World's Shortest Person

This is the type of surreal thing that you feel must be just another piece of bogus fluff on the internet.

Thapa Magar is just 20 inches (50.8 centimetres) tall and weighs 10
kilograms.

Twenty inches is the size of a large screen monitor. LG Philips is putting out a 20-inch laptop (cnet story http://news.com.com/Ready+for+a+20-inch+laptop/2100-1044_3-5911772.html). You can get a leg lamp similar to the one from the classic 1983 holiday film, A Christmas Story, that measures around 20" (http://www.80stees.com/products/Christmas-Story-Leg-Lamp-20-inches.asp).

Alas, this really is the amazing height of the Guiness Record holder, shown below.

Recently on Discovery Channel, I saw a documentary on Primordial Dwarfism. Individuals with primordial dwarfism measure well below the 3rd percentile on standardized growth charts (http://www.primordialdwarfism.com/medmain.htm). I would have to guess that this boy may fall into this severe category of dwarfism.

It certainly is a life hard to imagine.

Click and Crash: The New Way to Play

After the most recent Second Life update, on Wednesday, August 23, I have had some niggling rezzing issues and what appears to be a failed script in one of my winged avatars. Overall, it was nothing I was overly concerned with. In fact, I took the annoyance out by hacking and slashing some NPCs over in WoW. Yesterday, however, my experience in SL took a decidedly more annoying turn.

While the first crash and burn was annoying, each successive instance proved more and more frustrating. In essence, each time I clicked on a scripted object, I was summarily bounced from the grid. When I attempted to relog, I was met with a message that I could not be logged on and the client was beginning the logout process. Inworld contacts informed me that SL still indicated I was logged on. Second attempts to logon were successful and the whole process didn't take much time....unless you have to do it 5 or 6 times.

The first few were accidental, but the rest were attempts to recreate the crashes. Time and again, I was throw back to real life when I attempted to click for a notecard, open a door or unsheath my samurai blade. I learned my lessons, made my bug report and ceased trying to do anything as simple as opening a door. This did not prevent me from making my way across the grid to a couple of interesting sims, Walden Woods and The Woods, both nicely done sims, though light years apart in concept.

Walden Woods is a virtual representation of the Concorde, Massachusetts location where H.D. Thoreau wrote the novel, Walden, during a roughly 2 year stay. The virtual Walden is an attempt to educate folks on Thoreau's philosophy of life, nature and everything. A beautiful wooded sim with pond, ducks and walking path, Walden Woods surely captures the serenity that the Thoreau ideal strives for. Sounds of the woods and a quiet location certainly has a place in SL and can be a nice place to visit.

The Woods - Northern Woods of Gor was equally well done, though of a markedly different character than Walden. Landing in a small corner facing the carcass of a beast of burden and a burning cart, visitors are hit with the rules notecard immediately. Not unusual in a themed RP environment such as this. The rules and the consequences of deviance from those rules are layed out plainly. Home to the Sa-Ta-Tor Panther Tribe, the Northern Woods RPers seem to take their RP seriously and expect you to as well. I found no friendly visitor tag and no invitation to check the lay of the land. However, as there was nobody around, I scouted it out anyway. Nicely built and following the theme from corner to corner. I was impressed and loved the look of the place. I make no commentary on the Gorean RP and was not subject to any so I wouldn't have much to say about it anyway. I will say that it was worth my trip and I arrived back in Notata without a collar.

Second Life - the definitive explanation, courtesy of Amazon

The link to the Second Life Insider comes thanks to an Aimee Weber post over at the SecondCitizen.com forums. Thanks, Aimee, it's like getting the paper delivered to my home.

For only $18.89 over at Amazon.com, anyone can purchose Second Life: The Official Guide by Michael Rymaszewski. This guide purports to explain in detail the totality of SL's "rich and multilayered virtual world", including the all-encompassing explanation of "how it works", the grid geography, SL society and the "written and unwritten rules" governing the metaverse. The book goes on to describe creating and customizing an av, building, and...gasp....making money! The Amazon blurb even suggests that the guide will be able to discuss ways to enjoy SL more in the section entitled "Success in Second Life". In order for LL to get proper marketing of the High Brow SL of the Academics and Uber-Geeks, there is a description of "fascinating" events and how SLers are using the world for things like business and training. As with all gaming guides, you get a glossary, a quick-reference, and resource appendices; however, this SL specific book also comes with special animations, character templates (I don't know what they mean by this, but probably a how-to on good starting stats for your newly created Cleric or possibly the clothing and av creation templates that are provided for free by a number of solid citizens), and some Linden created textures exclusive to this guide. Best of all, the disc has a guided tour of the game installation for the technophobes and a code for a special inworld object.

The guide is written by a successful and prolific game guide author and will surely provide some value. My question is just exactly how the societal aspects can be definitively answered in this format. There certainly are no specific unwritten rules that are common across the entire grid, though I suppose majority rules in these instances. That majority will hold further sway as more and more people turn to sources like these for an understanding of SL. What was once a learning on the fly experience is turned into a prepackaged society. The fringe that make up some of the most astonishing (for good and bad) aspects of SL are further marginalized as people are told upfront what the "rules" and "unwritten rules" are, rather than allowing people to find places inworld that fit their idea of what those rules are. Your world, your imagination as explained to you by Mr. Rymaszewski. I haven't read the guide, maybe it will be spot on. I have my doubts, given the complexity and the diversity of the grid.

What of LL's focus? The marketing machine rolls on, while the world, at times, appears to be regressing. The Mentors seem to be floundering, at least from an outsider perspective, the official forums are all but gone and LL's wiki page and other documentation were never that robust. As such, there is a need for new users to have something more helpful as they embark on their Second Lifes. I'm not sure this guide is the answer. The vision of the future online is being driven by the strategies of the past. Perhaps there was no other way. I don't believe this, particularly in this industry.

I don't fault LL for trying to go the route of the successful mult-iuser virtual environments on the scene, but it is still a bit saddening as it happens in the most commercial of ways - a game guide on Amazon.com. Aimee Weber correctly pointed out the mismatch of the game guide versus the LL stance on the non-game platform, but the naming convention is the least of my bothers compared to the actual morphing of SL into what I was trying to avoid when I arrived at on the grid, as well as seeing The Lab take the worst of serious commercial business practice to heart, while I hear tales at this very moment of another Wednesday software update gone wrong.

Map of SL circa 2004

I found this prim map of SL hanging on the wall at the Jessie Trade Expo/Second Life Armory while I was cleaning up my plot in Jessie earlier. It's free to copy, or IM me inworld for a copy. It was made by Ryan Linden. I'm sure it has been around, but I hadn't seen it and it brings back memories of when the SL grid was a much smaller joint.

Extreme Travels in SL - Faded Lotus

What do you do when you have a spare minute (and not much more) to spend in SL and you aren't sure how to occupy it? I know some folks love shopping, gambling, chatting and all manner of passtimes. I like to wander around. To see what is to be seen. One day it could be completely random TPing. Another day it could be an event picked from the Search tool. In this instance, I was typing things in the Search - Places field and checking out the top results of whatever term I used. In a peckish mood, I had gone with the very simple word "dark".

Running down the list of results, I saw a few sex clubs, some malls, Necrotica Isle (Goth/Vamp sim that I spent an enjoyable few moments nosing around in, but which is not the subject of this entry), the Dark Life RPG, and a goth club. What caught my eye was Faded Lotus Extreme Roleplaying. The descriptive blurb was eyepopping to say the least.

"BDSM Dungeons, Hard-Core, Dark, Bloody, Snuff, 'Dolcett' styled Dungeon with an evil Medical Center!"

The accompanying picture was even more bold - a head shot of an attractive, clean-faced avatar sporting shortish, pink hair and in what appears to be a provocative, but painful pose.

The BDSM scene is not generally my cup of tea, but I never let that stop me. These people were bound to be interesting. The TP landed me in an enclosed box with warnings galore regarding the gore. The owner was taking no chance that you stumble into this location unaware of what awaits you. I'm sure this was as much for their benefit as for mine. A notecard informed me that the owner, Coventina Mendicant, and her Family invite visitors to explore their darker sides on this land, but to be aware of what that includes and to consider leaving if you are not ready for the very mature and potentially disturbing content. The note comes with a handy observer title, which I donned, and set off to explore.

I can say that, visually, the build fit the theme and seemed to have everything it was claiming, including shopping just a TP away (located above the madness). I walked out to a circle of chairs and kneeling pads, complete with the requisite pose balls, a note board (yes, I left a little note) and the TP to the previously mentioned shopping. Walking along the length of the location, a person can visit an oriental tea garden, get electrocuted between two VanDerGraff generators, hang out in a Kennel, play in a sandbox, go to the medical office, the butcher, the restaurant, the barn and vet, and the local bar. You'll have to go visit to find out just what goes on in these places, but I'll tell you it is creative and you may not like it.

There were not many people about at 5am SL time on a Sunday, but what few were around treated me perfectly cordially and, I expect, were a little reluctant to go about their normal business with a nosy visitor poking about. I finished off the visit by buying a spit in the shopping area and spending a moment in the serenity of the garden.

No Arms, No Legs, Hanging on a Wall

My SL travels landed me at an art exhibit last night after an exhaustive search of my 201 event options in the search menu. I never have high hopes for these things, so I dragged along a pal - misery loves company. The outing was more than pleasantly surprisining.

After a brief disorientation period following a TP to the location, The Bluffs Center for the Arts, we located the exhibit, which turned out to be an "art walk" following a winding, tree-lined path with the exhibited art at stations along the way. Additionally, there was a small sculpture garden. The unique sculptures were the artist's visual representation of various songs, lyrics of which were given in notecards at each installation.

All-in-all, it was a good trip. The art was quality work and the location was pleasantly done. I have to commend both the artist, DeltaDharmaDawn Aubret, and the Bluffs' onsite manager, Anhinga Chaika, for their hospitality and congenial nature.

On a humorous note, my compadre, the World Famous Designer kaia Ennui, serving in her role as art patron of SL, bought one of the artists wonderful works. In an "only in SL" moment, Ms. Ennui managed to purchase the original object instead of a copy. After patiently hearing my pleas to abscond with it and leave a stick figure work in its place, kaia IM'd the artist and managed to sort it all out with little fuss.

If you have a bored moment, go check out The Bluffs and Aubret's work.

DIGG it!

I hadn't really looked at this before, but SLer UZ was using it to make some pointed commentary on LL closing the official forums. She bequeaths us this gem: "Second Life Sentences Community by Closing Forum".

This blrub is from the Digg website.

Digg is all about user powered content. Every article on digg is submitted and voted on by the digg community.

An article is given a thumbs up or down. Readers can promote or bury a story with a thumb up or down. I love it. Ulrika makes good use of it.

Second Life Insider comments on the Digg article here:
http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2006/08/13/digg-for-great-justice

Ventilation

People are venting. No, not the usual discharge of accusations, problems and xenophobic rants from the Second Life population. I'm talking about a particular Voice over IP (VoIP) communications software. Ventrilo, or Vent as you will hear people say (probably through your uber sexy headset). It's a noun. It's a verb. It's in my face. Hell, SL was using Skype for participation in an inworld meeting.

I understand the desire, burning need even, for venting in group melee type games and the war scenario games. These online multiplayer games revolve around a strategy of warfare and a coordinated, fast-paced game play. Communication is a key element. Chatting on your headsets as you storm the Bastille or some other bastion of evil seems like a must.

I'm not sure about it in Second Life. More precisely, I'm not sure about how it fits with my SL. I know many folks are using whatever connectivity tools they can tweak to make SL more to their liking. Venting is a natural for the cross-overs taking a break from orc hunting. It's the next evolution from the clunky chat interface.

It isn't a preference for me. Me? I like typing. I have my own issues with it as well. I often spend hours on the phone during the 9 to 5. The fact that I hate talking on the phone makes this a bamboo under the fingernails torture for me. I don't really want to take that feeling into my down time. Granted, I would hopefully be talking to people I enjoy more than the people I'm paid to interact with, but that is by no means a guarantee. Beside my pure hatred of this type of canned-voice communication, I also spend much of my SL ignoring people and multi-tasking. I can always pull the local chat history and read up on what I missed. Voice communication doesn't allow for this in the same quick and dirty way.

Maybe I just have a bad attitude. Probably. I just like things my way. I have the equipment. It isn't the end of the world, but it is a significant change in my interaction with SL that I am not sure I want. This is the trend, though, and sometimes you just gotta say What the Fuck.

I did download the software. I did log on and listen. It was better than trying to keep up with a conversation that I was only getting part of in chat. It was also better than forcing the venters to acquiesce to my eccentricities (not that they would have anyway). So I listened. I'm still alive. No bleeding from the ears. However, I'm still an SL mute. For now, my voice remains my own.

8 Below

*minor spoilers, read at your own risk*

I was bored and spaced out and the ease of ordering a movie through the dish was just the thing to occupy me. Having scrolled through the crappy selections that I had passed on previously, I ended up with 8 Below. A typical Disney movie and not my cup of tea, but I was deperate. I live with a husky and couldn't resist. How bad could it be?

The answer is "not bad", considering. As it turned out, I didn't actually know what the movie was about beyond a team of sled dogs. I assumed it was a typical Animal Saves Human plot and while this is exactly how it started, I realized that with an hour to go, there had to be something else to it. This movie is the story of the sled dogs being left behind in the wake of a giant storm and how they manage to survive for approximately six months on their own in the polar wilds. In the mean time, Paul Walker struts around DC looking for some funding for a return trip for his dogs while his dopey "friends" tell him to stop fretting and get over it. As the owner of a couple of dogs, I offer them a hearty Fuck You! You don't have to get it, but when you don't, just keep your mouth shut.

The human drama was what you would expect from a movie primarily made with children in mind. The dialogue is simple and overt, the acting lacking any grand subtlety. This is not to say that the actors performed below par, they were fine; however, the pack is the highlight of the show. The dogs' story was not what I had expected and watching them battle the elements, hunger and an angry leopard seal (rather a trashy special fx moment, all-in-all) was entertaining. Not all of them survive, which was more realism than I expected from this Disney film and just the element that made their story interesting.

The movie claims to be "based on a true story" and I won't dispute this, but I would guess it is based on an amalgam of different stories and not a particular incident. Either way, I chuckled more than once seeing the very obvious husky behaviour on film that I witness every day at home. At the very least, I wasn't scratching my head wondering who I need to sacrifice on my basement altar to get back those 2 hours. I was also doing a little tippling, which never hurts.

Closing and Opening

The official SL forums are dead to me. In a not unexpected but still disappointing turn of events, Linden Lab has chosen to kill off the forums. Many reasons given, but none felt completely honest. The shift toward third party forums already had some momentum, but for many of us, the official forums remained a virtual piazza where we could wander and mingle. Despite having shifted attention toward my preferred third party forum, I still posted regularly to the official SL forums. This has come to an abrupt end and has resulted in the vivification of this very blog, which I had previously left as a skeletal dead space in the wreckage of the web.

The Lab is fast becoming notorious for the sort of strategic gambit that feels like a slap in the face to long-time customers but which they feel will give them a leg up in their never ending grope for padded account statistics. I don't really blame them for seeking success on their terms, but it seemed those forums had value for the community at large. This value, in my opinion, outweighed the negatives of a few malcontent posters or the effort LL would need to exert to maintain the forums (as they didn't but much effort in to-date).

The new SL Blog is something that doesn't interest me. Besides the obvious fact that blogs are boring to most people, it creates another level of interference for me in keeping up with the SL community. LL is distancing themselves from their customer base even further. The Lab has never been a top notch provider of customer service, failing to respond in any meaningful way to users' cries for help. They have now made turning a blind eye the official policy. Good for them. Straight-forward business practices are something to be proud of.

I can still be found posting at SecondCitizen.com* with an entertaining and bright crowd of people that is getting more diverse at this very moment thanks to LL. For now, I can still be found inworld, but as the supplications for money mount on a daily basis from people I don't know (and in barely coherent netspeak), I grow more weary of the Future of the Metaverse that LL is creating under my virtual feet.

*Other great third party sites exist, most notably SLUniverse.com, but SC is the most user friendly for me at work and is my default at the moment.