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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Friday, February 01, 2013

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:
  • The Weirdest Museum... — Nick and other cryptozoologists paid a visit to the Texas-based "Museum of the Weird"...
From CFZ Canada:

FORTEAN BIRD NEWS FROM THE WATCHER OF THE SKIES (CFZ)

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. So, after about six months of regular postings on the main bloggo, Corinna has taken the plunge and started a 'Watcher of the Skies' blog of her own as part of the CFZ Bloggo Network.




RSPB petition calls on David Cameron to vote for nature


Every seven years the European Union decides what to spend our money on.

A big chunk of that budget is for agriculture. And a tiny amount of that pays for nature-friendly farming schemes that help keep our countryside full of wildlife. It is also one of the only sources of funding that protects our precious nature conservation sites.

In the current economic climate, we understand that budget cuts will need to be made. We're fighting to save those funds that support farmers who make space for nature alongside food production. In a nutshell, we're calling for value for money.

Add your voice to ours and sign our petition to tell David Cameron to vote for nature.

Read on...

I'M YER GONZO BLOG DOO-DAH MAN



Graham's still in the Blog Hot Seat... and I've just heard from Jon. He and Corinna are likely to be returning tomorrow evening, so that should please Pru the Dog. She tends to be a little bit quiet when Corinna's away.

Today's blog updates are: 


LINK: Eric Burdon's new album, track by track
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/link-eric-burdons-new-album-track-by.html

KOZFEST 2013 POSTER gives dates and line-up info
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/kozfest-2013.html

News on various Steve-Hackett-related re-releases due very soon
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/steve-hackett-news.html

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/thom-world-poet-daily-poem_31.html

New Historical Pink Floyd and Genesis Boxset
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/new-historical-pink-floyd-and-genesis.html

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY is from the Edgar Broughton Band
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-gonzo-track-of-day-is-from-edgar.html




*  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: http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/11/all-gonzo-news-wots-fit-to-print.html

* 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 on other people's websites. Honest guv!

*  Jon Downes, the editor of all these ventures (and several others) is an old hippy of 53 who, together with his orange cat, puts it all together from a converted potato shed in a tumbledown cottage deep in rural Devon, which he shares with various fish and batrachians. He is ably assisted by his lovely wife Corinna, his bulldog/boxer Prudence, his mother-in-law, and a motley collection of social malcontents. Plus... did we mention the orange cat?





DALE DRINNON: Frontiers of Zoology, Cedar and Willow updates

New at Frontiers of Zoology:

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2013/01/bigfoot-museum-big-tooth.html

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2013/01/missing-loch-ness-underwater-photo.html



New at Cedar and Willow:

http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2013/01/she-woman.html

http://cedar-and-willow.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-timelyatlas-avengers.html

LOREN COLEMAN: Are Zooforms Cryptids?


cryptidscryptozoonewsAs I move forward in this new adventure, I wish to see the CryptoZooNews blog take on reasonable conversations fully developed and registered. Shall we begin?


This era’s emails, tweets, and social media discussions are often shared for quick impact and smartly short quips. Nothing wrong with that. But my hope for this new platform calls for unfolding time to think aloud about many sides of an issue.

One topic that has concerned me is this fantasy that there is a major disagreement between myself and the broader concept developed by the Center for Fortean Zoology’s director Jon Downes, regarding “zooforms.”
I tend to think this is a misunderstanding based on a mild and slight difference in viewing a complex subject from a few degrees apart.

Let me try to capture, briefly, via this summary, what Jon appears to have proposed. Downes and his Center for Fortean Zoology of the United Kingdom introduced a new three tier concept to aid his classification and analysis of unknown animals.

Read on...

MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: THE CROCODILES OF WEXFORD, IRELAND

Over the last few years I have come across a total of four different crocodile sightings in the vicinity of the coastal town of Wexford in south-east Ireland, spanning a period of about 390 years. The first isn`t really a sighting but the emblem of a crocodile on a pillar in the ruins of the  abbey of Selsker in Co. Wexford, dating from 1623.

 

This image was found in the Dublin Penny Journal ,  August 2nd, 1834.(1)

The next report dates from the Irish Press, August 17th, 1933:

STRANGE WEXFORD ANIMAL

An animal, said to resemble a young crocodile, was discovered in a heap of debris in a garden at the back of Dr. Cantwell`s residence, Main Street, Bunclody, Co. Wexford, and has been forwarded to the Dublin Zoological Gardens. 
(2)


Forty-two years later another crocodile-type animal turned up off Co. Wexford: 'Hook Head is one of the two capes at the south end of the Barrow estuary in Co. Wexford. Here, in 1975, a monster resembling a lizard, about 20` long, was seen by fishermen.' (Cunningham and Coghlan, 2010) (3)

The fourth and final crocodile was supposedly photographed on a Wexford beach near March 17th 2010, which happens to be St Patricks Day.  I don`t know enough about Photoshop etc. to tell you if it`s genuine or not. (4) 





1. Dublin Penny Journal 2/8/1834  p. 87
2. R. Muirhead Irish Snakes, Wild Cats and Other Mystery Animals . BioFortean Notes 2  p. 21
3. Ibid p.22
4. http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/backstage/82898-albino-croc-spotted-wexford-ireland-beach.html

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

Yesterday’s News Today


On this day in 1921 Peter Sallis was born. Sallis voices Wallace in Wallace and Gromit and played Clegg in un-funny sitcom The Last of the Summer Wine (which recently lost its crown as the world's longest running sitcom). 
  
And now, the news:




But what did Last of the Summer Wine lose its title as the worlds longest running sitcom to, I hear no-one ask? Well, it lost to this: