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"Horizontal Day" on the unique SpinDizzy holidays, was celebrated recently.

As much a recognition of the "non-anthro" folks who usually are on four legs, it also encouraged those who walk on two, to get down and see the world from a lower level. Also encouraged was lying down, and taking it easy.

Two legged folks tried moving around on all four limbs and found themselves face to face with those who do so all the time. It was a bit of a wake up call for those two legged folks who saw both the advantages and impediments our world and facilities for those who are always low to the ground.

The event was a bit confusing for local centaurs as part of their bodies are already horizontal and stand on four legs, yet their torsos are vertical making them rather rare among mammals. Having six limbs and bodies in somewhat of an " L " shape, and being "non-anthro" they weren't sure where they fit in the celebration of this holiday. But as easy going as most centaurs here are, they lay down and went along and enjoyed the holiday.

"Horizontal Day" was a success and everyone seemed to enjoy getting down and relaxing!

A Thanksgiving gathering was held to gather and socialise and enjoy food and friends.

Morticon's "associates" Aina' and Mina started setting things out and folks brought all sorts of food and snacks and deserts and drinks. Someone had some special grape juice that Reaper, local mouse, found himself very fond of.

The grape juice had a strange effect on Reaper as he soon began being very friendly towards Aina'. Aina' continued her assigned work, but Reaper was convinced he was getting somewhere. Rumors say that Aina wasn't completely resistant to Reaper's attentions but this cannot be confimed. Soon her work was finished though and she went home. Reaper claimed he was going to call her Aina' the next day.

Otherwise good food, enjoyable conversation and a general thankfulness for SpinDizzy and its inhabitants were noted by everyone. Plans were already being made for the next SpinDizzy holiday, E-Day! Monday, December 8th is a holiday where everything is celebrated. That's right! You can celebrate whatever you like and pay homage to it! Whether you want everyone to celebrate your favourite shoelace or the broken piece of glass that you just can't do without, everything is included.

Lately, there have been government officials who have been enforcing the laws of Spindizzy.

The newest one to be affected by these "lawmen" is our local raccoon, Zoie.

The report given by the ATF offical we contacted was that Zoie was charged for the commercial production of alcahol without a license with the intent to sell. Thus, the liquor and stills was categorized, confiscated and eventually destroyed on site. Zoie has been charged 11,200 fanfics (or equivalent present currency) for having 112 gallons of the amount of tax plus fine.

A response from Zoie was given as follows,"I understand about the laws in effect and I shall abide by them. However, my intent was "not" to sell the liquor, but give it as a holiday gift, per tradition. This drink is a mixture of autumn fruits and spices left to ferment with a special liquor. It is only to be given freely in the spirit of the season. I can understand the government's reaction to it and the idea that someone would sell it for a profit."

Later, in the morning of Sunday, November 9, Zoie was taken from her tree in cuffs for questioning and subsequently released. However, Zoie's fruit tree is currently off limits until the invesitgation is complete.

November 21-23 was Midwest FurFest, held in Wheeling, Illinois (near Chicago). This was my first MFF, and the largest convention I have yet attended. This year they ended up getting around 2,000 attendees, and although they have just moved into a new hotel in order to have more space for the convention, it still seemed packed with excited crowds.

This was Chitter's first convention; I had a con badge made for him, which he wore hanging around his neck. He was remarkably quiet during the convention, mostly just sitting nearby and watching whatever I was up to. I took lots of photos and a few short videos, which you can see in my Flickr photo album

One of my biggest goals for the convention was to try to find other SpinDizzians. The first one I found was Dingo, or rather sie found me; sie greeted me enthusiastically in the dealers' room, as we both stood looking at a display of plushes. I pointed out the nice coati plushes -- the same as one that I gave Austin for his birthday -- and sie asked whether I had brought Austin. Sadly, Austin could not attend. The next SpinDizzian I saw was Vixie, who debuted her new, more anthropomorphic form at this convention. I also saw Ba'ar, though both times I saw him he was busy so I never got a chance to actually speak to him; I don't think he saw me. And finally I saw CalicoHeart, and went out to dinner with her and some of her friends. Those are all the SpinDizzians that I saw, but I also had my first face to face meeting with Nefaria, who is the caretaker of Feloni Mayhem, an especially evil devilbunny. I know Feloni from alt.devilbunnies. Fortunately Nefaria had not been able to bring Feloni to the convention, as a meeting between us would have been tense, to say the least.

The convention was great fun. The dealers' room was huge and full of neat stuff (I got my Christmas shopping nearly done there), and the Artists' Alley, though large, was still not large enough. Artists were crammed in, but there were plenty more who were not able to get a table at any given time. So many people crowded the Alley that at times it was almost impossible to walk through it. I picked up pre- ordered con badges for me and Chitter from Keyoki. I also decided to start collecting sketchbook commisions, and so I had a new, blank sketchbook. I ended up commissioning the inaugural drawing from Savannah Horrocks, a very talented artist. I asked her to draw me and Austin, and the drawing she did is now one of my favorite pieces of art.

There was a large space set up for socializing, called the Den, and some computers were also set up in there (by Tigerden Internet Services) for con-goers to use. I was delighted to find a MU* client installed on them, and even more delighted to see that Tigerden had preloaded some MUCK addresses. SpinDizzy was one of only five worlds listed (the others were FurryMUCK, Tapestries, Sociopolitical Ramifications, and TigerMUCK).

My favorite part of furry conventions is always the dances, and this time was no exception. I went to all three dances -- the big Friday and Saturday night ones, as well as the Dead Dog on Sunday night -- and hopped around like the bunny that I am. I even brought Chitter out onto the dance floor with me for part of the second night. The Furry Variety Show and Holiday Puppet Show (both with many appearances by Vixie) were also highlights for me. I didn't end up going to all that many panels, partly because I stayed up very late every night and then slept in late. Unfortunately there was no bunny panel; next year I'll have to offer to do one myself, as Skyler and I did at Morphicon. I did attend a very small but fun round table discussion for those with an interest in African animals. Of course, I am not an African animal myself, but I do have a fascination with hyenas and I said so, much to the approval of the hyena in the room. (The others present were a meerkat, a lion, a rhinoceros, and a Nile crocodile.) I'm sorry that Nigel, our local hyena, was not present, as I think he would have enjoyed the discussion.

Overall this was a very fun and exciting convention, with so much to do and see at any given time that it was impossible to do everything I wanted to. I will almost certainly return next year, and I hope to see some more SpinDizzians there.

It seems that there was a bit of a disturbance at Midwest Furfest this weekend. Dingo, local dingo, was minding her own business when she was subject to a bear's "pounce attack".

Fortunately the bruin in question happened to be Ba'ar, local bear, and all he wanted to do was greet her.

Reached for comment on this, Ba'ar said "I saw Dingo in the Artist's Alley and, being a friend of hers, decided to 'go for it', as they say'." adding that "She seemed to be scared at first but once she found out who had done the 'pouncing' she was fine with it. A few schloppy bearsmooches didn't hurt either."

Dingo was not able to be reached for comment on this.

Hey everyone, its your lil gamer-coon, Zoie:

Well, its that time of year again where we all gather to show our thanks to the heavens and earth for the bountiful gifts we are about to receive this week. This is just the beginning of the "holiday season" where we gather with our families and friends in a spirit of harmony, love and fellowship.

As of last year, this is also a very dangerous time of year as well, so when you are travelling, be especially careful because the holiday of "Thanksgiving" has turned into the deadliest driving day of the year. So when your tummies are full of turkey and ham, mashed/baked potatoes, the store-bought cranberry gelatin, and some post-football beer.. remember to wait until your stomach (and body) has cleared up or, if possible, wait until the next day or late Saturday to head home.

I also come bearing gifts for other various things you can do during this season.

Pumpkin Pie
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust (sugarless graham cracker preferably)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup natural cane sugar (yes the natural stuff, not the machine processed white)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, evaporated milk and pumpkin. In a separate medium bowl, mix the sugar, flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Stir into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into the pie crust. Bake in the preheated oven 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue baking 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean. Cool on a metal rack.

