furry food for thought

GreenReaper's stories

FurNation relaunched as Ning site

Sat 16 Jan 2010 - 22:40

FurNation has been reborn as a Ning-based community, following the course set by social networking site Furry 4 Life.

The 14-year-old site has a long but oft-troubled history. Over the past two years, its community has faced repeated requests for server hosting funds.

The new owner, Reyedog, intends to revive FurNation's hosting on a separate server, as Ning's terms of service limit images to "tasteful nudes."

2 comment(s) – read more

Fur Affinity grows in 2009 despite downtime

Sat 16 Jan 2010 - 16:30

Despite recent downtime, furry community site Fur Affinity grew significantly in 2009, according to figures released by The Dragoneer this month.

Over 120,000 users joined the site; almost double that were active during the year, making over a million submissions. Users also made over 400,000 posts on their personal journals, garnering 3.5 million comments.

Fur Affinity's success has come at a cost for other sites, who have found traffic stagnating. The VCL in particular has lost ground, while Yiffstar recently relaunched itself as SoFurry in an attempt to attract new users. Fur Affinity also plans to move to a new layout.

For a site as large as FA, reported annual operating costs are relatively small at $14,231.76; donations and advertisements raised $13,943.79.

8 comment(s) – read more

Driver changes plea to guilty in Furp case

Sat 16 Jan 2010 - 00:35

The marine charged with killing furry community member Furp in February 2009 has changed his plea to guilty, according to documents filed Thursday in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Jason Robert Reyna initially plead not guilty to charges of causing injury while driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol level higher than 0.08%. Both are felony charges due to Furp's death. The defendant appears to have no prior record, and was spared the charges of vehicular manslaughter or second-degree murder. However, he may be subject to military justice following his sentence.

Furp's death was widely reported and resulted in the creation of a LiveJournal community dedicated to his memory. His collection of furry artwork and personal effects were auctioned off at Midwest FurFest 2009, raising over a thousand dollars for the convention charity.

15 comment(s) – read more

Furcadia adds "Hyooman", Rodent races

Wed 13 Jan 2010 - 22:27

Furry-themed online social MMO game Furcadia has settled a perennial topic of debate by adding "Noble Hyoomans" to its set of purchasable avatars in an attempt to boost revenue. Rodent avatars were also added.

Human-style avatars have been advocated by Furcadia CEO Felorin (Dr. Cat) and programmer sanctimonious, but opposed by game designer Talzhemir. An earlier poll of players found that 61.5% favored the addition of an official human avatar, while 38.5% were opposed to their presence - some citing their absence in Furcadia's canon roleplaying continuity, The Dragonlands.

Those disappointed in Digo Market prices are unlikely to be pleased by the new additions, which sell for $19.99 for one year of use. Dragon's Eye Productions have indicated that further free avatars are unlikely, at least until a future upgrade to 32-bit colour.

Flayrah relaunches with new software, editor-in-chief

Mon 11 Jan 2010 - 13:34

Welcome to a new year, with a new editor! Aureth and Frysco have given me the chance to lead Flayrah into the next decade. With your help, I hope to make it the best furry news site ever . . . again!

We're now running on Drupal - an altogether more modern framework - with hosting graciously provided by Timduru.

Your previous posts and comments are secure, though you might want to update your account with an avatar and fandom links.

I've also brought in some free content from WikiFur News - it makes great reading if you missed it the first time around. (Don't forget to click through where it says "Read more")

7 comment(s) – read more

Fur sentenced in parent murder plot

Sat 9 Jan 2010 - 11:21

A man who attempted to murder his friend's parents has been incarcerated indefinitely, for a minimum of three-and-a-half-years; his friend has been placed under medical supervision.

Christopher Monks (Rox-Yin) and Shaun Skarnes (Kira) reportedly met through social networking website Furry 4 Life. The pair were found guilty of conspiracy to murder in July, but Monks - who promised to let Skarnes bite off his penis in return for the deed - was shown to have Asperger Syndrome.

UK law allows for indefinite imprisonment for public protection, subject to future parole.

1 comment(s) – read more

Swedish wolves face cull before mating season

Sat 2 Jan 2010 - 07:15

Scandinavian hunters are looking forward to the chance to bag a wolf, as Sweden prepares to open hunting season on the animals.

The species was encouraged to grow along the border with Norway after numbers fell to a low of 60 in 1999. Since then, their number have increased, and new births are expected to bring the species above the limit of 210 set by parliament.

The increased population risk damage to local dog-owners and reindeer and sheep farmers. But a local conservation society believes the population has yet to recover to a safe level, and has complained to the EU. Supporters originally hoped wolf numbers might reach 500.

The cull will run for over a month, or until the quota of 27 - updated hourly - is met. The creatures are most vulnerable when recent snow allows them to be tracked.

See also: Norway Set To Kill Most Of Its Wolves (January 22, 2001)

One man and his foxes

Mon 28 Dec 2009 - 05:04

What can change the nature of a fox? Such was the question posed by Dmitry K. Belyaev, a Russian scientist whose work dated back to the time of Stalin.

Belyaev was a strong proponent of evolution - a distinctly unfashionable theory in early 1950s Russia - and thought he could select for the genetic traits leading to tameness. Taking 130 of the tamest foxes from a fur farm, he set to work, excluding those biting a gloved hand from breeding.

It turns out reproducing the domestication of dogs in another species isn't that hard . . .

Fuzzy friends can cost you

Tue 22 Dec 2009 - 20:14

Many of us have pets to keep us company - but the cost may surprise you, especially if you own a cat or rabbit. Even birds can be pricey, thanks to their long lives. And don't forget the cost of your time taking care of it.

Even if your companion is lucky enough not to require significant veterinary care, just buying food and bedding can cost more than the purchase price, even in the first year. The key message? Budget for that budgie!

See also: Talking heads discuss the science of saving

University of Alaska runs "furvey" on community aspects

Sun 20 Dec 2009 - 00:00

A group at the University of Alaska is running a survey of the furry community.

The online survey - led by Dr. Tim Lower and Eric Olson - appears to focus on the community aspects of being a furry, and seeks to establish the effect of participating on individuals (also a goal of prior surveys by Dr. Kathleen Gerbasi at Anthrocon).

(Source: Another furry survey --- links, thoughts by rex)