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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A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.
Rangers patrolling the Way Kambas National Park (TNWK) in Lampung claim to have sighted dozens of pygmies in a number of areas across the park. According to them, the pygmies sport dreadlocks, measure no more than 50 centimeters tall and do not wear any clothing.
“A number of rangers claim the pygmies grow their dreadlocks down to their waist. The first sighting by the rangers was on March 17 at 6:40 p.m. local time,” said TNWK spokesman Sukatmoko.
He added that several rangers patrolling the park claimed the pygmies were seen moving to the PT Nusantara Tropical Fruit (NTF) plantation. They were seen running from the TNWK forest to the plantation.
“Apparently, many fruit trees, such as banana, guava and dragon fruit, are grown in the NTF plantation area. If the pygmies like fruit, they might have entered the plantation for food,” said Sukatmoko.
A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. Elgygytyn Lake. Despite its extreme northern location, the lake has never been covered in glaciers — suggesting the presence of some unknown, primordial, life traces in its waters. Source: Petr Tikhomirov / Panoramio
The dive made by Dmitry Schiller’s team into the icy waters of Lake Labynkyr on February 1, 2013 could qualify for the Guinness World Records. The team members dived to the bottom of the polar lake at the coldest time of year, in Russia’s coldest region.
The dive has already prompted a blaze of publicity in the Russian media, not to mention the repercussions it has borne. Rumors abound that parts of the skeleton and jaws of a huge animal were found on the lakebed, with the help of camera technology.
The members of the Russian Geographical Society team have since denied this claim, but “Nessie Fever” was unstoppable. Both scientific and pseudo-scientific exploration teams have set off in pursuit of a Russian Loch Ness Monster all over the country.
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. Good news for most Scottish bird species as number...
And thats about it for this time just
wait another week for another rhyme There's just one thing left, we must not
miss that's to send our love to Rob and Kris
* 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: http://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 53 who - together with
his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and his new
orange kitten puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown
cottage deep in rural Devon which he shares with various fish. 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 cat?
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. USA SIGHTINGS: Large mystery cat spotted roaming around Tampa Bay area neighborhood
Think about it: you live in the mountains, it's freezing, you're not exactly a dish and you've got sherpas showing adventure-seekers from the West roughly where you live. You've gone underground. You used to let people see you all the time. Let's face it: you're bigger and hairier than most people you come into contact with so why not? What have you to be scared of?
All that changed, though, when you became famous, and now you just want to be left alone. Can't anyone relate to you and what you're going through? One government made a bit of an effort.
According to a recent article in Stylist magazine, archivists have recently discovered a memo from the American embassy in Nepal titled Regulations Governing Mount Climbing Expeditions in Nepal - Relating to Yeti. The 1959 document says that the Abominable Snowman may be 'caught alive but it must not be killed or shot at, except in an emergency rising out of self defence.' The memo was thought to have been released in response to what Stylist magazine's unnamed columnist calls 'yeti fever' in Nepal in the 1950s.
So the American ambassador showed willing, but since the document 'relating to yeti' advises you can be caught alive or potentially shot, it does look like your Persecution Complex is well-founded. Poor old yeti....
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.
Today I am taking my life in my hand. A
whole slew of my adopted nephews and nieces are all in the sitting room, arguing
about zombies with Nick Wadham, and playing an aeroplane game on the Wii. This
afternoon there will be nine youngsters between the ages of 11-21, plus various
middle aged Fortean types. A lot of cake will be consumed. No, 'cake' is not a
euphemism. Will my nerves survive it?
* 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: http://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 53 who - together with his orange cat (who is
currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and a not very small orange kitten
(who isn't) 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
cats?
On this
day in 2002 the Queen Mother died. The queen mother was a big fan of whelks and
every Thursday evening would insist that at least one member of her personal
staff would dress up as the mollusc and walk the corridors of Glamis Castle
reciting the Shakespeare play “MacBeth”, which was set there, before a large dog
was set upon them. To this day the title of the Master Wrangler of the Royal
Thespian Man-Whelk is one of the most sought after positions in the royal staff
even though it has been largely ceremonial since the queen mother's
death.
A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.
42 sheep were found dead from apparent animal bites on a farm in Honduras that was guarded by dogs and a few humans, too. What could be responsible for such weird carnage? Could it be . . . chupacabras?
According to Inexplicata:
Rumors about the Chupacabras have gained strength as a result of the death of a large number of sheep on a property belonging to a political representative of that province. Yesterday, at 5:00 a.m., when workers arrived at the property, they found dozens of dead sheep with injuries to their necks. Others had bled to death. Nearly 42 animals were lifeless and another 10 injured. The possibility that the death toll would increase over time was not dismissed.
