Newsletter-November 2002

SW City's Official Newsletter - November 2002

SW CITY WINS BIG AT CY'S

On October 26th, the highly anticipated CY Awards took place in the world Cyawards. With over 260 in attendance, the night started off with some speeches by some of the CY Committee. This year the speeches were kept short, so the awards ceremony took place early.

The first award of the night was in the category of Community Development in Architecture/Urban Planning/Design. This award, after a very truthful introduction by the presenter, was awarded to Central SW City Governor SW Comit for his work on the Praxten Oil Rig!

After XelaG accepted his award for Community Development in Technical Enhancements, it was time for the big Community Initiative for a Community or Town award. There was some tough competition this year but SW City managed to clasp this one after three plus years of hard work! An acceptance speech by the Mayor, the embarrassment of Goober King and a quick lingo lesson by Vornox was what the staff did on stage while receiving the award.

The SW City staff would also like to give some shout-out's to friends that have also won CY awards! Creative Vision & Application Environment Design in a Public Building World which went to our friends Seiya Faye for her awesome Starbuilds Factory and dreamer2 who won Creative Vision & Application for a Virtual Art Project for Olympic Park which is located in the Scarabian Republic partner, Yeti City! Congratulations everyone! Contributed by Syntax.

ESPERION ISLES OPEN TO PUBLIC!

The Esperion Isles, a new viceroy in the Palm District, has opened it's doors to the public! The Isles, which is currently only one island called Optimum Island, is a tropical paradise located in the new eastern ocean expansion.

It's owner, Espilae, has done an amazing job giving a tropical feeling to the island. The GZ is surrounded by things like tiki huts and narrow pathways. The island is also inhabited by a small bird-like creature called Casanemus. They sell various metals throughout the crowded streets of Optimum.

Currently, Optimum has a working Monorail system and a subway station for transportation. The Subway Station, aptly named Optimum Island Station, hooks up to the main SW City Subway system via a new station in Clandestinian Village called Eastern Plains Station.

If you would like to take a gander at the new island, you can visit there by teleporting to AW 2430.45S 4529.98E 0.07a. Expect big things from this small community! Contributed by Syntax.

Esperion Isles, Optimum Island - AW 2430.45S 4529.98E 0.07a http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_2430.45S_4529.98E_0.7a_0

SCARABIAN REPUBLIC FORUMS GET FACELIFT

After some short downtime, it was time for the Scarabian Republic forum to get upgraded. Not because we wanted to, but because we had to. The reason for the downtime was because that YaBB Gold, the cgi/perl based forum software that we use, was hogging too many server resources so the host had to pull the plug. SW Chris suggested that we upgrade to the PHP version which uses fewer resources. After our FTP had begun working again, Syntax immediately went to work installing YaBBSP, a PHP based forum, and converting old YaBB Gold files over to the new version.

After about 2 and a half hours of work, the new forum was online and ready for usage! YaBBSP contains many features that the old forum did not have, such as a calendar and the ability to post polls. It's also way faster!

If you would like to check out the new forum, simply visit the old forum URL which is http://forum.swcity.net/. If you would like to have your own YaBB forum, visit http://www.yabb.info! It's easily the best free forum software out there on the net. Contributed by Syntax.

VR VILLAGE - ONE BIG HAPPY VR FAMILY Ever wondered what it would be like if all the virtual worlds on the net united to one common place? *advertiser voice* Well wonder no longer! The VR Village, an online community dedicated to the unity of all users of all the different Virtual Reality programs!

The VR Village is a huge website with tons of resources. It has everything from webrings and chat to polls and forums. The forum they use is the exact same as the Scarabian Republic forum, YaBBSP. There is so much stuff here, you have to check it out for youself!

If your a VR buff and love everything about it, then VR Village is a great place for you to visit. Help make the VR Community strong and visit the VR Village @ http://www.spiraline.com/~vrvillagevoice/html/index.php

Be sure to sign up for the website so you get full advantage of all its features! Contributed by Syntax.

VR Village - http://www.spiraline.com/~vrvillagevoice/html/index.php

FOLDING@HOME UPDATE

The Scarabian Republic F@H team has been busy lending their spare CPU cycles to the research team over at Stanford University. We are currently in 1079th place with 147 WU's (work units). Don't know what Folding is? Here is an excerpt from the front page of their website.

What are proteins and why do they "fold"? Proteins are biology's workhorses -- its "nanomachines." Before proteins can carry out their biochemical function, they remarkably assemble themselves, or "fold." The process of protein folding, while critical and fundamental to virtually all of biology, remains a mystery. Moreover, perhaps not surprisingly, when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious effects, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, and Parkinson's disease.

If you would like to help out the teams, both Stanford F@H and the Scarabian Republic, download the free Folding@HOME client from http://folding.stanford.edu/ and join the team number 11309. Every little bit counts.

Remember, team number 11309! Contributed by Syntax.

SYNTAX'S SW PICK OF NOVEMBER

November's highlighted build is a very obscure build that I had never seen before. It is the JR (James River) River Rafting tour! This tour takes you high into the citrus mountains the point where the James River starts. You then hop onto a raft and raft down it's exciting rapids, eventually ending up back at the dock near Mountainview. While rafting, you will experience amazing views of some old ruins which are high up in the mountains. You will also raft right through Mountainview, getting a glimpse of a couple of the residents' houses, after rafting under big cliffs and bridges. If you would like to take a rafting tour, then head to the corner of Mountainview Road and North James River Parkway. Another option is visiting the coordinates below. :-) Happy Rafting!

James River Rafting Tour: AW 2279.23S 3498.96E 1.1a 310 http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_2279.23S_3498.96E_1.1a_310

SW QUICK LINKS

Website - http://www.swcity.net Discussion Forums - http://forum.swcity.net SW Outfitters Tours and Expeditions Store - http://store.swcity.net Charter - http://swcity.skywalkeronline.net/yabbse/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=134