The Problem of Prim Chest Attachments

Last week I found some really nice sculpted nipples I decided to try. They look wonderful, were fairly easy to fit, and I was able to satisfactorily adjust the color to match my skin. You would think all is well and I can proudly wear beautiful 3D sculpted nipples. That is, until you view them in the Phoenix viewer with breast physics enabled. Any bouncing movement and it appears my nipples are coming off of my breasts :(

There is a lot of confusion about this problem. It's a problem that applies to any prim attachment worn on the chest or moved to cover the chest. And it's not a problem you can deal with. People think they can solve this problem in two erroneous ways:

• I just won't use Phoenix
• I'll use Phoenix but disable breast physics

These two "solutions" only mean that you will not see the problem on yourself or others. Others running Phoenix with breast physics enabled will still see your breasts bouncing through prim attachments. Half of the residents of Second Life use Phoenix and a good percentage of those residents enable breast physics (it was the number one reason for the dramatic increase in Emerald users). So, maybe 1 in 3 avatars will see the problem on you and others.

What is a real solution ? The only thing you can do is to edit the prim attachment so it is positioned slightly off of your chest and then thicken it as much as possible without distorting the look too much. My post on J's Lace-Up Bra has instructions on how to do this with J's hud. Other items will need to be edited manually. It is tricky and difficult but the only thing you can do aside from just not wearing prim attachments on your chest. This solution works well for my bra, corset, and bikinis but does not work for sculpted nipples as they really must be positioned close to the breast.

The only time I can wear my 3D sculpted nipples is when I know I will not be bouncing much - posing for photographs, sitting, etc.

Barerose Japanese Relief Fund

Barerose has put up another outfit as part of their effort to raise money for the Japanese Relief Fund. All the money for these purchases goes to the Red Cross. I bought the "Blue Alchemist" outfit:

Let's Have Fun on Empire Avenue !

I joined the social media exchange Empire Avenue and immediately got hooked. It's free & fun plus there is a fairly large Second Life presence so you can quickly and easily meet new friends. The basic idea behind Empire Avenue is to act as a virtual exchange where people and businesses can buy and sell "shares" in each other. You earn a virtual currency and use it to invest in others you think might do well. That's fun and it's especially fun to see your own stock rise but there's lots more to it than that.

Part of your "value" on the Empire Avenue Exchange is based upon your use of various social media. Your followers, tweets, views, subscribers, etc. on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, and your own blogs count toward your net worth on Empire Avenue. What this means is that active members of Empire Avenue tend to be active on social media sites. This means your activity on Empire Avenue translates more easily into social media connections with those who invest in you and those you invest in. Although I have not yet tried it, there is a way to "buy" ad space and promote yourself/business. Empire Avenue may be a good way to promote your SL business.

I'm creating more followers and following more people who I interact with on Empire Avenue at a much faster rate than any other online activity. So, my first take-away from Empire Avenue is that they have really hit upon a great way to promote social media connections. Plus, it is just fun.

If you do join or are already a member, my Empire Avenue profile is at http://www.empireavenue.com/PAND where you can research my connections, portfolio, and invest in me. If you are not yet a member of Empire Avenue, use http://empireavenue.com/?t=tr90uak to join and after you connect a Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or Youtube account we both get 2,000e (the currency).

Tips for investing:

• Look for people with several active social media sites and good scores for those connections
• Check the Recent Arrivals tab in Search for newly registered people with good social media connections
• When investing in "blue chips" try to find a valued stock with a high dividend per share (0.25e or better) or, even better if you care to calculate it, dividend per dollar invested (see below)
• When investing in growth stocks buy new users at a low price and don't be afraid to sell when they plateau out after a few days
• I prefer people with nice profile pics and an interesting bio
• Look for people who are active on Empire Avenue
• Check out their blogs and other sites for number of followers and quality of content
• Invest your e-bucks as soon as you get em - usually when you invest in someone they invest back or people who invest in them invest in you - it's a sorta chain reaction
• Promote people in your portfolio - follow them on twitter, flickr, etc; subscribe on youtube, endorse any blog listed in their connections, and so on. This is how Empire Avenue fosters social media interaction!
• Invest in other Second Life residents! Think Global, Shop Local
• Invest in me :)

To calculate dividend per dollar start with the dividend per share figure you can get on the person's profile page. Simply divide this number by the share price. This gives you a better way to judge the value of a stock. For instance, a stock trading at 25e with a dividend per share of 0.2 will pay better dividends on a 5000e investment than a stock trading at 50e with a dividend per share of 0.3. Your 5000e buys you 200 shares of the first one and, at 0.2 div per share, would get you 40e in dividends while the same investment in the higher dividend per share stock would buy you 100 shares which, at 0.3 div per share, would pay you 30e in dividends. Of course, you still have to monitor your investments - everyday things change.

Have fun!

Why You Should Use Phoenix Viewer Public Beta 1.5.2.977

I downloaded and installed the newly released Phoenix Viewer Public Beta 1.5.2.977 for a couple of reasons. First, 1.5.2.908 was frequently hanging and crashing. The beta is largely a bug fix release to address this issue. Secondly, and equally important, the beta contains a media filter feature which allows the user to select which media url's to allow/disallow. Why is this important ?

I viewed the recent RedZone scare with a sort of detached interest until I read the Alphaville Herald article on how the RedZone creators are tracking failed login attempts as possible SL passwords of their own users! Ok, RedZone is evil. I'm on board with those who have been trying to get it banned. How can a resident avoid RedZone and similar IP detection schemes inworld ?

The IP detection systems use the fact that a user's IP is exposed when opening a media url - e.g. the radio on a parcel. LordGregGreg has a pretty clear explanation of the issue. Users can choose not to play media but that significantly reduces the SL experience. Happily, the Phoenix Viewer Public Beta 1.5.2.977 media filter feature allows the Phoenix user to selectively allow/disallow parcel/sim media. You can still enjoy the media at places you trust and ignore media at other locations. Most places play crap anyway!

So, way to go Phoenix dev team. I appreciate the quick bug fix for the crashing 908 and the media filter feature rapidly deployed.

Play With Your Own Group Tags

So you think limiting yourself to 140 character tweets on Twitter is hard ? Try using group tags in Second Life to communicate your state or just have fun. With group tags you are limited to 20 single byte characters - now that's a challenge. Here's how you setup your own group and configure the group tags.

First, create a group. This costs L$100 so it isn't free to play this game but it's a one time cost then you own the group forever. See the SL Knowledge Base for instructions on creating a group. You will need at least two members in the group, yourself and one  other, so either get a friend to join or create an alt to join your group with you.

Once your group is created you can activate the group and wear the group tag by opening the Communicate window, clicking Contacts then click the Groups tab. Click on your group and then click the Activate button. This is now your active group and you should be wearing the group tag over your head. If you do not see the group tag above your name above your head, check Edit -> Preferences -> General to make sure you are not hiding your group tag.

To create a new/different group tag for your group open the Communicate window, click Contacts and then the Groups tab. Click the Info button then the Members & Roles tab then the Roles tab. Select the role name for which you wish to set the group tag. For you this will be the Owners role. Now type in the group tag you wish to use in the Title field. Careful! Only 20 single byte characters allowed! Once satisfied with your new group tag click Apply. Ta-da!

You can also set the other members of your group's tags by selecting the Everyone or Officers roles and following the same procedure.

Somebody says something funny or stupid and you want to subtly call attention to it ? Set a new group tag for yourself! Just as long as it is 20 single byte characters or less. Set nonsense tags or just use punctuation characters for fun and confusion. Copy and paste Chinese phrases from Google Translate for even further consternation. Put something up there that highlights today's big current world event as if your group is way on top of things.

I find it all kinds of fun and a much more difficult challenge than Twitter.