Graffiti wall, Inuyashas Shinto wedding master, horses

Mobile TinyHouse under a blossom tree in Gion

Inuyasha flashes his weapon in defense of the gal from possible danger... a la Rashomon? You have to train hard to do these moves.

I took everything down and reinstalled one object at a time. Wangxiang noticed that once I take out the coffee filter - which is a miniature receptor/display for the twiddla graffitiwall whiteboard, I crashed. So I killed this little guy. Then i rezzed the big wall, immediately I also crashed. So no more graffitiwall for now until I figure out whats wrong.
How come it worked for so long and since when did it start to not work?

More screenshots for picture book. I visited Butler where Inuyasha made his castle, free for all to visit, including three horses! All guests welcome to ride around. He is studying to be Shinto master, so he could perform weddings for couples.
He told me the last person who begged him to help her do this Shinto wedding, so he read all about it... when it came time to do the ceremony the bride wanted a mix of Catholic and Shinto etc. Needless to say, he felt his purity of tradition was almost all in vain - seeing that his client is so ... disappointingly capricious about the authentic rules.

Such is life! we all know that sl is the same as rl!

Mahjong at Gion

Since for unknown reasons, all my avatars crash at DGM, but is fine elsewhere. So, Swannjie goes around to do screenshots for the Picture Book.

She rezzed the Mahjong table under a tree and played a couple of games.

Its good to allow other people to rezz objects on your land, a sign of generosity. If others could walk around; how about letting them sit down? And how about letting them do some short events? Gion allows 30mn rezzing which is good. Swannjie rezzed a hot air balloon and was able to tour around the place.

When zero rezzing allowed is enforced, I feel like I want to leave asap.

red string hundun, where is the old store?

Swannjiejie has a new Hundun, a red string one. In ancient days, sometimes the strings were in a rusty red color. Here the wood face is in "snake skin crackling" - a feature of old lacquer.

Where is the Calla gazebo? Want to hear some girl talk...

Bots, Soror Nishi, Oscar Niemeyer in sl, Hid Voom

Today is a play day. Dont feel like looking at anything in particular. Visited Hid Vooms blog, about Oscar Niemeyer architecture in sl... I like OM architecture. Then there is a too-late-to-visit garden sim... but i read the blog of the creator - Soror Nishi. She talked about one prim bots...

I must learn more about bots. As I have first came across them at Penglai island.

Looking at others sl world reminds me of the world changing fast. Like the fable of where you live a day in the cloud, its already 5000 years below. Hahhahah, I visited Calla hair - where i enjoyed listening to girl talks when i was a newbie, but the place has also changed. Now its very summer cottage country for the retired crowds. Conservative comfy look. I like the leaves on the ground. But no more avatars there chatting. Maybe because there is no more trivia games. No more lindens. It used to be if you answered correctly you get 10$lindens. or 5$L or 2$L, cant remember. Without the avatars, this place no matter how pretty - is once again a dustless decor. Maybe they could use a few bots here - just to keep up a chatter. If the conversation source is interesting. Why not make the automatic texts interesting to read?

Virtual World and art at Rezzable, good blog?

Tomorrow. Today, I am closing boutique.

Clap Clip, Transmusicale 2008 and the Moon, Mobile DGM with aluminum cladding single layer and cubic layer

The TinyHouse with 3000prims.

The main DGM site is so laggy that I crash each time I land so, I had to set up my Games cabin at the Annex - this is the new walnut mahjong table. After fussing with a new pastel color design, the best is a simple plain walnut face - exactly what I had wanted. I didnt know how to deal with the buttons, will they disappear? I wanted them! In the end, its so simple; just change texture. The buttons are embedded in the board, but tranparent only to display the data. So smart and easy to alter for the others. Great table! A freebie too.

The Mobile DGM TinyHouse, this is the aluminum cube skin. Each cube is a tiny storage space for toys.

Close up of the Games Cabin interior with Pearl aluminum screens.





Clap Clip came to give me a briefing for the Transmusciale mixed reality event on 3Dec08, 13h30-14h30, Digital Guqin demo talk, Paris time in Rennes. See, we will have a screen on the table and the giant size projection screen at top.

Scenario designer builder Ayiki, Clap Clip and Swannjie - this is a to scale representation of the real life scene at Rennes.

J'irai dormir à Hollywood, Mahjong cabin, love letter from MianMian

love letter from MianMian - purchased at RMB city

Swannjie setting up a wilderness cabin at DGM annex where she puts a Mahjong + games table for friends

A pearl screen wall - visitors can compose their own arangements by changing the colors.


I found out how the Mahjong game works.
Its very interesting that, when your avatar is playing; its more fun. The avatar is playing on her favorite table in a nice cabin weekend home with trees and water etc, friends could drop by!! whereas if you play this Mahjong on your internal finite computer screen, you - and not your avatar - is living this moment like a retired, no life poor pou pou...

An avatar is only a part of the you in rl, but its no big deal if she fell in the lake, whatever problems - in the end, its very simple, unplug!

Film viewed:

J'irai dormir à Hollywood 3*

(I am going to sleep at somebodys home in Hollywood)
documentary, funded by Canal+ and other organisation.

The director/author does autofilming, he carries two digital camera, one perched on his shoulder, one with an arm tied to perch the lens filming on reverse with his own head always in the lower left corner of the frame. For a feature film, this is marvellous. Not a moment of boredom - there were only a few people in the cinema. A documentary diffused in a regular cinema is still quite impressive!
I actually got to see some peoples home that normally would be impossible to see.
1/ I would like to travel around the world and sleep at other peoples homes too - without pre arrangements. This is not like "couch surfing" or some stable well planned events. Its a catch as catch can movie. As there are dangers people wanting to rob you of video equipment etc. He did it by himself. It is a risk taking project... I wonder during the making of this documentary, did he come across much more trying situations? For all the time he spends on the road, the events we saw were not that much...

2/ I like his car - a hearst - repainted w roller, fixed with duct tapes, hinge greased with olive oil from his salad food stock, in dusty rose pink, i like his car! It looks much better than the original silver paint, a cadillac no less.

3/ He successfully slept with somebody in Hollywood, somebody who lost his job and must last 6years living on the beach. But he looks so healthy, rosy cheeked and happy. This man is one of the star of his film, he slept in Hollywood with this star of his movie.

4/ saw the Indian reserve. How could they live in a no public transit, no electricity place? no books... but the grandma, the grandma is very beautiful. If the girl goes out into the city, without pre-briefing and support, she will quickly get eaten up by the wolves. Its sad, only because I feel so much could be done and no path. No path going outwards.

I would like to travel and do a film project of this type. Maybe in a mobile Tinyhouse vehicle, how about Guqin music? Concerts... miniature music, dj.

real life lunch at Odeon

I went to a cafe/restaurant yesterday, the oldest in Paris, the service, food were superbe. There was a couple sitting next to me, man in his 60ish, and woman sophisticated a la Fanny Ardant. He had this whole rognon with french fries, she had snails. Then, the waiter proposed the second dish, salade with fresh lobster from Portugal - the lady says, what? oh, good; braaaavo braaaavo! hahahahah
I liked the way she answers, its funny and pleasant for everyone. The man looks like someone very well fed, accomplished in his profession - maybe a banker.

Then near the window, is a couple of men, in grey pinstripe suit, in their 40s both spoke American english. Maybe a couple? Pale and high strung - the one facing me, the one with his back to me, more relaxed type.

On my right hand side, a couple also, two fat men, they must be size XXXXL, artistic creative type. They had a long meal. Seafaring type of white pull over sweater, long hair, with moustache.

Opposite not too far, is a small soft looking Asian man; a Japanese? by his hair style and choice of proper clothing. He was drinking mineral water... smiling good nature type. Could be a travels writer for a classic magazine.

Opposite the passage is a petite Japanese girl, very conservative office look, (they give you a very reliable impression) but not corporate office, attire, something brown, beige, vintage no style Burberry, in her 30s, she had soup, main course the whole deal... :)

All this time, several couples came and went, people came in groups of 4 or 5 to visit the restaurant, but did not stay to dine. A couple of single older women came in to dine.

Me, I had half tourteaux and beef stew... yummy yummy... I should learn to cook like this... service was great, friendly with style. Definitely a place to come back to.

Fabulous Ferris Wheel, Airship creator Swyndlehurst

After an exciting day, I saw the most fabulous hedonistic ferris wheel. Its supposed to be a secret place for now. So, I will just show you the photos no landmark yet.

The colors, the textures of the sofa, the teacup rides... everything I love... the scale of the larger than life builds - so pop Japanese, just like in bars in rl japan. Its the fantasy of childlike softness... a shiny, candy cane childhood ambiance - combined with 65 types of cocktail bar dispenser. In the ferris wheel, you could hold your own salon - isnt this magnificent - i wouldnt be surprised if such a wheel exists in rl. Although, the global financial tsunami might delay the rl version...

snap shot of a visitor : Swyndlehurst, creator of a Mother Airship - a customised version of it is being used for Mobile Digital Guqin Museum, came to visit DGM.

tp by Hanako Hammerer, I arrived at a fabulous Ferris Wheel. Here is a memorable moment. Something giant size, simple idea, build with a large sense of scale. Inside the Ferris Wheel;interesting poses with animation on the sofas. Everything is just right. The Ferris wheel has 714prims. (update of name and lm soon)

The wheel has giant size two story salons, it rotates very slowly, so the landscape changes outside, each salon has a different color theme and drinks - like private salons, for soft romantic rendez vous.

This reminds me of a comment, I was visiting Gion before it closes, a friend came by and we tested the pose balls for a romantic traditional hotel lodge. The two avatars are lying one on top of the other softly - the European avatar says, hmm but nothing much is going on, its static. For me, an Asian familiar with traditional romantic ideas, this is much more moving than any erotic sex balls. Its interesting how we have been programmed to enjoy certains things, we could be born with it or we could be brought up with it. Some people just enjoy playing hockey etc, whereas others like to do bird watching... hahahahhaha

This Ferris Wheel candy cane pastel salons are for romance in the same vein as that old style japanese Inn. Its the contemporary pop version of romance opportunity.

clothing, hair

new lessons to learn

http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/

Oracle Book Diary DIY gift 2009, YouTube tv tuner, SuDongPo Timeless, cultural differences

Reading a prize winning design of ebook-reading environment by a German artist at Francophone Library.

The Official DGM taxi on the GraffitiWall, slated for the GraffittiGoGo Jumpsuit 2009.

DGM taxi created and customised by Salmaru with Official chauffeur. Standard Salmaru taxis, all free, are baked in high quality durable colors for all occasions. Available at Salmaru store, black limousine for red carpet events, green for the anonymous wild chase, red for self expression, beige for understated discreet meetings, and blue for holiday time! You will find just the color to suit your mood for your everyday needs. The model shown with Plum flower motif is a special custom version of the DGM, available upon request for all Friends of Digital Guqin Museum. All models come with chauffeur - just wear it yourself! ^^

Swannjie thinks she is sleeping, but her eyes are open... why dont they make avatars sleep with eyes closed? Its probably very useful for a lot of people - you wont feel so tired looking at your avatar with insomnia!

Swannjie came across the golden buddha in the clouds at Penglai Island, she asked: what are you doing here Buddha, arent you cold? Buddha answers: You are very observant, how does a fish know the water is cold? Why do you answer with a question? Whats wrong with that?

A Chinese visitor finally, Swannjie tried to drag Chinese visitors to the DGM, succeed with FlyKnifeDream who makes a very nice Chinese sim with a graffiti wall - a traditional one with pre-scribbled photos, phone nos, and poems. Just like in China on a white washed wall.

Torley was at this beautiful bar with lighting so superb for evening performances. Very charming he is Torley, yes, the super guy himself!

Oracle Consultation Platform with a Chinese medicine chest, arent answers to our questions like medicine sometimes? Just the right component - even microscopic quantity will cure. I read somewhere, this conversation. The patient: doctor, i have taken a lot of medicine already and i am still not well. The doc: its not the amount of medicine you take, its the right kind of medicine that cures.

My standard wall size giant tv screen customised aluminum casing. I like to watch tv shows inside the house, whereas for movies, i like to watch it outside open air... so a double sided screen offers more viewing pleasure.

... a moving picture wall surface, tune into any movies from a channel we set up ourselves such as from Shoutcast... all the vintage chic oldies, for example music videos... spy movies, cartoons... hard to see shows directly coming to the DGM Club House... but no No Youtube, hmmm. I read the very good Torley tutorial... its possible with mp4. OK

Surprise! WangXiang the ever ressourceful and kind one sent me a YouTube tv tuner with an ultra slim screen. Wow, YouTube is so easy to use with this receiver. I can imagine a lot of fun things to do with friends using this nifty slim screen. We could begin to watch the Children Guqin Player clips now! I like to show the children playing, its so cute... if they could learn in 3 months, what about us?

Next, fun things for all levels of skills and interests for everyone ! Majong table - which i got from a Hungarian cultural centre a long time ago but now became a weapon zone! Sl changes so fast! Right now my table is a little broken because I fired a round of clicking on it without reading instructions, now all the tiles are gone. Cant rezz tiles. :( We could play once I fix the bug and get the tiles back onto the table... Will set up my favorite fancy Go game by Bambam Sachertorte (400prims!) for the quiet ones - Chinese medicine for the ones who like to experiment on themselves and the ones near them... and Oracle consultation - now everybody has questions, isnt that so?

Of course, cooking; cooking is an important part of Chinese culture, more YouTube... instructional cooking lessons are very good - even SuDongPo himself that lively poet-engineer invented an ultra popular lacquered pork dish - He wrote about this extensively eat drink and fall asleep under his flowering Tamayo tree. You can order this dish even today in any Chinese restaurant anywhere around the world - it carries his name. Pork a la DongPo fashion. DongPo Ro (Meat DongPo style) See, cooking is important! He was exiled to the bleds because of honesty in office, and problems with people in high places.

Anyway, SuDongPo Timeless was born in sl a year ago... havent yet found him the right clothes - I will make them soon, he deserves a proper literati outfit and not the common gold silk brocade - but something very elegant which suits his personality. He will grow into his role in due time. We must wait.

Visited the Francophone Library yesterday, and got a "Livre nu" - blank page book from a french friend - see, even in such neutral ivory tower literary realms, a "Livre nu" is much more sexy than a "blank page book" - a "Nude book" just doesnt translate the right meaning at all... in Chinese, a blank page book would translate as "the pure book". :) See, cultural differences, cultural differences.

I will put a little picture and bookshop up too... :)

Now, I am offering a DIY Oracle Book Diary gift for the coming New Year 2009 - maybe in real life and in sl - for those people who want to make their own personal Picture-Diary book - a record of the questions they asked. Over the course of a year, they will see which questions and answers they got.

House, TinyHouse, Mobile Vehicles, communication,

Next step would be to look very carefully how to make the DGM08 house - The House. I wanted to make a Home not only a House.

Ayiki wants to take care of the communication aspect of the Cre@ction group, more communication between the creators who are often working hard in their own corners. Isnt this something all groups want? A big cheerful nodal point of a sort?

It is not the space which is lacking and it is not the quality of the space thats lacking. Then what is needed still? Sometimes creative, original types are all very individualistic, because they must believe in their work. They are often loners. Do loners also want to go to an easy casual pub? bar? tea room? oyster bar?


