Transcripts from Science Fiction Saturday, a regular event in Second Life. Hosted by the group Science Fiction Discussion each Saturday at 2.00 p.m. SL time.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

21 March 2009: Channel Island Asylum

[13:57] Jago Constantine: Hey Fourside :)
[13:57] Fourside Janus: Hi!
[13:57] Eddi Haskell: hai
[13:57] Jago Constantine: The meeting will be at the far end of the building behind me
[13:57] Eddi Haskell: im wearing a haradous duty uniforum / hazardous
[13:57] Lewis Luminos: hi guys :)
[13:57] Jago Constantine: Sorry about the bad landing point
[13:57] Fourside Janus: k... still rezzing, can't see much.
[13:57] Eddi Haskell: hi
[13:57] Jago Constantine: Hi, Lewis / The meeting is in the end of the building ... sorry we had to arrive a ways from it
[13:58] Eddi Haskell: i just suprised jago with a new appearance. Hes trying to digest it
[13:58] Jago Constantine: heh
[13:59] Fourside Janus: Wait... are you saying we're going thru an asylum to reach the meeting?
[13:59] Jago Constantine: you look pretty similar eddi :P
[13:59] Eddi Haskell: ah
[13:59] Jago Constantine: lol
[13:59] Lewis Luminos: that sounds like a polite way of saying he doesnt like it
[13:59] Jago Constantine: it is in the asylum :)
[13:59] Eddi Haskell: of course he dont like it lol / i changed back
[14:00] Jago Constantine: I will cam out here from the room and keep an eye out for people
[14:00] Eddi Haskell: you should never suprise your partner with a new look
[14:00] Jago Constantine: let's go in
[14:00] Eddi Haskell: reminds me of where I grew up in brooklny / i dont have lag / just a bit
[14:01] Fourside Janus: Any chance you have the LM?
[14:01] Eddi Haskell: lol / this place is so creepy / i like it / hi lewis
[14:02] Fourside Janus: I'm just glad it's not "The Cradle".
[14:02] Eddi Haskell: hiya fourside
[14:02] Fourside Janus: Ji.
[14:02] Eddi Haskell: i have a photo of insilico in the paper metaverse manager
[14:02] Jago Constantine: we can't take LMs in here
[14:02] Eddi Haskell: on page 8 / if you want to check it out / you can take a slurl / i also have a feature coming up in sl vibe on insilico
[14:03] Fourside Janus: Oh, right SLURL...
[14:03] Lewis Luminos: lol "The A to Z of Electrotherapy", one of the books on the floor here
[14:03] Eddi Haskell: how about
[14:03] Lewis Luminos: by Doctor Linden :-D
[14:03] Eddi Haskell: thorazine for you and me
[14:03] Jago Constantine: lol yes
[14:04] Eddi Haskell: they give you that sometimes for hiccups
[14:05] Jago Constantine: Hi, Ilsa, welcome :)
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: hi lisa / ilsa sprecht deutsche? / bitte sehes? / bitte sehen?> / seine namen ist deutsche / oh good i dont have to translate LOL
[14:06] Jago Constantine: I am lagging today so please bear with me everyone / Anyway, this isn't really a sci fi location, but it is haunted :P
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: jago let me check the sim to see if it is laggy
[14:06] Lewis Luminos: you're grey Jago / at least to me
[14:07] Jago Constantine: I think it is me
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: no lag
[14:07] Jago Constantine: I was very slow logging in and lagged out tping a few times
[14:07] Fourside Janus: How's it haunted?
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: the fps is 34 / the 45 / so
[14:08] Fourside Janus: ?
[14:08] Eddi Haskell: jago is lagging today so
[14:08] Jago Constantine: I have bad chat lag this morning sorry
[14:08] Eddi Haskell: he might have a delay
[14:09] Lewis Luminos: i haven't seen a ghost yet Fourside
[14:09] Eddi Haskell: hes in australia and the server serving that could be overwhlemed
[14:09] Jago Constantine: You can hear them in some places if you have sound on
[14:09] Fourside Janus: Hm.
[14:09] Eddi Haskell: i can tell if there are ghosts i have been tested by professional ghosthunters im serious
[14:10] Eddi Haskell: i was on the Queen Mary and there are no ghosts there
[14:10] Jago Constantine: heh I am sceptical of that eddi :P / the sound of crazy laughing, or childlike giggling
[14:10] Fourside Janus: I should probably turn down my techno mix...
[14:10] Eddi Haskell: it cant be proven / so you should be / i started reading snowcrash
[14:11] Jago Constantine: Cool
[14:12] Eddi Haskell: im really not a sci fi reader but i read all the time so its good
[14:12] Lewis Luminos: how are you going with it?
