In 2001, ConiFur NorthWest had 48 tables.

Then we lost the hotel and had to find a new home. Now we are at the Sheraton Tacoma.

We have 64 tables in the new space.

They are very nearly SOLD OUT.

What does this mean for you? It means we have only a couple of tables left and those may be going fast. Now is the time to check out our updated Dealer's Room Map. Please be patient while the entire graphic loads. It is a large map, but then again, it's a large room we are in this year. All the confirmed dealers have been placed as best we are able to do accounting for their requests.

If you have any immediate concerns or issues, please contact us immediately at:

cfnw-info@conifur.org

Thanks!

-Flinthoof Ponypal
-Dan Canaan
-ConiFur NorthWest

The notorious 'Thursday London SciFi Meetings' recived an intresting visit from an attentive small furry fan. (And not the fat sweaty kind) I doubt he was a fan of Hienlen or Asimov. Maybe he thought they would be talking about Brian Jacques.

In a move that comes as something of a surprise to fans, the Sci Fi Network has decided after a very successful four seasons not to pick up the 5th season of the popular series Farscape. You can read the log of the chat with Farscape executive producers David Kemper and Richard Manning (as well as star Ben Browder) here.

A write in campaign has been formed in hopes to show Sci Fi the error of their ways. Both Browder and Kemper ask that well-written, obscenity-free letters be sent to the executive management of Sci-Fi and USA Networks.

Barry Deutsch's weblog for today has a wonderful argument that almost every best daily strips has had a talking animal.

The headline should really be "Governments are @#$%&#ing stupid!" Since the Grecian government admitted they cannot tell the difference between innocuous video games and illegal gambling machines, they've banned ALL games played on an electronic device. Though the headline makes it sound like just violent shoot-em-up games are banned, any game is included.This means internet chess. This means Minesweeper on your Windows. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if MUCKs might be a borderline game. Major fines are being levied against any person, tourist or local, caught playing an electronic game or even simply owning the software or console to play one.
Fight the power, play Super Mario...

In addition to the Hugo Awards, several other science fiction and fantasy awards were handed out at the World Science Fiction Conventions last weekend. Locus Online has a nice summary (with links) of the winners of the Chesley Awards (sf & fantasy artists), Prometheus Awards (libertarion sf), Sidewise Awards (alternate history sf), Golden Duck Awards (children & teen sf), and the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards (sf & fantasy with a positive gay/lesbian/transgender theme).

In spite of the claim by hunt supporters that foxes would overrun the UK if the horse and hound fox hunt was banned, the aborted hunt season last year due to foot and mouth has not led to any rise in fox numbers, researchers say. In fact, if anything, the numbers dropped slightly. The Countryside Alliance disregards the fecal drop count as innacurate, claiming farmers have been telling them that there are more foxes. And the debate goes on...

Steven M. Wise, J.D., is the president of Center for the Expansion of Fundamental Rights, and teaches Animal Rights Law at Harvard, Vermont, and John Marshall Law Schools. He has written a new book: Drawing the Line, which goes beyond his previous book Rattling the Cage in that he advocates legal rights even beyond the great apes to elephants, parrots, and dolphins. (But not dogs.)

I (Kelly 'STrRedWolf' Price) am starting up a hub of webcomics who are doing Sept 11 memorials that day. Further information follows as to where it is and how to contribute. The website domain has just been created.

Hello Everyone. My name is Brian "Axelroo" Chris Baker, head of this year's ConifurNW 2K2 Masquerade. The time is ticking down and we need a head count of those who will be participating in this years event. We got a two dressing rooms and a beautiful backstage to practice on way out of sight from public oncomers. You can be sure, this is going to be a good year for ConifurNW.

YIFFSTAR, a new story archive for yiffy stories only, has been launched. Submitted stories are being hosted, not linked to. We're still looking for folks who'd like to participate in maintaining the archive, as well as story contributions of course..

Everyone knows that meteors heat up in the Earth's atmosphere because of friction and that the moon only looks bigger at the horizon because the thick air acts like a lens... right?
If this and other cosmic myths are your "well known facts", maybe you need BadAstronomy.com

The 2002 Hugo Awards were announced this past weekend at ConJose, the 2002 World Science Fiction Convention. winners include American Gods by Neil Gaiman for Best Novel, The Lord of the Rings for Best Dramatic Presentation, and Ellen Datlow as Best Professional Editor.

For those of you who follow world-wide internet policies, China's list of banned websites continue to grow, actively filtered out by what's colorfully coming to be called 'The Great Firewall of China'.
Out of curiosity, I began testing which websites are banned.
And the first one I entered to see reported inaccessible? Furnation.
Incredulous, I ran the test again, and a few more times. 1 successful attempt to reach it, out of 20. It leads to curious speculation; is it something as simply benign as a router misconfiguration? Perhaps a few servers along the way had conked out? Maybe Slashdot having linked the testing server has resulted in a sudden drop of reliability of the testing method?
Or maybe the mainland Chinese are afraid of teh cultural revolution that some ears and tails might unleash. (He typed firmly tongue-in-cheek.)

Longtime Yerf and Yiffnet Attic contributor G. Raymond "Angel Bear" Eddy, long overdue for a comic of his own on the World Wide Web, can now boast of the world debut of The Wild Angels on Ottercomics.