Back in Busy-ness

 Safari trips return tomorrow Wednesday 4 January at the usual time 12 noon Pacific (SLT) with another ten week season of two hour, two destination events. Busy busy!

Once again, we will be going to a whole range of different grids, and exploring many different themes - meeting people interested in art, tech, and community, and willing to share their builds and projects with us all.  To know more about events ahead of time, you can check out the following social media - Discord, MeWe, Facebook, and Opensimworld - usually events are advertised two or three days in advance. As usual we depart from the Clubhouse, join us there just before 12 noon to get last minute info and LMs,  hg.osgrid.org:80:hg safari

Ta ta, 22

It's that time of year when there are retrospectives everywhere... so here's one about Opensim. 

Plenty more things happened than the few that are listed here, so if you have a special memory of an Opensim milestone from 2022 that is not mentioned here, go ahead and drop it in the comments.

Time flies - or does it? over on Sauce, Aire Mille Flux

Opensim has continued to grow in 2022, in every way.

A Safari Year

 What a year it's been! The Safari started up in January, in the usual timeslot, Wednesdays from 12 noon SLT, but with a new sim on OSGrid courtesy of Ange Menges. The immediate response by old fans and new of the weekly group hypergridding concept was great - thank you all. 

Prodyck, Lux, Frank and Truelie

The more familiar clubhouse on Francogrid had become unworkable - just teleporting to the grid had become difficult, and regions would often be unavailable for days. The heart of the problem was an issue with server hosts, and as much as Francogrid was the home of the Safari, it seemed unlikely to have a future there.

For that reason, I got busy immediately with porting most of the Safari's Francogrid assets over to other grids. 

Aphra, Cherry, Lifted Pixel, and Mal

It was a time consuming process, with permissions and scripts playing up a lot of the time due to

Mouse Look

 If you like ice and mice and gnomes and Hunts with useful gifts, then the upcoming OSGrid hunt by Nani Ferguson and Ange Menges - an opensim season stretching back a decade! - is for you.

The sim's name is Khione, a wintry figure from Greek Mythology - daughter of an Athenian princess and the North Wind - who has risen to fame thanks to the Percy Jackson novels. But let's stick to openim ... this Hunt as always begins with a little backstory and aHUD, supplied by the Snowman.Use the HUD to find the next place to go. 

Bugged out

You've got one. We all do.

It's not a Big Mac, and it's not an Apple Mac. It's not even a rain mac.

But it is a MAC. 

This is the definition by some dudes at Bluecat  ...  Either you already know this, or else you don't care. Why should you? Well, ordinarily, no reason, but for your hypergridding pleasure it may be at issue. Because people are getting banned.

Take the lovely Eva Noir, the least bannable person in opensim, probably. Sweet, creative, helpful, respectful of all. 

Yet she got the heave-ho from a grid I won't mention (there were LoTR elements to the build, so that leaves the field wide open) because I'm at my legal limit of 'European dramedy' this week.

Those of us who get a lot of haters and dufuses in our Chat would probably just shake the dust from our feet and move on at the mere mention of being banned/blocked, but -dear grid owners- please take a moment to think before you just ban the ass of some poor soul. They may be completely innocent, and the experience of being banned can be quite traumatic. 

You're under a lot of stress, sure, but let's try to be civil.

Anyway, Eva reported this situation to Licu Rau, opensim guru and owner of Craft grid, and it turns out that, thanks to some kind of bug going around, multiple people are showing up as having the exact same MAC - physical address. So if you travel with a pal, as Eva did, both of you appear to be on the same machine. This of course raises red flags to a grid owner trying to deal with the constant threat of griefers. 

Licu very correctly opened a MANTIS on the subject. Go here to read all about it.

Wrong mantis

Let us pray.

Canadian Advent - ure

It's always a warm welcome at Novale. As every season comes along it offers a unique opportunity to explore the landscape. The winter is of course an enormous part of the culture of this part of the world, and so the snow lies thickly over the sim, the perfect backdrop to the colorful festive fun.

But there is jeopardy here too - of course! We are, after all, in the land of Alec Trebeck.

 Seriously, take heed of the warning and do not touch Rupert's nose.  Or if you do, be sure that you're wearing warm and tightly fitting underclothes.

Nell'ora del dolore

 Ed è una musica che va

There are perhaps only three Toscas in the world worth knowing about: Tosca the opera by Puccini, the singer Tosca Donati, quoted above and featured below, and the sim Tosca on Soul Grid. 

Tosca is the social heart Soul Grid. Soul is a predominantly German grid, but this sim has an Italianate feel, as though you had stumbled into a village  in Emilia Romagna. A church and an arengario, a piazza, subtle brown stone buildings under terracotta roofs, and a long table set for a village feast beneath a floral pergola.

