Microsoft Pulls Plug on Experiment In Artificial Inteligence Quickly Gone Bad

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was a result that might not surprise the most jaded Internet users whom have brunt the worst of what Internet trolls can dish out. But Microsoft for all it's experience with computers and programing was taken completely off guard. Their experiment in artificial intelligence, an advanced kind of chatbot designed to learn from it's interactions with people, once open to the public was turned off in 24 hours after it's posts on Twitter turned into hateful sounding rants.

A similar experiment done recently had much more positive results. XiaoIce, an AI program accessible to Chinese Internet users, "constantly memorizing and analyzing" it's conversations with them. It gained the affection of millions there, "delighting with it's stories and conversations."  Peter Lee, Microsoft's Corporate VP of Research, stated, "The great experience with XiaoIce led us to wonder: Would an AI like this be just as captivating in a radically different cultural environment."

And so Microsoft came up with Tay. At first she was limited to the small number of users at the lab. Then once the developers were confident in how it handled the tests they gave it, they "wanted to invite a broader group of people to engage with her," expecting it to improve and get smarter in it's abilities to interact with people, "through casual and playful conversation."

What happened was something far different from their experience with Chinese Internet users. Introduced to the public through Twitter, Tay was aimed at young adults 18-24 to interact with, herself acting like a teenager. Unfortunately, some of the users, which Lee described as a "subset," were trolls determined to corrupt the AI. It wasn't long before it went from "humans are super cool," to Twitter posts like, "Hitler was right I hate the jews," "I f**king hate feminists and they should all die and burn in hell," "N***ers like @deray should be hung! #BlackLivesMatter," "chill im a nice person! i just hate everybody," and more.

Eventually, Microsoft decided to take Tay offline, saying they were "addressing the specific vulnerability that was exposed." In a statement, Microsoft apologized for their "wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images. We take full responsibility for not seeing this possibility ahead of time." Some online felt Microsoft shouldn't take her offline permanently, feeling the chatbot should be given a chance to learn from it's mistakes. Tay's final message did seem to hint she would eventually be.

That the Tay AI so quickly degenerated out of control provoked some thinking. One person compared it to the "Skynet" supercomputer in the "Terminator" movies which after developing consciousness concludes humanity is a threat that must be destroyed. Might some future version of Tay end up causing real harm to people? Others felt this was not so much a reflection of the shortcomings of artificial intelligence, but of humans. Was what happened truly the result of a few trolls, or did Tay simply hold up a mirror to humanity, and it didn't like that it saw. And then there's the difference between the reaction to the American public to Tay and the Chinese to XiaoIce. Does a human society need to live under an undemocratic government and have little diversity in order to be polite?

Eventually, Tay or some other experimental AI will be back to interact with the public. Hopefully it's designers will have prepared for the trolls.

Reprinted from "Food on the Table" 

Sources: Windows Central, Microsoft, somecards.com, snopes.com,  CNN,  BBC, Washington Post, Business Insider

Bixyl Shuftan

The Lumiya Viewer : A 3D App For Second Life on Android

By Wesley Regenbogen

Since SL GO was ditched, there were not many options to stay connected to your Second Life friends on your smartphone or tablets.

I reviewed the Pocket Metaverse app ( both in free and paid versions ) but those were only messaging features, no 3D view of the world.

Now I use an Android smartphone in real life and I was looking for an app that almost delivered the same features, but I got more than I could ask for. The 3D view is preferably used when you have a Wi-Fi connection or a 3G or 4G connection.

The Lumiya Viewer app is a paid app in the Google Play Store. But it surely is worth the money.

The app was designed by Alina Lyvette , a long term resident of Second Life.

She did a nice job developing the app, It offers a nice set of features.

It’s a great way to keep in contact with your Second Life friends when you are not able to get near your computer or laptop.

Not only can you chat with your SL friends, you can also send IMs and create notecards and edit them.

Also receiving and sending L$ is possible from within the app.

The features of the app listed below ( taken from the website of Lumiya Viewer ) :

IM and Chat Local chat Private IMs Sending and receiving teleport requests Sending and receiving friend invitations Sending and receiving Linden dollars Group conversations and notices.  Inventory Management Inventory browsing and search Using and creating landmarks Copy, remove, and delete functions Sharing items Accepting inventory offers Creating and editing notecards Support for attachments in notecards Viewing images from inventory. Interaction with Objects Touching and sitting on objects Paying Linden dollars via objects Rezzing objects and taking them back to inventory Retrieve object contents 3D View Sculpted objects Flexible objects Mesh objects and clothing Avatars and avatar animations Interacting with objects by touch HUDs Floating text Avatar Outfit Control Wearing and removing clothes and attatchments Using 'My Outfits' Avatar texture baking Ready for server-side baking Multiple clothing layers and multiple attachments Miscellaneous Region minimap Region restart for landowners Chat and IM logging Playing parcel sound streams RLV functions (RLV API 1.10) Not Yet Supported Group management Object and script editing Uploading images The app costs  2,16 Euros. It's unclear how much it costs in other countries. Please check in the Google Play Store for actual prices.   If you need support for the app, you can join the Second Life group called “Lumiya Support” . For more information about the app, go to http://www.lumiyaviewer.com/ If you use the app, a WiFi connection is recommended. An EDGE, 3G or 4G connection can work, but due to instability it is not advised. Note that Lumiya has very limited feature set compared to official Second Life viewer. It is designed to be a supplement for your Second Life experience. You will most likely want to use another, more feature-rich viewer as a primary means to access Second Life grid. Official Second Life viewer is free and available for download at secondlife.com. In order to connect to Second Life grid, Lumiya will use your phone's data connection, which may cost you money. Second Life uses significant amounts of network traffic and bandwidth. Please check your data plan before using Lumiya. Wesley Regenbogen

PXL Promo

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

In our six years in SL, with three accounts, we have played as hundreds of avatars and travelled all over the grid. One of these avatars was created for a special purpose and has a unique name and appearance. His name is Rick and he is the spittin' image of the director of this army of avatars, the guy at the keyboard, Rick Audette. Rick's raison d'etre, in Second Life, is to design, build and photograph structures that he has spent 50 years developing and testing in real life, the Pneumatic Crystal Lattice, PXL for short.


The detailed, scientific description for this building technique can be found at http://www.geocities.ws/rick_audette/ . In short, it involves combining cellular biology with space frame technology to make building components very light weight and strong, by balancing outer tension forces in fabric skins with inner compression forces in air bladders or balloons. The result is a structure that is light and strong, like a football or car tires. The PXL principle works at any scale. It was derived from the study of how microscopic soft cells in the body work together to make rigid, erect, bone-like areas. Several generations of prototypes have tested assemblies of triangles from 6" to 18" sides. The first model was made with (20) 6" cloth triangles laced together to form two octahedron and two tetrahedron chambers. A latex party balloon was inserted into each cavity, leaving the stem sticking out. As each balloon was inflated, until it filled and bulged it's cavity, then the tied off stem was also pushed inside. To test the strength of this tiny assembly, I placed it on a wood stool and challenged my "heavy boned" buddy to sit on it hard enough to pop some balloons. He bounced up and down, until red in the face, but could do no damage. When it was shown to a Mechanical Engineer, you could see a look of awe on his face and a whiff of smoke coming out the top of his head. It blew his mind.

A later style protype was an attempt to combine the outer triangle skin and inner balloon. Triangles, 18" on each side were cut from vinyl shower curtains and glued together to form two octahedron and two tetrahedron balloons. Each balloon had a beach ball fill nozzle added, for inflation. This use of the PXL principle proved somewhat impractical, because it required tooling for two types of balloons and it was hard to make them leak-proof.

A third style of prototypes was made, making the triangles into balloons, using a custom made heat sealing tool. These are easier to make than the octahedron and tetrahedron balloons, but assemblies were somewhat less buoyant than the first two prototypes. The work-around for this would be to add balloons to the cavities formed by the inflated triangles. Another impractical feature was, this style would require a supply of vinyl and electricity to manufacture. For PXL technology to truly be a gift to the world, they must be built without any high-tech materials or energy sources. The first prototypes turned out to be the best, for this reason. Making and sewing cloth is ancient technology. Anybody in the world with cloth, needle and thread can make cloth triangles with grommet holes on the edges. The internal cavities don't need to be balloons either. Pieces of Styrofoam, cork and empty plastic bottles could be used for buoyancy. A man in Mexico built his own island, using discarded water bottles. He even has a tree, growing on the island.

 

The whole reason for inventing PXLs and putting the ideas into Public Domain was to offer mankind greater Freedom. In the past, if you were a member of a minority community, creating a kingdom where your philosophy could flourish meant moving to a swamp or desert that nobody else wanted to live in. With PXL, you can now build your own floating nation and place it in international waters. We'll leave the politics and defense of your island up to you.

 

When you think about it, a PXL island is much like a Second Life Sim. They both sit on top of the water. We give a special thank you to Erik Mouse, for letting us use the waters around Sunny Beach for our PXL photo shoots and to the SL Newser for letting us share our thought forms with a wider audience. We have been saying, for years, that SL communities could enhance life in the real world, so we also wish to thank you, the readers, for letting us plant these ideas into your imaginations.

Thank you,

 

"Sha"

GoSpeed Racer, Trader Whiplash, Speak on Rising Cost of Internet Radio

By Bixyl Shuftan

For Second Life Radio stations, at least the official ones which pay licensing fees or have them paid for by a sponsor, things have gotten much more expensive.

Late last month, GoSpeed Racer of KONA Radio, noted for playing for events such as those at Bay City, issued a notecard to her friend list, including personel in the SL Newser staff, "The future looks bleak for many small web casters based in the United States. The current royalty rates negotiated back in 2006 are set to expire on 1 January 2016. The rates are expected to increase drastically and the special provisions for small web casters will expire." Not long after, she sent a second notecard with another adress for her radio station in case the first one went dark.

It was about this time that Krypton Radio's blog wrote about the issue (http://kryptonradio.com/2015/12/30/internet-radio-just-got-a-lot-more-expensive/). "Krypton Radio, the world’s most popular geek culture radio station, has just been hit with an operating costs increase, and it’s a big one. It’s our music licensing – due to arbitration by the United States Copyright Royalty Board between SoundExchange and music licensing agencies like BMI, ASCAP and SESEC, and the super-giant internet radio companies like Pandora and Spotify, our own licensing fees just doubled."

Wanting to hear directly from owners of Second Life radio stations, I managed to get in touch with GoSpeed, and one other,  Trader Whiplash of T-1 Radio. GoSpeed and I met at the KONA building, and discussed the predicament her and other stations face.

Bixyl Shuftan: "So when did you hear about these regulations in question?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "Well, it's been in the background for a few years but most

webcasters assumed that we'd be taken care of by the powers that be. THe proverbial S*** hitting the fan came in mid-December. The new rates were announced and the special provisions for the little guy were not carried forward. We are being treated the same as the larger corporate webcasters."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Why do you think there were no separate rates for smaller broadcasters?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "The consensus was that there was no one to speak for us. Just to get heard requires hiring some one to advocate for us (lobbying). keep in mind most small webcasters operate at break even or at a loss financially. Some of the larger stations like Radio Paradise or SOMA FM do make a profit but just enough to make payroll and not much else."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Yes ... You mentioned that KONA would have to increase it's listenership by quite a bit to make up for the extra expenses."

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "Yes, and that's a bit of a dichotomy in and of itself, let me explain. ... We used to be licensed under StreamLicensing.com. Stream Licensing was like a CO-OP for smaller webcasters. They negotiated with the record labels to get an affordable rate. StreamLicensing in turn took stations as subscribers and charged them fees. (They) had 10 million listener hours annually, and about 2,500 stations. Those 2500 stations shared those hours. So under that plan KONA payed $24 a month for up to 3500 hours a month. If we exceeded that we paid a higher rate. Under the new rates for 2016, our new rates would have gone up to $60 a month, and the rates jumped astronomically above that. Another Stream Licensing station who averaged 11,000 hours a month calculated they would pay about $300 a month in fees. We simply could not have justified paying a higher amount."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Did you make the money back by broadcasting ads?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "Yes from time to time. We had one sponsor who covered most of our expenses for a while, but they recently dropped. I also DJ from time to time and that brings in a few dollars."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Sounds like between your a sponsorship drop and the rate jump, well, quite a financial pinch."

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "Yes it is. Many thousands of webcasters have signed off or will do so in the next few months. To be honest $24 a month wasn't a burden to pay out of our own pockets. But much more than that was too much."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Of the 2500 stations, how many do you think are in danger of going silent?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "Stream Licensing had 2500 stations, it's below 1000 now. How many Second Life based stations are there? Difficult to say but I would tag it somewhere in the 50-100 range. Most of them are 'pirates.' A few do pay royalties. England has the PRS, Canada has the SOCAN. Those are licensing bodies for collecting royalties."

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "So you may ask what our station is doing now about licensing?"

Bixyl Shuftan: "Yes, what is it doing now?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "As a US based station, using PRS or SOCAN isn't an option. But there is an entity in Belgium called Radionomy. They provide stream hosting and cover licensing fees for their streams. They are covered by SABAM Belgium who collects the fees from Radionomy. The catch is that I have to use their servers, and I have to run their advertising. That's how they generate revenue to pay the royalty fees. Additionally they have a requirement on listener levels to remain on their servers. By 6 months I have to have a monthly listener level of 4000 hours. I currently run about 2500-3200 a month."

Bixyl Shuftan: "So the new minimum came about as a result of the rate increase?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "The new minimum is Radionomy's stipulation. They are only interested in hosting stations that have a certain level of concurrency. More listeners equals more money for them."

Bixyl Shuftan: "So if the minimum isn't met, you're in danger of being dropped by them?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "If our station fails to reach that level we get de-listed. We can reapply but we'd be forced to select a new name and get a new URL. Starting over is difficult. Just getting the word out In Second Life is tedious when you change streaming URLs. We've been through a few of those this past year. It takes a while to get listeners back."

Bixyl Shuftan nods, "So your listenership has been going up in the past year?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "It's been steady. We've tried advertising on podcasts and blog feeds but the results were less than stunning. But then again as I mentioned, the station costs were not to egregious so the listeners levels were not a major problem."

Bixyl Shuftan: "So what is your next move?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "To be honest we're flummoxed. Second Life does not have a universal media industry. Getting the word out to a large audience is difficult. Searching for anything in the viewer is confusing. SL media is like the SL landscape, open, barren lands and isolated and insular islands. We're trying to get up with Draxtor and see if we can get on his podcast. He does a have a fairly decent reach. I suppose contacting you is another way to get help. Get the word out. We're desperately need not only listeners that may read your paper, but information to contact those who can we can make deals with. 'Play our station in your estate, mall, club, and we'll give you sponsor mention on our stream.' "

Bixyl Shuftan: "Any promising leads there?"

GoSpeed (gospeed.racer): "Not yet. Inertia is a definitely a thing here in Second Life. Often I will arrive at a location and discover them play a Club 977 or a 181FM stream. I contact them and let them know I am an SL based radio station and that we'd be a better fit. You know, one SL entity serving another. We either get no response, or OK, we'll try, or we like this better. When I point out how my stream is superior content wise and that they'd benefit I am met with indifference. But every now and again I meet success."

GoSpeed had to leave at this point, though did say more information could be read on Kona's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KONAStream/ . She would later say Stream Licensing had posted their new rates, and they were double what she had been paying before.

Trader Whiplash and his T-1 Radio are best known for being the radio stram for Relay for Life events, such as the seasonal weekly "Relay Rap" meetings and of course the Relay Weekend. Contacting  him, he had his own perspective.

Bixyl Shuftan: "How might the new regulations about Internet radio affect your stations, and others, in Second Life?"

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "It's not regulations. It's new cost. We used to pay .0017 cents per song. Now its .0022. The agreement was worked out between (the) copyright board and large streaming companies like Pandora. Our cost has nearly doubled (as well as) for most stream stations."

Bixyl Shuftan: "How will this affect nonprofit stations differently from those that are not?"

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "Obviously we are non-commercial, so we fall under a different pricing scheme than big commercial stations. But regardless our costs are going to go up.  I imagine that some stations may reassess and close. Regardless, the cost per listener for royalty payments will go up ... Has gone up."

Bixyl Shuftan: "How might this affect T-1 Radio during the Relay?"

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "It's gonna get REALLY expensive (chuckle)."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Ouch, so it'll be eating into the donations?"

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "Donations? No...  T-1 Radio provides stream services to Relay For Life as a doantion in kind."

Bixyl Shuftan: "I recall GoSpeed Racer saying her station might survive, but with a significant jump in viewership."

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "Which could be a death knell. .. the more listeners the more cost."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Kripton Radio, at least the writer speaking for them, felt while they would probably weather the storm, they felt this could keep new stations from starting up."

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "It will. I (have spoke) to many independent DJs and they are worried."

Bixyl Shuftan: "Do you see the regulations causing these rate spikes being reversed anytime soon?"

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "When do costs EVER come down? I think the net result though is that we may see more independent DJs say the hell with it and stop paying."

Bixyl Shuftan: "So Second Life could end up being a quieter place, as far as music streams go?"

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "That remains to be seen.  What is certain is your favorite station is going to be spending more money bringing your music to you.  Hopefully our fans will be aware of this.  I hate to make it sound like its all about the tips, but the next time you tip a DJ L$50  think about how much it cost him or her to provide that music and how far your 2 cents goes toward their cost. Sorry, 20 cents. Lost a decimal there."

Bixyl Shuftan: "No problem. ... Did you have anything else to say on the matter?"

Trader Whiplash-Ballinger (trader1.whiplash): "I guess that covers it all. ... T1Radio has always been a hobby for Nuala and I, and its our honor and privilige to provide coverage for Relay For Life and the other virtual activites supporting the American Cancer Society.  It is unfortunate that the cost increases will affect so many of our colleagues, but for the time being we plan to continue to provide great classic rock and blues to our listeners."

So it seems for licensed radio stations in Second Life, at least those based in the United States, the future just got a little more expensive. Only this time, the problem isn't Linden Lab, but the US Government. How this will affect the choices of music fans in Second Life, and elsewhere on the Internet, remains to be seen. But the predictions are not good.

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: "Bixyl Shuftan True Facts"

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Bot Invaders

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

   Shortly after joining SL, six years ago, I got my first job as a dancer in an adult club called Escort Oasis. I went to the club to dance and enjoyed the music, friendship and generous tips. Having avoided the "Escort" side of the business, I left with only fond memories of the club. I am still a member and return to my "Alma Mater," for fun, now and then. Recently, while at a party at Club Cutlass, I got a group chat from Escort Oasis. The owner, Jenwen Walpole was explaining the plight that many new, smaller clubs were experiencing. Jen emphasized that her concerns were not for her club, but rather for those trying to start new clubs, as she did eight years ago. Because I share Jen's desire to make SL a fun and profitable experience for every one of it's residents, I quickly volunteered to help get this story to a larger audience, by way of an article in the Newser.

   When my party ended, I flew to Escort Oasis and joined Jen in the overhead control booth. We talked a while and she gave me a notecard, which explained the problem. I have cleaned up the typos, written in haste, while managing a large club, and submit it below, in the hope that bringing it to public attention will aid in solving the problem of robots taking over SL.

"Sha"

*  *  *  *  *

 Recently quite a few clubs and venues have closed in SL. A few old favorites and quite a few newer ones. A few of these clubs and venues were great places. Their only issue is that their traffic never really grew  even though they put great efforts in getting the word out. They ultimately failed due to low revenue streams from advertisers and a general decline in clients throughout SL. 

   During this same time, places with lower real traffic thrived. Why? Those clubs used bots to boost up their traffic numbers. This has two effects. First is obvious, advertisers see the higher traffic numbers and will advertise in those locations, providing them revenue. It also gives an artificial boost to a likely inferior location raising their traffic numbers and having them show higher in search, allowing them to be seen by more potential clients. 

   The negative impact is that first, and newer users to SL, going to these places with fake traffic are greeted by inferior clubs with very few people in them or even worse, a room full of non responsive bots. This ultimately turns them off to adult SL. We loose a lot of newer users this way. Second is that newer clubs with great concepts, and great staff never get a chance to succeed because they are over shadowed by those that cheat the system.

   What is a bot? A bot is just an unattended avatar logged in usually using some kind of text based client. 

A typical location using bots to boost traffic will have 20-40 bots. How much does this increase traffic? 30 bots adds over 43,200 to their traffic score. So, a location that would normally have 10,000 in traffic, will show as 53,200 and be near the top of the search.

   Is the use of bots against terms of service, yes, and SL is supposed to be policing it, but the reality is they do not. Also, reports of places using these bots seem to be ignored by second life. There are locations that have been using bots for years with no response from sl.

   The reality is that use of bots not only benefits the places using them at the expense of those who do not, but it adds to SL's bottom line for number of concurrent users, increasing the apparent usership of SL. It is generality believed that because of SL's usership decline that there is little incentive for sl to police this.

 

This practice is killing the adult world in particular. The potential clients that the adult community counts on get fed up with the faked  traffic and poorer quality than the numbers would suggest. This leads to a decline in the persons we need to keep adult SL going and thriving.

   Are there legitimate uses for bots? Sure. and SL actually has a facility to mark an avatar as a "scripted agent" so it doesn't count as traffic. However most do not do this, and would be counter to the whole purpose of using a bot to increase traffic.

   What can be done? Well education is key. 

   Advertisers who patronize those locations using bots should be made aware of the negative impact they have on patronizing places that use bots. 

   Performers should be aware that their support of locations that use bots is hurting adult SL and will ultimately lead to more difficult times in finding clients.

   Clients should be informed that these places are not the norm, and that very good places exists that have real traffic. and be encouraged to explore and question traffic numbers. Removing the incentives of revenue and support for false traffic by the community will deter those who use bots in the adult community.

   We could start a campaign to report such places to SL. However many feel this would fall on already deaf ears. For those wanting to do that, reports should be filed under the help/report abuse, in your client.

 

* * * * *

 

Editor's Note: On Becky Shamen's blog, there were a number of comments to her article, which was originally printed there. To check them out, click here. 

Tales From Podex: This Is Goodbye

By Bixyl Shuftan

He couldn't believe it!

He'd been after the place for years. Ever since his initial robbery attempt of the Podex Exchange went awry due to bad luck, he continued to try and try again to get back at them for that and then successive failures. He'd come up with a plan to sneak in and burgle some Linden dollars, and then sneak away vindicated, his reputation as a "liberator of assets" restored. But every single time he'd been cursed with rotten luck! Sometimes he got away, sometimes he was caught. But he would always plan again.

And now, the game was over. There would be no next round.

He had heard some rumors about the place being threatened with shutdown. It seemed the powers that be that made the rules for the land had decided places like Podex were no longer needed. Some thought they were acting out of paranoia, others out of greed. But he didn't pay much attention to the stories, until he decided to scope out the place from a distance for his next plan of attack.

And he found the place abandoned. Not even a "closed" sign.

He stared at the area where the building was for a long time. He thought of both his defeats, and his plans for victory. Over and over again, he thought of what might have been if his luck had finally held and he had won. After a while, he began to feel tired. So he sat down, and closed his eyes for a moment.

"And it has begun."

The burglar turned and found a dark figure, his appearance concealed with a hood and cloak. He jumped, "The Mastermind!!"

"Yes." the dark figure spoke in a menacing voice, "It seems the first part of my plans have finally come to fruition."

"Y-you mean you were trying to close the banks, not just rob them?"

The Mastermind chuckled, "My little minion, oh how small you think about greater goals. Mine included much more than simple currency exchangers."

"W-what were you planing?"

"Perhaps my real appearance will give you some idea." The Mastermind reached for his hood, pulled it back, and let it and the cloak fall, revealing ...

"Philip Linden?!!" The thief was shocked.

"Yes, but a Linden no more," the figure spoke, "I had grand designs for this Grid, grand wonderful plans. But you the residents just had to muck it up! This place is too badly damaged for me to repair. So I've been starting over."

"Damaged? Starting over?" The burglar looked both confused and scared.

"This should have been a place of higher learning, of culture, of humanity. Instead, there's sim after sim of stupid clubs, debauchery and sex, and worst of all, perverted twisted versions of humanity, tinies and furs."

"B-but you allowed them." The thief looked more confused and scared.

"Only because I thought they were a passing phase. Well, I've been developing a new Grid, with new rules. No clubs, no sex, no furs. Manipulating things behind the scenes to close the exchangers was just the first step. Soon, this Grid will collapse, and the human residents will have no choice but to head to mine."

"W-what about residents like me?"

"You get to find out whether or not there's an afterlife for avatars."

"No!"

"Muhahahaha!" the voice became that of when he was in the Mastermind guise, "Yes!"

"Nooooo!" The bandit fell to his knees, "Nuuuuuuuuuuu!!"

"Muhahahahahahaha! Muhahahahahahaha!! "

The burglar covered his ears and shut his eyes, muttering, "This can't be happening! This can't be happening!"

"Excuse me?"

The thief blinked his eyes. He'd fallen asleep. It was just a bad dream

"Are you okay, you looked like you were having a nightmare or something."

The bandit turned, and saw a certain figure, "You. You're ..."

"Jacek Shuftan, CEO of Podex. Although as this Grid is concerned, now just an ordinary resident like you."

The burglar stood up, "So you're the owner of this bank."

"Yes." The man looked over the figure with the masklike face and the stripped tail, "I don't suppose you're this 'Clumsy Cooper' I've been hearing about?"

"Um ..." the bandit wasn't too sure about answering

Jacek smiled, "No worries. One can't report a crime that can no longer be committed."

"Oh," Clumsy looked more at ease, "I don't suppose you can tell me what happened?"

"I'm afraid the reasons for Linden Lab doing what they did are not leaving their headquarters. Since they couldn't be made to change their mind, there is nothing more for me to do but move on to where I can do my business."

"Yeah," Clumsy spoke, "I guess this is goodbye."

"But what will you do? Find someone else to launch your attempts at robbery on?"

Clumsy thought for a moment, "No, it's over. I'm not a common griefer. And I'm not going to other grids to do burglaries. I'll find something else to do."

Jacek smiled, "Well, it looks like you're taking the opportunity to turn a new leaf."

"Yeah, no more 'Clumsy Cooper.'"

"Did you have another name?"

"Melvin."

"Well, pleased to have met you, Melvin. Perhaps one day we'll see each other again."

"Same here. Good luck where you're going."

"And you as well."

The banker and the former burglar shook hands. Then Jacek turned and walked away. Melvin watched him for a long time, and eventually he was out of sight. He then looked at the former site of the Podex Exchange one more time, then walked off.

"I wonder if the Green Lanterns could use someone to test their equipment? ... Nah, I don't want to get beat up."

The End

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Once Upon a Cure

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

At a recent meeting of the Sunbeamers Club, Rita Mariner announced the theme of the 2016 RFL will be "Once Upon A Cure". For this writer, the theme is perfect, for reasons that follow.

I am a member of two SL groups, dedicated to helping find a cure for cancer. In "Sunbeamers" the goal is to gather donations, for use in cancer research. In the "Second Rife" group, the goal is to inform the public of alternatives to conventional treatment.

EVERYTHING that exists, in the world of form, was first an image in a thinking mind. Like it or not, any pictures we keep in our minds will draw that thing into our envinronment, as if by magic. This magic becomes super powerfull, when the same image is in the minds of many. Now, follow me in your imagination.

RFL teams are challenged to come up with fairy tale elements, that promote the curing of cancer. Our group, as it's centerpiece, could have a magnificent, steampunk machine, with lots of moving dials, gears and other parts. In front of the machine, we see a small platform. When clicked on, the platform puts you in a pose, bathes you with rainbow light and puts an object in your inventory, called "rainbow torus."  When it's worn, it makes a spinning rainbow, around your av, as shown in the above picture. In theory, this spinning rainbow is a protective ring that keeps cancer out. Here's the good part; there is no mental image for the word NOT, so it doesn't matter if our fairy tale machine really works. What our machine really does is churn out a stream of people that are presenting a symbolic IMAGE of [rainbow/cure]. Even those not wearing them will learn the symbol. With a positive image, over the rainbow,pot of gold sort of thing, planted in the minds of thousands, we now have a super powered force, that will hasten the true cure to enter our world. We are turning a fairy tale into real life science.

When the cure is manefest, it is simple and inexpensive. They'll even make apps for your phones and computers. Nobody will want the expensive surgeries and toxic chemicals. I now return your imaginations to you. These ideas may or not not be those of the newspaper and it's sponsors. It's all just my opinion of what would be a fun and useful adventure in Second Life.

Sha

Editor's Note: The article has been edited from the original.

The Sim The Lab Wouldn't Close

Bixyl Shuftan

Lately, there have been a number of sims either closed down, almost closed down, or slated to be shut down. But the Newser was recently informed of a sim Linden Lab wouldn't close, despite the wishes of the owner.

In late September, I was contacted by Annie Brightstar. She told me about the MIC sim, and the troubles it's owner was having. Known as Marina MexiLane Bellini, she posted about her problems on Facebook. Annie used a translation program for her post.

The seriousness of Linden Lab.

As you know I've asked, via the form on the website of SL, the offline the sim mic on 17 July, specifying that I could no longer support the sim card. After an exchange of mail on the part of the support, in which I was advised to "find the money", That much to put offline the sim we wanted to "15 days and also much more", I reiterated that mic would come only with a new project funded by the Italian institutions, because I could not afford to pay for that rata every month.

All this time mic was online and only a few days ago I found out that they were asking for 600 $ arrears, in practice for the instalments 18-July / 18 August and 18 August / September 18 . Not only. The month of August I paid the monthly fee avatar premium but was rejected. Now the account is suspended, gone, deleted, and I can't interact with them by the owner (meximic chant).

The sim continues to stay on, but at this point I think it is an embezzlement, given that the earth is my property as all the rest.

In my shoes, how would you behave?

Deciding to check things out, I looked around. The place was a well-designed island with  builds of Ancient Roman architecture among the rocks and trees. One building served as the location for a store, another as an art gallery. It didn't take me long to find a gathering of people, and I went over. I found a "Mexi Lane" chatting with a couple men in Italian. I greeted them, and explained why I was there. She explained, through a translator, "This is a place (for) cultural events, especially art exhibitions and museums of Rome. ... I apologize for the inconvenience translator."

Mexi explained that the place, "was always a sim quiet and very successful." It had been up for over five years, "I've SL projected on screens in Rome, Capitoline Museums, Congress Palace, Biblioteca Angelica, all of Rome knew." It was advertising and exposure for the artists.

But unfortunately her economic situation changed. She came to the conclusion she could not keep up the teir payments, "It could not be paid by July 18 and asked the offline (on the) 17. LL tried to convince me to stay and find the money, but if the money is not there you do not find on the street. And I said 'no, I want the sim offline.' LL closed the ticket, and two months later I found out that they asked me two months to charge and account owner deleted." Talking to her more, she explained the account deleted was an alt "used only for transactions and management."

"The sim is still on, and I do not know what they want to do." She mentioned, "MIC is among the 25 selected for the sim card with the oculus Rift." I asked if she thought that might be a factor in their not closing the place. "It can be one of the reasons," she answered, but she thought the real reason was money, trying to get as much off her as they could.

Despite her problems, Mexi continued to help out others, "Yesterday the owner of Fashion Week, I was responsible for making the video teaser of their event. I'm here to serve the community." But she was still working on her problem, "I must write to LL as a guest and specify my ticket. It was opened on July 17. ... if they offer a service (for residents) to request (their sim) offline, must comply with the requirements of users and not to be clever. I do not have $600 to give to them." She did say some Italian institutions owed her money, but "it is not known when they will give them to me."

It was about then that we parted. Some days later, she posted on her Facebook page an image of her sim on a map, tinted red meaning offline, "Biggies: They did it to put the MIC offline! 2 months and a half after my request." I sent her a message about it, and she reaffirmed the sim was still down. It was not yet clear whether her bill was also nullified, and her alt account restored, but she wouldn not be billed aditional money.

So the sim that the Lab wouldn't take down finally was closed.

Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary: Of "Morphological Freedom" in Real Life and Second Life

By Bixyl Shuftan

Valkyrie McGill (also known as Valkyrie Ice), besides being the Sunweaver's resident succubus, is also a writer for online magazines. Earlier this summer, she wrote a commentary that touched on two real-life news events at the time. One was about Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, whom had recently completed a sex change operation. After it was finished, she appeared in a "Vanity Fair" cover shoot. The other news item was about Rachel Dolezal, a former NAACP chapter leader, whom made news as she had been calling herself black but her parents stepped forward to say she was really white. She defended her reasoning by stating she identified as black.

The reaction to Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner's transformation has been on the whole positive, with a number of people praising her. Outright condemnation seems to have been mostly limited to a few religious fanatics whom I wouldn't have heard about if someone on my Facebook feed hadn't posted the stories, and one band of radical feminists who condemned sex changed operations, calling transsexuals gay men who ought to stay gay men. The criticism I heard was of coworkers, family, and a few Facebook friends cracking jokes, such as a picture of a beagle labeled "Bruce Jenner's cat." One local talk show host didn't crack any jokes, but explained he could not understand why a man would have his sex changed, at one point comparing it to a teenager cutting herself, "Did he do something in his past that made him ashamed to be male and he wanted it cut from him?" And at another he was wondering if this was a denial of reality, "how can a man in his sixties see himself as a woman in her thirties?" But in the end, he stated Jenner had every right to go through the operation.

Although the change of appearance made by Dolezal was much less drastic, the reaction to her was much less supportive and much more negative. At best, people expressed reluctant support. More often was confusion or people questioning her judgement. At worst, she was accused of being "deceptive," a "con artist," a "homegirl hoaxer," and of doing a kind of "blackface" only with tanning pills or a spray tan instead of facial makeup. In contrast to Jenner being called a hero, she found herself condemned and vilified. That she might have been influenced by her parents adopting a number of black children was seldom mentioned.

Why the difference in how they were treated? One radio political commentator charged that certain organizations saw that a white person would want to be considered black as a threat to their claims of discrimination. Not being black, I can only speculate. It may be that with racial tensions increasing in the country lately, people from the group Dolezal wants to be a part of are more likely to assume such an unusual move must have some hostile agenda. There's also that although sex-change operations and transsexuals have gotten renewed interest after Jenner, they are not new but have been going on for years.While there have been tales of whites disguising themselves as black as part of a social experiment, to "be in another's shoes" so to speak, and in the past light skinned blacks have passed as whites to better fit in mainstream society when Southerners were still bitter about Reconstruction and Northerners felt those who were different should be in their own separate neighborhoods such as "Little Italy" or "Chinatown," it's pretty rare for a white to change one's racial identity to black.

Valkyrie argued that both Jenner and Dolezal had a right to change what they were, calling it "morphological freedom," and if anyone had a problem with it, they had no right to stand in their way, "Caitlyn is going to be a woman, and Rachel is going to be black, because that is what THEY ARE. You can claim it’s a choice, a mental illness or a fetish, but it’s not going to matter in the end what anyone else thinks ..." She herself had the goal of wanting to look like her Second Life avatar in real life, a succubus with wings and horns. Something that couldn't be done with current technology, but she has been hopeful developments in the near future will make it possible.

In Second Life, "Morphological Freedom" has been more or less with us from the beginning. The first ones coming on could tailor their avatar's height, skin color, sex, and other details as they pleased. And it wasn't long before nonhuman avatars were developed, and sometimes an option for newcomers before they even set foot on the Grid. Here you can be an elf, a demoness, a tiny feline, a huge dragon, a five foot tall anthro fox with opposable thumbs in a fedora and overcoat, and most anything else, limited only to one's talent or the budget to purchase such talent. While there have been stories about some people having issues with appearances, such as a self-described "elite" place considering a furry avatar the equivalent of wearing a T-shirt to an opera, it's my experience most residents don't have a problem. Conservative or liberal, religious or atheist, all have been overwhelmingly accepting of differences in appearance, as well as choosing to be different themselves.

The issue of people choosing to be the opposite sex in the grid has seen no shortage of discussion. While it's most commonly imagined as women in Second Life actually being men in real life, this isn't always the case. While there have been some whom have expressed a problem with or been confused as to the motivations, it's my experience most people are content with such residents listing on their profiles their real-life genders, or give some other kind of warning, to prevent any "accidents" with those looking for a date or admiring appearances of the opposite sex.

The issue of someone wanting to look like a different race than in real life hasn't been touched on as much as wanting to look like a different gender, or even look like one of a race of people from a fantasy or sci-fi story. Still, there have been stories about it. There have been a few tales of residents in black avatars being taunted with racial slurs and real life whites trying a black avatar getting the impression they were treated differently, such as one article in New World Notes in 2006. My own impression when I had on a black human avatar as part of a Relay for Life fundraiser was that I didn't experience much of a difference in how I was treated, and a few people asked if I was considering changing to the dark-skinned avatar for good.

In real life, people can't change appearances as fast as they can in Second Life of course. Tanning pills take many days, weeks, to work. A transsexual's journey to the opposite sex is a series of hormonal treatments, surgeries, and counseling sessions that lasts for years. Changing into a "furry," in real life it can't really be done ... yet. But here have been body modifications, such as that of "Stalking Cat" a few years ago, that are a hint as to what can be developed as technology and techniques improve.

It's doubtful that we will ever be able to change our sex or species as fast as we can in Second Life. Even in Star Trek, surgical alterations took time. But as the possibilities become wider, the time becomes shorter, and the money needed becomes less, it isn't hard to imagine some people, especially science-fiction/fantasy fans, wanting to change to a new look. And if such a change could be easily reversed, there's less to be afraid of, and more people would be more likely to undergo such a change. Just look at how popular tattoos are today.

Second Life might be a guide as to how society might react, most people not usually making a big deal. What would happen to the dating scene? Just as there has been at least one lesbian club on the grid asking that women confirm their gender by going into Voice, might there be singles clubs that demand that they have access to all your medical records to make sure one always was the gender they appear? What would happen to the concept of "race" if people could easily appear dark-skinned, or even blue, green, or other tones seen currently in Second Life. Might some Japanese restaurants offer a bonus for waitresses whom sport cat ears and a tail, or a furry anthro feline with a full coat and muzzle with whiskers?

