Amanda Crisp

Uh...Rhonda wins?

Some kind of venue or inworld device to get people together socially where they actually talk and interact. Many times, the club scene in Sl consists of people who stand around waiting for someone else to initiate contact. If you could crack the "icebreaker" code and get people (especially new Residents) socializing outside of "hey, do you do the sexxorz?" it would be a legitimate social contribution to SL.

I tend to be a bit of a cynic where historians are concerned. I was present for some rather dramatic/traumatic events in the 1980’s and 1990’s and since then have heard “history” tell a highly revised version of those events. When my children came home from school talking about the “new version” I was more than a little bit shocked. History is written by the winners, and not always by the obvious ones.

Every generation feels compelled to vilify its predecessors. Part of that is the clarity that perfect 20-20 hindsight delivers and part of that is rationalization. Rationalization because when a new generation wants to make its own questionable decisions, part of the PR campaign involves making their elders look silly, depraved, incompetent or evil. Its wasteful and undignified, but it is very much a component of human nature. Every generation sees itself as Crusaders To Save the World, even the ones lining mass graves with its dissenters.

I’m pretty sure if I went there, this would be the response :-) They probably have me on a list...

Frequently, I find it good to remind myself that 99% of the time - a vast conspiracy is a less likely an answer than good old fashioned General Incompetence :-)

I learned my lesson about the veracity of BBC a few decades past when my semi-forensic skill set was needed in another part of the world. BBC covered it and did so fairly, the domestic news organs either ignored what was happening or spun it sideways. Same for many of the humanitarian crises of the 1980’s and 90’s.

I’m fond of the BBC. Their Global News Podcast is one I stream every day on Overcast as I drive to work. Their coverage of the US is less-domestically-partisan than Fox/CNN/MSNBC and very often covers global news I would otherwise have to scrub through my news-amagmamation feed to even know about.

My weakness is for margaritas while being unreachable on my deck with a good book :-) I started with a Song of Fire and Ice this year and will probably end up on something trashier :-)

That’s wonderful ! Part of my “deal” when the headhunter convinced me to put off early-retirement was that I would work 80% “flexible hours”. Literally, as long as I worked 80 hours every 2 weeks and attended all the mandatory meetings I could pretty much only keep office hours on my own schedule (the theory was that most of my employee contact outside of training sessions would be via electronic media). Reality was much different :-)

I'm not "Keen" on ignoring a problem, but I do try to avoid the now-common tactic of demonizing people who believe differently than I do. When life becomes about 24x7 politics and acrimony (as it does with several people I know in RL at work and socially) - it becomes too easy for them to rationalize bad behavior of their own because they have whipped themselves into an emotional frenzy. Moderation in all things keeps me out of the bad part of my head.....which is someplace *I* specifically need to avoid.

This point of view may be unpopular with some who don’t know my background - but I assiduously avoid involving RL politics in my Second Life when I can. I’m politically active to some degree in RL (cash and time) and occasionally get dragged through the crap-fest that US politics are at present on both major sides. To my way of thinking, I engage on those topics at times of my choosing and am more effective in that discussion because I don’t LET myself get too freaked out about it. I once had trouble not getting freaked out about stuff - so learning moderation was literally a survival issue with me. Some things and memories are by their nature very hard to live with and can leave a very negative opinion of Human Civilization. So....I don’t engage in political stuffs much here. SL is my personal safe space from the polarized atmosphere and mutually-exclusive world views that pervade contemporary America. I see too many people here in SL who like each other *right up until they start talking politics* because way too many people never bothered to learn how to cope with differences of opinion w/o using a verbal flamethrower. To be fair, I also don’t get my news from Fox/CNN/MSNBC or the other domestic News-as-Entertainment outlets. Stopping that and deleting my RL social media did wonders for my stress level :-) I once had to learn how to deal with some very *bad* things and part of the bonus for that was learning how not to let temporary political figures or events press me into treating other people poorly. I do what I can in RL to combat the bad stuff - and in SL I just do my best to love all of you :-) So I applaud anyone who can find a reason to stick with other people - even when they disagree. Maybe if we can do that, it will lead to more Reason and less Invective and a better, cleaner world.

I was brought in to be the “token person with experience”....... It’s stressful.....

7 Days, no phone, no meetings....no “finding last-minute, desperate solutions to problems created by misguidedly ambitious people.....” I need a drink- or eight .....

An Old memory :-)

That kind of gets to the HUGE difference between “Classic Liberalism” and the modern Liberal-Progressive. Time moves on, things change and they don’t always improve. Personally, I’m for fiscal Responsibility (I don’t like debt, personal or governmental or robbing generations as-yet unborn) and a social “Do as you feel led as long as you don’t hurt people”. I’m glad that LGBTQ pride is something that can be celebrated publicly. (As it relates to me and my lifestyle), but I can also do that without any need to hate-on people who feel differently.

Hosting and DJing in SL is kind of a crapshoot :-). DJing also has incumbent expenses like having your own music stream, buying music and a streaming platform like SAM broadcaster - so I’ll talk about hosting. Males *do* get hired as hosts at night-spots in SL if you stay away from the places that are specifically marketing sl sex with female escorts. If you want to Host, you need to do some prep (meaning spend some RL$ on your avatar).... ~Have a shape thats not an SL “cartoon male” with a tiny head on an over-muscled body. ~A mesh body and head will help, but are not mandatory, but a good skin really helps on a Standard Avatar. ~Invest in a Host Tool that will privately alert you when people arrive so you can greet them. Greet them yourself; don’t let the robo-tool do it. The tool is there to help you avoid missing people and offending them, not to be the host itself. ~Clothes and shoes. You want to dress for the clientele of the place you hope to be working at. ~SL Social Skills. Get comfortable talking to people and making the DJ look good. The DJ will draw dots that tip, so the Host should really focus on meeting people, building a Friends list and making the guests feel like they are appreciated. Happy Guests tip (with the exception of some RL global demographics and some SL ones). Flirt a little, but don’t do Romance at work as it causes drama. ~Work at a venue where the clientele is not all New Residents. Thats nothing against New Residents - but people who have lasted in Sl a while usually have the capacity to tip better. If you Host at multiple venues, by all means spend time working someplace that lets you mentor new people; but make sure your “money gig” is someplace that draws well-heeled traffic. All told, Hosting is something to do if you enjoy being social in SL. You might earn L$500+ per event or nothing, depending on traffic and skill and you have to re-invest in your avie. There really is no easy money in Sl (just like RL).......

Him: “Are you really with a girl or is that just something you put in your profile to make guys hot?”

Maybe its “CHiPs” plural.........

its not an emoji, but it is Lama....

The person I look up to *most* in the world (that I knew personally) was my Grandfather. He always took care of his family before worrying about himself. He dealt with his injuries and his demons from WW2 without letting them break him (no mean feat). But the thing that really cemented his spot as my all-around Heero was when my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s started to really take hold. His solution was to bring in what extra help he could afford and to take care of her himself at home. He kept her looking pretty, kept her entertained talking about times she remembered (even after she forgot who he was) and never lost patience with her or let on how much her condition was ripping him up inside. He was working in her flowers (something she always liked looking at) when he had his own final stroke while their pastor and his wife visited with my grandmother (they did that once a week for several hours to give Grandpa a little break). He might have lived longer himself if he had not taken on all the extra strain - but he wasn’t wired that way. My grandfather defines the way I think people who are committed to one another and their community should behave, he literally dropped dead trying to do what he thought was he right thing. A few years ago I heard a story about a similar situation about an old guy who came every day to brush his wife’s hair and read to her in the nursing-home. She no longer knew who he was, but he came there every morning. The nurses-aid finally asked him why he did this for someone who no longer knew who he was, and his answer was “Yes, but I still know who *she* is.” In retrospect, that was probably what my grandfather was thinking, and I miss him.

You broke my heart with that one - but not in a bad way. I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer’s long before she passed away. I took on the job of “staying with her” at my Grandfathers’s funeral to make sure she was as “ok” as possible. She thought she was at her *Father’s* Funeral and kept asking me If my grandfather was coming home from the Pacific any time soon :-( She was a lovely woman and the smartest person I ever met before she started her long fade.

Phil, that was Humor...... it’s in the Wikipedia :-) Maybe look under “poor humor” as that’s my usual brand :-) My experience with large corporations is that they only operate as astutely as their last Management change, and sometimes ideaology or groupthink can lead formerly sharp operations teams in strange directions. (Google Glass or coca-cola’s brief flirtation with “New Coke” anyone?) My guess is that there is more of a funding plan involved here than simply “lower land prices and offset with increased L$ transaction fees” and it wasn’t communicated at this time. Marketing strategies rarely get totally verbalized to the customer being marketed-to :-) In a minuscule sense, driving up the L$ transaction rate gives a small month-over-month advantage to landowners over renters. Renters must buy L$ to pay rent unless they have an inworld Gig. Land owners paying Tier are paying LL directly and therefore don’t HAVE to buy Lindens for that purpose. Thats not enough to really matter but it does differentiate “renter” from “landowner” a bit, and LL might prefer Landowners for the regularly scheduled income (altho both types come and go fairly fluidly). Hopefully LL has a game plan to keep SL financially secure for many years to come :-)

Phil, my point was that if their financial model was to subsidize the decrease in land costs via increased transaction fees, then their decrease in land costs is not *sustainable* and will either end or have to be subsidized by taking capital out of other parts of the business (meaning other things don’t get funded like server updates or pay raises to retain critical staff). Thats not being negative, thats just “having run a business” speaking :-). I want SL to BE here 15 years from now, and to do that - they need to remain fiscally solvent.

LL historically has a spotty record when they meddle in economics; for all the reasons listed in the preceding posts. If they based their revenue model on the # of transactions remaining the same as before the increase in the transaction fee; I suspect that cannibas or alcohol was involved :-) When I was in my early 20’s, I learned not to balance my checkbook while well into a bottle of wine..........