Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!, a photo by Kara Trapdoor on Flickr.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."   Mark Twain

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." Edith Lovejoy Pierce

(photo taken in Oceanwind, Second Life)

!SEX!--Skin Exposure Study Results, RL/SL Xcite Touch “Toys”, and Lolas are the Hot Topics

“Let’s Talk About Sex Baby”.. as the Salt-N-Pepa song goes...so continues the ongoing discussions in SL about all things sex. Far be it for me to advocate for all the sex that goes on in SL because everyone knows I’m bigger on promoting the creativity in SL, live music, art, builds to explore, education, etc… but once in a while we all have to admit it’s right there all over SL too and it won’t be denied, so rather than deny it, today I will embrace it (or at least write about some of it on my blog).

3 Hot & Sexy Topics.  Here we go.....................

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Skin Exposure Study in SL on Plos One-Look here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0051921

Yesterday a study was released by Plos One regarding percentages of skin exposed by male vs female avatars in SL. They have a well executed study and well written interesting article worth reading.

Measuring people's propensity to reveal skin can be difficult in the real world as there are so many variables. To study human behavior free of at least some of these constraints, Matthieu Guitton and colleagues from Laval University, Canada analyzed how male and female avatars in Second Life dress.  They found that out of over 400 virtual people studied, 71 percent of male avatars covered between 75-100 percent of their skin, while only 5 percent of females did. In contrast, 47 percent of the virtual females they studied covered between 25-49 percent of their skin, compared to 9 percent of males. The amount of skin covered was independent of traditional gender-specific measures of physical attractiveness for virtual avatars, such as waist-chest ratios for females.

"These findings have implications for understanding how sex specific aspects of skin disclosure influence human social interactions in both virtual and real settings," the study stated.

The research was published in the open access journal PLOS ONE.

 

 I was actually surprised the results indicate such a discrepancy between the genders. There are many implications here. My first question obviously was whether the number of first life males portrayed as female avatars was taken into consideration and of course they did. They factored with and also without the previous statistic that 25% of avatars portray the opposite sex of their first life person (that was a newsworthy percentage tibit for me as well). They also factored in cultural norms and took into consideration a great number of things such as child avatars, various skin and body types, and even included variables such as hand coverage as this is an area typically used in communication, etc. All the of stats still turned out relatively the same with female avatars exposing a significantly larger percentage of their skin than males. I actually found this study extremely interesting and most people know I’m not in SL to think too much after a long day at RL work, so seriously it’s worth reading if not at least giving it a glance. There are larger implications here but I’m not going to get into that because I don’t really want to think THAT much right now but those implications are the very reason for everyone to read the full article.  This work was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. I  want that job.  

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Next stop, Xcite Touch“Toys”!. Did everyone get what they wanted for Christmas this year? If not there are always the Xcite Touch toys as seen here:http://www.getxcite.com/store.php?act=listcat&cat=Touch.Touch%20FAQ
This is actually a pretty impressive set up.  I'd love to hear from someone who has tried this out.  If you don't follow the link you are missing out, but use your imagination.  Their site states,"Touch syncs up your real life toy with a virtual toy, so that when the virtual toy begins vibrating, so does the real toy. This may include various controls such as a pattern of vibrations, strength of the vibrations, etc"  "...Are you feeling it yet?" This is worthy of a blog post all by itself really, but just check out the link.  Seriously .. do it. It's "interesting" for lack of a better term coming to my mind atm.
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 (pic of Kara (left) and Bel by Belinda Barnes)

Lola Tangos: AKA: Big huge perky mesh boobs.

