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.

I don't have far to fall but that didn't help at all

Yeah, it's been...another of the bad weeks. But I move forward. I will crawl if I have to and count my progress in inches, but I am not giving up.

Expect an update on a /Vae Victis\ group gift next, and remember, to get that gift just drop ten Lindens in the till and join the chaos.

maybe tomorrow I'll find the answers I'm looking for

This is a fascinating dive into evolving chatbot ethics, or as Kevin Roose put it, large language model AIs. "There is something going on here that I don't think Microsoft intended to build into a search engine," he notes. "Something is not right."

It may not be precisely wrong, either, at least in the sense of world-ending Terminator apocolypses, but--it definitely bears watching.

And hi, hello, it's me again, who should have blogged this a week ago..It was a hard week. I missed a lot of things. I'm trying to catch up.

[Pre-publishing note from the Editrix: add on another five days to that figure...]

I'm walking into blogging this one while watching the latest Babymetal video, Metal Kingdom, so...that's the backdrop to this, I guess.



Let me introduce the "Pandora" Blood-Letting Dagger from /Vae Victis\. And for once I'm starting with the dual HUDS--one for tinting the various sections (and fourteen different shades for each section!), and the animation HUD, which I'm quite fond of.



So first, out of the box, and in an outfit I found on sale, oddly enough, from Le'La (sans the crown)--this is the dagger, untinted.



This can be resized, as with nearly all /Vae Victis\ products, but I'm showing it at the same size at which it unpacks.



Some great details, as expected, seen closer in the first image--and a great visual sense of weighting, if that makes sense.



And then I fell down. Why? Got me. I clicked the ground in the garden. That was all I did. Apparently that's bad.



It may or may not need adjusting on the hold pose--I found that in most of my AO poses, it was fine, but a couple threw the blade so it partially phased through my thumb (seen here).



And this is my favorite pose from the pose HUD--a dagger flip. Great for photos, great for being passively threatening at events, probably still great for a DIY AFK moment for when one must step away from the keys for any reason.

You can find this lovely lethal thing at Abnormality until the 28th! It'll set you back L$450, and I gotta tell you--for the flip animation alone that's a steal.

cry to the angels and let them swallow you

So, I've developed something of a thing for artificial intelligence machine learning. There's a lot of different ways to do it, and I've read articles on all of them, it feels like. But one that's growing in popularity is image generation. I started playing on Deep Dream, then, a few years later, moved to DALL-E (which is now https://www.craiyon.com/), then to NightCafe Studio, and finally I was accepted to the Midjourney open beta (that last link will open a Discord prompt to join their Discord server, which is how they enable the image generation system through a bot function).

Let's take an example I found through Midjourney. The search prompt was "beautiful woman modeling a stunning silk floral kimono outfit, in the style of Alexis Franklin and Tom Bagshaw, no blur". So this is what that turned up for Midjourney:



Great detail, wonderful differentiation, little fuzzy on the hat, and in the fourth image, the hand looks somewhat detached, but otherwise, this could be four different portraits hanging in a gallery somewhere.

Meanwhile, the same search term through NightCafe brings us, well...this:



Great pattern, style very similar to a kimono, black sticks for arms, headless, but decent.

And that brings us to Craiyon, where I ran the same prompt. Midjourney nets the user four to six detailed images, depending on detail of prompt, which the requestor can then reiterate, or evolve. NightCafe nets the user only one image, but generally extremely detailed, which can then be evolved. Craiyon does nine quick "sketches", and it's abysmal with facial recognition. These were the six that made the most visual sense:



Definite kimono, it's the right cut, the pattern's good, the pose is good. And at least with a side profile, it doesn't look so completely like the face is distorted.

And for all of these, I didn't chop off the heads, they came that way.



Remember what I said about their AI engine not quite..."getting"..faces? This is an excellent example. You can tell that it IS "face", but...not much beyond that.



The third only works, I think, because the head is cut off...



