The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, June 23, 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
The Loganberry RC is now grid-wide.
The next simulator update will be called Mango.
In Brief
Rider Linden:
Has some fluent interfaces for the Lua project, with what he believes is a final version, with a PR in lsl_definitions.
Is now going to his object publishing work (a websocket API, to edit objects and their inventory, to allow things like vscode to see inworld objects and their contents etc., see here).
Note that this API will not recognise remote connections, but should be between the viewer and an external editor running on the same machine.
He also noted that LSL function interfaces and Lua function interfaces are both built from the same source file. So anything in one, should be available in the other.
Leviathan Linden:
Has added added OBJECT_LOCKED to llGetObjectDetails() via the Lua project. The new enum is available to LSL and will work in the mono runtime… but it won’t be delivered until the Lua project ships.
Has also been working to port Wolfgang’s game-control work from Alchemy to the official viewer game-control project. This is a work in progress, and some changes will be required.
Still needs to do some follow up work on Navmesh crash fix he was working on in week #23.
Roxie Linden noted that:
The WebRTC team is still working on some evaluation of options for voice-to-text transcription.
This work is still very much at the experimentation stage, so people should not expect to see it suddenly appearing.
There will need to be some tuning of sound filtering and voice activity detection for any transcription service to work, but this should not affect Voice quality.
Harold Linden (LUA):
Has mostly been on housekeeping work.
Is going to merge the work from the Lua branch back into the main server branch (with Lua still flagged off) so they get out of sync less.
He also plans to pull the new Luau changes from upstream since LL is a little behind with this.
Noted that as well, classes and Lua integers will be flagged off until they firm up, but the code will be part of the repo.
Noted in the general discussion that the Lua scheduler only gets one time slice per frame (its the same scheduler as used for Mono).
Overall, believes the project is now approaching “release quality”.
Monty Linden noted that lsl-definitions have been updated recently but not baked into a release and cycled around yet – this will happen “soonish”.
General Discussion
Please refer to the video below for more on the following.
The issue of teleport disconnect viewer crashes was raised again.
As has been previously noted within SUG meetings, there is no singular cause of TP disconnects / crashes. LL have been looking into causes and have been working to fix some of the causes.
Anecdotal evidence indicates that recent fixes have (in the current release viewer – “Flat UI”) have helped improve some issues.
There have been reported of IM chat failures occurring with the notification: Chat Session Aborted.
Two causes for these issues have been identified, and a fix for one was released as part of the Loganberry simulator update.
LL is actively working on the second, which appears to be one of the IM chat server misbehaving. The hope is that a fix will be deployed soon.
There was a discussion around the Lua scheduler (some of which is noted above) between 34 and 42 minutes of the meeting.
A general discussion on animations, including the potential for Lua to simplify things by using fewer scripts and for WIBNIs such as an IK system that simply directs where body parts should be (e.g. “bum on this cushion; elbow on this armrest”).
This included a discussion on llGetVisualParams, revocation of scripted animation permissions, etc. Please refer to the video.
Date of Next Meetings
Leviathan Linden: Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
Formal SUG meeting: Tuesday, July 7, 2026.
† 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.
On Monday, June 22nd 2026, Linden Lab held the first of the SL23B Meet the Lindens events, featuring Second Life and company founder, Philip Rosedale, in conversation with Brett Linden. The session was live and featured a mix of pre-submitted questions, and those asked during the session.
This is a summary (not a full transcript) of the majority of topics discussed at the session, and the official video of the session is embedded at the end of this article, not a full transcript.
Timestamps are provided to the relative points within the video where specific topics are discussed, allowing readers who prefer to listen to the comments directly to be able to do so.
The session did not address a lot of technical / product-related questions, due to the fact that these would likely be addressed by the representatives of the relevant teams attending other SL23B Meet the Lindens sessions.
Some of the questions addressed were answered only in part or somewhat differently to how they were phrased. Where this is the case, the bullet points obviously reflect the answers given.
SL23B Meet the Lindens: Philip Rosedale, with Brett Linden (l)
[2:38-5:00] When you first imagined Second Life, what was the most important thing you hoped people would do there; and what have residents done that has surprised you the most?
As first imagined, Second Life was more of an artificial life simulator than it was a virtual world.
It was going to have a much more complex / stripped set of physics laws and a lot of emergent behaviour within it, up to and including the evolution of artificial life-forms in addition to having a human presence within the world.
In this respect, the original vision might be seen as somewhat closer to Minecraft, where there are rules to be negotiated, with “all of the magic” coming out of human interactions with those rules.
However, in development, SL became far more focused on a combination of the ability of the individual to be artistically and creatively expressive together with the development of avatars.
At the time Second Life was developing, the concept of the avatar was largely undetermined.
In the very early days, there weren’t human avatars, but little spaceship-like creations with “a Cylon-like eye”, and “a giant eyeball”.
[5:02-6:57] Looking back after more than 20 years, which of your beliefs about virtual worlds turned out to be right and which turned out to be completely wrong?
This has multiple possible answers, so the focus will be on just one.
As SL started to take off with mass media coverage [around 2006], his belief was that everyone in the world would use an avatar “at least a little” (e.g. people would not fly from coast to coat for business meetings, but would all meet as avatars).
In this respect he believed that Second Life will be more like the Internet has become [supporting on-line meetings and presentations, etc.] in that respect.
It turned out that while most people were not willing to use avatars even for work, a much smaller portion of people would be willing to use avatars as a primary means of personal expression.
Feels that the use of avatars remains one of the mysteries and challenges about Second Life and virtual worlds in general.
[6:58-9:26] You’ve often described SL as a place which gives people “freedom”. Why do you think freedom remains a powerful ingredient in virtual worlds when many modern platforms are moving towards more controlled experiences?
It is interesting to look back and note that too much freedom can be overwhelming. Just standing in-world for the first time with an empty space before you and all of SL’s creation / building tools and options at your disposal can be both powerful and overwhelming, and people opt out of it.
However, if there is too little freedom, such as the limited means by which to give personal expression in a video game, then people also opt out of it.
The ideal balance is obviously somewhere in the middle of these extremes, even if Second Life is biased towards too much freedom.
[9:27-12:01] If you were inventing SL for the first time in 2026, what would you build differently, and what would you keep the same?
Again, multiple possible answers, but will focus on two things: in-world building and the avatar.
In-world building:
The ability to build something in front of someone or work collaboratively on building something is “electrifying”, and the ability to both edit the world at the same time as using it is “critical”. As such, would “double-down” on this.
The decision to fully implement mesh support was a practical decision because creators wanted the detail and additional abilities inherent in creating mesh models.
In this, while it might have been something of a “trade-off”, allowing the import of model build “off-line” was absolutely the right decision at the time. However, in today’s world if SL was just starting, he would insist on having the necessary mesh toolsets in-world, with no off-line creation.
The avatar:
If SL were just starting in 2026, he would look to have the avatars “made of [/by?] the same stuff as prims”.
Feels that something was missed in having the avatar toolset separate and distinct from the content creation tools (“building model”), and so would want to re-examine that.
Was never his intention to have such a division between world-building and avatar building – hence the use of Primitars in LindenWorld.
[Note that you can obtain a “modern” take on the Pirmitar for free on the Marketplace.]
In 2026, it should be possible to build avatars using the same materials and capabilities as used in building the world.
In general for content creation if building SL in 2026, would also look at capabilities such as 3D Gaussian splatting, again for both world-building activities and avatar-building.
[12:01-14:07] What do you think makes a virtual world feel truly “alive”? Is it the technology, the economy, the creators, the social connections, or is it something else entirely?
To him, the two things that made Second Life “real” in the early days were:
It had a sufficient set of live building tools to enable people to be genuinely and personally expressive.
There was an economy which allowed people to share / trade / help each other [e.g. those who found in-world building difficult / confusing could still purchase houses, etc., and share in the world].
In addition to the above, to ensure the world can continue, there needs to be a real density of diverse people using it – a lesson he feels other virtual worlds that have come along have failed to grasp.
Virtual worlds with no people in them are not really virtual worlds. It’s all about the world being a space between us.
– Philip Rosedale
[14:12-17:45] What has Second Life taught you about human nature which you don’t think you could have learned in any other way?
Feels that one of the things he has been privileged with throughout his long association with Second Life is what it has taught him about human nature.
One of these lessons is that SL demonstrates people want to help one another far more than they want to fight or compete.
Much of the physical world is predicated on competition with others rather than cooperation; SL shows that people would much rather cooperate and help one another.
Example: early in SL history, he heard someone was “giving away” land, leading to concerns of a scam / ponzi scheme. But investigations revealed they were buying parcels and giving them to people at no charge to take over and use [and presumably pay tier on], just to help them get started in SL.
SL has also demonstrated it can take away physical danger from people by offering them a place they can share and participate which does not have the means to inflict physical violence on them.
[17:49:20:46] What lessons from SL do you wish today’s social media platforms had learned?
Simple answer: ads are evil; micro transactions are a lot better.
One of the questions for the early Internet corporate users was how to pay for it. Two schools of thinking emerged: to either just place ads on everything; or to figure out how to charge very small amounts of money for things.
Obviously, the former won, but Second life is perhaps the richest exploration of the potential of the latter, and has proven it to be a better and most honest direction to take.
Acknowledges that this is a simplistic view, given what micro transactions actually cover and the form they take, but very much believes having a direct economy is much better.
Second Life also initially [before the advent of the Basic account] also provided an income [stipend] as well as an economy.
This approach has proven its value in terms of how little personal information LL gathers on its users, allowing them to remain relatively anonymous; something which is increasing important in the “surveillance economy” of ad-based revenue generation.
[20:56-23:14] SL pioneered the creator economy long before the term existed. What do you think modern creator platforms still get wrong?
One thing modern platforms get wrong is that their fees are not low enough, particularly on transactions.
SL has a variety of different fees for a variety of different things, but:
There remain no fees for in-world purchases of goods and services from others.
Where fees are charged for things like Marketplace transactions, they remain single-digit percentages.
By contrast, many other platforms with “creator economies” have revenue splits between themselves and the creators in high double-digit percentages [and other charge “commission fees” in the double-digit realm – e.g. at least 15% on creator sales].
[23:40-25:38] What creator-made experience in Second Life left the strongest impression on you?
Cubey Terra’s [now defunct, sadly] Abbot’s Aerodrome with its skydiving experience.
AM Radio’s The Faraway – which is still in Second Life and curated by Ziki Questi.
Robbie Dingo’s Watch the World video [which remains one of my all-time favourite SL videos, and has been featured in these pages].
[33:16-34:03] What aspect of Second Life are you most proud of, regardless of business success or technology?
The positive impact on people.
Feels this is truer today than previously given the way technology is doing so much to damage human relationships.
[36:56-37:20] If you could instantly grant every resident one new ability tomorrow, what would it be? [Answered in fun.]
The ability to fly in the physical world the same way as we can fly in SL.
[25:52-28:23] Do you think AI-generated characters will eventually become meaningful members of on-line communities or will human-created communities always remain fundamentally different?
Believes the answer is yes, AI-generated character will become meaningful members of on-line communities, but not the AI systems that currently exist.
The current AI systems are neither “alive” nor as compelling as prospective friends and neighbours in a virtual environment when compared to humans.
Developing more compelling AI systems is part of the work being carried out at the California Institute of Machine Consciousness, where he both spends some of his time working and fulfilling an oversight role as treasurer and board director.
CIMC’s work is focused on the development the development of neural networks which learn and “grow-up” via direct interactions with humans, rather than depending on large language models (LLMs) as with the current crop of AI systems. They will hopefully have deeper and more compelling “personalities”.
[28:32-33:14] What technological breakthrough do you think will most dramatically improve virtual worlds today?
Believes the ability to convey non-verbal cues when communicating in virtual world is one of the most vital components in making them more broadly compelling.
The biggest thing missing is emotional non-verbal communication; body language, expression, eye movement, etc., which can communicate far more than words, and help us to determine whether a personal can be trusted or not.
Obviously, those in SL have learned to operate and interact without these non-verbal cues, but it is a skill to be learned over time and not having such cues is a tremendous impediment for platform growth.
Believe that the ability for convenient body, expression and emotion tracking is coming, and that AI can help with the detection of all three.
SL obviously has avatars that can be expressive, all that is lacking is the ability for them to directly convey the expression, emotion, etc., of the people using them.
Does not believe technologies used by the likes of VR Chat and similar do not do a good enough job in this respect.
Couches the idea as the “spouse test”: if body language, etc., could be accurately transmitted by a person’s avatar, could that person’s spouse recognise them purely on the basis of the avatar’s movement and expression and without voice or similar?
[34:22-36:45] What problem are you most interested in solving today, which you weren’t interested in 20 years ago?
Is working on Fair Share [via his In Reality Lab based out of the Linden Lab office complex], a project to investigate how the design of Second Life’s currency systems might be used to create better forms of physical world local community currencies they are able to produce, based on mutual trust (rather than artificial scarcity) and funded by a simple transaction tax.
In this, has a similar conviction with the idea as he did with Second Life 20+ years ago (in this case, people will “stop using dollars” in favour of local currencies).
Emphasised this is not a Bitcoin, Etherium or other high-end crypto currency.
[37:49-41:23] do you think that virtual worlds still have an under-developed role to play in serious adult learning? Are the blockers technological, institutional or cultural.
Absolutely virtual worlds have an underdeveloped role to play in adult learning .
The learning process is complicated, relying much more on interpersonal interactions – meeting friends outside of the classroom, chatting, sitting together, etc., than had at one time been thought.
When done correctly, virtual worlds like Second Life can present the whole campus experience – from moving to classes to meeting people, thus enhancing the learning process..
The challenge, however, goes back to the lack of non-verbal communications already mentioned. In this case, how people are responding to a lesson, who is looking where or at whom, etc., which remains a blocker to many learning experiences.
As such, sees the major blocker to widespread use of virtual worlds for learning as being more technological than not; and alongside the current lack of non-verbal communications, also sees things like voice, video and screen sharing having to work at high fidelity as intrinsic to the virtual learning process as well.
[44:06-46:48] Can you address the future of Second Life, where you believe it’s headed? For example, user growth and retention. How much future proofing is really possible?
Believes that the development of non-verbal communications is key to the platform as a whole, as it will help people feel far more comfortable around the use of avatars.
Believe small steps can be taken in attracting new users, such as the work in improving the overall marketing of the platform, which is starting to bear fruit.
Recognises that there is a degree of challenge in both meeting the needs of established users and attracting new users to the platform; particularly when many have known SL as their virtual home for up to 20 years. These challenges can result in trade-offs.
Is personally comfortable if the platform doesn’t grow as fast as it might otherwise, and with the trade-offs the company has made in keeping its users engaged and in attracting new users. As such, he doesn’t have a given answer as to the one thing that might make it suddenly grow “explosively”.
[46:54-48:39] As a lover of SL history, are the builds like those mentioned being preserved?
One of the problems with region preservation is that of cost; every region cost money whether running or stored. With SL representing 2.8 petabytes of data, that’s a lot.
However, the status of SLRPS is unknown following the May 2026 reorganisation at Linden Lab.
Another issue is that of copyright [when someone removes a region from SL, if it is entirely their own work, they may not want it preserved].
Certain regions / builds of historical interest might not actually work correctly if available now.
Some environment were historic builds could be preserved via a rezzing system might be possible, but again would require space, engineering support, etc.
[48:32-50:16] During the “boom” period (2006-2008) dozens of companies joined Second Life, and there was an expectation of company meetings and workshops occurring in-world. This didn’t materialize. Do you have regrets on that, or are you happy with how things have actually turned out?
Is less a big business person and more of a community content and community, so is happy with how it turned out.
Again believes the lack of non-verbal communications tracking makes it hard for SL to be a viable business / marketing tool.
Also doesn’t think it makes particular sense for really big consumer brands to come to SL as a marketplace (e.g. because of geographic issues compared to the global nature of SL’s user base), so is happy with the way things are.
[50:19-52:49] Could SL develop programmes in theatre, art, sports, leadership, and other areas that allow the moles, creators, and the community to participation? Could these be a kind of scholarship to help defray costs for those developing programmes and events?
