December Holiday Greeting

From the writing staff of AW Virtual Life
From our Homes to Yours.
Active Worlds Community.
Happy Holidays.

Like the gleaming lights of the candles we light, the coziness of quilts,the warmth of
the sunshine we feel on our skin. The tinsel we hang; the lights that sparkle at night; the gifts that we wrap; the laughter of our love ones near & far the warmth of hot chocolate we taste the smells of fresh baked cookies and bread that fill our homes. With wonders . Take some time out for yourselves and truly enjoy this season and find the joy & the peace of mind that is there.
The Holidays for your staff writer here is a magical time for sure when everything seems to be right and perfect and love is in the air. And Family & Friends are apart of this very magical special time.

May you enjoy your holiday how ever you & your families celebrate the holidays. May you enjoy your holidays to the fullest.

May these days be bright & cheerful and loving in all the ways they can be.
It is a time of joy & happiness & peace through out the community & the world that we travel.

Mystery Build

The Build of the Month

AW Reunion

Many talented builds are here in this world. You will want to be sure to visit all the sites of this world. There is a vast array of themes and talented inspiration. Here is a sample of some of the great things you can see. When was Aw  Reunion world formed?  Started in 2010. Ski Raskal and NurseMom were the original caretakers.  It also has it's own object path with many specialized objects. What is the size of Aw Reunion? AWReunion in currently a p500. What is the over all  theme of the world? Reunions of course. A place for everyone to get together and build and chat and have fun.  We started it because real life reunions cost alot of money and many folks were unable to spend the money to travel.  There are many themed areas: Christmas, Cabin camping in the hills, Island camping, Jetsons future sky city, Spring area, Fall / Halloween areas and more.   Does  Aw reunion have  any active builders  at this time, or planned  events for the New Year ? We have several active builders.  No events planned at this time however that can change at any time.  We do have lots in many of the areas that folks can build on.   What is the over all take  away from visiting Aw  Reunion world that  you want people of AW  to leave with?   Fun, friendly environment.
	AWR cabin1 237.85S 208.09E 2.35a 269
	AWR Ski lift 137.40S 217.16E 1.05a 260 which leads to the next image of a grand lodge with bars and clubs and a spa and mover skis which take you back down the mountain on a nice ski journey.
	The Grand Lodge 137.40S 217.16E 1.05a 260 Use the skilift to visit bars, clubs, spa and go skiing!
	AWR Gingerbread house 1 235.37S 205.61E 1.47a 179
	AWR Winter Lz 229.96S 217.38E 1.01a 49
	AW Reunion Train
How  can you describe Aw  Reunion  world  in one sentence or two. A place to come together and make lots of friends. Who decided on the name Aw  reunion? The name came about due to the need for a vr place to have reunions.

Explore and enjoy the adventure. If you think you have seen it all, trust me you have not.If you would like your builds to feature in the Aw Virtual times, please telegram Cablecar Gal. If you build it and tell us, they will come, that is, if they know the coordinates. So send us your builds and coordinates. Any description or comments you would like to add will also be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, you can email jloawsac@gmail.com. Back to Top

Virtual Spoon

Recipes

Virtual Spoon here: Hello . Recipes for the month of December focus on Time away from the kitchen and more on the family and friends. Bon Appetit Active Worlds

The pressure is on folks. To come up with hearty, healthy rib sticking recipes that are easy on a budget, time savers at best, and will feed the food critic at heart. You know how difficult that is for a Virtual Spoon. Well If you have not figured it out yet. Let me inform you it is hard. You have a hungry person here, and if I am trying to get back to building around Activeworlds or just want to chatter with a fellow AW Citizen it has to be quick.

I hope the recipes below will help you when you can not think what shall I make for dinner. If you have a recipe you would like to share. Please send it to jloawsac@gmail.com

Virtual Fork

Chicory or Endives is a typical belgian vegetable, it is one of the best selling vegetables in my country, because you can eat it raw (as a salad, or by cutting in cubes and add mayonaise) , you can stew it (with a bit of butter) , or you can cook it (like fot this recipe).
Chicory has an oval shape and is white in color , with yellowish or lightgreen leaves at the top.

We put 4 stumps of chicory in pot with water and cook it until the chicory looks a bit glassy . (10-15 minutes).

At the same time, we prepare the bechamel sauce. Take a pan , put 2 spoons of butter (or 3 spoons of olive oil) and add 3 spoons of flower and heat this up while you stir with a whisk . The butter and flower becomes a kind of paste, and then add milk. Add enough milk (lets say half a litre) , and stir constantly with the whisk until all the chunks of the flower/butter-paste are dissolved.
Then add more milk so that you have enough sauce to cover the endives. Keep stirring with the whisk and while heating, the bechamel sauce starts to thicken. Optional is adding a bit of nutmeg, but certainly not too much , because it may not dominate the taste of the sauce.
The sauce may have a thick texture, because we will add soon the chicory to it , and this will cause a more liquid sauce again.


Now pour away the water , and put the warm chicory on a oven dish.
Now take 4 slices of cooked ham , and wrap each slice around 1 chunk of cooked chicory. Cover the whole with the bechamelsaus.
And finally cover this with a layer of Gruyere or Emmental cheese, or any other cheese to gratin.
Put the oven dish in the oven and as the chicory and bechamel sauce are still warm, you can heat it up , but certainly you gratin the cheese so that you have a light crust on it.

Then this dish is ready to serve with cooked potatoes or mashed potatoes.

F.Y.I.

Holiday Tree Safety Tips

Now that Thanksgiving is over, many families & your editor in chef will be soon heading to a Christmas tree lot.
This a tradition of mine. I go to several lots and I look row by row for the perfect Tree. Growing up Thanksgiving day we would pack into the car after we had our Thanksgiving dinner and head for Tag your Christmas tree . The first weekend in December we would pack into the car again and head for the lot .My Dad was the lumber jack. Now that Dad is 99 years old he can still remember doing this how he wished that we would allow him to get a fake tree and use pine spray. He is happy he does not have to do that now.
I am continuing the family tradition I go to several lots if I can not find the perfect tree I move on to the next one. By night fall I have found the perfect tree. It is never a Charlie Brown tree. It must be a Douglas Fur in memory of Dmc who loved Christmas as much as I do. And 6 feet tall and fit into the back of a VW Beetle. It does fit folks with little or no space to spare.
I collect Christmas ornaments I also collect Santa's. 8 boxes of Santa's and ornaments & white sparking lights on it. If you are like me like to go to a lot for your tree be sure and get one that you can put a stand on it. Add a Aspirin to the water container of the stand.
Your laughing I am sure. Why you ask does the tree have a head ache NO. It helps keep the needles moist and keeps the tree moist and suck up the water better. It is my favorite time of the year. Every year I have a open house Tree Trim party, the men folks get the tree on the stand and the women we give them directions. They take it well. I also have a cookie exchange party, there ARE never any left overs.

People will be soon heading out to pick up their Christmas tree, or pulling the artificial tree out of storage. Before you dive headfirst into assembling and decorating, there are some safety tips you should consider. You don’t want your tree to become a fire hazard or a danger to children, pets, or others.
Choose your location wisely. Pick a spot where your tree is visible yet not blocking doorways or walking paths. Keep it away from the fireplace, woodburning stove, radiator, or space heaters as well, as these devices can quickly dry out your tree and increase fire risk.
1. Keep your tree watered. Live Christmas trees are just that – living plants. That means they need plenty of water to stay hydrated and looking fresh. If your tree dries out, not only can it die and leave a mess of pine needles, it also becomes more flammable.
2. Use approved lights. Pay attention to the box when purchasing lights. Select strands that are made for indoor use, assuming that is where your tree will be. Outdoor lights give off more heat and can once again become a fire hazard. Inspect your lights before stringing them on to ensure they all work and there are no frayed wires or broken sockets. If you’re unsure, it may be worthwhile to simply invest in new lights.
3. Don’t overload sockets. Avoid plugging multiple cords into a single outlet or overloading your surge protector. You may end up blowing a circuit or sparking a fire. Always unplug your tree and any decorations when you leave or go to bed as well, just to be safe.
4. Decorate strategically. If you have small children, put any breakable ornaments up high where they cannot reach them. Also try to use decorations that hang with loops of string rather than sharp hooks, at least for those ornaments placed lower down on the tree.
And of course, once your tree starts to wither and pine needles begin shedding, it’s time to toss it out. Don’t try to keep your tree past its prime because this can create even more problems and safety concerns.
Have fun decorating with family and friends this year, but also be mindful of everyone’s safety

Tips for this article came from Green Acres Nursery

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Build Tips 

The Garden

Poinsettias - Helping an Icon to Bloom at the Right Time

USDA blog. The USDA has a rich science and research portfolio. Poinsettias are more than just an icon of the Christmas season. They’ve become the go-to plant for decorating homes, hotels, offices and just about everywhere from the Friday after Thanksgiving to well past New Year’s Day. This wasn’t always the poinsettia’s story. In the 1950s, poinsettias were flashy plants that made a brief appearance in public places shortly before Christmas, only to drop their leaves and colorful flower-like bracts a few days later. They were expensive to grow because their blooming time was difficult to synchronize with the holidays, and the plants easily grew tall and leggy. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise when you consider that wild poinsettias grow to be 8 feet tall in their native southern Mexico. Then in the 1960s, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) horticulturalist H. Marc Cathey began to use poinsettias in his research on the chemical control of plant growth. He found several compounds among the hundreds he tested, including some he got the makers of Old Spice (the Shulton Company), to prepare for him that growers could use as treatments to keep their plants compact. Cathey went on to discover that exposing poinsettias to 3 seconds of light every minute—or 3 minutes every hour—from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. each night held poinsettias on the brink of flowering until growers were ready to ship them for the holidays. More improvements came in the 1970s. ARS geneticist Robert N. Stewart became interested in poinsettias, partly because he found them to be an excellent research model as evolutionarily primitive plants. The other reason was that at that time, many scientific meetings were held between Christmas and New Year’s, and at the beginning of the meetings, “hotel lobbies would be dressed up with poinsettias, but by the end of the meeting, I noticed all the leaves had dropped off the plants,” Stewart once recounted. He knew he could do something about that. Stewart went on to develop poinsettia breeding lines known for their ability to last under non-greenhouse conditions and be naturally compact. His ‘Ruff and Ready’ variety is still used as a parent for new poinsettia cultivars being bred today, nearly 40 years later. ARS’s most recent contribution to improving poinsettias is the work of plant pathologist Ing-Ming Lee. He discovered that phytoplasmas—minute organisms that usually cause plant diseases—induce the dense, free branching growth so highly prized in poinsettias. His finding also led the way for growers to produce virus-free plants. Now, poinsettias are America’s number-one potted plant, with nearly 80 million sold for more than $250 million annually, even though the market is only 6 weeks long each year. Happy holidays with a little agricultural research!

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How to Care for Christmas Cacti

North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service - While the poinsettia remains the most popular holiday plant, a healthy Christmas cactus in full bloom makes a great gift or decoration. Christmas cactus is easy to care for and can be grown indoors throughout the year. The flowers range in color from yellow, salmon, pink, fuchsia, and white or combinations of those colors. When a Christmas cactus is taken to its permanent home, place it in a sunny location indoors. A north or east window gives the ideal light. If you want to grow it indoors in a south or west window, you should shade the plant with thin curtains. Christmas cactus is a succulent plant and can store a reasonable quantity of water in the leaves. However, it is not as drought tolerant as you think. Water thoroughly when the top half of the growing mix feels dry to the touch. The length of time between watering will vary with the air temperature, amount of light, rate of growth and relative humidity. Humidity is important to Christmas cactus. Place the container on a tray of pebbles. Keep water in the tray to increase humidity around the plant. Continue caring for the plant this way until the plant finishes blooming. After blooming is done, let the plant rest by withholding water for six weeks. Resume watering then to keep soil fairly moist but let the surface dry out. As tender growth appears in the spring, transfer the plant to a new container if needed or top-dress with fresh growing mix. Well‑drained potting mix is a must for Christmas cactus. Use a commercially packaged potting mix for succulent plants. Plants should be repotted every two or three years or whenever the container is filled with roots. Plants that appear unhealthy can be repotted any time of year. Follow up by applying half the recommended rate of a liquid houseplant fertilizer every 2 to 3 weeks. Christmas cactus can be moved outdoors in summer but should be kept in a partial to full shaded area. Direct sunlight can burn the leaves. Some growers move plants to the shade of a porch or patio for the summer. During summer, water to keep the growing mix moist after it dries on top. When fall arrives in September, move the plant indoors after making sure no insects are tagging along.

Spraying with a stream of water knocks off most insects that may try to hitch a ride. Place the Christmas cactus in a sunny location like it was before it went outside for vacation. High light intensity is important to flower development. As part of fall maintenance, water only well enough to prevent wilting. You should let the top half of the potting mix to get dry before watering. Don’t forget the pebble tray with water for humidity. During the month of October, do not water the plant unless it wilts. You may cautiously resume watering in November. Over-watering causes branches to droop and break. Water when the surface of the growing mix dries out. Christmas cactus is easy to grow but can be difficult to get to bloom again according to some. Although warm temperatures are good during the growing season, cool temperatures are important for flowering. From October on, keep the plant where temperatures are between 60 to 65 degrees. Keep Christmas cactus away from heat vents, fireplaces, or other sources of hot air. As long as temperatures remain in this range for a period of six weeks, flower buds will develop. If there is no place where you can keep temperatures in this range, you need to give the plant 13 hours of uninterrupted darkness each night to cause flowering starting around the first of October. Place the Christmas cactus in a completely dark room each night or cover each night with a dark piece of cloth or box. During the period of flower bud formation starting in October, stop fertilizing and only water enough to keep the leaves from wilting. Do this by watering when the top half of the growing mix gets dry. Once buds form, keep Christmas cactus in the medium to high light it likes and normal home temperatures. When the top of the growing mix dries, water to keep the plant evenly moist. Fertilize Christmas cactus every other week with a half rate of liquid houseplant fertilizer. Good luck with Christmas cactus and all your indoor and outdoor gardening in the coming year. Read more at: https://pitt.ces.ncsu.edu/2015/12/christmas-cactus-care/

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Worlds To Watch

francais, ABB2014, AniLab, ndu, October

Tackle Tech

The Teleport Maze

http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?AW_4000n_10000e_0.0a_0

The Teleport Maze is approaching 20 years of age. I started building it in the year 2000 and on Mars. The first version of it only had 20 stations, and it was quickly solved. However, it evolved over these many years, and two 532 stations spread across numerous worlds. It is perhaps the largest game in Activeworlds and certainly the most difficult. It is difficult because it is cheat-proof. Any experienced user of AW knows that shift allows you to pass through objects. Assuming these objects are not in private worlds, most mazes are easy to solve by simply passing through the wall. The Teleport Maze, on the other hand, is based on, well, teleportation. Each station has five signs. The station sign, which bears the number of the station when selected will return the player to the beginning of the game. The four other stations which are located North East South and West when selected takes the player to another station. Stations are near interesting builds, object yards, sound yards, and exceptional projects. While the maze is indeed difficult it is possible to complete it. Success in the maze is simply selecting the right teleports to get you to the key to the entire maze. The key itself has teleports to all of the stations in the maze. Additionally, there is more than one version. However, the last station in each path is not located in the key and contains a code word that must be telegram to Lensman to get listed in the Hall of Fame among the other winners. By the way the Hall of Fame is located at the beginning of the maze. I am currently working on one last path, and I will make an announcement in the newsletter and elsewhere should anyone care to take on the challenge.

Peacekeeper tips

Most people are not aware that the peacekeepers are the oldest monitoring group in all of the virtual worlds in the meta-verse. The organization is unique in that it moderates behavior in the name of Activeworlds. The organization enforces the guidelines on selected worlds that generally belong to AWI. Peacekeeper support is available on an on-call basis for private worlds or events. If someone is running an event on a patrolled world, the simple request is all that is required. Peacekeeper coverage in private worlds requires that the owner grant permissions for public speaking, eject, and bold to the Peacekeeper account. When a private world owner requests Peacekeeper support it is always on an on-call basis and continues until the world owner decides to drop the support. Peacekeepers also provide orientation to new users and assistance when someone encounters vandalism or harassment.

The minimum age for a Peacekeeper application is 18 years, and you also must be registered citizen of the ActiveWorlds 3D interactive for more than six months. Here’s the application form: https://peacekeeper.net/application.php

Using ActiveWorlds as a Tool in Writing Stories

I decided to write a book. However, as I began to write, I often forgot where things were. I mean, where doors and windows and furniture were in the story. I constantly forgot, for example, where the door was. The result was when I read the story back the door kept moving from one place to another. I remembered the fantastic building capabilities offered by AW so, I decided to build the locations I needed so I could see and explore like my characters. The novel I am currently working on is called the corridors of color. When my heroes come out of their adventures in the woods, they headed to a town. Frankly, I could not come up with a town name, so I called it “Next.” As I built the town, I noticed I missed elements that should be in the story. For example, every city needs a water source, and it also has to have a way to get rid of the wastewater. There needed to be a market to buy food and roads to carry it home. By the time I finished building and began to write, the story became significantly better in terms of the detail about the setting. I also discovered that the various points of view offered in AW allowed me to see what I was writing about from different points of view. Having a VR model was a great assist in working out how my characters reacted to their surroundings. The most effective use I found was to run AW on a different computer while I wrote on the other. Fortunately I have two computers but if you own desktop and a laptop you could do the same. I built many other places to assist me in my writing. I have a few in Alphaworld, but most of them are in America primarily because of the superior object path in that world. If you are interested in learning more about it contact Lensman.

http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?America_139.50S_254.63E_ -1.33a_ -1.33a

Using Activeworlds with Websites

There are a great many virtual reality world applications. However, among these, AW is the only one that aggressively integrates 3D environment with 2D web content. The design of AW to incorporate websites either as addresses, pictures, and videos is unique primarily because it’s incredibly simple. It all boils down to the use of the object properties box. Anybody who is attempted to build in AW knows this box well. By simply creating a sign object and adding a website in the action box, using a script, this capability becomes unlocked. It is all about the script, so here are a couple of templates to get you started.