[14:12] Eddi Haskell: my mom is a heavy sci fi reader / she wanted to watch the meeting but shes at a seminoar now / ok / hwo am i going with it / why is it so dark? / in general
[14:12] Lewis Luminos: hehe I think its meant to be
[14:13] Eddi Haskell: is the vast majority of thesci fi genre dark
[14:13] Jago Constantine: I liked the darkness of it :)
[14:13] Eddi Haskell: i can too / ok
[14:13] Lewis Luminos: the majority of the cyberpunk genre is
[14:13] Eddi Haskell: ok tto fill you in on me when Im not doing photography / and writing articles / i read history and bios / so this is a good change for me
[14:14] Jago Constantine: heh
[14:14] Lewis Luminos: I really liked Snow Crash
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: so the thing amazing about it / is how much ternminology he has thought of
[14:14] Jago Constantine: Yes, Neal Stephenson is good for that ... / LOL I read Anathem earlier in the year, his newest book, it is full of invented terms
[14:15] Eddi Haskell: i will read that next / what came to mind for me oddly / in 1993 / called VRML / the first virtual reality language / computer language was written
[14:15] Jago Constantine: I think you would be better to read The Diamond Age next, it is sort of a continuance of Snow Crash in some ways
[14:15] Eddi Haskell: ok / ill get throught that one first
[14:15] Lewis Luminos makes a note
[14:15] Jago Constantine: I liked it better too :)
[14:16] Fourside Janus: ditto.
[14:16] Eddi Haskell: VRML predicated things that we take for granted for example embedding hyperlinks within this environment / the era was the same / that oddly enough was in my mind when I started reading
[14:16] Lewis Luminos: thats interesting
[14:16] Jago Constantine: cool
[14:17] Eddi Haskell: yeah back in 1993 the entire idea of a consumer web was out there as Second Life is to 99% of the world today
[14:17] Jago Constantine: I like the idea of the burbclaves
[14:17] Eddi Haskell: yes
[14:17] Jago Constantine: each of these different communities
[14:17] Lewis Luminos: yes those are great
[14:17] Eddi Haskell: that is exaclty what happened here
[14:17] Lewis Luminos: commercially-owned neighbouthoods
[14:17] Jago Constantine: there's a book that is similar in a lot of ways, Only Forward, by Michael Marshall Smith / different suburbs with different cultures / I really enjoyed that too ... a lot of fun
[14:19] Eddi Haskell: thing is
[14:19] Jago Constantine: Yes, SL has turned into burbclaves lol
[14:19] Eddi Haskell: yes
[14:19] Fourside Janus: O.o
[14:19] Lewis Luminos: haha yes
[14:19] Eddi Haskell: with these vr novels / i imagine there are many of then out there / they are all written as if we are applying first world or real world
[14:20] Eddi Haskell: concepts
[14:20] Lewis Luminos: I'd love to find more
[14:20] Eddi Haskell: snwo crash is / you are looking from here in / has any been writtien / the other way around?
[14:20] Lewis Luminos: there was an element of VR in "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"
[14:20] Eddi Haskell: sometimes / ues / FUNNY
[14:20] Lewis Luminos: totally missed out the movie, unless you count the unicorn thing
[14:20] Eddi Haskell: electric sheep iinvented windlight / the company / that iw where they got the name i guess
[14:21] Lewis Luminos: I guess so :)
[14:21] Eddi Haskell: what is everyone else reading
[14:22] Lewis Luminos: well I finished the Scar on Thursday
[14:22] Eddi Haskell: what is that about
[14:22] Jago Constantine: How did you like it?
[14:22] Lewis Luminos: Its the sequel to Perdido Street Station / Very interesting setting, a city at sea, made up of many boats lashed together
[14:23] Jago Constantine: Remember the last meeting was set there babe?
[14:23] Lewis Luminos: but... I dunno. I actually didnt like it as much as Perdido
[14:23] Fourside Janus: Sounds familiar... :D
[14:24] Jago Constantine: I liked it more
[14:24] Lewis Luminos: I was going through the whole thing waiting for this great exciting climax when they reached the Scar, and it didnt happen
[14:24] Eddi Haskell: we are kinda far from each other
[14:24] Jago Constantine: It was more fun I thought / We can still hear each other :P
[14:24] Eddi Haskell: oh / ok
[14:25] Lewis Luminos: I think it didn't help that I didn;t particularly like the main character / not as much as I liked Isaac and Lin
[14:25] Jago Constantine: Bellis was it?
[14:25] Lewis Luminos: yeah / stick up goth chick :P / *stuck-up
[14:25] Jago Constantine: I wanted more about the spy :P / she was a bit of a cold fish
[14:26] Lewis Luminos: I wanted more about The Lovers, and Uther
[14:26] Jago Constantine: yes they were cool / some really interesting backstories too
[14:26] Lewis Luminos: but on the whole I liked the story from Perdido better than this one
[14:26] Jago Constantine: ok / Oh eddi another excellent VR story is Permutation City by Greg Egan
[14:27] Eddi Haskell: cool / i have to write that down
[14:27] Fourside Janus: Well, I know I'm not going to be short on readng material for a bit...
[14:27] Jago Constantine: heh :) / What are you reading now, Fourside?
[14:28] Fourside Janus: I just discovered "Buck Godot - Zapgun for hire" http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php Last thing I read was http://www.setileague.org/articles/meat.htm
[14:28] Jago Constantine: Heh I like that story
[14:28] Fourside Janus: Both of them are somewhat silly...
[14:28] Jago Constantine: they're made of meat, it's a classic :)
[14:29] Jago Constantine: "They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
[14:29] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:29] Lewis Luminos: o.O / lol
[14:29] Eddi Haskell: it sounds like the club jago and I were at yesterday
[14:29] Jago Constantine: it is about alien perceptions of us fleshy earthlings :P
[14:30] Fourside Janus: Which club?
[14:30] Eddi Haskell: warehouse / i need to behave myself at these meetings
[14:30] Jago Constantine: The Wharf you mean :P
[14:30] Eddi Haskell: yeah
[14:30] Jago Constantine: It's a gay club / pretty fun
[14:31] Eddi Haskell: its gay but not that gay, anyone can come / btw before i forget jago is in this huge blog
[14:31] Jago Constantine: Anyway I read The Collapsium by Wil McCarthy this week
[14:31] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:32] Eddi Haskell: http://www.eddihaskell.com/ / no / i will give you the url
[14:32] Jago Constantine: I am quoted in New World Notes :P / About the Adult Continent thing
[14:32] Lewis Luminos: cool
[14:33] Eddi Haskell: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/03/adult-praise.html
[14:33] Jago Constantine: Anyway The Collapsium is an interesting vision of the future
[14:33] Eddi Haskell: that is another book or short story jago? / who is the author
[14:33] Jago Constantine: a novel / Wil McCarthy / One funny part is that the human race has become united in a monarchy / The monarchy of tonga, which was the only surviving monarchy when they decided that was the system they wanted
[14:34] Lewis Luminos: lol
[14:35] Fourside Janus: So it was the Tongans all along! Ah, I mean. Haha, intersting.
[14:35] Lewis Luminos: what happened to the monarchy of Britain? Oh, I guess it all collapses when Carlie takes te trone
[14:35] Jago Constantine: heh
[14:35] Lewis Luminos: *Charlie
[14:35] Jago Constantine: it doesn't really say I think ... :P
[14:35] Eddi Haskell: charlie means idiot in england
[14:36] Lewis Luminos: well I was referring to Prince Charles, but yeah, same ting
[14:36] Eddi Haskell: lol
[14:36] Jago Constantine: But anyway, a very positive look at the future, humans are doing some cool things
[14:36] Lewis Luminos: sounds cool
[14:36] Eddi Haskell: i know
[14:36] Jago Constantine: the author is a physicist so his speculations are really interesting / even a kind of teleportation / It is the first in a series so I might check them out / so that will be what I'm reading next ... how about you, Lewis?
[14:38] Lewis Luminos: I dont have anything lined up yet. Trip to the library on Monday, see wat I can find / I should make a habit of picking the next book BEFORE I finish the last one
[14:39] Jago Constantine: heh / I usually get two at once from the library
[14:39] Fourside Janus: Heh, that's why I like anthologies.
[14:39] Eddi Haskell: i need to stop buying them and taking them out LOL
[14:39] Lewis Luminos: well I bought The Scar / library didn't have it
[14:40] Jago Constantine: I like book exchanges too
[14:40] Lewis Luminos: I trawl te second hand shops a lot
[14:40] Jago Constantine: I have one near me where I can usually swap books for good rates
[14:41] Lewis Luminos: I will probably swap The Scar away
[14:41] Fourside Janus: I find it interesting that there are still places unconnected to the internet for selling, simply because it's too complex...
[14:42] Jago Constantine: heh
[14:42] Lewis Luminos: internet use is still pretty much a minority, at least in the UK
[14:42] Jago Constantine: a lot of them are online in some way I find
[14:42] Jago Constantine: but you're right
[14:42] Lewis Luminos: I think its about 12% of the population, someting like that
[14:43] Lewis Luminos: or 12% of households
[14:43] Jago Constantine: wow that seems low
[14:43] Fourside Janus: Hmm... I wonder if a person could make a living just driving around buying & reselling online.
[14:43] Lewis Luminos: well dont forget 50% of te population in the UK is over 50
[14:43] Eddi Haskell: no cant be
[14:43] Eddi Haskell: is it? over 50? wow
[14:43] Jago Constantine: If you knew what you were looking for you could
[14:44] Lewis Luminos: its very close, according to statistics I read recently
[14:44] Lewis Luminos: I used to make a profit, buying up things like comics, science fiction toys and stuff, in Manchester
[14:44] Lewis Luminos: then going do conventions in London and selling the stuff
[14:45] Lewis Luminos: usually made enough profit to cover my ticket
[14:45] Jago Constantine: http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm
[14:45] Jago Constantine: this site says almost 70% of the uk are internet users
[14:45] Eddi Haskell: that is correct
[14:45] Lewis Luminos: wow
[14:45] Eddi Haskell: it is higher then the united states
[14:45] Lewis Luminos: thats gone up fast then
[14:45] Eddi Haskell: but
[14:46] Eddi Haskell: teletext is estblished there
[14:46] Fourside Janus: Canada has the higest %?
[14:46] Jago Constantine: maybe you hears 17 when they said 70 :P
[14:46] Lewis Luminos: maybe its a different thing, does this one count people who have internet access at school or work, but not at home?
[14:46] Lewis Luminos: I think the % I read was home use
[14:46] Jago Constantine: Not sure
[14:46] Jago Constantine: Australia is about 80% ... we are fast with technology uptake
[14:46] Lewis Luminos: but admittedly it was a couple of years ago
[14:47] Jago Constantine: Do you have any reading plans, Fourside?
[14:48] Fourside Janus: I was thinking either "The Best of Robert Silverberg" or...
[14:49] Fourside Janus: Gnoph http://www.drunkduck.com/Gnoph/index.php?p=527206 which has something to do with internal parasites. Might check out the titles mentioned here if I burn through 'em.
[14:49] Jago Constantine: hmm haven't heard of that one
[14:49] Jago Constantine: He is good, a real master
[14:49] Jago Constantine: silverberg
[14:50] Fourside Janus: I don't think I've read any of his works, would you reccomend anything else by him? Or everything?
[14:51] Jago Constantine: I liked his majipoor books when I read them
[14:51] Jago Constantine: particularly the first one I guess
[14:51] Jago Constantine: they are kind of fantasy
[14:52] Fourside Janus: Heh http://www.majipoor.com "the official site of Robert Silverberg".
[14:52] Fourside Janus: Quasi-*
[14:52] Eddi Haskell: hi antwan
[14:52] Jago Constantine: Hi, Antwan
[14:52] Jago Constantine: yeah
[14:52] Fourside Janus: Hi! And maybe!
[14:53] Fourside Janus: Am I the only one with voice?
[14:53] Jago Constantine: Downward to Earth is a good Silverberg novel
[14:53] Lewis Luminos: I dont have voice
[14:53] Jago Constantine: I don't either :P
[14:54] Fourside Janus: Ah.
[14:54] Eddi Haskell: you have been blogged take a look before you go http://eddihaskell.blogspot.com/
[14:54] Lewis Luminos: lol Eddi!
[14:54] Eddi Haskell: lol
[14:54] Fourside Janus: ...
[14:55] Eddi Haskell: your in there too fourside
[14:55] Jago Constantine: Also The Man in the Maze, which is kind of a rip off of Algis Budrys' Rogue Moon
[14:55] Jago Constantine: Cool Eddi :)
[14:55] Eddi Haskell: :)
[14:56] Jago Constantine: Ok, the next meeting will be at the Museum of Robots :)
[14:56] Lewis Luminos: cool :)
[14:56] Fourside Janus: Hmm... I have to see that.
[14:56] Jago Constantine: I'll send out a notice to the group soon
[14:56] Jago Constantine: the landing point will be a little way from the meeting area again sorry
[14:56] Fourside Janus: Have you held a metting at the dinosaur park yet?
[14:57] Jago Constantine: not yet
[14:57] Jago Constantine: sounds interesting ... do you have an LM?
[14:57] Jago Constantine: Thanks, I'll check it out!
[14:57] Lewis Luminos: thanks :)
[14:57] Eddi Haskell: oh cool fourside maybe i will write aobut it in vibe
[14:57] Fourside Janus: )
[14:57] Lewis Luminos: guess we'll need safari gear
[14:57] Jago Constantine: heh that would be fun :)
[14:58] Eddi Haskell: i work for two publications, metaeverse messenger and sl vibe
[14:58] Fourside Janus: Gotta check those out now... argh... too many windows...
[14:58] Eddi Haskell: so i like cool places to photo
[14:58] Jago Constantine: Ok, thanks for coming again!
[14:58] Lewis Luminos: Eddi do you have a Flickr page?
[14:59] Jago Constantine: Have a wander around the asylum, it's pretty cute for a linden build

No comments:

Post a Comment