Sky Wailing

[alongtimegone]

Yes it really is quite ugly Marty. Not much more than that to say. Except maybe weird.
Wazza

[Stephen Whiteside]

I think it's rather wonderful. I did read about the link with Canberra, but I must admit I can't remember what it was - but does that really matter?

[Stephen Whiteside]

Oh, well. You can say that about a lot of things. Blue Poles was very unpopular at the time it was purchased. Not it seems to be respected. The Sydney Opera House was pilloried at the time of its construction. Picasso caused outrage in his day. In fact, let's fact it, most of the great artists did. I'm not saying this is necessarily great art, but its unpopularity does not count against it in my book - if anything, the reverse.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Well it wouldn't be worth a bucketload of cash if it wasn't respected...

[Stephen Whiteside]

Dislike is not the enemy of art - it's indifference.

[Mal McLean]

I am lost for words....

at the picture...not the comments.

I agree with you Stephen to the extent that the greatest enemy of art is poor art.

What the?

Perhaps it's an artistic Ern Malley?

[warooa]

Marty, I've an incisive, cutting edge quiery mate . . . does it have five drooping boobies on the other side to counter balance the five on this side?

[Stephen Whiteside]

I once gave a penicillin injection to a stranded whale on the beach that had gone into premature labour and delivered a stillborn foetus.

[manfredvijars]

WOW ... how many litres of penicillin were needed ??

[Stephen Whiteside]

I suppose a word of explanation is required.

The year was 1986. I was one of a handful of people who travelled from the eastern states to the site of a large stranding of false killer whales (pseudorca crassidens) in Augusta, WA - not all that far from Cape Leuwin. There were 114 whales in total. We had some experience - I hesitate to say expertise - in dealing with similar situations.

A large number of local volunteers were assisting on the beach, under the direction of CALM (Conservation and Land Management).

A group had gathered around this one whale, which had delivered a stillborn foetues, and was bleeding. There was a local vet in attendance. He had half an ampoule of bovine penicillin on him, but was refusing to inject it. I think he feared it could affect his insurance/registration if something went wrong.

People were getting very hot under the collar about it, and the whole rescue attempt seemed to be at some risk. It is important to try to return all the animals to the sea together, and I was concerned that a delay over this animal might delay everything else.

So I agreed to give the injection. There was never any question about the inadequacy of the dose. The whale weighed about five tons, and probably needed 200ml for a reasonable dose, not 20. Also, I doubted if the needle was long enough to penetrate the blubber, in which case the penicillin would be unlikely to reach the bloodstream. Nevertheless, it seemed pretty clear the crowd would be appeased if the injection was given.

The next decision was where to actually inject it. I tried to imagine the ways a whale's anatomy might be similar to a human's and also the ways it might be different. I avoided the midline, obviously, to avoid the spinal cord. I decided to inject close to the base of the tail, to avoid any nerve roots - about a foot from the midline. I also wasn't sure how the whale would react - whether it would thrash its tail or not.

I should add this was a small whale as whales go - perhaps only about five or six metres long.

In the end, the whale did not react at all on the end of the needle. Everybody was happy, and the rescue proceeded.

Mind you, I'm not sure this individual whale fared all that well in the end. I had a look under the water when it was taken out to sea, and its tail flukes were dragging along the sea floor. Still, sometimes you have to sacrifice the individual for the sake of the herd - or, in this case, pod.