It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, July 1st 13:30: Tea-Time at Baker Street
Caledonia Skytower, Kayden OConnell and Corwyn Allen continue with a Seanchai favourite: Tea-time at Baker Street. This time they are going right back to the roots of the legend, and the case which first introduced the world to Doctor John Watson and the renowned Consulting Detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
A Study in Scarlet was written in 1886 as a full-length novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published the following year. It is actually one of only four novel-length stories Conan Doyle penned about Holmes and Watson in the original canon (the remaining 56 tales of their adventures are all short stories). As it was the first time the two had appeared in print, part of the story was used to establish each of them, and how they met.
It is 1887, and Doctor John Watson, invalided out of the British Army after being wounded in the Battle of Maiwand during the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880), has returned to London where he is seeking accommodation. After bumping into an old friend, Watson finds himself being taken to St. Bart’s Hospital, where he is introduced to a stranger carrying out a laboratory experiment. On shaking Watson’s hand, Sherlock Holmes immediately perceives that he has recently returned from Afghanistan, and thus Watson first experiences Holmes’ remarkable deductive abilities – although quite how Holmes came to his conclusion remains a mystery. After a short conversation, he agrees to join Holmes in moving into a flat (apartment) at 221B Baker Street, where they’ll split the rent.
In the story, it is actually several weeks before Watson learns of Holmes’ rather unusual chosen profession. When told, he remains initially dubious until Holmes gives a practical demonstration of his powers of observation and deduction, using a messenger from Scotland Yard as his subject. The messenger has come with a request for Holmes’ assistance; Holmes is at first reluctant to heed the call, but Watson urges him otherwise. So it is that they set out on their first adventure together, one involving poison, a double murder in London and a bitter tale of love, loss and revenge from America.
Join Seanchai for a special 90-minute reading of the final instalment of A Study In Scarlet.
Monday, July 2nd 19:00: Protector
Phssthpok the Pak had been travelling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years previously.
Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days — Brennan figured to meet that ship first…
He was never seen again. At least not by those alive at the time.
Join Gyro Muggins as he reads Larry Niven’s engaging tale of humanity’s past – and future.
Tuesday, July 3rd 1900: Walt Longmire
Join Kayden OConnell as he reads more from Craig Johnson’s tales of Sheriff Walt Longmire.
Wednesday, July 4th: No Session.
It’s Independence Day in the United States and Seanchai will be at home celebrating with friends and family.
Thursday, July 5th 19:00: Monsters and Myths – Procrustes
With Shandon Loring. Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/144/129/29).
Coming Soon!
July 8th: Tea-Time on the Orient Express
Seanchai Library and friends embark on a literary journey through one of Agatha Christie’s most notable adventures: Murder on the Orient Express.
Ride aboard the greatest train journey of them all!
Wednesday July 11th: 11:00: Fireside Tales
A new series in a new Seanchai setting – more on this and the Orient Express next week!
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
I’ve always enjoyed the infrastructure builds presented at the Second Life Birthday regions; they are always a hallmark of creativity and imagination. Over the last few years, two SLb infrastructure designers in particular have tended to catch my eye: Walton F. Wainwright (Faust Steamer) – who can forget his stunning Stage Left builds of yesteryear – such as his Hindu incarnation of Cerberus from SL13B or the amazing Automaton of SL13B, together with his marvellous Ghost Train welcome area of SL12B in 2015?), and Anthony (ADudeNamed Anthony), who in recent years has produced some stunning designs for the SLB auditoriums.
It is to the builds by these two designer that I found myself particularly drawn during SL15B, as they both offered something just that little bit different within the overall crystal theme for the celebrations.
For the SL15B Auditorium, Anthony took his lead from science fiction, with the auditorium “building” taking the form of the massive starship USS Crystal, Naval Construction Contract number SL15B. However, this isn’t simply a riff on all things Trek – it’s actually a clever homage to film and TV science fiction in general. The very shape of the vehicle, for example, carries echoes of the Jupiter 2 from the various incarnations of Lost In Space, while it might be said the communications array on the upper hull, together with the black exhaust ports around the stern of the ship carry just a hint of Millennium Falcon about them.
Some of the open hanger bay doors, rimmed in blue similarly suggest Star Wars – remember the bay the Falcon herself was hauled into on approaching the Death Star in A New Hope? And should you peer inside the hanger bays, there seems to be a nod towards Thunderbirds – etched into the rear bulkheads are numbers reminiscent of those found on the front of Thunderbird 2’s mission pods, the bulkhead pylons separating them suggesting the extended legs of somthing waiting to descend over them, a-la Thunderbird 2.
The focus of this build is obviously the auditorium, where a range of events took place during the week-long celebrations, including the five Meet the Lindens session (of which more in these pages anon). However, the auditorium and the hanger bays are not the only elements of the ship. There are also the backstage areas, lobbies for the two “spaceport” forum meeting places, and the innards of the ship’s life support system (including the ever-critical in so many space dramas, CO2 scrubbers).
However, it is the elevator you should direct yourself towards. This will offer you a ride to the bridge deck, where Anthony presents a slew of inside sci-fi jokes. The bridge itself is clearly modelled on that of most Starfleet vessels seen in various Trek incarnations – but be sure to look closely at the display screens and some of the system panels; the nods and winks across them are legion. There’s the familiar (to Trekkies at least) LCARS displays; references to Firefly, Star Wars: A New Hope, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: Generations (“Tractor Beam: Install Tuesday”); 2001 A Space Odyssey; Star Trek: The Search for Spock; The Matrix franchise … and also references to Second Life itself, and so on.
SL15B Auditorim bridge – an homage to science-fiction in modern film and TV
Flanking the bridge is the Captain’s Ready Room (conventional enough) and the ship’s computer room – another wonderful nod towards 2001 A Space Odyssey.
By contrast, The Serpent, this year’s Stage Left design by Walton F. Wainwright takes a walk through dark fantasy territory, contrasting nicely with the bling and gaiety of the rest of the celebratory regions.
This is quite simply a work of art. From a base of crystals set in mysterious waters, a tall, dark tower rises into a darkening sky. Lights glow from behind its many windows, while atop its crown of carved serpents a great crystal floats, casting its own dull glow.
It is scene reminiscent of lord of the Rings – the tower could so easily be an echo of Minas Ithil before its fall into darkness to become the awful Minas Morgul. Reached via a long causeway bridge, sight of the tower is initially obscured by the open coil of a great serpent snake, the head of which, also crowned by crystals and dominated by huge, hypnotic eyes, rises from alongside the tower and moves ponderously back and forth, tongue flickering, as it surveys this fantastical domain.
From around the waters and barren hills flanking the tower’s island, great cluster of crystals rise, as if piercing the land and water from beneath. Similar clusters of crystals, surrounding the heads of yet more serpents burst forth from the tower’s buttress-like corners, while within its great form a single massive hall, illuminated a soft green, awaits beneath a huge crystal chandelier.
The wealth of detail here needs to be seen to be appreciated, from the tiled motif on the dance floor through the wonderful texturing on the walls inside and out to the very dark majesty of the tower’s tall finger and the awe-striking presence of the great serpent. This is a truly magnificent build which should not be missed.
Be sure to visit both, if you haven’t already done so, before the SL15B regions vanish after July 1st, 2018.
The main festivities for the SL15B anniversary celebration are now over; the parties have all happened, the DJ and live performers have left the stages – but the regions remain open to visitors through until July 1st, 2018.
This being the case, and with the numbers packing some of the regions likely to decrease, now is an excellent opportunity to visit some of the resident built exhibits within the anniversary regions, so I thought I’d offer a short series of looks over the next few days at some of the ones that caught my eye.
Celebrating SL’s 15th and Bay City’s 10th
2018 is not only the year in which to celebrate Second Life’s 15th anniversary but also the 10th anniversary of one of the Mainland’s most established and vibrant communities: Bay City.
SL15B: Bay City – see some of the attractions within Bay City – and then pay them a visit!
Developed by Linden Lab and opened for residents in early 2008, Bay City offers an urban-style environment on the continent of Sansara. It is intended to reflect “the American urban experience, between 1940 and 1965, perhaps best typified by Chicago circa 1950 and marked by a distinct deco influence.” Today it is home to the The Bay City Alliance, a resident community founded by those moving into Bay City in 2008, and who promote the Bay City regions, and hold regular events there as well as helping newcomers (to both Second Life and to Bay City) who come to the regions.
Over the years, Bay City has become home to a number of famous landmarks – the Hotel Falmouth, the Channel Island Mental Hospital, Hairy Hippo Fun Land, Bay City Municipal Airport and the Bay City Fairgrounds,to name but a handful within the 40 or so regions of Bay City.
Visitors to the Bay City exhibition at SL15B can discover more about some of these landmarks in Bay City, as well as something of its history. Designed with an eye to detail and presented in the style of a tourist information centre, the exhibit is another fine example of the architecture to be found within Bay City as well as being (for me) exemplifying what makes an engaging SL15B build: it is not pretentious or overstated, it avoids the temptation to try to dwarf surrounding spaces, it avoids lots of glow and / or unsightly textures plastered all around it and it is informative, rather than looking like an advertising hoarding. You might argue that such a build risks being overlooked – I’d disagree, being personally drawn to the more understated and interesting designs.
SL15B: Bay City – if you’ve ever wondered what the main grid would like like if presented as a globe – make sure you drop in here!
Corn and Bears
The Cornfield is a place of myth and legend; a place where misbehaving avatars were once sent, back in the early days of Second Life. Sitting under a starry sky, it was inspired by the 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone entitled It’s A Good Life. Avatars deposited in the cornfield were cut off from communication with the rest of the grid, and had only one another and several televisions and tractors for company.
The original Cornfield still exists – to the north and west of Shermerville, but access is restricted. However, there are various duplicates which can appear in-world and are open to the public.
One such duplicate has been used in an experience led game. Another Another is located at the southern end of the SL15B regions. the latter Cornfield offers people a chance to experience (albeit with modern conveniences such as windlight and media on a prim) the life of a citizen confined to the sin bin. It’s also a region where the Lab’s more recent experience-based game, Tyrah and the Curse of the Magical Glytches can be played, for those who have a game HUD.
Alongside the Cornfield, and making a popular return to Second Life, is Bear Island.
It was Nicole Linden who started the Linden Bear tradition – having Lab staffers make an in-world bear which residents can request (or sometimes obtain by completing a challenge or receive as a gift). It’s a tradition that continues through to today. The Lab still runs courses for staff on bear making, and many of the available bears are based on Nicole’s original – although some Lindens don’t necessarily make a bear, preferring to have other animals such as a frog or something. Not all of the Linden Bears represent individual Linden staffers – there have been bears to celebrate Easter, Valentine’s Day, Halloween Bear, and so on – some of which may still pop-up in-world at the appropriate time.
SL15B: Bear Island – How many Linden Bears have you collected over the years?
Bear Island is a celebration of this tradition, offering visitors to see many of the bears made by Lindens past and present – and also recapture snippets of SL history (such as the arrival of Viewer 2.0). I confess that I’m not that much of a bear collector, but Bear Island is an interesting place to visit to experience one of the more eclectic aspects of Second Life culture and history.
The Parker Solar Probe
While we’ve not formally met, Diamond Merchant and I share an interest in space exploration and space science. She has in the past presented SLB events with models of famous space probes (such as Cassini, the probe from the mission of the same name which spent 13 of its nineteen-year mission exploring Saturn and its moons).
For SL15B, and on behalf of the Leeward Cruising Club, she presents the Parker Solar Probe mission, and overview of the upcoming NASA mission to the Sun scheduled for launch at the end of July / start of August 2018. Named for physicist Eugene Parker, the mission is billed as the first to “touch” the Sun, as it will come to within 8.86 solar radii (6.2 million km or 3.85 million mi) of the Sun’s photosphere (or “surface”).
I’ll be covering the mission in a Space Sunday report in July and ahead of the launch. For SL15B, Diamond presents another of her beautifully detailed prim models, positioned over the disc of the Sun, with boards around the outside of the exhibition space providing details on the mission, etc. Those wishing to experience the view from the probe and sit n one of several blue spheres placed at ground level around the exhibit. Make sure you have the audio stream on as well to help you drift away in space.
It’s another build that eschews fancy glow, towers and other assorted brashness and instead presents a path winding through a corner of story land, which visitors are invited to follow. Along the way are information boards containing assorted information – including one or two surprising tidbits of information (how about SL being the home of over 300,000 hours of music and entertainment?).
The main festivities for the SL15B anniversary celebration are now over; the parties have all happened, the DJ and live performers have left the stages – but the regions remain open to visitors through until July 1st, 2018.
This being the case, and with the numbers packing some of the regions likely to decrease, now is an excellent opportunity to visit some of the resident built exhibits within the anniversary regions, so I thought I’d offer a short series of looks over the next few days at some of the ones that caught my eye, starting with some of the art exhibits.
