and the threadless warning flags waved as though the wind was mad

Oh, my. We now have artificial mouse babies in the world. Well. Not artificial; let me not start off the ensuing controversy by taking a stand on the distinction between "real" and "synthesised" life--because, frankly, life being life, I don't see that there is one. But this definitely goes beyond cloning.

In more genetic news, lab researchers have synthesized a functioning sphincter. Yes, you heard me. Again using mouse cells--mice seem to be the new pigs on the block--they've created functional and adaptive natural constrictors that should have no rejection effects for those who...er...need replacements?

And from there, to...mysterious orange goo. That scientists can't identify yet. Which worries me. How can scientists get a great quantity of something they can identify as eggs, without knowing what kind of eggs?

Ware thee, the invasion starts in Alaska!

More on Google+ and the death of anonymity. Which contains a brief (and since deleted) use case of Google itself violating its own internal policies. How'ver, that led to this, which I believe answers many questions, including my main one:

MYTH: Not abiding by the Google+ common name policy can lead to wholesale suspension of one's entire Google account.

When an account is suspended for violating the Google+ common name standards, access to Gmail or other products that don’t require a Google+ profile are not removed. Please help get the word out: if your Google+ Profile is suspended for not using a common name, you won't be able to use Google services that require a Google+ Profile, but you'll still be able to use Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Blogger, and so on. (Of course there are other Google-wide policies (e.g. egregious spamming, illegal activity, etc) that do apply to all Google products, and violations of these policies could in fact lead to a Google-wide suspension.)

I am feeling much less unnerved and paranoid now.

Herbert F. Austin, Jr., has tracked down a great many archival photos, and has put them together into a draggable 360-degree presentation. The topic? Hiroshima, after the blast.

I also want to send your way a list of the thirty harshest filmmaker-on-filmmaker insults in history, which contains a link to the thirty harshest author-on-author insults in history.

I'm also happy to offer up another infographic--this one on typography, and what it means. I desperately want that as a poster.

I used to have a link for Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School on the sidebar (who knows, I may still), but now I'm happy to have Molly Crabapple, the founder of the Anti-Art School, releasing a set of 44 prints of reprobates (with a few virtuous souls thrown in for color, I suppose). They are all available for purchase.

Finally, there is financial drama over at the Escapist, which is sad, because they were becoming quite the polished production house for the smart and the funny. Still, signs were showing that the company was ailing when the folks behind the Escapist News Network, one of the online mag's flagship productions, moved to Penny Arcade's site and became Checkpoint.

There's more information here, but it's a tangle; I'm still working through it myself. But regardless, it's certainly sad to see.

she is silenced, an ocean widens, leaves the daydreams behind

[01:21] KittyCats - Daiquiri: http://kittycats.biz
▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼
♂ Daiquiri

҉ 11 days ♥ 68% ☻ 76%

↯ 89% 모☁ 4%

Fur: Genesis - Smokey
Eyes: Genesis Water (Shape: Curious | Pupil: Big)
Shade: Natural
Tail: Genesis
Ears: Genesis
Whiskers: Silver (Shape: Guitar)
Size: 25 cm (9.8 inch) - Toy Cat

Version: 1.08
Owner: S[xxxx] R[xxxx]
ID: xxxxxxxx-xxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓
MOM: Funny
Fur: Chateau Cat - 3 Spot No. 2
Eyes: Genesis Sunshine (Shape: Curious | Pupil: Big)
Shade: Natural
Tail: Genesis
Ears: Genesis
Whiskers: Silver (Shape: Guitar)

DAD: Sweety
Happy Birthday - SL8B
Fur: Genesis - Smokey
Eyes: Genesis Water (Shape: Curious | Pupil: Big)
Shade: Natural
Tail: Genesis
Ears: Genesis
Whiskers: Silver (Shape: Guitar)
▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲

I have to stop touching breedable cats. They're like a virus of green spam over my entire screen. There is no amount of cuteness that makes this acceptable, ever.

"Dear Disney, you can have your license back now." Well, ouch.

[12:46] POOTERBILT Mommy's HUD 4.06 politely says to you, please don't eat that yucky stuff again today, I want something else today.

First of all, if your child's name is POOTERBILT, you've obviously made some grievous life choices and you need to stop. Secondly, if your child's name is POOTERBILT and you still have a talking tummy in this day and age? Something's gone wrong in your Second Life.

Also, you might want to speak to your HUD's manufacturer, as they used 'today' twice in that single sentence.

[NPC] Abomination: TaskForceName can't be allowed to live!

On occasion, City of Heroes gets unintentionally hilarious.

Meanwhile, more outfit drama. But this one's deeply odd. Not the least of which because it's a complaint against Bare Rose by someone I've never heard of.

It started on Flickr, on her photo stream. That particular image showed her in a burnished gold costume lion suit, standing next to a box showing June Dion's pale buff costume lion suit. At first glance...hells, at thirteenth glance...they look nothing alike save that they're both lion costumes. The hell?

But I wanted to track it down, so off I went to Bare Rose to track down the ShiShi Mimi Leo.

(from the Comparisons album)

Now, this is not the original. Because of this controversy, and because June Dion works incredibly fast, by the time I'd heard of it, she'd already redesigned the outfit, reshot it for the product box, and put it back out for sale. Still, as is my practice, I do what I can to get hold of the outfits under dispute and examine them myself.

As it stands now, the outfit has relatively zero comparison points. June's outfit has studded armbands; Miss Alter's does not. Miss Alter's has a sculpted hood; June's outfit does not. June's outfit has sculpted paws and feet; Miss Alter's has paw and feet additions, but they're not sculpted. June has a belt with a sculpted, detailed belt complete with added Jurassic bone and Leo zodiac symbol on the belt buckle itself; Miss Alter, it looks like, forwent the belt on those squared hot pants. Miss Alter's has self-patterned stockings, June created tribalist stockings and gloves that could be very intriguing with other outfits you might have.

(from the Comparisons album)

As far as the outfit concept goes, the huge feet and paw hands are a little too costume-y for me, a bit too cartoon, if I may go so far, but it's a cute concept. And I'm going to make no bones about this--from the single image I have (more about that later) from Eln Alter's outfit, I think June not only put more work into both the first, then the revised versions, but also, I think June made a better outfit, period.

(from the Comparisons album)

I should also add that I adore the zebra-hide wrap, which was part of the updated version June put out. Granted, I had to go from rather busty to Geena Davis to fit under the prim piece, but I was willing to do that, because it really looked good. The bottom of it is flexi, the top sculpted, and yes, that does create some oddity at times, but still, it's very well done.

(from the Comparisons album)

This image shows a close-up of the Leo zodiac sign belt; also, observant viewers will note the shading on the very short short shorts. Granted, this is shorter than I like my shorts to be, but it works with the outfit as a whole.

(from the Comparisons album)

And this is the back of the ShiShi revised; I will grant that the ginger tabby skin I was wearing this morning (when I took these pictures), didn't precisely completely the tawny buff of the outfit's pieces, but even so, the seams meet, the shading is lovely, there are several separate prim pieces (the arm and leg bands, the neck leonine ruff in cream, the hip bone, the zebra-hide drape, among others) and it forms a quirky and cute whole.

And yes, the tail does swing; it's scripted.

(from the fashion album)

As for the other side of the argument...well. Miss Alter apparently doesn't sell the outfit anymore. Also, there's no shop on the site of Eln Alter's store given in her picks; there's a mall, which she apparently owns, but no "meow.style" shop.

Just from looking at this one image, while I can't analyze the seams or look at how it fits to me, as opposed to how the ShiShi Mimi fit--I can honestly say it doesn't impress me. The lion-maned hood would make it impossible to wear 95% of my hair, plus, it looks as if her head's been partially detached, not draping as a hood would, by default. In addition, it's pretty much entirely the same texture, with very little shading, very little line matching (the seams I can see, that of the inner arms of both gloves, looks dire).

But beyond that, I really don't know, because there's no "meow.style" on the grid anymore. I'm left analyzing that one image--and from that one image, fair or not, June Dion's not only looks more original and takes more chances, but it just overall looks like it's made better. And--apart from the similarity of "I'm going to make a lion costume! Rawr!", there is NOTHING these two outfits share, period.

So the complaint is that--on an item no longer sold, which is on the surface in no way similar--there is, apparently, similarity. Simply because there's that lion costume involved?

Plus, if you've stopped selling the item, there's no competition. If you've stopped selling the item, there can be no accurate accusation of copyright infringement. If you've stopped selling the item, you're no longer in the game. This is hard to understand?

I'd say Eln Alter's complaint is frivolous beyond belief, but unfortunately, she made it and June Dion responded to it, because June doesn't like getting complaints. June's not saying she cribbed from Alter's design; in point of fact, since June's been doing the Zodiac series (in both male and female sets of specialty armors, quirky cosplay, and EGL/EGA outfit versions) for over a year, I'm thinking I'm safe in saying she didn't know anyone else, least of all Eln Alter, had made a lion costume.

But that being said, making a lion costume isn't the issue. It's only the issue if they are similar enough to cause confusion, one from another. And they're not. They're just not.

Case closed.

I can see behind your eyes the things that I don't know

From Teresa Matfield's picks:

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

~ Thomas Merton

I'm not Christian, and haven't been for a very long time...but this speaks to me.

I'd actually tracked down Miss Matfield's profile because I heard she had a small texture shop. She does, but why I went there--to track down sculpted light textures--seems to have evaporated.

Still, she has trees, flowers, stone rings and a contemplative outlook. I can see supporting her.

More information on the new power set in City of Heroes is now available, and it has a name--Time Manipulation! It's available for Controllers, Corruptors, and Masterminds only, but should add significant offensive and defensive boosts to new characters in those classes.

World of Warcraft is now down a total of 900,000 players, over the past two quarters alone. The reason they cite for this? Subscribed players playing through new quests too fast. No, not kidding--they're blaming their players.

Meanwhile, an interesting change on the horizon is looming for Star Wars: the Old Republic. The oft-seen group raid (which generally finishes by several people downing the boss seeing one person get the good drops) is being slightly altered in SW's case. At the end of a large group raid on a powerful boss, everyone who participated will get a 'loot container' with either items designed for the class they're playing, or general 'commendation' items that can be traded for class-specific gear back in town.

This way, everyone gets something, and no one feels left out, or so the developers think. I think they might have something, but I know there's a lot of cutthroat competition in all games for better gear, so...there may be some players who feel this is a waste of their time, overall.

and I made me a ladder from a pawn shop marimba, and I leaned it up against a dandelion tree

I realize, as does Comics Alliance, that it is (sort of) a shift to a more equal playing field--after decades of leaping female crotch shots and high kicks in skirts or insanely tight tights, we finally have a male doing the same thing.

But there are more than a few problems. The main being, of course, did the world really need a flying shot of anyone's super-genitalia? And the second being, if that really is what it looks like, it's in the wrong place, so we're dealing with bad art (I can justify it's bad art, just look at the rest of the cover) on top of latex bits in play.

Whether intentional or not, there is a fair amount of bafflement over this one, because it just doesn't make any sense from any angle.

Meanwhile, remember the name trick in MMOs? You know the one--you sign up as Lord Fencivral the Lesser, and it turns out there's already one of those on your server? (Well. Maybe not another Fencivral, that's silly.) Say you signed up as SteveGod, and you couldn't get that name on one server, you could just switch to another, right?

Which is all well and good, unless you're DCU Online. Now, as they merge everyone's best and brightest into one of four "megaservers", they're going to be analyzing for duplicate names:

At a fan appreciation event at Comic-Con 2011, the DCUO staff laid out the rules. Basically, if there's a "collision" in name choice, whoever has an active subscription at the time of migration will get to keep the name. If two players have active subscriptions and the same name, then whoever has the most hours logged in the game gets to keep it.

Now, they're not being completely evil about this; they'll offer free Name Change tokens to anyone left in the dust, and instructions on how to rename yourself (because the system will automatically assign you a new name), but still, it's throwing a lot of people in the game.

In more local news, what the hell is wrong with the eyes on this horse? Also, a company that's trying to improve its image should not put "playful" on the ad, when the female avatar is staring lovingly at the bug-eyed horse. That's edging into The Love That Dare Not Neigh Its Name territory, just a bit.

Also, what does it say to those watching from the legal sidelines? That Ozimal bunnies were dropped like a hot rock, because the Lindens didn't want to show favoritism, but hey, they'll pick up weird freakish runt ponies for weirder love affairs, and obliquely advertise Amaretto?

More from the JIRA that will never die, but this time, it's more proof for the 'Why We Like Yoz Linden' fan club:

Kelley: As previously mentioned in this comment thread, the privacy - or rather, lack of it - of your self-contributed user profile is covered in section 6 of our Privacy Policy: http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php#privacy6
Specifically:

• You may choose to disclose personal information in our online forums, via your Second Life profile, directly to other users in chat or otherwise while using Second Life. Please be aware that such information is public information and you should not expect privacy or confidentiality of this information.

This clause has been part of our publicly-visible privacy policy for over five years. As Lance and others have mentioned, the new web interface actually provides greater privacy control than profiles have ever had before, even though the clause above means we have no obligation to provide it.

Brilliant. Also, (mostly) accurate (I'll explain that after the following quote). As for the comment from Kelley Boyd he was responding to:

2.You cannot hide every part of your profile; you can only hide your feed.
3. You did not "opt in" to web profiles when you signed up, despite Lance's lies.
4. The new web profiles give you more privacy in the SL grid, but they give you unprecedented vulnerability outside the grid, especially on Facebook. They are a clear violation of the privacy laws of many nations; things that cannot be usurped by user agreements.

Now, let's break this down.

1. Obviously, the question from Lance Corrimal that Kelley chose not to answer.

2. You cannot entirely hide your profile, this is true. As proven by my ability to pull up Kelley Boyd under the mysecondlife.com website. The down side, though, of hiding your profile, is that--while it is still visible on the web--you then lose the ability to be found by anyone on the grid. That's not what Kelley's complaining about. The complaint is that Kelley--and a few notable others--don't want visible web-based profiles, but still want the abilit to be found in world.

This is a dilemma of epic proportions--how do you script code that will both conceal and reveal them? It may not be able to be coded, flat out.

3. Answered (again, brilliantly) by Yoz Linden above, and I think his words stand as both confirmation and accurate accounting.

4. Kelley keeps mentioning online privacy laws. Being an American, I know our laws, but I had to admit, I'm curious now.

Argentina:

Article 5 — (Consent).
1. Processing of personal data shall be unlawful if the holder has not given free, express and informed consent thereupon, in writing or evidenced by any other similar means, according to the relevant circumstances.
The above referred consent, given with other representations, shall be expressly stated and highlighted, with the prior notice to the person from which data is required, which notice shall include information described in Article 6 hereof.

Austria:

Article I
§ 1.
(3) Everybody shall have, insofar as personal data concerning him are destined for automated processing or manual processing, i.e. in filing systems [Dateien] without automated processing, as provided for by law,

1. the right to obtain information as to who processes what data concerning him, where the data originated, for which purpose they are used, as well as to whom the data are transmitted;
2. the right to rectification of incorrect data and the right to erasure of illegally processed data.

Australia:

8. Anonymity

Wherever it is lawful and practicable, individuals must have the option of not identifying themselves when entering transactions with an organisation.

Belgium:

Chapter II - General rules on the lawfulness of the processing of personal data.
Article 4
§ 1. Personal data shall be:
1° processed fairly and lawfully;
2° collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a way

1. incompatible with those purposes, taking into account all relevant factors, in particular the
2. reasonable expectations of the data subject and the applicable legal and regulatory
3. provisions. Under the terms established by the King after the advice of the Commission for
4. the protection of privacy further processing of data for historical, statistical or scientific
5. purposes shall not be considered incompatible

Brazil:

Article 5
10. the privacy, private life, honor and image of persons are inviolable, and the right to compensation for property or moral damages resulting from the violation thereof is ensured;
11. the home is the inviolable asylum of the individual, and no one may enter it without the dweller's consent, save in the case of "in flagrante delicto" or disaster, or to give help, or, during the day, by court order;
12. the secrecy of correspondence and of telegraphic, data and telephone communications is inviolable, except, in the latter case, by court order, in the events and in the manner established by the law for purposes of criminal investigation or criminal procedural discovery;

14. access to information is ensured to everyone and confidentiality of the source is protected whenever necessary for the professional activity.

Bulgaria:

Article 2. (suppl. - SG. 70 of 2004, with effect from 01.01.2005, amend. - SG. 103 of 2005)
(1) (Amended - SG. 91 2006) Personal data are any information relating to an individual who is identified or can be identified directly or indirectly by ID or by one or more specific signs.
(2) Personal data must:

1. be processed lawfully and in good faith;
2. collected for specified, specific, and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes; further processing of personal data for historical, statistical or scientific purposes is permitted provided that the administrator provide adequate protection to ensure data are not processed for other purposes;
3. (Amended - SG. 91 of 2006) are relevant, related and not exceeding the purposes for which they are processed;
4. accurate and, where necessary updated;
5. be deleted or corrected when found to be inaccurate or disproportionate to the purposes for which they are processed;
6. maintained in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than necessary for the purposes for which those data are processed, data to be stored for longer periods for historical, statistical or scientific purposes, maintained in a form, precluding the identification of individuals.

Canada:

PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
5. (1) Subject to sections 6 to 9, every organization shall comply with the obligations set out in Schedule 1.
(2) The word "should", when used in Schedule 1, indicates a recommendation and does not impose an obligation.
(3) An organization may collect, use or disclose personal information only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider are appropriate in the circumstances.
6. The designation of an individual under clause 4.1 of Schedule 1 does not relieve the organization of the obligation to comply with the obligations set out in that Schedule.
7. (1) For the purpose of clause 4.3 of Schedule 1, and despite the note that accompanies that clause, an organization may collect personal information without the knowledge or consent of the individual only if
(a) the collection is clearly in the interests of the individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way;
(b) it is reasonable to expect that the collection with the knowledge or consent of the individual would compromise the availability or the accuracy of the information and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province;
(c) the collection is solely for journalistic, artistic or literary purposes; or
(d) the information is publicly available and is specified by the regulations.

Chile:

Title I
The use of personal data
Article 4 .- Personal data may only be stored and utilized if expressly permitted by this law, or the data holder expressly consents to it.

The data holder must be correctly informed about the purpose of storing their personal data and possible communication to public.

This authorization must be in writing.

This authorization may be revoked, but without retroactive effect. This must also be made in writing.

Personal data collection and authorization arising out of, or collected from, sources accessible to the public when they are in nature economic, financial, banking or commercial, containing listings on a specific category, are allowed, but limited to the below:

• such records indicate the individual as belonging to a certain group, a profession or personal activity, their educational qualifications, address or date of birth, or records necessary for direct response marketing communications or marketing or direct sales of goods or services.
• Nor will authorization be required to process personal data gained by investigation of law (private or public), or by associates or entities affiliated with statistical purposes, pricing, or other sources which benefit investigation of law or authorized collection.

Columbia:

Article 269A: ABUSIVE ACCESS TO A COMPUTER SYSTEM. Anyone who, without permission or outside the agreement, access in whole or in part, a computer system protected or not with a security measure, or keeps within the same, against the wishes of those who have the legitimate right to exclude it, will be held liable to a prison term of forty-eight (48) to ninety-six (96) months and a fine of $100 to $1,000 minimum statutory monthly wages.

Article 269B: ILLEGITIMATE OBSTRUCTION OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS OR TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS. Anyone who, without being authorized to do so, prevents from or hinders the normal operation of or access to a computer system, the data contained therein, or to a telecommunications network, will be held liable to a prison term of forty-eight (48) to ninety and six (96) months and a fine of $100 to $1,000 minimum statutory monthly wages, provided that the conduct does not constitutes an offense punishable by a higher penalty.

Czech Republic:

Chapter II
Rights and obligations in processing of personal data

Article 5

(1) The controller shall be obliged to:

(a) specify the purpose for which personal data are to be processed;

(b) specify the means and manner of personal data processing;

(c) process only accurate personal data, which he obtained in accordance with this Act. If necessary, the controller is obliged to update the data. If the controller finds that the data being processed thereby are not accurate with respect to the specified purpose, he takes adequate measures without undue delays, in particular he blocks the processing and corrects or supplements the personal data, or otherwise he must liquidate the personal data. Inaccurate personal data may be processed only within the limits of the provisions of Article 3(6) of this Act. Inaccurate personal data must be branded. The controller is obliged to provide all the recipients with the information about blocking, correction, supplementing or liquidation of personal data without undue delay;

(d) collect personal data corresponding exclusively to the specified purpose and in an extent that is necessary for fulfilment of the specified purpose;

(e) preserve personal data only for a period of time that is necessary for the purpose of their processing. After expiry of this period, personal data may be preserved only for purposes of the state statistical service, and for scientific and archival purposes. When using personal data for these purposes, it is necessary to respect the right to protection of private and personal life of the data subject from unauthorised interference and to make personal data anonymous as soon as possible;

(f) process personal data only in accordance with the purpose for which the data were collected. Personal data may be processed for some other purpose only within the limits of the provisions of Article 3(6) or if the data subject granted his consent herewith in advance;

(g) collect personal data only in an open manner. Collecting data under the pretext of some other purpose or activity shall be prohibited;

(h) ensure that personal data that were obtained for different purposes are not grouped.

Denmark

Title II
Rules on processing of data

Chapter 4

Processing of data

5. - (1) Data must be processed in accordance with good practices for the processing of data.
(2) Data must be collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and further processing must not be incompatible with these purposes. Further processing of data which takes place exclusively for historical, statistical or scientific purposes shall not be considered incompatible with the purposes for which the data were collected.
(3) Data which are to be processed must be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which the data are collected and the purposes for which they are subsequently processed.
(4) The processing of data must be organised in a way which ensures the required up-dating of the data. Furthermore, necessary checks must be made to ensure that no inaccurate or misleading data are processed. Data which turn out to be inaccurate or misleading must be erased or rectified without delay.
(5) The data collected may not be kept in a form which makes it possible to identify the data subject for a longer period than is necessary for the purposes for which the data are processed.

6. - (1) Personal data may be processed only if:

• the data subject has given his explicit consent; or
• processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract; or
• processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject; or
• processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject; or
• processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest; or
• processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller or in a third party to whom the data are disclosed; or
• processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by the third party to whom the data are disclosed, and these interests are not overridden by the interests of the data subject.

And that's only to Denmark. Obviously, there are a lot of alternate applications of the use of personal data collection, so Kelley may well have a point there, too.

The issue is--whose rules are used? American company, American law, used to be the standard, but there are many international players. Whose law trumps?

you got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree

So, since I'm reinstalling everything, I'm also going through the Windlight settings, since I'm going to be losing all the presets I had under Singularity.

So far I've found some good download sites, including Paulina Oceanlane's fae presets, Lusus Saule's photographic presets, Chic Aeon's Places presets, and Strawberry Singh's preset collection. It's not everything, and I'm still looking for more, but I'm trying to find a wide variety, and then weed down just to the ones I like.

Assuming any viewer in Second Life will actually log me in, that is.

[Note from the Editrix: Did the two-step process of downloading the old and creaky version of SnowGlobe, then downloaded Henri Beauchamp's CoolVL to layer over that. So far {I'm keeping my fingers crossed}, it's working.]

Why does Superman's new costume have scales? More here.

"But in real life, we expect very few statements to be public, persistent, and attached to your real identity."

You can read more about the My Name Is Me campaign here.

Meanwhile, Axi Kurmin tackles the whole raging Google+ controversy, in inimitable style. Well worth a read.

An iPhone case that's endlessly useful! Also endlessly creepy, but hey, it's Japan.

In toy news, "hurricane balls" have been invented! Very ingenious.

Kenneth Branagh has declined sequel directorship for the upcoming Thor II. Current talk places Brian Kirk, newly off directing the Game of Thrones miniseries, high in the running.

Do you want a faster hard drive? I mean, a hugely faster hard drive? Try Smart Modular's newest, a 1.6 terabyte SSD drive that boasts of being the fastest on the ground right now, period--with quoted speeds up to five hundred mBs per second in sustained transfer.

How much is it? They don't say. And unless you're graced with triple trust funds, you probably don't want to know...

How deep is the ocean? There's an infographic for that. You're welcome.

there are ghosts in there that tell you ferocious things (part II)

(Continued from Part I.)

Do you like to craft things? Like embroidery? Like Dr. Who? Scared of the Weeping Angels? We can work with that.

(from the random album; trying to download CoolVL)

Great. Now I can't even download viewers to crash on me, the sites are crashing before I can! Somewhere, on some ethereal altered plane, I am the comedy network.

But back to Miniascape, and Horror Night.

(from the haunts album. Raining blood in the bathroom.)

Today, Mr. Otsuka, the janitor, became very upset after cleaning the girls' bathroom. He complained of blood red floors and toilets, but we are a girls' school! Only adults bleed without wounds, and we are still girls! But he has heard a child crying, and he said he had seen an enormous bloody face, like a giant child, like a...baby. But no one has had a baby at this school.

And Mr. Otsuka said he saw someone at the far end of the toilet. It is a shameless story, but it is a scary one. I'm afraid to go in now.

There's a HUD you wear, going through the haunts. If you find journal pieces, find little scraps of bloodstained blessings, things will happen on the HUD. Also, if you find a place that says 'sit and hit escape', do so. The HUD will help activate special scenes (though it does seize your camera when this happens, be prepared for that).

(from the haunts album)

Everyone was crying in the principal's office before Mr. Mitsuru came in. He'd been cleaning, he said. He was very angry. He called us monsters.

Where have you been, he said. Who is in the hospital? That much blood, someone had to go to the hospital. Do I have to call all your mothers, he said. Tell me who is in the hospital.

We don't know. We cling to each other and cry, and we cannot answer his questions.

Once you're finished going through the haunt, you're going to realize how much went wrong at this school, and that's horrific all on its own. So in essence, this haunt presents two levels of fear--the initial OMG-that-scared-me-giggle stuph (standard, not boring, but standard), followed by the penny dropping once you realize what some of the scenes meant.

(from the haunts album)

Did I praise the school today, Rika-chan? Did I do that? The principal's uncle came by the school, or maybe he was someone's grandfather. He was so old he didn't seem human.

I ate a carrot for Mr. Takeshi, or maybe it was a mushroom. I can't remember. Today there's something on the shelf and I'm standing before the principle's office. What is happening he asks me. Why is it so noisy?

I don't know. I see the mushroom on the shelf and I pick it up and eat it. Or maybe it was a carrot.

(from the haunts album)

I heard there was a collapse where we store our bags. Somebody fell, I don't remember who. The teacher is paddling people who cry now. Look over your page, he tells us, do not say such things, this is a school.

In another room, Mr. Mitsuru falls over. I hear about it later. It is interesting and I think on it a lot. This is no longer a school, it is a fiasco.

(from the haunts album)

Today, Mr. Hida comes out of the principal's office and begins to berate us. The door is large and requires effort to open. He opens it and comes out and he closes it. Then it opens again behind him. He says we are being playful. He says it's our fault the door is opening. He says we need to stop playing pranks.

He was cleaning the office with the door open, he said, and it kept closing. He blames us for that too. He says he is going to tell other teachers about our pranks, and make sure everyone knows. He says we need to stop giggling.

We're not giggling. We're not looking to see who is, we don't want to know. But it's not us.

(from the haunts album)

If you wash your hands in the bathroom, will you see children you know in the mirror? I looked back and I heard someone talking next to me, but no one was there. I started to cry, and the child in the mirror cried with me. I am afraid to look. I am afraid it will be someone I know. I am afraid to know.

There are no specific Windlight settings for this, and there are no recommendations to set the mood, but we ran on Midnight for the sim time and everything was fine. Feel free to play around for maximum creep factor.

(from the haunts album; don't hide in the well.)

I still feel it's rather early in the year for a serious haunt, but nevertheless it's well done and sufficiently creepy at some point or another for nearly everyone. The only hazard is the repetitive rezzing of prim haunts; there are moments where the sim does stagger from the load.

But it's worth a trip, definitely. Take some time, wander; there's one long L-shaped school building, and one small gymnasium/concert hall, and of course, the pool. Also, there are three rooms total where people have made things to go along with Horror Night. Some of them are really innovative, like the skin, and some are just beautifully made things, like RokuMeiKan's Blue Rose kimono, with a thorn-and-rose-bedecked obi. There's a few gachas, for people who like the random factor, including the one for the flashlight at the front gate (free, but you can keep clicking it for different-colored flashlights!).

All in all, highly recommended, four out of five skulls, and that only because if there are a lot of folks on the sim, lag gets dire from the prim effects.

there are ghosts in there that tell you ferocious things (part I)

[19:12] Yuri Ellsmere: Yeah well my horse broke its leg the other day...so I shot him....dunno why you shoot them though...cause now I have a horse with a broken leg and a gunshot wound...

Moving along...Miniascape is hosting their Horror Night again. I first heard about this from Serenity Semple's blog (and why yes, I did get that skin!), but I wanted to go through it for myself.

(from the haunts album. Really, Japanese schoolgirls bleeding on the grass and hovering in midair is normal. No, really.)

We began. Horror Night is set in a long-abandoned school, high on a hill over a creaking wooden bridge. The bridge was fantastic; it's a good time to make sure your volume's set at a good listening level, because there are effects here and there (though, eerily enough, it's pretty quiet for a haunt. That in itself gets unnerving in a couple of places).

There are also journal entries that you can find scattered about. They advance the story, but really only if you speak and read Japanese; if you don't, they're more oddly stilted guidelines. But the haunt's enjoyable without speaking Japanese fluently, or at all.

(from the haunts album. The school pool's a bit tricky.)

Today was slow, we heard the news of the teacher that was beaten. It was a nice touch, but we, too, are in crisis, because the school is dangerous. Students died in the pool, they drowned, and we hear that if we go by the pool, we can see them, pointing at us. I haven't, but once I was sent to the pool, and I was dragged in, and I nearly drowned! They lie to us when they tell us these things aren't happening!

It depends on whether you want to wander and just look at things, or get caught up in the story. If you want to get caught up, click on everything you can find to click. Things will happen. You'll get a bit more of whatever happened at the school with each click.

(from the haunts album; walking through the front door.)

There are seven wonders in this school, or so we're told. So far no one knows the seventh wonder. It is strange, only six are known, but Mr. Black said the children would not know the seventh wonder unless we died. Perhaps when one of us does, we'll know. I just don't want to die because of a prank.

We found, when we went through it, we didn't speak a lot. The silence of the place unnerved, but also seemed profoundly appropriate. That we walk, and take in these happenings in silence.

(from the haunts album. Hovering schoolgirls again.

I cannot write, I am too nervous. I've seen her, I've seen right through her. I mumble and talk in front of the mirror landing, asking her to go away. But still we have to take tea to the teachers, up and down those stairs.

I blame the mirror for why Mitsuru fell. Well, Mitsuru is stupid, but she's never fallen before, only there, on the mirror landing.

Obviously, some images I haven't given here. For one, it's a haunt; if you want to go, you'll see them. But also, because some are so individual, they're hard to take good pictures of, and maybe that's the point--that experience of a haunt is better than preservation.

(from the haunts album.)

Yaba is not a four-year school. So why do people tell me so often about seeing grade-school girls here? We are afraid to go into the classrooms, because we will be drawn to the blackboard, but we are afraid not to, and the children don't go away. I am always looking for them now, always. If I die will I stay here too?

There does seem to be a disconnect between whatever happened to the girls, and whatever happened to the grade-schoolers. The grade-schoolers are generally depicted as little dolls, or--in one case--little half-dolls, which is even more disturbing. But as said, it apparently was only a middle-school facility, so why are there so many really young students?

(from the haunts album. He looks angry.)

I still have no idea on these two. I don't know enough about Japanese haunts to name them. They just hovered in the hallway...staring at us, staring at each other.

(from the haunts album)

Today the weather is bad, and we have a pool full of visitors. We are afraid to go into the pool with them, we fear we will all be pulled under. But word is spreading about Mayumi-chan and the child.

Mayumi-chan is dead. And the child is dead. She had a child. She wasn't old enough to have a child, and who was the father?

I think the child is lonely, too. I hear it crying in the hallway and in the bathroom. I see Mayumi-chan in an empty room, and there is water at her feet.

She looks lonely, too.

(from the haunts album)

I want to play at puzzles with Tamotsu, who is mean. I want to help to scatter the ashes. I want to find the original puzzle and bring it to Dahlonega.

Burikka is caterwauling like a baby in the corner. Tatari is saying I am not spending enough time with her, and more time with Gan. Is she jealous? How can she be jealous? She watches me darkly when I am with Usse, too.

This may be a terror trope that only clues in when one has gone to a school that insists on uniforms; mine didn't, so mostly what I get from crowds of similarly-clothed girls is Wau, how many kids died at this school, anyway?

(from the haunts album)

I was called to the office, Mr. Nakahara told me to go. I don't know why I turned around, but after I left the classroom, I did, I turned, and all the desks and chairs were moving. They blocked the door and I could not get back in. I am trapped out in the hall, and my friends are trapped inside the room.

I am wondering if Mr. Nakahara hates us enough to curse us, the black curse, and I am not afraid to cry, I am just afraid. He has mentioned the curse before, telling stories to the other teachers.

(from the haunts album)

Today we study in the science lab, and the room seems filled with bones. Some of them are from an adult, we are told, but many are smaller. Are they the bones of children? Are they the children who died here? Did our teachers clean these bones, preserve them, display them for learning later?

The teacher says when we die, our souls leave, but our bodies become bone and stay. Even the girl who died with the child became bone. I want to smile at her the next time I see her, but I do not want to die and become bone.

The teacher is droning on about the science of bones, and I was bored. I reached out to touch a bone and it cracked. I wanted to hide, but the teacher came over and stared at me. I'm sorry! I'm sorry I cracked the bone!

There are two endings, named, evocatively enough, "GOOD END" and "BAD END". I don't know enough Japanese to tell you which is which, but I don't think the end prizes really change. To get them, wait until you've gone through the entire school, then go outside again, and track down the shrine in the corner, next to the pond. Click the shrine and you'll be told which ending you got, and be ported to a room where you can pick up some fairly trivial gifts, all things considered.

With this one, the joy really is in the haunt itself, not what you get afterwards. And that's actually a good thing, because the haunt is great.

(More in Part II.)

her CD changer's full of singers that are mad at their dad

Ran into an unusual problem over the past couple days. I decided that my install of Viewer 2, main viewer branch, likely needed updating, so off I went to download and install 2.8.1.237758. It unpacked neatly, installed, I clicked the icon to log in...and crashed.

Huh, I thought. How odd. I verified my settings, realizing that I had automatically chosen the Nostalgia Blue default setting for the StarDust skin, so switched to Original Orange. (Not my favorite, but hey, I can cope; I'm still hating everything about viewer 2 in the first place, so the colors generally don't get under my skin as much as the coding itself.)

And I crashed on login again.

So I switched to the nauseating baby blue, followed by the equally nauseating baby pink, variants of StarDust--colors that I would have serious trouble using. And crashed both times.

At that point I walked away from viewer 2 for a while, because technological glitches when I'm already in full hate mode don't do me any good, and only reinforce the hatred. I came back, hours later, and tried it again, going through both Original Teal and Nostalgia Blue of the Starlight skins. And crashed both times again.

That would be bad enough. But then I started having problems with Singularity, after I had downloaded and installed 2.8.1.237758.

(Well. To be fair, this has been ongoing for about two weeks now. I log in on Singularity and can barely move. I realize I'm carrying a heavy inventory load, but two weeks back, it worked fine; now, it doesn't.)

So, late last night, I tracked down the latest download of Imprudence, because even if I wanted to use Firestorm, I can't, because I crash every single damned time using that, and always have--and installed it. And crashed dead at the start when I loaded it up.

While I'm now uninstalling every version of every viewer I have on my engine, I'm idly searching JIRA filings for similar problems. And not finding much that's actually relevant.

Oh, there are mentions. This, for instance, filed near the end of July, which is now in JIRA limbo because a) the original poster gave almost zero info, and b) when asked for more, has never returned to the JIRA afterwards.

There's also this one from May, but a) it's complaining about a Mac feature for Snowstorm, not the main branch, and b) it's saying that there's a failure to start with install of a new graphics card, which frankly (at least for me) comes down to a driver issue, not a viewer issue.

There's another complaint specifically pointed at the 2.6.3 release, which again does me no good, because it's specifically pointed at Macs, too--and is about a viewer several generations beyond the one I'm trying to use.

And this comment from the SL Community forums just makes my teeth ache. Is your viewer experience less than optimal? Don't worry, you can fix it, because it's ALL YOUR FAULT. Yeah, thanks for that. Only that one doesn't matter for those of us who run Disk Cleanup every few days (though I will grant I don't defrag as often as I likely should). But still, the coding on the main SL viewer shouldn't be so sensitive that emptying the trash will give better performance!

Also, it's really starting to bug me that nearly the default stock answer on the Community forums is use Firestorm. Screw you people, that crashes too. Give me a viewer that goddamn WORKS, and I will swallow my innate mistrust of the Emerald-influenced conniving bastardy behind Phoenix--but since Phoenix can't do that for me, I'm not even considering their product as a viewer!

And Rainbow's out, because Rainbow has major code glitches in the Estate Management system. And now Imprudence is out, because every time I download it, it says the files are corrupted, and to download a new copy!

Friend Alex suggests CoolViewer, which just makes me depressed, but after I track down the latest version of SnowStorm to try that, I'm also going to install CoolViewer and see if I can stand it.

[Note from the Editrix: Near as I can tell, the actual CoolViewer hasn't been updated with any coding past 1.22. I'm trying to go forward, not to backslide into code made obsolete by 1.23! So no on CoolViewer.]

Look, Lindens, I realize I'm not the biggest viewer 2 booster on the grid--it's not hidden in any way that I despise every action of every section of the code. I do not like it really isn't virulent enough, unless I'm also etching that in hydrochloric acid on someone's skin.

BUT. Viewer 2.7 worked, as annoyed as I was by it, and I was hammering it into some form of shape I could live with (which admittedly, basically consisted of me beating at the code and asking it to tell me there were five lights while it begged me to stop hitting it all the time).

Now? Viewer 2.8 fails to work at all. This is, to borrow the parlance of the JIRA, a major showstopper, because if I can't get in, I can't participate on the grid. I can't buy things. I can't go to social events (though seriously, who am I kidding? I no longer go to social events). I can't support charitable efforts. I can't do the job I'm being paid to do. If I can't get onto the grid, why am I bothering to play Second Life?

And it's not just me. Friend Hank has a more highly evolved computer system than I do, and is running at least a dual-core processor, if not a quad-core. His system is fast, lean, and eats code with style and grace.

And he crashes with 2.8.1.237758.

To be absolutely, shockingly blunt about this--Lindens, you fucked up somewhere, and you fucked up badly. Your product no longer works. FIX. IT. Or you will lose people. Because "Fast, Easy, Fun" no longer works as a motto. This is no longer fast, it's far from easy, and in all seriousness, I'd rather be gang-raped by angry dentists than fight viewer 2.x this hard. I am really, honestly, openly, starting to despise everything connected with SL.

Now, if you'll pardon me, I have to install SnowStorm 2.8.4.237830, in the hopes that that will work, and start fixing everything I had fixed in the main branch of the viewer all over again.

the forest scares the hell out of me

Minecraft does not need camouflage creepers. But it's all part and parcel of Evil Minecraft, the next "Adventure" expansion for the game.

There's also one fellow who's found another way to turn Minecraft into more of a game. Personally, give me rainbows and lava over Creepigs, cannibal boars, and Endermen--it's...happier.

And there are now more options than you might ever need to get custom Batman skins for the next chapter of Arkham Asylum.

The problem with this video is not that I think it's a bad representation of Oblivion as a game. The problem with that video is I think that it might be a good representation, and that scares me.

The problem with listings like this one, on the Marketplace, is not that listings like that exist on the Marketplace. It's that people on the grid are stupid enough to buy things like that on the Marketplace.

Is it just me? Is this the most boring login screen ever? Maybe it's just me. It does feel sort of like we're logging into a blog, though.

Some more info on the Ozimals vs. Amaretto debate, and how it's heating up off the grid. You're welcome?

[08:39] KittyCats - Kitten: http://kittycats.biz
▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼
♀ Kitten

҉ 17 days ♥ 45% ☻ 72%

☪↯ 97% 모☁ 11%

Fur: Genesis - Flame
Eyes: Genesis Water (Shape: Curious | Pupil: Small)
Shade: Natural
Tail: Genesis
Ears: Genesis
Whiskers: Silver (Shape: Guitar)
Size: 44 cm (17.3 inch)

Version: 1.08
Owner: Malaika Arcana
ID: e7547a45-2c77-ec2c-2211-a86fd1579a78
〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓
MOM: Peanut Butter Outlander
Fur: Genesis - Flame
Eyes: Genesis Earth (Shape: Curious | Pupil: Big)
Shade: Natural
Tail: Curious
Ears: Genesis
Whiskers: Silver (Shape: Guitar)

DAD: Burgandy Outlander
Fur: Burmese - Champagne
Eyes: Genesis Meadow (Shape: Curious | Pupil: Big)
Shade: Natural
Tail: Genesis
Ears: Genesis
Whiskers: Silver (Shape: Guitar)
▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲

Remind me never to touch someone's breedable kitten again. Dear gods, that's a lot of pointless green to wade through.

In other news, this came up on the Dead Dolls group (of all places):

[08:44] MariBrasileirinha Aboma: .;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ferraris 20Estates 2019/74/86/22 Galera, Harry Falcone is launching a new collection of AUGUST! is lisdos sets of clothes, shoes, accessories together for only 145 l $ 145 l $ is true and dressed for only 65 l $ 65 l $ and do not forget the blouses and shorts (note: sunglasses stuck on her shirt shoow) for only tb l run $ 145 to ca:] • • • • •.;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'`'*+:;..;:+*'
[08:44] Maxxi Toxx: O_O
[08:44] Pandora Edwyn: i hate people
[08:44] dєlє skчwαlker (delendum): LOL
[08:44] Star Fairymeadow: lol, Pan
[08:44] Emilly Orr: You are a blight and a terror this early in the morning, and I wish one of the mods were on to kick you twice.
[08:45] Christine the PaperDoll (christine34986): they are yummy with cheese and bbq sauce
[08:45] Maxxi Toxx shun the non-belliever.

Which seemed to be the general consensus--shunning, I mean, not cheese and sauce for tender meaty humans.

At any rate. So, I wrote her.

[08:47] Emilly Orr: Não anunciar neste grupo para as coisas que não dizem respeito a este grupo.
[08:48] Bad Romance (maribrasileirinha.aboma): a desculpe
[08:48] Emilly Orr: Qual é a sua desculpa?
[08:48] Bad Romance (maribrasileirinha.aboma): de ter mandado aqueele negocio pro grpo
[08:48] Bad Romance (maribrasileirinha.aboma): grupo'
[08:49] Emilly Orr: Então você tem anunciado no grupo Dolls Morto antes?
[08:50] Bad Romance (maribrasileirinha.aboma): n

After that, I gave up. Meanwhile, apparently the folks in the Twisted Thorn group woke up cranky, too:

[07:42] [Jericho the Very Dim]: u al think your smart but ya not lol ...what does open source mean ? huh
[07:43] [Jericho the Very Dim]: and why should u care what i do with my shit

And we were off. Some highlights following that stunningly dim moment:

[07:43] Emilly Orr: Well, because it's deeply tacky if you pass off others' work as your own.
[07:43] [Triple T]: yes of course
[07:44] [Jericho the Very Dim]: your dumb then Emily if u think that...u never use other ppls textures in your builds then sell ??
[07:44] [Jericho the Very Dim]): fkin nazis

It went downhill from there.

Now, to be fair, Jericho the idiot was talking about pulling out poses from someone's OpenCollar build--who had obviously neglected to make their animations no-transfer--to build in an item of his own. And/or pass on to anyone who asked. (That part's unclear.) What is clear is that Jericho is really, really stupid:

[07:45] Emilly Orr: I in particular take umbrage to the term 'Nazi' when applied to "knowing ethics and morality'
[07:45] [Jericho the Very Dim]: i have been in this group for years and you are trying to tell me whats right and whats wrong ?
[07:46] Emilly Orr: If you've been in this group for 'years', Jericho, then you've read enough of Nighty's Terms of Service to understand their meaning.
[07:46] [Twinkle]: and Jericho, you really should be asking the creator of the animations what their TOS is before passing them off
[07:46] [Jericho the Very Dim]: no i shouldnt Star...i know i can use them
[07:46] [Triple T]: maybe ppl leave sl and there animations are free

And he kept not getting it:

[07:47] [Jericho the Very Dim]: i dont need to ask anyone for thier permission
[07:47] Emilly Orr: Why not?

This went on for far longer than it should have, and I take full culpability for my part in prolonging group suffering. Some more (edited) snips:

[07:49] [Twinkle]: lol. he says let me make a chair out of them so i won't be breaking TOS... if he had the permissions to transfer them, why didn't he just state that in the beginning?

[07:50] [Jericho the Very Dim]: coz i know i can..but u lot think i cant so
[07:50] Emilly Orr: And it's not like we can't all make note of the name, and refuse to buy anything he's made. The power of the pocketbook works even in here.
[07:50] [Jericho the Very Dim]: i was making fun out of your comments about TOS

[07:53] [Jericho the Very Dim]: sorry i NEVER stated i am ALLOWED to transfer or give away......i didnt realise i needed to spell everything out for you guys to understand

[07:56] [Jericho the Very Dim]: Emily you said "making a chair and he thinks its not breaking TOS"....im sure u make something with TTT textures and sell.....same thing no ?
[07:57] [Jericho the Very Dim]: just saying...im wrong but everyone else is right ? lol
[07:57] Emilly Orr: I never mentioned making a chair. I had no idea what you were making.
[07:57] Emilly Orr: In point of fact: [07:43] Emilly Orr: Well, because it's deeply tacky if you pass off others' work as your own.
[07:57] [Twinkle]: Jericho, you need to abide by the TOS stated within the specific product.
[07:58] Emilly Orr: Now, generally, when I use textures that I don't create, I credit where I got them in the enclosed notecard. Not everyone does, and as textures, it's not specifically demanded.
[07:58] [Jericho the Very Dim]: so you dont use nightys textures in your builds to sell ? ok
[07:58] [Twinkle]: if someone's TOS states that you cannot use the animations in full perms in your work, then that's what you should do

[07:59] [Jericho the Very Dim]: you all jumped on me as soon as i said i will pass her some
[07:59] [Twinkle]: he said he took them out of other people's collars
[07:59] Emilly Orr: If you took animations out of someone else's build, at the least you need to drop by the maker's store and check their permissions.

[08:00] [Jericho the Very Dim]: open source is just that
[08:00] Emilly Orr: No.
[08:00] Emilly Orr: Open source still has makers' mark provisions

[08:01] Emilly Orr: It's not about me, [Jericho]. It's about whether you want to participate in the culture in which everything must be 'free', because it's on the net, or whether you want to respect that digital art is still art.

[08:03] [Jericho the Very Dim]: well half of u are saying its ok and Emily your saying its not ok
[08:03] Emilly Orr: It's not okay.

But talking to him was remarkably like talking to a wall. Worse; when I'm finished talking to a wall, I just feel silly. After spending several minutes talking to Old Enough to Know Better, there, I felt silly, drained, frustrated, and cynical.

I want to know what you're thinking, there are some things you can't hide

In a startling development, the main asset-holder for the Meeroos on the grid was banned from SL. Now, to be fair, mistakes do happen, and the Lindens have been known to reverse their decisions on bans, but...I'm just going to coast on this small little rose-colored cloud of Meeroo incipient demise, so don't mind me. It'll likely all blow over, but right now I can see the lack of Meeroos on the horizon, and it comforts my soul.

If I ever wanted to play Diablo III, I don't now. No modding, no offline play, and an auction house setup guaranteed to attract quest farmers and gold farmers, so Diablo III will become yet another fantasy enterprise where we'd spend more of our time dodging level-2 idiots screaming in the street about how cheap their gold is...versus actually playing the damned game.

No. I give up. Not playing.

In other news, Michael Prime--aka zFire Xue--has pleaded guilty to four counts of violating his previous probation--interestingly enough, for computer fraud.

For the next two years--after his release--he is confined to his home, prohibited from all interaction with computers, and his activities will be monitored.

Save--barring the ankle bracelet and the confining part--that was his previous prohibition, and look what happened. Here's hoping this time around goes better for us...and results in less activity from him.

Last thing--this was a quick little entry--I was fascinated to find a brief comparison to World of Warcraft and the Iliad, via the expeditious acquisition of epic loot. It raises some very pointed questions about society, history, and military culture. I'd love to see it expanded, but for now, since McKnight is working on his doctoral thesis...that may be all we get.

Still, it's a great question to pose. What relevance did 'epic loot' play in history? What relevance does it play now? There's looting on every battlefield; what's taken, and why?

All good questions; it's just a pity McKnight's too busy to explore the answers. (Still, possible book in this...it's a thought.)

keep drinking coffee, stare me down across the table, while I look outside

If you live anywhere near Anaheim, California, there's a chance to participate in a project that would ultimately result in a steampunk exhibition at Muzeo. Click the link for more information; they're seeking funds and publicity.

The Redzone JIRA is still getting hits, and I think most of us are profoundly tired of it (save for the battling participants involved). I think Kaira Aeon has the best solution for the problem, however:

Much as I might sympathize with people's issues concerning systems that they feel are like Redzone, Coming here to the Redzone JIRA and saying something should be done about other systems is about as useful as writing McDonalds to complain about Dominos pizza.. If other systems are of such concern, then start a JIRA for each PARTICULAR system that is the cause for these concerns. Coming here may allow people to vent, but that's the most that will accomplished, but in the end nothing will be done about any other systems that are in place now. This JIRA created specifically for Redzone's abuses and now Redzone is kaput.The Lindens aren't going to widen the scope of this JIRA to cover anything else that isn't Redzone, no matter how Redzone like it may be.

Yes, please can someone do that? Because if we truly object to VooDoo (doing pretty much the same thing RedZone did) products, reporting them makes so much more sense than reporting on a JIRA that the Lindens have stopped watching, because it has been resolved.

And more on copyright infringement--somehow I'd missed that when mesh was first discussed, one of the first big videos on what it's going to look like used a copyrighted character. This was at SLCC 2009, and even back then, rumblings of "copytheft" were rampant.

Yet the higher-ups at the Lab move to the RL convention, and...don't care? They likely loved it. That video probably went out in official blogs at the time.

But, as the blog link shows, it's not like they're particularly efficient at hardlining copyright infringement. Or they get it wrong when they do work on it--witness the travesty of justice that was Azriel Demain's eight-day ban from SL, putting at risk his entire business (which is his RL livelihood) and running the risk of his defaulting on four entire sims on the grid.

And why? Because he had the audacity to say "inspired by" on a product. "Inspired by" is beyond the pale, but functional iPods, complete with icons, are okay? "Inspired by" meant cutting off a sim owner of long standing and putting their entire life at risk, but having photo-accurate iPads are perfectly okay?

Yeah, this is still me being outraged and appalled over something that will not change, but the hypocrisy galls me.

There is one more comment on the RedZone JIRA I'd like to bring up before I go.

The voodoo product does not datamine using the media hack as far as we know. It uses a third party website to mine your data. When you click the sploder you must access the website in order to register to win. It does not warn you prior to visiting the website that your SL information is being passed to the website to be correlated to other information mined via your HTTP connection. This data is then stored and further used to identify any alts you may have. There is a website which publicly "names and shames" avatars that the system has determined to be either an alt or a bot.If you are on this list, you are banned from any place on the grid that has voodoo installed. It is a networked, gridwide ban. Monkey has begun adding people to this list who are not bots or alts, just people he doesn't like (usually because we have spoken out about his product).

That being said, yes it is a website and not the media stream bug that is doing the datamining. The data is still being mined, correlated and paired with internal SL information and stored to be reported and used. It is unknown who has access to this data. Monkey is using his network to ban his "political" enemies and publically "name and shame" them on his website. He openly advertises his product as an alternative to redzone.

While this product may be marginally compliant because it uses an external website, it is in violation of the CS which was updated to include the reporting of alts. We know it tracks and has a way of reporting alts and if the system has determined you to be a bot, He also claims to protect against copybots. While obeying the letter of the TOS, it violates the spirit of it.

And as far as the claim that every media stream can track your IP. Thats true but unless it is also SENDING your internal SL data to the stream, it has no way of correlating your IP to your SL identity. As far as I know DJs and Musicians do not employ any kind of automatic way to track and store the IP address. It is visible on their stream dashboard but it is not saved.

We can argue the finer points of the TOS until we are blue in the face, the issue that remains is that some of us feel it is knowingly violating our privacy and using the information mined to detract from, and in some cases destroy, our experience in world. Monkey has now taken on the same tin god personae that zfire did and has been manually adding people he deems as his enemies to the ban list. This violates his customer's trust that when they use this product, the avatars they will be protected from are those that are confirmed bots, not their trusted customers. He claims that the Greenzone group has defamed his product. We don't have to, he is doing that quite nicely himself.

Azure Twine said that, and she's right. But what we need, more than anything else, is someone to file the specific ToS violations that the VooDoo products are responsible for, preferably per product, and have the Lindens deal with them as they do all other bug reports. Commenting further on a closed post just sets you up for drama, and gets none of us further to the goal of eliminating (at least the obvious sources of) data-mining on SL.

We also need to go farther, I think. Boycotting businesses that support Monkey Wonder and the Voodoo products seems like a good start to me.

• AJS Angelic
• Alpha Club and Shops
• Artica
• Avibook Avatars
• Black Shark Reef
• Bloodland
• Breda Tech Head Office
• Bressig CityShop
• Cenedra's Gardens
• Cheryl's Land
• Club Illuminatus Estates & Resort
• Damian's
• Dutch VIP Beach Resort & Parties
• EW Gadgets
• Fast Five Club & Shop
• Sunell's Free Money stop
• Guu Factory Sculpt Maps
• The Kingdom of Jordan
• Little Swing Germany
• Katomani
• Le Fabulous Club
• Low Prim Houses
• MC & Pond Creations
• NC Craft, T&C Designs & MAC
• The Pink Fairy
• Puff Dragon Club
• RB Business Up
• Second Life Job Agency & Advertising
• Speck on the Map Mini-Mall & Choppers
• Steampunk Fashion & More
• Stoffwechsel by PM Design
• TechTonix
• Viper Land Rentals (and an alternate location as well)
• Underworld Biker Hangout
• Wiccadia Weapons

And of course, the Voodoo main store.

NOTE: None of these are specifically places using the products (though I'd assume they do); they're just ones who are retailing Wonder's wares remotely. If we really don't want to support his products, we also have to boycott the people who support him. It's unfortunate, but it works--but this list will be verified when I'm next in, to ensure that all the names on it actually have one of the Voodoo vendors, and are actively engaged in retailing Wonder's products.