At this meeting visited the region Wizzy on ReactionGrid.  At this location, Wizard Gynoid has created a giant model of the E8 Polytope, one of the most complex and elegantly beautiful geometric objects known to mathematicians.

Read on for a full transcript and photos of our adventure.

During many of our club’s tours across the Hypergrid, we encounter hiccups.  Such is the nature of new frontiers like the Hypergrid and the evolving nature of Opensim.  As a group, we all do our best to take these bumps in stride, regroup with enthusiasm, and venture onward.

But at this particular meeting, almost everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

I was reminded of a line from The Big Lebowski.

“Sometimes you eat the bear.  And sometimes the bear, well, he eats you.”

Firstly, the new hypergate I installed sent people to the wrong region.  And when people finally made it to the region we were supposed to visit, it crashed shortly after we arrived.

The faulty hypergate jump was entirely my fault.  I didn’t configure it properly.

Why the region Wizzy crashed was probably caused by a combination of variables.  There were 9 of us entering Wizzy via the Hypergrid, and Hypergrid connections can often stress an Opensim region more than a local grid avatar connection.  Add to that the fact that Wizzy is full of complex giant geometric models with thousands of prims, that it’s not currently being run on a dedicated server, and that I think the region had not been rebooted in a long time, and you get a recipe for wackiness.

My apologies to everyone on the tour (especially to those of you who were attending our club meeting for the first time), and my sincere apologies to Wizard Gynoid for crashing her region.  Despite all this, I think we had a good discussion at our meeting and a fun (albeit abbreviated) exploration of an amazing geometric model.

Please be sure to revisit the region Wizzy in the future.  It is simply stunning and worth the trip.

For more information about the Hypergrid Adventurers Club and how you can join us, please see our homepage.  You can also follow our club’s tweets at #HGAC.

Meeting #30
1/5/2011 : 2pm GMT
9 Hypernauts in attendance:

Marmottina Taurog
Angelle AARISS
Mel Blauvelt
Neo Cortex
Pete McConachie
August Krome
Marmottina Taurog
Mimetic Core
Pathfinder Lester

We begin on the region Pathlandia on jokaydiaGRID.

Pete McConachie: Hi everyone, my first time here 🙂
Pathfinder Lester: how’s everyone doing this morning?
Marmottina Taurog: Good ty !
Neo Cortex: fine, on this sunny afternoon 🙂
Pathfinder Lester: excellent 🙂
Marmottina Taurog: I’m excited about having y new island here on Jokaydiagrid
Angelle AARISS: Very well, thank you
Pathfinder Lester: very cool Marmottina. do you have plans yet for it?
Marmottina Taurog: I have already terraformed and am migrating plants
Pathfinder Lester: nice 🙂
Angelle AARISS: Congrats, Marmottina. That will be fun to design and build
Marmottina Taurog: Going to make a show garden and gallery I think to start with
Pathfinder Lester: outstanding!
Pathfinder Lester: ok, i’ll make the intro remarks now
Pathfinder Lester: Welcome to the Hypergrid Adventurers Club! Thank you all for joining us today.
Pathfinder Lester: The first 30 min of each meeting is spent on introductions and an open discussion.
Pathfinder Lester: And for the second 30 min of each meeting, we will make some Hypergrid jumps to visit and explore an interesting location on the Hypergrid.
Pathfinder Lester: To start, if you wish, feel free to jump in and say a few words about yourself and your projects/interests in open chat. This is always a good opportunity for networking. 🙂
Pathfinder Lester: I post a full report and transcript of each meeting’s open chat on my blog, so this is also a chance for you to share information with everyone who reads the blog.
Pathfinder Lester: And if you say anything in open chat that you would NOT like to be posted on my blog, please just say so in chat and I will redact your comments.
Pathfinder Lester: I’m Pathfinder Lester, John Lester in real life. I used to work at Linden Lab from 2005-2010. Now I work at ReactionGrid Inc. as Director of Community Development. I started the Hypergrid Adventurers Club back in October of 2010. My blog is at http://becunningandfulloftricks.com
Pathfinder Lester: we have some new folks here, i see. welcome!
August Krome: Well I am excited, this is my second time here and the first time I couldn’t really follow the group to the hypergrid
Marmottina Taurog: I’m an artist and musician in RL, in VWs I am a landscaper and plant designer as well as an artist, my business is called Green and Wild Garden Centre
Pathfinder Lester: check out Marmottina’s blog, too 😉 http://greenandwild.blogspot.com/
Marmottina Taurog: TY path ! I always forget that !
Marmottina Taurog: Hopeless self-publicist !
Pathfinder Lester: i think i have a part of my brain dedicated to just URLs…
Angelle AARISS: Very nice to meet you Marottina
Marmottina Taurog: Ty Angelle !
Pete McConachie: My first time here – I teach english in SL – lunchtime here in Greece
Marmottina Taurog: Nice to meet you ! 🙂
Pathfinder Lester: Pete, you’re involve with EduNations, yes?
Neo Cortex: Hi, i am a Unix/Linux admin in RL, i have set up some opensim grids and sims, currently trying to open access to the hypergris 1.5 part for those who have no access to a region with an installation like this
Angelle AARISS: I’m Angelle, Evangelist for Reaction Grid
Marmottina Taurog: Cool Neo !
Neo Cortex: you might take a look at http://hbase42.blogspot.com/ for some deeper info
Marmottina Taurog: Rgrid is a good place to be !
Pathfinder Lester: great to see your blog taking off, Neo
Neo Cortex: Cool EvAngel(le)ist ^^
Marmottina Taurog: groans !
Marmottina Taurog: hahaha
Angelle AARISS: Awww, , Thanks, Neo !
Angelle AARISS: LOL
Pete McConachie: Patfinder, sorry was stirring risotto – yes I’m involved with Edunations
Ange Menges: Hello, I’m Ange and I am late 😦 sorry
Marmottina Taurog: Hi Ange !
Pathfinder Lester: Pete, cool. I just googled your name and found your website 🙂 http://www.e-lang.co.uk
Ange Menges: lol really sorry, i was on operabis for testing the video
Pathfinder Lester: Salut Ange!
Ange Menges: Salut Path, je ne te parles plus qu’en francias
Pathfinder Lester: lol
Ange Menges: pour ton education
Angelle AARISS: Hello Ange. Nice to see you again
Marmottina Taurog: Ah oui il faut lui parler en Francais ! 🙂
Pathfinder Lester: merci mon ami
Pathfinder Lester: i’m in the middle of relearning French, since I’m moving to Montreal this summer 😉
Pathfinder Lester: so i can use all the help i can get. lol
Pathfinder Lester: Pete, since you are an eduator, you might be interested in the whiteboard we have here
Pathfinder Lester: there’s a free copy of it in the box next to the campfire. it uses opensim’s dynamic textures

Pete McConachie: Thanks, I’ll have a look at that – I’m still very new to things here
August Krome: Those dynamic textures make the old xytext panels obsolete
Pathfinder Lester: August, yes! it’s a great innovation
Pathfinder Lester: it was made by Trevor Meister, who often comes to our club meetings
Pathfinder Lester: it’s open source, so you can see and modify the code
Pathfinder Lester: and i’ve left one of his boards up here for folks to play with if they wish
Marmottina Taurog: how does it work ?
Pathfinder Lester: Marmottina, it lets you draw and add text as well as images to it
Marmottina Taurog: via a web site ?
Pathfinder Lester: there’s a notecard in the box with more detailed instructions, too
Pathfinder Lester: oh no
Pathfinder Lester: you just use the board inworld
Marmottina Taurog: oh cool !
Angelle AARISS: Hi Mimetic!
Pathfinder Lester: try clicking on the toolbar to select the text tool (it’s a big letter T)
Ange Menges: Hi Mimetic
Pathfinder Lester: then click somewhere on the board where you want text to appear
Pathfinder Lester: then type in local chat “/45 whatever text you want” and it appears!

Marmottina Taurog: I drew a blue line !
Pathfinder Lester: Marmottina, there you go!
Ange Menges: Path may I ask for some help ?
Pathfinder Lester: Ange, sure. what can i do for you?
Ange Menges: Well for an unknown reason, the bib franco was very late to announce operabis
Ange Menges: You have already done a lot path, thank you 🙂
Ange Menges: But if everybody here could twitt or by any mean advise his friens who could be interested il would be nice
Marmottina Taurog: What time does it start Ange ?
Ange Menges: Thank you in advance
Pathfinder Lester: Ange, my pleasure. I will work to spread the word more.
Ange Menges: 20h french mean 19h GMT
Pathfinder Lester: here’s the info on the opera. i blogged about it yesterday. https://becunningandfulloftricks.com/2011/01/04/encore-another-live-opera-on-francogrid-on-jan-6th-the-marriage-of-figaro/
Marmottina Taurog: yes OK how long is it ?
Pathfinder Lester: i will tweet more about it today 🙂
Ange Menges: Heuuu marmottina, something like 1h30 I think
Ange Menges: A whole mozart opera
Mimetic Core: nice!
Marmottina Taurog: TY Path ! and Ange ! I must see if I can come…
Ange Menges: I gave you the hypergrid link, Path and I have put it also in your blog
Pathfinder Lester: great. thank you.
Ange Menges: No I thank you for all what you have done
Ange Menges: 🙂
Ange Menges: Very kind, I will not forgot that 🙂
Pathfinder Lester: the opera is wonderful. i loved the last one
Pathfinder Lester: I can’t wait for this one!
Ange Menges: How do you translate “la flute enchantée” ? Path ? (test)
Pathfinder Lester: the magic flute!
Marmottina Taurog: The magic Flute Ange
Ange Menges: lol
Ange Menges: Don’t help Marmottina
Pathfinder Lester: haha
Neo Cortex: Die Zauberflöte in german
Marmottina Taurog: Ah I see you are testing him ! 😉
Marmottina Taurog: I will give no help ! 🙂
Pathfinder Lester: let me pass out today’s notecard now

— Notecard of Itinerary and Details —-
Before doing any Hypergrid jumps, be sure you have set your Home location and have relogged since you set it.  If you don’t, Hypergrid jumps will not work.  This appears to be a bug.

Many people find the Imprudence viewer to be very good for using with both SL and other grids.  You can find it here: http://imprudenceviewer.org/

*** How to make Manual Hypergrid Jumps in 4 easy steps ***
1) Open your World Map.
2) In the text box next to the Search button, enter the Hypergrid Address.
3) Click the Search button and wait for the map to move to the jump region.
4) Click the Teleport button.

*** Our Starting Location ***
Hypergrid Address: 66.240.233.81:9001:pathlandia
Region Name: “Pathlandia”
Grid Location: jokaydiaGRID (Lower)
Grid Website: http://jokaydiagrid.com
************************

Hypergrid Jump #1
Hypergrid Address: 71.6.165.147:9000:Wizzy/62/133/25
Region Name: “Wizzy”
Grid Location: ReactionGrid (Middle)
Grid Website: http://reactiongrid.com

We could make this single Hypergrid Jump the manual way, but I thought we’d try something a bit more fun for today.  I recently found a beautifully detailed Stargate artifact on FrancoGrid.  It seems to be designed like the Stargates often found in Second Life, allowing people to make normal teleports to different regions.  But I discovered that I could get it to work with Hypergrid addresses.   I have programmed and placed one of these Stargates to the SouthEast of our fire circle on Pathlandia.  It’s quite large, so you can’t miss it.

We’ll use this Stargate today.  Simply walk up to it and type in local chat “/1 dial wizzy”
The Stargate will then go through some animations and finally a portal will appear.  Walk through the portal and you will make a hypergrid jump to the region “Wizzy” on ReactionGrid.

This region features the work of Wizzy Gynoid.  (http://about.me/wizardgynoid)

From her blog: “I live to build and I seem to specialize in building complex and precise geometric objects.  Lately I’ve been exploring other dimensions of reality — like the fourth and eighth dimensions.”  On Wizzy’s region (named, appropriately, “Wizzy”) we’ll find some of her beautiful and hugely complex geometric creations.

***
jokaydiaGRID has a Newbie Dome for folks to pick up freebies that can help them get started.  If you find any good freebies in your Hypergrid travels that you’d like to share, you can put them in the Newbie Dome.   There’s currently a lack of many good outfits and items for male avatars, so it would be great if we could find more items like that to share.
— End of Notecard —

Angelle AARISS: Love opera, Ange. Thnk you for the invite too
Pathfinder Lester: before we start our jumps, Pete, have you set your home location yet here on jokaydiagrid?
Pathfinder Lester: Before doing any Hypergrid jumps, be sure you have set your Home location and have relogged since you set it. If you don’t, Hypergrid jumps will not work.
Pathfinder Lester: and we’ll be making just 1 jump today. jumping from here to ReactionGrid.
Pete McConachie: Yes, I did a test jump
Pathfinder Lester: great!
Pathfinder Lester: ok, then lets walk over to the special jump gate for today. 🙂
Pathfinder Lester: so i found this on FrancoGrid
Pathfinder Lester: it’s a Stargate. and beautifully designed as you can see
Pathfinder Lester: similar to ones you find in SL that allow you to make regular teleports

Neo Cortex: i always have a little concern about such designs
Pathfinder Lester: Neo, how so?
Neo Cortex: what if the copyright owner steps up and tells us to remove them?
August Krome: Would a snowman melt during a hyperjump? 🙂
Neo Cortex: the Stargate stuff for suer has some serious copyright on it
Pathfinder Lester: yes, that’s a very good point Neo
Pathfinder Lester: that’s why I made my own gates from scratch
Pete McConachie: Cool
Pathfinder Lester: but still, it’s beautiful to look at. 🙂
Neo Cortex: i do like the design, but who knows if / when e.g. warner wants to stop it…
Pathfinder Lester: Neo, exactly
Neo Cortex: this one really looks fantastic
Pathfinder Lester: itsn’t it great?
Mimetic Core: i hear the Ga’ul coming…
Neo Cortex: like the old ones in SL
Mel Blauvelt: hahaha
Mel Blauvelt: duck guys!
Mel Blauvelt: something’s coming through our way!
Pathfinder Lester: fly on thru it when the portal appears
Pathfinder Lester: very dramatic!

We activate and walk through the Stargate-inspired hypergate on the region Pathlandia on jokaydiaGRID.

And we arrive on the region Wizzy on ReactionGrid.

Pathfinder Lester: we arrive!
Pathfinder Lester: i’m sorry if some of you folks got sent to permutation
Pathfinder Lester: the Stargate also points to Permutation. it must have reset or something.

Ange Menges: Path is this a module ? Or did she made this with a script ?
Pathfinder Lester: here’s a notecard dispenser that gives more info about what we’re looking at.

—Contents of Notecard from Notecard Dispenser on Wizzy —
(includes embedded pictures)
Currently on display in the Wizzy sim is the “Concentric Circles” Rotation of the E8 Polytope.  The E8 is the most complex and elegantly beautiful geometric object known to mathematicians.  Learn more about the E8 Polytope here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E8_polytope

On the surface of the water we see the object in two dimensions.

 

Rising above it, and perfectly aligned to it, is the 3 dimensional projection.

This object consists of all 240 vertices, with 6,672 edge struts connecting all of the vertices.

A “tunnel” runs vertically up and down through the object.  You can fly through this tunnel by walking to the center of the sim and flying straight up vertically.

This particular rotation (there are an infinite number of rotations) has remarkable symmetries.  One axis of symmetry looks like this:

The vertical axis reveals the concentric circles:

The outside “skin” of the object has been rendered in colors that identify the symmetry axes.  Yellow identifies the pentagohedral/decahedral symmetry axis.  Red identifies the hexahedral symmetry axes.  Light blue identifies the quadraghedral symmetry axis.

This object has gained historical significance due to a recent “Theory of Everything” by theoretical physicist Dr. Garrett Lisi.  Lisi attempts to reconcile Relativity Theory with Quantum Mechanics using the geometry of this object.  The following article is a good explanation of Lisi’s use of the E8 Polytope in the theory:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12891-is-mathematical-pattern-the-theory-of-everything.html

Copyright © Wizard Gynoid 2010
http://wizardgynoid.wordpress.com
wizard.gynoid@gmail.com
— End of Notecard —

Pathfinder Lester: got some chat lag
Neo Cortex: yep… serious one
Pathfinder Lester: hmm..i don’t seem to be able to move right now
Pathfinder Lester: the region might be a bit funky
Pathfinder Lester: there’s a lot of stuff here too
Neo Cortex: this might be a facet of the “incoming avatar lag”
Pathfinder Lester: the server might need a reboot, too. might not have been rebooted for a while.

At this point the region crashed.  But we’ll be back to explore more.

And so ends another meeting of the Hypergrid Adventurers Club.  Until next time.

-John “Pathfinder” Lester