Happy Independence Day!

Well, happy Independence Day in that three-dimensional realm we call Real Life, as  Caledon is still part of Her Majesty's empire. And really, happy Independence Day to those squishy avatars residing in the United States of America only. No hard feelings, Great Britain?


Image shamelessly swiped from the Interwebs

The Slow Death of Grammar

The Wall Street Journal has a piece "This Embarrasses You and I*" on the death of grammar in the office.

Managers are fighting an epidemic of grammar gaffes in the workplace. Many of them attribute slipping skills to the informality of email, texting and Twitter where slang and shortcuts are common. Such looseness with language can create bad impressions with clients, ruin marketing materials and cause communications errors, many managers say....

At RescueTime, for example, grammar rules have never come up. At the Seattle-based maker of personal-productivity software, most employees are in their 30s. Sincerity and clarity expressed in "140 characters and sound bytes" are seen as hallmarks of good communication—not "the king's grammar," says Jason Grimes, 38, vice president of product marketing. "Those who can be sincere, and still text and Twitter and communicate on Facebook—those are the ones who are going to succeed." 

Perhaps I'm simply showing my age, but I cringe when I read a report or memorandum that has misspellings or poor grammar. It distract me from the content of the piece, and I assume - perhaps incorrectly - that the target audience for the piece feels the same way.

It's difficult to tell professionals that their writing can be improved. Reactions range from the resentful ("Any moron can tell when I meant, so what's the problem?") to the delusional ("What do you mean I have a problem?"). One would like to assume that someone who has made it through twelve years of primary and secondary education, earned a college degree, and slogged through a graduate program would have the basics down. (And, to be fair, most of my colleagues are pretty good.) Other places of business are absolutely appalling. I once received several emails from an employee - a highly-paid employee, at that, with supervisory responsibilities - at a Federal agency that shall remain nameless. These emails were so poorly written that I had no idea what the writer was trying to convey.

We're increasingly seeing the results of an educational system that emphasizes individualism and rewards effort, rather than one that emphasizes rigor and rewards results.

Travelogue: Loch Avie update

When last we visited Loch Avie, the land was bare. Now volcanic activity is in evidence, along with a towering castle, home of Mr. Dana Southmoor.


The ongoing volcanic activity on Loch Avie.



The bridge from Victoria City



The castle from ground level



The castle towers far into the sky

Cracking the Code: Second Life, The Game

Thanks to Tateru Nino, I was able to visit the most hilarious SL9B build, made by Crap Mariner. Behold: Second Life, the Game.







I always seem to land on that space.

More SL9B Exhibits

Continuing to wander through the northern sims:


Africa



Mazeville, from Caledonian Samm Florian - the walls rearrange themselves every so often



Heart Gravel - touching the hearts provides a way to leave or read messages



Digital Poison - thar be dragons!



Ruca Tease



Hollywood Airport Defense Squad


Some of the sims were fairly aquatic. That meant getting a little wet.


Two Moon Paradise



Siren Song


There you have it: some of the SL9B exhibits that intrigued the Jameson clan. Hardly a comprehensive list; more like ones that caught our eyes.

Well-done to everyone who participated this year - here's to SL10B!

SL9B Exhibits

While Rhianon wandered the southern areas of the SL9B grid, I started from the north, in DreamSeeker SL9B Devet and Nove.


Doctor Who Fans in SL



Not sure who this belongs to, but I enjoyed the animals



Giant Snail Racing



Mad Hatter Tea



Clowns! Run for your lives!



An exhibit called Inside Art, where one poses within the picture



Caledon Oxbridge

SL9B, Days 2-3

Onward I march! Most of the pictures in here come from the sim FruitIslands SL9B Party.


A very attractive storybook display



Antiquity 1800 sims



The second floor of Plum Piffle Pudding - photography by Caledon's own Beth Pentewyn



A very psycheledic Alice's Dream by theda



Aster Construction's exhibit - complete with tree gnome



Automatron dancers waltz at the House of Alisha



Sculpty people?



