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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Monday, October 28, 2013

CRYPTOLINK: Sea monsters 'in distress' (Fiji Times)

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 (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 

Are the bodies of two giant sea serpents that washed up on Californian beach last week a sign of a looming major natural disaster? THE appearance of two rare sea serpents washing ashore beaches on the Southern California coast in the past week has prompted fears it could be a sign that a natural catastrophe is coming.
The giant oarfish were dead when they washed up on land, and some scientists believe they come ashore to die because they are 'in distress'.
The first sea monster, measuring 18 feet, was discovered by a woman snorkelling off the coast of Catalina Island on October 13. It took 16 people to drag it up onto the beach. The second silvery creature, measuring almost 14 feet, came just a few days later on October 18 in Oceanside, California. Oarfish, which can grow to more than 50 feet in length, are considered the longest bony fish in the world.
They typically dive more than 3,000 feet deep, which makes sightings rare and has fuelled various serpent legends throughout history. According to traditional Japanese folklore, oarfish rise to the water's surface before an impending earthquake. Scientists speculate it is because the bottom-dwelling fish are more sensitive to seismic shifts.

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 are 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.



  • UK SIGHTINGS: Panther sighting 04/05/2012
  • JAGUAR: YEAR OF THE CAT - Nature (full documentary...
  • NEW ZEALAND SIGHTINGS: Elusive 'panther' may be on...
  • Large Cat Sightings & Witnesses (Documentary)
  • FEATURE LINK: Wild cats
  • NEWSLINK: Feeding 100+ Tigers, Lions, Leopards...
  • UK SIGHTINGS: Wildlife expert believes big cats ex...
  • NEWSLINK: Two more tiger poachers held in Odisha -...
  • Mountain lion spotted walking Glendale hillside ne...
  • NEWSLINK: Nepal 'prioritised' for global effort to...
  • National Geographic - Wild Cats [HD Documentary]

  • US SIGHTING: Belmont Man Reports Mountain Lion Sig...
  • 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.









    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:
    From CFZ Australia:

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN PLAYS CATCH UP

     We have issues with Corinna's computer, my e-mails, and other stuff (including having no car at the moment) so, although things are continuing apace, it will be a few days before we are completely back to speed. I would ask your indulgence during this time. One unfortunate side effect is that about 30 people who usually get the Gonzo Weekly only will be getting the Gonzo Daily as well until my e-mails are sorted. I hope that this is not too much of an inconvenience.
    I have just finished reading Morrissey's autobiography (entitled Autobiography) and I must say that I was very impressed. It was almost as good as he said it was. The most impressive writing is the first third of the book, which deals with his life prior to The Smiths. Some of his prose is so good, that you find yourself re-reading passages just for the sheer pleasure of immersing yourself in such exquisite language. The section about his life within his most famous band is fairly perfunctory, and actually both the least revealing and least enjoyable writing in the book. But the last half of the book, dealing with his life after the band imploded, is much more enjoyable, though I am afraid it never quite reaches the same heights of literature as the accounts of his early days. A bloody good book, though! Oh, Morrissey; so much to answer for.

    Another visit to our old friend Thom the World Poet who celebrates the life of Lou Reed.
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_27.html
    The Artie Lange Show - Eric Burdon and The Animals Performs Water
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-artie-lange-show-eric-burdon-and.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: www.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 54 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?

    THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Lou Reed (1942-2013)



    Sleep well, Lou

    KARL SHUKER: His Very Own Crypto-Bird?


    Karl Shuker is quailing at the potential rediscovery of a long-lost species of bird.

    Read on...

    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today