Tank Club

Some of my neighbors on Syzygy, along with a few more SL residents, have started a Tank Club on Vacit (62, 164, 73).   No special skills are required.  The Tank Club is open to any resident who has a fondness for tanks and wants to have some fun.   I first hitched a ride on Elric Anatine’s tank and went on a convoy led by Samantha Glume.   On another night I drove one of the club tanks, with a lot of help from my friends.  Both times were great fun!     
 

      The Tank Club was started earlier this year when Samantha Glume, Motoko “Moto” Henusaki, and B.W. Jinxing were updating things and saw Linden Road, Route 9, among their items.     Samantha said, “Hey, I know something fun to do...”   “I rezzed my pink panda tank,” she said, “and Moto rezzed her cat face tank and we went for a little convoy.”   Soon they were joined by Elric Anatine, who describes the club as a “happy accident” that evolved from the fun they had that day. 

     “Everybody had a lot of fun,” Samantha said, “so we had a second convoy. That one was with eight tanks.” 

       Elric remembered that they picked up some hitchhikers, too.  “They saw our tanks,” he said, “and joined in the fun.  For myself, it was a spectacular way to explore the wilds of mainland.”

      The group soon decided they needed a permanent place.  They started with the idea of having a clubhouse, which Samantha said, “evolved into wanting a garage, a parking lot and play space.”   Elizabeth Rechter pointed out that it was very helpful “to have a reliable starting point where we could rally the tanks ahead of the trip.”

     They studied all of the different continents and chose Jeogeot for its vast network of roads, Samantha said. It is also next to a rez zone.    The group divided up the work based upon their various interests and skills.  For example, Motoko “Moto” Henusaki worked on mesh items while Elric Anatine re-textured.   Elizabeth Rechter did trees and landscaping, and BW Jinxing prepared the parking lot and driveways that connect to the road. 

     The tanks are purchased from Spyker Enterprise, who makes mesh tanks.   Spyker has allowed the group to modify and make their own skins and textures for each individual tank.   As a result, the tanks are customized and personal to each owner.   “For some reason,” Elric remarked, “this particular tank has brought so many of us together in a variety of events. I think in large part because it can be modified and therefore personalized.  The moment you personalize your vehicle, it truly becomes yours and something to be proud of.”

      In addition to being modifiable and easy to drive, the Spyker tank is fun and electric.  Because it has to be recharged, repaired and rearmed, Samantha says, “it fits perfectly with our fun.”   They built a fully functional garage with working bay doors, a mesh tank lift, and a console to help with repairs and rearmament.  Power cells that she first used on her space station are available and can be refilled at the recharging station.   She hopes to expand the number of recharging stations to eventually cover the entire continent.  Club members receive a custom texture for their tank, a tank only parking sign and toolboxes for making repairs.   However, anyone who already owns a tank is welcome to bring it.  No one is required to purchase a particular tank.

        We chatted about the fun of touring.  Samantha Glume said you can open the hatch while driving and drive in the standing position.   “You can wave at people as you slowly rumble by,” she grinned.  

       I asked how they had been received since I had heard the mainland can be a wild place.   Samantha said, “We haven't had any problems at all.”  Though she joked that the psychological impact of a tank rolling by might have kept people nice. 

        Elric said the people have been really great. 

       “Even the hitchhikers,” Elizabeth added, smiling.

         “Some have wanted to join in,” Elric said.  “Others just take the "gunner position" and ride along with us.” 

        Elizabeth and Moto have toured a lot of different sims.  “Anytime I'm in a new place,” Elizabeth laughed, “I get an urge to rez a tank.”    Moto even made a HUD that they use to identify unmarked rez zones.   Many of the photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/groups/syzygytankclub.   The club has a webpage, too, at http://www.syzygycommunity.com/community/syzygy-tank-club.

        But the Tank Club doesn’t limit itself to simple touring.   Recently Elizabeth and Moto organized a “death match” on Syzygy between the Reds and the Blues.  BW Jinxing created a video of it that can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB1POssFjwg&feature=youtu.be    The battle takes place right in front of my house!    My friends claimed they did their best to avoid blasting it, but I’m not convinced. 

      This past Sunday, the group met for a “Get Well Soon” convoy for Samantha Glume.   Some RL surgery is going to keep her out of SL for a few weeks, and her friends wanted her to have some fun before she left.   In addition to Samantha, Tank Club members Anarchy “Pandora Le Fay” Tigerpaw,  117 “Mohandar”  Dirval, Elizabeth Rechter, Elric Anatine, Stacy Bluxome,  Motoko “Moto” Henusaki, and possibly one or two others met at the clubhouse  before dawn.    

       “Everybody form up on the road behind me,” Samantha said.  “And it's dark, so I suggest you turn on your headlights.”  She patiently gave instructions to new drivers on how to turn on their lights, which gear to use, and other valuable information.   “Everybody should be in low gear with a speed of three,” she said.  “Watch your spacing.” 

     “Try not to press the self-destruct button,”  117 “Mohandar” Dirval joked. 

      When everyone was lined up, with lights on and armament off, the tanks began rumbling down the road.    Earlier, Elric Anatine had told me that of all the vehicles he had driven in Second Life, he has never had as much fun as he does now when he drives and tours in the tank.  “And the more the merrier,” he said.  “It's really impressive to have a convoy of tanks and friends for exploration.”

Grey Lupindo

Troubled Waters at the Blake Sea

As many of my readers know, the Blake Sea is the most widely used water area in all of Second Life. It was created a few years ago, with support from the community, to be a "sailing first" area of mainland, where races and pleasure sailing can occur without interference from other residents. The Blake Sea is Linden-owned, and therefore is supposedly open to everyone to use as they wish.

 

There have been many problems in the Blake Sea over the years. Almost as soon as it was created, the aviation community in Second Life saw the opportunity to use the 30 sim estate, and surrounding sailing estates that total over 100 sims. After some debate, an established set of guidelines for the aviation community in the Blake Sea was determined. Namely this meant that pilots could not fly close to the water (unless they were landing or taking off from an airfield), they need to remain clear of sailboats, and they must avoid areas that sailing races can occur.

 

Eventually, a third group joined the Blake Sea. The Pirates and Navy roleplay battles in century vessels, and have an established leadership. An area of the Blake Sea was set aside for their battles, the "Contested Waters" - a four sim block of open water, with rezzing enabled and a short autoreturn. The sailing community debated for a while, but with approval from Linden Labs, the pirates and navy were welcome into the Blake Sea, with the caveat that they remain in their own contested waters.

 

About a month ago, a new group has been gaining ground in the Blake Sea. They have been sailing around in WW2 era boats, which are rather large and visible from a great distance (depending on your draw distance). Some have been combative between each other, but most have been peacefully sailing in the public waters. In addition, this group (after gaining approval from the community liaison, MarkTwain White) has placed an aircraft carrier in the Southwest corner of the Blake Sea, in an area that is rarely used by the sailing community.

 

There has been mixed reaction to this new entity in the Blake Sea, for the most part split between the established sailing and aviation groups. At first, the new group has been using the entire public Blake Sea estate, but after discussions the group has agreed to remain in a small area away from everyone else - just like the Pirates and Navy. This area, in the southwest corner of the Blake Sea, is the least used by the sailing community, and does not contain any racing lines.

 

For a majority of the sailing community, this was not well accepted, and has culminated with a rather large protest on June 17th, 2012. Participants were asked to silently protest the new group's activities, waiving white flags and floating next to the aircraft carrier. In response, the aviation and pirate communities, for the most part, started protesting their protest - waiving green flags and lining up in helicopters and aircraft. It was a sight to behold! According to one protester, Gwenetha Juliesse, who was waiving a green flag and is an avid aviation enthusiast, "We already have established air traffic routes over the Blake Sea area for people's convenience. There must be some way of establishing battle zones for ships or so on."

 

A proposal has been submitted to Linden Lab regarding this issue, but they have yet to make an official decision as of this time of writing. This proposal, which involves setting aside a four sim block in the southwest corner for their use, which mirrors what was approved for the pirates group.

 

Marianne McCann recently stated the "situation in the Blake Sea is getting worse." She told of a group notice from Tig Spijkers on the SL Aviation group, "Effective and immediately all military style or combat boats, planes, helicopters, etc are now banned from the Saliors Cove regions. Only current exception to this rule are the aircraft and vessels of the SL Coast Guard."  

 

Gemma Cleanslate and Howdy Colter, pictures by Marianne McCann

Vivid Animations and the New BAY

I met with Leopard Adored, the new owner of the Bondage and Yiff club, which he bought from Entangled, and had some words with him. A fellow bartender mentioned that he owned something called Vivid Animations, so I wondered what that was. I asked him and he answered, "Animations, furnishing, etc., but animated with furs in mind so our avatars line up better than humans during certain activities."

And what he likes to do with his animations is maintain many clubs across the massive realm of Second Life. The Lindens that he gets from selling his designs and animations is what allows him to Establish community's across Second life. He took credit with gounding the IYC from 2008, which was sold to Primal in 2010, and currently also owns/founded YIFF, SL's current No1 trafficing  furry club.

What he is doing with Bay, that he recently bought, is test out new bar tending animations for the bartenders. And I happen to be one of them. When I cycled through the animations, they were very realistic. For example one was my foxy self wiping down the bar table or leaning in towards the patrons listening in to their conversation. Amazingly there are also yiff animations in the bartender pose program as well. Another animation new to BAY that Leopard is innovating is on a barstool. Two people can sit together in a cuddle pose as if hugging each other.

What’s new to BAY as well is the new bathhouse. That afternoon when I happened to bump into him, he had just installed a new bar table, and there were massage  tables with his animations. What you may notice is when you walk in is on a door that says in silver letters, “The VIVID bathhouse &  massage spa.”

In addition to the new bathhouse and new animations all over, Leopard drastically changed the design of BAY making the environment look darker. The new design adds to the BDSM element of the club with hanging chandeliers and dragons hugging pillars. There are also pictures of furries hanging on the wall in BDSM poses adding more to the atmosphere. Fear not if bdsm is not your thing but you want to check out the new bay. Everyone is welcome just to grab a drink, or more if you like.

Off the subject, Leopard admitted to building and designing 39 clubs, and amazingly he has built more human clubs than furry despite his avatar being a black feline fursona. "We built about 90% of the human hip-hop venues," he told me, adding, "it only gets easier now." He said that in reference to buying and building up the clubs, "with the right training, tools and staff they just look after themselves in time. End result is creating a purpose to be on SL and a warmer chance of meeting a friend or partner."

It’s amazing when you think about it where Second Life is almost like real-life, where you could own and operate a club or perhaps many clubs so long as you maintain it keeping the right staff as he said.

Leo said later down the line he will add in a Yiff's vendors, as right now bay is a new marketplace for his new animations which is testing out through vivid animations with the new bar tending and massage table AOs. For patrons old and new there’s still the greedy greedy table on a second level easily accessible by climbing the stairs.

The new Bay in short is an amazing club to hang at with many DJs playing many genres of music for everyone’s tastes with a brand new look. So if you have been to BAY before as a regular or you just heard of one of SL’s most popular furry clubs stop on by and ask for a drink and or shake that tail on the dance floor.

Grease Coakes

Yoga in Second Life

In the vast universe of the virtual world of Second Life, there’s more to it than a myriad of clubs to fight for your patronage. Gemma reported on a theatre sim for MST3K fans for example. Take another odd step and you can find a sim devoted to Brahma holding meditation classes in Brahma yoga a few times a week. Who is Brahma you ask? Brahma is the Hindu version of god who is the universe that we are all a part of.

Wait what? A meditation class here in Second Life? As odd as that sounds there is a teacher or as his title states “Guru” which is a Sanskrit word meaning teacher or master. I know him first hand as Pramiil Magne and he is my Guru in Second Life.

For almost 5 years now Pramiil has been a guru here in Second Life and a real life guru for over 30 years. He has said a few times that he wanted to expand his teaching. So he takes advantage of Second Life to hold classes for people all over the world. For example one of my classmates is from Germany. As well holding classes in real life in Australia, he holds them in various ashrams on his sim. For example the Tuesday class at 4pm SL time is always held at the Shiva temple.

Pramiil’s role as Guru is to impart spiritual knowledge along with to be shortcut for people like you and me to jump directly to Brahma. How does he do that? Pramiil generates Shakti like an electrical generator which makes it much easier for the average Joe or Jane to meditate.

In Hinduism there is the chakra system like a spiral within the soul of the human body. Humans have 7 chakras, animals only have four chakras. A chakra is an energy center that holds life force or kundalini. Fox animal totems trigger the awakening of the kundalini.

The base chakra is the lowest chakra at the base of the spine. The sacral chakra is next as the sex organs for both men and women. Next is the navel chakra around you guessed right your navel. A chakra that represents love which seems obvious is the heart chakra.

Next which represents commutation is the throat chakra, which is at your throat for speech. Next at your forehead is the third eye which allows if strong enough allows you to see and hear spirits. Finally the seventh chakra is the crown chakra at your forehead or crown of your head. A good way to know that all your chakras are filled is if your hands are warm.

The goal of his classes is for everyone to reach liberation and to rejoin with Brahma. As he states within class we are souls that yearn to be back with Brahma and feel his eternal love. Liberation only happens when you have burned away all your karma. Karma is generated through action and reaction. For example bullying kids for lunch money makes bad karma and supporting a nonprofit makes good karma. Nobody wants bad karma, but even good karma should be burned away to reach Liberation faster. Pramiil states this is the goal of all human souls to rejoin with Brahma.

How do you burn away karma? With fire of course! When anyone meditates karma is like cotton wool is the example Pramiil used to describe how easily karma burns away. Meditation burns away a great deal of it.

So if you have a burning desire to get closer to God or you’re at least curious check out one of his classes during the week here are his class times.


Sunday 4am SL time
Tuesday 4pm SL time
Wednesday 4am SL time
Friday tantric dance 4:30am SL time
Saturday two classes: 5am SL time dance class, 4pm SL time

Airtol Hill (12, 241, 61)

By Grease Coakes

Castawave Cove's Comeback

Among the clubs at the FCA club alliance, Castaway Cove hasn't been used much lately. Cutlass, Club Zero Gravity, The Cocktail Lounge, and the Happy Vixen all have regularly scheduled events. But with a number of DJs getting caught up in real life, one club, Castawave Cove, despite it's unique design of a beach club between two halves of a shipwreck, was getting only occasional events. People came by to hang out to play it's games, or shop at the vendors there. But parties there were irregular.


Finally on the evening of May 14th, Nydia Tungsten, the owner of Castaway Cove, made an announcement. The club would be closing. But there would be one last party there. DJ "Purple Puppy" L'sai would be playing the music. And true to her nickname "Naughty Nydia," the vixen decided to give everyone a chance to let their hair down with a nude party with a huge prize on it's "Last Hurrah."


Castaway cove is having it's final party tonight, come dance the night away as the original purple puppy DJ L'sai spins her tunes for us, but we aren't going out with a whimper but with a BANG! $3000 L's will be up for grabs at this final Naked nite. Your'e all invited. Starts at 6 pm SLT. SEE YA HERE!!

And as 6PM approached, people headed over to the Kalmeere Paradise sim and dropped in at the club, a collection of over two dozen human, neko, and furry avatars. Many went "au natural" for a chance at the Lindens. But others kept on a swimsuit, not really competing for the prize but just coming for a good time and to see the club one last time. People sent requests to L'sai, both popular tunes and some parodies by Second Life musicians SonicBlu Darkfold, and a few riskee tunes from Corsi Mousehold.

During the party, Nydia gave an explanation for the club's closure, "Many have asked why we are closing. Well here it is. Castaway Cove was created to create a draw to a new sim, to generate interest. Well it has done its job. the Sim owner needs to start renting this land, so we will be closing. But not forever who know what lies over the horizon. I just hope you have all enjoyed our run, and if your'e interested in the land, just send me an IM. Just remember to party as if it is your last, because some day it just might be 'Eat drink and be merry for tomorow we lose our club!' "

For two hours, the party went on. Then the 3,000 prize was voted on, and then given out. But this wasn't the final word on the club. The following day, Nydia had the following announcement:


We're Back! … We had a blast last night, and we partied into the night. Every one was sad to see the club go but not as much as Skylark Lefavre. Due to her most generous offer, Castaway Cove will be around for quite some time. So if you see her, thank her for being our clubs benefactor.


And so, the pirate club continues. Word is, there will be some Primtionary game events at the sim again soon. For anyone interested in managing or DJing at the club, contact Nydia Tungsten.

Bixyl Shuftan

MMO Review: Tera

So seeing there was a new MMO flavor of the month and I had a few extra dollars to spend, I thought "why not, it'll give me something to do while waiting for Torchlight 2 to come out." So I went and got the game "Tera", by some Korean company that, according to their wikipedia entry for the game, saw a touch of legal action before release of the game (but won).

So after picking the game up and playing through the first 25 levels... 

The artwork is very attractive. If it's something this company knows how to do, it's graphics. If your computer can handle the powerful graphics, turn the settings all the way up and you won't be disappointed. If you like breathtaking vistas, you'll like Tera; the graphics are better than both WoW and Rift. I won't say better than both combined because the background is kinda "comical" and maybe just a little bit cartoony (lack of better words); Rift has it beat on realism. The general premise of the game is different than most: no factions like the Horde vs the Alliance of WoW, or the Guardians vs the Defiant for Rift. Here, it's harmony. Well almost, there IS PvP elsewhere. The idea is that two titans dreamed up the world and everything on it. Now some creatures called "argons" (mechs? robots? I'm not sure) are hell bent on wrecking the place and making griefers of themselves.

Combat is interesting in that attacks have weight and visible power behind them, if you miss with a big slam and they move out of the way you leave yourself open as you recover and could get knocked down or one-shot. If you don't time your attacks and just mash buttons (as I am used to doing), you are not going to get very far at all.

While the premise of the game is good, the interface is crap. I'm used to clicking and dragging the view around, the same way as most other games out there. Not so with Tera; either the mouse controls the camera (leaving it unable to click buttons for special attacks because moving the mouse moves the camera) or right click buttons, leaving it impossible to change the view quickly if you have enemies attacking from several sides at once. This does mean you have to actually have some skill to play, though. It's not a point and click game by any means. I chose a "tank" class (the kind of player that stands there and keeps the enemy busy while others shoot them down), and tanking is -very- hard if you don't get the timing just right (due to the whole "all actions have weight to them" mechanic).

The outfits are mostly T&A --- some of these waif girls should either be toppling over paralyzed or have their own gravitational field coming from their chests that is powerful enough to snag Jupiter. Most of the outfits look exactly the same and are divided up into "tiers" (all armor and weapons of the same tier look alike) that can be "dyed" (which is both expensive and temporary) in order to customize them. I haven't bothered with that, as armor's armor and weapons are weapons... as long as they get the job done, who cares what they look like. Function over form, as it were.

The crafting is very very "overdone" --- many many things need to be crafted in order to make even the most basic of items. This has led me to not even bother with doing crafting, despite the fact that the game says crafted items are more powerful --- I've gotten by just fine on what I have and I'm almost half way to the level cap as it is. Questing seems like it's the standard fetch/kill x of y type, so nothing new there. No clicking or running over to pick up fallen treasures either; that's also all keyboard based. At least you can't pick up stuff that "doesn't belong to you" though I am unclear if things "revert" to a free for all after X minutes of no pickup.

