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The Vomit Worth Millions?
ozmanjusri writes "ABC is reporting that a family in Australia recently found a large lump of ambergris, which they believe may be worth millions. It is a fascinating material, created by a sperm whale's intestine in response to irritation, probably caused by the undigested beaks of squid. The waxy mass is coughed out by the whale during a belch which is reported to be audible kilometers away, and is a putrid stinking mass. Floating in salt water and exposure to sunlight for ten years or more matures the waxy blob into a grey, sweet smelling solid which is used as a base for perfumes. Although the family may be able to sell the ambergris, it cannot be used in Australia or the US, since both countries are signatories to the Washington Treaty, which bans the trade of musk deer and whale products for perfume."
When you thought that a cat's hairball was bad enough...
...eat your heart out.
I always wondered what the "Woohoo, I'm rich" and "OMG, I'm sitting next to a big lump of vomit" expressions would look like combined.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
I'll simply shed my skin!
Fry: heh, Yakov Smirnoff said it
Leela: No he didn't.
But still not bad for a random walk on the beach. An article I read states that the material is worth around 17 Euro/gramm. The lump was around 15 Kg, which made the couple a smooth 240.000 Euros.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the light cone.
Didn't Futurama already cover this in one of it's episodes?
Ambergris is classified as a product of a whale under Australian law, so the family is unable to sell it commercially. It can be sold for research purposes but it requires permits for export. The most they can do with it in Australia is donate it to a museum or use it as centerpiece for their dining room table.
Got Shadowrun? Awakened Worlds
It's actually more often than not illegal to posess it - as it's a product of an endangered species - if they don't burn it, and soon, they could find themselves doing jail time.
...I believe they'd have to give it to the Queen. Whales and their, err, byproducts, are subject to Crown privilege, as are a number of other animals and fish. It's a handy way to prevent trade in endangered species, even though it originates from making sure that the Crown is always richer than everyone else, because fortunately enough, what was considered rare enough to put under it originally are species which are threatened today.
Brian: Ambergris by Odion. It's made with real bits of whale vomit so you know it's good. This stuff is illegal in 9 countries.
Ron: Yes, it's quite pungent, it stings the nostrils... in a good way though. Brian, I'm gonna be honest with you: that stuff smells like pure gasoline.
Brian: They've done studies you know, they say 60% of the time, it works every time.
Ron: That doesn't make any sense.
I should know better than to read /. during breakfast.
Excuse me...
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
I guess they could sell it to a foreign middle man for "research" purposes, whereas then he would sell it to a perfume company.
..........FULL STOP.
And as it comes from a *living* whale now it should be classed as a *kosher* product by most countries that ban whaling the only problem being that japan and norway still kill many whales for so called sientific research so untill that is stopped completely you have to be really careful of your sources, much the same way that 'dolphin safe' tuna has to be 'dolphin safe'. I have a company in Italy willing to export raw beach gotten ambergris @ about 68 Euros an ounce so I'm lucky, as it is one of the only perfume oils that, once processed will work on my skin type.
(most others burn off on the exoskeleton..something to do with having that concentrated hydrochloric acid for blood)
-friendly nieghbourhood alien maggy. *GRIN*
-Magdalene --"there are 10 types of people in the world, those who read binary, and those who don't"
Family finds whale puke on beach. Wait until they try to sell it for millions. ... (no-one will get this)
Next, on Sick sad world
Emerald Astrology
You can't catch and kill a whale to extract ambergris, because the stuff has to weather naturally for years, so it should be obvious it was just a lucky find.
Incidentally, the captcha for making this post was "inerited". WTF?
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
I once went out with a girl just like Daria, right down to the hair, the short skirt, the boots and the bad attitude. I still find the cartoon spooky to watch.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
Surely it would be the property of her son Charles.
You heard Roseanne!
But in chapter 91 of Moby Dick, The Pequod Meets The Rose-Bud, Stubb fast talks a French whaler out of a dead bloated whale, and then harvests a purse of ambergris directly from its bowels.
--
Stubb to the French Captain via a symapthetic interpreter: Thank him heartily; but tell him it's against my principles to drink with the man I've diddled.
"This has been Roseanne, your guide to the world of facts."
What exactly is the sense of forbidding trade in a product with whale-origin that in no way influences the whale if used ? I mean, it's literally ten year old vomit from the whales POV. It's not like any whale will in any way be negatively influenced by the harvesting (i.e. picking up from beach) and selling of this item.