The Positive side of supporting the arts say separate from supporting commercial activates is that it provides the opportunity to uh grow art in the world. So at a high-level, funding for the arts makes a lot of sense.
However, such a top-down curated approach can become difficult for LL to manage [e.g. claims of FICs, favouritism, etc.]. Further, such an approach can lead to people focusing more on predicting “what the powers want” than on producing the art they wish to produce.
As such, he is OK with the Lab not being too closely involved in the support of such endeavours and would prefer the baseline experience to open for people to offer what they’d like others to experience.
[Note: this is why LL provide the regions for the Second Life Endowment for the Arts, but not involve itself in select the art and installations displayed within the SLEA regions.]
[53:01-55:06] What are some things we can do to help keep this place around even if we don’t have money?
Personally on-boarding people into Second Life and helping them get started (or “adopting a noob”), then providing LL really specific actionable feedback on what exactly happened and what in particular could be done to directly improve the new user’s experience.
What is not really required in opinions on things like Welcome Hubs, etc., as these are generally highly subject and when taken together, often run contrary to one another. Plus, many ideas that get suggested have been tried in the past and tended not to work.
For those unfamiliar with the Cornfield, it was the punitive region to which people exhibiting bad behaviour would be sent and would have to log-in there and remain there for a certain amount of time.
It was literally a cornfield with televisions strewn across it giving out public information messages.
Believes it is one of the reasons SL is so positive, as it demonstrated there were consequences to bad behaviour – although some might argue there are not enough consequences for bad behaviours.
Thinks that people understanding that their membership in their community and the norms that they should follow are very much a product of everyone’s involvement in the platform is part of the magic of Second Life.
Would like to see LL make incremental changes that further enable local communities in SL better restrict, control, normalise their own behaviours and memberships, rather than it being managed top-down.
[59:53-1:01:55] Any thoughts about ways the community’s collective expertise might be leveraged for the betterment of Second Life?
Is open to ideas on this. If people have specific ideas (rather than generalities / subjective observations), they can be e-mailed to him.
Would also appreciate suggestions on how to actually bring together such a broad-based coalition and then manage it in a format where actionable ideas which can be carried out by a relatively small team might be brought forward. So those with ideas on how to select and organise such a group, examples of processes by which they might work, etc., would also be welcome.
Also noted that he’s personally had a lot of conversations around ideas and suggestions from “old hands”, but the solutions, the engineering costs, etc., have tended to be complicated.
The Sun launched this coronal mass ejection at some 1,500 km/s on August 31st 2012. The Earth is included to give an impression of the scale of the CME. Credit: NASA
Most of us are probably aware of the Sun’s magnetic cycle, rising and falling through a period of some 11 years. When this cycle is at its peak – or solar maximum – the surface of the Sun literally broils with sunspots which can sit on their own or as clusters. These sunspots range in size, with the largest thus far recorded measuring over 299,000 kilometres across – large enough to swallow two Jupiter-sized planets side-by-side! The sunspots are accompanied by an increase in solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) bursting away from the Sun and its corona.
At their most violent, flares and CMEs are fully capable of knocking out satellite systems, completely overwhelming critical GPS and direct communications systems and even bring down power grids if we happen to be in the path of one. Such periods of solar maximum can also see the Sun’s magnetic field flip entirely, before returning to “normal” after two further cycles (referred to as the Hale Cycle). By contrast, periods of solar minimum saw the Sun far quieter and less prone to fits of stormy anger.
Because of the Sun’s ability to be so disruptive, understanding how it behaves and learning to understand what we are seeing as a solar cycle progresses is becoming increasingly critical to maintaining our civilisation’s ability to function. Take GPS systems for instance. Whilst the help guide us when travelling, the signals they output play a critical role in things like the operation of power grids and oil rigs – and even financial systems and services. So a CME overwhelming a system like Galileo or GPS could do far more than just inconveniencing a trip to granny’s new house…
Thus, observations of the Sun from the surface of the Earth, of local orbit and from deep space – including fairly up close and personal to the Sun with missions such as the Parker Solar Probe – has become an essential element in maintaining much of the technology on which we depend. However, we’re not just observing the Sun visually: for the last 40 years we’ve been listening to it as well; in doing so scientists have found that something quite unexpected is going on inside the Sun.
The Parker Solar Probe orbits the Sun at a distance of a few million kilometres. Rendering Credit: NASA
Since 1987 a team of scientists based out of the University of Birmingham in the UK have been operating a series of specialist observatories located in the Americas (California and Chile), Europe (Spain), South Africa and Australia (Western Australia and New South Wales). Across 40 years, the network – called BiSON (Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network) – has been listening to the Sun’s “heartbeat”, oscillations within the Sun caused by sounds generated inside the Sun’s churning innards and which bounce around through the various layers. These oscillations can actually reveal much about what is going on within the Sun in a science called helioseismology. And what BiSON has discovered is twofold.
The first has been that, contrary to expectations, the period of solar minimum in a cycle is significantly different to the last, and that far from being a calm interregnum between the more violent peaks of the Sun’s cycles, each period of solar minimum carries within it indicators of just how violent the next period of solar maximum is likely to be – at least, to a point.
The second finding is more confusing. The majority of the Sun’s magnetic activity occurs within a layer below its surface – and throughout the period of listening by BiSON, this layer has been growing increasingly shallow, effectively squeezing the Sun’s magnetic activity into a smaller and smaller area. In theory, this squeezing should result in the Sun’s magnetic activity becoming more energetic and the periods of solar maximum more violent; but that’s not the case. Instead, two things are happening.
