Caledon Oxbridge Q&A for 2014-03-16
| 15:01 | Tali Rosca | Greetings, and welcome to this week's QA. As most of you know, this is a somewhat freeform QA session where the deans try to answer questions about Oxbridge and Caledon in general. |
| 15:01 | Tali Rosca | Each dean has an area of responsibility, as you can see here: http://www.caledonoxbridge.org/qna_index.php |
| 15:02 | Tali Rosca | So let us set to it tonight. |
| 15:02 | Tali Rosca | Who has the first question? |
| 15:03 | Tali Rosca | ...if any. |
| 15:04 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | In SL, from the Marketplace :-) |
| 15:05 | Tali Rosca | Hm. Any topics worth bringing up in general, then? |
| 15:05 | Mr. Snow (tehckisnow) | What is the future of Oxbridge? Where is it heading? |
| 15:06 | Tali Rosca | In the general sense, no big changes are planned. |
| 15:06 | Tali Rosca | Our bread-and-butter are the tutorial and the classes. |
| 15:07 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Which are updated as times demand. |
| 15:07 | Tali Rosca | We *hope* to become a bit more of a clearinghouse for events, like the building contest earlier this year, but, well, it largely depends on whether there even *are* such events. |
| 15:09 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Any news about the airship network? |
| 15:09 | Red Quixote | occasional bits of chatter in the COUG IM would suggest that the milling crowds would like more events in the form of dances and other social events |
| 15:10 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Those are more likely to be events of Caledon in general ... at least the dances. |
| 15:10 | Tali Rosca | The question is, though, whether the *faculty* should be the primary drivers for such, or merely help with PR and coordination. |
| 15:10 | Red Quixote | aye,. .just relating things I seen mentioned in chat by the scholars |
| 15:11 | Larkylouz | Perhaps a bit more publicity of aetherchronicles? Often there are 3 or 4 events announced on ISC within minutes of each other. Or encourage ISC folks to crosspost on COUG? Although some folks may be leery of opening up to newbs. |
| 15:11 | Tali Rosca | But yes, I would like to see some "Oxbridge slant" to any such events. |
| 15:11 | Red Quixote | that was the general impression I got as well |
| 15:11 | Larkylouz | Tell them they have to carry a clothing box on their right hand for entrance? ;^p |
| 15:11 | Meora (menchor) | Ha ha ha hahahaaa |
| 15:12 | Red Quixote | not necessarily ISC affiliated |
| 15:12 | Tali Rosca | Actually, the sign of an oldbie would be to wear the box *on the head*. |
| 15:12 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | :-) |
| 15:12 | Larkylouz | See? An intrinsic form of class identification! |
| 15:12 | Tali Rosca | Having the hand as the default attachment spot is some new-fangled pandering :-P |
| 15:12 | Mr. Snow (tehckisnow) | A real blockhead, eh? |
| 15:13 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Well, that would mean coming in using Minecraft avatar :-) |
| 15:13 | Tali Rosca | Joking apart, Oxbridge has no influence on the general ISC schedule. |
| 15:14 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | It may also be a matter of those on COUG not being aware of the plethora of events in Caledon. |
| 15:15 | Tali Rosca | But the point is taken that a lot of the events which *are* going on in Caledon may not reach people who are *only* in COUG. |
| 15:15 | Red Quixote | aye |
| 15:15 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | The is one problematic point on each side. |
| 15:15 | Tali Rosca | I am not sure if we want general social announcements in COUG, though. |
| 15:16 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Most of the Caledon events are on moderate sims. Oxbridge, on the other hand, is a homestead sim. |
| 15:16 | Red Quixote | perhaps a weekly or bi-weekly 'dance' ?.. of course,. that would take orgainization... and a DJ.... |
| 15:16 | Red Quixote | I am by no means volunteering :P |
| 15:16 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | I think Patty Poppy used to have something like that... |
| 15:16 | Red Quixote | aye,.. the Alley cat dance |
| 15:17 | Tali Rosca | -I am hearing fairly reliable rumors about Carl taking up the trivia quiz again. |
| 15:17 | Red Quixote | maybe we could impress upon her to announce that dance in COUG? |
| 15:17 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And Lucian Brentano, who is part of Oxbridge, DJ's the Big Brass Balls, aka BBB |
| 15:17 | Gronk Seriman | Patty Poppy produced perfectly peachy parties. |
| 15:17 | Red Quixote | trivia is a great idea... and of course there is primtionary |
| 15:17 | Tali Rosca | You have just been itching for a chance to use that sentence, haven't you? |
| 15:17 | Steadman Kondor | the trivia quizes were fun ... |
| 15:18 | Gronk Seriman | Perhaps. |
| 15:18 | 55s ETC | greetings are we using voice/audio / |
| 15:18 | Larkylouz | LOL Gronk |
| 15:18 | Red Quixote | ;D Gronk |
| 15:18 | Tali Rosca | The trivia quiz seems like something with a good "Oxbridge slant" to a social event. |
| 15:18 | Chat Range Scanner | ...Wordsmith Jarvinen left chat range |
| 15:18 | Red Quixote | aye |
| 15:18 | Tali Rosca | And no, ETC; we're purely in text. |
| 15:18 | Larkylouz | And sounds like something accessible to a new person. |
| 15:18 | 55s ETC | k |
| 15:18 | Chat Range Scanner | Wordsmith Jarvinen entered chat range [] |
| 15:19 | Red Quixote | I would have to agree |
| 15:19 | Tali Rosca | (Carl has asked me to do some scripting for that trivia quiz, so it is *quite* reliable rumors). |
| 15:20 | Red Quixote | good to know :) |
| 15:21 | Chat Range Scanner | ...Wordsmith Jarvinen left chat range |
