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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Thursday, December 14, 2017

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 ON SCHEDULE

The Gonzo Daily: Thursday
 
The last 24 hours have been difficult ones: one friend has terminal cancer, another has relationship problems and is presently flying across the Atlantic to sort them all out. Less importantly, we filmed all yesterday afternoon, Graham has done his back in, and I am not allowed to eat cake. I have done my best to help my two friends in their times of need, and to get on with preparations for all the work that needs to be done before what is euphemistically known as "The Festive Season". I am also owed a considerable sum of money from three different people. The first payment is due today, the second tomorrow, and I have my fingers crossed that it will all come through when it is meant to, otherwise I shall be up der Shitenstrasse ohne ein paddle!
 
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:
 
But for now, here is the news:
 
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Heavy Drinkers - The ...
MARTIN STEPHENSON NEWS
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
FAIRPORT CONVENTION NEWS
LEONARD COHEN NEWS
 
Gonzo Weekly #264
THE INNER MOUNTING ISSUE
 
As we approach Christmas, guitar legend John McLaughlin does something truly special, Mr Dearling goes to Parliament and sees an art exhibition in a railway station, Jon muses on Judge Smith's new film, we send Robert Schneck to a desert island, Jeremy reviews Larry Wallis and John listens to Quicksilver Messenger Service!
 
Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney AND Strange Fruit, AND Friday Night Progressive AND (because it was a full moon last week) Canterbury Sans Frontieres. We also have columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, Roy Weard, C J Stone, Mr Biffo and the irrepressible Corinna. There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and southern dibblers who have blown a fuse (OK, nothing to do with small marsupials who are not good at household electrics, 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:
 
Judge Smith, Adam Horovitz, Israel Horovitz, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Downes Braid Association, Yoko Ono, Jarvis Cocker, Neil Young, The Beatles, Yes, Cruise to the Edge, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Jean-Philippe Leo Smet (Johnny Hallyday, Christine Margaret Keeler, Carles Santos, Norihiko Hashida, James Mundell Lowe, Robert "Bilbo" Walker Jr., Magin Diaz Garcia, Michael I, Barbara Dickson, Jessica Lee Morgan, Rick Wakeman, Billion Dollar Babies, Tangerine Dream, John McLaughlin, Alan Dearling, Waterloo Station, All Party Parliamentary Writers' Group (APWG), Wojciech Grajkowski, Agnes Monod-Gayraud, Cressida Cowell, David Freiberg's Quicksilver Messenger Service, John Brodie-Good, Jeremy Smith, Larry Wallis, Kev Rowland, Monster Magnet, Quiet Riot, Ric Sanders, Rafael Senra, Quantum Fantay, Carol Albert, Catherine Howe, Hawkwind, Jimmy Durante, Katy Perry, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Beyonce, Neil Nixon
 
And the last few issues are:
 
Issue 263 (The magic Band)
Issue 262 (DikMik)
Issue 261 (Leonard Cohen)
Issue 260 (Amsterdam Squat Festie)
Issue 259 (Out come thee Freaks)
Issue 258 (The Devil's Jukebox)
Issue 257 (Judge Smith)
Issue 255/6 (John Lennon)
Issue 254 (Mr Biffo)
Issue 253 (Dana Gillespie)
Issue 252 (Cropredy)
Issue 251 (Scott Walker)
Issue 250 (Jamms)
Issue 249 (Bill Bruford)
Issue 248 (The Selecter)
Issue 247 (Don Airey)
Issue 246 (Steve Hackett)
Issue 244-5 (Summer Special)
 
 
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?

THYLACINES IN THE NEWS



This is a 109-year-old specimen of a young pouch thylacine (aka the Tassie Tiger) from Museums Victoria. It is special because it has much more intact DNA than other specimens, enabling scientists at The University of Melbourne to piece together the entire genetic sequence of the thylacine for the first ...
"Our hope is that there is a lot the thylacine can tell us about the genetic basis of extinction to help other species," said University of Melbourne biologist Andrew Pask, co-author of a study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. Pask added the research may eventually enable scientists to clone the ...

BIGFOOT NEWS IN BRIEF




Is this PROOF of Bigfoot? Video released of MASSIVE 'head'
While another admired his "creation", saying: "Your artistic skills always amaze me. I love your bigfoot videos, they're great!" “Yes I do joke around, but this is real”. Peter Caine. The video was uploaded yesterday to YouTube on Peter's channel with the title “Bigfoot head, frozen since 1953. The only proof ...

Guy Shows Off Bigfoot Head Frozen Since 1953
This guy claims that his father killed a Bigfoot back in 1953 and then chopped up the body in order to bring it home and freeze it. Sounds legit. In the beginning of 2017 this same guy showed the world a massive foot that allegedly came from the creature. This Bigfoot head weighs around 120 pounds.

Mountain Beast Mysteries
Mountain Beast Mysteries: Bigfoot Bodies. Mountain Beast Mysteries writes “Good evening folks! Tonight I reveal some awesome news for kicking off the new year as well as a quick discussion on the topic of BIGFOOT BODIES!! Why the heck aren't we finding them?” ...

NEWS FROM NOWHERE - Thursday

ON THIS DAY IN - 1503 - Physician, astrologer and clairvoyant Nostradamus was born at St. Remy, Provence, France. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk


  • Common jellyfish is actually two species, scientis...
  • 'Hairy' Microbes Named for Rush Members Are Living...
  • New butterfly species discovered in Russia with an...
  • Why are there no sea snakes in the Atlantic?


  • 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).