Cartoon of the Day

The ALM Cyber Church

I recently came across a church in Second Life, the ALM Cyber Church. The church is in the appropriately named Truth sim. Porting there automatically takes one to the sim entry circle at (124, 118, 26). In front of t he newly arrived visitor will be a structure full of stained-glass windows, with a steeple on top. Near the church is a three-cross structure. There are some nearby places. Behind the sim entrance is a community center. Further away is a garden area, and some residential quarters.

The church holds two regular events a week. One is the Ladies’ Bible Study on Tuesdays at 1:30 PM SL time. And of course there is the Sunday Service at 11:00 AM SL time. Services are conducted by pastors Rev. Benjamin and Mariposa Psaltery. The chapel is constructed much like that of a real church, with ample seating in the pews and a second floor available. Behind the pulpit are a piano and an electronic organ. Near the doors is a collections plate for Lindens.

The Sunday I showed up, attendance was small at first, but gradually grew. At one point there were 36 people around, both furred and normal human, and a tiny. Above Benjamin was a tag showing a proverb from the Bible. At a couple times, the pastors would sing, some of the congregation getting up with their arms up in the air, swinging:

Bless the Lord O my soul
and all that is within me
bless his holy name

For he has done great things
he has done great things
he has done great things
He's so good to me

He saved my soul
he saved my soul
he saved my soul
He's so good to me

He is coming soon
he is coming soon
he is coming soon
Bless his holy name

The sermon was around the passage Romans 13: 1-4 in the Bible, concerning submission to earthy authority, “It’s too easy to speak evil of others ... of our leaders. But we will not be blessed unless we speak good ... He who rebels against authority rebels against what God has established. ... It’s best to examine our own lives. ... Spreading gossip? Stop it! Speaking evil of our leaders? Stop it.”

There were some signs that a few in the audience seemed to be missing the point, one typing, “unrealistic RP.” Then floating, joking that he had been healed. Following the service, when some went up to the altar to pray, a few began being disruptive. After plenty of fair warning, the owners reluctantly banned from the sim. Talking with the pastors and some who regularly attend, it seems the griefing was a rare event, though hardly the first time it happened.

A look at one example of church coming to Second Life.

Bixyl Shuftan

A Laggy Problem in Foxworth Part 2: “It’s Your Fault”

Recently, Foxyfurman Kunami had some trouble with lag on his sim, lag that turned out to be from a sim that was basically a Shoutcast server farm. Although Linden Lab eventually took care of the problem, it was after a friend of his found it and alerted them. In the meantime, it appears some in LL kept pointing the finger back at Foxyfurman, as this note sent by him suggests.


Bix thought you would find this entertaining, the "it's your fault" response by LL. I do want to add as a side note when I called LL I got Gareth Ontyne on the line, by moving my ticket someone took care of this the next day, so the problem was fixed and everyone knows what happened, it is obvious that the shoutcast server was basically locking up all the performance, but the "canned response" in words is just stupid. I commend the actions but the BS that "blame the sim owner" is just so stupid it is funny.


Foxyfurman:

Re: Huge Lagg issues on my sim

Spontaneously about a week ago we have had HUGE lagg spikes, we have tried shutting down scripts section by section, with zero help, your service desk told me to re compile all my top scripts into LSL, this is NOT the problem, and it will break many items. We have shut down section by section we still have huge problems, basically my sim is un-useable at this time. Again I have tried shutting scripts off section by section and the only way it even works OK is when ALL scripts are off, even a few scripts will over tax the sim. I have NEVER in a year had this issue and have added nothing new, yes I have restarted, many times including a LL initiated re start. I was informed by my manager that this could have started mid Jan.(ish)but just not as bad, not sure who is new sharing our server but this is a huge mess, thanks for taking care of this ASAP.


Gareth
Linden Lab Support:

Hi Foxyfurman,

Thanks for contacting us in regards to this issue.

I am going to escalate this ticket to the appropriate department and they will contact you shortly via email regarding your request. In the meantime, if you need to contact us again about this issue, please add a comment to this ticket rather than creating a new ticket.


Spike Linden
Linden Lab Support

Hello Foxyfurman,

Thank you for your ticket regarding your region and the performance issues.
I'm sorry to say that if there are lag spikes in the way you have described and they continue after restarts, then the source of the problem is within your region. As you have scripted spikes, then it will be scripted items within your region causing this.

Every time you restart a region, it will change server, so other regions can not keep causing issues if you move from host to host.

How were you disabling scripts section by section? This can't actually be done completely.
Unchecking the Run Scripts option in About Land will only disable scripts for non-parcel owner. You can't actually disable scripts for items that are owned by the parcel owner. So if a parcel is deeded to a group, all deeded items will still be running. If a parcel is owned by an avatar, then all items belonging to that avatar will still be running, with both 'All Residents' and 'Group' unchecked for Run Scripts.

This can help you narrow down the problem though, as you can eliminate most parcel/objects through this method.

I've had a look at the region today and script time is high (18-20ms). The chances are high that as avatars go to the region you will be running low on available resources and start to have issues. In this case your 'only' option is to look at your content. You will have to either re-script more efficiently or remove items completely from the region. There is no other choice for this type of issue.

Please make sure to look at our wiki page for 'Improving Region Performance'. This page can help you greatly in managing your region better. Key thing to remember is that you can't just fill a region with anything you want and expect it to work. You 'must' manage your regions content effectively.
TICKET CLOSED


Ticket RE OPENED

Foxyfurman:

This was fixed prior to your investigation :)

Someone from LL moved the shout cast server sim that was running on the same CPU and like magic everything is totally fine. We are crazy careful about what we put down and paranoid about Time Dilation and our total script time. With a shout cast sim as a "virtual neighbor" our time dilation was 70 now it is 99. In addition for fun we ported to these shout cast sims and all of them were horrific with lag/with time dilation in the 80-50 range and all of their virtual neighbors were a train wrecks as well regardless of ANY avatars.

We had shut down all scripts in the estate manager panel and still had lag this is how we know to look OUTSIDE our sim. It is not always the sim owners fault as you say.

Sorry I re open this ticket but this caused my sim to basically stop in its tracks, it will never happen to me again because I will know what to look for, but I know others will not be so creative in looking outside their sim for the problem.


It seems persistence is in order when dealing with the Lindens. Fortunately, Foxyfurman has plenty of it.

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

Discussing Second Life in Real Life 2

Some time ago, I discussed some of the more interesting moments when talking about Second Life in real life (link). A few more things have happened since then.

Friends of mine have mentioned a few stories. One college student moaned that during high school, his classmates then considered him a “freak” for hanging out here. Others described showing it to friends and family, who didn’t always get it. One of the more inspiring stories was about one friend. In real life, she’s bound to a wheelchair. She once talked to some online friends about her wheelchair getting a little worn. Some time later, she received a check in the mail, enough to get her the new wheelchair she wanted.

From me, a few more stories. One neighbor of mine asked about the people I meet on Second Life. I mentioned some, but what got her attention were the people with disabilities, such as being unable to walk in real life, but getting about with ease here. Another was one former friend whom in real life had lost her voice due to cancer, but was able to converse normally here. My neighbor told me it sounded interesting, and would go there if she had a computer.

And some of my discussions end up with comical twists. Word had spread at my workplace during the last election that I write for an online newspaper. They still ask me about it a little, though are usually more interested in “Facebook” and “Farmville” than Second Life. One lady and I talked a little about how you could modify your character to look more or less like you want it to, whether to something like the user, a science-fiction exotic, or a glamour girl. The lady happened to be noticeably thin, and later on while talking, commented aloud she wouldn’t mind having a larger backside. I grinned, “You realize this is the first time outside of Second Life anyone’s talked to me about getting a bigger behind?” We both had a good laugh out of it.

Another day, another coworker asked about the online paper, then hearing it was about goings on in Second Life asked about that. I described it some. Then he asked, “Could you have sex with the girls there?” I was a little surprised that he’d bring that up, though this coworker did like to talk about the seedy side of life. I answered, “Well, you could engage in, virtual intimacy with a girl there if you wanted, and there are a few places that cater to that sort of thing. But just a few. Most people are there for other things.” He then grinned, “Have you ever done that?” My answer, “Um, I did tell you I go about there as a humanoid fox in a reporter's outfit. Do you imagine me going about with the ladies there as that?” Apparently either he could or he wasn’t listening, as his next few comments were that what I needed was a little “noogie,” even if just online.

I could have mentioned a few places I got brought to by friends or by accident, but it was probably best I didn’t.

Bixyl Shuftan

Today in SL Newspaper

In Main News, M&M Creations will be offering sculpt tutorials at Book Island on Friday and Saturday. Also, we had a chance to talk to Cypress Rosewood about the recent burglary in his real-life home, and updates in the case. In Community, we take a look at a childrens' store in Second Life. And in Extra Extra, a tribute poem: "Setting Suns."

M&M sculpt tutorial 3

This tutorial is a big step forwards and still easy to follow for all who would like to create advanced textures with
shade for the more complex sculpted prims in-world.
It is based on Fashion-Sculpties, but all knowledge can be used for all sculpted prims and even for regular prims.
Much more tools of the Grapic Program are used and to use your textures in-world you need some building skills and experience!!
Friday February 5th at Book-Island 12 PM SLT
Sunday February 7th at Moolto-Island 12 PM SLT

Update on Cypress Rosewood

Last week, Second Life Musician Cypress Rosewood was the target of a robbery in real life when a burglar broke into his home (link). Cypress posted on his blog, “our Macintoshes were stolen, my wife's jewelry, two very special guitars including a 1935 Kay Kraft that I received after my grandfather passed, and my main microphone was trashed.“ Fortunately, he had some instruments with him as he was out of town, and having recently upgraded his computer had backed up the hard drive, “you can never have enough backups.”

Of the help he was given, “The outpouring from SL fans and friends the past few days has been overwhelming. It has brightened our mood and spirits here in RL immensely. ... I would like to thank a few people who have been instrumental in helping out with benefits and support. In no particular order, a big thanks to Woode Wood, Jana Kyomoon Hamlet Au, Delinda Dyrssen, Cellandra Zon, Pooky Amsterdam, Von Johin, Crap Mariner, Truelie Telling, Troy McCluhan, Torben Asp, Jess Oranos, Fricker Fracker, Hathead Rickenbacker, Escape Unplugged, Leanna Luftig, Frets Nirvana and Heath Elvejhem and so many more. All people who have helped this past week and fostered publicity making people aware of the situation, please know that it has just helped out immensely.” Cypress stated through donations he was able to get a new computer.

Recently, Second Life Newspaper had a chance to talk with Cypress about the incident, saying there was now a suspect in the case and a warrant for his arrest issued, “he has not been caught yet. I got the heirloom guitar back though.” The burglar had listed the two guitars on Craigslist, “he is not very bright, lucky for me. The detective told me to go buy a lottery ticket.” Cypress, “posted a counter ad, saying they were stolen. The guy that bought them contacted me, as he scours the guitars several times a day on craigslist.” Cypress was soon contacted by a guitar shop, and they had a photocopy of the seller’s drivers license.

On his blog, Cypress stated he had both guitars back, “I have no idea if the jewelry or the computers will ever be found. Will have to see what develops, and if this person is the actual person who broke into our home or not. The guy does have a record and the detective says they will arrest him on burglary charges.”

Cypress soon had to leave, as he was already back at work doing more music videos, “We are working a couple. This one we are working on is Europa Under Ice.” He also had another available, “Color my Dream.”

“I was able to perform live music into Second Life this past weekend again with the grand generosity of the SL community and it makes my heart sing. Thanks so much for the support. My family and I sincerely appreciate it. It has seemed like a team effort with all the positive energy. Sincerely, Cypress Rosewood“

(Picture from Delinda Dyrssen)

Bixyl Shuftan

Dragon Sighting and Dress the Lady Competition at Mystery

The Mystery sim continues to be the place for surprises when at a huge red dragon makes an appearance. Also, the staff feels it's time for a new look for the club greeter, and wants YOU to help out in the "Dress the Lady" contest.

For more, go to Community

ACS gets ready for RFL in SL