Paisley Bebbe’s “Tonight Live” holds Third Anniversary Show

Sunday June 27 2010, marked three years since Paisley Bebbe began her “Tonight Live” show on Second Life. Her third anniversary show, marked by a giant “3” on her set, had some noteable guests. There was Troy McLuhan, whom at the time of the first show worked at the International Space Museum in Second Life. Guest number two was Astrin Few, whom according to Paisley was the first musician to play live in Second Life. Last but hardly least was Wiz Norberg, the head of Treet.tv.

For the most part, the show went as more or less as planned. The most obvious “glitch” was when Paisley had to move her cat off her lap, not the prim cat on her virtual seat, but her real life kitty, “Me-ROWWWL!!” A few in the audience at first thought that was a sound effect from the prim pet. After that, the show more or less went smoothly. Troy and Paisley talked about space and Second Life’s Sci-lands. Austin Few talked about a number of things in Second Life’s music scene, and discussed a little about when he threatened to leave second life due to “frustration with the platform.”

Wiz Nordberg’s interview was the most lively of the three. His “The Beatles” t-shirt was not what one expected a CEO to wear. Talk turned to Paisley’s first show, which was broadcast on the screen for the audience to see. Wiz had built the outside of the studio, but the less than experience Paisley built the inside, “poseballs everywhere.” She was also told her appearance at the time was a problem for the show as her skin seemed too dark, the Australian being told her avatar looked to Polynesian.

Wiz also talked a little about Paisley’s guests, “RacerX was the only one who left you speechless ... I loved it.” Paisley also asked Wiz some questions about Treet.tv. When she asked Wiz what was the craziest idea pitched at him, he responded they almost did a show titled “The Ponygirls.” “One of those Second Life counter-cultures,” Wiz explained, before he, and some of the audience in text, went into detail about them. “Maybe we need an adult channel,” Wiz joked.

Once the cameras were cut, the mayhem began. Delinda Dyrssen, whom is usually behind the scenes making sure things run smoothly, this time she came on stage with something in her hand. She then pointed it at Paisley and her guests, and began firing little yellow rubber duckies at them. The host and her guests laughed, one muttering, “Where would Second Life be without griefing.” It wasn’t long before Wiz brought one out, and the duckies started to fly. Paisley then brought up a shield. Then someone flung a “fat man” at her, which took some time to rez, but her voice reflected her surprise. Then someone rezzed a *really* fat man that took up most of the inside. By the time it dissipated, the majority of the audience had left, and someone had tossed Paisley some “Paparazzi,” that when worn looked like a bunch of noobs with cameras were taking her pictures.

Darn, our competition managed to sneak in on us.

It was one of those "off camera" moments to remember, and a reminder Paisley and her staff do not forget to have a little fun.

Happy Third Anniversary, Paisley Beebe.

Bixyl Shuftan

Childhood in SL - A Visit to the SL Kids SL7B Exhibit

Kids! They are such a problem ! All moms and papas love them so and would also love to knock them in the head. This happens in real life and also guess what, here in SL.

I have talked to many and spent time with them having fun .. Riding, rafting .. dancing .. fishing ... I have spent some special times with kids fishing in contests and laughing so hard at their wit! They knock my socks off! Some are kids just to be kids. Some are reliving a time of their life that they really enjoyed and felt loved and safe. Some are living a life they never had when they should have had it. Imagine!

Isn‘t that why we are all here, hoping for something we don’t have or can’t have in real life? How many times have I heard “Why would anyone want to be a **** ?“ Replace that with anything you want, furry , vampire, tiny, greenie, slayer of zombies, model, stripper.

Some people think that the kids may be perverts. Forget it!! Perverts are not masquerading here as children. Some might try, but if they were they would be reported immediately by the KIDS! Also if a pervert does approach one of these SL kids they are reported immediately! There are SL kid websites and groups that watch and advise.

These kids want to enjoy this virtual life and have lots of fun doing it. Some are master builders and scripters. Some own sims full of furniture for sale, some have malls, some design clothing. I have seen some very weird avatars around in SL and I figure they must be that avatar because they want to for some reason. Live and let live. Enjoy what we have while we have it!

If you really would like to hear why a person chooses to be a kid now is your chance! You can do it easily without asking any kid. Visit the sweet build by Marianne McCann at the SL7B. There are toy blocks with the pictures of kid avatars. Click any block and you will pick up a note card that will tell you the personal view of why that person chose to become a SL kid.

