An 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.

For 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.

ABC News has posted an AP article about an Iowa State University study which found catnip oil up to ten times more effective at repelling mosquitoes than the most common ingredient in repellent sprays. The story also briefly mentions and earlier study which showed catnip repelled cockroaches. Note from Gene: no wonder mosquitoes almost never bit me back when I lived in mosquito country.

I had a BLAST!

It was the most delightful experience. I am *definitely* going back next year.

There were some interesting similarities between Anthrocon and FERAL!

ANTHROCON: Climbing stairs to get to rooms
FERAL!: Climbing steep hills to get to cabins

ANTHROCON: Long wait in registration
FERAL!: Long ride on bus

ANTHROCON: Philadelphia tap water
FERAL!: Lake Nestea

ANTHROCON: Lack of towels made showering difficult
FERAL!: Lack of hot water made showering difficult.

ANTHROCON: Muggers.
FERAL!: Mosquitos.

The camaraderie was unequalled. Just about everyone got to know everybody else, starting with the Great Communal Bus Ride and continuing through the many gatherings they had, through the communal meals (which could have offered a tiny bit more fare, but that's a minor nitpick), to the Cabin Games and Cabin Skits.

I took part in a game of "Predator and Prey" which was so much fun I almost missed the call to return at its end. This year a little twist got thrown in, in that Rogue (the megawolf) showed up and ate everyone who came near him, including the human antagonists in the game. :)

There were workshops for just about everyone, water sports (in the lake, of course), canoes to paddle around in...I had brought things to read and writing to work on but never picked any of it up.

My hat is off to the FERAL! staff for a job well done. I don't think that wild horses could keep me from returning in 2002.

Due to last minute planning, I'll be attending Mephit FurMeet this coming weekend. This will be my fourth year at the Meet, though I didn't attend last year. As far as relaxacons go, this one is pretty good. Who else is going, what's your favorite Memphis restaurant, and are you bringing money to pre-register for Midwest FurFest? (blatant plug alert). Look for me hanging around behind the FurFest table, and introduce yourself!

Ananova is running a story about a mother Great Dane who has adopted baby tigers in Germany.

The original article with a picture of the cubs and mother (auf Deutsch!) is currently here (look for Kleine Tiger bei der Doggenmutter), and the sites for the zoo are here and here.

I've never given Internet Top N lists much credence as a way of rating/ranking websites, and as such lists go, The Furry Top 50 is less impressive than most. This list, currently consisting mostly of artist and comic sites, looks like it never gained the critical mass of voters needed to make such a list really useful, and appears to have degraded into little more than a contest to see who can get the most visitors to click on the voting button. Nevertheless, it might be worth a look just to see if there are any interesting sites you might not have heard about among those listed.

A recent Salon article relates how biological researchers are using radio transmitters and satellites to track the exact movements of animals like caribou and bald eagles.

I heard about a Dog Chapel/Church off of CNN, and it turns out to be off of Stephen Huneck's website. Located in Vermont, it is open to any breed of canine, any belief or faith of person.

Fans of horses will be interested in a film being made by Dreamworks (who made "Shrek"), which will probably appear in 2002, "Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron". You can read more about it at http://www.dreamworksfansite.com/spirit/, which also has a link to a more detailed review at AintItCool.

According to this article in the Washington Post, most stem cell lines have been nurtured with embryonic mouse cells. Therefore, they're likely to be transgenic: cells with mixtures of human and animal DNA. Any transplanting of them into humans would be considered xenotransplanting: bringing animal cells into patients.

Okay, a bit of a stretch for news, but this story on the Boston Globe's Boston.com site tells the strange tale of a wallet, a cow, a bunch of hay, and how they're all linked together somewhere in Japan...

The Cartoon Network is screening 10 animated pilots this weekend and inviting viewers to vote for the one that will join the network's line-up. The network's second annual Big Pick, runs Aug. 24-26.

Millennium Philcon, the 2001 World S-f Convention, is at the Philadelphia downtown Convention Center from Thursday, Aug. 30 through Monday, Sept. 3. Paul Kidd will be there; so will I (Fred Patten). How many other Furfen will be there? Are there any plans yet for a gettogether or party? The Worldcon is very expensive to join at the door, but memberships are not needed for hotel parties at night.

CNN has the following report on a new elephant species:

Researchers analyzing genes of African elephants found that the forest and
grassland groups are different enough to be considered separate species, which
means that three distinct species of elephants exist in the world. Science has
long recognized the clear differences between the African and Asian elephants.

For the full article, see A new elephant species?