World of SL

Tateru Nino: Does Second Life really need saving?

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:34:55 +0000

Over the last 24 hours, I’ve read a whole lot of chatter about how to ‘save’ Second Life. Having given it some thought, the questions that come to mind are: Does Second Life need saving? Why? From what or who? [...]

Crap in the morning: The shadows will consume all in their path...

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:32:18 +0000

Jack Pitts has been consumed by the shadows... None can resist... the shadows will consume all.

I feel like I'm consuming everything, too. Even though I've been trying hard to keep my diet routine, I've been screwing up here and there.

Two bags of popcorn from World Market: 1000 empty calories.
Going by the break room yesterday and getting cups of cole slaw and beans.
Cherry ICEE while walking through Galleria.
Wheat toast and jelly at work.
Weekend grazing and binges.
Giving in to breakfast tacos and kolaches in the tunnels.

A little here... a little there... Failure. I first hit 215 on July 9th, but it was the result of a long workout and a lot of discipline. My goal for the month looked easy, and that's when I slacked off. Skipped a day or two of walks. Eased off on the situps. Picked up a toaster, painini press, and brought back bread. Now, almost 3 weeks later, I'm still at 215. But this time, I'm feeling bloated, exhausted, and aching all over. The chart shows a severe slowdown in the weight loss curve... I'm hitting 215 and bending off of it, not sliding through slowly. I do not consider my overall loss of 5 pounds for the month a victory, since I've hit a plateau and can't get past it. My first goal is 200, and the chart shouts YOU ARE NOT GETTING THERE... YOU ARE SPINNING IN CIRCLES... YOU ARE NOT MAKING PROGRESS... There's gaps in my workout routine. There's red flags in my food diary. So, I did the Daffy Duck on Thanksgiving thing, turning up the intensity to the ludicrous for the situps and diet and walks. When temptation hits, a free chicken sandwich from Chik-fil-A because lardass-fielder Carlos Lee smacked a home run off of the foul pole on Wednesday, I got it and used it for a rant video: I have the willpower to throw that fried and breaded greasebomb out, I have the willpower to pass up candy and garbage from the vending machines, I have made zero-calorie slushes my sweet-snack, but kolaches and breakroom buffets and other self-sabotages are not out of my system yet. It's not enough, Daffy. The hillbilly is outside the oven, lighting his match. And I'm blowing it, over and over. I know I can do this, I want to do this... I must try harder.

BlogHUD: A commemorative boat for England Macalroy

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:54:05 +0000

England Macalroy, SL boat builder, is remembered here, on his land. There is a commemorative small motorboat that is given there. To remember him. It is at the other side of the island where I am now. I think his friend would like us to come and see..

posted by Liv Leigh on Winter Island using a blogHUD
blogHUD map and teleport permalink

New World Notes: MMO Wise Man Scott Jennings on Saving Second Life

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:50:19 +0000

Oh that Scott Jennings! (Also known as Lum the Mad, also known additionally as Lum Lumley, when he's in Second Life that is.) When the veteran game developer and critic gets to ranting, he can sure unleash a righteous fury....

** Ari K: Feeling beachy, thanks

noreply@blogger.com (ARIADNE KORDA) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:33:40 +0000

Vent du Sud brings you:

Opening 12.30 SLT - 21.30 Europe

at the Vent du Sud ART CAFÉ

Who? R0bin Helsinki, a fantastic photographer and inveterate traveller

What? Views from beaches all over the world: unusual, striking, unique (and affordable!)

Why come today? Because these photos are beautiful. Because R0bin is fun to talk to. And because today, there are gifts (including photos and surprise gifts at the opening) and dancing on the square!

How long? Until R0bin puts up a new series of photos, so don't wait too long - she has so many fantastic themes and ideas.

And while you're here, have a wander on our quiet beaches, admire the sunsets from a lighthouse... and feel free to come over in swimwear and dive off our dock (or watch the dolphin, the seagulls or the waves or take a pedalo ride around the island).

(Swimwear on me: "Swallow" by BareRose which is my all-time favourite and comes in 4 colours for 135L)

(PS: Find it at BareRose using their website here)

We would really, really love to see you at Vent du Sud later today (and the exhibition is already open so if you can't make it later, come on over right away)!

Rikomatic: Off to the Herrang Lindy Hop Dance Camp!

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:25:52 +0000

Starting tomorrow night, I will be travelling to Sweden to participate in the Herrang International Swing Dance Camp, sort of the mecca for lindy hoppers. Every year, a thousand or so swing dancers from all over the world make the pilgrimage to Herrang for a five-week celebration of dance, featuring workshops, dance parties, shows, and lots of fun socializing.

This is my second time in Herrang, which unfortunately will be for only one week. Last time I had an absolute blast, and returned newly energized about this wonderful dance and the community that surrounds it. There's really nothing else like it on earth.

I don't know what my internet situation is going to be like. So forgive me if this blog is pretty quiet during the next week. If you don't hear from me, assume that I'm dancing!

Grid Expectations: POSEUR gift at gridexpectations

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:20:26 +0000

New POSEUR gift is available! Read more about it at Grid Expectations. <3

Second Life Herald: Herald Survives Day in DNS Hell

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:38:58 +0000

Domain name denied — trusted servers play SERVFAIL card

A pair of rogue domain name servers have been stripped of their authoritative status and permanently banished from the Herald DNS registration after putting the alphavilleherald.com site through a nightmarish ordeal of DNS lies and deception that rendered the newspaper inaccessible to growing numbers of readers as the misinformation spread across the entire interwebs.

With both the Herald editrix and technical staff in transit to the Metaverse Meetup, the crazed DNS servers’ sneak attack could not have come at a more unfortunate time.

Distraught readers wailed in frustration at being denied access to the most authoritative, incisive, vital and virtual newspaper in the metaverse. Some wondered how they would wrap their pixelated fish. Fears mounted as widespread reports circulated that virtual bird cages were being left unlined. Others noted that several puppies are still not totally housebroken – all due to the shocking silence by a pair of formerly well-behaved DNS servers.

Could this have been part of a bizzare Second Life Gorean cult’s BDSM-inspired DNS dominance game? Did Linden Lab finally decide enough is enough on the eve of Philip Linden’s faux town hall meeting? Or is a shadowy conspiracy of anti-technocomunists, black hats, 4chan, and the illuminati to blame? Perhaps Audrey from typesetting has been moonlighting and ‘cleaning up’ certain zone files?

We may never know the whole truth, but this query result may provide a clue

————
QUESTIONS:
alphavilleherald.com, type = A, class = IN
ANSWERS:
AUTHORITY RECORDS:
ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
————
** server can’t find alphavilleherald.com: SERVFAIL

Once alerted to the problem, the Herald’s Mysterio Sinister said, "I’ll show you a SERVFAIL, sucker" and immediately updated the Herald’s DNS name registration to use more reliable servers — a heroic rescue of the paper from a horrific ordeal.

Tateru Nino: Achievements

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:34:50 +0000

Yes, I’ve got an issue with achievements-systems. Linden Lab’s Amanda Van Nuys says it something that the Lab is looking at for Second Life. [...]

The Second Life Record: Telecommunications

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 04:30:06 +0000

Above all, because we are still strong enough to try again to amend our Constitution perhaps, but we have yet sufficient authority to secure the construction of a new law on telecommunications or broadcasting are really instruments of power, the ability of future accurate .- In international law the most important agreements are the ones who sign up before and after approvals, informal but certain that the political powers granted, and these agreements are made taking into account the challenges and how to save, among which are several great doctrines and case law, including the "running of the veil" call and brought in analogy with respect to the bonds that companies or ventures promoted for controlling corporations remain as such in accordance with their peers. Then and only then, can be verified with reasonable certainty made explicit in public, for the tranquility of the shareholders and the opponent .- I have noticed that, vetoes or closures with respect to the acquisition of rights with respect to a controlling or a controlling company that controls another, not only should be taken into account with respect the figure of monopoly not permitted by law but also about a central theme, such as the "accumulation of radio spectrum", is it to acquire power over others that are struggling in the market in such benefits, since it is possible a controlled and in turn controlling a third provider agreed policies in this aspect so that it arrives in partnership with unintended consequences, but the controlling of the two sides do not agree .- This is possible because the financial law it provides elements that allow the corrections that lead to such "cumulation" which is claimed is not exercised in enforcing fair competition and the exercise of government of countries and, in my opinion, ultimately has the real control who can concur to discuss how to be designed in time and space the business plan of the corporation concerned .- This business plan is a matrix combining resources with the purposes allowed to show the feasibility of the business and that it can be constructed information is needed and that information must be structured so as to contain the announcement of what is to come, in terms of obstacles and opportunities in that activity in the business world is also called "strategic intelligence" and this allows the future exercise of a contractual nature, that of the transfer of rights, which is basically the same institute that is used when reporting has been "sold to Manchester United footballer given .- Then, resigned reader, we see that the government the Kingdom of Spain has exercised the discipline of strategic intelligence for involvement anywhere in the world where communications services and to bid against it would prejudice here if we should have gone to such multidisciplinary discipline that has not been carried out .- "Even in the limited circumstances in which appropriate application of the doctrine of" Disregard of legal entity "is not possible to directly condemn," read in one article, and this is because the instrument is not truth or reality, what is the picture of situations we face and, I have read some opinion of the Attorney where for years it has been argued that if the controlling "change" and do not change local partners there would be no problems.

