Thursday, December 30, 2010

Connolly Aerodrome News

Wing Cmdr Wrath Constantine will begin work on reconstruction of Connolly Aerodrome during the second week of January.

If you have any prims stationed on either of the two parcels, please remove them prior to January 8th. Any prims left will be removed by Wing Commander Constantine starting on the 8th.

Wrath assures me that Sumie's Memorial Tree should remain on-site and untouched. However, if need be, Sumie's Tree will be temporarily relocated at my parcel in nearby Caledon Mayfair.

Fanshaw & Connolly

My good friend Mr Cornelius Fanshaw and I decided to start another little adventure series in Second Life.


You may consider it... a sort-of...hmmm, well it's a Victorian version of The Avengers. Like our TimeForce 10 Adventure Series, Fanshaw and Connolly is a mashup of several different television shows such as The Avengers and Wild Wild West with a healthy dollop of Sherlock Holmes.


Cornelius put together a great set for a few of our SL Group Photos. As you can see from my examples, the major influence is The Avengers. I've included two YouTube Videos for reference.








Fanshaw and Connolly is a New Babbage firm established to conduct unusual inquiries and investigations for a variety of clients. I'm sure there will be many crossover adventures with TimeForce 10 and the Royal Caledon Air Force.

Congratulations and Special Thanks

I would like to take this opportunity to give my special thanks to Dan Gervasi for taking care of RCAF Connolly Aerodrome for most of the second half of 2010, and also to congratulate Wrath Constantine as he now takes over management of this historic Caledon site.

Well done, gentleman!

~ Zoe Connolly
Group Captain, RCAF

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Secret Santa



I think I need a Girls-with-Guns Christmas Catsuit this year.

Royal Caledon Air Force Bake Sale?

A suggestion from Samantha Poindexter...

Hi, everyone. I know my involvement with the RCAF has been minimal at best, but I'm a fan of the group, and of the aerodrome, which is one of my favorite places on the grid.

So. Stupid question...

Caledon sometimes seems to be the land of a thousand fundraisers. When the Cavorite Mines were on the verge of closing down, the Caledon Games were born, raising money for their continuance. I personally don't care for the mines at all, being claustrophobic, but I still took part in a couple of the events, picking up a bronze medal along the way.

As far as I can tell, the RCAF's fundraising so far has pretty much been confined to the members of the RCAF themselves. (And visitors who notice the donation balloon.) Why have we never had a bake sale, as it were?

Perhaps an air show would be a possibility, open to Caledon at large, with appeals for donations made at some point? Perhaps some other events? I will admit that I have missed most of the RCAF's major activities, such as the repulsion of the attack on Steam SkyCity, but I wonder whether anybody ever passed the virtual hat during that event? And if not, couldn't we have, to support Caledon's defenses?

For my part, I'd be willing to host a monthly trivia game with all tips going toward the rent, such as could be promoted both inside and outside Caledon. (I created http://tinyurl.com/sltrivia , and have connections in that community.) Or maybe yet another regular dance party...

Anyway. Possibly all this has been considered and rejected, possibly it's all a pipe dream, but I figure I needed to at least ASK.

Sincerely,

Samantha Poindexter
Chaplain, Royal Caledon Air Force

A notecard of appreciation

hi Des (Desmond Shang of Caledon),

I'd like to give my sincere and thankful compliments to Mr. Rachire Andel, who sacrificed his time to assist me "unghost" by calling the LL Concierge Support Line and request that Penzance be rebooted.

I was using Caledon Group Chat on and off throughout the morning and afternoon of Thursday December 16th via my alt Zabrina McMahon. Rachire heard my pleas in chat and responded quickly, making several phone calls to assist another resident in need.

I hope you will recognize his diligent and kind efforts.


Sincerely

Zoe Connolly

Royal Caledon Air Force News

In the early days of 2007 I couldn't imagine flying a vehicle in a virtual world. My computer was not up to the task, so I didn't really think about it. When I began exploring steampunk in April 2007, I spent a great deal of time in New Babbage, where I discovered the joys of flying hovering craft . In no time I was hooked on flying and could be seen all over the steam-lands in various flying machines.

While exploring Caledon by Land and Air, I noticed there was only one runway (no rez) in the entire nation. My vision for Caledon was to provide a runway and rez area for any citizen and any interested aviation enthusiast in SL.

In October 2007, Virrginia Tombola and I reserved the two parcels that are now known as the Connolly Aerodrome. At the same time, I started the Royal Caledon Air Force Group.

In 2008 RCAF , SL, and my newest computer were in sync... All "In The Zone"

The RCAF group grew in membership and stature. SL seemed to be working well for vehicle users, my latest computer could handle SL quite well, there was an abundance of "Void" sims and the aviation life was good! RCAF was in the sweet spot in 2008. But as the saying goes "all good things must come to an end"

By the end of 2008, Linden Labs announced the end of the void sims.

In 2009, I couldn't upgrade my computers as fast as LL/SL changed. Even today in December 2010, I cannot fly any of my normal flight scripted aircraft. I can only fly hovering scripted aircraft such as helicopters, etc (much like I did in Mid-2007).

So you may be asking.... Why am I reciting the abridged reader's digest history of the RCAF?

I cannot promise you a 2008 RCAF experience, but perhaps 2011-2012 will be better than 2009-2010.

I am reseting the group.

The first step I've taken is changing group role tags.

Most roles have changed to military rank, based on the RealLife UK RAF with the lowest rank as Officer Cadet and the highest rank as Group Captain.

Rank from lowest to highest....
Officer Cadet
Pilot Officer
Flying Officer
Flight Lieutenant
Squadron Leader
Wing Commander
Group Captain

For reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_and_United_States_military_ranks_compared

Three Role Tags will remain the same (at least for now): RoyalCaledonAirForce, RCAF Test Pilot, and RCAF Search & Rescue. Please know that Tiny Avatars, JetPack Flyers, and R&D folks are all still part of RCAF. All will be recognized through merit and bravery through RCAF Ranking.

The second step will take place by January 1st, when I eject nearly every member of the RCAF Group. This is nothing personal of course. If you wish to rejoin the group, you have the freedom to do so. But you MUST make an active choice to opt-in for 2011. Some of you will NOT be ejected since I already know your intentions, but should this concern you, please feel free to contact me.

Regarding the Aerodrome... I was saddened to lose control over my Aerodrome last Spring and I'm deeply worried that it will be lost from RCAF Control in the near future. This is a very real possibility. So what do we do?

We take a deep breath and let it go.

We move on.

We rez our planes, balloons, dirigibles, zeppelins, and blimps where ever we can and FLY!

~ Zoe Connolly, RCAF Group Captain