Blotch wrote:A friend of ours, who works with at a Berkley facility researching hyenas, informed us that they had their funding cut a few weeks ago. As such, they will begin euthanizing animals when the last of the funds have dried up. Our friend and a few other people are currently racing against the clock to move the remaining twenty animals to zoos or sanctuaries (three will be going to the Oakland zoo later this week.) They are taking donations to keep the hyenas fed until all of them can find homes. You can find more information at hyenasanctuary.tumblr.com, or follow HyenaSanctuary on Twitter, to stay tuned as things develop or see what you can do to help!
Reposted from Blotch's journal. Given my history running around as Preyfar for 16+ years... I can definitely say hyenas are critters I admire, and want to protect. I ask everybody who can... if you have a few dollars, help donate some money. It's for a good cause.

Hyenas are nature's greatest resource*, and we should do everything we can to help protect them (and other animals). A few bucks will go a long way to help!

Thanks,
Neer

* This may be an exaggeration. MAY.

http://gizmodo.com/5877440/pipa-sup.....ewly-oppose-it

18 Senators defected from pro-PIPA support to anti-PIPA support as of this morning.

I guess the Internet's massive outcry had some results. =3

Do you have Star Wars: The Old Republic, and are looking for a buncha furries to play with? Join us over on Elysium (Light Side) and join up with the Ferrox Republic!

You can message Dragoneer or Sciggles to join. =3

2011 sucked. Let's hope to a better year in 2012.

Happy new years, everyone! <3

Running a site like this is an interesting experience. You get to meet all sorts of people, and get to know them over the course of years. Bonds are made, friendships forged and you encounter an incredible amount of people.

But there's a weird part of administratorship that's hard to deal with. Flagging somebody's account as "Deceased".

It's not a flag I take lightly, and it's one that I find heartbreaking to have to do. It's never easy. From my perch, we overlook the community... and whenever one of our fellows passes you can always see the ripples throughout the community. Death is never a solitary experience. It affects family, friends, everybody around you.

It's never easy to deal with.

It makes you appreciate what you have, who you have. Given the holidays are upon us... take some time to hug the ones you love and the people you care for. Life is chaotic, and you never know when catastrophe will strike. Life's too precious to take for granted. Enjoy it, and be thankful for those who choose to experience it with you.

And to those on FA who have passed since the site opened... I hope you found happiness and rest. <3

Happy thanksgiving, FAers!

Things I'm thankful for:
Sciggles (she's changed my life for all the better!)
FA (I love this site and all our users)
Odin (Big, dumb derpy dogs can make any bad day absolutely amazing)

A lot of people have been asking what my thoughts are on the bullshit SOPA/PROTECT-IP act. If you don't know what I'm talking about you deserve to spend a several minutes here: http://americancensorship.org/

So, my thoughts?

It won't work. Even (*EVEN*) if it's passed, it's only going to cause the single worst digital storm in online history. Why? Because there's a secret anti-bullshit weapon that will rape the living daylights out of the policy. That weapon: 4chan.

When you have a group who knows their way in and out of proxies, who can fuel the fire that is Anonymous (and will goes balls out against the federal government), you're going to have a problem. Every single online organization will fight this, and it'll be overturned. Any copyright content that the entertainment industry wants to protect is going to be mass-uploaded raid-style to every site known to man to get them to shut down.

And they won't be able to fight it. Facebook, Amazon, Google/Youtube, Flickr, Photobucket, Imageshack, Twitter... the giants amongst the internet are going to become legally liable, and they'll fight it. They channers will fuck them over in an effort to wave their dicks at the law (this is a good thing) and the online communities will fight back against Congress and the government.

I don't care how much money Avatar made, when you threaten entire online industries to be held liable over a single image... it's not going to fly. Industry will rebel. And Anonymous is going to be sitting behind the damn thing with a Guy Fawkes mask on, smiling, uploading, laughing all the way. And whether you agree with the Anons or not, they're going to be the Internet's single greatest friend that day. And they're going to win.

But it won't pass. It's too destructive.

Last night I sent refunds out to everyone still waiting on a slot for my Iron Artist. Regretfully, it's just not working out. I had good intentions when I started, but the more and more I sat down to work on them, the more I was pulled away. I spread myself too thin, and I tried to take on too much at once. I couldn't focus on any one thing, and I fell behind. The more I fell behind the more guilt and more frustration I felt, and it only made things worse.

It ended up with me depressed, frustrated and stressed. The site and the pressures that come with it didn't help. Add in a relationship that needs attention and love, a car accident and more, and it just ended up getting all wibbly wobbly.

I'm not quitting drawing, but I will no longer take money for it. I'm not an artist who should be taking commissions. Ever. I'll be following up with people waiting on commissions from me next week (when I get my paycheck) to square things away with them.

I sent refunds out to the original accounts who paid me. All of them went out last night. If your Paypal has changed since this started please note me, and I'll make sure you're squared away.

It's not easy typing this, but I need to come to terms with the facts. I do too much, and the more I do, the less I can focus on any one thing. I'm sure more than a few people probably are due an "I told you so" and "I was right" and I'm going to concede that, yep, you were. But I'd rather refund everybody. It's the right thing to do.

So, this weekend, I decided that I needed to focus on something. And I chose to make my only focus FA. I'll still draw, but I want the site to be my priority. We've got over 550,000 registered users, and we gain hundreds of users a day. The site needs a person willing to focus all their attention on it, and that person has not been me. That has to change.

Some of you have noticed some changes on the site recently, all for the better. That's what I'm focusing on. I want the site to be better, work better. I can't do that if I'm not focused on the site.

Again, my apologies to those who waited on me. I failed in that aspect. But I realize now, more than ever, I need to focus my attention on the site.

Just a note - I know I'm behind on art, but I'll start drawing and post again come Monday/Tuesday. Was in a car accident this week, and my arm's a bit bruised up. Trying to recover right now.

In the mean time, if you have questions and/or want a refund, feel free to note me.

FurFright was an absolutely fantastic con, and Sciggles and I had a total blast. I always love hanging out with the Jersey Crew. FurFright always manages to put on a good show, and they never disappoint. And absolutely /zero/ drama all con. Hell, I didn't even run into a single person I had an issue with. It was a freakin' flawless con.

Win.

Now back to working on FA stuff.

Also: you should all be watching our FF roommate,  kanthara. She's one of the coolest, most nifty people I've met in the fandom in years. Seriously. Go. Go watch!

Shout outs to: Crocdragon (I love that doodle you did for Sciggles, and it was fun hanging with you!), Daemonshyai and Lucian (for all you do), Damaratus, Silver Automatic, Skulldog (for being pure epic), IndigoAngelCat (I LOOOOVE THAT BUTTON!), Cooper Tom (thanks for the gift, and I ope your Fruit Loops treater you better than the horrific breakfast Sheffield's gave us), BadgerBen/Yiffer, Matthew Ebel, Skittles (for the boooooze), Reva Diehard, Myrilla, Miranda, Keto, Meezer (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) and everybody else we got to see and hang out with. Also, to all the suiters -- you are all full of win.

http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

I may not have been a fan of Apple, but I'll be damned if Steve Jobs wasn't a visionary. He'll be missed by those who loved and those who hated him alike. He changed technology by being aggressive and taking chances.

RIP, Steve

PILLS HERE

I found this interesting. I always knew about Placebos, but this is actually more interesting information about it.

Oh, I wish I was still doing the Link of the Day. This amazing video is just crazy-awesome. I love how easily the mind can be tricked and deceived.

So! Who's going to FurFright?

Sciggles and myself will be there, along with some of the other FA admins and crew. If you see us come say hey!

Forgive me, FA, for I have sinned.

