I guess whaling's in the air this week. Check out Girl on a Whaleship, which uses the diary of a six-year-old who spent three years on a whaling voyage in the 1860s as an excuse for a very fun interactive web site about all things whaling. You probably want to save this link for when you have a little time on your hands, and a fast connection.

Hat tip: Deep Sea News.

Stone-age whale hunters of Lamalera: amazingly cool! Much more here, and many more photos here.

Found by running down an intriguing footnote in The Tiger, which I just finished and cannot recommend too highly!

Update: Looks like Odious blogged this years ago. Shows what I know. But it's well worth a second look.

Is it permissible for Muslims to eat mermaids?

Hat tip: Derb.

Taking down a sperm whale by hand.

Via Deep Sea News, of course. There's video, too, as well as another giant squid!

Update: Boy, turns out it's whale day. Via Chas, apparently whales can live a jolly long time.