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 By Xavier Mohr, CEO
SLReports.net
Well, with all the drama involving Midas Bank and other publicly-listed companies here lately, I thought it would be nice to use a bit of my free real-life time to write about something more lighthearted. Don't ask me how I ended up at IntLibber Brautigan's virtual bachelor party last night. I had not been in Second Life for almost a week, and logged in pretty much to clear my messages... deciding to stay out of boredom. As I downed another whiskey sour, though, I started thinking about IntLibber Brautigan. Of course, Int and I have had the pleasure of sharing in a few of the same high-profile crises – the Sal Ackland / Investor Allen accusations, the delisting of Brautigan & Tuck Holdings not too long ago, the teenage-run SmartVest Bank scandal, and just yesterday we found ourselves at the same bank collapse party.
Stepping aside, I do hope that the Midas Bank situation works itself out. I understand they are heavily invested in the Hope Capital Bond Issue (WSE: HCB), which has not received its scheduled payment this month. While I question if there may have been existing liquidity issues at Midas considering they were relying on a $650,000 bond payment to fund a reserve representing L$8,000,000 in deposits, I don't feel like - particularly for a BOND - that it's right to skip out on a payment. In any event, I was a bit bored... thinking about some random things... saw IntLibber was online on my buddy list and decided he might be able to shed some light on a couple unimportant things for me. After a nice conversation, I was privileged enough to be invited to IntLibber's bachelor party. What a great time! In attendance were such SL figureheads as Travis Ristow of BCX Bank (Steve in real life... a fantastic guy who has been kind enough to assist me with an offline business issue this week), Cliff Eclipse, Filthy Fluno, and many fantastic BNT and AnCapEx employees who truly made me feel welcome at the gala. But back up a step... IntLibber is getting married? Yes... the ceremony is today. But who knew? Keep us informed of these things! In all honesty, I did suspect it. As an expert (aka - nosy) explorer of profiles, I did see the wedding group for IntLibber and Baby a while back but must have forgotten about it. I stayed at the party for a while and had a couple great conversations. In fact... I even won something for the first time since starting Second Life! I was randomly selected by a prize object, and boy oh boy did it feel like I hit the lottery! I can only thank IntLibber's staff for the lovely Hug Attachment that I promise to use next time I get a chance! Upon leaving, the conversation with IntLibber continued. I was happy to find out that - like me - Int did not know of anyone that lost any money in the SmartVest Bank scandal . While I do hold a bit of sympathy for the teens that were running this short-lived financial institution, I hold no sympathy for individuals who conceal important information (such as the fact they are real-life minors) in the interests of pushing a money-intensive business such as a bank. Oh well. For now at least, it looks like the fallout from the SmartVest drama is over. In any event, as a jaded liberal queer, I can only say that IntLibber is making the wrong decision. Second Life will truly miss its favorite eccentric bachelor and financial guru! But I have to concede to reality and tell IntLibber for the record... good luck to both you and your new SL wife! I never got around to asking IntLibber why AnCapEx.net is still offline, but I did read an interesting post at the SL Business Gazette which referenced what was thought to be a DDoS attack against the exchange. Whether or not this is true is totally unknown to me, but in the interests of ACE's investors I hope the problem is resolved quickly. Amor Philbin (operator of SLFinances.net ) IM'd me shortly after I left IntLibber's bachelor party, and after reminding me to get him my materials for the SLReports.net SL Business Link purchase, he passed me an interesting object. On the backside of this large 10x10 prim was what is known as an SIS image. Don't ask me for what the abbreviation means, because I forgot. The image, according to Philbin, represented about 130 hours of coding. It was basically a colored pattern that was supposed to reveal an image after relaxing and staring at it. Didn't happen. I was a bit embarrassed, and did not know what to say. After informing Amor that I was actually RGB-colorblind, he countered that it did not matter because unlike the colorblind tests I took long ago at the eye doctor, the colors actually held no information in an SIS image. My colorblindness should actually HELP. Stared harder, still did not see it. Of course I had been drinking. After informing him of this, he countered that that should actually help too. Shit! What do I say now? Needing to log off anyway, I informed Amor that I would look at it today and get back with him. I swear I will get it eventually Amor, and I promise to get you those SLBL materials. In closing, I would just like to say that - after my big break from SL - I was pleasantly surprised with the positive experience I had on my first lengthy night back on the grid. Perhaps I'll try to get into SL a bit more often from here on out. It was truly a blast.
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