Tosha's Timbuktu

Timbuktu is a thousand year old frontier town, the southern gateway to the Sahara. A slightly newer, slightly more accessible version of the city was our first destination on Safari this week, the sim of Timbuktu... HG address, as tradition demands, at the end of the post, where it belongs.

The name of the city has been synonymous with the utter limits of the world, an unknowable place in the middle of nowhere, and it's a reputation earned through the centuries, through the writings of people like Ibn Battuta in the 1300s and Leo Africanus two hundred years later. Timbuktu is protected by the port town of Kabara twelve miles to the south, on the Niger River, the chief communications route in this part of the world. Many a disappointed traveler in both ancient and modern times has been turned back at Kabara, adding to the mystique of the city of learning that few outsiders have ever had a chance to see firsthand.

Edinburgh born explorer, scholar, and soldier Alexander Laing is thought to have been the first European to see Timbuktu, hoping to win the 9,000 Franc prize offered by the Société de Géographie to the first non muslim to visit the city and come back with information about it. After a traumatic crossing of the Sahara, he arrived in town in the summer of 1826 and spent some time in the legendary libraries. Weeks later, as he departed the city, he was killed by the men he had paid to protect him, just a few months shy of his thirty-second birthday. 

Less than a year later, Frenchman René Caillié won the prize, bringing back a firsthand account of this almost mythical city of learning and culture. Today, travelers face very similar risks as those first journeyers did. The city has been on the edge of a war zone since about 2012, with the usual mix of tribal interests, global politics, poverty, historic resentment, opportunism, way too many weapons floating about, testosterone and religion all causing havoc to the fabric of the fragile treasures of the town.

For that reason, we're lucky to be able to visit the city virtually, on Craft Grid, thanks to builder Tosha Tyran's sim Timbuktu. It comes alive with NPCs and interpretive boards, making the experience one of the richest in opensim, if you like learning about exotic places. The biggest obstacle for anyone who hasn't teleported to Craft before, is a few clickies to authenticate your avatar. It can be a bit confusing, but no firearms are involved in the process! 

Fair Test

 Today was the OSWF test  and about a dozen or so showed up to see how the gigantic sim - the equivalent of 64 normal size sims, and now pretty much complete with all the exhibits, stages, and decorations -  was able to handle the heat.

If you're wondering why you don't see the sim listed on opensimworld, or find the address pasted all over the place, well there's a good reason for that. The team want to try to keep early bird visitors to a minimum. 

Their idea is that the crowd should get the full impact of the place on opening day, which is Saturday March 1, when they'll be having a vibrant range of 4 musical guests - DJs and a live singer -  doing 30 minute sets on different, themed stages, with a repeat show later, just to get energy levels buzzing. 

For full details of the Fair's schedule, which features at least one party or other gathering on every day of the thirty day duration, go to the OSWF website  and connect with their calendar. And once the event is about to begin, you'll get plenty of publicity about when and where to visit!

Expo-Sure!

 HIE stands for Hypergrid International Expo and the main event, a conference in different languages, with talks about scripting, everyday opensim life stories, tales of the history of our platform, and art shows - 4 amazing performances! - is not until the first week of April. But the 'Expo' part of the event comes together long before that.

Mal Burns had the idea for the little booths back in 2017 for the first Hypergrid International Expo, as a fun and  crowd-friendly way for people to participate. Around the auditorium, the market-stall style creations brighten and enliven the place, but it's a trade-off between community and sim efficiency.... So... Many...Textures.
Yesterday we did a little load test to see if all this hard work has turned into a lagfest or not. It was a good day to choose, because the whole of opensim is in a state of trembles, with the ongoing OSGrid asset -cleaning event.

Mal Burns: this venue looks familiar!

 LadyKa 007: hello, everyone is good ?

snowbody Cortes: hello LadyKa, hey Minord:)

SoA BAD: hello all

Forest Azure: /me regrets it her horse did not travel with her

Taarna Welles: Put the horse in your Suitcase Forest. Just in case :D

Thirza.Ember: Welcome back to HG Safari Grid, this is our 3x3 sim called HIE. It is set up for the annual Hypergrid International Expo, which in 2025 will be held on the weekend from Friday 4 April (when there's an opening concert) and then the conference and art performances on Saturday and Sunday. The purpose of this conference is to give a chance to people whose first language isn't English to give a talk about their interests, their philosophy, or technical inventions or developments.

