Mermaids works in collaboration with Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES) and Action for Children. GIRES strives to enhance the living situations of trans-gender individuals through transforming society’s attitude and treatment in respect to them. Action for Children and Mermaids exhibit efforts in fostering understanding and knowledge regarding Gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria also known as gender identity disorder is a condition in which an individual feels discontentment and a disconnection to their biological sex with the desire to be the opposite sex. An illustration of a person with gender dysphoria is a boy labeling himself as a girl. Another case is a girl craving to be a boy.

Mermaids supports individuals and families experiencing gender identity issues. Breathing as a compassionate group of life-saving people, Mermaids helps individuals swim through their gender identity difficulties and to be strong against the sharks in society.

To learn more about Mermaids, please visit:
http://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/index.html

Transgender Documentary Specials on Oprah Winfrey Network:
Being Chaz
I Am Jazz: A Family in Transition

Movies dealing with gender identity issues:
Boys Don’t Cry
Transamerica
Ma Vie En Rose (My Life In Pink)
A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story
The Crying Game

For more transgender movies, you can check out:
Hazel Freeman’s International Transgender Film Guide at: http://www.tg-films.info/

According to myth, the beautiful creatures of the ocean called Mermaids often took human lovers, and the male offspring that came of these unions became Otherworldly children, who would return to the ocean as Mermen.

You may have wondered why little is mentioned of Mermen, compared to Mermaids. Perhaps as the sailors of the past were always men, away from other women for long periods of time, a beautiful woman would be more pleasing to their eyes, than a handsome man.

This was of course to the advantage of these beautiful, yet unpredictable creatures. Mermaids possess a woman’s body from above the waist, and a fish’s tail below. The classical image of the Mermaid is of her sitting on a rock, combing her hair, singing; and luring seafarers to their doom with her enchanted voice.

Mermaids have usually been portrayed as evil because of their association with Sirens; evil temptresses in Greek mythology. However, Mermaids were also said to give treasures to sailors they favoured, and would warn them about the approach of violent storms. All in all, they were considered to be creatures of whim.

Some Mermaids turned their backs on their natural ocean homes, and choose to take human lovers. They sacrificed their beautiful fish tails and assumed human form, in order to live on the land, for the sake of love with a male human. More often than not however, they would eventually return to the sea.

Mermen were depicted as having webbed fingers and toes, and in Greek mythology they were said to have green beards and hair, and were able to breathe under the water like fish. Rather than stay with their parents on land, they would invariably return to their real mother, the ocean, where they would cause violent storms, and sink passing ships.

Magical Charms

As a sailor in the ancient world, dependent upon safe passage across the perilous ocean, it was vital to have the gods on your side. As well as painting eyes on the prows of the ships so they could ‘see’ where they were going, amulets were also carried, and offerings made to the watery beings to encourage them not to sink the ship or kill the sailors.

• Animals were sacrificed at the beginnings of voyages and offered to the aquatic world; in particular, horses, as they were sacred to the Greek god the sea, Poseidon
• Crystals were carried to protect sailors; such as agate, garnet, aquamarine and quartz
• Pieces of coral and jewels were attached to the prow for protection, so that Mermaids could take them as jewellery instead of luring the sailors

© Copyright J M Lennox. All Rights Reserved.

For the sake of those who didn’t know cryptozoology. Cryptozoology refers to search for creatures or animals which are considered to be legendary or coinded as nonexistent because nothing have its proof of existance now, before, or ever (did you guys get that?).  Examples of a legendary creatures: mermaids, chupacabra, big foot, dinosaurs that some still believes they still exist today not in the musuems but on the uncharted island all over the globe (like the island in Jurassic Park).  The animals under the study of cryptozoology are called cryptids.  Of course not all episodes tackles just old school legendary creatures, they also have cases of ghost, and other supernatural beings.

Cool thing about the show is that they really do travel to different parts of the globe just to get interviews and actual footage of their research, if ever given a chance I would love to become part of their team hehehe…

The paranormal team researchers is led by Josh Gates, who’s the host of the show and happens to be a paranormal researcher also.  He led the team to investigate claims of the supernatural.  Two of my favorite episode of Destination Truth I got to watch was their search for Ropen and Chupacabra at Papua New Guinea, and King Tut’s Curse where they went to Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.

