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Liz Stanford, an artist who's work is posted on VCL, has posted a picture she drew entitled, "Doom Otter". Whether she had Tarka in mind when drawing this isn't known, but the image matches the one I have in my mind's eye of Tarka. A friendly, slightly overweight, happy otter.

It is reported that when this image was discovered by folks on SpinDizzy, Tarka was told about it by a number of folks. The otter recieved eight page #mails alone concerning it.

As of press time, it is not known if the image is doomed.

A discussion about a new film version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which has a centaur character, started after Argon, local centaur shared a link showing behind the scenes pictures from the making of the film. Some of the shots feature the centaur. (Note, you'll need Quicktime to view the clip.).

Of course folks wondered if there were foxes or otters or other "animals" in it, now that it had been established that it had centaurs in it. It was also pondered whether the movie was "raccoony". Although it isn't known at this time if the movie is, this led to a discussion of movies that would have been far better if they had been raccoony.

The list included such well known raccoon movies as, Lord of the Tailrings, Raccoon Day after Tomorrow, Independence Raccoon Day, and A Clockwork Raccoon Day. This led on to folks recalling other raccoon movies. It was amazing the number of movies featuring raccoons. In fact, the group was able to recall such films for over two hours.

The number of films mentioned is a long list, so @Action News has chosen to publish the list in a seperate section which is a log, generously provided to the paper by Nikon, local raccoon.

Little Fox, local crystal fox, was discommoded last week by Darius, local ferret. The fox had been acting quite nervous and agitated, and for reasons not apparent, felt threatened by the ferret. Although the details aren't clear, it was reported that for some reason, Little Fox, bit Darius. Darius determined this to be a problem and used Superglue to glue the little fox's mouth shut.

The crystal fox has always been silent, but Findra, local bunny, claimed that she was able to communicate with her telepathically. But with her mouth glued, Findra said the fox couldn't talk.

Argon, local centaur, showed up after all this has taken place and with Findra's help, used a special "glue remover" in an attempt to loosen the fox's mouth. Although Little Fox seemed cooperative as Argon held her in his arms and rubbed at the glue, she suddenly bolted for home.

Inquiries as to the cause of Little Fox's discomfort were met with little information. At press time, it remains unknown what caused the fox's nervousness, why she bit Damian, or if the glue removal was successful.

Spindizzy's weekly Bardic Circle (Poetry/Filk gathering) met Friday, December 17, at 7:00pm Spindizzy time, in a Quiet Garden, moderated by Ray. In attendance at varying times were: Elizabeth, K'purra, Casimir, Tarka, Findra, Qitthiryuu, Ba'ar, and Adara.

K'purra began the session with "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," a carol by Longfellow. Elizabeth followed with a prayer by Saint Francis of Assisi. Ray then read an original poem, titled, "Giving." K'purra followed that with "The Courage that My Mother Had," by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Ray then sang "Love Changes Everything," by Michael Ball. Elizabeth followed with the song "Believe," as performed by Josh Groban, lyricist uncredited.

Tarka changed the mood, reading an original poem, titled, "Chaos." Ray followed that, singing a filk, titled, "Captain of the Ship," by The Denebian Slime Devils (to the tune of "The Leader of the Pack"). Tarka read another original poem, titled, "Otter Logic." Ray changed the mood, again, reading an original poem, titled, "Mountain in the Desert." K'purra then read from, "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation 17 (1624)," by John Donne. Ba'ar followed with some untitled wordplay from Ogden Nash. K'purra followed that with Donne's "Death Be Not Proud." Ray then read another original poem, titled, "Life's Least View." K'purra returned the mood to whimsy, with more Ogden Nash. Ray stayed in that vein with an original "Nonsensonnet."

The hour once again grew late, and the moderator withdrew.

The Spindizzy Bardic Circle will be in hiatus for the remainder of the Holiday season, as the next two Fridays are Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

The next session will be Friday, January 7, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm Spindizzy time (luge S7 E4, [B]asalt [P]illars, [E]nter [P]ortal). All are welcome, either to read or just to listen. Check the eventlist for more details.

Can you guess where the quote was said and who said it. See the bottom of the paper for the answer...

This week's Quote
Can you guess where the quote was said and who said it. See the bottom of the paper for the answer.

This week's Quote...

"Okay, I can admit I got a little carried away if you can admit to being an evil, wicked fleabag of a SED lackey."

Back issues from a year and more ago. Remember when...?

• One Year Ago / SpinDizzy 2003 Year in Review
• Three Years Ago / Flubber Spill Contaminates Rose Garden

Notes from the SpinDizzy Live Journal Community

Remember, user names on the Live Journal forum may be different than those of characters here.

• Chanspot - Ambush Taking Time Off for the Holidays!
  Nothing's more important than friends and family. With that in mind, the Ambush is taking the next two weeks off.

  Merry Christmas, everyone!
   

• Austin - It's worth noting the 2004 Christmas Tree has been placed in the Rose Garden, for our traditional festive cheer. As with previous years, it's open to everyone; simply type a command such as trim jingle bell to add ``jingle bell'' to the list of decorations.

  There's no provision for editing or removing things, unfortunately -- the code used to create the tree is quite simple. If you need to adjust something you must ask a wizard to adjust it. Also note that you shouldn't capitalize your decorations (unless it's meant to start with a proper name, such as ``Leslie plush doll'').

  It's been suggested we could make a ``themed'' tree, so please, read the list of previous ornaments carefully and see if there is a theme running already; if you can continue it, please try. Don't worry if you can't; it's not as though we'll be leveling fines. We just do want to encourage creativity, partly by supporting each other's creative impulses.

  Finally as a personal request, could we please keep the effigies to a minimum? They kind of detract from the charm.
   

@Action News, SpinDizzy's weekly paper, apparently has a fairly healthy circulation, so we figured we'd show just how healthy it is.

Each week, as long as there's room. I'll show the 'hit graph' for the @Action News website.

Gee! 2,610 hits on Wednesday? As webmaster, there is a way to see from what domain hits come from. It only tells me the domain name, and no personal information is disclosed. Usually AOL.com is number one, followed by a lot of .edu sites, Apparently the paper (issue /newspaper127.htm to be specific) was linked to by Fark,com but I'll be darned if I can find the link from their site to the paper. I searched the site by the paper's name, the muck's name, "furry", and my name, but couldn't find anything pertaining to the paper. However, the lead story in that issue of the paper is, "Furry" Defined By High Court", so that might be what they were linking to. If you can find the link between Fark.com and @Action News, please let me know. Thanks!

Welcome to the latest edition of Bearing up, the advice column where Ba'ar (That's me!) has answers to your most challenging questions.

Dear Bearing Up,
Why do you call this column "Bearing Up"?
- Curious

Dear Curious:
First, I'm a bear. Second, this column helps you 'bear up' with life.

Dear Bearing Up:
My kits missed visting Santa Paws last week. Any chance he'll come back this year?
- A. Mom

Dear A. Mom:
No, try next year.

Dear Bearing Up,
I was playing cards with my friend and he claims he won because he had three kings and five aces. But I had three aces and five kings. Who really won the game?
- P. Oker

Dear P. Oker:
He did. You were cheating.

Dear Bearing Up,
What would be a nice gift to get for my lovely wife, Mavra?
- Argon

Dear Argon:
I think that by marrying her you gave her the nicest gift of all.

Dear Bearing Up,
My neighbor still has his Bush Cheney sign up in his yard. He even put Christmas lights on it! What can I do?
- R. Nader

Dear R. Nader:
Put a Bush/Cheney sign on your yard and decorate it with Christmas lights.

Remember possums (to steal a term from Dame Edna ;-D), if you have any questions, please page mail me (Ba'ar) online or send mail to big_bear@operamail.com . Thanks.

This week Argon asked, "I'm doing a survey for @Action News. The question this week is, 'Lets assume that each of Santa's elves spends all year working on one kind of toy. All year that elf makes a lot of them. If you were one of Santa's elves, what toy would you make?"

• Ray- RayKitty Elf would write storybooks for children, perhaps to be illustrated by Chanspot Elf, who is quite talented in that area.
• Chanspot says, "Mocha."
• Skiltek says, "Elves."
• Baxter sncikers and ponders several answers, but the safe one would be," Edible building blocks."
• Austin says, "The Action Roofus_roo kit."
• Nikon says softly, "My First Shrink Ray."
• Brenda - "I'd be making nonlethal-but-functional miniature macro inflatible lightsabres. With catnip."
• Suri says, "Lemur dolls. With authentic Cool Noise Making action.""
• Morticon - A 500 function toy, of course. It would take a year to build just one, so it would not be as tedious as building 500 of the same thing. Then I could auction it off on ebay and retire.
• Adara - (Survey answer) I think Adara would be making the Christmas treats, not necessarily the toys
• Ba'ar growls, "I'd make Playstation 2s. They seem to be the hot toy these days."
• Mattaui would make deluxe drawing kits.

This week's quote was brought to you by SED Reformers Anonymous. A twelve step program when you are ready to change what everyone thinks, and SED about you.

I bet you're surprised by today quote location, which of course is the Rose Garden. The quote was told by BarterGarter local Snake Salescritter.

Congratulation to all of you that guessed right!

Submitting a story or artwork for @Action News is easy! Just send it to newspaper@spindizzy.org or qmail or page Argon, Carl or SDN 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