| 15:21 | Steadman Kondor | mr woodget runs his tea dances quite regularly too doesn't he? perhaps a social calendar similar to the class list is useful for visitors to know of events going on |
| 15:22 | Tali Rosca | Potentially, we could have an inworld texture version of the week's Aether calendar. |
| 15:22 | Tali Rosca | Though it would take a little work to get running easily. |
| 15:23 | Tali Rosca | But it may be worth considering. |
| 15:23 | Gronk Seriman | Is it possible to post a website on a prim? Simply post the Aether calendar on a signboard? |
| 15:23 | Tali Rosca | It is, but I don't think most newbies would ever see that (or oldbies, for that matter). |
| 15:23 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | It is. |
| 15:24 | Tali Rosca | HTML-on-a-prim is not something which ever really caught on as a default to show easily. |
| 15:24 | Larkylouz | I believe there is at least an iformational sign out there. |
| 15:25 | Steadman Kondor | i would be happy to coordinate some sort of textured prim with social listings |
| 15:25 | Tali Rosca | That would be great. |
| 15:25 | Steadman Kondor | something that i could update fairly quickly and regularly... |
| 15:26 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Yes, that would be great. |
| 15:27 | Larkylouz | Would it be difficult to have it dispense a notecard, too? If not updated weekly, then with the URL of Aether Chrononauts? |
| 15:27 | Steadman Kondor | did we decide where it would be placed? in the hall here, and boards outside? |
| 15:27 | Larkylouz | That would make it easy to pass out to folks in the orientation. |
| 15:27 | Tali Rosca nods. "A notecard would make sense, too." | |
| 15:27 | Steadman Kondor | a n/c is a good idea, and do-able |
| 15:29 | Tali Rosca | Let us see if we can get that running. I don't know exactly where it would be placed yet, but we'll figure that out. |
| 15:30 | Red Quixote | that would more than likely suffice |
| 15:31 | Larkylouz | Thanks, folks. |
| 15:31 | Tali Rosca | So, that was a fairly long train of thought from the initial question. |
| 15:31 | Tali Rosca | Anybody wants to start the next? |
| 15:32 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | i have a save as cache ///etc question that may be a little involved.... |
| 15:32 | Red Quixote | welll the question was " where is Oxbridge going".. and I don't think we're 'going' anywhere,.. we like it here ;P |
| 15:32 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | oh ok |
| 15:33 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | oh |
| 15:33 | Red Quixote | sorry didn't mean to interrupt 55,. go ahead |
| 15:33 | Gronk Seriman | We are currently headed West. And the Deans are headed East. |
| 15:33 | Tali Rosca | ETC, if the question is specific support for a problem you have, we generally leave that out of the QA, unless it is something which is likely to affect a lot of people. |
| 15:33 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Drifty Deans? |
| 15:33 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | i might be headed underground...hahahha |
| 15:33 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | ...only way is up, baby... |
| 15:33 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | ok ill try this |
| 15:33 | Steadman Kondor | east and west meet on the other side of the divide? :P |
| 15:33 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | I wonder: for every account/alt should i segergate my cache and back up files or can i use the same cache and backup for each account provided i dont vary the configurations. I plan to leave my cache save as to default whereas my bk up files to a main save as file away from my ssd drive to my 2and hard drive. hope this all makes scence. |
| 15:34 | Tali Rosca | I am a little unsure why you would even want a backup. |
| 15:34 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | the option is ther |
| 15:34 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | my ssd is rather small |
| 15:35 | Tali Rosca | The servers are the authoritative repository of *anything* in SL, so you can't really use a backup for anything. |
| 15:35 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | ok |
| 15:35 | Tali Rosca | (Except, possibly for the specific configuration files for the client setup, such as color). |
| 15:35 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Well, perhaps to save downloading textures that are cached. |
| 15:35 | Tali Rosca | But those are hardly high-value files. |
| 15:35 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | bk up prefferances |
| 15:36 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | im more concerned about my cache files |
| 15:36 | Tali Rosca | Your cache files are, by definition, temporary files which can just be thrown away and automatically be regenerated. |
| 15:36 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | ok |
| 15:37 | Tali Rosca | In fact, restoring them from a backup could quite likely *confuse* the system as to which files are the latest, and what should be downloaded. |
| 15:37 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | right ok |
| 15:37 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | There cache is there to save re-downloading if something is used repetively. |
| 15:38 | Tali Rosca | It sounds, though, as if you have a client where that is a specific option? |
| 15:38 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Much the same idea as browser caching. |
| 15:39 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | i dont use my alt very often ...but i dont want to confuse the isssue by segregating my cache files to each one |
| 15:40 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | sry if i sound to confusing |
| 15:40 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | I have had trouble with downloading the new firestorm viewer my antimalware finds something on the site so if any of you are using firestorm please watch it when downloading |