For the show to really really click to audiences all around the world, you must have an actual shots or at least an evidence to prove what you’re looking for are true or just a hoax.  They conducted their investigation during the night, (hmmmm…curious…why nigth time?) one of the cool things about the show is that they have the actual video of what they have discovered.  Specially when they got to look for ghost, they always captured an EVP, actual ghost appearance with their thermal gadget which I think is really really cool plus they get to consult their friends from Ghost Hunters to know if the evidence they’ve acquired are the real stuff.

As of the moment I’m still waiting for their new episodes to be showed on air, just don’t know when but if you guys are new to the shows you can watch the previous episodes online, in YouTube or other video site you guys know.

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug is a remote aboriginal community of 1200, 200 km south of Hudson Bay.  Their ancestors called it “omajinaakos”, the “Ugly One”. It has rarely been seen and when it is seen it is usually dead and is therefore considered a bad omen. The last recorded sighting was 60 years ago by a local walking with his grandfather. The gandfather said it lived in swamps and creeks and fed on beavers.

Trout Lake is very deep. Other things seen at trout lake, by locals and pilots, are mermaids and huge water snakes akin to the Loch Ness Monster. These sightings are recent. The mermaids were reported as being seen sitting on rocks in the 1940s and 50s. The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nations say that there was, prior to the 1920s, a hairy being that could fly and made the most horrible screaming sounds.

Loch Ness Monster: Image via Wikipedia

So, what is it? Is it a nutria, a beaver like animal imported to Louisiana form South America during 1930s?  Some think the Mystery Creature is like the Montauk monster washed ashore in Montauk NY in 2008. Or is it simply a dead mink or sea otter?

The real mystery is… what  bad thing that happened in the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation community that they feel fulfilled the bad omen?

For further information:

http://www.kitchenuhmaykoosib.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omajinaakoos

See also: http://socyberty.com/society/mystery-of-the-vancouver-monster/

Magical creatures I used to believe in

Fairy god mother- I used to believe that you can actually
ask something from them.  Just call on
them, make a wish and it will definitely come true.  She has become so popular in so many fairy
tale stories

Tooth fairies- It is known that if the kids placed their
fallen tooth under their pillow.  They
will grant them a dollar in exchange for it though the tooth fairy is less
common in African cultures.

Santa Claus- every Christmas I hanged socks in the window
believing that the gifts and the money really came from Santa Claus.

Angels- Until today I do believe in them though I have not
seen one yet.

Big foot- It is a large hairy man creatures who live in the
forest.

Mermaids- maybe as a kid who often fascinated with Ariel who
sings sea adventure, these are women who have a tail of a fish instead of legs.

Unicorns- Like a white horse with the most noticeable
feature of unicorn is the long horn located on the forehead.

Dragons- Like a giant lizard with wings that destroys
anything in its path with their fire breathe.

at my age now, I don’t believe with these anymore not unless I’ll see one…..

      Probably the most horrifying legendary creature is the Kraken. It was suppose to have been a giant sea monster. This creature was huge, with many arms. Its arms could reach up to the top of a sailing ship’s main mast, when its arms were deployed.

     When the Kraken would attack a ship, it would wrap its arms around the ship and capsize it. The crew would either be eaten by the Kraken or drown. Fishermen around Scandainavia noticed this creature the most.

     Scylla is a monster that has six arms, six heads with four eyes on each. Then at the lower part of this monsters body is six beastly dogs, whose mouth contain razor-like teeth. Scylla is to approximately 15 feet tall.

Image via Wikipedia

     This monster hides in caves at the bottom of cliffs. Scylla lets her head come out of the chasm, grabbing dolphins and humans that venture into its surroundings.

    The Sirens are better known as Mermaids. They are half-woman and half-fish. The Sirens were believed to have lived on the island of, Anthemoessa. Huge boulders surround this island so if ships ventured too close they would be destroyed.

