I received an invitation from Blip Mumfuzz to visit her latest exhibition, Exaggerations which opened on April 8th at Andante Gallery, operated by Jules Catlyn and Iris Okiddo (IrisSweet), and which will remain available through until May 8th.
Blip is an artist whose work I’ve come to admire for its richness of colour and depth, and this is very much celebrated within Exaggerations, a series of images taken around Second Life in which one or more colours have been exaggerated and / or a colour filter has been overlaid.
The result is a series of images that are both stunning and subtle. In some, landscapes have become alien worlds and plants turned into strange new life forms. Others she shrubs turned into pieces of modern abstract art and / or play with abstract expressionism; still others are more subtle in touch: gentle highlight that allow a scene to remain “natural” whilst drawing the eye to certain features: the blush of lipstick or the topping of a pizza or the heat of a barbecue, and so on.
Andante Gallery: Blip Mumfuzz – Exaggerations
Nor are the images confined to the gallery building and its little courtyard. Blip has placed a quartet of large format pieces outside of the gallery, within its grounds so that they might be viewed through the gallery’s windows. These give the exhibition a unique additional perspective, making it appear as if we’re are viewing the exhibition from within itself.
Expressive and full of colour and life, Exaggerations is another eye-catching and engaging exhibition from Blip.
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, April 11th, 19:00: When They Saw
Having graduated from the juvenile education system, Ana Mia decides to join her sister as a part of Fort Hope’s Midnight Guard. Fort Hope is a stronghold, protecting its inhabitants from Earth’s alien invaders; and the Midnight Guard forms the eyes, ears and guardians of the stronghold’s Wall.
Without the Guard and without the Wall of the stronghold, the aliens would be free to harvest humanity, using their ships and the Coyotes who form their eyes and ears in opposition to the Midnight Guard.
But now things have changed. Now Ana is something more, as she notes herself:
I never expected to be abducted. But here I am, standing onboard Their ship, facing Them down for the first time in my life, seeing the true face of the Earth’s invaders from another world.
My task is simple: to act as Earth’s emissary and negotiate peace. But it is far more complicated than it seems. I know nothing of politics, and even little of persuasion, but I have no choice. I must do this to keep my friends, and my world, safe. I cannot afford to fail humanity.
Join Gyro Muggins as he reads the second volume of Kody Boye’s When They… saga.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week ending Sunday, April 10th, 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 version 6.5.3.568554 – formerly the Maintenance J&K RC viewer, promoted Monday, February 28 – no change.
Goatswood, April 2022 – click any image for full size
My first introduction to the work of Hera (zee9 – then known as Kora) came getting on for a decade ago, when I first visited Venexia and Goatswood, two separate builds developed for role-play. At the time, both were popular spots for visitors, with Goatswood possibly the more popular by virtue of its more general setting. However, both departed Second Life in 2015 and while Venexia has reappeared from time to time since then, I think I’m right in saying Goatswood has largely been absent the grid. At least until now.
As pointed out to me by Cube Republic, Goatswood is now back (for a time at least), sharing Hera’s region with an updated version of her Whitby build (which I wrote about in October 2021 (see Visiting Dracula’s Whitby in Second Life), which I hope to get to in the next few days; for now I want to focus on Goatswood.
Goatswood, April 2022
Welcome to Goatswood
Well it is that time again when I get the call of the wild and must return to Goatswood 🙂 . It is a virtual Victorian Gothic novel [and] was always my favourite region of all the ones we created for RP 10 or so years ago. For me it had a real heart and soul that the others lacked; many people passed through it and made homes there. The role play was IMHO as good as it gets. This version is very different as there is no game set up, but I feel that for me this version is better in many ways I hope you like what you find.
Hera (zee9)
Set in the period 1860 – 1900, Hera describes the village as being somewhere in the Midlands of England – although I always felt it to be closer to the Cotswolds, something perhaps referenced in the fact that Hera modelled the basic design of Goatswood on Castle Combe, Wiltshire. It was developed specific for easy-going role-play set within that era, and while that may not be central to this current iteration, there is little doubt that Goatswood very much retains the heart and soul of the original.
Goatswood, April 2022
As is common with Hera’s recent builds, Whitby and Goatwood share a common landing point, both being on the same region. However, for this iteration of the builds, the landing point has also undergone a change, now having about it a touch of Harry Potter, presented as it is as a railway station with two steam trains are drawn up to the platforms. The red train to the right (when looking at them) offers a journey to Whitby, while the green train calls at Goatswood. Just click on the carriage through the open door to be transferred to the required destination.
Those who recall the original Goatswood may well recognise elements of this version – the railway station, the Roebuck Coach House, the church – but these have some subtle difference within them. The Roebuck, for example, now has a grand carving of a stag above the main door, while the church no longer has a steeple atop its tower. These, together with other changes to the setting that allow this iteration of Goatswood to stand apart from its namesake as a quiet independent setting, rather than an mere copy.
One of the major attractions of the original Goatswood was the care with which it had been built; there was a real sense of place in the way the village and its surroundings had been put together. This is also present within the new iteration. Anyone familiar with the Cotswolds or, more broadly, the counties of Oxfordshire, Worcestershire, or Warwickshire as a whole will realise the beauty of Hera’s build richly replicates the beauty of the countryside through those counties.
Exploring the region is something for which a good deal of time should be apportioned. While many of the houses may be shells, there is nevertheless a richness of detail awaiting discovery along the paths of the village and along the gardens. Those buildings – such as a Roebuck Coach House, the church and manor house, plus a couple of places outside of the village itself (which I’ll leave to you to find 😉 ) – do have interiors waiting discovery.
Goatswood, April 2022
The setting also retains much of the mystery of the role-play that formed a part of it – including a couple of places I confess I don’t remember, which is not to say they weren’t present back in 2013/14, when I made my original visit. While these may not be present to encourage role-play this time around (Hera requests anyone wanting to more than explore and take photos contact her first), they nevertheless further help bring the overall mystique of the village to life once more.
Goatswood is the story I never got around to writing, about a place that never existed, where I would have loved to have lived. It is a world full of haunted places, Gothic folk tales and shadowy occult mysteries. It is set in a time when attitudes were just beginning to change due to advances in science and technology. And yet this advance caused a counter reaction in many, who tried to revive older folk traditions and beliefs in Magic.
In the countryside most people still carried on as they had done for hundreds of years. They still retained a strong belief in natural magic, folk tales and herbal remedies, and yet they had their feet planted firmly in the reality of a hard working life on the land. A really great example of this can be seen in the recent television miniseries “The Living and the dead”.
– Hera (zee9)
Goatswood, April 2022
Now I am an acknowledged “Hera fan” and so am obviously naturally drawn to her work. However, if you have never seen one of her regions before, or if you have never had the opportunity to appreciate Goatswood, then I urge you to take the opportunity to do so now. It is one of the great classics of Second Life.
La Masion d’Aneli: Nessuno Myoo – As Mammoths In the Middle Of Butterflies
Having opened on April 6th, 2022, Kicca Igaly and Nessuno Myoo present two intriguing installations at La Maison d’Aneli (curated by Aneli Abeyante) that stand a both individual pieces and as installations that might – in the mind of the visitor – also be intertwined in terms of theme and potential interpretation.
Before getting to the exhibits – both of which can be reached from the teleport disc at the gallery’s ground-level landing point – please note that to appreciate these installations fully, yo should ensure Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) is enabled and render quality is set to High (if your system can handle it) – both set through Preferences → Graphics, and that the viewer is also set to use the Shared Environment.
La Masion d’Aneli: Kicca Igaly – Pulsions
Within Pulsions, Kicca explores the idea that the human condition – the lives we lead and how we interact – is propelled by the decisions we make individually and collectively; pulsion itself being the act of driving forward (as opposed to being drawn forward involuntarily as a result of influences over which we have no direct control).
Within the setting, we are presented by scenes of everyday life: mothers with their children sharing a conversation; children at play, a mother and daughter passing a (presumably) homeless man asleep on a park bench; a tall man watching the children at play, and so on. Over the shoulders of each character float two little figures – their better angels (or positive pulsions) and darker demons (or negative pulsions) that drive their behaviour – whether or not a group conversation descends into gossip and rumour-spreading; whether a discussion remains calm and reasoned or descends into a heated, angry exchange; whether a game played remains friendly and fun or embroiled in bitterness on losing, and so on. By using the term pulsion, Kicca reminds us that the negative choices we make may not always be driven by a need to hurt or upset and so are not necessarily “evil” or “cruel” – although the tall figure watching the two youngsters also perhaps reminds us there can be intentional evil driving the decisions some make…
La Masion d’Aneli: Kicca Igaly – Pulsions
Within As Mammoths In The Middle Of Butterflies, Nessuno presents a single, stunning sculpture of the skeletal forms of two mammoths of unequal size apparently locked in combat, the smaller forced down onto its rear hunches and attempted to ward off a blow from the foreleg of the larger as it rears up on its hind legs in order to deliver the blow with greater force. Around both rises a cloud of butterflies, their peace and innocence shattered by the warring beasts.
Quite what we make of this is left entirely open to interpretation, the artist only stating At the sunset of existence, immersed in the wonder of its own nature. Thus, how we respond to the piece is entirely subjective. For my part, the use of mammoths (now long extinct) and the term “sunset of existence” suggests the piece can – and as with Kicca’s Pulsions – be taken on a statement about the human condition.
As Mammoths In The Middle Of Butterflies
That we are, for example, so polarised in views on subjects such as global warming and so focused on arguing about it, we cannot pause to address the fact that we really are disrupting the global ecosystem and hastening our own demise. Other might see it as a commentary on the the danger of the old truism “might is right”, that some countries have grown so arrogant in their own superiority and might, they care little about the manner in which the decisions they make can have shattering and disruptive impacts on others.
But rather than add further subjective thoughts of my own here, I’ll leave it to the sculpture to express itself to you. All I’ll say in closing is that once again, Kicca and Nessuno present two installations that engage both the eye and the mind.
Crew Dragon Endeavour docked with the forward port on the US Harmony module at the ISS, and bearing the Axiom logo. Credit: NASA
The first entirely private sector mission to the International Space Station (ISS) lifted-off from the SpaceX Falcon launch facilities at Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) on Friday April 8th, 2022, carrying a crew of four to the station aboard the Crew Dragon vehicle Endeavour.
The launch took place at 16:17 UTC, with the Falcon 9’s first stage making a flawless ascent prior to upper stage separation, then completing a boost-back manoeuvre and a successful return to Earth to land on one of the SpaceX autonomous drone ships. It marked the 5th successful flight for the core stage, which coincidentally was the same stage that launched the first all-private mission to Earth orbit – Inspiration4 (see: Space Sunday: Inspiration4 and Chinese flights) in September 2021.
Ax-1 has been seen by some as just another jolly jaunt into space by those who can afford it; however and in fairness, it is slightly more than that. Axiom Space was founded to create the world’s first commercial space station. While others have since entered this arena, Axiom has been granted access to the forward port of the ISS’ Harmony module, to which Axiom plans to dock the Axiom Orbital Segment; a complex that could grow to five pressurised modules after 2024.
Axiom’s plans for their space station (click for full size). Credit; Axiom Space
In order to help finance their plans, Axiom plan to offer a series of fare-paying flights to the ISS, with the 8-10 day Ax-1 being the first. However as a part of these flights, those paying for seats will also help Axiom pave the way towards their goal in bringing their first module to the ISS in 2024 and carry out a suite of selected on-orbit studies and experiments.
Commanding the mission is Michael López-Alegría, who was one of NASA’s most experienced astronauts prior to retiring in 2012. He holds the US record for the most EVAs undertaken by a NASA astronaut (10 totalling 67 hours and 40 minutes) and is also (and quite separately) licensed to officiate at wedding ceremonies. In 2017, he joined Axiom Space as their director of Business Development, and allowing him to regain his space flight status. Joining him on the mission are US entrepreneur Larry Connor, Israeli businessman and former fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe and Canadian philanthropist and businessman Mark Pathy, each of whom paid an estimated US $55 million to join the mission.
The Ax-1 crew: from left – Larry Connor Mark Pathy Michael López-Alegría and Mark Pathy. Credit: Axiom Space / SpaceXEndeavour took a gentle path up to the space station over a 20 hour flight; however, docking was delayed by some 45 minutes due to an issue with the video system used by the ISS crew to monitor docking operations.
Following post-docking checks, the hatches between Endeavour and the ISS were opened, and the Ax-1 team were welcomed aboard the station by the 7-person crew. During a brief ceremony-come-video press briefing, López-Alegría – who had become the first former astronaut to return to the ISS – presented his three fellow crew members with astronaut pins. Whilst not official US astronaut pins, those presented to Stibbe, Connors and Pathy have been designed by the Association of Space Explorers, which encompasses a lot of members from 38 different countries that have flown astronauts.
Alongside of their work in support of Axiom Space, the Ax-1 crew will take part in a multi-discipline science programme of some 25 different research experiments sponsored by the ISS U.S. National Laboratory in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, Canadian Space Agency, Montreal Children’s Hospital, Ramon Foundation (named for Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster of 2003) and Israel Space Agency.
The Axiom Ax-1 crew (to the rear) with their ISS colleagues, around them in the foreground – counter-clockwise from right: NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn (holding the microphone) ; Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev (in the blue, centre); NASA astronaut Kayla Barron; cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov and Denis Matveev (floating); and upside down NASA astronauts Raja Chari and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. Credit: NASA
As a fully private mission to the ISS, Ax-1 not only features a non-government crew launched aboard a private sector space vehicle and rocket, it is also being managed through the SpaceX flight control centre, Hawthorne, California and Axiom’s own mission control centre in Houston, Texas.
Artemis WDR: Further Issues and Delay
The Wet Dress Rehearsal for the Artemis 1 Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle at KSC’s Pad 39B continues to hit niggling problems, with a resumption of testing now pushed back until April 12th.
As I noted in my previous Space Sunday report, while it had been hoped this full test of a launch countdown procedure, including fuelling the massive rocket’s liquid propellant tanks, could be completed in a 3-day period between April 1st and April 3rd, the test ran into a series of issues that caused efforts to be scrubbed on two occasions.
The issues were now with the rocket itself, which performed flawless during the tests up until the scrubs were each called, but with support systems within the vehicle’s mobile launch tower. However, after the second set of issues on April 3rd caused a scrub, the plan had been to investigate and correct the issue in time to resume the countdown on April 4th and complete the tests ahead of the launch of the SpaceX / Axiom Ax-1 mission reported above – a launch that had already been postponed from April 3rd.
Artemis 1 and its mobile launch platform on Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Centre. Credit: NASA
As the investigations took longer than planned, on April 4th, the decision was taken to stand down WDR operations to allow the Ax-1 to go ahead, and to resume the tests on April 9th. But on April 7th, during a check on the rocket’s systems, engineers found a problem when trying to maintain helium purge pressure in the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), the upper stage of the rocket itself.
The ICPS is based on the second stage of the Delta 4 launch vehicle. It uses a single RL10 engine to propelled the payload carrying section of the rocket – although it will be replaced by the more powerful and purpose-built Exploration Upper Stage from the third SLS flight (Artemis 4) onwards. This particular ICPS was one of the first to be completed, and had been in storage for several years awaiting the completion of the Artemis 1 core stage and boosters.
The Artemis 1 ICPS at Kennedy Space Centre, prior to its integration with the rest of the SLS rocket. Credit: NASA
The issue was traced to a check valve intended to prevent helium – used to purge propellant lines and drain propellant – from escaping the rocket., the valve failing to function as intended. To allow time for a possible fix for the problem to be developed and attempted, the decision was taken to push test resumption by to April 12th. Unfortunately, by April 9th, it became clear that the valve would need to be replaced; but rather than cancel the WDR completely, NASA has decided to complete the test as planned on the 12th – but to only perform a “minimum fill” of the ICPS tanks; enough to prove the propellant loading system works. This, with a full load of the core stage tanks is seen as sufficient for the WDR to be completed.
Replacing the check valve will be carried out once the rocket has been returned to KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building as a part of the post-WDR checks. However, this means that any chance of Artemis 1 making the hoped-for May launch window is now out of the question, whilst NASA is confident replacing the valve will correct the issue, it is also unlikely the turn-around can be completed in time for the rocket to make the June 6th through 16th launch window, potentially making July the earliest Artemis 1 launch opportunity.
Having graduated from the juvenile education system, Ana Mia decides to join her sister as a part of Fort Hope’s Midnight Guard. Fort Hope is a stronghold, protecting its inhabitants from Earth’s alien invaders; and the Midnight Guard forms the eyes, ears and guardians of the stronghold’s Wall.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 