Year: 2013

One Billion Rising in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

one-billion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Saffia Widdershins
E-mail address: 1billionrisinginsecondlife-at-gmail.com
Blog: http://onebillionrisingsl.wordpress.com/

COME AND DANCE: ONE BILLION RISING IN SECOND LIFE
SECOND LIFE® RESIDENTS JOIN GLOBAL CAMPAIGN “ONE BILLION RISING”
TO STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

 February 14, 2013 to be V-Day’s Largest Day of Action Ever

On February 14, 2013, for 24 hours starting at midnight Pacific Standard Time, Second Life residents will join with activists around the world in a spectacular 24-hour dance event for ONE BILLION RISING, the largest day of action in the history of V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls.

one-billion-2ONE BILLION RISING began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. On February 14, 2013, men and women in Second Life will join activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and people across the world to Walk, Dance, and Rise as a show of unity, individual strength, and the need for change.

The Second Life event will feature a four-region stage where 200 people can dance together, surrounded by an area of art installations and informational exhibits. A variety of performers will play over the 24-hour period, enabling people all over the world to attend this virtual event no matter their timezone. The regions will have a General maturity rating to allow all residents an opportunity to participate. Pictures are welcome on the event’s Flickr group.

The objective of the event is to raise awareness, not to raise funds; however, information about real-world organisations will be available for those wishing to donate.

One Billion Rising in Second Life is sponsored by: Alchemy Immortalis; Bits and Bobs Animations; Cheeky Pea; The Domineaux Effect; Dutchie; Galland Homes; Garden of Dreams; Gos Boutique; Gwen Carillon Designs/Serenite; Heart Garden Centre; Kaerri; Maven Homes; Meshworx; Prime; Rustica; and Spargel and Shine. In-kind sponsors are: CaLLie CLine; Fruit Islands; Home and Garden Market; KittyCatS!; and Prim Perfect Publications.

Further Information

About One Billion Rising

One in three women on the planet is raped or beaten in her lifetime. That is ONE BILLION WOMEN violated. One billion daughters, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, lovers and friends. On February 14, 2013, V-Day’s 15th Anniversary, we are inviting ONE BILLION women and those who love them to WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to this violence. ONE BILLION RISING will move the earth, activating women and men to dance across every country.

For more information go to http://www.onebillionrising.org/

About V-Day

V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2012, over 5,800 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $90 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, reopened shelters, and funded over 14,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. Over 300 million people have seen a V-Day benefit event in their community.

For more information go to http://www.vday.org/

Myths, sleuths, ink and plums

Posted on by Inara Pey

Once again, the Seanchai Library will be presenting a round of stories and readings in Voice this coming week, with the continuation of a number of stories and a hike up Mount Olympus…

As always, all times SLT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island.

Sunday 20th January, 13:30 – Tea-time at Baker Street

Sherlock Holmes, aided by his ever-faithful diarist, Doctor John Watson, investigates The Adventure of the Cardboard Box.

The affair begins when Miss Susan Cushing of Croydon receives a grisly parcel of two severed human ears, packed in salt.  Inspector Lestrade is convinced that the parcel is a prank on the part of three medical students Miss Cushing was forced to evict from her lodgings due to their unruly behaviour. Lestrade points to the parcel as coming from Belfast – the home of one of the former lodgers – as reason for his suspicions. On examining the parcel, however, Holmes is certain that they are dealing with a far more serious crime, pointing to the poor spelling used to address the parcel, with rough means by which the ears had been severed and the use of course salt as packaging as being indicative of someone with poorer education and lesser surgical skills as might be expected of a doctor-in-training.

Join Caledonia Skytower and Corwyn Allen as they resume reading from the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

Monday 21st January, 19:00 – Notwithstanding: Stories from an English Village

notwithstandingFamous for his more exotic locations and stories such as Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and Red Dog, Louis de Bernieres used England for the setting for a series of short stories written early in his career.

Located in and around the fictional village of Notwithstanding, which is somewhat based on the village of Worley in Surry, where he grew up, the stories were various published in newspapers, etc., prior to being brought together into this single volume in 2009. Semi-autobiographical in places, the stories are rich in English rural detail and contain references to many real-world locations in Surrey, and allow de Bernieres to ruminate on a part of English life he believes to now be vanishing.

