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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Monday, July 15, 2019

IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES. WHO AM I KIDDING? IT IS CERTAINLY NOT THE BEST OF TIMES

Yesterday I learned that someone that I am really quite fond of has been forced offline after repeated attacks by trolls commenting on her YouTube Channel. She is a sweet and kind person and certainly does not deserve this. Why? Because nobody deserves to be treated like this. I ran into similar problems nine years back, and was very tempted to quit as a result. It is impossible to describe the amount of pain and anguish that things like this cause. I was told that I should "grow a thicker skin" by people who truly should have known better. But why the hell should I? Surely people have the right not to be targeted  online bullies.

Online bullying is not going to stop because of anything I write. And, sadly, I don't think that it is going to stop because of anything that the people in charge of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are likely to do, either. But it might stop if we - ALL of us - support, help, and treat each other with love and respect, b oth online and off. We are going through a particularly unpleasant period of our history at the moment, and there are enough pressures upon us all without a particularly egregious subset of our species choosing to make other people's lives a misery for their own enjoyment. It is a sort of online bloodsport, and like all bloodsports, and indeed all activities that cause death, pain and misery for one group of creatures for the betterment or amusement of another one, should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Like a bunch of anarchist musicians said 37 years ago: "Strive To Survive Causing Least Suffering Possible" and like a bloke from Liverpool said a decade and a half before that: "All you need is love!"

My brother is the vicar in my family, and I would like to leave sermonising to him. It is not something that I enjoy, and I would much rather go back to my secular home in the badly converted potato shed, where Graham has just changed the filter for Clarence in Wonderland (the clarias catfish) and I am extremely interested to find out what he does next. Catfish are far more interesting than people even at the best of times, and these truly are far from being the best of times.

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.


HERE COMES THE MOON SAYS THE GONZO BLOG DOO DAH MAN



The Gonzo Daily: Monday/Tuesday
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/

Yesterday I learned that someone that I am really quite fond of has been forced offline after repeated attacks by trolls commenting on her YouTube Channel. She is a sweet and kind person and certainly does not deserve this. Why? Because nobody deserves to be treated like this. I ran into similar problems nine years back, and was very tempted to quit as a result. It is impossible to describe the amount of pain and anguish that things like this cause. I was told that I should "grow a thicker skin" by people who truly should have known better. But why the hell should I? Surely people have the right not to be targeted  online bullies.

Online bullying is not going to stop because of anything I write. And, sadly, I don't think that it is going to stop because of anything that the people in charge of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are likely to do, either. But it might stop if we - ALL of us - support, help, and treat each other with love and respect, b oth online and off. We are going through a particularly unpleasant period of our history at the moment, and there are enough pressures upon us all without a particularly egregious subset of our species choosing to make other people's lives a misery for their own enjoyment. It is a sort of online bloodsport, and like all bloodsports, and indeed all activities that cause death, pain and misery for one group of creatures for the betterment or amusement of another one, should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Like a bunch of anarchist musicians said 37 years ago: "Strive To Survive Causing Least Suffering Possible" and like a bloke from Liverpool said a decade and a half before that: "All you need is love!"

My brother is the vicar in my family, and I would like to leave sermonising to him. It is not something that I enjoy, and I would much rather go back to my secular home in the badly converted potato shed, where Graham has just changed the filter for Clarence in Wonderland (the clarias catfish) and I am extremely interested to find out what he does next. Catfish are far more interesting than people even at the best of times, and these truly are far from being the best of times.

Toodle-pip

YER EDITOR SEZ: THE DIGITAL PRAYER FLAG
You guys recently did massive amounts of praying for Corinna, and she now appears to be cancer free. I am convinced that these two things are related, with the outpouring of good vibes transmitted electronically, being a little like a Tibetan prayer flag. Having used it once to such good effect - I want to try it on a larger scale. I am still trying to work out the details, so watch this space.

Find out more:
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/a-prayer-flag-lung-ta-is-colourful.html

Blessed be.

ALL TODAY'S GONZO NEWS WOT'S FIT TO PRINT:

https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-gonzo-track-of-day-john-lee-hooker.html
THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: John Lee Hooker - Boom...
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/jon-anderson-on-tour.html
JON ANDERSON ON TOUR
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_15.html
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/leonard-cohen-en-passant.html
LEONARD COHEN EN PASSANT
https://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/frank-zappa-batavia-native-unveils.html
FRANK ZAPPA: Batavia native unveils Zappa-inspired...

THE GONZO PRIVACY POLICY
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy-this-privacy-policy.html

And the CFZ Privacy Policy is here:
http://tinyurl.com/y7b9rlog
And, yes,
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/p/privacy-policy-this-privacy-policy.html

CHECK OUT THE GONZO STORES:

UK
http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/
US
http://www.gonzomultimedia.com

AND OTHER STUFF FEATURING VARIOUS GONZO CONTRIBUTORS:

Our webTV show:
https://www.facebook.com/OnTheTrack/posts/632561497117057
And if you fancy supporting it on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/CFZ

And by the way chaps and chappesses, a trip to the Jon Downes megastore may seem to be in order:
https://gonzotesting.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-notion-of-shopkeepers.html
Meanwhile I continue to pretend that I am a popstar, because now I have sold eight whole copies of my new album Coldharbour. If I continue at this rate I will get a silver disc sometime at the beginning of the next millenium. Coldharbour, by the way, can be found here: https://jondownes1.bandcamp.com/releases

I think it is really rather good, but then again I would say that wouldn't I?

AND THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE GONZO MAGAZINE:

Gonzo Weekly #345/6
THE DANCING RADICALLY ISSUE
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/

You will have to check people name spelling as still can't read it very well, but I think it is okay .. In this particularly eclectic issue, Alan sees Jah Wobble, Daniel Gaudi, Mark Stewart & RDF (Radical Dance Faction) and interviews their singer Chris Bowuber, the only person who has been in every line up of the band.  Doug gives us a potted history of Goth, including Siouxie and the Banshees and the Cocteau Twins, Steve visits the Jarawa people of the Andaman Islands, Jon waxes lyrical about the lovely Melanie S Jane, reviews the new book by J.T. Wilson, and bitches on about the state of the nation, whilst we go to Glasto to critique Hawkwind and Stormzy.  And finally we go behind the scenes of Rick Wakeman’s new box set.

Groovy eh?

Hail Eris!

And there are radio shows from Mack Maloney and Friday Night Progressive AND Strange Fruit there is a columns from Kev Rowland, but Mr Biffo, C J Stone, and Roy Weard, Neil Nixon and the irrepressible Corinna are on hiatus.  There is also a collection of more news, reviews, views, interviews and antichinuses who have lost their shoes (OK, nothing to do with tiny marsupials who are searching for their footwear, 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:

Linda McCartney, Johnny Marr, New Order, Fish, Doris Brendel, Robert Plant, Jack White, Rick Wakeman, Richard Freeman, Strange Fruit, Friday Night Progressive, Mack Maloney's Mystery Hour, Gary Duncan (born Gary Ray Grubb), Anthony Hedges, Jack L. Renner, Elliot Roberts (born Elliot Eabinowitz), Gualberto Antonio Castro Levario, Peter Talbot Westergaard, Jeff Austin, David Louis Bartholomew, Jerry Carrigan, Paulo Figueiredo Antonio Pagni (also known as PA Pagni), Philippe Zdar (born Philippe Cerboneschi, Jacqui Magno, Eamon Friel, Kelly Jay Fordham, Nature Ganganbaigal, Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian), Arthur Brown, Gregg Kofi Brown, Norma Waterson feat. Richard Thompson, Martin Carthy, Danny Thompson and Eliza Carthy, Paice, Ashton & Lord, The Mitchell Trio inc John Denver, Steve Andrews, the Jarawa tribe, Melanie S Jane, Doug Harr, Gothic Rock, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Cocteau Twins, Alan Dearling, Bass Sound Clash, One Dread, Radical Dance Faction, Youth, Jah Wobble, Mark Stewart, Chris Bowsher, Kev Rowland, Surmiser, Torture Rack, Power Trip, Lords of Black, Majesty of Silence, Materdea, Matt Baber, Tony Klinger, Hawkwind, Jonathan Downes, The Wild Colonial Boy, Martin Springett, Impossible Animals, J.T. Wilson, Stormzy

And the last few issues are:

Issue 343-4 (Auburn)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-341-2.html
Issue 341-42 (America)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-341-2.html
Issue 339-40 (Kev Rowland)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-339-40.html
Issue 337-38 (Zee)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-337-8.html
Issue 335-36 (Raz)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-335-6.html
Issue 333-34 (Nepal)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-333-4.html
Issue 331-32 (Scott Walker)
https://www.flipsnack.com/9FE5CEE9E8C/gonzo-331-2.html



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:
http://www.gonzoweekly.com/pdf/

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 59 who - together with a Jack Russell called Archie, an infantile orange cat named after a song by Frank Zappa, three other cats, 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 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 -  1099 - Jerusalem fell to the Crusaders. 
And now some more recent news from the CFZ Newsdesk

  • Cornish hedges under threat from developers, say c...
  • Nature's emergency: Where we are in five graphics
  • Evolutionary backing found in analysis of mammalia...

  • Ancient relative of the blue-tongued skink found 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)