One sim - but multiple venues. It's no surprise that sim Tosca has often topped the charts  on OpensimWorld for the number of active avatars. Events on Tosca at have a family feel, where no-one is a stranger for very long. The wall of friendship is testimony to this.

The Magic Auer

Shapeshifter, by Elif Ayiter, the Turkish artist and academic known in virtual by names such as Alpha Auer and Felix Ringtail,  is a magical sim on New Genres Grid, owned and maintained by Max Moswitzer. Over the many years that is has been here, there have been sea changes - alterations as irrevocable and gradual as the work of ocean waves.

It is a playground for ideas, a counterpane of imagination, a toybox full of concepts and genres. 

Sand Castle

It is an island, and yet it it not. It is an important religious seat, and yet only sometimes. It is a unique place, and yet not exactly. It is a place of sanctuary, and yet not always. It is a piece of ancient architecture, and yet not entirely. Mont Saint Michel, on the Northern coast of France in a sandy bay where Brittany meets Normandy, is a spectacular paradox in space and time. 

Mont Saint Michael, Serenity Grid

Erwan Elan has reconstructed Mont Saint Michel on his Opensim grid, Serenity, and it's a realistic piece of magic. The island takes up an entire sim, and is walkable in a way that creates a perfect sense of place. There are gaunt defenses and soaring vaults, dizzying heights and a warren of narrow streets. It is a tour de force, and most of the images here come from Erwan's build. Why not make the trip to see it for yourself, the HG Address is, as always, at the end of the post.

RL Photo of  Mont Saint Michel in the late 1800's

The White Stuff

A three dimensional mandala, a work of lace and light, a fragile skeleton hanging weightless between the sea and sky, that is Ivory City by Tosha Tyran based on an idea by Lumiere Noir.

If there is one point in the hyperverse that might be defined as its spiritual heart, this build is it. 

The location of Ivory City has not always been the same, and the configuration of the

Conference Call Ten

 This year is the tenth annual OSCC, and you're invited. Great! But what is that?  Who's behind it? What's happening? How much do I have to pay to go to this thing? Where is it held, and when?

Conference Hall, OSCC

Let's start with when and where. The OpenSim Community Conference is held on a dedicated grid with the snappy address cc.opensimulator.org:8002. The grid is online all year round but it is most

Outgoing and Upcoming

 After 60 destinations - well 62, if you count the two special Safari trips to the seasonal Hunt builds of Ange Menges and Nani Ferguson - over three seasons in 2022, the Safari is taking a break for a bit. 

Mandjelia on OSGrid was our first destination this year

In 2022 we went to 36 different grids, from Kitely to CopyKat and back. At last count, somewhere between 60 to 70 people joined us in person as Safari tourists, forming part of the group that gathers at the Clubhouse before setting out on the adventure - plus many more who came along to support their friends, our Hosts, at each destination. 

Safari trips begin at the Clubhouse -  last minute information, gossip and jokes

Aether Way

Air or sea? Light or dark? Either way, our final stop for this season of the Safari is an oasis for the senses. 

Nico Kailani invited us to visit sim Aether, whose definition defies simple terms. Part art sim, part clothes collection, part gallery, part party place, it is all worth seeing. HG Address, as usual, at the bottom of the post. Check out that EEP!

Nico Kaliani: So, anybody got a notecard? Imbedded in it is "The Story of Aether" Read it if you like. Alot of cool stuff about the Greeks and all

Forest Azure: yes... yes...yes...yes

Wizardoz Chrome: yes

Tree Kyomoon2: this is an excellent place to be hit with the epiphany that Hypergrid works, we already have a metaverse. Thanks everyone!!!

Fallingwater Finale

 Camryn Darkstone is a gem of a builder, and this her version of Fallingwater is a triumph in every way. It's beautiful, it's harmonious, it's informative, and it's fun. 

Together with Littlefield grid owner Walter Balazic, she ported the sim from its original place of creation in SL to their grid almost ten years ago, when Littlefield opened.

Walter and Camryn 

The Fallingwater logo is not, as might seem, a Japanese ideogram. Instead it represents the shape of the house and its cascade, although perhaps you can see a F and a L in the pattern also.

The house is primarily a prim build, indeed, it was begun before Mesh was even a thing in SL. Yet the quality of the construction is so perfect that the house, as it does in RL, seems to float above the torrent.

