FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES

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. 

So after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo Corinna took the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.





TODAY'S BIG CAT ROUND UP



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 which 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. 


  • UK SIGHTINGS: Mystery of Epping Forest 'big cat' i...
  • NEWSLINK: Attacks, deaths rampant at wild cat sanc...
  • NEWSLINK: Big cat killed
  • NEWSLINK: Tiger tamer attacked at circus show
  • NEWSLINK: Virus outbreak that killed 7 big cats ap...


  • BOSCH TIGER ADVERT

  • THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS TAKING THE DAY OFF

    The Gonzo Daily - Sunday
     

    And so another Sunday's here
    and so once again it's time
    to make sure Polyhymnia's here
    and do the Gonzo blogs in rhyme
     
    the way that I do every week
    with the slightest motivation
    'cos it amuses this poor freak
    and others in this Gonzo Nation
     
    So we start with issue 56
    of the Gonzo Magazine
    there are groovy words and pics
    and interviews to keep you keen
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/gonzo-weekly-magazine-56.html
     
    Issue 56 of Gonzo Weekly is out, featuring interviews with Percy Jones of Brand X, Pam Windo about her extraordinary career with her late husband Gary, Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and Robert Wyatt. We have Cyrille Verdeaux going through the Clearlight compilation track by track. We have Hawkwind live in Southampton, me on the new George Harrison biography, more news from Clepsydra and XNA, Doug Harr on Rick Wakeman, and Orrin Hare on the enigmatic L-Voag. We have a visit to a Victorian freakshow with Crystal Grenade and columns from C J Stone and Kev Rowland and more news, reviews, features and comments than you can shake a stick at. And its free.
     
     
    So as not to miss next week's copy (and also to make an old hippy editor very happy) subscribe here.
     
     
    But now to move on to the next
    news story (no we cannot linker)
    the Track of the Day is (I suspect)
    Joey Molland from Badfinger
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-gonzo-track-of-day-joey-molland.html
     
    And now I have (from me to you)
    a Belgian Deviants review
    which you might possibly have missed
    extolling the virtues of the anarchist
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/belgian-mick-farrenandy-colquhoun-review_15.html
     
    And now the latest Strange Fruit Show
    from Neil Nixon down in Kent
    now live on our web radio
    I'm posting it with good intent
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/strange-fruit-49-playlist_14.html
     
    And now something that I suspect
    you may not have heard (but wow it's good)
    the new album by Sky Architect
    if you've not heard it, you really should
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-german-review-of-sky-architect-google.html
     
    And our last post (and you should know it)
    is from our friend Thom the World Poet
    a man who is very good with words
    from the profound to the absurd
    http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2013/12/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_15.html
     
    And that is it from me this week
    I'm signing off, signed Jon the Freak
     

    *  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: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html
     
    * 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 54 who - together with his orange cat (who is currently on sick leave in Staffordshire) and two very small kittens (one of whom is also orange) - 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 orange cat?

    INAPPROPRIATE CORNER: Penis-Shaped Christian Science Church Doesn't Look That Much Like A Penis, Architect Claims


    These stories usually come from Richard, but this one was from Corinna
    This erection has church officials hot and bothered.
    A spokesman for an Illinois Christian Science church that looks like a penis when viewed from above has come out of the woodwork to decry the building's newfound Internet fame.
    "We didn’t design it to be seen from above," Scott Shepherd told SaukValley.com last week. Local architect John McLane, who did not design the church, told the site he believes it's "a little bit of a stretch" to claim that the aerial view of the structure looks like a penis. We'll let you decide for yourself:
    dixon
    The church, which is located in the town of Dixon (indeed), was designed by an architect who McLane guesses "probably" designed it that way by accident, according to SaukValley.com. Shepherd noted that the shape makes sense for the needs of the church because it allows for ample natural light as well as space for a sanctuary.

    CRYPTOLINK: Loch Ness - A Rediscovered Diver's Tale

    A 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. 

    Sightings of the Loch Ness Monster are rare, seeing it on land is rarer still, but the rarest of all sightings belong to those people who dive into the depths of the loch to unexpectedly encounter its most notorious resident. I could probably count all these stories on the fingers of one hand stretching back over 130 years.

    So, I was delighted to stumble upon this new (yet old) story of a diver who had an unsettling time of it in Loch Ness in the 1880s. I was perusing some old newspaper clippings in the National Library of Scotland when I came across this letter from a reader in the 9th December 1933 issue of the Dundee Courier and Advertiser.




    The text of the story is given below:


    LOCH NESS MONSTER

    Sir, As much has appeared in the press recently regarding the Loch Ness monster, perhaps it may be of interest to the readers of the “Courier and Advertiser” to hear a little more from one who for some years dwelt in the district of Dores, on the beautiful classic shores of Loch Ness.

    OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

    Yesterday’s News Today/Hieraŭa Novaĵoj Hodiaŭ
    http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

    On this day in 1859 Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof was born. Zamenhof created the artificial language of Esperanto from several European languages. Today Esperanto is the most widely spoken artificial language in the world with estimated numbers of speakers between 100,000 and 2,000,000.

    Sur ĉi tiu tago en 1859 de Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof naskiĝis. Zamenhof kreis la artefaritan lingvon de Esperanto de kelkaj eŭropaj lingvoj, hodiaŭ Esperanto estas la plej vaste parolata artefarita lingvo en la mondo kun estimas nombroj de parolantoj inter 100.000 kaj 2.000.000.

    And now the news:
    Kaj nun la novaĵo:

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  • Australian Eastern Water Dragon Rivals See Red – v...
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  • Surprise: Duck-Billed Dinosaurs Had Fleshy 'Cocks ...
  • Study of Rodent Family Tree Puts Brakes On Commonl...

  • WSPA exposes victims of London wildlife crime

  • Here's a humorous clip from Red Dwarf involving Esperanto:
    Jen humura klipo de Red Dwarf engaĝante Esperanto:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psidz_-s00c