Shark-Free Marinas Initiative, Bahamas

I'm pleased and honored to assist SharkDivers.com with this new program they just recently devised to help promote the conservation of sharks. It's one way to encourage commerce to get on board and make a difference, realizing the long-term benefits for Bahamian tourism.

Shark-Free Marinas Initiative

In the spring of 2008, Shark Diver was alerted to a female Tiger shark that was taken off Freeport, Bahamas. The animal was caught by a sport fisherman and displayed at a local marina where it was cut open to reveal several half-dead pups inside, some of which were dropped into the marina and struggled to survive for a few days.

We have decided to act. The Government of the Bahamas allows sport fishing for sharks and we fully support sustainable catch-and-release fisheries. However, the taking of gravid female sharks for a one-time photo op and a set of jaws is a senseless waste of a valuable resource.

The Shark-Free Marinas Initiative is a way to work with existing resort marinas in the Bahamas that cater to sport fishing vessels, seeking their cooperation in asking them not to allow sharks to be taken and displayed at their marinas. This initiative, in turn, encourages the use of catch-and-release programs and promotes sustainable fisheries.

Each marina and resort that supports this initiative will receive both, a metal sign and logo we have created to post in their marina office and the following information for posting on their marina websites:

(Name of resort and marina) supports the Shark-Free Marinas Initiative in the Bahamas region. The Bahamas is home to many shark species and the healthy reef systems that support these sharks. We feel the one-time harvesting of sharks for photo images or souvenir jaws is not in the best interests of the Bahamian people or Bahamian tourism.

Worldwide, sharks are being decimated for fins and jaws at a completely unsustainable rate. An estimated 60 million sharks per year are taken in this manner. By asking vessels not to arrive at our facilities with sharks, we hope to encourage responsible sport fishing, thereby ensuring a lasting and healthy population of sharks in Bahamian waters for future generations and contributing to the overall health of the Caribbean.

Please practice catch-and-release with all sharks and enjoy our facilities.

Welcome to the Bahamas.

SharkDivers' Note: This initiative is not only limited to the Bahamas and the several marinas who have expressed an interest in joining it (press release to follow). As a concept we will allow and help promote any organization or group to use this logo to enact their own regional Shark-Free Marinas. In places like Florida and the East coast this could conceivably help redirect shark kills and weigh ins. It offers the opportunity for marinas to claim the "Green Card" while at the same time redirecting fishermen into sustainable fisheries. Special thanks to Richard Theiss RTSea Productions.

One blog, one website, one person at a time.

White Shark in the Marketplace: Mexico drops the ball

Here is a prime example of dropping the ball - or maybe it's a case of turning a blind eye. The above picture was taken at an Ensenada fish market in Baja, Mexico. What you see is juvenile white shark being marketed as marlin or swordfish. Local Mexican fishermen having been illegally catching juvenile white sharks along the Baja coast - disastrous not only because of the loss of the shark but its reproductive potential is also lost for good.

So why "dropping the ball"? Because just a few minutes away from this market are the offices of the governmental agency that oversees the environmental Biosphere program, not to mention other marine-related academic organizations - and not to mention local law enforcement agencies.

Some of the fish markets are now removing the tell-tale shark skin to help further disguise their illegal catch. According to SharkDiver, this has been going on for some time without any government intervention or enforcement. When governments pay lip service by instituting regulations without the required support and enforcement, the sharks lose . . . and we lose.

I'm always delighted with the magic of Calatrava

HSB Turning Torso is a skyscraper in Malmö, Sweden, located on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait. It was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 feet) with 54 stories.

The design is based on a sculpture by Santiago Calatrava called Twisting Torso. It uses nine segments of five-story pentagons that twist as it rises; the topmost segment is twisted ninety degrees clockwise with respect to the ground floor. Each floor consists of an irregular pentagonal shape rotating around the vertical core, which is supported by an exterior steel framework. The two bottom segments are intended as office space. Segments three to nine house 149 luxury apartments.

The Twisting Torso sculpture is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being. Johnny Örbäck, former CEO of the Turning Torso contractor and Board Chairman of the Malmö branch of the co-operative housing association HSB, saw the sculpture in 1999 and contacted Calatrava to ask him to design a building using the same concept. Construction started in the summer of 2001.

"Crazy Like a Fox"

Preserving human bodies in honey doesn't sound like a great idea, but other proposals by Frederick Shaw showed great foresight -- including hang-gliding, vegetarianism and outlawing monopolies.

