Comments on: Ask a Nineteenth-Century Whaling Expert

By: Crooked Timber » » Skeptical Inquiry

Crooked Timber » » Skeptical Inquiry — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 16:55:44 +0000

[...] ontroversy.” Lobbying-shops masquerading as opinion journals, such as the infamous Whale Central Station, play a key role in generating this confusion. [...]

By: Anony-mouse

Anony-mouse — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 05:04:27 +0000

What the hell is a black whale? A pilot whale, I think. Well, they claim to be pilots – but they seem strangely uninterested in training on how to land…

By: Sel

Sel — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 14:52:59 +0000

Of course whales can breed but if they are killed in greater numbers than are produced every year, the population will inexorably go down. Basic maths, people.

By: Sel

Sel — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 14:52:27 +0000

Of course whales can breed but if they are killed in greater numbers than are produced every year, the population will inexorably go down. Basic maths, people.

By: Sel

Sel — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 14:50:45 +0000

Of course whales can breed but if they are killed in greater numbers than are produced every year, the population will inexorably go down. Basic maths, people.

By: Xboy

Xboy — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 05:27:39 +0000

My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light. He slept with a mermaid one fine night. And out of that union there came three: A porpoise, a porgie, and t’other was me. Melville was a size queen. Great white, my ass!

By: Whaling Ship veterans for Truth

Whaling Ship veterans for Truth — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 20:20:41 +0000

I happen to know that the MSM have intentionally concealed the fact that John Kerry never served on a whaler.

By: Whaling Ship veterans for Truth

Whaling Ship veterans for Truth — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 20:14:47 +0000

I happen to know that the MSM have intentionally concealed the fact that John Kerry never served on a whaler.

By: pontoon annie

pontoon annie — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 16:23:55 +0000

Amazingly, no one has plugged in this important fact that would have compromised the profit margin of any whaling enterprise: the fact that much of that whale oil was used to fuel the massive engines that enabled their propulsion. Then again, they probably saved a lot of energy whilst on-site by using the more-economical electric trolling motors, right? PS to Chris: you’ve confused terms on your post. Spermaceti was the name of that beat poet back in the 60’s!

By: bigfoot

bigfoot — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 09:09:36 +0000

John Bockstoce, classmate and fellow Bonesman to John Kerry, Massachusetts Yankees each, wrote both “Steam Whaling in the Western Arctic” and “Whales, Ice and Men: The history of whaling in the ARctic”. The black fish was the North Atlantic Right Whale, which was right because it floated after it was dead, like Rush Limbaugh. Those got used up pretty fast, so the Pacific became the new internet boom, and that got used up, until a brave soul passed through the Aleutians in 1842 to the chagrin of the Russian owners and ransacked the walrus (hide used for belts ot run machinery) and Bowhead whales (baleen and fat and they float). See Charles D. Brower, “50 years below zero.” It all crashed until oil exploration and the cold war made it cool to be in the arctic again.

By: stari_momak

stari_momak — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 07:30:10 +0000

To jonquil: Re: Kerosene Chanties Chanties no, but there is this traditional American ballad———- Listen to the story/of a man named Jed Poor mountaineer/barely kept his family fed Then one day he was shootin’ at some food/And up through the ground came a-bubblin’ crude Oil—that is, black gold, Texas Tea As fine an example of the Scots-Irish musical tradition in America as you’re ever likely to see.

By: Movie Guy

Movie Guy — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 01:49:52 +0000

Star Trek had it right. Whales are recognized as the dominant species in the universe. And messing with them ultimately results in ruin. Follow the clues. Just look at Japan (they’re not running anything now – punishment), the artic circle meltdown, and the high probability that California will simply slide off into the Pacific if we screw with them again. Perhaps we should leave ‘em alone!!

By: Jonquil

Jonquil — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 23:32:31 +0000

Does anybody know any good kerosene shanties? Oh, we headed out for Texas in a big ol’ truck Sing hey, me hearties, yo-ho! I can’t seem to think of a rhyme for the next bit.

By: Antti Nannimus

Antti Nannimus — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 21:45:21 +0000

This question about the economics of whale oil is easy to explain. It’s because there is so damn little oil in a seal. Antti

By: Tom Beck

Tom Beck — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 20:47:41 +0000

“Oh. It’s twue. It’s twue!” —Lili von Shtupp Completely OT, but too good a story not to tell. Mel Brooks once said that there was a final line in that scene. As it faded to black, Bart (Cleavon Little) says, “Ma’am, I’m sorry to disillusion you, but you’re sucking on my arm.” Brooks said in an interview that he cut that line because at a preview audiences laughed so loudly at it that they missed the rest of the movie. Dunno if it’s true or not, but it’s a hell of a funny line.