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...




Friday, February 13, 2015

HILL TOP TALES: Two more posts

KOLO: Last July Ross bought his first ever little dog, a cockapoo puppy, who he named Kolo. I was bitten by a Red Setter when I was a teenager and was very reluctant to have a dog, although I grew up with family labradors when I was a child. Read on...

NARNIA: You will recall that one of my last blogs in 2011 showed Narnia, the small, grey, fluffy baby snowy owl, who was running around in the house. Read on...

BAD NEWS FOR THE THYLACINE EXPEDITION

Richard was due to fly out to Tasmania today for the second Thylacine expedition, but his gout has returned, his foot has swollen up like a balloon, and he can't walk. So he is forced to be languishing at home rather than  adventuring across The Outback. I am trying to contact someone on the expedition at the moment, but to no avail. This is a big blow especially for Richard.

We wish Rebecca, Mike, Tony, Chris and Lars all the luck in the world...

CFZ PUBLISHING GETS ITS OWN WEBSITE...AT BLOODY LAST

I promised you all that 2015 would be a year of big changes, and so it has been. And the latest is mostly due to the hard work of Dr Andrew May who pointed out to me about a month ago that there wasn't actually a proper CFZ Publishing website, which considering we have over 130 titles in various formats was absolutely ridiculous.

Not understanding such things I agreed, and - much to my great joy - he offered to set it up for us, and now, after several weeks bloody hard work on his part - it is now open for beta testing HERE:  http://cfzpublishing.co.uk/

The core of the site consists of two Amazon-hosted "cryptoshops", one based in the UK and one in the USA, where you can browse our entire stock and purchase anything that takes your fancy. There are also a few pages about our main imprints and authors, and a blog which will be regularly updated to bring you news of new releases and such like. We have also set up a dedicated Twitter account for our publishing arm, which you can follow to keep up with all the latest book news: https://twitter.com/CFZbooks

Can you please test the new site to destruction and send your brickbats and plaudits to me at jon@eclipse.co.uk  The site seems pretty stable now, although we've experienced a few transient glitches when pages don't load properly or links don't work. We're not sure if these are problems with the server or our own aging hardware.

Personally I think we all owe Andrew a big vote of thanks and/or a couple of beers...



FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

What has Corinna's column of Fortean bird news got to do with cryptozoology?

Well, everything, actually!

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.


THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN CLIMBS A HILL, BUT SOMETIMES HE FALLS OFF AND SOMETIMES HE DOESNT

The Gonzo Daily - Friday 13th
Unlucky for some.
I am not a superstitious man but I will make an exception for Friday 13th. It is a day that I dislike intensely. And today has started particularly badly for the Centre for Fortean Zoology. Richard was due to fly out to Tasmania today for the second Thylacine expedition, but his gout has returned, his foot has swollen up like a balloon, and he can't walk. So he is forced to be languishing at home rather than  adventuring across The Outback. I am trying to contact someone on the expedition at the moment, but to no avail. This is a big blow especially for Richard. Let's hope that the rest of the day works better.
The Gonzo Weekly #116
www.gonzoweekly.com
Peter Banks, Sidonie Jordan, Empire, Ty Segall, Robert Wyatt, Jon Anderson, Yes, Hawkwind, and Daevid Allen fans had better look out!
The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#116) will soon be available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/. It has the lovely Sidonie Jordan, one half of Empire together with the late Peter Banks on the cover and a fascinating interview with her inside. We also have an interview with the author of the new Robert Wyatt biography, and we confirm, that sadly Robert has stopped making music.  We introduce you to the new co host of Strange Fruit, and Doug Harr explains why you all should check out the multi talented Ty Segall, whilst Jon waxes lyrical about the Prog Rock FAQ. We send Jeremy Smith to a desert island. Xtul are on the road to Norwich, and there are shows from Strange Fruit and from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive, and the titular submarine dwellers are still lost at sea, although I have been assured that they will hit land again soon. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers wearing new shoes (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials in search of snazzy footwear, but I got carried away with things that rhymed with OOOOS) than you can shake a stick at. And the best part is IT's ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!

Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:

All issues from #70 can be downloaded at www.gonzoweekly.com if you prefer. If you have problems downloading, just email me and I will add you to the Gonzo Weekly dropbox. The first 69 issues are archived there as well. Information is power chaps, we have to share it!
You can download the magazine in pdf form HERE:
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/

* 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/…/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit
* 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 55 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa 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 infantile orange cat?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Friday

ON THIS DAY IN 1935 - In Flemington, New Jersey, a jury found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of the kidnapping and death of the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Hauptmann was later executed for the crimes. 

  • Peta calls for aquarium's cafe to take fish off th...
  • A new variant of the rabbit hemorrhagic disease en...
  • First gray wolf seen at Grand Canyon in 70 years k...
  • Dinos Got High, Oldest Grass Fungus Fossil Hints
  • Oldest fur seal identified, ending 5-million-year ...

  • South Africa considers viability of legal rhino ho...

  • AND TO WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK... (Music that may have some relevance to items also on this page, or may just reflect my mood on the day)