Month: July 2018

All aboard the Orient Express with Hercule Poirot

Posted on by Inara Pey
Murder on the Orient Express: your carriage awaits!

Commencing on Sunday, July 8th, 2018 for a six-week run, is a presentation of Agatha Christie’s famed Murder on the Orient Express, brought to us every weekend through until the 12th of August, 2018 by the members and friends of  Seanchai Library in Second Life.

The series will take place as a part of Senchai Library’s Tea-Time sessions, which known for presenting the adventures with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, together with tales of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, selections from JRR Tolkien and Rudyard Kipling, specials such as a trip on the African Queen, and more. Hosted from 13:30 SLT on Sundays, the Time-Time series is one of the most popular of Seanchai library’s weekly series of events.

Murder on the Orient Express: recapture a golden age of travel and enjoy a great mystery!

For Murder on the Orient Express Seanchai move away from the usual fireside setting that has been home to many of the Tea-Time sessions, and instead present the story in a  purpose-built setting featuring a model representative of the Orient Express, a service initiated by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits in the closing years of the 19th century, and which by the 1930s – the period  in which the novel is set – operated two services between Paris and Istanbul – the Orient Express and the Simplon Orient Express. It is the latter that is actually featured in the novel, which took the more southerly route between Paris and Istanbul, passing through the Simplon tunnel connecting Switzerland with Italy.

The novel is the 10th book published by Christie to feature the Belgian émigré turned detective, Hercule Poirot. It sees him board the Orient Express at Istanbul in great hurry so he might attend to unexpected business in London as soon as humanly possible. Prior to boarding the express he has occasion to witness several of those who will become his fellow passengers on the journey to Paris, including the elderly and unpleasant American, Samuel Ratchett.

Once aboard the train, the latter approaches Poirot, attempting to hire the detective to look into threats against his life. Poirot refuses, having already confided he finds Ratchett to be a most disagreeable fellow. But, after a strange night of events – including the train being stranded in snow as a result of an avalanche -, Poirot finds he is to be plunged into an investigation after all, because Ratchett has indeed been murdered…

Murder on the Orient Express: discover this history of this most famous railway journey

The first reading of the story will, as noted commence on Sunday, July 8th, 2018, with listeners invited to board the luxurious train at the Wagon-Lits Istanbul station – a setting that will remain in place through most of the week following the first session, before being replaced by the snow-bound setting in the mountains of Yugoslavia, where the balance of the story takes place, the train stuck in a snow bank.

The full schedule for the series, at the time of writing, is as follows (all times SLT):

Part One: The Facts Part Two: The Evidence Part Three: Poirot Thinks
Sunday, July 8th: 13:30-14:30:
Part 1, Chapters 1-5		 Sunday, July 22nd: Noon – 13:30:
Part 2, Chapters 1-6		 Sunday, August 5th: 13:30-14:45:
Pat 2, Chapters 13 – Part 3, Chapter 2
Sunday, July 15th: 13:30-14:30:
Chapters6-8		 Sunday, July 29th: 13:30-14:30:
Part 2, Chapters 7-12		 Sunday, August 12th: 13:30-15:00:
Part 3, Chapters 3-9

The series will feature a cast of notable SL voices, including Avajean Westland and David Abbot, along with Seanchai regulars Corwyn Allen (as Poirot), Kayden Oconnell, and Aoife Lorefield. Seanchai friends Boudicca Amat and Bryn Taleweaver will also be joining the cast.  Audience and voice talent will be mixed together aboard the train, adding to the experience.

Murder on the Orient Express: start your journey at the Wagon-Lits Istanbul station

Visits to the settings for Murder on the Orient Express before and after the sessions is highly recommended: as well as the train, visitors can avail themselves of the history of the of the Paris-Istanbul journey, including a video presentation, and enjoy the settings themselves.

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A Rusted Farm in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Rusted Farm

Rusted Farm, the latest installation by Terrygold, open on July 6th, 2018. With it, Terrygold leans towards an ecological theme.

Visitors arrive in a tunnel  – actually a drain which might otherwise act as a run off for rain water – where a series of information boards provide notes on preferred viewer settings and provide background notes framing the piece, all of which should be read: just touch the flags below the images to have the notes delivered in text in either English or Italian.

Oil pollution: it’s a contamination of the environment (soil, air and above all water) caused by all kinds of liquid hydrocarbons, i.e. from crude oil or its derivatives. Oil pollution can be systematic or accidental … Systematic or chronic pollution is often much more serious than accidental one. The lumps of tar deposited on the beaches in the seaside resorts derive mostly from the residues contained in the ballast water discharged into the sea.

– Extract from the Rusted Farm introductory notes

Rusted Farm

At the end of this tunnel is a ladder offering the way up out of the drain. To reach it, visitors gain the first hints of the direction in which Terrygold is taking the piece: strange-looking fish circle, watched over by equally curious bugs hovering overhead. At first appearing to be mechanical in nature, it takes a while to realise they might actually  be made up of waste material – rusting metal, discarded bulbs, with dorsal fins looking like deformed plastic six-pack rings, and so on. Beyond these, barrels leak oil into the drain.

The “ground” level, reached via a ladder placed beyond the fish and barrels, is a large field of sun-ripened wheat over which more bizarre creatures stand or fly. Birds look more like drones; ants and spiders again looking as if they are made up of waste and rubbish. Great spherical tanks with spigots are raised on spindly legs or set into the great wall of a building, apparently dripping water onto the field of wheat, giving it life.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a gyre of marine debris particles (mostly plastic) in the central North Pacific Ocean. It’s located roughly between 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N.

Extract from the Rusted Farm introductory notes (from wikipedia)

Rusted Farm

It is a bizarre scene, the field also crossed by pipes and other drains, raised above the crop as if ready to receive liquids. Nevertheless it is one, with the backdrop of a setting sun, seems innocuous outside of the initial framing of the information boards. Looking at the strange ants, birds and spider, it’s easy to put it all down to artistic licence.

However, dominating all of this is the flank of that huge building, in which a tiny door sits, reached by climbing one of the pipes and then walking along it. Opening this door and touching the blank wall beyond it to activate a teleport, reveals the truth of matters. Giant pipes sit within the walls of this building, rusted, ugly and dripping huge gobs of brown liquid – oil waste, contaminated water, take your pick as to what it might be; the key point is at least some of it is being delivered to collection drains which then carry it away and into the soil being used to grow the wheat.

Thus it is that we have the complete picture: fish, birds, insects a metaphor for the waste products we’re dumping into the world’s oceans, burying in landfills, and so on; the pipes and liquid waste a reminder of the waste products we let contaminate the land and which, ultimately, enter our food chain (as represented by the wheat). And it is apt that among the bizarre creatures we find in Rusted Farm Terrygold has included a deep ocean angler fish, highlighting the fact that while we tend to point to things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (estimated to possibly range between  700,000 sq km / 270,000 sq mi and 15,000,000 sq km / 5,800,000 sq mi in area – that’s between Texas and Russia in size), the impact of plastic pollution on the sea floor / deep ocean is still largely unknown.

Rusted Farm

A possibly dark installation in theme, but one intended to prick the conscience, Rusted Farm is also a curious mix. Despite the underpinning message, when taken on its own, the wheat field with its strangely crafted insects and birds is from some angles almost a garden of sculptures ready to be appreciated in their own right.

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SL15B: Meet the Lindens summaries with video + audio

Posted on by Inara Pey
Promotional poster for Meet the Lindens at SL15B. Credit: Linden Lab
Meet the Lindens is now a regular part of the Second Life anniversary landscape. Over the course of the week of celebrations, it gives Second Life users the chance to find out more about the people working at Linden Lab, find out about projects and plans, and the work being carried out on Second Life and Sansar, ask questions about matters of interest / concern to them.

For Meet the Lindens 2018, Saffia Widdershins sat down with six members of the Second Life team, and also with Linden Lab CEO, Ebbe Altberg.

The six SL team members attending the sessions were:

  • Xiola Linden (Community team)
  • Brett Linden (Marketing)
  • Keira Linden (Land team) and Patch Linden (Snr Director of Product Operations)
  • Grumpity Linden (Director of Product for Second Life) and Oz Linden (Technical Director for Second Life).

Each of the sessions was recorded by SL4Live and made available through YouTube as a part of the SL15B sessions.

For those who prefer to read about what was said, I have produced this set of summary articles of the different sessions.