      Aspidochelone is a fabled sea creature. It is described as a huge turtle, in fact it is suppose to be as large as an island. It rises from the sea and entices sailors to make landfall on its shell. Then it devours them.

Rostherne Church. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

Nestled in a tranquil corner of the County of Cheshire in the U.K. can be found the small village of Rostherne. In the village the Church of St Mary’s has a prominent position overlooking Rostherne Mere.

This body of water is recorded as having a depth of 103 feet, and 3,750 feet in width at its widest point, it also has the reputation of being the home to a Mermaid who makes her appearance once a year on Easter Sunday, she is heard singing and ringing a sunken bell which was lost in the lake whilst being transported to Rostherne Church.

Rostherne Mere which is said to be home to a Mermaid. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

Another part of the legend claims that the Mermaid reaches the Mere via a subterranean tunnel which is said to be linked to either the Irish sea or the river Mersey. However unlikely this may seem there has been in the past reports of a fish known as a Smelt found in the Mere which has the ability to pass from a salt water existence into fresh water where it spawns before returning to the sea, unfortunately the last smelt was caught in the 1920s, maybe there is a grain of truth to the legend after all!

Another interesting story associated with Rostherne church is the Lych-gate, which provides access to the churchyard, this in the past was carefully avoided by newly married couples, because it was believed that if they passed through it one of them would die during the first year of their marriage.

The Lych-Gate. Photo by Gary Tacagni.

The belief that the Lych-gate was associated with death would have been widespread in the past, this may explain why Lych-gate means corpse-gate, another explanation may stem from the fact that Pall Bearers would shelter under its roof with the coffin while waiting for the Priest to arrive.

Another interesting feature of this church can be found behind it, on one of its corners overlooking the Mere. It is said to be a Celtic head carved out of a piece of sandstone which has either hair or horns either side of its face. It has been speculated that it is associated with Cernives the horned God, it is said that the stone was pulled out of the Mere and that it was part of a Shrine.

A Celtic Head? Photo by Gary Tacagni.

Another explanation for this strange carving comes from a Mr Ingram who has spent many hours researching the head whilst working for the Greater Manchester Archeological unit. He believes it is possibly a Pagan object which was incorporated in the original church tower which collapsed in the middle of the eighteenth century, he is of the opinion that it resembles Coventina a water Goddess. I have come across some of these pagan images in other parts of Cheshire which were incorporated in churches and are known as Sheela-na-gigs, they depict an image of a woman showing her genitalia.

The photo above shows a pagan carving (Sheela-na-gig) which can be found on Gawsworth church, close to Macclesfield.

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Karl Reinhard would rather call himself a pathoecologist. Its serious business when Karl tells you that such a study helps in establishing the relationships between human behavior and environment and the diseases they had.

Golf Ball Diver

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Searches the depths of golf course bodies of water to find lost golf balls to refinish and resell. Brett Parker says it’s not the same as diving into a swimming pool and he’s had close encounters with everything from water moccasins to gators!

Fortune writer

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Lisa Yang is probably America’s most widely read writers (and one of the most anonymous). She composes 100 pearls of wisdom a month for her father’s company in San Francisco which is taken by 90% of fortune cookie manufacturers over the country!

Gum Buster

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Remove gum stuck to sidewalks, street benches and other unwanted areas by de-sticking the gum through a steaming process. You won’t believe how successful the gum-removing business has been for Mr. Duane Cummins! He has also not officially endorsed a gum-brand as of now.

Mermaids

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Performance artists who don their mermaid tails and dive in fin first into 10,000 gallons of saltwater aquariums as watchers ogle away! Julie Atlas Muz who works at Coral Room, a nightclub in NYC says mingling with puffers and angelfish was never so much fun!

Hard Boiler

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Sounds like a hard core action movie eh? Well not exactly close, Mike Rowe makes a decent living out of boiling various kinds of animal hair until it curls for later use. A whiff of that stuff would make you shudder for a couple of weeks!

There you go, this opens up a whole new frontier; who wouldn’t want to dive for balls or poke and prod brown goo? Well they’re jobs; someone’s got to do ‘em!