SHARK TANK

CULVER CITY, Calif., Jan. 30, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- In the latest episode of SHARK TANK, Sony Pictures Television's hit ABC reality series, Shark investor Mark Cuban, owner of the 2011 NBA National Champions Dallas Mavericks, offered to invest $25,000 in exchange for a 33% stake of entrepreneur Steve Gadlin's unusual online cat drawing business.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080424/LATH509LOGO)
Gadlin, a father of two children and a computer programmer by day, decided to test the limits of what people would buy online. Through his website, www.iwanttodrawacatforyou.com, users can have a picture of any cat they describe drawn for them by Gadlin for just $9.95. In addition, SHARK TANK followed up on season two entrepreneur Rebecca Rescate from Yardley, PA, whose CitiKitty business took off after an investment deal with Shark and infomercial industry pioneer Kevin Harrington. Her cat toilet training kit is now found in major retailers across the U.S. and Canada.
Other entrepreneurs were not able to convince the Sharks to part with their money, with the Sharks passing on pitches from David Greco of North Haven, CT, for his salesperson training software, professional magician Rick Smith Jr. from Broadview Hills, OH, for his family-friendly Las Vegas show and collapsible truck rack inventor Donny A. McCall from Sparta, NC.
Holding nearly all of its impressive week-earlier season premiere number (94%), SHARK TANK was #1 in its time period or tied for #1 across all demos, #2 to CBS in viewers and HH. It was also the #1 ABC program for the night among A18-34, M18-34, M25-54, A25-54 (tie) and #1 program Friday night on any broadcast network among A18-34.
Tune in to ABC at 8PM ET/PT on Friday, February 3  when Shark investors Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O'Leary, Robert Herjavec and Daymond John face a new round of entrepreneurs including a man from Dothan, AL, who is overcome with emotion when he explains why the Sharks should invest in his unique guitar learning system; an entrepreneur from St. Charles, IL, who claims his fragrance captures the scent of money; a stay-at-home dad from Baton Rouge, LA, hopes his blue jeans accessories that blink when you walk will spark interest; and a woman from San Francisco, CA, claims to have put an invigorating twist on her luxury brand of soap.  Additionally, the creator of Original Shrimp Burger, Shawn Davis from Franklin, TN, appears in a follow-up story.  Find out how Davis is doing since he left the Tank last season without a deal for his gourmet seafood business.
About SHARK TANK
Billionaire Mark Cuban, owner and chairman of HDNet and outspoken owner of the 2011 NBA championship Dallas Mavericks, returns as a Shark and appears in all 13 episodes. Also Lori Greiner, a prolific inventor of retail products and often referred to as the "Queen of QVC," will join the show as a guest Shark investor for several episodes starting February 10. SHARK TANK airs Fridays at 8PM on ABC.
Returning "Sharks" joining Cuban and Greiner are real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, technology innovator Robert Herjavec, fashion and branding expert Daymond John and venture capitalist Kevin O'Leary.
The panel of five Sharks will hear pitches of the best business and product ideas from some of America's brightest entrepreneurs. When the Sharks hear a great idea, they're ready to fight each other for a piece of it. If and when the Sharks are confronted with a really top-notch idea, and more than one of them wants to sink their teeth into it, a war between them can erupt.
Mark Burnett, Clay Newbill and Phil Gurin are the executive producers of SHARK TANK, based on the Japanese "Dragons' Den" format created by Nippon Television Network Corporation. The episode is directed by Ken Fuchs and Alan Carter. The series is from Sony Pictures Television

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/30/4225523/shark-tanks-crazy-cat-themed-entrepreneurs.html#storylink=cpy

Deadly Shark Attack

Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A 25-year-old man died after being bitten by a shark while swimming off Second Beach at Port St. Johns in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province, the world’s first deadly attack of 2012.

The man sustained “multiple traumatic lacerations” to his torso, arms and legs, John Costello, station commander for the National Sea Rescue Institute in Port St. Johns, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement without identifying the victim. The man, who was swimming in waist-deep water with a crowd of bathers, was declared dead at a local clinic “after all efforts to save him had been exhausted.”

Fourteen people died after being bitten by sharks last year, the highest number of people since 2000, according to data from Princeton, New Jersey-based Shark Research Institute Inc.’s Global Shark Attack File. Of the attacks, 12 took place in the Indian Ocean, four of which were in Australia and three in South Africa, the data shows. Exactly a year ago, 16-year-old South African, Zama Ndamase, died after a shark bit him while surfing off the same Port St. Johns’ beach.

KwaZulu-Natal’s Sharks Board is “carrying out studies in an effort to try to determine why there has been such a frequent spate of shark incidents in Port St. Johns,” Costello said in the statement. The sea water was very warm and there was low visibility off Second Beach yesterday, he said. The victim’s name is not yet being released, Craig Lambinon, the National Sea Rescue Institute’s spokesman, said by phone today.

Human Impact

With the world’s population now topping 7 billion people, low cost travel and an increasing number of people engaging in activities such as scuba diving, there are more people in the water than ever before, according to research done by George Burgess, director of the Gainesville, Florida-based International Shark Attack File. The sharks most often cited for fatal attacks, which include great white sharks and bull sharks, have not become more aggressive, International Shark Attack File said.

“With all the human pressure on fish stocks and impacts on the natural food chain, there may be times when there is less natural prey available to the shark, so they hunt what they can to survive,” Amy Wilkes, a senior aquarist at the Sydney Aquarium, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “Increased numbers of attacks in one area are not necessarily the same shark, rather there are more sharks in that particular area.”

Climate Change

In the past three years, countries including Russia, Seychelles, Egypt and Australia have recorded more than one fatality in the same area over a short period of time, according to Global Shark File data. These attacks often result in calls for the culling of sharks or the use of shark nets, measures that may disturb the ocean’s balance and cut the shark population.

“Changes in climatic conditions, whether anthropogenically driven or otherwise, are likely to produce knock-on effects within marine ecosystems, affecting the movement patterns of large, wide ranging predators,” David Jacoby, who studies shark behavior at The Marine Biological Association of the U.K., said in response to e-mailed questions. “Of course some places just have a larger population of these animals within their waters, such as South Africa.”