Category Archives: News

New Look!

Welcome to my new website! We moved to our own domain but will continue to post all the same fuzzy and wonderful content!

With the new domain comes a brand new name – Fuzzy Today! This better reflects who we are and our content.

I will be working on giving the site a facelift, so for the moment do not worry about the drab and unfinished design as it will be gone soon.

Hopefully everything will be up and going as soon as possible. In the mean time, please feel free to follow what is now Fuzzy Today on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Thank you for visiting!

colablue
– Cola

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Giant Panda Cams are Back!

The giant panda cams at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo went down for maintenance but are now back in full HD, with uninterrupted video! You can currently watch on their website at AnimalCams on your computer, tablet, or phone.

The female panda Mei Xiang might be pregnant, but since cubs are born so small it is impossible to tell on ultrasound until the final weeks of gestation – you can follow cub updates on twitter at #CubWatch.

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(source: Panda Updates)

You can see the video of Mei’s latest ultrasound, which she voluntarily participates in when she wants (she gets treats for it of course). Even though it is too early to see if she is having a cub the training involved in making such a medical procedure happen is quite interesting:

Again, you can watch all the adorable panda action on the Smithsonian’s website at AnimalCams.

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IKEA Monkey

Did you keep up with the news story about that pet monkey Darwin who was lost at an IKEA? His case is now in court to decide if he will be returned to his owner.

Here is the now famous “IKEA Monkey”

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(nydailynews)

If you did not see the original story, a year old rhesus macaque named Darwin was found wearing a diaper and faux shearling coat in a Toronto IKEA parking lot last December. He escaped his crate in owner Yasmin Nakhuda’s car while she was shopping in the store. It is illegal to keep monkeys as pets in the city so once caught by Toronto animal services Darwin was taken to Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary. Yasmin was charged with animal abuse but that charge has been dropped.

Yasmin wants Darwin back and is currently in a legal battle. She says she was tricked into surrendering the animal once coming forward as Darwin’s lost owner, did not know it was illegal to keep him, and that she is willing to move where it is legal to own such pets if the court allows his return.

She has a facebook page dedicated to her cause called Darling Darwin Monkey, which features pictures, videos, and a lot of debate amongst people for and against her cause.

The contents of the Facebook page depict her as a loving owner whom Darwin bonded with. But many animal activists believe it is cruel to own primates because of their needs and intelligence. Some can become aggressive and dangerous as they reach maturity. Macaques are known to carry diseases like Hepatitis B and Herpes which can be transferred to humans.

What do you guys think? Would it be better for a monkey born in captivity and bonded to a human to be given back to that person, or should the animal go to a more natural environment in an animal sanctuary?

I will update when the court makes a decision later this month.

 

Here are a couple pictures from Darwin’s Facebook Page:

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Pope Francis

Habemus Papam! Whether or not you are Catholic, it is a historic day. The Catholic Church elected a new pope.

Pope Francis, the first Pope from Argentina and actually the first Pope ever from outside of Europe.

Pope Francis I appears on the central balcony

It is indeed a historic day!

What were most media outlets commenting on earlier today? Why, the Sistine Seagull of course:

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(Business Insider)

image

(CTV)

This Seagull was perched atop the chimney which issues the smoke from the papal conclave vote burning, black smoke means no new pope and white smoke means a new pope has been elected.

The White Smoke which announced the new pope’s election earlier today:

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(New York Times)

There were actually a couple seagulls to perch on the chimney, and they are a common side around the Vatican. I guess it might be a bit boring to just watch and wait, but the gull was not that interesting. You can check out one of his many news story at CTV News.

The seagull also got its own Twitter account….yep, that happens these days. You can see it at SistineSeagull (warning: may contain offensive content).

If you would like to read a bit more about the new Pope, check out the National Catholic Reporter.

Birds News No comments

Monopoly Dog Game Piece Saved!

Good news everyone, the Dog piece was saved during the “Save Your Token” contest! I did not ever really think the dog was in danger, but you never know and it was fun to participate in the contest.

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The piece that was voted out? The Iron. I am not sure how I feel about that, I always thought the Iron was cool and even chose it as my piece when I could not be the dog. The Iron, Wheelbarrow, and shoe were all close in votes until the very end of the contest. I guess some companies got behind their favorite pieces with Ames True Temper making a video to support the Wheelbarrow.  Hasbro will immediately stop production of the Iron game piece.

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The piece that won to replace the Iron? The Cat.

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The options people got to choose from were the robot, ring, cat, helicopter, and guitar:

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Sad about the loss of the Iron, or that your new favorite was not chosen? Hasbro will release a special edition of the Monopoly game which will include all the old pieces as well as all of the new candidates on February 15. The new version of the game, with the Iron replaced by the Cat, will be released in the Fall.

To read the full story visit ABCnews.go.com

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Transit of Venus

Last night the planet Venus took a path between the Earth and the Sun, an event not to be witnessed for another 105 years. Did you get to see it? I did not get to see it in person, but there are amazing pictures of it online at the dailymail:

An amazing shot with a bird on a dome of the Taj Mahal in the foreground and Venus in the back:

Venus passing by as seen in Kathmandu:

Here is the Nasa high resolution image of the event:

All images found on Mail Online: “Once in a lifetime: Transit of Venus puts on spectacular show for the last time until 2117” I would encourage you to click the link and go see more of these amazing images!

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Tim Tebow’s Dog

Tim Tebow, quarterback of the Jets, has decided to change the name of his dog. Once Bronco, Tebow’s Rhodesian Ridgeback is now Bronx.

I do not feel like he needed to rename the dog – I mean at least the name is close so the dog might not be that confused by it. The topic has come up on Twitter with people suggesting other possible but funny names with #RejectedTebowDogNames. Some of the suggestions include Elway, Champ, Starter, and Spiral.

As a puppy:

You can read more about the story on Yahoo! Sports.

News puppies No comments

Iditarod

Yesterday marked the beginning of the 40th Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska. Sixty-six mushers and their teams of dogs will race for 8 days, beginning in the town of Willow, to reach the town of Nome. The race covers around 1000 miles, with the actual mileage different as start points are changed around. Mushers have teams of 12 – 16 dogs, and must have 6 on the tow line in front of the sled when they reach Nome. The first 30 to finish split $550,000 – with the first team to cross the line receiving $50,400 and a new truck.

The race is loosely based off the 1925 serum run in which a diphtheria epidemic threatened the town of Nome. The closest available serum to treat the disease was in Anchorage. No safe planes were available to transport it, so it made the trip first by train and then my a relay team of 20 mushers and over 100 dogs. No dog ran over 100 miles. The famous Balto was lead dog of the team which arrived in town with the serum – just five and a half days after it left Anchorage.

Teams of dogs starting the race:

(REUTERS/Wayde Carroll)

The dogs wear booties to protect their paws:

(AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen)

I think sled dogs are amazing, a wonderful example of a dog doing what it was bred to do in some of the harshest conditions possible. These dogs spend much of their lives outdoors, having thick fur which allows them to withstand freezing temperatures.

National Geographic also has a great set of pictures featuring military sled dogs. This is currently the only military dog sled team in the world which operates in Greenland, paroling the frozen coastline. There are 12 men who make up the team, and they complete a full investigation of the coast at least once every 5 years.

Here is a close up of two of the dogs:

Ariel shot out on the ice:

Dogs being transported by plane to the northern coast of Greenland:

Dogs kenneled outside, far apart so that they do not fight with each other:

(All photos taken by Fritz Hoffman)

News puppies No comments

SOPA/PIPA

Today many of the larger websites in the US have gone dark today to bring attention to legislation currently going through congress that would hurt the internet if passed as is. I encourage you today to look at and understand SOPA and PIPA, and if you can sign a petition or contact your representatives so that this does not pass as is.

Articles with links for further info: Mashable talks about why this legislation is dangerous, CNN Money discusses the legislation and why it matters, and a  New York Times article about the event today.

Here is a petition from Google: End Piracy, Not Liberty

I support the effort to protect intellectual property online and to make laws better in that regard. However, I cannot support these bills as they are with the ability to take down a website without having to prove that there is actually a problem. And doing it in a way that the website would not be able to recover or really even fight for its own reputation.

Here is what Wikipedia says about the legislation:

“SOPA and PIPA would put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won’t have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn’t being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won’t show up in major search engines. SOPA and PIPA would build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

In a world in which politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money, Wikipedia — and sites like it — cannot survive.

Congress says it’s trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the “cure” that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease. SOPA and PIPA are not the answer: they would fatally damage the free and open Internet.”

Some websites that are taking part in the blackout: Google (take a look at the censor bar over their logo)

Wikipedia has a blackout page on the english language version of their site (see it here)

wordpress.com has censor bars all over the main page stories, Moveon.org, Craigslist, Reddit, Boing Boing, Firefox browser creator Mozilla, and the Cheezburger network are all participating today.

Again, here is one of the easiest ways to voice your opinion – from Google: End Piracy, Not Liberty

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