Inauguration Weekend in Second Life

By Bixyl Shuftan

In January 2009, our predecessor paper the Second Life Newspaper did an article about an inauguration ball in honor of President Barack Obama. Eight years later, on January 20 2017 and the weekend after, there were a few events and displays in honor of the new President now, Donald Trump. But not everything was in his honor.

Following a tip from ShadowRene Ivanova, I headed over to the London City sim at (79/226/23). There in a city park area, the British sim had a tribute to the new US President. Painted on the ground was an American flag with the Presidential seal in the middle. Not far away on a stage with another American flag and a picture of the White House behind it was the name "TRUMP" in red, white, blue, and gold.

There was some discussion going on, partially in chat, partially in Voice. Despite the controversy that often follows Trump, the conversation was more or less civil. But among the crowd was one of the Lindens, Warp Linden, out of either curiosity or perhaps wanting to make sure the place wasn't griefed. Among the other avatars were a few tinies and furs.

I heard about an Inaugural party held on another spot in the sim. It was being held at a club called, "One Soho Square." The place was all decorated in red, white and blue, on the floor and with balloons. But not everything about the club was first class. There was a bit of irreverent humor involving Queen Elizabeth and a phone booth.

Mike Fahley of Kotaku also wrote about the tribute at London City, including a brief video of the place at the time Trump was giving his speech. He stated as many as 97 residents were in the sim at the time. He saw a "few" people shooting at each other or having "laid down on the ground in dying poses with daggers in their backs." But for the most part the crowd was civil.

The Trump Pub that had been around on Election Night was gone, but there was another Trump hangout high above the Atomica sim. The crowd was definitely more partisan, "We are conservatives and Republicans or Libertarians and gracious people." Some were talking while others were watching a film. There was a little speculation about who the Democrats would run next time, feeling Hillary Clinton had her chance and Sanders was too old. One was expressing revulsion of a CNN article that openly asked the question what would happen if Trump and Pence were assassinated. Seeing me, she was a little surprised to see there was a media aimed at covering Second Life.

The Second Life Republicans would have a couple parties. One was on Friday night. The second was on Sunday. While I was there, it was a small crowd with light conversation.

Not all Second Life residents were celebrating the new President. Hamlet Au wrote about an inworld photographer (NSFW picture), Shilo Selene Goldlust (Shiloselene), whom had started a Flickr "body language" challenge,"As the war on humanity intensifies via attacks on our gender, our sexuality, our religious beliefs, and our cultural identities, it has become even more important that we retain the confidence to speak up for ourselves, and let the establishment know that we won't be cowed, and that we won't allow ourselves to be victimized." The picture she had contributed she explained on a blog was inspired by her being sexually assaulted in college. Any1 Gynoid informed the Newser of one other protest screenshot by artist Adolf Chapman (NSFW).

Inauguration Day in real life would see numerous women's rights protests. In Second Life, One can get one of the pink "pussycat" hats at Tableau (169/112/23).

Like on the day after Election Day, there were numerous comments on Facebook, about a third in support of Trump, a third against, and about a third with mixed opinions or not caring. The photo posted on Friday when linked to on Facebook got a few dozen comments from both sides.

For the second time in it's history, Second Life has seen the election and then the swearing in of a new US President.  Much like last time, many have high hopes for him while others fear he will bring ruin. This time the ideological roles are reversed. How he will perform, time will tell.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Wulfenbach 2014 Winter Games

By Bixyl Shuftan

In real life, the Winter Games don't start until February 7th in Sochi Russia. In Second Life last weekend, residents from several Steampunk communities (and friends of) got together for their own winter activities, the Wulfenback 2014 Winter games. The events took place over a the weekend of Saturday January 25 and Sunday January 26, and across several sims across the Steamlands over multiple communities. The events got their name from prominent Steelhead resident KlausWulfenbach Outlander.

The Consulate of Europa Wulfenbach 2014 Winter Games as the events were officially called started off at 11AM SL time at the Dragon Amphitheater in Caledon On Sea (161/35/3076). At over 3000 in altitude, the location was all iced and wintered up, with the only dragons around being stone statues. Indeed there were more penguins at the place, which were skittering around on the ice, with other decorative items such as snowglobes. For those wishing to skate on the ice, all they had to do was click on the stage and get a pair of Wulfenbach skates (and disable any AOs active). Cups of hot coco were also available.

The stage itself had a white Christmas tree in the center back.On the brick floor was a large blue disk for a dance area, with decorative patterns. With music provided by Nyree Rain, people were soon, taking off their skates, and coming over to dance. The event lasted for about ninety minutes, though some people stuck around to chat for a little while before heading to the next event.


At 1PM SL time was the fencing match, the "United En Garde Tournament" at MariKesh Mondrago (75/199/47) (for those who want to know more about the game, Click Here). After paying an entrance fee, thirty-two contestants participated in the event, taking place over three rounds plus the rounds to determine the winner and third place. Some fast and furious swordplay was done, with no shortage of short matches.

The match for first place was Stormy Lionheart and Joesf Fitzpatrick for the championship. It was a bit of a contrast, Stormy being a girl in blue jeans and Joesf a dapper-dressed fur in a good suit. But feminine wiles won out over fashion, and Stormy won. The third place round between Zac Icthan and Vance Nirvana was an even greater contrast with Zac being a two foot tall hippo tiny. But in En Garde, size does not matter. The tiny hippo scored, and won third place.

 at 4PM SLtime, was an intermission event, "Queen Anne's Chess." This wasn't a tournament event, so no prizes were given, but there was still some competition. Queen Anne's Chess Club, at Winterfell Laudanum (127/210/517), has a number of games, including a billiards table, a Japanese dice game called Chou-Han, a Risk-like game called "Conquer," and of course chess. The location is open 24/7 for anyone to drop by and play.

At 5:30 PM was the "Steamcarpet Steeplechase," hosted by Lucien Brentano at MariKesh Mondrago (63/206/48). Actually, there was only one steamcarpet in the event. Most others chose some other vehicle from a flying giant BLT sandwich, to Baron Wulfenbach's helicopter pack, to Avariel Falcon's flying unicorn avatar, to a giant housefly. The flying sandwich got a few jokes in the crowd about "bringing home the bacon" and "airline food," and the giant housefly sparked some humoring about "that would take one heck of a swatter" and "you want flies with that?" The race took part across a course in the air made up of rings. Satu Moreau proved the fastest, and got first place. Second was Avariel Falcon. Third place went to Baron Wulfenbach himself.

The Steeplechase was the last of the Saturday events. Sunday January 26 would see a few more. At 11AM SL time was a fishing event in Caledon Kittiwickshire (71/236/24), "Hats may be involved." There was also a "Scupper of Coffee Race" at the Babbage Square sim, "The Experimental High-Test Coffee Race, newly added this season, will test your mettle in a foot race designed to demonstrate the energy-producing effects of a good, hot, steaming and perfectly safe cup of uber-coffee! Unlimited amounts of coffee will be provided along with additional equipment absolutely without charge!" Sadly, the Newser was not available to cover these events when they took place.

The final game event was the Monster Hunt, taking place at Steelhead St Helens from 5PM SL time to 7PM. The event was described as, "The North Pole has come under attack! We have received word from surviving members of Santa's elven ranger squad that otherworldly forces have invaded and taken over Santa's workshop, seeding the surrounding area with hideous monsters and vile mutations to keep away prying eyes. These villains are now using Santa's factory and manufacturing capabilities to create death machines to leave under trees and in stockings for children all over the world come Christmas next year. ... Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join us on the WEA Gummi-Ente where you shall receive equipment and basic training, and then be air-dropped as close to Santa's workshop as we are able, fight your way past the savage beasts that patrol, find the entrance to the main factory, find the ones responsible for this invasion, and in the spirit of Christmas, destroy them utterly and without mercy!"

