Cub Run Over (Sigh)
Well, the Cub based beehive didn’t work out… went back to the sim and the build was deleted and my primitives autoreturned to my inventory. Hucka D. cried when he found out, and I so hated to see the little guy unhappy that I allowed him to build a new beehive in the sky above our property. It’s mostly based on the design of the former beehive. And what a little builder he’s turning out to bee! (sorry) Check this out: only 16 prims used in the construction of this 3.6 meters wide, 20 meters long, and *50* meter tall structure. It’s a little complicated. Let’s start at the top.
Here you see Hucka D. at the top. Usually he sits in the white chair to position himself on this top while flying above, and then stands and walks over to the holes that lead inside. If you look closely here you’ll notice the two distinct “holes.” One is created by hollowing out the 10 x 10 x 3.5m prim (the whole structure is a 5×2 stack of these prims hollowed or cut in various ways) to create a circular hole. Then the prim is additionally spliced off from the corner in such a way that another hole that Hucka D. can fit through is formed. Then, in addition, Hucka D. can just squeeze inbetween the two holes, a crucial linking aspect to access all parts of the building.
This is what happens when Hucka D. drops into the circular hole, which is mulithued internally (Linden tie dye texture). He enters the first of two main galleries of 20m long by 10m high by 3.5m wide, with one long side made entirely up of windows. You can see through these windows on the inside, but outside they don’t show up. All you see on the outside, in front, is a rusty door texture chosen from Atoll textures option given to us all by the Lindens when we were birthed in their metaverse.
Notice there’s also a giant eucalyptus tree in the gallery, and I stuck this in the two cut holes of each of the two galleries. Which moves us to…
… the intermediary rooms, which make up floors 1, 3 and 5 in Hucka’s naming scheme. The main galleries I’ve already mentioned would be floors 2 and 4, with floor 0 being the same as the top of the structure. All of these intermediary galleries (floors 1, 3, 5) are reached only through the *cut* holes in the prims above. These intermediary galleries are actually 1/2 galleries, but with a little additional solid floor just below the cut hole to allow Hucka D. to land in the gallery in the first place. All of these have window that run across the bottom of the floor, and all except the bottom have parts of one of the 2 eucalyptus trees poking into them, a nice visual. So below we have a view within the 3rd and last (lowest) of these 1/2 galleries, with Hucka D. observing through the window in the floor our skybox and land property immediately below.
One of the neat things about the beehive is that you get views in all four directions, since the window of the main galleries (floors 2 and 4) face in opposite directions — north and south — and the top and bottom of the 3 1/2 galleries have open sides facing west, while the middle of the 1/2 galleries has its open side facing east.
Here’s the whole structure with a happy, smiling Hucka D. posing in front of it.
So to review briefly: using the hollow cuts, you can access only the 2 main galleries (floors 2 and 4). With the corner cuts you can access all the intermediary or 1/2 galleries (floors 1, 3, 5). Confused? It’s just something you have to really visit and get inside to understand. Niether Baker Blinker nor Baker Bloch have been inside, but they could probably fit into the holes as well. I think.
Since the cuts are so small the easiest way to get back to the top is simply fly out of one of the open sides. If you choose to move through the entirety of the structure, top to bottom, you can then just fly out the bottom hole on the end and go back to the top, or other destinations.
CREEK (New Hope)
Family Meeting
Hucka D. absolutely *luvs* his new beehive, and does not lament about the fact that the Cub Run is over for us as a family. It was a good run. Now all builds will focus on the AI property. Hucka D.’s new beehive (see post below) is positioned around 100 meters higher than the treehouse, still low enough where you can take in the surrounding landscape with a 512m draw. I feel views are very imp. for a skybox, but it may also be interesting to experiment with the isolation of one way up high, say above 1000m. And Hucka D.’s beehive, 50 meters high, only used 16 prims (!). I can see building a number of these, although the treehouse skybox may have to be stored until later if I do. Or the ground house — can’t get rid of that yet, though!
At some point I want to purchase a Victorian house I’ve had my eye on and merge it with the present ground house. But that’s a little later. Also want to work on some CHRO cubes, which should be a lot of fun. OH, I think I’m going to buy some new keyboards in Asheville this weekend, speaking of CHRO. Definitely need a house keyboard. This is a birthday present.
I wanted to talk a bit with Hucka D. about the gallery, etc., so let’s bring him in. Hucka D., come in Hucka D.
“Hi Baker B.”
bb:
Hello Hucka D. Glad you like the beehive so much.
Hucka D.:
Walking through it for the first time may have been my happiest moment in SL so far, except for meeting Hurla Dontbee, of course.
bb:
Ahem… yeah. How’s she doing?
Hucka D.:
She’ll be moving in soon. I thought I’d give her the odd numbered floors and I’d live in the even numbered floors, or 2 and 4. The 2 main galleries. She’d have 3 rooms to my 2 rooms, although mine are admittedly larger. But they also have holes in them, though (smiles). The top floor, the roof, I call floor 0. We’d share that one, since it is the entrance to the whole complex. So it’s a kind of male-female club sandwich as I see it.
bb:
Interesting. Would you like to talk to Baker Bloch or Baker Blinker about anything in particular tonight Hucka D.?
Hucka D.:
Yourself is fine. How’s our volcano trip going? I take it something went amiss, perhaps?
bb:
Thank you Hucka D. I’m not sure if the tent still acts as a portal to the gallery. Or the loop back will ever be accomplished. Does this mean Verdy sacrifices herself for nothing? She went into the Cave of The Alphabet in RL to SL. She *melted* into the hot landscape at the volcano…
Hucka D.:
Oh, *that’s* what happened.
bb:
We may have to go into RL again to find out what happened and affect a proper solution. I mean, you and Baker Bloch would have to go. What do you think about that?
Hucka D.:
Sounds good. I have a question. If, say, an animal eats us in RL, do we die? “Cause I’m not ready to die yet. I just got my beehive. (smiles)
bb:
I don’t think you would die. You only have to worry about dying when SL goes the way of Atlantis. Or you switch avatars — I suppose that’s “dying” in a way, like giving up the body in RL. But you should be familiar with that now.
Hucka D.:
Yes.
bb:
If we do go into RL again, we’d perhaps manifest on that rez rock in New Hope. Bring your insect repellant, Hucka D.! Mosquitoes and gnats galore when I went there to take snapshots today. It’s very hot here for this time of year.
Hucka D.:
You need to do the chalky thing first. The glyph. NEW. That’s how we, Baker Bloch and I, will manifest. It’s been mentioned in the blog already. That’s actually where I thought I’d rez during the first SL > RL conversion, but it turned out to be Hilo Peak Mtn. instead. Trouble is, we’d have to go through The Wilderness to get to Jonesborough to the south. This may be a mission for a bee alone; it will be tough going. The Baker Bloch avatar may get too frustrated in the tangled mess of limbs. Actually, I might advise against walking through it, which means we’d have to go around. But it would have to be at the New Hope rez rock. The other rez rock is only used by the toy avatars — only works for them; don’t know why yet. But I agree with you: it seems we have to know what happened in the cave.
bb:
I wonder if Salad Bar Jack can meets us halfway somewhere?
Hucka D.:
I don’t think it’s a good idea for him to go to New Hope through The Wilderness at this time of the year.
bb:
But he’s an explorer, after all. And he’ll have T-Bonz and Mossman, perhaps.
Hucka D.:
No, I think I need to meet Salad Bar Jack alone, perhaps in the middle of The Wilderness. That way we’ll split the difference.
bb:
How will you contact him to let him know you’re coming to Jonesborough through The Wilderness?
Hucka D.:
I’ll have to go the board he frequents and talk to him through posts there.
bb:
Board?
Hucka D.:
Yeah, a Yahoo board.
bb:
Toy Avatars Unite?
Hucka D.:
Close! But no. Can’t give out the name. I know him already.
bb:
This comes as a bit of a surprise Hucka D. Did Blinkerton know him too?
Hucka D.:
Yes. We need to talk about the gallery too. I’m going to take notes on the collages. I, like you, however, don’t think the loop will be closed. Unless you close the two parts of the Hidalgo Gallery itself, high and low. Physically unite what is separate and north-south now. We must pull out of the [delete name] sim; end the camping trip. Something else must manifest at the treehouse besides the gallery now. Position it between the treehouse and the beehive. Stick one of those eucalyptus trees in it (smiles). Those are great. A lot of wallop for one prim. But I think that’s one of our answers: to unite the two parts of the Hidalgo Gallery, perhaps quite soon. But, like I said, I’ll take notes. We’ll pass through it again soon, maybe Saturday night when you return from Asheville. Winesap is also coming soon.
bb:
I was wondering if you were going to bring that up. Any concrete thoughts on that yet?
Hucka D.:
I have visions of a wall of pages. 100’s of pages. Making bacon. Money. Public domain. Pages are the flow of CREEK. Take more pictures of CREEK; complete the visual aid. Hand-Drink. Herman. That’s it.
bb:
Thank you Hucka D.
Beehivia (Buzzopolis?) ((Wow!))
Out w/ the old and in w/ the new, new skybox that is. The treehouse has been saved but may never return. This monster uses a little less than the 50 prims of the treehouse, but is, well, there’s room for growth let’s say. It’s amazingly simple — just stacked cubes, essentially, with a couple sheared to create ramps. But it doesn’t play out so simple when you’re walking around it.
I’ll have more to say in a future post.
Baker Bloch’s 1st Visit To Beehivia
Same For Baker Blinker
Bakers Discuss Beehivia
“Really quick thoughts about our visit tonight to Beehivia, before we discuss it with Hucka D.”
Baker Blinker:
Good idea. But quick.
Baker Bloch:
You go first.
Baker Blinker:
Well, it’s *impressive*, that’s for sure. And *large*. I didn’t expect that after the first Beehive, the one Hucka D. still plans to live in as I understand.
Baker Bloch:
Yeah, large. About as large as you can get without being totally out of control. It had some texture problems, though, still.
Baker Blinker:
Expected, given the structure is so large but with so few prims.
Baker Bloch:
What do you think about living there?
Baker Blinker:
I, like you, had to look up into the sky upon beaming home just to see what was up there. Large from the ground as well, especially if you know it is 7 stories, essentially. I like the color coding; not sure if it should stay forever, though, especially if someone is going to live there. But as an exersize in scale and logic, given the limitations of the property… what can you say? It’s perfect in that you use as little prims as possible in the construction. It’s amazing to think that maybe 4 or 5 more could be made in the sky like that. But as far as living there…
Baker Bloch:
I’m seeing eye to eye with you on this, not terribly surprisingly.
