ConiFur NorthWest is coming soon this fall (October 26th-28th) in Seattle and is looking for help from the furry costumers in the genre to help out. The Masquerade to be held Saturday night (Oct 27th) will be done in a slightly different format than other similar events of this type in that we will be putting on a fashion/beauty pageant.

It's really difficult to post news about animals you can't help, so this morning I kept an eye out for 'Help Your Favorite Animal' type news. I found one in a newspaper: the storms in Florida have wiped out over 80 sea turtle nests, of the 99 that biologists were monitoring. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium allows you to adopt nests for $25, and they'll keep you updated on the health of your choice.

What about your favorite animal charities? Post some of them in the comments section, so we can all find a good cause. :)

No Werewolves of London but there are THE FOXES of London.

Article here.

You might also say that they are 20th Century Foxes. ;)

I want to relay this gentle reminder from Kagemushi, Anthrocon chairman. You must bring a photo ID to obtain a membership at Anthrocon. This applies to those who have pre-registered, as well as to those who are buying a membership at the door. See everyone (so it sometimes seems) there.

For our readers in the UK, the BBC reports that the first osprey chick to be born in 150 years in England has been born and promptly photographed. Apparently they were reintroduced in the 1950s. We have ospreys in my area; I've seen them perched on street lights overlooking ponds. They really are beautiful birds.

The Chesley Art Awards for science fiction and fantasy art and achievement are usually handed out at Worldcon, at the end of August. Take a look at this year's nominees.

Those of you going to Worldcon will have a great opportunity: Michael Whelan, the extremely talented sf/f artist whose work has appeared on multiple book covers, in gallery exhibits and in art books, will be present. You can visit his site online at Glass Onion. It's not too late to register, though it'll cost you an arm and a leg.

The following article is a review of Shawn Keller's new comic book Shawn Keller's Horrifying Look at the Furries, released at San Diego Comic Con this weekend. The comic has something of a companion web site, located at www.furryfans.com. Read on for the review, which was submitted by an anonymous author.

Gunther Gebel-Williams, renowned animal trainer for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, has died of cancer at age 66. "This is a great loss for everyone not just our family. Thankfully, he taught us many lessons about love and respect for all living things that we will carry with us forever," said his family in a statement.

The Elfwood archive has hosted a lot of furry and fantasy artists for a long time. I had no idea it had been down until I found this message on their front page.

This links to a long-running conversation (spiked back into life by S'A'Alis stepping down) about how few people who offer services for free are recognized and helped when they need it -- which is while they're doing it -- but rather when they've stopped doing whatever it is they're doing for people. Want to make sure your favorite stuff sticks around? Go find the administrators and send them a warm fuzzy email. Really. They won't know how much they're appreciated (emotionally; intellectually they can check hits, connections, whatever) until you tell them.

It makes sense... After all, the dear little critters already have a natural racing stripe. Read all about county fair skunk races at boston.com.

From the bulletin on FurryMuck:

The wizards of FurryMUCK SM regret to announce that S'A'Alis has chosen
to step down as wizard and administrator of FurryMUCK SM for personal
reasons. He has graciously offered to continue hosting the muck until
the transfer to a new site can be accomplished, and we are currently
finalizing plans for such a new site. We will have more details on the
move as they become available. --The Wizcore

Sfsite ran a nice column on graphic novels and their current role in science fiction publishing. The point about Neil Gaiman's graphic novels not being listed on his previous publication credits was interesting. Usually if someone writes something radically different from what they're trying to sell, you won't see it listed on the inside of the book (a romance-sf/f author won't have both his/her romance and sf novels listed in the sf book)... but if The Sandman doesn't fall under the same audience preferences as American Gods, where does it belong?

A couple of only mildly depressing articles about animals (it seems very difficult to find cheerful ones; I guess those don't make the news unless they're odd, like the falling cow). Climate change threatening the food supply for blue whales is the first. The second involves Canada lifting the moratorium on hunting grizzly bears. I'm trying to figure out why people would want to hunt bears. Kill them if they're a menace, eat them for food... but just spontaneously hunt them? What good is that?

Locus Online reports that the deadline for submitting Hugo ballots has been extended, in part due to a computer glitch which deleted a number of online ballots. Millennium Philcon will accept ballots, electronically or by mail, through July 25. Anyone who submitted votes online on or before July 12 should cast another ballot.