On Tuesday, August 14th, SL will see the Grand Opening of the Nonprofit Commons, a space that features nonprofits only, on land donated by Anshe Chung. Some 32 nonprofit organizations strong, this will be a mixed-reality event, taking place simultaneously both in-world and in the RL offices of NetSquared.

Speakers will include Susan Tenby of TechSoup, and Jeska Linden. Festivities begin at 7 PM, so make your reservations soon, as the space will fill!

On a note of personal interest, the referring press release has this bit in it: '"We welcome all who wish to join us as partners or supporters," said Glitteractica Cookie, avatar for Susan Tenby ... ' Note it didn't say 'Susan Tenby said', or even 'Said Susan Tenby, in her SL avatar Glitteractica Cookie'. It seems to hew closer to the pre-SL definition of 'avatar' as 'the incarnation of a deity in human or animal form', where the deity itself is not present, but a separate embodiment is. Ms. Tenby didn't say it; her avatar did. Wonderful!

(Thanks, Rik!)

As a fan of trinkets and memorabilia, I was thrilled when I saw someone wearing a pewter pendant of the Second Life logo. According to lore, LL hands these out to their new employees, as well as special visitors to the Lab, such as Views attendees. They're worn out in just the right places, with a string I can only describe as possibly plastic looped through it. They seem to carry a special meaning for their owners.

That's why I'm a little put off by First Bling and their replicas of this necklace. I'm sure it will be wildly popular among the SL crowd, but it just doesn't have that old feel to me. They're shiny and new, like many of the residents. I once saw someone trying to hawk their necklace on a website for 80 USD, and wondered how it could possibly sell, because it mostly holds priceless sentimental value.

What can you get for your money there? For $25, you'll get a sterling silver pendant that appears to be the size of the LL version. If you want the larger one, it'll be $35. Not a fan of sterling silver? For $135, or $220, you'll get a large or small gold, or white gold pendant. That's not L, folks.

Read on to find out about their shipping and payment policies ...

Jeska Linden has posted on the Official Linden Blog that the latest Second Life Newsletter is now available on their website, and in world as well. It features stories about librarians improving the library experience in Second Life, Toley covering whats new in the knowledge base, and how Linden Lab is keeping Second Life going while it grows so quickly.

Also, they are no longer emailing the newsletter to readers. Considering email newsletters are basically just antiquated SPAM filter bait, you shouldn't be too sad. However, if you feel like you can't live without your newsletter fix, you could sign up to get the RSS feed, or possibly read their blog instead.

Jeska Linden, CommMonkey for the week, reports that the week-long migration of some residents' inventories to a new server is 'almost done' and that they're hoping to have the inventory data consistent and correct 'when it is ready'. Apparently no actual ETA is specified, "As of today, this process almost complete."

Residents with missing inventory after that point (whenever it is) should file abuse reports, then contact either Kona Linden or Beast Linden with the tracking numbers that they get in email. Hopefully we'll get an update when that point actually happens.

Millions of Us, a metaverse media management company, is involved in an interesting event occurring as we speak, and for the next 72 hours. Versu Richelieu will be spending 3 days in the store window of Datavision, an electronics superstore in New York, with only her laptop as a source for entertainment, communication, and nourishment. She won't be eating her computer, though she will be using it to order food and anything else she might need online.

Additionally, she'll be spending her 72 hours in SL, in an attempt to build an equivalent model of the surrounding blocks in which she's ensconced. The best part? You can see what she's doing in both worlds at http://www.nyclivewindow.com/!

When I arrived at the sim in which she was building, I was amazed to see a metric tonne of Lindens there: Sabin, Ben, MichaelFrancis, Jeska, Milo, Torley were all in attendance, watching Versu build while she danced. Versu, I wish you luck. Keep hydrated and make us proud, soldier!