The BiSON observatory at Las Campanas, Chile. Credit: University of Birmingham, UK
The first is that the most recent periods of solar maximum have been exactly as the preceding periods of solar minimum indicated: cycle 24 was a lot calmer than either cycle 23 and cycle 22. Likewise the period of solar minimum between cycle 24 and cycle 25 indicated the latter would be mild as well – and by-and-large it has been. However, in contrast to this, the BiSON data reveals the subsurface magnetic activity and its associated oscillations within the Sun’s layers during the solar maximums for cycles 24 and 25 have been every bit as powerful as recorded for cycles 22 and 23. Thus, it is like the Sun is seething with rage inside itself – but is showing no outward sign of that rage other than a handful of extremely power outbursts (which, as note, are to be expected during periods of solar maximum).
No-one is sure why either the squeezing of the magnetic activity layer within the Sun is occurring or why the measurements of the Sun’s oscillations appear to be so at odds with the levels of behaviour seen during the recent periods of solar maximum. Potentially, it might simply be we’re catching sight of a much longer cycle in the Sun’s behaviour in which the area of magnetic activity is periodically squeezed before gradually being allowed to “expand” again. However, it might also signify a much deeper change in the Sun’s behaviour which could result in a much greater shift in its fundamental character which could come to have a significant impact on our reliance on space-based technologies simply because such a shift could undo much of what we’ve learned about the Sun and make it harder to predict its future behaviour.
At the same time as the BiSON released its findings, another study published its review on a solar event which might possibly indicate other changes might be taking place in and around the Sun – although in this particular instance it is far to early to draw any definitive conclusion.
As well as giving rise to solar flares and CMEs, periods of solar maximum tend to see an increase in large-scale radio bursts from the Sun. These come in a variety of types, one of the more powerful of which is the Type IV. These radio bursts have a broader spectrum band compared to other types, crossing multiple MHz and GHz frequencies. They can also last for longer – from several hours to a few days and can be a precursor warning for a CME. In August 2025, as cycle 25 was well on its way to the peak of its solar maximum period, the Sun let go of a type IV radio burst that lasted not for hours or a few days – but for almost three weeks. That’s four times longer than any other Type IV burst from the Sun ever recorded.
Such was its duration, the burst was recorded repeatedly by four separate space observatories watching the Sun from different locations. These comprised NASA’s STEREO-A, occupying a heliocentric orbit just inside that of Earth’s own orbit around the Sun; the Parker Solar Probe, also in orbit around the Sun, but practically right up in the Sun’s face; the Global Geospace ScienceWind mission sitting in the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point; and Europe’s Solar Orbiter mission, which is also gets up close and with the Sun, but in a higher inclination orbit.
Analysis of the data supplied by these observatories reveal that the burst came from a large magnetic structure in the Sun’s outer atmosphere called a helmet (or coronal) streamer. These are distinctive V-shaped loops of matter rising away from regions on the Sun’s surface which have the opposite magnetic polarity to the surrounding areas and the corona. They can rise up to 1.5 solar radii before lopping back to the surface, with the solar wind often pushing the uppermost material even further from the Sun in the form of tapering spears or stalks. These spears can occur at any time in the Sun’s 11-year cycle, but during periods of solar minimum then tend to form around the heliographic equator and are far less prominent.
However, during periods of solar maximum, they tend to be more symmetrically distributed around the Sun, and like the Type IV radio bursts, can be portents of a CME, as the latter can often start at the base of such a streamer, with the “cavity” in the streamer’s loop becoming the conduit through which the core of the CME then rises and is ejected from the Sun.
A coronagraph image of the Sun taken by High Altitude Observatory, of Boulder, Colorado during solar maximum in 1980. The disk of the Sun is covered, revealing numbers helmet streamers radiating away from the Sun, indicative of magnetic activity. Credit: National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
In the case of the August 2025 radio burst, the data gathered by the four probes revealed that no fewer than three CMEs had originated in rapid succession from the base of the one streamer – which in itself is unusual. Lead to also three CMEs becoming one massively supercharged event which fortunately did not intercept Earth in its orbit, but which did feed a huge amount of energy into the radio burst, leading to its longevity.
What is not understood is why these three CMEs occurred in pretty much overlapping proximity. Where they a freak occurrence, or a further sign the Sun is experiencing changes in its behaviour? If the latter, then is it something that is related to the squeezing of the layer in which the majority of the Sun’s magnetic activity occurs, or something else entirely? Will it become more expected during periods of solar maximum, and if so, what does it mean for our space-based systems?
Right now, the answers are far from clear – but the findings of both BiSON and the recording of this massive radio burst and recognition of its underlying cause reveal that the more we learn about our Sun, he more we have yet to understand about its complex nature.
Zevzda Leak: NASA and Roscosmos Again at Odds
An animation of the ISS core assembly process (1998-2011). Zvezda was the third module to be launched (2000). Credit: NASA
I’ve written about the long-standing atmosphere leak aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on several occasions – the last being in 2024. An issue for some seven years now, the leak lies within the aft airlock of the Russian Zvezda (aka PrK) module. Several attempts have been made to fix the issue down the years and none have succeeded.
At the time I last wrote about the situation, NASA and Roscosmos had once again figuratively butted heads on the issue and its possible cause. In 2024, the Russian space agency was adamant the slow leaks were the result of thermal contraction and expansion as the ISS orbited the Earth, passing in and out of sunlight and thus experiencing large swings in temperature across its structure.
