In this photo taken with a cell phone, a girl timidly approaches a 20-foot-long basking shark on Gilgo Beach on New York's Long Island earlier today. The basking shark, estimated to weigh 2,000 pounds, washed ashore on the town beach a few miles east of Jones Beach. You write the cutline. Story here. (AP Photo/Sophia Hall)

Top Cutlines:

• 1. The political remains of Sarah “Barracuda” Palin -- Blockhead.
• 2. Shark dies after eating a steady diet of PETA models. Marine Biologists say the shark simply starved to death -- Aliasjax.
• 3. (tie) Cindy considers wading into another political thread -- Cabbage Boy; and: Mary Souza contimplates jumping the shark this early in the election cycle -- Bent.
• HM: JohnA & everyone else