We have a singer!

The video portion of this recording is poor (it was cloudy and the water was fairly rough), but the audio track captures a humpback whale singing! The high notes caused my camera housing and armbones to vibrate and the low notes resonated in my chest (like when the bass is too forward at a music club). It was a remarkable experience.

No one knows why these whales sing.

Another Whale video

Here's some video I took of the whale wearing beer goggles!

Mrs. Angus is a brave woman

That's her in the black gloves above the whale!!

From the sublime to the ridiculous

People! I leave you alone for a few days to go snorkeling with humpback whales and y'all start up *another* war? I guess I just can't go on vacation, eh?

Here's a quick pic; we have just started downloading photos and videos from the trip.

Yes, they actually let you get in the water and swim around with 40 foot long, 30-40 ton whales (and sometimes their 2 ton, 2 month old children)!

Here's the company's report on the week we spent with them.

How I'll be spending spring break

This is very recent video from the Silver Bank off the north coast of the Dominican Republic, where we are headed. Can't wait!!

snorkeling & photography bleg

Over spring break, Mrs. Angus and I are going to a marine sanctuary off the coast of the Dominican Republic to do this for a week (clic the pic for a more glorious image):


We are good swimmers and have snorkeled before, but here are some things I don't know anything about:

wetsuits

good quality fins and masks

underwater photography

Any advice on any of these topics would be appreciated.

BTW, we've never lived on a boat for a week before either.

Laguna San Ignacio

This video was taken and edited by Mrs. Angus during our trip to Baja to see the gray whales last March. I had to lobby her heavily to agree to let me post it, because the footage is often shaky, due to (a) the movement of the boat and (b) the excitement level of the videographer. It is almost 4 minutes long and the most spectacular footage is at the end.

Enjoy!

This just in: the 22nd amendment does NOT apply to Haiti

Leave it to Slick Willie to find a loophole and get back in the saddle:

"On April 15, the Haitian Parliament ratified a law extending by 18 months the state of emergency that President René Préval declared after the earthquake of January 12. The Parliament also formally ceded its powers over finances and reconstruction, during the state of emergency, to a foreign-led Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (CIRH). The CIRH's mandate is to direct the post-earthquake reconstruction of Haiti through the $9.9 billion in pledges of international aid, including approving policies, projects, and budgeting. The World Bank will manage the money.

The majority of members on the CIRH are foreign. The criterion for becoming a foreign voting member is that the institution has contributed at least $100 million during two consecutive years, or has cancelled at least $200 million in debt. Others who have given less may share a seat. The Organization of American States and non-governmental organizations working in Haiti do not have a vote.

The CIRH is headed by U.N. Special Envoy Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. The only accountability or oversight measure is veto power by Préval. Few expect him to employ his veto option, both because his record is not one of challenging the international aid apparatus, and because of possible repercussions, in terms of the dollar flow, by the CIRH."

Yikes!!!!

Hat tip to LeBron.

Things must be bad in Argentina 'cause Fernandez is playing the "Malvinas" card!

Really! The world is so nuts these days that I feel like I have to keep saying, "I am not making this up". President Cristina Fernandez is talking tough about the Falkland Islands, 26 years after Argentina's last attempt which failed miserably and helped to bring down the "government" (military junta) that initiated it.

"The sovereign claim to the Malvinas Islands is inalienable," she said in a speech marking the 26th anniversary of Argentina's ill-fated invasion of the islands, located 480 kilometers (300 miles) off shore.

The April 2, 1982 invasion prompted then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to deploy naval forces to retake the Falklands, known as the Malvinas in Spanish.

The short, bloody conflict led to Argentina's surrender on June 14, 1982 after the death of 649 Argentines and 255 Britons.

Historians saw the invasion as an attempt by Argentina's ruling military junta, which was then in power, to divert attention away from domestic problems.

In her speech Kirchner called for Argentina to strengthen its representation in international bodies to denounce "this shameful colonial enclave in the 21st century."

And Vice President Julio Cobos said in the southern city of Rio Grande that "we must recover this territory that is ours, that belongs to us."

The comments came as Kirchner faces her own woes, battling against farmers who have barricaded roads in a protest against a stiff tax hike on soybean exports.

The conflict has created shortages of meat and other staples in Buenos Aires and elsewhere,and tested the social fabric, with pro- and anti-government supporters holding dueling rallies.

If it came down to it, do you think Gordon Brown would have the onions to do what Thatcher did the last time?

Moko for President

From New Zealand comes the story of Moko the rescue dolphin. Two "pygmy sperm whales" repeatedly grounded themselves on a sandbar and rescuers couldn't seem to get them turned around and out to sea. It seemed like curtains for the hapless cetaceans. Then along came Moko:

Rescuers worked for more than one hour to get the whales back into the water, only to see them strand themselves four times on a sandbar slightly out to sea. It looked likely the whales would have to be euthanized to prevent them suffering a prolonged death, Smith said.

"They kept getting disorientated and stranding again," said Smith, who was among the rescuers. "They obviously couldn't find their way back past (the sandbar) to the sea."

Along came Moko, who approached the whales and led them 200 meters (yards) along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea.

"Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales," Juanita Symes, another rescuer, told The Associated Press. "She got them to head toward the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience. The best day of my life."

Anton van Helden, a marine mammals expert at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, said the reports of Moko's rescue were "fantastic" but believable because the dolphins have "a great capacity for altruistic activities."

And when his work was done??

After the rescue, Moko returned to the beach and joined in games with local residents.

Wow!