Day: November 3, 2018

The Broken Dreams Project in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Broken Dreams Project

No parent should have to bury a child … No mother should have to bury a son. Mothers are not meant to bury sons. It is not in the natural order of things.

– Stephen Adly Guirgis

Thee words came to mind as I visited The Broken Dreams Project in Second Life, as a result of a suggestion by friend Miro Collas. Created and managed by Jared Palianta, The Broken Dream Project is a memorial to those who have taken or lost their lives in recent times as a result of the intolerance of their peers or the through the hatred  / violence of others.

Set as a simple park occupying one-quarter of a Homestead region The Broken Dreams Project is a place of quiet contemplation and reflection. A place where  – in a world where bigotry, hatred, political violence, zealotry (both religious and political) seem to be once again on the rise (although the question must be asked, did they ever really go away?) – pause can be taken to reflect on the level of senseless violence and hatred can be visited upon others.

The Broken Dreams Project

This project is dedicated to the memory of
those who have lost their battle from Hatred
and Bullying. Your memories live on in this
sombre marbled garden dedicated to
everyone who has endured Hatred and Bullying
because of their sexual orientation, race,
creed, and religious backgrounds. Free from
persecution, your memory lives on inside
These walls.

– From The Broken Dreams Project dedication stone, by Evan Greymyst.

Flanking the landing point are memorials to young people who have taken their lives as a result of bullying and hatred, together with the park’s dedication stones. Around these are several more memorial areas dedicated to those who have lost their lives or been injured through schools shootings, victims of religious extremism (9/11 and the May 2017 Manchester arena bombing); hate crimes and violent act on the basis of their sexuality (such as the 1978 Louisiana Gay Pride Day fire-bombing and the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shootings), acts of US domestic terrorism (the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma and the 2015 San Bernadino shootings) and mass shootings in the United States, such as the 2017 Las Vagas shooting that left 58 people dead and over 400 (of 851 total injuries) injured by gunfire.

The Broken Dreams Project

These are simple, plain speaking memorials, some of which can be especially hard-hitting, such as the section listing the  young people who have lost their lives as a result of shootings in US schools in the 17 years 2 months to February 2018 (and which has yet to be updated with the victims of the Parkland attack of February 2018), as well as all those inured as a result of such shootings. This is a particularly sobering corner of the memorial as it indicates that the first 17 years of this century have already seen the number of US school shooting related deaths exceed the number seen in the last 40 years of the 20th century.

As well as the memorials, The Broken Dreams Project also offers information on a range of support groups both without and within Second Life, including rape support, assistance for those experiencing bullying and hatred on the grounds of their sexuality, or who are experiencing suicidal thoughts or suffering mental anguish. This information includes note cards, telephone help line numbers, website addresses, and  (where relevant) landmarks to in-world groups – all of which makes The Broken Dreams Project something of a valuable resource. I would perhaps suggest making the website links given on of the information walls clickable so that people can be taken directly to the pages, but this is really a very minor point.

The Broken Dreams Project

With an understandable US bias, The Broken Dreams Project is a place for quiet reflection for anyone who has lost a friend or loved one as a result of senseless violence or the result of suicide, no matter what their age. Donations are welcome from those wishing to support the project, and can be made via the donation boxes located around the park’s footpaths.

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2018 SL UG updates 44/2: TPV Developer meeting

Posted on by Inara Pey

Zone One; Inara Pey, September 2018, on FlickrZone One – blog post

The following notes are taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, November 2nd, 2018. A video of the meeting is embedded below, my thanks as always to North for recording and providing it.

This was again a short meeting.

SL Viewer

The EEP project viewer updated to version 5.1.10.521312 on November 2nd, 2018. Otherwise, the current viewer pipelines remain unchanged since my initial week #44 update:

  • Current Release version 5.1.9.519298, dated September 5th, promoted September 26th. Formerly the Rakomelo Maintenance RC viewer – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer, version 5.1.10.520686, October 30th.
    • Animesh RC viewer, version 6.0.0.520636, October 18th.
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 5.2.0.520057, September 28th.
    • BugSplat RC viewer, version 5.1.9.519462, September 10th. This viewer is functionally identical to the current release viewer, but uses BugSplat for crash reporting, rather than the Lab’s own Breakpad based crash reporting tools.
    • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518751, released on August 20th.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 2017 and promoted to release status 29th November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Animesh

It is likely – but not certain – the Animesh RC viewer will be the next viewer to be promoted to de facto release status, being slightly ahead of the Bugsplat RC viewer in terms of readiness for promotion.

As per my last Animesh update, a simulator bug has been found. In short, if an Animesh object has a conventional prim as its root, the required 15 LI for the Animesh skeleton is not applied. This 15 LI is an aggregate value for Animesh arrived at during testing Animesh performance across a range of systems. It has also been subject to some alarmist blog posts about unexpected prim returns, but given Animesh products are not generally available as yet, this is unlikely.

The fix is now working through the simulator release cycle.

Bakes On Mesh

As noted in my initial week #44 update, the Bakes On Mesh project viewer updated to version 5.1.10.520711 at the start of the week. Simulator support for the service should now be grid-wide. However, as reported in my most recent Content Creation updates, the Bake Service itself is still awaiting update.

Non-HTTP Asset Fetching / UDP Path Deprecation

Vir referenced the deprecation and removal of simulator code support for UDP asset fetching. This means that from around January 6th, 2019, any viewers still fetching the affected asset types via UDP will not longer work correctly.

The specific asset types affected by this change are: system body parts, system clothing, gesture, animations, sounds, landmarks and textures (textures have been HTTP for some time, along with mesh and avatar appearance, but the UDP support for textures has thus far not been removed from the simulator).

A region will be set-up on Aditi without the code to allow TPVs to test against it ahead of the switch-over.

TPV Developer Meetings to Year End

There should be three more TPV Developer meetings prior to year-end:

  • November 16th 2018
  • November 30th, 2018
  • December 14th, 2018 – although this is subject to further confirmation.

A November ensemble at La Maison d’Aneli

Posted on by Inara Pey
La Maison d’Aneli: Cybele Moon

Currently open at La Maison d’Aneli Gallery, curated by Aneli Abeyante, is a new ensemble art exhibition featuring 2D artists Cybele Moon (Hana Hoobinoo), Violaine (Anadonne) and Barret Darkfold, together with 3D artists Nevereux and Rikku Yalin. This is an eclectic mix of artists, resulting in a diverse set of exhibitions, reached by taking the teleport from the gallery’s ground level lobby area.

Cybele Moon’s art should need no introduction; she is a doyenne of fantasy art / photography in Second Life, producing marvellous images that are richly ethereal, fabulously produced and each rich in its own story.  Her art within Second Life is very a reflection of her photography in the physical world, where she captures landscapes – sometimes using an infra-red camera – and produces mythical scenes of extraordinary depth and life.

La Maison d’Aneli: Cybele Moon

Many of the pieces she displays in-world combine the physical and virtual worlds to create wonderfully layered pictures which offer not so much a windows into narrative, but doorways into entire realms; stories often captured in words and pictures on her website, Cybele Shine. She says of her work, “I’m a time traveller who loves exploring old stones and tomes and forest groves. My dreams are filled with enchanted children and haunted woodlands,” and this is perfectly reflected in the selection of images she is displaying a La Maison d’Aneli.

On the lower floor of the gallery are exhibitions of physical world art by Violaine and Barret, two artists I’ve not encountered before, but each with a distinctive style.

La Maison d’Aneli: Violaine

Violaine presents a mix of art and photograph (some of which touches on NSFW) grouped in deliberate sets of four, from abstracts (as with the set entitled Instants), through to deeply intimate moments (as captured within the set entitled Neighbours). Each set has its own unique attraction, be it a recollection of Warhol through Angelina, or an echo of L.S. Lowry seen in Houses.

Barret’s work is wholly abstract, featuring pieces of swirling  motion or carrying hints of linear geometry. The majority are presented a warm colours: yellow and orange with a hint of red in places, or with earthly browns and greens, although some are more earthen in colour, encompassing paler shades and tans. All hold a common bond, one with another, something than gives this exhibition an almost narrative flow as the eye pass from one images to the next and from upper row to lower.

La Maison d’Aneli: Barret Darkfold

For her 3D installation, Nevereux presents Assembly Line, a piece that places the visitor inside a 3D drawing, asking a series of pointed questions as it does so. These questions, asked within a blank verse statement, encompass the nature of identity and the content of life. The art within the piece serves as an illustration of life: two-dimensional aspects: a house, a street a place of work, a children’s playground, rendered as 3D (our digital life of 0s and 1s referenced in the blank verse) by the movement, of a pencil across white surfaces (“what if we’re analogue?”).

It’s a curious piece, a little difficult to grasp, but also – perhaps – with a touch of self-effacing humour (“You can align yourself to me instructions … or you can use binoculars + an aspirin and go explore”).

La Maison d’Aneli: Nevereux

Rikku Yalin offers another curio of an installation, largely focused on 3D pieces of a decidedly mechanical bent – including a giant robot, a mechanical cat, smaller robots – all gathered around wooden couple standing as ringmaster and wife. 2D art on the walls in part continue the mechanical theme.

However, for me, the most striking piece, for all the quirkiness of the rest, is a stunning portrait of the late actor Charles Bronson. It’s a stunning piece which, aside from the moustache, could have been painted while he was on the set of Sergio Leone’s celebrated western, Once Upon A Time in the West.

La Maison d’Aneli: Rikku Yalin

Five very different displays offering five unique perspectives of art and narrative, all of which add up to one intriguing exhibition.

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