12.29.2006

Erosis - Just When You Think Everything is Normal

I was putzing around SL. On this night, that meant typing random words into the Search function and visiting whatever pops up. I ended up at a little location by the name of, Erosis, in the Ungnyo sim. When I say it was a strange experience, I say it fondly. Description from owner Senuka Harbinger reads "A-Life fish, 1 prim knots, strange mass experiments, and general use park." That says it all, doesn't it?

The 2048 square meter location sported some trance tunes, a rotating, snake-like texture, a rotating globe and a school of AI fish. Colors abounded and the music thumped in the back of my head. TP up to an interesting walkway in the sky to get to the globe. Find the school of fish in the pond. Take a gander at my snapshots. These tiny oases of imagination are what give SL its character for me.

A little snipet of a more in-depth notecard made available next to the pond containing Harbinger's A-Life fish school:
The predators in my system (sharks) are fairly easy to program behaviour; when they're hungry they eat (using the exact same program is the fish use for finding food, only they eat fish instead), and when they are full they swim around idly.

My system does have a renewable food source; fish pellets. I made them invisible to reduce the client-side visual lag, but they are still there. An estimated 1 food every 9 seconds added to the lake is enough to support an aquarium of this size for about 9 fish.
I had coded in an evolutionary segment to allow the fish to adapt priorties, swim speeds, energy till birth, etc. based off how sucessful a fish was determined by how long it lived; on average the fish in this tank live for 500 seconds. fish that live for 500 seconds have their genes within 95% of the value that allowed them to live that long. fish that live longer have an even closer margin for errer, with a 99.98% accuracy if a fish lives to be 1000 seconds. fish that live for very short periods of time have a much larger variance in their genes, up to 50% if the fish was eaten immediately after birth.



The Globe


View from the Top


TP object


AI Fish School

12.22.2006

Some SL Xmas Flair

I popped by SiniStyle Design in the Hydes sim of SL and had to snap a few of the holiday decorations I stumbled on. Objects list creator as Krius Misfit. Some nice work. Made me grin.




12.20.2006

Sundance in SL

It seems that Sundance Channel will have an island in SL with the main feature being a screening room by the name of Studio 4A. Additionally, there will be smaller screening rooms for SLers to get together, watch and discuss independent films and the like "on demand".

The film Four Eyed Monsters is going to be premiered in SL at the opening event for the Sundance screening room. Infromation available has this opening occurring sometime in January 2007.

I am going to check out this island first chance I get. Stay tuned.

12.11.2006

Whatcha Sellin'?

Took a brief roll through some of the corporate sims on SL: Reebok, Adidas, Pontiac, Nissan. Some good things, some bad. I don't have any particular issues with the concept of corporations in SL, so I won't spend any effort in demeaning them from the corporate greed, ruination of SL, us vs them angles. However, I wasn't that impressed by the overall experience. The sims are empty and a few were not complete and in a general state of disarray. I twice TPd in underneath buildings. The two auto sims were more impressive, but not remarkably so. I did find the cars themselves pretty snazzy (in that they looked like they should), but the driving experience was what any savvy SL driver has come to expect. I was able to drive my Nissan into a ditch. I took a Solstice demo for a brief spin but didn't quite get my driving instincts honed before the demo was over. Reebok offered some semi-customizable kicks, while Adidas had a nice look, but did not appear anywhere close to finished.

Check out the snaps.




12.06.2006

Today on the Linden Blog!!!!!!!

Well, here I am. Home at an earlier than usual time. How about a bit of SL?

Replicator object attack underway inworld

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 at 5:15 PM PST by Torley Linden

[5:40 PM PST] Updated, there appears to be “candycanes” multiplying. We’re destroying those too.

[5:31 PM PST] We’re continuing to destroy the objects in waves.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT accept objects called “griefornament” or “candycane” or similarly suspicious ones — if someone or something tries to send it to you, discard it IMMEDIATELY.

We’re on it and nuking the replicating objects cross-grid.

I’m both inworld and updating this blog as we get more info.

Then again...maybe not.


However, let's not make anyone sad and forget to mention that The Lab is offering a tiny olive branch in the spirit of the season:

Classified Listings Auto-renewed for an Extra Week at No Charge

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 at 5:18 PM PST by jesselinden

We understand this has been a frustrating past few days since the update, especially for those of you who have had classified listings up and working only intermittently. As a one-time courtesy, we have decided to extend everyone’s in-world Classifieds listings one week as of ~4:30PM PST today, December 6th. This means your ad’s auto-renew date has now been set forward one week. We appreciate your continued patience and understanding in this matter and we’ll continue to do our best to provide the highest level of service we can.

And of course, don't forget the upcoming Town Hall on Dec 20 at 2:30PM. How is it that I have been working during every single Town Hall since I found my way to the grid? Anywise, it's a throwback version!

This Town Hall will be a bit of a throw-back to earlier Town Halls, in that it will be text-only and carried via the official Linden Repeater. You can pick up the Repeater in the Linden Village in Kirkby. Please bring your technical questions for Cory Linden as this will be a Second Life technology focused event. Have you always wanted to know what makes the grid tick? Wonder if we’ll ever finish Havok 2? Interested in the future of LSL? Bring your inner geek to the Town Hall!

12.04.2006

Second Life Hockey

I haven't gotten a chance to see this in action yet, but it sounds intriguing.

I liked the sound of this post describing a previous game (Sunday, Dec 3 posting):

we had some excitement in the 3rd period when the Whales' goalie suddenly lost all sanity and pulled out a semi-automatic. Fire was opened on the Wolves, with a new player getting blown across the ice and into the boards. Fortunately, there were no fatalities in this incident. The wayward goalie was quickly restrained and booted by Jack. However, let's face it, what's hockey without some violence? True, it usually does not involve gunfire

I'll have to get to the Jericho Hill island and check it out soon.

12.01.2006

Register article

This article was brought to my attention by Kris Ritter here.

The article, entitled "Second Life escapists told to wake up", by Chris Williams is some sort of attempt to knock SL users for not spending 100% of their time worrying about worldly issues. Just one of 8 Register articles that pop up in a search of the site using the keyword "sadville", apparently a pet name for the virtual world of SL (and helpfully pointed out by Kris in the forum thread linked above).

The article opens with this

An anti-poverty campaign has reminded the inhabitants of Second Life that while
they fanny about wasting time and money hiding from their own trivial worries
there are people are dying unnecessarily in the real world.


A helpful reminder, to be sure. I had completely forgotten.

The article goes on to detail the efforts of the World Development Movement to make SLers "remember reality and participate in it." The article and the attitudes of both the writer and the WDM's Peter Taylor are a poor way to make a point for WDM and the real issues at stake. The article cites a "chilling survey" indicating that approximately half (43%) of US users of virtual worlds think that the virtual goings on are just as significant as those in the real world. The survey actually notes that those people felt as strongly about the virtual society they are a part of as the real physical world. Certainly, there are some kooks online, but I don't think this representation of the survey results (in Williams' article) really gets to the heart of what the survey actually says about people and their online activity. I feel strongly about SL, but I also feel strongly about Da Bears, deviantart.com, my invisible pen pals, my buddy GingerDead, my college roomate who now lives in China and is an MSN Messenger junkie, etc etc. This does not mean that I don't spend over 70 hours a week concerning myself with the problems of other people. It also doesn't mean that I don't recognize the realities of the world in which I live. In fact, there is more awareness among the SL community then there is amongst my suited colleagues in my downtown office building. They are busy gambling, drinking and watching The Office and Monday Night Football. Everyone needs a bit of entertainment, otherwise we would pine for the amount of real world time lost while we are stuffed in an office with an alley view and the sickening reality that the numbers we blithely move around on a PC actually have real significance to someone.

Here's another pitiful attempt to belittle others by Oz Stern. Typical in it's bashing and poorly edited. Come up with some new material folks and, as they say here at work, "edit ruthlessly".* At times, the diatribe seems to be hinting at some of Stern's own issues. I don't have a clue what they are, nor do I care, but he certainly seems angry about them. Here's the list of results for Sadville. I've never been a reader of the site and these penetrating articles didn't sway me to become one, however, I am curious as to what the deal is. SL isn't really worth all that bile (unless, of course, you are a hapless resident trying to make your way on the grid).

*I am exempt from this, of course, so piss off!

11.30.2006

SL Map Shot


The search functions are borked. I've listening in to Cylindrian Rutabaga's set at Muse Isle and have started poking around on the map. This is what I found.

It's Wednesday!

Another SL update. Some interesting changes coming down and, typically, some grid issues. It's been going on all day. I haven't had any problems to speak of but this just came across the inworld notification system

Hi everyone! Seems some fo the issues we experienced earlier are rearing up again. Money and inventory issues, along with presence and TP issues. Teleporting failing as well. We are aware and working on it.
Earlier in the Linden blog, They explained the queue:

With our online concurrency often reaching over 15,000 users now, after an update the grid can be a bit hard to login to. We are currently experiencing everyone trying to get in world at once, so there is a queue for access to the grid. Please keep attempting or try again in 15 minute increments to get in world. If you do try logging in, and Second Life appears frozen, don’t hit the quit button and the queue should let you in accordingly. Once the mad rush of everyone trying to get to their virtual selves is over, the login queue should be cleared up and the login time will be considerably reduced. Thanks for your patience!
You can check this stuff out more fully over at the Linden blog.

I spent a few minutes toying with some of the more obvious changes from this release. First off, the new Web tab on the SL profiles. I like it. Can do all sorts of stuff with it. Some posts about it here, including the Snapzilla pics options. Secondly, the new privacy options in regards to the contact list. Check boxes allowing individuals to choose who can see their online status, who can see them on the SL map and who can modify their items. Good stuff, but from experimentation with another user (hi kaia!), it seems that a person who is limited from seeing your online status will still recognize, upon attempting to IM you, that you are online. The usual "user not online" message is not returned when the IM is sent to a seemingly offline user.

Full release notes here. I couldn't take any more for today. The wonderful blue box notification of continued grid issues was enough to shove me off for the day.

11.26.2006

SL Sunday

What do the SL residents get today? How about a slowdown of grid performance as noted by this post in the Linden blog. A second post approximately an hour later gave everyone this stellar news,


We continue to investigate the crash bug — it remains one of our highest priorities. In addition, you should see improved network connections tomorrow as we begin the upgrade process, with further improvements due as we bring more fiber online.
Shortly thereafter, the Linden blog announced changes to Customer Service. Nothing that watchers haven't been predicting after LL first tested the resident response for these types of changes. The Lab mentions a desire for feedback. I'm not sure why. The changes appear to be set.

Before this is implemented, however, we’d like to get your feedback to these plans in a series of meetings. Our plans are to schedule a series of five meetings, with 20 residents in each, in December. We’ll schedule these meetings at different times in Second Life so everyone can participate. If you’d like to attend a meeting, please IM me (Robin Linden) in-world. Let me know the best time for you to meet and we’ll try to schedule the groups to accommodate as many of you as would like to participate.
I'm actually going to stay positive about increased staffing, changes in the phone system and the implementation of a ticket queue. Additionally, dividing the support team into functions for Governance and for System Support is a good move.

The final paragraph is pivotal.

To provide service levels consistent with expectations we propose 1) revamping the channels of support and 2) changing the priority of support based on account type. What this means is that we will improve the Knowledge Base and restructure in-world support as mentioned above. In addition we will add a live chat channel through our website. Depending on the type of account you have (basic, premium, concierge) you will have unlimited access to the Knowledge Base and email support, but limited access to live chat and phone support. We are currently still considering whether it is preferred to make live chat and phone support available to those who aren’t eligible for an additional fee per use.
I suppose this is sort of what happens already. The real question is whether the support for anything other than concierge level service will be acceptable. Maybe this is the revamp that will kick them out of the customer service funk they're in. I'm taking a wait and see attitude.

11.22.2006

Billy, Billy, Billy

Billy Crystal. Comic Relief (HBO). What about me? Who will relieve me of the time wasted?

To be truthfull, I didn't even see it. I heard a significant portion of it on the radio. Maybe the visual really gave it something. I hope so. The audio only portion was not pleasant.

It was for a good cause, I guess. So I'm not going to get too down on the guy (and I am not a fan, anyway), but seriously, Billy, why?

If you missed it (lucky you!), Crystal did his take on an elderly, black jazz musician. Tells the tale of living through the hurricane. Punctuates every little quip with "Can you dig that?.....I knew that you could." It really missed the mark. You could hear the audience straining to find the laughs, but managing only nervous titters. It went on way too long. One count had it upwards of 11 minutes. I didn't time it myself.

This bit did nothing for me. It was actually uncomfortable to listen to. I most certainly did not dig it.

Escape From NY


NYPD installed Sky Watch partrol tower in a Harlem neighborhood.

It's basically a portable guard tower. I can see that this would deter some crime in that specific area. I don't think overall crime is reduced. I suppose you are happy about it if you live on the newly gentrified Harlem corner where they are implementing this. The tower has a camera for the unmanned hours, which is similar to the cameras that Chicago PD have been using for a while and with some arguable success. It has a certain creepy feel to me. I guess I'm the criminal sort, though, and this is wonderful for the Jones family in their new Harlem condo unit.

Take a look at this thing. I think the increase in property value from a safe neighborhood is more than offset by the sheer ugliness of the thing.

According to this article:

"The units, which costs from $40,000 to $100,000 apiece, are also being used by the U.S. Border Patrol and cops in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Dallas and Fort
Worth. "

NYPD spokesman, Paul Browne, was quoted in that NY Post article as saying that the tower is a response to a recent spike in murders. It seems like an expensive game of whack-a-mole.

11.21.2006

Abstract Avatars Charity Drive

Read about it here.

Time is winding down on Joshua Nightshade's charity drive. Buy an avatar from Josh's Abstract Avatar store in SL, proceeds go to charity - AIDS Research Alliance and Marine Toys for Tots.

Pretty simple. Don't analyze it. It's a good thing.

Some examples of Joshua Nightshade's Abstract Avatars:




11.12.2006

SL not over-hyped?

So says an article on CNN.com by David Kirkpatrick, a Fortune Magazine senior editor. I don't know that I really agree, but mainly because all of the articles and hype are, well, just hype. There is no real substance and often misleading or incorrect information (Guardian atricle that Channel 4 Radio will be the first radio station in SL was brought to my attention by Ordinal Malaprop). Up until the time these articles discuss more seriously the proposition of what Second Life is and how its limitations can be addressed to actually reach the digital nirvana that the hype machine describes, I will continue to see the media frenzy as another fad being recorded for posterity.

Yet Second Life may be more important, longterm, than even this much publicity would suggest. That's because what it really may represent is an alternative vision for how to interact with information and communicate over the Internet.
Maybe this holds some water, but what it really says is that the concept is worth the hype, but not necessarily the current product.

However, I do agree that there is a next level and this quote from the piece is part of that thinking,

Looking at Second Life makes me realize just how much the Web, wonderful and useful as it is, still mimics a print model.
However, as usual, the article makes much of what SL should be and not what the reality is. The "user created" content is hyped in a time when there is little protection of works (certainly not with any support from the service company) and when profiteering is starting to price out the regular users that currently make up that content (note recent Island price and tier increases). The view being described is not a user view, but a Corporate view. From that angle, SL most certainly is a potential revolution, as is any tool, such as MySpace, that grew to something so ever-present in the consumer mind that a Corporation bought it and promptly tried to take a current user's url for the use of a Media Giant (Bones Steals MySpace Page).

Read the end of the article carefully.

Every day more big companies turn their attention to this new medium, realizing that it really represents something new. I'm now convinced that one day Second Life or something related to it will become a Google/Yahoo/MySpace-scale company.

Maybe Second Life will grow organically to become that company. Or an existing giant striving to stay relevant might buy it. Or maybe somebody will build a different, even better virtual world.



Nobody is inventing the wheel, but perhaps they are adding a camera to a cell phone.

11.10.2006

Second Life Insider interviews Plastic Duck

Tateru Nino gives us an interview with the infamous SL avatar, Plastic Duck. Love him, hate him, or ingnorant of him, the intereview is still an interesting piece. I think the intereview covers some good ground and, for the most part, shies away from the more sensational scuttlebut that surrounds Duck like a cloud of gnats.

11.08.2006

The Trash Flotilla

Read Greenpeace's report Plastic Debris in the World's Oceans. Check out a graphic of the movement of the Trash Vortex. I would have liked to see some more pictures, but anyone that has walked the beach, particularly in the wake of an evening storm, alreadys knows the detritus that washes up. Given the size of the World's Oceans, you don't need much of an imagination to find it worrisome. Whatever your opinion of Greenpeace, marine debris is certainly something worth considering.

There have also been recent doomsday predictions for the elimination of fish stocks in the next 40 years. Perhaps staunch defenders are taking an extreme view, but the world is getting smaller and the population is not.

11.04.2006

A Little Politics

Earlier today, I was listening to people lament the lack of any solid candidates in the local political races and one person blurted out, "They don't gives us any good choices."

This had me pondering why this well-meaning person felt that (1) it was Their responsibility to provide a slate for him and (2) how it is that the Politicians have became an alien race with no connection to the average voter.

Having poked around, I now feel confident in stating that there are actually quite a few people who think they have no personal responsibility to shape an election in terms of who ends up being on the ballot. I am not advocating that anyone grab the reigns on a campaign or even run themselves (though this would be a way to put one's stamp on the process), but I am suggesting that people who want change should be more cognizant of how everyday choices (read: non-election related actions) actually impact these things and, additionally, that the local elections will have future impact on who the politicos of the day are.

There are opportunities.

Anywho, "They" won't give you squat.

