Hypergrid Permissions

So I was checking out Avination's announcement of Hypergrid export permissions. They are working with Singularity Viewer to develop a way to allow or prohibit created content from being shared between hypergrid links.

Personally, I see this as a step in the right direction.  For creators, to be able to choose whether they want their items to be used through the hypergrid or not adds a bit of security that had yet been put into hypergrid capable grids.  This is at least a patch to help fix the current issues that people have with hypergrid, since you can have the grid enabled, yet creators can have some control on on their end on whether their products leave the grid or not.

However, while this is a good step forward, there are still some things that could be done that would open grids to being hypergate capable. For instance, one next step that could be taken would be in securing a way that the ownership and other content information that the creator sets is transferred when crossing grids.The more that the capacity of grid hopping through the hypergate can be streamlined in this area would ease security concerns even more.

Even still,  the greatest achievement for Opensim would be streamlining it so that crossing and teleporting among grids is as smooth as crossing and teleporting among sims in a grid.  When that time comes, the necessity of signing up to different grids would be more a matter of formalities, be it that particular grid being the home grid that they sign into the metaverse on, a matter of access for premium grid products, such as owning a sim on a particular grid, or to be a method of security for businesses so that only those that are signed up in the grid can do business in the grid, and only those that want to legitimately buy virtual goods can, as long as they sign up and agree to the particular terms and conditions of the grid and it's business model.  Grid registration can also be used as a matter of registering freebies, so that people can keep track of them, and know who has the freebies, where they got them from, and where the person who obtained the freebies comes from, grid-wise.

Not saying these things would make for a perfect metaverse, but they would help improve it in some ways, and make hypergrid more attractive the more it deals with concerns in the metaverse community about its security issues.  For once they are addressed and taken care of in a manner that respects the capital and ownership of the content creators, the content creators, and the grids they are in, might be more willing to open up to Opensim and a free and open metaverse in general.

Haven Your World: Mainland Community Living

This blog was started and is and adaption of a series of pics on my Flickr blog for Ioh.  If you want to see the larger pics, feel free to check out my Flickr stream for Ioh here, starting with the first pic in the series.

Hello everyone!

After taking a much needed cat nap earlier in the late morning for me, I decided I've rested long enough, and ought to do something that is long over due. That is, to give a basic overview of the Haven Your World Mainland Community Living sim.

The name for the mainland region is Little Sheffield. It has been parceled out into 16 rental units. As the left wing of the board that you are greeted with tells you, each parcel is 3,136 square meters in size, a 717 prim allotment, and costs H$125 per week, with an initial H$1 setup to claim ownership of the parcel.

The center of the board piece, which might grab your attention first, welcomes you to "Be part of the community!" It then states, "New to Haven Your World: Mainland Community Living." This area is relatively new still, as the region was first introduced a little over a month ago on November 13th. I had visited Cheryl as she was working on the place a few days to a week prior, and was impressed by what she had already laid out.

Clicking the board gives you three items:

1. a landmark to the Little Sheffield sim that the mainland community rentals is in,

2. a notecard for the Residential Covenant, and

3. a landmark to the Haven Your World Welcome Center and freebie mall.

The right wing of the board lets you know that you are choosing your own home here and that you can either keep the current standard housing that is on the parcel by buying it for H$0, or can return the house and put up one of your own that you have bought or wish to create. There is also an important note to purchase the house, if you wish to keep it, before setting your land to group or turning on auto-return.

So, the process is pretty self-explanatory, with a very quick and easy setup. This, I feel, would make the Community living experience appealing, since there is no waiting period for an island to be processed and to appear. Instead, you're just a few clicks away to be ready to go. The prim allotment, and space, although less than your basic island, is reasonable for both price and purpose. For I would gather that the community rentals would appeal to those seeking a low maintenance home with a quick start up for ownership and usability. That, and it's a wonderful area to form a community. For the drawbacks of the islands are that they are not set up for as easy an access, and some are there more to be a private region for friends to visit on occasion. With the community rentals, in contrast, you have neighbors next to each other that you can interact with and create a close knit community with.

So, for today, we'll showcase Rental 6, and just give a quick look from the out and inside.

So here is the overhead look of rental parcel no. 6. Up ahead, the black building off in the distance is Jilly's Nest, owned and run by Jillytopaz Wasp. She is a wonderful designer of fashionable clothes and good looking human skins, both for men and women. I hope to cover more on her store in a later article on the commercial sim. But for now, I make mention of it to show that you can get a full community experience with both a residential area and commercial area within walking distance of each other. Again, this is perfect for both quick and easy setup and to enhance the user experience for both residents and shop owners, who might per chance want to have a shop as well as a place to live next to each other so they can interact with other residents and shop owners in a virtual community immersion similar to what you get in a real life community. Of course, you'll only see my spots, ears and tail in the virtual community. =~.^=

To the far right corner, you will find Cheryl's house. It is somewhat different from the others, as it has her own build with her particular personal touch and texturing. If you get a chance while in world, I would encourage you to stop by and pay her a visit. She is quite personable and friendly, ;)

This is the ground level floor inside the basic rental housing. I would estimate the area to be about 20 meters in width and 40 meters in length, so giving roughly about 800 square meters of space to portion out your ground floor in however manner you wish. I'm certain you could put in extra walls in order to partition out the area even more, either to provide some privacy or more visibly defined borders between a living room, dining room, and kitchen, if you would like. Otherwise, you can enjoy a nice open living environment to entertain guests in. I put Ioh at the opposite end of the build so that one can get a certain perspective of how much space there is.

The basic way to get to the second floor is by way of the spiral staircase. I rather enjoy this mode since it gives the upper and lower levels of the house a sense of connection between one another. You can, though have put in a teleporter, if that's your preferred method of transportation.

Up above, you'll find that the second level has been partitioned into a hallway of 5 meters in width and 40 meters in length, with two 15 x 20 meter rooms. You could make either two bedrooms, a bedroom and a bathroom, or even make your own partition of two bedrooms with their own inner bathrooms, depending on how much space you want and require. Being that the basic area is about 800 square meters, between the two levels of the house, you essentially have 1,600 square meters. of course, if you want to add on space for the roof, your basic living space for the starter house that comes with your home parcel is about 2,400 square meters. So, consider that your basic land parcel on its own is 3,136 square meters. Your starter house already rezzed on the house takes up 800 square meters, but can have up to 1,600 squared meters on top of the land, if you use both the second floor and the rooftop as part of your housing space. Therefore, in a sense, you actually have 4,736 square meters of space on your land as part of your basic package. Of course, if you use or create a larger build, you can gain more space. Just remember your prim allotment, as well as keep in mind terms of building and conduct found in the Residential Covenant. As noted in the Covenant the mainland community wants to maintain the character of the estate, which is assumed why residents choose to live on the estate in the first place. So yes, there are more limits for living in a residential area. If these limits do not suit what you would like for a user experience on the Haven Your World grid, you are more than welcome to look into what land package would fit you better on the Own Land section of the Haven Your World website.

Otherwise, if you're happy with just a residential space, and can adhere to the covenant, then the Mainland Community rentals just might be the place for you.

So, that pretty much does it for my overview of the Haven Your World Mainland Community Living region. It's a nice residential area. If you like having the community, the quick and easy start up, and can live with the residential covenant for the estate, then by all means, go ahead and check out and purchase a parcel. As stated previously, each parcel is 3,136 square meters in size, has a 717 prim allotment, and costs H$125 per week, with an initial H$1 setup to claim ownership of the parcel. Exchange rate is £1 = H$200 (or about US$1.63 = H$200). So, at H$125 per week, you're paying less than a dollar per week. Therefore, in about a 4 week's span, you are paying H$500, or about £2.5 (about US$4.07) for the Mainland community experience.

In comparison, your basic Home Region is H$600 a month - that is £3 (or US$4.88) per month. With a basic home region, you get the full region 65,536 square meters of land to work with. The base region does only come with 937 prim allotment, as well as a max limit of 10 avatars that can be in the region. But it is a private home with much more space and 220 more prims to work with compared to a Mainland house. Not to mention, there are less building restraints.

But of course, the value depends on you and what you want. If you want the community experience and really don't want to deal with all that comes with owning a full region, then Mainland Living housing on Sheffield is the way to go. Otherwise, if you want more room, more space, and less restraints, looking into owning your own region might be the better way to go. So it depends on your purpose and what you see as your priorities and standards for living in a virtual life.

* Haven shut down in January of 2014. As great as it was, I found a new place where, for a full sim, I pay US $20/mo and have 20,000 prims to play with.  If you're not ready to invest just yet in a full sim, you can get a shop for free and/or an apartment for T$1 (1/4 a US penny).

You can also check out my current project (5/25/2014), on Tangle Grid at Ioh Haven sim here:

tangle_grid/region/Ioh%20Haven/55/112/33

Can also see this and other pics on Facebook.

What Happened to the Catwalkers?

Well, I haven't RPed in Midian for a while.  But, I figure it must have played out something like this:

Ok, on a serious note, what the hell happened? o.O;

Medieval - Impossible To Do Without Christianity

This is somewhat a spin off from a topic I read on Pussycat Catnap's blog here.

I agree with her on much of what she states. So this is not really a response to her blog, as it is a spin off. My comments there formed the basics for this.

What I mean to say is, that the period and genre of fiction known as Medieval in RP often has very little to do with the actual period that people try to present.  And I do think that one particular problematic area is that people rarely want to put in the religions of the time.  Particularly, in Medieval/Dark Ages period, Christianity was forming a certain dominance among the warrior king ruling class clans of the time in Europe, primarily around France and Italy, and somewhat in Britain, but the isles were much more the territory of the savages, and didn't really get the polishing up of culture until the 12th century with Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regnum Britanniae.  But even there, the Britain legend and folklore was given an additional boost from the 12th c. French writer Chretien d Troyes, who added to the Arthurian narrative Lancelot and the Holy Grail - two most distinguishable elements of that comprised the more Eurocentric strand of Medieval literature.

Also, when considering a 'tradition' of the time, one would have to be accurate about what period the RP is. For instance, if a sim were to say they are a Medieval RP of English Tradition, then by what English Tradition - the Anglo-Saxon, or the Middle English period?  There is a difference by a few centuries, and most RP is closer to the Middle English as it is just before the Renaissance period that more prominently influences people's vision of Medieval RP.  But, unfortunately Renaissance period is not Medieval, and most Medieval RP should not call themselves Medieval, but much more a revisionist history of the Renaissance, as the RP does reflect on the time in fantasy and fiction, as well as certain structures for the RP's own elements that have nothing to do with any historical nature of genre or period.

Now much of the problem with RP in the revisionist fantasy of it, is that it often excludes the very huge 600 lbs gorilla that is the Christian traditions throughout the narratives and history of the time that they want to play in.  And yet, it is Christianity, with both the internal and external battles of the period and culture in Medieval Europe that that made medieval literature what it was.  Christian warrior kings that were partially tyrants that demanded their subjects to be Christian or die, and yet protectors of their realms from the brutal savages of the Northwest, as well as yet another conquering religion of the Muslims to the Southeast.  All this would fit perfectly for an RP, and there is plenty a rich source of history to back any sort of frame of reference for how to play out the Medieval period and play by the 'true' and 'pure' rules of the genre.

Now, I'm not saying that Christianity is the only element of the medieval times.  Yes, there were druids, and to have any sort of Arthurian legend, you cant deny them, nor the focus of Avalon, the lady of the lake, and Excalibur.  Yet, one can't deny the driving force of Lancelot and the Holy Grail either. Just as there were warrior knights of the clan, there were also the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller.  And where there were druids taking religious vows, there were also Medieval Monasteries and Nunneries.

There's all sorts of resources, with all sorts of angles to take the Christian tradition in Medieval RP.  Without having that particular aspect of Medieval times, one is eliminating a very important part of the era.  And while maybe some want to water down the period for modern political correctness reasons, they are doing a huge disservice to history and understanding of the period.  Sure, people may like the more secularized version of Medieval RP, but they aren't really getting the fullness of the Medieval period.  But further, they are not getting the Medieval period at all.  Instead, they are getting a revisionist fantasy that claims to be Medieval when, at best, it's a revision of Renaissance without the Reformation, and the Age of Reason without the underlying faith that that people were trying to seek out a better reasoning of or from.

In short, one takes out a huge chunk of the drama of the day, when they don't allow to be in place the most prominent religion of the period of RP they propose to play.  Maybe it's because the people who RP aren't all that much fans of religion in general, or at least Christianity.  But without one of the dominant forces of influence of the period, you don't really get the period at all.  You just get a fantasy of fictional revisionist history that is anything but Medieval.

Philosophies, Politics and Their Policies - The 'Apples and Oranges' That Drive People Bananas

[The Following comes from way too much time in the rambling politics on my real life FB page. Enjoy or be intrigued, or however, by what you read.]

Or, simply put, the reason to have a standard by which to compare and contrast it all.

First and foremost, it is important to consider what is meant by the old adage that the path to Hell is paved by good intentions.

As a Christian and Catholic, the other thing I personally consider is what did St. Paul mean by saying, "with fear and trembling work out your salvation"?

On the latter, I particularly like the Aramaic English translation that states it as follows:

"with awe and with trembling, do the service of your life."

The pursuit of life is not easy. I'm of particular belief that it was always meant to be a challenge. And one that ought to be taken up. For it is one's life to live, no one else can do it for you. Some might cooperate and work along side you, others might coerce and attempt to make you work for them. But ultimately, it is you, the person living your life, that has to take responsibility for it, and take the actions necessary to do what you have to do for your own salvation, for the core service of your life - only you can pursue your own life and find the happiness and goodness that is sought for whatever that 'good life' may be.

No one individual has the same vision of what that life is. People may have similar views, but not completely the same. We can say that they would have to be robots to have same pattern of thoughts, but as our own technology shows, even core kernels, like that which Microsoft, Macs, and Linux have in common, they also sprout out to do things similar in different ways. And they also follow a pattern of what their creators intended for them to follow. A sort of residual of the 'fingerprint of God', in a certain manner akin to Tolkien's co-creation concept. And yes, I do believe in Tolkien's concept of the 'true myth' - or, as I perceive it, that which has been long since marred and mimicked by the bullshit, but is actually true.

As for apples and oranges? They are both fruits. Similar, but also different, but similar enough to be compared, and have a standard to do so, as well as a standard by which to contrast them. They both have skins, texture, and taste. An apple is a much more firm fruit, somewhat more tart in taste, with a skin that can be eaten. An orange is softer, more citrus and somewhat sour in taste, and a more juicy type fruit, to which most generally do not eat the skin. See? Compared and contrasted by the standards of what they have in common. It's something of value to learn to do, for your own good, at the very least.

But if you say comparing politics and philosophies is in much the same category, I can agree to some extent. But then you have to find a standard to compare and contrast the philosophies, politics, and the policies they lead to. And that is what the Church Fathers did with the pagan philosophies.

Sometimes, it worked out, and, for the things that had been core to Roman municipalities, as well to res publicae, and res comunae, these worked out perfectly for creating the standards of law for the Holy Roman Empire to come, not to mention the core vision of Western philosophy and the social contract of a constitutional governing system with an emphasis on human rights. Where they failed, it led to the 'dark ages' types of societies that preferred the more totalitarian methods of governing - the ones that refused to believe in public domain and would tax the air if they could, but happily taxed the land and claimed their own private domains, and the people upon it their property. And as such, the commons become those by which the totalitarian power can claim right to deprive people life, liberty, and the basic pursuit of living their lives. In other words, Ayn Rand and Margaret Sanger philosophies, policies, and practices would be perfectly ok under a totalitarian state, because the people in power would have every right to consider how to control, and even kill their people, because in a society where the common people are property, they can be discarded in like manner as people do with a 16 oz bottle of pop.

In one instance, you could call them Socialists in the sense of how totalitarian their view of Kingship was as the government over the people. In another instance, you could call them the ultimate capitalists because they viewed everything on their land, including the water, animals, and human beings, as their private property. But, overall, they should be a relatively clear picture of what happens in a totalitarian government, be it that they claim name as 'Socialist' or 'Capitalist' in nature. They both intend to enslave the commons and they both view the commons as their property, be it as servants to the state, or mere chattel that they count per capita - 'for each head', as the Latin term means.

Again, it's your life to live. You can somewhat live in comfort as the chattel or servants of such states of being. Or, you can work out your own salvation, do the service of your life, work out the pursuit of your life, albeit with all the risks that come with doing so. But at least you would be doing such pursuit of life through the principle of liberty. The principles of justice? Well, that and true human and God's virtues remain the struggle to continue to be fleshed out in the spirit of the Lord.

In short, you can try to live for the personalities of others, or you can make of your life what you will on your own terms. Even the saints will agree that, eventually, you have to separate from the icon, and seek out the real deal.

Linda Kellie - You Will Be Missed

I write this blog post, even without really ever getting to know her. However, her charity in freebies have given me an ability to work with things to help create skins  and model avatars with, as well as to help me in building my own places in OpenSim.  Without her work, yes, I do believe I would have had less in my life to help build inspiration, especially at a time when I could use it.  Does that mean I consider her a goddess? Nope.  But I do think heroine does aptly fit her.  I could go into the whole hero's journey to justify why, but I won't.  All I will say is that what she did that positively impacted the metaverse should be given its due merit. That she still has up her freebies for free use is also to her merit as well.

Are people that go about blogging their opinions bullies?  Depends.  It's one thing to critique, and expressing perspective while having facts straight and having an honest agreement or disagreement.  It's another thing to run people down with dishonest accusations and mischaracterizations.  This happens with business, religion, and politics alike.  I have confronted it in two places, even as a Christian among Christians.  Brotherhood takes on a whole different perspective when your 'brother' is calling you a heretic just for having a difference of opinion.  I have been called an extreme liberal by conservatives, and an extreme conservative by liberals - I find both mischaracterizations of who I am amusing at best, and sheer slander from the depths of Hell at worst.  Depends on how well I know the person, and what I feel their intentions are.  But to say it doesn't get to me at times would be lying.  I am, after all human, regardless what I dress my avatars up as.

For those reasons, my sympathies lay with Linda Kellie. I feel bad that I only spoke with her once in a comment on her blog and didn't take her up on her offer to visit her in SpotOn3D.  It was when I finally looked through my email today and worked on updating my premium membership there that I thought to see if she was around.  That's when I found her message on her profile there:

"I am not in any virtual worlds. I did not leave SpotOn3D because I didn't like it here. I loved it here. I hope you will too."

To me, it feels like she was driven from what she loved by the people who hated her.  Having been in that position a few times, both in real life and in Second Life, I can understand that sentiment all too well.  Even people that claim to be the great defenders against bullies show themselves for bullies and do more harm than good.  And yes, I do believe these people had been bullies and ruined it, not just for one person who felt forced to leave the virtual worlds she loved, but also her friends that cared for her.

Of course, people say that this is all 'just a game', that we shouldn't feel sorry for the RP of someone else.  Those are the people who just don't get it.  The metaverse is not a solely a game, not everyone out there is actively RPing in a fantasy setting. Some people interact in the metaverse in real ways, communicating with real people.  They aren't acting out a character for a story arc in a place like Midian or some Star Trek or Star Wars sim or region that is designated for such active story line RP.  Some people are just on there in their avatar to socialize and do a virtual business, or otherwise create, work, play, and communicate in other ways that have nothing to do with roleplaying. And to impose your roleplay on them and claim that is the only way that people can interact on the metaverse is absolutely intolerant and plain stupid. Worse is it is destructive to a human being.

Now I'm not saying I'm perfect and I haven't lashed out at people who have hurt me, actually personally hurt me both in a physical and virtual way.  It's part of our baser nature.  But here's the thing, just because it's part of our nature does not make it good.  There are reasons to hold your tongue, and one indicator that might have one thinking to do so by how much of an ass you felt after saying something.  Sometimes that's not even a good indication either.  Sadly, some people don't even have that sort of asshole indicator in their persona, or otherwise have been taught to ignore it, or even embrace it.  That is unfortunate, for the greatest of asshole is not merely from their words, actions, and deeds, but also in as much as they have no humility to admit when they are wrong and repent from being assholes.

Now, I hope that Linda Kellie, if she were to see this, as me using her name to rant.  It's not my intent.  I honestly feel bad about what happened to her and that I may not get a chance to meet her.  Honestly, I think that she would be someone I'd like to get to know. I just feel bad that the negative drama out there ruined it for here and ruined it for her friends.  I also hope that they find closure and can move on, and that if Linda Kellie does find her way back into the metaverse that she can find the joy that she had before, and much better.   My only advice is to ignore the bullies. Don't let them ruin all the good things and all the good friends that legitimately what to get to know you and see you for the person you are, rather than the persona that they perceive you as.

Imaginative Anarchy Under The Guise of Conservativism

I posted this as a commentary for the following article on The Imaginative Conservative blog here. It was mainly meant to critique on the opposite of a bloated big government, which would be anarchy - though apparently aligns in the article more with wanting bring about a monarchy and new serfdom. I figured I might as well post my comment here on my own blog, for anyone interested.

The Commentary 

Monarchies fought monarchies for power and to grab land from defeated foes.  How is this any different from conservative corporatism, where companies with the most amount of goods fight other companies for power and to grab the property of the companies that they run down and take over? If anything, the sort of conservatism proposed here just plays into the hand of the corporations, making them the new monarchies, while the rest of us become their serfs to no longer be controlled passively by commercial incentive and free market to persuade us of how good they are, but more directly because they privatized the world and put us all on 'term life policies'.

Plus, true democracy is not majority rule.  Populist democracy allows for another check and balance where, if our representatives are misrepresenting us, we can recall them, or put up initiatives to vote on in order to challenge the current policies made by representatives.   Being that it is in the constitution for states and local communities to have their own constitutions and charters, we do have freedom to shape our communities.  If you don't like a community, you can live on your own, or participate as little as possible in community involvement.  Self autonomy is simply self governing. And if you can't govern yourself, then you ought not have right to govern others, regardless of how long or short you're in an office to do so.

As it is, regardless of all this 'anacrhy conservatism', you still have your own community rules here, such as this:

"Please demonstrate a generous spirit in all comments. Comments deemed to violate a high standard of civility or which do not enhance discussion within the Imaginative Conservative community will not be published. Publishing of comments occurs after a brief delay while they await approval of the moderator."

How do you define a 'generous spirit'?  What is the 'high standard of civility' and who makes that judgement on the standard, not to mention whether or not a comment 'enhances discussion'?  The same old "who watches the watchmen" to which comes down regarding any form of government can also be applied here, in this Imaginative Conservative Community.

Obviously there is someone, or a group of someone's in charge here.  Do they follow a monarchy, a democracy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy?  If an anarchy, then how so, especially if any sort of governing system of policy is considered tyranny?  People either agree or disagree to participate in the Imaginative Conservative community, so how could it be anarchic when it compromises individual liberty to give a certain amount of control to the moderator(s) of this community?

I'm trying to be generous, and feel this is a written comment and critique made in the spirit of honesty and generosity.  People are entitled to their beliefs, and I can agree with some aspects of libertarian, but will not forsake a populist, constitutional democracy  and be thrown in the chains of a monarchy because people have abused the system. Neither will I give up my Christian beliefs and become an atheist just because of church and laity abuses.  This is the problem of anarchy in general - that all it seems to be about is giving up, and pretending to be independent while being enslaved by one's own selfishness.