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MY MOVIES CONTEST ALMOST OVER
00:19 PDT 20 JUN 1999
Be advised that the deadline for the My Movies contest is almost over. The gates close at 23:59 PDT tonight, so be sure to head over to MyMovies and under New Releases fill in the form with the word 'UFie' in the Referrer field. That's it! The prize will be a large box chock full of CDs, movie posters and t-shirts, and if the winner is over 21, a bottle of champagne will be included. The raffle is open to any UFie, anywhere in the world; the MyMovies crew will ship the box wherever you may be located.

THE SAFE SEARCH ENGINE
00:07 PDT 19 JUN 1999
This is actually kind of interesting. Silverwolf sent in the URL to the new "kid friendly" search engine for Australia. Thought you (or other Ufies) might like to try it out and see what happens when you type in "controversial" topics. Regardless of my feelings towards the bill that the Australian Senate passed, I can see a use for this engine for children.

TUCKEROOS CONTEST OVER
00:03 PDT 19 JUN 1999
Five days worth of entries translates to a huge number of letters that both Garry (over at Tuckeroos) and I have to go through. With luck we'll have the winners by Monday night, Tuesday at the latest. Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit their entry!

FREEDOM OF WHAT?
16:10 PDT 18 JUN 1999
Bah. The news article that I posted last night regarding the squashing of a page by netbabbler was removed because I did some of my own footwork and actually gave it some thought. Without getting into details, I'm making it policy that I won't post news items unless I get both sides of the story first, disclaimers notwithstanding. It was actually my standing and unspoken policy to begin with, but lack of time and sleep as of late caused me to be sloppy. This is not a condemnation of Pike and his writing group, nor of netbabbler; I'm just irritated at myself for letting something like this slide.

TUCKEROOS CONTEST ALMOST OVER
00:08 PDT 18 JUN 1999
That's right! Get your entry in before midnight tonight or you'll forever be wondering if you could've won that pack o' good Aussie tucker. Garry of Tuckeroos and I will judge the entries over the weekend -- if all goes well we'll announce the winners on Monday or Tuesday! Thanks to all who have participated!

STAR WARS EPISODE I: SEE IT AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME
00:19 PDT 17 JUN 1999
Inferno wrote in asking people to consider obsessing again and going to see The Phantom Menace again on June 19th, a month after the original North American opening. More details at his website at http://www.swfans.net/. I've still only seen it once, so I really should go again, although at the moment my schedule just won't allow it.

ARCHIVED NEWS SHE IS BROKEN
00:18 PDT 17 JUN 1999
Yes, the news archives are broken. It's a few errors in the CGI that cropped up when we switched servers. Fear not, they should be fixed shortly.

HELPING OUR FRIENDS DOWN UNDER
00:04 PDT 16 JUN 1999
Quite a few people sent in URLs to pages containing email addies for the Australian Members of Parliament and Senators to use with the GroupHugs e-postcard that features the Ostrich cartoon. The e-mail addresses for the Members of Parliament can be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/EMail.asp; the Senators (who are the ones who really deserve the e-postcards mailed to them) have their e-mails listed at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/email.htm. You have the information and the tools. Now lets help our friends Down Under rattle some government chains. Thank you to everyone who wrote in with the URLs!

SITE FACELIFT UNDER WAY
00:03 PDT 16 JUN 1999
Yes, I've taken into account what everyone has emailed me on the root vs. /static issue, but in addition to that, people have expressed what they'd like to see in the way of changes and improvements, including and foremost a structure reorganization and better navigation. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to write me; be advised that the changes will be a little while in coming, since there is so much CGI underlying the new structure that I want to make sure everything integrates easily. Please be patient!

USER FRIENDLY JOINS THE NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY
00:01 PDT 16 JUN 1999
Yup, you read that right! It is with much happiness that I announce that I and User Friendly have been accepted into the National Cartoonists Society. What this means is that I now have the support and wisdom of the many hundreds of NCS members, and I have a chance to meet the Gods of the Cartooning World at the junkets and annual meetings, like Charles Schulz, Bill Amend, and (oh please, oh please) Garry Trudeau. My thanks to the membership committee over at the NCS, to all of the UFies who give me a reason to create the cartoon each day, and to Erik Sansom of Toy Trunk Railroad for being my personal sponsor and recommending me to the Society. (It's quite difficult to get into the NCS and even more difficult to find a current member to sponsor you in -- Erik, I'll have the money sent out to you via Fedex this afternoon, it's the amount we discussed plus the cost of the ink and paper you invested in writing that letter of recommendation for me.)

WHACK THE AUSSIE GOVERNMENT WITH HUMOUR
00:04 PDT 15 JUN 1999
Something to help matters a little Down Under. The folks over at GroupHugs have put together an e-postcard with the "Ostrich Cartoon" which might make a good one to send to Australian members of Parliament. Can anyone come up with an e-mail list? On a related note, Mark Reynolds spent his own hard-earned money in an effort to make the Aussie government take note: I faxed your June 6th cartoon off over the weekend to 296 faxes, not one error: 148 Members of Parliament, electorates and the Australian Parliament House fax machine. Awesome. Mark, I salute you. For those who are in the dark about the idiocy going on Down Under, head over to the Australian EFA website for the details.

TUCKEROOS COMBO PACKS
00:01 PDT 15 JUN 1999
If you haven't already been, head on over to Tuckeroos and check out the Tuckeroos Choco Combo! One of each type of Tim Tam and Mint Slices? OK, I'll be extending my daily runs to 20K (that's about a half marathon I think) so I can work off the creamy calories. If you order anything, let Garry know that Illiad sent you!

ISP FOR LINUX USERS
00:06 PDT 14 JUN 1999
How things are growing. Eric Berg sent in this link to a press release for AvTel's Internet Services Group adding official technical support for Linux users who use their Internet service. Think we'll ever see that with AOL? Nah, wrong market segment. And a plug: if you need 'net access from an ISP that does Linux stuff and you're in the Vancouver area or some large pieces of British Columbia, check out Paralynx Internet.

STILL SNOWED UNDER WITH EMAIL
00:04 PDT 14 JUN 1999
I thought I'd be caught up by now but I'm not quite. I should be able to get to everyone's email in the next two or three days. If someone could extend the number of hours a day from twenty-four to thirty, I'd be able to get to your mail a little quicker. In fact, I could have a life... :-)

USER FRIENDLY MUGS A-COMING
00:03 PDT 14 JUN 1999
We're just waiting for the prototype to show up, but we're busy putting together a deal on some very cool and high-quality mugs. These aren't your typical ceramic mugs -- rather, they're the aluminum/pewter looking steins with big black handles and a travel lid. The black-only artwork on it will be Pitr with a cup 'o Joe thinking: "What evil shall I do today?" As with everything we're doing in the merchandising arena, what we're most concerned with is the quality of the item. Only the best for UFies. ;-)

TUCKEROOS & USER FRIENDLY CONTEST
00:01 PDT 14 JUN 1999
The grand fellow behind the scenes at Tuckeroos has agreed to provide a special UFie Tucker Pack just for the UFie community! For those who haven't had the opportunity to sample Aussie cookies and candy, you're seriously missing out! The two leading products, Tim Tams and Mint Slices are the most delectable chocolate-and-cookie products I have ever tasted. More details about the UFie Tucker Pack will be posted later today or tomorrow. Anyway, here are the details for the contest:

Check out the simple panel cartoon and write a caption for it. It can be something the Dust Puppy is thinking, saying, doing, or even a narrative. The wee fellow is regarding a package of Tim Tams, so a caption that relates to Aussie grub or Tim Tams in particular would probably go over better than one that deals with thong underwear. Write the caption and send it in. Garry Black of Tuckeroos and myself will be doing the judging, and we'll be picking the best of the lot. Winners receive a parcel full of Tuckeroos goodies and a signed Dust Puppy T-shirt. The contest is open to anyone, anywhere, except where prohibited by law. One entry per person only please! Entries must be submitted by 23:59 PDT, Friday, June 18. Get writing!