Thursday, November 27, 2014

Winter, Water, and SafarAI

What's it like, going on safari? Well, imagine trying to order off a high-class menu while riding on a train travelling through a hurricane. And your clothes keep falling off. In quicksand.
Four excellent destinations, which produced as usual a sort of 'if it's Tuesday, this must be Brussels' sensation. These are all places worth visiting again (and again!) by yourself or even better, with a friend.
Mattie Mcbride's festive forest, on Paradise Island, Metropolis
First Metropolis, to Mattie Mcbride's Paradise Island, and second to Tangle grid for the Expo. Similar theme, very different scales, from Mattie's exquisite winter market, full of baubles and tinsel, to the three sim extravaganza on Tangle. 
The vast expanse of Tangle Expo
 We had some stunning looking visitors this week at the clubhouse, it seemed like a good idea to take their photo up front before the chaos began. 
Dharma and Mady Galaxy rocking the antlers
When you get to the clubhouse, you can click on the dispenser to get the landmarks. They're in a giant gold prim marked 'Landmarks'. They will look something like this in your Inventory. If you arrive from a different grid, they will appear in the landmarks folder inside My Suitcase. 

You get the landmarks twice, they are both loose inside the folder, and embedded in the Notecard - hit 'Get Items' to remove the LMs from the Notecard. Once you move off the grid, chances are the Notecard will no longer load, especially if you close it. Leaving the LMs open but minimized is also a good idea. Another strategy is to copy/paste the information on the notecard into a program outside your viewer, like Notepad, so you can access the grid or region names and URIs (HG Addresses) of our destinations. If you open a IM with me or Wizard, Fuschia or Wizardoz, we can keep track of you and make sure you don't get lost, too. It is worth taking a moment to do all this before the Safari gets started.
Mattie's Tudor Townhouses
Matti Mcbride's sim is a treasurehouse of free, high quality items, her textures in particular are just beautiful, and she has a lot of imaginative accessories and home items. Metropolis was not, however, cooperating, and many either couldn't get on to Paradise Island, or couldn't see a thing. The grid is getting slower and slower for many of us. My Metro inventory never fully loads any more, and attachments remain stuck on after dozens of efforts to remove them, or else they all fall off when I tp, despite the 'My Suitcase' strategy. And that's if a Teleport Request works, which is a rarer and rarer occurrence these days, even when you're alone. No wonder, after the huge amount of newcomers (including Safari) who have descended on Metropolis' Asset Server. This is the principal reason Safari now officially meets not in Metropolis but on Francogrid, on the appropriately named hgsafari sim, although we still leave landmarks to the various destinations in the dispenser on Metropolis.
Jessica Pixel and Art Blue arrive at the Winterfest on TanGle grid.
With Metro uncooperative, many found themselves on *Startregion* in Metropolis, or back at the Francogrid clubhouse. When a tp fails, you can pretty much guarantee your attachments will go with it. If you have the time and energy, the best way to sort that out is to go to your home grid, One day, soon, Safari will be a lot easier. And then we'll probably stop, because we only do it for the challenge. As many as we were able to contact were encouraged to skip Paradise island and move on to TanGLe.
Fully dressed on Tangle grid. It can't last.


You follow the big flashing arrows to go down to the actual Expo, which is huge, and has multiple Santas, outfits, freebies, and a disco grotto, not to mention the funfair, the skiing, the freebies, and various rides.
Santa visits Tangle
About 15 of us got to TanGLe, some stayed behind and hung out with Mattie on Paradise island, some headed over to our next stop, 3dcolab grid, some fell off OpenSim altogether. It was that kind of a night. Eventually, about 25 of us got over to the Titanic. Those who didn't read the multiple messages about turning off their Basic Shaders in Preferences>Graphics probably didn't see much, but this is the Ballroom on the Titanic. Hey no fair! Pathfinder's hat made it! 


Turns out, my dress was visible only on my viewer. Yes, yes it was in My Suitcase. Verdict: when hypergridding, mesh clothes are more trouble than they are worth. Except for entertainment value, of course. The people over at TanGLe grid are going to expand their Corran Journal to make it an all-OpenSim Tabloid, I can't help wondering how many hilarious/humiliating photos of us on Safari they are going to receive each week. Here instead is a respectable pic by Safari newbie Scottius Polke, who was having a whale of a time with Karima Hoisan and Wizard Gynoid.
Scott's photo. That's quite a mustache, sir.

 Truelie Telling sang and played for us, it was great, I've missed her regular concerts at the Maritime Club on OSGrid, but you can find her playing in different parts of the metaverse, including 3rd Rock Grid. She has some great original songs, many inspired by her experiences in Second Life and in gridjumping - one lists the 'interesting' stuff that can happen to you, including your hair ending up on your butt. that would have been an improvement, for me. Karima took a bunch of candid shots which are on the Safari's Facebook page. How is it when Fuschia's attachments go walkabout she still looks elegant?
Sigh.  
The sim on 3dcolab that houses the Titanic is called Belfast, because the ship was built in that city, and it's a wonderfully atmospheric build, and they have provided music, dances, even NPC dance partners if you want them, so do go and visit. There were 25 of us. and not a whisper of lag. Go 3dcolab!!
'Alabaster Thirza'. The least embarrassing of a barrage of photos, thanks to all who passed them to me.

Last stop but by no means least was OpenVue. The 'Vue' is University of Edinburgh, and boasts a number of scientific and engineering builds of great interest and quality. 
Arriving at OpenVue
Professor Austin Tate was on hand to meet us. He thoughtfully had put up a tp trail so we could all find out way to see the various parts of the impressive, highly detailed oil rig, (make sure you have sounds on to get the full impact of what it means to be on a RL rig!) complete with underwater equipment, diving suits and mini sub... something surreal about Jessica Pixel's rings of light wearing diving tanks...


  and the space build which recalls famous satellites, like Voyager. But don't overlook the i-room, which explains the work done on this grid. It's right in the Welcome area.

At the Voyager monument, Fuschia admires Professor Tate's authentic NASA spacesuit.
Ai Austin: Hi and welcome to the AiLand grid. Here is a bit of information in case its useful. The arrival region is “OpenVCE” – the Open Virtual Collaboration Environment. It includes a range of facilities for collaboration, teamwork and educational purposes. It includes a large amphitheatre, an expo pavilion, and many project and meeting spaces tucked away here and there. It also houses an “I-Room” – a virtual space for intelligent interaction. This supports collaborative teams in real or training events for example in an operations centre. This relates to my own research in using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for teamwork, collaboration and activity support, especially in emergency response.
Miso Susanowa: ah, I did something with Edinborough in SL awhile ago, couple years?
Ai Austin: What was that Miso?
Miso Susanowa: a study but of what I can't remember :(
Stickladies can breathe underwater
Fuschia Nightfire: i could do with some artificial intelligence
Ai Austin: We have been in SL since about 2006, in Opensim since 2007 More details, an introductory video about I-Room technology, and more information links are available in the blog post at http://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2014/11/22/hypergrid-safari-visit-to-openvue-and-ailand/. That can be used if you want more info afterwards folk.
Neo.Cortex: btw... graphics back to normal, so we can see all the beauty here
James.AtLLOUD: Oh, good reminder Neo. TY
Ai Austin: This region is available as an OAR licenced LGPL - so very open. It was built for us by Clever Zebra and our team, it is a strater region available on Kitely and New World Grid too. Tippodean also converted it to Collada and so its in Unity too now.
Neo.Cortex: openVCE has been in use all over the hypergrid for quite a while, thank you!

Lucy Afarensis: One of studios is made from one.
Pathfinder.Lester: nice
Ai Austin: Great. Thats what we hoped, it's got lots of collaboration areas. After arriving on OpenVCE, the suggested locations to see something interesting on the grid are:
 * Oil Rig – a complex mesh build used for training oil rig workers by the oil & gas Centre at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in Aberdeen

* Space City – a region with content related to Gerry Anderson’s Fireball XL5 SciFi puppet TV show from the 1960s. It also contains a Voyager Spacecraft memorial (our AI planning technology was used by NASA JPL as a basis for their first SAI planner and for planning the Voyager Neptune flyby) and other spacecraft such as Deep Space One (which was controlled autonomously by an AI planner for a period in its mission).

Wizard Gynoid: oo Fireball XL5!
Miso Susanowa: wow nice
Ai.Austin: Yes... and Stingray and Supercar regions are here too
Art Blue: space city I go: anything can happen in the next xx minutes Troy Tempest said

Pathfinder Lester: heh

James.AtLLOUD: Yeah Fireball.


Yeah Fireball is right. This grid is worth visiting and revisiting, there is no way a Safari visit can give you more than a flavor of the excellence on display here, so we will be going back. If only to get more photos like this one.
Fuschia Swimfire
To visit these destinations: Log on to a hypergrid enabled grid. Copy the address aka URI into the Search box on your Map. Hit Search. When the map finds the location, Teleport there.
URIs: 
Mattie's sim and winter fair:    hypergrid.org:8002:Paradise1
TanGLe Expo Winterfest:         tanglegrid.net:8032
Titanic build:                          3dcolab.com:9015:belfast
University of Edinburgh grid:    ai.vue.ed.ac.uk:8002

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Paying Thanks

Thanks to everyone who came to see my knickers this week on Paradise sim in Nara's Nook. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and this is a mediation on why none of the things I make are for sale. Anywhere.
OpenSim  freebies have a reputation (fostered by people who want YOU to pay for THEIR Content) for not being very good. When someone says to me, as they did this week, "Oh yes, I put out some crap - I mean basic items - as freebies", that makes me sad.  My content is free because I want to crush that 'free=Crap' nonsense out of existence. There are a growing army of creators providing amazing avatars, houses, mesh items, and so on without charging anything.  I want to be a part of that. In the olden days in SL, it was a village where people shared and worked together. There are still many pockets of generosity in SL, but in many ways it has sunk into the same grasping, money-oriented economy you can find in the real world. Let's not permit OpenSim to fall into that trap.

