ANARCHIST SOCIAL WORKERS ON THE RAMPAGE

Yer editor, with Noela Mackenzie, at 87 the oldest member of the CFZ, down the pub yesterday lunchtime...

I hope I still knock back the vodkas at her age.

LIZ CLANCY: Maternal Instinct

The recent story of the orphaned chihuahua nursed by a cat) reminded me of Jimbo, my cat. Her mothering skills were never called upon to help any of the many dogs our family had over the years but she did mollycoddle plenty of the other animals.

When one of the ducklings or chicks were rejected by their own mother Jimbo would helpfully step in, taking the abandoned birds under her wing (so to speak) and allowing them to share her food basket at night. In the earliest stages of their lives felid's fosterkids would follow their new Mam everywhere and when any of the other cats in the house showed an interest in the babies that, let's face it, was probably a more natural one in that they tried to eat them, Jimbo valiantly, like any mother, leapt in and defended her brood, tooth and claw.

Jimbo's efforts were not just restricted to unwanted birdies. My Uncle Michael was apparently distraught for several hours one day when Mary, one of his adored white mice went missing. The family searched high and low but the little rodent was eventually discovered safe and sound in Jimbo's basket.

The downside to the loveable felid's affection for all things helpless was that on at least one occasion I am aware of she had to be foreceably prevented from adopting a rat her brother Billy brought home stunned after a night on the prowl....

CARL SAGAN AND STEPHEN HAWKING SING

So many people have seen this now that you have all probably seen it already, and are spitting out curses at me for being horrifically behind the times. But I think it is marvellous. The creator, John Boswell aka Melody Sheep writes:

My own musical tribute to two great men of science. Carl Sagan and his cosmologist companion Stephen Hawking present: A Glorious Dawn - Cosmos remixed. Almost all samples and footage taken from Carl Sagan's Cosmos and Stephen Hawking's Universe series.

RIP Dr. Sagan, you will be missed!!

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday’s News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

It's time for the Friday Fact. Bet you can’t wait to see what surreal nonsense I’ve found out, probably involving Charles Hawtrey, this week:

The smallest adult vertebrate is the male angler fish, Photocorynus spiniceps, measuring 6.2mm.

And now, the news:

Burning bunnies helps keep people warm and cozy

Mother chooses pet crocodile over husband

Bogus snake signs to stop outdoor sex

World's tallest cat

That story about the cat is untrue, as this documentary proves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-75sde6YYg&feature=related

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: Mylodons in New Zealand? Surely not!

Richard Muirhead is an old friend of the CFZ. I have been friends with him for 40 years now, since we were kids together in Hong Kong. He is undoubtedly one of the two best researchers I have ever met; he and Nigel Wright both have what Charlie Fort would have no doubt called a wild talent: a talent for going into a library, unearthing a stack of old newspapers, and coming back with some hitherto overlooked gem of arcane knowledge. Twice a week he wanders into the Macclesfield Public Library and comes out with enough material for a blog post.

Dear folks,

No, you are not hallucinating and no, it isn`t April 1<sup>st</sup>. Whilst reading Gavin Menzies`s book 1421: The Year China Discovered The World (2002), which I mentioned in conjunction with a giant tortoise in Hong Kong, I came across comments about once-living mylodons in New Zealand!! The following is a copy of the notes I made about a year ago on this subject:

(This is the reason I made enquiries about New Zealand cryptozoologists in my blog the other day.)

`Several years ago…I made an interesting discovery, which may be relevant to the history of New Zealand`s fauna. Menzies`s theory is that huge Chinese vessels set forth from their home to reach much of the world, including South America and New Zealand via the east coast of Australia. Menzies says `The Chinese would have had to claw their way back against the current;[in the Tasman Sea] as they did so, at least two of the great treasure ships were lost. The wreck of an old wooden ship was found two centuries ago at Dusky Sound in Fjordland at the south-west tip of South Island. “It was said to be very old and of Chinese build and to have been “there before Cook” according to the local people.(1)

This Chinese voyage would have taken place c.1421

Furthermore : “Even more bizarre was a story,also reported to Collector of Customs in Sydney when the Sydney Packet returned home in 1831. One of the ship`s gangs which had been stationed in Dusky Sound told of the discovery of an enormous animal of the kangaroo species.

