Along with the ConFurence's name-change from ConFurence 13 to ConFurence 2002, last year's special Awards for Best Anthropomorphic Motion Pictures and TV Series of the 20th Century are transforming into a new series of annual Awards: the Anthropomorphic Literature & Arts of the Year Awards. (We debated giving them a cute nickname similar to the Oscars, Emmys or Hugos, but it was felt that such a nickname should arise from popular use among the fans rather than being imposed by the administrators.)

Full article here, including picture.

Dennis Smith is tattooed from head to toe with orange and black stripes and his teeth have been filed to needle point.


He has also had latex whiskers implanted and surgery to his lips so he has a permanent snarl. He now wants a surgeon to graft tiger fur on to his skin, like a perma-wig.


Mr Smith, who has changed his name by deed poll to Cat Man, said: "I have a collection of old tiger pelts from the days of hunting. I want these grafted on to me. It will cost another $100,000 but will be worth it.


"When I have the coat of a tiger, I feel I will have reached my goal in life."

Jarlidium Press is announcing plans and actively soliciting submissions for a new fanzine title, ROOTOPIA, a publication dedicated to fans and enthusiasts of kangaroos and other marsupials. Text stories, illustrations, comics, kangaroos in the news, and photos of the real animals will be included in this 64 page digest sized fanzine. Reproduction will be done in 256 greyscale black and white interiors with cardstock covers. Jarlidium Press has a lot of experience in producing high quality publications including Hot To Trot, Dallas Brawl Update, Dela The Hooda collections, Three Apples, and North American Fur.

Science News reports on a study which may have identified a sound dogs make while playing that is different than sounds made during other activities, and which seems to induce other dogs to join in the play.

The full story includes some comments about similar behavior in other mammals, and includes some links for further reading.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has an article about a Washington State program to help people turn their gardens into wildlife sanctuaries. The article includes an interview with a gardener who has grown such a garden since 1992--with enough tips to get you started on making your own.

Odd News from Reuters Updated: Wed, Aug 01 12:30 PM EDT


MADRID (Reuters) - Villagers and police armed with nets and gloves hunted for thousands of missing mink on Wednesday after the animals escaped from a fur farm in central Spain, officials said.

Just found this on the Jerry Pournelle website, posted today, August 1:

Poul Anderson, mentor, author, colleague, and friend, died last night about midnight. It wasn't unexpected. He was at home with his wife and daughter and friends, having long ago declined to be frozen and possibly take part in the nitrogen party at the end of time. I will be doing a memorial piece for Locus and other science fiction publications. We don't do Viking funerals any more. We should.

I was a good news editor, today, and sat down to write out my Anthrocon report. Click below to read it!

Camels that can make use of salty water have been found in China. This article is worth reading just for the final paragraph, which displays the dry sense of humor commonly associated with people in the UK. *grin*

RABCO, the parent company of Mailbox Books, announced to their mailing list the purchase of Bronzebear Media's inventory, service mark, and customer information.

Click "Read more..." for the full announcement.

Sorry, this article may appeal to gamers and game developers only. I ran across this article on Microsoft's research site, stating the abilities of the Xbox's graphics engine to produce fur.


That's right. Fur.

Finally, as well as your phong shading over your polygons, you now get to have fuzzy characters. It reads like standard Microsoft PR garbage, but if you anticipate purchasing an Xbox, perhaps you wish to have a look at the article at:
http://www.research.microsoft.com/graphics/realtime_fur.asp.

Anthrocon finished up today, after a very successful weekend. Total paid attendance for the weekend was 1457 people--a confirmed number, straight from the head of Anthrocon registration. I will have a full report in a couple of days.

There's a brand new family-friendly furry RPG and chat club for nonmorphic furry fans interested in roleplaying the Pleistocene (aka "Stone Age") epoch: Paleofurs RPG :)

Micah's Note: Looks like a mailing-list/BBS style game.

In the language of the pacific northwest Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, the name for mountain goat translates as "our-brother-the-color-of-snow." Now the 200-member tribe is fighting to save its brother from the brink of extinction.

Click "Read more..." for more details and the link.

Never really thought about how quickly dinosaurs must have grown, given their size... the recent Nature had an article on the growth rate of dinosaurs, which is summarized in this Yahoo newsbit. Apparently they didn't grow at the same rate that modern reptiles do.