Time Out For Fun

I wasn't feeling very holidayish this year until I came across Divvivity in my hoverboard travels on Snow Day. Suddenly I remembered that I had a party just about every other week when I had the diner in Turtle Dove last year.  What happened? 

Well, it's time to make up for things with a Party!

The annual East Coast Countdown will be held this year at the Starship Diner in Hydrangea from 8:30pm SLT on New Year's Eve.  GoSpeed Racer is tentatively scheduled to spin the tunes (when plans are firmed, this part of the post will be edited) as we ring in the new year in Times Square.  A URL to some webcam will be provided for offgrid viewing while yours truly enjoys a local tradition of cable channel New York 1 covering the event without interference from 11:55est onward.

I got decorations & food for the event, and I'll be dusting off the bunny ball. Free hats will be available as well.

The Dalek will not be present unless someone insists on a snowball fight.

I plan to update the video in time for the party to possibly a classic cartoon.  Today is the last day you can catch the stars of Doctor Who sing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by clicking the mural of a cheeseburger deluxe.

Better realign my matrix for this event.

Friends and o-matic subscribers will get an invite; I'll also post the SLURL on Twitter when we start.

Update Scourgemobiles & Test Drive

Three more rezzers, one of them a "bus stop," were found in Heterocera since last writing.  I've updated the list I keep inworld.

Last weekend I sent Snurky to go for an ex-Scourge-sion. hahaha

It was interesting. Not a minute or two into the ride it offered to sell the car, claiming the vehicle was free and the price was for the automated script.  Even if that's the case, using these creators' builds to solicit scripts when at least one of them noticeably left over exploitation of their creations is a bit low.  The ride itself was okay for the first minute as a novelty concept, but the lumbering around got tedious very quickly. These vehicles handle the roads like someone drunk feeling their way in the dark at night to get to the bathroom.

I had an odd visit from a group with dramatic notions of non-involvement.  I neither came to them nor asked for help from any transportation group of residents.  Wouldn't non-involvement suggest that the best course of action would be silent observation from a safe distance?  If they cannot help as friends and individuals then that's that. It's very simple.  At any rate, my position concerns the quality of residents' lives being compromised by the actions of one selfish person's avatars.  Any limitations imposed - and there will have to be to do right by Mainland's denizens - will affect their group and similar ones.  I originally took them to be enthusiasts looking to see the routes built so they could enjoy riding on them with glorious constructs; turns out they have several automated projects among their members.

I'm calling the compulsion to schedule personal, unmanned vehicles on protected roads and rail Skimbleshanks' Syndrome.  That's what they have.  They missed the point of having routes to allow them to enjoy the ride and explore.  Sort of like losing one's soul in a way. I still maintain that if you want to run your own transportation service, do it on your own property like many, far more talented residents have.

This would be a separate behavior from what I'm trying to put a stop to.  The person in question just litters the routes, and enough of us have had our fill of them.  Now all we need is Linden Intervention.

The Scourge Continues

So during my break, instead of working on the comic and some new T-shirt designs for the gallery, I went on a mission to track as many Rezzers I could find on Mainland responsible for the Scourgemobiles.  It's very possible that i've missed some in Sansara for the reasons brought up last post. 

I continue to be in awe of what residents have created.  It's really quite nice, from ambitious urban downtown districts on Corsica to lovely seaside towns on Nautlius.  Gaeta along Route 8 consists predominantly of marinas and tropical resorts: Tiki and fishbait; you can smell the seawater.  The inland routes are like driving through a New England Colonial town.

And then the Scourgemobiles - a representation of everything wrong in our society - mar these landscapes.

It's a sin.  It truly is. 

There's even more going on: the use of one Arcadia Asylum's vehicles for this among other builders.  Way more than one fan of AA's expressed that she would not be happy knowing her builds were used to disrupt the Second Life experiences so many at the whim of one person.

In my travels I've met more supporters and made a couple more friends. If anything good comes from all this, I've already got the icing on the cake.

I haven't ridden those things personally, but from what I've heard maybe I should.

There are two bits I've been told about them: first that they nag for money whenever you unsit from one.  Asking for a tip: it is what it is. Either you put a jar in the prefab station or you stop touting it as a free ride.  The other is that if you ride in one long enough, it offers the vehicle for sale - more soliciting.  They're worse than anyone thought: they're adfarms in motion, solocitation scripts dominating protected land, shoving residents out of their way.

Remember my recent post about Linden Labs having to set rules and make concessions?  Remember when new ones are set for automated and unmanned vehicles, and that it won't have been the fault of Linden Labs, Philip, Jack, Blondin, or even the new CEO Rod.  The changes and restrictions were the result of one resident's actions.

The Road Less Hoverboarded

  As mentioned previously here and/or on Twitter, I've taken to going to places in Second Life either via TARDIS or hoverboard over teleporting or by Stargate. The folks at New London have given me my own TARDIS landing spot on a moon just a ways from a Judoon ship.  I've mastered three different routes from The Starship Diner to TMA Nessus and the railyards of Gluphasia.  I've easily navigated from Purple in Sansara across the water to Heterocera up the Atoll coast to Starship Diner.

What fascinates me the most is the roadside content.  Think of it: about two-and a half years ago most of Mainland was cluttered with cheesy porn and adfarms along bare roadbeds.  Now the porn is gone, the adfarms are 90% clear, and the roads paved.  In fact it seems properties along these roads live up to what the Moles have put down.  There is true inspiration at work.

While I've made the excursion from Cartoon World in Bay City to Abbotts Aerodrome, it's a dodgy route which involves skirting the Ahern Welcome Area to avoid the lag and 4-way region crossing (especially since once you crash, the ride is over; there are no rezzing zones nearby) and traversing terrain there's the risk of hitting a banline.

I've even attempted from Heterocera to Bay City, a very difficult and irritating route by virtue of poor terraforming and intermittent patches of road.  Even went from Andrew Linden's office hour location in Denby to Abbotts, an equally unpleasant feat with the added obstacle of a full help island region bordered by banlined parcels.

Sansara needs a major replanning.  No access to key areas from roads - when there IS a road - except between the Bay City- Nova Albion - Suburbs sector (and guess what? Two of those communities are not recognized by LL as part of Sansara).  You can see they plopped down some regions, added more regions, still more, pieces added here, some snowy ones there, some beach terrain in the corner...

There's no budget for it nor staff.  It seems to me many people who once owned estates - when they stay in SL - could be embracing large chunks of Mainland more and more; the dollar auctions are empty.

We're certainly seeing less 512's on Mainland.  Homesteads are bringing people into the Noob Continent as a first step (when inhabitants aren't Oldbies or estate owners).  They break out from there in search of open spaces and roomy, configurable land.  It could be why roadside lands more and more have that fresh look to them.  Michael Linden has indicated that he and the Moles have been assigned to add more land to the N C so there's certainly fresh meat for a new generation of property owners to set the look.

LL's Poor Sense of Content Priority or Attack of the Snail Race

A fate befell Snurky yesterday during the Giant Snail Races.  Some preteen hacker (probably - aren't they all?) had placed replicator cubes around the area which brought Hawthorne down during the filming of the Second Chance Race.

Snurky logged back in to be told the region was unavailable and that she would be redirected to a nearby location.  One would have thought that meant the Governor's mansion.  Instead she found herself at the Zindra infohub of Ungren.

As a giant snail.

In a crowd of scantily clad avatars.

It seems Linden Labs hasn't gotten their heads on straight.  Common sense would dictate that someone bounced from a Mature region be placed in another Mature region.

Snurky - as are my other avatars - are age verified and have the discretion to go anywhere they desire.  If I decide to visit some sort of art show on an adult island then there's nothing to stop me, and there shouldn't be. 

Linden Labs on the other hand, has absolutely NO RIGHT to subject me to a random adult experience without my consent. The reasoning being that no one has the right to subject anyone to a random sexual scenario without consent.  It's one of the things which defines civilized society.  Like saying because someone has sex with their spouse it must be okay to rape them; they have sex anyway, right?


We should never have to change our settings. That suggests we cannot trust Linden Labs and that THEIR behavior is suspect.

Snurky saw this as a form of harassment.  A ticket was filed in complaint to Linden Labs.

Meanwhile four other snails appeared in various welcome locations across the grid. One reportedly was threatened for griefing because of their size.  It's not like anyone in snail form could help it.

And the region might not have had to come down.  An overzealous racer had apparently been riling up the troll by private message.  Apparently he wasn't aware that the last thing anyone should do is talk to a troll.  In his paste-down in local chat it was clear they were instigated to the point where they said they would "turn off the Internet" - as expressed in broken English.

On the plus side it wasn't as laggy for the Final race.

This week's broadcast will show just the Final race as a result of the outage.  It just so happened we had just the right number of racers to all be in one together.

Further Pursuit to One Corner

Just to get things straight:

I am a Mark I EMH (Emergency Medical Hologram) who has fun masquerading in the visage of The Doctor - which happens to be what the crew called me - in search of intriguing Kodak Moments.

And I'm enjoying the hair.

I'm not a completist and truly no yesman when it comes to any fandom.  But I'm deprived of backstory for a better understanding of my subject and lack enough angles to draw either of his latest generations comfortably.  Short of meeting either in person, I have to satisfy myself with as much video and imagery, while at the same time see through illusions of volume and depth.

If I run around looking like the Tenth or Eleventh Doctor or variants experimenting in other outfits (for example in Starfleet dress uniform), it's not with any premise that I'm The Doctor - other than The Doctor I always was as an EMH.  Confused yet?

Then I must decide whether to refer to the reality of their visages as actors or settle for the illusions which are intended to define their fictional portrayals.

I can already draw rings around those who currently output comics in publications - nothing new about what I do there - but I've raised the bar on myself.  I do that.

The Doctor isn't the only character.  There's an ensemble of grid residents representing not just subcultures, but some contain RL backstory as well.  There's even a main villain.  I have a tendency to give little regard to minor characters with reference to detail, and I'm working to overcome that.

Homing in on The Holodays

Snurky starts her career as a snail racer this Sunday.  The theme is "cute animals," so what better choice for Snurky Snoodle than to be a poodle?

In other news, I saw a Vulcan wearing Starfleet Medical pajamas last week.  It's flattering to see that my 7Seas catchables are appreciated.

I suppose I should make some more; if I choose to throw a pajama party then Sevhen has nothing trendy to wear.  Sure she wears her catsuit during regeneration, but what's so special about that?

And you know I'm long overdue for some parties.  Clear out the pet Dalek, lower the counter, bring out the bunnyhop ball, set up some slots with GoSpeed...