Your2ndPlace

If it were just any crockpot, I wouldn't be worried - but when a congressman urges the FTC to send out parental advisories on Second Life, it makes me pause. First - children should simply not be in Second Life - there's a teen grid for teenagers, of course. And everyone wonders how to keep children away from anything even remotely related to sex - but we adults all know, or should, that this will not happen unless you lock them in the basement like an inbred son (Mandatory Harold and Kumar reference).

A parental advisory? How does one send out a parental advisory? Is there a massive email list that every parent in the world is on? Or perhaps there's an automated SMS system that tells parents what's going on?

Or maybe - just maybe - parents should be aware of what their children are doing? I know, it sounds silly, but the last I heard parents were the legal guardians of children. Legal. Guardian. More importantly, they are supposed to be... parents. I realize that cultural definitions may vary around the world, but if a definition of 'parent' doesn't involve the key phrase 'responsibility' - well, shucks, Congressman Mark Kirk has a point and the government should simply become a daycare for parents who can't abide 18 years of what some sweaty bodies created while interlocked in the same activity that children are being protected from.

I suppose what parents should really be asking is whether they want the government of their country doing the parenting. I suppose the true parental advisory should be:

If you can't raise you're children, your government will do it for you.

I wonder when people gave up on their own responsibilities...

Last night, Arbitrage Wise spoke of the situation with SLWallet at SLCapEx's new main area in Treasure Cove. The transcript of the meeting, also available here, can be found below.

What it boils down to is this: The resources necessary to purchase the shares have decreased considerably due to a number of reasons which are, at the least, credible for some. The lack of updates centered around some possible business alliances that have been slow to coalesce, such as working with First Meta. The meeting's news from Arbitrage Wise was generally well received, though at least one person represented what may well be the majority of people who got stuck in SLWallet and who simply wanted to get some money back. Of course, the day traders had been decreasing the price to bulk up on shares, with very little in the way of bullish trades.

So what does the future of SLWallet include? Arbitrage Wise mentioned working with eBay sellers, as well as a few other intriguing ideas. He, and SLCapEx as a whole, are pressing forward - and pushing on SLWallet to build it's businesses which at this point have not coalesced.

Here's what it boils down to:

• Second Life business ventures for SLWallet are still in process.
• Buybacks will not be 'substantial' over the next few months, but will not go away. For clarification on this, see Arbitrage Wise's response to my question on that at 19:21 in the transcript. Further explanation continues at 19:23.

This just in:

9 May 2008 – Animal lovers and Second Lifers are being encouraged to attend a live virtual event to help end commercial seal hunting – with guest appearances by a US musician and a UK politician.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) concert on Saturday 10 May (3pm SLT & 11pm BST) will feature singer/songwriter Juel Resistance and Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol East, Kerry McCarthy. Second Life's residents will have the opportunity to hear about IFAW’s campaign to help stop the cruel Canadian seal hunt. Residents will be able to view and hear video recorded by IFAW monitors during the 2008 seal hunt which began in March, interact with IFAW avatar Daisy Meadowbrook and take action in support of calls for a Europe-wide ban on seal products.

Kerry McCarthy MP, who will speak at the event, said: “I strongly support IFAW’s work to put an end to this brutal hunt. The annual killing of more than a quarter of a million seals, mostly for their fur, is simply unacceptable.

“An EU-wide ban on the trade in seal products is a vital step to help end this hunt and make sure that Europe plays no further part in this cruelty. I’m very happy to lend my voice in support of that effort.”

Second Life Residents can attend the event on Saturday May 10 at 3PM SLT (PST) by following the link below:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/IFAW%20Island/177/76/53

Those who are not already Residents of Second Life can sign up at no cost via the www.secondlife.com site. For more information on IFAW’s Stop the Seal Hunt campaign, please visit: www.stopthesealhunt.org or www.ifaw.org.

About IFAW

The International Fund for Animal Welfare works to improve the welfare of wild and domestic animals throughout the world by reducing commercial exploitation of animals, protecting wildlife habitats, and assisting animals in distress.

Real life is still happening all around me at a frantic pace, so I haven't been able to do as much as I would want within Second Life. Ciaran Laval notes the unfair marketplace practices, which is true on the Linden Lab side of things - but 2 things, as noted in the title, are quite simply not happening.

First of all, WSE remains closed - now for 4 months despite promises and platitudes. I'm fairly certain that the only people surprised at this point are a minority that LukeConnell Vandeverre has assuaged into staying or threatened with having them lose their work (or something in the middle?). However that works, it quite simply doesn't look too awfully good.

And SLCapEx's SL Wallet is beginning to be doubted severely, with prices dropping despite 2 buybacks in the past. Arbitrage Wise posted that a shareholders meeting is supposed to happen this week, but I strongly suspect more people are wondering about the buyback. Full disclosure: I've got shares there, trying to compensate for my losses when JT Financial became SLWallet. However, I am not day trading - I am being bullish with spare change.

It begins to be a little disturbing when I mention WSE and SLWallet in the same breath, but there it is. There is absolutely no evidence to support SLWallet at this time, and even with promises of a shareholder meeting... things do not look well right now for WSE Live and SLWallet.

Recently, I got an email on the Solution Provider List about a Solution Provider Council which raised my hackles - a Second Life Solution Provider Council was formed of (you guessed it) Solution Providers. I've omitted their names from the quote below because my thoughts really have little to do with the who, but rather the how.

Dear Solution Providers,

We've created a Solution Provider Council to give you a more active voice in the development of the Solution Provider Program. Several weeks ago, a notice and survey was sent out to the SLDev list regarding the creation of the Solution Provider Council. The SP Council, comprised of Solution Providers from a cross-section of the community, serves to provide a more formalized venue where ideas and feedback can be gathered from the SP community and actively work with Linden Lab's Solution Provider Program Team to advance the SP program and provide guidance and feedback to Linden Lab on the operation, features and promotion of the Solution Provider Program. Each member has a 6-month, renewable term of service.

After gathering feedback about the structure of the SP Council, interest in participation and ideas for nominees for SP Council members, the LL SP Team has selected the following members from those nominated:...

...The SP Council will be reaching out to the larger SP community. Please feel free to talk with them, ask questions and share your thoughts regarding the SP Program...In the near future, there will also be an opportunity to meet with the SP Council.

Thank you to all who expressed interest in participating in the Council and who shared your ideas and suggestions with us.

I sent an email response that never seemed to pass moderation on the Solution Provider List - so I'll publish it here where my dissent, at the least, can be made public. Here is what I wrote in response on 4/28/2008 and which never made the rounds:

Just wait until the third minute...

With so many things competing for people's time on the Internet...

Personally, I was surprised that LinkedIn didn't make it into this video. I've never had a MySpace page, and I wouldn't want one. Friendster? Nope. Facebook? Semi-useful though the poking and super wall junk is annoying. Second Life? It depends; I spend a fair amount of time in it - and that time has become more dependent on how much I get from it. I'm not a person who really enjoys 3d multiplayer notepad..

Good video - and a bit funny because of the underlying truth. And that truth is something that solutions providers, Linden Lab and social networking sites ponder every day: How to fight over our time.

Thankfully, I have email and blogs to fall back on.

If you hadn't heard, Rezzable Productions and the Not Possible In Real Life group have joined forces to hold a large-scale two month extravaganza loosely themed around “The Garden of NPIRL Delights.” It starts this evening at 8 p.m. SLT, and...

I'm on the list of people tasked with building stuff that doesn't suck. I have a few ideas, myself, but it will pretty much be a free style build for me using 500 prims. Honestly, right now I don't know whether I'll be doing Heaven, Earth or Hell.

I expect it will be a lot of fun, but don't expect the penguin to talk too much while priminating the garden. SLUrl to be provided once I find it. I'm sure it's in a notecard inworld, somewhere...

;-)