10.28.2006

Meta Mart


I haven't been paying attention to the world of SL shopping lately, but kaia Ennui brought the Meta Mart shopping HUD to my attention earlier today. You can get the free customer kit, including HUD and wallet, at a number of locations as described on the website. Simply put, you scroll through the HUD looking for items for sale, listed in categories and subcategories and buy with funds you have deposited to the wallet. Similar in functionality to any vendor you might see in world, this one tags along wherever you go. As I understand it, the Meta Mart folks are still filling out the provider list and content in the early version isn't as robust as you would expect further down the road.

I tested it out and it worked as advertised. Though SL was a bit slow, it worked about as well as any multi-item vendor would. What are the ramifications of this new product? Will it revolutionize SL shopping? I won't go that far. For many, the communal shopping experience is still key. For some, the speed of the web sites such as SLBoutique or SLExchange are a main tool. However, I love to see new ideas put in motion and I can see people putting this to use.

NOTE: Soon after my test run with the HUD, I received an IM from the Meta Mart folks (Robbie Kiama) thanking me, urging me to keep an eye out for upcoming news regarding Meta Mart and letting me know IMs with questions are encouraged. Good customer service goes a long way. It will be interesting to see the evolution of this product.

10.26.2006

Can I get a Witness?

Urged on by the Metaverse Messenger's own Katt Kongo, I tripped over to The RoC in the Music City sim of SL to check out a live performance. Did I want to see a live Hip Hop performance in SL? I wasn't really sure. I am not genre specific in my musical tastes, so I wasn't dragging my feet due to the musical style alone. It was really the image in my head that SL Hip Hop conjured up, with the bling, the hoochie hair and the maxxxed out sliders.

The more sane part of my brain questioned if anyone would really be asking me to wade into that environment. Besides, though there are a number of high quality live performers in SL, the spectrum of musical styles isn't terribly broad. Why the hell shouldn't I go check it out?

I'm happy that I did. The performance of Witness Go was engaging. He worked the crowd well. The musical style was hard to pinpoint, though definitely had a Hip Hop tinge. Witness ran from a more Trip Hoppy delivery with some funky groove, to a more standard/straightforward lyrical rap and all the way down to a spoken word performance. Despite the seeming contrast, it blended together well. I compared Witness, at points, to Ben Harper, Eminem and The Alkaholiks in both content and sound. Lyrics drew from relationships, life and politics and were clearly well thought through.

It was something different, and for that, it was worth it, but it was more. I'll check Witness Go out again.

10.24.2006

This Isn't Really a Negative Bit on: The PopSci Article

I'm rereading the article on Second Life in the September 2006 Popular Science and still not finding anything new. It's great, I suppose, that The Lab is getting exposure for their product and increasing the subscribership. It remains to be seen how well that translates into regular, active users, but getting people to logon once is the first step. What is always disappointing is that, for some who have been around SL for a bit, the articles have a monotonous feel to them. Everyone likes to see things they feel passionate about being discussed positively, but I think that many of these articles fall victim to the AP Wire Disease. Have you ever read a few sports articles on the same topic. They are almost identical, having added next to nothing to the original wire story. The SL articles are not nearly that bad, but the canned article feel is hard to shake.

Having trudged on to the end of yet another piece on SL with all the same sort of quotes, I found the last bit spoke to me today. King Phillie is quoted as saying, “In Second Life, you can get everything you want on the first day. What’s interesting is what you do the next day.”

I'm sure he has said this before in one of these marketing pieces, but I hadn't noticed. Or perhaps, I never got that far. Either way, it gets right to the fundamentals. What's next?

User retention in today's environment has to have more than a shiny package and a gentle shove off of Orientation Island. I would like to see a followup by one of those "outsider" journalists describing the "next day".

10.18.2006

He Always Seemed Like Such A Nice Boy

Heck of a story.

The story of a man dismembering his significant other.

I have to wonder what the neighbors thought was being cooked. I also wonder, at what point this finally got to him.

10.15.2006

Kid Plays Space Invaders With Brain

A team at Washington University in St. Louis conducted an experiment wherein a teenage boy with epilepsy played Space Invaders using only the signals from his brain to control the game.

"He cleared out the whole level one basically on brain control," said Eric C. Leuthardt, M.D., an assistant professor of neurological surgery at the School of Medicine. "He learned almost instantaneously. We then gave him a more challenging version in two-dimensions and he mastered two levels there playing only with his imagination."

Sweet Ass Whiteboard Fun

Watch this video

This thing is cool.


We aim to create a tool that allows the engineer to sketch a mechanical system as she would on paper, and then allows her to interact with the design as a mechanical system, for example by seeing a simulation of her drawing. We have built an early incarnation of such a tool, called ASSIST, which allows a user to sketch simple mechanical systems and see simulations of her drawings in a two-dimensional kinematic simulator.

TIbetan Nun's Body?

Allegedly a photograph of the body of a 17-year-old nun shot by Chinese military on September 30, 2006, though details are sketchy and inconsistent from report to report. According to the article in the title link, the image is confirmed to be that of 17-year old nun, Kelsang Namtso, from Nagchu prefecture in central Tibet. The nun was shot while crossing the pass into Nepal and exile in India. Tibetan sources claim another death of a 13-year old Tibetan while the Tibetan group claims that Chinese border security or military had taken at least ten group members, including at least nine children between the ages of six and eight before they were able to cross into Nepal. Image courtesy of Slovenian climber, Pavle Kozjek.

Additional reports here and here.

10.14.2006

Corporate Invasion

Will the entrepeneur be pushed out by ads and corporations?

"We could have never built this without the community. That is what we're fiercely protecting."

"The wild west feel is already slipping away"

Copywrite issues will ruin it. Individuals will get sued not the company.

Juggling the wants and needs of the user community with rapid growth will remain an ongoing dance.

"It's kind of that whole don't-forget-where-you-came-from thing."


No, this isn't about SL. These are excerpts from an article about Google's $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube written by Jake Coyle (AP Entertainment Writer) and as seen in the Chicago Tribune on October 11, 2006.

On a much larger scale than SL, YouTube (my new favorite topic!) drew a worldwide audience of 72.1 million in August, according to the article. However, the grass roots fanaticism of the early adopters has a parallel in the SL community. These are the common concerns of people who watch their little hidden niche get noticed, adopted and mutated for mass consumption.

Once the bailiwick of amateurs, YouTube has reached agreements with CBS Corp., Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, NBC Universal and Warner Music Group Corp. Users and curious onlookers are well aware that the amateurs made YouTube what it is. Those very amateurs are worried that the community and its freedom will be obliterated. Or perhaps, they see the loss of their 15 minutes to slick, professional juggernauts.

Either way, YouTube is hurtling toward its future in the realm of entertainment mega-forces. This doesn't mean the base community need be swallowed up in its wake. There will always be outlets for the amateurs. When one door closes, etc etc blah blah.

10.10.2006

YouTube Video BLogging: The LG15 Affair

I have, up until now, been blissfully unaware of the YouTube video blogging phenomenon. I knew it existed and have seen an odd vid or two on the site, I just didn't realize how much time the average person was spending just talking to the camera. People are doing this in much the same way as forums are done. All the bizarre interaction is there. Drama, name calling, censored vids, people role playing a character online. I think I stumbledupon one to start the ball rolling this evening. A while later, I was glassy eyed from following the inane trail of the Lonelygirl15 saga. She is a young vblogger with a boyfriend and a strange religion. She's naive and fresh.....well, no, she's an actress and it's all a trumped up multilayered story enacted by this girl and her cohorts. It's entertaining. Even the people complaining are entertaining in a weird church bus wreck on the highway sort of way.

OMG the Zodiac of Denderah! When's the ceremony! Did Daniel really cross the line! OMG monkeyfemme thinks youtube shouldn't have fake people on it, it's for social interaction and learning about people! OMG a freaky guy with huge eyes that talks funny talking about mp3 rips!

People really are putting themselves out there, from the safety of their bedrooms. Brings to mind the movie Pulse (Japanese Title: Kairo).

I can't believe this girl splashed all over the media, including Letterman, while I turned a blind eye to it all. I'm no longer YouTube ignorant. I probably wish I were, but onward and upward!

I almost forgot the drahma and the FREAKY GUY!

Denial

Access denied. Scripts shut down. Particle griefing. Replicating objects. Permissions bugs....Annoyance.

It was a rough weekend for SL. Grid security remains suspect as efforts to keep the grid off-balance have begun occurring on a regular basis. The daily maintenance of the world must be getting more difficult as Lab resources get burned up responding to grid crises. The Lab fostered rapid growth in the user base and the overall size of the SL economy. Along with this came magnified concerns. There are business people that feel a noticeable sting from prolonged service outages. Of course, many active users are frustrated with their experience lately, from the most casual avatar to the largest content providers.

What next? The official Linden Blog makes poses some interesting solutions.


There have been many suggestions regarding the regulation of scripting and we are in fact looking at technical options which will allow only ‘trusted’ Residents to fully utilize LSL across the grid. It is planned that “Trusted” Residents will be clearly defined, and there will be processes in place (not all payment oriented) to become “trusted” if your account currently falls outside of that designation. Other ideas are still being explored, and as part of that exploration we’ll be reviewing the many comments that came into the blog today. (Please forgive us if we don’t answer each one.)
I don't feel great about this. I suppose I am supposed to be happy that The Lab is at least making an attempt to get a handle on things, however, this doesn't seem like a real answer. Limitations of this nature certainly may make these griefing incidents more difficult, but I don't think it eliminates them. Really, though, I can't say without more detail on the definition of "Trusted" and how this would get implemented. At first pass, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The first steps we are taking will help us to lessen the impact of the attacks on the majority of Residents. Wednesday’s release contains the first round of code changes to begin the mitigation of the attacks. In addition, we’re reviewing all processes and documentation to make sure we handle any attack as efficiently as possible.

Finally, we will be meeting with Federal authorities tomorrow to share information we have to date on the attackers. It is not our intention to allow these people to destroy Second Life and everything that we have built together.

Typically, there are a lot of words that don't give much in the way of detail. Perhaps this is another layer of security, thereby making it harder on the offenders by not advertising the prevention methodology. However, it does little to allay the considerable concerns that are growing amongst the residents. I'm not sure The Lab's recent reputation can carry this without a more detailed plan of action. That said, the best advertisement for the success of these changes would be a weekend free of trouble.

What of the Federal Authorities? Notification to the Feds is something LL should do and something they have alluded to before, if not explicitly stated, as being their policy regardomg this type of malicious service interruption. No real news there. Any significant results from Federal intervention would be a new development worthy of discussion, however.

We'll all have to cock on eye out for SL's immediate future. It should be interesting, if nothing else. Though perhaps not the way most of us want it to be.




10.09.2006

Buck O'Neil

He was cool. Mr. O'Neil passed away this weekend at the august age of 94. A master story-teller, he recounted his amazing life for the enjoyment and education of us all.

Baseball-Reference.com

10.06.2006

The Complete Web 2.0 Directory


Go2Web2.0.net. It's a sortable directory of "those" sites...RSS, Social Media, content aggregation, podcasting, and the like. Regardless of what you think about the marketing slogan known as "Web 2.0", this site is a neat little aggregation of sites with a nice, easy to use format.

Biking Through Chernobyl

An interesting photo journal of one woman's motorcycle trips through Chernobyl and surrounding area. Some very cool photos and an up close perspective of a forgotten land. Two different photo journeys, "Ghost Town" and "Land of the Wolves", as experienced by the site author, Elena. Check it out.

10.05.2006

Guan Yin Park

Random wandering found me in Guan Yin Park. A nice little garden of oriental tone with the full ambience of garden sounds (gurgling fountain, singing birds), which I think was enhanced by the SL night. I took a minute to wander the small parcel and really enjoyed the garden. The overall scene was well done. Plethora of flowers and the usual fare. Additionally, there was a nice little sculpture installment called "Geisha Sisters". Very SL-minimal in its creation, it nonetheless conveys a certain feeling and message and was a solid piece in line with the overall parcel theme. You will also note a nice golden statue and a red barrel object.






