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...




Wednesday, October 31, 2012

SHERI'S BLOG: Day 6 – Wednesday


We have a visitor this week. Sheri Myler, a student from the North of England is doing a week's placement with us. She is already very keen on cryptozoology and eager to learn. I confidently predict that she will be an asset to the cryptozoological community in years to come. However, we decided to put her to work, and each day she will be blogging about what she has been doing...


There was a special exhibition on at Barnstaple Museum, which had been organised by the CFZ. Five hours were spent giving colouring-in packs and talks about various cryptids and former cryptids to small children and their parents,

Fortunately, we were always quite comfortably away from being overwhelmed with children, so I was in no danger of having to do much with them. I have never known how to interact with children.

Whilst at the museum, it was arranged for me to be able to take a look behind the scenes and poke my nose into the attic and store-rooms of the museum. I have concluded that it would suit me slightly more to have a museum than a zoo, but I still want both and I need a library.

The entirety of my time in the museum was spent wearing a leather cat-woman mask (it was Halloween). We went to some lengths trying to convince a five-year old, named Maddie, that it was my actual face, however, she was unconvinced.

This evening’s cat hunt was to be the last of my trip. Though I do have one more day of work, I plan to finish early to prepare myself for the much earlier morning to follow it.

Though there were no cats to be seen, the hunt was far from dull, not because of the badger, but because driving around the country-side, through isolated farms and spooky moors, is a very fine way to spend Halloween night.


FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES (CFZ)

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. So, after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo, Corinna has taken the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.



    I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

    Yesterday's 'Fun Day' at Barnstaple Museum went rather well. There were more kids than I expected, and I hope that we enthused a few young minds. Today has begun with a shock; all the water is missing from our caecilian tank, and there are no puddles on the floor. All the inhabitants seem to be OK, but as I type, Graham, Sheri, and Richard are fixing up new accommodation. Today is Sheri's last day. We shall miss her and look forward to her next visit in the spring...

    We start off (as we do every day) with a visit to Thom the World Poet, for a poem which should really have gone up yesterday. However, rather than keep it for 12 months, I liked it so much it is up today...

    I just found this rather groovy interview with Michael Des Barres via a link on his website..

    Another review of the rather spiffing new DVD by The Move in the Lost Broadcasts series

    A brief news item about the ABWH CD/DVD package

    As regular readers will be awar, one of my favourite singers is Eric Burdon, and it is rumoured that there is a new album and tour in the works...

    I was very impressed by the performance of Cathy Richardson, the lead singer with Jefferson Starship when I saw them the other week. But until reading this interview I had no idea what a funny lady she was...

    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 Editor is an old hippy of 53 who - together with his orange cat - puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus.. did we mention the orange cat?

    TODAY'S BIG CAT ROUND UP

    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 should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. In September 2012, Emma Osborne decided that the Mystery Cat Study Group really deserved a blog of its own within the CFZ Blog Network.




    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today



    On this day in 2008 Nessie hunter Robert Rines died.
    And now the news:


  • Baby Beluga Whale Is … a Girl!
  • Fox returns stolen handbag
  • Sleep-Deprived Bees Have Difficulty Relearning
  • Three new crew arrive at space station with fish
  • Army of Nazi raccoons force Germans to admit defea...
  • Mystery monkey caught in Florida after three years...
  • Sneaky Cat Caught on Camera in Himalayas

  • A short documentary clip about Nessie, featuring Rines and his famous sonar photos:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeDQwKxDPYs