Fish Love Money

For our second stop this week, another take on the Japanese theme. Our host wasn't able to join us on the Isle of Nara, so the crew had to put up with some factoids from me, much like the time when we went to Yana Dakota's Tahiti sim and she had a power outage. The Safarians bore the burden with great stoicism.

Thirza Ember: This is a Japanese style GOR region owned by Shinji Takahashi. We are on CounterEarth grid. This is a Gorean community that moved to Opensim in the very early days, and was first located on OSGrid. Some may remember the sim Sardar Fair which was still exists, back in the day it was one of the few good shopping places in opensim. Some of the founding members of CounterEarth are content creators and offer their stuff for free in opensim, while selling it in  Second Life. We thank them for their generosity over the years!

Star Ravenhurst: I have been excited to visit! I am sorry they're not here though.

Yana's Samsara

 The circle of life - birth and death, and rebirth - that's Samsara, a process that leads over time and many repetitions, to the state of nirvana. Samsara is the name of Yana Dakota's var region on AMV, a region that's undergoing renewal and growth. HG Address at the end of the post, as always.

It was a pretty quick rez as the hordes of Safarians arrived - we've been having slow textures for a few weeks, but this time, they all arrived in the little dock house with seconds of lag only. It's a big region, so everyone tried to keep their draw distances and other bells and whistles to a minimum, of course.

Yana Dakota: Namaste to Samsara. Creating the Samsara region in the Alternate Metaverse has been a labor of love. My goal was to design a space that encourages introspection and spiritual growth. Every detail, from the high-detailed builds to the serene environment, was crafted to provide a peaceful and immersive experience. The music and viewer settings are optimized to enhance the overall atmosphere, making it feel more engaging and calming.

Elegant and lagbusting the ladies of the Safari are unbeatable!

If the name of this sim is familiar to you it's because there was an interview with Yana on this blog a few weeks back. This was an opportunity for Yana to show off her favorite pieces and also to explain so much about this belief system that is so close to hear heart. 

Ana's Paris

 Our second destination for Safari this week was in Paris! What a fantastic venue on NewLifeItaly grid which despite the name s home to people from many parts of the world and different languages. HG Address at the end of the post, as always. 

In case you don't know, you can find out about upcoming Safari trips by joining our group in Facebook, or by checking the Events calendar in Opensimworld, where it clearly tells you which will be our first and second destinations each time. 

I generally send out a reminder in the OSgird group for HG Safari about an hour before our trips, but since the event attracts interest from many grids, not just that one, social media is a much better way to stay informed. The glamorous and versatile sim owner AnaMari Maggi met us at the sim's starting point, and we also had the company of a big group of locals, including the sim builders, Nadir and Max.

AnaMari Maggi, the region owner

Anamari Maggi[it→en]: good evening everyone

Nadir Rae[fr→en]: Welcome to all of you,  remember to accept the translator and put your native language there please

Angel Dark[it→en]: hi welcome everyone to Paris

Thirza Ember: Nadir you look so cute, very Parisienne- nice baguette!

Nadir Rae: yes I am a Parisian and I have a newsboy near me

It took us a little while to rez, because we came into a large crowd of welcoming NewLifeItalians, there to join the tour. While the region is owned by AnaMari Maggi, the tour was conducted by Nadir Rae, who together with Max Well of Ignis Fatuus Grid, brought the sim into being. We met outside the sim's reconstruction of Notre Dame.

Nadir Rae, our guide - easy to see in the crowd

Nadir Rae: Friends tonight I'm going to be your tour guide we will discover this place together, Welcome to all of you on the New life Italy grid.  We thank Thirza for choosing this place for which Max and I have a particular attachment. Thanks also to Adry, the owner of the Grid. This evening we offer you a unique tour of the memories of Ana who, born in another country, lived her childhood there. This sim is an interpretation of our capital and not an exhaustive restitution. I insist on this point

Nadir Rae: Ah Paris… French capital of gastronomy and love,  Paris enjoys an incomparable historical and cultural heritage. This is what the millions of tourists who come to visit Paris each year appreciate.  But it is not enough to be a foreigner to love Paris, because even if you live in the capital,  it is not uncommon to be surprised by discovering or rediscovering one of the wonders that the city has to offer.  With so much to see and do in Paris, it's difficult to put together a list that gets to the essentials while still having a realistic experience of everything Ana's sim has to offer. 

Domadun Fun

Thirza Ember: here they come!

Within a few seconds, the population of  Bubblesz Grid, which is a small personal grid belonging to mesh maven Taarna Welles, went from two to fourteen. You could positively feel the nerves - Would the grid be able to take the strain? Would we all be standing frozen in a pool of lag? Worst of all, would Locat Chat fail us? You know how we love our banter.

