Month: February 2025

The Return of Hera’s Shangdu to Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Shangdu, February 2025 – click any image for full size

Please note: Hera’s setting can be transient and can vanish quickly, depending upon her mood. Therefore visits are recommended sooner rather than later.

I first visited Shangdu, a region deign by Hera (Zee9), all the way back in 2022 (see: The natural beauty of Hera’s Shangdu in Second Life), and found it to be an engaging visit, flowing into itself so many ideas, suggestions and intent. Like many of Hera’s designs it was not long available to visit  – see the note above.

Shangdu, February 2025

Since that time, I’m not aware of it having made a reappearance in Second Life (although I might easily have missed it!). So, on learning it is indeed once more back and occupying a sky platform with the region where Hera’s latest Blade Runner inspired build can be found (one more directly related to Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 than the Brutal City AI version I dropped into back in November 2024, and so very much worth a visit in its own right), I had to jump over to the shared Landing Point for the two settings and poke my nose in.

As I noted back in 2022, the name Shangdu might be a familiar name to some, being that of the summer capital of the Chinese Yuan dynasty (c. 1271 to 1368), and more familiarly referred to in the west as Xanadu; a place written about and romanticised by the likes of Samuel Purchas and – more particularly – one Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

However, and again as I noted in 2022, Hera’s Shangdu is not intended to reflect Coleridge’s famed poem – although with this iteration, it comes with a poem penned by Hera, and available from the Shangdu notecard giver at the region’s main Landing Point (through which visitor must pass to reach the setting).

Shangdu, February 2025

Within the card, Hera notes something she passed on to me back in 202 concerning the inspiration for the build, and I’ll again repeat here:

The difference here being the opulence is in natural beauty. I first did this about 20 years back in Unreal Tournament; I was looking for something completely different to create and I found these beautiful paintings of a Chinese water Village. [However,] this is a complete fantasy, I have not tried for any particular accuracy in the buildings, although the textures are all taken directly from photos of the village.

– Hera (Zee9)

Shangdu, February 2025

In other words, in her Shangdu, Hera presents a 3D painting of a Chinese settlement, perhaps from the Yuan period. Given it is designed to be seen as an immersive painting, it is a largely static build when compared to her more recent builds, which have often utilised AI NPCs, with the interiors of building designed to be seen rather than offering significant places in which to spend time – with one or two exceptions. 

One of these exceptions – and new (I think) to this version of Shangdu is a pagoda and garden tucked into the south-west corner of the town, and itself overlooked by one of the meditation points beyond the walls of the town.

Shangdu, February 2025

Closer to the main gates of the town- which you must pass through after walking from the set-down area you’ll be delivered to after teleporting from the region’s main Landing Point – is the temple, unchanged from the 2022 version of the build and pictured in my previous piece on Shangdu, whilst facing the gate is the furnished house I also visited during my original visit, the the artist’s little shop alongside it.

However, just across the bridge from the house and shop, is a raised terrace outside of another building where food might be enjoyed under little paper lanterns, and which forms another little location I don’t recall from walking the streets of the town three years ago.  These added attractions encourage exploration along the footpaths bordering the town’s narrow waterways and over the bridges crossing them, and well as presenting opportunities for photography.

Shangdu, February 2025

Engaging and photogenic, Shangdu makes for a worthwhile visit, either on its own or as a part of a visit to Hera’s Blade runner build.

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Simurg’s spring romance in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Simurg, February 2025 – click any image for full size

I’ve had a number of suggestions for places to visit reach me of late – and I promise I will get around to hopping over to seeing them and potentially blog about them in due course. However, over the years there have been places I’ve particularly enjoyed visiting and look forward to re-visiting, and these tend to quickly bubble to the top of my list of places to write about whenever I note they have been redressed – and such is the case here.

Simurg occupies a quarter Full region, and since its inception has never failed to impress with both the beauty of its looks and the use of elevation to present a sense of space beyond the setting’s physical size. The work of Lintu (KorppiLintu) with the support of Kwoone Oui (Kwoone), this is a place which changes with the seasons whilst retaining the touches and care of design which always make it a must-see destination.

Simurg, February 2025

For the coming of spring – and the fact that February is the month of romance – the setting offers warmth in terms of both colour and in the romantic little places it presents in which visitors can pass the time. In doing so, it retains something of the elevated element of the landscape from the winter 2024 setting, and which which again presents the Landing Point.

However, while the wooden deck and seating area continue to cling to the top of the cliff and overlook the landscape below, the rest of this open space no longer sports buildings, but instead is now an open meadow-like space with wonderfully attractive vignettes: a stage suggesting literary or poetic readings, a table for two, complete with the dessert from a romantic dinner,  whilst an old piano has be repurposed as a flower planter, although as it is accompanied by a violin sized to present a cello, it still offers a suggestion it is there to provide music to accompany the romance of the setting.

Simurg, February 2025

A path winds down to the lower elevation to one side of this high meadow, passing Lintu’s workshop (once again open to the public) escorted by a parallel parade of trees to reach the lower part of the setting.

In following the path’s gentle downward sweep past the workshop, visitors arrive at a scene which those who visited Simurg in winter 2024 might find tantalising familiar in part. There is a body of water here, fed by a stream proceeding outwards from the vertical decent of a waterfall, which carries with it something of a memory of the broader stretch of stream passing through the winter 2024’s lower half.

Simurg, February 2025

The difference is that whilst that water was frozen for winter, and the stream narrowed to pass onwards to the edge of the region, now the water flows freely from stream into what is now a broad oval pond, the one open downstream length of the pond now closed-off by land. Thus, in its presentation, the pond offers one of those hints of the previous iteration of the setting I enjoy seeing, whilst still allowing this version of Simurg to be stand in its own right and independent of past builds.

Within the lower elevation of the setting there is – as ever – much to see, indoors as well as outside. Rowing boats sit on the waters of the pond to offer places to sit, and the temptation to perhaps dangle a hand in the water as swans form love hearts with elegant curved necks as they face one another. Around the banks of the water are further places to sit in the sunlight and watch the swans on the water or the horses roaming the meadow.

Simurg, February 2025

Two buildings can be found alongside the pond; one is the ever-popular Apple Fall Old Manufactory, the other a two-storey cabin by Hisa. Both are well-furnished and over little retreats  which, even if not used as places to sit, offer a wealth of detail and touches ripe for appreciation and photography. They also stand – along with the workshop on the slopes of the hill – home to the many cats who probably sit as the actual owners of the the landscape (because cats always take charge! 🙂 ).

Across the water lay an old terrace and fountain. The terrace forms the home to an outdoor refreshments area served by both fixed and mobile drink and food stands. Close by is a wrought iron gazebo where people can sign the setting’s guestbook (another guestbook can be found at the Landing Point).

Simurg, February 2025

Upstream from the pond and curtained behind the waterfall, sits another staple of Simurg’s settings: the cave, here neatly hiding the Simurg in-world store, as well as offering places to sit and pass the time.

As noted at the start, I always enjoy visiting Simurg; so much love and creativity goes into it (much of which I’ve merely glossed over here) that it is for me one of the gems of Second Life – but don’t take my word for it; go and enjoy it for yourselves!

Simurg, February 2025

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2025 week #7: SL TPVD meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Poetic Moon, January 2025 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from my audio recording + the video recording by Pantera (embedded at the end of this summary) of the Third-Party Developer meeting (TPVD) held on Friday, February 14th, 2025. My thanks to Pantera as always for providing it.

Meeting Purpose

  • The TPV Developer meeting provides an opportunity for discussion about the development of, and features for, the Second Life viewer, and for Linden Lab viewer developers and third-party viewer (TPV) / open-source code contributors to discuss general viewer development. This meeting is held once a month on a Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre.
  • Dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar, and they re conducted in a mix of Voice and text chat.
  • The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of the meeting.

Vir Linden Departure

Vir Linden is one of the latest departures from Linden Lab. A long-time members of the Viewer Team and well-liked and respected for his work their and on a range of projects such as Bento (which he morphed into the Content Creators User Group), and will as running the open Source Developer meetings. No information on Vir’s departure was given, but his place for this meeting (at least) was taken by the Lab’s Director of Engineering, Signal Linden.

My personal best wishes to Vir, and thanks for all his work at the Lab, and time spent working with users.

Official Viewers

  • Default viewer: version 7.1.11.12363455226, formerly the ExtraFPS RC (multiple performance fixes, aesthetic improvements and UI optimisations), dated December 17, promoted December 20 – No Change.
  • Release Candidate: Forever FPS, version 7.1.12.12999043440, February 4, 2025.
    • Numerous crash and performance fixes.

Status

  • ForeverFPS is defined as “being in a home stretch” in getting the viewer to release status.
  • The focus now is on showstopper bugs and getting as much feedback as possible on the viewer.
  • And upcoming version of ForeverFPS will include all the updates to Linden Water (some of which are also in the latest Firestorm Beta versions undergoing testing).
  • Geenz Linden re-iterated the overall status on the work with Linden Water as stated at the last CCUG meeting, including outlining the new water exclusion surfaces (e.g. for keeping water out of boat hulls) and their limitations (e.g. they are not intended for use as exclusion volumes in underwater structures, that’s “for the future”).

Open-Source Contributions, Viewer Release Cadence and Roadmap

[Video: 3:43-5:18 and Video: 7:35-11:55]

  • Signal Linden has put forward a document for improving how open-source contributions are managed, including general communications between the Lab and contributors and offering more transparency on how contributions are managed.
  • Alongside of this, LL are hoping to introduce a more predictable release cadence with viewer updates, something delayed since the move to gitflow in 2024 due to the sheer volume of viewer changes and updates spread across multiple viewer RC branches which had to be directed into the core Develop branch.
  • The hope is that implementing the latter will:
    • Enable TPVs to have a more predictable calendar of viewer updates they need to pull and merge.
    • Open-source contributors can have a more reasonable expectation as to when they might see contributions reach the viewer.
  • The aim is to move to a monthly viewer update cadence, and to implement a viewer version numbering system which reflects this cadence (e.g. viewer version numbers with 2025.03 to indicate a March 2025 release, 2025.04 for April, etc.).
  • To achieve this, the plan is to make releases smaller and more digestible for TPVs to absorb (again, making the flow of contributions and key code updates faster) rather than having them face huge merge requirements and testing.
  • One possible caveat to this is might be with “significant” projects which do incorporate large numbers of changes to the viewer, leading to them being handled differently. However, exactly how they might differ will be dependent on what comes along in this regard (e.g. glTF mesh uploads (and scene imports?)) .
  • To further assist in viewer development visibility, LL hope to update and be more forward in maintaining a visible viewer roadmap, together with “public planning meetings”.
  • [Vide0: 28:50-37:45] A discussion on ways of highlighting issues among the 700+ LL have in github for which they really need help from TPV / open-source developers, including some form of rewards system (in addition to the SEC bounty payments) as used to be done with LL merchandise, credits in the viewer Help →  About, etc.

In Brief

  • [Video:  43:25-End]  Account Takeovers:
    • LL recently blogged on matter of account and L$ balances security, the post came in the wake of LL noting a rise in reports of what they call “account takeovers”.
    • One specific vector used for phishing for account credentials is the use of links sent via Group (or even direct) IMs and within Profiles which carry the user to a fake SL website (e.g. a false Marketplace page), encouraging the user to enter their credentials, or which hide a potentially malicious webpage with in link.
    • Given this, Philip Rosedale asked for ideas on how such false flag links might be better countered / reduced in their threat level.
    • Displaying external link found in Group IMs, Profiles, etc., could be via dialogues which display the URL, to help prevent phishing, etc.

      Numerous suggestions were made, including: new accounts shouldn’t be able to start a large group chats; only Group owners and moderators can share links; posting links in Groups should be made a specific Group ability to be granted by the owners / moderators; making users more aware that hovering the mouse over links in chat, Profiles, etc will reveal the link URL; having a dialogue interdict clicks on links which displays the URL and requests the users to confirm whether or not they wish to go to the website (as with licking in-world items with embedded links (see right); force the URL to be the link (rather than hidden behind text).

    • This discussion also encompassed logging-in and alerts based on geo-location (e.g. in cases where user X traditionally logs-in from one country, but suddenly logs-in from the other wise of the world, so they get an alert to confirm they are actually logging in).
    • Please refer to the video for the specifics of the discussion.
  • Still no firm date on when Voice services will become WebRTC only (and the Vivox service turned off), outside of “hopefully, early this year”. Several factors are delaying this, including the number of users who are not utilising WebRTC-enabled viewers (predominantly those who have not moved to a PBR-capable viewer).
  • Havok physics in the viewer: over a decade ago, Havok sub-libraries were added to the viewer specific to assist with Pathfinding mesh uploads.
    • These libraries are starting to prove problematic in various areas (e.g. getting the viewer to run with native Apple Silicon support).
    • As a result, there have been discussion internally at LL about removing Havok support from the viewer.
    • One suggestion for doing so is to switch over to the open-source Recast Navigation for Pathfinding, and to use a convex hull decomposition library for mesh uploads.
  • A general discussion on text rendering in-world on prims, etc., such as by using Signed Distance Field (SDF).

Next Meeting

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

Scoglioro: an Italian-favoured cove in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Scoglioro, February 2025 – click any image for full size

When exploring Second Life, it is very easy to focus on spaces encompassing entire regions (be they Homestead or Full regions), and at one time there was a perception that holding an entire region was the only way to have the capacity to do something worthwhile. Mesh  – and considered use of the convex physic hull when it comes to basic prim shapes and careful cutting – has helped dispel some of the latter. Even so, it is still very easy to overlook spaces offered for public appreciation simply because the vast majority of public locations do tend to be based on entire regions (or perhaps half or a quarter region).

Hence why I always enjoy discovering little corners of Second Life like Scoglioro, a charming setting put together by Gabriel Oakley (Aaron Barony). Occupying just 5104 sq metres within a Full region, Scoglioro presents an imaginary setting tucked somewhere along Italy’s Amalfi Coast, a little village tucked into a shallow cove the sea once cut into the land prior to retreating once more, leaving behind a space cosily in the arms of surrounding cliffs to offer a protected and somewhat hidden place in which to settle.

Scoglioro, February 2025 

I’ve no idea if the beach resort of La Scogliera on that same Italian coast influenced Gabriel in any way. For my part, I prefer to think not; for one thing, La Scogliera seems far more commercialised than this quaint little setting, and for another, Gabriel has imbued his setting with a rich history, which I’ll come to in a moment.

Whilst occupying a small parcel, the sitting is given a sense of place as it appears to sit just off what might be a coastal through route in the form of a major road barrelling out of one tunnel to pass the cobblestone turn-off winding down to the village, before vanishing into the maw of another tunnel.

Scoglioro, February 2025

By doing so, this main road gives the impression that Scoglioro is a place road travellers might easily miss in their rush to get from A to B and back, much to their misfortune, as a turn turn off the road to park on the cobbles would allow them to discover a corner of tranquillity and calm.

The Landing Point for the setting is at the top of this turn-off, the cobble road curling around and down to reach the village, passing by way of an information board as it does so.  It is here, among a series of carefully placed leaflets and pinned pages all worth reading in their own right due to the little twist of life they also give to the setting, visitors can obtain a notecard on the village’s rich history and the local traditions; it’s a card I thoroughly recommend reading, as a lot of care has gone into it, and it further helps bring the setting to life.

Scoglioro, February 2025

The village itself is mostly shells and façade in terms of the buildings, rather than offering a wealth of interiors – but the fact that this is the case matters little (it’s also entirely understandable, given the capacity of the parcel); Scoglioro has more than enough outdoor décor and detail to keep visitors occupied, with the buildings and narrow streets and alleys serve as an excellent backdrop for photography. Boats sit outside of houses, hulls upturned and awaiting the next time they might be rolled down to the water’s edge; the local waterfront bar offers seating in a courtyard behind it and  above the water before it, together with an eclectic mix of meals  – tacos, fish and chips, tapas! – and the opportunity to admire the local street art.

The waterfront is also where  a furnished home can be found, its three floors overlooking the ocean, the taverna right next door, whilst above some of the terracotta tiles of roofs sits a small café, offers an open-air space to relax and chat, the steps leading up to it blending with the surrounding rocks.

Scoglioro, February 2025

The way up to this café passes by a couple of touches that give the setting a curious (and not entirely out of place) touches of Americana in the form of a old tram converted into a diner (albeit one which has seen better days) and a US Mail box (where visitors can drop a note to Gabriel). Further into the village can be found a US-style landline public telephone; again, at first sight it appears slightly anachronistic – but it actually fits the setting well, offering  a twist of interest that keeps the eyes alert for more.

Another interesting twist to the setting can be found underground; here, in what appears to be some form of underpass, one that looks to have been lifted from a more urban setting. It exudes a completely different atmosphere compared to the village, presenting a retreat unique to itself both in content and visually, thanks to the graffiti on the walls – and yet it is not at all jarring in its degree of difference; it just works.

Scoglioro, February 2025 

It is also a place hiding a secret; whilst it might be the light leaking around doors at one end of the tunnel, it is in the other direction that the secret might be uncovered, an intimate space for quiet conversations over a glass or two of perfectly aged wine. But I’ll leave it to you to find it.

Small, with plenty of opportunities for photography (with limited opportunities for rezzing props under the local group – but as ever, do pick things up again rather than leaving them for Auto Return to take care of it!), Scoglioro is a charming little visit.

Scoglioro, February 2025

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Art and The Digital Maze at Nitroglobus in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, February 2025: Christian Carter – The Digital Maze

Smartphones / mobile devices and social media – boon or bane? On the one hand there can be no doubt the ‘phone we carry in purse, pocket or holstered to hip or dangling from wrist strap can be a really positive thing to have. It allows us to stay connected – be it with each other or the world at large and the “news”; we can use it to capture precious (or embarrassing!) moment as a picture or video; it can be a life-saver and / or health aide in multiple ways, and so on.

On the other there are the ways it keeps us “connected”. All too often this means “convenient” texts rather than actual conversations, or seeking exchanges with people across town – or in a completely different town (and / or country) rather than those sitting in the same room as us; they set us on ultimately pointless hunts of “followers”, “likes”, “emojis” – even the temporary “thrill” of diving into this or that app for the rush of a vapourware “reward”, and more.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, February 2025: Christian Carter – The Digital Maze

Whether we like it or not, for all the “freedom” mobile devices and social media have given us – so too have they, in so many way, enslaved us; it’s no accident the terms doomscrolling and doomsurfing have entered many a lexicon: the increasingly reality is  that, whether we’re aware of it or not, the little screens in our hands are a form of addiction; and like all addictions, can be harmful more than helpful.  Worse, they have within them the power to alter our reality, large and small.

It is these points that are explored in the February 2025 exhibition at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, operated and curated by Dido Haas. Presented as a visual essay, The Digital Maze by Christian Carter (XJustFriendX), encourages us to look anew at how we interact with our smartphones and the apps they put in front of us.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, February 2025: Christian Carter – The Digital Maze

Some of the risks inherent in our digital dependence are obvious – far from opening broadening our horizons of thought, social media is increasingly a tool for limiting perspectives; we seek “like minds”, we slavish adhere to (aka “follow”) those who only express the same outlook, entrenching, rather than expanding views. Others are more subtle; just how much freedom do we have when we constantly feel the need to scroll, to tweet, to see how many “likes” our last comment generated – as if this is some kind of grand validation?

