#225: Symbiosis Diagnosis

Artie & Syd have been negotiating over the honeymoon plans. They’re getting married at their new casita in Mexico, then flying to Tokyo as special guests of Konishiki for the grand sumo tournament. Syd is down with that plan, but she considers it a work trip for Artie and has designs on a 2nd honeymoon trip to Costa Rica to go cage diving with sharks. She’s the adventurous one in the pair. Artie is all for vacations & wildlife exploration, but shark diving might be a little out of his comfort zone. He hasn’t said no, but he’s raising all manner of ethical concerns. “They bait predators, which is never a good idea. Pouring chum in the water is unnatural. They have signs in parks that say Don’t Feed the Animals for a reason. A fed bear is a dead bear, they say. Once it associates humans with food, it’s headed toward a date with a tranquilizer gun - if it’s lucky. Where are the signs that say Don’t Feed the Sharks? The operators are unregulated and take too many risks,” -etc. Syd is a sly negotiator & proposed tabling further discussion until they’ve watched all eight days of Shark Week this year, which starts July 22. I’m not sure if this will help or hurt her cause, but it did cause Jenny from Ad sales to think about potential tie-ins with Discovery Channel, given Artie’s zoological bent, so she cold called them and they were open to a discussion. Would be a nice get, but we’ll see. Anyway, this is all to say that Artie has sharks on the brain this week, a full two months before Shark Week, which did I mention airs for eight days beginning July 22 this year? (Just practicing). Here’s 3225, enjoy the weekend. -Ed.