With the IAC going on, there was plenty of news from both Animalia and the Colonies. Most of the news was from the colonies was about incredible feats in sports.
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Elly was up next in the Shotput event. While she was normally quite shy, she had enough confidence to take part. After the "stand clear" siren got done wailing, she took the ready position and hurled the shotput. After official measurements, it was reported that she now had the record for farthest, non-Dinotopian, shotput throw. She was happy, not only at what she had achieved, but also at hearing her parents and her new friends cheering her.
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The coverage of Northland in Australia also had some sporting events there. Mainly it was surfing events because Northland was also a Northern Australia surfing spot. There was plenty of Aboriginal artwork there, with the centerpiece being a Dreamtime Mural showing Animalia's rise. It was more often interpreted, by foreigners, to be an abstract artwork, but fortunately Aboriginal tour guides were able to interpret what part of the mural meant what, mostly because they were "modern" ones that would dress traditionally during important ceremonies and wear modern clothing the rest of the time.
There were also realistic sculptures of "aboriginal" mythical creatures that were often so realistic that they were mistaken for taxidermized versions of said mythical creatures and were often posted on the internet as proof that they really existed. One such post showed the bunyip sculpture as proof of their existence, but it was eventually debunked as a real photo, but a fake claim.
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Dino City also had it's own special events, mainly about strength, speed and endurance, with coverage by JC and Arcelia. But there was also a few good surprises.
Sherry was rather surprised to reunite with Trenton, but was glad that he was ready to convert into a male Triceratops. She was able to get him sponsorship, and admitted that after his conversion and double-dosing Trenton was a real beast. Not only was Trenton a little taller than Shelly and a good deal more muscular, he was also more energetic and healthier.
Probably the most amusing event was his introduction to the other Dinotopians. While most of it went okay, the one that was both nerve-wracking and amusing was his meeting with the Utahraptor "pack". Not only did they approve of his musculature, the amount of innuendo they used made him slightly worry that they were either going to force themselves on him or just eat him, mainly because he had absolutely no experience with this, but fortunately, they made it know that they were just teasing him due to the fact that his "heritage" (that was the word they used) just happened to be "nerd".
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Probably the weirdest news was the latest donation from the TSA. They had brought a male and female pair of blue-footed boobies from the Galapagos Island that had been seized at the Sacramento airport. What made it so weird was the fact that they were supposed to go to the Sacramento Zoo, and the people who had caught them had managed to back up that claim with a call to them, but the permit that gave them permission to had expired less than a day before the two had been caught.
After some head scratching by both the TSA and the authorities, they were handed over to Animalia, partly because the goofy name made some people believe that they weren't real. But Countess Irena was able to explain some things.
"The name is actually a corruption of the original name given to them by Spanish explorers who encountered them in the mid 1500s. The original word for them was bobo which is the Spanish word for 'stupid'. The explorers thought they were stupid because when the sailors got really close to them, the birds wouldn't fly away, as if they had no fear."
One naturalist said, "I don't know if that is how they got that goofy name, but I can confirm that you can get really close to them." He then showed a video of him doing exactly that.
Eventually the people who had caught them were released from custody with nothing more than a minor fine for having an out-of-date permit, and the blue-footed boobies were uplifted, mainly because of the unusual chick-rearing habits, and some relationship psychologists wanted to see how that would apply to Animalians.
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The IAC Martial Arts Skill Challenges and Tournament was being covered by the GGAC who either weren't taking part, or were eliminated from the tournament. While they were on break, they were talking with the Japanese representatives they met last summer about the show they wanted. Jerry managed to surprise a lot of people because, while he was behind many of the more R-rated part of the GGAC LARPing adventures, he was also pretty smart about special effects and videos.
"As far as the video showing the spiderlike demon on the skyscraper is concerned," Jerry said, indicating the video the Japanese representatives put together to show them, "This is the major blooper. One of the flying crafts is seen clearly moving behind the creature. But when you compare that 'flier' to the buildings down here," he said, indicating said flier and the building near the lower edge of the screen, "which are closer to the viewers, you can see a huge mistake you left in there by accident. Nowhere in the real world or the world you're creating is there a 'flier' that big."