It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.
Monday, August 1st, 19:00 Dandelion Wine
The inventor who almost took the pleasure out of life by building a Happiness Machine; the young reporter who fell in love with an alluring lady of ninety; the old gentleman whose last act was listening to the clang of a green trolley car going round a corner, two thousand miles away.
These are just a few of strange and vivid people who entered the secret world of a twelve-year-old boy during one enchanted summer when he discovered the fact that he really was alive…
“The summer of ’28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma’s belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.”
There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita.
But Petra’s world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children – among them Petra and her family – have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race.
Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet – and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity’s past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard – or purged them altogether.
Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?
Caledonia Skytower read Donna Barba Higuera’s 2021 winner of the Newbery Medal and Pura Belpré Award.
Wednesday, August 3rd, 19:00: Seanchai Flicks
A special for Star Wars month as the Seanchai cinema space plays host to videos and throw popcorn around!
Thursday, August 4th, 19:00: Dark
The library will be closed to events this evening.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week ending Sunday, July 31st, 2022
This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.
Official LL Viewers
Release viewer: version 6.6.1.572458 – formerly the Maintenance M(akgeolli) RC viewer, promoted June 29 – no change.
Drug and alcohol abuse among you people – teenagers from 13 or 14 upwards – has long been a problem. So much so that today within many western countries, it scarcely appears to be on the radar of politicians, who instead prefer to point their fingers and rabble-rouse about imagined “evils” facing their countries from -*horror* – refugees seeking sanctuary or – *gasp* – the terror of equal rights for women, ethnic minorities, the disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities.
Terrygold: Crack, July 2022
In Europe, studies have shown that while not rampant, substance abuse – including the use of tobacco – as a whole has been increasingly found among children below the age of 15 (per the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)).
Much of this has been put down to “experimentation”, although peer pressure has also been noted as a factor, as has the fact that in terms of illegal drugs, some dealers have taken a leaf out of the tobacco advertising playbook from several years ago, but “promoting” their wares to younger consumers.
Further, while many reports note that such experimentation / engagement with alcohol and drugs in particular has tended to be among younger male teenagers, the EUCDDA studies from 2007 onwards have shown that more and more young girls are increasingly following suit, and the gap between boys and girls in terms of drug use is closing.
Terrygold: Crack, July 2022
Drug use among young girls is something artist Terrygold has had to face in the physical world and within her own neighbourhood; and what she has witnessed, almost daily, has resulted in her latest installation Crack, which opened at her art gallery in late July 2022.
As with her recent pieces, it comes as a set of vignettes, each narrated by a static, NPC called “Terry”.
These vignettes – a pair this time – are literally framed as pictures; in the first, linked to the installations landing point (reached via teleport disc from the gallery’s main landing point), we she a happy time at home; a wife and husband in a comfortable lounge, their little daughter apparently tucked behind an armchair with her teddy as she plays hide-and-seek with her father. It’s a setting of domestic bliss, which can be seen – literally – through two frames set to either side of scene so as to present frozen images of a happy, safe home life.
A further frame – be it a window or a picture frame, it matters not – presents a view of a world outside this cosy home; a place where alcohol is freely available, the siren glow of neon drawing all too it regardless of age, with those standing in the doorways also caring little about identity or age. Close by, under a streetlight two young girls draw lustful gazes from an older male, whilst another girl, provocatively dressed, staggers down the middle of the road, the worse for – something.
Through the words of “Terry” as we stand next to her looking out onto the scene, we learn this vignette is a reflection of a tragic situation she has witnessed: a girl high of drugs or alcohol, wanting – needing – more – and desperate, spiralling ever deeper into an addiction that can only lead to worse.
Terrygold: Crack, July 2022
Within the house, “Terry” also vents the artist’s frustration in the way that stories of abuse and suffering have become so commonplace that not even the age at which youngsters find themselves trapped by addiction causes anything more than a raised eyebrow. And we, like her, should feel that shame frustration and anger; but how many of us turn the page of the newspaper, shutting out the story just as we can shut the terrors of the world outside by closing the drapes on the windows of our homes?
But just how safe are we, really? Herein lies a deeper layering to Terrygold’s piece.
The entire installation is offered under a dark environment setting. While this clearly adds atmosphere to the street setting, where faces are shadowed, and the sense of danger and intrigued raised, so to does it alter the “indoor” scene of familial bliss, casting pools of darkness that reduce the home to a small island of light, a visual metaphor of the fact that no matter where we go, the darkness in the world is never far away,
But more than this, the shadows within the house serve another purpose. If you view the family through one of the frames, that little girl playing hide-and-seek vanishes, and the faces of the mother and father can no longer be clearly seen. Suddenly the position of the mother as she sits on the edge of the coffee table apparently making a casual call whilst her husband and daughter play, becomes something more urgent, her look more worried.
Similarly, the smiling face of the father is now wreathed in darkness, his tall figure a shadow within a shadow, looming close to his wife. Thus, the entire scene becomes tense and foreboding. The stances of father and mother, together with the apparent absence of their child reminds us that little girls who play hide-and-seek grow into young girls who for whom teddy bears, armchairs and hunting daddies are not enough, but the world, for all its threats, is a wondrous place – and even the threats can tempt and attract, opening young lives to those who would hunt them and/or their money for reasons far less innocent than a game of hide-and-seek, and parents are left fraught and anxious; desperate for the reassurance of a voice on a telephone, for an ear to hear their pleas to come home.
Expressive, offering much to consider, Crack is best seen under the local environment settings (World → Environment → make sure Use Shared Environment is checked), and with ALM (Preferences → Graphics → Advanced Lighting Model) enabled (Shadows are not required, despite the instructions and the landing point, should enabling them impact your computer’s performance unduly).
The ISS: US Congress signals NASA funding through to 2030 now possible. Crew: NASAThe US Congress has approved NASA’s request or funding to extend International Space Station operations through until the end of 2030. However, this does not mean the station’s future is necessarily set in tablets of stone.
The approval came not through NASA’s core budgetary process, but as a result of an additional NASA authorisation bill being appended to the newly passed Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act of 2022, intended to increase semiconductor manufacturing in the United States in the wake of pandemic-induced supply chain shortages.
The authorisation bill included in the act specifically targets NASA to receive funding to support ISS operations, and to further the agency’s lunar ambitions and robot exploration of Mars. In addition, the 2023 Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) spending bill. currently being drafted in Congress, looks as though it will seek to provide NASA with the US $25.9738 billion it has requested for its 2023 operational budget – albeit it with one or two small strings attached. These include ensuring the asteroid-hunting NEO Surveyor mission launches in 2026 as planned, rather than slipping to 2028; cutting a part of the space technology spending that includes nuclear thermal propulsion work; and adding $50 million to support a new commercial crew provider beyond Space and Boeing to increase program options.
However, while paying the lion’s share towards ISS operations, the US relies heavily on the assistance of its International partners: a further 15 nations (Brazil having withdrawn in 2007), with both the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) providing core modules for the station, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) crucial support systems. While 14 out of the 15 (the majority operating under the auspices of ESA), the same cannot be said for the 15th – Russia, which is also the second largest financial contributor to the station, as well as the largest contributor of pressurised modules.
Russia has long bulked at any attempts to extend ISS operations beyond 2024, and while it appeared that a shorter extension to the station’s life to take it through to 2028, that was thrown into doubt in early 2021, when the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, announced that a module – the Solar Power Module-1 (SPM-1, also referred to as NEM-1) – due for launch in 2024, would be repurposed to serve as the core power module for a new, smaller, all-Russian space station, provisionally called the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS).
The Russian Orbital Service Station, as rendered during a recent presentation by Vladimir Solovyov, chief designer at RSC Energia, and the director of Russian involvement in the ISS. To the left and right, with the large four-panel solar arrays are the two core modules for the station. To the left foreground and right background as the additional science modules. Credit: Roscosmos
At the time, it was indicated that work on ROSS would commence in 2024 and conclude around 2029. However, that time line was then pushed back to 2030-2035, possibly signalling Russia would remain fully engaged in ISS operations through until 2030. Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine, international outrage, condemnation and the rest. This included assorted (and somewhat silly) threats on the part of the then head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, which included statements that Russia would depart the ISS in 2024 – and might take parts of it with them…
While Rogozin has now departed Roscosmos for pastures new, his replacement at the agency, his replacement – equal hardliner Yuri Borisov – Has sounded something of a warning that attitudes towards ISS operations have not shifted, telling the TASS news agency that Russia’s engagement in ISS will come to an end “after 2024” – the date to which the committed to support the station.
Exactly what “after 2024” means in practice remains unclear. ISS partners are obligated to give at least 12 months warning of an intention to depart the project – and Russia has never taken that step through to now, and it could be argued that 2030 is as much “after 2024” as 2025.
That said, coming on the heels of Borisov’s comments to TASS, Vladimir Solovyov – who is both the chief designer at RSC Energia, the company responsible for developing space station modules and the director of the Roscosmos department directly responsible for ISS operations – presented the first detailed overview of the proposed ROSS platform, including the fact that the first modules are to be operational by the end of 2028.
ROSS: the SPM-! (NEM-1) core module, originally intended for the ISS is currently being repurposed to provide the new space platform with all its required power management capabilities. Credit: Roscosmos
While not explicitly named by Solovyov, the first of these modules appears to remain the re-purposed SPM-1 / NEM-1, Solovyov indicated would launch in 2026. This will then be followed in 2028 by a Core Crew Module (CCM – this nomenclature will likely change), providing crew living facilities and additional power systems, with the two units operating as a baseline station until two additional science modules can join them in 2030.
This tends to indicate that from 2025, Roscosmos will start pivoting priorities away from ISS and to ROSS; but it does not signal they will be ending all involvement in ISS. Further, and while again not indicated by Solovyov, the fact that the science modules will not be flown until 2030 might be indicative that consideration is being given to perhaps utilising the Nauka module, which only joined the ISS in 2021 and which is capable of its own propulsion, within ROSS.
This might come down to the orbit ROSS eventually placed within. During his presentation Solovyov stated the some of Russia’s frustrations with ISS is that the station operates at an orbital inclination that precludes much of the Earth and space science Russia would like to carry out. As such, a wide range of potential orbits are being considered for ROSS, some of which would exclude any transfer of Nauka from ISS to ROSS.
ROSS: a further view of the Core Crew Module (CCM – left) and the core power module (SPM-1/NEM-1 – right) linked by the multi-port docking hub, which also has an unidentified vehicle docked to it. These elements of the platform are being targeted for operational use starting in 2028. Credit: Roscosmos
As well as the four core modules, Solovyov indicated that the station’s facilities could be expended through the use of a (yet-to-be built) large-scale automated re-supply vehicle that could perform a number of roles from straightforward delivery of supplies and consumables through performing required orbital boosts to offering temporary additional working space when needed. It is additionally possible this re-supply vehicle might be combined with a capsule-like crew vehicle, allowing it to deliver both personnel and supplies to the station, with dedicated crew-only flights to and from ROSS carried out aboard a smaller vehicle intended to replace the veritable Soyuz
Most interestingly, Solovyov stated ROSS would not necessarily be permanently crewed, but will utilise a high degree of automation for science operations, with crews visiting it to carry out very specific science research and / or to collect data and carrying out maintenance and other work. However, as he also indicated that the station could well form a part of Russia’s ambitions for the Moon and Mars (some of least at which will likely include working with China), the station could become more fully crewed from 2030 onwards.
ESA / NASA Simplify Mars Sample Return Mission
In May I wrote about the proposed ESA / NASA Mars Sample return mission to bring core samples gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover back to Earth for analysis. At the time of that report, NASA and ESA were responding to calls for the mission to be prioritised and take place earlier than the early-to-mid 2030s. However, the plan being forward back then stuck me as being overly complicated, involved six vehicles and three individual launches; and bless them, NASA and ESA now seem to share that view: on July 27th, 2022, the two agencies issued an update that reduced the mission to just two launches and changes the overall line-up of vehicles involved, although the fine details have yet to be worked out.
As it was: the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission in March-May 2022: top right is the ESA-built Earth Return Vehicle (ERV); lower right the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) mounted on its lander; in the centre is the ESA-built “fetch” rover (minus its lander) which would transfer samples from where they had been deposited by Perseverance (left) to the MAV. Credit; NASA / ESA
In the March-May plan, Perseverance would have deposited a cache of core sample tubes somewhere in Jezero crater. This cache would then be targeted by two landers – one carrying the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), and the other a small, European-built “fetch” rover. This would collect the sample tubes from the cache and deliver them to the MAV, which it turn would launch from its lander to carry them up to a waiting Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) built by ESA, with the sample tubes transferred to that vehicle for the return to Earth.
