Lionheart Times: September 5, 2010 by Mistletoe Ethaniel

Lionheart Times - September 5, 2010

Lionheart Times Your Community. Your News.

SO LONG, EMERALD Jessica Lyon, LordGreggGregg join forces for Phoenix Viewer

recent blog post. If that happens, Residents would be alerted via the official Second Life blog and email notification to current Emerald users."

By Mistletoe Ethaniel The already beleaguered Modular Systems, developers of the once wildly popular Emerald viewer, have suffered yet another shakeup which has effectively killed Emerald altogether. In an official statement made on September 1st, Linden Lab reiterated its demands for the Third-Party Viewer in order for it to be reinstated:

Those necessary changes included the termination of three developers from the Emerald Viewer project: Ph0x (aka “Lonely Bluebird”), Skills Hax, and Discrete Dreamscape. In a repost of a letter from Oz Linden to Jessical Lyon, Linden states:

"We have been clear with the Emerald development team about the changes that must be made to their software and team in order to address their violations of our Third-Party Viewer Policy and to become compliant with the GPL licensing terms, and we have given them a reasonable deadline for making the most urgent of these necessary changes. Should they fail to make these changes, we may need to block Emerald Viewers from logging into Second Life to protect the privacy, safety, and security of Second Life Residents, as Philip laid out in his

Fashion Week 2010 Coming September 9-16 to Second Life From September 9-16, fashion designers the grid over will be presenting their newest lines as part of Fall Fashion Week 2010. This is an opportunity for fashion designers of all stripes, from the big-time to the just-starting-out, to show off their latest styles for this autumn with Fashion-Week themed events. Just one quick glance at the blogoshpere will show the casual observer that fashion is a huge part of Second Life for them. In fact, a recent study of 400 avatars conducted by Market Truths (a Second Life-based market research & analysis panel) shows that people who spend more time and money on hair and fashion in their real lives are more likely to be the avatars who spend more time and money on hair and fashion in Second Life. (For any truly interested fashionistas, the report is available in their inworld office for L$5000.) This information can be very valuable for designers or retailers looking to fill niches and improve customer satisfaction. Stay with the Times for coverage of Fashion Week events in the coming weeks, as well as interviews with local fashion retailers, from corespondent Leandra OHare and photographer Alvi Halderman.

Lionheart Merchant in Twisted Hunt SARAFINA – Nibby-Liscious Boutique, owned by resident Niborrekab Nightfire, is a participating merchant in this month's gridwide Twisted Hunt, a semi-annual hunt that features the gothic, creepy, and dark creations of 195 merchants. Nightfire has been in business since last Christmas time, and opened her main shop in its current location in Sarafina, coinciding her shop's grand opening with the spring Twisted Hunt. When Nightfire first opened her store, it was a rented shopfront in the sim of Necrosis, owned by Belladonna Mureaux of Nightshade designs (a sponsor of the Twisted Hunt). It was by way of this association that she first got to take part in Twisted as a merchant, in a special holiday hunt called Twisted Krissmus. The exposure gained in that event ((see Twisted, next page.)

We have considered your request to retain Phox, Skills, and Discrete on the team in some advisory capacity, and have made a final decision: No association with the project in any capacity is acceptable. All connections between those individuals and Emerald Viewer project must be terminated, and that fact made public by the team... Each of the above issues must be addressed no later than Friday September 3rd or Linden Lab will begin taking steps that will culminate in blocking all access by the Emerald Viewer.” (please see Emerald, next page)

New Pager in Newbie Area Wearable HUD means greater ease for Mentors and newbies alike PUMBAA – The interactive Newbie center in Lionheart Pumbaa has long been a great boon to newcomers, and is even featured in the Second Life Destination Guide. One of its greatest features was a pager panel that newbies would click on to page every online Mentor all at once. It was a rather effective system, but had room for improvement. The older pager, for example, had the name of every Mentor—available or otherwise—hovering above it, which newcomers would often contact directly. This would lead to frustration as online but unavailable Mentors were unable to respond to the visitor's request in a timely fashion. But a new system, made possible by local scripter (and the Times' own “Tips from a Techie” columnist) Tylendel Falconer has made life simpler both for Mentors and for new people. With the new system, the Mentor wears a HUD and sets his or her availability quickly and easily by way of the HUD, without having to manually set their status at the Newbie hub. The new system also displays in hovertext the number of available Mentors, rather than a list of names. This should lead to fewer unanswered requests and an overall more positive experience for new people. New HUDs are available at the newbie center by way of the pager, and come with instructional notecards.

