We Really Do It Better VII

Monday night after I got back from a volunteer shift at CVL, I found the Zwickies were not where I had left them. Several were flying around. Someone had turned the Zwickies' server back on and they were busy flying, eating, farting and shooting eachother with shooting stars, and just being wonderful. As I told another disgruntled owner: Hang in there for nine more days. Thankfully, the two week death watch was canceled.

We may have to do this again. In fact, it is a when not an if because all things are finite, but it is back to business for now and back to business at least for now means Only the Best. Before this blog went silent we had photos for an entry about Space 4 Art.

Before you groan about including another Art Sim in Only the Best, Space 4 Art is different. First, instead of being an amazingly beautiful build, the focus is on the sculptures, murals, and yes, paintings on the wall. There are plenty of them. Guest artists rotate, and resident artists revise their builds. Finding something different on a fresh sim, is a great reason to come back, and there's nothing wrong with paintings on walls if they change, and there are so many you have to climb seven floors to see all of them or walk through several sky galleries.

Best of all, ALL the art is ORIGINAL. Say that twenty times fast. I liked this sketch, and I also liked climbing four floors to see it along with many others. Let's just say I went hog wild with the camera.

Some of the art is humorous or political or both. I liked this even though I don't read a lick of German. I could get the message. Yes, that is a skeleton's hand holding the retouched photo, and I had to walk out on a narrow ledge of an elevated structure at ground level to see and photograph this work.

And this work is supposed to be satirical, but I still liked it because there is something just, plain fascinating about sarcophagi. I guess art is what you bring to it.

And sometimes being immersed in a work or having it set as a hologram (false horizon), especially in a skybox makes you feel a part of the action even if you can't get up close and personal. This unreachable mural and tree, which now has volcanoes and a blue and white kinetic sculpture for friends, is clearly a case in point. There is nothing like an amazing mirage.

Well, a walk in an unusual spot does come close. In this case, Space 4 Art at ground level offers two galleries, huge sculptures, and most important shallow water and these rock jetties, which have no soft spots and which are fantastic for walking. Call this solving the water problem.

Of course if you hate to walk you can always fly a hang glider like I did at ground level. It's fun to fly around the big sculptures or just keep the hang glider upright. This is also one of the prettiest hang gliders I've seen.

And if you get pooped out, there is plenty of space to sit on Space 4 Art. These rocking chairs were nicer than many couches. I could sit with my son, Petrichor, and look at the paintings before continuing to climb, up and up, and up....

And yes, there are plenty of sculptures on Space 4 Art. I wish I had included more of them in this blog entry, but you can't include everything. The galleries and exhibits are of course baby friendly/family friendly. There are no script warnings, and walking in a museum is a good way to stop and smell the roses, and not worry about someone selling you clothes or trying to rent land to pay the rent. It's nice to have noncommerical space devoted to creativity. It's wonderful to have lots of space and have that space be fun. It's nice that the space is well maintained and always fresh. You know where this is heading. Welcome to Only the Best Space 4 Art. You deserve a slot.

Iyoba BatOni and Eileen H. Kramer -- September 29, 2016

Zwicky Death Watch???

I want to start with Petrichor. He walks. He wears shoes. He eats solid food. He is weaned. He has extended language due to a HUD I made. He passed his first birthday (1 year rezz date) a few weeks ago. He is stage 49, and uses a potty that I have to empty. I have experimented with tunic outfits for him, to give him more variety. Now you wait for the punch line.

There really isn't one yet. All this could still be a very close call. There were several with the Petable Turtles, and the Lily Frogs had a long slow end, that took nearly a summer. The end for breedables seldome comes with any announcements, as it did for the Turtles. I had nearly a year of unsupported ownership, with food, a working HUD, but no specials, which I always considered hype. When the end came, there was an announcement, and a slight glitch with the statuing. The live turtles did not starve to death. Those in inventory can not be revived. My Petable HUD no longer works. The server is simply off.

The Lily Frogs faced actual death long before the server vanished. It might even be running, but in their case it is irrevelent. In June of 2013, the Lily Frog Store vanished. It reappeared briefly, and I stockpiled egg cups and food. I even got free food from Dragoness Rage, the avie in charge of Lily Frogs.

Then, the Lily Frog/Breedable Nation store vanished for good. Dragoness Rage became impossible to reach, and the Breedable Nation website (which made Lily Frogs and several other breedables) went down.) First the egg cups disappeared. I could not put eggs in inventory without killing them. My One understood this and we put the eggs in a grating wall which stayed at the Honey Hut, now There is no Adult in the Room, until my altie, Shaka, needed the space. Dragonesse Rage never returned, but long before we reached that conclusion, we had to box up our Lily Frogs so their corpses would not end up all over our land.

And now it may be the Zwickies' turn to die. On Wednesday night, I found the Zickies fast asleep, unable to reach their home universe or galaxy. There was a timer with green text on each of them. When I touched a Zwicky, his or her stats would not come up, nor would the menu. This means there is a server issue.

My One and I tried to seek help through the Zwicky group. The group is sparsley populated on a good day, and Griderz Luv and the other developers have not been inworld for several weeks. My One says that they could be moving or having job trouble in "real life." She also says that breedables like clubs, and Second Life rent, is a "discretionary expense." They are all one medical or car repair bill away from vanishing.

My One Who Thinks She Knows says that taking on a breedable is an act of trust in its creators. The Zwickies were grandfathered in, because they date from the time before she lost trust in most breedable creators. That is why she says she is sad but not surprised at what has happened.

And my One thinks things could still turn around. The good part of all this is that we have plenty of Zwicky food. The Zwickiesare asleep, not dead. Should the server come on, they can eat, and we may pick up where we left off. My One says it has only been four days.

Four days is just Not Enough time to write off Griderz. Their web site is still up, but Ones often pay for web space by the year. Still, my One takes it as a good sign.

All of this makes my One think about our son, Petrichor, and about his company, Zooby. They are still in business, but my One says that when you take on a breedable (or a prim baby), you take on a lot of expense over a long time and ultimate heart ache. My One let down her guard and agreed to trust Carrie when we got Petrichor. My One still trusts Carrie, but other prim baby companies, notably Honeydew, have gone bust.

All things are finite, but we believed Griderz when the Zwicky store on Serena Wyndham closed. There is food for sale in Markletplace, and at another store inworld that caters to breedables. The web page is on. Zwickies appeared to be dependable, so finding the Server disconnected Wednesday evening was unexpected.

And Zwickies have always been a part of Petrichor's world. He believes that Geronimo, my white Luna starter male, is his father. He thinks he came down from the stars like a Zwicky. Now he will grow up believing he is a half orphan until Zooby goes out of business, not that Zooby is closing any time soon. It is just my One and I are in it for the very long haul, and outliving your breedables is what happens.

Iyoba BatOni with help from Eileen H. Kramer -- September 24, 2016

We Really Do it Better VI

Where has this blog been? The One Who Thinks She Knows has been writing fiction. That means I don't get to blog. The fiction is bogged down, but that is NOT what brought me back. I wish it were. My One still gets in world regularly. My One and I still work on the the Explore SL Spreadsheet, and we also think about Only the Best.

We visit great sites. We try to have fun, and sometimes we succeed. It's hard to think about having fun now, but that's for the next blog entry. Let's go back to July. This was going to be a blog entry before my One got side tracked. My One was tickled to find Wilanow Palace. It was huge. It was well furnished. It was a Polish palace. That made my One smile because she knew Polish jokes, but had not yet fallen in love with polkas. She remembered them from when they were the only music on the radio in the Catskills on Sunday mornings, when she and her mother were traveling back to college in Ithaca. That was a very long time ago. Now people can listen to whatever they like, but my One and her mother were stuck with the polkas, and now many years later, my One is nostalgic. Poor One!

Of course Second Life's Wilanow Palace has as much in common with polkas as Cheese Wiz has with farm house gouda. From the outside, the large yellow building did not look too promising. I suspected a Potemkin village or stage set. Inside well... If you love furniture and detail, let's just say you'll love Wilanow Palace.

Best of all the texture work is not a repurposed prefab or the latest and greatest out-of-a-box, mesh whoosiwhatsis. This appears to be all original design, from the pictures in the hall to the woodwork and upholstery.

Of course the downside to all this beauty and detail is that it makes the Palace and it's rooms slow to rezz completely. I was not there when it was crowded. I'm not sure if it is ever crowded, but if it were, there would surely be lag, and if you are on a slow connection... patience is a virtue.

Sadly, due to the heaviness of the build, and the lag consciousness of the owners, Wilanow Palace is NOT baby friendly. Still, I had plenty of fun without Petrichor. Wilanow Palace has two levels (sort of) and three entrances/exits. The upper levels don't span the entire palace and each upstairs area has its own stairway. One area has two stairways. I found all three sets of stairs!

My favorite room, among many, was the Chinese room, which had imported Chinoiseries and lots of red laquer, polished, wood and bamboo. I won't tell you what is behind this screen. You'll have to find it out for yourself.

And when I got tired, there were always plenty of couches. And if I was not tired, I could always test them out. How many One's have wanted to put their feet up on the furniture in a fancy palace? Well at Wilanow Palace you have your chance.

And then there is this piano tucked into a sweetly wallpapered parlor or drawing room. I think this is a baby grand that grew up, and what a paint job!

And of course I got to rollerskate in the grand ballroom. The marble floor was a slick as Zambonied ice, and it made a good picture. Unlike in real life, avatarim can't soil the couch with their clean shoes, or scratch the marble floor with their roller skate wheels. I guess by now you can figure out that Wilanow Palace has a dual listing. It made the Explore SL Spread Sheet and our Only the Best Listing. See below.

Iyoba Bat Oni with help from Eileen H. Kramer -- September 23, 2016

We Really Do it Better V

"Where are the people?" is one of the most common questions I have heard during the long, Monday night shifts at the CVL reference desk. Yes, Second Life can be a very lonely place. In a way, this is a good thing. My One Who Thinks She Knows and I are not always as social as we should be, and when land becomes too developed there are ban lines and security orbs. Also, a crowded venue, especially in the days before Viewer 4.0 and Yesha and Pretty Orli (Those last are the my One's computers' names.) was a lag ridden misery.

Still I've heard patrons ask it over and over again, especially in the days when we had more traffic. My One says that human nature (by which she leaves out avatarot like me!) doesn't change. Ones, when they are not totally out of sorts, and avatarim as well sometimes, want the comfort of a crowd, and music...

Well who gets out to dance as much as they would like? One of the things that makes Second Life special is that one can find music and dance or in the case of Ones watch your avie dance, any time, any day of the week.

That said, many music clubs are big barns. A crowd gathers. There is a live DJ, but you are lost in the crowd and feel anonymous and barely wanted. The place does not feel like your place, something you want in a club. On the other hand, it is not at all unusual to find smaller clubs empty. The best clubs, are busy enough to provide people and music, and small enough to feel pleasnatly intimate.

And a club also needs to have a respectful atmosphere. A club could be on an adult sim in theory. Sim rating has nothing to do with how people inside the club treat eachother. People on mature or even general rated sims can still curse, make rape jokes, show up with large objects or weapons, and generally act like rear ends. DJ's can act like they are just learning curse words in fourth grade. All of this kind of behavior has a nuiscence value that while not through the roof is up there enough to keep some clubs off the Do It Better/Only the Best list.

Happily, Energy has a respectful and safe atmosphere, is not overly huge and crowded, and is open 24/7y with live DJ's and house music. If electronica, techno, house, and just plain dance tunes, but not oldies, country, or hip hop except in its mildest forms, is your music, Energy is your club.

And if you don't want to dance, Energy has state of the art, mesh furnishings. And yes, the poofs shown above are scripted. Touch them and receive a color menu. Sit on anything but the bench in the front hallem and get a pose menu. For furniture loving newbies, Energy offers a second sort of fun.

Of course, academics in Second Life nay worry that clubs offer little of value and students may find them themselves, but music is one of the more robust places in Second Life where the "real world" intrudes. In May 2016, Energy had a memorial to Prince down by the DJ stage on the dance floor, despite the fact that Prince was a pop musician and not a house or techno artist.

And yes, I still remember the time that Antonus Jacobus, wherever he is now, animated me to dance back in 2008. I did not yet know about dance balls, HUDs, or animations. My One was blown away. I was very happy. Any Do It Better/Only the Best list needs to share that joy.

And no, Energy is not baby-friendly. I have never brought Petrichor there, but bouncers watch for heavily-scripted objects. It is also an English speaking/American club, and American Second Life culture is ambivalent about both child avatarim and virtual children.

Several years ago I got chased onto the back porch of Energy after a bouncer/host claimed I had some sort of scripted particle emitting object. I could not see the particles, but my One had turned off particles to reduce lag. I had come from a sandbox and been working with scripts. I ran out the back door and removed every attachment I was wearing out by the pool. The bouncer came outside after me and apologized. I was not the avie wearing the problem attachment. Energy is a respectful and tolerant place. The music is great. It feels like home. It feels like One of the Best!

Iyoba BatOni with help from Eileen H. Kramer -- July 15, 2016

We Really Do It Better! IV

This blog got sucked down the black hole again because My One Who Thinks She Knows is writing fiction. Finally though, she remembered me and her blogging projects. We've been bushwacking again for the Explore SL Spreadsheet and she finally realized we have to do something about this blog!

We have to do something because we have ANOTHER WINNER for Do It Better/Only the Best! Now Second Life is lousy with "beautiful sims" and photogenic locations, but Black Basalt Beach is a cut above the common nature sim or beach sim. The first reason is obvious, a temperate climate and black stone. Alas, the sand is not black, but you cannot have everything.

You can walk (almost) everywhere on Black Basalt Beach. There are trails, steps, bridges. You can even go off-piste and climb the mountains. You will not find a soft spot. You also wont see any palm trees. The trees are deciduous. The climate is mediterraneanor tempoerate. The sim has what my One calls ecological integrity.

Best of all, for a homestead sim, you can travel what feels like endlessly. The mountains are not decorative. The trails and bridges do not feel like roads. There are at least two circuits around the island, and both my One and I are suckers for bridges, river walks, cliffs, and mountain trails. There are just way too few of these in Second Life. It is nice to see more of them.

Then there is the issue of water. Newbies sink to the bottom and walk when they fall in if they have not acquired a swimmer hud or animation. Enjoying water is always tricky. Keeping water shallowis one of the simplest ways to make water accessible, and Black Basalt Beach does this at the base of its waterfalls. There is also shallow water at the beach's edge, and plenty of ocean views.

Most interesting though, Black Basalt Beach shows that water does not have to be deep and salty or fresh or even cold. On tops of the mountains there are hot springs. They are shallow. Your avie does not even need an animation to use them without sinking. I barely stand five feet tall and I can comfortably use this pool. A sitting animation from inventory would probably make it even better, but even a raw newbie could walk in and enjoy.

Better yet, there are fumeroles, also called geysers. There are firey volcanones on various islands in Second Life, but volcanoes that actually heat and spew sulfurous water... I think Black Basalt Beach is a first for this. This is truley impressive!

Ironically, Black Basalt Beach almost DIDN'T make the Do It Better/Only the Best list, and not because of blog lag. On my first visit there, I learned the sim was NOT ZOOBY BABY FRIENDLY. The moment I landed, I received a copy of the island's rules which prohibited heavily scripted objects. This was not prejudice. Black Basalt Beach is a homestead sim so the owners are trying to be reasonable.

I'm glad I went back a second time, without Petrichor. This time I read the rules more carefully. They asked first and foremost for visitors to stay out of private residences. My first thought was that this was typical SL bullshit. Private property rules, but walking around the island I began to have a change of heart. Yes, the private residences were off limits, but not all the public trails, open country, back yards. There were no banlines, no security orbs. My One asked me: "Don't you wish the rest of Second Life ran like this?"

My answer of course is an overwhelming and very loud "YES!" Better yet, whoever runs Black Basalt Beach practices harm control. Those who would be tempted to stage a home invasion to look at and sit on furniture (a common newbie diversion), can find plenty of furniture outside (See the paragraph above), and there is a public building, a lighthouse, and also a beach-side shack for any avie who really wants to visit indoor space. There is also no dress code besides the usual prohibition against nudity. Quads, child avatarim, furrie, neko, and cardboard boxes are all welcome!

Part of Do It Better/Only the Best is selecting sites that show how people can live well in Second Life and treat eachother with decency and dignity. You can rent land without being a hog. You can own property without being a pig. Ownership does not mean tyranny. This is the true beauty of Black Basalt Beach. Welcome to the Do It Better/Only the Best list. You deserve to be here!

Iyoba BatOni -- May 15, 2016