Dillon Levenque

More than one. :-)

Truly, I have no idea how I missed all these updates; I can only assume it's because I never logged in during the same 24 Hr. period the posts were 'current'. I mean, I think my off-color if not off-topic remarks were what spun the thread into the danger zone to start with. And now here I am playing catch-up six weeks later. So thank you, Mr. T. Linden. An oldie, just for you.

Once again you demonstrate why I find you so interesting. (In a mild and perfectly casual way, of course). I like this. :-)

Not to be all wet-blankety, but for the love of God, Snugs! Wake up! She's out of control and the cycle seems in motion. Stop it now while there's still time. I lit out for the territory for a few days and just got back last night, and now this. No. I been there before.

Agree with both of you. On the other hand, an "Are you NUTS?" would be often appropriate, but probably a bit too cruel.

I have no idea if or when what I think you were describing will happen, but if I'm right about what you meant I do believe VR will have a lot to do with it. Was thinking about this today listening to the news on the car radio: Amazon teaming with Walmart, Whole Foods, etc. How online retail was doing way better than real stores you can go to. I can see that; I buy a lot of stuff online just like everyone else. But for some things (oddly enough Amazon's original market) as far as I'm concerned they fall miles short. Books. When I know the author I want Amazon is fine. When I want to browse a section, they suck. I keep having to click and click and move here and move there. In a bookstore I can find, for example, the Science Fiction section and be looking at all the books in range. I can grab one that looks interesting (maybe I remember the author; maybe the title suggests a subject I'd enjoy), pull it off the shelf and read the liner notes and decide aye or nay. Can't do that with the internet. But: with VR, if it ever lives up to a fraction of the early hype (going back at least twenty years) that could be achieved. Trying to recall the name of that Crichton novel that included VR in a way it is still far short of achieving. Also I fail to see how it can work for I would think most people as a grocery store. Yeah sure, for canned/bottled/boxed goods maybe okay (subject to the same massively awkward browsing I described with books) but bread? Produce? MEAT? Are you really going to buy meat you've not even seen? Not this horse.* *As so often happens, I could not resist dropping a movie line. That one's from Ben Johnson in Brando's "One Eyed Jacks". The rest of the line is: "'Nuff shotgun down there to start a war". ETA ps: The Crichton novel was Disclosure. From 1994, so 23 years. I was close.

Same here on the fog, although without it I'd have had a fine view; I'm on the north side of a canyon so have a big view to the south. It was definitely darker than normal though at around 10:00 A.M. and was much lighter at 11:00. I watched on TV (for one thing friends of ours from Washington were camped at Madras) and the thing I liked best was the absolute pandemonium from each crowd at the moment of totality, seen as the coverage moved east . Several TV commentators onsite suggested the crowd would go 'insane' which is an overstatement; in my opinion (having done something similar once upon a time) it was the outpouring of a combination of joy, excitement, and pleasure. One female commentator pointed out that it was truly a shared moment for all who were there: unscripted, no cheerleaders, no scoreboard messages, no nothing except the unbridled feelings of the people there. I liked that thought. The something similar was the Transit of Venus in 2012. I was visiting my mother, who lived in Los Osos. I think I had the youngest with me (I used to take him to stay at Grandma's for a week or so during the summer). We decided to go to a place with a good view of the Pacific late in the day, the only time it would be visible from that location. We drove along the access road to a really beautiful state beach/park because it runs across higher ground most of the way giving good views to the west. Took forever to find an unoccupied spot on the shoulder to park the car; the road was almost parked solid by people with the same idea. We were there maybe ten minutes before sunset, by which time the transit should be visible where we were. No way to tell. The usual marine layer overcast. We could see where the Sun was through the cloud cover, but just because of the dim glow. As the Sun got closer and closer to the horizon we could hear cars starting as people gave up and left. We were of the "It's not over 'til it's over" school. Wasn't even a question. Closer and closer it crept (and once the Sun actually comes in contact with the horizon it vanishes below it quickly). The clouds were unmoved. More people left. Then the overcast opened just enough to reveal a small band of visibility just above the horizon. And there it was. Still obscured by a lot of airborne moisture but still a good view of the disc (which thanks to the fog we could look straight at) and there was the black disc of Venus, plain as day. I yelled, the youngest yelled, Mom might even have gotten louder than usual. All up and down the edge of the canyon where we were parked we could hear other people doing the same. We couldn't see anybody because the spot where we were was by then occupied solely by us. That had all the eclipse feelings plus maybe in our case a dash of self-congratulation for having stuck it out. I loved sharing that with all those unseen and unknown people.

