Madelaine McMasters

Canoro Philipp wrote: defining "rape" as being forced to commit sexual activities against your own will, i could see a possibility, like threatening a user that has given some private information to expose that information if the person dont perform sexually for the other user. or threating to Abuse Report the other and cancel their account if sex doesnt happen. there must be laws against threating someone to perform sexual acts, doesnt matter if the threat happen using the internet or not. one thing to consider, is that not all the users of second life are american, and the law of the united states dont cover the entire planet. I haven't been following the laws concerning bullying, but the general drift seems to be in the direction of allowing prosecution of individuals who cause emotional harm, with no requirement for direct compulsion of the victim. This requires clear evidence of a history of harassment, which might not be available in the case of a "mind rape". I'm far too ignorant of law to make a cogent argument here, but technology's increasing presence in our lives, its unfailing memory, and our ever increasing understanding of our own brains gives me reason to think that this general drift will continue.

If you subscribe to Ray Kurzweil's "singularity" vision, I imagine this could one day come before the courts. Emotional and mental abuse are not (as far as I know, which ain't a lot) illegal, though they may be grounds for consideration in divorces, child custody battles and the like. The problem with such abuse is that it's difficult to prove. There is no clear physical evidence of the transgression, so it becomes a matter of one's words against another's. If you forsee a future in which we merge with technology, there may well be tangible evidence of our thoughts, just as there is a trail of our interactions here on SL's backup servers. The SL trail might offer the courts a glimpse into our thoughts, but nothing more. In a future where our thinking might be peformed or recorded by machines, I imagine we'd have conversations about "mind rape". We may also have conversations about "mind rewind" and countless other things we've not yet anticipated. ETA: One could also imagine a future in which something like Functional MRI gets close enough to peering into our thoughts that we might find evidence of mental abuse. The courts will follow the science.

BadEddy wrote: any way to make ropes and chain look better? By that I mean like on this image bellow: http://imageshack.us/a/img845/126/particlerope001.jpg as you can see on the image the rope is not a continuous rope and is cut at many places. I find that annoying. Any tricks to prevent that ? Hiya BadEddy: It's possible you simply aren't emitting enough particles/second to avoid gaps in the stream. Try decreasing PSYS_SRC_BURST_RATE (I don't know why they call it rate, it's an interval). You can set it to zero to burst particles as fast as the viewer will allow. You might also try a PSYS_SRC_BURST_PART_COUNT greater than one, though I'm not sure that'll help. If all particles in the burst are rezzed in the same location and undergo the same forces, they'll appear as one particle. Even if these changes improve things, you may still see gaps in the rope if your viewer is bogged down with too many particles, either from your own emitter or others within view. So make sure your viewer's particle count is set high enough and that you aren't in a place filled with other particle emitters. Good luck! ETA: As Freya mentioned while I was composing this, motion at either the emitting or target end of the rope may also cause breaks, as the particles are like a stream of droplets emitted from a garden hose. If either end of the rope moves, the particles may not appear fast enough to cover the distance traveled by either end.

Perrie Juran wrote: Lucretia Brandenburg wrote: Aside from men playing Lesbians, and women who say they are Lesbians to avoid being hit on, there are straight women who happen to be Lesbians in SL. Would they ever pursue a Lesbian relationship in RL? Doubtful, many I have met are happily heterosexually married in RL, but SL is a place that can be used as an alternative to RL, and for some, that means straight men who are gay in SL, and straight women who are Lesbians in SL. Marvin gets sooooooooooooooooooooooooo confused sometimes. @ Lucretia: Although I'd probably never pursue a lesbian relationship in RL (those 20 minutes with my grad school roommate don't count), I'll also never again pursue a hetero one. Ten years of marriage was more than enough proof for me that I'd be happier alone than with a fella, even one as wonderful as my ex-husband. Two and a half roller coaster years with a woman in SL was (probably ;-) more than enough proof for me that I'd be happier alone than with a gal. @Marvin: I've said I pretend to be lesbian in SL and I pretend to be straight in RL. I share your confusion!

Hippie Bowman wrote: valerie Inshan wrote: This one would be perfect for Maddy!!! :matte-motes-evil-invert: OMG! HAHAHAH! Almost spit coffee on my keyboard! Whew! Peace! ... swoons!!!!

I hadn't seen her before. I've been attending Moth storytelling hours in Milwaukee, as well as Ex Fabula. Ordinary people get up on stage and, for five minutes, tell extraordinary stories. One of these days I'll tell one. And there is also NPR's Three Minute Fiction. Wonderful stuff. So much to do, so little time.

