Russian furs now have another event to budget for besides the long-running Rusfurrence.

The Summer Furry Conference [translation] will be held 8-11 July at the Korobitsyno Cascade, on the Karelian Isthmus linking Russia and Finland. The hotel opened in 2008 and boasts "comfortable rooms of a European level."

Event organizers expect to attract 70-100 in the first year, including a few from Finland and Ukraine, though there's room for up to 130. At press time 62 had registered interest, most from St. Petersburg or Moscow.

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 Financial Times has an intriguing report on Moscow’s 35,000 stray dogs.