Open a Website: create sign; activate url http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream

Use a web picture on a Pic object: create picture http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/phase.gif

Sign to teleport someplace: create sign "Hurricane Center" bcolor=black color=green;activate teleport awsource 10.80n 21.92w 2.65a 0

Fancy sign that opens web site: create sign "Fark" q=32 face="neuropol" color=black bcolor=white;activate url http://www.fark.com/

All of this, and more, is in AWSchool. There are tutorials for just about anything you might want to do there.

Calendar

Around AW

Citizen Name: NY Giants

Date became citizen of AW: May 10, 1997

For many years owned a world called “Carnival” which was a world designed like an amusement park, have since given the world up many years ago.

Was a teacher in AW school for a period of time

Specialty is warps and teleports

In early years became an American Builder in America world, came across this around latter part of 1998 or 1999. Was browsing around America world when I came upon their train tracks that went on around the west side of the world. Decided I liked the train tracks and wanted to add on to them and make my own build around it. One day in the process of building Jetta Lewis (owner of America World) saw me building and stated you know you can’t build here. I said I did not know that, he then took interest in my warps for the train track I layed out and said these were better than the warps we have there now and asked if I would be interested in becoming an American Builder and redo all the track bump warp commands. This is when I became an American Builder.

One of the roles I played as an American Builder I was caretaker of NJ World.(one of the 50 state worlds America used to have.

Builds I am most proud of are as follows:

Jeff's House - 10018.25n 25012w 270

Here you can see:

• Have a virtual tour of all Disneyworld Onsite Hotels

• Take Virtual rides on many of Disney Theme Rides
• See all different menu’s from many of restaurants Disneyworld and surrounding area have to offer our of their transportation system

Dance Floor:

• Interactive dance floor

• Virtual movies of different Disney characters
• Video Cameras of difference areas of the club

Here you can see:

• Have a virtual tour of al Royal Caribbean ships

NY Giants have been around in the NFL since 1925, I have compiled information and posted as follows:

• All games and scores by year

• Coach’ s records
• Annual win, loss and tie records

This is a video tribute of the Bee Gees

Bates Super 8 Motel – AW World 9986.65n 24943w 270

Nice little hotel build – See if you can find the SPECIAL ROOM

This build I designed to resemble a casino, no real interactive items

World of Motocross – AW world 9935.5n 25023.65w 180

• Interactive Cars you can actually click on and drive around the track, even have competition between friends.

• Virtual Camera so you can view from the camera
• Some interesting interactive activity if you look around

• Little beach area watch out for the shark

Nice design not much interactive

Virtual Subway System underground

• Interactive where you click on a train car and it takes you to the next train stop, goes in a complete rectangle around a good part of the world with 7 stops. Trains go in both directions.

• While traveling will have a announcement play.

Virtual Movie Theatre

• There are multiple theatres and each one plays a different movie

• orking Elevator

Interactive Trucking Company

• Can drive a forklift on the dock

• Can drive some tractors in the yard
• Can open doors to all trailers some doors are interactive (check them out)
• Working light switches
• Fire Alarm system is interactive
• Trash compactor works
  

Interactive Horse Track

• Can ride and race horses

• Working Bar
• Different types of Movers you can ride all over the build
  

Tram rides that goes around Coit Tower

• Can ride and view sites of area

  
  

You climb into a train car and it takes you around a area of my amusement park, along the way it will cross over streets and there are gates that go up and down as you cross and also a train whistle as you cross

Note: the amusement park in among itself is not some of my best work but there are things over the years I have added to it that I do believe are some of my better work (the train ride being one of them and there is also a vitual theatre area)

I have helped out other world owners as well

Wingrider – Owner of Cruisers

• Helped rebuild his train ride

• Created the movie theatre

OldKunnel – Owner AlwaysOK world

• Helped with his car movers.

Cleet – Owner of Brooksworld

• Assisted in various projects

Games, Comics, etc.

Solution