This is a story about a club you don’t want to join. It’s an Australian association of people who have been bitten by sharks — along with “victims of dog maulings, alligator bites and even a hippo attack.”

For people unfortunate enough to qualify for membership, of course, it’s a source of solace to be able to share their experience with others who understand.

"My life is shark attacks," said Dave Pearson, who started the group, which now has close to 400 members. “You know if there's a shark attack somewhere in the world, I'll hear about it."

Pearson nearly died a decade ago, after a shark attacked him while he was surfing. When he was still in the hospital, he met another shark bite survivor, Lisa Monday, who had been bitten a few days earlier.

Shark attacks are relatively rare — seven deaths in Australia last year for example, against however many million people swam and surfed in the ocean. Finding someone else who had been through it made it easier to deal with the aftermath of his attack, Pearson said.

"Everybody was there to wish me the best, but until I spoke with Lisa it was like, they didn't really understand what my head was going through," he told AFP.

I happened to read about Bite Club (it’s really called that) at the same time I learned about Dr. Bruce Greyson, who teaches at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and who has spent decades studying near-death experiences.

Greyson says he’s gathered the stories of hundreds of people who nearly lost their lives, and who describe things like:

• encounters with friends and relatives who had already died,

• the experience of having their “life flash before their eyes,” and

• perhaps most eerily, being able to observe what was going on around them even while unconscious or undergoing surgery.

He says he’s not religious, but he’s convinced that “the evidence overwhelmingly points to the physical body not being all that we are. There seems to be something that is able to continue after the body dies. I don’t know what to make of it.”

Among the wildest examples he cites in an upcoming book is the story of a truck driver who had emergency bypass surgery—under anesthesia, with his eyes taped shut, and of course, his chest split open.

Afterward the truck driver asked about the doctor who kept flapping his arms like a bird. This made no sense until Greyson actually tracked down the surgeon who performed the operation.

Well yes, the surgeon explained; he was known for an unusual practice. After “scrubbing in” for surgery, he always made a point of keeping his hands close to his chest, and would gesture or point for things he needed with his elbows. He looked like a bird.

You’d think these experiences would be rare, but Greyson estimates that 1 in 20 people have had one. (Let’s test that: If anyone reading this has had one and wants to share the story, I’d love to hear it, either via email or in the comments).

The difference, Greyson says, is that in years past, if someone had this kind of experience, they thought they were the only ones. Now, people talk about them, form Internet groups, etc. Basically, they find out they’re not alone.

I think both these stories — shark bites and near-death experiences — are profound enough without me trying to wrap a neat bow around the whole thing.

But it’s a great and unifying thing when you have a dangerous, or scary, or other-worldly experience, and you wind up connecting deeply as a result with people you never otherwise would have met.

I’m not looking to get bit by a shark or come near to death, but I do think I’ll be more on the lookout for other unusual ways to connect. It’s one of the most important things we need right now.

7 other things worth your time

• Virginia’s lawmakers voted to abolish the death penalty, and the state’s governor, a Democrat, is expected to sign off, meaning Virginia would become the first Southern state to do so. It’s a major shift, as Virginia has executed more people than any other U.S. state, and is second to Texas (which is much bigger) in number of executions since 1976. (The Washington Post)

• The Supreme Court declined to shield former President Trump’s tax returns from a New York grand jury subpoena, “a step that could place Trump and his businesses closer to legal jeopardy.” President Trump was not amused. (The Hill)

• Today in Jeff Bezos world… Amazon is paying employees to quit. Speculation is swirling a bit that Bezos might be interested to buy Washington’s NFL team. And, I liked this article that my Inc.com colleague Jeff Haden wrote about taking Bezos’s “no PowerPoint” rule a bit further—basically requiring people to make their cases in writing at work, rather than via presentations. (Vice, FrontOfficeSports, Inc.com)

• A 29-year-old physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital who beat cancer as a 10-year-old (at the same hospital) is set to become the youngest American in space. Hayley Arceneaux will orbit the Earth in a SpaceX capsule, courtesy of Jared Isaacman, a 38-year-old billionaire bought the launch and said at the time that “he wanted the mission to be more than a jaunt for the superwealthy.” (NYT)

• Drones will soon require “digital license plates”(well, as of 2023) — basically broadcasting a registration number continually, along with speed, direction, and altitude (not physically putting a number plate on them) — according to new rules from the FAA. (NextGov)

• Disney+ slapped content warnings on some old episodes of The Muppet Show, but will continue to make them available for streaming, citing “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures.” Actually, this apparently happened months ago but media organization only noticed within the last few days. (The Guardian)

• An entire city school board resigned after its members forgot that their WebEx call was public, and spent several minutes badmouthing parents who had complained the schools haven’t reopened. "They want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back,” the school board president said, for example.

  Bigad Shaban @BigadShaban

  1) When officials at the Oakley Union Elem. School district thought they were meeting privately, they used profanity to insult & threaten parents upset by the district's prolonged school closures. Here's when they realized their mtg was being broadcast to the public. "Uh, oh."

  February 18th 2021

  292 Retweets574 Likes

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