jaws

i just finished reading "Jaws" by peter benchley recently and i really enjoyed it. i know it probably seems contrary to my great love for sharks that i would read and enjoy a book that succeeded in vilifying sharks to many people. but i think that it actually did not do that.

granted there are times when the shark seems to be pure evil, eating a little boy on a raft, maniacally attacking the orca as it sinks, and so forth. but i do think that the book does a decent job of presenting an alternative viewpoint. the viewpoint that sharks are not evil by nature, they are just predators by nature. there is a character that actually has a reverence for the shark: hooper.

hooper is the marine biologist, ichthyologist to be exact (one who studies only fish). in the movie richard dreyfuss plays him. in the book he is certainly pro-shark, he is amazed by them, he sees them as the perfect predator, he views them with respect. while all the other characters around him cry out for the death of the shark he is the alternate view point, the voice of reason against revenge. the unfortunate part is i am not sure that we are supposed to side with hooper. one of the things they cut out of the movie was hopper's affair with chief brody's wife, ellen. this makes hooper unlikable in the book, and unsympathetic character. we are not supposed to identify with him and agree with his viewpoint.

but i do. putting the affair aside hooper was able to straddle the line of respect and concern for human life with scientific curiosity and respect for the fish.

and i am not so sure that we are supposed to identify with quint either. the ahab character that constantly crosses lines of dignity to achieve his goals. he poached an unborn dolphin to use as bait and gutted a blue shark just to watch it eat its own entrails and watch other sharks eat it. this kind of disregard for any type of life is repellant as well. i think benchley was trying to bring us to a sort of middle ground with brody.

brody is obviously the main focus. it is his famliy and thoughts that are focused on in the book. we are emotionally connected to brody more than any other character, and he does show both feelings about the shark on different occasions. but regardless of how the characters feel about the shark, what did the most damage to the image of the shark was the pure fear that benchley made us feel about the ocean.

he made it seem like these attacks, though rare, always ended in death. the shark always seemed to be targeting whatever it saw and had no discerning taste what-so-ever when it came to prey. we know now that great whites mostly eat seals and sea-lions because they are high in blubber content. the white shark is essentially warm blooded. it uses the high fatty content of its food to produce heat in its body so it can swim in cold waters. very rarely is a human ever eaten by a shark, we may be tested every now and again, but rarely devoured, if at all. but a shark performing a taste test does not make for good pulse pounding fear or drama.

benchley was informed in part by a documentary called "blue water, white death" which i just watched again recently. it is an acount of one film crew's journey to be the first to film a great white shark. it was made in 1971 and though we still know very little about the great white, it seems they knew even less back then. it is interesting to see how far we have come. the film has some great shots and is very interesting. but it is hard sometimes to watch the divers punch sharks that don't seem to have any intention of causing harm. at one point the female diver, valerie taylor, appears to swim up to a shark and shoot it with a boom stick, a sort of underwater gun, just to see what happens. it shoots the shark with a projectile and the shark swims in circles struggling into the deep until it disappears and most likely dies. this was the time period in which the book was written and it shows.

benchley became a huge advocate for sharks and i do respect him a great deal. and regardless of whether or not i believe his book did more harm than good it is still a fun read. the stigma that "jaws" brought upon sharks has yet to be completely lifted but i do think that it did make people interested and fascinated by sharks as well. when i first saw the film i fell in love with sharks . . . it will always be one of my all time favorite movies. and though it does seem to have done some harm, it worked in an opposite way too, and i am very thankful for that. plus it is just plain entertaining.

i will leave you with a quote from the book that pretty much sums up how i feel . . .

"that fish is a beauty, it's the kind of thing that makes you believe in a god. it shows you what nature can do when she sets her mind to it." -hooper

