The Singer and the Songwriter: September 19th and 20th, 2018
Wednesday, September 19th and Thursday, September 20th, 2018, Commune Utopia and The Mumbling Goat, will host The Singer and the Songwriter Music Festival.
Featuring musician/songwriters from across Second Life presenting a mix of live music throughout the two days, the event kicks-off take at The Mumbling Goat, starting at 15:00 SLT on September 19th. It will then continue through Thursday, September 20th at both Commune Utopia and The Mumbling Goat.
The fourth Spoonful of Sugar (SOS) festival opened its doors on Saturday, September 15th, 2018 and will run through until Sunday September 30th. It brings together fashion, home and garden, breedable designers and creators, artists, DJs and live performers to help raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Also known as Doctors Without Borders, MSF was founded in Paris, France in 1971 as a non-profit, self-governed medical humanitarian organisation delivering emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare around the globe, based on need, irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.
Since that time, MSF has grown to a movement of 24 associations, bound together as MSF International, based in Switzerland. Thousands of health professionals, logistical and administrative staff – most of whom are hired locally – work on programmes in some 70 countries worldwide. See the video at the end of this article for more on MSF.
Established by Ever Courtois and Angelique Wickentower, Spoonful of Sugar (SOS) aims to raise money for MSF as a part of the organisation’s Vital Pact Campaign.
For 2018, the event takes the theme Welcome to Italy, with the six regions of the event set out to resemble an Italian coastal town, complete with winding waterways, while in the central regions, within their hills and paths, can be found breedable displays, event areas, together with an MSF information area.
A full shopper’s guide is available, covering the five shopping regions, and participating creators have items on sale via special SOS vendors, with between 50% and 100% of proceeds of sales being donated to SOS. The entertainment guide provides details of who is providing the music and when. In addition, the event sees auctions and raffles and the SOS Home Giveaway Raffle.
Getting around is a matter of either walking – obviously the best way to see the regions – or by clicking the red boxes atop the sign posts along the footpaths. These will provide a set of landmarks to the major locations in the regions, both events and shopping.
Over the course of its first three years, Spoonful of Sugar has raised US $30,000 – a reflection both of the global nature of MSF’s work and of the global reach of Second Life to help support the provision of aid and humanitarian assistance to those so much less fortunate than those of us able to enjoy a virtual life. 2018 will hopefully see that amount grow even larger.
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, September 16th 13:30: Tea-time at Baker Street
The third full-length novel written about Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles is likely to be the one Holmesian story which – at least in outline – known to most, whether or not they have actually read any of Holmes’ adventures.
But how many of us know the story as it was originally written? Over the decades it has been adapted for film and television more than 20 times, starting as early as 1914/15 with the 4-part series, Der Hund von Baskerville, and continuing on through to Paul McGuigan’s The Hounds of Baskerville, featured in the BBC’s brilliant Sherlock series.
All of these adaptations have offered their own take on the tale. Some – such as McGuigan’s, have simply taken the title of the story and used it to weave a unique tale of their own; others have stayed true to the basics of the story whilst also adding their own twists and turns quite outside of Conan Doyle’s plot in order to keep their offering fresh and exciting to an audience.
So why not join Cale, David, Corwyn and Kayden as they read from the 1902 original, and discover just how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unfolded this apparently supernatural tale of giant hounds and murder, and the pivotal role played by John Watson himself?
Monday, September 17th 19:00: Murder is Bliss
Gyro Muggins reads the first volume in the Jasper Stone series by Ellen Anthony.
In the year 2179, police lieutenant Jasper Stone finds himself called upon to solve the high-profile murder of Elizabeth West. The case appears to revolve around a valuable house – and the leading suspect is West’s disabled son.
But then the son is murdered – and the evidence points towards West’s grand-daughter, Jewell. Only she appears to have a rock-solid alibi for West’s murder. So is there more than one crime, or will Jewell be the next victim?
The more he investigates, the more Stone finds himself entangled in a complicated web of motives and a situation involving not just murder, but drug smuggling and blackmail. And the more he investigates, the more he might just be protecting the woman behind it all.
Tuesday, September 18th 28th 19:00: Wishtree
Trees can’t tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . .
Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighbourhood “wishtree” – people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red’s branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red’s hollows, this “wishtree” watches over the neighbourhood.
You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red’s experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever.
A contemporary tale for the times we are witnessing, told with sensitivity and humour. The protagonist (and in may ways the victim of prejudice as unsought as that received by the family in question) may well be a tree, but she has a lesson to teach all of us about tolerance and understanding and a need to heal.
Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she reads Newbery Award winner Katherine Applegate’s 2017 story.
Wednesday, September 19th, 19:00: International Talk Like A Pirate Day!
Come along and celebrate with all the scurvy dogs on the good ship “Seanchai”. Possible celebratory cruise to follow for those brave enough to endure one of Captain Cale’s sailing expeditions!
Thursday, September 20th, 19:00: Don’t Make Me Pull Over!
In the days before cheap air travel, families in America didn’t so much take vacations as survive them. Between home and destination lay hundreds – perhaps thousands of miles of road, and dozens of annoyances.
During his childhood, Richard Ratay experienced all of them; from being crowded into the back seat with noogie-happy older brothers, to picking out a souvenir only to find that a better one might have been had at the next attraction, to dealing with a dad who didn’t believe in bathroom breaks.
Now, decades later, Ratay offers a paean to what was lost, showing how family togetherness in America was eventually sacrificed to electronic distractions and the urge to “get there now.” Through his words he paints large what once made Great American Family Road Trip so great, from twenty-foot “land yachts” to oasis-like Holiday Inn “Holidomes” and Smokey-spotting Fuzzbusters to the thrill of finding a “good buddy” on the CB radio …
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
Now open through until 22:00 SLT on Sunday, September 16th, is Les Fest, a 2-day, region-wide festival that celebrates lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and transexual women in Second Life.
The event features lives singers, DJs, spoken word artists, a pageant, fantasy grand ball, talks, games, movies, a boxing tournament and shopping!
For 2018, Les Fest is raising money for Immigration Equality, the leading LGBTQ immigrant rights organization in the US. They represent and advocate for people from around the world fleeing violence, abuse, and persecution because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status.
Full details of event activities can be found on the Les Fest website – check the performances, key events and fun activities pages for the major goings-on through the weekend. The video below provides more information on the event’s adopted charity.
Ebbe is still into his T-1000 look. But then, he does keep to his promises to “be back” (and take people’s questions and offer thoughts and insight into the Lab, SL and Sansar) 😉
On Thursday, September 13th, Linden Lab hosted a further Town Hall meeting at which questions were put to the Lab’s CEO, Ebbe Altberg.
As many of the questions require a technical response, the decision was made to have the Lab’s subject matter experts address them directly through the forum thread itself after the Town Hall meeting, a process which may take several days to complete. So if you did ask a technical question that wasn’t raised at during the event, be sure to check the thread to see if an answer in provided there.
The following is a summary of the answers to questions asked during the Town Hall session, audio extracts and video time stamps provided as reference. The video is embedded at the end of the article.
Please note that this is not a full transcript of the event. Producing a word-for-word transcript takes a lot of time. Instead, I have attempted to bullet-point the replies offered, and have included an audio extract and a time line to the relevant point in the video.
Will there be a way to hide the default mesh avatar without alpha masks?
Will attachment points be increased?
Will more shape sliders be possible?
These notes don’t necessarily follow the chronological flow of the session, as I’ve attempted to group subjects by topic for more concise reference.
There is a degree of choppiness in Ebbe’s audio (present on the videos as well). This is down to Voice issues in SL. Because of this break-up, some of the audio clips are edited to remove elements where the break-up is particularly bad, but hopefully without losing the actual context of what was being said.
Video timestamps will open the official video in a separate browser tab at the start of the specified time period, allowing readers the choice of listening to the audio extract, or the video recording.
Due to the brevity of some answers, not all replies given below have an audio extract – but they all have links to the official video.
Opening Comments
Exciting year for Linden Lab – 15 years in the business, lot of investment in SL going on + growing the SL team. There’s a lot going on that has the Lab optimistic about the future, and looking forward to being on the journey for a long, long time to come.
In March LL announced a very aggressive roadmap, possibly more than could be achieved within 2018, but goals have been pursued and people hired to help meet them.
Perhaps most noticeable work has been the re-balancing the economy: reducing the price of land and finding other means by which the Lab can generate revenue that are fairer for everyone – users and the Lab.
This means some things get cheaper [e.g. land], and other may get more expensive [e.g. transaction fees] for people as things are adjusted.
Overall response has been positive – particularly the lower Mainland costs – increased “free” tier, which is still keeping the land team busy in handling purchase requests.
Roadmap also noted new games and experiences, and the next one is “not far away”.
Themed learning islands were mentioned, for more vertical acquisition of new users, and tests have been run.
More value for premium members is coming, but no announcements to make during the town hall.
Return of last names may not roll-out before the end of 2018; there’s still a lot of work to be done.
Grid-wide experience operation for users also may not be deployed before the end of 2018.
Work is continuing on Linden Home improvements, but not clear if this will be deployed all at once or in stages. The hope is to start releasing some of them before the end of 2018.
Moving SL to a cloud infrastructure will not be completed until “well into” 2019. Work is progressing on a server-by-service basis.
He is personally every excited with all that is happening, the SL team is dedicated to the work and is growing, and Lab is very pleased with the positive responses from users to the changes and improvements being made.
What was the rationale the up-front higher fees for grandfathered regions?
The 2016 buy-down offer was to encourage people who knew they were going to keep land for at least 6 months to obtain lower tier.
The structure meant that the up-front cost (US $600) could be recouped in 6 months, allowing the land holder to continue to enjoy a much reduced monthly tier.