Baker Blinker:
In the middle part, behind the main gallery in the pink boxes, I saw some promise. You’d have to use a lot of bright colors if those colors remain. Yellow, especially, to counteract the reds, greens, blues, magentas. Some cyan as well.
Baker Bloch:
So you think it could work? We could decorate it… “live” there?
Baker Blinker:
It’s a possibility. But I like the ground house too. It’s *different*.
Baker Bloch:
It’s large.
Baker Blinker:
Large. Ecomonical on prims. Lots left over for decorating. We could put rugs down.
Baker Bloch:
We should give it a shot. Lighting as well. We could work on it.
—–
Hucka D.’s Reaction
“A nightclub?”
Baker Bloch:
That’s right Hucka. We couldn’t think of a better way to use all of that space. 14 seats total. Isn’t that right Baker Blinker?
Baker Blinker:
15, I believe. I’ll have to check.
Baker Bloch:
It’s really quite beautiful, in its own way.
Hucka D.:
I’m glad both of you like it, but I meant it as a place to live.
Baker Blinker:
That might eventually happen Hucka D. There’s lots of space both below and above the club.
Baker Bloch:
We could call it a coffee shop, but the loud colors don’t match that environment.
Hucka D.:
Do you plan to have people over, then?
Baker Bloch:
Eh (looks at Baker Blinker). Only a few.
Baker Blinker:
We’ll have to redecorate if we want to get serious with the place, whatever that means.
Baker Bloch:
On another subject, while we’re all together — no, we really really like it Hucka. Just stop Hucka. See, you made him cry now Blinks.
Baker Blinker:
Me!?
Baker Bloch (going over and patting Hucka D. on the back):
There there. Now now. (talking to Blinks) He really, really did a super job on this, didn’t he Blinks?
Baker Blinker:
Absolutely!
Hucka D.:
But it was suppose to be B_hivia — you spell it wrong before, by the way. A place for you two to live together. And (sniff) I with my own little beehive hovering not too far above. I could come visit.
Baker Bloch (still patting):
Awww. You still can come visit Hucka D. It’s just a pretend nightclub. Right Baker Blinker?
Baker Blinker:
It’s not really a public place Hucka. It’s just the three of us still. I plan to walk through it a lot, how ’bout you Baker Bloch?
Baker Bloch:
Oh, you bet. And we still have the option of living all around the club. I mean on the floors below and above.
Hucka D (sniffing and wiping his little bee nose with his hand):
Are you planning to have — music? Loud club music? Coz that could disturb your sleep once you move in.
Baker Bloch:
Probably no music. Nothing loud anyway. Classical music perhaps.
Hucka D.:
(Sniff) Alright, then. We’ll just wait and see what happens. You mentioned something about other business Mr. Bloch? (sniff)
Baker Bloch:
Well ok then. The Hidalgo Gallery had to be moved way up in the sky to make an open space between your beehive, Hucka D., and *our* b_hive. B_hivia.
Hucka D.:
I’m glad you like it so much (sniff).
Baker Bloch:
Well we do. (pause) But the gallery…
Hucka D.:
The gallery is united now, high and low. The Plutonians are out of the cave and (sniff) ready to talk about The Rainbow Complex. Can I have a glass of water Baker Blinker?
Baker Blinker:
I have some lemonade. Will that do?
Hucka D.:
That will do fine. (sniff) And… and so…
Baker Bloch:
Yes Hucka D.?
(Baker Blinker returns with a glass of lemonade from below.)
Hucka D. (suddenly confused):
I just remembered: there’s never beeen any refreshments or food in this house. Where’d you get that from Ms. Blinker?
Baker Blinker:
Oh. We turned your old room into a lemonade stand.
(Hucka D. wakes up.)
“Outlands”: Lower 2 Floors.
“Outlands”: Upper 2 Floors
B_Hivia, Lower Floors
I’m not an architect or even student of architecture by any means. It’s amazing to me that you can create something that’s very simple on the surface, just stacked cubes, and then have the psychological space turn out considerably more complicated than one would suppose. That’s B_Hivia in a nutshell. It’s best to walk it in a line, from bottom to top.
But first off I had to get rid of part of the ground house in order to support the prims needed. There’s not a lot in it in comparison to the size, but still I needed some in reserve. So I decided to get rid of the tower that I tacked on to the original freebie house, or something called Mysti’s Big Blue House, I believe. It seems rather cumbersome now, but I’m not ready to totally give up on it yet. Instead I may delete Hucka D.’s Beehive in the sky and also the Hidalgo Gallery (already!). I think I’m about through tinkering with the construction of B_Hivia, but I also want to construct something else: a “dark” double of sorts. But first I must study B_Hivia more for sure and decide what I want to change in this envisioned dark double. I’m thinking texture changes for certain and also using more animations and also shapes based on those other than the cube.
Also on another note — I’m not sure yet — but it looks like the new neighbor may have pulled out already, although the land is not yet for sale. But there are no prims on the parcel now; skybox is gone. But we’ll see. Perhaps strange the synchronicity that I’m having to delete part of the ground house and he getting rid of his small ground house now. Things change very quickly in Second Life!
Must decide whether a second pass through an interpretation of Hidalgo Gallery — have I even mentioned in this blog that the two old parts of the gallery are 1 now, hovering about 500m above the ground? — but anyway, I need to visit the gallery again. Have to work on my teleportation system.
But one thing, I know a return to the mainlands currently is out of the question. Details later on that, perhaps, but Just Call Me Ernie Banks? is absolutely not possible to recreate now, nor any other “illegal” build in that space. As I said earlier it was a good run, though (Cub Run).
I see much of the planned dark double of B_Hivia being devoted to the paintings and overall art of Charles Nelson Blinkerton. But I must not delete the HIdalgo Gallery just yet. Maybe visit tonight.
What I’m thinking of is just creating the dark double, as I’m calling it, from “scratch”, just like I did with B_Hivia.
Tonight I wanted to re-create a tour of B_Hivia as it stands now, updating the last tour. One of the more interesting things I’ve added is a 10 meter high waterfall that, in effect, is two waterfalls falling from the same small pool of water on the 3rd level to a same size pool on the first level. So far, this is the only water in the structure, and may be the only water period. One of the interesting parts of this to me is that, due to the fact that the animation occurs around both sides of the involved prims, the water apparently flows as much *into* the upper pool from the lower pool as visa versa. As such, it’s a perpetual waterfall, like Escher’s famous model that has fascinated me down through the years now.
An attempt was made to create a nicer living space on the lowest floor just today which would include this bottom pool and attached waterfalls. I put in a cool wooden floor, and a sliding door, but decided that “nice” just didn’t look right in that space. Edna (rl wife) agreed when I gave her a tour.
So here’s a picture of the lower pool, which is fitted into a 10x10x10 cube that is an interesting story by itself. See the opening in the back of the cube? Well, you can’t get through it!
What happens when you try is that it seems just like a solid wall when none is there. I think this has something to do with being unable to build “under” something, but I’m certainly no expert on building, and would have to confer with other, more knowledgable people on the matter. As we’ll see, same thing happens on the next level up directly above this (the direct upper continuation of this cube): there’s an “artificial” barrier that you can’t pass through, but for no apparent reason to me on the, ahem, surface of things.
As I said, there’s a main path that you can use to traverse essentially the whole structure top to bottom, but I have “discovered” at least two alternate paths as well, which I’ll get to.
Another thing I’ve contemplated is hollowing out the blue and red triangle areas that “end” the structure, but I’m not sure about that now.
Here you can see the position of the bottom pool in relation to the whole structure through that no-pass triangle. Baker Blinker is standing beside it. A long climb up.
B_Hivia, Lower Floors (cont.)
So I’m just going to continue up into the structure to view new things added since the 2 “Outlands” posts. As I said, I don’t see the core of B_Hivia as a “dangerous night club” any longer. I think, for one thing, the waterfalls have lightened up the mood. So I took down the Outlands signs, which were certainly cute but not ultimately what I needed at the entrance and exit points of this central, magenta core; the “night club”. Just to review, this “core” is 6 10x10x10 cubes, 3 stacked directly top of another three in an overall “L” shape.
It would be interesting to make an animation of the re-creation of B_Hivia, when I get around to that.
This is the entrance into the Magenta core from the bottom (where I’ve installed a nifty free transporter today), accessed from ramp 1 (of 6) from the bottom of the structure. You can see Baker Blinker is almost immediately greeted by one of the two waterfalls again.
A map of Azure Island #1 that I’ve framed and installed in this part of B_Hivia, on opposite side of wall from waterfalls.
Here I round the corner to see the second waterfall, at right angles to the first again. I put a lot of particle emitters in the structure, and to the right of Blinks we see the first encountered in this core. The fan in the background “blocks” entrance to the lowest level, a drop of 5 meters.
So here we move up the ramp, through 1 of the 2 waterfalls, to 3rd level of the overall structure from the second. Here we have the second pool which is a double of the first encountered on the lower level. Here is the source of the two waterfalls, then, one exiting from the left of the pool as Blinks observes it, and one from the back. The pool covers 50 square meters, or 1/2 of the side of a 10x10x10 prim that the whole structure is based upon, its “atom”. When we move to the upper levels of the structure, the tree “planted” here in the upper pool appears to carry on the psychological development from the water theme of the lower levels. No water is found higher than the pool pictured above in B_Hivia.
B_Hivia, Upper Floors
Here Blinks enters the upper 1/2 of the Magenta core from ramp #3, as we’ll call it. We are now 15 meters above the lowest level of the structure. I’ve added a number of objects since my last photo shoot of this particular space, including a smaller but more comprehensive map of the Azure Islands (left), and also a couch and lamp (right). This afternoon I deleted the straight line particle emitter you see pictured here and put in its place one of the two teleporters inside the structure. A third lies in the center of the Hidalgo Gallery (which is on the ground now! See post above this for more info), while the second B_Hivia teleporter is in the bottom pool on the lowest level.
Here’s a shot which gives the relation of where Blinks is standing above, at the entrance to the upper level of the magenta core, to the entrance to the lower level. The higher entrance is directly above the lower.
View from other direction heading inside the upper level of this core. I’ve tried a rug here but it didn’t seem to work.
Another particle emitter. I’ll give the link to the Box of Decorations that I found all these in. All freebies!
Yet another one. Notice here that the tree “planted” in level 3 has now completely taken over level 5, 10 meters above. It so dominated this space that only two tables with one chair each could be squeezed in. Blinks looks at the most hidden of the two.
B_Hivia, Upper Floors (cont.)
Baker Blinker stares at the “secret” entrance to the 2nd floor of the upper level of the Magenta core of B_Hivia.
And this the second of two “secret” entrances exactly 10 meters below the first. This goes to the upper pool area, or the second level of the lower, magenta dominated space.
