Interholiday Round-up

Many Tardis products which rely on rezzer positioning are broken in Second Life. 

Apparently they work by virtue of a fault in LL sim technology.  A parameter which was necessary for a myriad of extended functions but which shouldn't be possible. A blessing in the guise of a bug. 

The gridwide upgrade this month caught and fixed it, slamming and damning folks such as Novatech, makers of Horizons systems.  Several TARDIS brands including, Bad Wolf Corp, New London Systems, Hands of Omega, and Cheshyr's own Novatech were hampered by this fix. 

Basically anyone rezzing an affected product will be subject to the land properties set at 0,0 on that sim.  If you're subject to a no rez restriction, there will be complications.  For some a portion of the build does not rez.  For me, depending on the build, the main portion rezzes in position and other linked parts rez offset or way out of position, with the false alert in chat that I've rezzed too close to a property border.   I spoke with the owner in the southeast corner of Hydrangea.  The land there is a rental and it wouldn't be fair to them or their renter to change the settings.

Not everyone will notice it of course. Sim owners, protected land and so on shouldn't get in the way of precision rezzing.

According to the JIRA for this break, there is a new LSL parameter which will be added in a scheduled deployment in January. Novatech and those who utilize the Horizons system for their products will apply in upgrades.  

I can't imagine Horizons being unique.  Rez Foo and Rez Faux users may want to check for updates when the time comes.  Meanwhile, my elaborate Smith grade control room won't be happening.  I look forward to its return. It's still my favorite.

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-7265

Mesh. 

I can't make fun of Mesh anymore.  If anything I'm fair, and with Phoenix' latest update, most of the grid now has a choice over whether to use a V1 or V3 type interface and see full content.  Imprudence still holds back lag the best (even Emerald - Phoenix' predecessor - was a memory hog for Windows users), therefore I continue to use that.  I hope whatever they need to clear to move forward with multiple attachments and mesh rendering gets resolved sooner than later.  In the meantime I'll hold my tongue about your invisible torso and that woodgrain donut on your arm.  IMHO viewable or not, if you have to let some clothier redefine your body to such a degree, you're neither you and those aren't just clothes anymore. Note if your face is covered by a rogue prim, it's likely that I won't acknowledge you. It's just rude to appear that way; at least my friends know how I'm viewing them and haven't obscured their faces.


New Toulouse had a dusting last weekend.  It reminded me of how New Orleans often experienced frozen ponds and puddles in winter, spending time before 1st grade chopping at the white spots in the ice with our heels until the bell rang.  One year though we had a serioso blizzard (before I started going to school) which allowed me to experience snow for the first time.  Dad was stuck home and we made a snowman in the parking lot.  Before that I had no idea snow was cold or wet.  It all looked like soap flakes on TV.  Probably were...

Unfortunately the beauty I've enjoyed - although not enough - is coming to an end on Skybeam.  The snows will thaw to an early spring following New Year's.  Not quite the Imbolc I looked forward to with the coldest month not yet upon us, but it's not my estate.  I'll change the tree from snowy branches to bare at that time - too soon for blooms before Ostara.  After going to college in SoCal I resolved never to live where the seasons were not defined.  It was just too disconcerting.

On the plus side, I'll be DJing at Bacchus on the Beach on New Year's Eve, then going to The Stardust Diner to host the East Coast Countdown as usual.  DJ GoSpeed Racer will be playing the tunes.  I haven't had a party in some time, so it will be nice to have one again.  This has been a perrenial since 2003 in Cybertown.

An Open Letter to Steven Moffat

Dear Steven Moffat,

Thanks to you, I'm watching Doctor Who. I watched Eleventh Hour and my mouth was ajar the whole time. Here was just a television show which was easily worthy of a cinematic release. Some 32 years since I first heard of Doctor Who, I was finally brought into the fold.  This means that Matt Smith is my Doctor. As with many of my contemporaries, I started collecting DVDs for Series 1-4 to bring myself up to date. It made your taking over as head writer seem all the more a blessing.

However I have to say that the executive producing thing has taken its toll on your storytelling.  We'll never see another The Doctor Dances or Blink (personally I felt The Girl in the Fireplace was what you'd call rubbish, so I don't count that among your gems).  There's something inspired about those great stories, a go-for-it spirit, an surge of energy behind what made them possible.  Even series 5 was one big inspired story arc, the likes I hadn't seen since Back to the Future trilogy or Buster Keaton's The Cameraman.  I don't know if it's having to divide cleverness and plot between Doctor Who and Sherlock, but as marvelous as individual stories have been throughout series 6, the big one with River Song which you orchestrated was forced and contrived.  An organized religious order after The Doctor?  Yeah right.  Sex between humans in the TARDIS imbue offspring with TimeLord DNA?  900+ years you'd think by now he'd have switched gears and lured people in for centuries just to rebuild his race.  It's a bit crazy that he didn't know, unless it was made clear that the TARDIS intentionally caused Melody's enhancement, which hasn't been implied in any way. And still there's the question of how The Silence knew in the first place that Amy was carrying a part Timelord fetus? How did they know conception in the TARDIS would cause this if The Doctor himself didn't?

Can't say divvying up mental resources hasn't told on Sherlock.  After a great start, Pretty in Pink had a copout ending.  Suddenly Sherlock stopped what he was doing like someone holding up a shiney before a crow.  No one who doesn't care what people think about them would stop to play ego footsie without bluffing, and he wasn't bluffing.  That's too gullible for a walking analytical machine.  It was a kink in the chain for the series IMHO.

Anyway, wrap it up.  Cut the crap.  No contrived endings. Bring back Wilf before Bernard Cribbins can no longer do the role.  Let his best friend back in 2009 know he's okay.  Forget a multi-Doctor reunion and stick The Doctor in that parallel universe to contend with a deadly and corrupt and overzealous Torchwood and half-human David Tennant, Pete, and Rose (there you have it: a sort of not quite tenth Doctor that won't slam The Doctor's own timeline). 

Of course you won't be doing these, even if they serve as closure to the fans and that we see this as one all-encompassing show and deserving of some crossable barriers.

Oh and please PLEASE ask BBCAmerica to stop the hell altering the opening sequence.  It's bad enough they take 25% off specials and two parter episodes that they have to further insult our intelligence with namby pamby content.

Thanks and here's to some real juicy storytelling for series 7 and 8! Make it worth the wait for a double series for the 50th. Hopefully - if the planet still exists in 2014 - we're back to starting on Easter.