LONDON CITY PRIDE - The Video

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in London City PRIDE 2017.

With this video, Pride 2017 comes to an end, but what a blast we have had the past five weeks from Margarita Practan in week 1, to Donna Summer and Judy Garland yesterday and Barry Manilow today, and all the other acts in between.

Special thanks to the fantastic team in London City who worked so hard to bring all these multiple events together throughout the month of June.

We hope you enjoyed the festival as much as we did..   So fasten your seat belts and lets have a video review of Pride in London City.   Enjoy!

Take Part in The Pride Parade on Sunday

On Sunday, we have our annual Pride Parade.   To take part, all you need is a wearable car or preferred mode of transport, and attach some pridey bits to your avatar as we make a spectacle of ourselves in London City.   The Parade starts 9am SL time (5pm in the UK).

Check out the Parade from last year and get involved!

Saturday - Pride Day in London City

It is Pride day on Saturday in London City.  Get your Pride outfits on and head over for a great day out in Second Life's most popular destination.

At 9am SL time, Judy Garland takes to the stage with a flagon of  Gin to warble her most famous tunes, including Putting on The Ritz, Rockabye Your Babe, Swanee and Over The Rainbow.

At 11am its all over to Worlds End Pub for their Pride Party, with Katty and Coffee.

At 12pm SL time, its the Pride Party and at 1pm SL time, Headlining the event is the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer.

To translate these times into UK.. the party starts at 5pm UK.

Don't forget the Pride Parade on Sunday.  Get a wearable vehicle and tart it up by attaching some bits to yourself and sit in your motor.  Easy!

Visit Pride in London City

New Dances from Abranimations and FREE Bento Dance

Abranimations have released two new Bento dance sets today. They include a set of 10 Voguing dances and 14 freestyle dances we have titled urban freestyle.

There is an Urban Freestyle dance available for FREE for this weekend only in a crate next to the main vendors.

Available from Abranimations in London City: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/28/115/24

Madame Bailey's Early Pride Ball

Madame Bailey - Songs to make you go Ooh

Get your PRIDE weekend off to a flying tart with Madame Bailey at LALA'S today at 1pm SLT. (9pm UK)

Madame Bailey will be playing her favourite Pride Anthems tonight in the top tranny club in Second Life where everyone is welcome.

Get your outfits on, get drunk and be outrageous, its time to let your hair down for a weekend of SOLID PARTYING!

Visit MADAME LALAS

PRIDE WEEKEND is HERE

LGBT PRIDE - The Main Events, This Weekend in London City.  Starts FRIDAY!

Hot and Bothered?

The mercury is rising in blighty and keeps getting hotter and hotter.  It's not even the proper summer season yet.   Let's call this a dress rehearsal?

If you're hot and bothered and need some refreshing conversation and a dip in the Olympic sized swimming pool, head over to the city and come cool your heels.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/85/205/24

London City SL14B

You can't miss us!  London City Gateway's SL14B exhibit is located on the exit from the main welcome Island at "SL14B Impressive" region, and right next to the labs Governance Linden Teams parcel.

Visit our destination here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL14B%20Beguile/37/104/23

Second Life Birthday Celebrations Begin

It is Second Life's 14th Birthday.  Each year a group of regions is pushed together to form an almighty arena of user-created content, to showcase the amazing wealth of talent that Second Life residents enjoy.

The Birthday celebrations begin today at 12pm SL time (8pm UK) and we hope you will visit London City at SL14B.

For information on events at SL14B please visit the official website: http://www.slcommunitycelebration.info

London City Gateway at SL14B

London City, one of the first new Community Gateways, celebrates 14 years of Second Life at the official SL14B celebrations. Come and visit this exhibit and enjoy all the wonderful things Second Life has to offer.

Visit in Second Life

Pride continues with Erasure on Saturday

Jan loves a bit of Pride.

Back in 1985, singer/songwriter Andy Bell and songwriter Vince Clarke formed the band Erasure.

With the release of the single Sometimes the band established itself as one of the most successful bands in Britain during the 80s to mid-90s.  By the end of the 80s they had broken into the American market and to date have sold over 25 million albums.

Always popular with the LGBT club circuit, the band still performs today to a more mainstream audience.  They are best known for the songs, Oh L'amour, Victim of Love, Blue Savannah and A Little Respect .

Enjoy a tribute to Erasure here in London City on Saturday.  Party starts 12pm SL (8pm UK) with the show an hour later at 1pm SL time.  Teleport: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/95/104/23

Sansar News

Lab executive, Pete Linden, who leads the marketing team and is also known as Sansar_Peter on Reddit has been answering questions this week about the new Sansar VR platform.

Most relevant to Second Life users, is how Sansar will compare with Second Life.   As the Lab has always stated, Sansar is not intended to be a replacement for Second Life and is certainly not SL2, but its own unique platform, offering the latest cutting-edge technology with a focus on 3D VR.

When asked about VR Headsets and will they be required for Sansar, Pete says:

Great question. No, it's not required - but definitely recommended. Every experience created with Sansar can be accessed with an HMD (currently, Oculus Rift & HTC Vive) and/or via PCs. 

Certainly you can still create, explore, and socialize in PC mode, but the experience is definitely richer in VR, and I'd encourage you to think of Sansar as a platform for VR experiences (that can also be accessed in PC mode) in the near term for a couple of reasons. The VR experience is more engaging, not only visually, but also in terms of interactions with other people and the virtual environment. For example - picking up a sword and having a duel with someone else, or shooting hoops on a virtual basketball court with friends, or even just waving to someone you meet are all a lot of fun in VR and are interactions that don't really make sense (and aren't currently possible) in PC mode. 

Asked about whether SL users will are going to like Sansar, he replied:

To be totally honest, I think there will initially be a mixed reaction from SL regulars. Some will love Sansar and what's possible with this platform from the start, while others will be disappointed that it doesn't (yet, at least) meet their expectations or hopes of what it should be. 

I've seen both reactions from SL creators who have joined preview. Some are excited about what they can create and do now, and what they'll be able to do in the future. Others - particularly if they're expecting Sansar to be "SL2" - can be disappointed about things not working the way they're used to in SL, capabilities that are important to them in SL but not (yet, at least) available in Sansar, etc. 

We try to be as clear as we can in repeating that Sansar isn't intended to replace SL nor to be a sequel version of it. I'd encourage SL regulars to check out Sansar from that perspective and to bear in mind that even when we open creator beta, there will still be many features and further functionality yet to come.

All that said, creators in preview have already made some awesome social VR experiences with Sansar, and some of my personal favorites have been made by SL users, so I'm eager to see the swell of creativity when we open creator beta and even more creators join.

Sansar is due for open Beta release during this summer.

To find out lots more information about Sansar, check out the Reddit forums

 Pete Linden visits London City

Happy Birthday Mr President

It's The Donald's Birthday today and he is 71 years young.   We thought it would be nice to throw him a party and place a guest book where you can leave him a personal Birthday message.   What could possibly go wrong with that idea?

It's just for fun, keep yourselves nice!

Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/70/228/23

Second Life Birthday - SL14B

Happy Birthday to Second Life, the worlds largest user-created interactive 3D experience.

Second Life turns 14 years old this week (and we're still waiting for our shoes to rez.. yup same joke we tell every year).

Each year, the finest builders in Second Life are invited to exhibit content in parcels that stretch ten regions.   We are thrilled to announce that as with the past 4 years, London City is the official (and only) representation of London in Second Life at  the SL14B celebrations.

The event starts at midday SL time (8pm in the UK) on Sunday, and we hope you will come and see us making an exhibition of ourselves.   We'll post the location to the event later in the week.

Keeping your account secure

To keep you safe in Second Life, Linden Lab issued a reminder:

It is important that if you are not using the official viewer, to only use those listed on the Third Party Viewer directory: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory

The full text can be found here:
https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/entry/2186-account-security-tips-password-edition/

It’s recently come to our attention that there has been an increase in the use of third party tools that gives account credentials and control over a Resident’s account to another Resident. This and similar products can change an account password and/or details, such as email address, which could prevent an owner from accessing an account, or even from being able to recover the account.

 

We want to remind everyone that giving another Resident access to your account or account information, by any means and for any reason, is both dangerous and not permitted by the Terms of Service. An account is intended to be used solely by its creator, and keeping your account details secret and secure helps you keep it that way.

 

We’d like to provide you with some quick tips on how to keep your account secure:

 

Choose a secure password with upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, spaces, and symbols, and avoid common dictionary words or phrases. For instance, “password” is not a good password, but “wh4tAr g@t4P55!” is much better (though you shouldn’t use that last one either, now that all of Second Life just read it, too).

 

Choose a secret security question answer. To keep your information extra secure, choose an answer that you will remember, but that no one else could possibly guess. For example, answering “What is your favorite vacation spot?” with “Potsdam, Pennsylvania” isn’t secure if you have that listed as an interest on your social media accounts. Answering “The Wide Wide World of Sports” might be much more secure!

 

Keep your password and the answer to your security question secret from everyone, regardless of their relationship to you. Only you should know this information; not your significant other, family member, casual acquaintance, person with an honest look in their eye, or anyone else.

 

Keep your password unique and special to Second Life. Reusing the same password across different platforms or websites makes your account vulnerable if one of those sites suffer a data breach.

 

No Linden will ever ask for your password. Likewise, there is never a reason for you to enter your password to unlock an item, receive a discount, or anything else.

 

Use only the official Second Life Viewer, or a Third Party Viewer from the Third Party Viewer Directory. If the viewer does not allow you to log directly into your account for any reason, the viewer is NOT secure.

 

You can read more about keeping your information secure on the wiki at Linden Lab Official: Password Protection

 

If you have any problems accessing your account—especially if you believe that your password or security information may be known to anyone other than you—please contact the support team by opening a support case.

 

Thanks for keeping your account secure!

-Governance Linden

London City - Seaside

On Sunday, CoffeeQueen, Landa and me, went to the London City Pier for an adventure on the rollercoaster, a paddle in the water and a donut (or two).

The seaside in London City West, is a great place to chill-out and perhaps to escape the busy city life of our main region London City.

You can take a boat out on the water, or ride around the seaside and surrounding areas on a nifty Butlins style bike with your friends.

So next time, you want a break from it, head to London City West and explore the new seaside area and enjoy a free ice cream on the pier, but watch out for the gulls.

Visit the seaside here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City%20West/210/79/24

Margarita Pracatan at PRIDE in London City

Margarita Pracatan is a Cuban singer who found unexpected success in the 1990s.

Her big break came on the Clive James TV show where each week Margarita would play out the show, singing  her own unique rendition of a beautiful ballad performed on a Casio electronic organ, often with an unusually fast beat.

Now as part of London PRIDE she  performs a breathtaking show with an unusual orchestra.

A show not to be missed!

Party starts 12pm SL (8pm UK) with the concert an hour later at 1pm.

Check out the video from Margarita's first trip to London City:

Dis-May

The power grab election that did not pay off.

Theresa May, so sure that she would grab a bigger majority for her government and the mandate she felt she needed to force a hard Brexit, has failed in her mission and instead, created a hung parliament.

This disastrous result means that Theresa May will no doubt resign in a few hours time, but more likely in a few weeks time.. then present us with a new knight in armor, Boris Johnson.  The Conservatives with amble on for a few months in number 10 with all kinds of power share agreements with the minority Unionists and will then take us to the polls once again, for yet another General Election.

Jeremy Corbyn, who was expected to be decimated in this election, has had the most successful result for labour in recent years and is almost guaranteed to stand again when Britain goes back to the polls one more time...

Too many more of these elections and I'm going to be running a groove in the road on my way to vote.   What a way to start the weekend!

UK General Election: When's Voting Gonna Open?

It's general election time again, as Britain goes to the polls, for the third time in 3 years ...

Only a couple of weeks ago, it was an absolute certainty that it would be a landslide for Theresa May. But the game has changed significantly and this could now be an upset for the Tories of a Donald Trump magnitude, when Hillary Clinton was assured of winning the race to the White House.

The choices are simple:

Conservative, offering nothing in their manifesto and in fact taking some things away because at the time of the Manifesto they were absolutely sure they were going to win... but Wooden-top, Ms May will take us out of the EU quickly, or so she says. However with a reduced majority, that is not much of a mandate is it?

Labour, not a chance of winning.. or so everyone thought until a few weeks ago; so their manifesto offers free this and that, a cash giveaway bonanza, tax the working to pay for the bone idle. Not a prayer of winning, so the promises they made, make no odds that there is no cash to do any of this.  Will take us out of EU in a slow protracted way a bit like an unpleasant break-up with an old girl friend.  And yet, now they might win after all!  So start thinking about if you want your free cash. Tens or twentys?

Liberal, will keep us in the EU no matter how bad they treat us and will have another referendum.. or as many as it takes until people change their minds, but will sell out all their principals if it is a hung parliament.  Anything to get back into Number 10.

SNP.  We tuned out from Nicola Sturgeon's screeching long ago. But they have have lost a lot of popularity where Labour has gained.

Results start pouring in around midnight, with a clear winner before 2am UK time.  Come to the hub for a political debate.  Have your say but keep yourself nice!  ... but first Get out and vote.  Voting is open from 7am to 10pm.

Good luck on whoever you choose, they're all a bit naff this time around!

London on Sea - Rollercoaster

Check out our progress on the beach scene in London City West.

An area to sunbathe and enjoy a barbie to the West of the Pier and to the East, an adventure playground.  Have a go on the latest rides as this area springs into life.  Brand new today, the Rollercoaster!  Have fun.

Summer in the City! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City%20West/212/69/24

Who's Going to Win?

During the weekend, we asked you "Who is going to Win" the UK general election?

Up until 2 weeks ago, a landslide was an absolute certainty for Ms May, before it all went so wrong.

A week, is indeed a long time in politics.  With Corbyn a clear winner at 61%, May at 30% and Tiny Tim Farron and the rest at 9%

One can't help but wonder how the Tories are feeling right now.  If they had not gone to the people for this election, they could have remained in government for 3 more years. Whereas, if our poll is correct, they will be out of office on Friday morning.  Brutal!


Thanks for taking part.  Don't forget to vote on Thursday in the real thing!

Wet and Windy

It's going to be a pretty horrid weather week in old Blighty.  Just as we'd all got our RL shorts out, here comes the rain again!

But no matter, Summer is in full swing in the City, so play the game in your undies and just put the central heating on and immerse yourself in London City sunshine.

Pull up a Cher for PRIDE

American Singer and Actress, Cher (who turned 71 last week..and the rest) kicks off Pride in London City this weekend.

After divorcing Sonny in the 1970s, Cher went solo and never looked back. Clocking up dozens of hits including, Turn Back Time, Walking in Memphis, Shoop Shoop, Believe, Strong Enough, Gypsies Tramps and Thieves, Just like Jessie James, Womans World, etc..

You can enjoy the very best of her this Saturday as PRIDE begins in London City.

Party starts 12pm SL (8pm UK) with the show an hour later at 1pm SL time.

Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/96/104/23

Check this video for highlights of Cher's last appearance in London City:

London City Community Gateway

The London City Community Gateway