Taarna Welles on a quidditch teleporter

You may have read about this grid in an earlier post on this blog - this was a chance for the whole group to take a look, and the sim is open any time, if you want to explore it.

Bubblesz Grid Welcome Region

People kept on coming, - we met on the grid's Welcome sim, the HG Address is of course at the end of the post -  and for once, everybody brought their clothes with them! Each week, Safari goers are encouraged to dress in a lag-friendly way, keeping complexity as low as fashion and good taste will allow. You can do that in a lot of ways - use the original body, not mesh, check you haven't got one of those Hairs with an insane complexity (those may look good to you, but they're best binned, if they exceed 100k complexity, because chances are everyone else only sees a tornado of bits flying around your head), if you have mesh clothes that contain a lot of texture changing scripts, make a reference copy for safekeeping, and then delete all the scripts from the clothes you wear... there are lots of other common sense ways you can help the group. If you have a favorite strategy, put it in the comments.

Super Scuba

 Safine Mahoe is an Opensim goddess, but you knew that already, this week for our second destination we visited her tour de force, an underwater build on Friends Grid,  called Aquamica.

We were delighted that Zazu Bahro and Tonykasjohny Resident were also present to welcome us to their fabulous grid, and join us on a walk through the water and help out with information, and when some of us got lost and needed a tp. 

Tony and Zuzu 

Safine outlined the plan for the day, and also reminded us of an important teleport requirement.

The Mysteries of Atlas Island

Our first destination of the day was on Dorena's World, a German-language grid with a long history here in Opensim, and always a treat to visit. Dorena and Anachron, the grid owners, were on hand to greet us, along with friend of the Safari Jupiter Rowland and his sister Juno.

We've visited lots of sims over the years, including the Beatles themed Strawberry Fields, the art sim More than Lights, and the social destination GridTalk and so on, or und so weiter, as they say here. This time our visit was to Atlas-Insel.

Dorena Verne: So, this region created Anachron single-handedly :-)

Luna Lunaria: great to see everyone

SoA BAD: hallo Dorena, hello all

Thirza Ember: takes me a minute to see colors... But we are all here

Dorena Verne

Luna Lunaria: You forgot to switch out your eyeballs again Thirza?

Star Ravenhurst: Region rezzed fast, but avatars are slow to rez for me

Dorena Verne[de→en]: See you all in color and completely, nice :-)

Anachron Young[de→en]: As Bruce Lee once said: Look at your eyes!

James Atlloud: wait, do I have eyeballs? oh  I do.

Luna Lunaria: lol James

Anachron Young

Leonitas Lionheart: nice to see you again Dorena :)

Dorena Verne[de→en]: I'm very happy too, thank you :-)

Going to the Goddess

Our second destination of the week was over on Alternate Metaverse Grid, with the lovely Lynnestra Parker showing us around. We were sorry to learn that Maldrul Smith, a good friend of Lynnesta who DJs regular music events on Lynn's region, wasn't able to be with us due to RL. We were able to learn a lot about the sim from these informative boards when we arrived... this is a place of spirituality, myth and healing... with a fair dose of humor and fun thrown into the mix.

Thirza Ember: Thanks for agreeing to show us Airmid, Lynnestra!

Star Ravenhurst: I am excited to see it!

Lavia Lavine: It's positively gorgeous here. It's very relaxing

Lynnestra Parker: In Irish mythology, the goddess Airmed (also given as Airmid) was one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. With her father Dian Cecht and brother Miach, she healed those injured in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh. I created this Armid to give people a place to relax and possibly heal.

Safari Does Anarchy

So what's new, I hear you say... anarchy on Safari is our default position. But this is another genius build by SoA BAD who, together with his partner in - crime? no, creativity - SIWAS S, met us on the Sons of Anarchy sim on their grid CCI. HG Address at the end of the post as always.

SoA BAD: First of all, welcome to California, in Charming, the fictional hometown of the Sons of Anarchy. We are here at the original Sons clubhouse.

SoA BAD: Famous people of the series will find everything here on this sim that was important in the series and where the most important scenes took place, such as the Sons' weapons depot in the mountains, police station, hospital, horse farm,

SoA BAD: ...as well as the "Casa Casa" in the red light district and the cafe and hairdresser in the center of town.

Star Ravenhurst: I love SOA! This looks awesome!

Crazy like a Phos

The second destination on this tour was also very special - a chance to meet a builder and storyteller from Mobius Grid. We were on sim Phos - as always, the HG Address is at the end of the post - and the arrival point is a small island, just off the main build... from here you walk down onto the dock and through the teleport - first accept Experiences, which allow you to get the full effect of the sim! 

The teleport takes you to the giant tower which is full of portals taking you all over the sim, to places high in the sky as well as many neat places at ground level.

Knight Knox, also known by his Display Name KAZO the FOX (Mobius is the only grid in Opensim that we've visited so far to have SL style Display Names enabled) immediately began by giving us a bit of the backstory.

Knight Knox, aka KAZO the FOX

KAZO the FOX: The story of Phos on the planet Daqtheion can be best told starting like this:  Phosfortia was the first planet in the system that started the story, but that planet was destroyed by a threat from space (cyberspace).   Now that planet is the destroyed one you see in the sky over the Desert Zone.  The main resident here Kaze the Fox got in his spaceship and escaped Phosfortia before it got pulled into the void. He traveled through space looking for a new home and found Daqtheion. Its named that because its a place that has multiple climates that range from hot to cold. The name is unique but the original languages it was made up from is lost to time.

Thirza Ember:  I love these awesome teleport rings, look at the image in the middle...  it's really fancy

Lavia Lavine: almost mystical

Thirza Ember:  we're in the heart of the sim now...

Karsten Runningbear: i hear the beat : )

Calendar Guys

 Another year, another calendar, this year "Men of Opensim"... no, no nudes, you can get them anywhere with depressingly banal results, instead here the focus is on guys going places, or well not exactly going but staying places and making stuff that you can visit. Of course, the number of interesting people in Opensim is uncountable, but these  just represent some of the goings on in the virtual.

You can get the calendar for free at the HG Safari clubhouse, and it's a gift offered in the Notices if you belong to the HG Safari group on OSGrid. The calendar part is a MOAP or media on a prim, linking to the Safari's Google Calendar, which will show you our upcoming seasons of events, plus the grid birthdays of many places on the Hyperverse.

So, who's in the calendar?

Safari '25

 Another year of HG Safari trips is right around the corner, beginning in just six days from now on January 1 at the usual time, 12.00 Pacific time, or SLT - what time is that where you live? Answers in the comments!

The early spring season of HG Safari trips will last 10 weeks, as usual, so our final trip will be on March 5. Then after a break for a few weeks the fun starts again! As usual, each week the aim is to visit two interesting places on two different grids, accompanied by the person who knows all about the build, so that they can tell us their stories and answer out many curious questions. Where are we going? Here are a few hints - do you recognize any of these destinations?

Safari Finale 2025

 And so here it was at last, the Season Finale of HG Safari - in fact, the finale for the whole year, and where better to end our long journey than at a futuristic build most definitely not possible in real life even with all the cool light effects that galleries and concerts now can give people, none of it really compares with Nyx Breen's combination of 3D objects and environments, lights, particles, animesh and EEP. If you're not sure what EEP stands for, there is a nice big fat link for you. 

Nyx Breen wearing a special shiny outfit designed to enhance the Finale experience

It's been, what, two years, maybe a little more than that, since this new way of manipulating the environment in your sim was launched, and for many residents and builders, it's probably seemed a bit too complicated, so they have perhaps grabbed some freebie EEPs to liven up their sim, and left it at that.

Not so Nyx Breen, who in his RL career is a photographer of great talent and so is preternaturally in tune with the importance of ambience in terms of light and density. He has turned EEPs into such an art form, on sims that the folks over in the other place can only dream of - vast cathedrals of color are here in Opensim for us to enjoy, to wonder at and of course, to dance in.

Vets in Neverworld

 Tig Eberdene: If you wish, you can click the box by the sign here and receive a poppy to wear. Remembrance Day is one holiday that everyone should celebrate. I am a Canadian veteran so I very much agree

Beth Ghostraven: Remembrance Day is one holiday that everyone should celebrate ...maybe "celebrate" isn't the right word - I think I mean "honor)

For our first destination of the day, the HG Safari crew landed in neverworld to explore ways to remember those who have served in the Military, with two veterans, Tig and Troy. Though each served ina different country, and have independent regions on Neverworld, they have found unity of purpose in the way they'll celebrate on Monday the many lives dedicated to the various branches of the armed forces. The event will be posts on Opensimworld and Facebook, and the HG Address to get to Georgetown (and to Troy's aviation collection, on Painted Sky) you'll find at the end of the post, as always.

