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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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

CAN ANYONE IDENTIFY THESE?

When Richard Muirhead and I were boys in Hong Kong, these insects were known as 'bloodsuckers'. I have always thought that they were juvenile praying mantids, but the fact that these two are mating would seem to refute that theory and indicate that they are not juvenile anything! C'mon guys, what are they?



Manchester's Monster Convention goes down a scream with horror film fans (Richard F was one of the speakers)

Fantasy-and-horror artists advised their hopeful fans at the Manchester Monster Convention over the weekend.

The convention was held at Sachas Hotel by Hic Dragones, a Manchester-based literature organisation that runs training events and publishes dark fiction.

The first talk of the two-day event was arguably the most anticipated as it featured Emmerdale's Dominic Brunt (Paddy).

The Macclesfield actor was accompanied with cameraman Neal Myers to show a clip from his directorial debut, a zombie horror named Before Dawn.

Mr Brunt and Mr Myers followed the clip with an entertaining and informative Q&A, where they revealed that the shoot was so meticulous that they hired a dental lab technician to design zombie teeth for the actors to wear.

Read on...

TODAY ON THE GONZO BLOG


Good Morning Campers! I'm your Uncle Jonathan and I welcome you to the Gonzo Holiday Camp...

This morning we have a bumper crop of posts with stories about Rick Wakeman, Jon Anderson, Michael Des Barres, Mimi Page, Jefferson Starship, and a mightily peculiar band called W.O.F...

First up, Jon Anderson contributes songs to a documentary soundtrack:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/link-jon-anderson-writes-music-for-new.html

Dan Wooding does radio interview about the new Rick Wakeman biography:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/rick-wakeman-dan-wooding-does-radio.html

W.O.F. Goodness me this band are peculiar. I like them a lot:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/wof-wtf.html

Mimi Page at Coachella:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/mimi-page-with-gladkill-coachella-2012.html

Free Concert time for Jefferson Starship:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/jefferson-starship-news.html

and finally, Michael Des Barres in Japan with Silverhead:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/michael-des-barres-flyer-for-tokyo.html

See you tomorrow...

HAUNTED SKIES: Times (The) 26.1.66.


http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2012/04/times-26166.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1912 RMS Carpathia brought 705 of the survivors from the Titanic to New York city.

And now the news:

RSPB Media Release: USE WATER WISELY FOR WILDLIFE'...
First ever photographic evidence of tigers in Namd...
Rare bird makes full recovery
Clueless Texter Bumps Into a Bear
Marathon-style bird watching race ends on high not...
World Rarest Tortoises Arrive in the US – via Herp...
Orangutan caught in snare as ‘sustainable’ palm oi...
Fossils Show Surprising Life of Ancient Swimming M...
Why Letting Salmon Escape Could Benefit Bears and ...
Fairy penguin stolen from Sea World, released into...
Alabama Ends Commercial Harvest of Wild Freshwater...
Despite Deadly Fungus, Frog Imports Continue – via...
Tackle Fungal Forces to Save Crops, Forests and En...
Feral Pigs Can Carry Nasty Bacteria That Can Be Tr...
Two-headed Bearded Dragon: One Head Eats, The Othe...

It's surprising they got away with this joke in Ghostbusters 2, but then it treats the disaster with more reverence than having a dog rapping about it being “Party Time” just before the ship sinks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93kYkIdQdFk

LINK: Darren Naish on 'The Cadborosaurus Wars'

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2012/04/16/the-cadborosaurus-wars/

Two renditions of 'Cadborosaurus' (upper one by C. M. Kosemen; one at lower right by Naish) with a pipefish. Not to scale!

ResearchBlogging.org

Over the last few months, I and two of my colleagues have been involved in an interesting dialogue in the literature. It concerns the entity dubbed ‘Cadborosaurus’ – a marine, horse-headed ‘mega-serpent’, supposedly reported by witnesses from the waters off British Columbia and elsewhere in the North Pacific. People who read my stuff (both here and in print) will know that I have more than a passing interest in cryptozoology, and especially in ‘sea monsters’; indeed, I’ve written about ‘Cadborosaurus’ quite a few times. As I always say, this interest in cryptozoology might be a dumb thing to admit, given the negative stigma attached to the field. And I’m sure that it’s based in part on adherence to the naïve and childish hope that sea monsters, relicts hominoids and such might actually be real.



Read on...

LARS THOMAS ON THYLACINES

We would like to welcome our old pal Lars Thomas and his blog - The CryptoDane - to the CFZ Bloggo network. To start here is an interesting post about thylacines...

http://cryptodane.blogspot.co.uk/

It seems to me that Danish cryptozoology (i.e. me!) is besieged by letters at the moments. During a recent clean-up, I came across a bundle of letters that used to belong to my mother. She died almost 17 years ago, so I had completely forgotten their existence. Never mind - I was just about to throw them away, when a single word caught my attention; "pungulv" - that's danish for "thylacine". The letters turned out to be from a friend of my mothers. She had emigrated to Australia shortly after the Second World War with her family, the Temmings, but she and my mother kept contact for many years until what was left of the family returned to Denmark in the early 70's.

Read on...