The classes seem to be a mishmash of strange things. I think the company that created this tried a little too hard in order to seem "unique", and created a congealed mess, class-wise. Warriors are leather-wearing dualwielders and the game's "tank" class (the Lancer) wields a lance and shield -without- being mounted (wouldn't that be, I dunno, really unwieldy?). I haven't tried anything with the caster classes. I think the game company may have felt threatened by the upcoming Diablo release and wanted to get their game out.

The races are cute; everything from a resistant-to-everything (up to and including the heat death of the universe) warrior to a cute little "enlightened animal" (whose race is "all males animals, all females cat-or-bunny girls"), give something new to the table.

Overall, aside from the artwork being worthy of being better than god, I am still kind of unimpressed. At $60 + a subscription fee + middling customer support after three days of waiting about something, I am going to say unless you like shiny anime-ish artwork and an interface that makes you want to rip your fur out while trying to figure it out, give this one a pass unless you have the loose change and the time to spend on it. The game has good intentions and somewhat good ideas in spite of there being no real unique ideas on the planet anymore, but has a Linden-level ability of execution in that UI until people learn it and get used to it, which is something I am still trying to do twenty five experience levels into the game. I'm going to give this one three dragon hoards out of five, and that's being nice. It's growing on me just a little, but not enough to give it any more than three hoards.

Torchlight 2, on the other hand, when that comes out? THAT will be worth every penny and more of the $20 it will cost...

Xymbers Slade

Return of the Trollop

 

While I was wondering in Mcarp land, I crashed into the next sim where I found that Maya Paris is getting a new build ready, but has placed her Crash Bang Trollop there for a fun time. This is an ocean, but under the ocean looking from above, I suspect I am settling on  parts of a body under the water with certain parts exposed. I grabbed the ZAP suit and got ready to crash bang!!Pick up a notecard to aid you.  

 

Maya’s directions read, “Run Wild,  turn up your sound and click everything!  Dodge the needlefish, tiptoe through the aggravated follicles, help those boobs escape the underwires, Wax on....and off....claw your way through the waters, dare to try the trollop-rocket? Spray yourself orange, and don't forget to Vajazzzzz.” 

 

Laughing Out Loud! It is hard to describe this build she has placed in the sim while she creates the new one that will be there until August. It is something you have to experience for yourself. All around the build you can search for free trollop gadgets that will aid you in your  traverse. I did not get to paint myself orange but tried everything else! Don’t miss it while you have a chance. I will let you know when the new build is up! http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA10/127/131/22

 

Gemma Cleanslate

The Voodoo Curse

A little over a year ago, Second Life was hit by the Redzone controversy. For those not familiar, Redzone was an alt detector that worked by scanning IP adresses, and  banning avatars from a hit list shared through the services' security systems. It raised privacy concerns as in theory a stalker could track someone this way. Plus it didn't really work as IP adresses can change, and the wrong person could and was mistaken for the target and blacklisted. In response came "Greenzone," which detected which areas were covered by Redzone. Eventually, Linden Lab reacted against Redzone. Redzone's creator zFire threatened to retaliate, and was soon banned from Second Life.

zFire once boasted if Redzone was ever banned, another alt detector would replace it. And in an interview with Paisley Beebe in March 2011, one of Team Greenzone mentioned there were a few systems that claimed to do what Redzone did. So even though Redzone was gone, would something else take its place?

Recently Treminari Huet, a Second Life blogger and one of the first to warn about Redzone, came to me about another alt detector: Voodoo.

Voodoo's "anti-bot" system advertises itself as "most effective at deterring … people using … (alts) to cheat games, grievers, and avatars known to cause problems," saying this was a way to deter cheaters at contests and games whom would otherwise enter multiple times in contests, and thus get the alts' owner a bigger share of the money.


In the early days of the products life cycle there was a big bot problem in Second Life around the TMY sploders which were originally designed to attract traffic to locations and provide small amounts of money to residents. Scripted bots would fill regions and take the money.
Voodoo's systems have changed that. Since the beginning we have been exploring new ways of detection and ways to reduce false positives and we have increased support resources. Our purpose is to enforce fair play and make gaming a better experience for everyone.

While discussing Voodoo, Treminari sent me a couple links to stories by Forceme Silverspar and   Examiner writer Douglas Green, both written in Summer 2011. Green's issue with Voodoo was it's role as a 'Sploder security system, as any form of gambling in Second Life was technically illegal. Forceme Silverspar decided to take a closer look at Voodoo to check the worries of some in Greenzone if this was indeed a second "Redzone." She checked the system and noted that the Voodoo Sploder gave those nearby a warning that those wishing to be verified to play would have their IP address revealed to Voodoo. While she felt Voodoo could have been more clear about it, she concluded this was a fair warning. Plus she found "no evidence whatsoever of any sharing of … alt data outside of 'Voodoo.' " Of the ban list, Forceme stated, "this should not be called 'Anti-bot' but rather 'Anti-anyone we Voodoo people don't like." Of the question whether or not Voodoo was using the same media loophole as Redzone, she concluded probably not.

In the end, Forceme concluded Voodoo was most likely no big deal, except being a poor product for the purchaser, "the whole Anti-bot device is a joke, don't bother …. and to those who have had their name put in because Voodoo doesn't like them, and that means they are banned from using the sploders and going on land that runs the Anti-bot device, yeah, whatever."

In her first article about Voodoo, Treminari noted that the Greenzone HUD reacts to a Voodoo sploder "like it would any Redzone-like system." But only the wearer of the HUD gets the alert. She tried testing Voodoo for a "media exploit." Going about the few locations she could find that used Voodoo sploders, "I did find attempts in media to send to a specific IP and port number … " but, " … I was unable to rule out what I did see recurring as the possibility of other products that set media URLs, such as a harmless shoutcast DJ board." She concluded her tests were inconclusive.

Treminari was ready to just leave Voodoo alone, then came another development. Talking to her, she described Voodoo's owner Monkey Wonder as entering the Greenzone chat and stirring up arguments, "just because the group has a few anal members, its like anything else. You kick the hornets nest, most of them are going to sting you. He kicked the hornets nest ,making it regular business to enter the group and troll its members and pick fights with them." Monkey did have a right to defend his product, but Treminari felt he was going too far, ".... he did have a right to complain, until he started threatening the groups members and businesses that participate as a whole."

The threat was in a notecard Monkey Wonder passed around to various members of the Greenzone group.


Dear Greenzone griefing group member,

Following mass defamation, griefing, propoganda, scamming and false abuse reports initiated by members of Greenzone griefing group recently on a scale never before seen in SL, Voodoo has taken the decision to protect our customers and other residents of Second Life from your activities.

Greenzone once had a legitimate purpose in Second Life, protecting the privacy of residents from systems such as Red Zone.
Red Zone is long gone, and Greenzone now operates more like the Anonymous hacking collective. The moderators have lost control, and the group is now a leaderless organisation that anyone with a grudge can join to attack others in the name of Greenzone.

Voodoo produces an extremely popular free Sploder tracking HUD which is owned by thousands and used everyday by many people, we have a user base of over 40,000 avatars. The next version of these HUDs, to be released imminently, will announce any nearby Greenzone griefers in local chat by name, along with any land owned by these griefers and any objects created by them. We believe your creations and land are not safe as you are a member of a group well known for griefing.

We do however understand that there is a minority of legitimate business owners currently in the griefing group, who joined long before Greenzone was hijacked by trouble makers. Due to this, we are allowing 12 hours for you to leave the group and avoid any damage to your business.

Voodoo has been at the forefront of SL security for many years and we take it and peoples privacy very seriously.

We do not wish to become ememies of any group, but we simply cannot tolerate people who choose to attack or scam others.

Thank you for your understanding and please make the right decision.

Monkey Wonder
Owner of Voodoo SL

At this point, the nature of the debate changed. Treminari in her article called Monkey Wonder's statement, " 'leave your discussion group or I will do something very bad to you,' obviously meant to coerce people into leaving, which is the very definition of blackmail: 'to force or coerce into a particular action.'" In my conversations with her, "He sent the threat to the whole group, and said he would be setting up his HUD to slander any members present. I take threats directed at me wether it be directly at me or what I have membership in very seriously." She felt concerning his actions, Linden Labs had only one realistic option, "he crossed a line you don't cross, so I will be seeking at the very least his removal from the Grid."

Joining the group to get more information, the reaction of the group was disbelief, and anger, an Anguissette Resident stating, "Leave the group or they'll blackban my products? My products are widely sold. That will anger a lot of product owners. In all my travels through SL, I have only encountered two Voodoo products. One was at the Voodoo creators shop, and slandered me in local chat as a copybot, which of course I am not. The other was in a very unsuccessful and empty club, and wasn't working, according to the error messages it flooded local chat with. I have never griefed anyone. Any claims I have ever made about voodoo were based solely on fact and what Monkey himself told me. That is not griefing. I will not stand by and let him label me as a griefer. I will not let him threaten me and my business.  I will not bow down to threats of blackmail. I will not be slandered and abused. Monkey must abide by not only the TOS, but also the laws of the countries he trades in, both his own and that of his customers. I hope he is reading what we are writing here today. I will be ARing this notecard, on the many infractions of TOS. … I can't believe he's asserting that someone's land might not be safe if they purchase something from my shop. That just makes my blood boil. I make cards and funny signs. Is a greeting card that sends you a hug a weapon of mass destruction now? … I won't be leaving the group. Report that to your leader, Monkey boys. And every time I or something I created or own gets blacklisted, I will file an AR."

After I asked for information, I was IMed by one member of the group. He claimed that a number of "Greenzone proponents" were former members of Woodbury, an infamous group that Linden Labs has banned from the Grid. He cautioned me to watch out for anti-JLU (Justice League Unlimited) propaganda, but I noticed none that night, or as of the writing of this article or any night I observed Greenzone chatter.

One Greenzone member, Unya Tigerfish, sent out a notecard that appeared in a group notice not long after Treminari first contacted me on the matter.


Dear members of the GZ group!

Recently I have revisited the Voodoo products, and to my positive surprise I noticed that Monkey Wonder has in fact adapted many privacy features and thereby relieved a lot of the concerns regarding privacy that were the reasons for this group to fight against the products.

Therefor, I personally contacted Monkey Wonder and we agreed that I should give him a list of the remaining few items that we think were still in violation of privacy. Were those addressed, we would be happy to clear Voodoo products from our "Bad" list. Our talk ended cordially in a truce.

HOWEVER!

Only a week after this talk, before I was finished compiling this list, members of the Greenzone group are receiving a blackmail: "leave GZ group within 12 hours or you, your items, and your creations will be blacklisted"

I personally feel betrayed!  We as the GZ group have pride!

And we will not bow to blackmail!

The GZ group is no griefer group! Therefor, I would like to suggest that everyone of you who is subject to the blackmail of Monkey Wonder, AR him, and whoever is subject to his announced griefing in local chat, AR the person owning the offending device.

Monkey Wonder, consider our talks cancelled. You have shown that you are no man of honour, but instead a blackmailing criminal.

For GZ,

Unya Tigerfish


Heading to Voodoo's office in Voodoo City, Morenci (213, 207, 22), I came across a couple of Monkey's staff. When I asked one about Greenzone, he didn't seem to know what was going on, "green zone, are they making trouble again?" " 'Again?' You have some trouble with them before?" "lol nothing much. … guess if you want info like that, you'll have to talk to the boss." And he told me they would get in touch with Monkey Wonder. A couple days later when I appeared in the office again, he was there.

I asked about trouble between he and Greenzone, and he answered, "Yes it started a long time ago when they misunderstood how our products work and blacklisted us and our customers with their hud. the gz hud says 'Spyware detected' when it sees anything created by me." Telling him of their wondering of a possible similarity to Redzone, "voodoos main thing is the sploder game. we are very strict about cheating. we ban a lot of avatars who try to cheat, so we have enemies. when someone wants to get at us, they join greenzone. so gz is fed false info from these people. without investigation, we were blacklisted by them. if everyone is guilty until proven innocent, why are we targeted? … for months members of the group have lied repeatedly to try to damage us .. they send notecards to our customers saying our products are illegal, they visit my shop. so we decided to implement a similar blacklist."

Of the charges of him sending a notecard to various Greenzone members, Monkey Wonder admitted it, "yes i sent a warning to green zone members explaining what we intended to do. The nc said we would implement the system in 12 hours but it was more like 48. we will be targeting other griefer groups also, to warn our customers and members." "So 48 hours for 'legitimate business owners' to leave, or else?" "voodoo is a security business. 12 hours until we blacklist members of this group because the group is well known for causing grief to other residents." I responded that I hadn't heard of any problems with Greenzone since the Redzone controversy. "Maybe you should talk to the JLU," Monkey responded.

