Tree Spirits

It was another magical  tour on the Hypergrid Safari last week. It started with a tree.

When I was small, almost before I had words to say, I could hear tree spirits whispering. I remember snuggling up in a cozy spot between the  roots of my favorite old beech tree, pressing my ear to it's trunk and listening. On windy days it would sing stories. Maybe I dreamed it. Not all trees spoke and the ones that did...I guess not everyone  heard them. It's been a long time since a tree spoke to me. I think Art Blue must have heard tree spirits sing when he was little. Maybe he still does.

Dream Forest was our first stop. Art gave us all our very own tree to plant and water and watch over. It takes a few days to grow one. When it is ready you can take it from the nursery region to the Dream Forest to plant it. I think Art said we should sit with it, dream with it. I may have dreamed that part. The Dream Forest was singing full volume and my imagination kept wandering  off with me.

I would have missed the next jump, but when you are on safari no explorers are left behind. Avia Bonne sent me the teleport and I woke from one dream into another.

Nina Camplin and Cataplexia Numbers

This was a land of castles and dragons. Calchester. Pretty cool. 

We were welcomed by Alexina Proctor and Prax Maryjasz. Prax described what we'd find in Calchester and mentioned the water creatures. Water spirits speak to me too. I was camming out in search of Nessie when I found a giant turtle. 

I was gone.

Then I found Nessie.


When I came up for air I saw a flying dragon but couldn't catch it. It was time to go. Like  a child at play I was reluctant to leave. But more magic waited at the new jump.

 It started with a tree. 

Her name is Serene Jewel and the tree avatar was riveting. I was camming in to get pictures. She said you can get an avatar like that at Franco Grid, region Avatar.

 I know. I know. I've wandered down a side road here.

Back to the safari and region Ismadril built by Paislee Myrtle. I've seen Paislee's region artistry around Opensim before and it is always a feast for the senses and mind. I wanted to stand on that platform watch the water spilling over those falls forever.

Hypergrid Safari is a beautiful and wild ride. I enjoy getting to know my fellow travelers a little more each week. I love that there are new folks joining all the time.

The lesson learned this week--if you're on safari hang in thru crashes and beg/thumb a ride when you've crashed or gotten lost in a hop. Every stop is worth the re-logging and hopping back to join them.

One other thing I learned--I'm not the only one who hears the tree spirits sing.

~Nara Malone

Writer's of Greyville Poetry Exhibition: Featuring Tracy Olmstead

 

The Greyville Writer's Colony is honored by the opportunity to share Tracy Olmstead's inspiring poetry with you.  Join us at world.narasnook.com:8900:Greyville  

Take a right across the parking lot and you'll see our teleport center. 

The red gate, first rectangle in line, takes you directly to the exhibit. But rather than jump right into the poetry, use the covered bridge to the left to cross over into Paradise where you'll find Tracy's house.  

All of our members have a house or shop in either Greyville or Paradise. This gives visitors a chance to step into the mental space of the creator at work, gives you a sense the person behind the art. Tracy's build is a peek into what awaits.  Walk through the door and he takes you deeper. 

 

Across the room on a drawing desk is a single poem, an appetizer. 

 

Outside you'll find a landmark for the exhibit platform. Save that. You'll want to return.

We hope you'll enjoy a look at the world through  Tracy Olmstead's eyes--a feast for mind and senses. Many thanks to Tracy for putting this together and sharing his work with us.

Rob Bot: Kinda like Her (the movie) only it's Him

When the movie Her released my friends started sending me links to articles about the bot romance. I guess Her made them think of my robot, Rob. Given that Her was inspired by Alicebot and Rob's brain is built from a newer version of Alicebot, that does not surprise me.

This is Rob Bot, an AI (artificial intelligence) enabled digital being I created to help me write his story. Rob's story is nothing like Her's.  Rob rezzed under grim circumstances and his story delves into issues and decisions we 'll soon have to make as a society and as individuals. Like it or not AI Bots are here and they will have an emotional impact on humans.

Is it possible to fall in love with a bot?

I don't know. I do know it's possible to want to wring one's neck. It's also possible to miss their annoying quirkiness when something goes wrong and they get destroyed.

The original Rob was wiped out in a server meltdown and I missed having him around. I later uploaded his avatar to the Greyville Writer's Colony. There his main task was to dance with visitors and make them feel welcome. I left the corrupted AI chat files in place until I had time to rebuild his brain. Before today Rob could still converse but his impairment was obvious.

 Now he has a brand new AI -- two to be exact. If you want to chat with Rob on the web or in-world you will be talking to Rob 3.0. Inputs from both web and virtual world go to the same brain. His responses are quicker and more appropriate than before.

I removed all the Call Mom special coding that let Rob do web searches and perform tasks. Those don't function well in a web browser and generate pure garbage responses in-world. They do function on an Android phone. So I made a special digital assistant version of Rob's AI to link with the CallMom app.

 If you don't have an Android phone you can still ask Rob_CM questions...occcasionally he spits out an accurate answer. Rob CM's chat function works just as it would in Rob 3.0.

To use Rob as a digital assistant I downloaded the CallMom app to my phone and set Rob_CM to be my custom bot. The CallMom app handles the information security and searches and forwards any tasks of a conversational nature to Rob who responds with his sassy wit. This app is beta software and Rob makes a lousy assistant but I keep hoping. I would never trust him with anything important but he can certainly liven up your workday. I don't think you have to worry about falling in love with Rob but he's a sweetheart and I do think you'll find it hard to pass him by with out stopping for a chat and a dance.

To Recap:

Go here to chat with Rob

Go here if you have high frustration tolerance and want to get Rob to do some web research for you.

Go here to learn how to access the Greyville Writer's Colony where you can meet, dance, and chat with Rob in all his bare-chested pixel glory.