DALE DRINNON: Mokele Mbembe, Naiataka

I have posted notice at all of my blogs that unless Blogger fixes the problem, I shall be forced to discontinue the blogs. We shall see if Blogger takes any reaction from that. In the meantime I have released all the leftover bits and pieces that were being held back for whatever reason, so that I shall not lose whatever I have left in case I want to go back and finish them.

At this point the ball is in Blogger's court and they have done nothing so far.

Longnecked Mokele Mbembe from PURSUIT

"Naiataka" Error in Petroglyph reproduction

Administrative Notice

ONE OF THE NICEST BLOGS I HAVE SEEN IN AGES

Creating a mini "wildlife habitat" on a tiny balcony in Hulme, inner-city Manchester UK

I plan to regularly update this blog with practical details of how I created a mini “wildlife garden” on my tiny balcony, together with regular photos of the wildlife I’ve attracted so far.
I hope it inspires readers to think about how all of us can take practical steps to encourage and support our urban wildlife, and to see how easy it is to bring our fascinating “natural world “to the bleakest window box or inner-city balcony.

http://valiantveggie.wordpress.com/about/

IS THIS THE BEST PHOTOGRAPH OF BIGFOOT EVER?

A blogger by the name of Melissa Hovy has been maintaining a Bigfoot blog for quite some time now. It wasn’t until recently that the Sasquatch community caught wind that Melissa could be holding the ultimate photo of all ultimate photos depicting the big guy.

The story goes than four years ago Melissa was contacted by someone who claimed to have a clear picture of Bigfoot on a trailcam. The witness sent Mellisa the picture but wouldn’t allow her to publish it…until now, that is.

Here is the photo along with commentary from Melissa herself:

In early 2008 I was contacted via email by a person claiming to have photographed a Bigfoot. The photo is posted above.

The American Bigfoot Society holds the copyright for this image for any and all purposes. As stated in the last article, if and when the true owner of this photo steps up, we will turn the copyright over to them, and they can cover this.

Read on...

AT HEART I AM A VEGGIE - JUST MY CONVICTIONS DON'T LIVE UP TO MY TASTE FOR BACON SARNIES

http://www.beautomated.com/counter

It looks like Blogger won't let me insert CSS instructions, so I can't post this like I wanted to.

TOADS FROM THE TROJAN WAR

My favourite new blog (new to me not to the blogosphere) is Beachcombing, a history blog that regularly contains articles that would not at all be out of place here. Check this out

THE BOY REDFERN HAS A NEW BLOG

Hi

For those of you who may be interested, I have set up a single, unified blog where people can learn more about my books.

Here's the link:
http://nickredfernsbooks.blogspot.com/

Best
Nick

GUEST BLOGGER TABITCA: Bloggo research project

Hi (waves from Oop North).

Jon asked me to write this blog after he every kindly stepped into the breach and agreed to help with my research. I lost a blogger ,very careless I know, and was a blog short for my study. So what is all this drivel about and what has it to do with cryptozoology ?

Well due to a series of unfortunate events I am taking a year out and financing myself through an MPhil by research. By the end of it I will be penniless and possibly homeless but what the hell.... I will have learnt something and hopefully had fun. I have long wanted to get cryptozoology into mainstream academic view, and this is a roundabout way of doing it. The rise and popularity of cryptozoological blogs has shown how important this subject is to people from all walks of life and countries. By examining the blogs and websites and comments it is hoped to show how knowledge is passed on via a means that is understood and available to more than one generation, as tellers of oral histories did before the internet became popular.

My study is taking examples of blogs and comments posted and subjecting them to analysis. In order to answer the research questions a two pronged approach will be taken. The first approach is a sample of Blogs will be analysed using narrative analysis and coding the texts chosen, to try to evidence that they are narratives and oral tradition. By involving everything from how many hits a site gets to narrative analysis of the blogs and postings it is hoped to show how they are continuing oral traditions. With the advent of the Internet, a new medium has arisen which has pushed cryptozoology from the oral tradition into a new form of communication. This has a range of social implications as the speed and geographic ease of electronic communication sends the cryptozoological “stories” around the world. By analyzing this transformation it is hoped to see how the Internet and computer mediated communication will change the world of cryptozoology from fringe subject to a new oral tradition and given the respect it deserves.

Obviously it is anonymous and no one is identifiable from the excerpts I will use, but I would not use anybody's blog without permission. The same applies to comments posted, so if you post here and don’t want your words included my email is at the end of this, so just drop me a line and say do not use my stuff.

I realise by leaving my email I risk getting more adverts for Viagra and dubious surgical products than I do already, but that is life on the internet as we know it.

Why cryptozoology you may ask.....because I have been interested since 1971 after a visit to Loch Ness and have been back nearly every year since. I am in Durham at the moment, Big Cat Country and hope to be at the last day of the Big Cat conference if you want to come and say hello. If anyone wants to contact me and ask anything or just wants to comment, please do.

I am only a couple of months into this research so may not know the answers but will do my best to reply:tabitca@hotmail.com.

ITS IN OUR NATURE

Through the good offices of our old friend Dr Darren Naish, we have applied for, and been accepted onto the somewhat prestigious Nature Blog Network which is, as the name implies, a netweork of nature blogs. In one way I am very grateful to Darren for his kindness in thinking of us, but in another I am furious. This is just what I needed NOT!! Another distraction to take my mind off work!

This evening I have been supposed to be writing a piece about Charles Darwin to mark the bicentenary of his birth. Geoff Ward at the Western Daily Press who is a terribly nice guy, and who - incidentally - has a podcast of his own called Mysterious West which is never less than entertaining, always informative, and quite often features CFZ bods like me and Max Blake, commissioned it off me weeks ago.

But now, due to Dr Daz, I have found myself distracted by The Birdchick a blonde girl called Sharon, who has a mission to show the world that you can be a birdwatcher without being a geek. The fact that she is wearing a t-shirt proclaiming her as a `birding slut` was something that I found rather amusing.

Feral Thoughts is particularly interesting (note to self: remember to pass this one on to Maxy for reference in our alien animals project) because it is about the problem of feral animals in Australia. Any blog which tells of the adventures of Timmy the scat detecting Labrador has got to win my vote.

But there are dozens of others. Even as I sit here, late at night typing up a complaint about how much time I waste on the Nature Blogs Network I have found myself wandering through a whole swathe of fascinating blogs on a whole string of different subjects that interest me. Grrrrrrrrrr Darren. I may never do any work again.....

PS: Only joking

Plea in Mitigation

For nearly a decade and a half I have been running the Centre for Fortean Zoology - the world's largest cryptozoological research organisation. As it says on our website front page:

'At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is the only professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world.'
We have no outside funding, and all our money comes from membership fees, sales of our books, and donations. However, we not only manage to keep going, but over the years have mounted expeditions across the world - most recently to Mongolia (2005) in search of the fabled Mongolian Deathworm, to Puerto Rico (2004) in search of the grotesque vampiric chupacabra, and to Sumatra (2004) in search of a legendary bipedal ape called Orang Pendek.

People often comment that mine must be a wonderfully exciting job - after all, I lead a team of monster hunters, and haven't had a haircut in years! It is very true; what I do can be very exciting indeed, but it is often far more prosaic.

Because we are funded by public monies, I feel that it is only appropriate for us to share our activities with the people who pay for them. Therefore (and I can't remember who's idea it was; probably Corinna, my girlfriend's) I shall attempt to keep this blog going. I don't promise to do it every day, but I shall try to keep everyone who is interested up to date with what we all actually do here at the CFZ.

Once I have managed to keep this going for a while, I shall use my position of moral superiority to try and get some of the other core members of the CFZ team to do blogs as well. In certain cases it might well be the only way I shall ever find out what the buggers actually get up to all day....