Madelaine McMasters

Tristizia Demonista wrote: What was this old saying? "Every Country gets the Government it deserves" ? Although i can't see what the US did to deserve something like the Rep. Candidates. I think this is the result of a gradual reduction in our patience for thought. Reality TV is another thing we've brought upon ourselves.

Dillon Levenque wrote: Sorry the sound is really low; you'll have to crank it up. Took me forever to find it. Damn it. SL won't accept my link. Maybe I can just drop it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhyRpvgm03g The audio at the end reminds me of something from a Dennis Miller skit. I'm not a fan of his but it was very funny, about the remake of 'Physcho': "It will be just like the original except it will feature a new cast of viibrant young actors. And it will suck." (paraphrased) Dillon, I'm sure we suffer from what Bruce McCall calls "Faux Nostalgia" but gosh darnit, I love that old stuff. I listen to Wisconsin Public Radio's "Old Time Radio Theater" on Sunday nights and nothing makes me want to pull the blanket over my head like hearing an episode of "The Whistler". And Sigourney Weaver killing Aliens will never, ever, ever match the allure of Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Robbie the Robot and that scary invisible monster in "Forbidden Planet". /me turns out the light and shivers.

If that Thing eats Kurt Russell and leaves Goldie Hawn, I'm rooting for it.

Where's Steve McQueen when you need him?

Dillon Levenque wrote: Madelaine McMasters wrote: You're both invited to dinner at my place. Only if you promise not to serve squirrel again. Normally I wouldn't mind that but you steal all the walnuts from your poor squirrels; they're just skin and bones. I'll stuff them with walnuts.

I love this Ceka. The internet has opened up a whole new way for people to collaborate and it's fantastic. Here's another example of a prepared collaboration... And another collaboration of a different sort, where one editorial vision collects otherwise ordinary YouTube tracks to create something extraordinary...

I was reading CNN online this morning and stumbled across this ghostly vision of Homer Simpson haunting Rick Santorum in Iowa... Anybody else got evidence of the approaching spookiness?

Wildcat, that song (well, the video really) reminds me of the old English folk song "Fair Maid Walking" or "Fair Maiden in the Garden". I wish I could find an online copy of Lisa Gutkin (of the Klezmatics) singing it with the band "Whirligig" as it's just beautiful and elicits a tear every time I hear it. I did find this. The story is intact and the fella does a fine job, but he's no Lisa Gutkin ;-) I'm still quite infatuated with "The Civil Wars", so here's another tune for this sunny Sunday... If you don't get goosebumps around the 2:35 mark (or anywhere in that tune) I don't know what I'm gonna do with ya'll. Have a glorious Sunday, Everybody!

http://jofish.com/writing/smellasmedia35.pdf I saw Jofish's prototype. I must say that after watching it work, I walked away thoroughly impressed with the elegance and efficiency of written language. In one paragraph of text, Mark Twain could better describe a fragrance to me than inStink could synthesize from it's crude palette of scents. Your nose can perceive only a smell. Your imagination can perceive anything. Humanity has a huge pool of shared experience from which to draw, making the written word the most powerful tool we have. I'd like to see better ways of using our tremendous sensory bandwidth, but I don't think it will be easy. And the idea of sharing experiences competes for my attention with the idea of expanding them. Wouldn't you like to feel the wiggle of a bacterium floating in that drop of water?

Celestiall Nightfire wrote: Madelaine McMasters wrote: It helps to start out old, Kylie. Dad was 50 and Mom 43 when I was born (I'm an only) and I was home schooled. So there's a generation gap between me and anyone my age. I've never owned a TV and I never will. My ex hubby had one for a while and I watched old shows in the student lounge in college, so I'm not completely out of touch. The forum spam means nothing to me, nor do most of the trivia questions in SL clubs. But, when I step outside, the fall colors look the same as they did to natives here 5000 years ago. Maybe at some point we become timeless? Ah yes, my separated by a transdimensional space-warp sibling. My parents were actually fairly young when they had children, but each was the youngest of their siblings and were "oops" babies born to older parents. So, my parents, had older ways, than the parents of my contemporaries. We *had* a TV when I was growing up. It's just that it was a prehistoric black & white TV, with old-timey rabbit-ears for reception. Which means, you really couldn't see anything on it. Oh, then at some point the networks quit broadcasting in black & white...and my parents bought a color TV. That color TV was a reject item from the local Sears store's "scratch & dent" section. (it had a dent in the side) But, again, without cable or whatever it is that gives good reception, we still could not see much. I recall my boyfriend at that time trying to get reception to watch a football game at our house. Of course, none of us knew anything about sports, but we wanted him to feel at home. So, my family tried and tried to get some kind of reception on that TV. Even had someone climb onto the roof of the house, and move this bigger roof antennae around, while a second person was posted in a back bedroom with the window open, to relay the shouted instructions, "A little to the left...no, no..the other way. Ok, stop!...no, no..back, back!, and so on. At some point my boyfriend, looked at me and said, "Well, *now* know why your family does not watch much television!" Mom is the youngest of 14, Dad was raised by his grandfather. When Dad crawled on the roof, it was to adjust the antenna for the crystal radio we'd built together, using a piece of galena he'd placed in our garden so I could find it. I married the boyfriend who wondered about my family. I divorced him too, forcing him to return the money my Father paid him to take me ten years earlier. You can take the girl out of odd, but you can't take the odd out of the girl?

