Weapons

Far be it for me to make any sort of appalling “new year new product” sort of references, particularly given that there is no such thing, to be quite frank, as a “new” product from Ordinal Enterprises - every piece of frippery that you see emerging has usually been loitering unreleased in my mind and inventory for months and occasionally, for instance in the case of the Swordstick, for over a year. Though never over two years, I believe.

An Idea bubbles to the surface of the peculiar caffeinated swamp of my mind, there is a brief flurry of activity, it approaches finality: and then something or other intervenes, or I spend several months changing the colour of a texture between two imperceptibly different shades, or I set myself a necessary task for its improvement before release which I clearly do not have the time to do and thus can avoid without personal guilt (unless I look too hard into my own motivations). I am led to believe that I am not the only Artisan with these Issues, and I am engaging on a Scientific Regimen of Mental Exercise in an attempt to restrict it in the Future, or at least I will be once I create the proper Folder Structure to file my exercise notes in.

In the meantime, I do actually have a product that I would like to announce - the Ordinal Howdah Pistol - and as is common in this day and age, it has its own Demonstrative Cinema, though I shall place it in the Extended Portion of this journal entry since I dislike the aesthetic effect of numerous of the things on my Front Page.

Read the rest of this entry »

Please do also see other appropriate pictures.

(L$200, nomod/copy/notrans though humbugs may be given away, if you are interested in such details)

* My Caledon Shop
* ShopOnRez
* SLX

A quick note to announce the current availability of, at long last, the Ordinal Galvanic Swordstick:

(this is the only video I have at the moment, but I shall be doing a proper one)

[draft] Recharge Galvanic Swordstick, zooming out from Ordinal Malaprop on Vimeo.

and also a little thing that I was working on recently, the Ordinal Automatic “Flick”-Knife:

The Ordinal Automatic “Flick”-Knife from Ordinal Malaprop on Vimeo.

Available from:

• My shop in Caledon
• ShopOnRez
• SLX

For the next few hours, the Swordstick will be available for L$50 less than usual (i.e. L$350 in total) in my Caledon shop, but I shall be changing this tomorrow morning, be warned. (Please ignore the price on the box there.) Edit: too late!

Some time ago, I made some concerted enquiries regarding the two major systems that are used for “Role Playing” upon the Grid, with the intention of writing a piece in my Journal on the subject, with special attention to the interests of Gunsmiths. As is typical, it has turned out that I have entirely failed to do the latter, and in fact, others have written pieces far before me - see, for instance, Mr Onder Skall’s excellent piece in New World Notes.

Regardless, the time has come to put my effort to some purpose, even if it is not terribly informative. Herein are contained certain Notes of interest to those wishing to produce Weapons for use within areas which use either the DCS2 or CCS systems.

There are two distinct classes of weapon: ranged and melee. For those wishing to damage people at range, the firing of a physical projectile will achieve this. Said projectile must be travelling at over 17.5m/s at impact, which quite frankly most bullets are. This causes a standard flat amount of damage.

Close combat weapons, to be used in a melee, are detected by means of control inputs. The attachment that each participant wears detects the appropriate controls and launches an attack based on that, so all that a manufacturer of weapons really needs to do is have a weapon which animates and activates when the mouse button is held, and a movement control is pressed (excluding up and down). It really doesn’t matter, as far as I know, exactly which control is pressed - my latest weapons, the wrench, stiletto and so on, have different animations depending on the direction but they should all have the same effect.

There is an API available for developers for the CCS system which allows the use of such things as poison, direct changes to various statistics and so on - there is I believe no open equivalent to this for DCS2, and one must become some sort of “accredited developer”.

Do note that in both cases, certain weapons, whilst technically effective, may well be banned. Scripting being what it is, it is very simple to create a weapon which abuses the existing situation most abhorrently, or, perhaps worse, creates unbearable lag. Consulting the “GM” of whichever sim a weapon is to be used within is a good idea. In some of them, for instance, automatic weapons, or those with a magazine capacity beyond a certain level, are prohibited.

~ Ordinal would like to note at this point that she would be extremely happy to compile a general list of RP systems and their restrictions for general information, and if anyone would care to provide more specific details, she would love to make them available to the public. ~

The reason that I have been driven to make this post now is that I have been informed of a most unusual situation as regards DCS2 weaponry. Apparently, from consultation with a “GM” of Toxian City, weapons which fire temp-on-rez physical bullets are banned there, and I am told in a number of other DCS2 sims as well.

This may not mean an awful lot to the casual browser, but, to explain quickly: “temp-on-rez” is a property of a prim which means that it does not persist in a sim for a long time and vanishes after a minute or two, but does not count against the prim limits. “Physical”, I would hope you were aware of, but it basically means “subject to the laws of physics” - has a velocity, is affected by gravity and collisions and so on.

I would wager that 99% of the firearms available within Second Life fire bullets which are temp-on-rez and physical, for the obvious reasons that bullets need to move and should not be affected by the current prim count in that parcel. However: I have been told that there is an indication that large numbers of physical temp-on-rez prims in an area cause a risk to sim stability, and that this has been taken up by GMs of many DCS2 environments as a rule.

This is by no means something that I have experienced or heard of through my various Scripting Chums, but really, there is little that I could do to change the opinion of sim owners in any case. Thus I am issuing a warning to those who are making firearms that might be used in DCS2 environments - make sure that your bullets are not temp-on-rez, and that they also have a time limit on their existence (a timer going off after a few seconds which makes the bullet llDie) and furthermore that they also llDie on collision with anything at all.

I myself will be making some alternate versions of firearms which correspond to this as soon as I have the opportunity. Not, mind you, that it is really feasible for anyone to tell.

Whilst in the process of trying to prove myself Full Of Nonsense whenever I have, in the past, confidently said “there is no way of taking screenshots via LSL” - there is a way, it merely has to be set up in an awkward fashion first, and what’s more, repeated screenshots as a one of the “Life Log” things that have recently been Fashionable are possible as well - I have decided to release one of the items upon which I have been working for some time but never quite got around to finishing: the Ordinal Stiletto.

This stylish and decorative blade is suitable for any formal or informal occasion where one might wish to not only impress onlookers with one’s taste in accessories, but also perhaps slip a few inches of cold steel between their ribs.

For further introduction please see:
- the gallery of pictures on Flickr
- demonstrative cinematography on Vimeo

At this moment, and until (my) evening of Monday the Twenty-Fifth of June, visitors to my Caledon shop will find that the Stiletto is reduced in price by L$50, to L$150! Though it will return to L$200 once I have the opportunity to reset the price tomorrow. Should you not wish, or be able, to take advantage of this opportunity, it is available on SLExchange (and probably SLBoutique shortly, but they are being a little tardy).

I have spent quite a lot of time tinkering with this thing and thus, you should buy it immediately.

There can be few Engineers, Blacksmiths, Salvage Experts, Artists, Pirates, Safe-Crackers and so on who have not, at one time or another, wished that they had a portable yet effective solution to the problem of being required to cut through a Large Metal Plate Of Some Sort. Ordinal Enterprises, as part of its growing industrial tool selection, wishes to provide a possible answer in these instances - the Ordinal Cutting Torch!

This portable, adjustable device allows for the cutting of numerous different types of substance without being tied to bulky cylinders. Move inside the bowels of an enormous malevolent automaton, or amongst the boilers of a mighty aerial battleship, safe in the knowledge that you will be able to slice through solid steel at a moment’s notice! The most Advanced Compression Technologies employed allow the portable cylinders to last for a surprising amount of time, and well-oiled quick-release catchs and springs assure that one is able to replace them for fresh ones in only three seconds!

(It should also be mentioned that, whilst the Cutting Torch is not designed as a weapon per se, should one encounter any Clockwork Antibodies or Meddling and Aggressive Sailors, they would be extremely ill-advised to get in the way of the Torch’s flame.)

FEATURES

Intricate design
Particle and hardware light effects
Multiple custom sounds and animations, including safety typing AO
HUD control with gas supply indicator and touch commands
Compatibility with damage and combat systems

TO SEE MORE

Gallery of pictures on Flickr
Demonstration film on Vimeo

AVAILABLE FROM

Caledon (100,59)
SLExchange
SLBoutique

Ordinal Cutting Torch - final(ish) from Ordinal Malaprop on Vimeo

Just a quick note to say that a short cinematic illustration of the Knife-Pistol is now available….

The Ordinal Knife-Pistol from Ordinal Malaprop on Vimeo

• Listing on SLExchange
• Listing on SLBoutique

I am sure that we all welcome the latest Clarifying Announcement by the Laboratory reassuring residents that they are ready to ban pretty much anything at a moment’s notice, which will make us all much safer from whatever it was we were in danger from [note to self: fill this bit in later]. After all, it was apparently we who made it clear that certain types of content and activity were simply not acceptable in any form. I’m not sure that I recall that personally, but apparently I did, which makes me slightly concerned as to whether I am underestimating my late-night champagne consumption.

It does occur to me, though, that there may be those who are concerned that they might inadvertantly fall foul of these regulations. I can only put this down to inattention, really, as it is obviously completely clear and always has been that whatever it is that is currently banned can cause whatever punishment it currently does… but inattention is not Broadly Offensive and is thus excusable.

I suggest, then, that artisans muse upon the following and consider incorporating such mechanisms into existing scripts, something which can be quite easily done whilst one is waiting for the resolution of all of the ARs one has filed on one’s enemies and business rivals, as well as one’s neighbours for their Broadly Offensive opinions, haircuts and choice of wallpaper. (One must consider that it will take an appreciable level of time for even Lindens to ban all of them.)

The following should be I believe replace the control mechanism of any weapon:

control(integer level, integer edge)
{
    if (level & edge & CONTROL_ML_LBUTTON) {
        llSensor("", NULL_KEY, AGENT, 96.0, PI/4);
    }
}

sensor(integer n)
{
    // Someone might be hit by the bullet!
    llOwnerSay("You have attempted to engage in an action which might
        involve a depiction of extreme or graphic violence. In order to
        keep Second Life safe I am reporting you to Daniel Linden.");
    llInstantMessage(
        "7083b3f7-6634-44b8-ac35-d55835286dee",
        llKey2Name(llGetOwner()) + " has been trying to depict extreme
        or graphic violence and needs immediate banning to keep us all
        safe."
    );
    // The above line actually _will_ IM Daniel Linden, and if you
    // incorporate it into a real script I take no responsibility for
    // your continued existence.
}

no_sensor()
{
    // No potential targets, fire away!
    shoot_bullet_or_whatever();
}

and I would advise that the following be present in any poseballs, just to be on the side of Safety:

changed(integer change)
{
    if ((change & CHANGED_LINK) && llAvatarOnSitTarget() != NULL_KEY) {
        llSay(0, "Get off me, you filthy pervert!");
        llUnSit(llAvatarOnSitTarget());
    }
}

Much as I dislike the whole process of boxing things up and making advertisements, I would like to announce that the Ordinal Knife-Pistol is now officially for sale at my Caledon shop, and soon to be on SLX and SLB. The previous entry has more pictures, and I suppose that at some point I will make some sort of video as well.

Incidentally, I cannot remember whether I mentioned it before, but I have created a group called “Ordinal Enterprises Customers” for this sort of announcement, as well as the announcement of any other events or special offers or whatnot. If you are interested in my nonsense for any reason I would encourage you to join.

If you wish to see the full release notes, by all means read on (and if you do not, by all means don’t).

Read the rest of this entry »

Another one of my rambling jotting type entries I fear. For any of you mad enough to find these interesting, my “Tumblr” thing, Ordinal’s Cabinet of Ephemera, contains these in even more abbreviated form, though it is not quite so trivial as my Twitter stream of consciousness, which contain such fascinating details as when I have to take the washing inside because it has started raining. There is really a strict hierarchy here which I suppose one might graph, with axes of Triviality and Connection-With-The-Grid; this Journal is moderate on the former and highish on the latter, the Cabinet is higher and lower respectively and Twitter at the upper and lower extremes of both.

Alas, I have been looking upon some of the products of the East (or West, or perhaps North or even South depending on your exact location) this evening, deriving from the place known as Samurai Island, and they are extremely impressive in appearance; all particles aside, I felt rather ashamed of the relatively static and staid motions connected to my own products. But then we cannot all work in the same styles - acrobatics and such would really be a little too demonstrative for me in general I feel - and whilst I am improving in my skill with animations I am not by any means a mistress of them as yet.

Still, I plan at some point to pay a visit to said Island, and look utterly ridiculous no doubt bearing blades as tall as I am, as part of my research into weapons of Close Combat upon the Grid. Herein I post a few pictures taken in the bowels of New Babbage of the latest product upon which I have been working, very close to release; a Knife-Pistol, slightly more advanced than the usual flintlocks in that it is a five-shot automatic, but still I am pleased with the design.

In other brief news, I have also been working on a system whereby customers might automatically receive the latest updates to products that they have bought - this is both useful for them, clearly, and also may mean that I am not quite so hampered by the idea of only releasing things when I am utterly sure of their perfection or more likely when I cannot stand the sight of them any longer, which slows one down and is also always doomed to failure in any case.

Given my stated convictions relating to the privacy of one’s data, the thing is entirely “opt-in”, and sends not a peep out to my server without you first activating it; you are also quite able to remove it entirely. It is not, as yet, an entirely generic system for use by anyone, but I think that I will throw the code up here once I have tested it a little more for the perusal of interested parties.

As a further note, as I mentioned I have been doing research into Combat Systems recently, and there are a few simple tips for the designers of weapons for use in “roleplay” sims that use either the “DCS” or “CCS” that I would also like to write up. My notes on this are in a parlous state at the moment and I have been promising to do this forever it seems, but really, truly, I will. Very soon.

Finally, I was recently informed by Mr Deanfred Brandeis that the latest design of the Reuters HUD has been released - one may visit the Reuters Island to obtain one. I have used it myself and I must say, it is a fine piece of work - those readers who have been looking for a device which provides easy access to feeds in the RSS format will be pleased, as one may configure it to read from a number or even ones entirely of one’s own choosing. I spy a slight omission in the list of available bl*gs though.

In recent days I have been observing many fellow artisans upon the Grid - well, I flatter myself that they are my fellows, I am a child playing with plywood and glue compared to most, but nonetheless - writing and speaking on the subject of Sculpted Prims, the new magical lumps of clay sent to us from the heavens that promise to make our fruitbowls that much more interesting. Initially I suspect this will result in little more than an enormous number of bananas, vases, goblets, fancy table-legs and so on, but given time they will likely become common in the primary markets on the Grid, those being furniture, clothes and body parts.

A bold new age of fruit

I, myself, have not been sculpting prims. “Why is this?” I hear you ask in my imagination (in all likelihood you care not a jot but I will tell you anyway). Firstly, the line of products manufactured by Ordinal Industries are pretty much all mechanical and sharp-edged, and sculpted prims really are not terribly good with harsh lines and suchlike, being by their nature rather softer and more organic in appearance. I am sure that a few details (for example, the holster for the Webley mentioned previously) would be better done with sculpted prims but I imagine that the point at which this becomes essential will be the point at which I am actually able to operate the tools.

Which brings me to my second point, which is that I really do not have the time to master that horrible item of torture, Blender, and I have neither time nor resources (or at least I am certainly not willing to spare them) for Maya, the only package for which an official exporting widget exists at the moment. It is certainly not the matter of a few spare hours to learn how these things work. I previously took Blender cautiously out of the drawer and opened it up when I was investigating the creation of animations, as I was told it could be used for this (perhaps mistakenly) and quickly put it back with a puzzled then scared expression on my face. I made a more concerted effort recently but quite frankly, the sheer number of buttons in irrational places, the bizarre and essential keyboard shortcuts, the inconsistency between elements of the User Interface… I was not encouraged.

My previous investigation of animations would have been entirely curtailed had it not been for my discovery of the excellent program Avimator (now developed as qavimator), which is an excellent free tool and extremely quick to master, particularly if your desired animations are limited to small actions, poses and incidental movements. This is the sort of program which is needed in the context of Sculpted Prims to maintain the Grid as a place where anyone might learn any of the basic skills to at least some extent. Clearly if one must learn Blender or Maya before sculpting, it divides us firmly into “does it for a living” and “doesn’t do it at all”, and that division in society is enough of a problem as it is.

At this early stage it appears as if the program “Wings3D” might turn out to be some sort of easily-accessible version, but I am unable to judge this. My stubborn and slightly insane insistence on using an “Apple” as a tool - and a Core 2 Duo Apple at that; two cores, what is the fruit world coming to - means that I am finding it practically impossible to use the plugin developed. The latest version fails consistently when asked to do anything, the last previous version to work does not support the plugin, and compiling from source… well, I am not a newcomer to this sort of endeavour but it has been a complete nightmare and an unsuccessful one at that.

Still, residents of the Grid are a resourceful and innovative bunch, and I have little doubt that someone, somewhere, will come up with something, somehow. I will keep an eye out, but in the meantime, continue to make things with the usual prims.

On that note and to end this piece with a little self-promotion, I have been working on a series of industrial tools - all in the very early stages of design - which I will illustrate….

The Ordinal “Pepperbox” - A Functional Display from Ordinal Malaprop on Vimeo

Currently available from my Caledon shop - and there is also a selection of pictures on Flickr.

I have been spending far too much time twittering and tumbling like some sort of circus chicken recently, and also far too much time engaged in Aethernet-Related Projects; thus it is my determination to concentrate myself on at least the semblance of performing Work On The Grid.

Let us begin with a forthcoming product, the Ordinal Pepperbox. This is, oddly enough, not actually a device for dispensing pepper, though one may be included in the package to pacify any disgruntled chefs; it is a firearm of a design some might consider antiquated, but let me reassure the prospective purchaser that modern engineering techniques ensure that it is only a little inaccurate and only misfires, say, once every ten shots, which I’m sure you will agree is an excellent safety record.

The Pepperbox is muzzle-loading and may be charged with ordinary ball ammunition, bullets with a core of Heinkel Phosphorus (a rare element which burns most fiercely and also causes an immense repulsion from the ground) and also my newest Ruby Bullets (patent pending) which, when hitting a ne’er-do-well upon a plot over which the firer has control, remind them most immediately and directly that there is No Place Like Home. Of course, all of these things are only to be used appropriately, as with all of my creations.

In addition to this one might expect the usual nonsense with custom animations, the drawing and hiding of the pistol, particle effects, revolving barrels, all that rubbish. Please note that it is not quite available yet, as I have been recently kept from my efforts by Circumstances beyond my Control, but may be tomorrow.

~*~

Other devices which I have spent considerable lengths of time on and yet failed to actually release at all include the Ordinal Galvanic Swordstick, a concealed weapon brimming with Electrical Power which also includes a convenient lightbulb for occasions when one simply cannot manage to get the dratted key into the door, sundry Air Vehicles such as the as-yet-unnamed elephant-spider-kettle-thing appearing in my Aethernetical Album, and also a drawable and hosterable version of the venerable Webley .455 revolver.

(Addendum: another of my flying devices has appeared in an excellent series of pictures - mine is the bulbous thing with doors, rather than the elegant ornithopter.)

I must admit that it has been my failure to actually make a satisfactory holster for the Webley which has kept me from releasing the drawable version, as it has been ready apart from that for a while now, but being aware that I am vain and picky and altogether pathetic when it comes to these things, I have resolved to make it available simply with the pistol itself appearing at one’s belt, and then after that perhaps I can make one with Sculpted Clay and send it out.

Oh yes, and that reminds me; I have resolved to add a “Registration” function to these new devices, allowing one to opt into having one’s details recorded by myself and, through that, having all further versions of a product (whether created for reasons of Improvement or Repair) sent out automatically.

