I have my own frigg'n site now! =^-^=

Come on over and check it out.  I found out how much a hosting plan + registering a URL cost and wondered why I haven't done it sooner. DX

Cuz, like, now I'm not really subject to a content TOS over there.  So, a lot of the stuff I had over in Avatars United will be moved in.  I'll set up a gallery soon. (^_^)

For now, the blog is up and running! =^-^=

http://www.darkly-cute.com/

You WILL accept display names! DX

So, what really is in a name in SL?  Mine?  It's a sentence.  Some people have real sounding or culturally specific names.  Others have AOLish atrocities.  Then there's the people who try to get a 'message' across with their account name... Like... xxx69lickyoudry Felicity. (O.o)

Of course, now we're going to be getting DISPLAY names.  Our account name will be locked to whatever we signed up with, but, with a 7 day minimum we can have any bloody name at all... Well... Unless it's a curse word, on the ban list, or "Linden". (=_=)

But, why Linden?  Eventually that gets dug up at the end of the meeting. (=_=)

[2010/10/07 11:57]  Jack Linden: Drongle, Linden is a real world company with real world brand and protections of that brand. So yes, we will protect that inworld

But, what does that mean? (O.o)

Here's how the crowd understood it. (^_^)

[2010/10/07 11:58]  Ciaran Laval: Linden is also a real name Jack
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Master Kane: Oh and we qare just pissants jack?
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Zoha Boa: ZoHA Islands is a RL company paying +400 K US$ in tier to LL. Why can't you protect us ?
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Cummere Mayo: jack, many of the designers here are real world companies with bradings too
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Cummere Mayo: *brandings
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Imnotgoing Sideways: So, what about Linden St. San Francisco? (^_^)
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Marianne McCann: Hmn. I suspect Voyager might be a company's name out there, maybe others...
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Drongle McMahon: SA are hundreds of other names.
[2010/10/07 11:58]  Aargle Zymurgy: and I'm legally incorporated as well.
[2010/10/07 11:59]  Rigrunner Rang: so again i repeat a person can take no action until they see someone using their TM? There's no protective measures in place for anyone except Linden?

So, yeah, something is inconsistent... I mean...

[2010/10/07 12:00]  Imnotgoing Sideways: But, we get to use our RL names, right... What about when a Frank Linden signs up to SL... It's now everyone but him. (^_^)
[2010/10/07 12:00]  Imnotgoing Sideways: If there's nothing to be afraid of.... There's nothing to be afraid of. (^_^)
[2010/10/07 12:00]  Lamorna Proctor: yeah, you can have any name you like, as long as it's not Linden. What's sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander

So far, the way I'm reading this is that anyone can have anyone else's name at any time, we can use our real life names, we can make up character names, but our display name can NOT contain "Linden". (=_=)

Stepping back in time...

[2010/10/07 11:38]  Imnotgoing Sideways: Linden Lab was only called Linden Lab because the initial office was on Linden St. in San Francisco. Surely, the name has a history that predates SL. (^_^)
[2010/10/07 11:38]  Lamorna Proctor: Unter den Linde was a street in Berlin years before :)
[2010/10/07 11:38]  Lamorna Proctor: *Linden

So, Linden Research Inc. (Remember when they made that change?) feels the need to protect the "Linden" name.  Why?  It wasn't theirs to begin with.  There are people, places, and streets that use Linden as a name.  Surely, there may theoretically be a genuine reason for someone to name their avatar "Linden" at some point in time.  But, that's blocked? (=_=)

To say they're protecting a trademark means... what? (O.o)

[2010/10/07 11:52]  Cummere Mayo: i asked what procedure you have for takedown notices of trademakred or copyrighted names?
[2010/10/07 11:53]  Cummere Mayo: saying talk to us isnt a procedure

Oh, true that.  Residents have trademarked their names due to business interests and such.  But, its not just that.  We'll be stepping into this with zero knowledge of the grief that will come from mistaken identity, fraud, misdirected Abuse Reports, among many other potential issues.  But, the Lindens aren't choosing to protect their resi... CUSTOMERS!  Paying customers, at that. (=_=)

