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...




Monday, April 02, 2018

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.

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 IS THINKING ABOUT WHETHER HE BUYS A MIXER

The Gonzo Daily: Monday/Tuesday
And so anther week begins. Yesterday I recorded with Mike Davis, tomorrow I record with a young lady called Sophie, todayI carry on editing the next OTT and trying to write deathless prose without too many spelling mistakes. Graham is in the roof space applying silicon fixative to the ancient roof tiles, and Corinna is writing letters. Mother is doing her wordsearch book, and the dogs are both cuddled up to her pretending to be asleep. Business as usual really.
ciao....
Forgive me for always banging on about our webTV show, but it matters a lot to me, and I would be grateful for as many people as possible to see it, and spread the tidings of it far and wide:
And if you fancy supporting us on Patreon:
And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore seems to be in order: if you want to make me a happy fellow, you can:
buy my novel:
buy the record by the main protagonist of the novel who isn't me in an elephant mask, honest:
buy my single:
But for now, here is the news:
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  Pink Fairies - Waitin...
Leonard Cohen on Q TV (CBC exclusive)
EXCITING CAPTAIN BEEFHEART NEWS
MAN TOUR DATES
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Gonzo Weekly #280
THE GIVE TREES A CHANCE ISSUE
In this environmentally aware issue meet the legendary Steve Andrews (aka The Bard of Ely) and talk environmental activism and the scandal of Sheffield Council's tree felling programme, Alan extols the virtues of Jonathan Wilson, John talks about David Sanborn and Yazz Ahmed, Doug writes about Neal Preston's new book, Jon raves about Jack White and muses on a book sort
of about Brian Jones.
#Hail Eris!
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, BUT Friday Night Progressive is on hiatus this week, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Kev Rowlands, C J Stone, and Mr Biffo AND the irrepressible Corinna, although Roy Weard is sady absent this week. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who have stood around in twos (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who have paired up under this weekend's blue moon, 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:
The White Stripes, Jack White, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Ronnie Wood, Nightwish, Yes, Trevor Horn, Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Jerry Williams (Sven Erik Fernström), Kak Channthy, Fergus Gordon Anckorn, Lys Assia (Rosa Mina Schärer), Shawn Elliott, Nikolay Yankov Kaufman, Seo Min-woo, Robert "Kooster" McAllister, Tony Klinger, Billion Dollar Babies, Man, Delius, Vaughan Williams, Edward Elgar, Steve Andrews, Doug Harr, Neal Preston, Alan Dearling, Jonathan Wilson, John Brodie-Good, David Sanborn Group, Yazz Ahmed,  Alestorm, Ammunition, Amor, Ampline, Anvil, Obituary, Operation Mindcrime, Rhapsody of Fire, Sebastien, Mr Biffo, C J Stone, Hawkwind, Martin Springett, Jon Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Kim Kinrade, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Johnny Cash, The Cavern Club, Neil Nixon, Foghorn requiem.
And the last few issues are:
Issue 279 (Biffo)
Issue 278 (The Beatles)
Issue 277 (Auld Man's Baccie)
Issue 276 (Dukes of the Orient)
Issue 275 (Martin Gordon)
Issue 274 (Steve Took)
Issue 273 (Live Dead 69)
Issue 272 (George Butler)
Issue 271 (Mark E Smith)
Issue 270 (Eric Clapton)
Issue 269 (Narnia)
Issue 267-8 (Happy New Year)
Issue 265-6 (The Who)
Issue 264 (John McLaughlin)
Issue 263 (The magic Band)
Issue 262 (DikMik)
Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
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 58 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, and two half grown 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 Archie and the Cats?

NESSIENEWS (Caveat Lector)




American tourist Dakota Frandsen of Idaho recently arrived in Scotland to spend their holidays. During a visit to Urquhart castle (Urquhart), which is located on the banks of the famous Loch ness, the woman saw how the water moves something dark and massive, according to the Chronicle.info with ...

CFZ MONTHLY NEWSLETTER #30

Dear Friends,

For those of you not in the know, at the beginning of each month we send out a newsletter to all members of the CFZ. The most recent (which went out yesterday afternoon) included articles on OTT, robot wolves in Japan, a flying porcupine, a mystery bird, Hong Kong countryside, ongoing arguments, Patreon, a new book on vampires, Notes and Queries etc.

The infrastructure of the Centre for Fortean Zoology has changed rapidly over the last few years and truthfully doesn’t look like its going to stop changing anytime soon.

The newsletter costs a quid a month (or the equivalent in your currency) and is delivered straight into your inbox by a plethora of tiny invisible elves, or email if your prefer it that way. You can sign up for it here: http://tinyurl.com/jtsq7ew

If you want to view a sample issue click here: http://tinyurl.com/pw7rw9l

NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Easter Monday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida. The next day he went ashore. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Mice change their appearance as a result of freque...
  • Fish accounted for surprisingly large part of the ...
  • First evidence of live-traded dogs for Maya ceremo...
  • ’Cold-blooded' pythons make for caring moms-Female...

  • 'Active protection' needed to help Angola's threat...

  • 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)