every angel begins at the end

So...innovations and inventions, both baffling and unique. Clip post? Why, yes, we are there again.

First, a bit on nail polish. No, not Ciaté's chalkboard manicure (though I, along with many, many others, am dying to find out how that works). But no, I'm talking about the Blow Monkey.

Seriously. They couldn't have come up with a better name than Blow Monkey? Don't misunderstand me, nail dryers of various kinds have been out for decades, and it's not a bad concept--nail polish takes a long time to dry, and if you're doing a full set--with or without fake nails adding to the drying time--it's not the worst idea to find the concept one approves of most, picking up the reasonable device within that concept, and adding it to one's manicure routine.

But...Blow Monkey. Blow Monkey. Really?

There's still a few left on Amazon, if you're really curious.

Moving to science, this is made of awesome and win. And SCIENCE. Seriously, if the ITER project works out, we could crack the secret of fusion power in my lifetime. From "it can't be done, what are you thinking?" to creation, that's impressive beyond reason.

"These fashionable totes are constructed with two main items: a roll of duct tape and a stapler."

No. No, they're not. Seriously, pick up a damn needle. Because I guarantee you, that won't hold up to a trip to the library, let alone groceries. And if all you want is some big oversized trendy thing to toss sunglasses and a paperback into, then go on Etsy like everyone else and pay too much for one. It'll last longer anyway.

Moving to childcare, how about a redesign of the baby spoon? And really cleverly done, too--not only did Spuni launch this campaign on Indiegogo, but they then decided to take their concept into the real world via fabrication printing. So, crowdfunded--which they made--for a product which will revolutionize infant feeding, no lie, and they're taking over part of the Brooklyn Navy Yard complex for manufacture--which has, for literal decades, been a decaying, unsafe series of structures slowly falling into disrepair.

Technology meets reclamation meets child-rearing improvement. I am so on board for this.

I just want to toss this out there while we're on quirky redesigns. It's more "aww, cute idea" than revolutionary and must-have, but still.

Moving to crafts, there's apparently a small-time resurgence in making ninja peg people. Now, while that can be cool and quirky and fun all on its own, I personally have this sudden temptation to make up a dozen little peg ninja at a time, then leave them on my travels out and about. It's like guerrilla crafting...only with ninja toys!

And have some Lego Iron Man 3 posters, while I'm thinking about it. What else do I have lying around...

Oh, right, I've been thinking of doing a series on various aspects of Fantasy Faire, but this year got away from me in spades. Which is kind of sad, because I promised a friend I'd do a review of at least her sim's Faire booth.

How'ver, I'm thinking this may be a good starting point for an entry on its own anyway--what RP sims in SL are getting it right, for the most part? So expect an upcoming entry (hopefully sometime next week) on that topic, so feel free to keep an eyestalk out.

And I'll leave you with the fiftieth episode of Your Grammar Sucks, which is a madcap twenty-odd minutes of skit comedy, bad grammar, baffling YouTube comments, live performance, and fan contributions. Well worth the watch. (And while you're there, have a listen to the Epic Rap Battles' second-season finale, which featured Rasputin vs. Stalin--with amusing cameos along the way. It truly deserves the term "epic".

keep all the roses, I'm not dead

First off, go here. Then start haunting Malfean Visions because those are AWESOME and must take over the grid.

[Help] Xeyu: Ahhhh damn, the best MMO just cant die, it cant.

All things pass.

From Mr. Noddington Schmooz's profile:

If you want to make yourself smaller and tell yourself you're "properly sized", you go right ahead. Knock yourself out. And then shut the hell up about it, okay? Do NOT try tell me that I am a giant because I stand 6'10", or preach to anyone that you're doing it right and they're doing it wrong.

The problem is that you are attempting to use Earth-standard measurements in SL, and the two are not the same. According to the Lindens, average height in SL is 2.1m (or 6'11"). People my height are the norm. Coming into SL and telling people they are too tall would be like going to Pandora (from 'Avatar') and telling the Na'vi that they are too tall: no they're not. They're the norm. By their standards, you're short.

