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To be continued…
All the “Snatched From Steelhead” posts can be read here.
Links to other blogs and stories:
1) A list of New Babbage & Steelhead Ning posts can be found here.
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Monthly Archives: May 2010
Building a log cabin – part the deux
When I left you last (in Part 1 – here) I had opened up the windows & doors by cutting the logs out as well as texturing their frames…
But I was a looooong way from finished. For a start the roof was bare boards and needed some shingles and the windows needed glazing to keep the rain out!
A little later I added a small, simple porch at the front as well as a some smaller steps (complete with posball for sitting on) and a storm lantern from the ever generous nichus Bermann 
As you can see from above, the first doors were HUGE! I did this to compensate for the camera but it became clear I had over compensated. I shrunk them down from this…
to this…
I took the last shot to show the difference between the two but due to the perspective I don’t feel it does. What it does show, however, are the small triangular gaps at the top of the roof. In real life I would have filled them with mud adobe but in SL it’s a bit harder and would have required mucho faffing about with a single prim per hole. In the end I decided to slap up a ceiling (you can see it behind me in the picture below) and I really think it improved the inner space greatly…
I still have some plans for the cabin, but for now I’ve finished tinkering. I need to tidy up the site and add some furniture, but more of that in a future post. For now I’ll leave you with a couple of shots that I think show you why I moved into the wilderness and built my own cabin.
A gorgeous suset through the rushes behind the cabin…
The moon rising over the steam…
Come over and see the cabin here.
All the diodes down my left side…
I have a snazzy computer. OK, it’s not a shit-hot gaming machine, but it didn’t cost me £2,000 so I never expected it to be. But still, way back in December 09 when I had the Great Graphics Card Balls Up (had to buy a new card, it didn’t fit in my PC or on my motherboard and I ended up buying a whole new PC in kit form and building it myself) I expected great things from it.
Well I’ve only had great-ish things from it.
It plays games wonderfully but it still finds SL a grind at times and a couple of weekends ago things came to a dramatic head when it simply refused to play ball during the Bay City 2nd Anniversary and I missed the Parade.
I think I’ve fixed it – I’ve certainly had no problems since Osprey’s advice, but in case anyone is looking for help with a similar issue, here’s what I did:
1) Cleared the cache. 4 times. Result: On relog things back to normal but not for long.
2) Defrag HD. Twice. Result: None.
3) Added 2Gb memory to take total to 4Gb. Result: None I can see so far but not tested much yet.
4) Switched on multi-threading in the SL client prefs (this was Os’ advice and it helps SL cope with multiple programs running on the computer). Result: This seems to have cracked it and I’ve had no problems since.
All in all it’s been hard to tell what worked as I was doing everything at the same time (bar adding the memory – that came a few days after and the system was running OK by then) but if you’re having problems, try the multi-threading thing out. Note, this is different from multi-threading on nVidia graphics cards which is about linking cards together.
The Bay City Blues…
I missed Bay City’s 2nd Anniversary Parade. After all that planning I sodding well missed it. I didn’t mean to but the Gods that rule either/or/and (delete as appropriate) SL’s lag & my PC conspired to give me a whole weekend of crashe. Things would start out OK, but then everything would start t o g e t v e r y s l o w
and
ve
ry
jer
k
y
before crashi
ARGH! In the end I couldn’t get back in so I buggered off to watch telly & brood. I did manage to take some shots before I exited the field stage left – here are a selection but there are lots more in the Bay City Flickr Group. Also check out there folks for their far better (and longer) experiences: Marianne, Osprey & Adric. And a big old TY to Mari & her Bay City/Nova Albion friends for arranging such a fun event!
p.s. That Duck! is me!
Destroying the Noyo Mall! Redux!
Remember the half-assed job the work-shy fops at Antfarm & Quinn did destroying the big old empty mall in Noyo? Well their efforts, whilst a bit rubbish, did have the effect of mobilising a small gang of Kahruvel’s friends (and some rabid ducks!) in to action!
Osprey pulled in some favours to call a meteor shower…
Ilia brought a huge hammer!
Kumi set some ravenous racing snails on the whole mess…
Mari brought her construction kit (although I think a meteor smasherated her jackhammer!)
Enjah let off what I think was some Mickey Mouse ordinance…
Someone (no one knows who but I heard it was a handsome gazelle-like chap with horns and a rakish smile) crashed a wee UFO into the roof…
But leave it up to me to bring a ruddy great 50megaton nuke to the party!
Even the Deadly Ducks got involved!
So, did all our efforts bring the rancid old structure crashing to the ground? Did it bugger! The bloody thing was totally unscathed and mocked us with its still-standing-ness. Damn.
Edit: Salazar has managed to delete the mall at last – he says that all our efforts must have weakened it. Yay! Go us!
Boating Around Murray
Murray, ahhh Murray. Shining jewel of the inland sea (well, *near* the inland sea) where the Moles have been busy and Burros slightly less so. The LDPW has long ago moved on to fix up other sims and I’ve been tardy about exploring all the shiny new aspects of my old home – well no more! I popped back in to take a trip around the old homestead in one of Naughty Mole’s free yachts…
I took it for a spin past the beach huts, the channel here is narrow and I pranged the rudder a fair few times so be warned!
It looks like a much larger vessel may have tried a while back and now only its rotting carcass marks the spot where it ran aground…
At least the previous (and I hope long gone!) owners were good enough to leave a little something behind 
Sailing into deep(er) water I noticed three creates bobbing on the surface…
When I got to them I could see something beneath the waves… time to dive!
It seems these waters used to be a whole lot rougher than they appear to be now – yet another wreck was half-buried in the sand and silt with flooded crates now no more than homes for some very cute wildlife
Pop over to Murray and explore for yourself – the locals are (mostly) friendly and you’ll be slap-bang in the middle of SL’s first sims
Mutations: Chapter 5 – Night Callers
Night had long ago set over Shanghai but Dr Beck had hardly noticed, engrossed as he was with the results of his latest tests. He sat at his surgery desk and scribbled hurried notes into his journal…
So busy. The fever is spreading through Shamian’s slums and I can’t stop it. I’ve looked at the slides, I’ve been out to the houses, I’ve done everything I can think of but I’m stumped, and whilst I sit here scratching my stupid head people – good people – are dying. I don’t know what to
Beck’s train of thought was violently derailed as the surgery door burst open, kicked almost of its hinges by a tong thug, “What is the meaning of this?” Beck shouted rising to his feet.
“You doctor, you fix!” the tong ordered with a wild look in his eyes. Behind him a second thug sporting a broken arm dragged a third whose flattened nose poured blood.
Beck hated the tong almost more than the Mechs, they were predators feeding off the misery of their own, condemning decent people to a life of fear and servitude. He didn’t care a jot about his oath, these animals didn’t deserve any help and he’d be dammed if he’d be bullied into giving them any. He stepped up to the thug, looked him straight in the eye and said “I will do no such thing, now get ou…”
The punch to his stomach smashed the breath right out of his body and he doubled over and fell to the ground, his mind spinning with nausea. “You fix bastard! You fix or kill you!”
“No,” Beck wheezed. The kick lifted him off the floor.
“Fix!”
“Nnnn” he managed to say, the pain was blinding. Another kick.
“You fix or we burn!”
“No. No fix, get out!” Beck hissed through gritted teeth.
The tong animal was wild with fury. He kicked over the desk, threw supplies across the room, tore a cabinet off the wall until the one with the broken nose spoke, his voice thick and pained. He spoke in mandarin and whatever he said had an immediate effect on the wild one who calmed down and turned back to the figure curled on the floor, “You fix or we burn family, understand? We burn Chinese.”
Beck looked up at the tong and knew from his eyes that he meant it, “You bastard,” he croaked, he had no choice and he hated it.
“You fix!”
Beck struggled to his feet, “Yes, I fix, I damn well fix,” he said, “and then you get the hell out of my surgery.”
Broken nose made a strange choking sound and it took a while for Beck to realise he was laughing, “You find something funny?” he asked, furious.
“This our town” the bleeding tong said spitting a wad of blood on the floor, “Mean this place ours too. Now fix or Chang start many fire, you understand Doctor Beck.”
It was not a question. Beck nodded sharply once and reached for his leather bag…
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To be continued…
All the “Mutations” posts can be read here.
Links to other blogs and stories:
1) The mysterious callers hail from Darien’s blog here.
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Another mystery reader!
My stats page tells me that someone is reading my “Goodunnit?” story. Thank you to my second mystery reader (my first was here) and I really hope you like it – it was great fun to write. Comments are always apreciated 
Mutations: Chapter 4 – A Wonderful Gift!
There was a knock at the door, a quick hard rap followed by hurried footsteps on the wooden steps leading down the streets and alleys below. I put down my fork, my breakfast half-eaten, and strode across the room. I knew there would be no one outside and I was right, but what I did find was a gift box wrapped in exquisite paper and red ribbons…
A small card was tucked under the bow declaring “A gift from A Concerned Citizen…” Who could have left this, I wondered and more importantly, what could it be?
I took the box inside and opened it on my small table. I gasped out loud as I saw someone had sent me a new microscope to replace my father’s!
Now I could carry on my studies in to the mysterious illness that was spreading through Shamian Alley. I wonder which benevolent soul I had to thank for this wonderful gift…?
What the bloody flip?
I like to check my blog stats. It a mixture of vanity & masochism; the former as I like to see how many people are reading my work and linking to it, the latter because the answer to both is “not many”. Still, my blog gets between 20 & 100 hits a day. Until today. Suddenly today I’ve had over 250 hits. How bloody odd! Look…
There’s a curious piece of CSS code from CNN listed in the ‘Referrer’ box – I took a looksee but couldn’t make head nor tail of it – I wonder if that is artificially driving my hit spike upwards?