For a finisher for the pie, get 2 metal bowls and fill one with ice and place the other on top of it, make sure ice is touching the outsides of that of the top bowl. You then pour 2 small containers of "heavy cream" or "heavy whipping cream" and start mixing it with a whisk vigorously. Eventually it starts fluffing up. Continue till it is all like that and BAM~! You have your whipping for the top of your pie :D Trust me, its pretty good. Just remember if ya don't use it all, keep it refrigerated and even if it does settle back down, just whip it again and it'll be good as new.

There are two homemade cooking gifts that I hope you will enjoy for the holiday season.

Lots of love for the holiday season and a prayer to the Great Spirit that you all shall return safely.

Your ringtailed friend,

Zoie

Recently I saw a movie called Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. It told the story of four friends (Alex, a lion, Gloria, a hippo, Melman, a giraffe, and Marty, a Zebra) who had been transported from the New York Zoo to the island jungles of Madagascar. The movie had to do with the animal friends escaping Madagascar to the wilds of Africa.

It was great, I daresay even greater than the original Madagascar. The story was deeper and featured several threads that gave each member of the group something significant to do. Alex, for instance, was tasked with fighting off a scheming uncle to become alpha lion among his pride. Not only did this prove to be a great utilization of the characters but it also explored their personalities in deeper detail than the original movie did.

It was also great in terms of humor. The original movie was humorous, but in the sequel jokes fly thick and fast and and offer humor that works for both children and adults. One of my favorites was the exchange between monkeys. One said "Will you kiss me?" and the other replied "I'll kiss you but you're too damned ugly."-a reference to a sequence in the original Planet of the Apes movie.

All in all a wonderful movie and not a bad way to spend an hour and a half of your time.

Hey all, its your lil gamercoon again from a "small" hiatus from her gaming world and back again with some fresh life within her.

Well, to start off, its time to go back to 1980, before the time of many of our great heroes and to a time where the Arcade and Atari were kings of the video game world.

The one I shall air today is Frogger!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9fO-YuWPSk

The game had a pretty simple layout. You, as a frog, must cross a busy highway full of card, construction equpment, semi-trucks, racing drivers, etc. As you reach the median, you will have to deal with the occasional snake, then you have to cross the river filled with logs and turtles. Here you have to deal with water moccasins and gaters as well as turtles that "sink" every once in a while. However you can meet up with a lady frog and take her to the holes in the other side of the river, which is your goal. If you can get five frogs to the other side you win the round and go on to a more challenging level.

The music is very charming and upbeat, it sticks with you in your mind because its that addictive! The sound effects at the time made you cringe as you seen the poor frog ran over and squished!

The game has been remade from the arcade, computer systems, NES, SNES and more. There are also various sequels that bring even further challenges to the game.

I will vocally say this game stands the tests of time for its charm, simplicity and difficulty. Its a great game to pick up of you're just starting or a hard core gamer.

Well, this one shall be short as this lil coon is getting ready for the Turkey Day and other various newspaper stuff we're working on.

Lots of love.

Zoie

IC:

Neopolis's sudden rash of kidnappings seems to be over. Seemingly random people were swiped off the street and from houses, with no apparent pattern or connection. Neopolis police worked around the clock to locate them, but in the end they were all mysteriously dropped off at a street corner unharmed and with seemingly no memories of where they've been for the week they were missing. Or is it that they didn't want to share details? Just what happened to the victims?

In an unrelated story, an apartment building was partially destroyed in a confusing series of events. Witnesses described a sharpshooter that killed a mink walking along on the sidewalk, in front of the apartment. His associate, also a mink, looked up at a building across the street, where a flash of light appeared. The mink then raised his paws and tore the entrance doors off the apartment, with magic or psionics, and ran inside it. Soon after, explosions were heard inside and one of the emergency exit stairwells was almost completely destroyed, with the mink in critical condition on the ground floor of it. The details of what happened and why are not entirely clear - the mink was unable to give a statement at this time.

Morticon and Portia's wedding, the event of the year, is coming soon in December! It'll be held in the Japanese garden and is sure to be an interesting time. Morticon has always been known to do events with flair or something 'interesting' happening, so come at your own risk. Of course, nothing risked is nothing gained.

