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, September 09, 2016

CFZ PEOPLE: Greg Braund-Phillips



Happy birthday dear boy. I am truly too young and pretty to have an eighteen year old Godson

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.








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: Utah wildlife board approves increased c...
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  • NESSIENEWS (Caveat Lector)



    Council officer snaps photo of TWO 30-foot monsters swimming across Loch Ness
    Ian Campbell, 56, from Argyll and Bute, Scotland snapped two shapes (pictured) 'swimming' in Loch Ness while out on a bike ride with his son Fraser, ...

    BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



    Mysterious Bigfoot Sighting Filmed In Australian Outback
    A Bigfoot -like creature dubbed the Yowie is thought to have been captured in amazing footage as it yomped through woods. The clip shows a dark ...

    THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN DOES HIS BEST NOT TO UPSET ANYONE, BUT OFTEN DOESN'T SUCCEED WHICH IS SOMEWHAT OF A PITY

    The Gonzo Daily - Friday/Saturday
    Today I seem reasonably awake, and getting on with things quite well. Corinna has a meeting this afternoon, and Graham is in Exeter. So I am left alone with Mother and the animals. Can I think of anything witty and concise to say? Nor really.
    And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
    buy my novel:
    buy my single:
    And now for the news................
    THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: The Sensational Alex H...
    BARBARA DICKSON - TV INTERVIEW (October 2009)
    Fairport Convention : Cropredy 1985 feature
    John Lennon The Final Interview BBC Radio 1 Decemb...
    COMING THIS WEEKEND
    Gonzo Magazine #198
    Alan discovers how Steve Ignorant - a motormouthed  punk  icon - swapped the Tourette’s  rage of Crass for a life as a Punch and Judy Professor. He also has a very Weird Weekend. Jon, however, muses on Al Stewart and reads about Miss Peregrine and her Peculiar Children. John says goodbye to Gilli Smyth of Gong and Doug gets a whiff of Perfume!
    Good ‘ere innit?
    And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney, and Friday Night Progressive and Canterbury Sans Frontieres. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a thrilling and slightly disturbing episode of Xtul. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and pademelons outside zoos(OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have escaped from captivity, 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:
    Al Stewart, Charles Manson, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, George Harrison, Pink Floyd, Prince, John Lennon, Mark David Chapman, Gregg Kofi Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Ozzy Osbourne, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Dwane "Hoot" Hester, Gene Wilder, Martin Stephenson, Jeff Wayne/Radio Luxembourg, Dee Palmer, Arthur Brown, Rick Wakeman, Pink Fairies, Captain Beefheart, Joe Cocker, Rick Wakeman and Mario Fasciano, Rick Wakeman and Brian May, Barbara Dickson, Alan Dearling, Steve Ignorant, Perfume, Gilli Smyth, Weird Weekend 2016, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Paul Rudolph, Bob Calvert, Xtul, The Monkees, Judas Priest, The Doors, The Beatles, Neil Nixon, David Cassidy                                                  
    Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
    Issue 197 (Gilli Smyth)
    Issue 196 (Paul May)
    Issue 195 (Dave Brock)
    Issue 194 (Auburn)
    Issue 193 (Genre Peak)
    Issue 192 (Rick Wakeman and Brian May)
    Issue 191 (Karnataka)
    Issue 190 (Erik Norlander)
    Issue 189 (Rick Wakeman at the O2)
    Issue 187/8 (Yer holiday special)
    Issue 186 (Beatles)
    Issue 185 (Judge Smith)
    Issue 184 (Mick Abrahams)
    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:
    SPECIAL NOTICE: If you, too, want to unleash the power of your inner rock journalist, and want to join a rapidly growing band of likewise minded weirdos please email me at jon@eclipse.co.uk The more the merrier really.
    * 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.co.uk
    * 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 57 who - together with an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two small kittens, one 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. 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 kittens?

    NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Friday/Saturday

    ON THIS DAY IN - 1836 - Abraham Lincoln received his license to practice law. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


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  • A mammoth undertaking: Can de-extinction be ecolog...
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  • Sick animals limit disease transmission by isolati...
  • Queensland shuts down 'inhumane' goat cull using p...



  • 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)