October 2002
Yet another negative publicity hit for the fandom.
Posted by jadedfox on Tue 1 Oct 2002 - 11:20And no, I'm not talking about this comic. It's today's news. PVP (also known as Player vs Player) is a gaming oriented web comic strip, one that generally receives quite a bit of hits on a daily basis. Yesturday, Scott Kurtz had a negative strip for the fandom, from the character in his strip that is most known for being a close minded idiot. It was a very simple gag strip, that likely would have been shrugged off (see the fact that Dutch supported it) if it hadn't been for the reaction from fans. Judge for yourself and follow to see if the storyline continues at PVP Online.
Little Red Riding Hood - The Cannibalistic Stripper!!!
Posted by karsateblor on Thu 3 Oct 2002 - 08:00Interesting how simple tales evolve over time - turning more innocent and G rated. Who would ever think that such a tale actually started as horrific as this:
"In the 16th century, French peasants told a tale that went something like this: Girl meets werewolf on her way to granny's house. Wolf beats her there and kills granny, shelving her flesh in the pantry and her blood in a bottle. Upon arrival, girl snacks on granny, then strips naked and slides into bed with wolf. As wolf's about to eat her, girl says she has to go to the bathroom. Wolf lets her outside. He asks, "Are you merding a load?" but girl's already gotten away." (Meadows, Susannah. Whos Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?, Newsweek, 8/26/2002)
The book titled as "Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale" written by Catherine Orenstein takes you over the decades and shows you how we ended up with such an 'innocent' fairy tale. Frankly, this isn't the only story that started in such a way - allot of them did. If you're interested you can purchase it at amazon - I personally think its a great book!
And a glider shall lead them
Posted by Sardonicus on Thu 3 Oct 2002 - 08:00While this may sound like a sequel to the movie Fly Away Home, a hang-glider by the name of Angelo d'Arrigo is attempting to establish migratory routines for a population of captivity bred Siberian Cranes. These young birds have never been exposed to adult cranes and as such have no knowledge of the appropriate migration patterns. As part of a coordinated effort, this year Angelo is going to lead the birds over a 3,400 mile long migratory route that is hoped will imprint the appropriate information on the young cranes. As unusual as the project might seem, a Canadian-American team, working under the title of Operation Migration, has been carrying out similar projects involving Whooping Cranes since 1994.
"Miracle mule" has baby foal
Posted by MelSkunk on Thu 3 Oct 2002 - 08:09Everyone knows the conventional wisdom. With 63 chromosomes from their horse and donkey parents, mules shouldn't be able to breed.
In fact, the owner of the Moroccian mule was so oblivious to the pregnancy, she rode her to market the day before the birth. The adorable tyke is one of only 3 confirmed mule births in the last quarter century.
Sure, it's no virgin shark, but it's still pretty neat.
Dog decoder hit in Japan
Posted by MelSkunk on Thu 3 Oct 2002 - 08:25Technology helps up communicate, and now it's helping people understand their dogs better. Bowlingual uses a tiny microphone, attached to a dog collar, which transmits the sounds of the animal to a palm-sized console.
The sounds are sorted into six emotional categories: frustration, menace, joy, sorrow, demand and self-expression, and the console shows a phrase to fit the emotional state, such as "I am sad. I want to play" and "I am super angry. I am going to explode!". It's selling like hotcakes, but it's only avaiable in Japan. And don't worry about 'accents', Bowlingual is compatible with more than 50 dog breeds, from Chihuahuas to German Shepherds.
Using your Palm can help great apes
Posted by MelSkunk on Fri 4 Oct 2002 - 08:30Many regular computer users are aware of Careware, the less whiney, more charitable cousin of shareware, where a programer decides that they want you to donate money to their favorite charity in leu of profit.
Well, there's careware, and then there's careware. DateBk is a popular shareware Palm program, and when the programmer retired and sold out the company, he decided, hey, I don't need these hundreds of thousands of dollars of profit and royalties.Why not give it to various great ape preserves in Africa and and start my own foundation to help them here!
Funday Pawpet Show meets CARP
Posted by PunkTiger on Mon 7 Oct 2002 - 08:10We knew it was coming, but it's still a shock when it actually happens.
The CARP legislation hits the Funday Pawpet Show, extort... erm... requiring payment retroactively from their first broadcast -- 29 January 2001 through 31 August 2002.
In my opinion, CARP stinks to high heaven.
Nobel or IgNobel?
Posted by MelSkunk on Mon 7 Oct 2002 - 08:18Well, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Phisiology and Medicine has just been announced, but if the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death doesn't float your boat, how about a mathematical formula for measuring the surface of an elephant, bellybutton lint and its study, or "The Effects Of Pre-Existing Inappropriate Highlighting On Reading Comprehension"? All of these were awarded IgNobels, a spoof prize honoring people whose achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced."
He might be happy, but SpongeBob isn't gay
Posted by MelSkunk on Wed 9 Oct 2002 - 23:48Just because he has a high pitched voice, lives a happy life in a fruit and loves holding hands with his pink, triangular freind, doesn't mean the popular Nickelodeon character SpongeBob SquarePants is a homosexual.As a sponge, he's quite asexual, thank you, and though he's special says his creator, that's special as in stupid, folks. Creator Stephen Hillenburg is not surprised at SpongeBob's appeal to adults, and cites the tolerance and multifacited world of Bikini Bottom as a good reason why many gays in the US have taken to the weird cartoon character. That, and SpongeBob is just too darn silly.
AAE requests bids for Further Confusion 2004
Posted by Flint on Wed 9 Oct 2002 - 23:58Yes, its that time of year again. While the staff of Further Confusion 2003 is hard at work with preparing for January, its time for a new chairman and executive team to be selected by AAE for 2004. Further Confusion rotates the chair and executive team each year to keep a fresh influx of new ideas coming into the convention as well as helping grow the number of highly educated organizers within the fandom at large.
So, if you are interested in being the chair of one of anthropomorphic fandoms most exciting and largest conventions, please see the full bid guidelines at http://www.anthroarts.org/fcbids.html
The Board of Directors of Anthropomorphic Arts and Education, Inc.
Tough dogs are clumsy 'weaklings' in the UK
Posted by MelSkunk on Thu 10 Oct 2002 - 09:24Rottweilers seem like macho, tough dogs, but a British pet insurance company concluded they were the most accident prone canines in the UK, with about 3 in every 5 needing serious vet treatment, requiring an insurance claim, for accidents in their lives. Last year's most sickly dog was the chocolate lab (really a colour type of lab, not a separate breed) and the year before, it was the boxer. On the other hand, poodles are still very hearty dogs, with only 1 in 5 ending up at the vets due to severe illness or accident.
Maybe a froo-froo dog knows something the tough brawlers don't?
Furry Track at Conjecture (Oct 18-20, San Diego)
Posted by darrelx on Fri 11 Oct 2002 - 21:33Next weekend's Conjecture, a new Fantasy / Gaming / Literary Science Fiction convention in San Diego will have a large Furry programming track.
Conjecture is run by the San Diego Speculative Fiction Society, which is a non-profit corporation formed to advance SciFi/Fantasy fandom in and around San Diego.
Conjecture's Dealer's Room is being run by Darrel L. Exline, known to most of you as the director of The ConFurence Group. Their Art Show is being run by Glen Wooten (artist Terrie Smith's husband).
Several of the discussion panels on the tentative schedule will be familiar to furry fans, with input from several noted authors. There will also be a Furry Party on Friday Night of the Convention.