Dead Fall

 Three days in Autumn throw up some contrasting ways to think about the spirit world. Halloween kicks things off - it is the most widely publicized and also perhaps the most disagreeable of the three events, having been reduced by its secular, money-making possibilities to a world-wide rigmarole of ghoulish gore, with a lot of sugar and spite thrown into the mix. In Catholic countries, the morning after has a very different feel.  November 1 is the day when the cemeteries are bright with potted plants and bouquets, as people remember their loved ones en masse. The atmosphere in the graveyards of Europe where this holiday persists is generally serene, neither somber nor spectacular, just a time of quiet recollection and resignation, with flowers - and like Mother's Day, it's the time when florists finally get back into the black. 

But then comes November 2, the Day of the Dead. Not to be confused with either of the other two events, The Day of the Dead has its origins in Aztec traditions, particularly the figure of Chicunamictlan, the Aztec queen of the underworld. Its trappings are unique, and beautifully portrayed by Nyx Breen in Opensim.

Girl Power

More woman, less violence! That's the unequivocal message of Rosanna Galvani and her group on the region Piu Donna Zero Violenza, over on Craft Grid. This year is their second festival, aimed at raising awareness of the need for men to be less idiotic, for women to seek their voice, and for a lot less horrible acts of violence in this world. If the theme appeals, then the artwork that you will find on this unusual and interesting region will provide further food for thought.

This region is home to a multi level exhibition area, including a performance space about halfway up the construction,  and a park-like area at ground level. 

Più Donna Zero Violenza - in Italian, you can write it like this "+donna 0violenza" - means more (plus) woman obviously zero violence. Rosanna is Italian, but this is an international project comprising a long series of artistic and social events. Alongside Rox you will find artists and performers who speak French, English, Portuguese, Hungarian, Spanish - the common tongue is equal rights for all. 

Moon-scape

 The second destination for the Safari this week brought us into contact with great architecture, in every sense of the word! We were guests of Luna Lunaria, who specializes in mesh builds, often on a very grand scale, and she welcomed us into her Emporium on Wolf Territories grid, rather than her art installation  'Lunaria', because it is on Mobius, a grid that is sadly not open to OSgrid residents at this time.  It's a great strategy to have different pied-à-terres on different grids, because the ups and downs of opensim are never that predictable  and a presence on multiple worlds makes you nimble!

The very nimble Luna Lunaria

The Emporium is what the name suggests, a store full of creations, all original work by Luna, which she sells both here and on Kitely and in SL. 

Action Station

 Soul Grid has a great tagline - 'Living with friends' and it lives up to the name with a very friendly crowd on hand to meet the Safari gang on our arrival this week. Rudi Bakerly: Hallo, willkommen im Soul

Nasti Bakerly: hello and welcome

Star Ravenhurst: Hello Hello!!

Miguel Torres: hello  to all

Cosa Wiefel: hallo

Rudi Bakerly: Yes some residents wanted to join us

Nasti Bakerly [de→en]: nice to see you all here

Thirza Ember: wow 24 people!

Luna Lunaria: that's a lot

Star Ravenhurst: Good crowd!

Our first destination (you will find destination 2, the Emporium of Luna Lunaria, in a separate post) is a colorful, warm and friendly place with a name that has huge meaning in the history of Opensim - Weltraumbahnhof. The word means 'space station' but ask any oldbie what it really means, and they will tell you it was the iconic hypergrid hub built by Spike Sol about ten years ago, an essential place for discovering new places, good shops, interesting events, and new friends in opensim. That build is now gone, and this is its successor the creaton of Rudi and Nasti Backerly, owners of Soul grid.

Spooqued

 It's noon SLT on the first Thursday of the month, so that means it's Frenchie time! This month the Soiree Franco involved a visit to Quebec, in the form of the grid Creanovale, home to Kelso Uxlay and Dabici Straulino.

For those who don't know, once a month the French-speaking community of opensim has a grid jumping event. Things start off on Eden Cat's little grid, where there is a meet-and-greet, in Voice and in French. A great way for you to polish your pronunciation and irregular verbs! But don't worry, if you

Playing Ketchup

 Part one of this week's Safari was a visit to Aire Mille Flux, one of Opensim's oldest continuously operating grids, focused entirely on art.  There are a number of builds by the grid owner Marc Moana, and other builds that originally debuted in Sl, but have been ported here. This is an important aspect of Opensim, as a repository for installations that would otherwise no longer be visitable. 

Due to RL, our host wasn't able to join us on the grid. That is risky, because if anything goes wrong, the sim will crash (sometimes the whole grid, if it's a small one!) and there is nobody at the back end to start it up again. To try to mitigate any teleport shocks, we had a portal set up at the clubhouse on HG Safari, so we could arrive gradually.