Re-excavating the subway station.

Re-excavating the subway station. I'd recreated Slum City (as much as I could) and instead of a purely floating platform, I wanted the builds, as much as possible to be on actual land. This means lowering and flattening the land for the subway system, and some other locations as well.

With much help from Fred Beckhusen, who made this Transmission tower set from prototypes I'd made, I now have mesh...

With much help from Fred Beckhusen, who made this Transmission tower set from prototypes I'd made, I now have mesh TRANSMISSION TOWERS! Not just the tower, but also the droopy power lines. The two sets of three phase wires, and the grounding wire at top, are separate bits to the tower, which means that I can position the towers where I need them, and adjust the wires to account for that.

I didn't realise this until I finally got this uploaded to the sim. This is just what I wanted! THANK YOU SO MUCH FRED! Watch out Scum Island, powerlines are about to invade.

How we survived the 90s.

How we survived the 90s.
#Musicals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngu2a2QvbUM&feature=share

Yeltsin and the Button.

Yeltsin and the Button.
#Musicals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSMb9VXXQ5o&feature=share

How the Russian Bureaucracy works.

How the Russian Bureaucracy works.
#Musicals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6bN_T92SYY&feature=share

So yesterday - while I was struggling ith other stuff - I researched Electrical Substations for a build in Seconds.

So yesterday - while I was struggling ith other stuff - I researched Electrical Substations for a build in Seconds. I did a similar thing airports and railways, and found at times that the best thing to find was a set of local of international standards, because they often have schematics and realistic measurements . This time around it was a bit harder.

The best reference I found this this:
https://www.energy.siemens.com/MX/pool/hq/energy-topics/power%20engineering%20guide/PEG_70_KAP_03.pdf

Beware the projected shadow.

Beware the projected shadow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoIYJjxcfvU&feature=share

I thought I'd test uploading a dead simple mesh as a control, but even though it worked, I got different results in...

I thought I'd test uploading a dead simple mesh as a control, but even though it worked, I got different results in different viewers! Even though it was uploaded in Firestorm, I couldn't see the mesh! It was of four posts and a wire fence, as seen in the Blender screenshot below. What I got was nothing in Firestorm, though CooVL viewer showed the posts and I was able to add a couple of prims for fencing. I though it might be a VolumeLOD setting issue, but the screenshot below shows that at 4.0!

It's been a frustrating and puzzling day today.

It's been a frustrating and puzzling day today. An upload of a mesh version of the transmission tower didn't work at all on several viewers. I'd get a "missing physics_convex hull" error, as shown below. When I finally found the log it gave no extra details.

Suggestions please.

The Church - Full Concert - 2015 - Barcelona, Spain au Primavera Sound 29 5 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9qjCJ4_5yE&feature=share

Testing how the pylons look straddling the landscape. No actual lines yet, but soon! :)

Testing how the pylons look straddling the landscape. No actual lines yet, but soon! :)

I know it's odd, but I do get into adding infrastructure and other details in SL/OpenSim. Arguably no avatar actually needs trains, cars, power lines or even toilet seats in a working sim, but adding them adds atmosphere to the locations, I think.

I saw this at HOYTS in Charlestown yesterday.

I saw this at HOYTS in Charlestown yesterday. I thought I was going to see a quiet but uplifting film, but, um, well it disturbed me instead. However, a film that makes you feel for the characters and be moved emotionally is a well made film.

The cinema was interesting as well. The chairs the front rows had two buttons which moved the back and foot rests, so that you could almost lie down while watching a film. Hmmm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KgMW3rowXY&feature=share

So, who's for last drinks?

So, who's for last drinks?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn9_U9mZO_Y&feature=share

It was raining today and Huey accepted staying inside for a while.

It was raining today and Huey accepted staying inside for a while. I found a version of a power line pylon in my inventory, and I cannot remember where it came from. I might use in a couple of places but I thought I'd may a new pylon based on local ones.

Almost all of this was done by hand after a couple of measurements, using rotate and copies. Most of the struts are .3 x .3 m in size, but the bottom supports are .5x5 in size. I split this in two parts, so that I could use different types for each. in this version the bottom supports flare out at an angle of 15 degrees, but straight ones might be useful as well. Adding a middle extender would be easy as well.

