Second Life Relay For Life was a roughly 21 hour event, but combine it with sweet tea and you have a full scale emergency. Partway into the Luminaria Ceremony Walk, I really needed to use the restroom, but since I was filming and auto-walking, I couldn't leave my post. That's when I noticed my mom getting a drink in the kitchen ...

I gave her simple instructions to just let my avatar do the walking, and when she comes to a turn, use the left and right arrow keys. No sooner than I got in the restroom was she calling out to me in a panicked voice. I couldn't hear her, so I hurried back, and noticed my avatar in the water. She repeatedly told me that my avatar wouldn't turn. I just accepted this news and moved on.

While that's funny in itself, I reviewed the footage last night, and it tells a completely different story. I won't give away what happened, but needless to say, my mother will never be trusted to steer my avatar again. Do you have an avatar disaster story involving a parent or sibling? Leave a comment!

There are just 14 hours of Relay For Life left! I can't believe seven hours have passed already, but they have. The statistics so far are very impressive, with avatars growing by something like 100 an hour! Laps, however, aren't growing as fast. Take a look for yourself:

Current Count:

• Avatars: 1085 1101
• Laps: 639 664
• Distance: 7,748,841m 8,057,561m

Lap Leaders:

1. 13 laps: DeltaDharmaDawn Aubret:
2. 13 laps: Cubey Terra
3. 11 laps: Marissa Goodliffe
4. 9 laps: Lyr Lobo
5. 9 laps: DrFran Babcock

The Luminaria Ceremony is up next at 9pm SLT/PDT. After that is a fireworks display put on by RacerX Gullwing. Don't miss it!

(I changed the figures because they updated right as I posted.)

There are a lot of residents cheering on specific teams, but with 32 sims, the campsites may be hard to locate. Christopher Sterling has provided me with a map of the locations, which I've deciphered and SLURL'd for you! Please keep in mind that the sims are listed in the order that they would go around the track, and the teams listed left to right, top to bottom.

Please read on for the complete listing of team locations ...

The Pixels in Pink ladies are at it again! They've designed their campsite, appropriately named PiP Film Noir, to be a brilliant mix of greyscale and ... pink! The ladies, Torrid Midnight, Zyrra Falcone, Hosequeen McLean, Pukk Abel, Rose Farina, Stella Costello, Fallingwater Cellardoor, Nephilaine Protagonist, and several others, have created an element of mystery and awe that just calls to you.

A very tired, overworked Stella Costello mentioned that she was making a Machinima this morning and I'm sharing it with you! As you can see from the film, there are auctions, vendors, flowers, dancing, a theater, and even PIE! Please stop by and donate or purchase items if you can, as all proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.

Just as a reminder, Relay For Life officially starts at 2pm SLT/PDT today, but the sims are open now to explore.

Relay for Life has been in Second Life for years now, and for those of you that don't know, this weekend marks the celebration that the fundraising is done for the 2007 fiscal year! After this next week, the sims will disappear and fundraising will begin for 2008. As of 6pm SL time, they've raised L$26,885,975, which is a few hundred dollars short of $100,000 USD!

In the next couple of days, I'll be posting information and schedules for events revolving around SLRFL. A lot of work went into this from many teams. There will be auctions, pageants, and themed laps around the track, which takes over an hour to walk!

The official event starts tomorrow, Saturday, July 28th, at 2pm SL time (PDT), but don't let that stop you from checking it out now! To start your walk through all 32 sims or donate money to the American Cancer Society, head on over to RelayForLife Start.

The Virtual Reality Network (VRN) has just announced the launch of its new streaming video shows, the Leigh Matthews Show and Second Life News. Intended to cover news, media, and personalities in SL, the weekly broadcasts will be viewable via free tv sets available at the VRN Headquarters.

The VRN also offers advertising opportunities on their boadcasts, and current episodes feature guest music performer Takamura Keiko, and an interview with Bianca Darling of the ASpiRE Modeling Agency and magazine (Leigh Matthews Show), and trips to the Apollo Gardens and the International Spaceflight Museum, skydiving at Abbott's Aerodrome, and unique efforts for Second Life fundraising for the American Cancer Society (Second Life News).

Welcome, VRN!

(Thanks, Giovanni!)

After the controversial $100,000 purchase of a space station in Project Entropia, I guess a $2000 dollar car isn't that unbelievable, but non the less I think this could be the largest single item sale in Second Life. The Dominus Shadow, is the Rolls Royce of Second Life travel. It seats five, comes in convertible top, and even can fly. Usually priced at just under L$2500, it is apparently a steal.

So, what makes a L$2500 car sell for L$600,000? Mafia money laundering? No, it was for the 2006 Second Life Relay for Life, a virtual event that supports the American Cancer Society. So what did the lucky winner get besides the peace of mind provided by helping their fellow man? First of all this Dominus Shadow is a special edition unreleased version 2.0 Dominus Shadow. It sports a custom pink paint job, and has pink exhaust (not sure why colored exhaust never caught on in RL), and is a truly one of a kind item.

UPDATE: I appended the word controversial to the first sentence after Mark Wallace of the excellent blog 3pointD reminded me in the comments that Jon Jacobs acted as a representative of MindArk PE AB, the creators of Project Entropia, at the time of the purchase. Thanks for keeping me honest Mark.