Mainland & Generic Passports upgraded to V3.00 | A BBB3B Surprise | New Bureaucrat joins the team | New Hon Ambassador to Satori | Events & Announcements | New Locations
02/18/2023
MAINLAND / GENERIC PASSPORTS UPGRADED TO V3.00
On December 24th last year, we launched version 3.00 of the Bellisseria Passport, featuring a single HUD (no more additional visa pages required) and stamps served directly from our database so that teleport glitches can no longer cause them to be lost.
If you haven't upgraded yet, you really should. It's a great improvement and we've been getting positive feedback from users. Just head over to HQ and fill in the upgrade from from the board there.
We are now delighted to announce that the passports issued by our associated bureaucracy – the Continental Passport Control Board – have also been updated to version 3.00. These are the automatically-generated passports for SL's mainland continents and the generic version for SL's homeless, private island owners and estate-dwellers.
Just head over to your continent's embassy (or any embassy for the generic version). The SLURLs for the embassies are all in the sidebar. There you can get yourself a new passport and follow the fun instructions to transfer stamps from your old one to our database. Once you've transferred them from all your old HUDs, your whole collection – including stamps that are no longer available – will appear on your new V3.00 passport.
The new passports also have fields for “species” and “sex” for more detailed personalisation.
We're very proud of our head scriptor – North's – innovative technique of using your avatar's body as a data conduit to transfer the stamps. Try it. It will make you laugh! It may look a bit odd, but it's actually a clever way to link your avatar's unique ID to each of the stamps in your collection on our database. We don't think it's ever been done before.
BBB3B SURPRISE
The BBB continues to celebrate its third anniversary. As another little gift to the community – in addition to the 2023 calendar and the eight BBB3B event stamps currently available at the embassies and our HQ – we've made a fun compilation of twenty-five of our favourite stamps. You can obtain it in PDF form here or from the Information & Resources section in the sidebar to The Gazette.
Some of the stamps have been made by (or in association with) the landowners concerned, but most were created by our in-house design team past and present; Sun, Robert Rhodan, AmandaT Tamatzui and our much-missed former colleague, Ghost.
The collection includes comments from the designers and some background stories on how the stamps came to be.
We've enlarged the images for the booklet, as the stamps on your passports are tiny (though in the Gazette Online Travel Guide, the StampFinder HUD and its associated webpage, you can always click stamp images to enlarge them).
As of today, the stamp team has issued three hundred and eighty unique stamps! We're looking forward to reaching the milestone of our five hundredth stamp sometime next year.
We think the personal attention and effort that goes into creating passport stamps tailored to the locations makes collecting them all the more meaningful – and fun.
We hope you enjoy the collection, which includes some stamps from past events and defunct locations that are no longer available to collect. If you'd like a stamp of your own for your qualifying SL location, please send in your applications via the board at BBB HQ.
Article by Robert Rhodan, BBB Stamp Team.
NEW BUREAUCRAT JOINS THE TEAM
We are happy to welcome a new colleague, Laurelrose Anthony ("Laurel") to the BBB team. Laurel will be in charge of processing applications for Bellisseria Passports, taking over from Zoo.
Laurel arrived in SL after seeing a CBS This Morning story about someone who had given up an RL job to make money here.
Constantly amazed at the creativity of this virtual world, Laurel has tried very many things. She has made jewellery, modelled, was a cheerleader for SL football and a dancer for a small dance troupe. She has learned to use GIMP and Photoshop because of SL and enjoys "playing" with that.
Nowadays, RL takes more of her time than she likes. She still finds some time for shopping and is always looking for a challenge. A friend on the BBB staff mentioned that there might be a spot for her here.
Bellisseria has been a haven for Laurel. She loves to decorate so Linden Homes are a great pastime. She told The Gazette;
What better way to take that interest to the next level but to help the people who strive to make Belli a better place to be.
We are happy to have Laurel on board and look forward to working with her. If you have a moment, please stop by and say hello to her.
NEW HONORARY AMBASSADOR TO SATORI
We are pleased to announce the appointment of His Excellency Jarrod Beck as the Honorary Ambassador to Satori. Jarrod will take office immediately. We will announce details of his official inauguration ceremony at the embassy in due course. The Gazette asked Jarrod about his connection to Satori.
