what chain reaction, what cause and effect makes you turn around, makes you try to explain?

I suddenly don't feel so bad; I ran over to the blog hosting the Big Bad Blogger Challenge and...that's still the last topic seen. Which I wrote on.

The challenge on the challenge blog hasn't been updated. Does that mean we're all off the hook?

In other news...SL7B. And already major controversy concerning an artist named Misprint Thursday.

I present to you from Joonie's blog (linked above), the start of what I think is a terrifying exchange that actually took place:

SHAWN Masters: you do have pedifiles
Misprint Thursday: that has nothing to do with these pictures

Mr. Masters is a moderator for SL7B. First of all, even with all the controversy and drama, remember last year? SL6B? Where we heard about the upcoming birthday celebration from March on? Off and on, little bits here and there, and then May and BAM, everyone you knew was planning an exhibit?

Or at least me; half my friends applied, it seemed, a third got approved, and there it was.

The seventh anniversary of Second Life? A blip. Didn't even know it had started, frankly, until I logged in a couple days back (before the hard drive bottomed out) and saw a brief mention on the log-in screen. That's how underplayed the whole thing has been.

So this guy who wants to shout his name to all and sundry, because he was too stupid to take his capslock off when he created his avatar that first day, comes up to Thursday and essentially, accuses an artist of encouraging pedophiles (which name he misspells) on the grid.

Let that sink in.

Blondin Linden, by the way? Standing around. Never said a word to Thursday during the whole of the pedophile conversation by report. Not. One. Word. While Masters is haranguing Thursday, likely publically, a Linden who could have been giving out accurate information is...standing around. Silent.

Gosh, doesn't that just sound like the employees that are left.

SHAWN Masters: there are on average....20 pedifiles within a 50 mile square
Misprint Thursday: listen
SHAWN Masters: SL is a breeding ground
Misprint Thursday: that has nothing to do with this

You'd expect to get this sort of reaction from the public, who never bother to come in to SL; especially from the Germans, who've apparently done little else but news blurbs since "The Incident" pondering if SL has changed from being that horrible little place that did those horrible little things to those virtual children...

...but from someone who's gained enough power and trust to be a moderator for SL7B? You'd like to think those people have more than two braincells to smash together, wouldn't you?

Mr. Masters, not that I expect you to know how to web-surf from this, but if you do happen to trip over this blog entry, I would be remiss ("re·miss", it means 'failing to do your duty) if I didn't tell you a few things. Namely:

1. It's more properly spelt "pedophiles", taken from "pedophilia", id est, from the Greek "παιδοφιλια" or paidophilia; most precisely it refers to the love for boy children, but it's been expanded upon being named a mental disorder to mean any love or adoration (sexual or emotional) for underage partners, typically children. It is not, and never has been, "pedifiles".

2. A naked image of a Barbie (TM) doll is nothing most children (of at least Western industrialized countries) have not already been exposed to; lacking nipples, genital definition and even a belly-button, she can't be said to be an adult image, in any sense of the word. Period. End of discussion.

Now, can Barbies (TM) be made to be adult images? Oh, sure. It's all in the poses, really (though that's not a doll, that's a digitally altered human made to resemble a doll...obviously). And it's not like even most of those feature really outre subject matter, for the most part. Remove the adult understanding of the sexual component and what are you left with? The little girl who makes her dolls kiss. The children who undress their dolls before bed, bathe them, then dress them in night clothes. Without context, where is the problem?

In other words, Mr. Masters, if you're not obsessing about pedophilia, thinking about it, to the exclusion of all else...you wouldn't have seen that as harmful, I think.

Now, I do know the Lindens are insisting--foolishly--on the PG rating for the whole of the birthday sims; it was stupid when it was first introduced, it's stupid now, it's not going to change; I get that, fine. And considering avatars can have extremely realistic--in fact, even sculpted and primmed out carefully--sexual characteristics, I get that some things would automatically be considered beyond the pale.

In fact, I'd be willing to argue the point that the Susa Bubble art installation might be beyond that line, because it deals with avatar nudity, which is the state of affairs the Lindens are trying to push to the side.

But a flat-prim picture of a naked Barbie (TM)? Seriously? That was considered so shocking, so horrifying, that the artist was bounced from the sim, bounced from the exhibitors' group, and not allowed to return to pick up what remained of her installation?

I don't know if the Lindens actually realize this, but that rather is the textbook definition of artistic censorship--agreeing to host a work of art, then removing the bits one doesn't approve of, and showing it anyway. And that is why museums and galleries who engage in such practices are so universally loathed as the Quislings they are.

The entirety of the Susa Bubble installation, as I understand it, was returned, or never allowed in in the first place; I can't argue with that, per se, because of that whole PG rating, and how narrowly the Lindens define "PG".

But the single texture of the naked Barbie (TM) doll? Seriously? THAT image. That image made Blondin Linden ban her from the SL7B sims.

Linden Labs have lost their minds. I know, I seem to say that a great deal, but this time? I can't see any other way to take this decision.

Oh, and Philip Linden also made a speech, wherein he said that SL wasn't becoming the next FaceBook, just the next MySpace. And that SL is a medieval town and we need to attack the fortifications until there are no walls and everyone can just walk right in and enjoy the magnificence and creative freedom that is SL.

Yeah. Unless, you know, you want to do art that's not completely and totally safe, that challenges no existing status quo.

I guess it's all in what the Labs want. Because, you know the saying...Their world. Their imagination.

laying underneath the stars, strung out and feeling great

Perhaps a first for Twitter, an announcement that Ronnie Lee Gardner was going to be executed.

Now, let me be frank: Gardner was not a serial killer under any definition of the word. There was nothing mystical or horrifying, he did not skin people alive, he did not braid intestines into hats. And I realize there are people against the death penalty, because they believe--and they may well be right--that the taking of any life cheapens all life; that there should be a better way.

Maybe there should. One of my friends holds this issue dear to her wounded heart, because her brother was arrested for a crime he did not commit, sentenced by people who didn't care to investigate the case fully, and died in Texas because that's what they do in Texas, after all: kill large numbers of prison inmates.

But Gardner--for all that he wasn't spectacular--arrived quite understandably on Death Row due to premeditation. In 1984, he was arrested after a robbery went bad; he shot and killed Melvyn John Otterstrom, and that was originally what sent him to jail.

He successfully made an appeal, and had been transported to Salt Lake City's original courthouse to face final sentencing. His girlfriend had hidden a gun on the premises; Gardner found it (as he was intended to), and shot and killed attorney Michael Burdell, and shot and wounded Nick Kirk, the court bailiff. (He himself was also shot in the process.) New charges were levied, and after a lengthy trial, the court re-sentenced him to Death Row.

It has taken twenty-five years from that original sentence to now, to actually confirm the death sentence: in Aprille, the choice was presented to Gardner of lethal injection, or firing squad.

He chose the firing squad.

Only two firing squads remain in the American judicial system--one in Utah, one in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has never used theirs, oddly enough, but both states hold to the same dynamic--five men, trained sharpshooters, using matched rifles.

When this first broke on Twitter, there were cries of outrage, which I find morbidly amusing. As I said, he was no Albert Fish, but the callous disregard shown in shooting the three men he did (resulting in two lives lost, and a third, the bailiff's, cut tragically short due to the bullet lodging in an inoperable place internally) puts my mind, at least, at ease in terms of him dying by firing squad--or dying at all.

It does prove to me, though--people will use Twitter for any and all purposes. This, I actually think, is not a bad thing. One simply must be selective in what one chooses to hear.

"A dream about a burning river...

"You dream that you're flinging books happily on to the Stolen River, the one they used to call the Thames. Quite abruptly you wake. Er, you're crouching over your fireplace, smearing your hands and face feverishly with ashes. You pause there in the dark. Perhaps you need a little holiday."

Indeed. My nightmares are rising towards 9 and I'm not utterly raving yet. Perhaps I do need a small break from the rigors of Fallen London...save, where else is there to go?

Tch, I mean besides SL.

In more news from FL, not SL, it's taken me three days to track down the problem with my main computer, and burn all the information off that I can't simply download again from the net. It will likely take another day to set up a second working computer--and hope it's good enough to build. If all that works out, I can get back to building on Monday.

I am fervently hoping this is true. If not, then I'll begin slowly chewing my fingernails down to the elbow; happens all the time. I never handle the spectre of net disconnection well.

In the meantime, I'm off the Big Bad Blogger Challenge until I pick up the old entries; I'm thinking I carried it fairly well though, considering right in the middle of it, my comp started going haywire, restarting randomly, and eating its own feet. But--just for my own sense of completion, if nothing else--I will be going back and picking up the last of the questions for answering and posting in a day or so.

(Again--hopefully. Keep a good thought.)

I’m waiting for the sky to fall, I’m waiting for a sign

Sometimes, conversations with God are on the baffling side.

what: the hell
what: the hell is this
emilly.orr: Hmm?
what: I dunno
what: Balls in your court EM
what: START THIS CONVO RIGHT
emilly.orr: Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...
what: Awwwwwwwww no way
emilly.orr: Yep

Hell, I figured I'd be spending another year in stealth mode, but God happened to pop up an hour into The Day. So I told him. I don't expect anything to change, mind; and still, not even sure I'll be in today, what with computer issues (we've figured out, so far, it's not malware, spyware, virii or uncleared cache, on browser or in world; it could be some malformed codec, which is the next state of checking, but the stuttering/wowing of audio and video is not pleasant on top of it).

Then again, sometimes conversations with God are uncomfortable.

what: Happy Bday Em
what: In commmemoration
what: Totally not wearing pants
emilly.orr: Happy "You haven't died yet" day :p
emilly.orr blinks
emilly.orr: Um. Yay?
what: Still wearing boxers
what: So
emilly.orr: SO

Still wearing boxers, point in his favor. Drunk and weaving at the keys, I think removes the point. Kind of unsure on that one. And really, God drunk, God sober; same God either way.

what: But still, i digress
what: How was your bday?
emilly.orr: Dunno, it's just one ayem here
what: oh right
emilly.orr: Technically, it starts after I go to bed and get up again
what: its lik3 3 am here
emilly.orr: So far, it's been keen :p
what: hAHAH
what: Hahah
what: WHOOOPS capslock

I tend to view capslock as sort of the net version of yelling "Hey! I'm DRUNK!" in bars. Well, quieter. Well, no, because I still 'hear' it as yelling. So yeah, same thing.

what: Also, turns out Ive had a lot of ICEHOUSE and PINGPONG because I was bored tonight
what: Sersiously, watch how that game gets harder as you drink
what: its crazy
what: OH
what: OH
emilly.orr: Pingpong?
what: I should get you a present
what: one sec

He never answered, btw. What the hell is "Pingpong" in relation to college drunkenness? Inquiring minds need to know.

what: I promise<
what: it will be semipornograpgic
emilly.orr: 0.0
emilly.orr: God works in mysterious ways

I have more fear of Stiv finding random semipornographic things for me than Jakkar finding random YouTube links. Mainly because semipornographic, for God? Generally involves giving birth, or rainbows and fish, or Hitlerjürgen Lolitas...or other visuals that make brain cells die...

what: you pick
what: Boobs or fish?
what: like, literally fish, as in the animal
what: or breasts
what: Your call Em
emilly.orr: buh
what: anyday now
emilly.orr: For a moment I thought you were talking reverse mermaids
what: thats different
what: but an option

I don't even want to know. Stiv? O My Wand'ring Lord? I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW.

emilly.orr: how can fish be semipornographic?
what: its your bday after all
what: trust me em
what: just
what: trust me
what: and pick: breats, lesbians, or winking
what: THOSE ARE THE NEW OPTIONS

We went from boobs or fish, to breasts, lesbians, or winking. The mind shudders.

emilly.orr: I am confused by your options, but okay, breasts
what: DEAL
what: I mean, OK
emilly.orr: (though you'd think lesbians, they'd come with breasts...)
what: (they do but you know rules are rules, only one choice)<
emilly.orr: Well, you did say<
what: Ok ok
what: Breasts, and lesbians
what: I GIVE YOU
what: LESBIAN BREAKFAST
what: man cartoon boobs are always nice to see, even if they arent real
emilly.orr: I am amused by the fact that the egg timer seems embarrassed, too
what: Hahahah
what: OH em
what: You enjoy the details

I'm a detail girl. So yes, I have decided to share God's birthday gift for me with the world...or at least the eight or so of you, internationally, who read this.

I will say it's mostly safe for work, though it is mildly suggestive, and the breasts, while clad, are quite obviously breasts. And on the huge side.

And it has the power of cute behind it, mysteriously. Those wacky Japanese...

"Serendipity, chance encounters, and a swirl of cultures and ideas is what makes a city great, rather than how efficiently cars can get in and out, or how “in control” you want to feel in the environment (as if control, somehow, can stave off chaos or decay)."

That leads you to a really, really long essay by Dusan Writer on the state of the metaverse, but I honestly swear to you, it is worthwhile to read through the whole thing. And if, by whatever grace may touch this blog from time to time, a Linden with functional powers of insight should read down this far--please, mysterious San Fran person, read through that. Print it out. Pin it up around the office. Forward the link to people. Encode it in a memo. Get more eyes on it, because it will save your jobs. I'm dead serious.

In the meantime, I'm off for sleeping. Tomorrow, branding and gatling ponies! (No, don't freak out, it's not me, we're seeing Jonah Hex. Trust me, one brand is enough for me, I highly doubt I'll ever get another one.)

I mean cold, cold blood, running around inside our veins

[Late insert from the Editrix: one of the quoted participants in the Haven of Rogues/Haven of Mermaids discussion below has asked that her name be removed on the excerpted chat in this post; I have done so in compliance with her request.

[How'ver, I can't remove her name from Alexia Lennie's reply without killing her reply entirely, so at least that much of her identity must remain in this blog. That's not the frustrating bit, though.

[The reason this person asked me to remove her name is because Alexia Lennie was harassing her in SL. This is getting beyond ridiculous.]

===

This just in from Horrid Twine:

To My Lovely Friends, Colleagues, & Fellow Whales!

I have decided to pull entirely out of Second Life and instead move to InWorldz.
Every once in a while I leave and come back.
This time, unless something seriously changes at "The Lab", I will not be back.
Recent events have made me rethink being here.

And I find that InWorldz, though still small, is a medium that I can stand behind and be proud to do so.

So that is where Horribaubles and Pretty Squeezles will now be.

For those of you whom supported Zombiefest and the other assorted charities, I thank you.

In light of this, I am having a "closing" sale.

The closing sale is at her Starlust store--I think she's closed the others. Everything in her shop is L$100 until Saturday, at 8 am (she didn't mention her time zone, so I'd just think Saturday in general).

This leaves me asking a few questions that likely won't be answered:

1. Is Putrid Gloom leaving also? (That one, I think I'm asking Miss Putrid about, because I need to know if Show Me on the Doll is also leaving!)

2. InWorldz, near as I can tell, is using OpenSim architecture. Why go to Second Life Jr. if you're upset with Second Life? Sure, the management might be better, but seriously--the same damned coding issues we hate here? Are likely over there!

>3. What happens to the ZombiePopCarnival after Saturday?

If any of you need to contact me, you can find me @ horridtwine@gmail.com or on http://www.inworldz.com as Horrid Twine.

She will be missed, but if anyone wants to go over to inWorldz to say hi, feel free; she'll appreciate the support. Me, I adore her stuph, I do, but...I just can't register for a company who decided to end their corporate name in "Z". I just can't.

Other news: in the "Weekly Tempest", an in-world magazine for lovers of mer culture and fashion came this little tidbit:

HAVEN OF ROGUES/MERMAIDS RULE UPDATE

Griefers using child avatars have been creating problems for both 'Rouge' sims. These sims are adult, and thus, no child avatars are allowed.

They included a notecard listing--I thought--the exhaustive and heavy-handed covenant Matisse Vendetta developed on his land--which, again, is never mentioned to anyone on arrival, so the casual shopper or interested finned denizen has no clue they expect certain insane behaviors from the moment anyone enters either sim.

This was met with some startlement in the group of us that visited earlier this week:

[17:01] ******* ******: those assholes at haven of rogues
[17:01] Drakon Lameth: ?
[17:01] Jennifer Corbeau: ohhhh nuu
[17:01] ******* ******: have sent out info that we were griefing them
[17:01] Drakon Lameth: o.o
[17:01] ******* ******: to the mermaid weekly magazine

The Weekly Tempest mag, btw? Is not an in-house Haven of Rogues/Haven of Mermaids publications. It goes out to everyone who's bid in with a mermaid sim, or a mer fashion house, furnishings, or undersea plant life. In short, anyone who feels they have a tie to mer life, or wants to read more on it.

[17:01] Drakon Lameth shakes head
[17:01] ******* ******: HAVEN OF ROGUES/MERMAIDS RULE UPDATE

Griefers using child avatars have been creating problems for both 'Rouge' sims. These sims are adult, and thus, no child avatars are allowed.
[17:02] Emilly Orr: 0.0
[17:02] xvxRUBYxvx Praga: *blinks*
[17:02] xvxRUBYxvx Praga: Serenity is NOT a child avi
[17:02] ******* ******: and included a stupid notecard stating the rules
[17:02] Emilly Orr: THE HELL I AM A GRIEFER
[17:02] ******* ******: none of us were kid avies or griefers

Now, as I pointed out, Jakkar Carlos is heavily bish; so he looked young, but not CHILD young. And Saori wore a doll skin over her mer tail, so at best, she looked like a porcelain fantasy doll--again, not a child. I came as a small bunny, yes, but that bunny was short, not a babyfur, and Serenity was--Serenity! How does a six-foot white cat with tiny wings rate as a CHILD?!?

Apparently, on a mermaid sim, showing up in fur automatically labels one underage. The hell, people!

[17:02] Midori Yatsenko: where is this Mermaid Weekly Magazine?
[17:02] xvxRUBYxvx Praga: dear lord
[17:02] ******* ******: it doesnt name us but its talking about us
[17:04] xvxRUBYxvx Praga: if the sim is an adult sim...then they would be age verified to get on it
[17:04] ******* ******: after we were there
[17:04] xvxRUBYxvx Praga: *shakes head*
[17:04] ******* ******: and its not even adult, its just mature, so they are [lying]

So I gritted my teeth and pulled out the notecard they'd sent along. This is it:

NO CHILD AVATARS
Sunday, 13 Jun 2010 23:07:18 GMT
*******************************************
NEITHER OF THE HAVEN OF ROGUES REGIONS (that means
"Haven of Rogues" or "Haven of Mermaids) WILL ALLOW
CHILD AVATARS. None, period. There are bored folks
going around looking to create hate and discontent
by taking "child avatars" into mature and adult sims &
trying to start "crap." So! This fixes that potential for
"crap:" NO CHILD AVATARS. Get it? Got it? Good.
******************************************* M.V.


From Matisse Vendetta

....I am really starting to loathe that man.

1. We weren't bored, we were called there by friends

2. Our friends weren't bored, they were following advertisements that mentioned Lucky Chairs, groups they were in that mentioned changes in chair status, sales notices likely from your sim, Matisse--there could have been any number of legitimate reasons any one of us could have found your goddamned sim on our own! And this is what you tell people. This is what you think of potential customers in your sim, potential renters of your land. That we're griefers.

3. WE DID NOT SPREAD HATE. Honestly, where do you get this nonsense?

4. We did not "start crap". Some of us got there, ported by friends, and were immediately sent to the corner--and by that, I mean LITERALLY, sent to the CORNER COORDINATES of the sim into a SMALL CUBE OF STONE. This is not ejecting. This is not banning. If I were of less even temperment? I could AR your EMs for that!

But you are more than happy to live out the rest of your lives never seeing me again. TRUST me, I'm gone. Not one foot into anything you own; not one DIME spent on anything you've had a hand in making. I am DONE WITH THIS.

And I do believe that goes for Indigo Jashan and Alexia Lennie, as well. If that leaves me porting to mer places and having to check who made things, the full covenant of the land I'm on, who made the wall prims...so be it.

My gods, you're an idiot. Why on earth do you even have a shopping mall, open to the public, if you despise the public, Matisse?

I realize some questions have no answer, and less point, but it just galls me so. While I realize there is prejudice against non-humans (and in this case, non-mers), usually it's not so vibrantly painted, swollen with enraged revulsion, as this. We did nothing but come to investigate, to see if we wanted to come back later and shop.

Well, that answer's there at least--We don't want to. We never will.

you're weak but not giving in to the cries and the wails of the valley below

Perhaps my graphics drivers *are* outdated...I usually don't get so many of these glitches in a row...

Today's Big Bad Blogger Challenge was interesting, in a sense. Maybe only to me:

Topic #5 - Blogger's choice! Write about anything that's on your mind!

Well...okay, I usually do that anyway. So today's thing that's been circling is...what if the sky isn't falling?

Hear me out. And this better make an impression, because I am quite sure the management of the Labs adores me like heat rash at this point, if they notice me at all. And yes, I believe strongly that the Labs will cripple their product, empty their world, and end up selling off the ragged shreds to the first buyer for half what the company's currently worth, if they keep going down this path.

But. Posit: what if this headstrong rush to the cliff's edge was what M was trying to stop? Oh, even I don't think it's likely, but just--for an instant, entertain this--what if that's what he was trying to do? 30% reduction in staff is a lot, and no one is going to tell us there weren't a lot of long-term Lindens in that mix, but...there were a lot of new ones, too. People who were involved in the OpenSpace debacle. The cack-handed development of Zindra. The Enterprise system. The push towards opening the source code. The wholly FUBARed mess that is XStreetSL, start to finish.

Viewer 2.

These people also went. What if M just did a clearinghouse of everyone who said "Yes sir, grand idea, we'll get right on that" without considering what it meant for the world he now owned?

So, didn't stay long IN world, because I had to immediately fling m'self into limbo again, but I was in long enough to see the notecard from sulvitri Barbosa:

BULLYING & SLANDER - Greetings all, It is sad for me to say that Kindred Retail and more importantly myself (sulvitri Barbosa) and tani Darkstone have fallen victim to bullying and slander in secondlife by serenity Peart and Varacolaci Lagerlof her partner. serenity has sent notecards falsly quoting me to our friends, customers and shop owners that rent with us. The bullying is not just in secondlife but also in Skype and email. The things they have wrote are discusting and untrue. I know from research that we are not the first to be treated like this by serenity and her husband. This behaviour can not continue. If you have recieved a notecard or group message i urge you to report it to Lindenlabs. We need to stand together against BULLYING!!! Thank you for your support. If you do not wish to recieve these messages please remove yourself from our hippo vendor group at kindred retail main store or contact me directly. Thank you[.]

Huh. So I looked into it.

Serenity Peart and Varacolaci Lagerlof were both born in 2005, and--at least on Lagerlof's side--seem to be tied to Kindred, in that this pick remains in his profile:

OUR FAMILY SUPPORTS K.R.O.S. KINDRED ROLE PLAY SYSTEMS. WE ARE DECENDANTS OF ROMANIAN VAMPIRE(STRIGOI) VARACOLACI. OUR FAMILY IS UNIQUE AND PROUD UNDERSTANDING OF THE SCRUTINY OF OUR KIND, THE ROLE WE MUST FACE AND THE HUNGER THAT WE MUST FEED TO SURVIVE.

So...what's really going on? No idea--yet. But I'll be asking around.

Want a free book? There you go.

"Linden Lab is 100% focused on delivering an extraordinary virtual world experience and all of our work is pointed in that direction."

Mark Kingdon said that. Mark? We don't believe you. But there doesn't seem to be another option, so...we're stuck with you, right now.

I'm here at least until they ban things that I am, like creator content, dolls, or furs--after that? There'd be zero reason to stay.

nothing held us back or dared to try

For any fans of Warhammer 40K out there: there apparently is going to be a Warhammer MMO.

Whether that's a good or bad thing, well...I leave to the folks who decide to play it.

Nintendo is pioneering 3D handheld games that won't require 3D glasses. I have no idea how that works, but they seem pretty confident.

And Curse.com is giving out APB beta keys for a bit, but they're going fast! If you have any interest, go get one now. (I did, actually, because I'm dying to play with their character generator--unfortunately, my system is not robust enough to run the game, so that's that.)

Chatroulette, according to Disinfo.com, is developing software to use in conjunction with the chat site to block or 'fade out' visible genitalia. Apparently, this will improve the overall adoption of the site, and propel them, Facebook-like, into internet stardom.

Why does everyone want to be the next Facebook? Seriously, people. Being big doesn't mean people are happy there; it just means a lot of people are doing it. Most of those people are either individuals who spend less than five hours per week on the site, or spammers who are there because so many other people are there. This is not success; this is popularity. And the way Facebook is acting now, with the new 'privacy is BAD' restrictions? They won't even be popular in another few years.

"Linden Lab has never really made an effort to stop treating its customers with disdain – from the April fools MotDs telling us to get a life back in 2007 to M telling us to move aside in 2009 and the general ignoring of customer concerns it’s all added to reducing the goodwill of the customer base."

I'd especially point your notice towards the long list of Linden Labs' failures since 2006--and they are many--because practically everything on that list? Will never be addressed by the Labs. In full point of fact, I'm fairly sure they don't even see anything on that list as a problem.



This one happened today, on my first attempt at login. Made my loves laugh hysterically when out of the blue they heard me say "No, REALLY?!?"

This region is experiencing problems? I would imagine SO, based on observable evidence. What's next on your list, Captain Obvious? Water is wet?

In happenings beyond SL...



Had to capture this one for posterity. Had to. That, and it reminded me of the Goddamn Batman Sims series on LJ.



I've been watching a lot of Dr. Who lately. Which is never a bad thing. This was one still from an episode I had to capture, though, especially considering the twin inscriptions on the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff. The Welsh version says Creu Gwir fel gwydr o ffwrnais awen, which means "Creating truth like glass from the furnace of inspiration", referring to Wales' long history with the mining and smelting of metal and materials, as well as the poetry in the Welsh soul; and the English version says "In these stones horizons sing", a reference to age, history, and Welsh spirituality, among other things.

Both of which are perfectly paired with the Tardis and the Doctor, side by side.

Filed under "Oh dear God no" at Techland, news of a new musical--I Kissed a Vampire.

Sadly, I'm not kidding.

There is coming a Fallout MMO; for fans of Fallout, this is a good thing. How'ver, it still has a long dusty road to walk before launch, due to legal battles between the several companies who currently hold rights to the property.

Still, between Fallout and System Shock (with a side bit of Grand Theft Auto) lies all modern gaming, practically, and there are serious and hardcore fans for Fallout, who will keep asking for a Fallout MMO. One way or the other, it will become a reality.

Who ends up running that reality...well, that's a different story altogether.

I am still unidentified

Another good question from Alicia Chenaux for the Big Bad Blogger Challenge:

SL Bloggers - Is your avatar more or less your current biological age? Do you portray a younger avatar, or older? Why is this?

This is actually an interesting question. When I first started in SL, I was in a standard avatar and had no real plans on age in the least. Then I became a stripper at the Enigma, and to my mind, I wanted to portray someone who had a little polish from experience, but not a large amount. Far enough from eighteen to be believable, but not too far to put gentlemen off who might want to tip.

I picked 23 as a good, stable age, and--at least officially--that was my age. It went into my escort bio, when I started escorting, and I did my best to 'play young'. Perhaps I did too good a job, because my first few years on SL saw me making all the same mistakes I did at 22.

In order.

It was somewhat maddening.

But since then, all I've altered is my behavior; when I stopped escorting, I stopped playing deliberately younger, but I never changed my look. Or, well, I changed my look nearly every day, I am a shapeshifter after all.

But SL is curiously ageless in this way; if we want to appear older, we have to find one of perhaps three skin designers who have made elder skins. Miss sachi Vixen is the person I always mention, but truthfully, there's not a lot of call for it. Everyone wants to look younger than they are, they say; the problem is, I look younger than I want to in real life, so why would I want to look younger in SL?

I think that's one reason I still get so upset when someone calls an avatar I'm in a child; outside of one specifically child-shaped, child-sized avatar--whom no one ever sees--everyone else I am is adult. I may be short--and, as SL spins on, growing shorter--but I am not a child.

here it comes now, sure as silence follows rain

"My cybernetic children will feed on your flesh, and none will ever know your deeds, or even your name...Enjoy your victory, human, for the remainder of your...short...life..."

Friend of mine is trying to talk me into downloading and playing System Shock. To interest me in doing this, he's linked me to the Xerxes transcripts and I found a link to Shodan quotes on my own (and then found this version with some backstory included).

"Look at you, hacker...a pathetic creature of meat and bone...panting and sweating as you run through my corridors...how can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?"

All I know now is, whether I play it or not, it reminds me strongly of Pulse's haunted space station last October, as well as the current story arc from the Doomed ship.

Now, first, let me speak plainly: I haven't been to the Doomed ship in months; possibly even one full year. But I hear things. And one of the things I'm hearing, over and over, is that the story is changing.

It used to be the deeper you went into the ship, the closer you got to the alien menace that scuttled in the darkness, looking for victims. Half of everyone you encounter would be mad, or feral; the other half would be frightened, or predatory; and there used to be a demonic angle to the whole thing; in true Event Horizon style, the ship had gone to Hell and returned to tell the tale.

Apparently, this has changed. The ship's been rebuilt, for one thing. It's bigger, but no less labyrinthine, and it still has levels built on levels built on levels (frankly, that's always been part of its charm, that it's a station that seems to be evolving, inorganic bits and organic bits alike). Secondly, though, while I'm sure there are still players in the demonic storyline, the main theme seems to be mutating (aheh) from its past into something akin to System Shock 2: while System Shock and its sequel both had references to "The Many", the player in either game rarely found actual evidence of this.

In Doomed? The evidence is there--if you go down far enough, if you survive. The biomass is living, pulsing, growing tissue, and it seems to be absorbing cast and crew alike.

And there now seem to be appearing 'rejects' from that biomass, partially absorbed, partially changed beings who may or may not be working for the guiding brain of that biomass--wherever that brain might be. One thing's for certain: they're no longer sane, no matter which side they're on.

The Doomed Ship
William Morris

The doomed ship drives on helpless through the sea,
All that the mariners may do is done
And death is left for men to gaze upon,
While side by side two friends sit silently;
Friends once, foes once, and now by death made free
Of Love and Hate, of all things lost or won;
Yet still the wonder of that strife bygone
Clouds all the hope or horror that may be.

Thus, Sorrow, are we sitting side by side
Amid this welter of the grey despair,
Nor have we images of foul or fair
To vex, save of thy kissed face of a bride,
Thy scornful face of tears when I was tried,
And failed neath pain I was not made to bear.

All I know is, if you go there...be careful. Question everything. At least some of the rejects seem to be communicating through the station's intercom system, so...even stationwide announcements may not be safe.

Of course, it is the Doomed ship. Announcements from that station may never have been "safe" in the first place...

===

[Late insert from the Editrix: as of 7:28 pm, 15 July 2010, confirmation: T Linden is gone. Never did get around to following up on the conversation I wanted to have with him on how Second Life is not being run by madmen. Guess it doesn't matter now. As a plus to the PR side of this particular layoff, they let him go while he was engaged in supporting an SL client with several dozen estates. Way to go, LL!]

but now I feel your presence in a way I could not know

Another one from the Big Bad Blogger Challenge, and this is such an ironic one for me, personally:

SL Bloggers - How hard do you think it is to find a relationship in SL? If you have an SL relationship, have you met in the physical world? Would you meet them? Do you think it would change your SL relationship if you met?

How hard is it to find a relationship? Not hard at all. There are so many seekers and so many finders, sometimes it seems like everyone's dating on SL, 24/7. Love lost or love gained or love misplaced or love pushed away; partnering and unpartnering and flirting and courting and reviling and arguing; tears of joy and lamentation; hearts breaking, hearts burning. Love? SL is steeped in love.

I've had several SL relationships. Of all of them, I've talked (voice) to four of them (though I've heard the voice of one more); seen six--seven--wait, no, nine--via RL pictures; and currently, two of them have my home address.

Of course, one of them has it because she lives with us now, me and my lady wife. Miss Neome moved in, left the pixelled screen for the world of greater restriction, and we love her for that and so many other reasons. Life with her is challenging, bizarre, confusing, warming, enriching, baffling, joyous, and occasionally hurts deeply--but it wouldn't be true love otherwise, now would it?

Would that mean every relationship I've had on SL would transit as easily? Might as well consider any online relationship; and on that, I think the jury's still out, and always will be. I have met people I adored deeply, in every sense; I have met people that I was grateful to be friends with, but there was no single spark of sensuality between us. I have rarely clicked with anyone, in SL or online, that I abhored on meeting; but there's always a first time, isn't there?

Am I willing to meet people from SL? I am; I have, in fact. But it's always a nervy thing, anxious-making, and I don't do it lightly. I am not the type to go winging across the country at a whim. Not anymore, at least. These days, I'm more comfortable typing; talking; and seeing in person, in that order.

But those I love, I love deeply, and while it can be a difficult juggling act, I try never to diminish one love for another, regardless of whether that love is RL or SL. It's not always easy to do that, though.

So, in brief: hard finding a love on SL? Not at all difficult. Hard finding the right love on SL? High level of difficulty, but it can be, so very much, worthwhile. Have I met anyone I love or loved on SL? Yes. I haven't regretted a meeting yet.

And do I think it would change the SL relationship I had, I have with them? It's changed every single one so far. Some for the better, some perhaps not, but friendship on occasion is just as important, and more valued.

I seem to have a surfeit of love, at present. Any others, I might have to start handing out numbers and set out queue markers!

home, is this the quiet place where you should be alone?

The Second Big Bad Blogger Challenge post:

SL Bloggers - Write about three positive things going on in your Second Life.

RL Bloggers - Write about three positive things going on in your life.

I'm taking both of these, because it's never a bad thing to think of the positive things in any life.

So, three positive things going on in SL just now:

1. I got accepted to Operation Squeegee as a merchant. I have a couple ideas on things to do, and I have until the 1st of July to get them done. So it gives me a little time, and making new things is always a positive thing for me.

2. I have a new job. Finally, after months of not being able to pay rent on my parcels, I can pay rent on my parcels on my own, without help. This is a tremendous weight off my mind. Plus, I really like the people I'm working for--they are a smart, committed bunch of men and women who just want to enjoy good music and relaxing sims, with a lack of external drama. I'm all for that. I'm happy to be working for them.

3. I love my island in Winterfell. Luctus Isle is beautiful, and it feels very insular; it's got a small space to sleep, a place to write, a firepit with places to lounge and think and enjoy the twilight, and it's heavily wooded, with both natural and artificial trees. I have a mortar and pestle to grind grains for gruel or beans for coffee and a small clothesline to air-dry laundry. And there are a few other oddities, tucked here and there...

And three positive things going on in RL just now:

1. We found a local source for Greek yogurt. (Why yes, we do live in the sticks...sort of.) I have decided I really, really like Greek yogurt, because it reminds me of homemade yogurt, back when we used to make it. (At one point, we made practically everything we ate--either grew it, or harvested it, or traded for it. Eggs [chickens, doves, quail and turkeys], lamb [traded for], rabbit [some traded for the lamb], half acre of vegetables of various types, half acre of fruit trees, grapevines in the back for homemade wine and herb garden around the side in terraced wooden beds...we put everything up for preserves, practically, and made root beer and kim chee and harvested squaw tea and made our own mustards...Sometimes, I still miss it.)

2. We have the equivalent of a mobile lending library in the common room of our new apartment building. While the fare is weighted heavily towards spy novels and archeological horror, I've started reading more than occasionally again. Of course, that means I'm back to inhaling books--when I get going, I tend to read a book in five hours, so...I'm glad there's so many to pick from downstairs? I just wish someone liked sf more than they seem to--though if my tastes were weighted more towards the theological and government conspiracy angles, I'd be set.

3. Finally, I'm catching up (this month and last) with all the Doctor Who episodes I've missed. I am a hardcore fan of Dr. Who, but without cable, there wasn't much I could do. Then the episodes were picked up on Netflix, but I didn't have the time, ironically enough--until now. And now it's been absolutely marvelous catching up, watching the Doctor, catching all the little references...absolute joy. And I adore Stephen Moffat as a writer.