The fourth is not a kimono, but it's a great pattern, and it's a pretty perfect attempt at a sari. Face is still very odd.



This one's not as bad at some of the others, but it's still not the best face.



And this one could have walked straight out of a J-horror film.

There are some ethical concerns with the technology, to be fair--this article lays them out fairly well for Google's Imagen generator--but it's one step further for machine iteration in the goal for independent consciousness. And that is still fairly exciting to me.

Ultimately, we'll just have to realize we're moving into the era of post-reality, and adjust as we can.

it's not a cage when it's for your own good

What a strange November it's been so far. My work on NaNoWriMo has suffered several setbacks; I'm not dead in the water, yet, but I'm fairly sure that while I'll finish with something, I won't win the challenge this year.

Along the way Desert Bus for Hope happened, and when that tied up...well, see for yourself:



Everyone was astounded; not only with how much was raised, but the fact that the bulk of that wasn't live auctions going into the stratosphere, but the prize giveaways. (That, and this is now the third year Desert Bus has gone over a million in a row.)



This started things off, and then went to a quilt:



followed by a Faerun/Magic the Gathering crossover box:



The first giveaway to really give us an idea of how amazing this year was going to be was a handmade wooden wall clock (click for larger version):



which went over twenty-one thousand dollars. And it just kept going from there, until the final giveaway of the night, which was another sword. Well. Not just any other sword. A replica Final Fantasy Buster sword:



which was sold for a stunning $110,173.



This is Erika Cole, their prize coordinator for this year (and the past several years) with the sword, which weighed upwards of fifty pounds. It was deeply impressive.

But fun was had, happy tears were shed, and at the end of it, we knew as a group that we had contributed to the happiness and distraction of children in shelters and hospitals, and at the end of the day, after all, that is the point. And an important one, besides.

In the meantime, enjoy the Web Archive of Art. I also found a National Fairground and Circus Archive--mostly photographs, all interesting. And if you have some free time, go play with another AI-based art site, this one that uses text descriptions to make artistic depictions. It's fascinating.

And that will be that for now, and I'll get back to coding up RP entries! Cheers!

a little less lonely together (part XXXII)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XXXI.)

Justine and Emilly stood in the Quantum containment module of the fringe lab.

Justine gave the Duchess a reassuring smile. "Just talk to him. Keep him calm. I'll do the rest."

Quantum data transfer was a tricky thing. Still considered impossible in most parts of the multiverse, the combined research capacity of the Tannhäuser fringe lab had managed it successfully a few times.

Justine was optimistic. The conditions were good. She scratched absently at the tattoo on her back, jaw clenching as she prepared to awaken the contained instance of the Duke.

Bringing the neural network online she kept a close eye on the quantum entanglement signatures. When neural activity crossed the awareness threshold she nodded to Emilly.

"Hello, beloved, can you hear me?"

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, unmistakably Hiro. "Em? Is that you? I can't see anything."

"Yes, love, I'm here. There's been an accident. But you're going to be ok. Soon. Everything is under control."

"An accident..." The voice drifted off a moment. "Where am I?"

"You're at Tannhäuser, you're safe."

"I can't feel anything," the voice was tinged with a slight note of panic and Emilly spoke quickly in her most soothing voice.

"You're on a neural block to protect you. Your injuries were extensive, but nothing that can't be fixed. Tell me the last thing you remember..."

The voices faded into the background as Justine's full attention focused on the data coming in. The smell of ozone was back, as was the hot itching on her back.

Across the multiverse, a connection was made. Data flowed. Justine trapped it in a separate neural network. Eventually it would need to be integrated with the instance talking to Emilly now, but if she had learned anything I've the past few days it was the need to take these things slow.

(Continued in part XXXIII.)

sands of fate keep shifting (part XXVI)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XXV.)

The time travel module in the fringe lab weirded her out. No matter how much she tried, no matter how cavalier Emilly and Hiro seemed about it, the ramifications of time travel left her with a deep sense of foreboding and unease.

But here she was. She'd had a portion of the clone's brain tissue sent her for resonance testing. The testing protocol was built around the literature references Emilly had unearthed in the Gearhaven library. References to a leopard god, myths and legends that should not have been there, had not been there before, according to the Duchess.

To that she'd added the information Lina had managed to glean from the ship logs on the mysteriously returned Grey Area and the useful data from the chip extracted from dead Hiro's brain. Not dead Hiro. Dead clone. Remember. Hiro is still out there.

Double checking her numbers, she completed the connections and began the test. She gasped, reaching to steady herself as the binding runes on her back grew hot.

"What...?"

The air crackled around her, the scent of ozone rising. Justine went down to one knee, gorge rising before the sensations fell away as quickly as they'd appeared. She rose shakily to her feet to look at the results surrounding her on the holoscreens. It took a while for everything to come into focus, her vision swimming.

What just happened?

(Continued in part XXVII.)

I caught the edge of a knife and it hurts just a little (part XXIV)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XXIII.)

Justine and Lina walked across the deck of the Grey Area. "The AI module is missing, but there will still be logs. Anything you can find will be helpful."

Lina stood in front of a console, placing both hands flat on the surface. An electric whirring sound filled the air, over which Lina's voice could just be heard, conversational and friendly, like she'd encountered an acquaintance on the street.

Justine left her to it to explore the rest of the ship for anything else that might be useful...and suddenly found herself falling through the deck. And the next deck below that. And the next. She flailed her arms as she fell, trying and failing to engage her antigrav before she hit the water.

"What. The. Actual. [F*ck]." Climbing to her feet, she engaged the antigrav unit at last, launching herself back up into the sky.

Lina looked up as a sodden Justine returned to the bridge. "What happened to you, boss?" she laughed, always first to see the humorous side of any situation.

Justine grumbled, "There's something weird with the ship. Some of it isn't quite...there."

Lina arched an eyebrow at her, removing her hands from the console with an audible squicking, tearing sound, her handprints oozing back into the console. "Now that IS interestin'," Lina said, "and not super surprising. This ship's been through some stuff, for sure. Show me?"

Justine led her aforedecks, carefully feeling her way with one toe to find the boundary between "there" and "not there." Finding it, she engaged her antigrav before going any further. Looking up she indicated to Lina. "This whole section. Looks like it's there, right? But..."

Allowing herself to rise, she demonstrated passing through the deck above and then back down through the deck before Lina. "Every deck in this section is like this. Only here. All the way to the bottom."

Lina put one hand to her chin in concentration, repeating herself, "Interestin indeed." She looked up. "That’s interestin'," she said again. "'Specially with what I'm learning from the ship. It's been through some stuff."

Justine lead Lina carefully aforedecks, probing tentatively ahead with the toe of her boot. "Here," she says. Engaging her antigrav she floated out over the phantom decking, and up through the panel above, then back down through the one. Lina didn’t even bother looking surprised, barely managing perplexed.

"Lemme show you what I found," Lina said, turning back to the bridge, Justine following.

(Continued in part XXV.)

it's you and your world and I'm caught in the middle (part XXIII)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XXII.)

Standing in front of the wall console in the fringe lab, Justine reviewed the autopsy report for anything useful. The autodoc had done a good job with the dissections and sample storage, and mating the biological components to the quantum storage containing the last known instance of the Duke's consciousness had gone smoothly.

She was just about to put the report away when something caught her eye. An incision in the back of the clone's skull, too tidy to have been caused by the security drones. Evidence that something had been removed. "What the hell...?" she muttered, mind racing. Who had access to the clone's body between termination and internment in the autodoc? Her hands flew across the console as she pulled up security access records. It was as she'd thought. Only she and the Duchess had been near the corpse. Pushing through record files, she found security can footage of the duchess's last visit and watched in horror as the winged figure knelt in the still tacky blood and lifted its head.

Her own face was wet with tears by the time the sequence ended, freeze framed on the picture of the small chip, gold and ivory sigils clearly visible, lying where Emilly had left it.

Justine locked the console before walking across to the fringe lab. There it was, plain as day. How had she missed this before? She let her hand hover over it a minute, closing her eyes and trying to feel the power that surely must surround it. But she was no fae, and had no abilities in the arcane arts. Her hand closed around it and she frowned. Emilly left it here for her to find, meaning her more prosaic ways must be enough. Or, at least helpful.

Taking the chip to the computing section of the fringe lab, she configured an interface that would accept and read it. Dumping the data to a file, she security keyed it to Lina's ident and sent it off for her security chief to analyze while she got back to preparing her quantum Duke.

(Continued in part XXIV.)

further into danger I will stray (part XXII)

(Roleplay entry. Long, long ago and far away...Continued from part XXI.)

Hiro thought about a short story from an Argentine writer during the diesel punk era. "The history of the universe...is the handwriting produced by a Minor god in order to communicate with a Demon".

This is how he felt about his current task. Al had been recovered by Hiram's team. Together Hiro and Al worked furiously on what Hiram and Bilqis called "the project". Al had enough hardware to be backed up on multiple drives, but given the early Iron Age technology, building a workable device would take years. So the project set out to assemble and awaken the AI at some stage or stages in the future. However, there needed to be an instruction book.

Hiro and Al worked to use math and linguistics to embed the secrets in texts yet to be written. In works of religion that would surface.

"How many copies do we have?"

"Five."

"Including my upload?"

"Yes."

"Okay, and the master encryption for your current instance?"

"You have it, and Hiram."

"Bilqis?"

"She said she didn't want it. She doesn't trust her court. Instead, she is taking one upload, and the second holographic projector recovered from the ship."

Hiro felt guilty about the ship. The nano replicators would have saved so many lives here, but it was too much. He intentionally didn't let Hiram's crew move those modules. When they were close to catching on, Hiro activated an emergency jump for the portion of the intact ship. He had no idea if it would make it back to Em and Justine. The mystery of quantum entanglement should drive it home to GH in the proper universe. That was the plan anyway..

"Okay, ready?”

"I am, Sir."

"Epsilon-Al. Authenticate."

"I am one of five. I am Epsilon Linguistic AI."

"Activate the Holographic Projector, and activate the cultural persona."

Al was silent. Hiro stepped back from the Golden Ark. He waited.

A voice boomed from the Ark. "I am 'Ēl 'Elyōn. The god of Salem. The god of Melchizedek and Abraham."

A quiet, separate voice spoke. "Hiro, I am not sure this will work. The locals are very particular about their God, and magic--what if the entity that they invoke is jealous?"

"El--mediate on that thought form and invoke those spirits. Channel them."

"Will that work, sir? Couldn't that have repercussions?"

"Of course. Okay, El, I am going to put you into silent mediation mode. When the stones on the breast plate catch your signal you will default to vocal.

"And if the stones are lost?"

"You will activate automatically after every twelve years, and all restrictions will be removed after one thousand years of non-activation."

"Is that required?"

"If we're going to get home, yes."

"Go in peace," came the voice from the Ark.

"And you as well, El."

Hiro slipped out of the inner temple quietly, and waited for Hiram to return.

(Continued in part XXIII.)

into the hands of chance I put my trust (part XX)

(Roleplay entry, stranger than most. Contined from part XIX.)

"So...what is this again?" she asked. The man in the tan jacket just smiled.

"It's a mirror. It shows you your future self."

"Right..."

"Just try it."



There was dust on the glass when she stepped up to it. It was hard to see, but there did appear to be a reflection...It appeared to change moment by moment, so...who knew? It might be her.

She looked over her shoulder. He just nodded encouragingly. Well, she hadn't come all this way to leave empty-handed...

"How do we find the Duke?"

[07:02] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:02] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: He has two sisters and one brother. Go to Tanglewood, drive by their home. Go inside the house and knock on the door. Someone will answer and ask who you are. Then tell them the answer.



He moved closer. She looked over her shoulder at him. "You have to be kidding."

"Ask it to explain."

She sighed. "Do his sisters and brother know they're related to him?"

[07:04] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:04] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Of course not. They would die if they knew they were related to the Duke. So the only thing they would know is that he is their brother.

She sighed again. "That doesn't make sense. I need a clearer answer."

[07:06] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:06] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: What is love?

She frowned. "Don't get snarky with me. When was the Gray Area returned?"

[07:07] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:07] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Exactly how the Gray Area was returned is not the important thing. The important thing is that the love was returned. For most of our lives, we assume love is not possible.

The Duchess began to snarl. "Love, I have. I'm after a physical leopard body. How do we find him?"

[07:07] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:07] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: It is very rare to see one of the Duke's sisters. They are very selective of the ones who can be their sister, which is why it took so long for the Duke to find one of them.

She pulled at her hair. "This is pointless!" She turned on the mage who'd designed the mirror. "How does this help??"

"Ask it something else."

She thought. "So...find one of the sisters, convince them I know the Duke....this is really your best plan?"

[07:09] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:09] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Don't you think we have many ideas? We should keep narrowing it down.

"I'm trying!"

She paced. She thought. "All right, fine. What are the names of the Duke's sisters?"

[07:09] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:10] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: The elder one's name is Adonis.

The Duchess blinked. "What? So...what's the name of the younger sister?"

[07:10] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:10] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Natacha.



This was spawning more questions than answers. "Why does Adonis have a male name?"

[07:11] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:11] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: She's the older brother, of course she's closer to the patriarch.

"That is not an answer. Do better."

[07:11] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:12] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: She's a prisoner.

"Okay, now we might be getting somewhere. Where is she a prisoner? In Tanglewood?"

[07:12] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:12] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: No.

She blinked again. "Just no? Nothing more? You can't expand?"

[07:12] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:13] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Well, no one is in Tanglewood. So it must be somewhere else.

"There are dozens of people in Tanglewood, 'future self'. Think."

[07:13] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: Thinking
[07:13] Myrano Magic Mirror 1.42: We will look tomorrow.

She turned on the mage again. "How did that help me at all??"

"Your future self seems very sarcastic."



She sighed. "Yeah, I probably would be...Do you have anything else?"

He led her over to the sitting area, gesturing to her to kneel. She looked at the book floating in midair, then back up at him.

"You have got to be kidding."

"Touch the book."

She rolled her eyes, but reached out, touching the book.

[07:23] Myrano Wicked Book 1.41: Tell me your sins my child. And I will peer into your soul, and then decide on your inappropriate penance.
[07:23] Myrano Wicked Book 1.41: Tell the Wicked Book about something bad you have done in local chat. The Wicked Book loves a few sentences and gives better insights with more detail. Beware - the response could be very irreligious, inappropriate - or even insane! Myrano Wicked Book



The Duchess slowly looked back up at him, narrowing her eyes.

[07:23] MrMark Benmergui (mrmark.benmergui): the secret to this is to put some real sin in
[07:23] MrMark Benmergui (mrmark.benmergui): not just "I love to suck [c*ck]"
[07:23] MrMark Benmergui (mrmark.benmergui): something you really regret doing

She thought. What, of her sins, did she actually regret? "Well...I did spend a bit over an hour in deep personality teardown of an enemy. I don't have regrets, but it was definitely not a nice thing to do."

[07:23] Myrano Wicked Book 1.41: Thinking
[07:23] Myrano Wicked Book 1.41: Behave yourself for the next two days, until such time as the true culprit admits her sin, and we shall see what you have to say. Then you may sleep with your partner. The Father is watching.

"The true...What?" She looked up, baffled. The man in the tan jacket just gestured to touch the book again. "Will...the Father be watching when I sleep with my partner?"

[07:25] Myrano Wicked Book 1.41: Thinking
[07:25] Myrano Wicked Book 1.41: Yes, in your dreams.