The outfit modeled in this photo is 'Maura' a lingerie set I made the other day. It took about 8 or 9 hours to create in Photoshop; in that picture, you're looking at about a week's work/entertainment. Just because someone charges you money for something doesn't make it better than a free item, or that more effort went into making it - that is the real-world bs. In fact the price of free things may be higher. 
It seems immensely presumptuous when someone takes freebies but expects others to pay for their creations. The excuse is often "Oh, but I sell my things to cover my costs." Wait a minute. The rest of us are not set for life. We all have expenses, whether it's sim rent or the phone bill. Virtual reality is not essential to living, it's entertainment. Using that excuse for charging for your creations while taking freebies from others is as cheesy as asking your fellow film-goers to pay for your ticket at the cinema. 
Angelic Aaack Aardvark
Here are some of my Free Heroes. Which one could you emulate?
People like Aaack Ardvark who spend hours tutoring in Blender, or Fuschia Nightfire who makes fantastic videos and installations, or Taarna Welles whose shoes on La Baronnie are to die for, or Mattie Mcbride, with her lovely houses and wearables, or script guru Ferd Fredrix with his online Library and endless patience, polymath Oddball Otoole's tutorials on all aspects of building, or Mata Hari's dance systems. Galleristas like Art Blue and Roxelo Babenco. Singers like Truelie Telling and Wolem Wobbit, and storytellers like Caledonia Skytower and Shandon Loring. Think of Lani Global and all the builders who exhibit on her sims including Pete Camino, Cuteulala Artis and Tina Bey. What about the mesh clothes you can download from Damein Fate's site, or the skins of Eloh Eliot? Think of Zia Frimon, Sarah Klein, Tosha Tyran, Cornflakes Woodcock, Wordfromthe Wise, Hylee Bekkers, Garry Beaumont, Cherry Manga, and Avia Bonne. Educators like Michelle Techland and Aime Socrates. Travel writers like Paul Merken and Virtual Christine who let us know what's out there to visit with no thought of profit, and Portal keepers like Shaun Emerald and Spike Sol who provide us with the means of getting around the hyperverse with ease. Then there are all the people who built your viewer. and of course, think of the Queens of Free, Arcadia Asylum and Linda Kellie. For every name mentioned in this post, I could substitute a dozen others, and you can probably think of fifty more.
 HG Safari in Francogrid
What about the land donors all over OpenSim who will pay the server and electricity bills for you if you have an interesting project - Safari thanks Bob Wellman of PMGrid, Nara Malone and the people at Zetamex, and Francogrid's  Nino Whitman who have all donated sims to HG Safari - (and a grateful shout-out to Pathfinder Lester and the good people of Osgrid who have let us have parcels there too!) but these are just a handful of the people out there who are willing to give creators, and indeed Residents of any sort, a place to call their own, without charge.
Spike Sol visits the lingerie store on Nara's Nook
This is not to slag off capitalism. I have a little graphics job in SL that pays for - well, to be honest the money just sits there, because making stuff is way more interesting than buying it. The beauty of open sim up until now has been that everyone was a maker. Obviously, as newcomers arrive from the Old Life, we're going to see an influx of consumer minded people, but wouldn't it be great if they came in with the idea of giving more than just cash? The lack of a money system is for me one of the great strengths of OpenSim. Don't think I'm right? Take a minute to imagine how much worse the OSGrid fiasco would be if they had had Linden-dollar type currency. And when everything is free, there is much less temptation to rip off someone else's creations.  
No money is just another way to escape the pedestrian values of the real world. It distances us from exploitation, pushes us to learn more about how things work in the virtual environment, and to reach out and help others, which is soooo good for your karma. The connection of gratitude that I feel to the OpenSim Freebie creator is more real, valuable, and enduring than my connection to the SL dressmaker who gets my 300L. It's a feeling that is worth sharing. And to all who have made this happen for me, I give Thanks.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

A Tale of Two TPs

'Safari' means journey in Swahili, and the hypergrid safari is really two journeys in one. There's the sightseeing trip, of course, but there's also the 'I'm going to beat this 'Identity Not Verified' crap if it kills me' journey, and last night was perhaps our greatest ever triumph in that department. 
 German Grid is a hypergridding Shangri La. Dabici Straulino summed it up in an IM.
Dabici.Straulino: My curiosity is driven by the fact that I have never been able to visit German Grid and this what ever the multiple ways I tried.  I just checked using the LM to Folkcafe - same problem - unauthorized teleport.  and I tried with the second destination, Star trek - same message Any ideas why I experience this - and I am quite good with hyperjumps in general.
On one of our very first Safaris, when there were just four of us, we tried to tp Fuschia to German Grid for about fifteen minutes without success, so it's not an Atlantic problem. Too many people tp'ing all at once? It can't be that, since last night half the group got to the destination pretty much immediately, leaving Francogrid Thirza surrounded by disgruntled safaristas, who decided it was the red Star Trek jumpsuit causing the problems.
The Francogrid Clubhouse
Star Trek? Well, our second destination was Copper Tomsen's Gateway to the Stars, also on German Grid, so there are free Star Trek TNG jumpsuits at the Francogrid clubhouse. here is Roxy Gellar rocking a Science Officer Star Trek/Franco-avie mashup. That's Edy Rau sitting in front of her, goodness knows what he thought.

 It was a surreal experience to have one foot in the silent tp-frustration laden atmosphere of the Clubhouse, and the other at the thrilling joyous concert of  Wolem Wobbit in the iconic Folk Cafe. What kind of music? Well here's a flavor:


See what I mean? Fun stuff! You need to get over to Youtube and subscribe, huh?
The live set was being streamed on Radio Nettetal, and look! there's the Folk Cafe audience right up on their website.

