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, January 30, 2017

(SMALL) WHITE POWER

Surprise emergence of the first cabbage white butterfly of 2017

The emergence of the first cabbage white butterfly of 2017 was a surprise even to the researcher who has been charting their flight since 1972.

Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, captured the first Pieris rapae of the year Thursday afternoon (Jan. 19) in the student gardens near the Solano Park Apartments, thus ending his annual beer-for-a-butterfly contest, where he offers to buy a pitcher of beer for anyone who catches a specimen before he does.
Earlier that day, he said he didn't expect to see one until February. The insect needs a series of warm days to fly, and the recent rainy weather had dampened the odds of seeing one.
"I never gave today a thought as a potential rapae day," Shapiro said.
He said it felt warm when he got out of class around noon, and he considered heading to one of his usual searching spots in West Sacramento. But instead, he got lunch and meandered over to Solano ParArt Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, captured the first Pieris rapae of the year Thursday afternoon (Jan. 19) in the student gardens near the Solano Park Apartments, thus ending his annual beer-for-a-butterfly contest, where he offers to buy a pitcher of beer for anyone who catches a specimen before he does.
Earlier that day, he said he didn't expect to see one until February. The insect needs a series of warm days to fly, and the recent rainy weather had dampened the odds of seeing one.
"I never gave today a thought as a potential rapae day," Shapiro said.
He said it felt warm when he got out of class around noon, and he considered heading to one of his usual searching spots in West Sacramento. But instead, he got lunch and meandered over to Solano Park.

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF



Possible Bigfoot Howls Recorded
Bigfoot hunter Robert Dodson shares some more audio he recorded recently in the mountains of SE Oklahoma. There's certainly some creepy sounds ...

Dog Walker Has Startling Bigfoot Encounter
After several weeks of silence from the local Bigfoots, we have a new witness report from my friend, Coralee. In this video, Coralee shares her recent ...

Dad and Kids Escorted Away By Bigfoot
Here's an encounter story about a father and his three children who were escorted out of an area by bigfoot near the Clackamas River. This type of ...

Check Out These Scary Cryptid Encounter Stories
I think that there are too many bigfoot BS stories out there. ... As long as people can make money with bigfoot, the sightings and blurry clips will ...


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 SOMEWHERE OVER THERE IN THE SHRUBBERY

The Gonzo Daily: Monday/Tuesday
And so, another week of fun and jollity begins. Chloe is back in the office which fills everybody's hearts with joy, and in California a specimen of Pieris rapae has emerged a month early. What does it mean? It can't be global warming because the president says so. I confidently await the storm of abuse about this comment is bound to engender.
Toodle-oo
And here is the news:
Al Stewart - Turning It Into Water
Pink Fairies - Naked Radio US review
Don Falcone US interview online
Frank Zappa // Interview Collection
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Gonzo Magazine #219
THE 'MARTIN PLAYED GUITAR' ISSUE
The legendary Martin Stone played with many classic rock bands including Mighty Baby, Snakefinger, Southern Comfort, Pink Fairies, the The 101ers, Wreckless Eric, and the Gibson Girls. He died at the end of last year, and Richard Foreman says goodbye to him. Alan eulogises Sendelica, Doug Shoop describes the Sweet Colleens, Kev trawls through more strange music, Doug Harr praises Circuline, and Jon reads about ”My Favourite Manson Girl", and remembers The Word magazine...
It’s all free!
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, Mack Maloney, and Friday Night Progressive (Jeremy Smith's new project The Seven Deadly Sins will be back next week). We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Roy Weard, Mr Biffo, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna. 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:
The Word, Gene Simmons, Bruce Springsteen, Cindi Lauper, Rod Stewart, Marillion, Ted Nugent, Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan, Richard Ashcroft, Rod Argent, The Zombies, Madonna, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Michael Alexander "Mike" Kellie, Jaki Liebezeit, Peter Overend Watts, Maggie Roche, Gil Ray, Claude Hudson "Butch" Trucks, Gordon Fitzgerald "Gorden" Kaye, Marvell Thomas, Mary Tyler Moore, Joseph S. "Joe" Ruggiero, Ronald “Bingo” Mundy, Karl Hendricks, Charles “Chuck” Stewart, Absolute Elsewhere feat Bill Bruford, Al Atkins, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Atomic Rooster, Lord Buckley, Tony Ashton & Jon Lord, Adrian Legg, Circuline, Alan Dearling, Sendelica, Doug Shoop, The Sweet Colleens, Richard Foreman, Martin Stone, Kev Rowland, Echoes, Henning Pauly, Horricane, Iluzjon, The Intersphere, Invisigoth, Mr Biffo, Roy Weard, Hawkwind, Xtul, Martin Springett, Led Zeppelin, Ramones, The Beatles, Rat Pack, George Harrison, Neil Nixon,
Country 'n' Irish Accordion
Read the previous few issues of Gonzo Weekly:
Issue 218 (Mark Reiser tribute)
Issue 217 (Dig Doug Harr)
Issue 215-6 (New Year 2017)
Issue 213-4 (Yule 2016)
Issue 212 (Greg Lake)
Issue 211 (Phil Collins)
Issue 210 (Nico)
Issue 209 (Pink Fairies)
Issue 208 (Leonard Cohen)
Issue 207 (Tibet)
Issue 206 (Raz)
Issue 205 (Pink Fairies)
Issue 204 (Gas Tank)
Issue 203 (The Gardening Club)
Issue 202 (Gong)
Issue 201 (Auld Man's Baccie)
Issue 200 (Deep Purple)
Issue 199 (Yes)
Issue 198 (Steve Ignorant)
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 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?

NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Monday/Tuesday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1649 - England's King Charles I was beheaded. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Bizarre Caterpillar That Makes Own Leafy 'Armor' S...
  • Climate change helped kill off super-sized Ice Age...
  • Scientists discover a way to sequence DNA of rare ...
  • Jumping spiders court in color
  • A long-running research and conservation project i...


  • 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.)