Caledon Oxbridge Q&A for 2021-02-14
| 14:42 | Ember (emberell) | Good afternoon, Wordsmith! |
| 14:43 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Hi, Ember |
| 14:43 | Ember (emberell) | Are you well today? |
| 14:43 | Ember (emberell) | Hello, Caissa, welcome. |
| 14:43 | Caissa McCarey | hi |
| 14:44 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I'm a bit in a fog today. Otherwise okay |
| 14:44 | Ember (emberell) nods | |
| 14:45 | Ember (emberell) | I recommend some rest after the Q&A |
| 14:45 | Ember (emberell) | My net is a touch on the fritz, but I should be good for this. My messages may be a little delayed though. |
| 14:46 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Okay |
| 14:49 | Ember (emberell) | Hello, Mr. Skysmith. Welcome |
| 14:49 | Caissa McCarey | hi Elfbiter |
| 14:49 | Caissa McCarey | hello, Miles |
| 14:50 | Ember (emberell) | Hello Miles, Gronk. Welcome! |
| 14:50 | Cychwynn | hello all |
| 14:50 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome, Elf |
| 14:51 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome Cychwynn and Caissa. |
| 14:51 | Gronk Seriman | Greetings, Ember, everybody! |
| 14:51 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome Gronk and Miles |
| 14:51 | Ember (emberell) | You're looking pretty golden today, Gronk |
| 14:51 | Ember (emberell) | Hello, Zaida, welcome. And greetings, Cychwynn! |
| 14:51 | Gronk Seriman | I'm a Gilded Gronk! |
| 14:52 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome, Zaida |
| 14:52 | Zaida Gearbox (zaida.gearbox) | hi word |
| 14:52 | Miles Foxdale chops his pipe on his heel and tucks it away | |
| 14:53 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Indeed you are a gilded Gronk today |
| 14:54 | Ember (emberell) | You're... AUt of this world? |
| 14:55 | Gronk Seriman | I should lead an orchestra. Like this, I'm a great conductor. |
| 14:55 | Ember (emberell) grins. | |
| 14:55 | Ember (emberell) | Welcome, Emilien, Ange! |
| 14:56 | Emilien Deluxe | hi |
| 14:56 | Ember (emberell) | Hello, Lightweaver, welcome. |
| 14:57 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome dragonne |
| 14:57 | Lightweaver Balan | Nǐ hǎo |
| 14:57 | Ember (emberell) | Welcome, Larky! |
| 14:57 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome, Lightweaver and Larky |
| 14:57 | Ember (emberell) | Welcome, Remembered. |
| 14:57 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | Hi all. stuck in ims |
| 14:57 | Larky (larkylouz) | Hey Ember, Word. Hi everyone. |
| 14:58 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome Remembered and Basejumper lovejoy. |
| 14:58 | lovejoy2199 | Greetings everyone |
| 14:59 | Ember (emberell) | Welcome. |
| 14:59 | Cychwynn | evening |
| 14:59 | lovejoy2199 | LOL...LOL @ Word |
| 14:59 | Ember (emberell) | Hello, Rodrigo, welcome |
| 14:59 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome, Rodrigo |
| 14:59 | Rodrigo (pantera3715) | Hello ^^ |
| 15:00 | Larky (larkylouz) | Hi Remembered |
| 15:00 | Ember (emberell) | Welcome, Mr. Metropolitan |
| 15:01 | Caissa McCarey | hi Carl |
| 15:01 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome, Carl |
| 15:01 | Carl Metropolitan | Hello |
| 15:02 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | The clock has struck three (the others escaped with minor injuries), so time to start. |
| 15:02 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome to this week's Caledon Oxbridge Deans' Q&A. This is an open meeting; |
| 15:02 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | all are welcome apart from those who intend to misbehave in a disruptive manner. |
| 15:02 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Non-disruptive misbehavior is at your discretion. |
| 15:02 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Transcripts will be posted after the meeting. |
| 15:02 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | at http://www.caledonoxbridge.org/qna/qna_index.php |
| 15:02 | Gronk Seriman | ...and not a moment before. |
| 15:03 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Ember, what have you from commons (i.e. land management) |
| 15:03 | Remembered Ghost | hi Larky |
| 15:03 | Ember (emberell) | I have been working to wake up the spring plants and remove the wintery decorations from Oxbridge, with the late coming of spring here in Caledon. |
| 15:04 | Ember (emberell) | I think I've gotten most of the Christmas stuff down, but if you see any garlands or the like still up, do let me know. Besides that I've been working on some notecards and management stuff to keep our groundskeeper organized. |
| 15:04 | Ember (emberell) | That's about it from me. |
| 15:04 | Cychwynn | when will the snow leave? |
| 15:04 | Ember (emberell) | The snow should be gone now, Cychwynn |
| 15:05 | Ember (emberell) | At least in Caledon |
| 15:05 | Cychwynn | Ahh amazing":) |
| 15:05 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Oxbridge has no snow |
| 15:05 | Ember (emberell) | I cannot predict for other areas :-) |
| 15:05 | Cychwynn | (came straight here, will be happy to see my plot) |