New Marketplace Migration News – See Page 2 The Lionheart Times publishes regular editions every Sunday, with occasional Extra issues in between. We're not an official publication of the estate ownership/management of the Lionheart sims; we're a privately owned and community-maintained publication. Therefore views expressed by the Times or its authors are not to be construed as the official views of Dirk Klees, owner of the Lionheart sims, or of any of the estate management. Visit the Lionheart Times building in Lionheart Sarafina any time or email us at sllionhearttimes@gmail.com .

It's a Boy! We at the Lionheart Times would like to congratulate Sookie Slafford on the birth of her new son on Sept. 4th. Best wishes for you and your growing family! (See announcement, pg 6)

CONTENTS Event Listings................2 Business................3 Op/Ed.....................4 Classifieds.............6 Tr a v e l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Features...............8

New Marketplace Migration News Twisted No new XStreet SL listings as of today, as transition continues to New Marketplace

(Continued from Page 1)

earned her the resources to open up her very own main store here in Lionheart. “I've expanded to 2 parcels since coming here,” she says; “Liby Mistletoe Ethaniel onheart has been a great place to cultivate this store.” Her participation Just about anyone who has ever shopped or sold in Second Life is last winter also earned her the opportunity to take part in later Twisted familiar with XStreet SL, a vast online market with listings for events. goods and services of every kind. But soon Xstreet, as residents know it, will be completely overhauled to the new Second Life Mar- Twisted is just one of numerous grid-wide hunts, which are a great opketplace. The Commerce Team at Linden Lab has been working portunity to score many exciting items for free. Hunters go to the first to make the transition as painless as possible for merchants, and location to get detailed directions, a chance to join a hunt group (if depart of that changeover is taking place today: as of September 5, sired), and the first prize box (in the case of Twisted, a small orange no new XStreet SL listings will be enabled for merchants. box). The box contains the first freebie prize and a LM to the second location; the second location contains a prize and LM to the third locaAlso, all feature enhancements (such as bold or featured listings) were tion, and so on until the final stop is reached. Nibby-Liscious Boutique suspended as of September 1st. Items that are already currently listed is stop #15 out of 195. Since its first hunt in March 2009, Twisted has on Xstreet will contain links for customers to purchase them on the become one of the more comprehensively organized grid-wide hunts... new Marketplace; merchants will, however, wish to update photos and and one of the most difficult. Its website warns participating hunters links. (estimated at 7200 in number), “There’s a reason the Twisted Hunt earned the title of ‘Hardest Hunt in SL’ – and we mean to live up to that Grant Linden and other members of the Commerce Team promise title again this time around. We promise you 30 days of orange-box hatmany exciting new features as part of the Marketplace, including—by ing, obscenity-shouting, desk-kicking, brain-melting fun – a bunch of resident demand—the ability to include animated .gif images (earlier other people commiserating and shouting obscenities right alongside proposed Marketplace plans had disabled animated images), the ability you – and some of the best prizes some of the most Twisted designers to put numerous color/style options in a single listing, the ability to list on the grid can wrack their brains to come up with.” demo items at no charge, and even the ability to offer coupons to customers. For merchants participating in grid-wide hunts, Nightfire advises having your own parcel and mainstore location. “Invest in owning land , even The transition, however, is not without its difficulties or its critics. Real if a small parcel so you can have your own SLurl and LM for your store estate listings currently on XStreet will not be migrated to the new Mar- so that you can participate. And,” she adds, “try to make gifts that people ketplace; Grant Linden states that until a long-term solution is created, can really use, or want to wear!” Resident to Resident real estate listings will still be available retroactively in the XStreet category tree. In addition to Twisted, Nightfire's shop is also taking part in the grouponly Gother Than Thou hunt; a group joiner is available at her shop. For more information on the move, visit: http://blogs.secondlife.com/community/commerce/blog/2010/08/31/se The Twisted Hunt is on from Sept. 1-30. For more information and decond-life-marketplace-is-coming-soon--transition-plans tails, plus a list of merchants, visit their website at http://twistedhunt.dv8productions.net/ .

Emerald (continued from page 1) Ph0x, however, refused to compromise. “Linden Lab will be the reason Emerald dies, regardless of what I do,” he is reportedly stated to Lyon, despite her attempts to persuade him otherwise. “...when I’m told to do something I don’t immediately bend over and let linden lab [expletive] me.” The full transcript of the conversation is posted at Lyon's personal blog. The situation at Modular Systems then rapidly deteriorated into a power struggle, still largely unclear, with much hearsay and finger pointing made from various sources. But some facts do remain clear: Linden Lab insisted on Modular Systems complying with their demands, making clear that if they did not com-

ply, the Emerald viewer would be blocked from accessing Second Life altogether. Those demands included the termination of three developers from the project. Two of the three resigned; the third refused. A fourth, Lyon, then resigned, stating that she no longer wanted her name associated with the project. In the wake of the effective death of Emerald, residents expressed outrage at Linden Lab for their “cold blooded murder” of the Emerald Viewer. Many diehard Emerald fans believe the demands were a thinly-veiled means of destroying the immensely popular viewer, speculating that Linden Lab was “jealous” of its success. A video leaked to YouTube on September 2nd plays audio of the remaining Emerald team discussing the final release of Emerald, with Ph0x's voice discussing an abil-

ity to “spoof channels”; that is, claim to be another viewer besides Emerald. Ph0x warns not to spoof an offical SL viewer because of the certainty of being caught. Residents loath to use SL's own 2.0 viewer have been experimenting with other Third-Party Viewers (TPV's), such as Imprudence and former Emerald developer LordGreggGregg Back's Emergence Viewer. Lyon, meanwhile, has teamed up with a host of developers (including Back) and support personnel (some formerly from Modular Systems, some not) to create the new Phoenix Viewer, which launched on September 3rd. Readers are reminded that any TPV is to be used at their own risk, especially one not on the approved Linden Lab list of TPVs.

Prim Litter in Nuka Residents advised to edit “Object Entry” to prevent further trouble

In Lionheart This Week:

NUKA – A massive structure over 50m in height was reported in the streets of southern commercial district in Nuka on Thursday the 2nd, crowding into Nadeau's Home Store and blocking entry to it and the Glass Grinder. Xavion Saltair was called in to dispatch the monstrosity, which hadn't been auto-returned because its root prim had been moved into the boundary of Nadeau's Home Store's parcel. The prims belonged to a new resident who had recently purchased the vacant parcel nearby, and were promptly returned to the owner.

Friday, Sept 10:

Generally, “Object Entry” is enabled in the protected land area (land that includes streets and sidewalks) to enable residents to drive cars, walk dogs, or otherwise use similar scripted objects while traveling in the streets of Lionheart. It differs from “Create Objects” in that it enables objects that are already rezzed to be moved into a parcel with it enabled. So, for example, a parcel with a parking lot that doesn't have “Create Objects” enabled but has “Object Entry” enabled allows someone driving a car down the street to pull into the parking lot with their vehicle. By default, “Object Entry” is enabled on parcels, and landowners often don't alter the setting because of ignorance as to its meaning.

1PM - Chamber of Commerce Meeting 3PM - Open Mic @ Lion’s Poetry Club

Visit website for details CLICK HERE

Therefore, by changing the “Object Entry” in your parcel, you can keep prim litter from being moved into it while you are away.

Event listings are FREE in the Lionheart Times. Send us your info today!

Business

Lionheart Times - September 5, 2010 - Page 3

How Your Profile May Cost You Customers

Using Your Profile Effectively

by Mistletoe Ethaniel A lot of potential customers' first impression of your business comes from their first impression of you; and for many, that first impression comes from your profile. Here are some ways in which your profile might be turning them away, without your even realizing it.

While it's important to not say the wrong things in your profile, there are several “right” things you can add to make it easier for customers to find their way to you.

Your Picture: Consider who your business is for. Does your profile picture conflict with that? For example, if your business is furry avatars and your profile picture isn't even a furry, that can be off-putting. If your business is BDSM supplies and your picture shows you in a business suit hugging your adopted child avatar, that can be VERY off-putting. How to solve it: Simply, change your picture to suit the impression you want to make, so that at very least it doesn't clash with your business. If you do multiple types of business, just a simple headshot should do fine. Your Groups: We all have our work time and our off-work time, and we all have our interests, varied though they might be. Remember that your target group for your business and your personal interests can be very different and even clash. If, for example, you run an all-ages friendly shop, having a "rape & kidnap" group displayed in your profile could very well be the kiss of death for your shop. How to solve it: You can either make an alt and keep their groups separate, or, you can go to each group's settings and uncheck "display group in my profile". Your Description: Here's where a lot of people go wrong, and it's worth dividing into sections for the numerous possible ways the Description can be mishandled. *"You are free to punish this one however you see fit" - I, for one, am not interested in playing your little RP game; I just had a question about an item you made. Never mind; I'll ask someone who actually uses first-person pronouns. *"SPARKLEBUTT NEKO IZ MY LUV 4 EVA AN IF U MESS WIF HIM..." etc. All caps typing is the equivalent of shouting, and intentionally bad spelling and grammar are read as the mark of someone not worth taking seriously for business. Additionally, if people get too personal in their descriptions, basing their whole perceived identity on who their partner is, customers can often read that as "this way lies drama". *Telling your customers all the ways NOT to contact you. DON'T IM me. DON'T send a NC. NO refunds. NO repairs. DON'T do this. DON'T do that. This quickly gives a customer the impression that it's too much trouble to bother contacting you at all. Focus instead of what is the best or easiest way to contact you. *“If you do not understand any of these statements, then you are an IDIOT! Contact me and I will CALL YOU ONE! But be aware that you are agreeing to my TERMS whether you can COMPREHEND THEM or NOT!” This rant is taken, word-for-word, from the Picks of a content creator; in fact it's only the last paragraph of said rant. Tell me: would you want to buy anything from this person?

Put your shop name in your Profile Description. That way, people know right away that you're the one they're looking for. Put your own shop in your Picks. And have it so that it is the FIRST item on the list in your Picks. Profile Picks are arranged alpha-numerically, so if you number your Picks, or else preceed them with punctuation, then you can make sure your shop is at the top of the list. Ask your friends to put your shop in their Picks too. Technically, this is a tip for someone else's profile, but it still benefits you. You'll never know where you or your friends will be when someone peeps at the profile. Have a URL to your XStreet/Marketplace listings in your profile description. This is especially helpful to those who don't have their own inworld shop location yet. Use a URL-shortening service like bit.ly or TinyUrl to make a nice, easy-to-copy URL to your online shop. Make clear to customers how to contact you. Some prefer notecards; others get IMs forwarded to email and so prefer the latter method. Whatever your preferred method, make clear that customers with questions should feel free to contact you at any time about your product or service. Have your own shop group in your profile, and have the SLURL to your shop in the group's description. It’s happened more than once: you search for the shop name, you find the group, but that’s all you find. Don't have people almost find your shop; let them easily find it and go there right away.

LindeX Week

How to solve it: Have your friends look over your profile objectively and ask them: if they didn't know you, and they were potential patrons of your business, would your profile description put them off from shopping with you? In short, your profile should make a good first impression for business, just as if you were preparing for a RL job interview. How do you want to be seen by those who are deciding whether or not to help pay your tier?

Chamber of Commerce Meeting September 10th

The New Chamber of Commerce Building, at the Lionheart Embassy in LeBeau. (Photo: Clover Windlow)

LIONHEART EMBASSY, LEBEAU – Members of the Lionheart Chamber of Commerce are asked to attend a meeting on Friday, September 10th, at 1:00PM SLT, the new Chamber of Commerce building in the Lionheart Embassy in the Mainland sim of LeBeau. This meeting, the first of newly-elected Chairperson Clover Windlow's term, will focus on objectives for the coming six months (such as meeting and workshop schedules and proposed events) as well as discuss the barriers that business owners in Lionheart face and ways of lessening or removing them. Windlow has stated that the Chamber's new mantra will be “Remove the Hurdles” and asks Chamber members to bring their ideas for making business-related communications simpler and more clear.

Lionheart Times - September 5, 2010 - Page 4

We want to hear what you think. Drop your Letters to the Editor off at the Times Building, send them via notecard directly to Clover Windlow, or email them to SLLionhearttimes@gmail.com Not every letter will be published; Editor reserves the right to refuse to publish any letter received. Letters may be edited for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Your letter is most likely to be published if it is concise, makes an original point, and is in quick response to a timely story. Be sure to include your SL name in the paper, and Lionheart neighborhood of residence or work. Opinions expressed in the Op/Ed section are those of their respective authors, and are not necessarily reflective of those of the Lionheart Times.

Opinion/Editorial New Marketplace: I Want to Hate it, But...

Grumbling about the government (read: Linden Lab) is that I have to take the time to re-upload each item’s picsomething that a grouchy old elf like me enjoys. And I ture, and recategorize each item. Also, I have to go into think by and large it’s something lots of us SLers like the description and change every used-to-be formatted doing from time to time. We can be quite curmud- to BB code link so that the text is coherent. geonly, especially when it comes to any sort of radical change. Sometimes our complaints are quite valid (like BUT. It’s really a very logical and clear setup. And it’s really geared to help business people help when it comes to Viewer 2). And it’s bethemselves; with easy links to related prodcause of that attitude that I really wanted ucts, SKU numbers enabled, a quick list of to hate the New Marketplace (to which features, checkboxes for permissions, and a XStreet is being converted). I was preseparate text box for search keywords. So, pared to find its each and every little flaw and focus on them and grouch and gripe until I was sat- difficult though it is for me to say, I have to: I like the New Marketplace. I’m looking forward to the isfied (whenever the hell THAT would be). changeover. But, I’m loath to admit, I just can’t say I hate it. In fact, I think it’s pretty damn cool. Now, it does kind of suck --Clo

Enough with the Bare Land! Lionheart stands out from some estates for having a certain level of advised standards. Some individuals arrive in acknowledgement of the efforts made to realize this, and even proceed further to embrace it in their own residences and businesses during their stay. Still, there is a slew of people that insist on just "doing things in their own way" or, should we say, following their own standards. In a connotative context, a typical reaction to the insight of a certain guideline would be "okay, that's fine." In the back of your mind, you know that they couldn't care less. The latter group might be the ones worth petitioning against, perhaps to preserve at Lionheart what it's best known for. One particular matter has become apparent. That is, with residents who have a tendency to purchase land for use in placing a skybox up. Now, that's all fine and dandy, only they seem to disregard the fact that something formative could be done with the solid land below. In some cases, this could probably be looked over, say with a particularly small parcel or ones which are residential. Even then, it wouldn't hurt to plant a bit of garden or forestry. Then you have the extremely bare commercial plots, and who wants to walk by a merchant block only to find land that looks baron and abandoned, lacking building structure? It honestly kind of takes away from the

modern look that Lionheart presents. Let's also consider the fact that it could create confusion for new stragglers, in wondering whether the parcel is occupied or not. What a great disappointed it would be if they had hopes to make a purchase (true case from the past). You'd wonder if it's too much to expect of people to lightly decorate their land's surface. Then you question if suggesting the idea would lead to any efficacy at all. Not all that often does a new clause get amended to the Lionheart Covenant. It can be safely said that estate management has done a well job with composing a written agreement that includes guidelines and regulations, which meet the interest and security for both the estate and its residents. When something does get added, you can be sure that thorough consideration has been given about the resulting effects; whether positive, negative and/or neutral. How would you feel if this was made into an official clause? Do you see it as something that would add constructive appeal, or one to not yield elaborate results? Best Regards, Xavion Saltair

The Emerald Team, Reborn Tylendel Falconer Third party viewers (TPVs) are widely used in SL. Everyone who uses one has their own reasons. Lately, one of the big reasons has been a dislike of the V2 interface. Other reasons include some specific tools that Linden Labs is slow to include in their viewer versions, or the slow rate of bug fixes at the labs. TPVs can include these bug fixes very quickly, while the labs may never include them at all.

Example of bare parcels (Photos: X. Saltair). Write us with your opinion: SLLionheartTimes@gmail.com.

The most popular TPV of late was the Emerald Viewer, which is now dead. There have been a lot of rumors and speculation as to what was going on, most of them nonsense. The only reality that came out of it was they used their users for an (accidental?) ddos attack. That's where garbage internet traffic is directed somewhere in an effort to slow down or prevent real traffic from getting there. Not the best thing to do, but it is by no means the end of the world. The other issue was the use of a proprietary library (the emkdu.dll file) which greatly increased the rendering speed of the viewer. The labs has its own version of the file, the llkdu.dll file. This is a commercial jpeg2000 driver which is not open-source. Emerald bought their own license for it, and made their own version. Since it is closed-source, users are unable to view the source code to see what they are doing with that file. Emerald had included some code in theirs which basically sent the project the location of the file used to run the Emerald viewer. In the case

of some operating systems, this meant that the user id used to log into the computer was revealed. Is this a big deal? Most likely, no. The user id will not simply allow someone full access to the computer. Is it worrysome? Sure, if you don't like big brother watching you. Emerald says they did it to be sure that only users of Emerald were using their closed-source file. What they could do about it if there was another viewer using it, I couldn't tell you. Point is, there is almost no chance that this could cause any real problems for anyone. So in a nutshell, that's what happened to Emerald. Anything else you might have heard was just drama. Sometimes it's difficult to sort through it all and find out what's important, but since I've used Emerald almost since it was released, I followed it and these are the only real facts there are. So why care at all? One thing to remember about computers. You never really know what you are running with closed-source software. That has always been true. When you run Windows, it is entirely closed-source. You need to trust the creators. So why is it you might immediately trust Microsoft to fill your entire computer when you can't be sure what all it's doing? Well, unless you want to go through a lot of hassle and be entirely open-source, you have no choice. Why should you trust the labs and their llkdu.dll file, but not Emerald's? Really, you should trust them about the same. Anyone has their own interests, and just because someone has built something with pretty logos and a nice corporate image doesn't mean they are any better than people whose names you actually know on (see Tylendel, next page.)

Lionheart Times - September 5, 2010 - Page 5

Tylendel (continued from page 4) something like the Emerald project. The real truth is, sometimes you just have to chuck the paranoia. The Emerald project is now dead. Linden Labs has taken this opportunity to force them out. Who knows why, there are many who seriously dislike their viewer 2 and will leave rather than be forced into it. The Emerald project was becoming increasingly split because of some of the issues that came up, and the labs just pushed harder to force them out. Understandably, they wanted to see a few of the “shady” characters gone from Emerald. Emerald was working towards that though. In the end, the labs came up with one ultamatum that broke them up. One of the developers the labs didn't like refused to leave the project, no matter how much they were urged. So, the Emerald project died. One nice thing about the open-source world though, things never have to really die. One developer release the Emergence viewer only for Windows, for users who

wanted more assurance of a clean viewer based on the nice features of Emerald. From the start, it was intended as a gapfiller until the Emerald leftovers could organize again. Enter the Phoenix Project “from the ashes”. It consists of a couple of new names (yay Techwolf!), and some of the old names from the Emerald project. They have their first beta release available at http://www.phoenixviewer.com:3000/projects/phoenixviewer/wiki . As of now, it is a rebranded and cleaned out version of the last Emerald. Right now, and perhaps never again, can it use either the emkdu.dll or the llkdu.dll file. I confirmed this myself, I copied the llkdu file into the proper places in the viewer, and it still uses the open-source openjpeg driver for rendering. At the moment, this seems to be where the Emerald talent has gone. Will I recommend it? That remains to be seen. For now, the questionable functions of Emerald have been removed, and it functions quite well so far with openjpeg. Give them a chance to settle, then we can talk about it again.

Advertising Rates Classified ad: Up to 20 words + SLURL L$50/wk/ad

Full Page (10"x16") ad L$750/wk/ad (Lionheart) L$1000/wk/ad (out of town)

Image ads with link included:

Ads & Payment for ads due by FRIDAY for following SUNDAY edition Any EXTRA edition will also have ad (no additional charge). Ad payment can be made in multiple week blocks if desired.

2"x3" ad L$100/wk/ad FREE with contribution (excludes club event listings, letters to the editor) 5"x7"ad L$200/wk/ad for Lionheart based business L$250/wk/ad for out-of-town based business Half-page (10"wide x 7" high) ad L$500/wk/ad (Lionheart) L$750/wk/ad (out of town)

Ad must fit the aforementioned size guidelines, and can be color or black/white (same rate, since it's digital not printed). For best results, we recommend resolution of 150 or greater dpi, but not required. The Lionheart Times reserves the right to refuse to print advertisements that are in violation of Lionheart's Covenant or SL ToS.

are all considered image make sure it's 2" wide by 3" your work. If we want to Lionheart Times use a submission (say, a Submission Guidelines Acceptible formats include submissions. These may be high). EVENT LISTINGS Either provide a written calendar of your establishment's events (see Written submissions, below) or a URL to an online calendar. If your schedule is the same every week, tell Clover (IM is fine; IMs go to email so it will be received). WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS Written submissions should be about 300-500 words in length (dependent on content; event listings will naturally be shorter). More in-depth articles may be longer, but in the interest of space, they may end up broken up into separate parts.

notecard (either sent directly to Clover or dropped into the submission box in the lobby at the Times), email (sent to SLLionheartTimes@gmail.com), or document uploaded to Google Docs (be sure to tell Clover the URL!). If your contribution includes photos, it is suggested you use either of the latter two methods, so as to save you the cost of uploading the photos.

Notecards can be set to No Trans or No Mod, if you prefer. There is no required set of permissions for written submissions.

given directly to Clover BUT it is recommended you use the email (SLLionheartTimes@gmail.com) or Google Doc method instead, for a couple reasons. For one thing, it saves you the L$10 per image upload charge. Also, images uploaded into SL can often have their aspect ratio (their width to height) distorted in the process and make for a less attractive picture. And finally, you don't have to deal with permissions with an email or Google Doc.

150dpi resolution is preferred (lower tends to blur; higher takes longer to load). Make sure it fits the dimenIMAGE SUBMISSIONS Photos, comics, charts, etc. sions (such as your 2x3 ad;

INCENTIVE At the moment, as we haven't started collecting any revenue (yet), the only incentive we can currently offer is free advertising space for your business. Each submission that gets used (save letters to the editor or event listings) is entitled to one free 2"x3" graphical ad with link in the following edition of the paper.

photo) more than once, we will contact you to ask permission first. You also, in submitting, agree to give Manic Elf Media and the Lionheart Times permission to edit your submission for length, spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. for the purpose of publication in the newspaper. Image submissions may be cropped, resized, etc. for the purpose of publication in the paper. We will not otherwise "mess with" your work.

LEGAL STUFF In submitting your writing Any other questions? Conor image to the Lionheart tact Clover Windlow anyTimes, you give Manic Elf time via IM. Media permission to publish it one time in the newspaper. You still retain all rights to

Lionheart Times - September 5, 2010 - Page 6

Announcements

Classified

Real Estate - Residential

For Sale - Services

Want to surprise someone for a Help Wanted birthday, anniversary, rezday, Up-to-the-minute Residential REPORTERS WANTED – or other special occasion? land listings in Lionheart: Work for the Times! Free 2x3” Send an announcement! Visit here anytime . ad per contribution (excludes Classified Ads, Event Listings, They could have been reading your & Letters to Editor).

Real Estate - Commercial

FOR SALE - Wee Little Irish Pub. On 1008 sq. m., Comm II zoned. Includes building, tons of fixtures. Own your own pub for minimal investment! IM Mistletoe Ethaniel.

ad right now. Advertise in the Times. Contact Mistletoe Ethaniel or Clover Windlow.

Freebies

FREE AD! Your 2”x3” ad in this paper. FREE with your contribution to the Times (excluding Classified Ads, Event They could have been reading your Listings, & Letters to Editor). ad right now. Advertise in the Times. Contribution and Ad must be Contact Mistletoe Ethaniel or received by Friday for publication following Sunday. More Clover Windlow. info at the Times Building.

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Travel

Lionheart Times - September 5, 2010 - Page 7

The Casual Traveler

The Casual Traveler Visits Saint Catherine's Monastery It's that time again, time for The Casual Traveler to visit a new location in SL grid. This time, he decides to take a closer look at Saint Catherine's Monastery, which is based on its real world counterpart in Sinai, Egypt. What make this place attractive for The Casual Traveller is the legendary Mosaic of Transfiguration. The Casual Traveller is interested to see if the place live up to it's RL reputation.

has not seen its like for a very, very long time. Dedication, that is the word. The Casual Traveler came to see the Basilica of Transfiguration, and he got what he came for and then some. The atmosphere is pure serenity, very well thought of and very much worth visiting. Another place to visit inside the Monastery is Icon Gallery: an impressive collection of the most beautifull holy icons. It does not happen often, but this time The Casual Traveler is almost speechless.

After teleporting into a location, The Casual Traveller has quite mixed feelings - the audio is appropriate for a monastery, but.. there is something that doesn't quite add up. Time will tell if The Even though Saint Catherine's Casual Traveller can really figure Monastery does have this slightly unpolished feeling to it, out what the problem is. it is also a very serene place to The place is created by students visit, and very much worth every at London College of Communi- minute spent exploring it. cations, which might explain a bit, especially on the texture Everyone needs a spiritual moquality: they are not bad at all, ment, and The Casual Traveler but there is still something in it. highly recommends visiting this However sheer amount of infor- place. mation about items is simply Total Stars: 5/5 staggering, The Casual Traveler (Photos (right): Anonymous “The Casual Traveler”)

“Lion” around all day These photos were taken by local shopkeeper Lisa12 Juliesse on her RL visit to South Africa in 2008. Thanks for the great photos, Lisa!

Travel Agency and Magazine Coming soon to Lionheart

Are you a traveler? Have you got an idea for a place for our Casual Traveler to visit? Send your own adventures to SLLionhearttimes@gmail.com!

NALA - High above a vast parcel in Nala, TresBon Toocool is getting ready to open Tres Bon Travel, a virtual travel agency, “where I would bring the people around to the points of interest, then have a place set up for them for as many days as they would like,” he explains. The skyscrapper, topped with a helipad, will be the headquarters of both the travel agency and a

travel magazine; and features a boardroom, working elevator, and cubicles all built by Toocool himself. “I actually want to be the place where noobies come,” says Toocool, “and for the magazine i want it to be a must have guide for everybody.” More information on the agency and magazine will come later as the project nears completion.

Lionheart Times - September 5, 2010 - Page 8

Features Shua Arcana

Ask Ms. Arcana

Mistletoe Ethaniel

Real Avatars of Genius

Luckiest Guy on the Grid? Possibly... Dear Ms. Arcana: I'm happily married in SL (single IRL) and have 2 girlfriends besides. Everyone knows about each other everyone's and doing well. I can't help feeling a little guilty for being so happy. I keep wondering if/when the other shoe will drop. What do you think? --Never Bored Dear "Never Bored", You did not mention how long you have been married, but I can tell you that every marriage sooner or later needs alittle extra excitement eventually, even SL marriages. I think it is wonderful that all 3 of your ladies are willing to share you and that says to me you must be quite a guy! I think you should relax and continue with the honesty and make sure you give all your ladies that extra attention every

woman craves. When you are with each one, make them feel like they are the most important thing in the world at that time...Let each know how much you appreciate the relationship. At the same time, be realistic in your expectations and be aware that one day, one or all of your ladies might find other situations they wish to pursue. When that happens, be a gentleman and let them know it was great while it lasted and should they ever want to return, the door will always be open to them. The Tarot cards tell me that very soon, you might be adding another good friend to the group to make #4... “Ask Ms. Arcana” is a weekly column in which Shua answers your relationship advice questions, combining her experienced opinion with Tarot card readings. Send your questions to SLLionheartTimes@gmail.com with the subject line “Dear Ms. Arcana”. All queries will be treated anonymously. For entertainment purposes only; neither Ms. Arcana nor the Times are responsible for what may result from following or not following Ms. Arcana’s advice.

LOLlions

Ms. Drama Queen In a calm sea of compassion and coexistence, you, Ms. Drama Queen, are the tropical depression that comes along and says “Hold onto your coconuts!” And then, boy oh boy, do you proceed to blow. You perceive things on a grand scale. In your world, your friend isn’t sick in bed with a cold; she’s on her deathbed. An acquaintance doesn’t disagree with you; he defies you. Your boyfriend didn’t have a few drinks with his coworkers, some of whom were female; he went out with some woman behind your back. One would think, with a worldview like that, life would never be boring for you. Oh, but one would be wrong. In your world, your problem is not just the most important thing: it’s the only thing. Nothing irks you more than to see something get more attention than whatever your disaster of epic proportions may be. In your world, a day is not complete until you get everyone within your reach to play your little game, whatever it may be. It may be the popular “nobody loves me, I’m going to go eat worms” game, in which you coach those who don’t know any better to say, “Oh that’s not true! We still care!” It may be the “I’m going to trash someone’s reputation” game, in which you plant a seed of suspicion and let the fertilizer-fed fields of rumor do the rest. This second game is one well honed by fourth graders, particularly girls. There’s the “make private issues public” game, the “passive-aggressive lyrics post” game, the “selective hearing” game… there really is no end to the fun you provide yourself at the expense of other, less-important people. And in a game where the only way to win is not to play, your motto is: PLAY HARDER.

Cryptoquote “YG BOHVYFB UWH DVHCYTHGU VHYQGC NZV NZKV SHBVC, BGT RZKVGBAYCO QZJHVGC NZVHJHV BGT HJHV.” ZCFBV XYATH Hint: Q equals G Each letter in the Cryptoquote stands for a different letter in the alphabet. Use word length and letter frequency to figure out the quote. Solution to our last Cryptoquote: “We thought about holding our own Second Life Emmy Awards, but the judges quit when they saw how long the list was for Best Drama.” -SecondLie Scribe

Fortunately, you’re easy to spot. Much like conservative/fundamentalists and homosexuality, you make your attraction to drama apparent by way of your boisterous rallying against it. Those “No Drama Zone” signs are truly a blessing to pixelkind, because they’re so adept at pointing out where drama is most likely to reside. And thank goodness you mention how frequently you hate and don’t want drama right there in your profile, so that we can quickly and easily see it and turn the other direction. Ah, would that we could do that with people in real life: peek at their profile, see that they want “NO DRAMAZ”, and never so much as speak with them. So thank you, Mr. or Ms. Drama Queen, for all you do to make life interesting and especially to make sure our “mute” is working correctly, YOU are a Real Avatar of Genius. Real Avatars of Genius is an online “look at the stupid things people do in virtual worlds. You can visit it at http://realavatarsofgenius.tumblr.com and even submit your own ideas of Real Avatars of Genius.