It’s 420! Do you Know the History and why it is associated with Pot Smoking?- Lanai Jarrico Reporting...

420 is a code for smoking marijuana and is also known as Weed Day to the cannabis culture. Some people believe 420 comes from a police code for smoking in progress but its true origin begins with a group of teenagers who called themselves the Waldos in San Rafael , California. They designated the Louis Pasteur Statue at San Rafael High School as their meeting place and 4:20pm was the time they would get together. 

 Today, April 20^th is observed as a celebration of cannabis for all who like  recreational marijuana use. Today marijuana use is more accepted for recreational and medicinal purposes.

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Legalization of Marijuana in some form is now in twenty-three states and the District of Columbia. Out of those 23 states, Colorado, Alaska, Oregon and Washington allow it for recreational use, while California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine limit it to medicinal use. There are now 100’s of dispensaries and some states have also removed legal penalty for procession of small amount of marijuana.

Top Reasons Why people smoke marijuana?
·         Medicinal qualities for pain, nausea
·         Stress relief/relaxation
·         Appetite
·         Peer pressure/role model influence
·         Social
·         Heightened sensory awareness
·         Euphoria

Short Term Effects

• ·         Short term memory impairment
• ·         Feelings of anxiety  and paranoia
• ·         Appetite-“Munchies”
• ·         Impairment operating machinery and vehicles

Long term use can lead to cardiac problems for people with heart disease and high blood pressure, memory and learning difficulty and increased susceptibility to infections. Fertility problems can occur for both men and women due to the suppression of hormones that regulate the reproductive system but will not lead to complete infertility.

The common question about Marijuana being addictive is still in debate.  Studies are finding that marijuana does have addictive properties. However, it is not as addictive as alcohol and cocaine but it can become a habit due to routine use.

Here are some warning signs to recognize if you or someone you know has a weed problem:

• ·         Frequent use
• ·         Needing more to feel the effects
• ·         Spending beyond your budge to obtain it
• ·         Procrastinating on important things in life
• ·         Neglecting friends who do not use marijuana
• ·         Feeling that you cannot function without it

Education about marijuana is important if you are part of the Cannabis culture. If  you are going to observe 420, have fun but smoke responsibly.

Want to grow your own Cannabis Crop in SL? Get your starter kit at CannabiSL Central:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Petopia/213/188/24

**Map Image retrieved from http://www.cannalawblog.com/update-united-states-map-of-marijuana-legalization/

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Are you a Trekky? Visit the Star Trek Museum in Second Life

The Star Trek Museum was established in 2006 and teaches real science in Star Trek format. Visitors can explore exhibits on Astrometrics, Warp Theory, Engineering and experience being beamed up to 10-Forward and using the two working Holodecks. Trekkies can also get a close up view of the starship and bridge recreations.

The Enterprise NCC-1701 is a full sized recreation of Captain Kirk’s starship. You can even sit in the captain’s seat and watch a Star Trek Tribute on the main viewer.

ShuttleCrafts are available at two locations on New Eridani. They fly from p’Jem Monastery to any place you want to see around the sim. Don’t worry if you cannot fly, these shuttecrafts are piloted automatically.

The virtual Star Trek experience does not end there. The museum offer information about the history and culture of Andorians, Borgs, Cardassian, Klingons, Orion, Romulans and Vulcans. Exhibits include recreated artifacts and you can even visit the home of the Grand Nagus, a Borg Cube or a Klingon house. Be sure to collect the freebies that are all over the sim and browse the outdoor market. After your tour  grab a bite to eat at the Federation Buffet table and dine on live gagh and blood wine.  

New Eridian is a sim full of adventure and so much to see and be a part of. The Vulcan Arena showcases a Star Trek Style Wedding and the Ceremonial Center offers formal events and trivia. Vulcan Home rentals are also an option for Trekky Roleplayers.

Aside from Star Trek culture there is also educational information on real life whale conservation you can learn about while at the Whale Observation Pier. Whale Watching and Scuba diving are some fun activities to incorporate into your tour. Inspired by Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Roddenbery Dive Team is another educational tour that combines the philosophy of Star Trek with exploration and protection of the earth’s oceans.

If you are interested in joining the Star Trek Community, contact Wabisabi Matahari  wabisabi@starfleet.com

Team

Sabri Picard-Founder, Captain, Curator

Wabisabi Matahari  -Benevolent Dictator- Curator, Gardener

Tsora Enoch - Chief Engineer

 Plushie Wrangler -Head Chef  

Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20Eridani/133/78/36

Lanai Jarrico Reporting...

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3P: Power, Pleasure and Passion- A Peek Inside Bondage, Discipline, Dominance, Submission, Sadism and Masochism- Silky Soulstar Reporting…

That’s BDSM for short, and a fertile ground for unsavory types to take advantage of sweet innocents.

