Improved Region Capacity and Access was a pleasant surprise. I like that Region Owners & Estate Managers will always be allowed in and though the increased capacity is only for Premium Members it's better than nothing.
The Second Life Community has gotten a facelift. I'm quite enjoying the new Forums and the ability to filter what you want to see through Activity is VERY useful.
On the previous Forum, I mostly lurked when I bothered to go over there at all. I think I'll be using these more.
Check out Things to like about the new Forum for more positive reinforcement 
LL has been coming out with a number of improvements which I'm taking as a positive sign for SL's future. Just the fact that they're willing to tackle these projects makes me optimistic (besides it's spring in my part of the world and spring always makes me happier).
Anyway, I thought I'd start a discussion to help spread the joy and to see what you think!
I recently discoverd Sarah Dunant's writings about the Borgias and found them to be quite engrossing.
Blood And Beauty 
Ms Dunant manages to unravel history for me in a way that is both entertaining and enlightening. It was a pleasure to meet not only the Borgia family but Machiavelli as well. Da Vinci, Michelangelo and other great names pop up repeatedly showing just how rich & complex Renaissance Italy truly was.
The plotting & politics are fascinating; murder & marriage being on equal footing when it comes to creating alliances. I wouldn't have lasted five minutes in that environment where thinking like a psychopath seems to have been a prerequisite for survival. At least Dunant's take on Lucrezia is a bit more sympathetic then the "poisoner" of novels & film.
The orgins of syphilis are also a bit of an eye opener. Where it came from, how it spread and the impact on families gives pause for thought.
All in all a marvelous read. I'll definitely be checking out more of Dunant's work.
Many thanks to Merry and all the members of Foray who attended the April 2nd meeting. It was a great discussion and left me with many points to ponder
Really enjoyed this!
The atmosphere was fantastic; the dogs, the mud on the horses, the rough tile floors, the dirty baseboards, the high gloss paint on the dented woodwork - I could go on and on ...
I'm going to have to watch this again because while I was distracted by the scenery I missed some of the dialog (it also took a bit of time to adjust my ear to the accents) and then I realized that large parts of the Bronte history were being revealed in quick conversations, almost thrown away as it were. Next time through I'll try to pay more attention.
@merry-chase I wonder if they ignored Anne's feminism because it wasn't thought of as such at the time? I understand that Charlotte had a few issues with Anne's writing and ended up suppressing it so that it wasn't until fairly recently that it has been recognized. An interesting topic.
For those that haven't seen this, I highly recommend it. I believe that there are youtube versions available if you go searching for them.
Today's the perfect day to revive this RPG!! Too much fun
Thanks for the update, Merry! I was sorry because I missed the meeting in March so I'm glad to have another crack at it. With any luck I'll be there this Sunday to talk about the spinoffs.
Hope your RL settles down a bit and allows you more SL time.
There are a few other things I would add to the process, i.e. once you get the rigged mesh imported into SL you will have to texture it (shade maps created in your mesh tool may be incorporated into this as well) and you will probably want to include alpha layer (s) to mask the body underneath so that it doesn't bleed through.
Some other thoughts.
Rigging/Weight Painting: check out Avastar to help with this process. You can also hire people to do this step for you.
Sizing is another area to explore. There is Standard Sizing as well as Fitted Mesh (and/or a combination of the two) for your basic SL Avatar. There is also sizing which relates to specific custom mesh bodies.
Layering mesh clothing is an art in itself.
Long full skirts can be done in mesh but the movement of them always seems to disappoint. Perhaps it's because I'm just use to flexi skirts but I'd love to see an example of a mesh skirt that really flowed. Does anyone have one?
Getting started: As you can see, there's a lot involved in the creation of mesh clothing and it can appear to be overwhelming especially if it is ALL new to you. My advice is to start small, perhaps by purchasing a ready-made full perm mesh item of clothing and learning how to texture it to begin with.