Personally, I can say that I don't completely mind display names, but, I despise the current method being used to implement it.  Add to that, Linden Lab keeps telling us that there won't be a need for protections over our names.  But... They protect their own?  So, if there's no need, why do THEY need it?  That's the whole sticky point for me. (=_=)

I think I have a solution... Opt out. =^-^=

[2010/10/07 11:17]  Imnotgoing Sideways: I'd still love to have an option in my profile that says "Add my account name to the display name blacklist". It can be a tickbox right next to "Hide me In search". (^_^)

People like the idea.  But, will it be implemented.  Heck, it's not even getting acknowledged. (=_=)

I dunno.  I'm seeing a lot of frustrated people who are currently putting a lot of money into SL.  Linden Lab seems to strictly target who they can get far more than who they can keep.  It just smells.  (>_<)

The question is...

[2010/10/07 11:20]  Molly Montale: If being fooled is not a real concern then why will the sur name Linden not be available?

Anyone got an answer?  Anyone?  Bueller?  =^-^=

For a limited time @ Darkly Cute - Freebie shoes! =^-^=

So, I got a pumpkin dress today and figured I wanted my shoes to match.  So, I looked for a decent orange shade and went for it. =^-^=

So... For the month of October, I'll be offering them for free at my usual locations:

Darkly Cute :: Ferguson
Darkly Cute :: Morbidette

HAPPY HALOLIWEEN!!! =^-^=



(^_^)y

New @ Darkly Cute - Wedgies! =^-^=

I did it again. This time they're wedges. I made them in three colors and they're same as before, Copy+Mod+NoTransfer with V1 and V2 compatible versions. (^_^)y

Nab a pair at the Morbidette Market http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Morbidette/54/113/22 or in my cookie jar http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ferguson/54/238/94

=^-^=



I got'em all up on the walls. (^_^)

Jira sillies... (O.o)

I use the Jira, I really do. I don't mind the interface, and I've had issues directly addressed. (^_^)

But, here's an odd one... (o.o)

In March I started VWR-18470 after noticing that my offlines took a couple relogs before they came inworld... Which was heavily inconvenient since I have a full time job in addition to inworld responsibilities that lead to me getting IMs 24 hours a day. I've never seen another client exhibit this behaviour. (>_<) In May SVC-3503 was started, pretty much addressing the same issue and determining that it's a server-side issue. I'm not so prepared to believe that it's server side, since it only exhibits while using V2 clients. So...

imnotgoing sideways added a comment - 26/Mar/10 4:07 AM
If someone can move/copy my duplication captures from http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-18470 Please do so.

Alexa Linden added a comment - 03/May/10 12:00 PM
Duplicate of VWR-18470

Okay... That settles things. Seems my observations were correct, after all. (^_^)

But...

Esbee Linden added a comment - 24/Sep/10 3:02 PM
Dupe. This is a server issue (already linked to this ticket).

Eh? Can we say infinite loop, boys and girls? (O.o)

So, I looked at the linked tickets to mine and I see that SVC-3503 remains closed. I can't re-open it. The best I can do is sit, comment, and watch. (=_=)

I'm still not convinced that it's a server side issue. But, hey... They know what they're doing, right? (O.o)

New @ Darkly Cute - SHOES! =^-^=

I FINALLY made some shoes. I been wanting to do this in forever. After many hours of arm-wrestling with Blender I finally pumped out a pair of... Well... Pumps! =^-^=



I've placed them both at my mainland store and at the Morbidette Marketplace. (^_^)

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ferguson/54/238/94

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Morbidette/54/113/22

Be Darkly Cute! (^_^)y

When social phobias attack... (._.)

To start... This is a typical scene for me. (._.)



What you see here is me standing exactly 19 meters away from the furthest person in the conversation, as my Mystitool reads. I'm not "hiding". I'm not "spying". I just can't bring myself to get any closer. At least... Not without a direct invitation. And, if I do happen to get an invitation, what's going to stop me from having an anxiety attack which drives me to leave? (T_T)

I'm telling myself, "It's okay here". (._.)

I'm telling myself, "They're happy to be unaware of me." (._.)

I'm telling myself, "If I get any closer, I'll just cause trouble." (._.)

I'm afraid. (T_T)

What I'm afraid of most is that my friends have gotten used to this. They think this is where I'm happy too. Over time, they've stopped noticing me. Or, they've grown to glaze over me since nothing is ever going to get better. (._.)

I'm still in therapy. One more week. I still can't value myself enough to simply walk up to my own friends. I've been like this since I was a kid. I came to SL to escape from it. I did for a while. But, after a year and a half, my old phobias crept back in and followed me to my virtual life. (T_T)

How do I take control of this? (T_T)

How can I bring myself to just walk up to them? (T_T)

If I can't, what am I supposed to do with myself. (T_T)

This stinks all mighty and I want out. The hard part is that it's my own head. How do I get out of my own head? (T_T)

Helping a world of unstoppable diversity. (._.)

... Or, a virtual world, that is. (>_<)

So... Emeraldgate seems to be over. The client has mostly been blacklisted, the "bad" devs banned, and everyone is looking for the next big shiny. Most people don't want to use the V2 client because, to them, it's too great a departure from the interface they've been used to for 2, 3, 4, 7 years. So, what's the former 'Emerald' flock to do? (O.o)

Mind you... That's a pretty big darned flock. (=_=)

At this moment Linden Lab's Third Party Viewer Directory list has 13 clients of varying types. The most visible and shiny being Phoenix, Emergence, Kirsten's, Ascent, and Imprudence. All of which have VERY different user interfaces! DX

From the approach of 'sticking to V1-4life!!' to 'making V2 my way'... From client to client; buttons, menus, and options are all over the place! In addition, most of these clients are still open beta or hobby projects. So they're not totally stable, not all features work 100%, some features are flat-out missing, and worst of all... providing help in Second Life is mired in the new complexity this diversity introduces. (>_<)

As someone who likes to be knowledge and helpful, I'd often have the top 2 or 3 clients installed on my computer and keep up with the updates as they came out... Usually spending a day on each then going back to my personal favorite until someone has a major update. (^_^)

That was easy back in the days of Cool Viewer, Emerald, Imprudence, and LL's offering. The UIs were generally equal, knowing each client meant knowing the LL base functions plus whatever the TPV devs added. Problems would filter down and I'd just have to take note of what I hear from frustrated users to come up with solutions for each client. (^_^)

But now... DX

LL's V2 UI is a giant departure from what people have experienced for the past 7 years. Mind you, it's a departure I appreciate. It's more of a "computer" UI to me, which I can absorb and adopt easily as opposed to the "video game" UI that I struggled in with the V1 clients. Still... It's a departure and not all TPV devs have utilized it. For the ones who have, it often gets heavily modified. (._.)

And, that's where the problem comes in with the TPV clients. They're modding like crazy. So, when it comes time to provide help...

[2010/09/05 14:01] ** **: where is "Disable Camera Constrains" in Imprudence viewer?

[2010/09/11 18:41] ** **: I am using snowglobe. how do I manage these chat screens.. there annoying

[2010/09/11 18:42] ** **: imprudence has a different font

[2010/09/11 18:42] ** **: Yeah, it needs some tweaks, which is why I was on Kirstens, but that kept crashing on me.

[2010/09/11 18:52] ** **: someone told me there is a spell checker in Imprudence viewer..how the eff do u turn it on

[2010/09/11 20:45] ** **: Blech. By default, Imprudence still tries to save inventory scripts as LSO. Whyyyyyy. ._.

[2010/09/11 20:45] Imnotgoing Sideways: Mono makes teleporting evil. (._.)

[2010/09/11 20:59] ** **: I was just talking to my mom and wondering why phoenix debug menu wont stop my typin


.... And I have NO BLOODY CLUE how to respond to these things. I like to help, people come to me for assistance, but I just can't seem to keep up with the influx of different clients in SL. (._.)

As a result, much of last night's Q&A event was more a round-table of us trying to find who learned what on which client and if it addresses the issues that another person has. No two people were in the same version of the same TPV and all we could do was simply try our darndest to provide as complete a solution as possible. (._.)

Even for my building classes... Stupid silly things like "Select Texture" being renamed "Select Face" is enough to suck precious minutes from the lesson so that the diverse mix&match user base can proceed. (._.)

What's a helper and educator to do? Add disclaimers to events for which clients are supported for each lesson? Hope to bloody'ek that LL works with the TPV devs in collaboration and come up with a reasonable compromise in UI standardization? (O.o)

It's work. SL is supposed to be fun. Meh... I'm going inworld to build myself a micro avatar. I'll be using V2 due to it being my personal favorite UI. Don't mind me. (._.)

Meet the... WTF!?! (O.o)

I met E-famous people tonight. =^-^=

We were just kinda hanging out in our sim and Frac dropped in to say "hi". We poked at him for a while to make sure he was still squishy and had a chat. Eventually he went AFK in forever and someone dunked him in the water. (._.)



So, he comes back for a moment and gets back out of the drink. But, not long later a buncha people start landing on his head. Lots of familiar names too. I guess they had a lot to say to Frac, but, I don't run with voice on, so, meh... (=_=)



Then... Uhm... Arabella shows up. Dang! She's taller than I expected! She's nice, though. Had a good chat with her and offered well wishes over the situation down in that area, considering the earth quake and all. (._.)



It was kinda fun... Given our only plans for the night pretty much involved standing around and maybe critiquing each other's clothing. (^_^)

It was like a flash mob of Emerald drama just kinda blew through the sim! =^-^=

How often do you say "My avatar"? (O.o)

It just kind of sprung on me right now. I left a post earlier today where I said "I don't have any eyes". The fact of the matter is that 'my avatar' doesn't have any eyes. But, unthinkingly, I speak as though it's myself. (O.o)

Now, I've made it pretty clear that I totally identify as "Immy" with my often repeated statement: Immy is my me that's more "me" than I can ever be. But, I'm just having a major "woah!" moment in referring to my virtual "me" as "I". (o.O)

So, a question: Have you ever had that "woah!" moment? When referring to your avatar, is it "I, me, my"? Or, is it "my avatar"? (^_^)

Or, should I lay off the glue for a while? (^_^)y

Doggies in kidland =^-^=

Currently there's this one bloody thread in the SL Blogorum. It OP'd with a lady expressing her hatred for kid avatars. Though, her "hatred" wasn't really much more than annoyance over annoying people. Heck... Even kid avatars hate the kid avatars she describes. (^_^)

Of course, there's the typical run of chime-ins by people who want to spout about their false pretenses over pedophilia and such... And the people who still think there's some sort of political agenda in keeping kid AVs on the grid. Oh, and let's not forget the kid avatars who really do portray themselves as outspoken and positive contributing residents to SL (Waving at ya' Mari!) (^_^)

But, now we have teh trollzorz! Xd

Namely one Dogboat Taurog. Now, name alone tells me not to take this bugger seriously... Much like myself and that bloody "Sideways" name. =^-^=

But, here's the fun part: He's "CAMPAIGNING" for an all out ban on child avatars. Yes, the total "LOL WUT?" session, all the way. Apparently, he subscribes to the worst form of Association Fallacy known to man. The one that believes that he's heard remotely of one kind of person being bad so it's time to paint the whole community with a broad brush and somehow put them in their place. (^_^)

See... For one, he doesn't seem to care about any form of actual child abuse. Being that he hasn't mentioned any concern of that level at all. In addition, he won't even focus on sexual ageplayers. Lacking focus is a surefire way to fail at a goal. No. His target? The ENTIRE child avatar community. Oh, and for a moment, me along with it... You know, he directly threatened to AR me based on some speculative statement by someone parroting Prokkie's rantings of your's truly. =^-^=

So, now what? What's the hubbub? Why bother? (^_^)

Well... He's bloody entertaining. It's like prodding the village drunk and watching him stumble down the street. And, since LL's moderators seem to be asleep behind the wheel, the thread's able to trudge on without any resistance. (^_^)

It's times like this when I love delusional people. They make such entertaining toys. (^_^)y

http://blogs.secondlife.com/thread/27560?start=0&tstart=0

(Be sure to read the thread in "Flat" mode... "Threaded" mode will practically crash your browser.) =^-^=

llSetFriggnImmy();

I'm getting very sick of what I've turned into lately. I'm pulling my hair out. My friends are pulling their hair out. Heck, even people who don't like me are trying to figure out what's going on.

I know what I want to do with myself. But, I lack the strength. I need something. A trigger? A catalyst? I don't know what.

I spent a lot of today on my drums (in RL) beating the crud out of them. My ears are shot for the rest of the day. I finally downloaded Cage The Elephant from Amazon and I've been listening to In One Ear over and over.

I'm trying to get the message.

I know my friends want me back. I want me back too.

How do I come back?

What direction do I go?

I need Need NEED to get out of this funk.

I'm frigg'n Immy!!!

I can be the biggest little crud on the grid if I just get my head together.

But, what's going to be the catalyst? How am I going to get my confidence back? Where did I go so wrong and how can I put that behind me?

Working on this.

Hating myself for killing the Emoticons. Finding delays when I backspace them out of chat.

Going to go say "Hi" to someone on my friends list now and see what comes of it. I'm rarely that bold.

Woodbury University Gone. Does anyone care? (._.)

RE: http://blogs.secondlife.com/message/185656

I do. (._.)

I was first introduced to the group by Scout back when NCI was getting raided by W-hats. We were dealing with a particularly abusive mob when Aley/Arcadia came back as an alt to see how things were going. That day I joined the group and was introduced to some of the most intelligent, creative, and fun-loving people I've ever met... Who are unafraid to have a good stupid laugh. (^_^)

I stood my ground for the good people of the group when I faced being shunned for association in a situation that nearly dismantled NCI. (>_<)

I called bloggers on their lies in regards to the activities of my friends and myself in relation to the group. (>_<)

I'd visit the sandbox once in a while and I enjoyed the gifts of scripts, outfits, pictures, textures, and other creative offerings that were given out in group notices. The place was beautiful. From highly detailed and imposing military weaponry, to well crafted vehiciles, to sim-scale construction projects that were marvels of quality, effeciency, and ingenuity. (^_^)

But. That's gone now. Anyone who could have gone to Concierge support about it has been summarily terminated. The sims are shut down. The mainland parcels have been force-abandoned. And the group, itself, has been technically deleted. It's currently in the limbo-ish state that the SL Mentors group was in when that group was purged. (._.)

So, who cares? People like me who saw beyond the facade of fearmongering and old-world politics. I will find other ways to contact my friends. Still... A chill has hit the grid. Second Life has become a little less fun this week. (T_T)

SL RP - The making of a persocom. <(^_^)>

So... What's this funny stuff on my head? What's all this talk about recharging, CPU, and interfaces? What is a persocom? (^_^)

The simple answer is that a Persocom is a "Personal Computer" in Japanese-ish. Okay, end of story. Bye now. =^-^=



But... That didn't look like a desktop of any kind. (O.o)

It's Chii, of the story Chobits. A Japanese lolicon Manga turned Anime published and broadcast around 2001 and 2002. The story revolves around a parallel of today's modern times with one caveat, computers are now constructed in humanoid form... And, they're bloody expensive! DX

Having computers in humanoid form, the story was able to weave a tale of criticism about people's addiction and "love" for technology without making the story too heavy. At the same time, the key players in the story were able to be presented in a love tale that parallels taboo relationships and learning to accept people for who they are. (^_^)

You can read more about Chobits by following the Manga or checking out the Wikipedia site. (^_^)

Uhm... Where does Second Life come in? (O.o)

In Second Life, it's become quite obvious that we can make our avatars into anything. As I've been exploring, I've turned from kid AV, to adult AV, to mermaid, and I've recently settled on Persocom. I spend a lot of my time on a dollification sim named The Doll Works and many of my friends have taken on some sort of doll, gynoid, or Persocom form. (^_^)

So, in SL, when you hear "Human" you expect to see a regular flesh&bones being. When you hear "Furry" you expect some sort of fuzzy anthro. What should you expect to see when you hear "Persocom"? ... (O.o)

That gets difficult. (^_^)

See... In the story of Chobits, Persocoms were shown to take on many forms. From a perfectly natural 16 year old girl, to an 8 year old boy, to a lingerie clad housemaid, to a palm-sized genie. What, what can a Persocom be? Anything! (^o^)

And, that's the best part. While some people think they have to limit themselves to a certain type or ear-pod or eye pattern, the truth is Persocoms have taken on designs of any form an type. Even the ear pods can be dynamic. There were a few Persocoms in the Chobits story that didn't appear to have pods at all. So, it's not all about what you bulk up on your head. =^-^=

At the same time, there is an attractive "Cyber" aspect to Persocoms. The idea of having USB cables flailing around, needing charging cycles to remain mobile, or even including blatantly obvious sensory systems are all possibilities. (^_^)

In addition, being a Persocom pretty much makes for no-limits roleplay. In the story, plenty of hints were laid out to indicate that Persocoms in general were constructed to be anatomically correct. So, stripping your Persocom of its clothing would reveal... *ahem!*... hardware (software?). =^-^=

So, hey! That's what I've been doing for a while. I haven't taken on the "Chii" image Persocom much as I've tended to prefer a more retro appearance using some customized items I got from LPP. So... Look for the ear pods to be on top of my head, coolant pipes to litter my back, and hollowed out eyes revealing a roster of vacuum tubes and a pair of web-cams to fill out my optical needs. (^_^)

Most of the time, I often describe myself as a "cyberdoll" simply because it's a more broadly grasped term. But, none the less, I'm reenacting one of my favorite characterizations to ever fill my Manga shelf. (^_^)y

Mincing words over words. (^_^)

In reply to a comment here:

A cuff is an extra layer of fabric at the lower edge of the sleeve of a garment covering the arms. In US usage the word may also refer to the end of the leg of a pair of trousers. The functional purpose of turned cuffs is to protect the material from fraying and, when frayed, to allow the cuffs to be repaired or replaced without major changes to the garment.

Cuffs may be made by turning back the material, or a separate band of material may be sewn on or worn separately attached by buttons or studs. A cuff may show an ornamental border, or have an addition of lace or other trimming.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuff

If Prokkie would just un-ban me from his blargh... Oh well. He likes being wrong and silencing voices of dissent. (^_^)y

The makings of PG BDSM? (^_^)

In response to this blog post... (^_^)

Linden Lab has given us a glimpse of the new New User Experience via DiscoveryIslandPublic. In this island is little mentions of what SL is about. In it, there's a freebie store of some items made by some very reputable content creators in my point of view. (^_^)

One of them is Curious Kitties. They're a great maker of outfits for EGL, Elf, Furry, Goth, and Child AV outfits. Most clothing has a dark and simple theme. The avatars and skins are surely Asian influenced. And, overall, it's a fun store/sim to visit. (^_^)

So, Linden Lab sees this popularity and decides to offer some of the store's items to the new resident public for free. Nothing wrong with that, no? I know I nabbed ALL the outfits. =^-^=



So... What's the harm in that? Well... Teh mad blogger decided arm bands and a puffy neck shirt is BDSM gear. ORLY? (O.o)

So, gothy fashion clothing that's available on a PG sim in a PG store and now made available for free on a PG new resident region is BDSM gear? Meh. Someone's gotta change their meds. (^_^)y

I'm blogging from a prim. =^-^=

Yes... A prim in Second Life is displaying the page that I'm typing into just as interactively as a generally good browser. It's updating in real time and the perspective angle is making me a bit dizzy. (O.o)

Just posting this 'cuz I can. =^-^=

A Response To: "Mainstream" Faculty and Virtual Worlds

In a Strange Land: Some Thoughts About "Mainstream" Faculty and Virtual Worlds

Reading this article... It makes me wonder about something... I'm double posting my comment here just because I find it interesting. =^-^=

The conclusion I'm seeing: Educators are choosing to avoid using the Second Life virtual world as a platform due to the complexity of the interface. You're citing examples such as the 'Advanced' menu and scripting.

This sparks a question to me. Why do you think you have to go at it on your own?

So you can't script. This is true for many computer users. Yet, we run applications all day, every day, which were written by other people. The same market can and does exist in SL. Surely, it's not as corporate and 'professional' as Microsoft. But, if you can't script a slide-show projector; there is probably one available or you can contract a scriptor to make one for you. Building falls under this category, as well.

Also... The Advanced menu? Is there anything in there that's genuinely necessary? For regular day-to-day usage, I see nothing in the Advanced menu that serves a purpose. I would not weigh that feature in with any of the aspects of the learning curve of SL.

So, yes, there is a steep learning curve. But, I see that it's there because people are diving in head-first, reading a sliver of documentation, and expecting it to naturally just work without any experienced consultation.

I would compare this to hosting my own Email server. I simply don't know how. I've never set up an SMTP/POP server before. I don't know how to register a domain name. I'm not sure if I can gather up the hardware to build a computer I'd be willing to leave on 24/7 with suitable enough stability to manage any impending Email traffic.

So... What do I do? I find someone who knows how. In my personal life, I found Google's Email service to be quite nice. Professionally, I have an IT department hired to build, manage, and maintain a whole slew of online services. All I have to do is pay them to get it right and come to them with I'm faced with a problem.

SL is a bit deceptive this way. It's an Information Technology like any other, but, our mindsets think it's something far more natural. As a result, we unconsciously don't expect the process to by anything like adopting a technology.

I see a job description coming from this... Someone who has adapted to 'life' in a virtual world, knows the ins&outs, and can be relied upon on a professional basis to support productive use of the space. Just like the garage nerds of the 1980s... A new generation of marginalized nerd. The world doesn't see them yet, but, they're here now. Eventually, they'll come out of the woodwork, people will regret not investing in them sooner, and technological/cultural history will repeat itself all over again. (^_^)y

Okay... Now what? (._.)

I done did it. I got that Avatars United profile thing done. See? (^_^)

http://www.avatarsunited.com/avatars/imnotgoing-sideways

I have something like 130-or-so friends listed there... Some of them I actually know. (^_^)

I've shouted. (^_^)

I've joined groups. (^_^)

I've installed some gadgets. (^_^)

I've posted some pictures. (^_^)

I found out that search can only really find first names. (^_^)

... Now what? (O.o)

Interwebz behind a red curtain (._.)

So… Here I am, RL, in China. Immy’s keyboard stabber is travelling on business and spending a couple weeks in Dongguan. It’s been fun and a bit crazy. Gotta love moving around for work. Interwebs in different places have different things. I remember Japan and what seemed like one WAY overloaded web. Viet Nam was quite surprising… webs were wide open, fast, and cheap. Australia was an adventure in monopoly… Then… China. (>_<)

Interwebs here are fast and reliable, but, boy are they locked down! (>_<)

Twitter, Youtube, Metacafe, bits and pieces of Google… Heck, even my own Blogspot site… All blocked. Searches are peppered with broken links. Logging to SL works, but, after a while packet loss starts to skyrocket. Especially if I start clicking links to blocked sites. And, so far, people been wanting to guineapig me by sending every possible blocked link they could imagine. (._.)

Still… What works, works. I’m able to VPN to my work compie in California to post this. I’m totally having fun here and I took a few pikkies. The weather’s all hazy, though. It’s hard to get contrast and detail when everything grey. (>_<)

Anyways, here I am and there you are. I’ll be back in my favorite time zone by the end of the week. It’ll be nice to have my 90% uncensored interwebs access back again. =^-^=