The men had been boating in a cove in some quiet part of the inlet where the rocks shelved from the water`s edge up to the bushline. Looking up they saw a strange animal percing at the edge of the bush and nibbling the foliage. It stood on its hind legs, the lower part of its body curving to a thick pointed tail,and when they took note of the height it reached against the trees,allowing a metre and a half for the tail,they estimated it stood nearly nine metres in height! The men were to windward of the animal and were able to watch it feeding for some time before it spotted them. They watched it pull down a heavy branch with comparative ease, turn it over and tilt it up to reach the leaves it wanted. When it finally saw them, the animal stood watching the men for a short time, then made one almighty leap from the edge of the bush towards the water`s edge. There it landed on all fours but immediately stood erect before making another great leap into the water. The men were able to measure the first jump and found it covered eighteen metres. They watched the animal plough its way down the Sound at tremendous speed, its wake extending from one side of the Sound to the other. (2)

Menzies, commenting on this, says, “The animal described corresponds in size, posture and eating habits with the mylodons the Chinese could have taken aboard in Patagonia. Perhaps a pair escaped from the wreck, survived and bred in similar conditions to their home territories in Patagonia-the latitudes are the same. Sea-otters, which are not indigenous to New Zealand but, of course, were kept in the Chinese junks to herd fish, have been seen swimming in the fjords of South Island. (3)

Forty three years later,the Otago Witness reported on `Notes of the Luna`s trip.` on April 11^th 1874, thus:

There are two things, however, mentioned by Cook on which little reliance can be placed. One of these is that the sailors reported seeing a four-footed quadruped, with a bushy tail,in the bush, and from this statement of the sailors Cook concluded that there were land mammals at Dusky Bay. What this animal the sailors saw was, I know not.(4) Cook visited New Zealand in 1772. So if Menzies is to be believed, mylodons were supposed to have survived in New Zealand at least 351 years between 1421 and 1772,not to mention up to at least 1831.

Part two will examine his claims of living mylodons further, otters on South Island, New Zealand, and other alleged animal travels from China`s vessels to other parts of the world.

1.R.Gossett New Zealand Mysteries (1996) p.31

2. R.Gossett Ibid. pp148-149

3. G.Menzies 1421 The Year China Discovered The World (2002) p.173

4.Otago witness Issue 1167 11 April 11 1874 p.10

NEW ORANG PENDEK SIGHTING

Richard Freeman has just sent me this email from Dally Supriyatna, one of the guides to the recent expedition. We print it completely unedited, as it is a remarkable testament:

Hi All

here I send information of Orang Pendek

Orang Pendek still in near of Gunung Tujuh, on October, 5 2009,

There was hunter of bird were looking for bird, they were from Siulak Mukai Village, Orang Pendek who found at near Gunung Tapanggang (near our camp or we saw Orang Pendek), but the people were walking went to Tandai forest,

beside on information from those people, they saw Orang Pendek big body, long hand, and walk like human, black skin colour and silver,

those people gave the information to me on October, 8 2008, when those peopl still was in forest they saw Prang Pendek about 4 minutes, 10 meters from them,

Dally

Blog Action Day on Climate Change

Gavin Lloyd Wilson just wrote to me:

Hi Jon,

Have you seen this Blog Action Day thing on climate change?

http://www.blogactionday.org/

On 15th Oct blogs are being invited to sign up and write a piece about climate change. I'm not sure if it's something you might want to do.

Gavin

It is something with which I think that we should be involved, so I checked out their site. Their mission statement reads:

'More than any other country, action taken by the United States to limit greenhouse gases and build a clean energy economy is needed to achieve a sustainable solution to our global climate crisis.

This December world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to negotiate a global response to climate change. As a world leader in greenhouse gas pollution as well as clean energy technology, the United States needs to take bold action by implementing comprehensive clean energy policies to curb emissions.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner and President Barack Obama has said that climate change is an urgent threat, and now is the time for him to lead the United States in confronting the climate crisis.

This is a chance for people around the world and in the United States to join together in telling President Obama that we want him to lead the United States in taking bold and significant action to reduce greenhouse gasses.

Time is running out, and our planet can't afford to wait.'

Every week now I receive reports on the subject of climate change. Some believe that it is directly linked to man's depredations on the environment; others don't. On the whole the people who deny the concept are apologists for the military-industrial complex, but there are an increasing number of alternative types who like to believe that everything is a conspiracy; the type who wrote articles in alternative magazines saying that AIDS was spread by the CIA rather than by unsafe sex.

But even if you ignore the issue of climate change, anyone with half a brain can see that man's depredations on the environment are reaching a crisis point. We cannot carry on like this because soon we shall reach a tipping point of no return, after which the ecosystem will be irretrievably ruined.

So, don't just sign petitions. Do something about it!