Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Sure, its an American holiday today, but even if you ignore the fact that we are the last Super Power and you should observe our holidays, I'm sure you'll find a similar day in your culture's pantheon of observances.

One of the things I'm thankful for is my sense of humor. I'd be dead without it, though sometimes it makes others want to kill me. And I'm thankful for Second Life, where I can vent my insanity and run (albeit temporarily) from things in Real Life that .... well, you get the idea.

So, thanks to all of you for making my life here and there and everywhere better.

Press Release - Bay City's Annual Tree Lighting 2014

Bay City's Annual Tree Lighting 2014, the fifth of this annual celebration, will take place on Saturday, 6th December 2014 from 1-4 pm SLT at the Bay City Fairgrounds, in North Channel (SLurl) and will feature DJ GoSpeed Racer and live performer Christov Kohnke. Additional activities will include ice-skating, dancing, refreshments and lots of other fun.

As part of the event, a silent auction supporting Child's Play Charity (www.childsplaycharity.org) will be held. We are asking Second Life™ designers and artists to participate by providing fun, interesting, unique, or other transferrable items (or a no-copy object that the auction winner can give to you to redeem their prize, if the item(s) have to be no transfer). Please contact Marianne McCann to participate.

The Auction will end at the conclusion of the event. All proceeds from the silent auction and from donation bins at the venue will go to Child's Play Charity. Child's Play is a 501c3 non profit organization offers online communities such as ours an opportunity to help seriously ill children around the globe during their hospital stays with the purchase of games and gaming equipment.

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

For more information, or to participate in the event, please contact Marianne McCann (marianne.mccann@gmail.com).

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Lost My Geek Cred

Some think that I'm quite the geek. After all, I've got the shirt. A Second Life shirt, which is quite geeky.  Really, if you believe some press, if you aren't a pervert in SL you must be a geek. Not that the two are mutually exclusive, but that's another blog post. If that's not enough, I have a ton of gadgets, many of which get press time on this blog. I read mostly Sci-Fi/Fantasy, I watch Dr Who, and I play with Lego blocks.

Geek.

Then came along Strawberry Singh's "Geeks'n'Nerds" post on her blog and my Geek Cred was seriously challenged. I took the "How Geeky Are You" quiz she mentions and it seems I'm just a Semi-Geek:

Maybe you're just influenced by the trend, or maybe you just got it all perfectly balanced. You have some geeky traits, but they aren't as "hardcore" and they don't take over your life. You like some geeky things, but aren't nearly as obsessive about them as the uber-geeks. You actually get to enjoy both worlds.

I'm crushed. I mean, no I don't own a game console (unless you count a Wii that is never used), my phone isn't "rooted," I can't drink Mt Dew like when I was a kid, and the only code I know is Hammurabi's (Still waiting for a chance to use it).

Terra Xplorer

Renowned Second Life builder and aviation expert Cubey Terra has released a new product after quite a few years of dormancy (or simply enjoying himself), the Terra Xplorer. Announced on his blog on 20 November, Cubey made everyone wait two days before they could get their hands on one. Not one to wait, I went ... um ... Xploring.

Look what I found! A full beta unit just laying around in Georgian! I posted about it here and here.

No, that's not a real product in the picture. Having seen the basic appearance from the blog, and being impatient, I mocked up a board with exhaust flame and mounted it on an invisible Linden 2009 Hoverboard for functionality. It didn't fool Cubey nor did it earn me an early production model, but I zipped out today and got one for myself and for my friend Xandah since I knew she had the Terra Z Transport, a vehicle that the Xplorer seems to be based upon. Here's what she has to say:

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Terra Z Transport, no longer available for sale.

To start, I refreshed my memory of the Terra Z Transport, one of the very first vehicles I bought when joining Second Life. If you rez one on the ground it asks to attach to you or you can simply attach one from your Inventory. Turn off your AO and use the same controls you would to fly. It is that simple. A HUD allows you to change the color scheme of the main body and the accents. The exhaust flame matches the color of the accents as does the HUD.

Terra Z Transport dashboard

The Z has a control stalk with hand grips and functional readouts for altitude and airspeed. Not that you can see them in use, mind you, but the HUD shows the same information and has a slider to control a speed boost. Otherwise your speed is the same as walking or running.

Terra Xplorer HUD

The HUD for the Terra Explorer is essentially the same but with one addition: The Eye Button will hide the attached board and disable the board's animations so there is no need to detach it for walking.

Terra Xplorer in action. L$250 at Cubey Terra Aeronautics (SLurl).
You can also visit the Marketplace.

The Terra Explorer is essentially the same vehicle, sans the control stalk and with better animations. Turning or banking with the Z results in awkward tilting motions anchored to a strange pivot point. The same actions on the Xplorer give your avatar a delightful little hip sway as if your body is controlling the motion. Turning while flying with either unit decreases your altitude so be careful around water.

Up close. Exhaust shuts off when not moving. Stable enough for high heels.

This is a fun little craft and I look forward to using it more. The ability to hide the Xplorer rather than needing to detach for ground travel is a big plus. Be sure to box a copy of everything you get in the sales delivery folder for backup. Everything is full Copy.

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Thanks, Xandah! Good report! I should note for editorial integrity that I gave Xandah the money to buy the Xplorer.

My experience (or is that Xperience?) with the board was entirely pleasant. A 1/8th boost in speed is very comfortable. Anything more than that and you will easily out fly your Draw Distance and the speed with which objects near you rez. Save high speed for races or high altitude.

Left or Right?

Which is your favorite? What do you like or what don't you like? Let me know in comments (if you are interested, of course).