~*~

And as a final note, I am also working on a small sign to be held up at opportune moments when the arrival of Otherworldly Voices comes about - let us not forget that this is only a week or so away.

I am sure as it happens that I also have a million other things that I should be finishing up and packaging off, but I see that I have finally been able to enter Caledon, and would thus bid you toodle-pip.

~*~

(A further addendum: I failed to make it explicit that I have been adding entries to a “sub-journal”, Ordinal’s Cabinet Of Ephemera, wherein I am storing small things which have caught my eye and brief notes on that upon which I am working. I hope that this will reduce the need for lengthy posts such as these in future.)

Concerns of Lag and Presence have been frustrating me a little when it comes to Building of recent days, but I have been able at least to achieve a few things.

The first is yet another one of my Aethernetical Nonsense Works - a little thing which I call “Eventcal“. As you will know, Great and Terrible Lab has blessed us all with a little shared Diary of Events, in which anyone may place items and which anyone may read; it is, however, a bit tricky to use at times, and some of us would wish to use it in concert with our own Diaries (Aethernetical or Otherwise) more easily.

At the moment one may view these Events outside of the Grid, but I have found it more convenient to view and note them using such other things as “Google Calendar”. With this in mind I produced a minor Aethernet Automaton which, when asked, rifles through the afore-linked section for all of the events assigned to a particular category occurring in the next seven days and gives them to you in a format that is generally Machine-Legible (named “iCal”).

The upshot of all of this is that this thing allows one to subscribe to a particular Events category with Google Calendar, the Apple program iCal, Outlook (I believe - I have not tried this) or in fact anything which understands this widely-accepted way of sharing calendars. If this sounds like something of interest to you, please visit the Eventcal page for more information as to how to use it yourself.

The second is a more general project; my experiences with constructing my Galvanic Swordstick recently, and certain issues arising regarding our Regrettably Inevitable Conflict (mostly Standards) left me wishing that I - and others - were able to simply use some form of Generally Compatible System of Personal Combat. When I speak of this I am really talking about something along the lines of the systems mentioned in my Standards post, in other words, a script which anyone might drop into a hand or other weapon, control via Link Messages and use to Engage others similarly equipped.

I considered a wide-scale, “persistent” system of some sort, which would keep details on one’s health and injuries and so on in an Aethernet Data Archive tied to one’s identity, but this struck me as missing the point somewhat - whilst it would be an interesting system and likely diverting in the long term for a certain subset of duellists (and perhaps something I might work on out of interest’s sake) the sort of communities where this is useful are fairly uncommon, usually have their own systems already and are not ones in which I live.

For most potential combatants it is quite enough to have the ability to have occasional battles with similarly-equipped people, without having to either have the power to create, or risk entering, a Combat Zone. Furthermore, a persistent system might give the wrong impression of Caledon, which is a mostly very peaceful place; I do not wish to have random folk accosting me for martial purposes, myself.

At the moment, the system works on a sensor and chat basis, with a central script in each weapon that, when activated:

1. announces when the wearer has activated or deactivated the system;
2. receives requests via link message to strike with a certain force - each one has an appropriate time delay, so that one may launch many quick but light attacks, or one slow but very dangerous one, or something in-between;
3. senses when a target should be hit on such an attack, and broadcasts a message saying that an appropriate hit has been scored;
4. receives hit messages and depletes health accordingly;
5. when the wearer’s health has been depleted to zero, stops itself working for a certain time and holds the wearer to their position (also starting an appropriate “fall down and do not move” animation) until such time as they have recovered, currently thirty seconds.

One thing which is also a possibility is that it will be able to affect inanimate objects containing appropriate scripts; something which I find useful during the testing period.

I shall be experimenting further with this, and releasing it for general use once things have been completed. Unfortunately, to prevent Cheating and Skullduggery, the script must remain Un-Modifiable (though free to copy and transfer) but the basic principles will certainly be outlined for those wishing to learn from my poor efforts.

Oh honestly, what a lot of self-indulgent rot I do write at times. Do buck up, Ordinal. When Second Life hands one lemons, one makes, well, a pot of Earl Grey, and has several cups and a small slice of lemon with each. And maybe a scone. Though not one scone per cup, which would be greedy and probably result in crumbs going everywhere, and not too much clotted cream either, you little piggy.

Anyway, stiff upper lip in the face of adversity, and so on. If vehicles and things-that-move-about are not working very well, it is clearly time to concentrate on things-which-do-not-move-about for the moment. On this note I shall leave the transport airships upon which I was working (they will not go stale) and instead continue to work, when I have the time, on the holsterable version of the .455 Webley which continues to be demanded; it does actually exist, but unfortunately I am having a terrible time creating an appropriate holster for the thing, and I am too much of a perfectionist to have it simply be a bundle of prims. I wonder if I should just provide a couple of attachable versions of the undrawn pistol - a full one, one with just the grip, and so on - modifiable so that they can be added to existing outfits. It is also an appropriate time to add any other modifications I suppose.

Oh yes, and the dratted swordstick, I should finish that as well for release. I was also working on some animations for a sabre based on Hungarian sabre drills, though that proved to be a bit of a challenge.

(I hope that nobody felt I was fishing for compliments or any such. It is just that sometimes, and I am sure that I am not alone in this, one does feel that one’s problems and experiences are swept under by whatever Grand Plan exists for the World, and some poor soul’s tinkering is of little importance compared to Difference Engine manufacturers coming in and holding conferences and whatnot. I draw some comfort at least from the fact that everyone will be experiencing the same and having the same concerns, prince to pauper, and also doubtless expressing them.)

(I also hope that nobody felt that I was criticising landowners for lack of prim parsimony. In my experience, everyone that I have spoken to has been very kind and enthusiastic to ease the passage of the Tram. Sometimes getting hold of them within an “avoiding Ordinal frustration” span of time can be a challenge, but if I will live in such a timezone I must expect such things.)

Well, I have finally managed to put up the snowball technology for sale, and to celebrate, here is a little piece of video, which, well, was made with a slightly older version of the Triple Snowball Cannon, so does not actually demonstrate all possible features.

Snowball Technology on Vimeo

It is still relatively entertaining, I feel, even if it does not demonstrate the effects of retracting the snow duct shielding on the Chambered Farenbaum Engine, nor the triple-fire mode.

The free Snowball System and the two costly products are available as usual at my Caledon shop - do see the left-hand sidebar for a link to the location.

I have, unfortunately, identified an issue with the transferrable versions of the following items:

- Beehive launcher
- .45 Shansi
- Derringer
- .455 Webley

which would cause Operational Issues were one to actually transfer them.

