4th 19:00 The Wonderful World of Roald Dahl
Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she reads The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and more.
Thursday, November 5th 19:00: Banfennid – The Women of Celtic Myth & Legend
Weaving fragments of ancient epic texts and the richness of oral tradition, Jennifer Heath brings alive 15 tales from pre-Christian Ireland featuring the powerful, wild, and wise women of Celtic mythology.
From the sea goddess Fand to Cerridwen, who can change her shape at will, to the avenging warrior queen Criedne, the women of Celtic literature are here celebrated for their ingenuity, spirit, physical courage, and deep instinctual natures.
Retold for the modern reader, in earthy, poetic language, these haunting, deeply moving tales exert all the primal pull of great storytelling, awakening ancient memories buried deep within our collective unconscious.
Saturday, November 7th, 12:00 Noon PDT at Seanchai Kitely
“So, where were you in 1977? Do you remember the first time you saw the first film? The first 25 times you saw the first film? Maybe you have never seen it at all.”
Join Caledonia and Shandon at Seanchai Kitely’s space world as they inform you, “these are the stories you’ve been looking for,” while opening a volume penned by the grand master Jedi himself, George Lucas.
(grid.kitely.com:8002/Spaceworld)
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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 October – December is Reach Out and Read, one of the most highly rated literacy charities in the USA which reaches 4.4 million children annually and distributes 1.6 million books.
Some 387 million people globally live with diabetes, and the World Health Organisation estimates that diabetes could be the 7th leading cause of death by 2030.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 