10k Hits!

Writing from Destin, Fla.:  off-Grid.

Shoot!

I don’t know when it happened, probably yesterday.  As you can see from the top of this and my last entry, I’m out of town from my regular RL home base.  Taking care of the kids on vacation while the SO is in a conference meeting keeps you occupied, doesn’t leave much time for the very side matters of blogging.  But it has happened; I’ve passed 10,000 hits.

The pity is that a lot of the recent hits that have driven me over the magic number have probably been “false drops,” as librarians refer to search results that have no bearing on the question.  I’m still getting searches related to bank closures, with people probably looking for RL information on banks.  I wish I could help them, and I have no idea how CNN’s search system spidered up this blog, but there it is.  I have no idea where I would be if people were looking for actual SL information (grin).

Ah, well; I won’t complain or worry the bone too much.  I’ll take my 10, 200 and something hits, and I’ll run with them.  Some of the traffic is real, surely…please?

Old Linden Viewer, or Sexy Independent Viewer?

Writing from Destin, Fla.:  off-Grid until 7/26.

Many users apparently have a bugaboo with the stock viewer we download from Linden Lab for use in Second Life.  I myself am a tolerant sort, and have not had any problem locating any of my main controls since I first started up last October — yes, I’m a nerd; I’ll admit it — but there are still some idiosyncrasies that I wouldn’t mind seeing adjusted, mostly in the Inventory area.  (Any tools allowing us to wrassle that particular bugbear into submission would be welcome!)  In M Linden’s letter to Residents on the Big Blog, he notes that the recent and current Release Candidates have over 50 crash fixes, and that Linden Lab is planning to redesign the viewer interface completely, to make it easier for newcomers to navigate.  (I’m always shy about this, or just plain fearful; “increasing simplicity” usually means we’re headed for the era of what the New Hacker’s Dictionary calls “drool-proof paper.”)

However, alternatives are coming at you.  Since the viewer is open source, anyone can tinker with it in an effort to improve it; and many have already.  In fact, Dusan Writer has been running a contest, with prizes totaling L$800,000, for Resident-created redesigns of the viewer.  And some have taken him up on it.  The field has been narrowed to five finalists, whose results you can examine both on their own sites and Dusan’s.  The final five will go up against the judges on July 22 at 2:00 pm SLT, in the Remedy region (logically, I assume).  If I was able to get onto the Grid right now, it’d be an interesting event to watch as each presenter makes their case.  In the presentations I’ve seen, each has had some interesting ideas, such as grouping logically related functions closer together, improved inventory sorting and filtering, and various levels of depth for newbies to experienced users.  Some of the pictures I’ve seen so far are rough, and could use smoothing of graphical concept, but there’s enough to get the main idea of what the designer is intending.

Will any of these prove to be popular?  That’s up to the individual Resident — whether they are content with Linden’s work, willing to wait for the Lab to continue the native viewer’s evolution, or wish to venture into uncharted territory.  I suspect there will be a mix of each; despite all the yowls from various quarters for changes, some Residents are content with how the viewer is progressing.  Some, frankly, may not want to invest more time in a new learning curve.  That could be to their benefit, or their harm, either way.  Only time and experience will tell.

Thanks to Hamlet Au.

Classy Daywear from Serene Sensations

I discovered Serene Sensations recently, and I’ve been wearing this for several days now.  Details after the break below:

Second Life Bleeding Into CNN’s Real Life

It’s absolutely wild and weird.

For some reason, my traffic has been spiking lately, and a lot of it is due to two articles I’ve written:  one on the custom Droxine gown I commissioned from Hanalyn Ferrer — understandable if people are looking for photos of the original — and one commenting on the Grid banks closure last year.

The big one right now is the bank article.  I had 32 looks at it yesterday, and 56 to this point today (noon SLT).  And I wondered where the burp in traffic was coming from, since we have mostly weathered the financial storm in world as far as I know.  WordPress keeps good statistics, so I poked through my blog stats, and found a link from CNN Search.  The rest of the items on the search page tied in to bank closures — Real World bank closures.

Folks, I’d suggest you don’t come to me for RL financial advice.  I can barely keep my own RL finances in trim at times.

The good thing:  it’s driving my traffic closer to 10,000 (grin).

Eshi Otawara Dress Auctioned for L$460,000

In a bid that almost surely takes the second place as the highest auction bid for a virtual object, a pair of avatars pooled their money to win the last copy of a very limited-supply item.

According to New World Notes and  Kay Fairey and Clarabelle Cazalet, a pair of Second Life models, combined to purchase the last copy of Eshi Otawara’s famous “fishhook” gown.  The proceeds of the auction went to the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, one of the Grid’s favorite charities.

More information available at Not Possible in Real Life — which this dress surely qualifies for!

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A side note:  Eshi is also known for her ongoing battle with U. S. Immigration, which is attempting to deport her on a charge of “green-card marriage.”  The fight is continuing; while I take no sides in the question here, being unfamiliar with the matter, I link to her current status, and ask you to judge for yourselves.   If you support Eshi, please consider contacting Immigrations and Custom Enforcement, and your congresscritter or senator, to bring this to their attention.

Something to Major Tom….

I’ve done and seen a few filk in my time, many of them quite good. Here’s one I just found over at Laetizia Coronet’s blog, Virtual Village Voice:

Linden Lab to Major Tom
Linden Lab to Major Tom
Start the viewer now and put your headset on

[Spoken]
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Connected

Linden Lab to Major Tom
Region handshake, clothing’s on
Check for IMs and may Phil’s love be with you

This is Linden Lab to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the Herald wants to know whose hair you wear
Now it’s time to try some flying if you dare

This is Major Tom to Linden Lab
I’ve pressed the button ‘Fly’
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the world looks very different today

For here
Am I sitting at my desk and
Floating in this world
Second Life is blue
And there’s so much I can do

Though I’m just one hundred minutes old
I’m feeling very skilled
And I think this world is just the way to go
Tell your Phil I love him very much (he knows!)
Major Tom to Linden Lab
My map is red, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Linden Lab?
Can you hear me, Linden Lab?
Can you hear me, Linden Lab?
Can you ….

… here am I frozen in this flight pose
Far above the Grid
Second Life is grey
And I think I’ll go away…

David Bowie, eat your heart out!

Planet Mongo

I’ve actually poked my head out from the store recently to have some true recreation time, instead of churning out art prints. I even braved the crowds at Frank’s Place (article), and had a very pleasant time, as well as delivering a gift to Nanceee Sinatra.

I wish I could remember the name of the avatar I was dancing with, but I lost my chat log transcript (sigh). If you’re reading this, nice man, let the girl know who you were! But most of my time lately has been spent at a build taking shape in a very interesting region called Planet Mongo.

Yes, friends, those of you who are into the True Lore of science fiction (or are older than the dirt) know that this was the land of Ming the Merciless, self-styled Master of the Universe and arch foe of Flash Gordon! Well, after a series of wars to throw off his yoke, I am told, the patriots succeeded — but at the price of a shattered, devastated planet, a fragment of which broke dimensional barriers and landed on the Grid.

(Thumbs link to large photos, 1024×682)

But some survived, as ever; and they vowed to rebuild the world, under more enlightened rule. They eventually succeeded, and the results hover some 500 meters above the blasted surface.

You simply must dress for the job, of course. The well-dressed space explorer guards against both vacuum and radiation these days — which means gold.

Suit: Seinen Full Warrior’s Bodysuit (gold)
Hair: Junwave Pineapple Golden
Skin: Comet Corp female gold skin
Shoes: enkythings Pinson gold boots

AM Radio Video

Most Second Life Residents probably know by now about the sensational art builds of AM Radio, the creator of The Far Away and several more temporary exhibitions. If you want to get a look at stills from around his worlds, just check out the Flickr photostream of Hitomi Mokusei.

Or you can watch the below:

more about “The Quiet and The Far Away and Husk o…“, posted with vodpod

Thanks to Amy Wilson.

Hair Fair Coming!

I just stumbled across what is probably a very open secret — the schedule for Hair Fair 2008. Readers probably know by now that I’m a definite “coiffurista,” looking for styles that can be either sophisticated, casually nice, or pure outrageous. This will be my first opportunity to walk Hair Fair, and I’m looking forward to it.

The dates are currently set for August 22-September 7. Location to be announced, but they promise four full regions of exhibits! And the beneficiary is an excellent organization that my family’s helped in RL — Locks of Love, which gathers donations of cut hair to make into hairpieces for children undergoing hair loss from illness or therapy. It’s time to start saving up my lindens, and brace myself for the lag (grin)!!

If you design hair, this is the place for you to do well, and do good at the same time. Click on the poster, or use this link to go to the Hair Fair blog, and take a look at what they have to say.

DIY Photosphere

Ever needed a photo studio for some vanity stroking, uh, photographs? All the studios you know of are busy? Simple; construct your own photosphere! Sarah Nerd shows you how…. You will need Photoshop, GIMP or Paint Shop Pro to create the alpha-channel and other textures, or at least know someone who can make such for you.

This is a great thing for yourself, of course. To be shamelessly commercial about it, you could also link the whole structure into a single build, rezz up/take it back at will, and rent it out on demand to clients, thus making a possible income stream for yourself. You wouldn’t need any land of your own; just an open public sandbox. Or, if you have building rights and enough prims somewhere (this will take a minimum of 6 prims), set it up as a skybox. For this, I’d suggest making the cube more of a platform, with the sphere planted toward the back. That will give you a point outside the sphere to set up a telepad target.

Thanks to Teal Etzel.

Supplemental: I just discovered New World Notes links to Sarah as well.  She might be getting quite a bit of publicity here!