Still to be done: concrete groundings at the bottom of each leg. and how to do the power lines?

An historical art project from 2013.

An historical art project from 2013.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/27/fallen-9000-sand-stencils-dday_n_4003959.html

I've been to Linkwater on the metropolis grid (see https://metropolis/region/Linkwater_Meadows/77/217/36) to check...

I've been to Linkwater on the metropolis grid (see https://metropolis/region/Linkwater_Meadows/77/217/36) to check out the trains, but I didn't realised until now that there was a lot more to it!
https://linkwater.org/infrastructure-projects-add-land-garner-free-power-and-broaden-ways.html

Behind the hilly/mountain range - a flat area where trains and cars go temporary, once I have automated multi-sim...

Behind the hilly/mountain range - a flat area where trains and cars go temporary, once I have automated multi-sim figured out. In model railwaying, this is what's called a "Fiddle Yard" - somewhere to put your trains while you're pretending they're en route to somewhere. The idea is that this ia "hidden" area, and will eventually have a hollow sim-surround over it. None of this is essential to a webcomic, but I see an opportunity to gain some knowledge and skills in scripting, if I can get this to work.

Also the back end of the tunnel. The temporary set of sculpties will be there until I make a mesh - though some might say that I "made a mesh of things", fnar fnar.

And finally I split the two bridge supports into four (each segment ends above a pillar or the end of the bridge) and two extra safety alcoves. The unions complained.

The boat ramps and old baths.

The boat ramps and old baths. Only one ramp can be used at the moment. The pools about those are only .5-1.0m deep, and were used as public baths for a while, but nowadays is where people dump things. Obviously need to tweak the terrain textures, as you can clearly see where sims meet.

So I worked on the West end of the Island today.

So I worked on the West end of the Island today. I landscaped the two regions west of "The Fork", and after rebuilding the main road added boat ramps and the remnants of old public baths. Also the rail bridge was tweaked.

I neatened up some roads. The switchback looks lots nicer when constructed with boxes, tubes, and rings.

I neatened up some roads. The switchback looks lots nicer when constructed with boxes, tubes, and rings.

Ha ha - just watched yesterday's episode.

Ha ha - just watched yesterday's episode. When will they get the original MacGyver to guest star? I think he ought to be Mac's grandfather.
http://tvline.com/2017/11/03/macgyver-season-2-bruce-mcgill-original-jack-dalton/

Mostly road building and landscaping today.

Mostly road building and landscaping today.

I added four new regions to Scum Island: two "Fiddle Yard" sims which I'll use for playing with trains, and to locate the sim surround on; and two west coast sims to round off the island better (and also that I could play around with The Flats terrain.

The switchback road section (as are the other parts of the town) are only a rough approximation. The main thing was to get things to be consistent and join up. I suspect I'm going to need to edit the terrain in L3DT to smooth it out.

There's clearly an art to this.

There's clearly an art to this.
https://99designs.com.au/blog/creative-inspiration/famous-fictional-branding-from-television-and-film/

And lastly for today, the freebie boat shed I was using has vanished!

And lastly for today, the freebie boat shed I was using has vanished! So, I made a new one, which is very basic. The only bit of furniture is a carpet with these telepad scripts in it: https://forums.osgrid.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3629 (there's five of these in the Welcome region).

I reworked the teehub tower. Probably ugly as anything, but it's functional.

I reworked the teehub tower. Probably ugly as anything, but it's functional.

"PAUL: Gurney, when the storm hits.

"PAUL: Gurney, when the storm hits... set off the atomics. I want an opening through the entire Shield Wall. Stilgar? Do we have wormsign?
Stilgar and Gurney laugh.
STILGAR Usul... We have wormsign, the likes of which even God has never seen.
Paul smiles."

I feel a bit like this at the moment. I was able to login to Seconds via this http://58.166.140.10:9200/ on a PC other than the NUC (where it's running). If you like, you can try porting to Seconds via the Hypergrid. It might work!

Listen to this, and you'll never hear the "LET IT GO" song from FROZEN is the same way ever again.

Listen to this, and you'll never hear the "LET IT GO" song from FROZEN is the same way ever again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAzSvhioo34&feature=share

Teleports are done, and Seconds is probably now accessible from the Hypergrid - details after lunch.

Teleports are done, and Seconds is probably now accessible from the Hypergrid - details after lunch.

So, I couldn't sleep, so I finally got to adding the teleports in the welcome sim.

So, I couldn't sleep, so I finally got to adding the teleports in the welcome sim. I used the script at http://opensimulator.org/wiki/OsTeleportAgent which works fine. The top deck will have the the stuff I'm working on, or have finished. The teleports are arranged in a circle 20 degrees apart. From left to right: The Piers; The Fork; Buggle-Praxis Base; Buggle Alpha Base; Buggle Beta Base; Octobriana's Flat; the Moreau Base; and the Asteroid Base.

Later, I revisited the Asteroid base. I thought the other bases in the distance looked good, even if they're not complete.

Tomorrow I think I will definitely make an effort to get Seconds connected to the Hypergrid.

Tomorrow I think I will definitely make an effort to get Seconds connected to the Hypergrid. I'll be out in the morning but in the afternoon it shouldn't take long to do. Mind you most stuff is only half finished as yet, but that may not matter really. In the last week I've rediscovered the joy of building and getting what you were intending. I was fatigued for a while and switching to work on a different group of Sims helped.

Could it be that just getting down and building is more productive than lots of planning, because you can see the results?

So, didn't get to adding teleports at the Welcome sim (you can see Master builder taking time out there) but I...

So, didn't get to adding teleports at the Welcome sim (you can see Master builder taking time out there) but I rebuilt both bridges and the roads and rails leading to and over them. Much more satisfied with the revision. There's even an access bridge from the road bridge to the rail one, with safety alcoves either side. If you don't have something like that, when a train comes your workers either get run over, jump off the bridge, or run to either end. This halves the distance. Of course in real life they might have explosive caps on the side they're expecting a train, which explode when ran over.

That's a hard look there. This ought to be on a WANTED poster.

That's a hard look there. This ought to be on a WANTED poster.
http://musicfeeds.com.au/news/billy-corgan-thinks-that-metal-music-is-disrespected/

So I didn't go out after all, and I built other stuff instead. But I really enjoyed doing so.

So I didn't go out after all, and I built other stuff instead. But I really enjoyed doing so.

There's now a train station, parking space, and chip shop next to the Boardwalk. I also built some bridges off the island. Roads go south, rail goes north. And I've been playing around with region terrains, as you can see on the updated map. Also, I've had some thoughts about naming the parcels (shown in yellow).

We can see where the proposed sereage farm and asylum might go. The Aley, Arcadia and Kellie names are no accident.

I might have some fun today.

I might have some fun today. I wanted to create a place using mostly modded freebies, and Scum Island is part of that. The area on the hill is a (loose) recreation of Slum City from Sl. Now I might add some Linda Kellie stuff as well to extend the urban area.

And I think the North East corner of Scum Island will be home to an Asylum, set in what was previously a mansion, belonging to the Arcadia family, and designed by architect A.L. Kellie. The sewerage farm will go somewhere to the west of that (but was clearly built) long after it ceased to be a mansion. We'll see. I need to go out today as well, but that can be in the afternoon.

Did some landscaping and building today.

Did some landscaping and building today. It was difficult to do sometimes with a dog on my lap. I also imported all the train stuff I was working on last year. The track I've laid out to mark the route is a copy of the Atoll track, as per the SL wiki. I have other track types, but wanted to use bog standard stuff here, where on Scum Island, no expense is taken, let alone given.

The white chain shows where the rails will be extended - to the old quarry, and to a maintenance shed. I'm tempted to put a sewage works in si-32. That'd be lower than the sewers in the town above. Either that, or a couple of luxury homes perhaps (but not next to each other). Don't know what to put in si-41 yet. Suggestions?

Oh, and I'm thinking of adding a couple of sea regions to the west. Probably NOT needed yet.

Shaggy dog story.

Shaggy dog story.
#Rage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbOMvegSPpc&feature=share

Slick.

