Opening on Friday, July 5th, 2019 at the Lost Unicorn Gallery, curated by Natalie Montagne, is an exhibition entitled A Kaleidoscope of Colour: Postcards from Second Life, featuring the photography of friend and fellow Second Life traveller, Miro Collas (who also regularly points us towards regions we can explore).
Located in the main hall of the gallery’s magnificent castle, the exhibition features an extensive selection of Miro’s photography taken – as the sub-title for the exhibition indicates – during his travels around Second Life. In all, over thirty photographs are presented, both within the main hall and within some of the rooms leading off of it.
However, the thing that draws one to the pictures is Miro’s use of tone, colour and soft focus.
The colour and tone are clearly evident in these pieces, which has been set within the rooms in reflection of this. In the main hall, for example, blue is the predominant hue seen in his images. This gives the pieces a particular tonal quality evocative of fantasy moods and setting. In this, the choice of colour often reflects the locations where with the photos were taken, as with those for The Sanctuary and Tagus Enchanted Forest. Elsewhere, the blue presents a sense of enchantment or mystery to a place one might not necessarily associate with a fantasy setting – such as with Florence Bay.
Brighter tones are evident in the selections found in the adjoining rooms as well, notably yellow and orange. Warm colours, these add a sense of homeliness, warmth and familiarity to the locations which, again, is fully in keeping with their nature when visited, or which presents the subject location in a new perspective, such as with his picture of sunrise / sunset over the shoulder of Ukivok.
Miro’s use of depth of field and soft focus adds a further nuance to many of the images, giving them a painting-like aspect. This really brings each piece to life, as well as adding a great sense of narrative to each piece.
All told, an extraordinary exhibition by a Second Life explorer whose work should be displayed far more in Second Life. The formal opening for the exhibition will be marked by a live performance by Phemie Alcott from 15:00 SLT, dress code: “classy casual”.
Scarlett Isle, July 2019 – click and image for full size
Scarlett Isle is the name given to the Homestead region held by Grace Sixpence and Zigmal we recently toured. It has been landscaped for them by Engelsstaub, who is perhaps best known for her own region designs at Whimberly, a place I’ve written about on numerous occasions in this blog simply because of the elegance of the settings within it that Staubi presents.
And this elegance and beauty is to be found within Scarlett Isle. The region’s About Land description states “Scarlett Isle is designed to be used by those interested in SL Photography”, and it is very definitely photogenic.
Scarlett Isle, July 2019 – click and image for full size
The region is presented as a pair of large islands, diagonally cut by a narrow sliver of water running south-east to north-west, where both islands form a bay in which a smaller, lighthouse-topped islet sits.
The more southerly of the two islands is the larger landmass, and home to the landing point as it sits towards the centre of the region. Rugged in nature, the southern island is nevertheless low-lying, marked by a large oval of rocky land to the east. With its stepped strata of grass-topped rock, this looks from some angles like the mossy shell of the great turtle lying in the water.
Scarlett Isle, July 2019 – click and image for full size
The western end of this rocky hill rolls gently down to a lower shelf of rock extending further westward and bounded to the south by a beach and the north by the dividing channel. This shelf in turns falls away to a marvellous low-lying area of sand, rock and grass that encloses a large pool of water.
Paths – stone, wooden and grassy – wind gently through this rugged landscape, passing under the boughs of trees and between beds of flowers, leading the way to multiple points of interest, be they the wide swath of sandy beach to the west, a waterside walk around the inner pool of water, the stone terrace that sits in a fold of land that the water clearly once cut into, or the heights of the rocky tables south and east.
Scarlett Isle, July 2019 – click and image for full size
A tall wooden cabin sits on the rock above the landlocked pool, looking westward over the peaceful waters and the beach beyond them. Open to the public, it resides among a copse of olive trees, weeping willows and silver birch that form a curtain of green around it, naturally shielding it and giving it a sense of privacy without actually isolating it from the surrounding landscape.
From here, a wooden board walk offers a way down to the southern curve of beach, while the meandering stone path that connects the cabin with the landing point and the rest of the island continues up the slope to the humped top of the turtle-like hill. This is marked by a great oak tree, a small swing slung beneath one of its great boughs. Surrounded by a wash of blue and white flowers, it is an ideal spot for quiet contemplation.
Scarlett Isle, July 2019 – click and image for full size
Two bridges span the channel separating the southern island from the northern. One is a wood suspension bridge slung across the region’s highest points – the northern island being, on average, higher than the southern . The other bridge is a simple affair of logs dropped over a lower-lying point of the channel’s banks.
The bridges invite exploration for the northern island – a curbed path winds away from one, and a grass track marked by stone steps runs up the slope from the other. However, do take note that the two buildings located on the northern island – one sitting close to the suspension bridge and the other off to the north-east at the end of the winding curbed path – are protected from casual visits by security orbs. These offer 15 second warnings – but given the About Land description invites exploration in the region, a couple of signs given advanced warning of the private nature of the houses perhaps wouldn’t go amiss.
Scarlett Isle, July 2019 – click and image for full size
A large meadow arcs around the north coast of the region between the north island’s two private houses, and a path winds down the cliffs from this to another beach, this one running around the north-east headland of the island. The beach is also open to the public, but, care is again needed when following it along the eastern coast to where a stepped set of decks can be found. These are within one of the private parcels, and it is actually very easy to miss the security orb’s warning on reaching them; so again, a warning sign might help prevent people finding themselves unexpectedly teleported home.
This grumble aside, there is no mistaking the sure beauty of Scarlett Isle. Its look is incredibly natural, and offers a feeling of a wild, but well-cared for garden environment. Throughout the islands are plenty places where this natural beauty can be appreciated, from deck chairs and blankets on the beach to swings under boughs to chairs sitting in the shade of parasols on that stone terrace, or benches sitting on rocks or grassy bank and more. All of which sits within an ideal sound scape that makes Scarlett Isle an almost perfect visual and aural experience. Those taking photos are invited to share them with the region’s Flickr group, and a fee of L$150 provides rezzing rights via the local group.
Scarlett Isle, July 2019 – click and image for full size
DiXmiX Gallery: Masquerade – Lou Shadow and Calypso Applewhyte
Masquerade is the title of an ensemble exhibition at DiXmiX Gallery that opened on June 20th, 2019. It features images by 34 Second Life photographers that have been selected by Dixmix Source, the gallery’s curator, along the theme of masks (which also encompasses the likes of helmets face masks, gas masks, make-up as a mask, as well as the more traditional masquerade mask suggested by the title.
Occupying all three halls of the gallery, the exhibition comprises a one or two pieces from each of the selected artist; they in turn comprise: Algezares Magic, Aniki Seetan, ByrneDarkly Cazalet, Calypso Applewhyte, Catherine Nikolaidis, Edie Horngold, Ember Adored, Gaus, Génesis Rodriguez, Guen Gothly, Izabela Navarathna, Jaggy, Kimmy Littleboots, Kimmy Ridley, Krizze Sparrowhawk, Laura Mrs S, Lou Shadow, Maloe Vansant, Megan Prumier, Mila Maesar, Ornella Batriani, Pam, Purple Leonis, Ryleigh Theas, Shocoon, Sinon Vale, Sonic, Tania Tebaldi, Tiya Aura, Tralala Loordes, Valenska Voljeti, Vallys, Wicca Merlin and Dixmix himself.
DiXmiX Gallery: Masquerade – ByrneDarkly Cazalet and Tiya Aura
Given the broad spread of photographers, this is unsurprisingly a richly mixed exhibition with wide-ranging styles and themes, with one or two of the images perhaps stepping into the realm of NSFW. Given the focus is headgear, the themes touch on science-fiction, fantasy (notably some darker shades, rather than perhaps the more wistful), adult games, etc.
Such is the volume of work here that this could easily be the kind of exhibition that desensitises the visitor to the subject matter (“Oh, look another avatar wearing a mask!”). However, through his selection and curation of the images, Dixmix utterly avoids this, putting on a display so richly diverse, and with the majority of the images offering a depth of narrative that extends well beyond their frames, that the exhibition is captivating throughout.
The diversity of work on display means that picking out individual pieces is an impossible task: each has its own attraction and most – as noted – have their own distinct story to tell. As such, this very much is an exhibition that should be witnessed first-hand.
Please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest news and updates on the week’s deployments.
On Tuesday, July 2nd, the SLS (Main) channel was updated with server maintenance package 19#19.06.14.528215, comprising internal changes.
Due to this week being the 4th July holiday week in the US, there are no deployments planned for the main RC channels for Wednesday, July 3rd These will remain on server maintenance package 19#19.06.14.528215.
SL Viewer
At the time of writing, there have been no official viewer updates to mark the start of the week, leaving the pipelines as follows:
Current Release version 6.2.3.527758, formerly the Rainbow RC viewer dated June 5, promoted June 18 – No Change.
Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.2.3.527749, released on June 5. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November 2017 – 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.
Script Processing Issues
For those who may not have seen the comments on script run time issues (see BUG-226851 and BUG-227099) in my week #26 Content Creation User Group and TPV Developer meeting summaries:
There are simulator updates awaiting deployment that should provide better script performance on the “more expensive [resource-wise] scripts events”, such as sensors. This could potentially reduce the overhead of idle scripts by as much as 20-30%, although actual mileage, may vary. The hope is that once deployed, the changes will help push script processing performance in the right direction.
These updates may be initially deployed to the RC channels in week #28 (week commencing Monday, July 8th – although the deployment might be after that week, depending on deploy requirements.
Viewer-side tools are to be provided (“after July”) viewing statistics on general script usage across a simulator to help diagnose local problems. These might even include / take the form of a visual indicator, such as the visual object update option (CTRL-ALT-Shift-U).
Singularity Issues
I don’t usually post TPV updates as a part of this report, however, there are two issues affecting Singularity users. In short, these issues can result in a user’s avatar remaining a cloud to them, and may result in other issues. Those experiencing problems are advised to update to the 7640 test version or the 7667 (redo2) version (note the latter link should only be used until such time as a new build (or the 7667 (redo2) build) appears on the Singularity Alpha viewer list.
Note: this article is about Tilia Inc., as a business. It is not about the Tilia and how USD dollar balances and cashing-out from Second Life will be handled. If you wish to comment on those subject please refer to: Linden Lab announce important Second Life account changes and comment there. Thank you.
On Monday, July 1st, Linden Lab announced important upcoming changes related to Second life accounts and credit processing, which linked to their subsidiary company, Tilia Inc. Full details of these changes can be found in the Lab’s official blog post: Important Changes to your Second Life Account – Introducing Tilia, which I also covered in my own post, Linden Lab announce important Second Life account changes, which includes additional links to the Lab’s comments posted in reply to questions on the forums.
But what exactly is Tilia Inc.?
Well, for a start, Tilia Inc isn’t actually something new – it’s been around in relation to the Lab since 2014 / 15; in fact, Second Life users might actually already be aware of it without realising it, as the Tilia Inc., logo appears on the SL web pages related to L$ account purchases (Tilia also drives elements of Sansar accounts as well).
In describing Tilia Inc., in the blog post noted above, the Lab give a fairly basic description of company’s function:
A subsidiary of Linden Lab that offers certain financial services to the Second Life community and helps Second Life comply with U.S. laws and regulations.
This is actually only a part of the story – the part that affects Second life users; there is more, some of which I speculated about when first writing about Tilia almost five years ago in November 2015 – see Linden Lab and Tilia Inc. – speculations on the Lab’s new subsidiary– and which would now seem to be correct.
That article came about as an extension of investigations fellow Second life user Vick Forcella, had started before punting things over to me to build on his work. In the course of my digging, I spoke with Peter Gray, who was then the Director of Global Communications at Linden Lab, and while he didn’t give too much away at that time, he did say something that resonated with me as I speculated about what Tilia Inc might hold for the future.
Tilia is a subsidiary of Linden Lab, focused on payments and the compliance work associated with operating virtual economies, and it will provide services for both Second Life and Project Sansar.
– Peter Gray, former Director of Global Communications, Linden Lab, November 2015
Back in November 2015, two things in particular struck me about Peter’s comment.
The first is pretty straightforward: Tilia Inc., was, and would remain, central to the Lab’s work in seeking federal and state registration as a US Money Transmitter and to comply with all US laws regarding the movement of money. This had been a stated goal within the Lab pretty much since Ebbe Altberg officially joined the company as CEO.
Secondly, Peter’s statement struck me as interesting in that its structure seemed to suggest that supporting Second Life and Sansar (then still “Project Sansar”) was part of, but also separate to, the overall goal of presenting Tilia as an entity focused on providing a robust payments and compliance system for operating (and managing) virtual economies to third parties.
Another option might be that the Lab be considering making the Linden Dollar and all its attendant services a pre-packaged solution / service they can offer to other companies wishing to operate a virtual currency, with Tilia Inc., as the nominal operating company for that service. After all, they have made much of their leadership in matters of virtual economies and compliance, so spinning it out and offering it to others might be a means of generating additional revenue, although admittedly, given the complexities potentially involved, this might be seen as a bit of a stretch.
Reading the Tilia Inc website, it seems that this is what Linden Lab plans to do – the main difference being that Tilia is geared to work with any “virtual token”, not just the Linden Dollar. Not only does the home page promote the company as a “solution provider”, so to speak, but it also includes a form by interested companies / organisations can register their interest with the Lab.
The Tilia Inc., home page promoting the company as a virtual economy solution provider to other businesses
(I’ll only say in defence of my linking Tilia and the Linden Dollar as the hip in 2015 was in part due to the Lab at that time hoping to use the Linden Dollar with Sansar, so it seemed logical to present they would offer it to others as part of the overall package.)
Some may well be upset at the idea of LL spinning off a business entity “at the expense of Second Life” (even though Tilia does and will have a bearing for both SL and Sansar, as noted). However, as noted in the quote above, it does have potential. There is already much more talk today about virtual currencies and economies – notably focused around blockchain systems (such as Etherium), and the Lab does – as noted – have 16 or so years of running a virtual economy at scale and with users cashing-out up to US $65 million a year. Combine this with Tilia’s US-wide certification as a recognised Money Transmitter, and the Lab could have a robust business platform to offer clients.
Of course there are risks involved, such as the realities of this new market and how long it might take to grow, how LL might fair in the face of competition like decentralised blockchain system should these reach a similar level of certification, how much of any potential market LL might corner, etc. However, none of these mean the company shouldn’t necessarily try. Were Tilia prove to be successful over time, it could provide Linden Lab with an alternative revenue stream, possibly allowing them to do something else Ebbe Altberg alluded to in his Meet the Lindens session at SL16B: reduce their margins around SL and possibly lower fees.
But even if this doesn’t pans out, Tilia Inc., still means that LL are in compliance with US laws regarding money handling across state lines and borders, and so can continue to offer users the ability to generate and cash-out their own revenue through Second Life (and Sansar).
Which perhaps -for now – just leaves the question, ‘Why “Tilia”’? Well, possibly because, as I also noted back in 2015, tilia is genus of trees that encompasses linden trees.
Update: Norddeich appears to have closed and the host region is now private.
Following a recommendation from Shawn and Max, we dropped into Hallig Norddeich, Nibbevegen 1. A Homestead region designed by Svenja Maass (MinAleiga), it offers a slightly untamed feel of a coastal region which, given the name, I couldn’t help but wonder if it took its inspiration from Germany’s East Frisian coast and islands.
I’ve no actual solid reason for stating that it does – other than the presence of Norddeich in the title (Hallig being “exuberant”), but should that be the case, then it would certainly be appropriate; the islands along that stretch of coast, together with their cousins along the more northern aspect of the Wadden Sea coastline, have given rise to the naming of a number of places in Second Life, including Norderney and Amrum, both of which have featured as destinations in this blog.
While the physical world Norddeich is a coastal area, this one is quite clearly an island, one among a group that rise from the sea, although its neighbours are a good deal more mountainous in appearance – and a good deal more rugged than the Frisian islands (East or North).
With their rugged faces and lack of trees, these off-sim island give the region something of a Scandinavian feel; were that more joined, it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine this to be a remote island sitting within a fjord. Hence why, perhaps, the hint of Norwegian influence in the region’s name as well (being the name of the road leading up to the Geiranger Skywalk).
The region is split into two islands – the smaller of the two forming the landing point, and the larger the main point of exploration / interest. Both are low-lying, a wooden board walk spanning the narrow channel between them. Save for the shack of the landing point, an old, bent tree and a few shrubs, the smaller island has little to entice visitors to stay, marking it as the perfect spot for the sea lions occupying a small deck on the island’s north side to enjoy a little peace and quiet.
Across the board walk, the larger island is equally low-lying. Ringed by a thin band of sedimentary sand, much of which would appear to be under water at high tide, the core of the island is buttressed by humpbacked cuesta, marking the point where the softer sediments of the beach give way to harder rock the sea is talking a lot more time to erode.
On the west side of the island, the sea has had a little more success in cutting into the land, forming a shallow, sandy cove that has been set out with beach chairs, blankets and deck chairs, the flags fluttering above it indicating the area is safe for bathing but surf boards or other types of board-based spots / floatation devices are not permitted.
With few trees – the main vegetation being grass and hardy shrubs – the island offers a strange mix of buildings suggestive of this once being a place of work. Two of these sit towards the middle of the island, and have a definite industrial vibe to them. However, the larger – which may once have been a long storage shed – is now a bar, presumably here to keep those visiting the island for its beaches refreshed. Separated from it by a little outdoor drinking area and a greenhouse, the smaller of the two units has been converted into a cosy little home that looks out over a rutted track to where sheep graze in a large, fenced field.
The track – one of a number rolling across ver the uneven landscape, runs past the two buildings to connect the beach to the west with a wharf to the east, a branch also connecting it with the board walk to the landing point. The wharf is clearly a place of work – the keel of a boat is being laid down inside the boat shed and a fishing boat with fish in its holds is tied-up alongside.
With multiple spots located around the beaches where cuddles and seats can be enjoyed, the region also offers other little spots for shared moments, indoors and out (try the gate into the sheep field for example). There’s also a suitable sound scape to round things off, making this an enjoyable place to visit and photograph – the latter being added by the inclusion of a cloud scape as a part of the region’s off-sim landscaping.
