Second Life Blogger Network | BBB Halloween News Flash | Place names in Bellisseria | New Stamp Locations

SECOND LIFE BLOGGER NETWORK

You may have noticed from the badge in our sidebar that The BBB Gazette has joined the Second Life Blogger Network (SLBN).

 

Clicking on the badge will take you to the SLBN page at the Second Life Community website, where you can see all the currently-featured items.

 

SLBN is a curated showcase of posts from Second Life bloggers and vloggers. Teresa Firelight's recent article about the ongoing Bellisseria Trick or Treat event was the first of our posts to be featured. Congratulations Teresa! We hope there will be many more.

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BBB HALLOWEEN NEWS FLASH

The Bellisseria Bureau of Bureaucracy's head office will be open for Halloween. Our normal bureaucratic tendency is to close for all holidays, but the Powers That Be have overruled us on this occasion. Our doors will remain open in the Spirit of Halloween. In fact, we will welcome you with open arms.

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We will provide all the usual services, such as our passport and driver's licence applications, travel advice, and – of course – our machine where you can get your passport stamped. If you are into Trick-Or-Treating, we also offer a candy bucket for those participating in It's the Great Trick Or Treat Event Bellisseria.

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In addition, we will offer some special Halloween amenities. These will include the opportunity to interact with foreign guests coming all the way from beyond the grave. We also invite you to sit a spell on our back deck and relax. Just don't stay too long, as two of our previous guests did.

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Once again, we remind you that Bellisseria Bureau of Bureaucracy will be open for Halloween and invite you to visit.

Article and photographs by Teresa Firelight

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PLACE NAMES IN BELLISSERIA

Reader Bamboo Druth wrote to the editor to ask about place names in Bellisseria; sending in a map showing the route of a recent voyage and asking

I just sailed around the navigable parts of the coast of Bellisseria. About three fourths of the coast now has navigable water outside it, and I'm guessing the rest will soon. Do the different 'islands' of Bellisseria have names? 

Every SL mainland continent has a name; Sansara, Satori, Corsica etc., but usually the only official names within a continent are those for each of its Regions (in the SL sense of that word). Judging by the wacky names borne by some of Bellisseria's regions, the creativity of the Moles and Lindens is quite sufficiently tested in coming up with those! 

 

Parts of Bellisseria have unofficial nicknames. Some think the first part of the continent to be released resembles a dragon. Its head looks down on an island known as The Pickle (because it looks like one). The sandy atoll in front of the dragon’s head is known as The Squishy Pickle. As there's a bar of that name near its centre, that’s at least semi-official.

 

Smaller islands with lighthouses and boat Rez Zones are usually known by the names of the region they’re in (eg Norse Auk). Springhurst Gulf Island is also known as Hermit Crab Island or just  Crabby Island – for reasons obvious to the most casual of visitors. Coral Waters Island (with its pier, airstrip and helicopter pad) was initially announced by Abnor Mole as Dogbone Island Municipal Airstrip.   The Bellisseria Fairgrounds (with their own stamp-issuing terminal – and often event stamp-issuing terminals too) are on an island that bears that name. A special example of a named locale is the SS Galaxy – moored in Bellisseria – which occupies three regions.

 

The main land masses of the continent don’t have names however. They’re mostly known by the types of housing they feature, so a resident might say I live in the Stilts/the Chalets/the Log Homes for example. The only locale that does have a name is the fantasy sub-continent – now informally (but universally) known as Fantasseria! 

 

The BBB has no official role in naming places. These are just names your editor has encountered in his time in Bellisseria. It is not a comprehensive or definitive list. If you know any other Bellisserian place names – or nicknames – please let us know in the comments!

 

Thank you, Bamboo, for asking the question that gave rise to this article.  

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NEW STAMP LOCATIONS

It's another bumper week for new visa stamp locations. We have five new places to get your passport stamped, including two new LDPW builds. The prices at Molemart really can't be beaten and as for underwater glass road tunnels, you'd need to go a long way to find another like the Deongseo Tunnel on Route 9.

 

The Whistle Stop Café is a cute little Coffee Bar in the beautiful camper areas of Bellisseria, near to an SLRR Rez Zone. Drinks, food and music are all free and if you don't want to Rez your train, there are horse and vehicle rezzers too. We also have a Biker Bar for you this week and a working farm for you to visit. Enjoy your exploring!

Molemart
Deongseo Tunnel
Whistle Stop Cafe
Friendship Farm
NorTon John's Biker Bar

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Trick or Treat Event | Five New Stamp Locations | STOP PRESS: Hammieween II

IT'S THE GREAT TRICK OR TREAT EVENT, BELLISSERIA

The Lindens are inviting all of Second Life®  to celebrate with a fun Pumpkin Hunt, taking place in Bellisseria from October 18th to November 1st. My guess is that it ends in the wee hours of the morning on November 1st, so I recommend that you play it safe and get your hunting done by end-of-day Oct 31. There is a forum article with more information.

There will be prizes (special Linden bears) for all participants and even more special bears for the top 100, top 35, and top 10 who find the most Trick or Treat Pumpkins. So, how do you get started? The first step is to go get the tools you need for the hunt. There are four locations you can get them at, but the one I personally recommend is Millbank

If you are a Bellisseria resident, I strongly encourage you get a candy pumpkin and put it out at your Linden Home. The more pumpkins that are out, the more fun the hunt becomes for everyone. Also, it means you are guaranteed to find at least one pumpkin that way.

As an aside, if you are a Bellisserian Passport holder, there is a Millbank stamp so  you may as well bring your passport and collect it. Not a Bellisserian Passport holder? Please consider stopping by the BBB Headquarters to apply for one!

Then, whether or not you are a Bellisserian, grab a Hunt HUD. You will need to wear it to record when you find a pumpkin. Just left click the sign and a HUD will be sent to you with ghostly efficiency.

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Now you are ready to hunt. The question is… “Where to begin?” I have two recommendations for you. If you have a Belliserria Home, you might want to begin with the pumpkin you put out in your own yard. Then search your own neighborhood in case any of your neighbors put one out.

My other suggestion is to start at the Bellisseria Bureau of Bureaucracy (BBB) Headquarters. (I know we are not supposed to tell you where the pumpkins are, but …. Sh-h-h-h…. There is one at our HQ.)

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Also I stopped by my favorite Belliseria art gallery (Reepicheep’s) to pick up a passport stamp, and I found a Candy Pumpkin there… oops.. I wasn’t supposed to tell you where they are located. Rats!

I found some other interesting things as I hunted. You know who Gingir is right? (She founded and runs the Bellisseria Citizens, which is a community chat group frequented by many Bellisseria residents, moles and Lindens. I found her house while hunting… and her pumpkin is guarded by a Pirate Skeleton. I am not going to tell you where her place is. (I couldn’t even if I wanted to, because I did not take a LM and I dont remember.)

I recommend that you do the hunt. You will see a lot of interesting things. Some of the homes have amazing Halloween decorations out. My personal favorite was a pumpkin guarded by a skeleton guard dog (pictured above).

Have fun and Happy Hunting!

Article and photos by Teresa Firelight

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NEW STAMP LOCATIONS

You can collect visa stamps for your passport in five new locations this week. There are two new Linden locations placed by our beloved Moles on LDPW land – Moley's Fruit Stand at the farmers' market on Route 11 in Corsica and Lastness Marina on the mainland continent of Gaeta I.

On our home continent of Bellisseria there's the Switching Post – a modified Linden home generously dedicated by its owner to be a public travel nexus for land, rail and water. Rezzing is available and, with its bar and lodgings, is a location for "mercantile role play". Also in our own dear Belli, at Float Alone, is the House of Midnight – an attractively-located stilt-home that is currently (like many Bellisserian homes) somewhat spookified. This is a special Halloween event stamp and will be available only until November 1st. 

Finally, at Bryggen – the gateway between Blake Sea and the Second Norway estate – there is a new restaurant, bar and events space called The Florence. 

All the details and SLURLs you need are below and all locations have – as always – also been added to the Online Travel Guide. Enjoy your exploring!

STOP PRESS: Now open until October 31st, it's Hammieween II at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds. 

Moley's Fruit Stand
Lastness Marina
The Switching Post
The Florence
House of Midnight
HAMMIEWEEN II

Patch, Derrick & Abnor at the BBB | Fenella leaves | Bellisseria Bus Tour | Beeb on the Mersey beat | New Stamp Locations

PATCH, DERRICK & ABNOR AT THE BBB

On Wednesday we had a meeting of the BBB staff. We were joined by Patch Linden, Derrick Linden and Abnor Mole who sat in on the routine reports to get up to date with our work and to learn, in particular, about a major new product in development by our talented scripting team. It's still confidential,  but good progress is being made and further announcements can be expected Soon®. In the meantime we were much encouraged by their enthusiasm.

We are also pleased to report a final sign off at the meeting on the long-awaited sub-offices to be built around Bellisseria. We showed the prototypes of these – and announced our plans to build them – at SL18B. Now, with this final approval, it should now be "not long" (defined as "sooner than Soon®!") before they appear in-world.

Lindens, Mole & Bureaucrats

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There was also approval in principle of other exciting new plans. More details will follow when the Lindens have worked out the details on their side. For now, let's just say you can expect more (and more permanent) BBB offices and embassies around Second Life®.

In the meantime, applications both for new passports and new visa terminals continue to grow healthily. BBBug is now among the biggest 'invitation only' groups in SL. A conservative estimate of the stamps issued by our visa terminals so far was given as 65,000. 212 different stamps have been issued so far for permanent locations and temporary special events. At the current rate, we expect to have issued 300 stamp designs by the time we celebrate our second anniversary in January 2022.

We are proud of the support our bureaucratic endeavours have earned from the Lindens and Moles. All of us at the BBB very much appreciate the help and encouragement they continue to give us. Patch ended the meeting by saying;

Thank you for all that you are doing!  The community loves it!   

Well, Patch, we love our community right back. As our colleague Teresa Firelight recently put it;

I do this because I love Bellisseria and want to "give back" to it

That (with the possible exception of Mr Beeb) is how all we BBB bureaucrats feel. Vivat Bellisseria! 

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FENELLA LEAVES

Fenella Allen – the founding editor of the BBB Gazette – has left Second Life®. Lord Junibalya, who prefers to be known just as "Dave", has taken over as editor as from this issue. 

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BELLISSERIA BUS TOUR

I decided to go on the Bellisseria bus tour today. The driver and tour guide was Yukiko Yeshto. We started at Red Hook and collected a stamp there before we boarded the bus.

There were a lot of fun people on this tour… nine of us total including our driver. I was impressed that the bus could hold so many and cross so many regions with so few problems. We did lose one passenger at a region crossing, but stopped shortly after and got him back.

We drove through a scenic Victorian area and had a lot of fun as the bus huffed and puffed to get to the top of each of the arched bridges.

Our first stop was Feline Fellowship. We collected their stamp, then continued on our way. Yukiko also gave us some really good information about trains in Bellisseria.

To the Bellisseria Commissary

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Then we came to Bellisseria Commissary - an SL Public Land Preserve, where we collected another stamp. After that we made it to Tea&Brooks – a cute cafe and it also has a stamp machine, so we collected yet another.

SL was behaving well for us until we got to Lockwood.. where the bus wheels locked and we swerved off the road. Yukiko, our cool-headed bus driver was able to back us out, make quick repairs, and get us going again.

Next we made it to the Bellisseria Gaming Club and collected another stamp. One of us noticed the place has greedy tables, and we almost lost that passenger at that point.. Fortunately, they decided to pass on the greedy game and continue on the tour.

To Bellisseria Aeronauts

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We continued to the final destination: Bellisseria Aeronauts headquarters. There we collected our final stamp, as well as some free boats and hot air balloons. We thanked Yukiko and went about our days.

I really do recommend this tour.. it was a lot of fun as well as a great chance to socialise with fellow Bellisserians.

Article and photographs by Teresa Firelight

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POSTCARD FROM THE BEEBS

They're on the move. This week they're in Liverpool, home of the Fab Four. 

