20131027

216 - Desert dreamers

Where's Dim Sum? #216b - Desert dreamers (strings)

Where's Dim Sum? #216a - Desert dreamers (temple)

Where's Dim Sum? #216c - Desert dreamers (wakeup)

Where's Dim Sum? #216d - Desert dreamers (X3D)


Dim Sum meows at her blue-haired fans as they waited for the temple to start burning.


Three images today and one 3D version. I was going to take a picture of the temple burn and I thought that this sculpture would be a nice foreground to the burn. But the glass-looking enclosure that covered the temple turned black and opaque, and you had to zoom your camera inside the building to see the burn. Heh. There goes my plan.

Anyway, these two blue-haired friends were playing around and dancing in the sculpture area and I went to the other side, but they came to stand near me. So I told them that, if they were going to stand there, they would be in my picture. And they said it was okay with them so I snapped pictures with them in it. They didn't stay long though; they had to go to work.

The sculpture is called "The Dreamer," I think. At least that's what the "people" objects were called. The alarm clock is called "More Time Dream," and the other pairs of hands held different things, including a dandelion plant, a paper boat, a bottle of wine, a book, a framed "Mona Lisa," a drum, a key, a pyramid, ... all related to dreams and wishes. The puppet and the puppeteer are incredibly detailed mesh. Stunning work, built by Krystali Rabeni.


models: Alexi Ayres and Noke Yuitza
location: Burn2 2013


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] NIGHT - That spells moon 4 (modified)



20131026

215 - Afterburn

Where's Dim Sum? #215 - Afterburn


Dim Sum watches the scaffolding fall apart during the fire. Thankfully, she was thrown out of the building before they started burning.


This is a bit rushed because I have a deadline today. I missed the man because, first, I was logged somewhere else because the sim was full. Then I crashed while I was derendering stuff that were in the way. The Man fell soon after I got settled. Then some naked guy with a cowboy hat came into view. Anyway, this is what's left of the saucer scaffolding under the Man.

The temple burns tomorrow.

location: Burn2 2013


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] NIGHT - That spells moon 4 (modified)


20131023

214 - Danger: Explosives

Where's Dim Sum? #214 - Danger: Explosives


Dim Sum explores the intricate crisscrossing shadows that crisscross the crisscrossing slats of wood.


Padding precariously in a scaffolding saucer. #sixwords

I seem to be in the abstract mood lately. I just go with what comes. Other things are pulling my attention these days, and November will be worse. I just signed up for NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month, but it's really international. To be a "winner" in NaNoWriMo, you have to write the first 50,000 words of a novel from November 1-30. What you do with it afterwards is up to you. They don't even care what you write or in what language you write. Heck, you can write a new version of the Lorem Ipsum if you want. So I may not even have time at all for Dim Sum. We'll see.

The "saucer" is the scaffolding under The Man. This one was built by Pygar Bu.

location: Burn2 2013


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] DUSK - Strummer (modified)



213 - Sankofa

Where's Dim Sum? #213 - Sankofa


Dim Sum tumbles in the air. It's a long long fall to the cracked soil of the playa below. But, hey, cats know how to land on their feet.


Cat tumbles between impossibly tall cranes. #sixwords

No DOF at all here. I wanted to preserve the details, since it's already minimalistic as it is.

The artwork (or at least one of the objects) is called "Sankofa blanca" by Romy Nayar.

location: Burn2 2013


Technical notes

windlight: Phototools- Lo Light 03 (modified)



20131021

212 - Hive

Where's Dim Sum? #212 - Hive


Dim Sum watches the Lamplighters dance with their flames.


This is looking kinda sci-fi-ish. The hexagons remind me of a hive, and a hive reminds me of the Borg. My imagination is running away to a different quadrant. :D

Strawberry has a non-meme this week about the Linden Lab Terms of Service (TOS). Scroll down for more.

location: Burn2 2013

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] MIDDAY - An incongruent truth (modified)


Strawberry's memes - Linden Lab TOS non-meme

I became aware of the TOS issue in a meeting of the International Spaceflight Museum Planning Group. Someone typed out the link of the New World Notes blog post about Renderosity banning their products from being imported into Second Life. I followed that link and others and read up a little before I had to get back to work to make my deadlines.

Then last week, I received a group notice from MaMachinima about a panel of lawyers who would be speaking about the implications of the new TOS. I was about 15 minutes late, so I was standing at the border of the next sim, listening to the talk being broadcasted on AViewTV. I was too far away to pick up the information posted in public chat, unfortunately, but I got the gist of the talk. Inara Pey has a good summary of the talk with links to parts of the video.


1. Do you usually read the TOS thoroughly before you hit accept? When you're in a hurry to meet up with your lover, would you? ;) I was actually surprised about this new one, because we just had a TOS change not long before this. I assumed that this was just a minor change; otherwise, they would have given us warning. Bad assumption, apparently. And very tricky of LL to think they could easily let something this controversial slip under our noses.

2. How do you feel about the new LL TOS changes, specially from August 15th and section 2.3. I was livid. At first, I thought that the new TOS covered ALL content, including the ones that we uploaded under a friendlier TOS. Then someone said/wrote that it covered only the content that was uploaded/created after the new TOS became effective. Then the panel of lawyers said that, effectively, it covered ALL content, including those that were uploaded prior to this TOS.

To me, that sounds a lot like a bait-and-switch scheme. We uploaded our content under a different contract, then they changed the contract after they got the goods. It also sounded like we have no recourse, because another part of the TOS prevents us from taking any legal action either. We can not withdraw our work and make it exempt from this. Even if we deleted them from our inventories, the stuff is still on their servers, especially if we sold or gave away a copy of it. It's like renting an apartment, moving your stuff in, and then your landlord says, "Sorry, everything inside the apartment belongs to us now."

3. Do the changes affect you directly? I am a content creator. Even if I don't sell everything I create, I use them or I give them away. In fact,
This issue affects EVERYBODY, even people who don't think of themselves as content creators.

The avatar that you put together using different components from different designers -- hair, skin, shape, clothes, outfits, etc. -- that composition can be considered your intellectual property or trademark, especially if your look is very recognizable as you. There's a lot of gray area in this field, of course. The photos you've taken of your avatar or anything else inworld are also your IP. Words that you have written are your IP. You might  decide that you don't want to formally register your copyright for everyday things you say or create, but you still own that copyright if they are fully your original work or if they are explicitly permittted derivatives of someone else's work.

Even if you've never rezzed a single cube or uploaded a single photo or modified your shape, do you really want your favorite designers to leave SL?

4. What do you think people should do about this new change? I found out about a new group that plans to petition Linden Lab to change Section 2.3. The group is called the Unified Content Creators of SL (UCCSL). They were actually the ones who organized the lawyer panel talk. They're still getting organized and they need a lot of help.
Invite your friends and your favorite content creators to join.
The bigger the group, the more influence we'd have.

If you have not logged into SL since August 14, DON'T.

5. Are you or have you ever thought about leaving Second Life? What would you do with your time/blogs/career if you ever did? No, I haven't thought of leaving Second Life... yet. Up till now, through all LL's blunders in the past, the benefits of staying still outweighed the benefits of leaving. I *did* think of expanding to OpenSim grids since several years ago, when customers have been asking me to bring my mermaid tails to Inworldz and other grids. But there were, and still are, IP issues there too. With Section 2.3, LL lost their advantage in that sense. I've started moving my Mer Betta non-mermaid products to Kitely to sell at the Kitely Market, but it's slow-going because of lack of time.

I still believe in virtual worlds and their impact on society, but the virtual universe will definitely change, probably sooner than most of us think. With Section 2.3, Linden Lab did their competitors a BIG favor.


I was going to do a prediction of what would happen if LL refuses to change the TOS, but I'd better save that for another post, because I need to mindmap it. ;)

20131020

211 - Four goddesses, three to burn

Where's Dim Sum? #211 - Four goddesses

 


Dim Sum yawns and decides she would rest in the shade and explore when the temperatures go down. If she went outside in the desert sun, she'd soon be Steamed Dim Sum.


This is the "altar" of the Burn2 temple.

The event has significant meaning to me, but, at the same time, it has a lot of pain associated with it. A couple of weeks ago, they contacted me about the censer that I had used in the past, and I gave them a copy of the most recent version of the scripts, which is the same as the one I used in my SL9B "Heart Gravel" exhibit. But it looks like they decided to reverse-engineer the scripts instead. Funny thing was ... I accidentally bumped into the scripter on my way into the temple. I apologized, but no reply.

Anyway, from a technical standpoint, it's cool that they're using mesh this year, but I'm curious how they would make the structure fall apart during the burn. From an emotional standpoint, I miss Damanios Thetan's temples; I could very well be biased, but his were always awe-inspiring. Oh, well, diversity is good anyway.

Dim Sum is actually floating a few meters closer to the viewer. And she was supposed to be a teensy bit higher. Oops.

The statues and the temple were built by Midori Rotaru.


location: Burn2 2013 (The temple is on the sim called "Burning Man-Opal". :D )


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SUNSET - Damage down (modified)


20131019

210 - Stairs of horror

Where's Dim Sum? #210 - Stairs of horror


Dim Sum got tired of being chased by mad scientists and giant spiders and dismembered torsos. Obviously, this manor's staff needs lessons on how to make guests feel welcome!


At this rate, I think I'll get my 365th done by the end of the year 2014.

Anyway, I'm starting a new challenge based on the 6-word memoir project by Smith Magazine:

Take Dim Sum's 6-Word Caption Challenge

For any picture in the "Where's Dim Sum?" series, give it a six-word caption. Go to the page for details.

And, finally, scroll down for Strawberry's Google meme mashup with SLTimeWellWasted.

location: DarkDharma Haunted Manor

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SCIFI - Bridge opera 2 (modified)



Strawberry's memes - Google meme mashup

Strawberry suggested a mashup of her meme and Emily's (SLTimeWellWasted). Strawberry's instructions were "Google your SL name and answer the following questions." Emily's instructions were "First, measure your digital footprint.  Google yourself … under both your real life name and your second life name and look over what comes up."

I Googled three names: "opal lei" (SL name), "lea tesoro" (RL author name / RL nickname), "eleanor tesoro" (RL legal name). I figured that Googling "dim sum" and "treasure box" would be practically useless.

All three names are actually linked to each other now. It seems Google doesn't return very old pages, because I had done this exercise in the past, and the "eleanor" search pretty much returns mostly SL-related hits now, instead of artifacts from my previous life like it used to.

A number of the hits were about other people with the same name as my RL names. My name is not that common, but it's not unique either. A long time ago, I discovered an "opallei" in Twitter (she's not me and she apparently had that Twitter account before I created Opal Lei in SL) and an "opal-lei" in deviantART (I suspect this one was someone trying to spoof me). The rest of the hits were mostly me, except the sites that trick you by dynamically adding your search string into the page and the data mining sites that collect information about you from all over the web.

So, here are the questions from Strawberry:

1. Google your Second Life name in “quotations” and share your results. About 9,840 results.

2. What is the first link that comes up? My domain opallei.com, which is the portal to all my SL or kinda like my virtual world CV.

3. Which link were you surprised to see? A slideshow with one of my Flickr images of an exhibit at the International Spaceflight Museum on slide #47. The presenter used it to illustrate some concept about design. I think it's about software architecture. I can't tell for sure; it's in Japanese. I wasn't asked for permission to use that image, but at least the presenter attributed it to Opal properly.

4. Click on the “Image” tab and tell us where the first 5 pictures listed are from. wildopallei.blogspot.com, twitter.com, and blogs.exploratorium.edu.

5. Click on the “more” tab and then click “news” and share your results. No results found for "opal lei". :)

And the questions from Emily:

1. How did the two digital footprints compare, and did that surprise you?
Opal: About 9,840 results
Lea: About 5,370 results
Eleanor: About 1,630 results
Nope, it's not really surprising, because I did more as Opal in the past 7 years than as my RL personas.

2. Does anyone interesting share your name? Not particularly.

3. Are you happy with the size of your digital footprint, or do you wish either one was larger/smaller? I'm not sure. Because I'm not anonymous anymore, I worry about what leaks back and forth between my public SL personas and my RL personas. Because Opal used to be anonymous, I was less careful about what information was online about my activities. But now that Opal is outed, I'm still figuring out how my SL life has affected and is affecting my RL reputation. Not that I've done anything bad; it's just that my personal life and my professional life have blended after I published my book.

4. If you woke up/ logged in one morning to discover over night you had suddenly gained rock-star status, and everybody knew who you were and wanted to know what you were doing… what would you do? Create another anonymous alt. :D  Oh, wait, I already did that. Several times. Without even being a rock star. :D

20131016

209 - Frankenstein's birthplace

Where's Dim Sum? #209a - Frankenstein's birthplace (overhead)


Where's Dim Sum? #209b - Frankenstein's birthplace (gadgets)


Dim Sum gingerly steps over the wires on the floor, because they make her fur stand up.  Bzzzzzt!


Dim Sum actually discovered the skylight that led to this room. In the first photo, the square patch of light is actually coming in through the skylight. In the second photo, I turned on the local lights. I actually have a version of the first photo with the local lights turned on, but it diminished the effect of the sunlight through the skylight, and the image became as busy as the second one. Besides, I kinda like it the way it is. Somehow, it reminds me of the manga animated movies.

The main objects are by Aley:
  • The Mad Scientist's Table
  • Tesla Transformer-A
  • Jacob's ladder sparker
  • Tools-workbench
  • Glastonbury Chair
  • Animated machine
  • Specimen case (Brains)
Watch out for the mad scientist! He's very ... pushy.

location: DarkDharma Haunted Manor

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SUNRISE - Cobraring 1 (modified)



20131012

208 - Haunted manor

Where's Dim Sum? #208 - Haunted manor


Dim Sum always feels such an outcast around Halloween. Maybe she could roll herself in a pile of ashes....


Unless I haven't been paying attention, this could be my first "Where's Dim Sum?" image in the mainland. That means there are hidden treasures in the mainland! Wouldn't you know it?!? If you find more beautiful places like this in the mainland, let me know!

The haunted house is called "New DarkDharma Haunted Manor" by Silex Zapedzki (Never Totally Dead).

location: DarkDharma Haunted Manor

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] NIGHT - Under a yellow moon (modified)


20131011

207 - Hisssss

Where's Dim Sum? #207 - Hisssss

Where's Dim Sum? #207 - Hisssss (X3D)


Dim Sum lays on the cold slimy belly of one of her new frenemies, but she doesn't plan to relax around these guys. She doesn't trust them at all.


Dim Sum is not in the stereoscopic version.

This image demonstrates that it is not always easy to make a 2D composition work with stereoscopy, especially with stereo framing. With stereo framing, it is always better to get the whole object into the picture; otherwise, you get either an uninteresting frame or window violations.

The snakes, called "::: B@R ::: Uwabami", were created by June Dion (Bare Rose). Yes, Bare Rose! I was surprised too!

location: Araxes Mu Draconis

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SCIFI - Railingz 2 (modified)



20131009

206 - Taklamakan

Where's Dim Sum? #206 - Taklamakan


Dim Sum watches the dust storms, the balls of lightning, and the burning rocks and suddenly feels thirsty.


I know, I know, I'm doing a lot of warm (or hot!) colors lately. But it feels more appropriate in these sims with the red sand and all. It's based on the novel "Dune" by Frank Herbert after all. :)

The arch is called "PQ Jenso Entrance" by P4NDOR4 Quintessa (Pandemonium)

location: Araxes Mu Draconis

And... it's my birthday! So, I'm finally doing Strawberry Singh's meme of the same title.

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SUNSET - Brouhatta charme (modified)



Strawberry's memes - It's My Birthday

I had been meaning to do this birthday meme the week that Strawberry posted the meme on her birthday, but I didn't have time. And she had so many tasks to do for this one!


1. Answer the following questions about your own real life birthday.


When is your birthday?
October 9. Today. ;)


Pick one person who shares your birthday and share what you know about them.
How about three? 
  • John Lennon of the Beatles and his son Sean (( *hums "Imagine all the people..."* ))
  • Scott Bakula of "Quantum Leap" and "Star Trek: Enterprise" (( *swoons* ))
  • Tony Shalhoub of "Monk," one of my favorite detective shows, along with "Poirot" and "Colombo"

List one notable event that took place on your birthday.
Apparently, nothing in particular happened on my exact birthday, but the song "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison topped the charts. Mercy! (That was another meme somewhere.)


Tell us about a holiday that falls on your birthday.
If it falls on a Monday, then it becomes Columbus Day, which is actually on Oct 12.


2. Take any of the pictures of [Strawberry] shared in [her] post and pile them up.



3. Create your own birthday meme.

Okay, here's my birthday meme... If you were a domestic cat (nope, wild cats not allowed), what breed would you be and why?
  • What is the name of the cat breed?
  • Why would you be that breed?
  • Add a link that to a webpage describes that breed.
You can go to The International Cat Association (TICA) website for pictures and descriptions of breeds. Or you can search for other similar sites.
 
Personally, I think I'd be a Napoleon breed. They have this distinctive teddy bear face and I have a story about that.

In my culture, it was believed that whatever the mother craves for while she's pregnant, the baby would have some characteristics of that thing. For example, if the mother had a craving for jicama, the baby would be fair-skinned. If the mother had a craving for bright red tomatoes, the baby would have very red lips. Something like that.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a strong craving. It could also be a strong repulsion. When my sister was pregnant with my oldest nephew, she couldn't stand being around my dad. To her, he stank so bad, although the rest of us couldn't smell anything. So, when my nephew was born, he looked a lot like my dad.


Anyway, the story is ... When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad saw some teddy bears at a shop on his way home. The teddy bears had little very red tongues sticking out and rounded pot-bellies, and he wanted those teddy bears so much, like a pregnant woman craving for ice cream and pickles, so he took one home. And whadya know... When I was born, I had a little very red tongue and a pot belly. And they noticed that I looked kinda like those teddy bears. :D

Please post your reply or the link to your reply in the comments.


20131007

205 - Stowaway

Where's Dim Sum? #205 - Stowaway


Dim Sum slips into a corner of some strange-looking storage bunker and takes a nap. When she wakes up, she realizes she's in the cargo bay of a now-flying ship.


The transport is actually sitting on the ground. My camera was underground, so the ship looks like it's floating in the air.

location: Araxes, Mu-Draconis


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] BIG SUN - Slips through walls 5 (modified)


20131006

204 - Unlikely Cafe

Where's Dim Sum? #204 - Unlikely Cafe


Dim Sum suspiciously eyes the gurgling, hissing, steaming robot, that dispensed the dark liquid drug that addicted many of the customers, who keep returning for another dose. Dim Sum wonders if there's a reward for turning in a drug dealing robot, so she tries to memorize the robot's name stamped on its belly: E-S-P-R-E-S-S-O.


Chani (sayyadina) said, "Awesome sci-fi RP place is awesome... Where sci-fi meets the blender/melting pot...." With a double-awesome commendation like that, of course I had to go!

The SLURL she sent me took me to this charming little cafe. Wonderful details. Great ambience.

There are five sims. So I might be here a while.

The "DM Classic Espresso Machine" was created by Spiritum Sciavo (The Dark Monk).

location: Al Raqis, Araxes, Mu-Draconis


Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] BIG SUN - Slips through walls 5 (modified)


20131005

203 - How Thor goes fishing

Where's Dim Sum? #203 - How Thor goes fishing


Dim Sum ponders if the drying fish were offered to the god of thunder or caught by him.


I found this Norse myth about Thor going fishing with a giant and caught two whales, so maybe these little fishes are too small for him.

Giannini Demonista, the owner of the Realm of Asgard wanted to use one of Dim Sum's pictures to change his sim's logo. He had only seen the first one at that point. To be honest, his current logo is actually already very good.

I told him it might be better to wait until I get a few more done, so he would have a selection. For one, my signature is in the pictures, so it would be some work to get the signatures out. Second, these pictures are really intended to hide Dim Sum so they might not be appropriate for a logo. I thought it might be better to just create one for him that's easier to incorporate into a logo. So, here's one that's similar to today's image.



The fish are called "OW Fish on rope" by Katrina Kristan (Old World), and Thor's status is called "Trident Viking Statue "Thor" III  [7.5 Mt]" by Laufey Markstein (Trident).

location: Realm of Asgard

Technical notes

windlight: Annan Adored Realistic ambient (modified)
water: Phototools- Ship Light



20131004

202 - Vinter Viking

Where's Dim Sum? #202 - Vinter Viking


Dim Sum uses her camouflage powers to sneak up behind the Viking. Then she attacks. Meeooowwwwrrrrrrrr!


This one is a bit of a rush job. I only had an hour to work on this. And I need to come up with new techniques!

The Viking is an object called "Viking Guard right" by Kim Lefavre (Sang Fori Design).

location: Realm of Asgard

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] DUSK - Apts (modified)


20131002

201 - When a dragon panics

Where's Dim Sum? #201 - When a dragon panics


Dim Sum is slightly amused by the dragon's panicked shrieks upon seeing a white cat. "Oh, for crying out loud,... keep calm.... It's not like I'm a spider.... Or a mouse...."


It's getting harder and harder to get just the right lighting. For this, I had to supplement the windlight with projector lights. Since I couldn't rez in the sim, I wore a set of three lights as attachments and just adjusted them to be able to light the dragon to emphasize it over the background. I have to play more with that Ambient setting in the local light feature; it strengthens the light better than the other settings.

Dim Sum is difficult to find here. Sorry about that. But the title gives a clue. :)

The dragon is "Dragon 2" (of course  ;)  ) by MeshtakesWereMade (Mesh Mafia).

location: Realm of Asgard

Technical notes

windlight: Nacon's Natural 10am (modified)
water: Nacon's Lake Water


370 - Eggs and bunnies and peeps (360°)

Dim Sum joins the peeps who wanna be bunnies. At least for Easter. For non-US folks, "peeps" are marshmallow candies shaped l...