the17thman

Real life 'Little Mermaid'

Meet the Aussie model turned professional mermaid making a splash overseas.

Breaking News: Sea Monsters Trapped On Land

io9 posts "This sculptor builds incredible dead sea monsters trapped on land.  The artwork of Argentinian sculptor Adrián Villar Rojas evokes such themes as fantastic adventure in the otherwise normal material realm, the passage of time, and the last days of humanity. Perhaps his most striking series of sculptures depict giant dead sea leviathans beached far from any bodies of water."

Tuesday's Swim Report - Now Hiring Mermaids!

Lane 1 - The Washington Post has "Governing body of swimming, UK Anti-Doping agree to share data on athletes.  Swimming’s world governing body and Britain’s anti-doping agency have signed an agreement to share information on athlete’s blood profiles before the London Olympics.  FINA and UK Anti-Doping will use information from the biological passport program that monitors changes in an athlete’s blood profile that may indicate doping."

Lane 2 - Bloomberg BW posts "Odd Jobs: Professional Mermaid.  The worst part about being a mermaid, according to Staycy McConnell, a 31 year-old full-time mermaid performer at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Florida, is all the swimming.  It may sound like a contradiction — not liking to swim when you’re a mermaid is like being a tax accountant who’s annoyed by math — but the job requires more time underwater than even the most skilled swimmer would be comfortable with. The Florida air is usually warm, but the temperature in the Weeki Wachee freshwater springs, where McConnell performs with her fellow mermaids for packed houses three times a day, seven days a week, is usually in the low 70s. (The U.S. Water Fitness Association claims that the ideal water temperature for adults is between 85 and 89 degrees.) “If you’re not one who really likes cold water, it can be pretty miserable,” says McConnell. “Especially when you’re down there 30 to 45 minutes at a time.” Which just so happens to be the length of an average mermaid show."

Lane 3 - The Huffington Post has Amanda Beard pen "In The Water, They Can't See You Cry.  A year after the 1996 Olympics, I ranked twenty-third in the world in the 100-meter breaststroke and twenty-sixth in the 200-meter.  My parents did their best to shelter me from the unanimous criticism of public opinion. I didn't need anyone to tell me how bad I stunk; I knew that already. The harsh numbers of my ranking told the whole story. At least that's what I thought until I got acquainted with a whole new kind of low."  Beard also posts "Chasing 5: The Road to London" via youtube

Lane 4 - Barry & District News posts "Barry Olympic swimmer David Davies teaches special class to British Airways staff!  TWO-time Olympic medallist and qualifier for the London 2012 Olympic Games, David Davies, taught a special swim class for British Airways staff at Imperial College, London."

Lane 5 - BBC posts "Extreme swimmer Anna Wardley sets island challenge.  An endurance swimmer from Hampshire is embarking on a charity challenge around five islands in five months.  Anna Wardley, 36, from Gosport, is planning to swim around Jersey, the Isle of Wight and Portsea Island."

Lane 6 - Slowtwitch reviews "blueseventy Helix.  The 2012 blueseventy Helix is a suit redesigned from last year. Which surprised me because, honestly, the 2011 Helix was in the upper echelon of all fullsuits I tested in the water (about 10 or 12) during 2011. I could not conceive of much in the 2011 version I'd want to change."

Lane 7 - The Telegraph posts "London 2012 Olympics: Nick D'Arcy is my favourite for 'most hated' tag at Games.  Take one drunk swimmer with a violent right hook, madly celebrating selection in an Olympic team. Seconds later he hits another former star swimmer leaving him unconscious on the floor with a face so broken it will end up taking years, and a painful series of operations for him to talk and eat properly.  That alcohol-fuelled thug is now heading to London for the 2012 Olympic Games, and since the scandal surrounding the knee-capping of Nancy Kerrigan conspired by the then husband of her rival Tonya Harding at the 1994 winter Olympics, there hasn't been an Olympic villain so maligned.  Step up and collect the most-hated tag, Nick D'Arcy."

Lane 8 - Ram  Cigar posts "Swimming coach reflects on 39 years in URI athletics.  It’s all about who you know and for Mick Westkott this holds truer than for others. Thanks to a friend of a friend, Westkott landed a part time position at the University of Rhode Island. Westkott saw that part time position expand into a 39-year journey as the only head coach of varsity swimming at the school.  “It’s so much different now than it used to be. Not only here, but in swimming and intercollegiate athletics than it was back when they started,” Westkott said of the programs at URI."

Sade - No Mermaid Love, I Mean No Ordinary Love

Happy Valentine's Day

 

 

Monday's Swim Report - A Sing n' Dance Mermaid? A Few Swim Themed Ads.

Lane 1 - The Telegraph posts "London 2012 Olympics: the fascinating journey facing Ian Thorpe and the comeback kids.  The names are familiar – some just a twinge in the memory, others colourful flashbacks. They are the Comeback Class of the London 2012 Olympic Games.  No longer precocious talented teenagers – Janet Evans, Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim, Paul Hamm, Laure Manaudou, Libby Trickett, Rulon Gardner – but battling wrinkles, a sceptical public and the brutal enemy of time in their bold ambitions to re-live precious Olympic experiences."  While Roar posts "Ian Thorpe will shine when the moment arrives.  The man himself denies he’s foxing, but Ian Thorpe showed just enough on Saturday night to prove his bid for a spot on the Australian team for the London Olympics remains on track.  Thorpe is currently playing a game of poker with his rivals and their coaches around the world."

Lane 2 - Favorite swim themed ad ever!  "Guinness Beer (Swim black) commercial" via youtube

Lane 3 - The Chicago Tribune posts "New iPhone app lets users follow roaming great white sharks.  The great white shark is lurking in cyberspace, in the form of an iPhone application launched this week that allows users to track a dozen of the predators as they roam around the Pacific Ocean.  The California-based Marine Conservation Science Institute launched the app, which the nonprofit describes as the first shark tracker of its kind, to raise funds for its research."

Lane 4 - It's got a dolphin so it's cute.  And they swim.  "Frontier Airlines -Triathlon.  Have you made your New Year's resolution yet? Flip is thinking about completing a triathlon... the swim should be a piece of cake (Griz took that literally, by the way)." via youtube

Lane 5 - Gator Country posts "Florida Swimmers take third at SMU.  While the Florida swim teams were defeating the Florida Atlantic at home on Saturday, select members of the men’s team were competing at the Perkins Natatorium in Dallas for the Classic at SMU."

Lane 6 - The Sydney Morning Herald posts "Swimmer killed by shark at one of 'world's deadliest' beaches.  A South African man has been killed by a shark while swimming in waist-deep water at Second Beach in the rural Eastern Cape, one of the world's deadliest spots for attacks."

Lane 7 - Box Score News posts "2011 US National Water Polo Awards Announced.  USA Water Polo’s Annual Awards dinner took place this past January 14 at the LAX Crowne Plaza in Los Angeles, California in conjunction with the USA Water Polo Assembly. As established in 2010, the awards have each been named in honor of a person or persons who have made an extraordinary contribution to the sport."

Lane 8 - It's Pink, it swims and it's a mermaid!  "Barbie™ in A Mermaid Tale - Swim 'N Dance Mermaids Commercial" via youtube. 

Wait did they say her hair turns pink in the water?  I so want it!

Thursday's Swim Report - More Fun, Less Swim.

It's been a slow swim news week or two around the pool...

Lane 1 - SI posts "Olympics predictions for 2012.  The Michael Phelps-Ryan Lochte duel is too close to call, but if I have to pick now ... it's Phelps, barely. The world's two best swimmers should go head to head in two events -- the 200-meter freestyle and the 200 individual medley. Phelps is the defending Olympic champion in both, but Lochte won both world titles this year, becoming the alpha male of the pool in the process."

Lane 2 - Perez Hilton posts "New Stills From The Next Episode Of Glee!  Seems Sam Evans isn't the only Gleek heading in a new direction. Seems the whole club is getting in on the sycronized swimming action!"

Lane 3 - NewHampshire.com posts "‘Accordion-playing merman’ takes plunge in another swim for charity.  Dubbed the “accordion-playing merman,” Gary Sredzienski, known for his “surf rock” fare, will undertake a sizable swim in January to raise money for the New Hampshire SPCA."

Lane 4 - Mail Online posts "Still going strong: World's oldest triathlete continues to swim, run and bike-ride - at the age of 90.  Super-fit pensioner Arthur Gilbert prefers the swimming pool to the bingo hall - because at the age of 90 he is the world’s oldest triathlete.  While most people his age prefer a gentle stroll, since 1989 Mr Gilbert has raced in more than 40 of the gruelling events, which are made up of a 500 metre swim, a 12-mile bike ride and a three-mile run."

