Marble Hornets

www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com

Marble Hornets is an amazing web series going onto it's third season now the basic plot is explained here (no spoilers) just to hook you in enough to make the story interesting.

I would call this type of web series a supernatural thriller, but without the dependence on CG or bad storytelling.  The plot itself is a jumble to tapes discovered by Jay and he decides to reveal them to us.  The viewers are discovering the evidence and phenomena at the same time as Jay, so there isn't anything he knows we don't already know.

The source of the paranormal phenomenon is a being called slender man who is a creation of the Something Awful Forums.  I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it looks to be a tall, skinny looking man with a mask covering his face.  Whenever it is near the camera reacts strangely, sometimes showing an image of himself.  

http://slenderia.blogspot.com

The web series uses the boogyman like creature who follows the cast from the Marble Hornets student film.  They have all lost parts of their memories, coughing up blood, have seen Slender Man and become completely obsessed with recording themselves.  Also,  people indoctrinated by slender man can become ruthless killers who have no memory of actually attacking anyone.  The whole series is a simple mystery with some supernatural hints.


Slender man itself is a creepy concept spawning into a sort of underground culture image.  Considering his modern appearance I would think he would be a recent apparition conforming to the times he was created.  Also, how he draws you in and terrifies you at the same time implies an almost corporate like trust we already have with real business.


I highly recommend watching this series late at night, it just ups the creepy factor.  There is also another video you need to watch along side the series.  It is an unknown observer, who calls itself totheark, posts messages, along with strange video footage.


The videos start out simple, but become increasingly complex and scary when you view them between the dates of the Marble Hornets series because it just adds to the plot and density of story.  

Is a direct response to this:

Just feeling the eyes on you now right?  I love this series, be sure to watch.


Any favorite scary stories I should read?

Dream: Surrogate Mother

Robertsan1 painter Schrotzberg died in 1926

I don't often have dreams, but when I do I try to write them down.  The phase of the moon was waxing gibbous, June 30, 2012.

This wasn't one of my strangest dreams, but it was strange for me to be expecting a baby.  I like nannying for children, but as for having one, I like to sleep in on weekends.

My boyfriend Mike and I were using a surrogate to have a child,  I saw the image of the child to be in my dream while Mike and I were at some sort of healthclub.  Apparently it was with the surrogates egg and his sperm she was pregnant, probably because my genetics were horrible.

I have diabetes, epilepcy, heart disease, cancer, altimerz all on my side of the family.  Mike's is realtivly healthy, so I imagine we decided to use the surrogates egg.

Tripton's Hand by
Portraitlady4306

I remember asking why Mike suddenly wanted a baby after we discussed not having children.  That's about the time I woke up.

I like to use dream moods for interpreting my dreams and went there and searched: surrogate, health club, baby, swiming pool and sperm.  he dream could be a literal interpretation, however I do not think so.  Considering my rededication to Wicca, I think it symbolizes more of a new beginning for me.  Even the health club has meaning, it could mean to apply what I have already learnd.  Even the surrogate was a symbol showing how I was missing my path in my life.

I rearely remember my dreams and think everyone I do remember as important.  Of course my boyfriend thinks a dream is just a dream.

Any strange dreams you would like to share?

Paganspace.net

Betsythedevine Photoshopped 

version of public sign

People come and go, but I stand by a statement, "internet + anonymous = douchebag"  I really try not to be a troll on forums.  My definition of a troll is someone who argues no matter what position you have on the issue.


Trolls are common because they get away with being trolls under anonymous means and the policies are not condemning enough for just verbal vomit, because a smart troll never  says anything too offensive.  The best way to handle a troll is not to feed one.


There are so many different Pagans there questions are bound to be answered in many different ways.  Let's just take the basic question discussion of I'm New to Wicca.  Within a few posts the discussion has brought up solitary vs initiated Wicca.


I'm in the camp where you don't need to join a coven to be a Wiccan.  You can practice, study and learn all on your own, creating a personal version of Wicca.  I'm no saying I'm the best Wiccan ever, but I do follow most of the practices, even if I don't agree with the complete Wiccan rede.

Image:Wiccan_Triple_Moon_3.PNG 

(now deleted)

Personally, I haven't found a coven I really like, although I'm considering joining the Firefly Academy to help encourage my studies and become apart of a larger group.  Brook the iPod Witch recommends them, and she doesn't have time or money, so I think they would be a good choice for a hard working nanny/student like myself.


With just this one discussion there are many different opinions, trolls and values being posted.  This well rounded view is why I like Paganspace.  I did join another Pagan social site, The Pagan Veil, but I haven't found it as fast paced or responsive.


I strongly support discussion between different faiths and I think Paganspace is one place to start.


You have a profile on paganspace?  Drop me a line.

War On Kids

By unidentified [FAL], via Wikimedia Commons

The War on Kids documentary film shows how the American education system is broken and needs to be fixed if we want children to develop critical-thinking-intelligent minds.


College really opened my eyes up to history, liturature, psycology, all ignored by my private Christian school.  The school did, however, instill crititcal thinking in me, although it was supposed to be for other religions, practices and lifestyles, I applied it to the Christian faith and found holes in logic.  I think I went through the stages of grief and finally moved onto my agnostic life until I found witchcraft and Wicca.  


In the documentary they show the shift from Nancy Regan's "Just Say No" to medicating our children with powerful drugs equivlient to cocain and meth and making schools a "Zero Tolerance Zone" for violence and how police arrest children for bringing nail clippers to school.

Phtographer Unknown

The documentary starts with an extreme cartoon featuring "evil children" who will not listen to their parents and prepare molotav coctails.  Are parents afraid of their children?  Yes, the war on drugs spurred a movment into making children into criminals before they became them, a kind of self-fulfilling profecy.


At first the "Zero Tolerance" only covered guns, then it would cover any kind of weapon, incuding wallet chains, then just strictly violence, like the kindergartener "firing" a chicken nugget at a teacher.  Each step pushes down on children, controlling them and when the policy doesn't work, parents drug them.


I'm not personally afraid of children, I love letting them play outside, explore and avoiding homework at all cost.  Homework is another way schools reach beyond the eight hour school day and make children work overtime.  There is no time to socialize, be creative, be interested and we expect newly graduated high schoolers to be creative, innovative and independent when they were subjected to a system of control like a prision. 


The fear in this country created a snowball effect going beyond protecting children, but openly making them criminals and refusing their rights.  It is not legal for a child to be questioned without parental concent, hardly any child is read their miranda rights and their being emotionally manipulated by the school personel they trust.


Cameras, metal detectors, police officers canvas shools now and why?  To keep guns and violence out of school, but we brought the guns and violence in.  A modern educational facility today looks more like a prision, so is it a wonder children act like criminals?

Fear feeds this mindset and the false promise of safety.  Students do not feel safer, studends feel watched and become paranoid.  

America really doesn't know what they are doing when it comes to educating out chidlren.  Teachers want quiet in an over croweded classroom where children are board, ask questions, fidget and the teacher diagnosis them with ADHD.  I would be labled ADHD now, but was I just an average child full of energy?  

Keeping children indorrs, under rules and strict schedule damages our children, so let your kids be kids, not drones of the state.

Playing Outside

Their mom is trying to clean the house right now and to be better organized, so the kids are staying outside more.  When I nanny, I love to play outside and let the 14 month old run around with his two siblings in the dirt.  The older siblings are very computer savvy and play Minecraft, Wizard101 and tons of youtube videos.


I remember when I was a child I spend almost every moment outside to escape to my own worlds separate from the abuse I was experiencing.  I made roller coasters our of holes and a wagon, climbed towers to fight monsters, imagined kingdoms, sat in the tall backyard grass watching the bugs crawl all around me.  I didn't have safe play structures, but tons of imagination brimming out onto the surrounding earth; creating a world of creative wonder.


Seeing this now in the children I nanny makes me want to play, create and imagine all over again.  I color with the chalk, build towers out of sand, act like crazy restaurant patrons all for the sake of play.


There is a certain magick in childlike play, it draws you down to an innocence lost underneath the realities of life like bills, school, cleaning your house, all these things wash away play.


My childhood was happy for a part, but my happiness was shaky because my mother would use my emotions to further her own insane agenda.  What was her agenda?  Who knows, I think she was just in so much pain she doesn't even know why she was angry.  There was always a cost for our happiness and it was not a fair childhood.


It is so important for children to play outside in the sunshine and develop a sensory for the earth around them.  I even play video games sometimes, but I much rather be sitting outside under the sunlight watering my plants.


This is why I like to play outside with the children, I'm redoing my childhood.  I know I can never deny what happened to me, even though my mother will, but I can choose to heal it.


What activities do you do with your children outside?

BPA is Everywhere

A few weeks ago I asked Hansen's Sodas if they use phthalates or BPA to coat the inside of their cans.  They did respond, but they didn't exactly answer my question.


"Thanks for visiting the Hansen’s website.

We understand your concern, but can confidently assure you that beverage cans are safe. It is important to remember that all components of packages that come into contact with food or beverages undergo stringent testing and must comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations before use. Our entire beverage cans meet or exceed federal and state health and safety standards. In fact, all components used in beverage cans, including coatings, have been and continue to be recognized as safe by the FDA.

Our company has worked with the Can Manufactures Institute to respond to claims that the chemical Bisphenol A, used in a formulation of certain can coatings, is unsafe. Bisphenol A is alleged to be a possible estrogen mimic by a small group of activists and allegedly pose threats at low-dose exposures to vulnerable populations. However, CMI, working with the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. developed very convincing data, which demonstrate the safety of foods and beverages in cans lined with coatings made with Bisphenol A. The data show the American consumer has no exposure whatsoever to Bisphenol A through canned beverages. These findings have been provided to and reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Beverage cans are safe, and provide the highest quality packaging for beverages on the market today.



Sincerely,
Hansen's Beverage Company"

The letter basically says yes we coat our cans in a plastic that has not been proven to be unsafe for you by the Can Manufactures Institute, company supported, the FDA and the USDA, whose powers do not reach far enough to ban or challenge any claims until someone has died from said substance/ claim without a shadow of a doubt.

You can buy these products at Whole Foods, a company priding itself on providing organic and natural products.  Bisphenol A, is an artifical hormone, estrogen to be precise, and the body cannot tell the difference between this hormone and the ones produces in our bodies.  This artificial hormone can send false signals to our cells, making them not work properly and cause damage to the body.

The FDA has taken some steps to see if Bisphenol A (BPA) is hazardous.  So, Hansen's in wrong to state there is not enough concern.  However, this concern has been going on for over ten years, and scientists have already found links between BPA and cancer, diabetes, genital defects and behavioral problems like ADHD.  People are not dying directly from this contact, but it sets people up to have issues in the future and this may be why little action is taking place.

Even the guide talking about BPA says that low doses are not harmful.  But BPA is used in everything; water bottles, sports equipment, medical and dental devices, dental fillings and sealants, CDs and DVDs, household electronics, and eyeglass lenses.  My question is when low doses invade over long periods of time and those doses are no longer low, is it toxic?  When do the doses become toxic?  It's already been banned in baby bottles and some toys, if it's harmful for a baby, should pregnant mothers beware?

I'm concerned, not only because we don't know how much BPA is toxic, but it's also everywhere.  Studies may show low levels are safe for adults, however, when it accumulates inside our bodies, is it safe then?

Kitten Rescue

My friend found Olive on the side of the road and he couldn't keep her because his landlord doesn't allow pets.


I cannot help but save an animal since the time my two cats went missing in 2009.  I guess I will become the crazy cat lady when I'm old.


Immediately after I took her in I gave her a flea bath and combed out her fur.  She was infested with fleas and very skinny.  Thankfully she was eating solid kitten food, but she still wasn't pooping on her own.


Honestly I think every parent should go through a kitten fostering just to have a taste of what you go through with a real baby.  For about a week I would wake up every 3-4 hours to feed her and help pee/poop her.  When she finally did poop on my shirt on the second day I sighed with relief.


After about one week I took her to her first vet appointment.  Dr. McCall saw her for no charge and estimated she was about 4 weeks old at the time of the visit.  He was a wonderful vet who used his vast knowledge to encourage me to be as natural as possible.  I already had two cats and I try to buy organic and such for them, but it's nice to have a vet who agrees.

Batman and Olive

My boyfriend and I were unsure if we were going to keep Olive; three cats in a 650 sq. foot space can be pretty crowded.  This was until Batman, our medium haired black cat, literally adopted Olive like a single dad.  After this my boyfriend and I knew they were meant to be.

Right now Olive is about two months old and happily growing up in our house, chasing her tail like the cutie pie she is.  My other cat Anya stays relatively stoic when it comes to Olive, but I think Olive is growing on her.  

Sometimes I think magick just tends to find you in the most mundane places.  Seeing a living being grow up under your feet makes me feel like I'm watching creation happen before my eyes.  On a simpler note, Olive is just too cute not to love.


I have adopted many cats in my life, some by sheer want, others fell into my lap.  If you can adopt please do and if you ever have an opportunity to save a life, please try.


Have you ever rescued an animal?  If so, what was your experience?