Anthropomorphic animals will teach young children some basic entrepreneurial skills in a new book written by Eric F. Steimle and illustrated by Jason Burns. [tip: Harvard Heinous]

In Jason Squirrel Starts a Company (Amazon), the bushy-tailed protagonist grows tired of fetching heavy bags of nuts each day, and having no leisure time, and thus devises a plan to create a nut-collecting company.

After being denied a startup loan from Stan the Banking Turtle, Jason educates himself on the various aspects of running a business (from finance to marketing to staffing), and finds an investor in the form of Grandpa Crow. Overcoming various obstacles, Jason's dream is eventually realised and he expands his woodland business empire by hiring a group of raccoons.

Steiml, based the book on his own experiences in starting a business, saying "I thought there should be more books for younger children that talk about building your own company."

What do you get when you combine furry, steampunk, detective thrillers, alternative history, and a bit of Quentin Tarantino?

Bryan Talbot's Grandville series of graphic novels; two so far, Grandville (2009) and Grandville Mon Amour (2010). Both are about 100 pages and very sturdy hardcovers. Sounds like quite the hodge-podge of genres, no? Yet it works!

The new big thing in Furry Fandom is contests! Yes, now you can enter into a contest to win a paid commission. All you have to do is submit a piece of art, of the finest quality you can make, to specification and for free to the person running the contest… see the flaw yet?

To those of you who've not worked it out: yes, this is what we call a "scam".

Updated with some probability theory showing the scammy nature of these contests.

Surprising no one, Nintendo announced at this year’s E3 that it will release a new Super Smash Bros. for its forthcoming Wii U console. The fighting series includes furry Nintendo characters such as Fox McCloud and Lucario, plus guest character Sonic the Hedgehog.

Series creator Masahiro Sakurai has not ruled out the possibility of a release on the 3DS, which would be the first installment of the series on a handheld video game system.

The game or games, though definitely coming to at least the Wii U, are not yet in production. Sakurai’s studio, Sora, is currently working on the 3DS game Kid Icarus: Uprising, and may defer Super Smash Bros. until its completion, giving furry gamers plenty of time to petition for inclusion of their favorite characters.

For many furs, Anthrocon is approaching – but roughly 50 Finns are looking forward to the first FinnFur Summer Camp (website), held 1-3 July at Röskö in the forests of North Karelia. Planned activities include BBQ, lake swimming, rowing, motor-boating and dances, plus indoor games.

All cabin spaces have sold out (at 30-40€ + 10€ for sponsors); campers can still attend for 35€.

The event is led by SlvWolf, founder of Finnish-language Furboard and TurriWiki, and was mentioned in a letter to Knotcast #141 (AAC/MP3 - 10:43).