Into the Vortex

 Our second destination this week was the Electric Vortex region of Tenth Dimension grid, home to newlyweds Star Ravenhurst and Drew Blood. 

Star's been a regular Safari tourist for the past few years. However some months ago, her gaming laptop died and she found it impossible to do a lot of group grid-jumping with the 'potato' computer she had to resort to. This was sad for us, but it led to a big increase in her creativity in other ways. Always a fan of AI, Star began to explore ways of using it to make music, and has created a whole lot of tracks. New husband Drew Blood is a DJ so it's a match made in heaven as he curates song lists that often feature Star's work. This week in combination with the ongoing OSFest, Star and Drew invited us to an entertainment region, and like Drew's playlists it's an eclectic as well as electric place to visit. 

Drew Blood: Greetings. Welcome to the Electric Vortex

Aphra Hendrix: hey Drew, nice to meet you in person

Petlove Petshop: Sorry Angelica!

Angelic Kisses: no prob...didn't hurt at all :)

Lavia Lavine: My cloak vanished.  The parachute from our first destination did it.

Shelenn Ayres: Greetings carbon units!

Spax Orion: This unit is mads of plasma not carbon

Thirza Ember: some missing textures but on the whole, pretty darn impressive for the Safari

Spax Orion: I see everything just fine

Lavia Lavine: Same here I see it all beautifully

Koshari Mahana: I hope I am wearing clothes lol

Cherry Manga: candiiiies for the eyes!

Star Ravenhurst: Welcome everyone. This is a club region and we will be having an event with music this Sunday, Oct 18th and Drew will be spinning the music and I will do my best to host you all.

Drew Blood: I kinda made the track go into the next, like the album

Chute Case

 Pack your bags it's time for another Safari trip this time a sort of return journey to the big Airport build by Jason Flux and master scripter Karsten Runningbear. Jason's beautiful and meticulous mesh sets off a series of industrial landscapes with trains, planes, and commercial vehicles. This is a man's world, the ultimate train set with all the advantages of automation and no bits left lying on the floor to step on in the night. I love it.

Karsten Runningbear and Jason Flux

Jason and his wife Finja Flux are of course famous for their sci-fi build Fluxantis, a jewel of original hand-blendered meshwork. Karsten - well, for my money he's king of the transport scripts. The whole sim zings with life, movement, industry, and the charm of interlocking movement.

There were loads of us this week, but arriving on Pangea the lag was minimal. 

We have visited the Air Race before, but on a different region, with much less infrastructure. This time we were on a region called Pangea A023, so if you go exploring or following in our footsteps, make sure you're in the right place! The HG Address is of course at the end of the post.

Cherry (in the white shirt) asks for scripting tips

Jason Flux -> en: Hello everyone

Karsten Runningbear -> en: Welcome to our Sim! Jason and I are building it and we have some news for you. Some of you may already be familiar with The Sim; we've added a few new things.  First we'll take a look at the railway. Then we'll go skydiving. Please click on the "Viewing Platform" sign.

Dings Digital: I like the busy port and industrial area

See You on OSGrid

 Most of you will have heard that the Administrators of OSGrid have announced that the grid will close on December 31 of this year. The official news was published here on the OSGrid website .

Before saying anything else, a shout out to the Admins of OSGrid. Even if you don't agree with the decisions they have made, we all have to recognize the sheer effort they have put in, in terms of hours of work, thought, knowhow, passion, and kindnesses big and small. They have been doing their best in a thankless situation that must have been immensely stressful.

This Sunday, 18 October at 11am Grid time there will be another community meeting on Hurliman Plaza - hopefully this time there will be an overflow region connected to the Chat, and the speakers will use a Translator throughout so that the non English speakers can follow what's going on. Last time the region topped out at an eye-watering 100 within moments of the meeting beginning, so if you're coming, make your avie as low complexity as you can, and be ready to sit on a few laps before you find a seat! 

Cat's Labyrinth

Our second stop this week was on Alternate Metaverse grid where we were guests of Cataplexia Numbers who invited us to come see a maze build called Labyrinth, inspired by the 1986 movie of the same name. 

Stories-high hedges flank long passageways full of strange and improbable plants that are eerily beautiful and just a little unsettling. The final goal is to reach the palace in the sky, where Cliff Hanger, the grid's top man, was spinning some tunes.

If you're curious about how the format of a Safari visit works, then please take a minute or two to carefully look at this page on our blog where it explains the concept, the limitations and the tactics that make for a successful journey - if it looks like something you'd like to do, get in touch with Thirza on OSGrid or HG Safari grid.

Cat and half a dozen AMV residents were on hand to meet us on the big sign at the beginning of the adventure. 

Cataplexia Numbers: Hello everyone. Nice to have you join us. The labyrinth began in 2023. I made my own textures and many creations in it. I just began sculpting 3d meshes. Expect big changes in AMV. Magic will be a roleplay for Witches, wizards, goblins, Magicians, etc... Fun fantasy stuff!

Kellie's Hero

Opensim, like life, can sometimes throw a curved ball and this week our planned first destination had to be postponed at short notice. But it worked out great, because Spax Orion said we could come and preview the big changes he's been making at his funfair, Dismayland. 

Spax will be our guest on Inworld Review this Sunday - a Live show about OpenSim on YouTube, so if you watch at 11am SLT, you can also comment and ask questions! Just recently, he's worked hard to give a typically bright and busy tribute to one of Opensim's most memorable creators, the great Linda Kellie. The HG Address is at the end of the post, as always.

Dismayland is diabolically clever

Spax Orion: Dismayland is starting to look like one of the "Sierra: Roberta Williams" Point and Click Adventure games (we had tons of games like those around the turn of the millennium) - Return visitors will notice the world with more interactivity. Plenty of little distractions to wade through before passing the gate...

Tosha Tyran: giggles

It's true. When you arrive on Dismayland you find yourself in a sky box organized like the entrance to a theme park with security personnel - the terrible Wanda and poor, mistreated George are legendary. There are lots of signs and NPCs talking, and for some of us, it feels overwhelming and the first reaction is to get out of the crowd and hurry down to the rides, but if you take your time here, you'll discover that there is more going on in this one skybox than there is on many a 4x4 region!

Con-Versation

 Our second stop on Safari this week was to meet up with Frans Charming and Lyr Lobo of Avacon grid. Frans is the grid's tech guy, and Lyr is a consultant and Koshari Mahana: Hi Lyr, thank you for having us.

Thirza Ember: I think that we are all here

Spax Orion: Nice to see another operator running YETI mono

Lyr Lobo: Welcome, everyone. This is AvaCon grid. AvaCon is a nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging community in virtual worlds. Frans here is our amazing mastermind behind the Web and scripted content on the grid.  Itis a joy to share with the HG Safari 

Frans Charming: We use this grid, sometimes for new users, in education or professional settings, so having some plain default avatars, is useful for that.

Spax Orion: I love building with prims

Francisco Koolhoven: Hi Lyr!

Lyr Lobo: I do too *grins*

Thirza Ember: how old is this grid?  and how many residents?

Frans Charming: Close to those 14 years, i would say. We dont really have residents. The grid is mostly used as an introduction area, for non profits. Or used as a teaching platform.

Lyr Lobo and, with his steaming brew, Frans Charming

Lyr Lobo:  Today is the kickoff of our OpenSimulator Community conference call for proposals. AvaCon sponsors and hosts the OSCC. This is our 14th year. You can submit a proposal for a talk here. Then we will go on to Primland, the documentation for that is here  

Into the Hidden Vale

 Govega Sachertorte invited Safari to come over to Neverworld to sample a recently completed build called Hidden Vale, by Nexus Storm. On arrival, we were welcomed by Gov, Joshua and Alba who guided us around this lush landscape during the first hour of this week's trip. The HG Address is at the end of the post, as always.

Govega Sachertorte: Hi everyone, welcome to Hidden Vale

Thirza Ember: Joshua is armed, so no jokes about his outfit

Sven Ingersoll: we all have arms... legs too - no big deal

Spax Orion: am I here?

Alba Puca: Hello all

Cherry Manga: hello

Arriving on Neverworld

Sven Ingersoll: if you're not here...where would you be?