A great way to avoid doing any useful work is the Animal AI site at Irresponsible Cybernetics. Simply fill in a descriptive sentance about your animal (such as "Large spotted cat from South America" or "Long and slinky pet weasel") and tell it if it's guessed correctly or not. It's great fun, and the more people use it the smarter it will get.
If you'd rather teach it to recognise that you don't need naked celebs or debt sollutions, there's Am I Spam or Not? from the same site.

You may have already seen this mentioned on /. but currently there is an article on CNN's Science and Technology page. The article is about the recent results of a team of scientists who have recently developed what could be coined as "remote-control rats". Details are in the article, but here we are seeing the first significant melding of technology into behavioral conditioning (something humans have been doing with animals for eons). Rather than using rewards (food, praise, etc) to encourage specific behaviors in animals, scientists have wired electrodes directly into the brains of their test subjects to stimulate the pleasure center. Additional electrodes into other areas of the brain provide cues to the animal, replacing traditional cues (verbal commands, for example).

Cartoon Network will be featuring over 160 Bugs Bunny episodes in alphabetical order for their annual June Bugs marathon on June 1st and 2nd, lasting 38 hours.

This year, Daffy Duck will receive equal bill-ing (ha ha, I kill me...) on Boomerang, Cartoon Network's twin, with a 48-hr marathon of 76 Daffy Duck cartoons, beginning June 1st as well.

Last year, June Bugs was the most-watched event ever to air on Cartoon Network.

http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31633

The groundbreaking 1987 TV series "Max Headroom" will be returning to television starting this week. TechTV will be broadcasting the 14 episodes of the show at 6 PM EDT on Fridays, with additional showtimes throughout the week. Check out TechTV's web page for more information and background on the series.

The Harpy Eagle, largest bird of prey in the world and national symbol of Panama, is now being bred in that country after an unsucessful attempt to breed the rare and powerful birds in in US. Rather than simply imitating the tropical environs of the birds, which led to very little sucess in the 4 year program and no birds strong enough to survive in the wild, the World Center for Birds of Prey has moved their breeding to the actual home territory of the Harpy Eagle.
The Harpy Eagle is a special challange due to its size, need for a vast territory and solitary nature. Habitat loss and poaching are the biggest threats to the species' continued survival.

May 4th is Free Comic Book Day! Support your local comic shop by dropping in and picking up a free comic book. Buy something, too!

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/

Baskin-Robbins is promoting the upcoming movie "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron" with, and I quote: 'Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron flavors' for May and June. No, they're not *really* horse-flavored....

http://www.baskinrobbins.com/treats/flavor_month.shtml

Also, don't miss free-scoop night on May 1st!

http://www.baskinrobbins.com/promo/index.shtml

Many thanks to Flayrah reader Crassus for providing the html fix to eliminate the white bar to the left of the graphic that has been plaguing me. Karma points to you, dude.

Universal Pictures plans to animate Astonish Comics' "Herobear and The Kid" as a feature film.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hollywoodreporter/frontpage/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1477049

A group calling itself the Fairy Troop has been supporting a strip club by dressing up as stuffed animals.

The winners of the first annual Ursa Major Awards (formally the Anthropomorphic Literature & Arts of the Year Awards), for the Best in anthropomorphic/"funny animal" literature and art first published during the calendar year 2001, were announced at a presentation ceremony on Friday, April 26 at ConFurence 2002, the 14th annual International Anthropomorphic Convention held at the Hilton Burbank Airport and Convention Center in Burbank, California on April 26 - 28, 2002.

From the International Wolf Center (www.wolf.org), which I was so fortunate to visit last weekend...

Check out wolves, the International Wolf Center and Minnesota on the ABC program, Good Morning America, Tuesday, April 30! The program will be broadcast live from Stillwater, Minnesota with Dave Mech hosting a pre-filmed wolf segment in Ely.

Tsavo, Kenya has been known for a few things. First is the 1898 maneating frenzy by two lions (made infamous in the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness") and second are the maneless lions.
Unlike the beasts acting in the movie, the killing pair were maneless lions themselves, and originally scientists assumed they were unique outcasts, kept from prides and unable to find mates because of this emasculating lack of mane.
But new research into the Tsavo region shows that, far from being either uncommon or unsucessful, maneless males both seem to thrive and get the girls, garnering bigger prides of ladies than their maned Serengeti, and kept them alone.
Maneless males also tended to band together into larger fraternal groups or all male bands, sometimes numbering four, five animals or more animals.
Scientists are unsure of the reasons for these social differences in the Tsavo lions, and whether or not the lack of mane contributes, but maneless seems to be the more sucessful type of lion in this region.

Chimpanzees are intellegent and very similar to humans genetically, and the American AR group Chimpanzee Collaboratory says they deserve the right to... lawyers.
In a country known for its interest in legal representation and process, this could be a ground breaking case if won, but critics point out that this could be seen as the start of banning any animals for use, with the personable and likeable apes the foot in the door.

Further details are provided on recent developments with the C.A.R.E Foundation's pending eviction. They have acquired an extension, but still need help and a new site. CARE's director has asked for assistance from the furries and identified some ways in which you can help.