Russy’s Blog

Tuesday, June 17 (140 days to Election Day)

Join my new group, “Kids for Obama” !!!

It’s open enrollment, so you can just search for it and add yourself. Pleeeeeeze … aw, come on, there must be some useless group you can delete, right? (And no, you don’t have to be a US citizen or registered voter … it’s just an SL group, silly.)

Obama on virtual freedom:
www.barackobama.com/issues/technology

Wednesday, June 4

It’s pretty rare for LL to reverse an announced decision, even an unpopular one.  So when LL quietly reversed its decision yesterday to exclude kids from exhibiting at SL5B, this was a real win for “Kid Power”.  We protested, we blogged, we voted on the jira, we created our own alternative event … and, for the moment, I’d say that we won.  We showed the best within our community, we got a *lot* of support from outside our community (including SL5B organizers resigning in protest … big thanks), and we got LL to rethink the way that they view us, which hopefully will set a positive precedent for the future.

I am really excited about the rapid progress of Kids5B. I think it’s gonna be great, that it will showcase the creativity and warmth of our community, and that will serve as a public reminder of our successful “Kid Power” fight … and hopefully even outshine SL5B. *grin*

I am, however, a bit concerned about recent divisions with our community, which are neither helpful nor reflect well on our community. We certainly don’t want this to show externally, particularly if kid groups manage to participate in SL5B.  It would be good if we can put our differences aside and at least try to look like we are more or less one.

I hope that everyone will give Danny, Sacha and Koffee their full and unconditional support as they try their best to make this an *inclusive* event that everyone can feel good about … little children, big children, teens, neko kids, and so on. We are a diverse community, both in terms of our avatars and the emotional needs of the people behind them. I hope that Kids5B will capture this diversity and show its best side.

Yay !!!

Saturday, May 31

I find it regrettable that LL has decided to snub three of its more significant and loyal constituencies by excluding them from SL5B: kid avis, gor and bdsm.

I find it doubly regrettable that LL has lumped the kids community - in my experience, one of the nicest, smartest and *least* sexual communities within SL - together with gor and bdsm. Not that I have any objection to the latter - or for that matter, anything else between consenting adults. To paraphrase Voltaire, “I may not like what you roleplay, but I will defend to the death your right to roleplay it.”

I simply resent the insinuation that the kid community is centered around sex, because that is just false. Furthermore, we are not child molesters. In fact, virtually everyone I know in the kid community really cares deeply about real kids (just look at our fundraising for real kid charities) and has zero tolerance for anyone who would hurt a RL kid. Nor do we abound in real kids hiding behind the kid avis. Our community is probably tougher than most of SL about reporting any real kids who sneak in.

Most of us just want to be young and happy again, to release our inner child, to re-experience our youth with the good stuff - and without the bad stuff, which for some of us was really bad. Particularly for gay people, our school years were usually somewhere between lonely and nightmarish. Is it anything to be ashamed of that we want to re-experience them in the way that we wish they had been? Does LL really feel they have to sweep this under the rug? Aren’t emotional needs (not to mention civil liberties) like these one of the business premises of “Second Life”?

Perhaps LL thinks they can make piles of money turning SL into a corporate virtual networking platform. If so, good luck. I guess you don’t need us. But right now, the kid community represents a fairly large base of loyal users who pay significant real money into SL. It is a shame that LL doesn’t have the backbone or vision to see that publicly advocating “roleplay rights” (i.e. virtual or fictional activities between consenting adults) is in their business interests.

p.s. Please vote for jira MISC-1231, which protests the exclusion of kids from SL5B … https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1231 Resolved … yay !

Saturday morning, May 24

The only thing better than Saturday mornings are Sunday mornings. It’s so quiet. Eatin’ my cereal in front of the computer. I don’t feel like I have to get stuff done (not that I get all that much done during the week *shrug*).

