The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good:

Went to hear Jay Ackroyd and CW Anderson on Virtually Speaking talking about the Wikileaks story; a lively debate and discussion.

I'm happy that the story is getting attention, despite the dog-and-pony shows of salmonella, Obama's birth certificate, the latest act-tress going to jail for being drunk and other ass-sordid magician's media trix designed to distract you from what the right hand is doing ("I said the left hand's diddlin' now... while the right hand goes to work")

'State of Mind', my installation about the politics and propaganda of information, will reopen as a benefit for Wikileaks on Sept. 12 ("What comes after 9/11?") on BORDC (Bill of Rights Defense Committee) land at the 4 Bridges sim.

Regarding propaganda, states of mind and journalism in general, why isn't this story being picked up by major media?

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More fantastic artwork is on display for the last monthly round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge, including a very atmospheric and haunting piece by Nish Mip, nessuno Myoo's evocative 'As An Angel In Search Of Colors', Ub Yifu's 'Picasso - Don Quixote', Bignorrs Barbos' lovely War of the Worlds spidercraft, Eliza Weirwight's enchanting musical box, soror Nishi's pretty and friendly dragon and... and... and... go see for yourself!

SLurl: UWA 3D Art and Design Challenge

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Alizarin Goldflake threw a lovely Summer Garden Party Tuesday in a build designed to show sim builders how her artwork/installations can be used to create a magical environment. All the elements of the build worked together to bring a sense of peace and reflection to the viewer/inhabitants... and many there were! Old friends and admirers turned out to enjoy Ali's work and my own humble attempt at dancing geisha (photo courtesy of Corcosman Voom). Despite the transient interruption in the flow engendered by an ill-tempered child, the event was a marvelous melange of beauty, peace and friendship.

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The Bad:


Emeraldgate: *sigh* when Emerald was released, I listened to some well-respected coders, not slamming but questioning, some of the code in the browser; on the strength of that information and those recommendations I didn't use Emerald, despite all the wonderful things being said about it.

Well, this past weekend a volcano erupted surrounding the browser; you can read alllllll about it (several hours worth) and make up your own mind regarding the charges, accusations, obfuscations and cast of characters by clicking the link above (just follow the money links). Suffice it to say, until there is total transparency in the code, I won't be using it.

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Inworldz was hit Tuesday night/Wednesday morning by a botnet which took down the grid there. The contrast in the LL Boy's approach and IWs showed in the immediate appearance of Elenia Llewellyn on the Inworldz forums, giving us continual progress updates and Legion Hienrichs and Tranquillity Dexler working feverishly to restore the grid. This is the kind of support of the community that LL would be wise to pay attention to if they really wanted SL to succeed.

I'm happy to wait for services; being intimate with the web, the net and computer technology, I do understand that things happen. What I do not understand is a lame, lacking and arrogant response to such problems. The Inworldz Team shows how it can be done. Kudos and props to that crew for their continued hard work and most of all, for their contact with their userbase.


On another hand... hey botnet feebs: attacking Inworldz is like running over a kitten in a Cadillac; no skillz need apply. You want me to admire yer dastardly ch0pz? Hack mil.net or something really hard. Until then, yer small potatos. Any monkey or toddler can break a thing.

On the same note, users: Disable i-frames in your browser; CompSec 101. That would have saved you from Emeraldgate, among other things.

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The Ugly:

'nuff said.