Breaking News of Shark Attacks Still a Major Problem in Amity

Breakings news has been reported that there has been a third fatality. James Parks, 30 was brutally killed by a man-eating shark at about 1:30 p.m. today. Parks was in the ‘Pond’ when a shark was sighted nearby.

The shark tipped over Parks’ small rowboat which sent him into the dangerous waters. The only remains found was Parks’ severed leg. There were also four boys in a small sailboat nearby, none of them have been injured but one was taken to the hospital for shock.

Once again the Amity beaches are in grave danger. The police department has ordered the beaches closed until further notice. Police Chief Brody is urging residents to, “use extreme caution and report any incidents to the police or Coast Guard.”

Man-Eating Shark’s Reign of Terror Comes to an End Thanks to Local Fishermen

Yesterday’s town council meeting ended in an uproar with the news of police orders to close Amity’s beautiful beaches for the Fourth of July. Police Chief Martin Brody informed residents that there will be special precautions taken in addition to closing the beaches such as, extra summer deputies and shark spotters.

The angry crowd was quieted by local fisherman Ben Quint when he promised to catch the shark. Quint said, I’ll catch this for you but it ain’t gonna be easy.” He warned against any other fishermen trying to do the same saying that it would only complicate the matters. Quint refused the Kitner’s shark bounty of $3,000 and said he wouldn’t settle for anything less than $10,000.

Early this morning Chief Brody released information that the killer shark’s reign of terror has been ended by some local fishermen. The fishermen said that they caught and killed the beast one mile south-southwest of Amity. These fine fishermen will receive the $3,000 reward for their heroic acts and for restoring peace to amity’s usually “tranquil island life.”

Matt Hooper,  a shark expert and  marine biologist from the Woods Hole, Mass., Oceanographic Institute, identified the man-eater as a nurse shark. Nurse sharks are one of the most dangerous and daring of all the shark species. Nurse sharks are reportedly responsible for hundreds’ of swimmers on the East Coast of the U.S.

Chief Brody happily reported that, “all the beaches throughout our beautiful island will reopen immediately just in time for the flood of visitors for the Fourth of July Weekend.”  Chief Brody was confident in urging all of Amity’s residents to flock back to beaches to help reassure incoming tourists that Amity’s beaches are as safe as ever.

As added safety, Chief Brody has decided to keep the additional protection of shark spotters from the Coast Guard, the Marine Patrol, the Massachusetts Bay state Police, the U.S. Navy, Homeland Security, the FBI, and many other police agencies. Brody wants to reassure residents and visitors that, “they are simply a safety precaution that we hope will put our visitors at ease.”

Ferry-loads of incoming visitors arrived in droves as usual for the holiday. Amity’s beaches were covered in a bed of beach-goers hesitant to go in the waters. A few local residents put their fears aside and hopped into the water only to be followed by the masses of people.

After a bit everyone was having a great and wild time. On this beautiful sunny day swimmers were back to normal, splashing and playing around. Mayor Farley assured everyone that all was well as he patrolled the beach.

 In the midst of everything there was a sighting of a fin that wreaked complete havoc once again on the Amity beaches. Shark spotters and police officials caught the alleged predator which turned out to be two local hooligans playing a joke with a cardboard fin.

Law enforcement officials still want beach-goers and swimmers to remain alert, however they are confident in saying that, “the danger of further shark attacks has probably passed.”  Any further shark sightings are asked to be reported to authorities through, 1-800-sharksee, a toll-free shark hotline.

New York Times Blog: December 1, 2010

I did a third one this week because I only was able to do one over Thanksgiving break.



I am so sick of violence and war and international affairs being the headlining news on the front page. I refuse to write about anything negative today so I chose, "For The Goal Oriented Parent, A Jump Start in Toddler Sports" by Mark Hyman. This article focused on the development of exercises for babies as early as when they're still in the hospital. In Grand Rapids, Mich. Doreen Bolhuis founded a company called Gymtrix, which offers a library of videos starting with babies as young as 6 months. The exercises include a lot of jumping and kicking. Bolhuis commented that a lot of happy parents come back saying that their kids are superstars on their middle school fields. Dr. Lyle Micheli thinks the program is amazing however, he expressed concern saying, the potential for even younger ages of overuse injury." This is kind of like all that hullabalo over Baby Mozart. you play Mozart for a baby still in the womb and they come out pre-destine liberal arts majors. Parents are increasingly competitive when it comes to their children, God-forbid they fall behind someone else's child. This is kind of a bad post but I'm sick, tired, and have too much to do between now and next week. So I guess it's going to have to do..

New York Times Blog: November 30, 2010

The majority of articles on the front page of Times lately have been war-based. I usually don't like these war-based articles but today I read, "North Korea World Guessing" and learned a lot about the situation that going on between North Korea, South Korea, and China. The journalist, David Sanger explained how since last year South Korea has been anticipating the collapse of the of the "world's most brutal family dynasty". The article explained how if North KOrea were to fall China would try to reunite the North and the South. The U.S. has been informed through cables that China would clearly 'not welcome' and U.S. military presence north of the DMZ.' Reading articles like these somewhat scare me because it's just a guessing game of who is going to act first and what the plan of action will be. I hate to be so cliche, but why can't we just all get along? i'm definitely not cut out for war correspondence.
"In Mystery (and Culture Clash), Some Brooklyn Bees Turn Red" by Susan Dominus. I didn't expect this article to be actually about bees, I thought it was some code word for something. But nope, apparently theres this woman in Brooklyn, Cerise Mayo, who raises bees in the middle of Brooklyn. Her bees are given the best opportunities, "acres of urban farmland strewn with fruits and vegetables, a bounty of natural nectar and devotion." She commented on how she assumed her bees shared the same values, "a fidelity to the land, to food sources,free of high fructose corn syrup and artificial food coloring." However when her bees started coming back weird colors and making the honeycomb weird colors, Mayo was at a lose. One of her friends jokingly suggested that the bees were gorging themselves on Dell's marschino cherry juice. Mayo was dumbfounded when she realized her healthy junk-food free bees were traveling such a ways to gorge themselves when they had plenty to forage right on her farm. I guess the question really is, if the bees can't resist resist such artificially processed food, how are we supposed to?

New York Times Blog: November 29, 2010

I really loved the front page pictures of today's newspaper. It's a silhouette of two men shaking hands in front of a window. It seemed as though they have just done business and are agreeing on the terms. According to the caption, the man on the left is Syrian Preseident Bashar al-Assad and he has just armed Hezbollah militants. I think I like my interpretation of the picture better, it's funny how a picture can tell a thousand words but that doesn't mean it's right.
The article, "Blurring Line Between Spy and Diplomat" by Mark Mazzetti is about how the U.S. has expanded the role of American diplomats. They now collects more information overseas such as, credit card and frequent fliers numbers, work schedules and other personal information from foreign dignitaries. Now this seems strange to me considering foreign dignitaries aren't necessarily bad... what's the reason these extra precautions have been taken?
Recently, since 2008, the role of American statesmen and spies have been blurred. According to Philip J. Crowley, a State Department Spokesman, debated on Sunday that American diplomats have taken on a different role overseas, "Our diplomats are just that, diplomats. They represent our country around the world and engage openly and transparently with with representatives of foreign governments and civil society. Through this process, the collect information that shapes our policies and actions. This is what diplomats, from our country and other countries, have done for hundreds of years."
Although there is no evidence that the U.S. is trying to steal the secrets of these foreign nations, they are supposed to be trying to build biographical profiles on the foreign officials. However, the more personal information that is being gathered, the bigger the problem it seems. This intrusive information can be used by the National Security Agency for data mining and surveillance operations.
Although there are several treaties that prohibit spying at the United Nations, it is no secret that countries try to anyway.