Gates and Skates

            Two places you MUST visit, in Opensim, one, a long-standing icon of hypergridding, the other, a relatively new grid with all the bells and whistles... and more. The HG Addresses for these places are at the end of the post, as usual.

          Shaun Emerald is an opensim hero. If you haven't met him, you've heard of him. His grid, Sanctuary, has been a haven for hypergridders since the sport became possible. Back before they got rid of the 4096, which meant you couldn't jump more than a 'distance' of 4096 regions in a single leap, and had to sort of use stepping stones to get to places, hypergridding was more of a zig zag than a LM-and-go activity. Sanctuary was and is a perfect place to land not only when you are struggling to get where you're going, but also as a place of discovery. The gates lead to grids, well known and lesser known, so that even an experienced grid jumper will learn something here.  

Safari goes to Counter Earth

        Our middle destination in Week 160 was to the Gorean grid outer Earth. Most opensim people have heard of this grid, it is famous for the Turia market regions, where many an avatar has gone in search of skins, hair and furnishings. In recent months, the Counter Earth grid has begun undergoing a period of increased growth, with about ten new regions being developed. It is an exciting time, and  this visit was just a prelude to, we hope, many more visits. HG Addresses, as always, at the end of the post. And of course, there are loads more pictures of our visits, take by glorious safarians, on G+ and in Facebook

           If you would like to read about the first and last stops on this trip, please look for the post titled Safari and the Ladies of Legend
          Havoc Rau and Kindra Turian kindly invited us, but there were many other residents on hand t meet us on the default region, Sardar Faire. The plan was to send us off in groups of five to visit

Safari and the Ladies of Legend

         This is the first of two posts about this week's hypergrid trip. The other post talks about Counter Earth grid.  This post is about the first and last stops on our trip, HG Addresses are - as always - at the end of the post.

            Our first stop was on the Cherry Freebie region, where you can see - and copy - an archive of Cherry Manga's creations. We had one or two problems getting to the region...

Week 160 Details

Here's the lineup for today's trip around the hyperverse. 
As usual, if you arrive a little later, or get lost and need help, jump over to the clubhouse on Francogrid (that's hg.francogrid.org:80:hgsafari ) where there will be someone to help you. Or at least, that's the plan. 
Three stops this week... so all hold hands and travel light 

DESTINATION 1 Beautiful Cherry Freebie. Not only can you admire all the glorious 3D art of Cherry Manga, you can even take it home and play with it....
hg.francogrid.org:80:cherry freebie

DESTINATION 2 Kindra Turian and Havok Rau welcome us to explore some more of Counter Earth

Tabuks Ford

There are about ten new projects in the works on Counter earth, we're invited to learn more about their expansion, and to visit two 'worlds' - Tabuks Ford and Iron Walls The tour begins on Sardar, the Welcome region of Counter Earth 
jand.dyndns.biz:7002 

DESTINATION 3 Zia Frimon! Meet one of opensim's most admired creators, see her newly refurbished region, and pick up some more great free items. This is a Var region - so hypergridders may avoid problems by jumping first to LBSA on osgrid, then going to melodies garden 

hg.osgrid.org:80 is the address for LBSA, then look for melodies garden

Safari Does the Math

          Learning your sums has never been more fun! 

            The Safari visited Blanes on Craft grid this week (HG Addresses at the end of the post as usual). Themed around a Pirate Hunt game, Blanes is one of the regions where Edu3D bring fun and virtuality into education. 
         Craft grid is famed for the number of institutions that use its resources for academic purposes, and they have garnered a fine reputation for both security and stability.

         

Week 159 Details

This week just two stops, each 90 minutes.

 DESTINATION 1 is on Craft Grid, we visit the Edu3D group who organize learning activities on a number of regions. Our hosts are Giliola Giurgola, Salazhar Stenvaag, with Eva Kraai and Safari's own xSiberiax Ilfreddopurifica. The starting point for us today is Blanes, a sort of Pirate Island, where there is a hunting game. The presentation of Edu3D, its aims and plans for the future will be in English, the game is in Italian, so something for everyone there.
craft-world.org:8002:blanes

DESTINATION 2 is on OSgrid. Last week, the OSgrid admin and residents organized a fundraiser to try to replenish the coffers of this iconic grid, often called the Crossroads of the Metaverse. We drop in on the regular weekly dance party on Event Plaza to talk to Albertr Landar and Aussie Envee, to hear the DJ stylings of LaNani and Peter. Bring your questions and comments. How long have you had an OSgrid avatar and how have you seen the grid changed since your first arrival there? What's the most important aspect of OSgrid that you appreciate? What changes would you like to see?
hg.osgrid.org:80:event plaza

A Bumblebee Safari

          They are large, noisy, and it was once thought that bumblebee flight defied the laws of physics. So, very much like the Safari experience, where anyone who is lag intolerant is going to fall at the first hurdle, but those brave souls who push through the freeze/chat lag/slow rez/crash/lost aspects of group hypergridding are rewarded by destinations that are positively blooming. This week we visited three destinations that are ripe, one might say, for cross pollination. Addresses at the end of the post, as always.

         Firstly we headed to Ignis Fatuus Grid. This francophone grid is without doubt one of the loveliest in the hyperverse. You could easily spend a month visiting the landscape and fantasy regions here, and still not see it all.

Week 158 Details

Three destinations, so brace yourselves... if you get lost or crash a lot, come back to the Clubhouse on Francogrid, and we will help you get back into the game!
Each destination lasts just 60 minutes.

DESTINATION 1 Versailles - a work in progress. 

On Ignis Fatuus, Max Hill, Harthelie Deux, Chip Angelvi, and Jeff Kelly are working on a mega project to build a virtual Versailles 
Four stops on this tour of Versailles:

• Arrival in the Courtyard, with presentation
• Salon des Glaces
• King's bedroom and other interiors
• The gardens

Super large build = lag for the group, so we begin on the grid's Welcome region, to load, then use the portal to go to Versailles 2 .

Ignis Welcome region

HG Address:   ignis-fatuus.no-ip.biz:8002
 ...and then look for the Versailles regions on your Map 

DESTINATION 2 How much do you know about TanGle? 

Meet Leslie Kling, ask questions, dance on the Grid's HG Station, and take a quick visit the Steampunk Expo. 

HG Address:  tanglegrid.net:8002:HG Station 1 

DESTINATION 3 Racing on VarTown 
Hans Nerido invites us to his new grid, Vartown, for a super Load test. 

Part of the fun, RACING on his famous racetrack, ported to the new grid after 5 years in OSGrid, where over 3k visitors enjoyed the free cars and great curves.

HG Address:   vartown-grid.ddns.net:8002 ...and then we go to the racetrack!

Avatarfest 2017 Begins!

          AvatarFest begins today, it's a weekend of poetry and music, freebies and entertaining builds reflecting the creativity of Opensim. 
          The festival is the fruit of the hard work and imagination of Eryn Galen and Han Held, along with many notable opensim contributors...

Han Held

... like Arielle Delamerlibre, who set up the Avatarfest Event in Facebook, Danko Whitfeild,  the folks of Metropolis Grid, and the wonderful Neovo Geesink, an OpenSim hero - you have to go see his build, which has a bunch of useful script tools that you need!
The Fest is at avatarfest.net:6000

Safari rolls with it

The transition is a keen one, I assure you, 

... and requires a strong decoction of Seneca and the Stoics 

to enable you to grin and bear it. But even this wears off in time. 

- Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1: Loomings

          In his introduction to Moby Dick, Herman Melville explains the etymology of the word 'Whale' - it comes from a Teutonic word meaning 'to roll'... and we certainly were rolling all over the place on this week's Safari.

In the foreground Vivienne Clary, our hostess on PSSMG Sea, and Spike Sol

   It was Pirate week, and as part of the celebration,  we had a reading from Moby Dick by Emil Jannings of New Media Arts Inc (catch him soon at Avatarfest). The famous novel is a tale of obsession, disaster, and hardship, but also of friendship, resilience, and survival... something grid jumpers in opensim can heartily relate to.     

Pirate Week - today's lineup

Yesterday was Talk Like A Pirate day, so we're doing the Pirate thing on Safari this week...

DESTINATION 1 Pirates on Dereos
Vivienne and Victor Clary welcome us to their seafaring regions, for a dance (and maybe some freebie shopping!)
dereos.org:80:pssmg sea

DESTINATION 2 Pirates on Digiworldz
Strannik Zipper invites us to come dance on his region, Pirates Atoll, and also to hear a Dramatic Reading by Emil Jannings, taken from Herman Melville's famous novel, Moby Dick
login.digiworldz.com:8002:pirates atoll

Futurelab and Fairies

            It's been a while since the Safari visited Futurelab and South Horizon, regions that form one of the best art and performance regions  on Metropolis, and our return was a veritable four course feast of words, colors, music and remarkable images. 

             Juliette Surrealdreaming, the perfect hostess, led us seamlessly from place to place as we sampled a literary tribute, an original installation, a curated show of 'rl' art, and a fabulous light show. HG Addresses of the places we visited at the end of the post.

Safari 156 Details

Here are the details of today's Safari trip
Two spectacular destinations this week
DESTINATION 1 (90 minutes) 
Snow Crash on Metropolis, by Art Blue and Juliette Surrealdreaming
This is a performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the novel Snow Crash, which gave rise to the vw use of the word 'metaverse'.
This performance was originally part of a Second Life event.
hypergrid.org:8002:futurelab




DESTINATION 2 (90 minutes) Here Comes The SUN! A party to celebrate the contribution of Sunbeam Magic to the opensim community, with music, dancing, and more. Our host is Bill Blight, and there will be lively music and dancing. 
Wear your wings!
grid.opensim.life:8002:fairy sunbeams

What I Learned from Miney

             Some people step away from their online presence with a big, drama filled dust-up, or do the shock-overnight-exit; some make a long fond public goodbye, and others disappear gracefully. It's a choice all of us eventually will make, and there is no right way to do it. For behind the screens and scenes, a life our virtual friends can only hazily perceive is going through concrete changes. When someone moves on, we, the friends left behind, have a duty to respect and remember.

One of the most intriguing parts of virtual life is to muse on the names people pick for themselves. It is a little romance about the character behind the avatar. Minethere Always, or Athanasios, is one of those names full of hidden meaning. You know you're dealing with a poet, with a life full of incident and feeling. That's the first thing I learned about Miney. 

Safari Breaks the Code

            Well, maybe not the code, but for sure we broke Neiferleaf, at least for a little while. Yet, would it really be a Safari if there was no crashing?
             Exactly.

             Back after a two month break, over 40 people joined - or tried to join - the Safari this week, a sign that the interest in opensim destinations remains as strong as ever. Two really interesting places were our goals on this our 155th outing - Vibel grid, and CitizenFour on Osgrid - complete HG addresses at the end of the post.

Safari Restarts

          Today is the first day of the 2017/2018 season of Safari trips around the hyperverse, so welcome back to the crashy, crazy, creative and often semi-nude adventures of group hypergridding.
         There are some new features of the Safari. 

Mobius Grid Safari base

         We have a new base on Mobius Grid, courtesy of Serra Royale. The new base was put together by Wizardoz Chrome, and contains some information about our trips and some freebies.
         Spike Sol has added some HG Safari information, in both English and German, on the Weltraumbahnhof, the hypergrid portal base on her grid, Soloton.

Weltraumbahnhof

         

On DeReOs

        The Safari is on vacation for a few weeks, but of course, that does not mean that opensim sightseeing comes to a halt. This week and indeed right up to July 23, there is a Summer festival on DeReOs grid, well worth hypergridding over to see it - HG Address at the end of the post, as usual. 

        Here's the rundown of this year's Sommerevent  Wednesday 12 July,  9 pm   The traditional 'Wednesday party' with Samira (12.00pm SLT)
Thursday 13 July,  8 pm   Western party with Sylvia from Nextlife  (11.00 am SLT)
Saturday 15 July,   9 pm   Wolem Wobbit Live blues concert  (12.00 pm SLT)
Wednesday, July 19,  9 pm     Samira's party  (12.00 pm SLT)
Saturday 22 July, 8 pm Kueperpunkt Comedy Decaffeinated and out of control  (11.00 am SLT)
Saturday 22 July,   9 pm Rocking music with DJ Prince Von Halberstadt and announcement of the winner of the Exhibitor Contest  (12.00 pm SLT)
Sunday July 23,, 4 pm Quiz with Vivienne  (7.00 am SLT)
Sunday July 23,    8 pm Kai and Marina Baer with their 'showtruck'  (11.00 am SLT)
 DeReOs is a relatively young grid, but its origins are venerable. It began 
as a group of friends, and then, as people's expertise increased, a group of regions on OSGrid. The name comes from "German (Deutsche) Regions of OpenSim". From SL to OSgrid, in some cases then to Metropolis, and finally to a grid of their own, these friends have all got many years of virtual experience, in technical, artistic and social terms. More about that below.

Safari Goes Off the Rez-ervation

           Last Safari for a while, but three destinations well worth you visiting. The HG Addresses (that's the bit you copy and paste into your Viewer's Map feature) at the end.
Why give the destination address in this format? It's because the low tech approach (you simply Highlight text, Ctrl C, then open your Map and Ctrl V into 'Search') works for all Viewers. 

Adrean Flux

             Our first port of call was Miranda the Welcome region of Adrean's World. Usually grid owner Adrean Flux is not available during the Safari hours,  since she is in Florida. So it was a great treat to get the opportunity meet her. the grid has about 500 registered users, not surprising since the grid was founded in 2010.

Safari gets a Sinking Sensation

            The summer is the time for big concerts, and fun in the sun, trips to museums and splashing about in the waves. The great thing about virtual worlds is - it's always summer, if you want it to be! 

             This week we went back to Sensation Millennium for a third visit, this time to see the Rock and Roll Museums on the ground level, two buildings dedicated to performers of international repute, David Bowie and Jim Morrison. to see the other part of the build which is on Craft Grid.  We were lucky enough to have the wonderful Whirli Placebo playing for us... so 3 rocking legends all on stage together!

Safari Potters About the Hyperverse

      Fourteen Harry Potter regions, of which nine are open to the public, featuring thousands of scripts and gazillions of beautiful textures, fully furnished buildings, including shops and houses - not to mention a spectacular reconstruction of Hogwarts school... this was the first of two destinations this week to Metropolis and then to neverworld, with an intriguing Extra stop at the end on OSGrid. All hypergrid addresses at the end of this post, as usual.

          Franzisca Bossi is an Opensim Treasure; she has been around longer than most of us, building and contributing to the hypergrid in many ways.