Perhaps my favorite display, Spoken Word and Writing in Second Life, by Crap Mariner - books, a Steampunk machine, and a vintage manual typewriter make a wonderful combination



Kitty Cats at the KittyCats display (naturally) - dancing the night away


Some clever ideas indeed! Do see Crap's exhibit if the chance presents itself. It's utterly charming.

SL9B, Day 1 - Users Throw Themselves a BIrthday Bash

Wandering through SL9B, looking at some of the more interesting builds… All these are from FruitIslands SL9B Fun.




Elf Circle Community



Battle Beast Breedables



Carima - German medieval/fantasy roleplay



Tombstone on Tap



Mew Catz Design - The Art of Sculpty



Wishes Granted: Stories of Positive Impact



ClearView Gallery


I plan to cover about one sim a day, which is about all my patience can take.

Parts of the Private Sector Seems to be Doing Fine

The President went a little off-script the other day, saying that the private sector was "doing fine," then trying to clarify the statement by suggesting municipalities and states were in worse straits and thus in need of more handouts from Uncle Sugar.

Well, I found one of the spots where the private sector is indeed doing fine: Tysons Corner, Virginia. The Beltway was packed at 10 a.m. - below posted speed for a while - with a heavy mix of out-of-area license plates, likely heading for vacation spots and suffering through DC traffic.

The mall itself had no shortage of customers before lunch, and was nearly impassible after lunch. People weren't simply looking, either; nearly everyone was weighted down with packages. I'm a bad judge of prices, but the stores didn't seem to be giving things away. (On the other hand, Nordstrom was having its semi-annual sale, which no doubt helped draw in shoppers.) The restaurants were doing well, too.

(As an aside, I had a lovely chat with the young lady working at Teavana. It was nice to see someone who was knowledgeable about her products and who seemed happy to be at work.)

I made a stop in the Apple store - the original Apple store, in fact - and had lust in my heart for some of the products, though I left empty-handed. Amusingly, about two hours later I found myself passing the first Microsoft store I had seen. I wish I had taken a picture, but the, um, inspiration for the design of the store was clear. I suppose imitation is still the most sincere form of flattery. I looked at one of the Windows phones (interesting OS, but the build quality seemed flimsy) and at some of the PCs, but I don't really see what's in it for Microsoft. Unless the hardware vendors are kicking in some of the cost of the stores, Microsoft seems to be spending a lot of money in a high-rent area to showcase hardware made primarily by other firms.

Anyway, it's nice to know that some people are doing well. Of course, a lot of the wealth in the area revolves around Federal government spending, so the party may not last forever.

Further Along the Path

"Further Along the Path" is a sequel of sorts to Bryn Oh's collaborative exhibit "The Path" of the previous year. As with the earlier work, eight artists collaborated on a single project, each building on the work of the previous artist, with the order chosen at random.

The narrative structure of this exhibit is less clear (to me, at least) than in the previous one, but certain threads run through each build. The rotary telephone connects one build to the next (but be sure to pick up the notecard with all the TP points in case you have trouble finding the telephone).


From Glyph Graves' contribution

This is a story of awakening

From Paramparamm Papp's contribution


Cascades of light are blinding in the near-darkness around me.


From Alpha Auer's contribution

Petrified humans nevertheless speak in tongues…surely I am in the dream?


From  Oberon Onmura's contribution


The telephone gives a warning: two of the staircases lead to death…only one leads onward. Choose carefully.


From Eupalinos Ugajin's contribution



From Ux Hax and Romy Nayar's contribution



From Ub Yifu's contribution

Follow the fish...


From Bryn Oh's contribution


In every dream there is an awakening…here is the struggle to awaken

Bryn Oh uses some clever scripting in the final tableau (not pictured) - reminiscent of the scripting used in the stairs in the Avatar Games.

Another entertaining and thought-provoking exhibit. Well worth the time to explore.