Second Life Arcana III

Here are the last four of our cards.



The Moon - Moon Adamant
The Sun - Maxx Mackenzie



Judgement - Shoshana Epsilon
The World - Hamlet Au

I would very much like to thank everyone who made themselves available for the photography - very few of whom actually had any idea what I was working on, but just went ahead and complied with my ridiculous requests :)

If you see these folks in-world, by all means stop and let them know what you think of their contribution. This was a collaborative effort, between the artist and the models, and many of these images would not be what they are without the collaboration of the people pictured here.

Some of these people I didn't know, had not met or spoken to, and yet they consented to contribute anyway, for the sake of a crazy resident with art in her mind.

None of this would be what it is without them. Without them, this work would not exist.

Second Life Arcana II

Here are the next nine cards. Please enjoy.



The Hermit - Sladen McLuhan
The Wheel of Fortune - Alazarin Mondrian
Justice - Blueman Steele



The Hanged Man - Property Resistance
Death - Shawk Pertwee
Temperance - Tateru Nino



The Devil - Exifyde Bacon
The Tower - Ordinal Malaprop
The Star - Hyasynth Tiramisu

Only a few more to go. Stay tuned for part 3!

Second Life Arcana

Well, the participants are already calling this the Tatarot. All 22 Major Arcana from the traditional Tarot cards, made in Second Life. The frames and the text of each card are made outworld. The images themselves are unretouched inworld snapshots.

There's irony, and symmetry and symbolism there. It's the first real artistic effort I've done and I've revelled in the Spark that made it possible. I got the idea a few days ago, and it started me thinking in odd directions.

Rather than follow the Tarot symbolism slavishly, I've worked to generate new, though related symbolism for these. Some of them are obvious, and some rather less so :)

This images are all shrunk down for web-viewing. If you want to see them full-size, then you'll need to do so in-world. I'll post when and where you can come see them, as soon as the arrangements have been made.



The Fool - Torley Linden
The Magician - Yumi Murakami
The High Priestess - Mera Pixel



The Empress - Anshe Chung
The Emperor - Philip Linden (Philip was not available, so this image was lifted from Snapzilla for now)
The Hierophant - Squagmire Stravinksy



The Lovers - Lethe Naumova (left) and Harle Armistice (right)
The Chariot - Brace Coral
Strength - Gwyneth Llewelyn

We'll return after the break with more.

200K

What? Yes. 200,000 residents, two hours ahead of predictions. Too busy to talk much about that now.

Try me later.

Making Mistakes

"Mistakes are not just golden
opportunities for learning; they are, in an important sense, the only opportunity
for learning something truly new."

Success teaches you nothing. All it does is give us a warm little tingle that we know we want more of.

If you're not making mistakes, you're probably not learning.

It's okay to make mistakes. No, really. If you're building in SL, there's a ton of opportunities to make them, and learn something. You've lost nothing but a little time. Back up and have another go.

Sure there are plenty of times in Real Life and in Second Life where it's not okay to make mistakes. Piloting an RL Airbus A380 comes immediately to mind. The important thing in that case is that pilots have trained, prepared, and made a ton of mistakes already, so they don't have to later on.

We all make mistakes with people. All the time. We fail to talk, when we should talk. We don't say the right thing. We say the right thing in the wrong way. It happens. It will keep happening.

Remember, one of the most important things in dealing with people is what you do after. Well, it is for me. I've made plenty of mistakes with people in my time, and will probably make many more. I'll keep trying, though, and keep learning, and trying harder.

And with just a little luck and wisdom, the other person will meet you partway and help you fix things up again. Keep seeing the good in people, because there's plenty there if you look - the hardest place to see basic human goodness is in ourselves.

Many of you have been very kind, and very patient with me. With the peculiar ways that I speak. With the peculiar ways that I think and feel. I don't always feel that I give enough back to you all, for all your kindness, even when you don't understand.

Just keep being yourselves. Keep learning. Keep trying. Doing good is a worthy thing in it's own right, even if we make mistakes and mess up. Trying, sometimes, is more important than succeeding.

If we all try our best, nobody can ask any more of us.

Are you the Keymaster?

In case nobody's noticed, LL seems to be ramping up the web-services that are supported by more recent versions of the SL client UI. Hooray. Been looking forward to it.

The most visible service is the update to the friends online page, where you can now optionally have your online SL friends listed by their profile pic, through the magic of SL web services. Granted, the images should be displayed in 4:3 instead of 1:1, otherwise they squoosh up like the opening of a Sergio Leone western.

Mind you, you the web service exposes the key of the friend. Now I'd like you to think about that for a second....and then not panic. Stop it! Right now! There. Now take a deep breath. And another. Okay. Better.

Because there isn't any reason to panic or freak out. If someone wants your database key, they can have it. Get within 100metres of any scripter, or scripter's object, or talk within 20 metres of one, and they've got it. Or touch any scripted object, or spend any cash. Or let anyone within 100metres or so of any object you've rezzed.

Keys by the dozen! Keys by the thousand! Keys for all occasions!

So listen up to Momma Tat: Don't worry about it. Upcoming second-life web-services can be expected to expose more keys. Big deal. SL does that already, because that's how SL works.

Publishing those keys might be an issue. Misusing them certainly will be...but then, it always has been. Nothing changes. We just get more toys.

Community Fair - Hooray for diversity!

For two weeks, the Dreams sim has the Dreams/Shockproof Community Fair going on. The fair supports and showcases education and culture in Second Life.

The Sojourner and the gang have done an amazing job at getting everything together. Likewise the various booth and stallholders have as well. Wander around, look at everything the fair has to offer - although....do me a favour and skip the clown avs if you see me there. I have an irrational fear of clowns.

Want to find out more about being a volunteer in SL? Swing by the booth and collect some info. Learn more about the Live Music Scene in SL, or Deevyde Maelstrom's particular brand of Mad Science. Learn more about our residents with Autism, SL's New Resident support organisations, RL work in SL, the Foundation For Rich Content, Art and Sculpture, SL Parks and Recreation Services and yet more.

Special mentions also go to:
Coos Yellowknife, Marie Hightower, Barbarra Blair, Franja Russell, Cid Jacobs, Kfir Lomax, Antionette Petrichor, Forcythia Wishbringer, Wayfinder Wishbringer, RacerX Gullwing, Nuala Marcas, Trader1 Whiplash, SpankMe Pinkerton and Sue Stonebender. Every one of whom helped make the fair into a reality.

From the trenches..

Well, we've got enough people to take over. Time to take a break at last.

Special mentions for making it all work: Nicole Linden, Hermia Linden, Ethan Linden, Harry Linden, Shoshana Epsilon, Charisma Heart, Fion Patton, JayJay Talamasca, Martin Mounier.

EDIT: How could I miss Teeple Linden and Mera Pixel from this list?

Doublespecial mention, for making me work: Torley Linden.

Wonderful teamwork, people. You should all be so very very proud.

Bucket brigade

Well, transportation for the new residents to Help Island has been messed up by a simulator glitch.

I'm camped out on Orientation Island 14, explaining the problems to new residents, and getting a liaison to move them to Help Island to be taken care of. Not SL's most interesting task, although it's a nice piece of teamwork under difficult circumstances.

It's going to be a very very long weekend.

Rush

Quite the rush today. It's been hard to keep up, though it's slowed some. On the order of 1,600 people came to SL today. They had their share of problems, and we certainly had an interesting time keeping up.

Having a grief attack on Help Island that paralyzed it for a few minutes certainly didn't help, but Adam and Coffee sprang into action like heavily caffienated superheroes. They had the mess cleaned up and the perps out of action before any real damage was done. The only downside was a little communications confusion that was rapidly cleared up.

Adam? Coffee? Extra waffles.

Griefers? Sorry boys. If you want to play with the grownups you'll have to be clever, and I just don't see that happening anytime soon, if today is any indication.

Have you appreciated a liaison today? Most of them are residents, like yourselves, who put on their Linden accounts to make the place better for you, for me, for all of us. Their time is precious. Like gold. They get yelled at, abused, run off their virtual feet and treated poorly, and they're doing it all for you. For all of us.

Let them know you appreciate it. Briefly, of course :)

The most powerful word...

Some days, SL can leave you heartbroken. Lost and longing for something that isn't there anymore. Alone, and joyless.

Developers of single-player games look at putting more emotion into their games. Make the player feel something. In SL, that's not necessary. We're putting our emotions into it all the time, and we're all feeling.

SL doesn't do this. We do. You, me, all of us. The technology is cool, certainly, but it's nothing without the people in it. Loving, laughing, crying and caring. Some of us are shy and afraid. Afraid of making mistakes. Afraid of imposing on each-other. Afraid of hurting each-other. Afraid to talk. In RL or in SL.

Kumi Itoku says "The most powerful word in SL is 'hello'."

Do not be afraid to speak. Not to me. Not to anyone. Never be afraid to say hello. When you have something to say, don't be afraid to say what you think. What you feel.

If you don't, you will never know what you are missing.