This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 

Saturday January 4

 

    ~*~

 

    At 10 AM PST   

    2024 Genome Editing Year in Review

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/genome-editing-2024/

    By Stephen L. Gasior

    Auditorium

 

    ~*~

 

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

This Saturday at The Science Circle

 

 Saturday January 6

    ~*~

    

    At 10 AM PST   

    Genome Editing Year in Review

    Organizer: Stephen L Gassior

    https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/crispr-4/

 

    The Science Circle (72,129,30)

      

    ~*~

 

    

    NOTE: Non-members required to register once

    IM Jes Cobalt or Nymf Hathaway

╚══════════════════════════════ The Science Circle (72,129,30) ═╝

 

 

Announcement: This Saturday at The Science Circle - "2019 CRISPR Year in Review"

"2019 CRISPR Year in Review"

Saturday January 4
10 AM to 11 AM SL time

Every year there are new advances in genome engineering. In this talk, the most important and interesting news in CRISPR-based gene editing from 2019 will be presented. Come learn about Technology Advances, New Tools, Intellectual Property, and Target Genes and Modified Organisms from a practitioner in the field.

Dr. Stephen L. Gasior

For more information, Click Here

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/67/129/32

Commentary: Should Bad News Not Be Told?

By Bixyl Shuftan

This summer, we got contacted by a reader concerning some articles we were reading. It wasn't about accuracy, but rather the content. We had published some articles about residents being less than pleasant to others, and she expressed worry that we were making the Grid less attractive to those who hadn't yet tried Second Life, and would be steered away from giving it a try.

I've heard a similar complaint about real-life news, people saying newspapers and broadcast news tell only bad news. And there is a belief among some in the news industry that bad news tends to draw more attention. The latter may or may not be true, but the former isn't. By it's nature, the news industry is about the reporting of unusual events, notably those that affect a particular media's readers the most.

Reporting little but bad news and gossip isn't the style of the Newser. Our rivals the "Herald" did so, reporting on lots of stories about griefing and drama. While some take a delight in the stories of the miseries of others, we don't, and there were no shortage of people who complained when the self-described tabloid was operational.

Giving an overly-rosy image has it's own problems. When the TV show "CSI" did an episode that featured Second Life, it was less than accurate. There was no lag, everyone used voice, etc. So visitors seeing the show finding out about Second Life there and then logging on would find themselves surprised that details would take some time to load. With the reality of the place so quickly falling short of the image they were given, many would leave and not return. So giving an image of Second Life without the pitfalls has it's own problems.

What's best, at least in my opinion, is a kind of balanced approach. On one hand, some warning of problems as they arise, in addition to allowing readers to vent some through submitted commentaries. And on the other, showing plenty of good that goes on in Second Life, places to explore, the stories of interesting people, and exciting events. And of course of problems being fixed (the Lab actually does listen, sometimes).

Do we do a perfect job? No, we make our share of mistakes. But giving fair warning about problems isn't one of them.

There's a story about the making of the statue of a certain king. He was not an especially attractive man, being in late middle age. The sculpture carefully suggested he could make the statue look younger. The king told him no, but to make it as he appeared, "warts and all." His kingdom had prospered under his rule, and he was confident history would judge him well.

Second Life has much to be proud of over it's ten years. Yes, a few griefers are still around. Yes, the place still has lag and bugs. Yes, there are times the Lab can be downright clueless. But rather than hide the warts, it's better to let newcomers know things are less than perfect. But the good here far outweighs the bad.

Bixyl Shuftan

Second Life Wiki Loses About 80 Pages in “Clean-Up”

According to an article by Tateru Nino, a number of pages were removed from the Second Life Wiki.

... nearly 80 currently employed and ex-Linden Lab staff were mass-deleted ... along with related meeting transcripts, modification histories, revisions and the like. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the deletions. Some are still there while some are gone, and whether the staff-member in question is currently employed or not doesn’t seem to be a major determining factor.


Tateru contacted Linden Lab, and got the following statement:

After a careful review of the content, we’ve removed a number of pages from the Second Life wiki as part of an ongoing clean-up effort, designed to make that resource more current, more helpful, and less confusing than it has been in the past. Where appropriate, we’ll move valuable content (relevant tutorials, for example) to other pages.


Checking the comments following Tateru’s article and those in Daniel Voyager’s blog, a few people were in favor of Linden Lab’s actions, “The wiki is huge and very poorly linked. For a wiki it is hard to use. There are a massive number of pages with no incoming link. If I did not have a reader tracking the changes to the wiki there are tons of stuff I would never see. Unless I bookmark it, I can’t return to it.” The majority, however, were unhappy, “What?? They got rid of Blue Linden’s page. I want to smack them.” “Ya’ gotta love bureaucratic jargon. ‘..careful review ..’, ... ‘Where appropriate ..’. All good words and phrases for avoiding actually explaining anything.” A few wondered why the Lab didn’t archive the pages instead, even if it would make them less accessible, one wondering if the newer Lindens had no appreciation for “the investment people have made in SL for years and the value and affection people have for the history and culture that has developed."


A list of what’s been deleted can be found Here.

Sources: Dwell on It, Daniel Voyager’s Blog

Bixyl Shuftan