Because there is nothing 'virtual' about listening to Mr. Wobbit and friends even if the inworld band has something of the NPC about them. Edy Rau was the perfect host and the venue is lovely, edy's not doing inworld concerts at present because he is working on his RL music - so watch this video and Like it on YouTube, please!

 The tp's and the music sort of absorbed us all, but German grid is a lovely destination in its own right, with a nice Plane Ride complete with NPC pilot, a cruise around the bay, not to mention a small Freebie area, and now 'even' Dabici has been to German Grid, I bet we will all be returning again and again. There's music at the Cafe every Wednesday from 20.30 CET.

These are just some of the 20 + who eventually made it from F-grid to G-grid without any trouble. The audience peaked at 34 avatars. Metro Thirza sent out tps to the folks left behind every few minutes, which must have been amazingly annoying. Some got them, some didn't, and after a while the real journey of safari began, as people started strategizing. It's unscientific, but it works, because in the end, barring latecomers, it appears we got everybody but Wizzy there even Dabici made it.  I really thought Miso Susanowa was never going to get there, but after a massive 25 or 30 offers of tp, she finally walked through the door.
Of course, we could just set up a gate at the Clubhouse and have people jump through it. But what would you learn from that?
Miso Makes an Entrance
Strategies include - going to get a drink and trying the tp again after waiting for a good 5 minutes. Going to another sim on the same grid - although Francogrid Thirza tried this on about 6 different sims and got 'Unable to verify' everywhere, until she went back to the clubhouse, tried again, and arrived instantly at destination. Karima Hoisan went back to Kitely, and that worked for her. Some found being tp'd by avatars helped, others found the Landmark worked better, still others used the 'Type it into the Map' system and got there. James ATLOUD went to Hyperica and jumped. Some tried going to the gates on Sanctuary and couldn't get into German Grid. The most bizarre has to be Art Blue who was clicking on the tp link in the IM window and was being redirected to a 404 web page. Fuschia got to the concert but her attachments didn't, which hasn't happened in weeks, but then she lost internet which kinda explains that. Wizzy just couldn't get there - was it the weather? The distance? The resilience of Safaristas is always heartening and amazing. The prize has to go to Wizardoz Chrome, who jumped to another sim on the grid, and then walked to Folk Cafe. It took about 40 minutes to get everyone there.
Second destination, also on German Grid, was Gateway to the Stars which is Copper Tomsen's colossal labor of love. He made everything and there's more than prims here. A whole cultural backstory beams out at you via the many posters, memorabilia and explanations that surround you on every side. There is way more than you could hope to take in during a single visit, including a Vulcan village and a nice bar on the space station. 
Wizzina and me studying the Vulcans
If you are looking for a RP home in the open sim Space tradition, this might be the place for you.
 They certainly have plenty of room.
 Very last stop, back on hgsafari sim, Francogrid. There's a dance platform on the north of the island, and there's a Questionnaire Notecard at the Clubhouse on the other side of the mountain, which I'd appreciate you taking the time to fill out.
Next week, don your waterproofs, and/or winter gear, we're heading to a Winter wonderland, and hopefully a concert on the Titanic. Hopefully. See you there.
Nara, Lucy and me strutting our stuff at Phew

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Attention Spike

There are some things that are really hard to get your mind around. One is the relative size of the planets in our solar system. Another is German. A third is Spike Sol's smexy girl avie, even more mind bending when you hear his voice.
Where were you listening to Spike Sol's voice? you ask. Right now. Hey he just said 'funf' and 'Yupiter' and 'gravitazion' and then right at the end, he said 'Spike Sol' only when he says it it's more like 'shpike zooool'. And suddenly, the reason behind that last name 'Sol' becomes obvious. Of course! You can hear him too, anytime you want to brush up on your cases and declension, and also learn something about Outer Space.   Go to  
Spike's blog and right click anywhere on the page to get it to translate into your own language, (ooo, 'Weiter' means More, didn't know that) and then click on the top item 'Why we pursue astronomy'. Or 'astronomie' - way cooler German spelling.
These are not ravings. Well, only partially. This is a wet Saturday morning in OpenSim. I was out scouting for places to visit and remembered Spike's recent FB posting about STOA. Turns out, it's this huge project about space and science. It is just getting going, and is on a Home 'ah, ah, argh, 5 avies is my upper limit' Server, so big Safari style-crowds can't quite fit in...yet. But we're working on some strategies for that. 
Because this is something everyone should be able to visit, and something we should all be encouraging him to develop, for, as you have probably realized, this ambitious project is just getting going. The first of many audio explanations is ready, and only a part of the space exhibits he has planned are open to the public. So watch - and listen - to this space!
Here's me and Spike inside the model of the solar system, the Sun flattened to make it easier to cam around, the planet Mercury, I think he said 4 times its proper size in relation to the others, because otherwise it would be invisible and Neptune spinning slightly faster than it ought to be in relation to the others because opensim doesn't have a rotation setting that slow. We are all packed onto that tiny blue dot on the top right of the picture.







