Weekend Wolf Fest

Sometimes it pays to be cheeky - we asked and we got permission for the HG Safari group to get a sneak peek at a big event happening next weekend, the 15th and 16th of June. It's Wolf Fest, on Wolf Territories Grid, which has seen exponential growth in its relatively short life - with more virtual space in which to wander than even Second Life !

The Fest is all about celebrating the community, and under a deep blue sky, Lone Wolf and DJ Illusions were on hand to welcome us and explain all about it.

Lone Wolf: OK, I hope everyone's settling in.

Thirza Ember: apart from the nakedness, I'd say we are mostly here and good to go?

Lone Wolf: Uh. Nakedness. Ah, that's OK. There's always a bit of nakedness.

Thirza Ember: can never be sure if nakedness is a deliberate choice, or a glitch

Forest Azure: if it was only naked...

Science Circle-d

 Science Circle grid is now offline, possibly for good. It's a shame because it was such a nice grid, with some very interesting and unusual builds on it, of a scientific and educational nature. 

The grid, which was small and only had a handful of residents, was managed by Quaesar Agnomen. It was affiliated of course with The Science Circle group in Second Life. I really loved it, and felt privileged to join the grid in 2022, because although it was not large, it offered a sort of bridge between the walled garden of SL and the wider hyperverse. Ideal, you might say, for people who are interested in expanding their knowledge and extending the frontiers of reputable information. 

The Science Circle is a group in Second Life. It has regular meetings on a dedicated, eponymous sim in SL (and other spaces) where they get real life scientists, like Stephen Gasior, to talk to them about cutting edge scientific research - it's fun and informative! Nym Hathaway and Jes Cobalt are the people to contact in SL to know more about how to get to all their events, for in some cases, access may be limited.

Stephen Gasior at a SC meeting n the theme of 'The Moon' in 2022

Quaesar and Stephen appeared on Mal Burns' talk show Inworld Review about a year ago  for a conversation about the Science Circle grid in Opensim, how it works, and what's to be seen there.

As we all know (or ought to by now!)  Opensim isn't identical to SL, nor is it meant to be; it operates on vastly different decentralized principles. And yet one often hears newbies and even some oldbies lamenting that 'there's nobody in opensim'. Think of it this way - if SL is New York City, then opensim is the West - the wild west at times, but a place of wide open spaces, busy people discreetly creating and getting on with their lives in their own way, without fanfare or crowds. That said, with a bit of intelligent research you can easily find people, projects, and plenty of entertainment in Opensim. 

Bloom and ...Bloom

Winxtropia is one of opensim's most innovative and original looking grids. Lots of low lag mesh here, simple but cute-as-anything buildings,  cartoon people with big personalities and all focus put where it does the most good, not on huge photorealistic textures, but on added features that lift the grid into a league of its own. As always, the HG address of this delightful place is at the end of the post.

Bloom Peters 

Of course lots of people are working independently and in parallel on all kinds of innovations in opensim, the difficulty is often in finding out what's going on and that is where social media often comes in handy, although we all kind of hate it! Bloom Peters (you may know her by her previous name Cuteulala Artist) published a vid on MeWe  that got me curious to learn more, and here's the story...

 Bloom Peters: So I created an animesh AI, currently limited but its connected to external AI software... the ai is able to know people and even speak their names... it creates wav files on the fly, and plays them local... it can also see were you are and walk around you, or attempt to, and even change its walking paths to avoid things. The "Bloom" walking here is the experiment.

Thirza Ember: oh  wow! in  pink ?

Bloom Peters: yes... she follows no tracks and she knows almost everyone, if you go near her she might even say your name

Animesh Bloom

Happy Birthday Soul Grid!

This weekend Soul Grid is celebrating a milestone, four years online! 

The fabulous Janice sang the opening set of what promises to be two evenings of delightful togetherness on the grid known for its tight knit community and many friends all over the metaverse - there were over 50 of us from 15 different grids at this Saturday night party.

Safari Sees Scario

Craft grid was our first stop this week on Safari with a RL place, recreated, and some nifty reproductions of ancient technology that will make you think and wonder. The sim was NoiLab 2, we were guests of Tonino Lane, and the full hop address is, yes, as always, at the end of the post.

