GFC at Relay for Life - Float Parade

It has been a recent tradition for the GFC to be involved in Relay For Life in some form or other, last year we had a disco and was actually the first story written on this blog and this year the group has helped once again with the cause. In addition there has been a poetry exhibition aswell.

For the last few weeks there has been donation boxes placed strategically around DS19 and other locations, also a wall of events has been placed at the back of the ferengi bar at the space station. This years contribution was to join forces with the UFS.  Both groups took part by sitting on a float which made a lap of the square in one of the two sims events were taking place in. Other than a small fairground we got our flags out as the two trek groups came together and circled the sim on a float,  which also had  two smaller ships attached to it. Some stood on the float, while others perched on the edge. There was even space to park your avatar on one of the two choices of ships which was attached to the float, being it either  a version of the Enterprise or Defiant.

As with many events the numbers in the sim were high at times, hovering between 70-40 people, lag was an enemy but we all soldiered on regardless and proudly represented the fleet for this good cause.

Relay for life events will continue for the next few weeks and i'm sure its not the last time the group will helps support the charity this season.

Thaks all those members who participated Perfecto Convair,Sereana Westland, Debbydo Resident, Dustin Sunflower,  BlackRosePhantom,  Katie Zwilling and your truly.

For more pictures click HERE

AAC Gryphon Parachute, P40 Dogfight and Racing Track Catch Up Events

Over the last few weeks the AAC have been trying  few new events out and we thought we'd catch up on them.

Gryphon Parachute Jump

First was the "Gryphon Parachute Jump" the idea here was to fly your gryphon from the USS Paris and when you get to 500 meters you and or passenger to bail out and fall to the ground deploying your parachute and guiding yourself to the bullseye which has been erected near the RP Centre in Sovereign.

P40 DOGFIGHT

You may have noticed the ships rezzer near the hangers over at the AAC flight box area. When clicked that rezzed a variation of the P40 plane which can be used by anyone or if you had one of those P40 style planes (they come in more than one variation) you could also use that in the event which was a full on dog fight, though before we had to learn to fly properly off the runway adhering to all the rules, taxiing your craft and following the signs, waiting for commands issued from the tower before you could progress to the runway, once in the air we circled around following those in front of us and a few meters distance and mentaining the same hight. Once every one was in the air, it was time for an all out dog fight fest. Who's plane could last the longest, well the answer to that question was  Kaori Juliesse  who was in a long battle with Gokyu Ugajin who dispatched the rest of us pilots and battled it out between themselves....for ages, weaving in and out of each others target before Kaori peppers Gokyu's plane with a triade of metal which saw it crashing unceremoniously to the ground.

RACE TRACK

AAC pilots are known for their need for speed, so when a racing track was rezzed there was much excitement and beating of chests. Though that demised quickly when they realised it wasn't so easy flying round the track on a AAC hover bike, especially when it was place in flight mode which required all the skills a person could muster just to control. There were 3 races in 2 different vehicles, the hover bike in hover and flight mode and a Nascar which was a little bit over sensitive for my liking, one tap and it went speeding off like a hare in a hurry..

Events winners

Hover Bike (hover mode) = Michel Rosenstrauch
Hover Bike (Flight Mode) = snapper Desade
Nascar = Thomas Aker

We would like to thank all those who have participated in the AAC events, they are fun so come down, all are welcome.

AAC Events

Sunday 9am SLT*

Wednesday 6pm SLT*
Friday 3.30pm SLT*

Free....Any cheaper and they'd be delivering it to your house

With all this talk of mesh and sculpts and how expensive it is to use some of the 3d programs needed to create higher quality builds, adoption has been helped by the fact software like Blender has been high quality, available and free.

But, for a limited time ( March 31st 2012, now extended to the end of April)  a company known for high quality 3d software that can create Secondlife content have announce they are giving away some of their most noted software for free, it may not be the companies latest versions, but the software is very capable of produce quality work. They aren't just giving away the main software but a large variety of useful utilities, character and object models, tutorials and materials.  So quickly get down to the Daz 3D website and nab those goodies before they come to their senses from the obvious concussion they are suffering from wears off.

Link http://www.daz3d.com/shop/

Second Life's New Direct Delivery Market items

Click for Limited Edition Bear

You know the feeling, you just got that new outfit from the SL market and the moment you receive it you have to go through the process of unboxing everything, wouldn't you just like to have it sent directly to your inventory in a folder, wouldn't that be grand....

Well, the waiting to some extent is over as now you can get items you purchase from SL market sent directly to your inventory, providing the item has been place on the market using the new system, here's a video below to give you more info of what its about by every ones  favorite SL video tutor Torley Linden.

What maybe interesting is in the long term how sandboxes across the grid will fair, will peoples expectation be that everything is sent straight to them as an inventory folder as appose to being pack as a box? How would this affect conventional stores? Only time will tell.

For more info click HERE

Relay For Life Poetry Exhibit

Early morning on DS19, the station is quiet, a few “night-owls” stroll along the promenade deck, some coming from Quark's some on their way to the popular Ferengi establishment. One night-owl walks into Quark's expecting to hear the usual cacophony of voices in conversation, the loud clinking of glass upon glass, and shouts of “DABO” followed by the laughter of the winners and the grumbling of the losers.

But it is as though she has suddenly lost her hearing. The sounds she hears are quiet whispers, soft laughter and polite conversation with the occasional clink of glass upon glass. Looking around she blinks her eyes to verify in her own mind that she is truly in Quark's and not in the Bajoran Temple and Meditation Room. She notices photographs lining the second floor walls of Quark's and the patrons of the establishment moving from one photograph to the next pausing to read the words that adorn the photographs.

The night-owl stops at the bar, orders a Saurian Brandy, her favorite drink, and walk up the spiral ramp to the second floor to see what everyone finds so interesting.

POETRY! Haiku poetry at that. Verses of three lines containing five syllables, seven syllables and five syllables again. “But they don't even rhyme!”, exclaims a slightly more than inebriated patron again and again as he moves from photo to photo, haiku to haiku.

The night-owl enjoys the Star Trek inspired haiku and the Star Trek related photographs that were matched to each. But when she finishes reading the last haiku after her second circumference of the room, she is curious as to why there is a poetry exhibition in Quark's. Descending the spiral ramp brings her face to face with the DS19 Station Commander, Kaori Juliesse. Who better to ask then the person in charge of the entire space station?

“So, Commander, why is Quark's promoting this haiku poetry exhibition? It is certainly out of character for the famous chain of Ferengi bars”, the night-owl inquires.

The Commander smiles politely, having answered that very same or similar questions at least thirty times that day. “The poet, Starr Jetaime, felt she would be able to help increase the amount donated to Relay for Life in Second Life, by displaying her poetry and asking the people who attend the exhibition to generously donate to help the American Cancer Society because it is Time For A Cure.”

So come on by the DS19 space station in the Sovereign sim of Galaxy Fleet Command in Second Life, and enjoy the poetry and make a generous donation to the Relay For Life and help find the cure.

Posted by Starr Jetaime  

                                                                Haiku poem by Starr Jetaime on display in Quark's Bar


Landmark to quarks bar HERE

Because I am alive

Life has taken me on a bit of a journey the last few weeks i have been in some hard times but that is ok i find that in they hard times we learn the most about our selves.
this is a thought that came to me today in meditation and i want to share with you all.

Because I have eyes to see I will witness all the beauty I am offered.
Because I have a nose to smell I will experience all the sweet smells
Because I have a heart I will love with all my power everyone I meet.
and because I am Alive I will Keep going and never quit.

Sophie Johnson Birthday Girl

Clink Click, sheeesh.....

The sound of tablets being dropped in a glass, head still thumping and why have I woken up with this traffic cone???

After a good old Rp with the Cymru Crew where we tackled a time traveler  who had mysteriously materialized on the bridge of the ship, it was back to DS19 for some well earned R&R or so we thought. Even though the hangover from St.Patrick's Day Weekend was still playing the bongo in our heads, we were informed it was Sophie's (Hydregion Resident) birthday and there was only one thing that could be done other than giving her the bumps and dropping her into sovereigns lake. You know what that was, as in GFC tradition, PARTY LIKE ITS 2375!!!!!!!

We all crowed on the cramp quarks dance floor stage where the boogying was boggling, we strived to jive and thrilled to chill. Some people danced also, but we all had a great time and importantly, so did Sophie...

It was also Dave Fearguis's Bday to....but he didn't grease enough palms with lindens to get a party but we'll mention it anyway :)

Pictures courtesy of  BlackRosePhantom  

St. Patrick's Day Weekend 2012

"Kiss that blarmy stone",  "top of the morning to yah" and "mine will be a Guinness" were the words that rang round your ears over the this weekend as, yes, you guessed it, it was St. Patrick's Day, why he needs a day to himself I couldn't tell you because I couldn't be bothered to google it, but suffice to say he had given us a great excuse to party all weekend.

The fair haven bar, last seen during the GFC annual ball was rezzed again, as the doors opened a steady stream of trekkie revelers barged their way in, steering to the bar faster that a mouse finds cheese and ordering an assortments of beverages which had been placed there, all alcoholic I noticed with enough kick to make a donkey look lame.

To get into the party mood Harry Ketterley (Andy Ketterley) had made a wonderful green Irish Trekkie hat which was given away free by clicking one which had been surreptitiously placed there . Also a flag was added so you could drink and wave to Ireland at the same time.

There was plenty of dancing and people did get into the spirit of wearing something green, I hadn't seen so much greens since I had a veggie meal. On the side of the plate of course so it can be flicked off when nobody is looking.

The weekend event started on the Friday evening (European time) and went through to Sunday, so all time zones were covered and there was usually someone on hand pulling the pints and entertaining the crowd as the dancing went on for hours, well, technically days as someone was dancing usually every time I popped my head round the door or crashed out on the bar chair wishing the world would stop spinning.

I'm sure we would like to thank all the team who keep the party going and made Galaxy the busiest GFC sim throughout the weekend.

From me, I'll have a guinness.

Waits....Waits...Waits...How long does it take this thing to settle?

More Picture HERE

New Phoenix update and Firestorms gets FUI

Everyone run round shouting and screaming we have "FUI" things will never bee the same, what did I do without FUI and it doesn't come from hong kong (you have to be kinda older or for some reason have been re-watching 70's cartoons to get that joke, you'll probably just google it anyway).

Anyhow, those of you using firestorm, FUI stands for Flexible User Interface....yeah I know after all that hype, you would have expected something a little more exciting. But wait, you think V2+ interfaces sucked harder than a lemon FUI may come to your rescue as it allows the user and  developers to make it easier to create an interface that's more suited to you and yes that included a version of the older V1 interface......Its like eating mummy's pie all over again. For a less over the top explanation, while I go and download the updates have a watch of the video the phoenix team has kindly crafted for you.

Pheonix/Firestorm article HERE

DS19: what's going on up there?

When someone leaves a package in brown paper wrapping with "Play Me" scribbled in handwriting a 4 year old would be proud of then there a a few things which come to mind.

1. Its not for me.
2. I wish it wasn't for me.
3.It also has "for the attention of snapper desade", so it is for me.

Anyhow, being the inquisitive guy I am,  I ripping the package open like a struck off surgeon cuts open a patient and pulled out the media device.

On inserting said media in something that could play it I sat back and watched the short clips:

First video was of some Orion girl pole dancing in ways only Orions can.

Second video shows me trying to impress an unappreciative crowd with my guitar skills. They just kept drinking as I play the strings off that guitar, they wouldn't know talent if it shot them in the head at 1000 yards in a headwind.

Epilogue: Unseen Enemy.

{Inside the bridge of a cloaked Romulan ship}

Captain: "Report..." 

XO: "Captain. We have scanned the facility in orbit above the planet and have managed to capture visuals of life signs within."

Captain: (Eyes thinning in a dubious grin.) "On...screeen."

XO: Aye Captain....*blip.... zweeeng*

Captain: "Can you clear the image."

Operations Officer: "This is the best I can do Captain."

Captain: (Grins) "This.... is the moment I have been waiting for...."

XO: "Captain?"

Captain: (Annoyed) "Where is the audio. I want audio. NOW!"

Operations officer:"Interference captain. Audio sensors are being jammed by copyright.."

Captain: (Banging on the arm of the Chair then makes a fist.) "Damn you FCC..."

XO: Captain. There is no more to be done here. I suggest we make our retreat before detection."

Captain: (nods slowly letting out a sigh.. )"Helm. Get us out of here....."

{Dramatic music crescendo's with a zoom in to the Captains face looking off...then into the camera as the music cuts out. }

Captain: "What are you looking at!"

{Lens breaks. Black out.} 

Interview with Oz Linden about policy changes

If you watched last weeks video which featured Jessica Lyon from the phoenix third party viewer team talking about the changes proposed by linden labs regarding the use of third party viewers, you would have heard her mention having an interview with Oz Linden, this interview was conducted a few days ago and we have a link of the video for you to watch. Hope it answers people questions about the possible changed being proposed.

Stuck...

DS19, Quark's bar. Everything seems to be as it should be. The music is on, there are people sitting at the bar, drinking their cups of tea, ale or some sort of exotic drink. And there is a Commodore stuck in the wall.

Wait...

What?

 I honestly didn't mean for that to happen... but that's the thing with the Emdash multitool: if you double-tap an arrow key, it dashes you twenty meters ahead. And sometimes that gets you stuck in the wall. Like now.

 

It's pretty annoying actually, not getting out of the wall. But at least my feet are a nice place for people to hang their jackets, wouldn't you say?

Tactical - Drone Tests, Kingon Invasion and Light Armour

Tactical has been really busy over the last few weeks since its relaunch and has been going from strength to strength. This week has been particularly busy.

On Saturday's Tactical event  they were testing new fighting drones and a colour ball shooting game, the scripter Perfecto Convair (now also one of the newest members of the division) is an old member who has been away from the GFC for about 4 years and has returned to projects he was working on and aren't we glad he has, the games are challenging and fun, they will make a real addition to many of the tactical event which are planned in the future. Also he's working on a few games aimed at DS19 which we are all looking forward to playing soon.

Sunday saw tactical reassemble to defend the planet from a klingon invasion in a derelict war torn city using every guerrilla fighting tactic's at their disposal to defeat the scurge and barbarism of their foe. Will the federations remain victorious and honorable in the face of their enemy or can the fragil alliance prevail. Read Full Story HERE.

Light tactical armour with force field has been developed for all tactical members. The armor is made by their new chief tactical engineer Harry Ketterley (andy Ketterley). Read Full Story HERE.

All Green With Envy Of DS19's New Barmaid

With the recent regeneration of DS19, expect to see a few new faces appearing around the station. One you may notice is a cute Orion barmaid serving the drinks with her stimulating chat and a bird called loony perches precariously on her head.

If you see her on one of your journeys to Quarks Bar, say "Hi" and order one of the many drinks from the replicator.

Some Of The New Second Life Policy Rules Explained

Some of you may have watched the film length video from the previous post concerning the new policy changes being made by secondlife. There's still seems to be a little confusion regarding what is being changed and what isn't.

What seems to be in linden labs (creator of second life) mind is they want to keep the users shared experience in SL the same if at all possible. The way they propose to do this is to not allow third party viewers (not the official SL program/viewer) to create new features users in other viewers can't see. For instance something like coloured tags above players heads or the placing of viewer names in the text above other users heads.

As of now that colour and viewer name tag feature is broken and should not work. The argument here is could this stop third party viewers innovating and creating new features. For instance, something like breast physics (wobbly boobs to you and me) was created originally by a third party viewer (TPV) team and was only viewable on those with compatible viewers, the official viewer originally not being one of them.

Now, because at the time of conception it wasn't available on the official viewer, if done now it would be classed as breaking the shared experience as the official viewer couldn't see it. Of course linden labs adopted a body physics feature at a later date an now there isn't a need for the original hack. But it was the hack and the work of third party viewers which encouraged the feature in the first place.

Linden Labs would like TPV to work with them and helping them improve the features of SL by submitting ideas and concepts, it just hasn't been fully worked out how that would be achieved.

The bottom line regarding shared experience is if you can't see it in the official viewer its braking shared experience and must be removed.

Real Online Status

Some Features in devices like this may be broken if scripted online status is removed for none script owners

viewers like phoenix and firestorm seemed to have circumvented the fact that people may have put as a privacy option that they wanted to remain offline to friends or members, but in these viewers it still showed if they were online when checking their profiles. Also LL propose to break the online status indicators found in devices. Which there are many found in officers of the GFC. The original proposal was that these devices would only show the online status of someone if the script running the command belonged to that person.

So in other words if i created an online status device and the script was owned by me, it would work, but if i create the same device but had it check the online status of someone else, it wouldn't work and since most online status devices aren't using scripts created by the person its checking, a lot of these devices would break. As of now, LL are reconsidering its proposal regarding online status, so for the moment, nothing has changed there.

In the future temp textures may fail, not because there's a desire to ban them but fixing a bunch of features may create the situation that temp textures will get broken. On this one we'll just have to wait and see.

All in all, most of you wont notice any significant change in how you use secondlife on your third party viewer other than tag colours and viewer names tags. The coming weeks we'll get more of an idea of what the changes really mean long term, but for now, there isn't a huge amount to worry about.

Second life policy change Q&A

The third party viewer phoenix blog team secured a Q&A discussion regarding the policy changes which have been proposed recently. Here is a video of that discussion.

More info from the Phoenix Team HERE

Tactical Uniform v.2!

Greetings friends!
Kendra Mollsen updated our tactical uniforms! Now they have longer necks, more detail on the back and shoulders, and strings around the wrists. Looks really good!

Comes in all 3 color departments.

Just wear your Tactical group tag and touch the uniform locker in Tactical Office.

Qapla'!
Lt. Kal Aie, Tactical Director

New Hazard Team Armor! By Katie Zwilling

Greetings friends!

Katie just made our ultra super cool new armor!  Thank you Katie, and thank you Research Team! It also has a damn nice personal shield that pops up when you take shots! Comes in 3 colours, all sculpted, with some animated energy pipes.

It will be standard issue gear for our elite squad, the Hazard Team!

How do you join Hazard Team? Well, you have to be a tough person of illegitimate parentage, and contact Sophie Johnson or Kaori Juliesse.

Qapla!
Kal Aie, Tactical Director

Viewer Display Tags, First change?

Viewer Name now missing in display tag

Earlier in the week we reported  how certain policy changes where going to be made regarding third part viewers. Some people have pointed out that maybe the first change has started to happen, namely the displaying of the viewer names being used by other members. I have suddenly noticed phoenix isn't picking up all the names it usually does, it seems at the moment to depend on the person or the viewer they are using right now.

Maybe one function which was implied to be being removed may have already started for some.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Complete Renovation

I have been talking all day with two VERY Amazing Builders, both of them are extremely talent in Clothing making, Prim building and Sculpty creating.
We are working out a contract and will soon be merging. Mollsens will no longer be mollsens since will be giving the Store a complete face lift and make over.
Together we will be able to offer the Sci Fi RP community a large variatey of clothes and much more.
As things progress i will keep you updated.