Spike's grid is at soloton.selfhost.eu:8002 you can also get to it by going to Metropolis grid, looking for the sim Weltraumbahnhof (you may want to copy/paste that) and then looking for the Hypergate to STOA II. 
Or get there via his website,  http://spikesol.blogsite.org/ 

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Safari Spanks the Vortex

Bolle Zijde: I need to warn you, no spanking on my butt.
Yeah good luck with that Bolle. There are times when open sim is so unstable it drives you crazy, and then there are times when it is so efficient it's shocking. Have you noticed that quite often both things happen in the same five minutes?
Many new faces joined us this week on Safari. We started out in Francogrid on the new HG Safari base. The sim is called hgsafari so it's easy to find. This week the Lingerie shop on Nara's Nook sort of took all my time so there aren't as many poses and places to sit as there ought to be in the new clubhouse. By next week that should be fixed. 
Lingerie store on Nara's Nook
          Speaking of lingerie, the 'let's fix up your open sim avatar' service, Safari Confidential, got started this week with Betty Tureaud. The idea is that you help someone to go hypergrid shopping. Anyone can do it, it's your civic duty, kind of. Think about it. It is so frustrating when you've had a smart sophisticated avie in Second Life for years and years, and suddenly you're in Open Sim and are a cloud, or walking like a duck, and don't know how or where to go to sort yourself out. 
So, those of us with a little more experience can reach out by taking a friend shopping, hold their hand while they fix  their Ruth hair, and help them get the necessaries. 
If you don't know where to go, there are some appearance oriented Freebie LMs in a dispenser at the Clubhouses on sim hgsafari, Franco and Outlands, on Metropolis. And if someone helps you - Pay it Forward! help someone else!
Taarna Wells' shoes on La Baronnie (Metropolis)
The many weird and wonderful mesh avies on offer are lovely, but they aren't Betty's style, so we sought out some more orthodox attachments. We visited Taarna Wells' legendary shoe store on la Baronnie, and then jumped over to Craft to take a look at their many Free shops. Hydra, the arrival sim on Craft, is undergoing a massive overhaul and it is great, much easier to jump straight to the sim you want. 
The new look Hydra, on Craft grid
 SL has loads of consumer blogs. The Hyperzette is excellent for outlining destinations, and of course there are many fine OpenSim traveler's blogs, but we need someone who's a consumer, not a producer to step in and hunt down the hair, clothes and skins and let us know where the best stuff is.  
Odd's Playground, Metropolis
Speaking of stuff, Safari went to Oddball Otoole's region on Metro this week. Odd's Playground is a dark, mysterious cityscape with a guitar museum, a free spanker, and so much more. At first, it seemed like the group was frozen, but in reality they were camming and picking up all the ...odds and ends.
Han Held: Log in to metropolis they said! It'll be easier to teleport they said! :P~~~~~
Miso Susanowa: hlo Wizzy. Are you getting the same winds as Patti?
Nara Nook: I found a candy machine
Nara Nook: by a Christmas tree.
Miso Susanowa: hi Han
Art Blue: guitar?
Art Blue: where?
Thirza.Ember: OK I may have lied. It is hardly the first time, Han.
Wizard Gynoid: winds?
PatriciaAnne Daviau: at home wizzy
Wizard Gynoid: oh . it was 26 degrees F last night
PatriciaAnne Daviau: we had gusts up to 60 miles an hour
Wizard Gynoid: i don't have the winds
Wizard Gynoid: just the usually passing kind


