HAUNTED SKIES: Sun (The) 26.6.67

http://hauntedskies.blogspot.com/2012/07/sun-26667.html

I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN

Yesterday was a peculiar and mildly unpleasant one mostly because of the problems with Prudence.http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/07/prudence-gonzo-daily-dog.htmlWe sincerely hope that today will be better, for us and for her. However you came here to read the latest blog posts not to read me bellyaching about a bulldog's bladder, so on with the show:

We start off today with a link to a news story about the one and only Jefferson Starship, and their plans to visit Israel for gigs later in the year.http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/jefferson-starship-plans-to-rock-tel.html

Martin Stephenson really is a very special and singular talent. It seems that wherever he goes he attracts warm and sympathetic reviews. I really have to get him to play down in Devon...http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/link-martin-stephenson-darwen-library.html

With a quote from 'The Clash' we are proud and chuffed to announce that the new album by Michael Des Barres, which - as you might have gathered from us over the last few weeks - is a bloody smasher, is now available on iTunes. Check it out. NOW! If you don't, you will have me to answer to...http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/michael-des-barres-this-is-public.html

Yesterday we posted a story called 'Another Chris Squire Interview'. Today's title is mighty similar, and as you might have guessed, I found both these Yes-related stories at the same time and posted them in the wrong order. My bad!http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/yes-interesting-chris-squire-interview.html

Rick Wakeman likes cats and does his bit for animal welfare. I like cats (and most other beasts) and do my bit for animal welfare. We have a lot in common. However, he play's piano like his soul was touched by the Gods of Olympus. I play piano like a left handed giant panda with a perceptual disorder. That is why his news story is more interesting than mine would have been.http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/rick-wakeman-at-cats-protection-league.html

And finally... Merrell Fankhauser writes to me on occasion saying jolly nice things about the Gonzo Daily. I very much appreciate that. He also sends me bits and bobs, like this review from Shindig magazine..http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/merrel-fankhauser-sent-me-this-review.html

Well, that is about it for today. I am sorry that my prose is slightly less inspired than usual, but I have been fielding telephone calls from the vet on and off all morning and am ever-so-slightly frazzled.

See you tomorrow, which - if all goes to plan - will be another of my sunday rhyming epics...
Toodle-ooh

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/

On this day in 1960 Jane Goodall arrived in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to begin her study of the chimpanzees there.

And now the news:

• Eye-Catching Parrot Species May Make Endangered Sp...
• Babies With Pets Not Dogged by Colds: Study
• Opossum protein neutralizes nearly all poisons, co...
• Raccoons chase, attack Washington state woman
• German wind farms kill 200,000 bats annually, most...
• Lighting May Reduce Fatal Airplane-Bird Collisions...
• Lung Worm Infections on the Rise, CDC Says
• Judge: SeaWorld killer-whale trainers must be prot...
• Mysterious Cambodia Illness Explained
• New red squirrel map reveals they are more widespr...
• Urban noise 'killing baby house sparrows'
• Govt’s dilemma: Security of rare bird or of nation...
• We just fancied a nibble: Hungry birds peck on a p...
• Children’s Book Helping To Save Dugongs
• Peacocks, rare birds found dead in India village

Chimpanzees in their natural habitat (moving pianos and drinking tea) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzEBLa3PPk

DALE DRINNON IS BACK IN THE SADDLE

Just gone up at Frontiers of Zoology:http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/07/crater-lake-monster-again.html

And at the Frontiers of Anthropology:http://frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/2012/07/some-new-videos-from-kakha-margiani.html
Just a couple of quickies to get back in the flow of publishing blogs again.
Jeff Meldrum just asked me for more info on Japanese Yokai Hairy humanoids and so I'm working on that one next.Best Wishes, Dale D.

CFZ HAIR ANALYSIS NEWS

I had a long discussion with Lars Thomas earlier today. He has more news on the analysis of the hair samples brought back from Sumatra at the end of last year. They were split into several different groups, and although we have not heard yet from either Dr Todd Disotell in New York, or Professor Brian Sykes in Cambridge, we can now reveal that although the hair does appear to be primate, the Danish team were unable to sequence enough fragments of DNA to tell whether it is monkey, gibbon, orang utan or even human, let alone orang pendek. The hairs were just too badly degraded, and in Lars’ opinion there was nothing else that could be done with the samples that he was given. Let’s hope that the other two teams have better luck.

In a related piece of news, Lars has been working on a scat sample preserved in alcohol sent to us by one of Richard’s Ukrainian colleague from the 2008 Russian expedition.

Unfortunately, the DNA laboratories have closed for the summer and therefore attempts at DNA sequencing have not been done. However, Lars has extracted a number of hairs from the faecal mass, and we are able to confirm that they are from small rodents. Whatever produced the scat had been feeding on mice and other small mammals of that ilk. We will keep you informed of developments as we get them.

BIG CAT NEWS: Distressing lack of cat sightings

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 should have a go at publishing a regular round-up of the stories as they come in.

It takes a long time to do and is a fairly tedious task so I am not promising that they will be done each day, but I will do them as regularly as I can. JD

Rain to blame for lack in big cat sightings - BIGCATSINSUSSEX
Bigcatsinsussex research into wild big cats in Sussex to promote understanding and tolerance of these elusive creatures....

And that is the only story there is. BTW, we agree with him entirely!

MYSTERY CAT STUDY GROUP: Cumbria hair sample results

Lars Thomas has finally finished his analysis of the hair and scat samples that were found in Cumbria earlier in the year, and sent to us by Sharon Larkin. Despite being found in a field where there have been several sightings of a large cat-like animal, the hairs have proven to be from a dog, and there are enough hairs in the dried faecal samples to suggest this identity for them as well.However, please do not let this stop you sending us samples to look at. Science is about testing hypothesis, asking questions, and then formulating theories based upon the answers.

I don’t care if we have 99 more hair and faecal samples that may or may not be from a big cat to look at this year, because those 99 might be from a dog or another known animal, the 100th may not, and THAT is what science is all about.

A big thank you to Sharon, Lars, Richard Freeman, Corinna and everybody else involved in this investigation.