the land here is strong, strong beneath my feet

The folks at slapt.me disprove Aristotle. All I have to say is wau. While I did verify--reluctantly--with RL information, including verification of age, I'm very nearly sorry I didn't see that sooner. Not that I would have been Elvisina on the grid, but because if it is that simple to defeat the age verification method that was supposedly so cumbersome because it was so protective...well, really, how can we trust the service, or any Linden who proclaims it's saving us from children in Adult areas?

Also, I do want to mention briefly the discovery of Diarment Creations, makers of creative steampunk innovations for home and office. Thank you, Mm. Allen, your find is timely and appreciated.

But we move on at a brisk pace, to the knighting, yesterday, of Mlle. Kiralette Kelley and Mr. Podruly Peccable. As this is all over the blogsphere by now, I'm restricting--for the most part--the Guv's speech and her Lyonnesse's speech just to their words. For more complete transcripts, ask Miss Ilsa Munro, or likely just pop around the journals of Caledon notables; they will likely have it by now.

[15:19] Desmond Shang: we have had a tradition in Caledon for a long time
[15:19] Desmond Shang: of knighting those who did awesome things, beyond just 'for fun' or for personal gain or whatnot
[15:19] Desmond Shang: and that's what's going to happen here :)
[15:19] Desmond Shang: [to] give an idea of what it takes,
[15:20] Desmond Shang: usually it's countless thankless months of effort, in dedication to a greater service
[15:20] Desmond Shang: that generally isn't recognised any other way, or would have gone unnoticed.
[15:20] Desmond Shang: so this is about Kira, and her taking on the RFL captaincy of 2009
[15:21] Wrath Constantine: Woot!
[15:21] Autopilotpatty Poppy APPLAUDS!!!
[15:21] Desmond Shang: and it is also about Podruly, for great effort behind the scenes
[15:21] Wrath Constantine: ***Wewtwewt ***
[15:21] Roberto Viking: bravo!
[15:21] Garnet Psaltery: ***** APPLAUSE *****
[15:21] Autopilotpatty Poppy APPLAUDS!!!
[15:21] Kiralette Kelley curtseys deeply and grins at Podruly
[15:21] Numinus Quandry: Woot, indeed!
[15:21] Desmond Shang: who should not be forgotten for his efforts, while he expected no recognition at all
[15:21] Podruly Peccable bows and blushes
[15:22] Desmond Shang: a few more words about Kira
[15:22] Desmond Shang: Kira started in knowing this would be tough, it always is
[15:22] Desmond Shang: and especially after the huge success of 2008
[15:23] Desmond Shang: it's not easy to follow that
[15:23] Desmond Shang: anyway, in spite of those odds, and some wondering if she was up to the challenge, she sure came through
[15:23] Desmond Shang: and made a huge difference for those in need, far beyond our silly little world
[15:24] Desmond Shang: so that makes Kira, and Podruly true knights of Caledon inside
[15:24] Desmond Shang: on top of that,
[15:24] Desmond Shang: without getting too personal,
[15:24] Kiralette Kelley blushes
[15:24] Desmond Shang: both of them were literally hospitalised at one point or another
[15:24] Desmond Shang: and STILL carried on
[15:25] Desmond Shang: had it been me, I woulda been cryin' like a baby and thinking of myself
[15:25] Desmond Shang: not these two
[15:25] Desmond Shang: they kept going.
[15:25] Desmond Shang: so I am proud to hand this off to our Vicereine, Kamilah Hauptmann
[15:25] Rudolfo Woodget fights back tears.
[15:25] Desmond Shang: for the actual knighting :)

Dame Kiralette being knighted

[15:26] Kamilah Hauptmann: A [few] words about the Knights of Caledon, a role call.
[15:26] Kamilah Hauptmann: In 2006, Leosanni Somme brought the Relay to Caldon. This was year 2 of the Relay.
[15:27] Kamilah Hauptmann: Ordinal Malaprop programmed the trolley route. A miserable task I assure you as someone who's specialised in motion scripting. The trolleys really took Caledon to a new level.
[15:28] Kamilah Hauptmann: Lapin Paris captained the 2007 Relay Team. I saw first hand just what a taxing job that was, and this was the first use of a knighting poseball set and ceremony just to the south in her beloved Tanglewood.
[15:28] Kamilah Hauptmann: JJ Drinkwater. What hasn't JJ done and done selflessly? O.o
[15:29] Kamilah Hauptmann: Erasmus Margulis, captain of the 2008 Relay team, the year everyone jumped on the bandwagon with roughly twice the population as 2007. How he kept his sense of humour is beyond me.
[15:30] Kamilah Hauptmann: ZenMondo Wormser. Proving that being the programmer for the Relay Commitee and trying to run the systemry of the kiosks behind the scenes is a miserable task. Yet, they worked. And it was a record funds turnout. Well done.
[15:31] Kamilah Hauptmann: Now Kira and Podruly. If 2007 was taxing for one [person], and 2008 nearly impossible. It certainly took a duo this year. You two should play doubles tennis, really.

Dame Kiralette being knighted

[15:32] Kamilah Hauptmann: [Without] further ado, then. Kira, please take a place.
[15:33] Kamilah Hauptmann: For services, then, to the greater world community, no less.
[15:34] Kamilah Hauptmann: Rise, Dame Kiralette Kelley.

Dame Kiralette being knighted

[15:34] Kiralette Kelley brushes away some tears and curtseys deeply
[15:35] Kiralette Kelley: Thank you so much

Dame Kiralette being knighted

[15:35] Eclectric Breitman: Yay!
[15:35] Wrath Constantine: Grats Kira!
[15:35] Kamilah Hauptmann: Congratulations, and more [importantly], thank you.
[15:35] Desmond Shang: thank you!
[15:35] Kamilah Hauptmann: Anything to say, please do so. :)

Sir Podruly Peccable being knighted

[15:36] Kiralette Kelley: I... wow... Well.. I [thought] of writing something down.. then decided that no I could [be] eloquent on the spot.
[15:36] Kiralette Kelley grins crookedly
[15:36] Kiralette Kelley: Turns out I can't... Just.. thank you. Caledon [is] so special to me. I love it here.. Thank [you] everyone who helped with RFL and allowed Caledon to be such a shinin star [of] a [team]

[15:37] Kamilah Hauptmann: Very good then, Mister Peccable the impeccable. :)

Sir Podruly Peccable being knighted

[15:38] Desmond Shang: Podruly, especially, is one of the quietest, most unassuming foxes in Caledon
[15:38] Desmond Shang: which makes this knighting all the more important
[15:39] Desmond Shang: because otherwise, few would even know of his efforts
[15:39] Desmond Shang: (is quiet now so Kami can continue)

Sir Podruly Peccable being knighted

[15:39] Kamilah Hauptmann: Very good then. As the Guvnah says, Mister Peccable just stepped into tall the places where he was needed, unasked, nunthanked, unexpecting of thanks. And so for services to the greater humanity the world over.
[15:40] Podruly Peccable: Thank you
[15:40] Kamilah Hauptmann: Rise, Sir Podruly Peccable.

Sir Podruly Peccable being knighted

[15:40] Desmond Shang: for those unfamiliar, a wrench is used instead of a sword
[15:40] Podruly Peccable smiles
[15:40] Kamilah Hauptmann: Anything to say, the floor is yours. :)

Sir Podruly Peccable being knighted

[15:41] Podruly Peccable: I'd just like to say there was a great team of people helping with RFL, and they all should be knighted
[15:42] Podruly Peccable: But more than that, I was just utterly astounded, again, by just how generous and warm the people of Caledon are
[15:42] Bree Himmel: Mr. Peccable as a RL suvivor of Cancer I thank you
[15:42] Bree Himmel: from the bottom of my heart
[15:42] KateLynn Inglewood: so do I
[15:42] Podruly Peccable: You are all [pretty] extraordinary
[15:43] Podruly Peccable: Thank you all

Screen capture of the crowd

[15:44] Kamilah Hauptmann: And yes, we use a wrench in Caledon, as a sword is a tool of destruction, a wrench is a tool of construction or repair.
[15:45] Kamilah Hauptmann: And a [plowshare] would be too comically large.

Good point. Thank you, Vicereine.

HUZZAH for the new Knights of Caledon!

(Note: the pictures don't *exactly* match up, but I didn't want to move and lose what little rez I had; and here, I wanted to keep the narrative flow of the speeches intact, as much as I could. Clicking for the larger image will, in this case, bring you to larger color versions, wherein the amount of derezzed avatars will clearly tell you why I went with sepia tones for this post. Also, for those who wondered who was there, it's not a complete list by any means, but I captured one screen shot of the main crowd in the Eyre mushroom meadow. May that help photographers with whom was where.)

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6 Comments:

Rhianon Jameson said...

Huzzah indeed to Sir Podruly and Dame Kira!

Thank you for the pictures and transcript, Miss Orr. I had heard of the ceremony only when Miss Kelley herself tweeted that she was being knighted at that very moment. I went in-world, guessed that a large collection of green dots was meaningful, and finished rezzing...just about the time people were starting to disperse. :( Such is life, whether First or Second.

Edward Pearse said...

As this is all over the blogsphere by now, I'm restricting--for the most part--the Guv's speech and her Lyonnesse's speech just to their words.

Having just finished the aggregate collection of blog reading my google reader collects for me (some 25 entries from the last two days) yours is the only blog to even mention it happened. And since the Guv is notoriously slack when it comes to sending out a Group Notice for something as important as this, I wouldn't have even known it had happened otherwise.

Rhianon Jameson said...

No argument from me, Mr. Pearse. Had it not been for ISC chat, I never would have heard about Mr. Wormser's knighting, either.

Well, modesty is a virtue, is it not? :)

Emilly Orr said...

You're kidding. And here I thought I was playing the poor cousin, disguising avatar non-rezzing and just going with things, because I figured, everyone else would have posted the big glossy pictures and all the hype.

That's rather astonishing.

Dale Innis said...

Huzzah for the new knights! :)

(No huge surprise on Aristotle; it doesn't actually have to work well, it just has to be there to make the sex-panic folks go away. It's maybe a little startling that it works quite this badly, and perhaps they will fix it up, but the only thing that actually protects children is their parents / caregivers looking over their shoulders and saying 'what ARE you doing?'. No 'global data management team' ought to be expected to fill that role, and no one with a clue would expect them to.)

Emilly Orr said...

No, see, and that's just it--no other game on the face of the planet does more than "Verify that you're 18; your pressing of the [YES] button guarantees it's on you if you're not, we're clean, 'cos we've asked." Only SL feels it needs to take the extra step of verifying, and even with that, verifying through such a lousy and inconsistent--and illegal, in many, many countries--method.

All of us protested this; I didn't think it worked quite this badly, but I knew the Lindens lied--and are lying still--that the data isn't being stored. We know what Aristotle and Integrity do, and, while the data is likely separated out from the in-world identifiers, it is kept and sold to targeted political marketing groups.