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, September 6th 19:00: The Weigher
A world dominated by sentiment big cats where the rule of law is enforced by the Weighers, a combination of judge, peacemaker and accountant through a brutal code of honour and combat. Without their violent intervention in things, all-out war and anarchy would ensue.
When two human explorers – fragile, weak and potentially easy prey – arrive on that world, Slasher, a Weigher of skill and talent in physical combat, finds herself defending them. In doing so, she finds herself a disgraced outcast.
Join Gyro Muggins as he resumes the story by Eric Vinicoff and Marcia Martin.
Twig lives in Sidwell, where people whisper that fairy tales are real. After all, her town is rumoured to hide a monster. And two hundred years ago, a witch placed a curse on Twig’s family that was meant to last forever. But this summer, everything will change when the red moon rises. It’s time to break the spell.
Willow Moonfire read’s Alice Hoffman’s novel.
Wednesday, September 8th, 19:00 Hollywood Chickens and More…
… From the works of Terry Pratchett, with Caledonia Skytower.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week ending Sunday, September 5th
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 6.4.22.561752, formerly the CEF update viewer, dated July 24th, promoted August 10th – No change.
Friday, September 3rd saw an article by VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi – no stranger to Linden Lab, Second Life and LL – doing the rounds, entitled Will the metaverse bring the second coming of Second Life? While I personally find the term “the metaverse” to be one of the must frequently over-hyped / over-used terms in recent years, Takahashi’s article makes for an interesting read on a number of levels.
The first is that VentureBeat is a well-regarded tech news and events on-line magazine that includes the supplement GamesBeat that focuses on the world of computer, mobile and video games. Between them, they draw down some 6 million unique visitors a month and 12 million page views. That’s potentially a lot of exposure for articles within the publication, and Takahashi’s article was a headline piece for GamesBeat’s front page (although it has since slipped down the ranking somewhat).
Dean Takahashi, lead writer, GamesBeat
The initial part of the article is something of a re-tread of Second Life’s history for those of us familiar with the platform. While the ground covered may well be familiar (and the quoted numbers possibly subject to quibbling in some quarters), this re-treading nevertheless frames SL for those not familiar with it or were unaware it is still around and doing moderately well for itself.
This part of the article also helps frame Linden Lab as an “elder statesman” (so to speak) of the user-generated content frontier, having long since tackled many of the issues and hurdles that those attempting to now define and provide “the metaverse” are just starting to tackle. All of which makes for good reading and certainly helps carry the message that in this day of Facebook, Microsoft, et al trying to foist their visions of what “the metaverse” should be, Linden Lab has the right to say, “been there, done that – and still doing it!”.
However, it’s the latter part of the article that drew my focus, with its referencing of both Tilia and recent moves on the part of the Lab to develop “partnerships” to try to “grow” SL. Both of these are also parts of the article I’ve witnessed as causing some negative gnashing of teeth in some circles, which has also framed my thinking in writing this piece.
In particular, Takahashi’s revelation that Tilia has cost Linden Lab $30 million has raised eyebrows and some grumblings about what this might mean for Second Life’s future.
This needs a little context. While LL has spent what seems like a huge amount of money on Tilia, as Takahashi notes, it has been over a 7-year period, starting not long after Ebbe Altberg joined Linden Lab as CEO, and the initial expenditure was required; as Takahashi goes on to point out, for a company like LL to be able to make pay-outs to users (and generally handle fiat money on behalf of its users) it must comply with a range of US federal, state, and international regulations.
In terms of US requirements, this has meant LL had to become a licensed money transmitter at both the federal and state levels – a move more easily achieved by ring-fencing the services that handle all payment processing / transfer into an entity of their own. Had it not do so, then LL would have hit a wall in its ability to make pay-outs. Beyond this, Tilia Pay’s regulated services benefit Second Life in a number of other ways (allowing the use of credit / debit cards within services such as the Marketplace through to assisting with overall user account management and security, for example).
Obviously given a large amount has been sunk into Tilia, it is natural for the Lab’s new owners to want to leverage this expenditure. But this doesn’t mean Tilia and Second Life are, or will become, an “either / or” proposition for the Lab’s future direction.
Rather if Tilia can be made a success, it would mean that Linden Lab – after more than a decade of trying – has gained a second revenue stream it can utilise to help it remain viable moving into the future. Further, it’s long been the philosophy at LL that as long as SL has users enough to ensure it remains a healthy generator of revenue / income, there is little reason to shut it down / sell it, and I’d question this philosophy being radically altered by the success of a second product within the company’s portfolio.
At the end of the piece, Takahashi brings in the subject of Zenescope, and LL’s focus on “partner collaborations”. This appears to be part of what has been referred to as the drive to grow the user base.
It’s not necessarily a bad idea – working with organisations that have established audiences of their own and which could leverage Second Life to add a new dimension of engagement for those audiences. However, it is one that has some significant hurdles to clear: attractions have to be built-out, events need to be organised and run at a tempo that keeps an incoming audience engaged and coming back at a reasonable cadence to make the effort worthwhile, and their must be a path to a practical return on the investment made (time, effort money), and so on; to say nothing of getting people into the experience and comfortable with the viewer UI.
Zenescope Metaverse a new partnership endeavour involving Linden Lab opened in August 2021, but failed to capture the imagination for me See: The Zenescope Metaverse In Second Life
There’s also the question that, even if successful in bringing an audience to Second Life, just how well such partnerships might actually convert members of the audience into engaged Second Life users – something that will be an important measure of success by the current user base, if not necessarily to LL or their partners, who will likely use other criteria to measure the success of these ventures.
In mentioning such partnerships, Takahashi’s piece open the door to broader thinking around where LL might potentially go with this idea in the wake of of the move to AWS.
For example, it’s already been hinted that at some point, LL might look to offer an “on-demand” product. Doing so could potentially be advantageous to potential partners, in they it present a way for them to offer their users experiences in Second Life at a more advantageous price that a 24/7 product that might only be used once or twice a week. Beyond this, there is the question of whether LL might consider entirely private grids for dedicated partners / clients / markets, and even white-labelling such a capability if they did so (thus essentially providing a Second Life Enterprise style of product in a manner and cost that would be far more appealing that that endeavour).
The ISS as of September 2021, showing the newly-arrived SpaceX CRS 23 resupply vehicle docked alongside the Crew Dragon Endeavour. At the far end of the station are the Russian modules: the recently-arrived Nuaka, Zvezda and Zarya, which has been found to have small fissures in its outer skin. Credit: NASA
Some sections of the tabloid media became excited this week about “cracks” being discovered “on the International Space Station”, with one or two predicting the end of the ISS is now nigh.
The cause of the reports was the announcement by Energia NPO, the company responsible for fabricating the Russian-built elements of the ISS, that “superficial fissures” have been found in the outer skin of the Zarya module.
The Zarya module imaged from the space shuttle Endeavour in December 1998, as the shuttle approach the module in preparation to attach the US Unity module. Credit: NASA
Zarya – also called the Functional Cargo Block (FCB) – was the first module of the ISS to be launched (November 1998), and was initially responsible for providing electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the early years of assembly. However, as more specialised units, notably the Russian Zvezda module (attached to the aft end of Zarya), were launched, the role of the Zarya module has been gradually downgraded to the point where today it is primarily used for internal and external storage space.
Thus far, neither NASA nor Roscosmos have indicated whether or not the fissures have caused any internal pressurisation issues for the station. However, similar fissures – likely the result of exposure to extremes of temperature as the ISS passes between direct sunlight and the cold shadow of Earth and back every 45 minutes – were discovered on the Zvezda Module in 2019, and despite repairs in 2020 and 2021, they continue to be an annoyance.
Whether the Zarya fissures will become a similar issue can only be determined in time – but they are a reminder that while the ISS is not in imminent risk of a major failure, it is genuinely showing its age, particularly the three original modules – Zvezda, Zarya and Unity – all of which are at least 25 years old (including fabrication / construction time), and are potentially becoming increasingly vulnerable to fatigue. Such issues might also cause Russia to make further noises about withdrawing from the ISS after 2024, this time of the grounds of the station’s increasing age, so they can start work on their own space station.
The Accident – the Strangest Brown Dwarf
Brown Dwarfs are sometimes called “failed stars”, in that they have a mass that sits above the most massive gas giant planets we have so far discovered, but below that of the smallest stars. This leaves them incapable of achieving hydrogen fusion, hence the idea they have “failed” as stars. However, they are massive enough to give off considerable infra-red radiation, which tends to point to them being extremely old.
In reviewing data returned by the Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE), citizen scientist Dan Caselden has discovered the strangest brown dwarf to so far be discovered – so strange it has been given the nickname “The Accident”.
Located around 50 light years from Earth, it is officially called WISEA J153429.75-104303.3 and classified a Class Y substellar object – the oldest and coolest classification of such brown dwarfs. All of which is really not that interesting; astronomers have discovered many brown dwarfs in local space around our solar system over the last 30 years.
A comparison between a “typical” brown dwarf and other stellar and planetary objects. Credit: NASA
What is strange about The Accident is firstly, it is spinning about its axis at a speed of 200 kilometres a second (that’s 720,000 km/h)- 25% faster than the next fastest stellar object of its kind.
The second – and more intriguing – thing is that The Accident has the oddest brightness pattern of any brown dwarf. Due to their nature, these objects only give off light in the infra-red wavelengths, and The Accident’s output is – at least in part – at the end of that part of the spectrum that points to it being really old: perhaps 13 billion years old – almost as old as the galaxy itself (13.6 billion years. This extreme age is also supported by The Accident’s rotational speed, something that could only be achieved via thousands of encounters with massive stellar objects down the aeons.
But there’s a twist: The Accident is not consistent in its infra-red brightness, as it also “shines” in parts of the infra-red that indicate that it is a lot, lot, younger than the other data suggest, making the object an anomaly – and accident of nature, so to speak, hence its nickname. This difference in brightness has puzzled scientists, and has led to The Accident starting to get a lot of attention to determine what might be going on inside it.
Some of this attention is also devoted to studying it on the basis of its age – if it really is 13 billion years old, then it formed at a time when the galaxy was a very different place in terms of chemistry, a time when many elements we take for granted (carbon and methane being just two) simply could not exist. Thus, understanding its nature and composition could reveal more about the galaxy’s formation and birth. What’s more, that so strange an object should be found so relatively close to Earth suggests there could be many of these unusual brown dwarfs awaiting discovery.
Virgin Group Ups and Downs
Sir Richard Branson is having some ups and downs in his space endeavours.
The ups are with Virgin Orbit, the smallsat launching service that uses the LauncherOne rocket, lifted to altitude by a modified 747 before being launched, to place payloads of up to 300 KG to a Sun-synchronous orbit or 500 KG to low Earth orbit.
Following the first successful launch of a commercial payload to orbit at the end of June, the company has now passed a critical Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) environmental review that could allow it to use Andersen Air Force Base, on the island of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean, as a base for launch operations.
Virgin Orbit has passed an FAA environmental review that could pave the way for the company to offer payload launchers out of the US territory of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean. Credit: Virgin Orbit
If final approval is granted – and the FAA do have reservations about Virgin Orbit being able to operate from such a remote location – the company plan to use Guam to make up to 25 air launches over a period of 5 years, possibly commencing before the end of 2021.
Following the success of the June launch, Branson noted that Virgin Orbit is to be capable of highly responsive launches from almost any point in the world. To this end, the company has already signed an agreement with Spaceport Cornwall (Newquay Airport) in the UK, and the Brazilian government has selected the company to provide launch services out of that country’s Alcântara Space Centre. These, together with Guam and their existing facilities at the Mojave Air and Space Port mean that Virgin Galactic may soon have four launch locations around the world from which it can reach a variety of orbital inclinations as required by customers.
VSS Unity drops clear of its air launcher, MSS Eve during the Unity 22 mission, ahead of engine ignition. Credit: Virgin Galactic
The down is with Virgin Galactic, the sub-orbital, tourist-focused service. Following its first successful passenger-carrying flight in July (see: Space Sunday: Unity 22 Flies), the FAA announced on September 2nd that the the sub-orbital VSS Unity is grounded, following a review of that flight, forcing a halt to the company’s operations.
The review has been triggered following an article appearing in The New Yorker magazine stating the pilots on VSS Unity ignored a warning triggered during the vehicle’s powered ascent that should have caused them to abort the flight and return the the ground. The warning indicated the vehicle was not climbing at a sufficiently steep angle to remain within it’s “entry glide cone” – the volume of space in which it can make a safe unpowered glide back to a successful runway landing at the end of the flight – during its return to Earth, and so could miss the runway entirely.
While the company has defined The New Yorker’s report as “inaccurate”, telemetry from the Unity 22 mission shows that the vehicle did exceed the limits of FAA-defined “protected airspace” for one minute and 41 seconds during the descent to landing, further justifying the FAA’s decision to order the grounding, preventing any further operations by Virgin Galactic for the next few weeks.
Virgin Galactic had been gearing-up for its next crewed flight for VSS Unity, a dedicated research flight for the Italian Air Force that would carry aloft Colonel Walter Villadei, Lt. Colonel Angelo Landolfi and aerospace engineer Pantaleone Carlucci, alongside Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses and pilots Michael Masucci and C.J. Sturckow when the ground of the spacecraft was announced. The mission will now not fly until the FAA concludes their review of the Unity 22 flight.
Seiiki, September 2021 – click any image for full size
In July, Vally Lavender opened the latest iteration of her region of [Valium] with a new design by Dandy Warhlol (Terry Fotherington). Entitled Suaka, the Indonesian term for “sanctuary” it was initially offered as a special retreat for [Valium] group members, but has since been opened to the general SL populace. It stands as an engaging, restful setting, rich in opportunities for escape and for photography (see: A sanctuary with a touch of Indonesia in Second Life).
She has now added to the estate with the arrival of a second Full region, and has again engaged Terry to handle the landscaping with the intent to extend the idea of refuge and respite – in which he has admirably succeeded -, and she kindly offered me an invitation to visit as the region opened to [Valium] group members (L$395 joining fee) – although the region will be open to the general public from Monday, September 6th, 2021, for a period of time.
Seiiki, September 2021
Entitled Seiiki, the Japanese term for “sanctuary”, the new region sits to the south of Suaka, the two separated by a narrow band of water passing between their respective sandy shorelines, a path of stones breaching the water to provide a dry passage between the two. Crossing this path not only allows visitors to pass between the two regions with ease, it also moves them between two settings with very different root influences, for while Suaka draws on Indonesia and other parts of south-east Asia, Siieki draws its inspiration from Japan with touches of China sitting within it.
From is northern beach, Seiiki also presents a very different terrain to Sauka, although the two do flow together quite naturally. Where the latter is predominantly low-lying, Seiiki rises swiftly from its beach to present a rocky vista of cliffs, plateaux, hard shoulders of rock and flat-topped peaks that sit as foothills to the green mountains that rise beyond it. It is also a richly wooded location, the lower slopes home to dense coverings of what appear to be bamboo palms of the Rhapis genus, thus giving the first tilt of the region towards China, where this particular bamboo palm is common.
Seiiki, September 2021
These woods flank a small valley leading inland and reached via steps that run up from the beach to a simple Torii gate. This little valley is home to a small café and is clearly the preserve of another Chinese influence: panda bears. These have clearly decided the stubby valley is theirs by rights, and a mix of small family groups and lone adults have marked out their little spaces within it, wandering, playing, eating and – in one case, at least – seek the bear necessities of life, be they bamboo fronds or catching some rays whilst perched in the natural curve of a Palmetto tree trunk!
It is from this little valley that explorations of the rest of the region all commence. On the east side, just beyond the café, stone steps climb up to a low promontory of rock with its flanks heavy with the bamboo palms mentioned above by way of a small gateway. On reaching the top of this finger of a hill, the path quickly offers a choice for those reaching it: tarry at the broad pond where duck play, follow a path leading back north along the shoulder to where a second, shaded pond hides, the home to koi and a simple little shack that is home to a cuddle-point, or venture further up into the hills by means of a choice of routes.
Seiiki, September 2021
The first of these routes takes the form of narrow planks laid over the grass that wind past an abandoned hut by the side of the pond to reach a bridge, beyond which sits Seiiki’s little end-of-the-line train station, a small terminus on a single-track line. The second route follows the stone steps as they continue upwards to reach what might have once been a shrine set within its own walled rock garden but which is now a place for yoga and meditation as it sits neatly on a square plateau of rock that looks down over the head of the region’s central valley.
This valley head takes the form of what might generally be a peaceful pond, reached from the café along a grassy path in part marked by scattering of small white stones. The pond is watched over by a figure of Buddha offering his blessing, adding to its sense of peace, and who is in turn guarded by two Japanese crane. However, it is fair to say the serenity here may at times be broken by the hissing rumble of steam trains (or just the rumble of locomotives, given the track has overhead powerline for electric trains) as they pass over a trestle bridge that spans the gap between two tunnels above a small reservoir located upslope from Buddha and his pond.
Seiiki, September 2021
Reached via a short set of steps, the wall of the reservoir both holds back the water and presents a path to a set of broad, flat stone that break the surface of the water to lead the way to where ancient stone steps switchback their way up and around the curving flank of the region’s highest cliffs. Those who take this giddying walk will find themselves at a high wooden vantage point that looks back down the valley, and a second stairway that runs back down the cliff-face. This descends way of a sake bar (the alcohol possibly welcome after the climb!) to another of the setting’s hideaways in the form of a little koi house nestled on its own rocky ledge, from where visitors can wave to those on the train as it huffs its way over the bridge, either to or from Seiiki’s little railways station.
To the west, and reached by another stone stairway, the region offer a spa sitting within a large Edo-style building (with most of the other buildings in the region in the same style), again built over water to present another place of peace and retreat.
Seiiki, September 2021
Rich in detail, if a little heavy on some systems if you run with Shadows and other bells and whistles enabled all the time, Seiiki is a more than worthwhile companion to Suaka, the two of them offering a richness of space and setting for people to lose themselves. As noted above, Seiiki is open to [Valium] group members only until Monday, September 6th (joining fee L$395 – which goes directly towards the upkeep of both regions) – where after it will be open to the public at large, alongside Suaka, for an unspecified (at the time of writing) period of time.
On Friday, September 3rd Linden Lab issued the latest update to the 360º Snapshot viewer – now called the Project 360 Capture viewer – with the release of version 6.4.23.563579. It represents the most significant update to this viewer we’ve seen, and it comes after a significant pause in its development.
As the name of the viewer suggests, it is designed to take 360º degree panoramic images of the environment around the camera. It does this by simultaneously taking six images around the current camera position – one each at the four cardinal points, plus one directly overhead, and one directly looking down. These are then “stitched” into an equirectangular projection image (e.g. one that can be projected as a sphere), which can then viewed through a suitable medium – such as Flickr (other mediums are available!).
An “unwrapped” Maximum quality 360º image captured using the Project 360 Capture viewer, showing the 6 captured images “stitched” together (click on this image to see it in 360º format in Flickr)
The first iteration of this viewer appeared almost five years ago, in October 2016, and came with a certain amount of complexity involved – including the need to install a local environment for previewing captured images. Later iterations of the viewer improved on this, but the viewer continued to be hit by conflicts with the Interest List.
In simple terms, the Interest List lightens the load – objects, textures and updates to active objects, etc., – the viewer has to process when rendering. It does this by ignoring things that are not in the camera’s direct field of view. This is why, for example, when you turn your camera away from the direction you are looking, it can take time for objects and their textures to render. However, for a 360º-degree image, everything needs to be properly rendered in the viewer – whether in the current field of view or not. Overcoming this problem has proven difficult – and it (admittedly with other factors also coming into play) caused work on the viewer to be halted for an extended period.
This version of the viewer overcomes most of these issues, and makes the creation of 360º snapshots straightforward through the use of a new 360 Snapshot floater that is independent of the “standard” snapshot floater, and the use of some additional back-end code to overcome the Interest List. This new floater can be accessed from within the Project 360 Capture viewer in one of four ways:
Via World 360 Snapshot.
By pressing CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-S.
By enabling the 360° snapshot toolbar button in one of the toolbar areas.
By expanding the standard snapshot floater to show the full preview and clicking the Take 360 Snapshot link in the lower right corner of the preview panel.
Accessing the 360 snapshot floater (this can also be done via CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-S or by expanding the standard snapshot floater to show the full preview and clicking the Take 360 snapshot link in the lower right corner of the preview panel
The floater itself comprises several elements:
The image Quality radio buttons and selection button (labelled Create 360 Image).
The quality buttons appear to utilise the viewer’s screen buffer to render the different image types, so Preview appears to use the 128 vertical buffer, while Medium and High use the 512 and 1024 buffers respectively, and Maximum the 2048 buffer (i.e. the full 4096×2048 resolution).
When you have selected your preferred quality, click the Create 360 button to generate a preview.
If you alter the image quality at any time, you’ll need to click on the Create 360 button again to update the preview / take a fresh image at the new image quality.
A checkbox to disable avatar rendering during the image capture process.
The preview panel. This will show a rotating image from the current camera position until refreshed, and this image can be manually rotated / panned up and down by clicking on it and dragging the mouse around.
The Save As… button that actually saves the image to your hard drive.
To take an image:
Position your camera.
Select the image quality – for finished images you’ll need to set High or Maximum quality using the radio buttons.
Click the Create 360 Image button to generate a preview in the floater’s preview panel.
Click on the preview image and drag it around to ensure what you’re seeing is what you want / that things like textures have actually rendered correctly.
Check the Hide All Avatars option, if required – this will cause the process to include all avatars present (it will not alter their in-world rendering).
When you are satisfied with the preview, click Save As… to save it to your hard drive, renaming it if / as required.
Remember, if you change the image quality, you must also click Create 360 button to update the preview AND image capture process to the new image quality, before click Save As… again.
Once captured – again as noted – images can be uploaded to a suitable display platform such as Flickr – the images contain the necessary metadata that should automatically trigger the 360-degree viewing process (just click on an image in flicker to manually pan around up / down).
An “unwrapped” Maximum quality 360º image captured using the Project 360 Capture viewer, showing the 6 captured images “stitched” together (click on this image to see it in 360º format in Flickr)
General Observations
An easy-to-use iteration of the 360º snapshot viewer that brings good quality and ease-of-use to the process.
The ability to avoid rendering avatars not only helps avoid issues of rendering / motion blurring when taking a 360º image, it enables the easy capture of landscape images. It also, obviously, allows for the capture of posed avatars if required.
There are still some issues in rendering out-of-view (relative to the visible field of view for the camera) items and textures at High and (particularly) Maximum quality images – note the blurring of the vessel name in the first 360 image above.
The lowest quality Preview option is simply too blurred to be of real value – perhaps using 256 rather than 128 might improve this (if only slightly)?
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 