Well, I’ve been feelin’ guilty about not blogging in two months. I mean, few others are still blogging, and that’s kinda disappointing, but if I’m not happy about that, the right answer is not to whine but rather to *blog*, right? So … here goes. I encourage all you retired bloggers to do the same. *poke poke*

Well, two thoughts comes to mind. The first is a retrospective on my past blogs. It’s been two months to the day since my last blog, and it pains me to say that the SL performance issues seem to just get worse and worse. Over the past week, it’s often been taking me 10 or 20 minutes to rez. Friggin’ asset server. Not to mention TP failure, etc. etc. same old same old. Message to M Linden: Just fix it !!  It’s not like the growth in concurrent logs has been that high. If SL growth had actually lived up to the hype last year, just imagine what performance would be like now. *exasperated sigh*

Looking back at my earlier posts, some of them were kinda trivial, some were issues that had their day (VAT, mega prims). But there were some good and enduring ones, too, I think.

Of all, “Rezday Reflections” still rings the most true for me. I suppose many of us would say the same thing: We came to SL for the novelty, we keep coming back because of our friends … but it’s not quite as exciting as it used to be. So, what can we do about this? How can we make it exciting? How can we bring back the virtual magic?

Well, I give a lot of credit to the people who *are* actually doing something about this, especially for the whole community. Two initiatives come to mind: Koff and Yuki’s “Milk n Cookies” show on Fridays, and Robin R’s “Kulture Kids,” which does Sunday field trips to cool and culturally relevant builds. Thanks and big hugz to you guys. The success of these proves that people really *are* hungry for fun stuff, if it’s good.

So … on to the second thought, which kinda relates to this. Tsu and I are secretly plotting another blow-out charity fundraiser event. Last night, we identified a small (= focused) charity which does great on-the-ground work in caring for really sick and desperate kids in Eastern Europe (e.g. with HIV/AIDS).  We’re checking the charity out carefully, ofc, but it sounds really perfect for the next round of the “monthly” kids charity (maybe we should change that to “quarterly” *blush*). We’ll try to think of some stuff to make the event really fun and kewl. See ya there !!!

Monday, March 24 … Happy Easter!

Well, the past week in SL has been miserable for me, technically speaking. How about you?

Yeah, there have been a few good recent developments, as Danny recently blogged. But the past week or more has been a lot of teeth gnashing for me: 

Crashes. Failed teleports and failed transactions.  Gray blogs due to textures not loading, even after cache clears, rebakes, and ”appearance.” Asset server being slow or not loading altogether. Horrendous chat lag. Friends list not working (and btw, who or what is “hippos”?). Groups not showing. Group IMs not working. Profiles not showing. Horrible all-around slowness even with draw distance at 64m - sometimes cuz the sim is busy or it’s Sunday night, but lately, even at off-peak times. Thank God that maximum concurrent logins haven’t grown faster than they actually have over the past year, or I think I would’ve thrown in the towel by now.

What irks me even more than the fact that these are the same problems we’ve been seeing for the past year is the way that LL proclaims “RESOLVED”.  Rather like Dubya standing on the deck of that aircraft carrier five years ago, with that huge “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” banner. Yeah, right.

Here’s the one from Saturday … just as an example:

[RESOLVED] Loading Issues

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 12:16 PM by: Joppa Linden

[RESOLVED Mar 22 08 - 2:42 PDT] - The issues have been resolved and should no longer present themselves. If you continue to experience related issues, please contact support. There are currently issues with in-world transactions, teleporting and related activity. We are working to address the issues as quickly as possible. Please refrain from transactions as necessary and keep an eye on this blog for further information.

I don’t know about you, but the rest of Saturday was still awful, and Sunday wasn’t much better. Maybe LL has a different understanding of what the word “resolved” means? There’s a certain other word that comes to my mind when I read these posts: “dejà vu”.

I hope that the successors to Phillip and Cory Linden - not to mention Dubya - can get a grip on their respective messes, and fast.

Sorry if I sound cynical. I just wanted to get that off my chest.

*distracted pause* Hey, it’s snowing outside, whoo-hooo!!! 
/me runs outside to play.

Wednesday, February 20

Police have received reports of graffiti sprayers at work, particularly in the southwest region of Kikai. If you have any information about these juvenile offenders, please contact Officer Shakespeare D.W. Seuss.  *giggle*

Wednesday, February 20 

Why do I feel like I’m deep in the forest, talking to the trees?   :-/

Valentine’s Day ♥, Thursday, February 14

Three days until Russy’s rezday, whooo-hoooo! Well, I’m hardly the first to ramble on about “rezday reflections” … but let me add my own two cents anyway.

Thinking back over the past 362 days, I sure have come a long way since my newbie days.  I still remember deliberating over an account name … my first bumbling around the newbie “training area” … upgrading to Premium (wow!) … the excitement of discovering Aspen, Nemo, Montezuma (my, how things have changed since then)… my first group of friends (*hugz*).

What has changed since? Why does this all seem so very, very long ago? Of the many kids born around that time, why does it seem that many of them are no longer online much? Has our “generation” gotten into a rut?

Well … not so easy to answer that, but my SL has indeed changed a lot, for better and for worse. It has matured, really. My unbridled newbie euphoria went through a few “phases” (*cough cough*). It was fun at the time, and I miss it - even if it was articial, superficial, and unsustainable. Along the way, I found my world and my community and my first friends, who I felt comfortable with … and in some cases, grew terribly fond of. And of course, on April 29 I met Tsu ♥, which changed my SL tons *smile*, and we moved into Kikai soon thereafter, the best friends and neighbors I could ever ask for. These are still the two defining events of my SL. The summer went on to be a busy and fun time, with new and deepening friendships, the expansion of Kikai, and generally lots goin’ on. A few dramas, but still a memorable and wonderful time.

Things kinda changed in the fall. RL got much busier for both me and Tsu - and regrettably, there were lots of my old gang that I started seeing less and less of.  I dunno … I guess some of that is just natural … and of course, my fault too for not taking the initiative to stay in touch … but some of it is also prolly this “generational aging” thing, i.e. that my SL generation has matured, divided into subcommunities, and some have gotten bored and kinda dropped out.

These blogs are also a case in point. After a wave of new blogs last summer, many of them have gotten real quiet. :-(

What can we do to keep SL fun and fresh?  I dunno. Meet new kids, and hope that some of them develop into real friendships? Bring ”fresh blood” into our subcommunities and (dare I say) cliques? Build stuff, or learn scripting? Open a shop or business venture? Organize or participate in original events which are creative and “different”, or bring our subcommunities together?  /me shrugs

Speaking of events … come to my rezday party this Sunday (Feb. 17), 10am to noon SLT at PrimBeach V2*, featuring DJ Tsu (of course!) playing a wide mix of nice stuff (some dnb, but other stuff too). It will also be a fundraiser for Tsu’s monthly kids’ charity, collecting this month for “Whizz Kids” which helps RL mobility-impaired kids with wheelchairs and walking aids. Please give generously!!!  If you can’t make the party, you can donate to the charity vendors at V2 and Aspen (just ASK if you have trouble finding them).

Love yas … and Happy Valentine’s Day to Tsu ♥, the best Valentine I could ever ask for.

* p.s. I was so torn whether to do this at V2 or Aspen. Both places mean so much to me, and involve such dear friendships. I wish I could do the party at both places!!!

Update - Monday morning, February 18
/me rolls out of bed and rubs his eyes. *yawn*  Yeah, that was quite an awesome party yesterday. DJ Tsu was amazing.  *poke poke*

Thanks and hugz from Tsu and me to everyone who donated, and especially to Flo and PrimBeach V2 for all the support. We raised a total of L$40,577 from this event to help kids who can’t walk (see www.whizz-kidz.org.uk for more info). That means that in total, Tsu’s monthly children’s charity, of which this is the third so far, has already raised a grand total of L$102,948 to help real kids … whooo-hooo!  Our community should be really proud of this. 

And if you haven’t contributed, what’s keepin’ ya? Charity vendors are at PrimBeach V2 and Aspen. If you need help finding it, just ask!!!

Saturday, December 15
/me whispers … “Don’t tell Tsu about this blog, he doesn’t like when I’m so pushy … but I can’t help it! I’m American!!” *giggle*

OK … well, this is another shameless plug for money, for Tsu’s “Monthly Children’s Charity” program, which I already blogged on November 5 (read down). You can find vendors at Aspen (by the entrance to the pool) and at PrimBeach V2 (by the big tree).

Tsu has managed to raise L$36,547 so far … L$26,547 last month to help RL homeless kids … and L$10,000 so far this month to help provide nursing services to RL kids who are really sick or even terminally ill.

Thanks and hugz for your generous contributions!!!

Update - Monday morning, December 17
A big thank you to everyone who donated to Santa’s go-go elf last night at PrimBeach V2 and Aspen. Your L$9,045 in tips were donated to the charity, bringing the total to … omg … L$45,802 !!!

And a special thanks to Flo and Caleb for their support.

Update - Sunday, December 30
A great party at PrimBeach V2 … and another L$8,100 in go-go tips for Tsu’s monthly kids charity. Total raised so far now up to *drum roll* … L$58,100 !!! Yay Tsu !!! Big hugz and thank you to all who have contributed, and especially to Flo for his support on this.

Tuesday, December 11
/me puts on his “serious” look and tries not to giggle.

There was an interesting Reuters article from a couple weeks ago. Dunno if you saw it already. It’s a report on a recent study about why we spend so much time in SL, and it really hits the nail on the head for me. Why exactly *are* we so addicted to SL? I mean, the usual newbie phase of naughty poseball clicking *smirk* gets old kinda fast. The answer in short:

“… If there’s no ‘goal’ to Second Life, no monsters to kill or experience points to collect, why do so many people log on and spend so much time there? Everyone has their theories, but a new academic study suggests cybersex and gambling are less of a lure than is often assumed. … ‘The data shows the most engaging activities in Second Life are shopping and socializing.’ …”

I need more kewl outfits !!!  Now, if I could just figure out how to sort out my inventory.  :-/

p.s. Here’s the link, if you wanna read the whole thing: http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2007/11/08/study-finds-sex-gambling-not-major-second-life-draws/

Thursday, November 22
It is easy to complain, whether about RL or SL. And to forget all that we should give thanks for.

RL is pretty scary sometimes - especially “out there.” When I read the news, I really wonder what kind of future we will have, or if the whole world is just going crazy.

But closer to home, things are OK. Lots to give thanks for. There are so many people in the world - and even close to home - who have so much less, who endure such suffering, such horrors. One look in the news reminds me of that very quickly.

In SL, the stuff we complain about pales in comparison. Grief attacks, bugs, drama, kid haters, VAT … if it gets bad enough, at least we have the choice to leave. In RL, this is an option for few.

But I have something to give thanks for in SL: my friends. You are what makes SL worth coming back to, always. I love you all! *hugz*

Monday, November 5
Well, that headline must really have you wondering, what is Russy gonna go blabbering on about today?

This blog is about yesterday … a day that started bad, then got kinda fun, then ended bad again. And there are also a couple serious things I wanna say here.

I won’t go into details about how it started bad. Some personal misunderstandings with a friend I really like a lot, and I hope it is all OK now. (If you’re reading this … SORRY! *sweet puppy-dog eyes*)

OK, on to the fun stuff …

First of all, Tsu and I went FURRY!!!

Well, at least for last night. *giggle* I’ve kinda wanted to have a furry avi for some time now. So now, I’m a squirrel (that’s me to the left), and Tsu’s a super-snuggly bunny!

I guess I will have to explore the furry places a bit now. I always had the sense that furries are a pretty nice and friendly lot, for the most part. And quite a few of my friends also have furry avis … so maybe they will feed me some acorns. *sniff sniff sniff*

That kinda leads to another issue, namely my feeling that cute/kid/cub furries may be an opportunity to expand compatible traffic at our clubs and stuff. More on this below.

Anyway, onwards …

Tsu got roped into doing a set at Aspen last night … and in his usual amazing way, he turned it into a really fun party, with a fundraiser for a kid’s charity. In case you haven’t see the billboards and vendors around, here they are … please read!

I think this is really great. I mean, there are all these idiots out there (SkyNews, too) who think that we kid avis are all either RL underage, or RL child molesters … and nothing could be further from the truth. Virtually everyone I know in the SL kids community really cares a *lot* about RL kids, does *not* want to see the former in the wrong places in SL, and has *zero* tolerance for the latter.

Well, these charities are a great way to show that we want to *help* RL kids, not hurt them. This one is to help RL homeless kids in the UK. It is a registered UK charity, and the UK government even matches contributions with an additional 28%.

Just last night, Tsu raised about USD 40 for this. And hopefully lots more to come. Please give generously!!!

+ + + +

As I said, last night didn’t end so good. Cuz of some frictions about overlapping sets, Flo closed his beach club, at least for now. Well, hopefully Flo will relaunch his new concept even bigger and better. He has been so incredibly successful in the past couple of months. His club has had so many great parties, and the Primborium mall is sooo nice - not to mention the great stuff at FLOwear. Flo is really amazing - such energy and creative genius - and he should be *really* proud of what he has built in such a short time.

But on to the serious issue: Is there room in the SL boy community for 3 or 4 clubs? I sure wanna believe that the answer is “yes.” Well, Vortex goes a bit broader, I guess, with a regular following of furries, vamp/goth, etc etc. Maybe that is even part of the answer, i.e. to broaden the target audience a bit? I dunno. But the bigger question: Where is everyone hiding???

I guess, with 3 or 4 clubs it will simply *not* be possible to completely avoid overlapping sets during prime times. The best we can do is minimize it where possible, communicate, stay friends, and try to make the best of it. Last night’s attempt at staggering sets (e.g. 11-1, 12-2, and 1-3) wasn’t ideal, I guess, but I can’t think of a better answer, cuz I really don’t wanna see any place close down. Aspen has been struggling with turnout lately, too.

Lemme add that these guys really invest a *lot* of time, effort and often also their own money into providing venues for us like Flo’s Club, Aspen and Vortex, not to mention Nemo, OBC, the Scout Camp, and maybe a few others. It’s not easy! So, why does it seem that while our community is expanding slowly, the support for these places and the people that make them possible is getting less and less?

If we want to have venues like these, we need to *support* them. That means, traffic, shopping, donations, coming to DJ sets (even if just for a while) … and sometimes saying “Thank you” instead of complaining. That means, thinking of ourselves as a “community.” Looking for a little adventure with your friends? How about surfboarding at Romeno, or going ice skating at Aspen? These resources are there for *you*.

So … Flo, Caleb, Danny, Gem, Loki and everyone else who “produces” and provides leadership and fun stuff for our community: Thank you for all that you do for us “consumers.”

Monday, October 29
Coming up on six months … *dramatic pause* … wow.

And it’s so totally appropriate that our anniversary will be on All Saints’ Day, cuz it is rumored that Tsu is gonna be *cannonized* for putting up with me for six whole months! Whooo-hoooo!!! The first DNB boy saint!!!

I guess we need to organize a party or something. I just hope that everyone’s not out-partied from Halloween stuff. Maybe we can organize a graveyard adventure … go to grandma’s cemetery and put out some flowers? That should be lots of fun, hehe. Yeah, kids just *love* that stuff.

Hey, no need to send gifts!!! Cash will be just fine. *nudge nudge*

Tsu, seriously … thanks for bringing (and continuing to bring) so much happiness into my life. You’re the absolute bestest in the universe !!!

Monday, October 15
On Friday, Michael Linden put out an official blog called “The Big Prim Problem.” Part of me hoped (and still hopes) that this might be a good faith effort by LL to try to legitimize these invaluable tools. The other part of me smelled (and smells more and more) an attempt by LL to get rid of these while pretending to build consensus for this draconian step. Why would they do this? Money. To force builders to use more prims to do the same thing, with (in many cases) a far inferior result.

And of course, in classic LL fashion they solicited comments … then cut them off so quickly that 99% of us (myself included) didn’t have a chance to comment. Hah! Talk about going through the motions!

For more info, here are two really good articles …

http://secondslog.blogspot.com/2007/10/bye-bye-megaprims.html

http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/10/12/what-to-do-with-megaprims/1

And here my own blog comment …

I presume this is less a technical issue than a money one. Mega prims - or better yet, increasing the maximum prim dimension to (say) 30m - would reduce the need for prim capacity, and thus LL revenues.But I think this thinking (hard 10m limit in order to artificially drive up prim demand) would be terribly short-sighted on LL’s part. The demand for prims is growing, and will grow further if LL will adapt by making SL a more attractive place to be. Yes, there are some technical issues, but I’m sure nothing the wizards of LL can’t solve. Parcel encroachment? This is *already* an issue. How about just providing an “eject encroaching objects” feature to parcels? Isn’t this every landowner’s right??? And as to physics issues, just limit physical prims to a certain size?

My hope is that LL will legitimize legacy megaprims - at least up to a reasonable size, say 100m ? - and go a bold step further by easing some of the existing constraints that drive us all nuts (max and min prim sizes, link radius, max number of groups, etc.). LL: stay with the times, or be left in the dust.

Friday, September 28
/me frowns :-((

In case you haven’t heard, LL just send e-mails to all SL residents in the EU that effective immediately, they are going to start adding VAT to land tier fees, private region fees and premium account fees (as well as purchases from the Land Store or LL land auctions). I’m not sure whether this means the 17.5% UK rate (where LL is resident, i.e. in Brighton) or our local VAT rate (e.g. 19% in Germany, 20% in Italy) … but it is bad news.

(For more background, see the links at the bottom.)

And in classic LL fashion, poorly communicated after-the-fact,
with zero warning.

You think you live outside the EU so this doesn’t affect you?
Think again…

(1) A lot of EU residents are gonna dump mainland parcels. Prices have already plummeted 40% since the casino ban, and I think this is gonna be a lot worse. Does the word “market crash” mean anything to you? (A lot of EU residents will prolly kill their premium memberships too, since most of the “value” is in the stipend, and you can directly buy lindens on LindeX or elsewhere without VAT.)

(2) EU residents who own sims now have to pay VAT, even if they are renting out to non-EU residents. Theoretically they could register their sims as a commercial business, use a VAT exemption, and then charge net rates (without VAT) to non-EU residents. But let’s get real: This is a *huge* administrative hassle, not to mention opening up all your SL activity to the tax authorities. It means, for example, that if you are selling content (e.g. shirts), you should be adding VAT to any shirts sold to EU residents. *eek*

So, if you are renting from an EU resident, prepare for a big rent increase.
If you are an EU landbaron, you are royally buggered. Your only change is to move out of the EU quick, cuz now you can’t compete.

Unlike the casino ban, LL *does* actually have a choice here.
It is about money. Who eats the cost of a complying with laws which were already around when the sims were sold? Well, if LL doesn’t want to see their premium memberships dive, mainland prices tank, and untold further destruction to the SL economy, they could eat the VAT for all these things themselves. But they’re, of course, not gonna do that.

There *is* one partial thing they could do which would be decent of them …

My suggestion: LL absorbs the VAT on “grandfathered” private islands.

This means, the end price stays $295/mo and LL pays the VAT. OK, so they only net $250 now. It’s still much more than the $195 they get from mainland sims!

Why should they do this? Fairness. These are not new regulations but rather LL deciding to enforce already existing ones. It is very *unfair* for them to have sold sims to EU residents in recent months - and then springing this surprise increase on them, when it shouldn’t have been a surprise at all.

Well, for that matter, they should do the same on pre-existing mainland parcels, but I guess that is going from wishful thinking to pure fantasy.

:-P

Links to articles:

http://secondslog.blogspot.com/2007/09/european-residents-to-pay-value-added.html

http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/09/27/welcome-eu-residents-by-the-way-were-charging-vat/

Postscript:

“It means, for example, that if you are selling content (e.g. shirts), you should be adding VAT to any shirts sold to EU residents.” Well, I’ve been told that this isn’t quite true, that VAT applies to real money transactions and not lindens (which are “game tokens”). Ok, but this leads to another point: Unless you are taking real money out of SL, the tax authorities will say that this is a hobby, not a business, and thus disallow the VAT exemption. And if you *are* taking real money out of SL, presumably you owe VAT on that (unless you can prove it comes from outside the EU), not to mention income tax? *double eek*

Friday, September 14
/me waves and gives a cheesy grin
Hiyas!

Sorry for not bein’ around so much in SL the past couple of weeks - and likewise, for not writin’ any blog stuff for a while … partly cuz I’ve been kinda busy, and partly cuz I need to have something on my mind before I write.

Well, the topic for today is “keepin’ the balance between SL and RL.” Hmm … do I sense some of you running away???

In the six months of my SL, I’ve gone through some phases. The first two or three months *guilty blush*, then meetin’ the perfect partner *Russy nudges Tsu*, moving to the perfect home *smile*, everything fabulous.

Except …

My RL was starting to suffer. Neglecting people, neglecting work, neglecting stuff like fresh air and sunshine. Not good! Not to mention that my account was overdrawn.

So … I got some decent-payin’ work projects, tried to get outside and go swimmin’ and bikin’ and stuff like that. Enjoyin’ the last days of summer, as the nights start getting cool, the smells of autumn in the air.

And RL has been pretty good. My account is positive, whoo-hoo.

It makes me feel bad, though, that I’ve neglected lots of my SL friends - and most of all, that my time with Tsu has been so limited in the past couple weeks. :-((

Well, I’ve managed to keep SL from totally messing up my RL. Now I better make sure my RL doesn’t totally mess up my SL. And I guess there will be time enough for SL when the weather turns cruddy.

I luv yas!!! ♥

Friday, June 22

The sorting hat says that I belong in Ravenclaw! Whooo-hoooo!!!

Said Ravenclaw, “We’ll teach those whose intelligence is surest.”

Ravenclaw students tend to be clever, witty, intelligent, and knowledgeable.
Notable residents include Cho Chang and Padma Patil (objects of Harry and Ron’s affections), and Luna Lovegood (daughter of The Quibbler magazine’s editor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter Quiz ever created. Get Sorted Now!

Monday, June 18
Hiyas!
(Russy puts on intellectual-looking glasses and attempts to adopt a “serious” look.)

OK … lots of stuff already been said about the recent LL policy changes banning stuff including anything “broadly offensive” - and encouraging vigilante witch-hunters, moral knights, or whatever you wanna call ‘em to go around spying on people and filing Stasi - whoops, I mean LL - Abuse Reports.

Hmmmm … seriously now … if LL really wants to uphold the law, shouldn’t it be illegal to spy on people in their homes? Isn’t evidence gathered in this way inadmissible? Shouldn’t the people doing this kind of stuff be themselves subject to prosecution for spying and snooping? Well … I guess LL hasn’t really thought this issue out, surprise surprise.

+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+—+

OK, onwards … lots written on this stuff already (e.g. Shakes’s blog) which I don’t need to re-hash … but I wanna add my two cents …

First, you prolly know that famous poem about the rise of Nazism …

They came first for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Well, I know this is preaching to the choir, but here’s a “new” version I found …

First they came for the ageplayers,

and I didn’t speak up, cuz I wasn’t ageplaying.

Then they came for the rape roleplayers,

and I didn’t speak up, cuz I wasn’t roleplaying.

Then they came for the furries,

and I didn’t speak up, cuz I wasn’t furry.

Then they came for the Goreans, the combat players, the BDSMers, the necros, the vampires, the gangsters,

and I didn’t speak up…

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak up for me.

Thought policing between consenting adults is “Big Brother” fascism, plain and simple.

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And as to the argument that banning these activities might prevent kids from being victimized in RL, that is a laudable goal … but utter nonsense. In fact, going after invented and totally victimless “virtual offenses” just diverts resources from *real* kids who need *real* help and protection. Hey, newsflash: The great majority of us actually *like* kids and would never ever do anything to hurt a real one.

Lemme also re-post my earlier comment to the LL official blog:

“It seems to me, if we really believe that virtual activity leads to RL activity, shouldn’t we be banning *all* representations of any kind of criminal activity from *all* media? Banning all depictions of violence, guns, casino heists and bank robberies from TV and movies? Banning depictions of gang glorification and cop-killing from computer games like Grand Theft Auto/Vice City? Lyrics from gangsta music? It’s a very long list that goes far beyond SL.

“If one really believes that virtual activity leads to acting out in RL, it seems to me that this is a *much* broader issue … and a slippery slope to “thought policing” and judging people based on dubious presumptions of what they might potentially do, not what they actually have done.”

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OK … enuf talk … sign the petition:

http://unitedprotest.mine.nu/index.php?/pages/open_letter.html

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Important Postscript: Argh! Someone has brought to my attention that one of the co-founders of UP is a total %#$& hypocrite! See article:

http://www.slpixelpulse.com/2007/06/09/united-protest-joins-thought-crimes-police-squad/

And beyond this article, I’ve heard some other nasty things. Hmm …. Well, I guess the petition still seems OK, but this article gives me some serious reservations about UP, especially if the person in question is speaking for UP!

Thursday, June 7
Well … *giggle* … don’t really know why I started this blog, but I’ll think of something. Love yas all so much, especially Tsu … *sigh*. We’re so happy in our new home, with such awesome neighbors. Wow.

((Yeah, I know this is a pretty lame blog so far, but it’s a start, eh?))

Oh, btw … for you English speakers … Russy is not like “Russell” but rather long “u” like at the end of kangaroo. Or to explain it another way, just pucker up your lips in a kiss when you say “Russy” … *flirtacious grin*.