Questions:
Why would people want that?
Who are these people?
What do they look for?
What activities in a social setting situation do they enjoy?
How would going to such a point help them enjoy their time in sl more?

Unending questions, brain as receptor, one step further

I really like this Transmusicale 2008 poster, will try to get a larger sharper picture; colorful birds flies out of the tuba in this white washed snowland. I made a GraffittiGoGo sweat suit outfit with metallic violet color spaceboots as a souvenir to yesterdays visit at Metalab sim. The artist for the original poster must be a very charming person.


Carla Broek wrote "Friend" in Chinese and we doodled over on the GraffitiWall, the graphics sometimes will be selected to make the GraffittiGoGo line of souvenir tshirts for free gifts.


The conference room screen at MetaLab has been streamed onto GraffitiWall - this is a favorite of minimalist art lovers.


Live rl conference video streaming on multiple screens - mixed reality creation - a built located at Metalab.

I read on Ninianes Blog that she has a character trait, she asks one question after another. I have a friend from a science background, she also does that. She told me that when she was little, her mom took her to the wet market, and there were apples in a crate. Each one had little stickers on it, saying Delicious Apple. The vendor said they were from the States. She asked, how do you know? Vendor: the stickers says so. But somebody could just put these stickers on, how can you be sure? She was maybe 7 at the time. She has this character trait that she argues to the Nth degree. I am notlike that, argumentative for the love of it, I just want to go one step further - how far could we go? I just want to go one step further - whats the next picture, and the next, next? The proof is, if the respondant gave me a convincing answer, I would stop right away. I just want to know why and get a thorough answer - its like getting a job well done.

In fact, depending on how we frame any picture - what follows is unpredictable - just look at photosynth, or google earth, or any web site that has words and pictures on it... we could always look further depending on so many conditions, for example, our capturing devices.

The brain specialists - for example Jill Bolte Taylor - says that our brain is like a receptor, it captures as time goes on. Whether you are asleep or not, the waves and signal continues, just that your are turned off - and even then, some people can continue as they sleep. I used to memorize text for class work as follows. I would read the text a couple of times, go to sleep and next day, I would know it by heart. It means somehow i turn the brain partially on. Otherwise, how could we account for "the night brings good advice"?

Now, my present question is, why cant i build quickly the DGM ? I could execute very quickly, this is not the problem - I need some wind. I need more data to go on. This data is not the reference data: bldg details or clothing or historical stories, or any of the factual pieces related to the DGM, I am looking for something new. Reproducing an existing set of data has been proven valuable in sl already, we only have to look around and see the many wonderful historically informed or reality based builds all around - such as castles, campus.

As a creator of a site, I like to provide opportunities for new experiences. I want to provide something new - a platform for constant input of data (the presence of unexpected avatars is the most exciting source of constantly changing data in sl - because they are linked to a humongous source of data in rl), create an opportunity for ever-refreshing experiences for the visitors beyond a triggering mechanic that outputs large or small preset options.

Where does this perpetually renewed data come in for the DGM ?
Just want to go one step further.

transmusicale 2008, Clap Clip, Ayiki Takakura

I discovered "Transmusicale in Rennes 2008, mixed realities" last night from Clap Clip, and started reading all about it... one more time, the world is as opened and closed as we want it to be... rl and sl combined !

An interview on Ayiki Takakura - which dates from 2006, so generous, so full of life!

Digital Fashion :: Graffitti Wall, touch screens, Wii, tidied-up-art Ursus Wehrli, happiness

Happiness

Wonderful touch screen! by Jeff Han. The end to overworked repetitive mouse-clicking related problems...

I first read about using Wii remote to create an inexpensive white board as presented at TED conference by Johnny Lee, and this morning, another use, to control the movement of avatars in sl... this sounds so amazing to me. Go read about it in detail from the expert - Hugobiwan Zolnir !

Tidy up art... i like a lot of the tidied up versions by Ursus Wehrli...


Our Graffitti Wall fashion line expresses a fundamental free spirit and "open source" attitude - each model comes from the collaborations of combined graphic works of two or more people.

Leisure wear: GraffittiGoGo

1/ GraffittiGoGo LiPo 6moon - expresses how LiPo invites the moon and his own shadow to drink together as a threesome pal
2/ GraffittiGoGo Tokyo/Paris - cat faces from Tokyo and scribbles from Paris. Collaboration between Saitot and Swann Jie
3/ GraffittiGoGo Black Lace - cubic lace motifs inspired by Prof Sturtevants instant graphic strokes combined with sinuous wanderings - this is evening beach wear when that little black dress is too formal.
4/ GraffittiGoGo Friends - colorful word "Friend" (You) in chinese written by a Belgian friend modified freely by others... this little outfit is just the thing for cocktail party with friends.

Digital Guqin Instrument, Graffitti Wall

Come try the Digital Guqin Instrument, and click on the Graffitti Wall - you will be directed to an online Graffitti page where you could draw and leave messages for everyone to see in Secondlife; directly on the wall behind Swannjie.

