Here in Rome the fireworks have been going since dark. It's probably like being under
fire, or Saturday night in Iraq.
Here is hoping for a better year for the Earth and all it inhabitants.
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~Benjamin Franklin
31 December 2006
30 December 2006
Resolutions
Learn LSL
Learn Building
Go Premium
Get job? ( already had 2 offers )
Get own house
Slip ***** an exploding poseball instead of one of her sex poseballs.
Become a muse.
More Piracy
Shoot down some planes.
Get a slave.
Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self-assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle. - Eric Zorn
Learn Building
Go Premium
Get job? ( already had 2 offers )
Get own house
Slip ***** an exploding poseball instead of one of her sex poseballs.
Become a muse.
More Piracy
Shoot down some planes.
Get a slave.
Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self-assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle. - Eric Zorn
29 December 2006
The Shockwave Travel Writer Part 5
I don't remember how many days it's been now, I can just see the end of my time in Rome coming to a close in a few days. The Lemonchello in the evenings does sort of make my memory of the number of days disappear.
So I have actually been in the Colesseo now, and walked all around Old Rome, and the Palatine.
Surprisingly in one shop they were selling Italian made XXXX beer from home.
Walked around the Castle, and it was full of frescos.
I installed SL on the PC in the apartment here, the CPU is a 2500 but the video card is 512M. It has less lag than the 300064 and the 128m video card. Of course it might be the network it's on as well.
vincit qui se vincit (S/he conquers who conquers her/himself.) - Roman Proverb
So I have actually been in the Colesseo now, and walked all around Old Rome, and the Palatine.
Surprisingly in one shop they were selling Italian made XXXX beer from home.
Walked around the Castle, and it was full of frescos.
I installed SL on the PC in the apartment here, the CPU is a 2500 but the video card is 512M. It has less lag than the 300064 and the 128m video card. Of course it might be the network it's on as well.
vincit qui se vincit (S/he conquers who conquers her/himself.) - Roman Proverb
26 December 2006
The Shockwave Travel Writer Part 4
Xmas eve
Saw Trevi fountain, (and others ) the Presidents Palace, went to the Portaportese Flea Market and found that the trendy boots were anywhere from 10 Euro to 20 euro, that's about 5 UK Pounds!
Walked though a main shopping area, and compared prices. It's almost worth getting on Easyjet and flying here and back to the UK, when I have a few hundred pound to spend on clothes.
Xmas Day
The the stroke of midnight on Xmas eve all the church bells in town were ringing.
Opened Presents.
That day I went for a long walk to the Tiber River, and crossed at Tiber island and then back again a bit downstream.
I went past a few old temples, and you can see marble rubble just lying in courtyards of buildings, and churches that have Roman columns built in to the walls.
Travel on train/bus is really cheap, 1 Euro for 75 minutes, thats if you put your ticket in the machine. The last two days, the busses have been so full we have not been able to put the tickes inthe machines to validate them.
Boxing day
We took the Archeobus to see the Appian Way, San Callisto Catacombs , There are about 1 km of aqueducts just outside Rome.
Police forces
There are about 6 police forces in italy, andthey are mostly armed
1)Polizia di Stato (Civil Police)
2)Carabinieri (Military Police)
3)Guardia di finanza (Financial or Tax Police)
4)Corpo Forestale dello Stato ( Foresters)
5)Polizia Municipale ( Municipal Police mostly for Traffic)
6)Polizia Penitenziaria ( Jail officers )
There are armed guards on the subway, and at some stations.
Street Traders
There are a LOT of guys, selling Sun Glasses, Tripods, Wooden Trains in the shape of letters, scarves, etc.
I think they are mostly Bangladeshis.
The Natural enemyof the Street Trader is Number 3 above.
As in Rome there is, apart from the Romans, a population of statues, so apart from this real world there is a world of illusion, almost more potent, in which most men live. - Goethe
As in Rome there is, apart from the Romans, a population of statues, so apart from this real world there is a world of illusion, almost more potent, in which most men live. - Goethe
24 December 2006
Pirates
I'm very happy to say the PiratesofSL group is back and having battles. Woot!
So please join in, get your best pirate gear, jump on a ship and start shooting some cannon.
"The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a pirate.” - Bern Williams
So please join in, get your best pirate gear, jump on a ship and start shooting some cannon.
"The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a pirate.” - Bern Williams
23 December 2006
The Shockwave Travel Writer Part 3
Rome. Day one
Train from Milan was four hours.
We arrived in the afternoon, it took ages to find our apartment, but it was not yet dark, so as the coliseum was so close, we decided to have a quick look. It's one of those things I have always wanted to see, it was just like seeing Stonehenge for the first time.
Day Two
We took a few buses around the city, and arrived at the Vatican. St Peters is much bigger than I had imagined and much more ornate. I had to do the tourist thing and send a postcard from the Vatican Post office. In general Italy is much cheaper than the UK, Food and drink is almost half the price as the UK.
Dealing with crossing the road against the endless traffic is easy, if a little nerve racking, just walk, and the cars will stop.
They like to get as close as they can before they stop, but they will stop. Don't run, or hurry, then they will know that your a tourist. I think I have blended in, but my features show that I'm not a local.
Day Three.
Highlights of today, back to the market, walked around Old Rome,Trajan's Column, went to the Spanish Steps, and shopping, birthday for a friend.
"Methinks I will not die quite happy without having seen something of that Rome of which I have read so much -Sir Walter Scott
Train from Milan was four hours.