The commemoration area is right next to the forced landing spot on sim Georgetown

Tig Eberdene: As you arrive in Georgetown you can see we are set in autumn right now. The setting is to be as how it is in Real life Northern Ontario.  Georgetown is a special place, named for my father George Thomas Wilson. He was a WW2 veteran and my personal hero.  My aim in Georgetown is to make it feel like a real place. There are 3 2x2 sims here, which are all based off a combination of places I have been or lived in RL. This sim is the downtown area. The sim directly to the North is homes for anyone who wishes to live in Georgetown, as well as a small lake and Provincial Park.

N'orlins Night

 Our second stop this week was among the tombs of the Lafayette Cemetery of New Orleans. It's located on Ms Cal's grid Lagniappe ( you will find the HG Address as always at the end of this post) and she was on hand to show us around this extraordinary, photorealistic region.

Ms Cal: Welcome, explorers, to the heart of New Orleans—the iconic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, a true gem in the middle of the Lagniappe grid! Please be sure to click shared environment for the best experience... follow me and I'll give you a little history while we walk to the city of the dead....

Ms Cal

Ms Cal: Back in 1788, New Orleans faced a major yellow fever epidemic. The old St. Peter Street Cemetery was too close for comfort, and the water table made in-ground burials a rather soggy affair. So, city officials created Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as a solution.

Pumpkins and Prizes on Yaksha

 It's that time of year again and we were guests of Nani ferguson and ANge Menges on their Halloween Hunt this week. The sim will be open until November 6, so you can come back and complete the Hunt, if you wish. It's called Yaksha, over the years I've often asked Nani if there's some sort of storyline or cultural reference behind the odd and distinctive names they pick for their sims, and she's always said something like 'it's funny' so I'm guessing this year is much the same. You can invent your own etymology - bonus game! The full HG Address is, as always, at the end of the post.

Ange Menges: Welcome to all the safarista, you don't have a lot of time, so I will help a little those who want to play the game. You can visit the sim as you like, and for those who want to play the game, start by reading the panel carefully. In the region you can find 10 laughing pumpkins that will give you a gift.  Follow me inside the castle so I can show you one.

Fair Progress

 This week's HG Safari involved a visit to Wolf Territories to see how the Opensim World's Fair project is getting along. Several of the core organizers were on hand to give a warm welcome to the group! Most of the photos here are by Rosa and Kimm, you can also see some great pics by Star Ravenhurst on Facebook, and of course, the great Lifted Pixel filmed the whole event - you can watch that video on YouTube - don't forget to like comment and why not subscribe to her channel.

This is a massive sim, and the landing point has a 200m tall Observation Tower which seemed the ideal point to arrive  - don't worry, no stairs, there's a convenient TP down to ground level. The view from the top of the tower, when there are a lot of people, takes a moment to kick in, as you would expect of a well filled VAR  of epic proportions. The HG address is... yeah you guessed it, at the end of this blog post, where it always is.

Kimm Starr:  Hi and welcome to the Opensim Worlds Fair build.   Your presenters today are  Kimm Starr, Cooper Swizzle and Koshari Mahana along with our Entertainment Co-ordinator Rosa Alekseev.  We're excited to have you here today for an early sneak peak of the OpenSim World’s Fair, which officially kicks off on March 1st, 2025! This project is under construction and has been since February of 2024 and is no way complete. Everything has been designed to be conveniently close—whether you prefer walking, flying, or driving, all exhibits and entertainment are easily accessible. Directly below and surrounding the landing zone is the heart of the OpenSim World’s Fair, full of amusements, games, and rides. 

Dings Digital: I am looking forward to all this

Who Goes There

This week's first destination was to one of the wonders of Opensim, the Doctor Who region on Littlefield grid, often known as lfgrid because it's shorter! As usual the full HG Address is at the end of the post. The sim creator, Toy McBride, lives on the other side of the world to most of the Safari-goers, so she wasn't able to join us in person.

Dirk Mathers

However Dirk Mathers, one of the founding members of Littlefield grid, a master scripter and none too shabby builder in his own right, was kind enough to step in as guide. He's a knowledgeable Whovian, but even he admitted to getting a little lost in this build, which is encyclopedic and labyrinthine. Much like the long, mysterious and twisted plot of one of the most popular ever sci-fi shows on TV. 

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past half century, you probably know that Dr Who is a British TV show for children which began back in 1962, took a hiatus in the 90's and came roaring back in the naughties to an even wider audience of all ages, and it is still going strong.

Mike's Towns End

Our second stop this week was with the magnificent Mike Townsend, friend of the Safari and frequent tripper with us back in ye olden days when it was a three hour, uncertain slog through any number of  destinations. These days, Mike is busy with his Tropicana sims, where you can rent a bit of pixels for yourself in some very atmospheric places! HG Addresses at the end of the post - but you knew that already.

Coming from another grid, we all met with a fair dose of lag but the welcome was warm from both mike himself and a bunch of Tropicana friends.

Mike Townsend, flanked by Blancanieves and Tina Bey

Mike Townsend: Welcome everyone to Tropicana Village, If everyone is ready we can start the tour

Leoa Urmah: (pt:en)  I'm very ready

Mike Townsend: We will explore the area around the abandoned village and then take the path to the Trailer park. In a state of part ruin and abandonment there is still evidence of people living here. Lets walk to the trailer park.

This part of the build is a great mix of grunge and rundown architecture, with everything from nodding donkeys to a nice red phone box. Walking among all these detailed elements proved to be tricky, to say the least, but while we lost Mike for a moment, most of us were able to power through it. OSgrid's ongoing inv issues and unexpected kicks, when paired with a mass avatar event, kind of reminds us what a privilege it is in reality to be able to be part of a global community, despite the ructions of RL with its solar flares and political shenanigans.

Playing with Infinity

On sim Sirocco, one of the VAR regions belonging to the 3rd Wind community, on Zetaworlds, Han BoShi, Dolfke Barbosa, Jed Dagger, Ellemir Maven,  Nila Mari and Alia Soulstar awaited the arrival of the Safari crew. What better time to confirm or deny a popular myth about Star Trek 

Dolfke Barbosa: am I the only one wearing a uniform?

Thirza Ember: my other avatar has a red uniform on... does that mean I'll get eliminated in the first scenes ?
Nila Mari: /me chuckles

Alia Soulstar: yes, our priority is to thin out security every mission

Ellemir Maven: There was an analysis done that said red shirts are not actually more prone to death and dismemberment.

Left to right, Jedburgh, Alia, Nila and in red, Security Officer Dolfke Barbosa

Dolfke Barbosa: they tend to seed death and dismemberment

Ellemir Maven: lol it does seem to be true of the original series.  I have not checked these numbers... Being a "Red Shirt" on the USS Enterprise is one of the most dangerous jobs in any (imaginary) military. Don't believe me? SiteLogic founder Matt Bailey crunched the numbers: 13.7% of Kirk's crew died during their three-year televised mission. 73% of the deaths were Red Shirts.

Jedburgh Dagger: but as a whole there were more redshirts on the crew

Ellemir Maven: /me gets dol a second red shirt to wear

Dolfke Barbosa: thx for that, Elle, I will wear it with care at my funeral

Alia Soulstar: the dangers of space are best represented by the violent deaths of security

Dolfke Barbosa: Tasha Yar her dead was not necessary for the plot, and she wore yellow

Ellemir Maven: It was necessary for her contract though

Dolfke Barbosa: are you offering me a contract, Elle

Alia Soulstar: with a Christmas bonus... if you reach Christmas

For the Love of Lucy

Lucy was always there for me inworld with a word of encouragement, a joke or a useful observation. Always the same, generous, funny, creative.

In virtual worlds, when you don't see someone around for a while, it is easy to assume that they're simply busy elsewhere, or perhaps not feeling up to sitting in front of a computer. That happened with me and Lucy. This summer came along, the Safari trips took a break, and so did I, from virtual worlds... life got busy, and I totally missed seeing the news on Facebook that Lucy (in RL Peter Jones) had passed away. Only today, going to check his Facebook profile to see how he was doing, did I find out what happened.

Lucy Afarensis

That's part of the paradox of the modern world where in theory everyone is in touch with everyone else and we all know everything. In reality, we only know what we know, follow what we follow. Information we need and care about doesn't always get through.

Lucy was key to the HG Safari tours around Opensim throughout the years. More than either of us ever put into words, whenever we got the opportunity to chat - I wish told him more often what our friendship meant to me. Lucy was in SL from 2007 and in Opensim not long after that (Lucy's regions faced onto the OSGrid Moat, close to LBSA),  and the choice of the name name 'Lucy Afarensis' was a humorous reference to age - by a person who was never a fossil by any means.

We had a memorable visit to Lucy's region, including the Grove Gallery, in May 2018. We visited her place on Francogrid back in 2016 also, enjoying a concert by Nazira Avro - Lucy was always a canny opensimmer, spreading the wealth of builds over different grids, so as not to risk losing all if one of them should fail. That's not a lot of Safari visits, you may say, considering how interesting these places were, but Lucy was always the first to give up a spot in the HG Safari calendar, in favor of some other builder or artist, so to finally get to bring the whole group over to experience the horseback trip across this vast landscape was an absolute privilege.