My favourite thing about the Satori Continent is its location. Not only can you explore the vastness of the continent itself by road or air, but you can also navigate along its coast by boat all the way to Bellisseria in the south or the Blake Sea and Nautilus in the North. The Mole Village is well worth a visit. Not only is it very quaint, but it is the home of the moles and the Department of Public Works. There are also teleports to various interesting locations in the main building there. Having water access to the Blake Sea, an airport and being connected to Satori’s route 8, the GTFO World Headquarters and Drivers of SL HQ is a great starting point for explorers of any kind. Bear Castle is home to over 550 Linden & Mole Bears, collected by multiple residents over the years. The embassy offers a tour HUD for all the Mole and Linden builds around the continent, so make sure to stop by!
Jarrod has been a resident of Bellisseria since the start and loves the fun and creative community that has evolved there He holds our Bellisseria Passport (now to be replaced by a diplomatic passport of course) and told us that;
The BBB, managed by dedicated volunteers, is a great addition – bringing together the Bellisserians with the rest of mainland in a bureaucratic, yet fun, way!
In his spare time, Jarrod enjoys exploring the grid, whether it be by horse, car, boat, or plane. When not exploring, he's usually decorating, landscaping or shopping for pieces he can use in his projects. He loves meeting new people and spending time with his SL friends. He told The Gazette;
I will do my very best to continue the great work my predecessor, Bijoux, has done. I am looking forward to working together with the BBB and Satori residents to promote our great community! I want to help bring Satorians and Bellissarians closer together so they can make new friendships and enjoy their Second Lives more fully. Team work makes the dream work!
We welcome Jarrod to Bellisseria's Corps Diplomatique and look forward to working with him.
Article by BBB Staff | Photo by H.E. Jarrod Beck
EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
| If you have one of our stamp terminals at your place and you're having an event there or would like to make any other announcement, just let us know and we'll be happy to feature it here. Please drop a notecard on the Editor Dave (Lord.Junibalya) in-world or use the Email the Editor link in the sidebar to send us your information, posters or photos. |
... Buunniee's My Rustic Home
est. 1/2023 "My inspiration was southwest,south of the border feel."
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New article in Parade of Homes Review
Teresa Firelight continues her series about kitchens in Parade of Homes Review this week. Her second article on the subject is to be found here. Please check it out and comment.
NEW LOCATIONS
We have two new stamp locations this week. Baseball Guy has a stamp available at his MLB (Major League Baseball) exhibit featuring players who served in the US military. The SLURL takes you to the main entrance so you'll need to find the exhibit on the baseball-shaped teleporter. We also have a stamp from a health & wellness centre in beautiful Bellisseria, where you can "Earn RP certificates in SL & RL safety, health and wellness, and more!" The centre commemorates Leighsa Carter (Lovewins2015 Resident). You'll need to head upstairs to find our stamp terminal.
| MLB Military Veterans Exhibit ST | ||
| Leighsa Carter Health & Wellness Center BE |
Welcome Jarrod and Laurel !
Posted by: Freddie Harrington | 02/22/2023 at 02:03 PM
I’m looking forward to seeing what you do on my home continent Mr Ambassador. 16 years ago today my original avi arrived in SL and within a few weeks was settled on the then new continent of Satori where I still have a plot in the same region (where the Satori post office now is).
Posted by: Dave | 02/18/2023 at 09:47 PM
Thank you very much for the warm welcome! Glad to be part of the team!
Posted by: Jarrod | 02/18/2023 at 09:32 PM
Well said, Boo.
Posted by: Dave | 02/18/2023 at 07:29 PM
Welcome to the BBB and the Ambassadors, Laurel and Jarrod. I hope your association with the BBB is as rewarding, and fun as mine has been!
Posted by: Boo Rojyo | 02/18/2023 at 07:11 PM
Thank you Amanda!
Posted by: Dave | 02/18/2023 at 10:01 AM
Wonderful to meet the new team member for the BBB and Ambassador for Satori, Laurel and Jarrod!
I am pleased to say my passport is updated and lovely that we won't ever lose a stamp again!
Looking forward to the event stamps gift for us collectors.
Thank you, Dave, Teresa and Robert for this fun issue of the Gazette!.
Posted by: AmandaT Tamatzui | 02/18/2023 at 08:39 AM