| 15:40 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | There might be a limited advantage if an alt hung around in different places, but not really significant. |
| 15:40 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | ok |
| 15:41 | Tali Rosca | The various SL clients have been known to trigger malware warnings now and then; they are very complicated programs which access a lot of resources, so sometimes, they trip an alarm in some of those scanners. |
| 15:42 | Tali Rosca | I'd say it is very unlikely that one of the "big" clients contain any such active malware, Emerald history none-withstanding. |
| 15:43 | Tali Rosca | Even the LL client has tripped such alarms at times. |
| 15:44 | Tali Rosca | That said, the client is code running with full access to everything on your machine, so do not run it if you do not trust the developer. |
| 15:44 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | a roumer that vox voice is about to update their software.... |
| 15:44 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I do recall seeing something to that effect. |
| 15:45 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | ok |
| 15:45 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | thats maybe overdue.... |
| 15:45 | Tali Rosca | Wouldn't a voice update effectively be "just an update" like any other client update? |
| 15:46 | Tali Rosca | Most clients do update regularly with new features. |
| 15:47 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | I have been told the new one has some bugs in it though so it maybe a good idea to stick with the one I have |
| 15:47 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | im not sure thats one area i never hear about |
| 15:47 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | wb Elfbiter |
| 15:47 | Tali Rosca | The voice component is a bit of a stand-alone program, but it is still bundled and distributed with the client updates. |
| 15:47 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | It's essentially a separate program run by the viewer. |
| 15:48 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Any chance that the antivirus would react to old Emerald features? |
| 15:48 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | right ...so if a newer version is put in place i thk wed have no choice in the matter |
| 15:48 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | not sure |
| 15:48 | Tali Rosca | Unlikely. The Emerald poisoning was not of a type which was caught by such scanners anyway. |
| 15:48 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Just speculating. |
| 15:49 | 55s ETC (55aaa.danick) | thk you ..i have to scoot along.... |
| 15:51 | Tali Rosca | We're closing in on the hour, so any last topic? |
| 15:51 | Gronk Seriman | So far, I am enjoying the latest Firestorm 64-bit release. |
| 15:52 | Tali Rosca | It's nice to see Firestorm catch up. Hopefully, they have cleaned the code base enough that they can keep up the pace. |
| 15:52 | Tali Rosca | The more viewers share the latest features, the better. That allows creators to start targeting such features. |
| 15:53 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | the maleware it sites I have run into before though |
| 15:53 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Often what runs into isn't the software but that the webpage has been hacked. |
| 15:54 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | ah that may be it |
| 15:54 | Tali Rosca | It is possible that a distribution site has been compromised, yes. |
| 15:54 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | That gets into a database and can take a while to clear even after the problem is fixed. |
| 15:54 | Gronk Seriman | James, was it the software download the antivirus didn't like, or the website itself? |
| 15:55 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | the download it detected something on itI think |
| 15:55 | Tali Rosca | Still, most malware scanners use a "heurestic" mode to detect general patterns which look suspicious, and as I said, the SL client has enough code which reads and writes from and to disk and contacts several web sites that it can very easily look suspicious. |
| 15:56 | Tali Rosca | I am not saying Firestorm is *not* infected, so don't take this as a "just run it, there will be no problems", but it *is* quite likely to be a false positive. |
| 15:56 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | ok |
| 15:57 | Tali Rosca | But if in doubt, stick to, say, the LL client until things get sorted out. |
| 15:57 | Meora (menchor) | or ask in the firestorm help chat |
| 15:58 | Tali Rosca is personally a fan of the Kokua viewer, which matches the LL closely, with some of the niceties you're used to from other viewers. | |
| 15:58 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | good idea |
| 15:59 | Tali Rosca | The Firestorm support group is generally quite active. |
| 15:59 | Larkylouz | And knowlagable, from what I've seen |
| 16:00 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | One might hope. ;) |
| 16:00 | Tali Rosca | I think that is it for tonight. |
| 16:00 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Thank you all. |
| 16:00 | Larkylouz | Thank you, Deans, all. |
| 16:00 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Bedtime for me. |
| 16:00 | Gronk Seriman | Thank you, Deans! |
| 16:00 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | ok thank you Tali Wordsmith thank you both |
| 16:00 | Meora (menchor) | ty |
| 16:00 | Larkylouz | Good night, Mr. Skysmith |
| 16:00 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Be seeing you |
| 16:01 | Red Quixote | good job Deans |
| 16:01 | James MacCloude (mac6572) | see you elf |