>>>I know that you are more likely to get struck by lightning, but I can stay indoors when it's lightning, yet I have no real warning when a shark is in the water. There have been 19 attacks in North Carolina between 1990 and 2004, 2 of them fatal. I don't know how many since then, probably only a couple. So you are right in that it is senseless to worry. However, in this case the media was simply doing their job. Notifying the public. If it wasn't in the paper or the news then they would get hit with not notifying the public of a risk - albeit a rare but known risk (except for tourists who probably have no idea in general). Besides, I hate sharks!
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>>Jaws did it for me. As did this:
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>>http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15457/story.htm
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>>When I was in the carribean, sitting in the water, my uncle said he once saw a shark "over there". I proved that humans *can* walk on water in my haste to get out. :)
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>The Discovery channel was filming a special when he was bitten. They made a special out of it. It's called Anatomy of a Shark Bite. "Shark behavioral scientist Dr. Erich Ritter was bitten by a bull shark while filming with the Discovery Channel in the Bahamas. He will examine the footage of his unfortunate incident and discuss the difference between a shark bite and an actual attack."
>http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/special.html?paid=1.403.30382.0.0
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>Shark week starts July 29th and it appears the special is running twice.

I've seen that special too. Didn't help. Another one that was pretty cool was a mechanical shark with replaceable teeth mounted on a moving track. It trigger the bite on contact - simulating a strike at speed. If we evolved out of the water, we did it for good reason. :)