No I think they're just sold out of sharks. M&M toys has still got clown fish in stock for $37.99.
http://www.mandmtoys.com/air-swimmers/clown-fish

That is a superb analogy. Well done.

In reply to this comment by packo:
it provides a foundation, a base from which to launch... its two swimmers racing, one with something to push off of, and the other starting with nothing to push off of... sure the outcome isn't decided completely... but you can make a REALLY accurate guess as to who has the better chance to win... no one is throwing them a dragline while they are swimming... its just the start of the race

the thing about "personal responsibility", is that it is used in very misleading, and brainwashed ways

the brainwashed way is the whole "you shouldn't have had a kid if you can't afford it" schpeel...

first, its moronic because it reduces the subject to $ figures... raising a child goes WELL beyond money, let alone the questions posed morally and on the scale of society itself... should only the rich (and yes, its expensive to have a child, outrageous actually, in the US... i'm not talking about the cost of feeding/clothing/education/etc... simply the procedures up to and including birth, let alone any issues that may arise afterwards both in mother and child - glad I live in a country where this is covered socially, and that I more than happily contribute to - our future isn't regulated to have/have nots)

second, as part of a society, do you feel you have a personal responsibility to it? or other members of it (irrespective of your opinion as to whether or not a particular person is "contributing" or not)? do other's in your society have a personal responsibility in regards to you?... the debate in the US literally ALWAYS boils down to someone arguing "personal responsibility" yet assuming none in regards to the society they "LOVE SO MUCH" and "WOULD DIE FOR"... that, or that if you give people handouts, that's all they'd ever want; they'd never strive

WELL, that is EXACTLY describing the situation of your (and I mean YOU, yes YOU) parent's raising you... did they keep all the receipts and calculate the interest you owe on top regarding food they fed you, education they paid for, etc? are they sending collectors yet?

better yet, can you honestly say you have no drive or ambitions in life because of being raised like this (as is the general norm)?

it provides a foundation, a base from which to launch... its two swimmers racing, one with something to push off of, and the other starting with nothing to push off of... sure the outcome isn't decided completely... but you can make a REALLY accurate guess as to who has the better chance to win... no one is throwing them a dragline while they are swimming... its just the start of the race

if you had a family member who got ill, would you help them? if the swimmer got cramps and couldn't stay afloat would you want someone to pull their head up above the water?

why this doesn't translate from being a staple of family life, to society should make most American's go "hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

the honest truth... it is GREED
both personal GREED of the average citizen not wanting to spend a cent on a fellow citizen
and corporate GREED... they see social programs and free health care as either a pool of money they don't got but WANT or robbery from them... and they lobby and basically buy off politicians through campaign financing and lucrative job offers post office... meanwhile you are sold that this is in the interests of your freedom... when really all you are being sold is the freedom to be F_CKED

Government is there to protect the INTERESTS of it's citizens, not it's CORPORATIONS (most of whom are multinational btw)... and it's failing Americans... mainly because Americans are failing themselves... they'd rather drink the kool-aid than question what's in it... they'd rather get worked up about side issues that really only affect their life MINIMALLY (mainly because of religion) rather than care about issues that do... and they like to bite people who question the status quo... why? because WE'RE NUMBER ONE!!!! USA USA USA. (despite the OVERWHELMING evidence to the contrary)

its really elementary logic to deduce that a society that tries to elevate itself by uplifting all members of that society (or as many as possible) will have a better survival chance than a society where all individuals horde and fight over resources... i mean, which one do you think leads to feudal style systems? really?

He's a great swimmer! Notice how his head stays above water at all times.

Wow. Boston Dynamics never ceases to impress. Bipeds are useful because they are so adaptive. Further, this accomplishment demonstrates something deeper. Rather than resolving the unexpected through a more robust form factor, they've demonstrated that we can accomplish similar environmental flexibility through improvement of the control law.

Bipedal locomotion has been a holy grail in robotics for that reason. While it seems so effortless to us, it's one of the most computationally intensive things we do. It's arguably much more complex than playing chess, doing math, or any of the other metrics traditionally considered AI benchmarks.

Regarding the usefulness compared to other designs (e.g. hexapods, or treaded robots), bipeds tend to be able to maintain a higher center of gravity over a smaller base of support. That's useful in a number of tasks. Further, it isn't as if people aren't working on other robotic form factors including snakes, swimmers, flying robots, and x-apods.

Seven-time All-American swimmer Hill “Dolphin Man” Taylor recently surpassed the 50-meter backstroke world record by a full second. But Hill’s final time of 23.1 won’t count because he swam the entire length of the pool underwater.

What he has done is certainly impressive, but he definitely didn't do backstroke. The rules are clear, it's not like this would have been a surprise to him.

Here's your vote!

Plus, my brother did butterfly in high school and only placed when there were three swimmers or less. I definitely have to share this with him!

That was awesome! And yeah swimming like real swimmers or water polo players will make you just insanely fit...but you'll only be good at more swimming. Just like running long distances makes you fast...at running long distances.

I didn't have enough information when I initially commented on this video (because the video didn't provide it), and I jumped to conclusions - my bad!! In any event, it would definitely have been helpful if the video had indicated if the otter was a sea otter, river otter, or ...

Here's some fun and interesting information about otters from the World Famous San Diego Zoo web site:
Class: Mammalia (Mammals)
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genera: 6
Species: 13
Length: largest—giant otter Pteronura brasiliensis, up to 7.8 feet (2.4 meters); smallest—Asian small-clawed otter Amblonyx cinereus, up to 3 feet (0.9 meters)
Weight: largest—sea otter Enhydra lutris, males up to 95 pounds (43 kilograms); smallest—Asian small-clawed otter, up to 11 pounds (5 kilograms)
Life span: 15 to 20 years
Gestation: from 2 months for smaller species to 5 months for sea otters
Number of young at birth: 1 to 5, usually 2
Size at birth: 4.5 ounces (128 grams) for smaller species to 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms) for sea otters
Age of maturity: 2 to 5 years
Conservation status: four species, including the sea otter, are endangered; three otter species are vulnerable.
Fun facts
• You can tell otter species apart by the shape and amount of fur on their noses.
• Unlike other marine mammals, sea otters do not have a layer of blubber to keep them warm; they rely on warm air trapped in their fur. Sea otters have the densest fur of any mammal, with about 100,000 hairs in a space about the size of a postage stamp!
• Most otter species capture prey with their mouths, but Asian small-clawed otters and sea otters have flexible fingers and grab with their hands.
• North American and European river otters have been known to share dens with beavers—but the beavers do all the building!

Mammals: Otter
Range: Africa, Asia, and parts of North America, Central America, and South America
Habitat: sea otters are found in the Pacific Ocean and along the coastline, but most otter species live in rivers, lakes, and marshes

Champion swimmers
Otters are the only serious swimmers in the weasel family. They spend most of their lives in the water, and they are made for it! Their sleek, streamlined bodies are perfect for diving and swimming. Otters also have long, slightly flattened tails that move sideways to propel them through the water while their back feet act like rudders to steer.

Almost all otters have webbed feet, some more webbed than others, and they can close off their ears and noses as they swim underwater. They can stay submerged for about five minutes, because their heart rate slows and they use less oxygen. They’re also good at floating on the water’s surface, because air trapped in their fur makes them more buoyant. Have you ever noticed that when an otter comes out of the water, its outer fur sticks together in wet spikes, while the underneath still seems dry? That’s because they have two layers of fur: a dense undercoat that traps air; and a topcoat of long, waterproof guard hairs. Keeping their fur in good condition is important, so otters spend a lot of time grooming. In fact, if their fur becomes matted with something like oil, it can damage their ability to hunt for food and stay warm.

Party animals
Otters are very energetic and playful. You might say they love to party! They are intelligent and curious, and they are usually busy hunting, investigating, or playing with something. They like to throw and bounce things, wrestle, twirl, and chase their tails. They also play games of "tag" and chase each other, both in the water and on the ground. River otters seem to like sliding down mud banks or in the snow—they’ll do it over and over again! Otters also make lots of different sounds, from whistles, growls, and screams to barks, chirps, and coos. All this activity is part of the otters’ courtship, social bonding, and communication, and since otter pups need practice, they tend to be even more playful than the adults.

Life as a pup
Most otters are born in a den, helpless and with their eyes closed. The mother takes care of them, often chasing the father away after their birth, although in some species the dad may come back after a couple of weeks to help raise them. The babies, called pups, open their eyes and start exploring the den at about one month, start swimming at two months, and stay with their mother and siblings until they are about one year old, when they head off on their own.

For sea otters in their ocean habitat it’s a little different—the pups are born with their eyes open, and they have a special coat of hair so they can float, even though they can’t swim yet. They are carried on their mother’s stomach until they are about two months old, when they start swimming and diving on their own.

For most otters, social groups are made up of a mother, her older offspring, and her newest pups; the males spend most of their time alone or with a few other males. During breeding time or where there’s lots of food, though, larger groups of otters may gather, especially among sea otters in kelp beds.

The seafood diet
Otter food may not all come from the ocean, but it is definitely fishy! River otters eat mostly fish, frogs, crayfish, crabs, and mollusks, with an occasional small mammal or bird. Sea otters eat many of the same things, but mostly sea urchins, abalone, crabs, mussels, and clams, which they crack open against rocks they hold on their stomachs. Otters have long, sensitive whiskers that help them find prey, even in murky water. Some species, like the Asian small-clawed otter Amblonyx cinereus, also use their hands to probe into mud or under rocks to find a tasty meal that might be hiding there. River otters use lots of energy and digest their food very fast, so they eat several times a day. Sea otters need to eat 20 to 25 percent of their body weight each day. That’s a lot of abalone!
The otters at the San Diego Zoo are fed carnivore diet, carrots, and either squid or trout. They also get small amounts of "treats" for enrichment, like crayfish, worms, potatoes, or yams.