The event was done using HUDs for the Grim Combat System, which I've seen in a few zombie games. Free crossbows and guns were available for the event, along with red berrets provided with "the blessing of the Queen Victoria of England." More than a dozen gathered to take part in the hunt, including Baron Wulfenback. Yours truly also took a gun for the fight. At the event's start, we jumped down, and mean-looking "tainted snowmen" began appearing, along with alien "three-legged freaks" and floating aliens, and closed in. We fired back, and began taking down these nasties. There were a few "clanks," steampunk robots, near the drop zone to fire at any monsters that came too close, so there was a safe zone.

After clearing out the space between the ship and Santa's workshop, some of us went in, went down a hole, and entered some kind of subterranian base with robot drones, aliens, and even the nemisis of Doctor Who, the Daleks, around every corner. It was a hard fight, and many of us ran out of hitpoints and had to be ported back to the ship, or if the port didn't work, wait for the HUD to recover before we could shoot again. Zanya Resident provided some commentary during the shootout, "Tha Baron is cornered but fights his way through a wall of Daleks and drones!" "Bix is making slush out of the snowmen!"

Finally, there was a big boom, and with a clatter, metal saucer-shapped objects could be seeing crashing to the ground. Zanya shouted, "OH MY GOD! The Dalek ship has been destroyed!!!"

Finally, the time for the shootout was over, "Everyone back to the ship."  "Shoot. I was hoping to reach 1000." Scores were tallied, "In first place, we have Luke Skywookam (Luke Skywalker aka maxim.krutschek ), with an unbelievable 914 kills! In second place, we have Tal'Kesh (aka Way) with an amazing 665 kills! And in third we have Baron Klaus Wulfenbach with a hefty 440 kills!" Zanya commented, "special recognition should to to Tal, though I don't have an exact number, I would bet solid money he thinned the Dalek population down more than everyone else! ... it seems the Daleks took massive casualties, we kept intercepting them screaming about a doctor. Then the ship exploded."

Zanya Resident reactivated the place after the games were over for anyone else wanting to play. The location is at Steelhead St Helens (109/218/886).

The final event was the closing ball. This would be at  St John Parish. Unfortunetly, yours truly was not able to attend due to real life matters.

It was an eventful Winter Games, the seventh organized event of it's kind in the Steamlands. No doubt next year there will be an eighth.

Bixyl Shuftan

Going to the Burn

This weekend, the Burn2 art and music festival opened in Second Life. Taking place across six sims and eight days, there's a lot to see and experience with over a hundred arrests and dozens of live musicians and DJs apiece.

Heading over to the entrance at the Playa in 

Burning Man - Deep Hole, (84, 9, 24), I was greeted by one of the staff, Tee Auster, "Heya, welcome to Burn." Talking to her, she described the weekend as "pretty busy. … we had a great turnout last night for the Lamplighters." She gave me a notecard with a list of landmarks, and if I had any questions let her know."

Green arrows led from the entrance into the festival grounds, the trail looking like tire tracks in the Black Rock Desert. I soon came across a few teepees with packages of freebie goods, which included mutant vehicles and funny hats. Although it stated "backpack, wear me," there was no backpack in there, but there were plenty of other freebies.

Passing a few mannequins, there was the DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles) Diner, which I stopped at to take a break. There was also a map of the six sims, with the Guru stage in the northeast of the sim of the same name, and Newser writer Gemma Cleanslate's partner DJ Qwark having a place in Burning Man - Deep Hole.

I ran into one other Burn2 staff member, Chrisssy (Chrstenhp), "Welcome Bixyl to Burn2." Asking her who was coming to the festival, she answered there were "a lot of" newcomers attending, reasoning they saw it in the Second Life Destinations Guide, but there were plenty of seasoned residents coming too.

Within sight, there were a number of exhibits. There was a 3-D maze that looked promising. But I saved that for later as it seemed a little crowded. One exhibit close to the entrance was Caro Fayray's "The Maypole, the Brain, and the Beanstalk," which had a few more freebie items such as a brain hat that sparked and a walking stick that made one's avatar dance. Other exhibits included a garden DJ stage, a flower garden with birds and bees, three giant spiders throwing webbing over an avatar-sized empty chair, and many others. And around the sims were the decorated toilets that appear every year. I also noticed a pet kitty walking the grounds of one exhibit. No doubt set there by the artist as company while building the place, and left there since he seemed happy enough.


There was only so much one can see in a few hours. Clearly, one will need to come back more days to get a good look. And of course there's the Burning of The Man and the Temple Burn next weekend.

Burn2 is based on the real life Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, which is considered by some to be a partial inspiration for Second Life as some Lindens attended it during the development of the virtual world. For several years, Linden Lab sponsored a Second Life version of the festival, which then was called Burning Life. But eventually Linden Lab stopped it's sponsorship. The people running the festival rented a few sims and renamed the event Burn2. Today the Burners, as the serious fans of Burn2 are called, are more active than ever with smaller events with the theme elsewhere in the year. But there's nothing like the big event.

For a list of landmarks, Daniel Voyager had these listed in one Burn2 article of his:

Gate Road & Freebies (SLURL)
The Man (SLURL)
The Temple (SLURL)
Center Camp Stage (SLURL)
BURN2 Osiris Stage (SLURL)
Guru Stage (SLURL)
Lamp Lighters (SLURL)
BURN2 Ranger HQ (SLURL)
Literary Camp (SLURL)


For the Burn2 Flickr, Click Here.

For the Burn2 website: http://burn2.org/about

Bixyl Shuftan

The RFL "Back to the 50's" Weekend

From June 22nd to June 24th, the various teams of the Relay for Life held the "Back to the 50's" Weekend. For three days the Relayers, and others who came by for a good time, went about the "RFL 50s Weekend" sim, going on rides, dancing at parties, playing various games, and on occasion getting tossed in jail.

The temporary sim, set up next to the ACS island and sponsored by Runaround Sue's, had a look of a town in the 1950s during a fair. along the edges were stores and housing just to help with the atmosphere. The gas station was more interesting with it's line of classic cars on display. The two diners could be fun places to go to. But even better was the roller skating rink where people could roll around. To really roll around, there was a roller-record coaster with was decorated with huge records. There was a drive-in movie where movies could be seen, as well as more classic cars. There was the "Sock Hop" place where people danced at events of the same name. And there was the police station, where the RFL volunteer cops served out warrants for the "Jail and Bail."

In the center of town was the fairgrounds. There were various rides, such as the merry-go-rounds and the "Kamakazie." There was also a kids inflatable "moon walk." There were a number of goodies for sale, the donations going to whichever teams put them up. There was a small "Labyrinth" maze, which was a bit tricky to navigate due to it's nearly transparent glass walls. There was a kissing booth, with charges from 25 to 100 Lindens, but never saw it used.

One ride that I saw get some use was the mechanical bull. Some cracked jokes about threatening the bull with being made a steak if they lost. Despite the negative reinforcement, I only saw one person get as far as 30 seconds. The top five listed exceeded that, the winner having stayed on for about eighty seconds. An even more popular attraction was the dunk tank. Volunteers would sit over the water, often taunting pitchers to hit them, and more often than not they did, sending the avatar into the tank for a soaking.

Then there was the "Jail and Bail." In one corner of the town was the city jail where the volunteer RFL police force, Sherrif Blossum Bluebird and her deputies, sat around munching donuts and served warrants for arrest. There were two cells, one relatively clean and modern with pexiglass windows. The other old and a bit dingy with iron bars and a couple rats running around. Prisoners would inevitably complain of innocence and demand to be released, get better conditions, or see counsel.