Please note that these are not intended as full transcripts; some topics came up more than once through the week, so I have tried to focus on subjects that were answered in the greatest detail within each session.

Audio extracts are included with each summary. These have been edited to remove pauses, repetitions, etc., with care taken to maintain the overall context of comments and answers.

The full video for each session is also embedded with each summary for completeness, and timestamps are included for each of the topics in a summary, and will open the relevant video in a separate browser tab, at the point at which the topic is discussed.

 Table of Contents

Please use the links in the contents list to the right to jump to the topic summary that interests you, or to a specific topic within a summary.

The Secret of Mount Shasta in Sansar

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Secret Of Mount Shasta; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrThe Secret Of Mount Shasta – click any image for full size

In June, Linden Lab announced another in their series of contests for Sansar experience creators. The Labyrinth Contest challenged entrants to design and build an engaging labyrinth / maze that has at least one challenge those exploring it must solve, whilst making their way from a defined start point to a defined end point.

On offer was a first prize of US $5,000 cash, with a choice of a one year subscription to Maya or Zbrush for second place and third prize of an Oculus Rift headset and hand controllers. Following the close of the competition towards the end of the month, The Secret Of Mount Shasta was judged to be the first prize winner.

The Secret Of Mount Shasta; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrThe Secret Of Mount Shasta – the tunnels await …

This is the second Sansar contest entry by Abramelin Wolfe of SL Abranimations fame to win a prize. In November 2017, he was runner-up in the Halloween themed Sansar’s Scariest competition, producing Paranormal Investigation (which I reviewed here).

Quite a lot has happened in Sansar since then in terms of feature and capabilities, with more scope for content creators to script and present interactive experiences; and while things still might fall short of Second Life, the improvements can still show that Sansar is more than just a place to visit and look at; and The Secret of Mount Shasta proves this in spades.

Set as an adventure mystery, the experience presents a considered use of Sansar capabilities to provide a game-like environment winding its way through the caverns and tunnels of a high mountain and filled with traps. Filled with  challenges and traps, it sets out a single goal for visitors to achieve, as the introduction lays out.

The Secret Of Mount Shasta; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrThe Secret Of Mount Shasta – the way is barred – or is it?

Search for the Lemurian Ascended Masters that live deep inside Mount Shasta. Navigate the caverns, avoid the booby traps and solve the various puzzles. Discover the secret of Mount Shasta!

– From the introduction to The Secret of Mount Shasta.

Visitors commence their adventure at a small tented camp sitting alongside the entrance to the caverns. This is guarded by imposing hooded figures carved from the living rock, oblivious to the wind and snow around them. Between their mysterious figures, light flickers from naked torches within the tunnel entrance, enticing people inside.

The torches are periodically placed along the bare stone walls, providing sufficient illumination to see the way forward – but be sure to keep an eye on either side, as further tunnels do open off the first, and can be easily missed if you’re only focused on what lies ahead. Some of these tunnels are gated, the way forward apparently blocked. Some can be opened – rising like portcullises – by pulling a nearby lever. Others may require other means of opening them (I’m not about to give away all of the secrets here!).

The Secret Of Mount Shasta; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrThe Secret Of Mount Shasta – symbols will help you on your way – but only in the right order

Opened gates initially provides access to further tunnels – just beware of the booby traps, such as the arrows launched across a passageway at certain intervals. Such traps might be individually place, or come in pairs or groups – so keep your eyes peeled and time your moves accordingly. Should you be struck by an arrow, you will be transported via a chamber back to the experience spawn point at the base camp.

The further into the labyrinth you get, the more complex and engaging things get. Tunnels open out into caverns, again either individually placed or in close-knit groups, some even linked, although the way between them may be initially barred. Puzzles are to be found within these caverns, and you’ll need to look for the in-scene clues to correctly solve one of them. There are even skeleton guards to fight – yes, fight; again look for the clues on the walls / ground for how to do this, and remember, you can pick things up in Sansar and throw them.

The Secret Of Mount Shasta; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrThe Secret Of Mount Shasta – you must be prepared to defend yourself. And to move stairs

All of this makes for an engaging – and actually quite addictive – challenge which combines elements of Tomb Raider with platform games and even a touch of Harry Potter as you work your way through things – complete with a ratcheting up of both frustration at each re-spawn and determination to end to the end of the challenge and find what awaits. For those with a sci-fi leaning, there might even be an echo of the Stargate franchise (ascended Lemurians  / ascended Lanteans?); ideal for those who prefer Daniel Jackson over Laura Croft or Indiana Jones!

There is a marvellous sense of an unfolding story within The Secret of Mount Shasta – and the way in which clues are provided in-game to solve one of the puzzles along the way is adds to this sense of story. Visually impressive with a superb and subtle audioscape to add further depth to the adventure, this is a worthy winner of the Labyrinth Contest and a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Experience SLurl and Links

A visit to Another Planet in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost: Another Planet

Cica Ghost opened her latest region-sized installation on Wednesday, July 4th, 2018, offering visitor the chance to visit Another Planet, a place where aliens roam free under the arches of strange landforms (are they mineral? Are they vegetable?), and where rocks – perhaps asteroids that were once falling from space – float serenely above various points in the scene, held aloft by invisible forces.

It is a strange landscape, in places pockmarked by tiny impact craters in the sand; in others the rock is covered in a an irregular pattern of indentations that from a distance almost look like they are indented scales on a skin. The strange “growths” rising from this gently rolling land also in places show signs of weathering by meteor strikes, suggesting they were once a part of the ground from which they rise. Here and there, odd circular protrusions rise and fall, as if breathing in a steady rhythm.

Cica Ghost: Another Planet

The aliens here come – if you discount human avatars (and who are perhaps more correctly the aliens within this environment) – two forms. There are strange, slug-like creatures with large, black eyes set either side of a small hooked proboscis, their bodies expanding an contracting along their length, even though they don’t move. Then there are the smaller creatures, who stand upright on ribbed conical bodies. They also have large eyes set into their round heads – perhaps indicative of the low lighting common to this world.

Despite seemingly without arms, these smaller aliens appear to have a degree of technological mastery; there are hover bikes and flying barges moving around the landscape, perfectly suited to transporting one or two them around (or indeed, one or two human avatars should you opt to sit on them – and if they don’t take your fancy, there is also a floating platform drifting around the sky). And as flying around may not appeal to all of them, some have apparently developed a form of television, and have gathered around it eagerly, some giving vent to very human frowns directed at others, possibly because their view was temporarily blocked.

Or… perhaps the television and the flying machines are the remnants of another time and civilisation? Who can say?

Cica Ghost: Another Planet

Visitors to the region are presented with a choice: to explore in their default form / look, or grab a free alien disguise from the vendor at the landing point. For those seriously interested in exobiology studies, the alien disguise is a must, helping you to blend in. And by “exobiology studies”, I mean having a little fun.

Another Planet is  a further marvellous, whimsical installation by Cica; one which comes – as do most of her designs – with a quote. It’s from English author, humorist and musician, Benny Bellamacina:

Find out if you’re still human, observe yourself from another planet

Cica Ghost: Another Planet

It’s an interesting quote, intended to give us pause and remember who we are. At a time when so much discomfort and hurt is being caused to so many around the world – the displaced, those seeking refuge, the lost – both in their own countries and those where they had hoped to find rest, help, and support, it’s perhaps a fitting little poke at our individual and collective consciousness; a reminder of what we should be to our fellow human beings.

Whether you opt to think on deeper things or to simply sit back and enjoy, Another Planet once again illustrates the magic of Cica’s imagination – which should be enough in itself to encourage a visit.

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2018 SL UG updates #27 Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Vault – dare you enter? – blog post

Sever Deployments

Due to this week being July 4th week in the United States, there are no planned server deployments.

SL Viewer

At the time of writing, there had been no SL viewer updates to mark the start of the week, leaving things as follows:

  • Current Release version 5.1.6.516459 and dated June 15, promoted June 21 – formerly the Pálinka Maintenance Release Candidate – No Change
  • Release channel cohort:
    • Quinquina Maintenance RC viewer, version 5.1.7.516813, released on June 22.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Retrieving Grid Statistics Page via llHTTPRequest

There is a known LSL bug when trying to retrieve grid statistics via a script, which results in a 499 error – see BUG-216320. However, queries via web browsers will still succeed.

This Week

Project news will be in short supply, again due to it being 4th of July week.