Thar she blows! Dead whale explodes

[rice cracker]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=4096586&p1=0

Taiwanese street, shops showered after gases built up inside

MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 11:48 a.m. ET Jan. 29, 2004TAIPEI - Residents of Tainan learned a lesson in whale biology after the decomposing remains of a 60-ton sperm whale exploded on a busy street, showering nearby cars and shops with blood and organs and stopping traffic for hours.

The 56-foot-long whale had been on a truck headed for a necropsy by researchers, when gases from internal decay caused its entrails to explode in the southern city of Tainan.

Residents and shop owners wore masks while trying to clean up the spilt blood and entrails.

"What a stinking mess. This blood and other stuff that blew out on the road is disgusting, and the smell is really awful," a BBC News report quoted one Tainan resident as saying.
Taiwan Apple Daily via Reuters
The sperm whale was being carried by truck through Tainan.

The whale had died on Jan. 17 after it beached itself on the southwestern coast of the island.

Researchers at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan said enough of the whale remained to allow for an examination by marine biologists.

Once moved to a nearby nature preserve, the male specimen -- the largest whale ever recorded in Taiwan -- drew the attention of locals because of its large penis, measured at some five feet, the Taipei Times reported.

"More than 100 Tainan city residents, mostly men, have reportedly gone to see the corpse to 'experience' the size of its penis," the newspaper reported.

Reuters contributed to this report.


***click on link for pics

[Napoleon Chynamite]

There's something really awesome about that picture.....but still disgusting, yes.

[rice cracker]

I like how a bunch of people went to go look at the whale penis.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

I like how a bunch of people went to go look at the whale penis.

Even better how it was mostly men.

[Arex]

That's cool. The whale exploded and out popped a shiny scooter.

Man, now I'll never get to "experience" the size of its penis.

RX

[Emperor_Mike]

What is it with people and dead things? Penis aside, I like that shiny scooter.

I wonder what sound the exploding whale made when it popped open? Was it a giant *bang* or a *brrrrpttt* or a *boomph!*?

[ChairmanMah]

that's gross. i seen a learning show before where a whale blew up... bad memories..

some things are better left alone in peace.

[ism]

So when do we hear the jokes about Asian men and whale penises?

[Chris]

So when do we hear the jokes about Asian men and whale penises?

So this Old Asian man who heard about increasing his virility by eating one of the whale penis every month to rejenuvate his chi.......

[bluemonq]

What is it with people and dead things? Penis aside, I like that shiny scooter.

I wonder what sound the exploding whale made when it popped open? Was it a giant *bang* or a *brrrrpttt* or a *boomph!*?

probably a wet, dull *bloomph*. this comes from knowledge of blowing up large watermelons in chemistry. i thought this was a retro article on that incident with the whale washed up on the beach, and when they tried to get rid of it by dynamiting it. BLOOMPH! whale meat everywhere. there's a video of it on kazaa somewhere...from the late 70s i think

[John0101]

Darn, I feel ripped off I didn't get to see the picture of it's penis

[Ron]

That's pretty gross, LOL. Judging by the fact that the nice scooter there isn't strewn with whale guts, I'm assuming that some person there PARKED THEIR MOTORCYCLE PURPOSELY IN WHALE GUTS?!

Ahh, it's amazing the things people will do for publicity.

[Tao]

Darn, I feel ripped off I didn't get to see the picture of it's penisespecially since it's a sperm whale!...think of the size of that thing.....we'll be like squirrels hugging a tree trunk....hmmm where is that picture?

[moJo]

fuck. that was a disgusting picture. ugh. kim, why didn't you warn us?!?!

[Ogumo]

That whale would not have lasted five minutes in japan.

[etcj]

I'm guessing the photographer placed the scooter in the shot to show the proportions of the spewed organs similar to using a dollar bill as a size reference in crime scene photography.

[DragonKnight]

I'm guessing the photographer placed the scooter in the shot to show the proportions of the spewed organs similar to using a dollar bill as a size reference in crime scene photography.
Lol, I can only imagine what they would use to show the proportion of the 5-foot penis. :biggrin:

[kitty]

I remember a story I heard about awhile back when people in a town tried to rescue a beached whale. But then it died so they couldn't figure out how to dispose of the body.

They decided to stuff it full of dynamite and blow it up. Unfortunately, when it did, instead of atomizing the whale as I think they hoped, it showered the entire town with chunks of whale for miles.

It made clean-up much much worse.

[Ogumo]

I remember a story I heard about awhile back when people in a town tried to rescue a beached whale. But then it died so they couldn't figure out how to dispose of the body.

They decided to stuff it full of dynamite and blow it up. Unfortunately, when it did, instead of atomizing the whale as I think they hoped, it showered the entire town with chunks of whale for miles.

It made clean-up much much worse.


There was no way they thought the whale was going to be "atomized". Make the whale explode with dynamite they had to know that would cause flesh to be thrown everywhere.

[kitty]

I remember a detail of the article being that they hoped it would wash back out to sea, but it didn't, and the stench of rotting whale was overpowering the town. Maybe they thought this was gonna be a quick way of making the whale small enough to transport?

All I know is... the 'raining whale bits' was not the expected result.

[TB4000]

Like an idiot I decided to read this thing right when we ordered pizza here at work...huge, huge mistake on my part. At first I thought the whale was alive when it exploded, which would've been much worse, not that witnessing it while dead was that much better.

[kitty]

is it weird that i'm really not grossed out by that picture? I think it's kinda interesting... *wonders what in the whale was building up that kind of pressure...*

[Banana]

Nothing shocks me. When i see something bad, I just keep staring at it until I'm fine with it. As soon as that happens, I switch horrors until nothing freaks me out.

I was looking at an autopsy video of that flesh eating bacteria for medic class once while eating lasagna. Am I weird?

[teaz0r]

whale penis dork!

[Emperor_Mike]

I remember a story I heard about awhile back when people in a town tried to rescue a beached whale. But then it died so they couldn't figure out how to dispose of the body.

They decided to stuff it full of dynamite and blow it up. Unfortunately, when it did, instead of atomizing the whale as I think they hoped, it showered the entire town with chunks of whale for miles.

It made clean-up much much worse.

I remember that. There's a film clip of that somewhere on the Internet.

[Emperor_Mike]

Nothing shocks me. When i see something bad, I just keep staring at it until I'm fine with it. As soon as that happens, I switch horrors until nothing freaks me out.

I was looking at an autopsy video of that flesh eating bacteria for medic class once while eating lasagna. Am I weird?

No. My high school friend's Mum was a coroner and we followed her to work for biology class in the 11th Grade.

[rasheedgonzales]

i thought this was a retro article on that incident with the whale washed up on the beach, and when they tried to get rid of it by dynamiting it. BLOOMPH! whale meat everywhere. there's a video of it on kazaa somewhere...from the late 70s i think
they got the video here too: http://www.hackstadt.com/features/whale/ (site temporarily down).

[bluemonq]

No. My high school friend's Mum was a coroner and we followed her to work for biology class in the 11th Grade.
but the question is, did you have linguini for lunch in the exam room? :biggrin: but that's kind of cool. what did you guys do?

[Sulman]

That picture looks sort of unreal. It's like something you'd see out of a sci-fi movie....I know everyone keeps raving about this penis, but what abuot the SMELL...jeez...how the hell would you do anything, like sleep, with that smell just going everywhere. Anyone whose been to Chinatown or the Southstreet Seaport knows about smells and a 60-ton whales guts beats them all. ak...it looks so disgusting...but I can't stop looking at it...fascination with the abomination...or the scooter... :wink: