Angel Mist – The Cloud Garden, December 2022 – blog post
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, February 7th, 2023 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the entire meeting is embedded at the end of the article for those wishing to review the meeting in full – my thanks to Pantera for recording it.
Server Deployments
On Tuesday, February 7th 2023, the simhosts on the Main SLS channel were restarted without any change to their simulator code, leaving them on release 577734.
On Wednesday, February 8th, 2023, the RC channels will also be restarted without any version update.
Available Official Viewers
There have been no updates to the current list of available official viewers, leaving them as:
Release viewer: Maintenance Q(uality) viewer, version 6.6.9.577968 Thursday, February 2, 2023.
Performance Floater / Auto-FPS RC viewer, version 6.6.9.577251, January 4, 2023.
Project viewers:
PBR Materials project viewer, version 7.0.0.577997, February 2, 2023. This viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.8.576972, December 8, 2022.
In Brief
The announcement about the Group Chat History gave rise to a discussion on the capability and making it more robust and deeper (e.g. be presenting more than just the last hour of group chat when used), together with general improvements to chat history management (timestamps, etc.). Please refer to the video for the full context.
BUG-229675 “Stopping llSetKeyframedMotion should always succeed and never shout an error” was again raised and noted as a not unreasonable request. Again, please refer to the video for further details.
Wednesday February 1st issues: a post-mortem on these was published on Thursday, February 2nd – please read it here for specifics.
I was led to Cages, an installation by Ava Darkheart at Frank Atisso’s Artsville Galleries entirely by chance. The intention had been to drop into Chuck Clip’s The Book of Caligula; however, a SLurl error on the Artsville blog directed us 1,000 metres higher than Chuck’s installation, dropping us neatly into Ava’s exhibition. It was actually serendipitous – Cages had opened in mid-January, and I’d totally missed the announcements about it – and so might actually have missed it entirely before it closes on March 5th, 2023, had it not been for the mis-direct.
Perhaps the easiest way to describe this 6-part installation is as an essay in art, a story of the one journey we all have no choice but to make: that of life.
However, rather than charting this journey in as Shakespeare did, through the seven stages from birth to death (As You Like It Act II, Scene 7) or as a reflection of both admiration and ultimately ironic sense of despair on the human condition (Hamlet Act II, Scene 2), Ava instead presents a set of vignettes which encourage us to consider six aspects – six “cages” – of life which may both constrain us and also define us as individuals. In doing so, she challenges us to consider a range of subjects, natural and social / societal.
Artsville Gallery: Ava Darkheart – Cages – Emotions
Presented around a central foyer / event space, the installation comprises six numbered rooms, which can be visited in numerical order, if so desired, although outside of the first room, it is not unreasonable to say the others might be visited howsoever the feet wander. The entrance to each is marked by white chevrons on the floor of the foyer hall, and whilst blank from the outside, can be seen to be a keyhole from within each room – a rather nice metaphor, perhaps for the keys to life and unlocking understanding. Alongside each entrance, Ava sets out the title of the cage presented within, together with a short text piece to challenge the grey matter into action in considering each vignette.
In total, the six themes, in their default order, are: birth, the body, roots / the family, emotions, work, and the brain. Each offers a static vignette representing the core focus. Each is carefully considered with very little within it to be overlooked, with both obvious and more metaphorical elements awaiting discovery.
Artsville Gallery: Ava Darkheart – Cages – The Body
Take Birth for example: the baby floating within the cage is clear enough, as might be the seabed-like setting in which both reside (suggestive of amniotic fluid and the pre-birth “memories” some claim to have of floating within their mother’s womb) – but don’t miss the little red-crowned crane frozen in mid-dance as a potential stand-in for the stock of childhood stories. Then there is the cocoon bag sitting to one side; not only does the name evoke thoughts of the womb within the womb, it allows us, via our avatars as they sit within it, a means to recapture a sense of warmth, protection and nourishment which carried us into the world.
Some of the commentary is more direct – such as the text panel for The Body’s Cage (The Flesh), speaking as it does so eloquently on matters of gender and the growing divide between personal identity and the increasing (and unbalanced) demands for conformity / regression to purely binary outlooks some in society are demanding (despite nature as a whole rarely being truly binary). Meanwhile, there is such a subtle play on human relationships offered within The Roots Cage (The Family); contrast the reproduction of The Last Supper on the wall behind the family group, the babe-in-arms – and the look on the face of the man with burger and coffee in his hands as he keeps his head and eyes turned away from the conversation; and don’t overlook the little bench outside with its lone light, and all that might say about familial separation and loneliness.
Artsville Gallery: Ava Darkheart – Cages – Emotions
I could work my way through all six – the use of the peacock, the Jaguar, the apple tree and colours with The Untamed Cage, and so on – but this is an installation designed to get the visitor’s grey matter churning on the subjects and their motifs, and as such, I really have said far too much here. As such, I do recommend a visit before Cages draws to a close in early March
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library – and this week previews the launch of a very special event.
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 6th, 19:00: Vernor Vinge’s Long Shot
Vernor Vinge
First published in 1972 by Analog Science Fiction Fact, Long Shot is a far future story centred on AI.
With the Earth approaching its destruction as the aging Sun starts to swell as it burns through the heavier elements at its core, humanity takes one final gamble – a long shot – to preserve itself.
A colony ship is built as a home to human zygotes and sent on a sublight, 10,000 year voyage in the hope of finding an Earth-like planet orbiting Alpha Centauri, where humanity might begin again and make use of the technology and equipment also carried by the ship. Overseeing the mission is a self-aware AI called Ilse; utterly unique, she was a brain which, whilst not “alive”, nevertheless lived.
Ilse’s designed span exceeded one hundred centuries. And though her brain was iron and germanium doped with arsenic, and her heart was a tiny cloud of hydrogen plasma, Ilse was one of Earth’s creatures…
Ilse’s earliest memory was a fragment, amounting to no less than fifteen seconds. Someone, perhaps inadvertently, brought her to consciousness as she sat atop her S-5N booster.
Like any living entity, Ilse suffered from aging, her hardware and system suffering failures, causing her to forget things – including the entire purpose of mission. Fortunately, she manages to retain enough data – “memories” – to be able to infer her core goal, and enough functional capability to at least get the vessel to Alpha Centauri. But will that be enough for the last cells of humankind to survive and be reborn?
With Gyro Muggins.
Tuesday, February 7th, 19:00: Cold Clay
The second book in the Shady Hollow series, in which some long-buried secrets come to light, throwing suspicion on a beloved local denizen.
It’s autumn in Shady Hollow, and residents are looking forward to harvest feasts. But then a rabbit discovers a grisly crop: the bones of a moose.
Soon, the owner of Joe’s Mug is dragged out of the coffeeshop and questioned by the police about the night his wife walked out of his life–and Shady Hollow–forever. It seems like an open-and-shut case, but dogged reporter Vera Vixen doesn’t believe gentle Joe is a killer. She’ll do anything to prove his innocence. . .even if it means digging into secrets her neighbours would rather leave buried.
Faerie Maven-Pralou reads the second book in the Shady Hollow series by Juneau Black, in which some long-buried secrets come to light, throwing suspicion on a beloved local denizen.
Perhaps best known as Tristan and Isolde in English – although it has had numerous names down the ages, Tristan and Iseult is a tale which has been told in many forms since the 12th century. It has had a lasting impact on Western culture, with its many versions told and re-told across Europe from the Middle Ages onwards. A chivalric romance, the story is based on a Celtic legend (and possibly other sources), it tells the tragic story of the illicit love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult.
After the defeat of the Irish knight Morholt and his army, largely as a result of his efforts, young Prince Tristan is dispatched to Ireland by his Uncle, King Mark of Cornwall. His mission is to escort the fair Iseult back to Cornwall that she might be married to King Mark and therefore seal a lasting peace between the two kingdoms. However during their return journey, the two ingest a love potion – possibly accidentally, possibly deliberately – and fall deeply in love. Their affair continues after their arrival at the court of King Mar and Iseult’s marriage to the king – something which can only end in tragedy.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, February 5th, 2023
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: Maintenance Q(uality) viewer, version 6.6.9.577968, promoted Thursday, February 2, 2023.
Release channel cohorts:
Maintenance R RC viewer, version 6.6.10.578087, February 3 – translation updates and the return of slam bits.
Project viewers:
glTF / PBR Materials viewer, version 7.0.0.577997, February 2, 2023. This viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
Perpetuity, February 2023 – click any image for full size
Camis Sierota (Camis Lee) and Tamara Sierota have once again redressed their homestead region of Perpetuity, returning it to what could be referred to as a North American theme, the region having spent a while dress as a European for part of late 2022 (see: A European styled Perpetuity in Second Life). However, unlike the last time I visited the region when it was dressed in something of an American theme (see: Perpetuity, USA in Second Life), for the start of 2023 the region offers a look of the Great Outdoors, and in doing so could represent almost anywhere in the wilds of the United States or Canada.
Surrounded by tall mountains on three sides which dip down to touch an open sea on the fourth, the region is cut through channel of water which may have started life as an inshore freshwater lake prior to the waters within finding a choice of routes outwards to reach those laying beyond its shores.
Perpetuity, February 2023
In doing so, it has split the land into two distinct areas, with an additional pair of low-lying banks of grass, shrubs and reeds poking slender fingers above the channel’s shallows. In meandering through the setting, these waters offer a place for the local wildlife to drink, and the local waterfowl and birds to swim and or / hunt.
Along both of the channel’s shores and on the pair of low banks might be found elk, bears, beaver, cranes and ducks, while overhead geese circle as if trying to determine the best approach for a watery touchdown and a bald eagle passes by, possibly looking for a perch from which it can watch for salmon or other fish straying too close to the surface and offering themselves as a possible catch of the day.
Perpetuity, February 2023The larger of the two landmasses is where the major signs of habitation might be found. To the east, sitting on a flat-topped rise in places buttressed by rocky cliffs, sits a small homestead ranch.
This is a place where sheep and dairy cattle are reared and horses kept, the latter sharing a pair of interconnected corals with the sheep. A single large barn provides indoor protection for the animals when needed as well as marking the landing point for visitors, whilst the stone-and-wood built ranch house is cosily furnished in keeping with its rustic western looks.
Perpetuity, February 2023
Westwards, the land splits, part of it sloping down to meet the waters of the inner channel, part of it rising as a rocky-sided hill crowned by a tall wooden watch tower. This overlooks the northern coastline as well as presenting a grandstand view back over the region towards the high mountains. Both the tower and the lowlands can be reached via a grassy trail running down from the ranch before it divides, and this can be followed on foot or horseback (take a ride from the rezzer at the barn or were your own if you have one).
Before reaching the water, the trail down slope – also used by local elk to reach and partake of the waters – passes by a small single-roomed cabin. Like the ranch house, the barn and the watch tower, this provides a place for folk to sit and relax and perhaps enjoy a cuddle or two. An outdoor fire pit and chair offer a superb view back eastwards along the water’s channel to where the spout of one of the two geysers the region boasts can be seen rising against the backdrop of a more distant headland.
Perpetuity, February 2023
The geysers sit at the eastern extent of the second of the main islands, sitting at a point where the land turns northwards to form a promontory helping to separate fresh water from salt. Their spouts rise from two circular hot springs, three smaller pools sitting between them, the group all hinting at a degree of volcanic activity relatively close by.
Behind them, the land rises quickly, punctured by outcrops of rock and home to more of the fir trees which also sit on the larger island. This is a place where more wildlife might be found, including bison and squirrels, moose and more elk. Along the trail rising up the island’s slope visitor will come across a litter of bear cubs who are busy helping themselves to the contents of picnic baskets, there being no sign of humans to keep guard over the bounty.
Perpetuity, February 2023
To the west, the island reaches a flat-topped brow overlooking the waters separating the region from the surrounding mountains and their hills. This hilltop is home to another cabin, this one larger than the one down by the channel below, offering a little more comfort to those who wish to rest here a while. An outdoor well provides fresh water whilst moose and chickens keep an eye on the property.
This is another setting perfectly put together by Camis and Tamara, one which is – as always with Perpetuity – highly photogenic, and is a place finished with a fitting sound scape.
Perpetuity, February 2023
With thanks to Shawn Shakespeare for the suggestion of a further re-visit.
Now open at Onceagain Art Gallery, curated by onceagain (Manoji Yachvili) is a new exhibition of work by Maddy (Magda Schmidtzau). Entitled Reflections, it is a further selection of art combining elements of art drawn from Second Life and the Midjourney AI art programme.
I’ve been fascinated by Midjourney since first encountering it in later 2022, and have tracked how it has been leveraged by a number of artists and artist-photographers in Second Life. However, I have to admit that my enthusiasm for the application itself has cooled somewhat since Midjourney founder and CEO David Holz openly admittedly in an interview with Forbes magazine that the company has trained its AI tool by essentially plundering digital image datasets – including Flickr, which is popular with SL photographers – without regard for copyright or consent, which has understandably upset a lot of professional and amateur artists and photographers alike.
Which is not to say work by Maddy or others in SL utilise copyrighted material; it’s just that appreciation of work produced purely through Midjourney should be balanced against this knowledge, and we should be forewarned in how we use it.
Onceagain Art Gallery: Maddy – Reflections
With Reflections, Maddy has used Midjourney to enhance her own Second Life avatar compositions, creating a series of original pieces intended to evoke a sense of mood and melancholy intended to convey the the essence of the subjects presented within each piece.
The result is a selection of atmospheric portraits offered within an equally atmospheric setting which sets the mood perfectly for viewing and appreciating each piece in turn.
The pictures themselves are presented in monochrome and / or soft, minimalist tones which gives each or an extraordinary depth and emotive power. Within each there is a lightness of post-processing touch on Maddy’s part that further breathes life into each image, further encouraging us to view them as reflections of the essence of people, rather than digital doppelgängers, so to speak.
Onceagain Art Gallery: Maddy – Reflections
A superb selection, well worth visiting and appreciating.
The second book in the Shady Hollow series, in which some long-buried secrets come to light, throwing suspicion on a beloved local denizen.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld