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Tag: University of Florida

  • Shark Attack Data Offers Safety Tips

    George Burgess, director of the Florida Program of Shark Research and keeper of the International Shark Attack File, has combed through incident data to devise some strategies to avoid encounters with the apex predators.

    From his basement office at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, situated roughly one hundred miles northwest of Volusia County, a.k.a the “shark-bite capital” of the world, Burgess plainly attributed a rise in shark attacks to a rise in human activity in the ocean.

    Burgess pointed out that the combination of warm ocean waters and droves of surfers, swimmers and tourists has prompted the trend of more shark encounters. According the International Shark Attack File, Florida has averaged 21 bites annually over the last ten years. “Humans are just simply pushing the equation,” Burgess said. “Sharks plus humans equals attack.”

    Here Burgess details the 2013 Florida Shark Attack Report, compiled by the University of Florida and the Florida Museum of Natural History:

    Burgess revealed that surfers are most at risk – “The typical attack victim in Florida is a young, white male between the ages of 14 and 24, which is the demographic of what you see surfing most of the time.” And while Burgess said that surfers “play at their own tune,” he added he has never interviewed one who was attacked who displayed any ill will toward a shark.

    Capt. Tamra Marris, of Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue, confirmed that five attacks have been logged so far this year.

    Floridians of Cocoa Beach help a shark:

    As for tips for avoiding an attack, Burgess said that timing is important, as sharks are most active at dawn and dusk. “We enter the water beginning late-morning hours, have the peak of our activity in the afternoon and trail off as we go back home for dinner,” Burgess said. “Amazingly enough, the number of attacks follows that pattern precisely.” Early morning and late-night swims should be avoided.

    Burgess also suggested to stay in groups, to not swim near fishermen and to avoid wearing shiny objects in the water.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • U of Florida Removes Brick Honoring Aaron Hernandez

    As more and more details come to light about crimes allegedly committed by Aaron Hernandez, the more teams are trying to distance themselves from him. The latest such action came today as the University of Florida removed a brick on the famed “gator walk” honoring the tight end.

    From 2007 to 2009 Hernandez played at Florida where he excelled on the field, even winning the Mackey award for top tight end in the nation as a junior in ’09. That same year Hernandez also garnered All-American honors, which the brick located directly outside of the team’s stadium commemorated.

    When asked about the school-wide removal of Hernandez related items, the school released a statement that made clear their attitude toward the situation:

    “We didn’t feel it was appropriate to celebrate Aaron Hernandez. We put together an immediate plan after the initial news broke to remove his likeness and name in various private and public areas in the facility, such as the South Endzone team area, locker room, football offices, Heavener Complex, Kornblau Lobby and the brick display entrance to the football facility.”

    Removal of the brick is the latest move by the University, which has also been busy removing images of Hernandez from the team’s facilities. But the administration at Florida are not the only ones trying to erase Hernandez; EA sports removed him from their newest Madden and NCAA titles, The Pro Football Hall of Fame removed a photo of him after receiving complaints, and a memorabilia company removed stickers of him from their product line.

    If Hernandez has him name cleared in court it is likely that the brick and other items will be replaced, but until that time institutions would rather not risk coming out in support of a possible murderer. Whether you agree with the preemptive judgement of the University and others, it is clear that no one seems to be rushing to Hernandez’s corner.

  • The Pirate Capital Of The United States May Surprise You

    Piracy is everywhere. The Internet and BitTorrent in particular have made the downloading of music, movies, and games extremely easy. Some people pirate more than others, and that’s worth studying. It could give musicians a good idea of who’s pirating their stuff the most so they can wisely market more to them, or unwisely sue them.

    British data tracking firm Musicmetric took on the massive task of tracking BitTorrent traffic across the United States. It was found that Gainesville, Fla is the pirate capital of the US. The study focuses solely on music downloads, but the results would probably be similar if they included movies.

    Other cities rounding out the top five pirate centers of the country include Albany, GA, Fairbanks, AK, and our own Lexington, KY. It seems a little strange that smaller cities like these are pirate havens, but they all have one very important thing in common – they’re all university towns. It’s been a long standing assumption that college age students pirate more than anybody else.

    These cities may be contributing the most to music piracy, but there are a number of metro areas including the usual suspects like New York City and Los Angeles that are contributing as well. All of these cities combined download 97 million BitTorrent files. The research indicates that 78 percent of said files were albums while 22 percent were individual songs. If you assume that the average album has 10 songs, the number of songs downloaded reaches 759 million.

    The research obviously says something about the widespread influence of piracy in younger generations. All of my classmates, dorm mates and everybody else I knew in college pirated music at some point. It’s just part of the college experience. That’s beginning to change thanks to services like Spotify, but piracy is still used mostly by the young.

    If music execs want to stop piracy, they’re going to have to start talking on their level. The youth, especially in college, aren’t stupid. They know a rotten deal when they see one and the preferred method of marketing music is rotten. That’s why Spotify has taken off among college students. It’s convenient and cheap. Record labels need to offer more services like Spotify if they want to survive.

    [h/t: CNET]