Some Halloween Parties in Second Life

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

There isn't another time of year quite like Halloween. In real life, there's all sorts of spooky fun parties, and people wear costumes to look like what they want. In Second Life, people can already look more or less what they want to. But the occasion gives them the opportunity to go wild and take on looks they otherwise wouldn't. And of course there are all sorts of haunts.

Some places, such as the Happy Vixen, had a number of Halloween-themed events across the month such as "Orange and Black." The events had been moved to this year's Halloween area as well, the ghost pirate island. 

And there were the Halloween pranks, like the one I pulled a couple days before Halloween with an avatar I don't usually wear.

[20:09] Penny Shuftan (DeafLegacy Resident): Bix??
[20:09] Penny Shuftan (DeafLegacy Resident): There you are :)
[20:09] Bixyl Shuftan: Hey there, I found a scary Halloween costume
[20:09] Penny Shuftan (DeafLegacy Resident): Wait a minute, you're a human
[20:09] Penny Shuftan (DeafLegacy Resident) screams in horror
[20:09] Bixyl Shuftan: Heh heh
[20:09] Muertos Okawa (Muertos Ashbourne): OMG!!!!!
[20:09] Bixyl Shuftan: I guess to scary, just a moment
[20:10] Scratch Musikatt (ScratchMusikatt Fox): *Giggles insanely* good costume! That thing's horrofying
[20:10] Clove (VoxDragon Resident): that is scary
[20:10] Bixyl Shuftan: Hey Snowy
[20:10] Muertos Okawa (Muertos Ashbourne): That's super scary
[20:10] Penny Shuftan (DeafLegacy Resident): Hi Snowy sis
[20:10] Bixyl Shuftan: I think I found a scary Halloween look
[20:10] Muertos Okawa (Muertos Ashbourne): Heyas Snow
[20:10] Now playing: Silver Screen Orchestra - Theme from "The Omen"
[20:10] Snowy AngelBun Lefavre (Skylark Lefavre): Yeah Bix you are scary
[20:10] Bixyl Shuftan: heh heh
[20:10] Snowy AngelBun Lefavre (Skylark Lefavre): hi Penny sis
[20:10] Clove (VoxDragon Resident): hi snow
[20:10] Snowy AngelBun Lefavre (Skylark Lefavre): Hii Clove
[20:11] Penny Shuftan (DeafLegacy Resident) yanks a gun out and cocks it before aiming it at Bix
[20:11] Penny Shuftan (DeafLegacy Resident): Please... kindly.. change your avatar, Bix bro...
[20:11] Bixyl Shuftan: okay, changing
[20:11] Muertos Okawa (Muertos Ashbourne): LMAO
[20:11] Scratch Musikatt (ScratchMusikatt Fox): set phasers to furrify!
[20:12] Muertos Okawa (Muertos Ashbourne): LMAO 

 Here's a better picture of the avatar in question, taken a few years earlier at a Halloween Club Crawl.

On Saturday October 30, Club Cutlass, the main club of the Sunweaver community, had it's Halloween party.

Well, this guy sure used his brain with his costume.

Xanadu would also have a Halloween Party that night.

A number of places would have events on Halloween Day. This included Virtual Ability.

They were doing the monster mash.

Gentle Heron herself was looking a little green.

The National Space Society would have a small Halloween party.

With some Halloweenish science posters.

The Spooky Strides event, raising money for the Relay for Life, had it's last night. 

Among the performances on the last day and night was by Drum.

The Bouncing Bunny Beach Club would have a "Monster party." DJ Mattie was playing the music.

Trick or treat.

Only some of those attending went into what could be called a monster look. But it was a monstrous good time.

Also having a Halloween party was the Fallout Shelter in the Deadlands. 

Rebel Wolf, aka The Baron, had a good-sized party there.

For a place still recovering from a nuclear war, they were doing pretty good, for one night anyway.

It was quite the Halloween bash. 

Among other places having events were the Furry Fashion Lounge, and the Goblin Cave at Caledon Downs. 

At 5PM SL time, the main event in the Sunweaver community started, the Happy Vixen's Halloween party.

"Alright all you ghouls and gals. Dj Jazz is kicking it off at The Happy Vixen Haunted Island tonight from 5 to 7. Playing all the Halloween tunes and hits.  Everything from old school horror to current. Oh.. and did I mention there's a Fishbowl event happening?  No? Well here ya go then. Dishing out not one but TWO epic prizes this evening awarded out on the top the hour. 2500L awarded out at the first hour and another 2500L at the close of the event. Want in? Simple, be there and be in theme for a Halloween party."

The "Howloween" event was of course at the ghost pirate island area, and drew quite a crowd.

At one point, there were two dozen present, and probably more than three dozen were there at some time in the four hour party.

From 5 to 7PM, DJ Jazzy played the music. From 7 to 9PM, DJ Squeaks did the tunage.

For the first half of the event, the 2500 Linden prize had been boosted to 3000 L, and the usual prohibition against club staff entering was lifted. The prize was split between Aubrytia Resident (Nikkita Sugar Lefavre), ShinyWhiteDragon, and DeniseUnicorn Toonie. For the second half of the event, the 1000L prize was split between Piper Pekli and Gil Otaared.

Eventually, it would be time for the ghosts and goblin avatars to be put away for another year, or at least until the "Nightmare Before Christmas" event. But it was a fun event for all. 

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Space Remembrance Day at the National Space Society

By Bixyl Shuftan

Monday January 29 was Space Remembrance Day for the National Space Society in Second Life. The day is one to remember those who gave their lives in Mankind's quest to explore space, notably the Apollo 1 and Shuttle Challenger and Shuttle Columbia disasters. The date was different from NASA's event on January 25 as they didn't announce it until January 23 two days earlier, which was too late for the NSS chapter in virtual reality, "As usual, NASA gave little to know advance warning of their observance, which was last Thursday." So they made plans for their own date. The 29th was chosen as it was the last Monday of the month, they hold regular meetings every Monday, and there was the opinion that future space settlers might make the day a holiday.

The event took place at 4PM, following the NSS's regular weekly meeting, at a location in the NSS sim where several memorials have been placed, large and small at National Space Society (103/124/3005). Some of the conversation was in voice, but Archivist Llewellyn sent the Newser a transcript of the text. Besides the somber remembrance, it was also brought up that this May marks the 60th anniversary of America's first satellite (https://explorer1.jpl.nasa.gov/), "Explorer I ... That was the first successful US satellite launch, and it discovered the Van Allen Radiation Belts around the Earth. It had a highly-elliptical orbit that took it much farther out than the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, launched by the Soviet Union." The music stream had a "special memorial playlist" playing to February 2.

Besides the fallen astronauts, people notable to space whom had passed away in the past year were also mentioned, "We're also looking to include those dreamers, artists, and writers who inspire us. One of them who passed in the last year was Jerry Pournelle. ... Pournelle not only wrote science fiction, but he was one of the responsible parties to bring space defense to the table in the Reagan years, with the 'Citizen's Space Initiative." That had major effects, may have helped lead to the collapse of the former Soviet Union even." "We lost Ian M. Banks sometime ago. he inspired Elon Musk enough that he named his first stage recovery drones after a couple ships from Bank's Culture series." Another mentioned was "Jordin T. Kare (October 24, 1956 – July 19, 2017) was a physicist and aerospace engineer known for his research on laser propulsion. In particular, he was responsible for Mockingbird, a conceptual design for an extremely small (75 kg dry mass) reusable launch vehicle, and was involved in the Clementine lunar mapping mission. Kare was also known as developer of the Sailbeam interstellar propulsion concept and, in the science fiction fan community, as a composer, performer and recording artist of filk music."

There were five former astronauts whom died in the past year mentioned, "We are coming to an era where we can't keep track of the passing of every former astronaut, but this year we did lose four of particular note. Eugene Cernan (March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017), the last human on the Moon, Paul Weitz (July 25, 1932 – October 22, 2017), Skylab 2 astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander for STS-6, Richard Gordon Jr. (October 5, 1929 – November 6, 2017) Gemini 11 Pilot and Apollo 12 Command Module Pilot, and John Young (September 24, 1930 – January 5, 2018) Most prolific astronaut: longest career, first to fly six missions, only person to fly four classes of spacecraft, and more. Now that we've lost 'the astronaut's astronaut,' it truly is the end of an era." "I think it was said that John Young smuggled in a sandwich to Gus Grissom for the suborbital flight." Also mentioned was "Bruce McCandless II (June 8, 1937 – December 21, 2017). He did a lot of things, but he's probably most recognizable as the first American to leave a spacecraft un-tethered, in the then-new Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). The photo of him floating, relaxed, alone in space over Earth, is a classic."

Of America's three space disasters, the Challenger was the one that hit hardest as it was televised live, "I was shaken to my being at the loss of our hopes and dreams down here in the bottom of the gravity well." Of the Apollo 1, someone mentioned, "No one understands the flaw in Apollo One is in everyone's new auto." There was also a quote about the Challenger disaster attributed to me when talking about the 2014 NSS Remembrance Day, "One friend of mine described the Challenger accident as a turning point in his young adulthood, his confidence in the Space Program, in which he saw the future of humanity, had been dealt a blow to the point he would not see it quite the same way again. This is one event serious space fans, and former space fans, in Second Life, might want to check out."

Near the end, Archivist gave the White House's statement of the official NASA Day of Remembrance, "On this year’s Day of Remembrance, we honor the brave men and women of NASA who lost their lives in our Nation’s eternal quest to expand the boundaries of human potential. The dedication and sacrifice of the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia crews, remind us of the true bravery and resiliency of the American spirit, and the challenges we boldly face to reach higher for all mankind. America’s leadership in space is not without cost, but we have met tragedy with perseverance and challenge with achievement. We will not forget the contributions of our great American heroes as we build on their legacy to reach vast and exciting frontiers."

The National Space Society holds meetings every Monday at 3PM SL time.

Transcript provided by Archivist Llewellyn
Pictures from Archivist Llewellyn and Banker Tomorrow

Bixyl Shuftan

The Moon Landing Anniversary in Second Life

 Almost unnoticed in both real life and Second Life media, the latter due to the Relay for Life Weekend, July 20 was the forty-fifth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. But the National Space Society's chapter in Second Life didn't forget. At their sim (also called National Space Society), they held a party in honor of the historic event.

Celebrate the 45th anniversary of the first humans to land on the Moon with the National Space Society in SL and the International Spaceflight Museum.  Learn about the Apollo 11 mission, discuss the past present and future of human spaceflight, pick up thematic freebies, and dance to ballads of the space age at our authentic First Moon Landing memorial site. 

The gathering was relatively small when I got there, probably because of the Relay Weekend still going on. But they were still enthusiastically discussing the Apollo landing, and the space program in general, as well as cracking a few jokes. Some people danced while others just stood. One guy talked about about whipping out the old cow-riding dancer as a "cow jumped over the moon" joke.  There was a jumpsuit and other freebies available, "Please be sure to check out the lunar instruments on the surface here, the info signs, goodies etc. Click away!" They would also launch a rocket up into sky once in a while. Near the floor was a mock-up of the Lunar Lander and other NASA moon objects. In the background songs like "The Only Way to Go From Here Is Out" played, "Radio NSS, your source for music that's truly 'out there.' "

There were a few jokes about builders not getting quite the attention others did in comparison to what they built. One avatar's well-designed spacesuit got some complements, "Ryder's suit is awesome," and provoked some jokes about jealousy from other builders, "goes straight from suit envy to suit *LUST*."

There was also a little discussion about the Saturn V rocket ride built in Second Life at the time of the 40th anniversary five years ago. While the International Space Museum does have a Saturn V up, it's not the same one. It may be the creator had to hold onto his build after the Space Frontier Sandbox sim closed, as the ISS doesn't have a lot of spare room, "Kat has mentioned they're about at their prim limit." "We've suggested rotating exhibits. But some of the most prolific builders left SL and did not leave their (permissions) behind." It was also mentioned the ISS was expanding to the Kitely Grid.

The NSS's chapter in Second Life meets every Monday at 3PM SL time at National Space Society (128/152/1260).

Bixyl Shuftan

The National Space Society Celebrates the Moon Landing

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was July 20th 1969 that the first Moon Landing took place. Forty-four years later, space enthusiasts in some places took the time to celebrate. One such place was at Second Life's National Space Society, at the sim of the same name. They had planned a building contest, but instead it turned into an afternoon of music and conversation.

To begin with, the National Space Society is an organization that promotes the lasting presence of humans in space, in space stations, and eventually on the Moon and beyond. The organization is divided into smaller chapters, including one here in Second Life. Naturally, it made it's home in the Grid's region of science-oriented sims called the Sci-Lands.

The event took place over 3000 meters over the National Space Society sim. The area was a mock-up of the Lunar surface, next to an Apollo lander. There were a few freebies available, a space suit, a book, and a "Lunar Travellers Kit." Ariel Miranda, Tarali Jie, and Archivist Llewellyn were the NSS members I interacted with the most.

"We planned on holding a building contest," Ariel told me, "but it doesn't look like we gave it enough lead time or publicity. … we didn't get our minimum of 5 entries for our Lunar Robotics Contest by the deadline." Only a few builders had entered, notably Asterion Coen, noted for his builds in Second Life science sims whom was clearly the best one. So the lunar building contest itself was postponed for another time, but the party went on. There was a dance animator, and a selection of space ballads and other Space Age themed songs, including "Fire in the Sky," "Dog on the Moon," "Queen Isabella Where Are You Now?" and the Sputnik song "Surprise" from 2007.

Remember the fifties, those fat complacent days,
when the future seemed a century away?
Then up went Sputnik,
gave the world a butt-kick,
and made it clear tomorrow starts today.

Beep beep, beep beep, hello there!
Sputnik sails giggling through the sky,
Red Flags, red faces, jump in the race,
as the Space Age begins with a surprise.

