Flotsam & Jetsam

Bent smokers: Want another reason to get your buddy to stop smoking? DAN reviewed all DCI cases in its data base from 1989 to 1997, then modeled the severity as a function of smoking history, while accounting for age, gender, dive experience, rapid ascent, fatigue, exercise and alcohol use. Of 4,351 patients, 64 percent were nonsmokers, 24 percent were light smokers and 12 percent were heavy smokers. The data suggests that smokers with DCI tend to have more severe symptoms than their non-smoking counterparts.

Biting the hand that feeds: People who are fighting fish feeding in Florida argue that if you feed fish they’ll turn on you. A British chef learned that in December when he was attacked by sharks at a British pub 60 miles from the ocean. He gave Miami, a black-tipped reef shark, a treat of prawns in the 3,000-gallon tank in the pub’s restaurant. When Miami and two other sharks got a whiff, they charged and in seconds, the chef said, “the water was churning like a scene in ‘Jaws’. Miami was hanging off my finger, and I was howling.” At the hospital, they logged in Smith as a victim of a “shark attack,” gave him six stitches and then released him. Since the shark’s arrival at the pub, the manager said, “seafood sales have gone up 40 percent. ”