Tonino Lane [it→en]: follow me and take your place around the compass of the winds, I hope there are chairs for everyone, what a great group, I'm honored to have you here

The compass of the winds  is of course a great way to enter into the spirit of the Mediterranean world, and  to further facilitate our visit, Lorenza Colicigno helped out with some explanations in several languages in Local Chat so we could better understand the place. Some people think 'oh just tell the group to take a Notecard' but let's be honest, nobody reads notecards, especially long ones, and Notecard Givers fail due to the lag that a big group of people often makes, and anyway it's way more fun if you tell us about your build piece by piece, so we can absorb the information gradually, and ask questions. 

Tonino has been fascinated by virtual worlds and the possibilities of the digital worldwide community from the days of dialup, and his reputation as a builder covers the past 20 years in both SL and Craft Grid. We had arrived in the small port of Scario, about 150 km south of Naples. Tonino spent his summer holidays here for almost 20 years, and had a sailboat with which he used to sail around the Gulf of Policastro, reaching the wild and inaccessible small beaches.

Cyclone Watch

The sim Cyclone on Mobius lay quietly beneath us as we stood on the single rocky point above  a large, barren and open valley of green, with some otherworldly yellow lines surrounding the open space, just at the sim edge. The old rusting flight control building roasted under a cruel sun, as did the tarmac of the runway. It was the calm before the storm. With planes.
The address of this loveliness is, yes you guessed it, at the end of the post. Our visit began with some fast rezzing and a bit of a tech talk.

Luminalore Resident: Alright, perfect. Once Alex hops out we can begin! ^^

Royale Mobian: Alex please get out of the plane, we have a few things to say first before the fun begins

Lifted Pixel: haha telling safari not to sit

Royale Mobian: is there everyone?

Thirza Ember: yes, all here

Forest Azure: /me throws something at alex... a hearing aid

Thirza Ember: he may have some lag, give Alex a moment, he may not be able to move!

Lifted Pixel: we also love to sit

Andron Rae's Brigadoon

 What a day this has been, 

What a rare mood I'm in...

"It's almost like being in love", Brigadoon, (Lyrics by AJ Lerner)

Our second stop on this week's Safari was to a magical place by Andron Rae, and the much missed Pasha Theas, a great builder with a big heart and a talent to match. The HG address for this build on Sharing is Caring is, as always at the end of the post.
The sim held up amazingly well considering the vast amount of detail here, much down to the grid owner, admin, and some sharp skilled building.

Chilli Bean: hi thirza n all newly arrived

Andron Rae: welcomes lifted, Jupiter, Forest, Thirza! welcome humbletim

humbletim metaverse: /me waves hello

lifted pixel: hello! thank you!

Andron Rae: there will be lots of things to click on though Thirza said let me chat in local i will walk you through most of the story, and if the sim crashes Chilli can reboot it for us lol

Chilli Bean: hopefully it will be okie lol

Andron Rae: i will shout like trouble did in the last place

Thirza Ember: i see bits of you all

Ayla Alvarez: no bytes yet, eh... the last place, everyone was naked for a bit. that was fun.

Andron Rae: i'll begin then :) Welcome to The Stories of Brigadoon region. There are several stories here, this is one of them - at the main landing 128,128 there is a hub that teleports you to any of them. This is a 2x2 region, the story was written and built by me, then landscaped with the enigmatic Pasha Theas who you may have seen from some other builds - The Caves, Crystalwind, and Shijima which is also here on Sharing Grid. Most of this sim region centers around a rewrite of the English/Scots poem ''Tam O'Shanter'' with elements from other Brigadoon legends (and some new ones!) Near us is #27 Royal Post, wherein begins your journey... you are welcome to walk inside though I will read everything off that you would click on :)

Andron Rae: shouts: Static NPCs speak on private local chat when you click on them. Other objects interact giving clues and backstory. A visitor would normally walk up the stairs and go inside to begin the tale, where you meet the postal clerk... it might be a tight fit as its a small building though feel free to step in... in this opening area the region lets you know many things are clickable.

Angelic Kisses: zoomed in....love the decor