An available notecard details...

The Oracle of Change is an SL version of the Yi Jing (often transliterated as I Ching).

Donations from this Oracle are currently being collected for Support for Healing here in Second Life, and Modest Needs, a small RL charity that gives loans to people who are in a crisis (http://www.modestneeds.org).

Donate 20 L or more to the Oracle of Changes and you will get a notecard containing your reading. Donate as much as you want. All the money goes to charity in RL and SL.

The card you receive may contain a simple positive or negative answer, for instance good fortune or misfortune, or it may give you advice or instructions. Some of the instructions are a spiritual or adventure quest. Follow it, and you may find unexpected spirit treasure.


This network of Oracle Orbs is maintained by the Avatars of Change, a monastic and charitable order within SL. We currently have three sites totalling more than 5000 M of temples, retreats and monasteries. Please contact one of our officers to be considered for membership in our Order.
After a list of all the locations, the notecard further added the following:
So what is an oracle? An oracle, like the famous Oracle of Delphi, or the ancient Chinese Yi Jing (also spelled I Ching), answers questions. This Oracle will give advice and instructions, but it does not predict the future. It is like a small flashlight that lets you see a little ahead of yourself on the path of life. Use it wisely, and you may avoid stepping in holes in the dark. This Oracle is intended for use here in SL. If you have RL questions on which you are seeking advice, please IM one of our Diviners, Taras Balderdash or Suzanne Logan.

This is a real Oracle, so not all the readings are positive. But all of them are advice, not prediction, so don't get overyly upset if you get a bad reading. It may be a warning or a way to improve your situation. Don't be surprised if the Oracle sometimes seems to speak harshly to you. It is your own subconscious, not some outside voice. You would do well to heed your own criticism, if it rings true.

I am constantly tuning and revising the Oracle. Please let me know if you find typos.

This work is dedicated to I Ching master Tsung Hwa Jou, whose work inspired many of the readings. Memory Eternal!

Blessings and Thanks!

Taras Balderdash, Avatarian Prelate
Obviously, I had to give it a whirl and popped in an appropriate donation. What's the read on yours truly? Well, I managed to get two from my single donation...

345

You lose a goat and don't chase after it.
No trouble.
Relax.


435

Weeding out.
Make the hard decisions.
Take the middle way.
Expect good deeds not to be rewarded.

Not bad. I think I'm living up to this. At least the part about the goat.

Life in a Dairy Barn

I spend roughly 40% of a given week at work. Thank god I never sleep so I can still screw around writing blahg entries.

The office is a weird place. Not just my office, most of them, though each has their own quirks. It is a family in the sense of people who spend so much time together, depend on one another and are forced together by circumstance rather than choice. Work, eat, forced recreation (if you think those after hours drinks are optional, you aren't a team player!), and what have you. All these wonders of the daily grind happen in very tight quarters.


Here is where it gets really fun. You get to learn stuff about people that you just don't need or want to know. Marital problems, ailments, party planning, job searches....the list is endless. These odd nuggets of information give you a little insight into people you think you know. Mostly, though, everyone has a little Hyde in them. Due to the proximity and the hours, the Hyde doesn't stay hidden. It naturally leaks out through overheard phone conversations, office gossips and outright speculation.

Here is where we gets truly bizarro in the way that only humans can. What do we do with these tidbits? Nothing. We politely go about our business. Save for some behind the back whispering, we pretend we do not know that our office mate is screwing around on his wife, the guy in accounting binges and purges, and the new girl has a gambling problem.

So, how was your weekend?

10.01.2006

Fanaticism

The videos in the link are an amazing look into the behaviour of the righteous. Join Mark Bunker in his saga to educate people on some of the practices of Scientology. I don't have much to say about the beliefs of the religion. People can follow whatever beliefs that work for them. This is, however, an example of how fanaticism can play out in an ugly way. Check it out.

Welcome to Korea

Back in August, I took my yearly jaunt over to the Chicago Korean Festival (11th annual). Great food and beverages, interesting events and music. I love watching the Ssireum, a traditional form of Korean wrestling (What is Ssireum?-Korea Ssireum Research Institute). Grabbed a ton of food - some Kalbi (marinated, grilled short ribs), Kimbap ( a roll of varying ingredients that looks like a sushi roll), Sundae (a traditional sausage and street vendor fare), and jokbal (seasoned and steamed pork legs). More info here for the curious. Topped it off with some OB Lager and Jujimong (pomegranate wine) and a traditional drumming and dancing scene.

Take a gander at some random photos of the scene. Note the presence of the US Dept of Home Security.









Trailfire.com



I stubled upon (stumbleupon ) an interesting, free web tool called Trailfire. It looks pretty interesting. In essence, people create and publish web surfing trails with comments. A user can mark pages to create a condensed surfing session for anyone with similar interests. According to the site...
Trailfire is a hosted service that enables anyone to comment on any web page. Place a 'trail mark' on a page with your comments or notes. A trail mark can contain text, images, videos and other media types. When you give several marks the same 'trail name' you are forming your own navigation path on the web. We call this a 'Trail'.
Trailfire provides a useful "Guided Tour" of it's own page as a trail. A good way to see what it can do. I went for a test run by following a trail entitled "HTML helps" and it was a pretty informative run of sites related to HTML, including some WordPress help, RSS, adding various widgets to web pages, etc. Overall, pretty useful info regarding the stated trail topic. I followed that up with a trail called "Top Hacks everyone should know" which consisted of one lonely web page that I found to be only marginally related to the topic of Top Hacks.

Trailfire currently works with IE and Firefox, has a sidebar and a nice hidable widget for following the trail and reading comments. Additionally, there are subscriptions to other users trails and the ability to add HTML to "marks", which are the indicators that make up a trail and will have comments, etc per the specific page it is marking.

As with many of these new integrated browsing tools, it will get better as it is used. Certainly has intriguing possibilities for research, extension to blog entries, shopping, and sharing.

9.24.2006

Burning Life

Let's do two positive entries in a row! This one's for Philly. I hear the negative nellies are making him sad.