The SL Kids Exhibit in SL7B is in the SL7B Visionary sim at (205, 184, 22).
Gemma Cleanslate

Declining Markets - Ozanimal Bunnies Dropping in Value

The Ozimals bunnies hit SL in January 2010. Quickly becoming the latest craze in the market scene, buyers flocked to shops which sprouted up literally everywhere and shopkeepers enjoyed great profit. The business boomed for several months and more and more people jumped on the bandwagon--everyone wanted a piece of the bunny pie!

Still clinging to the turtle market, I soon rented and set up stalls for my turtle eggs and my newly acquired bunny nests. Sales were good on the nests but the turtle egg/turtle sales dwindled. Later I upgraded to a small shop exclusively for bunny nests. I gave up one stall (turtle eggs) but continued with the stall for the bunnies. I now had two locations in which to sell my goods. I continued to thrive with bunny nest sales and life was good. Paying rent was no longer a problem and eventually I decided I didn't need a paying job in SL any longer. Nests were selling for anywhere between L$250 and L$1500.

I continued to have shop sales and started going to auctions for several months. Selling live bunnies was the way to go and people at auction were willing to pay good money. Now my work centered around getting the better furs, more gem eyes, the better traits that people wanted. I spent many lindens on this endeavor. I gradually established some really good warrens; it was a slow process indeed. I began selling again, some hits and some misses.

I went to auctions where "special" bunnies were selling for thousands! Blanc de Hotot, Creme d'Argent, Mini Rex Castors...some going for as much as L$30,000! It was outrageous!

I was a regular at one particular auction and went to several others once or twice. What I saw starting to happen was that people were either not buying at all or not spending nearly the amounts on the same types of bunnies as I had seen in the past. I went to another very odd auction, where quite ordinary bunnies and nests were for sale and very low prices and people were buying them up! It was unbelievable. I told my SL sis we could go back there and auction some of our lesser bunnies to reduce our stock and she agreed.

The market had become so saturated that no one could sell, but everyone needed to because so many people had so many bunnies and had to keep feeding them. This becomes quite a financial burden for most everyone. Prices came down in a frustrated attempt to unburden themselves of the abundance of bunnies they could no longer afford to feed. This was a boon for me in one sense as I was able to get some of the better bunnies that used to sell for a lot....perhaps a foolish move considering the condition of the market. Everyone is upset over it's decline. It was great fun and very profitable at its height.

It is becoming quite evident that this market, like so many in SL, is going the route of the turtles and scion chickens before them.

But never fear...there is something new for all you avid breeders of all things animal! THE HORSES ARE COMING! That's right, breedable horses have been developed and beta testing has just begun. I saw two foals and they are irresistible. A new market will take over it seems...and so it goes.

Shellie Sands

SL Fire & Rescue Dept. Holds Fireman’s Ball in NYC Sim

On June 10th at 5 PM SL time, The Second Life Fire and Rescue Department held a Firemans’ Ball in the NYC sim at the fire department building. Keira Colclough was the DJ at the party in the Second Life version of the Big Apple. It was held across the street from the fire station, with it’s trucks on display, looking detailed and shiny.

“We decided to host a firemans’ ball and invite other fire and rescue departments from SL,” SLFRD chief JayFizzle McGinnis told Second Life Newser, “We actually opened SLFRD on the grid in 2008, spent time on other sims up until about January this year when we moved SLFRD here to NYC. We provide fire and rescue for the city, and plan to move in to EMS and soon possibly a police dept. here.” He went on to explain the group was a “fire and rescue roleplay.”

So were there any fires the group felt were extra memorable? “The time I lit the station on fire,” SLFRD member Tyler Molinaxil answered, then laughed, “Cooking fire, (we) left to go on a false alarm, and came back, and there was fire coming from the roof.” “Yeah,” SLFRD member Francisdom Weder laughed, “the whole place lit up.” JayFizzle added, “But we handled the incident, rebuilt the station, and have new policies in place to prevent it from happening again.”

How did the idea for the ball start? JayFizzle answered, “We are low staffed at the moment, and tried to think of a way to get people here to the sim and recruit. So we decided to have a firefighters ball and tout our department a bit to them and hopefully get a few firefighter candidates. ... we are always looking for new hires to start the training process.” JayFizzle thought there were 49 at the event at one point.

