Just Keep Swimming

The best week of the year is coming.

You know what it is. Shark Week.

Every time I see the commercials on the Discovery Channel, I clap my hands like a five year-old. Sharks are pure, unadulterated awesome. They're perfectly designed for what they are. As terrifying as they are, they're so sleek and graceful--it's hard not to watch them. (I'll even watch Deep Blue Sea on TBS just to see the sharks create mayhem.) But more than that, they blend so well into every day life.

Need to break up with someone? Take a cue from classic film, Annie Hall: "A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark."

Teaching your kids about pool safety? Show them this:

Discussing the media? Take a hint from Gary Larson: "Newspapers will run a headline: ‘Shark kills human.’ You never see a headline from the other perspective: ‘Man swims in shark-infested water, forgets he’s shark food.’"

But remember--sharks aren't just a summertime phenomenon. While Shark Week only lasts a week, you can make shark week last all year. Take a hint from Calvin and Hobbes.




Some fun shark facts:

• There are many stories that tell of dolphins protecting humans from shark attacks. This phenomenon was investigated in an episode of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters where in a feeding great white shark did not attack either a seal cutout or raw bait when a mechanical dolphin was placed in the water nearby.*
• Sharks can find prey by following the electrical impulses that animals emit, and some species of shark can smell a drop of blood in one million drops of seawater.**
• Sharks have the most powerful jaws on the planet. Both their upper and lower jaws can move.~
• Sharks will eat other sharks.~
• Until the 1950's, shark liver was used as a vitamin A supplement.~

*Wikipedia
**National Parks Conservation Association
~Fun Facts For Kids