It's hair raising to me, AND just another day on the river to these guys. Listen to how they call out to each other. "Swimmer!" "Grab my stern..." Etc. I know a lot of kayakers who frequently play on class IV & V stuff like this, and they constantly practice rescues, rope throws, and use a specific language on the river. There are even hand signals and paddle signals to direct upstream boaters too far away to hear. This is fun for them.

Me? I stick to the easy stuff.

Ha ha, no worries, I only knew it was Canadian, because the season 1 host was Mark Tewksburry <sp?> a former Canadian Olympic Swimmer, and when they made Canoes, it was done at a place I know in Muskoka =)

Yeah, I agree. It's damn difficult. I haven't fully grasped it. That's probably why I'm not a comic genius. I think I stuffed up the cancer one. That fits the definition of irony on wikipedia. We seem to agree on the lifeguard one, but how is the seatbelt example irony? It's unfortunate, but that seems about it for me.

> ^dannym3141:

@<a rel="nofollow" href="http://sarzy.videosift.com" title="member since November 8th, 2007" class="profilelink"><strong style="color: rgb(0, 136, 0);">Sarzy
“any definition of irony—though hundreds might be given, and very few of them would be accepted—must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same."
How exactly does saying "Nice weather we're having!" during a hurricane NOT constitute irony? The surface meaning and the underlying meaning are completely at odds. I'm not sure you've got an exact grasp on it yet.
However neither has your opponent because your examples are ironic - except i believe the lifeguard one. If a lifeguard caused someone else to drown, that might be ironic. Life guards put themselves at a higher risk of drowning by going into dangerous watery situations. I think we can agree loosely that lifeguards are there to save others from drowning, so a correct ironic sentiment would be if they caused someone else to drown. Like, if a lifeguard yelled at a guy swimming to be careful, which distracted the swimmer who swallowed some water and drowned. (which would be situational irony - something put in place to save his life caused his death)
Or something..
Irony is a difficult one to fully grasp, it's really easy to see something as ironic and then later realise oh yeah actually it's not ironic. I think it goes to show how most people have no clue, some people have a bit of a clue, and only rarely does anyone actually have a decent grasp on it - people who don't get it right aren't stupid, it's just a relatively difficult concept.

@Sarzy

“any definition of irony—though hundreds might be given, and very few of them would be accepted—must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same."

How exactly does saying "Nice weather we're having!" during a hurricane NOT constitute irony? The surface meaning and the underlying meaning are completely at odds. I'm not sure you've got an exact grasp on it yet.

However neither has your opponent because your examples are ironic - except i believe the lifeguard one. If a lifeguard caused someone else to drown, that might be ironic. Life guards put themselves at a higher risk of drowning by going into dangerous watery situations. I think we can agree loosely that lifeguards are there to save others from drowning, so a correct ironic sentiment would be if they caused someone else to drown. Like, if a lifeguard yelled at a guy swimming to be careful, which distracted the swimmer who swallowed some water and drowned. (which would be situational irony - something put in place to save his life caused his death)

Or something..

Irony is a difficult one to fully grasp, it's really easy to see something as ironic and then later realise oh yeah actually it's not ironic. I think it goes to show how most people have no clue, some people have a bit of a clue, and only rarely does anyone actually have a decent grasp on it - people who don't get it right aren't stupid, it's just a relatively difficult concept.

Well, I was going to say "Your Rocky Spine" by Great Lake Swimmers (probably my favorite PQed song), but I see you've found that already. Thanks man. Paul4dirt is still around upvoting, I've noticed a couple. He must be in a dry spell as far as posting.

Thanks for dropping me a line - I gotta remember to check certain people's PQs now and then. I always miss some good stuff.

In reply to this comment by enoch:
In reply to this comment by evil_disco_man:
Evenin' partner. Glad to know some people actually notice. Makes my evil disco heart all warm and fuzzy.

Been on somewhat of a hiatus lately, still drop in every once in a while, though. It's an on-again, off-again love affair. Plus, folk has been all the rage for me lately, which isn't easy to sift. Not that I mind, I'll keep posting what I like.

Had to scan through your unsifted & PQ to see what you've been posting, threw out a few upvotes. Glad to see you're still around.

In reply to this comment by enoch:
hey hey...
good to see you posting bud.
your flair and penache' have been missed.

throw me a link to any folk ya may wanna sift.
i'll give it a look-see.i love your posts and you have introduced me to some new music and i LOVE finding new music.
and thanks for the pq dive as well my friend.
paul4dirst has been MIA also of late.
i always notice when my fellow music posters go missing for a bit.
hope all is well my friend.
namaste.

>> ^zamal:
Most of you won't care, and maybe rightfully so, but the "poor guy" is know in France beacause he is the former coach of world and European champion swimmer, Laure Manaudou.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laure_Manaudou


Oh. I thought it was this guy: http://www.movieactors.com/freezeframes5/dumb116.jpeg