Dillon Levenque

Keltora Edenbaum wrote: My question for you is why does it matter? Why does it matter so much to you? It is up to the individual what they put in their profile. I see the profile as a way to express myself and to show others a little of who I am. I don't consider what I put in my profile about my husband "hook up" information nor have I ever warned anyone to ever stay away from him or I. As far as I know he hasn't either. The husband I have in rl is the very same husband I have here in sl. Showing a picture of him and I together or expressing my love for him in words has nothing to do with insecurity, but the fact he is my bestfriend and I enjoy expressing that. To me there is nothing wrong with that. He is the one who introduced sl to me many eons ago when I got really sick in rl and couldn't leave my house. All of a sudden I found myself not able to share or do all of the activities my husband and I both love in rl so he found a place where we could still do that. To keep my mind off being ill he also asked me to marry him in sl and I got to plan a huge wedding. I'm healthy now, but sl is a very special place for both him and I still because it was a saving grace through a very dark time in my life. So of course just as in rl I have pictures of us in our home, I also have them in my profile and our home in sl. I even put photos of my virtual kittycats in my profile and home just as I have them up of rl cat. It is just something I think people do as an expression of their love. I will update the photos every now and again as well as what I write. In fact right now I have been in the middle of updating my profile. I find it endearing when I see others sharing their love for their special someone, friends, family, etc. It is an act of love. At least that is how I view it. I find it more off putting when others state in their profile they are a "no drama" zone or when they feel the need to cuss incessantly or threaten others, etc. I usually avoid those people who have profiles like that. It all comes down to personal taste and what an individual wants to display in their profile. It is their space to share and they have every right to do with it as they please as long as it doesn't break the TOS. You have stated that you keep things on a casual level in sl which is completely acceptable and up to you, but not everyone is going to feel the same as you on that. That is alright too. Individuality and diversity is what makes the rl world and sl world go round. It is what also makes it interesting. I enjoyed reading your story. I do have to tell you that your husband has in fact warned me to stay away from him many, many times. Just kidding; it was the kind of line I find impossible to resist. I wasn't kidding about liking your story, though. Good for him and good for you too. Continued health to both of you. :-)

It is a bit surprising that you weren't aware that Mainland can only be owned (or rather leased, as Freya pointed out) by Premium members, but it is true and has been for a very long time. As Val suggested, you should make every effort to sell your land before you revert back to basic, so you can at least reap some L$ from it. There are lots of non-mainland places to live, many of them cost less than the $25/mo Tier on a mainland 4096. Timing matters, too: if you sell your land by a certain date you can make sure you don't get charged an extra tier payment. You'll need to study up on the rules for mainland tier to figure that out, but for $25.00 it's worth a few minutes of your time.

KarenMichelle Lane wrote: I've always wondered where they went..... U N I C O R N S :-D

If by friendship you mean knowing people who make you smile just because you see an offline IM from them in your email, or when they post to the feed or you see them inworld, then yes, it is still possible. It—friendship—is also the one thing above all others that keeps me connected to SL, and funnily enough I hadn't expected anything like that at all when I first came here.

Perrie Juran wrote: Now all we need is Twenty Seven 8 x 10 Color Glossy Photographs with circles and arrows............... I cannot tell a lie. I put that envelope there.

KarenMichelle Lane wrote: I need to post here more often! Today when I got home 2 1099Misc statements were in my mail waiting for me - LOL **I think i'm under the $600 USD reporting threshold this year so I won't get one from LL Indeed. It's not just the NSA. EVERYBODY is keeping an eye on this hotbed of dissidence. Or is it dissonance? Or maybe just dis nonsense? When the 'guests' outnumber the members four to one, you know there's a long line of spooks looking over our shoulder.

As for how much to tip: there's no standard percentage or anything even remotely like a standard. Tip what you want. Who to tip: I'd leave out all four of the categories you suggested with the occasional exception of hosts at clubs. The great majority of the musical events I visit are hosted either by the DJ or by an owner of the venue (and sometimes those are one and the same person). In those cases my tips go to the DJ or the venue itself, since the owner will need all the help she or he can get to cover tier and keep providing me fun places to hear music and meet friends. I will tip a host too, as long as he or she is doing a good job of it. I just don't see too many shows with hosts not already connected to the show in some other capacity except when I go to see live performances. In those cases I tip the performers, the venue, and maybe the hosts. ETA the part I'd left out about live performers.

Eravo, Second Life has a fairly steep learning curve. For most people, a few hours inworld (which in my particular instance would be all I could spend in two days) would not be nearly enough to get even remotely SL competent. Two weeks would be more like it. I suppose if you're able to be logged in for hours at time it might be different, but even if that's the case you've got plenty still to learn. You don't really need money at this stage; I'd spend more time looking around then trying to get money. You can always just buy some money if you want: all it takes is a credit card. The SL dollar, called the Linden Dollar, is around 250 to one USD, so it doesn't take much of a dollar investment to get enough Lindens to throw around, if you feel you must. Employment for brand spanking new avatars is virtually nonexistent. You will be assumed to lack basic knowledge until you've been here about 30 days. Many (free) classes in how to do SL things for beginners do not accept students less than 30 days old, for instance. There are scripting and building classes, by the way. Lots. Free, too. I'll finish with a link to a post here from a frequent forum contributor. The post itself probably won't interest you, but it you scroll down to the bottom you'll see a blue-green all caps line about 'EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SECOND LIFE...". That line is a link to a veritable ocean of knowledge about this place. http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/is-NUDITY-the-new-BLACK/m-p/2884294/highlight/true#M200635 Have fun.

The L$300 weekly payment from LL (called the stipend) is a Premium benefit, period. Doesn't matter whether you buy your own L$ as well or not: you're still going to get the stipend. If you don't see it in your transactions (Tuesday is stipend day) check with support.

Ah. You can make a NEW one but once a week, but you can reset to default anytime. Oh well.

I believe (don't know for certain but I thought I remembered reading this) that one thing that is actually not allowed is having a Display name that matches an existing avatar's account name. See if you can find out if that's true and if so, double check the profile and AR. Display names can only be changed once per week, if I'm not mistaken, so your griefer's stuck with the one he has for at least a few days while you AR.

Sure, you're a little nervous but you've gone through all the ground drills and the experienced skydiver who will be your tandem seems very capable. Finally it's time to board the plane and just do this thing. As the plane gains altitude, the instructors start the equipment checks and the litany of pre-jump instructions. BAM! Uh, what was that noise? http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30706236 Yay Kiwis. Everyone's fine, thanks for asking. :-)

Kelli May wrote: Probably not exactly the same thing, but Grendel's Children had some spaceship followers that have various effects and sounds. I rather like the War of the Worlds (1950s movie version) Martian probe with its death rays and force field. I am so going to check that out. I never outgrew thinking those Martian War Machines were just evil incarnate (sorry, Perrie, I know that was before you took charge and all but it's still part of your history). I still think they were maybe the best vehicle ever created for the movies. Clearly the idea was to cross a sting ray with a cobra. Two animals practically guaranteed to give most humans the heebee jeebees, combined. And flying. With death rays. Genius right there. OP, I apologize for adding a post which doesn't help you one bit. The ships you're describing do sound pretty cool; I hope you eventually find a source.

Madelaine McMasters wrote: Thank you, Canoro. I was reminded today of a wonderful talk by Louie Schwartzberg on the subject of gratitude. I hope everybody experienced gratitude in 2014 and does so again in the New Year... Happy New Year, Kids!!! How nice that I actually had time to watch and listen to one of your videos, Maddy. I do have much to be grateful for from 2014, but then I am a simple person and thus pleased by the simplest of things. I wish you, Canoro, all of you in this thread, and all forumites past and present a Happy New Year.

Qwalyphi Korpov wrote: Well, sure. You could have said "You haven't read the TOS have you?" Not reading the TOS? We see a lotto that here. Clearly the TOS forbids gambling. While at the same time the LL will take your money for which you hope to get something while they reserve the right to give you nothing So you pays your money and you takes your chances. Gambling forbidden. You still get to gamble. It's not win-win but it's something. Speaking of things of which we haven't seen a lotto, at least here in the GD forum: Hello to the Forum's Favorite Chipmunk. I did see your name now and then in Answers and other places so I knew you'd returned from hybernation, but you've not visited us very often. Happy New Year. I bet you'd love the homemade sugared and spiced pecans that I've got a big ole mason jar full of, thanks to a co-worker's spouse. I'll have one, or possibly a handful, in your honor.

Marianne Little wrote: I do not agree that a customer should go to the creator/merchant first. I can see the point in it. I just don't agree. A product put out for sale is put out for sale. I have seen this statement numerous times on the two forums for SL that I read. I am curious: Is thera SL custom, or is it custom in America? I am not American and it seems to me that there are aspects of the American culture that is different from mine. Take Amazon, Iherb or Ebay. I am registered and shop at all three. If I am unhappy with a flavor of tea, should I not post that it had an artificial taste, for example? If I am unhappy with a product in SL where the demo is grey and untextured, should I not post that I am disappointed in the texture when I see the product? I am aware that many customers post unfair reviews. That is in my opinion a part of being a merchant and they have tools to deal with it, like applying to get a review removed or comment on it. As I said, it is not a rule, and I think I may have over-stated things by calling the behavior 'out of line'. I probably would not have bothered Amazon if I didn't like some tea I bought either. It's a bit different when someone's dealing with a store directly, in RL and especially in SL where almost always the contact person is the store's owner and frequently also the item's creator. It's not a rule. But all other things being equal, my first action would be to contact the seller.

I've been following this thread without comment, though not without thinking about it. I've recently seen some copies of things that I believe had to do with your review and with the merchant's responses to you. You first. There's certainly no rule or law that requires it, but it seems to me that a consumer who is disappointed in a product and who then goes DIRECTLY to the public at large to complain without first having at least tried to get satisfaction from the store or seller or whomever is out of line. There could be exceptions, as when someone buys what is purported to be a something something but turns out to be just a box. Even then, seems to me the seller should be offered a chance to explain (though I would not hold my breath waiting for the answer). From your own words, you left that quite negative review without first contacting the merchant. Whether or not you actually read the manual or tried the demo first notwithstanding, it seems agreed you did not ask for nor get an answer from the merchant/presumed creator prior to leaving your review. The merchant second. Wildly out of line. I mean like, nutso. It's like she (or he, I didn't look at anyone's profile) went through the many books and articles on ways for businesses to deal with negative publicity and set out to do the exact opposite of every recommendation she saw. All she needed to do to counter your review was point out (if true) that a DEMO was available, and that possibly you had missed some sections of the instruction manual that would have helped you get past the things that were bothering you (in your defense I will say that if the manual is written in the same version of English I saw, it would be hard to understand). She could then have pointed out that even if the manual didn't cover things, perhaps if you contacted her directly she could resolve your problem and if not, happily give you a full refund. I mean, it's not as if you're the only customer she's ever going to have. She could have made herself look gracious and businesslike (and, if she's a bit of a snark like I am, had the added pleasure of making you look like kind of a jerk). Instead, she went off her spool. I am continually astounded by the appearance of people in SL who call themselves 'merchants' and who seem to have not one single clue about how to be one. I mean, don't they ever shop in RL? You don't have to work in retail to learn what works and doesn't work in terms of customer relations, you only need to be a customer. edited to make a sentence hopefully less unintelligible

Madelaine McMasters wrote: Dillon Levenque wrote: LaskyaClaren wrote: Never really understood the ukelele. I look forward to being educated about its charms. :-) Like everything, it has to do with style. You gotta have style. It's hard to beat that clip for style, Dil. That really is the essense of Uke. But the Uke has other charms... I was thinking of putting in an Israel clip, Maddy, but it seemed impossible to me that Laskya or anyone else wouldn't have heard that by now. It's another one of those that, should you come upon it in progress, you stop what you're doing and dawdle 'til it ends. And yeah, that 'Meatballs' clip is hard to beat. One of my favorite scenes. I was going to say Happy Solstice, pagan that I am, but that reminded me of Dar William's song. I can't think of a more appropriate time to share it. The spirit of the holidays to all of you.

LaskyaClaren wrote: Never really understood the ukelele. I look forward to being educated about its charms. :-) Like everything, it has to do with style. You gotta have style.

Sounds like fun, Hippie. We'll be home for Christmas, too. We usually are. Dinner will be roast sirloin (the rest of the year roast beef is from a lesser cut but on Christmas I have them cut me a big chunk of top sirloin). I'm thinking of taking a shot at Yorkshire Pudding this year. I've never had it but the Brits seem to think it's absolutely delightful with roast beef and gravy. Have a great Christmas!

A Merry Christmas to you as well, Laskya. I enjoy this time of year just because of the positive energy it brings; I don't think my absence of religious belief means I can't appreciate the importance some things have to believers. My spirituality is pretty vague but I believe it's there. I have a belief (based upon the most cursory examination of the evidence) that humanity as a whole is more good than evil, and in fact the percentage in favor of the good might even be increasing, generations at a time. Now if Snugs can just crack the whip a little and get Maddy's oar back in the water, I'll sit back and play the ukelele. Merry Christmas! Karen, that's a lovely card. :-)

In the post to which I reply I'd forgotten I had source material. I dug out my album. I do apologize for the wholly amateur look of the images. I was in a hurry, I didn't have proper lights available, and the camera is kinda new to me anyway. What's also new is my computer and I haven't gotten any image manipulation stuff installed on it yet, so I had to just do the best I can with Paint. Front cover: From the liner notes on the back: Not a bad session band there, eh? So B.J. Wilson (Procul Harum) was the drummer. Most of you know about the guitar player. Ms. Bell's name is actually Madeline, they spelled it wrong on the album. I enjoyed googling all of those names; Rosetta Hightower especially. I've heard her before...come on and take a chance and get-a with this dance. She was the same age as Joe, and died just this last August. She was born in the US and died in England, Joe was born in England and died in the US.

I listened to all the clips here, and thanks to all who posted them. Because I'm so accustomed to listening, and listening only, it's somewhat of an education to see film of Joe Cocker singing. I'd never, up til now. I inhaled from records and CDs and the radio. Aural, not visual. Thus seeing the filmed performances gives me a whole new perspective. I did watch SNL fairly often back in the John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd days but I never saw the episode that Maddy's post included. I loved that. Belushi was clearly a big fan. Perrie mentioned Leon Russell—he was the pianist on "The Letter" which by the way is the one and only hit record by a group called the "Box Tops"; I only hear the original when Naz Fride (my favorite SL DJ) decides to do a 'Garage Band' set. I'd never seen Leon before, either. The more I saw of him, the more I was reminded of a well known pirate. Between watching him and watching Joe Cocker's odd hand gestures, I'd say that Johnny Depp wasn't channeling Keith Richards' grandfather at all. Captain Jack Sparrow looks to me like Leon Russel imitating Joe Cocker. So. I'll link this, his most famous song, in its original format. This is the way I first 'met' Joe Cocker. The purity of the melody, the singularity of Joe's voice and soul. And maybe the best drum break in the history of recorded rock and roll (there are three drummers listed for that album and I still have not seen definitive identification for the one who backed this song): This has stopped me in my tracks since I first heard it. If a human can love a recorded song, this one's mine. ETA: I remembered I had the album; pulled it out tonight and took pix, which can be seen here: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/A-heart-now-unchained/m-p/2878925/highlight/true#M199828 I've listened to this song probably fifteen times while doing these posts. There actually isn't a 'drum break'; it's more an unexpected beat right at a climactic moment. The sequence starts at 1:30 and the drum part at 2:40. It was so cool, Joe yelled, "Baby". The whole sequence is wonderful. But listen to the whole song.

Well first, answering questions like that is not really a case of 'breaking the fourth wall', as someone pointed out in the original thread. In theater the Fourth Wall is the invisible one across the front of the stage (somewhere in the development of theater the idea of framing the stage developed—Google if you care; all I know is that it happened). The stage upon which the actors stand is surrounded. There's a backdrop and also (sometimes built-up scenery, called 'flats', sometimes just an open space) to 'wall' off the sides. Hence 'Exit, stage left'. The imaginary Fourth Wall divides the drama from the audience and is normally never breached*, ie: the actors do not engage in conversation with the audience. Thus, calling the sharing of RL in SL something regarding the Fourth Wall is a bit of a misnomer, but it does kind of represent the idea so I have no real problem with it. In your case, I can understand that you don't want to appear rude but you need to keep in mind that anyone who asks those questions is rude to begin with, so if you respond in kind it would not be inappropriate. As it happens, not everyone who does that realizes it's rude. So that makes them not rude intentionally, but still probably way uninformed and unobservant about what SL really is. In the other thread I said I'd answer "Where are you from?", with my general global location but in fact that only came later, because I realized it had to do with likely online times. At first I used to just say, "Help Island" because when I joined that's where I started. I was trying to make the point that my questioner was talking to my avatar and thus getting only my avatar's info. Most times they realized I wasn't going to answer the way they wanted and moved on. No loss on either side, and really no rudeness. ETA the footnote I asterisked but forgot about. *There are times when the Fourth Wall is deliberately breached for dramatic intent. One such lives only in my imagination, but I would love to see it happen. "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" has always seemed to me to be practically written for the stage. There are a handful of locations in which all of the action takes place; staging it would be a snap. In my imagined production the house deliberately leaves seats unsold, and those seats would be occupied by actors for the 'Town Hall' scene—they'd just come out from behind the stage, in costume, sit down and say 'hiya' to the people around them. One of said actors would of course be playing Jack Halliday, and at the appropriate moment shout, "THAT'S go the hall-mark on it!" to set off the festivities. The idea is to recruit the audience of the play to become the attendees in the 'Town Hall' scene that the play is going to portray. The audience would not only be speaking to the actors, but they would in fact become actors in the play themselves. I am much amused by imagining a crowd of people who don't really know each other at all, coming together to chant , "You are f-a-r from being a b-a-a-a-d man!". Pardon my digression. A favorite. "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg". Short story by Mark Twain. If you are not familiar with it I urge you to find and read it. An absolutely delightful work.

Thank you. I am not usually bothered emotionally when we lose an artist or entertainer but I find I am more than saddened by the loss of Joe Cocker. He's been one of my favorites ever since the moment I first heard his version of 'A Little Help'. Truly a great one. This has always been one of my favorites and I think the melancholy suits my mood right now.