Cynthia Farshore's Santa Sleigh Ride

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

 Christmas has come to Second Life, and the various communities are celebrating in their own way. This includes the Sunweaver Estates. The main venue, Club Cutlass, put up some decorations, including a tree, a gift-giving box that gives those in the Sunweaver group several presents, and a Santa that gives you a gift for those on the nice list.

 

 

Also at Cutlass is a sign advertising an attraction, a Santa sleigh ride. Touching it will give you a landmark to the location, at Farshore Field in Sunlight Bay (220/86/22).

Heading to Farshore Field, Cynthia Farshore showed me the sled.

Getting on, Saint Nick appeared, and got the reindeer to start pulling the sled down the runway.

"Clear Let's take off." And up we went.

We went past Joy Mountain.

"We'll let the deer romp through the woods a bit."

"Buzz the Bismark."

"Tried not to make just a straight boring ride," Cynthia told me, "In 20 minutes you cover all of Sunweaver and can see many of it's sights and attractions."

 

 

"Let's do a touch and go"

Flying over Sunweaver Bay, Santa would point out an amusement park, "Please do come by the place below it has a huge amount of holiday attractions!"

"We pause a moment to respect those we have lost and are not with us in body but now are in spirit."

Going into Pacific Waters and passing Mouse Hole Manor.

Passing the White Vixen Enterprises office, and approaching Gil Ottared's home, with it's ironclad ships and "Emma's Tower."

Passing the launch pad with regular rocket service to Club Zero Gravity, Glitch Troncon's "Tron house," and Penny Shuftan's "Friendly Lots." 

We went by the Newser office

 

 

The approach to the airport, "Landing on runway 9."

 

 

And back at the airport, "We have landed Back at Farshore Field of which we humbly thank her for providing us a remote base. Hope you enjoyed your ride! Merry Christmas! HO HO HO!"

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sunlight%20Bay/220/86/22

Bixyl Shuftan

Grand Opening Ceremony for the Sunweaver Railroad

By Bixyl Shuftan

A few minutes after 2PM SL time on February 10, the Sunweaver community held the official grand opening of it's inter-sim railroad line. Although there have been railroads within the Sunweaver lands before, these were small private lines that circled around the property of the landowner. The Sunweaver Line Railroad by Cynthia Farshore's Farshore Industries is a much larger project, going through all six of the main Sunweaver sims from the northeast to the southwest: Pacific Waters, Sunweaver Space, Sunlight Bay, HV Community, Sunny Beach, and Sunweaver Bay.

Cynthia started the project many months ago. By early October, she had laid down a track from Nydia Tungsten's "White Vixen Enterprises" office in Pacific Waters to the border of Sunweaver Space and Sunlight Bay. By December, she had the track going through Sunlight Bay, past the Newser office in HV Community, and to the border of HV and Sunny Beach. Finally at the end of January, Cynthia laid the last of the track down next to the submarine dock at Sunweaver Bay. After testing the track and making corrections, last week she decided it was ready for opening.

"It is for fun," Cynthia admitted later on, "'cause if it was just getting around superman flying would be everything." But many people prefer going about on the ground, and some have a love of vehicles such as cars and trains. Or perhaps it's a day in which teleporting is likely to result in a crash. In either case, there's now another option besides teleporting, flying, or walking, "It ... brings life to the sims." At the start of every hour, the train departs from the Pacific Waters end, and at every half hour, it leaves from the Sunweaver Bay stop.

Several people showed up for the ceremony, including Sunweaver chieftess Rita Mariner and Shockwave Yareach whom has helped Cynthia in many projects. Most of the people had on Victorian-Era dresses and suits. The music stream was playing some steampunk-themed songs, such as "The Iron Rose" by "The Clockwork Dolls" and "Abney Park" by Victoria. Not everyone was dressed for the Steam Age. Gil Oterad showed up in a pony avatar. Shockwave wasn't sure if it was a complete mismatch, "We can use a horse drawn carriage too! (grin)" Rita joked, "The only suggestion I had for the rail line Cyntia poo-poo'd. ... tied up damsels across the tracks to be rescued." Gil went along with the joke, "We'd need mounties who are in love with their horses." Shockwave added, grinning, "And a woman named Snidely Whiplash on the tracks."

