Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Click for full size

New Rape Crisis and Counselling centre opens

Many have read what Penance has to say in our Redlight section, she has strong opinions and a lot of experience but what many do not know is that Penny along with other volunteers run the Rape and Counselling centre in secondlife. I asked Penny to tell me about it:

dana Vanmoer: So tell me about the rape center and how it came about in SL
Penance Sautereau: Well, one day my wife was asleep and I was feeling triggery.
This was about last august, early, No one in my list was on and I needed someone to talk to. So I searched for counselling or peer support for rape survivors figuring SL surely had something. I found all of three counsellors All of whom charged $1500L an hour. And over 60 rape fetish groups
Penance Sautereau: And I was horrified.
Penance Sautereau: So I built the original rape crisis and counselling centre in kot to put free counselling on SL, and to exist as a reminder that Rape is NOT sexy when it's real, and what these fetishists make a fantasy of is a horrific thing when it happens to you for real.
dana Vanmoer: How did you find people willing to help?
Penance Sautereau: Well, my first volunteer came after finding our classified ad and volunteered. One of my SL wives was the second, everyone else volunteered after finding the place, wanting to contribute to what they thought was an idea sl sorely needed
dana Vanmoer: What has the response been like?
Penance Sautereau: Well generally positive, no griefers. We've thankfully only had a few people come needing us. It's the sort of vocation where you're happier to NOT be needed.
dana Vanmoer: Does that make you feel it is not needed here in SL? Or do you feel its because its not known that the help is there?
Penance Sautereau: Well I suppose more advertising could help, but we're the only result in search if you type in "Rape Counselling" so we're not hard to find
dana Vanmoer: I guess its a matter of if you are looking for it you will find it
dana Vanmoer: Are you or any of the volunteers trained to be counsellors?
Penance Sautereau: I'm not, but we specify that up front. Three of my volunteers are actually rl trained and certified though
dana Vanmoer: Do you give those that come for advice information for real life help?
Penance Sautereau: Always. Virtual counselling seems a good start for many because it's less personal, not being truly face to face, but we always recommend towards rl counselling when they're ready
dana Vanmoer: anything else you would like to tell people?
Penance Sautereau: Don't bottle it up, it'll eat at you. If you have these issues you have to talk them out, work through them. Burying them only hurts you. And we're here to listen, and help if we can. And to all you men, remember NO really does mean NO.

What this shows is that the help is out there if you need it. As Penny said RL help is the best eventual solution, but Secondlife allows those that would like to remain completely untraceable the opportunity to get help that they may not do in RL through fear of discovery.

Thank you to Penance for letting us talk openly about a painful subject.

Chatlog colourised with the help of Gwyn’s Colouriser Script

Jack Linden 'Clarifies' the new Ad farming policy:

In a blog post on the official Linden blog Jack Linden says: 
"In this follow-up blog post on Ad Farming, I will be talking about the new rules. As with my previous post, I’d like to then move the discussion into this thread on the forums so that as many of you as possible can give us your opinion over the next few days.
A number of you have raised concerns over going the formal license route, and we too have come to the conclusion that this isn’t the best option. So instead we are going to cover ad farming activities (and the operating of network advertising businesses) under our Terms of Service, specifically as Harassment under clause 4.1. By Networked Advertising, we are specifically talking about the use of multiple parcels, on multiple regions, for the primary purpose of advertising, usually on behalf of other inworld or real world businesses.
What does this mean? if you operate any such networked advertising business on the Linden Mainland, that breaks any one of the following rules or restrictions, we will consider it to be a Terms of Service violation leading to disciplinary action that can include account suspension and loss of land."

Seen by many as Linden Lab backtracking on the previous policy and again giving in to the large Ad networks on the mainland the new policy raises a lot more questions than it answers as can be seen from the Forum discussion.
Many are disappointed and confused by the lack of a clear cut policy, although this would probably be impossible to achieve or enforce anyway. Not defining an exact policy allows LL as always the option to take action without having to stipulate the 'why'.
It is to be hoped that this will wipe out the ugly sights on the Linden mainland but it is now looking less and less likely:

"We will allow no more than 50 advertising locations owned by a single individual, whether personally owned or via groups in which you are a member, unless you have written permission from Linden Lab to exceed this limit.Use of Alt accounts/groups to circumvent this restriction will be considered a violation.
In addition to the cap, we will allow no more than 1 advertising placement by an individual in any single region."

50 ads spread over 50 regions - with Linden Lab unable to trace alts this seems easily circumvented.
The policy also does not address the land extortion that has been going on for a very long time it is to be hoped that eventually Linden Lab will do something about this too.
The fact of the policy being created at all gives hope - but when up against some of the biggest offenders I can see no way for LL to deal effectively with them. They as always will find ways around it.
Be sure to share your opinions in the Forum, its the only way we really have of getting questions answered when a Linden condescends to join the discussion - but at least there seems to be some ears open since the last forum on this subject.


Dana Vanmoer

Cartoon of the day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Click for full size

Emilin Nakamori’s Physical Machines

I was in Second Life Friday night when I got an IM from someone, an Emilin Nakamori, “Good evening :) I believe I may have a story that your newspaper may be interested in.” She told me she had made a machine in Second Life that moved without the need for scripts, “specifically, a weight-driven pendulum clock escapement (an escapement keeps the pendulum swinging).” Curious, I chatted with her for a few minutes via IM before heading to where she told me she was, in the sandbox in the Whitmyre sim.

What she told me sounded familiar, and it was. I had met her at her exhibit during SL5B at her exhibit just across the path from the newspaper’s (Events June 27). Meeting her again, I came across a dark-haired lady wearing a Victorian dress with a necktie and Steampunk-style glasses on her head. We greeted one another, her having added a laptop with a Victorian look to her typing animation. Bringing up our last encounter, she told me, ”Oh, the gear demonstrator I had at the SL5B was driven by a script; the excapement is entirely mechanical. I had to set up a pendulum and time its movement to find the proper length here. I apparently got it wrong nonetheless; Sidewinder Linden said I probably didn't make allowances for time dilation :P ... It’s performance is unfortunately erratic; Sidewinder Linden could not offer a possible reason, but, as the saying goes, ‘The wonder of a dancing bear is not how gracefully it dances, but that it dances at all.’ ;) “

She then rezzed the pendulum machine, which slowly went in motion, “Theoretically, that pendulum should have a period of 6 seconds; the mechanism pushes it into a faster period, however.” She had been working on it since late June, and still had to have it assisted by a script. She rezzed another machine, “That is the mechanical clock movement I have worked up; I need to find a constant supply of power to mate the escapement to the movement to have a complete mechanical clock.” She had heard of sailboat races driven by simulated wind in the sims, and wondered it that could be a possible power source, “if the SL ‘wind’ can move a sailboat, why not a windmill?”

Emilin went on, “I have been considering a ‘waterwheel’, which uses temporary physical prims as weights on one side of a wheel. I have a proof-of-concept...” She then rezzed a wheel and ball-dropper that dropped metallic balls on the wheel’s cups, spinning it, “As you can see, there is inertia, but it dies out very quickly.”

I asked Emilin, “Has the changing of the Second Life viewer altered the performance of your machines, as it does some AOs?” She told me, “Not that I know of. I believe Havoc 4 was a much greater factor; several people told me at the SL5B that they had tried working with gears, but they were too unstable to hold together long enough to function.”

She then mentioned another physical machine that had been well received by others, and rezzed what she called a Physical Chain Demonstrator Base, “You click on the rotating arm to start or stop its rotation. If you change the orientation of the base, the script malfunctions.” Commenting at one point, “Unfortunately, I am no scriptor; that is why I got into physical machines ... Perhaps I should have gotten fascinated by something that isn't too ephemeral to sell ;) ... Sooner (usually, alas) or later all of these machines break, even if not left running. The important thing, to me, about these machines is that they interact with the SL environment AS AN ENVIRONMENT, not as a computer program, as a script does.”

Going on, “Designing these machines is a constant juggling of a need for precision and having to allow enough space for collision avoidance, with a bit more thrown in to allow for lag. These machines use server physics time; put a few of the chain demonstrators in a sim and start them up all at once and it would probably crash the sim ;) The first version of the clock movement used 10.1ms physics time; I reduced the gear count and it fell to 5.6ms.” The then noticed one of the machines had stopped, “Foo. The clock's already broken :/ “

Emilin then mentioned, “Desmond Shang, founder of Caledon, decided he wanted me to build him a steam engine, so I made him one.” She then rezzed a piston steam engine about 25 - 30 ft high with the name “Desmond’s Folly,” “He liked the name, anyway; he decided it was too small... “ “So he wanted a more massive engine?” I asked. “Yes.” She then brought out a giant of a machine that must’ve been over a hundred feet tall, “He told me to throw it back and bring me its pappy.” “Whoah! Or the Mother of All SLengines.” I commented. Emilin grinned, “Oh, this is probably one of the largest objects ever made in SL that consists of linked parts.” I saw one of it’s two cylinders fly off, taken off my Emilin, “It DOES work better as a single-cylinder, although once it ran for about 45 minutes :)” “Well, the biggest engine like this that I've seen .... yes, I saw the second one coming apart.” “I ran into the limits of how distant parts can be and still be linked.”

At this point a Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia walked up, “Still working on it, Emilin, or just showing it off?” “Showing this one off. Its successor is too large to move; I am going to try Rez-Foo. It has a 55m diameter piston...” “Wow! That's crazy! Where did you put it?” “3km over Saint Kitt Islands ... It's not open to the public as yet.” She then rezzed a picture of another engine, a single piston one. But the one clue to it’s *massive* size was standing on it’s wheel, “See the little black speck on the flywheel? It is I ;) ” She told is it was, “Somewhere around 100m tall; its base is 100m square. It would JUST BARELY fit into this sandbox ... Actually, it would have to be taller than 100m; the trapezoidal supports are 60m tall, on a base that is 8m thick. So it must be over 150m tall. A small skyscraper.”

Bubblesort asked if a train could be made. Emilin answered, “That is what Desmond Shang wants to do, eventually; he has someone working on scripted physical ‘steam molecules’ that would expand and contract at a set rhythm in the cylinders to push against the piston; it would have to be a multicylinder engine, though, as a flywheel is essential to keep a one-cylinder engine going past dead center, and with inertia as damped as it is in SL, a flywheel is really just a decoration.” “Could it be done without making steam like that?” “Oh, certainly; these engines here are spun by a rotation script, with the pistons and tie rods moving strictly by physics.”

Bubblesort soon left, and Emilin turned back to me, “The big engine is still going, as a single cylinder. ;) Half an hour, now.” She then told, “The main reason I would like your paper to feature this is so others can find out about it and hopefully work on it themselves; I started a group, Virtual Mechanics, for interested people. I am hoping there are people out there who will take the idea and hit the ground running with it ;) Well, the really big one is under development (basically, it doesn't work, and may never do so), but the one here has been shown to the public. ;) “

“But really,” she looked back at the first machine, “I think the escapement is the important thing, as it does not use scripts at all, yet functions.”

I thanked her, then noticed she had changed the title over her name to “Madgirl.” Being a reader of online comics, I asked her if she was a reader of “Girl Genius” by Phil Foglio. She smiled, and after talking a little about the comic, she gave me a replica of the Heterodyne trilobite emblem.

It was then that the two of us parted ways, presumably the maker of these physical machines, part science and part work of art, going back to business.

Bixyl Shuftan

*  *  *  *  *

This remains a favorite article of mine of my SL Newspaper days as I hadn't seen anything like Emilin's monster machines before, or since. She was clearly one who sought to see how far she could push the limits.  I never did come across her again, but did hear she was the Winner of the June 2011 UWA 3D Art Challenge. Whereever she is now, no doubt she's staying busy.

The “Crazy Tinies” - Loco Poco Avatars

The subject for this week's avatar article is a new brand of tiny av: Loco Pocos. Created by Damien Fate, these tinies were first available earlier this summer. Considering the uber-cutness of the avatar and the variety of facial expressions and emotes, the Loco Poco can only be called first-class, possibly *the* best tiny avatar in Second Life.

Tiny avatars I’ve seen are designed for a cute-factor in mind. Loco Pocos excel at it. The avatars are also designed to be easily customizable, the avatar able to change it’s coat and eye color, as well as able to wear wings and other attachments.

But what sets them apart from others is the ease of use of their animations, coming right with the avatar. The HUD unit allows the player to express a number of facial expressions and full body emotes. The facial features are not static, but change to reflect emotions. Plus they often make sound when emoting. With a press of the button, the avatar can look angry and “grrr,” to laying on the floor and snoring, to crying a shower of tears, to throwing a kiss with a “mwaah,” to a hearty belly laugh, and more.

The name Loco Poco translates to “crazy tiny” in Spanish, appropriately enough. The instructions are also in several languages. It’s also noteworthy that Torley Linden was among the beta testers of these tinies. The store is just in front of the main porting entrance. Avatars are sold in the center, accessories on the edge to the right of the door when entering. Their avatars cost 350L each, most of the accessories 100L. They also advertise an Avatar Rendering Cost (how much computer power it takes to make your avie appear) of 640.

After some thought, I decided to try out the Loco Poco fox. Showing it around to my freinds, they were amused by the versatile tiny, going “Awww” at the sight of it’s emotes. One told me he was thinking of getting one.

Besides Loco Pocos Island, you can also get the avatars at SLExchange.

Loco Poco also has an adventure-filled island, made with these avatars in mind. One that can provide hours of fun. Look for a detailed article of the island in the near future.

A charming little avatar.

Bixyl Shuftan

Dana Vanmoer: September 8, 2008 at 3:30 PM

such a cute avatar even when crying