Dillon Levenque wrote: Kylie Jaxxon wrote: Dillon Levenque wrote: The kid looked at my ID and said, "Jeez, you're almost as old as my mom." :matte-motes-agape: Edited out my little story. I'll remember that I have something to ask you about when we meet, and we will meet somewhere down the line. You're both invited to dinner at my place.

Aramis Calcutt wrote: No messages on the screen ... just gradual slowing down, pausing, and "skipping" that lead to the kernel panic. Doesn't happen with any other application. And it happens with SL viewer and Phoenix viewer. Aramis, this reminds me of problems I had on my old MacBook Pro, which I ultimately traced to dust in the GPU cooling fan, preventing it from spinning. When Mac OS sees the GPU temperature rising, it will increase fan speed. When it can't increase fan speed more, it will then start throttling back the GPU clock. SL gets very unhappy when this happens. You might try one of the freeware tools for displaying GPU/CPU temperatures and fan speeds. If you see the GPU fan indicating maximum speed, but your Mac seems quiet, and the GPU temperature is high, you may have a blocked/stalled fan. Good luck!

Deltango Vale wrote: It would seem you and I are the youngest people on the forum, though I breached the big 30 a couple years ago Did you have a crush on Don Johnson of Miami Vice? Don Johnson? Arte Johnson!

Sy Beck wrote: Parhelion Palou wrote: I was referring to the Parametric Deformer Project from the original post. The Parametric Deformer Project involves modifying the avatar code in the SL client so that mesh clothing will conform to the avatar mesh. The client has has to have access to to the avatar mesh since the client is where your avatar is drawn/baked. Sy wondered if the source code could be used to create something that would modify other objects. I don't believe that will be possible. Thanks Parhelion. So the open source code once it's available can't be used/modified to perform the same kind of mechanic on any other object? Anyhoos, I can sense that this topic is soon going to start to go over my head so I'm going to fall back on that wise adage, "It's better to shut up and appear stupid than to open your mouth and confirm it.". So I shall go sit on the sidelines with matron and the wheezy boys and watch and listen. The problem with open-sourcing viewer code (that cat has been out of the bag for some time) is that SL content (textures and sculptie maps) must be sent to it for rendering. If you can build your own viewer and know enough (I don't) to dig into the wiring, you have the keys to the kingdom. This will be true of mesh as well, since it's the viewer that must interpret the mesh description in order to draw it. In the music world, while the decompression code (MP3, AAC decoders, etc) might be open-source, the rights management tools (Apple's Fairplay, Windows PlaysForSure DRM, etc) are not. If you have rights managed content, you must use a licensed player to hear it. There is no equivalent for Second Life. And don't pipe down because don't think you know the topic, Sy. I don't have a firm grasp of it either and showing that is the fastest way to get teachers to come out of the woodwork ;-)

Parhelion Palou wrote: I was referring to the Parametric Deformer Project from the original post. The Parametric Deformer Project involves modifying the avatar code in the SL client so that mesh clothing will conform to the avatar mesh. The client has has to have access to to the avatar mesh since the client is where your avatar is drawn/baked. Sy wondered if the source code could be used to create something that would modify other objects. I don't believe that will be possible. Yeah, I don't think it could modify other objects, Sy was also wondering about copying, and I think that's doable, just as sculpties and textures can be snatched by nefarious viewer code right now. One wouldn't need to wrap one's mesh around another, just extract the original mesh from the viewer and be done with it.

Cinnamon Mistwood wrote: Maddy - Loooooove Shel Silverstein!!!! We have most of his children's poetry memorized in this house (his adult stuff is fun, too) I still feel the need to cry like a sap if I read The Giving Tree (pun intended). If Maddy is deepfrying some of the mess, I request some deep fried icky, sticky bubblegum. Cinn, just for you...

Sy Beck wrote: I'm not sure if you are understanding my premise. Let's say that you are a furniture creator and have made an exquisitely detailed table in either prims, sculpts or even mesh, you've made it no copy and no mod and it sells very well. I buy one of your tables and then using a mesh deformer I'm able to wrap a mesh around it to match your table exactly. I can then take your table back into inventory or delete it. I now have a perfect copy of your table bar any textures or scripts you might have had in your original. My copy would, because it was my mesh, be full perms. Therefore I can now have your table with that checkerboard texture I always wanted and I can make more copies of it if I wanted to and maybe I could even sell them to. Like I said, I'm only speculating as to whether this is possible somewhere down the line with this deformer. I don't know about this deformer thingie you mention Sy, but I think the way you'd want it to work is for the SL engine to accept "delta" mesh descriptions, which somehow allow you to define a mesh only as a deformation from some underlying thing, not as an absolute. So if you wrapped your upholstery material around a sofa, then deleted the sofa, your mesh would collapse. While this sounds like the right way to do it, I expect it's practically impossible, as you don't know how many vertices are in any underlying mesh, nor how your textures should map to the mesh. So it's prolly the case that you can only wrap objects for which you have the underlying mesh, and that allows copying but perhaps only by nefarious tools.

