WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Friday, September 19, 2014

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:
From CFZ-USA:

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

The hunt for British Big Cats attracts far more newspaper-column inches than any other cryptozoological subject. 

There are so many of them now that we feel that they should be archived by us in some way, so we are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.


  • US SIGHTINGS: Outdoors: Looking for panthers in Al...
  • US SIGHTINGS: Three big cat sightings reported in ...


  • NEWSLINK: The Spirit of Sher: Big Cats in Kyrgyzst...
  • FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

    What has Corinna's column of fortean bird news got to do with Cryptozoology?

    Well, everything actually!

    In an article for the first edition of Cryptozoology Bernard Heuvelmans wrote that cryptozoology is the study of 'unexpected animals' and following on from that perfectly reasonable assertion, it seems to us that whereas the study of out-of-place birds may not have the glamour of the hunt for bigfoot or lake monsters, it is still a perfectly valid area for the Fortean zoologist to be interested in.

  • Wildlife licences: can’t shoot robins, but Egyptia...
  • Rare British bird on the rise

  • Being social: Learning from the behavior of birds
  • NESSIENEWS (Caveat Lector)



    An open-water swimmer dressed as the Loch Ness monster poses after winning the fancy dress ...
    View An open-water swimmer dressed as the Loch Ness monster poses after winning the fancy dress competition before taking part in the annual ...

    WEIRD WEEKEND 2014: Friday Night Part Three



    The Weird Weekend is the biggest predominantly cryptozoological conference in the English Speaking World, and has been presented every year since 2000. The 15th Weird Weekend, was held on the third weekend of August 2014, at the Small School in Hartland. The whole event is being posted on CFZtv.

    Lars Thomas: Tales from the CFZ Laboratory

    THE GONZO BLOG HAS HAD A REFERENDUM ON INDEPENDENCE FROM THE DOO-DAH MAN

    The Gonzo Daily - Friday
     
    Well, guess what I was doing until stupid o'clock this morning?
     
    I had not intended to do so, but I stayed up all night watching the Scottish referendum results. I found the whole experience fascinating. It was probably the most exciting referendum that I have watched since my first one back in the February of 1974. I am pleased with the result but not for the sort of flag waving Land-Of-Hope-And-Gloryesque reasons that many people seem to be celebrating this morning. As a nation we are in deep trouble, and there are many things that are badly wrong. If we are to fix them, it will only be by a concerted effort of all of us, rather than by the Balkanisation of Britain.
     
    It seems to me that many of the Scottish politicians on both sides of the divide have more to recommend them than do the politicians of further south in out Scepter'd Isle. I think there is much that the Palace of Westminster could learn from the way that politicians in Scotland have behaved over this issue. But even that is not the best thing about the result. The people of Scotland have sent a clear message to those in Power over us all that the current system for all of us in the UK is not working and has not worked for a long time. We need a complete re-evaluation of our social and political infrastructure which will go far beyond regional assemblies and a measure of Home Rule. I would like to think that this is the beginning of something truly momentous for the United Kingdom, and I can't wait to see what happens next!
     
     
    Peter Gabriel, Mick Rogers, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Paula Frazer and U2 Fans, had better look out! The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#95) is available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/.
     
    It has the one and only Mick Rogers, singer/guitarist with Manfred Mann's Earth Band and the legendary Aviator on the cover, and an exclusive interview with the man himself inside. Doug Harr meets the lovely and massively talended Paula Frazer, and Jon critiques the new U2 album and is critical about its marketing. There are also new shows from the wonderfully eccentric Jaki and Tim on their Submarine, from the multi-talented Neil Nixon at Strange Fruit from Canterbury sans Frontieres presented by Matthew Watkins, and from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and long nosed potoroos (OK, no weird antipodean macropods, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
     
    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
     
    Issue 94 (John Ellis cover)http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/gonzo-weekly-94.html
    Issue 93 (Jaki Windmill cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/08/gonzo-weekly-93.html
    Issue 92 (Weird Weekend cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/08/gonzo-weekly-92.html
    Issue 91 (Galahad cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/08/gonzo-weekly-91.html
    Issue 90 (Steve Bolton cover)
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2014/08/gonzo-weekly-90.html
     
    All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
     
    You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
    http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/
     
    To make sure that you don't miss your copy of future issues make an old hippy a happy chappy and subscribe
    http://eepurl.com/r-VTD
     
    As well as the Gonzo Weekly, there is a daily service called - wait for it - The Gonzo Daily, and you can subscribe for free HERE:
    http://eepurl.com/OvPez
     
    *  The Gonzo Daily is a two way process. If you have any news or want to write for us, please contact me at  jon@eclipse.co.uk. If you are an artist and want to showcase your work, or even just say hello please write to me at gonzo@cfz.org.uk. Please copy, paste and spread the word about this magazine as widely as possible. We need people to read us in order to grow, and as soon as it is viable we shall be invading more traditional magaziney areas. Join in the fun, spread the word, and maybe if we all chant loud enough we CAN stop it raining. See you tomorrow...

    *  The Gonzo Daily is - as the name implies - a daily online magazine (mostly) about artists connected to the Gonzo Multimedia group of companies. But it also has other stuff as and when the editor feels like it. The same team also do a weekly newsletter called - imaginatively - The Gonzo Weekly. Find out about it at this link: www.gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
     
    * We should probably mention here, that some of our posts are links to things we have found on the internet that we think are of interest. We are not responsible for spelling or factual errors in other people's websites. Honest guv!

    *  Jon Downes, the Editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 54 who - together with an orange kitten named after a song by Frank Zappa puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish, and sometimes a small Indian frog. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his elderly mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange kitten?

    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    UPI.com

    Researchers claim evidence of Russian Bigfoot
    Researchers allege a bark sample collected near Moscow is evidence of Almas, the Russian version of Bigfoot, living near the capital city.

    Are Bigfoots Causing the California Wildfires?
    Bigfoot Evidence Shawn
    Shocking video evidence proves that Bigfoot is causing most California .... Tho website posts the dumbest shit and makes bigfoot look like a big

    Is This a Bigfoot Sighting or a Leaf Sighting?
    Bigfoot Evidence Shawn
    Dr. Squatch and Coseph of Bigfoot and Beyond were out scouting a new area the other day and inadvertently filmed something very interesting

    Yeti Hunters Say It's Come to Moscow
    (Newser) – People in the US have long been on the hunt for Bigfoot, just like those in Canada are in search of Sasquatch and the Himalayas lay claim ...

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE - FRIDAY

    ON THIS DAY IN 1819 - John Keats wrote "Ode to Autumn." 

  • The quick and the dead among tropical reptiles
  • Man bites and kills venomous snake in central Indi...

  • Turkey: Farmer finds two-headed snake - via Rachel...

  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)