The party did have a change of plans early on, “We were supposed to have a live fire demo at 5. However the chief officer in charge of that, like most of us, is a RL firefighter, and had a guy he knows get seriously injured on the job today. And we decided to go without the demos. It happens as the job itself is a dangerous one. Here at SLFD, we are unique in SL for the fact we pride ourselves on real firefighting tactics, and ninety percent of my staff and mainly all my officers are real fire fighters. Frankie for a fact,” he pointed at Francisdom, “that man is amazing.”

Between answering questions, there was much joking around between the firefighters, and laughs shared by all.

The NYC sim is owned by Cheri Bing, a native New Yorker. The sim was featured on the CNN website due to it's 9-11 memorial.

Bixyl Shuftan

The 30%

I have been making a daily stop at the Memorial created by CodeBastard Redgrave to the memory of the Lindens who have lost their jobs . Bixyl has already reported on the facts. It was spontaneously built, and I am afraid it will soon spontaneously disappear.

There are always avatars visiting, walking around, and saying “oh no! Not her” or him … it is amazing. Most of the conversations in chat over the years, or even in the news at times, is critical of the Linden Lab for various reasons. But now, the warmth toward the Linden individuals who have been laid off is so evident.

The Lindens who visit the memorial are seeing empty chairs and friends gone in RL and missing them. We inhabitants of SL are seeing names of some of those we threw snowballs at, or dunked at the Dreams Sim, or kissed on appreciation day. They were fun people! Some are especially revered for their camaraderie.

I was glad to see one there for Pathfinder Linden. He “resigned” a while ago because his job disappeared, and there was none other suitable for his skills and talents and compassion. Linden Lab is a business, and I guess must put business first.

It makes one wonder though ... What is coming next?

Visit the Memorial while you have time: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rouge/166/63/22

Gemma Cleanslate

Disaster at Shelz' Haven

On Wednesday morning, the 9th of June, I rezzed onto my home land like I always do, coffee in hand. What I saw scared me--all I could see was green grass and water, not a single object could I see. I relogged, I cleared cache and relogged two more times....still the same thing.

I walked around in a state of stunned panic. Called a friend who was on line, she came to see. She was equally stunned, but she flew around (such a level head that one) and discovered that my parcel, 1/4 sim, had been raised way up above sea level. She took a pic and I was even more stunned than before, there was my land, up in the sky. She discovered that my stuff was far below where we had been standing.

She lowered the entire parcel for me to be in line with the neighbors. What I saw shocked me even more. There was the house, there was the flower bed, sans flowers. The only thing in the flower bed were the sundial, bench, a chair I had placed. All flowers were gone. The barn was gone, all the palm trees were gone. All edits to terrain for ponds and water inlets were undone.

Then, the most horrifying sight of all---ALL THE BUNNIES WERE GONE! The 100 plus bunnies and their food had VANISHED!

I walked around in a state of shock, not knowing what to do, I couldn't react exactly, couldn't cry. All I wanted to do was scream and kick and punch someone and just.....but I was too stunned to do any of those things, this was beyond my comprehension and experience in SL.

From the outside of the house, I could see the curtains were gone, but I did see a picture hanging on the wall. The wicker furniture on the front porch was gone, the lounger on the deck on the other side gone also, as well as my lounger by the water's edge. I chose not to venture in to the house at that time.

There was nothing to be done at the moment. I sent a message to the sim owner. I had to leave and face the RL job. I hoped all would resolve by the time I got home.

When I got home, I wrote a poem, as I am wont to do in times of severe stress. I went into the house. I saw the painting, one of three that were in the living room. A table and two chairs were still in tact, but the living room furniture and rug were gone. I went around all three floors, all empty, including the nude pictures I had bought at a benefit auction...POL, Lyndon, Djai and another guy whose name escapes me. All musicians.

On Saturday, the 12th of June, I logged in as usual; no rollback yet. I decided to log in as my alt. When I arrived, all the bunnies were there, the flowers, the barn, everything! My alt did not have rights (she does now!), so I decided to log back in as Shellie and give her rights to take all my stuff and give to Shellie. I relogged as Shellie and VOILA! All my stuff was restored! It was the oddest thing ... welcome to SL.

Shellie Sands