Nacy Nightfire

It's a very lovely gift!

Selene, please explain why you are so tenacious in your insistence that Starex is gone and has never returned at any point or in an any fashion. How could you possibly do more then offer a conjecture (as have I.) What purpose does your insistence serve? As it is, I wrote "we can only hope...". I don't need to be disabused of my light-hearted expression of hope. Have you made it your personal crusade to be the big "bubble-burster" here? It always appears in retrospect that everything was once so much better in the past - better manufacturing, more clever design, larger portions, etc. etc. I know a lot of early members of SL hold on to this belief. SL had evolved since then, there are hundreds of very talented creators since the early days in SL. We have as many gains over time as we have had losses. Probably many more gains. I find it very hard to believe "nothing of the quality and style of workmanship has ever turned up in SL from that point on."

Yes you are absolutely right Luna. The accurate complaint is about the consequence of sneaky effective tax increases imposed on the middle class along with the confusion surrounding their implementation. Many expected deductions have been eliminated. Describing the problem as a withholding check issue just confuses the issue. And to get back on topic 😊 - we can only hope Starax is not super-human, but is as weak-willed as Selene and myself, and has stealthily returned to SL to make interesting scripted items under some other name to generously impart the gift of hilarity to us all.

Please don't misunderstand me here. I do feel the pain folks are suffering re: the reduced tax refund business. We should all be aware of what our tax bracket is and how much withholding our employers take out on our behalf. I am not currently getting a paycheck from an employer, and I'm guessing it's still possible, if you are on top of such things, to amend the withdrawal amount your employer takes out of your paycheck. It was explained to me by a tax expert, and quite enlightening, that perfect withholding leaves you with no refund at all as it means you have not have not overpaid your taxes through the year. This overpayment of taxes to employers requiring a refund, has become something of like an old-fashioned Christmas savings account - money withdrawn automatically from your paycheck, which does not earn interest, but you get the principle back in the end. If there is a miminum your employer must withhold by law that still provides you with a refund, it's actually a good thing that law has been changed as that refund doesn't change your actual tax bracket/obligation, it's just a delay in receiving your earnings. I can understand complaining about one's actual tax bracket, but the refund complaints do not make much sense. And fine tuning the withholding to the point where you don't receive a big refund check probably cuts down on theft/fraud re: these large refund checks. Re: Starax and many others who left SL. I joined SL in 2007. I've been on a hiatus for the past 4 or 5 years until recently. For 4 or 5 years prior to that I limited my SL activity to working on mesh objects which I shared with a friend who owns a shop in SL. Other then connecting with this friend, mostly outside SL, Idid not socialize or do the consumer thing. I rarely logged in. I've never been a land owner, other then obtaining a linden home in a deserted neighborhood that I rarely visit. I found it is not hard to take an extended break, (although it's tough to return as so much has changed about how one does things). Unless you ARE Starex or are his/her RL friend, you simply cannot know for a fact that he/she hasn't been in SL for years. Many folks decide to wipe the slate clean and re-invent themselves with a new account to give themselves a new life in SL. I've met many over the years. Some had their hearts broken, some were bored, some had disputes with LL, or friend and/or neighbors and, some just flamed out. On returning lots still take pride in their early adopter status in SL and indicate their actual birth date on their profile, but they generally aren't interested in discussing their earlier past, at least as it goes with sharing their past avatar name. I find it hard imagine that a talented scripter from SL wouldn't find some time at some point to return. They may have had enough of SL for a while, but it's attractive to us members for a reason that is greater then the annoyances that come when LL makes changes that we find unreasonable or when we have interpersonal melt-downs. Likely if the latter is the case (and assuming you are not Starax or his/her personal friend), he/she wouldn't make him/herself known to any of us. That being said, of course membership in LL is down from it's peak and he/she may have disappeared for good. It's unknowable.

Dollars to donuts s/he's still in SL under a new persona. How can one stay away? Especially someone that much talent that has an early adopter pedigree (I'm guessing). I'm fairly limited in skills, yet even so, I keep returning to SL (after either leaving in a huff or burn-out driving me away) because creating anything in SL, even badly designed items, is so much fun.

