A Tout Sweet Safari

 The region Novale on Creanovale grid has four glorious seasons, just like the real world it represents, the wildly beautiful Eastern Canadian countryside. It is the home of an extraordinary couple, very talented both in scripting and building, Dabici Straulino and Kelso Uxlay.

Spring comes relatively late to Canada, there's still snow in April, but of course when the sun does finally break through, then it's go time in the garden, and everything changes. Dramatic scenery on every hand has proved to be a great inspiration to Dabici who lays our the region, full of charming details like this garden-in-a-bottle. Kelso's speciality is, of course, scripting, and the many rides that animate the sim are signs of his skill.

This seasonal build will soon give way to the Summer Novale build, so don't delay if you want to visit! HG Address is as always, at the end of the post.

We arrived at the big tent in the corner of the region, which offers excellent resources to find your way around the build if you're a newcomer. Here's Mal Burns in his trademark stetson (no, not a turban, Forest, we all want to see a photo of whatever it is you see on Mal's head)

We all took a seat and got some background about how the sim goes through four big changes each year as it's dressed for the season. This arrival point has at the moment lots of spring and Easter-related items like the chocolate egg, and animals...

AMV Blue

 There's that magic blue in the air over on Metasea. You know, that magic blue that says family vacations, long summer evenings, and relaxing with friends. That's the underlying message behind the upcoming event here, from Friday 16 May to Sunday 18 May. 

I got a Notecard about it from grid owner Cataplexia Numbers. It was shorter than I expected, and very intriguing. A weekend campout that all are welcome to enjoy, with both community stuff happening like concerts and games, but also the change to get out into the wide blue yonder, and enjoy some outdoor sport, from the comfort of your own laptop.

Cataplexia and pet sheep at the campground.

Thirza Ember: what inspired this event?

Heart of Coal

In the summer of 1956, in a small town in Belgium called Marcinelle, disaster struck. Marcinelle was a coal mining town. Belgium in the 19th century was one of the most heavily industrialized countries in Europe, and coal was a big part of fuelling that industry. The mine at Marcinelle had been active since 1822 and had survived two world wars, fought intensely and bloodily in that part of the world. 

Belgium and Italy had signed a 'men for coal' deal in 1946, which gave Italian miners the chance to escape the poverty of postwar Italy and bring their expertise and fortitude to a new coalface. Italy, in exchange, got cheaper coal to help revive their ravaged economy. 

Over one hundred thousand miners over ten years headed north to make a living underground. By the mid fifties, then, the Italians in Belgium, often shunned by locals and obliged to live and work in stark conditions, had created for themselves and their families a distinct way of life, and the chance of a more prosperous future.

Sadly for many that future was cut short. On that morning in August, a poorly placed mining cart in an elevator cut through some cables, causing a fire in the Marcinelle mine.  There were 274 miners below ground; the fire created toxic gas, all but 12 of the men suffocated to death. This colossal tragedy took the lives of 136 Italians, mostly from the Northeastern regions of Friuli and Veneto. The youngest of the dead was the 16 year old Agostino Sacco.

Cut to this year, and the community of people who use, develop, and generally appreciate the content management system Joomla. (you use it to make websites). In Italy, one of the key members of that community is Druskus. He's also an oldbie in Opensim, owner of the historic Clone Life grid, and these days, of ZoneNations grid  and you may know his social site, Hype Metaverse, aimed at gamers of all kinds, but with quite a few opensim people on it.

Bloom's MIDI Magic

 Maia Antarra: the one hud to rule them all

Our final stop today was on Winxtropia, to see Bloom Peter's MIDI tool. There was an extended post about it a few weeks ago but of course reading about a place isn't anything like actually visiting, and projects like this one are always getting developed, expanded, and moved ahead in ways that the written word can't always keep up with.

Bloom is undoubtedly an Opensim treasure. The first visit by the Safari to one of her sims was - can you believe it? - in July of 2014, on OSGrid - we visited her famous roller coaster build, back then we knew her as the avatar Cuteulala Artis. 