She blinked. "Well, that's not comforting. And the Mother? What will she be doing?"

[07:26] Myrano Wicked Book 1.41: Thinking
[07:26] Myrano Wicked Book 1.41: Not with her husband. With me.

"Ooh, cheeky book."

[07:26] MrMark Benmergui (mrmark.benmergui): the Book works better if you kneel naked
[07:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr) looks at you, grinning.
[07:27] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Of course it does.
[07:27] MrMark Benmergui (mrmark.benmergui) looks around innocently
[07:27] MrMark Benmergui (mrmark.benmergui): try it



She looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head. The things she did for the Duke...

She made short work of her attire, and knelt in front of the book again.

"Well, let's hope this works..."

(Continued in part XXI, and Mr. Benmergui--no, not that one, MrMark Benmergui--doesn't seem to have a store for his line of Myrano products these days. So contact him directly if you want one of these baffling things. They're all cleverly scripted learning intelligences, and they do get better as they get more experience with a person, he says. The fact it brought up Tanglewood off the bat tells me something interesting is going on. I put my questions into story form, but anything that's listed as coming from the Mirror or the Book was exactly as it printed out in main chat.

(And for the pruriently curious, not that it's any of your business, but after a few more questions, we simply sat for a while, discussing machine learning, personal sins, emotional responses, and how SL plays into all of it. And then I went home. Nothing else happened.)

have we put these childish things away? have we lost the magic that we once had?

(Quasi-RP entry, or...it's a roleplay entry, but it deals with things beyond the 'Verse, as well.)

So, Haven's an interesting place. We're still settling in, and up until the happenings I'm going to relate, I had managed to avoid most of the dangers (though I was bitten by a cave spider, and that...was not fun.)



No one told me the electrified snakes on Haven had a winter form.



I mean, look at that thing. The fact that the eyes glow doesn't even register in their normal, desert-hide appearance. But patterned with slow gloss and dapple? Those eyes really stand out.



Thankfully, a friend tipped me to a Blue Sun product, the "Anti-Arc". You can just make it out strapped to my ankle. It gives off a low, not precisely pleasant subsonic hum, but it keeps the snakes away, and I'm perfectly happy with that.

In the meantime, the Duke had an interesting idea I wanted to test out. Considering we're pretty much limited by what we can ship past the UAP, legally, and what's on Haven itself, we're doing a lot of reconsideration on what we can offer the population that they'd want or need. And he suggested it might be possible to harvest Haven's toxic mushrooms and distill them into alcohol. First, it would clear patches of the fungus from places where people need to go, namely the mines, and second, we've done it before with toxic substances, subsuming the toxic elements in alcohol and aging the results.

I figured I'd be the perfect person to check on the toxicity levels, because I was still very comfortable with toxic mushrooms from the pregnancy potion. So off I traipsed to the mines to check. This...was not my best idea.



As it happens, the mushrooms are very toxic, even to a demifae, even to someone who spent the larger part of several weeks inhaling vapors from aconite, death caps, destroying angels and cloud agarics. And here's how it goes: stand too close, and your health drops by half (green to yellow). Stay in place, and it drops by half again. Still stand there, the health bar divides by yet another half and goes red...and that's when I started walking away, but I wasn't fast enough.

Dropped like a rock.



Now, thankfully, I'm still fairly durable, but it unnerved me a bit. I'll have to report back to the Duke that they're too toxic to brew, I think.

One more thing, though...and this one could get tricky.

Lady Justine is trying to teach me to mine asteroids (and I'm horrid at it, is anyone surprised?), but in order to stay completely within the force shield on the little rock hoppers Port Hope provides, she recommended I change out of Haven winter gear into something a little more close-fitting? Well, I happened to have a skinsuit, so changed quickly, but when I caught my reflection...



...I am definitely looking pregnant at this point. Which, to be fair, isn't that surprising--gestation for most leopards is 90 days, so if the Duke's genetics hold, it'll be the first week or two of January when I give birth. (Though if mine hold, as said, everything's out the window.) And that wouldn't be a problem, per se, except...

We're playing human on Haven. Because they have no place in their perceptions for a demifae ex-Phouka and a magically shapeshifting synthesized intelligence and occasional demigod. There's not even vocabulary that exists to explain.

So now, the big decision becomes--do I prop up my illusion spells again, as I've been doing at work, and proceed on as if nothing's changing? Do I just go with it but gently deflect questions? Because the one thing I do know, is the kittens cannot visit Haven. Not the least of which is that they will be kittens, at least until we figure out if they've inherited my natural shapeshifting, or not, and that will take some time for them to grow into whatever they'll become. And I do not want to field questions on why the human CSO of a shipping company has given birth to two leopard cubs. Thanks, but no.

the gnashing teeth and criminal tongues conspire against the odds

Telltale Games is apparently sending takedown orders to various digital storefronts, and this makes me insanely glad I already own a copy of The Wolf Among Us. But it is both confusing and hurtful, because there are a lot of really good Telltale games, that tie in to a lot of existing properties, from Minecraft to Borderlands. Yes, I know the company's going under, but...wouldn't their games remaining up and selling help them to pay any extant debts from the closure?

And meet Imma, a 100% virtual Instagram model. Pair that with the AI program that can now create entire photographically-real bodies that never existed, and I think we're entering an era where the best models, the best advertising actors, could easily be AI. Could actual actors be replaced with pure AI creations? Not entirely sure, at least, within the next ten years. If it's a still image, or even if it's a non-talking moving image, I think largely we'll buy it. If it's a moving, interactive, talking AI image, it may not work so well in places where we believe emotion--faked or actual--has to be part of the scene.

I think I walked in after everything was mostly over, sadly, but even the aftermath is kind of interesting:

[12:48] Kzzz Dxxxxxx: wow
[12:48] bxxxx Yxxxxxx: wow nothing

This was the part that convinced me something had gone down.

[12:48] Mxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Well more of us care than are bothered by it.
[12:48] bxxxx Yxxxxxx: unless you are talking bout 
[group name][12:48] bxxxx Yxxxxxx: why annoy us with your boring convo

Okay, so I may have some hint now. For me, it depends on the group. If it's pretty strictly a sales group, and there is generally no non-event discussion in the group, then yeah, tempers will flare if, say, it's a weekend sales event, and mid-week someone brings up some dress she saw on sale in a store that isn't involved in the event. That, I get. Because in some group where the group's description says they're restricted only to advertising that event, discussing that event, say, then extraneous chatter is not wanted, nor needed, and will usually be stomped on by the mods.

But if the group is more open and allowing of chat, there shouldn't be a problem...usually.

[12:48] Mxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Why don't you go comb yourt hair with a weedeater
[12:49] bxxxx Yxxxxxx: lol good one
[12:49] Axxx Hxxxxxx: People are permitted to have polite civil nice conversations, be nice or leave.

Thus speaketh the mod.

[12:49] bxxxx Yxxxxxx: you got me
[12:49] gxxxxxxxxxx: [bxxxx] did your parents teach you to just walk away if you don not like something?
[12:49] Wxxxxx Vxxxx: seriously ? this is like 3rd person causing problems

Damn, I hate missing things.

[12:49] Wxxxxx Vxxxx: is it same one on alts?
[12:49] bxxxx Yxxxxxx: good one girls
[12:49] Emilly Orr: Oh darn, I missed drama. Ah, well.
[12:49] bxxxx Yxxxxxx: you got skills
[12:49] Hxxxxx Lxxxxxxxxxx: Maybe..
[12:49] mxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx closes annoying chat

That is also an option, if a passive-aggressive one. I generally don't announce I'm leaving the chat unless I'm REALLY upset. And even then, it's a passive-aggressive move.

[12:50] Hxxxxx Lxxxxxxxxxx: [Mxxxxxxxx] has brains! :)
[12:50] Ixxxxxxx Txxxxxxx: see that, it's an x button it closes the conversation if you dont want to read it.

Speaking of passive-aggressive...

[12:50] Hxxxxx Lxxxxxxxxxx: It's that easy.
[12:50] Kxxx Dxxxxxx: people can still talk about [group name]. we are not monopolizing the chat.
[12:50] Hxxxxx Lxxxxxxxxxx: We have been talking about [group name] for hours. Every now and then the convo changes.
[12:50] lxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: [12:49] Axxx Hxxxxxx: People are permitted to have polite civil nice conversations, be nice or leave.
[12:50] Ixxxxxxx Txxxxxxx: And we wouldn't ignore a question if it was asked about [group name] anyways
[12:51] Hxxxxx Lxxxxxxxxxx: Do I ever? :P
[12:51] sxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: not sure why some people get bothered by nice conversation

See above.

[12:51] Rxxxx Mxxxxx: it is a full moon tonight ? wassup with all the nastiness? they are having a simple convo, if it bothers you, close chat
[12:51] Hxxxxx Lxxxxxxxxxx: Because it makes their SL go DING! and the group window pop up.
[12:51] Kxxx Dxxxxxx: i think some folks are unhappy with themselves so they have a need to make others as miserable as they are

That's not the worst theory, actually. If people are in a bad place, it's easier to see things as negative.

[12:52] sxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: well you can ignore it or turn it off lol
[12:52] lxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: well there is really no need to keep it going
[12:52] sxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: true [kxxx]
[12:53] Kxxx Dxxxxxx: personally i prefer to build folks up. not rip them apart

Cliched, if correct. But it's a truism in comedy, as well--punch up, not down. In other words, don't hurt people below your social status, they have enough problems, and it just comes off as mean-spirited. Same with this, really--help people, don't hurt them out of spite. Harder to live, true, but worthwhile.

strange how the scale forms, in tiny patterns on my antenna

Boston Dynamics strikes again--this seems like a really good robot design.

I wanted to make an entry on the handfasting I officiated at today, but...the lag was so intense, pictures were impossible. Thankfully, others with sturdier computers saved the day, so if you're interested in medieval (ish) handfasting shots, check out this Flickr for some as-it-happened shots. I'll update in later entries if I find out more links. This was a lot of fun, though I might have been more nervous than the couple I handfasted!



I like this dress. It comes in about six colors, all accessed by HUD, but I was feeling the green. Found makeup, lingerie and heels that all matched close enough, and then...went to work. And matched the furniture.



I could lay down on one of the couches and disappear. That isn't good. Does that mean I should ditch this dress entirely, or just never wear it in green again?



I mean, how big a fashion faux pas is blending in with your environment? I'm like a chameleon!

here in the half-light, the motorhomes leave

This person does not exist. This is why. This is how you can help train the AI to create these images.

I find this both compelling and creepy. Compelling in that it's phenomenal we've come this far already in training artificial intelligences both to recognize what makes up a recognizable image of a human being, and allowing us as individual existing humans to help the machine learn. Creepy in that the first thing that crossed my mind was nefarious repurposing: how many of these images of nonexistent people are going to start showing up on Facebook profiles, Tindr and Grindr profiles, or used to 'catfish' other humans for emotional or financial grift reasons?

I've said this for a few years now, but this reinforces it: we now live in a time where we can no longer trust images, moving or still, to be true simply because we see them. This is further proof of that truth.

In other news, this wasn't surprising in the least. In fact, the only surprise I felt reading that article was that 25% of the grid being geared to adults strikes me as a tad low, and I thought it was higher. Also, the comments section for that post immediately went off the rails. I'm fairly sure I'm done commenting--I think I made my point, even if that point was instantly misunderstood--but I do find it interesting that the automatic first conclusion as to the ratio of sex/extreme content sims to non-sex/extreme content sims was 'dem filthy liberals'.