Nice Textures

Part of me wants to cry. I just dropped a bundle (okies, L$320 for this trip) at Tatty's Textures (SLurl), buying more than I needed for a couple up-coming projects. The textures are excellent quality and just L$5 each so there is nothing to cry about there. But I need to start charging for these things I build or charging more. But it is soooo much fun to make things!

Am I Cute & Innnocent?

"How cute and innocent am I?" is the question of the day. My Bestest Big Sister in-world thinks I'm cute whether I'm in a bunny avie or demon avie or just my usual self. Just this morning we were having a conversation along these lines when it struck me that I was wearing a really slutty shirt that I love. While I do have the body for it (okies, thicker iRL, but not too different), there is no way I would be caught wearing something like this outside of Second Life^®. At least not near other people. I do have some really slutty tank tops much like some in-world ones, but only because they are comfy.

Yah, right. Like most women I sometimes like to feel kinda slutty. We girls are complex beasties and we don't like to be understood all the time, even by ourselves. So I'm not all cute and innocent, but something in SL^® is a dis-inhibitor, leading me to frequently dress in a fashion contrary to my RL tendencies even just going nude rather often. Nothing in the debug settings or in preferences.

It must be in the anonymity. A few people know the real life town I live in while more know the area and nearly everyone who has met me knows I live in Maine, USA. But only one person knows my full legal name. I'd say I'm pretty well anonymous, so maybe that gives me licence to behave contrary to my natures. Call it the "Vegas factor" ... what happens in SL stays in SL. I know plenty of girls that would never entertain the notion of Gorean slavery in downtown middle America, but participate with Gusto in-world, going beyond the exploration or living out a casual fantasy that one might give other activities. There has to be some of the "Vegas Factor" in my dress, but tied into that is another factor gives the Gor example weight: Novelty.

My usual dress at home is simply shorts and a tank top or a t-shirt. Plain and butch. My virtual home makes me feel girlier (if that is a word) than I have ever felt iRL. My one RL dress is for funerals. My SL dresses range from the fabled "little black dress" to staidly Victorian ball gowns. My avie often has lipstick and earrings, understated to be sure, but I don't own lipstick iRL and my ears are not pierced. Most often my avie sports some Chuck Taylor knock-offs but I do love the pumps I got from Bare Rose (SLurl). IRL? two pairs of "Crocs" and one pair of trainers, black leather for any occasion. Being a girl in SL is very easy compared to iRL, at least in my experience.

As you can see from the pic I like showing off that I'm a girl. Maybe that is what it is all about: SL lets me be "me" much more easily that so-called Real Life does. Being a girl in "meatspace" has been a source of hardship and even tragedy. It wasn't until my virtual life started that I could finally do things that I've wanted to do but for many reasons could not. The influence goes both ways, too, I've noticed. There was some pretty spiffy looking jewelry on sale at QVC the other day and my birthday wish list was near by ...

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PS: got the shirt at WWI (SLurl), a store that seems to like certain girl features as much as I do.

Frossen Tjern & Making Ice

Yet another build under my belt, this one done in just a few hours. Still secret so I can't show all of it to you, but some day soon you might be ice skating at Frossen Tjern. :::giggle::: I have a tendency to name some of my builds in Norsk. Long story.

Making ice is fun and not all that hard. So why do I find so much bad ice in-world? Here's the secret. Make the whole prim invisible (use the *Default Transparent Texture from the basic Inventory), then texture only the surface with the "ice" texture of your choice (I like Waterfall - dense layer 1 in the basic Inventory). If you use more than one prim to make a larger size body of water, adjust the repeats and offsets so that the joins are seamless ... not doing this is the biggest mistake I see for in-world water, frozen or not). Then make a bed for the water. Most any rock or dirt texture works well. This prim will be immediately under the ice so folks looking through have something to see. If you use a more opaque ice texture you can skip this step.

Yep. All that in the preceding paragraph is a bit vague, but the idea is to get you in the ballpark and playing with ideas. Stop by my store (SLurl) and grab the free Creating Ice in SL® Tutorial box to learn more ("buy" it for L$0).

Botanical Products Copybotted?

Like many folks, I really enjoy Botanical trees by Kriss Lehmann, so I was perturbed by what appears to be copybotted versions decorating the grounds of a shop (SLurl). Several versions of tress from the Botanical Dark Forest collection set out with full perms and "Take a Copy" set as well as two "Botanical - (u)Japanese Red Maple Large" trees. The other ones also have the same name as their Botanical equivalents. By using Inspect I found that the trees are owned by kurie Erde and show suzytwo Nishi or rudys Aya as the creators, depending on the tree. I own legally purchased Botanical trees and all show Kriss Lehmann as the creator.

Several members of the Lucky Kitty Crew and I filed abuse reports and almost immediately after I sent my second, Colton Linden contacted me to say that nothing could be done without filing a DCMA (What's this? See here.) Not being the creator I felt it best to contact Botanical staff for further action and did so.

If you haven't noticed, I care passionately about resident and creator rights, but I have to admit I was at a loss for knowing what was within my role as a resident when I suspected a creator's rights had been violated. What would you have done? What could I have done differently?

Cramer v. Stewart

This is frakin' brilliant.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Intro - Brawl Street: Get Ready to Buy Low! And Sell Die

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

And from a previous episode:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Jon Stewart has always been brilliant at skewering hypocrisy and these segments show he is still the King of observational humor in late night television.