Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates for the week ending Sunday, November 10th
This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.
Official LL Viewers
Current Release version 6.3.3.531811, formerly the Voice RC viewer, dated October 18, promoted October 31 – NEW.
Release channel cohorts:
Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 6.3.4.532422 on November 7th.
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.
Monday, November 11th 19:00: Teacher’s Pet / War and Peace
Gyro Muggins returns to Larry Niven’s Known Space universe and the Man-Kzin Wars series to bring us two short stories from that series written by Matthew Joseph Harrington, and which appeared in the Man-Kzin volume 11 (edited by Niven), first published in 2005.
Set after the end of the war, the stories within Man-Kzin XI are predominantly set during a period where the Kzin are down (but not necessarily out) and having to adapt to no longer being the masters of all races they encounter, and are in roughly chronological order.
The two stories by Harrington follow the trio by established writer Hal Colebatch, and marked his début as a published author at the age of 35. They are regarded by many as being strong studies in the Man-Kzin lore, whilst also drawing on other literary sci-fi sources. The stories are also noted for Harrington’s ability to round-out a number of “loose ends” within the Man-Kin wars as well as offering new slants on the broader carves of Niven’s Known Space universe.
Both stories use a play on words in their titles, with War and Peace doing so both in the manner it reflects the period of peace following war, and also for the way it focuses on the life and work of Peace Corben, a human female Protector, who returns in Harrington’s sequel story, Peace and Freedom, published in the 2009 volume Man Kzin Wars XII.
Tuesday, November 11th 19:00: What’s Cookin’?
A favourite food stories and recipe exchange with Caledonia Skytower and friends. This week: Finn Zeddmore with L’Achimista, a short story by American science fiction and fantasy writer, and psychologist N.K. Jemisin, the only author to have won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in three consecutive years. Cale contributes bits and bobs and everyone is invited to bring some of their favourite recipes to share, on note card.
Wednesday, November 12th 19:00 Stories from Home
With Thanksgiving in the United States now approaching, the Seanchai Library staff sit down to celebrate this time of year by sharing local tales from the various regions of the corporeal world where they live, or have lived. This Week Faerie Maven-Pralou and Caledonia Skytower continue with tales from the Wild-ish West. You are invited to recommend stories from your home as well.
Thursday, November 13th
19:00 Anthony and Cleopatra – A Novelisation
With Shandon Loring. Also in Kitely – find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI.
21:00: Seanchai Late Night
Contemporary Sci-Fi Fantasy from such on-line sources as Light Speed, Escape Pod, and Clarkesworld online ‘zines and podcasts. With Finn Zinnmore.
Virgin Orbit’s plans to operate from Cornwall Airport, Newquay (CAN) – also called Spaceport Cornwall – is in the process of receiving a £20 million boost. Credit: CAN
The United Kingdom is to have two space centres operating within the next few years, if all goes according to plan, and at opposite ends of the country.
I last wrote about the plans to have both a vertical (i.e. rocket) launch facility and at least one horizontal (i.e. air lift and launch) facility operating in the 2020s (see: British space ports and some female space firsts, July 2018), and more recently plans for both have taken significant steps forward.
In October 2019 it was announced that construction of the vertical launch facility – now officially called Space Hub Sutherland – to be located at A’Mhoine on the Moine Peninsula, high up on Scotland’s North Atlantic coast, could begin in 2020. It would be used to place small satellites into a polar and sun-synchronous orbits.
An artist’s impression of the Sutherland Space Hub. Credit: Perfect Circle PV
The cost for developing the facility has been estimated at £16.2 million (US $20.7 million), with £2.35 million (US $3 million) already awarded by the UK Space Agency since July 2018. After the required studies, etc., this funding has enabled the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), a local Scottish government economic and community development agency, to sign a 75-year option to lease the land where the space hub is to be built, and to award contracts for the design of the hub’s launch-control centre and the assembly and integration buildings that will be used by commercial launch organisations to assemble their launch vehicles and integrate payloads ready for launch. Currently, HIE are awaiting formal planning permission to be granted, which will then allow construction to commence.