It all begins with the keyboard.

But today's visit was all about the keyboard, all about the software, the music, the dancing. the cats, and making something even more outrageously fun... We arrived on Crescent Melody Studio (HG Addresses at the end of this post) which is a minimalist space, giving all possible energy to the explanation and demonstration of Bloom's MIDI tool

A Princely Safari

A slightly shorter trip today to visit Maze grid, run by Prince Amor. He's a big Star trek fan and we visited his Solar System region about a year ago, if you recall that flight between all the planets on a saucer, over on OSGrid. This was before the recent Asset event on OSgrid, and this time we're checking out Prince's own grid which boasts about twenty public regions plus plenty of residentials.

Fitheach Eun: Hi Prince

Tosha Tyran: Hi Prince, you look like it is best to keep a little distant... :D

Maia Antarra: hi Prince,  if I bump into anyone...I can't see you so sorry about that... ok now that is one scary avatar prince!

Prince Amor: I try to be different, different avatar a day keeps ones mind fresh

Thirza Ember: saves on soap also

The Welcome sim on Maze has a large Building Supplies store, and if you look on the map you'll see a whole sim dedicated to free complete avatars, organized into separate stores according to category, but since the Safari doesn't do well at a Mall between everyone getting lag and getting distracted, our trip was focused on Prince himself and two sims, Maze Grid Home and Medieval Desert Fortress Fantasy -  good old HG Addresses at the end of the post as usual.

Prince Amor: feel free to take what you like there and share them long as you don't charge for them that is what they are there for

The Return of Guinguette

Some days ago, a few friends gathered to celebrate the return to health of Nadir Rae, of Ignis Fatuus, and the setting was itself a welcome return to Opensim - Guinguette is back online.

If you're not French, you may not know the term. A guinguette is a sort of open air tavern. located on the outskirts of big French cities, especially Paris - the most famous is probably Maison Fournaise at Chatou, immortalized by Renoir in 1880, shown here. 

They were places where townies could escape the grime of the industrial lifestyle and get a taste of nature, to dance and drink and generally have fun in a pastoral setting. In our self-conscious tourist-centered times, modern guinguettes are often  hopelessly posh - like the one at Issy or good lord the accessible-only-by-boat Chalet des Iles in the Bois de Boulogne - places where your penniless painter couldn't hope to get in. But on Ignis Fatuus grid, the charm of the old guinguette is intact, a place to kick off your shoes and enjoy a tune or two, in the company of friends.

Colored fountains and bistro tables surround the central dance hall, just steps away from the river. Speaking of steps, the region gives the visitor the impression of having many delightful spots for a pleasant walk in turn-of-the century style...

Star's Hereafter

Star Ravenhurst waited for us on a dusty, grungy street corner by a sign that said 'Welcome to Hell'. 

No, not TP or IM hell for once, this was the 'other' place, our second destination of the day with, as it turned out, a surprising coincidence in the architecture, but more of that later, This region Heaven & Hell is on Star's own grid, TenthDimensionGrid.

Francisco Koolhoven: Well I made it to this grid :) wasn't able to go to alternate metaverse

Star Ravenhurst: Sorry to hear that Francisco

Francisco Koolhoven: it happens sometimes,  I'll try to go there later

James Atlloud: It was great Fran... Oh! Shared environment makes a difference, thanks... rats!

Star Ravenhurst: A lot has changed since you were last week Tina

Kelso Uxlay: A rats parade

Thirza Ember: hmmm definitely a dry heat here

Star Ravenhurst: Yep and dry heat is terrible for the skin!

Thirza Ember: ok we're all here

Star Ravenhurst: We can walk down the block and see if we can catch the bus... This way...

James Atlloud: a bus!!

On Satori

Our first trip this week was to Alternate Metaverse Grid, and the lovely sim Satori which at first glance would seem to be simply a well appointed beach resort, until you discover a whole other world up in the sky.  

It doesn't happen every week, for sometimes there's mad chaos in the minutes before the HG Safari tour begins, when a host goes awol or a region goes offline or someone asks a question that does not compute. But sometimes, there's a delicious calm before the storm, and this week was one of the delicious kind. Not least because our first stop was at the home of the deliciously golden Maia Antarra, DJ, builder, choreographer, Reiki practitioner, and more... 

Maia Antarra

... and the darkly suited and harder to get on camera Savage Taurus, the master scripter whose work amplifies and animates this cleverly laid out region.  Normally there's one Thirza at the Clubhouse and another goes a few minutes before the event begins to our first destination to facilitate our arrival. 

Savage Taurus: hello Thirza,  have you come for the tour? 

Maia Antarra: she's the ringleader

Savage Taurus: awesome. I think the saucer is working right

Maia Antarra: well it if has a malfunction we all get jettisoned into space that's all...  spacesuits available in the shop over yonder

Sybella

Vlad Helsing: on est en voice je ne sais pas si tu nous entend

So, you know how I'm always on at you about 'we have to do the Safari in Local Chat and not in Voice', bla bla bla, because Voice tends to exclude a lot of folks whose English is pretty good but who, in the evening on a weeknight, aren't up to following a full conversation at top speed; not to mention those of us who, for one reason or another, can't join in with anything audio during the tour, and you all secretly (or not so secretly) think that's a terrible idea...  

Max the Guide, on Sybella

That's why it's always fun to meet with the frenchies, who absolutely don't care that the majority of Safari visitors can't follow a thing being said in Voice. It's good for your souls, to see things from the other point of view, and it gives me a delicious opportunity to say I told you so. But that's not the main reason we hopped over to Ignis Fatuus Grid this week. 

Pure Lunacy at Magicland

Lunacy? No, it was a great idea. Stone and  Hope Lunasea invited the Safari over to Neverworld grid for a visit this week to Magicland. The theme of the visit to this region is theme parks, as in Disney and co - all the fun of the fair. We met outside the cinema.

Stone Lunasea: Welcome everyone to Hopestone's Magicland!

James.Atlloud: great music

Hope Lunasea: Hey there, everyone. Welcome.

Dings Digital: Hello :)

Generally there are two Thirzas on every tour, one arrives before the crowd, and the other is the last to arrive, so it's always interesting to see the two different perceptions of a sim on the same screen. This region responded manfully to the onslaught of 15 plus strangers from all over the HG. In terms of avatars, Safari people on the whole try to go for something not too complex or full of daft scripts and HUDs, (using a legacy body instead of a basic mesh one can instantly lower your complexity by over 100k, for example) and we generally also try to keep our My Suitcase folder pretty empty, knowing that the sim has to comb through all our belongings when we arrive, including broken assets we maybe have from freebie shopping in OSGrid, and that all takes resources away from the main thing, which is showing us the sim.

Star Ravenhurst: Hugs... I see a lot of body parts floating around,  and I have no hair!!

Dings Digital: who's leg is this?

Taarna Welles: Not mine :)

James Atlloud: Am I all white again?

Thirza Ember: no james you're in a dinner suit

Kelso Uxlay: Nice suit James

James Atlloud: ty Kelso - my favorite so far

Stone Lunasea: There is a big gold dance ball up in the air behind me if anyone wants to dance :)

Taarna Welles: Need to dance with this music

Thirza Ember: lol gradually all will arrive... it's like going by train, some of your stuff is in the end wagon, but it will all get to the station eventually

Govega Sachertorte: lol give it a minute

Yara Eild: Hello everyone :-)

Alex .Salamander: Hello everyone :-)

Star Ravenhurst: Hi Alex and Yara!

Hope Lunasea: Lots of people. lol...

Tosha Tyran: you are all... alll... transparent

Govega Sachertorte: yea but slowly coming in

Tosha Tyran: now I am all dressed, dear Forest... to me...

Forest Azure: lol, that is what you think, Tosha :)

Star Ravenhurst: Nope Tosha, still undies - Gotta love traveling the Hypergrid!

Stone Lunasea: Alright, everyone rezzed in?... I thought I'd start with a bit of the park's history

Stone and Hope Lunacy

Stone Lunasea: Established in 2014 as That Place Amusement Park on SecondLife and in 2016 in Opensim, we quickly rose to fame as a Top 10 Hot Spot on SL and were eventually blogged by the Lindens and made a Featured Destination. We still operate a park on SL in the Linula region, next door to The Unknown Theme Park on the mainland. We've changed grids over the years, but have been on Neverworld for over 3 years now and are pretty sure this is our permanent home. It's a great place to live!

James Atlloud: So good to hear positive stories about grids.

Dings Digital: yes, great

Stone Lunasea: Magicland, our most recent expansion, was launched just last year at Christmas time. This region features our Electrical Light Parade, Movie Theater, and Shopping District. There's also a few rides here: the Magic Carpet Ride, Alien Abduction, and Santa's Sleigh Ride, a left over from Christmas, as well as our Hot Air Balloon Merry-Go-Round. Finally, behind the theater you'll find Mickey's Fishing Hole, where you can fish for prizes. We have Free Movies every Monday here at Magicland Theater, the schedule can be found at the main landing point or on the wall inside the theater.

The Cinema schedule. In the foreground, Uta Warbaum

Hope Lunasea: Oh yes and I think Neverworld is our perfect fit. :)

Stone Lunasea: yeah we try to do both, they both have their pros & cons

Thirza Ember: why both? what does each offer that's different in your experience

Stone Lunasea: Honestly....not much at this point. We're actually talking about shutting the SL park down....eventually Used to be the traffic but our traffic here nearly matches SL these days so it's more nostalgia keeping the SL park open

Lynnestra Parker: What is the name of the park in SL?

Stone Lunasea: Hopestone

Thirza Ember: do parks make money in sl? if you don't mind me asking

Stone Lunasea: haha no

Forest Azure: you wat to open one, Thirza?

Thirza Ember: I already have a freak show, Forest

Stone Lunasea: Back when there were a lot of parks on SL we did, at least half the tiers. But these days I might see $5 in tips on a good month.

Lynnestra Parker: I love amusement parks in virtual. I don't get sick on the rides. hehehe

Hope Lunasea: We have plenty here to ride, Lynnestra. :)

Stone Lunasea: same here, for me I started building rides after a car accident left me walking with a cane. I can't ride real ones anymore so I build them in VR

Stone Lunasea: First up, we'd like to present our Electrical Light Parade.   If everyone could kindly clear the Main Street & move onto the sidewalks that'd be great :)  It takes a couple minutes for the parades to reach this part of Main Street, but it syncs with the music best if we watch here in front of the theater.

Grid: Ladies & Gentlemen! Boys & Girls! MagicLand proudly presents our spectacular pageant of Night time Magic & Imagination! Please set your viewers to SHARED ENVIRONMENT, enable radio and prepare to be dazzled by the Mainstreet Electrical Light Parade!

Hope Lunasea: /me holds in excitement. :)

James Atlloud: OH wow.

Lynnestra Parker: How cool!!!

Dings Digital: woooooooot

Forest Azure: you are typing my back, James :)

James Atlloud: does it tickle?

Forest Azure: yes! /me will have sweet sweet revenge

Hope Lunasea: lol

Tosha Tyran: Joshua! You are safe now

Joshua 7: rofl

James Atlloud: So a fence for Safari... hmmm

 Stone Lunasea: The parade took over 6 years to develop, all of the floats and NPCs were built by Hope, then I scripted everything to move, and play nice. Getting the floats to not rear end each other was harder than you'd think!

Hope Lunasea: It's to be sure you don't get ran over by Goofy. We know how he can get. And yes. The floats were made by me.

James Atlloud: I see Mickey and Minnie!

Govega Sachertorte: great team Stone is a great scripter and mover and Hope is a great builder of things

Stone Lunasea: we make a good team :)

Stone Lunasea: Should be seeing the parade coming down Main Street now and make sure Parcel media is on. The Electrical Light Parade has always held a special place in my heart. Growing up in California, I was at Disneyland frequently as a kid but the parade was always at Midnight; by that time, my tiny butt was sound asleep in my stroller! I got to see it a couple of times but it became an almost obession - and the Magicland Electrical Light Parade was born! Now everyone, no matter where they are, can enjoy a touch of that ol' Disney magic!

Govega Sachertorte: love the mushies

Dings Digital: lol great jazz music

Nexus Storm: Nice !!!

Tosha Tyran: wow, it looks lovely, can I hitch a ride?

Stone Lunasea: no, but I like that idea

Hope Lunasea: Interesting fact: I've never seen the Electrical Light Parade in real life so all this was watching like at least five different videos on YouTube.

Not all the NPCs showed up for the parade, but we got the general idea.

Lynnestra Parker: Pete's dragon!!!

Stone Lunasea: We have the parade every Monday in between the weekly movies at intermission, so there's always a chance to see it again in it's full glory :)

Akila Mobian: That was really cool! :D

Uta Warbaum:  BRAVOOOO!!!

Stone Lunasea: it was a lot of fun to build

Stone Lunasea: We have a double feature every Monday starting at 2pm grid time

Govega Sachertorte: it's on our website schedule 

Lynnestra Parker: The music is terrific too!

Gemmalynn Sabine: very impressive

Stone Lunasea: Next up we'd like to bring y'all over to the Amusement Park where the tour will continue. I'll summon The Doctor here shortly who will transport us as a group. Once The Doctor tells you to, touch the T.A.R.D.I.S. to be included in the group teleport.

The Doctor: Give me just a few seconds to tidy up and we'll be on our way!

Lynnesta Prarker: Hello Doctor. Got any gummy babies?

Dings Digital: do you have a bus?

eva Nowicka: oh, i want that TARDIS

The Doctor: Course set for Amusement Park.  Waiting 60 seconds for additional riders.  Touch me now to join this teleport.

The TARDIS teleport wouldn't play with us, possibly we overwhelmed it, but there was an easy fix...

Stone Lunasea: We have a hover taxi waiting for us at the amusement park but I'm not sure if it can handle this many rides so we may be walking, we'll try it :)

Thirza Ember: it went without us... but unlike Xenon's bus, at least we're not crashing into a river

Star Ravenhurst: Her bus was crazy with a mind of its own. 

Govega Sachertorte: omg lol who hasn't done that a million times we have so many roads here... we found out the secret to sim crossings.  it doesn't require anything special either but it works. Anyone want to know I will share at our next Never Riders today at 2 pm

Hope Lunasea: If all else fails, you can open up your big Map and type in "Amusement Park" and just TP that way.

Taarna.Welles: ok

Stone Lunasea: Sorry for the glitches! Welcome to The Rabbit Hole, this is the original entrance to the Second Life park and was installed in Opensim due to popular demand. To begin, simply walk in and allow yourself to fall down the rabbit hole.

Stone Lunasea: Touch the potion on the counter if you get stuck. :)

Whirli Placebo takes a sip

White Rabbit: shouts:  Welcome to Wonderland! Start your adventure by going down the Rabbit Hole. If you get stuck, EAT something or DRINK something; and remember, the way forward is sometimes the way back.

Stone Lunasea: Ok, I think everyone's down here?  Welcome to the Amusement Park! Out on the river here, you'll see part of the Alice in Wonderland ride, a truly memorable experience! This region features more than 25 different rides and attractions, we don't have time to see them all today but we'll see a good amount of them - and you are always welcome to come back later!

Brad: whispers: Hold on to your prims, off we go!!

Brad the bus driver had a secret up his sleeve... it was a flying bus! Up we soared into the sky, too quick for my camera, but very impressive in person.

Star Ravenhurst: Are we moving and I don't realize it?

Whirli.Placebo: the show must go on

Dings Digital: yayyyy

James Atlloud: whaa? expectations challenged!!

Akila Mobian: That caught me off guard lol

Stone Lunasea: Our first stop is our Pirates of the Caribbean Ride, based off of the original ride at Disneyland, it boasts an exciting adventure where you will encounter pirates, have to evade the Royal Navy and survive the deadly Kraken! If that's too much action for you, we also have the Wild Rapids ride, a great way to cool off on those hot summer days!

Govega Sachertorte: a flying coach

Thirza Ember: and in a good way, this week

Whirli Placebo: ooohing and ahhing

Stone Lunasea: Our Video Rides have taken years to develop. Using specially encoded Point-of-View (POV) videos, we take you into a full immersion experience and transport you into the real world rides! Featuring rides such as Roger Rabbit's ToonTown, Harry Potter & The Escape from Gringott's, and The Simpsons, we have some of the most popular rides on the planet! If you're feeling nostalgic, you can take a trip with Captain EO which was discontinued from Disneyland in the early 1990s and even take a trip to Endor on Star Tours, your ticket to the stars!

James Atlloud: That was so cool!

Inside the Simpsons ride

Stone Lunasea: A special note about Star Tours, the video sequence we use is actually not from the real life ride itself! An absolutely brilliant YouTuber went through the old videos of the original ride, recreated every last detail in mesh, then filmed it in 3D. I've been doing this 20 years & I just thought someone had finally managed to upscale that grainy old 1980s footage to HD, but nope. It's truly a sight to see and an awesome application of 3D VR tech!

Whirli Placebo: amazing, Stone

Stone Lunasea

Stone Lunasea: There's more to see but in true Wonderland style, WE'RE LATE! Go figure. We'll go a head and wrap things up here, if everyone wants to jump off the Taxi :) If anyone has any questions or feedback, we're all ears. Hope you guys enjoyed the tour and let me know if you need a landmark to come back later!

Gemmalynn Sabine: thank you so much! That was amazing!

Thirza Ember: I love the bus, it  has restored my faith in mass transport... thanks so much everyone from neverworld and of course Stone and Hope most of all

Stone Lunasea: yeah Brad did pretty good considering I stretched his Taxi from a 4 seater to 20 LOL

Star Ravenhurst: We have been known to sit in each others laps!

Dabici Straulino: thanks, nice colourful tour

Tosha Tyran: for the place, for showing us, for the imaginative rides and all the fun

Dings Digital: yes, thank you so much, it is wonderful

Francisco Koolhoven: this was great, thank you!

Stone Lunasea: Thank you all so much for coming! This has been fun!

Govega Sachertorte: thank you for coming

Forest Azure: thanks a lot! that was real fun :)

HG Address: 

hg.neverworldgrid.com:8002:Magicland
hg.neverworldgrid.com:8002:Amusement Park

Paela Incognito

Incognito? A little less these days. Anyone who's been around Opensim for any length of time will be familiar with the name Paela Argus, and if you've ever dropped in at LBSA Plaza on your way somewhere, or looking for some help, or company, you maybe have seen the attractive lady avie hanging out there. 

Recent events on OSGrid have given Paela even more visibility, so it seemed like a good time to get to know the person behind the screen a little better. Starting with the basics of good manners. 

Thirza Ember:  I know that nowadays you go by Paela Osgrid inworld, rather than Paela Argus. Do you prefer if people refer to you as ‘he’ or ‘she’? 

Paela Argus: I honestly don’t mind. People can use either “he” or “she” when speaking about me — it doesn’t bother me at all. In the virtual world, I present myself as a woman. It’s my way of breaking the realism of real life, keeping a clear boundary between virtual life and real life. This separation is very important for me — especially for the balance of my real-world marriage. Because first and foremost, I’m a husband and a father to a big family. And I take that role seriously.

Thirza Ember: You’ve been on OSGrid for a long time, Paela, what is the secret of your longevity? 

Safari Does Bad Driving

Oh yes, very  Bad - but in a very good sense! This was our second stop of Week 11 of HG Safari 2025, and like our first destination, this build is brand new.

Yara Eild, SoA BAD, and Alex Salamander

SoA BAD and Siwas have a new attraction on their grid, CCI - the Nuerburgring. Really, that should be 'Nürburgring' with an umlaut. But, as we all know, Opensim doesn't do umlauts, so there's an extra e in there. And speaking of 'extra', this build is extra in every way - extra large, extraordinarily detailed, and extra fun. The idea of having a Safari here came from two Safari regulars - Yara Eild and Alex Salamander.

Actually, that should be 'Nuerburgring with Nordschleife'  (the HG address is of course at the end of the post) and that is because this race track has a long and complex history. Nordschleife - the 'North Loop' - extends the circuit from just over 5 km to a whopping 21km. 

Safari Ferðast um Ísland

Back for season 2, and HG Safari was invited to come and do a 'ferðast', or tour, of Jimmy's recent build, Iceland, on Wolf Territories Grid. A nice big crowd showed up to inaugurate the season, which will last just seven weeks this time, ending at the end of May, so if you're thinking you might want to attend, don't delay. 

This lovely sim, our first stop this week, was built in a matter of a few days by Jimmy, and it absolutely captures the spirit of the island. HG Address - yep you guessed it, at the end of the post.

Jimmy Olsen, builder of Iceland

On hand to take the lead for the tour, the lovely Tessa and Xenon Darrow, a brilliant and funny lady, both were ready to help us find our way around this interesting sim. 

We arrived outside the Hallgrimskirkja, the Lutheran cathedral of Reykjavik, dating from the 1980's. 

WB Osgrid

 Welcome back, OSGrid! About a dozen people were on LBSA a few minutes ago when these pics and gifs were made. 

LBSA back up! with Admins Sarah Kline and Paela Argus. 

People dancing, chatting, laughing, working... and a lot of them trying to rebuild their avie. Ellen Tiratzo was there, talking about the best way to stop being a cloud. Carmen Ever, very smart, was totally prepared for this day. 

Carmen Ever: I had a folder with my outfit all ready, and so when I got here, I transferred it from Neverworld , and it loaded immediately

Una, IARs, and OARs

In the troubled period since OSGrid went into long term maintenance, Unadecal Masala has found himself in a unique position. He not only rents regions to people in OSGrid, he also rents full independent grids. Most of these grids are small and private in nature, but some are public and they operate their own land rental schemes. Una doesn't have a grid of his own, his motives are simple.

Unadecal Masala: As a mark of respect for their efforts in attracting members and building their own communities, I decided at the beginning that I would never compete with them by setting up a grid where I rent land. I do have a private grid, but this is for testing purposes only.

We met up on HIE region, in the Hypergrid Expo park, on which is still open, if you haven't yet gone around and picked up the LMs, information cards, and freebies. I wondered what Una's reaction was to the whole OSgrid situation, and what had been the effect on his business and his clients. First reaction?

Unadecal Masala: Absolute dismay. Borderline desperation. Not only because of the grid going into long term maintenance, but because of the total asset wipe. Almost twenty years of OpenSim history lost in the blink of an eye.

Easter Hunt at Mana

Literally speaking, 'Ignis Fatuus' means foolish fire, but there is nothing foolish about the fabulous builds on this outstandingly beautiful French grid. And once again, this spring, grid owners Max Well and Nadir Rae are making imaginations soar with their farfetched fantasies. An Easter Hunt, beginning on 20 April, is just part of the fun! 

Full HG Address at the end of the post, of course.

Here we are on Mana, on of a bunch of new regions springing up on Ignis - this is the region where the Hunt will be held. When you arrive in this intensely blue place, you're immediately reminded of the importance of music in the lives of these two creators, in particular, Nadir's love of piano which extends to her DJ work over in SL, something she's been doing for over a decade. Look at those waterside notes.

Prince's Maze

Prince Amor:  quite a bit changed since last, with OSGrid closing up etc.. we are setting just over 100 regions, of which 20 are public, the rest are residential.

We met on Maze Grid, Prince's principality since OSgrid went offline for long term maintenance back on 4 March of this year. It's far from being a small place. Alongside the many residential sims, now home to many of those who rented from prince of Amor back on OSGrid, there are twenty that are public spaces, with freebie areas or art and fan builds on them, all worth a visit.

The Welcome region has an open air down to earth feel to it, with places to play and dance and hang out, but also teleports to other points of interest and a large Building Supplies area, where you can quickly pick up anything you're missing. I wondered how Prince has been weathering the recent events.

Prince Amor:   I feel let down, that is pretty well it.  I have 150 users, so I have 100 renters that were all  OSGrid... most made it here though.

Thankfully between social media and word of mouth, it is a lot more difficult these days for a person to remain out of the loop when something big like this happens. Rather like an earthquake, there had been tremors for some little time on OSgrid, giving us all warning. Prince wasn't in Opensim when the last great outage of OSGrid happened, from August 2014 to around February 2015, but he wasn't unprepared for the events of this Spring.

Prince Amor:  This was, for me, the first Big One. Lots of minor ones I weathered along the way.  I would have my renters  make accounts on my Dreamgrid  so when OSGrid went down they could have access to their lands etc.. in December when OSGrid went down then I learned how to do the stand alone so I evolved just in time for the big one

Thirza Ember: so did you get your oars and your renters stuff out in time before the whole thing went down?
Prince Amor:   oars - yes, but .iars were a horrible failure for most part, the ip protections totally broke them making them useless. But the OSGrid admin made the right choice of course. Once that big 6 tb breaks, or whatever size...

Thirza Ember: Really, relying on one grid, no matter who is running it, is kind of risky. People who say it could never happen to them because they take more precautions, sure, but ... hubris alert.

Prince Amor:  that is right and we have seen it again and again with smaller grids,  no matter what they are running. I really didn't lose thing. I know some  totally missed it  but my people did pretty good. That is why I would push my people to have an account with the Dreamgrid and here even but when it happened of course I pushed them as hard as I could. We still have things pop invisible or whatever as they wipe that drive, textures in the stores etc...

Prince of Amor

Thirza Ember: you are now transitioning from landlord of sims on a big grid, to grid owner. That is actually a different role... you have gone from being maintenance guy, to the mayor of the place have you noticed that change yet, how are you coping with the role, and do you like it?

Sunday HIE25

 The final day of HIE was another spectacular mix of cultures and languages, with presentations touching on a variety of themes from alien visitations, to gallery governance, to the clash of cultures, to the technology of the future. All this, and a fabulous international set by jazz and blues singer Forest Azure. 

Attendance was strong once again, with 40 plus in the audience to hear first of all Luciana Mattei speak about her wonderful primary school project, unAcademy, located both in the real world, of course, and on Craft-World grid, where she has a sim of the same name.

Saturday HIE25

The HIE region filled up nicely for our conference on Saturday, with a peak of 52 avatars on the sim during MorlitaM and Cherry Manga's flawless performance of "Dual Wave", an outstanding audio visual experience none of us are likely to forget. But lots more happened also!
For the full schedule, don't forget to bookmark the HIE website

The event kicked off with a five language, five person panel, welcoming everyone; Emil Jannings  in English , Richi Rizzoli in German, Minord Loup in French, Lorenza Colicigno in Italian and AnaMari Maggi in Spanish.

There were six events, apart from the Welcome panel, three in German and three in French. 

Loru Destiny of ArtDestiny grid spoke first, on her own philosophy of Opensim, the importance of tolerance, of creativity and exploration, and of course of friendship and community.

Littlefield Dozen

 Wow Littlefield grid just turned 12 today, and as always Water and co have put on another splendid display of their grid's goodies on the Anniversary sim, HG Address at the end of the post.

Walter Balazic

As ever, along with a place for the dancing festivities, on the Anniversary sim there are lots of displays that show off the wide variety of regions on Littlefield.