Pandemic Diary, April 5th, 2021: So Close, So Close and Yet So Far

PLEASE NOTE: My blog is still on indefinite hiatus; I have made a single exception for this blogpost. After this, I will be going back on my self-imposed break from blogging.

My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you,
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me you couldn’t see
How I adored you…
So close, so close and yet so far

My Eyes Adored You, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Today is officially Day 386 since I began working in self-isolation from my apartment for my university library system. Since my last Pandemic Diary post, two significant things have occurred:

  1. On March 18th I received my first vaccine shot, and
  2. On March 22nd, I returned to my office at the University of Manitoba Libraries for the first time in over a year.

As someone who is older (age 57), and with several underlying health conditions which put me at risk of a severe, possibly even fatal, response to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (I am severely overweight, plus I have asthma, hypertension, and type II diabetes), I was among the first Manitobans under the age of 60 to get vaccinated at my local pharmacy. I received the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, with a follow-up shot sometime in July.

I have been following the news reports of possible blood clots in a few people who have received the vaccine, and I am not worried; I know that the chance of me getting a blood clot from the AstraZenca vaccine is much lower than the chance of me getting a blood clot from COVID-19! As a science librarian, I trust the science behind the vaccines, and I am eagerly looking forward to getting my second dose.

Canadians are watching the U.S. roll out an aggressive vaccination campaign with envy. Canada is far, FAR behind the U.S., the U.K., and other countries in its COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Up here in Canada, we already have had serious outbreaks of variants of concern from the U.K. and Brazil in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec, and it seems all but certain the we will experience a third wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths here in Manitoba soon, with a third lockdown (and we never really opened back up from the second lockdown imposed in early November!). We are, indeed, so close and yet so far. It is frustrating beyond belief!

As for my return to the office, I was sitting on the fence about taking an extended sick leave for treatment of depression, when my supervisor told me that the buildings on campus could now be staffed at 40% of regular occupancy (up from 25%). I leapt at the opportunity to be able to work outside my home, after over a year of working from my home, being stuck within the same four walls day after day! I am starting off with just one day a week in the office, but I do have the option of coming in more frequently than that (at least, until the third lockdown happens, and it will).

In fact, the mood improved immediately after spending just one day back in my office, chatting with the few coworkers who are here (masked and socially distanced chats, but still, actual face-to-face conversations!). I even wandered around the library, taking a few snaphots. My office looks much the same as when I left it over a year ago, in near-pristine condition which will not last very long:

My library is still closed to non-librarian faculty, non-Libraries staff, and all students. The library, usually a quiet place even when it was full of students, is now eerily silent:

And I finally brought my work Oculus Rift VR headset back into the office from my apartment, where I had taken it when the pandemic started in March 2020, and spent part of my day today setting it up again. I popped into AltspaceVR and Nature Treks VR, and of course Sansar, just to test that everything was working okay. Instead of having to install countless updates to my Sansar client which had occurred during my yearlong absence from the office, I simply deleted the program and reinstalled it from scratch from the Sansar website, and then I paid a visit to my world, Ryan’s Garden, and its animated carousel, still one of my most cherished virtual possessions!

Yes, I do still have an Oculus Rift headset, which I had originally purchased for my suspended research project. I have an Oculus account for it, and I have absolutely ZERO plans to set up an account on the Facebook social network for it! Good thing that I don’t need to make any account decisions for at least another two years, during which time I will probably spend some of my accumulated Travel & Expense funds to upgrade the Rift to a Valve Index, like I now have at home. This Rift is my final link to Facebook, and I am itching to get rid of it! (I have yet to come up with a new, replacement research project involving virtual reality and libraries, but I have a few ideas.)

Stay safe and stay healthy!

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The L$1 Neo Male Mesh Body by Meta

PLEASE NOTE: My blog is still on indefinite hiatus; I have made a single exception for this blogpost. After this, I will be going back on my self-imposed break from blogging.

I wanted to break my hiatus from the blog to announce that I have discovered a very nice dollarbie male mesh head and body package called Neo, from a company called Meta! Here is the link to the Second Life Marketplace listing, which says:

This package will provide you with everything needed to set up your mesh avatar base to build on, which includes a Fitted mesh body with Bento rigged hands and a fully Bento rigged mesh head! The package also includes an Alpha HUD to hide parts of the body to make it easier to wear clothes on.

This product is our gift to the community and is meant for those new users as well as those who want to get [the] hang of mesh avatars!! ENJOY!!

Here is what the Neo male mesh body looks like, right out of the box, with only a minor adjustment to the eyes, and with the included underwear and body shape. It’s actually a very nice head and body, especially for only one Linden dollar!

Here’s what the Neo male mesh body looks like with some hair and clothing; the outfit is from the free Casual Male Starter Pack capsule wardrobe from No Shot, and comes from the Freebie Megastore on the London City sim as shown here:

I found during my testing that clothing and shoes designed for the Signature Gianni mesh body seem to fit this particular body very well (you will need to use the alpha HUD, though):

Now, there are a few drawbacks to this body. For one, although it comes with a HUD with plentiful alpha selections, the Meta Neo body does not support skin appliers or Bakes on Mesh (there is a Bakes on Mesh version of this body for sale for L$999 on the SL Marketplace). You are stuck with the single skin tone for this body. Also, the mesh eyes shown here are included with the mesh head, not separate, and they only come in the light brown colour shown.

