Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Answers to Second Christmas Quiz

Written 28 December, 2011

Answers to Second Christmas Quiz

1. Move hither the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief (Oh, Come, All Thee Faithful)

2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)

3. Nocturnal time-span of unbroken quietness (Silent Night)

4. An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere (Joy to the World)

5. Embellish the interior passageways (Deck the Halls)

6. Exalted heavenly beings to whom hearkened (Angels We Have Heard on High)

7. Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival (It Came Upon a Midnight Clear)

8. The Christmas preceding all others (The First Noel)

9. Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem (Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem)

10. Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders (Little Drummer Boy)

11. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)

12. Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere

13. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounts of minute crystals (Frosty the Snowman)

14. Expectation of arrival to populated area by mythical masculine perennial gift-giver (Here Comes Santa Clause)

15. Natal celebration devoid of color (White Christmas)

16. In awe of the nocturnal time span characterized by religiosity (Oh, Holy Night)

17. Geographic state of fantasy during the season of mother nature's dormancy (Winter Wonderland)

18. The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of Far Eastern heads of state (We Three Kings)

19. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted metallic, resonate cups (Jingle Bells)

20. In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children's slumber furniture (Away in a Manger)

21. Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geologic alpine formation (Come Tell It On the Mountain)

22. Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us (We Wish You a Merry Christmas)

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Answers to First Christmas Quiz

Posted 27 December, 2011

Answers to First Christmas Quiz

Reader Willow got all the answers right-- and left a charming reply:

Blogger Willow said...

Merry Christmas, Chey (and Sweetie)!

Thanks for your blog, Chey, and for all the great information you've shared this past year. Be well and happy...and here's a great big warm wish for a wonderful holiday season for you and all your readers. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Joyous Kwansaa...and Happy New Year!


Here are our answers:

1. SCICTT (Hint: Santa Clause is...) Santa Claus is Coming to Town
2. ISMKSC I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
3. JB Jingle Bells
4. IDOAWC I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
5. RTRNR Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
6. CROAOF Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire
7. DYHWIH? Do You Hear What I Hear?
8. AIAM Away in a Manger
9. FTS Frosty the Snowman
10. OCAYF O Come, All Ye Faithful
11. ICUAMC It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
12. OLTOB O, Little Town of Bethlehem
13. JTTW Joy to the World
14. SN Silent Night
15. LIS Let it Snow!
16. WCIT? What Child is This?
17. TTDOC The Twelve Days of Christmas
18. GRYMG God Rest Ye, Merry Gentleman
19. HTHAS Hark the Herald Angels Sing
20. WWYAMC We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas Song Quiz II


Written 23 December, 2011

Christmas Song Quiz II

Name that tune!

I'll post the answers after Christmas.


1. Move hither the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief (Hint: Oh, Come...)

2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds

3. Nocturnal time-span of unbroken quietness

4. An emotion excited by the acquisition

5. Embellish the interior passageways

6. Exalted heavenly beings to whom hearkened

7. Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival

8. The Christmas preceding all others

9. Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem

10. Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders

11. Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males

12. Tranquility upon the terrestrial sphere

13. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounts of minute crystals

14. Expectation of arrival to populated area by mythical masculine perennial gift-giver

15. Natal celebration devoid of color

16. In awe of the nocturnal time span characterized by religiosity

17. Geographic state of fantasy during the season of mother nature's dormancy

18. The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of Far Eastern heads of state

19. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted metallic, resonate cups

20. In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children's slumber furniture

21. Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geologic alpine formation

22. Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Christmas Song Quiz


Written 22 December, 2011

Christmas Song Quiz

Determine the names of the following songs from the first letters of the words of the title.

I'll post the answers after Christmas.


1. SCICTT (Hint: Santa Claus is...)

2. ISMKSC

3. JB

4. IDOAWC

5. RTRNR

6. CROAOF

7. DYHWIH?

8. AIAM

9. FTS

10. OCAYF

11. ICUAMC

12. OLTOB

13. JTTW

14. SN

15. LIS

16. WCIT?

17. TTDOC

18. GRYMG

19. HTHAS

20. WWYAMC

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Christmas Songs

Twinkle, Twinkle, Avatar
Written 21 December, 2011

Christmas Songs

Okay, counting down to Christmas with assorted ridiculousness!

My oldest readers might remember Sweetie's spontaneous Christmas song, made up on the run in Second Life:


Sweetie: (Saved Sun Dec 09 05:01:18 2007)

[2:00]  Sweetie: oh Linden tree oh linden tree, your lagging but we love you

[2:00]  Sweetie: oh linden ttree oh linden , we cant' copy or tranfer you

[2:00]  Sweetie: yoru bulbsa re bright  adn on full brght

[2:00]  Sweetie: i look at you

[2:00]  Sweetie: in forced midnight

[2:00]  Sweetie: oh linden tree

[2:00]  Sweetie: oh linden tree

[2:00]  Jeremiah Pintens: HAHAHAHAHAH

[2:00]  Sweetie: we gather round you faithfully

See? Done in less than one minute!

Then there was this one:

Twinkle, Twinkle, avatar
I"m not sure quite where you are
Though I know you're standing there
All I see are shoes and hair
Twinkle, Twinkle, avatar
Your alpha texture's gone too far

Sweetie's brain should be a military secret!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Dress for the Weather


I just know these underdressed avis are going to catch a cold.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

The Lindens Don't Understand the World They Created

Thank You Very Much, I'm Not Twelve Years Old.
I Have No Desire to Be a Frigging Vampire
Written 15 December, 2011

The Lindens Don't Understand The World They Created

Nothing does more to convince me the Lindens don't have a clue about Second Life than their ads FOR Second Life.

The ad above greeted me full-page today when I went to the Second Life website.

How can the Lindens be so clueless about their very own world?

The Lindens could be advertising what makes Second Life truly unique: making things, doing wondrous things you couldn't possible do in real life besides turning your avatar into a pixel vampire, creating art, creating community, exploring, learning new skills, making friends and maybe even meeting your future real life partner (as I did), being a citizen on a new frontier.

Instead it's Second Life mundaneness: vampires, buying shit, and fake families.

For god's sake, put Torley in charge! Torley gets it.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Whimsy From Above

Whimsy Kaboom as Seen From 150 Meters Above Whimsy
Written 15 December, 2011

Whimsy From Above

Whimsy is lovely from above.

Dragon in the Blue Zone


Written 15 December, 2011

Dragon in the Blue Zone

A few days ago I was watching a group of visitors on Whimsy. One avatar was a dragon. I watched as he or she rezzed and sat upon a saddle and invited another avatar to ride.

As they flew away I started taking snapshots.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Problems at Ballet Pixelle


Written 14 December, 2011

Problems at Ballet Pixelle

Over the weekend Sweetie and I and our friend and Sweetie's conspirator-in-training Elysienne went to see Ballet Pixelle's production of The Nutcracker.

Things started well. They really did. But then the sim began to crash. Repeatedly.The stage-- which was on another sim-- and dancers on it would disappear. The music would continue to play, but chat and IMs stopped, meaning it was time to relog.

Each crash delayed the performance by 10 minutes or so, which must have been frustrating to Ballet Pixelle staff and dancers.

After the third crash we gave up and went home to play K.R. Engineering's Pentadee dice game.

Pictures follow.

Phoenix Gets Mesh!

Written 14 December, 2011

Phoenix Gets Mesh!

The Phoenix team has just released a mesh-enabled version of their Phoenix viewer! Download now!

If you've already downloaded, download again, as the first mesh version had a couple of bugs that have been fixed in the just-released update.

So cool to see mesh!.

Here's the Linden boat that's free to paid subscribers, with and without mesh capabilities:

Here's the Linden Boat Without Mesh Enabled. Pretty Horrible, Huh?
Here's the Boat with Mesh Capabilities. Big Improvement!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Southeast Whimsy


Writtten 4 December, 2011

Southeast Whimsy

For the three-and-a-half years since Whimsy was born the southeast corner of the sim has been privately owned. Now the land has become vacant and we have given it the full Whimsy treatment.

We've constructed a journey from chaos to peacefulness. From a platform in the raging sea a path wends its way through surf and rocks  to the shore and winds up a hillside to gardens. The path ends in a serene garden that offers views from the top of cliffs to the tumultuous sea.

Photos are below the fold. Notice there's snow on the ground. The brief Whimsy winter has arrived.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

What's Bowling Without Ugly Shoes?


Because Second Life is too short for inappropriate footwear.

Get your free ugly bowling shoes at our PG Den of Iniquity. Ride the lift to the top of the blimp tower and then ride the rail car to the PGDoI and climb the ropes up to the balloons.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Retro Photo Shoot


Written 2 December, 2011

Retro Photo Shoot

Last weekend Sweetie got an IM from Phideaux Mayo, publisher and editor of Retrolopolitan magazine. Phideaux had noticed Sweetie at a particle show and wanted to feature her in the magazine.



Phideaux came out to our PG Den of Iniquity and took photos of Sweetie-- and, incidentally, me. We wound up following her to Flashman's, a club she now operates with a partner.

The December issue is now out, and Sweetie and I are indeed in it. Sweetie got special permission from the CIA for me to post her image here in my blog, but I see they changed their minds and sneaked in and redacted her.

Here are the three of us at Flashman's"


Saturday, December 3, 2011

Chey with Battleship Backdrop


Written 2 December, 2011

Chey with Battleship Backdrop

I made this shot by using GIMP to merge two photographs. One showed my avatar to advantage; the other made the Yamato look good. I was, of course, in the same pose with my camera at the same angle.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Yamato


Written 2 December, 2011

Yamato of Japan

That's me giving the victory sign after having had a successful run with the Nakajima A6M2-N "Rufe" fighter interceptor/bomber on the Yamato of Japan sim.


And They're Off!


Written 2 December, 2011

And They're Off!

The PG Den of Iniquity wouldn't be a den of iniquity at all without horse racing, now, wouldn't it? I mean, ya gotta bet on the ponies!

So I bought this great horse race game from Mechanical Toy Factory and Sweetie, I, and our friend Elysienne settled in for a night of PG debauchery.

In the Audience


Here's a photo of me at an impromptu concert and particle show given by Tyrehl Byk and flautist Cypress Rosewood. That's me in the red dress just to the left of the avatar at far left. Note the dark avatar that partially obscures me: