Turns out yesterday’s entry wasn’t the only peacock-centric illustrated book we found at the L.A. Times Festival of Books. Peacocks are known for their beautiful feathers, not for their beautiful voices — but what if there was a peacock who actually could sing? What would their fellows think about it? That’s the premise of The Unique Beak, written by singer/songwriter Estani Frizzell and illustrated in watercolor by Sophia Frizzell. “Sai is a kind young peacock who lives with his royal family. He has brilliant blue tail feathers that any regal peacock would be proud of — and Sai loves to sing! But his family laughs at that idea, and at him! They say his beak is too big while making fun of his singing voice. Saddened by their ridicule, Sai finally vows never to sing in front of anyone again! He hides himself away and doubts his dreams. Will he take their criticism to heart? Will he give up? Estani Frizzell’s spirited and unique story shows children how just one special friend’s support can make a difference in carrying us where our talents are meant to take us.” Available now from Greenleaf Book Group.
53 Pig/human crossbreeds made.
Posted by Chip_Unicorn on Tue 22 Oct 2002 - 05:46A new, simple technique, developed by Mairaluisa Lavitrano at the University of Milan-Bicocca, has improved xenotransplant yields (the number of young with foreign genes) from about 4% to up to 88%. In short, she can regularly and reliably introduce human genes into pigs, who then express the human genes.
Further information about this technology can be found at:
New Guests added for ConFurence 2003!
Posted by darrelx on Mon 21 Oct 2002 - 17:30Two new guests, Joe Staton and Omaha Sternberg have been added in the last few weeks to the fast-growing Guest Lineup at ConFurence 2003.
Joe Staton is best known for illustrating the recent Scooby Doo Comic Books, Creating the original E-Man, Teddy-Q, and Michael Mauser characters in the early 70's, and most recently did work on Furry Ninja High School, which is being released in a couple weeks by Shanda Fantasy Arts.
Joe has worked for 27 publishers with 82 different editors over the last 30 years, and is quite a talent in the industry. There is a Bio of Joe Staton online with more information about the artist.
Our next guest announcement, Omaha Sternberg, needs very little introduction to most furry fans. Having created the original Cabaret Fur-le-Dance at ConFurence 3 in 1992, Omaha takes her name from the exotic dancing feline created by Reed Waller and Kate Worley. The Cabaret Fur-le-Dance was originally started to raise money for Reed Waller's medical bills (he fought cancer and beat it!) and continues to be a tradition at ConFurence with different named charities each year.
Omaha returns to ConFurence 2003 after not being able to attend for the last few years, and she will be very welcome, indeed.
Boeing shows "Bird of Prey" Aircraft...
Posted by camstone-fox on Sun 20 Oct 2002 - 17:35Looking something akin to a bird, and not unlike a "bird of prey" from the popular TV show Star Trek, Boeing released a news story on a new stealth aircraft technology demonstrator that flew 38 times in secret testing from 1992 until 1998.
More details and videos at
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q4/nr_021018m.html
and
http://www.projectblack.net/birdofprey.html
You've got mail, AOL
Posted by MelSkunk on Fri 18 Oct 2002 - 12:33Jim McKenna and John Lieberman of California are just as tired as you are of seeing annoying AOL signup discs everywhere. But believe it or not, they want as many as they can get. The plan? Dropping a million AOL discs back at the doorstep of the company that spawned them. AOL discs appear everywhere, in magazines, at the movies, in the mail and at parties. The campain started when the friends went to rent a movie... and got an AOL disc with it. When they got home, another one was waiting in Lieberman's mailbox. It's very wasteful, but the company does say you can return the discs for recycling to them. Why not one million?Visit NoMoreAOLCDs.com to see how many they have now.
Good news for mountain gorillas
Posted by Westwind on Thu 17 Oct 2002 - 18:33The BBC is reporting good news about slowly increasing populations for mountain gorillas. It might not be much, but it's wonderful hearing some good news about the great apes for a change. It always seems like the news is dire...
New Wallace and Gromit shorts hits the web
Posted by Duncan da Husky on Thu 17 Oct 2002 - 09:05Aardman Animation (creators of "Chicken Run") has posted a series of ten short films titled "Crackling Contraptions" and featuring their well-known characters Wallace and Gromit. The first film, "Soccamatic," is available now and may be downloaded for free, as can a trailer for the other nine episodes. The rest of the series will be available on October 22 and is downloadable for a US$9.95 fee.
The BBC also reports that Aardman director Nick Park is working on a script with Dreamworks SKG for the first Wallace and Gromit feature-length film, to be released in two years.
UK Water voles threatened
Posted by GeneBreshears on Wed 16 Oct 2002 - 18:00BBC Online reports that the endangered water vole (a mouse-like, aquatic rodent) is being killed in large numbers by people who mistake them for rats.
Marci McAdam's updated website
Posted by MarciMcAdam on Wed 16 Oct 2002 - 17:56Hi, everyone!
I've updated my website, now that Conifur is wrapped up: http://furries.frithcat.com.
Angelina Jolie turns into a werewolf
Posted by Anon on Wed 16 Oct 2002 - 09:25From Draconis (of http://come.to/coyoteville):
Angelina the werewolf
Hollywood movie star Angelina Jolie, well known for her taste for the macabre, is planning to don werewolf garb for her next film role, industry sources said on Tuesday.Rest at source
Cat in the Hat Set Pics
Posted by Crassus on Wed 16 Oct 2002 - 09:19Construction is going on fulltime in old Downtown Pomona on 2nd St. in Southern California, preparing the storefront set for the upcoming 2003 movie of Cat in the Hat, starring Mike Myers as the cat! :)
Flayrah Syndicated on LiveJournal
Posted by Aureth on Tue 15 Oct 2002 - 17:06For those of you LiveJournal junkies out there, you can now add a syndicated feed of Flayrah's stories to your friends list. Details on how to do this can be found here, Flayrah's username is, of course, flayrah.
Tailsmith Website Update
Posted by Crassus on Tue 15 Oct 2002 - 08:32Hey guys.. eeeeeevil evil shameless plug!
Well, ok, maybe not that evil, but I finally updated the Tailsmith website. I added a couple new sections in there with some new tips on caring for tails, plus extended information on fur anatomy and glossary, and link to the FurryTails mailing list on Yahoo! Groups I created for the general interest, and for others who're into wearing and making tails.
Media Bribes Sheraton Tacoma staff
Posted by Anon on Tue 15 Oct 2002 - 08:32In a fun, new twist with the media circus, this prick bribed staff at the Sheraton Tacoma to get some material to hurt Conifur's cred. Hopefully, CFNW's staff will get this resolved with the hotel.
FurNet IRC Chanserv Announcement
Posted by Anon on Mon 14 Oct 2002 - 20:00As many of users of the FurNet IRC network may have noticed, we haven't opened up chanserv to general registrations yet. We would like to do so in the near future, but want to make sure we can do it in a way which is fair to everyone, especially users of existing channels.
Vote For Your Favorite School Mascot
Posted by sharpclaw on Sun 13 Oct 2002 - 07:25Capital One invited NCAA Division IA and IAA schools with football programs to nominate their mascots for the Capital One National Mascot of the Year. Visit the site to vote for one of the twelve finalists selected from participating schools. Each of the team members will receive $5,000 to use toward scholarships for his or her school's mascot program. The National Mascot of the Year will receive a total of $10,000.
Personal note: My alma mater's mascot, Monte for the University of Montana, is one of the twelve finalists!
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