Evening all, well if you made it here you’ve probably spotted the news – I’ve moved the blog over from a third party host into WordPress.com. Time to reset your feed readers (if they haven’t done so automatically) to cardiemahoney.wordpress.com/feed/.

The move means that a number of pictures hosted on the original provider may not have made the jump yet (which means I haven’t got around to manually editing the entries yet), so please bear with me. If it looks like I’ve forgotten something drop me an email to cardiemahoney@gmail.com.

It also means I’m closing down the members section of the website, at least for the moment. According to my records, the site has been winding down numbers wise for a bit, so I’ve decided (with my RL work as well) to take the glamour shots offline. Those of you who are still members will be recieving a full refund shortly. I’m still deciding what to do about the blog posts that point to gallery updates, as those pictures have not been moved over yet.

So I;ve been doing some tweaking on my body shape in the last week or so. Comingback from a short break from SL in RL, there was something that was just a bit off with the avie. So into the settings to have a figure what was going on and try to work out what would make me feel right with the look.

Turns out my psyche had me as too tall, and not enough curve. All sorted now. And into the bargain picked up a new pair of glasses as well from Primoptic.

Of course there’s one other major change I’ve added, but to see that, you’ll need to keep watching the site, or find me in-world!

Looking back, I got really lucky when I first got into Second Life by finding the Sigma Epison Xi club (which is sadly no longer there); a place with lots of people, but not too many, great chat, and a friendly playful atmosphere. Trying to find something similar now where I can just relax is proving more difficult.

The Find option in the client is so awash with stores, yard sales and adverts for attachments (not that I’m complaining about those!) that getting somewhere that’s fast enough in the currently overtaxed grid, yet isn’t deserted, is almost impossible. I’ve a few places on the bookmarks list that may brighten up at night, but us Europeans need a place that works on our timezone, not the West Coast!

So, now to you guys. Any suggestions?

Life, as usual, has had me away for a while, but I’m back home (in RL) and that means I should be around for the next few weeks in SL at the very least. All old friends and new acquaintances are welcome to ping me in-world!

Who’s up for a little bit of mile high action? Thought so, which is why I want to welcome you aboard this delightful Boeing 737. In the event of any emergency, I shall fall from the ceiling. Remember to breath deeply…

The full version of this set, with 32 pictures, is now available in the members section of my website. Why not take the free tour of the site before you join and get instant access to this and all the archived galleries for $15.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Second LIfe’s Herald on how to spot gender switching in Second Life (that’s where an RL male is an SL female, and vice cersa). I’m going to add two points to it.

The first is a simple question – does it really matter? I mean when it comes down to you have two humans in SL who are enjoying each other’s company. Yes there would be problems if RL started to seep in, but then thats got to be a personal call. I do agree if you’re switching, there’sno need to use that as some sort of practical joke when it’s all over. It hurts.

The other piece of advice? If you really want to check, see if the Avatar has the XCite system running. Quickest way to do that is turn on ’show transaprent items’ with crtl-shift-t in the client. That brings up all the attached prims which are invisible, and it should be relativly easy to spot if someone has ‘hotspots’ around their hot spots. Its not a cast iron guarantee, but as with everything, it might hep you decide – what you do with that information is up to you.

First they came for the AgePlayers. Nobody really batted an eyelid. After all, it didn’t affect them. Cracking down on gambling was next. Of course it wasn’t really a crackdown, Linden Lab just don’t want you catching sight of any of the cards, dice, or not really dollars Linden Dollars flying around. But that’s okay,nobody wants a casino next to them anyway.

So Sadako pops over to the Cafe (more on the new Cafe location over the weekend) today to let me know of a rather worrying development. The full story is over on her blog, but the edited highlight is this IM from In World Liason Harry Linden:

IM: Harry Linden: (Saved Fri Apr 20 07:20:05 2007) Hi there, can you check your profile and classifieds for skins and make sure thats its within the PG guidelines, so no explicit nudity please. Thanks.

There’s been a huge divide of opinion, after the other ‘crackdowns’ that the adult industry would be next. Given the huge part of the SL Economy that it drives – not just in services, but animations, clothes, scripts, buildings, furniture, etc – it would be a very very hard beast to put away. But if you were to close down the oxygen of advertising (much as in the casinos and gambling, but also in forcing the ageplayers underground) then that’s going to make a lot of things a lot harder. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

If this truly is Our World and Our Imagination, then just because our imagintion is a rather sick and twisted place, doesn’t make it wrong. And isn’t everyone on the grid over 18 in any case? So why PG?

So it comes down to, I guess, one quesion. Why? The only thing that Sadako and I (and a few others) can think of is Linden Lab are doing everything possible to appear respectable, wholesome, and super appealing to the large conservative businesses. Couple this with the thought of the SL Server Code (as well as the client code) going Open Source, a 3-D Web powered by Linden could be on the cards. If they can get people to sign into it. And that means no sex, no drugs… no rock and roll?

And so the other foot falls, as Endemol announces plans to run a Virtual Big Brother world in conjunction with Electronic Arts. You might recall back in December they ran a Second LIfe version of Big Brother, with a SIM available as the only prize. I find it interensting that they’ve decided not to continue in Linden’s Servers, but to join up with EA. What did the big company not like about Second LIfe?

What indeed

So Linden Lab are removing the ratings system this update, and I can’t help feeling just a little bit melancholy. Sure it’s not something that’s ever been widely used (yet again it’s another cool feature that Linden have buried to a certain extent in the user interface), but I always get a little kick when someone rates me up.

But there’s another knock on effect. While it didn’t cost a huge amount to rate some one (only 25 L$), the rating system was one of the few economic sinks in the Linden Currenty – Economic sinks are used to slow down inflation and stabilise currency by taking money out of the system with no tangible finacial reward. Taxes are good example of this, but we don’t have taxes in SL, remember. And surely the load that the ratings system is placing on the databse system is more a function of the huge increase in membership, and not any fault in the ratings system?

The LL Blog points to a number of alternatives, but really, is Linden believed in the ratings system, it would still be there, and more easily accessible. This is a bad call.

Quite a few people have commented on the build I made for my store, the three level steel beam and glass construction, and after the (re)building I did yesterday – more on that later – I decided to try a little something. I’ve put together a two level version of the design (which I’ve christened Skyloft), packaged it up and put it on sale on both SL Exchange or SL Boutique.

SKYLOFT TWIN LEVEL BOUTIQUE STORE

This is the first ‘Skyloft’ design to come onto the market. With modern styling, practical building design, and a view to maximising space, light, and openess, the Skyloft designs are for the more discerning Second Life land owners looking for stunning architecture to use in everyday life.

The Twin Level Boutique has a very small footprint (only 20×10m), so not only will it fit comfortably on a 512m plot but you’ll have room around the outside for landscaping, signage or water features. Inside you will be amazed at just how open the design is. With a full 200m2 of shopping floor on the ground, and a further 100m2 one level up (and you may wish to use the 100m2 roof space), every small business in Second Life could use this as a first commercial space.

Or, with it’s modern design, it could make a perfect second home, on a beach, deep in a forest, or on a cliff edge with fantastic views. Why spoil the view with solid walls?

FEATURES

* 400m2 of floor space in a 20×10 plot
* Wall mounted digital clock (SL time)
* Permissions: Copy/Mod/NoTrans
* Prim Count: 37