Comments | strange_complex: Don't say you weren't warned.

strange_complex

Don't say you weren't warned.

Jan 22, 2006 10:23

So, the noble whale of London town is dead. What's more, a dead porpoise was found yesterday on the shore at Putney (I can't seem to find an online source for this Important News Item, but I assure you it's true - I saw pictures yesterday as part of Sky News' continuous live whale coverage ( Read more... )

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Comments 8

miss_next January 22 2006, 12:39:09 UTC

I shouldn't laugh, but... :-D

megamole January 22 2006, 14:08:53 UTC

That's surely the porpoise of auguries - to prevent much weeping and whaling...?

strange_complex January 22 2006, 14:29:07 UTC

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

*collapses, groaning in pain, to the floor*

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strange_complex January 22 2006, 14:53:46 UTC

*hearts the cyute icon*

The one below ain't bad, either - you've been doing some nice work, there, my girl.

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strange_complex January 22 2006, 16:36:56 UTC

Aw, thanks for the thought anyway! It sounds like a really cool doll.

I don't think the whale was actually injured in any external sense. It seems just to have been very stressed out, and had been beaching itself on the edges of the Thames several times during the course of Friday. We'll have to wait for the postmortem results to see if it was ill, had some kind of internal injury, or was simply lost and distressed.

steer January 22 2006, 20:49:46 UTC

I've just been rewatching I Clavdivs (lent to me by the gorgeous rosamicula. I can imagine Livia saying "I had it disected and its liver was tremendously clear."

At least it didn't suffer as much as the Tay whale which went through tremendous indignities in the name of
Science and
Art.

strange_complex January 22 2006, 20:59:06 UTC

Oh dear gods! I can't decide which is worse. And *euww* about its tongue falling out!

In fact, the whole incident is more Claudian than you might think. Check out this extract from Pliny the Elder's Natural History, 9.5.14-15 ( ... )

steer January 22 2006, 21:40:36 UTC

Excellent -- I love the "like the overturned keel of a boat" image -- vivid for someone who had never seen such an animal. The idea of Claudius "locked in combat" with a whale is particularly compelling if taken literally.

"From huh-huh-hell's heart I stab at thee."