Ever since I finished Moby Dick my junior year in college, I've had a thing for whales. (Please note the most important word of the preceding sentence: finished.) Not because I loved the book so much and it's endless chapters about ROPE, but over spring break that year my family went to Hawaii and we were able to see whales from the beach. Very cool. 
I was clicking around the blogs and found the Unseen Blogger's post about an albino whale.
Apparently some ahem-hippies-ahem have their undies in a bunch about whaling off the coast of Japan. As I understand it, Japanese whalers are killing approximately 1,000 whales per year in the name of "scientific research" and then selling the meat for food.
An albino whale that's being hunted.
Hmmm...
Call me Ishmael, but could this be a symbol of something greater going on in the world?
To be fair, I think Ahab was hunting a pure white Sperm Whale, but you get my point.
I was so excited and proud of the parallel I had drawn (and commented on in the aforementioned blog) that when I was interrupted by one of my higher ranking co-workers, I spewed the information I had just gleaned along with my parallel.
I guess you could say I am a veritable blowhole of useless information.
His response?
"I'm glad to see you have time to whale watch during your busy day. Can I buy a t-shirt or anything to support this white whale?"
Teehee.
5 comments:
Someday I hope to be able to see a whale. So far, I've just seen dolphins in the ocean.... I envy you. Did you make it through Moby Dick? I am an English major, and did not. The first few chapters were pretty good, but then.... [snoooooze]
I don't have t-shirts to help a particular whale but I do have a link for you if you're interested in learning more about what Greenpeace is doing to save the whales (please cut and paste the whole link below [two lines] into your browser):
http://secure.greenpeace.org/profile.php?usa&p=
613124311194300282
Best,
-Capt. Jack Sparrow
With knickers in a twist
Well, hopefully the White Whale will be spared from the harpoon, as something that rare, well, to kill it would be a shame.
That being said, I'd honestly like to try whale once... just once... to see what it tastes like. ;)
Thanks for the H/T, welcome back any time, and a belated Happy Birthday!!!! :D
I never saw the Cap'n wear a hat like that.
Hi, Captain Jack! Welcome.
Sorry I called you a hippie. It was inadvertent. I swear.
And yes, I really did finish Moby Dick. I was a lit major, too.
Read the last ten pages. That's where all the action is. I'm not kidding. 300 pages of dribble (yes, I said it) just to kill everybody in the final pages.
Everybody.
Ha, ha, no offense taken. And how would you know an environmentalist pirate was going to come along and read your blog?
No, seriously, I've found that stereotypical hippies are not on-staff here at the Greenpeace USA D.C. office. I haven't seen any Birkenstocks, Phish CDs, acoustic guitars, Peace Frogs attire, Grateful Dead posters, patchwork skirts, purple dangling earrings, bumper stickers mentioning "The Goddess," nor have I smelled patchouli (sp?) oil!
Thanks for recommending the end of Moby Dick. I'll remember your words....
Best,
-Capt. Jack
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