The Sheriff and her deputies are polishing their badges and getting ready for what is sure to be a busy weekend at the Back to the 50's Jail. Remember to place one of your team kiosks at the Police Station - Your team can then contact Blossum Bluebird or Nightwalker Galaxy  to have someone arrested. The person arrested can either pay 500 linden to avoid going to jail or go to jail and try to raise 1000 from their friends to get out. When bail is paid it goes into your team kiosk. So have your team prepare a list of who they would like our police staff to arrest! Mug shots available at the  jail. Make sure they are online when requested an arrest.


Talking with one of the deputies, he listed some of the charges made so far as fairly tame, from jaywalking, to flying without a license, to "saying boobs too much." But while we were talking, a drunk tiny with a bottle in one hand and a bazooka in the other walked in and fired the weapon at a file cabinet, setting it afire. The shocked police promptly slapped their cuffs on the offender.

And as it turned out, among those arrested was the Captain of the Passionate Redheads, Dusk Griswold. Dusk got served the warrant and was arrested "for doing the Bunny-Hop in a line dance zone." So an appeal to "Bail out the Bunneh" was sent to the rest of the Redheads.


Poor Dusk. A girl can't have a fun dance without getting in trouble it seems. She did the "Bunny Hop" with a few friends, only to find out it was a "Line Dance Zone." So the owner pressed charges, and now she's "on ice," "in the can," "in the hoosegow," "in the slammer," and all other expressions for being in the Relay for Life 50s Weekend Jail. So come on over and bail out the poor, overworked, hard luck bunny (but at least we can now say she's not so boring).


It wasn't long before help arrived for Dusk. Nydia Tungsten and Skylark Lefarve arrived to deliver the bail money, Nydia chastising the bunnygirl, "serves you right, you lush!" Dusk's mug shot was taken before she left. Others arrested later on included Dwen Dooley and DJ Graylon Ash, whom did some "Jailhouse Rock" from his cell. While the total amount the Jail and Bail brought in is unknown, it took in a total of 60,584 on Saturday alone.

Other events included a Best Dressed contest and a Trivia Game, "Think you know the 50's? Make sure you're there for our trivia game. Every correct answer will earn you a fun vintage prize AND L$1,000 to place in your own team's kiosk. And there will be a special grand prize to the person with the most correct answers." The winner of the Best Dressed was was Daisy Darkrose, who sported a purple poodle skirt, purple being the big color with the Relay for Life.  And the Trivia Contest? Dusk Griswold came out on top to give the Passionate Redheads a needed boost in Lindens.

And of course there were the DJ events at the carnival, near the dunking booth. Besides "Jailhouse Rock" DJ Graylon Ash, other DJs included Holocluck Henly and Fuzzball Ortega. In what was becoming a trend with Relay events, some "Bronzings" were held, bringing a small team up to the 10,000 Lindens level.


 ty Madonna - Fuzz - Shayla - Dee for Djing Bronzing a team at the Back to the 50's
  ty to everyone that joined us for this special occasion and donated towards a good cause

Thank You to all "Back to the 50s" teams for letting us do this.
Go teams! Go Relay!

With the end of DJ Madonna's session, the 50s Weekend came to a close. Many thousands had been raised for the teams, and a good time was had by most everyone, at least those who didn't spend too long in the Jail and Bail.

As of the writing of this article, the Passionate Redheads have just passed the 200,000 Linden mark, with Gold rank still 50K away. The Steelhead Salmons at 427,750 L raised have a little over 70K to make it to Platinum level. Two teams have made it to Purple level, Amaretto Ranch and Frends Fighting Cancer with each over six million Lindens raised. So far this season, over 73 million Lindens have been raised, equal to 294,000 U S dollars.

With July around the corner, the end of the Relay season is within sight. Steelhead has a couple more RFL events, the Critter Races on July 1st and the Moon Dance on July 6th. But the teams are making plans for their various displays at "The Walk," and work will soon began for the final event: Relay Weekend on July 14th and 15th.


Bixyl Shuftan

The SL8B Weekend

From June 20th to June 26th, Second Life held it’s official eighth birthday celebrations. The last two days fell on the weekend, so it was a chance for those busy during the week to come by, as well as be there longer. Time to see some of the events, both DJs and live musicians playing, plus the lectures and talk and game shows making special appearances.

