Losing it...

Posting from the surface...

My Relto book isn't working. MY RELTO BOOK ISN'T WORKING.

Yeesha, whatever I did you offend you, I'M SORRY. Did you overhear us joking about the "taking sides" thing last night? Is that it?

*sigh*

No, that's not it. Everyone else seems to have a "dead" Relto book too. I need to be in cavern right now. I'm not... and I'm scared. What if something happened... and whatever makes the Relto books work (a descriptive book for all of them?) was destroyed? Or what if the DRC pulled out again... and Yeesha finally gave up and went home, wherever that may be?

..ok. I waited two years, a day isn't going to kill me.

*bites lip*

Yes it is. And... well, I guess I'll just keep trying my Relto until I get tired and fall asleep... or get desperate enough to start walking towards New Mexico...

Update: If you look at the time and date of this post... well.. it's "tomorrow afternoon" now. Everyone's Relto books have returned to their normal functions... nothing seems to have changed. Haven't a clue what's going on. Oh well... glad to be back, that's all that matters.

In a dream I could see....

Posting from the surface...

Hm. I keep having dreams about the restoration. I'd say that I need a vacation... but since my time in D'ni IS my vacation of sorts... oh well. The funny thing is, the dreams almost never have to do with actually being in the cavern or any of the ages, but rather how things on the surface are affected... either directly with the DRC, or indirectly with others from the cavern.

Last night I dreamed that immediately after Dr. Kodama's Town Hall meeting yesterday, he went online and updated the age list on the DRC Site. Everything was still listed as suspended except for one age, that had never been listed before, and was marked as waiting for "Immediate Phase 5 Approval". I want to say it was Eder Delin... but I really can't remember. It might have been something completely different?

One photograph has me completely obsessed with an age. Then again, hearing Rebek and Pento brought up raised some interests there too... but right now it's all about Delin. Heck, maybe even more so than Kahlo. Maybe.

This post doesn't really fit the usual theme of things here, so sorry for those who are here looking for the latest restoration news. It's mainly an excuse to let you know that I'm working on sifting out the interesting information from the town hall meetings still, so I'll try and get those posted up fairly soon... keep your eyes open for it.

It's quiet...

Posting from D'ni - Rezeero...

...too quiet.

...no, seriously. Where is everyone? This has to be the quietest the cavern has been since D'mala. I'm not complaining personally... I wouldn't be watching the Great Zero spinning if I were looking for a huge crowd. But I'm feeling worried about how these quiet days might look to the DRC's funders.

Some would argue that people don't feel like hanging around because we haven't been granted access to any new ages in a couple of years. Even I get claustrophobic in the places we can visit sometimes... but then I try and sit down and put things in perspective. Even if it's only small portions of them we can wander around, the fact remains that we're still able to visit entire new WORLDS. And yet we still find ways to complain that we want more. Yes, I'm guilty of this too... after all, not a day goes by that I don't wake up and immediately check for any news regarding the work on Kahlo and Eder Delin.

In more positive news however... the DRC and the five Liaisons have worked together to hammer out times and locations for the first series of Town Hall question and answer sessions. Eleri was kind enough to post all of the times, locations, and details over at the DRC forums, which I will be quoting here...

---
"Meet the DRC"
Wednesday, April 26th
A time to get to know the members of the DRC: Who they are, how they came to D'ni and more!
All times are Cavern Time/Mountain Daylight Time-US

Session #1
Marie Sutherland - Palmner's Place Neighborhood(122) - 10:00 - 10:30am
Michael Engberg - The Institution Neighborhood(31) - 10:00 - 10:30am
Dr. Kodama - The Great Tree Neighboorhood(15) - 11:00 - 11:30am
Victor Laxman -Italian Neighborhood(84)- 11:00 - 11:30am

Session #2
Marie Sutherland - Uru Obsession Neighborhood(1) - 4:00 - 4:30pm
Michael Engberg - Guild of Greeters Neighborhood(17) - 4:00 - 4:30pm
Dr. Kodama - The Lyster's Neighbornood(72)- 5:00 - 5:30pm
Victor Laxman - Amber Horizons(47) - 5:00 - 5:30pm

PLEASE TAKE NOTE:
There will be a temporary cap on hood capacity of 30, and the hood will be set to "private" 5 minutes after start, to cut down on overcrowding, linking errors, and time distortions. Come early.

A member of the Liasion team will be on hand to get everyone settled and discuss the rules.

BASIC RULES:
Questions on the stated topic only.
Indicate you have a question by waving your hand. The DRCL will keep a running list, and call on people in order.
No extra chat, please.

KNOW YOUR TIME ZONE:
All times shown are Cavern Time; which is the same as US Mountain Daylight Time/GMT-6 and 16:00 GMT.
---

I'll be doing my best to attend as many of these as I can... any news will be posted here straight away. Incidentally, the Spoken Word event I host weekly in the UruObsession(1) neighborhood will be occuring right after the second set of sessions wraps up, so with any luck that'll help draw some people to drop by and listen to our speakers this week.

Also... "Got Milk?"

*grins and goes to wander the hoods*

Happy New Year!

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

Today marks the start of D'ni hahr 9662. A hahr is the largest amount of time expressed in D'ni, similar to a year on the surface.

Ae'gura is filled with people dancing and singing, some sort of pyrotechnics are going off in the hoods, banners have been raised. Today is a good day! This is also the first D'ni new year that I've actually been able to spend in the cavern, instead of somewhere on the surface... here's looking forward to many more!

Quite a few explorers are also sitting around hoping to hear some sort of announcement from the DRC, regarding funding, Kahlo, Eder Delin, or anything positive. More realistically, some are just hoping to catch a glimpse of the DRC to wish them a happy new year personally. Happy new hahr? Heh.

I think I'm going to take the rest of today off. Do some exploring, catch up on some reading, see how many people know what the new hahr is...

The DRC Liasons, Eder Delin, and Bahro Activity

Posting from Eder Kemo...

Ok, this news is all a few days old, because any time I haven't been working on the surface, I've been in the cavern helping out, or relaxing with some friends in Eder Kemo. I'm making sure to put aside some time right now though to make sure to get this written...

Everyone in the cavern has pulled together to select five excellent DRC Liaisons:

CAGrayWolf
Eleri
Gadren
Tweek
Vortmax

I'm pleased to say that several of my top choices made the list. It's only been a few days, but they're already doing an amazing job. The day after the election, the five had their very first meeting with the DRC, which leads me into my next topic...

They discussed various "Town Hall" style meetings to gather groups together in the community for question and answer sessions with the DRC, as well as generally getting acquainted with eachother and the DRC. One surprise was the confirmation that the DRC are all carrying Relto books now, and appear to have taken Yeesha's journey. How this will affect their outlook regarding the restoration remains to be seen.

Another big piece of news... on one of the imagers in the Uruto hood (Where the DRC chose to meet with the Liaisons. It means something close to "Gathering Place") was a photo of an age that none of the explorers have seen yet. Marie has been working on it, and it's known as "Eder Delin", another garden age. From the photo, it looks similar to Eder Kemo, but not identical.



From what we know, there was a big boom in the production of garden ages at one point in D'ni history, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were almost "mass produced" with only small changes between each owner. So it's not that surprising to see two similar ages. Frankly, as much as I love Kemo, the idea of a similar (but still different) age tickles me pink. I'll be first in line to link there... .. .. well maybe second.

The Bahro seem to be happy about the election as well, as they've resumed activity in the cavern by placing a linking stone to a secluded dock in Teledahn down by the Ferry Terminal on Ae'gura. This stone seems to come and go randomly, but those who have used it also report having found a Yeesha page on the dock in Teledahn, which will add a dock to Relto, for those who choose to use a Relto book. Actually, given the DRC now have them... I'm fairly confident that everyone in the cavern does have a Relto book now. Like the other stone that have been spotted in the cavern and throughout the ages, the use of one will add an additional link to the Teledahn book in your Relto bookshelf... so even if the stone is gone, you can ask a friend who has been to link you through.

(Note: To my knowledge, the use of linking stones is still not endorsed by the DRC. Even the Relto books seem to be on a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" basis. Use the linking stones left by the Bahro at your own risk. I know I did.)

