All Things Phreeq

What do these 3 things have in common you may ask? Well I’ll tell you, they’re 3 major events that have happened in the last week and all fall under what I like to call the “Oops” category.

For those of you that might be a bit out of the loop, as I often am, it was a week ago that Linden Lab began enforcing its Bank Ban in our wonderful world of Second Life. Why does this fall under “Oops”? Simple, according to my last count, there has been roughly $1 million USD taken from SL residents, most of which will never see it again. Now I could go on like so many have and put the blame on the residents who chose to invest their L$ in these so called banks, but thats just not my style. I like to put the blame where it truly lies, in the hands of Linden Lab. They make claim that the L$ is not real money, nor should it be treated as such. They also make claim that they hold a hands off policy regarding resident disputes. So basically, according to many official statements, they are here solely for the purpose of increasing user experience and further advancing the virtual world to it fullest potential. Have they lived up to this? Its arguable, in the case of making the platform more stable and increasing the user experience, yes they have made great advancements recently. In the case of upholding their hands off policy and providing a prosperous platform for us to enjoy, they fail, big time. This makes the 3rd economic crushing “regulation” they have instituted in the past year. Linden Lab… say it with me… “Oops”.

Miss SL Universe, now here was a delightfully eventful event. Kinda drawn out and boring at points due to various issues beyond anyones control, but thanks to announcers Ducky and Carter, they made the event a lot more comedic during the low points of the event. The whole event lasted 5 hours, I made good use of the time by working on a few builds while watching via SLCN, and overall it seemed like a smashing success. So how can such an awesome event qualify for an “Oops” award?? Simple, someone screwed up somewhere and the wrong girl was crowned! Seriously? Come on now. The judges deliberated for atleast 30 minutes, and still someone managed to “make a minor mistake”. With L$250,000 and a one of kind custom home, along with a handful of other prizes on the line for the crown, one can hardly call this mistake “minor”. My hats off to Miss Israel Elisne Allen, she put on her tough face and was quoted by The Avastar as saying “It’s all about focusing on the positive things in your life. I didn’t win the house or the money, but I didn’t go home empty-handed. It’s all
good!” Kudos to you Elisne, we here at Phreeq know how crushing it must have been when you first heard the news. Congratulations need to go to all 12 girls, you did a great job and everyone of you should be proud. To whomever is responsible for that “minor mistake”….. say it with me… “Oops”.

Now for a matter that I have been following pretty closely, which is odd since I am probably the last person effected by it. There has been a major upset in the art community. It would seem the human behind the avatar ArtWorld Market, has taken it upon himself to trademark a word he claims to have coined back in 2006. That word is…. yes… SLart, meaning Second Life Art/ists. Now I can beat a dead horse over this but I will save that for tomorrows talk show on BTR(BlogTalkRadio). Lets me just cover a few basics on this matter. First and foremost, Mr Market’s human has saw fit to trademark a term that contains another trademark within it that he does not own, nor does he have adequate licensing to, “Second Life” or in this instance “SL”**. Secondly, I have been a resident since 2005 and I have this term used on several occasions long before his supposed coining. For more information on the latest happenings with this event, go check out Vint Falken’s blog. Mr Market, say it with me….”Oops”.

**I hereby officially apologize for not supplying the official “TM” trademark & “R in a circle” registered trademark symbols in my posting, I have no knowledge on how to do so presently. No infringement is intended or implied.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 5:43 pm and is filed under phreeq. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.