Under the new plan, the ERV remains, as does the MAV and its lander. However, the “fetch” rover and its lander have been scrapped. Instead, the MAV will launch to Mars in 2028 and its lander will use telemetry from Perseverance to land in the vicinity of the rover, which will then drive to the MAV and perform the transfer of samples directly.
Exactly how this transfer will be managed is unclear – Perseverance isn’t exactly designed for such a task. So, as a contingency, the lander carrying the MAV will carry will also be equipped with two “Ingenuity class” helicopters. Fitted with wheels and a small grappling arm, as well as flying, these will be capable of scooting around on wheels, collecting sample tubes from the cache rack Perseverance will deposit on the surface of Mars and delivering them to the MAV. Once loaded, the MAV will launch to orbit, rendezvous with the ERV, and the sample pack transferred for its return to Earth.
As it now is: the current Mars Sample Return mission hardware: the ESA-built Earth Return Vehicle (top), with the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) flying up to it from its lander (right), and one of the two “ingenuity-class” helicopters hovering close to the Mars 2020 rover. Credit: NASA / ESA
Overall, the approach is still somewhat complicated, but assuming a methodology can be employed to allow Perseverance to complete the sample transfer to the MAV unaided, it means NASA will have two fresh helicopters available to support the rover in its further explorations in and around Jezero Crater. And even if the helicopters do have to be used for sample retrieval, by combining them with the MAV and its lander, an entire additional launch – and the development of a complex small-scale “fetch” rover – can be avoided, both reducing the overall cost of the mission and reducing the potential for long-term delay which might occur with the development of an entirely new class of rover.
Which is not to say the target 2027 launch date for the ERV isn’t itself challenging; three years to develop and test a space vehicle is an extremely short time-frame; as such it would seem likely this mission will slip back into the early 2030s.
Tourtour de Prouvenco, July 2022 – click any image for full size
Occupying one half of a Full private region leveraging the additional Land Capacity bonus, sits Tourtour de Prouvenco, a setting designed by Annisss Moreau (annisss) that is offered for public enjoyment.
Tourtour is a small French Provencal village where you can relax by the sea and listen to the best DJs of the second life at the Blue Note ‘Club evenementiels Djs LIVE’.
– from Tourtour de Prouvenco’s About Land description
This is a setting very much of two parts separated by a deep inlet that cuts across the parcel, a wide bridge close to its mouth providing the sole direct link between the two elements, helping them to flow together. The parcel itself offers an east-west orientation, the landing point sitting upon a small square.
Tourtour de Prouvenco, July 2022
The home of a small open market, this square is book-ended on its west side by the bridge mentioned above, and a gatehouse accessing what might be considered the older part of the town. The square and the bridge offer good views of the almost rectangular inlet as it forms a natural shelter / harbour. Looking at the basin of the inlet, it is not hard to picture it as once having been a port of call for trading ships plying the coastal regions under the power of wind and canvas. Today, the stone wharf has been extended by wooden moorings that offer places of rest for a mix of small fishing boats and the shark-like forms of power boats and speedboats.
The way down to the boats is presented on the far side of the bridge from the landing point, steps descending down from road level, the buildings behind them set well back from the drop to the water to provide a broad waterfront area, home to stores, stalls, cafés, kids at play and a sandy pétanque court awaiting older players.
Tourtour de Prouvenco, July 2022The buildings here are suggesting of having been built in the 18th or 19th centuries, although they are centred on a much older structure, almost a ruin, lacking a roof, some walls broken and the floors they once supported collapsed. Accessed via an arch, this has in fact been cleared out and partially renovated to become the Blue Note referenced in the About Land description, and home to DJ events.
A further arched passageway facing the bridge offers the way between the tall houses and buildings, allowing visitors to reach more features with the setting. These include the western beach, overlooked by the Chocolat, where visitors can enter into a (kilo-gaining!) romance with all forms of chocolate and dessert. This side of the town offers the local cinema, and a marvellous courtyard comprising façades of shuttered houses.
To the east, the older element of the setting is far more rural in nature, and includes some almost Tuscan touches thanks to some of the selected architecture. sitting on the top of rocky cliffs that fall to a further beach on their north side, and cut through by a deep gorge, this is much the larger of the two parts of the setting, and offers a huge amount to take in.
Tourtour de Prouvenco, July 2022
The houses and stores here are furnished, giving a rich sense of homeliness, whilst the town can be explored by following various paths through it. The most obvious of these is the rutted lane that runs between the Tuscan-like buildings to cross a natural rock pass over the waters of the gorge as it empties into the sea. In the far side, this road curls back on itself to follow the southern lip of the gorge, passing below the local art gallery.
Set within a grand building reached via a couple of separate footpaths leading up to it – both of which should be explored in order to fully appreciate the region – the gallery dominates the setting in terms of its elevation, and does tend to draw the attention. However, and while a visit is recommended, do take the opportunity to explore around and behind the houses to discover all that the setting has on offer.
Tourtour de Prouvenco, July 2022
And also, when passing under the arch from the landing point square, be sure to keep an eye out for the teleport posters that will take you up to a couple of locations in the sky that I’ll allow you to discover for yourselves!
Charming, well designed and laid out with plenty of opportunities for photography Tourtour de Prouvenco is well worth spending time visiting.
Cica Ghost carries us through the end of July and into August with her latest installation, which opened on Friday July 29th, 2022, bringing us a touch of Jurassic Park meets The Flintstones in another easy-on-the-eyes-and-brain piece.
Dinosaurs and Coconuts comes with a quote from the Dalai Lama – Once a year, go somewhere you have never been before, and this is a setting that surely offers us the opportunity to do just that.
Like Jurassic Park, this is an installation that presents avatar the opportunity to witness the great reptiles of an prehistoric era as they go about their business. Scattered across the landscape visitors might find armoured dinosaurs mind of those common to the Cretaceous period (Taohelong, Dyoplosaurus, Struthiosaurus, et al); sauropod-like dinosaurs that bring to mind those of the Jurassic the Late Cretaceous periods (such as Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus and the truly enormous titanosaurians); and two-legged carnivores suggestive of the infamous velociraptor genus.
Cica Ghost: Dinosaurs and Coconuts, July 2022
However, this is no trip down Archaeological Lane; Cica’s dinosaurs are not intended to be reflective of the great beasts that once called the world their own. Rather they are here to offer a lightness of mood and sense of fun, as demonstrated by their expressions and the tip towards the fantastical among some of them. This sense of fun is further emphasised by the landscape in which the are located; a place in which Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble may well find familiar were they to walk into it, with its stone-hewn houses and cobbled-together wagons and caravans of stone and wood.
Some of the latter sit on the ground, others upon stilts and trestles. Quite who built them is open to debate; no sign of early Man here – although the local technology has clearly reached the point where the wheel is understood, as is the concept of the see-saw and that of the bridge (a concept a couple of the local raptors perhaps have yet to grasp, befuddled as they appear to be by the stretch of water which divides them, despite the bridge that sits close by…).
Cica Ghost: Dinosaurs and Coconuts, July 2022
At least one of the mysterious locals has even reached a point of understanding matters of ecology, a small windmill jutting through the roof of one stone house, presumably to supply power, and rudimentary garden spaces have been established to help give a sense of homeliness with some of these dwellings.
But it is the dinosaurs who hold sway here. From small to large (and in some cases I do mean large), they all have characters of their own, given life by a subtle sense of expression that suggests some of the thinking going on behind their eyes. Even the raptor-like dinos look like they’d be more interested in fun over hunting.
Cica Ghost: Dinosaurs and Coconuts, July 2022
Quirky and fun, and with a number of places for people to sit (or carry out handstands!), Dinosaurs and Coconuts is another fun installation from Cica, and the Dinos are available to buy though the little shop within the region.
Oh, and the coconuts? Just keep an eye on the local giant palm trees – and be careful not to stand too close to them!
The inventor who almost took the pleasure out of life by building a Happiness Machine; the young reporter who fell in love with an alluring lady of ninety; the old gentleman whose last act was listening to the clang of a green trolley car going round a corner, two thousand miles away.
There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita.