A partnership of US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and British aerospace company Orbex have committed to using the launch facility once it becomes operational – possibly in the early-to-mid 2020s.
Orbex plans to use the facilities to launch their innovative Prime rocket, and have already announced a series of contracts for the vehicle, including agreements with the Netherlands-based cubesat launch broker, Innovative Space Logistics and the U.K.-based company In-Space Missions, which plans to launch its Faraday-2b demonstration satellite from Scotland in 2022.
An artist’s impression of an Orbex Prime rocket – capable of lifting 150 Kg payloads to 500 km polar / sun-synchronous orbits – lifting off from the Sutherland Space Hub. Credit: PRNewsfoto / Lockheed Martin
Prime is a leading edge technology launch vehicle that among other things uses 3D printed rocket motors that can be produced as a single unit without joins, and utilises a bio-propane fuel and emits 90% less carbon dioxide than conventional, hydrocarbon-fuelled rockets. Bio-propane is an alternative to natural gas that’s produced from waste or sustainably sourced materials like algae. Development of the system is being partially funded by the UK government to the tune of £5.48 million (US $7 million), specifically in relation to the use of the Sutherland Hub.
Lockheed Martin has received funding to the tune of £24.3 million (US $31 million) to develop a vertical launch system suitable for operations out of the hub. However, precisely what they plan to launch from the facility once it is available, is currently unclear.
Planning permission for the facility is liable to meet some opposition, however. Moine Peninsula is part of an expanse of blanket peat bog that is a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage Site status. These peat lands are regarded as some of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth: they preserve global biodiversity, provide safe drinking water and minimise flood risk. In addition, they are the “largest natural terrestrial carbon store”, and when damaged ecologically, can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions (around 6% of global greenhouse emissions can be traced back to damaged peat lands). As such, opposition to the Sutherland Hub has already been voiced, and further objections may well be expected.
Cornwall Airport Newquay, also known as Spaceport Cornwall. Credit: CAN
At the other end of the country, plans for a horizontal launch centre at Cornwall Airport Newquay (CAN) – also known as Spaceport Cornwall – took another step forward with the UK Agency announcing on November 5th, 2019 that it will provide £7.35 million (US $9.5 million) to help develop the necessary infrastructure to support operations of the Virgin Orbit air-launch system.
We want the U.K. to be the first country in Europe to give its small satellite manufacturers a clear route from the factory to the spaceport. That’s why it’s so important that we are developing new infrastructure to allow aircraft to take off and deploy satellites, a key capability that the U.K. currently lacks.
– UK Government Science Minister, Chris Skidmore
Responding to the news of the funding, Virgin Orbit indicated that Spaceport Cornwall could host its first LauncherOne mission potentially around late 2021, the precise date being dependent on various regulatory approvals in the UK and in the United States, quite aside from the completion of the required infrastructure improvements at the airport. Should this time frame be met, a Virgin Orbit launch from Spaceport Cornwall would be the first orbital launch ever conducted from the UK (Britain’s Black Arrow launch vehicle was launched from Australia).
The funding is part of a £20 million (US $25.5 million) package promised to CAN; a further £10 million (US $12.78 million) to come from the Cornish local government and £2.35 million (US $3 million) from Virgin Orbit.
Cornwall itself is well-placed to support space launch operations. It is home to Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, once the world’s largest satellite earth station, with more than 25 communications dishes in use and over 60 in total, the largest of which were named after characters from the Arthurian legends.
While operations at the facility were pretty much shut down in the early 2000s, the complex has entered into an agreement with CAN to provide communications support for launches from the spaceport, whilst also being subject to possible upgrade and enhancement to support future lunar missions, both crewed and automated – including those planned as a part of NASA’s Artemis programme.
The largest of the Goonhilly communications dishes, the 32m (105 ft) diameter “Merlin”. Goonhilly may provide communications support for Spaceport Cornwall. Credit: British Telecom.
La Digue, November 2019 – click any image for full size
La Digue (“the dam”?) is a recently opened Homestead region offering numerous opportunities for photography and – with a little care – exploration.
Designed by Sablina, famous for producing the likes of La Virevolte (see here, here and here), Ponto Cabina (see here and here) and Field of Dreams (see here), this is a region caught in the changing of the seasons, the trees a mix of summer green and the reds, golds and brown of autumn. Beneath them, the land is cut by two large water channels that feed multiple smaller, canal-like channels that divide-up the land into a series of small islands and one large “central” land mass that also forms the landing point.
La Digue, November 2019
A large gatehouse stands atop the latter, standing guard over the region and is large island and watching over the landing point as it sits on the shingle shore. Surrounded by a sea of sun-dried grass, the gatehouse is one of a number of buildings within the region that collectively give it – along with its name – a feel for northern France (although one of the buildings is admittedly Tuscan in design).
Small bridges connect some of the smaller islands one to another, but to reach others some wading through the shallow channels between them might be required. With corn stalks and cattle grazing, the islands further suggest a rural setting.
La Digue, November 2019
To the north, a sender finger of land points westward and then turns south along a broader stretch of coast to a small railway station (sans tracks) looking out to sea whilst caught under its own rain storm. This crrokes streacth of road and shoreline, coupled with the region’s name, brought to mind the long finger of La Digue du Braek, albeit without the sands on one side and the port of Dunkerque on the other. At the end of this the road, a bridge provides access to a small headland area where stands a lighthouse and work is apparently in progress building a sea wall.
However, what – for me – gives the region character is the broad north-to south channel that cuts through the region, separating the western run of road and its station from the rest of the region. This would appear to be a tidal run, given the dry stone wall supporting some of the land to one side. It is home to numerous wooden moorings alongside of which rowing boats sitting among the reeds and watery growths around the mooring piers.
La Digue, November 2019
This area in particular adds a huge amount of character to the region, rich in detail and photographic opportunity from pretty much any angle. Elsewhere throughout the landscape are further opportunities as well, but it tends to be the waterway that draws the eye and lens back to it again and again. The rowing boats, meanwhile offer numerous places for sitting and posing for photos or chatting.
More places to sit can be found across the region as well, from the little bar a short walk from the station, to benches and chairs, hay bales and more. Getting to some can be a bit of the aforementioned challenge, admittedly: some of the grass and other plants could do with being phantom – but this shouldn’t put people off exploring and wandering.
La Digue, November 2019
Sablina has a reputation for creating regions of beauty that capture landscapes in a most natural manner, and La Digue is further proof of this. It’s a place that invites wandering and spending time within it, the supplied sound scape rounding it out perfectly.
A region that has already caught the attention of photographers and artists, La Digue is not to be missed by Second Life travellers.
In 2012, and to mark Dickens Bicentenary Year, Seanchai Library took their Christmas readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and created The Dickens Project, an interactive event centred on a series of readings of the book presented within an interactive environment celebrating Dickens’ life and work. Since 2012, The Dickens Project has become a Second Life tradition in the Christmas / holiday season.
Over the years, the Project has grown in size, from a small parcel to a full region, providing an immersive environment in which to enjoy what is perhaps Dickens’ most famous novel and explore his life and the era in which he lived. Now, for 2019, Seanchai Library has announced that The Dickens Project will again be opening its doors once more on December 1st, 2019.
Caledonia Skytower, Shandon Loring (centre) and Kayden Oconnell in an evocative shot of the virtual / live performance by Bear Silvershade
I’ve followed the Project throughout the last eight years, and have always appreciated the scale and depth of the event – and am not in the least surprised that it has become a staple of many residents’ holiday celebrations in Second Life. However, for those not familiar with the event, here are some highlights of what it encompasses:
A full region designed to reproduce the famous settings for A Christmas Carol within a larger location representative of Victorian London.
Over 40 hours spread through the month of December featuring live music, spoken word, dance events and performances and including dozens of performers, presenters and special guests.
Self-selectable interactive elements, including the Urchins in Dickens’ London role-play/game/experience, and opportunities for both RP and non-RP guests.
Educational and interpretive content to encourage questions like “What was Tiny Tim suffering from anyway?”
The Dickens Project 2017 Edition
This year, The Dickens Project includes a very special guest performer – Patch Linden! I understand he’ll be appearing around twice during the event.
The Dickens Project is not one single thing. It began as purely a story event, but has evolved to be much more. Our goal is to bring residents together around this important literary work and its themes. Whether their interest is historical, educational, artistic, social, recreational, active, and reflective – we work to provide opportunities to engage that are fun and meaningful.
– The Dickens Project Director, Caledonia Skytower
I’ll have more on the 2019 Dickens Project in due course and ahead of the official opening, including the event schedule of readings and entertainment.
About the Seanchai Library
Seanchai Library (pronounced Shawn-a-kee, which means “Storyteller” in Irish Gaelic.) was founded in March of 2008 in Second Life. The programme remains dedicated to promoting the power of stories to transform and inspire through live voice presentations: “We bring stories of all kinds to life, in Second Life and other virtual worlds.” Find out more by visiting their website. You can join any of their weekly readings of popular stories and works from across all genres of literature in-world – again, check their website or my weekly previews of their upcoming readings.
Open through until November 23rd 2019 at Ce Soir Arts, curated and operated by Mireille and Ǣon Jenvieve-Woodford, is the Mad Masquerade art exhibition, another opportunity to enjoy a wealth of art among the galleries and grounds of this Full region devoted to the arts in Second Life. I admit to getting to this review a little on the late side – the accompanying season of live and spoken word events has come to an end -, but this doesn’t lessen the value in visiting Ce Soir to enjoy the art on display.
This year’s event comprises some twenty-two 2D and 3D artists displaying their work, and if that sounds a lot to take in, then worry not; the fact that the entire region is given over to displaying art means the art is neatly split up over all of the ground-level space, offering plenty of opportunities to wander, relax and come across art quite unexpectedly within the grounds as well as the gallery buildings, so there’s never a feeling of being overwhelmed by the volume of art on offer.
Ce Soir Gallery – CybeleMoon
The featured artists at the exhibition comprise:
Cote de la Mer Gallery: Isabel Hermano, JudiLynn India, Larke Longmeadow, Xirana Oximoxi and Mathilde Vhargon.
Ivy Tower Galerie: Dolph Beornssen, Carlotta Caewlin, Paula Cloudpainter, Xanthe Firehawk, Secret Rage and Michael Romani.
Misty Glen Gallery: Carlotta Caewlin, Sophie Dunn, Mireille Jenvieve, Larke Longmeadow and Liam Saxony, together with a machinina by Terra Merhyem. Click the board outside the gallery space to obtain note card with the URL to the video on Vimeo.
Ce Soir Gallery – H0n2a-Resident
In addition, the following artists can be found throughout the grounds – just follow the paths and tracks, or go where your feet lead you: CybeleMoon, TaraAers, Terra Merhyem, H0n2a-Resident, Viktor Savior, Jojo Songlark, and Skyspinner Soulstar. As well as the featured artists, works by Bryn Oh, Russell Eponym, Garvie Garzo (and possibly others I may have missed) can be found in the region’s grounds.
Given this is an exhibition held around Halloween, some of the art offered focuses on the ghostly, with touches here and there of witches, but there is also a fabulous diversity of art from Second Life, from the physical world and from digital media that is a joy to view and experience.
Ce Soir Gallery – Skyspinner Soulstar
As well as the SLurls to the main exhibition spaces above, all of which are linked via path and track, allowing for easy exploration, a good place to start when visiting Ce Soir is the main landing point, particularly who may not have visited the region previously, and offered in the primary SLurl at the end of this piece. Details of all events at the region can be found through joining the region’s group or via the Ce Soir website.
Richly diverse, located throughout the fantasy inspired Ce Soir landscape, Mad Masquerade is a wonderful mix of art.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 