Reponses to several points: Art - Agreed, Ali is a poor choice, Thorpe and Carl Lewis are better. The basic problem is that there are no criteria. How can athletes from different sports and eras be compared? Tom - Love the article on nerites. Question: the illustrations ID Clypeolum granosum but the body of the text refers to Neritina granosa, both (Sowerby, 1825). Are these synonymous? If so, which is preferred? As to my most harrowing collecting experience, it occurred in my first serious collecting effort. I was in San Diego at a summer institute in 1969 and decided to start collecting shells. I rented SCUBA gear and persuaded a friend with a car to take me to "Bird Rock" in La Jolla. I went out alone for abalone (I was young and immortal), got a half dozen, and headed back with an empty tank and abalones clutched to my stomach - fool that I was, I had no collecting bag. I had to snorkle back and the waves kept hitting the tanks and turning me. Every time I looked up I was swimming parallel to the shore. As I approached the shore, I discovered a feature of Bird Rock I had not been told about. The rock is mostly a shelf that was in a foot or two of water at that point and I found myself being tossed over it at high speed by the waves! Obviously, I survived and actually held on to 5 abalones.