After giving a few more minutes for any late arrivals, Cynthia started the ceremony, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the Grand Opening of a mode of transportation so dearly needed in our community. This has been a labor of love, it is for you my friends and family. It was in planning for a few years but not till this last year did it move from being a dream to a reality. After all the planning and construction the Sunweaver Estates now has a full size rail line extending the full length of the sim group. Not only is it a way to get around but a way to bring life to the estates, a sense of activity that can be seen. Coupled with the airport and the highway our community has copious means of travel. Not only travel but ways to have fun exploring what the sims have to offer. In time there will be improvements and even additional routes but today we start this grand journey here."

Cynthia then turned to the community leader, "My dear Rita do you wish to say a few words?" Rita then spoke, "I have been with Cynthia from the beginning of this project of hers. I whole heartly approved of it, even though there have been a few glitches along the way." "A few?" Cynthia commented. "Theres always glitches in things," JBRaccoon added, "but that's part of the fun putting them together." Rita went  on, "I have been there to massage her shoulders, the rest I leave to the wolf. I hope that everyone takes full advantage of her efforts, from what I have seen it looks great."

The obligatory bottle of champagne to smash was then readied by Cynthia, swinging on a rope, "Rita touch the ball at the top." And with that, "Engine 97" appeared, ready to take passengers. an announcement going, "Sunbeam Limited departing for Pacific Waters in 20 seconds!" The train was painted yellow and orange, the colors of the Sunbeamer logo, which was on the sides of the locomotive. And most of those nearby quickly grabbed a seat, then it was off. There was one minor scare as one girl's skirt remained stiff as she sat, and she worried about guys seeing her panties.

There was a short stop at Sunny Beach, then the train went on to HV Community where the track was on a bridge over then water and then over the road, and made another stop between the Newser office and Brandi Streusel's store, the train announcing, "Hidden Valley Commercial District - Angels Beach Land Rentals, Brandi's Intimates, SL Newser Office, Public Cuddle Cave, The Fox Den Main Store. Departing in 20 seconds." Headding into Sunlight Bay, the train went through a tunnel in a hill, then stopped at a station between Farshore Airfield and the small mountain where the Goblin Cave is, "Fairyhill Recreation Park - sights include fairy mountain overlook, Wading fish pool, Goblin Cave Entertainment Center. WATCH OUT FOR LOW FLYING PLANES AND DRAGONS! Departing in 20 seconds."

The train soon took a turn to the north, along the east side of the sim, and came to another stop, "Farshore Airfield (public), Farshore Shipping and Import Sells, Fishing and Boating recreation area. Departing in 20 seconds." Going further north into Sunweaver Space, the train was on another bridge over the water, coming to a stop near a shopping area and a 7Seas fishing spot, "Sunweaver Mall, Zorro's Fishing Shop and pier.  Will continue in 20 seconds." Then the train continued north along the bridge into Pacific Waters and the last stop at Nydia Tungsten's WVE Office, "Pacific Waters, White Vixen Enterprises. This is the end of the line. Southbound train will be departing in 20 minutes!" It was brought up that the last car came to a stop short of the platform, making it easy for people getting off from it to fall into the water. Rita stated that Nydia and Ranchan Weidman could extend it later on.

The passengers liked the ride, Shockwave commenting, "Excellent railroad Garth. ... It worked well under load." Dusk Griswold commented, "It does work better than Amtrak." JB felt, "A  wee bit jerky, but not bad overall with all the sims it runs through." There was one slight glitch in Sunweaver Space, causing the train to twist slightly, Cynthia saying, "Yes I am aware of that little twist back there, I'll clean it later." The train also ran a little slow in Erik Mouse's Sunny Beach, due to the sim's prim count being close to full, Cynthia saying, "It's a problem with Erikland really. ... Erik at one point only had room for 100 prims."

Some of us would take the train on the ride back, and it made the stops and announcements over again. Getting to the other end of the track where the trip started in Sunweaver Bay, the engine announced, "Welcome to Sunweaver Bay, This is the end of the line. Attractions include the Fimi Memorial, Sunweaver Air Strip, the Nordenfelt Submarine first to fire a torpedo while submerged as well as the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues. The Drunken Parrot Pub, High above is the A.S. Cutlass, an aircraft carrier airship host to the Culb Cutlass with dances every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night 6 to 8 PM SLT. You will find a LM giver at the pier as you depart. North bound train will depart in 20 minutes."

Cynthia stated that there will be improvements later, "In time, (I) will be always looking to improve this and that. Already the new locomotive and cars are in work." One small problem with the train was that it's not always easy to get on when it's moving. Cynthia plans to change that, "one of the improvements in work on the new car is an easier way to get on."

She also plans to work on a path from the station next to Fairy Hill leading to the Goblin Cave hangout. There was one possible source of lag beyond Cynthia's control, going between sims with different daylight settings such as Midday and Midnight. Rita stated the settings are up to individual sim owners, though may talk to them later about a uniform setting.

Later on, Cynthia told me two more rail lines are on the drawing board to connect some of the newer island sims, "A second line is in the planning stage for coverage of the west side sims down trough the southern most islands then connect to the main line possibly around the Goblin cave area. ... plans are very early right now. All efforts have been to get the main line done a running." She would add, "It is realized that presently there is a long wait between trains, I hope in the very near future additional runs will be added to reduce the wait times. However it is encouraged that the time be spent exploring around the sim in the mean time."

And so, the home community of the Second Life Newser now has a railroad line going through it's main sims. Hopefully it will get plenty of use from rail fans across the Grid.

Bixyl Shuftan

Arcadia Asylum

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

In the article, "Saving Prims," we said, "... Arcadia Asylum, on the Mieville Pond sim.  Be prepared for an adventure there". A conscious effort was made, to keep that sim from taking over the article, because it was worthy of an article of it's own. Returning there, to take notes and pictures, we realized just how understated the line was. It's more than just "an adventure". This sim is a must see, Great Adventure and should be on everybody's to-do list. Aside from the 1,328 free items, there are several fun adventures, to be discovered there.

The landing point, for the sim, is a courtyard, in front of the Cog & Grog Freebie Center. On the other side of the courtyard, we find a teleporter that goes to the various areas on the sim. The areas include; Tropics, Steam Fair, Graveyard, Hobo Town, The Deeps, Space and The Library. Most of the areas can also be reached by walking, flying or just jumping into the water.

The Deep covers as much area as the surface sim and can be reached in three ways. Within the Cog & Grog, there is a stairway that leads under water. On the dock, next to the Chinese Junk, there is an entrance to Cap'n Nemo's Underwater Observatory, which uses tubes to connect to chambers beneath the surface. You can also just jump off any of the docks, to reach the sea floor. In the deep, you will find underwater habitats, plants, sea creatures. You can even get your own whale or even a kracken. One of the most interesting nautical items, the whirlpool, proved to be be a fun ride. I got one to take home, but, unless I terraform, won't get put out from my inventory any time soon. It has a lot of prims, but can be reduced by removing some of the items that circle the top.

 Taking the teleport to the Space area, we find spacesuits, spaceships, planets and asteroids. The most interesting "space" item is found at the courtyard of the sim landing. There, we find a giant cannon, which shoots a bullet shaped capsule to the moon. I had actually been back to this sim several times, before deciding to click on it and see what it does. Next thing you know, the camera switches to an exterior view of the projectile, with your av inside and stars zipping past. We end up on a lunar surface, staring at our crashed ship, with the earth in the distant background. Fortunately, there is a teleport, near by, to take us back down, but, as long as I'm on the moon, I look around for any other interesting things to explore. Sure enough, among the lifeless rocks there is one that has some color to it and there's a large hole at the base, with a churning mist within. Looking in, it seems to go down to a cavern with large gems on the walls. Naturally, Miss been there, done that, had to go into the cavern. All I will say is that, yes, there is an adventure and I went several times, to learn the way out of the conflict with the lunar inhabitants.

Now, safely back home, on my keyboard, I find myself wondering what other hidden adventures are yet to be had at Arcadia Asylum. You can be sure that this writer will return there many times, in the future. 

 

Hope we see you there,

 

"Sha"

 

From "Sha's SL Stories"

Space Frontier Saturn V Moon Rocket Ride (2009)

By Bixyl Shuftan

About five years ago was when one of the most impressive space builds I'd come across: an interactive moon rocket ride. Even though it was incomplete, it was still very impressive, and a fitting tribute to the Apollo 11 Moon Landing forty years before. This story was originally published in Second Life Newspaper on July 30, 2009.

*  *  *  *  *

It was about forty years ago last week that Apollo 11 went to the moon, mankind landing on an alien surface for the first time in history. Many of us in Second Life know of space areas, such as the International Space Museum, but can one find a place where the moon landing is re-enacted?

The answer: Yes, but it’s not quite finished.

In the Space Frontier Workspace (formerly known as the Space Frontier Sandbox) near the Sci-Lands, there is a Saturn V rocket on a launch tower. Built to scale (two avatars at it’s base in the picture can just barely be seen), the rocket stands high in the air, connected to the red launch tower. The rocket is very realistically detailed, and includes a “sound HUD” for audio from the Apollo 11 mission (does not always work) which one gets by clicking an old-fashioned computer on the launchpad’s corner. This grand build was made by Wicked Quasimodo.

One enters the rocket by clicking on the command module, almost at the top of the Saturn V. The huge vehicle launches at 32 minutes past the hour, every hour, with the tower’s gantry retracting just a few minutes before. If you’re outside, it’s a spectacular sight as the great behemoth launches into the air. If you’re inside the rocket, you’re in for quite a ride.

I had the fortune of speaking to one of the people responsible for the sim, Rocket Sellers. “I was just mitigating some space debris here,” he told me, “impromptu erotic photo studio in the sky. ... I’m the owner of record here, and there’s a crew with cleaning powers. I try to clean politely so they do not reincarnate as pesky griefers.”

Asking about the Moon rocket, “It’s still a work in progress. This is Version Two. Wicked Quasimodo had an earlier build, but Havoc 4 broke it. This one is lower prim, and the lunar module is sculpty. It really should be on NASA property, but there’s no NASA region that will adopt it. He first tried on the NASA CoLab Testbed, but the sim was just too lagy, and there was just too much junk in the sky. So he began working on it here, with the idea it would find a home at NASA for the Apollo 11 Anniversary. Instead, NASA put some posters around with landmarks to here.”

“The first iteration did the whole flight profile, including splashdown back on Earth. ... The last time I took the trip (on this rocket), we only got to lunar orbit. ... I don’t know if it lands yet or not.” Rocket Sellers then mentioned a famous name dropping in, “Last week, we had an avatar named ‘Buzz Aldrin’ visiting here. I asked him if he had taken the Saturn V Apollo 11 ride to the Moon yet. He answered, ‘Yes, 40 years ago.’ ... I don’t believe it’s really Buzz, although I can’t figure out how he got the name. ... I guess Linden Labs is not assiduous about protecting famous names.”

Rocket Sellers invited me to go along for a ride on the Saturn V, and so we and one other person got aboard the command module. And at 32 past the hour, the rocket roared and thundered up into the air. The ride is best seen with Environment set to Midnight, and being a Second Life spaceship, the stages shake a little as it travels upward. Eventually, the first stage falls away, and then the second. Soon, the ship comes to orbit a megaprim Earth, “It’s very beautiful from up here” “Approaching New Guinea.”

There is a black square under the Moon rocket at this stage. Rocket Sellers explained, “That’s the work platform, and also when you transfer to the Lunar Module, it keeps you from falling through space.” The Command Module does have windows that you can see your avatar from the outside. But looking inside through either mouselook or panning, the inside is quite detailed with numerous instruments and panels.

Eventually, the faring on the last rocket stage separated, and the Lunar Module, folded up, appeared. The Command/Service Module then rotated, and connected to it. Passengers could then right-click to board it. The connected ships then went into Lunar orbit. Unfortunately, the ride did not progress any further. It had yet to be finished.

Despite this and the tiny flaws, this reporter, can only consider it a great and memorable build, especially if one is a space fan, or otherwise nostalgic for these glory days of the manned space program.

The Space Frontier Saturn V Moon Rocket is at Space Frontier (154, 126, 137).


“It’s good when a rocket or space person finds the place.”

Bixyl Shuftan

The Sunbeamer's RFL Exhibit

By Bixyl Shuftan

When I first came across the Sunweavers, I soon found out many of them belonged to a Relay for Life team, the "Passionate Redheads." The Redheads relayed for six years, raising over thirty thousand US dollars worth of Lindens for the American Cancer society. They had also come up with some truly great builds, such as the Wild West build in 2009. Sadly, the Redheads came to an end, and the team dissolved. It its place came two much smaller teams. One, was led by Sunweaver leader Rita Mariner, the "Sunbeamers."

"It's a new beginning," Shockwave Yareach, one of the Sunbeamers, told me, "we are a very small team."

I met with Shockwave and Rita at the location of the Sunbeamer build in RFL Research. The exhibit was on the top left former of the sim, just north of Team Lag, and across the road from the Breedables exhibit. Half of the build was of a garden area, which was next to the road. The other half was a building in the back with pink tubes sticking out. The building's purpose was soon revealed by a sign next to the road, "Ride The Mad Wolf 'New Brain Cancer Cure' Ride."

"Basically, this time four of us did the work," Rita told me, Shockwave, herself, Dusk Griswold, and a newcomer to the Relay, Felina Fermi. Felina made the Newser earlier this year when she made a movie theater for her Sunweaver neighbors. "I … put her in charge of landscaping," Rita told me. "She's a very detailed builder," Shockwave commented. "We play all this by ear," Rita added, "and see what works."

Attention went to one bag of coffee beans near one kiosk, "Who wants coffee?" Shockwave asked. Rita commented, "Once Shocky put down the ride, we knew what space we had left for the rest of the build." Shockwave pointed to the coffee, "I transplanted my coffee machine from the bay. Even added a table to sit and relax." Rita felt needed more was needed, and added more bags of coffee.

When asked what the theme of the build was, Rita answered, "Remembrance, remember those we have lost and hope for the future, that we will beat cancer." There wasn't much time left in the Relay season for another event, but they did have some fun times, "We did have the one event at Cutlass … where they tried to bid me human. … I got enough donations to stay a bunny. There were two kiosks, one for human, one for bunny. whichever one had the most donations by the end of the dance, I had to do. The bunny kiosk had the most, but not by much. I think we raised like 30,000L."

She also mentioned the event that was a cooperation with the New Bastogne WW2 RP, "The Bastogne event was fun, everyone was paying 100L to shoot the 88mm guns at the Dunk Tank and drop the victim. Dusk was the best shot, she got a hit with one round. I came in second with two rounds. Either way, folks were having a 'Blast.' … Have to repeat that next year."

Rita showed me around the exhibit a little. The place was bordered by a hedge fence with the front half a garden area with numerous trees and flowering plants, with walkways of stepping stones and a few waterfalls. There were also a number of pony statuettes around, "look atop the flagpole, Rainbow Dash," plus one larger pony statue in the middle of the grounds. There was also the pink fox statuette representing Artistic Fimicloud, the beloved vixen of the Passionate Redheads who passed away several years ago.

The back half of the exhibit was Shockwave's ride. It was a variation of the inner tube water slide ride, but instead of riding inner tubes, one would ride a red blood cell. Residents going in touch the stone to rez one, sit on it, then enjoy the ride. The narration is a bit quiet, and I had to turn up the volume. As the player goes down the tube, it talks about how the blood/brain barrier has historically been a barrier drugs couldn't get through, then the player emerges from the tube to the main room, "Behold, the brain." It then talks about recent developments in brain cancer treatments, and after circling around, the player leaves out the other tube. Upon exiting, the player can get up any time, and the blood cell soon vanishes.

"Still pretty good for a first time team," Rita commented. She then noted there were a few minor details to take care of, notably getting a "Sunbeamer" flag for the exhibition, which at the time was flying the Sunweaver Estates one. Shockwave would later comment on Facebook, "You never know how much it takes to fill a half acre, until it's your job to fill it. Or mow it. Fortunately, I don't have to mow the thing. Constructing a 40 m by 40 m brain mock-up, things you never think you'll get the chance to do, and then one day you do them."

Rita concluded, "Even though the Sunbeamers are a very small team and we can't be involved with RFL 24/7 like most of the others, we will do what we can, as much as we can. Anyone that reads this, stop by our campsite, ride the ride and grab a cup of coffee."

The exhibit is at RFL Research (122, 224, 22), but will not be accessible to the general public until Saturday.

Bixyl Shuftan