Furries, we are everywhere. Tied into everything. The game with furries is just two-degrees of separation.
We are the glue that holds the internet together.

At least I think it's glue.

Thought you all might like to know, I have one!

http://sci-starborne.dreamwidth.org/

It's containing my day-to-day creative work. If you're not on DreamWidth though, the site also supports RSS feeds of blogs.

http://sci-starborne.dreamwidth.org/data/rss

Why is there no "costuming" submission theme?

http://scistarborne.deviantart.com/.....erie-156467771

Since it's not allowed on FA, think I'll have to split my uploads between here and DA. I don't like repeating myself, so they'll probably be only the best of the furry stuff also uploaded to DA.

Congrats FA, you'll get my fuzzy wheat AND chaff!

Stop whining, fibre's good for you.

Friday I'll be taking receipt of the entire UKFur shop, lock stock and barrel. Some bits will need restocking, but it should all go well alongside my fursuit sundries.
It is unlikely to be fully restocked by the next LondonFur meet (the 13th), but hopefully soon afterwards, and certainly by Confuzzled in May.

Saturday I'm also going to be collecting 2000 small stepper motors, with a view to eventually producing a few hundred low-power and fairly cheap 3D printers, which I imagine would be very handy in costuming circles for making hidden parts like smooth jaw hinges, internal supports, mounts for other parts..

Expecting a brief pleasant visit from an old friend, and to get the most recent batch of paw-pad orders shipped on Monday.

I'm hoping to expand in a few directions simultaneously. :)

Just won 2000 stepper motors on ebay. Muahahaha!

New casting supplies have arrived. Both 40 and 75-shore rubbers (75 has replaced the 80. Not so bad).
Got more white pigment so first thing tomorrow will be mixing up a better shade of standard pink to use.

I also have received three anvils.

Super-wide velcro should arrive in a day or so, and that'll make the footpads viable. In the meantime, the generic heel-pad will be completed.

Basically I got annoyed with ebay. Enforcing zero-postage costs on certain things means it's no longer worth it to list odd bits and bobs that may never sell and loose you money in fees. But the electronic odds and ends are still too good to bring myself to throw out.

I had a domain that's still good for a few months, so I've stuck a forum on it. I'd like to see if the idea of a sort of electrical/mechanical/scientific/oddity swap-shop could work out.

Keep a post on there about your own stuff you have to swap, and a list of the sort of things you might be interested in. If you're after something more specific, make a request post and see if anyone can provide.

It's been up less than 24hours, so it's not even early days yet, but I'd like to give it a shot.

Think of it a bit like freecycle, but without your post scrolling off the recent posts in 5 minutes and rather more tech/maker-biased.

Anyway, be happy to get any opinions and/or interest, and hear if there's any other groups that might be interested in it.

Linky: http://www.madscientistsunion.org.uk/

http://www.livestream.com/starborneworks

Do-de-doo

http://www.livestream.com/starborneworks

Live from the workshop

EDIT 9pm: And done. Went pretty well!

My fine.. $430.10.
How?? O_o;

Well my book "That 'Furry' thing" is now 61 pages long and just shy of 15k words. A lot of notes, but been messing with the layout options, with a view to publishing it eventually in Lulu Press' "pocketbook" format, which gives the lowest cost. Probably looking at 120 pages or so eventually.

Processing my remaining outstanding orders again. Last ones should ship on monday. Working on completing some artwork too. Fingers crossed folks! Will leave me with better moulds and a standing stock of default colours for people to pick from. Whoop.

I've deleted all my messenger contacts because there were so many dead accounts and people who I just no longer talk to. Re-add me if you wish.

Not going to be at saturdays LondonFur meet. I need to get caught up on orders. Plus my PU elastomer's spoilt. I'm going to have to change tactics.

My grandmother fell and broke her hip today. She'll be in surgery tomorrow. She's nearly 90.

She's my last surviving grandparent.

Thanks to arcaena for being my 100th watcher!

I feel all official and stuff now.

Thought I just hit 100 watchers, but no, still 99 on my userpage. So someone's unwatched me too? Or does FA just do some funky rounding or something? Only recount every so often?

It's just occurred to me there's an easy (these days) way of finding out who it is who uploads your pay-for comics and portfolios to file sharing sites.

Data can be encoded in images. Steganography and the like. Pick areas you're going to be pattern-filling in the images; a curtain, textured wall, whatever. Something random within the comic. Or even a choice of a few areas.

Get someone to knock up a modified graphic-generator script to fill the specified spaces with a unique ID-encoded pseudo-pattern that can only be detected from random noise with your own detection key.

Each download gets the images themselves, not the files, encoded with a download ID. Unless the person intending to re-upload your work for free intends to either knock the image quality down to something illegible or manually recolour every element, then all you have to do is feed the uploaded copy back into the program and you get the purchase ID of the original file the copys have been made from.
And so, presumably, the specific person who's been pirating your work.


