Basketball and Whales

Artist credit:  Howie Long

Brrrrr.  Dang cold out here.  No snow yet but it's a near certainty we'll have a white Christmas :-)

Watched the Laker game tonight on TV.  Despite being the champions, they are not on TV all that much in my area so when they are, it's a gift for me.  I'm sick of seeing the Cavaliers and the Pistons dominate the airwaves, no offense to the likes of Lebron James.

I was admiring the sellout crowd at the Staples Center and wishing it could be like that for the WNBA games.  Personally, I don't understand why the people who are fanatics about the men's basketball aren't supporting the women. So many people say it's not the same.  Well DUH.  Maybe the women can't dunk like the men do, but they play a pretty damn good game if people would just give them a chance.  Others say the women are boring.   You know what I say?  I say the media has done a great job of brainwashing society into viewing things a certain way.  

I enjoy watching both genders play and appreciate the differences and the talents both sides bring to the sports world.  If one is truly a basketball fan, then they ought to be a women's hoops fan too.  Just sayin'.

Check out the WNBA if you are so inclined.  Their season may be over for now, but they'll be back next May.  Until then, the women's college hoops are always a lot of fun to watch too.  

Japan, ever the hypocrites they love to be, filed a complaint with the Dutch government to disallow the Sea Shepherd to carry the Dutch flag.  You can read that here.

The good news: (Excerpt from the above linked article)

The Mainichi Daily News of Japan asked this question this weekend:With it's modus operandi becoming ever more violent in recent years, could the group bring about the end of whaling in Japan?

Their activities have caused catches in the past two years to drop to just 60-75 percent of expected figures, and this year Watson says he wants to get this figure down to at least half.

 Great articles:  Whales Save Seal from Orcas

Whales, Dolphins, and Good Will to all Cetaceans

Japan's new Consumer Affairs & Food Safety Minister, Ms.Fukushima has agreed to investigate the dolphin meat / mercury issue.  You can read up on it at Mercury Poisoning in Japan

Blog post about Sea Shepherd at the Ecorazzi.  Check out the comments after the article.  Paul Watson has posted there.  Whale Wars:  Why This Season Might Be the Most Dangerous Yet

On December 7th, the Steve Irwin will depart Australia and start hunting down the Japanese fleets.  I wish them God Speed.

Turns out that the mid-frequency range sonar sounds may NOT be causing harm or the beaching of whales and dolphins:  Whales Can't Even Hear Naval Sonar

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday :-)  Till next time ...

Mahalo,

Dolphin

Whalers = Arrogant Wankers

(Artist credit: Christian Lassen)

I think I may be having a relapse in my bronchitis :-( Was feeling all gung ho last evening but my roommate started getting sick about two or three days ago and now I feel like maybe whatever she had has been passed on to me too. :: sigh :: I don't feel downright awful, but it's been hitting more more in the last few hours. I decided that before I'm down again for the count, to put fingers to keyboard and get at least a New Year's message out :-)

The Sea Shepherd crew has been quite busy in the Southern Ocean. In their first week out, they caught up with the whalers and put them immediately on the run. That's pretty impressive - to catch up with them so quickly.

I do recall last year, Captain Watson had mentioned something about the possibility of bugging the Japanese whale ships in order to keep track of them. I wonder if he was able to accomplish that this year somehow? After all, that's one helluva big-assed ocean down there and it's akin to trying to find a needle in a haystack, right? Curious, huh.

To start out with, the Steve Irwin ran into some pretty serious storms and some pretty scary ice conditions. You can read about that here: Ice Conditions for the Sea Shepherd

Then on or about the day after Christmas, they ran into the whalers and proceeded to stink up the Japanese ship with rotten butter, methyl cellulose and indelible dye mixture. You can read about that clash here: Sea Shepherds have Whalers on the Run

The very next day, SS ran the whalers out of the Australian waters.

They've only been out there what now? A couple of weeks? They have certainly accomplished a lot in a short period of time.

Go Shepherds!

Captain Watson calls the whalers "A bunch of arrogant wankers." As usual, his outspoken and hold-no-bars commentary is an interesting read.

Did you know that Brazil has declared their entire 5,000 mile long coastline a "safe sanctuary for whales and dolphins?" :: wild applause ::

In other news, the United States Navy settles the sonar lawsuit that I've mentioned a few times here in the past. Both sides claim victory. I'm not so sure that if I were a whale or a dolphin, I'd be saying this is a victory. After all, the mid range sonar activity will still be continuing. Humans are a funny breed, don't you think? ;-)

For those who either live in Hawaii or visit it frequently and enjoy the marine mammals out there, you may be interested in these two books that were just published by Hawaiian authors: Preserving Paradise and The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles Dolphins, Whales, and Seals.

Elsewhere, out in the Philippines, a fisherman claims he was saved by a pod of dolphins and whales. Is it true? Some people are finding it unbelievable. I'll choose to believe it simply because there have been stories for years, all over the globe, about our marine friends actually helping people at sea.

Another, more extensive report on this incident can be found here: Dolphins Save Palawan Fisherman

In sports, the Los Angeles Lakers kicked Celtic butt on Christmas day, and that was a great gift for me LOL. Both teams are doing really well so far this season and it wouldn't surprise me if they meet in the Finals again. If they do, the Lakers will win. (They'd better!)

In football, my favorite pro team, the Miami Dolphins, went from losing their first few games this season to doing a complete turnaround and becoming only the 2nd team in NFL history to accomplish such a feat. Last year, if memory serves me, the Dolphins were 1-15. This year, they're 11-5 (or thereabouts.) They played the NY Jets this past weekend and after a see-saw game, won and will now face the Baltimore Ravens this weekend for the Wild Card playoffs.

I'm just happy the Dolphins are the champs of their AFC East division. Haven't had much to cheer about with this team in the last few years - so I'll take it. I still miss Dan Marino though :-)

Happy New Year everyone! Enjoy! Be safe and warm!

Mahalo,

Dolphin