Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Land Conservation

I was in a National Park the other day in RL and was delighted to see that developers were in the process of knocking down the trees to build 1500 residences, all with 3 car garages, a landing strip for the airport, three new schools and a very large shopping area to support the new residents with groceries and gas.

*pointing* This would be my sarcasm face.

Linden Labs (LL) recently released a new policy on the use of Openspace land. This has caused a lot of ruckus lately and upset a lot of people. Let me be clear by stating I am happy and sad about this change.

Much like my scenario above, when Openspace owners rented out their land to people to build their homes etc, the technological strain was significant for LL. The land was never intended to be used for rentals or for that matter, significant traffic constantly calling up a new pair of pants as they put an outfit together. Basically, they abused the land they purchased and now LL is working to correct the technological problem they caused with misuse.

I know a lot of people are angry. Some will have to move their businesses, others their residences. I feel for those who were innocent in this - confused in their purchase/rental. The "laws" of LL can indeed be confusing. But for those who knew better and yet opted to set up shop on Openspace saying "everyone does it" well shame on you. Just because everyone does it does not mean it is right. And shame on you again for complaining when someone came about to correct your stealing because that is essentially what it is. You've stolen server and asset draw space.

Harsh? Not really. Most folks knew exactly what they were doing. Some owners did it to be popular with their friends (giving them low cost space to "help them out"). Some did it to be greedy in another way - to make as much cash as possible. Some probably did it because they didn't have the skill to produce pretty space and left it up to others to fill in the gaps. Reality is, open space is meant for conservation and beautification, not a shopping mall, a sex palace, nor residential tracks.

Am I delighted with LL's crack down? No. I'd have liked them to instead have put their foot down with those sim owners who abused the opportunity. Instead of working it through with them one by one (hey, they could have contracted with me to manage this project!), they opted to raise their rates for all.

While many think they are victims, the real victims (aside from all of us who loose our beautiful space due to rate increases) are the non profits and educational use clients. Because of the greed of some, several non profits will suffer. Yes I know, University of North Carolina can probably afford the increase. But can a small non profit? Perhaps not. Disappointing.

So what does this mean? It means that some entrepreneurial folks are already on top of it, creating new developments for the mass exodus of people who need a new home. Ultimately, the LL economy lives on and the only loss is perhaps the sailing space, forests and gardens we all once enjoyed.

****

Monday, October 27, 2008

Happy Noob-a-licious

I really have to log in more often and hit my regular spots.

Giant Noob at the Cork Factory. It's terrifying.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tootsie Treat


I have been on the hunt for an elegant shoe for MONTHS. Most shoes I like are either too tailored or they look beautiful until you zoom in and discover they have spikes. :/

Then I discovered Sven Olbers. Sven is an evil, evil man. EVIL. His Bow shoe is perhaps the most elegant (despite the spikes) I've seen in SL to date. Now mind you, I don't get out much so don't rush off to insult my intelligence (or lack thereof). If you've noticed, I don't blog much about fashion. I've just no eye for it.

Worse, I couldn't resist the Curl clog. To. Die. For. Tropical flowers adorn the top of the foot with a whimsical heel. I want them in all colours. I mean it. I WANT THEM IN ALL COLOURS.

Wait until you see the rest of his work. Heels in every style. Matching belts and accessories. Boots in every style from platform to spike to thigh high to feather. Someone get me out of here before I go broke!

By the way, there is a fantastical pair of Halloween shoes at NONKO. Group gift of course. But Ohhh the fun I will have with these next week!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy.

I just had the most unexciting, under expectation meeting, lackluster time I have had in a very long time. Jewelry expo was less than dazzling.



A few of my favourites where there. The Eolande build was creative and some of the jewelry from a couple of designers was decent to perhaps even good (even a couple of "huh, that's interesting" pieces).

Once I took a class to build jewelry last year and the basics. I couldn't help but to think that my classmates produced a better product than several of the vendors there. And that wasn't that great.

The expo design itself was a bore. I know how painful it can be to hear that someone dislikes your work, but I have to ask, was any creative work put into this at all?



Freebies are around. I've only found a few things that made it interesting. I imagine those able to participate in the hunt might find some choice pieces.

Jewelry Expo ends today, Sunday. Have fun!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Plurkisms


It occurred to me that many of my plurk friends have created a culture over the last few months. You can count on a guy named Class Tax to have a new crush every week (he'll edit the name in the lead plurk often). We will have at least some culinary discussion at least once a day. We will celebrate karma boosts with drive-by plurks and emoticons. We will share personal challenges and be encouraged by one another. And every Friday or Saturday night, one of us, idiots that we are, will have a few too many and will drunk-plurk. This is something I'd like to discourage. But it will happen and sometimes the results are hysterical.

When I joined plurk, there were very few folks around. But my friends list exploded overnight. I wish I could tell you who the evil person is who ... er... the nice person was who introduced me to Plurk. He created a monster... er.. provided me a means to explore further social networking.

From a social media standpoint, this is somewhat fascinating. When I joined, none of this existed. We created the drive-by "naked cartwheels" (thank you Trinners). We created the banana dance welcome. We wake up to each other in the morning and tuck each other in when it is bedtime. And we do it across time zones, all over the world.

I've seen the frustration of one plurker who was dealing with citizenship issues, the pain of another who was trashed while she made every effort to be professional, break ups, get togethers, and even medical issues. Where, in all the world would such an environment be where this kind of encouragement exists? Have we come to the place where we can no longer do this in real life, but must now find our support and affection from 140 characters or less on a social media site, by strangers?

I'm delighted we have each other. I am saddened that this acquaintanceship doesn't exist in real life for many. And I look forward to my plurkdom growing and prospering with all things good and none of the nastiness that comes from people who don't know how to be grown ups.

Here's to a great Plurk!

UPDATE: I stand corrected. Plurk is not technically a "social media" but instead a "microblogging network". Thank you guy-who-gave-me-the-link!

Army of Women

I don't often write about the real world. But, in honor of a real life friend who has been there four times, I offer that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. With one in eight women having breast cancer throughout their lifetime, it makes sense that today they've launched an Army of Women.

One of the reasons (they say) that the research isn't done for breast cancer is that they don't have the bodies - healthy and ill- to study. So one bright gal got the idea to put out the call.

Want to help? Sign up. If you fit the mold for a study, they will email you. You can then request more information and see if it is something in which you want to participate. If it is, let them know. If not, delete.

Where? http://www.armyofwomen.org. Join us today.