A shark attacked Australian surfer Mick Fanning during the Jennings Bay Open Sunday in South Africa while he was waiting his turn to surf. Three time world champion Fanning was sitting atop his board when suddenly the water around him started thrashing. According to Fanning the shark had grabbed his leg rope or leash and started pulling it downward, which certainly must have scared Fanning.

The second video adds two announcers describing the action as the shark attacks. Later in the video another announcer interviews Fanning after the attack. This photo tells you all you need to know about my feelings about bullies. Kick the crap out of them. It’s that simple. Watch closely because base jumper extraordinaire Uli Emanuele is about to thread the needle so to speak through a hole in a rock formation somewhere in Switzerland. Uli measured the hole at 2 meters and 60-70 centimeters, which approximately equals 104 inches or 8 feet 8 inches. We do not know at what speed Uli is traveling, but at an altitude of 600 metres, with a free-fall of at least 300 metres, a jumper is traveling at approximately 120 mph. (1) Therefore, Uli will hit the blue hole in the rock in the picture above at a speed of at least 80-100 mph. If he has an average sleeve length of 33-35 inches, Uli will have a wing span of 5’6″-5’10”. Subtracting that from the estimated hole width of 8’8″ leaves Uli with only 1.5 feet of clearance on either side of the hole, at a speed of 80-100 mph. That does not leave much room for error.

Uli must be spot on where he aims his body. If there is a slight downdraft or updraft when he flies through the hole, that may force him off course and he may hit one of his hands on the rock. That collision would probably push the rest of his body smack dab into the rock. Uli would then merely be a glob of primordial ooze inside the eye of the needle he must thread. I do not envy his chances.

We know that it is possible for Uli to lose his life if he misses the hole, his eye of the needle as we have said. Please remember that base jumping videos can be extremely exciting and stressful for the viewer, even unhealthy if the viewer has compromised health. If you have a heart condition, be sure to have your heart medication nearby along with your phone if you need to call for medical assistance. Remember, you have been warned.

Base jumping videos should all be watched in full screen mode to allow yourself to be caught up in the action and the thrill of the moment. Once you start the video, be sure to switch to full screen mode right away. NSFW.

Uli you studmuffin, you! You the man, dude! Wow, what a jump! Right through the eye of the needle!

If you, the viewer, got caught up in the action a bit too much and are now experiencing a heart attack, first and foremost, Calm Down! Number two take some of your heart medication. Three dial 9-1-1 in the U.S., 9-9-9 in Great Britain, 1-1-2 in most of Europe or whatever the digits are for a medical emergency in your part of the world. Okay, I suppose we did exaggerate the thrill just a bit, but that is what makes it fun. If you want to learn more about our favorite stud in residence, Uli Emanuele, try his Facebook page.

BTW, I challenge you to read and watch the video in the Link below, a Letter Postmarked for Heaven. If you don’t get a lump in your throat after experiencing that, there is something wrong.

(1) Base Jumping. Via Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASE_jumping Retrieved 7/8/2015.

A story in 2011 about a Brazilian dog stirred the emotions of millions worldwide with sentiment so raw the anecdote went viral immediately. The tale spun a fictitious yarn about a pup named “Leao” who was so loyal to her former owner that the dog sat vigil for days at graveside after the owner’s funeral.

At the time everyone thought the story was real, with Leao’s chronicle revealed to be a hoax only a few weeks later. Despite that, Leao’s folktale still tugs at the heartstrings of net surfers today, 4 1/2 years later.

People stumble across the narrative to this day and are touched by the loyalty of such an admirable dog. In fact, folks still often ask about her, remarking “Whatever became of that incredible Brazilian dog Leao?”

Leao’s reported owner was Cristina Maria Cesario Santana, who supposedly died in Brazil’s 2011 catastrophic landslides caused by severe flooding. It is not even known if Santana was a real person or simply the figment of someone’s deceptive imagination.

Leao’s narration was carried by numerous media outlets including McCafferty Himself, and even CNN. The hoax revelation was first carried by the Malaysia Sun, but far fewer news organizations bothered to report the hoax.They were far more interested in the emotionalism of the original article. That is probably why so many folks still believe the story today.

Most of us want to believe that such a tale is true because it reaffirms the landmark loyalty that dogs have for their owners. Unconditional love even after death–now that really is a tale worth telling. The dog in the photo actually belonged to Rodolfo Júnior, a grave digger who worked at a cemetery in Teresopolis, Brazil. Júnior stated that his dog often accompanied him to work, and he did not know who took the photo of his dog at the newly dug, unmarked grave.

There were so many dead from the mudslides in Brazil that year that they resorted to burying people in an assembly line fashion, which is why they are so many fresh graves in the photos. It was reported that 655 died in Teresopolis alone.

Perceiving human like emotions in animals is not new. There are many videos on the Net of such things. Look at a video we have of a cat that appears to be trying to revive its mate by massaging its chest.

These type of tales seem to give us that warm fuzzy feeling inside, even if it’s 4 1/2 years after the fact. Have you ever noticed how clever some crows seem to be? I have seen some of them in my neighborhood make some remarkably clever moves, including two or three of them ganging up together to chase a squirrel. I do not think they even cared if they caught the squirrel or not, but it appeared like they only wanted to antagonize the poor thing.

The crow in our first video is just that sort of sociopathic creature that wants to create misery for others:

Yep! That is the kind of crow I’m talking about. The dog, whose name is Nero BTW, thought that the crow would go away if Nero ignored him. No such luck, Nero. This crow is a troublemaker, and once Nero goes home, the crow will find some other prey to pick on. He is just that sort of creature.

The second video also presents us with another predator type who wants to create mischief for other animals, but this naive kitty does not realize how quickly his role as predator might be reversed and suddenly he has become the prey.

That is one unworldly putty-tat. One swipe of the that gator’s huge tail or a twist of those vicious jaws and it’s sayonara Miss Kitty Cat.

Perhaps the photographer in this vid does not care too much about his cat. Why else would he let the creature put itself in harm’s way, unless he was secretly hoping he might get a video for YouTube in which a gator swallows a cat in one gulp?

A video like that just might go viral in a hurry creating a windfall of cash for a videographer participating in YouTube’s ad program. Yep! Methinks there is both motive and method to that madness. At first glance it looks something like a Boeing 747 with NASA’s Space Shuttle hooked on its back. But it is much more in tune with nature than that. An ordinary black crow decides that there must be a reason why the eagle is the national bird of America and not the crow. He jumps when an opportunity presents itself–to see things from a different perspective. Have a look at when a crow soars on eagle’s wings:

The crow swiftly swoops in for a quick landing atop the back of the eagle, rides a short distance, and then speedily lifts off to fly again on its own. Perhaps the crow wondered what life was like on the other side of the fence and decided to see for himself.

These photos were first spotted over at Mashable and are the work of amateur bird photographer Phoo Chan who has a spread of many wild bird shots over on Flickr. “At first I thought the crow was going to chase away the eagle,” says Phoo. “I was completely awed to see the crow actually land on the back of the eagle. They both flew in different directions and it looked like they became friends.”

Perhaps the crow wanted to be friends, or perhaps it is a case of life imitating technology. Maybe there was a time when the crow saw a similar situation in real life; when the crow saw a NASA Space Shuttle flying on the back of a 747. Maybe he just wanted to know how the Space Shuttle felt. The radio show drama, The Shadow – The Deathhouse Rescue, which premiered on September 26, 1937, starred Orson Welles as Lamont Cranston, better known as The Shadow, and Agnes Moorhead as Margot Lane, Cranston’s constant companion and sidekick. (2)

The 1930s was a time when people needed to escape from reality because of the devastating effects of the Great Depression and the brutal antics Hitler was implementing in Germany and Europe. Escapism was the rule in all of the media including dime novels like The Shadow – Death from Nowhere (1) above left, movies and radio shows like The Shadow.

The Shadow character was described as a man with a genius level intellect who was in peak physical condition. He was a master detective, skilled marksman, martial artist, and a master of disguise and stealth. (2)

In this episode Cranston is tasked with clearing Paul Gordon’s name and rescuing him from his date with the electric chair. Can the Shadow accomplish the near impossible? I’m sure you already know the answer, but it is still fun to listen to him while he does it.

The Shadow always begins with “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.” Give a listen.

Editor’s note: If this media player is not visible in your browser, make sure that Javascript is enabled. If it is still not visible, please follow this link to listen to the show.

Naturally the good guy always wins. This is escapism after all, and the bad guys winning would be most depressing. The Shadow always ends with “The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay… The Shadow knows!” (2) Thank you, Shadow. I feel better already.

And remind me to order some Blue Coal anthracite for my furnace.

(1) “Shadow Death From Nowhere”. Via Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shadow_Death_From_Nowhere.jpg#/media/File:Shadow_Death_From_Nowhere.jpg Retrieved 6/24/2015.
(2) The Shadow. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow. Retrieved 6/24/2015. Here lies a passel of Redneck graffiti for your perusal and intellectual edification. It seems that certain redneck types have scrawled their opinions and diatribes on vacant building walls merely to express themselves for your cerebral enlightenment. Lucky you.

I cannot imagine why Osama bin Laden would ever hate country music. I mean, Shania Twain…Carrie Underwood…Hello!? Need I say more? That is probably as good of a reason to join the Marines as any, but perhaps Joe Bob doesn’t know Osama is no longer with us. If so, he may be slightly annoyed once he learns the truth.

So it seems that Bubba is a patron of the “Midnight Golf Supply.” Guess a fella has to save nickels and dimes wherever he can. But isn’t that red stripe around your ball a mite embarrassing once you are back in the clubhouse?

I can understand Joe Bob loading up on fresh “toys” when he visits the dump. One man’s trash IS another man’s treasure, after all.

And Billy Ray’s sis and stepmom being one and the same person is no fault of Billy Ray. Since when can we control who Daddy marries? Daddy always did have a mind of his own.

Billy Bob meeting girls at family reunions just makes a whole lot of sense. Why not keep it all in the family? Joe Bob’s sister really isn’t that trashy. Lots of girls wear a see thru blouse at their Momma’s funeral.

As for Bubba disappearing with his double wide to avert foreclosure, my understanding is that his bank hid a Lojack device on the trailer in the event of just such an occurrence. Sorry Bubba.

There was no chance of the fire in Billy Bob’s bathroom spreading to the house. Billy Bob deliberately placed his outhouse a ways off to avoid any odor issues wafting toward the house. That’s planning ahead Billy Bob.

And Jim Bob buying sushi at the bait shop just plain makes sense. A fella just has to save money when he can. Besides the bait shop has a recipe for pickled minnows that is just special.

Airplane or no airplane, Betty Lu has always been particular about her doo. Can’t see that changing any time soon.

Crack and plumber’s butt are just plain embarrassing. If you got it all hangin’ out on the backside, you ain’t no self respecting redneck. That is fer shur. Imagine you are surfing the waves at the famous Nahoon Reef on the East coast of South Africa near East London. The surf at Nahoon Reef is legendary as is the swimming at Nahoon Beach, which is merely a stone’s throw away. The uncrowded pristine sands of Nahoon Beach stretch on for kilometer after kilometer, and the sea at Nahoon is clear and unpolluted. This is an ocean paradise for both swimmer and surfer alike, and the remarkable waves at Nahoon Reef are so exhilarating and challenging that top surfers flock here to ride the waves.

Suddenly, two great white sharks attack you simultaneously. The attacks are so coordinated that you are convinced that the sharks are working together because how could such an attack be just coincidence?

You believe that the sharks are attracted to the shiny dark color of your wet suit, which may make you appear like a seal to the sharks. Great whites often come to Nahoon Reef to dine on sardines and seals, so today you are merely one more meal for the sharks. The first shark knocks you off your surfboard and into the air. As you splash back into the surf, the same shark bites into your right hand pulling you under the surf toward the bottom of the ocean floor. Ocean predators, such as great whites and killer whales, often use this tactic on seals to drown them.

Meanwhile the second shark makes a move for your head and shoulders. The sharks’ movements appear so choreographed that you cannot believe that this attack is really two separate independent assaults rather than a planned gang attack. Only the sharks know for sure and, naturally, they aren’t talking.

Of course this attack never happened to you, but it did happen to Shannon Ainslie, who often surfs Nahoon Reef with his brother Brandon.

Watch the video to learn how Shannon survived this remarkable exploit: The US media has been abuzz lately over the almost weekly incidents of police brutality caught on video by the general public. In New York City, on July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was killed by New York police, including officer Daniel Pantaleo who appeared in a video to be holding Garner in a choke hold. Although the medical examiner ruled Garner’s death a homicide, a grand jury declined an indictment. Pantaleo was not charged.

And what terrible crime did Garner commit? He was charged with selling “loosies,” which are single cigarettes sold without the proper tax. (1) What does a single cigarette sans tax sell for? 20-25 cents?

For want of tax on a two-bit cigarette, Eric Garner, father of six, gave his life. Naahh! That doesn’t sound like police overkill to me. Clearly, it was justifiable homicide. We cannot have common criminals cheating the government out of 5 cents tax, now can we?

In South Carolina cops dispense with the choke holds and shoot unarmed motorists in the back, or at least that is what patrolman Michael Slager allegedly did last April 4, 2015.

Slager, who is white, pulled over African American motorist Walter Scott for a broken tail light, a capital crime if ever there was one. For some reason the confrontation escalated, Scott tried to flee, and Slager emptied eight rounds into Scott’s back.

It’s a good thing that Slager loaded up on hollow points the previous week. An officer needs all the fire power he can muster in these troubled times.

Here’s a pictorial showing the course of events: The big question here is why did a simple traffic stop escalate into the death of a motorist? Slager said that Scott grabbed Slager’s taser at which point Slager “felt threatened.” Other pundits speculate that Scott was afraid of being arrested for an outstanding warrant for unpaid child support, making him behave in a threatening manner.

Perhaps Officer Slager simply woke up that day and decided to end someone. Slager appeared calm, cool and collected throughout the video, even nonchalant. Maybe he calmly looked Scott in the eye and said something like, “Run, (N-word) cuz I’m gonna kill ya.”

That would make me run. I’m handicapped and cannot run, but hearing those words from a crazed looking cop would make me run anyway. In 1985 in Tennessee v. Garner, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment permits police to shoot at a fleeing suspect only when he “poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others.” (2) That, of course, or a broken brakelight. It’s a little known codicil to the Court’s decision that Police can shoot you if you have a broken brakelight.

Despite all of the hullabaloo about the violent behavior of U.S. police officers, the USA is no where near the worst in the world when you compare police violence. Compare U.S. police escapades to that of their South African counterparts and the U.S. cops simply pale by comparison. Mido Macia would undoubtedly confirm that statement, if he were still alive that is.

Emidio Josias Macia, known as Mido, was a Mozambican immigrant to South Africa and a taxi driver who was killed near Johannesburg while in the custody of the South African Police Service (SAPS) on February 26, 2013. (3) The manner in which Mido came to be in police custody and part of the cause of his death were captured on video.

Watch the following video only if you have a strong stomach, cuz it ain’t pretty. NSFW:

The brazenness of the SAPS in this video is remarkable. They had to know that at least one person in the large crowd of onlookers would be filming their brutality, yet they deliberately tortured the man to death anyway.

Just how did the Police justify their behavior? They claimed that Macia had caused a traffic jam and then resisted arrest. (4) Well, that explains it then. Case closed.

Macia was found dead hours after his dragging in a police holding cell, lying half dressed in a pool of blood. (5) Half dressed means he was discovered sans trousers even though the video shows him wearing what appeared to be blue jeans at the time of his “arrest.”

A second autopsy that was ordered after the first autopsy, which was a typical whitewash, blamed Mido’s death on a jailhouse fight. The second autopsy stated that Macia died of hypoxia, which is a lack of oxygen, “but he also sustained deep cuts to his arms, possibly in an attempt to defend himself, and there were bruises over his body, his face and his genitals. Almost all of his internal organs were damaged, and he had suffered bleeding around his brain.” (6)

See how creative the SAPS are? They don’t rely on the old tried and true to eliminate their victims. Any number of Macia’s injuries might have eventually killed him, so the SAPS left nothing to chance. Very thorough, those SAPS lads. Compare that to South Carolina’s Officer Slager, who dispatched Walter Scott with eight rounds to the back. No creativity there.

A British newspaper, The Guardian, reported that during a recent five year period a total of 11,880 criminal cases were opened with the South African Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID). This resulted in just 2,576 prosecutions and 129 convictions‚ meaning that only 1% of criminal cases opened against police officials ended in a conviction. (7)

That 1% probability of any penalty would explain the SAPS’ brazenness in the Macia case. Why not do the crime if you know you won’t do the time?

And what has happened in the two + years since Macia’s death? Nine SAPS have been charged, and the trial has been postponed and postponed again. The latest trial date is set for July 2015. What do you want to bet it will be delayed again?

U.S. cops have a long way to go to catch up with the vile violence of their South African counterparts, but don’t sell our boys and girls in blue short. Yankee ingenuity has won out in the past.

Now all of you American cops get busy and start offing the public.

(1) Death of Eric Garner, Wikipedia. Retrieved 6/14/2015.
(2) South Carolina Cop Charged With Murder After Video Shows Him Shooting Motorist in the Back, reason.com. Retrieved 6/14/2015.
(3, 4) Death of Mido Macia, Wikipedia, Retrieved 6/14/2015.
(5, 6) Dead taxi driver who was dragged behind South African police van ‘was facing homicide charge’, The Independent. Retrieved 6/14/2015.
(7) South Africa reports of police brutality more than tripled in the last decade, The Guardian. Retrieved 6/14/2015. Early in 2008 Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron had a fairy tale love story that captured the hearts of teenagers and pre-teens worldwide. They met when they both starred in High School Musical (HSM), which was a blockbuster movie on the Disney Channel. Vanessa played the starring role of Gabriella Montez and Zac played opposite her starring as Troy Bolton. Gabriella and Troy shared a love interest in HSM similar to what Vanessa and Zac had in real life. Troy was the high school’s sports hero and Gabriella was a bright student who transferred to East High. Although Vanessa and Zac were constantly seen together in Los Angeles, blogheads were continually speculating that their romance was over, but they were always been wrong until the couple finally did break up as Hollywood romances often do. The blockbusters High School Musical 1 and 2 made stars of Vanessa and Zac, and they were among the most searched celebrities on the Internet. They were also followed everywhere by the paparazzi. And it only promised to get bigger and better for the couple, for Disney had started production on High School Musical 3, which premiered in theaters rather than just the Disney Channel. The couple and HSM were so big that the number of views of their videos on Youtube reached into the tens of millions, which was off the charts even by today’s standards.

Many of the photos on this page were taken from Zac and Vanessa’s vacation in Hawaii in 2007. Zac said that a paparazzo caught him off guard because Zac had not yet realized that the couple was so high on the paparazzi radar.

“At that point it (his stardom) was inconceivable,” Zac said. “I had no idea that anyone could ever care. That happens to, like, big stars. I woke up and my dad told me that I was in a newspaper on the beach, (and) he made fun of me. He said I was ‘frolicking.’”

It appears that the paparazzo made a small fortune on the photos. Zac said that while they were still on vacation in Hawaii, “the photographer left me a note with a disc of all the pictures, and on the note it said, ‘Thanks for the Range Rover!’”

The following video stars Zac and Vanessa, is from High School Musical 2 and is entitled “You are the Music in Me.” The politics in this post is a little stale, but the humor is as fresh as it gets. Master satirist, Stephen Colbert, has taken on former Vice President Dick Cheney over WMDs, Iraq and President Barack Obama with a flair that is trademark Colbert. He does not directly attack Cheney, but instead agrees with Cheney wholeheartedly in such a fashion that the viewer understands that such disagreement is a given.

“Rarely has a US President been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many.”

Cheney recently criticized President Barack Obama’s Middle East foreign policies, especially the policy on Iraq. As a frequent guest on the talk shows Cheney railed against Obama foreign policies and also wrote a guest editorial for the Wall Street Journal titled “Collapsing Obama Doctrine” in which he recently stated, while referring to Obama’s Iraq policy, “Rarely has a US President been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many.”

To this Stephen Colbert replied, “Yes, rarely…maybe only one other time.”

Please watch similar Colbert repartee in the following video (part 1): Because the video hosting sites are so meticulously fussy about copyrights, I have been forced to cut the video into parts just so I could post it. Have a look at part 2.

Perhaps, as Colbert suggested, it is time to raid Cheney’s sac searching for WMDs? How else could the former vice president suggest that the nation and the rest of the world were in agreement that Saddam Hussein was harboring WMDs?

I vividly remember sitting in my living room prior to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq watching former Secretary of State Colin Powell lie to the world about having proof that Saddam possessed WMDs. I remember feeling at the time that Powell was lying and doing it quite poorly. It was without a doubt one of the worst snow jobs I have ever witnessed.

Yet Cheney still apparently believes that the world still swallows his hogwash about WMDs. Why won’t Dick Cheney retire to his home in Wyoming and leave the rest of us alone?

Hasn’t he already done enough damage to the nation? An unknown skier, above, exhilarates in the joy of skiing.

Many sports occasionally provide moments that are so intense. so exciting, so exhilarating, yet so joyful that you wish they could go on forever. We have one of those moments here on film.

Cody Townsend, renowned professional skier extraordinaire, takes us along with him on one of those exhilarating moments so exciting that it makes us want to go skiing right now, even if we don’t know how to ski.

Cody skis through a tight mountain pass that narrows so dramatically that it reaches a confining width of just six feet at its slimmest point. Yet Cody whips past that thin point at speeds of 60-80 miles per hour.

Sound exciting? Enough talk. Let’s watch:

For an avid or a professional skier, perhaps this moment is what heaven is, a moment so thrilling that it continues on and on…forever into infinity.

This video was produced in conjunction with Red Bull and  MSP films to promote a new ski film. You can learn more at skimovie.com. In the original video on YouTube that went viral in one big hurry, this little man goes ballistic when mom tells him he will soon have a little brother or sister to help take care of.

It seems that there is no telling what some folks’ attitudes will be on any subject. “This is exasperating!” and “it doesn’t make no sense!” A baby and puppy that are so cute together it just cannot be legal. The baby’s name is Eisleigh and the puppy is known as Clyde. Together they give a whole new meaning to the term cuteness.

Their video has gone viral on YouTube, on AOL and all over the rest of the world. Somehow these two just naturally know how to pose for the camera.

And yes, the puppy is a pitbull. Let’s hope this pup keeps its gentle disposition on through to adulthood.

Can these two possibly be any cuter? I just don’t think that’s possible. 3.5 year-old Emmet and 89.5 year-old Erling are the best of friends, so much so that they are almost inseparable. Shouldn’t such a friendship almost guarantee a happy ending? Perhaps not.
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