What does it say of intimacy – on all levels, from shared love through companionship to simple conversation – when rather than using the the full richness of expression found in voice, tone, expression and pause, we hide behind flat words thumb-tapped on a screen “because it’s more convenient”? What is happening to our social skills when it is considered acceptable to ignore those we are with – family at home, people at a party, friends at the restaurant dining table – in favour of those to whom we can type or because it simple allows us to escape the reality of personal engagement?

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, February 2025: Christian Carter – The Digital Maze

Through this series of quite magnificent pictures, each one balancing message with considered use of colour, image, framing and focus, Christian provides food for thought on all of the above – and far more. So much more, in fact, that I’ve honestly struggled with this article, because Christian’s images resonate so deeply with me (we appear to have similar thoughts and outlooks in this matter) that it has been hard for me to keep my own subjectivity in place, and instead allow The Digital Maze the freedom to talk in its own voice.

Which is why I’ve said enough here; go and see – and listen – for yourself.

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2025 week #7: SL SUG meeting

Posted on by Inara Pey
Luminara, January 2025 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, February 11th, 2025 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from Pantera’s video of the meeting, which is embedded at the end – my thanks to her 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.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, February 11th, 2025, the simulators on the Main SLS channel were restarted with no update.
  • On Wednesday, February 5th, 2025 the Banana Bread update should be deployed to the remaining RC channels, having been deployed to BlueSteel RC last week) This update includes expansions to llGetObjectPermMask that let you get an object’s permission mask taking into account the permissions on its inventory, and that ability has been added to llGOD.

Upcoming Deployments

  • The simulator update to Banana Bread is called Carrot Cake.
  • Development on this update has been “accelerated” such that an initial deployment to the BlueSteel RC in week #7 (commencing 17th, February 2025).
  • This update should include llSetGroundTexture – this will allow a region owner/EM to set and adjust ground textures on a region, including some of the PBR features like rotation, offset and scale.
  • Monty Linden indicated his work on EventQueueGet (a simulator Capability that delivers messages from a simulator to viewers over HTTP using a long-poll scheme. It is core functionality without which viewer/simulator coordination is impossible) is to be rolled into Carrot Cake. He further indicated that he plans to update the SL Wiki documents on EventQueueGet as time permits.

SL Viewer Updates

  • Default viewer: version 7.1.11.12363455226, formerly the ExtraFPS RC (multiple performance fixes, aesthetic improvements and UI optimisations), dated December 17, promoted December 20 – No Change.
  • Release Candidate: Forever FPS, version 7.1.12.12999043440, February 4, 2025.
    • Numerous crash and performance fixes.
  • SL Mobile (Beta) version 2025.1.542 / 0.5.533 – Create / Delete accounts, fixes – February 4,  2025.

In Brief

Please refer to the video below for the following:

  • llGetEnvironment (+ related functions) return inaccurate unit vectors for sun / moon position is still awaiting action.
  • Requests were made for LSL  capabilities for manipulating the upcoming llGroundTexture.
  • There was a report that the entire SLS Main Channel was restarted a second time during week #6. However, Rider Linden indicated that a number of regions were moved between servers, which prompted restarts, but there was no additional LL-lead restart of the entire channel.
  • There are reports that there is a bug with llRezObjectWithParams: in using REZ_POZ with the local flag set TRUE, the rezzed object is positioned against in-world coordinates instead of rezzer local coordinates. So, for example, if the rezzer is aligned with world coordinates, the object arrives where expected, but if the rezzer is rotated, the object continues to arrive at the unrotated position. A bug report has been requested on this.
  • Rider Linden noted that there is liable to be Lua server-side scripting engine news “soon”. This was followed by a general discussion on the project.
  • Leviathan Linden has confirmed the viewer is dropping packets when it gets spikes of UDP data. He is going to try to provide a patch for viewers to prevent this, but also needs to look into the server behaviour to try to determine why and how the data spikes are happening. This sparked a discussion on UDP, packet loss and bandwidth which ran the most of the meeting.
  • A request was made for the status of much-needed PBR-related LSL functions (plus easy PBR alpha-switching and PBR override permissions). The response was an agreement that they are needed, but not on an “immediate” queue for implementation.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.