New antibiotic found in wallaby milk

Scientists have discovered a bacteria-fighting compound 100 times more effective than penicillin - in wallaby milk.

Researchers found the highly-potent compound, tagged AGG01, was active against a wide variety of fungi and bacteria including antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Research team leader Dr Ben Cocks said the discovery could have a profound impact on both human and animal health.

"This compound has the potential to be commercially synthesised and may prove vital in the war against increasingly resistant human and animal diseases," Dr Cocks said.

He said researchers from the Victorian government's Department of Primary Industries made the discovery while investigating the chemical properties of Tammar wallabies' breast milk to determine how their immune-deficient newborns built up resistance to bacteria while in the pouch.

Using online biological information, they searched the wallaby's genome to identify more than 30 factors in the breast milk that contribute to fighting bugs.

Compound AGG01 was found to be effective against a relative of the hospital superbug MRSA, or golden staph, as well as ecoli, Streptococci, Salmonella, Bacillus subtilus, Pseudomonas spp, Proteus vulgaris, and Staphylococcus aureus.

Original Story is here

Morphicon "The Food Chain": May 5-7, 2006
Honoring: Candy Dewalt, Ryan Dewalt, and Bill Holbrook

Morphicon Convention 2006 is barely two weeks away! This Wednesday is the last day that hotel reservations are guaranteed at the Morphicon room rate. See the hotel page for more info.

It's not too late to get involved. You can sign up for our judged Masquerade at the door, or join the Variety Show. Our website's event schedule will update as con approaches. Charity donations may be brought directly to con ops.

See you May 5th! (Trickster)

If you've ever wanted to match wits with your pet hamster, Mice Arena could be the game for you.

As in a traditional video game, players navigate a virtual world in a bid to stay alive. The twist? Computerized movements in Mice Arena are mapped to and from the real world, where an actual predator (your hamster) gives chase to a digital avatar (you) by pursuing a real piece of bait.

"We want to enable pets to play games in a way very similar to the way human players' play," said RASTER's Vladimir Todoroviæ, a collaborator working on the Metazoa Ludens project. "To play a computer game with your hamster would definitely make us think about where we have come with digital tradition now."

Read the whole WIRED article here

Purrsia Press has completed issue #1 of their new bunnygirl title, Bunny Babes. This features the entire original Rabina comic, various chapters from the British comic Boiled Spoons, plus pinups including exclusive art from Beatrix Farmer creator Taral Wayne. You can find out about it at http://www.purrsiapress.com

With PawPet Megaplex and FauxCon (the new Texas meet; http://www.exploding-dog.com/fauxcon/index.php) behind us, we draw ever closer to Rocket City Fur Meet 4.0.

We will have our schedule for Rocket City FurMeet up soon. If you would like to get a peek at it go to http://community.livejournal.com/rcfm/ This is also a great place to ask questions about programming, our expanded Dealer Den, the art show, our fantastic Pizza feed or anything else.

FC2007: Fur Your Eyes Only

Come celebrate the world of espionage with us in ‘007. Tuxedo clad spies,
evil-genuises, femme fatales, mad scientists, super-weapons, and henchman
abound as Further Confusion delves into a world of anthropomorphic Spies,
Spooks, and Double Agents. With special themed events and panels, FC2007
will be a world where nothing is as it seems on first glance and surprise
lurks around each corner.

Doodles couldn't make it this month, something about a brother's wedding. The slacker. So you'll have to settle for me. Black and white floppies unless otherwise stated.

A new FBI-style crime-fighting agency has been launched in the UK, but what's its big cat logo all about?

If you're launching yourself as Britain's FBI and say you will make the lives of organised criminals "hell" then you need a dynamic logo to match the job.

Read more here

A new furry website, www.PuffinPaws.com, was launched recently providing several new products aimed at the furry fandom. However, this website has a bit of a twist: several of the items they offer, including t-shirts, glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and magnets go to benefit local and national pitbull rescue organizations. The administrators of the site are both long-time supporters of pitbull rescue and are hoping the proceeds made from certain items on the site (indicated with a bright yellow star) will make a difference.

Expect to see them in Dealer's Dens across the country, including Rocket City Furmeet in the summer and Midwest Furfest in the fall.

Califur is the latest furry fandom event to hit Southern California,
and we need YOU to help us make it the best! Califur has positions
open for STAFF and VOLUNTEERS, with plenty of opportunities for furry
fans with ambition and drive. We have several cool ideas we're
working on for events and other activities at Califur Two (May 5-6-7
in Costa Mesa). Things like:

· Our new favorite - The Pet Auction
· Life Drawing workshops
· How-To Workshops for Fur Suit Making, Art, and Animation
· A DDR competition
· The Cabaret

… and many others. But all of these things and more will only happen
if we have the Staff and Volunteers to help organize them. That's
where you come in! Have ideas? Have energy? Sign on as part of
Califur!

Visit www.califur.com for more information. See you this May!

Robert K. Johnson Jr
Chairman - FENEC Adventures
Califur Volunteer Lead

Morphicon "The Food Chain": May 5-7, 2006
Radisson Columbus-Worthington, OH
http://www.morphicon.org/2006/
Honoring: Candy and Ryan DeWalt, and Bill Holbrook

In this issue:

* Hotel Rate Ends April 19th!
* Pre-con Events
* Ferrets Still Need You
* Fluxx Tournament Scheduled
* Travel Information
* FVS Preparations

**************************************

Oklacon
Roman Nose State Park
Watonga, Oklahoma
October 27 - 29, 2006

GUESTS OF HONOR!
Oklacon is proud to announce it's 2006 Guests of Honor will be Goldenwolf and Lightfoot Kyohti. Goldenwolf has eagerly accepted our offer to join us in 2006 as one of our guests of honor! An accomplished and well-known artist in the fandom, Goldenwolf has steadily worked on her style and techniques to include other genres including fantasy, wildlife, and pagan/spiritual themes. Lightfoot Kyohti is a native Oklahoma artist with impressive skill, who also has a black belt in Spaghetti.

2006 THEME ANNOUNCED: RUFFIN' IT
Oklacon 2006’s theme is “Ruffin’ It”, a reflection of the nature of Oklacon, the United States’ only outdoor and most affordable convention. Hosted in scenic Roman Nose State Park, our family of loyal attendees returns every year for our refreshing change of pace from hotel cons. Our Art Director is hungry for your artwork and stories to include on our website or conbook. If you thought about visiting our family this year, or have submissions for our theme, please visit our site for details.

PREREG CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCED!
Jared Fox is the winner of the first drawing for our preregistration contest! For a limited time, every two to three weeks the Art Director is drawing names of preregistered and prepaid attendees for Oklacon 2006 to win prizes including free conbadge commissions, commemorative Oklacon t-shirts, and other goodies. Visit www.oklacon.com to preregister for Oklacon 2006 for your chance to win!

Doodles wrote to alt.fan.furry on Sat, 4 Mar 2006:

< February.

Things start to heat up as the publishers try to get a selection of big
items ready for convention season. Equally important, May 6th is Free Comic
Book Day, and there's all kinds of fun freebies from Gladstone, Tokyopop,
Top Shelf and Fantagraphics that are likely to be of interest to this bunch.
There's some particularly good stuff in the pay section too, so pay
attention.

The first episode of the BBS' new DOCTOR WHO second season will feature a "plague farm" in the far future in the guise of a hospital run by evil Cat people.

The cast of this episode: David Tennant (the Doctor), Billie Piper (Rose), Zoe Wanamaker (Cassandra), Noel Clarke (Mickey), Michael Fitzgerald (Duke), Lucy Robinson (Clovis), Dona Croll (The Matron), Adjoa Andoh (The Sister), Anna Hope (The Novice), and Sean Gallagher (Chip).

The air date has not yet been released, noting only that the second series will begin in the UK in the "Spring of 2006".

(Note: The last episode to feature any kind of cat-people was Survival, which featured the 'Cheetah People'. This was also the last episode of Doctor Who before it went on its multi-year hiatus.)

Subject: 4.4.1 Newsletter for RCFM

Time is that quality of nature which keeps events from happening all at once. Lately it doesn't seem to be working.
--- Anonymous

As the sun set on Further Confusion with its RenFur theme, we went 'Back to the Future' with Furry Weekend Atlanta. Rocket City Fur Meet was there with our annual room party. The party was a blast and so was the convention! The next gathering on the furry calendar is PawPet MegaPlex which runs from March 17th to the 19th in Orlando, Florida. RCFM will hold a room party there as well, so there's another reason to attend and share the fun.