The start of February saw me hop over to tour Dya OHare’s latest design at her homestead region after receiving an invitation from her to do so. It’s a setting that sees Dya move away from the Americas, which have been a focus for her last two designs (see: Dya’s Scent of the Caribbean in Second Lifeand Dya’s Southern Twilight), and instead turn to the Middle East for inspiration.
As its name suggestions, Dya’s Little Jordan is a take on the Kingdom of Jordan, and it has quite a lot to offer Second Life photographers. However, I’ll state up-front that, thanks to past idiocy on the part of some visiting Dya’s builds, group membership (L$300, so not a fortune) is now required to access Dya’s region, so do keep that in mind. I’ll also confess that Jordan isn’t a country with which I’m overly familiar outside of reading about it, so I have no idea whether the entire setting is drawn from actual places to be found in that country, or just parts of it are, and the rest is down to Dya’s imagination.
Dya’s Little Jordan, February 2021
The landing point is located in a small waterfront area, the open waters before it suggestive, perhaps of the Dead Sea rather than the river Jordan itself. Here, with a souk to attract tourists, the promise of coffee and sea food all separated from the water by a curtain of palm trees, visitors might wander or sit, boats bobbing on the water just across the road.
The southern end of this road ends at a small motel, the hard surface giving way to a beach backed by a number of house built to traditional designs, but with modern trappings that include – for one at least – a swimming pool. Behind these houses sits a more desert-like landscape that runs eastwards away from the town, and northward behind it.
Dya’s Little Jordan, February 2021
A second road cuts through this desert, vanishing into a tunnel on the east side of the region, where an off-region surround takes over, extending the rugged landscape off to the horizon. Between the hills and the town, this desert area offers several points of interest, from dun-coloured houses belonging to the local livestock farmers, and the region’s take on the Al-Khazneh mausoleum in Petra, which lies tucked away behind curtains of rock that form narrow defiles that must be travelled to reach it.
Elsewhere awaiting discovery is a camp site of traditional tents and, a little surprisingly, a trio of balloons that float within wind-blown sands and offer swings on which to sit as little shooting stars whip past. Goats and sheep are to be found across the landscape, together with a small train of dromedary camels.
Dya’s Little Jordan, February 2021
Those who fancy may also find camel rezzers that allow them to take a ride around the region, whilst for the less adventurous, a little jeep rezzer offer the means to go for a drive and a bicycle rack at the information centre will provide visitors with a pedal bike. Dya also allows those with wearable horses, etc., to mount up and see the region by hoof or wheel. The information centre also provides a very short introduction to the Kingdom of Jordan, for those who would like to know a little more about the country, but who don’t necessarily want to wade through the minutiae of a Wikipedia entry!
As with all of Dya’s region builds, Little Jordan is very easy on the eye and the viewer. There are numerous things to see and enjoy, and a good number of opportunities for photography. Should you opt to enter the mosque, however, do follow the examples at the entrance and remember to remove your shoes!
Now open through most of February at the Kultivate Signature Gallery is an exhibition of Second Life landscape photography by Anouk Lefavre.
There is something intensely fascinating about Anouk’s images. Gently post-processed, they have the look and feel of having been painted. The colours are perhaps a little heavier than watercolours, but are lighter than oils, so presenting her work as sitting between the two in a balance that is in itself captivating.
Kultivate Signature Gallery: Anouk LeFavre
More than this, however, the the colours Anouk looks for in her images, together with her framing, means that her pieces are more than images of the places she has records, they are statements of the natural beauty of those places that draws you in. To quote SL photographer Brysen Miller when discussing Anouk’s work:
Truly thought provoking artwork, deep in rich colour tones [and] amazing capture that really make you feel as though you are there. Absolutely brilliant.
All of this is demonstrated in full in the twenty images offered at the Signature Gallery. Nineteen of them are landscape images, with the 20th touching on Anouk’s other focus for photography: avatar studies. All are pieces guaranteed to hold the attention and, with the help of their titles, offer individual narratives that provoke the imagination.
Kultivate Signature Gallery: Anouk LeFavre
However, I admit that of all the images presented, I found myself particularly drawn to the two central images, located on the second and upper floors of the gallery.Neatly split into three panels, they offer a form of latter-day triptych, the breaks between the panels offering an almost chapter-like view of each when viewed left-to-right, whilst equally presenting the complete picture / story when viewed as a whole, the divides between their panels barely interrupting the views they offer.
Which is not to say I in any way dismiss the other pieces; far from it – as noted above, all of them have a marvellous visual appeal. It’s just that the triptych pieces would make for an ideal centrepiece in a home with a suitable fireplace and wall above it, while I am particularly drawn to the tighter focus and presentation of Behind Screen Memories.
Kultivate Signature Gallery: Anouk LeFavre
But whether drawn to Anouk’s work because of her use of colour, or for the way she balances land and water in creating a scene or for the way she breathes natural life into an image, this is a selection of pieces that will both please the eye and gladden the mind with thoughts of warmer happier days to come.
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, February 1st, 19:00: Into the Green
The harp was a gift from Jacky Lanter’s fey kin, as was the music Angharad pulled from its strings. She used it in her journeys through the kingdoms of Green Isles, to wake the magic of the Summerblood where it lay sleeping in folk who had never known they had it.
Harping, she knew, was on third of a bard’s spells. Harping, and poetry, and the road that led – to….?
Charles de Lint takes us into lands infused and transformed by magic. Magic that grows in the roots of old oaks and dances by moonlight among standing stones. Magic that sleeps in an old soldier’s eyes and glows in the gaze of a phantom stag. Magic that pumps through the heart and the veins of those born to the Summerblood-to be stolen at knife point, burned, destroyed, in danger of fading back into the green and disappearing forever from the world.
Scattered among poor, desolate farms, the clans of the Uplands possess gifts. Wondrous gifts: the ability—with a glance, a gesture, a word—to summon animals, bring forth fire, move the land. Fearsome gifts: They can twist a limb, chain a mind, inflict a wasting illness.
The Uplanders live in constant fear that one family might unleash its gift against another. Two young people, friends since childhood, decide not to use their gifts. One, a girl, refuses to bring animals to their death in the hunt. The other, a boy, wears a blindfold lest his eyes and his anger kill.
In this beautifully crafted story, Ursula K. Le Guin writes of the proud cruelty of power, of how hard it is to grow up, and of how much harder still it is to find, in the world’s darkness, gifts of light.
With Willow Moonfire.
Wednesday, February 3rd, 19:00: In Walt We Trust
More from Craig Johnson’s Sheriff Longmire Series with Kayden Oconnell and Caledonia Skytower.
Thursday, February 4th: 19:00 Squashed Romances
With Sandon Loring. Also in Kitely! Find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI.
This is the first of two pieces on Tonarino, a Full region we originally visited just over a year ago in December 2019 (see: Tonarino: an oriental curio in Second Life). At that time, the region was a ground-level build, the work of 秋元のん (n0rik0), offering a Japanese urban design theme that was photogenic and fun to explore.
However, not long after our initial visit, n0rik0 extended the region design with the inclusion of a sky platform – Nekomachi Street – which we actually managed to miss at the time it was available. So, when I noted by way of Annie Brightstar’s Scoop-it pages that Nekomachi Street was back, I knew it was time for a return visit to Tonarino, starting with the sky platform lest it only be available for a limited time, and then progressing to the ground to see what has changed there.
Nekomachi Street, Tonarino
The clue to the theme of the sky platform, if the preceding shots above haven’t actually given it away, is in the name – neko, as in cat, so “Nekomachi” could be taken literally as “cat town” or “cat city”, with the setting itself being precisely that: a street scene featuring cats. However, these are not your average domesticated cats, as clever as they may be. These are cats that are completely anthropomorphic and who have overcome the limitations of not having an opposable thumb, in order to create a very human-like life for themselves in what is a delightful continuation of the overall Japanese theme for the region.
For those who visited the location in its past iteration, I understand that outside of the restaurant specialising in crab delicacies, not much has changed between this iteration of Nekomachi Street and the last. Which doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be re-visited; quite the reverse, I’d say: the entire setting is utterly adorable, whether or not you have seen it before.
Nekomachi Street, Tonarino
These feline characters – from sets by 丸角の人 (shiro0822), and sold under their Maru Kado brand (just search for “cats” to list the three sets) – are going about their daily lives just as we humans might. In this, n0rik0 has sown considerable creativity in how the various cats are presented and what they are doing.
Take the crab restaurant, which I’ve arbitrarily selected as a landing point for the article (the setting does have a more “formal” point of arrival / departure, but I’ll come to that later). Here, a kimono-wearing cat is clearly being tempted by the window display as she walks by – and is about to be further tempted by the platter (of samples?) a member of staff is holding by the entrance, whilst inside customers are happily eyeing their meals of fresh crab and supping beer.
Nekomachi Street, Tonarino
Further down the road from the restaurant, another cat is on his pizza delivery round, skilfully managing his bicycle while holding aloft a veritable tower of boxed pizzas, meals the group of cats and kittens putting on their own show outside the local cinema might actually enjoy, although they seem quite wrapped up in their dancing. Around a corner, meanwhile, another cat has stopped his little van above the local river to appreciate the view. A few metres away, another cat peruses the outdoor racks of the local bookshop while inside, the shop owner stands engrossed in one of his tomes.
Throughout the setting, around every corner and within many of the little shops and stores, similar scenes unfold, from the mechanic taking a break from work to enjoy and garden lunch and a read of a newspaper, to the baker and the happy-go-lucky delivery cats with their cart. Unsurprisingly, food does play a considerable role in daily life here – but name me a cat that doesn’t consider every minute of the day to be approximately half-past dinner time and therefore ideal for a snack?
Nekpmachi Street, Tonarino
However, the most endearing little scene awaits discovery along the eastern street.
Here, outside the local theatre and before a growing crowd, two highly skilled jugglers put on a show intended to entice people into the theatre – and their use of parasols and little boxes is a delight to watch. Animesh in nature, these are part of a gacha set by shiro0822, items of which can be obtained from the Maru Kado in-world store.
Juggling Cats
Just across the road from the theatre is a little alley linking the street with another, and which is notable for the little work cat climbing out of the manhole there. However, more than just working, he offers the way down to the ground level, and forms the “official” landing point for Nekomachi Street – touching his head will deliver you to the ground-level town, but I’ll be covering that in the follow-up to this article in due course.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates for the week ending Sunday, January 31st
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
Current release viewer version 6.4.11.551711, formerly Cachaça Maintenance RC viewer promoted on November 12th – No Change.
Release channel cohorts:
Dawa Maintenance RC Viewer updated to version 6.4.12.555248 on January 25th, 2021.
Panorama of the Apollo 14 landing site taken in 1971. Credit; NASA
Fifty years ago today, January 31st, 2021, America’s Apollo lunar missions resumed – and came perilously close to a second aborted mission.
Originally scheduled to take place in July 1970, Apollo 14 was delayed following the Apollo 13 crisis (see: Space Sunday: Apollo 13, 50 years on), to both allow time for recommendations resulting from the investigations into the Apollo 13 mishap to be implemented. This not only led to a hiatus in lunar landings, it also meant that the Apollo 14 crew of Mercury 7 veteran Alan B. Shepard Jr. (Commander), Stuart A. Roosa (Command Module Pilot) and Edgar D. Mitchell (Lunar Module Pilot) eventually spent more time training together than any other Apollo crew to that point: a total of 19 months.
In the immediate aftermath of Apollo 13, NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine indicated the agency would ideally like to launch the mission before the end of 1970; however, the recommendations for changes to be made to the Command and Service Module (CSM) combination meant that the earliest the agency could realistically schedule a launch for the mission was at the end of January 1971 – with much of the work in supervising the necessary changes being loaded directly onto the shoulders of Shepherd and Roosa.
We realised that if our mission failed—if we had to turn back—that was probably the end of the Apollo program. There was no way NASA could stand two failures in a row. We figured there was a heavy mantle on our shoulders to make sure we got it right
– Edgar D. Mitchell, discussing Apollo 14 preparations, speaking in 2011
A further complication for the mission was that following Apollo 13, the original landing site for the Apollo 14 crew at Littrow crater, in Mare Serenitatis was abandoned in favour of sending the mission to Fra Mauro, the intended landing site for Apollo 13, and which was seen as having greater scientific relevance, requiring Shepherd and Mitchell to revisit their lunar surface and geology training – Littrow had required a high degree of training in volcanic geology; Fra Mauro was an impact crater site.
Official Apollo 14 crew photo: Stuart Roosa, Alan Shepard (centre) and Edgar Mitchell. Credit: NASA
The key changes to the CSM combination were around the oxygen tanks that had exploded on Apollo 13. These includes a complete redesign of the tanks and the circuitry within them, while a third tank was add on the opposite side of the SM that could act as a back-up in case of issues with the first two. Other changes included incorporating a 5 US gallon tank of “emergency” drinking water and an additional battery to help maintain electrical power to the Command Module in event of the main power buses failing. Alterations were also made to the connections between the Command and Lunar modules for easier and faster transfer of power and control between the two.
Outside of the need to overhaul the CSM combination in the wake of Apollo 13, the Lunar Module for the mission – the last of the “short term” H-class missions – underwent changes that included anti-slosh baffles in the descent engine fuel tanks intended to prevent incorrect low fuel warnings to be triggered – an issue that plagued both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 – and the installation of additional equipment hard-points for the surface science mission, which would be the most intensive yet for an Apollo lunar mission.
Aside from these changes, the mission was to be the first to fly an altered Saturn V rocket. Whilst ostensibly the same externally as all the previous Saturn Vs that had flown, SA-509 had a series of internal changes made to its fuel system to prevent pogo oscillations – a self-excited vibration in liquid-propellant rocket engines caused by combustion instability that can, if unchecked, result in an engine exploding. On Apollo 13, such oscillations had meant the centre J2 engine of the rocket’s upper stage had to be prematurely shut down.
Saturn V SA-509, topped by the Apollo 14 spacecraft, rolls out from the Vertical Assembly Building (now the Vehicle Assembly Building) on its way to launch pad 39-A. Credit: NASA
Of the crew, Shepard was the only one to have previously flown in space as the first American to complete a sub-orbital hop aboard Mercury Freedom 7 in May 1961.
Born in 1923, Shepard attended the US Navy Academy at Annapolis from 1941 to 1944 (the normal 4-year training course having been cut by 12 months due to World War 2). He initially served aboard the destroyer USS Cogswell – it then being a requirement that Navy aviators serve shipboard time prior to starting flying training -, rising to the rank of Air Gunnery Officer, responsible for the ship’s anti-aircraft guns and crews, a position he held while the Cogswell served critical roles in the Battle of Okinawa and off the coast of Japan.
In November 1945 he transferred to flight training school, and after almost washing out as a pupil, went on to gain 3,600 flying hours with more than 1,700 in jets, eventually rising to the position of Aircraft Readiness Officer on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet.
After his Mercury flight, In 1963 Shepard was grounded due to Ménière’s disease, an inner-ear ailment that caused episodes of extreme dizziness and nausea.This precluded him from flight involvement in the Gemini programme, although from 1963 through 1969 he was NASA’s Chief of the Astronaut Office with overall responsibility for astronaut training and mission selection.
In 1969, Shepard underwent successful surgery to correct his ear issue, and was returned to active flight status. He immediately lobbied his successor as Chief of the Astronaut Office, Donald “Deke” Slayton for a position on Apollo, and was initially earmarked to command Apollo 13. However, his “inexperience” in having missed the entire Gemini programme, and that of his crew as a whole, saw them “bumped” to Apollo 14 to allow them a greater amount of training.
Both Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell were rookies, with Apollo 14 their first and only flight into space. Roosa had previously been a “smokejumper” with the US Forest Service, parachuting into remote area to combat forest fires, prior to transferring to the United States Air Force and training to be both a fighter pilot and an experimental test pilot. On joining NASA in 1966, he was the capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for the tragic Apollo 1 fire, and also served on the support team for Apollo 9, working closely with Edgar Mitchell.
Mitchell was another Naval aviator, having entered the service in 1952 with a degree in industrial management. During during his military flying career he gained a second bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and a doctorate in in aeronautics and astronautics. He also clocked an impressive 5,000 flying hours as both a front-line fighter pilot and a test pilot, 2,000 of those hours gained in jets.
Mitchell’s involvement with space activities actually started before he joined NASA, when in 1964 he was assigned to the US Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), serving as Chief, Project Management Division of the Navy Field Office that was liaising with the Air Force, and also as an instructor in advanced mathematics and navigation theory for MOL astronaut candidates. When MOL was cancelled, he applied to NASA, and was accepted as a part of the fifth astronaut intake alongside Stuart Roosa.
Given it was the first mission to follow Apollo 13, there was a lot of media and political attention on Apollo 14, including pressure for it to launch on schedule. As it was, weather intervened on the launch day, causing the countdown to be paused for some 40 minutes – the first time such a delay had occurred with and Apollo mission. Launch eventually took place at 21:03:02 UTC on January 31st, 1971.
The pre-launch delay wasn’t considered to be a significant issue, as the mission was to take a faster trajectory to the Moon than previous launches, so the delay effectively left it running precisely “on time” compared to earlier missions. Following a require time in Earth orbit, the S-IVB third stage engines were-lit, pushing the mission on its way to the Moon.
Once en-route, the CSM – christened Kitty Hawk by the crew in honour of the Wright Brothers – had to separate from the S-IVB, then turn through 180º to dock with the now-exposed Lunar Module (called Antares after the star Shepard and Mitchell were due to use as reference point when orienting their craft for its lunar landing) and then gently pull it clear of the rocket stage, which would then gently divert away from the Apollo vehicles flight path.
Roosa, as Command Module Pilot, hoped to set the record for competing this manoeuvre using the least amount of fuel. However, the extended docking mechanism in the nose of the Command Module had other ideas – it refused to latch onto the lunar module firmly enough to trigger the release of the pin holding the LM in place on the S-IVB. Over two hours Roosa repeatedly attempted to make an initial “soft dock” with the LM, but was repeatedly thwarted, leaving the crew and mission control agitated: if the LM could not be extracted by the CM, then the mission was over – and two mission failures in succession, even without any loss of life, would likely spell the end of Apollo.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 