Clearly this is not acceptable and I apologise. If any purchasers would care to drop their copies of these weapons upon me, I will send back two copies of the fixed version at my earliest opportunity.

I would just like to express my irritation with revolvers. The grips of revolvers are an absolute pain in the posterior to model. Why must people make things not easily expressible in terms of cylinders and cuboids? Or alternatively, when will I be able to create meshes and use those instead?

Ahem. Do excuse me. I am trying to make a model of the Smith and Wesson Russian Model revolver and am suffering.

I am currently reading a Fictional Periodical titled “The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters“, which I must say is a cracking read so far, with the fact that each new installment arrives through the post rather than one being able to read the whole thing at once adding to the suspense and the sense of occasion. A bold yet somewhat provincial heroine, an brutal yet sympathetic anti-hero, secret decadence at masked balls, a mysterious and threatening device draining or perhaps redefining the will… I am most certainly looking forward to further episodes.

Some of the names in question did give me a little pause, though. The assassin anti-hero is named Cardinal Chang. Cardinal, Ordinal, do you see? And Chang - (Desmond) Shang? It is all very curious.

I would certainly be pleased to advise Ms Temple on the issue of weaponry easily concealed about one’s person, which she would have most certainly benefitted from during her encounters in the first piece. Even given the necessity of changing clothing on several occasions, a HUD would remain undetected. Such things could never happen to a well-prepared lady in Second Life.

I have been left somewhat drained of inspiration in Second Life recently by continual catastrophe and general malaise, and I have been thinking of alternative Models for Industry, as I am of course in constant need of funds, as are we all. Caledon is not free, you know.

Despite my general antipathy towards the production of custom builds, I was thinking that I might offer a service whereby a customer would suggest a specific model of firearm, and I would endeavour to create a replica. I have stated before that I find such things quite relaxing, though it can be quite a bit of work. I would wish to be able to sell the finished product to other customers afterwards, unless a great deal of money was forthcoming, but on the other hand, the purchaser would be able to say “it was I who gave Ordinal the idea for this device, it is special to me” - and they would receive a personally customised version which was not for general sale.

I would be obliged if any readers with Opinions would comment on the matter, and particularly as concerns the matter of price. I would be charging more than the standard for such a service, perhaps twice the subsequent sale price, or more for something that might not sell? It would depend on the difficulty of the thing.

Incidentally, yes, I have noticed the possibility of Restrictions regarding Scripting for certain Members of Society that have been proposed, and whilst I have been commenting on the matter on certain Aethernet Forums I consider that it would be somewhat premature to make a definitive statement, seeing as how the announcement was of such a speculative nature. Idle speculation is the Devil’s Playground. If firmer proposals are made I will certainly be making my feelings known. Incidentally it is interesting to see that the Linden “Blog” is at First Place in the rankings of its current publisher, wordpress.com. Apparently there are many curious residents out there demanding immediate information, and good luck to them, say I!

Yet again I manage to hibernate through another assault by Parties Unknown on the Grid; it is convenient for me that such things tend to occur during times of rest for me. Others have had some harrowing experiences, it seems:

The embankment next to the landing point in Rodeo is getting waterlogged and has started to slide in a few places. I was out in the muck, trying to clean off the landing stone and stabilize the hillside when an object whizzed by me. Then another. Pretty soon the air was full of them and I had to fight them off with the shovel to get away. Especially hard to do since they were trans. I ran to the south and then east into Stinson. I could hear one of them following me the whole way. I swung blindly a few times and managed to knocked it to the ground. Upon impact it became visible and split in two. I watched in frustration as it began to regenerate itself into two complete copies.

While they were making their repairs I ducked into the small cave in the southeast part of Stinson and made my way to the back wall. I didn’t have much time. I could hear the two prims powering up to full and knew they would detect me soon.

To be quite honest I have been absent for a while; I confess to being in one of my periods of ill-humour, and the only thing that I have been building recently is a Pneumatic Pistol, using a small steam engine to compress air that is then used to propel a projectile. The longer one builds up pressure, the more power the resulting shot possesses, but once full pressure is reached (indicated by a whistle) it must be released immediately, lest the Pistol suffer an overpressure explosion. But really, that is pretty much it, and even that experimentation has mostly has taken place a few hundred metres above the ground in one of my larger flying machines. Hey ho.

Sometimes I take a trip around Caledon when it is quiet, or fix the tram system, which has been irritating of late. When the Tram Rezzer vanishes, there is no Tram Rezzer Rezzer to replace it, and it would likely not work anyway as the original Rezzer only vanishes when the parcel becomes full, so any replacement would vanish shortly as well. One alternative would be different locations for trams to appear, each checking on each other, so that if Caledon II’s Rezzer suffers a mishap, trams begin at Caledon I or Port Caledon. Perhaps. (Have I said all this before? I am concerned that I begin to repeat myself with such stuff.)

As a final element of the rebuilding project that has been taking place on my Caledon property recently, I have been Doing My Bit for the Safety of the Island.

Sea Defences on Vimeo

I did mean to put up a video of this previously, only, well, I didn’t. By the way, when it says “cover one’s ears” it is advisable to do so.

I am afraid that the musical accompaniment really is rather obvious.

The Ordinal Gun Balloon on Vimeo

Now. Is there anything else that I might record? If there is, I hope it can wait until Sunday as that is when my allowance resets.

Edit: Vimeo appears not to be working, so I have replaced this clip with a reference to one on Google Video; others can be found “by the same author” there.

Edit again (2006-09-18): Well, Vimeo is there once more, so I have re-replaced the clip, as I find that Vimeo provides a better quality of picture. Apparently they encountered unexpected problems during an upgrade, which makes my continued use of their service most definitely appropriate for Second Life. I jest! Please do not smite me!

And what is the problem now? Here I am in the middle of a commercial discussion and the entire world turns grey and ejects me. Honestly, one cannot help but take these things personally sometimes. A little warning would be appreciated.

~huffs~

For the record, by the way, in case this Journal is consulted, I am happy to do custom ammunition work; replacing any of the rounds fired by any of my weapons with any other rounds fired by any other weapon that I make is usually a simple task and would be priced accordingly, perhaps L$100 if the script needs updating. Adding entirely new behaviour, well, the time and effort and remuneration would really depend on what was desired, but I am certainly amenable to the idea.

~huffs again~

Addendum: I am also reminded by my Inner Estate Agent that I am never going to get my unwanted mainland sold before Tier Day now. Bah and double bah!

Oh God, I simply cannot help myself.

The Ordinal Revolving Flare Pistol on Vimeo

I was discussing the tediousness of the “end phase” of commercial production with Mera Pixel earlier today, as I put the final touches to the box that sells the above product (available from Caledon and shortly SLX and SLB, as usual). I simply cannot imagine that anyone actually finds it fun. For the non-commercial and the new resident, I present the following guide to what I, at least, do:

1. Take photographs of product and of my good self holding product. Edit these to put in appropriate text for an advertisement.

2. Copy a product sales box in my showroom. Edit it so that it is appropriately named. Add in the above advertisement on the front. Change the sale price. Add the product to the inventory. Check that it has the correct permissions. Realise that there is no documentation.

2a. Open a bottle of wine and fetch a glass.

3. Write the damned documentation, mentioning all of the functions that one has introduced and how to use them. (No afficionado of the Difference Engine has ever enjoyed this in itself, even though I, being irrepressibly verbose, do not mind this as much as many do.) Place the documentation into the item. Make sure the item has a help function that provides the user with the documentation. In times of sloth, merely place the documentation into the sales box, though this can be most annoying later if people then lose their product instructions and bother you, the creator, with questions.

4. Place updated product in inventory. Add documentation notecard to sales box, to be given out to customers looking for further information. Sigh with relief that everything has now been done.

5. Realise that it is still not in the vendor (I have my sales inventory mirrored in a separate vendor even though I usually sell from boxes, just in case I ever wish to sell things elsewhere). Luckily, I have designed my own custom, immensely-simple vendor, into which I merely need to drop the object, notecard and advertisement, and edit the product listing notecard therein. Sigh with relief.

6. Realise that folk only sometimes pop into my showroom on the off-chance that I have added something new, and thus advertising is necessary. Open new bottle of wine. Compose advertisement in BBCode for inclusion in the Classified section of the SL Forums. Post advertisement. Think about posting it on other forums, generally conclude that one cannot be bothered.

7. Add things to SLExchange and SLBoutique. This is easily the most tedious part of the enterprise. Adding the item itself is easy, simply drop it into the appropriate box in my “Room Of Things That Are Not Very Interesting”, but then one must go to the appropriate sites, click the correct links, type in the details all over again, add photographs and test both the item page and delivery.

8. Knock over half-empty wine bottle, curse, attempt to find salt to pour on carpet.

9. (optional) Realise that there is a fatal flaw in item which requires complete re-engineering and changes in the entire behaviour, and that this means going back to stage 1. Swear indecorously, making abusive gestures. Fall over while attempting to do something completely innocuous. Realise that it is probably time to go to bed.

~ * ~

I do not mention the “compose a product demonstration video” part above because that is quite fun, though I expect that, in time, it will become dull. I still do not understand why it has not become a standard part of commerce on the Grid, though, at least for people who sell things that, well, do things, not furniture or houses or whatnot. Prospective customers do not gain any greater understanding of the nature of a sofa if they see a grainy video of somebody sitting down on it.

But anyway. Honestly, why would anyone wish to submit themselves to that?[1] My vintner clearly would encourage me to continue, but it is not terrific fun. Someone offering a one-stop service for such a process - “give me a copy of the item, I will write up documentation and ad copy, do promotional photographs and video, post it on all of the appropriate sites and go around to Ahern and show it off” - could make a veritable mint.

On that subject, I wonder if there are already any firms offering the services of “street teams” as I believe they are called nowadays. Since so much on the Grid happens by word of mouth and personal contact, a group of people who went around to the popular dancehalls or bingo parlours or coffee shops or wherever it is that people go (I do not keep up with the behaviour of the young these days) talking about their latest amazing purchase could do very well for themselves and their customers. It is rather tricky to evaluate the efficacy of such a company beforehand, but were I so inclined, which I am not, I’m sure I could build up a reputation through an initial promotional phase of low prices in exchange for testimony.

Incidentally, I am only at stage 5 right now, if that. I do rather like the flare pistol, though, it really is rather colourful.

~ * ~

[1]: The question of why I do is, I feel, a matter for another post.

I have been most remiss lately in… well, in all forms of activity. I find myself paying no attention to my own commercial interests, and instead doing very little of import. Last night I forced myself to box things up, take promotional photographs and so on, and I can thus announce that the .45 Shansi and the Beehive Launcher (which I believe I mentioned before) are now available in Second Life, some months after they were actually finished and ready. Pictures can be seen here, if you are at all interested, and you might wish to waste a few moments of your life by watching the following demonstration pieces:

.45 Shansi on Vimeo

Ordinal, pursued by bees on Vimeo

The sound seems rather peculiar and distorted to me at times. This “Vimeo” thing is very simple and pleasant to use, but I am not convinced of the quality of their Format Conversion Engineering.

Available from the usual places - Caledon, SLExchange, SLBoutique, bah.

My phrenologist tells me that a few small taps of the hammer upon a point above and in front of my left ear will bring about a much-needed removal of this enervation, but quite frankly I do not trust the man anywhere near me with a blunt instrument.

I was, a little while back, alerted by Ms Torley Linden to the fact that there are residents wishing to use the SLurl as a tool when referring to places in Second Life, but finding it awkward, slow or otherwise inconvenient to do so via the web form. I have thus built a small item that should help - something I call a “slurlchatter”.

This is simply a HUD device that sits there and, when touched, will tell you a SLurl for your current location. One merely then has to cut and paste this SLurl into whichever document one is creating. It can also be commanded by speech - say “/121 Caledon,128,128,128″ and it will give one an appropriate SLurl for that specific place. It is available for free from SLExchange or SLBoutique, or, as usual, from my humble establishment in Caledon.

Another item that I have been working on, I am in something of a quandary regarding. With the removal of the “PVP Abuse Tool” within Second Life there has been some demand for alternatives; a collision sensor has been released for free by Babbage Linden, but of course one problem with collision sensors is that they only respond to actual collisions.
Read the rest of this entry »

I would like to briefly announce my latest product, which some people have made enquiries about - the Ordinal Derringer.

(more photographs to be found here)

This is not a strict reproduction but instead is modelled on the .410-calibre over-and-under pistols known as “Derringers”. As well as the attractive finish and pearl handle - I actually designed it to go with the outfit I am seen wearing here, from silentsparrow - the weapon can be concealed in a number of different locations of the body. No, nothing requiring lubricant, but, for instance, one may select the right ankle, and then draw and hide the weapon from that location. Each position has a specific animation assigned to it. The right ankle is my personal favourite.

The concealment points are the main feature really, but the gun itself is fairly complete, with custom animations for loading, holding, aiming and firing (the shots have recoil) and two different ammunition types. One may fire a solid slug, or load the derringer with buckshot, each cartridge having three separate projectiles. There are also the particle effects that one expects from a quality firearm, muzzle flash, muzzle smoke, impact and so on.