Ciottolina Xue – Little Paradise in Second Life
Self-taught in 3D art, Ciottolina Xue is – in the interests of full disclosure – someone whose art I admire and who is a personal friend with Second Life. However, this isn’t why I’m including her in this article – I’m doing so because Little Paradise in Second Life is engaging and beautifully conceived.
Offering a sculpted garden environment, accessed through wrought iron gates, Little Paradise presents paths – some under open sky, others passing under the boughs of trees – that lead visitors around a series of rose-centric sculptures in which scenes of babies (and the occasional adult) are set.
It is, first and foremost, a very personal setting – many of the child sculptures represent Ciottolina’s Second Life persona, with some of them, together with the adult sculptures representing those with whom she has friends, and who have supported her throughout her time in Second Life.
Roses are my sensations; sensations that have taken over with time, passing by and emotions perceived by meeting new people who I esteem today. People who have become fond of me and without Second Life I never would have met. Some of them have become acquired mothers, aunts, uncles and other are precious friends. They support and encourage me in every step I take. People who are very capable in what they do.
But just as these little scenes are personal to Ciottolina, so too can they represent all of us: the roses offer us a chance to recapture memories of our times in Second Life and the scenes within them reflect our own friendships and relationships over the past however many years we’ve been active in SL. Similarly, the paths through and around the garden represent our own journey through Second Life.
Little Paradise is designed to be seen in a night setting (accept the parcel windlight on entering if you are using Firestorm or a viewer supporting parcel level windlight, otherwise try setting your viewer’s time of day to midnight); however, it also works under daylight settings as well – as I hope the images here demonstrate.
The Art of Viviena
Located alongside Little Paradise in Second Life is an enclosed art display by Viviena, marking her return to SL15B after illness prevented her being a part of SL14B – she was previously an official photographer at SL11B through SL13B.
Presented under a night-time sky, Vivena offers another garden environment, this one home to her Second Life photography, with individual easels set out along the winding path, each home to one of her images. These are all landscapes, taken from right across the main grid – just click on and image and use Edit to obtain the name of the region if it is not immediately familiar to you.
What is delightful about Viviena’s work is it shows no real sign of post-processing, but instead offers images of Second Life as we can expect to see it in-world. Each picture is perfectly composed, cropped and presented for our appreciation. This makes her work a must-see, whether exhibited in-world, or displayed on website such as the SL15B site, or through her Flickr stream.
As well a presenting their art, the gardens offered by Viviena and Ciottolina allow a perfect escape should exploring the rest of SL15B start having you feeling a little tired.
Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen) is an artist whose work never fails to captivate me. Specialising in mixed media, Thoth’s work is always immersive, interactive and captivating. For SL15B, he presents Moments of Immertia, a multi-layered piece which includes some past work as well a new pieces.
A visit to Moments of Immertia does come with some prerequisites, and the instruction boards in the exhibit explain. In short:
Make sure you have Advanced Light Model (ALM) enabled via Preferences > Graphics – this is essential, but you do not need to have shadow rendering enabled as well.
If you can, raise you viewer’s rendering to High or Ultra (you can reduce draw distance down to about 100 metres to help compensate for the rendering load, if required).
Make sure your viewer is set to auto-play media, and disable your media filter (if your viewer has it and you use it) – you can reset both to your preference on leaving the exhibit.
Allow the parcel windlight settings, if your viewer supports them. If not, set your time to midnight.
To this I would add a small warning. if you are prone to motion sickness or are sensitive to flashing lights, note that parts of Moments of Immertia involve moving and rotating colours and moving optical surfaces which can fill the screen.
Finally, also note that due to the quirks of SL, parcel media textures may not always activate as expected. If you find yourself in what is clearly intended to be an immersive media space and media is not playing, simply toggle the parcel media (movie) button off and back on again.
Virtual environments are should be immersive, providing experiences difficult or impossible to replicate in reality. That’s the point of this exhibit – to provide a few moments of immersion in strange virtual environments – just to give you a “wtf?” moment or two. Some of the displays may even give you pause to reflect.
– Djehuti-Anpu (Thoth Jantzen)
On the ground level of this exhibit sits COVFEFE: The New World Disorder, a (rightfully, in my personal view) irreverent consideration of the mind of the 45th President of the United States, whose head resides within the wreckage of a chess board – symbolic, perhaps of the impact this POTUS has had on the world as a whole. Chess pieces are tumbling through the air, and visitors can become part of the chaos by sitting on any of them, while touching the head poking up through the woodwork will offer some pearls of, um, wisdom from Duh-Donald, which are either direct quotes or concatenations of quotes from the man himself.
I’m so smart, I’m highly educated! I know words … I know the BEST words! COVFEFE!
COVFEFE: The New World Disorder shares the ground space with two more elements: TJ’s Tetrapylon, where visitors might ask the oracle and where touching is again encouraged. Alongside of this is In Surreal Time: Evolutions of a Theme, TJ’s contribution to the First Biennale Digitale part of the Santorini International Biennale exhibition of art and architecture (which is now in its fourth edition).
Directly in front of the latter is the teleport to the remaining elements in the exhibit:
Vertigogo – a mirrored room and observation deck based on materials and projection.
OMFG! and WTF? – massively immersive multimedia environments.
K-Scope 1.0 – TJ’s first immersive media environment and introduced to the public in 2008.
These all require your viewer’s ALM and media options to be set per the notes above.
No amount of worlds can do this exhibit justice, it genuinely has to be experienced – and really shouldn’t be missed (again, remembering the above cautionary note on motion and light sensitivity).
Ginger Lorakeet – Inside Art
There can be few who are unfamiliar with Ginger Lorakeet’s images which allow avatars to become a part of an overall picture. She has presented her work at a number of past SLB events, and is once more present at SL15B with her Inside Art – and this time with a set of images that follow something of a fantasy theme.
Ginger’s images are always well presented, but the ones offered at SL15B are special. Using muted colours and tones well suited to the overall theme, they each offer an entire narrative, and these individual narratives can in places perhaps be woven into a complete story.
Whether or not you’ve seen Ginger’s work at part SLB events or elsewhere, these pieces are very definitely worth the time to visit and try.
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, June 24th
11:30 Seanchai And Friends Read Poe
Seanchai Library and Friends present a selection of reading from Edgar Allen Poe at The Philosophy of Furniture. Featuring VT Torvalar, Da5id Abbot, Dubhna Rhiadra, Bryn Taleweaver, and Caledonia Skytower, reading extracts from The Masque of the Red Death, The Imp of the Perverse, Hop Frog, and more.
Take the teleport from the region landing point to the Poe platform.
Caledonia Skytower, Kayden OConnell and Corwyn Allen return with a Seanchai favourite: Tea-time at Baker Street. This time they are going right back to the roots of the legend, and the case which first introduced the world to Doctor John Watson and the renowned Consulting Detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
A Study in Scarlet was written in 1886 as a full-length novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published the following year. It is actually one of only four novel-length stories Conan Doyle penned about Holmes and Watson in the original canon (the remaining 56 tales of their adventures are all short stories). As it was the first time the two had appeared in print, part of the story was used to establish each of them, and how they met.
It is 1887, and Doctor John Watson, invalided out of the British Army after being wounded in the Battle of Maiwand during the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880), has returned to London where he is seeking accommodation. After bumping into an old friend, Watson finds himself being taken to St. Bart’s Hospital, where he is introduced to a stranger carrying out a laboratory experiment. On shaking Watson’s hand, Sherlock Holmes immediately perceives that he has recently returned from Afghanistan, and thus Watson first experiences Holmes’ remarkable deductive abilities – although quite how Holmes came to his conclusion remains a mystery. After a short conversation, he agrees to join Holmes in moving into a flat (apartment) at 221B Baker Street, where they’ll split the rent.
In the story, it is actually several weeks before Watson learns of Holmes’ rather unusual chosen profession. When told, he remains initially dubious until Holmes gives a practical demonstration of his powers of observation and deduction, using a messenger from Scotland Yard as his subject. The messenger has come with a request for Holmes’ assistance; Holmes is at first reluctant to heed the call, but Watson urges him otherwise. So it is that they set out on their first adventure together, one involving poison, a double murder in London and a bitter tale of love, loss and revenge from America.
Monday, June 25th 19:00: Protector
Phssthpok the Pak had been travelling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years previously.
Brennan was a Belter, the product of a fiercely independent, somewhat anarchic society living in, on, and around an outer asteroid belt. The Belters were rebels, one and all, and Brennan was a smuggler. The Belt worlds had been tracking the Pak ship for days — Brennan figured to meet that ship first…
He was never seen again. At least not by those alive at the time.
