The Erratic Oneironaut - Issue #76
Date May 7, 2012
Four Years DeepMortal Mist's fourth birthday came and went without fanfare on March 26. Four years may not seem like a lot of time in the "real world", but it is almost a quarter of the time the World Wide Web has existed. Our roots run pretty deep, and while we aren't the most lively or active community on the web, we have a substantial, solid foundation to offer anybody who wants to build on it.
This place will only ever be what the owners choose to make of it. Right now it is an incredibly deep but marginally organized treasure trove of lucid dreaming experience and advice, kept alive by a small but devoted group of active member-owners who have become like a family. What we are today is not the result of any grand design. We are nothing more or less than what the owners have chosen to invest in making it. Unlike most online communities, nothing that happens here is dictated from some privileged individual or group, and nothing is motivated by the prospect of financial gain. The members are the highest authority we have, which means
you are the highest authority we have. If something is going to be done, all that needs to happen is for somebody to take responsibility for it. Those of us here with access to the buttons and switches will work with you to accommodate whatever it is you wish to do.
Through four years of existence in a medium where only a tiny percentage of start ups even survive the first couple months, we have proved the viability of creating and sustaining a member-owned and adamantly not-for-profit online community. Walt Disney once said, "If you can dream it, you can do it." As a community with its very foundation created of dreams, there is no limit to what we can become. If any here dares to dream it and take responsibility for it, it can happen.
Monthly Lucid Challenges Return!Well no, apparently they really haven't. But at least one person,
bluebird, has been trying to stir up interest in re-starting them. Are any others interested? If so, let Wolvendeer and Lumi know by PM or perhaps start a thread in the Featured Monthly Challenges and Monthly Meeting Place board here:
http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.php/board,38.0.htmlFor whatever it is worth, the most prolific period of my lucid dreaming life occurred during the time back at DV when a group of us were in a friendly competition in completeling
Seeker's monthly tasks. Having goals and aspirations related to monthly challenges has had a big impact on my lucidity levels - perhaps they can make a difference in yours too.
Monthly Meeting Place Never Left!May Monthly Meeting Place - An Ice HotelPlease record all of your visits to An Ice Hotel Here:Making it to An Ice Hotel while lucid and talking to another person or spirit there will earn a Gold Award. Making it to An Ice Hotel while lucid but not talking to anyone there will earn a Silver Award. Making it to An Ice Hotel in a non-lucid dream will earn a bronze award.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hotel
Report attempts and results here:
http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.php/topic,5332.msg133703.html#msg133703
(Thanks to iadr for continuing to take responsibility for making this happen.)
System UpdatesEarlier this year we made the decision to abandon once and for all the Fedora build of Linux for the server and move to Arch Linux. Under Fedora, we had to endure a heartbreaking, exhausting transition to a major version change every two years when the version we were using was put to rest.
Moving to Arch required the mother of all heartbreaking, exhausting transitions, but it should never have to be done again. The beauty of Arch is that it is versionless - it is a continuous rolling upgrade that is easily manageable through the best package manager on the planet. Changes still come, but most are transparent and the few package updates that require intervention can handled at our leisure.
New and improved security measures are also in place. Unfortunately, part of that transition involved the disabling of the old web-based storage system. If there is a need to re-implement that at some time, we will look into it. In the meantime, if anybody needs anything made available on the server, please contact either
mu or
pj and we will accommodate you.
Heartfelt, humble and sincere thanks go to my personal hero,
mu, for holding high a light and leading us safely through the darkest and most dangerous paths along this journey. I cannot emphasize enough just how lost I would have been without his consistent and patient guidance and assistance.
We also now have the ability to reboot the server remotely, which adds an additional level of control when physical access to the server is not convenient.
March Featured Dream: bluebird, a new and amazingly prolific lucid dreamer, has won March's Featured Lucid Dream with his Lucid from March 11. It is a long, vivid and nicely recalled dream involving multiple scene changes using a variety of ingenious methods, gender changes, perspective changes, flight and more bending of the dreamscape.
Read the full dream here:
http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.php/topic,5063.msg130870.html#msg130870For
April's Featured Lucid dream, read the requirements/suggestions and make suggestions here:
http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.php/topic,5330.msg133610.html#msg133610(Thanks to StarSeeker for continuing to take responsibility for making this happen.)
MMineCraft NewsThe server is up and running, though isn't seeing a lot of activity. The spawn point is in the only feature we brought in from the old world - the Medieval Village. In the center of this village is our version of the Alcobaca Cathedral, originally built entirely without creative mode or spawned materials. The lighting of the cathedral here in our new world was done by Kar.
You will enter in a small pub at the far north of the current settled world. The door in this pub is broken because of spawn point restrictions currently in the server code - something we have no control over. If you follow the instructions, you will find a tunnel that will get you out. Feel free to temporarily occupy any of the homes or shops in the village. The new settlements are broadly south of the village.
Be aware that this is a survival mode server with no modifications. It will be in your interest to quickly find or establish shelter and avoid being in the open during the nights and early mornings. Also be aware that the lower crypt level of the Cathedral is not yet adequately lit and can spawn dangerous mobs any time of the day or night, so this area is best avoided unless you are well armed and armored.
You can only get into our server from an IP address that has been used to log into the Mortal Mist forum.
See you there!
(Thanks to Maria92 for continuing to take responsibility for making this happen, and apologies for leaving this line out of the sent newsletter.)
From around the Mist and Beyond:- Tadas' study: http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.php/topic,5306.0.html
- It might be of interest that Robert Waggoner is doing a Scandinavian tour in May. From his Facebook status:
I will be speaking on lucid dreaming in Oslo on May 12th, Stockholm on May 14th and Helsinki on May 17th. If you live in Scandinavia, please let your friends know!
- We now have over 900 members! Who knows. . . we may pass a thousand by the next newsletter. We should offer a prize for the 1000th member - who will probably turn out to be a spambot.
- (Thanks to Lumi for contributing to these bulletins from the Lucid Dreaming world)
This is the first Newsletter since early January, and is being sent out because I felt like doing it and happen to have a little slack in my schedule at the moment. As always, the publishing of a newsletter on a more regular basis is open to anybody who is interested in the job. As always, all jobs here, including those that don't exist yet, are open to anybody interested.
Mortal Mist can only be what the owners - what
you - choose to make of it. We all owe a debt of gratitude to those among us who continue quietly taking responsibility for various aspects of keeping this place alive, functional, interesting and inviting. Without them, we wouldn't be here at all.
Where can we go from here? That question is for you personally and directly. Our next step starts with
your dreams for this place. All it takes to make the dream real is the willingness to be responsible for it. . . one project or feature at a time.
Our foundation is deep and strong. There is no limit to what might be built on it.
Until whenever,
pj. . .
CARPE NOCTEM