Attendance was small when I first got there, but as time went on, more showed up. This included a few new residents whom had just arrived on the Grid. There was also Gentle Heron of Virtual Ability, and Musician OhMy Kidd. There were also a couple residents named after real life celebrities. There was a "Walters Cronkite," whom bore some resemblance to the famous CBS reporter. There was also a "Stephan Hawking" avatar whom was a good match right down to the computerized voice. He contacted me in IM, saying he had been in SL for several years under another account, and had spent a few hours getting the avatar right. He later commented out loud, "If Stephen Hawking really did come to Second Life, would he do so in an avatar with his name?"

There was quite a bit of science-related talk, notably space science. This included Pluto's "demotion" from planet status a few years ago, when humans would return to the moon, having a moon base with rocket launcher capability, space elevators, Apollo 13, the Voyager probes, "Did you all know that the majority of Voyager data has still not been actually looked at?"

It was also brought up that this was the first Moon Landing anniversary since Neil Armstrong had passed away. "What is also sad is that we still aren't back to the Moon," Ariel commented, "and it looks pretty certain we won't be until well after the passing of all of the original moonwalkers. It was also brought up there was a bill in the US Congress to designate Tranquility Base as a national park. There was some debate as to how practical a move it was, but everyone agreed about the intentions, the preservation of a historic spot.

At one point Asheron razzed one of his lunar vehicle concepts, and drove it around.  He would later put down some markers for the future building contest.

The Moon Landing Anniversary party was near the NSS Library. "Through the door to the Archives is a very large NASA archive / museum," Ariel told me, pointing to a doorway out of the party area. Archivist and I talked about it for a while. The NSS chapter in Second Life was started by Rocket Sellers in Dec 2007. As for the library, "The library started, sort of, when I came into SL in Nov 2008. It started as a smaller library. Then I wrote a proposal to NASA using that small exhibit based on women in space, to be expanded. They gave me land on CoLab Island, which was run and administered by NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Labatories). That was … 2009, a few months later, when the library became (what) you see today. CoLab island closed in 2011, and the library was relocated here on NSS Island."

Of the library's contents, "The second floor of the library has the second floor dedicated to the first moon landing. It is told in a chronological order from Sputnik, to crew selection, to liftoff, landing of the Eagle, science experiments on the moon, and return to Earth with a tickertape parade. The exhibit on the second floor was inspired by the real-life Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio.  I used to work at that museum assisting with educational projects and giving tours. … The Apollo 11 exhibit was inspired by the museum and it's layout. I learned which images were most important, why, and to create an exhibit layout that told a story in chronological order.  Because the museum gift shop in real life sold post cards that were popular images and also because the museum layout was also chronological."

Archivist went on, "We sometimes have special exhibits in addition to the permanent exhibits. For example, we have had exhibits on the Hubble Space Telescope, Mars, and CERN's LHC." There had also been some interesting events over the years, such as "Send Your Face to Space. That one was to take a photo of your avatar and upload it to a NASA site, and it was carried on the last two space shuttle missions" on a microchip. She had met one of the astronauts from the last shuttle mission, and was able to shake his hand, "He recognized me from my photo on FB and talked to me for a bit."

As it turned out, Archivist, or Shannon Bohle as she's known in real life, was at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum earlier that day, "hat an enjoyable afternoon, despite the rain delay, at the Summer Moon Festival at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum. It was a great pleasure to meet Astronaut Greg H Johnson and hear his "Astronaut Tour" talk at 4 PM. My talk on the Curiosity Rover followed his, around 5 PM. (Actually I was a somewhat last minute fill-in speaker after General Joseph Lanni cancelled). While not the focus of my talk, I mentioned a little about Curiosity's AI capabilities and some of my background in AI --including winning 2nd place in my category in a DoD-sponsored international Artificial Intelligence contest advertised by The White House, the theme being a simulated 3D Mars environment including NASA's satellites and rovers such as the Curiosity MSL rover. After my talk, the audience went outside to see and drive a scale model of the Curiosity rover."

Archivist had slides from Second Life in her presentation at the Armstrong museum (link).  She had planned to stream the talk in to Second Life, but there were connection problems. One can find articles written by her in the SciLogs blog (link ).

Ariel explained they were at the Second Life Birthday, "We had an exhibit at SL10B that we had fun with. (smile) … We really got very lucky by being on the least laggy sim of the event." Asterion,  who was also at the SL10B, commented, "Yeah, all visitors went to (the) NSS plot and not in mine! I was thinking to send one of my rockets  there, but it failed at launching." Archivist also has an entry in the VWBPE conference about real-life/Second Life journalism.

The National Space Society in Second Life holds meetings every Monday at 3PM SL time at National Space Society (128,152,1261). The national organization's website is: http://www.nss.org/ .

On a final note, Second Life has been the scene of some impressive Moon Landing builds. One is the Saturn V rocket at the International Space Museum in Spaceport Alpha. On the fifty year anniversary in 2009, there was a flyable SaturnV that launched every half hour that took any pilots aboard into orbit (link).

Bixyl Shuftan