Safari on the 'Fly

          This week we went Back to the Future - in so many ways! Spike Sol invited us to join the party on sim Pyramid, OSGrid, organized by Samira Santanko at the Blue Wave Club. The mesh Delorean was without doubt the star of the evening, as well as DeeJane Samira's choice of music - which began with the soundtrack of the film. You'll find the info for getting to our destinations at the end of this post.

Photo by Spike Sol 

I guess it was a fair bet that this was not going to be a simple Safari. After 75 weeks, none of us expect things to be super smooth, but that announcement on the OSGrid splash screen 'mandatory update'  was bound to make the blood run cold.           
We made our way over to the Blue Wave, and for a few minutes all was well, but maybe we clicked a little bit too much on the hover boards, or bopped just a little bit too deeply. Before long whoosh, the sim had sent most of us packing. 

Photo by (and of) Spike Sol at the Blue Wave on Pyramid

A huge amount of interest in this event meant that there were loads of new and old friends present, for a party set to last all evening. For the Safari it was just the first stop on our journey. It was nice to be able to see them, but after crashing two three or even four times, we regrouped on Teravus Plaza, at the home of Snowbody Cortes, a nice green garden called 'Script Fruits' right next to the Safari clubhouse. Some brand new Safaristas showed up, which is always nice! 

That is Mal Burns in the foreground, and George Equus in the black hat. Since they both usually prefer not to dance, it seemed only fair to name and shame them here. Don't look at this gif too long or you may go blind.
All well and good, just needed to wait a little until it was time for our next destination, a concert on Westworld grid with Truelie Telling singing and Leslie Kling telling us about the shopping possibilities of the small, Country and Western themed grid. Imagine my shock when I clicked on the Westworld landmark and got this old message! Talk about Back to the Future!


          Using a different avatar, it was possible to arrive on the gorgeous little grid, but there were attachment issues, and in the end it seemed better to bring Truelie back to Teravus rather than try to join her. Leslie Kling kindly agreed to meet us on another occasion to take the grand tour and to learn, among other things, about the Curran Journal which has an office here. 
        It was a shame because Westworld is a really peaceful, harmonious spot not to mention very photogenic. here is a lovely old barn complete with line dancing anims, and a range of Western style streets with shops that anyone can use, rent free.
        Oh well, onwards and upwards....

        Our last destination worked just fine though. We were welcomed to sim Dar Pha on the francophone grid, Ignis Fatuus, by many of the team. Each visitor was presented with a book about the grid, and Aime Socrates spoke a few words of explanation in English on their behalf.
Aime.Socrates: Anybody heard about Ambre Ulrik?
Tom.camellian: no
Fuschia Nightfire: no
Aime.Socrates: she was the grid creator... unfortunately we lost her in july 2012...but, as you can see..we tried to keep this grid alive. Max is the wonderful owner, he gave all his time to keep our team alive. This sim is to prove we can have physics and art living together. You can fly around , the deal is to find the red gem...but only after trying to understand the water movements in this world. The wonderful builds here are 'Max-made' with Harthelie, the wonder builder, Jeff the awesome scripter, and Chip, Claudius...and..me...doing nothing here ! just making mess haha.
Truelie Telling: I love this place

Aime.Socrates: lets go ! Everybody walks on the bridge 
 Despite the sudden arrival of at least a dozen newcomers, Dar Pha sim was extremely safari-friendly, with minimal lag and a horizon that simply begged for us to expand our draw distances, to take in the far-away towers and sailing ships. 

This is in large part thanks to the scripting flair of Jeff Kelley,  seen here with Max Hill, who manages grid resources with panache. You may remember Jeff from the Scripting Showcase trail we organized earlier this year. 

          Max Hill, the grid owner, sports a 17th century mesh master mariner look. try saying that after a couple of sherrys. WAt the end of the long stone bridge, we arrived at a curous pool.

Aime.Socrates:  tout le monde à l'eau
George Equus looking for his snorkel
Aime.Socrates shouts: Fuschia dont loose your colour !
Fuschia Nightfire shouts: that will never happen Aime
George Equus: blubbblubbb
Wizardoz.Chrome: Nemo is Here? :)

Fuschia demonstrates she is color-fast

Aime.Socrates: ok, here you will see 5 propellers... energy comes from the sea, the sea currents make rotate those propellers and acts like a pump to pull water upstairs
James.Atlloud: I like how the gears are precisely moving and placed.
Lucy Afarensis: Like a school of fish
Aime.Socrates: but now..we have to fly upstairs..are you ready ?

Aime.Socrates: now..you have to understand how this disk can turn !
Jeff.Kelley: hamsters ?
Thirza Ember: magnetic personality of Aime?
Mal Burns: gremlins?
Jeff.Kelley: solar winds? coal? fish activated?
Aime.Socrates: engrenages
snowbody Cortes: ingranaggi in italian :) very close.
Aime.Socrates: no - we have to fly down a little bit.  who knows that system ? you have one at home..for sure ! a satellite gear !  James..ever see this kind of gears?
James.Atlloud: yes. orbital?
Mal Burns: in a clock

Aime Socrates @ignis-fatuus.no-ip.biz:8002: no, not a clock. try once more. Fuschia, where can you find this kind of system ?
Fuschia Nightfire: looks a bit steam punk to me
Mal Burns: somewhere in water pump system?
Thirza Ember: all this is making me think I need a bathroom break
Mal Burns: in a tap?
George Equus: au maison?
Truelie Telling: an oldfashioned hand eggbeater
James Atlloud : automobile?
Aime.Socrates: who wants to have the answer ?
Fuschia Nightfire: give us another clue - I want to guess
Truelie Telling: elevators use gears like this
James Atlloud: oh, I was going to say pencil sharpener, but who uses pencils anymore
Fuschia Nightfire: i do

Tom Frost: lighthouse?
Aime Socrates: starts with a D
snowbody Cortes: drill ?
Aime Socrates: yesss! Snow won! this is the mecHanism inside a drill 
George Equus: Mine is pneumatique!
Aime Socrates: next sim we will build one with pneumatic mechanism.

         There was plenty of fun to be had with the cloning diamond, the windlight wonder-boxes, and just making your draw distance big to take in the incredible views from the top of the tower. 

          Usually when loads of us descend on a sim and start messing with scripted objects, the whole place usually crashed, but once again, Ignis Fatuus showed itself to be remarkably robust. And you can never have too many Jameses, can you?

         Finally we ended up dancing on Guinguette sim, a safari favorite. But there's even more to be seen on this beautiful grid.
Tom.Frost: ahhh 45 regions here to explore!
snowbody.Cortes: very nice place,  and the sim didn't crash! yay! well done, thanks Harthelie
Harthelie.Deux: ce fut un plaisir de vous accueillir
George Equus: One of the more interesting places on the HG Safari tours !


HG Addresses
Blue Wave Club    hg.osgrid.org:80:Pyramid
Westworld Welcome shopping mall and dance hall:   westworldgrid.com:8102
Dar Pha the water sim: ignis-fatuus.no-ip.bi:8002:dar pha 

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