Ima Rang wrote: Madelaine McMasters wrote: Ima Rang wrote: Maybe you could post a pic of the female avatar you used so we can all see what a man magnet looks like in the pixel. Is this a pictorial commentary of what you think about the OP or the male gender, or both? It's self referential. Do you see anything magnetically attracted to me?

Ima Rang wrote: Maybe you could post a pic of the female avatar you used so we can all see what a man magnet looks like in the pixel.

Good morning, Hippie!

Kezio wrote: Syo Emerald wrote: We just notice that you seem to be the only one who expieranced this...or at least describe it like that. I can in fact run around like a tramp and there would be nearly nobody who starts to talk "dirty" in IM. I get compliments every once in a while and sure, on adult sims sometimes a direct question for sex...but thats it. And I have never meet anynone who described it has bad as you did and not even once in all the years did I heard such things you say. So this doesn't speak for a general behavior at all. Do you know what I think? You are way to thin skinned and see every dumb flirt as asking for sex and harassment. There must be a reason why your experiances differ so much from anyone else. This screams for a fieldtest I would say..... I wonder if things were different between the years 2007-2009 thats when i had my female avatar and all the unwanted attention.I dont know what its like now for female av users because ive been a guy since last year, things maybe have calmed down now, back between those years i think there were a lot more people inworld, many of places i used to hang out back then are now empty. I arrived in SL in early 2008, with the hope of getting hit on. Although I'd yet to learn what a profile was and so had a blank one, by day two a companion had found me. Over the two and a half years we were together, she got hit on much more than I did. Even so, I don't think she ever got hit on as much as you recall. There was a time when it seemed like we were hit on every time we went shopping at naughty stores, so we switched to exploring other places. There could be any number of reasons for these differences. I got hit on more when I was a noob, perhaps because I was a noob. That would have made me more attractive to amorous veterans looking for someone over whom they'd have an advantage. There were many more people entering SL back in 2008, so the noob population (which you might expect to be more gregarious) was probably larger. SL's aggregate retention rate is now negative and I'd not be surprised to see that the SL demographic, like the US RL demographic, is greying. We have our circles of friends and don't bed hop like we once might have. The moment I leaned how to flesh out my profile, I did. I expect that reduced interest in me, as I claimed then, as now... Born on a sultry summer's eve in 1970, I was home schooled in the 1940s. I have never owned a TV. I love: Feynman, Twain, Earhart, J.S. and PDQ Bach, Frost, and Grappelli and Reinhardt "Scopes", including tele, micro, stetho and most of all... oscillo. Yes, I look this good in RL. Don't we all? In the five years since creating that profile, I've been hit on more by Feynman lovers than potential lovers. Don't underestimate the power of a profile.

Kezio wrote: I had no intention of upsetting anyone by asking the original question male or female, so if it has annoyed anyone then it wasnt meant. I havent checked out this forum for a long while and hadnt known that the question had already been answered many times. As for being annoyed at the first few responses, thankyou for explaining why in a better way, sometimes i find it hard to express exactly what i mean, but i felt like i was being made fun of for asking what i did, and i thought that was unecessary and hurtful, i dont think anyone likes being made fun of in a public place. Kezio, I've been online for a very long time and I've learned that anonymity is a double edged sword. For better or worse, you'll have to grow a thicker skin to participate in venues like this. Fortunately, having a thick skin does not deny the pleasure of delivering a gentle touch. I think people sometimes confuse satire with sarcasm. While I can enjoy making fun of ideas, I don't enjoy making fun of people. I enjoy making fun with them. That said, I do enjoy mock sarcasm and hope that if you're ever the target of mine, you'll see the affection behind it. The surest way I know to put a smile on my own face is to put a smile on yours.

I have a sugar-mommy alt that holds my payment information. I don't think I've ever teleported her, so she gets pushed from info-hub to info-hub as they vanish from the grid. I have another alt I originally created for a long-time online friend I hoped would follow me to SL. He was smart enough to demure, leaving Snugs to haunt me for the last five years. I've used Snugs to set couples poses and to aid in making machinima. I haven't actually made one yet, so Snugs' value as an aid is questionable. To my consternation, Snugs is better liked by many of my friends than I am. For that reason alone, I don't recommend creating alts.

Caitlin Tobias wrote: Kezio wrote: Caitlin Tobias wrote: Syo Emerald wrote: Oh, let me guess you are a student and you have to finish some work for school? You beat me to it....So the next question will be how much hours per week/day we spend in SL. Or if we spend real money and how much, where we live, if we consider our avatar a real identity.....and so on. I find your reply rude and unnecessary to my question of male or female. You deliberately answered in such a way as to cause grief or anger to the OP, myself. I asked a simple question, so if you cannot answer in a nice polite manner then please dont answer at all. Really? I mean: really? I cause grief and anger? LOL. You better step away from the computer and have a nice long walk in the fresh air. Seriously. Also, once you post something in a public forum, people can and will reply, and not all will be rainbows and butterflies and agreeing with you. Caitlin, the OP was a question, not a statement (other than claiming that SL is "the place to be what you like"). So I don't see anything to agree with, or not. It seems to me Kezio was annoyed by your presumptuousness. Kezio, while I appreciate politeness, I wonder if requiring it is productive. Your question has been asked countless times in the forum, and we all wear different amounts of jade. In answer to your question, and as a demonstration of my own personal way to annoy... I play a female in both RL and SL. ;-)

Qwalyphi Korpov wrote: Madelaine McMasters wrote: Qwalyphi Korpov wrote: This place is A bad place A sad place A terrible place to live I tried to find an old SL machinima of a disabled man who found physical freedom in SL. Sadly, it eludes me. No doubt this can be a sad place Qwalyphi, but I hope that this has also been a happy place, a fullfulling place and a wonderful place for some to live. To those for whom it has been as you describe, I can only offer... ...hugs. oh... not in-world, not that place. .

Qwalyphi Korpov wrote: This place is A bad place A sad place A terrible place to live I tried to find an old SL machinima of a disabled man who found physical freedom in SL. Sadly, it eludes me. No doubt this can be a sad place Qwalyphi, but I hope that this has also been a happy place, a fullfulling place and a wonderful place for some to live. To those for whom it has been as you describe, I can only offer... ...hugs.

Ricky40 wrote: Just curious about what age most people make there avatars? Is the way you dress and play your avatar the same age as you in Real life or younger? Especially I guess I'm the fashion sense I am wondering. You'll have to take my word for it, but I dress my avatar about the way I dress my 43 year old RL body, or how I would if I weren't working in the yard. I do not drive my RL tractor in dress pants and a gorgeous sweater as shown at the moment in my forum badge, but I would buy a new tractor wearing that kind of outfit. As for whether I play my age? No. It seems I don't do that in RL either.

I don't think I've ever met anyone cool who hasn't done something dumb and therefore understands the futility (and perhaps the questionable morality) of hating dumb people. If you are speaking of dumb as an intellectual deficiency, I think compassion would be appropriate. If you are speaking of ignorance, wouldn't it be more productive to reduce their number by educating them? And like me, how do you know you aren't one of them? As for being "more like" others., we're a widely varied bunch. If you were more like all of us, you wouldn't be like any of us.

Oh yeah? Well what if common sense and a sense of humor are different things moving at the same speed? How's that dance for ya?

I saw a few episodes of the Tom Baker iteration of Dr. Who while in college and liked it. But I also prefer Curly Howard over his brother Trevor, so I might be an outlier.

Alicia Sautereau wrote: As i`m not a native english, maybe in this case it`s both If it sounds funny in my head i say it, must have mixed or mislabled the catagory more then a few thousand times this year alone :matte-motes-bashful-cute-2: Sarcasm Satire Mix it all with some selfspot Dry english type humor with a touch of dutch and mix it all up even better Admit it fails most of the time and people think i`m weird :matte-motes-wink-tongue: I greatly enjoyed Dutch humor when I visited The Netherlands in 1993. Is selfspot self deprecation? I've not heard that term before. You live in SL, you are weird.

Look who the cat dragged in!

Theresa Tennyson wrote: As humanity has expanded the area of "civilization" many wild animals have had their population decline dramatically but there's one big exception - the coyote. Coyotes are actually more widespread now than they ever have been. I heard someone describe the reason for their success by saying, "Coyotes never get into a fight they can't win." Makes sense to me. Theresa, I've got coyotes in my neighborhood. They followed the geese, which no longer migrate because the winters are now so mild. I love to hear them howl in the evenings. Some years ago I listened as the howling started south of me and drifted north across more than a mile. I know the howling can be both a gathering call and warning to other family groups, though I can't say I can't tell which of those I was hearing, perhaps it was both. During one of the cycles, a neighborhood dog, some yippy little thing, got in on the act. The coyotes immediately went quiet. I don't know for certain, but I like to think they were listening intently to the little snack advertising its location. The neighborhood has lost a few pets over the years. The coyotes do indeed win.