Newsletter-January 2003

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SW City's Official Newsletter - January 2003

Contents (hide)

1. EDITOR'S NOTE
2. SCARAB WARRIORS RETURN
3. SECOND BUILD RAISING A SUCCESS
4. NIMBUS LAND EXPANDS
5. NUTINMUCH SCIENCE FICTION
6. SYNTAX'S SW PICK OF JANUARY
7. SW QUICK LINKS

EDITOR'S NOTE

Hello everyone,

This edition comes a little late, partially because of my laziness. But it is still as packed full of information as ever. This month SW City returns to its roots, the classic Quake-style melee game Scarab. The city also explodes with new activity and Nutinmuch updates you with his first two chapters of his first science fiction story Breaking the Atmosphere. Enjoy!

Cheers,
SW Chris, Editor-in-Chief

SCARAB WARRIORS RETURN

SW Mase and SW Nitro have returned from the ancient days to start up a Scarab clan. The game, while graphically simple, is as addictive and exciting as the latest melee shooters. The clan Scarab Warriors has been started up again by these two, and a clan website is in the process of being put together by SW Nitro. Look for it at SWCity.Net in the coming month.

If you want to join the Scarab Warriors, send a private message to SW_Nitro or SW-Mase on the Scarabian Republic Forum.

SW City Community Forum - http://swcity.skywalkeronline.net/yabbse/index.php?board=1

SECOND BUILD RAISING A SUCCESS

Imagine a cloudless starlit sky amongst a metropolis skyline. Tiny glimmers shoot across the heavens and then wink out. It is a peaceful sight. But one glimmer does not wink out. It grows larger, morphing from a pinprick into a glowing fireball. With a sonic boom it sweeps across and down into the urban landscape. It blows across the city and even through one skyscraper to land in the bay at the far end of the city with a deafening roar. Stillness. The city becomes a wasteland. This is the result of SW City's second build raising. A barren moonscape full of seemingly ancient ruins lies in wait for you, waiting to tell its story.

Sybit Island Impact Site: AW 1456.94S 3671.90E 0.00a http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_1456.94S_3671.9E_0a_0

NIMBUS LAND EXPANDS

Due to the hard work of SW Chris and Espilae, and contributions from Seiya Faye and Ferrucio, Nimbus Land has now been given a makeover! Explore the new marketplace built by Espilae and the Nimbus Land Palace built by SW Chris, a faithful reconstruction of the original as seen in the Super Nintendo game Super Mario RPG.

Nimbus Land: AW 2340.4S 3466.5E 22.0a 123 http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_2340.4S_3466.5E_22.0a_123

OUR COMPUTERS ARE SAVING LIVES. WHAT IS YOURS DOING? The Folding@Home Team Scarabian Republic is now in place 631! In a massive project like this, that is pretty good! What is Folding@Home you might ask?

It is a distributed program that a lab of Stanford made to fight the war on various diseases such as cancer, alzheimer's, parkinson's disease and many others. They are caused by proteins misfolding. Folding means the protein assembles itself to carry out its purpose(s) in your body. It's an incredibly complicated event. The lab has created dozens of simulations that mimic a protein folding, but due to the complexity, it takes thousands of computers to run the simulation. On average, 1 computer can simulate 1 nanosecond of a fold of a protein. The program has been running for a couple years now, has tens of thousands of users, and they've came up with some good results so far thanks to it.

So if you'd like to join, go to http://folding.stanford.edu and download the client. SW City's team number is 11309.

Folding@Home Website: http://folding.stanford.edu

NUTINMUCH SCIENCE FICTION

Our resident Nut has embarked on his first science fiction fantasy tale. Excerpted from his story Breaking the Atmosphere is the following:

"Buttons... Buttons.. BUTTTONS! What one is the UPS?!" I muttered as I searched for the Universal Positioning System controls. I thought If I found it, I could locate a planet to crash land on... even though I could only fly for a few hundred more miles. "AHA! Here it is!" I shouted, as I pressed the button, and moved the track ball around to locate a planet within my ships range. Thats when it happened, my Final backup engine started to leak fluid. I only saw one planet, It was only 40 miles below me. Only one problem: I had never heard of it and havent even seen pictures of it before. I decided to risk it, I set my remaning engine full speed twords the uncertain planet.

...Around 13 minutes later...

"Here goes nothing..." I whispered to myself as I embraced myself for a rough ride... I saw the planet for the first time, and it looked like it had a simular atmosphere to that of my home planet, Nutopia. KABOOM! My engine blew, and my ship started spinning itself into tiny flabs of metal. I pressed the landing button, and just then a flank of metal from the ships floor swung up and hit me in the head...

Blackout.

Breaking the Atmosphere - Chapters 1 & 2: http://fr33dom.com/BTA.html Critique BTA Here! - http://swcity.skywalkeronline.net/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=518 Constructive criticism only, please.

SYNTAX'S SW PICK OF JANUARY

This month's pick is going to bring us back to the year 2000. A time when SW City was booming and growing beyond belief. One of the builds that helped it's growth was this massive fountain situated right in the heart of Syntax Estates. The Tranquility Fountain is one of the most recognisable builds in all of SW City because of it's distinct circle shaping and compass-like qualities.

The fountain consists of three different parts. The most northern part, which is the smallest part, sits just above the Central Tranquility dome. Pathways of water extend down to the middle part, which is the most famous. The centerpiece of the fountain is a gigantic compass rose. Sitting right below this part of the fountain is Syntax Estates GZ. The waterways then extend down below Syntax Street to form a a large loop which drain into a pond-like structure.

I chose the Tranquility Fountain as this month's SW Pick because it has always been one of those gems that SW City has. It has been laying dormant for three years now, I might as well shine some light on it again. :-) Enjoy!

Tranquility Fountain, SE - AW 2160.94S 3786.20E 0.16a http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_2160.94S_3786.20E_0.16a_0 Satellite View -