I don’t think I explained before that the top of the 6 Magenta cubes makes for yet another interesting region in B_Hivia, not yet developed. The eucalyptus tree still is poking through in many places here, but we definitely see the top of the tree now.
Here’s yet another very interesting space to me. You can make/jump/fall your way down the *front* of the whole structure (the long side) through a series of triangular shapes to reach the very bottom again, and the lower pool area.
Finally I decided to top it all off with another cube that lies directly above the cube with the lower pool at the bottom of the structure. Not sure how it’s finally going to develop but thought it needed to be there.
And that’s the new tour!
New News: Old Ground House Demolished; Hidalgo Gallery New Ground House; Hucka D.’s Beehive Deleted; 114 Prims Freed Up For New Sky Construction (So That’s Hidalgo Gallery (Ground) And B_Hivia (Sky) Left)… OH, And Then I Bought The Property Next Door (!)
Well, more big news since the last post. Title sums it up, but in the time between posting the photos of this post and getting around to writing the text, I’d also bought a new Victorian-style house and did considerably more landscaping on the new lot as well. But I’ll get to those in future posts.
Below Baker Bloch ponders the meaning of this eerily close conjunction of our moon and the planet Mercury. It makes him think about the exact position of SL relative to RL: is SL on Earth somewhere, or perhaps beneath it? Why, then, is Mercury so close. It makes his head ache.
Additional view of Mercury through the one of the waterfalls dropping from the upper pool. In the meantime I decided to delete this half of the waterfalls on this particular level of B_Hivia in favor of an open look to the outside here. As I said before, or above or below or somewhere already, I decided to change back the name of this central magenta core of B_Hivia to “Outlands”, and returned one cobweb to this space as well. So we have the entrance and exit Outlands signs returned, as I mentioned. Edna Million (RL wife) approved of this reversion of sorts as well.
It was while Baker Bloch was just lounging around the upper pool in one of the 3 chairs at the table beside the eucalyptus tree that he notice what has since been jokingly deemed the “God Dog,” because of Hucka D.’s vivid dream about it. Can you see it yourself? The face in the tree/bark appears to be smiling and also may have two horns sticking out above. Let’s not go into the possible Satanic aspect of this, but all 3 family members agree that the possibility of horns cannot be ruled out. Interpreted this way, the smile could be seen as sinister, but that’s not how the Bakers’ and Hucka are taking it. They are instead steering an ultimate interpretation, at their own level, more toward a Green Man angle, and a communicative link with a hypothetical vegetative deity.
Shifting away from the Lynchian weirdness of B_Hivia and returning to more solid ground, I thought I’d provide a view out the east window of the recently grounded Hidalgo Gallery. This is over land that I now own, and have since positioned the Victorian-style house on, which blocks part of the vineyard in the background now.
And then 2 views of B_Hivia from the ground. I especially like that last one: B_Hivia shrouded in clouds, and directly above the Hidalgo Gallery. It really dwarfs the gallery in that picture. The house/castle behind my/our gallery is that of the neighbor, a nice guy who’s command of English is a little limited. As I’m counting now, there are only 3 owners in the entire sim we’re located on.
Family Meeting (1st in B_Hivia!)
Baker Bloch:
Well gang, we’ve done it now. Baker B.’s out of the cookie buying business!
Baker Blinker:
Better than giving up lattes. Can you imagine our combined moods?
Baker Bloch:
No. Now to business. Where’ Hucka D.? — by the way, I like this seat at the bottom of the tree, but that face is the creep. I’m super serial!
Baker Blinker:
Just stop staring at it.
Baker Bloch:
It eyes follow me, as they say.
Baker Blinker:
It’s just bark.
Baker Bloch:
Did you know the eucalyptus tree is native to Australia?
Baker Blinker:
No. Does that have any special meaning?
Baker Bloch (encouraging her to guess):
Well, you know, eh… oh, there’s Hucka D. coming up the ramp, behind the tree. (to the approaching Hucka): Been building a new bee’s nest?
Hucka D.:
Kind of. In my preliminary builds on the new property I’m beginning to realize the unique aspects of B_Hivia. It was good that you protected the east side Mr. Bloch and Mrs. Blinker. I have in my head, though, a pond on the ground… with an island. I’ll have to study up on terraforming.
Baker Blinker:
You build us something nice, Hucka D., and I’ll decorate again!
Baker Bloch:
I feel like I’m not pitching in guys.
Baker Blinker:
Oh that’s silly. We like what we do, don’t we Hucka D.?
Hucka D.:
Absolutely.
Baker Blinker:
You’re our public face, more or less, Blochs. You’re more the explorer. Maybe you should go into RL again, like you did on Hilo Peak Mtn. I’m sure Hucka D. can punch another hole in the dimensional fabric of space and time, can’t you Hucka?
Hucka D.:
You bet. But Mr. Bloch can do that as well. So can you.
Baker Blinker:
I don’t think I’ve ever created one, Hucka. A vortex — portal.
Hucka D.:
Oh sure you have. All the time. We are not here. One could say we are everywhere. What we understand as ourselves, in these physical forms, are just severly wittled down versions of our whole selves. We are like cells to a human body.
Baker Blinker:
You know a lot Hucka D. About philosophy and metaphysics.
Hucka D.:
I use to read… stuff.
Baker Bloch:
Well… where should I go?
Baker Blinker:
Maybe you can finish exploring the rest of the AI’s, like you were in part 3 of this blog. You did, what was it, 1, 2, 3 already…
Baker Bloch (correcting):
1, 3, 5. It’s getting late guys. Or early I suppose. We collectively have to hit the sack. So a brief review of our duties.
Baker Blinker:
Well, builder (points to Hucka), decorator (points to herself), and… explorer I suppose (points to Baker Bloch). You’ve explored B_Hivia lately.
Baker Bloch:
Hucka D., what happened to that rendevous with Salad Bar Jack in The Wilderness of the River of TILE?
Hucka D.:
Oh, that’s going to happen Mr. Bloch. The production is taking a summer break. Three things: heat… insects… rain. Grassy Noll, the actor who plays Salad Bar Jack, is still in the area, though… hanging around Drink Lake, he said. Taking in some rays at some beach there. Exploring the dam region, etc. I’d like to visit him.
Baker Blinker:
Can you do that?
Hucka D.:
Sure. It’s just a question of “*should* I?”
Baker Bloch:
Why wouldn’t you? I might find some time to tag along. Maybe you should put off the new build for a while. Just experiment some, but no final stuff. And then we could hang more. You protected B_Hivia.
Hucka D.:
*You* protected B_Hivia. Thank you. And Baker Blinker, too, protected it. I’m just the third. I can talk to baker b. as well because of this.
Baker Bloch:
What will you become Hucka D.?
Hucka D. (turning toward the tree they are sitting beside):
A God Dog?
(Hucka D. wakes up.)
Mmmmmm’s Homeground
In a recent, long discussion with Grassy Noll, better known as the actor who plays Salad Bar Jack in all those toy avatar adventure movies, I learned much about the homeland of the Mmmmmm’s. The picture below shows the tree they call First Tree, which they state their species landed in on this world from another commonly called Hades. Whether this is the same as the dwarf planet we call Pluto (the Roman term for the god Hades) or not is as yet undetermined.
A close up of the rusty old and quite large goodmobile that acted as transport to this planet. It’s lodged in the tree now, supposedly at the very place it was lodged all those many years ago upon their arrival. When I asked Salad Bar Jack how many Mmmmmm’s originally landed on this planet, he stated 7, which within the month increased to 12 since one of the crew members was pregnant. I didn’t want to insult his counting skills at the time, but the way I’m seeing it that lassie must have had quintuplets. Later I did some research on the [delete name] board and found, yes, that female Mmmmmm’s commonly give birth to 4-6 young at a time, and that a 1 child pregnancy is rare. So maybe the Mmmmmm’s math skills are sound after all.
Btw, Salad Bar called the original father and mother of this world Lodi and Heidi (originally: Hidi), and thereafter both became common names for Mmmmmm’s, especially of the non-red strain. Thus the reason for the surfacing of the name Lodi in the movie Salad Bar Jack in the River of TILE in connection with the orange Mmmmmm played by thespian Gypsy Purse.
Over the hill from the First Tree we come upon the banishing place of the red strain of the Mmmmmm’s, whose insuing isolation from the more sophisticated colors made them even more stupid, collectively, than they were before the Great Division.
Here in what they termed Big Log we see the remains of some of their primitive dwelling holes.
This prominent combination of living and dead giant shrubbery pictured below, visible from all of their small habitat, confused and confounded the Reddies even further. They appropriately dubbed it “Baffle Bush”, which compounds the stupidity since anyone with sense can see it’s actually two bushes, one living and one dead. Some Reddies blame the malevolent spirit of the bush(es) on all their lacks in areas of intelligence and manners, but most non-Reddies don’t believe this one bit, blaming their societal rot instead on inbreeding and inferior genes in general. The giant shrubs are just that: giant shrubs, and nothing more. And don’t tell them anything else because they won’t listen to ya.
However, since pairs of bushes have cropped up in several places in this blog, we must, I believe, pay special attention to this potential new aspect of the overall archetype. Remember also that the Mmmmmm’s are perhaps from the planet Pluto, which has also already been attached to the 2 bush theme in this blog.
Below is the beach at Drink Lake where I caught up with Grassy Noll for that long discussion about Mmmmmm’s. The beach is also near the First Tree, and where the Mmmmmm’s, according to tradition, first learned about the advantages and disadvantages of natural bouyancy. It is rare to find the famous beach so deserted, and Grassy enjoys the solitude by wading far into the gently sloping coastal shelf here. Careful not to float off!
Grassy later enjoying a snooze on a leaf recliner.
Family Meeting
“I called this meeting because I couldn’t, in good conscience, do a walk tonight with Hucka D. sort of upset about his new build. So talk to us Hucka.”
Hucka D.: Thank you Baker Bloch. Thank you also, Baker Blinker, for attending as well. I am sorry I cut your walk short, Mr. Bloch, or made you feel guilty.
Baker Bloch:
Eh, it was daylight anyways, and I wanted to do another night hike, where I was heading.
Baker Blinker:
What’s wrong Hucka D.?
Hucka D.:
Not a whole lot. Just that my new build is not going as smoothly as I wanted it to be. We have now a considerable amount of resources.
Baker Blinker:
Maybe a ground build would be a better idea. That Victorian house Blochs was looking at tonight would be nice. We could copy and modify it, even in the sky.
Hucka D.:
Do you miss the old house at all?
Baker Blinker:
Surprisingly little, I suppose. Haven’t really thought about it a lot. We have more options now.
Hucka D.:
B_Hivia was a success. I’m having difficulty recreating that success. I think it was the property lines, the shape of the property, that determined that success. Given the ability to make a full square with the same idea is, interestingly, limiting me again. There has to be tension to create a sucessful build, perhaps. For B_Hivia, it was the tension between the square sides and the diagonal. I’m glad we had that property first.
I will tell you a little more about the new build…
Baker Bloch:
Before we get to that Hucka, let me say I was walking through B_Hivia tonight just before trekking and had some ideas for modification.
Hucka D.:
Ok, go ahead.
Baker Bloch:
This is for you too Blinks. First off, those sparklers in the middle gallery have to go. They’re causing a little lag. Next I thought about floor, tiled floors for some of the middle part. The walls are good… the floors may need a little work. Maybe.
Baker Blinker:
Perhaps we should tell the two or three readers of the blog about the switchback to the “Outlands” idea, and putting up those two signs again.
Baker Bloch (smartly):
I believe you just did ma’am.
Baker Blinker:
So Hucka, finish the story about your new build.
Hucka D.:
Well, recreating the pattern of B_Hivia may have been a good idea at the time for the new land, but I’m thinking we should go in a totally ‘nother direction, maybe. I can save what I have of this build and come back to it, of course.
Baker Blinker:
What did you have in mind? It has to be a beehive of sorts, since you’re a bee. Do you miss your original beehive?
Hucka D.:
It was cozy. Back to my new build. It was or perhaps still is going to be called the Temple of TILE.
Baker Bloch:
What about that cave system near AI5? Might we study that for a possible model? And I also remember some nifty 9 level cave you could buy on SL Marketplace Exchange. We could study those as models.
Baker Blinker:
Good idea Blochs. Might we make a *ground* cave? Something different.
Baker Bloch:
Possibilities are pretty much wide open now.
Baker Blinker:
We do have the mini-forest already at the road. I like that.
Hucka D.:
It’s nice.
Baker Bloch:
We could just make the whole lot ground cover, like [delete explorer name] did with his island setting. Maybe we should go back to that island. We also have the second property to work with on this project if needed.
Baker Blinker:
Move the Hidalgo Gallery to the new lot, although its perch on the old seems perfect in a way.
Hucka D.:
The new build, getting back to it, is 250 meters higher in the sky that B_Hivia. The view will not be as important, then. Viewing the island is not really an option at that height. It becomes more of what I’d call its own microcosm, internal. As such, essentially divorced from the island far below; it has to sustain its own energy in a different way than B_Hivia, which was more open to the outside. There is a nice flow or interaction between outside and inside on that long diagonal. You can see the outside, and the outside can see in to you.
But there are several things I like about the new build. First is the greater height of the project. Second is the use of properly rugged floors, for now [i.e., the floors have rugs this time]. Another is the several linked parts that fit one into the other.
Baker Blinker:
Sounds like you’re not ready to give up on the temple idea, Hucka D.
Hucka D.:
Yeah, there’s just so much more we could do now. Baker Bloch, I’d like to talk to you more about TILE soon.
Baker Bloch:
Any time Hucka D. Would you like to start now?
Hucka D.:
Maybe a little. As you know, I’ve had this idea to either make a robot or become a robot myself since entering this body from RL.
Baker Blinker:
Blinkerton, you mean.
Hucka D.:
Yeah, mostly. So, what I really like about the temple — and I’ll go ahead and share some of the design ideas with you since I’m unsure I’m going to keep working on it — is that it could be seen as a tetractys. Remember Mr. Bloch told me that Tik Tok in SID’s 1st Oz can be seen as a tetractys, and this is the first robot in literature to many or perhaps most. This is because he is a summary of 1, 2, 3, 4.
If this temple is to work, and it perhaps still could, there are several things that must be recognized. First off, it is a symbol of Seathwaite Fell in England, where the Council of 9 made the important decision to become the Council of 1 and make the least the highest instead. The temple is this mountain or fell in British-speak. It is also a symbol of the 36-Square as adapted to fit SID’s 1st Oz in your interview of Booker T. Collectively, I mean.
Baker Bloch:
You mean baker b.’s interview of Booker T.
Hucka D.:
Right. Another idea, then — following this original idea which has to be true if the temple is to be a success — is that we would have not one but two waterfalls in the structure, one symbolizing the real Taylorgill Force on the northwest side of Seathwaite Fell in England, and the other, in the opposite corner of the structure, as the TILE or Tyle waterfall projected by your collective Oblong collage series.
Perhaps to get from one level to another you have to “fall down” these falls, even. But it would be like the waterfall in B_Hivia, except doubled, at least. The falls would somehow have to be perpetual again, like the Escher waterfall.
Baker Blinker:
Interesting that you’ve divided the waterfall in B_Hivia into two distinct parts again, but with no connection to each other now. And that the central tree grows out of the upper pool that feeds this/these waterfall/s.
Hucka D.:
The waterfall in B_Hivia is a key, yes. Also perhaps Wet Rock.
Baker Blinker:
It sounds like to me that you know what you’re doing, Hucka D.
Hucka D.:
Baker Blinker, have you thought more about Alma and the concept thereof?
Baker Blinker:
No.
(to be continued)
New Home (Bought This Time)
It’s a very low prim house, but exactly what we needed on the property. Highly recommended product. I set the house toward the east edge of the property to give more room to the south for rezzing projects, an open space that’s turned out to be quite handy already.
View from the road. I like the way the house is mostly hidden but yet you can still get a sense of what it is about. I think that makes sense! Another pretty big landscape project has been the slow filling in of what can only be described now as a small forest on the north side of the 2 properties I now own. I’ve used about every free Linden tree in it now, and then some. Nothing bought, mind you, although I did buy some trees for the Temple of TILE (see above posts for more info!).
View over top of the Hidalgo Gallery across the open space. The forest is to the left of the viewer here.
View from back of house over neighbor’s vineyard. The nice willow tree is the neighbors but it hangs over my property line. It’s so pretty I don’t mind a bit.
Baker Blinker sitting on the upper porch looking toward the Hidalgo Gallery.
A view inside. I didn’t decorate much, and this angle on the lower level gives the best possible face to the project. Floors are very nice with their deep mahogany sheen. The bay windows are a plus as well. There’s even an attic space, which was another attraction. Did I mention it was only 37 prims??
Baker Blinker standing in the forest looking toward the front door. Notice the dead tree — not everything in a forest is living, you see!
And here’s a pool I spontaneously created in the lowest part of the new property. This idea will be considerably expanded in the near future (see posts above, again).
A second pond at the time was created just under the willow tree mentioned above. The fence here represents the boundary between my property and the neighbor’s. It just seemed a good place to put a pond.
Nighttime view of the house.
Terrain Editing, And More Pools (!)
So soon after rezzing the house and positioning it where I wanted it to be, I decided to try my hand at some terraforming to make a “wall” between the neighbor’s property to the west and our own. I didn’t want to just put up a barrier, but make it instead look natural. In doing this I also wanted to hide the original pond on the property so it could be some kind of hangout, especially for Baker Blinker, who I assume will be using the house more than the others.
One of the little quirks of the forest is that I decided to put a eucalyptus tree in it, but bury it into the ground as far as I could, The result is above, which plants the tree up to its first major branching. The eucalyptus is probably about 3-4 meters in the ground, then. This is the same type of tree that helps center B_Hivia. The idea is sort of the same as well… both trees appear in water, with the eucalyptus tree of B_Hivia having its roots in the upper pool there, and this 1/2 buried version of same breaking ground in the middle pool of what turned out to be a 3 pool system in this corner of the lot. But my point here is in the snapshot above that’s not a whole tree but a partial tree. I think it turned out nicely, and gave a lot of leave cover to the area that would have been hard to get with one of my free trees otherwise.
Here Baker Blinker sits on a rock above the lowest and largest of the 3 created pools, which is also the deepest. You can see the middle pool to her right, with the eucalyptus branches extending from it.
A neat view from the bottom of the pool. The pool is so deep that Baker Blinker be completely submerged within.
View toward the house sitting on another rock surrounding the lowest pool, or the original pool of the property.
Baker Blinker sits on a rock closer to the house. The view is through the eucalyptus tree again.
Blinks sits on the “wall” above the lowest pool, which protects the whole 3 pool area from being seen from this direction. The lowest pools is situated just behind here. I believe I raised the land as far as possible here, which is 4 meters, while lowering it as far as possible in the pool just behind, which would be 4 meters again. So I assume there’s about an 8 meter difference between Baker Blinker’s perch here and the bottom of the pool just behind her.
Another view of the lowest/deepest pool, from over the road to the north.
And then you can also see the 3 pools from this corner of the upper porch through the branches of the eucalyptus tree.
Beehive 3
“The new Beehive is shaping up, slowly but surely baker b..”
bb:
That’s great Hucka. I am ready to talk about TILE whenever you are. Tell me your thoughts now.
Hucka D.:
The new Beehive will be Seathwaite Fell. Of this I can say safely. But it’s a little complicated. Level 1 will be a 3×3 square with a hole in the center. Level 2 is a 2×2 square with a hole in the middle. Level 3 will be a mix of the two. Level 4 does not exist. Level 5 will be a mix of the two, with a hidden half, apparently. Level 6 will be more similar to level 1, except the top of the 2×2 instead of the bottom. There will be a hole in the center still. Then level 7 will be most like level 1 in floor plan. So there are 7 levels, just like B_Hivia. Gluing it all together is a spiral from bottom to top in one of the 4 corners. I don’t mind talking to you about this but I wish to keep this from Baker Blinker and Baker Bloch just now. I don’t want them to be disappointed after B_Hivia.
bb:
Will this be more a place of worship than one of living space, then?
Hucka D.:
*I* will live there, on level 6 mainly, perhaps.
bb:
What about B_Hivia?
Hucka D.:
This replaces the living arrangement at B_Hivia for me. Decorating for Baker Blinker may be mainly restricted to the central 3 and 5 levels, remembering that there is no level 4. That’s my guess — could be wrong.
(to be continued)
5th Pool on Property, And Largest (But Maybe The Shallowest As Well)
*Then* I decided to hollow out the foundation underneath the house, cutting through the 4 prims making up the foundation to create one large open space. You secretly enter this space through the back of the house here — I made one of the four prims phantom so that Baker Bloch and others can have easy access. The “door”, as you can see, lies just behind the neighbor’s willow mentioned before, just to the right of the pool here.
Inside we encounter what is now the largest pool of the 5 presently on the properties, but which also may be the shallowest. It also contains the only islands found on the properties currently, albeit quite small ones.
Baker Bloch sits on several rocks below, enjoying the underground serenity.
Baker Bloch stands in the pool between the two tiny islands looking back at the rocks he was just sitting on.
Sunklands 