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NEW STAMP LOCATIONS

There are four new locations this week. Two of them are on public land belonging to the LDPW. Our beloved Moles have placed a stamp terminal at their own home – the Meauxle Bureaux. You'd expect it to be one of the cutest builds in SL and you'd be right. As the Winter Sports season begins, they've also placed a terminal at Chalet Linden – "a cozy snow lodge" where you can "Warm your toes by the fire in good company or brave the cold and climb up the nearby slopes to go skiing."

There is a limited edition event stamp available at the latest pop-up art gallery by ART UNBOUND. ReConstruct is an exhibition in a ruined building in Tempelhof in the Ceiram Region where you clamber over rubble to see the art. It opens on October 17th and will run until November 7th.

Finally this week, there is a new café called the Damocles Diner in the Spini region where you can enjoy informal roadside dining. 

Meauxle Bureaux
Chalet Linden
RECONSTRUCT-An Art Unbound Pop-Up Gallery
Damocles Diner

 

Sci-Fi Expo special stamp | I got a passport stamp machine | BBB Facebook group | A postcard from Mr Beeb | Seven new Locations

EARLY PUBLICATION FOR SCI-FI EXPO 2021

The Gazette is normally published at one minute past midnight SLT on Saturday, but this week we are publishing one day early to coincide with the opening of SL's Sci-Fi Expo 2021, which is offering a special, limited edition event stamp for your Bellisseria Passport. Full details are below in the New Locations section.

It's a huge science fiction event to benefit Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and The American Cancer Society. It runs from October 8th to 17th and features 70 Exhibitors, 60 hours of entertainment, an interactive quest and more! As a sci-fi fan (an SL Time Lord) and as someone who lost a beloved life-partner to breast cancer,  your editor hopes you will not just collect your passport stamp. Please also enjoy the event and make a donation here and there to an important cause. 

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I GOT A PASSPORT STAMP MACHINE

I just went through the experience so am here to tell you how to become a passport stamp...er I mean .. how to become a passport stamp location. It really is easier than I thought it would be.

Step One: Have an interesting place for people to come visit. In my case, I have too many Bellisseria Fantasy Homes.. Two of them. I only need one to live in but I like the other too much to give it up. So I decided to turn it into an art gallery and garden and had a LOT of fun doing it.

Step Two: Fill out an application.

Before I could fill it out, I had to go get it. So I TP'ed to the BBB office  and found the sign on the wall that said “PASSPORT STAMP LOCATION.” I left-clicked it to get the application form notecard.

The form was simple, but required me to make a couple of decisions. I am one of those people who takes twenty minutes at Baskin Robbins to decide what ice cream flavour I want. So it took a while to decide on the colour and shape of my stamp. The shape options were “Square, Round, Rectangular, Triangular, Etc.” I decided on Etc. Let them decide! That probably wasn't the answer they were looking for, but they were nice about it. As for colour, after changing my mind about seven times, I decided on purple. As for the design itself, they do that for you based on any suggestions you make, unless (like me) you have one of your own you'd like to use. 

Step Three: Turn in the completed application form. I had two choices; either to drop it in the post box under the application sign or to IM Dark Sunflower (her calling card is inside the form). I chose the latter and had a very pleasant chat with her.

Step Four: When the stamp machine arrives a few days later, rez it out at your location. That would have been really simple, except once again... there was a choice. They provided me with two stamp machines.. one black and one white. I finally decided on the white.

Step Five: Make sure your parcel is set up for guests. That means the land setting allows visitors and doesnt have a security orb to chase them away. Also make sure that scripting is turned on for “everyone”, so the machine can apply the stamp.

That is all there was to it. If you are not decision challenged, like me, the process is easier than eating your favourite flavour of pie.

Article & Photo by Teresa Firelight

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BBB FACEBOOK GROUP

The BBB now has its own group on Facebook.

Please follow this link to view. We hope you will join it too. 

It is yet another place (along with our Flickr Group) to share photos of your travels with your Bellisseria Passport.

We hope you will also use it to keep in touch with your loyal civil servants here at the BBB and to chat with your fellow-members of the BBB user group.

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A POSTCARD FROM MR BEEB

In case any of you are missing him (and to reassure the rest of us that he's far far away) here's a postcard we received from Chief Passport Inspector Beeb on his extended vacation. 

