hey keep your sickness off me, tryin' to get through

Way back when on a Hair Fair entry, I quoted someone who had the nerve to ask me for Lindens while I was contemplating future purchases in Bare Rose. Now, having just paid rent, I was down to the very thin proverbial dime, but even if I had had the resources, I wouldn't have tossed it her way, for two very important reasons.

1. She wasn't even asking about Lindens to buy something at Bare Rose; that's tacky in the extreme; and

2. She said "pwease". I am not an infant, don't talk to me like one. AKA, grow the fuck up.

But it didn't stop there. This afternoon, I got a message from her asking why she'd shown up on that entry, to wit:

why have you put me on your blog? lol.

Oh gods, she's a lolperson.

I was also rather honestly amazed, because I would have thought it patently obvious why she ended up on my blog. In point of fact, her very words reflect why she ended up on the blog:

[11:01 AM] [adversity]: Hi can I have 100L, because theres a new hair I have to have and I only have 200L and its 300L :( Pwease ^.^

I suppose the frowny face is to convince me she's someone with a heart and mind, and therefore, I should feel it's my utmost duty to appease her every whim, because my gods, the world will stop and disintegrate into nothingness and screaming if she doesn't get that hair, won't it?

Oh wait. It's still here.

Here's the thing. Obviously my blog is making the rounds again, for some reason, and just as obviously, I have a wider readership, and both of these facts together have me thinking--and beyond just today--that I might need to adopt more anonymity (on the part of those I quote, not specifically me) because more eyes are on the topics I present. I do understand that.

I also have this admitted inability to walk away from stupid. It bothers me. I post on it. Because it bothers me. Is it ever going to change? Likely not, and that goes for both the urge to post, as well as the stupid.

This was the part of our earlier communication that really galled me, however:

not nice posting my inworld antics into the real world. It is only a game afterall! And I only was after 100L because I couldn't afford any lindens!

So, [adversity]? Just in case you happen to be reading this, I post on a lot of games. And I post the silly things that happen in them. You are one of hundreds of silly things I've posted over the years that this blog has existed.

Short version: if you don't want to show up on the blog, don't be an idiot in public. It's that simple. And if I do have reason--or even think I do--to post what you say, and I'm using your SL name, and you don't like it--there's a very simple recourse.

Just ask.

That's all. I don't demand groveling, I don't accept trades, I don't want payment--I just want to be contacted. If you don't want something attached to your name, just ask me.

Is that hard? Hells, on a rare few occasions, people have asked me to remove all mention of them on my blog, or not mention them in future, and in those cases, I have honored those requests. Just ask me to remove it, and generally speaking, I will.

Unless you're a dick about it. And [adversity], that would be you.

But don't worry, your name is gone. Not that it hasn't been out there, reflecting the staggering shallowness and lack of any depth of what you call your personality, for over a week, but hey. It's within my power, so consider it done. I told you I'd fix it when I got home; it's fixed.

FOR EVERYONE ELSE...I'll work on a better sense of anonymity, though to my mind, that's a one-step remove from sheer fiction, which is why I try to use real names when I can. And if I slip and post something, and you don't like it--just ask me.

Are we clear? I really hope we're clear.

Just don't use "lol" two times in a five-post conversation--when two of the other posts are from me--and expect me not to treat you like the consummate twit you are.

Now run along, babycakes, I'm sure there's some other deserving avatar who's worked hard for their Lindens you can sink your claws into. Nitwit.

just be still with me, you wouldn't believe what I've been through

I've seen a lot of really silly things on City of Heroes. This is the first time I've ever run across a living ad.

Her particular superhero build isn't important; "Sister Heat" had on a standard red halter and red hot pants, dark skin, white hair, pretty generic. What she did have was her bio. And whether we approve or not, she is using it to advantage:

Burn Baby Burn! Feel The Heat!

( I farm the best on VIRTUE solo 54s, FASTEST LEVELING ON GAME PERIOD, IM me I charge information for leveling if you want help hit me up im Expensive but worth it starting at 550 Mil per Hr .. 450mil for 1 mission .. 1 Bil from 1-50 in approx 5-6hrs .. 20-50 850mil .. 30-50 750mil .. 35-50 650mil .. 40-50 600mil)

Will Negotiate Prices .. Trade leveling for purples/recipes Why struggle leveling?
Let me do the work for you.

NO one is Doing TFs anymore or missions all on Incarnate stuff why I charge what I do and IM fastest on game its worth it .. if you need leveling you hit me up and I have to stop my game time to do it thats what your paying for.

If your not in a rush and dont mind getting a 50 in 2 months its great do it that way.

Now, I get that 650 million, to me, seems like a lot--and it may be in the game, too. I sell pretty aggressively at Wentworth's, the consignment shop, but I also have an addiction to ICON, the costume shop folks, and they charge heavily for their services, so...it pretty much leaves me around two to three million operating capital, nearly always. Anything over fifty million, to me, seems insanely expensive. Even "Sister Heat" notes her prices are high.

But what strikes me harder is this--she wouldn't do this if there wasn't a market for it. So people are paying her. Here's the thing--there's not much to do past level 50, it's all just missions for Incarnate shards and playing for the love of the game. So...if you've fast-tracked a character to GET to level 50--with the help of "Sister Heat"--then you've missed just about everything that could solidly hook you on the game. All the back story missions, the side missions, the just random killing things missions--and moving through the areas, Mercy Island, Port Oakes; Atlas City, Steel Canyon; Faultline, Croatoa, Peregrine Island...I mean, these are pretty richly developed landscapes, I've actually found myself walking through on occasion just because I like the way they look.

But at that point, why are you playing? I mean, seriously, why would anyone who paid someone to level them quickly be interested in the backstory of the game? At that point they're just looking for huge guys to bring down. Why? Is that really fun for people?

Not to mention, I know people who are still doing task force missions (TFs) and working for Incarnate shards. Like, twice a week, not every once in a while. Her claim that "NO one" is doing missions and TFs? That just doesn't hold water.

And they're not alone. So again--why is this worth it to anyone?

There's another quirky little game lumbering towards Beta--this one's called the Kerbal Space Program. The best way to describe KSP is...well...

Let me show you instead:



There's also the, err, symphonic failure version:



If you consider 8-bit music to be "symphonic", that is.

And this too:



You can download it here; though it's in very, very rough Alpha stages.

Meet Doctor Whooves. Oh gods, the pain...

Another flyby profiling, one "AM Bush", a level 2 Science Controller in City of Heroes:

Description: Anne Marie Bush was a normal research assistant working in Steel Canyon when the 5th Column raided her lab and she decided to take matters into her own hands.... [Oh god, just click the 'Powers' tab already.]

At least she tried for a backstory. I never fault people for trying.

one thousand umbrellas opened to spoil the view

[Insert from the Editrix: After this published, I heard from a friend that {smallroyalty} actually argued with a Doomed ship moderator, over whether or not she knew what roleplay was. Conclusion: she knew what roleplay was, at the time she said she didn't on the ship. Yeah. So that's annoying...]

More from the Doomed controversy; an explanation, I think, of...sorts? All identifying names have, again, been changed per request of avatar.

[16:42] [smallroyalty]: (Saved Mon Jul 18 14:25:44 2011)hi
[16:42] [smallroyalty]: (Saved Mon Jul 18 14:33:20 2011)sorry that day
[16:45] Emilly Orr: I'm sorry, I have no reference. Sorry for what day?
[16:46] [smallroyalty]: on domed
[16:46] [smallroyalty]: i read u blog
[16:46] Emilly Orr: Oh. Well, you do understand what you did wrong, right?
[16:47] [smallroyalty]: a croos rl
[16:47] [smallroyalty]: mine RL croosed domed
[16:47] Emilly Orr: Croosed? I don't understand
[16:48] [smallroyalty]: mine RL is : a 12 old girl curious and likes to explore places
[16:48] Emilly Orr: Wait. You're 12 RL? Seriously?
[16:49] [smallroyalty]: RL = role play
[16:49] [smallroyalty]: in real life i an 25 yrs old
[16:49] Emilly Orr: Generally speaking, that's referred to as RP
[16:49] Emilly Orr: RP = Role Play
[16:49] Emilly Orr: Because of the R and the P, see
[16:50] Emilly Orr: RL hits most people as Real Life

Okay, so it's a difference in terms, and keeping in mind that [smallroyalty] is new to SL, sometimes these things slip through the cracks. She seems to basically be saying that her roleplay would have included questions about what roleplay is, because her roleplay is that she doesn't understand roleplay.

....Yeah, I have no words. But that's her concept.

[16:50] [smallroyalty]: yes i not talk very good english
[16:50] [smallroyalty]: so may im now
[16:50] Emilly Orr: But here's the thing. If you UNDERSTAND the concept of roleplay, why did you say you didn't?
[16:51] Emilly Orr: Because *that* is what got you booted from Doomed that day.
[16:51] [smallroyalty]: because i was roleplaying that the avi not understand it
[16:51] Emilly Orr: ....
[16:51] Emilly Orr: Okay, apart from being almost incomprehensibly dumb, the avatar would understand RP
[16:51] Emilly Orr: Because she was existing in RP
[16:51] Emilly Orr: It would be all around her, that would be her reality
[16:51] [smallroyalty]: whell
[16:52] Emilly Orr: ASKING 'what's OOC' or 'what's RP' means you're breaking OUT of the RP
[16:52] [smallroyalty]: s othis what hapened whe both was breaking each other roleplays xD

This, I still don't understand. But she seems kind of fixated on the topic, that her roleplay is that she doesn't roleplay, or rather, that her roleplay is that of a 12-year-old who doesn't understand roleplay, and...bwuh.

I mean, okay, sure, someone tosses those terms into open conversation--and I have no verification that they did or didn't either way--maybe her character would react, and ask. But if not, she was....I don't even know. How does that even come up?

"I don't understand roleplay. What's roleplay?"
"((OOC: you're in one.))"
"What's OOC?"

I mean, I can, sort of, wrap my mind around how the conversation took place, but...I still don't get it. Plus, there's that rules card, which EVERYONE is handed upon entering the sim.

[16:53] [smallroyalty]: i read the rules after ..
[16:53] [smallroyalty]: and get what u said
[16:53] Emilly Orr: How did they break your roleplay? Because again, saying you don't get it is demonstrating you really don't understand how to play a character
[16:53] Emilly Orr: ....
[16:53] Emilly Orr: you read the rules after?

Oh. I, err...Oh. What?

[16:53] Emilly Orr: why?
[16:53] Emilly Orr: why not before?
[16:54] [smallroyalty]: i an new on sl
[16:54] Emilly Orr: Right.
[16:54] [smallroyalty]: all places i go sent me a messgae

And if I'm understanding that correctly, this is the fault of Viewer 2, because they take each incoming thing, pop it down in the lower-right-hand corner, and new people ignore it.

I know I harp on Viewer 2 a lot, but this one seems entirely deserved. It is harder to figure out when you've been given a message at all, and place that on top of not distinguishing between important messages to read RIGHT NOW and hey, you came by our sim, neat messages, makes the entire incoming-message-system profoundly pointless.

[16:54] Emilly Orr: Okay, so...the card came in, you saved it, but you didn't understand you were supposed to read it beforehand?
[16:55] [smallroyalty]: yea ... i an doing this now
[16:55] Emilly Orr: Ah.
[16:55] [smallroyalty]: for not broke any more a RP
[16:55] Emilly Orr: Well, as far as it goes, I don't think you're banned from Doomed, but they'll likely be wary if you return.
[16:56] Emilly Orr: Because, again, survival horror sim. Space-based. If you're not dressed for the sim, they're going to be trying to figure out where you fit.
[16:56] [smallroyalty]: ok

Okay. So, good, we're done here. Understanding was achieved. I feel relatively comfortable that accord has been reached, and--

Wait. She's typing.

[16:56] [smallroyalty]: well i came to u to aske to change names on u blog
[16:56] Emilly Orr: Why?
[16:56] [smallroyalty]: i an not a alt of [someone else mentioned on the earlier blog entry which has since been redacted]
[16:56] [smallroyalty]: i an age verified
[16:57] Emilly Orr: Okay.
[16:57] [smallroyalty]: i rp a family
[16:57] Emilly Orr ponders briefly why all the people playing kids in SL are age verified, but lets it go.

Yeah, because there really aren't enough hours in the day to figure out why people playing kids on SL, age verify so they can get into Adult sims. I mean, sure, player behind the screen, not a kid, I get that, but it still just strikes me as...creepy.

[16:58] Emilly Orr: If you're just upset that your name's out there, all right. But that also means a rewrite of that entry.
[16:58] Emilly Orr: I can do that, it just makes it odd.
[16:58] [smallroyalty]: yes .. i think was a kind confusing what u writed
[16:59] Emilly Orr: I don't think so, but all right.
[16:59] Emilly Orr: I'll change it.
[16:59] [smallroyalty]: thanks

And for the second time, I thought that was the end of everything. All names changed, no identifying linkage--even assumed--retained, the prior entry was edited and republished at this point, and I went about my day. Most of which, at this point, consisted of answering emails, so as far as SL was concerned, I was just standing on the build platform above my Winterfell parcel, not moving.

And then this came in.

[17:09] [smallroyalty]: can add u as friend to tell me about nice steampunk places?
[17:09] [smallroyalty]: stores
[17:09] [smallroyalty]: and markets
[17:10] Emilly Orr: Well, your best bet is to go to Oxbridge Village--I think you can still get to it here: Caledon Oxbridge Village (128,128,2)
[17:10] Emilly Orr: and ask around. I know they also have free outfits that are more steampunk/Victorian aligned.
[17:11] Emilly Orr: I generally don't friend on the first meeting, but if you really want to, sure.

I used to have this staunch policy about not friending people unless I knew them really well. Because I wanted to know everyone on my friendslist in Second Life.

At this point, I must get three friend offers a day, though, just from people who want an EM in their callbox, so to speak, and it's just enervating to try to parse through everything. Plus the fact that currently, I'm not even talking that often to people I do know that well, and mostly, it creates a situation where I just don't even care, anymore. Sure, friend me, what the hell.

[17:11] Quer ser meu amigo?

And now we know she's Portuguese, so yes, her English fluency is not that high (because her native tongue is Portuguese, not English). Though to be absolutely fair, here, she's choosing to communicate in English throughout this entire conversation. She may be bad at the language, but she's trying to improve her comprehension. I support that wholly; I can't say anything negative about trying to learn a new language. That, and English is hard; if you're not born a native speaker of it, it's confusing as hell.

[17:14] Friendship offer accepted.
[17:14] [smallroyalty] is Online

And that's that, then. Apart from accepting any and all suggestions for "steampunk" stores--beyond the ones I know (and please leave them in the comments)--I think we've tied things up in a confusing, but acceptable place. She didn't understand the rules (because she didn't read them); she didn't understand that rp containing the concept of no rp would not be understood--or even accepted very well; and English is not her first language, so she's struggling to communicate all these concepts in the first place.

I'm going to set the language thing aside for the moment, because there are bigger questions here. How do roleplay sims communicate their rules and prohibitions effectively post-viewer 2? Generally, most sims (that I've been to, at least; I haven't been to ALL of them) have a drop-down when you enter the sim that offers a copy of the rules, or at least tells you that there are rules and expectations for visitors to that sim.

But if the resident in question just brushes past that--yet another notification in an endlessly-seeming stream of notifications--how does that RP sim grab their attention?

Some have a secondary prim rezzed out with hovertext saying Touch me for a copy of the rules, but that doesn't always work, either. And RP sims in general can't afford to hire specifically-trained 'helper' avatars to staff the entry zones twenty-four hours a day.

Is there any setting that will give an actual blue-text drop-down anymore? Because I still see them in Viewer 1; is the code still there in Viewer 2? For that matter, is any "legacy" coding still available in Viewer 2? Because maybe, just maybe, there's a coding work-around that could be found, that would force the drop-down for all viewers?

Or is that too much to ask? And there's no guarantee that would work, either, people being people. It's hard to know what's the best way to move forward, because as I've learned, most residents don't read notecards anyway...

blame all your weakness on me, shame that I'm so contrite

Pinhole fireworks. It's lovely to watch.

Fascinating new scientific advance--I'll let Mr. Zaccheo describe it:

"We've turned Reynold's Wrap, JELL-O and milk into a way to look for organ failure," said Brian Zaccheo, a graduate student in the lab of Richard Crooks, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. The device gets to work when a sample of blood is placed on a layer of gelatin and milk protein inside the device. If a patient has pancreatitis, their blood will contain high levels of trypsin, which will melt the gelatin and milk protein. Then a drop of sodium hydroxide — or lye — is added to the device. If the trypsin was high enough to melt the gelatin, the layer of aluminum foil will be unveiled and the sodium hydroxide will dissolve it.

If it can be done for incipient pancreatitis, maybe it can be done for other things, in time. Either way, fantastic use of existing technology to save lives.

And scientists in another lab discovered how to make human gelatin! While my mind instantly goes two places (monsters crafted in darkest and most maddened science labs, wobbling their way through major cities, OR the nextest and bestest Jell-O tasty treat), what they're actually thinking of is gelatin pill capsules and gelatin pill coatings, for those individuals who reject (biologically, not ethically) animal gelatin.

So it's going to be entirely above-board. (Rats.)

The infamous Superman-rescues-kitten issue is now on the stands. Yeah...that so pushes the concept of the thriving, vibrant Muslim superhero clean out of my mind.

Chased by Krypto the dog. Yeah. Of course they made the right choice...Phhhht.

"Metal Gear cosplay is most representative of what I do," Omi tells Kotaku. "I pour everything I possess into it."

She really does. (She also does cosplay for other things, like No More Tears, Thrill Kill, Catherine, Sucker Punch and more.)

(Most of those links lead to Kotaku, just letting you know now; the last one leads to Miss Gibson's official site.)

Casual wandering this morning made me head-tilt:

Welcome to Grimley's Bloodbath & Beyond.

Banned products not allowed in this sim. Use of the folloing will get you kicked or banned.
guns & products made by Tyrant Ludd
products from Schism Industries
Xcite products by Javier Puff
products by Jeremy Duport like the SLMT Spine Gun 3.0

Now, typo and all, that's from the notecard one is handed when one enters the store--which is apparently just scant inches from the combat area and the rest of the (one presumes) RP sim. It's not unusual to be asked to use only specified weaponry, tags, fit the theme of the sim, whatever.

But--when did Xcite become a griefing tool? Have I missed something? Or are Xcite products banned because they're heavily overscripted?

Maybe they're banned simply because more Xcite escorts show up without a clue, than Sensations escorts. Who knows?

In the meantime, may I present a brief history of pneumatic tube transport? Enjoy.

And I'm also presenting the case for joining Diaspora. While I am not the biggest social media maven around--I tend to resist as long as I can, and, if I get dragged in, do so with the utmost of begrudging contempt--I think their points are sound: Facebook doesn't want us, Google+ doesn't either, and if we want to keep together with those of like minds who also do not favor RL everything, all the time--then Diaspora might be the way to go.

Am I joining it on that recommendation? Hardly. But I am looking into it.

you've got me thinking that the party's all over

More lunacy from the wilds of SL.

So, this is a rather large chat capture from Violent Seduction. It's not a rule to specifically identify the group when I do a chat capture--sometimes it's relevant, sometimes it's just not--but this one, it needed to be said. More on why, later.

[00:31] Scenegirl241 Resident: I had so much fun
[00:31] Scenegirl241: Playin...
[00:31] Scenegirl241: Ok
[00:31] ѕϊмσηε (simi.jolbey): ?
[00:31] Scenegirl241: guessing game :P
[00:31] Emilly Orr: ??
[00:32] Emilly Orr: Ah.
[00:32] Scenegirl241: Gues the name of the game I play
[00:32] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): She's been randomly talking in the group.. for like two days -_-

Now, chat in any group that doesn't have it specifically prohibited is just that, chat. Unless it's spam. And then most of my groups have denizens that range from cranky to psychotic, and will literally harry the person until they leave.

On not infrequent occasion, I am one of those people (those who choose aggression over complacency, I mean).

[00:32] ѕϊмσηε (simi.jolbey): oh
[00:32] Unsightly: lol
[00:32] Emilly Orr figures you should guess if she cares.
[00:32] ѕϊмσηε (simi.jolbey): she might be drunk or stoned
[00:32] Emilly Orr: Or both!
[00:32] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): gonna go with both...
[00:32] Em Westland (temperance.westland): I vote she's not real.
[00:32] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): cause lord knows I don't give a crap

Apparently "Scenegirl" had made a similar impact before, and at this point, those who dealt with her then were not impressed, nor amused.

[00:33] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): Ikaru needs to make like.. a Silent group... so people like Scenegirl.. dun troll about
[00:33] Emilly Orr nods.
[00:33] Scenegirl241: Hey!
[00:33] Emilly Orr: Or, ooh, hey, someone could complain to Iki and say, so, there's this...strange person...we think she's not real.
[00:34] Scenegirl241: . - .
[00:34] ʆῼѴƸḼΣṦṢ (cado.xorbun): lol
[00:34] Unsightly: lol
[00:34] Em Westland (temperance.westland): I think we hurt its robotic heart.

To be fair, come upon any group linked around one concept, and run afoul of that concept--in this case, wanting to talk about some silly game somewhere else on the grid that had nothing to do with VS products--and the harassment will ensue.

[00:34] Emilly Orr: Okay, I care now, this is fun. What else can you do?
[00:34] ʆῼѴƸḼΣṦṢ (cado.xorbun): beep beep beep
[00:34] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): Oh god.. they have feelings!
[00:34] ʆῼѴƸḼΣṦṢ (cado.xorbun): marvin had feelings too...
[00:34] Em Westland (temperance.westland): I know! What next?
[00:35] Emilly Orr pulls the profile and hmms.
[00:35] Emilly Orr: Okay, to be fair, she's not even a month old. All the newb hasn't shined off her limbs yet.
[00:35] Emilly Orr might cut her some slight slack for that.

Which is true--in general, if someone's very new--and yesterday, "Scenegirl" was 29 days old, so yes, very new--I generally do my best to understand that, and grant some leeway. Everyone comes in raw on the grid. Even if you just walk in as an alt, there's still raw, because you don't have absolutely everything you had on the last avatar; you may not have the same walk, the same shape, even the same viewer. So yes, there is a period of adjustment on SL, and there is still a steep learning curve.

[00:35] ʆῼѴƸḼΣṦṢ (cado.xorbun): goodnight group.. and.. robot.. O>o
[00:35] Scenegirl241: Stalkin ma profile . x .
[00:35] Scenegirl241: Stalker..
[00:35] Scenegirl241: . x .
[00:35] Emilly Orr: Oh, I take it all back, then.
[00:35] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): She named herself Scenegirl... and has numbers in her name..
[00:35] Unsightly: some noobs stuffs havnt shined off from people from 2008 haha
[00:35] Emilly Orr: People read profiles in here, you consummate ditz.

I do not apologize for that. "Stalking" someone has defined connotations that do not include reading random profiles on SL. Because that's what profiles are for, lollipop. No one should apologize for reading a profile, just as no one should call out anyone who does as a "stalker".

[00:35] Scenegirl241: I have the same name on imvu..

I can't prove that, as I have no way to access the IMVU database, and frankly, can't be bothered. But if she says it, okay, fine. And this matters why...?

[00:36] Scenegirl241: But I only jopined this because imvu slowed down my computer :3
[00:36] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): and.. SL doesnt..?

You have to admit, Miss Amira makes a good point.

[00:37] Scenegirl241: I had to join this..
[00:37] Scenegirl241: i cant even have imvu anymore
[00:37] Scenegirl241: dad said...
[00:37] Unsightly: tf
[00:37] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): ew.. its underage

That was my first thought, too.

[00:38] Scenegirl241: I dont take being made fun of quite nicely..

Well, should we make fun of you more vilely? I'm sure we can do that.

[00:38] Unsightly: play this game when you are 18 youll probably like it
[00:38] Emilly Orr: Whoa, whoa whoa, guys. She's legal to be in here if she's 16 or older.
[00:38] Emilly Orr: Though she's NOT legal to be in here if she's 13-15.
[00:38] Scenegirl241: Im 16..
[00:39] Scenegirl241: Sheesh e - e
[00:39] Scenegirl241: Now..Just leave me alone..
[00:39] Emilly Orr: Hey, it's new, we're all adjusting.

Yeah. I still freak out when I find out someone's not even eighteen on the grid. I have this horrible urge to track down a screaming, pointing face, and just stand there, saying "WARE THOU THE MUTANT!" or something.

[00:39] Scenegirl241: Im not in a fond mood now..
[00:39] Emilly Orr: Used to be children weren't allowed on SL, now they are.
[00:39] Unsightly: i didnt say it wasnt legal if shes not 18. i was just sayin
[00:39] Sweet Clementine: Wow, forgot about the merger up until now.
[00:39] Emilly Orr: Yep.
[00:39] Amira Lemaire (amira.little) groans....
[00:39] Emilly Orr: This is why I don't date on the grid anymore.
[00:39] Scenegirl241: ..
[00:40] Emilly Orr: Still, never mind, we apologize for bothering your little vamp self. We'll just run along and do non-vampiric things.

I should explain that, because it's somewhat relevant. Ish. From her profile:

The vampire that is nothing but a spot...I havent been accepted for who I am..I feel it hard to live a happy life without a family who'll actually accept you..I dont want to feel alone anymore..

That's the front page.

I feel as if you're near but yet oh so far..Come and hold me in your arms..Bite me my little vampire..

And that's her RL bio. Yeah. Um. Okay, I get loneliness sucks, fine, Daddy won't let you play IMVU (though I'm wondering why, now), so you jumped to SL, okay.

But it strikes me as immature, insincere emo posing, frankly, and...yeah. Not impressed.

[00:40] Scenegirl241: ....
[00:41] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): xD
[00:41] Scenegirl241: Still being rude..
[00:41] Unsightly: lol
[00:41] Scenegirl241: But whatever...
[00:41] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): Welcome to the online world.

There used to be a bumpersticker--If you can't stand the heat, get off the internet. I think some people are simply too fragile to be allowed out in virtual spaces. Miss Scene might be one of them.

[00:42] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): Nah... I'm just -_- at your name.. and.. well.. I'm a firm believer ya need to be 18 to join SL
[00:42] Unsightly: yis
[00:42] Unsightly: yaaaa
[00:42] Scenegirl241: It's 16 years and up now . x .
[00:42] Emilly Orr: Oh, dear Miss Scene, this is not rude. Trust me. This isn't CLOSE to rude. I haven't even worked up to mildly unpleasant yet. TRUST me.
[00:42] Emilly Orr: Not that I intend to.

Pretty much. Though this wasn't even close to rude, yet. And again, though I completely accept the childish nature of this retort--she started it.

[00:43] Scenegirl241: Ok..Now can I be left alone
[00:43] Scenegirl241: Im not very happy..

Again, you STARTED all this with your juvenile "guess what game I'm playing" line. Come on now. Buck up and accept it, or wander off and do something else. It's not like we're making you stay in the chat--or, for that matter, the group.

[00:43] Sweet Clementine: Agreed. Sorry but SL was never intended for teens to mingle with adulkts until recently, so many of us have yet to adjust (and probably never will).
[00:43] Sileny Poe (sileny.noel): If someone sells prim tits in a store allowed to 16 they should be reported :P

That brings up another point. If someone is sixteen in RL, and dresses like a tramp, well, it's tacky, but it's allowed. If someone is sixteen in RL, and gets a boob job--why on earth are her parents allowing that?!?

Same rules should apply in SL. You're always allowed to dress like street trash; but if you're under eighteen and you buy prim breasts, really, that should be a penalty for the parents. A fine for non-observance of their child's online activity, or something. Because that's just not right.

[00:44] Scenegirl241: Ok look..Im done......
[00:44] Scenegirl241: I dont like people who are rude to be
[00:44] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): cause.. well.. its SL
[00:44] Scenegirl241: It just annoys me..
[00:44] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant): mute is a wonderful thing
[00:44] Sileny Poe (sileny.noel): I dont think people are being overly rude Scene :x

Again she comes back to this "rude" accusation. I'm thinking that holds as much weight as her "stalking" accusation earlier. She really, honestly, has no concept of what being rude means, I think. I believe she just trots that out any time anyone does something that isn't wholly and completely what she wants in that moment. It's just mind-boggling to consider.

[00:45] Sweet Clementine wonders how bad IMVU is for SL to be the "more teen friendly" option.
[00:45] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): Which makes me simply say to parents "DOn't bitch that your kids see it.. you let them on."

Yes, and also--seriously, I thought IMVU was designed for teenagers. What the hell happened that SL--where practically anyone can go out and buy a tattoo that says SLUT in carved letters, wear it with prim genitalia, and then buy an engine-powered dildo all on the Marketplace--is the MORE family-friendly option??

Who's taking the high amount of intoxicants, here? Because someone clearly needs to lower their dosage.

[00:47] Emilly Orr: Though that does bring up a point. Technically prim breasts are supposedly Adult products, though, y'know, the grid being the grid...But I thought you had to be 18 to get into Mature areas, and were restricted to only G zones at 16 and 17. Did that stop?
[00:48] Scenegirl241: I cant go in mature areas

Well, there you go. Wait. But the store is in a Mature sim...

[00:48] Emilly Orr: A-ha! So okay, that prohibition does hold.
[00:48] Emilly Orr: Hrm. But isn't Violent Seduction on Mature land?

And therein lies why I identified this bit of chat at the top. Which also made me think a bit. Violent Seduction's chat is PG. Violent Seduction's store is on Mature.

Curious, no?

So I checked my groups. Lady Disdain Designs, my personal store group (for the bare handful of folks in it) is rated Mature. Perhaps I should change that, as I really don't have anything overly "Mature" in the store.

On the other hand, the Autogenic Alchemy group, which does, on occasion, have Adult items, is rated PG. How odd.

[00:49] Scenegirl241: I joined because this chick in one room told me about it..I looked it up and and I saw it payed my 50 and happily joine
[00:49] Emilly Orr blinks.
[00:49] Emilly Orr: Paid your '50'?
[00:49] Unsightly: you paid 50$ to play O_o?
[00:49] Scenegirl241: 50L
[00:49] Scenegirl241: to join the group x .x
[00:50] Scenegirl241: Whatcha think I meant
[00:50] Emilly Orr: We thought you meant Second Life, itself. A thousand apologies.
[00:50] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): So she joined a group to a store she can't get too...
[00:50] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant): yup
[00:50] Scenegirl241: Appearently so :3..
[00:50] Emilly Orr: Do you know, that thought struck me, too?

Now, granted, new person, rules are unclear, they don't know a great deal, plus they are sixteen to boot--she's not due to know "absolutely everything" until 22 at the earliest--but...Still, were it you, wouldn't you check? Just to make sure you could go to the store, before signing up?

Oh, forget that, because why are you signing up for a store you've never been to?

[00:51] Unsightly: ohh.. you might have to set it up in prefs
[00:51] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant): well, teens can't
[00:51] Scenegirl241: I cant change my rating in prefs xD
[00:51] Scenegirl241: Or age verify myself

This is true. If she's set up on an actual teen-rated teen account, she can't change her preferences. She doesn't have access to them, period!

[00:56] Scenegirl241: If I leave the group can I get a refund^ ^"??
[00:56] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): Nope
[00:56] Unsightly: no you cant
[00:56] Scenegirl241: Cause I really want one if I leave . x .
[00:56] Emilly Orr: Nope.
[00:56] Unsightly: just stay in it forever
[00:56] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant): you should have gone to the shop
[00:56] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): this is why i do my homework before joining groups that cost L

Absolutely. Also, if she asked the group owner she'd be told not. Any group that charges, will not refund people that ask.

Plus, good gods, you twit, it's fifty Lindens. Fifty Lindens is twenty cents. You're making all this fuss over two virtual dimes? Are you high?!?

[00:57] Scenegirl241: hey I dont look xD
[00:57] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): Thats obvious

Manifestly so. Or really thinks at all before she types.

So some kind soul tossed her some Lindens, so she wouldn't be bereft of spending money. Most of us have done it at one time or another; it's a nice gesture, and it makes the receiving party ever so grateful.

Unless, you're, well, Miss Scene.

[01:04] Scenegirl241: Sooo..
[01:04] Scenegirl241: Who payed me o . o
[01:04] Scenegirl241: because I just got like 550 l o o..
[01:04] Unsightly: it should say in local chat who paid you

This took her a bit to track down, for some reason.

[01:05] Scenegirl241: A..
[01:05] Scenegirl241: Cornelius
[01:05] Scenegirl241: Somethin like that xD
[01:05] Emilly Orr blinks
[01:05] Emilly Orr: Dear Miss S. You can't read, either?
[01:06] Amira Lemaire (amira.little) gigglesnorts
[01:06] Emilly Orr: Oh, you poor dear.
[01:06] Scenegirl241: Wait what o . o?..

I have no words. But, at that point, someone asked if it was Cornelius Kira. Now, I don't know M. Kira from, well, I don't know him. Plus, as later turned out to be the case, it was Cornelius Kiranov anyway (we think; we're still not sure, but also, it's not as if it truly matters). What did matter was the fact that in typing to us, and staring at the name in chat...Scene still got it wrong.

[01:06] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant) facepalms.
[01:06] Scenegirl241: Yeah that name
[01:06] Scenegirl241: I didnt remember how it was spelled
[01:06] Emilly Orr: Ki-ra.
[01:06] Emilly Orr: It's pronounced Kih-rah.
[01:06] Emilly Orr says helpfully.
[01:06] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): Say it slowly irl
[01:07] Sweet Clementine dies laughing.

Yes, I was being sarcastic. But I was also trying to help. Edged help, to be sure, but seriously--in any viewer, if you're staring at the name, how can you get it wrong?

But the mystery was solved, huzzah! And then this interchange took place:

[01:08] Sweet Clementine: He's a good guy. Should IM him and say thanks. IT'd make his day.
[01:08] Scenegirl241: gimme his name :3...
[01:08] Scenegirl241: Again..
[01:08] Amira Lemaire (amira.little) facepalms!
[01:08] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant): scroll up
[01:08] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant): omg
[01:08] Sweet Clementine: Cornelius Kira
[01:08] Amira Lemaire (amira.little): This.. is the makings of a troll
[01:08] Emilly Orr: Cor-ne-li-us.
[01:09] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant): I said so before
[01:09] Tess Allegrant (tessa.allegrant): troll
[01:09] Sweet Clementine: Hahah so true~
[01:10] Scenegirl241: I cant find the name . x .
[01:10] Emilly Orr: You are kidding, right?
[01:10] Scenegirl241: nope..
[01:10] Emilly Orr: Search > People > Cornelius Kira
[01:10] Emilly Orr: Press Search
[01:10] Emilly Orr: It's not rocket science.

Now, actually, it is. Turns out that Search, as it is currently configured, means you need the exact spelling of the name to find anyone. (In point of fact, People Search works best if you copy the name from the profile of the person you're trying to find, and paste that in. I'm not kidding, I'm tragically serious.)

So if you want to find Miss Rayven Zelmanov, say, and you type in Raven Zelmanov, you're not going to get anything. But even worse, if you type in Rayven Zelmano, you won't get anything either. As many, many people have said, that's a bad search engine.

Though apparently, sometimes this fails, with interesting results...

[01:10] Scenegirl241: Im serious
[01:10] Emilly Orr: What viewer are you using?
[01:10] Scenegirl241: No matches found
[01:10] Sweet Clementine: Kita
[01:10] Scenegirl241: veiwer 2
[01:10] Sweet Clementine: My bad!
[01:11] Emilly Orr: Hmm, point, but a Cornelius Kiranov comes up.
[01:11] Scenegirl241: Used Kita
[01:11] Unsightly: wow
[01:11] Unsightly: shes using viewer 2
[01:11] Scenegirl241: Fount it :)
[01:11] Emilly Orr: Which I found by typing in Cornelius Kira....
[01:11] Unsightly: thats why shes so lost

So it was either Cornelius Kita, or Cornelius Kiranov, and frankly, it doesn't matter either way, because she likely found someone else entirely, and sent them a random IM thanking them for no apparent reason.

A random, badly-spelled IM thanking them, I should point out...

[01:16] Scenegirl241: Ok..Im headin out...
[01:16] Scenegirl241: Ima go roam for a while
[01:16] Scenegirl241: Maybe play more Bioshock later on

Of course. Be well, small vampiric soul! Enjoy your...er...G-rated vampirism!

Tch. Some peoples' children.

And now, another sector heard from:

[19:52] Your Friendly Internet Troll (jakkar.carlos): [19:47] Yummy Tamale: Because of your incessant harassment of others, you're permanently banned from Beast Forest.
[19:52] Emilly Orr: Does it ever bother you that you keep getting banned from places?
[19:53] Your Friendly Internet Troll (jakkar.carlos): Well, since Beast Forest is a beastiality sim, no.. not really.

Now, I wish to make it clear that my personal policy is never going to involve harassing people for any sim they wish to go to. If I don't like it--while I may make mention of it here just for bwuh value--I generally don't go back, problem solved.

And, while bestiality is illegal in many parts of the world, as far as I know virtual bestiality is just fine. (And let's be honest, people--it seems half the grid, some days, is neko. Neko + human = bestiality, or at least its smallest, most prettified side. So we're none of us innocent on that charge.)

All in all, more fuel on the fire, I suppose, of why bringing teens into SL was a very bad idea...but yet another very bad idea that won't go away any time soon. I swear, the Labs need a new motto.


Yeah. That'll work.

hey keep your fingers off me, why can't I get through?

(from the bizarre album. Apparently, she's playing a three-year-old. No, really.)

THIS had the nerve to call me scary:

[02:00] yayashi: :O
[02:00] Fawkes Allen: Sorry!
[02:00] yayashi: scarry
[02:00] yayashi giggles
[02:01] yayashi: ??
[02:01] yayashi giggles

The apology was because we were at the Hair Fair's last day, and Mm. Allen was guiding us around on a prim. And bumped into Little Miss Thing coming into a shop. You'll see why she called me 'scarry' in the next shot. The "giggles" were accompanied by that frenetic high-pitched squirrel giggle gesture. Gaaah.

(from the bizarre album, and NO ONE under the age of consent should wear shorts THAT SHORT. PERIOD.)

Over this waif's right shoulder, you can see me, green and agog at the spectacle. (Actually, technically, Mm. Allen is there too, but currently removed from view with an all-over-body alpha layer.) And I really was just baffled by this. I mean, sure, I'm not going to win any style contests--I was bottle-green, with a nearly matching outfit that--sans the prims--became a halter top and spandex leggings, not the sweet little summer dress it had been before. And I was bald, with pointed ears. So I get the "scarry" accusation.

But...this? This is a nineteen-year-old pretending to be a three-year-old with that fetish-skank outfit on. I'm not just pulling those figures out of thin air, either--this is from her profile:

i am 3 in SL - i am 19 in RL :D

And that's ALL that's on the first page of her profile.

(from the bizarre album. The AO, also, is OBVIOUSLY designed for a more mature person. NOT a three-year-old child!)

1. No three-year-old on the planet has breasts.
2. Any mother who thought this outfit was appropriate for a three-year-old hooks on streetcorners. I'm not trying to be insulting, I'm trying to be factual. NO mother would dress her kid in this, even if she was working a minimum-wage job, because this does not come in child sizes. (Unless you're in SL.)

3. No three-year-old on the planet is four feet tall.

Me, scary? Fine. I'll take that. But she's pretty much hanging out the sign to pedophiles everywhere in this. That is just disturbing.

Briefly and beautifully, though, at the Hair Fair, I fell in love with Etain Ceawlin:

Don't just stare, say something!

I'm an owned switchy sadomasochist that's sometimes a dolly, sometimes with extra bits, and always sarcastic. Using single letters in place of full words is a hard limit. So are bling scripts and facelights.

Mohawks, fantastic futuristic robotics and sexy and/or stompy boots catch my attention like WHOA.

I like her. I like her a LOT.

Unfortunately, then this came in:

[7:25] Argenta Redyard: Hello and no you do not know me I was just looking at residents with intrest in victorian intrests and i would love to talke with you about that!

Dear gods, why me? Why? I am not the best spokesperson for Victorian matters. Mr. JJ Drinkwater, Miss Stereo Nacht, Miss Reghan Straaf, Miss Riven Homewood, Sir Edward Pearse, even Desmond Shang--goodness, nearly anyone who's a resident of Caledon--all would be more suited for finding out more information!

But I am dutiful, in some things, so I logged onto the grid and pulled her profile:

Hello I am Argenta Redyard. I have been here before this is not my first avi. The reason I have this avi is because of darma so please do not cause me any with this one. Well I do not bute so feel free to IM me since you are already creeping on me my reading this but wait what else is it for.

Oh. I am much less inclined to talk with her now. Well, then.

This has been a far-from-private pet peeve for some time. This fairly new idea that if I employ basic reading comprehension and keyboard skills, and pull their profile from a mention of their name--an action that has, I hasten to note, been an expected part of several jobs in Second Life--I am somehow "stalking" them. This idea is ludicrous and all who hold it look absurd for doing so.

So, to decrease any chance of "darma" to Miss Redyard, and to invalidate any potential sense of "creeping" on her, I shall simply choose not to contact her back. I hope she succeeds with that lack of "darma" thing. It sounds painful.

I hate to break it to you babe, but I’m not drowning--there's no one here to save

Ashes to ashes, dust to du--hey, is that a shield?

MightyGodKing weighs in with yet another complication copyright law never saw coming. Where will 3D printers stand in the war waged between utilitarian (and therefore, non-copyrightable) and artistic (and, therefore, copyrightable) designs? When someone can look at your design, go home, program a .cad file, and release it for free on the internet, is this hacking? Corporate crime? Innovation? Invention?

No one knows. And, as MightyGodKing says, the best answer is "ask again later".

As far as I'm concerned, the Google+ debate may rage on, but I'm essentially on the sidelines. While I haven't been kicked out of the service--yet--I really don't have a use for it yet. And more and more people are friending me that I don't consider as friends.

That sounds harsh, so let me explain a bit. For me, Google+ is one thing that seems to do, far less elegantly, what I already have mechanisms to do elsewhere. If I want a short snappy update: Twitter. Not leaving Twitter. If I want a more in-depth post: Blogger. Not leaving Blogger (as far as I know). If I have a picture post, or I want to post a video: Tumblr. Not leaving Tumblr. If I want to say I liked something--especially on my mobile device when I'm out of the house--Fancy. Not leaving Fancy.

What's left? Seriously? What does Google+ do that I can't do already, and control my content better, elsewhere? Plus, there's been an endless stream of friend requests. To date, they all fall into three categories:

* Friends and/or family I can keep stronger contact with elsewhere.
* People I know from SL, and it's getting very tenuous as to how well I know them, the longer it goes on.
* People I absolutely, positively, never want to talk to again, or never wanted to talk to in the first place.

I can talk to the first category on my own; I can talk to the second category (when I talk to anyone at all) in SL; and I don't want to talk to people in the third. But in all three? I just don't see a use for talking to anyone actually through the Google+ interface.

If you know me, and I haven't put you in one of the Google+ circles, and you've put me in your circles...good luck with that. I mean that seriously: best of luck, I just don't want to reciprocate and get 300 names in a new place that I won't pay attention to. I am being very, very picky about who gets in the circles, for two very important reasons:

* I may lose access to Google+ when they get around to my name;

and

* I don't want a ton of people I'm trying to keep track of, on those rare occasions that I do open up Google+ and peer around for updates.

Flat out.

In the meantime, I did change one thing, so far, in the .xml for Snowstorm:

Extend the width of Chat Toasts:
In skins/default/xui/en/panel_chat_item.xml
Change the first "width" statement (in pixels) from "315" to a wider value, such as that of your extended chat bar (see above).

-- Michi Lumin, March 2 2010

While tips from that particular site come with a warning, and are very much "do at your own risk", that one actually helped. It put my toasts--which no longer flash at all--from a width of 315 to 400, and weirdly, that made them just enough visible that I know they're there, without being overwhelming. For one, I know the little icon on the no-longer-as-teensy thing is supposed to be an envelope...

nless I'm wrong in what changing that setting does; I might be. All I know is that I can tell now. On the other hand, something weirder is going on. Namely, this:

(from the Snowstorm album)

This is the active buy button for Snowstorm 2.8. That greyed-out, "I'm pretending I'm disabled!" button, yeah. That's active. Seriously.

I was trying to explain this to someone tonight and they just didn't seem to get it. It wasn't a matter of "waiting" for the button to go active. It was that the button was active as soon as the product rezzed in to buy, and the button still looked inactive.

(from the Snowstorm album)

This is a shot of the button being actively pressed. Now the button goes teal--though, even there, it is a darker, muted teal than the Cancel button's former tone.

(from the Snowstorm album)

Finally, this is a shot of receiving the in-game pop-up notice that I have, in fact, bought the demos I was trying to buy.

Just so I can make plain what the point is in all of this:

(from the Snowstorm album)

While my cropping job was far from perfect, this is the exact tone difference between the first, what appears to be 'dead state' button, and the button when hovered over by the mouse. Note: not when the button is pressed. Just when the button is moused over.

This is such a low rate of difference that I'm surprised more people aren't having problems with it. And I'm really wondering if this is actually a display bug in Snowstorm 2.8, or if that's actually part of the design; that is, if that low a color variation is actually intentional. And that's aside from the fact that the active button looks inactive in the first place!

All I know is, it makes it a bitch to shop, and again--when you're interfering with shopping, which seems to comprise half of all activity on the grid? That is a bad road to be going down, Lindens!

I'll find more as I go, I'm sure.

I'm a little concerned about the latest leaked shot from the upcoming Hobbit film. Is it just me? It looks like Middle Earth: Prom edition. Or purely fan work--that sort of, "Look what we made in metal shop! We ROCK!"

I'm sincerely hoping the film comes off as more lavish-budget epic, and less garage-band heavy metal with swords. But photos like this make me severely doubt.

Finally, PC Gamer has announced ten stunning Terraria builds, which are really cool to look at, but which still have one stultifying downside: they're in Terraria. I mean, some of them look really, really complicated and beautiful (and, in the case of the BioDome, have a fully developed ecosystem all their own), but...it's still side-action tanking, Minecraft meets Ghosts 'n Goblins. It just doesn't impress me that much, I'm afraid.

(But then, Minecraft fails to impress people, so hey, to each their own? I guess?)

your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

Apology post.

(Don't look at me like that, this happens, now and again.)

[8:43 PM] Fawkes Allen: Without gross misunderstanding of what I said, I never said that the Radar system was better than Mystitool or Firestorm.
[8:44 PM] Emilly Orr: Okay. How did I get what you said wrong?
[8:44 PM] Fawkes Allen: I said that the tool was less cluttered than Phoenix's Radar, but had a wider, broader range than Mystitools. WHich makes it a good extension to using Mystitool, which has a sadly limited range.

Now, I take full responsibility for this; while I try not to directly quote people unless I'm using their own words in chat, I did imply that he said that. And I formally retract what I said he said, because I got his words wrong.

He's not saying that Snowstorm's internal radar system is better, he's saying that it has a wider range than the MystiTool, and it's less cluttered than Phoenix (and likely, by extension, Firestorm). And there, okay, I agree--the Mysti only goes to 96 meters and drops off, and there's more than just Fawkes tearing their hair out at the Phoenix radar system.

(Little hint: yes, Phoenix people, radar on SL used to include whether people are typing, walking, sitting, flying, speaking, or selecting something. Second Life got better. That's just a ton of information that no one really needs. But hey, thanks for cluttering up the radar so much--you've pushed a lot of people into actually buying radar systems, or moving to different clients. Go you.)

Also currently investigating how to make accessing the land tools easier for land managers, club managers, and just people who own land and want those controls. That will be a future entry.

still, I can't bear the thought of you now

All right. We are where we are. Nothing changes that. But...

What if, when v.2 was announced, as the horrendous reconfiguring that it was, but one that needed to be done to get some form of movement back in the game...what if the user community had responded the way every other game on the planet has responded, and worked out ways that dulled the horror to a very mild eeping?

Think I'm kidding? Curse.com exists to supply mods that gamers in WoW, Rift, Starcraft II, Runes of Magic, Warhammer Online, Aion, Age of Conan, and scattered smaller free-to-plays believe are vitally necessary to continue playing their games of choice.

Minecraft doesn't even hide it; their mods are posted right in the user forums.

Instead, what's happened? (And I'm as guilty of this as anyone else.) Hate. Hate hate hate. Hate loathe despise hate. All heaped onto v.2's frail shoulders.

According to those who've actually done the hard work and gutted out the interior of the game, it's not that hard to mod. So...why hasn't anyone done it?

I'm serious. Why isn't the Second Life community banding together and making mods to let v.2 look like v.1, or look like WoW, or look like Minecraft, or be all-over pink and chartreuse, whatever? Why aren't we doing this?

We can make entire alien worlds, but we can't fix a little pie menu difficulty? We can sculpt robot parts that whir and turn and rotate and light up, but we can't find better ways to deal with the sidebar?

Instead, what are we doing with our time, our energy, our life and our livelihoods? Bitching about it. Instead of doing anything about it.

And I'm as guilty as everyone else. We're all guilty of this, every single avatar who's ever shook her head at v.2 and said Yeah, well, I'M never using that thing...

All those months. All those blog entries. All those forum posts. It's all such a goddamn waste of space!

We need to do this differently. Now I'm tracking down code bits in the .xml wiki pages, seeing what I can do that others have tried, first.

This "morning" (my morning, at least), I found an email from Second Life marked Meet Residents -- Your Connection Recommendations:

(from the bizarre album)

Now, disregarding the fact that I know three of those people (in fact, Ameshin Yossarian was one of the first people I met in SL, when I was a young and unvarnished newb), I'm typically the type to become mildly resentful when I get these messages from other companies.

I will find my own friends, thank you, is generally always my initial reaction. Especially that if it's by matching people via interests alone, at this point, I'm virtually guaranteed to get some set of recommendations for people who dislike me, have actively muted me, or whom I otherwise don't resonate with for various reasons, because we all seem to circle in the same communities!

But maybe--I said maybe--it's a step in the right direction, and could give people who don't know many people on the grid that feeling of common ground. Why look at that, they could think. Those people also like spam and arson! I should friend them right away!

There's a new JIRA on the horizon, and this one's been amusing to sit back and watch. It's all on how much the look of items changed with the application of lighting effects and shadows. Now, that particular JIRA isn't bound to go anywhere, because Dessie Linden determined that it immediately linked to this JIRA, about essentially a similar problem.

There were a couple of really interesting visuals applied to the secondary issue, too. This one in particular:

(from the bizarre album)

This is a neatly graphed progression, split into two sections: shadows ON, and shadows OFF. The upper (grey) orbs are without bumpmapping applied; the lower (gridded) ones have bumpmapping.

If you can't make it out in the smaller size, I heartily encourage viewing the whole thing, or, if Picasa won't give you the full size, try the direct link to that particular image. This one demonstrates, clearly and completely, that is is not a bug or a malfunctioning procedure of any kind; this demonstrates that the workarounds we developed for getting through the initial Windlight issues need to be abandoned. Lighting effects and shadows are exactly like Windlight was, a radical viewer advancement--some computers can't run them, and content is going to break because of the new display stats.

Still unconvinced that this isn't a bug? How about this image:

(from the bizarre album)

This is another perfect example (and again, if you can't see McMahon's image clearly enough, look at it directly): when shadows are off, shine exists; when shadows are on, shine is reduced but depth is added.

Remember, when we first developed the shiny/bumpmapping tricks, while we could--and can--use shine with existing textures, for the most part, we don't. Most of us texture an object we intend to make shiny with a very simple texture, or no texture, so that the metallic concept "shines" through...aheh. My apologies.

In the above image, the pipes and tanks are clearly colored from blank stock, then have shine applied to them. Applying shadows kills this effect, but adds depth and distinction.

Translation: for all the content you think is broken, it's not. You just need to go out and buy (or make) better textures, now, and find the next workaround. (You also need to realize that lighting effects and shadows can't be seen on all systems, so you're going to have to pick your market. Do you make it pretty for those who can't use the new advances, or do you make it pretty for those who can? Or do you start putting out non-shadowed/shadows on versions of everything?) While these are all important questions for creators of content, it's not something the new viewer structure broke.

Back on the inventory keystroke search JIRA that I covered some days back, I was very, very wrong in how I described it. Namely, I was talking about what has now been explained to me as standard search. Which works in all viewers.

Where I had it wrong was in not comprehending exactly what was being described, because in five years on the grid (woo, I'm five, yay, blah), I have never done this. Not once.

If you have used it, imagine how wide my eyes got, never having known that form of inventory existed before! And if you haven't, here's why it's important:

In 1.x viewers, you can go to a specific folder in your inventory, select it, and start typing. This will find you the first item in that folder and bring you right there.

Looking for a piece of the Anais gown? Type it in after selecting the folder it's in, and whoomp--you're there. Want to track down the first stuffed bear you have? Go to Objects, type in 'bear'--and it finds the first one. This is the definition of "Fast, Easy, Fun".

And in 2.x viewers? IT NO LONGER WORKS.

Yeah, that's kind of a big deal.

well, I can't stand to look at you now, this revelation's out of my hands

Scattered musings from a stressful night.

Under v.2: there is NO. WAY. to make the camera controls NOT opaque that is at all workable. I know. I've tried. I can't be the ONLY person using camera controls to get around in SL. (Though Fawkes says I am.)

There is a way to make the camera controls more transparent--but it ALSO makes every other "active" window even more transparent along with it. By the time the translucency is enough for me, I can't see chat. For me, that's not unfortunate; that's a goddamn design flaw.

Under v.2: When I've been telling people they need to go to the top of the bar, and click that, and they'll get the About Land menu, NOW I know why they've been staring at me. Because there's no way to do that, either. On default v2, you can no longer do that. You CAN click the "i" icon and get a 'Place Profile', which will give you About Land.

That is incredibly, INCREDIBLY cumbersome for anyone who deals with land--working on it, living on it, selling it, buying it--INCREDIBLY cumbersome.

You can also get there by World > Place Profile > About Land. This is absolutely ridiculous, when they HAD a working one-click, and they've managed to replace it with one system that goes through two clicks, and a SECONDARY system that goes through THREE clicks, to do the same thing that opened on one click before!

This is dumb, Lindens, really dumb. You're making people work harder to do the same thing one click did before. And you have the gall to be surprised when they stay with the older viewer, or worse, various third-party viewers (from trustable to complete hack jobs) because it does what they want. Dumb!

We are now working on tracking down the code line in the .xml file that will make the inventory that opens be the new inventory window that is separate from the UI dock. We're not sure if this will work. But it will most assuredly help. Because when I open the inventory off the UI sidebar, I can't move. Lag kicks in and I literally can't walk around, I can't open windows, nothing. But if I split the inventory window off by undocking, or create a new inventory window--miraculously, I can move again.

That? Right there? That's another design flaw, people.

Also, windows--when left open, like, oh, say, the new inventory window that I undocked--get sleepy. I have to wake them up to move them again. Takes about a minute and a half.

Lindens, you are making people work harder! DUMB!

We went through the sidebar, just to bring me up to date.

Place Profile. I am told that this information is 'focused' for the 'average' user, and the 'About Land' button--inset into the Place Profile--gives further, more 'in-depth' information.

This is crippleware. Why wasn't all the information put into Place Profile? Needless duplication, here!

Now, the UI sidebar itself (which I still despise utterly and want to burn in the fire of a thousand suns, I hate it, I will hate it forever, it needs to die): the arrow brings me to the last tab I had open; whatever, I deal. Maybe that's a good thing.

The Linden hand takes me to "Home". Bwuh? There are other places to retrieve ALL that information. Absolutely unnecessary.

The folder with the little guy is my profile; web profiles suck; we move on.

The little people icons are just that--People. It seems to be a combination mini-map and radar system. I don't know why it's there; it seems fairly useless. There's apparently a lot you can do with it, and Fawkes says it's better than Firestorm's radar system, or Mystical Cookie's MystiTool; the only thing is, while it will show people, it won't show how far away they are, which is kind of the whole point.

There's also a debug setting called 'nearmerange': this will change the active range of the People search feature. I dropped mine down to 101.000 (just because it was a fairly nice even round number, ish) but Fawkes has his up over 1000.000.

'My Friends' shows friends (duh); 'My Groups' show groups, and also, if you select the group, and move down to the bottom and select the check mark, that makes that group active.

There's another little Profile icon to the far right of each group, and clicking that now brings up the group profile. (Yay?) And the only real difference there is that now they're on drop-down menus--what Fawkes terms "accordions"--from the 1.x tabs.

The globe, again, brings you to the Place Profile.

The suitcase is the inventory, which now has the inventory total (and at 67,973, I really need to gut my inventory again).

And the little shirt icon leads to 'My Outfits', which...has some flaws. Like it doesn't seem to recognize 'default' items. Say I have an outfit that I want to wear another tattoo with beyond what I consider my 'default' tattoo. But, when I walk around normally, I have that back tattoo. When I made up the outfit, I wasn't thinking, and now it's in that folder.

Okay, just delete it; except, if you're wearing it, you can't. You have to take the item off, wear something else, and THEN delete that item from that outfit folder. Even though they're supposedly just links, not actual items, in those Outfit folders.

Plus, the Outfits seem to update, change in and out items; they don't seem fixed, at least to Fawkes. So they're somewhat quirky.

Plus, I can't wear items by double-clicking them, which Fawkes says should work, but it doesn't.

Fawkes tells me that the 1.x viewer structure was like a disease--it didn't quite kill you, but it was hell to deal with on a daily basis because it just took so much out of you. While people adapted--and we did adapt--he says it was like that self-same disease fighting all our efforts to do more than just breathe and stay sick.

Versus, in his mind, 2.x being the cure. And, because we've been sick for so long, that cure feels like additional suffering. But stick with it, he says, and it will improve. It will get easier. We will heal. And soon, we'll laugh that we thought 1.x was usable at all.

And I'm still not seeing that. What I'm thinking is...Viewer 2 is Esperanto.

Esperanto was developed by a linguist to be a language that was designed to be absolutely easy to pick up and become fluent in, even if you were an untutored farm wife in Serra da Saudade. In fact, it was mostly designed with Portuguese in mind; and if you speak Portuguese, you're pretty much golden, the sentence structures will make pretty much complete sense to your understanding.

The problem is, to the rest of us, we see the value in it, and we understand the point of it, but it's a pain to learn. And we still have other ways that work. Do they all work well? No, English is a pain to learn, too. And being superior enough to insist on a world that speaks English is pretty damned silly overall.

Except--just as over here, and in other countries, people learn Japanese (and there's a rising tide of people learning Chinese, just to be on the safe side), in Japan they learn English. In fact, if the average worker doesn't know English by the time they get their first job, there are schools designed to fast-track language learning so they can pick up the slack. The world has adapted. We can still communicate. And we didn't need Esperanto to do it.

Viewer 2? We didn't need it. Did we need a better interface? Yeah, maybe. Viewer 1.x was starting to show its age, and there were things they could definitely do better. But was the solution viewer 2.x alone?

I don't think so. And I'm not alone. Unfortunately, the Lindens aren't listening, and mesh is coming.

However, since we just did this dance where I said v.2 sucked, and Fawkes said I was wrong--AGAIN--I will formally offer up the crackhead means that I am currently using SL. I am warning you now, brains may well fall out.

Also, please click for the larger images, if you want detail--because the smaller ones just won't show you. There's just too much going on.

This:

(from miscellaneous)

is how Singularity is structured for me. Everything translucent; everything visible; everything separated. I can work like that. I can move around like that. I can shop like that. Everything's where I need it to be. (And again, I have to reiterate: I know it's a picture, but since you can blow it up and see the characters and type them--don't click any of Jakkar Carlos' links. Really. It's just never a good idea.)

Now, this:

(from miscellaneous)

is what Snowstorm looked at it after Snowstorm and I declared a draw in the ongoing battle and withdrew to lick our wounds. Nothing is really where I want it; I'm not happy with the ugly "plain text" font; the separated inventory window keeps falling asleep; and the camera controls are both too fucking large and solidly opaque. I can't change much of it, I twitch trying to adapt, and even though I know I have to, it's like being wrapped in sandpaper--any movement, even small ones, after a while just hurt and piss me off.

And this:

(from miscellaneous)

is me trying to build in the finite and narrow window between the build menu, the inventory, and the camera controls!

Ultimately, while I do realize that Snowstorm 2.8 is the best version of an exceedingly bad idea, and that it really, truly is the best that can be expected...it still makes my soul cringe as if in the direct presence of Nyarlathotep.

You know, before I get eaten and scream my doom.

But--remember, that thing about mesh? This is the stupidity I'm stuck with. My alternative? Leave SL.

AND DON'T THINK IT'S NOT ON MY MIND.

It just galls me. Am I the only one that uses the game this way? Because if I'm not, then have all the others who played this way left when they ran out of hair to pull out of their scalps?

There has to be a trick to this, to using v.2 without losing my mind entirely. I'll figure it out...or, unfortunately, I'll go back to Singularity and leave when mesh arrives. I don't see a lot of options, here.

suddenly easy to contemplate why

I am not the math geek in the room, ever, but if you are, vote on this. It strikes me as reasonably important, and rather less drama-filled than most JIRA propositions.

Again, people, to make an impact, WATCH, don't vote. Voting does nothing now. It does absolutely N O T H I N G. I'd make that a larger font and have it flash if I thought it would do any good. Any JIRA issue you want to be heard and acted upon by the Lindens, WATCH the issue, don't VOTE ON IT. I can't make it plainer than that.

Science fiction film in 1955? Why, yes. And it's buried in the middle of one of the decade's best noir films.

The world's first acknowledged cyberweapon has been announced...and it was buried in Iran's nuclear program. Dear gods, that's terrifying.

Axi Kurmin strikes again with an article on search engine woes and the Facebook connection; also, all the previous parts of her Tinfoil Hat Theory pages are linked handily at the top.

I've always more or less lucked out, I think; while searching these days is more guesswork than surety, if I can track it down in world or on the Marketplace, I'm usually okay finding whatever it is. But I have literally left viewers in the dust that otherwise worked for me, when Search stopped working as a concept. And for many people--even those in my position, of Search working 75% of the time--that's still abysmal numbers for merchants who want to be found, and who pay high premiums to the Linden advertising guild to stay findable.

With Search this broken? They're not. And yet another explanation as to why so many businesses and makers are simply giving up and closing, and possibly even leaving the grid.

This probably won't make sense unless you've seen that episode of Unskippable, but if you have--this is a hysterically funny shirt, and it's available to the public--but only for a limited time. Act now! Sizes Small to 4XL, so pretty much everybody should be able to find a fit.

The War on Breedables carries on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum...but Tateru Nino is here to tell us that not only might the end be in sight, but there might be federal criminal charges filed.

Against Ozimals. Oops.

Iggy O brings up the troubles involved in rebranding, but suggests several new 'world names' the Lindens might want to look into. I find I'm rather partial to Otherworld, but tend to agree--Second Life does seem to be the one name they want to veer away from.

Miso Susanowa brings us her ruminations on Google+, and what they should really be looking for in their latest data mining attempts. I tend to agree, mainly because I have made purchases as Emilly Orr online, I do follow ads as Emilly Orr, and, if I'm interested in something and want more information, I register as Emilly Orr.

I do none of that under my real name. The only thing online I have sent to me under my real name are checks, and frankly, if I could get my bank to rename my account, I'd probably have them sent to Emilly Orr as well.

Speaking of which, New World Notes takes this on here and here on the difference between online identity and "real" names--which generally aren't used online, anyway. I find it highly relevant that when I do the same thing, "Emilly Orr" gets 28,600 hits on a Google search, most of them directly targeted to me. While a search on my 'real' name, on the other hand, does get 104,000 hits--none of them are me.

Let me repeat that, because I think it's vaguely important. At least in the first twenty pages of that search, I'm not there. (I didn't go back farther than that, I think that establishes the point pretty well.)

We've got people with my name in Kentucky, in Georgia, in Tennesee, in New York, in Ohio, and at least one in Washington--and none of them are me. Weird note of trivial interest: most of them are in nursing homes. (So much for my name having any cachet of "cool" whatsoever.)

I have put thought, energy, time, and yes, money, behind establishing Emilly Orr, though. While she doesn't have a credit card, or a bank account, she does have a PayPal (I didn't set it up; it was set up by someone who didn't know that PayPal was a stickler for real names.) account, and has, in fact, used it to buy things online. So she even has a purchasing history through Google.

Why isn't that good enough for Google+?

The Guardian has a short little moment of adoration for tattered books. Bibliophiles and casual readers alike seem to share this love. In fact, my favorite bookstore when we lived in Denver was The Tattered Cover.

From Tor Books comes the review of the next up-and-coming Batman title. Their recommendation: skip it. Ouch, but I understand their reasoning.

In preparation to launch the Freedom server, City of Heroes has released information on the First Ward. I think I'm going to like it there.

SCIENCE! (But very very odd science.)

And off to ponder marketing on the grid. This has been your News of the Day.