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

a late narwhalicious post

okay, so I FINALLY got to indiana at 2:00 am this morning! But now I'm stuck with with barely any spotty internet connection. Sorry this is very late, but I've basically been rowing the whole day. Luckily, I won't be responsible for trying to post tomorrow. Instead, you will be graced with an incredible guest post by Evelyn herself! Wow, I don't have to post on hail whales tomorrow, what am I going to do with myself?!!? oh that's right, ROW!
Anyway, I am getting very excited to share the photos of the whale crackers with you, but unfortunately, I still don't have the cables to download them from my camera. I decided to search delta whale crackers but no pictures of them came up (however at the bottom of the first page are a few images from hail whales! I felt SO popular!)
I think the cuteness of these plush narwhal will make up for the lateness of my post:

check out all the other colors and sizes and hybrids (incliding a bunny-narwhal hybrid) at this online shop (<-- click for link). For some reason the shop name is "ostrich farm"  and it only sells plush narwhals. I have no idea what the two have to do with eachother, but you can't argue with the cuteness of these narwhals!
see you in two days,
Whale Hailer! 
P.S. the competition is really heating up between the blue whale and beluga whale in our poll. only a few days left to vote.....WHAT WHALE WILL WIN?!?!?! (talk about alliteration!)

uhhhggggg.

So I'm stuck in an airport waiting for a flight for 7 hours trying to get to Indiana for rowing nationals, so I think that gives me a legit reasons for a double post today! You know I realized a little while ago that the abbreviation for our blog is "hw" which is better know for being an abbreviation homework. Dangit! Well, I guess I won't be using the abbreviated version of hail whales much.
Also, while I'm waiting at the airport delta has this awesome snack mix with WHALE SHAPED CRACKERS!!!!!!! dsfk;ljdfklfkj;lak;ljs;lkff;djk
I took a photo of them but unfortunately don't have the cables to upload it to this computer :( but I will be sure to post it when I return on sunday.
Also remember, THERE ARE ONLY 5 DAYS LEFT TO ENTER OUT CONTEST (click here for link, sorry I forgot to link it when I posted this initially, but I went back and added it after rereading the post a few hours later) As of now we have four entries, but it would be super duper awesome to have more!!!
~Whale Hailer

help make this blog a better place

. . . by voting in our newest poll about the "about me questions" page!!
Also, get ready for GUEST BLOGGING WEDNESDAYS!!! This wednesday, Evelyn will enlighten us on the negative portrayal of whales in the media and then next wednesday, Sarah will be out guest poster. Make sure to post in our facebook group if you are interested in being the next guest blogger
Toodles,

A drawer makeover: whale style

A few day ago I assembled these drawers for this cube shelf I purchased from ikea. They were great and functional but their handles were super boring and ugly. And guess what the universal cure for boringness and ugliness is?? WHALES. I made these whale drawer knobs/handles out of model magic, then painted them and hot glued them onto the old handles. Here's a before and after:

Before

After!!

a close up of "After"

What a whale of a makeover, huh?

Everyone please remember to vote in the poll (there is currently a suspenseful three way tie between beluga, orca. and blue whale.....)  and also make sure to enter our contest (only 7 days left!)

Enjoy, 

P.S. we are currently at EXACTLY 300 views!!!! YAY!!!!! can you believe only 8 days ago we were at 200?? Thanks to all you loyal viewers! :)

whales whales and more whales!

On the last day of school, some of my friends and I drew 100 whales on our history teacher's board. These whales ranged from christmas whale to sophistocated whale to ninja whale. There was even one that swollowed a cardboard box (look in the upper left corner). We even kept a whale count (also in the upper left corner) to ensure that we drew exactly 100 whales. Here's a picture:

Enjoy,

WooooOOOooOOoOOoooOW!!

okay,  so I've been trying to restrain myself to one post a day, but this is really exciting!!! When you google  "hail whales" this blog is the FOURTH RESULT!!!! wow, I feel so honored and popular!

aaaaaand if you search "your one stop site for everything whale,"(and no that is not a ridiculously specific search, hehe) we are NUMBER ONE!!!

oh and I'm hoping to generate more comments on each post so I'm going try ending each one with a question or two:

Have you every been number one (or four) at something? Do you have any congratulatory words for the hail whales family? 

