Posted by Juliet Linderman

Hey dick fans and fanatics, and welcome to this week’s edition of everyone’s favorite sea-tastic cetacean link list! Thar she blows!

1. Over at the San Jose Mercury News there’s a lengthy article about what a bummer it is that people are killing whales en masse, and why we should do a better job at protecting these gentle giants. Apparently, in the 20th century humans were responsible for killing more than 1.5 million whales. Aside from being super cute and interesting, whales serve a very important scientific function. From the article: “Reports from the last couple of months clearly showed that the whales are helping researchers determine atmospheric science, Arctic oceanography, the extent of global warming, marine food-web nutrition and record-breaking migration patterns.” Basically, whales are basically telling us that the world is slowly coming to an end. We should keep them around.

2. In other news, an Oregon-based scientists has teamed up with some Russians to track an endangered grey whale, in hopes of learning as much as possible about their migration patterns. These guys have been using satellite technology to track these dudes since the 70s, but this is apparently the first time they’ve tracked an individual. Aaaall right.

3. New ocean tidal energy turbines are inspired by none other than humpback whale flippers!

4. Adorable: If you’re in Georgia you should probably go to the aquarium immediately and meet the two brand new beluga whales they just got. Thing is, historically, belugas don’t like being in captivity very much, and they tend to die. But since these two dudes were born at Sea World in San Antonio, chances are they’ll be ok.

5. In literary news, indie publishing house Melville House will publish the winner of the first Paris Literary Prize, sponsored by Shakespeare and Co. I actually love this idea. This is a prize for a novella written by an unpublished author, who will get something like 10,000 euros. Deadline is extended until December 18th, ya’ll!

6. www.dickipedia.org. That is all.