From The Further Confusion folk comes this announcement: " As the days grow shorter and fall grows near, it's time to make your plans for attending Further Confusion 2002. FC 2002 will be held once again at the San Mateo Marriott January 24th through 27th, 2002. Information on this year's convention can be found at http://www.furtherconfusion.org. While you're there, be sure to check out the first edition of our pre-convention newsletter!"

Less than a week remains to get artwork, fiction, poetry, or advertisments into the ConiFur Northwest 2001 souvenir and program book! Deadline is September 15.

There's still plenty of time to donate to the charity auction, benefiting the Washington State Ferret Rescue and Shelter. And the convention is taking pre-orders on convention t-shirts.

The submission addresses and other details appear when you click "Read more" below.

Attention canine fans: Buy your genuine, larger than life sized, furry, husky-headed pez dispenser.

Mirko writes: "Well, the gauntlet has been placed before us. The challenge is on.
The stage is set. The cliches are flying! :)

Midwest FurFest will be the final furry con of 2001, a year that's seen
furs' generosity surpass anything ever witnessed in the fandom. The
latest example was Mephit Furmeet, where a group of 360 fuzzballs
raised well beyond $6,000 for Tennessee's Tiger Haven.



Here in Flyover Country(tm), we shall attempt to do something equally
as impressive: raise enough money to keep a vital animal-advocacy
group running for months -- if not an ENTIRE YEAR -- by our efforts
alone."

An Interview on Gamesdomain with the EQ Team, regarding the newest version of the MMORPG, includes screenshots of a new tiger player-model.

Nexxus informed alt.fan.furry that FurSearch is running once again. I wasn't previously aware of this service, but it appears to be a furry-biased meta search engine. Potentially neat.

Science News Online reports a species of octopus which is so new, it doesn't have an official scientific name, has the ability to mimic a large number of venomous creatures, included the sea snake, lion fish, and flat fish. While the octopus's ability to mimic the ocean bottom has been well-documented, and many other species of animals use mimicry as a defense, this is the first documented case of a species that not only mimics a multitude of species, but appears to choose which animal to pretend to be based on the menace it is facing.

While we're on the topic of smart invertebrates, BBC News reports that nerve bundles in the arms of an octopus are programmed with the necessary information to perform various motions on their own.

Mayor Reinhard Reynisson of Husavik, Iceland, is looking into finding ways to solve his town's waste problem. A small fishing community, Husavik has a lot of guts and scales left over from it's local industry. Now he mayor thinks crocodiles may be the best answer.
Geothermal water already used by the town would make a good home for the wayward reptiles, and the packing plants and fish farms would keep them fed and busy. The crocs would also be likely to attrack tourists to the northern community.
Read the full article here.

It's what you get when you have WorldCon and Dragon*Con on the same weekend: a slew of award announcements. Here's three more of note.

The International Horror Guild announced in Atlanta the recipients of the 2001 IHG Awards for best horror or dark fantasy. Winners included Tim Powers' Declare for Best Novel and Adam's Fall by Sean Desmond for Best First Novel.

Meanwhile, up in Philadelphia the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists were awarding the Chesley Awards for best science fiction or fantasy artwork created, published, or first exhibited this year. Winners included John Jude Palencar for best Cover Illustration: Hardback, Jean Pierre Targete for Best Cover Illustration: Paperback, and Todd Lockwood for Best Cover Illustration: Magazine. See the 2001 Chesley Awards site for all of the nominees and winners.

Finally, the Gaylactic Network (a science-fiction, fantasy, and horror club for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered people and their friends) also announced in Philadelphia the winners of the Spectrum Awards for positive depictions of gay and lesbian themes in science ficiton and fantasy. Buffy the Vampire Slayer won the 2001 People's Choice Award and David Gerrold won Best Novel for Jumping Off the Planet. See the 2001 Spectrum Awards site for other nominees and winners.

Sent into me by Jeff Novotny: "Everyone involved with the Canadian Anthro & Cartooning Expo (CACE) is
pleased to officially announce the date and venue for our inaugural 2002
convention. The event will be held from Friday, August 16 to Sunday,
August 18, 2002 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada." Read on for the full announcement of the first strictly furry convention in Canada. (Update: I was reminded of Feral!, which is a Canadian furry event four years running, now.)

Perhaps the most prestigious award in Science Fiction, this year's Hugos were awarded at the World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia (aka 'Millennium PhilCon') on September the second. Among the recipients were such notables (outside the fandom) as "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" as Best Novel, and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as Best Dramatic Presentation.

A full list of all awards and recipients can be found here for the time being.

AIBO, the first 'robopet', underwent a major facelift, and price drop, in hopes of catching a larger market. The cute robot is little more than a pedigree puppy in cost now (Down from $2500 US to only $850) and has a bunch of silly gadgets to amuse the technogeek-animal lover, such as a motion capture camera and a 'voicebox' which can be programmed to sing little tunes. In Japan, they will interact with a new TV show starring the robotic dogs.

For those with money to burn, the site is Aibo.com

Brits are being asked to take part in the largest ever survey of one of Britain's rarest and smallest animals, the hazel dormouse. But these sleepy animals are hard to spot, so the public is being asked to hunt for nuts. Hazelnuts eaten by the dormouse have a distinctive hole on one side, with nibble marks around the edge. Researchers are hoping finding out the range of the hazel dormouse will help avert extinction.

For images on what to look for, and where to send suspect shells, visit the BBC article here

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Oscar-winning makeup pioneer John Chambers, who did everything from put the pointy ears on "Star Trek's" Mr. Spock to turn actors into simians for the original "Planet of the Apes," has died of diabetes complications. He was 78.

The famous and elusive giant squid (Architeuthis Clarkei) may no longer be so hard to find.
Scientists at the Wellington National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand suspect there are thousands of the animals living in two breeding colonies off of the South Island. In the last 18 months, the group has recieved more dead specimines than have been found in the last decade elsewhere. NIWA had received 12 of the creatures, which weigh up to 650 pounds, with 18 foot long tentacles. This makes for an encouraging place to start looking for the Giant Squid, the great mystery of the deep, alive. The NIWA are hoping to photo or capture the first live Giant Squid ever.

Read the Globe and Mail article here