Virtual Living Magazine Dec 2009 Issue
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Transcript of Virtual Living Magazine Dec 2009 Issue
December 2009
NEW XSTREET ALTERNATIVE, SLAPT.ME
SAY NO TO SL PROPOSED CHANGES
HIGHLAND MEADOW HOMES Exclusive
YUMMY HOLIDAY RECIPES
NEW VIDEO STREAMS BY NEO STREAMS
Holiday Edition
SAUR HOLT - GPD FASHION SHOW
Virtual LivingMAGAZINE PERSONNEL
Owner:
Editor In Chief
Marketing & Content Manager:
Graphic Designers:
Writers:
Virtual LivingMAGAZINE PERSONNEL
Charlenecc Charisma
Flynt Eberhardt
Synthetyc Summers
Synthetyc Summers
Synthetyc Summers
Charlenecc Charisma
Aren Darkfold
Jaeris Maven
Punkin Constantine
Letter from the Publisher Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to each and every one of
you that support and read VLM!
I can hardly believe another year has passed so quickly. It
seems like just yesterday that I logged into Second Life for the
first time, with no clue what to do, how to do anything, let
alone where to do it. With a lot of questions in mind and the SL
website as my guide, I ventured off to this new world that I had
discovered. I quickly found out that I needed a job that
brought in more linden than I spent. So Virtual Living
Magazine was born, with the now real life friend that I met
here, Synthetyc Summers.
Christmas means many different things to each of us, but let me
share my own thoughts for this Season:
I remember Christmases of my youth, trying very hard to stay
awake and wait for Santa to place those brightly wrapped gifts
under the tree. Waiting for mommy and daddy to wake up, and
that always seemed to be an eternity. We weren’t allowed to
get near the presents, let alone shake one to try and guess what
was inside. Then mama would get up and make us have break-
fast first, how dare her!! Next were the Christmas Carols, oh
my goodness! Are we ever going to open gifts?
Then, finally, the hour arrived. Much like coming into SL for
the first time, you have no idea what is inside, or on the next
sim. To hell with gently removing the wrapping paper that was
so lovingly placed around your gifts or even the beautiful bright
bows that mom saved every year! After, what seemed like only
minutes, I had shredded into every present with my name on it,
leaving tiny shreds of paper, all over the living room. The trail
of ribbon would follow me into my bedroom, as I placed all of
my new toys on my bed.
The scents of Christmas stay with me to this day, cinnamon,
nutmeg, vanilla and special Christmas dinner that mama had
cooking in the oven. She spent hours baking fresh pies, stuffing
the bird and drying out the bread for the stuffing. Now only if
we had smell-o-vision here in SL. There is an awesome idea!
Is anyone up for a challenge? Think of the possibilities! SL
restaurants, snack shops, or even convenience stores on every
sim, brewing coffee. Until then, we have unlimited possibilities
of creativity. Not just in SL but in real life as well.
As you travel to your homes and families, be safe and happy.
Remember the past when it comes to those days you were
happiest. To cozy fireplaces, puppy dogs with a bow on their
head, dolls that didn’t bend at the waist and smiles that lasted
throughout the year, but remember to make new memories for
you and yours to savor throughout the New Year and for years
to come.
The horror stories of the
wedding planner being a no
show is the biggest complaint
we hear.
Choose a reliable professional
source! Don‟t waste your hard
earned lindens on a wedding that
doesn't WOW you!
Contact Synthetyc Summers to
help you create the wedding of
your dreams. We cater to ALL wedding styles
Coming January 2010
2010 Consumer report EDITION
We asked the community of second life and our readers where they like to shop for various items and you wont believe
what the results are!
We covered tons of second life! This issue you will want read all year long!
Don’t miss the January Issue of VLM!
The horror stories of the
wedding planner being a no
show is the biggest complaint
we hear.
Choose a reliable professional
source! Don‟t waste your hard
earned lindens on a wedding that
doesn't WOW you!
Contact Synthetyc Summers to
help you create the wedding of
your dreams. We cater to ALL wedding styles
Live Tribute Concerts
Holiday Recipes
Holiday Recipes
A collection of delicious
recipes for any occasion.
Enjoy these user submitted
recipes as a gift from us to you
Hanukkah Honey Cookies
Celebrate Hanukkah with honey-flavored cookies cut into
traditional holiday shapes.
Makes: 3 1/2 dozen 2-inch cookies
Cookies
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 3/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Easy Almond Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 to 3 tablespoons water
Blue Decorator Frosting
1 cup powdered sugar
3 to 5 teaspoons water
Blue food coloring
1. Heat oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease cookie sheet. In large bowl,
mix 1/3 cup powdered sugar, the butter, honey, 1 teaspoon almond
extract and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt until well
blended.
2. On lightly floured, cloth-covered surface, roll dough 1/8 inch
thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Place about 1 inch apart on cookie
sheet.
3. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove
from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 min-
utes.
4. For almond glaze, in medium bowl, mix 2 cups powdered
sugar, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and 2 tablespoons water until
smooth. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon at a time,
until spreadable.
5. For blue frosting, in another medium bowl, mix 1 cup pow-
dered sugar and enough water to make frosting that can be easily
drizzled or used in a decorating bag yet hold its shape. Stir in 3 or
4 drops food color.
6. Spread almond glaze over cookies. Decorate with blue frosting.
Make these wonderful cookies a family tradition. You can cut
them freehand, but using cookie cutters makes the job much eas-
ier. Many cake decorating and arts and craft stores sell the cookie
cutters used to make these cookies.
Time Saver
Skip the glaze and frosting, and sprinkle with blue sugar before
baking.
Eggnog Surprise
Ingredients
1 oz. Kahlua®
4 oz. egg nog
Nutmeg
Directions: Mix Kahlua® with
eggnog in a wine glass and then
sprinkle nutmeg on top.
Chocolate Milk Whip Ingredients
4 oz. chocolate milk
2 oz. cold coffee
Whipped cream
Shaved chocolate
Optional
1 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream®
Directions
Fill a tall glass with ice. Add 4 oz. chocolate milk and 2 oz.
cold coffee. Top with whipped cream and garnish with shaved
chocolate.
For an individual adult cocktail, add 1 oz. of Bailey's.
Sweet Potato Surprise Ingredients
CASSEROLE
* 4 sweet potatoes, baked and mashed
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup margarine, melted
* 1/2 cup milk
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
TOPPING
* 1 cup grated unsweetened coconut, dried or fresh
* 1 cup pecans
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup margarine
Instructions:
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the
sweet potatoes, sugar, margarine, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract
until well combined. Transfer the mixture into a 2 1/2-quart bak-
ing dish.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the topping ingredients with
a pastry cutter or your fingertips until crumbly. Distribute the
topping over the sweet potatoes. Then bake the casserole for 20
minutes or until lightly browned. Serves 6 to 8.
Chilled Pineapple Cream Cheese Dessert
1 cup of Sugar
2 cans of chunk pineapple
2 eggs
2 table spoon of Cornstarch
Mini marshmallows
2 blocks of Cream Cheese
In a saucepan for stove or bowl for microwave, put in the
juice from 2 cans of chunk pineapple, 2 beaten eggs 1 cup
of sugar and 2 tablespoon of Cornstarch.
Cook until thick. Beat out any lumps.
Then add your 2 blocks of cream cheese using a mixer
add your pineapple chunks and marshmallows to your
liking. Mix well.
Chill in the refrigerator and ENJOY and think of me with
this yummy dessert.
Pretzel Turtles
This is my quick-fix snack, Pretzel Turtles. In a matter of 10
minutes, I can satisfy my sweet tooth, and my salty tongue. Can
you imagine anything more heavenly than glorious chocolate
hugging a salty pretzel, topped with a crunchy toasted nut and
oozing with warm caramel?
All in one bite.
Ingredients
* 20 small mini pretzels
* 20 chocolate covered caramel candies
* 20 pecan halves
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on a parchment
lined cookie sheet. Place one chocolate covered caramel
candy on each pretzel.
3. Bake for 4 minutes. While the candy is warm, press a
pecan half onto each candy covered pretzel. Cool com-
pletely before storing in an airtight container.
IMPORTANT:
Eat as many as you can while they are still warm. Go ahead,
Herb-roasted Turkey
Ingredients
15- to 20-pound turkey
Salt
1/4 cup soft butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
6 to 8 chopped fresh sage leaves
(or 2 to 3 teaspoons dried crumbled sage)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
(or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 to 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
1. Position the rack in the bottom third of the oven and heat
the oven to 325º. Remove the turkey neck, heart, and gizzard and
discard or reserve for another use. Rinse the bird well inside and
out and pat dry, then salt the cavity.
2. In a small mixing bowl, blend the butter, herbs, mustard,
lemon zest, and pepper. Starting at the tail end, gently slide your
hand under the skin of the turkey breast to loosen it. Using your
fingers, smear a generous tablespoon of the butter mixture on
each half of the breast. Smear half of the remaining herb butter on
the exposed flesh near the neck. Then smear the remaining herb
butter over the skin of the breast.
(If you are not stuffing the bird, pull up the excess skin at the neck
to seal, and secure it to the body of the bird with a small skewer or
toothpicks.)
3. Loosely fill the neck cavity with stuffing. Pull up the excess
skin at the neck to seal, and secure it to the body with a small skewer
or toothpicks. Loosely fill the main cavity with stuffing. Tie together
the legs with kitchen twine, or secure them with the plastic leg
clamps if the bird came with them. Tuck the wing tips under the bird
so they don't scorch.
4. Place the turkey directly in a large roasting pan or on a rack
inside the roasting pan. Roast for 1 hour without opening the oven.
After 1 hour, add 1 cup of chicken broth to the pan. Rotate the pan
180º. Continue to roast until the meat registers 180º, measured at the
thickest part of the inside thigh; do not let the thermometer touch
bone. At the center of the cavity, the stuffing should register 165º.
Add more broth to the pan, if necessary, to keep the pan juices from
burning. Total cooking time for a stuffed turkey should be 4 1/4 to 5
hours (for an unstuffed bird, subtract 30 minutes). Transfer the turkey
to a large platter. Cover and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes. Pour the
pan juices into a 2-cup measure and set aside for the gravy.
Makes 10 servings. Enjoy and think of us when you cook it!
From our family to yours.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Click info for Landmark
Region: Bau Tessle 205,251,24
A beautiful roman setting ready to fulfill
all your wildest desire.
Spend the holidays Aphrodite Style
Highland Meadows Homes
There are many prefabricated homebuilders in second life, each
one unique from the other. Sometimes the search results hinder
us from seeing some of the most innovative creations, as we tend
to gravitate toward businesses with top traffic numbers.
This month Virtual Living Magazine is proud to interview the
owners of Highland Meadow Homes. What an honor to meet two
creative inspiring people who have such a love for the second life
community.
You definitely owe it to yourself to spend some time touring these
realistic, innovative high detailed homes.
Each structure is meticulously built with its real world counter-
part in mind. It was as if I was walking into my mother's real life
summer home at Cape Cod! In each room of the homes you can
see the superior texturing that has been done by Kate Mclaglen.
Elliott Eldrich started a company called „Creative Excellence‟.
He sold over five thousand units in approximately 18 months. At
one point, he designed, built and sold furniture. He closed those
services down because he was not fully satisfied with the product.
Shortly thereafter he and Kate became partners, not only in
Second Life, in real life. Elliott was always impressed with
Kate's abilities in using different techniques to enhance various
textures. He was also conscious of her ardent sense of style.
Highland Meadows Homes
After some time, the two creative minds thought of teaming up
to combine their efforts and create a whole new line of elegant
homes! Kate has been busy with her own businesses, some of
which are still currently up and running. Her other stores
are; Aesthetics Inc, Nautical Shoppe, Hat Heaven, Wicker
Shoppe, Cabinet Cove, Kate McLaglen Creation, Mermaid's
Pearl, Urban Misfit, and Kate McLaglen Enterprises Mall. Kate
definitely has a knack for consulting.
During the good old days,
back in late70‟s, Elliot had
been working with (CAD)
Computer Aided Design. He
started out by using 2D CAD
for an integrated circuit
layout. Over the next 23
years, his skills became more
diverse and detailed. While
using 2D CAD for many years, Elliot was dreaming „outside the
box‟ and of the possible concept of 3D CAD's.
He started dabbling with 3D
studios and found that he liked it
quite a bit more. The next
thought was to market all of
these beautiful designs, but to
whom? Elliot started looking on
the internet and came across SL.
Suddenly he realized that he
could finally do what he always
dreamed of doing, create 3D structures.
Highland Meadows Homes
With SL being totally built by its players, and with its own virtual
economy, it was the perfect match! Kate's actual son is just like
Elliot. He worked on planning and design for the movie
Highland Meadows Homes
Kate and Elliott design homes together. They may have their
creative differences at times, but no blood has been shed between
the two of them, yet. These partners are driven, and are
perfectionists in the strictest sense. Their opinions matter
significantly to each other. Even when being critical of the others
work. The most powerful part of their relationship is, they listen
to each other. Some people say that true romance is dead and that
two people being able to complete the other are equally obsolete.
Starting out in SL over 1year ago, the two were merely friends and
they spent most of their time to themselves.
The name „Highland Meadows‟ does have a personal meaning to
both Kate and Elliott. Kate's real life family has Celtic roots. She
loves the idea that their name could invoke a Celtic mood. Elliott
added that he has always had a fondness for Scotland and the
Highlands, specifically. He hopes that sometime in the near
future, that he and Kate will travel to actually see Scotland and its
picturesque Highlands!!
The meticulous details of these homes aren‟t found just anywhere
else in SL. Elliott and Kate have mastered building in the highest
quality. Anyone with building experience will unquestionably
appreciate the detail in each home!! Elliot added that he has
learned how to create his own sculpties that are optimized to
display properly for any environmental setting, for anyone using
the SL viewer. Kate's doesn‟t feel stressed when she has to re-do
the textures over and over to make the perfect blend of colors.
The essence of realistic homes has come to Second Life at last!!
Some textures holds approximately up to 150 layers of color.
If you are interested in purchasing the textures, you need to buy
the house. Kate's textures aren‟t for sale. They are exclusively
used for their homes and furniture.
They do not leave a single portion of any style home un-
touched. Each build, from conception to completion, takes
about 4-8 weeks. The newest creation is their „Cape Elizabeth‟
home. From the rich blue exterior, to its warm tones inside, you
feel the true sense of love and care that was taken in creating
this dream home on Cape Cod.
You can locate Highland Meadow Homes in world at
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Highland%20Meadow%
201/190/55/21. There is so much to look at and admire you
owe it to yourself to visit Highland Meadow Homes to see what
everyone I raving about! Tell them Virtual Living Magazine
sent you!
Visit them online at
http://highlandmeadowhomes.com
They absolutely live up to their motto,
To create the most detailed, highest quality
homes in Second Life (TM), and do it within a
reasonable prim budget.
Highland Meadows Homes
Highland Meadows Homes
Interview
nEo Stream Services
New Released Video Streams Written by: CharleneCC Charisma
Virtual Living Magazine would like to introduce you to Brad
Ohtobide and Chastity Saintlouis, the owners of „nEo Stream‟.
This real life married couple have taken a fledgling Second Life
business idea and developed it into to a budding, successful
company. I enjoy learning what brings people into SL, and the
motivation behind their businesses.
Brad came into Second Life to fulfill a personal goal of
obtaining enough money to purchase a LCD Monitor for his
computer; after 7 months of DJ‟ing 7 or 8 gigs a day, he had
satisfied that goal! During Brad‟s DJ days, he of course needed
a stream and thought, there has to be a way to offer cheaper
streams, with better customer service and more features than
simply paying 4000L/mo. Initially, Brad‟s wife Chastity and
about 10-15 of her friends had come into SL, Brad followed a
few months later, somewhat skeptical.
While talking with Brad and Chastity, it became clear that
customer service and cost effectiveness are the 2 main areas that
they considered needing improvement. Brad had made enough
linden for his new monitor, so he began nEo Stream. For those
that may not be knowledgeable about streaming audio,
including me, they explained what services they provide and
how their service is superior in many ways.
Without divulging any 'company' secrets, I asked them how the
stream processes work, for the curious minded or technically
challenged. Chastity told me that their customers in Second
Life use a third party broadcasting program to send the desired
music to our server. Then our server forwards that music to a
URL placed in the land page that the customer wishes to stream
on. The reason our servers are necessary is that most residential
internet connections do not have the bandwidth needed to
stream the music to more than 3 or 4 people. When streaming
music, the DJ software will maintain a steady stream at a con-
stant bit rate (CBR). The first day our business opened in SL,
we sold about 10 streams, after a month we had sold out our
first server!
Initially, there was some doubt in the SL community that we
would be able to provide stable service at the prices we were
asking, but there were quite a few that took the chance and for
that we are grateful! They currently have 21 stream servers and
8 other servers that are used for various other things such as re-
search and development, sequential back-ends, web hosting and
things like that. nEoStream currently has approximately 1500
regular customers and another 150 outside of SL for internet ra-
dio stations.
I asked if they had any plans for expansion or other projects
that they would like to share with the readers. Brad told me that
he and Chastity are actually working on various new products,
ranging from website hosting, blog hosting, sequential database
hosting for SAM users, VPS server hosting and more.
All of their employees are those they met after starting nEo.
What better sales people than actual customers! Chastity wanted
to make sure that the readers understand just how important
customer service and technical support are to their success. If
someone has a question or technical issue, they can IM a
customer service rep directly, and tell what the issue is and we
will walk them through the process of fixing it. The CSRs are :
Brad, Chastity, Denja, JustOneMore Loon, and Klownie Allen.
Brad informed me that if there is an issue to be resolved, neither
of them sleeps until the problem is resolved. When they have
implemented new updates or service, they have taken turns
sleeping in order to monitor all the servers. I could tell that both
Brad and Chastity have the right approach and attitude. I can see
why nEoStream has become so successful and continues to grow
in popularity.
Before leaving them I asked if there was anything either of
them wanted to leave with the SL Community. Chastity said,
“We try to give our customers as much instruction as possible in
how to fix anything that may go wrong, as well as tools to
diagnose it, such as the HUD and the Control Panel.” In fact,
Chastity is writing an instructional book that will cover
everything.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/nEo%20Streams/81/176/47
YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/neostreamsvc
Twitter -- http://twitter.com/neostreamsvc
nEo Stream Services - Shoutcast and IceCast up to 192kbit!!
************* *********** ********** *********
* Listeners * * Monthly * * Weekly * * Daily *
************* *********** ********** *********
100 2000L 600L 200L
50 1500L 500L 175L
30 1000L 300L 100L
20 800L 200L 75L
10 500L 100L 50L 1500L
Automated Streams
==============
The automated stream is a stream that plays music that you upload
to our servers automatically, so that you can have the songs you
want playing on your land without using your personal computer's
resources to broadcast.
The automated stream can also be used as a normal stream, mean-
ing that you turn off the automated portion and it can be used by a
live DJ for an event!
Automated Price List
128kbit 128kbit 128kbit
100 listener 50 Listener 30 Listener
4Gb Storage 6000L 2Gb Storage 3500L 1Gb Storage 1750L
3Gb Storage 5000L 1.5Gb Storage 3000L 768MB Storage
Free nEo Stream HUD with every Shoutcast stream purchase!
Check out our new HeadFlips, available at our store for 250L each!
We also have display boards that allow you to designate DJs who
can display Information for your nEo Stream!!
Custom sized streams, prices based on specifics. Prompt and car-
ing
customer service. Customer parties with games and the chance to
win 600L off your next month's fee!!
Contact Brad Ohtobide for purchasing and support
or you may also contact Chastity Saintlouis
for customer service.
Click info for a landmark and more information
about nEo Stream Services.
Huge Holiday Sales!
Custom Create any item you want on site!
Christmas Trees, Lights & Decorations
We are your one stop shopping source
For the holidays and any time of year.
Lowest Christmas prices on the grid
Touch info for a landmark
Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' in Second Life. Enjoy London Anno 1843. Go ice skating, shopping and enjoy a hot tea in our cozy pub. Who knows .. maybe you meet Ebenezer
Scrooge?! ;) Stores: Label aDIVA & Witchcat Designs
Click Info for LANDMARK
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' in Second Life. Enjoy London Anno 1843. Go ice skating, shopping and enjoy a hot tea in our cozy pub. Who knows .. maybe you meet Ebenezer
Scrooge?! ;) Stores: Label aDIVA & Witchcat Designs
Click Info for LANDMARK
Christmas Hot Spot
Say no to FASHION without FREEBIES
Beginning in the near future, Linden Labs has decided to start
charging new rates for all items sold on Xstreet SL. Immediately
following the release of this information to the Second Life
community, a collection of dedicated women formed a group to
Save the Freebies! Keira Seerose, Sage Aeghin, and Americus
Lovenkraft are determined NOT to let freebies suffer!
The following is a breakdown of pricing directly from the second
life website that will soon go into effect. Listings for free items
will now be treated as a marketing/promotional tool and will cost
L$99 for the listing. Since freebies are being treated as a
marketing opportunity, this price could fluctuate depending on
demand for this advertisement opportunity.
