Merry Cristmas, and a happy new freebie!

If you readed the comments at dandellion’s meme, you already know that I’ve promised a freebie, limited version of the Pandora Hud. But before you are too happy, the freebie is going to take at least a pair of days. I could had done in half hour, but wanted to add new functionalities to it, and also to the standard hud line.

The main change is that now the hud disables the built-in ZHAO II while hugging, and reenables after it ends. It will also disable the ZHAO II of the hugged one if he/she/it is wearing a new Pandora’s Hud, and there will be a free script to add this functinality to any ZHAO II device. No more hugs breaked by a relentless AO.

So, really soon the Pandora Hud Classic and the Pandora Hud Luxe will give way to the definitive Pandora’s hud and it’s partner, Pandora’s hud freebie edition. And if you are planning to buy, or already buyed a luxe version, don’t worry…

I’ll check the transaction stories and give a free copy of the new Pandora’s Hud to everybody that will buy/buyed a luxe hud in the month of december; please, give the old one to somebody as a Christmas gift ;.).

White Christmas, child avies.

No, I am not touching the classical “consensual actions between adult humans disguised as children”. I don’t approve it, as I don’t approve Dolcett and other things, but I doubt I have the right to judge.

Also, I am not going back to the risks that unmature minds face in the grid; to me is easy… Internet has its dangers, so don’t let them alone at it until they are ready.

Nothing to say about pesky underage intruders that hadn’t been said before, and in a better way.

But for a long time, probably more than a month, I’ve been wanting to write about a big annoyance: child avies that behave like children, controlled by mature users. And yes, I said “annoyance”, but you will see later I did in a nice way :-p.

Of course, and before I start, here you have the usual picture. This time is another of Lillie’s dinamical sculptures, that I had the pleasure to see this morning.

More about why child avies annoy us, and about why it isn’t their fault, after the cut.

Paying debts

So much to do and so little time to do it! So this time I am going to multi-process the Quick and Dirty tag :-)

First, the long delayed fashion hint that is also a “thank you” to the designers, a Christmas gift for the readers that like to see almost naked women (yes, probably you, admit it! *winks*) and a shameless excuse to get traffic from World of Fashion.

Here you have, my favorite clothing freebie from now on! It comes from the Greenies, as this post says. Also, I am wearing a freebie skin from Dutch Touch group members and posing in a tent from The Rustica. I don’t approbe the tent isn’t mod; in fact, I almost never buy no mod furniture, since I like to edit/script and addapt it, but their furniture is wonderfull, and I simply had to buy it (I’ll tell you about their beautifull moddable bed with the incredible usefull posts some other day :-).

No more fashion related items, so here comes the cut; but keep reading!.

Coming back

I’ve taken a long, long holiday form blogging and still don’t have enugh free time but, as Lillie says, I’ve been bitten by the bug and cannot stay away.It is hard to keep quiet when you have things to say, and I’ve a lot of them; comments about posts that I’ve readed, like Zippora’s, things that have happened, some deep insight (ok, as deep as usual, that it isn’t probably too much) about themes as variated as being tagged by theshadow, cybering, the should be and shouldn’t be of marketing, child avies, Prokofy’s was right about something once (yes, I hate to admit it, but she was), etc.

But not today; there will be a steady set of posts, probably two or three a week, and the usual comments to promote my shop (you know, Christmas is coming; stay tuned at this blog, because a special gift is coming soon, too :-). There will be sex and the classical naked pictures. But not today.

Because today is a day for friends.

This morning I logged at SL to test some scripts, and one of my friends was at home, so I saluted and hugged her. Then another one logged, and I decided I should jump and give a hug, too; and while I was doing it, it comed to me, I had a vision, I should go and hug everybody on my friend list!

All right, I make it sound like I was kidding, but I was serious. My friend list has grown and it is full of wonderfull people, and I almost don’t see or even talk with most of them. Worse, they usually address me and say hello, and even if I always answer and take the time to chat for a while, it is clear that I should do the effort and call somebody by myself. Friends are to be cared and ternured, and I rarely do it.

I know I’ve said it often enough, but my friend list makes me unhappy.

So, giving a short hug from time to time seemed a good way to keep in contact; to say here I am, you matter to me. And of course, I failed miserabily :-p. I only was able to jump twice, and both times I stayed and spended a lot of time with them. No script tested, more online friends that didn’t got their hugs.

But in the other hand, I didn’t feel guilty anymore, so it was a great success!

So I am going to try to come back, slowly and steadly, to my old life; no, not the old, but a better one. I’ll hug my friends, post, and enjoy my RL and SL lives. The freebies that will come are only a token; you have my care, respect, and the hope that you will get a wonderfull live.

Merry Christmas :-)

Tagged!

Believe me, the lingerie you see below (from Sand Dollar Sea, whose shop is by now settled at Pandora’s Peace) has to do with the tagged post.

There are more variants, all of them great and sooo inexpensive; also, I am sure it will suit you wonderfully (ok, giving it a second thought, not so much if you are a guy :-p); if you want them, simply follow the previous link. But if you are interested about why I linked it just now, keep reading :-)

Voices

(Yes, I know, another post. My excuse is I was writing an answer for some comments on the previous one, and I wrote so much I ended thinking it was enough matherial for a short post. But after working for a long time, the truth seems to be that posting is like peanuts, I cannot take only one :-p)

I had been told I am an important member of SL comunity; once I was even called a “mayor player”.I don’t want to be, and I am not.

Don’t deny it and inflate my ego even more or, worse, think this is the classical reversed self-praising, and give me a second to explain myself; I cannot be a comunity voice because I fear them, comunities and voices. They are too complex, too involved, and I am too lazy, too shy, and too old. I don’t have faith on them.

In SL economy I have a a hud that seems to sell well (very well :-p) and rent a quarter of a sim; that’s all.

In SL society I have a small blog that was born as a promotional mean and that incidentally becomed very pleasurable (shameless public masturbation), let me know wonderfull people, some of them happen to be mayor players… and that’s all, too.

Still, I love that people knows me. In a visit to Avalon somebody said “the London Spengler?” (btw, thanks for the picture :-) and I was proud for ages, but I am not a voice for the people.

This started as an answer to Sophrosyne’s comments. She said the comunity thingie not once, but twice, and yes, I understand that it simply meaned that I had been missed, but I felt uneasy anyway. Extropia has aglutinated around her, a true comunity of wonderfull individuals (btw, the 80% of SL people I whould like to share a bed with are residents or visitors of that place :-p). Hers is the voice.

Comunities, wonderfull as they can be, have a problem; there is little space for intimacy, and that is why I am not a comunity voice, and never will be. Because you aren’t a comunity to me, all I ask to be is the caressing, and sometimes naughty, whisper.

For some of us feelings grow quickly; at SL it feels natural to stretch your arms when you discover somebody nice or interesting, and so easily the body follows. It is a luck that my relation is exclusive, since my SL life is already too complex.

That’s why my whisper is naughty; it is true that my posts are NSFW. Some say that I get most of my traffic because they are, and maybe it is also true, but I never sell my intimacy. I don’t publish it to bring people here in the hope readers or sales will raise. I don’t sell myself.

I give myself for free, so my mind can caress your cheeks while your eyes read my whisper. It is all I can give you, all I can accept.

And it is more, much more, that I could had ever dreamed of.

Love and hate: the nature of the beast.

This is a one-shot, I’ll not resume blogging (if I resume blogging) at least until january when, supossedly, my RL life will still be messy but with lots of free time in my hands.

The excuse to adding this to the World of Fashion feed is that I’ll release soon a new expansion for the Pandora Hud, that probably will be called Dark Desires (hotter hugs, some rubbing, but still no sex animations, sorry :-p) in colaboration with somebody… but who is “somebody” is an interesting story that will have to wait for other day… so if you are only interested on fashion, and you already took a mental note of it for your Chirstmas gifts, you can leave this post now; it will not be about fashion anymore.

