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, August 14, 2013

SHERI THE CFZ INTERN: Day 5 – Monday

The day started with the usual kitten alarm clocks and chocolate cereal. After my own feeding had been attended to we went about the animals to attend to theirs. Nothing terribly exciting happened with regards to the animals, aside from actually seeing the crow eat. The quails hadn’t eaten as much as usual, so were not given as much today.

This preceded replacing the water in the axolotl tank and wiping the glass.

After holding some panes of glass in place for Graham, we commenced clearing out the stairwell in the back of the conservatory. The entire space was full to the rafters. Around a third of this proved to be taken up by large empty boxes, which were subsequently piled into an enormous mound in the garden, ready to be flattened. A couple more bin bags of rubbish were also removed.

Things that were to be of use for the Weird Weekend were set aside in another big pile and everything else went back onto the stairs, including rather a lot of bubble-rap (for some strange and unknown reason). The overall volume of the stairwell seemed to be reduced by about half.

Quite a bit of time was then taken to calm myself back down after being accosted by so many large spiders. In fact, this was the end to today’s activities. 

DALE DRINNON: Monster catfish, Frontiers of Anthropology, Benny's Blogs

New at the Frontiers of Zoology:
 
New at the Frontiers of Anthropology:
(For some unknown reason Blogger has re-released this blog article and is calling it a new blog posting now)
 
New on Benny's Other Blog, The Ominous Octopus Omnibus:
 
Best Wishes, Dale D.

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

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 took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.



KARL SHUKER - MY LATEST BOOK, MIRABILIS, IS NOW IN PRINT


Karl Shuker unveils his newly-published, 19th book, Mirabilis: A Carnival of Cryptozoology and Unnatural History.

Read on...

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN HOPS UP AND DOWN

At stupid o'clock this morning I was sitting up with Sheri the Intern and the two kittens as Richard Freeman snored away happily on the sofa. "It would make perfect sense," I said, "that if on the busiest week of the year I got plenty of rest and didn't stay up all night drinking wine. However," I concluded, "things don't always work out the way we should. It is drizzling outside and this afternoon various worthies are coming by to erect the marquee, and various smaller tents, in order to turn my lovely garden into a third world shanty town."
Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet.
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/08/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_14.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) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange), 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 cat?

End the Sale of Live Animal Keychains

End the Sale of Live Animal Keychains

BY  
Target: Zhou Shengxian, Chinese Minister of Environmental Protection
Goal: Ban the sale of keychains that contain live goldfish, salamanders, and turtles in China
End the Sale of Live Animal KeychainsStreet vendors are selling live animals trapped in keychains in China as souvenirs. These souvenirs are becoming a new fashion trend, and should be banned. The animals are usually amphibians such as turtles, fish, and lizards, and are placed into small plastic bags that contain a liquid nutrient and oxygen that allows them to live up to “two months.” However, many of these animals die days later.
The animal bags, which are attached to metal keyrings, cost around $1.50 a piece. Buyers are convinced by vendors that the animals in these “live animal keychains” can sustain themselves from the nutrients in the water for many months. But the truth is these animals die from oxygen deprivation within hours or days. Without the ability to replenish their oxygen or nutrient levels, these poor creatures are left to slowly starve or suffocate to death in their little plastic bags.
Animals should not be kept in small plastic bags. These conditions are cruel. Thousands of these marine animals will die a slow death each year if this practice is allowed to continue. Sign the petition to demand that the Chinese government  make the selling of live animal keychains illegal in China.

CURRENT RUNNING ORDER FOR THIS YEAR'S EVENT


OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today



On this day in 1984 the playwright and author J.B. Priestley died. Priestley's most famous work was An Inspector Calls where a family of Tories are taught by a supernatural police inspector the consequences of their actions through their effect on a young woman who has recently committed suicide.

And now the news:

  • Germans hunt turtle after attack on boy
  • Minke whales being spotted more often off north ea...
  • Testicle-Biting Fish May Be Invading Denmark
  • UK bats may be immune to killer fungus
  • Extremely rare triplet cows born in England to stu...
  • Man teaches mice to skateboard
  • Glow-in-the dark rabbits created by scientists to ...
  • Wildlife survey at newly expanded Insh Marshes tur...

  • And here is An Inspector Calls: