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31 October 2009

 

Don't forget the parade tomorrow!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Miramare/8/24/25


 
Special Hallowe'en ShowKaruna at the doctor's office
Exploding brain jar
Smexeh

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A post on the forums brings up something hitherto undreamt of in my philosophy: midget-play. I can't decide exactly which slant this was written under - poking fun, deviously confusing the issue for nefarious purposes, or even *gasp* a straight query (although that seems unlikely).


Midget-play and Age-play

How does LindenLab differentiate between sexual (underage) ageplay and people who (role)play as midgets engaging in sexual behavior?

There are real life midgets who play Second Life and would sometimes like to create representations of their real selves in SL and by creating midget avatars, and engaging in romantic/sexual relationships with their partners (who may or may not be midgets in SL), they may unknowingly get themselves in trouble.

Of course, ageplay is not only restricted to appearances, but textual roleplaying as well. But if a stranger sees a midget avatar engaging in physical sexual activity with a "normal" avatar and reports abuse to LL, how does LL resolve this problem?

I am sure that LL does not discriminate against midgets.

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30 October 2009

 

As seen on SCmkII

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RMBCity (2)
"osprey-wins-rmb-contest"

w00t! Thank you Cao Fei, RMB staff, and Hamlet. Comments on Typepad don't go through, so I'm saying it here instead of on New World Notes.

My photos on Koinup are HERE.
All RMB City contest entries on Koinup are HERE.



29 October 2009

 
Enjah took this at her veterinarian's office so she could send it to me, as she said it made her think of me. I'll take it!


 
Almost Daily Lake Shots Off the Balcony
Misteh
But not raining

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Enjah, give it another try - Identity is working now.

Keep cursor within the window to move.
Use Shift + arrow to run.
I'm not sure what happens if you don't already have an avatar - perhaps someone could try it.
Clicking "Enable Chat" takes you to the full-sized place from the tiny embedded window.

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28 October 2009

 
The Corn Field
(Thanks, Molly, for telling me it was accessible.)
Os is in the lower left corner.


 

Enj is off at L'Elisir d'Amore

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27 October 2009

 
My Drive Home Just Now
Outside Frank's
Mud Bay
Mime sign
Bend
Trees
Curve
Route 8(1)



26 October 2009

 
Adam Resurrected


I liked this film about the grief and guilt felt by one survivor of a Nazi concentration camp although many didn't, citing as a reason that it is depressing. They needed more yucks, I suppose.

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Son of Rambow

Two boys with unconventional and disfunctional homelives make a film together in this enjoyable kids' movie set in the eighties (later than '81, though).

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Cloud jellyfish.Oh wait - it actually looks more like a cloud snake.

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Hamlet pointed out this impressive use of augmented reality over on New World Notes.

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25 October 2009

 
81


 

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I ran into Ilia and Molly at Burning Life, then Loki showed up :-D Ilia had this great Ministry of Motion dance. Everyone reduced their ARC - I was 1 - heh. Molly gave me some Philip hair which I put on (not shown in this shot).
Before burning the Man glowed electrically in the dark. I filmed everything then right at the end crashed (was fine; I was tired of it). I still haven't seen anything, but maybe tomorrow morning...



24 October 2009

 

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New EVGA Forum


Welcome to our public BETA testing for our new forums.

  1. We cannot move the posts from the old forum to the new forum due to the customizations there were made when the old forum was initially created.
  2. The old forum will become a read-only archive when this public BETA is complete.
  3. The posts made on this forum will remain, we will not clear out the posts when it switches from BETA to RELEASE.
  4. You are free to use these forums as much or little as you wish. We plan on letting them run BETA for a good amount of time before turning off our old forums, however.
  5. We would love your help finding issues with the forums - or making suggestions - here: (link)
  6. Your first and last name and age will show on the user list unless it is modified/removed from your FORUM profile: (link) PLEASE NOTE: Your profile will not save if your signature is longer than 750 characters.
  7. Your forum name now = your login. Due to issues with changing them en masse, we have to change them one at a time until we figure out a way to let you do that for you. If you have an URGENT need of a name change - email (link) directly with your top three choices from your registered email address.
We look forward to hearing all of your feedback!

/me logs in and sees the new beta forum - seems reasonable and no-nonsense way to have proceeded. Forum is a forum, of course, not anything weird/unwieldy. Because - who would do that? It would be against the company's own best interests.


 
Drat

I just noticed that it's quarter to 4.



23 October 2009

 

Tri-Cities Day-of-the-Dead Parade

See the Event Listing.


Everyone is welcome!
The Tri-Cities are getting together once more with a 3-part Hallowe'en parade on 1 November, and the Nova Albion part leaves from the Infohub at noon!

Join us (wear horrifying garb) as we wend our way around the city, meet up with the Bay City and suburban parades on the Shermerville Bridge, play tricks on each other, then leap blithely off to our dooooooooom. SPLAT!
Dancing on the seabed is the usual outcome :-D Boats welcome!
Click one of the kiosks for information about all 3 parades.

Nova Albion's Route:




22 October 2009

 
Hieronymous Bot
A company that delves into AI has an autonomous bot roaming Second Life.

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I always like waking up in a cloud, but that doesn't make for very good pictures. It was a cloud this morning (i.e. all white beyond the house) but after a few hows it looks this way.

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21 October 2009

 
Avatar Team

Linden Lab is looking for someone for their Avatar team, which means they have an Avatar Team, w00t1! From the ad:
"From inventory management to meshes, this exciting role will be responsible for extending avatar capabilities to the next level. The ideal candidate will have experience related to open source development, character modeling and animation, graphics and rendering, client-server applications, and user interface design."
I think it would be nice to roll out a new avatar mesh + a new IP protection system at one time, then flush everything else away. Of course, I have no clue what I'm talking about, but I won't let it hold me back.

The jobs listed at the moment should give customers at least some faith in the future. As well as teams for Avatar (long-awaited), Client (bit scary), and Teleport (much needed), there's an ad in for a Flash adept (not sure if it's just the website or in general), and more importantly, Data Architecture. <--wewt wewt



20 October 2009

 
Third-Part Viewers

Linden Lab is going to control third-party viewers. In a blogpost Cyn Linden said, "We are currently working on revisions to our policies regarding the use and management of third party viewers." It remains to be seen what will happen, but I think most people would applaud LL for taking control over evil code like NeilLife, but are hoping the community-minded codesmiths, responsible for many great viewers, are unburdened by red tape and hoop-jumping.


 


Someone to Watch Over Me

This face turned up in a picture I took a minute ago. She looks like her hair is in curlers and she has cucumbers on her eyes. Don't ask me why that area of the sky looks so different from the rest - I didn't do anything to it (on the close up I did up the contrast a wee bit, bit that's all).

Once I saw Wittgenstein in the clouds, heh.

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Ugh.



19 October 2009

 
Metropolis
worker
phalanx
rouser
destruction

Whisper Down the Lane
Lucy told HBA, and HBA told me - and I'd thought Metropolis was finished so was happy to tag along with the burro to see it on the 16th. I'm always restive if something grabs my camera (might as well watch television), but I wanted to see it as they envisioned it, so persevered.

The sets were nicely done, the scripting seemed low-lag, and the continuity unbroken. The performances were good, and the entire production was impressive indeed for Second Life theatre. I would've preferred something original, especially with audio, but this was an ambitious undertaking that was realised with a high degree of polish.

One of our TSMGO! troupe members, Karuna Sand, is the step-son of the original writer of Metropolis.

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Candide recommended Interstate 60 as a surprisingly good little film, and I watched it yesterday (it was moved to "Watch now" on Netflix). I enjoyed its originality. The writer/director is Bob Gale who created "Back to the Future," and he has again made something refreshingly off-beat. Seeing Gary Oldman, Kurt Russell, Ann-Marget, Michael J. Fox, and Christopher Lloyd (mostly) cleaving to their schtick was a blast from the past. It feels older than 2002.

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I watched this surreal Swedish film last week. I liked it a lot - the imagery is memorable, but I doubt it's a popular fave.

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18 October 2009

 
Someone contacted me X3:

"Dear Art, Ozymandias and Osprey,

I'm writing to ask whether you might be interested in the services we offer to complement the land sales and rentals that Bodega Property (land group for my property, not a commercial group) advertise?

My firm is the most advanced full-service machinima house in SL. Our HD-quality videos are tailored to meet both your needs and tastes (and those of your clients!) and to present the land in a dynamic, engaging way.

Our services include:

* Detailed showcases of single plots or buildings
* Atmospheric tours of full sims or large areas
* Theme tours giving potential residents a flavour of the community, style and amenities of the area.

Your finished videos can be streamed within Second Life and embedded in blogs and websites; they can also be listed on iTunes and hosted on YouTube, MySpace and our website, among other video sites.

Videos are priced according to time involved and level of special effects required - for a personal quote, to find out more or to meet the team and see what we can do for you, please don't hesitate to get in touch."

Sounds like a useful business, and easy for almost any machinimatographer to do, but of course it's the advertising/pr/marketing that's the difficult part.


 
Thea and Os
I'm exhausted now, but it was fun.


 
What was the name of that game in development where it was just petals on the breeze flying around?

I can see it in my head - but remember the name as Flower - which doesn't sound google-able.

Update: Flower - Petals On The Wind


 
Waiting for Thea.


 
Man: oh dear how do i start my maracus

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17 October 2009

 


This morning at about, oh, 8:30 I suppose.

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Would be useful.


 
Too early, especially since I went to bed at at time near 3am.



16 October 2009

 
Ugh. Now PHILIP :(

I didn't see this yesterday because SJ was here and after that I was officially Not good For Anything, but it didn't brighten my morning. I can understand why, but still - it doesn't make me particulary happy.



15 October 2009

 
SJ (in the middle in this picture from 1991) came over as she is wont and brought me all manner of amazing things. In the picture KGF, SJ, and I are in SJ's apartment in Seattle (near the B&O) goofing around - of course I'm making a face. I was 37 or 38, and married; SJ had yet to meet Michael, I think; KGF was married to Howard, who has since died :( I was painting full time, SJ was creating various things but working full time at Art Tech I believe, and KGF was full time drawing/painting.

That day was a kind of three-artist-friends-day-out. We went to see the FLW Usonian house that'd been built in Bellevue for the museum.



14 October 2009

 

Salazar has been building the museum for a couple of weeks.
I took this on the 2nd - I need to go by and see what progress has been made.



13 October 2009

 
This is ossm kewl.



12 October 2009

 

Barrel Bowling X-TREME *now with Zombies!*

One of my spaces in Just Leap In.

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Nice Person: awww tyvm .. wow that was quick! i wasnt even out of forums yet LOL ... appreciated :)
Osprey Therian: heh yw
Osprey Therian: Forums RULE!
Nice Person: oh yes i get all answers i need there .. ppl veryyyy helpful
Nice Person: including you :) thanks again
Osprey Therian waves.


Lately for some reason I've been trying harder than ever to help people who post on the forum, and though I don't always have an answer I usually can offer help in the form of information, objects, scripts, advice. Or, in the case this past week or two of someone needing a lot of detailed video help it meant write notecards, answer questions in detail, and finally, today, log into both SL and a video program together and walk him through the process.

I'm not the only helpful person there - not by a long shot. A community exists, with everyone from congenial slackers to extremely well-versed and helpful scripters, that offers access to a lot of good information and superspeedy help. Even a quick "welcome to SL" helps new people feel more at home. Neglected for years, and plagued by a kind of strangulation and far-from-petty annoyances, the forum has limped on, functioning very well in my book. It's said it will be garroted and embalmed in November; I hold out hope it may yet not come to pass. Many valuable people have left already as they don't wish to play the mournful waiting game, but I will just hang on, I suppose.