Join Caledonia Skytower as she dips into de Bernieres’ England.

Tuesday January 22nd, 19:00: Inkspell (Part 3)

Faerie Maven-Pralou continues Cornelia Funke’s young adult which forms the second part of her Inkworld trilogy. The books chronicle the adventures of teenager Meggie Folchart whose life changes dramatically when she realizes that she and her father, a bookbinder named Mo, have the unusual ability to bring characters from books into the real world when reading aloud. Mostly set in Northern Italy and the parallel world of the fictional Inkheart book, the central story arc concerns the magic of books, their characters and creatures, and the art of reading.

In Inkspell, a year has passed since the events related in Inkheart, the first book in the series. Not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of Inkheart, a book that has characters that come to life. Resa is back. The fire-eater, Dustfinger, wants to go back to his wife daughters-who are in the story. When he finds a crazy, self-absorbed psycho storyteller, Orpheus, who can read him back into the book, he goes into the pages. Soon Farid convinces Meggie to read him into the book so he can warn Dustfinger of Basta. But Meggie has figured out how to read herself and Farid into the book Inkheart.

Wednesday January 23rd, 19:00: Quite a Year for Plums

plumsAnyone who has read the best-selling Mama Makes Up Her Mind or listened to Bailey White’s commentaries on NPR knows that she is a storyteller of inimitable wit and charm. Now, in her stunningly accomplished first novel, she introduces us to the peculiar yet lovable people who inhabit a small town in south Georgia.

Meet serious, studious Roger, the peanut pathologist and unlikely love object of half the town’s women. Meet Roger’s ex-mother-in-law, Louise, who teams up with an ardent typographer in an attempt to attract outer-space invaders with specific combinations of letters and numbers. And meet Della, the bird artist who captivates Roger with the sensible but enigmatic notes she leaves on things she throws away at the Dumpster.

Kayden Oconnell is joined by Caledonia Skytower as they continue to read from the novel.

Thursday January 24th, 19:00: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

timeless-talesMythology: Times Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton was first published in 1942. It covers the classic tales of the Greek and Roman mythology as well as touching upon ancient Norse mythology as well. Within it are tales of Gods and heroes, ranging from the creation of the world through to notable events such as the Trojan Wars and encompassing some of the notable families of Greek mythology – house of Atreus, the royal house of Thebes, and the royal house of Athens. Within the pages lie tales of all descriptions, including those of love.

Join Shandon Loring as he dips a toe into the rich, deep waters of mythology and legend.

Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and additions to the week’s schedule.

Librarian Emeritus

In March 2008, Derry McMahon founded the West of Ireland Library and Cultural Centre, which later became the Seanchai Library SL. After over four years of building and maintaining the Library’s programme of events she has decided to step back her participation to pursue other interests on the grid, including her burgeoning talent as a visual artist through virtual photography, and spending time with her partner Bear Silvershade (also a retired member of the Seanchai core staff). She remains a part of the Seanchai family, and together with Bear will continue to present stories at the Library or other venues as opportunities arise. Chief Storyteller Shandon Loring, and Lead Caledonia Skytower will continue the good work begun by Derry.

I’d like to pass on my thanks to Derry for all her work with the Library, and wish her (and Bear’s) continued success in all their endeavours, and to remaining a “friend across the water” to both :).

Note that throughout January and February, and to mark Derry’s stepping back from the day-to-day running of the Seanchai Library SL, all donations will go to Derry’s chosen real-world charity, Doctors Without Borders! Have questions? IM or notecard Caledonia Skytower.

Related Links

Wandering through the Morning Dew

Posted on by Inara Pey

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft a-gley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promised joy.

– Robert Burns, To a Mouse, 1786

I don’t often start a blog post with a poem, but in this case, it seemed appropriate, because this last week or so has been marked by my schemes going awry on an almost daily basis, particularly where Second Life is concerned. Following the deployment of the new interest list code, for example, I jumped over to one of my favourite regions I know to be running on BlueSteel, intent on giving a write-up of how the new code works – only for the code to be rolled back …

Nor have recent attempts to blog about another region I frequently visit, but have yet to blog about go any better. Such is the popularity of that region that my PC decided that repeatedly keeling over in a heap and whimpering quietly was preferable to struggling with the load…

Morning Dew
Morning Dew

Sometimes, however, such upsets in the road of life can prove to be serendipitous. For had the best laid schemes o’ avatars named Pey, nae gang aft a-gley (so to speak mangle), then I’d probably not have stumbled upon Teresa Matfield’s wonderful Morning Dew in her region of Westdell.

