Tag: News

Barkada FurFest is a Philippine camping event https://x.com/BarkadaCon

A need for better info about geography and accessibility

Good day (or night) everyone, I am Zeldstarro, a semi-furred dragon that really likes geography and travel. I have made a map of furry conventions which can be found here, and a map of other large furry events which can be found here. You can also follow my project on Bluesky, Fur Con Watch.

I made these maps not just to help other furries find conventions, but also because I had a special interest in transit accessibility. I believe that a good public transit system is an incredibly beneficial thing for any city it’s in, and for the world as a whole. So, I wanted to find one place to compare the locations of furry convention venues with their current transit accessibility (and walkability).

The most easily accessible source I found was a map on Wikifur. Disappointingly, this map was (and is) unreliable. It sometimes lists out-of-date venues and other inaccurate information, and includes events that aren’t conventions and don’t fit my purpose. This led to starting my own solution.

Zeldstarro’s map-making process

The first step was to start a map on Google MyMaps, then move to the better Open Street Map–based Umap. I showed it to a non-furry friend, and recorded hours of video lecturing about how some conventions were more centrally located and accessible than others. I wrote about it on Flayrah, which received quite a negative reception in the comments (as posts on Flayrah seem to receive, apparently). This process helped modify my interest to hotel-based conventions.

The wikifur map includes hotel and formal camping conventions, as well as night dances and camps that I wouldn’t count. It’s important to make this distinction, as I think Wikifur’s definition was too broad and would include furmeets that are far less formal, smaller and more manageable. I also wanted to differentiate hotel experiences that are mostly indoor, air-conditioned, and pre-booked for larger scale — from camping that is outdoors, farther from development, and possibly easier to book for smaller groups. This doesn’t make one kind better than another, just different. I also find the hotel kind to be fascinating and worthy of study. They are not easy to set up, and especially during the 2000s and earlier it wouldn’t have been easy to convince hotel chains (which are likely fiscally conservative) to host a nerdy, often queer fandom. (In my opinion, the “nerd boom” of the 2010s has made it easier based on the success of comic and anime conventions.)

My map comes from a personal mindset of researching and observing patterns (thanks to my autism), to which accuracy helps as much as possible. Once I shared this map and its usefulness, it got pretty darn popular. My original Google Drive map has over 90,000 views and my Umap version has more traction on Bluesky than I was expecting. I have differentiated it from Wikifur’s map by adding a separate, broader map of other large furry events (which includes camping) and included the years of founding when possible, as well as adding past conventions that don’t exist anymore alongside their Wikifur pages. I wanted to introduce furry history and trivia about where conventions used to be, as well as where they are now.

The goal of providing these tools, and how you can help as fandom collaboration

As plain maps, these are useful for people that care less about geography than I do, to find out about conventions or furry dances in the United States and Europe. They could also find out about country-specific phenomenon, such as Kemoket and Furrymosa, which are furry-focused doujinshi fares in Japan and Taiwan respectively (there used to be one in Korea as well). As someone interested in traveling and exploring the world, experiencing the fandom from other countries’ perspectives sounds amazing, and going to a doujinshi fare or a convention in Latin America or a camp in Estonia could be an enlightening experience. (Mexico’s Confuror, by the way, is amazing, though I sadly haven’t attended since 2022 due to cost.) This shared value in loving conventions is something I intend to embrace as the map continues updating, as it has evolved far beyond judging transit accessibility.

I could go on about the geographic and cultural implications we could potentially learn with this map to the point of writing another post. Of course, that’s difficult to achieve by myself, and something I don’t want to achieve alone. I want others to notice inaccuracies and point out conventions I’m missing, or an out-of-date venue, instead of having to update it themselves through a hard-to-learn system like what Wikifur currently uses. I want furries in the future to learn about past conventions and help keep the map good, accurate, and helpful.

As for how you can help, simply DM me on my Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/furconwatch.bsky.social) or email me at [email protected]. It’s also possible to join me as an editor on Umap. I ESPECIALLY need help identifying conventions from non-English-or-Spanish-speaking countries, like Brazil or ESPECIALLY China (navigating the Chinese internet is difficult for someone who doesn’t know Mandarin). I could also use help with adding former furry conventions and former venues.

Overall, I am very happy that this map has been appreciated by so many people, and it should only get better over time.

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Try these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for news or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here. (Content Policy.)

A furry convention? In Cleveland? It’s likelier than you think! Furrest City: Mini-Con – Saturday 9/13 at the Sears Think[box] Please donate and register at our website! https://furrestcity.org

Now for the facts. They are taking Registration but it’s more like an application to be there. Reason why limit of 150 period.

It’s there 1st major event and we wish them well.

When does a furry bowling event turn into a mini con. WFS is it at their last event back in Feb they had 411 and they took over Kenmore Lanes completely. Look at the above photo that isn’t photoshopped there are videos on YouTube that back this fact up.

Truthfully there are fur cons that don’t see this many fursuiters

They are offering different levels of membership. Check for yourself via the link and see for yourself.

https://www.meetup.com/furlife/events/306871605/

While Mr. Ed gets most of the attention, he was preceded by Francis the Talking Mule. The original Francis movie was released in 1950, and would go on to appear in a total of seven, yes seven movies! Elvis had not yet hit the scene, and people in the 50’s needed something to do, so they translated to film from three short stories written by David Stern for Esquire magazine about a talking army mule who would only talk to a dimwitted lieutenant, helping him in his military and other ventures…

Now Francis was actually a female donkey named Molly, selected because she was easy to handle. She supposedly cost $350 to buy, but made millions from the film series. To create the illusion that the mule was actually talking, thread would be fed into the animal’s mouth which would cause the mule-actress to try and remove it by moving her lips. The same technique would later be used for Mister Ed! Francis would also appear in a 1952-53 comic strip, Francis, the Famous Talking Mule.

A talking donkey, however, preceded Francis in The Bible! In the Biblical Book of Numbers, Chapter 22, verses 21 – 39 we are given an extraordinary account of an Old Testament furry, a female donkey who had her mouth opened by the Lord to the extent that she was able at least temporarily to talk to her abusive master and engage in a dialogue with him!

It would seem that Balaam was a pagan non-Israelite prophet and diviner who was commissioned by Balak, King of the Moabites, to lay a curse on the Israelites. After divining and seeing that the Lord was really with the Israelites and that they could not be cursed, Balaam relayed his message to Moabite king, who would not take no for an answer. Yahweh then instructed Balaam to to follow the Moabite delegation to the hill upon which Balak thinks Isreal would be cursed…

On route, Balaam rode his donkey, who alone perceived an angel standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, and turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat the donkey to get it back on the road. Then the angel stood in a narrow path through vineyards with walls on both sides. The donkey pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. The louse beat the poor donkey again…

So the donkey moved ahead, and this time the angel appeared in a narrow place where there was no room to turn either to the right or the left. The donkey simply lay down at that point under Balaam, and the crud became angry and beat the poor animal a third time!

Then the transformation happened. The Almighty opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” Balaam answered his pack animal, telling her that she had made a fool out of him, and that had he a sword in his hand, he’d kill the poor thing right then! The donkey’s words revealed that it had been trying to warn Balaam about the angel, to which Balaam finally bowed and admitted his sin. Sadly, the donkey kinda drops from the Biblical narrative at that point, but is an early example of an anthropomorphic being, as well as an early animal rights advocate. One can imagine them being voiced by Eddie Murphy as in Shrek…

So guys, if you come across a talking mule or donkey, give them a listen…you just might become a believer!