COME FLY WITH ME, GWYNETH!

This week I owe two hat tips to Chage McCoy, whose SL blog tipped me on the in-world Counterstrike recreation, and now, to this: an extensive white paper on enhancing aircraft physics in Second Life, written by seasoned blue-headed aeronautics engineer Huns Valen. Huns also offers an interesting (if potentially disturbing) story behind the open sourcing of his copious technical know-how. Namely, to undermine a recent attempt to hack his technology:

As it turns out, my code has been exposed, so I have nothing to lose by publishing this. In fact... [a]ny competent programmer who reads this document should be able to produce their own adaptation of my flight physics engine... [But a]dapting it to work well on a new vehicle is not a trivial task. A programmer who develops their own engine, starting from this whitepaper plus whatever they have learned and deduced separately, will gain enough experience to troubleshoot any quirky behavior.

Meanwhile, new SL blogger Clarence Calliope has an interview with and precis of noted Second Life intellectual Gwyneth Llewelyn. (Not only does the world have its native intellectuals, in other words, it has critical commentary on them, too.)

Speaking of which, my latest entry on Second Life's growing Chinese community has been updated with some news that's likely to provoke further thought and analysis.