The transfer fee of US $600 for grandfathered / bought-down regions (compared to the US $100 for “retail” prices regions) is intended to operate the same way: to encourage those who wish to obtain grandfathered land and will hold on to it for a period of 6 months or more to do so, and so continue to enjoy the lower monthly tier.
The US $100 transfer fee can still be applied to grandfathered regions, but they will revert to the full monthly tier rate, so the US $600 isn’t necessarily a barrier to selling the land.
Currently no plans to make further changes to tier rates – Lab still absorbing the data from the June private region pricing restructure.
However, there is still a commitment from the Lab to do more where land is concerned, once with economic situation resulting from the June 2018 change can be fully understood.
Personally has a belief that those who commit to holding land for a period of time should be able to benefit from doing so.
This may again involve a higher up-front cost that is recouped over a period of time.
Does mean that tier pricing differences (e.g. grandfathered to retail) could vary over time – just as the June reduction narrowed the gap between grandfathered and retail monthly tier.
But even with the June retail price reduction, those who used the buy-down offer are still enjoying a lower tier than those who buy at retail.
Will there be further land pricing reductions / increases in land capacity (prim allowance)?
Both are things the Lab wants to do.
Land price reductions depend on the Lab being able to generate revenue and remain healthy as a business via other means – increased transaction fees, increased check-out fees, increased and broader Premium subscription options, etc., all of which are constantly being looked at.
Increasing the land capacity is a matter of performance and hardware improvements. If these continue to be made, then further increases to land capacity might be possible.
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, September 9th:
13:30: Tea-time at Baker Street
The third full-length novel written about Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles is likely to be the one Holmesian story which – at least in outline – known to most, whether or not they have actually read any of Holmes’ adventures.
But how many of us know the story as it was originally written? Over the decades it has been adapted for film and television more than 20 times, starting as early as 1914/15 with the 4-part series, Der Hund von Baskerville, and continuing on through to Paul McGuigan’s The Hounds of Baskerville, featured in the BBC’s brilliant Sherlock series.
All of these adaptations have offered their own take on the tale. Some – such as McGuigan’s, have simply taken the title of the story and used it to weave a unique tale of their own; others have stayed true to the basics of the story whilst also adding their own twists and turns quite outside of Conan Doyle’s plot in order to keep their offering fresh and exciting to an audience.
So why not join Cale, David, Corwyn and Kayden as they read from the 1902 original, and discover just how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unfolded this apparently supernatural tale of giant hounds and murder, and the pivotal role played by John Watson himself?
18:00: Magicland Storytime – Aladdin and His Magic Lamp
Gyro Muggins reads the first volume in the Jasper Stone series by Ellen Anthony.
In the year 2179, police lieutenant Jasper Stone finds himself called upon to solve the high profile murder of Elizabeth West. The case appears to revolve around a valuable house – and the leading suspect is West’s disabled son.
But then the son is murdered – and the evidence points towards West’s grand-daughter, Jewell. Only she appears to have a rock-solid alibi for West’s murder. So is there more than one crime, or will Jewell be the next victim?
The more he investigates, the more Stone finds himself entangled in a complicated web of motives and a situation involving not just murder, but drug smuggling and blackmail. And the more he investigates, the more he might just be protecting the woman behind it all.
Tuesday, September 11th 28th 19:00: Wishtree
Trees can’t tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . .
Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighbourhood “wishtree”—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red’s branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red’s hollows, this “wishtree” watches over the neighbourhood.
You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red’s experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever.
A contemporary tale for the times we are witnessing, told with sensitivity and humour. The protagonist (and in may ways the victim of prejudice as unsought as that received by the family in question) may well be a tree, but she has a lesson to teach all of us about tolerance and understanding and a need to heal.
Join Faerie Maven-Pralou as she reads Newbery Award winner Katherine Applegate’s 2017 story.
Wednesday, September 12th, 19:00: Roll It! An Original Tale
With Ktadhn Vesuvino.
“Time is a fixed resource. Mass requires work. The wheel is a lever that can move time around. “Roll It!” is an exploration of idea, process and implications, 20 years of experience collected, distilled and condensed into an hour.”
Thursday, September 13th, 19:00: Don’t Make Me Pull Over!
In the days before cheap air travel, families in America didn’t so much take vacations as survive them. Between home and destination lay hundreds – perhaps thousands of miles of road, and dozens of annoyances.
During his childhood, Richard Ratay experienced all of them; from being crowded into the back seat with noogie-happy older brothers, to picking out a souvenir only to find that a better one might have been had at the next attraction, to dealing with a dad who didn’t believe in bathroom breaks.
Now, decades later, Ratay offers a paean to what was lost, showing how family togetherness in America was eventually sacrificed to electronic distractions and the urge to “get there now.” Through his words he paints large what once made Great American Family Road Trip so great, from twenty-foot “land yachts” to oasis-like Holiday Inn “Holidomes” and Smokey-spotting Fuzzbusters to the thrill of finding a “good buddy” on the CB radio …
Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 