We continue the Meet the Team series by getting to know North Crannock better. North is the Head Scripter for the BBB, and has been crucial in many of our BBB projects.
1. How long have you been in SL?
This Avi only since March 2010, but my first avi which used to be my main avi has been here since mid 2009 Since moving to Belli this has become my main avi.
2. How long you lived in Belli?
Since day 2 of Belli opening when I got a houseboat over in Wobbegong, I would have been day 1 but I played game of homes and ran out of goes.
3. What is your favorite thing about Bellisseria?
It is very hard thing to pin down to a single favorite thing. There is so much to see and do all the time, including places I found in my first week and have not managed to find them again since. There are events happening every day somewhere in Belli – events are not just restricted to fairgrounds. There are many opportunities to join in with other people. There are also “still places” that I can go to and relax! There are so many hidden gems in Belli – from hedge mazes to look out rocks to fairies by the river. It would take you more time then you have to find them all.
4. What motivated you to join the BBB team?
I don't think I actually joined BBB. Instead, Boo came to me with an idea for passports and terminals, which needed some scripts. So I met with him. Then I wrote the very first versions of the passports – initially for 2 locations only. Since then Boo has kept me so busy that I've never had a chance to leave.
5. What are your BBB responsibilities?
I write down strange words in certain orders in scripts which somehow make BBB products work here. I am always looking to improve on our products. Also I help other team members who have ideas but don't know how to make them work.
6. What is the most fun thing you have ever done as a BBB staff member?
It has all been fun. The one product I like the most is the grid wide post office system. That was very satisfying when it was up and running. It became so popular in the first week that I had to redesign how it worked. Now it can store about 500 items at each location, and all locations are linked together, so when you check for mail, it checks all the locations and finds anything that was sent to you.
7. Tell us one thing about yourself that most people do not know.
I'm a very open person about myself. But one thing I think most people don't know is I learned my scripting by being heavy involved in major updates to OpenCollar Collars and cuffs. A lot of times, I ended up rebuilding the script from scratch.
8. Do you have anything else you would like to share?
The BBB is a fun group of people to be involved with. We are not elitist or anything, we welcome anyone to join us. If your not sure what you're good at we can find you a job. If you have ideas of new things the BBB can offer we would love to hear from you. Apart from the generous pay and holiday allowance, sometimes at staff meetings we get visits from Lindens and Moles.
(Of course, North is teasing here. The entire BBB staff, including our leader Boo, is comprised of volunteers. None of us are paid a single linden.)
Article and photograph by Teresa Firelight
MAPS FOR AVIATORS
The BBB's very own Robert Rhodan has been busy with his cartography project again. This week's new map is of airports. As Robert says;
If you are adventurous enough to fly by VFR* without VORs* / NDBs* instead of boring teleports between A and B, and you want to plan your flight legs, this map comes in handy for your personal challenges.
Of course, the map is available in-world too via the map dispenser in the BBB HQ at Swordfish This is the very first release so Robert will very much welcome your feedback, corrections and additions.
The map is a useful overview of all continents at a glance. For reference at higher resolution, we recommend the excellent Air Traffic Control Radar Map provided by Shergood Aviation. This provides all the details SL aviators need for flight navigation. Even if you're not an aviator we think you'll appreciate their detailed map of the Second Life® continents and their infrastructure.
* VFR - Visual Flight Rules. VOR - VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range. NDB - Non-directional Beacon
NEW LOCATIONS
Palmerston Station is an LDPW build by our beloved Moles, which we would have called the prettiest railway station in SL, had Shobu Train Station in Sakurasseria not appeared last week! Why not give them both a visit and decide for yourselves? There's no stamp at Shobu yet, but watch this space...
Speaking of pretty places, we have always liked the snowlands of Sansara and this week we have a new location there – Mellowtron Artisan Winter Village. Put on your warmest clothes and go check it out!
AMBASSADOR GOSSIP: CHECKED IN AND STAMPED IN HIRAYA
For Her Excllency, Hon. Ambassador Raynier, it was one those days in the office when you've a nagging feeling there's something you've forgotten.
I was sitting at my desk, a cup of coffee in my hand, and suddenly it hit me. I had forgotten to register with the Heterocera local authorities and get my visa.