Happy freebie shopping! I will add the Meta Neo male body to my ever-expanding list of free and inexpensive mesh heads and bodies for male avatars.

UPDATED! Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: The Top 21 Second Life Store Groups to Join and Stay a Member of, for the Best Free Group Gifts and Bargains!

PLEASE NOTE: My blog is still on indefinite hiatus; I have made a single exception for this blogpost. After this, I will be going back on my self-imposed break from blogging.

Have you joined the RyanSchultz.com Steals, Deals & Freebies group yet? I will be posting EVEN MORE news and tips on finding fabulous freebies and bargains in Second Life than I now post here on the blog! More information on this brand new SL group here.

Join the Scandalize store group for only L$20, and it will likely be the best twenty Linden dollars you have ever spent!

Today’s blogpost is in response to the often-asked question: What are the best Second Life store groups to join and stay a member of?

But before I answer that burning question, there are six freebie groups (i.e. they are not store groups) which you should already be following (source):

  1. Fabulously Free in SL: their group is free to join; here is a list of the gifts you can pick up with that group tag active
  2. Maitreya Gifts, Sales & News: their group is free to join; follow their blog to find out what gifts you can get with this group
  3. Mesh Avatar Appearance Maniacs (MAAM): it costs L$50 to join the MAAM group; here is a list of freebies you can pick up with that group tag active
  4. SL Frees & Offers: theirgroup is free to join; here’s their list of group gifts
  5. TeleportHub.com: it costs L$10 to join their group; here is a list of gifts you can get
  6. THIRD LIFE [Frees, Gifts & Hunts]: their group is free to join, although they have charged in the past; here is their blog

Now, on to the list of Second Life store groups which I do recommend you join, in rank order (with the most generous groups listed first). So, if you are short of group space, you can just work you way down the list until you run out of available group slots! As I mention below, some of these groups are free, so you could leave them after picking up all the steals, deals, and freebies!

I also strongly recommend that you always keep at least one free group slot available, so if you do have to join a group unexpectedly, you are prepared!

There are, of course, countless other freebie groups which you can join for free, just to pick up a free outfit, then leave immediately afterwards (e.g. Mesh Body Friends). Usually, there will be a sign in the store which you can click on, that will give you a link in local chat to join the group, next to a picture of the free item. (Remember to press Ctrl+H to pull up the local chat window so you can click on the link.)

The generous group gifts wall at Wow Skins (click on the black and white gift box for all the previous group gifts!)

Without further do, here is the list. Please note that I have given the EXACT spelling of the store group names below is given in bold at the start of each entry on this list, so if you are having trouble finding it, you might want to cut and paste that name into the Search box under Groups.

  1. !|SCANDALIZE|! – This group only costs L$20 to join, and you get so much for that! Scandalize is, without a doubt, the most generous store on the grid when it comes to group gifts. Joining the group also gives you access to their many lucky boards. Don’t forget to also join the new Scandals SL Frees & News group group for free, to pick up all the free Scandalize outfit fatpacks available at the Scandalize outlet store on the same sim! More information here. (Once you have vacuumed up all the goodies, you can leave the Scandals SL Frees & News group.)
  2. Hilly Haalan Fashions – You can join this group for free, pick up literally dozens and dozens of lovely free group gifts of women’s apparel, footwear, and jewelry at both the spawn point and at the nearby freebie store, then leave the Hilly Haalan group if you need the group space for something else! (Thank you for your generosity, Hilly!)
  3. ..Virtue.. – The proprietor of Virtue, Abiela Heartsong, generously offers 100 free gifts of modestly designed but ultra fashionable women’s clothing, in two panels labelled “Group Gift” located on the main floor of her store. The Virtue group is free to join and, again, you can always choose to leave it after scooping up all the freebies.
  4. -monaLISA- – The monaLISA store has almost 100 group gifts of women’s apparel and footwear (the group costs only L$50 to join).
  5. Glitterati by Sapphire – If you join the Glitterati by Sapphire group for L$100, you can pick up one hundred past group gifts of dresses and gowns at the Group Gifts area in the in-world Glitterati store.
  6. .:WoW Skins:. – If you are looking for free female skins, the skin store group you should definitely consider joining is Wow Skins, which costs L$199. For that fee, you can pick up a large number of free group gifts, plus a gift box with all the past group gift skins! Keep an eye out for days when you join the Wow Skins group for free. They also have a Discord server you can join. You can see some of these group gift skins here.
  7. *COCO* Update Group – COCO Designs has several low, black group gift walls scattered around the store, with well over 60 high-quality gifts (women’s clothing and shoes; the group is free to join).
  8. J-Store Designs – Juli Fashion Design has a group gift wall with nearly 60 gifts of womenswear, plus a few men’s outfits, too! The J-Store Designs group is free to join.
  9. Pink Cream Pie – For a group join fee of L$314, Pink Cream offers you free womenswear group gifts from the current year, plus all the gifts from the previous four years, too! (here’s the SLURL to their group gift wall, located on the second floor of the store). The store group also lets you click on their six lucky boards.
  10. Legendaire V.I.P. – Legendaire currently has 41 gifts of women’s clothing and shoes; the group costs only L$49 to join.
  11. LYBRA Update Group {free} – Lybra has recently updated the group gifts wall in their store, offering a wide variety of wonderful womenswear (the Lybra group is free to join, and there are also some group gifts on a nearby wall for the various freebie groups—see the list at the top of this blogpost!).
  12. …:::Beautiful Dirty Rich:::… – The Beautiful Dirty Rich (a.k.a. B.D.R.) store is also very generous with their free group gifts, and the B.D.R. group is free to join!
  13. .ViSion. Clothing Store – For only L$18, you can join the ViSion store group and pick up some lovely free group gifts located to the right of the entrance of the store.
  14. …::: LsR :::..! Fashion Friends ! – This group costs L$99 to join, and it gives you regular group gifts of L$300 free store credit to use on anything in the LsR Originals store, plus a wall of group gifts and a huge wall of lucky boards, just for group members!
  15. <FABIA> Mesh Hair – This group costs L$300, and the FABIA Hair store gives you 18 free group gifts of women’s hairstyles.
  16. Loki Store – The Loki Store group costs L$99 to join, and offers a nice selection of free group gifts (here’s the SLURL to their group gift wall in store).
  17. BELLE EPOQUE Customers – Belle Epoque usually offers a half dozen free group gifts on their group gift wall, located to the right of the main entrance; the store group costs L$20 to join. The group gifts tend to get rotated relatively frequently, so it’s best to drop by every three months or so to see what’s new!
  18. TRUTH VIP – For a L$350 group join fee, Truth Hair store group members receive a free group gift of a hairstyle fatpack with a styling HUD via the group notices, every single month! The hair is beautiful, so this is definitely a group to join and stay a member of! TRUTH VIP group members can pick up the previous months’ group gifts for only L$500 each (here’s a SLURL to that wall where they are displayed).
  19. Baby Monkey Junkies – Baby Monkey womenswear proprietor Pixieplumb Flanigan always has lovely group gifts of women’s clothing and shoes to offer, and the Baby Monkey store group costs only L$20 to join. You can pick up previous group gifts for only L$10 each at a vendor located next to the current free group gift.
  20. 7 Deadly S[k]ins – The 7 Deadly S[k]ins store group costs L$295 to join, but keep your eyes peeled for periods throughout the year when you can join the 7 Deadly S[k]ins group for free (for example, they usually have one just before they launch their popular Advent calendar every December 1st). With your group tag active, you can pick up the monthly free group gifts located at the front desk of the store. The group tag also lets you play the lucky boards in store! Here’s a SLURL to the location of the lucky boards.
The group gift wall at Belle Epoque (the group costs L$20 to join)

Happy freebie shopping!

UPDATE April 3rd, 2021: The Arcane Spellcaster store group is free to join this Easter weekend, and with that free group join you can not one but two L$500 gift cards, good for anything in their store!

You might want to stay in the Arcane Spellcaster group, as they plan to give away a L$500 gift card every three months! Here’s the SLURL to their store.

Dr. Marie Vans: 14 Reasons Why Virtual Worlds Are Still Better than Social VR Worlds for Educational Purposes

PLEASE NOTE: My blog is still on indefinite hiatus; I have made a single exception for this blogpost. After this, I will be going back on my self-imposed break from blogging.

Dr, Marie Vans (known as Amvans Lapis in Second Life) is a Senior Research Scientist at HP Labs in Colorado, who gave the following provocatively-titled presentation on March 19th, 2021 at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) 2021 Conference, held in SL:

Title Slide from Dr. Vans’ VWBPE Presentaion

14 Reasons Why Virtual Worlds are still better than Social VR Worlds

…

A year ago, VCARA started the VR Exploder’s Club wherein educators meet up once a month to determine whether and/or which Social VR Worlds we should establish a presence thereon after exploring different platforms together. Whether we used VR headsets or desktop versions of these platforms, we looked at criteria such as learning curve, real-time communication, interaction capabilities, and more. I will describe specific issues that have been resolved in VWs that still need attention in VR.

Drawing upon a number of representative social VR platforms chosen from my November 2019 spreadsheet (which I need to update!), she gave a great presentation on why she thinks that social VR platforms need to pull up their socks when it comes to supporting education, and why these newer platforms should not be so quick to dismiss older virtual world platforms such as Second Life!

Because the following YouTube video of Dr. Marie Vans’ presentation has a absolutely criminally low 56 views thus far, I have decided to write up a blogpost about it! And here it is! (I am going back on hiatus again after this.)

Here is the video of Dr. Vans’ hour-long VWBPE presentation, followed by a question and answer session with the audience. It’s well worth watching the entire thing!