Spiffy Voxel

I'm curious as to why the Lab picked macOS High Sierra as the new cut-off point. That version still supported 32-bit Mac apps; Catalina (which came out two years later) ended that, so I'm guessing it's not 64-bit requirement on the Mac side, perhaps more a case of the supported Mac hardware and/or available system extensions? Given that Mac support will change again at some point anyway in the future — OpenGL has been deprecated by Apple on macOS, so moves are afoot to support the Metal architecture on Mac — I'm just happy that I can still use Second Life on my 2017 iMac. (Currently on latest Firestorm, though I can also recommend Catznip (hi @Coffee Pancake!) and the latest project version of Alchemy Viewer if you're a Mac user looking for alternatives.)

As a former Windows sysadmin, I feel your pain. The backwards compatibility is great, up to a point, then becomes a mixture of comedy and tragedy.

The SLB performance team are contacting successful applicants directly to organise performance and/or exhibition slots. Yet, it is a bit of a lottery, I suspect there's a lot more applicants than there are available slots. (I'm not on the team, but I did get a performance slot, hence how I know this.) Good luck!

I'm a Slow Sunday Driver in Second Life, in part because I know better than to speed over region boundaries. 😆

If you have Discord set up, the developers are active there: https://discordapp.com/invite/KugCgs6 I've no idea if any of them monitor the Second Life Community Forums, so best to ask them directly how to go about compiling it.

I had a wander around there yesterday — there are a lot of hidden spots for you to find, and they call out various parts of both Bladerunner and Bladerunner 2049. Also, do have the music stream on while you explore!

Daylight Saving kicked in for USA* & Canada this morning, so any Second Life events from now until the 26th of March will be one hour earlier than usual. Google Calendar will reflect this change for you — I'm subscribed to several for various Second Life things. (*My understanding is that some states stick with the same time zone all year around.)

Speaking personally, this solidifies my resolve to cap my monthly expenditure on Second Life. That will mean focussing on rental payments first, with anything else set aside for supporting artists and regions, and only buying new things when the price is right and I'll actually use it. I'm fully aware that this isn't what many creators want to hear. Still, the blunt fact is that after cutting down on subscriptions and services IRL, Second Life is probably my most considerable discretionary expense most months. I love this place, but the amount of money I was throwing into it through L$ purchase was getting out of control. Something has to give, and that 'something' is in-world retail therapy.

LOL! I also received a lot of compliments in-world concerning the WW2 fighter planes of that name, and for a time I had a few "My Little Pony" avatars referencing the character of the same name from that franchise.

I did my name change back in 2020, and while I'd have preferred 'Spitfire' if that last name had been available, I feel that my chosen name works well and reflects more of who I am in Second Life. I dislike that it cost me $40 but the annoyance of people addressing me by my username instead of my display name was enough to push me to do the name change. The latest additions are... okay, I guess? But I cannot help but feel that the Lab view these purely as a money-making exercise. The irony is that they could probably make the options way cheaper and end up making more money due to increased take-up.

I was there yesterday, funnily enough. One of my favourite spots in Second Life.

It's my 8th rez-day on Saturday, I'm doing a disco party to celebrate. It has changed my life for the better — I'm now a broadcaster for two radio stations, and have made many friends here.

I've done this — purchasing something only to find I'd already bought it before — a lot! Fantasy Faire, Sci-Fi Con and Sci-Fi Expo are the worst places for me, so many shinies. My record has been three duplicate purchases, all from different years. I now double-check my inventory before buying any new item.

Be brave, Marianne! You can do it! 🏅 I've lost track of the number of freebie items and group gifts I've thrown out over the last few years, it was a lot! Second Life Birthdays are the worst, there's a whole room full of free items — one place to avoid this summer. And add Second Pride, Pride At Home, and BURN2 to that list, plus large swathes of Sci-Fi Con, Sci-Fi Expo, Fantasy Faire and most RFL/ACS charity events... so many temptations!

I don't have that big a friend list, but I suspect there are a few that are either no longer active in Second Life or not even an acquaintance anymore.

My heart goes out to Siddean, if I'd been in her shoes with all that RL threw at her the last few years, I'd probably do the same soul-searching. I hope she finds a new venture beyond Second Life where she can put her talents to good use and get that spark back. 🤞🙏

In 2022 I got back into the habit of visiting art galleries and music events (subject, as always, to their being on when I'm awake!). But my proudest achievement was to swear off shopping for the foreseeable future and instead spend my money supporting artists, performers and venues. I also gave up my Premium subscription and my land parcel on Sansara and moved to a rental spot over on Nautilus. My primary Second Life goal for 2023 is to (re)learn Blender and start making clothing and accessories for myself. Alongside that project, I'll be looking to switch bodies from my current Maitreya Lara to a PsiCorp Nova androgynous plus non-human hands and feet — no more pencil-eraser nipples! 😂 In 2021 I got a handle on texturing and created a custom skin for myself as well as retexturing my SNKN Vasaran alien head, and I'm planning to improve on that for my new mesh base ensemble. If I have time to spare, I'll try and improve my photography skills — I now have a studio skybox where I can play with lighting, scenery and poses. 📸

You don't mention if it's an iMac or a MacBook of some description, but I would advise buying and adding more memory if you're able to. With 8GB you're going to struggle to run Second Life at all unless it's the only app running. Adding more memory will work wonders to increase the lifespan of your Mac. (I speak from experience here.)

I share that frustration! I end up wearing the demo over an outfit that will keep me from becoming butt naked should the demo timeout and detach before I'm done checking it out. I can't see any good reason for putting a timer on demo items, and any store doing that won't be getting my custom in future.

I've used Authy on desktop and mobile in the past — my only complaint about the desktop app is that unless you give each entry a specific name it's easy to get them mixed up.

As someone who has an androgynous / slightly-fem look using a Maitreya body, I've reduced the Breast Size down to 35 which is close to the minimum you can safely go before some of my clothing will start to deform in unexpected ways. And that, alas, is where the problem lies — the clothing is rigged to both the mesh body and the shape keys, and the former places some limits on what you can do with the latter. (You'll run into similar situation with mesh heads if you push those shape keys past certain values.) Some of this depends on how well the clothing mesh has been designed and tested across a range of shapes. The V-Tech chests, as well as Maitreya's Petite and Flat chest mods, are workarounds for this, but they in turn require clothing that's rigged to take those mods into account. I'm not aware of any means of making Maitreya mesh clothing change to better fit, and I suspect that even if it were possible there's no guarantee that it would work across all clothing. Sorry. 🤷

I've encountered the odd inworld-only store from time to time, and particularly for those who've not jumped onto the mesh-body treadmill yet there are some sweet things out there. And yes, I've often gone exploring the areas around those stores, particularly if I spot a YavaScript pod ride passing by.

I use an email app on my Mac, and a paid one at that (Mailmate), partly out of habit — I've been using email one way or another for over 30(!) years now — and partly because it has helped me cull the detritus and file away the important stuff so I can find it. I was a Thunderbird user for a very long time, and am glad that it is still being developed. I've nothing against web-mail, I had a Gmail account from the early days in 2003 until 2015, but the downsides of those are that they can occasionally go down (yes even Google has done at times) and the UI gets tinkered with more often and not always in good ways.

I was human for my first year in SL (2015), then a variety of androids / dolls until 2017, then moved through several skins and tattoos plus three different heads (EVE, GA:EG, Catwa) before ending up with my current custom skins and SKNK Vasaran head last year. I've had a few alternative avatars, such as the Niramyth Wolfkin and a Dalek, but honestly I've not felt any need to use them for an age now, I love my current avatar that much. ❤️ At some point I'm going to try and go full non-human with a PsiCorp Nova body plus separate hands and feet. Being able to hack and mod my avi is one of the best things about SL.

Thank you @Marianne Little for those links — I've got a few platform shoes that always sink into the ground, so hopefully one of these alternative shoe bases will correct them so I don't look like I'm walking on water. :)