Slashdot Mirror
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...
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.
Didn't Futurama already cover this in one of it's episodes?
Yeah. Except for the fact Australia is generally one of the countries where police use their discretion to let common sense prevail, rather than haul people away for breaching the letter of the law.
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
But thats millions in $AU.
/me ducks.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Emerald Astrology
Surely it would be the property of her son Charles.
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
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...
... and it evolved into management at my last job. Alas, now I know where they came from! Thanks, slashdot!
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.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to you with a business opportunity. We have a large chunk of whale vomit that one of our deceased investors was keeping. As we've spent several months attempting to locate a next of kin... etc, etc, etc.
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 ]
...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