OOC:

The above was a summary of recent SED RP events as seen from the general public's point of view. Contact Morticon for more details if you're curious.

In the future, this may become a series of articles that cover SED RPs, as well as other RPs that happen around SpinDizzy that I find out about, or that people tell me about.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the newspaper this week!

Special thanks go to:

Argon, for the report on "Horizontal Day,
Argon again, for the story about the "SpinDizzy Feast,
Zoie, who tells of meeting G-Men,
BunnyHugger, for her report on Midwest FurFest,
Cora, who tells of a bear attack (of sorts,)
Zoie, for a Thanksgiving editorial and a recipie,
Ba'ar, for the Madagascar review,
Zoie, for her article on classic gaming,
Morticon, for "Role Plays" in the news,
The SED, for its ad,
Gilead, for his puns, Ba'ar, for the survey,
and, Argon for a Doze Garden cartoon.

Q: Where do tired whales sit?
A: On tacean seats.

Q: How do you stop a rampaging whale?
A: Zap it with a Cetazer.

Q: What evil cetacean said Belugas were the Master Whales?
A: Adolph Inler.

Q: What do lonely male cetaceans buy to get them through those cold ocean nights alone?
A: The Real Dollphin (tm).

Q: What kind of cetacean lives in trees?
A: The Monke Whale.

Q: What is the softest cetacean?
A: The Minky whale.

Q: What kind of cetaceans filter and eat bamboo?
A: Wahles.

Q: What do you call a complete cetacean?
A: A Whole.

Q: What kind of cetacean seems to get longer the more you pay attention to it?
A: A While.

Q: Who is the world's largest consumer of Prozac?
A: A blue blue whale.

Q: Why did the precocious young dolphin like to antagonize bullies in grade school?
A: So they would give him a pinkbelly.

Q: What do young whales use to filter and consume plankton?
A: Babyleen.

Q: What do whales use to filter and consume moonshine?
A: Bo and Luke leen.

Q: What do you call an otter stranded on a remote island?
A: Robinson Kawauso.

Q: What do you call a robotic cetacean?
A: WHAL-E.

Q: What do you call a small, adorable desert cetacean?
A: A ringwhale.

Q: What kind of cetacean just can't get motivated to sing?
A: A celibateback whale.

Q: What kind of cetacean has two tusks?
A1: A whalerus.
A2: A narwalrus.

Q: Why don't seals like to dance?
A: They hate to go out clubbing.

Q: What do you call really tiny aquatic mustelids who swarm around your tent?
A: No-see-um otters.

As you know, Midwest Fur Fest is going to be held later this month. Are you going? If so, is this going to be your first furry convention?

• Argon says, "Oh, I can answer your survey. No, I have no plans on going to any cons. If anyone from Tapestries is there they'll be interested in aspects of my anatomy I choose not to discuss. Anyway, the elevators aren't rated for me."
• Luaie might have to take a two week course which would interfere, and won't find out until well past the registration deadline. He really can't afford to fly to Illinois anyway.
• Borris Gruffs, "Nyet, is not going."
• Dingo says, "I'm going! This isn't my first one."
• PatchO'Black mews, "Nope, I don't usually travel out of my home state."
• GrumpyBear grumbles, "No, I'm kind of over furry cons."
• Jaxen says, "Jaxen will not be able to go to MFF."
• Royce churrs, "I am not going. I have however been to over 20 furry conventions. My next one should be FC."
• Zen headshakes, "Im not going."
• Andreas isn't going. Has tons of furmeets where he is though.
• Findra chirrrs softly, "No."
• Luaie has yet to go down the rabbit hole into Furry-Con-Land.
• Natasha says, "I've been to over 0 furry conventions, and hated every one! My next one should be none of them."

Got something that You'd like to contribute to @Action News, but aren't sure if you should, or how to do it? Here are some basic guidelines.

Contributing a story or artwork for @Action News is easy! Just send it to newspaper@spindizzy.org!

• @Action News is published weekly sometime between Sunday and Wednesday each week, although the date of publication may vary.
• Articles received after midnight Pacific time on Saturday may be held and published in the next edition of @Action News.
• Most any type of story or article of interest to SpinDizzy's newspaper readers 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