Contents:

Hard winter for Spindizzy expected! - NewsWire
Squirrel City Expedition finds Souvenirs, Trinkets, No Squirrels - NewsWire
Boki and Skanee Nominated for "old hat" Status - NewsWire
Halloween Announcement from the Masquerade Party Committee - Flutterz
Procedure for submitting an article
Guidelines for writing articles

 Taking with her a variety of individuals, including Austin Dern, Skanee (shrunk to fit the narrow confines of the city), Argon (wearing one of the remote android drones salvaged from the ruins), Terry (who has been miniaturized recently), Boki the seagull, and PatchO'Black (who, as a Jellicle cat, could shrink to fit), they made their way from Squirrel Park (located at S4 E0) down into the vast underground tunnels of some slick black liquid. Eventually, they found the remains of the Squirrel City Museum.

 The Museum, founded by the Squirrels to commemorate their escape from enslavement to the devilbunnies of Earth, looked severely damaged as if by explosions. Several skeletons of small animals, who apparently were not exhibits, littered the floor. The gift shop was closed.

 The search party split after this point. One of the groups found their way to a central computer center. The center displayed closed circuit television feeds of several former major entry points into Squirrel City with warnings of Intruder Alerts on many of the screens. One other screen had an unfinished solitaire game on it. There were no squirrels apparent.

 Austin was able to reach far enough to find the Squirrel City Tourist Bureau and secure maps, a T-shirt, and several very tiny bumper stickers for robot drones.

 Overall the explorers were frustrated by an inability to get past a number of locked doors, booby traps (including at least one flame-thrower, though easily avoided, prevented passage entirely until it destroyed itself), and apparent dead ends. None of the main thoroughfares of Squirrel City were accessed and eventually all the explorers fell through various holes, tunnels, or traps into Heck.

 No change in Tuesday's status as a ghostlike, insubstantial squirrel wandering in a sleepless, sensationless state was noted as of press time. The next expedition to explore and map Squirrel City has not been planned.

 Boki, the sea gull, has been on Spindizzy less than a week but his entertaining encounters with the longtime residents, including a fascinating and protracted struggle with Royce over shiny objects and a can of tuna fish, have done much to make him seem like one of the people you count on seeing before the night is out.

 Skanee, who appears to be the fusion of some raven-like bird's body with the head and arms of some unidentified mammal (and admits to uncertainty regarding it's species or gender), has brought his curiosity, general good nature, mildly cynical without being jaded comments, birdly habits, and knowledge of automobile repair to liven up the Rose Garden or Park of the Day. Noted in the nomination was his question, unanswered, to glass bat Convergence whether he could fry an ant in the sun without using an external magnifying glass.

 Cinnamon, a living piece of paper who charmed crowds earlier this month, would have been nominated for inclusion among the "old hats" had it not been missing, and quite missed, for the past week. All hope that it will return to enliven the muck soon. If it does, it will be eligible for "old hat" status as early as the second week of November.

 Achieving "old hat" status guarantees that individuals will notice your absence and entitles the holder to, though not more than once every four months, throw a hissy fit over a trivial issue and still receive the attention and sympathy as if they had a real problem.

 The responsibilities include regularly connecting to report that nothing is going on, reflecting on occasion about how much better the muck and the Internet were in olden days, and being willing on short notice to steer any conversation about computers to one's time on an eight bit or even more primitive computer used in the early 1980s or before.

 Assistance is provided to otherwise qualified "old hats" who have no memories or who lack detailed recollection of technical data for computers of that age.

 Several of you have expressed interest in holding a masquerade party to celebrate Halloween this year. However, further information would be good to have. Should the masquerade be for a few hours, one evening, or last a couple of days? Is there anyone who would be interested in hosting the party on their property or perhaps build something new like a graveyard, pumpkin patch, or haunted house?

 The tentative date for the masquerade is the Saturday before Halloween. If anyone has a problem with this, page #mail Flutterz with further details.

 Looking for that special costume? The Foley Studio might be able to help you out with special effects or translators. For instance, are you a mouse who'd like to sound like a crocodile? We can probably help.

 Questions? Curious? Please head to N0 W1 (Just West of the Rose Garden) and enter the Studio. Alternatively, you can contact Ping for more information.

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