The Return of the Virtual Black History Museum

In recognition of Black History Month, our “Made in Second Life” series explores the newly-reopened Virtual Black History Museum in SL!

Open through late March, this interactive educational experience invites attendees to explore the timeline of African-American history from the heartaches to the victories in a park-like and welcoming environment.

At the heart of the museum is a new exhibit that spotlights the amazing women that helped shape African-American history in the US.

“There’s a focus on women in Black history and telling some of the stories of people that don’t really make it into the history books,” says curator Abrianna Oceanside.”We talk about Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks, but we don’t really talk about some of the [other] names that we don’t even recognize.”

That’s why the Museum goes deeper in its exhibition to amplify awareness of several lesser-known historical figures including civil rights activists Amelia Boynton Robinson, Daisy Bates, and Martha P. Johnson.

“To be able to walk through, observe and just be able to have a more immersed experience is more effective than just going to a website and reading the information,” says Oceanside. “I’m hoping to foster a place where there can be a dialogue.”

While some of the subject matter in the museum can be unsettling, Oceanside says that she hopes the experience will help enlighten and educate attendees.

“There are a lot of difficult discussions and I’m OK with uncomfortable because I believe that is a big part of what helps us grow as people,” she says. “I’ve had some really interesting discussions with people whose perspectives shifted a little bit…and sometimes that little shift makes a big difference in the world.”

To learn more about the Black History Museum, watch the video or visit it in Second Life.

Credits:
Video Production: Draxtor Despres
Logo: Marianne McCann

Have a great week From the staff of Zoha Islands and Fruit Islands

Virtual Currency Transactions, Real Tax Compliance: Inspired by a True Story

Second Life Community Joins Worldwide One Billion Rising Campaign Protesting Violence Against Women

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

“SL: One Billion Rising Campaign” is an emotionally evocative image created by Valenska Voljeti as a reminder of the coming One Billion Rising Campaign protesting violence against women that happens in Second Life as the worldwide event happens throughout first life. It will take place on February 14th — details for the SL event on the Facebook page here.

Valenska’s image description contains quite a bit of information on the event in both worlds:

“Every February, we rise – in countries across the world – to show our local communities and the world what one billion looks like and shine a light on the rampant impunity and injustice that survivors most often face. We rise through dance to express joy and community and celebrate the fact that we have not been defeated by this violence. We rise to show we are determined to create a new kind of consciousness – one where violence will be resisted until it is unthinkable.”

One Billion Rising (OBR for short) began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS.

Every February 14th, we rise – in hundreds of countries across the world – to show our local communities and the world what one billion looks like and shine a light on the rampant impunity and injustice that survivors most often face.  In Second Life, we rise through dance and art and poetry to express joy and community and celebrate the fact that we have not been defeated by this violence. We rise to show we are determined to create a new kind of consciousness – one where violence will be resisted until it is unthinkable.

In Second Life we are a 24 hour festival of music, art, poetry, literature and dance where women, men and children can rise, explore, meet others, share their stories or be inspired by others.

Almost every year we have produced a video to celebrate the upcoming One Billion Rising in Second Life. Now in our 8th year we couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to illustrate, through dance, the message of One Billion Rising. This years’ dance has been choreographed by the talented Brittainy Collins and filmed and edited seamlessly by the wonderful Chantal Harvey.

The dancers are volunteers, some who work within the OBR team and regular visitors and we’d like to thank everyone involved. There’s still time to get involved One Billion Rising in Second Life 2020 and you can find more information on how to on our information page.

We had an extra video made this year with a slightly different soundtrack. A Spanish version of the OBR theme song, Break the Chain! Check out the English/Spanish ‘remix’ below! This version is sung by Katherine Jamilka (Caracas, Venezuela). Katherine isn’t a Second Life resident but her father, Gilberto is and Katherine and Gilberto will be singing live at OBR at 5pm slt 14th February!

We look forward to seeing you all at One Billion Rising on the 14th February.

Zoha Islands And Fruit Islands will See you all there in support of One Billion Rising.

Have a great week!

Taking Flight Across the Virtual World

Zoha Islands and Fruit Islands offer a perfect place to fly and sail in our 220 sim community. So pop on over to one of our 4 airports or one of our many sailing harbors. You can Sail in one of the many Regattas and fly in one of our up coming pylon air races.  Main harbor office for Fruit Islands , Main Airport

The latest edition of Made in Second Life, narrated by longtime Resident Marianne McCann, explores the many aviation communities taking flight across SL.

“I have a strong fondness for SL aviation and flying in Second Life,” says McCann. “I think the really fascinating thing about Second Life is that the people who created it and continue to run it may not necessarily have been able to foresee every possibility that Second Life has unlocked for people. It’s become something so much greater than what may have been envisioned.”

Interest in aviation has grown organically over the years, and McCann credits many of the pioneers who made key contributions to the evolution of flight across the grid.

“Garth FairChang made some of the first airplanes with the idea of traveling from the telehubs…and then that led to Cubey Terra – a great pioneer in SL aviation,” she says.

Getting started isn’t difficult, but it helps to join a community or group of existing virtual world aviation enthusiasts.

“The easiest way to fly even without a plane in Second Life is to join a group called Passengers of SL created by Laben Core,” says McCann. “You’ll find pilots there who want to ferry people around just for the fun of having passengers in their plane. They’ll go from Second Life airport to airport. You’ll also find that there’s a lot of demo rezzers in the various aviation stores that are out there where you can take one of their planes out on a free ride.”

While there are plenty of free rides to be had, there are also several options for those who are willing to splurge.

“If you are going to buy a plane then it is going to cost you a bit of money so if you want to get a decent helicopter (like one from Shergood Aviation) you’re gonna lay out about L$5,000,” says McCann. “For that, you’ll have working dashboards on them so you can get the complete feeling of traveling by your instruments with a lot of mesh detailing.”

Another option is a special Marianne McCann limited-edition version of the Sopwith Camel WarBug biplane made by Arduenn Schwartzman.

Not all flights need to be conventional. Some modes of travel are designed more for humor and fun than aerodynamic efficiency.

“With Second Life, you can fly around in a paper airplane,” says McCann. “Perhaps, even a bacon sandwich [that] you could take to the air?”

So, where’s the aviation action?

“Flying in SL really focuses on the Mainland thanks to the large landmass. Most of the airports are actually located on the Mainland and most of the flying goes on there because you can go for great distances,” she says.

Some aviation communities even specialize in story-based play and/or situational exercises such as search-and-rescue. “There’s a lot of roleplaying that happens in SL aviation,” says McCann. “Things like the SL Coast Guard where people will stage accidents to fly out and rescue people.”

The SL Coast Guard has over 150 members who train daily in sophisticated roleplay scenarios, involving safety training. Many members are first responders in the physical world as well.

“You’ll even find people that will take out large air tankers that are used for refueling in the air and they’ll do refueling for combat missions,” she adds.

Ready to get started? Whether you are flying in a conventional plane or a bacon sandwich, you’ll find plenty of places to explore in the Airplanes category in the Destination Guide.

CREDITS:
Video production by Draxtor Despres
Logo courtesy of Marianne McCann

Enjoy your Second Life and like us on Facebook     Fruit Islands

Have a great week from all of us at Zoha Islands And Fruit Islands.

This post is about how to fix slow rezzing issues in the firestorm and SL viewer.

If you are running anything other than Windows 10 remember Linden Labs will not support it anymore and you Must UPGRADE. January 14 2020 was the ‘end of support’ date for Windows 7. The last ‘official’ day to get a free upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 was July 29, 2016. Many of us chose to let that opportunity pass, for a variety of reasons. Maybe you saw no need to upgrade, maybe it was reports of bugs in the new OS, or perhaps you just got busy and missed the deadline. Or did you? Now, over three years later, there is still a path to upgrade your Windows 7 computer to Windows 10 for free. I tried it, and successfully upgraded a Windows 7 computer. Here’s the scoop…

Free Windows 10 Upgrades From Windows 7 or 8.1

You’ve probably heard that Windows 7 reached “end of life” on 01/14/2020. That did NOT mean that your Windows 7 computer stopped working on January 15, 2020. It does mean that you won’t receive any further Windows security updates, and that’s a very good to say goodbye to this 10-year-old operating system.

So can you still get Windows 10 for free? Why yes, you can. Microsoft, by design or accident, has left open a path to a free, legitimate license of Windows 10 for users moving from Windows 7 or 8.1. (This assumes you have a legal, activated version of Windows now.) We’ll go over the steps, but there are a few preparations to make.

First, make a backup. It’s not likely, but when doing a major system upgrade, things can go wrong. Or you might not like the brave new world of Windows 10. A full image backup will give you the option to “turn back the clock” and restore your computer to the exact state it was in before the upgrade.

Next, temporarily disconnect any external storage devices, such as external hard drives or USB flash drives. You can plug them back in after the upgrade, but in some scenarios, having them connected can cause problems.

You can initiate the upgrade at the Download Windows 10 page on the Microsoft website. On that page is the Media Creation Tool, which you can use to install Windows 10 using a DVD or USB flash drive. Click the blue “Download tool now” button. When the download is complete, run the Windows 10 setup program and select the “Upgrade this PC now” option. Follow the instructions, and you’ll end up with Windows 10.

There’s no need to dig up your Windows license key, or pull out your credit card. After the upgrade, you can confirm that you have a valid digital license for Windows 10 by going to Settings > Update & Security > Activation.

As I mentioned earlier, I tried this method on a computer of mine that was still running Windows 7, and it worked fine. I did notice one minor glitch. One of my third-party programs didn’t work, but after installing the latest version of Bitwise SSH Client, all was well. I found that the Windows 10 interface was quite similar to Windows 7, and didn’t require much of a learning curve. And Windows 10 does have a boatload of security improvements, including ransomware protection.

This method of upgrading to Windows 10 for free does not seem to be an oversight by Microsoft, because it’s been available for three and a half years. However, it may stop working without notice. My belief is that Microsoft would be pleased if you paid $119 for your Windows 10 license, but they’ll be content to have you continue as a Windows user. That gives them the opportunity to sell you other services, such as Microsoft Office 365 or One Drive cloud storage.

If you’ve been thinking about moving from Windows 7 to Windows 10, but the cost was holding you back, give this a try.

Have a great week from the staff at ZI and FI