Scientists believe only about one percent of Slashdotters release sperm!
Man, it would be great to add a recording of whale hork to one of those insipid 80's "Songs of the Whale" collections...
"And now we will record the haunting sounds of these gentle***HOOOOOOOORRRRRKKKK***Splat*** Dear God in Heaven, what was *that*?"
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
I heard a story about aligators in Florida being an endangered species. Then someone realized that people paid big bucks for aligator leather goods and started farming them. There are now a lot of aligators in Florida.
It sounds much like mankind's history. First we "harvested" from the wilds, then we invented agriculture and really harvested. Being good to eat is just a plant's method of increasing the chance's of making more plants.
...Read "Perfume" by Patrick Suskind for more information on disgusting substances used in the perfume industry. Its also a hell of a good story.
If you think whale barf is bad, check out civet.
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
If Pixar ever does a Finding Nemo sequel, they've just got to have a whale belching up a stinking pile of squid beaks. The kids would love that.
This sig, aah-ah, is comin' like a ghost-sig...
Heh. Yeah, when I first saw the title, I thought someone was trying to sell their kid's vomit on ebay or something.
http://www.christiannerds.com/, TRUTH and Technology
... and it evolved into management at my last job. Alas, now I know where they came from! Thanks, slashdot!
would not want my picture---my one chance at fame---to be the one where I am posing on a beach next to a glob of whale vomit.
Roseanne "Ambergris. Noun. A grease-like product of the sperm whale's digestive tract that is used as a base in the finest perfumes. This has been Roseanne, your guide to the world of facts." - Thanks Futurama
Proof by very large bribes. QED.
Does this remind anyone else of the Spice of Arrakis? Large animal, poisonous excretion from it's guts, which metamorph into something valuable. Interesting.
--
$tar -xvf
so the queen does still own all whales.
Whales. Whales. All your whales are belong to us.
The truth about Scientology, Xenu, and you: Operation Clambake
That's some strange logic you have working there - better to be farmed and killed for leather goods than to just gently go extinct. Try applying that same reasoning to humans and see how it sounds. Given the choice between death for my species or life as livestock - I would chose death.
Flash news, hard liquor sales go up. An interviewed buyer told our report : "It's for the whales".
In related news, police has received several complaints about loud drunken whales vomiting near harbors : "As if the drunken sailors weren't enough" complained a senior citizen...
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Biologist: I don't want your watch! You're covered in precious ambergris! Kif: Precious Hamburgers?
...in the multi-billion year quest to attract mates, practices such as bathing in putrid whale vomit are just as common today as wearing stoat carcass on one's head once was. Yep. We've progressed alright. ;p
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
Anyone know if they sell a DVD box set of Daria anywhere?
Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
Yes, but did she put out?
Spelling, grammar, punctuation? We need something that checks logic.
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Or it could lead to unrestraining harvesting an extinction of the animal. As is the case with cod and the UK fishing industry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/842087.stm
Woe be on to them, all who rise against poor people, shall perish in a the end. Buju Banton
Man, I read this at work, and could barely keep from laughing loud enough to disrupt those around me. That was awesome.
:P
Now, I'll be forever waiting for that CD to come out. I'd SO buy it, purely for it's weird value
whales use this wax to prevent barnicals from attaching.barnicals use van derwalls force to attach themselves .This wax is excreated through poors on the whales body to prevent parasites from attaching.A geiko would not stick to this wax.nor would a zebra mussel.lg
Jeez you guys! What a bunch of ignoramuses! Don't ANY of you know about the whaling industry or history or maybe read Moby Dick in school? Gods....
The whole reason whales have been hunted was to rip stuff out of 'em, one of the ingredients being ambergris. And yeah, there are still factory ships out there with exploding harpoons, just waiting to be put back into commission. While modern technology has replaced whale oil, whalebone corset stays, and most of the scrimshaw industry, there are still plenty of people who would love to go hunting whales to sell the meat to the japanese.
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon
It's funny how people get this idea that since we can farm land-dwelling animals (cows, alligators, crocodiles, swinge) that we can also do the exact same thing with animals that dwell in the oceans (whales, blue fin tuna). Come ON, boys! Get your head out. The environments are comletely different, as are the animals in question.
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon