Can you endure 23,000 spoonfuls of terror? Or, y'know, at least spare ten minutes for a short film about an inexplicably slow murder?

I will say, past the first four minutes or so--the first three of which are really, really funny--the concept seems to drag on. And on. And on. And maybe that's the point, really.

I've been pondering how to bring up dio, but part of what trapped me in place was trying to figure out what it was, exactly. Nothing I read really answered the questions I had. But, now I don't have to! That last post contains all you really need to know!

Interested in making books by hand? There's a lot of resources, from simple online tutorials to paid classes, but this actually covers all the basics in a short series of photographs. Impressive.

In the world of gaming, there's a lot of parody videos. There are even entire parody games. So when I first saw the trailer for Blocksworld, I thought it was exactly that--something filmed just for the fun of it.

Apparently I was wrong. Blocksworld exists. It's not a parody, it's a really good game designed (mostly for kids) for the iPad. Who knew?

Ever find yourself curious about D&D? Or if you play D&D, and you don't know how to explain what you're doing to people that don't? There's an online tutorial just for you. (Personally, I find their description of sorcerers scarily apt. For several years, the battle cry of my human mage was "Sorry about that!")

The Prim Perfect blog brings us a story about the not-so-secret "secret" of Second Life--that many participants are older than they say they are. I'll go one better and say that the other "secret" population was just grazed over in this article--the deaf.

Well, I'd say handicapped in general, but for folks in SL who cannot hear RL, it's especially relevant. Though this particular population was severely unhappy when voice launched--because, before voice, everyone typed. Not every deaf person speaks, and for some of those that do, they don't speak in ways we're accustomed to. Sometimes, this is because of the inability to hear their own voice; sometimes simply because they don't think to speak before they think to sign. But there's more than a few deaf people in SL, just as there's more than a few who have retired from their First Lives.

Speaking of the disabled, we're in the land of medical breakthroughs--again. Brendan Marroco, a U.S. soldier who'd been on the ground in Iraq, lost all four limbs to a roadside bomb. The loss of his legs, he managed to accept fairly equably. He already has prosthetic limbs, and he says they work.

But what he really missed were his arms. In January, he got them back. It was a thirteen-hour surgery, and he will have months, if not years, of rehabilition in order to regain the function he can with them. But already he can push his own wheelchair, brush hair out of his eyes, and pick up light objects. It's nothing short of amazing.

The next chronicle of Riddick has released stills! It's coming. And it looks very dark and gritty, but really, did we expect anything else?

Finally, back in 2011, on on SLUniverse, Miss Wunderlich started posting images--and explaining the whys behind--her recreation of the Crystal Palace in Second Life. It's still up--you can visit it--because she's made it her store.

I realize I'm late to the party on this (and really, that should be my cue that I need to visit her store more often!), but this strikes me as especially significant not because it's the first recreation of this structure (hers would, in fact, be the third, though the thinking goes that one of the three is no longer up0. Rather, this is significant because for historical purposes, there's very little more accepted as a structure that represents the Victorian era. The thread she largely worked from is also one of the most amazingly detailed, a room by room examinations of the structure I've ever read.

Go see it if you can, and walk through recreated history.

[23:33] cxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx:
╔══╗
╚╗╔╝
╔╝(¯`v´¯)
╚══`.¸.ＪＥＳＵＳ
[23:33] Emilly Orr: Good for you?

Y'know, barring Caledon--where religious discussion comes and goes, depending on age of resident and amount of alcohol consumed--I'm fairly careful with my groups. By and large, no one bashes my head in with their intense religious devotion to whomever, and I don't have to hurt them. It works both ways.

And I am letting this one go, beyond saying she's fifty-seven days old, three of her picks are for the same damn club (down to the coordinates; she just bookmarked the same place three times), and three out of her four groups have to do with music (and two are related to that one club), so...I'll grant that she's impaired in some fashion, and move on with my life.

Miss Quandry's put up an excellent post on Madpeas' Room 326 hunt, which is counting down its last days. I have a couple of shots I'm planning on posting of the hunt, itself, but I'm waiting until the hunt is over, just in case there are issues with revealing locations. I will say, this was one of the more difficult of the Madpea hunts--not Twisted difficult, mind you, but fairly challenging. That, paired with the jump from L$10 HUDs to L$50 HUDs, has made several people somewhat irate.

My view is, though, we're still getting fifteen really good prizes, plus the chance to wander through a story and see how it evolves as we go. For only fifty Linden. That's less than half the price of a Bare Rose outfit, or one-eighth the price of a FallnAngels kimono, so seriously, pony up the funds and move on; it's a trifle.

Beyond that, if people really object that much to paying forty Linden more for a scavenger hunt...well, seriously, they need to reevaluate their values, or something. You'd pay more for a pack of gum. Honestly.

Do you know the history of the .mp3? NPR wasn't sure we did, so went to Karlheinz Brandenberg to get the real story. It's fascinating, uneasy-making stuph.

And you will never see me on this hunt. Talk about missing the point...in all directions!

Looking for a terrifying avatar? I can help you with that.

The FTC has finally stepped in and forced Linden Lab to change their "Become your avatar!" campaign, on the charge of false advertising. You can see the revised before and after pictures on Miss Questi's blog.

(Yes, yes, it's a parody...but seriously, that would be cool if they did it that way.)

And this is one of the most impressive images I've seen from a Second Life photographer. My eyes keep telling me it's real; that the combination between the exquisitely textured sign, and the veiling of approaching night, manage to remove the computerized component entirely. Would it still feel "real", to me, at any other time of day? Likely not, but as it is, it's stunning.

Meanwhile...in a texture group far, far away...

[20:57] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: sprinkles the otter with pink glitter...
[20:58] Dxxxxx Kxxxx: dear santa thane, id like a martini the otter hasn't stirred with her paws... that is all
[20:58] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: NO!
[20:59] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx dabbles her paws in ALL THE MARTINIS
[21:00] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: --==crate=--
[21:01] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: AAAAGH NOT THE CRATE!!
[21:00] Dxxxxx Kxxxx: hehehehe
[21:01] Emilly Orr: So first we had an otter covered in pink glitter. Then we had otter retaliation by stirring all the martinis. Does that mean we now have martinis with pink glitter in them?
[21:01] Emilly Orr: Is it edible glitter, at least?
[21:01] Bxxxxxxxx Sxxxxx: it is! like kid proofing the house, we have otter proofed this group
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: havent!
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: well - maybe for a while - gotta go to beta grid
[21:02] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx: but Ill be back!
[21:02] Emilly Orr: You forgot the MUAHAHAHAHA.
[21:03] Sxx Wxxxxxxxx prances off giggling darkly to herself
[21:03] Emilly Orr: Close enough.

Seen at Patron, spinny people:

(from the random album)

Sculpted by Miss Eliza Wierwight (she also owns the Patron sim), the entire installation slowly rotates under a giant red balloon, and it's far more impressive in person. Do go look.

And there's a certifiably angry bird at La Boucherie:

(from the random album)

See? Angry. Really angry.

Seen at The Cube, the sculpture "Womanflower":

(from the random album)

This one was worth going back through to check again, because I wanted to name the artist. (She's Yaiza Galicia, by the way. She's also got a Marketplace store where you can purchase her sculptures at insanely reasonable prices.) The Cube gallery is a linked set of installation spaces, with artists that rotate in and out taking each of the cubes, or only some. If you go, they're happy to send you an invite to their group to keep up to date on the artists in residence.

If you're wondering how J.J. Abrams will do directing the Star Wars reboot, other fans are wondering the same thing. Ross Thompson did a trailer mash-up of both films, just to find out what it might be like.

Do you like zombies? Do you like teddy bears? Ever wonder what you'd get if you mixed the two? I can now answer that, also.

And there's a lot of Kickstarter project videos that start with the fairly artificial "surprise" angle--"Oh hey, I didn't see you there!" Kickstarter's finally made a video montage of projects that have used this angle.

Finally, there's a movement afoot against lives of indulgence and overspending. People are finding smaller spaces, and learning how to live in them; sometimes by building them, sometimes by buying or renting them. Felice Cohen is one of these people, who started out living in a tiny, tiny space, but--due to publicity and sub-leasing restrictions--now lives in a much larger one.

The bit about that which I think is important: she misses her old space. She misses feeling like everything she loved was nearby. I think making the sacrifice to live in smaller spaces means we find out what's truly important to us, and we work on making that feel like home (or reflect the home we have). Instead of what we think we 'should' have, or 'should' be working towards, we work on what we need.

More of us need less than we think we do, to be happy.

So if you read part one and part two of the grand Candy Mountain/Yulicie controversy, you thought that was over and done with, right? Well...no. Which is why this is the third part.

I realized something about all this was bugging me, and it wasn't just not having the dress to compare the Vellent Retro frock to. So, after pondering for four days, I dropped Ms. Legend a notecard.

She wrote back. Apparently she made over thirty-five variations of this, some of which only went out for limited-edition release. However, there were a couple interesting things that came out in her answer:

[19:54] Mynx Legend: (Saved Tue 22 Jan 2013 08:02:01) I made the dress templates all by hand, I never ever use photo sources or purchased templates. I can happily send you a non-special edition candy dress for you to inspect. (These were made in September with my Tea dresses)
[19:54] Mynx Legend: (Saved Tue 22 Jan 2013 08:04:08) PS: Here is the screenshot of my first WIP of my cupcake dress: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mismatch/8010759491/ If that helps you out at all
[19:54] Mynx Legend: (Saved Tue 22 Jan 2013 08:06:02) The dress is a mesh source from Meli Imako, but I haven't used the shading map provided - I don't enjoy doing that. Also, sorry for all the IMs. My brain is a bit scattered today.

It's good to have that confirmed, at least, because as the photos will show, there's virtually no difference in the actual mesh structure of both dresses:

(from the Comparisons album

That's what both dresses look like when laid over each other--if they'd used different base mesh forms, this would have shown that. As it was, they perfectly aligned, with only bits of the texture flashing on and off. This is what's going to make evaluating mesh (and mesh texturing) difficult: six different designers can buy this particular cocktail dress and turn out hundreds of different dresses. The dress form itself does not change. The mesh of the dress does not change. Just the texturing--which Ms. Legend calls "template", by which I think she means her created texture and shadow-map--for the mesh.

Okay. We know they both used the same dress form now. That's fact, that's undeniable, and it's bound to happen when full-perm mesh constructs are sold. What about the dress textures themselves?

That's where things get tricky.

A tip from a friend informed me I could actually rez the dresses out, instead of just trying them on, so for this entire picture run, that's what I did.

(from the Comparisons album

Candy Mountain's dress is on the left (note the star on the back), and Yulicie's "Vellent" is on the right. And it does look as if they've drawn shading in different places.

(from the Comparisons album

Here are both dresses from the front--the "Vellent", again, on the left, Candy Mountain's dress (note the Peter Pan collar) on the right.

(from the Comparisons album

Something was really starting to bug me, though, about the pattern itself. I couldn't put my finger on it, quite yet, so I rezzed out another version of the Candy Mountain dress. Now, Candy Mountain frocks are left and right, leaving Yulicie's "Vellent" in the center.

(from the Comparisons album

Here's the tricky bit. This is an extreme close-up of Yulicie's "Vellent" dress, showing a little jag in one of the drops of the painted texture itself.

(from the Comparisons album

And here, while it's difficult to see, is that same jag on the front of the Candy Mountain dress.

Okay, so what does that mean? Well, if I had to hazard a guess, Ms. Legend bought the template sometime in 2012, textured it with her own textures (not the six-pack that comes with the package from Ms. Imako), and released it. Then went a little crazy with brightly-colored tea dresses until she had those many, many variations.

Ms. Neaph, on the other hand, looks like she might have wandered across the Imako mesh dress recently, and picked it up. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, by the way--mesh forms that Ms. Imako releases are released with full permissions.

But. See that last picture? There's a complication, I think.

Namely, it looks like the drippy 'frosting' texture (or whatever it's supposed to be) on the Yulicie version has been flipped, front to back.

I'm going to go a little farther out on this limb, and say that it looks--at least to me--that the Yulicie dress uses the same texture as the Candy Mountain dress, which was released first, as far as I know.

I want to note: I don't know Ms. Neaph, I'm not saying she's infringing anything with her outfit. It's perfectly possible someone handed her the dress, and the texture, and she just did some quick recoloring for variation, some additional shading across the bust, et voila, her "Vellent Retro" released for the event.

But however she got it, I am saying that it's the same texture as on the Candy Mountain dress. How that happened, I'm not even hazarding a guess, but this comparison run is done, at least for me: the "Vellent Retro" dress does use the same texture as Candy Mountain's "Puddi" dress.

Why does this maker not have this lip? Who makes this lip?!?

And there's a new heavy metal band on the scene--literally. Massing over a ton of solid working gears and metal, they're the heaviest thing around and then some. Give them a listen.

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

In the meantime, some sad news. I'm copying directly from the notecard received.

******************************
Sidney Arctor's Updates Group
******************************

22nd January 2013 Update.

Bad News Everybody :(

The Armada Breakaway Sim is going offline this weekend. :(

All has been done to save it, but there is just too much empty land.

So this will mean Arctor Ship Yards and Fabulous Contraptions will both be closed.

The most popular items from both shops are already on marketplace and will still be available, and I plan to reopen a shop somewhere eventually, but this could well the last chance to get certain items, such as individual sofas (marketplace only has sets) and most of the furniture, full perm sculpts, and dock decorations. Also, it could be a while before my cannons are available again.

As my subscribeomatic server is set up in Armada, this could well be the last update message too.

My marketplace Page is here:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/22780

This shan't be the end of old Siddy tho, nor the last you hear of Armada, new adventures be awaiting in Blake Bay where building is underway, there won't be any commercial ventures but those of you who appreciate creations by me and the rest of Armada builders, drop by in future as there's going to be various fun creations to check out.

Thanks for reading, and good luck to everyone in future!

Sidney. ◕‿◕

P.S.
There will be an end of Armada party on Saturday 26 from 7-9pm SLT and everyone is invited!

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

Personally, I thought Armada Breakaway was an amazing sim concept. In these harsh economic times, we must adapt or sink; and it's not news in the least to hear of another store closing, another sim disappearing. But this one is especially poignant, because it wasn't just another cookie-cutter mall plot. The entire sim was water-based, and every tenant and shopkeeper was parked on a boat, a ship, an airship, in a hot air balloon--the sense I always got was, whatever they could scavenge that could float or fly. And all of these myriad constructions were anchored one to another by rope bridges, wooden walkways, riveted planking, steel catwalks...There was a definite sense of craft, and by that, I mean, making what we have work for us, patching what we're missing, and never giving up.

(from the loss album; the last of Armada Breakaway)

This is pure economic necessity, yes, but I don't view this as giving up. I don't think Sidney does either. But it is a major setback, and another beautiful, irreplaceable thing gone from the grid.

Though it is a sadder, emptier place right now, I'd recommend people see it before it goes up in flames for good.

Wait, there's more clip posts? Oh, darlings. There are always more clip posts.

First up, this is awesome. Though I'm slightly weirded out that it came up on a general Final Fantasy search (I wanted to know how much infringement of Square Enix' IP we were dealing with. I have no plans to email them, I was mostly just curious). Still pretty, though.

While we're on the topic of Final Fantasy, why do these exist?

And artist Russell Walks has designed an absolutely gorgeous Gallifreyan calendar. He's taking preorders now.

There's a steampunk section for craftster.org! Not all the tutorials are tutorials; some are just "my crafts, let me show you them". Still, there are some good tips here, and even the failures are interesting (like the belt pouch that didn't dye perfectly, because it's the first time she's tried to dye leather; but she wanted an aged look anyway, and I think the splotches actually give it character).

From Miss Malaprop comes news of a potential solution to the problem of oversized "smartphones" that won't make calls consistently--a Bluetooth-enabled mini-phone that takes over the actual call functions. So...let me get this straight--rather than make the candybar-styled touchscreen phones work as phones, they're just...including a miniature cell phone?

It does other things, of course--I like the fact that it can serve as a television remote and a photo shutter, thus enabling users to prop their smartphones up somewhere and snap a shot across the room--but to essentially just add on another device to the device one already has, in order to bring more functionality to the device one already has...I tend to agree with the reviewers: it shouldn't have come to this.

The Laughing Squid blog is pimping Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's "Cthulhu in Love" perfume, sold only through Thinkgeek. It's an intoxicating blend of ritual incense, sea kelp, ancient spice, and chocolate, and it's a wonderful tie-in and introduction to what Black Phoenix does as a parfumerie.

Other mentions leading up to Valentine's Day: a pair of hand-painted Sriracha heels, and the giftable 8-bit rose, forever blooming for your personal Player 2.

Back in 2012, graduate architect Jack Munro developed a new method of making bricks--with cow blood. They're not as strong as traditional clay bricks, but much of the construction in his test area (Egypt) features mud bricks, anyway, and he postulates they're just as strong as the mud versions, plus use less water to make.

From the same site comes interesting news on bricks made from wool, bricks made from fly ash (a by-product of coal power plants), bricks made from paper-making waste, and bricks made from steel mill slag.

There's other interesting tech being developed, though--for instance, an entirely new means of data storage: encoding it into DNA. If this catches on at a possible, forget Johnny Mnemonic's measly ten Gb capacity: about three zettabytes' worth can be encoded in around a cup of cloned DNA strands.

There's someone who goes only by "Major Scaled", who's slowly uploading pop songs originally written in minor keys, that have been digitally re-scaled to feature major key blends. They're odd but definitely informative, to the difference between minor and major scales.

Finally, I give you a sloth flying. Well, mostly a sloth being lifted. But hey. Enjoy either way.

Homeland Security is now telling people not to download Java updates. Java has no response as of the writing of this, though they really should--either a brief press release saying they're sorry, or a brief press release saying they're working on it and don't hate them. Either would be fine.

Back to Candy Mountain vs. Yulicie!

Since I only have the one photograph to use for comparison, I'm thinking my best bet is to just list the dress features and go from there.

(from the Comparisons album: the "Puddi" dress from Candy Mountain, again

I do love the texture of the fabric; it's making me wish I'd actually acquired this when it was released (even if it was in flan colors)! How'ver, the features of the dress as I see them:

• Peter Pan collar
• demi-cap sleeves
• cloth fold/cloth stretching shadowing across the chest
• a bas-relief printed 'nubbly' texture across bodice and upper section of skirt
• bell skirt, patterned in the same 'nubbly' texture for the upper section, and a straight deep custard yellow for the lower section

Even though it was released in November, it seems a light, fun summer dress, conservatively short in length, and could go admirably with many different skin tones and hair colors.

And now, some shots of the "Candy" dress from Yulicie for comparison:

(from the Comparisons album)

This is Yulicie's Vellent Retro mesh dress, in "Tutti-Frutti".

So, first up: this doesn't have a Peter Pan collar. It also seems to have actual cap sleeves, not demi-caps, but to be fair, I only have Candy Mountain's product shot to look at, not an actual wearable copy. And while the skirt is similar, it doesn't seem precisely exact, at least texture-to-texture-wise.

(from the Comparisons album)

Tossing in a couple close-ups here, this one specifically showing the draw lines across the chest. Candy Mountain's dress clearly has four wider draw lines; Yulicie, for comparison, has four draw lines, but narrower ones. And Yulicie's designer adds in a wrinkle along the right-hand side, as well. (I'd go back to Candy Mountain's dress for comparison, but it's obscured in the one shot I have by the "LIMITED EDITION" printing across the shot.)

(from the Comparisons album)

The second close-up features the scoop neck of the Vellent Retro dress. And, while we're here, let me say that having this scoop neckline on this color makes it look very similar to the traditional "boat-neck nautical-inspired tops and dresses seen around and about--without verging into Flashdance territory. Plus, let's bring up the one thing I still like about well-made mesh outfits--that they look like actual clothing hanging on a body, not design work painted on a body.

(from the Comparisons album)

The side of the dress, to show the flow of the skirt, basically. I don't have any views on the side of the Candy Mountain dress, so this is basically just me showing you the side of the dress, because, dress side. Essentially.

(from the Comparisons album)

And the back of the dress, same reasoning.

(from the Comparisons album)

Finally, a shot of the other dress color in the pack, "Strawberry Avalanche". This also shows the basic flaw of this--well, any--mesh outfit, but let me stress, it's not the fault of this dress that our avatars clip through the fabric. It's actually the fault of the clipping our avatars do in general, because there's no anti-clipping code in the SL client. (And likely never will be.)

My end conclusion: I'm wondering if this was just a case of similar templates, again. I went looking on the Marketplace to see if I could find the base template used, and nothing came up with this specific shape, so the jury's still out on the possibility. (To be fair, I didn't ruthlessly pursue a search using all potential search terms, either).

I think there's definite similarity, but whether that similarity is because Yulicie scarpered off with Candy Mountain's LE dress is decidedly unclear. The textures used are different, the sleeve styles at least appear to be slightly different, but to me, it does look like both designers went to the same template maker for this outfit.

If anyone knows who that is, do let me know, and I'll do my best to post pics of the base template used.

Last notes: I was wearing size M for both versions of the Vellent Retro dress. I did alter my base shape for two slider points: breast size, and torso muscles, both found under the Torso slider settings. I only needed to drop by two points on each setting, though, so it didn't put me out by that much. And after I adjusted those two slider settings, the dress fit perfectly.

(Worn [besides the dress] for this entry: Rue's "Cabal" skin, 'Naif' variant, in Powder [no idea if it's available now, though I know you can find reasonable facsimile skins in her shop]; the Leafy lipgloss tattoo in "Ice" over that; Discord Designs' "Starstruck Eyes" in Sophie [might still be available at the store at a DEEP discount if you look around]; GG's duotone pink/pink OTK socks [Naoki Ninetails designed them, but GG doesn't seem to exist anymore. She says her items are now under the Locke Couture imprint on SL Marketplace, but nothing seems to be there]; ploom's "Dawn" hair, a ring-curled mesh pony style in one of the "Candy" color-pack variants [in this case, blonde base with ombre pink/blue tinting]; and Dare Designs' "Looking for Strange" mesh boots in bubblegum pink [an in-store special a few months back]. And I took all the shots in the Sky Retreat skybox, designed by Desperation Isle Productions but provided by (and floating in a sim owned by) Little Dreams Estates. It's pretty here. I like it.)

I don't know. You deal with it. For some reason that weirds me out.

So at the behest of a friend, I found myself at Candy Mountain, a store I'd never heard of. Damn, that store is bright:

(from the shopping album; the Candy Mountain main store)

Also, all that bright and color come with occasional hazards. Avoid the ceiling tentacles:

(from the shopping album; the Candy Mountain main store)

There's also a couple group gifts, scattered about, if you're in the group (it's a one-time fee of L$75, but currently, she's got a pretty amazing skin sale, and I'm a sucker for eyes, so yeah, joined the group), but keep in mind, they're close to another tentacle!

(from the shopping album; the Candy Mountain main store)

Wing crumple! Oh no!

I was there, ostensibly, to try to track down this dress (or a reasonable variant thereof):

(from the Comparisons album; Candy Mountain's "Puddi" dress for the Black Friday event in November of last year)

As it turns out--after thoroughly exploring the store--there's nothing that matches this dress in the least. I may contact the maker, but yeah, not holding out any hope for acquiring a copy of my own.

[Insert from the Editrix: I was wrong here. There actually are copies in-store of this outfit, which I completely glossed over because they didn't match the one picture I had in my head. Oops. More in this entry.]

The other version's over at Perfect Wardrobe, an occasional event in the Escapes sim. This time out, it has "Candy" as the theme...so here comes Yulicie's offering for the event:

(from the Comparisons album; Yulicie's "Candy" dress for Perfect Wardrobe)

Currently on offer--two-packs of the (mesh) dresses, one in a more sugary-candy palette, and the other greatly resembling the "Puddi" dress, in token flan shades.

(from the shopping album; Yulicie's main store)

Also, what is UP with the constant trend for pouty fish-lipped women in SL?!?

(from the shopping album; Yulicie's main store)

I just don't get it.

I think I'll make the actual dress comparisons their own entry, so watch this space!

And another of the clip post variety--I'm building up far too many links and just leaving the tabs open until I get around to mentioning them here. This really needs to stop.

First up is a treat for horror fans--if you're a fan of the genre as a whole, you'll understand the deep frustration involved in feeling like there's been no really good horror films released in a while, just tepid, insipid remakes or sequels, neither doing the originals justice. This may help with that--it's a list of twenty-five under-appreciated films, with various takes on horror as a theme. Some are amusing, some are gory, some are bizarre, a few are outright bleak and nihilistic--but I guarantee you'll find something you'll treasure on that list, if you give them a chance.

My personal recommendations:

• Darkness: Evocative, subtle, unnerving, and it works on more than one level--the over-arching occult trope playing well into the concept of the haunted house, the haunted family, and everyday standard familial disintegration.
• The Woods: Gorgeously filmed period piece about coming of age, with all its myriad horrors--with, of course, grace notes of insanity, haunting, paranoia and the darkness at the heart of old forests.
• $la$herS: Don't let the bargain-basement, reality-TV show concept put you off. While everything about this is low-budget, and there's not one actor you'll recognize, start to finish, the entire film is so damned earnest--and well-done--you really won't care. Add the further unsettling realization that at this point, we're really not far from the future posited in this 2001 film.
• Pontypool: Slow-paced to the point of causing shivers on its own, when this little gem picks up, it picks UP--right into a wall of razorblades and hooks. While that description may seem to imply massive gore, there's really not much; the main strength of this is in its bizarre, surreal linking theme: language, after all, is the virus passed over the airwaves.

While we're on the horror kick, Silent Hill as a concept has now spawned multiple games, mini-games within those games, two feature films, and a host of soundtracks in full release (as well as numerous limited editions). For some reason, one of the most haunting monsters from Silent Hill never had her own action figure...until now.

Personally, I think her head looks too much like a puppy whose features have been rather thoroughly erased, but she's excellently done. Even with the strange puppy symbolism, she remains evocative, disturbing, and compelling.

And still creepy.

(For anyone who's wondering still, this is why the nurses are creepy. This might also help, as well as one of the best fan tributes from the Anime Boston convention in 2007. Note that all of those reference horror games, along with the original action figure mention, but hey, we were talking about horror beforehand anyway.)

Jumping from horror to media in general, have a ten-year retrospective of Firefly. You're welcome.

Oh, so she really is a fake geek girl. Yeah, fine, I can deal with that. But nobody else gets a pass using that term.

Recently, Mr. Allen and I went through an inordinately long Let's Play series for something called "Deadly Premonition" (it starts here if anyone's interested, but I'll warn you now: it goes on for forty-sevenparts, most clocking in at either half an hour or a full hour in length), by a new LPer (to us, anyway) who goes by "supergreatfriend". Mostly, it's a long, rambling, Japanese video game that is oddly paying tribute to Twin Peaks (Twin Peaks having found even greater popularity in Japan than in the US). If you're unclear on the concept of the Let's Play video trope, think of it as watching a friend play video games. You're not actually playing, but you can get enjoyment out of watching someone else play. (Sometimes even if they play badly, and yes, while that video makes me giggle, it also comes with a HEAVY language warning.)

After all that, though, I found I'd actually developed some mild interest in the game, as bizarre as it was, so I went looking for more information. The first thing I tracked down was also the most hysterical, so I am now sharing that review with you, because it's just too funny not to spread around.

Some particularly beautiful lines from that review:

• "The game starts off simple enough: you step into the shoes of FBI Special Agent Francis York, an astute and intelligent man who chooses to only investigate homicides involving red plant seeds. Oh yeah, and he can also tell the future by looking into a cup of coffee. And he talks to invisible, possibly imaginary characters nobody else can see. And he eats raw potatoes, sleeps on a mattress in the middle of a cemetery, and stores giant fish inside his suit. Let me take this opportunity to point out I am not making any of this up."
• "Like any responsible FBI Agent concerned with tree-related justice, Agent York approaches the small town around midnight, driving his muscle car through pouring rain while simultaneously talking on his cellphone, listening to music, looking at a laptop, and smoking a cigarette."
• "A definite lowlight of 'Deadly Premonition', the combat missions require you to walk through countless identical hallways killing countless identical zombies while picking up valuable items such as 'country ham' and 'sugar donuts'. These enemies attack you by either walking backwards and sticking their hand in your mouth, or walking forwards and hugging you until you decide to die."
• "During the murder investigation (and lack thereof), you'll find yourself in very odd situations punctuated by Agent York's equally odd demeanor. This is where the game absolutely shines; the surreal interaction between York and the townsfolk (as well as the interaction between York and himself) can only be described as a work of art. In a town where crimes can be solved by shooting bird nests with shotguns, trees drop severed hands that can be used as doorknobs, and countless giant dogs fall out of the sky at midnight, the choice to behave illogically is simply...logical." 

Ah, yes, Japan. You either understand American culture in totally realistic ways (making me scared of my country), or you miss understanding American culture in a way that's actually breathtakingly surreal (making me scared of Japan, but in awe of your cognitive skills). Never change.

In other news--I don't watch a lot of Jim Sterling's output, mainly because he makes my elitist snobbery look like Rebecca-of-Sunnybrook-Farm-level philanthropy. On occasion, this is a shame, because every once in a while, something rolls across my dash like this, which is a precise diatribe against the sort of gamers who complain about the OTHER sort of gamers, when these additions to "their" games do not change their gameplay in the least.

Towards the end, he also makes a very subtle and brief jibe towards people who fear gay marriage because it will somehow impact their "real" marriages...to which I have to say, first, brilliant, Mr. Sterling, and second, if people protesting this are really so easily swayed from their heterosexuality that they would be influenced by hearing about someone else's marriage...well, maybe they shouldn't be married, honestly. Maybe they should just stay at home wrapped in a blanket with a warm bottle of milk nearby.

Forever.

I'm thinking this is getting officially longish, so let me wrap up with a technological advance first heard on Gizmodo. This is both terrifying and awe-inspiring. Let me explain the precise advance.

A group of scientists a couple of years ago started trying to teach a computer basic comprehension skills by giving it full access to Google Image Search and YouTube. Essentially, what they wanted was a computer who could be told one basic concept--"apple", say--and would access images and videos until it came across a representative fruit. It might not be an apple, precisely--it might be a pear, or a coconut cracked in half on a beach, or seven frantic little sausages wondering how to fix their submarine--but there would be some relationship between "fruit" and "consumable food".

What they got wasn't exactly that, but it was even more amusing. Their computer, when fed any basic concept, would find something reasonably approximating, register the find...then go off and watch Youtube videos of cats.

Totally not kidding. That's what happened.

So, another group of scientists started thinking. If we can teach a computer to associate one thing with another approximate thing...what if we remove the middleman? This is what they did: they created a database comprised of literally millions of media slices--some just various colors all the way up to microfragments of an original moving image. Then they set up a group of experiments. This was their result.

So why is this so cool? Think about the possibilities. In the future, I could plug into one of these machines, and think at the receiver. The receiver would access its database and translate what I sent into understandable data. That data would then be re-translated to a display screen where an image that was somewhat close, but not exact, would display.

Oh, sure, it's not that realistic now, you say, but wait. Wait until someone gets the bright idea to film their nightmares, and then make horror films based on them. This will change the WORLD.

The text in full from Cool VL's "licenses.txt", found within the viewer itself.

(This is also past-dated, to spare anyone who doesn't really need to see this, this. Because it is long, dry, and quite dull.)

===========
Logitech License
===========

End-User License Agreement for Logitech LCD SDK

This End-User License Agreement for Logitech LCD SDK ( “Agreement”) is a legal agreement between you, either an individual or legal entity (“You” or “you”) and Logitech Inc. (“Logitech”) for use of the Logitech LCD software development kit, which includes computer software and related media and documentation (hereinafter “LCD SDK”). By using this LCD SDK, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, promptly return the LCD SDK and other items that are part of this product in their original package with your sales receipt to your point of purchase for a full refund, or if you have downloaded this software from a Logitech web site, then you must stop using the software and destroy any copies of the software in your possession or control.

1 Grant of License and Restrictions.

This Agreement grants You the following rights provided that You comply with all terms and conditions of this Agreement.

• (a) Logitech grants You a limited, non-exclusive, nontransferable license to install and use an unlimited number of copies of the LCD SDK on computers . All other rights are reserved to Logitech.
• (b) You shall not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of the LCD SDK, except and only to the extent that this limitation is expressly prohibited by applicable law.
• (c) At your option, you may provide reasonable feedback to Logitech, including but not limited to usability, bug reports and test results, with respect to the LCD SDK. All bug reports, test results and other feedback provided to Logitech by You shall be the property of Logitech and may be used by Logitech for any purpose.
• (d) In the event Logitech, in its sole discretion, elects to provide copies of the LCD SDK to more than one individual employed by You (if You are not a single individual), each such individual shall be entitled to exercise the rights granted in this Agreement and shall be bound by the terms and conditions herein.

2 Updates.

Logitech is not obligated to provide technical support or updates to You for the LCD SDK provided to You pursuant to this Agreement. However, Logitech may, in its sole discretion, provide further pre-release versions, technical support, updates and/or supplements (“Updates”) to You, in which case such Updates shall be deemed to be included in the “LCD SDK” and shall be governed by this Agreement, unless other terms of use are provided in writing by Logitech with such Updates.

3 Intellectual Property Rights.

The LCD SDK is licensed, not sold, to You for use only under the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Logitech and its suppliers retain title to the LCD SDK and all intellectual property rights therein. The LCD SDK is protected by intellectual property laws and international treaties, including U.S. copyright law and international copyright treaties. All rights not expressly granted by Logitech are reserved.

4 Disclaimer of Warranty.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, LOGITECH AND ITS SUPPLIERS PROVIDE THE LCD SDK AND OTHER LOGITECH PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (IF ANY) AS IS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. LOGITECH AND ITS SUPPLIERS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD-PARTY RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO THE LCD SDK AND ANY WARRANTIES OF NON-INTERFERENCE OR ACCURACY OF INFORMATIONAL CONTENT. NO LOGITECH DEALER, AGENT, OR EMPLOYEE IS AUTHORIZED TO MAKE ANY MODIFICATION, EXTENSION, OR ADDITION TO THIS WARRANTY. Some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts, so the above limitation may not apply to you.

5 Limitation of Liability.

IN NO EVENT WILL LOGITECH OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY COSTS OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF INFORMATION OR DATA, OR ANY OTHER SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE SALE OF, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THE LCD SDK OR ANY LOGITECH PRODUCT OR SERVICE, EVEN IF LOGITECH HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO CASE SHALL LOGITECH'S AND ITS SUPPLIERS’ TOTAL LIABILITY EXCEED THE ACTUAL MONEY PAID FOR THE LOGITECH PRODUCT OR SERVICE GIVING RISE TO THE LIABILITY. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. The above limitations will not apply in case of personal injury where and to the extent that applicable law requires such liability.

6 U.S. Government Rights.

Use, duplication, or disclosure of the software contained in the LCD SDK by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions set forth in this Agreement and as provided in DFARS 227.7202-1(a) and 227.7202-3(a) (1995), DFARS 252.227-7013(c)(1)(ii) (OCT 1988) FAR 12.212(a) (1995), FAR 52.227-19, or FAR 52.227-14 (ALT III), as applicable. Logitech Inc. 6505 Kaiser Drive, Fremont, CA 94555.

7 Export Law Assurances.

You agree and certify that neither the LCD SDK nor any other technical data received from Logitech will be exported outside the United States except as authorized and as permitted by the laws and regulations of the United States. If you have rightfully obtained the LCD SDK outside of the United States, you agree that you will not re-export the LCD SDK nor any other technical data received from Logitech, except as permitted by the laws and regulations of the United States and the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction in which you obtained the LCD SDK.

8 Termination:

This Agreement is effective until terminated. Upon any violation of any of the provisions of this Agreement, rights to use the LCD SDK shall automatically terminate and the LCD SDK must be returned to Logitech or all copies of the LCD SDK destroyed. You may also terminate this Agreement at any time by destroying all copies of the LCD SDK in your possession or control. If Logitech makes a request via public announcement or press release to stop using the copies of the LCD SDK, you will comply immediately with this request. The provisions of paragraphs 3, 7, 8 and 12 will survive any termination of this Agreement.

9 General Terms and Conditions.

If You are an individual signing this Agreement on behalf of a company, then You represent that You have authority to execute this Agreement on behalf of such company. This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States and the State of California, without regard to or application of its choice of law rules or principles. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of this Agreement, or portion thereof, to be unenforceable, that provision of the Agreement shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to affect the intent of the parties, and the remainder of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between You and Logitech respect to the use of the LCD SDK and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous understandings, communications or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter.

===========
APR License
===========

Copyright 2000-2004 The Apache Software Foundation

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

==============
Base32 License
==============

* Copyright (c) 2006 Christian Biere
* All rights reserved.
*
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
* are met:
*
* 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
* documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* 3. Neither the name of the authors nor the names of its contributors
* may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
* without specific prior written permission.
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
* ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
* IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
* ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
* FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
* DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
* OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
* HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
* LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
* OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
* SUCH DAMAGE.

============
cURL License
============

COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION NOTICE

Copyright (c) 1996 - 2002, Daniel Stenberg, .

All rights reserved.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose
with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright
notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN
NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE
OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder shall not
be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings
in this Software without prior written authorization of the copyright holder.

=============
expat License
=============

Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2000 Thai Open Source Software Center Ltd

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

================
FreeType License
================

Portions of this software are copyright (c) 2003 The FreeType
Project (www.freetype.org). All rights reserved.

==========================
FSI FontShop International
==========================

Certain of the fonts in the Meta family of copyrighted typefaces are
used in Second Life under license from FSI FontShop
International. Copies of such Meta fonts that are included in the
Viewer are not themselves open source and are not available under the
GPL license, and they may not be copied. Developers may use those
fonts solely to the extent necessary to use or customize the Linden
Software in Second Life and to develop and distribute content solely
for use in the Second Life environment, and for no other purposes.
Second Life developers who wish to make other uses of Meta fonts must
obtain a license from FSI FontShop International at www.fontfont.com.

==========
GL License
==========

Mesa 3-D graphics library
Version: 6.2

Copyright (C) 1999-2004 Brian Paul All Rights Reserved.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
BRIAN PAUL BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.


=========================
glh OpenGL helper library
=========================

glh - is a platform-indepenedent C++ OpenGL helper library


Copyright (c) 2000 Cass Everitt
Copyright (c) 2000 NVIDIA Corporation
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
without modification, are permitted provided that the following
conditions are met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
disclaimer.

* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials
provided with the distribution.

* The names of contributors to this software may not be used
to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
`AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.


Cass Everitt - cass@r3.nu

=======================
JPEG Library 6b License
=======================

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group

================
JPEG2000 License
================

Copyright 2001, David Taubman, The University of New South Wales (UNSW)
The copyright owner is Unisearch Ltd, Australia (commercial arm of UNSW)
Neither this copyright statement, nor the licensing details below
may be removed from this file or dissociated from its contents.

Licensee: Linden Research, Inc.
License number: 00024
The licensee has been granted a COMMERCIAL license to the contents of
this source file. A brief summary of this license appears below. This
summary is not to be relied upon in preference to the full text of the
license agreement, accepted at purchase of the license.
1. The Licensee has the right to Commercial Use of the Kakadu software,
including distribution of one or more Applications built using the
software.
2. The Licensee has the right to Internal Use of the Kakadu software,
including use by employees of the Licensee or an Affiliate for the
purpose of performing services on behalf of the Licensee or Affiliate,
or in the performance of services for Third Parties who engage Licensee
or an Affiliate for such services.
3. The Licensee has the right to distribute Reusable Code (including
source code and dynamically or statically linked libraries) to a Third
Party, provided the Third Party possesses a license to use the Kakadu
software.

==================
ogg/vorbis License
==================

Copyright (c) 2001, Xiphophorus

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

- Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

- Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

- Neither the name of the Xiphophorus nor the names of its contributors
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

===============
OpenSSL License
===============

Copyright (c) 1998-2002 The OpenSSL Project. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
distribution.

3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this
software must display the following acknowledgment:
"This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project
for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit. (http://www.openssl.org/)"

4. The names "OpenSSL Toolkit" and "OpenSSL Project" must not be used to
endorse or promote products derived from this software without
prior written permission. For written permission, please contact
openssl-core@openssl.org.

5. Products derived from this software may not be called "OpenSSL"
nor may "OpenSSL" appear in their names without prior written
permission of the OpenSSL Project.

6. Redistributions of any form whatsoever must retain the following
acknowledgment:
"This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project
for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.openssl.org/)"

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE OpenSSL PROJECT ``AS IS'' AND ANY
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE OpenSSL PROJECT OR
ITS CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT,
STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED
OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. ====================================================================

This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young
(eay@cryptsoft.com). This product includes software written by Tim
Hudson (tjh@cryptsoft.com).


=======================
Original SSLeay License
=======================

Copyright (C) 1995-1998 Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com)
All rights reserved.

This package is an SSL implementation written
by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com).
The implementation was written so as to conform with Netscapes SSL.

This library is free for commercial and non-commercial use as long as
the following conditions are aheared to. The following conditions
apply to all code found in this distribution, be it the RC4, RSA,
lhash, DES, etc., code; not just the SSL code. The SSL documentation
included with this distribution is covered by the same copyright terms
except that the holder is Tim Hudson (tjh@cryptsoft.com).

Copyright remains Eric Young's, and as such any Copyright notices in
the code are not to be removed.
If this package is used in a product, Eric Young should be given attribution
as the author of the parts of the library used.
This can be in the form of a textual message at program startup or
in documentation (online or textual) provided with the package.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

• 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the copyright
• notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
• 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
• notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
• documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
• 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
• must display the following acknowledgement:
• "This product includes cryptographic software written by
• Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com)"
• The word 'cryptographic' can be left out if the rouines from the library
• being used are not cryptographic related :-).
• 4. If you include any Windows specific code (or a derivative thereof) from
• the apps directory (application code) you must include an acknowledgement:
• "This product includes software written by Tim Hudson (tjh@cryptsoft.com)"

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY ERIC YOUNG ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

The licence and distribution terms for any publically available version or
derivative of this code cannot be changed. i.e. this code cannot simply be
copied and put under another distribution licence
[including the GNU Public Licence.]


==================
xmlrpc-epi License
==================

Copyright 2000 Epinions, Inc.

Subject to the following 3 conditions, Epinions, Inc. permits you, free of charge, to (a) use, copy, distribute, modify, perform and display this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), and (b) permit others to whom the Software is furnished to do so as well.

1) The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included without modification in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

2) THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT.

3) IN NO EVENT SHALL EPINIONS, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOST PROFITS ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE (HOWEVER ARISING, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), EVEN IF EPINIONS, INC. IS AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.


============
zlib License
============

'zlib' general purpose compression library version 1.1.4, March 11th, 2002

Copyright (C) 1995-2002 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty.
In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the
use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
freely, subject to the following restrictions:

The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim
that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product,
an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is
not required.

Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
misrepresented as being the original software.

This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

Jean-loup Gailly
jloup@gzip.org

Mark Adler
madler@alumni.caltech.edu

==============
libpng license
==============

COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DISCLAIMER, and LICENSE:

If you modify libpng you may insert additional notices immediately following
this sentence.

libpng versions 1.2.6, August 15, 2004, through 1.2.18, May 15, 2007, are
Copyright (c) 2004, 2006-2007 Glenn Randers-Pehrson, and are
distributed according to the same disclaimer and license as libpng-1.2.5
with the following individual added to the list of Contributing Authors:

Cosmin Truta

libpng versions 1.0.7, July 1, 2000, through 1.2.5, October 3, 2002, are
Copyright (c) 2000-2002 Glenn Randers-Pehrson, and are
distributed according to the same disclaimer and license as libpng-1.0.6
with the following individuals added to the list of Contributing Authors:

Simon-Pierre Cadieux
Eric S. Raymond
Gilles Vollant

and with the following additions to the disclaimer:

There is no warranty against interference with your enjoyment of the
library or against infringement. There is no warranty that our
efforts or the library will fulfill any of your particular purposes
or needs. This library is provided with all faults, and the entire
risk of satisfactory quality, performance, accuracy, and effort is with
the user.

libpng versions 0.97, January 1998, through 1.0.6, March 20, 2000, are
Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2000 Glenn Randers-Pehrson, and are
distributed according to the same disclaimer and license as libpng-0.96,
with the following individuals added to the list of Contributing Authors:

Tom Lane
Glenn Randers-Pehrson
Willem van Schaik

libpng versions 0.89, June 1996, through 0.96, May 1997, are
Copyright (c) 1996, 1997 Andreas Dilger
Distributed according to the same disclaimer and license as libpng-0.88,
with the following individuals added to the list of Contributing Authors:

John Bowler
Kevin Bracey
Sam Bushell
Magnus Holmgren
Greg Roelofs
Tom Tanner

libpng versions 0.5, May 1995, through 0.88, January 1996, are
Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Guy Eric Schalnat, Group 42, Inc.

For the purposes of this copyright and license, "Contributing Authors"
is defined as the following set of individuals:

Andreas Dilger
Dave Martindale
Guy Eric Schalnat
Paul Schmidt
Tim Wegner

The PNG Reference Library is supplied "AS IS". The Contributing Authors
and Group 42, Inc. disclaim all warranties, expressed or implied,
including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of
fitness for any purpose. The Contributing Authors and Group 42, Inc.
assume no liability for direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary,
or consequential damages, which may result from the use of the PNG
Reference Library, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

Permission is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
source code, or portions hereof, for any purpose, without fee, subject
to the following restrictions:

1. The origin of this source code must not be misrepresented.

2. Altered versions must be plainly marked as such and
must not be misrepresented as being the original source.

3. This Copyright notice may not be removed or altered from
any source or altered source distribution.

The Contributing Authors and Group 42, Inc. specifically permit, without
fee, and encourage the use of this source code as a component to
supporting the PNG file format in commercial products. If you use this
source code in a product, acknowledgment is not required but would be
appreciated.

=================
Vivox SDK License
=================

RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm

Audio coding: Polycom¨ Siren14TM (ITU-T Rec. G.722.1 Annex C)

Open Source Software Licensing
Each open source software component utilized by this product is subject to its own copyright and licensing terms, as listed below.


*************************************************************
*************************************************************

/**
* OpenAL cross platform audio library
* Copyright (C) 1999-2000 by authors.
* This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
* modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
* License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
* version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
*
* This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
* Library General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public
* License along with this library; if not, write to the
* Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
* Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
* Or go to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lgpl.html
*/

*************************************************************
*************************************************************
RTP code under Lesser General Public License

/*
The oRTP library is an RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol - rfc3550) stack.
Copyright (C) 2001 Simon MORLAT simon.morlat@linphone.org

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
*/

************************************************************
************************************************************

/*
* The Vovida Software License, Version 1.0
*
* Copyright (c) 2000 Vovida Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
*
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
* are met:
*
* 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
*
* 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
* the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
* distribution.
*
* 3. The names "VOCAL", "Vovida Open Communication Application Library",
* and "Vovida Open Communication Application Library (VOCAL)" must
* not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
* software without prior written permission. For written
* permission, please contact vocal@vovida.org.
*
* 4. Products derived from this software may not be called "VOCAL", nor
* may "VOCAL" appear in their name, without prior written
* permission of Vovida Networks, Inc.
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED
* WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
* OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND
* NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL VOVIDA
* NETWORKS, INC. OR ITS CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT DAMAGES
* IN EXCESS OF $1,000, NOR FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
* EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
* PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
* PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY
* OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
* (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE
* USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
* DAMAGE. *
*
* This software consists of voluntary contributions made by Vovida
* Networks, Inc. and many individuals on behalf of Vovida Networks,
* Inc. For more information on Vovida Networks, Inc., please see
*
*
*/
*************************************************************
*************************************************************

Internet Software Consortium code

/* This is from the BIND 4.9.4 release, modified to compile by itself */
/* Copyright (c) 1996 by Internet Software Consortium.
*
* Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
* purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
* copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
*
* THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND INTERNET SOFTWARE CONSORTIUM DISCLAIMS
* ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES
* OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL INTERNET SOFTWARE
* CONSORTIUM BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
* DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
* PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
* ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS
* SOFTWARE.
*/

*************************************************************

*************************************************************

*************************************************************

http://tinyxpath.sourceforge.net/

TinyXPath is covered by the zlib license :

www.sourceforge.net/projects/tinyxpath
Copyright (c) 2002-2006 Yves Berquin (yvesb@users.sourceforge.net)

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any
damages arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any
purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and
redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must
not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this
software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation
would be appreciated but is not required.

2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and
must not be misrepresented as being the original software.

3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.


************************************************************
************************************************************

THE FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION

Any customer may request the source code for all open source portions of this product which are covered by the Free Software Foundation's General Public License (GPL), for a period of three years from purchase. Please contact the vendor from whom you obtained this product for instructions. A fee equivalent to the cost of making the code available may be charged. Alternatively, customers may choose to download desired GPL components directly from their original vendors. Specifically, this product contains the following GPL-licensed components:


From Vivox:
- Assorted software components. To request source, contact Vivox at:
Vivox, Inc.
Attn: customer support
40 Speen Street Suite 402
Framingham, MA 01701


========================
google-perftools license
========================

Copyright (c) 2005, Google Inc.
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
distribution.
* Neither the name of Google Inc. nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.