Parhelion, wouldn't a parametric deformer need parameters from which to construct itself? This means the underlying mesh must be accessible, and therefore copyable, unless the SL engine allows "delta" parameters from an inaccessible mesh, which would make great sense. Then a clothing mesh could say "wrap me 3mm outside the mesh under me" and let SL keep its secrets.

Dillon Levenque wrote: Second Life helps keep me young. Did you get that backwards, Dillon?

Hippie Bowman wrote: A crew of two. Sitting at the helm, safe from the chaos and harshness of deep space. Ahh yes!! What a perfect place to be!! Hippie, I think you're right. There is something compelling about braving dangers with a first mate, whether in space... ...or a nightclub. ;-)

Nacy Nightfire wrote: It is in fact ME thats the oldest and that's why I act so childish childlike in SL. Nacy, I hope you don't mind if I "fixed" it for you. I don't know you all that well, so hope I've picked a better word ;-) I want to once again put on my white go-go boots (where any of us thought we were GOing I haven't a clue) and my Mary Quant lip gloss, if only for a minute in the privacy of my own home. I know a great many folks who'd get true joy out of seeing you once again put on those go-go boots. You aren't the only one still able to fully inhabit the youth of your old soul ;-) Edited twice, because at my age I'm allowed a few "do-overs" At your age you're allowed all the "do-overs" you can stay awake for ;-)

Kylie Jaxxon wrote: Wow, Maddie...I can't imagine never to have watched television at all :smileysurprised: Curious...do you take in movies? Kylie, as I noted, I did watch some TV in college and some during my marriage. The rapid fire editing of most shows of those times (late 80's, early 90's) made my head hurt, so I watched mostly old shows like Route 66, Twilight Zone, Andy Griffith, Dick Van **bleep** (I never liked I Love Lucy). I was also a member of the "Hi Bobbers", who would sit in the student lounge and yell "Hi Bob" along with whoever greated Bob Newhart on his show. When I was little, Dad played rented movies on an old projector in the barn. And I do mean old. It was built in 1916 and played synchronized records for the sound track. Dad added a gizmo to play sound from newer movies, so I'm familiar with the works of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd (I met his grandaughter while wearing glasses like his, she got a giggle out of it) and Charlie Chaplain. Years ago, a string quartet from Chicago called "No Talking Please" came to Milwaukee to show Chaplains' "The Gold Rush". They had re-scored the movie and played live during the showing. It was magnificent. Chaplain scored the original soundtrack and theirs just blew it away. I have not been able to enjoy watching the movie as much since. Someday (I still haven't gotten over the trauma) I will tell the story of trying to slice a banana on the shutter wheel. Oh, and given a choice to go ballroom dancing with the Howard of my choice, I'd pic Curly over Trevor in a heartbeat (Ron's okay too). If I had to pick a Clooney, it would be a draw between Rosemary and George.

Tiffy Vella wrote: Perhaps the best things are timeless, anyway? Mmm hmm :-)

It helps to start out old, Kylie. Dad was 50 and Mom 43 when I was born (I'm an only) and I was home schooled. So there's a generation gap between me and anyone my age. I've never owned a TV and I never will. My ex hubby had one for a while and I watched old shows in the student lounge in college, so I'm not completely out of touch. The forum spam means nothing to me, nor do most of the trivia questions in SL clubs. But, when I step outside, the fall colors look the same as they did to natives here 5000 years ago. Maybe at some point we become timeless?

Kylie Jaxxon wrote: IDK, Hippie...I've heard in the very near future, you can pay to have your ashes sent up in space. Now that would be quite a way to spend eternity :matte-motes-sunglasses-3: Great story!! Kylie, Dad's last letter to me contained instructions to spread his ashes. It's been three years since his passing and I'm just barely getting started. Shortly after his death and with the help of a lovely fella in a local club (who had the necessary ATF license), I launched a bit of Dad up over 8300 ft in a model rocket, where he was poofed out by the parachute ejection charge. When Mom dies (she's taking her time, she is) I will mix some of her ashes with his and pour them into a weather balloon, which I'll then fill with helium and release. It will rise to more than 100,000ft before bursting, giving them a few of the curvature of Earth not unlike that in the photo in Hippie's OP story. They will then forever drift around the globe together, to be inhaled by countless generations to come. That's an eternal vacation in near-space for only $100!