We arrived in the afternoon, it took ages to find our apartment, but it was not yet dark, so as the coliseum was so close, we decided to have a quick look. It's one of those things I have always wanted to see, it was just like seeing Stonehenge for the first time.
Day Two
We took a few buses around the city, and arrived at the Vatican. St Peters is much bigger than I had imagined and much more ornate. I had to do the tourist thing and send a postcard from the Vatican Post office. In general Italy is much cheaper than the UK, Food and drink is almost half the price as the UK.
Dealing with crossing the road against the endless traffic is easy, if a little nerve racking, just walk, and the cars will stop.
They like to get as close as they can before they stop, but they will stop. Don't run, or hurry, then they will know that your a tourist. I think I have blended in, but my features show that I'm not a local.
Day Three.
Highlights of today, back to the market, walked around Old Rome,Trajan's Column, went to the Spanish Steps, and shopping, birthday for a friend.
"Methinks I will not die quite happy without having seen something of that Rome of which I have read so much -Sir Walter Scott
22 December 2006
The Shockwave Travel writer Part 2
Milan,
Took the train from Geneva.
Two main sights of Milan is the cathedral, and the castle. The Cathedral is huge, and is a survivor of WW2, most of the rest of the town was flattened. You can also go up and walk around the roof, there aren't any warning signs that would be plastered everywhere in the UK.
The castle is brick built and contains the city museums.
The woman are well dressed in skinny jeans and boots, a fashion I adore. The men have not got the skinhead look that is so popular in the UK.
Lots more men with long hair, and there are more people wearing hats.
The shopping is excellent.
People in Europe seem to be thinner. I didn't see any fat people walking the street.
Aha!! I have just realized the cause of obesity!
It's speaking English!
Looks like another boost for Esperanto.
The main train station would look perfect in Gondor due to all the statues, and fountains. I suspect it's one of Mussolini's gifts to architecture.
Everyone loves justice in the affairs of another. - Italian Proverb
Took the train from Geneva.
Two main sights of Milan is the cathedral, and the castle. The Cathedral is huge, and is a survivor of WW2, most of the rest of the town was flattened. You can also go up and walk around the roof, there aren't any warning signs that would be plastered everywhere in the UK.
The castle is brick built and contains the city museums.
The woman are well dressed in skinny jeans and boots, a fashion I adore. The men have not got the skinhead look that is so popular in the UK.
Lots more men with long hair, and there are more people wearing hats.
The shopping is excellent.
People in Europe seem to be thinner. I didn't see any fat people walking the street.
Aha!! I have just realized the cause of obesity!
It's speaking English!
Looks like another boost for Esperanto.
The main train station would look perfect in Gondor due to all the statues, and fountains. I suspect it's one of Mussolini's gifts to architecture.
Everyone loves justice in the affairs of another. - Italian Proverb
Xmas Card
Here is a XMAS card I gave to some SL friends.
Sorry I missed a few of you out, but it was the last thing I was doing before I left for my holiday. And I stopped dropping it in to Inventories at 2.30 am
I couldnt help but put an FSM in the graphic.
"The whole mob has let itself go in pleasures" - Seneca on the Saturnalia
Sorry I missed a few of you out, but it was the last thing I was doing before I left for my holiday. And I stopped dropping it in to Inventories at 2.30 am
I couldnt help but put an FSM in the graphic.
"The whole mob has let itself go in pleasures" - Seneca on the Saturnalia
20 December 2006
Where's Shockwave?
The Shockwave Travel Writer
Geneva
Well for those that ever want to go to Geneva, dont go on a Sunday, the whole city closes down. Only the corner shops and the ppl who run the roasted nut stands were open.
But I was able to go underneath the Cathedral to see the extensive work, done by the archeologists. It's a great display, but not really one I would do a 3 hr flight to see.
The Swiss franc notes are very colourful and they start from 10F, from 5F and below are coins, all the way to .5F. Thats equal to half an australian cent. Oddly the city is full of banks, no kidding, banks, banks swiss army knifes, watches ,swiss army knifes and clothes. Not just ordinary clothes, but the stuff Princess Di would wear ( if she still alive ). And Fur! Lots of fur.
Needless to say everything was expensive, even the golden arches was expensive.
The hotel was right in the middle of the red light district, so the working girls would gather at the rear of the hotel. One was wearing a short black leather skirt, with a black leather halter neck top and black thigh boots, I thought that looked really sexy, and strangley so familiar...oh yeah....*cough cough*
So rather than go to Geneva, unless you have a thing for bankers, do something exciting, defrag your harddrive!
I would post some pictures, but the Camera came up with the error message "Insufficent Input", and shutdown.
Switzerland is simply a large, lumpy, solid rock with a thin skin of grass stretched over it.
- Mark Twain
Geneva
Well for those that ever want to go to Geneva, dont go on a Sunday, the whole city closes down. Only the corner shops and the ppl who run the roasted nut stands were open.
But I was able to go underneath the Cathedral to see the extensive work, done by the archeologists. It's a great display, but not really one I would do a 3 hr flight to see.
The Swiss franc notes are very colourful and they start from 10F, from 5F and below are coins, all the way to .5F. Thats equal to half an australian cent. Oddly the city is full of banks, no kidding, banks, banks swiss army knifes, watches ,swiss army knifes and clothes. Not just ordinary clothes, but the stuff Princess Di would wear ( if she still alive ). And Fur! Lots of fur.