In a nutshell, then: shut up about your height (and SERIOUSLY shut up about everyone else's height). Besides the fact that nobody but you cares about how awesomely perfectly proportioned you are, you're incorrect. You may be Earth-normal height, but in Second Life, you're short.

This is beautifully put. In my defense, I have never told people they're too tall. I have had fights with avatars around me that I am not a child, I'm just short. Weirdly, I hear this a lot from the tall folk around me.

I wouldn't mind, save that most of the time I'm called a kid, or worse, a creepy pedophile, I'm not even dressed in Lolita gear. I get called a child, labeled perverse, and occasionally bounced home when I'm wearing a Tiny, or dressed as a neko whatever, or even just in a blouse and a simple skirt. In fact, most of the time folks get outraged? Is when I'm not in a child form, when I have recognizable adult characteristics--read, "cleavage"--and makeup appropriate to an adult female.

People, I'm 5'5" in RL. My ENTIRE family, barring one cousin and a now-deceased aunt, is (or was) at least 5'10", with many of my uncles clocking in between 6'2" and 6'4". 5'6" may be the average, but I grew up feeling short, so in SL, I gravitate naturally towards an avatar that's between five feet and five and a half feet tall.

I fully acknowledge, this in SL is woefully short. I fully claim this lack of stature. Interestingly, a friend's gone the other way--she's short in RL, so she tops six feet here, because she's tired of craning her neck the other side of the screen. All in how we're wired, I guess.

One thing that really improves any social outing is half a dozen people yelling "Hooooo!" (pretending to show support for the music, but in reality attempting to draw attention back to themselves, where it belongs) or spamming up the public channel with shouted graphics to say "Good song" or "Applause" (for the exact same reason as previously noted). Or showing their knowledge of the song by 'singing' the lyrics as it plays.

Chances are excellent that if you've done that in a public place where I am, you're on my mute list. Congrats!

P.S. -- It's also awesome when you have shoes that make walking noises and pace around the club. Thanks ever so for sharing.

P.P.S. — If you use a gesture that includes the word "Hoogasm", congratulations! You're retarded.

I have to admit, I really like the way Mr. Schmooz thinks. Now, granted, I never minded groups of people "Hoo!"-ing, but in general, that was due to it being typed in chat. It started getting seriously on my nerves, though, when I'd go to a DJ-ed event, or a dance, and there would be sixteen people all gesturespamming the multi-Hoo--you know, the one that goes "Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-HOOOOOOOOO" really loudly?

Yeah. That's when I started muting gestures in most sims.

He has a store, too! Eminently practical soul, I'm quite impressed.

Work on the haunt is slow, but the build is up! Now to begin to creepify it. This will require much sound work, picture work, and poking scripters. Muahahahaha.

In the meantime, I leave you with the awesome hexaflexagon, and the beyond creepifying trailer for the Silent Hill sequel, and just to wrap things up on a fun note, a new rap song from Jack's Films on YouTube. It's a lovely, lyrical song about atrocious grammar. Enjoy.

I used to have a home, now I don't even have a name

Marc Rossmiller invited you to join him on Google+

No. Die.

Moving on--how about an entire page of great fandom cakes? And man, some of these are amazing. Not a cake wreck in the batch.

More Hurricane Irene news: LordKat, an occasional correspondent through That Guy With the Glasses, lives in Staten Island. This is relevant because for the past couple of days, he pointed his webcam out onto his street. (And no, the film's not shown in reverse; the car near the beginning does back up and out of the street because it was blocked.) From a mild drizzle to Atlantis and rising damp in 48 hours. Impressive in a slightly unnerving way.

So yesterday, I mentioned the whole Alyssa Bereznak fiasco, and there's been a couple new points of interest pop up. First, Dork Tower actually put out a strip commemorating the whole controversy, and there was a link at the end to another article. That's where the real interest for me picks up.

See, apparently, Ms. Bereznak, forgetting she worked as a geek blogger, and that her little 'ew Magic he's so gross' post would turn into the shot heard 'round the geek world, changed her blog entry twice over the course of the next day, trying to make herself sound more like a victim, and Finkel more like a bad date that any thinking woman would have fled from. (Which doesn't really fly, either, because Australia's branch of Gizmodo preserved the entire thing so they could rant about her, too. But--interesting side note--even the Australian version of the article has now been edited to take out her copious links to Finkel's Wiki page, YouTube videos, and personal details she gave out that made him seem like the worst form of predatory stalker. Way to stay classy, Alyssa.)

