It’s Sunday evening, and another weekend has come and gone. We are facing another Monday tomorrow, but meanwhile I thought I’d close out the weekend with some highlights of things that are happening around the grid, and that are coming up soon.

And here we go…

New Mesh Default Avatars

On Linden Lab’s blog, they posted about new default avatar options they are offering. Linden Labs has updated Second Life’s default avatars with 24 brand new mesh avatars. In the Second Life blog, it states,”These avatars are designed to give new users a more appealing set of choices as they start their time in Second Life. Based on the most popular avatars picked at registration, these new options are much better-looking and take advantage of technology incorporated into Second Life over the past year (like fitted mesh and materials) for a more modern feel.” Maybe noobs won’t look so noob-y anymore!

Even if you’re a current SL user, you can check out the new default avatars in the SL viewer by opening the Avatar Selector in the viewer. Under the People tab, you’ll see a great variety of male and female mesh avatars to pick from. They even have mesh Vampires, along with some other monsters like zombies, werewolves, and winged beasts. 

Project Interesting

Early in May, Lindens Lab announced the latest update to their viewer — Project Interesting. This viewer completes the series of improvements they began several months ago with a series of server updates. This update reduces the load and time it takes to draw objects in regions, meaning scenes appear more quickly and smoothly as you move throughout Second Life. The always-entertaining Torley Linden explains Project Interesting in the, well, interesting video below. Have a look!

SL11B is coming!

As I reported earlier, SL11B, SL’s 11th birthay celebration, is quickly approaching! June 22-29 are the dates. If you want to participate as an exhibitor, performer or volunteer, applications are due May 20th, so hurry and get those applications in! They are not accepting applications from commercial enterprises to promote business. Watch the Destination Guide as it approaches, because all of the events during this wonderful celebration will be listed there. Or you can follow their website here. This year’s theme is “The Empires of the Future.”

Relay for Life

Relay for Life, (or RFL as it is colloquially known in SL) is a huge grid-wide series of events designed to raise funds for cancer research. These events run parallel to the RL American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life” fundraising events. All proceeds raised in SL at these events go directly to the American Cancer Society for their Relay for Life fundraiser. You can see their website here.

According to the Relay for Life Wiki, “Relay For Life of Second Life (RFL of SL) is an annual activity that takes place in Second Life in July each year. Volunteers form or join teams to have fun while fundraising and raising awareness from mid-March through mid-July. In July teams build campsites and walk a track, just like in a Real World Relay. Since 2005, Relay For Life of Second Life has raised over $1 million USD for the American Cancer Society. Relay For Life has become an international movement in RL and in SL.”

RFL has been active in SL since 2004, where they had the first volunteer driven fundraiser for the American Cancer Society ever in Second Life. Ninety-nine Avatars participated, and they raised a total of $2,000 US dollars. In 2013, the ninth RFL of SL saw 3,549 avatars participating, with 200 teams walking 2,898 laps. They raised $393,000 US dollars! This is a whopping $98,250,000 Linden dollars!! (based on an average exchange rate of $250L to $1.00 US). This is truly mind-boggling.

In 2014, the 10th RFL of SL will take place on Saturday, July 19 through Sunday, July 20, 2014. The Event Chair is Nikki Matheson and the theme is “A Journey of Promise.”

Please visit the RFL of SL website and take a look at how huge this event has become. This enormous effort raises hundreds of thousands of US dollars a year, and is a very worthwhile effort. Nearly everyone’s lives have been touched by cancer — either through their own diagnosis or a friend or loved one. Please consider participating, either with your time, or your linden dollar donations.

I remain respectfully yours,

~ Suzanne Piers, ZI Social Media Manager