Our 500th Stamp | Bellisseria Hidden Treasures: Mole Balloon Ride | New! Easy Listing of all your passport stamps | Letters to the Editor | Events & Announcements | New Locations

OUR 500TH PASSPORT STAMP

This week we issued the 500th unique stamp for our passports. This is a significant milestone on the BBB/CPCB journey and we are happy and proud to have reached it. Remember, our passport system is still only three years old. Our stamps are each personally designed and crafted by either the stamp-issuer or our in-house design team (or both). Ours is a hands-on bureaucracy run by real people trying to make SL more fun to live in.

The stamp that has the honour of being the 500th was already announced last week. However that was an advance notice. It was only actually issued a couple of days ago in time for the event it commemorated. It is the limited edition event stamp for the St Patrick's Day celebrations of our friends at Bellisseria Bike, Drive & Scoot!

Rocking Shamrocks Event Venue

Their Rocking Shamrocks Event was at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds yesterday. The event is already over, but it's not too late to collect this historic stamp. 

At our request, Gracie of Bellisseria Bike, Drive & Scoot has kindly agreed to place the event stamp terminal at their clubhouse for a further week, to ensure collectors get a fair chance to pick it up.

We at the BBB/CPCB would like to thank all of our passport-holders and stamp-issuers for making our quirky little mock-bureaucracy a success. We're all having fun with it and we hope you are too.

Here's to the next 500 stamps! 

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BELLISSERIA HIDDEN TREASURES: MOLE BALLOON RIDE

When you think of Bellisseria, you probably think of lovely landscaped communities with homes for Premium residents. That is accurate, but not complete. Bellisseria is a nice place to live, but there is so much more to it. If you go out and explore, you are bound to run into some of its attractions.

I was cruising down the river that runs through the Chalet regions when I noticed a nice balloon. My first thought was that someone had rezzed one and accidentally left it unattended… I figured it would derez any second. But it did not.

So I came closer to inspect it. And I discovered the balloon was owned by Abnor Mole. Interesting...

On closer inspection I found that I could sit on it and ride the balloon. When I did, it gave me instructions on how to start and stop the balloon, as well as how to steer it. As it turns out, steering a balloon is not quite as straightforward as it sounds. You can turn it right or left, you can go up or down. But there is no control to go forward or back. You are at the mercy of the wind. It was kind of fun figuring out how to control the balloon and it provides an interesting view of the Chalet neighborhoods.

The balloon ride also came with some animations for riding the balloon and for falling out of it. One of those animations is named “Hang On,” and it looks like this:

Whatever you do, when you are up in the air on the balloon – do not “Stand.” I tried that. The balloon disappeared and I found myself hurtling to the ground, where I landed on my rear and now have a big bruise right where I sit.

If you would like to catch this balloon and try it for yourself, you will find it here.

Article and photographs by Teresa Firelight

Editor's Note: There's at least one more of these balloons available. It's near my favourite pub in Bellisseria here.

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NEW! EASY LISTING OF ALL YOUR PASSPORT STAMPS

Anyone with a V3.00 passport can now easily generate a list of all their collected passport stamps in an external browser window. How does it work?

• A new HUD allows you to retrieve a fast-scrolling, personalised list of all your stamps, whether collected on your V3.00 passport or migrated to it from an earlier version.
• The list can be sorted by Location Name, Continent, Location Status (active, retired), Stamp Release Date¹,  Collected Date²
• Just wear the HUD, touch it and click on the personalised web link in chat.

A free copy of the HUD is enclosed with the in-world distribution notices for this week's issue of The Gazette. In a week or so, we will also deploy a dispenser at BBB HQ in Swordfish.

The HUD detects your unique avatar "key" and generates an access link with 32 random characters added, so only you can access your information.

Please note that we are using a clone of our Head Scripter, North's, master database that so elegantly solved our previous problems with losing stamps during failed teleports. The effective date of the report is indicated at the top. 

We had some very positive comments from our beta testers. For example Fuyuko said;

The HUD works perfectly. The link is generated really quickly and the list is shown right away. That the active stamps are linked with an LM is extra-sweet.

Kittensusie commented

That will be a great boost to the passport users

Dulcinea told us

I really enjoyed seeing the full list of the different stamps that I've collected, along with the links to their locations and whether they are still active or not. This is already a fantastic tool for people to use so that they can look back on their stamp collecting 'career' in SL."

