What a great campaign!

Click the link below to design and send an anti-whaling origami whale to the Japanese government!
http://www.send-a-whale.com/
<3,
Whale Hailer!

Whale Snack Crackers?!

This is Eva Lin, guest posting for this week!
Today I'd like to share a delicious, whale-licious experience I had this summer. I had gone to visit my Grandma, and was on the Amtrak train home when I decided I was hungry. Luckily, I had brought along some Yan Yan crackers. For those of you unfamiliar with these, I have included pictures below:

The crackers come with a chocolate sauce to dip them in: 

And they often have fun, animal-related sayings printed on them:

My particular package had several animals with the same saying... 

...and they were whales!!

I took a picture to share with you guys: 

As you can see, the cracker is labeled "Whale" "Biggesy Mammal". While the grammar is questionable (is biggesy a word??), the awesomeness is without a doubt. 

Have a lovely week, and if you happen to go to a supermarket, be sure to pick up some delicious whale snacks!!

paiinntt

I'm having my room painted this Tuesday (backstory: my window leaked during that March storm two years ago and it was musty/moldy so we had to have it ripped out and replaced along with the drywall around it and I've been in our guestroom for a while but I'll be able to move back in soon!) anyway, i've been looking at paint colors and sarah found this whale grey (<-- click for link). unfortuneately, I don't love whales quite enough to paint my whole room a super dull grey! But don't you think there should be some more excited bright blues named after whales? or maybe a beluga white? or a narwhal tusk tan? :)
~Whale Hailer

a short post :)

Constantly slipping in the shower? or just feel like your bathroom needs more whales?
check out this Whale Rubber bath mat: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=20069274&color=040&color=040&itemdescription=true&navAction=jump&search=true&isProduct=true&parentid=SEARCH+RESULTS
toodles,
Whale Hailer
p.s. a big thanks to Katie for an amazing guest post!!!! :)

Whales: An Artistic Perspective

We all know that whales are magnificent creatures. The way they blend in with the water, yet stand out in their mass and beauty is a marvel to us all. The magnificence of the whale can never be fully recorded, but I set out on a whale artistic odyssey through the world wide web to see if any artist took up the challenge. A whale on paper or sculpted in metal can never compare to the living, breathing, blowhole water-shooting creatures we've all come to know and love. However, it is wonderful to see that people have translated their love of whales into tangible pieces of artwork.

The first piece we're going to look at is titled, "Lunar Celebration." The piece is courtesy of Wyland Galleries, who not only post awesome whale art online but also help in ocean conservation efforts. Anyway, it is clear to see what makes this lunar scene a celebration. The artist, Wyland, depicts a whale jumping out of the water with the clarity of a photograph. This photo-realistic whale contrasts with the stylistic approach to the night sky. In short, the moon isn't that big from Earth. Observe how the moon is strategically placed behind the whale- the moon and whale's sharp contrast make it clear what the focal point of this piece is: the beautiful whale. When asked about his inspiration, Wyland says, "We were amazed when a forty-ton humpback whale suddenly hefted its entire body towards the heavens... It seemed to hang there frozen in time. I wanted to hold that moment forever. Lunar Celebration is my way of capturing the incredible power and grace of these acrobatic leviathans." And so Wyland translated the "grace: and "power" he saw in the whale into a lithograph- and an amazing one at that.

The next piece we will observe is by the Vermont native and whale aficionado Wick Ahrens. His entire artistic career has been dedicated to the sculpting of life-like whale sculptures. It has been said that "If his whales weren't wood, then they would breathe."

His life is clearly whale-tastic.

I've actually decided that we're going to look at two of his pieces because I simply cannot decide. It is really like choosing between actual types of whales, which we all know is absolutely impossible. The first is titled "Ode to Orcinius Orca" (by the way, not even Dictionary.com knows what "orcinius" means...) This piece is simply beautiful- it stood out to me immediately. The way the whales are layered (for lack of a better word) and close together gives the viewer a warm, fuzzy feeling- which put into dialogue is basically "awwwww a whale family!" But in all seriousness, the whales are perfectly scaled and their surfaces are as smooth as the blubber on an actual whale. They seem to float in air; the sculpture's supports are invisible. Finally, the viewer is happily surprised when they notice the tiniest whale to the bottom left.

For scale, it's 7 x 7 x 11"

If you've ever wondered where the whale sculptures in museums come from (for example in the Nantucket Whaling Museum) your wonders have ended. Ahrens does full museum installations, like these whales, which includes the largest wood whale ever made. This piece, titled "Grey Whale and Calf" is 18ft x 5 ft x 3.5 and 1000 pounds. The most amazing part though is that this piece was entirely painted in acrylics, the simplest of all paint types (besides watercolor of course!)

The whales have the life-like quality Ahrens is known for, down to the barnicles. Look how the tail of each whale is curved like they are gliding through water. Achieving the illusion of emersion in water is one of the hardest elements in art, yet it is necessary when creating a swimming whale.

I hope you enjoyed this whale-tastic artistic odyssey. If you would like to investigate more, here are some links to get you started:
http://www.wickahrens.com/
http://www.wildlifewonders.com/whalestatue.html
http://www.wylandgalleries.com/


-Katie

haha!

check out this silly txt message conversation on an iphone that evelyn found:

Enjoy,
Whale hailer

A Cute Image

What a faaaaaaancy whale!

Btw- I might not be able to post tomorrow (because I have no internet at home), but Sarah will be our guest poster on wednesday
~Whale Hailer

What an interesting tote

This totebag really "says it as it is":

squeaky clean!!

check out these cute whale soaps!

~Whale Hailer

Yay! more whale food!

While away, my aunt and I were making pancakes. I decided to mix mine up by making a chocolate chip whale pancake!!

Being cooked...

the final product!

~Whale Hailer (I've got to start using my fancy signature again...)

I'm back from vacation!!

sorry for the scanty number of posts these last two weeks, but I promise I'll start posting daily again, Anyway, speaking of vacations and far away places I wanted to share just how international hail whales has become:

enjoy,
Whale Hailer!
p.s. if we could get someone to view us in russia, we would probably cover the majority of the map! anyone know anyone in russia?

Guest Poster Wednesdays: Whale Whale Whale

I'm not feeling particularly whale right now, so I'm going to keep this post short.

I was planning on telling you about the history of whales, but let's do something else! Yay!

Here we go:

-Whales can swim at 30 miles per hour

-Sperm whales have the largest brains on the planet

-The voice of the blue whale is so powerful that it can travel for a hundred miles underwater

Also:

Remember that poll that asked what we wanted to see more of on this website? Well...many of you picked cheesecake, so look what I found! A whale cheesecake. Actually, it's just cake, but close enough.

CAKE!

Bye!

A Whale Saves the Day!!

Lily shared with me this awesome phineas and ferb-whale combo video, so I figured I'd share it with the world. If you dno't want to watch the whole thing, fastforward to 2:39 :)
P.S. the audio doesn't seem to be working but just click on the video to go to the youtube page for the video!

The Whale and the Mermaid. Part II

 Leumas was not quite as excited by the news. He knew that he couldn’t attempt to sabotage the one-thousandth edition now that there was a spy lurking around every corner. He couldn’t crash the celebration either because Nimblina actually invited him. Leumas just ended up pouting and having a tantrum. But then it came to him. Maybe, just maybe he could secretly spoil the party while at the party! Aha! He thought he was such a genius.

Tuesday arrived and the one-thousandth edition of “The Daily Krill” was published. The entire ocean was abuzz with the fabulous paper. No one could stop talking about the fantastic articles or the gossip that someone had attempted to destroy the paper. “The Daily Krill” was certainly in everyone’s thoughts.

At 7:30 in the evening, Eva Lin was the first to arrive to Nimblina’s party. Next came Cornelia Dawkins and soon almost the entire ocean was there! She had told Quinndle to stop by at 8:00 for something she had forgotten at the palace. When Quinndle finally arrived, she was shocked to see so many people so happy to see her. She thanked Nimblina for the great celebration. But Leumas was smirking just around the corner.

While everyone was having a good time, Leumas decided to sneak into the kitchen. He pulled out his diabolical concoction. His plan was to make the food taste so bad that everyone would want to leave. He tipped off the top of the bottle when suddenly someone grabbed his arm. It was Helena the Sea Horse!

            “I knew it was you!”

            “I’m sorry! Don’t arrest me! I’ll do anything—anything PLEASE”

            “All right. This is a party. So go enjoy yourself, but don’t do anything else mean or nasty”

The party went on and everyone (even Leumas) had a good time. Sadly, the end of the night had to come. Just as the guests were going to leave, Helena stepped up to the microphone. She smilingly called up Leumas and told him she had a surprise for him. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was handcuffed!

            “This troll not only destroyed the files for “The Daily Krill”, but he also tried to poison your food!” said Helena. The crowd gasped.

            “It wasn’t poison!” Said Leumas, but he was met with a dirty look.

            “By virtue of the ocean’s laws, Leumas will be imprisoned for 3 years”

            “No! I’ll do anything!”

            “Sorry, that’s the law, unless a member of the royal family wishes to change it…” Nimblina stepped forward and Leumas begged, “Please don’t imprison me! I was only mean to you because…because…ummm…I was jealous Quinndle was spending less time with me to hang out with you! I’m sorry…Let’s be friends”

            Nimblina smiled and said, “Is that true? Do you really want to be friends?” and Leumas nodded in response. Nimblina continued, “I don’t believe you. TO THE DUNGEONS!” And the whole crowd cheered in response.

Nimblina, Quinndle and the rest of the ocean joyfully continued on with both their daily lives and the daily krill. Quinndle learned that one could always trust whales and most other sea creatures. Whales are, in fact, the most trustworthy of all creatures. However, no one should ever trust a troll. Especially trolls named Leumas. 

THE END.

The Whale and the Mermaid. Part I

Here is part one of an amazing story by the one and only Sarah. Enjoy!

Once upon a time there were two friends. One was a whale and the other was a mermaid. The whale’s name was Quinndle; she was a happy little whale who enjoyed writing her newsletter, “The Daily Krill”, which she printed on sand dollars. The mermaid’s name was Nimblina and she enjoyed helping Quinndle with her newsletter. They had many whale, mermaid, dolphin and other sea friends who loved to read “The Daily Krill”. In fact, so many people loved “The Daily Krill” that Quinndle was almost on her one-thousandth edition! The one-thousandth edition was going to be absolutely marvelous. Nimblina was even planning a surprise party for after its publication.

Leumas the Troll

Almost everyone in the ocean was excited about the one-thousandth edition. I say almost because there was one creature in the ocean that didn’t want the one-thousandth edition to be published. This was the meanest creature in the whole sea: Leumas the underwater troll. Leumas was good friends with Quinndle. The person he had a problem with was Nimblina, the kind mermaid princess. The strange thing was that she had really done nothing wrong; Leumas just started hating her one Tuesday and tried to destroy her happiness from that point on. Now, Leumas was glad that Quinndle’s newspaper was successful. His problem was that Nimblina would be writing almost half of “The Daily Krill”. To make things worse, every creature in the ocean was going to love Nimblina even more after she threw her congratulatory party. If that happened then no one would ever agree with Leumas when he started bullying Nimblina for no reason. 

Leumas reasoned that the only way to fracture Nimblina’s friendships would be to stop her party from happening. To stop the party, he would have to stop publication and frame Nimblina. Leumas went directly into his dark, urchin-infested cave and began plotting.

While Leumas plotted, Quinndle and Nimblina were busy writing the best edition of “The Daily Krill” ever. When Nimblina went home to her palace, she was again busy. She spent all night sending out invitations, calling Crustacean Catering and emailing Flounder Florists. She was so tired that night that she slept until noon the next day (Saturday). Quinndle got worried about her and called her several times. Nimblina was so fast asleep that she didn’t notice her shellphone ringing!

Quinndle ran into Leumas on her way to lunch at Seaweed Sushi.

“Oh Leumas! I’m so concerned! Nimblina hasn’t answered any of my calls. I tried going to the palace to see her, but the guards wouldn’t let me in because Nimblina didn’t tell them I was coming! Do you think she’s mad at me?”

Leumas frowned with false concern and said, “That was YOU she’s mad at? I heard her talking to someone last night, saying the most awful things! I’d give her some space if I were you. Until she sorts out her problems, why don’t you spend some time with me?”

Quinndle and Leumas spent the whole day together. Quinndle didn’t suspect that the troll was lying or plotting. They even spent the next day (Sunday) together. Quinndle thought their friendship was gaining strength.

That evening, when Quinndle and Leumas parted, Leumas didn’t go back to his hideous abode. He instead went to Quinndle’s Krill headquarters. He snuck in and started deleting all of the files of the one-thousandth edition. He ripped up all of the prints and left the following note:

Dear Quinndle,

       You should learn to be nicer to me. The next time I’m hungary YOU should buy ME lunch instead of making ME buy YOU lunch. And more importantly, I think that I should have a bigger part in the next edition of  “The Daily Krill”. You disgust me. I hope you never publish your one-thousandth edition. You. Are. The. Worst.

-Nimblina

The next morning, Quinndle woke up and went to work. She opened the door like she always did and sat at her desk. When she looked up at her computer, she didn’t see a login screen, but a note. She read the note and searched frantically through her files. Sadly, she couldn’t find the files of the one-thousandth edition. Nimblina walked in, smiling as usual. She noticed Quinndle was upset and swam quickly over to her.

            “What’s wrong Quinndle?”

            “YOU are asking ME? Look at what you’ve done!”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “You didn’t answer my calls because I didn’t buy you lunch. And then you go and destroy OUR hard work. I thought we were better friends than that”

            “Quinndle, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. Did someone erase our files?”

            “Yes—YOU”

            “What are you talking about? I’m calling the police”

Twenty seconds later Helena the Sea Horse spy had appeared. She looked at Quinndle and said, “Tell me the crime. Show me the evidence.”

            Quinndle told Helena what happened and showed her the note. Helena asked Nimblina to write out a short statement. Confused, Nimblina wrote out:

Quinndle,

You should be nicer to me.

-Nimblina

Helena matter of factly said, “This note isn’t even close to Nimblina’s handwriting! AND I know that Nimblina would never write ‘Hungary’ instead of ‘Hungry’”.  Quinndle immediately began apologizing to Nimblina. Nimblina forgave her and the two asked if Helena could find out who did destroy the files. Helena said she was on the case and swam off.

            “But what are we going to do about the one-thousandth edition?” Said Quinndle

            “Don’t worry! I always save a copy of important documents to my email”

            “Wow Nimblina! You’re the best! Now we can publish “The Daily Krill” tomorrow!”

And so the two friends went forth with their writing.

Yummy!

Check out this Whale crepe I made with Sarah's help!

~Whale Hailer

Dancing whales!!

As much as I disapprove of whales in captivity, this is ADORABLE!

toodles,

whale hailer

P.S. make sure to enter our contest, so you name can replace the question marks in this blog's banner! 

Hail whales: on stilts!

This guest post is written by Cornelia Dawkins, a world-renowned whale book reviewer


Dear Hail Whalers,
 
     Let me just say, it's an honor to be your guest poster of the week. I have been a huge fan of this site for quite sometime (I even adopted a whale a few weeks ago - something I greatly recommend to each and every one of you!), and, while my reviews have been published everywhere from Vogue to the New York Times, nothing was as prestigious as a site like this. I am truly grateful to be writing on the very blog that I read so religiously.
    The book that I would love to bring to your attention is called Whales on Stilts by M.T. Anderson, and has won numerous awards including the ALA Notable Children’s Book Award and Child Magazine's Best Children's Book of the Year Award. Amazing, right????? The book follows twelve-year-old Lily and her two best friends, Katie and Jasper, as they try and take down an evil, evil man who is raising an army of whales on stilts to take over the world. Plot twist: this man also happens to be Lily's father! (gasp!)

Look! It's a whale, on stilts!

    I have to admit, this book is by far one of the best I've ever read (before, my favorite book was Gone with the Wind, but as soon as I saw the cover, it was love at first sight). Even the discussion questions were deep! An example of my favorite? "Who picked out this book, and may I punch him/her in the stomach for it?". This was a close second, though: "If you could literally drive any whale at all, would it be a baleen whale or a toothed whale? (Please show your work." You will laugh, cry, and laugh again as you read through all of their shenanigans (Katie even has her own fanclub because she fights so many evil creatures, and Jasper has electrical pants!) and I highly recommend it. On a scale of 1 to whale, I give this book 10 whales because it's so whalerific!

Click here for a excerpt of this fabulous book!

Cornelia Dawkins

ring ring...

you can now talk to a whale while chatting with friends! Check out this whale phone:

Enjoy,

Quinn 

yay!

Once again, sorry about my poll error but congratulations to our tied winners SAM and EVELYN. Let's see who will win our next contest!! Maybe the tie will be broken!! or maybe a new hailer will previal!! only time will tell....

Contest 2!!!!

Since the first contest was so successful at bringing together whale hailers, voters, and views, it's time for another WHALE of a Contest!!!

Earlier this month there was a poll up asking what type of whale you would like to be. The winner was the blue whale. No wonder, the blue whale is the largest animal alive yet only feeds on tiny krill and plankton! Since the majority of whale hailers on this site preferred Blue Whale, I firgured we should make the blue whale on the banner at the top of the site our hail whales mascot. Now the only question is what should its name be:

So I invite you to enter the NAME THAT WHALE CONTEST!

___???____ the Blue Whale
Just post your mascot name in a comment here (be sure to include your real name so that I know which entry is whose) or post it in our facebook group if you can't comment here. In a few weeks, we will have another poll to vote on the names and the winner will recieve their whale name in the banner at the top of this site underneath our mascot and another special prize.

Aren't blue whales so magestic?

~Whale hailer

The winner of our first contest!!!!

Congratuations to EVELYN our contest winner with 18 votes! Also congrats to our runners up Sam with 17 votes and Sarah with 5 votes!
Evelyn's design is now in the title of our facebook group and she will recieve her special prize of vineyard vines whale school supplies (folder, pen, stickers, etc).
Thank you sooo much to everyone who participated! All the entries were awesome!!!
And look for our newest contest coming shortly....

I   <3   C><!!!!!!

~Whale Hailer!

awwwww!! How cute!

check out this great video (<--click for link). Whales are so friendly and thankful!

NUMBER ONE!! adskfasjfhekljwh

GUESS WHAT???!?? When "hail whales" is googled, we are no longer the 4th result but rather the FIRST RESULT!!! :) check it out for yourself on google (<-- click for link). 

Yay! Number one!!

Remember to vote in the poll! 
Enjoy,
Whale Hailer

Afraid of the Dark?

A Whale can help!! check out this adorable blue whale nightlight!!:

Whale in different languages

I figured I'd honor our new international views by posting some words for "whale" in different languages!! :) After our suspenseful current poll ends, I'll post a new poll to vote on which word for whale is best:
Click on the word to go to the site where you can hear it said out load (the German one is really fun to listen to :P)

French: baleines
Spainish: ballena
Polish: wieloryb
German: Wal
Icelandic: hvalur
Indonesian: ikan paus


Are there any other languages you are interested in seeing? :)


enjoy,
Whale Hailer

Adopt a Whale!

Hey this is Sam! It's guest post Wednesday... you know what that means! Take a look:

Yes, thats right. I'm posting about a fabulous website I found...

http://www.whaleadoption.org/

That allows anyone to ADOPT their own whale. All you have to do is make a charitable donation to this organization... and VOILA! You've adopted your own actual whale. (You get to name it too.) Also, with an additional donation, they will also give you a plush whale toy as well! Are you an activist about saving whales? Well, this is your chance to show the Whales of the World that you support them!

This page has descriptions of the available whales. You will get to KNOW the whale that you are adopting. (Sorry, there are no marshmallows of the Sea currently available... they fly off the shelves... oh... well you know what i mean.) I would love to adopt a beluga right now.

I noticed this banner on the homepage of the website... I mean I'd love to give my dad a whale. Yet father's day was over a month ago. Uh... WELL ANYWAYS thats beyond the point everyone! Adopt whales!!! They need your help.

Toodles,

Sam (Guest Poster)

Fail whale? No, Fail poll!

Ok, I know it's a guest post Wednesday (Sam) and I shouldn't be posting and all, but I had to post about this!!

AHHH!!!! Does anyone else see this?????????? Please leave a comment

Hail Whales goes INTERNATIONAL

so I just checked hailwhales stats and am shocked to find a change in country distribution. rather than just 5 views from germany and the rest from America, we are in FIVE different countries. Thanks all you foreign whale fans!! the power of whales transcends all boundaries (even country boundaries!)
check out this image:

whales gone digital!!

Check out this interesting beluga whale memory stick (click here) and a special shout out to Sam whose favorite whale is a beluga whale:

half a marshmallow of the sea plugged into a computer. you don't see that everyday!

Surprise!

HELLO all you hailers of whales! I decided that as a little surprise I, Sarah, would post on the best blog. Ever. My sincerest apologies for my failure to post on Wednesday. I'm afraid I was at a hotel where it cost thirty five dollars to use the computer. How dreadfully unjust! However, I believe that a surprise is much better. :)

Now for the point of this positively phenomenal post of pleasant and peachy whalitude:
The other day, I went to work with my mom. This woman who my mom works with came in and was talking to her. She asked my what grade I was in and if I knew her son who is in the grade below me. I told her that I didn't, but I bet that my friend (Quinn, the whale hailer) knew him. She immediately recognized the name, but could not quite place her. As a helpful hint I said, "She really likes whales". The she responded, "Ohhhh Quinn! She REALLY likes whales! I remember taking my son to her first grade birthday party at the aquarium."


There you have it. Proof of the extent of the hailer's love of whales. 


I worry that this post is too short though. Therefore, another story is in order! I went to a sidewalk sale in a nearby town last week. Of course, I was looking for any whale-related items. I then saw a whale stuffed animal. It consisted of a circular body and a long tail. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a bird. I felt pretty stupid, but in my defense, it was white on the bottom (like whales!) and it didn't have wings! It was the exact same general shape. 


Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this guest posting experience!


Yours, &C.
Sarah
  

just a VERY quick post

What is the ultimate test of whale devotion??? putting together a 1000 piece whale jigsaw puzzle!!!!
check it out:

btw, get ready for an awesome guest post by Sarah tomorrow!! :)

toodles,
whale hailer!
P.S. remember to keep voting in our poll!!

LET THE VOTING BEGIN!

our contest (<--click for link) has officially closed and it is now time to begin voting for which whale emoticon should win. Here are a few basic guidelines for voting:

• voting ends very early in the morning on 8/1
• you can vote for your own entry
• you can vote from multiple computers/devices
• the poll can be found in the upper right corner of this blog
• and remember, one of the major goals of this contest is to increase viewers so feel free to recruit friends, family, even that whale fanatic living down the street to vote for your own entry or your favorite entry.
• the entry with the most votes when the poll closes will receive a special prize and their symbol in the title of our facebook group (as well as probably in many of the hailwhales posts). 
• in the result of a tie, a new three day long poll will be created for viewers to vote between the tied emoticons.

MAY THE BEST ENTRY WIN! :)

Finally!!

Ok, so while I was stuck at the JFK airport for 8 hours last Monday, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Delta had WHALE CRAKERS in their snack mix. I took photos to post, but unfortunately I didn't have the cables with me to download them from my camera to the computer. However, now I am back and excited to share with you









*drum roll*








a photo of these tasty whale crackers!

it's amazing where you can find whales these days!

Although I suppose it is kind of cruel to be eating anything that resembles a whale, I assure you that these were just simple cheddar crackers presented in the shape of a whale. This shape was probably chosen to honor the whale, rather than to support any form of eating whales!
Enjoy,

***only TWO more days to enter our contest (click here for link)***

nothing like a random whale product!

