Californians for Ferret Legalization has been passing around petitions for the legalization of (of course) ferrets. As of yesterday, the running tally of signatures for this year's petiton has reached an unprecedented 28,000.

To drum up more signatures, the group plans a symbolic ride for the petition from San Fransisco's East Bay to Sacramento on September 5th.

More information on the petition and other ferret legalization news, as well as printable copies of the advertisement poster and petition can be found at the CFL website.

Please consider signing up your Californian freinds and sending it in by August 29th for the final count.

DaliLab Inc (short for Distributed Artificial Life) has started Daliworld.net, a virtual internet fishtank. Like Napster, this takes advantage of connected nodes of computers, but instead of sharing files, you're sharing fascinating, realistic fish in a reef enviroment.

Unlike the average screensaver, the programmers of Dali have tried to create an artifical ocean enviroment, where fish can swim as they please across the internet, living, dieing and multiplying like real fish. There is even code set in for further generations' evolution and adaptation to avoid preditors and to find better places to swim.

True, it doesn't take a lot of smarts to be a fish, but this is another example of the vast changes in processing power in computers.
To download DaliWorld's fish program, go to the DaliWorld website

Ran across this tonight after a long night of rebuilding a network. I'd heard about the game but I had not heard about a feature film before.


I sometimes wonder if Mr Bluth has more lives than a cat but considering its Dragon's Lair, I'll hope for the best. After all, the last time Bluth was truly out on his own he somehow managed to come up with Secret of NIMH.


For full info head over to Ain't It Cool News:

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=9855.

Episodes of Futurama and Invader Zim won Emmy Awards for achievement in animation. More information is available from SF Wire. I've seen Futurama (and enjoyed it greatly), but I haven't heard of Invader Zim. Has anyone caught an episode of it?

In unrelated stories, BBC News online reports that thousands of crocodiles face starvation in Paraguay due to the diversion of a river, and that thirteen giant pandas have recently been artificially inseminated in China--since twins are common when pandas are artificially inseminated, officials hope as many as 20 baby pandas will soon be born.

BBC News online reports that the most famous coffee maker on the internet has been sold. Back in 1991 computer students at Cambridge got tired of taking long hikes to the coffee room only to find the pot empty, so they rigged up one of the first web cams, allowing anyone in the building (and, incidentally, anyone on the net) to check the coffee pot from the comfort of their computer chair. The computer department is moving to a new building, and has decided to sell the old pot. The full story, with a few more fun details, can be read here.

Now, first of, I'd like to note this isn't some "New Yorker" sort of gay publication. It's always full of sex articles, the raunchier the better. So the focus on sex is not actually something they themselves as the publication (and presumably their readers) see as bad. Also, as a gay publication, they choose to focus often on homosexuality in the various fandoms.

Aparently, the kitten wanted a bath. Reuters reports on a kitten who jumped into the spin cycle of a washing machine. The cat (named Sylvester) is doing fine, even though he's wants another spin...

According to this article (free registration required) in the New York Times, all great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, and humans) are so close that none of them could be considered 'animals'. It quotes advocates from the Great Ape Project, a group advocacating "human" rights for all of the great apes.

I really don't seek out news about sea turtles, but this article was a little too weird for me to pass up. Weird, sad, but funny in an ironic kind of way. Satellite-tracked sea turtle ends up being eaten. Scientists hope to recover their expensive transmitter at some point.

The Library of Congress Professional Association's

What IF... Discussion Forum for Science Fiction and Fantasy present

There's currently an article in the New York Times (free reg. req.) about the rainforests and national parks in eastern Congo that are being destroyed to mine for mud. Slashdot has also covered it, you might be able to find the article from the Times in the comments to avoid registration.

Some folks haven't heard, even though I've posted it up on my comic strip, Stalag '99. My grandfather, Ray Fulton (a resident of Nova Scotia), recently died. While my Canadian relatives have helped with transportation, some costs were incurred and we wish to repay them as well as try to get back on our feet a bit. Thus, any print and commission ordered through Stalag '99, as well as any Stalag '99 wares through Cafe Press, and any WolfSkunk Designs prints, will go to offsetting the costs. You may also donate though the Stalag '99 web site. I've posted more information there, and will answer any related questions in the forums there. --Kelly "STrRedWolf" Price, WolfSkunk Designs

Nature's Guard is an animated series created by myself, Jonathan Bryans -- I thank you for the announcement on your site -- Just to let you know, I have signed Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), Warwick Davis (Wicket the Ewok, Willow) to the project to do voices -- also, Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) is coming on and we are talking with Mark Hamill's (Luke Skywalker) agent to bring him on -- I will continue to forward you information as it comes out.

We also have a 3 issue comic book mini-series coming out, starting in February of 2002 from Warpton Comics in the UK.


www.naturesguard.com

Jonathan Bryans

(creator of Nature's Guard)

Fans of talking-animal transformation stories should enjoy the Danish animated feature "Help! I'm a Fish" ("Hjelp! Jeg er en fisk"), about three children turned into fish and their adventures while trying to become human again. It was released in October 2000 throughout Scandinavia, and in April 2001 in France and Germany, getting excellent reviews there and at the Annecy (France) International Animation Festival in June. The British release was scheduled for 10 August, so an English-language version does now exist. English-language previews are available on the animation studio's website: http://www.helpfish.com/default1.html.