CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the Track: 02/24/13

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...

Sunday, February 24, 2013

LEARN STUFF: CLIMATE CHANGE

http://www.learnstuff.com/climate-change/

JUST A QUICKY

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that the CFZ Yearbook for 2013 has still not appeared. The reason is simple. It is half done, but is languishing on one of the two knackered drives that are currently being fixed. In fact they have been fixed, but because the people who have fixed them insist on being paid by World Pay, the whole caboodle is taking longer than one would have hoped. Whilst on this subject, March's episode of OTT may also be late for exactly the same reason.

Never mind. Worse things happen at sea.

CRYPTOLINK: The Deadly Bigfoot Hoax and Why People Do It

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.

It was a prank gone bad – a deadly bigfoot hoax in fact for 44-year old prankster, Randy Lee Tenley.

For some unknown reason, on the night of August 26, 2012, Tenley decided to dress up in a Ghlilie suit (military sniper camouflage) and stand along Montana US Highway 93 just south of Kalispell. (1)

Some believe that Tenley was trying to play a hoax on motorists, hoping they would mistake him for a bigfoot since such sightings are regularly reported in the state. Whatever Tenley was thinking or his intentions were, he paid the ultimate price for his prank with his life.

Tenley was struck down by the first car to pass him driven by a 15-year old girl from Somers. The teenager was unable to stop in time. Her vehicle struck Tenley, throwing him to the pavement and right in the path of a second oncoming vehicle driven by a 17-year old girl, also from Somers.

The girl was also unable to stop and the vehicle she was driving ran over Tenley’s prone body. While what happened to Tenley was horrible, equally tragic is the trauma his prank caused these two innocent girls. His bigfoot stunt left a lifelong emotional impact on both girls.

Arriving on the scene, Trooper Jim Schneider conducted the investigation and after interviewing Tenley’s friends, told the Daily Inter Lake that Tenley’s motives were “to make people think he was Sasquatch so people would call in a Sasquatch sighting”. He also added that it was possible that alcohol and impairment may have been partly responsible for Tenley’s actions. (1)

Read on...

DOUG SHOOP: Boreal owl interruption

Every 4 years there is an influx of Boreal Owls into Minnesota. The voles must be at a low cycle further north, so the Boreals need to move in search of food. In late January of 2013 they started showing up in Sax-Zim and along the North Shore. Here is a compilation of video from 4 different Boreals taken between January 27th and February 8th.

http://vimeo.com/59795239

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.

TODAY'S BIG CAT NEWS

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.

SIGHTINGS UK: Big cat on the prowl in Edzell Woods...

NEWSLINK: Tiger Tourism: Can Travel Help Save Thes...

NEWSLINK: The legendary Cotswold big cats to be tr...

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS ROUND THE BEND

I really do enjoy sundays

'cos on the whole they're relaxing fun days
the door doesn't knock and the 'phone doesn't ring
so I don't have to worry about everything
except for scansion, metre and rhyme
because each week about this time
just when you thought it couldn't get worse,
I do the Gonzo Blogs in verse.
'Why?' you ask. 'Why Not?' I say
I've grown to like doing it this way,
but the real answer is, you see,
I do it 'cos it amuses me.

So let's start with our Track of the Day
I'm mildly embarrassed to have to say
that Sandy Salisbury's really good
but I'd not heard of him like I know I should
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-gonzo-track-of-day-sandy-salisbury.html

And now it is time (wouldn't you know it)
to visit my friend the world poet
as today he muses on
Mandela and George Harrison
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_24.html

A piece of advice now, I think you'd better
check out our groovy free newsletter
I'm very pleased and proud to say
#14 went out yesterday
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-gonzo-weekly-newsletter-14.html

I'm very very sad to say,
Geoff Downes' daughter has passed away
and the Gonzoteam (especially me)
send condolences to his family
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/yesasia-keyboardist-geoff-downes.html

And now another obituary,
We all were very sad to see
that a doyenne of soul and gospel song
one of Pop Staples' girls is gone
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/those-we-have-lost-cleotha-staples-1934.html

The first single The Beatles sang
was with Tony Sheridan
they changed the history of rock and roll
now Tony's dead (God rest his soul)
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/those-we-have-lost-tony-sheridan-1940.html

If you like progressive rock,
it won't come as a great shock
to find here, something to muse upon
an interview with Jon Anderson
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/link-jon-anderson-formerly-of-yes-still.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?