Safari gets Tangled and (almost) Terminated

This week we got some answers to questions like 'What's going on with this year's opensim convention?' 'How many times do you have to crash before you get to TanGle grid?' and finally, 'What's it like to have your own personal Terminator?'
Of course, there were other, perennial questions, such as 'Where's my hair?' 'Am I naked?' and 'Who is UMMA?' - all things that anyone who's been on Safari has heard - and said - many times before.

Joyce Bettencourt

Joyce Bettencourt, co-owner of AvaCon grid, and local residents Sun,Tzu and Frans Charming welcomed us to the main plaza decorated with Ruben Haan artwork. After the usual - lovely - flurry of meeting, greeting and friending, we got right down to business.
Jessie Campbell: so I beg the question...what IS Avacon?

Joyce.Bettencourt: hi all, so AvaCon is a 501c3 nonprofit org... we have organized a lot of virtual worlds, things like the Second Life Community Convention that took place in real life in Boston in 2011 and Oakland CA in 2012, and also this past year's Federal Consortium of virtual worlds conference
Selby.Evans: 501c3 is non-profit
George Equus: Tax exempt non profit right 501?
Joyce Bettencourt: which means any money donated would be tax exempt and able to be deducted if you are in the United States. It also means we can't make a profit, all funds raised go towards programs, and the resources and staff needed to support them.
Thirza Ember: this grid is made for conferences that's why it's so robust.
Jeff Kelley: How do you make it robust?
George Equus: lots of titanium probably
Thirza Ember: underpinned by a giant dev who never moves

Joyce Bettencourt: we have also helped organize with the OpenSimulator core developers the OpenSimulator Community Conferences. This grid functions a lot like our virtual office and event space, along with hosting others like the Virtual World Best Practices conference presence in OpenSimulator, and several unique projects from other AvaCon folks like Fleep Tuque's Primland build that is a colorful, game-like how to build in OpenSim walk through... influenced by the game Candy Land if you remember that, and also Nebadon Izumi has a region here that has a lot of his work in progress and interactive objects in his studio - that is the Oni Kenkon Creations region.

Safari Summer... of Arts

        Plans change, and sometimes that's a very good thing. This week the plan was to spend just a little time taking a look around the Summer of Arts region on Metropolis, and then move on to a music event. 
        Apart from the general insanity, and the opportunity to make new friends, the underlying purpose of the Safari is to practice grid jumping, that's why we usually have two three or even four different destinations each week. But due to a last minute cancellation, the 72nd consecutive Safari was all Metropolis all the time. And boy, what a fantastic time it was too!
        As usual, the Safari began on Teravus Plaza, OSGrid. Teravus is a residential sim, we occupy the south west corner of it, right next to the waterfall. You will find the Group Joiner poster by the elephant. Every week a new Notecard + LM folder is prepared and you can get your copy from the sign marked LANDMARKS by the main entrance to the Clubhouse. I usually only do it at the last minute when all the panic has subsided. If you belong to the HGSafari group in Metropolis or OSgrid, you should also receive the information via group notices. Events are posted in a community on G+ called Hypergrid Safari, and a  group in Facebook, so find us there, if you use suchthings. 

Bon Voyage Justin

        No trip this week, just a quick tp over to OSGrid's Event Plaza, for 3 hours of music and chitchat.

         Justin Clark-Casey, who has for several years been a key member of the OpenSimulator core developer team, recently announced he was stepping down from the project to focus on his new job.
He wrote about it here, if you'd like to know more.
Well, we couldn't let him go without a party!

A Pale Safari

Wonderful architecture this week on a rip roaring Safari. A number of new friends joined us on Teravus Plaza, OSGrid, where the Safari generally starts out. It's always hard to tell if they're just curious about our group, or actually want to gridjump with us.
 If you're new and shy and not sure if you're going to be able to make the jumps, please go ahead and IM Fuschia, Wizardoz, or me and we will make sure we get you to the first destination. It is extremely common to crash when you're new to hypergridding, so don't hesitate in asking someone to shadow you on your first few trips - that's what the event is really intended to do - help everyone get comfortable with hypergridding!
Also to mess about, obviously.

Anyhoo, there was some doubt whether our first destination could possible stand a lot of avies arriving all together. We never let that bother us, of course. Here is a diagram of what generally happens.
Sirin Peccable couldn't be there on the day on Atoll Lost, but Francogrid Femme fatale Praline B was on hand to welcome us and tell us a bit about his regions. (freebies! woot!)  As usual, the addresses for these destinations are at the end of the post.

Praline (right) welcomes us to Atoll Lost, Francogrid

Safari goes Looking

This week for our first destination, Mobius Grid wanted to do something special to mark the 16th anniversary of the launch of the Dreamcast console, an iconic piece of gaming equipment that changed the virtual lives of many a young(and-not-so-young)ster. We were looking for some gamer fun, and we found it.

A party ? You better believe the Safari wanted in on that! To try to blend in on Mobius, which is in layman's terms a 'Sonic the Hedgehog-themed world'  most of the safaristas donned appropriate furry attachments, some like Jessie Campbell and me for the first time. 

Safari Goes Looking - a little more

 John Snow: Ahhh, glad you made it. I'm told by my old colleagues at Westminster Medical School that you are one of their finest graduates, Stephen. I am in need of a skilled yet young-minded doctor to help me with an investigation of utmost importance. Do you feel up to it? (say "yes" in local chat).

Cholera, and OnLook might not sound like an appealing mix but for this week's Safari it was a wild ride through space and time!

Our second stop was a big change of theme, but also extremely well thought out. We went to REDGrid, which is the virtual world belonging to Ball State University. Dr Stephen Gasior uses the 3D environment to help students learn about investigating epidemics to figure out the cause.
Getting to REDgrid was no picnic, because the hypergrid was spitting back landmarks - but as you all know by now our Safari notecard includes the low-tech HG Address for each destination.

 At REDGrid on a sim named after pioneering medical detective Dr Snow.

Fuschia and me blend right in with the Victorian ambience

It's called 'Virtual Epidemiology Investigation' - a series of NPCs explain about the theories held in Victorian times about what caused cholera. The visit starts in the classroom with the received wisdom of the time, and with the help of a HUD, follows in the footsteps of Dr Snow by allowing the student to interview various sufferers and survivors of cholera, trying to understand the anatomy of the outbreak. It's interactive learning - you're meant to respond to questions and answers given by the  NPCs. Some are funny, some poignant, all very lifelike!

Death and the Diva

 We keep going back although I'm not sure any of us become any the wiser. 
Art Blue's latest theater production is called "True Death" and the Safari was invited to load test the sim. 

Load testing, that's something we do understand, and we're good at it! This was week 68 of the Safari, so you might say we're experts at this point.