Dropping in on Saturday the 25th, I found out Marx Dudek, the “Unique Bunny” as she once called herself with her custom avatar, was DJing at the Bay City Exhibit. So I dropped in to say hello, and enjoyed listening and dancing to the classic rock songs of the 1950’s and early 60’s. It was about this time a few friends I hadn’t seen much online lately logged on. We chatted a little over Instant Message, and thinking they would enjoy the music , I suggested the come over. They did, asking where the dance animator was, and joining in.

The friends in question are worth a mention. One is a US Army soldier back home from Afghanistan. He was wearing, of all things, a “Brony” avatar. What the hey would the symbol of American testosterone be doing in an “ODed on cute” avatar? Maybe it was for some joke. Or maybe it suggests something about what he had to face while performing the duties of “rough men who ensure the rest of civilization sleeps peacefully at night.”

The other friend was Gwyenalin Gausman, who came over with her real-life daughter. Gwen’s been on Second Life for a couple years, her “Gathering Place” in Second Life a testimony for those suffering from chronic pain and Fybromyalgia. She told me she had started a group for chronic pain, which recently had it’s first meeting.

After the Bay City event, I looked around for a while. I came across another group of people dancing away, and recognized the DJ: GoSpeed Racer. Longtime readers of Second Life Newspaper may recognize the name: she DJed for a few of it’s newspaper parties, as well as her station sponsoring the paper for a time. Speed appears in a female av, and not a dark-haired male, but she does have her own Mach-5 (I never saw it jack up in the air, though). Besides DJing, Speed’s spent some time in the sci-fi multiplayer online game “Eve Online” and told me of a recent development there (more on that in another article).

Before long, I heard Gemma Cleanslate’s partner DJ Quark was doing his own event, so I told Speed and her friends goodbye and ported over. Quark was doing his Trance tunes, and Gemma was there in her “dwarf giant” racing snail avatar. The place was quite crowded (the picture taken before everyone rezzed), and Quark was making a good impression on everyone. Then came a problem. Someone was streaming the place with particles, not just once or twice but again and again, and rezzing objects. She was politely asked to stop, but she angrily gripped she had every right to display whatever she wanted to, and had no intention of stopping. Maybe I should have changed to my skunk avatar and shot some spray particles in her direction.

Sunday June 26th was the last chance to see public events in the SL8B area. Some of the events were recorded on Second Life TV, such as Lauren Live and the First Question. Lauren Wayland’s usual comedy routine occasionally gets a little off-color, so she had to check with Linden labs about which words she could use for her Second Life Birthday special, “don’t worry, they’re all okay.” Still, although individual words were sometimes clean, the meaning was obvious, “What’s the worst chat line? ‘Is it big enough?’ I mean, come on! if it isn’t big enough, right click and just, stretch. (laughter) If only we could do that in real life.” And there were other jokes, like the made-up word, “Lagalicious: lag that you actually enjoy.” And one questions he was asked, “As a girl in Second Life, do you get cramps? Only when I TP.”

Also on Sunday was Pookymedia’s “The 1st Question” Championship show, with winners of three previous shows, Troy McLuhan, CathyWyo1 Haystack, and Patio Plasma. It wasn’t the easiest episode to listen to, as the stream carried background music instead of the Treet.tv broadcast. But the winner’s name was clearly on the screen: Troy McLuhan. Following the show, Pooky Amsterdam’s staff of tinies lined up and did one of the “Tiny Riverdance” routines that had been occurring at the SL8B time to time. This one was a little smaller than others that were screenshotted, but it drew cheers and applause all the same.

There were a few more events that night, but the nagging migraine in my head was Mother Nature telling me it was time to give Second Life a break and return to reality, celebrations be darned. And so, farewell to the Second Life Eighth Birthday event. I would be able to return to see the exhibits ( although not as often as I wanted to), but the official events were over.