The Pursuit: part two

Chad and Jake stopped walking long enough to put their rain gear on.
“Arty, you should really put your parka on. The rain is really coming down.” Chad didn’t like to call his father-in-law “Dad”. Since his own father passed away it felt like he was replacing him. Arty just grunted and put the ear flaps down on his hat. A little rain wasn’t going to hurt him, he had survived much worse than this. When he was ten he fell through the ice on the creek behind the farm. As his clothes grew heavy with water he sank slowly to the bottom, it felt like knives pierced every inch of his body, and as the current flowed he moved further away from the opening and under the ice. Before he passed out he could see blurred figures struggling to break the ice, to set him free. The next thing he remembered was being covered in blankets in front of the fireplace. Surviving that gave him the ability to assess true risk, if he survived falling through the ice, he could survive rain and the cold that might follow.
“Are you sure we should go back to the cabin without Ethan? Will he know to go back?” Chad asked.
“I’d be surprised if he wasn’t there when we get there.” Arty said. “He’s got the maps, he knows where to go.”
“Sure.” The drumming of the raindrops on the leaves drowned out any other sound that floated in to them. The faintest of yells did not register. Neither Chad nor Jake heard anything because the sound of the rain was amplified by the hoods on their raincoats. Arty stopped for a moment and turned. He motioned for the others to stop and listen. They stood frozen listening for anything other than the rain. No other sound waves could pass between the drops and they went unheard. They walked the rest of the way in silence.

A walk gone in a new direction

As you might figure out eventually this isn't Adam writing...it's his wife. Why you might ask? Because I have a story to tell, so listen up!


Adam and I wanted to go for a walk tonight, but we didn't want to walk in our neighborhood, so we decided to go to our favorite place to walk in Roseville, Central Park. As we were driving there we noticed some commotion going on. At first I thought it was an accident because there were lights and an ambulance and a barricade. But no! It was a PARADE!!! My little heart skipped a beat. I LOVE PARADES!! I've been kind of bummed because Adam and I won't be able to go see the Albert Lea 3rd of July parade this year and I really wanted to see a parade. Apparently this week is RoseFest which is kicked off with a parade!


I did have a few complaints with the parade however. A) The people refused to throw candy to me. Okay so i realize that i am not a kid but adults like candy just as much as children do! B) Marching bands that just march to clicks...lame! C) Princesses that aren't really princesses of anything but are allowed to sit on a moving vehicle and wave to people on the street D) Marching bands that sing instead of playing their instruments. There were at least 2 bands we saw out of 5 that sang as part of their performance. The only band I was somewhat impressed with was the Champlain Park band...they played Fiddler on the Roof which was pretty good. It made me miss the days of sweating in the wool uniforms and rolling my feet.



Overall it was an evening walk well spent. We got to be part of our city's parade, people watch, and be a marching band judge. Thanks for listening!


Maria


P.S.
I want a house

a couple quick frustrations

first of all, i have been listening to KDWB and Beat 96 recently and have noticed something that really bothers me (it's not just the music in general). Now that T-Pain (probably spelled T-Payne, but i'm not going to do the research) came onto the hip-hop scene and used that stupid voice modulator on every single song to hide the fact that he can't really sing now the entire hip-hop community has taken to using it constantly. it's like they just discovered this effect recently and now can't stop using it. kind of like when i was little and i discovered the armpit fart and couldn't stop doing it.

i used to hear that effect once in a while when someone wanted to sound like a robot or something but it is getting ridiculous. Every song, honestly, check it out. Kanye used it too.

secondly, maria and i went to church this morning and were greeted very nicely but had decided that we wanted to sit in the balcony. there wasn't anybody handing out bullitens by the stairs so we went to the gentleman that was standing at the doors to the floor level and took some bullitens. as we were walking back to go upstairs he said, "oh, going to be balcony bums today, huh?"

i thought this was extremely rude. he might have been trying to be funny but don't see what is so wrong about wanting to sit in the balcony once in a while. what makes a church service different from one floor to another? we sang the same songs, we said the same prayers, we listened to the same sermon, and we weren't the only people up there. let us worship on the floor of our choice please without the attitude.

i also don't like nice days in the cities because you have to fight crowds to get fresh air.

good night. i feel better.

i wanted to write something but couldn't come up with anything that i wanted to keep. hopefully the next part of "the Pursuit" will be posted soon.

i'm going to bed.

my life's calling

i was having a conversation with someone this past weekend and from that conversation came the inspiration for my life's calling. i finally know my purpose in life, the reason i was put here on earth, the reason i have been working at this horrible job at the bank for so long. all of that time working at the bank prepared me for my true career . . .

a male stripper.

and my theme? bank teller.

think about it. it is perfect. i can come onto the stage in full business casual. that would allow me to take off a necktie, and use that in imaginative ways. i could wear and belt and suspenders and really make the show interesting. once i got to the nitty gritty, i would be wearing briefs that read "deposit only","night deposit", or "$7 fee for cashiers checks" and the ladies, or guys, could slip the bills in. maybe i could print them a receipt somehow.

it would also work as a professional wrestling persona.