Ok I'm going to start this post off with a good old 3rd grade writing prompt tactic, setting a scene:
So you come home from a long grueling day of work, set down your briefcase, say hi to your kids who run up and greet you, and then take off your coat. But where are you going to put it??????? On one of these fancy whale coat racks of course:

Enjoy!
~Whale Hailer


Which one of these coat racks is your favorite? Have you ever seen a whale coat rack in person? What other whale products are you interested in seeing here on hail whales? Feel free to leave a comment!

ROYAL whales

due to a recent debate over English royalty in our facebook group (and since one of our slogans is "where whales are ROYAL"), I decided to scour the vast resource that is the internet for "royal whales." I found this pin of a royal whale in disguise:

How cute, right?

I also found this necklace of a royal whale boasting her crown for all her subjects to see:

Lastly, I stumbled upon this "Royal Whale Whirlpool Bathtub" for $3000

Once I become rich from discovering a new species of whale, I will be sure to put this in my house :)

Oh, and also, Sarah found this interesting image of a "Royal Fail Whale," (I don't have a twitter, but apparently the fail whale is what pops up on twitter when the server is to busy to take anymore tweets):

Enjoy,

Whale Hailer
P.S. only three days left to enter our contest!!! the more entires the whale-ier (click here for link)

The Negative Media Portrayal of Whales and of Those who Love Them

This guest post is written by Eva Lin, Whale rights activist.
Dear Whale Hailers,
     I am so thrilled to be posting on this blog, which I consider one of the few safe havens for whales on the internet. Today I would like to educate you an a serious issue- whales in the media. The media constantly surrounds us, penetrating our social interactions, day-to-day life, and even our thought process. This has cultivated, in some cases, a negative attitude not only toward whales, but toward those who love them.
     This sociology paper suggests that the media is representing whales in a way which leads to fan communities that fail to truly understand whales, and accuses us fans of elevating the whale to mythical platforms which are based on imagined ideals rather than fact. Whale lovers are seen as simpletons who take their obsessions to the extreme.
     Take, for example, the Animal Planet show Whale Wars, in which the host is shown harassing whalers. In this clip, they track a Japanese whaling ship and provoke the captain, ignoring warnings and attacking until the whalers strike back.

     Whaling is absolutely not right, but this way of opposing it makes the whale support community seem immature and rude.

     But it is not just the whale support community that is mocked, it is the whales themselves. By far the most prominent example of this is the "fail whale", an image of a whale that appears when Twitter is too overloaded for users to tweet. Rather than express outrage at the association of website errors with whales, Twitter users have instead chosen to support this horrible injustice by joining the Fail Whale Fan Club. They create numerous offensive reproductions of this whale, below: 

     What is so offensive about a sand whale, you ask? Firstly, the Fail Whale design itself, which suggests that whales are lazy and need to be supported by flocks of birds. Secondly, the tide will eventually come in and wash this whale away, suggesting that whales are fleeting and weak.

     This whale cupcake encourages the consumption of whales, a disgusting and barbaric ideal. 

     In addition to offensive images, the Fail Whale has led to the creation of a game in which you shoot cartoon whales for entertainment. 

     Finally, have you ever heard a fat person referred to as a "whale"? Urban Dictionary certainly has. A search for "whale" leads to suggested definitions "fat", "fatty", and "obese". This use of whales as negative slang must stop. To combat this injustice I have created the "It's great to be a whale" support badge, which you can print out and tape to notebooks, t-shirts, your best friend, etc. 

     For too long we have sat in silence, accepting these injustices. For too long we have allowed the media to insult and mock us and our beloved whales. Today I say to you, Whale Hailers, no more! Today, we stand up for what is right! Today, we stand for what we believe! And Today, we stand for justice, JUSTICE! We take a stand against whale-hate in the fervent hope that our children and our children's children can live in a world where whales are understood and loved, a world where no man, woman, or child feels isolated or laughed at because of his or her love of these noble creatures. 

 Peace, Love, and Whale-Pride,

Eva Lin