I’ve always had a soft spot for guardian angels and the thought that there’s a higher power out there that watches out for us when we least suspect it. Call it comforting, call it our existential need for mystery and belief that there’s life beyond death, and it has the capacity to love and protect. And in this case, it’s the Gray Man, of Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, who appears before an impending hurricane. If he appears to you, your house is spared. And then he’s gone.

I first saw this segment on Unsolved Mysteries back in the early 90′s, just after Hurricane Hugo. Our friend the Gray Ghost appeared to a nice couple walking along the beach, and despite the carnage that the storm brought on Pawley’s Island, their house was spared.

Who is the Gray Ghost of Pawley’s Island? Some say he’s the son of the original owner of the Pelican Inn. Most believe he was a young man about the wed the love of his life, who, in a bout of unbridled passion, fell off his horse while riding along the beach. Now he appears along that same stretch of sand, before an impending hurricane, and saves the lives of those who see him.

Cool story.

A really inspiring video here of a diver who dives with, and hugs and kisses, Caribbean reef sharks.

I just love this video because it shows how gentle sharks are.  Look into this shark’s eyes and tell me that JAWS portrayed an accurate depiction of sharks.  Or the shark porn we see every August during Discovery Channel’s Shark Week for that matter.

A few more numbers to think about:

You’re 50,000 times more likely to be killed in a car accident than by a shark.

Jellyfish annually kills more people than sharks, and more people are struck by lightning each year than attacked by sharks.

And my favourite stat of all…there was a year recently when more people were killed by soda machines than by sharks.

Unfortunately there’s a much more gruesome stat that really bothers me.  Every year, humans kill on average 100 million sharks.  Many of them are shark-finned – their fins hacked off and thrown still living back into the ocean to die a slow and excruciating death.

Some shark species have been decimated by 90% in the past 20 years.

I encourage you to think about that when you watch this video and look into this shark’s peaceful eyes.

We need to help sharks.  Click here to learn how.

I knew there was a reason I liked Gordon Ramsay.  The Scottish cook, reality TV guru and all-around British bad-ass recently took a stand against shark-fin soup, declaring that sharks are magnificent creatures and that the practice of shark-finning (a common practice in supplying fins for shark-fin soup) is both barbaric and unsustainable.

Gordon Ramsay, you’re a f*&king stud!

In the mean time, please boycott these restaurants, as they all practice disgusting and morally reprehensible practice of serving shark-fin soup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-OWHHTcsSQ

Get ready for some air time!  This video has some seriously amazing, if not demented jumping, from planes, ramps and things that make you go Boom! when you land.  You might recognize some of these jumps from some of my earlier blog posts.  There’s a bit of corporate plugging going on in a few stunts (drink Red Bull!), but you have to give it to them, they know how to put on a good stunt.  Jumps five and two are my favourite.  But number one is definitely justified as being the bravest, most hardcore jump of all time.  And for that, I tip my hat to Joe Kittinger.

Happy New Year!  Hope you had a great one.  I tied one on pretty good here in town (Happy Birthday Cheryl!).  Admittedly I didn’t go anywhere exotic.  Maybe next year.  I’ve heard that New Zealand is a great place to spend New Year’s Eve, as it’s the first place on Earth to see the sun rise in the New Year.  Here’s some ideas for next year, if, like me, you’re planning to do something a little nuts, but something awesome, courtesy of those deranged and highly likeable folks at Off Track Planet.  Anyway, Happy 2011!

Now this is just plain cool.  Meet Ricochet.  She looks like a dog.  She eats like a dog.  She surfs like…Kelly Slater.  Well that might be a stretch, but Ricochet the Golden Retriever has become something of a YouTube sensation, surfing to raise funds for various charities, including orphaned animals and a quadriplegic surfer.  As her owner puts it, she went from being a service dog to a SURFice dog.  So far she’s raised just over $30,000 to help humans and animals in need  Just awesome.  If you’re an animal lover, you’ll need a kleenex to watch this video.

This is not a story about fiscal responsibility. Critics will jump all over this and lambast this guy’s actions as being part of the credit crisis that landed the U.S., and the world, in hot water over the past few years. But you know what? I like this story. This guy had it all, house, adoring girlfriend, and multiple cars. Then he sold his business and bought a bigger house and proposed to his girlfriend. She says yes and they move in. Then she leaves him and he can’t sell the house. So he taps into his credit and sells the rest of his possessions and buys a Lamborghini Gallardo, on Independence Day in 2006. He spends the next few years travelling the country in his Lambo, with no particular destination in mind. He just wants to see America, meet people and attain zen along the way. Nice, man.

How’s this for ingenuity at its finest? A human-powered ferris wheel, filmed by Kane Ryan, humanitarian in India and cool guy extraordinaire. I like how they load the cars. Looks like quite the cardio workout!