Places - The Pick Up Point

Change is a little quicker in Second Life than in many places; you’d think I would be used to it after all these years.

The Intro Board I told you about in July is gone from the Rubber Room, but despair not!

In its place was an ad for another intro board, at The Pick Up Point. I thought this was by arrangement but it turns out to be just a cool coincidence.

The Pick Up Point is fairly new (it opened August 1st), and hopes to become a hangout. Those are hard enough to start - trust me, I know! Voice chat is permitted, but not mandatory.

The ad panels are the usual: drop in a notecard & pic, and pay 25L$ a week - presto,  you have an ad running.

When things get rolling, regular “meet and greet” events will be held every week; we’ll let you know when they start.

If this is a cool project you want to support, TinkerTilly Resident is looking for a manager in an American time zone - you know, so she can sleep ;)

The SLURL:
 http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wild%20Hogs/38/217/667

DeVicious Photo Contest and Community Assistance Incarceration

Steph sent us the details to the DeVicious photo contest:
http://www.devicious.net/1-million-photo-contest.html

Enter and if you win, I want 10% ;)

Cinndreia Messmer reminded us about a very neat program in SL called Community Assistance Incarceration, Inc.

CAII prisoners are public usage slaves, a brilliant device for people who want slaves but not long term commitment.

See the details here: http://caii.wikidot.com/

and visit the CAII program in world here:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Catalina/9/8/1001

Have a great weekend!

Deirdre and lelo

New Introduction Board at Rubber Room

First, the Rubber Room club is still around.
("Good news, everyone!") ;)

Durability in a fetish spot in Second Life - in any spot in SL, really - is a pretty admirable thing, so I thought I’d start by mentioning that.

RR has a nice little mall, and as we were doing our Sunday shopping, I peeked in the club and saw that Rubber Robonaught had put up an introduction board.

The price to put up an ad is nominal: 10L$ a week, utter peanuts.

To place an ad, you write a little bio notecard, drop in a full-perm picture, and Robert est ton oncle, as they say in France.

Those ads are only seen by local visitors, of course; but hangouts have a way of attracting like-minded people, so maybe it’s for the best.

So if you’re looking to meet someone who is likely to visit Rubber Room.. I’d say don’t wait :)

The Rubber Rooms SLURL:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pine%20Woods/25/195/601

PS: Deirdre here - the board is gone but see this post for another one! 

New AO Script From DEM

Chloe, of Dark Elf Magic, shared a bit of news with us this week, and while as she said it’s neither “shiny, exciting or fashionable”, it’s still pretty neat.

She created a replacement script for the standard ZHAO II animation override, using some “very new” LSL features, she told us.

Technical details went right over my blonde locks, but in theory the script should be way less laggy than the original.

The script will be released in open source, so if you’re interested, see this post for the details:

http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/scripting/81856-built-lsl-animation-override-functions-3.html#post1766972

and this pastebin for the code:

http://pastebin.com/7BVsUjBF

Have a great weekend!

Deirdre and lelo

Firestorm Team Makes Cool Tutorial Videos

First, if you’re smart, you’ll go straight to Inara’s post from which I’m cribbing, here : http://modemworld.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/firestorm-video-tutorials/

Still with me? You silly dear :)

The awesome people developing Firestorm put together some tutorial videos for us old fogeys still living in the dark ages of the metaverse - and how ironic is it to cling to the past in a futuristic environment? - who will be cast screaming into a new viewer when server-side avatar baking irrevocably breaks Phoenix.

Well not just for us, but, you know. The first video, in fact, is about the Phoenix mode in Firestorm. Now these are good, hard-working people trying to soften the blow. But I hated the look of Firestorm on sight, as I did the official v2 and its brothers.

One of the things I hate in particular is space wasted by the interface. See my snap for a gentle hint ;)

Seriously, the Mozilla interface team should be their inspiration here. If there’s a way to save two square centimeters the controls waste on the screen, they have an option to do just that.

Note that word, option. Every shiny new feature in Firefox is optional. Dead set on your menu bar, your single tab always visible? They say go in peace, dear friend. When you decide you want a discreet orange button at the top left, it will be there, waiting patiently.

So. Some time soon-ish, we’ll have to make the jump. We’ll bitch, moan, complain bitterly, ask friends where features are, eventually get used to where things are, forget what all the fuss was about.. and then a new circumstance will require a new change. AAAAAHHHhhhhh! ;)

The Phoenix team Youtube channel is here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PhoenixViewerSL

Have a great weekend.

Deirdre and lelo

PS : Writing this addendum Saturday April 20th,  Elke Wylie, of the German Firestorm support team, (and of Needful Pixel - we featured them in the blog!) pointed out that the space-wasting vertical chat tabs I screamed about can be set to a sensible horizontal position - see how to do it right here.

Thanks Elke!

True Connect - New SL Introduction Service

We dropped by Hybridz during our shopping rounds, and noticed a True Connect terminal.

Didn’t think too much of it - new things pop up all the time, right?

But then we visited Latex Web, and lo; a True Connect terminal. Well Mariko Demonia was on, I called her and got caught up - she’s a sweetie and we hadn’t talked in a while.

Then she gushed about True Connect and revealed that it was a Kailani Ling project, and she was really excited about it.

Truth is, a good kinky introduction service is something that is very badly needed in Second Life. There are so many subs looking for dommes, ponies looking for trainers, and furries looking for snuggles, it’s not even funny.

The terminals hand out a simple HUD item, which will let you call up a menu and fill in your information (in 144 questions!), then will keep looking for new matches while flashing ads.

From the notecard :

The HUD will display a count of your potential matches, or (for a fee) the names.

1) To display just the Count, once your profile is stored, click on Match and then COUNT. The number will be displayed above the HUD.

2) To display the names of matches, click on MATCH and then MATCH.

3) Current connections. Click on MATCH and then on Connections to display the individuals for whom you've currently paid to connect to.

Good luck to Kailani with her new business venture!

The SLURL : http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pattaya%20Island/23/38/23


PS : Kailani called (and folks commented!) to mention that Gerritt had done the backend work. Credit where it is due!

The Pony Taxi

Hi everyone.. Deirdre and lelo here, as Jaydana is taking a short break - we hope she’ll be back soon with cool pony goodness for you.

As a preliminary to an upcoming Freedom Continent post in the regular blog, we’ll give you a pony-related foretaste by mentioning a neat service at Pirandello Bay : the Pony Taxi.

A neat presence board tells you what ponies are available to give you a tour of the continent. You click to page a pony, she comes over, and takes you on a guided tour.

If you’ve never been on a pony cart ride, you’re in for a treat :) As a vehicle, I have yet to find something in SL I like more than a cart.

It’s fast enough to cover the relatively short distances on a sim, and in fact, fast enough to miss some of the scenery if you don’t make occasional stops.

The pony we called was friendly and helpful, and took us on a long tour, hitting the interesting spots of the continent (we won’t list them here).

As the sign says, ponies work for tips : if a ponygirl takes you on a half-hour tour with helpful comments, I’d say she definitely deserves something for her time.

Sin Ushimawa is the pony in charge - sadly we weren’t able to reach her in time for this post. There are a number of vacant spots on the board, so I believe she’d be happy to get ponies calling to offer their services

Pirandello Bay has a fixed landing zone, inside the info center. When you get there, walk to the big map, take the door at the right, and once outside, take the right-hand path, it leads right to the taxi stand.

The SLURL:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pirandello%20Bay/190/97/56

Pet - Personal Fetish Shopper

Today we have a special treat. Every post before this was of a product or place : today we feature a service. Diaperedpet Jewell is a good friend of ours, and a personal shopper for fetish lovers in SL. With encyclopedic knowledge (she frequently tips us off!) of the clothes, boots, and toys we love, she can take you to that perfect outfit or toy.

Deirdre Young: How long have you been shopping in Second Life? And how long have you been offering your services as a personal shopper?

Diaperedpet Jewell: I have been shopping in SL, ever since someone told me my clothes were shabby and took me by the hand and helped me out, I have been offering my services, for about two years now.

DY: Who were your first clients? friends, references?

Pet: My first clients were my sisters, but my Mistress would introduce me to her Domme friends, and she would mention my custom clothes, and the Dommes would ask for something special, and that's how it started.

I used my good relationship with store owners to help out people who wanted something unique and custom.

DY: Ahh. Yes, you do like your custom designs :) Do you find most designers are willing to do custom work ?

Pet: Some are, but you need to be friends and be genuine, not fake. Designers can see right through that, but I was absolutely sincere, I loved their creations and would use proper manners when I asked for their time in making me something special and one of a kind, keeping in mind that they have a store to run and that's first priority.

DY: So suppose I wanted your help.. how would we proceed?

Pet: You would IM me, and we would talk. I would look at what clothes you’re wearing, learn your style, your favorite colors, and take you to certain stores.

If you tell me you want leather, I'm taking you to XTC or Avid; if you say elegant, intimate latex, then it's Hugo's. If you tell me Industrial Latex, then I choose Latex Station because of the look.

If you’re specific and maybe want theme latex, then I would take you to Kayliwulf Kingdom for the sheer number of designs, but I'm going to listen to you first, then escort you to stores you don’t already know.

DY: Have you had challenging requests?

Pet: Yes absolutely. I hunt down anything people want, so one guy had me find him a pair of World War 2 German boots, and they were quite tough to find. That was probably my hardest. Currently I am escorting some Dommes to get ballroom dresses for a ballroom dance at Estate Obscure Friday.

DY: What's the typical cost for a shopping trip with you?

Pet: I don't charge per hour, people usually give me fair and good tips. Personal shopping is something I love doing so much, I could do it all day. It's a thrill seeing someone happy with the results and time you put into making them pleased.

Sometimes I get ripped off, other times I have been tipped 20,000 L, but honestly a few thousand is polite, because I'm taking my time to help you, and I am going to insure you are happy and satisfied

DY: Do you get a lot of repeat business?

Pet: it's truly an honor when Domme friend's of mine say "pet dresses me, or pet is my clothier" and they recommend me, I get lots of repeat business and I always send my friends LM's or let them know if I see something they will enjoy.

DY: Anything you'd like to say as a conclusion?

Pet: I'm easy to approach, and me helping you, allows you more time to spend with your girls or whatever you enjoy doing.

Deirdre again : I’ll just add that we spoke to satisfied customers of Pet’s and they were uniformly satisfied (impressed, too!) with Pet’s services.