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Why (even expert) witness statements are useless

1K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  Kamikuza 
#1 ·
Check this out. The dude was actually bitten by a little wobbegong, not a great white man eater. And the hysterical witness statement is from none other than the director of surfwatch australia - a group of people who are supposed to be experts on protecting the beaches from sharks. Wobbegongs are camouflaged flat sharks and the guy can't even tell the difference between it and a great white? I'm eagerly anticipating the interview that will come from his exclusive deal with channel 9.


http://www.theage.com.au/national/n...sydney-swimmer-20100211-nuq9.html?autostart=1
 
#4 ·
LOL....that is funny. Looking at the injury I could not distinguish a "bite mark"...seen worse from a good "barnacle burn" myself. But yeah, was like reading about 2 separate incidents. The surfwatch dude seems like he would be a good bollywood actor....:laugh

While this story is a good laugh, there is a grave undertone that deserves mention. Sharks are one of the most important groups of animals in our ocean ecosystem world wide (many are known as "keystone species" by biologists because if they go, the system collapses) and they are being decimated by us...some hysterical idiot blowing a minor mishap like this up into some sort of ruthless life-threatening attack by a cunning bloodthirsty great white does them terrible harm...as evidenced in this story, people are reactionary idiots and it is NOT a victimless crime.

Sharks fill a huge gap in our oceans and systematically removing them is proving to be a risky global experiment, one in which no one really knows what the implications will be. Their importance cannot be understated...just bear in mind that everything in the sea larger than your pinky finger for the last 350 million years has evolved under this veritable force of nature...to remove them (and the pressure they exert on the largest ecosystem on earth) as we are doing could be likened to jumping off a seesaw when you were a kid, leaving your buddy to come crashing down on his arse without your opposing force maintaining the balance...:O

Sharks reproduce very slowly, many give live birth to less than 10 "pups" at a time as compared to say typical spawning fish that lays thousands of eggs. And we are removing them at about 100,000,000 per year, far faster than they are able to replace themselves. This is thanks in no small part to their being demonized by said idiotic reactionary humans.:rant

And if you are wondering why a motor-head is ranting about the plight of sharks, it is because sharks can't speak up for themselves and it is unlikely anyone else will, so I feel obliged. Also, it just eeeent smart to fugg with a system that provides 77% of the O2 that both we and our bikes "breathe".:)
 
#5 ·
:stupid Gotta love Sharks............. always wanted to do a cage dive or sit on the sea bed hand feeding them, they fascinate me!!
 
#9 ·
:2finger

Thing is it don't stop there...and once it gets out of whack ya never quite know what will happen, but it might look a little something like this:
sharks go >
prey fish explode >
they overwhelm their prey (smaller fish) knocking another link outa the chain >
then the eaters of phytoplankton explode without their predators (remember the fish the sharks used to eat killed em off) >
and in a short period of time phytoplankton crashes >
then everything up the chain from phytoplankton crashes (which is EVERYTHING) >
dead ocean >
atmosphere returns to early pre-cambrian type atmosphere (75% less oxygen) =
you and your motorcycle can no longer function.

Then cuz some impotent old japanese dudes like fin soup, and cuz you and 5,999,999,999 of yer buddies wanted tasty fish, we gotta start from scratch and it'll be another 1.9 billion years before we can enjoy beer, big naturals, V twins, and rock and roll....I vote we leave the f'ing sharks alone!

+1 for Duken's rules...

Toledo: I had to do some research on South Bimini for a couple months and got in with these cats, check em out. If you really want the "shark experience" go volunteer here for a season...they don't use no stinkin cages:
http://www6.miami.edu/sharklab/index.html

The only ones who could out-drink me was the cat that filmed this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsvgXtaX4So&feature=player_embedded#

and his predecessor at the lab from Ireland, Duncan Brake (could be the guy up top with the camera):
http://www.oceanicallstars.com/Oceanicallstars web site/Cameraman underwater profile.html

Hardest working (and drinking) mother f'ers I have ever seen. Won't soon forget em either.
 
#7 ·
A "Modest Proposal"

The world would be a better place if:

1) Everyone was at least a proficient motorcycle rider.
2) There were less humans on the planet.

You see, motorcycles teach us to react slowly and keep a cool head. When you lose the front end, for example, what do you do? Chop the throttle, stiffen up, saw away at the bars and take a hard thumping for certain? Nope. You respond by feeding in a bit more throttle, continuing to ride the bike and dealing with it in a rational manner, perhaps not falling down after all, and learning/improving.

Motorcycle riding would either take this guy out of circulation (option 2 fulfilled) or training him to react to suddenly manifesting "situations" in a more rational evenhanded fashion by fulfilling option 1. Given the level of idiocy, I vote option 2 in his case :lol

All kidding aside, I really do think that being an experienced motorcyclist has made me better at handling unexpected non MC related "situations". MC riding sharpens and improves us :)
 
#11 ·
dangercell................. that was a bloody good piece of filming where they were on the 'bed!! Awesome :hail On my list of 3 things I'd love to do before I pop my clogs, what a rush that must be!!
 
#12 ·
Save the sharks! I'm all for the new Greenpeace campaign :yes

The normally docile shark species, which are bottom dwellers, may have been just as traumatised by the ordeal.
:lol just like the eye witness :laugh

BTW, shark(s) killed a kitesurfer in the US last week ... I think he bled to death from bites to the lower body. Probably a Bull shark, nasty ****ers ...
 
#15 ·
yeah wobbegongs not too dangerous by all accounts just give you a bad suck :laugh
 
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