This was to be a Happy New Year post, the first of 2015. But, blog/server problems messed up that plan. Since then RL has been delaying my getting it published. I’m just getting back to this now. So, belated Happy New Year!
Life is still busy for me as I finish up multiple projects with more lining up. I know I’ll be writing less in January than I have in the past.
Inara, Ciaran, and Mona do a good job of covering the news. So, I may move to only covering those parts of Second Life they skip. So, for now I expect to publish more bits and less news.
Marketing
Lindal Kidd has an article on promoting goods and services in Second Life. See: FLASH! Marketing in Second Life. Her article refers you to two others for the actual information. There is nothing new in either, but if you are new to SL these will be helpful.
Drax World Makers
A new episode came out a couple of days ago. Ciaran provides an overview summary and links to the new episode. See: The Drax Files World Makers Episode 25 – Oblee.
Mesh Bodies Review
Lindal Kidd pointed me to a review of mesh bodies here: Mesh Bodies: TheMeshProject vs Belleza with a little on Slink Physique. This was published in September 2014. But, I found it interesting.
2015 SL Sci-Fi Convention
The 8th annual Sci-Fi Convention runs from 2/20 to 3/1. It is a fund raiser for Relay for Life. The organizers have announced they have over 100 exhibitors from across the Grid and Galaxy, 10 days of activities and adventures, Live Music Events, Theatrical Presentations, Parties and more.
Registration is open, if you are interested in participating as a vendor at the event. You can choose from a variety of booths and packages. Registration information can be found at the following link: Sci-Fi Convention Registration.
The organizers have a web site. You can get more information at: http://slscificonvention.wordpress.com/
2014 Hottest Year?
In Second Life we don’t get warm or cold. But, in RL climate is an issue and actions being taken in relation to additional government controls in the name of saving us from Climate Change are condemning millions to less freedom, higher energy costs and taxes, poverty, poor health, and lowering living standards for the middle class.
Was 2014 the hottest year ever? The science says: no. The UN and governments claim 2014 was hotter than 1998 by 5/100’s of 1 degree Celsius or 9/100’s of a degree Fahrenheit. We have no measuring system that is that accurate. Also, to make that claim they have to ignore the most accurate data we have, the US and UK satellite data. If you have never seen the Surface Stations’ check of America’s Historic Climate Network surface station check it out. You will then understand why the satellite data is so much better. But, it has some issue too.
There are also numerous claims appearing that climate change is happening faster than predicted. This can be shown to be false simply by going back and looking at previous and current UN reports on global warming (now climate change since warming has stalled for 18 years) that contain predictions. NONE of the computer models used to predict warming reported what has happened. They predict far more warming than seen since the perditions and none predict flat temperatures as CO2 increases. Every model has been wrong.
See: National Review.
The 2014 split as to who thinks climate change is an important issue is 60/40 with 60% accepting the media and governments claims. The other 40% are high information voters doing their own research. By research I mean digging down to the base information, raw data, scientific papers, and considering the data.
Capital Exchange
CE has posted an another update on their progress with the Lab. See: January 2015 Update and Announcement. It doesn’t seem there is much progress. The Lab’s attorneys seem to have decided that CE is NOT offering a ‘skill’ game. CE’s attorneys think otherwise.
If this goes to court I would expect CE to lose. Not because CE’s game is not a skill game. But, because Linden Lab is a private entity and they are allowed to see things however they choose and on that basis decide who they provide service to.
This will be a matter of either convincing the Lab’s attorneys or giving up.
SKRILL
Skrill is a digital payments company. Both the Lab and Skrill people have made comments about Skrill payment systems coming to SL. No one has seen anything much from the Lab about the addition in their official channels. Ciaran has an article about it. But, see Skrill Connects with Linden Lab to Expand Payment Options for Second Life on the Skrill site for their press announcement.
Now Ciaran has followed up with coverage of Linden Lab’s announcement of the service: Linden Lab Announce Additional Payment Options For Second Life. The Linden announcement is here: Additional Payment Options for Second Life.
Linden Lab Job
Linkedin has a post about the Lab seeking a Business Development Manager. See: Business Development Internship.
Virtual Reality
Kate Abrosimova has an article over on Hypergrid Business titled: Virtual reality breathes life into immersive storytelling. Interesting. But, not something new to us. Nor is it the idea that ‘covering real facts’ happening in the world by using virtual reality technology still needs development’ new. Media seldom covers the facts objectively. Not having learned basic journalism it is no surprise they have yet to figure out new tech. Do I sound jaded?
Project Blue Book Online
Everyone has their opinion on UFO’s. For those that believe (Mulder’s) and skeptics (Scully’s) the news is you can now see the files previously only available in the National Archive in Washington, D.C.
See: Rare Microfilm Online.