As of tomorrow morning I'm off to Scotland for a few days.
Yes, I'm going even further north, shock horror.

The only thing about this that should be of any importance to anyone is that I'll be unavailable on most communication mediums until Wednesday.

People with my phone number can of course call or text through them means.

See you soon!

First, an inane ramble about why Grey would make the slorg to start with.

Secondly, the Slorg manifesto has been updated slightly! More changes will probably be made as I reorganise information to make it an easy reference.

Thirdly, I'm working on some sort of registration to find out who's really sticking to this slorg thing. Lots of people have registered interest in passing comments, but I want to see who's actually going to be using this idea in art or roleplay. It'll probably be one of those ID-card type things you see.

Fourth, I'm probably going to make more distinction between short-term and long-term goggles. Such as weakening or removing some features they have. The long-term slorg are supposed to have it better off!

Fifth, goggle interface designs. You've already seen life through Grey eyes, but I think I should make a more consistent design that can be used across the slorg (even if they're pretty customisable anyway and have no need to be consistent at all!)

After drawing this little pic I ended up writing much more about the slorg and how they work. I've already passed it around a bit, but here it is in delightful FA journal format, some details have been changed.

[Since moved to Diary of a Fatbat]

 selph
The first documented use of "OMG" to mean "Oh My God" was a letter written in 1917. "FYI" (For Your Information) in 1941 and "LOL" in 1960 (although back then it meant "Little Old Lady".

Ahaha, I must have a fetish for collecting data, judging by how much I do it.

This time I spent ~ 1 hour trawling through my galleries (main galleries AND scraps) at robomilk, toribelliachi and alexgrey to find which individuals appear most often in my artwork. I didn't do this for any real reason, it was just a sudden pondering that I decided to act upon.

I only counted visual art (images and Flash animations), artwork that was originally drawn by me (none of other people's work that I uploaded or modified), and only counted each piece as one regardless of how many times a person would appear (a picture with eleven Hiros has the same weighting as a picture with one Hiro). This probably skews things a little, but I'm not counting all those damn Hiros

I'm removing myself from this list: all versions of my fursona (which appear in 51.52% of images) and my human-y self (5.22% of images). I'm also removing generic characters - such as non-fursona original characters that I created or one-off characters only common to one or two images (present in 4.57% of images).

1. KB (5.22)
2. Hiro Judgement (3.70)
3. Selkies (3.26)
4. Daryl (2.17)
5=. Blue (1.74)
5=. Minh Ande
7=. CJ Kitmyth (1.52)
7=. Khress
7=. Jace Furse
10. Gullible (1.30)
11. Range (1.09)
12=. Bungle Bearskunk (0.87)
12=. Decker
12=. Hypr
12=. Renai Almante
16=. Glaz (0.65)
16=. Lazerus
16=. Alison Wolfrapp
16=. Sosh
20=. DragoMike (0.43)
20=. Okina Tyan
20=. Racoon Drew
20=. Selph
20=. SevenFisher
25=. A Furry Dream (0.22)
25=. Comrade Zed
25=. Cyan
25=. emptyF
25=. Gizmo
25=. Khatoblepas
25=. Noodles Husky
25=. Samael
25=. Sashbandit
25=. Scooter
25=. Silver R Wolfe
25=. SpecOpsBear
25=. Tolstoy
25=. Tombfyre
25=. TR Wolf
25=. Truck
25=. Ziggy Cabbit

Stolen from a variety of people!

Four Jobs I've Had
- Administrative assistant at a primary school
- Computer maintenance person at a computer store
- Head of graphic design at MyFursona
- Freelance web designer/developer

Four Movies I Can Watch Over And Over
- FernGully: The Last Rainforest
- Moulin Rouge
- Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
- V For Vendetta

Four Places I've Lived
- Burnley, Lancashire
- Nelson, Lancashire
- Cheadle, Cheshire
- Bristol, Bristol (Bristol)

Four TV Shows I Love
- Doctor Who
- QI
- Star Trek
- Neon Genesis Evangelion

Four Places I've Vacationed
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Canada
- Ireland

Four Of My Favorite Dishes
- Spaghetti carbonara
- Curry (all)
- Steak (all)
- Chicken (all)

Four Sites I Visit Daily
- Fur Affinity
- Gmail
- Facebook
- Tumblr

Four things I like to do in my spare time
- Coursework
- Minecraft
- Watching YouTube
- Talk to people

Due to lack of donations soshimojunai's TF2 server is shutting down.

Tonight it shall go out with a bang.

89.238.160.115:27015

Okay, now to deviate from the formula set out in the last thing, what was the first furry thing you actually drew? Be it stuffed in a drawer, lost in a Photobucket or still in your gallery - what was your first (and most probably terrible) attempt at drawing fuzzles?

My very first was just me, with a nose and some ears: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/139715/
The first drawing of an actual planned fursona was this: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/141019/ (it didn't last)
While we're at it, this is my very first attempt at drawing fatties: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/367043/
And this is the first blimped up Grey you ever did see (me draw): http://www.furaffinity.net/view/380385/

This is why I never delete old art, it's fun to go back and look at it again years later. The same applies to real life, I have reams of paper covered in drawings from half a decade ago stuffed in my bedroom drawer. I'm such an archivist :o

Anyway, any beginner art you folks wish to share?

Snatched off Tumblr, but a question I found intriging: What was the first piece of furry art you ever saw? I'm not talking cartoons, but artwork produced by furries that you knew was made by furries.

And just to get you folks in the groove,this was the first piece of (knowingly) furry-produced artwork I saw by captainfurry

I was an inflatey from the start :P

The Comic Relief charity is holding a 24-hour non-stop live web-a-thon of British comedy panel shows, and it's available online for the whole world to see! All you gotta do is put up with 5 minute videos of poor children every half an hour or so!

Watch: http://www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday/24hourpanelpeople/

Schedule: http://www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday/24h.....schedule.shtml

It's been three weeks since the last one, but goddamn I only just got around to it.

 Tendo
The longest kiss lasted 36 hours.

 Grapefruitbat
If you yelled for 8 months, 7 years, and 6 days, you would produce enough sound energy to heat a cup of coffee.

 Thanatos-Lazarus
Every British queen named Jane has either been murdered, imprisoned, gone mad, died young, or been dethroned.

 CataMoomba
675 million lbs. of turkey are consumed on turkey day.

 ryaku
7% of Americans claim they never bathe at all.

Yes, I can has!

85.236.102.40:30665 is the IP, don't wear it out.

Friendly mobs only at the moment, although we might turn on monsters at a later time.

Moderated by fatglaz, blue-darakan and alexgrey (me).

...I feel the need to open up in a lighthearted yet depressing blog post.

I love love, it's a beautiful thing, something to be cherished so deeply, clung to at any cost to yourself, it's magnificent, delightful, the greatest thing ever. It's a subject I'm so passionate about that it was the focus of one of my university presentations about my inspiration in life; I got so into it that I barely remember what I even said, except that it ended "There's a signpost. It's there because I encourage you to go out there and find love, and find passion, and find inspiration."

And yet, on this day of days, in fact every day, I feel alone. In my short life thus far I've gone though quite a few partners (hello there revengeboot, bunglebear, gullible and rangethebeagle!), but after the collapse of each relationship in turn it's just turned me more into a sorrowed fool. Some of these broken times put me in a depressive pit for months, the love lost from a small mistake or sheer consequence. It's horrid, horribly horrid.

I got over these failures, but it each progressive failure just kept bringing me further into the belief that I'm not good enough. I'm not interested in sex, I'm hardly interested in any physical part, I'm only there for the emotion - and often that's what I've taken for granted.

As of the last one, I've since abstained from love completely. I've removed myself from the "eligible and looking" list. It's so hypocritical, so ridiculous, that I can be such an advocate for love, yet remove myself from it; but I feel that's what needs to be done, to save my heart and those of others that will just end up wrung dry.

There are people out there that I would like to take things further with, given the opportunity, but I don't. I stop myself. It won't work.

I instead invest my love into people, my friends and comrades. It's not perfect, I need friends and comrades first, but it's better than nothing. Then a day like V-day comes up, half the population splash out and show off their love, the other half wallow in their lack of it.

Yes, it brings me sorrow in my darkest moments; yes, I do weep myself to sleep some nights, but I'll survive, I always do I guess.

All you need is love...
(Kind of funny that hali's "I Just Wanna Fall in Love" happened to come on while writing this.)

Sure has been a lot of new people in the last week o:

 Desert_Lion_Tallio
The Caesar salad has nothing to do with any Greek emperors, it was named after its creator - Caesar Cardini.

 ShadeRose67z
Fried chicken is the most popular food in America.

 Wes13
Some studies have found that bottled water is actually less healthy than tap water.

 johnlobo
One in three American teenagers have admitted to shoplifting.

 GuzzleXD90
There is a correlation between caffeine consumption and how often a person hallucinates.

 Yangus12
Being a black belt at a martial art does not show mastery, but competence. Truly mastering a martial art awards you a red belt.

 Clownhauler99
Only 15% of Americans know that David Cameron is the British prime minister. 18% thought it was BP chairman Tony Hayward, 5% thought entrepreneur Richard Branson and 2% German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Peeps who follow my fat 'n' furry Twitter account will know I've spent the last few days collecting and refining data about the most popular fursona species (or "phenotype") in the furry fandom. It's been collected through WikiFur articles with the assumption that they present a representative cross-section of the fandom at large.

The article on WikiFur only lists the 30 most popular species and provides details on how the data was colleccted, I thought I'd put the full list here for... I dunno, because I find it interesting.

1. Fox
2. Wolf
3. Dog
4. Dragon
5. Cat
6. Tiger
7. Lion
8. Raccoon
9. Rabbit
10. Skunk

11. Bear
12. Otter
13. Horse
14. Coyote
15. Cheetah
16. Hyena
17. Snow Leopard
18. Kangaroo
19. Bird
20. Rat

21. Gryphon
22. Leopard
23. Lynx
24. Ferret
25=. Cougar
25=. Dinosaur
27. Squirrel
28. Jackal
29. Deer
30. Bat

31. Mouse
32=. Dingo
32=. Badger
34=. Jaguar
34=. Pokémon/Pokémorph
34=. Bovines
37. Unicorn
38=. Orca
38=. Meerkat
38=. Red Panda

41. Panda
42. Lizard
43=. Dolphin
43=. Weasel
43=. Zebra
46=. Maned Wolf
46=. Lemur
48. Hare
49. Snake
50=. Serval

50=. Shark
50=. Hedgehog
53=. Fish
53=. Thylacine
55=. Phoenix
55=. Caracal
57=. Insect
57=. Minotaur
57=. Sheep
60=. Tanuki

60=. Chakat
60=. Clouded Leopard
60=. Marten
60=. Sergal
60=. Goat
66=. Ocelot
66=. Mongoose
66=. Monster
66=. Chipmunk
70=. Frog

70=. African Wild Dog
70=. Dhole
70=. Opossum
70=. Alligator
70=. Giraffe
76=. Smilodon
76=. Koala
76=. Crocodile
76=. Turtle
76=. Moose

76=. Oryx
76=. Porcine
83=. Skiltaire
83=. Centaur
83=. Gargoyle
83=. Quoll
83=. Wombat
83=. Mink
83=. Monkey
83=. Sloth

83=. Spider
83=. Pegasus
83=. Okapi
83=. Satyr
83=. Binturong
83=. Genet
97=. Asian Golden Cat
97=. Armadillo
97=. Platypus
97=. Ratel

97=. Wolverine
97=. Plant
97=. Human
97=. Ringtail
97=. Beaver
97=. Chinchilla
97=. Guinea Pig
97=. Seal
97=. Shrew
97=. Sphinx

97=. Gazelle
97=. Warthog
113=. Cephalopod
113=. Elephant
113=. Jaguarundi
113=. Cockroach
113=. Anteater
113=. Manatee
113=. Manticore
113=. Mole

113=. Porcupine
113=. Vole
113=. Hippopotamus
113=. Civet
113=. Linsang
113=. Walrus

All other species have no representation on WikiFur, and thus do not show up in these statistics.

But are friends electric?

All you people pointing out 69 in the last one are just smutbuckets >:C
Here, have some Amerifacts™

 TigerPillow
If the world's 6.9 million billion people lived in an area as densely populated as New York City, every person alive could live in Texas.

 falderal
Countries that have gained democracy through violent revolution include France, Poland, India and the United States - none of which Sean Hannity has heard of.

 GreenDragon101010
The United States is only the second fattest country in the world, there's a greater percentage of overweight people in Lebanon.

 ScraggyDraggy
462 American soldiers died in combat in 2010.
468 committed suicide.

I'm back in Bristol and university after Christmas! Woo!
I have far, far, far too many assignments that need doing.
(Including two websites, eight Java projects, and an accessibility interview with someone over 60)
I also have a website for sapphireamoerlevad to keep working on.
I spent an hour and a half making lemon fried chicken and rice. It was amazing.
I did a presentation about nature, engineering, music and love - primarily love. I think it went down quite well.
I almost managed to get a job doing web development.
I had to reject that job, because it required skills I don't have.
I got 99% on my first Media Technologies assignment!
And I'm starving. Someone give me something to eat! D8

You're all awesome and I love the heck outta ya. <3
I can't say that enough, and it's something I often neglect to do.

That is all.

Well, I have been for a few days, I only just defeated the jetlag though.

Hello Britain :D

A month of people to get through. Gawsh.
My holiday reading was a book on British history, of which I've currently read from the Stone Age some 3 million years ago, up to 1813. So my facts are all from there.

 zorrofeta
Prior to the Holocaust the greatest genocide of the Jewish people was conducted by the British.

 ZaneFur
The Battle of Hastings didn't actually happen at Hastings, but the nearby area of Battle. The Battle of Battle just sounded silly though.

 TheKyleWolf
King James I of England (also known as James VI in Scotland) was the person who coined the name "Great Britain".

 blackcorvo
King Canute is often berated for being so power-mad that he thought he could control the sea. It was not Canute who said this, but his followers - the King himself thought the idea was ludicrous.

 kaejer
The American Revolutionary chant "no taxation without representation" was not altogether accurate. Taxes were rarely collected from the colonies and by the time of the War of Independence the only tax that existed was on tea. The colonies did have a voice in the form of Benjamin Franklin, who advised the Prime Minister on colonial matters.

 Xeon-Dathy
The crest and motto of the Prince of Wales was stolen from the King of Bohemia, after the Black Prince (Edward of Woodstock, son of Edward III and father of Richard II) defeated him in battle.

Being 8 hours in the future has the advantage of celebrating Christmas and New Years eight hours earlier than all you plebs. :3

Have a good day to all you guys with the presents and the turkey feast, because I don't get either! :D
Nevermind, bug bites and burning heat will suffice.

Happy holidays!

Wow, already over half way through my hols to Malaysia. It's going by pretty fast, all things considered.

Internet access has been easier to come across than I anticipated. Four years ago (my last time here) the only 'net I could get was about two hours of dial-up for the entire length of the visit, and now broadband, wi-fi and mobile Internet are both readily available and quite cheap. Malaysia is a still-developing nation, but the pace of change is quite clearly noticeable.

The first few days were spent in Kuala Lumpur. It's a lovely city. The rest of the holiday (and where I am now) is in Serian, Sarawak - part of the island of Borneo. There's not as much to do as KL, and there's a lot more bugs - it's not a good trade-off, in my opinion.

Speaking of which, I have about thirty bug bites (primarily from mosquitoes and ants). They're itchy.

It's interesting seeing the contrast between what is old and new in Malaysia. The nation may seem primitive in some cases (open sewers are everywhere, laws saying you have to wear a seatbelt while driving didn't even exist a few years ago), but in others it seems almost futuristic (the public transportation around KL is a dream to use, and people can buy RFID tags for cars so they don't have to stop and pay at toll booths or car parks - the due amount is automatically docked from their accounts).

Politically it's a similarly mixed bag. The government has been running anti-climate change campaigns for years, as well as the "1Malaysia" campaign promoting racial and religious harmony. And yet on the other side of this, the media is mostly state-controlled or moderated, political dissidents can find themselves in a jail cell. The censorship in the media is very apparent, with anyone not supporting the government deemed "the Opposition" (no other parties apart from the governing one is named), and all news coverage of the Opposition is overwhelmingly negative.

(The use of the death penalty is mandatory for possession of unauthorised drugs, so you tokers in the house tonight probably won't want to come here any time soon.)

And some random things that I can't be bothered contextualising:
* Yesterday I went to Indonesia... for about half an hour. Border controls are apparently so lax that they just let us walk past the guards and armed troops.
* Pirated good are still rampant around the nation. Be they CDs, films, games or toys. You haven't lived 'til you've seen Grand Theft Auto: Spider City (something to do with Spiderman, I think) or the well known Deformation Robot series (Transformers).
* My aunt wants a website... a big one. Hurrah for income!
* I'm in a house with some 40 of my relatives, nearly the entire Malaysian side of my direct family. So... many... cousins. *drowns in them*

I'll be back January 3rd/4th. I don't know which, as it takes the better part of a day to get back to Britain from here.

See you folks later!