She hurried to the train station, which fortunately is adjacent to the embassy. Shamefacedly, she admitted;
In my excitement, I even forgot to take a ticket from the vendor before boarding the train.
Line 3 took her from Tersa directly to the Hiraya train station. From there, she did not have to walk far. The passport stamp machine can be found near the exit to Hiraya Town station and soon the visa stamp was applied.
As a Bellisseria citizen officially residing in Heterecera, I was relieved
she admitted. But a big surprise soon followed. After a short chat with the lady behind the ticket counter, she found no visa is required in Heterocera!
All the excitement was for nothing!
After this bureaucratic farce, the ambassador decided to walk back to the embassy to relax and calm down. After studying the city map, she found a suitable route to Miyako and Hiroachi Hill in the south of the city.
If I hadn't had that mishap, I wouldn't have found the beautiful Yumi's Café. Ending a nice day full of first impressions in the city with a big piece of cake and a lemonade is certainly not the worst thing.
So the afternoon had a happy ending and Hon. Ambassador Raynier was also able to get acquainted with the café's owner.
I can only recommend everyone to visit and explore this beautiful, detailed city and, honestly, it doesn't have to involve a bureaucratic panic!
She smiled as the second piece of cream cake was placed on the table.
Article and Photographs by Dariah Raynier
MEET THE BBB TEAM: SUN
We continue our Meet the team series with Sun (Dark Sunflower). She is one of the longest serving team members and deputises for Boo (our Founder and CEO) when he is away on RL business..
1. How long have you been in SL?
My first Avi's rez-day is Sept. 17, 2006, well over 15 years.
2. How long you lived in Belli?
I've been hopping around from theme to theme since June 2019.
3. What is your favorite thing about Bellisseria?
The serene environments of Belli, they fill me with a sense of relaxation and peacefulness, feels like coming home.
4. What motivated you to join the BBB team?
I got my Bellisserian Passport on Feb. 3 2020. (In those early days the passport was just a texture.) I saw our founder, Boo, post a notice to find someone to help him make passports. I loved his idea and went for a job interview -- and he "hired" me. In the following weeks, we talked a lot about the passport. Boo mentioned, "What if we had a real passport where we could put stamps in....." And the rest is history :)
5. What are your BBB responsibilities?
I am the founder of our stamp design department, which I have now left in the capable hands of Robert and Amanda. This lets me spend more time on new product development / design and building BBB event exhibits. However, I still create stamps when demand is high and time permits.
As of late I'm combining this with covering for our CEO Boo, since he and his wife Fiona are on a well deserved hiatus.
6. What is the most fun thing you have ever done as a BBB staff member?
The funniest thing that I remember was when I was a race steward when we had the stamp tour collab with DoSL. I was posted at the mermaid caves, when all of the sudden the Belli Sea Monster showed up and tried to eat the people that were looking for the stamp terminal. It was hilarious.
7. Tell us one thing about yourself that most people do not know.
I was a very successful ABC-horse jockey in the past.
8. Do you have anything else you would like to share?
Yes! I would like to say that I'm proud of being a part of this awesome team of BBB volunteers!
Article and photo by Teresa Firelight
INAUGURATION CEREMONY/PARTY FOR NEW AMBASSADOR TO HETEROCERA
The official inauguration of Her Excellency Dariah Raynier will take place at the embassy in Heterocera on May 28, 2022. Yuriko Kimura, Mayor of Hiraya, will officially present the keys of her embassy to the new ambassador.
After the ceremony, the new ambassador and the Continental Passport Control Board invite you to join us for a party to celebrate the occasion. Mandy Dorfler, DJ at Harlow's Women Club, will spin music from the genres of Rock, Blues, Metal, Alternative, 60s, 70s, 80s and Romantic. We look forward to your company for two hours of fine entertainment.
The event will start with the official part at 12:00 noon SLT. The party will start at 12.15 pm SLT. The embassy in Tersa is easily accessible by public transport.
ROBERT'S REZ ZONE MAPS
Robert Rhodan's first maritime rez zone map (building on the splendid work of Jon Ree and Kittensusie Landar) was well-received. He's already updated it as well as adding a second to the series. Here they both are.
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
By popular demand, a dispenser at BBB HQ is now issuing these on demand so you can have your own copy in-world without having to pay an upload fee. As Robert adds more to the series they will also be added to the dispenser.
Map by Kittensusie Landar. Rez zone data collected by Jon Ree. Data mapped by Robert Rhodan.
NEW LOCATIONS
This week's new locations feature two clubs in the same region and a popup art gallery. Your editor must declare a personal interest in the last of these, a joint venture between his Limoncello Art Gallery (founded in 2007) and Cate Infinity's Infinite Productions. This is the fourth popup in a series taking art into places you'd never expect. The exhibition formally opens with a party on May 28th at 4pm SLT but the art (and the stamp terminal) are already in place for previews by our readers.
Club Hypnotic is part of Beach ClubHypnautical and features live DJs every Friday at 8PM -11PM SLT and every Saturday at 8PM-10PM. There are two stamp terminals here, one black, one white; issuing the same stamp design in the corresponding colours. The white stamp is for the beach club and the black one is for the dance club! There's one forced landing point near the white terminal. Head in the opposite direction and follow the boardwalk to find the black one!
This week, the BBB, CPCB, our embassies and the Vikings of Bjarkavik collaborate for a unique experience
Join us for a special tour today to collect stamps for your passports while experiencing the adventures of the Vikings as we sail the waters of Blake Sea and Nautilus on the hunt to plunder gold! There will also be two brand new passport stamps to collect along the route
Viking life means taking risks with a chance of a great reward. There is always a realistic chance to fall overboard! So we recommend detaching unnecessary attachments and scripts in order to avoid region crossing issues.
Everyone is welcome to join! Please remember to have your passports ready. All Bellisserians (residents of the modern Linden Homes continent) can apply for a Bellisserian passport. All the information you need is available at the BBB Headquarters. For other Second Life® residents, we offer passports for each of the other Mainland continents (and generic SL passports for everyone else) to be obtained at any of the embassies (see the list of SLURLs to the left).
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2022 Time: 1pm SLT Tour Length: approximately 2 hrs
Article and photograph by H.E. Yuki Yeshto, Hon. Ambassador to Sansara
BOAT REZ ZONES OF BELLISSERIA
On the subject of navigation, our own Robert Rhodan is mapping the boat rez zones of Bellisseria from Jon Ree's useful notecard list in-world onto Kittensusie Landar's world map. He's crafting a series of such maps and here's the first: featuring the rez zones of the older parts of Bellisseria plus Fantasseria. More will follow in future issues.
It's fun to make your way around Second Life® using realistic transport. While a teleport is a wonderful thing you will see nothing of the scenery, discover no new places and meet no new friends while your pixels are being transmitted. Boating may take longer but there's nothing like getting there under your own steam (or sail!) and these maps will help you find a good starting point.
It's a truly remarkable thing that Linden Lab designed realistic winds into Second Life® from the outset, making our metaverse a good sailing simulator. Many residents love to go out on the Blake Sea or cruise the Fruit Islands but the banline-free and beautifully landscaped waterways of Bellisseria are also open to all SL'ers and fun to explore. As Robert's maps make clear, they are well-supplied with rez zones to launch your craft. If you navigate from one rez zone to another, you can always resume your voyage when next you log in.
Bon voyage!
STOP PRESS: By suggestion of residents in response to this article, a Rez Zone Location Maps Giver is now deployed at the BBB HQ. Robert will update and supplement this with maps of more areas and continents in future, and add aircraft rez zones too. Just touch it and you will receive the maps inworld.
MEET THE TEAM: FIONA JOGICHES
This week we meet Fiona Jogiches. She is an important part of the team and also Boo Rojyo’s RL wife.
She schedules our meetings, assists Boo and is also a skilled decorator. Recently, Fiona played a key part in decorating the builds for the BBB’s second anniversary and Bellisseria's third anniversary events at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds.
1. How long have you been in SL?
15 years 7 months
2. How long you lived in Belli?
Since 2019 when the first Houseboats came out.
3. What is your favorite thing about Bellisseria?
For me it's the beautiful landscaping and nature that surrounds the different themed homes. I have a camper that I love to be in, surrounded by the peace and open space, riding my horse round the trails, hills and rivers, and I also have a lovely Victorian home overlooking the sea.
4. What motivated you to join the BBB team?
I married the boss.
5. What are your BBB responsibilities?
I am the Executive Assistant to Boo and help him in lots of ways, mostly keeping his coffee cup filled :) I am also the Honorary Ambassador of Gaeta.
6. What is the most fun thing you have ever done as a BBB staff member?
Tease Mr Beeb.
7. Tell us one thing about yourself that most people do not know
I'm a Wordle addict.
8. Do you have anything else you would like to share?
World Peace.
Article and photograph by Teresa Firelight
PRING PRODUCTIONS FILM OF B3B
Pru and Sceneris did their usual wonderful job of documenting the goings-on in Bellisseria with their movie - premiered last Thursday - of B3B. With their kind permission, here it is for those of you who missed the premiere.
NEW LOCATIONS
We have two new aviation locations issuing passport stamps this week, both in the Amelia Earhart group. The Hiller Heliport and the Aerodrome Amelia Earhart are both on the mainland continent of Corsica.
We also have a seaport but this one is from further back in history. Bjarkavik on the Blake Sea is a Viking port. It is the starting point for the longboat tour above, which will also take in our final new location for the week - the Cividale Ruins. These are an intriguing LDPW build by our beloved Moles. The old stones speak of some lost civilisation from the distant past of Second Life® before the current residents arrived. Who were the avies who lived there? Where did they go?
Enjoy your travels, dear readers, and don't forget to take your passports with you. Please be aware that, due to a tech issue that we can't script our way around, it is possible sometimes to lose a stamp or stamps in the course of teleporting or if you crash while wearing your passport HUD. To avoid this annoyance, please make a habit of detaching your passport HUD before teleporting away after collecting a stamp. If you use the Firestorm viewer, you can add the HUD to your Favourites so as to have it readily available. We at The Gazette wish you all safe journeys. Please feel free to tell us all about your adventures in the comments!
We welcome our new Honorary Ambassador for Heterocera, Dariah Raynier. Dariah has been in Second Life for more than a decade during which she has been involved in numerous communities and projects.
Exploring the grid by boat is one of the experiences she likes to share with everyone by offering tours. She also plans to organise events around art, music and other activities.
Her main mission, of course, will be to establish amicable connections with Heterocera's residents. At the moment, Dariah is becoming acquainted with her many new tasks, and a date for a welcome ceremony at the Embassy will be announced soon.
We wish Dariah all the best for the many great adventures that await her in her new role!
MEET THE BBB TEAM: BOO ROJYO
We begin our Meet The Team series with the person who made the BBB possible. It started as a concept, something that sounded like a good idea. Many of us have good ideas, but not all of us are successful in implementing them; of turning the thought into reality.
But Boo Rojyo was able to do it, and the BBB (Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy) was born. The team started small, but grew over time as people caught the vision and got excited about it.
So, this week we meet Boo, the creator and founder of the BBB and put to him our standard questions for this series;
How long have you been in SL?
Since 2006, before everything was in colour.
How long you lived in Bellisseria?
Since 2019 I think, not long after it all started.
What is your favorite thing about Bellisseria?
Community.
What motivated you to join the BBB team?
Well, it was my idea, so I joined an excellent and talented team of one, I guess.
What are your BBB responsibilities?
I'm the Founder. My responsibilities are to make myself perfectly dispensable. I guess tinkering and interfering is my thing.
What is the most fun thing you have ever done as a BBB staff member?
I love when we take on new team members. We are either lucky, or just attract the right people, but I'm amazed at the talented team we have.
Tell us one thing about yourself that most people do not know.
I'm pretty much an open book. Struggling to answer this one.
Do you have anything else you would like to share?
I'd like to share that anyone who has a dream to add fun and community to SL can do exactly what we've done at the BBB. Just need the right plan and right motivation, and a bit of luck along the way maybe.
It is Fleet Week Open Day at SL Coast Guard! Join a stamp collecting tour with mini-helicopters from Peleliu Fields to Acknefar Airport where we will watch their Air and Sea Power Demonstration at 10am. More shows and activities are offered during the whole day, and a new stamp awaits you there, too!
click to enlarge
Article by H.E. Yuki Yeshto / Photos by Y. Yeshto and the SLCG
UPDATE ON DR FERRY SERVICES
H.E. Dariah Raynier – the "DR" of the company's name (and the new Hon. Ambassador to Heterocera) recently published an article in her company's blog about a meeting with the Hon. Ambassador to Nautilus, H.E. Freddie Harrington. You can read the article here.
The ambassador and Dariah Raynier discussed a number of topics related to travel and transport on the mainland continents. Such important issues as the banlines and orbs problem were discussed.
In other news, the DR Ferry Service blog has been awarded a licence and is now therefore a BBB Approved Publication featuring in the sidebar to The Gazette.
ROBERT'S B3B MOVIES
By way of a look back at the popular B3B event to celebrate Bellisseria's 3rd anniversary, we have two very different videos from our very own Robert Rhodan. The first shows him making his own plushie elephant in the Arts & Crafts tent. The second shows the aerobatics display over the Bellisseria Fairgrounds staged by H. Quimby Aviation. Enjoy!
Videos by Robert Rhodan
PARTICLES AT B3B WITH DELAIN
Delain Canucci enhanced B3B with a stunning particle show based on the 2017 movie The Greatest Showman. For those unfortunate enough to miss the event, Delain has a link in her profile picks. Robert Rhodan interviewed Delain for The Gazette and asked how long it takes to create such an amazing, complicated show.
To make a complete show for almost an hour it takes two months to create all the particles, to find music I like and to build a stage. The stage itself was about 400 prims and the seating 100 more. It was not the largest I ever built. The Gotham City stage I built for B2B had almost 3000 prims!
Robert noted that the show ran smoothly and attracted many visitors. How was it possible to achieve all the effects without making the Fairgrounds into a lagfest?
Usually particles won't effect the server much, The scripts are low impact. Particles can cause lag on the client side though as this really depends on the graphic card and system of each user. I try to keep the particles low and don't use high res textures, which should make it easier to render.
Robert asked where she gets the inspiration for her Color Alchemists effects;
I don't really know where my inspiration comes from. I just start with an effect and by changing the script multiple times an idea emerges. I see it in my mind and try to create it like I see it!
Asked as to her future plans, Delain said;
I have always a few projects going on, but the next big ones are two shows for the “Hope Fest” and “Follow The Sun” festivals. I also make effects for different dance groups and one in particular – The Monarchs – I sponsor with custom made particles.
Robert thanked Delain for making B3B so memorable. We all look forward to her future projects!
Article and video by Robert Rhodan.
FOLK DANCING AT THE B3B AND BEYOND
Hooten Haller and Lec, owners of the ContraDanceFloor and managers of the FolkDanceGroup, kindly agreed to an interview with Robert for The Gazette. Both they and Leena Quicksand were present at the Fairgrounds during the B3B and - especially at the second event - so many visitors dropped in that over the full two hours all 12 dance pads were often fully loaded and people standing in line for a chance to hop in! Robert asked why so many young people were enjoying this traditional form of dancing?
Lec answered;
I'm not sure of the ages of the folks behind these avatars, but I believe a lot of people were drawn to our event because of our dance system. The opportunity for everybody to dance individually with everyone else is unique in SL. Once people arrived and heard Hooten's brilliant and upbeat musical selections – including traditional contra dance tunes as well as more contemporary songs – they wanted to stay and hear more, even when all of the dance slots were full. And they became immersed in the upbeat and humorous local chat! Having animesh figures instead of dance balls helps folks feel they always are dancing with someone, even if they'd come alone.
Hooten added;
Contra has always appealed to people of many ages. There's some special magic where age gaps don't matter. When dancing you are with your partner throughout the 8 to 10 minutes of a full dance, and also sharing them with a new couple every 33 seconds. So there's a constantly changing kaleidoscope of people. Anyone can step up and be present with that neighbour couple for half a minute, and then they're gone and you have a new couple.
At an SL contra we aren't connecting as intimately with the partner or neighbor of the moment. What is there for us in SL is the whole "floor" of people through open text chat and private IMs, just as at any club dance. But the special sauce is the fabulous music and live calling.
Robert noted that Hooten was himself the live caller for the second event at B3B. He had seen for himself what was going on at the Fairgrounds despite the clash with Easter and Seder holidays. Did he expect such an interest in ContraDance ? Hooten said;
I truly regretted having to miss the dance on Friday, but Sunday very much made up for it. I was expecting a low turnout because it's not live music and not club music. It's a strange mix of live performance (calling) and a folksy music that doesn't hook people until they hear it. The residents gave it a chance and let us know they liked it. Despite their puzzlement over the unique (even peculiar) dance machinery, they responded by dancing with us (or sitting out on the side) and offering pleasant banter and praise.
Robert wondered if B3B had increased the numbers joining their regular twice a week dances and Lec said it had extensively added to their mailing lists. He added;
We expect them to become regulars, as they've fitted in so quickly. We'd love to expand to more lines, of course, so we encourage folks to add us to their Picks.
Robert commented on the unique features of their ContraDance simulation, quite aside from the many dance pads that change dancers' positions in turn. He noted that even a cockroach and a tiny were able to dance in the group! He asked how it all works and how the animations run so smoothly without causing much lag ? Lec noted;
Our dance system is based on "pads" (mannequins and/or animesh figures) moving through dance figures along given paths, while animations move their arms and legs. When one "sits" on a pad, it disappears, but the avatar is still in some sense riding on it. A roach or a robot can ride along even if they can't move arms or legs.
Three challenges made scripting this system difficult for me. One was learning SL's scripting language. Over the years, many people, including Hooten and numerous writers online, helped with that. A second difficulty was to accomplish the dancer's progressions in opposite directions. An early scripter proposed the system we still use. The third was synchronizing. Because all dance individually with each other, they must be dancing each figure at the same time.
Lag can make the motion jerky, but synchronizing should remain. We have had 24 pads dancing in a set for hours without losing synchronization. I can't say how much the synchronization increases lag in the region though. It seems to me more likely that it would be caused by the land impact of our animesh figures.
Hooten added;
You'll need to ask people far more experienced in the performance issues of SL. We were fearing the worst with each updated object. Each new animation must be propagated to every agent in the vicinity. To be honest the only real lag I noticed was my chat typing speed slowed way down! We have ideas to improve performance considerably. After all, this experiment in a dance system is only just completing it first year of steady use in basically one location.
Both are contra dancers themselves in RL. Lec has danced at about 30 venues in approximately 20 US states since 2000, but has never been involved as an organiser. Hooten has been contra dancing since 1999 and began to run his own RL dances in 2011. He said;
It was because of the pandemic Lec and I each worked on our own contra dance systems as we couldn't dance in person. Once we'd found each other, we collaborated a bit, and eventually decided to let Lec's system be our foundation.
We at The Gazette are grateful to Lec and Hooten for taking the time to talk to us and for giving B3B visitors so much fun at the Fairgrounds!
Interview, article and video by Robert Rhodan
NEW LOCATIONS
This week we have four new locations to visit with your Bellisseria or Mainland passports. Firstly there's a special event presented by the Bellisseria Animal Sanctuary at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds. Yes it's Zoo-Palooza 3! It's set in the Forestham National Park built especially for the occasion and runs from May 7th - 29th. Regular readers will be aware that our bureaucracy permits more colours in the stamps for such events. The event organisers and our designers are not restricted to the usual stamp-ink creations. Organiser Krys Calamity has certainly gone to town on this colourful design. Don't miss out on collecting it and enjoy the event while you're there.
We don't normally talk much about the stamps themselves but they are one of the reasons our passport system is so cool. They are not random snapshots but hand-crafted works of graphic design. Our designers listen to location owners' ideas and (except in rare cases where owners design their own) work with them to make something that represents their build. Sun has been doing a great job from the outset. Recently Robert and Amanda have contributed in their own styles. They all do a great, creative job and we thank them.
Acknefar Airport in Nautilus is another new addition this week to our Airports, Ports & Train Stations category. It's a base for both the SL Coast Guard and SL Marine Corps as well as a GTFO! hub. For those of you who don't know about GTFO! (Get the Freight Out!) it's a logistics and exploration game that involves moving goods around SL in vehicles with special scripts. It's a great way to get to know Second Life® better by land, sea and air.
Calypso Bay is a dive resort on the Beach Paradise private estate. It bills itself in the land menu as
A nice village with great underwater down to 100 meters
The underwater build is great, both for divers and SL's many merfolk. It's well worth putting on your scuba gear or as our late former editor, mermaid Fenella, used to put it – tailing and scaling, to go take a look.