Polls Close

The polls for the election of the five DRC Liaisons close in about five and a half hours. If there's anyone who hasn't cast their vote yet.... now's the time!

Edit: Oops. No. I was off by about six hours. NOW there's about five and a half hours til polls close. Darn time zones...

Insomniac Theories - KIs, The Nexus, and You

Posting from Eder Gira...

I can't sleep at all. Everytime I try, there's way too much stuff rushing through my head to find any rest. So instead I linked to Gira, where I've been soaking in the hot water while reading "Order of the Phoenix". Yes, I know I'm about two years late. Granted, linking to Gira probably wasn't the best idea either... it really just made my mind wander more. I keep forgetting about the book and finding myself watching the twin moons slowly trace their way across the sky, and going back to the original thoughts. But I digress...

I'm posting partially as a distraction, but mostly because I want to record some ideas that came to mind during one of my moon watching mind wandering breaks. What were D'ni libraries like? Usually when you think about books in relation to D'ni, you automatically imagine the linking books that bridge worlds so easily. But what about literature? Were there seperate libraries for written works, or were all books collected in the same libraries?

What about the Nexus? Could there have been several Nexus type machines in the libraries, that could dispense not only linking books, but written materials as well? But then again, the KIs that we use to interface with the Nexus were primarily used by the Guild of Maintainers... only a few of the highest of D'ni nobles seemed to have them aside from the Maintainers. Hm... new point then.

There are five Nexus terminals accessible to us on Ae'gura... probably quite a few more beyond the barricaded areas. Did common KI-less people see these terminals and think "Wow, those Maintainers sure are lucky, being able to use the Nexus so freely"? Or to move a step further.... you need a KI to register the location of the pedestals, and to operate the Nexus itself. But the books on the pedestals are still wide open, so anyone could use them, regardless of having a KI or not. I wonder if anyone ever used the Nexus links, and ended up stuck there... assuming that they didn't have a linking book on their person, that is.

If they DIDN'T have a book, how long would they be stuck there? There has to be hundreds of chambers and machines within the Nexus.... the rooms are too small for more than one or two people, and no matter if you link seconds or hours after someone else, you never encounter them in the Nexus. Perhaps the whole thing is a massive machine with hundreds of rooms that keep passing through the link-in point?

There's also open Nexus links in every neighborhood, as well as the ages we have access to... though I think those were all placed by the DRC for ResEng and Explorer use. The imagers all require interface with a KI to store images or notices, so it seems that the things that we keep posting our goofy photos and messages on could originally be altered only by Maintainers and higher-ups. The Great Zero also interfaces with the KIs somehow, since they records all of the marker data for it's (still up and coming) recalibration... once again, something only accessible by Maintainers.

Hm... it all makes sense to me except for the pedestals. It doesn't seem quite right for them to be accessible to anyone who comes along, regardless of whether they have a KI or not. It'd be a safety hazard. They're also built into the structure of the island too well for the DRC to have placed them... they've definitely been there for a while.

One more thought... what about the KI dispenser we keep directing new explorers to? There are over two thousand registered explorers since D'mala, and one of the first things that they're required to do is get a KI for easy communication. That machine has spit out over two thousand KIs so far, not even beginning to count how many were given out back before the restoration was halted. It shows no sign of stopping either. Does it have a finite amount of KIs stored somewhere? Or does it automatically manufacture more of them somewhere within Gahreesen, to refill the machine and continue dispensing them?

...ergh. I shouldn't think about D'ni tech when I'm not fully coherent. I think I'm going to read a bit more, and try one more time to get some sleep.

PCs, Macs, and the DRC

Posting from the surface...

I'll be honest, I'm posting this out of my own geekery more so than anything else. For all of the years that the DRC has been at work, they've been running off Windows based systems. As such, any explorers who were interested in contributing to the data collection for the restoration's data collection efforts were also limited to using Windows machines. Naturally, any explorers who used Macs exclusively were very annoyed by this.

Things may have just taken a step in the right direction however. With Apple's new "Boot Camp" beta, it's possible to install Windows on any intel based Mac, without the use of any unsupported hacks. I can't confirm how well this will allow Mac users to mesh with the DRC's protocols, but it definitely seems like we're moving forward. If anyone gets a chance to try working with the DRC's systems using this software, please let me know how it turns out.

Link: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

...you know, I just realized. If Victor has been using Windows based logic in his efforts to re-engineer D'ni tech, that might explain the bugs with the imagers, some of the automatic doors, and of course the Great Zero. Of course I'm only kidding, Vic, I know you're working with the best you can.

Update: We have a confirmation! Using Boot Camp, Mac systems can now communicate with the DRC just as easily as PCs can!

KI Mail from the DRC

Posting from D'ni - UruObsession(1) Neighborhood...

Today all people who have currently registered themselves to a KI received this message from the DRC, care of Marie Sutherland:

---
Hello everyone,

Yes, we are still alive, and we apologize for not appearing to be much of the time. We are busy and we are continuing to search for ways to fund the cavern in order to continue restoration of our beloved D'ni. As many of you know, we have received limited funding, to explore such a task, and we are thankful for that. However, we are not there yet. If you haven't already, please visit http://www.petitiononline.com/uru2006/petition.html and sign the petition. The more support and interest that can be shown, the better opportunities the cavern and all of D'ni will havin in the future.

Thank you so much,

Marie (and the DRC)
---

I haven't confirmed if the message is hardwired into the Nexus or anything like that, so I don't know if any newly registered KIs will receive it as well. I suspect they will though, as the message is permanently recorded in your KI (for now) and cannot be removed.

It's good to see that the DRC are taking more steps to raise awareness regarding the situation in the cavern.

Loco-linking

Posting from the surface...

Yesterday, late last night actually, while Taba and Vid were locking me out of the private meditation rooms in the 'hood, we came across somthing very strange. I had suggested that we hang out at the Kadish Gallery for a bit, so after Taba and Vid had locked me out once again, they linked to Relto, and to the Gallery. I meanwhile linked to my own Relto (being locked out of the private meditation room) and to the Gallery. To our suprize Vid and Taba's KIs seemed to stop transmitting to any but eachothers' KIs, with the exception that they could still send and recieve private messages from anyone. I suspect this is because they linked out of a private room. My theory is that when people enter a private room, something creates a direct link between their KIs, so as to keep any conversations, well, private...so when they linked out, the direct link was not severed.

What was even more strange than this however, and I can't think of any reason why this happened, is that they could not hear me speak. It was as if they had an invisible, sound-proof bubble around them. So I suggested that we head back to the 'hood and see if we can fix this problem. We headed to the private rooms, and they entered one and exited it again. To our delight this fixed the problem, and they could even hear me again. However, Vid then wanted to try an expirement. We went into one of the private rooms and shut the door, and then he linked me to his Relto. I linked back to the 'hood, and found that I was now disconnected from all comunnications...with an exception. I could send and receive messages and speak directly with anyone who entered and closed the room I had linked out of, even if I was outside of that room. I then closed myself into a room, opened it again, and I was able to communicate freely with everyone else...thank the Maker...

I think we'll have to look deeper into this, but for now I'm going to visit with friends in D'ni.

Hello, as well..

Well, since Dalken introduced himself, I might as well do the same. I'm Taba, and can often be found in Eder Gira, the 'hood, or on top of a tent. I'm presently posting from the surface, since the bluetooth card in my laptop can't handle inter-age transmission.
I also enjoy long walks on the beach in Gira, dinner by Kemofly light, and screaming nonsense at passing strangers.
Oh, and locking Dalken out of the private meditation rooms. That's my new hobby.

Well hello there!

Posting from Eder Gira...

Hey! Dalken here. I'm in Eder Gira at the moment, just enjoying the scenery and waiting for the sunset. Not much else for me to report right now, but I'll be sure to do so when there is something! See ya!

...ugh.

Posting from the surface...

I spent most of today trying to get things into an order that I could finally get into the cavern. Let's just say.... er... I had trouble with my Relto book. I think this was the first full twenty-four hour period to pass without me coming down to the cavern since D'mala.... pretty sure.

About an hour ago, I finally managed to link, and get down to D'ni, only to discover that there was almost no one around. Suddenly I realize just how late it is, and return to the surface feeling pretty ridiculous.

Oh sod it all, I'm going to bed. I hope the link is still stable tomorrow.