You've got to love it when this happens

We may not be the only ones out there with a sense of individuality

Sperm Whales May Have Names

Subtle variations in sperm-whale calls suggest that individuals announce themselves with discrete personal identifier. To put it another way, they might have names.

The longer I'm on this planet the more I realise that we, as humans, are extremely arrogant in terms of our belief of being the end-all-and-be-all of creation.

To be honest, I rather liked Douglas Adams' view better, with humans as the third-most-intelligent species on Earth. Although I'm afraid the sperm whale does not fare as well as the dolphins or mice in his books. ;)

:( It was a valiant effort, and nine were saved

Stranded whales buried in New Zealand

But the video is just heartbreaking. Best wishes to the survivors, and to those people who desperately tried to save the other forty-nine beached whales but who, in the end, could not. It must have been very difficult to make the decision to euthanise them. And the Maori ceremony was a lovely thing.

Strange story of the week

Whale of a tale! 40-ton mammal lands on yacht

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fortunately no one (including, apparently, the young Southern Right Whale) was injured.

I want to see a world where these beautiful creatures are not hunted

Unfortunately, that will not happen today.

Nations fail to agree on curbing Japan whale hunt

Whaling 'peace deal' falls apart

Picture by: Terry Howard from Wikimedia Commons

Proving that 'extinction' is not always final

Mystery gray whale sighted again off Spain coast

A mysterious gray whale sighted off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea has been seen again off the north east coast of Spain.

The second sighting, made 23 days and 3000km after the first, has continued to perplex whale experts.

Gray whales were thought to be extinct across the Atlantic Ocean, so the appearance of an individual within the Mediterranean Sea was a major surprise.

Now it is not clear where the whale is heading or why.

Once, three major populations of gray (also spelt grey) whale existed: in the western and eastern North Pacific Ocean, and in the North Atlantic.

However, the North Atlantic population of gray whale became extinct sometime in the 17th or 18th Century, for reasons that are not clear.

No sightings of the species had been made in the Atlantic Ocean since.

That was until a single individual gray whale was sighted off the coast of Herzliya Marina, Israel on 9 May this year.

Hurrah; may this be a sign of a resurgence of the species. Either there were unknown Atlantic grey whales all the time, or one has migrated thousands of miles from the Pacific. But for now, the sightings mean hope.

Ohhh... :(

125 pilot whales die in New Zealand; 43 saved

At least conservation workers and vacationers were able to coax dozens back out to sea. I'm sure it was quite emotional on the parts of those who made the effort. There were two separate incidents; the one with the survivors was caught fairly early, the other one was discovered too late to do much for the whales there except euthanise those which were still barely alive.

An unfortunate necessity

Lone Sydney baby whale put down

The baby humpback whale, abandoned by its mother, was trying to suckle boats. The 2-3 week-old, who had been named Colin, had not eaten in a week and his health was deteriorating. Efforts to lead him out to sea and hopefully find an adoptive mother did not work. He was suffering from shark bites and starvation, and rather than have him die slowly, the decision was made to humanely euthanise him. Colin's story has captivated Australia. Apparently there is no way to feed a whale in captivity if it is still breast-feeding. It's sad, but I suppose it's also a matter of survival of the fittest. Still, I hate that they had to kill him.

Here's a video from MSNBC of Colin.

Our girl gets into trouble for worthy causes

The cheerleader of the line from 'Heroes'--'Save the Cheerleader, Save the World'. Hayden Panettiere, was attempting to do the latter last month when she and an animal activist group paddled to a cove to try to warn off dolphins and whales before they could be massacred by Japanese fishermen. They were forced back to shore when the fishermen used their boat propellers and giant hooks to turn them away, at which point the killings continued.

So the 18-year-old now has a warrant in Japan for her arrest for 'interfering with international commerce'.

Arrest The Cheerleader?

Panettiere was quoted as being surprised by the publicity surrounding the incident. 'In this town [Hollywood], you tend to be able to get publicity when you're not wearing underwear or [you're] in rehab. I was very excited that people were interested in what we did.'

Well, her heart's in the right place, although I'm sure the fishing industry in Japan would beg to differ. All I can say is, you go girl. And yes, she said she'd probably do it again.

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days

My cable was turned off a little before payday. But now everything's square. So I'd like to catch up...