Needless to say everything was expensive, even the golden arches was expensive.
The hotel was right in the middle of the red light district, so the working girls would gather at the rear of the hotel. One was wearing a short black leather skirt, with a black leather halter neck top and black thigh boots, I thought that looked really sexy, and strangley so familiar...oh yeah....*cough cough*
So rather than go to Geneva, unless you have a thing for bankers, do something exciting, defrag your harddrive!
I would post some pictures, but the Camera came up with the error message "Insufficent Input", and shutdown.
Switzerland is simply a large, lumpy, solid rock with a thin skin of grass stretched over it.
- Mark Twain
14 December 2006
PixelPulse is out
When I say it's Hot, I mean it, and I've just started reading the contents!
A Journalist is a machine that converts coffee into copy.-- Michael Ryan Elgan
A Journalist is a machine that converts coffee into copy.-- Michael Ryan Elgan
12 December 2006
Why SL is hard to write and fix
( Totally unrelated picture )One of my favorite thinkers ( and Terry Prattchet fan ) Gwyneth Llewelyn has written a post on why SL is more than just an application, and basically how silly comments from the great unwashed masses are.
I think I left a note on Erbos blog some months ago , about the same thing, and how I used to work for an ISP, and the stupid comments in the forums from the customers. The tech guys would tell me the callers who are windows networking people have the oddest ideas.
Caller: My email is down, do you have a problem with your exchange server?
Techie: We don't have any exchange servers, what error messages are you getting?
Caller:NO Exchange, no wonder the emails are not working.
Techie falls off chair laughing.....
The CEO was called a port swilling, suited fatcat, in reality, he's never more happy than when he's putting Cisco gear together, and has the largest collection of black t-shirts, excepting Death Metal fans.
EDIT:
I suspect I was still out of my mind from lack of sleep, I wrote this originally
I would rather be the lead role in a zombiegoatbukkake movie than touch that "thing" of yours
-Shockwave Plasma
11 December 2006
work
Due to an unseen amount of work, like four, twelve hour days in a row, I've not been doing much in SL :-(
Not even any old pics to load. Sorry
EDIT:- 28 Hrs awake at the office is not fun, but I came home before the hallucinations started.
While Matrix like bulges in the fabric of spacetime are a tolerable visual hallucination, it's when the hands start coming out of the bulges and start talking like a sock puppet, you know it's time to get some sleep.
Personally, I have nothing against work, particularly when performed, quietly and unobtrusively, by someone else. I just don't happen to think it's an appropriate subject for an "ethic."
Barbara Ehrenreich
Not even any old pics to load. Sorry
EDIT:- 28 Hrs awake at the office is not fun, but I came home before the hallucinations started.
While Matrix like bulges in the fabric of spacetime are a tolerable visual hallucination, it's when the hands start coming out of the bulges and start talking like a sock puppet, you know it's time to get some sleep.
Personally, I have nothing against work, particularly when performed, quietly and unobtrusively, by someone else. I just don't happen to think it's an appropriate subject for an "ethic."
Barbara Ehrenreich
06 December 2006
The Princess of Purple and The Pixellated Paperdoll
I would like to say Hello to Reina Quine and Patience Xie, newly added to list of "Random Mad People".
"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it." --Alice Walker
04 December 2006
Numbers and money
Last night I had people asking me, "How do I make money"?While this is not unusual, it was odd that the new people who where asking didn't even seem to know what SL was about.
The same people were asking "What do I do now?" and "How do I play this game"?
It was only when I looked at Saturdays Times, ( on Monday morning ) that I saw this cover.
The article inside also covers Moopf and his skates.
I can only conclude that this was the reason for the very high number of people in world last night.
The Times has a daily circulation of about 650,000.
A link to the online article
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,28053-2479694.html
( Blogger formatting is back...yay )
“Newspapers are unable, seemingly to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization” - George Bernard Shaw
03 December 2006
Book Review
I have seen a few mentions of the book "The Victorian Internet" by Tom Standage, from Ordinal and Erbo.
So on my last visit to the Library, I ordered a copy. It was not as big as I thought it would be, but quite a good read. It's about 200 pages long.
It's full of lurid tales of vice and naked ambition and seedy hotels with record company executives ripping off young talented..hang on, sorry wrong book.
Victorian Internet is mostly about Samuel Morse and how the telegraph system he invented changed the times it takes to communicate news from months to minutes.
It gives a backgroud to people and ideas leading up to his invention, and the incredible amount of trouble it took to get some backing to get it recognized as something worthwhile.
But I suspect most people who read this blog will recognize the misunderstandings that people had then, as now.
An ISP where I used to work, was once asked to send a caller the Internet on CD. There was also the ever popular, "Do I have to be connected to the Internet to get my Email"?
BTW: Blogger has taken all my formatting away! ( Stupid Blogger )
If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time.
~Edith Wharton
So on my last visit to the Library, I ordered a copy. It was not as big as I thought it would be, but quite a good read. It's about 200 pages long.
It's full of lurid tales of vice and naked ambition and seedy hotels with record company executives ripping off young talented..hang on, sorry wrong book.
Victorian Internet is mostly about Samuel Morse and how the telegraph system he invented changed the times it takes to communicate news from months to minutes.
It gives a backgroud to people and ideas leading up to his invention, and the incredible amount of trouble it took to get some backing to get it recognized as something worthwhile.
But I suspect most people who read this blog will recognize the misunderstandings that people had then, as now.
An ISP where I used to work, was once asked to send a caller the Internet on CD. There was also the ever popular, "Do I have to be connected to the Internet to get my Email"?
BTW: Blogger has taken all my formatting away! ( Stupid Blogger )
If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time.
~Edith Wharton
29 November 2006
New Bloggers
You might have noticed a few unfamiliar names on the blog-roll. It's Eureka and Lienna.
Lienna is writing for Pixel Pulse, and Eureka for the Huffington Times.
I love the cool looking space gurrl on Liennas site. I'm also jealous of her dream journal. I just have Jungian dreams, it's my unconscious telling me things, sorting things out, etc
I want some Freudian ones for a change, it just not fair! Come on unconscious, your asleep, have some fun for a change!
They are mostly doing articles on sex in second life.
Eurekas article dated Monday, November 27, 2006, talking to "Magnus" is typical in the double standards I often encounter ( SL and RL ). Seems that it's OK for him to come inworld and have some Cyber, but if it was his RL wife doing the same..oh dear, that's just not on.
BB Brodys article on getting caught flashing his polygons, by his wife is just brilliant.
I must do more flying, but the lag has been so bad, it's not always worth it.
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. Carl Jung
Lienna is writing for Pixel Pulse, and Eureka for the Huffington Times.
I love the cool looking space gurrl on Liennas site. I'm also jealous of her dream journal. I just have Jungian dreams, it's my unconscious telling me things, sorting things out, etc
I want some Freudian ones for a change, it just not fair! Come on unconscious, your asleep, have some fun for a change!
They are mostly doing articles on sex in second life.
Eurekas article dated Monday, November 27, 2006, talking to "Magnus" is typical in the double standards I often encounter ( SL and RL ). Seems that it's OK for him to come inworld and have some Cyber, but if it was his RL wife doing the same..oh dear, that's just not on.
BB Brodys article on getting caught flashing his polygons, by his wife is just brilliant.
I must do more flying, but the lag has been so bad, it's not always worth it.
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. Carl Jung
26 November 2006
loopy
So here I am on the Nissan car dispenser. Watching the cars go around the loop, and giggling myself silly when they come off.
Bottom left you can see some explosives going off. I have IMed Toast, "the giver of car keys", but had no reply. I guess they were getting a bit tired of waiting down there as well.
I was tempted to fly over and stand on bottom of the second loop and see what happens.
“Auto racing is boring except when a car is going at least 172 miles per hour upside down.” - Dave Barry
Bottom left you can see some explosives going off. I have IMed Toast, "the giver of car keys", but had no reply. I guess they were getting a bit tired of waiting down there as well.
I was tempted to fly over and stand on bottom of the second loop and see what happens.
“Auto racing is boring except when a car is going at least 172 miles per hour upside down.” - Dave Barry
19 November 2006
Grid Down
Da grid its broked :-(
Casters up mode, Borked, Down, On the fritz.
Looks like the Grid Monkeys have been unleashed.
Bang the rocks together guys.
Google Search trends
Google is such a hotbed of data, it comes in , and people search for it. But all those searches that you type in are being noted.
Remember all you guys doing the search for "Janet Jackson"?
If you are in the UK, PIPEX will tell you that all us girls are searching for "David Hassellhoff"
( Hysterical laughter dies away )
Well Google has this database of all the searches, or is could be just the popular ones over time, it's Google Trends. The data seems to stop at the end of September 2006, so it's not really great for what we are after right now.
Lets looks at Second Life.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Second+life&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
It shows a steady rise through 2006, the high point here is the Duran Duran concert.
Naturally it is for all "Second Life" searches, not just our favorite platform. But the probability is that would be the main proportion of the searches containing "Second Life".
I'm not to sure about the location based results either.
Lets try another ( Couldn't help it, it the first thing I thought of. ) ( I'm not sure that sounds right! )
http://www.google.com/trends?q=cyber+sex
It's actually going down, the searches I mean, and most searches are from the Philippines, weird, and second is Brisbane Australia. Lets not go there people :-)
Something else, umm, Hurricanes
http://www.google.com/trends?q=hurricanes&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
But this also seems to be a Grid Iron team name. Bum, something else.
My old ISP PIPEX
http://www.google.com/trends?q=pipex&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
Most searches are from Welwyn Garden City, that just happens to be the PIPEX headquarters.
Now Hasselhoff ( OK, I'm just being silly now, I know ) It would also be nicer to put in the graphs, but this is all public access stuff.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Hasselhoff++&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
Looks like the Irish, and the Scandinavian countries love him.
Oh well, go have a play with the Google Trends people.
"Acting is not a big deal, it's basically Halloween." - The Hoff
Remember all you guys doing the search for "Janet Jackson"?
If you are in the UK, PIPEX will tell you that all us girls are searching for "David Hassellhoff"
( Hysterical laughter dies away )
Well Google has this database of all the searches, or is could be just the popular ones over time, it's Google Trends. The data seems to stop at the end of September 2006, so it's not really great for what we are after right now.
Lets looks at Second Life.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Second+life&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
It shows a steady rise through 2006, the high point here is the Duran Duran concert.
Naturally it is for all "Second Life" searches, not just our favorite platform. But the probability is that would be the main proportion of the searches containing "Second Life".
I'm not to sure about the location based results either.