Torley: 035, 037, 038, 041, 043, 046

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:36:06 +0000

Every maam wants to believe her child is special — even the most special in the world, unless she has multiples. Then, they all became that. No maam wants to hear her precocious two-year-old babble, "Imma gonna grow up to be a worser terror than Oring Ame (that serial killer) we saws on the news last nite!", or "I'm not as special as you think I am!", or even "If you can't accept me for who I am, I'll become what you'll never wanted me to be."

Stills, somewhere along the way, I accepted that what mamma really wanted, she couldn't understand. I saws her, as many aging people without a fire do, began to live life in a loop. After paap walked out in the cold and never came back to the perceived warmth of our family home, it's like maam went into "say useless abstractions" mode for the worse. I loathe another "I did the best I could as a parent," it's eminently untestable. No one knows for sure, and those who lie about it are the most unsure of all. She started believing in dumb-quackery, her eyes would spin 'round in her sockets. She never did have the alcohols but I wish she did for the sake of put-out-ness.

I described worlds to her that made no sense (to her). She'd tell me stories of people in the past I couldn't feel, had no relation for — what has they done for me? They's no kin. So I turns my back on that and do the HUM… hold the globe with a pocket universe in it, palm tree resort. Shake it up and be there. Among what I sees, maybe with these daisies in my clenched left fist, lucidity stands by myside:

035 – Sine tones uplifting like fresh-pressed laundry on a dog's happiest day to muck it all up. A planet of fertile vegetation beset by legged fish cultivating neon eggs in a cathedral of sacred rites.
037 – The greatest astrolomer who ever died, Karl Pagan, epithizing about the state of wonder in a planetarium the size of a planet. Hence why it's called as such. Reverb bigger than galactic bowls can scoop up.
038 – Being passenger, windowside on a formidably quiet skycraft. A pleasant turbulence urging my fellow passes to pass the time, lilting of my lazy eyes as the canyon dreams blast through ragged clouds. Awaiting touchdown.
041 – Being privy to the siteght of some great tragedy. Buried beneath, secrets of the All-Normal Family that lived a double life. How could they do such wretched things, the bastards? TOO MUCH PRESSURE TO CONFORM, ABORT!
043 – Drifting into hum, suspended like mint crystals on the day we should've died together. Afraid movement will destroy what we've built, but convinced our cocoon must be ruined to reach.
046 – Graam's gentle vinyl crackle like waves on the seashore we played as children, shells to collect, souvenirs attaching themselves to this point of origin. And now I hold myself holy and use the sound to get back.

It can't be everyday I want to travel. But those phases, they come, and the rest of life must stop for them. Even if maam dain't understand.

From the Dream Journal.

[...]

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:01:51 +0000

This time it seems to've stuck, thank G'al.
Sailing the H7 Seas on Wednesday

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:59:53 +0000

From Letterheady, Harpo's letterhead

Crap in the morning: Saved

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:19:21 +0000

Scott Jennings nails it on Second Life and Linden Lab:

First off, Linden Lab doesn't appear to know what its core business is. Hint: it's server hosting. Second Life is, essentially, a protocol. Everything content-related - game-y things, world-y things, people-with-cat-heads-meowing-things-you-really-don't-want-to-hear things - all of them come from the users themselves. Linden Lab just puts up the servers, and people pay Linden money to run them. They then presumably make that money back from other users, or run them as an odd hobby, or whatever. Linden doesn't care - and Linden shouldn't care. Their business is as Pakleds. They make things. That make us go. Second, after the server hosting is there and done, the second neglected feature that is killing Second Life - customer service. Or rather, the lack thereof. I'm sure it will surprise few MMO watchers that much of Linden Lab's recent bloodletting was in customer service. After all, CS doesn't make you money. You just pay for CS agents and they sit there and talk to users and don't make any money and what the hell, we got new Facebook clients to write!

Read the rest.

You know, if the hosting company I work for did that kind of shit, we'd lose business and get bought out by a bigger company that would wipe out the jackasses and whip us all into shape. Oh. Wait. That happened four years ago. (How the hell did I make the cut?)

iheartsl community blog: Quick Look: I Gatcha

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:49:50 +0000

Poses from I Love Olive

posted by Gidge Uriza

Elusyve said I had to go to the Albero Gatcha Festival -and since she’s a fucking giant who might squashe me, I went.

She also said I had to wear everything I got immediately, which meant I was walking around wearing many boxes. I think this might’ve been some mean elf trick on her part.

But since I had never been to nor patronized any sort of gatcha, you know, like Ron Burgundy would say – WHEN IN ROME.

I can’t actually wear everything I got at once.

That just means there will be another post.

You lucky suckers………

Style Notes:

All obtained at the Albero Gatcha Festivale

Sksin – showfunky – olga – just pink
Hair – Katatonik – yello – jamz hair
Headphones – Katatoniki – cupcake headphones
Top – Sysy’s
Pants - Teefy’s Lacy Blacky
Necklace – BOOM – Gumball Necklace – Ink
Bracelets – Loulou & co
Pen – I dunno. I got a pen somewhere

And I has an other post to do eeeee! This was fun!

Tagged: alberfo, Boom, gatcha, KatatOnik, loulou and co, showfunky, Sysy’s, teefy

New World Notes: Thursday Machinima: Japanese Punk Goes Better With French Maid Furry, Fishcake (But You Knew That Already)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:26:23 +0000

You know what today needs? Yes, that's right: Japanese punk rock with gravity-defying fishcake eating and a hot horny babe beset by a housefly while a furry in a French maid outfit rocks out on a three-headed bearskin rug. (How'd...

New World Notes: If You Think an Achievement System is Incompatible With Second Life, You Don't Remember How Second Life Started

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:34:51 +0000

Second Life's homepage from 2004, via Archive.org "How to Save Second Life in Seven Easy Steps" is my latest editorial on Social Times, and I'm gratified to see it garnering a very interesting conversation there. The most curious reaction, of...

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:29:32 +0000

I don't indulge, however the "war against drugs" is ludicrous and destructive, and makes just about everything worse.

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:26:21 +0000

I mean, what can lie behind that kind of thing? It makes no sense. The only possible answer besides the crackpot "study" theory is that the people in charge have complete and utter hubris, discount everything users say as being from idiots, and don't use SL in anything other than a very limited, company employee fashion. I HATE thinking that. But WTF?

Mixed Realities: Using web chatter for predicting future events and visualizing it

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:22:10 +0000

There is the reality of the physical world, and the reality of what we do online, or so people usually think. In fact, I’m more and more convinced that it makes no sense at all to make a distinction between those two dimensions. Just have a look at one of the latest ventures in the security services sector.

Google Ventures is financing, together with the investment entity of the US security services, In-Q-Tel, a company called Recorded Future, so I read on Wired.

Recorded Future analyzes web data. The company claims to structure the chatter on social networks, blogs and sites into information which helps to predict future events:

Recorded Future is not operating in secret, far from it. The company runs a interesting blog. The technology is not only applied to analyze security issues, but can also be used for quantitative trading.

The blogposts of Recorded Future are also exercises in visualizing data – the movements of the Chinese president, for instance, and what it learns us about the priorities of China.

All this reminds me of the fact that 3D-environments can be very useful in visualizing, analyzing and discussing complex data. I guess the guys at Recorded Future know about that.

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:21:00 +0000

This is the type of thing that makes me feel uncomfortably like SL is not really a virtual world but is instead some strange long-term sociology study.

sered Second Life: Twinity: Miami

noreply@blogger.com (Sered Woollahra) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:03:52 +0000

Today Metaversum presented me with the opportunity to visit their virtual rendering of Miami Beach in Twinity, in advance of tomorrow's official opening. Of course I accepted, and I must say I'm pretty impressed with what they've achieved. More on my visit to Miami Beach is at the Koinup blog, where I am the resident Twinity blogger. Of course I have a lot of screenshots, also to be found @ Koinup!

Your2ndPlace.com: Search shenanigans

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:53:48 +0000

A vast improvement in the usability of Events search has been unveiled by Sea Linden, in this blog post. Events can now be browsed once more, there's some nonsense added, there are now featured events, I have no idea why Linden Lab are featuring certain events, I really don't see why they think this is a good idea, unless they're looking to charge for a featured event listing at some point.

However, being able to browse events once more is a positive step forward, it's long overdue and should never have been like this in the first place, but progress has been made, so three cheers, hip hip hooray, hip hip ....oh wait!

Hold those cheers because the maturity ratings bug, doesn't get a mention in this blog post, you know, that annoying bug where your parcel may or may not be found at a certain time of the day depending upon which maturity ratings are ticked, the one that shows parcels on page one in places but doesn't list them at all in search all, so now we get to boo ...but wait!

Yes, another reason to be cheerful, the mixing of the web blurb with inworld resuts, as reported on Jira WEB-2378, is being addressed. This bug makes searching for terms such as "Land Security", "Commercial Land", "Furry Avatars" and "Maps" pretty useless as these terms appear in the blurb of all listings due to system requirements and World Map being blurb from the website, which then corrupts the results, so three cheers....oh wait...you get the drill.
{ Read more }

iheartsl community blog: Peek-a-boo SL!

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:22:40 +0000

Work in progress skin, from Pink Fuel.

I think that lots of girls will be happy with this release, especially if you’re already a fan of the cute young faces from Pink Fuel. I know I am, but I have always favored the ‘youngish’ look in SL rather than the mature glam look. I’m not glam… I don’t really even like to wear shoes most of the time when I’m floating around in-world from sim to sim.

Are you looking forward to the final version of this skin as much as I am?

I hope the final is something like this, because I think it’s perfect already.

BlogHUD: Pretty ghost mermaid

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:51:03 +0000

tako Absent has been here all day. I guess there are issues with crashes and logging out again.

posted by Liv Leigh on Dex using a blogHUD
blogHUD map and teleport permalink

iheartsl community blog: A Picnic at Third World

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:53:53 +0000

The new Picnic Dress from Haven Designs is a fun and cheery summer sundress that had me heading out for the outdoors. I love the field of daisies that begins lightly on the bodice and gets more intense as it goes down the skirt. The dress comes in seven summer colors with an additional blue limited edition for the Stumblebum Brigade.

I headed out to Third World to check out another corner for this shoot. Seriously, this sim is full of what you could call little set pieces or tableau that are perfect for photos while all working together cohesively.

The sundress demands summery accessories and what could be better than the espadrilles and floppy hat from Gos. They coordinate with each other and as you add color packs to the shoes, you get additional flexibility. For example, these are the yellow espadrilles but the lace and the seam are green from the Meadow color pack – and Meadow is the color of the sash on the hat.

Here’s another slightly skewed shot at the full look – I mentioned using ctl-8 to shift perspective yesterday. The shift is sometimes more obvious when you focus on an avatar, though you (Read more...)

New World Notes: Ophelia's Gaze on Second Life Summer Swim Wear: Let's Hear it for the Boys

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:42:06 +0000

Exclusive to NWN, Iris Ophelia's ongoing showcase of all things stylish in SL I've spent a lot of time talking about swimwear for the ladies, but don't think for a second that I would forget about the guys! I wanted...

Crap in the morning: How to take a punch...

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:37:51 +0000

A conversation I had recently with my shadow... "Seen the referral stats?" "Yeah." "You're getting bashed by the crazy bitch again." (pause) "I said you're-" "And?" "Well, I thought you'd want to know." "Like I give a shit?" "It's really pathetic this time." "And this is a surprise how exactly?" "Well, I thought you'd want to kn-" "I don't." (pause) "You should say something." (pause) "Do not feed the crazy."

"How To Take A Punch" (an epic tale about complete and total bullshit) Long ago, when the world was new and the night was young, I was a bored and restless kid in public school. My brother had been, too, and he was moved to a private school. Poor bastard. There goes your 4.0 and cakewalk to OSU, man. Riding high on the road to Westerville Hig- Then, I was moved over to the private school. Thud. Well, there goes my wrecking the curve and carrying around a sack of books I never opened, using a calculator to bullshit answers for the pointless multifigure multiplication wastes of time. As part of the move, the school put students through summer school to see how much of a mess they were from the public school experience and to play catch-up. I was solid on math skills, so all four of the summer school remedial head-smashings were in language and writing and reading. ("Alive." Bleh. Gross. To this day, I can't watch a soccer match without thinking "Yes, but how do they taste?") Summer school was also used by the rich kids to clean up their dismal records so they could play sports and limp along to graduation so they could buy their way into Duke, Harvard, Columbia, etc. (Nobody ever bought their way into Cal Tech, MIT, or Rice, Harvey Mudd, or Carnegie Mellon, though.) Since it wasn't convenient to just ship me off for the classes, I was stuffed into the summer camp in the afternoons at the school. Most of the rich kids got picked up before then, but a few of the serious head-cases were stuck wasting time in the camp. Lovely. Gulag for the goon squad. One of them took an instant disliking to me, a lanky gawky nerd-glasses white-haired dork, but somehow he was the alpha male cock-of-the-walk cool kid, and he decided to do his best at bringing me down. It takes two to abuse: one to abuse, and another to allow the abuse to happen. It's always somebody, right? This is why I had a solid steel Pall Mall ruler in my bookbag all those years... no sharp edges, but perfect for breaking wrists. My trusty weapon/measuring implement was seized immediately. "Bookmark, right?" I nodded. "Nice try. We're not reform school here, Public." Bitch. Without a weapon or a staircase far away from witnesses, I was left without a plausible deniable violent solution. He failed at getting my goat and one-upping me in the classes because I was using my brother's marked-up books (a tactic I used all the way up until graduation, learning quickly that he used red ink for fake notes meant to get me discovered and burned. What a guy, right?). Better than Cliff's Notes, and not as yellow-and-black stripey. That, and the fact that he was a spastic retard. Some rich dude must have fucked his cousin, spawned a mutant brood, and then interbred them to create this damaged heir to the family fortune. Serial summer school strikeout king, getting by on his daddy's contributions to the school instead of his academic or athletic prowess, because money can't buy you brains for the one you love. So, after another attempt to get me to react, I shrugged him off and said: "What's your problem?" "You." No, jackass - the problem is you. And you can't handle that simple fact. He and his constellation of less-than-stellar student bozos weren't going to beat me at [...]

SLCC: SLCC Keynote Speakers & Evening Socials Announced

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:44:10 +0000

Keynote Speakers

Saturday AM Keynote Speaker: Philip Rosedale (SL: Philip Linden)
Saturday, 8/14 from 8AM to 9AM EST

Philip recently returned as interim CEO after Mark Kingdon stepped down in July, and we expect that he’ll address the company’s future direction and Linden Lab’s “return to the basics” of improving the core Second Life experience. In a recent post on the Second Life blogs, Philip talked frankly about addressing Resident’s concerns. “We need to get back to being the first to invent and deliver the solutions that evolve virtual worlds,” said Rosedale, “We are still at the beginning of a huge market.” Rosedale’s speech will be delivered in world and simultaneously webcast to attendees of the Second Life Community Convention in Boston on Saturday morning.

“Rezzing Prims and Painting the Future” Doug Thompson (SL: Dusan Writer)
Saturday, 8/14 from 1PM to 2PM EST

Second Life gets one thing absolutely right: its ability to paint a picture of the future. Through Second Life, we begin to understand how our lives will evolve and change because of technology; the promise and peril of increased virtuality; and the larger implications of an individual’s ability to rez a prim. Drawing from lessons and discussions with leading thinkers, this presentation will take a rapid tour through how Second Life is informed by (and informs) disciplines as diverse as game design and theory, architecture, organizational development, innovation, spirituality, content creation, commerce, governance and branding. As the pace of technology continues to accelerate, how can Second Life continue to be a source of rich value, connections and insights and is there a continued role in this changing landscape for the act of rezzing a prim?

“Pioneers in Virtual Worlds: Your Time Is Always Now” John Lester (SL: Pathfinder Linden)
Sunday, 8/15 from 8AM to 9AM EST

Platforms for creativity and community will always arise, grow and change over time. Regardless of the nature of any specific platform, it’s the users of those platforms, specifically people with pioneering spirits and creative ideas, who drive innovation within the platform as well as the inevitable development of new platforms. In this keynote, John will talk about pioneers in Virtual Worlds, exploring their role in a constellation of available tools for creative expression and communication. He will discuss why community building is critical to the evolution of any creative platform and why cultural understanding is the most important factor for success that needs to be cultivated by both platform creators and users. New challenges always create new opportunities, and John’s keynote will highlight why the time of pioneers in Virtual Worlds is…and always will be…*now.*

“The Second Life Viewer: What’s Next?”
Kent Quirk (SL: Q Linden), Scott Lawrence (SL: Oz Linden), and Sarah Hutchinson (SL: Esbee Linden)
Sunday, 8/15 from 1PM to 2PM EST

Linden Lab spent the better part of the last two years working heads down on Viewer 2. The focus was on creating a Viewer that would be easier for new users to adopt. It has become [...]

Tateru Nino: Game DRM is back-asswards

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:35:32 +0000

DRM, in its form as copy-protection for computer games is completely backwards, and accelerating rapidly in that direction. [...]

Crap in the morning: Missing

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:16:38 +0000

I miss my Kyle O'Clock fix, because it's not just music. It's people. Together. Winding down for the day. Relaxing. A glass of wine, a good tune or ten. Just not the same, listening to his albums... or chatting folks up here and there. Just not the same. I've been pondering the StreamJam applet for the past few days, now that SL-ers are helping beta-test it for the Electric Sheep/Sibley Crew. Using UStream and the video, there's less lag between the performer and audience, but the reaction/reflexes aren't quite there yet. And the banter among audience memebers isn't quite at a Graceoclock or Meatspace level yet, despite the inherent socialnetworking/buzz among cliques in Facebook. But I think it has the potential for that kind of connection/banter/reaction. (The true power of every experience is between the people, not the pixels.)

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:56:26 +0000

My fave comment about this painting over on SCmkII:
Envoy Costagravas: It is good to see Thomas Kinkade branching out.

Update: Ooh, whoda thunk it???

BlogHUD: Clash Of The Titans

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:36:04 +0000

I awoke around 4am and couldn't sleep. So I figured I'd logon and do some work on Camalot. However; the labbies wouldn't let me in, all it did was sit and sit some more. So I said "fine, I'll watch a movie instead." I ended up renting the new remake of Clash of the Titans. It was pretty good, of course I am a sucker for Liam Nielson movies anyhow. I think he is a good actor. I liked how they threw in a quick cameo appearence of the mechanical owl from the original one. That right there did it for me. I think if you are going to remake something and alter it at least aknowledge the original in some way within the film.

posted by Jack Pitts on Camalot using a blogHUD
blogHUD map and teleport permalink

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:32:36 +0000

On the Philip meeting blogpost of the official LL blog a commentor said:

"Might I ask if SL would please not forget the 'little' merchants, I have a 4086 plot that I have had my business on for a good while and have slowly built it up into a business that now covers my Tiers and other costs, so at this point I would like to expand and buy more land so I may gain more prim's to expand my business (House Sales) However, and this is the crunch that has stopped me for a long time in expanding.

The current rules mean that to purchase more land places me in a much higher tier group, which means I will end up paying for land I don't own !! can the Tiers not be charged relevant to the amount of land owned? this way I will be able to cover tiers and continue to grow within the constraints of money available, who knows one day I might even have a sim ? before all the others jump in and say about buying a sim or just taking more land like they have done, fine on them, BUT not everybody has a lot of money to spend and unless I am able to pay my way then it is just not going to happen, and I know I am not the only one in this position, many businesses do not expand purely for the sole reason that they cannot afford to, so how about it Philip ?? a little help goes a long way and it would help a lot of people in business to expand and of course at the same time continue to help Linden to grow too."

That was asked at a townhall in 2005 and I remember Philip saying tier needed greater granularity (which of course didn't happen). I wonder if this is out of the question at least at the moment, or might fall into the new scheme of pleasing customers.

iheartsl community blog: A Fabbie Goes To- Bliss Windlow

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:23:56 +0000

…..because she made me cry with laughter on the post Why Amateurs Should Never Explain the Gorean Way – Especially to a Feminist.

Oh Christ I’m still laughing.

Q:”Why is that girl being dragged on a chain?”

A:”She must be really slow and need remedial obedience classes…..”

“Don’t worry – she LETS him own her……” OMG I LOVE THIS POST……

Oh BLISS you have slain me on a day when I had to get out of bed and face the dragon. I am absolutely in tears considering exactly how this conversation went.

I also love that she mentions that people shouldn’t be allowed to mix metaphors in their role play. That’s brilliant.

THIS post was fucking fabulous.

Bliss rocked my socks this morning, and thus – gets a FABBIE.

OH and The Goreans getting offended in the comments? Seriously. That’s almost as good.

PS – I don’t mind Goreans. But those leaving ugly comments here will not only get published, but a good laugh. Have at it.

Tagged: Fabbie

BlogHUD: Balduin Aabye - Bolero

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:48:04 +0000

The Bolero, a new project by Balduin Aabye. At the TYC Boat Show June/July 2010.

posted by Liv Leigh on Dex using a blogHUD
blogHUD map and teleport permalink

BlogHUD: "Een" Prototype

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:39:04 +0000

by Sira Scarbridge. At the TYC Boat Show June/July.

posted by Liv Leigh on Dex using a blogHUD
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The Second Life Record: Technology and Its Reach

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:30:13 +0000

Today, technology has pushed the boundaries of imagination, the power to identify a person by just putting your finger on a device, or for photography, has allowed the development of various applications to ensure that the person is who claims to be. The technologies that identify individuals are grouped into the concept of biometrics, but what is biometrics? Then consider a definition that explanation: "Biometrics includes all the technological solutions of identifying individuals based on the unique properties, immovable and nontransferable for each person. The fingerprints, retina, iris, facial patterns of veins of the hand or the geometry of the palm, are examples of physical characteristics (static), while the examples of behavioral characteristics include signature, and click step (dynamic). The voice is considered a mixture of physical and behavioral characteristics, but all biometric traits share physical and behavioral aspects. "The great advantage of biometrics is that enables secure authentication, unlike the use of passwords or cards, as these can be stolen or used by people who do not correspond to individual that it identifies. We could say that human beings have ID cards integrated easily accessible: for example fingerprints, which are virtually unique designs.

A failure to transfer is added comfort for the user, who has not to carry identification or memorize anything. Each of these techniques should be applied, depending on the environment, to ensure their effectiveness. This time we will analyze which technique applied to the rural sector for a presence control on flower and agro-export companies. The rural sector Many employers are concerned about the control of their personal assistance, especially in areas where production of inputs such as flowers, broccoli, peppers, etc., depends on the timeliness of staff. Apply biometrics in this sector will depend on factors such as: cost of the solution, ease in handling the device, measuring effectiveness and speed of care. Therefore, using the hand geometry, fingerprint and facial recognition lately have been the most widely used.

The rural sector is perhaps the biggest problem environment to implement using biometric fingerprint. Because the tasks that each person plays in their daily tasks: flower business, agro-export, agriculture in general. This problem is resolved by using standards and methodologies which help the smooth functioning of the system itself. The hand geometry requires a password for verification, this may cause a problem because when people register their attendance by typing your password immediately and place the hand. The face recognition need not only the individual key puts your face in front of the camera and record their attendance. There face problems of location and brightness, but are resolved using appropriate mechanisms. In terms of cost, is higher than the trace and the palm of the hand, but in terms of speed of registration, especially for people with hard fingers, is the best option. The use of other mechanisms, such as reading the iris, retina, like the face does not need keys, however the installation of this equipment is expensive in relation to the fingerprint, hand and face. As conclusion the road, hands or face are effective measures that meet the expectations of ensuring the identification of the individual, but these depend on economic factors, speed of attention, and ease of management for optimum results in schedule control.

Rikomatic: "Scott Pilgrim vs the World": Musical, Martial-arts Love Story is Full of Win

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:11:32 +0000

Tonight I got to see a sneak preview of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" at the BAM Rose Theater in Brooklyn with a couple hundred other excited fans. I won't get all spoiler-y, but suffice to say it is worthy of the tagline: "An Epic of Epic Epicness."

Why should you see this film?

Awesome classic gaming references
Over-the-top fight scenes
Hilarious dialogue
A fantastic ensemble cast, particularly Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona, Kieran Culkin as Wallace, Alison Pill as Kim, and Ellen Wong as Knives.
And most of all, Michael Cera looking hapless, and then kicking butt

Can't wait to see it again!

Thanks to the nice folks at Bergen Street Comics for the passes to the advance screening. You guys rock!

Prokofy Neva: Is Somebody Missing Some Concurrency?

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:05:17 +0000

Well, you wonder why the SKYLAB CINEMA FLYIN was bumped, now you know LOL. I thought this was a prank on the forums at first, but then I saw it myself went I went to the page, which seems to...

Tateru Nino: The opening of Linden Lab’s Amsterdam office

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:04:55 +0000

On 7 March, Mark Kingdon spoke at the opening of the Amsterdam office of Linden Lab. Yes, that’s a little while ago now, but remember this is just 90 days before the layoffs, and I think it is interesting to hear what is said in light of what subsequently occurred. [...]

John Swords (Johnny Ming): Background Data Sync in iOS 4 Could Solve 3G Crisis

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:02:03 +0000

IOS4 on the iPhone brought about the much needed functionality for apps like Skype and Pandora to run in the background. Since the new Skype release a week or so ago, it has been nice to Skype chat on the go and not have to use wonky 3rd party relays to chat via notifications.

Background apps and notifications are hopefully just the start. Apple needs to release functionality that allows apps like Instapaper, iBooks, iTunes, Pulse News, Evernote, magazines, newspapers and others to receive data in the background while the device is idling.

I continually find myself in a subway station or on less than adequate 3G service for downloading large amounts of data (usually media) wishing I had loaded each of the apps listed above one by one to sync up before leaving my home or office. I am sure this would eliminate a nontrivial amount of 3G traffic for ATT and would make for a most superior user experience.

Users should be able to select which apps and under what conditions there may be communication with their servers, such as data connection speed and power/battery condition. Android does not have an elegant solution for this either and probably cant achieve the same efficiencies due to the way the platforms are architected.

Sure, Android has widgets with limited dashboard data and background syncing, but the number of apps that support it seem limited to Facebook, Flickr and things owned by Google. Not to mention that it brings the device to its knees and chooses the least opportune time to run background processes.

For a device that can already push notifications, email, and broadcast location data in the background it seems like only a matter of time for this functionality to come to other forms of data on the iPhone. Some day we will look back at iOS 4 and think it was funny that it couldnt think ahead to grab the 10 day forecast before we clicked the Weather Channel icon.

New World Notes: Chestnut's Choices 7/9 - 8/4 - Metaverse-only Music Group Chouchou Performs, NASA eEducation Summer Fair, Concert to Protest Gulf Oil Spill Disaster, and much, much more

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:27:48 +0000

Chestnut Rau's Weekly Roundup of Upcoming SL Events......... Chouchou is a Japanese music group that exists only in the virtual world of Second Life. Juliet Herberle (above) lends her vocals and arabesque Choche provides the music that is Chouchou. Together...

BlogHUD: Postcard from Second Life.

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:18:05 +0000

Check this out!

crossposted to nicki_clary

posted by Nicki Clary on Hollow Earth using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: Hollow Earth

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:15:13 +0000

Check this out!

crossposted to nicki_clary

posted by Nicki Clary on Hollow Earth using a blogHUD
blogHUD map and teleport permalink

BlogHUD: Hollow Earth

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:15:05 +0000

Check this out!

crossposted to nicki_clary

posted by Nicki Clary on Hollow Earth using a blogHUD
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Prokofy Neva: Chirihama

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:57:38 +0000

Chirihama Check this out! Visit Chirihama (116, 72, 24) Posted via email from Prokofy's posterous

Prokofy Neva: As advertised, some llamas

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:53:25 +0000

As advertised, some llamas Check this out! Visit Chirihama (100, 79, 23) Posted via email from Prokofy's posterous

Prokofy Neva: Grey

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:43:17 +0000

Grey I see gray people. Visit Sexy Islands (218, 204, 24) Posted via email from Prokofy's posterous

Prokofy Neva: Wall

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:40:42 +0000

Wall I land staring at a wall at Sexy Islands Sexy Nude Beach, the latest Linden Destination tout. Visit Sexy Islands (125, 127, 23) Posted via email from Prokofy's posterous

Prim Perfect: News story submission form

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:20:08 +0000

News story submission form

This is your chance to submit news for Prim Perfect’s Summer issue which will be out on August 2nd – and at the moment we are looking for news stories to feature in our popular News from the Grid feature.

If you have a news story to share about your store or your sim, you can use the special Prim Perfect news service, to submit your news story directly to the magazine.

All you have to do is to go to www.primperfect.net/news_form.html and complete the simple form. If you want an image included, send it to primperfect@gmail.com.

To appear in our next edition, we must receive your news story by 12 noon SLT, Friday 30th August, 2010.

The news story might also appear on this blog, especially if the story concerns, for example, the kind of time-defined event we like to cover – a special store promotion, or a charity concert.

So what are you waiting for? Send your news to us – and see it in print very soon!

New World Notes: Who Are Your Favorite Musicians in Second Life? Get Ready to Share in the Epic New World Notes' Readers Poll!

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:36:17 +0000

Second Life has a great music scene, but as everyone knows, it's difficult for artists to get exposure or a decent following. So next week, I'm going to launch an epicly epic New World Notes Reader Poll that'll cover each...

iheartsl community blog: Porcelain & China

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:43:52 +0000

When I saw the delicate tones of the new Baiastice skins in the Porcelain tone coupled with the delicacy of the lace jacket for this DCNY outfit, I knew exactly where I wanted to shoot – in China. Not the China of hustle, bustle and the Great Wall, but the watercolor China that you can find in the magnificent China sim.

This shot gives you just a small idea of the wonderful photographic opportunities you can find in China. I also played a little bit with perspective, using the CTL-8 lens change to the max to give it a shift in perspective.

The dress from DCNY can be worn with or without the lace jacket – but I really think the jacket is what makes the dress stand out. I added Pin-Up Pumps from N-Core. I am in love the with new N-Core Hud. It took me mere seconds to tint the foot for a flawless match.

I added the Fishnet gloves from Adore & Abhor for a bit of extra glam. The jewelry is from HaysUriza/

Here’s a closer look at the stunning Baiastice Pulchra skin in Porcelaine – a happy new addition to Baiastice’s line of excellent (Read more...)

iheartsl community blog: Truth Hair

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:41:27 +0000

Truth – Vera | Marissa | Keeley

I’m loving this week’s Truth hair releases cos the hairstyles frames the face so well and there are no bangs covering the face. These styles will be perfect for blogging skins, which I haven’t done too much of lately but I’m hoping to do them more frequently soon cos some of my favorite designers are releasing new faces.

Visit Truth

Also, if you have not made the switch to SL 2.1 (or another SL viewer with layers capabilities) you’re really missing out on some excellent customizations. I am wearing Laqroki Pearl skin with Dark Brows on the tattoo layer, plus Lelutka Lola lipstick. The fit is not perfect on the lipstick, but from afar you can’t even tell! I wanted to wear a more matted lipstick, even though I normally love the shiny lipgloss on Laq skins.

<– see the lips corners peeking out beneath my lipstick tattoo? You probably won’t get a perfect match with lipsticks unless it is created by the same creator for that specific skin. So I’m still crossing my fingers that Laqroki will be releasing some lipsticks on a tattoo layer soon! *crosses fingers*

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:54:12 +0000

Dear BK Linden,

Please change your name, especially
if you are headed for Philip's seat.
You don't have to be Bob Linden, but
you could be. Or something a bit more
interesting. Just not letters.

Your friend (possibly),
Osprey Therian

*Friend status dependant upon name change.

Besides everything else I don't want to think of Burger King every time I read about you.

BlogHUD: GSLR Great SL Railway

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:33:04 +0000

I haven't ridden this since I was a noob really, when I would spend a lot of time just searching out trains, boats, and places to go that let me tour what was the main continent, because there was not a whole lot more.Memories.

posted by DrFran Babcock on Periwinkle using a blogHUD
blogHUD map and teleport permalink

Mixed Realities: Where would you put your money: in platform providers or in content creators?

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:32:59 +0000

Disney buys the social gaming start-up Playdom for $563.2 million in cash, plus up to $200 million based on performance. Disney previously invested in MMOs such as Club Penguin but social media, including MMOs, remain a very small part of total revenues. The acquisition follows closely on the take-over of the iPhone gaming start-up Tapulous.

It seems that Playdom also talked to Google, just as PlayFish (Electronic Arts) and “connecting the world through games” Zynga.

In the background looms a war between two very major platforms: Facebook and Google. The Wall Street Journal has a story about Google developing a Facebook rival and doing so it can use social games.

I’m fascinated by those developers of social and mobile games. Individuals and small companies seem to do very well in that fledgling industry and now it seems that bigger start-ups are being acquired for lots of money by the very big players.

However, it seems that being acquired is the destiny of those companies. They depend on the major platforms: Facebook, Apple, the Android ecosystem, and maybe a new Google network. They use Facebook for instance to reach a huge audience, and they can use the payment systems of the platform – typically 30 percent of those payments go to Facebook. Companies such as Zynga actively try to talk to more platforms so as to lessen the dependency. Ultimately however the platforms have by far the deepest pockets.

Let’s look at Second Life now. The virtual world boasts a tremendous content production by the users, many of them not very specialized amateurs, but some are professional content providers. They too try to look beyond Linden Lab’s Second Life to lessen their dependency, but Second Life is in its category the major platform.

I remember that at a certain moment their was speculation about an IPO for Linden Lab, in the meantime it seems the company has other things to do, such a reorganizing and getting its priorities right. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but there never was any content creator who was even vaguely rumoured to consider an IPO.

So, for a regular individual stock market investor, the question where to put her money, in platforms or in content providers, is rather rhetorical: there are no listed MMOs or social games companies (please correct if this is wrong), they are either privately financed or part of bigger groups (typically engaged in lots of other activities).

Does this mean that ultimately the winners are the platforms? The barriers of entry seem higher there compared to the social games and MMO companies. Gathering some smart developers and developing cool games en applications is not terribly hard, creating the next Facebook or mobile ecosystem is a different matter.

Roland Legrand

New World Notes: Second Life Incredibly Powerful Tool for the Disabled, Philadelphia Inquirer Story Suggests, But Needs Major Improvements For Benefits to Last

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:19:11 +0000

Here's a compelling Philadelphia Inquirer article on the power of Second Life to benefit the severely disabled (a thesis that won't surprise any regular reader of this blog) with marvelous passages like this one, reported on from Inglis House, a...

Tateru Nino: That’s a lot of phones

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:35:07 +0000

The US FTC’s Do Not Call programme now sports more than 200 million US phone numbers. [...]

New World Notes: Other World Notes: How Habbo Beat Zynga at the Virtual World Game

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:22:57 +0000

If you think Facebook is the sole model of social games and virtual worlds, think again: With 15 million monthly users, a web-based world for teens with the odd name of Habbo is larger than most of Facebook’s top games,...

Tateru Nino: Holograms you can touch

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:05:08 +0000

This is still in the early prototype stage, but is very neat. [...]

New World Notes: Coley's World: A Surreal Circular Dreamscape Called Enigma

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:19:55 +0000

ColeMarie Soleil explores Second Life's arts scene from her unique point of view Enigma is a surreal circular landscape, filled with hidden stories inside beautiful sculptures. A strange and mysterious sim filled with unique artwork: But Enigma is not just...

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:23:05 +0000

For some reason I keep thinking about Thee Headcoats and so here's the Buff Medways.

Crap in the morning: Peace Tower catastrophe

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:57:29 +0000

Yoko Ono's Peace Tower is a replica of a RL construct. However, unlike the RL beacon, it has a propensity for tearing the fabric of space-time and opening portals to alternate dimensions. OH MY GOD! A NEGATIVE ENERGY PLANE CREATURE HAS BROKEN THROUGH TO OUR DIMENSION! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! DAMN YOU, YOKO! DAMN YOU!

Crap in the morning: The Shadow

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:08:04 +0000

Lauren did her schtick at 5PM yesterday, but I didn't feel like putting on my headphones to say anything. Instead... Who needs Kristen's Viewer for shadows, right?

Despite the fact that I'm going to a baseball game this afternoon (Astros vs. Cubs at 1PM Central), I should wake up from my communal nap in time to get home for the usual 5PM SLT reading of 100 word stories in the Clocktree on Edloe. Hopefully, I'll get the second batch of sound loops loaded and ready for today's gig. I still don't have all the moods and environments I want, but I'm getting there. (I suppose I should ring up a few musicians for assistance with this environments project... hrm... Guy David/Bluesmoke Hextall did my podcast theme and he's done music art, so that's the first road to check...)

BlogHUD: A Mere Shadow Of Myself

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:21:05 +0000

Well I am on the road to being fit and healthy. Yesterday I bought both a food scale and a scale for myself. The food scale to measure my portions as it's not all about just eating healthy foods but portion control as well. The scale for myself to weigh my fat ass and see if I am making progress. Low and behold I lost 10 lbs in just under a week, sure those are always the easiest to loose. But I am confident that I will drop to my short term goal fast. I did it once before I can do it again .. Then I will be nothing more than a mere shadow of the person I once was.

posted by Jack Pitts on Camalot using a blogHUD
blogHUD map and teleport permalink

Osprey Therian

noreply@blogger.com (Osprey) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:47:42 +0000

Erk 8(

I was closing the *new* door and did double-take when I saw what was on the wall next to the first landing. A HUGE spider - and not one of the house's usual giant house spiders (official name) but the weird black kind that are asymetrical in their stance in their webs (they look exactly like decayed leaf skeletons rolled up and tattered), and which I'd never seen before about five years ago. I've never seen one this big - it was a bit sick-making, as I knew I had to creep down the stairs and kill it where it rested. It was big. :((((((( I killed it. It left a dribble of spider blood on the wall and I left it on the carpet because sufficient unto the day is my motto.

/me tries to think of something else.

Second Life Herald: Fake Trial of Century Begins

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:35:39 +0000

Chaos in The Courtroom

by Journey Yellowlist, Herald Legal Desk

Today Second Life held its breath, and stood well upwind, as the SL District Court heard opening arguments in the case against Pappy and Jezz Enoch. The fake hillbillies are on trial for multiple crimes, including embezzlement of fake currency, assault on a tiny, vehicular mayhem, and vandalism of priceless artwork. Charges have been brought by a class of plaintiffs including Miss Petunia Courtney Amaryllis Taliaferro, President for Life of the Second Life League of Decency.

It was Miss Taliaferro’s home, Doilywood, that had been vandalized shortly before the Enochs were arrested. Unmatched works of art were slashed to ribbons or hauled away, causing untold psychological harm to Miss Taliaferro in particular and the community of SL artistes in general.

Miss Taliaferro had hired Tertullian Blatherskate, Esq., of Blatherskate, Snopes, Gantry, and Blatherskate. The day before the trial began, however, Mr. Blatherskate was badly injured when the brakes mysteriously failed on his 1959 Cadillac. He’s in the critical-care unit at St. Lazarus of Many Sores.

Foul play is suspected, given evidence found in the wreckage, including packaging from Moon Pies, Day’s Work chewing tobacco, and Uncle Porky Pork Rinds, all indicating that someone had taken hours to sabotage the vehicle while gorging on junk food and “chaw.”

Miss Taliaferro was able to secure the services of Septimus Severus Legume, noted metaverse poet, who once took a prelaw course at Yoknapatawpha State.
This reporter was present as Judge I.R. Shirley DeBoss, imported into Second Life from Enoch Holler, VA, called the proceedings to order. Defense attorney Slewfoot Hadisson, plus two-headed prim baby and legal consultant Ulysses-Diomedes Enoch, entered the courtroom with the Enochs and their phalanx of prison guards.

Judge: Will this-here defendant known as Pappy Enoch please rise.
Pappy: Whee-doggy I done that already (looking at shapely court typist)

Judge: I mean get yo’ butt out o’ that seat, sir!
Pappy: Oh, why didn’t you say so, your horror?
Ulysses: Pap, that’s "yo’ honor," you dang idiot!
Pappy: Okay, I’ll answer to him too (standing).
Judge: So the court am lead to believe that you goes by multiple names, sir.

Slewfoot: Objection! Where is a jury of their peers, like the law requires?
Judge: "Peers?" Pull my other leg, you stupid beanpole walkin’ like a man.
Jezz: Well then, I demands me a well hung jury!
Judge (pulling out shotgun): Y’all shut the hell up o’ I’ll ventilate yo’ objectionabalist butts.
Slewfoot: Objection withdrawn! Go ahead and corntinue, Pap.
Pappy: Well, most folks calls me Pappy, tho a few calls me [...]

Tinsel Silvera: HARPY - Myth or Magic?

noreply@blogger.com (Mhaze Magic) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:37:00 +0000

Thought to be a cross between a night elf female and a hunting bird, the Harpy is a snatcher and grabber of people.

If you find yourself walking home late one night, and you see this tiny creature crouched on a tombstone, walk the other way. If her eyes turn and follow you, RUN!!

HARPY - an alluring cold beauty, a vicious otherworldly creature.

Shape only. Mod/Copy.
Style Card enclosed so you can get the exact look in the photo.

Put a little magic in your Second Life - at Magic Avi Shapes.

XStreetSL - SL Marketplace

Posted by: Mhaze Magic

BlogHUD: What Have I Done? Bittersweet.

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:06:04 +0000

This is where my house used to sit on Mystical Masterys. I am looking for a place where I can build my canals, and the Elf Circle Charter says: No tech. I have lived here for a long time, and the school, and so many things that I am in Second Life are here. But, a wise friend once said...Some Grow; Some Go. Not sure which one of those I am. If you want a quarter sim, please see me.

crossposted to Fran OPMLWPblog

posted by DrFran Babcock on Mystical Mastery using a blogHUD
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Tateru Nino: Postliteracy

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:05:09 +0000

Functional illiteracy is a growing problem. You’re probably aware of that. Are you aware of just how widespread it is? [...]

Zoe Connolly: The Re-Education of Cinnamon Somerset

zoeconnolly@gmail.com (Zoe Connolly) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:00:05 +0000

Zoetrope Dreamscape and Cinnamon Somerset walked to Cinnamon's station. Zoetrope smiled at Cinn and said "I'm so very proud of you!"

Cinn beamed. She was proud of herself as well. She had learned how to use these computers in less than a month. It was an amazing accomplishment for anyone, let alone someone from 1885.

"Thank you, Zoetrope" Cinn immersed herself in the technology and was able to run the Time Raiders Time Tunnel herself. She was after all, on a mission to find her husband Professor John Barrington Somerset. Cinn intended to use these machines to find and retrieve him.

"Now you'll have all the tools you need to develop your time travel theories, Doctor Somerset."

"Yes, this is absolutely wonderful!" Cinnamon said.

There was one thing Cinnamon was curious about..."Dr. Dreamscape... who is that blonde woman you captured?"

Zoetrope frowned, "That would be Ava Zenovka."

Cinn nodded and said, "I've seen her in New Babbage... it was a few days before you and I met. Is she dangerous?" Cinn looked at Zoetrope and waited.

Zoetrope sighed deeply and looked at Cinn, "VERY dangerous...stay clear of her, Cinnamon."

Cinn paused, then looked down at her control panel "Yes Doctor."

There was an awkward pause, then Cinn decided to ask Zoetrope her routine daily question "When may I look for my husband, Doctor."

Zoetrope looked away and rolled her eyes. She was so very tired of this. Damn her persistence, she thought. She looked down, then at Cinn and decided to lie this time, "I suppose I can reveal this to you now..."

Cinn's chest pounded.

"Ava is the key to finding your husband" Dreamscape lied. She told Cinn to stay away from Ava and that she was VERY dangerous. She gambled that Cinn would stay away from a menacing TF10 agent and do as she was told.

Cinn's eyes widened.

"Just stay away from her, Cinn. Leave her to me."

Cinn looked back at her computer console. "This...TimeForce 10...you say they are evil?" she asked Zoetrope tentatively.

"Cinnamon...you're ill-equipped to deal with these people."

Cinn opened her mouth, about to respond, but thought better of it. "Yes, Doctor" she replied obediently.

Satisfied that her lies worked, Zoetrope walked across the room to another computer console.

Cinnamon turned her head for a quick glance at Zoetrope. She was on the other side of the room. Cinn thought a moment and used the computer to find Ava Zenovka's prison cell.

If this Zenovka woman knew where her husband was, she HAD to know.

Readers may visit the Time Tunnel by teleporting (or timeporting) to the following SLurl http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Mayfair/40/243/24. You'll land at my Steampunk home in Caledon Mayfair. Then take the elevator to the Time Tunnel level.

Rikomatic: The LXD Episodes 6 & 7: The Duet and the Dark Doctor Deal

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:48:25 +0000

Episode six "the Duet" and seven "The Dark Doctor Deal" of the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers came out tonight. One was very strong and different in tone from the previous episodes; the other was a bit of fluff but still entertaining.

"The Duet" features a very creative use of split screen to highlight two contemporary dancers dancing together while apart. I'm happy that John Chu the director is including other genres besides hip-hop dance in his series. And I really loved the music in this piece, which matched their movement perfectly. And when they finally meet it's some cool movie magic.

"The Dark Doctor Deal" is a bit of popping fluff. I like that it featured a female popper, but it felt pretty contrived to me. That whole puppetry bit can only hold me for so long.

It's very late here, so can't say much more. Check it out and tell me what you thought about these two episodes.

GoSpeed Racer a Second Life Avatar: A glance to the side

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:44:40 +0000

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we’re in the height of summer. June is gone and July is almost finished. August will bleed into September and the cool nights will be upon us again. It’s been a LONG summer. Heatwaves, Severe Storms, and an earthquake for the D.C. area.

Several records were broken this summer but it didn’t phase me much. My work schedule kept me inside or asleep during the peak heat of the day. Work has gone well but the hours and the nature of my work is really wearing me down. There are some things I wish I could un-see. ((sigh)) Humanity is so awful to one another.

A very strong storm with high winds plowed through the Mid-Atlantic Sunday felling trees and cutting power to thousands. When I got home from work late Sunday night I was greeted by the sight of a downed tree in my front yard. The same tree that provided shade onto my dining room .

Fortunately the garden wasn’t hurt much. A few plants were bent over, but not broken. The squash and jalapeno peppers are coming to fruition. The tomatoes will be ready to pick by August.

On the 16th wed had a nice little earthquake that shook things up a little bit. I was at work that night and remember the floor vibrating a bit and it was followed by a long, low roaring sound that went on for like 20 seconds. We all looked at each other and I finally said, ” an earthquake?”. Sure enough it was.

My SL has been kinda blah. Just not a lot going on. As the summer goes by SL is feeling less and less like a world. It’s hard to explain but suffice to say that a lot of the magic is gone. It is just not the escape it used to be. I still love my friends but the place is just, well, onerous. Perhaps in the fall I’ll feel different.

[...]

Tateru Nino: Expectations and hats

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:35:22 +0000

Come Friday, Philip Rosedale and Bob Komin are going to have an inworld meeting/Q&A session in Second Life to “open up the conversation with the community about our upcoming plans around the development and future of Second Life.” [...]