Remember that like history, fashion repeats itself, but never exactly the same way. So I'm guessing those old system clothes are going to be dated looking regardless if such things as shrugs come back in vogue. I bought my first boat-load of outfits when Last Call was closing it's doors. I just google searched Last Call and came across a blog that was questioning if their Last Call wardrobe was out-of-date. Note this blog is from 2010. My current avatar is wearing such an outfit, however as my computer is so old at this point, I am stuck in my LL house permanently. I might as well be in ratty pajamas.

I'm now a proud owner of The Furniture Gun. After testing it out I declare my LL premium home furnishing to be complete!

Thanks Lindal - I didn't catch you post right away. Sorry not to respond. I'll check that out!

I received a "Caramella Lollipop" from someone many years ago at an info hub. Wear it and you begin to eat the lollipop then things go down hill from there. There is a ongoing chat line about your condition as your avatar starts to clutch its stomach, eventually squatting and the sound and particle effects are pretty gross. I think one had to log out to detach it. Some folks found it hilarious and enjoyed watching their avatar go through this "painful" and somewhat humiliating experience. Some were not so keen. I took it in my stride. Not my particular type of humor, but I have to give points for ingenuity.

Oooo! A gun that shoots household furniture. That must be the script basis of that handbag that drops random objects. I do have gun (an old halloween gifty thing) that shoots pumpkins, It's probably not rare or unique, but a Random furniture shooter...I love that!

When I joined SL in fall of 2007, older residents, who I ardently envied for having a much earlier history in SL then me, described (did I read about this on someones blog?) a handbag that would drop items periodically as one wore it. On the line of rubber ducks, kitchen sinks and the like. These were temporary objects which would eventually disappear. I still covet that object 12 years later, and I assume it has never been recreated or made available. Anyone own or know about similar stellar objects that are no longer for sale or cannot be found or bought for any price?

Ok your last statement I am fond of. Yes! I do find it too challenging to spell your name correctly/consistently, and anyone's else's name here on the forum if it is over 5 letters. Mea culpa!! (and please don't be alarmed if I forget your face if we meet in a public area, as I also have poor facial recognition 😉). I notice your friends refer to you as Maddy, perhaps for this reason. As you and I are not SL friends so I wouldn't presume to call you by your nickname. Please everyone feel free to butcher my name with abandon and save your thinking for bigger things. I'm sure many folks here are also fighting an aggressive spell check system that insists on bending you to it's will. Also, please note that Nacy is not my actual name, I'm not offended if you mangle it, and I don't take points off for spelling. I am not a person enamored with her my love of thinking, therefore spelling, in particular, is far down on the list of what is important, to me. As an added warning, I also play loose and free with the rules of punctuation, except where these things matter, such as anywhere but the forums. However, since you are very sensitive about your Second Life name I very much apologize for inconsistently spelling it wrong. Everyone, here continually makes both good and bad assumption. It's entirely disingenuous to state otherwise. To tell people not to make assumption, is ridiculous. Will their assumptions frequently be incorrect? Yes. That is the beauty of hitting the reply button as assumptions can be corrected. We can add clarity, an explanation, a retraction, an apology for offending. Your friend for example (I will not attempt to spell her name) believed that I had accused you of being an anti-semite. Did she want to believe I made that statement? I'm not sure, I think probably not. She was angry. She was also incorrect. I corrected her about her assumption. We have here a forum thread that is discussing a very sensitive issue, religion. Most people got it badly wrong in guessing the actual faith and I guess for a better word I'll say "intent" of the shop owner. I sat back without commenting and found myself going from irritated to angry at the direction the post was going. I reached my limit with your "banking" and your Henry Ford remarks as I assumed I was now reading the post of someone who I believed had the maturity, intelligence and experience to know better. Wrong or correct assumption? Only you can say. Let's now say we can chalk up your remarks within the context of the thread as simply a fluke and coincidence. Henry Ford was an ardent Nazi admirer. I'm going to take a leap and guess I'm a bit older then you, which may account for my awareness of Ford's very dicey ideology. I've always been taught this in (horror!) public school.No, I was not home-schooled and I grew up in a very diverse part of the US where it was taught that one should view Ford exactly like Lindberg and his ilk. Perhaps Ford admired HItler's efficiency. I'm not sure, it's too distasteful a subject to bother to examine closely. This week Henry Ford has been front and center in the news, therefore I AGAIN! incorrectly assumed you would have read the NYT or WaPo, or something of the like, and that your choice to bring his name up at this moment, and in the context of the discussion an "eyebrow raiser." Again, the beauty of incorrect assumptions is they can be corrected if the other poster chooses either elaborate, explain or make an alteration. I'm not certain your response fit that expectation. Many, many people across the word of all different faiths died in WWII. Many defenseless minorities - such as Gypsies, Jews, homosexuals, and children with mental handicaps were slaughtered in a chilling systematic way and in a manner that was horrific in it's modern efficiency, in the hands of a regime that Henry Ford admired. In light of what I wrote, what was it about maple-sugaring and your Amish lumberman suited either as a response to what I wrote or to the to the OP? Well that's a head-scratcher. A folksy deflection? I'm not sure. But I hold to the belief that entering into discussions that put people on the spot to discuss and or defend their religious practices, sexual orientation, financial situation, etc. are in very poor taste.

Arrgh! Poses and animations. I have about 30 sub-folder categories in my animation folder. The largest by far is the "File these Animations". Plus, I have many, many more animations and poses hanging by themselves in the top Animation folder which aren't even in a sub-folder. Many made me so happy back in the day! - such as "keel over in a dramatic faint" which was so useful when the conversation got awkward or stalled. Folks where I used to hang out would express actual concern whenever I failed to revive myself. The names of all of these animations and poses are so cryptic I can barely remember what's what. I'm afraid I'll throw out something great. But opening each one and testing it out is unbearably time consuming. Some suggestions for categories (including the obvious): Sit-Chair, Sit-Ground, Standing, Lying Down, Turning, Kneel, Crouch, Fly, Run, Sports( i.e. Swimming, Archery, Sunbathing, Ballet, Fighting, push ups, etc. etc), Audience, Couples, Hugs, Dance, Drinking/Eating, Fainting/Play Dead, Emotional, Kitty or Animal Animations/Poses, Model Poses, Sexy, Static poses for photos, Activity Animations (hand washing, kitchen chores, cleaning activities, etc. and I have a folder for pose balls as well as Animation Tools and Gadgets for making poses in world - not sure if those still work. However once they get sorted into these categories, They are still undecipherable.

I did not 'single out" Madeline. I responded to her post. And, to correct the misguided notion you have, I didn't obliquely or directly accuse Madeleine of being an anti-semite. That's your own leap and your own attempt at spin. It's not an accusation I made in my post, veiled or otherwise. I did, however, point out the insensitivity of Madeleine's post, aware how her post might appear to others. It certainly raised my eyebrows. Henry Ford's disgusting past has been front and center in the news this week, and clearly it's a sensitive issue for many people and not just those of the Jewish faith. I direct you to the New York Times just this week: "A Mayor’s Effort to Play Down Henry Ford’s Anti-Semitism Backfires." Similar recent articles have been written in the Washington Post. And as we've established here that no one has been accused of being an anti-semite here, except Henry Ford, I will mention that I've known a number of atheists over the years who dislike and are dismissive of all followers of religion or even just some religions and not others. Being an atheist in no way absolves a person of the potential to be a prejudiced individual. I'm not sure where you adopted the idea that being an atheist would equate being a person incapable of prejudice. That makes no sense. Madeleine, undoubtedly, can defend her own position here. She's smart enough to know that quoting (twice!) Henry Ford within this topic was provocative. Especially at a point where this post had evolved into a discussion of Jewish religious practices, and where she paired the quote along with a comment that related her anecdote of earning interest in a bank while observing Sabbath. I don't know Madeleine, but I've read of her few posts over the years. She appears to pride herself as being a "thinker". On that basis I'm entitled to make whatever assumption I want, as may you, and everyone else that posts here. Indeed, you have the advantage that you personally are acquainted with Madeleine, but this is not a requirement to gain an impression from, and respond to, her post. We are all here in conversation with complete strangers, hopefully commenting with thoughtfulness. I certainly give a great deal of thought to my posts. I understand you want to go to bat for your friend here, but I stand by my comments. Madeleine responded to my post and yet she chose a pass on her Henry Ford comment. Please note there's been no attempt to add "whipped cream" via using term "Dog Whistle". It's a term that stands on it's own. It's subtle, I know. In any event I had not definitively stated that her Henry Ford comment was a dog whistle, I said I hoped it was not. Madeline has not addressed this either way in her follow up posts. And, lastly, I'm perfectly qualified to make an assumption about how the Amish gentleman may have reacted internally to having a customer place him in the position of being forced to be representative of "All things Amish" and his religious practices. I know how I'd feel in his shoes. I'd be polite, I might respond, the customer might never know how I truly felt about the matter, but I'd view it as an impertinence.

Lints: More then one lint. Synonym fuzzes. Kales: More then one serving of a vegetable I don't like. Synonym: none - there's nothing like or to be liked about kale(s). I think I'd be pretty great at this game!

Growing up I, my friends and diverse neighbors, were taught never to discuss religion or politics with anyone except close friends and family. And even then to do so very carefully and respectfully. In an example similar to your own, my husband and I have been involved in a lengthy construction project and have employed a man who is Jehovah's Witness. This is a well known religion that I know nothing about. Although were are on extremely friendly terms, and he has worked for us on and off for the last 4 or 5 years, it would strike me as extraordinarily impolite to ask him to be an advocate for his personal ideology. I'm not incurious. On the contrary I am very fascinated (and respectful) of his and other people's religious beliefs. Therefore rely on my own research. It's so easy with the internet. As an adult I extend this rule to discussions about sexual orientation, race and personal monetary issues especially with people who I've entered into a business relationship. To do otherwise put's people at an unfair and uncomfortable disadvantage when you pepper them with questions about things that are very personal. The Amish gentleman may not have indicated his discomfort, or you may not have picked up on it, but clearly he shouldn't have been put in that position. Often when unthinking folks do venture to ask highly personal questions, and are challenged, they get huffy an declare they are just "interested" it the other person. They feel they are extending some sort of compliment in their notice, attention and interest. This however is disingenuous and impertinent. Your farmer was, after all, a neighbor of a dear friend, not your dear friend. I'm sure in that "Big Book of Henry Ford" quotes will can find something similar. 😉

Every evening when I can't shut down my brain, I resort to playing spider solitaire in the dark until I finally fall asleep. And every time I play spider solitaire I wonder why I don't simply get up and sort my sock drawer. Why is one fun and the other annoying? So it is with my inventory. Did I get involved with SL because I need yet another tedious task to add to the never-ending pile of dull maintenance chores that I can't keep up with no matter how colorfully textured? I can't come up with a rationale for appeal of the virtual task over the actual RL job.

Of course quoting a famously pernicious religious bigot in the context of an open discussion re: a person's right to put into practice one's religious beliefs as a merchant in SL is always an interesting choice coming from a person who professes to think too much. As many respondents here jumped to inaccurately guess the religion in question - just the religious group reviled by Henry Ford - along with your choice to once again refer back to your chosen quote in a later posting to this thread, demonstrates that thinking isn't as much fun as one might expect. Your description of previously challenging someone with a similar practice using an example of accrued interest/banking, uncomfortably, I read as an additional "dog whistle", but I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. I'm very glad the merchant in question took the opportunity to explain her thoughts and practices as well as appalled it was necessary for her to speak out and defend her practices. She should not have been put on the spot. Even if unnamed in this thread, such information gets out, as it had in this instance. Needless to say, respect for each other's feelings and beliefs is paramount - much more so then our sense of entitlement to be able to purchase digital ephemera on a 24/7 basis and our expectation that we should dictate how other people run their businesses.

Ok...minor update. Tonight I visited a random sandbox and attempted many of these excellent tips. Then I came across those "calling cards" I'd completely forgotten about, was distracted (I'm easily distracted under these circumstances) and spent the rest of the evening reading profiles of all my old SL pals going back to the very first one a kindly more experienced avatar , no doubt half my RL age , who had patience with a first day noob who timidly ventured off her landing point. I think I still have my first freebie outfit including a garish blingy walking stick I was so darn proud of. I felt both joyful remembering these friends yet terribly sad that those heady days of meeting at least one new friend a day are behind me. Although all these folks have disappeared in SL I simply cannot bring myself delete their calling cards. <sigh> I got very little accomplished.

I bought the Marie Kondo book many months ago. I've not yet read it. It doesn't bring me joy so I've buried it under a pile of other joyless unread books. However, now my SL inventory exceeds 68 thousand thingies. Many are descriptively named "object" as in "I object to being deleted". Many are no doubt are embued with "yes! copy" permissions and they live in my inventory as needless duplicates just to taunt me. Finally, there are the prim, sculpt and mesh items I've made, many which have the exact same name, but are slightly different versions (Yes, yes, I know I have it in a Blend file somewhere in RL *-on a hard drive. but....). According to an article I quickly perused #3 of the Kondo rules is not to let nostalgia take control. Good luck with that. Everything from the very first box I rezzed in 2007 to my last item has sentimental value. Some good and some bad...but still each sparks my memory and a lot of laughs. I live in the US of A. I desperately need laughs. I have less time these days for SL, but I do pop in from time to time and think about cleaning up the mess I made. I visit a sandbox and start rezzing. By item 3 I'm exhausted. And anyway, I heard the old style skins, and clothes are coming back. I've never thrown any of them out. Am I a genius ahead of my time? (Hold your tart retorts. I don't want to hear that even a broken clock gets the time right twice a day).

The world is and has always been full of "puffery" and falsehoods, especially in the realm of marketing/advertising. I don't see that changing. Add to that misunderstandings which are culturally based. I recently watched a humorous you tube video describing the "ins and outs" of making "matpakke" the traditional Norwegian packed lunch. One of the popular ingredients is a "Stabburet Leverpostei" a canned liver pate product. The label on the can simply has an image an adorable grinning child, not a child eating a sandwich or a picture of the actual contents. Foreigners might infer from the label that the can contains pate made from adorable children, as, in many places, a food label would always be expected to reveal a picture of the contents. False advertising?

Wow. It's been a very long time while since I posted here. I'll mention here that I do not and never have had a business in SL or profited financially from creating mesh, although in the early years the introduction of mesh creation in SL I collaborated with a "like-minded" friend who sells the kind of items I enjoy modeling. These days I occasionally create 3d models just for fun and as a focus to exercise my skills in Blender and Zbrush. Prior to the introduction of mesh items to SL, I was exclusively on the consumer side of SL and probably experience things in SL more from the consumer side then the creator side.. I think the problem here is one of semantics. The term 100 percent mesh is most likely not intended to signify that the underlying low poly structure is original or the concept is unique. I would guess it simply means that an item was uploaded into SL as a "mesh" item by a seller who had a hand in some or all aspects in it's design and of bringing the item to completion. Where mesh items are, by necessity, very low in poly count, I agree that most mesh structures are not a challenge to create for the average 3d artist and the mesh part is simply a canvas. Anyone who paints on a canvas creates something unique and original (not necessarily something pleasing or in the realm of fine art). You wrote: I prefer using 'unique design' or 'innovative design' rather than '100% original" because as an artist, I am the sum of all the sights, sounds and experiences in my life, and everything goes into a big pot, gets stirred and churned and matured, and comes out in the form of a mental library in which I can create new works. Not everyone is approaching SL as a vehicle for producing fine art. Some of us are happy to create sub-par art because it's all we have time for and it's relaxing and enjoyable. And if someone want to try to sell their creations and others agree to buy these items, regardless of quality or uniqueness, it's all fine. I, personally, might not wish to waste my time drawing in an "adult" coloring book, but who am I to question the enjoyment other adults might get from the activity. In any event, any so-named "unique design" is ultimately derivative, as we don't live in a bubble and we are influenced by the art produced by others we view and admire, if only on a sub-conscious level. Again, folks who have average skills in modeling can replicate any items in SL simply because they can take screen shots to use as modeling reference guides. On the other hand the texturing, animating and rigging mesh, where applicable, handling of technical aspects such as LOD creation, along with the creative context in which the mesh is used or displayed can represent the uniqueness of an item. That is the magic. (Any mesh item I could create, would, in the hands of a good texture artist and a talented designer, become a unique mesh item that would be, as a finished product, far superior then the original I created and completed.) Re: replicating ordinary items from RL to SL. There has always been charm in "little versions" of ordinary common RL objects. It's the doll house effect. For many, including myself, it's amusing and a perfectly reasonable way to enjoy oneself creatively in SL. And you wrote: "The awesome thing about SL, and the VALUE one offers to users of it will be, will be in your creativity in presenting an object. There are more than enough crates, barrels and park benches out there - one would think why bother modeling those again?" When one is a beginner to 3d creation, by necessity one starts at the beginning with barrels, bottles and boxes. Everyone struggles at first and creating these simple, common objects is a great accomplishment. Beginner 3d content creators (myself once among them, and you as well, I'm guessing) can't wait to upload such items and display them proudly. So there will never be a point where budding creators will decide there are enough original crates, barrels and boxes brought into SL. And that's a good thing. We all have to start somewhere. Many folks who participate in SL have limited time and/or artistic vision - members may not have lofty goals for what they create or how they spend their time in SL. Many of us simply just want to de-stress and enjoy SL creatively in a simple fashion. So if folks simply want to copy items from RL or copy items from SL to test their skills and possibly improve the original it in some way (and then perhaps try their luck selling these items on the Marketplace), why judge?

The cursor is automatically the center point when you use the spin (alt R) or the screw command - both actions reside as "buttons" on the left hand palette under "tools". The cursor is where any objects (mesh, curve, empty, etc.) placed into the scene are centered on when you add them in either edit or object mode. For example, If you are adding an empty to the scene that you wish to use as a center (axis origin) for a modifier, position your cursor where you want to add that empty. As already mentioned, it is often very helpful to use the cursor, rather then the median point of an object, as a pivot point for move/scale/rotate transformations. Shortcut: Shift S - gives you a number of options (cursor to selected, cursor to active, cursor to grid, cursor to center) to accurately place the cursor where you need it to be. (And, again, for general transformations using the cursor as the pivot point you will need to select the cursor as the pivot choice (shortcut: keyboard period (.) - to access the pivot point pie menu or select from the drop down menu from the menu bar for the3D View window.)

" if you are making homes, it should be mod so that the owner can texture them to please themselves. A lot people will like the house but want to change a wallpaper choice you made to go better with their furnishings or just because they prefer another. Limiting this by making your home no mod limits your market, since a lot of people will not buty no mod buildings." These are two seperate and valid business models: the DYI decorator and the customer who follows a creator because s/he is a fan and appreciates that creators particular design sensibility. Many home owners in RL prefer to simply employ a decorator to make most or all of their design decisions, there are others who like to choose for themselves. And, no doubt, in SL there many customers who are more socially involved and less "creatively" involved with SL, and want a lovely finished home in SL having no plans to bother themselves with texturing. Plus, as purchased buildings continue to retain the creator's name, it may also be in the creator's interest to restrict their work from being altered and decorated in a manner that would reflect badly on the creator's brand. I think it is a perfectly reasonable business decision for a creator to consider his/her house a complete and finished "artistic statement". No business person should be all things to all people. It appears there is business opportunities in both the DYI and the person who wants a beautiful non-modifiable home. Limiting your market is a good thing.

Here are some thoughts. Also as I don't know your level of proficiency using Blender, please excuse any suggestion that might seem overly basic for your skill level: Did you try to reload factory settings?: File>Load Factory Settings Did you try to use the shortcut Ctl Alt U to toggle the persistant preference screen off? Make sure you use CTL U to save custom settings after you close out the Preference window. I've had the experience in prior versions of Blender where selecting "Save Custom Settings" within the preference window causes the preference window to be open every time I start a new file. Again, to correct that I close the window and then use the shortcut key CTL U to save without the window open. Are the camera and lamp items listed in the Outliner panel? Is the "eye" icon grayed out? If so click it. They may be hidden. Or check the other layers. The camera and lamps may have been accidently moved to a different layer then the one that opens up with the file.