There have been a whole lot of cartoon characters, but I don't think I like any of them more than Bugs. One of his best was "Duck Season", co-starring Elmer and Daffy, but he's so consistently funny, sardonic, and mostly unflappable that he's hard to resist.

I've seen this feature mentioned before but didn't pay much attention. I don't have such a feature. Is it an opt-in that I just skimmed past somehow? This is the entirety of my usual post window.

Woohoo Rhonda! Dynamite avatar badge!

Now you've done it. You KNEW I'd have to go here. I swear this just made me laugh. Again. I bet I've watched it 100 times. It's just so perfect.

I somehow skipped looking at this thread. Well, I shouldn't say "Somehow". I'm sure it was deliberate: like a great many of you I have been reading and responding to this topic in one forum or another for a long time. As my penance, I have read EVERY SINGLE POST I'd missed (okay; some of 'em I read really quickly). I am now current. My personal highlight in all that was seeing Phil himself suggest that maybe he might be a teensy bit prone to insisting upon having the last word in a disagreement. Like, disagree with Phil and at some point you'll wish you had a foam desk. More than one person pointed out that if there is a "Death of SL" it's going to take a long time (barring business collapses). I was reminded of a line in a Greg Brown song I like a lot. The song's pretty long so if you just want to cut to the chase, the relevant to this SL discussion line (which I happen to think is the best line in the whole song) starts around 2:50.

I fully understand that plenty of residents don't even glance at the Feed. I get that. But a lot of us do, just the same. I just checked and it actually seems to be at least in the process of restoration: someone's reply to my birthday message (posted late July) was in my Inbox when I logged in). Well not just someone. He's the SL partner and now RL husband of a very close friend; I was a bridesmaid at their SL wedding. Presiding was the Reverend Ms. McMasters (she's ordained, for reals). I freely and without prompting of any kind agree that Vick Forcella's Feed posts are witty and fun to look at. I suggest not bothering to hit on him; pretty sure the line of ladies ahead of you has gone around the block. I started a thread on the feed back when it was getting under way. Because so much of my SL and thus that of my friends involved music, that was what the thread was for. A way for us to share tunes we liked. Because it was mostly just people I knew and with whom I talked regularly it also got pretty chatty as we'd talk about our lives now and then. Both SL and RL. Because I'd not restricted access to anyone other than non-SL residents, a troll with an axe to grind was lurking there, and posted something gloating on his own feed about one of my friends. He'd learned about it on my music feed. She was a young person; I don't know how old but not past her early twenties. What she'd posted suggested thoughts of suicide. The troll's comment on his feed was "Good riddance', as I recall. She's still here, and will remain one of the most interesting people I've ever met. The troll's vile response made me think I should either restrict my feed or make sure everyone knew they were being watched. I knew MY preference but I polled the other contributors. They all agreed: make it Friends Only. As a result I've added a few people to my Friends list because others of my friends requested I do so. Or just because. Because I'd said something she liked on one of her posts, Ever Dreamscape actually started following me. I IM'd her to tell her I'd have to add her to my Friends list; that happened the next time I logged in. Less than a year later her RL family and all the rest of us who she'd touched lost her. A terrible loss. What an absolutely wonderful soul. The thing is, that ancient music feed of mine is still (or once again) a place we can all talk about our lives and other things. That's a nice thing and I treasure the Feed for making that possible. My Feed thread as of today. Note the stats at the bottom—over 5 years and pushing ten grand on the post count.

I love those ancient B&W horror movies. A friend I grew up with watched every single movie that ever was on late night TV (in those days any station that stayed on air after midnight showed old movies they could presumably get for free) to say nothing of all the movies of the day (his dad worked at the local walk-in). I was visiting one day and he saw this one was coming on that afternoon and insisted I watch it, just for one reason as it turned out. "The Black Scorpion". I had an instructor actually reference this film in a juco biology class! I can't recall the point he was trying to make but he used the phrase, "...about a giant scorpion that goes around stinging freight trains to death.", which has never left me. I'm pretty sure I was the only one in the class who'd actually seen the movie. If you're willing to sacrifice four minutes of your life you can never get back, the reason he insisted I watch is included in this clip (Hint: it's an important safety tip). At the time I nearly collapsed in laughter. ps. In related news our sources have learned that the science and research team members who stay over the winter in Antarctica traditionally have a shared party in which they screen "The Thing". Not sure if it's the original or the Kurt Russell remake (which is awesome).

For some reason (maybe because she never backed away from stating her case?) I think Scylla did get something of a reputation. I first actually spoke to her inworld at Hippie Bowman's very first Hippiestock, a yearly musical celebration aimed at all the Forumites. When I first walked into the center of activity I saw Scylla (who was, to put it mildly, a major voice in the Forum) dancing with several other females on a small side stage. As I entered the area she yelled, "Hi, Dillon!". After that I realized who and what she was: a total sweetheart with a steel backbone. Also, Maddy's story of watching one after another of her friends fall, screaming, to their deaths (I've seen it posted before) is so pricelessly Maddy. :-)

Okay, dammit. I've limited out. I have been around a whole lot of blocks a whole lot of times, and in both SL and RL I've found one thing to be consistently true. People who always refer to the people whose ideas they disagree with by using a derogatory term are unfailingly lacking in any ability whatsoever to carry on a rational conversation. Madlander is an example of that style. Not once have I seen that person use the term 'mainlander'. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Klytna. Your words have zero value for me.

Those are quite rare, they tell me. That's one sixth from the left if I'm not mistaken.

Absolutely. Face it. You're smitten. Deal with it...

Oh sure. Say something like that and then just walk off. No explanation, no sample picture, no nuthin'. You're a tease! ;-)

Since Skell Dagger brought it up: ever since the whole corporate fascination with "teambuilding" started it's made me want to vomit. Don't get me wrong; I have no problem with monthly, weekly, or now and then picnics/catered lunches/whatever. They're fun, they're a good way to let people enjoy the company of other people they might not see often. They are not and will never be anything to do with team building, Teams are built in a working environment among people who do their jobs properly and know who else in the company does the same. They learn who can be counted upon to get something done, or answer a question accurately, or help with a problem. Other people can be sweet as can be and always nice, and they may be a ton of fun at the Christmas party, but if they aren't the kind of people described in the previous paragraph, all the teambuilding exercises in the world are not going to make them part of anybody's team.

This is so unlike the Forum. All this time, all the separate mentions—underlined, even—of the phrase and still nobody posted this? Where are your priorities, people?

Well, shoot. I biffed a copy/paste and lost the entirety of a note I'd been writing as I read through this whole thread, start to finish. Oh, well. I guess I'll do a Cliff Notes version. Jerilynn Lemon got in way ahead of me, as I hoped to be the first to mention girl names from Beatles songs. I believe she was banking on "Michelle"; so was I. And later we found we are at least half right because someone else copped to that. Callum Meriman, thank you for invoking the great Douglas Adams. Of course it would be Maddy who gets to the use of the phrase "I don't know". I work in a technical field, have done throughout my career. I have frequently irritated salespeople by answering technical questions from would-be customers with "I don't know", when in fact that was the case. Not liking that answer is an attitude I shall never understand. Nor tolerate. Pamela Galli reminds us we missed a Beatles song with a girl's name. I bet she's killer-diller when she's dressed to the 'ilt. Oh, look out! And then Maddy reprises the 'I don't know' discussion by quoting a writer, a thinker, who was my idol long before I ever met Maddy, but as it turns out is someone she much admires as well. We have discussed him many times. The greatest American production of the 19th Century, Mark Twain. "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

Maddy will have to fend for herself, but in situations like this I always fall back on W. C. Fields. Cuthbert J. Twillie: Flower Belle, what a euphonious appellation. Easy on the ears and a banquet for the eyes. Flower Belle Lee: You're kinda cute yourself. Cuthbert J. Twillie: Thank you. I never argue with a lady. Flower Belle Lee: Smart boy. From "My Little Chickadee"; Mae West as Flower Belle Lee, W.C. Fields as Cuthbert J. Twillie. You really do have to see the movie to appreciate the hilariously over-the-top emphasis used in those few lines. They do not, in fact, make 'em like that any more.

The reference is to a very strategically assembled pair of bib overalls I used to wear a lot. I was getting teased about them at one of Naz's gigs and I said, "They're buttons!", prompting Naz's then partner to say, "Maybe that's what the kids in her neighborhood called 'em....".

You are not alone. I've been here for close to 90% of a decade and since I got slightly skin savvy I've changed skins once. So three in all: whatever I started with plus two more. People kept saying things about how much better the current skins were and I kept trying demos but although I liked the body parts well enough (although to be honest I couldn't see how they were all that much of an improvement) I hated what they did to my face. I don't WANT that look. It's not me. I realize I'm a bit of an outlier, but I wanted the ability to have a face that while hopefully looking feminine, did not have extremely female attributes, most especially the lips. I never found a skin that didn't accentuate those, and I don't want to accentuate. I've read posts from Maddy, and talked about it with her also, and she's not a skin shopper either. She may have worn even fewer than me and she's not bound by gender mismatches. She's just okay with herself. I'm okay with herself, too. Especially since when I finally got a good enough graphics card so I could stay on Ultra with ambient occlusion. That allowed me to see her in what she PUBLICLY ON THIS FORUM called, "...the full measure of my cuteness." :-)