Happiness is...

...reading the new book on blue whales, Wild Blue, by Dan Bortolotti. (Preview it on Google Books here.)

...watching a slideshow on the Southern Resident orca population, put together by the folks at The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor. (Want more? See part two here.)

...getting a package with blacklight and blacklight-sensitive paint for creating a class activity on marine mammal echolocation.

...preparing to work with Lee Post -- "The Boneman" -- on a bone/skeleton articulation project.

...the anticipation of the Ways of Whales workshop on Whidbey Island at the end of this month, put on by Orca Network.

...getting another cup of coffee, which I'm off to do right now.

Doesn't take a lot to make me happy, does it?

Whale Workshop Weekend and Whale Song

At the end of January, down at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, California there will be a Humpback Whale workshop, led by scientist and co-founder of the Whale Trust, Dr. Jim Darling. Dr. Darling's current research is on the function of Humpback songs, which he studies from the Hawaiian island of Maui. Lucky guy!

I wonder if Dr. Darling has read Fluke by Christopher Moore? In the book, the characters figure out that the songs of Humpbacks can be translated into binary, and from that into English. What, you don't think that's possible? I would love to see someone try. I can see the article title now, "It actually means something!: Humpback song translated into binary code," or, "It has nothing to do with mating: What it really means and why they want to play Wii so bad."

Okay, who's going to help me get the Humpback/binary project started? First we'll need funding...