Boats I: One more chance?

So, Japan's whaling fleet is giving up for the season and heading home early from the Antarctic. A fatal fire aboard their big factory ship a couple of weeks ago has put an early end to their plan to "harvest" 860 whales (according to the AP) or maybe 945 whales (according to Greenpeace). The Nisshin Maru and the rest of her fleet have returned north of 60° (south) latitude, having only killed 508 whales this season. If they really felt bad about leaving those other 352 (437?) whales alive, I suppose they could have just dumped all the fuel oil from the damaged ship. That would've killed at least a few more whales, anyway. The crew of the Esperanza, the Greenpeace escort ship, have been keeping their own blog during their voyage south. Besides all the eyewitness news on the whale hunt, there are some great photos of the southern ocean and its sea life.

Best in Show

These days, when I refer to "my office," I'm talking about Toscanini's — a sweet little coffehouse and ice cream emporium in Cambridge. Gus, the owner, is an ice cream artist of unmatched skill and endless desire to experiment. I mean, take a look at this morning's flavor board! All kinds of interesting and friendly people stop in during my working day. There's free wifi, too, and a wonderful dark roast coffee named Dancing Goat. Can't imagine a better office, really.

The Technology of Humor

Voo Doo Magazine, published by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is self-described as "MIT's only intentionally humorous campus publication" and has been distracting would-be Thurbers from their engineering problem sets since 1919. They have just announced a vast expansion of their online archives. The changes in style and subject matter over time are instructive. (Phosphorous T. Cat &mdash a/k/a "Phos" &mdash is the magazine's androgynous mascot and figurehead publisher.)

Dear Phos,

In looking through some old issues of Voo Doo from the 30s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, [available in the Voo Doo Archive] it is pretty easy to discern when drugs arrived at MIT. And things just haven't been the same since then, have they?

It might be that if marijuana and LSD had never come to MIT, Voo Doo might still be chock full of smutty little jokes about guys trying to feel up clever girls who resist getting felt up. Plus the occasional involuntary enema joke. Hoo-hah!

The current melange of utter dispair and killer robots might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's probably not time to start recycling the old physics puns just yet.

sincerely,

-- A Long-time Reader