Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Pre-Flight Test
Written 23 October, 2012
Our secret deep-sea test vehicle finally got its shakedown run.
We took it to The Vernian Sea, where sea level is set to 100 meters instead of the usual twenty. This gives plenty of room to maneuver underwater.
The sea and the surrounding sims, including Port Babbage, are some of Second Life's best, filled with giant steampunk robots and other Victorian and Edwardian wonders. It's a great place for submersibles and airships, so what better place to test our under-the-grid vehicle?
But before we took our descent vehicle for its formal test, I wanted to make sure our vehicle was airtight.
That's me, above, at the left. To my right is my intrepid test pilot Sweetie, who, aside from pushing every available button and tweaking the textures of the windshield, did an admirable job.
"Let's go," she said.
"No, no," I said. "Didn't you see Apollo 13? We have to do the pre-flight, all 627 steps."
"Houston, we have a problem," she said dryly. "Our commander is anal retentive."
I ran the checklist anyway.
"All occupants seated and belted?" I said.
"Duh, said Sweetie.
"Main door closed."
She gave me a pitying look. "Door closed, check," she said.
"Life support status."
"It's just a pot-bellied stove," she said.
I stared hard at her. "Check," she said.
"Spotlights?"
"Spots on."
"Fashionably plush interior?"
"Check," she sighed. She had not gotten her way with the interior.
"Sonar status?"
"Sonar on."
"Interior light?"
"Lights dimmed," she said.
"Running lights?"
"Running lights on."
"Altimeter?" I said.
"We can just look at the status bar at the top of our screen for our height," Sweetie said.
"Altimeter?" I said, louder this time.
"It's reading plus three meters," she said with a sigh.
"Teleporter status?" I said.
Sweetie pushed a button on the panel and there was a whooshing sound and a flash of blue smoke. "Operational," she said.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"I don't know," she said. "Where was button 5 supposed to take us?"
I opened the operator's manual notecard and thumbed through it. "Uh, space build," I said. "Low Earth orbit."
This looks about right," she said.
"There should be an orbiter," I said.
"Check," Sweetie said.
"Well, at least we know the teleporter works," I said.
"And since we're in a vacuum and are still breathing, we're airtight," Sweetie said brightly.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Test of Our Descent Vehicle is Aborted Due to a Runaway Giraffe
Written 11 October, 2012
After weeks of building and scripting I was ready for a trial run of my descent vehicle. I invited Sweetie and a friend and we headed out over Whimsy Kaboom, looking for a flat spot on the ocean floor to begin our adventure.
Then we saw it-- it being a runaway giraffe. Leaf Shermer had been conducting illegal breeding experiments on nearby Whimsical Mischief and it had wandered away from her Island of Dr. Shermereau. Now it was cavorting between two of Kaboom's small islands, where it could create all sorts of mischief-- scaring newbies, making big giraffe poops, and maybe even making baby mutant giraffettes.
There was only one choice. I had to pull the plug.
And so we took our still-untried vehicle back to its dock. The test flight would have to wait for another day.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
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| What Horrors Might Lurk Beneath The Placid Surface? |
Written 8 October, 2012
Plumbing the Depths
In Second Life height extends for all practical purposes infinitely-- but what about depth? The world seems to end at 0 meters-- but does it?
Well, it's a question that can be answered empirically.
If one has a deep sea submersible, that is.
I have Carrah Rossini's Nereide, and it's a fine submarine, but it wasn't designed for the tremendous pressure of the sub-zero depths.
No, we are going to to have to build our own deep sea vehicle from the ground up.
It will have to be strong, to withstand the crushing pressure of negative altitude territory.
It will have to be stylish, or else Sweetie will never get in it.
And it will have to be clever, if it we're ever to get below the 0 meter level.
And so, we're feverishly at work on a SECRET machine to take us to the bottom of the ocean-- below the bottom of the ocean!
I'll tell you about it when I can!
Friday, October 5, 2012
I'm coming to an end of my unpublished blogposts.
Written 15 May, 2008
More Fashion Mayhem
As my readers know, this is NOT a fashion blog-- or is it the fashion police blog. But some avatars are just WRONG!
Written 15 May, 2008
More Fashion Mayhem
As my readers know, this is NOT a fashion blog-- or is it the fashion police blog. But some avatars are just WRONG!
I will try to resist highlighting fashion faux pas in the future. Maybe.
How long IS this guy's arm?
Oiled skin, tats, uglfying clothing, wings, badly (as my friend T..h said)
prim eyes, hair askew. Ewwww!
prim eyes, hair askew. Ewwww!
This is an Avatar In need of Hair Positioning
Here's one more previously unpublished post.
Written 5 December, 2007
Sweetie's Barbie Doll
Just wind me up and point me toward Ken. Or, better yet, toward another Barbie.
Sweetie came in world this morning with a plan for me.
It started innocently enough, with a trip to Blaze so she could buy me a fabulous frock.
I'm not sure how or why this came about, but it might have had something to do with what we did on the hood of a taxi last night while some passerby watched. We didn't care. We let him watch, since he was more or less polite about it.
"Hawt!" he said.
A long time ago, when we were new in world, I told a friend we could make a fortune by building an ampitheater and charging guys big bucks to watch us do it.
Now here it is a year later, and Sweetie and I are giving it away for free. :)
If you've never done it on the hood of a taxi, I recommend it. Especially if the engine is warm. And especially if you role play driver and passenger without money to pay the fare.
At any rate, Sweetie came into world with a plan. She took me to Blaze to buy me an outfit named Radioactive.
Blaze is where I bought the Shiraz dress, the one my previous girlfriend wouldn't let me out of the house in unless she is with me. I put it on last night as we were dancing at Umbra Penumbra (great dance floor, risque music, outre conversation), and it's probably what led us to the hood of that taxi.
Sweetie still smells a bit of carnuba wax. :)
Blaze's main store didn't have Radioactive, so Sweetie teleported me to another Blaze location, in Dublin. Neither of us took a landmark, so you'll need to look it up in Search.
Then on to Sylfie's for shoes.
Sylfie's is on an island of the same name. She has HUNDREDS of colors and styles of shoes. It's podiatric permutation paradise. I have dozens of pairs of her shoes.
Sweetie bought me shoes named Elegeance Black/White Stiletto (pictured. Note her own chic shoes in the background).
But this is not a fashion blog, so I'll not tell you about them.
We then spent a fruitless hour in search of a choker, which mysteriously turned into a quest for a collar, which, truth to tell, made me sweat a little bit. But I played it as it lay.
It took a while before Sweetie found a choker that pleased her. We looked in mainstream jewelry stores. We looked in Chinese sims. We looked in goth mausoleums. No deal.
(I'm writing this as it's happening, so it's apt to change at any moment).
Then we ended up at Behind the Veil, a place that sells Gorean Goods. There, Sweetie gave me the lindens (since the goods were nontransferrable) to buy a choker. I did.
Actually, I bought two, for SL hiccupped just as I made the purchase, telling me some two dozen gestures were suddenly invalid. When it was over, I had two copies of the same nontransferrable choker. Fortunately, the maker was online and gave me the second choker I requested within seconds. Thank you, Ulusive Surface.
I turned my choker black at Sweetie's request and my transformationi into a shockingly clad, raven-tressed, goth-makeuped, crimson-taloned, high-heeled seductress in a choke was comleter.
Ready for action.
While Sweetie, exhausted from all the decision-making, went off world to rest.
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