When I awoke it was snowing but now it's all white and raining. I'm not going anywhere so snow is a mere Skyrimification today, but tomorrow will be another story.
Labels: snow
- 28 February 2012
Happy Birthday, G Rossini
Detail of a painting by MatatakuLabels: Art
IBM Breakthrough In Quantum Computing
Labels: yootoob
Bah, snow.
Confusion Over the TPV Rule Changes
I did actually think originally that the clarification was to do at least in part with the difficult security problem of self-attaching HUDs - well, I still think that's got to be part of the mix. However, there's a lot going on.
Just picking one particular change:
2. k. You must not provide any feature that alters the shared experience of the virtual world in any way not provided by or accessible to users of the latest released Linden Lab viewer.
Apparently people don't understand what that means although it seems clear enough to me (which isn't the same as approval). One user goes so far as to say it needs other's added to shared experience, which is nonsensical since 'shared' includes everyone.
If all the users of SL are in a pool and have equal weight, and the baseline of performance is the official viewer, the shared experience includes undeformed mesh, shared media, and so on.
If a TPV contains Qarl's mesh deformer (which I wish we had in the official viewer) and a percentage of the user pool access SL through that viewer and have altered their mesh attachments, everyone else presumably sees the undeformed mesh which may expose pixel flesh, and/or alpha layer holes as well as just be wrongly sized for the avatar. That alters the shared experience (there are other new rules it might violate, too).
If a TPV contains Qarl's building tool (which I wish we had in the official viewer) and a percentage of the user pool access SL through that viewer and use it to build things, everyone else presumably sees the same prims moved in the same way although they are unable to directly reproduce that movement themselves. That doesn't alter the shared experience (there are other new rules it might violate, though).
Most of the recent improvements have come about by TPV-coders innovating (building tool) or activating unfinished LL projects (shadows). I'm unhappy if the TPV changes act to stifle innovation and much-needed change, however establishing a baseline seems reasonable in our world of neat features under-used. The advent of mesh has been a big enough catalyst for this as users don't want to miss out on mesh clothing and objects.
LL has a poor track record when it comes to utilising the work of volunteer coders. It has now upset that community more and seemingly closed off the last channel open to creative innovators, which is bad for the SL user. Very bad.
27 February 2012
INSPIRATIONS from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.
Nicely done.
Labels: vimeo
Os a minute ago. Go to bed!!!
26 February 2012
Venexia
25 February 2012
Awesome yet unknown picture.
Where U from???
Snowing. The power went out last night at about 2:20 but came right back on so no problem. I would guess this won't last long and there's not a lot of wind at the moment.
From iPod HelloFlower to Percolator to Flickr to Blogger...
24 February 2012
'Slovaks have been voting overwhelmingly in favour of naming a new pedestrian and cycling bridge near their capital after 1980s US action film and TV star Chuck Norris.' ---The Guardian
It's sad that this situation is considered normal., or worse, a happy ending.
A Made Up Adventure'hi hun'
'Hi :-D'
'i just wanted to say im soooooo sad 4 you'
Confused, I accidentally set off my poofer and a thousand* particle ?s billowed out of me.
'Erm... Why are you sad? Exactly?'
'u know that picture - im sad coz yr boyfriend doesnt love you any more'
My eyes widened as I considered the pithy remark M. would have forthcoming if he heard himself referred to as my 'boyfriend.'
'No, you don't understand. It isn't that love has been lost. No love has been lost. All love is tucked up at home with a movie and some microwave popcorn.'
'then why is it called LOST LOVE???????'
I paused a moment to set my emoter HUD to Frown.
'Because my love is a famous explorer and - take note - HE'S LOST.'
'how do you know?'
I checked my expression - nope, Frown is still appropriate.
'I keep telling the Authorities that they should send out a search party.'
'maybe hes not rlly lost if you know what i mean'
Wiping away a tear I closed the IM window. Truly I'm under too much stress to deal with strangers bearing misconceptions; I may not be as patient as I once was, as well. I must take matters into my own hands and organise a search party. Who is with me? I need experienced sleuths, trackers, aviators, clairvoyants, sailors, linguists, outdoorsmen, fund-raisers, chefs, grant-writers, and documentary filmmakers. And bloggers. And possibly distillers. Who is with me?