Lane 5 - This is a great video "Swimmer's Unique Tactic to Win Race Hill taylor The Dolphin Man Denied Record" via youtube

Lane 6 - Focus Taiwan posts "Swimming may improve bone resistance to impact: local scholar.  Swimming may be able to improve bone resistance to impact, a local scholar said Wednesday, citing the results of his research on rodents.  Huang Tsang-hai, an associate professor at National Cheng Kung University, said his experiment was carried out on rats that were made to swim for an hour a day, five days a week.  After eight weeks, the rats in the swimming groups showed lower bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) than those in the control group, he said."

Lane 7 - CHEETAH GATE?  Tampa Bay Online posts "Tarzan co-star Cheetah dies at Palm Harbor sanctuary.  Cheetah the chimpanzee, who acted in classic Tarzan movies in the early 1930s, died of kidney failure Saturday at Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, a sanctuary spokeswoman said.  Cheetah acted in the 1932-34 Tarzan movies, Cobb said. Movies filmed during that timeframe starred Johnny Weissmuller and include "Tarzan and His Mate" and "Tarzan the Ape Man," according to the Internet Movie Database."  Meanwhile LezgetReal.com posts "Cheetah Dead At 80 – Well, Not Quite.  The original Cheeta, who appeared in the first two Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies, was a chimpanzee named Jiggs who was brought to America in 1929 and died in 1938. He was owned and trained by Tony and Jacqueline Gentry. The Gentrys owned several chimps who portrayed Tarzan’s primate companion, including Jiggs Jr.  Gentry created a myth about one of his chimps, which lived at a sanctuary in California, so one of them was alleged to be past 70 years of age.  None of these are the Weismuller chimp who died on Christmas Eve of kidney failure."

Lane 8 - io9 posts (w/video) "Killer whale vs. shark brawl will make you happy to stay out of the water.  Last Tuesday at New Zealand's Tuatapere's Blue Cliffs beach, bystander David Evans witnessed an orca getting into a shallow water tussle with a gang of sharks. The whale was likely herding the sharks toward the shores, where the fish next encountered an overeager pooch."

Monday's Swim Report - Save Me XXX Aquaman!

Lane 1 - Ocala.com "Former Gator Torres training to qualify for her sixth Olympic Games.  The Coral Springs Aquatic Complex is a nondescript concrete structure, surrounded by fields of saw-grass and man-made ponds.  Here, on a breezy December morning, Dara Torres swims in lane two of the Olympic-sized pool. She alternates between backstrokes and freestyle strokes. For 10- to 20-second stretches, Torres kicks as hard as she can in place while being tied to a 10-foot rubber cord, a resistance drill monitored by the blare of a coach's whistle.  At 44, Torres is training to qualify for her sixth Olympic Games."

Lane 2 - Inside The Games posts "The swimmer with a chlorine allergy aiming for London 2012.  Xander Alari-Williams may be a name unfamiliar to all but the most avid swimming fans, but he harbours hopes of making it the London 2012 Olympic Games and could well be the next big British sensation in the pool. Oh, and he has a chlorine allergy."

Lane 3 - OH AQUAMAN!  "Justice League of Pron Star Heroes music video to Linkin Park What I've Done" (sorta NSFW) via youtube

Lane 4 - Swimming World asks "What Is The IMSHOF?? THE acronym IMSHOF refers to both the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame.  The International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame honors swimmers, coaches, pilots, administrators and contributors who have excelled in open water swimming world while the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame recognizes swimmers, divers, synchronized swimmers, water polo players and contributors."

Lane 5 - Pakistan Nation posts "Man befriends with alligator.  He might weigh 120kg with fangs sharp enough to serrate limbs, but this lethal alligator is nothing but gentle, his brave keeper insists. Nelson, the 10ft long alligator, loves nothing more than to swim around his pit and have his chin rubbed by wildlife enthusiast Stuart Parker, and has so far resisted the temptation to bite."

Lane 6 - The Worcester Telegram & Gazette posts "Swimmers take plunge for Santa.  Arthritis might have slowed them down, but it has certainly not stopped the Water Lilies and Lily Pads at the Y from raising funds for the Telegram & Gazette Santa Fund each year."

Lane 7 - 9 News of Colorado posts "Swimmers clad only in Santa hats go for icy swim."

Lane 8 - Stuff posts "2011 near write-off for New Zealand swimmers.  Things can only get better for Kiwi swimming.  Apart from a few decent results, 2011 has been a write-off and yet another year dogged by serious governance issues."

Walt Disney - Merbabies

Day of The Dead Mermaid