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Historical debates

Video: 'Bitter Lake' preview

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EZwolf has released a preview trailer of Bitter Lake, a live-action movie written and directed by Shay, and scheduled to premier at Eurofurence 17 this August. [Cheetah/furrymedia]

The roughly one-hour film, shot in France and the Netherlands, features fursuits from Clockwork Creature Studios and a soundtrack by Fox Amoore (trailer material).

Actors include EZwolf, Rin, Forfaox and Stoelbank, aided by the voices of Shay, Dylan Nagel and Lucy RedPanda, with sound provided by KwisA. Nikoshi acted as best boy.

See also: Bitter Lake creators answer questions from FNN

Anthrocon requests conbook submissions, offers sweepstakes

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AnthroconAnthrocon is requesting submissions for this year's conbook, and is offering a sweepstakes to attract artwork, fiction, photography, and articles for the publication. This year's theme is "The Anthropomorphic Institute Of Magic".

The lucky winner gets a supersponsor membership for 2011, or an upgrade if already a member.

All entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT April 23. It is not necessary to submit material to enter the sweepstakes, and there is no limit on the number of entries.

Researchers argue for dolphin personhood

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Should dolphins be treated as 'non-human people'? That's the argument of some scientists and ethical researchers, who claim their sense of self, social talents, relative brain size, and ability to perform complex tasks put them second only to humans. [Soulskill/Slashdot]

The point was also made last year at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science – publishers of the well-known journal Science.

A spot of furry wordwatching

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Wordwatching
Advertising for Alex Horne's show 'Wordwatching'

Last night I was in Darlington watching Alex Horne, who is most famous as co-host of the BBC Four comedy panel game We Need Answers. He was performing a show entitled "Wordwatching", which is about his attempts to introduce words that he and his friends have invented into the OED.

So far, while some progress has been made, none of his words (see below) have got in. However, I feel that if we can spread the word around we can get them in. I just hope I do not go on a mental safari during the attempt.

This show has resulted in me asking a question: how come so far no words relating to the furry fandom have got into the OED? After all, the fandom has been in existence for some time (at least since the 1980s).

If the term "furry" has been used to describe both the fandom and the type of characters in it, then I think it should be included. Also, it appears that I am not the only furry with such ideas. There is currently an online petition to get "yiff" in the OED as well, which has over 3,000 signatures.

As a result, I propose we start a campaign to get as many furry words into the OED as we can.

Scotland to get its first furry convention

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The current Scotiacon logo

We interview Ixis, the vice-chairwoman of Scotland's first furry convention - ScotiaCon.

ScotiaCon is to be held some time during Easter 2010 in Inverness. I interviewed the vice-chairwoman Ixis about the forthcoming event.

TCW: First question, pure and simple - What is ScotiaCon (or Scotiacon - which is the correct spelling)?

Ixis: ScotiaCon is our attempt to create Scotland's first furry convention, simply, but it means a lot more to all those involved. We feel Scotland has been left out a little bit when it comes to UK furry events and we want to put that right.

Incremental upgrades to Flayrah

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Recently I've found the time to make a few changes to Flayrah. If you're reading this on another site, you might want to drop by to see them.

As always, I'm interested in your thoughts as to how we could make Flayrah a better resource, from a technical, social, or content standpoint. The site's been up almost a decade, and I'd like it to remain relevant for the next ten years – so if you want something, speak up!

Furry con-runners gather at leadership roundtable

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The first Furry Convention Leadership Roundtable was held this weekend in Lincolnshire, Illinois. According to Duncan da Husky, all U.S. and Canadian furry conventions with over 100 attendees were invited to send up to three representatives of their choice.

The event is modeled after SMOFcon, a science-fiction runner's con named after the so-called "Secret Masters Of Fandom" who attend; unlike that event, the FCLR is currently invite-only.

Discussions covered feedback surveys, hotel negotiations, working with the media, membership suspensions, A/V setups, technology, budgeting and fiscal management, age-related issues, marketing/branding and convention horror stories.

About Pets:

I own one (or more) cats.
26% (34 votes)
I own one (or more) dogs.
14% (18 votes)
I have a tank of fish.
2% (3 votes)
I have a reptile.
1% (1 vote)
I have tiny furry critters (like hamsters).
3% (4 votes)
I have a horse.
1% (1 vote)
I have a mix of all of these.
12% (15 votes)
I have an exotic critter.
5% (7 votes)
I don't own pets.
15% (19 votes)
Feren
21% (27 votes)
Votes: 129

Phoenix Phurmeet 2005

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Ok, this isn't exactly an official announcement, but more a plea for help. The short form is that we'll be starting a mini-con April 2005 with the exact days to be determined in the future, but we need some help and advice.

1) What events should we offer, keeping in mind that this is a first year and small con?
2) What do you expect to see at a con(artists alley, art show, dealer room, lounge, etc)?
3) Where should we hold it(ie hotel event space or the likely cheaper VFW Hall or similar)?

Aside from that, any advice, suggestions, volunteering and ideas are welcome and can be sent to phurmeet@furworld.org(if it bounces, wait twelve hours and resend, since I just set it up).

Humans and Mice share 99% of genes

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An article on the BBC's news site discusses how much similarity there is between men and mice.

I was quite taken with the quote from one scientist: "We share 99% of our genes with mice, and we even have the genes that could make a tail."

I wanna tail.