*Not actually a thousand, Jopsy, I swear. Exaggeration!
Blood Mystery Solved: Two New Blood Types Identified
ScienceDaily (Feb. 23, 2012) — You probably know your blood type: A, B, AB or O. You may even know if you're Rhesus positive or negative. But how about the Langereis blood type? Or the Junior blood type? Positive or negative? Most people have never even heard of these.
23 February 2012
'Cash Mobs'
A new phenomenon, called “Cash Mobs,” is spreading across the country, changing the way people view local businesses. Similar to flash mobs, Cash Mobs organize customers to spend money at struggling locally owned businesses to support their community. --PRI
Back from jin shination. Feel ok. So far. Drove around taking pictures for some reason (I used to do that a lot with a real camera, then with a video camera, then a decent digital camera or toy cameras, but haven't much recently as I've felt too craptastic).
Here are some of my lousy pictures.
For some reason I drove around the lake.
22 February 2012
The nicest reaction to my little video that I can even imagine:
the clip reminded me like if i was having a didtant dream like childhood dream of dancing on a beach in the sun i cant explain it its the prittyest thing i seen really touched me <3
Thank you, Claudia. Your artwork is sublime.
Where's
Oh, there he is!
Labels: Art
21 February 2012
This was the next to last carrot in a bag I was munching on earlier.
And they say organic makes no difference
Lying in bed blogging and listening to the radio on the pod. Last week's Jin shin really helped a lot and I'm hoping the upshot this week will be similar after the energy settles down.
Home from jin shinnery *looks for way to disable spellcheck*
This Is My Home from Mark on Vimeo.
Labels: vimeo
20 February 2012
Enjah and Os dancing about for a few minutes at claudia222 Jewell's sublime Spirit installation on the Art Screamer sim.
Rez zone
DPW vehicles
Unttan. Didn't see a train.18 February 2012
Duck finding his way on Aditi by means of the new pathfinder tools. One thing I will use this for is moving a camera for machinima. Thank you, Linden Lab!
Labels: Aditi, Ducks, pathfinding
Labels: Bad Persons Bureau, Intarwebz
Pathfinding tools! W00t! Thank you, Linden Lab.
Testing now on Aditi - try 'em!
Labels: yootoob
17 February 2012
- [15:35] Shadowen Silvera: I am guessing it's not like using the physics engine where they lose energy?
- [15:35] Falcon Linden: they do use the physics engine, but they do not use any energy-related rules
- [15:35] Johan Laurasia: right, not physical at all Shadowen
- [15:35] Johan Laurasia: oh...
- [15:36] Motor Loon: like the energizer bunnie... they just goes and goes and goes... and...
- [15:36] Falcon Linden: the energy stuff was all our code, not in the physics engine
- [15:36] Midice Holfe: this is pretty exciting news.... cant wait to play with..
- [15:36] Sigma Avro: Path finding system events ? whish one are they ? Update of the patfinding functions ?
- [15:36] Miguael Liamano: they aren't physic. more like a minirail train.
- [15:36] Ima Mechanique: Motor, more like zombies I think ;-)
- [15:36] Johan Laurasia: so a rat that finds it's way though a maze should be possible?
- [15:36] Shadowen Silvera: by the I meant SL's
- [15:36] Falcon Linden: sigma: path_update event
- [15:36] Falcon Linden: johan: absolutely
- [15:36] Lorca Linden: also : no need to worry about "script energy" with pathfinding, objects can go up inclines follow across region boundries etc
- [15:36] Sigma Avro: how often they occur ?
- [15:36] Johan Laurasia: schweet
- [15:36] Sigma Avro: Falcon ?
- [15:36] Falcon Linden: sigma: when something notable happens
LL press release:
Linden Lab Acquires Game Studio LittleTextPeople
Technology and Team Join Linden Lab to Support Company’s Strategic Initiative to Launch Innovative New Digital Entertainment Products This Year
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — (February 16, 2012) — Linden Lab®, the creator of digital spaces and tools for shared creativity and fun, today announced it has acquired LittleTextPeople, a game development studio that specializes in writing, programming, and designing next-generation interactive fiction.
Best known for Second Life®, Linden Lab will grow its digital entertainment offering by launching several new stand-alone products this year. Now part of Linden Lab, the talent and technology of LittleTextPeople will support the development of these new forms of interactive entertainment.
“It’s an exciting time to join Linden Lab as they prepare to roll out entirely new types of social experiences and products,” said Emily Short, Chief Textual Officer of LittleTextPeople. “We look forward to building tools and technology that will allow people to create their own stories in interactive mediums that have never existed before.”
“LittleTextPeople brings a depth and breadth of AI and interactive story development expertise that is a great fit for Linden Lab as we launch multiple new products,” said Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab. “The result of this investment will be a new type of digital entertainment that modernizes the novel as a shared story-telling experience.”
About LittleTextPeople
Founded by Emily Short and Richard Evans, LittleTextPeople explores the gameplay possibilities of nuanced social interaction. The company’s core technology is a simulator able to model social practices and individual personalities. Combine the simulations with the expressive freedom of fiction and the result is gameplay that more closely resembles the rich emotional dialogue of a novel, rather than a fight scene in an action movie.
On the Paper
I woke up a couple of hours ago with a drippy nosebleed and I need to stay off the carpeting until it stops. I think it's a jin shin thing.
New hair needs a bit of work. I made some wrinkles, which also need work but the mouth wrinkles are not bad.16 February 2012
Cousin Duet
Labels: yootoob
Sneak Preview: Pathfinding in Second Life from Linden Lab on Vimeo.
Labels: Ducks, spiders birds, Sporks, Yaks, zombeh
These aren't black and white, by the way. This is just what it looks like right now.
15 February 2012
Amusing in a mild sort of way. Good-hearted.
Labels: Netflix
Anchor in a mesh jacket and mesh boots, primping for his part in Enjah's noir film. He's the (a?) victim.
Could be worse. Mesh trousers would be nice. New hair is needed, truthfully. What do you think, Enj?Labels: Machinima
Enjah wrote: 'I have always had a postively mad love of paper. Pencils, crayons, pastels, charcoal, brushes, whatever, as long as paper is involved, it is magical for me. WHOA breakthrough! Thanks for posting this. Now I understand some of my reluctance to work on canvas. Not only is it physically taxing, but it is NOT PAPER LOL' - which I can understand as I love paper, too. One of the best ever quotations about art, from Man Ray, is 'An artist must have contempt for his materials.' That is, we must be willing to sacrifice raw materials and lavishly squander without a thought costly and entirely wonderful things. My mother loved paper to the nth degree, so much so that it was hard for her to sully it with her own scrawls. It was already perfect, and in an undamaged block, with its sensual smell and feel, could not be added to but only detracted from by human endeavor.
One of the supreme joys of being an artist, and one that must be overcome, is that all our materials are a delight. We learn not to love the materials less, but to file that love away at times lest it impede us in our expression.
I *love* pencils and my students would always laugh when I talked about the wonderfulness of pencils and paraphrased from the book 'The Pencil,' which they seemed to feel was a fine joke. I can therefore get behind this:
David Rees Shows You How To Sharpen A Pencil from Gothamist on Vimeo.
Also I always wrote with fountain pens in the 70s and 80s, and took all my university notes, for instance, by fountain pen. I wrote bazillions of letters, too, and since the ink was water-soluable and I lived in the moment it's all faded/washed away now. I didn't like ballpoints as they were too slippery.
I liked using sealing wax, too, but that isn't peculiar.
Labels: Os iz Weird, vimeo
Don't Read This
I'm warning you - don't. I'm just thinking.
Although I never, ever wanted to work in a school I ended up working part time in a unique school for Native American students (developing and running a program for gifted art students) after I became ill with m.s., as it was something I could do and I needed a job. No, it didn't have health insurance until maybe ten years later when Tiff was principal, but it kept body and soul together for which I am grateful. Anyway, the interesting thing for me is that I had always considered myself entirely inadequate, the things I had mistakenly done or miserably failed to do resulting in unforgiveable culpability. As I worked with the children I realised that nothing they did could be unforgiveable. They were tiny children, for God's sake. It was quite healing, although I admit it sounds sort of stupid that I didn't know that before.
Recently I was thinking about how far back in time I'd have to go before I would be physically all right, and decided I'd have to go back prior to an accident I had when I was eight. Galloping downhill on what was to someone of my puny size an oversized horse, I fell off whilst hunting, going over a jump (specific type a 'chicken coop' which is an inverted V shape) and was trodden on. My horse obviously made his best attempt not to put all his weight on me and must've quickly shifted it, but my right ribcage was rendered concave, and remains that way. At eight one's bones must be malleable to a degree. The inadequacy of my supreme failure dogged me - well, still does to a degree - but just last week (slow, I know) I suddenly realised that although I couldn't see at all (I was frequently in trouble at school because I couldn't see) I didn't get my eyes checked and glasses prescribed until I was nine or so. My eyes are rotten, possibly not helped by having my nose perpetually in a book from age five on. So when I had this unforgiveable lapse at the age of eight I couldn't actually see anything. Relevant information.
A slow reveal - amazing. It's like someone says, 'I'll give you an orange for that pencil of yours,' but you refuse, and he says, 'I'll give you an orange AND a drawing tablet,' then 'An orange, a drawing tablet AND A PAIR OF SCISSORS,' then 'An orange, a drawing tablet, a pair of scissors, AND A FORD THUNDERBIRD.' At some point it becomes fun just to see how the ante will be raised. In this case it's like, 'I'll trade you 8-years-old for your feeling of guilt,' then 'I'll trade you 8-years-old, unable to see, etc. for your feeling of guilt.' Only the person trading is me, and I'm offering myself things. It's another type of weird that I'm the only one here - everyone else is dead and probably never gave it a thought anyway. It seems to spiral down to an infinitely small and dense black hole of meaningless guilt and habit. As well as a Ford Thunderbird I want a trip around the world. What am I offered?
Labels: Cogitation
Ugh, remind me never to read long and informative Traumatic Brain Injury stuffs :-(((((((
*tries to distract herself by looking out the window*
Labels: Cogitation
14 February 2012
6.0 off the Oregon coast just now.
Labels: earthquake
Vote for meeeeeeee http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Capture-Love/Lost-Love/cns-p/1380425 or someone else!
Home from Jin shinification.
Update: Well that wiped me out - I could barely move. I woke up about 45 minutesago.
Labels: jin shin
Lake now
13 February 2012
Hôtel-de-MichelinLabels: Art
I've gone mesh: hoody, shorts, and feet :-D
Labels: Ducks
Sure, People Like Monster Films But They Think Monsters Are Imaginary
The ultimate evil, Monsanto, is out there spewing its filth on the good, green earth. Will it be possible to kill it? If so will the damage be irreparable? If corporations looked the way they act Monsanto would probably look like the Cloverfield monster.
In the news: A French court has found US biotech giant Monsanto guilty of the chemical poisoning of a French farmer, in a case that could lend weight to other health claims against pesticides.
Labels: Bad Persons Bureau
12 February 2012
Off to the Circus
Enj, Salazar, and I spent the day at the circus in New Babbage. It was a good show, but I'd'vew liked it compacted as I was there (not to mention the hour+ waiting) two hours and only left when I crashed for the fifth or more time and was too tired to go back. It had shown no signs of nearing its end, and I'd just been lagged out. Lag is exhausting. I was reminded of the post-mono paralysing lagspikes of our latter TSMGO experiences.
New Babbage is looking great! I have a few photos 'though snapshottery frequently equaled crashification tout de suite.
Acts I can recall are fire dancers, weight lifter, Elephant Man, tight-rope ape, dancers, dancing boy.
Labels: Live Performance
11 February 2012
I was a Tull fan way back when. I hadn't heard this for a while.
Labels: music
10 February 2012
The Journal of Neuroscience is the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. The Journal publishes papers on a broad range of topics of general interest to those working on the nervous system.
Development/Plasticity/Repair
Exogenous Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Stimulates Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Proliferation and Enhances Hippocampal Remyelination
Abstract
New CNS neurons and glia are generated throughout adulthood from endogenous neural stem and progenitor cells. These progenitors can respond to injury, but their ability to proliferate, migrate, differentiate, and survive is usually insufficient to replace lost cells and restore normal function.
