Orwar

Woke up, decided to just skip the 6 new pages, and .. Gifs. The thread has been improved upon, I see!

"I took my grandmother to one of those spas where little fish eat your dead skin. It was really affordable, only $45 - much cheaper than putting her in the graveyard."

I take it that's a no, then?

A man in a restaurant asks the waiter how they prepare their chicken. The waiter goes blank for a second, before saying "Nothing special, really. We just tell them they are going to die." "I was digging a hole in my garden when I found a stash of golden coins. I ran inside the house to tell my wife, but then I remembered why I was digging in the garden." Doctor: "And how is it going with your old ailment, Mr Smith?" Mr Smith: "Very well, thank you. I have been divorced for six months now." My girlfriend admitted to me that she used to be a Christian, so I immediately broke up with her. It may appear judgmental, but really, I've only ever known and loved her as Christine.

Tee hee. ... I'm not caffeinated yet.

Does that mean you don't wish to congregate with followers of Lucifer ..?

Today's peeve ... Groups for some of the larger mesh bodies/heads being used for advertising random junk people make for them. I'm in those groups because I want to be notified in case there's a new version of their products that I should update to, not have hundreds of advertisements for cheap BOM eyeshadows that look like they were drawn by blind monkeys.

Generally speaking, it's advisable to pick a head or body which's shape appeals to you the way it is, as it'll save you a bunch of work. Butt (teehee), when it comes to Maitreya vs. anything else, the overwhelming bias towards Maitreya in terms of clothing options does make it a more complex issue. To answer the thread's title in simple terms, though: yes. You can use deformers to flatten the posterior, I got one for that on Neph. However, this can break certain clothes depending on how they've been rigged (I have clipping issues at the lower back with some pieces - which with BOM and alpha masks isn't an issue ... Except when they're sheer/transparent and skintight, and Neph has a lot of that). There are a few different brands that offer deformers of various strengths, I'd suggest trying them all out in-world to see how it looks with your shape. And, a minor thing but something that might matter to some; deformers do occupy an attachment point on your avatar. Neph has something like 6 different deformers (stomach, posterior, two for the shoulders - down and in, one for the thighs, and occasionally one for the bosom when wearing certain corsets) - that does add up pretty quickly. Therefor I'm biased towards deformers that are modifiable, so that I can rez and link them to produce a single attachment out of them.

Orwar's opinion of ValKalAstra increased by 5 pts. Orwar's opinion of ValKalAstra increased by 5 pts. You better watch out, at this rate you may end up making friends!

Nuuuh, someone beat me to lecturing Scylla on the history of the Left! Huffs. But yeah. A lot of people seem to forget about the provisional government. Or like, heard of it to begin with. I know people who have been staunch communists their entire adult lives (as in, the kind who quite openly support Stalin until you point out what a meanie he was - only to five minutes later go back to praising Stalin, because changing your political views is really difficult!) - many of them proudly saying that 'we' (because, it's always 'we' with those types - I mean if you once sat on the stairs of your high school with a cardboard sign saying 'capitalism = bad' you've participated) .. overthrew the Czar! ... Except they in fact overthrew a pretty genuine shot at creating a democracy out of a country that was sort of in the middle of a little something we these days call 'The First World War', which in turn led to a regime whose death toll would make Mr. Toothbrush Mustache blush (not Chaplin). Rough!

Is that a 'no' on the Ghost, then? Pouts.

Well, the only thing that comes to mind is a more hands-on approach .. Sooo .. Have you heard of our Lord and Saviour, Papa Emeritus?

Well, to be fair, libertarianism is the antonym of authoritarianism, so you wouldn't be oppressed by a government .. Although if it went as extremely as how the so-called 'libertarians' (*coughs*anarchists*cough*) of America want to take things, I expect we'd soon find ourselves at the mercy of an unrestrained Google-gone-Feudal. Now that's a dystopian SciFi flick I'd watch.

