Shark Week
Aug/07/07 02:31 PM Filed in: RANDOM
At the risk of sounding like a big nerd, I think the Discovery channel is great. Really great. One of my favorite things about Discovery channel is 'Shark Week' and I'm really disappointed to admit that I completely missed the most recent installment. But it turns out that I, along with the rest of you who revel in such quality programming, don't have to worry because there is a host of shark delights on discovery.com! Remember, I already admitted I was a nerd so don't judge. I think sharks are so fascinating because they are at once beautifully graceful creatures and blood thirsty monsters. I suppose there are other animals in our world with those same characteristics like say lions, tigers and bears (go ahead...you know you want to say it). But it seems to me that, with all of those other predatory animals, it would be obvious if you were being preyed upon. Sharks are so freaky because you likely won't see them coming. Of course, in the movies, as the shark approaches you can see it's dorsal fin cutting through the water like a speed boat. Somehow I doubt if that really happens though.
One of the goals of 'Shark Week' is to dispel rumors and misnomers about sharks. For example, out of the 400 different species of sharks, most are not normally aggressive toward humans. According to discovery.com there were "only 62 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks on humans, 4 that were fatal" in 2006 in the entire world. In fact, since 1926 there have been only 269 attacks, 7 of which were fatal, in the continental U.S.. Now I don't know about you people, but stats like that are not that comforting to me. The way I see it, all 269 of those attacks were on people who never expected to be part of that statistic, and I see no reason that would keep me from being a part of the same statistic. Oh and I feel the same way about theme park rides by the way (except for Disneyland rides because for some reason they feel safer than others...maybe it's the characters). I know that the chances of being involved in a horrible accident like this one in Kentucky are so slim that I actually have a better chance of swallowing a spider in my sleep this year. But that 1 in a million statistic exists because it does happen to ONE, and why not me? The way I see it, the only way to avoid being that statistic is to avoid that type of activity all together... but I digress.
I always learn something new about sharks during this great Discovery channel 'Shark Week' and end up with a bunch of trivia that I get teased in merciless fashion for sharing. I'm convinced that sharks are not as freaky as Spielberg would have me believe, but I think I'll still stay out of the water just the same. Well, maybe not completely out of the water, just shallow enough to minimize my chances of an attack down to, say, 1 in a billion. I like those odds better. Okay, I've gotta go. I need to catch up on this book I'm reading about the sovereignty of God.
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