Bixyl Shuftan

“Jail and Bail” at the "Back to the 50’s Weekend" for RFL

This weekend had the “Back to the 50’s Weekend” event for the Relay for LIfe. In the sim were numerous attractions, from a fair with a ferris wheel and a dunking booth to a “Sock Hop” dance club to a drive-in movie with an Elvis double-feature, and more. At various points along the streets were rezzers for scooters, which could be one of a few different colors.

In one corner of the place was a small police station. It was run by a few police, whom kept various residents in the slammer for various reasons. An announcement was made:


Here's a great way to earn extra Linden for your teams kiosks! Have your friends and significant other, arrested and thrown into the Back to the 50's jail. If the person arrested does NOT want to go to jail, he/she will have the option at the time of arrest of paying 500L for a get out of jail free card which will be paid directly to your team's kiosk. Otherwise, the arrested has to raise 1000L bail while spending time in the Back to the 50's Jail.


The announcement was slightly inaccurate as bail could be set higher. Those interested in having someone arrested had to contact Shayla Juran or Blossum Bluebird. All bail money of course went to the Relay, and onto the American Cancer Society.

On Saturday, the Passionate Redheads got the following announcement: “Daan has been arrested for having ‘Greaser Hair!’ You can come and take photos and contribute to his bail as a birthday present. The bail money was quickly raised, and it wasn’t long before he was back out, and at the drive-in with fellow Redheads.

For Sunday, someone else had been arrested. The following announcement came from Vixie Valiant:


Ok, you wanted it, and it's happened, I am in jail for the Relay for Life! Come and donate to bail me out, or maybe I'll stay longer if we raise enough. :) I need to raise $2000L, so here's your chance to see me locked up and help a good cause!



Daaneth put it another way, “Vixie has been arrested for being too cute! Come bail her out.” Other Redheads had different ideas, “Crime was claiming to be cute. False testimony, and all that. (grin).” “I only need 400L to get free.” “Heh, where do I go to donate 2L?” “Is beating up skunks among the charges?”

Getting to the jail, Vixie was in the modern cell, behind glass with just a bench and toilet. In front of her was a brony that looked cute and harmless, except for wearing a satchel full of dynamite. Other Redheads soon came by to put up bail, yours truly among those contributing. And before long, the police declared they had all of it. “I’m free!” “Put her back in!” A couple of Redhead girls had very little clothing on, but the cops made no effort to arrest them for indecent exposure. Maybe the men were happy to see them after a hard day of work, or perhaps too interested in their donuts. This wasn't the first time Vixie had been arrested, last year being held for chicken rustling.

There were other happenings at the sim. A 50’s “Sock Hop” club held various dances, one of the DJ at one point ending up in the slammer himself, supposedly for playing music from the wrong decade. There was also a dunking booth. Relay organizer Poppy Zabelin at one point volunteered to go up there, wearing a rubber ducky float. And a long line of people showed up. Perhaps nervous of the crowd, Poppy offered, “I am donating 50L for every miss!” It didn’t work very good, as she kept falling, falling, and falling, “However much I bribe people, they still keep dunking me!” “It’s their way of showing love.”

Late in the evening, activity slowed down in most places but one. The 50’s drive-in movie had an Elvis double-feature of Blue Hawaii and Via Las Vegas. Among the cars there were a pink Cadilac, a hot rod, and a Delorian complete with flux-capacitor and “Mr. Fusion.” One Redhead commented she had to rezz the car made famous in “Back to the Future” outside on the street, “It was real heck trying to steer it in here.” There were a few jokes made as the movie went on, “Oooo, spanked by young Elvis. She doesn’t know how lucky she is.” “Elvis is dead.” “No, Elvis is alive, living in secret with Michael Jackson.” “Aren’t they in-laws? Would they even get along?”

It was a fun weekend for the Relay for Life. Several people have asked about later “Jail and Bail” events. Plus next weekend is a “Bid me Human” at the “Little Dove” zeppelin club.

Bixyl Shuftan