This is a multi-page story; just click on the “Pages” links at the foot of each page to move back and forth.
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The woman gazed at the ident-block on the door’s security panel with a nervous expression. She had passed any number of such panels on the way up to this office, but none of them had read:
Sherman, Ariel Chairwoman / CEO Fantasial Productions ILC
It felt strange to Taraia to be interviewed by the CEO of a corporation for a job … especially when the job was really an entrance-level position. Her college advisor had told her that Lady Ariel was peculiar in this way; she wanted to get a feel for new-hires outside of the production aspects of her theatre’s show and night club. Was it because, again according to her advisor, promotions came from within the corporation, and so she might have closer daily exposure with the Boss than at two or three removes …?
I’ve been wound up with outside affairs this past few weeks, and I just managed to squeeze in a run through this year’s Fantasy Faire. There were several extremely creative regions this time through, and I snapped my favorite views in photos, so to preserve their memory and share it with others.
There will be two sections here; the first is a gallery of landscapes, while the second shows what I wore, built mostly from offerings at the various vendors. You can click on the gallery for larger views, and there’s a link at the bottom for full size. (Some of these are 1920 wallpapers.)
A 2017 photo from my space station. The view of space here is created by a photosphere generator, which makes a 256×256 spherical bubble around the generator, with the unit at the center point. Imagine if I could set the environment on this level to space without needing to use a generator. This can expand space role-play tremendously — just one new use for EEP.
What looks like excellent news from Linden Lab, put up on the Community Blog, and brought to my attention by Daniel Voyager’s plurk today. LL has released the Environmental Enhancement Project to the main Grid. For users of the Linden viewer, at least, the new abilities will be available to all Residents on all sims. And that includes, as I’m seeing this, sims that you rent, even if you don’t have owner environment privileges. (Third-party viewers don’t have this yet, as it will take a code revision. However, I think we can expect a scramble to integrate the new code into Firestorm and other top TPVs. Firestorm users such as myself should probably expect an update notice at some indeterminate point.)
Some possibilities:
You don’t need to be an estate owner to change the environmental settings.
New environmental settings panel
Custom day cycles
Changeable textures for the clouds and moon
Different settings for different altitude settings
Changeable locations for sun and moon
Save settings in Inventory instead of an XML file, and import existing XML files to the new settings
Creators can set permissions for next owners
Settings can be applied at the parcel level, for everyone to see
Here’s a really nice aspect to enhance your possible revenue stream: the new settings can be saved as Inventory assets — and given, shared or (ka-ching)sold. This could result in a whole fresh category on the Marketplace, or new stores for EEP files. (That’s E-E-P, by the way, not “eep.” Which, of course, means everyone will promptly ignore the Lab, just as they do by calling them “Linden Labs.”)
It’s as good a time as any for a holiday trip, as the Europeans would call it, down to the Mediterranean coast.
I was thinking of calling this article “Harper’s Morning Macchiato,” ripping off Morgan’s piece from a week or two back. But it doesn’t alliterate as well (sigh).
Never start a morning without caffeine of some kind. (That is, if you can handle the buzz.) Fortunately, this mobile coffee shop was handy.
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js One year ago today, on April 15th, I became a Linden and started working for a company that completely changed my life. I am so thankful that I found Secon…
Congrats to Berry! She’s one of the best-known of us all, and can definitely be a voice to and for us at the Lab. (Lab, not “Labs,” as Berry correctly points out.) This article gives a lot of good information for us to chew over and use.
Patch “Lirpa” Linden has made an announcement in the Community Forum about an experimental improvement to the new residential areas in Bellisseria — improved weather!
As promised, here is the short story I’ve been working on with Jem’s and Conan’s help. It’s long by blog standards (nearly 3,000 words), and thoroughly illustrated, so I’ll be breaking it up into pages. (Which also gives me a chance to experiment with some WordPress tweaks.) Just look for “Pages” beneath the Related Posts section at the bottom of each page, and click on the next page to continue.
If you have questions, such as Ariel and Adam’s backstory, contact me in world, or write harper.ganesvoort at gmail dot com, and I’ll do my best to answer them.
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Visits to Terra were an extremely rare thing for Ariel Sherman, despite her dual positions as a successful performer across multiple modes, and head of the interstellar corporation known as the Cyborg Condominium. Most questions of business could be taken care of in a holographic quadcomm conference call, after all. Considering how far the distance was between the ancient mother planet and the Videra Sector, which contained the star Eta Pegasi and its inhabited planet of Videra, that was just as well. The Limlight Republic was spread across well over two thousand systems, and the trip between the two sectors, even in hyperspace, took nearly a month one way.
But some companies insisted on face-to-face meetings, and real sign-manuals on plaspaper contracts instead of electronic signatures, and so Ariel found herself far removed from the comforts of her home on the pleasure planet Videra, and from her revue show at The Land of Fantasy Theatre. Not that her surroundings were uncomfortable at the moment. The hotel suite she and Adam Sandhara, her husband, occupied for their stay in Old Manhattan was sinfully luxurious; and it should be … after all, it was owned by the Condominium. Even if most of the trip could be written off the taxes as a business expense, the bean-counters preferred keeping those expenses to a minimum.
The cost of the meal could still be written off, though, because Ariel had chosen to make a virtue out of a necessity, and ply her preferred trade in a new sector of the Republic. Before leaving Videra, she had informed the hotel manager that she would be bringing her nightclub act to one of the clubs inside their hotel for a surprise appearance.
Curtain time was approaching, and the ’borgs were finishing their meal with a few glasses of champagne, and a cigarette on Ariel’s part. Glancing across the floor where his wife would soon be performing, Adam grinned and said, “There are times, Ari, when I don’t know why I indulge you as I do. Coming over 200 light-years from Eta Pegasi to perform at a nightclub is a bit of a jaunt, even in this day and age.”
“Oh, I think I can come up with a few reasons why you indulge me, darling,” Ariel laughed as she blew smoke toward the ceiling ventilation ducts. Soft lights shimmered off the silk of the lehenga sari from New Karnataka that she wore. “Reasons which I heartily return, by the way. That’s the reason we stay married, even after twenty-something years. Anyway, you should blame this on the company that insists on face-to-face negotiations in a board room and an actual signature on a physical contract, signed in person before a roomful of lawyers and notaries public. We could have solved everything from Videra with a few teleconferences and a blockchain signature. This company doesn’t do that kind of thing, though.”
She tapped off her ash in the ashtray, and added, “And don’t tell me you’re not taking advantage of your little ‘vacation’ here to meet up with old clients for Micronan, and maybe hunt up a few new ones. That’s the only real reason you needed to come along, other than spending time with me when my meetings break.”
“I admit you have me there, lady,” Adam smiled, the lights of the club glinting off his metallic “skin,” as golden as his wife’s. “I still say you’re giving in a little to ego here, looking for some applause even when you’re technically away from the stage.”
“I may grant you that one, lord. But I see it more like I’m drumming up fresh trade myself for the revue. Even without us on board as the constant star artists anymore, the revue is still hugely popular; but keeping the name out there in fresh areas helps keep the business up.”
“Mmhmm … that’s what they all say, I’m sure,” Adam said with another grin … and then he laughed as he caught the napkin Ariel threw at him. He tossed it back as Ariel took a final sip of wine; she patted her lips dry, then kissed her husband, and trotted back to the dressing room set aside for her, to do a last repair on her makeup before coming on.
Unsurprisingly, the hour-long concert set proved a hit; even two hundred-some light-years from Videra, the star quality of Ariel Sherman enthralled spectators. She accepted the enthusiastic applause of the audience, none of whom had known that she would be singing for them; as she bowed, though, she glanced around the room, and noticed that Adam had vanished. It wasn’t unusual for him to meet her in the dressing room, however, and so Ariel worked her way “backstage.”
When she made it inside the dressing room, there was no sign of Adam. She noted, however, a “message waiting” advice on the wall commpanel, and tapped it on. Adam’s face appeared, and said, “Darling, I’m sorry, but one of those old clients of mine called with an incredibly urgent consultation request. I can’t put him off, so I’ve gone down to the comm lounge to handle it. I’ll meet you in the bar after we’re both done. Sorry.”
Ah, the joys of running insanely successful corporations …. Ariel grinned as she shook her head, cleared the message, and returned up the halls to the bar area, passing by the transsteel door to the businesspersons’ communications lounge. A glance inside showed Adam still there, pacing back and forth as he spoke to an image on his digicomm. Seeing he was occupied, Ariel moved on.
The nightclub’s bar wasn’t a large one – most drinks were served at the tables – and was tended by a single ’droid. Ariel ordered a small white wine and turned to gaze idly toward the club’s outside entrance; then she started as she focused on the door, her lips falling from their smile and her optics locking on the woman who was entering.
It appears people are beginning to remember Second Life … and, hopefully, for better reasons than as a “den of debauchery” — Oh, you mean there are some parts like that …? (Grin)
According to the Second Life Grid Survey the maximum daily concurrency in #SecondLife reached 56, 148 on 22nd March 2020. The median daily concurrency average at the moment is around 42, 000. It’s getting a little higher every week but no huge peaks in the max daily concurrency yet due to the current Coronavirus crisis.
If things get worse in the next few weeks and months then I think the Second Life daily concurrency levels will go up due to the strict lockdowns across the world. If any new huge peak occurs soon then I will blog about it.
Second Life Grid Survey Data
What do you think the concurrency levels will be in the weeks and months ahead ?
Second Life® with Harper, Conan, Jem, Diana and Morgan
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