This is probably investigatory behavior! As we talked about a couple years ago on the blog, sharks have lots of little sensory organs around their nose and mouth called Ampullae of Lorenzini.
They’re basically little gel-filled pores that sense electric current, and they’re why sharks investigate everything with their faces. Sharks bump things with their nose to put their ampullae near them in an attempt to learn about them – like finding out if you’re animal, vegetable or mineral, and if you could potentially be edible.
From the video linked, we can see the shark is swimming around checking out the divers (who appear to be hanging out at a decompression stop), before coming over closer to the guy who is filming. This isn’t aggressive behavior – it looks like simply curiosity. It’s not a shark kiss, it’s a shark question: what are you?
I used to wear a chainmail shirt to elementary school. The teachers never knew what to do about it because there was no section in our dress code forbidding medieval armor.
… Where does an elementary school child get access to an actual shirt of chainmail sized properly for them?
Growing up as a historical reenactor meant that my parents are friends with lots of people who make chainmail. My godsister received a real rapier in fourth or fifth grade, so our unsupervised outdoor playtime was… formative.
Sand storm, it’s just a storm …. wait who turned off the light?
OMG THIS IS HORRIFYING
This was a huge haboob that came over Phoenix, Arizona back in 2011! I remember this thing 😀
Yeah I’m gonna do a short PSA, especially since it’s monsoon season here and so dust storms might appear. When dust storms get this bad they’re very dangerous – it may seem kinda harmless, it’s just a lot of dust and some wind, right? But as you can see, there’s zero visibility in these things. Never drive through them like this guy did. Pull over to the side of the road, and wait it out. It should pass over you within a couple minutes – those things move quicker than you think. Also, really, do not go out in dust storms – this should be a given. You WILL get dust in your eyes and you WILL inhale a ton of it. Best case scenario it burns like a mother fucker, worst case you can suffocate. It’s mostly kids that suffocate in them, but all the same, inhaling a bunch of dust is never good for you. If you absolutely have to go out in a dust storm, wear eye protection and cover your mouth and nose. I used to wear swim goggles and a bandana as a kid when I had to pack up all the lawn chairs and bring them inside before they ended up a block away in the street. And speaking of that, there can be very strong winds. Nowhere near as bad as hurricanes or tornados or nothing, but enough to topple trees and flagpoles (and also very tall pool umbrellas that fall and take out the raised garden you built yourself. I will never be over that.)
Dust storms are nowhere near as dangerous as other storms, for sure, but they’re not harmless either, and shouldn’t be underestimated – that’s how most of the injuries happen in dust storms, people underestimating the potential danger. Just watch from inside somewhere as the world turns into Mad Max for a couple of minutes and stay safe!