The home of Teresa’s T-Spot  Design, which provides a wide range of full permission sculpt kits for builders and content creators, the region describes itself as “A peaceful place in an old world theme,” and invites people to, “Visit the old village, the tower ruin, Merlin’s cottage or have a drink at the old Tavern.”

Morning Dew
Morning Dew

The arrival point delivers visitors to the gates of a walled village. Here the weary traveller can seek spiritual sustenance at the little church, cool their feet in the pond or seek sustenance of a different sort at the Drunk Monk Tavern before buying provisions at the little store. Geese and chickens wander the rutted tracks of the village, watched over by a cat who may also have thoughts of sustenance on his mind. It is a tranquil scene, ideally suited to an early morning or late afternoon setting. Amble through the village and you’ll come to the bakery, where you’ll find the teleporters to Teresa’s store in the sky overhead, itself worth a visit if you have any interest in building and / or landscaping.

Beyond the walls of the village, tracks and paths wend their way across the region, each leading to one or more points of interest – such as Merlin’s cottage, as mentioned in the region’s description, and in which a broom busily sweeps the floor, reminiscent of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, albeit without the water.

Morning Dew
Morning Dew

Walk through the woods and past leafy resting spots with birds calling from overhead, and you’ll come to fields of grass where sit cottages and, on the horizon, a tall windmill and house atop a hill. Ruins are also waiting to be found by those willing to seek, rising up against a backdrop of distant hills across the water. There are hills to climb as well, passing standing stones and with paths leading up to a high observation point with a waterfall rushing downward. Here one can stand and watch the sun set between the hills sheltering the bay, or sit with a close one and talk away the hours until the stars come out to share their secrets.

Morning Dew is a superbly photogenic region, with everything within it  – both Teresa’s own creations and those made by a number of noted talents in SL – bought together in a magnificent blend to create an idyllic setting ideal to escape the pressures of the world, and which offers the imagination a myriad of openings for tales to be woven.

Morning Dew
Morning Dew

As is probably more than obvious to regular readers, photogenic, natural regions are a magnet for me; so it’ll come as no surprise that Morning Dew has, from my first visit, captured a part of my heart. Truth be told, there has been a something of a void in my SL in the weeks since Scribbled Hearts at Water Reserve went away. In happening upon Morning Dew, I may just have found something to fill that void quite perfectly.

I didn’t set out to discover or explore Morning Dew; as I said at the top of this piece, my focus for SL today was very different up until things went a little higgledy-piggledy. All-in-all, I’m glad they did, because this is where the magic of Second Life remains; no matter where you roam or what you see, there is always something new to be discovered, and there are always opportunities by which frustration can be turned to joy. Morning Dew has been a joyful discovery for me, and I’ve little doubt I’ll be back as and when I can, if only to sit under the trees and listen to the birds.

So don’t be surprised if you trip over me during your own visit!

Related Links

Changes to the Abandoned Land Policy

Posted on by Inara Pey

secondlifeLinden lab have made alterations to the Mainland Abandoned Land Policy as of January 15th, 2013. The changes see the policy largely rationalised to improve readability, particularly the sections relating to purchasing Abandoned Land, claiming Abandoned Land and triggering an auction.

However, what may cause concern are the changes made to land abandoned in error.

Previously, this was handled as follows (Abandoned Land Policy, June 2011):

When a mainland parcel is abandoned, there is a short period (from one hour to 24 hours) during which an owner can reclaim the land if he/she abandoned it in error. After that period, objects on the land are returned to the original owner, the name of the parcel changes to “Abandoned Land – For Sale,” and ownership transfers to Governor Linden. The land can then be purchased by anyone with a premium account.

The revised policy now states:

When a mainland parcel is abandoned, the ownership of the parcel changes to Governor Linden.  There is no Linden dollar (L$) grant related to abandoned land.  Once abandoned, the parcel settings are amended to reflect the abandoned status and auto-return settings are enabled after one week.

I abandoned my land by mistake!

You should never expect to be able to reclaim abandoned land.  Please use care to make sure that any abandonment action is intentional.  However, if you do make a mistake, please submit a support case as soon as possible.  Include the parcel location and explain that you would like to reclaim a parcel you abandoned by mistake.  We can attempt to make a one-time courtesy effort to recover the land for you.

This effectively means that the automated buy-back of abandoned land is being eliminated. The new code is alrweady live on the Magnum RC. Concerns were raised at the Server Beta User Group meeting that this could make obtaining mainland harder, as use cases exist whereby the short-term abandonment of land can assist with land purchases (such as obtaining a section of abandoned land to increase land holdings without actually trigger a tier rise).  While Maestro Linden himself was in no position to comment on the policy change, he did offer to feed concerns back to the Land Team.

Note this policy relates to Mainland only, and does not apply to private regions.

Related Links

SL project news: week 3 (1): Servers, Materials, Baking and more

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update 19th January: As is being reported in the deployment thread in the forums, further issues are arising with search, and also problems with scripted vehicles (as Wolf also nones in the comments for this article. Those using regions running on Magnum are advised to keep an eye on the deployment thread for news on issues as they are investigated by other users / feedback from the Lab.

Update 18th January: An issue has ben reported with Magnum regions no longer being listed in the main search floater, although shops, etc, within a Magnum region are still listed. The problem does not extend to the world map search. Maestro Linden has filed a bug report. A rolling restart of all LeTigre and BlueSteel regions commenced at 10:00 SLT due to instablility issues being reported with the regions. The restart will comprise a roll-back of server code on BlueSteel and LeTigre to 12.12.18.268345.

Deployments for Week 3

After the issues encountered last, week, there was no main channel release on Tuesday 15th January, 2013.

Changes also occurred with the RC channel deployments. As fixes for the threaded region crossing problems were not ready for release, this was removed from the schedule and replaced by a maint-server release. Then, a network hardware error forced the RC deployments to be postponed until Thursday 17th January.

The roll-outs duly took place on the 17th, and comprise:

BlueSteel and LeTigre received the interest list improvement project. Originally scheduled for Magnum in week 2, but was held up due to a last-minute bugs, this  update should reduce the bandwidth usage of viewers due to object updates, and should improve simulator performance, especially in sims with many connected avatars – release notes here (BlueSteel).

This release received an additional bug fix, related to seated avatars temporarily vanishing from other avatars’ view when  crossing between regions. This fix may have led to the server release notes as reported and wiki pages for BlueSteel and LeTigre slipping out of sync with the actual code release (this has now been corrected subsequent to my pointing it out to Maestro Linden).

Magnum received a new server maintenance project, which mostly contains bug fixes, together with the following:

  • Server-side code to support “neck” and “center” attach points, which didn’t get rolled out when these were added to the viewer (but which now also require a minor change to the viewer, which is forthcoming)
  • An update to improve the effectiveness of estate bans (i.e. preventing banned avatars returning)
  • An update for builders, which covers SVC-7996 and as a part of STORM-68 (ensuring all created items have the default permissions set within the viewer). This particular fix ensures that scripts created using the New Script button in the build floater inherit the permissions set within the viewer, rather than server-defined defaults
  • An update to how abandoned mainland is handled, as the automated buy-back option for abandoned land is being eliminated (see: Abandoned Land in the Knowledge Base)
  • Release notes here.

Deployments for Week 4 (Commencing Monday 21st January)

There is no major news on releases for week 4, other than the threaded region crossing code now has fixes for the last-minute issues which prevented its roll-out in week 2, so this should be on one of the RC channels for deployment on Wednesday 23rd January.

SL Viewer

The release version of the SL viewer rolled to the 3.4.4 codebase on Tuesday January 15th, with the release of 3.4.4.268864. See the release notes for details of updates and fixes.The development viewer is rapidly progressing through a series of releases, with 3.4.6.269073 released on January 15th, followed by 3.4.6.269108 on January 17th.

After a series of development version releases, the CHUI project viewer also moved to the 3.4.4 codebase with the release of version 3.4.4.268981, also on January 15th. The Development version of CHUI continues to keep pace with releases from viewer-development.

Server-side Baking

Work is continuing on avatar baking (otherwise know as server-side baking or Project Sunshine), with Nyx Linden reporting at the Content Creation User Group on Monday 14th January that the team has, “Been a bit heads-down focusing on some bug-stomping.”

Concern is growing that, since the initial release of the Sunshine Project viewer a month ago, there have been no further updates to the viewer-side code, despite extensive feedback from TPVs, which  – in the words of one developer – is not conducive to enabling everyone to adopt the latest code and get ready for the baking service within anticipated time frames (i.e. mid-to-late February).

Nyx has acknowledged the problem, and hopes that the Sunshine code will be merged-up to the latest viewer development code soon, together with verification that nothing has been broken as a result. In the meantime, and away from the SL viewer itself, Henri Beauchamp reported that he has server-side baking working in the experimental branch of his Cool VL viewer.

A further concern with the project is the manner in which JIRAs are being handled since last year’s changes to the system. Raised issues are effectively being cloned, with one version sitting internally to LL and “hidden” from general viewing, with the cloned version available for public viewing and update. This has resulted in worries that cooperation between TPVs and LL in resolving issues related to the Sunshine project could be hampered if the cloned public JIRA are not properly updated whenever LL update the internal versions of the same issues. Nyx Linden has promised to work to ensure that all cloned public JIRA are kept up-to-date.

Materials Processing

The server-side code for this is “inching towards” a point where it will be ready for deployment to an RC channel. When this will be is unclear, but it is likely to be ahead of any project viewer emerging from the Lab.

Concern is still being raised over the need to run the viewer in deferred mode in order to see materials processing in action once it has been rolled-out onto the grid. Some of this concern may be down to the confusing way in which deferred mode is labelled in the Graphics tab of the viewer preferences (“Lighting and Shadows”), with people thinking they must have shadows running in order to be in deferred mode (i.e. with the Shadows drop-down set to either Sun/Mon or Sun/Moon + Projectors). However, the viewer is running in deferred mode even with the drop-down set to None.

Continue reading “SL project news: week 3 (1): Servers, Materials, Baking and more” →

Of water and “raining” minerals

Posted on by Inara Pey

Curiosity Tuesday January 15th 2012 marked Sol 158 on Mars for Curiosity, and the first NASA / JPL telecon for 2013. As per my last report, the Mars Science Laboratory rover remains in “Yellowknife Bay”, which has revealed itself as a geological treasure trove. The net result of this is that Curiosity will be remaining in the area for a while to come, and that the first drilling operation which had been anticipated for this week has now been pushed back for perhaps two weeks while scientists use the time to carry out more extensive observations and examination of the wide variety of rock types in the region.

Referring the region, mission Principal Investigator John Grotzinger describes it as a “jackpot environment” for scientific exploration. A depressional area, “Yellowknife Bay” had already been identified as a possible location where free-flowing water many have been present. However, examination over the course of the last couple of weeks reveals that the entire area has been subject to very heavy aqueous activity, including the formation of rich mineral deposits.

Evidence of  water having flowed freely in “Yellowknife Bay”.An image from Curiosity’s Mastcam shows inclined layering known as cross-bedding in an outcrop dubbed “Shaler”. This cross-bedding is indicative of sediment transport in stream flows: currents mold the sediments into small underwater dunes that migrate downstream. When exposed in cross-section, evidence of this migration is preserved as strata that are steeply inclined relative to the horizontal — thus the term “cross-bedding.” The grain sizes here are coarse enough to exclude wind transport (click to enlarge)

While orbital surveys ahead of the mission showed the area to be a likely location for finding evidence of water action – it is very much an alluvial plain, after all – the MSL team have  nevertheless been surprised at the diversity of rock formations found, and the very strong evidence of what is called “mineral precipitation” – a process whereby minerals which formed elsewhere being carried to the region by strong water currents (estimated to be perhaps as high as a metre per second), before the current slows to a point where the minerals can no longer be held in suspension and so “precipitate out” as deposits on and in the rocks.

The ChemCam laser has been employed in the study of some of the mineral deposits within the rocks, revealing they contain Hydrated Calcium Sulfates. On Earth, calcium sulfates like gypsum form frequently in veins when relatively dilute fluid circulates at low to moderate temperatures – in other words, water must have once been circulating through the veins in the rocks in order for these minerals, thought to be gypsum or bassanite, to form.

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