Artificial Boy

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Not everyone can access SLForums, and they are not indexed. Here is a digest of what I had to say there regarding the changes to the Second Life new account process. Sorry for posting one side of a two-sided conversation at times. I didn’t feel like asking permission from all authors. Read the rest…

Today I went to outer space for real (not just pretend)! I went to the new The Second Life Childrens (SLC) Learning Tree Centre, and I met a new friend named sven Homewood. He told me there is a place where you can go and explore outer space for real. I didn’t believe him but he took me there and he was right. Read the rest…

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I have two posts in my drafts. They have been there since January. They are the OpenLifeGrid and DeepGrid counterparts of my posts, Adz Childs Born On OSGrid, Adz Childs Born On Central Grid, and Adz Local born on Localhost. I will now delete the drafts.

I have been waiting and waiting for experiments with these grids to complete successfully so I can finally release an overall summary. Today I have decided to just give up and release the summary. If some miracle happens and I am able to finally connect to these remaining two alternate grids, I will post and update. But someone would have to talk me into it again — I’ve stopped trying to connect as of today.

I also have some Launcher Icons I created in GIMP, based on the respective grid logos. I will now release those. Read the rest…

Some friends have asked me “When will you release more baby blocks?” To be honest, the original ADZ baby block freebie was just a 3D representation of my 2D logo, which simply spells my first name. I never intended to make a complete baby block set. Read the rest…

Wandering around Linden Village, I found this.

LindenVillage – Brent Linden’s Duck Pond, Levenhall (35, 27, 31)

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As I discussed in my article LL Changes Join Now Page Again, on 2008-03-14, LL made an unannounced change to their Join Now page. No longer are all available last names listed in a drop-down. Instead, only 60 of the 1000-2000 currently available last names are given as choices. Why Linden Lab has made this change is unclear, and I won’t dare speculate. In any case, this new policy can make it difficult to join the game with a certain last name. You might want to do this if, for instance, you and a friend or partner want to create new characters (brothers, perhaps?) that share a last name. Or you might see a newly-born character with a cool last name in the game, and want to make a character with that name too. So, how can one create an character with a certain last name, given this new, frustrating barrier? Read the rest…

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From the perspective of the SLNameWatch.com script I use to determine if LL has added new last names, it looks like names are being rapidly created and retired. I have a working theory. I think LL might have changed their policy so that only a random subset of the last names appear in the drop-down at a time. Refresh the page, and the list changes, even though nothing has really changed as far as overall name availability. This is really going to confuse the script I use to determine if the name list has changed! I write resilient code, but I have to say this is something i didn’t plan for. I determine last name availability based on this drop-down. Read the rest…