movers sulk like gravediggers, while you hug at the door

"Is this AI trying to learn?"

This also strikes me as AI work (and there is mild nudity, so potentially NSFW), but the song is moody, and atmospheric, and the animation is at the least fascinating to watch.

(Bit on Kiki Rockwell in general, because I hadn't heard her before--this article was written in January of this year, so she's relatively new, and from New Zealand.)



So! The 'Atropa' Parasite Flower, another iteration of an earlier work. It needed to be covered. [[Insert from the Editrix: I am being *very honest* in dating...sort of...in that the Necropolis Aether Salon occurred on 18 October, I started seriously working on this entry ten days later, on 28 October...but it's getting dated November 5th for final publishing.]]

It's a new library site, as well. No idea why, though it could have something to do with the current absence of the Baron, but--overall, it seems a much more warm, comforting space.



And yes, that is the Chartes Cathedral labyrinth in the library. I don't know if it's always there, or if that was an addition for the Salon on the Necropolis, as understood through a few eras. Either way, it's a lovely thing to see in a library.



And Sir Edward definitely was in his element for this one, comparing various cities of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, how they dealt with body disposal as a whole, as well as side jaunts into places like the Paris Catacombs and the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic.



Basically, I wanted to attend--not only because I wanted to hear the Necropolis Salon, but because I thought it would be a good way to capture some still pics of me wearing the Atropa flower.



So as seen in the first pic for this entry, there are fourteen different options for the metals, fourteen for the petals, and I think seventeen different options for the vines?

If I'm counting correctly.



It was a pretty piece before, without the trailing vines, but there's something...extra...added with that addition.



I like it, though. I can easily see this being an oft-used accessory.



This was an exclusive release for Hallow Manor, which opened October 13th and closed November 1st. Now, it's in the mainstore, and if you want a direct beacon to the accessories wall, then click this. It's L$400, post-event.

Also, apparently it's Second Life Annual Cleanup Week. So, uh...go do that, I guess.

for all of us who've seen the light, salute the dead and lead the fight (part IV)

(Continued from part III.)


(I can't recall if this was from a film, or a still from an actual military experiment.)

[14:57] Vernden Jervil: There is also a board game set in the same world as Iron Harvest called Scythe.
[14:57] Edward Pearse: It makes me think of a steampunk setting where the technology has advanced forward to the point of the first world war.
[14:57] Sasha Prismara Featherlight (sashaveiloftears): The golden compass, always think of that with that theme
[14:57] Edward Pearse: Golden Compass and His Dark Materials is the same thing
[14:57] Izabelle1 (izabelle66): yes
[14:58] Polly (polly.ellsmere): movie aesthetic a bit different to TV series though
[14:58] Edward Pearse: Generally gets lumped in with steampunk, though I'm not sure it's either

(Prototype art of a plane that was actually designed some decades later, and a dieselpunk/deco luxury car.)

[14:58] Ceejay Writer: Wasn't the original City Hall here in Babbage based on the tall building in Golden Compass?
[14:58] Jimmy Branagh: Yes
[14:59] Edward Pearse: That was the third City Hall, but yes
[14:59] Jimmy Branagh: That was the second Town Hall, built by Loki Eliot
[14:59] Ceejay Writer: Ah. See, I shoulda got to town earlier!
[14:59] Jimmy Branagh: Yes, 3rd.
[14:59] Edward Pearse: Wolfenstein
[14:59] Ceejay Writer: Also Not A Founder, Jimmy.
[14:59] Edward Pearse: Wolfenstein is so old that when the first game was released it was on the Apple II
[14:59] Jimmy Branagh: Eh?
[15:00] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) frowns and resets the Tipbot.
[15:00] Edward Pearse: The first Castle Wolfenstein was essentially sneak in and steal the plans and kill Nazis.
[15:00] Edward Pearse: Not a huge amount of dieselpunk there.

No, not the first version.

[15:00] Edward Pearse: But as the series progressed,
[15:00] Edward Pearse: I think there have been 13 or so games now
[15:00] Edward Pearse: it introduced the SS Paranormal Division, the Spear of Destiny, Adolf Hitler in power armour, and a variety of other weirdness.
[15:01] Edward Pearse: Bioshock is a personal favourite
[15:01] Edward Pearse: If you haven't played it, essentially you are the lone survivor of a plane crash who is lucky enough to wash up near a giant light house in the middle of the Atlantic somewhere.
[15:02] Edward Pearse: The light house is the top of a huge undersea city called Rapture.
[15:02] Edward Pearse: Sadly, free market capitalism went wild and one of the citizens used his influence to stage a coup over the Rapture's population has rioted and you're stuck in the underwater city with a bunch of crazies.
[15:02] Izabelle1 (izabelle66): wow
[15:02] Ceejay Writer: So it's Myst with Rabies?
[15:02] Edward Pearse: Rapture is a gorgeous vision of art deco
[15:02] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): And weaponized courtesy
[15:03] Edward Pearse: I would pay real money for a mod that lets me skip the whole game and just wander the city.
[15:03] Izabelle1 (izabelle66): atlantus reborn?
[15:03] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): That would also suit me, Edward
[15:03] Edward Pearse: As for literature
[15:03] Edward Pearse: I personally loved K.M. Weiland's Storming.
[15:03] Izabelle1 (izabelle66): Arlantis
[15:03] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): This has been fun, loves, but I think I must be moving on. Was a pleasure to see you all.
[15:04] Edward Pearse: The characters were a bit cliched but the story was great fun!
[15:04] Bixyl Shuftan: I need to head out
[15:04] Bixyl Shuftan tips his hat
[15:04] Izabelle1 (izabelle66): Buh-bye!
[15:04] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Gute Nacht, those leaving.

(Captain America, Agent Carter, and dieselpunk anime.)

[15:04] Edward Pearse: Some other recommendations
[15:04] Jimmy Branagh: Noight Miss!
[15:04] Edward Pearse: A Fistful of Nothing by Dan Glaser – 2014
[15:04] Edward Pearse: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld – 2009
[15:04] Nyx Malaspina: XD
[15:04] Izabelle1 (izabelle66): i am artfull hammerer's Niece
[15:04] Edward Pearse: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk edited by Sean Wallace - 2015
[15:04] Ceejay Writer: Take care those leaving peoples!
[15:05] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Bitte, if you wish to appreciate our speaker before you leave, pay the small machine at the front of the stage.
[15:05] Edward Pearse: And I'll throw in Fatherland by Robert Harris – 1992
[15:05] Edward Pearse: And a final shoutout to one of my favourite radio characters of all time [15:05] Edward Pearse: The Red Panda
[15:05] Ceejay Writer: And the Flying Squirrel!!!!!!!
[15:05] Edward Pearse: Inspired by old radio shows like The Shadow and Green Hornet, the story starts in 1930s Toronto and ran for 13 glorious years
[15:05] Edward Pearse: https://decoderringtheatre.com/shows/red-panda-adventures/
[15:06] Edward Pearse: Decoder Ring Theatre also created Black Jack Justice
[15:06] Vernden Jervil: And is still going on a lesser level.
[15:06] Ceejay Writer: It's really good - I've played each ep multiple times.

(Sucker Punch.)

[15:06] Edward Pearse: Noir Detective
[15:06] Ceejay Writer: Look for Black Jack Justice there, too.
[15:06] Edward Pearse: So that mostly covers it I think
[15:06] Edward Pearse: Any questions?
[15:07] Jimmy Branagh applauds
[15:07] Izabelle1 (izabelle66): yay
[15:07] Liz Wilner: ♪♫♥ Applauds!!! ♥♫♪
[15:07] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) applauds
[15:07] Ceejay Writer whistles and stomps her feet
[15:07] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[15:07] Cassie Eldemar (cashew.writer): .•*♥*•. applauds .•*♥*•.
[15:07] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) applauds

(A full shot of the stage, which is apparently split in half between two parcels, and the job of work Edward had to do to fit all the pictures onto each parcel without maxing out that parcel's prims.)

[15:07] Vernden Jervil: cheers
[15:07] Liz Wilner: well done, Edward!
[15:07] Polly (polly.ellsmere): ♩♪♫♬ APPAWS! ♩♪♫♬
[15:07] Sophie Cloud applauds
[15:07] Jimmy Branagh: Good Salon. And you filled the entire hour!
[15:07] Izabelle1 (izabelle66): Thank you! :)
[15:07] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): And did not crash the sim!
[15:07] Sophie Cloud: Excellent!
[15:07] Cassie Eldemar (cashew.writer): thank you Edward, I learned a lot
[15:07] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): Thanks for the links!

(Continued in part V.)

for all of us who've seen the light, salute the dead and lead the fight (part II)

(Continued from part one.)


(Decopunk poster, and Mad Max.)

[14:13] Edward Pearse: By and large dieselpunk takes over where steampunk finishes.
[14:14] Edward Pearse: It's set roughly between WW1 and the 1950s.
[14:14] Edward Pearse: I tend to aim for a more late 30s to early 40s style when designing things myself.
[14:14] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Welcome, Fraulein Baker. Do come have a seat.
[14:14] Edward Pearse: The aristocracy features a lot less in dieselpunk than steampunk
[14:15] Edward Pearse: While you will get officers in military settings there's far less Dukes, Barons and Ladies.
[14:15] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) chuckles
[14:15] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): Perhaps I've overdressed.
[14:15] Edward Pearse: As with the change in time period most of the great monarchies of the 19th century had disappeared by this time.
[14:15] Wildstar Beaumont: no Ladies ... sounds scandalous
[14:15] Edward Pearse: There is also a larger involvement of aeroplanes in dieselpunk.
[14:15] Nyx Malaspina: but plenty of dames....
[14:15] Edward Pearse: Steampunk co-opted the airship but in reality the airships heyday was the 1920s to 30s

(The allure of uniforms.)

[14:16] Edward Pearse: Britain had the R100 and the R101.
[14:16] Edward Pearse: With the R101's crash in France in 1930 that effectively killed Imperial Airship Scheme
[14:16] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): Such a pity...
[14:17] Polly (polly.ellsmere): funny - lots of train crashes didn't put an end to rail
[14:17] Edward Pearse: The Zeppelin company continued with airships until the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 brought
[14:17] Edward Pearse: that to a screeching halt.
[14:17] Edward Pearse: As steampunk is the age where steam engines powered the world with soot and a Victorian aesthetic,
[14:17] Edward Pearse: dieselpunk is when diesel engines ruled along with the grease and oil required to run them.
[14:18] Edward Pearse: And just as there are those who like their steampunk brass to be shiny and their wood to be teak,
[14:18] Ceejay Writer: It seems to appeal to most of my mechanically inclined friends.
[14:18] Edward Pearse: there are dieselpunks who like their engines clean and their buildings repaired.
[14:18] Edward Pearse: So much so that some have created a subgenre called decopunk.
[14:19] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): I still haven't figured that out yet.
[14:19] Jimmy Branagh: Oy love th' smell of grease and oil on th' morning ...
[14:19] Edward Pearse: I personally disagree with splitting it into a smaller genre, but each to their own.
[14:19] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): Mm, you're telling me...
[14:19] Breezy Carver: lol
[14:19] Wildstar Beaumont: :)
[14:19] Sophie Cloud: yes, please wipe your boots before coming into my kitchen

(Actual period uniforms.)

[14:19] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): Again, I do apologize for "appearing from the future" so to speak.
[14:20] Ceejay Writer: Meh, Steampunk is all fragmented up too, for me it's all a happy jumble.
[14:20] Edward Pearse: I have also seen people try and put things like Mad Max into the dieselpunk genre.
[14:20] Prof (professor.woodsheart): people like their bit of the pie
[14:20] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): Let us roll our eyes in unison.
[14:20] Vernden Jervil: Oh we have a time travel incident at least once a month, no worries
[14:20] Edward Pearse: While I understand why, to me post-apocalyptic genres are another beast altogether.
[14:20] Darlingmonster Ember: ouch
[14:20] Nyx Malaspina: considers how many times she's tried to explain rococo punque and given up.
[14:20] Ceejay Writer: Daisy, no worries at all!
[14:20] Edward Pearse: *snorts*
[14:21] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): Especially since I tend to appear from the more...red light district of the future.
[14:21] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) grins
[14:21] Edward Pearse: Oh fer
[14:22] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): Nice graphics!
[14:22] Edward Pearse: Looks like the right hand parcel is full
[14:22] Darlingmonster Ember: nod
[14:23] Jimmy Branagh: ((Lucky day, everything's rezzing))
[14:23] Edward Pearse: Continuing

(And uniforms for the dames.)

[14:23] Edward Pearse: As a rough guide steampunk uses a lot of brass and brown as its base palette.
[14:23] Nyx Malaspina: camming wildly
[14:23] Edward Pearse: In a similar way dieselpunk uses greys and chrome.
[14:23] Ceejay Writer: (Daisy, I ran a burlesque club in Seraph City.)
[14:23] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): (I was probably going to dance for it)
[14:23] Jimmy Branagh: ((Someone ran one in Babbage 'way back too))
[14:23] Ceejay Writer: :D
[14:23] Edward Pearse: Posters and artwork tend to hark back to the propaganda styles of the 30s and 40s
[14:24] Edward Pearse: and there is a huge influence of art deco, especially in the art.
[14:24] Ceejay Writer: ((I worked for that one too Jimmy!))
[14:24] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): (Well, I was thinking about it, Miss Daisy, so you're not alone.)
[14:24] Edward Pearse: General settings are often dark though.
[14:24] Jimmy Branagh: ((Oy dint wanna say nuffin; L) ))
[14:24] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) smiles at Jimmy
[14:24] Edward Pearse: As I mentioned before there's a lot of greys in dieselpunk,
[14:24] Sophie Cloud: I'd love to see a museum of your posters, they are brillant.

I'd actually love to see an exhibit of dieselpunk art, and the influences leading up to it. RL or SL, in fact.

[14:25] Edward Pearse: but the noir influence with contrast and lighting also features considerably in many aspects.
[14:25] Galactic Baroque: (Mad Max is gasoline fantasy, not post-apoc. Fight me.)
[14:25] Darlingmonster Ember: pics are promised for the journal logs
[14:25] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): WWII was a grim period...
[14:25] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): No, I agree.
[14:25] Edward Pearse: I was asked about dieselpunk music.
[14:25] Edward Pearse: I'll say up front that trying to pigeonhole dieselpunk music is even harder than trying to define steampunk music, so I'm not even going to try.

(Another set of fantasy diesel uniforms.)

It really is. "Electroswing" is a good catch-all, but that goes into so many different genres on its own.

[14:25] Nyx Malaspina: electroswing?
[14:25] Edward Pearse: Much like steampunk music is "music that steampunks like", so too dieselpunk music is "music that dieselpunks like".
[14:25] Edward Pearse: That said, Swing and Big Band music tends to feature heavily in the genre.
[14:26] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Electroswing is mostly something everything agrees on
[14:26] Edward Pearse: As I said there is a large 1930s-40s aesthetic in dieselpunk.
[14:26] Edward Pearse: There's a heavy military element with lots of uniforms around.
[14:26] Cassie Eldemar (cashew.writer): :)
[14:26] Nyx Malaspina: s h o u l d e r p a d s
[14:27] Galactic Baroque: l a p e l s
[14:27] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): ((I tend to play my character as a poster girl in addition to former air force mechanic))
[14:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): A lot of Hellboy fits into the aesthetic
[14:27] Edward Pearse: T a i l o r i n g
[14:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): In one sense or another
[14:27] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): ((But that can be a story for another time))
[14:27] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): High fashion gas masks?
[14:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Why not?
[14:27] Edward Pearse: Since many of those uniforms are WW2 inspired there's been suggestion that dieselpunk leads to Nazi cosplay or at least Nazi fetishism.
[14:28] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Anything that deals with uniforms gets that
the difference between a German uniform and a Belgian one.
[14:28] Darlingmonster Ember: nod
[14:28] Edward Pearse: But when you have State Police who dress like this I don't think it carries much weight.
[14:29] Edward Pearse: Current uniform of the New Jersey State Police for those wondering

(Raiders of the Lost Ark theatre poster, and...I forget the one on the right.)

[14:29] Polly (polly.ellsmere): REZ DARNIT!!!!!!
[14:29] Edward Pearse: That said, you always need bad guys. [14:30] Nyx Malaspina: Ho....leave my home state outta dis.
[14:30] Polly (polly.ellsmere): New Jersey is all foggy
[14:30] Edward Pearse: The pinup aesthetic also features heavily in the depiction of women.
[14:30] Poison (marylucretia): Nj NY CT Ma Rhode Island all similar uniforms
[14:31] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Especially in SL iterations
[14:31] Edward Pearse: I think the pinup aesthetic is certainly one of the reasons it's a lot easier to find pictures of dieselpunk women than of dieselpunk men.
[14:31] Edward Pearse: As I said earlier, dieselpunk is more set dressing than actual genre.
[14:31] Edward Pearse: As such it tends to be use existing genres for the story and dress them up accordingly.
[14:32] Nyx Malaspina whispers: (ladies..check out the dark fair for a hat that might meet these requirements.)
[14:32] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): That gal on the far left looks SO authentic *cough cough* authentic *cough cough*
[14:32] Daisy Baker (sweetdanax24): (Speaking of, if anyone needs a poster model for their gallery...)

(A still from The Shadow on the left, and a still from Metropolis on the right.)

[14:32] Polly (polly.ellsmere): looks like all the gents need are joddhies, riding boots and a smart military jacket
[14:32] Edward Pearse: Pulp is a heavy component of dieselpunk.
[14:33] Edward Pearse: Properties such as Indiana Jones and Doc Savage, to The Shadow and Metropolis.
[14:33] Darlingmonster Ember: yay!
[14:33] Edward Pearse: Pulp started as a nickname for the adventure stories that were being published on very cheap paper (pulp).
[14:33] Prof (professor.woodsheart): A pair of oily overalls
[14:33] Ceejay Writer: That tends to be my personal faavorite aspect!
[14:33] Edward Pearse: The name stuck with the genre.
[14:34] Edward Pearse: There are many stories that were published in pulp mags but tend not to be viewed as pulp.
[14:34] Edward Pearse: Pulp is often an action adventure story that does for thrills rather than quality of writing.
[14:34] Edward Pearse: Or at least it did
[14:34] Edward Pearse: Noir can also be a part of dieselpunk.
[14:35] Edward Pearse: Big city detectives, femme fatales, gangsters, mad scientists, you can do it all
[14:35] Vernden Jervil likes noir
[14:35] Edward Pearse: Certainly the Noir genre can be adapted to other aesthetics anyway.
[14:35] Edward Pearse: Blade Runner is probably the best example of a non-noir Noir movies.
[14:35] Edward Pearse: A lot of dieselpunk is about adding in retrofuturism to the setting.
[14:35] Edward Pearse: Al Capone is not dieselpunk.
[14:36] Edward Pearse: Al Capone with an army of robot goons could very well be dieselpunk.
[14:36] Jimmy Branagh: Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow
[14:36] Edward Pearse: FDR with an electromagnetic repulsorlift chair.
[14:36] Edward Pearse: The possibilities are pretty much endless.

(Continued in part three.)

for all of us who've seen the light, salute the dead and lead the fight (part I)

The pictures I got, not all of them came out, sadly, but I picked the best ones of the lot. This was the Aether Salon for dieselpunk, held at the Academy of Industry in New Babbage.


(Edward Pearse, Duke of Primbroke, presenting the discussion.)

This is also one of the few events I'll cover where I leave names intact.

[14:03] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): hiya ceejay. is this in voice? not hearing...
[14:03] Edward Pearse: Nope text.
[14:03] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Nein, not Voice.
[14:03] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): oakily doakily then
[14:03] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): It has been on rare occasions, but they are announced in advance.
[14:03] Ceejay Writer: Local Chat
[14:03] Edward Pearse: Just giving it a couple of minutes for the late arrivals

(A shot of the crowd to start.)

[14:03] Bixyl Shuftan: It's in chat
[14:04] Jimmy Branagh: This is also a test of speed typing ability
[14:04] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Herr Baroque! It has been too long.
[14:04] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) grins
[14:04] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): sehr gut
[14:04] Polly (polly.ellsmere): interesting phenomenon: clouds opening doors
[14:04] Edward Pearse: Yeah I cheated and lots of this I've written down already :-)
[14:04] Cassie Eldemar (cashew.writer): smiles
[14:05] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): That will make it easier for Fraulein Ceejay.
[14:05] Ceejay Writer: That's CHEATING? *eyedarts*
[14:05] Jimmy Branagh: ((I have everything written for mine ahead except for witty badinage. Cut-paste king.))
[14:05] Edward Pearse: Okie dokie, I think we can start
[14:06] Ceejay Writer: ((Ditto, Jimmy.))

(A definition of dieselpunk.)

[14:06] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): Fire when ready, Duke!
[14:06] Jimmy Branagh: ((I would goo crazy otherwise))
[14:06] Edward Pearse: My name is Edward Pearse.
[14:06] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Wait, you mean not everyone writes it in advance?
[14:06] Edward Pearse: Hi!
[14:06] Ceejay Writer: Apparently we ALL do!

(A diesel deco train, and a poster from Seraph City.)

[14:06] Edward Pearse: Most of you in New Babbage are familiar with me
[14:06] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): I should hope you do.
[14:06] Edward Pearse: For those not, I'm one of founders of New Babbage and a long time fan of Steampunk.
[14:07] Edward Pearse: I got interested in dieselpunk through the old sim of Seraph City.
[14:07] Ceejay Writer: You found it? Was it lost?
[14:07] Edward Pearse: Exhibit A
[14:07] Breezy Carver: smiles
[14:07] Edward Pearse: I wasn't part of the founding group but discovered the sim through mutual friends

(Hindenberg's flight.)

[14:07] Edward Pearse: I created a nightclub there called Seraph Club.
[14:07] Darlingmonster Ember: woot
[14:08] Edward Pearse: While Seraph City has long gone, the Seraph Club still lives on, now in its new home of Cassandra City.
[14:08] Polly (polly.ellsmere): the Roving Seraph Club
[14:08] Jimmy Branagh: Oy just missed being a founder. I'm a fumbler Oy guess.
[14:08] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Quite charming.
[14:08] Poison (marylucretia): here here
[14:08] Edward Pearse: I will apologise in advance if this runs a little short.
[14:08] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): A luvvily venue.
[14:08] Edward Pearse: I volunteered as a last minute thing so I haven't had time to check the run on this.

That was entirely my fault, by the way. I had been tasked with finding a dieselpunk speaker, and I contacted six or seven people, all of which turned me down, never once thinking of Edward, and I REALLY should have. Thankfully, he agreed.

(Cover for Children of the Sun.)

[14:08] Ceejay Writer: More time for drinks after - no worries!
[14:09] Darlingmonster Ember adjusts her little shorts
[14:09] Edward Pearse: Dieselpunk is really an aesthetic rather than a genre.
[14:09] Nyx Malaspina whispers: lms and schedule provided in some handy notecard. :)
[14:09] Edward Pearse: As such there will be a lot of imagery in this presentation
[14:09] Edward Pearse: This of course leads to a lot of opinion over what is and isn't dieselpunk.
[14:09] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): Huzzah!
[14:09] Nyx Malaspina: claps hands...like pictures.

(A selection of artists' renditions of dieselpunk cities.)

[14:09] Edward Pearse: What I present today is mostly my own opinion but other schools of thought will be touched on here and there.
[14:10] Edward Pearse: Dieselpunk the term, first came to use through an RPG called Children of the Sun, published in 2002.
[14:11] Edward Pearse: It was never a big hit. I've never played it but the reviews I've read are "neutral"
[14:11] Edward Pearse: Interestingly the world of Children of the Sun is somewhat different from what we think of when dieselpunk is used today.
[14:11] Edward Pearse: It was very much an urban fantasy style setting.
[14:12] Edward Pearse: It had magic, a variety of races and an assortment of critters, littered amongst the skyscrapers.
[14:12] Rory Torrance (rory.torrance): And an interesting font, at least.
[14:12] Edward Pearse: I saw one description of it as D and D meets Saving Private Ryan
[14:13] Edward Pearse: Similar to the transformation that steampunk undertook, dieselpunk too has expanded beyond a D and D campaign with a fantasy WW2 setting.
[14:13] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Interesting
[14:13] Edward Pearse: Also similar to steampunk, it's about the set dressing rather than the story itself.

(Continued in part two.)

we won't put our money where your Catholic mouth is

Today I received a message about a very old entry (clear back in 2012), with a very simple request: could I link the mention of mesothelioma to mesothelioma.net as a site? And yes, as evidenced by this entry and the correction on the 2012 entry, I can.

Pursuant to the levels of suspicion writ plain in that 2012 entry, I did read through the site fairly completely. It's not a charity site, it's more a clearinghouse for medical and treatment information, personal stories (like Virgil's, the fellow who wrote me), and links to charities and foundations. It seems pretty above-board, and has already taught me something--I thought the disease was restricted to asbestos miners and contractors, but Virgil worked in the car industry, where apparently asbestos fibers are used. So while it's still rare, there are more means of delivery, which are pretty dire.

In more local news, it seems Mondragon coffee grown in the high fields is not reaching Babbage. Piracy is suspected, but nothing seems to be proven yet. (Though I'd tend to suspect Mr. Callidus Waydelich, the current leader of the new Mondrago, but he swears he's given up his piratical ways.) For me, as a non-Babbage resident, I'm mostly reporting from afar, but if the situation worsens, I will let you know. In the meantime, traveling to Jadida Mondrago seems safe, and it is known that coffee is plentiful there; not sure what's going to happen in Babbage.

Me being me, I'd source out coffee elsewhere, but riot in the streets if the Caledonian catnip brandy supplies drop. But...that's me.

In other, other news...this one's weird.

So, New World Notes covered Kim Kardashian's branding exploits in Second Life, which is strange to begin with. First, it's all to advertise a perfume in SL, and...pardon me, I know the entire grid functions on imagination, but what's the point of perfume in a grid without the sense of smell? Maybe I'm limited. But, that's what she's doing, and she's been uploading images taken in SL to her Instagram feed (said feed largely being "Hi, I'm pretty and I post lots of pictures of me being pretty", with occasion side excursions into "Hi, I'm pretty, buy this thing" and "Hi, I'm pretty, my husband's famous". I'd say that's pretty typical of Instagram, but the few accounts on Instagram I follow feature cats, so what do I know?).

But it gets weirder. Her SL avatar, which looks less like her and more like a digitized Cher, wasn't even developed on SL originally. It's a recreation of an avatar first seen in IMVU, where she's had a much longer relationship pimping out consumer goods. And...maybe I'm wrong, but isn't IMVU somewhat antagonistic to SL in the first place? I know they've been accused of imitating SL's advertising, back when SL decided ripping off Avatar's look was the way to go, so that's sort of copyright infringement cubed on all sides. But to me, it still seems like IMVU's more Tinder and SL's more Tumblr--still the same amount of hookups and drama, but also the ability to explore other things, whereas IMVU still seems "log in, dress up, get shagged". If I'm wrong, please, someone tell me. I've never had an IMVU account, I've just seen videos of things that happen there.

sometimes a heart can feel like a heavy weight

The Sacred Grove for Her Gnostic Majesty, the Hidden Queen. It was meant to be a dance space, an event space, a place for small rituals and gatherings, even meetings if such were desired. While it was open to the public, it was designed to be part of Armada, and...when Armada left...the Sacred Grove began to gather dust.



I was tasked by Archduke Greyhaven to build a space that was inclusive, and multi-purpose. I felt the center of it should be the dance ring, and the use of space reflected that. But around the edge of the center ring were benches and draped rocks, places to sit or to dance more privately.



It wasn't a matching set, and it wasn't intended to be. Some seating was wood, some was stone, some was carved, some had cushions. I was pondering if I had room for a hot springs, water cascading from the back of the parcel, for months. (Eventually I decided against it.)



The space was intended to be free for all use; the only reference I had to any financing was a small jar next to the eldritch fireplace, seen above, and that was all I intended to have. Asking to support the space wasn't the point; the point was to offer the space, period.



And now...it's gone.

I want to make it more of a lyrical thing, I do, but...I don't have a better explanation. After Armada sunk into the clockwork sea, Archduke Greyhaven lost his heart for the grid, his passion to build and transform. For September, he sent me funds to maintain the parcels--in my name and his--and I did my best. But when October arrived, two things happened: he dropped out of contact once more, and the typist became very ill. I wasn't truly recovered, and able to access the world, until the last week of October, and so I informed him. His decision came down two weeks past, and told me that if we needed to let go some parcels in Rosehaven or Babbage, to do so.

So, with a heavy heart...that's what I've done. The Sacred Grove is gone.



Now I'm pondering the virtual life, yet again. Who am I, here, and who do I want to be? What causes do I want to support? I still believe in Greyhaven and Armada-now-gone, but does the Archduke? And if he doesn't, what is eventually going to happen to the rest of his parcels, the ones not in my name?

And paying down the great debt I've incurred in Babbage may well be ruinous, but I will do it. It was in my name, it was my responsibility, even if the funds were supposed to be sent to me to pay them on. The agreements were between me and the Archduke, Mr. Tenk should not have to accept culpability for that. But it does hurt. And I am worried.

We proceed from here. That's all I can do. But I will be thinking, long and hard, on what got me here, and where I go from here. The only thing I'm sure of is remaining at Sakura...and being the redheaded troublemaker for House Whiteberry. Everything else may well be in flux. Time will tell us all what happens next.

where the weeping flowers hide

things fall apart, the centre cannot hold...



a shape with lion body and the head of a man...

Da mihi de te solliciti. Obsecro, ubi es?

(The two lines are of course from The Second Coming by William Yeats, written in 1919.)

you're a tough little tadpole to love

This is the Face of Fear.

Wearing hair, also, utterly failed to help the Face of Fear.

To that end, though, TRUTH is having a hair sale, until May 3rd (which is why I linked the Face of Fear). Good luck getting in--the sim crashed at least twice just due to the total insane tonnage of women on the grid fighting to get in, the lag is unreal, frequently the sim next door maxes out just from people pressed against the invisible Wall of No, and just to add to all the joy, a lot of the avatars in there aren't actually buying anything, they're just camping. For reasons I do not have it in me to understand, but which are frustrating beyond all reason.

[15:19] Gxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx: Pardon but as a public service announcement to the ladies I had a rather pushy noob bug me repeatedly with

[15:02] rxxxxxxx: hello
[15:03] rxxxxxxx: wanna make-out?

[15:19] Gxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx: ask me that, so I sucked a passing kraken out of the skies of middlesea and hit him with it after he failed to get the message and set him north towards winterfell :)

This does seem to be a novel way to deal with unwanted amorous attentions.

[15:19] Gxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxx: you might want to avoid on sight if you don't have anything heavy to hit and eject him with as he seems quite blind
[15:20] Bxxx Gxxxxxxxxx: Thank you, Mr Xxxxxxxxxxx!
[15:22] Bxxx Pxxxxxxx: Were you in middlesea at the time?
[15:22] Emilly Orr is quite fond of your response, though.
[15:23] Dxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I take it you did not want to make out?
[15:23] Gxxxx Bxxxxx: Say it with krakens. Always the best way.

Indeed. Tentacles really can't be misinterpreted as a friendly greeting if they shotput you across the sim.

(from the events album; chattering at the gathered New Babbageans...Babbage-ites? Babbagelings?) at the Aether Salon.)

So...the Aether Salon happened! And I didn't die! Yay for not dying.

(from the events album; taking a few moments to relax and calm in Custard Developments)

Let me explain that, for benefit of people not me.

Starting with the loss of my last SL job, and dovetailing annoyingly neatly into the last SL relationship that vanished into disturbing ether, I've been pulling back from the grid. My friends know this better than anyone--apart from folks I talk with on the CaleCraft server, and occasional chatter in various groups (occasionally including ISC), I've talked to barely anyone I know in at least a year, if not more than. I won't say "crippling social anxiety" is the descriptive I'm going for, here, but I'm a self-made hermit at this point. Not only do I rarely leave my skybox, except to shop (much of which is done silently), but I rarely want to leave, for any reason. It's in large parts equal combinations of depression and simple grieving; some losses run deep. But it hasn't stopped me detaching so much from people who care for me, and whom I care for, that when I see them pop online, there are times I disconnect from the grid just on general principle. (Not because I'm trying to avoid anyone; more because I just don't want to pretend to be giddy and happy and well-adjusted if I'm not feeling those things on any given day.)

So...this was an opportunity in two very real senses: one, to share some of my views on steamwave with the community at large, and two, actually get out there and talk to people. Both were rather terrifying.

(from the events album; taking a few moments to relax and calm in Custard Developments)

But as you can read along in the transcript from the Salon, it didn't go at all badly. Behind the scenes, of course, I was terrified, I was nervous beyond all dreams, I was thoroughly convinced this would be a tragedy of epic Shakespearean proportions, and I was coming off of two weeks of intense stress, insomnia, and pain issues at home, so...to say I wasn't in the best mental or emotional state to take this on is, again, a nigh psychotic understatement.

But it went well. More to the point, because becoming a presenter meant joining the group, I discovered I'd actually like to make more of these things. They are a genial, affable, respectful crowd of Steamlanders, and I both thank them for attending my spate of babbling disguised as educated opinion, and of giving me really great questions to answer after. And according to the Baron, we managed a fairly decent turn-out during the SLRFL Steamlands pub crawl, so...I consider that a success as well.

All in all, I'm actually pleased with how it turned out, and I didn't expect to be, which was a rather refreshing change.

(Also, the last two pictures are from the upper reaches of the Custard Developments sim, above the Oroborus Clockwork Lounge. Do go see, it's a fascinating build.)

Bizarre conversation from a friend:

[6:30:08 PM] Axxxxxxxx Rxxxxx: just got a second "you're not a vampire, i've got the hud and it tells me so" conversation
[6:30:53 PM] Emilly Orr: ....
[6:30:55 PM] Emilly Orr facepalms
[6:31:07 PM] Emilly Orr: Yep. People still stupid on SL.
[6:31:15 PM] Axxxxxxxx Rxxxxx: yep
[6:31:39 PM] Axxxxxxxx Rxxxxx: guy's like "Oh, you're not? Would you like to be?"

Yeah, see, for anyone wondering why I posted that little excerpt? Because you can be a vampire without an inane HUD telling you you are. That's the freedom of roleplay--claim it, it's yours, play it right, people will play with you. They don't need HUDS and special blood-draining figures and bite protocols to actually be someone, they can just be that someone.

Personally, if you need a HUD to tell you what you are or aren't, you're deficient in imagination anyway. Live a little. Throw the HUD away. Find out what you want to be. I guarantee you it doesn't involve an over-scripted, over-programmed multi-level-marketing device.

we talk about love, we talk about dishwater tablets and we dream about heaven

[19:34] Jxxxxxx Gxxxxx: feijoa, cherimoya, pomellos, are you all living in the rainforrest?
[19:34] Sxxxxxxxx Gxxxx: no
[19:34] Jxxxxxx Gxxxxx: we dont get that there fruit here in Maine
[19:34] Jxxxxxx Gxxxxx: we have apples, oranges and lobster
[19:35] Emilly Orr: ...lobster is a fruit?
[19:35] Emilly Orr: Since when?
[19:35] Dxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I want a lobster tree
[19:35] Jxxxxxx Gxxxxx: yes, it is the national fruit of Maine! :-p
[19:35] Pxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: its a thing
[19:35] Pxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: lobsterfruit
[19:35] Dxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: but things go better with coke

Let's just say Caledon chat was strange today, and leave it at that.

So, I had some other things planned, but kept finding myself dragging my feet over getting the entries finished and posted. I'm not uninterested in the topics, I will at some point finish those entries, I'm just still dealing with the last vestiges of prior heartbreak.

It takes me a long time to recover from things. You'd think a year-plus would be enough time, but...yeah. No. Not so much.

Plus, my mind is now trying to chew over effective ways to present the upcoming Aether Salon to which I was invited. clear back in....gad. February?? And while I'm still trying to figure out what I want to SAY, and if there's anything about steampunk music I want to update for this blog, I haven't mentioned it because it seemed....well. Impossibly distant.

This is why stress is a bad thing.

Anyway, my presentation will be in the Babbage Palisades district of New Babbage, the Sunday after next, 21 Aprille, at the nearly-ungodly early hour of two in the afternoon, SLT. (Hey. Professional night owl, and that's the law--go to bed during single digits; get up during single digits; and we nicely avoid most instances of the Nasty Bright Thing.) All I know right now is I will be there; I will likely likely be extraordinarily caffeinated; and I'll do my best to keep tangents to a dull roar.

In the meantime, welcome to our next edition of Shopping Naked: Why Is This a Thing?

(from the shopping album; censored because her 'dress' is pretty damned much openwork netting.)

This is a serious question on my part. All the various and myriad stores, maturity ratings, roleplay styles, fetish styles, looks, avatars, and structures on the grid: but unless you're a professional nudist, why would you--why would anyone--decide to shop naked? I don't get the urge, plain and simple.

(from the shopping album; censored because her 'dress' is pretty damned much openwork netting.)

And no, I don't know what was wrong with her hair. And believe me, she didn't port in and port out, so she didn't have time to rez. I watched her for a good ten minutes, trying to figure out whether she was wearing some mesh object that just hadn't rezzed in (she hadn't; besides, the Lola's Tango implants she's wearing are mesh), or if her hair was also mesh, and had just gone buggy around the edges.

But nope. Neither of those things were true. Maybe she just really doesn't understand how hair works on the grid. It's obvious enough she doesn't know how to stand...

Sadly, that may answer the first question, as well: she'd spent all of thirty-eight days on the grid.

[19:36] Mxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: ok, this isn't a snipe hunt type of deal is it? The only lobster I'm aware of is the kind that is served on a plate with butter with a side of steak
[19:36] Sxxxxxxxx Gxxxx: its the fruit of the local land or sea in this case
[19:36] Pxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: crunchy
[19:36] Jxxxxxx Gxxxxx: oh a surf and turf....
[19:36] Dxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: It is ISC After Dark [Mxxx]....
[19:36] Axxxxxx Gxxxxxx prefers it in tacos
[19:36] Axxxxxx Gxxxxxx: lobster, that is
[19:36] Pxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: fruits du mer
Yeah, still strange.

Apparently in the next coming update to Minecraft (currently in beta-like, "snapshot" form, there will be...leashes on chickens? But why? That's what I don't understand. Why do we need leashes on chickens?

who do you work for, baby? and does it work for you, lately?

New Babbage hit the Destinations page recently, which--as some of us have figured out over the last few months--is a double-edged sword. While such designations do hold (limited) honor, and can attract new, vibrant eyes to investigate your lands...mostly it's just a pain in the ass as every troll within hearing decides to come and play.

For any residents of New Babbage, specifically the ones surrounding the direct area mentioned on the Destinations page:

• keep build off your lands, or restrict build to group only
• make sure the group your lands are under is a group you control, or an invite-only group
• consider turning scripts off (obviously, if you're a merchant, you can't do this)
• turn on auto-return (or if you don't feel right about doing that, turn on auto-return for anyone not a resident of New Babbage)
• be polite and courteous, but don't be afraid to bounce (ban temporarily) or mute for the extraordinarily offensive

With any luck, there will be few incidents and fewer folks going to New Babbage just to hassle the dwellers there, but based on what's happened on other sims in the past, I hold little hope.

Also, I have to wonder, who does their press release work? This from the blurb under the picture:

This vast Victorian steampunk area is full of airships, clockwork devices, submersibles, and other amazing technology. It's an ideal place to explore life as it was in the 19th century.

I admire that they managed to insert both "Victorian" and "steampunk", but...an "ideal" place to explore "life as it was in the 19th century"? Seriously? None of the Victorian lands, or the steamlands for that matter, are perfectly accurate according to 19th century standards of the day. Oh, there are some architectural marvels that are recreated as perfectly as can be managed, but even then, they're surrounded by things which aren't, so...does that balance out? And while Babbage has more strict restrictions on builds, even there things go a little haywire now and again.

And trust me, as much as we all love to dream about days gone by which include airships, clockwork citizens, air kraken and "other amazing technology"...that's not how life was in the Victorian era.

But then, it is a press release, I suppose outrageous hyperbole is just standard operating procedure.

Russian roulette is not the same without a gun

Meet Roxxxy the Sex Robot. Ultimately, what her creator wanted to do was create artificial personalities that could be interacted with for the aged or the bedbound infirm--but there were a lot of bureaucratic difficulties in getting approval. So he moved to a new market--and found the sex industry.

Right now, Roxxxy doesn't move--not even to move her lips. I get the feeling, though, he's hoping to improve her. Right now, as she stands, he's got the Japanese sex-doll industry beat--because, while a few of them can speak pre-programmed phrases, Roxxxy can apparently learn new ones. She comes with a laptop and full drive equipped in her back, and can thus be programmed with choice phrases and personal details, but more than that, her software allows her to combine words into new concepts, and learn from those who interact with her.

Doctor Obolensky has been seen in airports! Well, at least one airport. Well, at least one comic about an airport.

When did he leave Babbage?!? That's all I want to know.

From the Electronic Freedom Foundation's Fair Use FAQ, some concise and pointed limitations of copyright law:

1. What is Fair Use?

In essence, fair use is a limitation on the exclusive rights of copyright holders. The Copyright Act gives copyright holders the exclusive right to reproduce works for a limited time period. Fair use is a limitation on this right. A use which is considered "fair" does not infringe copyright, even if it involves one of the exclusive rights of copyright holders. Fair use allows consumers to make a copy of part or all of a copyrighted work, even where the copyright holder has not given permission or objects to your use of the work.

Note: this does mean parody or satire, for the most part, and does depend on the impact of the original work. Satirizing the third leaf on the second tree in Wim Wender's first full-length film wouldn't necessarily work, because that's not as well known; but how many parody pieces have we all seen concerning the Mona Lisa or the Beatles?

2. How does Fair Use fit with Copyright Law?

Copyright law embodies a bargain: Congress gave copyright holders a set of six exclusive rights for a limited time period, and gave to the public all remaining rights in creative works. The goals of the bargain are to give copyright holders an economic incentive to create works that ultimately benefit society as a whole, and by doing so, to promote the progress of science and learning in society. Congress never intended Copyright law to give copyright holders complete control of their works. The bargain also ensures that created works move into "the public domain" and are available for unlimited use by the public when the time period finishes. In addition, as part of the public's side of this bargain, U.S. Copyright law recognizes the doctrine of "fair use" as a limitation on copyright holders' exclusive right of reproduction of their works during the initial protected time period.

The public's right to make fair use of copyrighted works is a long-established and integral part of US copyright law. Courts have used fair use as the means of balancing the competing principles underlying copyright law since 1841. Fair use also reconciles a tension that would otherwise exist between copyright law and the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression. The Supreme Court has described fair use as "the guarantee of breathing space for new expression within the confines of Copyright law".

Now, I want to point out a few things I found extremely relevant in the upper paragraphs:

* Copyright law embodies a bargain: Congress gave copyright holders a set of six exclusive rights for a limited time period, and gave to the public all remaining rights in creative works.

* Congress never intended Copyright law to give copyright holders complete control of their works.

Let that sink in. Congress never intended--at least where US copyright law is concerned--to give copyright holders complete unassailable permanent rights to their creations. And they never intended to prevent any alternative use of copyrighted items--as long as that use falls under free speech, satire, or parody.

3. How Do You Know If It's Fair Use?

There are no clear-cut rules for deciding what's fair use and there are no "automatic" classes of fair uses. Fair use is decided by a judge, on a case by case basis, after balancing the four factors listed in section 107 of the Copyright statute. The factors to be considered include:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes--Courts are more likely to find fair use where the use is for noncommercial purposes.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work--A particular use is more likely to be fair where the copied work is factual rather than creative.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole--A court will balance this factor toward a finding of fair use where the amount taken is small or insignificant in proportion to the overall work.
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work--If the court finds the newly created work is not a substitute product for the copyrighted work, it will be more likely to weigh this factor in favor of fair use.

Which are four very good principles, and I have mentioned these four before, for those of you suddenly thinking you'd read this prior on the 'Wreck.

4. What's been recognized as fair use?

Courts have previously found that a use was fair where the use of the copyrighted work was socially beneficial. In particular, U.S. courts have recognized the following fair uses: criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research and parodies.

In addition, in 1984 the Supreme Court held that time-shifting (for example, private, non-commercial home taping of television programs with a VCR to permit later viewing) is fair use. (Sony Corporation of America v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417 (1984, S.C.)

Although the legal basis is not completely settled, many lawyers believe that the following (and many other uses) are also fair uses:

* Space-shifting or format-shifting - that is, taking content you own in one format and putting it into another format, for personal, non-commercial use. For instance, "ripping" an audio CD (that is, making an MP3-format version of an audio CD that you already own) is considered fair use by many lawyers, based on the 1984 Betamax decision and the 1999 Rio MP3 player decision (RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia, 180 F. 3d 1072, 1079, 9th Circ. 1999.)
* Making a personal back-up copy of content you own - for instance, burning a copy of an audio CD you own.

Which means that--for personal use and distribution between devices you also own--copying and transferring of music and media would also constitute fair use.

Though it's far more vague, at least where legal issues are concerned, to upload songs for "review purposes" that those uploading do not have full rights to use. However, in most cases, uploading music you do not own, with a stipulation that it's for review purposes only, paired with how to get the music legally, seems to be enough to satisfy most people.

In the meantime, new bug on the grid!



This one's deeply odd. If you can't quite make out what the glitch is, I moved over to my photo stand:



Normally, I don't Detach All, followed by removing all clothing layers, before I change outfits, but I was in a rush. Once I did, only my head remained! And every time thereafter I changed a system layer, I disappeared again!

Made it hell for getting dressed; changing skins; wearing eyes; and finding hair. Yaaagh.

For anyone who's curious: this was on the 'official' Linden Labs viewer, Snowglobe; the Snowglobe 1.3.0 (3085) Jan 8 2010 21:22:29 (Snowglobe Test Build) build, to be specific.

but it's always gonna come right back to this

Do these folks know their target audience or what? So far, the only down side of early reports is that the stuph tastes foul--but one fellow recommends cutting it with lemonade, and that seems to cancel out the main flavor.

All I know is, they've managed, in one stroke of genius packaging, to make an energy drink that is at once useful for LAN parties, all-night paper gaming sessions, laser tag runs, and LARP weekends. Beautiful, just beautiful.

And...computer viruses are bad? Switch to better computer protection? Jackie Chan looks cool in white? Your guess is as good as mine.

I think she's going out with the wrong guy. Or...he's going with the wrong girl. One of them's in the wrong relationship.

[Guild] [Kiril]: rom: now with 100% moar crash!
[Guild] [Specials]: I second that kiril
[Guild] [Markuz]: runesofmalfunctioning

Pretty much. They did two major patches of the game, and so far managed to break part of the Auction House, part of the inventory system, part of several quests, and make the entire engine unstable.

Way to go, Frogster. You keep breaking your code like this, you're gonna have to come work for Linden Labs...

God contacted me today, From Beyond the Grid:

Stiv: Hey what music are you listening to lately?
emilly.orr: Specifically or currently? Currently I'm listening to Radio Riel
Stiv: Anything more specific?
emilly.orr: But in general, movie soundtracks, J-pop, Chechosov metal, Akira Yamaoka (the Silent Hill soundtrack guy), and an embarrassing amount of Kelly Clarkson, Pink and Evanescence
Stiv: lol clarkson
Stiv: Ahem
emilly.orr: Also Reverend Glasseye, the Real Tuesday Weld, Vernian Process, Dandelion Junk Queens...who else...
Stiv: Wait
Stiv: wait
emilly.orr: Beats Antique
Stiv: Slow down, didnt know any of those
emilly.orr: Steampunk music
Stiv: Wait, is that a genre even?
emilly.orr: Or, conversely, go here and skim until you hit the actual music posts
emilly.orr: Lot of bands, lots of links
emilly.orr: Reminds me, I need to hit another couple bands this week if I can
Stiv: Thank you, Ive been looking for something new
Stiv: Oh hey fancy page
emilly.orr: Hee
emilly.orr: I had fun with the background
Stiv: Oh actually you know who I bet you'd like if you dont already
Stiv: Darkest of the Hillside Thickets
Stiv: A Lovecraftean horror punk band
emilly.orr: Ooh
Stiv: Yeah I know
Stiv: Pretty awesome
emilly.orr: Yeah, that'd likely be something I'd cover :)

So, Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. I think I'm recommending them, based on just the samples on their music page? But...I don't know if they're steampunk.

Still...Lovecraftian horror-punk rock...what else could they be??

Toren Atkinson, a man with a lifelong interest in Lovecraft, started the band along with cofounder Warren Banks; they seem the heart and soul of nerdcore rock, as nearly all the members have some connection to gaming, either playing a lot of games, or actually in the industry, doing art and design for paper-gaming and videogame companies.

They've got a great FAQ that's packed with loads of information, and seems pretty keen on both giving you cool stuph to buy, and cool stuph to listen to in advance.

As limbo is currently extraordinarily heated, in bad unpleasant ways, your Faithful Reviewer has very little brain to put more information in; but do check them out. And I think I'll be dropping a word or two Radio Riel's way, see if they're willing to pick up a few tunes for New Babbage...and whatever lurks in the depths of the Vernian Sea.

where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story

"Yes, I have cunningly undertaken this whole project in such a way as to make it absolutely impossible for me to make any money out of it. I am quite the commercial genius, thank you."

*snerks* But the entire project is worth reading over.

Ari Blackthorne makes a telling comment late in the strand at the Linden blog on bots and camping. He was responding to yet another plaintive cry of merchant business loss:

With cordial respect I will say to you and all others who make similar claims are *misguided*.

+You "invested" nothing.+
What you did do is "pay to play".

You paid for +entertainment+. You did not make an investment. Investing would mean you hold a stake in Linden Lab itself, not a virtual parcel in a digital environment. It is not "real estate".

Please understand, I mean this in the most respectful way to you and all others who repeat your proclamation in some form or another and have no intention of being inflammatory or abrasive in my comments. You are correct, it is not your fault. However, your misunderstanding or misinterpretation of what you were doing is at the root of your dismay: +you were paying for entertainment.+ For "hosting". For a privilege, not a right. You got everything you paid for and nothing less.

I have done all this, too. Since my first coming into SL I have owned... (counts fingers and contemplates) ... 5 private regions (sims) - not all at once of course. But I have owned them. I have done what you are doing now - the land sales/rentals. I have created a role play sim (still going strong fortunately) and so on and so on.

However, I clearly understand +my "place"+ in it. That being that I am paying Linden Lab to give me specific and complete control of part of their system. That's it. Nothing more. I do not now nor ever expect a "return" on my "investment" because not only is it not promised, Linden Lab doesn't even so much as +*imply* such a thing is possible+. In other words, what I do and how I do it using the tools and services available I do on my own at my own behest and risk, knowing full well anything can change for the better or worse at the drop of a hat.

So, again with respect, I take the words of anyone who proclaims they have spent money and are thus "losing" money with a serious grain of salt and tongue-in-cheek. Second Life is not billed as any kind of money-making enterprise or investment venue. If you spend money on a movie ticket at the cinema, do you realistically expect to get any kind of return on that money, save for the screening itself?

In my mind, anyone who complains that they spent money and are not getting what they have paid for need a serious realignment of what Second Life really is: a virtual world for +entertainment purposes+. Anything and everything above and beyond that is simply a "fluke" of the system that you and I and all others are +exploiting+.

He's not wrong.

Another Poetry Slam comes 'round again, this one dealing with freedom, and Empire.

[17:33] Gwynna Cleanslate: Let me explain that the theme of the holiday reminds me too much of summer .. my summers.
[17:34] Gwynna Cleanslate: And this is a [poem] that speaks to my own [independence] of a sort ...

And she began to read.

Elsinboro: The Delaware, 1967

Uncle Earl rolled in the crab traps at ebb tide
Hauling on ropes yellow and green, dripping seawed and tiny mussels
His muscles tattooed:
a Navy anchor and a heart, left and right
Sleep-eyed, shot red with the magic potion from his secret flask in the shed,
He thrust his scarred hand into the cage,
Grinned, and grabbed the largest of the blue-and-white monsters
Waved it in our face and laughed as we shrieked,
Running in the tide pools that stretchd a half-mile to thesand bar.
"Dinner's coming,"he shouted after us. "Dinner's coming togetcha!"

I stood on the sand bar,
Great-aunt Elsie's apron filled with clamshells and green glass,
Gazing at twinkling lights, red and green, across brown water,
Brackish and rainbowed with engine oil from outboards.
Barges, tankers, tugboats, scows, and once a luxury liner
Carrying the world along the horizon,
Carrying my dreams adrift.
Waves washed over the sandbar,
And from there a race against tide along the rippled mud
Inches ahead of the lapping water coming to get me,
Climbing the bulwark just in time
"Not It," I told the river,
And laughed when my sister and Cousin Bob got caught.

I sat beside the creosote patch on the bulwark,
My oversized feet kicking against the licking waters of high tide,
Dangling a drumstick on a string, waiting for the tug.
I brought up seven crabs at once.
Billy and David boasted only five.
But they got me, all right,
Telling ghost stories until bedtime:
Jersey Devil, Woodstown's gravestones, the Ghost of Salem's Oak, and the Pirate's Lady
Wafted in the incense of cattails and toasted marshmallows.
Caught, I believed them, every one,
Shivering in terror of what would come
As I gazed out the dormer window,
The only one awake among a dozen brackish cousins around me
Asleep on the padded attic floor,
The only one alive to see
The red and green lights across black water,
And the Pirate's Lady coming to get me--
OooooooOOOoooooooEEEEEeeeee....
Beckoning,
"Come. Drift. Drown."
And I did.



(der Hut des Jaegers being filled with temporary libraries. Also, the author of that poem? Miss Cleanslate.)

[17:59] Birdsan Weezles: Hy took a different look at de theme, too -- Vhen hyu've been a soldier for a few centuriez, freedom und independenze zumtimez schtartz to look like a long line of battlez und change. Rudyard Kipling zaid it vell in vot iz called "Puck'z Song".
[18:00] Annechen Lowey: ah.

(I am altering it slightly from the Jaeger; all apologies, this is not meant as a slight.)

See you the ferny ride that steals
Into the oak-woods far?
O that was whence they hewed the keels
That rolled to Trafalgar.

And mark you where the ivy clings
To Bayham's mouldering walls?
O there we cast the stout railings
That stand around St. Paul's.

See you the dimpled track that runs
All hollow through the wheat?
O that was where they hauled the guns
That smote King Philip's fleet.

(Out of the Weald, the secret Weald,
Men sent in ancient years,
The horse-shoes red at Flodden Field,
The arrows at Poitiers!)

See you our little mill that clacks,
So busy by the brook?
She has ground her corn and paid her
Ever since Domesday Book.

See you our stilly woods of oak,
And the dread ditch beside?
O that was where the Saxons broke
On the day that Harold died.

See you the windy levels spread
About the gates of Rye?
O that was where the Northmen fled,
When Alfred's ships came by.

See you our pastures wide and lone,
Where the red oxen browse?
O there was a City thronged and known,
Ere London boasted a house.

And see you after rain, the trace
Of mound and ditch and wall?
O that was a Legion's camping-place,
When Caesar sailed from Gaul.

And see you marks that show and fade,
Like shadows on the Downs?
O they are the lines the Flint Men made,
To guard their wondrous towns.

Trackway and Camp and City lost,
Salt Marsh where now is corn--
Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,
And so was England born!

She is not any common Earth,
Water or wood or air,
But Merlin's Isle of Gramarye,
Where you and I will fare!



(Miss Gwynna Cleanslate and Sgt. Birdsan Weezles being pelted with books.)

[18:07] Emilly Orr stands, in the gap between Kipling and haiku.
[18:07] Emilly Orr: I have a short one...
[18:07] Sheryl Skytower: *chuckles*
[18:07] Birdsan Weezles: Hooo!
[18:07] Birdsan Weezles: Eazt meetz Vezt,.
[18:07] Annechen Lowey: Very good!

I read "Childrens' Rhymes", by Langston Hughes.

By what sends
the white kids
I ain't sent:
I know I can't
be President.
What don't bug
them white kids
sure bugs me:
We know everybody
ain't free.

Lies written down
for white folks
ain't for us a-tall:
Liberty And Justice--
Huh!--For All?



(Your humble narrator being thrown against Miss Nacht and Miss Slade by books, chickens and feral haggis.)

[18:12] Emilin Nakamori: Actually, I now have 2 haiku; a rather bitter one occurred to me, and I wrote it earlier in the conversing.
[18:12] Emilin Nakamori: Would you like both, or shall I leave the bitter one out?
[18:12] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Hmm.
[18:12] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Nein, let us have the contrast.
[18:12] Birdsan Weezles: De courze of freedom iz zumtimez better.

She read her haiku, as she's been accustomed to doing of a Thursday in Winterfell.

Picnics and parades
All serve to help us forget
Governmental rape.

Miss Nakamori has been our poet-in-residence for some time. She has a flair for haiku.



(Aim and fire.)

A warm summer night,
Flowers of fire overhead,
The sounds of insects...

[18:15] Emilin Nakamori: The Japanese word for fireworks is "hanabi", which can be translated as "fire flowers".

Interesting, I didn't know. And it does make the poem very meaningful.

[18:15] Elegia Underwood smiles.
[18:15] Elegia Underwood: A lovely contrast.

We paused for appreciation, and to clean up feathers, wandering mimmoths, and bits of pastry, and went on with the evening.

[18:17] Emilly Orr: But do say on, Miss Nacht.
[18:18] Stereo Nacht: Thank you. So here comes:

From the heights of power
I am the mistress of them all
I free them from their condition
There is no depths they can't dive on
No heights too high they risk a fall

From humble peasants they were born
They do not have to die the same
And this is where I draw my fame:
Whatever I dream they become

A set of wings to reach the skies
Scales and gills for deep abysses
Great muscles: no feats end misses
With fur: winter never bring cries

Yet on my balcony I stand
Surrounded by those I have freed
To their request they ask I cede
"Freedom of choice": futile demand!

For I am mistress of them all
And never to my knees will fall!



(Miss Nacht is buried in books.)

About this time a wanderer joined us, one miss Fanshaw Auster. Interesting last name, and first name, though I didn't thank her for not spelling it "Featherstone-Haugh". That might have been an excess of fannish reference. She was...understandably confused:

[18:21] Tyrian Slade applauds
[18:21] Tyrian Slade: I liked that.
[18:21] Fanshaw Auster: what's that?
[18:21] Stereo Nacht: Thank you miss Slade!
[18:21] Fanshaw Auster: that?
[18:21] Annechen Lowey: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[18:21] Emilin Nakamori applauds :)
[18:21] Emilly Orr applauds!
[18:21] Birdsan Weezles: Local tredition, Fanshaw.
[18:22] Fanshaw Auster: ok, were those some sort of books?
[18:22] Emilly Orr: A fleet of fast-flying fulminations on child-rearing, I do believe.
[18:22] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Appreciation is shown with ammunition.
[18:22] Fanshaw Auster: i see
[18:22] Birdsan Weezles: Of all zortz.
[18:22] Emilly Orr: It's not mandatory, but it is fun.
[18:22] Fanshaw Auster: so you all come here often?
[18:22] Birdsan Weezles: Veekly.
[18:22] Fanshaw Auster: yeah it is
[18:22] Emilly Orr: Every Thursday evening we can.
[18:23] Fanshaw Auster: ok
[18:23] Elegia Underwood: Jaegers, Miss Fanshaw, all these brilliantly coloured & rather savage looking folk, tend to celebrate explosively.folk
[18:23] Elegia Underwood: [without the following 'folk' which has to be a linden artifact since I'm sure I did not type the word again. :D ]

So we may well see Miss Auster of a Thursday, now and again, with poems of her own. Always good to bring in converts to the cause.

[18:24] Sheryl Skytower: *puts up paw*
[18:24] Sheryl Skytower: May I offer a haiku, fresh from my claws?
[18:24] Annechen Lowey: Ah, Miss Skytower!
[18:24] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Splendid.
[18:24] Annechen Lowey: Yes, please!
[18:24] Stereo Nacht: Of course!
[18:24] Sheryl Skytower: *clears voice*
[18:24] Birdsan Weezles: Pleaze do!

I admit, I'm always momentarily breathless when someone says, they've just then written something. Just sitting in the bar and suddenly--poof!--creation! I think out of everything else, that's the thing I most adore about Thursday nights in Absinthe.

Tea leaves floating free
Caught in the rushing current
Bitter but so strong...

We applauded and launched more fanciful and fragmentary ammunition. Then Miss Nakamori spoke again:

[18:24] Emilin Nakamori: I have another bitter one. I'm sorry; I seem to be in that sort of mood tonight :(

Haiku are short.
Sounds, like punctuation,
Giving meaning to tumult.

While we were reflecting on the hidden depth of emotion that presented, Miss Auster had more questions:

[18:26] Fanshaw Auster: so is this some sort of [german] area?
[18:27] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Nein, several of us are Transylvanian.
[18:27] Annechen Lowey: this is Port Absinthe, a dark Victorian sim.

We expanded, a bit, on backgrounds, in between talk of hats.

[18:27] Annechen Lowey: Most of us hail from Europa, through the dimentional portal.
[18:27] Emilin Nakamori: I am of indeterminate origins, but all agree I am Mad.
[18:27] Fanshaw Auster: ok
[18:27] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: A few of the damen are from Caledon.
[18:27] Tyrian Slade: I'm from Caledon. Kind of.

[18:27] Emilly Orr: Caledon and parts elsewhere.

[18:28] Elegia Underwood: I am from Steelhead.
[18:28] Emilly Orr: We represent a great many ports of call.

[18:28] Annechen Lowey: Fairly international.

[18:28] Sheryl Skytower: actually, you can see the flags overhead... *points up*

Talk settled then, time was growing short--after all, there was a country to save, in the clutches of mad Dr. Obolensky--so quick poems were sought.

[18:30] Birdsan Weezles: Az Hy zaid, Hy got vun -- or rather, de Anima vantz to declaim vun.

[18:30] Emilin Nakamori: I have the remaining bitter haiku, and Kipling's "My Rival", if you want it ;)

Miss Nakamori was given the floor.

The green lady stands,
Symbol of dreams betrayed by
Small men of power.

Deep, and resonant, and Miss Underwood spoke in the moment of silence.

[18:34] Elegia Underwood: This one is by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, sadly more famous for being the owner of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco than for his marvelous poetry. But in his day, he was one of the poets of protest, the Beat Poets.

He was, as some say, the father of Beat Poetry, though this is contested. At any rate, his is poetry worthy of respect, and it had been years and years since I'd heard this one. I listened avidly.

I Am Waiting

I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting
for someone to really discover America
and wail
and I am waiting
for the discovery
of a new symbolic western frontier
and I am waiting
for the American Eagle
to really spread its wings
and straighten up and fly right
and I am waiting
for the Age of Anxiety
to drop dead
and I am waiting
for the war to be fought
which will make the world safe
for anarchy
and I am waiting
for the final withering away
of all governments
and I am perpetually awaiting
a rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the Second Coming
and I am waiting
for a religious revival
to sweep through the state of Arizona
and I am waiting
for the Grapes of Wrath to be stored
and I am waiting
for them to prove
that God is really American
and I am waiting
to see God on television
piped’ onto church altars
if only they can find
the right channel
to tune in on
and I am waiting
for the Last Supper to be served again
with a strange new appetizer
and I am perpetually awaiting
a rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for my number to be called
and I am waiting
for the Salvation Army to take over
and I am waiting
for the meek to be blessed
and inherit the earth
without taxes and I am waiting
for forests and animals
to reclaim the earth as theirs
and I am waiting
for a way to be devised
to destroy all nationalisms
without killing anybody
and I am waiting
for linnets and planets to fall like rain
and I am waiting for lovers and weepers
to lie down together again
in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the Great Divide to ‘be crossed
and I am anxiously waiting
for the secret of eternal life to be discovered
by an obscure general practitioner
and I am waiting
for the storms of life
to be over
and I am waiting
to set sail for happiness
and I am waiting
for a reconstructed Mayflower
to reach America
with its picture story and tv rights
sold in advance to the natives
and I am waiting
for the lost music to sound again
in the Lost Continent
in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the day
that maketh all things clear
and I am awaiting retribution
for what America did
to Tom Sawyer
and I am waiting
for the American Boy
to take off Beauty’s clothes
and get on top of her
and I am waiting
for Alice in Wonderland
to retransmit to me
her total dream of innocence
and I am waiting
for Childe Roland to come
to the final darkest tower
and I am waiting
for Aphrodite
to grow live arms
at a final disarmament conference
in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting
to get some intimations
of immortality
by recollecting my early childhood
and I am waiting
for the green mornings to come again
youth’s dumb green fields come back again
and I am waiting
for some strains of unpremeditated art
to shake my typewriter
and I am waiting to write
the great indelible poem
and I am waiting
for the last long careless rapture
and I am perpetually waiting
for the fleeing lovers on the Grecian Urn
to catch each other up at last
and embrace
and I am waiting
perpetually and forever
a renaissance of wonder



(Miss Underwood looking confident that the onslaught of incoming tomes would not budge her. She was right.)

It wasn't short, but time had been extended by a bit, getting things ready, so Sgt. Weezles took on another work:

[18:50] Birdsan Weezles: Nathaniel Benson, and it's called "Canada".

I have seen her in the quiet of the evening in the fields,
I have sensed her in the dusk-time that the star-decked prairie yields.
She has poised on purple mountains when my lonely step drew near,
And the North's green fires at midnight were her altar-lights austere.

Her voice is in the thunder of the raptured Falls of Bow,
In the memory of Daulac dying greatly long ago.
Her song is in the music of awakened April rills,
She whose spirit walked with Lampman on his silent wooded hills.

In the ancient lonely churchyards of the pioneers asleep.
She broods in voiceless twilight where eternal memories creep.
Where the dark heroic headlands stand the wintry ocean's roar,
She sits thinking of the seamen who will come to port no more.

On the red earth of the vinelands, through the orchards in the spring
She walks and feels in heart and hand her beauty's blossoming, --
And again she wanders weeping beneath an alien sky
Where her many sons are sleeping and her young lost legions lie.

She is one with all our laughter, with our wonder and our pain.
Living everywhere truimphant, in the heart and soul and brain,
She our mother, we who bore her, she the daughter yet to be
Who walks these mortal roads of death to immortality.

Indivisible and lovely, she the maiden of our thought,
Is an empress robed in beauty from our deepest dreaming wrought,
She whose centuries are storied, whose young banners far outborne
Are the heralds of a splendour in the ages yet unborn.



(Sgt. Weezles pushing aside books and mimmoths.)

[18:54] Tyrian Slade: Oh, what the heck. If no one else wants to go, I have a short one.
[18:54] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Go.

I want to see the universe someday.
Shining blue and white
Shimmering like black velvet
Adorned with pearls
Perhaps I’ll touch the galaxies
Fragile in the aether
Trembling like spiderwebs
Laden with dew
And then I’ll know the smell of stars
Those flowers made of light
lossoming for almost ever
Changing their colors
I want to see the universe someday
In all its glory-splendor
For all its mystery and wonder
Beacons to me



(The tide of books ebbing around Miss Slade. This, and her other, I believe, were also originals.)

Then, the crowd parted, most for diverse locations around Babbage, to cheer on the return of the Clockwinder; me, to home and off the grid. I faded into limbo with sweet remembered poetry ringing in my ears, and if there is a better way to fade from the dream than that, I do not know it.

(The Poetry Slams are held each week, on Thursdays from five to seven pm, SLT. Please make sure all your armament is set to no-push, and ammunition fired is temp-rez. Armament is not required; neither is reading. You can come unarmed and just listen.

(Just come. Some weeks somber, some weeks amusing, there's not another poetry night like it on the grid.)