Feed A Smile

By Shaza Denver,

Hello my loyal readers,

     Well the hectic holidays are behind us for the most part.  I know I for one need to find the time to take down all the decorations and pack them away for next year.  Its still snowing of course.  Winter has  not left us,  at least not yet.  I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season.   I hope you made new friends.  I hope you had good times with family and a peaceful and happy holiday season. 

     There were so many hunts going on,  and so many group gifts to be had.  It was indeed a joyful time for me.  My inventory is bursting at the seams.  I have no idea when I fill find to time to get this lot of goodies sorted.  Its probably going to take me a year! 

     With the holidays over I am skipping around Second Life looking for things to do and see.  Well as it happens I  was out on New Years Eve and I met a gentleman at a popular venue.  We had a dance or two and he told me about this charity that he sponsors, Feed A Smile.

     There are fewer things that gives so much joy than supporting others that are in need.  It warms your heart and gives meaning to your life.  Its what life is about. Helping others less fortunate.  In my humble opinion!   Second Life is no more different in real life in that respect.  We help those that we can when we can.   With that said let me jump down from my soap box and go ahead and tell you about this heart warming charity.

     Feed A Smile has events all over Second Life that help the Live and Learn in Kenya Int'l program.  The proceeds help very poor children in Kenya to receive hot meals.   A school is being built so that these children may learn.  How wonderful is that.   There is an art gallery where you may purchase artworks by SL artist.  These sales benefit the charity as well. 

Jump on over there and check out the artwork for yourself.  I know I bought several as the work is quite good and well......it does help this worth while cause.  Here is your taxi to the gallery. 

Art Aid at Commonwealth Village, Momil (34, 125, 68)

     I am told the village holds monthly events for the charity as well.  So stay tuned for articles that will inform you of dates and times.  Oh and if you are family oriented such as myself,  children of Second Life are more than welcome to attend. 

     There is an venue that caters to the needs of this charity.  This venue is called Lavender Fields.  At the venue you will find a replica of the school being built for the children. 
     
       I myself visited the replica.   It is quite impressive,  and to know just what it stands for and the benefits it gives to others is heart warming. 

     Lavender Fields in itself is  a beautiful venue.   The build is lovely, and of course the flowers are my favorite color! What's not to love. 

     Do get over and check out the venue.  You will be impressed as much as I was,  of that I  am sure.  Here is your url to the venue.  Get over and check it out. While you're there, Feed A Smile.   You won't be sorry.  The feeling it will give you is like no other.

The Lavender Field, Feed A Smile (53, 124, 23)

     Until next time loyal readers.  Please stay tuned for articles about this amazing charity here in SL.

Warm Tidings,

Shaza

Curt Bombastic Speaks About The Ice Bucket Challenge

For the past several weeks, the "Ice Bucket Challenge" has been going on in real life. In this unusual fundraiser for ALS (Lou Gerigh's Disease), people record themselves announcing they're taking up the challenge and nominate three others to either take it or donate an amount to ALS research, then dump a bucket of ice water on top of their heads. Started on television, it soon went to social media and quickly went viral, inspiring a long list of personalities from politicians to businessmen to musicians and more to record themselves getting the cold water treatment. The event is not without it's critics, calling it gimmicky or a frivolous use of water. But the result has been the ALS Association receiving much more in donations.

It was just a matter of time before the Ice Bucket Challenge came to Second Life. One place where one can take it is the SL Wrestling Community Building in the Alpha Centauri sim. Dropping by on Saturday August 23, Lilian Bombastic (lilian.stoneshield) was there, telling me, "you need to get the bucket near the sign but to be recorded we need to have out staff with the programs here to do it." A few moments later, Curt Bombastic appeared, "Hi Bixyl. Good to see you Again. Welcome to the SL Wrestling Community HQ."

"So the Ice Bucket Challenge has come to Second Life?" I asked. Curt answered, "Yep. Debora Stine Creator of MUSCHI Fashions Created The Bucket and was good enough to put one here at the HQ. So far we've had people from all over come by, from the wrestling community, to the roleplay community, even members of the CFL."

I asked, "About how many would you say have taken part?" Curt replied, "Oh ... lets see ... I'd say a good 50 to 70 people have come by so far and grabbed it and donated. We've even had some people come by and get recorded by Wildfire Productions in getting "iced" and issuing out challenges too. We put this up yesterday afternoon and already we've raised almost $7,000L as you can see. I think Its Great ... and I can't thank Debora Stine enough for coming over here and putting one out (laughter)."

I mentioned the video by Tahisha Fairplay that I found (and would go up on the Newser the following day). Curt laughed, "Oh yes, I recall her. I thought that was cool and she had fun with hers. (laughter) We also added the 'I'm Freezing' animation that people can grab after they ice themselves. But all proceeds go directly to www.alsa.org, so it's been pretty good."

I then asked Curt about any jokes about the event. He answered, "Oh there's been a few ... One person will be coming by later and putting on FRAZZLED hair after she ice's herself. One did it from the Titanic and got thrown into the water. Horses Morriesy instead of getting iced punt-kicked her mascot teddy bear into the sea. There's been some creative ones. As a community, we challenged the CFL Community and so far they've seem to respond in kind .... Its been fun so far."

I then asked, "At this rate, how much do you expect to have raised?" Curt answered, "Good question ... I'm surprised at its only been up for a day and a half so far and we've raised the amount we have. We intend to keep this up for all of September and maybe even October and see where we go from here. But I heard that in real life, they reached the $50 million mark and I think Thats AMAZING ... This time last year they reached something like over 1 million and they've more than tripled obviously cuz of this .... It's pretty cool."

"This has taken a life of its own. But the SL Wrestling community, oh hell, the SL community in general has really come out for this, so I think that its great. Next Month there are plans to host an ALS Charity Wrestling Event, maybe at APW Arena, or maybe here, still up for debate ... but it'll be a multi fed joint Super Event for ALS."



I asked Curt how fast word seemed to be getting around. He answered, "Definitely. We've had people from the CFL, roleplaying communities, club goers, I saw a Linden here earlier as well ... Word is getting out there."

"Oh? Which Linden was this?" I asked.

"I don't know," Curt answered, "(I saw him) as I was logging out but the dot on the mini map was blue, so I knew it was a Linden. I never caught the name.  I've been trying to find out."

Curt then turned his attention to a lady who has written about wrestling a number of times, " By the way, tell Charlotte I'd LOVE to see her come on down and give the Ice Bucket Challenge a try too. She's MORE than welcome." He then laughed out loud, " ... The more the merrier I say. I recently challenged Zarrakan Productions as well. She has an office set up here.  And I'd LOVE to see how Camera Kitty (as we call her) responds (laughter) ..... I challenged her last night at a VWE wrestling show ... so we'll see how she does this," he laughed again, "No doubt it'll be pretty good."


"But yeah, this has been a lot of fun so far. We've been advertising outside of the Wrestling community and lots of people have shown up and tried or grabbed the bucket and donated which is GREAT.  We Just opened the SL Pro Wrestling Community Headquarters two weeks ago, which I find is a great place here .... a place where we can promote the ENTIRE community to ALL of SL .... and this just helps I admit."


"It certainly draws attention," I commented,

Curt continued, "But its GREAT that the community has come together For a GREAT cause and its been a LOT of fun to do as well."

"Anything else you want to mention about the challenge?" I asked.

Curt thought for a moment, "Ummm ... other than we challenge the SL community to come on down, take the challenge. You can contact Lyra Phoenix on our staff board out front to get it recorded and donate. Let's spread awareness of this and hopefully find a cure for ALS."

Curt told me he might have some more information on the charity event soon. He then told me he had to go, and we told each other goodbye and we went our separate ways.



One can find the SL Wrestling Ice Bucket Challenge at Alpha Centauri (164/173/28).



Bixyl Shuftan

Avina en' Cael on the Wrestling Charity Event for Team Fox

Avina en' Cael (Saria Resident) is someone many in Second Life would find unusual: a female wrestler. A performer at HAWX (Hellcats Angels Wresting X-treme) and the WPWF (Women's Pro Wrestling Federation), she's gone through her share of body-slams. Recently she's been involved with an upcoming WPWF event to help raise funds for Parkinson's research. Charlotte Williams recently interviewed her about the happening.

 Charlotte Williams: "Thanks for inviting me here today Avina"

Avina en' Cael: "Thanks for coming! Welcome to the Asylum." We settle down at the WPWF Commentary Table, with its birds-eye view of the WPWF Ring and Stage Area."

Charlotte smiles, "The Asylum'? So what usually happens here at 'The Asylum?"

Avina en' Cael: "Well, technically its the WPWF arena, but Saturday nights we hold our weekly WPWF Asylum show."

Charlotte nods,  "Ok, and tell our readers a little about what WPWF is, what does it stand for?"

Avina en' Cael: "Womens Pro Wrestling Federation, it's the all women wrestling federation run by Tyress Serevi, or  'The Nova' Tyress Serevi as she was known in wrestling, its a once a week hour-ish show, and she was kind enough to lend me the use of her arena for the big charity event."

Charlotte Williams: "Ok, sounds interesting for sure. Can you tell us a little about how wrestling works here in SL?"

Avina en' Cael: "There's two types. There's "Poseball" which is where I got started, before it turned into it's current state, where you basically hop on a poseball, type a huge paragraph describing what you're going to do to the person, and click a menu, and thats how you run the entire match. Or there's HUD wrestling, the actual wrestling that requires a lot of focus and knowledge of everything going on around you in the ring. Which is where you put on a hud, and you move freely in the ring, no poseballs, and you type out everything that you want to do, and it's up to you to line it all up and make it look good.So say I wanted to powerbomb you...I check my gestures (If I don't know them exactly), find the powerbomb trigger, and type it (./powerbomb)."

Charlotte smiles, "Please don't powerbomb me Avina! Ok, I see, and its like a dance of sorts, albeit one which involves kicks and punches?"

Avina en' Cael: "Kicks, punches, slamming heads on corners, throwing your opponent to the concrete...I've seen one person, Ayane, actually use one of our (the entire wrestling community) fans and do a move off his head...craziest thing I've ever seen."

Charlotte laughs, "Wow, sounds crazy indeed, unlike something many people would have seen in SL!"

Avina en' Cael: "Numbers Rossini, who helped build the NexGen system we use, said it best, 'What we do breaks SL, it's not meant to do it, but we make it do it'."

Charlotte Williams: "Would that be an original quote?"

Avina en' Cael: "Pretty close, I cant remember his exact wording, but it was pretty much identical."

Charlotte smiles, "So as you mentioned earlier, you started out on a poseball with your wrestling career, what made you decide to start wrestling in SL? And as a second part to that question, what keeps you coming back to SL to do it?"

Avina en' Cael: "Heh...the poseball thing was literally I needed the money. I don't remember exactly what for, but Ace Nightfire who helped with the Charity event was like 'Hey you know poseball wrestling makes a lot of money sometimes', So I asked Shania Adder if she would train me in it, and with my vast roleplay background, and my father getting me into Professional Wrestling (Note, Professional Wrestling, NOT Sports Entertainment as it is now), it was just natural to me. Then he (Ace) was like 'You should try this HUD system we have, called Nexgen', and I met Stacy Grace at the same time, and they got me started on the HUD stuff, and I found I liked it a lot more than poseball which was turning more into adult oriented, and I outright refused to do that....I'm there to entertain, not get naked."