I don't think SL would be a 'thing' if it weren't for the fact that it offers so many options of what you can do. If you're into fashion, there's plenty of clothing and styling to play with, and add photography and animating into it and you've got a full flung hobby. If you're into vehicles, there's both racing tracks (within one sim, for rally-esque style driving) and road networks (cross sim, across many of the continents, both railroad and roads for ground vehicles), seas and ponds (for sailing and rowing around in), and air space (for helicopters, aircraft, hovercraft, etc). If you're into music, there's plenty of clubs catering to various genres, and live performances by musicians and singers of a great variety of styles. If you're into art, there are plenty of galleries displaying both RL and SL art, as well as virtual museums that make exhibitions which you might not be able to visit in RL due to your geographical location (or any other reasons). If you're into socialising, there are plenty of venues catering to different types of people (and again, clubs, pubs, gardens, etc). If you're into adult stuff, there are plenty of places to explore that. If you're into mesh and tech, or just want to play around with the in-world build tools, there are plenty of sandboxes where people can do so together and help each other, as well as places dedicated to teaching people how to make stuff. That's my favourite feature of SL - if I grow bored of taking photos, I can snatch a friend or two and go play some Greedy, Hand and Foot, Othello, Cards Against Humanity, Skippo, Chess, darts, or bowling. Or I can take one of my cars or bikes for a drive around one of the continents, maybe play some GTFO and explore along the way. Or I can go sit in my row boat and slowly trail the shores of Bellisseria whilst philosophising with a friend or two. Or I can go to an RP sim, or a sex sim, or hop into one of my friends' hangouts and chat with people. As many of us like to point out (or scream at people); SL isn't a 'game', it shouldn't be approached like a 'game'. Even the most intuitive sandbox 'games' got nothing on SL in terms of creating stuff in real-time with other people around you. You can play games within SL, heck there's even pretty decent pool tables out there that can be great fun, whether you're killing time by yourself, or if you're hanging out with people.

It's not like our news media is plastered with 'Murrican politics, and like many of us have daily contact with friends, business associates and even partners in the US via the very thing you're using right now to communicate with a global audience.

Why does it matter that she's a woman, though? Surely, if you want equality, all persons should be equals before the law.

Of course science challenges 1 + 1.

Mwihi. But yes, that's a pretty common complaint, that the tea smells nice but tastes like hot water. The most common mistake is that you don't brew it long enough or hot enough (my brother still just puts tea in a tea sift and pours hot water through it like a caveman). There's also some confusion regarding how much tea to use - a lot of 'tea enthusiasts' will brew these huge cups of tea, with a single tea bag - and if that's what someone enjoys, fine, but it's not how it's intended to be done. There are a few different do's and don't's when it comes to brewing tea. Don't use those small wire balls for loose leaf tea, they're pretty pointless (as are the locket spoons) - the tea needs space as the leafs expands when they draw in water, if their expansion is inhibited, the flavour won't release properly. Personally I tend to use a wire basket that's just a little smaller in diameter than a common cup, which gives the tea plenty of space to expand and for water to circulate, but if you don't have one of those you can brew it in a pot or pitcher instead, and then pour it through a sift to get rid of the leafs. One teaspoon goes for one teacup - except you also sacrifice one teaspoon to the deities of tea for each brew; if you make one cup, that's two spoons, if you make two cups in a tea pot, that's three spoons (although it does vary depending on the tea). It's also important to consider how much tea you're making - most cups and mugs are 20-30 cl and up, whilst a teacup is 'supposed' to be about 15 cl. So if you're using a big cup, you're essentially brewing 'two cups'. If you use twice the amount of water without increasing the amount of tea, it'll have half the concentration of flavour. For ye olde IKEA mug, I use two (heaped) teaspoons of tea (and occasionally a 'tip'), and don't fill it all the way up (leaving a little space for the milk, and keeping in mind that I'll want to walk with the cup through the house to sit down by my desk without spilling!). I like my tea pretty strong though, others prefer it less so, some people go further. Then, there's the brewing time - black teas are usually suggested to be brewed around 3-5 minutes, 3 minutes are the minimum (one for the colour, one for the flavour, one for good luck), 4 minutes is what I usually aim for, by the 5 minute mark the tea has begun to turn bitter, and past that point it's going to taste like wood stain. Keep in mind that throughout that time, you'll want to keep the tea hot. An interesting science thing is how tea onboard airplanes is never any good - that's because the lower air pressure reduces the boiling point of the water, meaning the water isn't actually hot enough to steep the tea even when it's at a boil in the skies. My immersion basket has a small brass bowl where you put it once the tea is done, but whilst the tea is brewing I'll place it on top of the cup and pour a splash of hot water from the kettle in it to ensure that the heat loss is as little as possible (and of course, before the kettle has reached a boil, I'll put a bit of hot water from it in the cup to warm it, to make sure that the cup doesn't act like a heat sink when I pour the brewing water in it). ... Aaand. Tea.

Fun fact: Earl Grey is the product of a (very successful) attempt of making bad quality tea passable through masking the flavour with bergamot oil. Personally I don't hate it. It's not my go-to though. It's the same with tobacco, the second largest Swedish snus product is scented with bergamot oil - it's nice once in a while, but after half a day you miss the taste of just plain smoked tobacco.