The Second Life Record: Cutting Down Mobile Phone Bills

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:30:33 +0000

You may try to reduce your personal and family bills this year. But when it comes to reducing your mobile phone bills, appears to be no easy task. Everyone is trying to reduce spending now, from everyday expenses, like buying food and utility bills, to the activities and luxury goods, such as holidays or waste in retail stores. However, many people feel that no matter how hard you try, always receive a high mobile phone bill this month. yEs may have misinterpreted the contract when buying a mobile phone? I perhaps will exceed the allotted minutes, and generates invoices that are much higher than those originally anticipated? Since the latter is the most likely, no need to sacrifice your social life or the comfort of having a mobile phone due to excessive spending on mobile phone service. There are some things you can do to reduce your monthly phone bills mobile.

To begin, it is worth asking yourself the following truism: keep a record of the number of minutes you use to talk on the phone throughout the month or let you use your mobile phone without limit, regardless of how many minutes you have to you receive your expensive bill? Many people do not realize how often they use their phones until they receive the bill. But the reality is that those minutes add up, so it's worth carefully monitor your consumption. Also a good idea to reconsider how many minutes a gratisa allows your contract and where you can make adjustments to your intake to get closer to that amount. also text messages or pictures through your phone? This can add up on your phone bill, so it's something important to consider. Another question you should ask yourself is if your telephone service provider can offer some free text messages.

Service providers usually have a lot of offers all times, so it is unlikely to advertise them all to each client. However, if you request and the offer is available, you surely offer it. Another option to reduce your telephone bills is to buy credit to make calls or a plan through a software application on the Internet. These applications provide minutes at an affordable price and default, which allows you to destinations throughout the world. Also, buy credit before making your calls means that you will be more conscious consumption of your phone, and this can help you reduce your phone bills significantly. So it's worth doing some adjustments in your consumption. That way, you'll enjoy all the benefits of having a mobile phone for less money.

sered Second Life: Eve Online: nullsec adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Sered Woollahra) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:29:47 +0000

As mentioned on this blog before, I am currently an alliance diplomat for the MPA alliance in Eve Online. When we were offered a chance to travel to nullsec - the dangerous, lawless, but most rewarding space in Eve Online's New Eden universe - some of our corporation took it with both hands. Most of our corporation and alliance members reside in the more safe highsec areas; some live in wormhole space, but we rarely venture into nullsec. Yet for many of New Eden's pilots, nullsec is the place to be. This is where the big space holding alliances reign, where epic battles involving hundreds or even thousands of players are being fought, where campaigns lasting weeks or months are being executed. It's also the place where each and every move is potentially dangerous: there is no safety in nullsec. Theoretically the same goes for highsec and lowsec (empire space) but still, nullsec is a different story.

So after all diplomatic hurdles had been taken care of (a process which went more smoothly than I could hope for) some of us embarked on the long trip to a hospitable system in Providence.

This region had just been conquered by two alliances, Ushra'khan and Atlas Alliance, who defeated the previous owners CVA and their holder alliances in a campaign that lasted for several weeks. For many neutral pilots, CVA's loss was bad news, as CVA and their holders regularly allowed these neutral outsiders to reside in their space. The new owners, however, quickly restored some of CVA's hospitality. Ushra'khan (ticker: UK) themselves declared they were adopting a 'Not Red, Don't Shoot' policy (NRDS), essentially allowing neutrals into UK space, and some of their allies followed suit. It was this policy that allowed us to go there, and enjoy the thrills and rewards of nullsec.

From the start, however, it was clear that Providence was still in a lot of turmoil. Hostile fleets roamed the systems and blocked routes, even in Ushra'khan space; it seemed UK wasn't able or willing to enforce their 'NRDS' policy. We resided in another system, but suffered a lot from these roaming gangs of hostiles, and we lost several ships. Pretty soon, we started to feel the financial pain of these losses, and it started to look like the rewards were not enough to cover the costs anymore. So, we contemplated a retreat from Providence back to highsec, and wait for another - perhaps better - shot at nullsec space later.

While we were discussing this, news broke that the Ushra'khan alliance had been dealt a deadly blow. An undercover agent infiltrated Ushra'khan, slowly working his way up through the alliances' hierarchy; after one year of patient roleplaying and plotting, he rose to such a powerful administrative position he was able to dismantle the alliance from within, simply by ejecting most member corporations from the alliance - and steal a lot of stuff in the process, too. As this agent is now the only one left in the Ushra'khan alliance with any power - he removed all others- there's no way UK can be restored to it's previous incarnation. Whether you like Ushra'khan or not: you have to admire that kind of dedication! It's stuff like this that makes Eve Online unique, in my opinion.

As it is now, Ushra'khan still does exist, but it's no longer a meaningful entity. The corporations who used to make up Ushra'khan membership are still active and of course keep defending their space, but obviously they suffered a sever blow to morale and organization. As was to be expected, hostile alliances like Hydra Reloaded and Razor alliance are now trying to profit off the confusion, to gain sovereignty over parts of space currently [...]

BlogHUD: the light

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:57:04 +0000

awesome

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: leafy

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:54:12 +0000

goodness

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: also reminds me of darwinia

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:54:08 +0000

this is fairly breathtaking

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: palmistry

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:54:03 +0000

hand holds seed to life?

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: stretches out further into the sunny distance

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:51:09 +0000

an apple? surreal... more usb cables

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: islands in the net

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:51:03 +0000

Sherry Poliatevska

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: donuts floating in an existential sea, what does it all me...

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:48:07 +0000

anley dj by Tresor Wilkinson

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: usb cable plants

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:48:03 +0000

textures in the sky add oomph

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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sered Second Life: Twinity update

noreply@blogger.com (Sered Woollahra) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:47:33 +0000

Again, it's time for a Twinity update. Upon returning from holidays, I must say Twinity is developing rather fast these days. Concurrency numbers are clearly up, and the welcome areas have daily visitor numbers unheard of a few months ago. More on that in my Koinup blog entry: Twinity: busy in here.

BlogHUD: Anley Piers

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:45:07 +0000

color contrast works out here, dull background, very bright cyan on her!

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: electricity it's in the air for you and me

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:45:03 +0000

neat art here! Anley//Natural Energy 1

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: Alphons Dennison

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:42:03 +0000

sez he's a fan :) and he's showing me his blog http://virtualaccess.wordpress.com/

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: enigma clever terraforming

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:39:03 +0000

swirls Enigma Sim open to all . Fantasy, Art, Sculptures , Garden, Exposition, Concert, Relaxation, Game, Plant with sit & meditation balls, Hypercreation " dream " in skybox ( by Loup Erin) ... A world appart , a must see ! by Anley Piers

posted by Torley Linden on Dark Spirit using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: always did have a thing for double stairs ascending...

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:36:04 +0000

Footworks -Mainstore Footworks, Bringing a little bit of cuteness into your Secondlife. Footwear - Hosiery - Lingerie & More KellyM Watkins

posted by Torley Linden on Sedna using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: Squinternet Larnia and Edna Wilkinson

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:33:03 +0000

i heart when AOs make it easy to capture poses :)

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: Edna Wilkinson poses

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:30:07 +0000

what a nice fountain, Fountain of Trevi?

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: contrast/relief

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:30:03 +0000

Edna Wilkinson

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: stage

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:27:08 +0000

some aged, worn textures add character

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: very classy to visit!

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:27:04 +0000

"Just to let you know that we are currently working on a great project regarding Cinecittà in Second Life (i.e. a sort of italian version of Hollywood Studios). If you remember Fellini's Dolce Vita...well...we've just rezzed the Fountain of Trevi , with statues and water and so on. I think it's kewl and would like to hear your opinion about it. Oh...and we are working on many other awesome corners for photoshooting and so on. Looking forward to *hear* from you! Thanks a lot in advance! Zmilla Rehula and Squinternet Larnia"

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: pretty classy clothes displays

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:24:04 +0000

i like the floor texture, kind of golden seating area

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: the model

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:21:03 +0000

Donna Flora model Maggi Mint, who rotates through poses... feels more alive than a mannequin note the big bow

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: Donna Flora

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:18:08 +0000

Come enjoy your shopping experience at Donna Flora. Donna Flora Fashion, Style, Vintage, Donna Flora,.

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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BlogHUD: REALLY fond of how this classy staircase is done

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:18:03 +0000

Stairs pierre 2

posted by Torley Linden on Bonin using a blogHUD
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