All judging and secret thoughts of kinky danger aside, for many people BDSM is just an edgy concept that excites them to explore physical or emotional limits. How edgy, depends on how much you want to push.  As a submissive, do you trust your Dominant to take you safely on a path that won’t scar you -- but instead will be borderline-euphoric? 

We know BDSM to be a lifestyle of choice for so many SL residents because they think we can pursue the passions that come with that experience more conveniently, or safely.

Perhaps.

How much safer can we pursue a BDSM lifestyle in SL than in RL?

“In SL you can poof, but in real life you cannot,” explains Master Jae Avedon of Power Pleasure Passion.  “And there are also laws on physical pain in reality, that don’t necessarily apply in SL. There is a lot of mental pain in SL. We tend to deal with that.”

Pleasure Power Passion (abbreviated P3) is a sim group that does the subject of BDSM justice, lending a cerebral air of credibility to an often misunderstood space.  The SL Enquirer had a chance to interview key members of the group on the subject of role playing safety. And while somehow making all of his P3 constituents more than comfortable, Master Jae controlled the interview as you would expect a true Dominant could.

In Second Life, just as in reality, there’s more to BDSM than just one role player’s liking to order other role players around.  And there is more to Dominant/submissive relationships than transfer of pain, or risk.

TRUST

“A Dominant knows a submissive will never use her safe word,” says Mrs. Zam Tibbits also of P3.

Alternatively, “give a submissive trust and they break it, they break it.  The relationship falls pretty quickly,” adds Master Jae Avedon.

On the subject of pursuing that trust, safely, the members of P3 know how to address various perils head-on.

“We kind of deal mostly with the Dominant / submissive relationship. D/s light,” says Master Jae.  After some thorough matchmaking, “Submissives go off with their Dominant, and the Dominant sets the relationship. Trust gets applied over time. The Dominant evaluates how well his submissive reacts to stimuli along the way. That’s one way we go.”

The other way is more provocative. In the sim’s most risqué offering, submissive and sim owner Tricia Velde brokers the auction of other submissives to their prospective Dominants.  “The female has total control of when she is sold to a male.  Everything goes through Tricia.  All communication and meetings are brokered through Tricia,” explains Master Jae while elaborating on the element of safety involved.

Carosell, P3 event coordinator, respects how the group deals with predators in particular.  Master Jae expanded on that point for her by taking a sanity check beyond the confines of SL’s metaverse;  “Predators in SL are phishing. We call them Financial Dominants. Look, we don’t know who these people (in RL) are.”

It’s that kind of rationalization across SL and RL that makes P3 work so well to address the topic of safety, and ultimately makes the group so successful with its members.

P3 asks people looking to enter into relationships to go through a variety of interview stages.  Members answer questions and provide ratings for their limits on various subjects on a scale of 0 - 5, and are then matched by a matchmaking process.

So the sim offers a variety of paring processes and opportunities to make certain relationships get courted safely.

Other elements of the P3 group include a library with original theses on the subject of BDSM roleplay.  There are also classes and social groups for submissives and Dominants. Subtle details factoring safety abound within the group activities; including permitting submissives to attend Dominants workshops so that they learn more about Dominants in their relationships -- but also not allowing Dominants to join workshops for submissives so that submissives can be protected in an environment that encourages them to openly learn and participate.  That being said, “submissives are encouraged to not be rooks and rollover,” adds Mrs. Tibbits.

The group at Pleasure Power Passion likes to think by actively teaching points on loyalty, joy, communication, trust, honesty, respect, and forgiveness that they approach the topic of BDSM with a fair bit of safety. All the sim processes, information, chat sessions, and classes the group hosts are ways to get everyone involved in this space safely. If you are at all curious to pursue the topic further, and safely, attend one of their group sessions or read up on the subject in the P3 library found via the link below.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Vesta%20Amor/42/213/22

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From BDSM Exploration to Becoming a Mistress- Becca Drascol Reporting…

When you think BDSM you think hardcore, whips and chains, and a strict Mistress or Master. Don’t you? Well not with this girl.  It was around a year ago when my real life husband and I decided to explore BDSM within our real life marriage as well as in our SL.  Now to best explain how one goes from exploring BDSM to becoming a mistress, I must first relate that my hubby and I are currently living apart but are happily married.  In our separation from each other we chose to revisit playing second life as a way to be closer to each other.  We began to explore the things we liked about BDSM and took those experiences quickly to SL.  It was around this time that my hubby brought up the idea of me being a mistress.  Taking on pets and not slaves.  Slaves being more common in most Domme/Sub relationships.  After a lot of discussion I was quite enthused and aroused by the idea.  I found in our personal exploration that I quite enjoyed the control aspect of domination.  I too enjoyed the type of adoration and love I was receiving from my own husband via our Sub/Domme relationship.  It was very much so not only a new but exciting experience to live, to be called his queen, his mistress and other pet names a sub has for their dominant.  To say the least I was hooked. 

Our love and adoration of each other was always and still is a very strong bond.  And yet I feel we were quick to find a rush of sorts in becoming new roles to one another.  We began to live our day to day lives with my husband as my pet, me, his mistress.  It started slow, as role plays and learning what we wanted to do and try.  Learning about BDSM in general as well.  Then we began to branch out and to visit SIMS that were of the BDSM nature.  I had changed my display name to “Mistress Sex Kitten,” a loving pet name from my husband.  And with that small seemingly unimportant change, I was viewed differently within SL.  Those who were deep into their roles as subs would automatically show me a respect that comes with that title of “mistress.”  Some would kneel, others would simply be close and take the time to either admire me, or to message me and say something simple but respectful.  This was of course an upside to this new title I had chosen.  And for a very long while within the first few months or more there was only one small downside I had found to being a mistress within second life.  That being the constant requests to take someone as my slave after only a, “Hello. How are ya?”

Okay so there were some things to feel were nagging and even some that were lacking.  Then we come to what was lacking.  True that my husband and I were indeed exploring our relationship as sub/Domme outside of SL, we had not fully explored it within SL. I did want subs, but not in the form of what I felt was not a good mix for me of a slave and myself mistress, but instead a closer more loving bond of pet and mistress.  A pet being someone I could get to know, care about even.  Be loving and kind with while still within the roles of sub/Domme.  Needless to say my searching was a harder effort than it would seem it needed to be.

I had allowed some to become my pet.  I had explained that I myself was a mistress like no other they would meet and the role they would take on as my pet.  And thus I opened a new part of SL and began to explore this, with my hubby at my side ever so adoringly.  However for each that I took on as pet, each became unhappy for their own reasons.  A part of me felt I had failed.  I felt that perhaps I should have left this “being a mistress,” unexplored within SL.  That perhaps being the softer, loving Domme, I did not fit in and therefore, was making my pets run.  What was a girl to do? I still wished to be Domme, and to have pets.  I still longed to explore all that hubby and I had discussed.  But with no pets I felt lost and even got to the point of being sidetracked to other ventures.

A mistress with no pet, was what?  A girl with a title.  Simply put yes.  I still got the respect of subs as a mistress, still received requests to be someone’s Domme, yes.   For a while I took none on. I was truly discouraged.  Then one day during our role plays, I said to my husband, “Why not be my pet in SL?” His reply wasn’t what one would think.  “I guess so.”  It wasn’t that he did not wish to be my pet.  He wasn’t being defiant as my sub.  I think the idea had not quite set in yet.  We talked.  And after a very open conversation we had come to the conclusion to be one of many things to each other in SL.  And now…him my pet.  This in-world sub/Domme relationship has only heightened our bond, perhaps even strengthened our marriage.

We continue to explore new places that happen to be a BDSM haunt so to speak.  I still have many requests to be the mistress of others.  But this is my story of becoming his mistress and exploring my path to learning as a mistress.  I no longer feel I failed as a mistress, or am a misfit in this world of BDSM.  I have obtained my own comfort amongst this lifestyle and with it my own respect of becoming who I am.

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Role Playing in Second Life- Piers Diesel Reporting...

According to Wikipedia, (2014) Role playing is refers to as “taking a role of an existing character or person and acting it out with a partner taking someone else's role, often involving different genres of practice” 

Retrieved from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing. 

We have all sometime in our lives, role played, beginning in childhood when our imagination was running wild. For example, boys pretending to be superheroes by jumping off of household furniture and being yelled at by mothers saying, “this is not a playground!” Little girls may have role played being a princess or even acted out scenarios using Barbies with friends. Role play has evolved significantly from those times with the rapid expansion of technology and more adults are participating in creative ways.

Role play in Second Life has a large community. From vampires, fairies, lycans and furries characters to ancient, medieval and combat sims where RP residents can actually play whatever role they would like with their friends from real world history, popular video game, movie or computer game story lines.

If you have always wanted to RP but do not know where to go, here is a list of locations in Second Life to explore. Keep in mind that there are many different genres of role play out there that can be found using the Second Life search engine.

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THE STATION; An Original Floating Club on a Steampunk Sim- Lanai Jarrico Reporting…

Steampunk is a 19th century Victorian or wild west culture depicting a post apocalyptic future.  It is based on fantasy and a science fiction hybrid sub-genre that features machines powered by steam, like spring propelled hot air balloons, steam engine trains, trolleys and other mechanical vehicles. Steampunk can also be associated with an artistic style in pseudo- Victorian fashion that incorporates mechanical parts, top hats, boots, monocles, pocket watches and digital gadgets.

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