Take snapshots of yourself playing the guqin with your graffitti creations on the Wall! Do it with friends together! Hold informal meetings at the outdoor DGM Buvette, meet your friends here...

Get the new GraffittiGoGo outfits at the Mobile DGM workshop... Its all free!
Enjoy!

Arts Birthday 2009 Saturday, 17 January 2009 Invitation

Arts Birthday 2009

Open Call

ART’S BIRTHDAY 2009: CALL FOR ONLINE GIFTS AND ON SITE PARTICIPATION
On Saturday, 17 January 2009, we are celebrating 1,000,046 years of art!

This time, Kunstradio is joining forces with the Experimental Studio of
Slovensky Rozhlas and with IMA (Institute of Media Archaeology) for a
two-day-happy-birthday-event, as usual online, on site and on air.

The Fete Permanente, as which Art’s Birthday was conceived by fluxus artist
Robert Filliou in 1963, will take place at the exhibition “Magical
Soundmachines” at the Kulturfabrik Hainburg on the shore of the Danube, close
to Vienna and even closer to Bratislava.
“Magical Soundmachines” presents a range of unique historical sound generators,
recorders and transmitters – and they are here to be played.
http://ima.or.at/klangmaschinen/

For the Art’s Birthday Party 2009 we invite artists, musicians, sound machine
affiliates, composers, performers etc. to contribute their gifts to Art: either
as digitally transmitted files (to be uploaded on
http://kunstradio.at/PROJECTS/AB2009) or to be performed live and on the spot
in Hainburg. Each participant gets a slot of 20 minutes, and we will provide
technical facilities as well as refunds for expenses.

Please email your proposals by 30 November 2008 to kunstradio@kunstradio.at –
just a few sentences on first ideas are sufficient. We encourage using the
sound streams which will be coming in from other Art’s Birthday Parties all
over the world, however all other suggestions are welcome, too!

* Art’s Birthday 2009, 17 January, 8 - 12pm CET
* on site: Kulturfabrik Hainburg, Kulturplatz 1, 2410 Hainburg an der Donau /
Lower Austria
* on line: http://kunstradio.at, http://www.ima.or.at
* on air: Radio Vergessene Zukunft, 87,5 MHZ
* contact: kunstradio@kunstradio.at
--

Elisabeth Zimmermann
http://kunstradio.at

First Tshirt for sale 0$Linden gift! Nessys words

With the help of Professor Sturtevant and my dear friend Saitot - I have made two outfits; both using Whiteboard technology - collaboration between people from three different continents!

My new fashion label begins with the Graffitti Wall at Digital Guqin Museum site - so for the freedom and the collaborative spirit of the Graffitti Wall - I name the 2008 line, "GraffittiWall"; starting with a line of sports and leisure wear, GraffittiGoGo, come get your gift, they are free!

Pictures coming... Saitot helped me put them into self made vendor boxes starting from scratch, in fact its not hard at all... however, its so much more pleasant with a teacher next to me, even though its in the virtual world.

In fact, isnt this a great proof that the VW platform is good for online learning? I certainly have good experiences - multi faceted ways of using the sl immersive environment.

Nessy, who wrote an article on Penglai island, has a beautiful nymphesque portrait on her blog; I check again just to make sure - and the title is "From the bottom of the lake"... In fact, my host chatted with me today, everyday i would see him for a bit, like a neighbour who drops by ... I asked him if he would give me a tour of his place and he said he prefers that I discover by myself, little by little, and taking time slowly. And, yes, why not?

Virtual World Income tax in China, MIT

Breakthroughs
A Realer Virtual World
Andy Greenberg, 11.07.08, 12:01 AM EST
MIT's Joe Paradiso is building sensors designed to tie real and virtual worlds together.
A mock-up of Paradiso's X-Reality


Josh Lifton's Shadow Lab
For the large majority of Internet users, virtual worlds like Second Life remain a confusing landscape of empty buildings, failed marketing and furry strangers. But Joe Paradiso believes that virtual worlds could be more than an over-hyped gimmick. They just need a dose of reality.

Paradiso, a professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, is working to create what he calls X-Reality or Cross Reality, a system designed to bring virtual and real worlds into a practical sort of alignment. With funding from Second Life parent company, Linden Lab, Paradiso aims to use sensors, displays and software to bring real-world data into virtual worlds and to integrate access to virtual worlds with real-world situations.

Yahoo! BuzzLater in November, Paradiso's team of seven Ph.D. students plans to switch on 45 PDA-sized devices mounted on the walls of the Media Lab's building. Each is equipped with an iPhone-like touch screen, a version of Second Life's software, wireless connections, cameras and a variety of audio, motion and infrared sensors.

According to Paradiso's plan, anyone in the building wearing a small electronic badge can walk up to one of the small screens and peer into a landscape in Second Life and communicate with users. Second Life users will likewise use the screens to look into the real world through floating windows in the virtual world, watching passersby or even remotely sitting in on meetings.

"These devices are designed to be like wormholes that let you tunnel through to a second reality," says Paradiso. "Second Life is detached. We're tying it into the real world."

Related Quotes
IBM $82.74 -1.13

Get Quotes: The result, says Paradiso, will be a physical building that users can access from anywhere in the world. And unlike other "virtual meeting" setups where users' digital avatars awkwardly sit around a virtual conference table in Second Life or another constructed world, an X-Reality meeting would take place largely in the real world, with some virtual world users participating via Paradiso's "wormholes."

"We're just extending human perception through these nodes," says Paradiso. "We're funneling bits back and forth to the virtual world."

Comment On This Story

The potential is for X-Reality go beyond mere meetings. Josh Lifton, a former student of Paradiso's, used his Ph.D. thesis last year to show just how much Second Life can mirror reality. In a project he called "Shadow Lab," Lifton created 35 "smart" power strips and plugged them in throughout the Media Lab. Each was equipped with sensors capturing audio, movement, light, humidity and temperature data, along with the power usage of other appliances drawing electricity from the strip.




http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba1cfc30-a946-11dd-a19a-000077b07658.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
China Levies 20% Tax on Virtual Currencies
China announced a 20% tax on income generated from income made in trading virtual currencies last week. The move comes after an attempt two years ago to simply ban users from profiting off of virtual trades, but observers, both analysts and users, are skeptical about whether or not the country can enforce the new ruling, reports the Financial Times. According to the WSJ, 70% of voters in a survey opposed the new ruling, but the government is moving forward with its plans. The announcement [Google translation] was distributed to local tax bureaus, asking them to determine the original prices of currency and virtual goods where users fail to do so. According to reports, the change comes due to both an increase in the value of the market, currently estimated at about $1.45 billion and growing at 15-20% each year, as well as concerns over the use of virtual currencies in money laundering. Just last week, for example, a Korean group was arrested after laundering $38 million over 18 months back into China from virtual currencies. China isn't the first nation to begin taxing virtual currencies: Korea launched a value added tax last year, and Sweden has been rolling out its tax plan over the last year as well. [via PlayNoEvil]
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Bug ! zzzzzzzzzzzz

After i spent three days making a beautiful house, sitting group, tree; platform; sushi plate w champagne etc etc; tp notecards, suddenly, the land doesnt allow me to build. And then; five min later, all my objects came flying back! And i dont even see them in the lost and found folder!!!

Bug!

Anyway, this goes to show you - in sl; you must make backup copies just like your word files - that essay that you spent hours writing needs backup, this house that you built needs backup...

Linden lab fault or whose fault. Gone is gone, doesnt matter whose fault it is; you got to be careful if you dont want to lose precious time in rl.

I took some pics of what i see and compared to visitors view - which is nothing; zero. The pictures are images in my computer cache, and they exist only here. You never know what others see is what you see... we all have previous memories.

Hahahaah, now that will put you to sleep... zzzzzzzzz

WangXiang on Digital Guqin Museum

A write up by WangXiang on Digital Guqin Musuem project, date 8nov08.

Guqin Instrument

Digital Guqin Museum 2008, new development site

On invitation by a Friend of Digital Guqin Museum, - Mr. WangXiang Tuxing, afficonado of Chinese culture and virtual worlds at large I have made a demo and surprise... he owns a few islands and likes the Digital Guqin Museum Project! I am excited by this occasion to pass from sl to rl. Offering free use of land is a rl affair!

Our friend has offered an archipelago previously named the Hundun for DGM group use. I kick started this morning immediately after receiving the happy news. DGM is now on a larger site this time, 9000+ sq m. 600prims approx. Initial duration 6 months.

Brief history of pre-Digital Guqin Museum locations:
1/ Nimue, small 512m2 invitation by Five March, site of the building of the instrument.

Rented land for a week - for double prim newbies from an Estate office - soon surrounded by newbies building wall to wall tight and tall structures, without regard to style and function, noise, people who flew by, peeped in without any hello. Does not answer even spoken to... newbie experiences... abandonned land after one week. Often no tp - sl without tp is like a computer without electricity.

First Hundun guqin completed. Ikune Rosse did the scripting, Luvem Carter animation, Kan Greene animation. Enormous general help by Five March, Saitot Tammas, Ken Cioc.

2/ Elks Marina, from Elkdeer Woodgets property, a slice of his beach, a small flower house for Digital Guqin playing. Flower house by Tilly Ayres.

3/ Nimue, on un-named land parcel neighbouring helpful friends Saitot Tammas and Five March; for several months - DGM was housed in Mushroom spa House by Tilly - customised for special parking below and shop above with small stage/bed for the instrument. Hot tub and guqin demo in a translucid green flower.

Swannjie Postal Service first initiated to raise funds for the DGM Project. On-going.

Deltango Vale offered land for a Guqin concert and general sandbox use of a vaste sim.
This first sl to rl event was a success in sl and rl. rl in Tokyo, and sl in previously named Magenta parcel.

3/ Linden Campus Land Grant, 4000+ m2, for the DGM project. Setting up of media screens, guqin playing set ups on landscaped gardens. Site served as campus group research meetings for the pleasant peaceful qualities. Demos and cultural interchange among the groups.

Presented the DG to various University groups: University of Southern Mississippi has collaborated with the scripting for their experiment. Professor Sturvesant is a wonderful collaborator. Also met robot expert from Santa Rosa College, and Prof Christelle Scharff from Pace University, and Tsulbaran from Chile.

4/ DoubleHappiness lot, Eyebeam Island art project; Chinese Garden for a small DGM demo setting, with Oracle Poem reading platforms.

The Eyebeam island owner had a real life event for one day, avatar were given worker contracts for the DoubleHappiness Factory - a jean factory - it will print out jean designs at the order of rl visitors. The jeans were sold at $64us each, on cotton cloth, glued together. Wearable, washable. Swannjiejie was sent to sign the contract at the factory - be on standby as a backup worker - for her troubles, she gets an allotment for her perusal and linden dollars.
The lot is now housing the DGM garden, for general use and display of a Digital Guqin for vistors to try.

5/ Mother Airship, a gift from Hanako Hammerer of a giant flying vehicle, holds 20 passengers, good idea for a mobile DGM . It includes shop, living, voyager carrier and can fly up to 4000m. No fixed address.

The ship will be modified to suit a mobile Digital Guqin Museum purpose. This ship is a larger version of an idea of a mobile Museum. Previous mobile versions include: purchase of a DoubleDecker bus, transformation of a school bus.

6/ On Hundun archipelago - hosting the Digital Guqin Museum set up by WangXiang Tuxing. We will plan a first virtual DGM and we will plan events for concerts etc.

First public Digital Guqin concert was a cold call gig offer by Owls Island from the cultural group composed of Winter, Carla Broek and Elora Luguna at the occasion of their "Once upon a time in China" festival. People came to the concert all dressed in Chinese clothing. Very nice event. The avatars were varied and very human, the setting they made was very charming and shows clear fun by the creators. Carla even made a Dynasty chart - because it is "Once Upon a Time" - thats going back in time.

To do list:
garden space design
rock design
furniture design
fashion for concert attendees
new models of Digital Guqin instruments
souvenir boutique - freebies
language cafe/teahouse/bar for Chinese, English, French for social club
games with chinese culture content
oracle consultation with personal live interpretation of poems by avatar


Log Book:
Following the gift of an airship by Hanako Hammerer on 6nov08, for Digital Guqin Mobile Museum (a flying vehicle complete with internal elevator and housing, shop etc. Carries 20 passengers), I decided to build from the top down - the highest the airship can reach is around 4000meter. To establish usable space, the airship's upper flight height limit was used as top level. The mobile concert place will be rezzed when needed.

So starting from the upper height limits, top level first, then work down ... terra forming will come after we do some research on which rl landscape to model after.

Come try the Digital Guqin, enjoy! Open to all.
Join the Digital Guqin Museum group today, its free!

Day 1, 8nov08:
A platform with a house, tree, and garden for Guqin playing, plus one Bubbles for Birds elevator. You could "climb" the 4000meters by hopping from one Bubbles for Birds to the next to reach the top without LandMark. Or tp to TOP DGM here:

Digital Guqin Museum 2008 top, Daiyu Island (200, 50, 4071)

Site photos:

Far Away, Catwalk, London Pub, Dalai Lama

Gion last visit

Gion will close at the end of November. Last visit of a beautiful sim. Thanks to the creator Sammy Bindle.

University of Florida :: Second China :: hire some real people to do the training?

I checked out the Second China sim, it is what it was designed to do, an economical way of pre-training staff without having to send people over to China. As such, its really like a decor, dry, and the avatar-wearing-robots are really awful to interact with, I wish they look like themselves; a robot instead of wearing human skin and clothes. It has a dimension thats eery, as if these (Chinese) people are also rote-spulting robots only - I think the designer should put robots (if they really cant afford to pay real people to wear the avatars) - cute robots in its place - it will make the place more charming. Unless these avatars are really worn by real people, its not a good idea - it feels cheap, cheapens the training experience for the trainees!!!

Take for example, on Samurai island, I had a teahouse experience at my early days in sl, i was surprised when i was greeted by a maiko getup avatars, 2 of them! even they were only paid like 25cents an hour, students on summer job from Australia - i had a good experience, it was a human interaction. I was able to talk to them beyond the role of maiko - if all they were allowed to say were the mechanical maiko chat, how terrible would that have been? It would be exactly like a robot ! But because these greeters were real people, they behave in very subtle human ways with variations.

Trainees should be trained by real people, otherwise, you disrespect the value of the time trainees spent on the program and you also take lightly the opposite party whom you are trying to interact with. This is not kung fu training; where the va and viens is mechanical; its human interaction.

Avatar robots is a robot! Lets not pretend its human and cheapen our human relationship! Hire some real people, pay them something and the place will be more alive, with real experiences.

I think they should do like Samourai Island; hire some people.

The University could still do training - do it at specific hours, and mix it with real greeters, pay somebody. Dont skimp on this critical important part, otherwise you will be pre-training your staff to be robot like because your trainers are robots!

Right now; its a dry place; wasted time and opportunity for human enrichments, and presents a cheap image, along with poor experience to the training program itself.

Why not make things fun for everyone?

===

http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/10/university-of-florida-puts-125m-grant-into-diplomacy-training-for-second-life.html

October 31, 2008
University of Florida Puts $1.25M Grant into Diplomacy Training for Second Life
University of Florida engineers have launched a project in Second Life to foreign service and other government workers for diplomatic missions to China. Second China is funded by a $1.25 million federal grant and offers generic Chinese city for visitors to explore and proceed through various activities. One, for example, simulates a visit to an office building for a conference event where the user must choose appropriate clothes and a gift, proceed through official greetings, and learn about seating patterns and rules. Another building features a tea house with history lessons for the user about politics and culture.

Oddly, though, the receptionist and other points of interaction aren't controlled by users. The researchers promote the use of bots as allowing, along with a Web-based tutorial, 24/7 access and a repeatable, measurable experience. I can understand those benefits, but it does seem to sidestep the bigger benefit of virtual worlds like Second Life for education--actual interaction. The team has spent the last year in development and will spend the next year evaluating Second China's effectiveness.

swannjiepostalservice.blogspot.com

Swann Jie Postal Service
http://swannjiepostalservice.blogspot.com

Deltango Vale, invites me to show my sl to rl piece - "Swannjiepostalservice". This on-going art work piece will be displayed on her land.
Check it out!

HipiHi, bloggers on Virtual Worlds

Blogger in Chinese on Virtual World - http://slwatch.blogbus.com/logs/19098828.html

Christina Deng is the co-blogger. They report on sl and HipiHi and other virtual worlds in Chinese.

I am looking forward to see the type of information in focus.

Swannjiejie decided to go into HiPiHi to have a look too. Swannbb lets her go, and eventually Swann Jie may go too. :)

i-marginal, Universite de Paris 7, WangXiang blog

Very interesting Eurocampus... Virtual World blog by WangXiang member of i-marginal of Paris.

Murder in Virtual World in Japan

Identity and Expression
First Avatar Arrest for Virtual World Murder? The Hack Job
10.23.08 | 1 Comment
In what might be the first arrest for the murder of an avatar, Associated Press reports that a woman in Japan killed off her virtual husband when he divorced her. The police threw her in jail for ‘hacking’ because the murder was accomplished by using her ‘ex husband’s’ log-in information to perform the act of revenge:

” “I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry,” the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.

The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said.

She has not yet been formally charged, but if convicted could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine up to $5,000.”

The murder took place in the online world of Maple Story. Which proves that it IS a world, because as Prokofy Neva has famously noted, a world is a world because it contains people, a sense of place, and drama.

The visitor, Home

The Visitor 3*

About a 60ish professor who taught for 20 years the same syllabus, pretends to write a book, and presents a paper written by a colleague upon demand - he didnt really want to do it, but the system requires him to do it. His wife an accomplished pianist already passed away, and he tries to liven up his life by learning the piano. But no talent, he dismissed 4 teachers one after another.

On his way to NY apartment, he found two people living in his place by some trickery - but the two young people are upright, so he invites them to stay. The young woman being cautious about the motif of the prof.

Finally friendship develops he starts to play the african drum - an instrument that you dont think - aboveall you must not think to play well. He starts to have a new budding friendship, life, life is budding in him. But, the young man by some turn of events was expulsed to Syria. His mother comes to visit, an upright woman of an age suitable for him, he feels something stirring, a soft warm hope of some small beginning. But as the young man gets explused his mother also decides to go back to Syria to accompany him, and never to return. (Illegal immigrants can never return)

So we see the plane takes off, and the prof goes to the subway to play furiously on a bench in the underground.

I said, how come, in his age, he has money, he has nothing more to do, career already accomplished, why doesnt he go to Syria? My friend says, you are so Hollywoodian, this is unreal, people have not begun anything. The ending is better like this. And I said, yes, I know contemporary movies are "realistic", and Hollywoodian movies are too much, but still - in his situation, what stops him from going to Syria? Even for one month; two months, it would still be happiness for everyone. Why must he stop at limiting himself by playing the drums in the subway?
At his age, it would be hard to find a suitable age woman for himself, he could find young girls, but the ideal one, the mature stylish upright one is hard to come by. Why does he not follow through, just to see? He has the means... and time to do it.


Home 3*

Isabelle Hupert plays a mother who loves her family living in a home situated next to a highway. Initially its an abandonned highway, so, calm and normal home living. But later, the highway opens, noise, etc. coming. And the behavior of the children testing the patience of the mother. Finally they put some concrete blocks and block up the whole house. The home gets messier, dirtier, people cant breath. The mother is at the end of her strength, she collapses. Sleeps like dead. Then one day she waits up, takes a hammer and slege hammer herself out of the concrete block wall, and sun comes in and fresh air. The whole family goes outside of the house and back ground music : Nina Simone sings Wild Wind Blows, the music is so soulful and free.
A very good movie, works on many levels. The Director is a young woman, she says this is a movie about Switzerland. Thats whats it like there. Seemingly clean but dirt and dust comes in everywhere, people are stuck.

I thought it could be a movie about any family, any woman; any mother feels like this sometime in their life.

By chance, my movie going buddy talked about the mother of a friend, who was a business woman, after she raised her kids, and sold her business, she doesnt know what to do , has no interest, she goes to casino - private ones - and owes tens and thousands of euros, that the son has to pay for. Its an illness - gambling. But what happens afterwards, if you dont gamble? there is nothing else. I think it is so important to have interests in life. But everyone feels stuck after a while... what else is there to do?