Zig-Bam-Boom

I am sure you all know of Ziggy Starsmith. Ziggy is (to quote myself from a comment on his blog) "my dear, sweet, charmingly hotheaded, fiery and wonderfully passionate but extremely rash darling buddy". On his blog (Ziggy On The Edge Of Second Life) he regularly rants wildly about different viewers, sim-crossings and such things. To put it succinctly, Ziggy does not - and I emphasize not - love Linden Lab and that company´s customer or product services as much as I usually do.

Well, after my horrendous experiences inworld yesterday I was extremely close to agreeing with him. It was the second worst night of my whole existence in SecondLife. Whatever I did, and even if i did nothing at all, I crashed, crashed, crashed and - yes, you probably guessed it - crashed again and again.

The laird at the lowest point

I was white with rage and fuming with smoke coming out of my ears and my nostrils flaring  To top it off. my dear, sweet and loving son Guyke takes the time to inform me "I and Janttu are actually running Firestorm viewers on the Ultra graphic setting and are having no problems at all!" 

Murdering one´s stepson is not considered acceptable in polite company, but I was just seconds from doing just that. Luckily I crashed and was thus saved from that fate.

The impertinent boy also told me to upgrade to Windows 8 and to abandon the official Linden viewer (Viewer 3) and install Firestorm again. So after my last crash, the one following the murderous thoughts, I did just that to cool myself down.

The upgrade to Windows 8 Pro was simple and cheap (around US $40). The upgrade assistant did all the work well. I love the sleek new look 

But when I tried going inworld again with my Windows 8 Pro platform and the Firestorm viewer, guess what happened? You got it, I crashed, crashed and crashed! Then I decided to call it a night and try again today, reports will follow.

Simple Question

‘Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?’, was the simple and highly pertinent question the American graphic designer Paula Scher of Pentagram asked when she was presenting her sketches for the new Windows logo.

I love it! It´s clear and beautiful in a no-nonsense way.

(More about how I happened to came across this yesterday in a post later.)

Fall Back in Europe

Tonight's the night when Daylight Savings Time (DST) ends in Europe, at 3 AM Sunday morning we "fall back" and get the hour back that we lost in spring.

This as usual heralds a period of confusion in an International community like SecondLife.

Australia and New Zealand have already gone "spring forward" on October 7, 2012, but SecondLife, the U.S.A and Canada do not "fall back" until Sunday November 4, 2012.

Lena Dunham: Your First Time

(via J.M.G.)

I remember my first time too. How very important it felt to get it "right"! That was of course a very, very, long time ago and was way before I became a jaded and cynical old slut...

Linden Lab - Punish Criminals, Not Victims!

From Insyx Piranha:

"You probably have heard my story about being robbed of my Ls and LL not helping me due to me being only a basic account. I am still pissed that LL has yet to help or even acknowledge the crime against me. I have not been reimburse for the monetary values taken from me either. I am sure this has happened to others. Well now you can stand up and use your voice to help me, and others, fight this injustice that LL places upon us."

For the events leading up to this petition please read Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck´s blog Confessions of a Digital Daddy Bear; When bad things happen to GOOD PEOPLE! or Blithe SL Magazine; You´re a Customer, Not the Resident of a Dictatorship

If you wish to sign the petition please go here, Petition - Linden Lab: Punish Criminals, Not Victims

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Linden Lab has an obligation towards all residents in  SecondLife to protect us from criminals and criminal activity as far as they are able to do so and to ban accounts that prey on residents from using SecondLife again.

(Tipped via Ziggy, Eddi, Petr and InsyX himself)

Ars Rezday 2012

On this day 6 years ago Joseph Douglas Wilson Jr., who was called J.D. or Doug by his family and friends in first life, rezzed into SecondLife for the first time. In the registration process when entering SecondLife he chose the name Ars Northmead.

Ars lived, worked, loved and thrived in SecondLife up until shortly before his death on March 12, 2010. He was a beautiful man, a kind soul, a wonderful lover and a loyal friend. He has been missed and will be missed as long as there is someone left to love him and remember him.

I love you, I remember you and I miss you. Forever Ars!

The Impact of A Blogger

Joe Jervis, the super-blogger who has the Joe.My.God. or J.M.G. (url) blog, shared this story with his readers yesterday. The story came to him in an email from one of his readers, Cindy.

"Hi, Joe, I had an interesting call at the phone banks last night. I have been volunteering calling voters 3 or 4 nights a week to fight the (Minnesota) marriage amendment, and last night I was given a list of voters who previously said they'd be voting yes (to limit marriage to one man/one woman) to try and persuade them to vote no.

One gentleman I spoke with had been firmly in the Yes camp until he saw the ads they began running here on TV. He was so angry with the LGBT community after hearing the things Kalley Yanta said that he went online to find proof of how awful gays really were- and instead managed to Google the real stories behind the newest attack ad, realized they were lying about us and changed his vote to no- along with his entire family.

But it gets even better- after telling me that he found many articles about the specific issues which were in the attack ad, I asked him which sites he'd found most helpful. "Oh!", he said," Have you ever read a website called Joe Dot My Dot God Dot?" I managed not to laugh until after I got off the phone, but told him that I'd look into that website, especially if he found it useful. He told me that as far as he was concerned, (Minnesotans) United For All Families should just tell the Yes voters to go read that guy Joe's website, he had learned a lot from it especially because as far as he knows he doesn't have any gay friends. So, you won one for us - thank you, Joe!"

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It is quite understandable that Joe did a cabbage patch-dance at his desk when he had read that email.

To receive such tangible proof that you have had an impact on someones heart and mind is the greatest praise a blogger can get. Joe has worked hard and long to get it and is well worth all the praise, accolades and blog awards he can get!

I read his blog daily and everyone else should do it too, for the always interesting posts but also for the hilarious, knowledgeable and bitchy comments by his readers.