Quality vs. Quantity: Ordinal Malaprop

Once again, Ordinal Malaprop has an insightful post that it worth your time. In "On the one hand, and on the other hand" (Web) she asserts that reliability is a more necessary goal for Linden Labs virtual world Second Life than new features. Look for my comment there.

SL6B Exhbit: Earth Primbee

Not far from the Lesbos@SL6B exhibit (SLurl) is Earth Primbee's Virtual Life Media exhbit (SLurl) one of the most spectacular builds at the fair or anywhere. In the pic I'm some 1700 meters above the entrance area, a stunning build on it's own, doing Tai Chi on a small planetoid with stars, asteroids, and galaxies whizzing about me. You can also sit and meditate or zoom about with the heavenly bodies. Well worth a stop when the fair opens at 10am SLT on the 23rd.

Alpha Bugs

Logging in today I noticed that I was partly invisible when wearing the jacket and shirt layers of a top from Worldwide Industries unless I turn on View Transparent. If I remove one or the other layer I also appear as I ought. It doesn't matter which region I am in and changing the graphics settings in Preferences has no effect. Could this be a temporary bug? Not sure if it is a problem with the 1.23 RC viewer as I don't recall if I've worn this shirt since the "upgrade," though I think that I have. What I do know is that the primary problem I have with the RC involves any alpha texture. They are the last to rez, leaving people and prims entirely gray for extended periods. If an object is just at the edge of the draw distance I have set, any prims with alpha will be completely invisible while "solid" prims remain visible.

Later that day ...

I changed clothes to the same clothes I had on for the first bug pic and all was fine ... for just under five minutes. Then my lower body disappeared. In this instance, turning on View Transparent brought my pants back. When I removed my underwear, others saw my body restored. Only those with the Second Life 1.23.4 (123908) Built with GCC version 40001 saw this problem. They also reported something I experienced the other day, but attributed to a bad avie change ... their head disappeared save for eyes, hair, and jewelry.

Permissions for Prim Contents

I got a great note card from Sylva Petrov (owner of Sylva's Animation Factory; SLurl) today and thought I'd share. Of course, this works with more than just animations in a prim. Click the pic above for a larger image.

How to use the new 1.23 viewer's batch permissions system to properly set permissions on your animations:

1) Open the edit window of the object with the animaitons (does not have to be the same prim, just open the root prim)

2) Click the 'Content' tab.

3) Click the "Permissions..." button on the Content tab.

4) In the new window click the 'Uncheck All' button.

5) Go up and click the 'Animations' check box.

6) Go to the right and ensure 'Modify' and 'Resale/Give Away' are checked or else 'Modify' and 'Copy' but NOT both 'Copy' and 'Resale/Give Away'.

7) Click 'Apply'.

8) Watch the little scrolling indicater of what is being done.

9) You're done.

SL6B Couples Portraits Panel

SL6B Couples Portraits Panel
Originally uploaded by UccelloSL

I'm biased, but I think my wife, Angela Seale, and I have the *best* picture on the couples portraits panel in the Lesbos@SL6B exhibit.

Unicorns

Thanks, Sis, for my new riding unicorn :D

/me quietly hums the Happy Birthday song

Land for Sale

My two parcels of land in Shouldice have been reduced in price from L$2700 each to L$2500 each. Both are a full 512m² with 117 prims. The neighbors are quiet and the area is very peaceful. Ideal for residences. The lot on the left is at SLurl and the lot on the right is at SLurl.

Update: No, the terrain really isn't that color.

I'm an LOLcat

Based on a quiz (Web) to see which LOLcat I am, it seems I am a ...

SurpriseAdoption Cat

47% Affectionate, 58% Excitable, 49% Hungry

Calloused. Heartless. Exuberant. You carry the heavy burden of informing children that they are adopted by jumping out of their birthday cake. A difficult task, but somebody must break the news to children on their only day of happiness.

Learn more about LOLcats here.

Freebie with a Cause

Due to inventory size and lack of time, among other factors, I've gotten very choosy about the freebies I grab. But when I see one that can promote a cause I believe in, I go for it. The free NO H8 face art and duct tape pack from Ryker Beck's store Xodi (SLurl) is just such an item. This blog is not the place to go into the details of the cause (check here if you want to know more) but consider the real value of a freebie in your inventory. Does it just take up space or does it make a difference?

Happy Happy Hippos

Seawolf Monsters (SLurl) has hippo avies! These fabulous beasties are well-crafted in the tradition of the Seawolf dragons (Web) and given away free in hopes you will support the drive to keep deformations (Web) by voting for the Allow Deformations by Reading Position Information in BVH Files/Animations JIRA (Web). Technically, deformations are a bug in Second Life that creators have exploited to create some fabulous avatars. And thank goodness for them. Here I am with Shilo (on the right) cavorting near Waterhead after dressing our hippos. Without the bug we would have had to cavort as ourselves! Sure, that would have been fun, too, but being hippos made it even more fun. Go get yours and vote vote vote!

The Disappearing Grid

Standing security watch at the Isle of Lesbos means I get to see plenty of pretty girls but I also see plenty of Tester bots (Web). When one appears it is a sure sign to check the Grid Status Reports (Web). Many recent reports are about region visibility issues, something that the Isle has long complained about with little attention and no remedy. From the main entrance of Lesbos three of the six regions can easily be seen so when they "turn off" it is very obvious. What is really happening is that it is the Isle itself, more often than not, that disconnects. The Minimap flickers red indicating a change and in an instant the other regions disappear or appear from view. Teleports work to them but teleports back are hit or miss.

The other night I teleported to the mall region to check on it while it was gone from view then teleported back. I could see the Isle from the mall so thought nothing was wrong. But once again my avie got stuck (Web). I saw myself on the Isle but I couldn't stand on the ground without sinking. And while others could see my chat as if I was on the Isle, I saw chat as if I was on the mall. In effect, my camera moved to the Isle with my body but my actual presence was still in the mall. Eventually my two halves snapped back together, but it was annoying.

And I imagine it is playing havoc with traffic numbers and in-world commerce. Despite assurances that teleports aren't affected, I often hear from others that they couldn't directly access the Isle but had to pass through an adjacent region. While grid stability is vastly improved over the last two years it is clear that more work is needed.

SL6B: Opinions, please

If you've seen my SL6B Flickr stream you may have seen panels in build that were textured with images of attractive models and celebs. These are being replaced with images of the Isle properties (as shown above on the right side panel), informational graphics about the LGBT culture, and portraits of people connected to the Isle. Each will cycle textures (probably) and the LGBT panels will be clickable for further information. I need opinions, however, on whether the portraits should be full-color or black & white. A sort of compromise could be met, too, by toning the latter style, probably "selenium" to contrast all the orange in the build.

Please leave a comment on this post or Plurk users can reach me here.

"nekkid but tasteful butt pics"

Blogger Hamlet Au's recent post "The Strength of the SL Blogosphere, As Seen From Behind" (Web) about some "nekkid but tasteful butt pics" inspired me to get naked. Like I need an excuse. So off to Las Arenas Rosadas (SLurl) I went and off went the clothes.

Normally I'm a fan of my bust. Actually, I'm a fan of just about any woman's bust. This exercise, though, gave me new appreciation for my backside. Like everyone inSL® I spend my days staring at my behind so it is not something I often give a lot of thought. Quite the contrast to First Life. How often do you see your own fanny? Not often for me. I'm not one of those women who usually check themselves in mirrors or ask "does this outfit make my butt look big?" In a pinch, my bum always has my back, so to speak, being there when I need to sit or to close the fridge when my hands are full or to keep my pants from sliding right off my hips.

Our bottoms do a lot for us so perhaps this is the time to celebrate our friends with the permanent vertical smiles. Give your fanny a pat (or enlist others to as that is a nice way to meet new folks) and tell it "good work, chum!"

Lesbos@SL6B: The Beginning

The start of my SL6B exhibit (SLurl) is the decorative core from a club that I built for the Isle. The faces will be replaced with pix from the Isle and seating will be placed through out. I don't think I'll keep the DJ booth as I don't plan to have dance events. I would like for this to be a gathering place for women to discuss the future of virtual worlds.

More photos on my Flickr stream in the Lesbos@SL6B group.

Isle of Lesbos @ SL6B

Just got word that the Isle of Lesbos has a reserved spot at Second Life's Sixth Birthday (SL6B) celebration (Web). I hope the site will be as successful as last year's build (see above and this Flickr stream) when the theme was a basic introduction to the Isle. This year I want to focus on the Isle as a common grounds for LGBT Pride (with an emphasis on the "L") and as a place for women around the world to meet and share ideas.