I know I’ve lost most of my readers (not you, of course, since you are reading this, but the other ones that will not notice I did it) and that coming and going away will not do nothing to recover them; blogs need a steady rithm to keep interest. Anyway, a nice pic from time to time helps to bring people back; here have yours (I know it is an old one, but I wanted to remember you the facial animations of the Pandora Hud, and there will be a new and definitly NSFW after the cut *winks*).

Posting your oppinions in a public way, knowing that somebody else will read them, is addictive, and I’ve been dying, DYING, to come back and talk about a lot of things that I’ve readed in other people’s blogs; Lillie, Soph, Faerie, dandellion, Kate, Vint, Zippora and so many more… I am sorry, but I didn’t keep links to the original posts. Also, I wanted an opportunity to thank the ones that comed and leaved messages of support, roses included :-)

Also, there was a darker motive; a thorn that, by writing about it, I hope to remove.

Ok, here we go, here is the long post/ and definitly Not Safe For Work cut… I am going to burn matherial for a docen posts in a long one, and the funny thing is all the time I’ll be talking about my favorite theme. Myself. Please, keep reading :-)

My last regular post: Second lives

(If you are looking for a place to live or to host your businesss, have a look at Sophrosyne’s new sim)

You have already heard about this: work interfering with Second Life. In fact, work is going to make a mess of my first life, too, for some months… but don’t worry, I will not burden you with the sad story :-p.

But the final effect is the same as always, I don’t have time for anything.

I should be able to find some hours to post twice a week, but I’ve been trying and I simply cannot do it. I’ll post sometimes, usually to announce offers and new releases so they got feeded at World of Fashion; for example I’ll try to get ready the Cuddle Cloud for this weekend and make a promo post for it.

Not that there will be a lot of new items at my side of the shop, anyway :-p.

I feel pretty sad about this; yes, my SL life will have to endure another cut, and I will have more sleep problems, but it is the blog what I am leaving, and I love to write, and love to see you reading my posts, and answering to them. Wonderfull things had come from this blog; a lot of friends, and even a kind, passionate lover. My dear, beloved Katrina.

I will miss it, and I will miss you, my dear readers. I hope you a wonderfull life. Farewell.

 

London Spengler.

Quick words about VAT

I could say that the picture means that taxes are going to kill us but, to be true, I only wanted to get your attention :-p.

(Btw, I took the pic some days ago while exploring the sim that hosts our park and shop, and discovered that the owner’s dance club also had a  sex-gen bike and that one of the parcels had a public haunted cemetary. Sometimes it is funny to meet your neiborhoods :-)

I promise to be brief about VAT :-p

First, an apologice; in my previous post I thought LL was going to charge VAT in L$ purchase, causing double taxing, but I was mistaken. I still wonder if we are paing United States AND European Union taxes, and if it is a way to remove at least one, but it isn’t my turf, so let’s forget about it.

Second, while I usually enjoy Gwyn’s light hearted, possitive post style (check this one, are we really going to get a more stable system? I’ll belive when it I see it but, meanwhile, Havok 4! woot!), she was so wrong about taxation. I will simply thieve part of a comment at her page:

“Good luck with the tax authorities. They will love hearing your explanation of why you need SL as a business expense.”

Yes, VAT is part of the UE legal system, and we simply have to pay for it; but don’t try to sell us there will be a benefit, but helping the state… as Prokofy says: “I’ve been amazed that Europeans have been screeching as much as they have about being taxed for Second Life, given that their socialism has to have somebody pay for it.”

Yes, thinking about living in a place without free medical coverage gives me the shivers, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt to have to pay taxes for it :-p. The more we get, the less we pay is a human desire, not an european one *winks*.

Even if I hate to pay attention to somebody like Prokofy (another flame example from her post at the end of the comment), I agree about that LL could had made things better, looking for a half way solution, like a partial discount to euro users… and yes, I am not saying they should do that; it is their money. But it whould had been good public relations.

And talking about public relations, Anony Mouse did write about VAT :-) I also think that the way they communicated it to us was flawed. In a land market in recesion, they should had given european sim owners time to try to sell their now too expensive lands. Remember that we are talking about more than a thousand real dollars “buying” payment that will be lost if they simply stop paying land fees.

In a lesser way, that is the same what happens with premium accounts. Do you know you are required an extra payment of 10$ to downgrade an account? I discovered that months ago, when I was going to upgrade mine, and decide against it. Why do you have to pay an extra month only to stop paying? Sounds like bad praxis to me.

And yes, in the case of VAT LL is simply doing what international law asks from them, but I still wonder:

- Do WOW users pay VAT on their montly fees, too? (Maybe they do, I don’t have the slightless idea :-p).

- Are we paying for UE VAT and United States taxes at the same time? If so, is that right or are we entitled a discount?
- Was LL required to pay, or they did simply rush to it, in one of the usual, self-covering, end-user unconcerned tactics we all are familiar with now?

Maybe LL needed to do it, and yes, all us are law abiding people *smiles*; but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a hard hit for some people, and that it could had been approached in a better way. And yes, I know it is always easy to judge and say “they should had done this” after it happens, but still, it itches.

I readed long ago that one of the causes of death on MMORPG is to listen too much to their fans. Developers get swarmed with lot of petitions and even personal insults, and it ends in an ugly enviroment. So maybe ignoring the users and their needs, and doing what you think is right is the way to go.

But that doesn’t mean I like it.

In this digital world, maybe we still need frontiers. Maybe we still need to abide, or try to abide, local laws; but I like to think I am a citizen of Shakespeare’s unknown country, if no physically, in spirit. A country where things like imagination, effort and good will can overcome the pettiness that taints this one.Then I read this, or things like this, and I know that world is still far away for some ones :-p

“And the minute anybody steps on their tail like this, how quickly that nasty anti-Americanism of theirs comes to the surface, we’re told we’re SUV-driving religious fundamentalist racist freaks, and the Euros want to be left alone, in, oh, Amsterdam, to gamble, smoke pot, and get laid without prudish Americans on their case.”

What a week!

First, the shop: the Pandora Hud Luxe has been a sales success (a huge one!), the Icebreaker contest has been great and the Cuddle Cloud is almost ready for the market, I am back to work at RL… and I NEED A REST! :-p

My idea is spend some days at Samarkand (sorry, I’ll try to find the Slurl later) but, while it comes, this week has been full of interesting things:

- I got a gift: An unnexpected side effect of giving away Icebreakers; Elena Durnan (Deka Fashions) gived me two dresses :-) And yes, she is right, they aren’t the kind I usually wear, but I love this one anyway (I’ve been wearing it a lot lately, and has been told “London, you make green seem so casual” :-)

- Death and taxes (read the comments at the link, they are juicy): EU users, like me, will have to pay more to LL; that means premium accounts, buying lindens or land fees. Luckily, I don’t do any of the previus activities (basic account, earn enough with the shop and the land is rented), or it whould mean a 16% recharge. Now, what it worries me more is EU sim owners, already having problems to make them economically viable, suddenly facing up to a 21% raise on their fees. Will they have to raise their rents? Will that, combined with LL buying taxes, mean a 42% raise for some people?

- Anony Mouse’s blog keeps studying the virtual identity, this time the legal repercutions of verification for users; I’m curious about if (he/she/it?) will cover the VAT issue.

- Tried the test… Slightly Dorky Nerd Queen? Sigh :-p

- Took another kind of “test”: Onanist, optimist, wallflower; tried to be a loyalist/angel. *sighs again*. At least I am retired from BDSM, but now Peter is giving it a try, I wonder where whould he fit.

- Got a ride! Faerie won a hatching and showed me her new dragon avie :-)

- Lillie started a tale. I’ve always felt uneasy about tartan skirts, but the story… go and flood her with comments, to hurry the next part :-)

- And yes! I got the first review for the Pandora Luxe; thanks a lot, Amareth :-)

- Also, I got a three hours nap yesterday… mmmm… sleep.