Turns out yesterday’s entry wasn’t the only peacock-centric illustrated book we found at the L.A. Times Festival of Books. Peacocks are known for their beautiful feathers, not for their beautiful voices — but what if there was a peacock who actually could sing? What would their fellows think about it? That’s the premise of The Unique Beak, written by singer/songwriter Estani Frizzell and illustrated in watercolor by Sophia Frizzell. “Sai is a kind young peacock who lives with his royal family. He has brilliant blue tail feathers that any regal peacock would be proud of — and Sai loves to sing! But his family laughs at that idea, and at him! They say his beak is too big while making fun of his singing voice. Saddened by their ridicule, Sai finally vows never to sing in front of anyone again! He hides himself away and doubts his dreams. Will he take their criticism to heart? Will he give up? Estani Frizzell’s spirited and unique story shows children how just one special friend’s support can make a difference in carrying us where our talents are meant to take us.” Available now from Greenleaf Book Group.
Giant squid no longer loners of the deep
Posted by MelSkunk on Tue 4 Sep 2001 - 16:14The 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.
Bullies, con stress, bad bosses: social stress could kill...
Posted by MelSkunk on Tue 4 Sep 2001 - 16:13US researchers putting mice in stressful social situations they can't get out of are discovering that it leads them to develop a possibly deadly over-activity by the immune system. Mice exposed to two hours of another, more agressive mouse were twice as likely to die from exposure to a desease as mice that were going through severe hardship.
Though the research was on mice, the condition mimics the human problem of toxic shock.
An unusual Chanur website
Posted by mwalimu on Tue 4 Sep 2001 - 13:35Following a recent rereading of C. J. Cherryh's Chanur novels, I did a web search to see what kind of fan pages existed that covered her work. One of the hits was Cherryh's own website, but among the other sites, there was this one that was... ahem... different. Take a look and you'll see what I mean.
Book reviews
Posted by Anon on Tue 4 Sep 2001 - 08:55Came across this old review in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune of two science fiction books with moderately furry content. Click here for the full reviews, or Read More for the short version
TALL TAILS back on its own
Posted by Anon on Mon 3 Sep 2001 - 07:48I just wanted to give everyone the heads up on TALL TAILS being solicited in Diamond's Previews this month. The series will still appear in Furrlough until #109 but in November TALL TAILS #5 and the Collected TALL TAILS Vol. 1 (with #1 - 4) will be released from Dream Weaver Press.
TALL TAILS is a fantasy adventure comic in the spirit of Elfquest and Lord of the Rings featuring funny-animal characters instead of humans. Although it has seen a successful run in Furrlough, the story is just to big to appear in 4-8 page segments. TALL TAILS will return to its own full length comic starting in November and will follow a bi-monthly schedule.
For more information please visit DREAM WEAVER PRESS and start bothering your comic book shop to carry it! There is even a flyer on the website to print out to help spread the word. There's not enough of these types of comics to go around and we all need all the help we can get!
Did a dino go 'quack'?
Posted by MelSkunk on Sat 1 Sep 2001 - 06:52Most people think of ornithomimids as swift, ostritch like dinos that lived on plains and grasslands, like they were seen in Jurassic Park. But new fossils show that these dinosaurs had true duck bills, like a bird, and probably filtered their food out of water instead of hunting. The fact that their remains are generally found in wet, swampy locations helps confirm this new theory. If this theory is correct, these dinosaurs will be the largest known land animal to 'filter feed', as they may have topped 1000 pounds. Read the National Geographic article and see photos.
Mars Society Launches Translife Mission Project - Mice to Mars
Posted by Anon on Fri 31 Aug 2001 - 12:54At its Stanford convention, the Mars Society resolved to commit its resources to initiate the Translife Mission as its first spaceflight mission project. The Translife mission will consist of a Mars-level (0.38 g)artificial gravity spacecraft carrying a crew of mice
"What do you want to do Tonight Brain?" "Same thing we do everynight Pinky, plan to take over Mars!"
Posable Dragon Stuffies
Posted by Micah on Thu 30 Aug 2001 - 17:06I just think this is the coolest stuff. If I didn't already have a similar dragon made of clay and fur, I'd seriously consider buying one of Caligan's Creations. Totally bendable dragonets in satin and metallic cloths. You can commission one in your favorite colors or buy one that comes up for auction.
Barney the lobster saved from the pot
Posted by MelSkunk on Thu 30 Aug 2001 - 15:19A yard long, barnacle-encrused lobster turned up in a shipment of live seafood to a London restaurant. William Copper, head chef at Kaspia, said "(The lobster) was too big and too beautiful to cook." This beautiful crustacean, named "Barney", is now at the London aquarium awaiting re-release into his home ocean off of Cornwall. Barney may be over 60 years old, and is merely 4 inches shy of the largest lobster ever caught. The BBC article (with photo) is
here.
Links about pig-human hybrids...
Posted by Chip_Unicorn on Thu 30 Aug 2001 - 13:44Today's (Thursday, 30 August)
Good Morning Silicon Valley
has an interesting short article and collection of links about the pig-human hybrids of last year, the future of animal-human hybrids, and the responses of Jeremy Rifkin. See the article "Pig-human hybrids: the other, other white meat...".
Gruesome Movie Sparks Outrage
Posted by Anon on Wed 29 Aug 2001 - 19:57Wired reports that a gruesome video on a website that shows a kitten being killed and prepared for a meal is causing outrage on the Internet. The StileProject could face prosecution under a law introduced in December 1999 by President Clinton that makes it a federal felony to possess "a depiction of animal cruelty" for commercial gain, Peter Wood (of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said.
Interview with Ray Bradbury
Posted by Micah on Wed 29 Aug 2001 - 12:48Salon is running an excellent interview with Ray Bradbury today, author of The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451 and scores of other novels and short stories. The man is 81, recovering from a stroke, and still incredibly coherent. He reminds me of what I thought when I saw Frank Kelly Freas on a panel at last year's Worldcon: if you're in love with what you do, you stay present.
Big Bang Astronomer, 86, Dies
Posted by MelSkunk on Wed 29 Aug 2001 - 10:04Sir Fred Hoyle, the astronomer who first coined the term "Big Bang", died at 86 this week. Despite popularizing the theory with a catchy name, he was a proponent of the Steady State theory. Besides this, he is best known for his development of the Panspermia Theory, a "life seeded by intergalatic dust or comets" idea.
Read the BBC Article.
Fang, Claw, and Steel
Posted by Aureth on Tue 28 Aug 2001 - 21:22An often-overlooked fanzine is Fang, Claw, and Steel: Modern Lycanthrope Review. It is described as"...a small press zine devoted to positive portrayals of werewolves and other werecreatures. [The 'zine] features articles, artwork, stories, and interviews about werewolves, werecougars, werefoxes, weregnus, werewasps, and werewithal. The lycanthropes appearing in these pages can be heroes, workers, diplomats, homemakers, or anything under the sun (or moon). But they are generally not Hollywood-esque monsters. That type of lycanthrope already gets too much exposure." The 'zine is put out by Terry Wessner, and he is always looking for submissions.
Lost passwords
Posted by Aureth on Tue 28 Aug 2001 - 19:20For those of you having problems with lost or forgotten passwords, email me with your Flayrah username. The password mailer is broken, so until I upgrade to new code (which may be a while, yet), I will have to reset passwords by hand.
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