My 2 cents

Two days ago, Rob Stewart was on the Today Show to publicize his documentary, Sharkwater. What had begun as a simple shark documentary turned into a glimpse at the terrible world of illegal shark finning. I was completely horrified by the images Stewart’s team filmed of poachers catching sharks, cutting off the fins, and then tossing the rest of the shark back into the ocean – WHILE THEY ARE STILL ALIVE. Without their fins, sharks are unable to swim and will sink to the ocean floor. They will be consumed (often while still alive) by other fish.

Watching this interview of Stewart reminded me of a conversation I had recently with two girls, one a vegetarian, the other a vegan. The vegetarian told me that she had grown up on a farm and, if a brand could guarantee that the meat it was selling was from sustainable and ethical farming, she would probably go back to eating meat. It is an interesting dichotomy to hear a professed vegetarian who went “veggie” for the animals tell me that she would eat meat again if the animals were bred and raised appropriately.

And she has a point. Far too much of our fishing and agriculture industries is so overly profit-driven that the quality of life of the animals is at risk. In the case of the sharks, it is far more profitable to ignore international agreements and harvest shark fins for the lucrative pay associated with them. With our cows, pigs and chickens, it is far less expensive to factory farm them. In neither case is the general health and welfare of the animals considered.

I can’t say that I have the answers to either of these problems, nor am I an expert in any of these fields, but I highly recommend that we continue to look into these issues and try to develop lasting solutions. There are professionals out in the field every day, working hard to get us to pay attention to the unnecessary damage we are inflicting upon our world. It isn’t feasible that we could stop farming or fishing, but it is absolutely possible that we can do it in a far more humane way.

For more information about the movie, please see their site. Right now it appears the movie is only playing in Canada, but perhaps it will make it out to the States.

Below are some facts and figures from the movie’s website:

What is Shark Finning?
○ Shark finning refers to the removal and retention of shark fins and the discard at sea of the carcass. The shark is most often still alive when it is tossed back into the water. Unable to swim, the shark slowly sinks toward the bottom where it is eaten alive by other fish.
○ Shark finning takes place at sea so the fishers have only the fins to transport. Shark meat is considered low value and therefore not worth the cost of transporting the bulky shark bodies to market.
○ Any shark is taken—regardless of age, size, or species.
○ Longlines, used in shark finning operations, are the most significant cause of losses in shark populations worldwide.
○ Shark finning is widespread, and largely unmanaged and unmonitored.
○ Shark finning has increased over the past decade due to the increasing demand for shark fins (for shark fin soup and traditional cures), improved fishing technology, and improved market economics.
○ Shark specialists estimate that 100 million sharks are killed for their fins, annually.
○ One pound of dried shark fin can retail for $300 or more. It's a multi-billion dollar industry.

Impacts of Shark Finning
○ Loss and devastation of shark populations around the world. Experts estimate that within a decade, most species of sharks will be lost because of longlining.
○ Unsustainable fishery. The massive quantity of sharks harvested and lack of selection deplete shark populations faster than their reproductive abilities can replenish populations.
○ Threatens the stability of marine ecosystems.
○ Loss of sharks as a food staple for many developing countries.
○ Local waters are invaded by large industrial, foreign fishing vessels that threaten traditional sustainable fisheries.
○ Threatens socio-economically important recreational fisheries.
○ Obstructs the collection of species-specific data that are essential for monitoring catches and implementing sustainable fisheries management.
○ Wasteful of protein and other shark-based products. Up to 99 per cent of the shark is thrown away.

Are there laws against shark finning?
○ Each country with a coastline is responsible for laws and regulations pertaining to fishing in their waters.
○ A number of countries have shark-finning legislation. Many stipulate that fins must arrive in a 5 per cent weight ratio of the shark carcasses onboard. Only a few countries demand that sharks arrive in port with fins attached.
○ According to the IUCN Shark Specialist group, the easiest way to implement a ban is to require that shark carcasses be landed with fins attached. The possession of fins alone on vessels would thus be illegal.
○ Shark finning violates the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
○ Shark finning is contrary to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's International Plan for the Conservation and Management of Sharks.
○ The United Nations Convention on the Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) lists the whale shark, basking shark, and great white shark as species that could become threatened if trade is not controlled. To date, 169 countries have agreed to be legally bound by CITES.

Take action against hate crimes

I would write if I could, but living in DC doesn't grant me access to Senators. If you believe in promoting equal rights of gays under the law and want to support legislation that will create tougher punishments for those who perpetrate hate crimes against gay/transgender people, please see Musicguy's post.

Thank you.

Here there everywhere

I have several things to report. First, I finally heard from the Peace Corps last week. I haven’t heard from them in months, and then I got a call from one of their medical staff. They were finally reviewing my medical kit and got to the part where I said that I used to have a shellfish allergy. For whatever reason, they didn’t like the fact that I once had a rash from eating lobster when I was, oh, four years old. I have been armed with an Epi-pen for the last five years and have eaten shrimp, crabs, mussels, clams, lobster – you name it, I’ve probably eaten it. (Well, maybe not abalone – but I saw how Mel reacted to that and I think it’s safer if I stay away.)

So I worked to get them a personal statement that said that I could go out into the big, wide scary world and eat lobster.

Then they called back. And sent a letter. And guess what? They terminated my medical evaluation. I am taking a certain medication on a weekly basis that they don’t support overseas (which I already knew). What they didn’t tell me three or four months ago (when I originally submitted my medical paperwork) was that they will not even perform the medical evaluation until I have been off the medicine for at least 60 days. So they sent me this letter that says they’ve terminated my application, but I’m welcome to appeal their decision within 60 days. Within those 60 days, I must also go off the medication and have my doctor write an official note detailing my condition.

The real problem with this is that it doesn’t fit into my plan. And you know how much I love to plan. I was supposed to find out where I would be sent sometime this summer so that when Anthony bids for his next assignment in September/October, he can bid on places nearby. Now it looks as though we’ll be going into his bidding process blind.

There is also the problem that being off this medication for 60+ days does not guarantee that I will be invited to become a volunteer for the Peace Corps either. My application may be terminated for other reasons. The letter I received indicated that any appeal made by me would be reviewed by a special panel and that panel’s decision about my application would be final. As in no more appeals.

So there was that to ruin my day.

But I am still trying. We’ll see where the appeal process gets me before I really start to despair.

Other things to report… Anthony and I finally took a little road trip out to Annapolis. We heard about this nice little dog beach (Quiet Waters) and thought Grace might enjoy the Chesapeake. No such luck.

Our dog continues to loathe the water. She looked at us like we were INSANE when we tried to get her to jump in the water with the other dogs. I guess we won’t make the mistake of taking her there again.

So we spent the majority of the day walking around downtown Annapolis. It was a nice, quiet Sunday, probably because it was overcast. Anthony bought himself some clothes and new sneakers so I started to look like the disgruntled boyfriend following his girlfriend obediently throughout the shopping mall. It was kind of amusing (especially when he had to use those tiny nylons to try on the sneakers – I have pictures!). My prize for the day was homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream and the purchase of some cat grass in the hopes that we can help Pookie to not eat all the plants in the house.

Speaking of the cat, we have spent the last several days following his vomit trail around the house. Usually there is a hairball or several leaves stuck in it so we have a pretty good idea why he’s puking, but there have also been a few times where it looks like partially digested cat food. Pookie just started on a new prescription diet a few weeks ago (for the crystals in his urine) and he now seems to disagree with the vet’s choice of sustenance. (If you care, the dog doesn’t seem to like it too much either. Not that that has stopped her from downing whatever is in Pookie’s bowl when Anthony and I aren’t looking, but she did get a hold of the prescription cat food once and left a puke trail from the kitchen all the way across the living room and then onto the bed – yes, ON the bed.)

And the last thing that I have for popular consumption is my opinion of the latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Anthony and I re-watched Dead Man’s Chest over the past week or so in preparation and then went to see At World’s End last night. If you have not seen it and are planning on seeing it, I wouldn’t read any further because I’m about to spoil some of the plot points.

I thought this installment was the weakest of the three. Like every trilogy known to man, nothing beats the original. And these movies progressively got worse. The motivational speech Keira Knightley’s character, Elizabeth Swann, gave to the pirate hordes was ridiculous, at best. This tool is so overused in film today; more importantly, it is used badly. Not every movie needs the hero delivering an awe-inspiring speech. Especially if either a) the screenwriter doesn’t know how to script one properly, and b) the actor cannot deliver one properly. Knightley’s speech was totally inappropriate and disappointing. Anthony and I got a good laugh over it.