Go Westeros

First stop of the day, and after an exhausting week, inworld and out, this was one of those absolutely perfect tours that we dream of on Safari. New hosts for us, but hopefully they will let us come and bother them again, on Wolf Territories. The sim is called Westeros Medieval RP and as always the HG Address can be found at the end of the post.

Thirza Ember: with all the osgrid thing happening we may be fewer than usual

Steve Zodi: yes, i was  expecting that a bit, but word of mouth is always the best way to let people know, so if a few people show up, even if only one, its good to spread the word

Thirza Ember: lol they can be chatty and rowdy like a bunch of tourists when first arriving... well... they ARE  a bunch of tourists

Steve Zodi: its ok, the important is that they have fun and yes they are

Steve Sodl on hand to welcome the merry band of Safari tourists

Thirza Ember: here they come

Tosha Tyran: all naked again...

Steve Zodi: Greetings to all, welcome

Taarna Welles: Hello Steve

Steve Zodi: yes losing our clothes when teleporting is part of the fun... chuckles

Mal Burns: hi all

Tosha Tyran: hahaha, Forest, I see I am not the only one with the lipstick wrapped around the thigh

Forest Azure: lol... if that was all!

Taarna Welles: why are the woman always naked after TP??? Well....?? *Grins

Tosh Tyran: howdy Mal... why don't we ever get to see YOU naked?

Forest Azure: do we want that, Tosha?

Mina and King Max

Safaristas. You can't take them anywhere. 

Spring Clean

 I'm kind of looking forward to the great OSGrid asset reset. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of work going back over the 13 and a half years of precious things and junk. Hold on though... scanning through Inventory it quickly becomes clear that although there are 18,000 items in there, maybe half of that is duplicates / slightly modified versions of the same thing. Eliminate those, and the things worth keeping probably boil down to ten maybe 20 percent of what's left. Decluttering - yes please! 

By the way, if you know anyone who only occasionally shows up in OSGrid, or who doesn't follow the news much, then be a friend, and remind them that the OSGrid Reset will take place around March 21 - so now's the time to act!

This is definitely the moment to make sure any scripts you care about, any creations, anything that you have that's unique to your OSGrid avatar is in a safe place.
A big shout out to all the other grid owners who are helping out with the situation and offering places for people to go/put their stuff!

Safari in the Clouds

 Neverworld Grid was our second stop this week, we were there to experience the grid's unusual and exciting weekly event, the Never Riders Club, on Cloudburst Roads. 'Club' in the widest sense of the word - locals and hg visitors are all very welcome, the only qualifications are an ability to ride a bike, and the desire to have fun.

Meanwhile, the Safaristas had their own challenges...

Taarna Welles: Am I headless still?

Thirza Ember: I see white people

Taarna Welles: I see James.... with clothes! :)

James Atlloud: OH? I see fewer clothes here than Risa!  lol

Lynnestra Parker: ღ¸.•* LoL *•.¸ღ

Best Resort

Our first stop this 6th week of the season was on sim Lothlorien, by Stormy Scorpio. We were there to see a piece of Star Trek paradise....

Moses and Stormy

Stormy Scorpio: welcome to Risa Forest... this is the ruins

Thirza Ember: the spaceship in the sky is so startling!

Stormy Scorpio: it is hovering over the planet,  hehe, a lot of shore leave right now

Star Ravenhurst: It looks fabulous up there! Beam me up Scotty!

Stormy Scorpio: I hope you all enjoy exploring risa there is a lot to see

Ankh Senaton: the pleasure planet ;)

Loru Destiny[de→en]: I like the story from Star Trek as a Picard on Risa vacation, very much

Lavia Lavine : Spock was my favorite character.

Loru Destiny: live long and prosper Lavia :-)

James Atlloud: Spock was a breath of fresh air to my young self.

Forest Azure: you have a young self, James?

James Atlloud: I do, really I do.