Readers should be advised that they can view a somewhat blurry motion picture of the drawing and concealing animations being used. I would suggest selecting the arrow button bottom right and choosing “original size”, as I was using rather primitive technology. It is surprising to me how few cinematographic advertisements exist for products in Second Life, but be assured that I will be creating them for future promotional projects. It takes but a few minutes and gives a potential purchaser a much improved impression of what it is the device does.

I have, meanwhile, been making progress regarding scavenging slugs, but I wish to save that for the point when I have actually implemented the genome function that I have been thinking of, and reproduction. The sim in question, as I mentioned, is PG, but I do not think that that covers graphic portrayals of slug birth.

In recent days I have modified the operation of the cannon of my Gun Balloon, to add effects that I find rather pleasing: there is now a two-stage particle effect upon impact, consisting of a brief yellow/red explosion and a longer-lasting plume of smoke, and more importantly, the shell itself produces shrapnel. A quick sensor call is used to determine whether there are avatars within three metres of the detonation point, and, if so, the shell launches a fragment directly at them at 20m/s (plus their detected velocity - there will be no escaping here!) If not, or if there are less than three avatars in the radius (likely) up to three fragments are ejected in random directions, biased towards the horizontal.

Thus, for instance, if nobody is around the point of detonation, three fragments will shoot out at random. If one person is within three metres, one will shoot at them, and two others in random directions. And so on. It would be nice not to have to rely on this sort of targetted fragmentation, but in practice one cannot easily simulate a blast wave and dozens if not hundreds of potentially lethal fragments exploding in all directions - thus three will have to serve.

Now, the scripting element here was influenced by the thread in the forums regarding a Grey Goo Fence. This construction has been put into place to counter the threat of self-replicating objects which threaten the integrity of the Grid, which I’m sure we would all agree is a laudable aim. In theory, any device rezzing objects at a rate of more than 40 per second - or rezzing objects which rez other objects and so on down the line - will find itself shut down for a period.

As a figure this does not seem too unreasonable, and given the rezzing procedure of each shot of the cannon:

* one cannon shell
* three fragments upon impact of shell
* one empty cartridge

totalling five rezzes per shot, I decided on a rate of five rounds per second, meaning twenty-five rezzes, to be absolutely safe.

I have to say though that this has not turned out to be the case. The rate of fire is controlled by a timer in the cannon, which issues linked messages to subscripts whenever it fires whilst the trigger is being held. Thus it is possible to control the rate quite effectively. For any timer interval below 0.25 seconds - in other words, any rate of fire greater than 4 per second, or any rate of rezzing greater than 20 per second - one receives after a few seconds of sustained fire the ominous message:

> grey goo fence: rapid or recursive rez

This is not as was advertised. I was concerned that the original version of the fence would hamper the operation of such creations as fractal trees, but really, if we are to have a fence at all, let it be set high. If I had not deliberately tested this I would be facing complaints from purchasers, I’m sure - even if one must fire for several seconds before encountering this message.

I have been informed several times in the last week that my Touring Dirigible in Caledon has been found in peculiar places. Some of these places are understandable - say, trapped in a tower which has grown somewhat since I last plotted the course - but some are frankly inexplicable. For instance: even given the vagaries of the physics engine, how could a dirigible find its way inside the top floor of the Academy, when it is actually too large to enter?

I suspect that some person has been taking pot-shots at my balloon. This is not a pastime that meets with my approval. I have therefore put into place further scripting which will enable me to locate any such culprit should this occur again (as well as raising the travelling height of the balloon somewhat).

Further on the subject of balloons, various of the landed gentry of Caledon seem to have become recently most interested in the practice of diplomacy, manifesting itself in the construction of gunboats. Whilst I am at heart a peaceful soul and wish no part in imperialist endeavours, I clearly cannot let such a craze go past without contributing in some small way, lest my reputation as a gunsmith suffer.

Hence the Ordinal Gun Balloon, built around a giant cannon somewhat reminiscent of my Engine Rifle, though much larger. A most diplomatic device, I’m sure you will agree, though pedestrians should be aware that it is, well, almost impossible to actually hit anything smaller than a wildebeest, except perhaps by accident.

To be honest the building was largely inspired by my desire to build a vehicle that utilised Mouselook for its guidance. Whilst not in Mouselook, one controls the Gun Balloon fairly conventionally, rotating it, moving forwards and backwards and the like. Whilst in Mouselook, however, the balloon orientates itself to point in the direction that you are looking.

This is not a terribly complicated effect to achieve at heart, merely requiring the use of llSetVehicleFlags(VEHICLE\_MOUSELOOK\_STEER);. However, I was somewhat perplexed for a while as to how, precisely, to get this to work. The mistake that I was unknowingly making involved the angular motor. The Wiki is fairly clear on this, but I had, ahem, not actually read that section.

For the direct information of those reading though, the issue is that the value of the angular motor whilst VEHICLE\_MOUSELOOK\_STEER is active is not actually the value of the angular motor, as such. Instead, the angular motor is controlled entirely by the direction that the avatar is looking in and its difference from the vehicle’s current forward X-axis - and the value of the angular motor is in fact a scaling factor for this. So, if one uses:

llSetVehicleVectorParam(VEHICLE_ANGULAR_MOTOR_DIRECTION,
<1.0, 1.0, 5.0>);

whilst Mouselook Steering is active, rotation about the vehicle’s Z-axis will be five times more responsive than about other axes. Being the silly sausage that I am I was regularly setting the angular motor to zero, thus cancelling all of my piloting mouselookery completely.

~ * ~

The vital issue of suitable hats, though, has not been satisfactorily addressed in Caledon to my mind. One cannot have naval vessels, aerial or otherwise, without appropriate headgear, and, to be frank, epaulets are needed as well. Hats first, diplomacy later.

~ * ~

I am aware that I seem to be spending less and less time here writing on the subject of the actual mechanics of scripting. I am not precisely sure why that is, but to be frank, I suspect that it is because I am now past the stage where I am constantly encountering new functions within LSL of which I was not previously aware, and am now more at the stage where one wrangles with reality itself, using the functions as a tool with which hopefully to beat the laws of physics into submitting to one’s will. Quite frequently, of course, the capricious spirits governing the natural sciences within Second Life merely laugh at the feeble attempts of mere mortals to achieve their goals, and there is little that one can do against their will.

I was wondering whether one could take a different approach to trying to beat them with Science, and instead try to appease them. Praying to their masters is sometimes effective but again, a slow process. I thought, for instance, that one might have a vehicle which, upon approaching the famously haunted borders between Sims, began a ritual chant and perhaps lit some incense. I am not quite sure what sacrifices the Spirits Of The Physics Engine really appreciate - they certainly seem to enjoy taking my balloons, so perhaps a set of smaller balloons could be launched to meet their approval.