- Bronyneer

Spike loves but three things in this world: gemstones, Rarity, and a fuckton of Monster Energy.
---> http://twitpic.com/6ky3u6

Yeah, yeah... seriously. I know. Don't hate. =3

Users can now permanently Opt Out of Viglink tracking on FA by going to the Control Panel > Site Settings and selecting "Out Out of Viglink". This is a permanent opt out, not cookie based and will not expire.

As a reminder, Viglink's tracking is completely anonymous (much like Google's), and does not record and personally identifying information. Tracking is optional, and if you elect to partake in it does benefit the site if you choose to allow it.

Thanks,
Dragoneer

So, first off, my apologies that the Terms of Service was not updated prior. I recognize that this was a failure on my part, and I apologize. We were doing some performance/review testing of Viglink, and unfortunately, we got knocked out by the various DDOS and a line card failure in our router this past weekend. Coupled with Irene, things got a little messy all around.

For those concerned about Viglink:
Viglink only tracks what links are clicked, and does not record personal information whatsoever. The information collected is non-PII, meaning nothing can be traced back to any person. The data collected is /only/ links people click from pages on the site and products purchased. Again, none of that data can be tracked to any person.

I understand people are concerned. The idea of "tracking" is not one most are comfortable with, but information collected by Viglink is completely anonymous. It's less intrusive than what Google tracks about its users (and people who can even be googled) on a regular basis (especially Google Analytics). Facebook, Amazon and many other sites track what you do, who you are. This doesn't. It only records that *somebody* clicked a link to eBay, or Amazon. Not who, just that a link was clicked.

Again, the information collected is completely anonymous.

You can opt out of Viglink by clicking here:
http://www.viglink.com/optout

Some users have voiced concerns that since this is cookie based it's not a long term solution. We're going to code in a small flag that will let any user disable Viglink tracking on the site if they choose (a more permanent solution). Again, it's completely anonymous. Nothing can be tracked back to you or what you're doing on the site.

There's a lot of mis-information out there, and I understand there's a lot of confusion. Hopefully this will help clear things up.

An interesting, refreshing innovation in the art world.

http://www.wacom.com/en/Products/Inkling.aspx

I think this deserves a proper "What is this I don't even?!". Sea foam tsunami?

I was on the 11th floor of my building, and had just opened a Dr. Pepper Cherry (my fav!) and set it down... when THUMP THUMP THUMP! Sounded like the world's fattest dude ran down the hallway. We kind of laughed, and I looked over at a co-worker asking, "Dude, please tell me you felt that, right?". And that's when what sounded like three gunshots went off inside our building, and the entire building... shifted. Not a fun feeling. Never dealt with an earthquake, and seeing shit appear to bend and crap start sliding off onto the floor is not a fun feeling.

Alas, my Dr. Pepper did not survive the day.

How you bastards in California put up with this is beyond me. DC doesn't get earthquakes like this. So yeah.

At least, on the up-side... we now know FA can shrug off a 5.9 earthquake. Just not our own users. =D

The devastation caused by the earthquake out here is horrific:
http://jmckinley.posterous.com/dc-e.....ke-devastation

EDIT: No, I'm not broken up about the Dr. Pepper. Just found it amusing.

Just a note - I know things are horrible delayed with the Iron Artist, but I have been continuing to work on them and will be posting regularly again. A lot has been happening over time, and unfortunately that's pulled some of my personal time away more than it should have.

That's no excuse, however. If people are impatient regarding the Iron Artist I am offering refunds for those who are no long interested in waiting. You can e-mail me at dragoneer [at] furaffinity [dot] net.

That said, I am continuing to work on them and progress will be seen very shortly. =3

Again, my apologies on the delays. I took on more than I bargained for when I made the IA's full color, and that sapped out a lot more time than I had intended. I still plan on carrying through and making right, however!

Our dog Odin -vs- a water sprinkler. He's a total derp. =D

Video by  blakdrgn who stayed with us for a weekend.