Avina en'Cael : "As for coming back, I might not be as quick as everyone due to my crappy computer, but I still enjoy it...and being a heel, a bad guy, I love finding new ways to make the fans hate me even more week after week," Avina grins.

Charlotte Williams: "Sounds like an interesting hobby to say the least!"

Avina en'Cael : "So we've got the background story on wrestling in SL and your history in SL, and as you mentioned, we are here to talk about your charity event that is coming up this weekend. Can you tell our readers what the event is and how it came about?"

Avina takes a deep breath, "Well as I mentioned, when I was in the poseball thing, Ace Nightfire was always the DJ. Then we worked together in DCWF, and he always talked to me about a dream he had combining the two, music with SL wrestling. Well, about a year passed, we parted ways, I left DCWF and fed hopped a bit, and we started talking again, and he brought the idea up once more only this time he was trying to go with it. I had run a music venue for awhile, so I had a lot of live music artist contacts, so I was like 'You do the wrestling, I'll do the music, lets make it happen'. Unfortunatetly, our first attempt flopped, we didnt get out of planning stages, then the second, this time, it just sort of all came together finally."

"The event is for Team Fox, who are run by Barbie Alchemy, who runs the SL portion of Michael J Fox Parkinson's Research Society. They, unlike other big name charities, actually give 100% of the proceeds directly to research. Most will pay sim tier first, then CEO's, then staff, bills, etc, THEN about 30% goes to actual research. The MJF charity pays no tier, pays nothing but goes right to research, and I'll give your readers a video to watch which is very inspiring that we'll show Saturday as well."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyiiWxNguGo

Charlotte smiles, "Thank you, much appreciated. As we are sitting in a wrestling arena, obviously the event involves wrestling, but I believe it will also incorporate some musical elements. If our readers wish to come along to the event, what can they expect to see?"

Avina en'Cael : "Well, we start at 10 AM sharp up here in the Asylum with a match a long time in the making, Whiskers Savage vs La Gata Loca, its something you just have to see to understand. We'll end it with a never before seen six woman tag team elimination match with a match type I created myself, called the Dragons Dance. After the wrestling wraps at 1 PM SLT we're going to have two singers down below at the main stage. Diana Pearl will be opening up, then we'll have Celia Cruz, who is a live tribute artist to the late real life Celia Cruz.

Charlotte nods, "So its a wrestling show followed by a concert with live singers?"

 

Avina en'Cael : "Yep. That was the original idea, wrestling and music, and I could be wrong, but I don't believe a charity event has ever featured both in one day. I could be wrong though, I know your We Care is a huge wrestling event too."

Charlotte smiles, "Thank you, we had DJs for We Care last year, but no live singers. As its a charity event, how can people donate or offer their support?"

Avina en'Cael : "They can contact me if they wish to donate an item, and it will be raffled off (If anyone has a raffle system to donate that would be wonderful), or somehow given away for the event. They will get a poster like the ones around the arena and free advertising throughout the show in exchange. I'll personally be donating my entire Dragon Blade set, which go for about 500L$ in world each, all 10 of them to it, Absolute Animations is giving away any move from their vendors."

  Charlotte Williams: "And there will be donation kiosks as well?"

Avina en'Cael : "There will be one just to your right, and a couple down below as well. You can also visit their sim, the SL Newser just ran a beautiful article on it, and donate there as well. I really encourage people to read the article the Newser did and visit their sim, it's so beautiful, they have horseback riding, art displays, all kinds of stuff."

 

Charlotte nods, "That sounds wonderful. You definitely have plenty of ways to donate and support this most worthy of charities. Thank you very much for your time today Avina. Before I go, is there anything else you'd like to add to inform our readers about your event this weekend?

Avina en'Cael : "All tier for the sim is donated by a third party, as well as all expenses, so all donations go right to the charity research. If you're into SL wrestling...we're going to have some amazing matches...I mean Lyra Phoenix vs Tara Titan...that's going to be a hard hitting match, the Dragons Dance is going to be crazy, the music is going to be great...so clear your day out and come enjoy the show. Just be sure to de-script as much as you can, that's VERY important to reduce the lag.

Here are the all important details, so you don't miss a second of the action...

This Saturday 16th August, The Wrestling Charity Event for Team Fox representing Michael J Fox Parkinson's Foundation Fundraiser begins at 10am SLT, at 1pm SLT Diana Pearl and Celia Cruz take to the Synful Desirez Stage for a special live event. If you still want more wrestling, the weekly WPWF show begins from 6pm SLT. The SLURL for all these events is: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Careers/209/243/224. If you have any questions about the event, feel free to contact Avina (saria Resident in SL) for further information. Enjoy the event and donate BIG!

 

Charlotte Williams 

Reader Submitted: "Concert For Caprice" Raises 76,140 Lindens for National Kidney Foundation

By Madonna Daehlie

On Thursday, May 29th, the Rubber Room hosted a special two hour event, called the Concert For Caprice. The idea came from Cherise (CheriseLynn) as a way to celebrate Caprice Darkrose's life and love of jazz, as well to benefit the National Kidney Foundation.

Caprice Darkrose was a longtime resident of Second Life who previously owned the Darkrose Jazzland club, and later became a key part of the staff of the Rubber Room. She passed away on May 3, 2014 at the age of 35, due to complications of kidney disease, which she had battled for some time. Caprice was loved by many people in SL, and leaves behind many friends and a lot of memories.

The inspiration for the two hour live event came from Cherise, who wanted to find a way to celebrate Caprice's love for jazz music, and do so to benefit the National Kidney Foundation, which was a cause near and dear to Caprice's heart. Cherise contacted Gina Gracemount, who not only agreed to volunteer her time and talent to this special event, but also contacted Chillee Hernandoz, who also agreed to take part. Chillee and Gina are both well known for devoting their time to support others, often performing for events for the Relay For Life of Second Life.

Evergreen Engineer, the general manager of the Rubber Room, and who was very close to Caprice, generously donated the use of the club for the special benefit. Evergreen also assisted in hosting during the event.

Once the talent was lined up, the next step was to contact the National Kidney Foundation to set up a means to allow Second Life residents to donate their L$ to the charity. Both Madonna Daehlie and Elstan Guardian contacted the NKF via email, sharing the plans for the event, and helped to bring them inworld. Elstan also provided the event with a basic donation box, which transferred all the donations received directly to the NKF's avatar.

The first hour of the concert was performed by Chillee, who took the stage at noon. Despite having never met Caprice, she spoke of how honored she was to perform at this special event. She also mentioned that she had known a few people who knew Caprice, and were "deeply saddened" to hear that she had passed away. Her set was a mixture of moving, as well as upbeat songs, with her regularly urging all those in attendance to donate generously to this cause. She closed out her set with a pre-recorded and touching song for her daughter, which left very few dry eyes in the club.

At 1 pm, Gina took the stage and performed the last hour of this special benefit. She too put on an incredible set, including a number of touching and emotional songs that people asked her to sing and dedicate to Caprice. Much like Chillee before her, Gina's set was a combination of moving and fun, and she too urged everyone in the Rubber Room to continue to donate in Caprice's memory to help others.

Throughout the event, there were 50 or more people crowded into the club, with a peak of nearly 70. Many of those in the club knew Caprice, and wanted to be there to support a cause dear to her, as well as share love and memories.

Also amongst those in attendance was Anna, a representative with the NKF, who not only routinely thanked everyone for their generous donations, but also passed along information such as "So far we've raised enough money to educate 8 doctors on the latest research and care on kidney disease." She also thanked everyone for their support throughout the concert at the opening and closing of the concert.

The two hour event raised L$76,140, or roughly $300, thanks to the love and generosity of the organizers, performers, and attendees. The concert, and it's final total, was seen as a rousing success by all involved.

Elstan Guardian is working on plans to hold his own benefit event for Caprice and the NKF in the near future. Elstan, the caretaker of the Caprice Darkrose Memorial and Kinky BDSM Club, was a friend of Caprice's in real life. The memorial and club, which he has built, is meant to be a lasting tribute to Caprice, as well as her legacy to all those she loved in SL. The memorial and club has so far hosted two special memorial events on May 8th and 10th, DJ'd by Evergreen, Madonna, Immm Back and Siouxsie Seoung. Details will be shared once the plans are finalized, and much like the memorials in early May, all will be welcome.

If you would like to support the National Kidney Foundation inworld, or would like to help out with the upcoming benefit, please contact ElstanGuardian Resident or Madonna Milena in SL.

Madonna Daehlie

"Operation Bronze," and Other Relay for Life Events

A few days ago, the Relay for Life in Second Life hit a milestone. The total amount collected since it's beginnings in 2004 had reached the one and a half million dollar amount, "At the end of April 2011, we celebrated hitting $1milion," stated Bain Finch in a post, "and in just over 400 days since that amazing feat, you went and raised that bar to $1.5m."


The weekend of June 8-10 saw a number of Relay events. Among them was the RFL Street Fair held at Lollygagger Lane at Menophara on June 9 from 9AM to 7PM. Conducted by the Lollygagger and Hobo groups, the event promised an art gallery, bus tours, a mud wrestling ring, tarot card readings, a kissing booth, and of course the live music events, such as Frets Nirvana. And there was "more free stuff than you can shake your rat-on-a-stick at." The area had a general run-down look with automobile shells and other debris alongside shacks. There were a number of goods set up to sell to raise money.

Dropping by in the middle of the event, there were a number from Europe still up, Firery Broome asking, "I can not believe that you EU peoples are still awake." "Hehehe!" "Just getting started Fire." "We Germans still party."

For those who don't know, "lollygagger" was what one Linden was quoted as calling those residents whom were always complaining about the Lab, and the name was soon adopted by some with rebellious streaks.

The big event that weekend was "Operation Bronze" on Saturday June 9. For twelve hours from Noon to Midnight SL time, Relayers would party at ACS Island. The purpose of the event was to boost the totals of active but underperforming teams to 10,000 Lindens, which ranks as Bronze status in the Relay. The idea had started at the "Halfway There Fair" earlier this season.

For this Bronzing event, 25 smaller teams had their totals raised to Bronze rank. From Zelda Generations to WrongSide Relay, to Asylum, these obscure teams had their moment in the sun, and a new status while DJs like Fuzzball Ortega and Trader1 Whiplash did the music for the dancing Relayers. All teams that had raised at least one Linden were elgible. And by the events end, the last elgible team was at  10,000 total, "2890 now! … 1890 to go! … 790 to go!" "Yes! We did it!" "Last team bronzed." "Oh my God! What an achievement!" "SL Relayers are Amazing!" "You guys rock!"

The event was marked by wisecracks and joking around. One guy spent his time in a feral deer avatar, leading to some jokes about being a hatrack. But there was also more sentimental statements, "I was part of something great, and found I have a family here who I can reply on and will help if I can."