Minimum Commission of L$3 on all items priced
L$1 or greater:
L$1-L$9 listings - Commission will go from L$0 to L$3
L$10-L$29 listings - Commission will go from L$1 to L$3
L$30-L$49 listings - Commission will go from L$2 to L$3
L$50+ listings - Commission will remain the same (5%)
Monthly Listing Fee of L$10 for all items L$1 or greater:
All non-freebie listings will now be charged L$10 per month to
remain listed in the Xstreet SL Marketplace
Currently, less than 20% of Xstreet SL listings make at least one
sale per month. This displays just how much clutter of unsold
items exists on Xstreet SL.
The L$10 per month listing fee will be an incentive for merchants
to pull items that are not selling.
Timeline:
We will provide at least 2 weeks notice
before releasing any of these changes.
We expect to enact these controls within
the time window of 30 - 90 days following
this roadmap announcement.
When Americus Lovenkraft, owner of
Ameri's Designs, received the notice regarding Xstreet‟s upcoming
changes, she knew this would greatly affect her business. Many
business owners offer free items on Xstreet to help newcomers to
Second Life, as well as to offer something from their business to
establish a new customer base from advertising and exposure. This
is essential if the traffic in world is not substantial, compared to
others that are ranked higher.
Several of us also use Xstreet as a „search‟ tool. We use the Xstreet
website search tool to locate an item, then once we find that item,
we have the ability to purchase it online or go directly to the in
world location. Many times, as we are searching, we come across
other items that catch our eye and we purchase that way also.
When a designer lists a free item on Xstreet, it gives the shopper
a way to see the quality of their work. If they like the item, they
are more likely to purchase something else from that designer
later. Examples of some free things are demo items, product
guides, magazine issues, kiosks and more that you can try for
free.
If Xstreet moves forward with the
proposed changes, this will greatly
affect the variety of selections that
merchants will be able to list. L$99
per listing is just too costly for some
merchants; especially those just s
tarting out, or for some of the lesser
known designers.
Many of us do not have the time to
teleport around the grid, or the
ability to teleport many times to go
shopping. Xstreet becomes vital for
this purpose. You also find skilled designers and creators that do
not have the high traffic to appear in search, so they use Xstreet
as a sales alternative. Many of us use the Featured Items section
as a shopping tool, this will be affected
greatly.
A petition against these changes has been
produced for you, the readers and players
in Second Life to let your voice be counted
at: http://www.fashionwithoutfreebies.com.
Fashion without freebies has mass events planned for players to
attend and participate in. Contact Keira Seerose, Sage Aeghin,
and Americus Lovenkraft for more information on how you can
become involved with this cause.
When asked what they hoped the end result of their efforts would
be, they all agreed, “We can only try to make a difference in the
community. Linden Labs already benefits from the thousands
with premium accounts, also when players cash their linden for
regular currency. Xstreet was a successful business venture and
now that Linden Labs bought it out, it‟s yet another opportunity
for them to cash in on other‟s hard work.”
Grand Opening Wednesday Dec. 2nd 2009
Night Club &Shopping
Everyone Welcome
NO LISTING FEES
MORE OPTIONS
The “New” Xstreet
Alternative
As Linden Lab makes changes to the Second Life com-
merce, you may find that you are looking for another way
to sell or purchase items online. After the blog post re-
garding freebies and commission rates, many second life
merchants have made the decision to pull out from Xstreet
SL. Where are they going you may ask? Well, I’ll tell
you; there is a new resource, and you’re going to want to
check them out.
Introducing, SLAPT, (http://slapt.me/) the new second life com-
merce alternative to Xstreet. With already 13,000+ items and
growing for you! I was intrigued with this new commerce site
and I had to learn more. Constanza Amsterdam was delighted
to meet with me to discuss the new SLAPT commerce site.
Currently SLAPT is created and operated by Constanza Amster-
dam, and her husband Lord Sullivan, Kosta Cela, and Bykoff
Sontse. They are an official registered company in The Nether-
lands. She and her husband have been second life contributors
since 2005. They all have worked together for a long time in
Second Life.
Soon after reading that Linden Lab purchased Xstreet and On-
rez they decided in April 2009 to start something themselves
and give the people back an independent e-commerce website.
The doors have been open to SLAPT since July 2009 to prepare
for the Linden Lab changes.
The growth of SLAPT has been quite rapid Constanza reported,
but the massive traffic has just begun with the famous blog
posting of Linden Lab. Currently they have over 1300+ verified
accounts and its growing daily.
Constanza wants users to understand that they are not Xstreet,
and want to be different. They listen to their members and do
their best to follow their wishes that is what sets us apart from
the rest.
SLAPT charges a low commission rate of 5%
with no listing fees! There are no increases in
commission rates for the future. In addition,
the enhancements are much more affordable
than others are. Along with low fees and user-
friendly interface, they also have in world ter-
minals that operate similar to Xstreet with chat commands for
use. Touching the terminal will give you a note card so you
can learn how to operate the terminals. For example: If you
want to know your Slapt balance, you go to the terminal and
type in local chat: slaptbal. They are working on new up-
grades to the terminals to operate by menu touch in the fu-
ture.
Constanza and her team have been dili-
gently working with the servers and mainte-
nance to make sure the site is strong, secure
and fast for everyone to register and list
items and shop.
Not only is SLAPT a fantastic alternative to
Xstreet they even have vendors that operate
with the website! Vendors are customizable,
free to purchase, 5% commission to support
the website, listing on website at the same
time and so much more! This is an awe-
some addition for merchants. Read more
about the SLAPT vendors here:
http://slapt.me/market/index.php?
act=market&id_item=7634
SLAPT will soon be implementing a banner advertising sys-
tem to the market, forum along with advertising on the ter-
minals. Additionally, SLAPT allows freebie postings at no
charge to the merchant. Coming very soon, merchant tem-
plates to make posting items faster and easier.
I have already started posting on SLAPT and I love the ease
of setup, and the multiple pictures you can post at no cost!
Five pictures, and with a popup, so you don‟t have a click
extra. I love that!
Constanza was delighted to say that they have some great
plans for 2010, and now is the best time to create your ac-
count. Spread the word that SLAPT is user created by the
community just like it suppose to be! If you want to learn
more about SLAPT, you can log on to slapt.me and read the
forums.
Now, Be Smart, Get Slapt! http://slapt.me/
You can rent from ~Elite~Rentals with perfect confidence. In business over 2 years, which is an eternity in SL time.
The friendly sim owner is online12-18 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Together with his land manager, he assists all renters with any issues that arise.
All Sims, except mainland, are restarted twice a week or more
and are constantly monitored for high scripts that could cause lag.
Contact Chuckie Boozehound for additional information.
Get quality service and peace of mind knowing your landlord is working for YOU, not just your money.
You can rent from ~Elite~Rentals with perfect confidence. In business over 2 years, which is an eternity in SL time.
The friendly sim owner is online12-18 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Together with his land manager, he assists all renters with any issues that arise.
All Sims, except mainland, are restarted twice a week or more
and are constantly monitored for high scripts that could cause lag.
Contact Chuckie Boozehound for additional information.
Get quality service and peace of mind knowing your landlord is working for YOU, not just your money.
Christ Was Love Christmas Story
This December, I vow to make Christmas a calm and peaceful
experience. I will have to cut back on nonessential obligations,
extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even
overspending. I do not want to find myself exhausted, unable
to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the
true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, is in kindergarten this year. It is an exciting
season for a six year old. For weeks, he has been memorizing
songs for his school’s “Winter Program.” I didn’t have the
heart to tell him I’d be working the night of his show. Unwill-
ing to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She
assured me there’d be a dress rehearsal the morning of the
presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were
welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy
with the compromise.
So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I arrived 10 minutes
early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around
the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to
their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room.
Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on
the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their
song.
Because the public school system had long stopped referring to
the holiday as “Christmas”. I didn’t expect anything other than
fun songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.
So, when my son’s class rose to sing, Christmas Love”, I was
slightly taken back by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as
were all of his classmates, all adorned in fuzzy mittens, red
sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the
front row, center stage, held up large letters, one by one, to
spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing “C is for
Christmas”, a child would hold up the letter C. Then, “H is for
Happy”, and on and on, until each child holding up his portion
had presented the complete message, “Christmas Love”.
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we no-
ticed her, a small quiet girl in the front row holding the letter
“M” upside down, totally unaware her letter “M” appeared as
a “W”. The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at
this little one’s mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing
at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her “W”. Although
many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter
continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it
together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to
widen.
In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why
we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the
chaos there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last
letter was held high,
the message read loud and clear:
“CHRIST WAS LOVE”.
And, I believe, He still is…….
Written by:Candy Chand