Lets try another ( Couldn't help it, it the first thing I thought of. ) ( I'm not sure that sounds right! )
http://www.google.com/trends?q=cyber+sex
It's actually going down, the searches I mean, and most searches are from the Philippines, weird, and second is Brisbane Australia. Lets not go there people :-)
Something else, umm, Hurricanes
http://www.google.com/trends?q=hurricanes&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
But this also seems to be a Grid Iron team name. Bum, something else.
My old ISP PIPEX
http://www.google.com/trends?q=pipex&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
Most searches are from Welwyn Garden City, that just happens to be the PIPEX headquarters.
Now Hasselhoff ( OK, I'm just being silly now, I know ) It would also be nicer to put in the graphs, but this is all public access stuff.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=Hasselhoff++&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
Looks like the Irish, and the Scandinavian countries love him.
Oh well, go have a play with the Google Trends people.
"Acting is not a big deal, it's basically Halloween." - The Hoff
18 November 2006
More Syncronicity
I got a letter from home yesterday, I won't bore you with my rather odd family or my odder genetic background, or the religous insanity that runs though it all.
I've not been in contact for many years with any of my brothers and sisters, and the letter said my sister was rather ill. So with the help of goolge, dogpile and flickr I was able to find her email address, where she lived, and a recent photo.
Within 5 minutes of sending an email I had a reply. :-) So we are back in contact again.
The syncronicity is that her new flatmate had pretty much the same experience two nights before, her older sibling called, after not being heard of for over ten years.
I think I will have to send her parts to upgrade her PC so she can come in to Second Life as well.
And in other news I've been the subject of a Resident Shapshot on SLI I'm not sure why my skin looks grey, but I noticed it a few days ago.
Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown
( Tell me about it! - S Plasma )
I've not been in contact for many years with any of my brothers and sisters, and the letter said my sister was rather ill. So with the help of goolge, dogpile and flickr I was able to find her email address, where she lived, and a recent photo.
Within 5 minutes of sending an email I had a reply. :-) So we are back in contact again.
The syncronicity is that her new flatmate had pretty much the same experience two nights before, her older sibling called, after not being heard of for over ten years.
I think I will have to send her parts to upgrade her PC so she can come in to Second Life as well.
And in other news I've been the subject of a Resident Shapshot on SLI I'm not sure why my skin looks grey, but I noticed it a few days ago.
Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown
( Tell me about it! - S Plasma )
15 November 2006
Google plasma
Just a bit of fun, I'm not going to mention the local stir about the copythingy.
Although I have noticed the formatting of Blogger Beta leave much to be desired. I'm sure I have been consistant in my line spacings, but it comes out a but mangled.
I have got a new video card for the work PC, a Pentuim 4 3 gig. Sl runs fantastic, and it makes my Athlon 64 3000 at home look slow :-( At least I can log in for a bit at lunch time.
Some say Google is God. Others say Google is Satan. But if they think Google is too powerful, remember that with search engines unlike other companies, all it takes is a single click to go to another search engine - Sergey Brin
13 November 2006
Synchronicity, Life, The Universe, and Everything
Recently Dani had a bit of a disaster when her RL house burnt down. I've always been paranoid about house fires, I turn my PC off while I'm out, and any long W/E away all the power points, except for the Fridge get turned off .
So far I've not had anything come close to going whoosh.
But, in the last two weeks I've had two things in the kitchen catch fire, no damage but just a bit of a fright.
Synchronicity is meaningful coincidences, and I do get quite a lot of this.
e.g I was in a Motorscooter accident about 5 years ago where I broke my Left wrist, 6 months before on the same scooter, on the same street, but at the other end of the street, my partner broke their wrist in the same sort of accident.
BTW Thats also the reason for my bad spelling, after the accident I no longer can see a visual image of words that I'm trying to spell.
All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination?
C.G. Jung
So far I've not had anything come close to going whoosh.
But, in the last two weeks I've had two things in the kitchen catch fire, no damage but just a bit of a fright.
Synchronicity is meaningful coincidences, and I do get quite a lot of this.
e.g I was in a Motorscooter accident about 5 years ago where I broke my Left wrist, 6 months before on the same scooter, on the same street, but at the other end of the street, my partner broke their wrist in the same sort of accident.
BTW Thats also the reason for my bad spelling, after the accident I no longer can see a visual image of words that I'm trying to spell.
All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination?
C.G. Jung
12 November 2006
15,000
It's over 15,000, is this a first ??
The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist.
George Bernard Shaw
11 November 2006
What is the sound of one economist clapping?
I find it amazing that after all this time, Linden Labs didn't have anyone that could use Excel.
Zee Linden comes in, runs the numbers and tell Phillip that LL is loosing money, it looks like lots of money. So the traditional thing to do, is to raise the cost of services eg hosting, and cut wages. That is what they did.
Not very inventive, but just what a pencil pusher would think of.
It's always difficult to guess what is happening inside a service provider. I used to work in the ISP field, and the UK has some quite good forums to discuss the happening in the ADSL world.
On the forums relating to our ISP ( all the staff would read them ) were some of the greatest imagining I've read in a long time.
Our CEO was once called a "suited champagne filled fatcat", yeh..right. Torn jeans and t-shirt, only happy when he's programming his Ciscos.
How about " I can't get my Emails, do you think their Exchange servers are down?" Oh please...250,000 email accounts and you think we use Exchange!!
So unless you are on the inside, and know how it all works, customers making wild speculations can often be quite amusing.
So I promise not to make any more wild guesses on how it all works, and how much it all costs and where the accountants have to make all the cost cutting.