i would be "the bank teller" and i could perform such moves as the "check bounce" and the "big bill slam" (which could be moves for the strip club too, if you think about it). and before i finish off my opponent i could scream "You're overdrawn!" and slam him to the mat violently.

i feel as though there has been a great weight lifted now that i know my life's calling. now it is just a matter of filling out a g-string. . .

maybe i should go back to school.

grandpa marvin

i wish i could have met my grandpa Marvin (on my dad's side).
i have a feeling that he was an incredible person.
i have seen pictures, but i wonder what he sounded and acted like.
my dad is probably alot like him, which means that i would have liked him very much.
i wonder how much my dad misses him.
i imagine that Marvin had some pretty amazing stories to tell, i wish i could have heard them.
i think about this every now and again and wonder if i will meet him in the afterlife.

i don't know, but i really hope i do.

some things i have learned today

1. i don't like clogging the toilet, especially when the bowl runneth over.

2. when i re watched an episode of "the Blue Planet", the seasonal seas episode, i was reintroduced to a shark that i know little about but is very interesting. the Porbeagle Shark, or Salmon Shark, which is a shark in the mackerel family. Here, I'll let you learn for yourself . . .

The porbeagle is a member of the group known as the mackerel sharks--Isuridae or Lamnidae--probably the most notorious of all shark families. There are only three genera, Carcharodon, Lamna, and Isurus, but in these genera can be found three of the most well-known sharks ever to swim the seas: the mako, the great white, and the extinct Megalodon. All these sharks have enough in common to classify them as a single family: they share the same fusiform, tapered shape, and the same pointed snout. They all have laterally flattened caudal keels (although the porbeagle has a secondary caudal keel as well), their tails are almost equally lobed and muscular, and they have an insignificant second dorsal fin. They all swim stiffly, flexing only the tail that is strengthened by the muscular keels, and they are capable of incredible speed. Some say the mackerel sharks are the fastest animals in the sea.

The porbeagle has several common names, including mackerel shark, bonito shark, and salmon shark, derived from its preying upon, rather than its resemblance to, these fishes. The value of Linnean binomial nomenclature is obvious in a situation like this; in one location it's a porbeagle, in another it's a salmon shark, and off the coast of Maine, it's a bluedog. If it's a shark with a conical snout, sharp, narrow teeth, a symmetrical tail, and a double keel at the base of the tail, it's Lamna nasus. That's if it's found in the Atlantic. If it's found in the Pacific, it is Lamna ditropis, the Pacific porbeagle. Ditropis, by the way, means "double keel," and nasus means nose, both of which refer to the salient characteristics of the species. This double keel is unique to the genus Lamna. The upper, wide keel is similar to that of the other mackerel sharks, but the second and smaller keel, located on the lower lobe of the tail fin itself, occurs only in the porbeagles.

There is no problem in differentiating the porbeagle and the great white--the white is usually lighter in color (but not white), while the porbeagle is usually a dark bluish or brownish gray above, fading to white below. It is often makos that are mistaken for porbeagles, but the mako is a more slender fish, and it is a rich blue color above. The porbeagle also has a white patch at the posterior base of the dorsal fin.

The teeth of the mackerel sharks are interesting for reasons other than their use as a genus determinant. Most sharks have teeth that differ in the upper and lower jaws. This differentiation is based on the separate functions that the jaws perform. The lower teeth are often narrower and more pointed, and they are used to pierce and hold the prey, while the broader serrated upper teeth are protruded, and the head is twisted, thus removing a bite of flesh. In other words, the sawlike edges of the upper teeth function as a knife, while the lower teeth serve to hold the prey, much in the manner of a person carving a roast with a knife and fork. (This arrangement presupposes a prey animal too large to be engulfed in one gulp.) In the jaws of the mako and the porbeagle, both the upper and lower teeth are narrow and smooth-edged, which would indicate that both sets are used for grasping and that the prey is swallowed whole. This is borne out by many studies of the stomach contents of mackerel sharks, which show many fish more or less undamaged, except for the stablike puncture wounds made by the teeth. The teeth of the porbeagle are pointed and narrow, and they differ from those of the mako by the presence of small cusps on either side of each tooth.

Porbeagles are pan-oceanic, having been reported in the North Atlantic, the North Sea, off England, Scotland, Iceland, Newfoundland, New England, and from corresponding latitudes in the southern hemisphere. All the porbeagles can be characterized as temperate or even coldwater species. This is one of the reasons that there have been no documented attacks on swimmers; even though the porbeagle is certainly capable, there are just not very many people in the waters where the porbeagle lives.

Given its illustrious relatives, it is no wonder that the porbeagle has been given short shrift. The shark with the funny name has not been incriminated in unprovoked attacks on humane and it does not perform elaborate high jinks when it is hooked. It may appear to be the poor relation of the more flamboyant mackerel sharks, but it is a full member of the family, a swift and capable hunter. The porbeagle is not as deadly as the white or as graceful as the mako, but it is among the fastest swimmers in the sea, and therefore it ranks at the very peak of the food chain. It is the "top predator" in its own territory.

Source: The Book of Sharks by Richard Ellis

thanks for learning with me.

coming soon: The Pursuit: Part Two

The Pursuit: Part One

The Pursuit: by adam schultz


We stepped into the clearing. That is where the blood trail had led us. The four of us had our safeties on and our rifle barrels pointed into the sky. The grass was up to our knees and we brushed through it carelessly. It did not matter, nature was our domain, and we were its masters. The trees groaned as the cold wind cut a path through them. Leaves fluttered to the ground and fell soundlessly on the ground and on us. We casually brushed them off and continued to search for the wounded buck. I looked over to my dad, who bent down and looked at the blades of grass for any trace of blood.
“Do you see anything, dad?” I said softly. He shook his head and stood back up. We all stopped and spun in place to see if we could spot any sign of the buck at all. It was nearing sunset and as the dying light filtered through the leaves, it was hard to make out anything but branches. We examined and dismissed any movement we saw.
“We lost him.” My brother-in-law, Chad, said. He squatted and rested his gun on his knees. He took off his hat and wiped his forehead in disappointment. “He was big, too.” Chad looked over at his son, Jake, who was itching a poison ivy rash he acquired earlier in the day. “It’s going to bleed if you keep itching that.” Jake rolled his eyes and stopped itching. My dad walked over to the tree line to our right and stopped at the edge peering in as if he was looking through a foggy window.
“Let’s go back to the cabin.” I said. “We aren’t going to find him. It’s too dark and it’s too late.”
“You want to quit?” Dad said, turning quickly. The look on his face was calm but suggested frustration. There was a slight furrow to his brow and he didn’t blink. He walked into the forest. Chad smirked, stood up, and began following my dad. He motioned Jake to follow them. Jake groaned and itched at his ivy rash. The three of them disappeared into the trees and became shadows and snapping twigs.
I stood there alone. Leaves drifted slowly around me, swirling in the wind. I looked right, left, and then back towards the cabin. I was too far away to see it but I knew it was there and I knew it would be warm. I could start a fire, make dinner, read a book, and go to bed. I would be content to stay in the cabin for the rest of the trip. I wanted to go back to the cabin. But, I had the maps. They might get lost if I left them. I needed to go with them.
Then, I realized that I had lost sight of them. I couldn’t hear their steps anymore. I strained to listen. Silence. I squinted into the trees to see any movement. All I saw was leaves falling and the gentle sway of the trees in the wind. I began to walk in the direction that they had gone. I hoped that eventually I would be able to hear them again. They couldn’t have gone far.
I stomped through the brush as loudly as I could hoping to get their attention. I yelled out for them but I didn’t receive any answers. The sun was dipping below the horizon now and it was beginning to get cloudy. I imagined them lost, sitting in a cave somewhere calling out but no one hearing them. Jake itching his severe poison ivy rash blood running down his arm. Chad trying to make him stop itching while attending to dad, who has a bad heart and would be without his medicine in this stressful situation. Chad and Jake would most likely survive, but I don’t know about my dad. If they got lost I would be surprised if he survived until help arrived.
I began to run and yell even louder. I heard a groan to my left. I stopped and yelled again. The wind howled and the groan drifted to me again. I ran in the direction of the sound. The groan always seemed distant somehow, as if I was never going to reach it. The cold air stung my lungs as I heaved and ran faster. I kept yelling, and I kept thinking I heard a reply but in from a different direction. I assumed it was an echo. I was terrified that this groan was coming from my dad. I thought maybe dad had fallen and Chad took Jake to get help. “Someone should have stayed with him.” I muttered. It was louder now. I ran through a thicket of bushes and on the other side there he lay.
It was the buck, blood trickling from the wound in his side. I stood above the beast, amazed at how helpless even the most powerful can be sometimes. I yelled that I found the buck. Nothing but the wind and the shutter of the trees. That is when the first raindrop fell.