Update On The Mystery Rocks

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

There's been something of a mystery going on in the Second Life Mainland. Over Valentines Day weekend, it was discovered there was a strange rock over at Bay City Airport, then two others at a couple other spots on the Second Life Mainland, Dangun and Plenodyes. Each had a note from a Dahlia Linden, whose profile was almost blank, which talked about something about to happen at the locations on Monday February 16. There were also a couple campsites with Bay City flags at the latter two locations.

 

I would message T.J. Hooker, and he told me that he indeed had set up the camps to investigate the strange rocks. He would say Marianne was the first (outside the Lindens) to notice something was up when she saw the boulder at Bay City on Thursday, and he and others went to help her investigate (T.J. Hooker's picture to left), "Based on (Dahlia Linden's) profile photo, Pygar identified the road in the background. After exploring that area, I found the boulder in Plenodyes." He found out roughly where the third one was by a tip to check out the Linden Estate Services office. There was a map showing three boulder locations, "There was also a painting with what appeared to be rocky terrain paint, with the description 'Is this a hint?'" He would then scout around the location pointed out by the third, finding it in Dangun, "Further investigation has revealed that Dangun was the first boulder placed, and one of the only ones with a specific parcel name of ;Off the beaten path;, Hau Koda was second, and Plenodyes was third. All three were rezzed in a 15 minute window. Plenodyes has a nearby Linden Road project named NR26, as well as something called 825 Project. I am not certain if those are connected to the boulders, or just convenient placement." He would note that of the triangle on the map made by the three locations, the Belisseria Welcome Hub was close to the center. 

 

T.J. Hooker has a Primfeed one can see his progress in investigating the anomalies (here). . 

 

On Monday, I would drop by to check on the rocks, running into the Relay's Prettykitty Gumbo as she did so as well at the same time. We dropped in on the boulder and camp at Plenodyes. The rock itself was the same, but growing around it were three bright blue flowers. 

 

There was also a second note from Dahlia Linden:

 

 I have returned to an amazing discovery! It appears as though the energy shifts from these rocks have dissipated. Now, a new undocumented flower has sprouted from beneath the stones! Never in my life have I witnessed fauna so astonishing! It's breathtaking!

Based on the readings I am getting from this flower, it shares an identical energy signature as the strange rocks. However, something else strikes my curiosity: the spots the flowers are sprouting from doesn't appear to be in its natural environment.

The structure suggests they need a much higher elevation in order to fully root and to spread more freely.

But where would that be?

If these flowers share the same pulsing energy signature as the rocks, and from the last change that took place after 30 days, then it's safe to conclude that another change should occur around March 18th.

I must return again to see further developments!

Until the next change,

-Dahlia
 

 

The camp itself would have some changes. One was a Linden bear that when touched would sound off some newcomer hints. The two bots were gone, and there was a helicopter near the camp. There was also now an unlocked drink cooler, which was loaded with drinks, and a huge hoagie sandwich. I guess someone from Bay City noticed Melisa's comment about the lack of sandwiches. 

 

PrettyKitty and I then headed to the Dangun camp. Like it's counterpart, the stone here had three blue flowers around it, though with the rock's upright posture they were easier to see. The camp was a little larger with more equipment, and also some drinks and a large sandwich.

 

But there was more. There was also a note out in the open.

 

Field Team Interpretation - Plenodyes Site

Arrived on location to review Dahlia's findings. 
Her notes about "energetic shifts" match what we're feeling here. 
The stone looks recently uplifted - soil still loose around the base.

The spiral marking is precise. Doesn't look carved by tools.
Glow strongest at dawn and dusk.
Surface temperature slightly higher then surrounding soil.

Low hum detected again this morning.
Instruments show fluctuations but nothing stable enough to chart yet. 

Comparing this to the Bay City stone: 
Glyph is identical in scale and shape.
Mineral composition appears similar.
Both sites show the same uplift pattern.

 

If Dahlia's timeline is correct, we may face a change on Feb 16.
Preparing equipment for continuous monitoring up to the date. 

Notes:
- Soil samples taken from north and east sites.
- Luminescence brighter today than yesterday
- No visible structural cracks, but vibration is increasing.

Working theories:
1. Pre terraforming artifact.
2. Subsurface energy venting.
3. Artificial construct of unknown orgin.

Will continue daily readings
Recommend expanding survey reading to 10 meters.  
 

On a hunch, and a tip from a friend who for now will be anonymous, I dropped by the Linden office. I found a copy of the map with the three points in Kit Linden's office, with a few post-it notes on it. The Lindens appeared to be just as wanting for answers as Bay City, if not more. 

 

And so, we're left with a few clues, but no certainty as to how they go together.  The painting at the Linden office with "rocky terrain paint" and Dahlia's conclusion the flowers grew best in higher altitudes certainly seem like an interesting coincidence. Of the theory that the stones are "per-terraforming artifacts," Bellisseria, which is between the three mainland areas, has certainly seen many territory expansions in the past. So the boulders *could* be a sign there's another one on the way. But this of course is guesswork. There's also that the estimated date for another reveal, March 18, this would be the day after St. Patrick's Day in the United States. Whether or not this a coincidence, there's no answer, at least not yet.  

 

For now, we just wait and see. And keep an eye out for new land near Bellisseria. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

TikTok Deal Finalized, Complaints About New TOS & Posts Being Censored

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

A deal's been worked out to keep Tiktok going in the United States. But it's believed to come with a change that some are not willing to accept.

 

Most are familiar with Tiktok, the highly popular social media app in which people post and watch short videos. It's been especially popular among teenagers and young adults, some of whom have been able to get a following as content creators, even make a little money. But, there's been a problem. TikTok has been owned by Bytedance, a company in China, and therefore under the dominion of it's authoritarian government which has become more antagonistic towards the United States in recent years. And because of this, many see it as a security risk as it could be used to collect data from Americans that could be weaponized by China's government against the US.

Since 2020, President Donald Trump has made threats to ban the Chinese-owned social media ap TikTok over national security reasons. In January 2025, TikTok was temporarily blocked in the US following a law coming into effect, but was soon lifted by executive order when the parent company agreed to negotiate further. 

A few days ago on Thursday January 22, it was announced a deal had finally been made "from the new TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC," as the newly created company for TikTok called itself.

Today, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025, now enabling more than 200 million Americans and 7.5 million businesses to continue to discover, create, and thrive as part of TikTok's vibrant global community and experience. The majority American owned Joint Venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users.
 

An article by Associated Press stated there would be an emphasis on data protection, "with U.S. user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle. And there would be a focus on the social media app's algorithm, which was the big issue in the debate about TikTok. Under the deal, TikTok's old owner Bytedance will license it to the new US company and holds "19.9% of the joint venture." The three managing investors are the technology company Oracle, Silver Lake, a private equity firm, and MGX, an investment firm. They each control a 15% share. Among other investors is Michael Dell, the founder of the Dell Corporation. The others can be found in TikTok's press release. 

 

It should be noted that the law requiring TikTok to get a new owner prohibited “any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm” between Bytedance and any new owner. So the Chinese company's continued partial ownership may still cause some legal trouble in the future. 

However, not every TikTok user is celebrating the threat of the app being blocked again finally being lifted. In the days since ownership of the app changed hands, the rate people have been deleting it from their smartphones and computers has increased 150%. On the weekend after the deal, people began noticing glitches, that some videos wouldn't load and some were getting zero views. On Monday January 26, TikTok blamed the problem at an outage at a data center and stated they were hoping it would be resolved soon. 

But some were skeptical as stories began going around that it was certain videos that were having trouble, those with left-wing and anti-Administration political content, such as celebrities speaking out against the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis, anti-ICE videos, and mentions of Jeffery Epstein. The new Terms of Service by TikTok's new owner has also gotten criticism as information collected from users includes "racial or ethnic origin, national origin, religious beliefs, mental or physical health diagnosis, sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status, or financial information." An article by Ars Technica would say experts believed "TikTok users’ censorship fears are justified."

“Even if these are technical glitches, the pattern of what’s being suppressed reveals something significant ... When your ‘bug’ consistently affects anti-Trump content, Epstein references, and anti-ICE videos, you’re looking at either spectacular coincidence or systems that have been designed—whether intentionally or through embedded biases—to flag and suppress specific political content.”

The article would go on to say a spokesperson from TikTok would deny the allegations, that no changes have been made to the algorithm or policies about content moderation, only to the Terms of Use and privacy policy and how AI interactions are monitored, “We don’t have rules against sharing the name ‘Epstein’ in direct messages and are investigating why some users are experiencing issues."

California's Governor Newsom recently stated on Twitter that TikTok should be investigated, “I am launching a review into whether TikTok is violating state law by censoring Trump-critical content.”

Some of those who have stopped using TikTok have turned to another social media app, UpScrolled, getting 41,000 downloads over the three day period following the announcement of TikTok's new ownership when it had been averaging just 500 a day. It should be noted that when TikTok was blocked in the US temporarily last year, some started using another Chinese social media app called RedNote, but gradually came back once the better known app was back online. It is unclear what will happen if the future should the allegations of censorship fade. 

So the threat to ban the highly popular social-media platform is gone. But for some who see expressing and viewing political opinions as important, the solution has come with a heavy cost. 

 

Sources: Tiktok, Associated Press, Techcrunch, Ars Technia, Engadget, 

 

Bixyl Shuftan