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NEW LOCATIONS

This week we have a bumper crop of seven new locations. A limited edition stamp is on offer for the duration of this years SL Sci-Fi Expo. There are also two more sites on Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) land this week, placed by our beloved Moles. There's yet another new railway station on the SLRR and a new art gallery in Fantasseria, Finally, in the Other category, we have two memorials to fallen Americans and Native Americans of the United States armed forces. All gave some. Some gave all. 

2021 SciFi Expo
USS Reprisal
Dead Mole's Curve
SLRR Obscure Station and Rest Stop
Reepicheep's Art Gallery And Fantasy Garden
THE WALL
Feathers of Warriors

Poster Competition | New Stamp Locations

POSTER COMPETITION

Our proposed sub-offices on Linden Department of Public Works land have been eagerly anticipated since the prototypes were displayed on our stand at SL18B. The designs have now been been completed. They are being tested at secret locations in-world. The plan is for our beloved Moles to place them on public land. The date of placement has yet to be confirmed. 

Fenella in front of one of the prototype sub-office designs at SL18B

Now it's time for you, our readers, to play your part. Every BBB office and Embassy will shortly have space for one new promotional poster. In a competition sponsored by the BBB Gazette we are inviting all residents of Second Life® to design and submit a poster for that space.

All entrants submitting posters that comply with the rules will (if holders of a Bellisseria Passport) receive a unique passport stamp as a reward.

There is no other way to obtain that stamp.

Entrants who don't currently hold a Bellisseria Passport can receive their stamp if they obtain one within 1 month of entering the competition. All they have to do is mention their entry to the competition in their application form. Their new passport, if approved, will then be issued with the stamp already included. 

The 10 best posters will be featured in the frames in BBB official locations (including any future sub-offices). Here are the rules: 

• The poster must promote either Bellisseria and/or the Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy.
• By submitting the file, the entrant represents to the BBB that s/he owns all relevant rights to the image.
• The image file must be square in format and measure at least 1024 x 1024.
• The image file must be no larger than 2048 x 2048 (the maximum size for an uploaded texture to SL).
• Each resident may submit one poster only.
• The content must comply with Linden Labs' Terms of Service as in force on the date of submission.
• The content must be suitable for display in a region with a maturity rating of General.
• The entry must be submitted to Gazette Editor Fenella Allen ("the Editor") either in the form of a full perm texture inside a notecard or as an enclosure to an email to [email protected].
• The name of the notecard or the subject line of the email to the Editor should be the contestant's legacy name.
• Submission of the entry grants the BBB the right to use the image for display in Second Life® and in the BBB Gazette for official purposes. All other rights in the image remain with the entrant.
• The entry should either feature the entrant's signature or our design team will add the entrant's name to a winning entry.
• The competition opens today and closes at midnight SLT on October 23rd. 

The contest will be judged by the BBB staff, chaired by Sun – our Director of Design & Distribution. Sun's decision will be final. Get those creative juices flowing! We look forward to seeing your efforts. 

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NEW STAMP LOCATIONS

We have a bumper crop of new locations where you can collect stamps for your Bellisseria Passport this week. They include two terminals placed by our beloved Moles on LDPW public land; at Half Hitch on the Blake Sea and at the ANWR Prim Rig Platform – where all the prims for Second Life® construction are extracted.

There are also new locations in Bellisseria itself; a new Book Club, a Gaming Club and a free café.

There's a new stamp to be had at an old location: Bear Castle, where an amazing collection of Linden Bears is housed. 

Collecting the historic first Blake Sea stamp other than by boat, seaplane or helicopter seems like cheating to your editor; an enthusiastic frequent sailor and aviator there. However the BBB makes no official judgments in these matters so teleporting is permitted, if not condoned. Whether you teleport, drive, ride a horse, fly, hike, sail or bike – all of us at the BBB wish you safe travels. Take care of those passports and enjoy visiting the new locations! 

Bellisserian Book Club
Bellisseria Gaming Club
Bear Castle [STAMP CHANGE]
Bellisseria YinYang free cafe
Half Hitch
ANWR Prim Rig Platform