As Bain Finch put it, "It really was beautiful to witness the birth of Bronzing.

To see the team totals, Click Here.

Sunday was another event by Team Harmony of Hope, "Racing Tiny Cars for a Cure" at the Yes sim. The event took place on a track under a roller coaster. The little cars were cute, getting in them showing an animation of the character squeezing in, and then the rear license place showing the driver's first name. "I still have no clue how i got into the thing!" Trader1 Whiplash Exclaimed. People were asked to donate at least 50 Lindens.

Unfortunately, the cars could be difficult to drive, instead of bouncing around obstacles mine would launch in the air and come back down. Eventually, mine was knocked off course and into the lake. Still, everyone had fun.

There were of course other events that weekend. Among them was a race by the Strigoi Motorcycle Club. They found themselves without a sim and appealed for help. Ghostriders World MC heard about their problem, and offered their own sim for the event.

It was a good weekend for the Relay for Life

Bixyl Shuftan

The "Buddy Walk" Downs Syndrome Bennefit

On March 21st at the Palladium and Platinum sims, a fundraiser was held to raise donations for Downs Syndrome research: the 4rth Annual SL Buddy Walk. Throughout the period, nine musicians performed at the stage at Platinum, beginning with Mankind Tracer at 2 Pm SL time:


Mankind will be performing live today at "Buddy Walk" to benefit Down Syndrome! All live! All Acoustic! All ROCK! Bring out your friends and let's help raise some awareness and maybe some money!



Showing up at the landmark just after 5PM, I saw that the dance floor went across two sims, one third of it and the stage over the sim crossing from the other two thirds. Maximillion Kleene was performing at the time to an enthusiastic audience, and just after 5:30PM the total raised hit 50,000 Lindens.

People could donate to various kiosks set up around the place, "Donations collected from this event are given to NDSS! you can find the kiosks at the landing point, both sides of the venue entrance and both sides of the stage." Most Lindens donated went to the unit next to the stage which also gave the total amount.

Both the volunteers and the dancers cheered each other on as the total went up, "We are so happy to see everyone today at the 4th Annual SL Buddy Walk," with occasional announcements going up.


SL Buddy Walk Announcement shouts: ++++++++ March 21, 2012 marks the 7th anniversary of World Down Syndrome Day and for the first time in 2012 this day will be officially observed by the United Nations. Each year the voice of people with Down syndrome, and those who live and work with them, grows l

SL Buddy Walk Announcement shouts: ++++++++ There are more than 400,000 people living with Down syndrome in the United States.

SL Buddy Walk Announcement shouts: ++++++++ Down syndrome occurs when an individual has three, rather than two, copies of the 21st chromosome. This additional genetic material alters the course of development an …


Checking in again just after 10 PM SL time, Edward Kyomoon was performing for the final hour. Volunteer JL Zinner shouted "We are at $136,673 raised..... our goal is to beat last year which was $156,000L. Just an hour left to do that!!" Taking a look at the main kiosk, the total was actually 139,674 Lindens. The final total, listed in the event's blog, was 143,283 Lindens, with 506 residents visiting that day. The stage was not a permanent set, and was gone the next day.

The volunteers suggested three links on the Internet for people to check out, www.ndss.org , www.buddywalk.org , and www.worlddownsyndromeday.org .

For pictures of the 2011 event, check the Flickr.

Bixyl Shuftan

Bid4aCure Date Auction Nets 276K for Diabetes Research

On Sunday Sept 25th, the annual Bid4aCure date auction took place. Held at the Temprus sim, the event began at 11AM and went on for a few hours. A few dozen men and women took part, standing on stage while the bidding took place, sometimes with Jocelyn Sands who helped organize the event. While they were on stage, a song that the participents helped pick played for the audience. Money raised went to the American Diabetes Association and Diabetes UK.

The entrance to the event had a small art exhibit with a few displays. One titled “A Drop in the Bucket” showed a huge container of blood, with drops trickling in from above. But those dops had people inside, symbolic of the charity’s theme. Besides the dates up for bid, there was also a “silent auction” held beside the theater, with a number of clothes, skins, and other items up for bidding.

When Shana Kosco was up for bid, the music she chose was hard rock tunes.. She described herself to the audience as “loves art, and BEER.” After some laughter, she joked, “At least no one has talked about my tequila habits.” Someone commented, “A date with Sahana will not be boring, that is for sure.” She went for several thousand Lindens.

EricSteffensen Mistwalker was bid to the song “So Cliche.” He was won by B&B owner Bundy Xue, whose venue took part earlier this year in the "Jam for Genes" fundraiser. Bundy herself was up for bid soon after, dancing on stage to the tune of “Crazy B*tch.” With the winning bid at 10,000 Lindens, she responded, "Skeat says I define a expensive chick." Baxter Hyun was bid on to the tune of "I Ain't Got Nobody." His winning bid was 5K by Panther Miklos. Leira Vaughan went for more, Duncan Bagley putting up 20K for her.

Musician Mack Humbridge performed a little of his music during his bids, with a few of his fans in the audience dheering a bit, one calling out an “It’s a Mack Attack” gesture. Another musician, Edward Lowell, just performed quieter guitar music. One whimsical fellow held a sheapard's crook and rezzed a bunch of sheep around him. This was just a sample of what went on. No doubt the antics continued during the whole event.

