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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Thursday, July 23, 2015

CRYPTOLINK: Lake creature Minne is abruptly yanked from Calhoun

itempropA 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. 

Minne, the fiberglass creature that has bounced from one Minneapolis lake to another as a summertime adornment, has been getting too much hands-on love from admirers lately and was pulled Wednesday from Lake Calhoun.
The Loch Ness monster-like sculpture was removed because numerous people were making their way to Minne on paddleboards and climbing on its back and up the long neck of the 13-foot-tall piece of artwork.
Several photos posted Wednesday on Minne’s Twitter account, @LakeCreature, show people clambering all over the sculpture.
The abrupt drylanding of Minne was “out of concern over damage and for the safety of both Minne and Minneapolitans,” said Janette Law, director of external relations for the Minneapolis Parks Foundation, which helps financially support the city’s Park and Recreation Board.

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.

WW2015: Introducing The Grim (and its author)

There are only a few weeks left until this week's event, so I think it is time to showcase some of the attractions that we haven't talked about yet. For example:

Eleanor Piper grew up in the West Country and spent much of her time on the moors and walking the coastal paths of Devon. She has always enjoyed the ancient history and mythology of the county she grew up in. She will be talking about her exciting new book:

“In the darkness claws scraped against rock as something headed up out of the stygian gloom to hunt in the shelter of night.
            Silhouetted against the dying sunset a head emerged from the cave. Feline, graceful, powerful. It yawned. Even to a distant observer, the fangs would have been obvious. The creature was an apex predator, larger than a tiger and far more deadly. “

Mabel Cooper, Dartmoor National Park Ranger, must put aside her conservationist sensibilities when she is asked to help guide top big game hunter, Baxter Cobb, in his quest to track and kill the man-eater that was responsible for the death of a dog walker on the moor.

            But no big cats have escaped from the zoo. And as the death toll mounts, so do the questions about what this creature is. The hunters must come to terms with the fact that the ancient tales of horror, surviving as folklore for centuries, will turn out to be based on more than just myth and legend.

If you want more WW info:
http://www.weirdweekend.org/
If you want to buy tickets online:
http://www.weirdweekend.org/ticket.htm
If you want a picture of a comedy rhinoceros:
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QOvIot-i6rY/hqdefault.jpg

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



Watch: Bigfoot – The Treehouse film
The YouTuber writes "Filmed by a group of kids playing in the snow in their tree-house, this Sasquatch was measured by Bigfoot investigator Jack ...

'I want to find out the truth': Researcher tracking 'Bigfoot' near Toronto
Lau, one of the only Canadians accredited by the international Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), has been a field investigator since ...

Man Claims To Have Caught Well Endowed Female Bigfoot On Video
Birdman 649 shot the following video in one of his research areas, and believes he caught several bigfoot on video, including a female that is (ahem) ...

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 are publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in. 

The worldwide mystery cat phenomenon (or group of phenomena, if we are to be more accurate) is not JUST about cryptozoology. At its most basic level it is about the relationship between our species and various species of larger cat. That is why sometimes you will read stories here that appear to have nothing to do with cryptozoology but have everything to do with human/big cat interaction. As committed Forteans, we believe that until we understand the nature of these interactions, we have no hope of understanding the truth that we are seeking.

  • NEWSLINK/VIDEO: Big Cat's Release Into The Wild Go...
  • NEWSLINK: Death of Zimbabwe's Best-Loved Lion Igni...

  • NEWSLINK/VIDEO: Musical lions are a roaring succes...
  • THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN SKIPS


    The Gonzo Daily - Thursday

     
    I really shouldn’t have written what I did on yesterday's blogs. For those of you who are not regular readers, I had cheerfully boasted at what a nice day it was being, adding the caveat that I was sure that once I had said that everything would start to go wrong.
     
    Well sadly, it did.
     
    Nothing too important, but an irritating series of relatively minor annoyances that’s served to turn me from a cheerful chappy to an irritable pain in the neck. So im not going to make the same mistake again. The highlight of today, apart from interviewing the lovely Jaki Windmill, and later another chanteuse called Sophia, is going to Bideford hospital were they will hopefully not tell me that I need my foot amputating.
     
    Toodle pip.
     
    The Gonzo Weekly #139
    www.gonzoweekly.com
     
    Raz Band, Joey Molland, Badfinger, Stills-Young Band, Barnstorm, Fleetwood Mac, Gram Parsons, Roy Weard, Dogwatch, That Legendary Wooden Lion, Hawkwind, Jon Anderson, and Yes fans had better look out!
     
    The latest issue of Gonzo Weekly (#139) is available to read at www.gonzoweekly.com, and to download at http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/. It has Michael Raz and Joey Molland on the front cover together with an interview with the Raz Man himself inside. Doug looks at the updated and remastered edition of Yes' Relayer, John B-G goers to see Fleetwood Mac and Jon examines a book about Gram Parsons. Xtul are very near to a climax. Thom waxes all poetical like, whilst the legendary Roy Weard continues his regular column. And there is a radio show from M Destiny at Friday Night Progressive, and one from those jolly nice chaps at Strange Fruit. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons with books to peruse (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials in a literary mood, 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!!!
     
    This issue features:
     

    Sir Paul McCartney, Brian May, Keith Richards, Madonna, Richard Hawley, Rolling Stones, Barbara Dickson, Val Doonican, The Beatles, Galahad, Mirror System, Steve Hillage, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Omar Sharif, Michael Masser, Camille Bob, Third Ear Band, Arthur Brown, Inner City Unit, Hugh Hopper, Pete Sears, Captain Beefheart, Brand X, Genesis, Armando Gallo, Paradise 9, Lee Walker, The Lotus Eaters, John Brodie-Good, The Grateful Dead, John Haylock, Glastonbury Festival 2015, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Yes, Rick Wakeman, Trevor Rabin, Elton John, Chris Squire, Anonymous, Xtul, Elvis Presley, Corey Taylor, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Neil Nixon, Awesome Colour, TrollfesT
     

    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
     

    Issue 137 (Chris Squire cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo135.html
    Issue 136 (Neil Nixon cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo135.html
    Issue 135 (FNP cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo135.html
    Issue 134 (John Shuttleworth cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo134.html
    Issue 133 (Liz Lenten cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo133.html
    Issue 132 (Daevid in Brazil cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo132.html
    Issue 131 (Boomtown Rats cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo131.html
    Issue 130 (David Peel cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo130.html
    Issue 129 (Clepsydra cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo129.html
    Issue 128 (Louie Louie cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo128.html
    Issue 127 (Roy Weard cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo127.html
    Issue 126 (Atkins-May Project cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo126.html
    Issue 125 (Mick Abrahams cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo125.html
    Issue 124 (Karnataka cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo124.html
    Issue 123 (Cream cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo123.html
    Issue 122 (Anthony Phillips cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo122.html
    Issue 121 (Annie Haslam cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo121.html
    Issue 120 (Frank Zappa cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo120.html
    Issue 119 (Eliza Carthy cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo119.html
    Issue 118 (Dave Brock cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo118.html
    Issue 117 (Daevid Allen cover)
    http://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo117.html
     
    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, and a small kitten totally coincidentally named after one of the Manson Family, purely because she squeaks, 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, and the adventurous kitten?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Thursday

    ON THIS DAY IN 1914 - Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin. The dispute led to World War I. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk



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  • 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, and is completely the choice of Jessica who has christened today "Girly Thursday")