the thought of you is still haunting me

In wandering through the Destinations page, looking for untapped haunts, I came across mention of an "Adult-rated" haunt called Hell House. It sits on Bad Romance, one of the Adult-rated sims in the Solace Beach chain of sims. I couldn't imagine what an "Adult" rating would deal with, so off we went.

(from the haunts album; the shifting woman in Hell House)

The first thing I noticed was the overuse of alpha textures. Now, there are a lot of different ways to make persistent haunts--prims, sculpts, and yes, flat textures. Most of these either changed when we got close, or just faded in and out. In any other setting, this wouldn't be a problem, but in this place, there was far too much scripted to react to collisions--from doors that would open when I walked near them, to effects that would only occur when I was close enough. With that many scripts listening constantly and registering collisions...well, let's just say lag was the least of our worries.

(from the haunts album; the shifting woman in Hell House)

Which is not to say lag wasn't high--it was, but the biggest problem was things rezzing in at all. Or effects going off, but only after we'd left the room. Or effects going off, and then never stopping, whether we left the room or not.

(from the haunts album; oh look, a Wiki page)

The stranger problem I ran into was, after a room full of massive effects and collision scripting, seeing Wikipedia pages textured on objects, like this absinthe bottle.

(from the haunts album; another Wiki page)

It happened in more than one place and on more than one floor. The strangest thing about this, though: I didn't have a Wiki page open. So what was it pulling from?

(from the haunts album; a tortured victim in the wine cellar)

Granted, due to the Adult nature of this haunt, there weren't a lot of pictures suitable to display on the blog. That doesn't mean they were necessarily that outstanding, though--there seemed to be a lot of textures imported of Poser-posed CGI elves with demons bent on rape, and of standard (modern) porn actresses scattered on virtually every surface. This didn't lend the air of "dark eroticism" they said they were looking for on the notecard, but...clutter. Much of it tawdry, tacky clutter.

(from the haunts album; bad alpha edges on the second floor)

In fact, that was one of my larger complaints, actually--the white edging on easily 60% of all textures used in this haunt. I got so tired of the halo effect after a while.

(from the haunts album; the rising body on the bed)

This was one of the effects that worked, and worked really well--a simple satin counterpane on a simple bed, that featured a body rising and disappearing again under the quilt.

(from the haunts album; another little note in Hell House)

There were lots of little details mentioned in the notecard, that we were told would add to the backstory of the mansion. While they did offer information, most felt out of step with the rest of the house--like wandering into a genteel club for tea and biscuits that happened to feature stripper poles next to a peep show. They just didn't fit with everything else.

(from the haunts album; more clutter in Hell House)

I admire what they were trying to go for--that air of the Hellfire club mixed with the ornate, over-embellished Victorian manor house, tainted by debauchery and evil. And there are good moments in this one (though they're few and far between), but what kept striking me, over and over, is how busy everything felt. Very nearly a frenetic level of haunting, and a positively cluttered mish-mash of porn stars, Victorian furnishings, bondage pics, and shots from horror films inserted seemingly at random.

It is a five-level haunt, and if you really feel compelled to wander, it's not a complete waste of time. At least, if you have nothing better to do. But I wouldn't count it as one of these year's successes.

never pull a punch for free

[20:09] ẔẍỷṰḧῒᾆῆ [Zxxxxxxx Wxxxxxxxxxx]: Yawns and closes.
[20:10] [Qxxxxxx Hxxxxxxx]: i never understood why ppl need to make a statement that they are closing the window lol
[20:11] [Vxxxxx Cxxxxxxxxxx]: because it doesn't make a noise otherwise??
[20:11] [Lxxxxxxxxx Lxxxxxxx]: i dunno [Qxxxxx]. maybe they think theyll make a silent point?
[20:15] [Lxxxx Mxxxxxx]: because it's not a flounce unless someone knows about it :-p
[20:15] Emilly Orr agrees with [Lxxxx]

As given in slightly more detail here, I am unfortunately driven to release my parcel of Caledon Morgaine. I have adored it there, and adore Caledon still, but without a steady income (and without my partner's steady income, as she's been released from her work as well, due to the estate company's sudden closure), I have to give up Morgaine. It is my greatest wish at this time that I do not have to give up my small island off Winterfell Laudanum, also...but I am something of a fatalist, and if it happens, I will find a way to cope.

It is a small 1024 section on the main Morgaine Bay, barriered on one side by water, and on the other by the range of mountains that lie between Caledon Wellsian and Caledon Morgaine. It is partially under Morgaine's Floating Mountain, and has a magnificent view of some very pretty builds.

I am asking L$950, solely to reimburse the week I paid so that I would not default; there are thirteen days (as of today, 7 October 2011) remaining on the tier.

However, as I want it to sell to someone who will both treasure it, and to transfer it before I have to hand it back to Desmond empty...I am entertaining all offers.

And tragically, I do mean that. Please leave a message here, or IM me in Second Life, or draft a notecard and drop it on my profile. This greatly saddens me, but I am trying to see my tragedy as a boon to some future tenant of Caledon.

Please, if you are at all serious about owning a section of Caledon, please contact me.

how 'bout the tree back your house where the owls go

It's always on the unnerving side when something we expect to forever be a market on the landscape leaves. Back in August, there was an announcement that Grendel's was closing two of their sims: in particular, the two I've enjoyed wandering the most. Somehow, I missed it, and yet, now, at this point, it's striking me as still relevant--both personally, and for the grid as a whole.

Recently, Ayesha Lytton, the owner of Solace Beach Estates, suffered a financial setback. In addition to selling off some of her properties, she also made the decision to downsize in terms of staff--I and many others were discharged from our duties. I'm also contrasting this with recent notices of closure, or sim "reassignments", in Caledon and other places, and I'm thinking it's going to be very difficult to be a land baron on Second Life over the next couple years.

But while much of the setbacks involve personal finances, and tenants moving on, I tend to agree with what I've heard of the Grendel's situation; that if the Labs had anything resembling consistent customer service, paired with understandable policies, they'd be keeping more people--and more sims--than they are now.

Bottom line, I don't know the exact details; no one who's not on the ground and part of them will likely ever know them. But I know that 99% of the companies out there, when facing a client paying them over fourteen thousand dollars per year (or more, in the case of larger sim chains) planning on ceasing those payments due to a customer service issue? Or an inability to contact customer service at all?

I, for one, would not be staying out of contact; I'd be doing everything I could to ensure that those clients felt that their needs were being met, or, in situations where I couldn't do that, I would at least ensure that they had the sense that I was hearing what they were saying, and doing my best to help them, within my corporate structure.

Instead, it sounds like yet another case of the Great Linden Stone Wall never being breached. When the last thing a client wants to do, when there's a problem, is talk to the company...or when the client perceives that talking to the company will serve no purpose...that company is in the downward spiral.

And the biggest problem in all of this? The Lindens have been there for more than a year now, with zero corrections to their fall. Eventually, they're going to run out of airspace and hit ground. Everyone does.

I no longer have such deep dread about the coming Dark Shadows remake; CERN researchers may have discovered faster-than-light particles; the Toyota Prius is so quiet, they actually had to add in sound for people; and if you wanted to hear Freddie Mercury sing again, well...you sort of can.

From Creator Allen:

I love when people ask if I have a LM to my shop.

"[4:38:46 AM] Fawkes Allen: No, every time I want to go to my shop I go to a secret locale on the mainland and trek my way across the wilderness. An elaborate set of clutes and cryptic messages guide me as I travel across mountins and under ancient ruins long abandoned. Eventually when I reach the shore of the Mainland I set out on a boat across the uncharted seas following a compass that doesn't point north to find my way to the fabled Island of Solace Beach. There I rez a skyship that I use to travel the skies using specific currents to eventually lead me to my Lab above my store."

Insert sound of cackling laughter.

And there's a huge bug of staggering proportions in the upcoming 1.9 Adventure Update of Minecraft--namely, in 1.8 Notch changed the frequency of animals spawning, so if I go out and kill two pigs, three chickens and a cow for food, they won't respawn in that area for at least three days--and that's not gameplay ten-minute days, that's three REAL days.

Instead, in 1.9, Notch planned to have people offer a sheaf of wheat to two animals near to each other, to 'force spawn' new animal mobs in an area.

The glitch? It, err, works better than advertised. In short: once the animals start "mating"...they don't stop. That could be very bad...

while surviving this attack I soon learned how to battle back

Rue has new horns in new color packs! But she's made a teensy error on the blog post, so go to the new Everwilde location, look over that color pack option, then go to Ctrl-Shift-H for the Seraph options. Everything in the Moody Monday boxes are L$55 per pack; the rest retail at her normal, very reasonable price of L$175 per pack.

Solace Beach is asking its current customers and tenants, and interested parties, to comment on a low rating at WOT.com. What WOT does, essentially, is allow the consumer to check--online, or using downloadable tools, on the safety of any website on the net.

Some months back, the site updated with a new version of Joomia. Unbeknownst to any staffers, this particular install had a security flaw, and someone discovered it. There was a hacking incident that brought the website down, replacing it with a phishing program...I can't even remember for what, right now, but it was a minor nightmare. A few hours went by, and the breach was discovered, closed, and Solace Beach has had no further website-hacking problems.

But the damage was done, Solace Beach was listed as a phishing site, and dangerous. Warnings went out. Several major systems blocked the site from accessing their systems, and by extension, their customers, some of whom rent from us.

Ayesha Lytton is asking that, if you have experience with the website, if you'd go to WOT.com and register a favorable rating. One day of being hacked does not a dangerous site make, and since that time, there have been no further problems. All Ayesha wants is for the site to regain the rating it had before the incident, because it's not a phishing site, a hacking site, or dangerous in any way.

Want to know what live-action video gaming looks like? The folks behind BodyCount have you covered.

And Google Translate is going away as of December of this year. I'm torn between Damn, that many people have been abusing the service? and Screw you, you bastards. Honestly not sure which is the more 'truthful' reaction, so to speak. Find your alternatives now, get them hooked in place, and be prepared for a LOT of in-world translation services to break, and break badly.

And now, the ultimate Escapist Post Round-Up! Here's allll the links:

Part I: Wherein you, the faithful readers, read along on the conflict between the Escapist and Extra Credits.

Part II: A couple positive, and several negative, responses to the conflict.
Part III: Ads, scary mesh constructs, and who (so far) has come forward on not getting paid for work done by the Escapist.
Part IV: More on the controversy, along with both the Yahtzee bring-him-to-PAX debacle, and also Yahtzee's bone-deep loathing for Joss Whedon.
Part V: Sex elves and fan rage.
Part VI: The death of Hellboy, strange fan art, hunts in Second Life, weird Disney projects and more fan rage.
Part VII: More from the JIRA That Will Never Die, and more fan rage (along with some direct responses from the actual participants).
Part VIII: Weird captions and even more fan rage.
Part IX: More from the JIRA That Will Not Die, Longbow "shoot-me-I'm-a-target!" costumes, and dear gods, more fan rage.
Part X: More fan rage, and a Meat Loaf song!
Part XI: Cosplay, Minecraft updates, upcoming car engine advances, and more fan rage!
Part XII: Goats, the first link set for the Escapist posts, an explanation of the Monkeysphere, inaccuracies corrected, and strange sidewise threats.
Part XIII: Corsets, bodypaint, and testing understanding so far.
Part XIV: Minecraft, Dwarven songs, goth-blocking, Underworld trailers, and discussion of donations after surgical costs were met.
Part XV: Comics, derailing, music, Escapist staffers, viewers, and trying to make sense of it all.
Part XVI: The West Memphis Three, cost breakdown on air flights and Seattle hotel stays, contracts and T-shirt costs.
Part XVII: Found art, Linden boosting, controversies on the Escapist thread, and more on donating after the fact.
Part XVIII: News on City of Heroes' First Ward, collectibles, literal videos, IP conflicts, and an astounding offer from Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits.
Part XIX: Bad fashion, Jack Harkness, and wrapping up the end of the thread.

Which brings us to now. Nineteen entries, 94 pages gone through, cannot believe I followed the thread out, and you all deserve a gold star if you've actually followed along (or even skimmed for highlights). Where are we at this point?

Well, I'm still waiting for the emails mentioned to be released in a non-Facebook form. (Though, from internal commentary in the 94-page thread, have they actually been released at all? That part's unclear.)

And I'm still looking for mentions from other threads of the emails. (Though in searching, I also found this, which is all sorts of fun to read through.)

So...from here we wait for more news. I'll keep everyone posted on when (or if) the emails ever become public. In the meantime, while I knew of Rule 64, I didn't know of Rule 63, which states that any male comic or video game character must, by default, have a female counterpart. Interesting.

Does the same thing work for female comic/video game characters? Are we ever going to see a Laurence Croft, for instance, or Wonder Man?

(Actually, I take that back--Wonder Man, pride and prince of the Amazons...that just doesn't make any sense.)

ankles displayed, melodramatically laid

So, I found I still had a desire to see what was in the Carrot House, and, after much internal hemming and hawing, off I went.

(from the bizarre album)

And there it was, in all its immensity. When I ported to the center of the sim, things didn't even have to fully rez in before I knew where I was headed. It's monolithic. It's immense. It's beyond huge.

(from the bizarre album)

Thankfully, I don't get pregnant that easily.

(from the bizarre album)

The mariachi offerings still make me headtilt. I didn't realize there was a demand for mariachi performers in SL.

(from the bizarre album)

Apparently, only people with the most up-to-date equipment and fastest internet connections should adopt babies from her monolithic tower. That leaves out...most of the grid, actually.

(from the bizarre album)

Some of the precious treasures referenced above. While Miss Karu does state that any baby can be made neko, mermaid, vampire, undead or multi-hued at the touch of the HUD, she doesn't say that even with that level of customization, they all...pretty much...look like this.

(from the bizarre album)

And then the copyright infringement started! First with Shrek and Fiona (and it's a good thing, Jenia, you picked a Dreamworks project; Disney's lawyers tend towards the feral)...

(from the bizarre album)

...and then with wee li'l Na'vi bébés to boot. (But then, why am I surprised? It seems like a third of the grid, easy, wants to be Na'vi in every detail.)

Now, to her credit, she's been running this business for two years, apparently. And she's not new; she's been kicking around the grid since 2008. More to the point, she's fully committed to working with Mikela Isle's Estate Manager to relocate her--and that stunningly bright, overlarge tower (seven floors! not kidding!)--from Mikela's commercial, partially themed property to one of Solace's light-covenant parcels, where things like the Carrot Monolith won't necessarily stand out. So much.

I mean, it'll stand out. That thing is designed to stand out. Just...not as obviously on a light-covenant sims, where the rules are pretty relaxed about what can--and can't--sit on the sim.

I'll let you know where she moves.

In the meantime, from SL architecture to RL architecture, how does living in a fortress appeal? Apparently, to those Warsaw natives, it appeals just fine. Clean lines (though admittedly blocky construction) and lots of glass give an open-air feel when the house is open; but it closes up tight like a solid concrete brick when it's closed. Defensible? Absolutely. Pretty? In spots. But it's built so sturdily that even a tank would find it difficult to break in. Which may be the point, honestly...

And I am doing my best to angle for this mug set. The beauty of that one is they'd look just as good on a bookshelf, than as a mug set in the kitchen!

At least...until they're filled with beverages that should likely be kept farther away from the books...

Lastly, from the depths of the spam folder, I thought this was too amusing not to mention:

From: NENA (spamdejieff@live.fr)
To: prashantkpatel (prashantkpatel@gmail.com)
Date: Jun 22

I am someone's perfect girl.
I hoard books.
I read news all the time.
I subscribe to several magazines and newspapers, not because I have time to
read all of them, but because I like to think I do.
I'm a self-described coffee and cupcake addict.
I'm not an alcoholic, but I do love good beer, good wine and a good time.
I go to plays and musicals because I love them.
I dance because it's fun.
I sing because that's just what I do.
I kind of hate modern art (something my friends like to poke at when they
bring me to various museums).
I overanalyze Lost. I sing along to Glee. I wish I worked at the Buy More.
I'm a nerd, in the "Star Wars is awesome, Star Trek is too, and I think I'd
like Battlestar Galactica if I ever got around to watching it" way.
I Love Harry Potter. No, seriously. Love. Capital "L."
I'm probably the biggest sap you'll ever meet.
I find kids and babies adorable. I don't want my own any time soon, but I
do want them.
I like pretty things. Shoes. Photographs. Pieces of furniture.
I don't like cats because I'm allergic, but I can't wait for the day that I
can get a puppy.
I'm living the dream when it comes to my career, but even I know that
there's something more I need to strive for. I just have to figure out what
that is.
I love baseball and college football, but fair warning, I'm didn't grow up
on the East Coast, so I probably don't like your team(s).
I'm not hot. Pretty, sure. Cute, yes. Hot, not so much. And I'm OK with
that.
My profile is [not included and pretty much unnecessary to mention]

I'm really not sure who this is supposed to be targeting, in all honesty, because the title of this 'dating' pitch?

submisive men seduce me

Ooookay then. So if your thing is geeky under-educated quirky pet-yearning sentimental cupcake-loving cute sports fans, wau, does NENA have your number. Write Jieff--er, I mean, NENA--today!

your sadness it is quite lovely, but it's the sadness of a slave

IBM announces the next great advancement in memory storage; this could easily eclipse Flash drives in a few years, or at the least, make them radically less expensive.

Unfortunately, there's stupider tech news on the horizon; namely, from Capcom, which has managed to find a way to lose sales and kill interest in their products at the same time! How, you ask? Merely this: they've hard-coded the game saves for the newest edition of Resident Evil. To wit:

"In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, all mission progress is saved directly to the Nintendo 3DS cartridge, where it cannot be reset," the statement continued. "The nature of the game invites high levels of replayability in order to improve mission scores. In addition, this feature does not remove any content available for users."

What does that translate to for game resellers? Though they say that's not what they're trying to prevent, it kills the secondary market.

But--and this is the part they didn't think through--it also kills the primary market.

Why? Say I'm stuck on one level. I need more experience, I need more time, I need a better gun--whatever. A great deal of the time I'll just stop playing that particular iteration and start a new game.

Except...I can't. I literally cannot start a new game. And, once I play that game start to finish? That's it, I can't ever play it again.

How high up in the stupidsphere is this idea? The Hubble telescope would be unable to make it out, that's how high up.

Think about this another way. Say this idea takes off. My loves and I buy a four-player game we want to try. But there's only three of us in the house. We've already opened the game, played a bit, got the feel of it enough to explain to people, and we're set to bring it over to my cousin's, abode, where she and her husband also have a game system, and we can just bring our controllers along and trade off groups.

We wouldn't be able to do that with this new system--our system would be the only system that could record the saved game!

Okay, fine, say we know this in advance: we don't open the game up until we hit my cousin's. At that point, it's now her copy of the game. Why? Because her game is now perma-saved to her system, and can't be transferred back to ours. More than that, those four players will now be the only four player names allowed until that game is finished. And, once that game is finished? Well, that's all for that, throw that disc away.

This is a blindingly stupid idea. I can't stress that enough. I can't count (and I mean that, I literally cannot name a number) the amount of times I've played Diablo II, and that system is barely playable these days under Windows XP, and I think not at all under Windows 7. (Though I may be wrong there, feel free to correct me.) Not only that, but Miss Neome has games from various console systems that we've found ways to bridge to the console systems we have, so we can keep playing them.

And you can't do that with Capcom's ridiculously coded scheme.

Pick your favorite game. Any game. (Barring Second Life; we're talking games with save points.) Would any game that you have ever played on PC, Mac or an external console be improved by never being able to save another game once played? This is not just me, this is really, really dumb. Forget the resale market, this kills initial sales. Because why would I want to buy a game that I can't play more than once? Ever?

Finally, more sadness from Mikela Isle:

(from the bizarre album)

I have no words. WHY does Mikela Isle attract these people? Who knows? It's called the "Carrot House". Of course it is. And it seems to sell...babies.

Seriously.

And mariachi clothing. But that doesn't matter, because this thing is pretty much the most vivid, the single largest, the single most APPALLING structure that has ever been seen in Mikela.



Hmm. Okay, maybe I'm wrong. But it's still overly huge, and overly bright, and way outside what's allowable in Mikela. It's got to go.

some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger

There's someone on the grid named twogangsta2bachick Resident. From her profile:

I DIS LIKE THE PHONY AND HATE THE UNREAL...... SO IF YOU HAVE TO QUESTION YOURSLF...... YOU NEED NOT SPEAK TO ME..

Ooookay. Good to know. Also, for the love of God, STOP SHOUTING. You're making us all deaf in here.

Moving on.

From a conversation in DV8 group chat:

[11:51 PM] Scarlette Silvershade: Q A M on chairs!
[11:52 PM] miharuu Aries: w8 dv8 has lucky chairs now
[11:52 PM] Anarya Elderslie: It...always has
[11:52 PM] Orian Fang: yeah
[11:52 PM] Althea Faulkland: ??? they always have...
[11:52 PM] Kranah Heartsdale: 0.o has had them for a while lol
[11:52 PM] Scarlette Silvershade: mhm
[11:52 PM] Bermillion Sugarplum: yup always
[11:53 PM] Aftershok Ziplon: miha omgeeshe hihi lol
[11:53 PM] Frozen Rage facepalms
[11:53 PM] miharuu Aries: i never seen tham lol

Wau. Just....wau. The level of stupid there, it's just unmatch--wait...

From later on, same chat:

[11:55 PM] tempest Heartsdale: does DV8 carry clothing for Meeroos?
[11:55 PM] Bermillion Sugarplum: lmao
[11:55 PM] tempest Heartsdale: lol
[11:55 PM] Emilly Orr: ....
[11:55 PM] Emilly Orr: Meeroos don't wear clothing.
[11:56 PM] Frozen Rage: huh?
[11:56 PM] Duvage Brandi: wth is meeroos?
[11:56 PM] Doran Shamrock: thats kinda funny, i was talking about a DV8 edition meeero with Blache yesterday
[11:56 PM] Bermillion Sugarplum: well they should <.< how cute would that bee. xD!
[11:56 PM] Emilly Orr: The latest annoying sculpted overscripted breedable.
[11:56 PM] Frozen Rage: basically a snack
[11:56 PM] Bermillion Sugarplum: yup and its so cutes ^^
[11:56 PM] tempest Heartsdale: omg that would so be awesome
[11:57 PM] Emilly Orr: Basically

Gad, I take it all back. That's just about the lowest level of stup--oh, no...

Later still, same chat:

[12:11 AM] Five Zenfold: Im going to leave this group...if you're nto advertsing anything please dont spam me with dumb shit.
[12:11 AM] Frozen Rage: ah ha
[12:12 AM] Lysana McMillan: Bye, Five!
[12:12 AM] Kranah Heartsdale: wow, no fun at all lol
[12:12 AM] Anarya Elderslie: Ciao!
[12:12 AM] Emilly Orr: Wau. Way to win points with the designer, Five, saying they can't run the chat how they want to run it.

Yeah. Okay. THAT is officially the stupidest thing heard tonight in a chat. Just damn, people.

Of course, I am possessed of snark tonight, so I had to let her know (it's a her):

[12:15 AM] Emilly Orr: By the way, congratulations--I think you win the clueless award for the week.
[12:15 AM] Five Zenfold: clueless huh drama in my box.. fuck you idiot dont talk me.
[12:16 AM] Emilly Orr will not 'talk you' again if you so wish.

Yep.

Moving from stupid to stupid...I want to talk a little bit again about scripted pets. While we're not in the land of sim-based script limitations yet, we're easily on our way there if we don't cut out how we're using sim--and personal--script resources. Of course inventory plays into it, and how our attachments are scripted, but--well, let me use a personal example.

Got word down from the boss-lady to check over all our sims for presence of scripted pets. With the adoption of the Meeroo as the latest adowwable must-have, people are trying to sneak pets onto sims again--and those sims are lagging.

So on my sims, I went through the top scripts, and I found some memorable things that people may not adequately understand.

1. The biggest sim resource hog, hands down: YOU. That never changes. If you are stark naked, with no scripted HUDS, no scripted attachments, take off your scripted clothing, scripted shoes and scripted hair, there's still the cost of YOU on the grid. Avatars are always at the top of the resource list.

2. Second on the list, and this rarely ever varies: sex beds. Or, to be more specific, sex equipment, because of the amount of scripts that are listening actively, or that respond on a click to whatever's being clicked. Let me make this plain--I don't care what people have in their homes or skyboxen, I'm not looking for that, just pets--but I have returned and will return sex equipment that is a) on the ground and b) not in a house. Because that's on the important side--unless you're in an Adult sim, having a bondage cross in the front yard with explicitly labeled pose balls is on the tacky side, and we warn, and then return. (With usually 24 hours between the warning, and the returning.)

3. Third on the list, and this also rarely ever varies: scripted pets. In particular, your scripted pets. Whatever precious little furry darlings you're in love with this week. I haven't seen a single thing that makes Meeroos any better than Amaretto horses, Ozimal bunnies, or Sion chickens for that matter, and I'm not inclined favorably to any of them.

My advice? Read your covenant. Because if you don't, you're still bound by it, you're just being stupid about it. Or, more to the point:

* Light covenant sims in Solace: 4 scripted pets for every 512 square meters of land you rent from us;

* Residential/commercial/Adult commercial sims: 1 scripted pet for every 512 square meters of land you rent from us.

And you know what? That is not going to change unless the boss-lady changes it. I don't have any control over it, no other EM has any control over it, and we won't have a lot of pity if you have enough land to give you seven scripted pets and you have forty-two. Or eighty-nine. Or one hundred and eighteen. Or more.

All we're going to do is warn you, then send your pets back. And if your pets are the kind that still die when they're returned? Not our problem. You needed to read the covenant.

Honestly, what are some people, five? Seriously, I should not have to keep explaining this.

the train pulls into the station, and no one gets off, and no one gets on

Pixeldolls is having a quiet little fundraiser for SLUniverse.com. It's called the "Honeypot" shirt, and it sells for L$100 for a limited time:

(from the fashion album)

This is an intriguingly semi-sheer art blouse on all layers. This is one of those impossible-in-RL tops, by the way, because the 'drip' effect just would never lay that smoothly against anything but bare skin. If that. Still, it's lovely, the shading is phenomenal, and it does have that effect of shimmering honey drops along the hem.

Go down, toss a hundred, you get a great top on all layers, and you support a great forum site that only explodes into drama every other day. (And sometimes, that's part of the place. Think of it as local color.)

In other news...

BELLA'S CONDO FOR RENT 850L A WEEK, the land said. The description went on:

Beatyful condo (3 storys high) fully furnished with nothing but pure romance!!!! huge Hot tub!! with sex emoticons and much more!! free to do as you like is an Adult Condo just dont bother your neighbors!!! rent due 1st day contact Bella Mariposa for info

Wau, there are so many problems with this one.

First, is the condo she's trying to rent:

(from the bizarre album)

Three floors of boxy blue condo-house, for rent. On land she's not supposed to offer rentals on. Not only that, but three floors of inexpertly decorated boxy blue condo-house, offering adult beds and sex animations that are not supposed to be behind full-length glass walls on the ground floor.

(from the bizarre album)

The front room. Note presence of rezzed-out product box, in the center of the space she's supposedly offering people, fully furnished, as said "Adult rental".

(from the bizarre album)

The second "fully furnished" floor. Note presence of...um...invisible furniture?

(from the bizarre album)

The third floor. I swear, this entire place looks like some 1980's junk-bond investment condominium, all blue glass and track lighting. At least there's room for fifteen in the hot tub?

(from the bizarre album)

And a view off the top patio, featuring next door's spotlight. Yes, absolutely, that adds to the sense of romance.

I guess this is filed under stupid people are stupid...Oh, and Miss Bella Mariposa, mentioned on the land description? She doesn't exist. At least, not in SL.

I'm sure no one will be surprised that this parcel was reclaimed for violation of the estate's covenant provisions. Dimwit.

in the late of the evening, with the cold in my eyes

Ten reasons why watching fantasy and sf shows is a good thing.

Worldwide music takes on the Rolling Stones. One world, singing together--yeah, that's much better than bombs.

Kirsten's Viewer strikes again--but this time around? She's made a 3D viewer...for a 3D world.

I don't get it, either.

Artist Olly Moss has a solo gallery show out called Papercuts; lucky us, she's also started a blog to show off. Sadly, I have several fandom fails where I don't recognize the silhouettes involved, but they're all wonderful.

Last entry I got a comment from someone praising me for a rant, I think (I never take those comments quite seriously, it'd be like praising me for breathing...wait. Breathing isn't an autonomic process with me...Hmm. Okay, I get the point, but I was making another one, so we move on), and as a by-product, I've been reading through her blog. I hit this entry, which made me ponder, and then I found this one, still reading back, and then hit what I thought was the main entry (though as it turns out, I'm wrong, the controversy goes back farther).

And this is Dolly and Lilith Heart's response to some part of the controversy.

Now, I'm not going to go into the whole thing in terms of my experiences with others; I've ranted that rant, and have no intent of revisiting. And that's not entirely relevant here, anyway--while it should be the responsibility of everyone who seeks to protect the copyrights they have to protect those copyrights, it's not an easy process, and there are some severe downsides to doing it. Because, yet again, DMCA was never intended to be used in all the ways it's being used today. It just isn't that robust a law.

But, I figured I might have an important point from someone who does work with an estate company, who is always looking for new and interesting landscaping ideas: most of us won't shop at Heart Botanicals, flat out. This is a Solace Beach-wide thing. Why?

It's not because any of us even heard of this controversy. We're not boycotting or making a fuss or saying they do bad work; they don't. (In pure point of fact, they do amazing work, and always have.) Several of us, including the owner of Solace Beach, Ayesha Lytton, own palms, lilies and various beach plants and tropical ground covers from Heart Botanicals, after all.

Hells, just from reading through their blog, I dropped by yesterday for one of the beach bonfire sets. But I had to grit my teeth to do it.

Why? It's quite clear: nothing we buy from them is copiable. Nothing. And that kills its usefulness for us.

And it it bothers me to no end, because sometimes I have ended up deleting items because they hit the Lost & Found folder on a return, and I wasn't thinking. These days, I try to carefully rez out everything in Lost & Found, but at that point, once moved, they're never in their original folders, and things get jumbled, and yeah--in some cases, I've just forgotten. They have a series of volcano hot spring calderas that I adore for off-sim decoration; they also have a couple different versions of tropical ground cover that are just perfect for behind signs and next to difficult parcel transition points. And of course, I've long since fallen for their coconut palms with the lily vines...

But nothing they make is copiable, from their lemon topiaries down to the scattered beach-rock prims they make up. And I've pondered why such a big firm--big enough that, at least to the surface eye, some of their designs might well be being copied--steadfastly refuses to make copiable designs. Anyone who works with estate management is very clear on what that means--pay L$100, say, for five of something, no copy, or pay L$1000 for five of something copy. We get it, we're going to pay more for no-transfer versions.

But we need them if things are going to work.

Think about it: if I have a 4096 parcel, say, that needs some tropical additions before I plunk the land sign down, I'm looking--realistically--at two makers, Tobias Novi and Heart Botanicals. (While there are scores of other makers, and I've investigated most of them, those two people are really where I shop, when I shop tropical landscaping.)

And 90% of the time, I'm going to go with Novi's work (hells, even when I use Dolly and Lilith Heart's palms, I use Tobias Novi's shadows, come on!), because I can just delete it when it gets returned to me. Why? Because his items are copiable.

Sooner or later, we hit that wall of pretty vs. practical too many times.

In pure point of fact, I'm now in the process of shopping for similar sculpts--not in the attempt to copy them (I wouldn't dream of it, frankly) but solely and simply because some of what they do, in terms of plans, I can either buy from them (and get pretty single-serving plants and rocks), or find comparable sculpts, cobble them together, and have not quite so pretty, but copiable plants and rocks.

If you were managing several dozen parcels, what would you do? Or forget the building angle--if you had the choice between two palm sets, one lovely and tropical and amazing, with detailed prim work, but no copy; and the other one pretty damned good, with less variety but everything was copy, no transfer...Trust me, you'd shoot like an arrow towards the no-transfer items.

Because, at the end of the day, if I'm going to spend L$800 to L$3000 on something, I'm going to look for these things:

* Does it alpha badly?
* Will it fit a large area easily?
* If tropical ground covers, not palms, is it a good mix of rocks and plants, or plants and other debris?
* IS IT COPIABLE?

And that last one? Really is the most important.

Will I boycott Heart Botanicals because of their stance on this? No. It's on the tacky side to call out the person, not the comment, but it happens, it's an unfortunate fact of the internet. More importantly, just examining the comparison shots, they may have something there, because their original meshes and their package layouts do seem to resemble the pieces on other grids--at least to the untrained eye.

But I won't lie, I'm working very hard to ensure that those replacements I can find to buy, I do, and those sculpts I can track down, to make on my own, I do. So that, once everything's found and as finalized as it's going to get, I won't need to shop at Heart Botanicals any more.

Because pretty only counts for so much. Past that, it's all about performance. And as far as being able to copy them across seventy-plus sims, Heart products simply do not perform.

and I've been putting out fire with gasoline

I realize that I had a choice to manage sims for a living. I could have said no. And most of the time it's not arduous in any way, though it's nearly always challenging. The combination of customer service and repo girl, admittedly, can fray my nerves.

This went a tad bit above and beyond.

[03:26 PM] bFlat Unplugged: Hi Emilly. Is there any way you can either turn off those annoying tier reminders on Solace Paradiise, or else cut them down to maybe 1-24 hours before it expires and 1-12 hours before?
[03:26 PM] bFlat Unplugged: they hit me every 6 nhours for 48 hours before my tier expires, and frankly, that's harassment
[03:27 PM] Emilly Orr: Unfortunately, that's a standard of the scripting across all our sims. We want to make sure that people get the message, because repossession when people really want their parcels is annoying all around.
[03:27 PM] bFlat Unplugged: you reallyt need to tone it down

First off, what he's talking about is our terminal box scripting. When you are within two hours of expiring, the terminal activates to start sending out reminder IMs, once every six hours. This is to ensure that our tenants get the messages, and have the time to pay tier. While we have the right by covenant, which every tenant agrees to in order to move in, to repossess exactly when the parcel expires, we try not to do that.

Winterfell sends me reminder messages when I'm coming due. Caledon sends me reminder messages when I'm coming due. Every parcel I've ever lived on has given me reminders, either via script IMs, notecards, or just the land owners dropping by and telling me. No one receives zero reminders on the grid. Anywhere.

But Mr. Unplugged took exception.

[03:27 PM] Emilly Orr: And it's not harassment. Harassment would be me personally IMing you every five minutes. That's once every six hours, that's considered keeping in contact.
[03:27 PM] Emilly Orr: Why?
[03:27 PM] bFlat Unplugged: i'm an adult, after all :)
[03:27 PM] Emilly Orr: Overjoyed to hear it.
>[03:28 PM] bFlat Unplugged: i'm sorry others aren't adult enough to remember when they need to pay their tier
[03:28 PM] Emilly Orr: Well, first, when you pay your tier, the reminders stop. Secondly, some people aren't in SL daily, and those reminders end up being capped for them.

Was that rude? Maybe. But he was asking about an autonomic process that no one in Solace has control over--not me, not Ayesha Lytton, the owner of the sim. The system was created for the Cove Islands chain, back when there was a Cove Islands change, before it became Solace Beach. Just Dinkin scripted it, and there's not a lot we can do beyond hiring another scripter--and she or he may put in the same every six hours notification system, or script in an even shorter notification system!

[03:29 PM] bFlat Unplugged: every 6 hours isn't keeping in contact, it's annoying
[03:29 PM] Emilly Orr: We try to average between intrusive, and being out of touch. Obviously this doesn't work for all residents, but you'd be surprised how many people tell me they never got a reminder before they're up for eviction.
[03:29 PM] bFlat Unplugged: uh huh
[03:29 PM] bFlat Unplugged: and they would say that if you sent one every hour too
[03:29 PM] Emilly Orr: They might, yes. But so far, we've found that sending one reminder every hour isn't helpful.
[03:30 PM] bFlat Unplugged: nor is sending one every 6 hours
[03:30 PM] Emilly Orr: For most residents, it is.
[03:31 PM] bFlat Unplugged: while I have you on here, it says that performers get a discount on their tiers in Solace
[03:31 PM] bFlat Unplugged: i have yet to get one
[03:34 PM] Emilly Orr: Have you talked with Ayesha directly about the tier discount? Or I could ask. I don't know about it, but that doesn't mean it's not an active program.
[03:34 PM] bFlat Unplugged: I thought you wqere my estate manager
[03:34 PM] Emilly Orr: I am your estate manager. But if you're saying I should take care of it, I'll do my best, but I don't know about the program.
[03:34 PM] Emilly Orr: So I'll talk to Ayesha.

Actually, I asked another estate manager, since Ayesha wasn't in world. She told me to contact Kalli Birman, our music and events manager:

[03:35 PM] Emilly Orr: Kalli, do musicians get discounts for tier in Solace Beach? I've never heard of the program, and a performer is asking.
[03:36 PM] Kalli Birman www.sethregan.com [Kalli Birman]: performers can contact me....which performer?
[03:36 PM] Kalli Birman www.sethregan.com [Kalli Birman]: we will do land trade for good musicians
[03:36 PM] Emilly Orr: bFlat Unplugged
[03:36 PM] Kalli Birman www.sethregan.com [Kalli Birman]: tell him to IM me tomorrow...i'm getting a Mankind show going right now

She means Mankind Tracer, who's very well known for being very good, and that information I subsequently conveyed to Unplugged. In the meantime, he was still sniping:

[03:35 PM] bFlat Unplugged: Good. I'll chack back every six hours, to "stay in touch"
[03:36 PM] Emilly Orr sighs.
[03:36 PM] bFlat Unplugged: see?
[03:36 PM] Emilly Orr: Thank you for the sarcasm. I'm asking Kalli, she may know.
[03:36 PM] bFlat Unplugged: it works both ways
[03:36 PM] Emilly Orr: Actually, it doesn't.
[03:37 PM] Emilly Orr: It's a reminder which can easily be circumvented by paying tier. It only gets annoying for those residents who don't.
[03:37 PM] Emilly Orr: However, contact Kalli Birman about the discount.
[03:37 PM] Emilly Orr: Though she's in now, you'll need to IM her tomorrow; she's managing a show at the moment and cannot receive non-staff IMs.
[03:37 PM] bFlat Unplugged: i don't pay nmore than a week at a time. you know why? because owners change hands all the time with no wearning to residents and i'm not ging to pay it more than a week at a time
[03:38 PM] Emilly Orr: And that is your choice. We rent by the week and by the month to make it convenient for tenants who want more options.
>[03:38 PM] bFlat Unplugged: i've known peoplew who logged in to find their land gone

Yeah. It happens. It's a virtual world. Sims disappear. Funding stops. Notices fall short. It's virtual, this means I can't simply stake out a section of real, solid, earth and declare fealty over it. But he seemed to be taking this personally.

[03:38 PM] Emilly Orr: In Solace Beach? That rarely happens. Though I will grant, if they don't log in in a few weeks, this has happened in other places. We try to contact everyone, but sometimes, it's unavoidable.
[03:39 PM] bFlat Unplugged: when you people took over Viana paradise we had no knowledge until after the fact

I love how it's suddenly "you people". As if the people behind Viana did any better by not telling their people that these changes were happening!

[03:39 PM] Emilly Orr: And do you know why? Because Viana did not contact anyone when they made the transfer.
[03:39 PM] bFlat Unplugged: you could have shut it down for all we would have known and we'd be out of a home
[03:39 PM] Emilly Orr: That was not us; that was Viana Estates.
[03:40 PM] bFlat Unplugged: my point is, that stuff happens all the time in SL
[03:40 PM] Emilly Orr: It is a virtual world.
[03:40 PM] bFlat Unplugged: it isn;'t virtual money
[03:41 PM] Emilly Orr: True enough.
[03:42 PM] Emilly Orr: However, you will find if you look around that the alternative--both on SL and in other virtual world platforms that are similar--is to either own your own land--in which case, you're still paying with real money to the Labs, or to the company holding those parcels--or to move to a game world--which may not have user content, or personal dwellings, and may charge a subscription fee every month besides.
[03:43 PM] bFlat Unplugged: there's no sucxh thing as "owning" land here
[03:43 PM] Emilly Orr: No. When it's all broken down, Linden Labs owns everything.
[03:44 PM] Emilly Orr: However, there is a difference between renting parcels from an estate company, and renting a parcel directly from the Labs.

Admittedly, we'd wandered far from the main point by this time; but maybe he just wanted to rant, and I was a convenient target.

[03:44 PM] bFlat Unplugged: and my whole reason for IMing you was to ask that you please tone down the frequency of the tier notices
[03:44 PM] bFlat Unplugged: that's all
[03:45 PM] Emilly Orr: And my response hasn't changed: even as your estate manager, I have no control over the frequency of the notices. Not even Ayesha, the owner of the estate, does. That would be the scripter, and I really doubt he'd be willing to recode that script, and drop a new script into every terminal box.
[03:46 PM] bFlat Unplugged: maybe he'd like to get notices every 6 hours for two days every week
[03:46 PM] Emilly Orr: Well, depending on the frequency of updates in the groups he's in, he might.
[03:46 PM] bFlat Unplugged: other companies don't find it necessary to bombard people with notices that often

Actually, most estates that I've been involved with do. Some are even more aggressive than we are. And if we step that up a notch into merchant spaces rented from malls, they get downright feral when we're approaching expiration of tier. He thinks this is bad, what about mall owners who send out messages every forty-five minutes?

(Don't laugh--that's happened.)

[03:47 PM] Emilly Orr: I don't have knowledge of any estate companies beyond Caledon, Lunitarium, Steelhead and Winterfell. And in those four communities, yes, they run about that often.
[03:47 PM] Emilly Orr: Except in the case of Lunitarium, where that particular sim sends out hourly reminders.
[03:49 PM] bFlat Unplugged: so, you're saying that I, as the customer am wrong, and you are right. I'll bear that in mind for future dealings. And I will check back with you in 6 hours regarding the performer discount

Some people are just really determined to find fault.

[03:49 PM] Emilly Orr: No, I'm not.
[03:49 PM] Emilly Orr: I'm saying I have no control over the scripting.
[03:49 PM] Emilly Orr: As it does seem to bother you, and we value our tenants, I will bring this up with Ayesha, but I don't know if she will, or can, do anything to change the frequency of your reminders.
[03:50 PM] bFlat Unplugged: that should have been your 1st response, not your 5th
03:50 PM] Emilly Orr: And you are, of course, welcome to contact me again--in six hours, or whenever you have issues on your land--but I've already told you you need to contact Kalli Birman tomorrow, and get registered as a Solace Beach performer
[03:51 PM] Emilly Orr: That was far from my fifth response, but as this is something that cannot be changed, I'm frankly surprised at your level of ire.

Yeah. Okay. That was snippy. But my gods, he'd been yelling at me straight for almost half an hour. That gets old.

[03:52 PM] bFlat Unplugged: you wouldn't be if you got these annoying notices every 6 hours every week
[03:52 PM] bFlat Unplugged: and then got attitude from your estate manager when you IMd her about it
[03:52 PM] Emilly Orr: On one of my lands, when I fall due, I get reminder IMs once every day for two days, twice a day the third day, and if I push it past that, I get reminders every four hours.
[03:52 PM] Emilly Orr: I don't think I was presenting that much attitude, but I apologize if you saw it that way.

He stopped talking after that, though I'm sure he could have continued to find fault with other things if he really wanted to try. There's just no pleasing some people.

Now, for about two months a bit ago, I rented a parcel on Wikelani Cove. I called it my office parcel, dressed it, had a landmark giver and a notecard drop. Not because I thought Solace Beach needed another office, but because I wanted to know the process. Because we do gain tenants and lose tenants, a slightly larger, more expensive, section opened inland, and a month in I switched, so I could redress and set for sale the beach parcel I'd been holding.

I found out how acquiring land works, how to pay the parcel boxes, what happens when I fall behind, what happens when I pay late. And I learned a lot about how land works in Solace Beach.

The one thing I didn't learn? Was that it was apparently unbearable harassment to send out reminders of rent coming due. I valued those reminders--just as I value the ones in Caledon and Winterfell--because they let me know if my internal clock is off, that rent should now be paid, and I set about paying it. To date, though I'm not saying it will never happen, I have never fallen behind on any parcel and simply not paid the rent that's due. I either make arrangements to give it back (that's happened once, for other reasons), or sell the parcel (which is not allowed in Solace, but is allowed in Caledon and, I believe, Winterfell).

If your rent is due and you're tired of getting the dunning messages--then pay your rent. If you can't afford it, then contact your estate manager. It's that simple. Why would anyone ever choose to complicate things by saying the procedure by which we notify people is annoying beyond all reason?

Have a better system in mind? Neat, script it up. Show us it will work better than what we have now, on a seventy-sim estate. If my boss believes it, then she can buy it and institute the new system.

But I bet you it'll have a line in the basic script that sends out reminder notices. Six hours or whole days apart, I don't know of a single rental system on the grid that doesn't have that coding involved. I'm not sure it's possible to script a rental system that is free of all reminders.

And seriously--who'd ever buy one?

German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein

First thing: I want to point out the new shiny on the sidebar. My first official sponsored ad!

Now, granted, it's a lousy deal, all things considered--if someone clicks through, and if they watch the video, and if they end up pre-ordering the game--in the UK--then I get 22 cents on the transaction.

Yeah. Not kidding.

But I'm just thrilled to have it on the page. Look! Portal 2! It's coming out! (Yes, I am excited about it, even though I, erm, haven't finished the first game yet...What? I'm slow with physics puzzles! I have no time! Grr!)

And I figure I will toss my obligatory seasonal shout-out to the Amazon link. I have stuph. Stuph you might be interested in. And if you buy through that, I get yet another negligible sum, which Amazon won't pay me unless it gets pretty high. (Not kidding about that, either. I got a grand total of $4.63 from holiday shopping. That sum's been erased from my Associates account, because if it's not up to $10, they don't even bother sending out a gift card.)

So why am I bothering? Okay, first, the Portal 2 ad is cool. It gets in on cool points alone. Hells, if the advert rep had written me asking to put it up for nothing, I admit, I might have done that.

Second, I keep the Amazon link around because it's become a secondary wishlist--I can point folks who might want to buy things for me to the blog, and they can ponder the oddity of some of my choices, but they get a pretty good idea of likes and dislike, and, moreover, things I don't have. I'm not huge on having things, but I'm not averse to them either.

Anyway. Enough of that. Next up, Google Translate doesn't go far enough.

This is not news to anyone, least of all me. But I almost wish I hadn't used their new service to view alternate translations.

This is what I was planning to send to a client who's behind on his tier:

[M],

Du hast auf Sendung #[his parcel] abgelaufen. Wenn Sie immer noch interessiert an der Anmietung von uns bist, dann schreiben Sie von der Tier-Station, die hier zu finden:

[landmark to his sim's tier station]

und zahlen mindestens eine Woche von Tier (auch wenn man mehr bezahlen, wenn Sie möchten). Und vielen Dank für die Wahl Solace Beach!

sanfte Brise,

Emilly Orr
Trost Strand Gutsverwalter

Which was supposedly a word-for-word translation of this:

[M],

You've expired on parcel #[his parcel]. If you're still interested in renting from us, please drop by the tier station, which is located here:

[landmark to his sim's tier station]

and pay at least one week of tier (though you can pay more if you like). And thanks for choosing Solace Beach!

Fair winds,

Emilly Orr
Solace Beach Estate Manager

Then I started breaking it down. First off, this passage:

Wenn Sie immer noch interessiert an der Anmietung von uns bist, dann schreiben Sie von der Tier-Station, die hier zu finden:

on a retranslation, actually says this:

If you're still interested in hiring us, please write about the animal station, which can be found here:

Huh? Hiring us? Animal station? But it doesn't stop there. The next bit of text is even more confusing. This:

and pay at least one week of tier (though you can pay more if you like). And thanks for choosing Solace Beach!

becomes this:

and pay at least a week of animal (even if you pay more if you want). And thank you for choosing Solace Beach!

So my first question is...what animal is a "tier", exactly? Come to find out, "tier" is a very general German word. It simply means that--animal. Any animal. All animals.

Okay, so that passage has to go. What about:

You have run out of time on your lot. If you are still interested in renting from us, please drop by your rental box, which you can find here:

When translated (and translated back) that becomes:

You have run the time on your lot. If you are still interested in hiring us, please write about your rental box, which can be found here:

Still not crazy about the 'hiring us' part. Okay, what about:

You have no more time on your lot. If you are still interested in staying with us, please drop by your rental box, which you can find here:

That becomes:

Sie haben keine Zeit mehr auf Ihrem Grundstück. Wenn Sie noch Interesse an einem Aufenthalt bei uns sind, dann schreiben Sie von Ihrem Charme Box, die Sie hier finden können:

which in turn becomes:

You have no time to more your property. If you are interested in staying with us yet, then post your charm box that you can find here:

*facepalms*

When did it become "charm box"? Okay, try three:

You have no time on your lot. If you are still interested in staying with us, please drop by your payment place, which you can find here:

Which becomes

Do not have time on your property. If you are interested in staying with us yet, just look at your payment place that you can find here:

Okay! Better!

Stilted as hell, but better! I think we can move to the next passage.

So let's try this:

und zahlen mindestens eine Woche mieten (wenn man mehr bezahlen, wenn Sie möchten). Und ich danke Ihnen für die Wahl Solace Beach!

which becomes:

and pay at least a week rent (if you pay more if you want). And thank you for choosing Solace Beach!

Cumbersome. Okay, how about:

and pay at least one week of rent. One week will do, but you can always pay advance rent if you want to do that And thank you for choosing Solace Beach!

That gives us this:

and pay rent at least a week. A week will do, but you can always pay advance rent, if you do want to thank you for choosing Solace Beach!

Oh, the hell, that's nearly word salad.

Think think think. How about:

and pay at least one week of rent. Pay more if you want. And thank you for choosing Solace Beach!

That becomes:

und zahlen mindestens eine Woche mieten. Mehr bezahlen, wenn Sie wollen. Und ich danke Ihnen für die Wahl Solace Beach!

which in turn becomes:

and pay rent at least a week. Pay more if you want. And thank you for choosing Solace Beach!

Okay. That's terse, but okay.

Somehow "Fair winds", which is my typical sign-off, becomes closer to "gentle breeze", which isn't per se bad, just...odd. But I can live with it. At least until I come up with a new sign-off. And "Solace Beach" becomes "Trost Strand", which is something to do with land and consolation, which...isn't actually that far off.

But dear gods, if this was what I was sending German people, the Russian people must have been really, really flummoxed! To say nothing of the Portuguese, the Turkish, the Spanish, the French, the Japanese...I mean, we are an international grid, and if I don't know the language personally (I only know a few words in a smattering of languages, I am woefully undereducated where language is concerned), I have to turn to machine translation. We all do.

But I think I'm going to start taking more time on each card. Because the eyes on the other end deserve to not bug out in grand confusion. Though at least the giggle factor is high...

shake it 'til the moon becomes the sun

What do you do when you have free rein on a cable talk show and you want to support Finnish industry and talent?

Why, build a live-action Angry Birds set, of course. That's just perfect.

Okay, so...there's been some drama in the background for the past few days that has kept me mostly silent. Now I'm linking to Theia Magic's blacklist on her blog. I'm still not in support of hosting blacklists, but I'm putting this one up there because, until this morning, Solace Beach was on there. (It's not now, but the comments reflect that it was.)

And I think it's important to talk about why it was on there.

Ayesha Lytton, who owns Solace Beach Estates, invested in a RedZone unit. She set it up in the main sim, and it didn't do what she wanted. Flat out. So a few weeks later, she removed the unit. RedZone hasn't been on any Solace Beach sim after that.

But, unbeknownst to Ayesha, RedZone does something unexpected: it takes over the media URL on any land on which it's installed. Thereafter, when any other media URL is entered, it stays there, lurking, in the background. So when people new to the sim port in, RedZone surfaces, and goes active.

This is unconscionable. And I'll tell you something else--it was something I never would have looked for. In fact, when trying to find something, anything, with RedZone capability, I spent three hours over two days trying to track down every prim with even a slightly vague or hard to interpret name. (I found nothing.)

With the help of Hank Rucker, who remains the god of gadgets, we searched the main sim thoroughly, and everything narrowed to the media stream. Or, more importantly, the saved list of media URLs.

This is TERRIFYINGLY IMPORTANT, people. If you are one of those who owns, or has owned in the past, a RedZone unit, and you have thrown it away or disabled it--CHECK YOUR MEDIA STREAM.

So, the steps to fix the problem (if anyone hasn't already figured it out yet):

* Open About Land
* Go to the Media tab
* Press the Set button
* Press the Clear button
* Enter a random media URL (I used the Cape radio station at Solace Beach because it was what I had on hand; they're doing their best to be the radio of City of Heroes, plus, they play a damned good selection of music. But ANY URL will do.)
* Test it out, or have a friend who hasn't been to the sim recently test it, to ensure the pop-up requesting media access for a RedZone site doesn't activate.

It shouldn't show up past that, but if it does, clear your saved URLs again!

So, other items.

From the Solace Beach album

Okay, quick test: pick out Miss Rayven Gloom in this picture. If you think it's the woman in black behind the woman in the white dress, with the pink hair and the tattoos...yep, you'd be wrong. (Because that's me. I still haven't figured out tropical-sim-appropriate wear yet.)

From the Solace Beach album

From her profile:

I SELL FAIRIES AND FAIRY EGGS FOR GOOD PRICES.COMMONS ARE 5 UNCOMMON GLITTERS 30 RARES VENUS 400 AND RARE WATER 500 MEADOWS FOR 50 U CANT BEAT THOSE PRICES ANYWERE SO JUST IM ME AND U CAN COME SEE WHAT I HAVE.

I BELONG TO ECLIPSED SOULS CLAN WE ARE BUILT ON FAMILY VALUES AND NOT SOULS COUNT.

Right...So she's a Bloodlines vamp who breeds fairies in her off-time...in a clan that believes in "FAMILY VALUES". The hell.

From the Solace Beach album

To her credit, it's really difficult to pull off tanned skin, bright tattoos, and pink hair. She sold it. She had a really good AO, she was personable, and--past that atrociously all-caps bio, she has some decent things to say, and she looks happy--and cute--in her RL photo.

The bling has to go--both that heart necklace and her earrings flashed blue epileptic-seizure tones--but the avatar--and the person behind it--seem decent overall.

But good gods. Vampires who breed fairies. This is the way the world ends.

I asked you on a date, and in a croaking gutteral whisper you said "Pick me up at eight"

[16:55] Adam Luponox: i met a girl yesterday who said she was half rotten doll and half vamp and was looking for people to be friends with but she was not even in bloodlines lol
[16:55] Emilly Orr: Half rotten doll...
[16:55] Adam Luponox: yep

I have no words.

In other news...Imagine for a moment. You've cleaned your apartment within an inch of its life. The sheets are changed on your bed and in the guest bedroom, and the couch and the living room carpet have been thoroughly Febreezed. You've cleaned the counters and the stovetop just in case things go down in the kitchen. There are amusing small bottles of finger-paints in the shower that leave a tingle when they're washed off of skin.

Tasteful holiday baskets hold packets of flavored lube, condoms, and a wide assortment of various massage oils, scattered on any reasonable surface. You've organized the floggers in the equipment closet by weight and color, and you have wine coolers in the fridge, and the makings of dirty martinis on the mobile bar. You've invited your most attractive friends over and they've told you they're bringing edible underwear and rum.

You share a light supper of early spring salad, with white asparagus spears and artichoke hearts, and finish things with fresh oysters on the half shell and tall thin shots of vodka, chilled to perfection. And then, you move everyone to the living room. Flushed with anticipation, you turn on the Wii and set up...We Dare.

There are two big problems with this. I'm discarding the not-available-in-North-America bit, because really, we are weird about sex, there would be protests. No, I'm talking more about the marketing campaign (that video trailer works, by the way) as well as the fact that in Europe, this game has been rated as acceptable for ages twelve and up.

The hell. So either the marketing is way off, or...twelve-year-olds can spank each other in Europe? When did this start? Plus, if you look to the game, and then look to that model living room, with those model 20-somethings (who would, in all likelihood, have ditched the Wii or the PS3 for a club night or the local watering hole of choice), they fail to match in any way. The hell, people.

"Ultimately it doesn’t matter what you play, or why, or how, as long as you’re having fun."

Definitely.

Also, this hit my inbox this morning:

[12:13] Sphynx Soleil: SL commerce group: "S0phie Sautereau: k, here's an FYI for listing on MP: the words "Coco" and "LBD" (Little Black Dress) both flag your listing as Adult. Put that on the @#(*^@*&^$^# agenda, please, someone!"
[12:13] Sphynx Soleil: also, the number 5 does it too, until they fix it
[12:13] Sphynx Soleil: just FYI

So, on Marketplace, "Gor" and "Gorean" get an Adult rating, we knew that. "Loli" and "Lolita" are back to being Adult. I get that too, even if they're idiots for reclassifying it--again--which is even more frustrating because they keep going back and forth on whether it is or not.

But "Coco"? Why is "Coco" an Adult-rated word? Also "LBD"? Why is "LBD" automatically Adult? Someone explain this to me.

And "5"? Lindens! Put down the crack pipe! Go into rehab! NOW!

Brief little interlude here from the cheap seats, because Ostara's coming up--or Eostre, or Easter, or "that day we have egg salad", depending (and if you're vegan, by the way? You have no excuse, you have to eat egg salad too)--for a couple things that surfaced on the Marketplace.

A&K's "Easter Surprise", followed by Thalia's "Bunny Babe II".

First up, A&K's "Easter Surprise".

From Comparisons

I grant you, it's cute. Purple-pink satin, polka dots, good shading, a fun little frill over the hips. Pretty white stockings, cuffs, collar--with a matching bow!--and bunny ears.

From Comparisons

And there's a tail in the back--not a sculpt, just a round sphere textured like white fur, but it doesn't overly matter.

I didn't touch the cuffs, I did readjust the collar slightly, and it doesn't quite work on the back yet. May need a little bit of stretching for my neck (and all the prims bits can be modified). Still, for a single Linden outfit, this is very well done.

From Comparisons

And then we hit Thalia's "Bunny Babe II", which, near as I can figure, is the exact same outfit. The hip frill, the frilled sleevelets, about the only thing it doesn't have are the collar/cuff options! They add black seamed fishnet tights, not lace-trimmed white stockings, but the ears are the same!

From Comparisons

There's even the same rounded sphere of tail. Was there a template kit going around I didn't know about?

So, who's copying who here? I don't know. They're both selling them for a Linden each, so it's not like anyone's going to be out much. I'd say, if you want the variety of cuffs, buy A&K's; if you don't want cuffs and collar, but do favor black fishnet tights (footless, at that), then go for Thalia's.

Or buy 'em both and mix and match the attachments, just remember you're getting the same basic outfit, exactly, in both cases. Weird.

(Not giving landmarks to anything specifically, because everything else is old--the hair I bought three years ago at Curio, the skin was from a promo pack at Heartsick, the eyes I bought long ago from Treasured Visions, which then became malContent, and the boots are from Show Me on the Doll, and are they even on the grid anymore? Though I hope they come back...)

Finally, I can't decide if this is a joke or not. For one, they're way too good at acting sincere and heartfelt. For two, the makeup's decidedly a step above.

No, that tree was hung with toilet paper. It has to be a joke.