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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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

ROBERT SCHNECK: Is that an olm in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me

Pick up a coin and what do you see? George Washington? Elizabeth Windsor? Maybe (shudder) Sacajawea? Boring, boring, boring. In Slovenia, where they appreciate a good slimy creature, their ten cent piece featured the white blind aquatic cave salamander called the olm (I'm too lazy to etomolygize it, but wonder if "olm" is
related to "orm" as in the GREAT ORM OF LOCH NESS?).

As nearly as I can tell, the olm got kicked off the coin when Slovenia adopted the Euro, but maybe after that project craps out, olms will once more be found in the pockets and vending machines of Slovenia.

It's believed that olms can live up to one-hundred years, though why they bother is anyone's guess.

Once again, I stole this story from Ugly Overload.
http://uglyoverload.blogspot.com/

Redfern on "Monstrum!"

Originally published more than twenty-years ago, Monstrum! A Wizard's Tale is a book that, if you didn't read it first time around, you most definitely should now. Why? We'll, here's why: the good folk at CFZ Press (Jon & Corinna Downes and Co.) have just made available a brand new edition of this mighty, monster-driven classic.

Penned by the legendary Tony "Doc" Shiels - truly a phenomenon as much as a man - it's one of those books that should not just be carefully devoured by cryptozoologists everywhere, but also by ufologists, ghost-hunters, and just about anyone and everyone with more than a passing interest in what has come to be known as Forteana.

Read on

SOMETIMES A CIGAR IS JUST A CIGAR

I have written elsewhere about the `Old Hong Kong` newsgroup that occasionally sends me pictures of pre-war Hong Kong, but mostly inundates my in-box with pornography.


This morning I received an email entitled `Strange Man with Big Tongue`. I immediately assumed it would be smut and was about to delete it when I realised that it - in fact - was exactly what it proclaimed.


So I post it as an object lesson in not jumping to conclusions: something which, as a fortean investigator fellow, I should have known in the first place.





Oh well.

HAUNTED SKIES: Two from the archives

Preserving UFO History: Gavin Gibbons
http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2011/05/preserving-ufo-history-gavin-gibbons.html

From the Haunted Skies archives - 1983 UFO
http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2011/05/from-archives-of-haunted-skiesufo-1983.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1812 Spencer Perceval was assassinated.
And now the news:

Thylacine lives up to its tiger moniker
What Exactly Was The Australian Thylacine?
Discovery special reexamines Bigfoot
Intense interest surrounds dog who may have partic...
Catbeast ‘ is like a lynx’ - new sighting by dog w...

It wasn't a bad bit of kit shame it didn't have any games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYjGSfeRwnE

A TALE OF TWO HAYLEYS

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Well; actually it was the most ordinary (and slightly mediocre) of times. Yesterday morning was nothing special, actually. I am on an irritatingly large cocktail of medication, and am not at my best in the morning. It takes several cups of coffee for me to wake up, but because I have so much to do, I don't do what I should do, and sit down and sip the coffee and eat my cereal before I actually do any work.

I checked the status of our latest books on amazon.co.uk and got immediately angry when I read that both opf them are marked "Usually dispatched within 1 to 2 months", and I immediately sped an email off to Hayley, our custromer representative at LightningSource, complaining, as this was a problem that I thought had been fixed.

She wrote back immediately:

"I really don't know, I would suggest contacting the suppliers perhaps?"

This got me more than slightly irritated. She is my supplier (or at least their representative), so I wrote back a terse email, and received yet another polite missive telling me that she didn't know what to do.

I was just about to pick up the telephone and give the company a piece of my mind for emplkoying someone who had so idea what she was talking about, when I realised something awful!

It was the wrong Hayley! In my early morning medicated blur I had been emailing (and just about to berate) Hayley Stevens, researcher and rather friendly sceptic with whom I have always been on friendly terms. I immediately emailed her to apologise, and emailed a fare less terse communic\tion to the other Hayley, who replied:

"There has been a data feed issue between LS and amazon.co.uk which we are currently in the process of resolving. we are hoping that the problem will be resolved at the latter end of this week which means that the correct data information will begin to cascade through (this can take a couple of weeks)

The Ingram, Lightning Source and Amazon teams are working together to find a resolution as quickly as possible. All parties are aware of the seriousness of this situation and to this end, every effort is being made to find a solution as soon as possible".


So, hopefully the book problem will be sorted at the end of the week, and as far as the delightful Ms S is concerned, once again I cannot apologise enough. I am sure there is a moral here somewhere for me, but I have only just got up and am still rather bleary, and cannot work out what it is...

DALE DRINNON IS ON THE TRACK OF THE THUNDERBIRD PHOTO


http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/05/that-thunderbird-photo.html