I have found, on this subject, that when a dirigible is crossing these boundaries, if it slows down to a walking pace and begins to repeat a mantra, it is much less liable to being thrown into the centre of the Grid or otherwise discombobulated. (One cannot actually hear the mantra, but trust me, it is repeating it within its little scripted mind.)

~ * ~

I must mention finally the most appropriate movement by certain of those with Power in Second Life to remove the detritus that silts up the Events listings, sometimes involving the presence of a green and purple pony. I am not one to criticise potted meat, a fine invention, but really - it is appropriate for sailors, explorers, students, not lists of Events, where one should be able to find unique occurrences rather than simply folk playing baccarat or whatever it is people do all day in casinos.

One thing that always amazes me that anyone has ever heard of me in Second Life at all. I fear that I shall never get over the idea that anyone might remember my name or, for that matter, know it without me having met them or annoyed them in some way. I am most gratified whenever anyone does, believe me, but each time I am quite astounded by it.

The above came to mind when I was asked by the very talented Tateru Nino to pose for the illustration on the Tower on a Tarot deck. Of course, I was immensely flattered to be asked, and I think that it ended up rather well - you can see the full set on Dwell On It. I think it’s a fascinating thing to interpret the Tarot in the medium of Second Life avatars; an activity that I am proud to be connected to. Torley as the Fool is particularly good.

I am not an expert in the Tarot and certainly not in the meaning of the Tower card, but I see from Wikipedia that:

> * To some, It symbolises failure, ruin and catastrophe.

> * To others, the Tower represents the Paradigms constructed by the Ego, the sum total of all Schema which the mind constructs to understand the universe. The Tower is struck by lighting when Reality does not conform to expectation.

> * Epiphanies, transcendental states of consciousness, and Kundalini experiences may result.

Hm. Well. This is not intended to be a conventional interpretation and thus I will not take the “ruin” elements to heart. My Lighthouse has yet to be struck by lightning, though Reality has commonly failed to conform to expectations, mostly on the matter of physics and sim boundaries.

~ * ~

Recently I have been doing many things, as always, but today I decided to take a break from speculative technology and concentrate on something that I find strangely relaxing - the replication of antiquities in Second Life.

It is a good test of one’s skills to attempt to create a functional duplicate of an object that exists in the “Real World”, and it is ideal for those moments when one is not feeling desperately inspired and full of ideas for novelties, as all of the details are already there. In fact, quite often during the process one comes up with an idea for something entirely different. Just as the way around Writer’s Block is to write, so the way around Creator’s Block is to create.

This Sunday I decided to build a replica of Dr Watson’s service revolver, something which would be of interest to a few people, I judged. There are different opinions as to precisely which model this would have been, but I settled on the .455 Webley as my choice. In actual fact I based my model around the Mark 6 version, which was only created in 1915, but don’t tell anyone that. They all look rather similar in any case.

Being myself I couldn’t help but add a series of features once the basic design and texturing were complete, so the revolver, apart from firing bullets as one would expect a revolver to, now

* has a selection of various sampled sounds attached to it;
* has custom animations for holding and firing the weapon, as I can’t stand the default ones;
* has muzzle smoke;
* breaks open when one has fired all six rounds, ejects the empty cartridges (which fall to the floor) and animates one’s avatar to engage in reloading.

You know, if one is going to spend hours scouring the Inter Net for textures and images, one should at least also spend some time scripting suitable behaviour for the device.

A couple of antiquarian friends of mine with a particular interest in antique firearms have indicated their approval of the final product, and thus I think I shall put it out for sale forthwith. To return to my original theme, that is the other thing that continually surprises me about Second Life, the idea that people will actually pay good Lindens for things that I create. I should hope that they would as I have already spent several hundred on textures, animations and sounds for this one item. It is not just a question of one payment for each component, either - it is impossible to tell whether an animation appears just right, or whether a sound seems quite appropriate, before one has uploaded it and paid to do so.

~ * ~

Now, if you will excuse me, I must return, as I wish to speak to Mr Shang on the subject of a noticeboard for residents.

Incidentally, I am selling my land in Theretra. If anyone wishes to buy a continuous plot of land there with amenable neighbours, please do contact me.

Seeing as how my Duelling Pistols seem to have attracted some interest, I have put the entire system up for sale for anyone wishing to take advantage of it themselves, with a few modifications:

* Custom poses exist (for those who have not seen them as yet);
* The powder load is now variable, to deal different levels of damage, and can be selected by the duellists concerned;
* Pistols for retail, as standard, can be reloaded from any ammunition box, or their damage changed using any damage selection device. If anyone wishes to have pistols that will only respond to objects owned by a particular person (as is the case on my Duelling Ground - one can only load the free pistols from my cartridges) they need only make the request and I will be happy to create pistols modified to their specifications.

The Duelling Pistols crate comes with all of the devices required for a duel, as well as two pistols, one copiable (for the owner) and one transferrable (to be passed to his or her opponent). Additional transferrable pistols are a mere L$25 apiece.

~ * ~

Commercial announcement completed: I can now speak on other matters. I was pondering possibilities regarding the Following Camera in Second Life, and found it odd that it was always the movement of the camera that was determined by the direction of the vehicle or person moved, which would tend to ignore the camera angle. Why not the other way around? Or near to it in any case. With this in mind I built a Giant Glass Pinball.

Englobing oneself allows one to move around by changing flux density in response to the Grid’s magnetic field; so nothing unusual there, then. And there is some fun to be had just from bouncing around the landscape and watching oneself spin dizzyingly. However, one will notice when using one’s forward, backward, left and right controls that they move in relation to the current camera position. Forward will move you away from the camera, backward towards it and left and right perpendicular to its direction. (The pinball has been modified so that it will not launch into the air or attempt to drive itself into the ground, though by bouncing off solid objects one can achieve some amusing heights and tumbles.) Thus if one holds down the backwards key, one will repeatedly travel towards a certain point, pass through it and then go backwards.

The suggested process to see this properly would be to rez the Pinball, move the camera to a suitable position - I would suggest a high-up one - then Englobe oneself, locking the camera there. It can be released for repositioning or locked again by simply touching the Pinball.

It should be noted that this is not technically a vehicle at all, merely a physical object propelled by llApplyImpulse, and as such its facing is entirely irrelevant, as can be seen by the peculiar angles that one englobed within it finds themselves at.

The Pinball may be found in the Gadgets dispenser at either the Laboratories or Ordinal Enterprises, along with whatever other ridiculous things I’ve made since the last time I wrote here - I think there was a drunkenness attachment as well, for instance. I am sure that regular readers know the sort of nonsense that I tend to create.