Morphicon's Year Zero Picnic (held this past Saturday) was a great success, with over 30 attendees to the Columbus, OH event.

See the official Morphicon website for more information, and links to picture archives as they become available.

For those of you who may be impatient, Trickster has pictures up already at this location.

The Seattle P-I reportst that Cartoonists Northwest is sponsoring "Spawns of Insomnia" -- a challenge to create a comic book, in full view of the public, in just 24 hours. The marathon exercise, which begins this Saturday on Seattle's Capitol Hill, will be preceeded by a cartooning class.

In an effort to keep fans better informed about goings-on at Sofawolf Press, we have established a semi-annual newsletter called Kibble. Our first issue features an extensive article on writing good dialogue by Tim Susman, current and upcoming product release dates, Con appearances, and company news.

Find it at sofawolf.com.

We have also just received the first big shipment of Best in Show: Fifteen Years of Outstanding Furry Fiction, featuring twenty-six of the best stories from fanzines and the web. Weighing in at over 450 pages, and with a terrific color cover by Ursula Vernon, this book will help console those who have already finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

On sale at the Sofawolf Press website. Get it in advance of the masses at Anthrocon and Comic Con International!

NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - A nine-year-old Indian girl has been married to a dog amid religious chants after a priest told her parents the wedding would ward off evil, a government official says.
Full Article

Tonight on Animal Planet is a show on TV's fifty greatest animal covering everything from Lassie to Tony the tiger. It's at 8:00 and 11:00 PM Eastern and Pacific, June 16. description

The Australian reports that a male Lavarack's turtle, originally thought to be extinct, was recently found in Queensland, Australia. In addition to its rarity, scientists are eager to examine the turtle for another reason: its species breathes through its cloaca--its rear orifice. "Over the next few days the 1kg turtle will be measured from top to toe and then suffer a more intrusive inspection. Scientists will stick a camera-headed fibre-optic cable into his cloaca to see how his breathing apparatus works."

BBC Online reports that a wealthy Dutch conservationist is proposing that wildlife preserves in the most economically strapped nations in Africa could be administered by a private conservancy.

BBC Online reports that the Antarctic blue whale population may be gradually increasing.

A polar bear took on a Seawolf, and called it a draw after 40 minutes. Read the story here.

Downtown Racine, WI is full of cats.
But only for the summer.
Painted ones :)

-- puma

An anonymous submitter provided a link to this article in the Riverfront Times about furries. It features Tyger Cowboy, a leader of the St. Louis area group UniFursal Zoo, and covers an outing in which he and several other furs went bowling in fursuits. Overall in my opinion, the article is a better representation of furries than some we've seen.

A rooster has been shot dead after an hour's standoff with police and bomb disposal experts in Christchurch.

Read the full article at here.

Steve Irwin, known as The Crocodile Hunter, has a deep secret: his wild showmanship is a front for his intelligence and deep commitment to species conservation.

The field of robotics has long taken cues from the natural world in the goal to create a versatile, able machine, and has found it exceedingly difficult to match the functionality which we take for granted in living organisms.

Two of the more recent ventures into the field of biomimetics - the mimicry of biologicals - include BigDog, a dane-sized canine-copy slated to be born in 18 months. If the design pans out, the motorcycle-powered creation should be able to run at over 15 MPH, and jump over three feet high.

Even further removed from the consumer-friendly world of the likes of Asimo is RoboLobster, a clawed creature complete with hard shell, eight legs, and antennae, purpose built to hunt for mines in shallow water.

Both are designed with the military in mind, and recieve funding from DARPA and the Navy. If you're seeking more "human" robots, a list of the most ambitious projects is here.

The first human infections of the African monkeypox virus in the U.S. have been traced back to prairie dogs sold by a Milwaukee pet distributor. Apparently the animals were shipped, (and possibly collabarators with) a Gambian rat. Health officials said they suspect the rat was the source of the infection, because tests have shown Gambian rats have natural antibodies to monkeypox as well as access to complex pharmacutical facilites.

It is currently not known if the rat has ties to any terrorist groups, nor if the prairie dogs will be deported according to Immigration and Naturalization Service officials.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/06/08/cdc.prariedogs/index.html