Farewell, dear Pru, and Thanks | New Open Homes HUD | Mount Campion Self-Guided Bear Paw Tour | Mount Campion Fall Treasure Hunt | The Spelunker's Map Project | New Locations
09/17/2022
FAREWELL, DEAR PRU, AND THANKS
Prudence Anton has been a pillar of the Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy for some time and especially since she merged her Bellisseria Parade of Homes venture into our bureaucracy. Sadly, her RL obligations mean she has had to retire from the BBB. She will be sadly missed.
Pru is a true SLebrity and for all the best reasons. She's always glamorous, yes. She's seen at the best parties, yes. She organises the best SL weddings, yes. And she has been the Spielberg of Bellisseria for a long time with the wonderful movies she makes with Sceneris of our community events. But she's no shallow, showbiz narcissist. Behind everything she does is a drive to make Bellisseria – and Second Life® as a whole – a better community. She's one of those Bellisserians who took the idea the Lindens and Moles gave us and ran hard with it.
Boo Rojyo, founder and CEO of the BBB said;
Prudence supported the BBB when it was little more than a vague idea in my head. She received the 6th passport we ever produced, and helped publicise what was a very modest offering at the time. Pru later joined the BBB bringing the very sophisticated Parade of Homes offering with her plus her legendary event and cinematic skills. We'll miss her many SL skills, but personally I'll miss her people skills most. I very much respect her wise advice, and her enthusiasm. I trusted her so much I was more than happy for her to be the BBB's single point of contact with the Lindens, a role I knew she'd fulfil far better than me or anyone else. Anyway Pru's not gone, her influence in SL will live on, and the BBB is always an open house to her of course! Good look on your next endeavours Prudence! Don't be a stranger!
Thank you Pru and all our best wishes for your future.
NEW OPEN HOMES HUD
BBB web whiz Robert Rhodan is developing a new gadget to distribute information about open houses in Bellisseria. It features not only those in the Parade of Homes Review, but also in Gingir Ghoststar's Bellisseria Inter-Pub League. So if you're interested in interior design, SL gardening and/or the principles of domestic prim economy, you will soon have a new way to check out how house-proud Bellisserians use their 350 prims!
Robert says of his invention;
A prime example of Bellisseria's community spirit is the generosity of those citizens who open their homes to the public so others can enjoy different home styles and be inspired by great interior design. Prudence Anton's Parade of Homes and Gingir Ghoststar's Bellisseria Inter-Pub League guide people to such homes via their respective blog and Discord Channel.
A recent comment from Nika Talaj in the SL forums gave me an idea to bring both guides together. Nika wrote: "It would be terrific if readers could just click on a home's picture and TP there." I'm happy to say that I have now made exactly such a tool by adapting the design of the StaFi HUD to make an in-world, browser-based Open Homes Guide.
The new guide features each home's name, SLURL (to TP directly with a mouse-click), exterior and interior photos, owner description and date of opening. Like the StaFI HUD, there' s a switch to hide or show the HUD on screen. It will show the most-recently added homes on a separate page.
The prototype features around 186 Open Houses, but many lack interior photos. The guide will invite owners either to provide photos themselves or invite Robert to organise a photo-shoot. The HUD automatically updates; users need do nothing more than click to refresh.
Be sure to drop by BBB HQ to get your own in-world Open Homes HUD from the dispenser that's already in place.
You can also access the information in the HUD by clicking here. This online version will eventually automate the listings in the Parade of Homes Review. The PoHR itself, hosted like The Gazette by the BBB's Dave, will continue with occasional interior design articles by SL writer and creator, Teresa Firelight.
Robert welcomes your feedback and suggestions on this new product, so please check out the prototype and drop him a note in-world or in the comments below.
MOUNT CAMPION SELF-GUIDED BEAR PAW TOUR
Mount Campion is pleased to announce that their most recent tour – the Bear Paw Tour – is now available self-guided. Just go to the Tour Start and look for little Bear Paw markers on the ground. Each marker has a number indicating which stop it is on the tour. Left click the marker and it will tell you in local chat the information that a Ranger would give on a live tour. There is a lot of information at each stop, so each message ends with three tildes (~~~) to let you know it is finished.
There are also some directional markers (an arrow in the Bear Paw instead of a number). Those help you know which direction to go when there are confusing cross trails.
The tour takes about 75 minutes (an hour and 15 minutes). It starts and ends at the same location as the Main Tour, but takes you different places.
The tour tells the story of the Bear Paw Tribe, and traces the steps of their migration around Mount Campion. It will take you to several breathtakingly beautiful places, as well as to two of our Passport Stamp Terminals.
Mount Campion’s Main Tour also now has a self-guided version. It starts and ends at the same place as the Bear Paw tour, but is completely different. This tour uses arrows above the ground as Tour Stop Markers, and each marker points the direction to follow for the next stop. If you click on the Main Tour Stop, it also gives you information in local chat.
If you prefer a Ranger guided tour, each of the two tours will be offered at least once a month.
Article by Teresa Firelight
MOUNT CAMPION NATIONAL FOREST FALL CAVES TREASURE HUNT
It is time to put on your best Indiana Jones gear and join in the hunt for buried treasure in the caves of Mount Campion. The first person to find the buried treasure wins $L1000. (There is only 1 prize, so you'd better hurry to get started).
Somewhere in the caves of Mount Campion National Forest are three 3-digit number clues, painted on various cave faces such as rocks or walls. The three-digit numbers are in large red letters and labeled Clue A, Clue B, and Clue C. You must find all three numbers, record them on a notecard, then submit the notecard to Mar Scarmon to claim your treasure! The first correct submission wins!
The caves of Mount Campion National Forest are located in four adjacent regions on the Heterocera continent, these are Campion, Campanula, Highflyer, and Spinach. The clues will be in open walkable areas of the caves, they will be visible if you walk around and explore the caves thoroughly and they will not be concealed inside objects or in inaccessible locations. The clues will not be blatantly obvious so you will have to search a bit.
If you would like full details of the hunt, including the locations to cave entrances, please Go Here and left click on the Treasure Hunt sign. It will give you a notecard with all the details you need.
Article by Mar Scarmon (aka Marz) and Teresa Firelight | picture by Teresa Firelight
THE "SPELUNKER'S MAP" PROJECT
The Cave System in Mount Campion National Forest is a popular destination for SL'ers. Exploring the caves is fun. But for adventurers walking in the footsteps of Indiana Jones and Zork I..III (anyone old enough to remember that ?) it is easy to get lost. To quote Zork
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. It is pitch dark there. You are likely to be eaten by a Gru
According to the park rangers, the caves are uncharted. It would be a big task for one person to map them, so I devised a collaborative way to map caves that span four regions. I call it The Spelunker's Map.
The idea is simple. I have published a shared Google Drawing 256x256 grid map for each of the four regions. As it's shared, many contributors can work on it together. Any explorer taking part can:
- use the SL coordinates displayed in his/her viewer to mark any fork in the path.
- choose one path and walk to the next fork
- draw a line between the previous fork and this one to represent the path. It can be a straight line, as you can't go through cave walls!
- optionally, add a photo at any point of interest to help other travellers
- if passages cross at different height levels, but are not connected, they can be added in different colours
- if a path from a fork leads to a new region, add a point on each region's map, with an explanatory comment
- place a stub and a text note "yet unexplored" for any unmapped paths from forks to help themselves and other cavers in future
Here is a link to an example of an edited map. This illustrated PDF manual explains the system in full. Here are the links to all the regional maps.
| Mt. Campion Region (partly complete) |
| Campanula Region (empty) |
| Spinach Region (empty) |
| Highflyer Region (empty) |
Before you begin to edit these live maps, you might like to use this demo grid for some practice! Please be careful to use the recommended settings as set out in in the PDF manual.
I'm sure the fun of exploration is all the incentive many readers will need. However, there are others! You will have the chance, while mapping the caves, to win the Treasure Hunt announced in the previous article. Furthermore, every explorer who makes a serious contribution to this project will receive a special Spelunker Stamp for his/her passport. You can bet that this will be one of the most rare and sought-after stamps for any collector.
Happy exploring!
Article and Project Design by Robert Rhodan
NEW LOCATIONS
As a keen SL sailor and aviator, your Editor was very familiar with the airstrip on the island at Coral Waters in Bellisseria. He has moored or landed there many times. Until this week, however, he didn't know it had a name – Dogbone Airstrip. Viewed from the air, it makes sense!
| Dogbone Airstrip BE |
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