I just think they have to be more inventive, think lateral guys.
“Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.”
Zee Linden comes in, runs the numbers and tell Phillip that LL is loosing money, it looks like lots of money. So the traditional thing to do, is to raise the cost of services eg hosting, and cut wages. That is what they did.
Not very inventive, but just what a pencil pusher would think of.
It's always difficult to guess what is happening inside a service provider. I used to work in the ISP field, and the UK has some quite good forums to discuss the happening in the ADSL world.
On the forums relating to our ISP ( all the staff would read them ) were some of the greatest imagining I've read in a long time.
Our CEO was once called a "suited champagne filled fatcat", yeh..right. Torn jeans and t-shirt, only happy when he's programming his Ciscos.
How about " I can't get my Emails, do you think their Exchange servers are down?" Oh please...250,000 email accounts and you think we use Exchange!!
So unless you are on the inside, and know how it all works, customers making wild speculations can often be quite amusing.
So I promise not to make any more wild guesses on how it all works, and how much it all costs and where the accountants have to make all the cost cutting.
I just think they have to be more inventive, think lateral guys.
“Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.”
04 November 2006
A token of affection
Well imagine my surprise when I teleported to my Sky Condo, it looked really strange and I thought I had picked the wrong one again.
So I teleported back to the ground. Tried again, hmmm waited for everything to rezz properly, and I realised that I was in the correct place. But things were looking a bit odd. I thought another sky box must have crashed into mine. So moving the camera out gave me a big surprise.
You can see, there was a great big boat embedded in my house.
As you might guess, it wasn't there when I left.
I called the landlord ( Cinda ) and asked her to have a look. She was rather impressed, as this was the biggest item she has ever removed. Qualifying that this is probably some token of affection from a secret admirer. We then debated the appeal of boats re flowers.
The privilege of feeling at home everywhere belongs only to kings, wolves and robbers. - Honore de Balzac
02 November 2006
The Fastest heap of prims in the galaxy
Now this is for the real Sci Fi fanatic. I would love to have this on my lawn.
You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought. - Princess Leia
29 October 2006
Sandbox Art
How does this look?
I saw part of this on New World Notes, but I sometimes check out the Sandboxes and was very impressed with this.
This is not just a build, this is Art.
In the words of Maxwell Smart Agent 86,
"Thats the second biggest vibrater I have ever seen."
Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality. - Goethe
Sim barriers and planes don't mix
I was out in the CLAWW again, just for a bit of a flight to Caledon. I was able to skirt a few of the crowed Sims, and protected land. Firstly I found Help Island, adn then got stuck at the barrier.
Cant move forward, back, or to the side. STUCK! :-( And in veiw of the people on the ground and that was much worse.
Time to parachute out so I attached the chute, jumped, twisted, took the plane back into inventory. So I thought I might make a disgret entrance back to HI. This model of the chute , emits particles, so it's hard not to be noticed, I wasn't expecting that, and it was harder to steer. So I just missed the boardwalk and went in to the water.
That looked very uncool, so I teleported home ASAP.
So at home, rerezzed the plane, and off we went again. Only this time I crossed on the exact corner of four sims, two totally full.
So there I am, the plane is just flying in a tight circle, when I say plane, I mean just the lower part of the fusalarge and the engine pods, the rest had disapeared, along with all my clothes and hair. Hmmm tricky ( that's why no pictures for this entry ).
So yes, what do I do now? Teleporting home usually drops me in among 4/5 people. I can't parachute out, as the plane is not really there, and I cant Stand, for the same reason.
So logging out and in was the only thing left, usually I end up on the nearest teleport point when this happens. So it was, no one around and a quick dip into inventory for some clothes.
Being naked approaches being revolutionary; going barefoot is mere populism. - John Updike
Cant move forward, back, or to the side. STUCK! :-( And in veiw of the people on the ground and that was much worse.
Time to parachute out so I attached the chute, jumped, twisted, took the plane back into inventory. So I thought I might make a disgret entrance back to HI. This model of the chute , emits particles, so it's hard not to be noticed, I wasn't expecting that, and it was harder to steer. So I just missed the boardwalk and went in to the water.
That looked very uncool, so I teleported home ASAP.
So at home, rerezzed the plane, and off we went again. Only this time I crossed on the exact corner of four sims, two totally full.
So there I am, the plane is just flying in a tight circle, when I say plane, I mean just the lower part of the fusalarge and the engine pods, the rest had disapeared, along with all my clothes and hair. Hmmm tricky ( that's why no pictures for this entry ).
So yes, what do I do now? Teleporting home usually drops me in among 4/5 people. I can't parachute out, as the plane is not really there, and I cant Stand, for the same reason.
So logging out and in was the only thing left, usually I end up on the nearest teleport point when this happens. So it was, no one around and a quick dip into inventory for some clothes.
Being naked approaches being revolutionary; going barefoot is mere populism. - John Updike
28 October 2006
shelterinexile
Well it's been good and bad news, so lets start with the good.
I've made it to the front page of New World Notes!!
A bit of syncronicity, as you can see from my last post is dropped by Wagners place the day before.
The bad, well I know Mera was upset, really upset, she said as much in her blog. But I didn't know why, there has been few issues at The Shelter, and Coal and Dolomere cover it in detail in their blogs.
I had felt a change in The Shelter, and the only clue I had was that my friends just didn't seem to be around very much, or as much as they used to. I thought it was all the new residents coming in, and everyone being so busy.
So now we have an alternate Shelter in Exile, so thanks to those who put in all the hard work, and a big thanks to Coal for the land.
If I ever get a shoulder rub animation, you can all have a 20min one each from me.
Synchronicity reveals the meaningful connections between the subjective and objective world.
Carl G. Jung (1875 – 1961)
23 October 2006
snowcrash
I guess most people in SL would have heard of the novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. From what I have read from people who have met him, hes fairly indifferent to SL, as he has moved on to other things.
Remember this book was published in 1992.
Well this is on top of Wagner James Aus ( Hamlet Linden ) office at Waterhead., and it's a sort of memorial to the book. I think I came here as I really did want to see the view from his window.
BTW, if you do land on his roof, dont use the teleporter. It's a one way trip.
"Ninety-nine percent of everything that goes on in most Christian churches has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual religion. Intelligent people all notice this sooner or later, and they conclude that the entire one hundred percent is bullshit, which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in people's minds."
[Juanita talking to Hiro] Snow Crash
22 October 2006
Being noticed
WOW, Danielle and Erbo have put me on their Blog Role! Yay! and a comment! Thanks guys and girls.
Naturally just now is when my ISP decides to have a hiccup with the pictures down the bottom of the page.
I'll forgo the comments of what happens were a really good ISP gets taken over by a bad ISP, and then can't figure how it works.
You affect the world by what you browse.
Tim Berners-Lee ( TBL to his friends )
( Note to self:- Chek their is no speelling or gramer mistakkes befor posting yu sily gurl )
Naturally just now is when my ISP decides to have a hiccup with the pictures down the bottom of the page.
I'll forgo the comments of what happens were a really good ISP gets taken over by a bad ISP, and then can't figure how it works.
You affect the world by what you browse.
Tim Berners-Lee ( TBL to his friends )
( Note to self:- Chek their is no speelling or gramer mistakkes befor posting yu sily gurl )
AT AT
Pip Perth and I out in the CLAWW, spying the Empires AT AT Walker,we go in for an attack run, being the good rebel sympathisers we are. :-)
The AT AT is actually on the Shelter Balloon ride route, thats where I saw it first.
The rest of the photos are on Flickr, so yes I have been putting screen captures on there for the last two weeks.
Do you know what the worst part about flying at 50m a sec is ? Protected land. All of a sudden you stop, and your pasenger dissappears, and the both of you wonder were you are. Two nights ago I was flying, and then suddenly I wasn't! I was on the ground still in that "sitting at controls" pose.
OK log out, log back in again, back to normal. Good. So where is that wretched plane? Hmmm can't find it. So I'll have a bit of a fly around instead.
Bizarrely enough, again I crashed in a place I had been to before, some shop I had been to see about a lightsabre. Now they had a TIE fighter in stock (yay!). I could not sit at the controls for a picture unfortuantly (boo), and that's were I met Pip.
Waterhead Welcoming area. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Obi-Wan Kenobi - Star Wars - A New Hope
18 October 2006
Fun with Daleks
I was able to get some free roaming combat daleks, you get a set of two and they hunt each other. It would be more fun to have them chase you or someone else as well I think.
"Oy, Dalek! It's me, the Doctor! What's the matter?Don't you recognize your mortal enemy?" Dr Who in REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS
"Oy, Dalek! It's me, the Doctor! What's the matter?Don't you recognize your mortal enemy?" Dr Who in REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS
15 October 2006
Death In Tibet
Real life Intrudes today:
I'm a very angry person today, after watching the film of the murder a Tibetan nun. I won't put the URL , all you need to do is type "tibet nun shot" in Google, and it's everywhere.
I was a member of Free Tibet about 10 years ago, and I wrote letters to Governments, asking for help for the Tibetans, and the recognition of the Dalai Lama. But I realized it was a dream more than reality. China will never leave Tibet, it sees no reason to, it's like asking when the US will leave Hawaii.
I've read the books and articles from the refugees, the stories of the torture and killing of the Tibetans by the Chinese, the shooting in the film happens every week, it's nothing new, so why am I so angry?
But then as the Chinese have said, they were attacked, and the Army was just defending itself, and this film shows that they are just blatant liars, and they always have been when it comes to Tibet.
Now they have been caught out, and the Chinese Govt are very keen to decide when black is white, and they will screem and shout that black is white and anyone who disagrees is an enemy of China.
You may have seen a few films about China, rememer that Richard Gere film where he has sex with his Chinese lawyer? I have been told that woman who have sex with a non-chinese will be a social outcast All films with Chinese woman havign sex with non-chinese, are either heavily cut or banned. Why? because it's institutionaly racist.
Naturally films with Chinese men and non-chinese woman are fine.
Time to start some activisim.
This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. Dalai Lama
13 October 2006
Meras Shop
Last night I took off in the CLAWW, just flying at random, and turning left, right and then hitting full throttle.
I dropped by Meras shop to look at the art gallery, but it's gone. I wondered if she had noticed.
So I took off again, flying at random, then I hit a Sim boundary, and the CLAWW went to prim heaven, and I had some blurrey moments, and it all went grey.
When I refocused, I was on the waters edge, not on the bottom of the sea, as per normal, and I thought "Great, a new sim to explore" I'll pretend that it's Lost.
Then I noticed a big ballon just like at The Shelter, and a hut on the waters edge, ummm just like The Shelter. I don't know what the odds of this happening , but amazingly I crashed right in to The Shelters waterfront!
