From now on, when there is no urgent Shark news to report and we don't feel like berating cultures for animal cruelty and poor wildlife management or we don't want to pick on Republicans or the ruling class in general, we will feature Retro Shark News -- Sharkyness from the good old days: i.e. before The advent of the Second Bush administration. So without further ado...

This is what people thought Sharks looked like before Discovery Channel's Shark Week.

Even in 1881, there was a debate as to the misrepresentation of Sharks in the public eye. Witness an article from the July 25, 1881 edition of the New York Times: ARE SHARKS MAN-EATERS; A WRITER WHO DEFENDS THE MARINE MONSTER.

The author of this article weighs the opinion of 19th century Shark experts vs. public opinion in the wake of a few Shark encounters including a fatal Shark encounter off Red Hook, Brooklyn in 1876, where a boy named Charles Gates was fatally jammed on the hip.
Read.

Sharks in Brooklyn, Holy Shit! What a difference 131 years makes. This is the closest thing you'll get nowadays to a Shark within pissing distance of the Gowanus Canal (aside from me of course).

Brooklyn, fuhgettaboutit,

--Sharky

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