May require additional notations in webshop Terms of Sale. And if you use the idea, feel free to send me a couple of quid.

Could also be used to ID high quality prints that are later re-scanned and uploaded. Presuming you generated a unique ID with each print and kept track of who you sold which to (so would probably require ref-code on print rear).

Likewise could be implemented in image galleries to stegan-sign all viewed images with the user account viewing them to trace forbidden reposting (as some pay-sites are doing, taking free-to-view works and using them without permission).

Will be very shortly! Gonna be working on the giftpic for ladykix. And still have hourrrrrss before midnight.

http://www.livestream.com/starborneworks

New heated cabinet's now complete! Bigger, with full set of internal shelving! This will sidestep the recent issue of the workshop being too cold in winter for my resin works to set correctly.
This has me now set up for heated storage of dozens of simultaneous moulds to cure in.

I've also got the bench sander cleaned up and fitted new paper much more suitable for resin work. Previously the paper was both old, worn and rapidly clogged up. Got some nice loose-grit on there now. Acetone's a wonderful thing.

Also, I have a legit copy of Paint Tool SAI, and I'm rapidly getting to grips with it. Inking by computer now no longer seems a problem, removing my standing dislike of inking in real media (aka: one mistake and it's ruined).

I feel on good ground for a sort of metaphorical and professional "rebirth" in the new year.

Soooo clooooosssee....

..how long exactly did the email address confirmation email take to reach you? It's been like half an hour for me, there's nothing in the spam filters, none active on my server, and nothing's incoming yet.

Also posted this to the FA Forums, but since not everyone reads them, figured I'd best repost it here too, since it does effect us all by association.

The Coronors and Justice Bill 2008-09 became law today, and includes several provisions on prohibited pornographic images (not photographs) of children.

The final version is HERE.

From section 55 of the bill:

55 Meaning of “image” and “child”
...
(5. “Child”, subject to subsection (6), means a person under the age of 18.
(6. Where an image shows a person the image is to be treated as an image of a child if —
__(a) the impression conveyed by the image is that the person shown is a child, or
__(b) the predominant impression conveyed is that the person shown is a child despite the fact that some of the physical characteristics shown are not those of a child.
(7. References to an image of a person include references to an image of an imaginary person.
(8. References to an image of a child include references to an image of an imaginary child.


6b is the relevant section and is bolded. As a better typist than I said on the ukfur forums:

6(b) is intended to target those depicted as other than human. As a member of the government states: "I appreciate that that last point may sound unusual, but it is important to cover circumstance in which a person may try to avoid prosecution by amending the image of a child slightly—for example, by adding antennae or animal ears, and then suggesting that the subsequent image is not a child."

This is not a moral argument on whether cub porn is bad or not; this is a statement on what has just become LAW in the UK. If anyone in the UK has cub porn on their computer, then they now posses child pornography, and can be legally arrested and charged for it. Possible jail time, but certainly being entered on the sex offenders register as a paedophile, with all the legal, social and safety issues that raises.

And of course a website that supports and allows the distribution of what is now defined as child pornography will be marked as such and either blocked by UK ISPs or also become the focus of police investigations.

And while this may sound like this is only a concern for those who view the site in the UK, remember that police forces do not like paedophiles and readily share information internationally for rounding up international child porn rings.

I would think this would be an excellent time for Dragoneer to reconsider the sites stance on permitting cub porn. Before the British police report the site to the FBI for further enquiries.

EDIT: Well, Dragoneer's locked the topic on the forums at just 17 replies while it's "under review by the administrative team". I hope that it really is under review and it's not just being swept under the carpet, because it'll come back to bite everyone badly if it is. That would be more tacit support of it.
http://forums.furaffinity.net/showt.....ad.php?t=55791

I have my taxidermy coyote skull. It's a real one alright, and smells a bit like a rawhide dog chew. Seems to be a little debris left in one of the inner-ear channels.

It's interesting to look at. Tooth symmetry is impressive, fibrous nasal structures are very delicate, discrete brainpan. Roots of rear molars seem to penetrate through bone of upper jaw slightly. Possibly an artefact of the cleaning processes, though seems unlikely. Prominent cranial ridge, probably where muscles for ear or jaw biting motion connect. One premolar rather grey, so suspect a bad tooth. Surprised it seems to have tiny wisdom teeth at the back.

Should cast well. Just have to get used to it first.
Bone is porous. Unsure whether to try silicone of alginate moulds. Will investigate.

Will probably cast molds for upper and lower jaw in whole sets, then cast replicas for finishing and making masters.

4 more people and I have a hundred watchers. :3

Love you aaaaaall!