The âExploding Whaleâ story happened in Tainan City on Monday, and was reported in the other English daily - Taiwan News (on its published pages and on its website) yesterday edition (Tues. Jan. 27).
As well also splashy photo and big articles in all of the local Chinese-language papers.
For those interested, this article (no accompanying photo though) is still available on the website (www.etaiwannews.com), log in, and go into its Search side-bar section, type in âwhaleâ or the reporterâs name.
From the look of it, Taiwanâs animal protection and conservation efforts have improved. The dead whale was bound for a university station for autopsy and scientific research purpose.
Later it would be made into a museum specimen (according to todayâs local papers), and was not being sliced up for fish market consumption.
In the past, I remember, most meaty sections of stranded whales have been cut up by the locals for the dinner table, by the time conservation groups and scientists arrived on the sceneâŚ
At least, the education part regarding protected species (
I donât understand the need for an autopsy to be performed on the whale. The cause of death seems rather apparent to me. Whales do not live on land, as they are sea creatures. If a whale beaches itself, it will be on land and will eventually (quickly) die. If you held me under water long enough, I would die. Thatâs because, of course, I am a land creature rather than a sea creature. There would be no mystery as to the cause of my death in such case.
The only question that would remain would be why you held me under water. But an autopsy wouldnât answer that. Can an autopsy reveal the reason this whale beached itself?
[quote=âmod langâ]You ignorant sod, fruits want to be eaten. The tree entices monkeys and birds with its sweet fruit, in the hopes that the animals will unwittingly help the tree spread its seeds far and wide.
Vegetables, on the other hand, do not want to be eaten. That is why so many develop toxins as a defense mechanism.[/quote]
Thank you for the correction Mr. Tactful. It is okay to eat fruit now. As long as you swallow the seeds whole and defecate outdoors.
Because there may be fowl play involved. You sound kind of nervous, Tiger. Got something to hide? Hmm. As a matter of fact, this whole affair sounds rather âfishyâ. Healthy whales in their prime of life donât just mysteriously blow up. Perhaps someone wanted this whale out of the way. He knew too much⌠Is it coincidence that this whale was last spotted near a major science park in Tainan? That there is a lot of naval traffic, carrying all sorts of goods - licit and illicit - in the area where he was last spotted, and found dead?
Yes, it may âcleverlyâ be made to appear as an open and shut case of suicide, but we can never be too sure, now can we? That is why an autopsy must be performed.
Because there may be fowl play involved. You sound kind of nervous, Tiger. Got something to hide? Hmm. As a matter of fact, this whole affair sounds rather âfishyâ. Healthy whales in their prime of life donât just mysteriously blow up. Perhaps someone wanted this whale out of the way. He knew too much⌠Is it coincidence that this whale was last spotted near a major science park in Tainan? That there is a lot of naval traffic, carrying all sorts of goods - licit and illicit - in the area where he was last spotted, and found dead?
Yes, it may âcleverlyâ be made to appear as an open and shut case of suicide, but we can never be too sure, now can we? That is why an autopsy must be performed.[/quote]
[quote]Whaleâs penis arouses envy
Scores of men have visited Tainanâs Sutsao Wild Life Reservation Area where professors, students and volunteers were working on the corpse of a male whale, because they were curious about the whaleâs genitalia. The whaleâs penis measures 1.6m in length and it looks like a thick water pipe. More than 100 Tainan City resi-dents, mostly men, have reportedly gone to see the corpse to âexperienceâ the size of its penis. The 60-tonne whale was found dead on the seashore of Yunlin County on Sunday. The county government sent the corpse to the National Cheng Kung University, whose biology professors wanted to preserve it as a specimen.
[/quote]
Bearing in ming that this is Taiwanese reporting I suggest the following changes and additions.
âA dead sperm whale being transported through Tainan City on its way to a research station âŚâ replace âresearch stationâ with ârestaurantâ.
ââŚNational Cheng Kung University officials and security guards refused to allow the whale on campusâŚâ
add âbecause there would be to many witnesses and they wouldnât be able to enjoy the biggest feast theyâve had since Chinese New Yearâ.
replace âeducational purposesâ with âCulinary purposesâ.
"
The beached whale was âfoundâ (forced on to) [on along] a stretch of coast in Yunlin County on Saturday.
âThe animal was âcloseâ(poisoned) to death âwhen someone found itâ(only after someone forced it to be) beached on shore on Saturday⌠(Itâs amazing what fishermen can do when they put their minds to it)â
I think I know what happened to the whale, as the same thing almost happened to me at my wifeâs relativesâ houses in Sanchong and Banqiao over the Chinese New Year holidays. The poor whale was probably force-fed fatty meats at room temperature, cold soggy vegetables, cold fried fish, and tepid boiled chicken, washed down with some of the vilest liquor known to man or whale, and then, feeling queasy and bloated, decided to beach himself. I count myself lucky that my guts didnât explode all over the place as well.
The video is well worth downloading. Listen closely to the âoohsâ and âahhsâ when the whale explodes, then the screams of horror that follow as it starts raining blubber chunks!
What did these âscientistsâ study at university ? Home Economics ? Anyone with half a clue (or who has been to rotten.com) would know corpses often explode. I am convinced this is nothing to do with âautopsyâ or any such thing. There is more to this than meets the eye. Ask the man in the photo above.
Coming to a restaurant near you⌠WHALE PENIS SOUP (Good for men!! Make you strong!!)
Of course, the whale wasnât taken away for an autopsy or research - it was taken for its skeleton which will make a magnificient display in some hall/museum.
[quote=âImaniOUâ]Itâs a good thing itâs cold in TainanâŚcould you imagine if someone had their windows rolled down?
What does a whale sound like when it explodes? Probably like a raspberry, only louder. Much louder.[/quote]
Sis-boom-ba.
(The sound an exploding sheep makes.)
Hereâs the Oregon exploding whale video: perp.com/whale/video.html
Surprised nobodyâs mentioned it yet, although of course itâs not directly relevant since it exploded due to external interference.
Edited: oops! Sorry about that, ShaoPang, I didnât see that there was a third page to this thread when I posted the above.
[quote]Along with a couple of draft Sapporos, our whale dishes at last arrive. Dig in! Donât let your whale get cold! The whale steak is delicious. It tastes exactly like regular steak, except with the barest hint of a fishy aftertaste. I could eat whale steak every day. But the fried whale is less appetizing. Chewy. Fishy and chewy. Not enough breading and grease. But Iâm thinking chicken-fried whale could be quite good.
But enough about whale. By far the most diabolical dish Iâve heard tale of here in Tokyo has nothing at all to do with whales. It seems that in some restaurants, they will put live baby eels in a large bowl of water with a big block of tofu at the bottom. The bowl is heated, and as they become uncomfortably hot, the baby eels burrow down into the cooler tofu. There they are cooked alive, and served like an olive loaf. Any discussion of evil cuisine begins and ends with this recipe.
Also, if youâre still hung up on the whale, you should know that you can get horse sashimi here. [/quote]