Truelie Telling: I see Art found the script library
strannik.zipper: script library?
Equus.Staedler: Really weird... had no trouble what so ever an hour ago HG tp'ing all over
Miso Susanowa: It's the safari, Equus; we are load testers
Tina Bey shouts: freebies..!
Equus.Staedler: Must be... I am new here :)
Wizard Gynoid: oh my goodness there's a dead body under a rug over here
Isolde Caron: trying to get the spanker working lol
PatriciaAnne Daviau: wow I cam around and all sorts of peeps show up
Pathfinder.Lester: lots of nice freebies around here
Equus.Staedler: Hi Thirza, glad I made it here... at loooong last
Pathfinder.Lester: and everything's frozen here. I feel at home.

Fuschia models Odd's battery powered facelight
Pathfinder.Lester: i hear spanking
Isolde Caron: ah good, it works
Fuschia.Nightfire: i love Odd's facelight, it's very subtle, you hardly even notice it
Pathfinder.Lester: OMG
Betty Tureaud: ops
strannik.zipper: Fuschia, that is quite the personal facelight!
Fuschia.Nightfire: i think the facelight is the only thing that comes with battery included
Isolde Caron: cant figure out how to spank someone yet. I'll figure it out another time, then I'll spank everyone all the time
Pathfinder.Lester: for those of you who like scripts, there's a whole tutorial area here with tons of scripts available for free... really nice

Alle Zeb and me at the Vector's Vortex arrival point
 It was difficult to get people to leave this wonderful sim and everyone is sure to go back because we all missed something, there was so much to see. 
Next up, Karima Hoisan's Vector's Vortex on Kitely. It's a space journey, complete with poem and flying book. You really have to go yourself to experience the Vortex, or get a video of it maybe; the sounds, the movement - it's all an exquisite journey. After vortexing, dancing. Oddball's freebies were everywhere.
  There were 28 of us at one point, we maxed out the dance ball. Equus Staedler did a great job of taking snapshots and sharing them with the group

Cosmic Safari Kitty in Kitely! Photo by Equus Staedler
Karima.Hoisan: wow cosmic salsa dance
Alle Zeb: Incredible here
Karima.Hoisan: ohh great photo
Nara Nook: love the cat picture
Thirza Ember: what a lovely safari
Alle Zeb: Yes Thirza!
strannik zipper: hahaha

Let's draw a veil over my wardrobe malfunction.
Karima.Hoisan: Thank you all for coming
PatriciaAnne Daviau: it was soo fun!!
Nara Nook: Thank you Karima
Karima.Hoisan: I am so honored to have had you all here
Thirza.Ember: 28 avies, impressive Karima!
Miso Susanowa: ty Karima, thanks for having us!
Lucy.Afarensis: Really great Karima
Isolde Caron: yes ty
Fuschia.Nightfire: really love this experience Karima
Pathfinder.Lester: yes, ty Karima!
Nara Nook: such a lovely sim
Karima.Hoisan: My pleasure
Our final destination was PMGrid, where safari has a sim, currently full of excellent Fuschia Nightfire art. The piece de resistance is Ghost Castle, an avatar interactive installation. About 16 avatars arrived almost all together, and once again the voodoo of open sim kicked in. 

While some people could see everything, others - even using local avatars - saw only an approximation. Although the Art gallery textures all showed up fine. 
But that's safari for you. Every day is different!

This week's URIs:
Odd's Playground, by Oddball Otoole:  hypergrid.org:8002:ossd playground
Karima Hoisan's Vector's Vortex:  grid.kitely.com:8002:vectors vortex
Fuschia Nightfire's Ghost Castle and gallery: pmgrid.org:8002:san22