This possible Great White Shark seems a bit too far south?
Posted By RichC on April 18, 2013
I’ve been sort of monitoring the sharks along the Florida coast for a couple years and with the advanced GPS locators tagging a few Great Whites, the migrations are amazing. A story from the Key West Keynoter newspaper seems to have one even farther south than Mary Lee.
A Massachusetts man diving with his father in the Keys last week captured on film what experts say is a great white shark swimming off Islamorada. While there have been reports of fishermen seeing and catching great whites in South Florida, it is extremely rare that one is spotted underwater by divers.
"Certainly looks like a white shark from the picture," said Mahmood Shivji, director of the Guy Harvey Institute at Nova Southeastern University. "White sharks are occasionally captured by commercial and recreational fishers in South Florida, including in the Keys, but rarely seen while diving. How cool."
The shark’s photograph was taken by Reid Eisenhaure, 33, who was visiting the Keys with his father Ward. They were diving last Wednesday with four other divers off the Eagle, a 287-foot cargo ship intentionally sunk as an artificial reef about six miles off Lower Matecumbe Key in 1985.
The shark’s size is not clear. Dave Champagne, owner of Key Dives, the charter dive shop that took the group to the Eagle that day, estimates the shark is between 12 and 15 feet long. Shivji, who is also an oceanographic professor at Nova, said the shark is female, but its length is too difficult to judge without a size reference.
The Eagle lies in about 110 feet of water, and Eisenhaure saw the shark while ascending and taking a second decompression stop about 15 to 20 feet below the surface. He said the shark was cruising about 12 feet above his head when he took its picture.
"I was amazed and excited to see it and also a bit nervous, knowing the chances that it would attack were slim, but that if it did, it could be very bad," Eisenhaure said.
The group of divers calmly stayed together as the shark appeared to be checking them out, Eisenhaure said, adding that the large fish "showed no aggression."
Eisenhaure waited about a minute after he lost sight of the shark before surfacing with the rest of the group.
"The whole thing was so brief in the scheme of things, but it’s something I will never forget," he said. Eisenhaure’s been diving since he was 14 years old and has dived and snorkeled in waters from Maine to Florida, all over the Caribbean, and Hawaii. But his April 10 dive will likely be his most memorable.
"While I have seen sharks before, they have always been nurse sharks or reef sharks, and the experience was nothing like seeing the great white," he said. "It’s one of those things that you can see on TV a million times, but you will never really know the feeling of being in open water with one until it happens, and it’s quite a thrill."
There have been reports on social media and online diving forums that the shark was tagged in Cape Cod, Mass., and spotted in Fort Lauderdale and Key Largo. But Shivji said after looking at the photo that there is no satellite tag on the shark’s dorsal fin. He doubts this shark is being tracked.
While great whites are known to be highly migratory in some parts of the world, Shivji said "there is no credible documentation, yet anyway, of South Florida being part of the migratory route."
Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law
Posted By RichC on April 18, 2013
We still feel like we are in recovery mode and are trying to return to semi-normal life since the wedding. Katelyn and Drew are both back at work after their “mini-moon” to a luxury cabin here in Ohio … with eventual plans for a week long honeymoon as time permits (probably in the fall).
Mom and Dad Howard have been staying with us for a few days and the time together includes a birthday. So, we decided to take the birthday girl, my mother-in-law, to the Iron Chef on Wednesday in celebration of her April 18th 84th birthday … besides, we don’t have much food left in the house and none of us felt like going grocery shopping!
Happy Birthday Mom.
Financial markets down and Apple nears $400/share
Posted By RichC on April 17, 2013
Who is calling for Tim Cook’s head?
Apple shares were down 4.7% to $406 this morning and nearing the psychological $400 mark. If it drops below that point, Apple executives better start circling the wagons if they haven’t already. The stock has not traded below the $400 mark since late December 2011 and have slid nearly 7% since last Wednesday.
According to most reports, “analysts from Bernstein Research and Goldman Sachs issued preview notes, predicting a lackluster earnings report for the company’s fiscal second quarter, which is slated for Tuesday after the closing bell” and “sales of the iPhone are expected to decline notably from the December period.”
What a great wedding photo!
Posted By RichC on April 16, 2013
Monday is April 15th TAX day. I wish it wasn’t so.
Posted By RichC on April 15, 2013
I had the best of intentions to update my blog regarding the special "wedding weekend," but between clean-up, wrap-up, rest-up and spending the 
weekend with family (Brenda’s parents staying with us) … AND of all things an April 15th TAX day Monday, I’m wiped out.
I’m way behind on the pleasurable post detailing my daughter’s wedding, but I will include two photos … and a promise to create a belated post for their special April 13th day. What a great wedding.
The Big Wedding: Introducing Katelyn and Drew Oostra
Posted By RichC on April 14, 2013
The day was perfect for Katelyn and Drew’s wedding and the evening before was equally as nice for the rehearsal … and the most appreciated rehearsal dinner, hosted by the Oostra’s at Jags. I can’t speak highly enough of Barb and Randy … and Drew’s two brother’s Carson and Tyler
(right); Katelyn is very blessed to have them as family.
The women (Brenda, Barb and Katelyn) planned a wonderful wedding along with a little help from their guys. Each of us was assigned a few tasks and rose to the occasion. Katelyn and Drew were very pleased and thankful for everything and everyone.
As a father, I couldn’t have been happier to walk my precious Katelyn down the aisle and have her exchange marriage vows with Drew. Their testimony and commitment to each other in front of family and friends was everything parents could ever ask from their children.
—
Since the “professional photos” are not available yet, I’ll used the technology at hand to include a few photos from family and friends with smartphones who used the Wedding Party App, Facebook or shared their cloud-based photo albums with me (thanks Nora). The collection of candid photos are indeed a treat!
Oh and the wedding day would not have been complete without the helicopter “getaway!”
Relaxing with a little music before the big wedding day
Posted By RichC on April 12, 2013
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What do you know about Social Security Disability?
Posted By RichC on April 11, 2013
If you are the average healthy American who is working or independently seeking a job, you might be as unknowledgeable as I am when it comes to knowing anything about government benefits. I’ve generally assumed that those who are “disabled” are 
not capable of functioning or were disabled on the job due injury. What I did not know was that workers are collecting Social Security Disability based on their ability to perform the job they “were” in and that there is a disincentive to take on different kinds of work or retraining.
I have also been reading that since the recession began in 2008 that the roles of those collecting Social Security Disability have ballooned. This is evidenced by the quirky reporting numbers that the United States Department of Labor regularly reports, including the unemployment numbers (currently at 7.6%) as compared to the workforce participation rate. While the employment number seems to be improving … although ever so slowly … the participation rate (percentage of Americans working) is at a 40 year low. This combination indicates that people are dropping out of the workforce and aren’t even looking for work. Welfare, food stamps, early retirement and Social Security Disability payments have all risen and are continuing to rise. (click for larger WSJ graphic)
A WSJ article hints at the problem:
Workers Stuck in Disability Stunt Economic Recovery
The unexpectedly large number of American workers who piled into the Social Security Administration’s disability program during the recession and its aftermath threatens to cost the economy tens of billions a year in lost wages and diminished tax revenues.
Signs of the problem surfaced Friday, in a dismal jobs report that showed U.S. labor force participation rates falling last month to the lowest levels since 1979, the wrong direction for an economy that instead needs new legions of working men and women to drive growth and sustain a baby boomer generation headed to retirement.
Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist for J.P. Morgan estimates that since the recession, the worker flight to the Social Security Disability Insurance program accounts for as much as a quarter of the puzzling drop in participation rates, a labor exodus with far-reaching economic consequences.
The unemployment rate in Friday’s report fell to a four-year low of 7.6%, which most times signals job growth. This time it reflected workers leaving the workforce, a problem that could persist: Economists say relatively few people are likely to trade their disability checks for paychecks, in part because the program doesn’t give much incentive to leave.
Former truck driver James Ottesen, who began receiving monthly payments in 2009, said, "I’m not real happy" about being on disability. "It kind of reminds me of welfare." He said he would "like to get re-educated to do something" because "my body is broke but my mind is not."
But even if the 53-year-old Ohio man learned of a job he could do with herniated discs, he said, the government disability program feels like "a blanket covering you, and to walk out from it…at my age, it’s a little intimidating."
The Wedding Wagon is done
Posted By RichC on April 10, 2013
Well, the wagon was actually done last weekend but I’m short on time this week and figured that I would post this as a filler.
Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee
- lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
- digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.