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Historical debates

Rock Dog- Not Norm Of The North 2017, but not Zootopia 2017

Your rating: None Average: 4.3 (12 votes)

This has been a long time coming.

The movie? No, not the movie itself, but my review of it. To people who are only reading this review to get to my thoughts on the movie, I suggest skipping my little prologue. For those that would like some context, then read on.

Rock Dog has been on my radar for well over a year, potentially two years, though it's kind of hard to pin down the exact date. I saw the original trailer when it leaked at around the end of 2015 and was immediately interested.

The film was directed by Ash Brannon, a co-director of Toy Story 2 and the underrated masterpiece that is Surf's Up. I grew up with the latter film and was curious of this new project since Ash hasn't done a ton in the animation field since 2007.

I was so hyped for the film that I felt that it would surpass Zootopia. This belief had caused debates with many of the avid fans the film had garnered in the fandom. While my stance has softened on the Disney film, I still stand by some of the grievances I had with it. That being said I have decided that despite my desire to compare the two films, I decided to purely look at Rock Dog as it's own film and judge it on its own merits.

Editorial: Furry fandom and the D-word; a dire warning from Penn State

Your rating: None Average: 3.4 (14 votes)

Drama: it's a complicated little word that with a large negative connotation when used within the furry fandom. There are those who don't always see the best in furry; who point out flaws in what sometimes seem an overbearing manner, and decry some within the fandom from their own corner of the web. These voices may seem pointless at best and harmful at worst to the health and enjoyment of the furry fandom.

However, a recent event in the college football fandom might show why furries who see and speak no wrong in the fandom could be just as harmful as those who see only wrong in it.

High school fur 'plotted murders' over 'animal cruelty'

Your rating: None Average: 4.6 (5 votes)

Black FoxNathaniel Zeno, 16 (also known as Black Fox) was charged last Wednesday with solicitation to commit murder after Seminole High School staff noticed him making a suspiciously-marked map of the school. [Markos/FNN]

Nathaniel had reportedly been reading from a book about the Columbine massacre and had tried to solicit help from fellow students. Police say he was targeting those with "a history of being cruel or neglectful to animals."

More coverage: Daily Mail - LargoPatch - 10 News/WTSP - 13 News

'Shine', 'Awoo!' take 2021 Ursa Major Awards by landslides; K. Garrison wins three

Your rating: None Average: 3.9 (7 votes)

The results of the 2021 Ursa Major Awards were announced this Sunday, with motivated fan-bases driving decisive voting in certain categories, while others were finely balanced.

Littlefur/adult baby slice-of-life comic Shine by UK artist Star ran off with Best Graphic Story; coming second was a remake of Found, another of her works under the name Toddlergirl. Both had seen strong support in last years' Ursa Major Awards.

'Awoo!: Volume 1' Likewise, AC Stuart's Awoo!: Volume 1 (on Amazon) stormed the opposition for Best Other Literary Work, with four more first-preference votes than the other four nominees put together.

Netting twice the points of the next nominee for Dramatic Short Work was Frank Behring's "Nobody Does It Better", derived from Best Comic Strip Carry On. Artist Kathy Kellogg (KD Nightstar) also took Best Published Illustration for "A World of Our Own" — beating all other nominees by 50%.

An offer of help to FurNation from FurrTrax

Your rating: None Average: 4.1 (17 votes)

FurrTrax.com is making an offer to FurNation.com to host that site for free for the next six months, until it can get back on its feet and figure out its own server space or other hosting arrangements. If that becomes a problem FurrTrax is willing to extend its offer within reason, or simply continue to host FurNation for a small fee, in the range 10 or 20 dollars, just to cover the added bandwidth usage on FurrTrax's pipeline.

FurrTrax can give FurNation a VM or Segment on our VMware System, which on Thursday, December 3, will become a Dell R710 with 96GB of RAM, and 8 CPUs, the PERC H710 512MB SAS/SATA Controller, and 6 SSDs (2 x 60GB, 2 x 120GB, 2 x 500GB).

FurNation would have its choice of Operating System, all FurrTrax would need is an ISO to pump into VMware and it would allow FurNation to install it remotely, as if FurNation were at the console using the remote management FurrTrax runs.

If FurNation opted, FurrTrax would also be willing to toss in one or two of its hard disks in FurrTrax's two empty bays, and then FurNation would have its own dedicated space and Disk I/O. FurrTrax does not rent this infrastructure, FurrTrax owns it and as such can make these types of accommodations. Though FurNation and FurrTrax have had issues in the past, this is FurrTrax's olive branch to bury the hatchet, and shine together.

Further charges laid in Krypto1701 animal abuse case

Your rating: None Average: 4.1 (9 votes)

Two more counts of animal cruelty have been added to the charges already faced by Peter Bower, known in the furry fandom as Krypto1701.

In May, Bower was charged with two counts of animal cruelty after authorities discovered that he had had sexual relations with his three-year-old shepherd-mix dog, Aurora. New evidence suggests sexual activity with a previous pet, a German shepherd named Maggie.

Furries help push fundraising for Mississippi library after a mayor withheld funding in blackmail attempt to censor books

Your rating: None Average: 4 (8 votes)

Gene McGee, the mayor of Ridgeland, a northern suburb of the capital city of Jackson, withheld $110,000 from the Madison County Library System. According to the Mississippi Free Press, the executive indicated he would not release the allocated dollars until the library agreed to purge any “homosexual materials”.

The release of this news had set one particular furry into activist mode. Soatok Dhole, a non-fiction furry writer who covers issues around the fandom, social media, and technology, started a thread on his Twitter account pushing for help from the furry fandom to help bridge the gap in the library’s funding. In it he linked to the library’s fundraiser whose goal was initially a modest $2,500, but has since extended multiple times due to reaching that threshold and beyond.

Are furries trying to poison your kids with detergent pods?

Your rating: None Average: 3.2 (35 votes)

Update (12 Jan): YouTube removed the Tide Pod Pizza video. Here's a copy in China.

Well, if you're familiar with the concept of Betteridge's Law, then you should already know the answer to that question. Hint: it's no. However, it's certainly an odd question to even present without a reason. So why ask?

Pousta, a Spanish language news site that covers fashion, design, music, and trends, posted an article about an early “fashion” of 2018 (Spanish). It covers a recent Internet meme around the consumption of detergent pods, and particularly its growth because of a video. This video is one of a furry YouTuber named Majira Strawberry with fellow fursuiter Arrin. The video ends with Arrin cooking a cheese pizza decorated with detergent pods.

Second trailer for 'Zootopia'

Your rating: None Average: 4 (12 votes)

Zootopia director Rich Moore Tweeted yesterday that the second trailer would be coming tomorrow. Which is today. So, trailer.

It mostly consists of footage already released at earlier D23 expos, but not made available outside said expos until now. Which is nice for those of us who don't get to town very often.

Zootopia is coming to theaters March 4 of next year.

Update (11/25): A short bonus clip has been released as well.
Update (Happy Thanksgiving!): And another. This time with sound!

Bad Karma shutters Ychan, Yiffy International, 420furs.org

Your rating: None Average: 3.4 (5 votes)

In a sudden move, Bad Karma Networks has closed the Ychan image board, furry art community and forum Yiffy International, and stoner fur community site 420furs.org.

When we're young the day stands still, but as we age time begins to speed us by until it seems there is never enough. We're proud of how far the community has come in the 11 years since we opened our doors, but sadly we no longer have the time to make this the site that you deserve. We'll miss you and the fun we've had together deeply - but remember that in every ending is a new beginning. We wish you the best in all your new beginnings to come!

Parts of Yiffy International - formed by a three-way merger in August 2008 - had been up since 2002, while Ychan launched March 2008. 420furs.org opened in 2007 as Bakedfurs.org.