CARL MARSHALL: News from the Stratford Butterfly Farm

With venom up to fifteen times more toxic than a diamondback rattlesnake, the widow spiders (Latrodectus. sp) are one of the worlds most feared genus of spider.

Although they are not particularly aggressive, they have developed a reputation worldwide as a killer species though bites from these spiders have a tendency to be defensive rather than offensive. Effective anti-venom is also readily available, so fatalities from these spiders are actually relativity rare.

Our new black widow (L. mactans) was discovered in Oxhill, Warwickshire in a shipment of furniture last Thursday (Aug 30th).

She is settling in well and we at the Butterfly Farm are very pleased to have her in our bio-hazard enclosure.

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:

• Hell-Hounds on the Loose — Real-Life Baskerville Beasts...
• When Mothman Emerges — Cryptozoological fiction from Gina Ranall...

From CFZ New Zealand:

• Where have all the Greyling Gone? — Vanishing freshwater species of New Zealand...

DALE DRINNON: Denisovian Genome/Cedar & Willow/Benny's Blog

New at Frontiers of Zoology, Advances in the Denisovan Genome:

http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2012/09/genome-brings-ancient-girl-to-life.html

New From Cedar And Willow, The Pulp Heroes As An Extraordinary League:

http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-league-from-pulps-and-serials.html

New from Benny's Blog, Thelma Todd, Does Tragedy Haunt Hollywood?:

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/08/does-tragedy-haunt-hollywood.html

And The Flapper Dictionary:

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/09/flapper-dictionairy.html

HAUNTED SKIES: Daily Mirror 17.5.68

http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2012/09/daily-mirror-17568.html

I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

Good morning Culture Lovers. Today is a particularly strange one with all sorts of things going wrong. However, all sorts of things are also going right. It is just a strange day, and I will be happier when everything is sorted out. However, in the meantime...

The comings and goings within Yes are absolutely fascinating. There seems to be a cameraderie between Yes alumni which is more akin to what you would find between old army colleagues (who aren't necessarily buddies, but have seen action together). The latest dispatch from the veterans of the prog wars is that Trevor Rabin, has stepped in and suggests that Yes can't be Yes without Jon Anderson...

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/link-trevor-rabin-you-cant-have-yes.html

I so completely and utterly jumped to the wrong conclusion after reading this headline. I was about to pen a wonderfully vitriolic piece featuring Crass, Robert Wyatt and Andy T, when I realised that it was the wrong Thatcher. Annie Haslam is mourning the death of Betty Thatcher, the well-known poet. Aaaah.

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/link-annie-haslams-struggle-to-write-in.html

The family tree of Jefferson Starship/Jefferson Airplane/Starship/Hot Tuna etc is a massively complicated one,. and all stems from a massively productive and creatively incestuous scene in San Fransisco 40 years ago. Starship are a completely different band from Jefferson Starship (who are recording for Gonzo, and are coming to the UK next month whereupon Corinna and me and the CFZtv posse will film them for an exciting new project), but we would like to mark the passing of Starship guitarist Mark Abrahamian.

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/starship-guitarist-dies.html

Gordon Giltrap really is an extraordinary guitarist. I have seen him live on about half a dozen occasions, and am always awestruck by his prowess. I am really pleased to be in a position where I can promote the stuff that he does, by - for example - reposting this story about a forthcoming show in Herefordshire...

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/link-gordon-giltrap-plays-in.html

Another visit to the universe of Thom the World Poet

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_4.html

Some eminently groovy new publicity pictures of the lovely Liz Lenten from Auburn which are - I believe - totally exclusive to us. Auburn are supporting the mighty Jefferson Starship next month and I will be there with the CFZtv posse to film as much as I can...Watch this space.

http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/09/some-eminently-groovy-new-publicity.html

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

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/
On this day in 1928 the actor Dick York was born. York is best known for playing the first Darren in the classic American witch-sploitation sitcom “Bewitched”
And now the news:

Rare California seabird reported breeding off Mend...
Economy knackered: Recession sends thousands of Sp...
New DNA Method Tracks Fish and Whales in Seawater
Texas mayor killed by huge pet donkey
'Spineless' animals under threat of extinction
Too Hot for Love: Breeding Penguins Vanish from An...
3 cases of swine flu tied to fair - via D R Shoop
Hantavirus Deaths in Yosemite: More Mice May Be to...
No flight of fancy, this rare bird needs to be cau...

Darren meets the mother-in-law for the first time in Bewitched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYn3iobKZFA

COTSWOLDS 'BIGFOOT TRACK'

Dan Holdsworth 'solved' this mystery about six months before it happened. Check this out

KARL SHUKER: Cat attack

Having been researching cryptozoology for almost 30 years, I have received countless communications from correspondents worldwide – far more than I have ever been able to incorporate into books and articles. Thanks to my ShukerNature blog, however, I now have an additional outlet that I can use to disseminate information received by me, including reports such as the following highly significant one, concerning a British mystery cat or ABC (Alien Big Cat). Received by me almost 20 years ago, but never before published, it greatly deserved to be quoted in full rather than merely summarised, yet it was far too lengthy for inclusion in traditional hard-copy articles or similar publications of mine. Now, at last, it can be made public, in its entirety.

Read on...