Abnor Mole's Speech for Bellisseria Mole Day

 

On Friday August 30 at 10 AM, Abnor Mole gave a speech to a crowd in Bellisseria. This would be the opening event of the Mole Day Celebration Weekend. While no one at the Newser could be there, the speech would be offered in a notecard in the Bellisseria group.

 

*  *  *  *  *

 

Hello everyone! Thank you for coming.

As many of you know, today is the beginning of a major holiday weekend in the US… Labor day… a day to recognize the contributions of everyday working people and their contributions to society. And I think most of you already know this, but a group of moles is referred to as a ‘labour’ of moles… so, it is quite appropriate since that is exactly what LDPW Moles do. While most of you are here to play, we are here to work; toiling away building things not for ourselves but for all of you.

It is something we have been doing since 2008. Creating everything from the roads that span across the mainland to games like Paleoquest and Linden Realms… and if you haven’t played those in a while I highly suggest trying them out again. Even though they are nearly 10 years old at this point they are still quite fun. And if you have payment info and have used it (and if you live in Bellisseria you are Premium or Premium plus, so you have) you can even get a few L$ for playing.

Then there are the season regions like Isle of View for Valentines… (say it out loud if you haven’t gotten that particular pun yet)... Winter Wonderland, and the Halloween Ride, which should be coming back in the not too distant future like it does every year. That one still impresses me. It too is a little long in the tooth, but it is still one of the best Halloween experiences in SL I have ever seen.

Then comes the big one… Bellisseria. What started out as a facelift for the old Linden Homes morphed into something huge. Because you all loved it and appreciated it soooooo much, it morphed into something so far beyond its original scope it boggles the mind. Over 3000 regions and counting, 12 themes and more on the way. Roads, bridges, railroads and waterways that connect most of the original continents with a new continent all its own… all built with you in mind by a huge team of people working hand in hand to make it happen and bring features and amenities for you all to enjoy as an individual and as a community. An area so huge that you can sail, fly or drive from practically one end of Second Life to the other. I’ve done it! The bad news is it will take you all day, but the good news is, it… will… take… you… ALL… DAY. ;D

We appreciate every thank you we get from all of you of course, but what really warms our hearts the most is when we see you using and enjoying it. As any of you who have built things know, nothing is as disheartening as when you build something or plan something and you put all of your heart and soul into it… and nobody comes… Or they come, look around, say “meh” and leave. Like when you give someone this handmade gift that you worked on for a whole year and they put it down and leave it untouched.

But that isn’t what you all have done. We see you living in the homes we built and placed with care. We watch as you sail by or drive your cars and trucks through the neighborhoods. That.. that right there is the biggest thank you we can receive, because we know you love and appreciate what we built and are using it every day as a part of your SL lives. Decorating your homes, having friends over, maybe driving to an airfield and flying across the grid.

Of course then you hit a bad crossing and everyone is like… “OMG! WHAT HAPPENED? DID I CRASH? WHO IS FLYING? JERRY? JERRY!?!?!!! OMG JERRY CRASHED!!! WE’RE GOING DOWN!!! AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!” and you crash into someone’s backyard in the ranch homes and their cow is staring are you. Jerry logs back in and you tp him there and it’s like “Um… Jerry? Where are your clothes?”

Yes, we complain about those things when they happen. Buggy region crossings… clothes not rendering… But years from now you’ll be with your friends and say, “Remember that time we crashed into that cow and Jerry lost all his clothes?” and one of them will say, “Yeah, that’s how we met Lexi.” and Lexi will say “That was my house and that cow was never the same after that. You still owe me a cow, Jerry.”

The point being, those things are what makes Second Life fun. It’s why we are here, to have those crazy fun experiences. But to have them you need a place for it to happen. And that is what we try to build for you. Not a place where we entertain you, but a place where you all can entertain yourselves and each other. And when we see you all doing just that, it is the most satisfying form of a thank you we can ever receive.

So on behalf of myself and the entire LDPW team I just want to end by saying…
It is our pleasure, and thank you. 

 

*  *  *  *  *

 

It was stated there would be a video of the event available later, but as of the writing of this, so far the Newser has not come across one.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

SL19B Opening Ceremonies Hit By Technical Difficulties

 

By Bixyl Shuftan,

Not even the mighty Lindens are immune to crashing.

Thursday June 16 was the start of the Second Life Nineteenth Birthday, of SL19B. Yours truly dropped by early at the Arboretum, where Patch Linden was due for the opening speech. There were others whom had the same idea, and we were entertained by Squeaky Mole dancing and doing a few antics on stage. Three of the four sims in the area were quickly filling up. They must have been the high-capacity sims the Lindens were talking about as soon two were at 130 residents each while the third had over a hundred, for over 360 residents. 

I hoped they could keep these once-impossible numbers up, wondering if there'd soon be a crash. And it turned out I wondered correct once more. I had Strawberry Linden's Youtube going, and she crashed as well. 

Logging back on, I found myself in Horizons. I tried to TP back to the Aboretum, but couldn't. I went to a nearby sim and tried to walk over, only to find the sims were considered full, even though they had about 80 each instead of 130. It seems something happened with the sim, and they cut it's capacity. So I would listen to Patch's speech through the Youtube stream. Due to other technical issues, it would be delayed past the planned time of 12 Noon as well (21:50 in the Youtube).

(Click here if the video does not play)

Patch, whom appeared clouded throughout Strawberry's stream, would talk about various things. This included inspiring others to make their own virtual worlds, or as he put it, "some new legless entrants more recently to the fold." He would mention accomplishments of Second Life, saying the virtual world had a gross domestic product of over $650 billion USD. Patch would also discuss the various places of the Second Life Birthday area, such as the community gallery, where he invited people to share their screenshots, which he called allowing others a glimpse in the virtual lives of the residents, such as times when two friends are having a cup of coffee. Then he made a reference to his Fantasy Faire Jail and Bail, "then there are completely insane moments where a horde of angry tinies throws you into a jail and pokes you with pointy sticks. I may or may not be familiar with that." His aim was for the gallery to be a mix of "The beautiful, the crazy, and the poignant moments."

He also talked about a few changes at the SLB, such as moving the gifts to the Tapestry of Time, and the Music Fest events would be speak over the three stages over the three days, one day for each. He also talked about the three stages, the Arboretum, the Steamworks, and the Vernian Rotunda. Over the course of 11 days, there will be over 350 performers. 

He then brought up the exhibits, "There is nothing that better showcases the imagination and abilities of our community than the exhibit regions." Then came the Shop and Hop, "With over 400 merchants, this is the largest shopping event we have ever hosted ... a must-visit for both the sales and the mountain of gifts that are available to the ardent shopper."

He would then go on to describe the accomplishments in the virtual world such as "leveraging our newly-found Cloud environment muscles with the debut of event regions, which you're currently sitting in. It's a lot of people here. In fact, over 350 of us at one point, something we wouldn't have been able to have done without all of the various improvements to performance our engineering teams have been so hardworking on."

Patch stated there would be more Linden Home themes to come, but did not mention the next one. "I don't want to give anything away just yet," he would say, "Next week, please come and see 'Meet the Lindens,'" saying he would be at the first, "I have many great things I have yet to announce."

"I continue to commit to all of you that I will carry forward our mission of making Second Life the biggest, best, and most vibrant virtual world there can ever be. Oh, and we will always have legs."  He then thanked the moles, who he described as having been planning the event for months, in addition to certain residents who contributed, and invited people to take a slice of provided cake (the resident-run SLB events were noted for their "Cake Stage" locations), "have fun and stay virtual." 

Strawberry would apologize for her viewer not being able to rezz Patch, and would look around a few more places before ending the stream.

Patch will appear again at the SL19B for "Meet the Lindens," once again at the Arboretum, today, Monday June 20 at 2PM SL time: SLB Exhilarate (228/224/23) *

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

SL16B Opening Speech

Although the Second Life Sixteenth Birthday started June 20, it was on the 21st that the opening speech was given. On that day, residents were told it would be at the Festival Stage, which was filling the role held by the "Cake Stage" of the resident-run SLB events.

Like "The Cake," the Festival Stage covered the meeting corners of four sims, SL16B Exhilarate, Fascinate, Magnificent, and Mesmerize. This allows a large number of residents to be at an event at once.

The one problem, it can take a while, and processing power, to rezz all those avatars.

Squeaky Mole told everyone, "Voice is enabled for the speech, but we would like to ask you  to not speak as residents. This is for Patch Linden only! We'll also type the speech for those without voice enabled. Thank you! (If possible, during the speech please do not spam the chat so everyone can read on their own speed). ... Please do not request Linden Bears until after the speech!" Squeaky would also text Patch Linden's speech to the crowd.

"Welcome to all who have come! Thank you for being with us today to celebrate Second Life turning 16! I’d like to start out with taking an opportunity to thank some people. First, Ebbe Linden, Linden Lab’s CEO.  Ebbe has blessed me with the opportunity to be here with all of you today, and empowered me to do what I am for all of you.  I will be forever grateful for everything you have enabled for me Ebbe, for Second Life and Linden Lab. All of these people came together to make this entire event, these regions and all of the support with the coordination of the events to ensure it will run smoothly: Our Resident volunteer staff: Leondra, Cordie, Golan, Pygar, Dawny, Chloe, Jackstir and the rest of the stage crew, greeters and other volunteers. Our Moles: Squeaky, Ancient & Magic, Abnor, Naughty, Silent, Mischievious, Alotta, plus others who were involved with creating the content you are surrounded with in these regions. Other Lindens for their involvement and support:  Derrick, Xiola, Brett, Constantine, Strawberry, Kristin, Tommy plus many more who were behind the scenes supporting our efforts..And our many Resident content contributors, exhibitors, and performers, who will put their talents on display throughout the event and our various streaming services partners.

"For sixteen years, we have been able to experience a vast array of people, communities, lifestyles, and places all connected in a meaningful and immersive environment.  Second Life has brought all of us an entire world of diversity and openness, which in any other environment could continue to be challenging to discover, whether that be in real life, elsewhere, or even on other platforms. We continue to witness Second Life enable people from all corners of the globe to create, socialize, experiment, develop relations, engage in education, or business and even perhaps find the love of their life.  Sometimes those may follow through into the real world with opportunities as it has for me…. in both the professional sense and the personal sense such as with my loving husband who is also here with us today. 

"As Second Life continues to demonstrate what it has over the past 16 years, that you can find almost every interest you might have, presented in various and unique ways.... we are committed to helping and allowing everyone continue to explore, create, and socialize for many years to come. Let us all take the time to go and explore the regions that the entire community has worked on for this very special event. We hope all of you enjoy the festivities and we look forward to another great year! Without further delay…  Join us 10am SLT as we listen to incredible music by Parker Static.

"Happy 16th Birthday Second Life!!"

There would be a video available of the speech, but unedited footage. The speech itself was about from 5:15 to 8:55 in the video.

The crowd listened, then applauded once it was over.

Among the Lindens there was Strawberry, whom had been known as Strawberry Singh until hired in April by the Lab.

It wasn't long at all before some began asking for Linden bears.

But besides passing them out, they also started riding copies of one particular devilish-looking bear.

Kona Linden looked rather serious as his peers were funning around behind him.

At 10AM, Parker Static, the first of the Music Faire musicians, began singing.

Which resulted in Lindens and Residents dancing away.

As the day went on, there would be more singers at the Festival Stage. And this would be just the first day out of two for it. And there will be more events to come at the SL16B.

Bixyl Shuftan

The SL9B Commencement Speech

Monday June 18th was the first official day of the Second Life Ninth Birthday. Like others before it, this one began with a commencement speech. Before, it had been done by one of the Lindens. But this time, Linden Lab wasn't involved in the anniversary event at all, save for a little publicity on the destination and events guides on it's website. So someone else would be giving it.

The speech was scheduled at 11AM, and as the time approached, people began gathering at the four-sim cake stage to wait for the speaker. It was anticipated that the four sims would be crowded, so it was announced the speech would be heard on the radio streams covering the road system. For some reason, the majority were showing up in the southeastern cake sim of Tisa, including the large dragon avatars present. When it's numbers approached fifty, staff began asking people to move from the southwest corner to other sims. The northeast sim of Neun had less than half, and sometimes less than a third of the people whom were on Tisa. At one point, one of the sims went offline. 

 Finally at 11:30AM came an announcement, "Thank you for joining us! It is my great pleasure to introduce our speaker. This woman is one of those most responsible for the existence of this centralized celebration." And to the calls of "Yay!" and "Yes!" stepped up the speaker, Second Life media personality Saffia Widdershins of the Prim Perfect blog and the "Designing Worlds" Tree.tv show.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to SL9B!" Saffia spoke in voice, with the speech also announced throughout the four sims in chat, "Welcome to over three hundred exhibits created by the denizens of Second Life and spread across twenty sims. Welcome to a week of music and performance by the finest in Second Life. And there will, unfortunately, be lag.  And possibly, like a rainstorm on the barbecue, there will be sim crashes.  But, you know, we live in Second Life.  We’ll keep calm and carry on."

 "There’s presents – yes. It’s just like those parties you had when you were very young, at least you do in the UK, when you leave with a swag bag of goodies. There’s cake. There’s beer. Please remember, though, to take your litter home with you."


"They suggested that we take the theme of community, and celebrate in our own communities. I think I can safely say that that decision disappointed a great many. There were those people who had already started their builds, in anticipation of the opportunity to exhibit on the largest communal platform that Second Life annually offers. There were scores – no, hundreds of people who were preparing to donate their time and energy to the celebrations: the musicians, the educators, the greeters, the estate managers and assistants."

"But we nearly didn’t carry on at all.  Back in April, on April 16th, just over two months ago, there was an announcement by the grid operators, Linden Lab, that they would not be donating any sims for the community birthday party this year. What would we have lost, if we had accepted what Linden Lab had said, and partied in our own communities? I think the clear answer is that we would have lost our sense of a greater community."

"Many of us belong to strong communities: lifestyle communities, national communities, role play communities, study or work-based communities, communities of interest. And we have parties there – fantastic, wonderful parties."

"But … We would have lost the sense of being part of the greater community. We could have done that for the Birthday. We would have lost our sense of awe and wonder at what we can achieve individually, as new exhibits continue to astound us and delight us. We would have lost the crazy serendipity of seeing wonderful things rubbing shoulders with each other. We would have lost the chance to salute people who make our virtual lives, and our real lives, a better place."

"But that didn’t happen."

"For what was an agonizing month, there seemed to be hope. But finally, on May 9th, just over a month ago, it became clear that there would be no communal sims from the Lab. And with that final 'No,' it all seemed hopeless. How could the huge birthday party, the biggest annual celebration in Second Life, be gathered together, organized, built and launched in what amounted to ... five weeks?"

"And that was when we found our fantastic sponsors. Let’s salute Zeebster Colasanti and his team from DreamSeeker Estates, who donated ten sims, and his lead here at SL9B, Samantha Ohrberg. Let’s salute Callie Cline of KittyCatS and Equinox Pinion and Dennis Lagan of Fruit Islands, who donated two sims each. Let’s salute our anonymous donor, who gave a further six sims. Thank you – for having faith in the Birthday, for having trust in the community that we would make the birthday happen. Thank you for your belief in the Second Life community."

"As we started pulling things together, I heard one question more and more: 'Why are you celebrating Second Life’s birthday, when Linden Lab can’t be bothered to? Why are all you people putting in time, and money and so much work when Linden Lab can’t even drop twenty sims on the grid for a month and say, 'Here you are. Get on with it.' ”

"And, you know, I have an answer for that. It’s not Linden Lab’s birthday. It’s ours."

"Yes, Linden Lab have created the framework. They have given us the grid, the land on which to build our dreams, and sometimes our nightmares.  They hold the data that drives our Second Lives. They’ve given us the power and the ability to shape our imaginations in virtual forms. Amazing, wonderful virtual forms. But, it’s not their birthday. It’s ours."

"I hope that on June 23rd they’ll be opening the champagne in the Lab, maybe some of it non-alcoholic, and much of it organic. They are, after all, in California. I hope that they’ll be exchanging a few stories, a few laughs, a few guilty chuckles over where the bodies are buried.  I hope that one or two will raise some bright shiny ideas, 'Hey, wouldn’t this be cool to do?' And I hope that they then don’t spring that shiny coolness on us without consultation and rigorous testing! And I hope they raise a glass, a rueful, bewildered, maybe slightly apprehensive, maybe slightly awed glass of champagne, and drink to the denizens of Second Life – that awesome, troublesome, mulish, mutinous, sarcastic, angry, loving, fabulously creative group of real life people who make Second Life what it is."

"Because it’s not Linden Lab’s birthday.  It’s ours. We built it. Everything you see here – and everything you will see across the grid was built by the denizens of Second Life. Who hoped that people would want to come – and wondered, to begin with, if we needed more than four sims. Or ten. And who were then deluged by people wanting to join us and be part of the Best Birthday Ever."

"The Exhibitor Assistants who have been on hand 24/7 to make sure that everyone who needed help and support would have it – pretty damn near instantly. Doctor Gascoigne. KT Syakumi. Diana Renoir. Honour Macmillan. Marianne McCann. Rails Bailey. Crap Mariner. Thank you. Without you, this wouldn’t have happened. Without your hard work, your perseverance, your unparalleled ability to stay patient and smiling in the face of everything that the grid and its denizens can throw at you has been just mindblowing."

"But none of this celebration  would have happened without the efforts of a small, dedicated and totally awesome group of people who took those twenty sims and bashed them into shape. The stage managers who will be making sure the stages stay stable, and that the streams work and all the artists appearing are happy.  So, thank you. hank you to Mikati Slade, who built this amazing four sim Birthday Cake stage. hank you to Kaz, Kazuhiro Aridian who built the Lake stage. Thank you to Donpatchy Dagostino, who built the Lotus stage and the wonderful train. Thank you again to KT Syakumi who created the breathtaking Egyptian stage … and the breath-holding underwater stage!"

"Thank you to Artistide (Artee) Despres, who made the Community Hub that links this event to the other SL9B events that are happening across the entire grid. Thank you to Bo Tiger – whose lovely HUD is going to have us all bouncing happily from A to J and back over to Q ... Thank you to Yavanna Llanfair who has made the pod tours that provide the most amazing way of seeing the sims. And thank you to the hundreds of volunteers who have come together to make sure this happens. And thank you to all those people donating gifts to the Egyptian expedition and to David Abbot for writing the fun tale you’re all about to read!"

"This was the year of the hasty training classes, the year of the flying by the seat of our pants, the panics and the crazy improvisations and the last minute ideas so shiny that they just had to be acted on. This was the year of the last minute birthday party and, I hope you’ll all agree, we pulled it off. And while all that was going on, we had to make sure that people knew – so they would know to come and visit. o from the beginning, there was a team of bloggers and media people dedicated to making sure that the word got out to as many people as possible. Daniel Voyager, Inara Pey, and Ginette Pinazzo."

"This was the year of the 'last minute.' his was the year of discovering that more and more people wanted to join us, to help, to perform – so this was the year of the last minute fifth stage and the frantic re-arranging of schedules. But, thank heavens, it doesn’t have to be like this. Next year is the Big One.  The Tenth Birthday. We’ll be entering double figures – and we’ll be shouting to the world that Second Life is bigger and better than it ever was – a place where we have claimed our world for our imagination. Because it will be Huge.  There will be more sims, more exhibits, more art, more music, more of everything than ever before.  And, believe me, we’ll be prepared. And we’ll be holding our first planning meeting  ... well, maybe in a month or so."

"Because today, and for the rest of this week, we’re going to PARTY!"

"So unleash the Dragons! Bring on the dancing tinies!"

"We’re NINE and we’re going to PARTY!"

And with that, the audience cheered. The dragons roared, some flying up into the air. A line of tinies began doing Raglan Shire's characteristic "Riverdance." And everyone else erupted in cheers of "Yes!" "Yay!" and applause gestures.

"We did it!" "Thank goodness these people didn't take that 'No!'" "Happy Birthday!" " 'cause it's OUR birthday too!!!" "Cause it's OUR Community!!!" "WOOOT! OUR Birthday!!!! Community Birthday!!!!!!!!!" "Happy Birthday to US!!!!!" "OUR birthday and NOT Linden Lab's!" "(I'm) very happy to be called a 'denizen of Second Life!' Thanks to them all from the bottom of our hearts!!!"

With the end of the commencement, the sims across the SL9B region opened, though not without some trouble as some had trouble 'porting in, and the lag made it difficult for some to move around.

But it was a speech that made a great deal of residents proud.



*Update* The recording of the opening, by Petlove Petshop for Metaworld Broadcasting (turn up the volume).

Bixyl Shuftan

Breakers Coffeeshop Debate on Political Correctness

Shortly after 7 PM SL time on Thursday August 9, I had a chance to drop in at the Breakers Coffeeshop, in the Beakers sim, for a small debate on the subject of political correctness: had it gone too far? The discussion was small, several men and women showing up, but could get occasionally lively.

I ported into a debate on the issue of some fire departments having quotas to have on the force at least so many women. The big problem, as most women had less upper body strength than most men, the men felt this could be a problem in a rescue situation if an injured person had to be moved in a hurry. The women were reluctant to criticize this, and there were comments in agreement. On jobs that were less physically demanding, comments were somewhat more mixed, one woman admitting, “I earn more than many men.”

Other things brought up included sports teams having to change names away from Indian-sounding ones, and the height requirement by one city’s police force being in question as some ethnic groups might be harder hit by it. Someone also brought up the book “Politically Correct Fairy Tales,” a book of parodies of fairy tales retold with repeated use of redundant language.

One issue that got a bit of conversation was Dr. Laura Schlessinger using the “N-word” repeatedly on her radio program. She later apologized, and announced she would be leaving her show at the close of her contract at the end of the year. People asked, “Is there a difference between discussing the word and using the word?” And why could a black comedian repeatedly use it with impunity when Dr. Laura apparently couldn’t?

About thirty-five minutes into the meeting, the talk was interrupted by a sim restart, a couple people using not so correct language to describe it. And so, I had to take my leave.

Bixyl Shuftan