But that doesn’t even hold a candle to the ridiculous marriage ceremony. The value of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies had been the quick-witted dialogue and the humanity of the characters. There were parts of this movie that came off as desperate attempts to hold the movie together, rather than to tell a story or move the characters forward. The marriage scene was strained, at best. This movie could have been much, much better.

I’m not sure I enjoyed the hallucinations of Captain Jack Sparrow either. It made sense to have him be a little out of it when he was in Davy Jones’ Locker, but to have him continue in that ridiculous setup long after he escaped was vaguely irritating to me.

In the end, too, I’m not sure that this movie needed all the adult elements that were added to it. The first movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl, was delightful because it was so well-written, so fresh, so humorous. By the third movie, there are some truly adult scenes, such as the opening with all the people being hung and the one near the end where Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom are clearly just finishing up their honeymoon. I don’t think the movie needed these scenes to be good, especially considering the fact that this should be a family movie (the whole trilogy is rated PG-13, but the third movie seems so much darker).

Finally, I’m not sure I understand the importance of the opening scene at all. If someone out there fully understood why the singing of the pirate song made all the rest of the movie happen, I would be glad to be educated.

It's late and I should be sleeping

It's strange how sometimes you stop to think about your life and you realize that although you have had nothing to say in your Blog for months, your life is so FULL. I don't know when it happened, but some time along the way I stopped having the small moments - even if they were just to realize how busy I really am. Now I live from paycheck to paycheck, bill to bill, one walk with Grace to another... My days are full of small, repeating things that fill up the hours but leave me little to discuss.

Yet through it all, I wish that I was better able to communicate to you guys (you know, the three of you who keep up with my Blog - and actually KNOW me) how much fuller my life is because of you. I love my life, and I love having you in it.

Hi, my name is 4.0

GMU just posted my final grades for spring semester classes (Refugees in Contemporary Society, Public Policy Process, and Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting and Finance). Two semesters down and I am kicking it with the 4.0! It just proves to me that I really am capable of hunkering down, working hard, and making the dean’s list. Although I checked for a half hour this morning and can’t seem to find anything on the GMU website that tells me if graduate students are granted any kind of honors at all. I suppose it must be good enough for me to know in my heart that I rocked the socks off of my MPA program. Rock on with your bad self, Ryan.

My neuroses spills over into completing every online survey imaginable

Usually I don't post all the survey results that I take - my OCD won't allow anything to destroy the formatting of my Blog, and a lot of these things kick my right-hand menu o' stuff to the bottom of the main page. Soooo, we can't have that, can we?

In this case, I am hoping this new linking thing will help.

You are Strength

Courage, strength, fortitude. Power not arrested in the act of judgement, but passing on to further action, sometimes obstinacy.

This is a card of courage and energy. It represents both the Lion's hot, roaring energy, and the Maiden's steadfast will. The innocent Maiden is unafraid, undaunted, and indomitable. In some cards she opens the lion's mouth, in others she shuts it. Either way, she proves that inner strength is more powerful than raw physical strength. That forces can be controlled and used to score a victory is very close to the message of the Chariot, which might be why, in some decks, it is Justice that is card 8 instead of Strength. With strength you can control not only the situation, but yourself. It is a card about anger and impulse management, about creative answers, leadership and maintaining one's personal honor. It can also stand for a steadfast friend.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

10 hours to go...

I am one hour into the second to last Accounting class I have this semester. I cannot believe we are going to spend the next two hours reviewing our homework assignment from two weeks ago. It is KILLING me. As if I were being slowly carved up with a rusty serving spoon. A finger here, a kneecap there... You know how it goes. It's accounting, after all.

However, I am pretty damn excited that my semester is almost over. Just eight hours of class tomorrow, and 11 multiple choice questions on my final exam - and I'm done! I can't believe how overwhelmed I've felt all semester, and I am so perfectly relieved to be free of all the stress in just a few short hours. This summer will be absolute bliss for me.

Meanwhile, my friend Burly is in town this weekend. He traveled out from London to attend this conference in Baltimore last week and he decided to come hang out with lil ol' me! To be more precise, he is actually spending some quality time with lil ol' Anthony, but who's keeping track? It's exciting to have someone around that you can corrup---I mean, show things. Lots and lots of things. Like the Smithsonian. Yeah. Thaaaat's the ticket.

And that is really all I have at the moment. I would be more exciting, but I'm trying to keep pace with the same level of enthusiasm that accounting inspires.