Please don't forget to read the bulletin board. Enter +read from anywhere.

FC was a big blur this year, but it had several firsts. First con where I was too busy to draw anything, first con where I was too busy to write anything, and worst of all, first con where I didn't organize an otter-led sushi run. However, that's all OK, because I was busy with fun stuff and cool people.

Local angel kangaroo Rainbow was there, and she morphed between her angel 'roo and police 'roo forms a few times; Roofus, another local kangaroo, was also present. Local Gull, Boki, took a lot of photographs of animals and fursuits. Local elastic coati, Natasha, was photographed with many of her friends (even though she couldn't make it). Jhen and Peppermint made a brief appearance, and everyone who didn't show up at all was sadly missed. :-( (Although a plush red panda at the Stuff and Nonsense table in the Dealers' Room tried to stand in for Wind-Dancer.)

Many Spindizzy residents helped to round out the Science Track events at the con. Gilead, local otter, was in charge of the track, and ran a couple of panels, including Mustelid Panel (of course) and Biotech Panel. Cupertino artist Baron Engel (of Backbreaker Studios) and partner Dave Bryant ran the Furgonomics Panel, and provided a very well organized discussion of how to fit your world and character together physically. Local bunnies Findra and Akeakami, in the unusal Spindizzy affinity between bunnies and dolphins, ran the Marine Mammal Panel. Local feline, Patch O'Black ran the Feline Panel, and showed off a number of his plush feline friends. Rankin, occasionally local raccoon, led the Procyonid Panel. Other species, such as foxes and canines, were handled very competently by non-Spindizzians. The overall success of the species panels means they will likely be a recurring feature at future FCs. Live animals were provided by Classroom Safari, and included a genet, two fennecs, two geckos, a wolf (and the wolf's alpha, a tiny little Schipperke dog), a serval-domestic cat hybrid, a water cobra, and an extra-tiny miniature horse with dwarfism.

The laser show was very cool, and was only enhanced by the fire alarms that went off due to the smoke machines in the show. The strobe lights on the alarms kept perfect time to the music, and the synthesized voice telling everyone to "EXIT IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT USE ELEVATORS." managed to frequently interject strangely appropriate commentary into quiet points of the song. The entire audience cheered when, at the end of the first song, when the music stopped, it told us to o/~! "...USE ELEVATORS."

I finally saw a Funday Pawpet Show, too, which is probably the main reason there wasn't a sushi run. It was great though. Babs Bunny's new Pawpet, Nick Rabbit, is an adorable comedic natural (although he thinks he's a pop star). And I got suddenly camera shy when it came time for my call-out, and couldn't remember my own name, much less who I wanted to say hi to. :-/

So overall, it was a really fun con, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Late this week, Argon, local Centaur and Editor of @Action News, opened his door and found a small package on his front porch. Suspicious individuals might have called local law enforcement due to fear of Anthrax or other threats. But since Argon is a Deputy of Sheriff Cye, he took it upon himself to investigate.

The package, wrapped in 'Hello Kitty' Christmas paper, contained a VHS Video Cassette tape. A transcript of the tape follows;

SED HQ - Science Hallway
The hallway's motif is very similar to the main entrance - metallic, shiny, and clean. Various thick metal electronic doors are on either side, with labels as to where they may lead.
Obvious Exits:
[C]omputer Room, [L]ab[1], and [O]ut
Wind-Dancer pulls out her video camcorder, and starts recording.
DaemonNuit aims his blaster at her beam pistol and fires.
Morticon says, "Ayieee! Alicia! You came here and starting bullying us! With no proof of wrongdoing! Whatever did I do to deserve this?"
Morticon says, for the camera.
Alicia erks as her beam pistol is jerked away from her hand, her hand is burned also.
Morticon says, "Now, Alicia... will you leave?"
Morticon says, "I'm offering the brutal police-fox one last chance to get out."
Alicia says, "..."
Morticon says, for the camera. :)
Alicia looks between her pistol, the group, and the camera.
Morticon says, "Daemon? Could you get her weapon?"
Morticon says, "As now she will be turning around and leaving, thus not needing it."
DaemonNuit aims lower now, for her thigh area. All he needs is the order. Nods, moving to the pistol and picking it up, keeping his blastor aimed at Alicia.
Alicia closes her eyes.
Morticon moves behind Windy.
Morticon says, "What is your decision, fox?"
Alicia says, "...Give me back my beam pistol and I'll leave."
Alicia says, "...But then again...if I do return."
Morticon says, "I'm sorry, Alicia. You pulled your weapon out first. You cannot have it."
Alicia closes her eyes again.
Morticon says, "It may be returned at a later time, along with the tape.... to the newspaper."
Morticon says, "If you don't come back, it will not go there."
DaemonNuit slips the pistol into an inside pocket.
Alicia pulls off her trench coat and removes both her sub-machinegun and her rifle.
Morticon says, "Daemon!"
Alicia holds her hands forward.
Morticon stays behind the firefox.
Morticon says, "Careful!"
DaemonNuit fires at Alicia's thigh.
Alicia says, "I rather not face humiliation. I turn myself in as a captive."
Morticon says, "Alright.."
Alicia erks, falling to the ground.
DaemonNuit growls in anger at himself.
Morticon says, "No, Daemon, that was the right decision.
" Morticon says, "She will be a captive here until I can decide what to do with her..."
DaemonNuit glances at Morticon.
Morticon says, "Grab her guns..."
Morticon says, "And Windy.. don't tape this part!!"
Wind-Dancer pushes pause.

At this point the tape plays static and then goes blank. Attempts to contact Alicia were unanswered due to some work she was doing on Spengo. Neither Morticon, DaemonNuit nor Wind Dancer returned our calls.

On Monday, February 3rd, a crowd was in front of BarterGarter's cart awaiting midnight and the release of the long anticipated SpinDizzy Special Edition DVD.

As described in the December 29th edition of @Action news, This limited-printing four-disc DVD supplements the standard version of SpinDizzy, as seen in most venues. It also contains some alternate edits, variable camera angles, and a 30-minute 'blooper reel'. The blooper reel includes the famous incident in which Argon claimed to be "a horse," and another in which PatchO'Black handed out "marshmallows" to the startled crowd. Also featured is a sequence in which Dolly accidentally sipped from the tank of argon gas, rather than helium, leaving her not only heavier than air but also lowering her voice more than a full octave. One of the most interesting bloopers confirms the rumored 'Austin Mav' giving away his Herm Alicentaur Vixen Fae Mecha Goth Balloonie alt.

The Obscure cartoon references are enlightening, but even the annotations fail to reveal the reason Austin and Natasha. local Elastic Coatis, find Patch O'Black local Jellicle Cat's mention of ' a bad can of Cat food' funny in the context of 'The Herculoids'. The audiotapes of early brainstorming sessions planning SpinDizzy reveal some occaisional enlightenment, such as the reason for Amalfi, local threadbear plush's name, and the ardent efforts by Molariousious,no longer local Fox/Skunk/Porcupine hybrid who fought to require all characters to be 'furry'. This plan was defeated and, as revealed on the DVD, Molariousious left the project to join Helpstaff on TAPS.

All in all, the hype proceeding the release of the SpinDizzy Special Edition DVD is upheld, and for fans of SpinDizzy, it is a must have. The loss of quality and resolution due to some material being mastered on a Panasonic 8-Track recorder is made up for by the excellent quality of the BetaMax recordings of the first live Christmas program.

Argon, Local Centaur is offering a reward following an embarrasing event last week.

As the Centaur tells it, a Wolf ambushed him on his way to the Rose Garden.Dressed in a red T-shirt, and blue jeans, Argon at first thought it was a Raccoon due to his gray coloration and the fact that he was wearing a mask. Jumping out of some bushes by the side of the path between Centaur Square and the Rose Garden, this Wolf landed on Argon's Equine back. If this wasn't insult enough to the Centaur, the Wolf had the nerve to actually poke him with spurs, as though he were a common Horse. And not even a Horse deserved to be poked with spurs.

As imagined, Argon's reaction was to immediately toss the Wolf off, and, luckily enough, into a briar patch from which the rude Wolf crawled to safety

Argon is offering a reward for information leading to the apprehension of this Wolf. He stresses that he wants an opportunity to 'discuss' the matter with the Wolf.

Gilead, local Otter and punster submitted this list of punny animal puns.

When do you know it’s time to get a new set of wolves? When the were bars are showing.

Who does a wallaby call when the toilets back up? Call Kanga-Rooter, that’s the name, and away go troubles down the drain.

Why can you be sure it’s good when a marsupial “bear” invites you into the top of his tree for some hot herbal infusion beverage? Surely you know high koala tea when you see it…

What do you call a rabbit who tells jokes like these? A punny rabbit.

What do you call a misbehaving chiropteran? A brat.

If rattlesnakes rattle, why don’t ringtails ring?

Why did the itch run away from the dog? It decided to flea.

What do prickly rodents use to clean their floors? Porcupine-Sol.

What do you call a weasel that’s not nearby? A far-ret.

What’s a baby seal’s least favorite drink? Canadian Club. (Sorry Cye. :-(  )

What do you call a bald bird of prey that scavenges at the beach? An ea gull.

What do you call an electrically charged pinniped? A seal ion.

Why is Gilead in trouble? Because he otter know better than to tell jokes like these. ;-)

Washington DC's National Zoo has suffered from an infestation of Rats which are threatning the Prarie Dog exhibit.

The Rats have, so far, killed six of the Prarie Dogs, and Zoo Administrators, after having a meeting to decide on a time for a pre-meeting to discuss proposals for differing options to consider methods of dealing with the problem in a politcally correct, environmentally friendly manner have announced plans to use deadly phosphine gas pellets to thwart the invasion of rats. (Note that you will be asked to fill out a short survey to see the Washingtonpost.com page.)

Local Rats have formed a commitee to outline a proposal urging authorities to reconsider this descision citing the bill in process in Congress to name Rats an endangered species in the 12 square block area surrounding the zoo sponsored by Congressman Vern Minn (D) Verminont.

If you receive an email entitled "Bedtimes, " delete it IMMEDIATELY. Do not open it. It contains a dangerous Virus that effects both PCs and MACs, will penetrate all E-mail clients, and attacks MAC, Windows, Linux, Redhat, and other Operating Systems.

Apparently this one is pretty nasty. It will not only erase everything on your hard drive, but it will also delete anything on disks within 20 feet of your computer.

It demagnetizes the strips on your credit cards, and it reprograms your ATM access code. In addition, it screws up the tracking on your VCR and uses subspace field harmonics to scratch any CD's you attempt to play. It will program your phone auto dial to call only 1-800 numbers. This virus will mix antifreeze into your fish tank.

One of it's most damaging effects is to cause your toilet to flush WHILE YOU ARE SHOWERING. In addition, it will drink ALL of your beer.

This virus will leave dirty underwear on the coffee table when you are expecting company. It will replace your shampoo with Nair and your Nair with Rogaine.

If the "Bedtimes" message is opened in a Windows 95/98 environment, it will leave the toilet seat up and leave your hair dryer plugged in dangerously close to a full bathtub. It will not only remove the forbidden tags from your mattresses and pillows, it will also refill your Skim milk with whole milk.

******* WARN AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN. *******

If you don't send this to 5000 people in 20 seconds, you'll fart so hard that your right leg will spasm and shoot straight out in front of you, sending sparks that will ignite the person nearest you.

Send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list.

This week, Argon told folks, "I'm doing a survey to be published in @Action News. The question this week is, 'Who would win in a fight between She-Ra and Cheetara?'

• Fenris growls, "Cheetara. Definitely."
• Cye says, "Cheetera. She has bigger boobies. :)"
• Austin says, "Cheetara. She more awkwardly mis-emphasizes common words."
• Gilead chirps, "Depends on the nature of the fight. I think She-Ra is stronger, but Cheetara could run away. Cheetara's also done a nude scene, so she probably has a larger base of unwashed fan boys to suffocate She-Ra with. But in a cage match, where she couldn't run or get help, She-Ra would win easily."
• Terry chirps, "You, the viewing public!"
• Rose says, "Who's Cheetara? I never watched it, so guess I can't answer it."
• Gina_Doberman says, "Never watched either of those shows!"
• Mouser tries to come up with an answer that won't make him sound like Gilead...
• BarterGarter hisses, "I like Cheetara better, but She-Ra never loses, and Cheetara is more realistic in that she doesn't always win."
• Friskyfox yips, "Neither. They would join forces and fight crime whilst knocking over many a fruit stand."
• Ba'ar growls, "I'd say Cheetara...she's part cat...she's much more agile."
• Tarka says, "She-Ra! Cause She-Ra has bigger boobies!"
• Kinsor skriters, "She-Ra... she has her own theme song!"
• Findra -- 'Who would win in a fight between She-Ra and Cheetara?' Who cares? As long as there's lots of mud. Or ... jello. =:)
• Darwin -- Survey Response: Cheetara would win, what good is strength if you're perceived in slow motion by your opponent?
• Suri says, "I think Megan and the Little Ponies could beat 'em both. They were pretty tough."

Submitting a story or artwork for @Action News is easy! Just send it to newspaper@spindizzy.org or qmail or page Argon about it.
@Action News is published weekly on or after 12:01 AM Eastern Time on Sunday. Most any type of story or article will be accepted. Generally, we'd prefer things that aren't out and out lies or flames about other folks, and have a basis in the reality of SpinDizzy. Things that occur in public areas are fair game. The things reported don't have to have actually happened, (any more than anything that happens here does) but make sure you don't overstep the social boundaries and rules of interaction that we have. These are pretty broad guidelines, but we expect good sense to apply.

Thanks! Argon, Editor @Action News