When asked about Unya Tigerfish and if they talked, "yes she is a moderator at green zone, we spoke and talked about changes that could be made to our systems. … She made some vague claim she was going to talk to others and get a list of changes, then nothing happened ... the problem is, there are a lot of people in the group now who are not interested in privacy, they just want to try and damage us in revenge for being banned. you turned my warning on me and said it was a threat, but greenzone have already carried out their action before any warning and now we are blackmailed to make changes or stay on their blacklist. we didn't get a warning."

Monkey Wonder claimed, "6 people have come to me so far and asked to stay in the group and not be blacklisted by us 'because they are in the group to monitor their activities and prevent attacks by them.' it is a griefer group." "So you're not banning everyone in the group?" "i'm not banning anyone unless they grief, but everyone in the group is blacklisted and announced by our tracker HUD."

Monkey Wonder concluded his side of the matter, "voodoo is a gaming and security business, we are not out to invade anyones privacy and really we don't care who anyone is .. we are just concerned with keep the integrity of our games through fair play. i am not a criminal as unya thinks. i am a programmer who makes SL gaming systems for a hobby. … it is not a scam operation. it is a fun thing for people and we have built a big community. The group is about 3000 strong, and we have a userbase of 40,000 … people who have ever played our games, or been customers. the key problem is the group is full of people with the only agenda of revenge."

The meeting seemed to end on a cordial note. But later, Treminari contacted me again and pointed out Voodoo had put me and her on his blacklist. Later on in one of the rare moments I made a comment in the Greenzone chat, when I told someone Treminari had blogged about the controversy and I would be writing an article, a "Killer Sugarplum" responded, "amazing, Bixyl, you represent yourself as a reporter when you had your mind made up before you ever talked to both sides, your reputation isn't worth crap." Treminari had told me she suspected Killer was one of Monkey Wonder's alt accounts.

Chatting with Treminari, she felt what Monkey Wonder did deserved more than just a boot from the Grid, "If Linden Lab don't ban him, I will be getting in contact with the FBI regarding this. I contacted the FBI regarding zFire. The appropriate action for dealing with him is exactly the same." She felt Monkey Wonder deserved "criminal prosecution" for his threats, "He's running a gambling operation on a California based service and threatened an entire group. And (he) was knowledgable he was threatening innocent people too, even says so in the notecard with the statement about innocent business owners. Even if it's a baseless threat, its still a threat nonetheless. And also it reflects on his lack of ethic in his business practice that he would even consider doing such a thing: integrating a slander tool with his HUD. So it really goes to show his SL bot protect ban list ain't to be trusted."

Legal issues aside, Monkey Wonder and Voodoo may soon have a problem on their hands. Keeping an eye on the Greenzone chatter, there were numerous residents stating they were filing ARs against Monkey Wonder. One of the group posted what Voodoo was saying about her:   GRIEFER WARNING: This land is owned by (name of resident), who is blacklisted by Voodoo for being a member of Greenzone Griefer Group. The parcel is not safe. If as many people are sending ARs as I noticed, let alone when I wasn't online, the sheer number is almost certainly going to be at least looked into by Linden Lab. What they'll do about Voodoo and it's owner, that's yet to be seen.

Voodoo is not looking like another "Redzone," but it's owner's actions have created a controversy that will take Linden Lab to resolve.


Sources: Treminari's Secondlife Blog, Forceme Silverspar's Adventures in Second Life, The Examiner, Voodoo

Bixyl Shuftan

The Mama Allpa Conception HUD and Service

Virtual pregnancies in Second Life are nothing new. These services have been in Second Life for some time. Trouble is, the "tummytalkers" they have are often irritating to other residents nearby. And the setup in the hospital resembling an artificial insemination service may not be exactly ideal to those seeing a pregnancy as starting with an act of intimacy between a couple.

Yt Recreant offers an alternative with a more realistic beginning for virtual pregnancies, as well as not having the feedback that others hear: Mama Allpa, "Mama Allpa is a conception HUD system. It addresses people who want to mate in SL with the 'consequence' of having babies. Of course I am a bit biased about the product options (grin), but I can rightly say that my product is the market leader, by far, and also highly configurable."

Yt got the idea for Mama Allpa when she looked into virtual pregnancies on Second Life. She checked the services already on the market, and found them lacking. So she created the conception HUD. "I had for example all these questions that simply occur when one commits to something that lasts longer than a day, like, how much time is available, how long do I want this commitment, how realistic do I want it to be, and all that."

Yt described it as, "a couple HUD system, people can see the other gender, by a small sign on their display. so if you are in a club, and wear it, you can identify others wearing it too. That saves the awkward question … then, when male and female mate, the success of conception depends on some factors, like how often did the couple have sex. But a lot more so, such as in which stage of her cycle is she? The HUD is also configurable … cycle and gestation length adjust automatically … as well as the option to multiple births."

The Mama Allpa HUD is not too expensive, at 249 each, "the system itself comes without any 'hidden sidecosts.' … As I have had the intention to make pregnancy and delivery of babies an affordable potion for everyone," Yt explained, "the HUD also comes with support for prenatal care and delivery, for free, supplied by a team of 50 doctors." The doctors work without charge to clients at private locations, "plus we also provide a clinic here at our island." The Mama Allpa team has personel fluent in Spanish and other languages besides English, "from all time zones and many countries."

The HUD also has the option to suspend fertility, as if the male was using condoms or the female on the pill. There's also a "multiposer" built in, "if one has the mood but not the place (grin). The poser is loaded with mocap animations."

Of when the pregnancy comes to an end, "when the days are up, the HUD simply sends a message, that the days are up, that the HUD now stops counting, and just waits with the delivery, when everything is set. So the mother-to-be can deliver her baby at any stage past month 6 when she and her partner, and whoever else they want around, have the time." The gestation and cycle are also highly configurable.

There is one feature found in other virtual pregnancies that Mama Allpa does not have and will never have: "tummy talkers." "Mama Allpa does not make tummy talkers. Third party people make them. … I would be (pause) pretty much wondering if my belly talked (grin) however, i understand the motivation why people want them as they need kind of an advice, how to do what in a pregnancy. But there, i prefer the 'advisory' that comes the silent way with Mama Allpa. Which is the only HUD system of its sort that does so."

Yt then razzed a box on the ground, "this box for example, picked this one randomly," inside was a display on what Week 9 or a pregnancy is like, suggesting the lady might feel sleepy and have mood swings, "It says, one should see to drink a lot of water and stuff. This box holds then a freebie item, a glass of water (grin), just a small thing. Other boxes hold some wardrobe, games for playing with the partner, cuddle pillows, and more. It's like each week they get a surprise."

Yt mentioned another detail. In real life, "if you are pregnant, you want an ultrasound of course also done by your doc. Mama Allpa is the only system that gives you personalized ultrasound printouts with your name and week on them." She razzed a random one from her inventory, "So, upon examination the doctor just presses 'print' and then there comes the picture, with development, stage, name and week, also for free."

Of the people who use the conception HUD, "there are many different people, and they all have this for different motivations. Some do it for some extra fun. Some do it to 're-live' the parenthood they had in real-life for here. Some do it because they are not having kids in real life," whether from choice or infertility in real life, which can be emotionally devastating to some women, whom may find therapeutic value in a virtual pregnancy, "so really, the motivations vary greatly."

"The support group, which holds roundabout 5000 active people, shows that there are really all different sorts of people. (There are) very 'kinky' ones, and then there are also very normal families." Some are from role-play areas, while some are "who do not roleplay at all, but use this as (an) add-on to their daily SL." The people include all age groups from young to old, as well as all kinds of species of avatars, "it's not really nailed down to … 'humans having kids.' "

"Another big point is also the RL/SL (time) conversion rate. In Second Life, the SL weather system changes day & night in an interval of 4 hours. this value is set 'just so' by Linden Lab. So, the HUD comes with 1 day in SL is 4 hours real-life. But one can change it, from having one SL day = 2 hours up to 1 SL day = 24 hours. And one can change that at any given time, without harming an ongoing pregnancy. That way people can be pregnant really as long as they want, as fast or as slow as they want."

Of the conception HUD, the unit purchased is ready to wear without packing. Upon wearing it, the activation of Xcite scripts is announced. Two sex symbols, male & female appear (Mars & Venus) if there's someone of the opposite sex nearby also using the HUD. But if the wearer is alone, only his/her symbol appears. If a female is willing, the male's HUD will tell him of the girl "opening" herself to him, and no longer being open, "no one except the two get any notices."

The HUD itself also has an option of six languages to appear in. A nonhuman can also set it to his/her species.

A one of a kind, and well supported, virtual pregnancy service in Second Life.

The Main Mama Allpa store can be found at Mama Allpa (156, 202, 28) (Adult). Besides the conception HUD up for sale, there are a number of other vendors from other businesses selling wares at the store. While some are clearly of an adult nature, some are more family-friendly, such as maternity wear. More information about Mama Allpa can be found at the Mama Allpa Times blog, or the help website (Click Here) (note, both sites have an occasional nude picture, so careful about reading from work).

Bixyl Shuftan

Addition: The Mama Allpa blog is no longer active, so the link has been removed. 

ApRiL fOoL!!!

Happy April Fool’s Day from Second Life Newser.

May it be full of meriment, joy, and of course general foolery. ;-)

Bixyl Shuftan

For last year's April Fool, Click Here. For examples of SLN's April Foolery, Click the following: 2010, 2009, and 2008.

Classic SLN: Mystery Science Theater 3000 (2008)

Recently, Gemma Cleanslate wrote on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 in Second Life. I had come across the place before, in 2008. And in writing about it for Second Life Newspaper, I did so in a humorous style that Editor Dana loved to the point it was one of our exhibition articles at the SL5B later on. With the close of SLN, however, the article became blocked from view, so here it is again. There have been a number of changes at the place since it was written, so keep in mind this isn't exactly the same ship. Things change in four years.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

From 1988 to 1999 the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, also known as MST3K for short, hilariously poked fun at B-rated science fiction flicks. Attracting a cult following, the show was so popular, to watch a bad tv show with friends just to openly make fun of the lame bits became known as to “Mist” it.

I heard there was a tribute to MST3K here in Second Life, owned by a Squeebee Wakawaka in the BlaksleeWorld sim at (196/160/24). I put visiting the place on my “to do” list. However, the arrival of a couple visitors at the newspaper office sped up my plans a little.

Crow: Look Tom, a fox in a hat and coat!

Me: Wha- what are you doing here?

Crow: Look Tom, a fox in a hat and coat that talks!

Tom Servo: Looks like Rupert Murdock is out to take over the newspapers as well as TV news.

After a short conversation, I brought up the MST3K place here, and the two robots were curious and agreed to go there with me. So we teleported over.

Crow: Wooooooosh! Ah! I can’t see, I’m blind! Oh wait, that’s just the lag here.

Tom Servo, Welcome to Second Lag, where you too can hurry up and wait.

It wasn’t long though before the scene became clear. There stood two large statues of two familiar robots, with a certain ship behind them.

Crow: That does not look like me!

Tom Servo: Really? I thought that mustache looked rather fitting on you.

Crow: And is that the Satellite of Love? Oh noes! It’s half sunken into the ground. The apes have taken over! You idiots! You blew it up! Darn you all to heck!

Tom Servo: Wasn’t that supposed to be “Damn you all to Hell?”

Crow: The last time I used that line, I was in a PG sim and got booted.

We then went around to the front of the ship, at least we thought it was the front. The ship was next to some water with a big fish about to eat a motorboat and a small inner tube near the ship.

Tom Servo: Boy that fisherman didn’t just use special bait, he was the special bait.

Crow: Maybe that’s some college goldfish swallowing initiation. The goldfish swallow them.

When we got closer to the door, it opened and we stepped into the Bridge. For a Bridge, it was pretty bare, just a few screens, but the panel that told everyone “We got movie” will be unmistakable to the fans. There were also a couple vendors which sold items related to the show from Joel’s uniform, to statues, to a Tom Servo avatar.

Crow: Look Tom, you’re for sale!

Tom Servo: I demand a cut of every transaction. And I’m going to have to ask Joel to modify me again. I don’t want a thousand of me running around.

Crow: But think of your fans.

Tom Servo: Hey, here’s one of you too.

Crow: What? I’ve been robbed. Call a lawyer! Hey fox, you wouldn’t happen to know a legal weasel, would you?

I tried pressing the button to activate the “door sequence” leading to the movie theater, but it wouldn’t work. Poking my hand through the bone-shaped-hinge, it went through.

Crow: Holograms! We’ve been had all these years! They were never able to just off oxygen to just the bridge to force Joel to watch movies!

So we then went through the door sequence, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and through the final door into the theater. We found the movie screen with one of the numerous cheesy flicks that aired, with the familiar shilluetes of Joel and the two robots, poking fun at it all the way as always. And in the seats were over a dozen people watching, and joking it along with them, some using language the three never did.

Tom Servo: I have this strange feeling, like there is an audience sitting right behind me, and laughing along with me.

