Fursday - Reading List

Juliet was working at The Escarpment vineyard in Martinborough when she collided online with the furry subculture, and her unique skill base and creative temperament came out to play."I found my niche market when I was introduced to the furry community. I already liked making costumes as a kid, you know, I'd make really weird costumes when I was 12 for Halloween or to go to Armageddon. Then I fell in with the furries and they had fursuits.

A good article overall, serving a duel purpose of interviewing Sparky of Sparky Can Do and talking about the furry fandom.

Two quibbles I have is how the article shoehorns the murrsuit aspect of the fandom early on, which feels out of place with the rest of the piece that is otherwise focused on Sparky’s development as a crafter. Second problem is they do not extend the courtesy of linking back to Sparky’s website, not even her Facebook.

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My favourite photo is the fox pouncing on its prey, showing off evolutionary design iteration at its finest, by that I mean the photo captures in a moment the elegance of the fox and how every aspect of its body has been tuned to maximise survival.

He had found this fox, his first ever, on his last day in the park. It was so absorbed in hunting that Connor had plenty of time to get out of the car and settle behind a rock. It quartered the grassland, back and forth, and then started staring intently at a patch of ground, giving Connor just enough warning of the action to come. When it sprung up, Connor got his shot. And when it landed, the fox got his mouse.

via io9 (which presents it better than National Geography)

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Showing no mercy on our souls, the writer who brought you Rebecca Black’s Friday has returned to bring you “Chinese Food” sung by Alison Gold. I didn’t link to this for the purpose of sharing lyrics written by primary school children to sing during assembly, but merely because a lad in a panda outfit decides to rap in the middle.

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The Kernel – a magazine covering web culture and posts contrarian opinion pieces – has written a short guide about furries. I would not rate it as defamatory, nor flattering, more of an abridged stereotyping that is up there with casual guides to foreign countries, talking about generalised notions readers already had in their minds.

No interesting insight lays in store for the readers, merely another huff of exasperation for those in the fandom who don't own fursuits, are asexual or have relatively mundane relationships.

It does end on a positive note, sort of.

People have long enjoyed dressing up, halloween costumes and fancy dress parties give licence to behave in ways we might not otherwise, so maybe we shouldn’t be so judgemental. At the end of the day, what is wrong with getting noshed off in a koala outfit?

Founds via Flayrah’s Twitter

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We've long known animals have a different perception of the world from our own, but if you’ve wondered what it might look like for our feline pets here is an artist’s impression. And it’s actually pretty dull, except for if you’re in the dark. Would go to some lengths why some cats are just unimpressed what what’s around them.

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Pokémon is one of those games beloved by children of the 90s and has gotten many into the general furry fandom thanks to its cast of pocket monsters with original design and personality.

For some though the shine has worn off with age, with some feeling like it has become like an EA FIFA title, an obligatory upgrade with token new features, more characters a bump in graphics. The familiarity of the cycle has bread contempt and disenfranchisement among some. 

But if Gaming Furever’s review is anything to go by, Nintendo has managed to batten down when it needed to and breath a new dimension (literally) into the franchise. I will leave you with this bottom line: 

The first 3D entry to the core Pokémon series is not to be missed. Breathing fresh life into the series and to listening to what veteran fans have been asking for is the aim of this hit title.

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As many of you heard, there has been an issue with a particular moderation decision. A user posted modified versions of commissions. Our moderator told the artist that he can't ask for the modified artwork to be taken down. Our mods called the artist "butthurt". When I woke up I saw a mushroom cloud from my window.

First off all: We fucked up. We're a team of volunteers strewn across the globe, so a good number of our team was unavailable at that time. But regardless, the end result was the same, and the harsh language from our side simply wasn't neccessary. On top of that our decision was wrong.

Toumal is a good diplomatic leader and SoFurry benefits from having him; he acknowledges where things went wrong, apologises on behalf of his staff, whilst clarifying and explaining the policy as well as addressing where they can tighten up.

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Dogs have long been considered property. Though the Animal Welfare Act of 1966 and state laws raised the bar for the treatment of animals, they solidified the view that animals are things — objects that can be disposed of as long as reasonable care is taken to minimize their suffering.

But now, by using the M.R.I. to push away the limitations of behaviourism, we can no longer hide from the evidence. Dogs, and probably many other animals (especially our closest primate relatives), seem to have emotions just like us. And this means we must reconsider their treatment as property.

Presuming in the future more studies support this finding, it would firstly give many a way of understanding the special relationship dog owners have with their canine, but it would also bring questions on the nature of their relationship. Already I’ve said dog-owner; one might suppose they are actually their guardians.

Via io9

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