Nazz Lane, whom once worked for Second Life Newser’s predecessor SL Newspaper, went for 7,000 Lindens by Briawinde Magic. Talking to him after the date auction, he told me a total of 396,791 had been raised, “Not as much as bigger fundraisers, such as the Relay for Life, but we’re happy with the results.“

Bid4aCure’s website showed a total figure of over 700,000 Lindens raised just after the date auction. They have continued to hold events, and recently their season total passed a million Lindens.

To read about Bid4aCure's date auction in 2010: Click Here.

To go to the Bid4aCure website: Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Adopt-a-Family’s Summer on the Boardwalk

Summer on the Boardwalk, a carnival for Adopt-a-Family, was held this weekend, July 8 – 10, at SnickerDoodle (126, 135, 25). Adopt-a-Family is an organization that helps make holidays a little better for Second Life residents facing economic hardship in their real-life. The carnival was a huge success, raising over $288,000 L for this charity.

The festivities included rides, food, live music, auctions, and even a dunk tank. Although the rides could be ridden for free, a convenient ticket box near each one allowed you to donate to the charity. The rides included a Merry-Go-Round, Bumper cars, Ferris Wheel, Jet Scream, and more. I got a great bird’s eye view of the carnival from the Ferris Wheel, but the Jet Scream ride was awesome. It started out tame, but soon was revolving like a rocket. Good thing I rode before I ate the hot dogs and cotton candy.

There was a House of Mirrors that looked interesting, too, but I never made it inside. I was distracted by a few fun-loving residents at the dunking tank who were having a great time. Instead of looking in the mirror, I decided to join them.

Lacie Beningborough and Laetitia Vella had Ted Floresby right where they wanted him—in the dunk tank. Ted splashed into the tank quite a few times thanks to Lacie’s mean arm! Laetitia and I cheered Lacie on a bit, then I had to give it a try. For a small donation I got 3 balls. I made the last one count—and downed Ted again. He was a good sport and was doing it for a great cause.

Other SL celebrities, including Frolic Mills and Dousa Dragonash took a turn in the dunk tank, too. Guess they know us mere mortals love dunking the rich and famous. BlackBarbie Bravin, who is both a SL celebrity and businesswoman said “it was a hoot.” “What's most important,” BlackBarbie said, “is that we are able to help others. It was a great experience and the best reason to ever to mess up my hair.”

On Sunday there was live music. Avantguard Frequency started the show off. When I stopped by he was getting a very warm reception from the crowd. Other musicians were slated to play during the day. Lacie Beningborough, who organized the carnival, said, “Other musicians heard about what we were doing and asked if they could volunteer. So we added an extra 2 hours to the show-- that was totally amazing!”

In addition to the rides and music, jewelry and fashion designers donated items for the auction boards that lined the stage area. Lacie said Frolic Mills and the folks at BOSL volunteered and worked hard to make this event happen. They all deserve a big “thank-you.”

Lacie Beningborough began Adopt-a-Family in November of 2009, when she discovered that a SL resident was in need in RL. The family was in jeopardy of losing everything because the husband had just lost his job, and the couple had two chronically ill children. Lacie organized a benefit to help the SL resident. The fundraiser was a huge success, and she promised to have it become a SL tradition. This year’s Christmas show will be December 19, 2011.

During the year Adopt-a-Family raises funds to help families in Second Life to have Christmas in real-life. The identity of the recipients is known only to the Board of Directors to protect privacy. Donors have the option of remaining anonymous or allowing their names to be used. If you know a SL resident that will need some help during the holidays, you can contact Lacie Beningborough before November 15, 2011.

Grey Lupindo

Passionate Redneads’ “Bid Rita Human” Raises Nearly 75,000 Lindens

Rita Mariner, the owner and “Chieftess” of the Sunweaver Estates, has emerged as this year’s champion fundraiser among the Passionate Redneads. But this honor came at a price. Her coat of fur.

Rita, the proud and confident leader of the Sunweavers, has been known to change her avie on occasion, but has always been known for her purple kani bunnygirl look. Following the success of two “Bid Me Human” events held by the Passionate Redheads, Rita volunteered for one of her own. If anyone would get a lot of attention from those among the Passionate Redheads also in the Sunweaver group, surely she would, and in the process raise a lot of Lindens.

The two previous events of this kind had gone differently. The first resulted in the volunteer having to spend a month without his fox avie (a few events excepted). In the second, the three week period the vixen would have had to gone furless was suspended after a larger donation came in to keep her foxy.

One thing was gone to make sure this event would be a bit different from both. There would be two kiosks for the event, one for those voting with their lindens to bid Rita human. The other would be for those donating to keep her a “purple bun-bun.” A minimum of 5,000 Lindens was needed to get her to change, both kiosks counting to the total, plus an additional day for every 1,000 raised. *But* the total on the “human” kiosk had to be at least one linden over the “furry” one. Otherwise the bunny would escape without as much as a moment as human. The event was set for Tuesday from 5 to 7 PM SL time.


Join the Passionate Redheads Relay For Life of Second Life team for “Bid Rita Human ... or NOT!” Tue Jun 28, 2011 5-7 PM SLT Come party with the Redheads while the bidding war for Rita Mariner becoming human begins! 5000 L$ for a week, then 1000 L$ per day after, but only if the human kiosk wins! Which will it be?


There was a little confusion about where the party would be, SL Newser mistakenly hearing it would be held as a special event at Club Cutlass. But instead like the first Redhead’s Bid Me Human it was held at Southern Colorado near Fimi Falls.

