According to Stephen Webb's new book, If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens… Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life it is the aliens who have come to the conclusion that it is natural, logical and right for other life forms to colonize deep space.
It would appear that everybody is waiting on someone else to make the first move.
And from the Crazy Occidents file we have this.
According to this story, the infamous Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru is smoldering off the coast of New Zealand. The apparent cause of the fire has (ironically) something to do with Whale Oil.
This particular vessel is a bit different then the whaling boats used by Norway and Greenland.
The 8,000 ton "research" vessel not only has a crew of 149 and water cannons for protection, it also has an on board meat processing plant to expedite the whole business of canning whale. It is usually accompanied by several smaller whaling ships of which it uploads their cargo.
This is not the first time that the Japanese Whaling industry has found itself the object of derision. In 1986 several years after the World put a moratoriaum on whale hunting, Japan resumed its ancient practice under the guise of Research.
Greenpeace and other Eco-Activist have repeatedly harassed the Japanese Whaling Industry going as far as ramming one of their ships a few years ago. The Esperanza, Greenpeace's reconfiged tug boat that is well known for shadowing the whaling vessels, received the Nisshin Maru distress call, but the admiral of the ship chose not to receive their help and instead unloaded its crew to one of the additonal whaling vessels traveling with the hunting fleet.
Now the Nisshin Maru smolders in the icy seas of the Antarctic, awaiting for to be swallowed by the mighty leviathan.
You may also remember the Nisshin Maru from Matthew Barney's tedious and lethargic crapterpiece Drawing Restraint no 9.
No comments:
Post a Comment