I'm resigned to simply live in your wake

This is a fun, easy tutorial on making new 'Polaroid'-style art for your home. All it needs is a simple wooden frame, some jute string or kitchen twine, several miniature clothespins, and artificially aged-and-cropped pictures (unless you want to use actual Polaroid images).

About the only thing I'd suggest is that you print out the images on a color printer capable of cardstock printing, or take it to a print shop and have them print it on cardstock. If you want to get really fancy, add a slight layer of Mod Podge over the tops of the pictures for gloss, and paint the backs black. And that's it! Hang it, you're done!

I also want to bring to your attention the best cosplay EVER. Don't believe me? Here's one of the original appearances from Sesame Street for detail comparison.

Why you should never give your cat fresh catnip. This has been a public service announcement from the Nip Council.

And do you want an iPhone 5? You may not after watching this.

Cracked.com came out with a review of the Slender Man phenomenon that's funny, filthy, and has links to other information--much of it down-the-rabbit-hole sites where people really seem to believe this stuph. (The only thing I don't get is why the writer seems so traumatized over the whole Meat Spin site--I'm not linking it here, either, but it's because it features actual penetrative sex, which is not something I'm going to bring onto this blog. The content itself--come on, it's just sex, people, you're not five. Grow up.)

I want to toss you a little exercise. Go in order.

• Step One: Go to the Marketplace, and search for "rusty".
• Step Two: Set 'Items per page' to 96, and set the 'Sort by' field to 'Price: Low to High'. (I'm also on seeing General/Mature/Adult, but that may or may not help.)
• Step Three: scroll through the first page and realize there's nothing buyable, it's all glitched.
• Step Four: scroll through the second page and realize there's nothing buyable, it's all glitched.
• Step Five: scroll through the third page and realize there's nothing buyable because it's all glitched.
• Step Six: repeat this for the next ten pages.
• Step Seven: give up.

Honestly, I think Marketplace has gotten worse over the last two weeks.

leave your home, change your name

I discovered a spelling error in last night's mission run through City of Heroes, and was urged by a love to report it. So I did:

Hero side, from Michael Binocolo, second part of the arc, this sentence: "In all likelihood, they saw the Midnighter Squad as a giant refridgerator for Rularuu." should read "In all likelihood, they saw the Midnighter Squad as a giant refrigerator for Rularuu."

It was a simple mistake, and I took the time to send the little ticket to Support, and went about my evening.

The first missive I got back told me that they'd understood:

I am escalating your petition for review and a Senior Specialist will be in contact with you as soon as possible. You should receive a reply within 24 hours.

Take care,
GM Adonis
City of Heroes Support Team

Nifty.

By the time I got the email back from "GM Adonis", it was nearly time for sleeping, so I made my goodbyes and went to bed. This morning, I awake to find another email:

The issue you are experiencing may be due to the software not working as it was designed. We will be reviewing this ticket as a bug report through our Quality Assurance (QA) Team.

If we are able to reproduce the bug you reported, we will place it on a list of things to be fixed. We will prioritize it based on its impact on the game and players. If we can't reproduce it, we may contact you to get additional information or to provide you with information regarding the game design.

Our QA Team is unable to provide status updates on bug reports. This allows them to focus on quickly addressing bug reports and other issues in the game, so that our players can experience the smoothest game play possible.

Regards,

GM Bunni3

I have some issues with this.

• First, City of Heroes has a "GM Bunni" in the first place? Bunni? With the "i", no less. Dear gods, the horror.
• Second, there's no software issue. It's not a software issue. It's a spelling error.
• Third, of course they'll be able to reproduce the bug, because it's a spelling error. It will show up.

The hell, people.

But then I remembered this happened the last time, where the same form letter was sent to me, and I reacted (in my usual gentle, caring, and circumspect fashion) with a retaliatory screed reinforcing that it was a spelling error, not a software glitch; it wasn't my hardware, my system, or the install, it was a spelling error. Rawr rant rawr. And we went back and forth for three more letters, with my end getting more shrill and their end getting more confused, until I got bumped up (or sideways, or something) a level to a new handler.

And that GM wrote back saying that the first email was the standard letter everyone gets, and thanking me for being so "passionate", but that she knew what I meant, and they'd fix it.

Yes, I do feel slightly bad for making it so personal--so "passionate", as that particular GM put it--but it's still not a software glitch. It's on their end, not mine. Lag does not misspell words.

(Unless you're in SL, where lag can erase entire paragraphs, as well as random words and individual letters. But that's also live chat, not captured quest dialogue, too.)

Fox News turned in an unflattering review of the new Muppet film, and an interviewer brought it up to the Muppets at the London press conference. Miss Piggy's notable (and wonderful) quote on the entire thing: "Yeah, if they take what I say seriously, they've got a real big problem."

Of course, what was Bill Reilly's reaction? "They better watch it." Thus, now we have show hosts on Fox News warning felt puppets to watch their actions. Just let the utter, baffling stupidity of that sink in for a moment. I don't think we've had such a national level of confusion since Dan Quayle started sending baby gifts to Murphy Brown.

In the meantime, there's a new JIRA to watch. (And remember, as always, it's WATCH, not VOTE; at least until the Lindens remove the voting option entirely, just treat it as an unnecessary distraction they won't pay attention to anyway.) This time out, it's something that could potentially effect everyone, depending on where they are.

On the Magnum servers (that would be RC Magnmum 12.01.24.248357), subscribe-o-matic delivery kiosks are being forcibly throttled on the server side. The result? No deliveries are being made from them for upwards of half an hour (or longer; one observation was sixty minutes). Which would be bad enough, but the bigger problem is it's also taking offline all vendors owned by the merchant who owns the original delivery kiosk, not just that one kiosk or vendor.

To get an idea of the impact of this issue, I'll let some merchants speak for themselves:

Chrissy Ambrose:

I was one of the reporters of this issue. It is a major problem for me, as sending inventory to the mailing list, ie notecards, induces people to come and use llGiveInventory objects, such as vendors, gift givers, landmarkers and notecard givers, all of which have stopped working by the time they arrive.

I tested the mailing list on a standard sl server version with no difficulty, but on my other sim on RC magnum 12.01.24.248357, it gives the error message and subsiquent suspension of inventory the last 3 times used.

Fred Allandale, the original reporter of this issue:

Did a few more tests and was able to trigger this condition with llGiveInventory rates as low as 5 per second. The "excessive inventory sent" message occurred after about 90 seconds. One of my customers reported getting the problem with the inventory send rate reduced to 2/second. Once this message occurs, inventory sends are blocked for 30-60 minutes.

Testing in 3 other sims NOT running RC Magnum 12.01.24.248357 at send rates up to 20/second did not trigger this condition. That was the highest rate I tested.

Kallisti Burns:

Just observed the same failure at the rate of 3 a second on the Moonsong sim after two minutes... This was after Fred flagged system owners with details of this issue and recommended this rate as a fix.

Reducing the send rate further to 1 send a second (as two a second also seems to be failing) would mean that any message would take several hours to send to the group as a whole - not ideal when some notices (relating to weekend sales events, for example - much like the one that just failed on me) are time dependent. This is hardly acceptable.

Cincia Singh, a hostess at Smooth (and, as anyone who's ever hosted events in SL knows, she needs solid access to get the word out for events at the club!):

As an SL music venue operator we depend very heavily on the timely sending of notices and gift inventory to alert group members to music performances just prior to beginning; within 10-15 minutes. Severe throttling of delivery in this manner functionally destroys a primary means of communication between venues and guests/group members.

Keep in mind, if you're seeing this behavior in your subscribe-o kiosks, or your vendors, the Magnum code was rolled out to the whole of the grid two days back.

Ms. Singh also added this:

Security issue? And the only way to fix this security issue is to break a ton of content and negatively impact communications inworld? Without warning? Group IMs and Group Notices fail (unable to retrieve group information ...) half the time, chat lag is rampant and now this throttle? X inventory offers per owner per region is useless if it takes a club hours to get notices out of an impending event. This is going to severely impact medium to small clubs in SL.

Which again (and unfortunately, in my opinion) reinforces my personal theory that all of this, just about everything negative on the grid over the past three years at least, is an unpublicized attempt to drive anyone who's using Second Life to make money off the grid.

I can go over the long string of miscommunications and misjudgements that bring us to this point, but basically, we're here now--and to prevent some sort of griefing (which most of us don't even understand at this point), this throttle of an expected behavior has been added to the server code. Blocking a vendor or a kiosk from sending inventory offers over a certain number, per person, per region means that there's going to be a lot of people who stop hearing about club events, art shows, meetings, community panels, research groups, dances...the list can and does go on. Now this, which will, at the least, impact everyone who owns a business that operates to less than one thousand members, whenever they need to send out a notice about a sale, an event, a show. (Technically, it also affects businesses that have over a thousand members, but frankly, they can generally pay hundreds of thousands in advertising, which won't have the same throttling effect.)

CarpeDiem Turbo:

I have called to complain, but we all know that will likely not do any good. I have filled a ticket for it as well. This is unreal how they can roll out an issue like this to main server KNOWING the issue it has and problems it can cause. THANKS A LOT LL.

Ivey Deschanel:

This is going to MAJORLY and for some, tragically effect 1000s of businesses in SL with subscriber services. It should be a first priority.

TheAzureShade:

i've already seen this effect a large business in SL which in turn effected me when i wasn't able to recieve my item from that business.. so not only will this effect the businesses.. but the customers as well.. most customers are not going to realize these issues are because of a throttle on give inventory.. they are going to consider this an issue with the businesses themselves.. driving revenue down.. this includes marketplace sales.. which will effect LL profits too.. please fix this FAST

CarpeDiem Turbo again:

Your right cause it's not only the subscribers that this is an issue for, a store that has a high volume sales ( like mine ) causes issues for delivery of product, ANYTHING that has a llgiveinventory will be hurt, nc givers,PRODUCT SERVERS, Magic boxes, subscribers, and so much more. My store has been effected by this shutdown cause of throttle 2 times already today and I expect more to come. Each time this happens it shuts of delivery for 30-60Min and in that time I loose the ability to have products my shoppers buy be delivered. For many merchants and shoppers this will cause a MAJOR issue. Please fix this and roll be back to previous server vrs until this is fixed as this will cost my shoppers and I grief and in the end will cost YOU LINDEN LABS money as well as me.

Many of these merchants I know, at least by virtue of shopping at their stores, and most of them I know fairly well, in terms of what they offer (and the amount of Lindens I've spent per establishment). And reading through this, taking down comments, matching names to SL Marketplace links (which I've done for everyone save Ms. Singh), I started developing a slight thread, a merest glimmer, of hope that this might just be an oversight.

Because we're not talking Mitzi9000 Resident, who was born nine days back, set up a cube in a sandbox and is retailing freebies, here. We're talking established businesses, a few of them quite large, and in at least one case, a business which owns the sim it's on (and a few surrounding ones). These are not people that the Lindens will ignore...right?

How soon we forget the lesson of Azriel Demain, banned for an impossibly spurious reason, just before rent was due on his four sims, putting not only his entire business in SL at risk, but his home on and off the grid...because Kelly Linden popped up next in the chat:

Unfortunately some mailing list and product updaters may break or need to be updated. To stop a griefing mode that has effects on the entire grid's back end infrastructure a throttle was added to llGiveInventory. This throttle matches (but is separate from) the existing throttle on llInstantMessage and exists for nearly identical reasons. That throttle is 5k per hour per owner per region; the maximum burst is 2.5k. It is impossible to hit this limit with a single script, but systems designed to spam very large amounts very rapidly may hit it and need to be adjusted. We will be monitoring the effect of this throttle to adjust it as we can if needed.

Oh. Well, then. So it was intentional.

Which means you're not going to change it.

Ever.

Wonderful.

wash your face, dry your eyes, you've been waiting a long long time

Still deeply in love with Muppet Doctor Who, and at that same link, a Fairey-inspired Darkwing Duck print. (Both are available for sale, I think, elsewhere on the site.)

Is it just me? The Lindens are starting to sound pretty damned desperate for cash.

"I don't know why the world's leading designers on social media user experience would have made something as creepy feeling as the way this new seamless sharing was instituted, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's because behind the scenes Facebook is built by arrogant young people living charmed lives and sure they know what's best for the rest of us." While that link's specifically concerning Facebook, I wonder what the average median Linden age is these days?

If you've ever wanted a really good example of how physics work, to explain to students or children? This would work quite nicely.

They're terming the new Avengers posters "sleek" at First Showing, and I tend to agree--I especially adore the subtlety of portraying Bruce Banner, with just that mere hint of green light over his face. Very nicely done.

This--and everything else in that particular stream--are all photographs. They're a phenomenal collection of still lives, and every single one of them looks like the old masters to me, with oil and gouache and age crackling the paint. But they're all photographs. Seriously impressive.

In the meantime, a devoted World of Warcraft player sent me a stunning link with inside information on the Activision merger, and it's all sorts of jaw-dropping. If you have the time, I recommend you read the whole post on Team Liquid, but I did want to capture some highlights for posterity.

All of these are quotes from Activision CEO, Robert Kotick.

"On the Blizzard side, [we need to] really be figuring out things like the StarCraft business model for the future, with in-game advertising and sponsorship, [which have] really not been something that has moved the dial for anybody in the videogame industry, but that we think presents tremendous opportunity for the future." (as quoted by Shock News.)

"With respect to the franchises that don’t have the potential to be exploited every year across every platform, with clear sequel potential that can meet our objectives of, over time, becoming $100 million-plus franchises, that’s a strategy that has worked very well for us." (as quoted by Gamasutra.)

"Now that we have the weight of being the largest payer of royalties to the first-parties of any third-party company, I definitely see us as starting to influence hardware design, and they're thinking about the evolution of the next generation of hardware." (as quoted by Play.TM.)

"I'm getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don't make it easy for me to support the platform...They have to cut the price, because if they don't, the attach rates are likely to slow...If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony." (as quoted by Gamasutra.)

"[Y]ou know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further." (as quoted on the Destructoid blog.)

"In the last cycle of videogames you spent $50 on a game, played it and took it back to the shop for credit. Today, we'll (charge) $100 for a guitar. You might add a microphone or drums; you might buy two or three expansions packs, different types of music. Over the life of your ownership you'll probably buy around 25 additional song packs in digital downloads. So, what used to be a $50 sale is a $500 sale today." (as quoted by MMO Champion.)

"We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games." (as quoted by NeoSeeker.)

"We are very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression." (as quoted in the same source.)

"Our significant accomplishments in 2009 are the result of the expertise and skills of our employees around the world. Their hard work and commitment to excellence made us stronger even during difficult times." (as quoted by Kotaku, and this after firing over 180 employees scattered through five different smaller studios that had sourced work for Blizzard or Activision, three of which were closed outright.)

So if you've been getting the feeling that Blizzartd's now all about the pocket change--namely yours--becoming theirs? This is why.

Of course, World of Warcraft just lost 800,000 subscribers. Maybe Kotick is too busy counting the millions earned from Call of Duty to care, but then again...

Finally, there's a lot of catcalling between Notch and the Yogscast fans over what happened at Minecon, and the scary part is Notch is the guy who sounds like the insane crazed fan, here. Simon and Lewis, the folks behind the Yogscast, issued a simple statement when all of this broke, saying they needed to get to the plane, off the plane, and back home to England (from Las Vegas) before they could properly respond. But they're the ones being accused of everything but lighting a goat on fire in the convention hall, and trying to sacrifice babies on an altar made of con guests.

Me, I'm not keen on the controversy coming up, especially where it involves Minecraftchick (because, dear gods, is she hateable--she's got raccoon eyes, she's insane, and she has at least one video up on her channel which is pretty much the Festival of Deathing); for me, easy targets don't make it easier to be outraged, it means we're spending our time kicking the puppy.

And the puppy has candyfloss-pink hair. That's not a good strong target, that's more of a pathetic, squishy target.

So mostly, I'm waiting until I get a statement from Simon or Lewis, as to what exactly happened, because honestly, what I think happened? Notch heard it second-hand, inflated by someone (which might even have been his Director of Fun, who organized and hosted all of Minecon; frankly, we just don't know), and then LOST HIS MIND on Twitter.

That's one of the problems with the internet; it's so easy to rant with zero validity to what we're ranting on. Trust me, I know this. Hells, I live this.

But either way, more later, when I hear things. I'll let you know.

and I tore out the buckets from a red Corvette

Master of Flash lick my hatchet wound
Literal Lass: That nearly sounds like a challenge

Most of the time playing in City of Heroes is fairly mundane. While there are some freak-outs here and there, for the most part the roleplayers roleplay, the rest of us run missions, and no one gets hurt.

Usually.

And I don't want to tell you that this went anywhere, because it didn't. But I will say it's one of the odder things I've heard anyone in City of Heroes utter to me, and that includes the NPCs.

"I don't know, it just showed up!" Hee!

I don't remember if I mentioned the GameStop debacle yesterday, over GameStop employees being told by management to open game boxes and remove content provided in the game. (Yes, okay, it was a coupon for a month of OnLive service; I don't care if it was a small squeaky toy dog, what matters is that they were opening factory-sealed games, removing the coupon, then selling them as if they were still factory-sealed. That's so far beyond sleazy we need a new word, because it would be offensive to sleazy people to term it that.

Well, the plot thicks, apparently; today has dawned with announcement of a new offer: this one primed at seducing back any customers lost by their bonehead moves earlier. As quoted in the email mentioned in that entry:

For your inconvenience, we would like to offer you a free $50 GameStop gift card and a Buy 2 Get 1 Free pre-owned purchase. We want to earn back your trust and confidence in the GameStop experience. Please bring in this email and your store receipt or order confirmation from GameStop.com and present it to a Game Advisor.

The problems with this, in my opinion, are manifold:

• They removed game items included with the game. I don't think this loss of faith is recoverable.
• They're offering a toss-off $50 game card to try to buy back their customer base. Are they kidding?
• They're offering with that a 'Buy two get one' offer...which is the same offer frequently found in their store ANYWAY.
• And ultimately, if they've done it with Deus Ex--and gotten caught--then what haven't they been caught doing?

For me, that last one is the most damning.

Moving to RL matters, there are concerns on Hurricane Irene's path of (potential) devastation, and no wonder, considering the projected path. Still, some folks are getting prepared early:

[19:37] Zyx Flux: And if you look at this hurricane map, you can see me
[19:38] Zyx Flux: Let me zoom in for you
[19:40] Ami Tamura: lol zyx
[19:40] Fawkes Allen: Yeah, sorry about that. I just didn't want Irene to hit, so been blowing all my fans Eastward.
[19:41] Emilly Orr: Wau. 'Fun' little map thing...in that sense of 'fun' being something most people don't survive...
[19:41] Zyx Flux: We are resigned to losing power.

And potentially more. Here's to power loss being the only bad thing.

The Muppets now have a nail polish collection. I...don't really have anything to add to that.

[NPC] Enforcer Smasher: I can't stop smashing things!
[NPC] Freak Buckshot: Rage against the machine, man!

Fight the power.

Finally, look what's going on in Sweden--Minecraft socks! Whee! (The only problem? Well, beyond the price of them? They're only calf-high! Think KNEE-high, people, KNEE-high! Honestly.)

I keep on thinking that it's all done and all over now

[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:07] "TSG" Lillith Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:08] "TSG" Genevieve Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:08] "TSG" Stella Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:08] "TSG" Stella Lucky Board whispers: Sorry, your name begins with K.
[03:08] Emilly Orr: Little bit twitchy there, [Kambo]?
[03:08] [Kambo]: YO HAVE som problem?
[03:09] [Kambo]: Hey... If you don't like it, go to russia...

Yes, because my mild objection to someone hitting a board without their letter on it fifteen times means I'm a Communist. No one bothers with education these days.

But it got worse--she started playing "oh EXCUSE me" gestures, which were annoying, as gestures nearly always are.

[03:09] Emilly Orr: Oh, a gesture-spammer.
[03:09] [Kambo]: I like to hit the boards, other kind of people like other things
[03:10] [Kambo]]: I would not call myself spammer, go to club and see how noobs spam.
[03:10] Emilly Orr shrugs.

I was doing my best not to cause controversy. Keep in mind we were at the Sugar Garden, where there are a group of five group-locked boards--four with different shades of skins, one with random items ranging from candles to clothing. All four skin boards, by the way, were for female skins.

[Kambo] was male. On top of everything else.

[03:10] [Kambo]: "wooo TP your friends" yea right... go fuck yourseld damn spammers I am not for calling my friends
[03:10] [Kambo]: yourself*
[03:10] Emilly Orr said nothing of the kind.
[03:11] [Kambo]: he's the host it's his damn job not mine
[03:11] Emilly Orr: He's not here.

This used to be a habit of mine, back when I was young and stupid--responding to people who were talking to me in IM, in public. For the most part, I've cleaved that behavior away, because listening to it from [Kambo], I am realizing anew how insane it sounds.

I thought everything was over for that miniscule spat, but one minute later...

[03:12] [Mediterranea]: That's some boobs on the skin!!!
[03:12] [Kambo]: I feel sorry for you
[03:12] [Kambo]: never seen boobs
[03:12] [Kambo]: ?

*sighs* This would be more disappointing, but this kind of thing happens all the time on the grid. I can't even say it's an American-versus-international thing, because it happens with just about every nationality, given time and inclination.

In the meantime, there's a new Muppet tribute album out, which has a terribly amusing video as a tie-in, featuring OK Go, nearly every Muppet that's appeared in any version of the show, sleight-of-hand, puppeteering, Rube Goldberg moments, and strange sleepovers. In short: it's perfectly Muppet-astic.

While there are several factors, I'm sure, that led to the shut-down of Atomic Comics, there's at least one artist out there who believes that the largest one is tax dodging. I haven't heard that, but it does present an interesting perspective.

It's not a new fad, but it now has a new name--they're calling it horsemanning now. After, y'know, that movie that one time.

In the meantime, enjoy this list of ten Harry Potter characters scarier than Voldemort. In general, I think they're absolutely right, which should tell us something about how dark the series got in spots.

Real world science news: Russia is planning a pipeline/train tunnel to run from Siberia to Alaska. It will cost an incredible amount of money, but, once done, it will both be the world's longest train tunnel, and an easier conveyance for Siberian raw goods to feed Canadian and American needs for those goods. Will this help the US economy pick up? Only time will tell.

And this is now the only record of the now-deleted 'robot diaries', from a robot operator working on the beleaguered Fukushima nuclear plants. It's a pity they were deleted, because there was actual solid information there--information that other robot design companies were putting to use as solid product testing details--in and amongst the complaints critical of the job itself.

For fans of Portal, I have two videos for you. First up: the Gary Hudston Engagement Project, which is pretty impressive as a level and as a proposal.

Next up, No Escape, which is singularly one of the best fan-made videos I've ever seen, with absolutely top-notch casting, effects, and set design. Well worth a watch, it's highly recommended.

"Food or comics? There's no app for that."

Which is exactly why people go to comics movies then don't turn around and actually buy the comics. It's blatantly obvious--to anyone who's not DC Comics--that they're prohibitively expensive for the folks who are most likely to buy those comics. Period.

I finally got to the Beta Grid after numerous tries and I was immediately griefed with objects that took my name, spammed chat with racist hate speech and offers to open Web sites to learn about avoiding griefing, but were, in fact, advertising pages. Later, I got to see some mesh objects."

It's nice to know that the new Linden Labs hard-lining on their policies and how important it is to keep mesh builds above-board, with no copyright infringement and specific guidelines, has protected people from harassment on the beta grid.

Yes, that was sarcasm.

did Joan of Arc drag anyone back from history's flames?

Even sex bloggers are now saying Zindra's a bust. What was the point again? Oh, right, to protect us all by firmly separating Adult content from PG and Mature-rated content.

Doesn't do a lot of good when people ditch the game entirely (thus costing the Labs tier fees and premium accounts) or move back to the mainland (thus creating new Adult-rated businesses for the Labs to...um...wait, there's a word for this....ah, right: IGNORE) and set up new clubs and pose shops and orgy malls.

But really: are any of us surprised?

To step beyond the grid a moment, for two pieces of information. First, the amazing list of polluters and climate change deniers--you might be surprised who made the list. And second, Amanda Palmer rocks the Pops. As we all knew she would, but she took on the challenge in her inimitable style, making it part performance, part performance art. Which is the point of the Boston Pops Orchestra, to be fair--to tell people that classical music can still be fresh, fun and entertaining.

And this article on why class matters, and why the most important differences in class are not just about poverty versus wealth, but the surroundings of the growing person, really applies to more places than just the UK, and really applies in all worlds, to be fair.

On the heels of that, the Guardian (I know, I didn't expect this either) actually had an insightful article on how enriching virtual world exploration is for kids--in the sense of giving them challenges, the first one being, how validating hard work can be to the personality, that virtual worlds are only as enthralling as the mind inside them makes them--that being given a perfect paradise reduces the value of such perfection. These are excellent lessons indeed, and I see this dynamic played out every day I'm in SL with adults, who have also learned the value of hard work, done and received.

Meanwhile, from Aehmber Dreamscape's profile:

WHY WOMEN SHOULDN'T TAKE MEN SHOPPING:

1. Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking.
2. Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.
4. Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away'. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money.
5. Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.
6. Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
7. Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children
obliged.
8. When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called.
9. Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.
10. While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.
11. Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.
12. In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels.
13. Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'
14. When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'
15. Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.' One of the [clerks] passed out.

Okay, then. Though, y'know, that could just be a problem with your particular man...On the other hand, I know women who would pull some of these when they get bored.

Fawkes found another Disney tie-in--this one using the Mouse's latest acquisition of the Muppets. (At the end of the little spiel--wherein, I was told as he set this up, "Your blog title is too long!"--you'll get a section you can click to do this with your own blog!)

And finally, in a weird twist of...well, weirdness...it's not just Dr. Horrible, the Musical available on iTunes. No, now you can buy the whole batch of Commentary: the Musical songs!

AKA, Joss Whedon has way too much free time. On the other hand, that's not a bad thing.

and I thank you for those items that you sent me, the monkey and the plywood violin

The Pixels and Policy blog covers dual sets of behavior expectations, for virtual worlds and real ones.

To step aside briefly from matters online, I want to know when it became de rigueur to extrapolate fashion choices into "slut" behavior. I'm serious, I'm not talking about the "she asked for it" stories that circulate after certain rapes (though that's not okay either). I mean, high school girl shows up in a slightly-above-knee-length skirt, she's now labeled "slut". Meghan McCain posts a Twitter pic of herself in a tank top (cleavage, yes, but otherwise? Completely covered up) and she's suddenly a "slut". If it were just from the so-called "older generation", I could maybe go out far enough on the limb to understand this, but at least one girl has died over this.

It goes beyond "she dresses trashy" and "man, that's a slutty look" into social shaming. When did social shaming come back into vogue? While I don't agree with the St. Petersburg Times' definition of "sexting" (for one, though it can involve photographs or audio files, it started out, and in the main remains, based around text-based sexual messages), I do know their numbers are way low. Beyond that, I know that the next big thing to sending pics of your breasts (or elsewhere), if you're a young girl (or certain extensions if you're a boy) is sending pics of yourself tied to things, or gagged, or in a collar. Master-and-slave games? Hugely popular among high schoolers right now. But the double standard is, if you don't send out sexy pics and/or sexy text, you're a loser; and if you do, you're a slut and hounded to death. Sometimes literally.

(And no, not kidding--single most popular game is to own someone, or be owned, because that means, somehow--obscurely--you're okay, you're popular, you're "in".)

What kind of culture are we creating, here? We might as well start sending out big cloth A's for dresses and put up punishment stocks in the city parks again.

PC Pro's Barry Collins asks, whatever happened to Second Life? The article seems curiously tilted; for all that he's calling it a wasteland and abandoned by all the cool kids, he's also noting that Second Life keeps making money--and lots of it. You can't make money off an abandoned property; people are still interested in SL, and all the bleating otherwise won't change things.

But I will say I agree with his assumptions in general: the Labs pissed a lot of people off, so now, yes, the mainland's pretty empty. It's rare I port to most stores and see more than one avatar standing around. It's equally rare that if I go to Zindra, I don't find it packed--at least by my definition of "packed" (which is still sixteen to thirty avatars visible).

I did admire how he ended the piece, though:

"It’s like the nouvelle cuisine of the 1980s: pretty, fascinating but ultimately unfulfilling. “What’s the point of Second Life?” I asked one of the “greeters” on the Second Life Help Island, desperate to find something that could make this vast, billion-dollar empire seem worthwhile.

“I’ve had a real life for 28 years and I haven’t worked out what the point of that is yet,” came his unexpectedly philosophical reply. “Second Life’s only been going six years. Give it a chance.”

Sorry, I’m afraid I’ve got a proper life to be getting on with."

Though I admit the original reason I was fascinated with that statement stands (I read it as "griefer", and wau, when griefers speak up for SL, the world really has changed), even reading it in context is fascinating. SL's been around slightly longer than six years, but they've only celebrated six years of being officially open to the public, not closed off in alpha or beta forms. Perhaps all the turmoil of the last three years has just been growing pains? The evolving multiverse figuring itself out?

Maybe, maybe not; but it's still intriguing.

Meanwhile, the A-rez Info blog talks about copybotting as "intentional human error", to wit: if the base avatars were more attractive, and outfits made with the base layer system more interesting, people wouldn't infringe content on SL. I don't think that's entirely accurate, but it's a point to consider. I'd want to take it farther, though:

* What if the base avatar had more attachment points?
* What if the base avatar had a better, more flexible mesh?
* What if the base avatar had tattoo layers separate from clothing layers--so that, in essence, one could have a back tattoo and an undershirt, an arm tattoo and gloves, a leg tattoo and pants...

Still, though, would these things stop people from copybotting? Not hardly.

"The last year was characterized by a certain lack of leadership, reflected in what seemed to be happening around the middle of 2009 with lower level Lindens responding to the lack of direction by “going feral,” while the ones in the middle apparently started eating their young."

A more apt phrase to describe 2009 on the grid has not been written. Period. (Go read the rest of the essay, too--Miss Dio's on the ball again, and she also takes on the Barry Collins op-ed piece.)

There's a new Literal Video out--the creator takes on Beck's Loser. It makes about as much sense as the original, really. Though I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Did I already mention the third part of the Portal series? If not, there it is; you should read that to tie everything up (if you've been reading the first two).

Dear PX, I feel you are the one
What's your name? Where are you from?
I'm in love, though we never met
Looking for clues, I search the net...

It's not just geek rock that takes on online love--symphonic metal does it too.

And finally, there are advantages to adoring a Disney fetishist--he sends me things like this (all the while griping that my blog name is too long. Gosh, I'll try and work on that.)