NASA, however, was of the opinion that the leaks are indicative that the airlock itself was at risk of failure, the result of the massive stresses periodically placed on it.
A Progress resupply vehicle docked at the rear end of the Zvezda Module. NASA believes the cracks causing the atmospheric leaks inside the module are in part the result of stresses induced on the module by Progress operations related to periodically boosting the station’s orbit. This image was captured during a station “flyaround” by the shuttle Discovery during STS-102, March 2001. Credit: NASA
To explain: the airlock at the aft end of the Zvezda module is aligned to the station’s centreline, making it one of the main ports used to carry out periodic and necessary “reboosts” to raise the station’s orbit as the tenuous drag of Earth’s upper atmosphere causes it to slowly descend. Whilst there are other ports on the station which can perform such reboosts, it is the Zvezda port which has commonly been used for boosting operations as Russian Progress resupply vehicles are well suited to the task. NASA has therefore been – and remains – of the opinion that these operations over the years have placed enormous stress on the airlock structure, resulting in the micro-cracks and the atmosphere leaks.
Because of this, NASA and the European Space Agency have long called for use of the Zvezda module to be discontinued, and the hatch linking it to the rest of the ISS permanently closed. Russia has disagreed, mainly because the docking element in question houses the connectors required to bring propellants for the station’s stations manoeuvring thrusters located in the Russian section of the station and the delivery of water supplies for the crew. Thus, losing the use of the docking port limits the station’s ability to carry out the kind of minor orbital adjustments it needs to avoid space debris, etc., and also potentially limits crew activities within the Russian section of the station.
As a compromise, it was agreed that as there was not an imminent risk of explosive decompression (or anything remotely violent), the hatch linking Zvezda should remain closed unless the module was in use – and that use would be largely limited to off-loading Progress craft. And there the matter has largely rested – until the late April 2026.
The Russian Zvezda Module (also called the PrK module), seen from its aft end, with the Progress dock post visible. The airlock tunnel where the leaks are occurring is the cream-white cylinder just inside the module’s main structure, surrounding the docking port. Credit: NASA
That was when Progress MS-34 docked with Zvezda with supplies for the station. Almost immediately after the vehicle’s arrival, the atmosphere loss within the module increased; not enough to endanger the station, but enough to be noticed. After monitoring the situation for a month, Roscosmos decided to take action – by ordering the cosmonauts on the station to drill into the module’s structure and then cut away part of a structural support.
This didn’t exactly go down well at NASA and ESA. Objections were lodged, exchanges became heated – and Roscosmos stop responding to the other agencies, declaring the operation would go ahead on June 5th. In response, NASA and ESA declared an emergency and ordered the three US and one French astronaut into the docked Crew Dragon under shelter in place / safe heaven rules, meaning they should be ready for immediate departure should anything happen.
This caused Roscosmos to reconsider their idea and ultimately call it off. Several further days of discussions were held and a compromise was eventually reached. This will see Zvezda sealed and depressurised so it is no longer directly used. However, Progress resupply missions carrying propellants and / or water will dock with the module for the purpose of transferring these items (which can be done automatically). Otherwise, Progress dockings (including those bringing propellants / water to the station alongside of other supplies) will occur at other docking ports in the Russian section of the station to facilitate the transfer of supplies.
I was surprised to realise that it’s been around 18 months since my last visit to the Burrow Coffee Co., an engaging location held by Harlow (Truly Fabulous) and Harvey (Forever Fabulous). At the time of that visit, the coffee house was in a location with landscaping by Aria Christen together with Harlow and Harvey. And even then, truth be told, I’d likely not have noticed by for Harlow contacting me and inviting me to hop along to Burrow’s new location in Second Life and explore the new setting for myself; something I was only too happy to do.
Now relocated, Burrow once again sits on a Full Private region with the additional Land Capacity Bonus provided by Linden Lab and the landscaping by Harlow. It actually shares the region with a store (which was still under construction at the time of my visit) tucked neatly into one corner of the region. However, such is the care that has been taken with the general landscaping, there is no visually-jarring contrast between the two; whilst separate in nature, they share an overall design that allows them to blend together to the point that until you come across the path connecting the two, you might never be aware a store is nestled within the region as well.
Burrow, June 2026
For its new location, Burrow sits within a rugged landscape of with tall cliffs and rich woodlands through which cinder paths twist and meander, connecting the various locations awaiting discovery by those visiting. Surrounded by much taller off-region mountains and cut through by water that breaks the land into a series of island-like bodies, the entire setting sits under an EEP setting suggestive of a late summer’s evening when it is time to unwind and kick-back a little.
Having been a part of Second Life since 2009 (first as the The Pixel Bean Coffeehouse), Burrow has built a reputation as a venue for providing an 18+ safe and inclusive environment where company and music can be enjoyed, together with relaxing gatherings, poetry readings and so on. With this 2026 iteration, Burrow re-opens with more spaces in which any and all of these activities might be enjoyed, together with plenty of scope for exploration on land and on water (keep a eye out for the boat rezzer!) and is ideal for photography.
Burrow, June 2026
To help with getting around, there are teleport boards available – but I thoroughly recommend explorations on foot to catch the full ambience of the setting; walking really brings home the care put into the landscaping work, plus it gives a proper perspective as to where everything is in relation to everything else, obviously 🙂 .
There is no enforced Landing Point in place when visiting; the one Harlow passed to me put me down at the setting’s Park Office – which is actually a good place to start explorations. A teleport board sits to one side of the path on arriving, and the office on the other. The latter contains posters to other regions, presented as field trips away from Burrow – and clicking on each of them will present you with a Landmark to the location in question.
Burrow, June 2026
Outside, the main path runs east-to west, branching at the teleport board and again a little more eastward. This latter spur descends a short distance by way of steps to where a deck has been built out over the deep gorge cleaved into the landscape as if by the fall of a gigantic butcher’s blade. Water tumbles from the cliff of the far side of the gorge, and the deck offers a place to sit and admire them.
Follow the path westwards from the office hut, and you’ll pass another branch leading to a further deck built out from the cliff tops and over a large body of water cutting into the region. This side path side between two sets of steps descending down to the feet of the cliffs, where two of the setting’s venues can be found. These take the form of The Tipsy Fox – a delightfully cosy pub-style bar on the water’s edge and, across the other side of the path and alongside the gorge mentioned above, the Petal Pavilion – which I personally think is one of the most engaging retreats / places to enjoy a romantic dance I’ve seen in a good while.
Burrow, June 2026
Beyond both of these, the cinder path approaches the western extent of the region and branches left and right. To the left, the path hops over an elegant little bridge to reach the rounded glass bulk of the Grove & Gambit, home to multi-player table-top games outside of which a little path runs down to a small wharf and outdoors seating.
To the right from the main path, the route passes over a bridge that has seen better days in its time, the path arrowing on past waterside decks on either side (remember my comment about boats and rezers!) to reach the Hex and Haze Cannabis Bar. For those not enamoured of the smell of weed and whatever, the path does branch again before reaching the Hex and Haze, a boardwalk allowing you to skirt the bar and then climb a short slope to the Campfire, an outdoor venue for music and conversation.
Burrow, June 2026
Those wishing to get directly to the Burrow Coffee House should follow the north pointing path from the Park Office as it leads the way over the gorge by way of a vine-hung bridge. The café is – understandably – the largest venue within the setting. Occupying the top of the island forming the far side of the gorge between it and the Park Office, the coffee house presents indoors and outdoors seating, decks, and a boardwalk running down to where the Starlight Stage is nestled slightly below it, surrounded by trees.
A further path leads away from the Starlight Stage, offering the means to visit the attractive ruins of a stone gazebo built overlooking open waters, or to make your way down to the store mentioned earlier or loop back up to the Park Office, passing by way of the local horse rezzer, should you fancy riding around the region. A boardwalk also descends the rocks from the stage, winding its way down to a little beach and the Mossy Anchor bar.
Burrow, June 2026
Throughout all of this, there are places to sit awaiting discovery. These might be at the edge of the path or on the decks or wharves, within the gazebo or other roadside structures, whilst the waters offer places to take out a boat or go for a swim. As noted as well, there is the horse rezzer for those who wish an alternative means to explore (head east along the path from the Park Office if you use that as your Landing Point when visiting).
Lovingly crafted and brought together, Burrow offers a lot to see and appreciate, and I particularly love the way each location naturally sits apart from the rest courtesy of the woodlands and shaping of the landscape, such that it offers its own sense of intimacy and privacy whilst still very much a part of the whole.
Burrow, June 2026
Now open to visitor to explore, Burrow will host an official opening event on Saturday, June 20th, 2026, commencing at 15:00 SLT, which is also tied the Primfeed’s 2nd anniversary, within additional sets to follow over the weekend and during the week, as follows:
Date
Time (SLT)
Performer
Venue
Saturday 20 June
15:00
Lichi Moonwall – Offical Opening & Primfeed 2nd Anniversary Party
It’s been over a year since I last had the opportunity to visit a exhibition of art by Melusina Parkin; I suspect the reason for this is us both having things going on in the physical world which have taken up time and attention. However, that does not excuse the fact I’m a little tardy in getting to this particular exhibition, as Melu originally invited me to pay it a visit back in May 2026 – an invitation I immediately filed and then had a lapse of memory over (one of many of late!); so my apologies to her for only just having been able to visit.
Fortunately, the new exhibition is a permanent set occupying the upper level of Melu’s Minimal Gallery. It presents something of a tour de force of her work in two parts. The outermost is called The Labyrinth and the inner Cold Days. Together they offer 100 of Melu’s distinctive images of locations found within Second Life, with the outer of the two collections taking its name from the use of wall space to guide people around and eventually and gently direct them to the inner collection.
Melusina Parkin, June 2026: The Labyrinth
What is deeply engaging about Melu’s work is the manner in which she frames it. Rather than looking at a whole scene, she finds a specific point of view and within it a specific focal point to compose her picture around both through camera placement and angle coupled with considered cropping. The result – whether the subject is a landscape, an open space, architecture or an everyday time such as a chair or a view through a window, or the mesh of a wire fence – is to offer something which captures the eye and the imagination.
These are pieces which tell a portion of a story; but quite what part of the story- beginning, middle or end – and what it might be about is up to each of us to decide. In this – and as I’ve noted in the past in covering Melu’s art – her work both prompts us to create narratives around what we see, and it demonstrates that Second Life itself is a place of the imagination; of dreams made real, the places we as creators would like to live within or visit.
Melusina Parkin, June 2026: The Labyrinth
It also, in contrast to this latter point, helps us to perceive aspects of the digital realm which mimic what might be found anywhere in the physical world, be it along a street or when looking up at a skyline or out over a foggy coast or along the rolling tide of a sun-swept hills; the things which we might otherwise take for granted when seen as a part of an entire scene but which through Melusina’s lens, helps to to perceive why Second Life is so real for do many of us; a place we can inhabit.
All of this is very much in evidence as one walks around and through The Labyrinth with its 80 images. These are presented with no centralised theme, but instead flow gently from landscapes to urban settings and back, each perspective unique, colour images mixing easily with those in monochrome. Cold Days, offering 20 images is likewise mixed – but here there is something of an over-arching theme, as suggested by the collection’s title.
Melusina Parkin, June 2026: Cold Days
Within these pieces, the sense of shortening days, cold winds, the threat of rain or snow is evident without ever being the dominating factor; instead it is hinted at through the heavy skies, the use of monochrome and / or largely muted colours. There is a gentle hint of threat in many of the pieces – be it in the form of rain or snow or indeed, emanating from the structures seen in some of the pieces, their faces bleak and grey and / or blocky and uninviting. But is it the leaden sky that makes the structures seem oppressive and downcast, or is the the unforgiving angular forms of warehouses, apartment blocks which cause the sky to feel so dour?
Which is not to say these are bleak pictures, rather that (again) they offer our imaginations the opportunity to create unique narratives around them. And when colour does blaze forth it does so in a manner that is uplifting and rich in the promise of brighter, warmer days or the promise of warmth and safety from the brooding weather. Just look at the way the yellow cab of a VW van noses into one picture, or the manner in which a neon advertising sign reminds us the days will be fresher, brighter, or the comfort is seeing the stalwart tower of a lighthouse warding those at sea away from harm or the hint of a front door just around the corner and the promise of warmth and cosiness beyond it.
Melusina Parkin, June 2026: Cold Days
As always with Melusina’s work, The Labyrinth and Cold Days offer a rewarding visit for lovers of SL art.
Second Life marks its 23rd anniversary in 2025, with a month of activity kicking-off on Thursday, June 19th through until Sunday, July 19th. Celebrations will be taking place across the Birthday regions in Second Life, and and with previous years includes live music, DJ sets, art, shopping (via the dedicated Shop and Hop event), exhibits by Linden Lab and – particularly – exhibits by Second Life residents and communities.
The following is intended to provide a general overview of the celebrations and provide calendars, SLurls and anything else that might be useful to you when visiting the regions.
SL23B Welcome Area
Theme
The theme for 2026 is The Golden Age of Hollywood, which the Lab describes thus:
Think classic cinema, red carpets, vintage glamour, and the magic of the silver screen. While the theme may inspire many builds and performances, exhibits are not required to follow the theme. We encourage you to share what makes your Second Life experience meaningful. Your interests. Your communities. Your creativity.
SL Birthday Calendar
The best way the stay abreast of all that’s going on is via the official calendar of events, which I’ve embedded below.
Use the Week / Month options, top right to change the calendar view.
Click on any given line item on any given day of festivities to view more information, including teleport SLurls.
As per usual, SL23B will feature a series of events featuring various members of the Lab’s management team and those from front-line teams. The sessions will be a mix of live sessions at the celebrations events and pre-recorded sessions. They will take place per the schedule below.
Live performers and DJs from across Second Life and around the globe are lined-up to perform at SL23B. The complete schedule can be seen below.
The Welcome Area
Never been to an SLB event before? Try starting at the Welcome Area where you’ll find lots of help, things like the SL23B Golden Ticket booth (win up to LS 1,000,000), the SL23B Swaginator HUD, Premium and Premium Plus gifts, teleport portals and boards to key event areas, and more!
SL23B: The Tapestry of Time
The Tapestry of Time and Gift Area.
First presented in 2018, the region-wide Tapestry of Time presents visitor with a walk-through of Second Life’s history from 2003 through to the present day using images, text and videos. True, not everything has been recorded, but there’s enough within the region to be of interest to the historically minded.
within the Tapestry of Time can be found the SL23B Gift Area, offering gifts from the Birthday exhibitors and from merchants participating in the Shop & Hop event.
Exhibitor Regions
via Linden Lab – click for Exhibitor Showcase
As is common for SLB events, the mix of content is varied, and the representation of interests broad. Role-play groups, arts, communities, are represented across the nine regions open to exhibitors; some are static, others are interactive in nature.
Direct links to the exhibitor regions can be found in the SLurls lists at the end of this piece.
Note that teleport boards are available at the centre of all Exhibitor regions for easy of moving between them.
Adult Exhibitor Regions And Adult Shop and Hop
2025 sees the Adult content and groups exhibitor regions combined with the Adult Shop and Hop regions. Once again, the celebrations include Adult content and groups, with exhibits at the event, with the Shop and Hop taking place across four dedicated regions separate to the main exhibitor regions. I’ve also included individual region SLurls at the end of this article.
Advice on a Better Experience
The SL23B regions can get exceptionally busy. To help ease the pain for you:
If you have a high draw distance, reduce it to as low as is comfortable for your enjoyment.
Turn off shadows in your viewer if you usually have them enabled.
Go to Preferences → Graphics and reduce the slider Max # Non-Imposter Avatars to a minimum and dial-down your Complexity slider.
Remove texture-heavy HUDs to free-up more texture memory.
Remove unnecessary scripted attachments and dress lightly, avoiding accessories of high complexity.
SL23B: The Golden Palms
SLurls and Destination Guide Links
Core Event Region SLurls
The Welcome Area – teleports to the stages, Tapestry of Time, Pod Tours, Gift Area, Community Gallery and Shop and Hop, etc.
Orpheum Theatre – home to the Meet the Lindens sessions and more.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 