Torley Lives

Was browsing through the SL Forums today, and in the Off-Topic section, Lupo Clymer?linked to something thought-provoking. The article is titled "Some scientists say humans can read minds", and there is a paragraph that is especially noteworthy to me. Taken out of context, but to give you a good idea:

The idea is that the mirror neuron systems of autistic individuals are somehow impaired or deficient, and that the resulting "mind-blindness" prevents them from simulating the experiences of others. For autistic individuals, experience is more observed than lived, and the emotional undercurrents that govern so much of our human behavior are inaccessible. They guess the mental states of others through explicit theorizing, but the end result is a list — mechanical and impersonal — of actions, gestures and expressions void of motive, intent, or emotion.

I, despite my Asperger's Syndrome?(a form of autism), am?getting better at describing things about myself over time. It's slow, and has been a really arduous obstacle course at times, but it's easier to take a stab at some of the shrimp now instead of having to prod carelessly in the dark all the time.

I figure I have a mechanism for dealing with?awkward moments?that I don't always deploy, but have found effective. In my own words, if I freeze up in a social situation, then I'll quickly scan my thoughts for the first vivid mental picture that comes to mind, and find a way to relate it to the conversation. On occasion, it may seem like a hopelessly out-there tangent and seems to boggle a lot of people who say "your reasoning doesn't make sense!", but there connections are so clear in my mind, and if you give me the opportunity, I will trace the trail backwards and connect the dots. I have done this time and time again?so it's?been established as a reliable method of interpersonal reciprocation for me.

If you've seen the movie Minority Report, then you are familiar with the special effects which Tom Cruise and the other precrime investigators use to scan for evidence on their futuristic computer consoles. Waving their hands through the air and watching this whole "rainstorm" of images shower down and skip, skitter, and splash back and forth until the right frames in the sequence of one's life are pinpointed. Links in the chain are made and the connections solidified many times over?–?I find I do this a lot, and the onscreen example is a very close depiction to others for what is happening inside my mind most of the day. (And yes, I find pop culture references to be useful!)

Sometimes, it gets awfully busy, and I freak out. In Second Life, this may take the form of me screaming in chat and sending watermelons flying everywhere as a sign of primal expression. I am wired that way to be mentally stimulated and on edge, and there's a certain aloofness I can't help that I've tried to conquer but have rightly realized that it will always be a part of me in some way, so I've come to accept it and see what good comes. I know I have emotions… at least I feel I do… they can be rather lateral and startling to casual bystanders who don't know me that well (yet), but I am more than happy to explain what is going on, in the hopes of sharing and learning more about them.

It's?almost like a packaged solar system.

Saturday morning cartoons and sweet cereal are as essential a part of one's childhood as iron in blood. That may be a false analogy, but nevertheless, it's true!?I just came back from Taco, which is a (bland understatement follows) new sim on the far west side of the SL islandchain. I'm at a loss how to best describe this, so I'll begin with a blurb about Dwellget, the place's department store.

Yes, there are lots of malls in SL, but, simple question: WHERE ARE ALL THE DEPARTMENT STORES? Easy answer here: THERE AREN'T ANY! Or, correct me if I'm wrong, there weren't any until Dwellget came along. You see, Dwellget isn't just a wonderfully cartoony place to shop for fun creations by some of my favorite creative minds in SL — it's also a DEPARTMENT STORE. That by itself conveys a lot, 'cuz dang, I'll say it again: in SL, we have flying cars, we have giant flying sexual appendages,?but DEPARTMENT STORES are like dodo-trilobite hybrids.

Arito Cotton, Broken Prototype, and Lucah Solvang are the chief architects of Taco, assisted by friends from Luskwood and beyond. You may remember Toonville in Olive — this is that animated opulence extricated to the uberth degree. But anyway, back to Dwellget, the department store: while graciously giving me the grand tour, Ari demo'ed the shopping carts and the local Taco Hell franchise, not to mention a way to… well, buy better with those shopping carts and actually have boxes stack without abandon before *ding* checkout time! There is an enigmatic sign that says:

I BET YOU WILL NEED A 50-PACK OF BATTERIES

Truth in advertising. No doubt like others before me, I was compelled to obey. So outside of Dwellget, what we have here would be better described in incandescent chortles of sparkly laughter, as opposed to any polysyllable prattling of verbal impregnation. Some quick notes: lovely to see Lucah and Thili finally collaborate on a build, the tree house in the distance; try the diving board and the water; the dice was acting kinda freaky and magnetic when I got on it; and the jumbo stuffed tortilla, like the oracle of all things true as per the group charter of "We fight for truth, justice and seven sweet layers of beef and cheddar.", will be the TACOHUB.

You can see more of Taco here here here oh and here and whatabout here and… here! Don't let it end there. That would not only be sad, but tragically mundane. Lick the future of Second Life within 'cuz it tastes so good.

While I was out islandhopping, I found my way to a certain square in the middle of the untravelable voids called Timherry Island (143, 125) . I had no better idea what to expect, but when I walked in, the sun shifted to the regional timezone — a basking crescent different from that of the noir mainland — and it naturally set the mood for my exploration through this… furniture store. Now, those two words sound boring on their own, but?I found this locale to be quite?delightful.?Apparently Sherry Case, who I've never met before but certainly hope to, crafted most of these comfy gems by herself. The texturing and quality of craftsavatarship?is pretty good! As I walked around, the diversity became greater: in addition to furni, I found clothes, plants (unfortunately intersected flat texture cutouts), poofing poofers,?a LOT of rugs, and?OH! a beautiful area like one you'd find in a hospital gift shop selling lovely trinkets. I got a cute Hello Kitty plush and a "Love Grows Here" sign and put them together at the library in an appropriate place. <3>

I'll say it again, the warm glow of sunrises and sunsets are among my fave things about SL. Later in the wee hours, that pffting purveyor of sultry style, Torrid Midnight (it feels so weird to address a friend formally…), invited me over to her and Water Rogers's new house. She explained to me that she'd never had?a homey homehome like this before, and that she selected the decor for a reason:

"I've never really liked 'bright' as far as in my room or my house, I like muted and warm colors… maybe some light mixed with dark… and low lighting." -Torrid Midnight

When I beamed in, Tor was poised behind her desk, which you must really look closely at. The house has a fantasy feel to it but apart from having to fly up to the bedroom, could likely be constructed out of non-prims. Subtle shadows behind the paintings on the walls (including one that looks suspiciously like George Washington, observed the Launa!) add extra depth and dynamics. Drawn in yet? You can visit… Water and Torrid's home :), Chartreuse (223, 198)

And with the sound of a "Hey Torster! ;-)" I was beamed back to the Baysklef estate in Gray, where Xylor was absorbed within dimensions of his own geometrical brilliance and Delairen, the articulate purveyor of style, greeted me with what I was going to come to know as the new version of XyObject. For the unprimed, XyObject is a livingly legendary sort of tool within Second Life which uses the advanced mathematics only an adept scripterati of the highest order (or Rza from Wu-Tang Clan) could wield. YOU CAN MAKE REALLY BIG, COOL STUFF and scale it to ginormous proportions. The saying "a peanut two sims wide!" has been flogged about before, and many more constructs are possible — twisted alien towers, enormous candybar wrappers, and teapots so large they could dwarf a fleet of flying saucers. The constructs generated by XyObject are like metashapes built out of many prims, a sort of molecular macrotech as you can see for yourself here. In short, it is an expansion of SL's own build tools.

Which is funny, because the previous version of XyObject was a bulky control panel with an interface resembling the SL UI, icons and sliders and all. A shame that as I touched on in my previous post, responsiveness of such things is usually sadly sluggy at the present. So, instead of actually making stuff, you might typically spend more time adjusting the settings to your liking before hitting Build. But ah, no more! Whereas previously XyObject was a TOOL that makes SHAPES, now the TOOL is the SHAPE! Confused? So was I, until I watched Del arrange several oblong forms before expanding them into the skies above. No panel, just scripted prims: a Zennish rethinking of an already shifty paradigm. Slivers of elemental decadence, shiny in their cobalt and gold tones, flew out into shards and assembled before my very eyes. If I could see a nano-assembler at work, blown up billions of times, THIS would be it. XyObject is best watched in action, when the process of creation is alive. (I had previously been rebirthed from a Xylorian womb.)

Curious, several moments later, Xy encouraged me to play with a copy, so I created something akin to a winky smiley face with the smile section as large as a skate park ramp draped across the Grand Canyon. I set my settings, said a little binary prayer, and then pressed Build. HOLY BUCKMINSTER FULLER!

This newest fundamental reworking of XyObject — I don't know current revision number, maybe call it XyObjectZ as a play on the fact it's pluralized incorrectly often, not to mention X… Y… Z… LOL — is still a work in progress. But what a work it is.

Coming soon to the sandboxes and skyboxes of Second Life!

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Gracious thanks to Xylor & Delairen Baysklef for the demo and fun. =)??