Slick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsYk3-sP0A&feature=share

And one from Jack the Lad(der).

And one from Jack the Lad(der).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2KQeqXl6ZM&feature=share

On the road.

On the road.
#Rage #Australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NVOawOXxSA&feature=share

#Rage

#Rage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d_WdcDev9c&feature=share

As seen on RAGE early this morning.

As seen on RAGE early this morning.
#Rage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njb3JTZ1ibY&feature=share

I also added a temporary rail line down to the boardwalk on Scum Island.

I also added a temporary rail line down to the boardwalk on Scum Island.

Initially I tried making this using several straight segments of track. In the end I created a large tube (180m wide) and skewed that. The final version will have better textures, and stuff covering up the subway. There will be a railway station at the bottom next to a car park next to a road that runs along the boardwalk. The width of the torus was set to come down at that point.

The terrain of the whole island's being exported to Leveller/L3DT for further refinement (but not today). As you can see on the map si-99 has Octo's flat above it, and there will be a bridge to si-10 from it. The area west of the central urban area is the remains of a "Prim Quarry", where raw prims were mined for many years. The process left the soil toxic and it would cost heaps to clean up. The rest of the island will be an industrial holiday mix.

After a suggestion, I swapped over to Firestorm.

After a suggestion, I swapped over to Firestorm. No issues with the terrain textures! Have added a boathouse, and walkway to it, behind the shack.

I've deferred connecting up to the Hypergrid for a few days. I want to the welcome centre to be working (with teleports) before that.

Mr Tawny gets about!

I restored the old Welcome Region today.

I restored the old Welcome Region today. Edited the island a bit, and for some reason the terrain textures kept defaulting to the lowest texture (huh?). If and when I hook this up to the Hypergrid, this will be the point of entry.

The shack on the left will have stuff people can copy, and the tower will be a Teleport Hub.

That is one sad looking cyberman!

That is one sad looking cyberman!

Originally shared by Doctor Who Today

Officially licensed #DoctorWho Cyberman Hoodie from 👉 http://amzn.to/2jalFD3

So I saw Deadpool 2 yesterday.

So I saw Deadpool 2 yesterday. It was what it claimed to be on the tin. And yet, it felt like this was the first film with X-Men in it that was anything like the comics! The "High Winds" extended sequence was 'terribly wrong' but very funny! I dread to think what #3 will be like, but BEST POST CREDIT SCENE EVER!

The Garden with Insight garden simulator is an educational simulation that uses weather, soil, and plant growth...

The Garden with Insight garden simulator is an educational simulation that uses weather, soil, and plant growth models to simulate a simple garden in an open-ended microworld setting. You can plant vegetables and grow them to learn more about plants, the soil, the weather, gardening, and science.

Yes, it's an archived site., but you can still download and run the software.
#Windows
http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/gwi.htm

The Screan gets most of the press, but you can see that this takes place more or less in the same setting.

The Screan gets most of the press, but you can see that this takes place more or less in the same setting.
https://www.edvardmunch.org/anxiety.jsp

Balloon Sculptures Depicting Animals and Insects by Masayoshi Matsumoto

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/05/new-balloon-sculptures-depicting-animals-and-insects-by-masayoshi-matsumoto/

With a lot of help from Fred Beckhusen, I now Have the Seconds Webcomic HG *online.

With a lot of help from Fred Beckhusen, I now Have the Seconds Webcomic HG *online. There's not much there as yet. Honestly though, it runs like a rocket using the viewer (I used Singularity) to on this version! Way faster than the standalone version. I couldn't find the the old OAR of the Welcome region (probably on an external drive somewhere) so I've just plonked a boathouse on an empty sea for now.

While I was working on this the other day I realised there was no reason why Octo's flat should be in The Void, so it got moved to Scum Island, and together with a "bridge" region there's now 11 regions in that, and Octo's Flat sim will be used to place backdrop prims and mesh giving the illusion that it leads to a vast mainland. I commented out the three main sim groups for the test, and will restore them when I need to build / shoot on them.Whew!

Now I wonder if this means I can visit other Hypergrid grids/regions from this, and folk can visit me? I'm going to leave Seconds running for a while and check later.