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09-27-2004, 11:31 AM | #1 |
Radical Centrist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
Posts: 31,423
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9/27/2004: Beached pygmy whale calf
Sad one here. This is a pygmy whale calf, and it is dying here. Too young to survive, unweaned, two of them beached themselves in Palm Beach Florida, for unknown reasons. Ahead of the storm. It was put down; the woman here is just trying to comfort it. |
09-27-2004, 01:38 PM | #2 |
Gone and done
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 4,808
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It even looks sad -- poor thing.
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per·son \ˈpər-sən\ (noun) - an ephemeral collection of small, irrational decisions The fun thing about evolution (and science in general) is that it happens whether you believe in it or not. |
09-27-2004, 02:41 PM | #3 |
Professor
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Location: Houston TX
Posts: 1,857
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Looks like 2 beached whales in that photo.
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09-27-2004, 02:45 PM | #4 |
Coronation Incarnate
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 87
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We have discovered the secret ingredient to Gatorade.
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09-27-2004, 03:11 PM | #5 |
What's my name? Guess
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 69
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that picture is interesting in so many different ways
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"Earth laughs in flowers" ~Ralph Waldo Emerson |
09-27-2004, 03:52 PM | #6 |
Read? I only know how to write.
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Now go to a major problem only recently discovered. Once whales could communicate maybe as much as half way across the ocean. But man is now dumping so much noise into the oceans that it already is known to cause damage to some whales brains. It is suspected that some noise sources are so loud that ocean mammals now become separated. This being especially problematic for the calves of whales who no longer can find their mother.
Most destructive is a new NATO sonar that is repeatedly suspected to cause mass beachings even 50 miles away. This frequency sonar is said to be the best sonar yet. However it uses the same frequencies that ocean mammals use - at power levels destructive to those animals. The Navy has agreed to limit their use of this sonar. Other noise sources include noise created by new, larger ships. Yes, a secret to making shipping less costly is to produce less noise - put more energy into moving ships by producing less noise. However, ship technology is instead just producing more power for bigger ships. No major effort is known to reduce shipping noise on these larger ships. Dead mammals don't cost anything. Oil is still too cheap. Research and development costs money when MBAs are the primary decision makers. And so we must ask why these whales are dying? Disease? Or man-made? The current thinking is that we cannot prove it is man-made. Therefore it must be from something else. An old Star Trek story parodied the problem. Too many high warp spacecraft could disintegrate the fabric of space. There are always consequences to what we do. More power is never an ideal solution. Like it or not, the oceans are becoming a new treasured parkland that we must learn more about - or lose its benefits. Is this but a canary in the coalmine? Either we use science, or we do as George Jr does - consult the bible. |
09-27-2004, 07:26 PM | #7 | |
Fellow-Commoner
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 10
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Whatever
Beachings or strandings as people in the industry call them have happened since before recorded time. There is no evidence it is more prevolent now than ever before and only heresay and questionable motives tie it to shipping. It is true that certain frequency sonar does though and that frequency corresponds directly with the shockwaves created by an earthquake on the ocean floor though the range is miniscule in comparison. Here is a well written article that discusses strandings and likely causes. Quote:
Blaming man for any and all unexplained tragic natural phenomena is bunk. I'm sure it's possible to find someone to blame those 10,000 earthquakes on man also. |
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09-27-2004, 09:07 PM | #8 |
Lecturer
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: CT USA
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TW could probably find a way to blame George Jr. for them...
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"To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them." ~George Mason~ |
09-27-2004, 10:42 PM | #9 |
The future is unwritten
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George told me it's God's will.
Welcome to the Cellar, Target.
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The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. |
09-27-2004, 10:48 PM | #10 |
To shreds, you say?
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Anyone remember that famous vid a few years back where they tried to blow up the dead whale?
They could probably get the job done here with an m–80 or two. But the whale does look sad. Who knows what happened?
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The internet is a hateful stew of vomit you can never take completely seriously. - Her Fobs |
09-27-2004, 10:55 PM | #11 | |
Fellow-Commoner
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Quote:
Thanks for the welcome. I had to read your post twice because the first time I read it as; God told me it's George Will. |
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09-27-2004, 11:11 PM | #12 |
The future is unwritten
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
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Same thing, they're interchangeable.
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The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. |
09-28-2004, 07:02 AM | #13 |
As stable as a ring of PU-239
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Hey, here's an idea...whale beachings are both naturally occuring AND man-made! Just like global warming...
*puts that can of worms down and dives behind a blast wall*
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"I don't see what's so triffic about creating people as people and then getting' upset 'cos they act like people." ~Adam Young, Good Omens "I don't see why it matters what is written. Not when it's about people. It can always be crossed out." ~Adam Young, Good Omens |
09-28-2004, 09:12 AM | #14 | |
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Posts: 657
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Quote:
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09-28-2004, 09:38 AM | #15 |
Fellow-Commoner
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 10
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Yeah I was going to use 'dumb' but that might offend some rednecks sisters.
Will you argue that people are more intelligent than whales? People do stupid things that cause themselves harm. Is it not imaginable that a creature of less intelligence might do the same thing? Some animals that are considered to be highly intelligent kill their offspring. Is that a capability you have considered? |
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