| 15:05 | Gronk Seriman | Yay! I can wear my saris again! |
| 15:05 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | We have a magic Des, who believes that it is best for Caledon if the snow is gone by Valentine's day. |
| 15:06 | Ember (emberell) | The Guv chases the snow off. He can be that scary sometimes. |
| 15:06 | Cychwynn | XD |
| 15:08 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Any happenings with tutor applications or newbie patterns, Ember? |
| 15:09 | Ember (emberell) | Newcomers have been at a fairly higher rate some days than others. We can always use more tutors - applications are coming through me, these days, if anyone is interested in becoming a tutor. There have been the usual numbers of mild troublemakers, but nothing very major. |
| 15:09 | Rodrigo (pantera3715) raises his hand | |
| 15:09 | Ember (emberell) | I am happy to report much of the time I am at the plaza to observe ,the tutors do a good job guiding and helping newcomers. |
| 15:10 | Ember (emberell) | Yes, Rodrigo? |
| 15:10 | Larky (larkylouz) | I've been bored. I've had to go box with the sharks to keep myself on the top of my game. |
| 15:11 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | (and Welcome, Harperlass) |
| 15:11 | Rodrigo (pantera3715) | Well as many of you know, I was superpantera, an old user, and I was an apprentice of tutor with that username, if you need more people, I offer myself to be again an apprentice of tutor |
| 15:12 | Ember (emberell) | I'll send you an application, Rodrigo. I'd be happy to talk with you more on that outside of the Q&A |
| 15:12 | Rodrigo (pantera3715) | perfect :) |
| 15:12 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Thank you, Ember. Andrea? |
| 15:13 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | Thank you Wordsmith, I'll be standing this Q&A. Not going to risk sitting in this dress. Our bi-weekly event for the COU is today. Come and join DJ Sasha and myself at the Victorian Hall at 4 pm. We will be dancing and partying to help raise money to keep the University open. With it being Valentines we are adding it to our theme for the Sunday party. No donations required to attend. Hopefully see you there. Dress theme is Valentines, or spring. Caledon Oxbridge Village (128,209,1646) |
| 15:13 | Ember (emberell) | If none of the staff are around or on campus, there is always a notecard machine in the lecture hall for reporting problems. Or just send me an IM, I do receive those offline, too. |
| 15:13 | Harperlass | (thank you Wordsmith, a lot of lag for me) |
| 15:13 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | and nice leg warmers Ember |
| 15:13 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | I will mention that Caledonian Nights is sponsoring a art show |
| 15:13 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | Gallery is filling up slowly |
| 15:14 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | but there is still plenty of room |
| 15:14 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | please contact me by IM |
| 15:14 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | Tasteful non sex act nudes allowed this event. those are on the second floor |
| 15:14 | Ember (emberell) | Oh, I still need to participate in that. |
| 15:15 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | If yo go there and don;t see room. several artist can reduce there displays |
| 15:15 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | no entry fee |
| 15:15 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | and you can sell your stuff |
| 15:15 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | you need the group tag to rezz |
| 15:15 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | ok I'm done |
| 15:15 | Ember (emberell) | Which group tag do you need? |
| 15:16 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | IM me please |
| 15:16 | Ember (emberell) nods. | |
| 15:16 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | back to you Wordsmith |
| 15:16 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | ty Andrea |
| 15:16 | Carl Metropolitan | I have an item. |
| 15:19 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | The one thing I have that's direct to Oxbridge is that we have a surplus of about 125k $L above my normal 225k $L reserve. We typically have expenditures of about 107k $L per quarter. We are deliberately increasing our reserve since we don't know how funds will play out with the pandemic and many business shutdowns. |
| 15:19 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Carl? |
| 15:20 | Carl Metropolitan | I signed us up for an exhibit space at VWBPE 2021. I will be building it over the next few weeks. |
| 15:20 | Carl Metropolitan | VWBPE is Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education an annual virtual conference held in SL |
| 15:20 | Carl Metropolitan | We usually attend with an exhibit. |
| 15:21 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I'm glad you did, Carl. I've been too swamped even to think about it.. So. thank you and Yay! |
| 15:21 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | Carl does great exhibits |
| 15:22 | Larky (larkylouz) | Thanks, Carl! |
| 15:22 | Ember (emberell) | That will be lovely, yes. Thank you, Carl! |
| 15:22 | Carl Metropolitan | They can usually be recycled for SL Birthday, too. |
| 15:23 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | With a bit of help from Rodrigo, I'm working on kiosk 2.14 of 17 in the College of avatar motion. I expect to be able to pick up the pace again after the 20th. |
| 15:23 | Rodrigo (pantera3715) | :-) |
| 15:24 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | On the 20th, I'm giving a presentation for Science Circle on Climate change and risk. https://www.sciencecircle.org/event/climate-change-and-risk-analysis/ |
| 15:24 | Gronk Seriman | Have you snuck a button press counter into the kiosks to see how much they are used? |
| 15:25 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | The short-story sci-fi reading/discussion will be this Thursday at 5 pm SLT. I should be giving Valibrarian a story today. |
| 15:28 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | A lot of my time has been tied up in climate things. I attended remotely the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021 at the end of January, and then collected over 17,000 tweets and retweets. I'll be putting up an archive of the 3800+ tweets and quoted tweets and doing various mathematical word analysis things. So there are reasons that the kiosk translation graphics have been a bit slow. |
| 15:28 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And open for announcements and questions. |
| 15:28 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Still hosting the Writers' Meeting. Thursdays 11:00 AM SLT |
| 15:29 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Thank you, Elf. |
| 15:29 | Gronk Seriman | Have you snuck a button press counter into the kiosks to see how much they are used? |
| 15:30 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | Caledonian nights will be sending out a notice soon on a upcoming live event the last week of the month |
| 15:31 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I haven't, Gronk, but the visitor statistics I collect do include the registered languages of our visitors. |
| 15:31 | Gronk Seriman | Oh, good! |
| 15:31 | Ember (emberell) | We get a fair number of foreign language students, though I haven't' interacted with as many recently |
| 15:32 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Those go under the "statistics" button in the main navigation buttons for our website. |
| 15:32 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | French visitor asked for a translator today |
| 15:33 | Larky (larkylouz) | So far as I know, the only working inworld translator is our staff version. translate.Google.com works and deepl is supposed to be better for Spanish, at least. |
| 15:33 | Larky (larkylouz) | That's deepL.com |
| 15:33 | Larky (larkylouz) | there's a web-based version and a version you can download to a Windows computer. |
| 15:34 | Gronk Seriman | I just thought of this...has anybody tried Google Lens on the kiosks? It may be something we can suggest as a stopgap. |
| 15:34 | Larky (larkylouz) | What's Google Lens? |
| 15:34 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Unfortunately, I have to limit the translator I created to staff. Since the various translator machines want payment beyond a limited quota, the only way I can think of for generally available translators is to sell them for a specified number of characters after which they quit. |
| 15:35 | Gronk Seriman | A smartphone app that magically translates words it sees on camera and superimposes a translation. |
| 15:35 | Larky (larkylouz) | Sorry, Word, Didn't intend to suggest that we give away your translator. |
| 15:35 | Larky (larkylouz) | Hmm, Gronk. That does sound interesting. |
| 15:35 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | you weren't, Larky |
| 15:36 | Miles Foxdale | Deepl.com web is free also for extended use FYIO |
| 15:36 | Ember (emberell) | That may be something to test. Maybe with someone bilingual enough to know how well it translates the materials we offer. I have been told some (like the wiki) aren't written in a way that translates well |
| 15:37 | Miles Foxdale raises hand to offer on multilingual functionality (quadri-lingual) | |
| 15:37 | Miles Foxdale | for functionality testing I mean |
| 15:37 | Ember (emberell) | Would you be able to test the Goggle lens app, Miles? I'd be curious what you find as to how helpful (or not) it is. |
| 15:38 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Finnish still gets..... amusing.... results |
| 15:38 | Miles Foxdale | as said, functionality testing offered, I'll also check out what Google lens is and if it's useful |
| 15:38 | Miles Foxdale | for translator purposes |
| 15:38 | Larky (larkylouz) | :^) |
| 15:38 | Ember (emberell) | that would be great. Thank you. |
| 15:38 | Gronk Seriman | You'd basically have to frame the words on your computer screen, and then hold up your smartphone to the screen to see the translation. |
| 15:39 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) is expecting a diplomatic incident caused by use of machine translation | |
| 15:39 | Lightweaver Balan | my hovercraft is full of eels |
| 15:39 | Miles Foxdale | that means, its just a widget, not a translation service |
| 15:40 | Gronk Seriman | It does use Google Translate as part of its backbone. |
| 15:40 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Sounds like OCR combined with translation, but what's the pricing plan? |
| 15:41 | Gronk Seriman | It's a free app. It's actually already integrated into the camera on my Android phone. |
| 15:41 | Miles Foxdale | neat feature for smartphone users |
| 15:42 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | BTW, I did have to add billing information for the two app-engine projects Oxbridge uses as they become part of Google cloud. This doesn't mean I have to pay anything at our low usage levels, but they otherwise would have become defunct on 31 January. |
| 15:43 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | Thank you |
| 15:43 | lovejoy2199 | 1950's English to Russia back to English. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. |
| 15:44 | Rodrigo (pantera3715) | Once I get a job on 1st life, I will increase my donation amount to help you |
| 15:44 | lovejoy2199 | The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten |
| 15:44 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Sounds like a Russian reference to drinking vodka. ;) |
| 15:45 | Lightweaver Balan once saw 'devil's advocate' translated as 'lucifer's exponent' | |
| 15:46 | Larky (larkylouz) | lol |
| 15:46 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I similarly had to provide billing info last year for Microsoft Azure which is what our translator uses. Again by restricting it to staff we stay within the free quota, but it's clear that any substantial usage of Azure or Google will result in billing. |
| 15:47 | Ember (emberell) | A good reminder to keep usage levels low. I use Google translate when possible |
| 15:47 | Harperlass | Azure billing can be a nightmare |
| 15:48 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | As long as it's staff only using it within SL and not trying to translate books, it should be fine. |
| 15:48 | Gronk Seriman | I have seen free translators in the wild on SL, but never remember to pick one up and play with it. There is usually one available at BurningMan2 events. |
| 15:48 | Miles Foxdale | I wonder if there aren't more generic solutions on the grid, without that volume restriction |
| 15:50 | Larky (larkylouz) | Last I heard (a couple of months ago) all the free ones had died. |
| 15:50 | Ember (emberell) | I have seen some used, but I never have gotten a solid response on where they are gotten |
| 15:51 | Larky (larkylouz) | Some were on the MP; the Dani one and MH had storefronts. |
| 15:51 | lovejoy2199 | So, when will IBM put 'Watson' to use. lol |
| 15:52 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | There's a Russian translator service that I haven't looked into. Yandex translate. But translate engines with a range of languages and an Application Programming Interface (API) aren't that common. |
| 15:52 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Any other questions / topics? |
| 15:54 | Gronk Seriman | What is the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything? |
| 15:54 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Still the same |
| 15:54 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | 42 |
| 15:54 | Cychwynn | And... on that note I am going to get ready for the dance lol |
| 15:54 | Cychwynn | Have a great night all |
| 15:54 | Harperlass | hard work persistence determination? |
| 15:54 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | see you there |
| 15:54 | Gronk Seriman giggles. It gets funnier every time! | |
| 15:54 | lovejoy2199 | note. b-flat |
| 15:54 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) groans | |
| 15:55 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And we are adjourned. |
| 15:55 | Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) | poofs to the dance |
| 15:55 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | I have to get ready for the bed |
| 15:55 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Thank you all for coming and participating. |
| 15:55 | Larky (larkylouz) | Thank you, Word, Andrea, Ember. And all of you who volunteer to help Oxbridge |
| 15:55 | Gronk Seriman | Thank you, Deans! |
| 15:55 | Caissa McCarey | sweet dreams, Elfbiter |
| 15:55 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Hold the fort |
| 15:55 | Rodrigo (pantera3715) | Bye Elf! |
| 15:55 | Ember (emberell) waves a warm wing. | |
| 15:55 | Ember (emberell) | Take care, Elfbiter, rest well |
| 15:55 | lovejoy2199 | 'Nite Elf. |
| 15:55 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Be seeing you |
| 15:56 | Gronk Seriman places her hands firmly on her bench | |
| 15:56 | Gronk Seriman | G'night, Elfbiter! |
| 15:56 | Carl Metropolitan | Goodnight |
| 15:56 | Miles Foxdale | good night everyone |