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...




Friday, June 08, 2018

CRYPTOLINK: Lizardman Festival

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. 

John Stamey, the organizer of Lizard Man weekend, also runs the Tennessee Bigfoot Conference and several comic conventions throughout the ...

THE GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN IS SCRATTING

The Gonzo Daily: Friday/Saturday
 
And so, it is Friday, and once again the juggernaut of my life trundles up to the close of another working week. Peanut aka The Orange Cat is being ridiculously affectionate at the moment. He had two visits to the vet this week (one to have a tooth out, and the other a routine post-op check up) and he is obviously terrified that he will be going there again (poor little chap). He is somewhat neurotic even at the best of times (most of our creatures are) and was obviously very upset at the experience, and since his return yesterday has spent all his time clinging to Corinna, Mother (or occasionally me) being demonstrably as over-affectionate as he is able to be (which is quite a lot).
 
He sends his regards to Michael Newton who sent him kid thoughts yesterday when I first wrote about his antics on the CFZ blog.
 
Graham has nearly finished building the new super-duper chicken run, and I must say that it is looking most magnificent. Considering that the poor girld spent their first few years of life in cramped battery conditions, this must be paradise for them. I think we shall probably geta couple more at some point, although that means that we will be even more over-run with eggs than we are t the moment, which means that Corinna will be doing even more baking! Yum!
 
Can I think of anything else to write?
 
No, not really, and so with the thought of happy chickens having dustbaths and scratting for slugs, I bid you farewell until next week.
 
And for those of you who are interested in such things, the Gonzo Privacy Policy is here:
 
 
And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
 
 
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:
 
ZAPPA NEWS
YES NEWS
COMING THIS WEEKEND
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY:  PINK FAIRIES - Taking...
 
 
Gonzo Weekly #289
THE JAH WONDERFUL ISSUE
 
We continue to trawl the counterculture with this Jah Wonderful issue  of Gonzo Weekly featuring Alan on Misty in Roots, Doug on the Dixie Dregs, Jon on Political biopics, John on Ryley Walker, C J Stone on Chaos Magic, Graham on Hawkwind and Richard on Bob Weir and we have lots more besides...
 
#Hail Eris!
 
And there are radio shows from Strange Fruit, AND Mack Maloney, AND Friday Night Progressive, there are columns from all sorts of folk including Neil Nixon, and Roy Weard, and C J Stone, and Mr Biffo and Kev Rowlands AND the irrepressible Corinna . There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and tiger quolls who are havinga little snooze (OK, nothing to do with small dasyurids who are a little sleepy, 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:
 
Jeremy Thorpe, Dave Bainbridge & Sally Minnear, Brand X, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Carl Palmer, Gorillaz, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Elton John, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Canterbury sans Frontieres, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Stewart Lupton, Andy MacQueen, Tsehaytu Beraki, Phillip Ernest Emmanuel, Jürgen Marcus, Eyio Di Marzo, Josh Martin, Alan LaVern Bean, Eliza Carthy, Kate Rusby, Rick Wakeman, Paice, Ashton & Lord, The Mitchell Trio, Doug Harr, Dixie Dregs, Alan Dearling, Misty in Roots, Richard Foreman, Bob Weir, John Brodie-Good, Ryley Walker, Kev Rowland, Melanie Mau & Martin Schnella, Mike Lepond's Silent Assassins, Necropanther, Rick Springfield, Ring of Gyges, Sainted Sinners, Scumpulse, Chris Stone, Chaos Magic, Hawkwind, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Elvis, Beatles, Britney Spears,
Janis Joplin
 
And the last few issues are:
 
Issue 288 (Paula Frazer)
Issue 287 (Boss Goodman)
Issue 286 (Monty Python)
Issue 285 (ELP)
Issue 284 (Straqngelove)
Issue 283 (Record Store Day)
Issue 282 (Neil Finn and Fleetwood Mac)
Issue 281 (Carl Palmer)
Issue 280 (Steve Andrews)
 
 
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?

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.




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 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.

  • PHOTO: San Diego Zoo welcomes birth of 'rarest big...
  • NEWSLINK: Escaped big cats from German zoo back in...
  • NEWSLINK: Full Grown Leopard Found In Wrestling Ar...
  • NEWSLINK: Florida school slammed after tiger is wh...

  • NEWSLINK: Lions and tiger poisoned by poachers try...
  • NEWS FROM NOWHERE: Friday/Saturday

    ON THIS DAY IN -  0793 - The Vikings raided the Northumbrian coast of England. 
    And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Fatal elephant attacks on Rohingya refugees push B...
  • Wildfires may cause long-term health problems for ...
  • Six new peeping frogs discovered in western Mexico...
  • Should ‘superspawners’ stir up fisheries managemen...
  • Origin of plague causing ongoing 'amphibian extinc...



  • 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)