This is disturbing and so very wrong.
The nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates — creating a bitter rift, linked to the abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women.
The change will mean a cutoff of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams.
Link: NPR.org » Komen Charity Ends Grants To Planned Parenthood
Thanks to Mar’s SL For Nowt post, I was motivated to sort a lot of textures scattered through many folders – some were class downloads, some were unnecessary product ads from hunt gifts and purchases, a lot were unsorted textures from packs, some were retrieved from my indespensable ETO texture organizer and never sorted into project folders or storage.
All well and good, except that at the end of the night, I accidentally retextured the organizer itself with a standard texture grid – ALL the buttons, forward/back buttons, categories, the lot.
NOOOOOOOOOOO!
I was up until 2am fixing it.
But with a little GIMPing and texture offset (don’t ask) I managed to make an acceptable repair. Sorry, Eridanis Boccara, I had to hack your excellent ETO to bits, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to update/categorize my most recent backup with exactly the same textures I’d already boxed up and deleted from inventory. Because, I’d already, um, boxed the boxes in deep storage, and they’re not sorted by most recent anymore.
Why are you still reading this crap? More importantly, why are you still reading this, Crap?
Anyway, if I get around to re-rezzing the boxes and re-sorting into the backup, there’s an easy unpacker addon script Eridanis sells for the free ETO v747. Check the shop at Little Blue sandbox. There’s also a sculpt addon (which is where I got screwed up, messing with the texture ETO applies to sculpt maps for display).
In the meantime, Mar’s tip for filtering by type is a great way to sort in manageable chunks.
I also sorted a TON of items that were in a “Steampunk Home” folder that was a catch all for hunt items.
Hi, peeps! I hope 2012 is treating you well, both IRL and in SL, and I want to ask you a question:
Are you sorting?
“Huh?†I hear you mutter. “Sorting what?â€
Why, your inventory, of course! Didn’t you make that New Year’s Resolution to finally get a decent filing system going and to ditch all those newbie things you grabbed in your first days in-world? And what about that promise you made to yourself to keep on top of trashing all the extra stuff that comes with each retail therapy/lucky chair-hopping/freebie-nobbling spree?
Link: Mar’s quick guide to: The Importance of Sorting : SL for Nowt
Be sure to read the excellent inventory sorting advice Mar gives, she’s spot on.
I sorted a lot of old STEAM 4 hunt gifts folders (I’m that far behind, but making good progress). I’ve already implemented a system of sorting folders with special characters, which makes it easier to find things for building, photographing, or wearing. And I’m getting into the habit of sorting textures into project folders, storing them in ETO and deep backup when done.
Screenshots after the jump, the method is based on various “inventory control” classes.
Congratulations to the Consulate of Europa Wulfenbach for putting together an extremely fun hunt, and for making “The Big Time” on the Second Life Destinations page. An entire sim, Inverbrackie, is devoted to wild, wacky, and wonderful builds, and members of the Consulate group and their friends have contributed everything needed to put together a Jägermonster avatar (read Girl Genius! Right now!).
My young ward, Bugginia, will probably be embracing her inner Jägerkin, as she had a LOT of fun tromping around in the snow dodging snowballs (courtesy of wizardess Ordinal Malaprop) and inspecting the carnage typical of a lava-based power station staffed by mutant snowpersons.
What makes a hunt like this more fun? It’s personal, not too big, full of in-jokes and references to the Girl Genius “gas lamp fantasy” webcomic, and the clues are hilarious. Bug was rendered helpless with hysterical laughter as she followed the comical clues.
Also, it’s achievable; it’s all in one sim, and the difficulty level sits in the sweet spot between “challenging” and “EVIL.” You do have to be pretty close to see the little golden Wulfenbach plaques, so “camming”from any distance is useful for spotting landmarks only (the sim is laid out like a hilly maze, wonderful for ambushes).
Bug looks forward to drinking the Jägerdraught, which will either kill her or turn her into a drop-dead gorgeous Jägermonstress.
Thanks to a pointer from @LindaKellie, I explored the downloads, scripts and recommended tools for Second Life at Ferd Frederix’ incredible site Phaze Desmesne.
This Flickr viewer thing is so very shiny. I had already spent days looking at the scripts, then realized thanks to a link from Linda Kellie’s free sculpts page that there were awesome sculpts and links to free tools at Ferd’s site.
I can’t wait to play with this later, but I’m on an iPhone and this requires Flash.
Thanks, Ferd! It’s people like you and Linda Kellie who keep inspiring content creators (just look at the flappy dragons).
Now you can show off your Flickr stream in a cool 3-D view. No coding needed, and it works as a link in Facebook, WordPress, or even an iframe. No web site is needed, so you can email the link or post it to any blog, and you can use it on a shared media prim or in your profile in Second Life!
Dhughan here, recommending Music For Builders. Whilst messing about with floating lanterns that fell 500 metres and buried themselves in abandoned mines in Steelhead St Helens, I listened to an excellent programme, hosted live by Carter Denja. Radio Riel is essential to maintaining one’s cool while excavating down to the Second Life water table to find physical objects set to float… wait for it! on the surface.
My other floating lantern, which Miss Bug made in a class project, floats so enthusiastically that it would go into space if not constrained by a ceiling.
Clearly, more study (my take, break, remake method) is required.
Soothing music will be required in vast quantities. Thank goodness for Radio Riel.O
Tango Night is back! Tonight’s Monday Night World Music explores the heart-racing thrill of this Argentine music form. From masters of the orchestral form like Astor Piazzola, to legendary vocalists like Carlos Gardel and Julio Sosa, to the modern electrotango pioneers like Carlos Libedinsky and the Gotan Project – get ready to dance the night away in sultry style.
This was an excellent show, wonderful music, and hope to tune in again. I usually stay on the Riel Reverie stream, but the Main channel has interesting programs with actual hosts.
Link: Radio Riel: Una M̼sica Brutal РTango Night, 6-8:30PM SLT
Dhughan Froobert is a Steampunk resident in Second Life who putters around with prims and takes pictures of same. He occasionally manifests as a small Victorian otter.
Yes, yes, Dhughan here, very slack of me to disappear like that. I happened to be very busy avoiding as much work as possible during the holidays. Back again in good old Steelhead Shanghai, and there certainly are interesting things happpening this week.
—- Chinese New Year 2012: Year of the Dragon – Breathing Fire into the New Year
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese year 4710 begins on Jan. 23, 2012.
Chinese months are reckoned by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. In China, people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.
Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality. Those born in dragon years are innovative, brave, and passionate.
That sounds very flattering to those of dragonkind, but unfortunately I’m a bit of an ox. However, there’s a great deal of energy and effort being put forth in Steelhead generally these days (goodness, one look at the Social Calendar in the town Ning-thingy and you wonder when the locals eat, sleep, or Get Things Done).
—- Friday, January 13th: Lantern Festival in Steelhead Shanghai Bay
The lantern festival is held on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Some of the lanterns may be works of art, painted with birds, animals, flowers, zodiac signs, and scenes from legend and history. People hang glowing lanterns in temples, and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon.
Lantern Building Festival: Anyone interested may participate. Make a lantern, either floating or hovering or to be hung on a string. 4 prim max and send to TotalSolarEclipse Resident. We’ll rezz out the lanterns in the bay and dance among the lights.
I have actually been motivated to Make Something, or Two or Three Somethings, by myself tonight. Er, well, I adapted a freebie rotating lantern, but the texture for the shade is the fearsome dragon seen above. I was also motivated to fool around with something I tried long ago called “SL-Prim-Emboss“, a very primitive sculpt-relief maker. Some forum folks worked out how to use it several years ago, and it still works. I did not bother with following their suggestions as to making it a fully rendered prim; for the moment it was enough to make a double-sided panel, in low relief, with a nice teak frame and linen backing.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of it, lit and unlit. The lantern at the lower left is based on a freebie one by Babu Oh. I spent an enjoyable few hours taking it apart to see how it worked, breaking it, and then fixing it. This is how I learn things: take them apart, break them, and put them back in working order before someone discovers it.
Here now followeth a short discourse on The Disorganizer’s Guide To Organization:
I fussed about trying to fix the way my aetheric device displays images from the excellently free GIMP program; I ended up installing some infernal foreign code called Sagethumbs. Some users at the forum complained that layer files sometimes did not display correctly if transparent layers appeared above “visible” layers, but I hit on a rather clever solution. I mostly use layer files to create marketing flyers for my virtual shop on the Marketplace, so I will add my final “flyer” .PNG image to the top of the layer stack, to act as a lead image.
Here endeth the discourse
Right, well… in the course of all that blather, I reorganized my virtual shop (had forgotten about those blasted “Magic Boxes” needing to be rezzed out).
And now I’m feeling tolerably satisfied about having got things done.
What else is happening in Steelhead this month?
—- Friday, January 20th: Squirrel Appreciation Day
Squirrel Appreciation Day is an opportunity to enjoy and appreciate your tree climbing, nut gathering neighborhood squirrels. It’s held in mid-winter when food sources are scarce for squirrels and other wildlife. Sure, squirrels spent all fall gathering and “squirreling ” away food. But, their supplies may not be enough. And, the variety of food is limited. So, give them an extra special treat today to supplement their winter diets.
I quite like squirrels, the little beggars chatter amusingly. I once encountered an old chap feeding them in a London park; he seemed pretty fond of them but they’re not everybody’s favorite.
Some say they are an acquired taste, but I don’t frequent those sorts of restaurants.
—- Friday January 27th: Lunar New Year: Year of the Dragon
Celebrated in Steelhead Shanghai, hosted by Krystine Quinan
Excellent, more Year of the Dragon celebrations. As it happens I have a number of dragon images so I hope to make some more interesting items. Or, perhaps I shall hibernate. It could go either way.
Ooh! Fun events to entertain and distract the discerning Steampunk resident:
R.S.V.P. to Mr TotalLunar Eclipse; be there or he’ll eat you and stomp on your house, in that order.
That may seem unnecessarily harsh, to destroy your home after you’re dead, but dragons are notoriously hot-tempered and really hold a grudge.
Better mark your cslendars, I’m just sayin’.
Also, too: SQUIRRELL!!1!
Link: Eclipse: Chinese New Years in Steelhead 2012