Dragons in the Mist

One of the early things that Patio introduced me to in Second Life as the concept of avatars. This seems silly now, but at the time I didn't quite get the concept. I thought everyone was an avatar (true) and that we were all born looking pretty much the same (also true) but that generally everyone more or less looked human (false!)

I soon learned that Patio also was a wyrmling - which is a juvenile European dragon of sorts. My first experience was watching Patio transform into her wyrmling - a Fire Wyrmling, and subsequently riding her around Eastland One where I was living at the time. Later Patio encouraged me to buy a wyrmling avatar and I became a Storm wyrmling. It was then I came to the understanding that the avatar could have shapes of almost any geometry, skin of any texture, and an almost unlimited and complicated set of attachments.

It was a good lesson - I learned about HUDS, AO's (especially quadraped AOs) and generally how limited trying to fly distances in Second Life can be.

Recently we introduced Acorn to our wyrmling and she is now an Astral wyrmling. This also gave Patio and I a chance to roleplay once again. The airspace in the Costa Rica sims where we have a home is open, and we had a great time. The photo you see was taken over the rainforests of Volcan Tenorio.

Extended Second Families

One very happy note this week was when a friend asked Patio and I if we would be her Moms. Originally it had been for a planned wedding in Second Life, however although the wedding was called off it was great that the Mom's got to take a tour of Acorn's new home. It was nice to spend time together as a family and it occurred to me that although Patio and I are very excited about being Mom's, we really haven't had a chance to talk about it. However I think the biggest responsibility is to foster the spiritual (purpose and reason) side of our daughter to help maintain her understanding of Second Life, and guide her towards developing both technically and socially. Giving Acorn the benefit of our experience would seem to be one of the best contributions we can make.

Another way extended families happen in Second Life is based on the policy of restricting last name choices for logins. My friend Niky hit upon this when she began to keep track of all the Zenovkas she met. On the left is my "sister" Spirit Starbrook, who I met one night at "Juke Joint Blues" and continued a friendship with over time. She really is like a younger sister to me.

The fact is extended families have been around for a long time, even in the U.S., which was forged by people in wagon trains and built up of small towns, most of which were giant forms of an extended family. And without going into the disturbing nature of the extended families as practiced by the Goreans, there are clans, family groups and extended families in Second Life. The impact of Second Life on Real Life will probably change the view of sociologists for many years to come. Second Life is place where evolving concepts and problem solving techniques are constantly introduced, so bringing real-world family issues into, and studying the sociology of Second Life makes sense.

More Steps Towards Reality

For almost a year the folks at Linden Labs have been working on WindLight - a version of the Second Life client that included more realistic environmental settings. My first encounter with WindLight was the first release about 10 months ago, and my first encounter with the impact was stepping outside my home and seeing fog! This wouldn't normally sound like a big deal, but I lived on an island, and previously the absence of fog or any other weather seemed - well, unrealistic!

Linden Labs pulled WindLight after about a week, and it was a number of months until a new release came into being. It was disappointing to say the least - unreliable, washed out lighting, bad transparency, poor performance and on the whole an experience that left me disappointed.

I'm happy to say that as of the second week of February, WindLight has returned! The latest version is reliable; the performance is vastly improved (well, not as fast as the normal viewer, but I think that is to be expected) and the improvements are noticeable! The experience is exhilarating to say the least.

If you haven't tried WindLight it is not for those with marginal systems, and to take advantage of the improved environmental controls you do need to master some controls that may seem overly complex to some.

On the performance side, you may need to upgrade your video card - if your card is over a year old, and was a budget card at that time, it most likely need an upgrade. In the standard viewer I experience 35 to 45 frames per second (FPS) on my video card (ATI HD-2600XT) but with WindLight it is down to between 25 and 35.

However there are some real bargains out there. Before you buy, check out this SL Wiki article about typical frame rates - you should be able to compare your current card to other current models. You can probably use the Second Life Statistics Bar to monitor your frame rate and see if that upgrade is really required. If you experience frame rates slower than 20 FPS that upgrade is most likely a good investment.

Dancing with Friends

I have to say that of all the things I love in Second Life, dancing is at the top of the list!

Patio and I met while dancing, and a few weeks after joining SL I discovered you can have your own custom animations (Thank You Sine Wave). From the moment I had land, I've always had a Tuner from AJ Trumbo's RadioWorld shoppe, and I love having control over the music on my land.

So it goes without saying that dancing in the vineyard is fun - especially with friends. We seem to do it a lot since Katlyn helped me re-landscape, and now that I can stream my own music it's even more fun. Mostly it's very cool trance and disco, but we have also done evenings where we listen to rebroadcasts of the original BBC Radio production of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

So on a Monday night, it's a cool thing to be dancing with Xan and my best friend Katlyn to Cafe Del Mar. What a chill, especially now with Windlight working reliably.

So if you are in Scepterd Isle and see some people dancing in the vineyard, come on over and join in!

Kaja's Wedding in Second Life

It can be very emotional in Second Life, and romance is probably the strongest emotion most people experience. But marriage is something only a small portion of the SL community seem to participate in.

It was a little surprising that my friend Kaja approached me about performing a wedding ceremony for her in Second Life. Not surprising that she would do it, but a little surprising because it was with someone I haven't met before. Kaja had met the most wonderful man, and decided to tie the knot rather suddenly. Asking me to officiate she explained that she wanted a small private ceremony on an island they had purchased.

Never having done this in Second Life before, I decided to hit the books a bit. After pouring over the numerous copies of the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Occasional Services I finally settled on a small re-write of the Marriage Ceremony used in "A New Zealand Prayer Book" which is the Book of Common Prayer equivalent used by the Anglican Church of Aotearora, New Zealand and Polynesia. Seemed appropriate for a Second Life island wedding.

For posterity, here is what this short, sweet ceremony consisted of:

[Emileigh]

Creator Spirit, we have come together today to bear witness to the most amazing gift you have given us - the love between two people. And it is in this setting we come together to ask your blessing for Kaja and Kroc. And for us to witness their marriage and bring them our love and support.

Kaja and Kroc, we pray God will uphold and cheer your life together, that your promises will be honoured, your words true and your island home will be filled with your love for each other, now and forever.

For our part we ask you make your public declarations to each other:

[Kroc]
I love Kaja, and I wish to marry her.

[Kaja]
I love Kroc, and I wish to marry him

[Emileigh]
Kaja and Kroc, we pray the Creator's grace will surround you and keep you both safe and together.

[Kroc]
Kaja, I take you to be my wife.
All that I have I offer you, what you have to give I gladly receive; Where ever you go I will go.
You are my love.
God keep me true to you always, and you to me.

[Kaja]
Kroc, I take you to be my husband.
All that I have I offer you, what you have to give I gladly receive; Where ever you go I will go.
You are my love.
God keep me true to you always, and you to me.

[Emileigh]
Creator Spirit, we thank you for your gift of sexual love, by which this husband and this wife may express their delight in each other,
find refreshment
and share with you the joy of creation.
By your grace may Kaja and Kroc remain lovers,
rejoicing in all that is good.

We have witnessed the promises made by Kaja and Kroc, and now recognize them as husband and wife. May God's grace be with you for ever.

Amen

Best wishes to Mr. and Mrs Kronfeld!

Hanging out with friends

Hanging out with friends is always the best thing to do in Second Life, and it is so wonderful to do so. I have so many friends (I think like 200 at last count) but getting a few together to just hang out is just perfect.

So when my ultimate cool friend and neighbour in Scepterd Isle Katlyn Nightfire got a tree from Sandy Clymer (probably a good name for the creator of the tree) we all hung out - literally.

So with some chill music, and a few glasses of Starbrook Bianco, it was a fine evening indeed!

The Avatar Helix

Every once in a while something comes along that is just fun! Recently my friend Blue Tsuki had such an idea. It was really cool, and fun to boot! Its the Avatar Helix - a double helix with positions for avatars to sit and spin. What fun!

What was ironic is that the day he unveiled this was the same day that the BBC reported a team in the U.S. had synthesized bacteria.

"An important step has been taken in the quest to create a synthetic lifeform.
A US team reports in Science magazine how it built the entire DNA code of a common bacterium in the laboratory using blocks of genetic material.

Dr Hamilton Smith, who was part of the Science study, said the team regarded its lab-made genome - a laboratory copy of the DNA used by the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium - as a step towards synthetic, rather than artificial, life.

Dr Craig Venter, who was involved in the race to decode the human genome, believes tailor-made micro-organisms can become efficient producers of non-polluting fuels such as hydrogen. Other synthetic bacteria could be made to take up greenhouse gases, he believes. "It sets the stage for what we hope is going to be a new approach to engineering organisms," said co-researcher Dr Smith."

Hmmmmm........