BC tabloid The Province has caught on to the fact that Polish newspaper Gazeta Olsztynska used an image including 4chan meme Pedobear in a story on the Winter Olympics.

The modified image's author, Michael Barrick, says it was also used by a Spanish sports blog.

Pedobear made an appearance at Anthrocon last year, handing out free candy.

A new Australian convention — Furry Down Under, or FurDU — hopes to draw fans to Queensland's Gold Coast on 23-25 April.

The event is based in the Vibe hotel, not far from Surfers Paradise beach. Registration will be AU$30, while hotel rooms are AU$149 for two people.

The first forty registered attendees are also to receive a "generic tail".

The con was initial to be held in Melbourne, but the venue changed when organizers Oz Kangaroo and FlameDrake moved.

Flash animator Tirrel (Cerberus) has created an Aztec-themed work that's worth watching. Check out the rest of his gallery while you're at it.

The Melbourne Herald Sun reports development of pig lungs compatible with human blood. Such organs could fill a real need; 200 died last year on waiting lists in Australia alone.

The genetically-modified pigs do not express a certain antigen that causes the blood to clot. Research on such "knock-out" pigs has been going on for over two decades.

There is an ongoing debate about the ethics of creating such "chimeras." Still, replacement of human heart valves with pig valves or cow cardiac tissue is already widespread.

Onion News Network breakfast show Today Now! gives advice from author Melissa Donnelly on sparking up the relationship with your cat.

Hint: Watch for additional tips from her book displayed in the footer.

A team led by Russian WikiFur administrator Shnatsel have released the first beta of a furry-themed version of Linux distribution Ubuntu.

The collaboration includes a boot skin, several wallpapers by Kosh (Alexander Faolchu), icons, a Metacity themes, a GIMP splash screen, and eight sets of smilies. A full GTK+ theme and logon screen are scheduled for future builds.

A prior effort to create such a distribution — Furbuntu — appears to have stalled in 2008.

The relaunched FurNation has restored its hosting, though their archive may be incomplete.

The index page displays 814 sites, but some seem to be just a few files or forwarding pages.

FurNation used to be a major furry hosting site. However, intermittent uptime forced many elsewhere — often to the now-defunct GeoCities.

New users looking for hosting by FurNation are currently asked to contact an administrator.

Spokane convention All Fur Fun may hold a one-day event this year, according to event organizers Tora Kiyoshi and Moorcat.

The con served almost 200 attendees last year, but fell into debt after several setbacks, including a chandelier accident.

To make matters worse, the US Olympic figure skating tryouts were held in Spokane this year, disrupting hotel bookings.

Current plans are for a one-day event on 15 May, including an art show, after which attendees can participate in the Spokane Lilac Festival Torchlight Parade before returning to the hotel for a party. A full weekend event is expected for 2011.

In related news, proposed Arizonan convention Phoenix Furness looks to be no more, as inquiries on its journal go without official answer.

"When doctors and staff realized that a cat living in a U.S. nursing home could sense when someone was going to die, the feline, Oscar, was portrayed as a furry grim reaper or four-legged angel of death.

But Dr. David Dosa, who broke the news of Oscar's abilities in a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007, said he never intended to make Oscar sound creepy or his arrival at a bedside to be viewed negatively."

Jennifer Smith and Dr. Kay Holekamp of Michigan State bring us cute photos of hyena cubs.

Their research (click names) on the social behavior of the Spotted Hyena is worth reading.