Our webserver died suddenly sometime on Friday. As such, the MFM webpage, mailing lists, and email accounts for the staff are currently unavailable. Since this is impacting the upcoming deadline for the T-Shirt Contest, we're announcing....

Been struggling with your T-Shirt Entry? Been working your pencils to nubs as we approach the deadline on the 10th?

Well, I have some good news, folks...

The dedicated folks at Sofawolf Press have been working overtime to finish four new projects for debut at Anthrocon next week (July 9-11). We’re very excited about this latest batch of art and writing, and we hope you will be too.

Comics updates from both Doodles and Treesong! "Beware the Ides of March and the doldrums of Labor Day. And any class in college where the instructor wrote the book..."

Rabbit Valley ® Comics has just released Circles Issue #5 and the long awaited Rocketship Rodents Issue #1 today. Read more for additional shipping details.

Morphicon has concluded, and the convention was a success beyond our wildest dreams!

Given the unfortunate proximity to other conventions, we anticipated only about 80 attendees. When registration closed on Sunday, 120 furries had registered for the convention, 113 of them paid registrations! 115 furries in all attended the convention, 108 of them paid.

Those who registered but were unable to attend con will be sent convention materials through postal mail (including sponsor goodies for sponsors), so they can still have something from us.

(more below)

A bluish brown arctic fox apparently survived on garbage for two weeks after becoming an inadvertent stowaway on a ship.

The arctic fox is believed to have boarded the ship during a port stop in the Aleutian Islands and was found in the vessel's trash bin after it arrived at a shipyard last month.

[Read Article]

Due to Aatheus' interest in furthering his education, he has found he has less time for Furbid. He says, "I don't want to end up giving FurBid and its users any less time than they deserve, but I will have to do so for the next several years." Control will be turned over to Ayukawa, previously an assistant.

A stocky, knuckle-dragging 340-pound gorilla leaped across a 12-foot-wide moat and a wall that separated him from visitors at the Dallas Zoo.

13-year-old Jabari escaped and went on a 40-minute rampage in March, snatching up a toddler with his teeth and injuring three other people before being shot to death by officers.

[Read Article]

Many people have heard of the ill-fated Shackleton expedition, which ended with a sucessful six man mad dash across open ocean to get help for the crew, left behind on a rocky outcrop.
One of the most tragic moments of the story involved the execution of the sled dog team, but many people are unaware that one cat also had to be shot. Mrs Chippy, a tom owned by the ship's carpenter and unofficial ship's mascot, has now finally been reunited with his owner in the form of a memorial statue on Harry McNeish's gravesite.
The statue is designed to be ever alert, but relaxed, as if the cat is "lying on McNeish's bunk".

Sadly, McNeish's love for his cat may have contributed to the carpenter's minor rebellion against Shackleton, the team leader, which lead to him being denied a Polar Medal, in spite of his work building and repairing boats and shelters to save the team. To the end, he never forgave Shackleton for shooting his beloved cat. Harry McNeish's grandson, Tom McNeish, comments, "I think the cat was more important to him than the Polar Medal."

FurJournal is a journal service for furries built entirely from scratch (no pun intended), using the community's ideas and suggestions through its development.

FATHER OF THE PRIDE9/8pm Tuesdays
NBC teams with the creative powerhouses who brought you Shrek, along with some all-star voices, to create a computer-generated-imaging (CGI) comedy series of the highest caliber. Viewers will journey inside the lives of a pride of white lions who perform in the world-famous Siegfried and Roy show and will also explore their lush Las Vegas habitat. Voice Talent: John Goodman, Cheryl Hines, Carl Reiner, Orlando Jones, Danielle Harris, Daryl Sabara, Julian Holloway, Dave Herman. Check the preview.

Ohio Morphicon 2004 (morphicon.org) begins this Friday, June 25th at the Clarion Columbus North hotel. Registration will open Friday morning, and events begin at noon. The convention will conclude Sunday evening with the Atomic Party of Doom.

See http://www.morphicon.org/schedule.html for our current schedule of events. There may be small additions or corrections between now and Friday.

For questions, concerns, and more up-to-date info:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OhioMorphicon/

Hope to see you there!

Trickster

Got this in my email box this morning, from the FurBid Administrators: "This is a message to let everyone know that the official Furbid Mascot Contest has begun. For those of you who have not been following its development in both the Furbid Discussion Board and the Furbid LiveJournal group, you can find the official rules here.

Thank you, and good luck to all who apply!"

Anthrocon has just agreed to host next year's presentations of the Ursa Major Award for the best anthropomorphic literature and art of the calendar year 2004. The Ursa Majors were presented in 2002 and 2003 at the ConFurence, and in 2004 (earlier this month) at C-ACE. For further information, see the Award's website.

Recommendations submitted so far this year for new Furry literature & art are being compiled for the first posting of the 2004 Recommended Anthropomorphics List, at the end of this month. If you want to recommend any of this year's Furry movies, TV series, novels, short fiction, comic strips, comic books, fanzines, published art, or games as being worthwhile, please send your recommendation to Fred Patten at fredpatten@earthlink.net. The Recommended List is popularly used as a guide at the end of the year for nominations for the Ursa Major Award.

This year's Hugo Award nominees include two stories that might be of interest to furries, both available free online:

"Into the Gardens of Sweet Night," by Jay Lake, set in a future with Uplifted animals of various sorts; one of the protagonists is an intelligent dog with hands.

"The Tale of the Golden Eagle," by David D. Levine, a Cordwainer Smith-esque story featuring a far-future golden eagle brain given human intelligence and used as the guidance system of a starship.

Both authors have also been nominated for the Campbell Award for best new professional author.