This past week continued with Mark and Diana’s so-called escape from the supposedly dangerous anti-pirate measures the crew of the cargo ship deployed against Mark’s boat and the mysterious fishing boat that had just approached. Not having any idea of who they were, Diana got in a yelling match with that crew as Mark came to the surface. This is when the cargo ship decided to act in self-defense and deployed the water hoses. Surprisingly to Mark and Diana, the crew of the mystery ship told them to race away; they would remain to distract the cargo ship’s crew. Of course, the notion that both ships could simply move away was ignored for the sake of the dramatic plot development.

And that development took up most of the week, focusing on Mark’s inner conflict between his desire to turn about and help the mystery boat and its crew versus his reluctance to take on Diana and force her to comply. In the end, the latter fear won out, leading to Mark’s self-loathing and humiliation (once again). He abandoned Diana and the boat near a shoreline, ignoring Diana’s attempts to get him to return.
As Mark wandered ashore while berating himself and shivering, he was interrupted by the shout of someone who turned out to be an old friend. And that old friend happens to be one of the crew of the mystery fishing boat that stayed behind. Apparently, the boat and crew escaped any real damage from the cargo ship. But Mark, recognizing his friend, must now bring himself to explain his (lack of) action. But, we’ll have to wait a week to see how that story continues. For now, it’s time once again for TheSunday Nature Talk!

Back to the animals, after a quick look into climate change. Looks like freshwater (acquarium?) catfish. So, people keep exotic catfish as pets. But then again, people are such slobs when it comes to responsibility, and Florida must be the home of slobs, based on all of the invasive animals and plants that have been abandoned by pet owners to the wilds of the semi-tropical Florida landscape. Forget Mexico, I’d vote to build a wall between Florida and the rest of the United States to keep them out; the invasive species and the people!

Time to Educate George!

Looking at the title panel, I was struck by the plainness of the name, itself; something Jules Rivera has consistently avoided through her usually inventive designs. Instead, we see a rectangular bar below the name, showing a series of colored sections in a simple repeat pattern. But what is it? It does not appear to be any kind of measuring rod that I could detect, in spite of the fact that it almost coincides with length of the suckermouth catfish above it. And it isn’t a tactical measuring stick used by miniaturist game players, either. As for the suckermouth, Rivera’s drawing does not do it justice. It’s one scary looking fish!