And at 5 PM, the Redheads, from the Sunweaver lands and elsewhere, began gathering at Southern Colorado. Friends from other teams were also there, such as Fuzzball from Team Steelhead whom showed up in the enormous wig he had promised to wear if his team went Platinum, this time dyed red. Besides the mix of human and furred avatars, there were a few of the “bronies,” plus one of the Sunweavers went feral fox for the night, musing he thought someone should represent the local wildlife. DJ Nydia Tungsten and Jenn Chant, normally foxy and feline respectively, went human for part of the event to symbolically "pass the torch," Nydia being the previous volunteer for a bid event.

From the start, the Lindens were coming in. Unlike the event with DJ Nydia, the money to bid Rita human was coming in quite fast. The tough landlady wasn’t exactly drawing the same reluctance from those in furry avs to make her go tailless for a while, nor from the normal humans, “Skin her! Skin her!” The $5,000 was soon raised, and Rita was set to spend at least a week as human. But the purple bunny wasn’t going down without a fight. She added some cash to the furry kiosk, sending a message if the Relayers if they wanted a little fun at her expense, they’d have to fork over a lot more for it. And over time, the amount was slowly matched.


It's close (21:09:49 )The bidding is hot and heavy to get Rita human. 26149L's for her to be human, 25153 for her to stay furry ( but she put in 25K in that one). So come help us keep the balance in human favor!!


The party went on for a while with more coming in. Then with ten minutes to spare, Rita put in another six thousand Lindens. Unless almost 5,000 more was raised, her cottontail would get away. So the Redheads and friends reached a little deeper in their pockets. But with one minute to go, they were still 1,000 short. Last-minutes amounts came in from tens of Lindens to a few hundred came in, and at the last second the human kiosk won.


And It's HUMAN! Well, looks like the Sunweavers will be having a human Chieftess for a while. The results are in, 36903 vs 37909. It's Human by a nose. A final total of 74812, which is 76 days as human for Rita. Let's hope she has plenty of sunscreen for those days at the beach. Thanks again for your willingness to take one for the team Rita, or in this case take seventy-six, and Go Redheads!

And as promised, the Sunweaver leader went from bunnygirl to human lady. Like the first event, it was an ethnic look. This time it was East Indian, with a silky gown. She was not exactly acting thrilled over it, despite a bunny whom tried to console her by dancing with her, “I was hoping to get friends to save my fur. Instead they bid me bald. ... 76 days, I think I will kill myself.” Other friends tried to reassure her as well, “Samara knows the best places to shop.” “Thank you to everyone who came over to make this a huge success. Its always scary to put yourself on the block!” “After this, we may end up with lower stakes, such as ‘ Bid me Mousey.’ “(How about) bid me barefoot?” “Heh, I'm already barefoot. (grin)”

The total in US dollars raised was impressive as well, Team Captain Sabine McGettigan announcing, of the total raised this year, “$2199 is what we have raised so far! That's REAL MONEY! Can you believe it? It’s like ... a CAR!” Daaneth Kivioq soon had an announcement of his own, “Actually - its 2500 USD now by the website.” It was also announced that since the founding of the Passionate Redheads team, they had raised a total of $30,500 US dollars.

Already the team was looking forward to further events. Lomgren Smalls announced his new RFL microkitty would soon be available for purchase, in male and female versions. And of course in Sabine’s words, “Less than three weeks to Relay!” The Walk would be soon.

For those of you wishing to meet Rita Mariner to give her a few words of thanks, she frequently appears at Club Cutlass on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 6 to 8 PM.

Bixyl Shuftan

Trek Sim Holds RFL “Jail and Bail”

While the Passionate Redheads were doing their “Bid Me Human,” a Trek group was doing their own Relay for Life fundraiser, a “Jail and Bail” by the UFS in the Starfleet Sector 002 sim.


Commander Kermie Mistwallow is in the brig for the 2nd of 3 days on charges of aiding and abetting a known fundraising effort! As part of his punishment for his crime, he may have to shave his head - but only you will be able to decide that through your donations!

This jail and bail ends tomorrow, Sunday, May 22. At the end of that time, Commander Mistwallow will be freed and the punishment extracted upon his hair that you have determined! He's already going to go bald for a week. Will it be longer?


Deciding to take a look, I beamed over, and the two cells I saw were empty, with what looked like a cardboard cutout and a mannequin in their places. Also, the walls were missing, so I thought my computer was being slow and taking forever to rezz. One of the crewwomen, Zania Turner, was there. When I pointed out what I couldn’t see, she clicked on something, and the wall plus a number of details appeared, “We use a lot of rezzers to save on prims.”

I talked to Zania a little about the event, “Our jailbirds have left holograms up, as they are currently sleeping ... If we can get L$100,000 in donations, these guys will go bald, along with most of our Engineers.” As of late Saturday afternoon, they had raised 37,000 Lindens, “He'll be freed after 3 days, and the punishment will be extracted on his hair dependent on what people donated. And the CO of an outpost, and most Engineers, will also follow suit and honor that same hair punishment.”

Of how the idea came about, “I've heard of other jail and bail events that were pretty successful. We were trying to consider what we could do for our fundraisers for this year. When I saw something on TV for the St. Baldrick's Society, I figured that was the perfect ‘ marriage ‘ for an event. St. Baldrick's is a group where the members shave their heads and go bald to stand in solidarity with kids that have cancer. My brother had cancer as a kid, so this was something that kind of hit home in a sense.”

Zania expressed doubts that they could do another fundraiser like this anytime soon, “This is really the last fundraiser we can have as the group that we're in is in dire financial trouble. If we don't raise money for our group, we're going to lose a region. That's why we need to make this one for Relay For Life big. ... We just aren't getting the condo rentals that we need to support us having both regions. We may lose one, if not both, if we don't increase our donations or condo rentals very soon.”

