I often get asked how I get location (SLURL) and tags auto-added to my Second Life postcards. The secret is simple, and I’ve got a video tutorial! I use Mark Barrett’s SLBuzz, compleat with Flickr crossposter, to work the magic. This is a Resident-run service so I disclaim it’s not part of Linden Lab; I’ll also share I’ve sent 1000s of postcards and it’s been a gargantuan timesaver.

A number of other Second Life sites I thank also have Flickr crossposting features. See instructions on:

• Snapzilla
• blogHUD (must be logged in)

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I like when what was a long-winded, aching process becomes much more spontaneous. Especially content production: being able to make something and upload it smoothly is a tremendous pleasure. I decided to have some fun with Apple’s Photo Booth extended via more effects (hey, I see a familiar name there… qarl!) + FlickrBooth: version 2.1 records video, but doesn’t upload videos to Flickr (but it does work with YouTube). So what I did instead was record the vids to HD and then upload them later.

Despite Flickr video upload issues, these all eventually got through safely, and with the magic of Flickr Set Manager, I was able to easily create a set of my videos and have it auto-generated daily. Sound intriguing? Go give it a spin…

AND LET THE FUN BEGIN!

Metal Gear Solid Acappella… this one not so sad

Oh c’mon, I totally had to do a Mega Man “okkusenman”

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I’ve been enjoying the wonderful new features in the recent Windows Live Writer Technical Preview — it’s my fave blogging tool, and despite the name, these additions are mostly very easy-to-use.

Over at Lifehacker, Jared Goralnick shared a wonderfully visual guide which highlights the excitement. One feature in particular, automatic linking, caught my eye: it provides an easy way to simply type a frequently-used phrase and have it be automagically linked. I’ve created a quick video tip showing you how it works in action, and if you’ve never used WLW before, I highly recommend the experience! (Alas, no Mac or Linux version.)

I hope so, because calling a woman a “dog” gets a bad rap. Many dogs are beautiful creatures and endowed with positive traits: loyalty, tenacity, and more obedient than cats being some of them. It’s true there are ugly dogs, but the same is true of cats. Maybe cats are generally viewed as more feminine. But then again, I see catboys but characters resembling dogboys are often more fursute (not sic) than, say, a human with ears + tail.

There’s a sheer imbalance in the world’s catgirl/doggirl ratio: the former is a very popular subculture, including all manners of merchandise in Second Life, while the latter suffers from a neglected market. The latter lacks a Wikipedia page that the former proudly possesses!

Over a month ago, I twittondered:

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When Flea Bussy of Grendel’s Children fame sent me this luscious Meandering Melon avatar…

I was instantly compelled to meander. The only problem was — and this isn’t so much a problem as a solution — that I was listening to Hideo Kojima speak about his masterworks, the Metal Gear Solid series. A quick video followed, dosed in some green-brown tinting similar to cinematics in those games (particularly the forest scenes in MGS3), and ‘twas then I made another observation:

Why do so many acapellas sound happy? From barbershop quartets to beatboxing (of a sort), I’ve nary heard a SAD-capella.

And thus, this joined the fray: me singing a mournful version of a triumphant tune and being a resolute failure at expressing this emotion. But Solid Snake — or Meandering Melon, in this case — didn’t give up, and neither can you.

A couple days ago, I reported having a problem with my V-Tech IP8100 broadband phone which wasn’t manufactured by Vonage, but nonetheless supported by them. And support they did!

Earlier this Thursday afternoon, I received a DHL package (and thanks to them too for delivering through!) containing a replacement AC adaptor. I plugged it in, and the phone is working again.

The Vonage reps told me the adaptor would arrive at latest by Friday, but it’s here on time, and I’m following up as I promised. I took their customer satisfaction survey too, and pointed them to this blog — the least I could do for such a pleasant experience after a frustrating part of the afternoon.

All too often, people speak up when they initially have a problem, but don’t talk about the followup. I’ve made sure the rest of this story gets told.
 

P.S. On an unobvious connection, my attention’s been called to various video tutorials  — like this and that — teaching how to boost the mic volume on Realtek sound cards. It’s the same thing covered by one of the most popular posts on my blog. There’s something to be said about helping people so they can help others, and it makes me feel awesome, every time.

I disclaim being guilty of saying some of the following on occasion; if you catch me, call me out on it so I can improve! Here’s a shortlist of what and why it isn’t helping:

“IMHO (In My Humble Opinion)” - Just get to the point. You’re a human, we know you have an opinion. Whether or not it’s humble has little to do with its worth — some of the boldest, brashest opinions are the most effective because they… get to the point. (And often, it’s not a singular point, but a process, which I’ll explain more about in the future.)

“It may not be for everyone/it’s not everyone’s taste” - Of course it isn’t! About nothing worthwhile, basic human needs aside, is for everyone. If some people can hate Jello, the Beatles, and cute kittens (and they do) then don’t apologize for putting forth your tastes.

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Just about everytime when someone feels oppressed by authority, should they reach for a reference, they’ll lazily pluck a George Orwell reference out of the air — most likely Nineteen Eighty-Four, but maybe Animal Farm. Bringing up “newspeak” and “doublethink” often ends up drowning in horribly unintentionally meta-parody. If said someone is asked to name other books Orwell wrote or if they actually read those two, the answer is almost always an unsure “No” or “Parts of it a long time ago”. Compare that with The Matrix, which still gets namedropped lots but whose quotees have actually experienced. (And on the cinematic side, the Orwellish Brazil has come out atop of the Nineteen Eighty-Four adaptation.)

Abstract mangling of Orwell’s original words have become like this massive gaussian blur — sure, the original meaning gets expanded (like how Alanis Morissette stretched out “Ironic”’s definition like carefree taffy), but it becomes boring. Dare I say this makes the original literature any less meaningful? No, but there are few surprises here, and when minds get numb, they don’t care.

So let’s care.

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This crowdsourcing thing’s really working out, ma! Imagine if frat boys were god. I mean, c’mon…

SOURCE: go to Spore’s Channel, then sort User Uploads by “Most Viewed”. Or go here and here for the videos in question. And here for moar hilarity. News can’t help but break and make!

It’s only a matter of time before fanart/slashfic comes pouring in.

What’s your theory, evolutionary defense mechanism? A means to attract mates? Or the roots of language?

Now let’s see some creative equivalents for the ladies! IT BEGINS.