walk through life, and move ahead to your destination

Remember, every day is a new day. And sometimes all we want is to save the world.

Things that are not steampunk:

• If it just has stripes
• If it just has non-working gears and nothing else
• This entire outfit

Some of my friends with Facebook accounts think some of these ideas are overdue. I agree more closely with the 'even more invasive' concept of all of those filters, and I'm also holding in mind that the Oculus Rift, a technological gaming development/platform that I was very interested in attaining, has now dropped so far off my radar it's somewhere around the core of the planet, once I discovered Facebook acquired the tech because Mark Zuckerberg likely thinks it'll be a fun, "hip" new way to sucker people into further privacy violations. Oh joy.

I'm not alone in thinking this--a great many of the donators who supported the project initially on Kickstarter are clamoring for their money back. They feel as if the Oculus Rift sold them out along with their company's tech, and they're very upset about the whole thing. Markus Persson--the infamous "Notch" behind Minecraft--has gone so far as to say that Oculus Rift support for Minecraft and other games he designs will be nonexistent. Why? Because Facebook "creeps [him] out". I don't blame him in the least.

What's really unnerving me in all of this, how'ver, are the threaded hints given between the lines on the New World Notes article announcing the acquisition. Now, granted, this is me exercising my full reserves of paranoia, honed on extensive conspiracy research, but--Linden Lab has every intention of integrating with the Oculus Rift; Philip Rosedale's new social media efforts are going to, at some point, feature Oculus Rift integration; Cory Ondrejka now works for Facebook's mobile division, and the Oculus Rift will be pairing with and integrating with Android mobile devices...so...at what point on Second Life does a Facebook account and a mobile phone become mandatory?

Because I have neither, and at this point, I want neither.

At one point in my net history, I did have a Facebook account, because a job I was working for at the time recommended it for access. At the time, I didn't use it much, as I was (and this will tell you how far back this happened) more invested in MySpace as a platform that was going places. I never really supported either the culture behind Facebook, or the behavior on Facebook, but discovering that--after over six years of never using that account at all--that I still had an open, functional account because I'd never told them to officially delete it also creeped me out beyond all reason. (Also going through the lengthy, 30+ day process to kill my account creeped me out, because seriously, that's non-intuitive to the point of being obfuscatingly arcane.)

So, yeah. The platform that had the potential to revolutionize gaming, on-the-job training, and person-to-person virtual communication is now something I can only view with suspicion and wary dread. Way to go, Zuckerberg. You've destroyed yet another potentially beautiful piece of the future.

Lastly, sometimes furniture just gets bored. So keep your furnishings entertained, if you can.

That is all.

divine is the daughter, the dream that you sell

Rye Weston has a little shop for various oddities in Highlands Japanese mall, and...this was a freebie she offered about a week or so back. (It might still be available.) Other than being named "Geisha Dance", I had no clue what it actually did.

Now I know. It is a dance. Geisha do not dance like this, but...it's some kind of dance, and the song is somehow related to Dance Dance Revolution, originally written and performed by SMiLE.dk and Naoki Maeda. Beyond that, I have no idea what they're going for.

(This was recorded at Custard Developments, again.)

Also, proof of my under-a-rock status came a few days back in the form of this NWN entry on the Oculus Rift. I hadn't heard a thing about it, then a couple days later, Among the Sleep (which has seven days to go, people, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help fund this!!) announced they'd received a developers' kit for the Oculus Rift. As soon as this news leaked out, tons of people began asking for Oculus Rift support. So the team's now working on it.

I truly believe, one way or another, Krillbite Studio will find a way to fund this, and make this game, but even if they don't with this Kickstarter, they're already doing the ground work for Oculus Rift support. Which--if they remain as a game studio, and I think they will--might well serve them in future games.

So what is the Rift device? Well, it's yet another virtual-reality simulator, but in this case, it seems to be both far less bulky than previous helmet-based devices, and also, it splits the visual feed into two distinct angled displays, similar to how our eyes actually receive information naturally. There are some early reports that the device can cause sea-sickness (or at least, motion disorientation) in some users, but I think as the tech evolves and support grows, that will lessen. As it is, the Rift seems a very exciting development in virtual technology--and the Lindens also have a dev kit they're working with, to integrate Oculus Rift support into Second Life.

(from the shopping album; my bwuh of the day)

In other news...a friend mentioned this oddity, so I went to go look. It's copy only, 100% mesh, but for a freebie, the detail's incredible.

(from the shopping album; my bwuh of the day)

It's decently maneuverable (it is a flying machine, after all), and only slightly unwieldy on the turns, but overall, functions just fine.

(from the shopping album; my bwuh of the day)

The only problem? It's bigger than I am. (Note: I am NOT in a Petite form, it's just a biiiig barrel!)

The moose...barrel...helicopter...thing can be found at the United InshCon main store, as this week's group gift.

(from the media album; kind of had to be done)

And pondering on the mystery of screen names...a certain individual ([Sxxxxxx Txxxxx] by redacted name) currently has, as their screen name, "Shokneatomsendaplfkrjtfkplonpom".

Riiiight.

Okay, then. Cue backing away slowly until escape is achieved.