Mystery obscures the life of Frederick Shaw (1827-1914), the indigent inventor, health promoter, social crusader and purported naked man of Laurel Canyon.

Did he really attempt to hang-glide from atop a second-story building in downtown Los Angeles, breaking his hip in the process?

Did his mail-order bride really flee his property when she discovered that he lived in a tree?

And was he really insane, as a judicial panel ruled, or just a hermit whose vegetarian diet, clothing-optional lifestyle and boundary disputes annoyed the neighbors?

Nineteenth century news accounts were not always reliable, so the answers are difficult to find, though it appears that Shaw was not insane.

In fact, it is clear from the many long letters Shaw wrote to the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers that he was ahead of his time, "a one-man think tank," in the words of Ralph Shaffer, author of " 'Crazy Shaw' Frederick M. Shaw: Southern California's Forgotten Dreamer."

(Excerpts from Steve Harvey's "Only in L.A.")
September 28, 2008

Westwood: Now and Then

A magazine cover from 1940 depicts the corner of Westwood and Wilshire boulevards in Los Angeles. One thing that hinders luring more shoppers and nightlife to the area is its notoriously difficult parking and heavy traffic.

Here we see traffic at Westwood and Wilshire boulevards can be brutal, and good luck finding a parking space.

A piece of history in Hancock Park

Hancock Park already had emerged as a neighborhood for the well-heeled when in 1925 Frederick S. Albertson, an automobile company executive, bought a sprawling piece of real estate there. Primary construction of this two-story manor, designed by Alexander D. Chisholm, was completed in 1929. Early neighbors included the Chandlers, the Huntingtons, the Van de Kamps and the Dohenys.

Home Savings & Loan president Howard F. Ahmanson, the financier, philanthropist and art collector, moved with his family into the spacious house in 1958. His second wife, Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson, gained full title to the house in 1971; it was sold in 1975. Howard Ahmanson supported, among many local institutions, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Music Center's Ahmanson Theatre. A vast art collection was on display to the public when the family hosted charitable events at the house.

"Freedom is not a gift from heaven -- One must fight for it every day." -- Simon Wiesenthal

SINCE THE Museum of Tolerance opened in 1993, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda and Darfur have been inscribed in the book of mass extermination.

Clearly, there is no lack of work to do for an L.A. institution dedicated to documenting the human race's blood lust while fighting prejudice in hopes of remaking homo sapiens in a more humane image.

"I was not that naive to think that evil would be expunged," says Rabbi Marvin Hier, looking back on the 31 years since he founded the museum's parent human rights and Holocaust remembrance organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "But I never thought that so soon after the world became aware of the ovens of Auschwitz we would have places like these . . . that people would have the chutzpah to say, 'So what? We can do what we want,' and get away with it."

Images of the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Einstein are among the attractions at the Museum of Tolerance's Youth Action Lab, a high-tech classroom and exhibition space for teaching elementary through high school kids about prejudice. The Los Angeles museum has just finished a $13-million makeover of its auditorium and several exhibits.

Chocolate Art

The above tree was made for the Oregon Chocolate festival out of chocolate and sugar by chocolatier Jeff Shepherd.

You'll have to admit that Liechtenstein is unique !!!

Handcrafted wooden clocks come from a shop in Vaduz, a modern town with a pedestrian-only main street.
(Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)

Andorra, a country at high pass in the Pyrenees

The nation’s capital, Andorra la Vella, is a densely packed modern city. There’s also an old town surrounding Casa de la Vall, Andorra’s former administrative center. Nowadays, a Spanish bishop and the president of France are technically Andorra's co-princes, but the country has a democratically elected parliament.
(Susan Spano/Los Angeles Times)

"Vast Vatican"

"Sphere Within a Sphere," by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, sits in the Pine Cone Courtyard in the Vatican Museums, which has seven miles of galleries.
(Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)

Monaco is for the rich and famous

The Port of Monaco with grandstands for the 2008 Grand Prix, lower right. Those aboard the yachts of the rich and famous have front-row views from their decks of the race in Monte Carlo.
(Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)

It's San Marino for beauty and charm

Guaita Tower, one of three crowning Mt. Titano, overlooks the city of San Marino below. Set on an outcropping of the Apennine Mountains, it is the world's oldest republic, based on its founding in the early part of the 4th century. At that time, a Christian stonemason named Marinus (Italianized to Marino), forced by agents of the Roman Emperor Diocletian to work at the Adriatic seaport of Rimini, escaped to 2,500-foot Mt. Titano about 10 miles west. The little settlement that collected around him was apparently too poor and remote to be worth Roman reprisal, so Marino (who was eventually canonized) could say to his compatriots on his deathbed, "I leave you free."

(Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)

A symbol of Luxembourg's pride

The equestrian statue of William II, once King of the Netherlands and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, in Luxembourg City's Place Guillaume.
(Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)

Not your usual view of the Golden Gate Bridge

Cavallo Point, a new national park lodge near Sausalito, overlooks San Francisco Bay and is within walking distance of the Golden Gate Bridge. The resort, which includes an upscale hotel, restaurant, lounge, spa and environmental institute, opened in July.
(Peter DaSilva / For The Times)

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary: needed expansion to protect seamount

It was announced this past Friday that the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary will be expanded to include a 585 sq. nautical mile area to safeguard Davidson Seamount, one of the largest underwater mountains in U.S. waters. The expansion will be finalized on November 1 and managed by NOAA and the National Marine Sanctuaries agencies.

Davidson Seamount, 70 miles off the California coast, is 4,120 feet below the surface but extends another 7,784 feet to the ocean floor. It is home to a variety of deep, cold water animals and its location attracts a variety of sealife in the waters above the peak, providing nourishment for other fish, sea birds, and whales. The seamount and its slow growing/slow reproducing inhabitants are susceptible to the ravaging effects of commercial bottom-trawling, where weighted nets are dragged across the seafloor.

There are several state and federal marine sanctuaries or protected areas along the California coast and, through effective government agency enforcement and overall public and commercial cooperation, they have proven to be successful in not only just providing protection but in improving the health of the marine ecosystems that have in the past been threatened or damaged by commercial fishing, oil exploration, and pollution.

Good news. Put a check in the win column.

Does 100 MPG sound like a dream ???

General Motors Corp. said Friday that it had reached a preliminary agreement that cleared the way for U.S. regulators to certify the Chevrolet Volt as the first 100-mile-per-gallon car. But the Environmental Protection Agency said testing guidelines hadn't been finalized.

The Volt, an electric vehicle that can be charged at home and has a range-extending gas-powered generator on board, is expected to start selling in late 2010. GM says it will be able to travel 40 miles before the generator kicks in.


Tony Posawatz, 48, vehicle-line director for the Volt in Warren, Mich., said the EPA agreed to a testing method that will produce a rating of at least 100 mpg. In a statement, agency spokeswoman Catherine C. Milbourn said the EPA won't confirm how it gauges fuel economy of plug-in models until testing methodology is finalized. The agency "hopes to have a final policy soon," she said.

Earning a 100-mpg certification would be a huge boost for Detroit-based GM, whose sales of pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles have slumped this year as gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon and credit became harder to obtain.

"Walking With Dinosaurs"

'Walking With Dinosaurs: The Live Experience': Based on the BBC television series of the same name, this arena show features 15 life-size animated dinosaurs that feast, fight and fend off predators just like their flesh-eating (and vegetarian) counterparts did 65 million years ago. Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 7 tonight; 11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Sat.-Sun. $26-$89.50. (213) 480-3232, www.dinosaurlive.com.

"Spectacular Photography"

I wish I knew the source of this wonderful photo ???

"A Transformation and Revitalization"

The transformation of 1010 Wilshire, which extends downtown Los Angeles' revitalization west of the Harbor Freeway, offers streamlined design in a high rise residential environment. Owners have maximum flexibility to make the spaces their own; rather than dividing the units with walls, areas are defined and linked by built-in furniture elements that act as low-height walls, preserving the expansive open plan.

"Phantom Hotel"

SEOUL, KOREA -- North Korea's phantom hotel is stirring back to life.

Once dubbed by Esquire magazine as "the worst building in the history of mankind," the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel is back under construction after a 16-year lull in the capital of one of the world's most reclusive and destitute countries.

According to foreign residents in Pyongyang, Egypt's Orascom group has recently begun refurbishing the top floors of the three-sided pyramid-shaped hotel whose 1,083 ft frame dominates the Pyongyang skyline.

The firm has put glass panels into the concrete shell, installed telecommunications antennas - even though the North forbids its citizens to own mobile phones - and put up an artist's impression of what it will look like.

The hotel consists of three wings rising at 75 degree angles capped by several floors arranged in rings supposed to hold five revolving restaurants and an observation deck

The NEW California Academy of Sciences

A window on the roof of the new California Academy of Sciences building in San Francisco offers a view inside. Architect Renzo Piano brings together the very different priorities of cutting-edge and green design.

A key feature of the building, located in Golden Gate Park, is its grass-covered roof. Containing nine species of native plants in its 2 1/2 acres, the roof will filter storm runoff and keep the building cool in summer and warm in winter.

Renzo Piano calls the green roof "the flying carpet." The $488-million, 410,000-square-foot academy squeezes a natural history museum, aquarium and planetarium into a single facility.

The Grand Avenue Festival

Once a year, the Grand Avenue Festival brings Angelenos downtown to experience high culture for a low price -- so low, it's free. Attendees, expected to number 30,000, can see the L.A. Phil at Disney Hall, dance and musical performances by the Colburn School, and the Martin Kippenberger show at MOCA. Grand Avenue between Temple and 5th streets. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Free. (213) 972-7611.

Science Debate 2008: pushing scientific research to the forefront

Science Debate 2008, a coalition of scientists, journalists, and concerned citizens, has formed an initiative to promote scientific research in the determination of public policy in the United States. It's an excellent forum for voicing opinions and concerns and for hearing the positions of politicians regarding policies for which science can or should play a key role.

As an example, here are portions of the responses from the U.S. presidential candidates to a question on ocean health, submitted by Science Debate 2008 (#9 of 14 questions of a scientific nature were submitted):

McCain: Ocean health and policy requires better management focus; however, we also need a better scientific understanding of the oceans. In no area is this truer than in obtaining a better understanding of the interaction of climate change and the oceans . . . Ocean science and engineering deserves greater attention and focus. (Click here to read entire response.)

Obama: The oceans are a global resource and a global responsibility for which the U.S. can and should take a more active role. I will work actively to ensure that the U.S. ratifies the Law of the Sea Convention - an agreement supported by more than 150 countries that will protect our economic and security interests while providing an important international collaboration to protect the oceans and its resources. (Click here to read entire response.)

All sounds very nice but, as the candidates are fond of saying, they have to "walk the talk." Personally, I have found that there is a considerable amount of scientific data regarding a host of ecological, environmental, and marine issues that unfortunately gets buried in the academic world and does not get sufficiently communicated to the general public in easily understandable terms - issues, implications and solutions. The more the public is "in the know" - the more pressure these constituents can put on their political leaders.

Whatta week we've been having . . . let's take a break

Here in the U.S., we have been enduring a lot of bad news (on the economic front) and a lot of bull (from the politicians) this past week. For marine conservationists struggling to get their voices heard amongst these issues that are impacting the day-to-day lives of the average Americans, it can be a bit frustrating. I know it gets me bouncing off the walls at times.

So, in the interests of sanity, let's take a moment and settle back into some of our favorite oceanic images. Here are some of mine. Pull out your favorite photos, slides, videos, or books and let's all take a collective sigh, relax a bit . . .

. . . now, back to work.

New Data on Greenhouse Gases: time to act . . . now

Many of you who read this blog are already concerned and committed marine conservationists and so you are familiar with issues regarding greenhouse gas output and the effect it has on our climate. Here's some more disconcerting news . . .

Yesterday, international researchers from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released new numbers indicating that the level of carbon emissions/greenhouse gases is increasing ahead of projected levels. It was anticipated that levels might decrease due to the economic downturn's impact on energy use over the past few years. Unfortunately, data shows that carbon dioxide output rose 3% from 2006 to 2007.

"Things are happening very, very fast," Professor Corrine Le Quere, University of Anglia, told the Associated Press. "It's scary." "We should be worried - really worried," Richard Moss, World Wildlife Fund, told the Washington Post. "This is happening in the context of trying to reduce emissions."

The new data also shows that the forest and oceans, which absorb carbon dioxide, are having less impact. The rising level of emissions is exceeding the ability of these ecosystems to take in carbon dioxide - they are simply being overloaded. The trees and oceans can't do it all; they can't save us from ourselves.

China is currently the largest polluter, with the U.S. in second. Developing countries like India and Indonesia are rapidly increasing their emissions as these nations develop more energy-intensive industries. New data continues to come in and with it the situation continues to become more dire. We need to take more decisive action - all of us, consumers, industry, and governments.

Here's a start: the Ocean Conservancy has a form you can fill out online and send a message to your government officials. Just a first step but we all have to start somewhere.

Getting ready for the race

McLaren Formula One driver Mika Hakkinen of Finland drives a speed-boat along the Singapore river during a promotional event September 25, 2008. The Singapore F1 race will be the first night race on the world F1 calendar, the first to be held in the island state and the first on an Asian street circuit.
REUTERS/Pablo Sanchez(SINGAPORE)

Alexi Flys

Minnesota Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla (L) completes a double play after forcing out Chicago White Sox Orlando Cabrera at second base after fielding a hit by Chicago's Jermaine Dye during the fifth inning of their MLB American League baseball game at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, September 24, 2008. The Twins won 3-2.
REUTERS/Eric Miller (UNITED STATES)

Toyota to unveil Camry hybrid fueled by compressed natural gas

Toyota Motor Corp., expanding its line of alternatively powered cars beyond the Prius, will unveil a Camry Hybrid in November fueled by compressed natural gas rather than gasoline amid expectations of rising oil prices.

The CNG Camry will be shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota executives told reporters at a conference Tuesday in Portland, Ore. There are currently no plans to offer the concept vehicle to consumers, spokesman John Hanson said. The show opens to the media Nov. 19.


"We are confirming our interest in pursuing CNG within our R&D scope," said Irv Miller, a group vice president for the U.S. sales unit of Japan's largest automaker. A drop in natural gas prices, an increase in North American supply estimates and the fuel's lower pollution levels than gasoline make it attractive, he said.

A surge in U.S. gasoline prices to more than $4 a gallon and tighter vehicle emission rules in the U.S. have led Toyota and other carmakers to boost investments in fuel-efficient technologies. Toyota plans to test lithium-ion plug-in Prius cars next year, and Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. has begun leasing fuel-cell sedans to drivers in Los Angeles. General Motors Corp. aims to sell a battery-powered Volt by 2010.

Natural gas prices are down 4% from the fuel's 30-month high set July 3. Gas for October delivery fell 25 cents to $7.68 per million British thermal units Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


Honda sells a CNG-powered Civic sedan, the only consumer model powered by the fuel available in the U.S. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rates it the lowest in tailpipe exhaust among vehicles with internal-combustion engines.

"The times they are a changing"

As urban planners push for ever-increasing density in Southern California, one of the region's biggest real estate developers is preparing to build Southern California's first vertical shopping mall on Wilshire Boulevard.

Shopping centers that rise several stories are a staple in Asia, Europe and a few tightly packed American cities but have been shunned in the past by builders in land-rich Southern California. Customers here are accustomed to malls that spread horizontally and have balked at traveling up and down more than a floor or two for casual shopping.

Shown above is Water Tower Place which is a 1970s-vintage vertical shopping mall on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Despite its age and chrome-and-glass decor, the mall continues to draw in hordes of shoppers. Two department stores, Macy's (once Marshall Fields) and Lord & Taylor, anchor the mall.



Now, Los Angeles developer Jerry Snyder and his J.H. Snyder Co. partner Michael Wise are planning to break with local tradition and put up a seven-story mall near the Red Line station at Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue that would house perhaps 100 stores under rooftop restaurants and a cinema complex in 300,000 square feet.

The Civic Light Opera of the South Bay Cities' MISS SAIGON gets 11 Ovation nominations

With 11 nominations, the musical "Miss Saigon," presented by Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, has made the top of the list of nominations for the 2008 Ovation Awards, LA Stage Alliance’s peer-judged awards recognizing excellence in California theater.

Other big nominees include "All Shook Up" at Musical Theatre West (10 nominations), "Jekyll & Hyde" at Cabrillo Music Theatre (nine) and "Singin' in the Rain"(nine), also at Cabrillo Music Theatre, which put that theater at the top of the list of nominations for an individual company.

The Ovations will be awarded Nov. 17 at the Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State Los Angeles.

"Bye Bye Birdie" is currently playing at the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities through October 5. It's a high spirited and fun show with a very talented cast.

Robert Wagner shares pieces of his heart

Robert Wagner gets a bit emotional explaining how he came up with the title of the memoir he wrote with Scott Eyman, "Pieces of My Heart."

After receiving a rough manuscript of the autobiography, he recalls, he decided to read the chapter about Barbara Stanwyck to his wife, Jill St. John, and a friend. The veteran Stanwyck and Wagner had a secret four-year relationship in the 1950s when he was in his early 20s and she was in her mid-40s. "She was a wonderful woman," Wagner says. "She was such a big part of my life."

Wagner got so choked up during the reading that he couldn't finish. He says their friend commented, " 'It must be very difficult to write a book. It must be very painful.' I said, 'Yes. It's taken pieces of my heart.' That's how I got the title."

Wagner's book has plenty of stories about his stern, demanding father, his early years in Hollywood, his friendship with such legends as Spencer Tracy and David Niven -- "you couldn't ask for a better friend" -- and his career ups and downs.

The crux of "Pieces of My Heart," however, revolves around his first -- and third -- wife, Natalie Wood, who died in 1981. For the first time since her death, Wagner talks publicly about the fateful night. But there are no surprise revelations in his account; he reiterates what the coroner and police concluded: Wood's drowning was accidental.

So Long to the "House that Ruth Built"

An image of former New York Yankees Babe Ruth is shown on a screen after the final regular season MLB American League baseball game at Yankee Stadium in New York, September 21, 2008.
REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES)

Outstanding Photography from the Journal Gazette of Ft. Wayne

Fireworks boom over downtown Fort Wayne in this view from the roof of Three Rivers Apartments, celebrating the new millennium, January 1, 2000.

For a CAUSE !!!

Pretty in Pink -- About 650 participants wearing pink ponchos gather in October 2005 in Headwaters Park to make a giant human pink ribbon as a visual reminder of the fight against breast cancer, before the start of the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.

Sink or Swim !!!

Players from the Black & Blue and the Old Boys rugby clubs of Fort Wayne, Indiana risk drowning when they hit the sodden ground during a demonstration match at the Highland Games in June 2004.

This photo won first place for sports action in the 2004 Hoosier State Press Association contest.

Betting On Sharks: barbarians at the gate

Here is a posting from my good friends at SharkDivers regarding the Oak Bluff's Monster Shark Tournament at Martha's Vineyard. A disturbing video produced by the Humane Society shows some of the activities going on behind the scenes of this event. Okay, during the heyday of "Jaws" this event may have been tolerated, but one would hope today's public climate would be more enlightened. Come on, Massachusetts, you can do better than this.

Betting on sharks-Barbarians at the gate

We're not sure what is more repugnant a pastime. Shark finning or illegal betting on dead shark "weigh ins" like a recent expose at the Martha's Vinyard Monster Shark Tournament.

One thing we are sure about. Media is a powerful tool. With the advent of You Tube you can get your message across to millions. As far as shark conservation goes the next time you see an online save-the-sharks petition...shut down your computer and go pick up a camcorder:

Kudo's to the Humane Society for this kind of direct action.

Illusionist Plans Inverted Hang Over Central Park

For three days and two nights, illusionist David Blaine will enjoy an unusual view of New York City's Central Park -- one that can only be enjoyed from six stories in the air, while hanging upside down.

The magician's latest stunt, called the "Dive of Death," began 8:30 this morning as he was hoisted into position. The effort will reportedly culminate in Blaine dropping to the ground at 11 p.m. Wednesday.

Dr. Ronald Ruden, Blaine's physician, told ABCNews.com that when he first heard the name of the stunt, "It scared the crap out of me."

Considering the various health hazards Blaine may face as he hangs in the position for about 60 hours, Ruden's concern is warranted. He said the stunt will be all endurance -- no smoke and mirrors.

"How he does this I'm not 100 percent sure," Ruden said. "He seems to have the ability to use his mind to control his body to not experience pain and discomfort, as well as take away his basic drives to eat and sleep and defy his fear."

"We don't even know what the physiology of this is," he said with a laugh. "I hate that."

Blaine told "Good Morning America" today right before he was hoisted into the air that he always found images of Harry Houdini hanging upside down "compelling to look at."

Houdini dangled upside down wearing a straightjacket and tried to escape as quickly as possible, but Blaine's niche is testing his endurance.

"I always liked that idea of being upside down," Blaine said. "So I started experimenting on how long could somebody actually be put upside down. And there was no documentation of it. Nobody really had research on it. I invited doctors to kind of look and watch me as I was doing experiments. And although the dangers are high, I think there's a way to override that. "

Blaine said he has prepared for the challenges of the 2½-day hang by losing some weight, performing special exercises and practicing dangling upside down.

But there are certain health considerations that simple conditioning cannot address. During his ordeal, Blaine will not eat or sleep. He will urinate through a catheter. And doctors not involved with the stunt say there are definite risks involved with his attempt.

The photo below shows David Blaine submerged in an earlier stunt.