Just to wrap up, friend of mine linked me to the APB trailer , and all I can think right now is "Huh...privileged white kids looooove their ethnic gang violence." Still, technologically speaking, the level of customization possible is just insane; everything from skin color to scars and tattoos on that skin, age, muscle tone (or lack thereof), clothing, shoes, hair, eyebrows, expression, nail polish...all very, very well done. And if you don't like the color of the base layer? Change it. Pattern it. Flip logos on it; the program will fade them, age them, add wrinkles and shading. Just...insane level of work on the character creator for APB.

No interest in playing it, mind, but the game looks stunning as hell, frankly.

I don't know, but I can tell this isn't you, your cover's blown

For whom, precisely, was the announcement of the closing of the Greenies sim "sad news"? Seriously, now--how many folks who read this remember the Carnival of Doom more fondly than the Greenies sim? I went to the Greenies sim once, loathed it thoroughly, never went back.

Though I suppose, everything on the grid has fans somewhere, and I deeply mourned when the Carnival closed up shop.

But surely, people: this can't come as a surprise to anyone. It was only a matter of time; I think Rezzable just kept Greenies as long as they did because it kept making money, or allowed them a prim offset for other projects. They don't need that now.

While there is still need for Haiti relief efforts (and I'm still involved with those efforts), and while SLRFL is in the slow and long process of winding down, Operation Squeegee has been declared on SL. What is this new charity effort, you ask? Well, there's this small ecological disaster occurring in the US, and from what they tell us, it's liable to be ongoing for a while, too.

So the National Wildlife Federation is getting involved, and it's putting forth an effort on Second Life as well--because one of the larger pelican sanctuaries is being directly impacted, right now, as you read this. Recovery efforts are ongoing, with a mix of workers hired by BP, Wildlife Federation veterinarians and volunteers, and people in the area donating their time and effort. But more funds are needed. Which is where Operation Squeegee comes in.

I'm aiming to either be an official blogger or a merchant, or both, depending, and I'll be contacting them later in the day; but in the meantime, go over to their website, and read up on the issue if you happen not to know. Help if you can.

Tara Yeats, on the other hand, sums up the recent layoffs at the Labs brilliantly, and--while I think much of her hoping is overly optimistic--I agree with what she says. I think making Second Life easier for the 'everyone' class--that 80% of residents who do not create, script, program, or sculpt--is very important, but making SL easier for them by making it harder for the 20% who do create, script, program and sculpt is not the answer.

I'd also toss in something that everyone blogging on the recent changes seems to have missed, including me--and it took Mr. Allen pointing this out for me to see it. With the advent of voice morphing, for the first time in SL's history, the Labs are offering access to the client for sale.

Think about that--take a trip down to Voice Island; pay your L$750 to start your subscription; set up your chosen voice pack; and you are now paying to activate certain effects in your browser. This may or may not be client-side, as well, but I strongly suspect that--since I haven't heard anything about residents being asked to download anything--the voice morphing software is server-side. Which means you are paying for (specific and limited) access to the client. You are, in effect, being granted a license to manipulate certain behaviors of the SL viewer.

That's the first time the Labs have done that, I believe. What will it mean for the future of SL? Not really sure, but I think it's a sign of how things are going. Want this particular access? Pay for it. Different skin for viewer 2.1, once it goes live? Pay for it. It's not a trend I'm comfortable with, mind you, but it is something to watch for. At least, to see what happens when and if they try it again with another "feature".

Interesting thing at the Caroline's Jewelry booth in Connection:



Far as I know, this is the first breaking-pearls strand necklace I've seen. Good for those 1920's storm-outs or RP alley robberies? Also, just below it (you can catch a glimpse in the larger picture), also in simple black and white, is a knotted pearl strand for L$200. Lovely work, really lovely work, and very appropriate for the 1700s to the present day.

Frightening news from MMORPG: GameForge is introducing a free-to-play Star Trek game. And I quote:

"The game will run using Flash in a browser-based format, no further details are currently available."

Yup. Very frightened by that. Bad graphics, poor animation and raving fanboys? Ack.

In other news, Jaime Skelton goes into why there's such a disparity between fans of pay-to-play-style games and free-to-play games; and Justin Webb talks about the impossibility of selling games in China.

And someone in SL has actually made an avatar of Salad Fingers. *shudders*

YouTube covers Neda Soltan and the struggle for human rights in developing countries; it was a year ago that easily half of Twitter went green in support of Iran's struggle for equality and fair treatment, and the videos that Iranians uploaded of police actions and Neda Soltan's own death turned the tide of worldwide public support. They make a good point; before practically every camera had a video feature, it was much more difficult to document police crackdowns, human rights violations, and incriminating governmental behavior in any country.

These days? It's everywhere. One never knows when one is being filmed, which has both up sides and down sides.

The more SL goes on, the more we keep cycling back to problems in the code...



Unfortunately, at this point, we're steadily realizing if it hasn't been fixed by now, after being reported over two years ago on the JIRA...it won't ever be fixed. EV. ER.



Maybe I can start a new trend, come up with a reverse dress, or something--that looks equally good as a dress, or upside down as a hat worn on the shoulders when I'm folded in half. This could take some work...

Lastly, wish I'd had the ability to hear the vocal half of John Carter McKnight's presentation on Gor in SL, but at the least, you can view (and download) the PowerPoint presentation to the faculty at his college. Apparently, it went very well, and he's still working on the main study project. More power to him--being an academic researcher, researching Gor, and as a female avatar...that's a lot of difficult all in one package. I wish him all luck in his endeavors.