Hopefully, people got a chance to check out the Burning Life plots. There were some amazing builds, some funny builds and some poignant commentary. It was a really nice way to exhibit some fun SL work. I would like to see more of this. The sheer scale of multiple sims of user content jammed together was impressive. Residents really came through and it was an enjoyable experience wandering through the plots. Some that particularly stood out for me were Vivianne Draper's tribute to Starax Statosky (had quite a few of his animals), Ulrika Zugzwang's outlaw build (a really cool giant ball made of tiles that formed a picture of SL faces, which morphed as the tiles changed), Ilianexsi Sojourner's Snakes on a Plot (how can you not laugh), Starling Glitterbuck's Further Bus, the Bone House by Jamma Newt. Too many to name, see all my pics here.





Gonna Fly Now

There is always a ruckus going on with SL/LL. What else is new? I am going to divert from random ranting and mention something worthwhile.

The Shelter Lost Lake Balloon Tour was just the thing to set me right. The launch spot can be found directly east of the Shelter, near the shore of the Lake. Wonderfully set up. Just sat your av arse down in the balloon and off you go. According to the balloon, you are set for an 18 minute tour around the lake. I didn't time the trip, but it was certainly a substatial ride. Sim crossing were smooth. The view was first-rate. Rolling along the coast of the lake, the balloon informs you of some of the more notoble builds along the way, though not all - look it's Nocturnal Threads! Wave to kaia! Finally, the balloon takes a turn for home, passing by the teen center (I had never seen this, which is out on an island and is, I gather, the location where teens jump from Teen SL to the adult grid), and settling down softly back at the launch spot.

Here's the mumbo jumbo from a notecard available on site:

This attraction is provided by The Shelter in Isabel and was the original concept of Travis Lambert.

It was developed in conjunction with Traven Sachs of Wolfhaven Productions.

Special thanks to everyone else that helped to make this project a reality - Garth FairChang of FairChang Engineering for his assistance with the scripting, Ordinal Malaprop for help with some of the concepts behind the balloon navigation, and Renee Roundfield for her contribution of the Wicker Basket texture for the balloon.

If you have questions regarding the Lost Lake Balloon Tour, please contact Travis Lambert of The Shelter, or Traven Sachs of Wolfhaven Productions!

ENJOY YOUR RIDE!

Thanks Travis and folks, it was a good ride.

Pictures please! (see them all in my flickr thingermajob here)

And I read this somewhere in the vast interwebz and, since I'm sharing, I provide it for your amusement (balloon humor courtesy of this website poddys.com)....

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below.

He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

The man below says: "yes you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."

"You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist.

"I do," replies the man. "How did you know?"

"Well" says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's no use to anyone."

The man below says, "You must work in Management".

"I do" replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well", says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."






9.20.2006

The Scourge is Gone!

In a bold move, LL took over title to the Satyr sim (blahgged about in a previous installment - complete with pictures) and (perma)banned the majority of the alleged griefer group, V5. This is an ineffective policing maneuver at best and better described as an attempt to create some positive PR. The Lab has been accussed of going lite on griefers and not administering much in the way of security in Second Life. Timed such that an announcement could be made at the recent Town Hall and in the wake of a grid attack using self-replicating prims, the Black Tuesday bannings were just another smokescreen. The Lab is ever attempting amateur prestidigitation and illusory tactics that are meant to obscure the ongoing primary problems in the 'verse.

All 60 members of the group were banned as LL shouts out loud that SA is not welcome in SL. However, they continue to allow unverified accounts making this gesture all but useless as far as controlling and/or punishing the actual few that were responsible for recent attacks. I am under no illusion that there is specific evidence against all 60 banned accounts. I am also under no illusion as to who the Goons are and how they comport themselves. I am not ashamed to admit that I visit the somethingawful.com forums (oh no! is my ban on its way?). They span a great range of personalities that goes beyond the stereotypical "script-kidde griefer" to include people that have a more raw sense of humor than many are comfortable with as well as some truly fine and multi-layered folks.

The Lab, in my view, has crossed yet another barrier. They are learning to mesh bureaucratic efficiency with operational mediocrity and tossing in a touch of hubris for a smooth finish. They are astonished and unhappy with the negativity (on blogs, in posts, at Town Halls). I am astonished at the loss of personal payment info, the continued bugs, performance hiccups and the "presence" problem. I have had less desire to give LL the benefit of the doubt as they break through each new barrier.

There seems to be a duality about SL that The Lab has never been able to solve. LL doesn't want control, yet They crave it. Control is integral to the egos and the growth of the business, but also demands an amount of accountability that LL is determined to put on the residents. The more they attempt to teeter between the two, the worse the problems become. The negativity is not separate from the actions of The Lab, nor is it entirely on their heads, but LL is in the best position to address the issues of SL. It is not unusual for paying customers and dedicated residents to demand better. Unfortunately, in the corporate world, it isn't that unusual for a company to see through tunnel vision. Not only do They do nothing, but They don't even recognize what is going on (or at the least, refuse to admit it).

So, there were bannings of accounts, but the drivers of those avatars are dropping prim penises on furry sims in SL right now. For those with knowledge, there is no permaban. SLife goes on but for a note in history and a sim changing hands. Those outside of the immediate blast zone are not affected beyond the few hours off the grid and some hysterical forum postings to read. The SL community is not better off, the security of SL is no more robust and the griefers are not gone. What is gone is a little bit of soul from all of us as the powers that be turn a blind, as we use the suffering of the few to assuage the bloodlust of the many.

9.11.2006

Where were you then, Where are you now

Word is that the fun sections of the official SL Forums are finally, officially closed. I would like to thank LL for officially pissing me off. Many folks deprecated the General and Sandbox areas of the SL forums. I was not one of them. I like to think I wasn't a total asshole and that some of my contributions could be seen as valuable, be they informative, humorous or just another puzzle piece in the overall forum community. I felt that way about almost every other poster. They were part of the whole, even the people that drove me insane with illogical posts, personal attacks and ideologies that were the polar opposite of my own. I wouldn't have had it any other way. I love to hear what people have to say, even when I disagree. It helps me gain perspective and it hones my own stances. It provides a complete experience.