Crow: They can’t do this to us! We have a copyright on riffinig bad movies!

And so, Crow went off to look for someone to complain to. I thought about asking the man behind the sales counter what he might know. But instead, Tom Servo and I got seats, and sat to watch this “so cheesy you could smell the parmesan” for a while. The wisecracks, like in the TV show, were the real entertainment.

Eventually, it was time to go, but not before some final words from the robots.

Crow: Good luck next time at the chicken coop.

Me. Ha ha. Very funny.

Tom Servo: And what’s with that hat and overcoat? Shouldn’t you be wearing a space pilot’s outfit or something and hanging out with a girl named ‘Krystal?’

It was then that I parted company with the two robots.

Friday evenings are the best time to show up as that’s when the MSTK fans meet reguarly for the weekly feature. One can also see the flicks in a lounge chair and TV at the shore near the robot statues, but it’s not nearly as fun

Bixyl Shuftan

An Awesome 80’s Club

Chances are if you live and breathe, you like 80’s music. And if you type 80’s music on a search you’ll find an 80’s club within Second Life. What club should one go too though?

In this humble furry’s opinion, the best place to go is Chini’s and Joh’s “I love the 80’s club.” After being in business for a year now, they recently celebrated their first year anniversary. Besides just listening to 80’s music there’s more around her club then just clicking the play button and dancing with friends. There’s a greedy greedy table and bumper cars. Wait bumper cars? I don’t know any other clubs that have bumper cars. I’d say that’s pretty unique. Among of the events Chini had to celebrate the one year anniversary was various contests like “300L for the highest score on skeeball.” I was mildly upset I was 10 points away from 300L.

Also when you walk in you see 80’s poster,s like the Blackhearts or the Police.
Behind the stage with the host and dj there on a brick wall you see their cool logo which says “I love the 80’s club” which does look very 80’s.That and a few arcade games to goof with while your hear a live dj play 80’s music.

The club got it's start when Chini to surprise her boyfriend wanted to make an 80’s style party and built it up in the sky of the sim so Joh wouldn’t find out about it.This was on an 1800’s pirate sim. Then she got her friends to hang out there and have a blast. Later on Chini along with Joh built their own club on the Pengo sim. “I Love the 80’s Club” as they both have a passion for the Reagan era style of music. Now Chini has moved her club to Neurnburg North.

However even with 80’s music theme, Chini and Joh still had to work every day to overcome the challenges of running an SL club. Having a popular music genre doesn’t equate to instant success and the club bursting with people throwing their hands in the air. The pair of them persevered throughout the year. Over time they hired dj/s and hosts to keep the club active and fresh for people to stop and have a good time, Chini said.

Chini Blaisdale-Solo (chinitadoll.blaisdale): I cannot even say we are experts in running a club, but we learn something new every now and then.

I commented back looking at the real-life New York Giants the football team. A few years ago they had a 0-2 start. Despite that they worked together as a team and pulled through and won the Superbowl. Chini says that team work helps keep her club on the up and up. No one wants to come to come to a club where the staff isn’t managed correctly. Even if Chini and Joh aren’t experts, seems like they have a good game plan at least.

Chini also seemed to have good support from her buddies, "But mind you our very first vips who happens to be very good friends of ours now are not big fans of 80's but they have made the club their home."

Just like the popular Bay furry club I reported on earlier, upholding a friendly environment seems to be a big key to making a club popular. Lots of people in SL or real-life want to come to a place they feel comfortable at and at home.

It looks like Chini and Joh know how to make the 80’s live again. Their traffic isn’t as high as say the bBackhearts, but still pretty high to draw regulars on now a daily basis.

Next time you want a dose of the police or Madonna or tears for fears Bruce Springsteen or bon Jovi, check out the “I Love the 80’s Club” It’s certainly a place in SL to call home.

Nuernberg North (62, 63, 21)

Grease Coakes

A Musical Sunday

Last Sunday on Feb 26th, I went to a couple music events that I happened to just hear about. The first I stopped by at was an ABBA tribute at Anvaya Cove after getting a notice in a group.

From Keras Karas, Hey guys!!! There is a great tribute concert ABBA at my sim. IF you guys love ABBA, this is a MUST SEE event! Come join us for some fun. (smile)

I went over, and the place was packed. With 55 avatars, there must have been a lot of ABBA fans on the Grid.

Friday night and the lights are low,
Looking out for a place to go,
Where they play the right music, getting in the swing,
You come in to look for a king,

Anybody could be that guy,
Night is young and the music's high,
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine,
You're in the mood for a dance,
And when you get the chance,

You are the dancing queen,
Young and sweet, only seventeen,
Dancing queen, feel the beat
From the tambourine, oh yeah,

You can dance, you can jive,
Having the time of your life,
Ooh see that girl, watch that scene,
Dig in the dancing queen.

As the event went on, tribute band members Dragonfire17 Ghost, Belyse, Aude Tylman, Kristen Katrina, Littlejohn2 Deed, Jaguar Pearl, and PJ Wasp continued to perform.

The event went on a little past the two hours scheduled, but eventually, it came to a close.

At the end, thanks were given to all involved in the concert, THANK YOU KATIA KERES TO PRODUCE THE SHOW OF TONIGHT ON YOUR LAND .... PJ ON GUITAR ** JAGUAR ON KEYBOARD ** DRAGONFIRE ON PIANO ** BELYSE ON BASS GUITAR **LITTLE JOHN ON DRUM **** KRISTINA AND AUDE THE SINGER ABBA ******* THE BAND ON STAGE APPLAUSE THEM .
So I say,
Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing,
Thanks for all the joy they're bringing,
Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty,
What would life be?
Without a song or a dance what are we?
So I say,
thank you for the music,
For giving it to me.

Feb 26 was also the last day of the Metaverse Music Expo in Areo Pines Park. Cindy Bolero told me it had been going on since the 22nd, with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the main events.

"The Metaverse Music Expo is intended to expose new avatars or avatars not already aware of live performances in Second Life, as well as serves as at networking mechanism for musicians and singers, connecting them with music professionals, venues, as well as a conference for marketing, technology, and artist development. By popular demand, the expo has been extended another week so visitors can still catch some live music and explore the expo grounds. ... Its been an amazing collection of talent and enthusiasm, over 80 performers during three days, with a new act every 30 min."

Around the area were "lemonade stands" which took donations for charity against cancer. One of the people involved, Lillith Siamendes, told me they had plans to repeat the event next year.

Sadly, the day was a bit overshadowed by events with Linden Lab, so publishing was delayed until now.

Bixyl Shuftan