We would like to thank our beta-testers for their work and for their helpful suggestions as to functionality and features. We incorporated most of their  suggestions in the final HUD and we hope you will enjoy using it.

Article by Robert Rhodan

Footnotes

¹ Where we don't have a release date in our database, the stamp will be shown as released on January 1st, 1970!

² The date of migration to V3.00 passport will be used as the date of collection

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We received a note in-world from kittensusie Lander and Dulcinea Andretti, two of our users who kindly volunteered to  beta-test the new HUD announced above.

I've tried his new HUD and firstly, may I just say that Robert is a brilliant man. I love how he thinks of ways for us to be more self-sufficient when it comes to the kind of information we want to see and keep track of.

I really enjoyed seeing the full list of the different stamps that I've collected, along with links to their locations and whether they are still active or not. (Yeah, I am that kind of collection nerd!)

While checking back with me for my opinion on the beta HUD, he asked if I had any suggestions for it. I won't say what my specific suggestions were in case he chooses not to incorporate them into the finished product, but whether he does or not, this is already a fantastic tool for people to use so they can look back on their stamp collecting 'career'  in SL.

Dulcinea Andretti

******

A few weeks ago I was asked if I'd like to help beta-test the StampsOnPP HUD by Robert Rhodan (who btw is the human version of catnip!). So here are my thoughts....

1 - BACON!

2 - Do you want to see all the stamps you've collected or are looking for one particular stamp but don't want to flick through page after page? Then the StampsOnPP is the thing for you!

I've been testing the StampsOnPP for a couple of weeks now and I am really pleased with it. When you wear the HUD and click on it, you can sort the stamps by release date, collected, location name, continent or status. That brings up a link in Nearby Chat that will open up your web browser. It's as simple as that. You can even open up several links and go hunting for those stamps you are missing (I've collected a few like that).

This is going to be a great boon for all passport stamp collectors, just be aware that you MUST be using the V3 version (which is also much improved over the old style passports as you no longer need to get additional visa extensions).

So, if you haven't upgraded to V3 yet, DO IT! Then use the StampsOnPP HUD and see listings of all your stamps easily.

Thank you Robert Rhodan for making this HUD available :)

Kittensusie Landar

If you wish to comment on articles in The Gazette or any aspect of BBB/CPCB services, you are always welcome to use the comments function below. If you prefer to comment in-world, please feel free to write to the Editor for publication.

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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.

... Mikomim's Victorian Home7867 Filberty
est. 2/2023
I like a bit of everything in regards to design styles and often incorporate pieces from different periods. I enjoy spaces that feel lived in and that still maintain order and cleanliness. I don't think there is anything particularly unique to my decorating style. It's simply what I enjoy, want to come home to, and is a reflection of my tastes and interests.

*****

We are sad to announce the passing of our colleague AmandaT Tamatzui's RL father. All of us at the BBB send our condolences to Amanda, her mother and family. If you are currently dealing with Amanda on any BBB matters, please contact Robert Rhodan – her colleague on our stamp team – instead.

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NEW LOCATIONS

The first new place to get your passport stamped this week is Sansara's Museum of Computing History. What could be more appropriate in a world that exists on, and can only by accessed via, computers! In any event, it's a great place to explore the history of computing and computer science.

We are happy to welcome another airport to the network of passport stamp-issuing transport hub locations. Blackslough Field Regional Airport is next to the Sea of Fables and is a great place to hang out and watch (or fly!) all types of aircraft. You can take a Sea of Fables hot-air balloon tour with up to 3 friends or ride a rocket pod to the associated (enormous) space station.

Speaking of airports, the SL International Airport (SLIA) complex is offering two new stamps from this week. One is at the heart of nearby Primrose Village and the other is at the village's roller-skating park. 

Museum of Computing History SN
Blackslough Regional Airport SN
SLIA Primrose Village NA
SLIA Park & Roller Skating Primrose Village NA

Comments

[AmandaT Tamatzui]

My dear BBB colleagues and SL friends,Thank you for your understanding.
Glad I can read the Gazette and feel I am still in touch with you all.

[Dave]

We are glad you're reading it, Amanda. We are all thinking of you in your grief. Take your time to come back to SL. We'll be waiting for you.