Zania told me a little about the UFS, “We started out as one region, and actually were part of another group until differences in leadership resulted in a split. Since that time, we have forged our own future within the Star Trek universe and acquired a second region. Our RP is based around the Delta Quadrant, where we have picked up the adventures following the return of Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant. As an organization, we are similar to SFI or The Federation (IFT) in that we provide memberships to those who are interested - for free - and they can experience Star Trek in any way they choose. We provide ships and stations for people to be stationed at, and even have a fully functioning Academy that provides almost 200 classes for cadets and members to take.”

At one point, we were joined by another of the group, Simmyish Resident. Zania explained, “Simmy here is in the process of changing, but he's one of our members. He's assigned as the Chief Security Officer for the Pathfinder Research Facility, which is where we're standing (in the Security deck).” They told of some of the fun they had with the jailbirds, “teasing in general, like putting tribbles in Kermie's cell (grins).” Simmyish mentioned, “I've kind of not being able to access the locks for them.” He also mentioned that crew members were showing Kermie samples of his favorite beverage and joyfully drinking it in front of him.

To get to the cells, beam over to Starfleet Sector 002 at (189, 102, 71). For those coming across this article a little late, the sim is a good place to visit for Star Trek fans.

Bixyl Shuftan

Last Call for Fun at the 2010 RFL Track

Just before the sims for the 2009 Relay for Life Walk were taken down, the teams held a “teardown party.” I never found out if it was planned, or came about spontaneously, but it was quite a sight, with everyone whooping it up, builders, team captains and officers, and bystanders such as a certain reporter.

I expected something similar this year. But it didn’t quite happen like last year. After the Walk was over, many of the officers in the Passionate Redheads group either dropped out of sight or were on little. As it turned out, the Redheads had to deal with a number of problems this year, many of the people getting sick, having to help family, or otherwise had to deal with real-life problems. Combined with the “Great Recession” as the current economy is sometimes labeled as having, the Redheads endured what one called “a perfect storm” of trouble that could easily stall a fundraiser in its tracks. And still, the team managed to raise thousands in US dollars.

Maybe the other big teams were having similar trouble. I didn’t hear of one big last party, though did notice a number of small gatherings on the map on Tuesday July 20th, the last day before the builds were to be torn down. Deciding to drop in on one, I found a gathering of people at a beach scene, with plastic pails and kiddie shovels, sand mounds one could bury themselves in to their necks, with a huge sand castle in the middle. It turned out that the DJ here was also broadcasting into the radio stream over the RFL track area. Redhead builder Shockwave Yarearch also dropped by, joining in the dancing for a while.

As the party went on, the DJ gave an announcement. One of the track sim managers had raised the water level by ten meters, flooding the place. A little later, he described people going over to party over there, and more and more of the people at the beach party headed over. I was among them, teleporting over to the sim, and indeed it was all wet, trees with water up to their leaves and buildings with water halfway up the walls. Unlike a real-life flood, no damage done here, though.

Someone began passing around ducky inner tubes. They really couldn’t keep you afloat without a swimmer AO, but fortunately I remembered I had one. More began appearing, a few others probably using some kind of AO to help them float. Others deployed umbrellas and floated around like Mary Poppins. Then a boat showed up, captained by someone looking like a pirate, and someone else in a tiny duck avatar on board. It was certainly weather for ducks at one point when rain began coming down. Rain is pretty rare in Second Life, and for some it was the first they had seen it.

People were having a great time, laughing and joking, and then came the fish puns, “Oh my cod!” “I did it for the halibut.” “I’m calling the carps.” People even talked about doing a water sim next Relay, selling mermaid/merman avatars and swimmer AOs for charity.

More recently, I did hear of a party the Redheads will be having to celebrate their success at the Relay, on Saturday August 14th at 10 AM. Enough time for those most involved to take a well-deserved rest.

But it’s that spur of the moment party at the flooded sim that to me represents the final bash of the 2010 Relay for Life track.

Bixyl Shuftan

More Scenes From The RFL Walk

Some more scenes from the Relay for Life Walk on July 17 & 18th.

The Passionate Redheads, at least those visible through the lag, going past the Roma camp. In ancient times, surgery to remove tumors was sometimes done, though without the benefit of painkillers.

A lady from Roma, dressed to kill, making her walk.

A dwarf and a human from a Fantasy RFL group.

One of the few feral avatars on the track, this little critter hopes to "ferret" some donations.

Sim down due to lag. Too many Redheads on the track?

One of the karjia (servants) from the "Goreans for Life."

Meeting with the lioness Kamiliah Hauptman, Vicerine of Caledon, at the Caledonian camp.

A child avie makes her way down the track.

Another feral running down the track, flag in hand, or rather jaw.

With the lag, sometimes it seemed like you were the only one on the track.

One advantage of the Relay on Second Life, the only TP you had to worry was there stood for "teleport."
A lady dressing up for the "Caring & Curing" hour on Sunday morning. "Helllllooooooooo nurse!"
A cancer survivor at the Redhead base, Sunday morning.

This picture was contributed by one of the Redheads, showing the display of fireworks at the close of the Relay for Life Walk.

Bixyl Shuftan

RFL: Scenes from The Walk

There were far more pictures taken of the Relay for Life Walk than could be fitted in the article on July 20. So here are a few.


A picture contributed by one of the Redheads, showing us cheering the walkers on.


Skylark had the only 'taur avatar that I noticed. Despite the lag, the back legs seemed to move okay.



A picture from Daaneth, showing him and Sabine on the Walk.


A screenshot of the map by Sabine, showing hundreds of avatars on the track.


A friend from the old newspaper, Glitter Xeltentat.

Bixyl Shuftan