Potentiating the progenitor response with exogenous factors is an attractive strategy for the treatment of nervous system injuries and neurodegenerative and demyelinating disorders. Previously, we reported that delivery of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) to the CNS stimulates the self-renewal of neural stem cells and the proliferation of parenchymal glial progenitors. Here we identify these parenchymal glia as oligodendrocyte (OL) progenitor cells (OPCs) and show that LIF delivery stimulates their proliferation through the activation of gp130 receptor signaling within these cells.
Importantly, this effect of LIF on OPC proliferation can be harnessed to enhance the generation of OLs that express myelin proteins and reform nodes of Ranvier in the context of chronic demyelination in the adult mouse hippocampus. Our findings, considered together with the known beneficial effects of LIF on OL and neuron survival, suggest that LIF has both reparative and protective activities that make it a promising potential therapy for CNS demyelinating disorders and injuries.
Benjamin E. Deverman and Paul H. Patterson
(see current issue pages 2100–2109)
In traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis (MS), chronic demyelination leads to axonal damage. Although oligodendrocyte precursors proliferate, differentiate, mature, and remyelinate axons in adult brains, this happens too slowly to compensate for the loss in MS. Stimulating endogenous processes might be an effective means to treat the disease, however. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) stimulates oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) proliferation, oligodendrocyte maturation, and myelination in cultures, and Deverman and Patterson show that it produces similar effects in vivo. Intracerebroventricular injection of adenovirus expressing LIF (Ad-LIF) increased OPC proliferation in mice.
Furthermore, after cuprizone-induced demyelination, Ad-LIF greatly increased the number of mature oligodendrocytes and the extent of myelination in the hippocampus. Interestingly, some remyelination does not depend on LIF: enhanced proliferation and maturation were not detected in white matter tracts that underwent extensive spontaneous remyelination after cuprizone treatment, and inactivating the LIF receptor blocked the effects of Ad-LIF without affecting spontaneous recovery.
Labels: ms
09 February 2012
Some stray images on teh 'Pod.
EWTN — a Catholic television network carried on thousands of cable systems in more than 100 countries — filed suit in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Ala.
"We had no other option," said Michael Warsaw, president of EWTN, which stands for Eternal Word Television Network.
"Under the HHS mandate, EWTN is being forced by the government to make a choice: Either we provide employees coverage for contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs violate our conscience or offer our employees and their families no health insurance coverage at all. Neither of those choices is acceptable," Warsaw said.
I would presume that if they hire people who aren't members of their faith that those people should not be forced to have the tenets of that faith forced upon them; I would presume that if they hire people of the same faith those people will not violate the tenets of the faith.
So STFU.
Lake
08 February 2012
Art X SciFiLabels: Art
Korean Children's Book Covers from the 40s and 50sA Zen Story
One day while walking through the wilderness a man stumbled upon a vicious tiger. He ran but soon came to the edge of a high cliff. Desperate to save himself, he climbed down a vine and dangled over the fatal precipice.
As he hung there, two mice appeared from a hole in the cliff and began gnawing on the vine.
Suddenly, he noticed on the vine a plump wild strawberry. He plucked it and popped it in his mouth. It was incredibly delicious!
07 February 2012
Outside the defunct post office.
06 February 2012
Picturesque lake scum
Over 350 dead from cold in Europe’s arctic spell | euronews, world news
Diy brain enhancement
Zapping your brain with a small current seems to improve everything from mathematical skills to marksmanship, but for now your best chance of experiencing this boost is to sign up for a lab experiment. Machines that provide transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) cost £5000 a pop, and their makers often sell them only to researchers.
That hasn't stopped a vibrant community of DIY tDCS enthusiasts from springing up. Their online forums are full of accounts of their home-made experiments, including hair-curling descriptions of blunders that, in one case, left someone temporarily blind.
What drives people to take such risks? Roy Hamilton, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, thinks it is part of a general trend he calls cosmetic neuroscience, in which people try to tailor their brains to the demands of an increasingly fast-paced world. "In a society where both students and their professors take stimulant medications to meet their academic expectations," he warns, "the potential pressure for the use of cognitive enhancing technologies of all types is very real".
---- from New Scientist
Labels: Cogitation, Cojones