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11 October 2009

 
Sort of funny... Mostly just queasy-making.

It bugs me that people take screenshots then work on them for hours to turn them into the kinds of things you'd see on the cheap frame aisle of a discount store. For proof look on Flickr. Not saying where.



10 October 2009

 
.TGA VS .PNG

Increasingly now on the SL forum we have people scratching their heads because they made PNG textures with (they think) no transparency but are having the OpenGL alpha-sorting issue that is common in our world of unoptimised builds.

TGA textures are either 24 or 32 bit, with the 32 bit supporting transparency. In cases where a texture is misguidedly or accidentally set to 32 bit, unnecessary battling with alpha-sorting is the outcome. Still, it's clear: 24 bit = no issues; 32 bit= issues to deal with.

PNG textures operate in a different way, which makes them w00tfully useful for lots of things but opens the door to head-scratching in SL as the difference between opaque-transparent is not cut and dried. If there is accidentally even one rotten old transparent pixel the entire image is reckoned to be transparent, and will alpha-sorting-glitch people until the cows come home.

For SL, targas rock. They are an awesome graphics filetype. For lots of other things .png files rock, but I'd say use targas unless you have a good reason not to.


 

Sketch2Photo: Internet Image Montage from Tao Chen on Vimeo.

Sketch2Photo




Interactive Video Object Manipulation from Dan Goldman on Vimeo.


Adobe's Interactive Video Object Manipulation


And Apple's Quartz Composer


 
Bwahahaha!

x: Just added a Favicon to the site.
y: It looks like a penis.
x: All the best things in life do.

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ATI
I haven't had an ATI card in forever, but watch what's said about them for no particular reason. ATI doesn't support OpenGL well, although it used to and could, using only DirectX to its capacity.

On the LOVE forums someone says:
'Radeon graphics cards can process OpenGL. However, recent drivers have disabled something called "3D Acceleration" in OpenGL which produces these strange, fragmented images.'

SL users with ATI cards have to roll back drivers or disable VBO to avoid fragmentation; many of them blame LL for their woes, but it's pointed out that it's ATI, not LL, who are dropping the ball - if they still don't believe it they need to check other OpenGL game forums.



09 October 2009

 

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Happy Birthday, John.



 

Watching Imagine Peace Tower ceremonies on a stream.


 

Zombiefest

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Stayed up to see the moon bombing. Night!


 

Last week at Combat Cards...

Posted via web from atomic-raygun's posterous



 
I just made this to show Enj how we look:

Eskil Steenberg's LOVE, the long-awaited one-man MMO.

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My blog has turned seven.
It's been invaluable as a substitute for sketch books into which I used to draw/jot/note/diagram everything of interest - a substitute I needed once I became unable to write/draw/handle paper, etc. Thank you, blog.

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08 October 2009

 
Another great Mahalia Jackson performance on YT here.

/me goes and plays it 500 times in a row.


 
Gabe over on SCMkII pointed out these images:
Dead Fly Art



 
Hide and Search
It used to be that the bandwidth/packet loss bars were always visible, then LL covered them up with Search but you could uncover them by unticking a box in Preferences. Then they did away with that, and I didn't know where to tell Enjah to find it one day when we had need of it.

I spent some time poking through the Debug Settings and found it again: scroll to ShowSearchBar and set it to False.

Hear that, Enj?

Also, I haven't posted about this before, but if you are using a new viewer and want to enable http texture retrieval (which speeded up the map immensely) look in the Debug Settings, find ImagePipelineUseHTTP and set it to True.


 
Is difficult to photograph - looks further away than it looks in real.

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I want to ask for thoughts about improving the world -- what do people need? How can things be organised?