But it gets better. Forbes Magazine thinks she made that post deliberately, just to get page views. There are now parodies. She's been made into both an online Magic: the Gathering card, and an online meme at once. Buzzfeed gathered up the ten best responses to the article and posted those. The Renaissance Dork got involved. Federico lo Giudice calls the whole thing a witchhunt. Dr. Nerdlove calls it a horror story. MovieBob jumped into the fray. The lady behind GeekGirlDiva included a ton of fun links at the bottom of her rant.

And ultimately--whether or not it was linked to this faux pas of epic proportions--Alyssa Bereznak was terminated from her position at Gizmodo.

I think for me, the story's pretty cut and dried: she's a shallow woman with all the depth of character of a lunch tray, and she went out on a date with someone who, to her, fit whatever criteria for "normal" she holds in her head. Who then revealed his geeky side, after, it must be remembered, she revealed that her brother is a gamer. Finkel's likely side of that conversation: "She has a brother who games. I have a gaming hobby. This could be a fun topic." Bereznak's side...is blurrier, because apparently--at least according to everything she's written--she was either deliberately angling to discover nerdy skeletons in his geek closet, or chose Finkel because she knew he was a gamer, and thought it would be a good article? Or maybe she was really that clueless and vapid.

Either way, as others have pointed out, this then shifts the blame to Gizmodo, for deciding to run with the article--because...again, because why? Why would they deliberately do anything that would tarnish further their reputation with their own readers?

Maybe they thought it would be funny, a bit of fluff to fill the day's quota, a light humor piece that their ardent readers would embrace, inhale, and subsequently discard. What they never sawn coming was the fact that most of the online world would rise up against Berezak, including women gamers (more on that in a bit).

In short, bad decision-making all around, but also, it's definite and final proof that no one is writing in a vacuum--if it's on the net, anyone can read it, react to it, and lay blame for it, pro or con. Me, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, overall. Stand behind what we say, say what we mean, then--"mean" or not--we're taking responsibility for ourselves. Which Ms. Bereznak clearly did not.

Now, getting back to Susan Arendt's apology to Finkel. It contained this line:

Except humiliating someone by name online to make yourself seem cool is disgusting, unfair, and mean.

Which did make me stop and think, involving the various 'name' fiascos that have hit this blog.

I know, 100% know, no doubt whatsoever, that anyone I have ever mentioned on this blog by name--be that "real" name, Second Life name, online handle, business, blog, whatever--I have done so with no intention of seeming "cool", or making myself seem superior, or even in the right, at all. Humiliation has never been my game, though I will freely accept, nay even embrace, the "mean" part of that statement. Put plainly, that's never been the point.

I have wider goals, sure, and some of them, to long-term readers of the Train Wreck, should be obvious by now. I also have more than my fair share of aggrieved pettiness, and that I'll own too. But I've never sought personal gain by mentioning anyone in an entry.

That having been said, especially after I spent four hours yesterday gutting out any mention of Miss Insect on this blog (by her request), I think it's time for an official change of policy.

Unless it is an estate owner (think people like Desmond Shang), a Linden (I refuse to anonymize Linden-made statements), or a maker of things I want people to be able to find (by mention of proper name, business, or blog), I'm going to do my level best to anonymize anyone I feel the need to directly mention. This may mean blurring of faces, changing of names, changing of locations, because frankly? My former insistence on the authenticity of names being important has dissolved completely. Facing the growing-endless hassle from people who've Googled themselves, and then freak out entirely that I actually (ohthehorror, you'veruinedme, I'mabrokenwoman, youFIEND) mention people on whatever entry it happens to be...yeah, I'm done with it.

[Expansion from the Editrix: I'm also not going to anonymize names and comments pulled from the JIRA, and from the forums. You're on your own lookout, there.]

Also, Mr. Dagger designed a new banner that I quite like, but I'm now pondering a change back to sepia tones for the blog. Why? Because it's a sepia banner. And while I could tint it, I like it the way it is.

