125-year-old whale killed (plus personal watermelon)
Saturday, June 16, 2007
My favorite story this week is the one about the 19th century bomb lance fragment found lodged in a recently killed bowhead whale’s neck and shoulder blade.
Here’s a quote regarding the weapon found in the 50-ton bowhead whale (which is a conservation dependent species) that was killed by an Eskimo in May:
An old harpoon tip was discovered lodged in the body of a whale recently killed by Eskimo hunters in the Arctic Ocean. Historians date the weapon to be roughly from 1890, which means the bowhead whale was at least 125 years old when it was killed.
Curwood says, “It is possible the hunters who killed the ancient bowhead in May could be descended from the very same hunters who first attacked it more than a century ago.”
Isn’t that a sweet and quaint thing to say? Yes, the ultimate revenge. Muwhahaha!
Here’s a fanciful historical reconstruction of the circa 1890 event: “The great survivor: The 117-year-old whale.”
Also, remember the Pizzly Bear or the Grizzlar Bear? If you don’t, you can read about it, because Seattlest has made the connection between Harpoon-neck Whale and the “the Griz/Polar Bear mashup that was killed/discovered up in the Northwest Territories last year.”
Of course, all this whale talk reminds me of the classic exploding whale in 1970 in Florence, Oregon. I like to revisit this amazing video every couple of years. Yup, still awesome. Need more exploding whales (dynamite optional)?
Let’s see . . . what have I watched lately on YouTube? Here are two videos: Pachelbel Rant (very funny standup routine by comedian/musician Rob Paravonian, recorded live at Penn State) and NBA Finals LeBron Etch-A-Sketch (artist George Vlosich creates one-of-a-kind artwork of LeBron James on his Etch-A-Sketch in five hours, sped up to 3 minutes). (I’d say this Etch-A-Sketch art is about the best thing that came out of the lame NBA Finals this year. Though Robert Horry did indeed collect his seventh championship ring and Tim Duncan reinforced his dominance.)
I am curious about the new White Stripes album, Icky Thump, due out on Tuesday, June 19. I haven’t done much research into it, but I know the title track is a very catchy radio hit. I guess the album leaked onto the Internet last week, but I haven’t bothered to check it out yet. I definitely wasn’t in love with their last album, so I have been hesitant.
Well, now that I’ve consumed another half of a personal watermelon, we are headed off to Marys Peak for a hike.
I love summer fruit. OK, one note about the idea of “personal” watermelon though: When I first noticed this fruit in grocery stores (in what must’ve been 2003), I was slightly annoyed by what seemed to be an overpriced marketing scheme . . . and I refused to buy a more expensive, smaller watermelon when a regular watermelon was perfectly fine. But as the price of these miniature seedless watermelons has dropped in the past few years, I’ve found their convenience worth a few more cents. I like how you can just cut them in half and eat each half with a spoon, like a cantaloupe. Quite delicious and extra sweet. Though I still dislike the “personal” part of the name; it somehow caters to (or at least reminds me of) the worst, most individualistic parts of our single-serving, disposable culture. Or I’m probably just nuts. Blah blah blah.
And I’m off. Talk to you later, my “single-serving friends.”