As of now, I have no official SL Forums, little connection to LL (as I just don't care to read the blogs), and a wonderfully buggy snapshot experience that has made my SL trekking a good deal less enjoyable. My next blahg entry on Burning Life, complete with snapshots, is dragging as I couldn't take snapshots and read notecards during the same logon period without crashing. I will have to take another trip to BL in order to get some worthwhile information to go with my snapshots.

I feel angry, saddened and disassociated.

Which brings me to 5 years ago today....

I heard The News while at work on that September morning. My workday did not come to an abrupt end, but continued for much of the day, albeit with much more apprehension than I would normally expect in a typical working day. Having heard that my NYC relatives were fine, I was left tending to the kind of daily business that could be termed "second-tier, essential daily work" - the sort of thing that isn't life-and-death, but that should get done if at all possible. Things that many people assume never get interrupted. I was not watching the events unfold and was not viewing the footage repeated and discussed ad nauseam.

When I finally left the building, at around 2PM US Central, I was confronted with a deserted downtown Chicago. Deserted, that is, except for a plethora of heavily armed police and federal agents. Though at the acme of my emotional barometer and, of course, in a different league than today, I nevertheless felt angry, saddened and disassociated.

9.05.2006

Fecund Life - A Burning Life Exhibit


Linden Lab sposored another Burning Life recently (I won't call it an annual thing because it hasn't been around long enough and they may never do it again, who knows). It is, for all practical purposes, a virtual art exhibit in the spirit of the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada (Burning Man). There were tons of interesting things going on (think nekked drumming sessions) and some really great virtual builds (time traveling viking pirates). The one that really struck me and coaxed me out of my hole was an exhibit on vivi Odets' plot (I'll have to find out who was involved because it was not apparent, a complaint I had overall about the whole joint, but that is neither here nor there).

The plot, Fecund Life, was a major statement about SL and where it stands today, complete with red ban lines indicating that you couldn't actually access the plot, some Fecund Life signs, and a few trash cans labeled "Feedback Container", complete with a lid labeled "Your Comments Are Appreciated! Deposit feedback in this container". The signs and trash cans seemed to be a clear statement about the closing of the official SL forums and the general feeling about resident relations with LL at the moment. The blue box that would normally pop up upon trying to enter a no parcel plot indicates "Teh For-Umms (CLOSED, KEEP YOUR FEEDBACK TO YOURSELF)".
I thought the whole thing was great and had to see it as soon as I was informed of its existence (thank you, kaia Ennui, for the heads up and the pic of Kendra's Viking Pirate Time Travel Ship!).

The signs are brilliant, having what appears to be a warped LL "hand" logo that is flipping the bird, a Fecund Life slogan - "Your Imagination, Our Profit Margin", and a notice, to wit...
Lazy Labs are committed to providing a fun, enjoyable experience for our empoyees. However, due to you, the customer, whining about 'quality', 'stability', and 'griefers', we have decided to close Teh For-Umms. We apologize for the action, but it is critical our employees only do 'fun' things, not dull stuff like bug fixes.

Please continue to feel free to leave feedback at our one-way communication mechanism, the LazL Blogs.

Now get out, ungrateful wretches. We have to work on our Tao of Lazy.

Sincerely,
Pharticulary Lazy, CEO.


To make the whole thing complete, there is a cheap Lazy Lab t-shirt distributor that you can, presumably, click on for a t-shirt. Now, I'm not suggesting this was the design of this particular Burning Life plot, but my night was complete when, upon "touching" the distributor, I promptly crashed out of SL.


9.04.2006

Der Kapitanshaus!!!!




Kendra Bankroft, with inspiration from Aimee Weber's review of third party forums (Second Life Insider forum review), has created an Alsatian Biker Bar in the cool arse Port Neualtenburg build in the Fundama sim (74,71,22). You just have to like that kind of spirit. I do anyhow, and I also had to go check it out. I like PN anyway, so it isn't pulling teeth for me to pop over there. The place has a good feel and it looks good. I recommend checking it out.

As for the biker bar. Had no trouble finding it with the coords given in a forum post, provided in the link above. I walked up to the sight of a line of sleek two-wheelers (most of which I am told are made by Mannie Madonna)
parked in front of the building. Walking into the otherwise homey looking room, you turn right to find a tasteful black curtain. Behind the curtain? A nice little spot hidden away in the basement. I hear there may even by a clothing optional area.

Take a gander at me swilling a rum and coke at the bar and then kicking over some bikes!

Wrong Side of the Tracks

I was perusing some forums and noticed a comment that the Satyr sim in SL was undergoing a retrofit and going with a tiki theme for the time being. I hadn't been over there in a bit, really not since I was "invited" via IM by someone who didn't appreciate my SL profile. That was fun!

I TP'd over to Satyr and poked about. There were a few folks around but by and large, nothing was really going on. One of the avatars gave me a flyby, but apparently determined that I was harmless and left me unmolested. Though not complete, the tiki atmosphere was pretty well done. After walking around and taking a few pics, I made my way to the mall in residence, which was decently built and spacious, but had the most annoying musical loop playing. I walked right out, but went back in the interest of a complete sim experience. There was some interesing stuff for sale, but I really couldn't concentrate (or didn't want to) with the sound loop going and eventually crashed. I'm not going to blame the sim lag. It could have been anything. I did, however, take that as a sign to end my meandering for the evening.
I would have purchased the damn hobo kit (see below) if it hadn't been for that awful cacaphony and my subsequent ouster from the grid.

As you can see from the pics, there are some edgy elements at play, but that is part of what I love about SL. It isn't terribly offensive and actually took a bit of snooping to get the shots, so it isn't the kind of thing LL likes to call "readily visible" to the casual observer. Sorry Furries, but the de-furrestation sign and the freakish, hanging bunny made me laugh. You have to take most of this with a grain of salt. Some people may find it mean spirited, but there is plenty of SL culture that doesn't pass muster with 100% of the population.







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