But that means finding (or making) a new background, possibly altering the layout slightly, et cetera and so forth, and that will take a few days, depending on how busy I am. Still, expect a new look no more than two weeks away.

reign in your power, over all my dreams

I have no idea how much these will retail for, and essentially, they're still a headband with cat ears, but--Neurowear is claiming their new Necomimi ears respond to the user's levels of concentration (ears raise), relaxation (ears flop), and happiness (ears twitch). Might be fun, but I'd want to see more than one girl in a short promo.

It's an amusing blend of tabletop and LARPing, but it's a stupidly catchy song, too--Connor Anderson and Zac Smith's parody of Far East Moment's "Like a G6", called--appropriately enough--"Roll a D6". If you've ever played D&D or LARPed in anything, you'll want to see it at least once.

Some announcements that bespeak good and ill from the Lindens...first, Rodvik remains pretty clued in, overall, to who's in SL and who's willing to support the game, so yay for that. And some of the recent changes--including the much-despised 'Basic' mode--seem to have helped to put SL on the map again, with a 33% raise in new resident registrations, and a comparable lift in premium account generation. Go them.

But there are a few things that leapt out at me. Starting with:

The Refreshed and Fun Registration Experience
On the registration front, we’re knocking down the barriers that can sometimes prevent interested users from joining Second Life. If you haven’t checked out the Join experience lately, then you definitely should. New users start by picking an avatar in a dynamic, animated interface that immediately draws them in. We’ve also removed much of the non-essential information, that we used to require in the registration flow, to make it a quicker and more delightful on-boarding experience.

Okay, let's break this down. "Refreshed" in corporatespeak, to me, means "dumbed down for the dim set". Never a good sign when a game does that. "Fun" in corporatespeak, to me, means "dumbed down for the knuckledraggers to whom dim seems really really smart".

I grant you, I may be wrong in these interpretations.

Another passage:

When we first launched Basic mode, we started with a basic set of human avatars that helped get new Residents immersed in Second Life without having to worry about configuring their avatar to socialize and find cool things to do, in the integrated Destination Guide. But, we know that the beauty of Second Life is the diversity and richness of how we choose to represent ourselves inworld. So, we’re adding 12 animal and 12 Robots and soon we’ll have Vehicles too.

So, I don't think anyone reading this doesn't already know, or hasn't figured out, how much I loathe the Basic system. It's essentially the viewer version of crippleware, and it's crippleware deliberately designed by the company providing it, with few provisions (beyond downloading the Advanced viewer, or giving up entirely and going to a third-party viewer) for ditching the crippleware features. That seems very shoddy design to me.

I guess it's not paying them anything to turn out new residents who have all the bells and whistles, and still do nothing with them, but...it bugs me.

Another sentence I want to revisit:

So, we’re adding 12 animal and 12 Robots and soon we’ll have Vehicles too.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong in this, but...we're going to turn into cars? Y'know, instead of humanoids, fish, furs and clockwork? Seriously?

Who thought this was a good idea? (Please. PLEASE let me be wrong in this.)

Also, in unrelated perusing on the Marketplace, I found...the Tome Raider avatar! Nope. Not kidding. Also, this listing is NSFW. And...I don't think it's worth the asking price.

Of a Linden.

We move on! While I was still struggling to ditch the Inventory advisory, I discovered there was a 3D mode to the game.

(from the Minecrafting album)

I...do not recommend it.

(from the Minecrafting album)

And then, the thing that Notch had promised happened: it rained in Minecraft. I emerged from the third level of the pit and just wandered around, astounded at the look and sound of it.

(from the Minecrafting album)

Rain seen looking towards the mini-cavern to the north. Handy tip--if you ever want to know which way you're facing in Minecraft, as least from an internal game perspective: look up. Whichever way the clouds are moving--that'll be north.

(from the Minecrafting album)

Rain on the glass top of the pit build. At this point, rain was still going through glass as if it didn't exist.

(from the Minecrafting album)

Another view on the rain and the glass.

(from the Minecrafting album)

I was also somewhat taken aback that--at least in this texture pack--the rain was so much lighter in color than the rest of the water sources.