Join Gyro Muggins as he reads Larry Niven’s engaging tale of humanity’s past – and future.
Tuesday, June 26th: Walt Longmire
Join Kayden OConnell as he reads more from Craig Johnson’s tales of Sheriff Walt Longmire.
Wednesday, June 27th 19:00: More Poe!
Featuring Derry McMahon, Corwyn Allen, Kayden Oconnell, Fayleen Belois, Shandon Loring, and Caledonia Skytower at The Philosophy of Furniture, reading The Tell-Tale Heart, The Oval Portrait, and more.
Oh! – disillusionment again. I thought my troubles were over. Practically I thought I had impunity to do whatever I chose, everything – save to give away my secret. So I thought. Whatever I did, whatever the consequences might be, was nothing to me. I had merely to fling aside my garments and vanish. No person could hold me. I could take my money where I found it. I decided to treat myself to a sumptuous feast, and then put up at a good hotel, and accumulate a new outfit of property. I felt amazingly confident, – it’s not particularly pleasant to recall that I was an ass.
– Griffin, the Invisible Man
Join Shandon Loring as he delves into the classic tale by H.G. Wells of Griffin, a man already consumed by a desire to have power and fame, who finds a way to make himself invisible to the rest of the world – but not the way to become visible again.
The results do not go in his favour, heightening his bitterness and encouraging him to think only in terms of wreaking havoc as his bitterness grows deeper and his desire to revel in the absolute lack of conscience, to commit crime and instil terror, grows to the point of fanaticism… Also presented in Kitely (hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/144/129/29).
I’m a little late in getting to this – so my apologies to the organisers.
SL Pride, the event celebrating diversity and focusing on Second Life’s LGBTQ community is currently in progress in-world. Featuring shopping, art, music and dancing, the event will remain open through until 23:00 SLT on Sunday, June 24th, 2018.
The theme for this year’s event is This Is Me, This is Us, a celebration of community, and also of solidarity – at least one of the billboards in the region includes a display commemorating those from the LGBTQ community who lost their lives in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.
A full schedule of entertainment is available on the event website, as a full list of sponsors and participating merchants. Note that while the entertainment schedule opens in List view, for ease of reference, you can change it to a Day view via the drop-down at the top right of the schedule page.
In addition, the website also supports a Get Social option, which allows people to interact with one another. Those joining it can create extended profiles, upload profile pictures, join an activity stream (similar to Facebook), connect with friends, private message one another, and so on. Click the Get Social! in the website’s menu bar to get started.
For 2018, SL Pride is raising money for The Trevor Project. Founded in the United States by Peggy Rajski, Randy Stone and James Lecesne, the creators of the 1994 short film Trevor, the stated goals of the project are to provide crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning young people ages 13–24, as well as to offer guidance and resources to parents and educators in order to foster safe, accepting, and inclusive environments for all youth, at home and at school.
The Trevor Project offers a number of services, including:
The Trevor Lifeline – the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth in America.
Ask Trevor – an on-line non-time-sensitive question-and-answer resource for young people with questions surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity.
TrevorChat – a free, confidential, live and secure on-line messaging service.
TrevorSpace – an on-line social networking community for LGBTQ+ youth ages 13 through 24.
Lifeguard Workshop Programme – a school workshop programme using a structured, age-appropriate curriculum to address topics around sexuality, gender identity, the impacts of language and behaviour, and what it means for young people to feel different.
The Youth Advisory Council – a liaison between youth nationwide in the United States and the project on issues surrounding suicide, sexuality and gender identity.
The Palette Fund Internship Programme – providing five internships for young LGBTQ people at the Project’s Los Angeles and New York City offices.
Donations to the Trevor Project can be made via the kiosks located around the SL Pride region.
A Study in Scarlet was written in 1886 as a full-length novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published the following year. It is actually one of only four novel-length stories Conan Doyle penned about Holmes and Watson in the original canon (the remaining 56 tales of their adventures are all short stories). As it was the first time the two had appeared in print, part of the story was used to establish each of them, and how they met.
Phssthpok the Pak had been travelling for most of his thirty-two thousand years. His mission: save, develop, and protect the group of Pak breeders sent out into space some two and a half million years previously.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 