First, from Monday, there was the finale of 'Heroes'. I enjoyed it immensely; I'm glad we've gone through the introductory story arc now and I hope they can do some more character building over season two. I want to see where they go from here. Who is the man out there who is worse than the Boogeyman? Is there anyway for Peter or Nathan to have survived (everyone expects Peter will regenerate, but in the past, the brain had to be pretty much unobstructed. What about when it's atomised? Did Nathan go with Peter to the very end, or fly off once they were safely above the city? What exactly will happen with Sylar?) There were some questions answered, some posed. I'm really looking forward to the DVD collection, which among other things has the original pilot on it, apparently. It truly is a wonderful show, especially in how things intertwine in the best comic book fashion (I'm waiting for the 3D episode...didn't that wave hit several comic books back in the 80s or 90s? There are details that true comic afficianados probably catch that I don't, but even I know that Kirby Plaza was a reference to Jack Kirby, the famous comic book artist, for example. Anyway, I really have loved the show and all the extras that you can find at NBC.com/Heroes, including web comics, full past episodes, Heroes 360, etc.

Okay, on to the next subject...bunnies. What is it about bunnies lately? I've had three hop out in front of my car in the last couple of weeks. Fortunately I haven't hit one, but I'm beginning to think Mother Nature is trying to tell me something.

Speaking of animals, work continues to coax a mother humpback whale and her calf back downriver from Sacramento to San Francisco bay. They've tried recordings of whales to lure them, recordings of predators to spur them on, clanging noises, herding with boats--the next step is to try fire hoses, something that's never been attempted before. Meanwhile, they're trying to make an antibiotic delivery system to inject the whales, both of whom have apparently been injured by boats.

We were visited at work today by Thumbelina, the World's Smallest Horse. She's not even knee high. She's a miniature horse, but she's also a dwarf, so she's much smaller than most miniatures. She was adorable. She travels in an air-conditioned motor home around the country to raise money for children's charities.

The last night of bunny madness I was driving home after that close call and discovered a car overturned with lots of police lights going on of all places Beaver Creek, which is a residential street near my home. That same night I went to call a friend to let him know I was home safely and that was when I discovered that I had no cable, for I have Vonage, which requires an active cable connexion. So I tried my cell phone and then rememberd I didn't have any minutes (mine is prepaid--it's worked pretty well for seven years; I average about $10 a month). So, I went over to the laundry room, which usually has a phone hooked up when the pool has water in it for 911 (but you can usually make regular calls). Mind you, it's 2 am or so. I fall down the stairs and hit my elbow on the brick wall of the building, then discover they've rigged the phone for 911 calls only. Sigh. So I finally got in my car and went to a nearby gas station and bought minutes for my phone, then came back home and made the call. I know, I'm a danger to myself, although not usually to others. But, there was one time I didn't call and actually slept through getting a friend from work and the alert went off and D and her husband were dispatched to check on me. I had low blood sugar and didn't wake up until they got Cerys barking by tapping at the window. I didn't want a repeat. D has a two-year old and I don't think she'd appreciate it. :)

Speaking of D, she and I are going to go shopping Monday after I get home from visiting my mom and grandmother. I have a gift card for some clothes and she's going to take me out. We get together so seldom; I think the last time was last year when we went swimming at the pool with her son. And we don't get to eat lunch together that much. I miss that. Our schedules are so harried; you should have seen us with our calendars out trying to find a time to get together.

What else? Well, there's the health issues, like the fact that I just went on Avandia and now there's a lot of concern over cardiovascular health due to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine and now an FDA study that backs it up--and opens up questions for how it was approved with such data in place. Now I have to call Dr Nesbitt and see what he thinks. He might put me on Actos instead--it's in the same family and hasn't been associated with those problems--yet (although it has been associated with heart failure). Sigh. Sometimes I think my meds are kind of a crap shoot.

The other medical thing I wanted to blog about was this:

Anger Erupts Over Insurance Company's IQ Test for Weight-Loss Surgery

As the article pointed out, it's not like we require an IQ test to give someone chemotherapy, or refuse to give heart bypass surgery to those who may not know how to do aftercare because they're deemed too stupid. This is ridiculous. It's just another way for insurance companies to try to maintain their bottom line, but it's also discrimnatory.

I think that's all for now. My computer has downloaded some updates and keeps trying to restart, and it's getting very late. Sorry again about the delay. And as always, thanks for reading my ramblings. Good night.