I've been trying to go to other places at random. So I went in and stayed for the evening.
BTW I'm wearing my Flight Suit in the photo :-)
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci
12 October 2006
Legal Stuff
It looks like LL is finally getting serious about greifing, and has brought the FBI in. YAY!!
Even better they might restrict scripts to people they "trust"....hmmmm.
Well I turned up to my exam, and they decided it should be £184 rather than £82.
WHAT! NO WAY!
They were a bit surprised as well, and couldn't figure out why the price rise, so they will see if they can get a discount, and let me know.
I told Akela about Cheri's http://www.slpixelpulse.com/ and he put it on SlInsider, and gave me a credit :-)
I was tempted to post the it's not me on the cover, and I am not on any of the pages, or the centre fold.
Money often costs too much.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Even better they might restrict scripts to people they "trust"....hmmmm.
Well I turned up to my exam, and they decided it should be £184 rather than £82.
WHAT! NO WAY!
They were a bit surprised as well, and couldn't figure out why the price rise, so they will see if they can get a discount, and let me know.
I told Akela about Cheri's http://www.slpixelpulse.com/ and he put it on SlInsider, and gave me a credit :-)
I was tempted to post the it's not me on the cover, and I am not on any of the pages, or the centre fold.
Money often costs too much.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
09 October 2006
Goo
As Dolomere would say:- YAGA :-Yet Another Grid Attack.
I'll be happy when the FBI finally catch someone, take them to Court, and they
are either fined or jailed.
But then LL can always take civil action as well.
I was so planning on getting out the CLAWW for a flight, and having a bit of combat flying.
If it weren't for my lawyer, I'd still be in prison. It went a lot faster with two people digging.
Joe Martin, Mister Boffo
I'll be happy when the FBI finally catch someone, take them to Court, and they
are either fined or jailed.
But then LL can always take civil action as well.
I was so planning on getting out the CLAWW for a flight, and having a bit of combat flying.
If it weren't for my lawyer, I'd still be in prison. It went a lot faster with two people digging.
Joe Martin, Mister Boffo
08 October 2006
Green Card Time
Well it's time for the DV-2008 http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ , where those who want a USA Green Card, can go and try their luck.
I've been entering for the last 6 years, but I have calculated the odds are over 1000 to 1 of winning a Green Card.
They get about 10 Million entries, over half are invalid for some reason or another. But they also put aside a certain number for various regions. I'm in the Pacific region, so I think my chances are just a bit higher than Europeans.
The new USA passport looks really nice, although that RFID chip is just asking for trouble IMHO.
http://travel.state.gov/passport/eppt/epptnew_2807.html
I've not spent much time inworld the last few days, I have an exam next thursday.
“Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.”
Gore Vidal
I've been entering for the last 6 years, but I have calculated the odds are over 1000 to 1 of winning a Green Card.
They get about 10 Million entries, over half are invalid for some reason or another. But they also put aside a certain number for various regions. I'm in the Pacific region, so I think my chances are just a bit higher than Europeans.
The new USA passport looks really nice, although that RFID chip is just asking for trouble IMHO.
http://travel.state.gov/passport/eppt/epptnew_2807.html
I've not spent much time inworld the last few days, I have an exam next thursday.
“Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.”
Gore Vidal
06 October 2006
First Post
So here I am, joining the online blogging brigade. Why now, because it's Aimee Webers fault!! Here i was just fooling around with the DIY Southpark at http://www.sp-studio.de/ and then put it up on Flickr, and then AW has to do it!
But so what if hers look better, oh well.
Well this will mostly be about 2nd Life, I have sort of been inspired by Torleys pics on Flickr to do more while I'm in world.
I've seen a nice plane by Cubey Terra I think I'll get, it's the CLAWW, why this one? Because it's the only one I didn't crash within seconds of take off, and look, he has a web site http://www.cubeyterra.com/ cool.
I'm not a great flyer, I must have left 7-8 UFOs in the water around Help Island while I was there. But I took this out for a fly, and it was great.
When I took out the Ornithopter, well, lets say the people in the Sandbox next to the airport dont even lookup (down?) when you go straight in to the ground. It's not the plane, it's my flying.
So I will be playing around with the design of the site for some time, the random pics down the bottom, don't really work like I had thought. But then when I started on the Web HTML was done in Notepad or vi.
Do not spin this aircraft. If the aircraft does enter a spin it will return to earth without further attention on the part of the aeronaut.
— first handbook issued with the Curtis-Wright flyer.
But so what if hers look better, oh well.
Well this will mostly be about 2nd Life, I have sort of been inspired by Torleys pics on Flickr to do more while I'm in world.
I've seen a nice plane by Cubey Terra I think I'll get, it's the CLAWW, why this one? Because it's the only one I didn't crash within seconds of take off, and look, he has a web site http://www.cubeyterra.com/ cool.
I'm not a great flyer, I must have left 7-8 UFOs in the water around Help Island while I was there. But I took this out for a fly, and it was great.
When I took out the Ornithopter, well, lets say the people in the Sandbox next to the airport dont even lookup (down?) when you go straight in to the ground. It's not the plane, it's my flying.
So I will be playing around with the design of the site for some time, the random pics down the bottom, don't really work like I had thought. But then when I started on the Web HTML was done in Notepad or vi.
Do not spin this aircraft. If the aircraft does enter a spin it will return to earth without further attention on the part of the aeronaut.
— first handbook issued with the Curtis-Wright flyer.
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