In the curious realm of 'what the fuck ... ' department, an almost fully intact whale placenta has been recovered in the waters off Maui (the waters off Maui is conjecture on my part ... the exact location of recovered whale afterbirth is NOT mentioned) by a group calling itself the Pacific Whale Foundation. According to PWF, the placenta was the most complete specimen ever recovered. Evidently the Pacific Whale Foundation makes it a habit to search for whale afterbirth in Hawaii's waters as this time of year is when whales give birth to their young in the comfortable waters of Hawaii. I can understand why whales would prefer birthing their young in the waters of Hawaii. Shoot, I could stand a stretch in the comfortable waters of Hawaii but I'm not about to mess with any whale afterbirth. It seems to me that whale afterbirth not only being wet ... it would also be rather gooey. I worked for some years at a teaching hospital of some renown here in the American West and I routinely transported afterbirth and the mess left from abortions conducted at this teaching hospital. Aborted fetus remains were routinely sent to the Pathology Grossing Lab and I was privileged enough to get to accommodate the transport. Trust me on this ... don't lift the lid on the styrofoam cup that those remains are transported in ... I did and did I ever regret that. I lifted the cup lid ONCE and the fetus was laying there mouthing a familiar "help me ... " sort of squeal. Had nightmares about that for weeks. Oh dang ... sorry ... I digress something awful. So back to the whale afterbirth collection drill ... The birthing remains were only the second intact whale placenta ever found and the last celebrated collection was in 2020. An unsubstantiated recovery was made in 2018 but that stands as "suspect" and uncorroborated. So just like in that teaching hospital I made ugly mention of, the PWF sends that recovered afterbirth to a grossing lab (not mentioned location) so it can be "studied and tested for various things." So the PWF does make certain to follow closely Hawaiian cultural concerns handling discovered whale placentas as Hawaiians get dang touchy about their concerns being ignored by pseudo intellectual types that have routinely walked all over Hawaiians and their very strong beliefs about their environment. For disclosure here I fully support and agree with Hawaiians getting pissy about their culture and existence. Whitey has ignored most everything of cultural value to Hawaiians ever since the Islands were discovered by arrogant white assed pseudo scientists/plunderers and plantation owners from the Mainland. The PWF did note that "the taking of bio-cultural samples is a sacred moment in Hawaiian culture as all things should remain in the realm they belong with little intrusion as applicable. Treating the "i'o" (flesh) with respect and also having the commitment to return all pieces gathered back to where they belong in the seas of Maui Nui." Of course minus the placenta parts being sliced, diced, made into lab slides, and fluids recovered for "genetic study." Fucking white guys can't leave well enough alone ... always messing with things that SHOULD NOT be messed with. I have very strong feelings about that manner of disrespect and that became ingrained while working at that aforementioned teaching hospital. There is really very little that is allowed to remain sacred in our postmodern dystopia world. Oh yes and one more relevant tidbit ... Note: Placenta was collected under research permit #27099, which allows for biological collection of marine mammal specimens. Additional Permit: MMHSRP #24359. Well ... that makes it okie-dokie. Bullshit! Now for Saturday machine art.
clouds -
targoe -
disciples -
bear -
stream -
guevara -
day 1 -
flight -
I was privileged some years back to be able to see dolphins and sea otters off the central coast of California. I've not been able to see whales ever ... I'm okay with that ... I don't do well out on the ocean. god damn the Pacific Ocean is one really gigantic body of water. 😐
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