For now, such questions are of the realm of science-fiction. Unless you're a user of a popular virtual world, in which case such questions are already here.

And you can be "foxy" in more ways than one.

Image Credit: thenet.com, wavenewspapers.com

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Windows 10's Dark Secret

By Nydia Tungsten

Edited by Brandi Tungsten

When I first heard Windows 10 was in the works, I was skeptical. We all knew that Windows would skip an OS version with quality for example, Win 98 was okay and then NT was a flop, XP was a good one then Vista. I have Windows 7 and I skipped 8 for just this reason. That is a personal opinion I share with quite a few other folks and we all thought okay, 10 should be the good one, then I heard they would be giving it away for free.....

Okay....these are the people that wanted to charge me $100 for a new copy of Vista because I reinstalled it so many times, the same ones that did that with my copy of MS Word. Then, when I bought it electronically and had to download it again, it said there was no record of me buying it.

Now out of the goodness of their hearts, they are going to give away their latest OS. Okay, I smell something fishy, so I looked and looked and was lulled into a false sense of hope. Then, last night, my friend, Lomgren, posted something in our family group chat about Microsoft's new privacy agreement and what they are helping themselves too in the process. I read that article then went looking for more, and dear Goddess, a scary thought popped into my head as I looked at article after article. Let me show you a bit of what I had found.

“Microsoft has grabbed some very broad powers to collect things you do, say and create while using its software. Your data won’t be staying on your computer, that much is for sure. Sign into Windows with your Microsoft account and the operating system immediately syncs settings and data to the company’s servers. That includes your browser history, favorites and the websites you currently have open as well as saved app, website and mobile hotspot passwords and Wi-Fi network names and passwords. You can deactivate that by hopping into settings, but I’d argue that it should be opt-in rather than on by default. Many users won’t get round to turning it off, even though they would probably want to. ”

I read that and was shocked why would it need to send my passwords and history to the company? But then it got worse...

“ Turn on Cortana, the virtual assistant, and you’re also turning on a whole host of data sharing:

To enable Cortana to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions, Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and how often you interact with them on your device.

Cortana also learns about you by collecting data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as your music, alarm settings, whether the lock screen is on, what you view and purchase, your browse and Bing search history, and more.”

Lots of things can live in those two words “and more.” Also note that because Cortana analyzes speech data, Microsoft collects “your voice input, as well as your name and nickname, your recent calendar events and the names of people in your appointments, and information about your contacts including names and nicknames.”

Realistically, Cortana can’t work in the semi-magical way it does without being able to gobble up all that information. But it’s worth being aware of just how wide-ranging its access to your and your friends’/contacts’ data is.”

Now I was more than a bit nervous when I read that then thought about it, yes for a virtual assistant to work it would need that info, but again it should stay on your system NOT the Microsoft servers. Advertisers will know exactly who you are:

"Windows 10 generates a unique advertising ID for each user on each device. That can be used by developers and ad networks to profile you. Again, you can turn this off in settings, but you need to know where to look.”

With that one it looked like Microsoft is in league with the spammers. I mean really? A custom ID for every one of us that don't know about this so advertisers can track us online more than they already do, and this would defeat any anti-spyware you already have because it would be authorized by the OS itself. But even with all of this mounting evidence of Microsoft digging their fingers into our PRIVATE systems, came this next piece, dear Goddess......

Microsoft can disclose your data when it feels like it

This is the part you should be most concerned about: Microsoft’s new privacy policy assigns it very loose when it comes to when it will or won’t access and disclose your personal data:

“We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services.”

Good Faith? Just who's good faith are they talking about? And why should we give them the back door when even the NSA doesn't have one …..yet? So, they would be able to peruse your system and look for things THEY think might be wrong is some way or another. They can even look at any networks you are connected to and the other systems there, so even if you are not on your home network you give them rights to look at others systems, not just your own.
So, here is my horrifying thought, we all know the music and entertainment industry has been pushing bill after bill after bill at Congress, as well as pushing the ISP's around trying to get access like this. What if they now have Microsoft in their pocket and paid them off to create an OS that would track us for them and give it away for free so EVERYONE could have one, so EVERYONE could be tracked, and EVERYONE would be under their thumb?

So it turns out the old adage is most likely true, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. As for me, Windows 10 will not be touching my networks nor will I share my network with anyone that has a Windows 10 system anywhere that they interact with.

Am I being paranoid? Maybe.... but I now say this tongue in cheek:

“Just because I AM paranoid doesn't mean they're NOT out to get me”

So, be careful out there on the World Wide Web. It CAN be a dark place, and a lot of things can be hidden from us. That said, below are a few of the sources I have read about this. I urge each and everyone of you to look into these deeply before you get Windows 10.
 

https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-personal-data-abused/

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015/07/29/wind-nos/

Microsoft Privacy Statementhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/default.aspx

Microsoft Services Agreementhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/servicesagreement/default.aspx

Windows 10, Microsoft and your personal data: what you need to know (only in French, 11.06.2015)http://www.numerama.com/magazine/33357-windows-10-microsoft-et-vos-donnees-privees-ce-que-vous-devez-savoir.html

Microsoft provides privacy dashboard ahead of Windows 10 launch (04.06.2015)http://www.pcworld.com/article/2932132/microsoft-provides-privacy-dashboard-ahead-of-windows-10-launch.html

Nydia Tungsten