A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.
He moves like a human. It’s just a man in a costume hidden by the grain of aged celluloid. There is no way that this hoax proves the existence of Bigfoot.
Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin’s 1967 footage, shot in Northern California, is not only easily the most reproduced footage of Bigfoot — it’s also the most attacked. Scientist after scientist has slowed down the motion and peeled back the layers to say that the creature on the tape provides no evidence for Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or any other variation of the hairy giant that has captured public imagination for centuries and, if ancient records are to be believed, terrorized them for millenia.
A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.
TASMANIAN tigers are a step closer to returning from extinction thanks to an extinct frog that gave birth through its mouth, says a leading researcher.
Professor Mike Archer, a professor of palaeobiology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said yesterday he expected to see tigers roaming Tasmanian bush within his lifetime, after being brought back to life using gene technology.
He said an important step was taken in the past few weeks when a research team he was working with managed to create embryos of an unusual frog known as the gastric brooding frog, which became extinct in Australia during the 1980s. The frog incubated its young in its stomach and gave birth through its mouth.
He said the embryos containing the DNA of the extinct frog were created by using tissue from a frog that had been frozen before the species became extinct.
Researchers injected DNA from the frozen frog into eggs from living frogs of a similar species and produced cloned embryos that lasted for a few days.
Professor Archer began a project in 2000, which was shelved in 2003, to bring the Tasmanian tiger back to life and said the brooding frog success showed extinct animals could be brought back to life.
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. FDA delays approval of GSK bird flu vaccine
I also have two longer and
more complicated articles on Bigfoot I was still working on BUT I have a talk
show interview tonight. If I get one of them done tomorrow I shall post the link
later, but otherwise they are most likely coming out Monday morning.
Today we are up bright and early for a trip
to Dartmoor, via a James Bond-style assignation with the Danish sub-consul in a
car park in Ivybridge. My life gets stranger. There are 20 spoonbills which
overwinter in the UK and yesterday we saw one of them. That truly is a humbling
experience.
* 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: http://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 53 who, together with
his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and a not very
small orange kitten (who isn't), 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
cats?
A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.
You may have missed the big scientific news last week, but don't worry, I'll be happy to catch you up: According to the first issue of the DeNovo Scientific Journal, the existence of Bigfoot has been proved by DNA evidence. Supposedly, the big guy is a hybrid of human females and another unknown primate that mated about 13,000 years ago.
I know; you feel bad about overlooking something this momentous. But don't beat yourself up.
First of all, you've got a life to lead, and there's been a boatload of hot news lately, from the sequester to the new pope.
Secondly, it's not true.
There is no DNA "proof" of Bigfoot in this dubious claim, almost certainly because there is no Bigfoot.
A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting, usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me.
From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:
Sea serpent stories are developing into a subgenre in this column. Although the creature described here resembles the “DungeNessie” serpent sighted in 1892 in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, this particular sighting took place very near to the 1899 episode of The Sea Serpent That Got Away.
This article was found in the Dec. 7, 1855 issue of the Puget Sound Courier, published out of Steilacoom. The serpent was seen off of Devil’s Head, on the tip of the Key Peninsula. Then it took off and vanished between McNeil and Anderson islands.
Head transplants sound
the most crazy futuristic scenario imaginable. Right? But not to entomologists.
They’ve been transplanting the head of one insect onto another for 90 years --
while keeping both insects alive. What can you learn from giving an insect a
total head transplant?
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.
Today's mailbag included two infectiously
peculiar albums that are just about to be released on Gonzo: Sly Guitar by John
Ellis (who has always been one of my favourite guitarists) and Gridlock by Mr
Averill, which is in the same avant garde but both clever and entertaining
territory as the more insane end of Tom Waits. I confidently predict that
neither album will be off the office playlist for yonks. In other news the saga
of the missing Danish passport is nearly sorted out, and on Saturday I will be
taking my life in my hands in an unparalleled display of bravery: the house will
be full of teenagers and cake.
* 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: http://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 53 who, together with his orange cat (who is
currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and a not very small orange kitten
(who isn't), 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
cats?
On this
day in 1960 Chris Barrie was born. Barrie is best known for his roles as Lara
Croft's butler in Tomb Raider and as Rimmer in Red Dwarf, his greatest and
funniest role was that of the by-the-book leisure-centre manager Gordon
Brittas in the Brittas Empire.
From Her to Eternity by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Tago Mago by Can ColumbiabyBig Star Glorious noise perfectly suited to remastering old copies of A&M
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.
Easter's my favourite time of the
year
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.
New at Frontiers of
Zoology:
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