second life : digital future

raftwet jewell on riverland : sky waterfall


raftwet jewell : wet builders on riverland, originally uploaded by rafeejewell.












I just saw  TRON (both movies). I see where the minds melded here in Second Life. The influence is everywhere! From the grid itself to the builds, the creators here have definitely taken notes from the original movie. When, I saw the originally movie just a few days ago, I was taken back by the references. They were talking about us. They were talking about Second Life.









The new movie is excellent. I don't want to talk about the film, because I want you all to see it. They honored the original, and the new movie made me cry. The reverence in the movie for this grid is spiritual, and it is the feeling I get when I am here. This is a very special place. Second Life is not just a game; as Kevin Flynn, the creator says, "the grid is a place of infinite possibilities... more beautiful than I ever dreamed... and more dangerous than I could have ever imagined."

 



All of us are very privileged to be here... to be a part of a grand experiment of the future of the internet. I do see the internet morphing into the concept of "The Grid." It is inevitable.  I see Kevin Flynn, the visionary in the souls of Phil Linden, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. (Yes, I am aware of the researchers at Carnegie, MIT, etc... but their research was project-based. I am not sure they saw their results in the hands of every man, woman and child in the world as these visionaries I have listed.) These are the people who have changed our lives. They are the ones who endured long hours and obstacles that we can never imagine just to bring us their dreams. I honor them today with grace and humility.



And my favorite part of the movie? ... the reverence for water and the grid.

Please visit my little contribution on my regions: (be kind, I am building out of love.)

• WETLands
• RiverLands

Raftwet Jewell in Virtual Metaverse
raftwet jewell in blogger
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the a list! in second life

FTC - Federal Trade Commission - USA

Since 1995, I have been blogging on the internet. Of course, then we called it journaling a log about our experiences. A digitally written diary of the minutiae of our lives. Ridiculously unimportant and filled with personal anecdotes about nothing. Occasionally, I would mention a cool product that I bought or a place that I went to such as a restaurant or store. And, even then, the journals were just my musings.



When the internet exploded with journals, we started calling them blogs. Blah blah blah logs became blogs. The content was still about nothing much, but we could see that someone was reading our little missives and it made a difference in our businesses. Another way to connect with our consumer base.

We started reviewing the things we liked and the things we lived with daily. A restaurant would send a voucher for a dinner or a manufacturer would send a freebie t-shirt. Benign gifts of accolades and thank-you's.

Then, we started getting the big gifts. The stuff that was expensive and made us feel a bit creepy accepting. Sure, we loved their products but it made me feel like a paid agent for their company. So, I made a decision and said, "No more.



The decision was made way back in the late1990's. I would have to check my archived files for those first disclosure contracts. Yes, I had my entire team sign them and the legal language was harsh. If you wrote something and you were given a monetary gift, you were fired.

In this virtual world of international interests, the lines blur. People send gifts to each other for all kinds of kindness. I get gifts from avis from my group, and I return them or delete them after letting them know that I can't accept them. On THE A LIST! the lines blur even more. We are a business group and our members give the group gifts. As long as it is a gift that is shared among the entire group, then Xavier and I feel that it is not a gift for blogging.

The problem is that if a gift is given and I wasn't online and it is sitting in my inventory; that fact alone may taint my reputation if ever the logs were reviewed. It is a difficult situation for me. In THE A LIST! we have asked our contributors to disclose gifts, and we have a disclaimer on those blogs. Because both of us are on American soil with FTC -Federal Trade Commission blogging laws over our heads, we want to try our best to adhere to US laws.



We know how ridiculous laws can be, but this one tries to protect the consumer. I think we know gifts are given to bloggers from Consumer Report. It is obvious that the product manufacturer gave the blogger the product for review. The reason we believe Consumer Reports reviews is that the evaluations can be harsh... very harsh. So, we believe that the products are honestly evaluated and CR has a disclaimer.

I am the blogger on THE A LIST! and I want to make sure that people know that I do not accept gifts from any of the group members unless they have shared that gift with the entire group. So, my blogs do not have a disclaimer. Some of the contributors have a disclaimer on their post because it is a product review and the item was given by the creator.

How the FTC reviews the millions of blogs in the real world or virtual world is interesting in itself. And, the law will fine the blogger and the product creator, too. Ouch! Double slam. So, we try to protect both interests. No gifts period is a good policy. It's best that we stay as squeaky clean as possible. As far as some industries, it's practically a given that those gifts to the avis are for reviews. But, now we disclose that in those specific posts and let you decide.

raftwet jewell in second life

rafee at  kasbah : sunglasses by [Gos]



raftwet jewell in second life, originally uploaded by rafeejewell.


I just loaded the new update for viewer 2. The rezz time seems much faster now. But, I am still missing prims off of my shoes and parts of my hair when I log into a venue that is exceptionally busy.

I tested the new viewer at Lion's Gate, Jenna Dirval's new venue for live music. There was approximately 50+ avatars there. I crashed when I turned on the stream... poof, with no warning.

When I came back, everything rezzed immediately except for one small patch of hair at the back of my head. LOL! I was even able to take photos without the usual gray blobs. So, I am a happy picture taker once again.

They did fix the annoying orbit-zoom-pan thingy at the bottom... now both horizontal/veritical and orbit are there without having to click back and forth. (I just wish I knew how to make that block image smaller).

My inventory still does that annoying bounce when I am trying to do a search or scroll. Please fix that! It is very dangerous as I work very quickly and have inadvertently deleted important stuff when I meant to delete a duplicate object. Now, before I delete my trash; I quickly scan the entire trash list just in case!

I do like this viewer (please don't send daggers and arrows my way peeps) as it keeps my desktop very neat and tidy when I am building. Notices and IM's are not as annoying (much to the chagrin of all the marketers) and I can focus when I am working.

A few things are kinda buggy... the inventory bouncy thing is super borked. And, my inventory load is very slow. I usually have to log in two to three times for everything to load. Sometimes, half my inventory is missing... luckily, I am not a newbie or that would freak me out! After a second log in, everything seems to come back.

As with anything new, people will complain. I always look forward to doing things different and new. It keeps my mind challenged and makes the time here fresh. I am used to this viewer now, and, I am comfortably building with it. So, thank you Linden Lab... keep pressing forward until you guys get it totally right. I see the light now at the end of the tunnel... and the future looks bright.

For more help on Second Life viewer 2.0

Raftwet Jewell in Virtual Metaverse
raftwet jewell in blogger
raftwet jewell in facebook
raftwet jewell in twitter
the a list! in second life