A very interesting quote...

So my friend Sarah (Sab9339) is at a summer camp where she is taking a course on the history of fairytales. This quote was in one of her readings:

"In the UK, urban legends are sometimes referred to as WTSes (Whale Tumour Stories), from a famous World War II story about whale meat"

From now on I am calling my posts with person stories, "personal WTSes" :) 
Aren't whales and their roles in history so intriguing??
Check back tomorrow for another whalerific post and be sure to vote in our poll (it's seems there's a suspenseful tie between orca and beluga whale right now!) 

P.S. only 9 days left to enter our contest (click here)!! The winner will receive a special prize and have their emoticon displayed next to the name of our facebook group (and most likely in most of my posts :) )

Lawhales!

I only have time to do a very quick post , but click here to check out this whale comic. I really wish I could copy it in here. I suppose I could do a screenshot and then crop it, but I don't want to get arrested or have hail whales shut down or anything.
Enjoy,

Pillow Pets!

With such a catchy jingle and so many animals to chose from, who wouldn't want a pillow pet? I also joined the craze when I recieved a dolphin pillow pet around christmas time. However, I later discovered in early spring that they created a new Orca pillow pet, which of course I had to get! Hence, I got a mini orca pillow pet so that my dolphin one would have a friend. Here is a picture of me with my two pillow pets (note how I carefully concealed my identity):

Sneaky, right?

And here's their commercial in case anyone is interested in getting a surprisingly catchy jingle sung by toddlers stuck in their head:

Make sure to join the "Hail Whales Blog" facebook group and feel free to post any blog suggestions, whale pictures,  post suggestions, contest entries, etc. 

And also, sorry to keep repeating this, but please enter our contest by clicking here (there are only 11 days left to enter!) 

Also check out the new random question on the "about me questions" page

have a whalerific day,

P.S. wow! I manage to include a picture, a video, and a personal story all in once post. You guys must feel pretty lucky to be able to read such an epic post, huh?

about me!

sorry this is a little late, I'm sure there were a lot of disappointed hail whales fans scouring this blog for a new post throughout the day (50 views in the last four days! w00t! thanks everyone! :) ). Don't worry I promise I'll post earlier tomorrow. And in case you need even more whale filled info, I recommend looking at the "about me" page ( upper right hand corner) or just click here to be linked to that page. Everyday I check the box that makes it generate a new random question which I will answer! I will also be keeping an archive of the random questions and my answers (since only one can be displayed at a time in the about me section) look for that page on the righthand side right above the new poll. Just a quick warning though, these questions can get reeeaaalllyyy random, but don't worry, that only makes my answers that much more hilarious.

***HERE IS THE LINK TO THE ARCHIVE OF RANDOM QUESTIONS: (click here)
****AND PLEASE REMEMBER TO ENTER OUR AWESOME CONTEST: (click here)
to counterbalance all this serious and boring stuff, here's a cute whale photo (cute whale photos fix just about everything, don't they?)

enjoy, 

Hello again dear fans!

In the spirit of the holiday (and since there are no good google image results for "fourth of July whale") I photoshopped a patriotic whale:

nothing like a patriotic whale to get you in the spirit! 

Speaking of different types of whales, I figured I would briefly explain and show a picture of each type of whale that is in our poll (please vote!!!!!):

Narwhal: the unicorn of the sea

Orca: also known as "killer whale", the most famous would of course be Shamu

Blue Whale: largest whale yet eats almost entirely krill (can be over 100ft long!)

humpback whale: pretty large baleen whale with really cute large pectoral fins

right whales: named because they were the "right" whales to hunt, they have almost been whaled to extinction. There are only approximately 400 left. poor little guys!!

Fin whale: I saw a 70ft one of these when I went whale watching as a youngin 

Sperm Whale: deepest diving mammal and largest toothed whale

Beluga whale: cute little white whales. I call them marshmallows of the sea and have actually swam with them before!!

I think I've set some sort of record for most pictures and actual factual information on a hailwhales post
enjoy,