Finally, information about Lola Tangos has been blogged, tweeted, talked about and most designers are jumping on the band wagon making compatible skins and clothes for the new Lola mesh Tangos, female chest implants that are perky and size adjustable. Really the only downfall to this generation of enhancements is that they don’t work with physics. They can be dialed down small to a typically average or more realistic size or bumped up to major "gadunk gadunk watch out you don’t get a black eye jogging"  size. Oh, wait, no worries about black eyes here, as again, physics don’t work with these. ~sigh~ I like physics personally. Anyway, I digress, and no one wants to hear me ramble in writing as much as I do verbally…. here they are KT’s Lolas. Photo courtesy of Belinda Barnes who set up the photo shoot. We actually had the tangos on earlier when they came out as Bel definitely likes to try new things in SL but we did this photo when we were showing how we took on 2^nd jobs at “Hooters” to help defray the cost of some of our extra Christmas expenses. It appears Bel and I were enjoying our new enhancements more than the guys were. Yes, I do think the girls get a “hoot” out of these for some reason and I’ve even seen some of the models wearing them, but honestly for me I do prefer a more natural look for daily wear and can still get out my tangos when I’m feeling a bit wild. Don’t forget you do have to have special clothes and the applicators and will have to line up and match skin tone but that is easier now that many of the popular skin makers have included applicators that match their skin. Check them out all over the SL Marketplace and many places inworld.  I can't get that saying out of my mind.... "We'll pump YOU up!"

Addendum: There is a new script to make the Lola Tangos bounce .. woot!  Check it out here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hepsia/128/128/23

The RL Christmas

I know this is not SL related, but it's my blog so I post whatever I like and I like this. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, a photo by Kara Trapdoor on Flickr.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_L80avABPw

"My Grown Up Christmas List"

Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies

Well, I'm all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I'm not a child
But my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish
My grown up christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up Christmas list

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree

Well heaven only knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth
(there'd be)

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, oh
This is my grown up christmas list
This is my only life long wish
This is my grown up christmas list

(The greatest Christmas gift of all
Was never placed beneath a tree,
But lay within a manger
Beneath a star for all to see.)

 

The Giving Tree at Patron

Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Patron/83/233/30

Eliza has The Giving Tree out again this year with beautiful designer gifts from some of the best creators in Second Life.  There are a bunch of presents so run and get them all for free.  Thanks Eliza and all the others who made this possible again this year.

Eliza said there will be even more presents coming!  Fun quality stuff... don't miss out!

Holiday Dreams Gallery Opening Saturday December 22nd at 12pm SLT

Please Join Us!

*When: Saturday December 22, 2012 at 12pm SLT
*What: Welcome to the Holiday Dream Gallery Grand Opening
*Where: Holiday Dream Gallery at Deam Island : http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dream%20Island/202/196/23
*Who: Kara Trapdoor is at it again with the following artists:
-Skip Staheli-Erotic Art
-Roiben Sweetwater-Fantasy Art
-Bloomy Miles and Link Bressig-Senses
-Burk Bode & Maloe Vansant-Emotions
-Michiel Bechir-Landscapes
-CindyS Tatham-Christmas Holiday
-Urban Art-Questionz
-Flufee Art-Superflufee
-One of Each-Kara Trapdoor
*Entertainment: The It Girlz & Fellaz string quartet
*Holiday formal dress attire suggested



Additionally there is skating, sledding, dancing and winter fun outside too! 

Annual Second Life New Year's Resolutions List For 2013

My annual Second Life New Year's Resolutions List for 2013





It's about that time if year again.  If you are interested in my past 2 years of resolutions you can find them here: http://karasecondlife.blogspot.com/2010/12/sl-new-years-resolutions-in-making.html  and here: http://karasecondlife.blogspot.com/2011/12/karas-annual-second-life-new-years.html.  It seems I get earlier and earlier each year with these.  Personally I still like last years best and probably will still work on those too, since of course I never do keep any for more than a few days.  Here we go....

1)  Don't sweat the little things, or the griefers, or beggar bots as it's not worth the frustration or time.

2) Enjoy my inner child, and fairy, and man, and monster, and so forth.

3) Download and use the new Firestorm at all times.

4)  Organize and minimize my inventory (same as every year and never happens) Ok, maybe this should be a honest attempt to get it below 150,000.

5) Remember to wear alpha under my dresses.... last year it was panties.

6)  Stop stalking loved ones and mind my own business.

7) Make a list and remember friends rez and birthdays.

8) Stop chastising myself for being non-productive and just enjoy the down time from a busy RL.

9) Thank people more for visiting my projects and blogs, for without them I'd be talking to and playing with myself  even more often, and we all know there is enough of that going on in SL.

10) Align my eyelashes again, and again, and again... oh, maybe this should actually be to stop changing my shape daily.

11) Stop fussing at LL for making shitty toes and relax and enjoy the amazing pair of bare mesh feet I finally found and love. 

12) Find, join, and attend SL "Hoarders" (see #4 above) and "Crazy moody lady" support groups.

13) Learn something....there is so much for me to learn I won't limit this to what I will learn.

14) Remember some people have a NEED to breed and that is OK for them and their various breedable pets, objects, babies, clothes, etc., and besides it makes a lot of money for someone.

15) Keep an open mind about mesh.

16) Remember to check the "received" box before panicking or curing Marketplace again.

Now, what is YOUR New Year's Resolution?

Christmas Town--A Great Explore

Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elizabeth%20Town/114/133/63
Laura Liberty made a very cute Christmas town with this amazing skate trip through time and movies.  I love it.  She has free skates there which I neglected to put on before turning on my camera.  Sorry it's so choppy but my computer doesn't like me theses days and I'm getting a new one for Christmas on January 10th.  Anyway.. you get the idea about how cool the sim is.  Some of my friends who joined me and are glimpsed in the video include Valiant Westland, Sonicity Fitzroy and Belinda Barnes.

Christmas Town in Second Life 2012 from Kara Trapdoor on Vimeo.

Holiday Dreams Gallery Opening Soon

 I'm working on a new project and it's a beautiful full mesh building that I am making into a gallery for the holidays. Opening date and SLurl to be announced, but I just had to do a little pre-opening blog post.   I'm very unorganized and don't even have a opening date scheduled yet, but it will be soon.  The artists have been amazing and the place is looking great if I do say so myself.


But delays come in all forms and my first was when I somehow rezzed 3 copies of the build on top of each other and didn't notice it until later when there were returning multiple doors in doorways and the front foundation had a giff like wiggle effect going on.  The deleting and re-rezzing was tedious but I'm sure there is a better way than this permanoob is aware of.   Next I was messing with scripts and somehow magically threw a landmark giver hover text script right into the front stairs unbeknownst to me.  For the life of me I couldn't see it in contents to get ride of it, so in came Bel the Builder to the rescue.  Belinda Barnes is quite handy and she arrived all decked out ready to work.  In short time she had the place fixed up and when I had to go real life and told her my vision for one of the rooms, I returned a couple hours later only to find Bel had fixed up the room exactly how I wanted.  I took a few pics of her since she was perfect for the job.

Anyway.. I'll keep you posted on the gallery opening, but here is a sneak peek look at it and Bel on the job!  More to come.....

A Very Merry SL Christmas CD with SL Musicians for RFL

Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Xmas%20Expo%204/35/227/22

I blogged about the Relay for Life Xmas Expo already because they had the Charmed breedable fashions (shoes) that I found interesting, so you can read back a few posts if you want to know more on that topic, but tonight I sought out the RFL Christmas CD.  For $500L you can get a RFL CD filled with 40 tracks of music by Second Life musicians.  I thought buying this was a great way to support RFL and SL musicians so picked mine up and you can too at the link given above.

These festive song selections are downloadable or you can listen to them right in SL with all provided in the box.  Make them a part of your holiday tradition in and outside of SL.

A Merry SL Christmas CD Track List
1.  Grace McDunnough - Away in a Manger
2.  Voodoo Shilton - Sleigh Ride
3.  Shaye Dezno-Jonstone - Where are you Christmas
4.  Jon and the Anonymous Virtual Orchestra - Christmas is the Heart
5. Damian Carbenell - Mr. Grinch
6.  Sara Tiemogo - I Want Things
7.  Gina Stella - Jingle Bell Rock
8.  Eliz Watanabe - Noche de Paz
9.  Kitty Zeddmore - I'll Be Home for Christmas
10. Nad Gough - Christmas Waltz
11. Lyrica Acoustic and PT Beardmore - White Christmas
12. Quantamis Navarathna - Destiny Christmas
13. Amereth Popstar - Silent Night
14. Clairede Dirval, Dixie Silverweb and Tristan Silverweb - Happy Xmas
15. Laura Savio - O Holy Night
16. Jean Munro - The Christmas Song
17. David Csiszer - Little Drummer Boy-Peace on Earth
18. Louis Landon - Joy to the World
19. TerryLynn Melody - All I Want For Christmas is You
20. Antonio Galloway - Ave Maria
21. Sassy Nitely (Barbie Horsley) - Santa Baby
22. Gweeb - Deck the Funk
23. AMForte Clarity - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
24. Starrfish Ohmai - Blue Christmas
25. Anek Fuchs - The Perfect Gift
26. Tamra Hayden and Eugene Gwozdz - Jingle Bells (Tamra Sands in SL)
27. Maximillion Kleene and Stella Silvansky - Fairytale of New York
28. Mandoaa Dragonash - Who Put the Dick on the Snowman
29. Hogan Baily - Please Come Home for Christmas
30. ScarlettLa Roux - Mary Did You Know
31. Savannah Coronet - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
32.  Carah Nitely - Winter Wonderland
33. Joaquin Gustav - Let it Snow
34. Tamra Hayden and Handarido Optera - Jesus, Joy of Man's Desiring (Tamra Sands in SL)
35. Therese Nightfire (Kristina Helene) - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
36. Karter Stonecutter - Merry Christmas from the Family
37. Damian Carbenell - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus  
38. AMForte Clarity - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
39. Jase Branner - Feliz Navidad
BONUS NON-CHRISTMAS SONG
40. POL Arida - Winning

Rose at LEA23-The Arrival

Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife//61/76/22

I found Rose at LEA23, "The Arrival".  The land header states it's still under construction, but seems pretty cool to me already.  There is one HUGE fish and much more larger than life size things and a few life size things to see and play on.  As usual Rose has her bald children, fish, & eyeballs around.  I just took a lot of pics since it looked so interesting and I couldn't find a note card of explanation yet.  So maybe I scooped the place, IDK, but I couldn't resist playing and taking pics... see how awesome it looks?  Check it out .. but maybe wait a day or two so that you don't miss the "finished" product--just don't forget to visit there. I was actually headed to a different LEA exhibit but never made it due to this distracting me so much.  That will have to be for another day. 

RFL XMas Expo and New Charmed Breedable Fashion

Visi here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Xmas%20Expo%203/242/96/22
Today I visited the XMas Expo where there is a quaint little winter holiday village (well, actually not so little, it's huge, but it is quaint) filled with shopping as well as select Relay For Life items.



 It's a good shopping and exploring experience but one of the places I found especially interesting was the Charmed Breedable shop.  These are SHOES YOU CAN BREED to develop into designer shoes, making everyone a designer.  I was initially a bit confused so was provided the following note info. that reads in part  : "Welcome to an enchanted world of fun and fashion of your own creating, enhancing your Second Life experience.  * Happy Creating!  May all of your Fashion Designer Dreams come true! *.......You make your own shoes, as follows:
- Shoes will be delivered to you as a display/breeding image for your shoes' CBF home, along with a starter set of shoe care items.  (All items sold separately, also.)
- You breed/design your shoes in the CBF home until they have the amount of Flair, Style and Color you wish.
- When you're ready to wear a shoe, it will be removed from your closet, and further display/breeding, so that a pair of shoes can be delivered to you to wear, to give as a gift, or to sell.  To transform your design image into a wearable, use the CBF Shoe Design Bag......

...Fashionistas, now is your chance to write your own Fantasy Fairy Tale.  Breed the "Glass Slippers" and see what you get!  A voucher for a Real Life pair of Designer Shoes.  * 300-500 USD value! *  (The designer may choose to trade the Glass Slippers for Real Life Shoes, sell them or wear them as a trophy pair.) "

Ok, just WOW!

They also sell a lot of other things including animated furniture sets.  The store host was wearing a vey nice completed pair of mens dress shoes and I noted the styles varried from mens and ladies formal to casual.  Quite intersting really and it will be fun to see what we will be "breeding" or designing in the future.


Check out the expo for a good cause then be sure to see the breedable shoes.  What next?

Beautiful and Cozy Fall Fashion at BoHo HoBo

Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Trillia/231/25/2119

Trill Zapatero has a new line of fall fashion out and I absolutely love her new sweater, scarves and bags.  The colors, fit, and design are perfect for my fall and winter wardrobe.  



 
My friend Belinda Barnes-Fitzroy loves the tube dresses so I grabbed one of her pics from her Flickr to show here too since they are great with wonderful colors and fit.

Christmas Tree Dress at PATRON to Benefit SOS Children's Villages International

Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Patron/83/152/22

My generous and busy friend, artists, designer and builder, Eliza Wierwight, is at it again.  This time she made an amazing product for a good cause with 100% of the sales going to a fund raiser.  In her own words: "Sunday Laks approached me asking if I would create a "Christmas Tree Dress" that could be used to fund raise for SOS Children's Villages International. How could I say no.   I had great fun making it and couldn't settle on one look, so you get a lot  of goodies with the dress  that means there is  a genuinely high level of customization potential . Everything from Naughty to Nice and in between.  We hope you have fun with it and thank you so much for supporting SOS Children's Village Foundation with your purchase of these gown/s. We'd love to make as much money as possible over the Season so tell your friends ! Just now available at PATRON. PLEASE come by and buy one. We've gone for the moderate price of L$799 and 100% of that to SOS.  That's for both versions of the dress and a few extras  as well !!!  Wishing you well (and lots of fun), Eliza Wierwight. PATRON"

The above pics are of me in the dress at PATRON.  You can see some of Eliza's other Christmas decor and while there be sure to enjoy all the beautiful Christmas trees and other decorations.

Shop and Explore Second Life, faMESHed shopping and Water Reserve Emm Shop and Hello, September, At Scribbled Hearts

 Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Fresco/166/179/45
The faMESHed shopping has a street lined with many shops offering some of their finest mesh.  The place is packed but no lag for me. 





Now the explore and shop: Emm Shop and Hello September at Scribbled Hearts, a beautiful sim with amazing detail and a ton of pose ops.
Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Water%20Reserve/123/17

Leroy for Christmas

Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Leroy/128/128/20
This beautiful sim that has been around for a while and is usually well known for its stark landscape and huge ship has really outdone itself this season.  Through the end of the year it's decorated for Christmas with beautiful trees in a huge buble in the sky with dancing along with many smaller trees in individual bubbles in the sky all making for some romantic visits and pictures.  The ground level is a winter scene that still houses the ship but there are Christmas trees and an adorable little building that makes this a "must see" sim.  While there adorable ree snow globes are randomly and generously handed out to visitors too. Don't miss out. 

Raliegh's Place

Visit here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tranquility%20dAlliez/76/157/21

My good friend Raliegh Rumble who is an amazing explorer among other things, has opened up his sim for visitors.  It's beautiful for winter holiday photos and has hot air baloon rides, greedy, wave runners, skating and dancing.  Check it out while he has it open to the public.