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...

Search This Blog

WATCH OUR WEEKLY WEBtv SHOW

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON

SUPPORT OTT ON PATREON
Click on this logo to find out more about helping CFZtv and getting some smashing rewards...

SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER



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...




Monday, February 18, 2013

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS ON THE RAMPAGE

And so another week begins, and Dave B-P deserves a medal for having done whatever arcane thing he did to British Telecom. Our broadband is almost back to normal, and so I can finally stop bellyaching about it! I am just waiting for the knackered hard drives to be un-knackered, and we can get on with our collective lives. This afternoon I have the results of my diabetic blood tests, and as long as they haven't found something nasty, I can happily get on with the rest of the week. Here's hoping.
Today's Gonzo Track of the Day is from Eddie and the Hotrods
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-gonzo-track-of-day-eddie-hot-rods.html
Merrell Fankhauser plays and sings with Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/02/merrell-fankhauser-with-dean-torrence.html
Gonzo scribe Davey Curtis has a pop pick for y'all
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/davey-curtis-recommends.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...

*  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) 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?

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:

CRYPTOLINK: Search for the Yeti InfoGraphic

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.




At OutsideOnline.com they have created one of the most fantastic visual timelines of the Himalayan Yeti's history. It is much too huge to show here at BLC, but after this second sample below you can go directly to this beautiful piece of art.The infographic is by Anne Rhodes and the research was done by Noah Aldonas.

The when you get to the infographic its is a vertical scrolling timeline breaking down the history of the Himalayas' most famous monster, from ancient legends to Russia's yeti museum.

It has a great punctuation at the end that provides all possible explanations of Yeti sightings--including the possibility of a real Yeti! 

CRYPTOLINK: 'Bigfoot' sighting in Lewiston?

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.


One nice, comfortable day I drove down to the Lewiston Landing and ran into three other old fossils hanging around; one was leaning over the rail expecting to see some gigantic fish swim up within sight so he could ooh and aah at the monster, the other two were checking to see what boats were out fishing, and we all started chewing the fat. We all knew one another because we were associated somehow within the fishing circles, or should I say fishing community. If you visit the Landing, it is likely you will see some of us old codgers parked in the handicapped area at the Landing overlooking the river.
One guy, Mike, the gabbiest, said, "Mark, did you hear about the 'Bigfoot' that was spotted last summer over off Balmer Road in the woods? Ya know, over there, between Balmer and Swann?"
After a chuckle from 'Crappie King' Bill and the others, I asked if he was serious. "Yeah!" Was his reply. I told him, "I think you watch too much Animal Planet on TV." Then I asked him, "Did you see it yourself?" "Nope, but my buddy said he heard about it."
I thought, here we go again, somebody's imagination gone astray. It was probably a deer, a big dog or even a coyote this person saw and the story grew into being a "Bigfoot" sighting.
I told Mike, "Do you realize 'Bigfoot' or 'Sasquatch' stories have been around since the late 1800s and yet up until today, no one has ever proved them to exist?" No one ever found an expired one where it could be positively identified. Then I mentioned, right here in our own Niagara River, we have something that has existed since the dinosaur days and it still exists today, and it's really real. When I said that, I was looked at like some kind of person that has lost it. Then Kool Jimmie, the coolest guy of the bunch spoke up and said, "Are you talking about sturgeon?" Yes, I told him. Lake Sturgeon to be exact.

DALE DRINNON: The Frontiers of Anthropology/Benny's Blogs

New at the Frontiers of Anthropology:

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.



OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today


Yesterday’s News Today

On this day in 1930 a cow flew for the first time. The cow's name was Elm Farm Ollie and was milked during her flight on the aircraft. The milk was put into paper cartons and parachuted down to spectators, who according to reports at the time eagerly grabbed this bounty from the skys more likely though they looked up at the sky and had just enough time to say “What in tarnation!” before being hit full face with a flimsy paper carton of milk that exploded all over their face and clothes. It must have been gloriously funny to watch.

And now the news:
  • Asian long-tailed skink (Eutropis longicaudata) wi...
  • First-ever dive into mysterious 'Russian Loch Ness...
  • Quick-thinking golf star saves own life after pote...
  • S.Africa opposes total ban on rhino horn exports
  • Python Challenge tally: Few snakes slain, but scie...
  • Cities Affect Temperatures for Thousands of Miles ...
  • Gelada Baboons Keep Sexual Infidelity Hush-Hush
  • Life Confirmed in Buried Antarctic Lake

  • Dancing cows: